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Minho smiled politely at the joke, a small amused noise leaving his throat as a way to politely show he was paying attention. Though the joke wasn’t all that funny to begin with. Sometimes he wonders why Jisung even brings him along to these frat parties. It isn’t really Minho’s scene. He doesn’t know anything about what the hell these guys are saying. How do you get a 2/50 on an English paper? Why are you bragging about bribing teachers? Why are you so proud of paying for everything with daddy’s money? It all confuses him.
But sadly, Minho finds himself on the same couch in the frat’s living room more often than not, Jisung begging him to come and hang out, begging him to be friends with his friends. To be quite frank, Minho hates most of the people Jisung associates with. There’s a handful of people here he likes, like Chan or Changbin. They’re quite nice but Jisung’s been friends with them since before he joined the frat, they are the reason he joined though. Minho thinks of how every positive has a negative.
These guy’s nights were something Minho dreaded, but he guesses if it makes Jisung feel better he can’t complain too much. These men always remind Minho of how different he is though. These men share cigarettes and bottles of liquor, talking of their sexual endevors and the way the new young professor in the biology department’s breasts bounce when she walks. All while Minho scrolls through his twitter timeline to retweet apink concept photos and tweet about how amazing Jihyo from Twice's vocals are. When he was in highschool he would think a lot about what must be wrong with him to be more fascinated with the choreography of the new girl group song of the summer than the way the girls in his year looked in their cheerleading uniforms.
The feeling of anxiety and alienation leaked into his bones like the feeling of hot magma. He always gets full-body-hot when he’s anxious.
With his phone gripped in his hand, the Momo photocard smiling back at him as he fidgets. He kinda wants to go home. Jisung would understand, well he would once Minho comes up with what kind of homework he’s leaving to work on. He can’t choose between the paper for his History of the Arts class or the powerpoint he’s been putting together for his Diversity in Education class.
As he tries to weigh the pros and cons of each piece of homework, his eyes flicker over the room. He’s looking from the episode of American Dad playing on the TV to the sliding glass door on the opposite wall trying to will his body to stop buzzing. As his eyes flash across the room, looking for anything to distract himself, Minho somehow catches sight of him.
It’s like everything else vanishes, all the insincerity and shifting eyes fade away into the background. He’s sitting with Chan and Changbin, Jisung sitting at the coffee table in front of them trying to roll a joint. Jisung says something that makes the guy laugh, showing off a dimpled smile and foxy eyes that almost close when he smiles. He’s so pretty.
Jisung is saying something and looks up from where he’s focused on the grinder in his hands. He finds Minho, which isn't hard since he hasn’t left this spot since Jisung sat him here earlier, and calls out to him. His call has the new guy, the pretty guy, looking up from his conversation with Chan and catches Minho’s eyes. His smile grows at the sight of him and Minho feels so warm.
Suddenly, a bunch of the guys sitting around the living room are standing and heading out the sliding glass door to the backyard. They’re chanting about a kegstand and some newbie who’s probably gonna puke his guts out in the morning. Minho looks away from the pretty boy to watch everyone file out the doors. When he looks back, all four of them are standing. Chan and Changbin heading towards the back door and sending him a small greeting. Minho waves back. Jisung takes longer to greet him, ruffling his hair lovingly and making sure he isn’t having an internal freak out. Minho sends him on his way and when he looks back up the pretty boy is still looking at him.
His eyes seem to be studying Minho. Looking him over but also asking a question somehow. Have we met? It sends a small shiver up Minho’s spine. The guy sits his can of whatever shitty ipa he’s been drinking down to start walking over to him. Minho hopes his heart won’t beat out of his chest before he makes his way to him. The nervousness of knowing his really attractive guy is walking over to him starts to set in when he’s halfway across the room to him.
Minho tries not to stare, looking down at his hands and his phone. The man's shadow leans over him and Minho looks up. He shouldn’t be surprised of how beautiful he is up close if he was this beautiful across the room. His smile is lopsided and his eyes sparkle like his mom was able to capture the stars and place them in his eyes one by one. Minho feels so embarrassed to find him this amazing on their first encounter. “Hey,” He says.
“Hi.” Minho smiles back finally. The guy’s smile widens at Minho’s expression. He looks at the door and how everyone is standing around on the patio out there.
“You don’t look like this is your type of scene. I heard Jisung pulls you to these things to try and socialize you, doesn’t look like it’s working.” He jokes. Minho lets out a small huff of a laugh and looks down over his lap again.
