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"Hear me out, man. Just, like, come with me. I know it sounds weird, but he's getting really touchy-feely with Joshua, but I was almost positive him and Seungcheol were a thing! Minghao, are you listening to me? Minghao? Xu Mingming? I'm breaking up with you. You can't go back to China for New Years." he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Jun liked the way your turtleneck looks today,"
The younger looked up at him. "He did?"
Mingyu scoffed, more at the fact that he had really expected Minghao to lay attention to him when he could be creeping on the other Chinese student. Subtly. From across the lunch room. Details. "You ignored my entire conversation with myself. Radical. Well, here comes Chan, and whatever-the-hell Headlines boy. Oh, and Seungkwan. Hi, Seungkwan!"
The younger saluted him with a playful wink. "Peeping on the seniors again? You guys are getting bad. I mean, I understand Junhui, who wouldn't?" he ignored the groan of protest from Hansol, shoving his boyfriend away by the face. "But Wonwoo? He's kinda-"
"Of course! Wonwoo! Thanks so much, guys. Great talk! I gotta go,"
"He didn't even say hi to me," Chan sighed and watched the giant run off towards the library.
Once he was at The Spot (he called it that, because ray was where Wonwoo was whenever he had free time. Not that Mingyu was, like, stalking him. That would be creepy. What do you mean you didn't say anything about stalking? Stalking? I didn't say anything about stalking. But, anyways, The Spot), he slammed his hands down on the table, starting his older friend.
"This is a library, what are you doing?" he pushed up his glasses, putting a hand over his heart to calm the beating. It wasn't every day Kim Mingyu voluntarily sought him out.
"I need you to help me figure out who Jeonghan is dating. Only a man of your expertise can do this," he took one of Wonwoo's hands between his own. "Please, for the good of humanity, will you, Wonwoo Jeon, help me?"
He couldn't speak, much less breath, much less think, much less so anything but nod and agree. Because, damn, Mingyu was so attractive, and damn, he was impossible to refuse. No one could say no to a face like that, combined with his likeable personality, and his- right. Jeonghan.
--
A week into their endeavor, and they were no closer to figuring it out. They had been taking turns following Jeonghan around, noting the way he acted towards Joshua and Seungcheol respectively.
It was Friday, and they were comparing notes (Jihoon thought it was so dumb that they were doing that. He said they should just ask if they were so curious. Soonyoung asked his boyfriend what the fun in that was, and Seokmin agreed, and then perked up because he saw Chan).
"I saw him holding hands with Joshua on Wednesday. He kissed his cheek before they parted ways after Choir. They both looked gross and in love. I wanted to throw up, but I have to keep an air of professionalism and objectivity if I'm to take this seriously,"
Wonwoo kind of wanted to kiss him. "This completely counteracts my data!" oh, god, he was so whipped. He was playing along, he was so fucked. "I swear to Jisoos Christ-"
"He's a part of the experiment, no using his name in vain."
"Right, sorry. Anyways, I swear they were skipping fourth period to make out in the west wing bathroom. You know the one," Mingyu made a sound of recognition.
"But why were you skipping class?" he asked, voice laced with genuine curiosity. "The Wonwoo I know is like, the top student... Ever. 4.5 GPA, never missed a day of school, only got in trouble once- I'm still sorry about that, by the way."
He rolled his eyes, slapping Mingyu with his notebook to hide his blush. "Shut up, dumbass. I was delivering a note for my teacher. I saw them slip into the bathroom, and Jeonghan left looking... Suspicious, as I was walking back to class. It's just a hunch, though, he could also be doing drugs or something. Though I'm pretty sure weed doesn't put your shirt on backwards-"
"His shirt was on backwards?!" he squeaked our, choking on air. "Oh, my god. Choi Seungcheol is fucking my best friend, Wonwoo. How am I gonna tell my mom? How am I gonna tell his mom?! This is my mid life crisis. This right here. How am I gonna tell two middle aged women that their son and son's best friend is being fucked by a man with the mental state of their husband's? I'm gonna die in ten years. Forget the experiment, we have to finish my bucket list! Now, how am I gonna get a time machine so that Hansol can actually take a picture with young Leonardo DiCaprio?"
Wonwoo watched as the younger continued mumbling to himself, trying his best not to laugh. Also not to kiss Mingyu. He was so whipped.
--
They ended up frequenting Wonwoo almost every Friday after that, falling asleep (usually both in Wonwoo's bed) while wracking their brains over possibilities of Jeonghan's love life. Sometimes they talked about other people too.
