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“Minho, come on, the water’s great!”
“Yeah, Minho, it’s a great way to cool off instead of being in the shade all day!”
“We’ll stay near the shore with you! We can put our feet in, splash around, even go seashell hunting!”
“Yo, that’s such a good idea! We could also do–”
“—You’re blocking my sunlight,” Minho suddenly grumbles, turning his body over before pushing his shades down to cover his face. All of his friends immediately groan.
When Lee Minho originally agreed to go with his friends to a place he would “extremely love this cool place for a hot summer day,” he assumed it would be a cat cafe filled with rescued feline friends and plenty of air conditioning.
Too bad it turned out that his friends didn’t know the definition of ‘cool’ when they ended up at the beach.
So to say Minho was beyond livid upon arrival would be an understatement.
If there were one enemy that Minho extremely despised, it would be the beach. Out of all the places to call a “hotspot” everything summer, who was the one who came up with the gross and sweaty beach as one of the top attractions? The only thing they got right was that it was the burning hot inferno of Hell itself!
“Are you seriously planning to lay on your towel all day?” one of his friends, Han Jisung, asks with a frown. “That’s bad for your health, y’know.”
Hyunjin, another friend of his, scoffs. “Oh please, Jisung,” he chides. “Minho’s already started aging. Just let him live out the rest of his senior retirement fantasy.”
“Hwang Hyunjin, this heat wave is hot enough for me to fry you alive,” Minho scolds. “And yes, Jisung; got a problem?”
While his future victim yelps, Jisung and Yang Jeongin, their friend group’s youngest, shake their heads.
“Come on, hyung, can’t you play in the water with us for five minutes?” Jeongin begs politely, but Minho shrugs him off. “Sorry, can’t hear you; tanning right now.”
Eventually, his friends give up on trying to get Minho in the water and end up running back to the shore without him.
Minho sighs. He’s temporarily made a truce with the sandy shores by planning to tan and sleep on his comfortable beach towel for the rest of the day, no matter what his friends say. Even though his friends continue to invite him to partake in their beach day activities, his so-called ‘pals’ know he can’t swim for the life of him, and he’s not gonna take any swimming lessons with those fools anytime soon.
But that’s not mainly why Minho chooses not to join those lunatics; it’s also due to their confidence in choosing to show off in the first place. With swim trunks on and splashing each other around, various soulmate tattoos on full display, his friends have the courage Minho doesn’t have, which is being able to show their marks without hesitation.
Neither he nor his friends have found their destined soulmates yet as the only people they had were each other. Because of this, Minho always made sure to be extra careful when looking after his friends, especially since he’s accepted that the mark on his ribcage screams nothing except, “Your soulmate’s a complete wackjob!”
He doesn’t mean to sound “embarrassed” by his soulmate, but his mark makes him concerned about what the future holds with his soulmate. Will his significant other have a job that would leave Minho alone for hours and separate them almost all the time?
Just thinking about it makes his skin crawl, so Minho tugs his cotton t-shirt down to ensure complete coverage of his ribcage before flipping back over and lying on his stomach.
Since he can’t beat the beach, he might as well try to relax. So, Minho puts his headphones on and plays a soothing shuffle mix from one of his playlists before lying down once more, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as the soft beats ringing in his ears align with the natural sounds of the waves from afar.
At some point, Minho accidentally falls asleep during his tanning session.
He doesn’t know how long he’s been asleep or when he fell asleep in the first place, but either way, he’s roughly awoken to loud shouting and his friends continuously shaking him to wake up.
“Minho, Minho!” Jisung repeatedly squawks like a parrot. “Get up, get up! We have news!”
Minho groans, rubbing his eyes awake when he realizes that the trio’s crowded around him. “What the– what’s going on?”
“You won’t believe it, hyung!” Jeongin gushes. “We’re going to a party!”
He’s confused. “What’re you talking about?”
“We’re going to a bonfire party! Someone came up to Hyunjin and invited us earlier!”
