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Minhee’s eyes are burning.

He’s hopped up on a redbull and two ibuprofens, staring at a gaggle of idiots at the height of his Dungeons & Dragons campaign. They’re nearing the end of their painstaking, ten hour medieval-themed oneshot on a Saturday night. Seven hours ago, Minhee rolled a natural one after trying to explore a cave and got his shit rocked by a stalactite. Following this, Jungmo refused to revive him simply because he ate the last bag of doritos. His beautifully crafted, Skyrim-inspired conjuration build was crushed before his eyes.

And now, he’s glaring at Jungmo with unparalleled fervor.

He can barely hear: Woobin is screaming at Jungmo, Wonjin is begging Jungmo to heal him, and Serim, the dungeon master, is holding his aching head in his hands as the scene unfurls. Minhee is brainrotted and looking onwards with little thought in his head, debating on either flopping onto Serim’s bed or watching the rest of the campaign. There’s a large dragon that’s got all three of them in one area, fire breathing and screeching at the top of its lungs. Minhee is 80% convinced Serim wants to wring their necks, as he brought them to the dragon’s lair in the first place. 

There’s a large screech as Jungmo comically fails his death-saving throws after being fire-breathed on. Wonjin, the second mage (destruction build), runs over only to be thoroughly cooked. Woobin, the last campaign member and only hope, does his best to fight off being pummeled by the dragon and terribly fails. All four boys go non-verbal and slowly narrow their eyes at Serim, the university’s football linebacker and coincidentally, the biggest loser on campus.

He puts on a shit-eating grin and taps his fingers on the sticky table, enjoying the peril of the campaign conclusion. Woobin throws his hands to the gods and nearly yells in frustration. Wonjin and Jungmo look at each other in disbelief, as if they don’t have an economics presentation due the day after— like the only thing that matters is their Tamriel-inspired adventure cooped up in Serim’s dingy apartment.

“You did not, ” Jungmo waggles his fingers at the football player.

“Do not blame me for your shit rolls,” Serim shouts, smacking Jungmo’s finger away. Everyone except Minhee is screaming at him— the hive mind coming alive as the voices blend into one, horribly loud one.

“You killed us off on purpose!”

“Maybe if you had stopped yapping, I wouldn’t have!”

“I am not coming to your home game on Friday,” Wonjin protests, crossing his arms and pouting away.

“As if you didn’t sleep in last time.”

“He’ll go, he promised me he’d go! Jungmo— you’re going!” Woobin says, pointing his finger at the fellow student.

“Didn’t you get benched last time, too?”

It takes a second before Woobin launches towards his best friend and pretends to strangle him, causing Serim to roll his eyes. Minhee still hasn’t moved, only watching the events and beginning to feel the caffeine crash through his system. He can barely follow along, the day’s worth of lore beginning to take a toll on his mental state.

“I’m going to take a nap,” he whispers, expertly avoiding Jungmo and Woobin’s playful rough-housing. 

“Oh goody, it lives,” Wonjin quips, eliciting a lighthearted glare.

Minhee flops face-first onto Serim’s comfortable duvet, letting go of a pathetic groan. He’s got two German essays due on Monday and a Mandarin oral presentation on Wednesday. A suffering linguistics major, deep into DND culture and about five different languages aside from his own. He feels the bed dip and the warmth of Serim beside him, running an affectionate hand through his messy hair.

“Sorry that Jungmo refused to heal you earlier,” the dungeon master whispers softly, a laugh following his sentence.

“Fuck it, we ball.”

Serim giggles and pats his back. 

“That’s the spirit.”

They have about five minutes of peaceful bromance time before the other three come crashing down on them, creating a crowded cuddle pile. Minhee barely notices the weight and finds it somewhat comforting, almost being lulled into a sleep as his friends laugh on top of him. Serim doesn’t move either, allowing the three to shake out their remaining energy for the day.

They follow up by changing into pajamas and turning on Twilight: Eclipse (at the request of Jungmo, of course). Minhee can barely stay awake, eyes drooping and his breaths drawing deeper and deeper. By the time Edward Cullen disappears from Bella’s sight, he’s slumbering in the crook of the footballer’s neck. Serim pulls a blanket on him and smiles, shaking his head at the chaos of the rest of his friends to the right of him.

Minhee wakes up the next day and realizes he has a discussion post due at midnight.

🪄

Typically, Minhee doesn’t love sitting in at Woobin and Serim’s football practices.

He doesn’t have a single athletic bone in his body and routinely cringes at the tackling they do on the field. It's funny to him: he doesn’t understand how his two friends have the “big bad scary football player” image when both of them are the biggest nerds he’s ever met. He can’t deny however, how impressive it is when they’re out on the field, completely switched out of loser-mode and into game-mode. No one would ever guess that the linebacker and cornerback come home to create mythical characters with deep lore for hours on end.

Minhee would have done anything to escape going to their practice but Serim had insisted— insinuating that he had yet another campaign brewing in his creative little head. Minhee is dead sure that his best friend is fighting for his life trying to redirect his attention to the ball, ideas of all things fantastical poisoning his mind. But he hides it well, darting across the field like his life depends on it.

Woobin is the only one who seems concentrated, seemingly always putting a little more emphasis into sports than Serim does. His eyes are furrowed, trained on the ground and intently listening to the commands their coach is barking at record speed.

Jungmo and Wonjin are at a larping club event, somewhere on the adjacent field cosplaying as Star Wars characters. He doesn’t quite understand how the five of them aren’t incessantly bullied.

But he’s enjoying the light breeze and sunshine, closing his eyes and listening to the sounds of whistling and teammates stumbling upon the turf. He thinks about the last long-term campaign the five of them had finished about a month back— it was Fae-lore inspired. They were all humans transported into a world in which they had to live as fairies against their will. The campaign lasted for five months and Minhee didn’t want it to end. He was proud of his sparkly little Fae character complete with a terribly down bad romance to Jungmo’s evil character, their romance ending in such a bittersweet way.

Truly, Minhee wants to avoid Serim’s sweaty ass when he runs up the bleachers to greet him. But upon seeing the excitement on his fatigued face, he doesn’t move an inch when Serim plops down right beside him. 

“Guess what.”

“New campaign? I can see it festering in your eyes. You have been clawing at the walls to tell me, haven’t you?”

“You know me so well.”

“Get on with it, you smell.”

“Okay!” Serim excitedly locks in.

“I’m thinking— space. We’ve done medieval, fae, apocalypse, nuclear war, yada yada. But space! I want space! I’m thinking No Man’s Sky inspired: maybe we’re a bunch of hired explorers from different planets.”

Minhee cocks his head. “Oh, I actually like that quite a bit.”

“And instead of coming up with my own planet lore…I thought it would be cool to maybe stick close to real science! And I don’t know…actual space hypotheticals? I’m thinking it would be fun to throw some realism into our constant fantasy, you know?”

“You don’t know shit about space.”

“I’m getting there!”

Minhee rolls his eyes but enjoys Serim’s enthusiasm nonetheless.

“Okay, I’m thinking…”

“You’re thinking.”

“You know…”

“Oh no.”

“So you know how I’ve befriended the cute boy in econ?” Serim says in a suspiciously low tone, refusing to make eye contact and twiddling his thumbs. Minhee narrows his eyes, dreading whatever his best friend is about to tell him.

“Hyeongjun? What about him?”

“He’s uh. Part of the astronomy club. I was thinking…maybe we ask the astronomy club for a collaboration?”

Minhee’s blood runs cold at the mention.

“Park Serim. Park Serim . You know who’s in that club!”

The footballer throws his hands up in defense, already expecting the animosity.

“I’m sorry! It seemed like a cute idea at the time!”

“We are not asking the astronomy club for help!” Minhee nearly shouts, grabbing Woobin’s attention from across the bleachers. He raises an eyebrow but then decides it's a normal altercation between his friends.

“You need to get over your little grudge! Don’t you like him?” Serim persists.

“Park Serim, I am not into the likes of Ahn Seongmin .”

There’s silence for a moment.

“Cap.”

“Shut.”

“Cap!”

“I do not like him!”

“Minhee. We are blood-bonded, oath siblings, brothers in CHRIST . Your lies mean nothing when I can see right through them!”

“I do not like him!”

“You would collapse to your knees if he was here right now.”

“You are so mean to me.”

Serim snickers and playfully ruffles Minhee’s hair, causing him to angry pout and swat away at his hands.

And maybe Serim isn’t wrong— but Minhee would rather die than admit it. Ahn Seongmin, the friendly, smiley, bouncy co-president of the astronomy club. The unsuspecting, pink-frilled boy with a desirable fashion sense and scary amount of friends. Minhee isn’t about to fraternize with his mortal enemy.

“You and your weird, complex feelings.”

“There’s nothing complex about it, I can’t stand him.”

“Just because he clocked your ass does not mean you should hate him.”

“He humiliated me in front of the entire school! You expect me to like someone after that?”

“Liar! You definitely fell in love with him after that!” Serim argues, already breaking into a fit of laughter as he recalls Seongmin and Minhee’s fated ugly-cute.

“I can’t be seen around him. Humiliating. Mortifying. Haunting. My image is ruined.”

“You are a dungeons and dragons player. You did not have an image to begin with.”

“For the love of god, please stop being so mean to me.”

Minhee groans into his hands and ignores Serim’s belly laugh, barely noticing Woobin plopping down at the other side of him. The fellow football player looks back and forth between them, shrugging and taking a chug of his water bottle. The last thing Minhee wants to do is reminisce about his embarrassing meeting with Seongmin and be sandwiched between two sweaty idiots reeking of grass and testosterone.

Above anything, it's Minhee’s fault for underestimating the kid. 

One might argue that their meeting was much more underwhelming than Minhee believes— they first met at the club fair early that year: Minhee and Serim were stationed at the DND club-booth for most of the day, convincing fellow college students to engage in fantastical journeys and creating characters with ridiculously detailed backgrounds. A hot, blistering day that required multiple shifts between the five of them to man the booth. 

Instead of sitting down to enjoy their fifteen minute break when they finally got away from the booth and forced Jungmo and Wonjin to be in charge, Serim had snatched Minhee’s hand to drag him around the university quad in search of other clubs. He had tried to protest, of course, but there was no use fighting against a man with ten times the strength of his own. So he begrudgingly and blindly followed, grumbling the whole way while Serim ooh’d and aah’d at every table they crossed.

Serim’s initial choice in sports wasn’t actually football. In fact, he tried out for the badminton team first and foremost, but to his dismay, he didn’t make the cut. Water polo sounded attractive until he almost drowned— then there was roller derby (but that one almost killed him). Minhee told him to stop choosing contact sports, for the love of fucking christ. But of course, Serim only lives to spite Kang Minhee.

So when he stopped dead in his tracks upon the wrestling team booth that day, Minhee wanted to scream and crawl into a deep, dark hole. There was a large, obnoxious “wrestling team tryouts!” sign chicken-scrawled on the table and makeshift mats thrown about behind them. To the side of the table, there were a handful of men and women sparring on them, creating little pockets of crowds. The scene was terribly intimidating and far too out of comfort for Minhee. He latched onto his best friend’s wrist and squeezed his eyes shut, praying that Serim didn’t entertain the booth any further.

And then he saw him. Pink-haired, alluring, grinning, sparkly, sweet Seongmin .

He’d seen him before, of course. A popular member of the local K-pop dance cover team and part-time barista at the quad cafe. He’d never interacted with him, but the three of his friends agreed that he was very, very cute.

So when Seongmin stepped onto the wrestling mats and proceeded to single-leg takedown his opponent in a sweep, Minhee’s eyes went wide. In a second, the pink-haired cutie became a pink-haired menace, pinning his sparring partner down into a half nelson within the first few seconds of the match, grinning all the way. 

“Oh,” was the only thing he could say. Hearing this, Serim whipped around and beamed.

“I did not know Seongmin was chill like that.”

“There is no way he…” Minhee trailed off, trying to figure out how Seongmin, of all people, was on the wrestling team.

“Don’t be an underestimating dickhead.”

“But—”

“But, nothing! He can fuck your shit up, I bet on it!”

Minhee shook his head in disbelief, struggling to understand the scene before him.

“I…I cannot bring myself to believe that. He’s so…he’s too…”

“Babygirls have the power of christ on their hands, Minhee,” Serim reminded him.

“That is not…what I was going to say.”

“Then what were you going to say? That he couldn’t take you down in a match?”

“...something like that.”

Serim narrowed his eyes at his best friend, surprised at his subtle cockiness. Maybe it was the way that Minhee initially saw Seongmin— the boy to be protected and doted on, the boy to coo at— that made him feel the way he did. 

So when Serim shot his hand up and screamed “Seongmin,” Minhee should have been ready for what came next. He couldn’t slap his hand over Serim’s mouth fast enough before half the crowd turned their attention towards him. In horror, the group of people went dead silent.

Ahn Seongmin made eye contact with Serim and cocked his head in curiosity. He was slightly sweaty, pink hair sticking to his forehead and a muscle tee hanging off his shoulder. Jesus christ, Minhee wanted to blow him a million kisses.

“Yes?” Seongmin responded (to Minhee’s great misfortune).

“My friend would like to challenge you to a duel.”

“NO! No? Absolutely fucking not??”

Seongmin switched his attention to Minhee, whose eyes were bulging out of his head. Despite wanting to pummel Serim for volunteering him, he did want to challenge Seongmin’s skills. Something in him wanted to prove his own pride, wanted to prove that he should be the strong one. He was convinced that his one-week summer camp in 6th grade for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu would be enough to aid him in a small match.

