Chapter Text
Of all the reactions he could have possibly gotten when Minho decided to ask Jisung to prom, hearing “You’re not allowed to ask me!” was the last response he would have ever expected. Sure, maybe it would have been too much to expect a ‘Yes’ straight away, but if Jisung really didn’t want to go, he was expecting at least a ‘Sorry’ or even a flat out ‘No’ coming from his boyfriend of two and a half years instead.
Minho blinked a few times as Jisung pouted at him, before snatching the prom tickets from Minho’s hands. “You’re not allowed to ask me!” he repeated, stuffing the tickets in his pocket and crossing his arms angrily in front of him.
“Umm… can I ask why?” Minho finally stuttered in confusion, scratching the back of his neck.
“I’ve been planning the way I was going to ask you for weeks now, you can’t ruin it!” Jisung whined in response, looking over at Changbin - who stood there watching this all with an amused look on his face. “Now you know though, and it’s not going to be a surprise!”
“Um, but it’s my senior prom so shouldn’t I be asking you-”
“Listen Minho, forget this conversation ever happened okay?” Jisung waved his arms in front of Minho, as if doing so would wipe away Minho’s memories of their whole conversation. “I just need you to wait a few days, and then everything will be all set for you, okay?” Taking Minho’s silent confusion as his answer, Jisung pulled Minho into a quick hug before racing down the hall, nearly crashing into Jeongin at the end.
Minho blinked once. And then again. Slowly, he turned towards Changbin, who still stood there with an annoying smirk.
“What… just happened.”
“What appears to have just happened,” Changbin finally chimed in, snickering. “Is that you got rejected by Jisung, got your prom tickets stolen, and somehow ruined this big surprise that Jisung was working on. And hey, all before second period too!”
❤❤❤
Despite the utmost enthusiasm that Jisung had intercepted Minho’s attempt to ask him to prom, Minho had pretty much forgotten the whole scene by the time Friday afternoon rolled around, more focused on getting out of school and into his bed, where the plan was to not leave it until next Monday morning. That’s why the small piece of paper taped to his locker threw him off, the familiar handwritten For Minho’s eyes only!! pretty much confirming his aforementioned plans would have to wait.
He had hardly seen Jisung that past week, ever since the time when Jisung had rejected his question and stolen his tickets. Everytime Minho tried to catch the other during school hours, Jisung would always give him a surprised face, before dashing off on the pretense of “not wanting to ruin the surprise!” It was cute the first time, but by Friday, Minho just wanted to see his boyfriend for more than two seconds at a time.
Quickly, he pulled the paper off his locker.
Hi Minho!＼(≧▽≦)／
Welcome to Han Jisung’s absolutely extraordinary prom scavenger hunt! In this scavenger hunt, I’ve created various clues that will lead you to different places that are special to the two of us, and at each of these locations will be someone waiting with a task for you to do! The rules are simple, just follow the clues and complete all the tasks until you reach the final destination, where your amazing boyfriend Jisung will be waiting!
Your first task: Find the person who introduced the two of us!
“Wow, would you look at that, your first task is already done.” Minho tilted his head towards Changbin, who had appeared out of nowhere right as Minho finished reading the note.
“Really now? Because I don’t think I remember a Seo Changbin being there.” Minho snickered, putting the note in his pocket and crossing his arms at Changbin. “You sure you’re the answer to this? Maybe I should be looking for Chan or Hyunjin instead.”
“Screw you, you know I was the one who introduced the two of you. You never let me forget it.” Changbin rolled his eyes, pulling another slip of paper from his pocket. “Anyways, congrats on completing your first task, even though I had to pretty much do the work for you.” He handed the second note to Minho.
If you’re reading this note, then you got the first task correct!
(“No he didn’t”, Minho heard Changbin mutter next to him, and elbowed him in the stomach in response.)
Changbinnie will be your guide for the scavenger hunt. I know that you’ll have no problem getting all the clues and tasks correct, but in the slight miniscule chance that you forget something, Changbin has a general idea of where everything is, and he also is allowed to contact me for help!
