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This is stupid, Moondae thinks.
“This is stupid,” Moondae says, out loud. Three pairs of eyes turn to him, indifferent.
“You’re only saying that because you know you won’t win,” Eugene says with a cheeky smirk and hisses around his straw as Moondae kicks him under the table.
“We’re in a restaurant, children, please,” Raebin says, dabbing the corners of his mouth with a napkin and rolling his eyes.
“Anyway,” Eugene continues, “since no one here really values Moondae’s opinion, we should lay down some rules. I still don’t know why it has to be so tame. A kissing competition is so middle school.”
“It’s only because one of us is still a virgin,” Sejin says, winking at Raebin across the table, who sneers back at him while carefully placing his used silverware in a pile on his plate.
“Which is exactly why it should be a competition of the sexual variety,” Eugene says, gesturing with his fingers in the air. “This could be exactly what you need.”
“Alright, I’m sorry mister fucks-anything-with-two-legs-and-a-hole, and even that’s debatable, I happen to have standards and am saving myself for someone respectable.”
Eugene just mimics Raebin like he does when he’s run out of comebacks, exaggerating with a snooty nose in the air. Moondae watches the bickering unfold and rests his cheek in his palm as he sucks up the last remaining drops of his milkshake.
Raebin may be open about his virginity, but Moondae has somehow managed to keep quiet since he met the guys in his first semester of college last year that he’s never even been kissed.
“You okay?” Sejin whispers, leaning down and stirring Moondae from his thoughts while the other two continue to argue on the other side of the table.
“Hm? Yeah,” Moondae says, sighing when he hears the familiar bubbling indicating his drink is gone.
“Don’t worry. You won’t lose,” Sejin says, softly elbowing Moondae in the side, as if he assumes that’s what Moondae is worrying about. It is and it isn’t.
“I know,” Moondae says, looking at Sejin to his side. “You will.” Sejin sits back up in his seat and scoffs, but he knows Moondae isn’t being malicious and smiles.
If losing were what Moondae truly cared about, he’d be worried. Eugene may not know the definition of romance but he can get just about anyone to hook up with him. Sejin’s extreme competitiveness will lend him a hand, even if he has to work twice as hard as Eugene, he’ll collect enough kisses to keep himself ahead. Raebin may be a virgin, but only by choice, he’s still considerably quite the catch and shouldn’t have any trouble charming his way into a few mouths.
Truthfully, Moondae just doesn’t want the guys to find out he lied. For a whole year. He’ll suck up his nerves and kiss meaninglessly just to prove he can.
“So when do we start?” Moondae asks. Eugene grins.
“Alright so rules,” Sejin begins, lying with his head dangling off of the side of his bed. Moondae is squished between Eugene and Raebin on Eugene’s bed because the three of them still take up less room than Sejin does with the way he sprawls out.
“I’m thinking the time frame is first semester,” Eugene states. “Classes start tomorrow, so will the competition.”
“And go until when? Winter break?” Raebin asks.
“Yeah. Unless you want to make a limit?” Eugene says.
“No, one semester is good,” Sejin says, sitting up and turning around. “Moondae?”
Moondae just looks at the others blankly.
“Any input?” Sejin inquires sincerely.
“Uh, no, whatever is fine,” Moondae says. Nothing will give him the advantage he needs. He’s about to ask about handicaps when Raebin starts talking.
He’s not really listening to any of the rules, he’s not sure he’s actually going to participate after all. On the walk back to their dorms the reality of what he’d agreed to sink in and he started internally panicking. He figures he’ll just make up a number, and as long as it’s less than whatever the lowest of the other three have racked up, no one will protest.
“All kisses that add to your score must be witnessed by another member of the competition,” Sejin says, which is when Moondae freezes.
Fortunately, Raebin groans before anyone can notice Moondae. “I’m classier than that,” he whines and Eugene nearly chokes snorting.
“Are you classier than lying about your number of kisses?” Sejin asks and Raebin huffs, rolling his eyes.
“Fine,” he relents.
Moondae is fucked.
Moondae’s got a class with Eugene on Friday, four days after the official start of the contest. There’s a girl in the class he knows from last year, he thinks her name is Youngrin if he remembers correctly. She’s cute and talkative, kind of like Eugene but less annoying. She doesn’t turn Moondae off in the way most girls do and she seems open enough that maybe if Moondae shares with her this competition he’s a part of she might help him out. He’ll work on getting to know her in the next weeks, possibly even gain a friend out of the ordeal, and hopefully earn a kiss out of her that he won’t regret entirely.
