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Jun liked to believe that he knew Minghao best out of anyone (after Minghao’s parents of course).
Jun had known Minghao since they were kids. Their moms had been close friends before their existence, so of course the two were introduced when they were able to understand the concept of friendship. Since their introduction, they have been inseparable. They went to the same primary school, middle school, and high school. They had classes together, ate lunch together, and suffered through the many nights of studying for the college entrance exam (you guessed it) together. They were ecstatic to see that they both got into the same university and happy to find a good group of friends in the process.
Minghao was his best friend. He knew Minghao better than anyone, which was why, when they were hanging out with their friends after all their classes were done for the day, Jun could tell something was off about him.
They were sitting at one of the tables in the dining hall. In sight of the holiday season, the dining hall was decorated with snowflakes and lights. There was a Christmas tree in the corner decorated with ornaments, lights, and a star on top. A Christmas movie was playing on the tvs.
Jun looked back to his friends. Wonwoo and Mingyu were eating and feeding each other while smiling. (He knew they were happy since they were finally together, so he tried not to cringe at the couple.) Seokmin and Soonyoung were in their own world, telling jokes and laughing. Jihoon and Seungkwan were talking about voice lessons. Normally, he and Minghao would be having one of their own conversations, but instead, Minghao was sitting at the other edge of the table, away from their group of friends. His elbow was resting on the table, leaning his head on the palm of his hand. He was picking at the food in front of him.
Jun turned to Jihoon and Seungkwan.
“What’s wrong with Minghao? Did something happen?” Jun asked them.
Jihoon and Seungkwan put a pause in their conversation and turned their attention to Jun when they heard his question. They looked at each other, worried, before turning back to him.
“Did he not tell you?” Jihoon asked.
Jun shook his head.
Jihoon looked over at Minghao before back at Jun.
“He got a letter from the art museum yesterday,” Jihoon started off, “They didn’t accept his painting for the art exhibition.”
Jun’s eyes widened.
“What really? Why?”
“There wasn’t really a reason,” Seungkwan replied, “They just said something along the lines of ‘thank you for your painting. It was good, but we’ve decided to go with other pieces of art. Thank you for understanding.’”
“It took a big hit to Minghao’s self-esteem,” Jihoon continued, “Minghao’s starting to doubt himself and his talent. He thinks that, if he can’t get into this art exhibition, he isn’t good enough for the world to see his paintings.”
Jun frowned, turning to Minghao, remembering what he had said about the art exhibition. There were going to be top artists there and the chance to network at the event. If his painting was accepted, it could go beyond the exhibition, possibly to bigger art exhibitions with even more well known artists. It was why, despite it getting close to finals week, Minghao spent extra time in the art studio working on the painting.
It was Minghao’s dream for the world to see his paintings. It’s what he always worked so hard for, and after the hard work of finishing one, he always looked so proud. And for some art museum to not accept his painting and make Minghao doubt his talents? Jun hated it, hated to see Minghao like this.
Sadness filled Jun’s heart as Minghao sighed again, barely touching his food. He wanted to cheer Minghao up, but he didn’t know how. Millions of ideas buzzing through his head. A card, gift, balloons… none of those ideas seemed right.
Looking outside and watching the snowfall. His eyes then trailed down tho the ground, where there was a fresh layer of snow, untouched. It was then when he got the perfect idea. Immediately, he grabbed his backpack and stood up. He said a quick goodbye to all of his friends before he walked over to Minghao and pulled him up from his chair.
Minghao looked up at him.
“Jun? What are you doing?”
“Come on. We’re getting out of here.”
Minghao gave him a questioning look but reluctantly grabbed his backpack, said bye to their friends as well, and followed Jun out of the dining hall. Jun led them out of the building and to his dorm. Once they got to Jun’s dorm, he opened the door and walked inside.
Once inside, he put down his backpack and grabbed his jacket, hat, gloves, and another pair of track pants.
“Jun, what are you doing?” Minghao asked again.
"Remember when we were kids, and we'd use to build a snowman the first day we saw snow on the ground?"
"Yeah... it was our tradition," Minghao said with a nod, "Not much of a tradition if we stopped it during high school."
"It just got too busy to continue it unfortunately," Jun said, sighing after, "But, there's nothing wrong with starting it up again. So… we’re going to go outside and build a snowman. Besides, you need to get your mind off of things."
Minghao tilted his head.
“Aren’t we a bit… too old for that though?”
“Come on, you’re never too old to build a snowman,” Jun insisted, “And besides, with your talent, this will be the best snowman the world has ever seen.”
Minghao gave him a small smile.
“Okay.”
Jun beamed before leading Minghao out of his dorm.
“Let’s just stop by your dorm to get your hat and gloves and stuff, then we’ll go from there.”
Minghao nodded. And with that, they walked out. Jun closed the door and locked it behind them. They headed to Minghao’s dorm, just a level below Jun’s dorm, and went to grab his stuff. There, they put on another layer of track pants, hat, gloves, boots, and topped it off with a jacket. Once they were dressed, they walked out of Minghao’s dorm and out of the building.
They walked around campus, trying to find a place to start. They settled for the courtyard, where there was a new, untouched patch of snow.
“Alright. I’ll start making the base, and you can start with the middle,” Jun suggested.
