Work Text:
Joshua knows he's good at many things: he can speak multiple languages, he can sing, he can cook pretty well if he says so himself. He's fit and athletic, he's decent at most sports. He dances well even if his friends get on his case about some of his moves. He's a fast runner, he's pretty amazing at comebacks, he--
"Hyung, be careful!"
"Sorry! Sorry," Joshua apologizes, a bit sheepishly. He looks at his frosting-covered fingers and the now dilapidated gingerbread house that his wrecking ball touch destroyed.
Joshua's good at many things... but constructing intricate buildings out of gingerbread cookies is not one of them.
He braves a glance up at Mingyu's face and while there is a slight pout evident on his pursed lips, his gaze is hyper-focused on fixing the mess that Joshua's careless fingers made. He's seen the look before, when the younger is fixing Wonwoo's laptop or when he was helping Soonyoung put together a remote controlled airplane he impulsively bought.
"Cute," Joshua mumbles under his breath, fighting back a smile.
His admission seems to go unnoticed, which isn't surprising considering the seriousness with which Mingyu's constructing a slanted gingerbread roof. Despite his sausage-like fingers and his reputation for being a klutz, Joshua is impressed with the precision and execution. One would think Mingyu has been building gingerbread houses his whole life.
Joshua is content to watch the other, admiring his skill and the all too serious expression on his face (it is just cookies, after all). Truthfully, he's not sure why Mingyu invited him to this workshop anyway. The room is filled with all couples and parents with their kids, working together and taking pictures. And then there's them, two friends: one diligently working and the other... admiring perhaps a bit too much.
He clears his throat and pulls his eyes down to the table, playing with a few gumdrops.
"Hm?" Mingyu hums, suddenly brought out of the zone at the sound. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I totally took over."
"No, no. It's okay, really. I'm no good at this stuff anyway," Joshua laughs, somewhat shyly.
"It's just about having fun!" Mingyu exclaims, gently sliding their plate of a half-assembled gingerbread building towards the elder. "And I mean, look at the house at 10 o'clock," he whispers, so close to Joshua's ear that he shivers a bit.
Stealing a glance, Joshua can't help but laugh out: a young boy and a woman whom one would assume is his mother are building (more like piling together) quite the mess of broken cookies and frosting.
"Mingyu! He's got to be, like, eight years old!"
"Yeah, so you can do better than that."
"That's asking quite a lot," he replies back hesitantly. He does reach out though and spin their (Mingyu's) creation around to get a good look at it. "You're really good at this."
Mingyu shrugs, wiping his fingers on a stray napkin. "It's a useless skill."
"No. You're always good at stuff like things. Fixing things that are broken, putting back together things that have fallen apart, creating something out of nothing... it's really impressive." Joshua feels like he's gushing so he quickly stops himself and pretends like he doesn't notice the way Mingyu's face is suddenly pink. Pink and oh too adorable.
So much so that Joshua can't resist reaching up and giving one of them a light pinch.
"Hyung," Mingyu whines, swatting away the hand. There's a smile stretched along his face though and it has Joshua grinning in return.
"Cute," he tells him, this time loud enough for the younger to hear. Mingyu acts like he's ignoring him, but it's not lost on Joshua how his smile grows into a toothy grin.
"I wanted to do this with you." Joshua's stomach does a little flip. "So please, help me?"
"Alright, alright," Joshua sighs, as if he's giving in. It's really just to steady his breath since he realized he was unintentionally holding it.
It's seems absurd, he realizes, to have some deep desire to awe Mingyu with something like this. But it seems to be of interest to him and who doesn't enjoy showing off? Even with that excuse that he tells himself, he knows it's particular to Mingyu alone. At times, Joshua wonders if he is a bad hyung for being as enamored with the other as he is.
But maybe, possibly, the feeling could be slightly reciprocated. Mingyu could've invited anyone to this rather personal holiday activity and yet he chose Joshua.
With a second wind of confidence, Joshua picks up a large flat cookie and steadies himself to finish the roof that Mingyu had already started.
Joshua is good at many things, accomplishing things he puts his mind to being one of them. And once the hour workshop is finished, he feels confident adding another skill to that list: impressing Mingyu.
"And you said you weren't good at this kind of stuff. There's nothing you can't do, hyung. I'm convinced," Mingyu tells him.
When they reach the door, Joshua notes it's snowing. But his attention is quickly stolen by the man beside him, admiring the pretty little gingerbread house in its protective plastic container. Mingyu's eyes are wide and he's wearing a tiny smile. Joshua could stand there and stare at him all day, fondness overflowing inside him.
And if Mingyu is right, if there really is nothing he can't do, then he can surely muster up the boldness to ask the other what he's wanted to for months now.
"Hey, um," he draws out, eyes flickering down to their shoes before he forces himself to gather his courage and look back at Mingyu's face. He's now looking directly at him, still all wide eyes and precious smile. "This was a lot of fun and I really like when we do stuff just the two of us..."
"Me too! I mean, I love hanging out with the other hyungs but I like spending time with just you." Joshua smiles at that and opens his mouth to continue his confession, but Mingyu keeps going. "Like if Seungcheol hyung had come with me here, he would've made it a competition: who could make the bigger, better house. And if Jeonghannie hyung had come, he would've just eaten all the candy and cookies so we would've had nothing to build with."
Suddenly Joshua's self-assurance deflates like a whoopee cushion. Of course, Mingyu just invited him because the other hyungs wouldn't have given him the experience he was hoping for. It didn't mean anything more than that.
"Thank you for coming with me, hyung," Mingyu tells him, suddenly grabbing his hand and squeezing it before dropping it all too quickly. "And, um. There's something else I wanted to tell you too."
Joshua cocks his head, still reeling from his burst bubble. "What is it?"
"Uh, well." Mingyu takes a big breath and it sounds a bit shaky to Joshua. He's also moving the gingerbread house from hand-to-hand and he can envision the thing breaking so easily, just like his confidence. "I really do like spending time with you. And um, well, maybe if you were interested, I was wondering if you wanted to do it again? I mean, like a date?"
Joshua blinks.
"Or not a date," Mingyu laughs, a bit too hard and loudly for it to even pass as slightly believable. "Just hanging out, you know. Friends. Erm. Hyung and dongsaeng."
He's all pink in the face again, big eyes that are less excited and more terrified. His chapped lips are a deep color, probably from the way he is gnawing at them. And all his shifting and dancing around on his feet has caused some hair that was previously brushed back off his forehead to fall into his eyes.
Joshua reaches up and brushes it back, Mingyu inhaling through his nose.
"I'd love to go on a date, Mingyu."
It's Mingyu's turn to gawk. "What? Really?"
"Yeah. You beat me to it with asking," he laughs, light and airy. Mingyu echoes the sound except it’s slightly more giddy sounding.
"Oh. Oh, well, that's great. That's awesome then!"
Joshua links their hands again and leads them both outside into the tiny shower of flurries, warm from the inside out and oh so endeared.