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Jongho paces his room for what has to be the fiftieth time that afternoon. His eyes dart around, cataloging every detail. Both beds: made. Floors: spotless. His desk: cleared except for two glasses and a bag of seaweed chips. Perfect. He nods in satisfaction. It’s not obsessive; it’s thorough.
He has meticulously planned this hangout ever since Seungmin agreed to come over and spend the afternoon at Jongho’s dorm.
It’s nothing special. Just a normal hangout. A casual, unremarkable afternoon. And then, at the end, if he still feels like Seungmin might be open to the idea, Jongho will ask if he can take him out on a date someday. Casually. Like it’s not a big deal. Because it isn’t. If Seungmin says yes? Great. But if he doesn’t, that’s also totally fine. Now if only the butterflies in Jongho’s stomach could get that message, that would be lovely.
Jongho’s plan is simple: avoid the hyungs, keep Seungmin in his room, and pray to every god he can think of that nothing mortifying happens before he gets the chance to ask Seungmin out. He isn’t even asking for a lot! Just a few hours without Yeosang quipping about how suspiciously tidy Jongho’s room looks, Seonghwa fussing over Seungmin like he is a guest at a five-star hotel, or Wooyoung… opening his mouth at all. Okay, maybe he is asking for a lot. But doesn’t he deserve as much?
Jongho inhales sharply and smooths down the front of his overshirt. "You’re being ridiculous," he mutters, staring down his reflection in the mirror. He performs in front of tens of thousands for a living. That is objectively so much scarier than asking out a friend. Asking out Seungmin, who, if nothing else, likes Jongho enough to plan a hangout together on his only day off in the next three weeks.
Jongho has cleaned, prepped snacks, even bought the syrup Seungmin likes for his coffee. He put on the jeans that his hyungs say make his legs look great and his favorite red overshirt. His hair looks nice. He is as ready as he can be. What could possibly go wrong?
His phone buzzes, yanking him out of his thoughts. Kim Seungmin: Here! 😊
For a second, Jongho considers walking to the door like a person with dignity but then he realizes that it would give his hyungs a shot at opening the door for Seungmin and hurries out of the room, practically skidding to a stop in the living room, where his hyungs are sprawled out like predators waiting for prey. Wooyoung looks up first, his grin wide and mischievous.
“You’re acting suspicious, Hojong-ah,” Wooyoung teases. “Seungminie isn’t even inside yet.”
“Aw, he’s wearing his lucky shirt,” Yunho points out.
“And his fuck-me-jeans,” San adds with a whistle, “someone has plans for today.”
Jongho shoots them a warning glare. “Behave. All of you.”
The three of them exchange looks, barely concealing their grins. Before Jongho can say more, the doorbell rings, and Jongho makes a point of walking towards it at the most normal pace he can manage. You know, like a person who is totally chill with the fact that Kim Seungmin is coming over to hang out at their place.
He opens the door and there Seungmin stands, a warm smile on his face. Jongho feels his nerves spike again. How does Seungmin keep getting prettier every time Jongho sees him? It’s a curse, really. Still, he manages a smile in return. “Hey, come in.”
Seungmin hesitates for a moment, but before Jongho can ask what is wrong, he clears his throat. “Thanks for having me,” he says, stepping inside. He hands Jongho his jacket to hang up and takes off his shoes, placing them neatly on the rack.
He is wearing the sweater that Jongho vaguely remembers complimenting when they hung out over a year ago. It might just be coincidence, but Jongho decides to take it as a good sign.
As Jongho leads him into the apartment, Seungmin’s gaze wanders briefly, taking in the dorm with polite curiosity before landing on the trio lounging on the couch.
Jongho doesn’t flinch. He expected this. Time to put his plan into action.
"Come on, we'll hang out in my room," he tells Seungmin as soon as he has politely greeted San, Yunho and Wooyoung, cutting through the barrage of questions they fire at Seungmin.
He throws his hyungs a glance that communicates everything without a word: Don’t try me.
Jongho loves his hyungs, he really does. But he knows better than to let them spend too much time around Seungmin. If anyone could turn a perfectly normal hangout into an opportunity for chaos or, worse, teasing at Jongho’s expense, it is them.
Jongho can embarrass himself just fine in front of Seungmin and his pretty smile; he doesn't need his hyungs' help for that, thank you very much.
He leads Seungmin toward his and Mingi’s room, subtly glancing back to make sure he is following and not, heaven forbid, getting sidetracked by his hyung’s antics.
