Work Text:
Kim Mingyu first saw him during K University's Cultural Fest. He was distributing flyers for the joint project of Newspaper Club and Broadcasting Club's afternoon radio program. He wore a white suite and his black hair contrasted his milky white skin. What caught Mingyu's attention is the glittery diamond headband upon his head and the scowling face attached to it. Honestly, Mingyu found it endearing.
"Please listen to the afternoon program," the boy said grimly. He didn’t hide the fact that he didn't want to stand under the scorching heat of the sun while in a hot, ridiculous outfit. Mingyu gave him a sympathetic smile and accepted the flyer.
Mingyu listened through the interesting radio drama about the origin of the school festival and the mysteries surrounding it. At the end of the broadcast, the casts and the staff gave a short introduction. There, he learned the diamond boy's name.
Lee Jihoon, scriptwriter.
Mingyu used all the resources he could to know the boy better. Why? Even he couldn’t explain it. But he felt restless when he thinks about the boy so he did what he can. He found Jihoon's social media accounts through a common friend, Hansol Chwe.
Jihoon's Facebook account mostly consist of shared anime meme posts, and his Instagram (woOozi) updates were most probably made by a friend, since it’s full of blurred pictures of Jihoon himself and cats. Still, Mingyu could get snippets of his daily life when visiting the accounts of hurricanehoshi and dokyeomentary, who appeared to be Jihoon's best friends.
So when he and Hansol spotted the two playing around in the arcade, he grabbed that opportunity to befriend them. The three of them were introduced to each other. The two were cool, funny, and overall friendly guys.
After some time of playing, Mingyu managed to know them better. Turns out, they’re a lot smarter than he thought. Seokmin (dokyeomentary) is a stressed Political Science student who’s preparing for a mock test and Soonyoung (hurricanehoshi) is an IT student who needs ideas for his semi-final project for Web Design.
Now, Mingyu is impressive himself. To others, studying Marketing Communications seems boring, but Mingyu excels in talking and computing. He also has a lot of ideas for different products and services. So he suggested his very unique and innovative idea of Date for Rent to help.
Hansol managed to stifle his laugher when the idea was mentioned but Soonyoung loved it. it's interesting and refreshing, and something that would be fun to do. Mingyu helped in suggesting things. It doesn't have to be perfect; the page just needs to be functional.
After a thorough analysis on the project, Soonyoung finally grabbed the idea. He thanked Mingyu for it. He even said he'll use his friends as model and all, and Mingyu smiled to himself. Maybe he could use this as an advantage.
"Then, please use me. Help me score a date with your friend." he suddenly blurted out. Hansol face palmed next to him. Soonyoung and Seokmin looked at him in shock.
"Who?" Seokmin asked at the same time Hansol said "Wrong timing, bro." Mingyu ignored him.
"The one who's giving out flyers during the cultural festival. He's probably this short?" Mingyu put his hand on chest level. Seokmin and Soonyoung looked at each other.
"You mean... Jihoon?" Soonyoung said carefully as Seokmin fished out his phone to present a picture to them. Mingyu nodded his head enthusiastically. The two just continued to stare at him until they both looked at each other and slowly nod their heads. A big, mischievous smile spread on their faces as they communicate telepathically with each other. They looked like crazy shits, but for Mingyu, everything is going as planned.
“Well, we could definitely do that. But really, why not just ask him out like a normal person?” Soonyoung asked. Mingyu scratched his head and Hansol snorted beside him.
“I’m shy. Jihoon is really cute, but he looks like he will dump me if I asked him now.” Mingyu reasoned, perfectly logical to him and he heard Hansol whisper “wuss”. He elbowed his friend.
“Oh, he will. Without a doubt. But don’t worry, my friend. We’ll make this happen!” Seokmin proclaimed. “We just need to make a scenario where he doesn’t have any choice but to say yes.” he said as he patted Mingyu’s shoulders. Hansol looks a bit uncertain with the set up.
“Wait, why are you even helping him?” He asked. Soonyoung just laughed out loud.
“We’re bored,” he said. Seokmin and Soonyoung shared a high five, Mingyu is just happy that he could finally meet Jihoon, and Hansol just sighed.
Jihoon needs better friends.
So over the weekend, the three of them met up to discuss and plan the interface and layout of Soonyoung’s web page. Seokmin went with them for fun but they were able to get some ideas for the terms and conditions from him so it was okay.
Mingyu gave them selfies and full body shot of himself and five of his friends: Wonwoo, Minghao, Jun, Dino, and Joshua. He also gave them a bit of background and traits of his friends together with his own.
“I would definitely pick this guy for the looks, but not with that attitude. He seems boring. No offense meant, Gyu.” Soonyoung said, pointing the cursor towards Wonwoo. Mingyu laughed at him.
“Wonwoo wouldn’t like you either.” He said. But Wonwoo needs guys like Soonyoung as friends, those that will drag their lazy ass on crazy antics to liven up his best friend.
“Oh! This guy looks cute! Definitely my type. Can I get his number?” Seokmin pointed at Joshua. Mingyu shrugged. He nodded a bit and Seokmin’s smiled grew.
“Okay. If we managed to make this happen.” Mingyu promised. Seokmin asked for a pinkie swear. Mingyu laughed as he returned it.
“I’m done with the structure!” Soonyoung exclaimed, startling his companions, “Just give me some time to finish this, and I’ll let you see the final product. Also! I heard Jihoon is now looking for a date in our ball since Jeonghan egged Seungcheol to place a threat. You should have seen his face!” Soonyoung recount as he started packing up. Seokmin joined him, who chimed him in about how Jihoon was annoyed with their teasing.
They went in their separate ways. Alone, Mingyu starts to wonder. Do he really have to go this far just to get a date? He looked down on his phone that he's been looking at Seokmin’s previous posts that showed an annoyed Jihoon in the screen and he felt his lips automatically curved upward.
Maybe this one's worth it.