“Guess you’re stuck with me the rest of this day huh,” Minho commented. “How much did Jisung have to pay you to do this?”
Changbin scoffed. “Maybe I did it to help Jisung plan an amazing surprise for you?” Minho looked at Changbin, one eyebrow raised. “20 bucks. Plus he’s helping me with my latest project.” Minho snickered at that, before returning to the note in his hand.
Well, the second location is this:
The place where our paths first crossed, amidst all the shining stars and underneath the glittering lights.
“And he calls himself a lyricist,” Minho laughed fondly, before looping his arm around Changbin’s neck. “Let’s go minion. I’ve got a squirrel to find.”
❤❤❤
Attending an art school had many perks to it, one of the many being the various facilities their school provided for the artistic endeavors of their students. One of Minho’s favorites was what the student population referred to as the “Dancetorium”. Somewhere between a dance studio and actual performance stage, it was akin to a small concert hall, with a wide and spacious dance floor positioned at the front. It wasn’t uncommon for the room to be booked for dance video filmings or other performances, and the dance classes would be using the room on other days for on stage practices.
On that day however, the room was empty, with Changbin and Minho entering a semi-darkened room, seats completely void of anyone. There was only one other person in there, someone who was lying flat on the stage in the front. He turned his head slightly towards the two as Changbin let the door close behind them. Minho grinned.
“Look who’s arrived to put you out of your misery, Hyunjin.” He said, making his way closer to the stage. Hyunjin sat up, a pout on his face.
“About time you guys showed up, Jisung’s had me waiting here as soon as last period ended, that was like an hour ago.” He grumbled, but there was no malice in his voice.
“Excuse you, you should be grateful I decided to grace you with my presence like this.” Minho retorted, plopping down right next to Hyunjin. “Well, I’m here now, so let’s get this over with, I guess.”
Hyunjin sighed, rolling his eyes at Minho’s nonchalance. “Rude much, be a little more enthusiastic about this, would you.” He said, handing Minho a piece of paper.
Yay! You’ve made it this far already! Hopefully you didn’t keep Hyunjin waiting too long!
Do you remember the first day that we met here? I know it’s cheesy to say this, but I’ll always be grateful to Hyunjin for dragging me here that day, because if he didn’t, our paths may never have crossed. I’ll also be grateful that he pointed you out to me as one of his favorite dancers on YouTube, because when he did, I first caught sight of one of the prettiest boys I have ever seen. And I guess I’ll be thankful that he pushed me to talk to you first, and told Changbin to introduce the two of us.
So maybe it was all thanks to Hyunjin, or maybe it was all just a stroke of plain luck, but everything really fell perfectly in place that day where I was fated to meet you.
Anyways, Hyunjin will give you your second task here! Good luck Minho! o(≧▽≦)o I believe in you!
“So Jisung gave a list of questions and answers about him.” Hyunjin pulled a paper from his pocket. “So I personally think you should get at least 90% correct, but I guess Jisung doesn’t have as much faith in you. You need to get at least half correct before I can give you your next clue.” He unfolded the sheet, scanning the top question.
“Okay, first question. What is Jisung’s go to ice cream order at Nayeon’s Sweets Shop?” Minho smiled to himself. If that was the level of questions, then he was also pretty sure he’d get 90% in no time.
“Easy, chocolate.”
“Oh that’s not it,” Changbin chimed in, picking at his nails boredly. “He only gets chocolate ice cream when he’s with you, since it’s your favorite flavor and he wants to do the whole “share a cone between two people” thing with you.” He paused, looking at Minho disinterestedly. “His favorite is strawberry.”
Minho squinted. Hyunjin snorted.
“Changbin’s right, strawberry is indeed the correct answer. Sorry Minho~” Minho scoffed at Hyunjin’s glee, not a hint of remorse in his eyes. “Okay, well, maybe this one will be a bit easier. What did you guys eat during your first date?”