Hearing that someone talked to Hwang Hyunjin and invited him and his friends of all people to a random party manages to wake Minho, forcing him to sit up, stare at them and say the simple word that was for their own good.
“No.”
Cue the usual groans.
“But hyung–”
“But hyung!’ nothing, we can’t just trust a random stranger who invites us to some random location!” Minho exclaims. “Do you guys have zero disregards for your safety?”
“The person who invited me was so cute, though,” Hyunjin sighs dreamily. “He complimented my mark and said it reminded him of his home… Do you think he could be my soulmate?”
“Probably!” Jeongin says supportively. “You’re bound to meet your soulmate sooner than you think!” Hyunjin rubs the younger’s head in glee upon hearing that, assuming all of his friends were on board just to let some guy whisk Hyunjin off like that.
Well, all of his friends except Minho.
“You all barely know this man, yet you want to go?”
The trio nods.
Absurd, Minho thinks. “Are you sure it isn’t a cult gathering? Chances are it’s a red flag but too bad you’re all blind.”
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go, though!” Jisung encourages, and the other two nod in agreement.
Minho narrows his eyebrows.
“Absolutely not,” he barks. “We are not going to this stranger’s ‘bonfire party’ and that’s final. Do you all understand? Hm, do you?”
...They end up going to the bonfire.
Minho’s infuriated at the lack of braincells shared among the group- when did Hyunjin’s interests become something everyone cared about?
Well, whatever it is, doesn’t matter now. Because here they were, with the sun slowly setting down, everyone was loosely following Hyunjin down the beach for what seemed to be forever. Meanwhile, Minho’s feet are aching, the sand’s killing him, and the saltwater smell nauseates.
“Hwang Hyunjin, do you know where this bonfire is other than the fact you have us walking in circles?” Minho finally asks irritably.
“We’ve been walking straight the whole time, plus he said it was near the dock! We’re almost there, Minho-hyung!” Hyunjin says.
“You said that last time!”
Hyunjin gives him a sheepish smile. “Just a little more, hyung, you just gotta hang in there and– wait, I think it’s there! Come on!” Before Minho can say anything else, Hyunjin’s already running towards what looks like a ball of orange-and-yellow lights from afar, followed by Jisung and Jeongin catching up.
Minho doesn’t even bother, pacing himself the rest of the way until he sees the large bonfire setup a few moments later.
He looks around to find his friends, but then Minho sees him.
It’s a man; casually wearing a bright teal Hawaiian shirt with tacky neon pink flamingos and a white tank underneath. Besides rugged sandals, the stranger’s wearing dark grey board shorts that’re soaked at the bottom, indicating that he must’ve played in the water earlier.
He seems currently preoccupied with cooking a few items on the grill but has been continuously bopping his head back and forth to the music blasting on the speaker, seemingly in his own world.
Other than looking like a complete travesty– especially with that ugly flamingo shirt on– there’s something off-putting about him that Minho can’t put his finger on.
Then again, it’s probably because somebody allowed him to dress like that in broad daylight.
“Minho-hyung, over here!” Jisung calls from behind him, immediately turning to the source of the voice. But when he walks over to his friends, he notices someone in a backwards cap walking their way.
“Hey, you guys came!”
Minho’s confused at first, but then Hyunjin starts giggling. It doesn’t take him to be a fool to realize this might’ve been the dude that talked to the other.
Minho should’ve fried Hyunjin when he had the chance.
“Nice to see you guys again! I forgot if I said it earlier, but my name’s Changbin. And you guys are…?”
Just as Minho’s about to remind the group about the ‘Stranger Danger’ policy, damn Hyunjin decides to throw them all under the bus. “I’m Hyunjin! And these are my friends, Jisung, Jeongin, and—“
“Nameless,” Minho interrupts. “I’m nameless.”
“—And that’s Minho,” Hyunjin ignores Minho’s dagger-shooting glare before turning back to the Changbin dude. “Don’t mind him; that’s just how he socializes, and I know what you’re already thinking— yes, he’s weird.”
“Hey!” Minho shouts.
“I’m kidding!”
