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The clock ticked twenty minutes past the hour, thirty-five minutes after the agreed meeting time. Yuto waited, his patience starting to thin as the ice in his drink began to melt. He fidgeted with his straw, stirring it loosely, and what remained of his cubes clinked weakly against the glass like they, too, could feel his disappointment.
Jaeyoung was really in for it now, he thought bitterly. Yuto was having too much fun proving him wrong that he had forgotten he wasn’t supposed to be enjoying himself. Hence, he shouldn’t have been disappointed that he was being stood up, no matter how much he had secretly been looking forward to seeing who Jaeyoung had found for him to reject today.
Usually, Yuto was viciously protective of his free time. If he could spend it alone, he would, but his roommate always seemed to find a way to trick him into doing things together. It was as if Yuto’s aversion to other people had convinced Jaeyoung it was his job to break down his walls so that he was the only person Yuto tolerated — which was certainly a difficult task.
“You haven’t been on a date before?” he once asked around a mouthful of noodles, which he had tricked Yuto into making.
“No,” Yuto scowled at his own bowl, wishing he would stop figuring out the fastest ways to embarrass him. “Have you?”
Jaeyoung swallowed thoughtfully and observed him. “Plenty of times.”
Yuto groaned. “Why does this matter?”
“You should go on a date.”
“No.”
“C’mon,” Jaeyoung set down his chopsticks and sat back, “You have literally nothing to lose.”
“My dignity?” Yuto pointed out in exasperation, “My sanity?”
That had made Jaeyoung laugh, one of his deep ones that resonated around the room. “Look, you don’t even have to do the work, I’ll pick the person for you. Go on three dates, if you don’t end up with a partner, I lose.”
“And if you win?”
“Yuto,” Jaeyoung chuckled, “You’ll have a partner.”
Maybe some part of him had been curious, or maybe he was just certain that he would win. There was no other reason for him to agree, because Jaeyoung was never going to be right.
❥
“How is this fair?” Yuto had complained the morning of the first date. It had only been a week since Jaeyoung had proposed the bet, and therefore a week since Yuto had warily agreed. He had had a terrifying realization that he had no idea what he was committing himself to.
Jaeyoung looked up from typing something rapidly on his phone, quirking an eyebrow.
“I don’t know what he looks like.”
“That’s the point,” Jaeyoung grinned. “It’s a blind date.”
“But he knows what I look like.” He knew this because Jaeyoung had pestered Yuto for pictures of himself that he would be willing to sacrifice to a dating app, threatening him with using the ones he kept for blackmail if he didn’t find something better.
At Yuto’s frown, Jaeyoung laughed and said, “You can look at a picture in the car, if it matters that much. He’s cute.”
Yuto scoffed as his ears burned, “You know that’s not what I meant.”
Jaeyoung’s smirk didn’t leave his face as he went back to typing. “Sure.”
Yuto hadn’t known what to expect — maybe a typical coffee shop or some kind of bar — but Jaeyoung parked his car along the side of an unfamiliar street and got out.
“I’ll walk you,” he said, holding the door open for him.
“If you’re taking me to get murdered I will never forgive you.”
Jaeyoung laughed as Yuto abandoned him on the pavement, trying to walk in the direction he hoped they were going.
“Hey, bread boy, it’s this way,” Jaeyoung called after him.
“Stop calling me that,” Yuto grumbled.
Jaeyoung led them towards a market that was packed with vendors and their patrons. The closer they got, the more Yuto could smell the scents of all kinds of things, some familiar and some that he had yet to try. His stomach perked up in interest, rumbling to let him know such food would be very welcome.
“This is where we’re meeting?” he shouted over the bustle. But when he turned to find his friend, he found himself standing alone. Annoyed, Yuto scanned the crowd and came up with nothing. Jaeyoung had left him to die, so he might as well get something to eat. There were far too many options to make a decision, but Yuto had seen something in passing that was extremely familiar to him.
The taiyaki stand was closer to the edge of the market, announcing its presence with a bright orange sign that had caught Yuto’s attention immediately. A fresh batch was being made, and there was a little huddle of people waiting for their treats just to the side of the stall. Yuto joined the group, watching as the vendor pulled the fish-shaped bread from its mold and replaced it with fresh batter and paste.
“Yuto, right?” A hand landing on his shoulder made him jump, and he whipped around to meet a lopsided grin. “Your friend told me I’d probably find you here.”
Yuto stared, mind blank as he took in the owner of the smile.
