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“Wait, what the fuck?” Wonwoo curses, squiting as his eyes adjust to the sudden change in his surroundings. “Where am I?”
Mingyu pops out from behind the mysterious gray couch he’s never seen in his entire life and grins like an idiot. “It worked?” he looks around catiously, unaware of the little tuft of hair poking upwards. “Oh my god, it worked!”
Wonwoo looks around, there’s a picture of two grown men who look strangely familiar placed on top of a shelf, along with another row of frames following it, all consisting of the two men from the first picture. He looks back down at the bag of cheetos in his hands. “What did you do to these to make me hallucinate, you dumbass.”
”I didn’t do anything!” Mingyu protests, then shrugs at the bag of cheetos. “At least not to that, but look! We’re in the future! We’re in Seoul!” he points out the window.
“That’s ridiculous.” Wonwoo says, but when he turns his head to look out the window, the younger was indeed correct, there stood Seoul in all it’s beauty, downtown Seoul to be precise.
“We’re in Seoul?” Wonwoo asks, getting up from the couch. “How the fuck are we in Seoul?!”
”Because it worked, Wonwoo!”
Wonwoo eyes his so-called best friend warily. “Kim Mingyu.. what did you do?”
Said boy giggles softly, running his hands through his hair, pressing down the tuft of spiked hair down and Wonwoo has to hold back his frown. “Remember when I told you I was gonna take us to the future?”
“What? Back at the library?”
“Yeah, I ended up finding a few books that teaches you how to do it and—“
”Why would you even do any research about it?!“
”You said you were okay with it!”
”Dumbass, I thought you were joking! Nobody can travel through time!”
Mingyu waves his hand around the air, “And look where we are now, huh?” He points towards a specific object on the table. “Isn't that the same book I gave you a year ago?”
Wonwoo stills, he glances at the book and he recognizes the cover as if it were yesterday when Mingyu have him the gift for his 15th birthday, a book Wonwoo’s always wanted and even saved up some of his lunch money for it. He was beyond grateful for such a gift, remembering how wide Mingyu smiled when he saw the adoration color Wonwoo’s eyes. A memory stored in a small, closed place deep inside Wonwoo's heart that he often visits.
It was also the same day he realized that he was madly in love with his best friend, Kim Mingyu.
“What year is it?” Mingyu questions himself as he stands up, picking up the remote on the couch and turning the TV on, switching to the news channel immediately.
Both of their eyes widen at the bold letters shown on the screen.
JULY 17 2025
“But wait—we’re in 2015!” Wonwoo shakes his head, snatching the remote out of the other’s hand and switches to another news channel. “You’re fucking with me.”
“It says 2025 right there! And it’s your birthday! Oh my god? So if we’re in 2025.. we’re like.. adults now then?!” Mingyu says excitedly, then gasps loudly. “So we’ve graduated university then? Where did I end up going?!”
“Mingyu, shut up!” Wonwoo hisses, feeling the migraine rush back to him.
“Isn’t this exciting?!”
”No!” Wonwoo slaps his arm. “Get us out of here!”
“I can’t,” Mingyu pulls out his wrist for Wonwoo to see clearly, revealing timer glowing bright blue, reading 00:26:05, the numbers decreasing as they speak.
“What’s that?”
”I don’t know,” Mingyu shrugs, looking around. “But we’re currently 10 years into the future and we don’t have much time left, we should explore!”
Wonwoo grabs Mingyu’s arm to keep him still. “Are you kidding me? We don’t even know where we are! Mingyu, what did you do!"
"Hyung!"
"Mingyu," Wonwoo inhales sharply, closing his eyes for a brief moment to calm himself down because fuck if he wasn't on the verge of attacking the younger and forcefully choking him to death before, he sure is now. "We were walking back from class and you offered ramen, to which I declined because finals start tomorrow and I blink for one second and look where we are now!"
"Hyung, can you please get mad at me later? At least after we're back? Please!" Mingyu shoves his wrist in front of the older. "We don't have time!"
"How can I not be pissed right now when we're in Seoul! Neither of us have our belongings and oh yeah, not to state the obvious, but we're ten years in the fucking future!"
"I was curious, okay! And it's not like we can do anything else now, come on!"
"Why are you so curious about the future? What if you're dead!"