“Oh! I’d love to,” Seongmin beamed and pranced over to Minhee, extending a welcoming hand. Minhee took one look at it and nearly erupted into internal screams (but took his hand nonetheless).

Minhee gingerly took his shoes and socks off, immediately stepping onto the freshly sprayed mats and racking his brain to remember everything he had been taught a decade earlier. Jiu-jitsu translated well into freestyle wrestling, he knew that much was true. With nerves coursing through his veins, he felt the mats dip as sweet Seongmin stationed himself directly in front of him, already squared up— arms in position and his eyebrows furrowed. Minhee couldn’t bring himself to be intimidated. Instead, he was too focused on Seongmin’s cute little nose.

He should have been paying attention. Because when the match started, he barely had time to react before Seongmin dove for his ankles, knocking him cold off his feet. Minhee wheezed, the air struggling to escape his lungs as he tried to recover from the blow, laying face-first on the mats as Seongmin pinned him down with ease. He wriggled underneath him in pathetic fashion as the crowd cheered in response.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the pressure left his body, rolling over to see Seongmin hovering over, smiling like the sun depended on him. He graciously pulled him back up to eye level, hands strong and full of a ridiculous amount of power. Minhee didn’t dare look at him, the embarrassment already sinking deep within his soul.

“Ready for round two?” There was no animosity in Seongmin’s voice. Instead, he radiated pure friendliness, unaware of the peril his opponent was in.

Minhee didn’t respond, couldn’t respond. His chest hurt and there was a stinging sense of pride dissipating from his body, whistling away like a popped balloon. He collected himself to square up again, still avoiding eye contact from the friendly boy. The match started— they pushed and pulled for a few moments, Minhee desperately trying to find an in to tackle him down. It didn’t work— Seongmin went for a double-leg takedown that time, sending Minhee flying even harder. He groaned on the floor while the crowd cheered for Seongmin a bit louder than the first take-down. He could hear Serim snickering in the background.

“Third round?” The wrestler asked in a sickeningly sweet voice as he yanked Minhee back upwards. 

No answer.

Humiliated, Minhee couldn’t bring himself to back out. They stood squared up once again, Minhee struggling to go for even a simple ankle grab, grasping at air every time his opponent darted out of the way. And finally, the crème de la crème— Seongmin saved the most violent throw for last. He snatched Minhee’s neck into a head pinch, dropping his weight and sending the DND player flying over his body and landing with a painful thud.

There was no way Minhee was recovering from that one. The crowd winced as he laid staring at the sky, eyes devoid of any emotion. Humbled, terribly so.

“Ah…are you okay?” Seongmin had rushed over to inspect his victim with genuine concern once he noticed Minhee had failed to get up. 

Minhee was defeated, bringing his hands to his face and letting go of an exasperated sigh.

And maybe, just maybe, he kind of liked it. He kind of liked being proved wrong— he liked knowing that there was a blue flame burning in Seongmin’s strength, that there was mischief hiding behind his sparkling eyes. He enjoyed the view of Seongmin furrowing his eyebrows right above him and offering another helping hand. He enjoyed the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, and how there were traces of glittery eyeshadow all over his cheeks. When he took the offer, he felt the rough calluses of Seongmin’s palms and something sharp pierce through his heart. Either Serim had sent a Cupid’s arrow straight at his body, or he was genuinely batshit insane.

“What is your name, by the way?”

“....Minhee,” his voice was low.

“Minhee?” Seongmin smiled and giggled, Minhee’s heart clenched at the sound.

“Okay, Minhee! You did a great job today. I look forward to sparring with you in the future.”

And Minhee, unfortunately, fell in love.

🪄

“I’m not leaving this classroom.”

Minhee is pouting. Not like the usual pouting— he’s burying his face into his arms and gripping onto the desk like his life depends on it. Serim has his backpack held hostage and Woobin is ready to pick him up by the collar and throw him over his shoulder. Wonjin and Jungmo sit behind him, poking and prodding at his messy hair.

“It's a boy. He’s like 5 '6. Short king-coded, what is your problem? ” Jungmo exclaims.

“Short-king but with a whole lot of kickass,” Woobin adds, beginning to bunch Minhee’s shirt at the back of the neck.

“I would have paid money to see him get pummeled,” Wonjin sighs.

“I hate all of you,” Minhee grumbles into his arms just as Woobin effortlessly lifts him out of the chair and onto his feet.

“We’re going,” Serim says, rolling his eyes at Minhee’s dramatic antics.

“We’re ~going~ ” Woobin sing-songs, dragging his best friend out of the classroom and into the hallways.

To Minhee’s great dismay, they are headed to the astronomy club. The looming, haunting, terrifying, distant astronomy club, complete with little glow-in-the-dark stars all over the walls and ceiling. Truly, a scary sight to be seen. 

After the weekend, Serim contacted Hyeongjun, the co-president of the astronomy club, after getting his number that very Friday. Minhee doesn’t understand how anyone wouldn’t be turned off by the football jock admitting to being in the Dungeons & Dragons club, but he digresses. Instead, Hyeongjun was geeked to find out that the astronomy club was needed; Serim had lore-dumped his DND campaign idea in a series of double-texts that left Minhee cringing. But nevertheless, it worked.

And now, they are trudging down the university hallways like a pack of ill-fitted side characters holding the main lead hostage. Minhee, of course, is disgruntled to be the lead.

“They are going to bully us. We should back out now,” Minhee complains as he grapples with Woobin’s iron grip.

“Serim word-vomited everything about our club. Do you really think they would have agreed if they found us to be class-a losers?” Jungmo quips.

“This is a nerd alliance, idiot,” Wonjin adds.

“Different flavors of nerds, but it works out perfectly. Hyeongjun was very excited that someone paid attention to him being in the astronomy club.”

“More like excited that the big buff football player was texting him,” Jungmo jokes.

Serim cocks his head and paints an expression of concern.

“Now that you mention it…he was really shocked.”

“What? That you’re the president of the DND club? Yeah, no shit. Big strong, scary football player is a nerd oOoOO.”

“Is that what everyone thinks of me?” Serim seems genuinely upset as the rest of the boys roll their eyes.

“When we first met, I was terrified of you,” Jungmo admits. “But then you opened your mouth, and I knew that it was a safe space. You don’t talk to many people outside of us, do you? It makes sense that you’re stereotyped the way you are.”

“I didn’t realize that,” Serim looks down and shakes his head. “I think it's time to start socializing outside of you morons.”

At this point, they are standing in front of the astronomy club classroom. There are stars stuck on the outside of the door and all five boys take a moment to look at each other with a certain degree of fear. Hyeongjun is the only person they’ve ever spoken to; they don’t know much else. He’s a friendly cheerleader and generally known as the life of the party, as is Seongmin. Minhee knows that there’s at least a quartet of them: Woonggi and Dongpyo the dancers, Hyeongjun the cheerleader, and Seongmin the wrestler. Frankly, he admits to being intimidated by the four of them, despite their widely-known friendly attitudes.

Serim begins to knock when the door is flung open, eliciting a small yelp from the group.

“Hello!” Hyeongjun is smiling ear to ear.

Wonjin snickers as Serim stumbles over his words, cheeks growing red hot in embarrassment.

“Heyyy. We’ve arrived,” he musters, terribly awkward.

“I’m so glad you made it today! Omg, this is gonna be so fun!” Hyeongjun ushers the five of them into the classroom.

Minhee is in awe. It's cute— the clubroom is embroiled in dim lighting, the glow-in-the-dark stars shining from all corners of the room. There are posters of planets and solar systems covering every inch of the walls, and there’s a night-light broadcasting asteroids and stars onto the ceiling. It’s incredibly cute, and Minhee suddenly feels silly for being so fearful.

He wishes with all his might that Seongmin is not in the room. He is, of course, horribly wrong.

“Oh! It's you! Minhee! Kang Minhee?” The voice is high-pitched and cheerful. Minhee wants to die upon realizing exactly who it is. Calling his name, his full government name. He’s frozen in his position as the friendly figure runs over to him, inches below his own height.

“Hi Minhee! Do you remember me? We met during the club expo!”

Minhee can hear his friends stifling giggles behind him as he stammers. There’s a light hint of blush forming on his cheeks, already blowing his cover.

“Oh…I do…actually. Hi…Seongmin,” he hopes that the reddening isn’t obvious.

“It's nice to see you again! You kind of became hard to find on campus after that…you also didn’t approve my follow request,” Seongmin frowns and Minhee wants so badly to make him smile again.

“He’s very elusive. Feel free to hunt him for sport!” Jungmo says, earning a smack from Woobin.

The astronomy club erupts into a fit of giggles and Minhee takes a second to peer around the room. There’s quite a handful of them— he spots the quartet, of course, and a few others he’s surprised to see in the club. Seongmin notices this and changes the subject.

“Oh! Let me introduce everyone! There’s Woonggi, Donpyo, Hyeongjun of course, Taeyoung, Allen, and our president, Minhyuk!” He points to everyone in the room as he says their names. 

Minhee knows Allen as another cheerleader. He’s a backspot that doubles as a gymnastics team member, also very popular on social media. They’ve had a few interactions and Minhee knows that he’s just as friendly as the others, always hanging with the cheerleading squad in-between classes. Taeyoung is slightly intimidating, but gives a small wave that eases his fear— Minhee has never spoken to him before, but assumes he’s just as nice. Minhyuk sits at the teacher’s desk with a smile and Minhee assumes he’s a graduate student.

“Welcome to the astronomy club! There’s usually more of us…but a lot of people ditch after the first couple of weeks.”

“What do you do in this club?”

“All kinds of things! We watch a lot of films and take lots of stargazing field-trips. Minhyuk here is a PhD student with a NASA internship at the moment. He's got a real nice telescope that we use on the weekends,” Hyeongjun is clearly full of energy, excited to talk about what he is passionate about. Minhee knows that Serim is internally squealing.

“And I assume in your club…”

“We roleplay,” Woobin says as a matter-of-fact, making Minhee cringe.

“We roleplay as fun, deeply-crafted characters in fantastical realms,” Serim adds, struggling to save face.

“That’s so fun!” Hyeongjun says, sounding completely genuine. “I’ve wanted to join a campaign for years now but never got the chance. But since your new one takes place in space…I would love to take part in it!”

Serim’s jaw drops. “Are you…serious?”

“Yes! Seongmin mentioned wanting to join, too. Right, Minnie?”

The wrestler grins and nods his head enthusiastically, the subtle highlighter on his cheeks shining through the dim room. Minhee wants to squish his cheeks and kiss them. But he shakes the thought away, remaining calm and collected.

“I think it would be fun! By the way, Minhee, are you still interested in wrestling? We have workshops on Fridays for newcomers if you want to join one!” 

“He took Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a kid. Maybe he wants a rematch,” Serim says.

Minhee gulps and puts on a straight face, not knowing how to respond. Half of him loves the idea of being tossed around like a rag-doll by the cutest man he’s ever seen yet the other half of him fears what this might mean for his sanity. He plays it cool, clearing his throat.

“Uh…yeah…maybe I’ll go to one.”

“You should! I definitely noticed you had some kind of background in martial arts when we sparred. You were so much fun to take down,” Seongmin giggles.

“You…could tell?”

“Yeah! I did Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a kid, too. And Aikido, and Muay Thai, and Kickboxing and…you get the point!”

Minhee gulps and thinks about how many medals Seongmin might have sitting in his dorm room, indicating that he shall not be fucked with. The thought is both terrifying and incredibly attractive.

“Oh, that’s…cool.”

The awkwardness settles between them like an out-of-tune melody. He wants to tear the hair away from his skull.

“So, what are we thinking about for the plot?” Hyeongjun speaks up, everyone’s attention focusing on him.

“Well. I was thinking…contract astronauts thrown together in one ship, instructed to explore new life-forms for the purpose of discovering helpful resources. Maybe in a post-apocalyptic setting where earth is uninhabitable?” Serim explains.

“Ooh! How fun! And you’re planning on using real planets and science?”

“Well, as far as DND science will allow it…maybe a mix of both.”

“Are we aliens? Or humans?”

Serim chuckles. “All humans would be a wack homebrew, but it would be fun to have a mix of both.”

“Can I be a pink alien?” Woonggi asks from the back.

“No, you cannot be a pink alien,” Donpyo says, refusing to look up from his phone.

“You can be a pink alien, Woonggi,” Serim assures and the boy is beaming.

The conversation between them would be easier if Minhee didn’t feel the burning presence of Seongmin right next to him. He can see him from the corner of his eye, tilting his head and smiling like he isn't the man that threw him to the ground and crushed his ego. Seongmin is wearing all kinds of pretty, sparkly things and Minhee does his best to soak up the details. The holographic highlighter on his collarbones and cheeks, the subtle brown winged eyeliner, the pillowy lips dipped in tint. He’s blushing again, and prays to god Serim doesn’t notice.

“What kind of character would I be, Minhee?” 

He freezes up again, shocked that Seongmin would even want to take part in the campaign. 

“You do …want to join?”

“You think I’ll let Hyeongjun join without me?”

“Well–”

“I want to be something scary. Can I be something scary?”

“You…kind of are…scary.”

Minhee wishes the words didn’t leave his mouth so soon as Seongmin is looking at him with confusion. But he erupts into laughter, and Minhee’s ears turn bright red.

“I’m sorry. We don’t have to spar anymore if that’s what you meant.”

“I…that’s…”

“You look so serious! I swear I’m not that scary,” he says, gently poking Minhee’s cheeks. He reminds himself that Seongmin is his mortal enemy, his holy relic of captivity. He’s trying so hard not to fall to his knees at the slight physical touch.