“For our date?” The man nodded towards the taiyaki with a wink. “Want some? I’ll pay. I’m Seungjun, by the way.”
“Seungjun,” Yuto repeated with realization. “Oh, your hair—”
“Do you like it?” Seungjun clapped excitedly, modeling the style that differed dramatically from the pictures on his dating profile. “I just got it done a few days ago.”
Yuto looked over the stark white-blond and told him he did, amused at the way his date lit up at the compliment. Sweet and energetic, Seungjun was good at keeping a conversation moving. He was funny, too, unequivocally confident in his ability to make Yuto smile or choke on a laugh when he said something unexpected. He paid for Yuto’s taiyaki and took him by the arm to wander down the lines of the market together, and Yuto, to his own surprise, let him.
Begrudgingly, he had to admit it seemed like Jaeyoung knew what he was doing. As it turned out, Seungjun was a dancer, too, and when Yuto learned this he almost had to sigh in defeat. It had earned Jaeyoung bonus points, unfortunately. He found his allotted two hours with Seungjun had flown by without any trouble, and he almost caught himself wishing he had more time — but he would never be able to live it down if he showed up at Jaeyoung’s car late. This was a date with the purpose of finding a partner, and no matter how cute Seungjun had been, Yuto was convinced Jaeyoung would still wind up losing.
Seungjun bid him goodbye with a smile at the end of the evening, and Yuto scurried back into hiding for a few days, refusing to answer anything his roommate said. Jaeyoung’s gloating had been unbearable when Yuto had accidentally let slip that numbers had been exchanged, and he’d carried a smile so smug Yuto threatened to jump out of his car and walk the rest of the way home.
The second date was kept a secret from Jaeyoung simply for the sake of Yuto’s poor patience, though he enjoyed himself just as much as he had during the first. By the end of the third, Seungjun had kissed him. It was something daring, making Yuto’s heart beat erratically, and he had even giggled pulling away. But even with Seungjun’s courage, Yuto knew they weren’t meant to be like this.
Seungjun was in love, but not with Yuto. Now that he had realized, it was obvious — like a vine growing desperately towards the sun. Seungjun seemed almost like he was running from the person he had always talked about, which was odd when his eyes were filled with stars whenever they were brought up.
“Seungjun,” he told him, still holding the fabric of his hoodie after their kiss, “I really like you.”
“I like you too,” Seungjun smiled, gazing at him fondly. His thumb stroked the back of Yuto’s neck, sending a shiver down his spine.
“But I think—” What could he say? Was it insensitive to tell him he was in love with his best friend? “—I think we should stay as friends.”
Seungjun considered him for a moment, eyes still gentle as they watched Yuto’s face. His smile didn’t go away, in fact, it seemed to soften even more. “Thank you for telling me.”
For a moment, Yuto panicked. Had he made him mad? He really did like Seungjun, would he lose the chance to build this friendship completely?
Seungjun gave an almost imperceptible sigh, letting go of his neck and dropping his hands until one tangled with Yuto’s. He lifted them, nodding at him as his brow uncreased.
“I like being your friend,” he said. Yuto relaxed.
❥
“You’re losing your bet, Jaeyoung,” Yuto sang smugly. He set his phone down on the kitchen counter and went to scrounge through the fridge for something to appease his greedy stomach.
Jaeyoung’s laugh crackled through the speaker. “You agreed on three dates.”
“I went on three dates,” he called, focused more on their vegetables than his friend.
“With different people?” came Jaeyoung’s taunt. “As far as I know, Seungjun counts as one.”
Yuto didn’t remember those rules, but Jaeyoung seemed unphased.
“Your next date is this Saturday.”
❥
It took Yuto a while to figure out why his second date was so familiar to him, but Jaeyoung had been insistent that his night would be fun. Yuto was dropped off in front of a karaoke bar, its lights harsh and neon against the dark of the sky. He wasn’t confident in his singing the way dancing felt like a second skin, just another method in which he breathed. But his date greeted him kindly, and immediately it put him at ease.
Yuto wasn’t much of a drinker, but neither was Hyojin it seemed; he smiled at the bartender and ordered an orange juice without hesitation, making Yuto stare. Hyojin chuckled and paid for Yuto’s juice before he could stop him.
“Do you do this a lot?” he wondered after Hyojin had started them off singing. He really hadn’t known what to expect, and when the other finally picked a heart-wrenching ballad after sifting through the program’s catalogue, Yuto had been awed at the respectful quiet the room had fallen into. The applause Hyojin had received was well deserved; his voice was smooth and powerful, carrying the song well. Hyojin’s eyes creased with delight as he returned to Yuto’s side, and he sipped at his juice with a thoughtful expression.