Minho hesitated. One of the ongoing “disagreements” he and Jisung had throughout their time together was where exactly their first date was, with the two of them having completely different events in mind. But this was Jisung who was asking, so-
“We got churros and a hot dog.”
“ Bzzz! That is incorrect, Jisung has pizza as your first date meal!” Hyunjin slightly scooted away, as if realizing the death glare that Minho was sending his way, but the delight plastered on his face had seemed to only increase. “Wow Minho, I can’t believe you don’t know that-”
“Okay shut up Hwang,” Minho reached over and flicked his knees, feeling slight satisfaction as Hyunjin dramatically grabbed it, wincing. “You all know that Jisung and I can't agree on the location of our first date, it was a 1/2 chance." He rolled his eyes at the overly theatrical face that Hyunjin was making, flicking him once again. "Just get on with it, next question.”
“Fine, since you asked so nicely.” Hyunjin pouted, rubbing at his knee. He continued, “Jisung’s favorite 3racha song.”
Minho smirked. “'Wow'.” This time, Changbin smacked his arm. “Okay oww sorry, it’s 'For You'!”
“Is that your final answer?” Minho nodded, rubbing his shoulder and glaring in Changbin’s direction. “Well, should have kept with your original one, since that’s what Jisung said.” This time, it was Changbin looking incredulously over, as he slid next to Hyunjin and peeked on the paper.
“There is no way- oh damn he really did write that.” Changbin squinted suspiciously. "Damn Jisung, I thought we had a mutual agreement to never bring up 'Wow' again."
“Hey now, it’s a good song!” Minho stuck his tongue out before throwing his hands up in a mock defensive stance against Changbin. “I’m sure you’ll find your princess Fiona someday- okay okay I’ll stop what’s the next question Hyunjin- ”
“Uhh,” Hyunjin scrambled for his paper, reading it just as Minho pushed Changbin off of him. “Jisung’s favorite color.”
“It’s red.”
“He…” Now Hyunjin was the one to go into defensive mode, scampering back even more. “...said it was the color of your eyes-”
“My eyes are fucking brown!” Minho exploded in annoyance, smacking at the floor where Hyunjin was sitting two seconds ago. “The same as almost 80% of the world’s eye colors! Does he want me to get these right?”
“Don’t hate the messenger, Jisung was the one who wrote these." Hyunjin slightly winced at the scowl Minho sent his way. “Anyways! I'll move on. Umm... though, next question. Which one of your dance choreography does Jisung like best.”
“Excuse you, he should like all of them equally.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You better accept it as one, all my choreography is top tier level and he shouldn’t play any favorites.” Minho crossed his arms, daring Hyunjin to say otherwise. “What, what was Jisung’s answer?”
Hyunjin chuckled nervously. Minho saw the same look on his face. “Um, the ‘Dawn’ choreography.”
“I stand by my words. I said all my choreography, so technically I got this right.”
“I… that’s not how it works- hey don't take it out on me it's not my fault that Jisung has this weird idea of romance or whatever ahh Minho that actually hurts-"
“Just give him the damn point Hyunjin, he’s got none so far and we can’t let him fail that miserably.” Changbin finally cut in tiredly, sighing as he looked between the two of them, who had started to play wrestle (though, in Hyunjin's case, Minho was winning). Plucking the paper out of Hyunjin's hands, he scanned downwards for the next question. "Okay Minho, stop pulling at Hyunjin's hair and listen up. The place that Jisung wants to visit with you."
Minho paused. Hyunjin took his chance and wrestled out of Minho's arms, hiding behind Changbin, but Minho could care less, a fond smile starting to appear on his face.
"Maybe I’ll go to New York next year instead and you can show me around-"
This answer, Minho knew for sure.
“It’s New York. He wants to visit New York with me.” Hyunjin grabbed the paper from Changbin and checked the answer, scoffing slightly.