“Wha…your cheeks are warm. Are you okay, Minhee?”

“Just fine,” he presses his lips into a thin line as Seongmin retracts his hands. Minhee already misses the feeling.

“Well. We don’t have to spar this Friday. I won’t take you with me.”

“No! I mean…yes. I want to go. I’ll take Serim with me again,” he says in a panic, hating the idea of missing out on Seongmin but also cursing himself for saying he’d bring his best friend.

“Really? Maybe we can talk about the campaign in-between tackles…hehe…me tackling you , of course,” he giggles, sending shockwaves through Minhee’s body.

“Oh…sounds…lovely.”

Jungmo catches his eye and immediately smirks, beginning to listen in on their conversation. Woobin is trying to speak to Dongpyo who seems uninterested in the topic at hand; Wonjin is assessing Serim’s body language as he yaps to his crush. Minhee has no choice but to keep speaking to his enemy. Oh, the horrors.

“Can I have your number, by the way?” Seongmin asks.

Gingerly, Minhee takes out his phone with shaky hands and gives it to Seongmin who immediately puts his number in, adding a selfie for the profile. When he gives it back, Minhee notices all the cute emoticons next to his name and the very cute profile photo. He sends a text to the number and Seongmin smiles when his phone pings.

“Perfect, can I get a photo of you?”

For the millionth time, Minhee wants to scream. He looks terrible: his hair is disheveled, his pants are stained in multiple places, he has the smallest bit of scruff on his chin, and he forgot to put on bb cream. Nevertheless, he pulls a horribly awkward pose, throwing up a peace sign in an effort to look put together. Seongmin frowns and shakes his head, stepping over to position Minhee’s hands at either side of his face, creating a cute frame. The touches once again send fire though Minhee’s body, igniting every inch of desire within him.

“There. Much cuter, don’t you think?”

Minhee can’t respond as Seongmin steps back and snaps the photo, smiling from ear to ear as he looks over it. 

“Yay! Now I have a cute pic of you too.”

Minhee whips around for a short second and slaps his hand over his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut as he recovers from the comment. Jungmo is snickering behind him and Minhee is very glad no one else in the room notices his suffering. He collects himself and returns to a near-frown. Seongmin, unfortunately, is still looking at him with a grin.

“Text me? Well, considering how little you talk…you don’t have to text me.”

Minhee’s heart clutches uncomfortably and he tries his best not to word-vomit his inexplicable feelings of pining.

“I’ll…text you at some point.”

Seongmin smiles, his eyes crinkling in a way that shows off the gleam of his highlighter. Minhee wants to pat his head and kiss his forehead, wants to engulf his smaller frame into a warm hug. He shoos the thought away and reestablishes Seongmin as the enemy once again. For the first time, he’s almost grateful when Serim pushes his way over to him.

“You ready to go? We’re meeting up again at the end of the week to start laying out some plans to coordinate.”

“Oh…yeah. I’m ready.”

Serim raises an eyebrow as he looks between his best friend and Seongmin.

“Did you tell him how weak he is?” Serim laughs and Minhee gently punches his shoulder, cursing under his breath. The wrestler doesn’t respond, only giggles.

“We’re leaving, asshole,” Minhee whispers as he latches onto his best friend and snatches Jungmo as well.

“I’m so excited to be working with you guys! Adds some spice to our boring little club,” Hyeongjun sounds incredibly genuine. 

They all say their goodbyes as the DND club pour out of the room. They wait until they’re down the hall before an explosion of comments commences.

“Oh bitch, you are so cooked,” Wonjin cackles at Serim, poking his chest. Serim grumbles and shakes him away.

“I couldn’t get a read on Hyeongjun…he just seems really friendly. Maybe he isn’t into you?” Jungmo adds.

“But you,” Jungmo waggles his finger at Minhee. “Oh, Seongmin is definitely into you.”

“You’re delusional.”

“Minhee, that whole ‘let me take a photo of you’ moment was crazy. ”

“Yeah! And inviting you to wrestling on Friday? And insinuating that he’d be taking you down again? And knowing your full name!” Wonjin screams.

“‘Now I have a cute pic of you,’” Jungmo mocks.

“Will you two shut up.”

“Bro is suffering from success.”

“First of all— I do not want him like that, we are enemies. Second of all, he was just being friendly. And third of all, there’s no way someone like that would want me, anyway.”

“Are you sure he knows you’re enemies?” Woobin asks.

“Man, if you weren’t so fucking dense sometimes,” Serim rolls his eyes.

“It's true! He’s a friendly, popular kid who everyone likes! On what astral plane would he be into me?”

“Dude. You’ve got to stop thinking that everyone thinks we’re uncool because of the damn club. He’s a nerd, too! You’re a nerd, we’re nerds, he’s cute, you’re cute, what’s the problem?”

And of course, Serim makes an excellent point. Who cares if they’re Dungeon & Dragons players? Minhee’s friend group has never been anything but kind and friendly— they’ve never been bullied for their roleplaying, their club campaigns, their loudness, their nerdy antics. And Seongmin— lovely Seongmin, a space nerd doubling as a fashionista, a wrestler, a campus icon. All the while, maintaining the sweet disposition of a friendly boy in college. Minhee ponders for a little bit and replays their club interaction over and over.

Hyeongjun, the popular cheer backspotter. Woonggi the hyper and incredibly outgoing dancer, twinning with Donpyo. Allen, the extroverted gymnast. Taeyoung, the slightly quiet yet mysterious one. And Minhyuk, their observational club president.

Minhee watches his best friends rough-house in the hallways as he falls behind in steps. A smile creeps onto his face.

Maybe, just maybe, being a nerd is cool.

🪄

Minhee doesn’t have the guts to text Seongmin first.

So when the astronomy and DND club sit side by side at 3 PM on a Friday afternoon, their second meeting rots in awkwardness. Minhee can’t understand why the wrestler chose him of all people to sit by. Seongmin's wearing a fluffy white sweater, clean-pressed with zero stains, a plain tank underneath, a stone necklace, and black cargo pants. There are pearls on different parts of his outfit and on his ears, complete with coral lip tint and pink eyeshadow gently dusted over his lids. 

He’s beautiful, and he smells like citron.

Additionally, Minhee wants to bash his head into the desk— in a good way, somewhat.

“You didn’t text me all week,” Seongmin frowns, and Minhee can almost see the sad face punctuating his sentence. He wants to flip it around and add a thousand more parentheses. 

“I…got really busy, sorry.”

“Ah, no worries. You didn’t confirm whether or not you wanted to go to the workshop tonight. Are you still up for it?”

And of course, Minhee doesn’t remember agreeing. He also does not remember asking Serim, either.

“That was…tonight?”

Seongmin’s smile fades again as his shoulders deflate. Minhee immediately jumps into panic mode.

“No! I mean…  I mean of course it's tonight. I’ll go.”

Seongmin gives him a look, tilting his head and jutting out his bottom lip, the gloss glistening in the light. The urge to kiss him grows stronger in Minhee’s head, and he briefly imagines pecking those lips until Seongmin erupts into a fit of giggles. The thoughts are poisonous, tasteless, terribly distracting from the matter at hand.

“You forgot, didn’t you?”

“I…I did,” he admits, letting his head fall.

“But you’ll still go?” Seongmin remains chirpy, and Minhee thanks every god that might exist.

“Of course I’ll go.”

“Huzzah!” Seongmin cheers, sending his fists to the sky. Serim glances over and gives Minhee a look that says we’ll debrief this later and refocuses his attention to his own infatuation.

There’s small chatter in the room: the two clubs are conversing with one another as Serim hands out character sheets to brainstorm on. Minhee already wants to be an Astral Elf— he wants to be pretty and mysterious, shiny and daunting, alluring and beautiful. He wants to show off— moreover. It seems that Woonggi is bent on being an alien, as he’s already sketching a character that doesn’t seem to be in the actual catalog of DND races. Seongmin is enthusiastic but entirely lost, scrolling online about general DND gameplay.

“Minhee? Can you help me create a character?” He looks up, eyes hopeful and twinkling.

“Uh. Sure.”

“Perfect! Want to hang after wrestling tonight?”

Minhee curls his fists tightly underneath the table and squeezes his eyes shut, a sudden wave of euphoria rushing over him as Seongmin stares. He’s malfunctioning in a way that poses a threat to the inner machinations of his mind, the inability to think befalls him.

“Are you sure we won’t be tired after that?”

Seongmin leans in a little closer and Minhee can smell the citron ten times more.

“Minhee! If you don’t want to be around me you can be honest.”

“No!”

Minhee melts in embarrassment as half the club turns to him, the loud outburst distracting them from their conversations. He slaps a hand over his mouth and drags it down as Seongmin blinks in confusion.

“Sorry. I mean, no. I’m down to hang,” he curses himself.

“No…as in…you do want to be around me?”

“I…don’t mind.”

Seongmin is pouting again, looking hardly convinced. Minhee stares at the character sheet in front of him and wonders how he’ll survive being in such close proximity with his crush and biggest nightmare, shoulder to shoulder. Yet he also imagines how embarrassing it will be to be thrown around like a piece of paper. He doesn’t notice Seongmin has left his side until the citron becomes faint in his nostrils, being replaced by something a bit more masculine.

“Are you free tomorrow?” Hyeongjun asks, and the voice makes Minhee jump.

“Oh…my bad. Yeah.”

“I asked this like five minutes ago but you looked completely out of it. Everything good?”

“Yeah…what’s going on tomorrow?”

Hyeongjun giggles and rolls his eyes.

“Serim gave us all an assignment to create our characters tonight and regroup tomorrow with some campaign ideas. We’re going for intergalactic travel…and astronauts.”

“Oh…yes. Yes, that sounds fun.”

“Why are you always in a perpetual state of confusion?”

“Oop, gagged you,” Allen whispers from afar, eliciting a giggle from both Woonggi and Donpyo.

Minhee hopes that no one catches onto his terrible fronting— struggling to keep his feral energy from exiting his shell. It's easy enough to hide it from Seongmin, but he finds that Hyeongjun is a bit more observational.

“My bad. Just a bit tired today.”

“We don’t have to go if you’re tired,” Seongmin pops up from behind them, scaring Minhee a second time. 

He’s starting to worry that his ‘cool guy’ act is giving Seongmin the wrong ideas. Of course, every fiber of his being wants to go to the workshop, wants to spend every waking moment with the bouncy boy and soak up all the attention given to him. But he refuses to change Seongmin’s title from villain to friend.

“What, you think he’ll lose again?” Hyeongjun giggles.

“Oh believe me, he’s terrified, ” Serim says over Hyeongjun’s shoulder.

Minhee wants to crawl into a small hole and perish— wants to roll around in a field of landmines. He also wants to kiss Seongmin and flail around like a ragdoll. 

“I’m not scared…I anticipate a rematch,” he mumbles under his breath. Seongmin leans down and narrows his eyes.

“What was that I heard? A rematch? You’re looking to win this time?”

“He can try, ” Jungmo adds.

“Is that why you don’t wanna go with me? You’re scared?” Seongmin jokes and Minhee feels his cheeks heat up.

“No…that’s not—”

“Definitely!” Serim confirms, and Minhee buries his head within his hands.

Seongmin’s laughter heals him somewhat, however, making the humiliation a little easier to endure. He feels light pats on his head and peeks out to see his enemy grinning from ear to ear. 

The rest of the session is less mortifying: Hyeongjun and Serim are the only two working out the genuine logistics while the rest sketch awful drafts of their DND characters. Seongmin and Woonggi are the most detailed, furrowing their brows at each step of the process. Minhee does his best to help Seongmin go through the characters and personality types— they settle on an outgoing Eladrin with dark lore. He pretends to be uninterested as Seongmin asks him a million questions about how to play the game. He fails, of course, and gets distracted every so often by the sheen of Seongmin’s blinding highlighter and razor-sharp liner.

The distractions are endless, and Minhee foresees them getting harder and harder to ignore. So when they make their way towards the gym, Minhee deems it an unfortunate case of impending doom.

“Are you excited?” Seongmin swings his arms back and forth as Minhee struggles to hide his adoration.

“Uh, yeah. I think I’ll win this time.”

“Really? Do you think you’ll be able to take me down after refreshing your memory?”

“I think so.”

“You don’t mind getting a little thrown around, do you?” Seongmin has a certain kind of evil written all over his face.

You could step on me and I’d thank you.

“I doubt it will be that much of a fight.”

Seongmin cocks his head and smirks. “You know, you’re pretty cocky for a quiet guy. Brave to be talking like that after our last match.”

The words are lighthearted, Minhee knows this much is true. But his heart is pounding and his vision is tunneled— he fears that his crush sees him as a stubborn asshole. There are two little devils sitting on his shoulder: one that wants to be liked, and one that wants to be at war.

“You think I wouldn’t be able to take you down this time?”

“I’ve been training for years, no? You shouldn’t look down on me, Minhee!” Seongmin smiles and swings open the locker-room doors as Minhee gulps.

They switch into practice clothes in total silence, Minhee completely avoiding the boy altogether. He’s wearing a slightly embarrassing band tee and a pair of loose shorts. Seongmin wears a pair of black sweats and a loose-fitting muscle tee. No matter what he’s wearing, Minhee thinks he might be the most beautiful person he’s ever seen.

“You ready?”

Minhee hesitantly nods and stares at Seongmin’s outstretched hand, taking it gingerly. It's warm and inviting, pulling him to the gymnasium full of mats. There’s a group of people sitting around that don’t appear to be on the team, looking dazed and lost. There are a few wrestlers already warming up on the mats. 

