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it should only be seven minutes.
it’s raining now, and all the members are stuck at the big dorm for a small evaluation session. that’s what serim called it. it ended early. now they wanted to call it a day and figure out how the small dorm residents were going to get back without being drenched in the rain. but that was before wonjin pulled his phone out and showed a weird tiktok video. seongmin's sure that he watched too much tiktok lately.
“it’s called seven minutes in heaven. come on, guys. we’re barely able to have a get-together outside the schedule. let’s play this game, okay?”
some let out a short sigh—including seongmin, who had been dying to run and hide in his room to get his beauty sleep early. however, hyeongjun’s grip on his arms was faster than his movement.
“it’s said that the loser will be locked inside a closet. seven minutes. we can use serim’s closet,” wonjin says, full of pride (no one knows why). seongmin secretly wants to squish his cocky face. wonjin’s cute.
“two people? locked in a closet?” woobin asks. seongmin whines. why, of all people, does woobin seem so excited? he was in a food coma just earlier, and now?
wonjin nods. “yep, two. we just have to make sure the victims don’t kiss each other inside.”
oh, crap. wonjin doesn’t know. —that’s— the point of the game.
wikipedia says the players of seven minutes in heaven usually kiss each other (or more) or do nothing at all. seongmin curses when the members decide that he and minhee are the ones to go into the closet.
first, he curses because he hates losing to hyeongjun or jungmo and seeing their smug smiles. he can never stand it when they puff their chests out to show off. second, he curses because—crap—it’s minhee out of the eight members who will be locked in with him. seven minutes, just the two of them.
it’s not like he hates minhee. not at all. in fact, it’s the other way around. he’s just—
“cut it off, seongmin. get inside!”
seongmin rolls his eyes lazily as he goes inside the closet. minhee’s already inside, sitting beside the door with a pack of haribo in his hand. “just in case we’re hungry,” he says.
wonjin hands him his phone and sets the timer to exactly seven minutes.
“start the timer once you’re inside. good luck, babes.”
and the door is slammed.
the timer is on. instead of a game, seongmin feels like he’s being grounded in a packed room. serim’s closet is actually bigger than a usual closet; it could even fit five people in it (as long as they’re seongmin or allen’s size).
seongmin scoffs and sits in front of minhee, leaning his back on serim’s coat rack and hugging his legs. thank the lords serim’s coat rack can handle his weight just fine.
seongmin’s eyes catch minhee, in front of him, munching three haribo bears at once. seongmin doesn’t know since when he started blinking more often when he’s staring at minhee.
“seven minutes to doze off. what a great game,” minhee sighs.
“just sit and be quiet, hyung,” seongmin snaps. he doesn’t know why his reflex reaction is to snap either.
minhee just lets out a faint laugh, never arguing. seongmin’s nagging is nothing but a form of entertainment to him. he looks like a snowball whenever his forehead scrunches. sometimes his words cut his throat, but it’s just words to minhee. besides, who would be threatened by someone seven inches shorter than them?
silence takes over for a while, and seongmin is drowned in his thoughts. he prefers the silence and looking at his feet rather than staring at minhee. it’s not like he hates minhee. he just cannot focus whenever minhee exists at this proximity—too close. his physiological responses can’t lie; he’s always restless when minhee is around. his heart beats a quarter faster than usual. he never knew why until he told allen.
allen’s response was a hearty smile and a warm gaze. he knows seongmin likes minhee. he knows that seongmin doesn’t know that he likes minhee. when he told seongmin that, seongmin frowned. he wasn’t sure about his romantic orientation—or perhaps he never actually minded it seriously. but it became clearer after he told allen. he likes minhee.
so far, only allen knows that he likes minhee—and that he likes men in general. seongmin is still inside the closet (literally and figuratively). talking to allen helps him untangle the confusion in his brain. perhaps it’s easier because allen has been so straightforward about his romantic orientation. and maybe it’s different for him and allen because allen grew up in a more liberal environment than he did. talking to allen helps seongmin realize that he has been noticing how minhee’s eyelashes are longer than other people’s, how his freckles are now more visible, and how minhee prefers something not spicy—he likes minhee that much, and everything seems so clear.
seongmin knows his affection toward minhee is not something ‘common,’ especially in this industry where they don’t want you to date your group members. it’s getting out of hand.
if it were last year’s seongmin, he wouldn’t mind having minhee’s company during his late-night snacks. but now, whenever minhee keeps him company, he can’t divert his focus from how minhee, who even under the dim light, is still the most attractive thing in the room.
if it were last year’s seongmin, he wouldn’t mind cuddling minhee every night before they went to sleep. but now, he would never be able to sleep if minhee is around.
all that tension peaks when the company decides to separate them into two dorms. seongmin has to beg allen to tell serim, to tell the manager to put him and minhee in different dorms. once again, it’s not that he hates minhee. he’s just afraid that the more he stays close to minhee, the more he wants to show his affection. the more he wants to be selfish. he knows perfectly well that it’s unlikeable, especially with the risk of causing other members’ discomfort. seongmin chooses to play it safe and save everything for himself. too risky, especially when they still have years before their contract ends. he wouldn’t want his feelings to be the problem for the members that he cherish.
the thing is, seongmin doesn’t know whether he has to feel grateful or not. because all this time, people assume that his shy and stuttery demeanor when he’s around minhee is merely because he’s the cute, anti-skinship-y maknae. perhaps seongmin should be thankful for his awkward image that he built since debut, because he can camouflage his response when minhee is showing affection in front of the camera. in seongmin’s defense, minhee shows his affection a lot to all members. but his feelings make him believe that perhaps minhee treats him just a little bit differently.
and he doesn’t want to think that way for too long.
seongmin himself is actually not a hater of physical affection. he clearly doesn’t avoid allen’s cuddles, wonjin’s silly tickles, or even jungmo’s hugs. just… with minhee, it feels harder. harder to control his urge to crave more.