“Parties aren’t really my scene, ya know. But Jisung insists I just need to come.” Minho looks back up. “I honestly was about to leave before they all headed outside.” Minho looks around the now empty room, ya know aside from the mess of crushed cups and half drank cans.
“Aw, I was hoping I’d be able to at least hit on you before you ran away,” Jeongin laughs but it’s obvious he’s just as nervous as Minho is when he mentions it. He reaches to scratch at his neck and Minho finds it endearing.
Minho looks up at him and scoots close to the side of the couch to make more room for him as if the entire couch wasn't empty right now. “I mean I don’t really want to leave anymore. At least not without learning the handsome guy who came over to hit on me’s name.” He looks off as he speaks, not wanting to look at him knowing he’s probably already red.
The guy sits next to him, leaving a decent amount of space between them but not too much to make Minho think he’s reading this wrong. “My name is Jeongin.” Minho looks up and meets his eyes again. He’s wearing a foxy smile and his eyes are scrunched up with his look of amusement. Minho smiles back at him.
“I’m Minho.”
They continue talking for a while, Minho learns Jeongin’s major and his interests. He learns he’s a sophomore and he learns about how Jeongin even ended up in the frat. They talk about music, which is something both of them enjoy a lot. By the time the rest of the frat are filing back in, Jeongin and Minho are already making their own little inside jokes and poking fun at one another. The playful conversation makes Minho feel light.
Jisung and Changbin pull Minho off towards the kitchen and Chan calls for Jeongin to help him carry some boxes of empty glass bottles and crushed cups. They part ways but Minho keeps looking out across the island into the living room to find Chan teasing Jeongin and messing up his hair. Jeognin groans and pushes him off playfully but it’s clear how fond he and Chan are of each other. Like brothers.
Jisung and Changbin have Minho helping mix up some cups of…whatever they want. Jisung bumps him and smiles teasingly. “You met Innie I see.” He laughs. Minho feels his ears heat up and he looks down at the mix of sprite and a couple different mixing and alcoholic liquids in the cups. The drink has turned pink.
“He’s nice.” Minho says. And attractive and charming and my dream guy. Jisung giggles and takes his hands. They leave Changbin to do the mixing on his own as they move towards the corner where the countertops meet to hide from the view of the living room.
“I knew you’d like him. He’s just your type.” Jisung plays with their conjoined hands happily. “I’m glad he worked up the balls to talk to you.” Minho can feel his blush growing at Jisung’s words. He does like Jeongin, probably more than he should. Jisung continues on, telling Minho small things about Jeongin and excitedly asking Minho for his thoughts on the other man.
By the time they’re leaving the kitchen, Minho checks the time and frowns. As they make it to the other two men, Changin passes them their cups, Minho holds his phone up to Jisung. “The bus is about to stop for the night, I should head out.” Jisung groans and looks at his own phone’s clock.
“You have practice in the morning too,” Jisung mumbles. He picks up the cup of pinky-red liquid Changbin had mixed up. “I can walk you out to the bus stop, let me drink some of my drink first.” Minho nods and looks over towards Jeongin who’s already staring back.
“I can walk you out,” Jeongin says. Minho and him make eye contact between the gorup and they just look at each other for a moment.
“Okay.” Minho finally says. Jisung is quick to pull him in and wish him goodbye and safe travels all while giggling and clearly hinting at how Minho should try and get Jeongin to kiss him at the bus stop. Minho pushes him back and laughs, saying the rest of his goodbyes before Jeongin follows him off towards the door.
The night air is cold, even in Minho’s oversized sweater and pants. He lets out a small shiver on the porch. Jeongin, who’s still standing in the doorway of the houses, reaches behind the door and comes back with a varsity style denim jacket with thick fabric sleeves while the torso is made of jean colored denim. He passes it to Minho as he finally closes the door behind him.
Minho hesitates, looking at the jacket. Jeongin pushes it closer to him. “Take it, you look cold.” Jeongin had pulled a hoodie on on their way out, Minho doubts he’s very warm either. Jeongin makes Minho take it with a smile and doesn’t let them start walking off until Minho has slipped his arms into the sleeves and wrapped the torso around his body. Walking down the steps off the porch and onto the sidewalk, Minho can feel the chill leaving his body easily.
