Work Text:
2024.
“Minho-ya, hold on for a moment”
Minho halts from pushing his scooter and turns around to see the owner of the voice. When he sees Seungmin’s mother walks closer to him, he quickly gets off the scooter and bows as a sign of respect. He wonders if she needs anything from him but he decides to ask none and wait patiently until she speaks up. She looks concerned as she hesitates to ask the question.
“Are you and Seungminnie still close at school?” She starts off simple. Minho has no idea where is this leading to, so he just nods and answers a short yes. The answer makes the old lady to approach him a bit closer, seems like she gets more comfortable to show her worries.
“Then, perhaps… do you know if he likes anyone there? No, but… me and his father are starting to get worried-”
The second sentence is like a breeze in that morning, just flies away when Minho literally freezes at the first sentence, blushing tints on his cheeks at instance. He almost grins like a fool, his eyes sparkles with excitement and happiness but he tries to act as calm as possible. While the aunt is still talking about how she is worried about her son’s academics, Minho answers the question without a second thought. Nope, not verbally.
He just points his finger to his chest.
Too subtle, Seungmin’s mother doesn’t even notice, but Minho looks super proud to admit it.
“Can I ask you for a favor, Minho-ya? Can you remind him a bit to study well? CSAT (Korean college entrance exam) is coming soon, I don’t want him to play around." Finally the old lady looks at Minho’s face, but at that time, he already (quickly) puts down his hand and acts casual. He just nods like he has been listening attentively.
“Of course, Mrs Kim. And don’t worry, he won’t date anyone. Just like me, he is well-aware how important the exam is. We won’t let love interrupt us” he convinces with full confidence. Seungmin’s mother seems to be really relieved and glad to hear it, but she doesn’t manage to thank him when Seungmin suddenly approaches them with his scooter.
“Eomma? What are you doing with Minho?” Seungmin asks right away, causing panic to appear on his mother’s face.
“Ah- oh, no. I just asked Minho about his mother. It has been awhile since I saw her” she covers, putting a fake smile with it too.
“Don’t worry, I’ll ask my mother to drop by your house later today” Minho smoothly helps her cover up the actual topic, but Seungmin still looks at them back and forth with a suspicious expression on his face. Finally, the old lady manages to thank Minho and quickly excuses herself to go back into the apartment building. Seungmin watches his mother leave clumsily, wondering what is going on, not noticing how Minho stares at him with heart eyes. Only after he looks back at Minho does he notice that oh so in love expression. Seungmin blinks.
“What?”
One word is enough to falter Minho's composure as he smiles widely like a fool.
“Focus on your exam, Seung. Don’t blame your love for me if your result goes wrong” he teases, then pushes his leg to move his scooter and rides away from Seungmin, heading to school. Seungmin is confused for about 10 seconds before finally he can connect the dots. He gasps dramatically, blush covering his face as he quickly pushes his scooter and chases after Minho.
“What did my mom say to you?! Min! Lee Minho!”
××
They are not classmates. Minho is in the second class while Seungmin is in the first. But fortunately, because of the lack of teachers, all classes will be combined so they can study together for the upcoming college entrance exam. All of the final year students are in the hall, where the tables and chairs have been arranged like a huge classroom, and they are quietly studying on their own while they wait for the next class teacher.
Unlike most of the students in the hall, Minho doesn’t study at that time. He looks at Seungmin’s seat, which is 6 seats away from him although they are in the same row, only to notice that Seungmin is already looking at him. The stare stays for three seconds only before Minho mouths the word ‘what are you looking at?’, as if he is annoyed with the gaze and he is the first to look away before blush gets the best of him again. It has always been like that, so he knows the best on when to break the stare.
He fidgets with his eraser, head is empty but only for a short moment because his mind suddenly replay the memory of him with Seungmin when they first met.
2014.
Minho’s family just moved into the apartment building. While his parents and a few other adults that he didn’t recognize were busy lifting boxes and furniture, he just sat at a bench in front of the building, swaying legs. That was when suddenly someone offered him a swirling colourful lollipop. He turned his head, and he saw a kid he didn’t know.