“Don’t worry, I have an extra pair of shoes. Hopefully they’ll fit you.”

They’re still holding hands, and Minhee does not want to let him go. 

“I’m a bit scared.”

“See? All bark, no bite,” Seongmin offers a sweet smile. “Don’t worry, that’s why I’m here! We can debrief later with some boba, makes things less scary.”

Minhee allows himself to return the smile, already hearing the snickers of his friends in the back of his cluttered mind. He sits down to lace up a pair of ill-fitting wrestling shoes and drops their grasped hands. He proceeds onto the mats with Seongmin and dreads the amount of cardio he’s about to do.

“Where’s the coach?” He half-shouts as they enter a set of jumping jacks.

“He’s around. Workshops are for us to convince friends to join. Not actual practice, so he won’t be barking commands.”

“So, I’m at your mercy?”

Seongmin grins deviously.

“You sure are.”

They continue with two more sets of jumping jacks and straight to across-the-floor-sprints. The non-athletic bones in Minhee’s body are rattling, and he’s already wheezing like a chihuahua. He ignores the pain doing high knees and brutal burpees, voice squeaking at every jump. Seongmin has no problem doing a million exercises with sheer ease, making him even more attractive if possible.

“Wanna learn something?”

Minhee silently nods and accepts his fate.

“We’ll start with single leg take-downs. I’ll demonstrate, but I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Minhee’s heart catches in his throat as Seongmin explains how to dart to your opponent’s ankle and swipe them off their feet, gently demonstrating with Minhee. He allows himself to be tackled onto the ground, trying his best to memorize the movements. Seongmin shows him a few more times— adding the double leg take-downs as well. 

“Wanna try?”

Minhee squares up and looks at Seongmin head-on, something he’s avoided doing all day. He feels like the main character in a terrible coming-of-age-teen movie with the amount of giddiness in his demeanor. Slowly but surely, he begins to take Seongmin down. He’s rusty at first, but does it for what feels like a million times to ensure perfection.

“Good! You’re doing good. We can learn a few more moves and have some matches, does that sound okay?”

Minhee smiles and nods, already feeling a little more confident about his skills. His Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is incredibly useless, but it doesn’t matter because he’s hanging out with the campus selfie king, the main center of his brainrot.

Seongmin teaches him a few more moves: headlock, fireman carry, high crotch, and cradling. He compliments Minhee on his quick learning skills (even though Minhee thinks he’s totally lying). There’s multiple people in the room but it feels like just the two of them, running through the motions of the least romantic sport on the planet. 

Their first match makes Minhee feel like all his learning has gone down the drain. It takes one seatbelt throw for him to feel entirely defeated and only a shell of a man. The second match allows himself to redeem a sliver of pride, managing to take Seongmin down with a simple double leg take-down (that he quickly got out of). And after being hip-tossed for the third time, Minhee taps out.

“Will I live in pain for the next two days?” He asks as they take their shoes off, hair sticking to their foreheads.

Minhee feels like his entire body is ready to snap in half. A two-hour wrestling session on a Friday night is not something he’d ever considered before. But he’s reeling from happiness— he smells like citron and makes Seongmin smile more times than one.

“You sure will. But if you keep coming to workshops, it will get better.”

“God…I hope so.”

After changing into more comfortable clothing, Minhee remembers Seongmin’s invitation from earlier and his stomach drops in anticipation.

“By the way…did you still…want to get…boba?”

“Yes! Shocking that you remembered, actually. Can we talk about character design?” Seongmin is elated, an extra bounce in his step— even after the intense cardio.

“Yeah…sure,” Minhee tries his best not to smile, but that’s exactly what he’s doing.

Seongmin still smells like citron— which boggles Minhee’s mind once they reach the small café. He gushes when Minhee fights to pay for them both, making the argument that he’s glad someone dragged him to do a sport (but really, he just wants to take care of Seongmin despite deeming him a royal enemy). They both order jasmine milk tea with boba and sit down on the outside tables, enjoying the light breeze.

“Did you have fun?” Seongmin asks, the makeup rubbed off his face. 

He looks softer somehow, glowy, angelic. Minhee is swooning at the sight.

“I suppose so.”

“Will you go again?”

Minhee shrugs, but knows that he will absolutely go wherever Seongmin takes him.

“Boo. Let’s move onto my character!”

It only takes them ten minutes to devise a fully-fleshed out character, complete with Minhee’s (impressive) quick sketches and hand-drawn faces. They talk about the hypotheticals of space travel as alien beings and the idea of mixing real science into a fantastical realm. Their conversation isn’t supposed to transcend this— yet they find themselves moving onto more personal, more non-related topics.

Minhee doesn’t shake as much after speaking with Seongmin for an hour and a half. He learns that despite being popular, he’s quite relatable and incredibly nerdy. Seongmin likes Star Wars just as much as Jungmo and Wonjin, enjoys doing makeup tutorials on TikTok, and likes performing K-pop songs with Hyeongjun. Minhee tries not to spill his entire self to Seongmin— tries not to lay his whole life on the table like he wants to. So he allows the basics out: the desire to learn languages, desire to read sci-fi, and the desire to make more friends.

The café is closing when their conversation comes to an end. Their stomachs are full of tapioca and the character sheets are all scribbled on, illegible notes on every corner. Minhee feels warm inside, despite the slightly frigid air. He finishes the last of his drink and wraps his arms around his body.

“Cold?” Seongmin asks.

“No,” he lies.

Shaking his head, Seongmin gets up to throw his wrestling team hoodie over Minhee’s body, ignoring Minhee’s objections and sliding it over his head. And, oh boy . The citron smell is overwhelming and terribly cozy, gripping Minhee’s beating heart and pillowing around it with incredible warmth. He feels ditzy and fatigued, too busy thinking about the cute mole on Seongmin’s nose to notice anything else.

“Well, you look happy.”

Minhee snaps out of it as his eyes widen in embarrassment.

“I’m…uh…thanks for the hoodie. I can give it back on Monday.”

“Don’t bother. You seem stubborn enough to never wear long sleeves. Keep the hoodie, I have multiple. And if you forget again, I’ll just give you another one,” he winks.

There’s a moment of silence as Minhee struggles to respond to the kind gesture, already fighting off the erratic breathing. There’s a gust of wind that blows Seongmin’s pink bangs to the side and he fights the urge to tuck it back behind his ear. He’s melting terribly, terribly fast.

“Want me to walk you home? You give me the ‘scared of anything’ vibe,” Seongmin jokes, although nearly being spot-on.

“Uh. I live closer to campus. I can go alone.”

“Like hell you will. Get up.”

Minhee doesn’t need to be told twice. The walk is enshrouded in a comfortable silence of sorts, only the sounds of distant house parties and drunk college kids can be heard. They’re both tired and worn out, too talked out to add anything more. Their hands are swinging right next to each other, sometimes brushing here and there. It makes Minhee’s head swim. 

“I’m glad you went with me, that was fun. And thanks for helping me with my character,” Seongmin says at the door of Minhee’s single-bed dorm.  

He wants to ask him to stay, to watch a movie and talk more about their lives, to sit around and play board games and stay up bantering all night. He wants to know every detail imaginable, wants to drink it all in and cherish them, wants to innocently cuddle and run fingers through Seongmin’s candy-colored hair. But instead, he offers a small smile and responds as coolly as possible.

“I had fun, too. And, you’re welcome. I’ll uh…see you…tomorrow? Err…thanks for the hoodie?”

Seongmin unleashes a giggle that makes Minhee want to scream.

“Hyeongjun is right. You are in a state of perpetual confusion. But I think it's kind of cute,” he tilts his head and grins.

“I’ll see you soon, Minhee!”

It doesn’t take more than five seconds before he’s screaming into his pillows.

🪄

“You are unbelievable.”

“You are so dumb!”

“Bro cannot figure out the equation if it’s solved right in front of him.”

“Bro, text him!”

It’s currently 11 AM and Minhee is being bullied by his so-called “best friends.” They’ve spent at least an hour debriefing the terribly cute hangout he and Seongmin had the week beforehand. And after finally coming clean about the whole ordeal in Serim’s Discord DMs, the older called an emergency town meeting.

And now he is paying the price of spilling his ugly secrets to his nosy friends.

“Bro had one convo with this man and now he’s whipped,” Jungmo cackles.

“Hey, I don’t blame him! He’s like, everybody’s dream boy,” Woobin adds— and unfortunately, Minhee has to agree. 

The whole group has about three hours to discuss the debacle before the astronomy club crashes Serim’s apartment. The following Monday after Minhee and Seongmin’s so-called “hangout,” Hyeongjun and Serim grinded out the details of the campaign, lore and all. Minhee half suspects that not all of their time spent together was dedicated to the craft, considering the cheerleader sat in for a suspicious amount of football practices during the week. But he doesn’t want to press it just yet, too busy with his own boy of fascination.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us this immediately after it happened,” Wonjin grumbles.

“He’s playing up the enemies to lovers, remember?” Woobin says.

“My man, you gotta tell him you’re enemies at this point. Bro is heart eyes over you, you’re gonna break his cute little heart.”

“That’s not true! We hung out! Once!”

“Yeah. And he walked you home and gave you a hoodie. And then you proceeded to ghost him half the week. Okay braindead era!”

Minhee grumbles into his hands as the words sink in. His friends are right. He screamed at the walls of his apartment that fateful night and proceeded to psych himself out for the rest of the week, sparsely responding to Seongmin’s friendly good morning, Minhee ^-^ texts. It doesn’t help that Seongmin wasn’t able to make their Saturday meeting the day after, when they had planned to kickstart the details of the campaign. And sure, he regrets it. Because the spellbinding boy stopped sending the sweet messages on Wednesday.

But it's Saturday again, and their campaign officially starts at noon. Minhee doesn’t realize Jungmo has snatched his phone until he’s reading Seongmin’s messages out loud. 

“Awh! Dude, he sent you so many emoticons! Dude! ” he exclaims, lightly punching Minhee’s shoulder.

In horror, Minhee launches himself at Jungmo and rips the phone out of his greedy little hands, mumbling a string of profanities as his friends cackle. It doesn’t surprise him that none of them support his rivalry.

“So what are you going to do if he comes in here and sits right next to you again?” Serim questions, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m going to say hello and then never speak to him again.”

“Loud incorrect buzzer, by the way. You’re going to start melting into the chair when he side-eyes you. And then you’re going to lie to us about not being irrevocably fucked.”

“You’re an asshole.

“And you have a crush on the astronomy boy.”

“No, I do not!”

“So there’s this river in Egypt…”

“Shut up!”

It’s no use. Minhee squeezes his eyes shut and half-accepts that his friends are unfortunately dead-correct. He is irrevocably fucked. In all of his years in school, he’s done his best to avoid the outgoing people— to blend in like a little wallflower at the back of the classrooms, watching and waiting— but never stepping into the light. He’s lucky enough to have met his friends during freshman year orientation— but even then, they’d kind of adopted him, plucked him off the wall and left the other flowers to bloom alone.

So he ruminates on the thought of Seongmin. Someone outgoing, someone extroverted, someone so friendly and bright that it sears his eyes and makes him a little more afraid of the sun. He’s intimidating because he’s non-judgemental, because he sees Minhee amongst the weeds and the pearlwort and all the little blades of grass. He sees the solitary flower, and wants to hang around him like a bumblebee.

“I don’t understand why you don’t admit it. I mean, I know you’re stubborn, but dude— we know you through and through. There’s nothing wrong with being attracted to the boy who tossed you like a javelin!”

Woobin’s comment is meant to be lighthearted but Minhee feels vulnerable for a moment, and the room grows quiet. His friends look at one another as he drops his head and sighs.

“I just…I just don’t think— I mean, I don’t understand why someone like him would be so eager to be around me. I don’t understand why the astronomy club in general doesn’t see us…doesn’t see us…”

“Doesn’t see us how you see us?” Serim finishes Minhee’s thoughts exactly.

There’s a pause before Minhee surrenders. “Yeah. Something like that.”

The giggles have subsided and the jovial atmosphere settles into concern. Jungmo puts a comforting arm around Minhee and he instantaneously sinks into the hug, laying his head in the crook of Jungmo’s neck.

“That’s valid, you know. I mean, I kind of figured— we kind of figured. Honestly, I kind of thought Seongmin being into you would help you understand that there’s no reason that people don’t think you’re cool,” Jungmo nearly whispers.

“You’re like our little Himalayan Lily, we know it will take a while for you to bloom. But when you do, it will be really pretty and worth the wait,” Wonjin smiles, and Minhee suddenly feels like crying. He leans into Jungmo and whispers a soft thank you to his friends.

The sentimental moment vanishes within seconds as Serim clears his throat.

“I love you all— Minhee, loving you the most right now, king. But truly, lock in brothers.”

Minhee giggles as his friends comedically salute their dungeon master. And about two and half hours later, Serim predicts correctly: Seongmin is slotted in right next to him. And now, he’s panicking again.

Minhee likes to note his fashion every time he sees him. This time, he’s wearing something to fit the theme: a plain white tank top with a tan cardigan that drapes down to his knees. He’s sporting a pair of baggy brown cargo pants with black chains hanging in a few different places. The makeup palette is warm toned— no sparkles, but a copper-mauve color on his lids and an orangish blush rubbed onto his cheeks and the tip of his nose. His eyeliner is thicker and winged longer, following the curve of his eyes.