“I used to. I love performing.”
“What made you stop?”
“Just time,” he said wistfully. “I’m usually too busy to go out to drink because my job is very demanding. So I had to make the sacrifice, unfortunately.”
“Did you come by yourself, then?”
“Oh, no,” Hyojin gave a laugh that was featherlight, barely heard underneath the bass of the bar music, “My best friend used to bring me.”
Yuto got away almost the entire night without having to sing. But twenty minutes before Jaeyoung was due to come collect him, Hyojin pulled on his arm with a sly glint in his eye.
“Come,” he muttered directly into his ear, dragging him up to the little platform in the center of the room. Yuto was powerless to stop him, but the cheers that went up around them were enough to be motivating and he let Hyojin pick a more upbeat song to duet. The crowd chanted along, building the energy in the room until Yuto was bold enough to sing out the lyrics as if they were his own, and the excited rise in the audience made him giddy.
“You have a great voice!” Hyojin yelled over the noise. “Do you sing a lot too?”
“No,” Yuto shouted back, preening from the praise. Someone else took the stage and he tripped off it with a grin, Hyojin close behind. They made it back to their table in one piece, cheering for the newcomer as Yuto started to get ready to leave.
They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the performance when Yuto noticed an incoming call from Seungjun lighting his phone screen. Surprised, he went to pick it up — but Hyojin grabbed it first.
“Jun, I’m still out.”
And suddenly, it clicked; why Hyojin had seemed so familiar. He was Seungjun’s best friend, the person Seungjun spoke about with stars in his eyes.
“Yeah,” Hyojin glanced at him apologetically, “we’re leaving soon.”
Yuto found his own phone and checked for a message from Jaeyoung. He couldn’t believe that he had managed to wedge himself into some sort of unrequited love story — though when he looked at Hyojin’s expression, maybe Seungjun wasn’t as hopeless as he thought. Yuto had enjoyed himself, happy now to have come. But however much he liked Hyojin, he seemed more like an older brother to Yuto than anything romantic.
Hyojin hung up the call with an impatient bye, rolling his eyes and sighing.
“Sorry about that. He’s who used to bring me to these places.”
“Seungjun?” Yuto asked, testing the other man’s reaction. Hyojin turned his gaze from the rest of the bar to Yuto with wide eyes.
“You know him?”
“We only recently became friends,” Yuto admitted. “But you should bring him back here sometime, I think he’d like it.”
“You think so?” Hyojin considered it with a nod. Yuto told him he did and gathered his things.
“I had a good time tonight,” he said. “Thanks for playing along with my friend’s nonsense.”
Hyojin laughed and tilted his head. “I was wondering about that. Will you be losing your bet if we walk out of here still single?”
“Not in the slightest,” Yuto grinned.
When Jaeyoung picked him up ten minutes later, he was greeted by a Yuto who had successfully made another friend — much to his disappointment.
“Seriously? He was nice.”
“Yeah, as a friend,” Yuto snorted. “Like I said, you’re underestimating my inability to attract romantic interest.”
“Oh really?” Jaeyoung said. The traffic was stopped at a red light and the color painted over the planes of his face, catching slightly in one of his irises as he turned to look at Yuto. He leaned carefully closer, cupping Yuto’s jaw and staring right into his eyes.
He looked at Jaeyoung, and Jaeyoung looked at him, and they started to laugh.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I could kiss you and take it seriously,” Jaeyoung wheezed, and Yuto agreed as he struggled to steady his breathing.
❥
Jaeyoung took so long finding another person that Yuto almost believed he had given up on the bet. But just as he got his hopes up too high, Jaeyoung came crashing down on the sofa next to him, entirely ignoring the fact that Yuto was sipping from a drink.
“Third date,” he announced proudly, ignoring Yuto’s choking.
“What?!” Yuto spluttered, making an ugly noise as he coughed. Jaeyoung repeated what he said, making Yuto swipe at him in annoyance.
“I heard you the first time, asshole,” he grumbled. “Why are you so persistent?”
“Because you need to have more friends,” Jaeyoung replied, patting his back. “Don’t complain, I’m doing it out of love.”
“Was becoming friends with Hyojin and Seungjun not enough?” Yuto whined. “I’m going to see that new action movie with both of them next weekend.”
“I still think you have it in you to get a partner,” Jaeyoung grinned. Yuto rolled his eyes and got up from the couch.