“You’re new here, right? I’m Seungmin from L807. You are my neighbour” he stated but nowhere in his voice sounded friendly. Minho didn’t respond. He looked at the lollipop, then at the puppy-looking boy again, then to the lollipop again, then to the boy again.
“My mom doesn’t allow me to take candy from a stranger” he stated this time, almost the same intonation as Seungmin. Seungmin shook his head.
“I wasn’t gonna give it to you. I’m just asking you to open it for me”
To cover his embarrassment, Minho replied just as fast.
“You shouldn’t be eating sweets. It will hurt your teeth”
Seungmin fell silent, defeated. At last, he just waddled and took a seat next to Minho, opening the candy by himself. The boy still didn’t give up on making friends with Minho, so he continued the conversation.
“What’s your name?”
“Minho”
“How old are you?”
“8. You?”
“Oh, we are on the same age”
“So, what?” Minho responded solemnly, and he instantly got a glare from his new friend. It took Minho three seconds before he mouthed ‘what are you looking at?’, acting tough like he wanted to pick a fight. Seungmin rolled his eyes and just went back to focus on his candy. About ten seconds later, suddenly they heard a woman shout Seungmin’s name, which the boy quickly answered and got off the bench. But before he walked away, he stopped in front of the new boy.
“I have one last question”
“I don’t want to know” Minho was still playing hard to get, looking so calm like he meant it. He just had a little harsh sense of humor, that’s all. But apparently, Seungmin was really patient with him. Usually people would just call him rude or hate him right away. But with Seungmin, this puppy boy still had the effort to make friends. Seungmin ignored Minho’s rejection and just proceeded to ask his question.
“What do you think about gay?”
Minho startled, his cold gaze turned into a curious one. He definitely didn’t expect that one, so he was out of words. He blinked rapidly as if he tried to make his brain work, and Seungmin blinked back. He looked really serious about the question too. They just looked and blinked at each other for about ten seconds, before Minho finally answered.
“As long as it’s not you, I don’t mind having a boyfriend”
Minho chuckles. Kim Seungmin is crazy, he thinks, because who the hell asked such a question at 8 years old to someone he just knew? Although Minh finds the memory insane, he cannot help with the fond smile on his face, as if he just falls in love all over again. The only thing that brings him back to the present is the voice of their teacher, speaking to the microphone.
“Now, before things get worse, I want to end this today, right now” Ms Yoo says while facing all the students. Minho has no idea when she came and what topic she is talking about, but when he looks on the stage, he sees a female student and a male student next to the teacher. Both of them looked embarrassed and scared, and it could only mean one thing. They got caught dating. Ms Yoo is not even a scary teacher. In fact, she is the sweetest, almost like a friend type of teacher when she interacts with her students. But, she will never take things lightly when it comes to the entrance exam. It is the biggest, most important exam for the students, so although she can joke around and laugh, she doesn’t want any of her students to fail.
“I’m not doing this to humiliate you or scold you in front of your friends. I just want you to be honest so then we can solve this issue before it’s too late. So, now, if you are currently dating someone, if you are currently someone’s boyfriend or girlfriend, please steps forward”
There are a few students standing up, which is shocking, but it turns out they are just teasing Ms Yoo and sitting back down. There is this one student who is Minho’s classmate named Changbin, and he proudly says he has a boyfriend named Hyunjin and quickly approaches Seungmin's classmate, acting like he wants to kiss him. Hyunjin quickly runs away and denies the statement, which everyone already knows is not true because Hyunjin tells everyone about his crush on Jeongin. Changbin’s silly skit makes other students laugh, even the couple on the stage feel better because of all the jokes while the teacher just shakes her head with a smile on her face.
“Alright. I understand if you feel embarrassed to come forward. But please, if you’re dating someone, please meet me privately so I can help you, alright?” Ms Yoo reassures.
“Yes, Ms Yoo!” The students shout in unison. Supposedly, the topic ends there, but Ms Yoo knows how to lift up the mood again, so she asks an unnecessary follow up question.
“Or perhaps, any of you want to turn in your own friend? Do you know any of your friends who are dating at the moment?” She knows so well they will start pointing at each other, but she still asks just to make them excited. 18 years old or not, they are still kids after all.
