Work Text:
“Shit.”
Mingi froze outside his dorm room, eyes wide as he registered the sound of the door clicking shut. He started patting himself down, getting more frantic and aggressive until he was basically slapping himself, desperately looking for his keycard. He turned and tried to force the door open but it didn’t move, the automatic lock mechanism mocking him.
He groaned as he sunk down to the floor. All he’d wanted was to go grab a midnight snack from his dorm’s shared kitchen and now he was locked outside his room. He knew exactly where he’d left the stupid keycard - dumped onto a corner of his desk, buried under a mountain of weird keychains.
Jongho had laughed at it when he first saw Mingi’s lanyard, decorated with a multitude of characters and silly fidget toys, since that random mix of colours was the only non-black thing Mingi wore most days. He claimed it was because made it hard to forget his keys, which was true… most of the time. Mingi sighed as he realised he’d probably need to text the younger and ask to stay in his room for the night (a permission he’d been unhappily granted numerous times after getting too drunk on a night out). It was no surprise people assumed Jongho was older, even Mingi sometimes forgot he was meant to be the hyung.
Mingi went to reach into his jeans front right pocket, the permanent home for his phone, and it was then he realised that it had also been left in his room. He buried his face in his palms, miserably accepting his fate of sleeping outside his door all night. He was not looking forward to his friends finding out about this - they still hadn’t let him forget about the ‘Doorknob Incident’ and that was 2 years ago. He could already picture Jongho and Hongjoong teaming up to make fun of him - they made up for their lack of height with vicious mockery. At least Seonghwa had more mercy (aka, pity).
Mingi’s day was only getting worse as he heard footsteps. He decided to just keep his eyes on the ground, act like nothing was wrong and he was sat on the floor because he wanted to, completely by his own choice. He pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his hands on them and fiddling with his rings, trying to stop himself from feeling nervous, a hopeless endeavour really.
The footsteps got closer before he heard them pause a couple steps away from him. Mingi took a steady breath, willing his anxiety to go away. He closed his eyes but his brain just filled with the faceless image of someone sneering at him, looking down at him, laughing at him-
His spiralling was cut off by someone clearing their throat. Mingi froze, slowly tilting his head upwards, mentally preparing for the worst.
Instead he was met by a face of soft concern. Round, soft eyes and a small smile. He had blonde hair and the ceiling lights behind him made it look like it was glowing. Like a guardian angel, Mingi thought to himself.
“You okay there?” He asked, voice warm. Mingi just nodded dumbly, part of him still waiting for the mockery. The other boy nodded back before dropping to sit opposite Mingi, legs crossed and hands in his lap. “Did you get locked out?” There was no malice behind it, just curiosity. He even tilted his head to the side, the blonde hair making him the spitting image of a golden retriever.
“… Maybe.” Mingi muttered, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.
“You know there’s a student hub where you can go get a new keycard right?” He asked and Mingi groaned in frustration, mumbling something too quietly in response. “What was that?” Blondie asked.
“I don’t know where it is, and I locked my phone in my room so I can’t check the campus map and stupid Jongho is gonna make fun of me and-“ He was cut off by the other jumping to his feet. Mingi’s face had grown at least three shades redder now, and he was certain this guy would laugh at him now.
The boy smiled, holding a hand towards Mingi. “I can show you.”
“Why… why would you do that? It’s like 1 in the morning-“ Mingi’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“Well, I know where the student hub is. And you don’t. So I’ll show you.” He said like it was the most obvious conclusion to come to, waving his hand to emphasise his offer. Mingi pushed himself up to grab onto it, surprised when he found himself pulled to his feet with ease. He stumbled for a moment but the boy kept ahold of his hand and steadied him. He only then noticed how tall this guy was, only a few centimetres taller than him, but it was unusual enough to find someone his height, nonetheless taller.
“Thank you, this is really nice of you. Maybe too nice.” Mingi paused for a second, eyeing him curiously. “Is this a prank?”
“Maybe this is all a part of some evil scheme.” The boy laughed.
“Hmm nope, no bad guy actually says ‘scheme’.”
“I could totally be a bad guy if I wanted to!” The other frowned, taking deep personal offence.
“Yeah right, you look like if sunshine was a person.” Mingi joked.
“That’s how I get away with it.” The guy smirked, winking at Mingi before setting off down the hallway and dragging him along.