By the end of class, Moondae has worked up enough guts to approach her just to reintroduce himself. She’s headed to the doorway with her friend, two of the last to leave besides himself and Eugene. Before Moondae can make it to Youngrin, Eugene brushes past him, whispers, “spot me,” as he passes by, and approaches Youngrin and her friend.
For a moment it seems like Eugene is going for the friend, but he interrupts their conversation to pull Youngrin aside. She’s smiling at him and sends a look to her friend that Moondae cannot decipher. The friend gives a similar look back and waves at her as she leaves. Moondae stands awkwardly at his desk as he watches Eugene charm the pants off this girl and before he knows it Eugene is leaning in and they’re kissing, short and quick but it’s still a kiss.
Moondae feels like his gut sinks out of his ass. He looks away and pretends to be organizing something in his bag. He looks up out of the corner of his eye to see the two pull away from each other. Youngrin tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and bites her lip in a shy smile. Eugene rubs her arm as he says something else to her. She turns around and walks out of the classroom with a spring in her step.
In all honesty, Moondae sort of admires Eugene for his confidence in situations like this. He just scored a kiss in five minutes, which would have taken Moondae weeks. He’s almost a little lovestruck.
Eugene returns to him with a coy grin. “Apparently we already hooked up last semester. Easy as pie.”
“You’re such a sleaze.”
By the time Moondae and Eugene reach Moondae and Raebin’s room, Moondae has gotten over his loss. He’s convinced his plan would never have even worked and Eugene may as well have gotten the kiss for himself.
Moondae lets them both in and nods at Raebin as he dumps his backpack on his bed, Eugene following suit.
“Hey the – were you listening to Baby Metal?” Moondae asks.
Raebin closes his laptop and sits up. “Yeah, so?”
“And that’s why you’re a virgin,” Eugene says, hopping onto Raebin’s bed next to him.
“I’m a virgin by choice!” he protests. “How many times do I have to tell you?”
“Until you’re no longer a virgin,” Eugene teases. Raebin just sighs. “I got a kiss today,” he says after a pause, smug.
“Sejin got one last night,” Raebin says, unimpressed. Eugene visibly deflates.
“I’ll just make fun of whichever one of you is last, then,” Eugene says.
Raebin winks at Moondae. “Game on.”
It comes as no surprise that Raebin gets the next kiss.
Moondae is peacefully studying in the library when he gets a text labeled urgent.
emergency, need u to come back to room now
Moondae curses Raebin’s timing but packs up his things quickly and makes haste to his dorm room. He has no idea what mess Raebin could have possibly gotten himself into, or if the RA’s are making rounds and Raebin needs help hiding his weed again.
When he makes it to his floor, he starts running to his room, his backpack bouncing on his shoulders with every step. He bursts through the door only to find Raebin sitting on his bed with a girl in his lap and his tongue in her mouth. Moondae stops in his tracks to let his face fall flatter than Sejin’s ass and catches Raebin tossing him a thumbs up without even looking in Moondae’s direction. Moondae just backs out of the doorway quietly (although he figures it doesn’t even matter; neither Raebin nor the girl looked up when he barged in moments ago).
“Classy, right,” Moondae mutters under his breath before heading back to the library.
Moondae wakes up to a mass of group text notifications that mostly seem to be from Eugene. He really doesn’t feel like scrolling through the entire conversation so he just taps out a quick what did i miss before rolling out of bed and stumbling to the bathroom. It’s a Saturday, so it’s no surprise Raebin is already gone.
When he returns to his phone, Sejin has informed him that he and Raebin are at the campus fair and there is a kissing booth that will help the three of them rack up some points. Eugene has gone home for the weekend and is furious that they would so blatantly cheat him like this. Moondae cringes at the thought of his first kiss being at a booth, moments after his best friends have just kissed the same person.
i’m not feeling great, i’m just gonna stay in bed today, he sends, which isn’t a lie; the thought of going out to the fair now just makes him sick. He figures a day in front of his laptop surfing the Internet wouldn’t do him any harm.
what color is ur pee
sejin i’m not dying i’ll just see you guys later
your loss ^^, Raebin says, and Moondae can almost see the snide grin on his face.
thank u for being a tru homie
i’m not doing this for you eugene
a girl can dream
Moondae snorts and turns his notifications off, tossing his phone to the side before grabbing his laptop and stretching out in bed.