“Oh?! It’s Seungminnie!” Minho shouts shamelessly. Seungmin widens his eyes, almost looking like triangles and the panic keeps on rising when most of the students turn to look at him and chanting an ‘ohh~!’ sound.
“No! I’m not dating anyone!” Seungmin denies the statement right away, making an X sign with his arms while Minho is having the time of his life, laughing at Seungmin misery. Seungmin looks at him with a glare that is nothing close to scary because of the huge grin on his face, and he mouths ‘are you crazy?’, only to make Minho laugh even harder his tummy hurts. Seungmin also laughs right after as he continues denying the statement to his friends around him who keep asking who the lucky person is.
“I’m really not dating anyone- Ms Yoo! It’s actually Minho! He uses my name to save himself!” Seungmin returns the joke, making the batch and the teacher laugh at their love-hate relationship. Minho seems to already prepare himself for such a situation because he is leaning on the backrest of his chair and balances the chair on two legs, totally calm as he responds.
“I got rejected!” He announced, making everyone in the hall laugh. He laughs as well, and when looks at Seungmin, he sees the guy literally lay his head on the table, eyes squeezing close tightly as he is dying from laughing too much at the statement. A sight for sore eyes, it’s the laugh that Minho finds cute so he cannot help but laugh just as hard as Seungmin. Their dynamics really lift up the mood for the whole final year student group.
The reason they laugh so hard is because the statement is based on a true story.
2023.
“What the- No! Are you crazy?!”
It was a blunt rejection. Minho needed 10 to 15 working seconds to actually process the whole situation, and even if his head finally understood the responds, he was still confused.
“I thought you’re gay” he stated, totally ignored the madly blushed and frustrated Seungmin in front of him.
“I am! But-”
“I thought we’re in love?”
“Yes! Yes, we are, but, Min-”
“Then, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is we have CSAT next year!” finally Seungmin got to give his excuse, but apparently it was not enough to convince Minho as he frowned.
“How is that an issue? It’s not like we’ll spend most of our time having sex. We’re still going to study date as per usual. Unless…” he mumbled, looking away as if his head tried to imagine the situation if they agreed to be boyfriends and they ended up having sex-
“Do not, imagine that, Lee Minho, I swear to God. We are students” Seungmin scolded. He knew him way too long for him to understand the face Minho made. Minho blinked to get himself together, then he looked at Seungmin again.
“So? Why can’t we date?” Minho asked calmly. Don’t get him wrong, he respected Seungmin’s decision. He just needed to know the reason because they’ve been in love since elementary school but too scared to confess. So, when Minho finally got the guts to propose, shouldn’t it be a mutual benefit? Seungmin heaved a sigh, and he was calmer than before too.
“Min, we’ll get into a huge trouble if the school finds out. Plus,” he stopped right there, as Minho saw in real time how his face turned red for every second passed.
“Plus?” Minho repeated, demanding a continuation to understand the blush on Seungmin’s face. Seungmin blushed harder, but at last he rolled his eyes as if he hated to admit what he was about to say.
“Plus, I think I’ll get too excited if I know that you’re mine... I might put the exam as my no 2 priority and you as my first” he mumbled, almost didn’t open his mouth because it was too embarrassing to admit. He looked back at Minho when the latter took too long to respond, and then he noticed Minho’s face getting redder and redder as it almost reached the shade of a tomato. Seungmin blinked, his embarrassment slipped away because his confusion arose.
“...Min?” He called, carefully. Minho instantly looked away, eyes wide blown like he was too shocked with the statement. He had to clear his throat to speak, or else it might come out shaky out of nervousness.
“O-Oh… Okay. Whatever” he muttered. Oblivious Kim Seungmin obviously didn’t get the idea why Minho got too red and quiet, so he just continued the conversation like nothing happened.
“Let’s get into the same university. I’ll take you on a date once we get to secure a spot in a degree course, kay?” he convinced softly. He didn’t really have to do that because his natural confession just now already threw Minho’s head to the heavens that he couldn’t think of anything anymore. And because of the excessive embarrassment, now Minho even thought Seungmin’s voice was so soothing when he reassured him. He just ended up nodding as answer, and quickly rode his scooter to go to school, leaving Seungmin behind before he could get any more embarrassed.