The playful conversation starts up again, bumping each other with their shoulders and teasing the other. The bus stop isn’t far, the street light over the bench is going strong and Minho sits down. Jeongin sits next to him, closer than on the couch. Minho checks the time, his bus should be here in the next couple minutes. Jeongin knocks against him again and Minho feels the laugh bubble out of him. It’s so comfortable with Jeongin.
He tips his head back, looking up at the stars and how they sparkle. It’s beautiful. The sight has him turning back to look into Jeognin’s eyes and comparing the stars in the sky to the stars in his eyes. Jeongin looks back at him easily. Minho feels wonderstruck at the sight. His eyes are more beautiful than the sky, Minho is sure of it. The sound and the light of the bus pulled up as Minho finally pulled his gaze away.
The bus is finally stopping as Minho stands in front of Jeongin and looks down at him. “I really liked talking to you, Jeongin.” Minho says with a smile. Jeongin smiles back. Minho hesitates for only half a second before he’s leaning down to place a small kiss to Jeognin’s cheek. “It was,” He starts and thinks for a second as he steps back towards the bus’s doors. “Enchanting to meet you.” He settles on the word after a small internal debate. Jeongin smiles at him as Minho climbs up the stairs and onto the bus, flashing the driver his bus pass before he sits. He can see Jeongin smiling up at him through the window and Minho almost wants to stay, go back and kiss Jeongin for real.
As the bus pulls off, Minho can feel the heavy blush burning on his skin and he presses his palms to his cheeks to make them stop glowing. But everytime he thinks of Jeongin they flare up again.
Getting back to his apartment building, Hyunjin and Seungmin are still up. They’re sitting together in the living room, watching Hyunjin’s newest favorite drama. Hyunjin greets him happily and Minho says his hi before walking to the kitchen. Pouring a glass of water and looking over the snacks in the cabinet, Minho almost misses the sound of Hyunjin entering the room. He looks Minho over as he sips his water and he smirks.
“What did you do, you dog?” Minho almost wants to punch him in the throat. “You’re blushing like crazy and wearing this big ass jacket I know for a fact isn’t yours.” Minho feels his cheeks heat up again as he turns to pull the bag of chips from the cabinet.
“I didn’t do anything.” Minho says. It’s true, he didn’t do anything as scandalous as Hyunjin is thinking. “I just went to Jsiung’s dumb frat thing and met this new guy in their frat.” Minho’s mumbling. Hyunjin’s smile grows wider as he watches Minho.
“You fucked the new pledge?” He says excitedly. Hyunjin was already bouncing around in excitement but Minho scrunched his nose up at the idea. He opened the bag of flavored chips and shoved two of them in his mouth.
“I didn’t have sex with anyone.” He clears up before sipping his water again. Hyunjin eyes him suspiciously, as if he doesn't believe it. Minho just chews on his chips.
“If you didn’t fuck anyone then why are you blushing that hard?” Hyunjin reaches over and rubs the pad of his thumb over Minho’s red cheeks. The older leans away and rubs at his own cheeks.
“I said I met him. We talked, he’s really nice.” Minho can feel the blush coming back just thinking about his time with Jeongin. “I think I really like him.” He almost whispers. Hyunjin’s excitement comes back tenfold as he speaks. He reaches out to shakes Minho by his shoulders as he celebrates and his excitement just makes Minho want to giggle too.
The excitement pulls Seungmin up off the couch and into the kitchen with them. He finds Hyunjin hugging Minho as they both giggle and their cheeks press together. Hyunjin excitedly spills the bean to Seungmin who only raises an eyebrow. Hyunjin is going on and on about Minho going on dates and having a boyfriend which makes Minho feel so full of contentedness. “So you asked him out? And got his number? I’m impressed.” Seungmin says as he leans on the counter.
Minho feels like he’s been dunked in cold water. His number…. Asked him out… His face must give it away. “You didn’t ask him out!?” Hyunjin grabs him again but the shaking is more violent than fond. “Give your phone, we need to ask him out!” Minho grunts and pushes Hyunjin back.
“I- I didn’t get his number…” Minho pulls his hands up to cover his eyes. “Oh god i completely forgot,” Seungmin hums as if he knew this was coming. Minho shouldn’t be surprised either. He has a hard time with people so why should a person he’s romantically interested in be any different?
“Well we need to go back! We need his number!” Hyunjin seems to be freaking out. Minho shakes his head and puts his now empty water glass in the sink.