Mingyu gasps. "No! I'm not dead, I can't be. We're gonna find ourselves and just take a peak that's all."
"We're not supposed to know the future, you idiot!" Wonwoo hisses, he almost resists the urge to whack Mingyu, but then he remembers getting his head whacked is much better than being choked to death- which he would've done in a heartbeat if it weren't for the fact that this is his best friend he's with- so he does so, earning a loud yelp.
"Okay- ow, that fucking hurt!"
"You deserve it! Now what are we gonna do?"
"Let's look around!"
"No!" Wonwoo latches onto Mingyu's arm. "What we're in a serial killer's apartment, I'm not ready to die yet, and if we do you're going down with me you fucker."
”You're right,” Mingyu frowns, ignoring Wonwoo's comment, then his face brightens and a part of Wonwoo grimaces, because only he knows that when his face lights up like a child receiving their first phone on Christmas, it only means trouble, and with trouble comes consequences.
A perfect example would be this situation to be exact.
"There's gotta be something that indicates who lives here, start looking around." Mingyu says, already walking off to the shelf Wonwoo was eyeing earlier.
"Could you be any more crazy?!" Wonwoo follows the younger closely behind with his arms wrapped around himself securely as if that was gonna protect him from anything.
“You’re just being paranoid, come on let’s—“ Mingyu stops talking, the joy evident in his face drains and there’s an unreadable expression replacing it as he stares at something behind Wonwoo.
”What are you loo—“
”Get down!” Mingyu whispers, yanking Wonwoo down to hide behind the couch.
“Who is it?!”
”I don’t know!”
”Then why are we hiding?!”
”I panicked okay! Hold on, let me look.” Mingyu gets on his knees to peek.
“No! What if he sees you!” Wonwoo pokes his best friend’s stomach, causing him to hunch over.
“Just a little peek, what could go wrong?”
As if fate was listening to this very conversation, there’s a voice coming from somewhere over the couch and the both of them freeze.
“Baby, help me out would you?”
“Oh no, this is bad, this is very bad. We must go now.” Mingyu whispers, shaking his head. He glances at the timer, 00:19:12. Wonwoo notices the very light blush spreading on his cheeks.
“What? Why?! What do you see?!”
Mingyu pushes Wonwoo back down to the couch so he doesn’t have a chance to see the source of the voice. “No! You can’t look!”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now!” Wonwoo slaps his hands away. “your stupid ass got me into this mess! I deserve to see!”
“No! Please! Just wait 18 minutes and this will be over!” Mingyu topples over him in attempt to keep him down.
“Kim Mingyu if you don’t get off me right now I will literally bite your finger off.” Wonwoo says in all seriousness and the look Mingyu receives is enough to get him crawling off quickly.
Wonwoo gets on his knees, not before sending a glare towards his best friend and slowly looks over the couch. His chest pounding because he feels like he knows exactly who the source of that voice is. Because it sounded way too familiar to be a random stranger.
And just his luck, he’s right.
His eyes widen as he gapes at the gorgeous man standing ahead of him, busy taking something out of the fridge, only wearing a pair of fitting boxers with a brand name he can’t seem to figure out.
The man was tall. Probably over 6 feet and his porcelain toned skin stretched beautifully over those strong and lean muscles, broad shoulders and veins tracing his arms so intricately. The black brown hair he’s known for his entire life, now dyed dirty blonde was long, falling over his eyes, shaping his face perfectly.
“Holy shit, is that m-me?” Wonwoo whispers, eyes trailing down his—future Wonwoo's arm.
“Y-yeah—wow, you look..” Mingyu breathes as he peeks his head out too, to stare at his future self.
Wonwoo watches his future self turn around, and that’s when he audibly gasps.
Because that’s when he sees the trail of love bites around his neck, going back to his shoulder then a few on his lower back, it all almost looks painful too look at.
“You animal.” Mingyu mutters, earning a shove from the other. He feels Mingyu’s chin on his shoulder and when he looks down, he hopes to the skies that Mingyu doesn’t feel his heart beating out of his chest at how close their faces are right now.
“Man, you're gonna look like that?” Mingyu says, almost in awe at the view. “you look really good.”
Wonwoo sighs, trying to calm his heart down because can it stop fucking beating so fast, what the hell.
