Chapter Text
The first time Minghao met Seungcheol was at an orientation party. Guided around the common room by an eager Jeonghan, who was assigned by the student council’s attempts to sensitise freshmen to the grueling atmosphere of graduate school, the 25-year-old was introduced to way too many people on his third day in the city.
Assisted by the effects of surprisingly refreshing beer and cheap snacks, Minghao was struggling to switch on his lighter in the cold of September when suddenly he heard a click and there was a light in front of him. Partly surprised by the gesture and comforted by the miniscule heat from the flame, he lit his cigarette and nodded his head in thanks.
“So you’re new then?” A gruff voice questioned.
Minghao looked up and saw a melee of opposites – a buff-looking man with impressive shoulders and arms and the softest cheeks he had ever seen. How would they feel between his fingertips? Would he be able to ask the stranger if he could poke them and see if they jiggled like those Japanese cheesecakes he would see on his FYP?
“Hao my sweet little butterfly, I didn’t know you smoked!” The shrill sound of Jeonghan’s voice pierced the apparent bubble that had encased Minghao and the kind stranger, the latter turning with a sigh towards Jeonghan.
“Hi Hannie, didn’t know you knew…” the stranger gestured to Minghao.
“His name is Minghao and he’s a sweetie. What have you been doing, Cheol?” Jeonghan wrapped his arm around Minghao who welcomed the heat. He wasn’t used to such temperatures and had just resigned himself to two years (and more if he was lucky) of this climate.
“Nothing. I offered him a light and then he was staring at me. What have YOU told him about me?” Cheol wiggled his eyebrows, impressive as they were.
Minghao didn’t know what to say, so he squirmed out of Jeonghan’s hold and stubbed his cigarette out. “Well, thanks for the light, um, Cheol…” “It’s Seungcheol.” The stranger, or Seungcheol said. Minghao nodded and looked at Jeonghan, “I’m heading inside. Come find me later?” “You know it baby!”
As Minghao turned around, he heard hushed voices begin immediately and despite catching his name, he decided to ignore it in favour of making some non-council mandated friends.
Two months after that first meeting, Seungcheol met Minghao again, this time in a book reading that the school organised regularly. This time though, Minghao had twin devils in Seokmin and Mingyu alongside him who not only knew Seungcheol, but also shared in Minghao’s non-verbalised thoughts about the senior’s cheeks and eyebrows, not that they knew.
“OMG Hao look who it is.” Minghao turned in his seat and saw who Seokmin and Mingyu were squealing about.
“Hyung, come sit with us.” Mingyu waved his arms about as half the auditorium looked around to see who he was calling. And like clockwork, the six-foot tall man tried to make himself smaller, which was impossible, with nearly everybody’s eyes on him.
“Thanks man. Looks to be quite packed. Oh hey, I know you. Jeonghan’s friend, right?” Seungcheol said as he squeezed past Seokmin and Mingyu to the empty seat next to Minghao.
“Yes.” Seungcheol looked at Minghao under the harsh white light of the school’s auditorium. Elven ears hidden behind what looked to be an impressive mullet and the shiny bits peeking through his hair had to be piercings, Seungcheol guessed. The brief look he got at the junior when they were both smoking outside at the orientation party didn’t do justice.
“Have you read anything by the speaker?” Seungcheol asked, hoping to hear more of Minghao’s voice.
The junior just shook his head and continued to fiddle with the loose threads on the jacket laid on his lap. Seungcheol furrowed his brow and pulled his phone out. “Okay then if he wasn’t interested…”
An hour later, Seungcheol felt eyes on him. Glancing to his right, his suspicion was confirmed and Minghao was looking at him, peeking like he’d done something wrong, out of the corner of his eye.
“So we were thinking of getting dinner. Cheol hyung, do you want to join us?” Mingyu’s voice broke through Seungcheol’s thoughts. He turned to Minghao who quickly got up and slid his arms through the same jacket he was fiddling with earlier.
“Sure why not? Where are we going?” “The Chinese place near Hao’s apartment. It has the best Cantonese fried rice and the aunties there adore Hao.”
Minghao nudged Seokmin in the ribs as Seungcheol continued to stare at the person in question.
The one good thing about living in a European city in December was the incredible love that the city and its people had for Christmas. The minute the calendar turned to December 1st, almost all open spaces were converted into Christmas markets of different kinds. While Minghao never celebrated the holidays with his family, he did grow up watching American TV shows where nearly every sitcom had a special Christmas episode where the entire cast would get together and all the ongoing issues in the series would be stopped for one night.
When Minghao moved for grad school, he had never imagined that he would be getting ready to host his friends for Christmas dinner, much like the actors on those American TV shows he had watched as a kid.
As he pulled out plates from the cupboard, Beomgyu, his flatmate, wandered into the dining room.
