•••Kisses

"Him?" A flick of brown hair, a slight smirk, "he's the Kissing Booth." 

"Kissing Booth?" Dongwan looks at the boy in question out of the corners of his eyes. He sits alone a few tables away in the cafeteria, shoulders hunching slightly as he picks at his food. "That's his name? Kissing Booth?" 

A taller boy sitting across from Hyesung hisses his annoyance and reaches over the table, flicking Dongwan on the forehead with much disdain. 

"Are you stupid? It's a nickname!" 

"He's gullible, Eric. Don't bully him like that," Junjin chastises, and then adds, "his name is Minwoo. There's a rumour around school--heck, around town!--that for a pretty dollar, he'll give you a kiss."

"A kiss? For a dollar?" Dongwan narrows his eyes skeptically. "Since when did people have to pay for some tiny little smooch--"

"It's not a rumour," Hyesung interjects, brows furrowed as if personally offended. "And it's not 'tiny' nor 'little'."

The table quiets down, shocked by his retorts. Hyesung shies away from the questioning stares, and then adds, hesitantly:

"...I've kissed him before. For a dollar." A slow, timid smile and a slight pink blush blooms on his small face, recalling that wondrous moment. "It was one hell of a kiss, too."

"I can attest to that," Andy suddenly speaks up, surprising everyone. He doesn't look up or anywhere but there is a sparkle in his eyes. "I was curious and I asked him about it and he kissed me--on the lips--after I gave him a dollar."

Eric pinches the bridge of his nose, either extremely bothered or extremely irked, and his brows dip low. Dongwan almost offers a painkiller to help fight off whatever migraine that is surely developing right now.

"Actually... I've kissed him too," Eric admits, voice low. "Thrice."

"Three times?!" Junjin nearly yells, salad greens flying everywhere. 

"More, if he would've let me. I tried to date him. After three days--three kisses--he said he wanted it to stop because he wasn't feeling it and didn't want it to become a relationship built solely on money." Eric shrugs. "Pity. He's a pretty great guy, and a really great kisser. He really knows how to use his tongue." 

Dongwan's interest is definitely piqued. Minwoo's solitude despite the killer charisma and the mega-watt smile plagues his mind, and he finds himself thinking back to that boy and his strange habits a lot more than he'll admit. 

Dongwan considers approaching him the next day.

ㅇㅇ

Minwoo is short, like him, and his hair seems to change colour every week. Today it is slightly red, and it'll remain that way for the next five days. His nose is sharp, his jaw is sharp, but Dongwan still feels a big, childish aura from him. He has slits for eyes, and a mischievous and playful light dances behind his lashes when he smiles. Standing in front of him, Dongwan can feel these waves of warmth rolling off of him, welcoming him in. 

Their first encounter and already he's enamoured.

"Hi." Minwoo's voice is full of energy, like his character. His greeting is simple and beckons Dongwan closer.

"Hello," Dongwan says sheepishly.

Minwoo grins childishly, eyes sparkling in mirth. He waits patiently for Dongwan to continue.

"What is it?" 

"I..." Dongwan loses all his wit and coherency and bites his tongue in the face of his attraction. His palms are a bit clammy and he can hear his blood pounding in his ears. He his dry lips nervously. 

Minwoo reaches out a hand, palm wide open. "It's a dollar," he says, and Dongwan finds offence in how quickly the other assumed he wanted a kiss. He frowns. 

"I don't want your stupid kiss," Dongwan snaps, "I just wanted to get to know you." 

The boy quickly draws back his hand, but his smile doesn't falter nor do his brows crinkle. 

"Oh. Sorry. Everyone approaches me to live that 'kissing booth' rumour, so I thought you did, too." Minwoo plays with a strand of his red hair, running his fingers through his bangs to style them just right. "So. What's your name?"

Dongwan's previous ire subsides, and he is drawn into his charm. "Dongwan," he stutters and mentally berates himself for being the love struck teenager he is. Minwoo beams at him and takes his hand in both of his, and Dongwan silently curses at himself for digging his own grave. 

"Pleased to meet you! I'm Minwoo." 

ㅇㅇ

They go out together sometimes--the  local park, the movie theatre, the ice cream parlour. Minwoo's hair was faded red, then black, and now some shade of brown and green, perhaps flaxen. 