This time around, Seongmin smells like Sandalwood— and something a little more peculiar that nearly makes him gasp when he sees it. Elf ears. Seongmin has faux elf ear attachments that match perfectly with his face, a few earrings dangling off them. To Minhee’s dismay, he’s caught in 4k.

“You like?” Seongmin smiles, and makes no effort to confront the unanswered text messages that hang alone in the air. Instead, he jokingly twirls his hair and tilts his head, the earrings swinging to the side. Minhee holds in a strained breath, trying desperately not to fawn over the look.

“Y-Yeah. Uh. They’re, um. They’re really—”

“ Cute . He’s trying to say they’re cute. In due time, you’ll soon learn how to speak boyloser like I do,” Serim says.

“In character,” Minhee begrudgingly finishes his sentence.

He isn’t expecting to hear the melodic tune of laughter from the now elf-boy. It sounds like a flute— and Minhee thinks that maybe his character should have been a bard.

“Are we ready to start?” Serim asks, ignoring Minhee’s ogling eyes and shifting his attention to his apartment full of adult nerds. The room goes quiet for a few minutes as Serim shifts through his papers of script.

“Five hundred thousand years into the future — a billion light years away into the depths of the galaxy, you are caught up in contract work you didn’t ask to be a part of, none of you having any memory of how you got to this ship in the first place. All you know is that you’re astronauts cursed to live by the demands of a mysterious corporation — destined to travel the stars and the surfaces of dangerous planets in order to make a living off discovering valuable resources…and maybe someday, free the chains of your captivity and recover a life of memories.”

And the campaign commences.

Minhee knows that he’ll be sitting next to Seongmin for around four hours, shackled to his dizzying cologne and cute little elf ears that haunt his peripheral view. He allows himself the pleasure of scooting just a smidge closer to his alluring presence.

The first two hours are lots of fun— the boys are playfully screeching at each other, creating  relationships and rivalries between the eleven of them in a cramped spaceship. Minhee does his best to avoid Seongmin’s character all together, trying with all his might to expertly dodge the obstacles.

But this doesn’t work— in fact, nothing Minhee does ever turns out successful. 

Because Minhee rolls the fateful dice in order to duck whatever Jungmo’s character has tossed at him— except he lands on a natural one and gets tanked, taking Seongmin with him. He ends up falling on top of Seongmin’s Eladrin in a dramatically romantic way, making Serim giggle deviously.  Somehow, their characters are now hinting at a budding romance.

This is not how he wanted the campaign to start.

“Do pray tell, my friend. Would you like to accompany me after our shift?” Seongmin says in character, questioning the Astral Elf for time alone in the cockpit of their tiny ship. Minhee takes a deep breath and accepts his fate for the umpteenth time.

🪄

By the time their five hour session concludes, the sky is casting deep hues of purple and pink upon the clouds. There’s a pleasant breeze in the air, and Minhee shuts the windows of Serim’s apartment. He’s terribly tired, but looks over his long list of notes from the session.

Extrasolar Affairs Campaign Notes, Session #1:

• wonjin’s character (human astronaut) is the only one to be weary of me upon first meeting

• woonggi is a pink alien

• donpyo is his fated enemy (for no reason at all. actually, he seems to know a lot about how to play the game, despite always being on his phone)

• there’s something hiding in the bottom parts of the ship, but no one knows what it is yet

• taeyoung and allen are caught conspiring together, but they’re too quiet for anyone to hear properly

• woonggi is a pink alien

• at least one of the astronauts has an idea of where they come from

• oh god. i’ve managed to romance seongmin’s character…already

• woonggi. pink.

“No way you can read that handwriting.” 

Minhee’s heart jumps to his throat as he clutches the paper with both hands. Seongmin is gently peering over his shoulder, chin ghosting far too close to Minhee’s left cheek. He can feel breath fanning on his ear and wants to tell him to rest his chin upon the crook of his neck. He thinks it might slot together perfectly, but hates that the thought plagues his mind.

“I can read it just fine.”

“Mmmh, sure you can,” Seongmin yawns, and Minhee thinks he looks like the spitting image of the noble elf he’s dressed as. His eyes are drooping and his makeup is partly smudged. He leans into Minhee ever so slightly, letting his chest fall against Minhee’s back with the smallest bit of pressure.

“Ah. Tired,” he whispers, and his head falls crooked. Minhee makes the split decision to reach his hand out and catch Seongmin’s cheek, providing somewhere to pool his weight. The wrestler offers a small smile as a silent form of thank you.

Minhee looks over his shoulder to see that the clubs are debriefing together, all smiles and whatnot. Serim is in the process of ordering takeout, Hyeongjun hanging onto his shoulder in a way that barely registers as innocent. Minhee swipes his thumb over the radiant heat of Seongmin’s left cheek.

“Do you…want to take a nap? Doesn’t look like anyone is leaving for quite a while.”

Seongmin’s eyes flutter open. “Would that be okay? Feels a bit rude to take a nap in Serim’s apartment.” He doesn’t make an effort to remove his head from Minhee’s supportive hand.

“Oh god, don’t worry about that. All of us have crashed here more times than we can count. He’s got a sickeningly comfortable couch.”

“That sounds nice,” Seongmin’s eyes close again. Minhee feels the weight upon his hand grow denser. He slowly rises from his chair and leads Seongmin to the living room in the most gentle way he can, making sure he avoids all the obstacles on the footballer’s slightly cluttered floor. 

Seongmin nearly crashes onto the couch, immediately finding a comfortable position to curl up in. He mewls softly and happily smiles, sinking into the cushions. Minhee takes one good look at his crush and whips around, biting his knuckles as the gay panic settles within him.

“Minhee?” Seongmin barely whispers.

“Yes?”

“Can you take my ears off? They burn a bit now.”

Minhee kneels next to the couch and does his best to carefully pull the silicone elf ears off of Seongmin’s real, human ears. What’s left are small patches of red along his skin, little imprints temporarily engraved. The task takes him less than a second yet he is enthralled with the closeup view in front of him: Seongmin’s long eyelashes, his nose mole, his slightly parted lips, the strands of pink hair. He gently brushes Seongmin’s bangs away from his face, eliciting a small sigh of content. The wrestler’s eyes open halfway, and Minhee throws himself back.

“You sure do a lot of staring,” Seongmin’s voice is so gentle, so melodic. He’s on the cusp of slumber.

Minhee dashes out of the living room, rummaging through Serim’s hall closet to grab the warmest, comfiest comforter he can find and runs back to tuck it around Seongmin’s small frame. He grabs a pillow from the neighboring couch and softly scoots it under Seongmin’s head, careful not to disrupt him. There’s a small thank you that escapes his lips. And then he’s out cold.

“Do you guys want anything— whoa , my bad,” Jungmo’s voice is piercing. Minhee shoots him a glare and points at him until he throws his hands up in defense and backs out of the living room. 

Minhee is exhausted himself, and opts to sit at the very end of the couch that Seongmin is curled up on, listening to his deep breaths. He does his best to stay up but of course, his efforts are futile.

Forty-five minutes later, he wakes up to Wonjin affectionately ruffling his hair.

“Minheeeee. Food’s here. Can you wake Seongmin up, too?”

Minhee opens his eyes to both Wonjin and Woobin standing in front of him, now dressed in comfortable pajamas. He realizes in sudden horror the position he’s woken up to— sometime during his nap, he’d eased his way onto the couch, cheeks brushing up against Seongmin’s warm legs. He takes one look at his crush and is relieved to see him still fast asleep. 

“He sleeps like a prince,” Woobin says in awe, admiring the peaceful image of Seongmin napping.

Minhee feels awful about waking Seongmin up, so he does it in the most tender way possible. He thinks about the way his friends wake him up— instead of being annoying and boisterous, they’ve always been sweet and considerate, oftentimes raking fingers through his hair or offering a quick squeeze to his shoulders. 

So he gingerly combs through Seongmin’s hair and whispers his name, hands shaking in the slightest bit. He stirs a little, but doesn’t wake up. 

“Seongmin. We have dinner here.”

Minhee uses the back of his knuckles to gently brush against Seongmin’s warmed cheeks, eventually rubbing his thumb back and forth against his skin. Seongmin opens his eyes ever so slightly, snaking his hand to press over Minhee’s fingers splayed against his face.

“How long…was I asleep for?”

“Only forty-five minutes. Sorry, I promise you can take a longer nap afterwards. If you’re too tired, you can crash here.”

Seongmin closes his eyes again and smiles. “Okay.”

Minhee goes to pull his hand away but Seongmin slowly brings it back to his cheek, nuzzling into it.

“Your hand is really warm.”

“Oh!” Minhee can’t say much else. Instead, he continues smoothing his thumb over Seongmin’s cheek and drags his fingers all the way to the back of his head. He’s frozen in place on the couch, offering small forms of intimacy to the man he allegedly doesn’t like. 

“Ah…you’re making me…sleepy again,” Seongmin yawns as Minhee gently scratches his head.

“My bad,” he softly responds, making no effort to halt the affectionate pets and caresses.

“You guys are very sweet but please eat before you starve,” Serim says, poking his head into the living room with a curious Jungmo behind him. Minhee turns back to Seongmin and gently pats his head.

“Let’s have our galactic meal, Mr. Elf.”

Minhee’s heart swells with joy as Seongmin excitedly nods and slides off the couch, still gripping onto Minhee’s hand. They enter the deafening kitchen like this, receiving a few side eyes from Dongpyo and Woonggi. Their meal isn’t necessarily galactic— actually, it’s just plain old human pizza. Serim grins at Minhee when he sits down next to Seongmin. While the rest of the room chat, they simply eat in a comfortable silence with legs brushing next to one another.

After dinner, it seems that the good vibes wish to continue. Instead of sending everyone home for the night, Woobin suggests the cunning idea of watching a horror movie— to which Minhee responds with a hard absolutely fucking not. No one listens to him, however, but he changes his mind when Seongmin tells him, don’t worry, I’ll protect you!

Crowding together in a tiny one bedroom apartment to watch The Scream franchise isn’t necessarily ideal. Personal space simply exists as a concept: eleven boys are huddled together with eyes glued to the screen, popcorn in hand. Minhee isn’t surprised to see Hyeongjun laying his head on Serim’s lap as the footballer kneads his hand through his hair. He is, however, losing his shit once Seongmin pulls a blanket over the two of them, scooting closer for warmth.

“Can I lay my head on your shoulder?” He asks, eyes reflecting the glow of the tv in the dark room. 

You can do whatever you want to me, actually.

“As long as you’re comfortable with it,” he musters.

Seongmin offers a smile and snuggles up closer, pressing his head against Minhee’s shoulder. He wants to hold hands again, wants to ruffle his hair, wants to lean into his space and swallow it up whole. But he lets Seongmin take the lead, enjoying the sounds of his soft breaths to make up for his overwhelming feeling of desire.

Be still, my beating heart.

“Is this comfortable for you?” The wrestler asks, looking directly at Minhee. The eye contact feels incredibly intimate, and in this moment, Minhee truly realizes what it's like to yearn.

“It is.”

He wants to say more things but leaves it at this. In all honesty, Minhee does really hate horror movies. But every time he jumps in fear of Ghostface, Seongmin gently squeezes his shoulder and softens his nerves, whispering its okay Minhee, I’m here . At some point during the end of the first film, they find their hands linked together once more, innocently playing with each other’s fingers during tense parts of the movie. They’ve moved closer, if even possible— Minhee is resting his head in the crook of Seongmin’s neck. There’s a particular moment in the second movie that elicits a small yelp from Minhee. In response, Seongmin giggles and pulls him into a hug. 

By the middle of the third film, the hug transforms into a half-cuddle of sorts. Minhee is laying his head on Seongmin’s thighs, playing with the hem of his pajama pants. Seongmin affectionately draws shapes and letters over the fabric of Minhee’s t-shirt. Half of the room is dead asleep, the movie droning on as background noise.

“Should we wake everyone up?” Jungmo asks, kneeling down to Minhee’s level. He blinks slowly and stares blankly.

“Nevermind, let’s just call it a night. Serim can kick them out in the morning.”

Nodding softly, Minhee settles his head back into Seongmin’s lap. They’re still laying on the floor at the foot of one of the couches— there’s not much space to work with. However, Minhee feels Seongmin reach for a pillow and places it down in front of them. He snatches a blanket from across the room while keeping Minhee’s head steady on his lap and proceeds to situate their bodies in a way that makes Minhee’s heartbeat skyrocket. 

He gently peels Minhee’s head away and scoots his body further down so they are parallel to each other. They’re laying side to side, with Minhee’s back facing Seongmin’s. It's intimate, it's too intimate for a pair of enemies. 

“Minhee? Are you still awake?”

“Mm,” he responds, trying to ignore the heat on his cheeks.

“Can I just…can I just lay next to you for the night?”

Minhee cranes his head to nod at Seongmin, enjoying the view of his pink hair in the dim lighting. Seongmin smiles and relaxes his body right next to Minhee’s. At first, he neglects any physical contact— that is however, until Minhee purposefully presses his back further into Seongmin’s chest. 

“Can I…ah…how do I ask—”

“Yes,” Minhee doesn’t even need to hear the end of the sentence to know exactly what Seongmin is asking.

Slowly but surely, he feels Seongmin snake a hand over his waist and bury his head into the back of his neck. Instead of shying away from the contact, Minhee simply laces his hand with Seongmin’s and pulls the blanket closer. 

They fall asleep like this, amongst the room of previously loud boys and a tv screen still casting shadows on the walls.

🪄

Minhee would have cried if he woke up cold.

