Archive of Our Own

🖤🐶🖤

Spring brings out the best in him. Maybe it's the soft and vibrant ambiance surrounding him, or the general atmosphere that everything is full of life, or simply because he was born on one spring morning. Whatever the reason is, the season could revive Mingyu's mood from the dead. Spring could make him feel like he could do everything and nothing could bring him down from the high.

And of course, Seungkwan would take advantage of it.

"Mingyu~, my most favorite hyung!~" Seungkwan sings as he dances his way to Mingyu who's enjoying the warm sun on his tan skin. He's just lying down on the grass-covered park near their college building, spread eagle like he's a plant absorbing the sun's nutrients through photosynthesis. Seokmin sits a few steps away from him, acting as if he doesn't know the giant sun starfish that is Mingyu.

On a normal day, Seungkwan would scold him, telling him it's dirty, but this day he has an agenda. Seokmin could see him patiently picking a stray grass on Mingyu's clothes, lips tight around the complaint he wants to say. Instead, Seungkwan presses his lips tight and plop down with them.

"Mingyu, do you want to go to the amusement park with us this weekend? You know, the one that opened two months ago?" Seungkwan asks.

"Oh, I thought you don't want to go there because it's crowded?" Mingyu opens his eyes and squints at him, hand shielding his eyes from the sun. He sat up and gently shook his head free of grass.

"Duh, that's two months ago. Maybe the hype is already done." Seungkwan sasses. Seokmin snorts at a distance. Mingyu ignores it.

"You coming?" He turns to Seokmin who freezes.

"Uh. No? You know I got to practice for the play every weekend." Seokmin pouts.

"Then, who's us?" Mingyu turns to Seungkwan.

"His lover boy, of course!" Seokmin teases. Seungkwan throws a handful of grass towards him ("The grass!" Mingyu exclaims as it rained down on his lap).

"He's not my 'lover boy'! He's a friend!" He glares at Seokmin as the other snickers behind his hands. "He's just new here and wants to tour around so I suggested going with him." He says.

"If you finally scored a date with him, then why are you bringing me?" Mingyu asks.

"I told you, it's not a date!" Seungkwan slaps a hand on Mingyu's lap, to which the other rubs while pouting. "I'm asking you because he invited a friend and asked me to invite a friend too and I remembered you wanted to go there before." He crosses his arms and pouts. Mingyu and Seokmin look at each and turn to him.

"So basically, you're afraid to be the third wheel so you're asking me to come?"

"I told you I'm asking because- arg! You know what, nevermind. I'll just ask Jeonghan because he's my real favorite hyung," Seungkwan starts to stand up and leave the two laughing seniors.

"Wait, wait. I'm kidding. I'll go with you," Mingyu says as he pulls on Seungkwan's pants. Seungkwan stops and glares at him.

"Why can't you just say yes without annoying me?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Mingyu cheekily replies, smiling warmly like the sun shining above. Seungkwan almost smiled, but he just lightly kicked Mingyu's shin and left.

"I'll even let you be alone with him in the Ferris Wheel too!" Mingyu shouted after his annoyed, retreating form.

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Fast forward three days after and Mingyu is currently waiting with Seungkwan at the entrance of the amusement park. A few minutes after 10 AM, Seungkwan exclaimed and waved a hand in the air. A foreign-looking guy followed by a smaller teen noticed it and went to them.

"Hey, we're sorry about the wait. We got down on the wrong stop and had to ride the bus again." Foreigner guy said. Seungkwan and Mingyu just accepted it. He smiled apologetically at them.

"Anyways, this is Jihoon. He's my roommate." The guy just nodded at them, a bit timid and cold. "He's just like that now but he'll warm up later. He likes cute donsaengs," Hansol snickers as Jihoon glared at him. "So, hyung, this is Seungkwan and uhmm... sorry," foreigner said as he gesture to Mingyu. Seungkwan immediately took over.

"Hansol, this is Mingyu, he's a friend from the art class. And Mingyu, you know, Hansol."

"Yeah, I heard so much about you," Mingyu teasingly said. Seungkwan gave him a stinky eye.

"Good things, I wish," Hansol just said.

"Yeah, yeah. What about we go in now to avoid the long line, hm? Come on," Seungkwan just marched towards the entrance and the rest followed.

🧡🐥🧡

Spring is a good season, only next to winter, and its cool breeze and the flowery atmosphere is nice to feel once in a while. He's fond of a lot of cute and bright things, like dog parks. Amusement parks are like those too, but instead of puppies and dogs, it's cute and rowdy children with their parents and friends instead. So visiting an amusement park is okay.