“It’s too late. I- I should lay down anyways.” Hyunjin looks extremely upset at Minho’s words. The oldest puts his snack away. “I mean, if he's part of Jisung’s frat I’ll see him again anyways.” Minho mumbles. Hyunjin reaches out to pull Minho into a hug and the older man lets him. They say their goodnights and Minho slips off into his room. He changes and crawls into bed, pulling one of his many plushies against his chest and falling asleep quickly.
A couple days pass, Minho’s life a blur of dance practice and practicums at this point into the semester. He barely has time to shower between the end of his ballet practice and the time he needs to be at the school he’s been TAing at. Today though, all he has are classes and practice. He dresses lazily, cozy gray sweats and a t-shirt with a cat on it all wrapped up in a big fluffy cardigan. He yawns as he walks behind Seungmin and Hyunjin into the dining hall. He doesn’t have practice until this evening and he’s already attended his three classes for the day.
Hyunjin goes on his scripted rant about why Andrew Garfelid’s spiderman is superior as Seungmin just rolls his eyes and waits for his turn to speak his argument. As if they don’t have this argument multiple times a week. Minho tunes them out as he reaches over to grab a bowl of kimchi fried rice off the counter. He smiles down at the dish as he sits it on his tray. He steps back after adding a couple side dishes onto his tray, on his way to follow Seungjin to the small table they eat at almost everyday. When Minho steps backward, his back hits someone’s chest and he falters on his feet trying to steady his tray full of food and not spill anything. He grits his teeth at the effort.
“Woah, careful.” Minho looks over his shoulder at the other person’s words. It’s Jeongin. His chest blooms into sparks of warmth. He steps back and makes sure he isn't gonna bump into anyone else. Jeongin smiles at him.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Minho can feel himself blush again. Jeongin reaches out to rearrange the dishes on his tray that had slid around. He places a pair of wrapped chopsticks onto Minho’s tray carefully. The action makes Minho feel so warm and fuzzy.
“Don’t apologize. I was sneaking up on you, it isn’t your fault.” Jeongin lets out a small laugh. He was looking for me. Minho can feel his own smile grow.
“I was just heading to sit with my friends, did you wanna sit with us?” Minho looks off towards where Hyunjin is watching them, whispering to Seugnmin with a huge grin on his face. Minho feels a little embarrassed for a second knowing Hyunjin is gonna attack Jeongin with questions and get as much personal information out of him as possible so he can make sure he’s good enough for Minho. It’s sweet but it can be a little jarring.
“Sure.” Jeongin's grin is lopsided and his dimples show. Minho gestures and walks towards his friends, excited to get to talk to Jeongin again, excited to get his number, excited to get closer to Jeongin. He can feel himself smiling.
Getting to know Jeongin is fun. Learning his interests and texting him all the time. Getting lunch together, studying in the library, meeting up at those weekly kickbacks at the frat house. As much as Minho loves the time they spend together, the more time he spends with Jeongin the more time he feels as if Jeongin is just trying to make friends. The flirty banter they share also transfers over to the interactions Minho witnesses between Jeongin and Jisung, they haven’t done anything more than how they would hang out with their friends. It almost shatters Minho’s world when he realizes it, well…when Seungmin points it out to him.
So Minho decides he wants to try and make his intentions a little more clear. The next day, he doesn’t get to see Jeongin until late, making plans to meet up at the library after Minho gets back to campus when he’s done his practicum. Minho had gotten fast food on the way to campus, eating his fries and burger as he thought over what he wanted to say to Jeongin. He sips his cup of coke and turns into the visitor lot near the library. Minho parks carefully and tosses all his trash into the McDonalds bag his food had come in. The bag is tossed into the trash and Minho pulls his satchel bag with his laptop and his practicum supplies in it so he can work on his grading he has to do tonight.
Minho pushes a hand through his hair as he looks down at his clothes. He wears a pair of plaid slacks and a button up shirt in a color to match. He doesn’t feel too overdressed so he assumes he’ll be fine. He pulls his phone out to shoot Jeongin a text, looking up from his screen as he goes to cross the road. As he walks and gets closer to the library, Minho’s eyes adjust to the darkness of the outside.
Getting closer to the library, Minho turns on his phone screen again. He types out a small message to Jeongin but before he hits send he hears Jeongin’s voice. He’s laughing, Minho closes his phone and pushes it into his pocket, walking closer. When Jeongin comes into view, Minho can feel his excitement grow, the heat in his stomach bubbles and his smile on display.