××
“Seung”
“Hm?”
“I think about how your mom talked to me this morning, and it makes me wonder… How do you think our parents will react if they know we are in love?”
The best friends are riding their scooters side by side, heading home that night after studying at school until 9PM. Seungmin makes a long humming sound as he takes his time to think. Unlike Minho who has his scooter handles in his grasp, Seungmin leans forward to rest his arms on the handles as they scoot along the straight sidewalk. And then he slowly smiles as he imagines the situation in his head.
“I think my parents will love it” he answers short. Minho pushes his scooter with his leg when it starts to slow down, and he looks at Seungmin as the answer attracts his attention.
“Really?”
Seungmin nods, and finally stands back straight and holds his handles properly after he starts to feel sore on his back. He reciprocates Minho’s stare, and a hint of smile appears at the corner of his mouth.
“Whenever I talk about you to my parents, they always say how you’re a cute sweet boy and they always wish for you to get a good partner when you’re in love. So, of course they will be so happy if I’m dating you. I’m literally the best in their eyes” he brags proudly. He laughs when he sees Minho rolls his eyes to the back of his head like a sign that he hates every single word coming out of Seungmin’s mouth.
“I think my parents will hate you” Minho comments almost instantly. The timing makes Seungmin laugh even louder, it’s the laugh Minho finds cute. The latter just smiles at the reaction because he needs to maintain the hateful character on display, although what comes from him after that is purely silly as he imitates the way his father talks.
“You’re dating a dog? No one in this family dated a dog! Are you out of your feline mind?!” Extremely stupid and his father doesn’t even sound like that, but it worths being silly when he sees Seungmin almost falls off the scooter because he laughs with his whole body. Minho finally laughs as well but his instinct to reach out for Seungmin before the puppy boy fall off is just as quick.
“You want your kids to say meongnyang meongnyang?!” Seungmin joins the freak, imitating Minho’s father as well that once again sounds nothing like him. Minho laughs out loud, slamming his hand on the handle of his scooter and laughs even harder when out of nowhere Seungmin starts to sing Yim Jaebeom’s Confession with the same old raspy voice.
They are supposed to arrive home 15 minites from school, but because they keep on making each other laugh, they arrive 28 minutes late. Even when they park their scooters at the assigned area and get into the elevator hand in hand, they still have laugh and jokes linger on their mouth. They finally calm down when the elevator opens on level of Seungmin’s house, but still holding hands until the last minute.
“Min” Seungmin calls softly. Minho doesn’t answer and just wait for the other to continue his words. The latter smiles, swaying their intertwined hands lightly.
“I can’t wait to date you”
Minho giggles like a baby, hitting Seungmin’s chest with his kitty punch to make the situation less fluttering. Seungmin’s yelp making Minho laugh right away and apologize, because he didn’t mean to hit that hard. Seungmin chuckles too, and only then, they exhange ‘good bye’ and ‘I love you’.
Only after the elevator’s door is shut do both of them blush like idiots. They will never get used to these feelings, although they have been in love with each other probably for almost 9 years now. Love really makes people go dumb.
2026.
“Remember, the assignment’s due is tonight, anything labelled as plagiarism or AI for over 10% will automatically fail my class. That’s all, dismiss”
Most of the students in the lecture hall already pack their stuff earlier, so when the lecturer dismisses the class, they quickly put on their bags and leave. Some walk alone and some others have someone else with them. Minho walks alone, but he actually waits until the class is over for him to keep his belongings inside his bag, so he takes longer to leave the class compared to his coursemates. He is too occupied with his work, until he doesn’t notice someone approaching him from behind.
“Pretty boy!” She smacks his back as she shouts, making him flinch dramatically out of surprise. He glares at her like he can actually kill her right there and then, while the girl just grin sheepishly.
“Come on, let’s leave together, baby girl. I’ll walk you to the parking area” she offers with an obvious hint of tease. From the eyes of a stranger, that really sounds like a flirt. But Minju is Minho’s closest friend in that engineering major, and they have zero heart feelings towards each other. They can talk normally like two close friends, just like how they are literally talking about the new movie that is about to come to the cinema while they leave the hall.