“Second drawer of Mingi’s nightstand; have fun, you two!” Wooyoung calls after them with a cackle. “Wooyoung-ah, oh my god, shut up!” Yunho urges but he is laughing, and San has dissolved into a fit of giggles.
Mature as always, his hyungs.
Jongho, with self-discipline deserving of multiple awards, does not turn around on the spot and commit gruesome triple-homicide.
“What’s in the second drawer?” Seungmin asks, curiosity coloring his voice.
“Please just ignore anything coming out of Wooyoung-hyung’s mouth, he thinks that he’ll die if he doesn’t say at least one stupid thing every ten minutes.”
“Yah, Choi Jongho, I heard that!” Wooyoung complains from the living room.
“Good, you were meant to,” Jongho calls back over Seungmin’s shoulder.
Seungmin lets out a single cackle and then quickly puts his hand over his mouth to stifle the sound, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
Jongho abruptly turns back around to lead Seungmin further into the dorm, desperately hoping that his hair is hiding the top of his burning ears. He has a plan, damn it. And his plan does very much not include blurting out how fucking pretty Seungmin looks when he smiles.
“This is my room. Well, mine and Mingi-hyung’s but he’s at the studio right now, so he won’t bother us.”
The room is tidier than usual, Mingi having followed Jongho’s example and cleaned up without a single word of complaint when he heard that Seungmin was coming over. All he wanted in return was for Jongho to tell him that he was the best hyung ever, and when Mingi promised to stay out late to give Jongho and Seungmin as much alone time as possible, Jongho had been more than happy to oblige.
“You can sit on that bed, it’s mine,” Jongho says, pointing at the bed on the right. “I’ll sit on Mingi-hyung’s.”
“Sounds good,” Seungmin agrees easily and sits down on Jongho’s bed.
“Do you want something to drink?” He gestures to the mini fridge they stuffed in the corner of the room. “I could make us iced americanos.”
“Are you using me as an excuse to fuel your coffee addiction, Jongho-yah?” Seungmin asks, a teasing lilt to his tone.
“Like you aren’t as obsessed with americanos as I am,” Jongho shoots back. Then he adds, “I have syrup for it, too.” He bought it specifically for today because he knows Seungmin likes it but he’s not about to tell Seungmin that.
“Well, I’m not going to say no to that,” Seungmin agrees easily. “You’re spoiling me, Jongho-yah.”
Jongho shrugs. “It’s just iced americano,” he says. It sounds a little less nonchalant than he was hoping for but since the alternative could have been blurting out “you deserve to be spoilt” Jongho is doing fine. Great even.
“With syrup!” Seungmin insists as Jongho gets up to make their drinks.
He puts ice into the glasses, pours the chilled espresso shots over them, and adds water and just the right amount of syrup. He takes extra care with Seungmin's drink, giving it a quick stir to ensure it's perfect.
He also picks up the pack of seaweed chips that he has stashed on his desk for the past week.
When he turns around with the drinks and the chips, he finds Seungmin in an intense staring contest with Mingi’s second drawer. Of course, he’s still curious. Who wouldn’t be?
Mingi and his damned drawer filled with lube, condoms and sex toys.
Wooyoung and his damned big mouth.
Jongho is going to kill them both. Slowly and painfully.
He sets down the glasses, and gently tosses the chips at Seungmin. “Here, you like these, right?”
It should have been an easy catch, but Seungmin fumbles it, late to pull his eyes away from the nightstand, and barely keeps the package from dropping to the floor.
“Thank you, Jongho-yah, they’re my favorite,” Seungmin smiles at him, his braces on full display, throwing Jongho’s tummy for a loop-the-loop. This is fine, he is so normal about Seungmin’s braces. “You really are spoiling me.”
Jongho sits on Mingi's bed, urging the butterflies in his stomach to chill the fuck out as he watches Seungmin open the bag of seaweed chips with an easy familiarity. "Like I said, it's nothing. Just… thought you'd like a snack with your coffee."
“Really? Because it seems you went to great lengths to protect my chips,” Seungmin says, pulling off the note that Jongho vaguely remembers sticking to the package. “Jongho’s – eat at your own risk, hyungs,” Seungmin reads gleefully.
“I should just get a stack of them custom printed; I have to stick them on everything if I don’t want it to be eaten as soon as I don’t have my eyes on it anymore,” Jongho sighs.