“I’m not joking!” A feminine voice calls out. Minho feels his feet stop before he realizes what’s going on. He can finally see it. Jeongin is standing about 30 feet away against one of the pillars outside of the library. And in front of him, there's a girl. She’s cute, blonde hair in a scruffy shag cut. Minho can’t see much but he can see that she’s short and cute, a splattering of freckles over her skin. She’s giggling at Jeongin, her lashes fluttering and her hands clasping cutely in front of her sweater clad torso.
“You’re cute, you want me to believe you’re being serious?” Jeongin laughs at her. The girl laughs with him, shoving him lightly. They continue to joke and mess around but Minho has already turned on his feet and started speed walking back to his car as quickly as he can. His bag is thrown in the passenger seat and he climbs in. As he shoves the keys in the ignition and starts the car, he suddenly realizes he’s crying. Wiping at the wetness on his cheeks, Minho pulls out of the parking lot and drives towards his apartment. He feels stupid.
Parking in the complex’s garage, Minho shoots Jeongin a text saying he can’t make it, putting his phone on do not disturb and letting himself finish his cry in the dark corner of this parking garage in his car. When he finishes, Minho wipes his eyes with napkins from his McDonalds dinner and lets himself calm down. He turns up the radio to make sure there isn't enough silence for him to start thinking again.
Resting his head on the steering wheel, Minho let himself sob loudly. He feels so stupid. Seungmin was right, he shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. Jeongin was just like the other guys in Jisung’s frat, the ones who make fun of Minho’s interests and say things about him behind his back. He should’ve known he was no different.
After his breakdown, Minho falls back into the seat of his car and changed the radio to play his kpop cds. The sound of his favorite music doesn’t seem to make him feel any better, but it’s better than the top 40 crap on the radio he’d been crying to.
After a small performance of basics by twice, Minho finally grabs his phone and his bag and climbs out of the car. He’s sure he looks a mess. It doesn’t quite bother him right now. The wait for and the ride in the elevator makes him feel like an empty shell. He doesn’t even want to turn his phone off do not disturb. He pulls his house key from his pocket, his cat keychains clinking together as he twists the key and pushes the front door that always seems to be stuck on its hinges. Once he’s inside, Minho pushes the door shut and kicks off his loafers. He doesn’t intend to stick around and see if Hyunjin and Seungmin are home, he books it to his room and locks himself inside.
His phone is tossed onto his mattress and he plops down at his desk, clicking on the desk lamp. He uncaps the red pen he grades with after pulling all his papers that need to be graded from his bag. The red lights of his desk clock blink on and on as he grades paper after paper, not stopping or thinking of anything other than the assignment on the desk in front of him.
Time flies by as he reads each paper and makes sure each of the words are spelled correctly. Circling and crossing out different things for each paper, leaving a small note of encouragement and a sticker on each. By the time he finishes he can see that the time has finally ticked past 1:30am. The red numbers feel like they’re mocking him, knowing even though there's no school tomorrow he does have a part time job to head to.
Minho pulls off all his clothes from the day and pulls on a pair of shorts and a shirt before he slips into bed. He picks his phone off the mattress and turns off do not disturb for the first time since he turned it on. The mass amount of notifications flood his screen in an instant. Theres twitter notifs from different kpop groups and a couple instagram push notifs. There’s a text from Hyunjin telling him he hopes he makes it home safe and that he and Seungmin had gotten a hotel room after their date. Minho scrunches his nose at the message and continues to check the messages. Down at the bottom, the first notification from after he turned on dnd, is a text message from Jeongin. Minho clicks on it and waits for his phone to pull it up. He feels like his heart is in his throat.
Jeonginnie
Oh
I hope everything is okay
I was waiting for you and I was just about to message you
Got a little worried bc it was so late
Lmk when you get home and stuff, maybe we can still hangout?
The messages make Minho want to curl up and die. How can Jeongin be so nice and flirty with him and then start flirting with some other girl behind his back? Minho shoots him a text saying he had his phone on do not disturb and puts it on the charger. He doesn’t expect a response, he doesn’t get one anyways. His brain feels full again, thinking of Jeongin and his texts and the girl and the way he feels.