“Finally got one right.” Minho rolled his eyes at Hyunjin's sarcastic tone. He still frowned however, starting to feel slightly nervous. Regardless of how ridiculous the questions and their answers were, it didn’t change the fact that he was well on his way to not finishing this task, and the smug grins on both Changbin and Hyunjin’s face told Minho that they were more than happy to let Minho fail this early on. He groaned slightly to himself. Time to pull out the big cards .
“Okay, question seven. Where did the two of you guys go for your first-“
“Let’s make a deal Hyunjin.” he cut in. Hyunjin looked up at Minho, unimpressed.
“Really Minho? If you don’t know where you went for your first anniversary I’m really going to be disappointed-“
“Shut up, I know when it is.” Minho cut in. “But I already know my chances of getting 50% right is probably low considering the absolutely ridiculous questions and answers so far, and I really don’t have the time to sit here and over analyze what exactly Jisung’s chaotic brain would have answered. So like I said, let’s make a deal.”
“Please, there’s nothing you can offer me that’ll make me give you the clue without finishing-“
“I have Seungmin singing videos.” Hyunjin froze, and Minho could see his eyes quivering, the same look he has whenever he is conflicted.
“B-big deal, I’ve been to all his performances, I have videos of him performing-”
“Yeah but this was one of his practice videos, he needed someone to film it for his record project he’s doing…” Changbin let a slight scoff at this, and Minho smirked, knowing he had successfully reeled Hyunjin in. Seungmin was notorious about not letting anyone (or rather, not letting Hyunjin) see him when he was in the practice studio - claiming that he wanted everyone to only see the best version of himself and not the hard work that led up to it. For the most part, everyone respected this. But Minho also knew that Hyunjin lived for those moments when he could see the rawness of Seungmin’s vocals, hear all of Seungmin’s passion and drive in the moments leading up to his actual performances. For reasons still unbeknownst to Minho, Hyunjin lived for the times when Seungmin would let Hyunjin see his practices, and had a growing collection of Seungmin vocal clips and mp3 files on his phone. Felix liked to joke that the day Seungmin made his official debut, Hyunjin would hold the title of his biggest fan and probably open up his first fanclub. Minho didn’t doubt it.
“Well, if you thought you could bribe me with that, then you would be right, except Jisung already promised me clips from Seungmin’s tryouts for the spring show - so your loss.” Hyunjin sat back, crossing his arms as if daring Minho to try again.
“Anyone else slightly weirded out that we trade Seungmin singing videos like this,” Changbin muttered under his breath. Both Hyunjin and Minho ignored him.
“Okay, well, remember that time we were supposed to go to karaoke but you couldn't make it? Guess who got a bit excited that night and was singing some got7 songs~”
“B-big deal, when we go karaoke again -”
“He was dancing too.” Minho finished, leaning back in triumph. Next to him, Changbin let out an audible curse.
“Damn it Hyunjin don’t give in-”
“I-I can just ask Felix or Jeongin if they g-got it on video-”
“Please, Jeongin is the most technologically illiterate out of all of us, and Felix isn’t going to betray his bestie like that. Me, on the other hand? I’ll gladly sell out my friends to get what I want.” And face Seungmin’s wrath later on, he thought to himself. Oh well. What has to be done, must be done.
Minho could see Hyunjin’s eyes quivering even more. Hook, line, and -
“Damn it fine, I’ll take your stupid trade.” Sinker. “But you have to do something first.” Or not.
“Seriously Hwang, he was dancing to Lullaby-”
“ Listen, just do this for me so I don’t feel a thousand shades of guilt for allowing you to sell out both my best friend and the literal love of my life.” Minho huffed, but sat back, crossing his arms.
“Okay, so Jisung gave me one last question, said that on the off chance you didn’t get half of them right, I could give this one to you as a hail mary pass. If you can answer this correctly, I’ll take the Seungmin videos and give you your next clue.” He frowned. “Damn, that makes me sound so bad.”
“All for Lullaby, am I right.” Minho grinned. Hyunjin sighed. “If it makes you feel better, he did Eclipse too.” Changbin rolled his eyes at both of them.