He doesn’t realize he’s fallen asleep until he wakes up to hear Raebin return noisily. He’s deposited a cup of something on Moondae’s desk and when he notices Moondae sit up, rubbing his eyes from sleep, he points to it and says, “From Sejin.”
Moondae nods in thanks and shuffles over to the cup. Steam rises from the contents when he lifts off the lid and he realizes it’s soup. It doesn’t look like it’s from the can either, so Sejin must have made this in the communal kitchen on the first floor.
“Did he…?” Moondae asks, looking over at Raebin.
“Yup, made me sit with him while he made it too. Wouldn’t even let me taste it.” Raebin pouts, grabbing the TV remote and flopping on his bed before switching it on.
Moondae stares down at the soup. He hasn’t even eaten any yet and he’s already feeling warm inside.
“He tried calling you, like, five times,” Raebin says, and when Moondae checks his phone, sure enough, he’s got missed calls and texts from Sejin.
seriously are u ok tho?
want me to bring u anything?
ur prob asleep
just let me know if u need something
we’re headed back now do u want anything?
u like chicken noodle right
Moondae grins around the plastic spoon dangling between his teeth.
got soup. i love chicken noodle.
An open mixer at the frat Raebin seems to have befriended the entirety of means invites for the rest of the guys.
Moondae doesn’t usually dread parties, in fact, he finds them rather enjoyable, but with the added pressure of finding someone to kiss, he’d rather stay in.
The party goes as they usually do: Moondae hangs around his friends until they’re too drunk to notice him missing and then he stands in a corner somewhere with a drink and people watches for the night. Sometimes he’ll chat with someone he knows from a class or dance with Eugene if he miraculously finds him. Tonight, it’s Sejin who finds him. He’s nearly wasted but coherent enough to get his point across.
“Need you to watch,” he says to Moondae, leaning in too closely. Moondae winces but nods and watches Sejin return to where he was previously chatting with a cute girl as tall as him with long, straight black hair. Sejin whispers something in the girl’s ear and she laughs, her eyes forming perfect crescents as she smiles. She’s not as drunk as he is, but it doesn’t seem to bother her when Sejin starts kissing her cheek, her jaw, and finally her mouth. Moondae’s heart plummets but it’s a completely different feeling than when he watched Eugene kiss Youngrin. It had nothing really to do with Eugene or her, more to do with the fact that Moondae had lost an opportunity that he never really had. But now, as he watches Sejin kiss this girl, his head starts spinning and he knows it’s not from the alcohol that he’s barely drunk. As soon as Sejin breaks the kiss, he looks over in Moondae’s direction to confirm he saw the kiss occur, and Moondae makes eye contact for no longer than is necessary before he turns away. When he looks back, Sejin and the girl are gone, and Moondae tries not to let his imagination wander.
He does, though, while downing his drink, and gets a sick feeling in his stomach. He decides it’s best to leave before he thinks of anything worse than Sejin kissing someone.
When he makes it to his bed, he lands heavily and lies flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He doesn’t turn the lights on and basks in the quiet of his room. He falls asleep thinking about the way Sejin cupped the girl’s cheek in his hand as he kissed her and wonders if Sejin is always that gentle.
Honest to god, the last thing Moondae ever expects is to walk into his dorm room to Raebin’s ass with groping hands wrapped around it.
Raebin bolts up and turns around in his bed to face Moondae with a guilty smile. A moment later, Eugene sits up from underneath him, shirtless, with a hand in his mussed hair, and bites his lip.
“What the fuck?” Moondae asks, his jaw dropped to the floor.
“We thought you were in class,” Raebin says sheepishly, consciously removing Eugene’s hands from his behind.
“Yeah, well, I got let out early,” Moondae says, looking everywhere in the room but the pair in bed. “I’ll uh, leave you to it,” he says, and exits the room quickly.
He texts Sejin once he’s made it down the hall.
can i come over? just witnessed something traumatic i need to erase from my brain
ya chayu’s not here tho
i know i just caught him manhandling raebin in bed
WHAT
i’ll explain, let me in
Sejin opens the door and immediately pulls Moondae into his chest and rocks him like a mother pressing a child to her bosom.
“You poor thing,” he coos. “Tell me everything.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Moondae says, his face smushed up against Sejin.
Sejin pulls him back from his embrace. “No, seriously, tell me everything.”
“I barely even saw anything,” Moondae says, walking with Sejin to his bed. “I left as soon as I walked in.”
“So they were fucking?” Sejin asks, wonder in his eyes.
“No, just kissing, and why are you so interested?” Moondae says, shoving at Sejin’s shoulder.