Minho is suddenly no longer exhausted, standing from his bed and beginning to pace the length of his room. The clock finally shows the time as 2am and he should definitely be asleep right now. There’s still so many questions lingering in his mind, keeping him from sleeping. He thinks of how he feels for Jeongin, of how strongly he cares for him after only a short amount of time, about how he is almost certain he loves him. The realization makes him feel wide awake, feet carrying him from one side of the room to the other.
He lets himself dream for a moment, dream of all the things that could be the things that will most likely never happen. The one that lingers the longest in his mind is the thought of Jeongin seeing his text message, of jumping out of his frat house bed in the middle of the night and rushing over here. Of him knocking at the front door, anxiously waiting for Minho to pull it open. When they’re finally face to face Jeongin will give Minho that lopsided smile and mumble a small “Hey,” Before pulling Minho into a kiss, professing his love to him. But his fantasy is broken quickly by the sudden exhaustion spreading through Minho’s bones. Climbing back into bed, he curls up under the covers and lets his mind wander as he falls asleep.
The next couple times Minho sees Jeongin in the next week are short. Eating lunch together or Jeongin seeking him out as he walks across the quad. Minho tries not to think too much into it. Eventually Jeongin shoots him a text towards the end of the week asking Minho to join him and some friends out for some dancing and drinks. Where Minho would normally say no, Hyunjin was pushing him to join Joengin and hopefully be drunk enough to put the moves on him. It felt wrong to say no, after the way Jeongin had so clearly been trying to reach out to him this past week. So Minho put on his big boy pants (the pair of leather pants that hug his thighs just right and make his ass look amazing) and dots on some of the expensive perfume Hyunjin gifted him.
Not wanting to be out of place, Minho googled the place they’d be heading to for drinks. It was a small club but from what he saw online there was a decent amount of people who frequented the place. So he was determined to have fun. It was close enough for them to walk from Minho’s apartment so Jeongin said he’d make his way over and they’d go together. Minho’s excited for the night. It feels like it will be quite fun to have a proper night out with Jeongin, not just beers and frat guys.
When Jeongin arrives they talk for a bit while Minho finishes getting ready, Jeongin hovering politely and feeling like he can't sit. Minho grabs his keys and pockets his phone and his card before they head out. The walk isn’t long, enough time to talk about their week and for Jeongin to complain about the stats class he’s been struggling with. Once they make it through the doors, Minho can feel the music more than hear it. There's already a ton of people dancing, even this early in the night, and he’s excited to get a couple drinks in his system just to dance them all out. He follows Jeongin over to the bar where they order drinks before he’s led over to the table Jeongin’s friends have claimed.
Jeongin introduces him and Minho looks over each of his friends, finding the blonde, freckled girl from the other night among the crowd. It throws Minho off for a second but he quickly realizes she’s there with a boy, wrapped around his arm with a giddy smile. Minho tries not to think about how this most likely means his reaction from the other night was an overreaction, he just sips his drink and stands with Jeongin where he and his friends talk. The drinks loosen Minho up enough to laugh at these guys stupid jokes and to think about maybe, just maybe, leaving with someone tonight.
The music changes suddenly, Minho’s head perking up at the sound. He sips his drinks a bit more before placing it on the table and telling Jeongin he’s heading off to dance. Jeongin laughs at him lightly but follows him, grabbing his wrist to not get lost in the crowd. They break through into the sea of people that inhabit the dancefloor, Minho finding somewhere with enough room for the both of them and letting go of Jeongin to start dancing. His skin buzzes nicely with the feeling of the booze in hsi system mixed with the bass of the music. Jeongin laughs and dances with him, his body following Minho’s lead easily. The pair laugh and have a good time, getting more drinks and checking back in with the group every once in a while.
Minho has fun, lots of fun actually. His body feels light with the mix of alcohol and Jeongin’s presence. The night goes on, Minho sends Hyunjin too many drunken selfies at a bad angle and pictures of Jeongin's forehead with the .5 lens on his camera that he cracks up about. They are out on the floor dancing again, probably for the last time before they head out for the night seeing as most of the guys had already headed out or found someone to go home with.
Minho moves like water, he knows this. His body is fluid and moves almost too naturally. So as he moves and tries to encourage Jeongin to dance with him, he wasn’t expecting the younger man to put his hands on Minho’s hips but he didn’t dislike it. He leaned into Jeongin’s touch as they danced and Minho tried to sing along to the Megan Thee Stallion song that was blasting through the speakers. It’s fun, it feels right.