“Thank you so much for this, I owe you my life.” Mingi changed the subject, trying to ignore how flushed his face felt. They got to the building’s front door and blondie pushed it open, keeping a hold of Mingi’s hand and signalling him to walk through.
“How about just your name?” He grinned. Mingi chuckled and walked through the doorway.
“Song Mingi.”
“Jeong Yunho.” Blondie grinned, shutting the door behind as they started walking in the direction of campus.
“Well… Yunho, are you gonna hold my hand the whole way there?” Mingi smiled, looking between their interlocked fingers and the matching smile on Yunho’s face.
“Well I don’t want you getting lost, now do I?” He grinned, swinging their hands for emphasis and Mingi looked away, trying to hide his blush. Behind him, Yunho faltered slightly. “I can let go if you want,” He began to loosen his grip and Mingi was embarrassed by how quickly he tightened his own, not wanting to let go.
“No! It’s okay, I don’t mind.” He looked forwards, blush completely visible to Yunho, but the blond didn’t comment on it. Mingi saw him smile again in his peripheral vision and they kept walking.
“So, what do you study?” Yunho asked, leading the way physically and conversationally.
“Psychology, you?”
“That sounds really cool - I do Theatre and Performance,”
“Am I gonna see you on the big screen soon?” Mingi chuckled and Yunho paused, suddenly turning towards him with a serious expression.
“Jagi-ya… I can’t go on without you,” Yunho stage-whispered, putting on a dramatic voice as he clutched at his heart with his free hand. Mingi laughed but that only encouraged the actor. Yunho dropped his head with a dramatic sigh, pulled their clasped hands towards his chest and pushed Mingi’s palm open against his heart. He slowly lifted his head to make eye contact, eyes squinted and biting down on his lip like a teenager who thinks that’s the key to looking sexy.
Mingi let out a loud laugh and pushed him away, Yunho breaking character with a wide grin. He immediately moved back in place at Mingi’s side, bumping their shoulders together as they walked. Mingi saw Yunho put his hands in his pockets and did the same with his own, ignoring how they felt so much colder even in his warm jacket pockets.
“You’re quite the performer.” Mingi chuckled and Yunho paused to bow to his captive audience.
“Your turn,” Yunho bumped into his shoulder again.
“Why? I’m no actor-“
“No, not that, do your thing. Psychoanalyse me or something.” Mingi raised an eyebrow at him but Yunho just smirked, determined. “Come on Dr Song,” Yunho giggled.
“Hmm… Well you’re helping out a random stranger which seems kind, but responsible - like an older brother who’s used to taking care of someone. You don’t seem bothered by your inclination to take care of people so I’m guessing you’re happy doing it for siblings, so good familial relationships.” Mingi made a show of walking around Yunho, examining him like a test subject. “You do theatre, so confident, passionate, dramatic.”
“Damn, smart and cute. You’ve got me nailed.” Yunho winked at him and Mingi blushed again. He may as well just be painted pink for the rest of this walk. “I know who to go see when I have a midlife crisis.”
“Now that sounds like a k-drama plot - Unfulfilled businessman finds true love in his old university friend turned therapist.” Mingi made his fingers into a square, like a director picturing a camera angle, placing Yunho right in the middle. He’s definitely handsome enough to be in movies, Mingi thought to himself.
“What about my Theatre degree tells you ‘Businessman’?” Yunho laughed.
“Well obviously your overbearing parents pushed you into business instead, and that’s why you’re miserable and end up in therapy - duh.” Mingi rattled off, as if it would be ridiculous to not think of that. They looked at each other seriously for a moment before breaking into a fit of laughter. He felt comfortable, joking around like this with Yunho - something that took most months of friendship to achieve; Yunho had managed it in less than an hour.
Mingi was soon distracted from his realisation by their arrival at main campus, the distant sounds of drunk students welcoming them. Luckily for the pair, the student hub was on the outskirts of campus so they were unlikely to run into anyone.
They paused outside a small blue building and Mingi turned to look at Yunho for clarification. Only after the blonde nodded, smiling softly, did Mingi step towards the door. He went to push it and promptly banged his head into it when it didn’t budge.
He ignored Yunho snickering behind him and tried to pull it, only for it to defy him again. As he began to flare at it as if he could intimidate it into moving, Yunho stepped up next to him, pulling out his own keycard and tapping it on a small reader to the side of the door. It beeped and Yunho pushed the door open, laughing when Mingi stayed frozen for a few more seconds.