But he doesn’t— because instead he wakes up with Seongmin clinging to his chest, facing him directly. Their legs are comfortably interlocked and their breaths are in sync with one another, having lined up sometime during the night. Minhee can hear sounds of pots clanging in the kitchen and assumes that Serim is probably up. He looks around the room to find most of the astronomy club still passed out on the couch. Wonjin and Woobin are tangled together in a terribly uncomfortable position while Jungmo lays across the way sleeping face-first on the ground. 

God, he’s so warm.

Minhee sucks in a deep breath and plays with Seongmin’s hair. The morning air is quite chilly, and he wishes he could get closer to the warm body wrapped up with him. Someone quietly shuffles into the room, followed by another person. 

“Oof. I knew he’d cave at some point,” Serim whispers from afar, adding a little giggle.

“Right? I think they’re so cute together,” Hyeongjun follows.

“Should we wake everyone up?”

“Nah. Let them sleep. It means we have more time together,” Serim softly laughs and makes his way back to the kitchen with Hyeongjun attached to his hip.

“So they are together,” a muffled voice says from Minhee’s chest.

Seongmin’s sudden awakening frightens him a bit, considering the position they are currently in. Seongmin erupts into a cute yawn and looks directly up at Minhee, a sleepy smile on his lips, a little bit of tint left over.

“Morning, Minhee!”

“Uh. Good morning, Seongmin?”

Minhee wishes he isn’t so awkward around Seongmin. He wishes to whisper good morning in an equally sweet tone, and wishes to give a good morning kiss, too. Seongmin isn’t too bothered however, going back to nuzzling against Minhee’s chest.

“Ah. How am I going to get up this morning? Kang Minhee is too comfy…”

“I’m usually…a cold person.” 

“Not with me you aren’t,” Seongmin grins and pokes Minhee’s cheek. This time, Minhee can’t help but smile. With a sudden burst of confidence, he wraps his arms around Seongmin’s frame and gives it a good squeeze, emotions surging all at once within his heart. He’s delighted when Seongmin sighs in response.

“We shouldn’t fall asleep again,” he whispers.

“Why not? Serim can wake us up when he feels like it.”

“Ah, it's rude. Let’s help Serim make breakfast,” Seongmin says, already lifting himself off the floor, grasping Minhee’s arm to drag him along. Minhee simply groans yet agrees anyway, wishing they could continue to lay together in the frosted morning. 

I’ll go wherever you go.

Minhee doesn’t even bother with Serim’s suspicious looks. The ruse is already up— Minhee isn’t necessarily subtle about his crushing, no matter how many times he swears Seongmin is his mortal enemy. Hyeongjun wiggles his eyebrows at Seongmin but says nothing about it.

“Morning, you two. Care to help?” Serim says, making room so Minhee can join him at the stove.

“Pancakes?” He asks, rubbing his eyes.

“And waffles!” Hyeongjun adds.

“Oh, can we make them cute? I want to add smiley faces,” Seongmin giggles, and Minhee feels his heart melt into a puddle. Serim seems to catch this, nudging his shoulder.

“Keep it together, king. Your crown is for real falling.”

“Shut up,” Minhee hisses, although it's without venom.

Minhee immediately begins flipping pancakes, the kitchen going entirely quiet as the boys focus on making breakfast. He finishes making his tenth pancake when the rest of the boys begin trickling into the kitchen, offering to help. They all thank Serim for hosting and incessantly apologize for knocking out on his floor, which only causes him to laugh.

“He’s like our dad, for real,” Jungmo says with Woobin hanging off his shoulder.

“Bro birthed us and raised us.”

“Let’s not go that far,” Serim grumbles, plating a pancake so Seongmin can decorate it. Woonggi immediately joins him.

“I had nightmares about a lot of things,” Wonjin suddenly remarks from the living room, making his way into the kitchen.

“It was your idea to watch Scream, was it not?” Jungmo asks, receiving a smack in return. The rest of the boys roll their eyes as the two begin to bicker.

“Both of you shut up and sit down. Breakfast is ready.”

Maybe Serim did birth them, because his voice commands the whole room. The two clubs have lively conversations as they eat, talking about their next campaign sessions and a lot of other events they plan to drag each other to. At this point, Minhee is quite accustomed to Seongmin sitting right next to him. But unlike the last time, their legs no longer brush— they are glued together.

“By the way, we have a field trip this coming Friday. Are you guys down to go star-gazing with us?” Hyeongjun asks, quieting the room down.

“Dude. Hell yeah, that sounds romantic as fuck,” Woobin says.

“Minhyuk’s bringing the telescope, too,” Taeyoung adds.

There’s a chorus of everyone agreeing as Seongmin turns to Minhee. “You’ll go, right?”

I’ll go anywhere you go.

“Yeah. Sure, it sounds fun.”

Seongmin smiles and lays against Minhee’s shoulder. When they all finish breakfast, the astronomy club insists on helping clean before they leave. Serim is pleasantly surprised by this, and employs them as temporary maids.

It's noon when everything is settled. The astronomy club thanks the DND club for the fun session as they designate Friday afternoon as their day of official collaboration. Before slipping out the door, Seongmin turns to face Minhee.

“Text me for real this time?”

“I…will.”

“He will,” Serim says from behind, giving him a light punch.

“I have wrestling practice on Tuesdays…if you ever want to…pop in and say hi.”

“Oh. Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind,” Minhee says, cursing himself once again for his terrible way of conversing. Seongmin, however, continues with a smile.

“I can’t wait to star-gaze with you.”

And the door closes. It takes one minute before Minhee’s friends are jumping him. He squeezes his eyes shut and awaits the onslaught of teasing.

“My guy.”

“Broooooo.”

“Scored!”

“I need all of you to shut up,” Minhee grumbles, pushing past them.

“You fell asleep cuddling! That was so cute!” Woobin exclaims, following Minhee to the living room.

“I can’t imagine you’d fumble this,” Jungmo says.

“So much for enemies?” Serim asks gently.

“Yeah. Whatever. Fuck it, I guess.”

“And he finally admits it!” Wonjin says.

“Don’t sit here and tell me he’s not into you, by the way. You can’t possibly think that after intertwining your bodies together,” Jungmo cackles.

“For the love of god , why’d you have to put it like that?”

“He practically demanded you to text him, too,” Serim adds.

“And star-gazing…that sounds like a perfect time for some confessions.”

“Absolutely not. I doubt that’s where this is going.”

“Tell me brother, where the fuck do you think its going?” Jungmo asks, causing Minhee to throw his hands in the air.

“I don’t know! Friends platonically cuddle, right? We cuddle all the time!”

“Not like that, we don't!” 

“Okay. Give me one reason why you think he doesn’t like you. And don’t say it's because you’re a nerd.”

Minhee draws in a deep breath and flops onto the couch. “I don’t know. It's my own head. I’ve never been approached like this before.”

“Personally, I’m getting the vibe that Seongmin knows exactly what he wants, and what he wants is you ,” Serim says while the rest of the boys nod their heads in agreement.

“Feel it out if you’re not sure. Maybe see how he reacts if you’re the one sending good morning texts. Tell him you miss cuddling him!” Jungmo shouts.

“I…jesus christ. Okay.”

The DND club pumps their fists in the air.

“Bro is getting cuffed!” Wonjin shouts.

Minhee can only groan.

🪄

minhee: morning, seongmin

seongmin : !!!!!

!!!!>>????Jdjdjd

WAHHHHH

 MINNIEEEE

GOOD MORNING!
omg ;-;

Minhee slaps a hand over his mouth, eyes widening at Seongmin’s near-immediate response. 

It's Monday morning, and he’s in Mandarin class sitting next to a nosy Woobin. He squeaks out an oh my god that prompts the footballer to snatch his phone.

“Oh hoho. Cooked. Absolutely fried. You bitches are so sick.”

“What the fuck does this mean?” Minhee asks.

“He keyboard smashed you. Jesus christ, what’s your screen-time report? Chronically offline heathen.”

Minhee ignores him and refocuses his attention back to the screen.

seongmin : you said good morning first : (((

“Woobin! Why is he sad-facing me??”

“It's…a figure of speech? Don’t worry, this is not what you think it means.”

“What the fuck does that m—

Ping!

seongmin : does this mean you like me now?

“Fuck! Woobin!”

Woobin rapidly slaps a hand over Minhee’s mouth as half the class turns to look at him. “Bro. If you don’t pipe down, I’m going to have to cage your ass.”

“How do I respond to this?”

“Okay boyfailure, have you ever learned to flirt?”

“Have you ever considered not bullying me for one minute?” Minhee hisses as Woobin giggles and takes his phone again.

“I’ll start you off,” he says, narrowing his eyes at the screen and beginning to type.

“You’ve never flirted with a man in your life! How am I supposed to trust you?”

“Don’t doubt my abilities. I’m an ally,” is Woobin’s only response. He taps on the phone keyboard with expert precision, Minhee watching in anxiety as he clicks away at record speed. 

“Why are you so fast at that?”

“Baby, I used to beef on twitter. This is child’s play. Here—” Woobin shoves the phone back into Minhee’s hands.

minhee: mm, what do you think? i just wanted to say good morning~ 

seongmin : wahhh…this doesn’t sound like kang minhee :0

minhee: it is

seongmin : doesn’t sound convincing  (>_<)

“Oh god. Woobin. I can’t do this.”

“Yes you can, king. Come on. Bro, come on .”

Minhee holds his phone with shaky hands, struggling to maintain his posture while the professor's voice blares around him. 

seongmin : what is the kang minhee up to today?

minhee: uh. not much

seongmin : you’ve definitely convinced me that this is in fact minhee LOL

minhee: woobin and serim have football practice. i might go.

seongmin : the cheerleaders are across the way…

minhee: what?

seongmin : want me to sit with you?

minhee: cheerleaders don’t practice at the same time as football does

seongmin : (`A´)

you got me

attempt number one failed

“Why is he rambling like this?” 

“You know, for someone who exclusively uses discord and studies linguistics, I cannot believe you haven’t figured out online lingo,” Woobin laughs.

“I am in a dire situation right now, asshole.”

“OoooOoOOOoo the popular, cute boy is flirting with me. OoooooOooOooO my sworn enemy. Do you know how ridiculous this sounds?”

Minhee groans and plunks his head against the desk.

Ping!

seongmin: ditch their practice?

want to get froyo instead?

i have a giftcard

ehe

“Did he just…?” Minhee peers at his phone.

“Half-heartedly ask you on a froyo date? Hell yeah he did. Say yes or else. Say yes or else. ”

Minhee glares at him but agrees anyway, sending another text before throwing his phone down on the table and hiding his face with his hands.

minhee: sure. meet at serim’s practice after school?

seongmin: ^^

yes!

wah.

: )

“Bro. You have got to start sounding more enthusiastic. I think I’d throw up if my crush texted me ‘sure.’ ”

“Sure means yes! What’s wrong with this? I don’t speak in elevated tumblr!”

“You better start doom-scrolling on Tik-Tok. I need you to start understanding niche internet references or you’ll never speak this kid’s language.”

“Or, I can just use you to translate.”

“Pathetic.”

“Piss off.”

They playfully glare at each other for a minute before Minhee’s phone pings one last time.

seongmin: im glad we’re finally texting ^-^

Out of sheer misery and embarrassment, Minhee opts to ignore the message instead of responding to it. He suffers through the rest of Mandarin, taking notes that he’s not quite focused on and intermittently slapping Woobin’s shoulder for giggling maniacally. 

When Minhee finally reaches the end of the day and heads to the football field, he isn’t expecting Seongmin to already be there, leaning against the guardrails with a smile plastered on his lips. As always, he’s dressed to perfection— even if it's just a casual oversized hoodie and a pair of gray sweats. His makeup is subtle, only consisting of a sheen sparkle over his eyelids and a touch of pink highlighter on his cheeks. His cotton candy-colored hair has begun to fade into something a little paler.

“Kang Minheeeeee!” 

Seongmin nearly skips over, stopping right in front of Minhee with utmost happiness.

“Froyo time? I’ll pay.”

“How long…were you waiting here?”

Seongmin shrugs. “About thirty minutes?”

“Thirty minutes…you waited thirty minutes?”

Seongmin tilts his head and stares. “Yeah! Why?”

“I just…that’s…uh. You know what, nevermind. Let’s just go.”

Seongmin giggles and shakes his head, falling in step next to Minhee. They’re quiet for a few minutes, hands brushing dangerously close.

“So…excited for the next session? We star-gaze right after.”

Minhee nearly chokes on his own spit, remembering the conversation they had just a few days beforehand. He imagines what it might look like: him and Seongmin, sitting side by side looking towards the skies. He wants to disappear into the thought, wants to live in it immediately.

“Yeah. You?” He responds cooly, no indication of the thoughts lingering in his brain.

“Of course. It’ll be your first time, right? Showing Kang Minhee the wonders of the universe…wah…”

Seongmin smiles a sweet smile, eyes reflecting the many sparkles on his eyelids. Minhee thinks they can be compared to all the stars in the galaxy, but he shoves the thought down.

“Yeah…first time. How many times have you gone?”

“Oh…since I was a child. I had a small telescope when I was young. I won it somewhere— can’t remember where. But I just remember…being so hyper fixated on what I didn’t know about the world.”

Minhee can hear the passion in his voice, the love, the dedication. He hopes that one day, someone can speak about him in the same manner.

“Tell me…more?” Minhee asks, praying that the impulsive question isn’t too silly. But once he receives the huge grin, his heart swells.

“You don’t want to listen to me yap…do you?”

I’d listen to you all day if I could. All of your words write the script to my fantasies.

“Sure. Why not?”

