Chapter Text
“So,” Jeonghan begins when they’re all gathered in Seokmin’s apartment to hang out after class on Thursday night. “Is Wonwoo going to have to set up a blind date for you tomorrow?”
Mingyu smiles to himself and then shakes his head. “No, uh, actually, I’m going out with Soonyoung again.”
Everyone stares at him in shock.
Mingyu doesn’t get why they’re so shocked. He’s hung out with Soonyoung a couple of times since last Friday night. They had grabbed lunch and watched a movie, and Mingyu was more certain that Soonyoung was a cool guy and that this relationship could most likely work. He liked Soonyoung enough to give it a shot, and it’s not like it was a pain to him or anything. Soonyoung was good company and not hard on the eyes.
“Soonyoung?” Seokmin asks, shocked. “You liked Soonyoung?”
“Um, yeah?” Mingyu says, questioningly. “Did you think that I wouldn’t?”
Seokmin quickly wipes the look of shock off of his face, and quickly stammers out, “No, I just wasn’t expecting this that’s all.”
“Yeah, well,” Mingyu says, “it’s going pretty well.”
Jeonghan stares at him from across the table. “Okay,” he says slowly. “I guess that means Wonwoo won’t get a pick.”
Wonwoo is staring at the table in front of him, not looking at Mingyu, and Mingyu is suddenly washed with a wave of confusion.
“Why is it a big deal if Wonwoo doesn’t get a pick?” Mingyu asks. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be happy that I’m dating Soonyoung?”
“We are!” Seungcheol quickly says. “We are happy, we’re just surprised, that’s all.”
Mingyu stares at all of them suspiciously, but he lets the topic drop.
The rest of the night is spent playing video games, but Mingyu can’t ignore the weird tension in the room. He thinks to himself that it’s a little bit hypocritical of all of them to act like this when he tells them that he’s dating Soonyoung, especially since they were the ones who had come up with the idea in the first place.
When he walks home with Wonwoo later, they don’t really talk and Wonwoo doesn’t tuck his arm into Mingyu’s, and it’s so foreign to Mingyu, this silence and distance between them. Despite it being somewhat early when they get home, Wonwoo doesn’t drag him to watch a movie or TV show with him, instead he just goes straight for his room and Mingyu is left staring blankly at Wonwoo’s closed bedroom door.
He mulls over it for a couple minutes, wondering what he’s done wrong, before deciding that Wonwoo was probably just tired and could use some space. He goes to his room and falls asleep.
If anything, this date with Soonyoung is even better than all of the other ones. The two end up talking, over some bubble tea, about that time Seokmin got so drunk he peed his pants in a crowded frat house, and Mingyu is laughing so hard he’s clutching his stomach and trying not to fall out of his chair.
Soonyoung is laughing too, his cheeks bunched up and his eyes were closed into slits, but Mingyu thinks he looks handsome like that, so he leans over and plants a kiss on his lips because he feels like it.
“Speaking of Seokmin,” Mingyu says, “how do you even know him?”
Soonyoung smiles softly. “I met him in a vocal class we both took. He was so good, I just had to befriend him because I needed to be friends with the guy that had the voice of an angel.”
Mingyu scoffs. “He has the voice of an angel, but I’m pretty sure he’s the devil incarnate.”
Soonyoung laughs at him and smiles softly again. “You know, Seokmin had told me that I probably wouldn’t like you very much, but I think that he’s wrong.”
Mingyu stares at him in confusion. “He thought that you wouldn’t like me?”
Soonyoung nods. “And that you wouldn’t like me. Said that I wasn’t your type or something.”
Mingyu furrows his eyebrows. “But if he thought that we weren’t going to get on, why would he set us up?”
Soonyoung shrugs. “Beats me, but I say that this is working out pretty well.”
Mingyu smiles at him, but an unsettling feeling spreads itself across his chest. Why would Seokmin set him up with someone that he thought Mingyu wouldn’t like? It’s almost like he didn’t want him to be happy and in a relationship.