“I knew that.” He muttered, walking through as Yunho held the door open for him again.
“Sure you did.” Mingi glared in response before turning forwards to face the front desk.
The student hub consisted of a small room, split in half by a counter, and a door to a presumably even smaller back room. Behind the counter sat a guy with his back to the front door, headphones on and hunched over a small laptop with possibly the worst posture Mingi had ever seen - This guy could rival the hunchback of Notre Dame himself.
Mingi took a hesitant step towards the desk. After a moment of silence, Yunho stepped up next to him. He raised an eyebrow at Mingi, looking between him and the guy behind the desk. Mingi continued standing there in silence and he saw the other suppress a laugh in his peripheral.
Yunho knocked on the counter a couple times, startling the guy behind the desk. He spun around on his chair in a flash, eyes wide. He blinked at the two giants in front of him. Yunho smiled at him while Mingi remained neutral, giving two different impressions to the poor worker.
“Right. My job. Shit.” The guy spun around to his laptop, quickly tapping some buttons before closing it, revealing a collage of miscellaneous stickers covering every inch of it. He turned back to the other two and pulled his headphones down. “Sorry about that - What can I do for you?” He had one knee pulled up to his chest, hands wrapped around it as the other dangled off the seat. Mingi felt oddly intimidated by this guy, even though he could tell he was much taller. He forgot he was meant to be the one talking and just stared back at the guy.
“My friend got locked out, he needs a new keycard.” Yunho stepped forward. Mingi blinked at him but Yunho kept his gaze forward. Mingi smiled, friend. Headphone guy nodded at them before turning to one of the staff computers behind the counter, this one far more boring with no decorations.
“What’s the room number?” He directed the question at Yunho who faltered, trying to remember what the door behind Mingi had said when he’d found him.
“It’s 1117, Crescent accommodation.” Mingi answered.
“Song Mingi?” He nodded back. “Give me two minutes.” The guy stood and headed into the back room.
Neither of them said anything after being left alone. Yunho smirked as he leaned to the side, purposefully bumping into Mingi before quickly moving away. Mingi let out an exaggerated gasp, moving to shove Yunho’s shoulder with his arm. Yunho managed to dodge out of the way and Mingi glare at him, pouting like a small child. Yunho giggled before moving closer, practically offering up his shoulder as a free target. Mingi’s face broke out into a toothy grin as he shoved him. It was harder than he’d meant to and he quickly reached out to try and help Yunho stabilize himself.
“Looks like you’re catching me this time.” Yunho smirked, hands on Mingi’s shoulders. Mingi felt his eyes widen and he stumbled to try and say something in response, ultimately failing as his cheeks once again turned pink. He wondered if Yunho would ever recognise him without this now signature flush.
“You guys are weird.” They jumped apart from each other as headphone guy returned, holding out a keycard.
“What why?!” Mingi jumped to defend himself, frowning.
“You’re too tall.” Headphone guy deadpanned. Mingi turned to Yunho in disbelief but his new friend had started laughing so hard, there were tears beginning to form in his eyes.
“JUST CAUSE YOU’RE SMALL-“ Mingi started to argue back but Yunho stepped in to put some distance between the two of them. He leaned forward to grab the keycard and quickly thanked headphone guy before practically pushing Mingi out the door.
Mingi tried to scowl at him but he’d already turned back to his computer, slipping his headphones back on.
“He’s probably short cause he looks like a gremlin.” Mingi grumbled and Yunho rolled his eyes, giving his arm a short tug so Mingi fell into pace beside him.
“Speak for yourself shortie.” Yunho laughed, poking Mingi in the side. Mingi pulled his arm out of Yunho’s grip as though his touch burnt, glaring at him.
“Just cause you’re a giraffe-“ Yunho cut him off with a laugh and Mingi shoved him in the side. They started squabbling like small children, poking and pushing each other.
“This is bullying!” Mingi yelled when Yunho landed another jab into his side, trying to push him away. The blonde laughed and tried again, but Mingi managed to block him, poking him right in the neck and grinning when Yunho let out a squeak of surprise.
“Okay, okay, truce!” Yunho yelled when Mingi tried to jab him again, managing to grab his wrists and restrain him. Mingi grumbled but agreed. They calmed down and walked normally, although both kept their guard up in case of a surprise attack.