“Maybe you need to find a partner so you have someone else to bother.”
“Don’t be like that!” Jaeyoung said. “This is the last date, I swear.”
“Sure.”
“I promise, on my life.”
“Mhm.”
❥
So now, Yuto stayed in a busy café, the most typical place to meet for a date — or in his case, be stood up. He finished his drink with a sigh, feeling the weight of his irritation as he sat and waited all alone. Not a single person looked his way, and there was no one rushing in to apologize for wasting his time. He could text Jaeyoung, or maybe save him the hassle and walk home himself, but something compelled him to keep his patience just a little longer. The place had a nice ambiance, and while he was bored at least he wasn’t somewhere unpleasant.
As though he had voiced his thoughts aloud, someone slid into the seat across from him with a nervous smile.
“Are you waiting for someone?” the man asked the moment Yuto frowned and said, “You’re forty minutes late.”
They blinked at each other, and Yuto felt his face burn at his rashness.
“Sorry,” he said softly, and the man slowly broke into a grin.
“I guess that answers my question,” he chuckled. His eyes were lit with an amusement that made Yuto heat up more, making him clear his throat in embarrassment.
He sighed and sat back, breaking eye contact to stare at the table. “I was waiting for a date,” he admitted.
“And they didn’t come? What a shame,” the man pouted. He leaned forward in his seat until Yuto lifted his eyes. “You’re such a cutie.”
Yuto scoffed and hid his face behind his palms as the other man laughed, a goofy sort of sound that made Yuto fight to keep his own from escaping.
“Are you trying to flirt with me?” he complained, “That was terrible.”
The man poked at Yuto’s hands, trying to see his face. “I could do better. Let me buy you another drink.”
“Is that all you people do?” Yuto wondered, setting his arms down. “Buy me things?”
“You deserve to be treated,” the man shrugged, and Yuto was surprised by his own laugh coming out. The man joined in, like he had told a joke, and Yuto found himself becoming fond of the sound already. The thought annoyed him, he had known him for less than a minute! Yet as he looked at the man he couldn’t help but smile.
“And what should I do for you?” Yuto hummed, pretending to think hard. “If you were to buy me a drink?”
The man grew an exaggerated seriousness, furrowing his eyebrows to mirror Yuto’s expression. “Well, you’ll just have to keep me company, then. If, of course, you are willing.”
Yuto tapped his chin with three fingers, pretending to consider the offer. He didn’t have anything better to do, and his ride wouldn’t be showing up for another hour and a half to pick him up, if they were lucky.
“I suppose I could do that,” he nodded, ready to prove his friend wrong yet again. “If you would be so kind as to order an iced vanilla latte.”
The man saluted and got up to do just that, leaving Yuto behind to check his phone. He had one impatient text from Jaeyoung trying to see if he was still alive, to which he sent an eye roll emoji, and a spam email that he deleted from his inbox.
“You know, I never got your name,” Yuto called as the man made his way back to the table.
“And I never asked yours,” the other grinned, “How rude of me. It’s Minkyun.”
“Minkyun,” Yuto repeated, watching him sit down again. “I’m Yuto.”
“Well, Yuto, I’m sorry your date never showed.”
“Ah, don’t be,” he sighed. “I wasn’t looking forward to it.”
A look of concern flashed across Minkyun’s face, but Yuto waved it away sheepishly. “My friend thinks I’m lonely,” he explained, and understanding replaced Minkyun’s worry.
“That’s an odd way to make friends,” Minkyun said, and Yuto agreed, finding it amusing that appearing in front of a stranger uninvited wasn’t considered just as strange. But they didn’t dwell on it long, and in the end Yuto’s date never showed. Instead, they spent the time once Minkyun had fetched their drinks sipping and talking together about anything. He was as interesting as Yuto had imagined, and the intensity of his gaze whenever Yuto talked made him want to cover his face again.
“Do you want to exchange contacts?” Minkyun asked towards the end of their — was this a date?
Yuto handed over his phone gladly and went to throw away his garbage, feeling his ears start to burn as he scolded himself for thinking such a thing. If Jaeyoung knew about this, he’d never hear the end of it. He was just enjoying himself, taking advantage of the kindness of a stranger.
“Thanks for the drink,” he said earnestly when he returned to the table, and Minkyun beamed up at him, revealing his dimples for the millionth time that day. He really was cute too, Yuto had to be blind to avoid seeing it. He’d been distracted by the earrings that dangled from Minkyun’s lobes throughout their conversations, and Minkyun constantly played with them as he thought about what to say, or when listening to Yuto talk.