Hyunjin looked conflicted for a moment, before shrugging it off. “What can I say, I’m an easy man to please.” He took another piece of paper from his pocket.
“First thing Jisung ever said to you.” Changbin groaned.
“Come on, if Minho can’t even remember their anniversary, what makes you think he’ll remember the first thing Jisung said to him-”
“I know what it is.” Changbin and Hyunjin both blinked at Minho. Sitting back, Minho smiled gleefully.
“It was the day of the solo tryouts during Changbin and my freshman year, when you and Jisung came to visit our school, right?” Hyunjin nodded, amazement in his eyes. Sending a mental apology to both Seungmin and Jisung, Minho continued:
“Well, the first thing Jisung ever told me was-”
◄◄
Minho was - to say the least - feeling nervous. Looking around the room, everyone else of the two dozen or so students here for tryouts were already warming up or going through their routines, but he still couldn’t bring himself to do the same.
It was pretty ridiculous, considering Minho had been to so many dance competitions before, faced many opponents during these meetups, and even won first at a good portion of them. This simple school tryout should have been a breeze for him. But being the only freshman trying for the solo at their end of the year dance showcase, a position typically given to seniors, was a whole new ballpark. He could feel all the others stare at him, and hear the whispers around of what chance he even had, or why someone like him would even bother to try out.
“Where the hell are you Changbin,” Minho muttered under his breath, his eyes darting to the door in search of the other freshman. Changbin had promised to come by and show his support, and, as much as Minho hated to admit it, he really needed him right now.
A familiar - two familiar faces finally appeared at the doorway, Minho’s heart leaping at the sight of both Changbin and an upperclassman they had befriended earlier that year, Chan. Chan spotted Minho and waved, making his way towards Minho, but Changbin was still searching the room, before his eyes widened in recognition and he raced towards… the opposite direction of Minho.
“Some friends of Changbin’s are here to see the tryouts, he’s just going over to greet them now.” Chan answered his unanswered question, grinning brightly at Minho. True to his word, Changbin was talking to two boys, hands waving animatedly in his and Chan’s direction. “They’re incoming freshmen he knew from middle school, and I think one of them is joining the dance program, so they came by to see some of what he’ll be doing next year.”
Minho sighed. It was one thing to embarrass himself in front of a group of seniors who would be leaving the school anyways, but a majority of the spectators did seem to be new students, here for a glimpse of their school life to come. This just meant Minho could quite possibly leave a humiliating legacy of himself for the new students - or rather, an up-close exhibition of why you should never audition for a solo part as a freshman.
He glanced back at Changbin and his friends. The two’s backs were turned towards Minho, but from his viewpoint, he could see both Changbin and the raven-black haired one were teasing the blonde over something. After a minute more or so, the trio seemed to come to an agreement, before walking towards him and Chan.
“Hey Minho,” Changbin nodded towards him, before waving lazily towards the two that followed. “These two newbies I have here are Hyunjin,” - the raven haired boy waved brightly at him - “and Jisung.” Unlike his friend, Jisung merely nodded in acknowledgment, halfway hidden behind Hyunjin with his cap pulled down low.
“I’ve seen your videos on YouTube, I’m such a big fan,” Hyunjin gushed, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “I’m an incoming dance major, so hopefully we can do collabs or performances together in the future? Your style is so amazing, I’d love to learn from you!”
Minho smiled at Hyunjin’s praise and nodded in agreement, but inside his stomach was turning even more.
Chan looked around the room, whistling at the growing number of spectators. “Wow, there’s a whole lot more people than I thought there would be. Sana said JYP himself was going to be coming to the tryouts, guess that might be true.” Hyunjin perked up at this as he scanned the room, but Minho looked away instead, Chan’s words not at all helping with his nerves.
“Hey,” Minho blinked, as the blonde - Jisung - came to his side. He noticed the red cheeks and how Jisung was still avoiding Minho’s eyes completely, but his mouth was pursed in determination. “Umm… I… you look nervous.” He winced. “Sorry, didn’t mean to say that.”