“So.” Yunho started after a minute of (some kind of adjective for defending themselves/preparing for attack) silence.
“So…”
“Mingi.” Yunho turned to look at him, expression unreadable.
“Yunho?” Mingi raised an eyebrow at him.
“When’s your birthday?” Yunho broke out into a grin.
“August 9th.” Mingi laughed, not expecting the question. “You?”
“March 29th - Guess that makes me hyung to you?” Yunho grinned and Mingi rolled his eyes.
“99?” Yunho nodded. “Same year dumbass.”
“That’s dumbass-hyung, to you,” Yunho grinned, looking proud of himself. Mingi sighed in fake annoyance and Yunho put his hands up in defence. “Okay fine, moving on. MBTI?”
“ENTP.”
“T makes sense, you seem very… logical. ENFJ.”
“I can’t tell if that’s an insult,”
“It’s not.” Yunho flashed him a bright smile.
“Favourite movie?” Mingi asked the question this time, not knowing how to respond.
“Spider-man.” Yunho nodded solemnly. He stuck his hands out and began shooting imaginary webs out of them, making comical sound effects as he did. Yunho ran to jump onto a nearby (lamppost), hanging on with one hand as he posed dramatically. Mingi was impressed with how he did actually embody the character.
“Save me Yunho Parker!” He laughed, hand to his forehead like a damsel in distress. Yunho forms his fingers into makeshift goggles around his eyes and pretends to look around before settling on Mingi, eyes widening.
“I’m coming Mingi-Jane!” He yells, leaping from the pole to go save the other. Mingi’s laughing so hard he wobbles, and Yunho does actually end up saving him, getting in front of him in time for Mingi to stumble right into his chest. They’re both laughing and Yunho wraps an arm around Mingi, stretching out the other to shoot imaginary webs and ‘pull himself’ towards them (sprinting and forcing Mingi to run alongside him). Mingi groaned, legs aching, but humored him nonetheless. He wasn’t the most physically active person and he certainly hadn’t been expecting a trek to campus in the middle of the night.
“Okay, okay, I’m safe Spider-man,” Mingi said, pulling the other to a stop. Yunho took a step back to observe him before nodding, convinced.
“All in a day’s work,” He said solemnly. He leaned over to grab Mingi’s hand and they continued walking together.
They settled into a steady pace again. Mingi had always liked walking late at night, stars sprinkling the sky while the moon watched over everything. His mum had always told him off for being out too late but he couldn’t help himself - he was drawn to the nighttime, the peace and quiet of it all. He only then realised that this was his first time sharing that with anyone else, though in very peculiar circumstances. He’d never wanted to share his late night walks with anyone else but as he looked at their joined hands, he thought he would be happy to do this again with Yunho.
“I never asked what your favourite movie was,” Yunho said, turning towards him.
“Howl’s Moving Castle,”
“Good choice.” Yunho smiled, “Favourite colour?”
“No you’re gonna make fun of me.” He pouted, looking down at the ground.
“Now I’m extra curious. I’ll even tell you mine first, blue.” Yunho grinned.
“Basic.”
“Basic doesn’t mean bad,” Yunho argued. “Look at the sea, the sky, blueberries, bluebells… I had blue hair a couple years ago and it was great.” Yunho smiled blindingly again while Mingi tried to not to picture it, afraid his incessant heart eyes for this boy would reach a new, terminal level.
“Still boring. At least mine is unique.” Mingi smirked and Yunho roses an eyebrow at him.
“And it is…?”
“Cement colour.” Mingi grinned proudly, but that faltered when Yunho started snickering. “What? It’s a good colour!”
“Cement? Like the ground?” Yunho laughed, motioning to the floor they were walking on and Mingi felt his face heat up but this time he knew the exact cause- embarrassment.
“Yeah. I like it, it’s cool.” He grumbled, trying to pull away from Yunho but the other tightened his grip on his hand.
“No, I’m sorry, it is, it’s a nice colour. I’ve just never heard anyone say it’s their favourite.” He apologised, not wanting to have genuinely upset Mingi.
“Cause I’m not basic.” Mingi grumbled but let himself be pulled along by Yunho, failing to hide a smile.
“It’s cute.” Yunho hummed, and this time the red of Mingi’s face wasn’t as clearly due to embarrassment. Luckily for him, his accommodation was only a few minutes away and he could go hide under his covers and pretend he was red from the non-existent heat of February.