The walk to the frozen yogurt on campus is short and sweet. Seongmin doesn’t say much else, saving his talking for their half-date while Minhee watches every little step they take. Longing, pining, desire— he wants to grasp Seongmin’s hand and put it in his pocket, wants to put Seongmin in his pocket for that matter.

They arrive at the café in silence. Minhee watches in adoration as Seongmin puts a million toppings on his froyo: gummy bears, sprinkles, chocolates, fruits. The amalgamation of colors is so fitting to Seongmin’s aura and disposition. Cute, hueful, lovely— with so many attributes and characteristics to sift through. Minhee’s froyo is a little more simple: chocolate with sprinkles.

They sit down to eat before Seongmin launches into a conversation about space.

“What do you know about space?” He asks, spooning a colorful bite of froyo.

“Mm. What about black holes?”

Seongmin pouts a bit, but continues talking.

“That’s too depressing. Black holes are just a million bits of matter packed into one tiny space. Also, inescapable. Let’s talk about more fun things…like the planet my character is from.”

Minhee smiles and rests his head on his hand.

“Kepler-16. It's like Tattoine— but real! Circles two stars, cold as hell, uninhabitable for us humans. Of course there’s not much known, but I like to think that my elf is a different kind…something real special. Grew up in harsh deserts and longed for something else. Him and I relate to wanting an escape.”

Minhee smiles and realizes how deeply he enjoys the sound of Seongmin’s cheery voice: it’s similar to a melody that could put him to sleep. Soft and high, gentle and pleasant. He wants it as his ringtone.

“My favorite planet is HAT-P-7b. It absorbs 97% of light that shines onto it. I love it because it's an incredibly dark planet, but has a sapphire sky. It's kind of hopeful, you know?”

Minhee can only nod.

“And galaxies…ooh galaxies!” Seongmin kicks his feet under the table in excitement. “I can’t imagine a world where other lifeforms don’t exist. How silly and ignorant we are to think that nothing else can live beside us. I’m sure there are millions of other species out there…probably ten times more advanced than us and wondering why we’re taking so long to catch up.”

“And gosh…don’t even get me started on constellations…Sometimes I imagine I’m a sailor centuries ago, utilizing celestial navigation. This is part of the reason DND always seemed so fun to me. You guys can roleplay stuff like that.”

“We…can.”

“I love the stars almost as much as I love my friends. In a way, I do consider them my friends. And I’m glad you’re here to share them with me.”

Minhee chokes on his froyo, barely registering Seongmin’s comment. He can feel his cheeks heating up and his heart pounding at his chest. He has no idea what to say, but wishes he could convey the same amount of kindness.

“That’s…really…sweet.”

Seongmin never seems offput by Minhee’s terrible responses. So he smiles instead.

“Should I keep going?”

“Sure.”

They spend the next hour and a half talking about the universe and all things in-between. Minhee can’t seem to get enough of Seongmin’s yapping— he learns something new every minute and devours it all immediately. He learns that the Milky Way smells like rum, that an abundance of water exists in space, that venus spins backwards, that black holes produce pretty lights.

The froyo is long gone when their conversation ends. The sky is darkening into hues of purple and pink— and Seongmin’s spark never loses its kick. They exit the café shoulder to shoulder, Seongmin still spewing bits and pieces about everything Minhee never knew. It's a comfortable atmosphere, Minhee thinks that Seongmin carries his own orbit.

“Ah…” Seongmin whispers after his third rant about white holes. “Did I…talk too much?”

Too much is never an option for you. 

“Nah. I enjoyed hearing all of it.”

“You did? I mean like, you really did?” Seongmin stops for a minute to hop in front of Minhee. 

“Don’t lie to me, Kang Minhee! You study languages!”

Minhee puts his hands up in defense and laughs. “I’m not lying to you, Ahn Seongmin. I promise you, I like learning about things I don’t know a single thing about. You’re nice to listen to, anyway.”

“I am?”

Minhee regrets blurting out a single sliver of his true feelings. He’s reeling with embarrassment as Seongmin slowly leans in closer, inspecting every inch of his reddened face.

“Hyeongjun gets sick of my talking. I’m just double-checking. I can’t be boring in Kang Minhee’s eyes, can I?”

Never.

“I don’t see how that could happen.”

Seongmin smiles and skips back to Minhee’s side. 

“Am I walking you home again?” Seongmin asks, something hopeful laced in-between the words.

“You don’t have to.”

“You already know what I’m going to say to that.”

Minhee internally screeches.

“I assume you can. But I will walk you home next time, okay?”

“Nonsense, I live too far off campus. Plus, I have to keep the Kang Minhee safe, don’t I?”

“Ah…do nothing of the sort. I…I can take care of myself.”

Seongmin smiles but doesn’t respond to this, only slightly nudging Minhee’s shoulder. 

Minhee’s yearning is at maximum capacity when they reach his dormitory, the sky already giving way to the plight of stars. He looks up for a minute, suddenly looking forward to Friday. Seongmin follows where he’s staring and looks up as well.

“You’re thinking about space now, aren’t you?”

Minhee nods, eyes still trained on one particular star.

“Then we’ll see space together. It will be everything and more.”

I can give you everything and more.

Seongmin steps forward, pulling Minhee’s attention back down. He’s surprised by the sudden warmth engulfing his chest. He realizes that Seongmin has buried his face into his stomach, arms latching around tightly. He freezes up for a moment before relaxing into the hug and returning it back, resting his face in the crook of Seongmin’s neck. He can only imagine the aliens and the stars and the black holes and all the little orbiting moons enjoying the view of two simple humans, far too behind in technology and far too deep into their feelings. Maybe they shake their head with a smile and predict when the emotions will become spoken words. Maybe they’re waiting patiently for Earth to come to fruition, for humans to learn how to love in the purest way.

But until then, Minhee tightens his grip on his mortal enemy— the boy who fills up his dreams and his desires and all the things he didn’t believe in. And Seongmin tightens it back, filling in all the blank spaces.

They pull back and look at each other with wide smiles. Minhee wants so badly to invite him in and spoil him— wants Seongmin to smell like him, wants to create shadows of constellations on the walls and pretend like they’re the characters they’ve written, exploring the vast expanse of the galaxies. But he settles for the hug and thinks it's enough, breathing heavily with flowers bursting within his chest.

“See you Friday?” Seongmin inquires.

“See you Friday.”

And when he slips into bed that night, he wraps himself up with Seongmin’s jacket, the scent of citron still lingering within the fabric.

He bunches it up, inhaling deeply, and dreams of the cosmos.

🪄

“Pack it up, morons. DND today,” Wonjin comes crashing into Minhee’s German classroom with a bang.

“Good god, couldn’t you be fucking quieter? I’m trying to conjugate,” Minhee growls. He receives a smack on the head in response, prompting him to roll up his stapled pack of papers and whack him back.

“Shut up you two. Get it the fuck together. Kang Minhee has a gloriously perfect opportunity to confess to his ridiculously cute crush today. Don’t be fucking it up!” Serim nags, snatching Wonjin by the collar and yanking him down.

“Oh yeah! Heard about your little froyo date all about stars. Isn’t that sickening!”

“Shut up!” Minhee shouts.

“Hyeongjun told me that you guys were too cute…it seems that your little one-way crush isn’t so one-way anymore,” Serim wiggles his eyebrows.

“Again, in what fucking universe?”

“Considering universes are all you talked about, I’d assume it's this one!”

“Accept that you’re hot shit, Minhee!” Jungmo laughs.

The boys crowd around the grumbling boy as he powers through his assignment. He’d only mentioned the date to Serim, but word gets around fast with his gossip-heavy friends.

“Tell me some space facts, nerd.”

“Yeah. Start talking! Did he walk you to your dorm again?”

“Oh, did he,” Serim giggles.

“And you’re texting regularly, right? Like y’all are googly eyes in the dms? Dropped the caps and everything?” Wonjin asks.

“Oh please, he doesn’t know what the everloving fuck that means,” Woobin says with a laugh.

“Guys. Please, ” Minhee begs.

“Alright, alright. Lock in. DND time. It's our enrichment loser hours. Extended with the help of the astronomy club,” Jungmo says.

Minhee is dragged out the classroom with Woobin and Serim at his sides, acting as a bodyguard to Wonjin and Jungmo’s incessant teasing. They’re heading to Serim’s tiny apartment again, ready for their second session of DND right before their star-gazing trip. Minhee would be lying if he said his heart didn’t jump at the mention.

“I say you romance his character extra hard so when you guys are looking at the sky it will be all cute and shit,” Serim whispers when they’ve reached his apartment. Wonjin and Jungmo immediately begin setting up the chairs and the living room table.

“You can’t be manifesting things that aren’t possible.”

Serim smacks Minhee’s arm a little harder than usual. “I told you to stop talking like that! The man hugged you before you went inside for god’s sake!”

And sure, Minhee can’t exactly deny it, either. After their half-date, he thought about the interaction over and over again, memorizing the feeling of Seongmin’s body against his. He texted him in the morning, receiving the same enthusiasm as the first time. In fact, they didn’t stop texting after that. He longs to see him again, longs to hug him once more and tell him every little fact about space that he somehow retained.

“Friends can—”

“No!”

Minhee sighs, defeated. “Okay. Whatever. Things can happen, I guess.”

“Not quite the attitude I was trying to force on you, but I’ll take it. Man up and go put out the damn snacks.”

And Minhee does just that, arranging platters of cheese and crackers and candy and all things sugary. It only takes thirty minutes before there’s a knock on the door, sending his heart rate up tenfold. Taeyoung is the first to enter the apartment, offering an awkward smile and quick hi. The quartet fills in second, followed by Allen. Upon locking eye contact, Seongmin immediately bounces over to Minhee, a huge grin on his lips.

“Yaho!” His voice is preppy and excited.

“Hey.”

“That’s it?” Seongmin pouts. “I’m doing fine! Kang Minhee doesn’t want to know how I’m doing…” 

“Ah…that’s not what I meant. I hope Ahn Seongmin is doing well this evening,” Minhee tries his best to match the energy. At the mention of his name, Seongmin smiles even wider.

“Hehe. I have lots of things planned. Watch out, Minhee! I’m coming for your throat,” Seongmin giggles.

Eleven boys crowd around the living room table and settle into their seats. Serim sits at the head of it, reading over his notes from the last session and furrowing his eyebrows while everyone else sets up their station. Seongmin plops down next to Minhee, knees already making contact. He leans over and whispers something into his ear.

“I think I know something you don’t. Jungmo’s character…he’s hiding something…I think he knows what’s in the basement of the ship.”

Seongmin’s breath tickles Minhee’s ears and he struggles not to laugh. He pulls back and grins.

“Wanna find out together?”

“Well duh!”

There’s a certain unspoken consent in their physical relationship— every time Seongmin rolls the dice, he ever so slightly leans into Minhee’s side. Every time Seongmin speaks in character, Minhee gently brushes his fingers with his own. There’s tenderness in every act of affection, all building up to what’s to come next.

Serim tries to hold back his giggling when Minhee’s character unintentionally makes another romantic move— he attempts to spy on Jungmo but instead gets caught in the room by three other people. Jungmo’s character leaves, and Minhee finds himself alone with Seongmin’s elf. They have a strangely flirtatious conversation, and Seongmin leans into the character a little too much. He’s batting his eyes and pulling out the babygirl voice, tilting his head ever so slightly, the lip tint fresh and pink.

Minhee, of course, struggles to maintain his posture. It's bad enough that his friends know exactly what’s going on, but the rest of the astronomy club starts to giggle as well.

He nearly loses his mind when Seongmin’s elf deviously asks him on a date to a different part of the spaceship, pretending it's a ruse to speak about Jungmo’s secrets. But just when they’re alone to chat, Wonjin’s character comes crashing into the room, completely ruining the mood. And after this, their characters have no opportunity to speak alone for the remainder of the session.

And by the time it's over, Minhee is more tired than he wants to admit. But his nerves are kept alight by Seongmin, who squeaks out a tiny yawn and throws his body against Minhee’s.

“Tired…but I yearn for the stars.”

You have no idea.

“Ah also…Kang Minhee. Bring a sweatshirt, it's cold out. Or— I could just give you another,” he winks, gently nuzzling his face against Minhee’s bare shoulder. Instinctively, Minhee runs his hands along the back of Seongmin’s hair, leaving gentle scratches.

“Cute. Get up,” Serim demands, taking one look at the duo and snapping his fingers. “Sundown is almost over, we gotta get up the hill. Taeyoung is telling me that Minhyuk is already up there with the scope.”

“Ah…” Seongmin whispers, immediately removing his head from Minhee’s shoulder. He misses the feeling and longs to feel the warmth once more.

Despite their fatigue, all eleven boys do their best to clean up their session, clearing Serim’s living space without having to be told. Minhee remembers Seongmin’s words about his stubbornness and immediately fetches his beloved hoodie. He prays to god it still smells like citron.

And even if it doesn’t, a part of him wonders if it will.

The car ride is full of loud boys singing along to tunes of popular K-pop songs— mostly girl groups queued by Donpyo and Hyeongjun. Of course, Minhee chose to ride in the car with the quartet, enjoying Seongmin’s loud karaoke and Woonggi’s erratic dancing. He wants to jump out of his shell and join in, but decides against it.

When they park, Seongmin hops out of the vehicle with record speed, dragging Minhee out with him. He glances at the sky above him and points, bouncing up and down with excitement when he sees his favorite star on display.

“Look! We gotta get up the hill, quick!” He grasps onto Minhee’s hand and begins the trekkage, leaving the others behind. 