But he also has a limit.

'It's so fucking hot,' Jihoon thinks, lightly fanning the collar of his t-shirt to his neck. It's not that hot, but Jihoon is used to a whole day of sitting in an airconditioned room, not outdoor activities that requires him to walk.

He wanted to stay in his comfortable bed in his room with 15°C room temperature, but Hansol had to bribe him with a refrigerator full of cola just to accompany him in this stupid not-date with his not-crush.

'Arg,' he thinks as he looks at the two, currently checking the map while joking. If they just want a date, why can't they just do it themselves? Why does he have to suffer under the hot sun, with this... Tree.

The said tree, Mingyu, is the plus one Seungkwan came with who's currently looking a little pale despite his pretty tan complexion and looking so small as he curls himself in a little ball of flesh and sweat. Yeah, he's also sweating a lot. Jihoon is worried he might faint, and again, felt sorry at his and the guy's situation.

"Hey, you okay?" Jihoon asked him. The guy looked at him from below and Jihoon is reminded of his puppy back at Busan, cute, fluffy Pudding with his tail always tuck between his legs and looks a bit like an idiot.

"Y-yeah. Just. Flying Carpet, I think I'll never ride that again." He shudders and gulped down half of his water bottle. "I'm kind of afraid of heights."

Afraid? More like terrified. Mingyu shriek like a woman in labor during the whole ride.

"You should just turn down the next ride," Jihoon suggested. Mingyu shook his head.

"Nah. I'm gonna ride them at least once or else I'll feel like this trip is a waste." Mingyu squared his shoulders and nodded to himself. Jihoon wanted to roll his eyes, but he decided to humor him instead. It's kinda cute when he looks determined like that, like Pudding who runs so fast until he stumbled and rolled into the mud, tiny legs kicking up in the air.

"Whatever floats your boat." He just sipped on his cola and continues to fan himself.

It felt a bit hotter.

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Mingyu managed to hold down his shouts while riding Viking, a boat-like ride, but he almost threw up all his lunch after it. Still, Mingyu looks a little accomplished when Seungkwan patted his back.

"You're a brave, brave man, hyung. I'll tell this to Seokmin. I think this is the ride he doesn't want to get on," Mingyu just gave him a thumbs up.

🧡🐥🧡

They took a break from the huge rides. They played bump cars, fishing games, and cartwheels. Seungkwan turned down Hansol's invitation to the Haunted House because "my t-shirt is new and I don't want it ruined when you try to pull on me like I know you will". They ate in between playing.

It's nearing 4 PM when they finally tried another huge ride. The infamous Space Shuttle. Jihoon saw Mingyu gulped as he stares at its size. Seungkwan and Hansol chat ahead of them while waiting in line, oblivious.

"You sure you want to ride this?" Jihoon looked at Mingyu. Mingyu looked down at him- he's at least a feet taller than Jihoon, damn- and nodded.

"This is the ride I wanted to ride the most. It's kinda scary, but I want to say I conquered my fear and rode it. Kinda cool that way, isn't it?" Mingyu said, beaming.

The sun is heating the back of Jihoon's neck, but he's sure Mingyu's smile is brighter. He turns away, blinded.

"Whatever you say," Jihoon said, fondly.

"Ah, you finally warmed up. I guess you like cute donsaengs?" Mingyu jokes. Jihoon looked at him, taken aback.

"Cute?" He asked, astounded.

"Me. I'm cute," Mingyu said as he wiggles his fingers under his chin. Jihoon barked a laughed.

"Hey, it's our turn! Come on!" Seungkwan said as he and Hansol run up the stairs.

Space Shuttle is just like a Roller Coaster ride, but the seats got suspended in the air when it takes a turn. It's designed with two-person each row, so after some talking, Hansol and Seungkwan got the first row seats while Mingyu and Jihoon got the last. Other people rush on the seats between them.

Jihoon could see that Mingyu is shaken again. Personnel locks the seat with a safety bar and secured all riders. Mingyu's torso is a bit long for the seat so it's a tight fit. He tried to shake the safety bar to check if it's locked. He tried to get a comfortable posture as the person checks the other riders.

Jihoon stared at Mingyu's fist, tightly holding on the seat. It is shaking.

"Hey, you should just get off if you really can't-"

"No, no. I can do this." Mingyu said and the whistle is blown, signaling the start of the ride.

It's a slow start. Until it's not.

Jihoon could hear the screams of others in the ride over the wind on his ears. His heart racing as the first inverted loop is done. Mingyu is not shouting, so Jihoon assumes he had his eyes shut. Two more forward inverted loops after, the ride seems to slow down.