Seungmin hums, popping a chip into his mouth. “There’s an idea for a birthday gift.”
“Don’t tell me your members actually respect other people’s property.”
Seungmin laughs like Jongho said something outlandish. “They really, really don’t. I mainly hide my snacks in my room. Clothes are easier since half of them are too stupidly buff to fit my stuff. You probably couldn’t wear my clothes either, but I could steal your hoodies just fine.” Seungmin in Jongho’s clothes, now, isn’t that an idea he could really, really do without at the moment? Seungmin continues talking, unaware of the minor mental breakdown he just caused. “Jeonginie has a safe for his snacks, if you can believe it.”
Jongho quickly shuts down the idea of Seungmin in nothing but one of Jongho’s hoodies, and instead concentrates on the topic at hand. “That’s kind of genius… I don’t have space here, but maybe in our next dorm…” he contemplates.
Seungmin pulls a face. “I’ll generously brush over the fact that you implied an idea Jeonginie came up with to be genius.” His disgusted tone is convincing enough but it is not about to work on Jongho, who knows how much Seungmin adores Jeongin. “And maybe,” Seungmin continues, “maybe I’ll even get you one as a housewarming gift the first time you invite me over after you’ve moved.”
“So, like three years after I moved, probably, what, with how poorly our schedules align?”
"No way, you’re spoiling me so much that I’ll be hanging out at your dorm once a month at least!” Seungmin looks around the room. “You really thought of everything, huh? Drinks, snacks, and clean room. Are you always this prepared, or is this special treatment?"
Jongho freezes for a fraction of a second before recovering. "Of course I’m prepared. My daily life is chaotic enough—I have to stay in control somewhere, or I’d lose my mind."
Seungmin laughs, the sound soft and genuine. "Fair point. But I still think I’m getting special treatment."
Jongho rolls his eyes. It’s true, so why deny it? "Don’t let it go to your head."
“Oh, it already has.” Seungmin holds the chips bag out to Jongho. “Want some?”
Jongho shakes his head, sitting a little straighter. “They’re for you.”
Seungmin shrugs and pops a chip into his mouth, his eyes darting back to the nightstand. He’s not even trying to be subtle; his curiosity is practically radiating off him.
Jongho recognizes that look—Seungmin is a dog with a bone, and Mingi’s drawer is the bone.
Jongho knows when to admit defeat. “Seungmin-ah,” he says with a sigh, drawing his attention back to him. “Just ask about it, will you? It’s not like you’re going to suddenly develop X-ray vision if you keep looking long enough.”
Seungmin doesn’t even have the decency to look guilty, instead looking at Jongho like he’s a puzzle to solve. “Would you tell me, then, if I asked? It didn’t seem like it before.”
“Well, would you let it go if I asked you to?” Jongho shoots back, an eyebrow raised to indicate that they both know the answer to that: not fucking likely.
Which means that Jongho will have to tell him. Awesome. Wooyoung and Mingi better be ready, Jongho is so throwing both of them under the bus for this one.
But then Seungmin surprises him. “I won’t ask about the contents of the drawer if you really don’t want me to,” he says, his expression carefully neutral, like he’s trying to hide his curiosity for Jongho’s sake.
Jongho suppresses a sigh of relief. “I’d rather you didn’t, honestly.”
“Then I won’t,” Seungmin agrees easily enough.
It’s a nice change of pace from Jongho’s hyungs who’d be incapable of not putting their noses in other people’s business if they tried. “Thank you.”
But before Jongho can get the afternoon back on track and prompt Seungmin to tell him what he has been up to lately, Seungmin asks, “but can I ask you something else?”
“Of course.” Anything to change the topic away from the drawer of nightma—
“Why is it that Wooyoung-hyung pointed out what I am 99% sure is Mingi-hyung’s sex drawer to us?” There’s a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and Jongho realizes he has been played.
Seungmin knows. Jongho can feel the blood rushing to his face. “Yah, didn’t you just say you weren’t going to ask?”
“About the contents of the drawer, which I didn’t!” Seungmin looks far too pleased with himself. It’s an infuriatingly good look on him.
“That’s such a loophole, and you know it!” Jongho complains.
“Sure is! I’ve been told I’m good at finding them.” Seungmin grins like the fucking menace he is.
“You must be a delight during variety shows,” Jongho deadpans, but there is no real heat behind it. Unfortunately for him, “a fucking menace” is exactly his type.
