Chapter Text
“Dude, how the hell are you not gonna go to Homecoming?” Wonho yelled loudly.
Minhyuk, who was hurrying to his first class because he’d woken up late, had accidentally walked past a small corridor. Wonho and Hyunwoo were there, talking.
“I can’t, you know why,” Hyunwoo responded slowly, “I don’t have any options.”
“Hyunwoo, you know that Coach is gonna cut you from the football team if you don’t make it to Homecoming,” Wonho cautioned. Minhyuk gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth—would Hyunwoo actually give up his spot on the football team?
“I have to watch my sister,” Hyunwoo said stiffly, “My mom won’t be home all night, and I can’t leave Hyuna by herself. You know this, Hoseok.”
Minhyuk heard Hoseok sigh, and he backed up a bit, not wanting to intrude any more on their conversation. He turned and walked to his class, head in the clouds as he started developing a plan.
“Hey Minah,” Minhyuk said thoughtfully, sitting at the dinner table helping out his younger sister with her homework. He’d been mulling over an idea all day, since he overheard the conversation with Hoseok and Hyunwoo.
“What’s up?” Minah looked up happily to face her older brother, crayons clutched in her chubby hands.
“Do you know Hyuna, the girl from the daycare center, very well?”
“Of course!” Minah nodded cheerfully, “Look!” She pointed to one of the many drawings on the fridge, “I drew that one of me and Hyuna. We’re bestest friends!”
“How would you feel about having a sleepover with her?” Minhyuk asked, going over to look at the crayon drawing pinned up on the fridge.
“Can we? Can we, can we, can we please?” Minah squealed, leaping out of her seat to pull on Minhyuk’s shirt. Minhyuk smiled down at her.
“I’ll see what I can do, okay?”
+
Minhyuk’s eyes never left Hyunwoo. The two were sitting side by side, working silently on a small worksheet in Health class, and Minhyuk didn’t really know when the best time to ask was.
“Is there any reason why you’re staring at me?”
Minhyuk jumped, startled, as Hyunwoo turned to meet Minhyuk’s unwavering gaze. “Oh, um,” Minhyuk laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “Actually, I was going to ask if your younger sister, Hyuna, wanted to sleep over at my house for Homecoming.”
Hyunwoo continued staring at Minhyuk in silence, so he just kept babbling.
“I mean, my younger sister really loves her and wants to have a sleepover, and I couldn’t help but hear that if you miss the Homecoming game, you’ll get kicked off the team, and-“
“Thank you.” Hyunwoo said quietly, bobbing his head. “I would appreciate that.”
“Really?” Minhyuk smiled widely, proud that his idea had actually worked, “Oh my gosh, that’s awesome!”
“So then are you not going to Homecoming?” Hyunwoo asked curiously, quirking an eyebrow.
“Nah,” Minhyuk shrugged with a melancholy smile, “Wanted to, but I have to watch my sister also, only I don’t have the threat of being kicked off a team if I don’t go. I can watch the stupid doll, too.”
Hyunwoo smiled at Minhyuk, and he felt his heartbeat race.
“You know,” Minhyuk mentioned, “We still haven’t named the baby.”
“Rat.”
“I’m sorry?”
Hyunwoo grinned slyly at Minhyuk, “We should name it Rat. It’s irritating and a pain in the ass.”
“A baby named Rat,” Minhyuk propped his head up on his fist, “I like it. Has a nice ring to it.”
The two shared amused looks and burst out into laughter. That was the first time Minhyuk held a full, civil conversation with Son Hyunwoo.
After class, on their way to lunch, Hyungwon swung an arm around Minhyuk’s shoulders.
“So, loverboy, Kihyun tells me that you’ve started talking with Hyunwoo,” He said with a smirk. Minhyuk looked up at him with narrowed eyes.
“What makes you say that?” Minhyuk retorted, and he folded his arms in suspicion as he examined his best friends.
“Oh, you know, just the 231 seconds of videos that Kihyun sent me on Snapchat of the two of you,” Hyungwon grinned cheekily at Minhyuk, who gaped at Kihyun.
“This is what you spend your time on?” Minhyuk groaned, sitting down grumpily at their lunch table, “Stalking me?”
“Hey, if I’ll never have a love life, I might as well live vicariously through you,” Kihyun shrugged nonchalantly. Minhyuk shook his head and just dug into his lunch.
“So what’s the update, anyways?” Hyungwon leaned forward on his elbows, almost knocking over Kihyun’s tray of lunch. “What were you guys talking about?”
“We’re calling our baby Rat,” Minhyuk smirked, “Pretty fitting, huh?”
“You called it Rat?” Kihyun shrieked, making several heads in the cafeteria turn towards him. “Who the hell calls their child Rat?”