They both know he’s not.
Changbin simply chuckles. “Nah, it’s cool. I’m glad you guys were able to make it.”
“Wouldn’t miss it; thanks for hosting, by the way!” Hyunjin smiles.
“Actually, my friend’s the one behind it. Lemme see if I can get him over here.” Changbin states, turning around and waving someone. “Yo, Chan, over here!”
Minho’s face falls when grilling Flamingo shirt man looks their way.
He crosses his fingers, hoping it isn’t him, but Flamingo man soon passes his grilling duties onto another person before jogging over to the group.
Soon enough, the dude’s standing in all of his glory right in front of Lee Minho.
Great.
“Guys, meet Bang Chan, the brains behind the whole operation– dude can do it all, just name it!” Changbin hypes, patting the other’s back.
Minho chooses not to make eye contact with the newcomer, which turns out to be a mistake when he stares straight at the man’s chest instead. Chan’s white tank did not provide coverage whatsoever, giving Lee Minho an easy view of the firm outline of his abs.
Oh, God.
What the fuck.
Meanwhile, the man in question chuckles. “Ignore Changbin; he just wants brownie points. It was easy to get all of this together.”
Minho unintentionally watches Chan’s arms flex as he crosses them, adding slight color to his cheeks.
“He also can’t take compliments, so he needs a little work,” Changbin grins; Chan elbows him.
“Well, Minho needs lots of work,” Jeongin randomly chimes in. “Maybe they can help each other out.”
Jeongin being traitorous to Minho? He’s gotta be in another dimension.
“Oh, word?” Suddenly Bang Chan’s eyes are on him, a curious look on his face. It’s silent for a moment until Changbin speaks again. “Well, guys, feel free to do whatever and have fun! Let us know if you need anything, aight?”
The group nods and walks away, Minho following behind.
The sun continues lowering, and soon enough, more people begin to arrive and the party’s in full swing. Unlike his friends, Minho has been awkwardly standing on the side, watching them dance from afar, especially with Changbin.
He’s so out of it that he doesn’t realize Chan is standing next to him until the other goes, “Hey, Minho!” and gives him a fright that makes him jump.
“Sorry!” Chan quickly apologizes. “I just wanted to offer you a kabob, that’s all.”
There’s two skewers in his hands, and while they smell and look amazing, Minho tries to get the man to leave him alone. “No thanks, had a big lunch earlier,” he lies.
But Chan gives him a mischievous smirk. “Really, now?” he says. “Because when I offered Jeongin some, he took it eagerly and said you guys only ate a few pieces of mango, and that was it… unless you must’ve eaten without them, hm?”
“Uh—“the words get trapped inside his throat, and Minho hopes he can’t see the blush forming on his face; he should’ve trusted Changbin’s words earlier when he said Chan could do it all— including being a human lie detector.
“Come on, Minho, I promise it’s not poison, just a couple of shrimp on the barbies,” he urges playfully.
But before Minho can retort, Chan’s already grabbing his hand and placing a kabob in his fist.
Minho stares at the kabob in shock.
“If you’re just gonna stare at it, then don’t make me have to feed it to you,” Chan sings.
Hearing that helps Minho recover from his temporary shock mode. Since Chan already shoved a kabob in his hand with zero disregard whatsoever, he can already predict how it will go if he doesn’t move within the next few seconds.
So, for the sake of his suddenly-rapid heart rate, Minho quickly pushes the shrimp and vegetables off the stick and downs them all in one go, which turns out to be a mistake when he almost chokes.
“Woah there!” Chan rubs circles on Minho’s back. “Easy there!”
Great, now Minho feels even stupider knowing Chan just witnessed him nearly die thanks to a few pieces of grilled food.
“I’ll be right back with some water, okay Minho?”
The other weakly nods as Chan walks away. As he sighs in relief, the slow lullaby-like song once streaming from the speakers changes into a much more upbeat and energetic song.
Instantly, more people begin to jump in to dance around the fire. Minho’s feet automatically tap to the music.