They don’t stop talking, it seems like there are too many topics to talk about although they meet everyday. Only after they arrive at the parking lot do they stop talking because they hear a honk. Minho smiles so wide, feeling giddy as he runs lightly towards his boyfriend who is already waiting with his helmet on. Minju smiles fondly at the view, then she walks closer to them.
Meanwhile, Minho and Seungmin share a kiss before the latter passes a helmet to Minho. Minju approaches them with crossed arms, looking irritated.
“Look at these lovebirds, really. There are only two attractive guys in this whole university and both of them turn out to be gay” she teases. She is nothing close to homophobic. In fact, she is like Seungmin and Minho’s adopted child at this point, by the way she is supporting and protecting their relationship a lot. Seungmin chuckles when he hears the statement.
“It’s not like you are attracted to anyone in particular anyway” he bites back, hinting Minju’s asexuality. The girl shrugs as a response, who knows what that means but nobody questions anything. Minho finishes wearing his silly helmet, the one with cat ears on it and he gets on the bike behind Seungmin, hugging securely. He just takes it for granted as a chance to actually snuggle into his boyfriend.
“Bye, Minju. See you tomorrow” her classmate bids farewell, and she just nods first as a reply.
“Alright. Ride safely, Seungmin” she wishes. They exchange byes once again before Seungmin finally rides away, but just slowly because they are still in the parking area and they are avoiding hitting any other bike in the park.
“Minju-yah!”
The girl suddenly hears a shout, and she turns around to see a guy on a sport bike, twisting the handle to make a loud engine sound. An attempt to look cool but he is nowhere impressive to her as she furrows her eyebrows in annoyance.
“Date me and I’ll take you on a ride with my cool bike!” he offers. Minju heaves a sigh through her nose, then she replies solemnly.
“Keep that bike to yourself. Kim Seungmin has been riding a scooter since school and he already has a boyfriend. Your bike means nothing!” She rejects, and totally ignores the speechless look on his face when she looks at Seungmin and Minho’s direction again, watching them leave the area with that black Vespa Primavera.
××
They go on study dates together, but instead of heading to a library or study lounge, they stay at home. Yes, they rent an apartment together once they get accepted into the same university. And things have changed since then.
“Seung, I thought you said after you date me, your top priority is me and not the study” Minho gets sulky, when he has been leaning his head on Seungmin’s shoulder while the latter is too occupied with the case study in his laptop. The medical major student chuckles when he hears the statement, and he closes his laptop right away, making Minho grin proudly that he wins. Against what? Nobody knows.
“I guess the words ‘I’ ‘need’ ‘attention’ is not in your dictionary, huh?” Seungmin answers while he turns his body fully facing his boyfriend. Minho wastes no time to get on his lap, craving a cuddle.
“Who needs your attention? I’m just saying that you shouldn’t say things you don’t mean” the engineering student nags, almost sounds like a mumble because he buries his face on Seungmin’s broad shoulder. Even a denial like that can make Seungmin smile so fondly.
“But I really mean-”
“I’m not in the mood to blush over you so shut up” Minho interrupts, causing his boyfriend to laugh right away and he chuckles as well. Well, doesn't it sound silly to be in a mood to blush or not?
“Should I not be sweet, then?”
“Mhm. Be bitter”
“You took extra two minutes to arrive at the bike today because you were busy talking with Minju”
Minho bursts out laughing at how fast Seungmin comes up with a statement, a bitter one especially. He has to lift his head up to look at his boyfriend who rolls his eyes to show that he is ‘bitter’, causing Minho to laugh again. Only then Seungmin laughs too because he can’t stay in character anymore.
“What?”
“That’s how you define ‘bitter’?”
“Uhuh. I will judge and question every single thing you do. Like now, you only say 14 times ‘ha’ when you usually say 21 times ‘ha’ when you laugh” Seungmin comes up with another silly bitter statement, making Minho laugh so hard he almost fell from the chair but Seungmin is faster to hold him. The laughter coming from them both fill the entire apartment, echoing for almost every five minutes, most likely because they are each other’s laughter bell.
Things have changed since then… in the most beautiful way, that is.
The End.