Yuto’s phone buzzed telling him Jaeyoung was there, and he hurried to say goodbye before his friend could come in and ruin things. Minkyun grinned and gave him a wave, and then Yuto was gone.
❥
Minkyun rarely uploaded on social media — not that Yuto had been checking, of course. (It was entirely photos of his pets. Two cats and a dog.)
Yuto truly felt restless. He was hoping for a sign that Minkyun was still thinking about him, as silly as that sounded, but no contact had been made since their date. His thoughts, when they weren’t occupied by daily tasks, were certainly filled with the image of a wide smile and dimples, a reminder of the kindness he had been shown. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, wondering if Minkyun even considered it a date, or if he was making things too complex. Yuto couldn’t understand why he was so fixated on the memory, but whenever he remembered Minkyun’s flirting he felt a small smile grow onto his face.
He did his best to ignore his feelings, being especially careful to tuck away his disappointment somewhere it wouldn’t show. Jaeyoung was perceptive enough to pick up on something like that, and he didn’t need him asking questions he didn’t know how to answer.
Yuto had lost almost all hope of hearing from Minkyun again by the time a week had passed.
With a sigh, he set down the bell pepper he had been holding for far too long as he lost himself in his introspection once again. Everything had become tedious, especially the grocery shopping he was supposed to be doing. Their fridge was in desperate need of help.
Someone entered his peripheral vision, and Yuto, expecting it to be Jaeyoung, ignored them.
“Do you really dislike peppers that much?” the person spoke, and to his alarm, they were not Jaeyoung. Yuto whipped his head in surprise, coming to face the dimpled grin that had been haunting his mind for the past week.
“Minkyun?!”
“I saw you just standing there,” he laughed, “I thought I’d say hi.” A basket filled with his own vegetables was on his arm, and he was dressed nicely with earrings to match. Yuto started to laugh, feeling his face burn once more.
“I was hoping I’d see you again,” he confessed, and embarrassment crawled up his neck instantly. Why was he acting like this?
Minkyun, to Yuto’s relief, seemed delighted by this information, and he grabbed Yuto’s shoulder and pulled him into an awkwardly-positioned hug. It seemed so Minkyun that Yuto couldn’t stop himself from giggling into his chest.
“You’re so cute,” he cooed. “I missed you too.”
“That’s not what I said!” Yuto complained, and Minkyun cackled as he released him from his hold.
“I knew what you meant.” He winked and Yuto glared at him in response, earning another cheeky smile.
With almost perfect timing, Yuto saw Jaeyoung appear just over Minkyun’s shoulder, not yet noticing them. He could already hear all the taunting he’d have to endure if he was seen blushing furiously with a stranger, and the desire to run engulfed him.
“Come with me,” he hissed, grabbing Minkyun’s arms and yanking. Jaeyoung hadn’t seen him yet, and they could still escape unscathed.
“Oh?” Minkyun said as Yuto pushed him along. It must have been a funny sight given their height difference, but he complied with the manhandling nonetheless.
“I didn’t think you’d be so forward,” he joked when Yuto shoved him around a shelf a little too hard.
“Sorry,” Yuto winced, looking behind him and keeping his iron grip on Minkyun.
“Are we hiding?”
“No, uh,” Yuto floundered, looking around them, “I need help picking cereal.”
It was obvious Minkyun was trying to keep his expression under control as Yuto pulled away but he played along, turning to look at the shelves with deep consideration. It turned into a sort of game as they wandered the aisles; Yuto pretending he wanted something and Minkyun giving him serious advice until both of their baskets were full of items they didn’t need. If they kept moving, the chance of Jaeyoung finding them shrank, at least in Yuto’s mind.
All fun had to come to an end, however, when the exact person they had been avoiding interrupted in a different way. Yuto’s phone rang with Jaeyoung’s contact demanding his attention on the screen, and he sighed when he knew who it was.
“That’s my roommate,” he said apologetically, and Minkyun pouted like he already knew what he was going to say.
“Don’t keep them waiting,” Minkyun said, patting Yuto’s back. “It was nice to talk to you again.”
Yuto agreed with a smile and said his goodbyes, regretfully turning and walking away from the one person he wanted to see. He got a good distance away before he remembered something, and he hurried to check that Minkyun was still there. He was.
“You have my number, right?” he called. Minkyun nodded and shot him an enthusiastic thumbs up.
“I’ll text you.”
❥
He hadn’t expected Minkyun to follow through with contacting him, but late the next afternoon his phone buzzed with a good morning text, making Yuto laugh.