Well, Mingyu thinks smugly, Seokmin was wrong about that. This’ll prove them wrong. Still, he can’t shake the feeling as he stares at Soonyoung.
“Did he, by any chance, mention what he thought my type was?” Mingyu asks.
Soonyoung thinks for a second, and then says, “something about dark and brooding and tall and thin.” Mingyu hums and then leaves it at that.
They talk about their families after that, but Mingyu’s mind still remains on Seokmin. He walks Soonyoung home again, and they intertwine their fingers on the journey there, and Soonyoung kisses him again before saying goodnight, and Mingyu smiles in response. But on the way home, he still can’t shake the feeling that this is somehow all very wrong.
He hesitates before he twists the doorknob open. Mingyu and Wonwoo had been living in some sort of tension ever since last night, and he’s still not sure how they stand. Seokmin’s words automatically come flying to mind. Dark and brooding and tall and thin.
He shakes his head at himself, and then opens the door to an empty apartment. Mingyu tries not to feel disappointed when he settles himself on the couch to watch some TV, trying to convince himself that he’s not waiting up for Wonwoo, not at all.
He must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing he knows, the door is banging open and someone is stumbling their way through the door. Mingyu jumps off of the couch to grab the closest thing he can find (which ends up being a mug Wonwoo must have been using earlier) and prepares to defend himself.
He’s not prepared when Wonwoo stumbles into the living room, swaying in his spot and clearly shit-faced.
Mingyu blinks in surprise before helping Wonwoo sit down. Wonwoo doesn’t get drunk. He claims that it’s bad for the liver and that he does not want to die an early death, no thank you. Also, he hates the burn of alcohol and how drunk he gets, but that’s because Wonwoo has the body mass of a stick and is an absolute lightweight.
“Mingyu?” Wonwoo says, clutching at his arm, except his words are all slurred so it comes out sounding more like minguuuuuuu.
“Yes, I’m here,” Mingyu says, rushing to the kitchen to grab him some water. “I thought you didn’t drink.”
Wonwoo clutches the glass of water and knocks it back, ignoring Mingyu’s statement completely. “How was your date with Soonyoung?”
It takes Mingyu a couple of moments to process what he says because his words are all slurred, but when he finally gets it, he just shakes his head in response. “Doesn’t matter,” he says softly. “You should go to bed.”
Wonwoo nods, and then slumps so that his forehead rests against Mingyu's chest. Mingyu sighs and then hauls his ass up off the couch in an effort to walk him to his room, but Wonwoo just slumps into his chest some more. Really, Mingyu considers himself lucky that Wonwoo is so small, because he’s supporting one hundred percent of his weight right now.
“Wonwoo,” Mingyu grunts. “Come on, you need to walk.”
Wonwoo looks up at him, and Mingyu hates the cloudy look in his eyes. He will kill Minghao for this in the morning, because none of their other friends would’ve taken Wonwoo out when they know how he gets when he’s drunk. He’s half considering calling him now just to give him an earful.
Wonwoo is grumbling into his chest, and it sounds like just a string of gibberish to him, but Mingyu is soon able to realize that Wonwoo is just repeating mingu mingu mingu mingu over and over again. Suddenly, Mingyu flushes, and it becomes very tempting for him to just drop Wonwoo back on the couch and let him sleep there.
But before he can do that, Wonwoo grabs at his arms, whispers “you’re so pretty,” and the next thing Mingyu knows, Wonwoo is kissing him.
Wonwoo is kissing him.
Mingyu stands still for a moment, and then kisses back gently. There’s a voice in the back of his head telling him to stop, please stop, you’re dating Soonyoung and this is so wrong while another voice proceeds to punch the first voice and tells Mingyu, you’re doing great sweetie, just keep kissing Wonwoo.
Wonwoo’s lips are so soft, and he tastes vaguely like alcohol, fries, and something sweet, so sweet, that can only be inherently Wonwoo. Mingyu kisses him because he’s intoxicated by the taste, and he feels as drunk as Wonwoo does right now, as if Wonwoo’s lips were all he needed. Wonwoo, strangely enough, is kissing him softly, not at all like a drunk person should be kissing, but Mingyu doesn’t mind.
