Chapter Text
Minghao is a fairly calm person. He does not really care what other people do with their lives, nor does he care about their whereabouts at all. But whenever Kim Mingyu is involved, a petty monster that lives inside him always urges him to do better than the guy with the most beautiful smile… and that annoys him to no end.
He needs to be better than Kim Mingyu in all aspect of the word.
Their rivalry was fueled by their professors back in college. And then their orgmates. And then later on, their circle of friends. People finds it amusing. Mingyu probably does, too. But it is serious business for Minghao, especially now that they are both in graduate school, working their asses off to get their papers published, and hopefully, get international recognition. International recognition means more fund. More fund means more research. More research means… well, he’s not exactly sure. It does bring satisfaction, as he rides on academic validation. But then again, who is he kidding? Researchers are severely underpaid, if they get paid at all.
So when they are forced to work together because their professor loves them both—they are excellent students and researchers, exactly what a graduate school professor needs in his team—Minghao couldn’t be more distressed. Of all the people that he had to work with, it had to be Kim Mingyu?
“Good morning,” Greets the taller boy as he enters their professor’s office. “I had to get coffee so,” Mingyu put down a cup of tea in his table. “I got you your favorite tea.”
Minghao frowned at the guy, pissed that he’s still smiling at him. Pissed that he had given him tea. Pissed that he remembered his favorite. “What do you know? I might hate the tea that you got me.”
“Aw,” Mingyu sat beside him, mainly to annoy him. “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure you like oolong tea with oat milk.”
“I don’t.” He answered a little too quickly. Of course it was his favorite.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
Minghao grits his teeth. “Go away.”
“Nah. I’ll watch you first.”
“And why would you do that?” he rolled his eyes and grabbed the tea that Mingyu had given him. So much for pretending that he didn’t like it. He needs it right now. The guy is stressing him out too much.
Mingyu shrugged and leaned over to see what he was doing in his laptop. He was just reading academic journals on cognitive neuroscience and brain mapping. “Can you send me these?”
“I’ll email them to you.”
Mingyu pats his head like a child and he had to stop himself from spontaneously combusting. “Thanks, pretty.”
“Shut up.” And Mingyu could only laugh.
It irritated him to no end.
*
“Come on, let’s get lunch first. I’m pretty sure Professor Yoon Jeonghan is happy with what we’ve accomplished today.” Oh, they barely accomplished anything, but it’s already past 3pm and they haven’t eaten anything.
“Whoever claims that psychology is easy can go to hell. I’ll personally drop them off.” He mumbled under his breath as he turns off his laptop. “Let’s go. We have things to do.”
“Ah, Minghao, you should relax a little.” Again with the name. Nobody ever calls him by his real name except for Mingyu, and the thought does things to his brain that he couldn’t quite explain. “You know what, I’ll treat you lunch today.”
“Why would you even do that?” he hissed, almost cat-like. “There’s no reason for you to be nice to me. I know who you are.”
Mingyu laughed and said nothing. The guy instead pulled him out of the office and dragged him to the nearby café.
Minghao and Mingyu spent about an hour (actually, more) in the café. They have nothing to talk about and it was just mostly Mingyu telling him stories. He just listened. He’s too tired to give comments. But, it actually surprised him that he was able to tolerate Mingyu today. Usually, his mere presence gives him the ick.
“And just last night, Son Yena asked me out on a date. I had to tell her I don’t swing that way. She told me it was fine, I had to run away from her. Do you know how scary that is? People nowadays forget about boundaries. I think they forgot about basic human decency at all.”
And he just went on and on and on.
Minghao just listened.
Weird.
He should be pissed and complaining about Mingyu’s endless whims. But he just sat there and allowed Mingyu to air out his never ending concerns. He didn’t dare say anything to contradict him, which was new.
*
It was a rather odd day. Minghao woke up feeling like everything is about to go wrong. The thought already made him anxious, as he was tasked to teach an undergraduate class on cognitive neuroscience as a TA. It should be a walk in the park, he made a paper about it last year and he definitely aced it. It was why Dr. Yoon chose him to be in his team.
But presenting on a class so big is so anxiety inducing that he might even pass out from it. He knows he’s a good technical writer, but presenting had never been his favorite thing to do in the world. He’s okay at it, but it was definitely not his forte.
“Hey,” he looked up at the owner of the voice. “Aren’t you supposed to be on your way now to Dr. Yoon’s class?”
He stood up and checked the time. “I still have a couple of minutes to spare.”
“Right. Okay. Good luck.” Mingyu even told him that with a smile, but Minghao is highly suspicious of that act.
“Are you secretly wishing I fail?”
“What? Me? Wish for you to fail? Never.”
“You sound weird.”
“I don’t. You’re just overthinking,” Mingyu pats his head again and he had to fight the urge to lean his head on his palm. What the fuck is he thinking? “But seriously, you should go now. You’re going to be late.”
“Fine.” but before he went out of the office, he turned around to look at Mingyu. “Kim.”
“Kim? Is that how you’re addressing me now?”
“Shut up,” he bit his lower lip to prevent himself from cursing Mingyu’s lineage. “However, if I fail today, just know that I am blaming you.”
“Sure,” the guy grinned at him. “And if everything goes right, I’ll make sure to take the credit.”
And he did well in the presentation. He managed to answer all the students’ question and they seemed interested in the topic. That should be enough, right?
Then he remembered Mingyu’s words and grinned by himself. Just as he was exiting the lecture hall, his chest suddenly went tight and he started coughing nonstop.
His mouth felt weird and to his horror, his handkerchief that he used to cover his mouth has three flower petals in it.
He immediately ran to the washroom and stared at himself in the mirror, back to the petals in his hand. They are purple-ish in color with white and yellow markings in the middle.
He felt his knees tremble. “This couldn’t be—” he choked up the tears that are threatening to come out. “What the flying fuck—” he closed his eyes tightly and immediately, Kim Mingyu’s smiling face filled his mind. And just as it happens, he starts coughing up more purple petals.
He immediately gathered them when he calmed down and throw them on the trash bin nearby.
Wisterias. Those are wisteria petals. The kind that he witnessed in Japan a couple of months ago. Purple and bright and beautiful to look at. If anything, he had always loved those flowers. But he coughed them up and he need not to think twice about what is happening to him.
He could only feel doom.
Is this how he finds out he’s been crushing on Kim Mingyu, the guy with the beautiful smile and equally beautiful tan skin, all along? The guy who knows his favorite tea and pays for his lunch? The guy who stayed with him until 2am at the library back in college, as he was too busy studying for his physiological psychology exam to even bother with time? The same guy who calls him by his real name and pronounces it perfectly? The same guy who invited him to celebrate chuseok with his family?
He has a crush on him?
Or worse.
In love.
“Funny,” he muttered to himself with no humor at all. His heart caving in. His breath hitching. If he didn’t know any better, he might even think that he’s having a panic attack. “I apparently like my rival and I might even die from it.”