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bunnliix · 7 months

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The Invisible Strings that Bind Us - Chapter Two

Chapter Two! We have some good cute fluff because it's gonna start getting angsty after this chapter, so prepare for that. But for now, we have some wholesome interactions between y/n and the boys. For anyone that saw this posted before, no you didn't.

a.k.a., I may have had to make a couple changes to it after it went live that I forgot about haha

Masterlist

word count: 1.8k

warnings: food, canon skz chaos, I think that's it

Y/n woke up slowly, feeling a bit disoriented. She felt whatever was beneath her shifting, before she heard an Aussie accent.

“Good morning sunshine.” She heard, opening her eyes to see Chan looking down at her.

“Huh? What the fuck? That wasn’t a dream?” She mused out loud, forgetting that she wasn’t thinking about it. She heard laughter coming from across the room, finding Changbin and Han bent over laughing.

“This isn’t a dream, we promise you. Now, do you wanna sit up?” Chan asked her, to which she nodded. With his help, she sat up and moved to sit against the back of the couch.

“You can stop laughing at me, god dammit. It wasn’t that funny.” She lightly glared at the two men. It really wasn’t that funny, honestly, she was ready to slap them. If only they were in reach of her.

“Guys, chill out, please.” Chan scolds the two members, raising an eyebrow at them. The boys apologized to Y/n, bowing and saying sorry to her. She waved away their apologies, telling them it was fine. She really didn’t mind, but it’s still not fun to get laughed at.

“So, where do we go from here?” Y/n spoke up, wondering what would happen now. It may not have been the ideal soulmate meeting, but obviously fate didn’t care about that. There may not have been a big outward sign that they were, but she had never felt more at ease with anyone else ever. Even prior girlfriends she had, that she almost thought were her soulmates, never made her feel this right as these eight boys were right now.

“Well, seeing as you landed right in our laps, and also Binnie has our initials plus one more set, and once we match yours up with the last initial, I’d say you’re our soulmate. We can figure everything else out from there.” Chan said, taking charge of the situation.

Y/n told them all her full name, and her initials matched up with the last set on Binnie’s arm. This prompted Felix to come over and hug her, whispering in her ear how much he’s glad to have found their last soulmate. He laid his head on her shoulder, his arms still wrapped around her, not letting go of her now that she’s here.

All of the boys’ phones went off, pushing them to check and see who’s messaging. Hyunjin groaned, “Ugh, we have to head back to dance practice, they’re looking for us.” He told the rest of them. This prompted many complaints and cries, the boys not wanting to leave their newest soulmate yet.

“How long do you have to practice? I can just stay here, honestly, it’s not that big of a deal. I have my phone and I can entertain myself till you all return.” Y/n said, smiling up at them. She didn’t mind being by herself for a little while, it would give her some time to process everything that’s happened.

“If we’re lucky, an hour? Depends on how much of a hardass Minho-hyung is today.” Hyunjin replied to her, not managing to dodge the slap from the aforementioned person. He rubbed his shoulder, feeling the pain from the hit.

“Yah! I don’t want to be away from our soulmate either, but keep it up like that and I’ll make you practice for hours.” Minho snapped back at Hyunjin, looking annoyed.

“Okay, let’s chill out, okay? No need to get violent.” Chan tried to pacify the situation, and thankfully it worked

The boys begrudgingly packed up, Minho leaning in close to Hyunjin as they left, telling him that he’d make a nice snack after 20 minutes in the airfryer at 180 degrees. Y/n laughed as she watched them leave, before moving to sit against the armrest, getting comfortable. She decided to think about her situation later, and grabbed her phone, opening up tiktok and scrolling the time away.

An hour later…

Y/n hadn’t realized how much time had passed, and when the door to the studio opened, she jumped and threw her phone up into the air, as she panicked. She however, managed to not fall off the couch, but her heart was running a thousand miles a minute as she tried to calm down. She held onto her chest, looking at the door to see the entirety of the group standing in the doorway, a couple of them trying to hold back their laughter, as others looked concerned.

“Could give a girl a bit of a heads up, yeah?” She said to them, a bit over the panic.

“We didn’t think you’d be that absorbed into whatever you were doing, honestly.” Chan replied to her, moving to grab her phone from where it had been thrown, and bringing it over to her.