It’s only when Wonwoo breaks away to press kisses on Mingyu’s neck that it finally sinks in what Mingyu had been doing and he shoves Wonwoo off, stares at him, and then flees to his bedroom before bolting the door shut.
It could’ve gone worse, Mingyu supposes. He could’ve accidentally punched him in the face or something.
The next day, Mingyu doesn’t leave his room. He feels gross in his pajamas, but he feels even grosser when he hears Wonwoo moving around sluggishly outside. He hopes that he doesn’t remember what happened last night, but he knows that Wonwoo probably does, considering that he hasn't stuck his head in Mingyu's room to tell him to get up yet.
It’s weird, Mingyu thinks, because now that he’s kissed Wonwoo, that’s all he can think about. He thinks of Wonwoo’s lips and his taste and how perfectly his body had fit in the cradle of Mingyu’s arms.
It doesn’t mean that he likes Wonwoo, right? Wonwoo is just his best friend. A best friend that looks at him kind of funny sometimes and is always there for him and was the most beautiful laugh and is just beautiful, period. Oh God, Mingyu might like Wonwoo a lot, actually.
Mingyu stares in horror up at his ceiling, and then glares at it as if it had done something to wrong him. Of course he likes Wonwoo. His heart hates him and has conspired against him to ruin his life because Wonwoo is the last person he should be liking right now.
But it makes sense, because Mingyu has never really liked anyone, not nearly as much as he likes Wonwoo. At the end of the day, he’d always rather spend time with him than anyone else.
Uncomfort digs its way into his chest because he knows that it’s true. Mingyu thinks about Wonwoo’s eyes and how they are probably his most favorite eyes in the universe, and then he thinks about Wonwoo’s laugh and how that is his favorite laugh in the universe. Not even Soonyoung could come close to that brilliant laugh.
Mingyu freezes. Oh God, Soonyoung.
Next thing he knows, he’s throwing on a jacket and bolting to Soonyoung’s apartment because he had cheated on him. He didn’t mean to, but still, he feels like a jackass because he had kissed Wonwoo last night and then spent all of this morning thinking about the fact that he had kissed Wonwoo.
When Soonyoung opens the door, somehow still looking attractive in a sweatshirt and sweatpants (but not as attractive as Wonwoo, never as attractive as Wonwoo), Mingyu just blurts out, “We can’t do this anymore.”
He expects Soonyoung to be confused, or to scream, or something. Instead, in the classic Soonyoung manner of doing the exact opposite of what people expect, he laughs.
Mingyu’s got his eyebrows furrowed and he’s staring at Soonyoung because out of all the times he’s broken up with someone, he’s never had them laugh at him before.
Soonyoung is still laughing adorably when he gasps out, “finally!”
Needless to say, Mingyu is a little bit insulted by that and just stares at Soonyoung some more. “Finally?!” he manages to say angrily.
Soonyoung laughs some more and then stops and just smiles at him. “I thought you would never realize it,” he says, all smiles, and now Mingyu is starting to get pissed off.
“Realize what?” Mingyu snaps.
“That you’re in love with Wonwoo.”
That is what catches Mingyu off guard. So off guard, in fact, he starts to have a coughing fit. Soonyoung pats him patiently on the back. “Wonwoo?” he gasps out after the worst is over.
Soonyoung smiles at him. “Seokmin told me that you were in love with him,” he says, as an explanation. “I was just waiting for you to realize it yourself.”
Mingyu says, “what the fuck?” and Soonyoung laughs some more.
“It’s not that hard to realize you’re in love with him,” Soonyoung says. “You talk about him all the time. I think Seokmin set us up because he wanted Wonwoo to finally make a move out of jealousy or something or for you to finally realize that you love him.” He pauses for a moment. “Although he did mention that Wonwoo was supposed to pick a date for you next. I think the guys were planning something sneaky for that.”