Chan returns, water in hand, but not before he sees Minho slightly swaying to the music. “Good song, right?” he smiles, offering the cup, which Minho gladly takes.
“Yeah, it’s nice.”
“Wanna dance to it?”
Minho pauses.
Usually, when the music and general vibes were as good as this, no matter where he’d be, Minho would jump in immediately and dance his entire heart out.
However, when he spots his friends dancing together from afar, Minho remembers his primary goal of preventing them from doing dumb things, such as accidentally lighting themselves on fire.
Or lighting others on fire.
“No thanks,” Minho dismisses once more, taking a step back from the now-expanded dance area as more people have joined in.
But Chan doesn’t take no for an answer. “Oh, come on, just one song!” he says.
“No thanks, I rather not–” Minho protests, but Chan grabs his hand and pulls him closer to the heat. Chan quickly moves to place an arm around Minho’s back and connects their free hands to prevent the other from running away again.
“Follow my lead, alright?”
Minho can’t help but nod.
Chan spins them around, their feet matching the beat of the music. As they continue navigating around their fellow peers and the song itself, Minho can’t help but slowly feel exhilarated. He can hear cheers among the music, and Minho can’t help but smile, especially since dancing’s something he genuinely loves.
Chan spins Minho around once more before releasing their hold on each other. Minho’s confused when the other stops dancing, but Chan ushers him with a smile to continue.
So, Minho does.
He’s twisting around, spinning happily, hearing the crowd uproar in delight at such a sight.
But Minho isn’t concentrated on what they’re thinking, not even his friends. Instead, he finds Chan with an indescribable look on his face. It isn’t bad or anything, but one thing’s for sure, no one’s ever looked at Minho like that.
It was as if Chan was admiring him from afar.
The song eventually ends, and the crowd gives Minho another applause. Minho’s now feeling a bit more peckish and enjoyed the kabob earlier, but he’ll get more once he finds Chan, which isn’t too hard when the other surprises him by grabbing his hand again.
Minho squeals at first, but when realizing it’s Chan, he softens. “Hi.”
“Hey,” Chan replies. “Wanna get away from here?”
Usually, Minho would be against this, especially since the two of them had just met.
But when it comes to Bang Chan, maybe he could make an exception.
“Sure.”
They find a rocky area near the beach, Chan slowly helping Minho up the steps. “Where did you learn how to move like that?” Chan inquires. “Those were amazing!”
Minho giggles. “I’m glad you liked them; I’m a dancer.”
Chan instantly freezes, confusing Minho.
“Chan? What is it?”
“Uh– nothing. What type of dancer are you?”
“Er… all types? I can do modern, jazz, ballet… uh, Chan, what’re you doing?” Minho stops when the other starts stripping off his shirt.
“Can I show you something?”
“Sure?” There was no going back now.
Chan lifts his shirt, showing Minho something he doesn’t expect besides his abs.
A pirouette silhouette on his ribcage? Cool, Minho guesses?
Minho doesn’t know the appropriate language when “revealing” marks, so he quietly lifts his shirt to show his mark.
Chan’s jaw immediately drops.
“What’s wrong, Chan?”
“It’s a mixer,” he breathes.
“Excuse me?”
“A sound mixer,” Chan informs, looking like he was… blushing? “I use one myself. I’m a music producer.”
Minho blinks.
Wait a minute.
Chan works with the weird box thing on Minho’s ribcage.
Minho is a dancer that can pirouette like Chan’s ribcage.
If their tattoos describe entirely the other, would that mean…
Chan reads his mind when he softly breathes out, “Minho, we’re soulmates.”
Minho widens his eyes.
Bang Chan, Flamingo man, is his soulmate.
And he was Bang Chan’s soulmate.
Chan takes a deep inhale.
“...Minho, can I kiss you?”
The Lee Minho from the past would’ve spat a few insults and tell him ‘no’ before taking a hike.
But present Minho’s heart swells, didn’t expecting to meet his soulmate standing opposite him.
“Yes.”
So Chan does.
And for once in his life, Minho’s overcome with happiness.