“Hyunwoo, apparently,” Minhyuk laughed at Kihyun and Hyungwon’s disgusted expressions. “He’s the one who came up with it.”
“Oh my god,” Kihyun covered his face with his hands, “You two are totally meant for each other.”
+
“You’re all good to go!”
Minhyuk smile at the receptionist, who had been checking over Hyuna’s information at the day care center to make sure Minhyuk was authorized to take her. Minah and Hyuna were sitting on the carpeted floor, playing around.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Minhyuk bowed slightly to the receptionist, “Okay girls, let’s go!”
He led the two cheerful toddlers out to the car and powered it up. It was Homecoming night, and Minhyuk had made sure that he made it to the day care center on time. Rat was strapped into the front seat, and Minah and Hyuna were both in the back.
Every month, Minhyuk’s parents drove to LA to visit Minhyuk’s aunt and grandparents, leaving Minhyuk at home to watch Minah and the house. For September’s visit, it just so happened to fall on the day of Homecoming.
“Turn on some music!” Minah exclaimed, pounding the back of Minhyuk’s seat.
“There’s no point, we’re almost there,” Minhyuk yelled back, waving one of his hands in her general direction.
“Turn it on! Turn it on!” Minah started chanting, and a second later Hyuna joined in. Minhyuk groaned and punched the radio button, blaring some stupid Disney channel song that instantly sedated the two girls. Not two seconds later, though, they started singing along in high pitched squeals.
With a sigh, Minhyuk started singing along as well, much to their delight.
The night was exhausting, to say the least. The girls wanted to play house with Rat, and Minhyuk had to make sure that they were super careful with it, since it wasn’t just some doll that they could toss around. Then they got hungry, and he was forced to make them macaroni and cheese, only they didn’t have any mac’n’cheese in the house so he had to go to the store—with them—and pick up some mac’n’cheese.
While he was at the store, he ran into some people from his school who were trying to buy alcohol, and had to spend like 20 minutes explaining why he was babysitting two girls instead of partying hard.
Then he had to make the mac’n’cheese, make sure the girls didn’t burn or cut themselves trying to help him, had to feed them, help them get washed up and ready for bed, and finally, the enormous task of getting them to fall asleep.
It took three bedtime stories, one that he had to make up entirely, two glasses of warm milk, and five lullabies for them to finally go to sleep.
And of course, during all of this, Rat would start crying occasionally and Minhyuk would have to feed it or change its stupid diaper or something.
When the girls were finally asleep, of course, Rat started crying, so Minhyuk spent another 15 minutes pacing around the living room with Rat in his arms, singing to it and patting its stupid plastic back.
Minhyuk himself finally fell asleep around nine, which was pretty early for him. Usually, his friends Skyped until two or three in the morning, so it was nice to really get a good night’s sleep.
It was nine a.m. when Minhyuk wakes up to someone ringing the doorbell. It couldn’t have been the girls, because they’re fast asleep in Minah’s bed, and it can’t be his parents because they said that they would be coming home on Sunday.
Curious, Minhyuk threw on a sweatshirt and padded downstairs.
Son Hyunwoo, in all his glory, is standing on Minhyuk’s doorsteps with a bag from the local diner.
“I wanted to bring you breakfast, since you took a major one for the team,” Hyunwoo smiled briefly, handing Minhyuk the bag. Steam rose from the plastic bag, and it smelled like pancakes.
“Do you wanna come inside?” Minhyuk peeked inside, and almost audibly gasped at the sheer number of pancakes inside the bag. “Dude, there’s no way I can finish all of these pancakes by myself. You can just stay here until Hyuna wakes up, if you’d want.”
Hyunwoo nods, stepping inside. “I’d like that.”
Minhyuk motions for him to take off his shoes and then led him into the kitchen. “You want coffee? Milk? Tea?” Hyunwoo just shook his head, taking a seat at the homey table.
“It’s been a while since I actually sat down to eat,” Hyunwoo mused, propping his head up with his fist.
“Really?” Minhyuk couldn’t imagine not eating dinner with his family every night, no matter how irritating it got. “Your family doesn’t eat dinner together?”
Hyunwoo shook his head sheepishly, “Not really. Most of the time I eat dinner on the go; I have too many jobs to be eating at a regular time at home.” Minhyuk nodded, a bit surprised at this new information. “My mom was the only one making money for our family when we were younger,” Hyunwoo began to explain, “She works insane hours as a nurse over at the hospital. When I got into high school, I started working part-time jobs to help support her.”
Minhyuk nodded again, setting two plates down on the table. “You’re a good son,” He said, “And I’m sure when you actually have kids, you’ll be a great dad too.”
