Chapter Text
Namgyu didn’t know the exact moment he started needing to see him every day. Maybe it was that afternoon when Minsu lent him his notebook to copy the notes without even asking, or the time he caught him staring too long, with that anxious gaze that made him feel so strange.
They weren’t friends.
They weren’t anything.
But Minsu stayed after class just to keep him company.
And Namgyu started arriving earlier, just to watch the way Minsu sat, with hunched shoulders and his bangs covering the upper half of his face.
Once, they were alone in the classroom.
Namgyu was rubbing a scratch on his arm with the sleeve of his sweater, harshly.
“It hurts…” Minsu murmured, not daring to come any closer.
Namgyu laughed.
He wanted to say something cruel, something that would shatter the soft atmosphere and push him away, but Minsu was still there—fingers clenching his own pants, lips parted, like he wanted to say something more.
“What do you know?” Namgyu asked, voice condescending, afraid.
“Nothing,” he admitted. He looked up. His eyes were so big, so ridiculous, so full of something Namgyu didn’t have the words for. “I just… I’d like to know.”
Namgyu looked away, scratched the edge of his nose, and felt uncomfortable.
He felt a tremor beneath his skin—he wasn’t used to anyone caring.
“I’m not a good idea, Minsu.”
He curled in a little but didn’t step back. His voice came out low, like he knew better than to touch a wounded animal.
“I know. But I like you anyway.”
Namgyu looked at him—that way he had of not blinking.
“You’re out of your mind.”
“Maybe,” Minsu said, and smiled. Just barely, but he did.
Namgyu kissed him that afternoon.
No warning.
No sweetness.
He grabbed his face with a clumsy hand and pulled him in like he was going to devour him.
Minsu didn’t flinch.
He just clung to his shirt.