Mingyu just stares at him some more. “Seokmin set us up to make Wonwoo jealous?”
Soonyoung nods. “Yeah, it was their plan all along.”
“So you’re not mad that I’m breaking up with you?”
Soonyoung shakes his head. “Nah dude. You’re a good guy Mingyu, but I kind of knew your heart wasn’t in it from the get go.”
On his way home, Mingyu thinks about what Soonyoung says. Was he in love with Wonwoo? He’s never been in love before, but it would explain the way that he feels whenever he’s around the older male. Maybe that’s why all of his relationships didn’t work out. He was never into it, not when he would always like Wonwoo more than any of his dates.
When he gets home, Wonwoo is sitting on the couch with a glass of tea. He startles when he hears Mingyu come in and promptly freezes at the sight of him in the doorway.
“Hi,” Wonwoo says hesitantly. “I thought you went out.”
“I did,” Mingyu replies. “I went to Soonyoung’s.”
Wonwoo looks back down at his tea, curling his long fingers delicately around the cup. “Oh,” Wonwoo says, and his voice is sounds incredibly small. “How is he?”
Mingyu shrugs. “I broke up with him.”
Wonwoo’s eyes flash up to Mingyu’s. “What?”
Mingyu doesn’t answer, and instead says, “Who would you have set me up with for your blind-date pick?”
“What?”
Mingyu rolls his eyes. “Wonwoo,” he says, and he steps slowly towards him. “Who would you have set me up with for your blind-date pick?”
Wonwoo doesn’t answer.
Mingyu has reached Wonwoo by now, and he kneels in front of him, placing a hand on his knee. “Wonwoo,” he urges. “Answer me.”
“I wouldn’t have set you up with anyone.”
With that, Mingyu lets out a breath that he didn’t know he had been holding.
“Wonwoo,” Mingyu says softly. He waits until Wonwoo looks up to look at him in the eye. Mingyu isn’t quite sure what to say next, since he’s always been pretty bad at this whole romance thing, so he just chooses to say, “I wouldn’t mind if you had picked yourself.”
It’s such a Mingyu thing to say, but Wonwoo looks like he understands what Mingyu is trying to say. He looks up at Mingyu, as if searching for something, his lips slightly agape.
“Are you- what are you- are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
And well, Mingyu doesn’t know what to say to that so he just leans in and kisses Wonwoo. He tastes less like alcohol this time, but he still tastes as sweet as he had last night, and wow, Mingyu could never get enough of this.
Wonwoo is kissing him back, threading his fingers through Mingyu’s hair, and Mingyu smiles against his lips before pulling away.
“I like you, Wonwoo” Mingyu says softly. “And I’m sorry it took me Jisoo, Junhui, Jihoon, Soonyoung, and every other disaster of a relationship I’ve been in for me to realize it.”
Wonwoo smiles at him, his lips pink. “I like you too, Mingyu.”
Mingyu smiles so brightly then, relieved to hear those words come off of Wonwoo’s lips. He kisses him again, just because he can do that now, and asks, “will you go out with me?”
Wonwoo nods, easy as day, and just pulls Mingyu back in again.
Later that night, when they’ve finally sated their hunger for each other long enough to pull apart for five seconds, Mingyu asks, “was this blind-date thing just a ploy to get us together?”
With a pretty pink color blushing across his face, Wonwoo nods slowly.
It suddenly makes sense why all of his dates failed, because his friends had done it on purpose. He really had some of the worst friends in the world. Or the best, he supposes, for getting him and Wonwoo together. He still hasn't decided.
"Wow," Mingyu says. "That's kind of evil of them."
“It worked, didn’t it?” Wonwoo teases.
Mingyu hums. “I guess so.”
He kisses Wonwoo again, softly. “Hey,” Mingyu says, “maybe my love life will stop being so abysmal now.”
Wonwoo laughs at him, and Mingyu decides that yes, Wonwoo’s laugh is his favorite sound in the entire world.