“Godamn fools, wait for us!” Jungmo calls behind, immediately being snatched back by Serim. 

They don’t entirely leave the group behind. Minhee and Seongmin are just further up from the others, powered by Seongmin’s incredible energy after a five hour session of DND. Minhee is impressed, truly— until he remembers that his crush is a competitive wrestler.

They find Minhyuk at the top of the viewing point, already peering through the expensive telescope. Minhee can’t tell exactly what he’s looking at, but he’s snapping photos with an equally-expensive looking camera. Serim finally catches up to the two, putting his hand on their shoulders while heaving.

“Jesus christ, Seongmin. What the fuck is up with your stamina?!”

Seongmin laughs and gives him a gentle pat. “My signature move is tiring people out before tackling them. Works most of the time.”

Serim shrugs before inhaling a deep breath, Jungmo suddenly knocking into him. “My bad. I was trying to keep up with the royal duo.” 

Minhee shoots him a glare and Jungmo retreats. “My bad, bro.”

“Ah! Minnie! Look!” Seongmin wastes not a single second before once again latching onto Minhee and dragging him further across the grass. He’s pointing at something specific— and it looks something akin to a satellite.

“Do you see that?”

“I do. What is it?”

“Artificial satellite, right above the university. Cool, isn’t it? I got to see one in class last month. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

His eyes are reflecting every white dot in the sky, Minhee already feeling the emotions within him ramp up. At any given moment, he’s ready to collapse and confess his undying love— but there’s a deep, dark part of him that won’t acknowledge anything other than rejection. The thought saddens him for a moment, until he’s once again dragged elsewhere.

They stray away from the group, leaving the boys to ogle over Minhyuk’s equipment and pepper him with a million questions. Instead, Seongmin takes a large comforter from his camping bag and lays it out on the grass. They’re nearing a cliff, overlooking the university and all kinds of little businesses with lights still flickering on. He motions for Minhee to join him on the blanket, to sit right next to him and gaze in the same direction.

He obeys, and realizes it's much more intimate than before, much more meaningful. More than their brushing hands, their soft hugs, and even their cuddling. They’re sitting side to side, hips attached—  a certain atmosphere that Minhee can’t quite put his finger on, but assumes he’s about to find out.

It doesn’t take long before Seongmin is pointing out other little details of the sky, quizzing Minhee on what he’s learned about the universe. He’s cheerful and sweet, congratulating him with every right answer. And with every wrong answer, he somehow moves closer, tempting something sweeter. At some point, they’re laying on the blanket, cozy and all— looking up at the same star when Seongmin pops the question that makes Minhee’s throat close up.

“Minhee?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you act like you don’t like me sometimes?”

In a second, Minhee’s heart falls. His world stops spinning, his atmosphere collapses, his breath hitches. And he thinks for a moment— all of the times he replied like he didn’t care, like he could breathe around Seongmin, like he was conversing with his enemy instead of his friend. And he feels the waves of guilt crashing all around him, tempting him with tears and a string of apologies.

“I-I…I,” he tapers off, avoiding Seongmin’s burning gaze.

“I…I don’t dislike you at all, Seongmin. Like…at all . In fact, I don’t think I could put into words how much I really like you.”

And just like that, Serim’s prediction comes true. Minhee doesn’t get the chance to spill the rest of his feelings before Seongmin is giggling like a child. He shoots up, panic wide in his eyes as Seongmin covers his face and laughs.

“Seong…min?”

“Kang Minhee is so oblivious, so precious. God, you think I couldn’t tell? ”

Minhee’s face goes bright red upon hearing the words. He slaps a hand over his mouth and suppresses the urge to run away and scream. 

“What are you—”

“Kang Minhee. Not to be cocky, but I’ve had my fair share of bachelors at my feet. I’m the selfie king, you know?” He giggles. “And I know you pretended to be my enemy, I’m not that stupid. Er…Serim may have let me in on that one.”

Minhee silently curses his best friend.

“I know you like me, I just wanted you to admit it!”

“But…what…I…”

“Kang Minhee. I knew you liked me from the start. Trying to play it cool, trying to play it off like we were villains or some sort. Even though I saw you squeal in the hallways and turn away when I flirted with you. I remember the look you gave me when I tackled you the first time. It's no secret that Kang Minhee lays his heart on his face.”

Minhee can barely breathe— especially with Seongmin laying right next to him, unraveling him like a loose sweater. He’s running through every moment they’ve had together and trying to recall the times in which his cover fell. Which is— all of the moments they’ve ever had. And he suddenly feels silly for not noticing a single clue, or realizing how obvious he was.

“But what I didn’t know…is that you didn’t know,” Seongmin continues.

“W-what??”

“I thought you knew it was mutual, that I liked you, too. For the first week, I initiated because I thought you knew we both liked each other. And then I realized…you had no idea.”

Immediately, Minhee remembers the moment in which he saw Seongmin again after their fateful meeting. He remembers his full government name, the invite to wrestling, the desire to collaborate with the DND club, the immediate boba invite, the hoodie. It suddenly clicks, and he once again feels like a loser.

“I didn’t…I didn’t…”

“You…?”

“I just— I didn’t really think that you…of all people…could ever like someone like me?”

Seongmin’s face falls for a moment. “Kang Minhee? My cool, sweet, thoughtful, nerdy, Kang Minhee? I’m sure your friends have asked you the same question, but who wouldn’t like you?”

Minhee longs to cry, truly. He wants to curl up into Seongmin’s chest and sob out every emotion he’s denied himself of feeling. The scenario comes to life the moment the wrestler reaches his arms out and pulls him in.

“Funny how you treat me so gently, like I’m something to be broken. When all this time, all I want to do is protect you, to show you what it's like to be taken care of. Minhee, I’m not the fragile one to be held, you are.”

And maybe he’s right— because Minhee is crying into the arms of his supposed enemy, his beloved enemy doubling as his biggest weakness and debilitating crush. He’s vulnerable like he swore he couldn’t be, and doesn’t hate a single second of it.

“So…” Seongmin whispers.

“So I want you to confess again, this time with confidence. Say it again, like we’re in character, sitting atop of mars. We've just discovered a planet with enough resources for decades. Say it like we’ve broken our contracts and will live happily, somewhere out in a spaceship, far, far away from the duties that kept us chained apart.”

Minhee half-sobs, half-laughs. He throws his head back with a sigh of exasperation, finally realizing that Ahn Seongmin is just like him— a plain old nerd. A silly, popular, cute, friendly nerd. Seongmin is a safe space, a hand to hold, a friend to geek out with, a forehead to kiss. Minhee holds all the words left in the world, right at the tip of his tongue.

“My dearest Eladrin, my lovely astronaut. How I’ve wished to bow down to you, to tell you how much you plague my thoughts— down to every atom within me. We will take our gatherings and build a spaceship from the ground up, leaving everyone behind. I like you more than there are stars in the galaxy— and other terribly corny things I cannot bring myself to say at this moment,” Minhee says in character, tapering off at the end as he shoves his face into Seongmin’s chest.

Giggling with joy, Seongmin wipes away the tears on Minhee’s face and squeezes his cheeks ever so gently. “See? That wasn’t so bad, right? Silly, but as your Eladrin, I take your hand in this wretched world of aliens and secrets and contracts,” he says, running comforting hands down the back of Minhee’s back.

Laughter fills the air, and Minhee wonders if a shooting star will dart past the skies to complete the moment. But instead, something else bubbles up.

“Kang Minhee, can I kiss you?”

Minhee goes non-verbal, struggling to process the question. Of course he wants to kiss Ahn Seongmin— wants to finally taste the citron and the lips of the boy who has enraptured his soul. He wants to snuggle as close as he can possibly get, crossing over the lines of platonic intimacy and into something sweeter, something romantic.

He doesn’t answer the question. Instead, he slowly leans forward and closes his eyes, anticipating the pressure. And of course, it's soft. It's everything he’s imagined— the pillowy pink-tinted lips and leftover traces of citron, the gentleness of his movements, his consideration. Minhee likes to think that if he could wrap up the entire world— the stars, the black holes, the white holes, the countries, the oceans, the people, the emotions— if he could shove it all in a little box, he’d tie a ribbon on it and gift it to Seongmin.

He’d give Seongmin the world.

Kang Minhee is disregarding all things that befall his life: the DND sessions, the insecurities, the planes overhead, the fact that his friends are definitely watching from behind. He disregards it all, because Seongmin is the only star in his vision, the only one that’s worth looking through a telescope for. 

When they pull away, it's all giggles and shyness. He fumbles on his words but decides to be honest with them.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long, I hope you know,” he confesses.

“Oh believe me love, I know. ”

The nickname sends electricity down Minhee’s spine, and he brings Seongmin into another sweet kiss. It's longer and deeper this time, but the tenderness remains. They scoot closer if possible, the space between them only existing as a mere concept.

“I love being a nerd with Kang Minhee. It's so much fun! I get to roleplay as fun elves and look at stars and kiss the most beautiful boy on earth,” Seongmin shouts, squeezing his arms tight around Minhee’s torso.

Minhee takes the opportunity to leave a flurry of kisses all over Seongmin’s cheeks, leaving no spot without them. Seongmin lets him, giggling as he runs his fingers through Minhee’s hair.

“And I get to learn about space with Ahn Seongmin, this really cute wrestler that tackled me into liking him. I get to crush on him in real life, and in realms,” Minhee returns the energy, pressing an especially long kiss to Seongmin’s neck.

They don’t want to acknowledge that Jungmo and Serim are certainly behind them, squealing away with the rest of the boys beside them. He already knows what they’re going to say— I told you so and our Himalayan Lily has finally bloomed.

And maybe it has. Because he’s holding his enemy in his hands, he’s kissing him up and down, and he’s memorizing all the details of his face, alongside every star he can see in the sky before him.

And he feels the sprouts grow and grow and grow— until he’s blooming with pink and white flowers.

🪄

“Kang Minhee!”

Serim’s voice is far too boisterous for the lazy morning. Minhee wakes up on the floor of Serim’s apartment, Seongmin clinging to his body. He groans and looks at the mess of boys on the ground before him, looking dazed and confused. The room is littered with all kinds of leftover food and piles of wrappers thrown hap-hazardly around. It's a war-zone, and Minhee knows Serim will be forcing them to clean every bit of it when they wake up.

Their DND session the night before was particularly action-packed, and Minhee can’t stop thinking about Seongmin’s in-game confession. Though it's been a month since they’ve started dating, he can’t seem to swallow the abhorrent butterflies and jittery nerves. So when the Eladrin coughed up his feelings in the cockpit, Minhee couldn’t help but feel a second round of shock. Not only this, but Jungmo’s huge secret was revealed: somehow, he’d been conducting an experiment on a certain alien of the spaceship… Woonggi of all people— the basement was a breeding ground for others of his kind, harnessing a type of other-wordly power that Jungmo was planning on using for evil purposes. Thankfully, Woobin found him before anything serious could happen, becoming an overnight hero in the spaceship barracks.

Seongmin slowly peels himself away from his boyfriend, groaning equally as loud as the rest of the boys. He’s dressed in a Hello Kitty onesie, matching Minhee's Keroppi one. Minhee decided he didn’t care that he’d be bullied for this— all he cared about was the happiness it brought his boyfriend when they found it in-store.

“Ah…I think I’m hungover,” Seongmin whispers, throwing a leg over Minhee’s body.

“Mmm…me too,” Minhee giggles, laying a hand on Seongmin’s waist and pulling him closer, leaving a kiss on his warmed forehead.

“Get up, you sick lovers. We have waffles and pancakes to make. And a lot of story debriefing,” Serim says, gently poking both their cheeks.

“And who’s going to Seongmin’s wrestling match tomorrow?”

There's a chorus of enthusiastic me’s on the floor, Minhee being the loudest. He does his best to pull himself off the makeshift bed, raking a hand through Seongmin’s now-blonde hair. He looks so peaceful, so happy, so loved-up. Minhee resists the urge to leave kisses all over his face and instead opts to pull the blanket over his body and tell him he’ll be back. 

Seongmin grumbles in dissatisfaction and reaches his hands back out, grasping for warmth again. Minhee’s pouts and kneels down, interlocking their fingers and pressing kisses to the ends of each one. He does his best to not be distracted by the hair splayed against Seongmin’s forehead, and little bits of leftover glitter shimmering on his collarbones. Somewhere across the floor, an elf ear lays alone.

“I’ll be right back. You want waffles, don’t you?” 

Seongmin nods but doesn’t open his eyes. He softly groans as Minhee tries to pry their hands apart. Woobin gently laughs, looking on from the couch above the two. He shakes his head and goes back to bed, nestling into Wonjin’s side while Jungmo groans in discomfort. 

“Ahh…Ahn Seongmin…I’ll be right back, I promise!”

Unfortunately, it isn’t enough— Seongmin yanks him back down to the comforter, a smile creeping onto his lips in victory. Minhee only sighs and throws a lazy arm over his boyfriend, defeated. Serim pops his head into the living room and grins.

“Don’t worry. Hyeongjun and I got it. Go back to sleep, kids.”

Thanking him softly, Minhee does just that. He slides back into the covers, readjusting himself in Seongmin’s loving arms, pressing his chest against Seongmin as to hear his steady heartbeat. He slips his hands under Seongmin’s shirt and rests his palms against his skin, warming them up. Minhee leans in to give his boyfriend a long, lingering kiss.

Seongmin returns it immediately, adding something sweeter.

“Kang Minhee, I adore you.”

And they drift off to sleep, dreaming of aliens, spaceships, spells, and satellites.