Hyunwoo grinned cheekily at that, “You’re not that bad of a dad either. I’m glad I was partnered with you and not Kihyun.”
Instead of taking offense to that obvious jab at his best friend, Minhyuk burst out into laughter, “To be honest, I agree with you there.”
The two ate in silence for a bit, and Minhyuk took the time to study Hyunwoo. He looked tired, but not really hungover, which surprised Minhyuk. This new information about Hyunwoo, how he helped support his family, was kind of a shock to Minhyuk. Hyunwoo played football, which was pretty time consuming, and he was popular. Normally, people who struggled to pay bills weren’t popular. Never one for evading a question, Minhyuk just bluntly asked, “Why do you play football if you’re so busy?”
Hyunwoo looked startled as he glanced up, cheeks puffed with pancakes. Minhyuk giggled as Hyunwoo quickly gulped down his mouthful.
“Scholarships,” Hyunwoo responded quietly, “I don’t like football, but I’m good at it. My mom really wants me to college, but there’s no way we can afford it, even with financial aid. And I’m not particularly smart, so football seemed like the way to go.”
Minhyuk wrinkled his nose, “I’m sorry, that sucks. That’s why you have to go to all the games and stuff?” Hyunwoo nodded. “You know, I’ve never actually been to a game before.”
Hyunwoo gaped at Minhyuk, “You’re a junior, how have you never been to a football game?”
Minhyuk shrugged, “I guess that’s just not what my friends are into. You know, we’re more the type of people to go to a concert or a play than a football game.”
“You should go to one,” Hyunwoo said firmly, “I have two free tickets for my parents, and since my dad isn’t really, uh, in the picture, you can use that.”
“What?” Minhyuk shook his head, “No, no, I don’t want to impose on you like that!”
Hyunwoo just shook his head and smiled, “My mom’s coming to our next game, and you are going. Plus, she wants to meet you because of this whole baby project thing. And bring Rat, it’ll be good exposure.”
“Are you sure?” Minhyuk asked worriedly, “If your mom’s going, it seems like it would be a more family thing. Or maybe you should bring Hyuna? I don’t want to impose on your family time.”
“Bring Hyuna to a game full of testosterone-filled guys who swear louder than a bullhorn?” Hyunwoo joked, “I don’t think so. I’ll bring you the ticket on Monday, the game is next Friday.”
+
“It’s totally a date.”
“Kihyun!” Minhyuk slapped his best friend, “It’s not a date! His mom is gonna be there!”
“Even better,” Kihyun snickered, “A date and meeting the parents.”
“Yeah, no, Kihyun, it’s not a date,” Hyungwon shook his head, taking a sip of his Cherry Coke. The three friends were sitting in the local diner, having lunch and catching up (on Minhyuk’s love life).
“No, it totally is,” Kihyun insisted, arms crossed, “At least wear something nice. Do you even have any school gear?”
Minhyuk wrinkled his eyebrows in thought, “I don’t think I do, I always thought it was stupid.”
“Ask him for a jersey or a sweatshirt or something,” Kihyun squealed, “That’s so cute!”
“I agree with him on that,” Hyungwon nodded, “Dude, even if it’s not a date, you gotta start putting the moves on him. You’ve had that crush on him for like a year and a half, and it’s finally your chance!”
Minhyuk groaned, sipping his milkshake, “Wouldn’t it be creepy though? ‘Hey dude, just wondering if you could lend me a shirt because I’m thirsty as hell, no homo.’”
“No, no, that’s not how you ask!” Kihyun yelled, “You’d pull a ‘since I’ve never been to a football game, I don’t have any stuff from our school, but I figured if I’m going, I should support you guys, do you have anything you could lend me?’”
“Don’t look now, loverboy, but your mancrush and his idiot friends just walked in,” Hyungwon commented dryly.
Minhyuk paled, “Guys, promise me that you won’t do anything stupid, idiotic, embarrassing or rude, okay?” Hyungwon and Kihyun stayed silent. “Guys!”
“Okay, okay, geez,” Kihyun rolled his eyes, “You’d think I was Donald Trump from the way you talk.”
Hyunwoo and his friends walked into the diner and were just about to pass their table when Wonho stopped.
“Kihyun, please never wear that sweater to school,” He sniffed, “I don’t think I could stand an entire day of seeing that fashion atrocity.”
“Oh please,” Kihyun rolled his eyes, “You wish you could see me for an entire day.”
As the two traded insults, Hyunwoo smiled and mouthed “hi” to Minhyuk, who grinned and waved back. Hyunwoo, Minhyuk realised, was the exact opposite of the asshole that Minhyuk had always thought he was.