Then it starts going backward.

"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!!!" Mingyu shouts as the ride restarts again, this time in reverse. Jihoon himself can't help his shouts. But everything slowed down when they are in the middle of the second inverted loop.

"Shit, Jihoon, why do we stopped?" Mingyu asked him, voice shaking.

"Uhm to be honest, I don't know." A cackle was heard.

"Dear Space Shuttle riders. Please stay calm. This is to inform you that the ride occurred a minor technical problem. It would only take a few minutes to restart the ride. Apologies for the inconvenience. Please stay calm as we address this issue. Thank you."

"Well, that's why," Jihoon said and leaned back the seat. Truthfully, he's starting to get light-headed. They are inverted a hundred feet above the ground. Now that he processed that thought, the situation felt a bit scary. Mingyu whined beside him.

"Now I'm afraid to open my eyes," he said pitifully.

"You mean you had your eyes closed all this time? That's cheating."

"I can still feel the ride though! It's just fair." He rebutted. He whined again. "Hyung, I'm scared. What if we just dropped down suddenly?"

"Shhh. Mingyu, don't think like that."

"But-"

"Here, hold my hand." Jihoon reached out and patted Mingyu's fist closes to him. Mingyu immediately clasped his hands and intertwined their fingers for a good measure. He's hand is a bit cold and sweaty. "If you suddenly dropped down, I'll hold on to you," he joked and squeezed Mingyu's hand.

Mingyu squeezed back.

"Yeah, but could you hold on? I mean you're small and my hand is slippery." Jihoon squeezed his hand painfully until Mingyu yelped.

"Excuse you, I could carry 60 kgs. Your hands are your problem though,"

"Hyuuuung," Mingyu whined while Jihoon laughed. He stared far ahead.

"Hey, Mingyu. I think you can open your eyes. Just, don't look down- or up?- the ground. Just look straight ahead."

He could feel the second Mingyu opened his eyes because the grip the other have on his hand is painful. But then it got loosen when he heard a sigh.

"Wow!" Mingyu exclaimed beside him. Far ahead is an upside-down picture of clear sky, white clouds, and blue-green sea with the low sun reflecting on the water, painting the nearby clouds and water reflection with orange. "It's pretty!"

"Yeah?" Jihoon leaned forward to peek at Mingyu.

He wanted to tell himself that the blush on his face is because of all the blood rushing on his head due to their inverted position, not because of the sight of Mingyu's face; tanned, amazed, and touched with sunshine.

"Thank you for patiently waiting. We will now restart the ride."

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It seems like the technical problem did not scare Seungkwan and Hansol, as they lined up again for the second time. Mingyu and Jihoon choose to back out, Mingyu never wanted to feel that kind of terror again, and Jihoon is still feeling a little light-headed.

"Hey, it's kinda embarrassing but thanks for holding my hand and talking to me while I'm panicking. It means a lot," Mingyu poked Jihoon. The other just shrugs.

"No problemo," Mingyu smiled, being with Jihoon is easy, even if they just met today and just started talking maybe a couple of hours ago.

"You're cool, hyung. You know, that's the first time I had my eyes wide open during a ride. It's the first time I saw beyond the blurry images while the ride goes on." Mingyu shared timidly, tracing little circles on his leg.

"So, how was it?" Jihoon asks just as quietly, as if this conversation is not meant to be held in a park full of crowd, something meant for just the two of them.

Mingyu tried to remember the view; there's the sky, the water, a bit of tree, and a tiny red Jihoon face peeking at the side with his black hair brushed away from his forehead due to gravity. 'Cute.'

"It's okay, I guess. Not something I'll risk my life and take a picture of, though." Mingyu chuckles, even if he almost wishes he could have taken a photo of Jihoon's funny face.

"Well, I know where you could take a good picture while not risking your life," Jihoon said while looking somewhere above Mingyu's head. Mingyu followed it and saw the Ferris Wheel.

"Oh yeaaaah. I remember I promised Seungkwan to let him ride that alone with Hansol." Mingyu said nodding. "I guess it's a mandatory last ride for them to finally confess to each other," Jihoon snorted.

"We're just a plot device to them, huh? Don't worry, you don't even have to help. I think they already got that part figured out." Jihoon said as the two stumbled towards them coming from the ride, leaning towards each other and laughing together.

"Hey, since you two already got rested, why don't we line up the Ferris Wheel now?" Seungkwan said after stopping in front of them, discreetly eyeing Mingyu to take a hint.