Minghao nodded in agreement before they made balls of snow and rolled them around the courtyard, rolling them until they changed from a small snowball to a bigger ball. When Jun decided that the base was big enough, he pushed it into the middle of their area of snow. He looked out for Minghao, who looked just about done with the second part. He started to roll it over to the base as Jun got started on the head.
While working, Jun could feel eyes on him, but whenever Jun looked over to Minghao, Minghao wasn’t even looking in his direction. He then looked around to see if anyone was watching them but saw that there was no one else in the courtyard. Anyone that was there simply walked by. Jun didn’t think much of it, insisted it was nothing, and instead kept rolling.
When Jun was done rolling the head around, he brought it over to and put on the middle part Minghao had already put on. As they assembled their snowman, Jun glanced over at Minghao. As time went by, Jun could tell Minghao’s mood was slowly getting better: he was smiling more, and that made Jun feel happy.
When they got their snowman assembled, they looked around for stones and sticks for the eyes and arms. It was then when Jun decided he would address Minghao’s mood from earlier.
“So… Minghao,” Jun started off, “I noticed… you were upset earlier, in the dining hall.”
The smile on Minghao’s face noticeably dropped.
“Oh… you did?”
“I mean, it wasn’t hard to notice,” Jun lightly joked.
His smile then dropped, moving into a serious mood.
“Jihoon and Seungkwan told me that your painting didn’t get selected for the art exhibition.”
Minghao sighed.
“Yeah…”
Jun looked around and saw some stones and sticks they could use. He picked them up as Minghao did the same before walking back.
“You know… that art exhibition doesn’t decide how good you are as an artist. They’ll be more of them, probably with better opportunities.”
“I know…”
With that, they got back to their snowman. They started to place the stones on the snowman’s face and the sticks in the middle section.
“It’s just that… this is the biggest one this year,” Minghao said, putting the stones on the face of their snowman, “It’s been promoted for a long time, so I knew getting into this one would help me get a jumpstart. Not getting this one makes me feel like my paintings aren't good enough and... and that I’m not good enough.”
“That’s not true at all,” Jun immediately retorted, dropping the sticks in his hands, “You’re the best painter I’ve ever known, so don’t you dare think you’re not good enough.”
He paused.
“You can’t let this one get you down. You’re more resilient than that. I know you are,” Jun said, “You’re destined for great things, Minghao. If you don’t get it today, you’ll definitely get another day, possibly soon, possibly later; time is crazy like that. You just can’t give up. The Minghao I know wouldn’t.”
Minghao’s face flushed before looking away.
“Thanks, Jun.”
“Of course. That’s what friends are for, right?”
Minghao hesitated before he nodded.
“Right.”
Jun gave Minghao a smile before he picked up the stones he dropped. Once they were done putting on the stones and sticks, Jun noticed their snowman still had an incomplete smile, so Jun went back to the same spot to get more stones.
When he walked back, he noticed that Minghao was stuck in his own world, unaware of what was happening around him.
And it was then that Jun got another idea. He smirked before he stuffed the stones in his pocket and crept up to Minghao. As he stepped closer, Minghao still became unaware of what Jun was planning.
Once Jun decided he was close enough, he yelled. Minghao turned to him, confused, but then his eyes suddenly widened when Jun pounced, tackling Minghao to the ground. Minghao yelped as he fell flat on his back while Jun hovered over him, trapping Minghao in his arms.
“Jun! What the hell?” Minghao asked.
“Gotcha,” Jun said, laughing after.
Minghao then opened his eyes. Their eyes met, both of their chests heaving up and down.
And suddenly, Jun saw something that wasn’t there before. The shock was evident, but there was something else. Even with the cold wind blowing around them, the warmth in Minghao’s eyes was enough to make Jun forget it. Minghao’s wide, doe-like chocolate brown eyes… they were… dare he say, pretty. Jun couldn’t find it in himself to look away.
This was new.
Were Minghao’s eyes always this pretty? Or did he fail to see it until now?
Jun looked beyond Minghao’s eyes. Minghao’s nose was cutely shaped and boppable. His cheeks were flushed red from the cold. And Minghao’s lips… oh my god. They looked so soft and… kissable. Kissable? That was the only word Jun could think of to describe Minghao’s lips. What was it about Minghao’s lips that made them look that way? Was it always there?
Jun’s breath got caught in his throat, Minghao’s pretty features settling into his head. (Seriously, was Minghao always this pretty?)
The moment broke when Minghao coughed. Jun pulled himself out of his gaze and realized the position they were in. Jun let out an awkward cough as he climbed off of Minghao. He held out his hand and helped Minghao up as well.
“So… let’s finish this snowman,” Jun said, ending the silence.
“Yeah, definitely.”
Jun took the stones out of his pocket and handed them to Minghao, and together they finished the snowman’s smile.
Once finished, they stepped back, looking at the snowman they created. They sat down, admiring the work they did.
“Hey, Jun?”
Jun looked at Minghao, who was looking back at him.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks… for this. I do feel better about the art exhibition.”
“I’m glad to hear. Just remember that one day, you’ll shine, and I’ll be there cheering for you.”
Minghao’s face flushed again before he looked away.
“I hope so.”
The silence settled between them. They both turned to the horizon, where the sun started to turn the sky into different hues of orange, yellow, and purple.
It was a beautiful end to their day.