“The PDs do love me,” Seungmin agrees. Like they don’t both know that the PDs for variety shows favor whoever causes the most chaos that day, allowing for good footage. Then, he asks, “so, will you answer my question? Why would Wooyoung-hyung think we’d be interested in Mingi-hyung’s sex drawer?”
Jongho groans. “Because he is a menace to society, that’s why.”
Seungmin huffs out a laugh. “Well, I’m not going to argue on that. Still, I think there’s another reason why he pointed out the drawer, you know?”
“Because his favorite hobby is annoying the living daylights out of me?”
“I mean, I get it. You are fun to tease—"
“Hey!”
“— but I think the reason might be more similar to… to why Hyunjinie insisted on styling my hair for today or why I am wearing the sweater you said looked nice on me once almost two years ago. Why I think you bought syrup for my americano and my favorite chips…”
For a moment, Seungmin’s words hang in the air between them, heavy with what he is implying.
Well, fuck. There goes the last thread that was still holding Jongho’s carefully laid plans together.
“This was so not how today was supposed to go,” he groans, throwing his hands in the air.
Seungmin blinks, taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“I had a plan!” Jongho exclaims, gesturing wildly, like the mere force of his frustration will help him regain control of the situation. “I was going to ask you out, but I was going to do it like a normal person. At the end of the day, when you could leave if things turn awkward. And I was only going to ask if… I don’t know, if the vibes where right. Not…” He points accusingly at the drawer like it has personally offended him. “…in the shadow of Mingi-hyung’s sex drawer.”
Seungmin’s jaw drops, and then he throws his head back and laughs. It’s loud and unrestrained, his shoulders shaking as he doubles over. Jongho crosses his arms, torn between being annoyed and endeared.
“I’m glad you find this funny,” Jongho mutters, though the warmth spreading across his face suggests he’s not actually mad.
Seungmin finally catches his breath, wiping at his eyes. “Jongho-yah,” he says, still grinning, “did you plan out this whole day just to ask me out?”
“Yes!” Jongho huffs. “It was supposed to be casual and cool! But no, Wooyoung-hyung had to open his big mouth, and of course, you weren’t going to let it go, and now I’m confessing in a context that includes… lube and condoms!”
Seungmin snickers, but his expression softens as he gets up and sits back down next to Jongho on Mingi’s bed. “So, to recap: you were going to ask me out?”
Jongho raises an eyebrow at Seungmin’s softening expression, refusing to let himself backtrack now. “Yes, I was going to ask you out,” he says firmly. “Because I like you, in case that part wasn’t already obvious.”
Seungmin’s teasing grin widens into something warmer. “It was,” he admits, his voice quieter now. “I was just waiting for you to say it.”
“Waiting?” Jongho pushes at Seungmin’s shoulder, though there’s no real force behind it. “If you knew, you could’ve saved me a lot of time and stress by saying something first.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Seungmin replies, his eyes twinkling.
Jongho lets out an exaggerated sigh, his shoulders dropping in mock exasperation. “Unbelievable. I rearranged my whole day for you, planned out a perfect moment, and you were just sitting there, knowing all along?”
Seungmin hums, his tone light but his gaze steady. “I mean, I was going to ask you out if you didn’t. Kind of hand to stop myself from just blurting it out when you first opened the door, you know? Those jeans look really good on you,” Seungmin bumps their shoulders together. “But then it became pretty obvious pretty quickly that you had a plan and I wanted to see how you’d do it. But honestly?” He glances pointedly at the drawer and smirks. “This is kind of perfect.”
“You have terrible taste in what constitutes ‘perfect,’” Jongho deadpans, but his lips twitch, fighting a smile.
“Don’t act like you’re not relieved it’s done,” Seungmin counters. “And hey—at least now I don’t have to wait do this.”
Before Jongho can ask what he means, Seungmin leans in, his hands finding Jongho’s shoulders as he presses their lips together. The kiss is soft, unhurried, and filled with a confidence that makes Jongho’s heart race.
When Seungmin pulls back, his grin is all mischief and warmth. “Was that casual and cool enough for you?”
Jongho lets out a breathless laugh, rolling his eyes. “Barely. But I’ll take it.”
“Good.” Seungmin lingers close, his hands sliding down to Jongho’s elbows. “And if it makes you feel better, I think the vibes are pretty good right now.”
Jongho shakes his head, finally letting his own grin break free. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Maybe,” Seungmin says with a shrug. “But I like you too, so it balances out.”