“Because it’s Eugene and Raebin,” Sejin says, laughing with a crooked grin. “Besides, they clearly forfeit if they’re hooking up. Kissing each other doesn’t count. Eugene even made that rule.”
“Right,” Moondae says, nodding at his lap like he was aware of this rule. “So I guess… you win?”
“Really?” Sejin exclaims, beaming. “How many did you get?”
“Sejin,” Moondae starts, looking up at him nervously. “I’ve never kissed anyone.” He nearly winces at the sound of his admittance out loud. He waits for Sejin’s response anxiously.
Sejin just looks confused. “You didn’t… you didn’t get any kisses? Why not?” His face turns to a smirk. “You thought you could get them all at the end? You slacker,” he says, punching Moondae in the arm lightly. Moondae rocks back with the gentle force.
“No, Sejin, I’ve never kissed anyone. Literally. In my life.”
“But you - ”
“Lied, I lied.” Moondae looks up, expecting Sejin to look hurt, or even angry, but he’s just smiling.
“Why? We wouldn’t judge you,” Sejin says.
“You guys rip on Raebin all the time for being a virgin,” Moondae points out.
“That’s because he’s a prick about it. He thinks he’s better than us. Also it’s funny to see him get mad.”
“Yeah, well, unlike Raebin, I didn’t choose not to kiss anyone,” Moondae says, his fingers fidgeting in his lap. Sejin notices and places a hand over them to stop the distracting movement.
“I think that’s another lie,” Sejin says. “Who wouldn’t want to kiss you?” His eyes pan down Moondae’s face, stopping at his lips. “Look at you,” he says, and Moondae gulps at the intense gaze. He licks his lips and Sejin’s eyes follow the motion.
Moondae has no idea what happens before a kiss, but if he were to take a guess, a pretty good start to it would be Sejin taking Moondae’s chin between his thumb and fingers and tilting his head upwards. Moondae closes his eyes in fear and he hears Sejin’s soft chuckle.
“Stop that,” Sejin says. “Look at me.”
Moondae’s eyelids flutter open again, but he can’t make eye contact for fear he might throw up right on Sejin’s bed. That would certainly ruin everything. Instead, he chooses to focus on Sejin’s mouth, as it inches closer and closer until Moondae goes cross eyed and is forced to close his eyes. He feels Sejin’s breath hot on his face and then suddenly there is a warm press of lips… against his cheek. He opens his eyes and Sejin is there, grinning, looking about ready to burst into peals of laughter.
Moondae is mortified. But more than anything, he’s frustrated. He’s been waiting for his first kiss for years and he was so, so ready, finally, and it feels like Sejin has swept the rug out from under him. He glares at Sejin and makes a decision. He bounds forward, pushing Sejin over and pinning him back to the bed. Sejin’s eyes are wide in shock, and something else Moondae will figure out later, but now it’s time to get what he knows he deserves. He leans down and presses his mouth to Sejin’s the way he’s seen his friends do countless times and closes his eyes.
It’s everything he expected and more. Sejin lets out a small noise of surprise before his hands find their way up Moondae’s back, one hand winding its way into Moondae’s hair and the other holding the back of his neck. For a while it’s just a soft press of lips, Moondae getting adjusted to the feeling, but then Sejin moves and it feels like a soft vacuum enclosing on his upper lip and he opens his eyes enough to see Sejin looking down at their attached mouths. He can’t help but to laugh, small puffs of air escaping his nose and Sejin looks up at him before pulling back.
“Your lips are amazing,” Sejin says, licking his lips. “I seriously still do not believe you’ve never done that before.”
Moondae feels a rush of heat climb his neck and up to his cheeks and Sejin smiles widely before grabbing Moondae’s face in his large hands and pulling him down for another kiss.
Once Moondae has left the room, Eugene looks up at Raebin and reality sets in.
“So we just hooked up,” he says, and Raebin nods dumbly.
“And Moondae saw us,” Raebin replies, “and is probably on his way to tell Sejin right now.”
“We should probably… go… talk to him,” Eugene says.
“Do we apologize?” Raebin asks, handing Eugene his shirt and climbing off of him.
“He did look pretty upset,” Eugene agrees, adjusting himself once he is fully clothed.
Eugene knocks on the door of his dorm room before letting them in only to find Moondae and Sejin in a rather similar position that he was caught in with Raebin.
“You fucking hypocrite!” Eugene yells, but all he gets in response is two middle fingers in the air, one from each boy.