She sat up, letting Chan sit down next to her. “That’s fair. I didn’t realize an hour had passed, to tell you the truth. But that’s because I’m bad at telling how much time has passed.” She explained. She truly had very little concept of time. She could look at the clock and five hours had passed when it only felt like it had maybe been an hour. It was one of her greatest weaknesses.

“Don’t worry, some of them get like that too.” Felix piped up, moving closer and sitting on the arm of the couch. “Chan especially, the man works and zones out while doing so.” He continued.

“Yeah, and the rest of 3racha are the same way.” Hyunjin pointed out, to which Han hit his arm.

“Yah, we’re not that bad!” He shouted, pouting afterwards. His little quokka cheeks made an appearance as he did that.

“I don’t think I believe that.” Y/n told Han.

He continued pouting, even his newest soulmate was being so mean. He couldn’t believe it, and there were giggles from his other soulmates, showing that they were on her side, not his.

“Well now that you’re all back, and I assume free from idol duties for a little while, I’d like to talk about where we go from here, now that we’ve confirmed I’m your last soulmate.” Y/n spoke up, trying to steer the conversation in another direction.

“Well, I think the first thing to discuss is how prepared you are to be the soulmate of eight other people, who I assume live very far away from where you are from?” Felix asked her.

“Well, considering that I’m from Canada, that’s not horribly far, but still a bit farther than I think is reasonable. So I think I’d be moving here, and not the other way round.” She told them, starting to think about the logistics of moving here.

“Ah, yeah. You’d have to move here, but we can help you with every step you need to take. We wouldn’t leave you to do it all alone.” Chan turned to look at her. “We’d have to move into a bigger place too, unless you’d want your own space?” He continued.

“I wouldn’t mind either option, really.”

“Okay, that’s fine, we can sit down with management and get that figured out. They can also help us look for a place for you as well, just as an option.” Chan said.

Y/n nodded, fine with that. She wasn’t picky, it really wasn’t a big deal to her where she’d be living. She’d just be happy to be near her soulmates, honestly.

Everyone went silent as Y/n’s stomach grumbled, the girl herself curling in on herself to try and hide.

“And maybe now is a good time for food.” Felix said.

“I’m hungry!” Changbin shouted, making a couple of the boys chuckle.

Chan stood up, holding a hand out to Y/n, who took it as she stood up as well. He pulled her along as they followed the rest of the boys towards the JYPE cafeteria, as it was the easiest place to get actual food. It thankfully wasn’t that packed when they arrived, and the boys quickly picked out their food, while Chan helped her decide on what she wanted. She went for some tteokbokki, and the other boys decided that they didn’t mind sharing bites of what they chose, so that nothing was wasted if she didn’t like it

Y/n tried bites of everyone’s food, and enjoyed most of it, with a couple exceptions. Despite that, everyone enjoyed their lunch, and after everyone finished and cleaned up the table, they all headed back up to their practice room, deciding it was a better place to talk than squeezing into the studio.

“So, obviously we have to tell management about this, and also figure out how long you can stay here before heading back to pack up your stuff.” Minho spoke up, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, and I have to talk to my university and try and get that figured out as well. I’m almost finished with my degree, so I’d like to actually finish it off fully.” Y/n told them.

Wows came from a couple of the younger boys, and Y/n blushed a bit.

“What do you study?” Seungmin asked her.

“History is my major in university.” She told them, proceeding to tell them some of the subjects she’s studied within history. She talked more about her favorite periods or topics to study, after the boys asked some questions about what in history she enjoyed and why she decided to study it as a degree.

The group continued talking about their own hobbies and other things they’d like to do in life, as Chan moved to check his and the others schedules, as well as notifying management that they needed to have a meeting. He found their schedules to have been cleared for the day, after he got a response from management that they could have the meeting in 30 minutes.

“Well, good news and maybe good news?” Chan piped up, everyone else going silent, waiting to hear the news. “So, we now have a free schedule for the remainder of the day, but we also have a meeting with management in 30 minutes.” He finished.

A round of groans commenced at Chan’s announcement, as the boys dreaded the meeting with the managers. Y/n looked around in confusion, wondering why they were reacting this way.

“What’s so bad about the meeting?” She asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion.

“They’re not fans of the bureaucracy of being an idol, so they dread meetings with our managers and team.” Chan explained, rolling his eyes at the boys’ antics.

“Ohhh.” She understood now, it made sense that the whole bureaucracy of being an idol would be boring. She herself didn’t enjoy those things either, let alone how much of this administrative stuff goes on in the background of idol agencies.