“So what do we have here? You’re hosting a dinner?” Beomgyu asked.
Minghao turned around and raised an eyebrow.
“Well yes obviously you are, but am I invited?”
“Yes Beomgyu, you are obviously invited,” Minghao replied, rolling his eyes in fondness. “You’re my flatmate and also I sent you the invite a week ago, babe.”
“Oh yes I did read the message. But I thought it was more like a heads-up thing than you actually inviting me. So that means I haven’t bought or made anything.” Beomgyu shrugged sheepishly as Minghao moved around him to get the glasses out of the cupboard.
“You know what you can do – go to the store and get some wine. Some red for the mulled wine and then some beers as well. Maybe some soda as well for those who don’t drink… Hmmm…”
“How many people are coming though?” Beomgyu questioned as he laced up his boots.
“Let’s see, it’s me and you, Mingyu and his boyfriend, Seokmin and his roommate, Wonwoo and a guest and then Jeonghan hyung as well. Although he was mysterious when I asked him if he was bringing someone.”
“Oh okay. Is it cool if I invite a couple of people as well?”
“Who? Yeonjun? I thought that he was going on holiday somewhere?” Minghao asked.
“Yeah no. He just texted saying that it got cancelled. Anyway, beer, wine – red and white – is rose fine or is that too plebeian for your Highness?”
Minghao chuckled and shook his head as Beomgyu headed out.
By the time Beomgyu returned with the drinks, the apartment had already changed vibes – Minghao had changed out of his t-shirt and pyjamas into a soft Christmas-themed sweater.
“Ooooooo you look too cute, hyung! I could just gobble you up!” Beomgyu exclaimed as he unwrapped his scarf from around his neck.
“Wait for the food, you idiot.” A third voice exclaimed from behind Beomgyu who jumped in the air in surprise.
“Wait what the fuck? Where did you pop up from? Also who are you?”
Minghao turned around to see Jeonghan and Seungcheol right outside the threshold of their apartment, blocked by Beomgyu’s flailing arms.
Oh. Minghao’s heart – the traitor – did a little happy dance inside his chest. He didn’t know if he would see Seungcheol in this capacity again, not after the incredibly awkward dinner with Seokmin and Mingyu, both of whom were definitely going to tell Jeonghan about how he acted.
The aunties in the restaurant had embarrassed him thoroughly, ruffling his hair and pinching his cheeks. Seungcheol, however, was more entertained by Mingyu’s tales of his boyfriend Jungkook trying to battle the microwave in their student dorm building. Thankfully, he didn’t notice but Minghao was too shy to even broach entering into a conversation with him.
“Hi Jeonghan hyung, how are you doing?” Minghao asked him, keeping one eye on the stove.
“My little butterfly, look at you being the perfect host. Is that mulled wine I smell? Are you making it from scratch? Say Cheollie, didn’t you say that you loved freshly-made mulled wine and not that boxed crap?” Jeonghan replied with a twinkle in his eyes.
The man in question rolled his eyes and grunted. Beomgyu looked amused as his eyes shifted between a squirming Minghao and a smirking Jeonghan.
“Okaayyyyyy. Well, I’m Beomgyu, Hao’s flatmate. Nice to meet you, Jeonghan hyung. Any friend of Hao’s is a friend of mine.”
Minghao meanwhile turned back to keep an eye on the mulled wine bubbling on the stove. He heard shuffling in the background and then a new voice yelling his name. It was his own fault that he decided to mix his friend groups. Never again, he promised himself.
It was a loud living room that Minghao came to as he brought in the last of the snacks. Mingyu and Jungkook were squeezed in one corner of his couch while Beomgyu and Yeonjun were trying to build a tower of sorts from the playing cards left over. Seokmin was talking to Wonwoo’s roommate who coincidentally was born on the same day as him and Seokmin’s roommate, Chan was trying to needle Wonwoo into taking a shot of his drink.
Looking around the chaos with fond eyes, Minghao didn’t notice the devil that was Yoon Jeonghan sneaking up on him from behind.
“Boo.”
Minghao jumped and sighed. “Hyung, why must you do these things? I nearly dropped the bowls. Mingyu and Beomgyu would have killed you if the snacks had gone to waste.”
Jeonghan scoffed, “Please. I would have sent the little Gyu again for supplies. But that’s not important here. I wanted to tell you to come to the balcony.”
“You wanted to invite me to come out to my own balcony? In my own house?”
“Now now Hao, don’t act smart with me.”
“Hey Han, did you manage to find… Oh hi Minghao, right?” A third voice introduced itself as Jeonghan and Minghao squeezed in the small balcony.
“Hi Seungcheol, yeah you’re right. I didn’t know you smoked, Hannie hyung?”
“I don’t, but the room was getting crowded and I wanted some fresh air.”