It turned out that Junhui was creeping on Minghao too, so that was a thing. Seokmin was probably worse than Wonwoo (he literally followed Chan everywhere, and did absolutely anything he said), but couldn't grow a pair and just ask their youngest out already.
It was on a night that Wonwoo fell asleep first where Mingyu just stared at him intently, wondering why he even agreed to help in the first place. The only reason he could think of was that he was friends with Seungcheol. But even then, he was closer with Soonyoung than he was Seungcheol. But, who knew what went through Wonwoo's head.
--
"He loves you, duh!" Soonyoung exclaimed one day when Wonwoo was absent. "He's like, so grossly in love with you. It even makes Seokmin wanna die sometimes. Like, it's that bad, dude, ask him out before the poor boy goes out of his mind," he stretched, comically placing his arm around Jihoon.
"Throw the dog a bone, will you? If I have to hear about your stupid ass face one more time, I'm gonna kidnap my own succulents!"
"Bro, you wouldn't!"
"I would, and I'm going to. No one can stop me, not even the president."
Mingyu ignored the rest of their conversation because, holy shit, he's in love with Jeon Wonwoo.
--
He decided to put his feelings on hold until they figured out the whole dating situation. Because, uh, Jeonghan getting fucked by a middle aged man in the body of an eighteen year old unnerved Mingyu a lot more than Jeonghan getting fucked by the second coming of Jesus.
"He could top, you know," Wonwoo said while they watched from the back staircase as he talked to Joshua.
He laughed, like, out loud. "Please. He fucking wishes," he pulls Wonwoo down and pretends to kiss him when he sees Jeonghan and Joshua look over at them, letting his breath mingle with that of his partner in science.
Wonwoo stared up at him, eyes wide and glasses slightly crooked. He gulped, because Mingyu was actually looking at his lips, and he really, really wanted to kiss him all of a sudden. Like, he always wanted to kiss him, but it was more apparent there than ever. "Mingyu-"
He put the elder down, his heart beating dangerously fast. He had almost kissed Wonwoo. He had almost kissed Jeon fucking Wonwoo. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, and he noticed that they were being approached. In a panic, he grabbed Wonwoo and took off running down the upstairs hallway, the almost-kiss forgotten as they tried to escape from certain death-by-Yoon-Jeonghan.
--
Seungkwan was fucking ecstatic when he spilled the beans the next day in math. It was a sub, so the sophomore just waved her off and wouldn't leave Mingyu alone until the fill story was told.
"So you really just sat there- for like how long, thirty seconds? Staring at him like you were in The god damn Notebook, and then you didn't even kiss him? Pussy. But, in all seriousness, just ask Jeonghan who he's dating. It'll save a lot of time,"
"Yeah, whatever. Let me be heartbroken in peace, you ball of fury,"
"All I'm saying is you should totally make out."
Mingyu choked.
--
"He's dating both of them. He's dating both of them, Wonwoo can you believe this? I'm-" he cried over the phone, cutting himself off. "We spent like three months working on this!"
"Yeah, I knew the whole time. So did everyone else. We still on for my place?"
Mingyu scoffed. "Of course! You're totally way better than that snake. Walk with me?"
They did end up walking together, though it was a bit awkward because of, well, The Thing (name courtesy of BooSeokSoon). It was silent up until Wonwoo's room, when the older decided to put everything on the line and at least tell Mingyu how he felt. "Mingyu-" he was cut off when the younger pressed himself up against him.
Mingyu did his best to try and kiss Wonwoo as they stumbled backwards and onto the bed. The other seemed to take the hint, fisting a hand into his hair as they kissed like they needed it to survive.
Wonwoo tugged on Mingyu's jacket until he was unzipping it shakily, the younger shrugging it off and pulling Wonwoo's own hoodie over his head, shortly followed by his shirt. Mingyu probably should've felt a little guilty about feeling him up, but he couldn't help his hands as they ran up and down Wonwoo's torso, and over his back, as they continued kissing. "Mm- I love you," he pulled his own shirt over his head, panting as Wonwoo nosed down the column of his neck, kissing.
"I loved you first," he answered, going back up to kiss Mingyu again. It wasn't long before there was a pair of hands on his ass, and he smirked into the kiss, properly straddling Wonwoo.
--
Mingyu didn't talk to Jeonghan for a week after that, even though the older claimed that he was the Swanson for their entire relationship in the first place. Joshua and Seungcheol insisted that they were also large components, but were ignored.
They later found out that it was actually Seungkwan who had convinced Mingyu to call Wonwoo that day.
(Jeonghan was not happy about that.)