The song ends too quickly in Minho’s opinion, Jeongin pulling away and yelling over the music that they should probably head out. Minho nods and grips the younger man’s hand as he weaves through the crowd to head towards the doors. The rush of cool air when they exit the building feels like such a relief. Minho’s heated skin started to become damp at the sudden temperature change. Jeongin doesn’t let go of his hand as they head back towards Minho’s apartment.
The night is sparkling, the lights on all the city buildings shine and sparkle even though they’re all closed. Minho grips Jeongin’s hand tighter. “Don’t let go,” He whispers. Jeongin squeezes his hand as a way of recognition and doesn’t let go. Maybe it’s the alcohol but Minho feels so…wonderstruck. Holding hands with Jeongin as they head back to his apartment after spending the night dancing together. It’s almost not real to him. The more he thinks about it, Minho can feel his cheeks heating up.
As they stop at a crosswalk and wait for some cars to drive by, Minho thinks. He looks up at Jeongin who’s looking at the cars passing and waiting for the light to turn. Minho studies his profile and the way he watches the street in front of them. Suddenly the thought hits Minho like a semi truck. What if Jeongin knows? What if he knows how Minho feels, how flawless tonight felt between the two of them? The light turns green and Jeongin steps forward while Minho’s brain is buzzing with thoughts. Their hands almost separate and Minho grips Jeongin’s hand tighter. “Don’t let go.”
Jeongin smiles down at him and tugs him along. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” The rest of the walk to Minho’s apartment passes by quicker. Jeongin hummed and asked him a question from time to time. Outside of his building, Minho doesn't want to let go of Jeongin’s hand. But he knows he has to. When they fall apart, Minho looks up at the building. Jeongin smiles. “Get up there safe hyung.” Minho nods. They say their goodbyes and Minho is walking into the elevator to head up to his apartment.
Once he’s in the door, Minho feels giddy, wonderstruck, with the night he’s had. Without thinking much and in a buzz of love and alcohol, Minho starts dancing his way into the kitchen. He shimmies all alone and pulls open the fridge to look for something to drink. Once he has his hands on a water bottle and his drinking from it, he finally allows himself to think. He thinks of how nice his night was, of how it felt to hold Jeongin’s hand, of how he smiled at him. It brings Minho’s head back to the thought of what if Jeongin knows how he feels? Minho feels like he spends the rest of his night wondering if he knew.
As the days tick by after their night out, Minho waits for Jeongin to invite him to lunch or a study session or anything but it never happens. They text and see eachother on campus but it feels almost like Jeongin is avoiding him. It makes Minho’s chest feel tight and his bones ache. He doesn’t want to push and assume something out of nothing so Minho tries not to dwell on it too long. But as it becomes a week since he and Jeongin have set time aside to see each other, Minho knows something has to be wrong.
Hyunjin sits next to him on the couch as they watch some sappy romcom and Hyunjin is touching up his roots. Minho lathers the younger man’s nails with the sage green polish he’d bought earlier this afternoon. Seungmin comes through the door after his shift, dropping his bag by the doorway into the living room and looks them over. “No Jeongin, again?” He says.
His words make Minho freeze. He turns his head to look at Seungmin once before turning back to finish painting Hyunjin’s nails. “For your information Kim Seungmin, me and Hyunjin made plans to have a self care night earlier this week.” Hyunjin smiles down at him and waves at Seungmin with the hand of dried polish Minho isn’t currently cradling.
Seungmin just hums, turning away and walking to the kitchen to scavenge for some food. Minho blows on Hyunjin’s nails as he puts the cap back on the bottle and sets it on the coffee table. Hyunjin thanks him for painting his nails and looks down at the timer on his phone for his bleach that's under his cap. “Oop, let me go wash this out and then we crack open another box of wine and watch that new movie we rented!” He smiles and bounces up off the couch. Minho smiles at the excitement in his voice. He feels bad. It feels like after he met Jeongin he’s seen Hyunjin and Jisung less and less. Between dance and his practicums and classes he barely got much time to hang out but adding his crush on Jeongin into the mix and he definitely was with him whenever he wasn’t busy.
Plopping down next to Minho on the couch, Seungmin takes a bite of the kimchi fried rice Minho had put in the fridge after he made dinner. “I know he’s happy to see you and have you home to hang out again,” He starts. “But you should definitely talk out whatever problem you have with Jeongin sometime soon.” Seungmin shovels more rice into his mouth. Minho looks away. He didn’t think he was that easy to read but this is Kim Seungmin he’s talking about.