“It’s fine,” Minho smiled softly. The other three were deep in another conversation, so Minho angled himself to look Jisung in the eye. He wasn’t sure why Jisung was acting so shy around him, but the momentary distraction from everyone else in the room was welcome.
“Y-you’re going to do fine though!” Jisung blurted out, his wide eyes growing even more. Minho chuckled softly.
“And how would you know,” he teased. “I thought Hyunjin was the dance major who watched my videos.” Seeing Jisung blush even harder made Minho smile wider.
“W-well, I-I mean, Hyunjin said you were really good a-and honestly Hyunjin is a good dancer himself so if he says something like that- like that I I mean I would assume it’s true and-”
Minho felt his heart leap, but not in the same nervous manner as before. He wasn’t sure what it was with Jisung, but despite this being their first meeting with each other, Jisung’s roundabout way of reassuring Minho was working. Watching the boy sputter out his explanation was honestly cute, and Minho found himself grinning as Jisung kept rambling on.
“-and I mean I think he might have tried to show me a video before but I’m sorry I can’t remember if I saw it or not-”
“Well, I guess you’ll have to watch my dance videos before making such bold statements,” Minho cut in. Jisung turned away embarrassed, and Minho found himself slightly frowning as the other closed himself off. He impulsively reached out and grabbed Jisung’s wrist, drawing Jisung’s attention back towards him.
“But really, thanks,” he said softly, searching Jisung’s face for any signs of discomfort. Jisung still had on a timid look, but was listening still, his own eyes darting between Minho’s face and the hand around his wrist. “It… It means a lot to me that you think I’ll do well, even if you’re just saying it to make me feel better.”
“I… I’m not.” Jisung replied, smiling weakly. “It… It’s the truth. I mean yeah, I may not have ever seen your videos or know what you’re planning to perform today, but I do know that you probably spent hours trying to perfect your performance, probably went through all the steps so many times over in your head. I mean, it’s super cliche to say as long as you worked hard your efforts will show, but it’s really true. So that’s why I think, no wait, why I’m s-sure you’ll do well.” Jisung faltered off at the end, averting his eyes from Minho’s and biting his lip nervously.
“S-sorry, I p-probably said too much, especially since we just met…”
Minho didn’t answer, instead just taking in everything that Jisung was saying. Despite the generic message behind Jisung’s words, it was the sentiment that really got to Minho. He had heard the same words of “you’ll do fine” and “all your practice will show in your performance” many times before, but hearing it from Jisung was completely different. It might have been the wide-eyed look Jisung was giving the floor right then, or how Minho could see Jisung’s hands still shaking in Minho’s loosening grasp, but Minho had never felt such genuinity from anyone before, and for the first time in a long time, Minho found himself truly believing Jisung’s words. Because it was true. He had practiced long for this moment, and deserved to be at the tryouts just as much as everyone else.
And suddenly, in that moment, Minho knew that despite this only being their first meeting without the promise of more, Minho wanted so badly to know more about Jisung, to have a relationship that would extend past just having a mutual friend in Changbin. Because from just their few moments alone to speak together, Minho never had felt so comfortable around someone else before, felt so reassured or comforted in such a nerve-wracking atmosphere.
In a moment of bravery, Minho touched Jisung’s hand again, bringing the other’s attention back to him.
“Thank you.” he said simply, but hoped his face could convey the intent of his words, show Jisung his hand of friendship that he was offering, and how Minho was hoping for Jisung to accept. His eyes searched Jisung’s face for the answer.
If the shy but sincere smile Jisung returned back was an indication, Jisung not only saw Minho’s unspoken question, but wanted the same.
(Minho didn’t end up getting the spot, the solo going to a senior as expected. But he still performed his best, giving his all and showing the result of his hard work. No one threw dirty looks his way, or sent whispered snide remarks behind his back, and Minho still left with his dignity attached, a smile on his face, and Jisung’s number in his phone.)