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Wonwoo is happy that so many of his friends are in committed, stable relationships to the point where they want to get married, but ‘wedding season’ has been a real test of his social battery’s stamina. Right now, as he unpacks his overnight bag from wedding number five of this month alone, it’s down to zero percent and in desperate need of recharging.
“Hey,” he hears, along with a soft tap on the door frame. Wonwoo looks up to find Mingyu filling the doorway, laundry hamper held in front of him. “Bring out your dead.”
Wonwoo snorts, but gladly adds the clothes he’s just taken from his bag in with Mingyu’s. “Can I throw myself in?”
“You won’t fit in the machine,” Mingyu says. He shifts the hamper to one hip and uses his free hand to bring Wonwoo closer and press a short kiss to his cheek. “Early night? You do look pretty worn out, hyung.”
Wonwoo just nods and drops his head onto Mingyu’s shoulder. “I wish we had a bathtub.”
“I could block the drain and flood the bathroom for you,” Mingyu says. Wonwoo pokes him in the ribs, pleased with the squeak Mingyu gives in response. “Or come help you stand up in the shower?”
“Mmm, tempting…” Wonwoo steps away and stretches his arms over his head, groaning as he hears various joints pop. He looks back up at Mingyu and can’t help the soft smile that forms on his lips. “Feed me first?”
“Okay.” Mingyu nods, hoisting the hamper into both arms again before he heads off to the kitchen. Mingyu’s voice floats back down the hallway saying, “you know you don’t always have to say yes to the invites!”
Wonwoo just sighs and falls onto the bed. There has to be another way around this.
*
Wonwoo hasn’t managed to come up with another idea by the time the next wedding comes up so he waves a white flag and sends Mingyu off without him as a joint representative and a white lie about Wonwoo’s stomach giving him trouble. Mingyu’s not the best at lying to people’s faces so anything more detailed would have him sweating and making it obvious that he’s not being truthful.
Mingyu sends him selfies and other photos throughout the day which only make Wonwoo’s guilt churn his stomach into actual nausea and a thumping headache. By the time Mingyu gets home, tipsy and giggly and devastatingly handsome in his suit, Wonwoo is lying on the sofa in the dark with a cold cloth over his forehead.
“Hyung, did you really get sick?” Mingyu comes to kneel by his side, pressing his knuckles to Wonwoo’s cheek. “Why didn’t you say something? I would’ve come home earlier.”
“It’s nothing, I’m fine,” Wonwoo says, even though his head is throbbing in time with each beat of his pulse. “Did you have a good time? You look so handsome, darling.”
Mingyu beams and Wonwoo wants to bask in the light of it when it’s directed at him like this. “Yeah, it was good. I missed you, though.” He takes Wonwoo’s hand and kisses it. “Wanted to dance with you, feed you cake.”
Wonwoo smiles and holds both arms up as a signal for Mingyu to pull him upright. He manages to suppress a wince as the movement makes his brain feel like it’s being sloshed around in his skull and wraps his arms around Mingyu’s middle. “We can go on a date tomorrow. You can feed me cake then.”
Mingyu gives a little cheer, waving a fist in the air. “Sounds great.”
*
It’s a Thursday morning which means the weekly cross-department meeting is due to start in a few minutes and Wonwoo is hovering in the corridor outside the conference room with his laptop and coffee cup taking up both hands so when his phone starts ringing in his pocket, he’s momentarily stuck as to how to proceed until a hand appears from his right and takes the cup from him.
“I got it, hyung,” Hansol says, nodding towards Wonwoo’s pocket as a gesture for him to get his phone. Wonwoo nods his gratitude and answers the call, only slightly concerned to see Mingyu’s name on the screen.
“Hello? Everything okay? You never call during work hours,” Wonwoo says. “I’m just waiting for my Thursday meeting.”
“Hi, love, I know, I know, I just needed to ask you something quickly because my mum needs me to go back to her by midday and you’re usually busy until later than that on a Thursday,” Mingyu fires back, words tumbling out at enough speed to start merging together.
“Ah,” Wonwoo says, the hairs on the back of his neck rising just a little at the thought of Mingyu’s mother planning something. He loves his not-quite-mother-in-law but Mingyu’s enthusiasm for life had to come from somewhere and as a combined force it is almost too much for Wonwoo at times. “Ask me what?”
“Can you take some days off at the end of the month? Mum is booking a trip for her and dad’s anniversary and wants us and Minseo and her partner to come as well. I’ll text you the exact dates, but I can never remember how far in advance you have to put your request in,” Mingyu says, then continues speaking before Wonwoo can answer him. “But then I was thinking that we could take some extra days and go somewhere by ourselves? I was looking at this place by a river where you can go fishing and there’s a hiking trail that starts right by the driveway. What do you think, hyung?”
Wonwoo blinks rapidly as he takes in and processes the information. Trip with Mingyu’s family. Trip with Mingyu. In that order, that would be fine. Wonwoo could cope with that. “Uh, yeah, I should be able to do that,” he says, smiling when Mingyu whoops in his ear. “Tell your mum yes and then show me the place at home tonight.”
“You’re the best,” Mingyu says, then makes a loud kissy noise. “Love you! Have a good day!”
“Mm, you too,” Wonwoo replies, hanging up and sliding his phone back in his pocket. He looks over at Hansol and takes his cup back. “Thanks, ‘Sol.”
“No sweat,” Hansol says with a nod. “Mingyu-hyung?”
“Yeah,” Wonwoo says, and then, because he knows Hansol will understand, he continues on, “his family wants us all to go away together and because he’s a clever bastard, he just had to add on that he would take me somewhere just the two of us afterwards, so I can’t really say no.”
“To decompress,” Hansol says, nodding again. “It’s a classic move.”