Both Seungcheol and Minghao looked at him with eyebrows and the hand holding their respective cigarettes raised.
Jeonghan giggled and made the motion of taking a picture. Then his phone rang and he wiggled his way out of the small balcony before taking the call.
There was a tinge of awkwardness to the aura with both Seungcheol and Minghao unable to initiate any sort of conversation. While Minghao was fumbling with his lighter to relight his cigarette, Seungcheol was trying to make sure he didn’t knock any chairs down to the ground.
As Minghao stubbed out his smoke, he turned to Seungcheol who was staring out into the distance.
“This view I gotta tell you man, it’s epic.”
Minghao turned to Seungcheol and giggled. “Yeah, it was one of the bigger draws of moving into this place.”
“And the other was?”
“Me!” Beomgyu answered for Minghao as he poked his head in.
“Sorry guys, not to interrupt whatever was going on over here. But Minghao, you told me to tell you when the oven timer went off, and it did just now soooooo…”
“Thanks Gyu, I’ll be right there in a bit.” Minghao turned to Seungcheol who continued to look out at the twinkling night sky and shook his head. There would be an opportunity to talk to him later on, wouldn’t there?
The night had descended into the more introspective portion of any party – the alcohol was flowing as freely as one expected it to on Christmas night and the lights had been turned down to give the atmosphere in the apartment a softer touch.
Jeonghan and Wonwoo were now sitting together and attempting to recreate what Beomgyu and Yeonjun were doing earlier in the night. The two in question had retreated to Beomgyu’s room and the door was closed. Seokmin had joined the puppy pile of Mingyu and Jungkook as they sung along to the playlist that Minghao had randomly found on Spotify.
Vernon, Wonwoo’s friend, was rummaging around the kitchen as Minghao walked back to put the empty dishes in the sink.
“Hey are you looking for something?” Minghao looked at Vernon who was opening cupboards at random.
“Oh hey, sorry yeah I know this isn’t exactly good guest etiquette, but Wonwoo hyung told me it was cool to take a gummy before coming here because I have issues with meeting new people and turns out I didn’t need to, because y’all are quite chill. But now that I have had that gummy, I kinda need something sweet. I asked Wonwoo hyung to come help me, but he is a little toasted right now. But he said you wouldn’t mind.”
“Okay slow down there, take a breath and let’s circle back. You want something sweet. You’re right on time because I was going to get the desserts from the fridge. Wanna help me with that?” Minghao said as he made his way to the end of the kitchen.
Vernon shuffled around and wrung his hands. Minghao looked on as he decided to put the boy out of his misery.
“Hey it’s all good btw. I understand you completely. If Wonwoo brought me to a house on Christmas day and I didn’t know anybody there, I would have taken a gummy as well.”
Minghao put a cold glass dish into his hands and pushed him out the adjoining doors. “Here you go, that’s tiramisu that my friend made for me. He was supposed to be here tonight, but he had to go pick up his boyfriend from the airport whose flight got delayed. Anyway, you don’t care about those details. The spoons and plates are on the dining table already. Go nuts.”
Vernon looked up at him with sparkling eyes and turned around. Minghao yelled after him, “And let the people in the living room know that dessert is ready, alright?”
As he heard Vernon relay his message, Minghao looked around for his phone and realised he’d left it charging in his room. Walking out of the kitchen, he heard sniffling and soft voices in the hallway near his room.
“Hey buddy, come on let’s take a deep breath okay.”
“But I don’t know how I’m going to do this! This is getting all too much for me, hyung. And it’s only the first semester!”
“I know, I know…”
Minghao didn’t want to interrupt what was a serious conversation, but he didn’t recognise the second voice. As he peered around the wall, he saw Chan sitting on the edge of the bathtub and Seungcheol kneeling down in front of him. Chan had his face in his hands and Seungcheol was running his hands up and down his legs.
“I know me saying it’s going to get better isn’t what you want to hear right now. But you know that you can ask any of us for help, right? I’m sure Wonwoo will come running here if I tell Hannie to call him right now.”
Chan chuckled wetly and rubbed his eyes. Minghao couldn’t see if Seungcheol was smiling from where he was standing, but he remained there as the former was successful in calming Chan down – distracting him by showing him pictures of something on his phone.
“Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that dessert is ready. Oh, Hao you’re here already? Okay, um is everything good here?” Minghao winced as both Chan and Seungcheol realised that he was essentially hiding and possibly eavesdropping on their rather private conversation.
Seungcheol turned around and moved slightly to hide Chan trying to wipe away any remnants of his crying. A guarded look graced Seungcheol’s features and Minghao hurriedly responded, “Ah yeah I was just heading to my room to get my phone. Don’t worry, I didn’t hear anything Chan.”
Closing his room door behind him, Minghao wondered, “Will I ever be able to have a normal and sane conversation with this guy?”