“We’re back.” Yunho commented as Mingi pulled out his new sparkly keycard, opening the front door to his building. They paused by the spot Yunho had found a desolate Mingi sat on the floor.
“So.” Mingi started, keycard in hard but not quite ready to leave yet.
“So…” Yunho smiled softly.
“Thank you. For taking me there.” Mingi smiled back.
“I couldn’t just leave you on the floor, now could I?”
“Okay Spider-man.” Mingi rolled his eyes, trying to ignore how his heart thumped harder when Yunho got a proud look at the nickname. “So where’s your room?” Mingi asked, swaying their still joined hands. He was terrified they were clammy and Yunho was disgusted but pushed the thought away, trying to savour it before he was met with reality.
“Oh, I’m in the Horizon building.” Minho’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“But-But that’s on the other side of campus! That’s past the student hub! Why the hell did you walk me all the way back?!” Mingi yelled but with no malice, only stunned surprise. Yunho laughed, shushing him since it was nearing 2am by this point.
“I had to keep you safe, didn’t I? Couldn’t let you walk home in the dark.” Yunho looked at the floor and Mingi thought he could see a pink flush reaching the tips of his ears. Vindication.
They stayed silent for a bit before Mingi had an idea (dangerous territory). He let go of Yunho’s hand, trying to pretend he didn’t feel the other’s attempt to keep ahold of him. He all but slapped his keycard onto the reader, shoving his door open.
For the second time that night, Yunho faltered. The door closed and Mingi was out of view. For a brief moment, Yunho wondered if Mingi had been some figment of his imagination. He let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding and slowly turned to leave.
He barely made it one step before the door was slamming open again. He turned to see a sheepish Mingi holding out an unlocked phone, thrusting it towards his face. It was open to his contacts page - Yunho noticed how at the very top, where the owner of the phone had their own contact listed, Mingi’s read ‘Princess Mingki’. He chuckled, taking the phone from Mingi’s shaking hands and adding a new contact.
Would you like to save
‘Spider-Yunho <3’
as a contact?
He confirmed before passing the phone back.
“You could’ve just asked.” Yunho grinned.
“Shut up.” Mingi mumbled in response, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “Thank you again.” Mingi smiled softly.
“It’s fine. Plus now you owe me one.” Yunho winked.
“Wait, what? What do I owe you?”
“I’m sure we’ll think of something.” Yunho smirked and began walking down the hallway. “Night Mingki.” He called back with a grin.
“Night Yunho!” Mingi called back. He turned and shut his door, making sure to leave his keycard back on its designated spot on his desk. He began moving around his room like usual, getting himself ready to finally sleep, grinning the entire time. When he was finished, he flopped onto his bed, pulling out his phone to send a quick message before he forgot and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Yunho was walking home sporting a matching grin. He happened to be a joint room accommodation, and when he pulled his phone out for the first time all evening, he had tens of missed messages and calls from his roommate and overbearing mother-like figure, Wooyoung.
He quickly rang his friend back, not wanting to worry him any longer.
“Yuyu?! You’re alive! Thank fuck, I was about to send a search party out looking for you.”
“By search party, do you mean San and Yeosang?” Yunho laughed.
“Duh, they’re the beefiest people I know. Where were you?”
“My spidey sense was tingling.” He giggled, grinning even wider when Wooyoung groaned in response. His phone buzzed in his hand and he pulled it away from his ear, still faintly hearing Wooyoung’s nagging about being gone so long.
[New Message:]
‘hi’
‘its mingi.’
‘do you like mariokart?’
‘i am the grand champ of mariokart’
‘do you wanna come play with me sometime?’
‘tomorrow?’
‘eager’
‘to see you’
“Jeong Yunho are you even listening to me?!” Wooyoung yelled, loud enough for Yunho to flinch.
“Yes mum. I’m nearly there.”
When he pushed the door open ten minutes later, his gremlin of a roommate was stood waiting, tapping his feet like a grumpy old lady. Yunho raised an eyebrow at him but Wooyoung didn’t falter, narrowing his eyes at him. After a couple more seconds of silence, the younger let out a gasp.
“YOU MET A BOY!” He accused, glare melting into an overjoyed expression.
“How the fuck can you tell?”
“I’m a psychic but for gay shit. Now, tell me everything!”