"Yeah, we'll just take a break while waiting. I heard the line's pretty long when it starts to get late." Hansol said, already tagging Seungkwan with him. Mingyu and Jihoon shared a look.

"Let's just get this over with." Jihoon surrendered and let them lead the way.

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Just like Hansol said, the line was quite long for the Ferris Wheel. They managed to eat while waiting and chat for a few more minutes before they embarked.

When they teased the other two to ride on their own, Jihoon didn't realize he will be alone with Mingyu as well. It was when the operator teasingly asked 'them lovers' to ride too when it finally dawned on him. He and Mingyu looked at each other before turning away, too embarrassed to correct the guy.

The chill of the early dusk is almost unbearable. Jihoon shivered when he sat down the cool seat. Mingyu carefully seated in front of him, holding tightly on the circular table in the center of their carriage.

The carriage's slow movement bores Jihoon so he turned his attention to Mingyu. He looked tensed, staring at his hands only. Jihoon gripped the circular table too.

"Do you know that we'll turn if you do this?" he asked and twists the circular table to the right, making the whole carriage turn to the left. Mingyu shrieked and hold Jihoon's wrists tightly as the other guy laughs out loud.

"HYUNG! STOP IT! What if we fall?!" Mingyu worriedly chastises him. Jihoon tried to calm himself down.

"Sorry, you look constipated before. I thought you want to see good scenery? You should look outside now," Jihoon commented and waved his left hand (still held by Mingyu) to the side. Mingyu turned his head and gasps.

"Wow." Mingyu could only say.

They are quite high now, but they could only see the sky, colored rose quartz, and serenity, with the sun hanging low in the horizon, sunlight almost out. The reflection of the sky in the sea is fascinating. Little dots of stars are already shining, and lights from lamps are flickering.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Jihoon suggested. Mingyu almost let go of Jihoon's wrists to grab his phone, but stopped himself and pouted at him.
"But you'll make this thing turn again!" Mingyu whined while the other snickered.

"I won't, I promise," Jihoon said, holding out his hands. Mingyu squinted at him for a few seconds, then released his wrists. He carefully watched Jihoon as he placed his hands on his lap.

Mingyu stared some more before carefully moving beside Jihoon. He keeps on tightly holding into the table and the railing of the carriage until he was beside him. Jihoon raised his eyebrow.

"So that I'll know if you do something funny," Mingyu stuck his tongue out, then proceeded to take a picture of the scenery.

With Mingyu beside him, Jihoon felt a lot warmer, so he let him be. Mingyu turned to take a picture of Jihoon, then posed for a selfie with him.

"Hyung, come on. Smile!" Mingyu said while holding his phone in one hand, then a V sign on the other. Jihoon holds unto his shoulders then gave a small smile. Mingyu took a picture, then Jihoon jokingly shoved him a little, making him almost throw the phone outside.

"HYUNG!!!" Mingyu whined again and clutched his hand on Jihoon's biceps, crowding towards him in fear. Jihoon was laughing loudly.

"Alright. I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I won't do that again." He said, laughing. Mingyu is almost hugging him and whining on his ear about being mean, and Jihoon felt warm inside out.

🖤🐶🖤

When they parted ways, Seungkwan kept showing Mingyu pictures of him and Vernon from the Ferris Wheel and continued recounting the day as if he's not with him.

"So yeah, Hansol and I enjoyed this day. Maybe we could do this again sometime? Hansol also has this other roommate that is from the US. Let's come again with Seokmin," he said.

"Yeah, let's do that. But are you sure you want us to be with you? I mean I think you and Hansol could handle yourselves alone. You don't need to invite us to have a date." Mingyu teased him. Seungkwan glared at him, then proceeded to poke him.

"You say that but you look cozy with Jihoon! You even posted your selfie with him in your IG!" He teased back.

"Because it's a good shot! Stop teasing." Mingyu shoved him, thanking the dim atmosphere to hide his burning cheeks.

"Whatever. I'm sure Seokmin's date is also a good guy. Hansol has great friends." Seungkwan said. Mingyu stopped on his tracks and stared at him until to paused a turned a confused face to Mingyu.

"Date? Wait, are you setting us up for a date?" Mingyu asked and the other shrugged.

"Duh. I can't be the only one to step up our dating game!" Seoungkwan said and pulled Mingyu to start walking again. "I guess I'm a little unsure about you and Jihoon, but I see the appeal of 'opposite attracts'," he said, nudging Mingyu and smiling at him. Mingyu shyly scratched his burning cheeks.

"Huh. You're lucky Jihoon's cute."

"Yeah, I know you're a sucker for tiny hyungs."