Late night? he teased.
in my defense, Minkyun sent, i produce music for video games… inspiration stops for nothing
Wow!! Yuto replied, That’s interesting
i’ll send you some samples sometime
Is that allowed??
probably not :]
He discovered Minkyun rarely slept at normal hours, usually up when no one else was so that he could make music. His texts were sparse during the early half of the day, but often Yuto would wake up to a one-sided conversation that had started long after he had gone to bed, always making his heart beat with excitement. He started looking forward to the late good morning texts, sending his own that got responses once the sun was already hanging high in the sky. As the weeks drew on, he began staying up later and later to talk to Minkyun, laughing at his bad jokes and helping him choose between certain sfx to put into whatever he was producing.
“Wow, so cute today.” Minkyun grew a cheshire grin when Yuto turned his webcam on. He knew well what that did to him, but Yuto rolled his eyes instead, ignoring the feelings it gave him.
“Hey, you.” They had started video chatting only recently whenever they couldn’t meet in person, but seeing Minkyun so close through a screen still made a small part of him jittery. He should have known he had been harbouring a crush — there wasn’t much he could do to deny it now, with the way it had developed over the past month or so — but sometimes it felt like Minkyun knew too and was just biding his time until he could catch Yuto off guard.
Tonight was a mirror of most of their calls. When texting had become too tedious, Minkyun had started talking out loud, and it made great background noise to fall asleep to. Yuto would tell him about his day for a while and then Minkyun would fiddle with another project, and gradually Yuto would drift off to happy dreams.
Yuto’s eyelids were particularly heavy this night, and he kept dozing and waking to Minkyun’s murmuring for several hours. It was comforting, a gentle lullaby. Slowly, the sounds Minkyun made quieted down until it was just his voice on the other end of the call, still talking to him. Yuto stirred again, just to crack an eye open to see Minkyun looking at his screen.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Minkyun whispered, and Yuto listened sleepily as he ended the call.
Sweetheart.
❥
Yuto knew it was time to end the game, for both his and Jaeyoung’s sake. His exhaustion from staying up late was translating into his regular life, and the other man could tell that something was up.
“You look like a wreck,” Jaeyoung told him the next morning. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
Yuto stared at him blearily from over a bowl of cereal, slowly processing what he said.
“Talking to someone,” he mumbled. Jaeyoung perked up immediately, seeing the opportunity.
“Are you still seeing Seungjun?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“No one you know.”
Jaeyoung had hated that answer, but he let him go without much fuss, trailing after him with a confused frown. Yuto made sure to dust makeup over his dark circles before he went out.
Minkyun wanted to get ice cream, a simple outing that was making Yuto’s fatigued heart stumble around in his chest as he waited for the other to arrive. He climbed out of Jaeyoung’s car and told him to wait, feeling very diplomatic.
The sky was clear and the temperature wasn’t too warm, making it a perfect day to fulfill his plans. Minkyun had said goodnight to him in that tender voice, and Yuto loved it so much he was starting to hate not being able to tell him.
It was finally time.
His impatience kept him scanning the streets for any sign of him, coming up fruitlessly with every glance over the ever-changing crowd.
“Where are you?” he muttered, biting his lip.
“Are you waiting for someone?” came a voice, and then Yuto was wrapped in a hug from behind, lifting him off his feet.
“Hello,” he laughed, feeling Minkyun nuzzle into his neck like a cat. “I believe you were late.”
“How rude of me,” Minkyun said, a smile evident in his voice. Yuto didn’t even have to look. Minkyun set him on his feet again and he spun around to face him, looking up at him with his own grin to match.
“I have something for you,” Yuto whispered, his heart beating faster, aware of what he was about to do. Minkyun’s eyebrows raised with his surprise.
“What is it?”
Before he could think about it too much, Yuto reached up to cup Minkyun’s face, feeling how warm he was between his hands.
“A kiss, if you want it.”
The smile Minkyun was sporting grew wider, and before he knew it he was dipping down to meet him chastely. Yuto kissed him again before he could pull away entirely, and Minkyun hummed and kissed his forehead.
“Took you long enough.”
Yuto pouted and hit him on the shoulder, making him chuckle.
“You weren’t very subtle, love,” Minkyun said into his ear, and Yuto sighed, smiling slightly.
“I was trying to be. My roommate just won a bet.”
From across the street, he could see Jaeyoung with his eyes wide, watching as he tangled his hand with Minkyun’s. Yuto had never been happier to lose.