Dongwan doesn't know if they're dating. They hug and hold hands and drink out of each others' straws to sip at chilled soda but never more than that. Minwoo never talks about his habit and Dongwan never asks about kissing.

One particularly hot day, they go out for shaved ice. Minwoo offers to pay, despite Dongwan's protests, and hands over the receipt with a wad of dollar bills. 

ㅇㅇ

"You're not interested?" Minwoo asks casually one afternoon. They sit under the shade of the large trees at their school, sharing lunches and playlists. Dongwan looks up from the other's music player--filled to the brim with hip-hop and pop and music to groove to--and his eyebrows inquisitively. 

"In what? Dance?" He shrugs helplessly, "I find it cool, but I'm no good at it." 

Minwoo laughs at his dejected attitude, but shakes his head. "No, about the kiss." He turns his body around so he's facing Dongwan, gazing earnestly into his eyes. "You're not interested in kissing?" 

Dongwan nearly chokes, and feels red and heat crawl up his neck and poor in his cheeks. He forgets he's with the Kissing Booth, and buries his face into his palms. 

"No-- I just-- I've never--" 

"It's fine." 

Dongwan's heart beats loud and fast in his ears, nearly drowning out Minwoo's words. 

His breath hitches in his throat as a weight presses against his legs, digging him into the soil and the bark of the tree. Fingers gently close around his wrists and his hands are slowly pried away--cautiously, almost, as if not to startle. Dongwan squeezes his eyes shut when he feels warm puffs of air against his skin, his cheek, the tip of his nose, and his mouth goes dry. 

Something warm pecks him on his lips, short and light. 

"What--" Dongwan asks, almost disappointed. He swallows his questions, his complaints, when Minwoo places his lips over his, a tongue in his mouth and hands clasping together. 

The kiss is slow and tender--Minwoo isn't demanding, and carefully leads him on. He rubs circles with the pads of his thumbs on the palms of Dongwan's hands in an attempt to calm him down and the other relaxes a little, melts a little into his touch. 

Ah, he thinks, head fuzzy with warmth and something he can't name--Not yet. This is the kiss.

Minwoo pulls back and looks straight into his eyes, lips glistening and cheeks flushed. Dongwan heaves for air and feels lightheaded, but he doesn't let go of those hands--he only grips them harder.

"I..." Dongwan mumbles after a while of silence, "I liked that." 

Minwoo smiles a little, the corners of his mouth curling upwards in relief. 

"Good." 

"And I think... I like you." He looks everywhere but into those small eyes--the eyes that have looked at many before Dongwan but have never stuck.

Minwoo half chuckles and half sighs, an airy laugh that takes all the tension from the air and from his spine and he collapses onto Dongwan's chest. 

"Good."

"Don't kiss anyone else anymore."

"I won't."

"Not even for a pretty dollar."

"I won't." Minwoo rubs his face against the fabric of Dongwan's shirt, breathing deeply. "I've been waiting so long for a guy like you. All those people I kissed... I didn't feel anything. They only wanted the kiss, like I was the jackpot of a lottery. After the novelty dies away, there's no attraction."

Dongwan plays with the dyed hair, twirling it between his fingers. 

"You actually wanted to get to know me--not just for some tiny, little kiss." Minwoo heaves a satisfied breath, smiling into his shirt. "Thanks for that. Thanks for searching for me, not some Kissing Booth."

ㅇㅇ

Dongwan glances at Eric uneasily. The taller boy stares at Minwoo from across their cafeteria table, expression unreadable. Minwoo grins coyly back at him, eyes crinkling with that playful light. 

"What?"

"How... Why..." Eric starts, but seems unable to string his words together. Hyesung looks at him almost sympathetically--almost--before sighing in defeat and offers his aid.

"What Eric means to ask is, why Dongwan and not him?"

"He did try to go out with you," Junjin ponders. Andy nods in wonder.

"Ah," Minwoo explains delightedly, mischief glittering behind his lashes. "It's simple."

Eric frowns at him intently and Dongwan looks at him intently, both genuinely curious. 

"He's too tall."

It seems like I'm never satisfied with the endings of my stories haha;; 

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed! 

Thank you for reading!