“I know.” Is all Minho says. He sinks into the cushions of the couch. “I don’t even know if he likes guys.” He mumbles. Seungmin looks down at him and takes another bite. Minho lets the self pity sink in for the first time, thinking of how he’s been blindly chasing after Jeongin for months at this point with no idea if he’s even got a chance.
“If it helps any,” Seungmin says. “I definitely think he likes you.” He looks back to the screen and starts to eat again. Minho chews at his lips to fight back his smile, looking back at the screen and watching the movie again. He lets his head fall onto Seungmin’s shoulder as they wait for Hyunjin to come back. As much as he hates Kim Seungmin, Minho’s got to admit he likes him a little bit.
The next day Seungmin helps work up Minho’s courage enough to send Jeongin a text asking to hang out later that day. Jeongin texts back and asks where he wants to meet up and Minho invites him over after Seungmin makes plans to keep Hyunjin out shopping for the day. As the time ticks on and it gets closer to three o’clock, the time Jeongin said he’d come over, Minho feels his insides twist with nervousness. Seungmin kept assuring him he had nothing to worry about but Minho couldn’t help the anxiety.
The knock at the door makes him jump out of his skin, pausing the twice interview he was watching to pull open the door. Jeongin hadn’t been to his apartment yet so Minho steps aside to let him take it all in when he walks through the door. Minho closes the door as Jeongin slips off his sneakers while eyeing the pictures of Seungmin and Hyunjin on the wall along with the portrait of Minho and his cats back home all dressed up for Christmas last year. “It’s nice in here.” He says. “Homey.”
Minho thanks him and offers him a drink. Jeongin rejects it and says he brought his water bottle. They move into the living room and Minho exits the video he’d been watching on youtube to find something for them to watch together. They settle on some random gameplay video and Minho can barely pay attention as he goes over what he wants to say to Jeongin in his head. The younger man seems to notice because Minho can see him looking at him from time to time. His skin feels heated with Jeongin’s eyes on him. He feels like a fool.
“Are you okay?” Jeongin finally asks. Minho looks back at him and nods. Jeongin narrows his eyebrows and Minho knows he doesn’t believe him. Jeongin looks off to the side and Minho sees the way he tightens his fist. “Look if you don’t want me here it’s okay. I can leave.” Jeongin says. It catches Minho off guard.
“What?” He says dumbly.
“I know the other night was kinda weird but you don’t have to act so nervous around me.” Jeongin rubs at his neck.
Minho looks up at him and catches the light dusting of pink on his cheeks. “Jeongin,” He says lightly. Jeongin looks back at him and Minho takes a deep breath. “I’ve been praying that this is only the first page, not where our story line ends. Everytime I’m with you, I’m so happy. And when you leave my brain can do nothing but echo your name until I see you again.” Minho looks down at his feet as he feels his eyes water. “I was thinking these things even that first night, these are the words I held back as I was leaving too soon.” Minho’s hands tremble slightly as he holds them in his lap.
“I was enchanted to meet you, Jeongin.” Minho finally lets a couple tears fall and he knows his voice sounds wet. “And every night I think ‘please don’t be in love with someone else, please don’t have someone waiting on you’ over and over again. But that’s so stupid because you’re not even mine and it’s stupid to think you’d ever want to be.” Minho wipes at his eyes with his balled up hands.
Suddenly, Jeongin reaches out to hold Minho’s hand. Minho looks up and Jeongin’s other hand reaches to wipe away his tears. “Min,” He mumbles. It makes more tears fall from Minho’s eyes. Jeongin wipes them all and shushes the older man and brushes his bangs out of his eyes. “No need to cry, honey.” His gentleness makes Minho feel too fragile.
“I’m sorry, it’s stupid. I didn’t mean to-” Before he can finish talking, Jeongin swoops in and kisses him on the lips. It isn’t a super long kiss, but it's enough to get Minho to shut up. Jeongin uses the pads of his thumbs to stroke Minho’s face when they pull back.
“I like you too, Minho.” Jeongin says. Minho can feel himself smile through the tears. He can’t stop himself from pulling Jeongin in to kiss him again. They laugh into the kiss and Jeongin holds Minho’s face while the older man wraps his arms around the younger. It feels like an eternity but also not long enough when they pull away. Minho leans in to press his forehead against Jeongin’s.
“You’re enchanting, Yang Jeongin.”