The boys decided to go change into something a little less casual for their meeting, and thankfully, the boys had something that she could fit into. It wasn’t much, but it fit and didn’t look horrible on her, so that was what counted. They just joked around and the boys fought playfully until about five minutes till the meeting, when they all headed up to where the meeting was to take place, where they arrived just in time. Chan did a head count, before he pushed and held the door open for all of us to enter.

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Taglist: @queen-thiccness

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yinyangofnevermore · 2 years

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So you’re considering watching RWBY

Or you’re trying to convince someone else to watch it

(I made another similar post about this a while back)

But you/they aren’t sure. Something is holding you/them back. Like:

“But the animation n stuff is SO BAD!” - Sure. In the beginning it’s not great (though many of us now look back on those early volumes with fondness.) But you have to understand, RWBY started as a passion project at a small company with a budget of like $20 (yes I’m exaggerating but STILL.) They simply didn’t have the funds for good animation. But, after volume 3 came out, the show became a literal international hit and so the budget increased. And, subsequently, so did the animation quality. You can see that progression easily enough here. The quality goes from this:

To this:

“It looks stupid and childish!” - Yeah, in the beginning it’s meant to seem silly. And it still has its cartoonishly silly moments later on too. But those silly moments are meant to soften the blow of the PAIN. Because, while RWBY starts off as a silly, “good always triumphs over evil” slice of life magic academy type show it does not STAY that. There is PAIN. LOTS OF IT! If you keep watching, you’ll find out within like 6 hrs worth of watching that it’s not just some silly slice of life show. There is a complete 180 along the way when you find out what RWBY is truly about. The show actually delves into some pretty heavy stuff. PTSD, abuse, neglect, abandonment issues, alcoholism, loss, the inability to move on from loss for some, and more. For more on this, check out this post.

“I saw some stuff on Twitter/Tumblr/Youtube about how bad it is.” - That’s because there are ppl out there who want the show to be something it’s not. Or they got upset when things didn’t happen the way they wanted. Like Blacksun shippers or Adam and Ironwood Stans. Or they just want to shit on something. But EVERY show has its haters. Every piece of media has its haters. And they like to be loud edgelords about it. Sometimes just to be controversial and pick a fight. But that doesn’t mean shit. There are ppl out there who absolutely hate your favorite pieces of media, whether you’re aware of it or not. And that doesn’t stop you from liking it, does it? Don’t let a few haters prevent you from potentially finding your new favorite thing. Because there are a LOT of ppl out there who absolutely LOVE this show.

“I tried watching the first few episodes and I just... Couldn’t.” - Dude, I get it. Trust me. I did the same exact thing when I started watching. I watched the first couple of episodes and literally turned it off. But then I saw a few ppl posting about it here on Tumblr a while later and gave it a second shot on a whim. And BOY did it not disappoint when I got far enough in (and yes, that took a minute.) Mind you, this was back when Volume 3 was originally airing, so the drastic improvements in animation hadn’t happened yet. But I stuck with it anyways. And now look at me. But the show does take a while to really ramp up, so to speak. The beat doesn’t DROP until a bit later on in volume 3.

But, if you enjoy character growth and analysis, then you will most likely enjoy this show. The number of analyses on Tumblr and prolly Twitter as well are MANY. The main 4 characters are badass ladies learning how to fight and deal with life. Every character in the show is based on either a fairy tale, mythology, history, pop culture, etc. (sometimes they have multiple allusions to different degrees) and teasing out those details on top of everything else is quite fun if you enjoy searching for Easter eggs, significant imagery, foreshadowing, parallels, and so on. Interesting villains too. Not just the standard “Evil Witch because she’s evil with henchmen” thing. But fleshed out villains that have their Reasons™️. Like “Cinderella took so much abuse as a kid/teenager that she fucking snapped” type reasons. There is SO MUCH you can delve into with this show if you want to. Details as small as a whale statue in Gepetto’s office, or Belle reading a book with a candelabrum that looks like Lumiere, or characters wearing the colors of the person they love, or characters having eyes the color of their love’s aura (an extension of their soul.) SO MANY PLACES TO FIND THESE DETAILS. Including the lyrics to the music.