“Right? I should be annoyed that I’m so easy to convince that way,” Wonwoo says, not really serious, but again, he knows who he’s talking to. “I need to find a cheaper coping mechanism, though. It’s not like we can always afford to double our holiday time just because I want to disappear into the woods whenever I have to exist around people for an extended period.”
Hansol makes a sympathetic-looking face and opens his mouth to speak but before he can impart any wisdom, the rest of Wonwoo’s team arrives for the meeting, cutting off any opportunity for their conversation to continue.
As they’re filing into the conference room, Wonwoo’s phone pings in his pocket before he can set it to Do Not Disturb and he is expecting to see a message from Mingyu with the dates his mum is talking about, but instead it’s from Hansol who gives him a thumbs up from across the table when Wonwoo looks over.
>>I have a foolproof system, I’ll email you after the meeting.
Wonwoo gives him a thumbs up in return and focuses his mind on the meeting.
*
The trip with Mingyu’s family is a lot more relaxed than Wonwoo had anticipated so he spends the days with them eating, chilling out, eating some more, playing parlour games, and refereeing Mingyu and his sister’s inevitable arguments about which one of them was cheating. The fact that it is then followed up by getting to spend two nights alone with Mingyu in what was frankly a magical setting, leaves Wonwoo feeling like he was floating for a few weeks even after they return to their normal lives and jobs.
It’s that floating feeling that leads to Wonwoo suggesting something that is previously unheard of, and Mingyu’s astonished face reflects that.
“Wait, say that again, hyung?” Mingyu says, eyes wide.
“I said, you can tell your friends that you’ll host next weekend, instead of all going to Jungkook’s,” Wonwoo says, putting his fingers under Mingyu’s chin to gently close his mouth. “You can cook in your own kitchen, hmm?”
“But, what about you? You’ll hate it! We’ll be loud and you won’t get your ‘one evening of peace’,” Mingyu says. There is genuine concern pinching at his brows and Wonwoo can only love him for it. “Are you going somewhere? Is that why? Do you have a work trip that you haven’t told me about? Did I forget something?”
Wonwoo smiles and shakes his head. He kisses the tip of Mingyu’s nose. “No, I’ll be here,” he says, then pats Mingyu’s stomach. “But I do need your help getting something set up. We need to go to Daiso first, though.”
Mingyu’s face lights up at that. “Hyung, can I get that -”
“Yes, you can get whatever kitchen gadget you want,” Wonwoo says. “But the limit is one basketful, okay? We’ve only got so much cabinet and drawer space.”
“I love you,” Mingyu says, so sincere that Wonwoo can’t help but grin. “Will you help me plan the menu? I’ll make your favourites, too.”
Wonwoo nods, taking Mingyu into his arms for a hug. “Sounds great, my darling.”
*
Wonwoo has no regrets as he stands back and takes in the results of their hard work, even if once he had explained what the plan was Mingyu decided that they needed to go to Ikea as well as Daiso and what should have been a lazy Sunday was spent dodging people who have clearly never studied the floorplan or bothered to learn the shortcuts.
“It’s not like they’re some big secret,” Wonwoo had lamented to Mingyu as they had loaded Mingyu’s car up afterwards. “They tell you right there on the sign.”
“I know, love,” Mingyu had said, then kissed him on the forehead and handed him a bag of cinnamon rolls. “There’s no helping them.”
Here and now, Wonwoo is just pleased to have survived and more than a little smug to know that he’s the only person to have a Mingyu who would spend a week of evenings after work to build things for him and make sure the decoration and finishing touches are a perfect match to the vision Wonwoo had described to him.
He slides the balcony door shut for now and goes through to the bedroom, rubbing his stomach when it growls at the smell of something delicious coming from the kitchen as he passes by.
“Hey,” Mingyu says when Wonwoo walks in, looking up from where he’s sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling on his socks. There’s freshly sprayed perfume in the air of the bedroom as Wonwoo crosses from the doorway to sprawl on the bed behind Mingyu. “All set?”
“I came to ask you the same thing,” Wonwoo says, rolling onto his back and taking his glasses off to rub at his eyes. Mingyu’s face appears over him, blurry but still handsome. Wonwoo smiles up at him. “Do you need help with anything?”
Blurry Mingyu shakes his head and takes Wonwoo’s glasses from his grasp and starts cleaning them on his shirt hem. “No, everything is ready. I made jeyuk deopbap for you - just tell me when you get hungry and I’ll bring you some.”
“You don’t have to wait on me,” Wonwoo starts trying to protest but Mingyu is adamant.
“I want to,” Mingyu says, then presses a firm kiss to Wonwoo’s mouth like a signature on a contract. He slides Wonwoo’s glasses back on carefully, bringing the world back into focus. “So I will.”
*
Wonwoo is cosy. So cosy, in fact, that he can only think of one time when he was cosier than this, and that involved Mingyu, a fireplace, the family dogs from both sides, ondol, and rain gently hitting the roof of a hanok. He has none of those things right now, but tucked in amongst the copious throw cushions he had let Mingyu buy and arrange, with the lanterns glowing above him and the lights of the city through the window in front, it’s definitely a worthy second place.
There’s a book on the table by his little nook, a bottle of his favourite iced tea next to it, his Nintendo Switch and Macbook over on the new desk at the other end of the balcony, and through the sliding doors to the rest of the apartment, Wonwoo can see his favourite person pottering about as his friends arrive one by one.
Wonwoo picks up his book but before he starts reading, he makes sure to send Hansol a photo of the setup along with his thanks for suggesting it in the first place.
>>told you, hyung - foolproof.
**
“So where’s Wonwoo-hyung gone?”
“What do you mean?”
“If we’re here instead of at JK’s, then he’s out of town, right?”
“No, he’s out there, having fun.”