Future Wonwoo decides to speak up, breaking the silence that blankets them.
“Babe, c’mon, it’s time to get up.” Future Wonwoo shouts from the kitchen, still preparing breakfast.
Babe? Wonwoo mouths.
“I think your married.” Mingyu whispers, eyes staring at the metal band that’s wrapped around his finger. “Oh my god, you're married?! How dare you marry someone without me knowing!"
"Mingyu-" Wonwoo hisses as Mingyu starts to his shoulder, "We're in the future for fuck sake! How would I know?! And stop hitting me!"
“I'm married? To who?” Wonwoo asks himself, rubbing his shoulder.
“Oh, I don’t know, why don’t you ask future you that, huh.” Mingyu says sarcastically and Wonwoo doesn’t resist the urge to flick his best friend on the forehead who groans at the contact.
Wonwoo looks back at future Wonwoo and notices the golden ring on his left ring finger. “Oh, I am married.” he confirms, then turns back to Mingyu. "This makes no sense."
"No, it doesn't," Mingyu agrees with slight pout on his lips. “You said you were gonna take medicine and devote yourself to your career?!"
“Wait, I did,” Wonwoo says, pointing at the degree hung on the wall, neatly framed. “I'm a doctor, specialized in ophthalmology."
“Holy shit.. you did it.” Mingyu laughs, looking at the degree like his life depended on it and Wonwoo can’t help but smile too, knowing he had accomplished his lifetime dream.
“Love, get your ass out of bed or else I won’t cook you breakfast.” Future Wonwoo shouts teasingly.
"You can cook?! Since when?!" Mingyu whispers loudly.
"Do I have to remind you that we're currently in the future and we're not supposed to know any of this?!"
”Also that’s not very nice of you,” Mingyu comments, again, ignoring Wonwoo entirely. “Your wife must be miserable being married to you.” If the frown wasn't evident before, it is now and Wonwoo can't seem to decipher the meaning behind it.
The thought of himself getting married to someone else is already enough to make him want to vomit, he just wants the timer to go off do he doesn’t have to see his future wife. He doesn’t think he has enough courage to experience that. Yet, something tells him he should wait and see.
Then comes another voice, “Your lucky I love you. You can be really annoying sometimes, you know that?”
Wonwoo's throat tightens up.
“That sounds..” Mingyu mumbles, eyes flickering over to the bedroom door. “..very familiar..” he looks down at Wonwoo.
“It’s my birthday and you’re wasting time in bed, so I believe I have the right to be annoying.” Future Wonwoo says, pouring black coffee into a cup.
Since when did he get so—oh my god, is pouting?
”I can’t believe this. I told myself it was fine, it was nothing, why did I do this to myself, what did I do—“ Wonwoo blabbers on and Mingyu pinches his arm.
“What are you talking about?”
Wonwoo only locks his gaze to the bedroom door and he inhales sharply, eyes widening for what seemed like the tenth time that day. “Oh my god.”
“What are yo—“
"No!" Wonwoo shoves Mingyu back down with his entire weight and silently curses at how strong Mingyu has gotten over the past week thanks to him being addicted to working out.
"HYUNG!" Mingyu shouts, writhing under him.
Wonwoo looks at the timer on Mingyu's wrist. "Just 6 more minutes, can't you fucking stay still!"
"WHO IS IT? DID YOU MARRY THE GIRL WHO POURED MILK ON ME BACK IN 6TH GRADE?!"
"Are you kidding me?!" Wonwoo snaps, irritated.
"THEN WHO IS IT, LET ME SEE, HYUNG!"
"Calm the fuck down! Just 4 more minutes and this will all be over." Wonwoo sighs loudly, strengthening the hold on Mingyu's arms while the latter continued yelling nonsense.
"HYUNG, THIS ISN'T FAIR, I BROUGHT YOU HERE WHY CAN'T I-"
"Mingyu, I'm being serious!" Future Wonwoo calls. Both boys froze. "and if you don't come out I'm not cooking you breakfast for the next month!"
And there stands future Mingyu, skin sun-kissed and golden as it always is, his usual brown hair now black and unkempt, in Wonwoo’s dress shirt with only a few buttons buttoned properly, the trail of love bites—just like Wonwoo's—obvious and displayed for show from his jaw down to his collarbones, rubbing his eyes with his palm as he walks out of the bedroom.