“what are you thinking?”
seongmin’s thoughts fall to shambles when minhee softly asks. he sits upright and catches minhee lazily holding an empty pack of haribo. oh, so now he’s bored because he’s run out of snacks.
“i’m sleepy,” seongmin answers. not completely bluffing because he’s actually sleepy—it’s already past his sleeping hour. clearly not a false excuse.
“do you want to stay the night? instead of going back to the small dorm? you’ll get tired on the way,” minhee raises his brows, suggesting. “hyeongjun and i’s beds would fit for three if we put them together.”
seongmin almost can’t hide his frown. minhee’s suggestion is always so out of his mind. not his fault, though. they used to share a room and often slept on each other’s bed, cuddling. but now?
“you’re bluffing.”
“what bluffing? hyeongjun wouldn’t mind you cuddling him. besides, you can be his hugging pillow instead of me.”
seongmin scoffs. he doesn’t answer a word. he knows minhee isn’t able to sleep easily if someone is holding him or at least has some physical contact with him. he struggles a lot living with hyeongjun because hyeongjun “always” cuddles his sleeping partner. but seongmin believes that minhee saying he doesn’t like to cuddle to sleep is a lie.
they used to cuddle almost every night. and in most of those nights, minhee was the one who initiated hugging seongmin through the night. maybe, just maybe a little bit, seongmin misses the old times when they still did that.
“you dozed off again.”
seongmin frowns. “i’m sleepy.”
wonjin’s phone shows they have four minutes left. seongmin curses. why does time go by so slowly?
“seongmin,” minhee calls softly. he doesn’t say anything but shifts to sit beside seongmin.
their shoulders touch. seongmin’s reflex is to lean further away. it’s clear that he can never relax and be comfortable when minhee exists in this proximity.
“seongmin.” minhee calls again. this time his voice feels like it’s coming from right in front of seongmin’s ears. “lately, you’ve seemed off. you didn’t talk a lot either. is there anything wrong?”
seongmin tilts his head before shifting his attention to anything but minhee’s warm body beside him. “i’m tired, i think? we barely have any time to rest,” he bluffs.
if only minhee knew that seongmin talks a lot when minhee’s not around. even taeyoung said seongmin yaps a little too much. maybe minhee wouldn’t realize that seongmin always freezes when he’s around.
“if you don’t feel well, you have to tell the managers.”
“i will. i’m fine now, okay?”
see? minhee simply thinks he’s unwell.
when minhee ruffles seongmin’s hair, seongmin knows his face is redder. he’s lost count of how many times minhee has done that off-camera or on-camera, but he could never get used to the thrill. whatever small thing minhee does to him, he can never be calm about it. minhee’s form of affection still makes him stutter.
seongmin cannot deny that he wants to be able to show the same, if not a bigger, amount of affection freely. so that minhee will know.
he thinks to himself again: it’s impossible. he doesn’t even know if minhee is interested in him or just boys in general. the farthest seongmin knows, minhee had one or two ex-girlfriends before their debut (and one of them works in their company until now). from what seongmin knows, maybe minhee isn’t even into—
“oh, a minute left.”
seongmin doesn’t even realize that minhee has gone back to his original place, in front of him. he doesn’t know if he’s already half-awake or if the closet feels smaller. minhee sits so close in front of him that he can still hear his breath.
“we got a day off. want to grab lunch together? i heard a japanese restaurant down the street has opened. you love abura soba,” minhee says calmly.
seongmin hums a little. minhee knows he loves abura soba. “we’ll see… if it’s not raining tomorrow.”
minhee squints his eyes, trying to figure out why seongmin seemed uninterested. “you’re not actually sick, are you?”
seongmin’s forehead frowns. what a random question. he shakes his head firmly. “no, hyung. i’ve told you, right? i’m fine.”
“yeah, it’s just—if you don’t feel like going, i can bring takeaway to the small dorm for you. okay?”
seongmin refuses.
he’s wandering in his thoughts again. nothing minhee likes more than to sleep through his day off. and when he chooses and insists on grabbing lunch with seongmin, even offering to bring takeaway to the small dorm, seongmin can’t help but get his hopes up.
but it seems like minhee is not satisfied with seongmin's responses.
“seongmin, be honest. did i do something wrong to you? i know that lately, you’ve been avoiding me a lot.”
ding! ding! ding!
even before seongmin has the chance to respond to minhee’s out-of-nowhere statement, wonjin’s phone rings loudly. the time is up. without wasting any time, seongmin stands up and quickly opens the closet door. he walks out without stealing a glance at minhee.
wikipedia says the players of seven minutes in heaven usually kiss each other (or more) or do nothing at all. this time, seongmin chooses the latter.