”I’m up already, you big fat bully, how dare you let me starve to death, do you even love me at all?” Future Mingyu gasps dramatically.
Future Wonwoo smiles brightly at the sight of his best—husband. Sauntering over as he passes the cup of coffee over to future Mingyu.
“Two spoons of sugar?” Future Mingyu asks, taking the cup into his hands as he smiles up at Wonwoo.
Future Wonwoo then wraps his arms around his husband’s waist securely, mumbling against his lips. “Just how you like it.”
Future Mingyu giggles into the kiss, lifting future Wonwoo off the ground just the slightest bit before setting him on his feet again.
“Well don’t you look dashing?” Future Mingyu teases. “You’re glowing.”
“Mhm,” Future Wonwoo hums knowingly, “only because of you.”
Future Mingyu rolls his eyes at this, though the dust of pink gives it away. ”What time is it?”
“A little over eight, why?”
“Enough time for me.” Future Mingyu tugs at the waistband of his husband’s trousers, mischievous eyes glimmering back at him as he pulls the other back into the room.
“Hyung..” Mingyu mutters, looking back towards his best friend—or is it future husband now? His heart’s beating fast and the other only lifts his head from his hands.
"I'm so sorry! Fuck- I'm so sorry, I have no idea why we- I didn't think I'd, fuck I don't know!" Wonwoo broke down, head in his heads as his entire body shakes. "I really didn't- shit!"
Yep, this is it. This is the end. Mingyu will most definitely be grossed out, either looking at him im disgust or maybe he’s not even looking at him at all, not being able to look at his best friend the same way ever again.
This is his downfall. He’s gonna have to move school’s possibly even though he’s met so many amazing people, hell, maybe he’ll have to flee the country because god forbid him from—
"Hyung, look at me."
When Wonwoo looks up he expects disappointment, disgust, anything similar, but his eyes hold nothing of the sort, in fact, it holds something warmer, something Wonwoo doesn't dare to put a label on because he might be dreaming this whole thing or he's just being delusional because he has wanted this for so long.
“You don’t seem..disappointed?”
Mingyu sighs, smile crawling it’s way up his lips as he takes Wonwoo’s hands into his and he leans in close. “I’m not disappointed.”
“You’re not?” Wonwoo raises his brows.
“Nope,” Mingyuu shakes his head, bringing Wonwoos hands to his lips and kisses them softly. “I’m.. I—“
“I like you.” Wonwoo suddenly confesses, ears and cheeks colored red as he blushes. “I-I’m sorry! I just wanted to say it first, in fact—I’m not sure I like you, wait, I DO! I’m a hundred percent sure I like you, but I also think I’m in love with you.”
Mingyu smiles softly, cupping Wonwoo’s cheeks as he leans close. “I’m in love with you too, idiot. I think—I-I’m still figuring that out because I’m not too go—”
“You do?”
Mingyu nods slowly, sliding his hands down so that they’re wrapped around his neck, thumbing Wonwoo’s jaw so gently he’s afraid he’d hurt him.
”I think it happened when we were freshman’s in highschool, when I gave you that stupid book for your 15th birthday.” Mingyu explains, resting his forehead against Wonwoo’s.
An amused smile. “You’re kidding?”
He shakes his head. “Why else would I buy you that horrendous book?”
Now that deserves a slap.
“You’re an asshole, you know.”
“Says you.” Mingyu giggles, pulling Wonwoo close so he can brush their noses together. It such an endearing act that has Wonwoo’s chest constricting (a bit concerning really, he should go to a doctor, a love doctor, okay no).
”So.. we.. are we..?” Wonwoo tries to start, but it all feels too good to be true that he doesn’t dare to say it aloud.
“We are whatever you want us to be, as long as I’m with you.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.” Wonwoo repeats.
Mingyu laughs, it’s loud and it echoes off the walls of theirfuture apartment. He looks down at his wrist.
00:01:03
”We only have a minute left.”
Wonwoo smiles, intertwining their hands together, he doesn’t know if it’s the warmth resting deep inside his chest that causes him to do such a bold move, but whatever it is, he never wants it to end.
“That’s all the time we need.”