Which leads me to the music in this show is freaking AWESOME. And if you can’t appreciate that Casey Lee Williams has been singing in these soundtracks since she was like 13 or 14 (and listening to how she’s grown as a musician throughout it all to the point where she is now one of the music leads for the show) then I don’t know what to tell you. The music is all produced in house. And the lyrics reflect that. Each song is from the perspective of a RWBY character (or like team RWBY in general, depending on the song) and the lyrics give insights either about the characters or about stuff in the show (lore, foreshadowing, etc.) And they’re as fun to analyze as they are to jam out to.

The writing is FANTASTIC. Is it perfect? No. Of course not. They made mistakes along the way. Prolly will make some more. But every piece of media does to some extent. People aren’t perfect and so neither are their creations. But those imperfections don’t outweigh how amazing the story they’ve woven is. The writers of RWBY constantly subvert expectations in a BRILLIANT way. Not in a “wtf?? Where did that come from?” sort of way. But in a “OMG! Now that I go back and watch this again it makes SO MUCH SENSE” sort of way. And things that happen in early volumes actually COME BACK to affect things later. The show doesn’t just MOVE ON. The writers have been playing the long game this whole time. And rewatches will almost always show new details and foreshadowing you might have missed before.

Also, it GAY. And it’s THE major romance of the show. Not just a side story. And the voice actors are the Captains of the Ship! And it’s a beautifully written slow burn romance (amongst other romances also in the show) with yearning and pining for DAYS. I believe it was Monty who said, “Good romance is earned.” And boy are they earning it!

So, in short, FUCKING WATCH RWBY.

DAMMIT.

If you do decide to watch, Volumes 1-8 are all on RoosterTeeth.com for free or everything is on Crunchyroll. And I definitely suggest starting with the 4 trailers, in order: Red, White, Black, then Yellow.

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subskz · 9 months

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Our big, doe-eyed boys who say outta pocket things <3

Lee "I'll put u in an air fryer for 20 minutes @ 180 degrees" Minho & Yang "I ate sand when I was 10" Jeongin

PLEASE it’s 100% them 😭😭😭 lee “have you ever been beaten until you can’t feel the pain anymore?” minho and yang “i almost got indoctrinated into a cult” jeongin…no amount of rizz compares to the raw appeal of being completely deranged

#ask #pink #💌 lino #💌 innie

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luvrhyune · 2 years

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-; ✧˖*°࿐ HOT GIRL BUMMER . BANG CHAN .

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ PAIRING ; bang chan x fem! reader.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ SUMMARY ; summer was the time for parties, getting wasted and repeating for the entire week. that was your plan, until your ex boyfriend happened to show up at every club you went to !!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ GENRE ; SMAU, exes to lovers !!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ WARNINGS ; swearing, fluff, angst, “kys” comments, mentions of alcohol & “getting wasted”, y/n has a face claim, uni au, (kind of - nothing is officially mentioned), humour (i hope), written elements, non idol au, breakups, misunderstandings, non idol au but 3racha still make music & stuff.

— posting status : discontinued.

— started : 30/01/23 (DD/MM/YY)

— ended : tba

— taglist : open !! send an ask to join !!

— notices:

the plot & any oc's used belong to me!!

do not steal or translate my work!!

DO NOT SPAM LIKE EACH CHAPTER. YOU WILL BE BLOCKED.

this is a spin off of my other series, ‘cuffin’ szn’! it isn’t necessary to read that before reading this, but the characters are the same and there may be a few references to that series!!

main masterlist. series masterlist.

READ BEFORE THIS :

i. cuffin’ szn

PROFILES :

drunkos !! dysfunctional fam !!

CHAPTERS :

i — 20 minutes. 180 degrees.

ii — sluts

iii — wanna go home (written)

iv — be fucking for real

v — is she hot?

vi — blabber mouth

vii — who the fuck

viii — party hardy

ix — oh shit (written)

x — sorry, i love you (written)

xi — fuck off

xii — talk later [name subject to change]

xiii — dancer in the dark (written) [name subject to change]

xiv — happy (written) [name subject to change]

epilogue

#🤍🌊. luvrhyune #👿🗯️. hot girl bummer #stray kids #stray kids x reader #stray kids fluff #stray kids x yn #bang chan x y/n #bang chan x reader #bang chan x you #bang chan angst #bang chan scenarios #bang chan fluff #bang chan #skz chan #skz social media au #bang chan smau #stray kids social media au

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pretty-blkgirl · 1 year

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Heist

//gn!reader x poly!skz//

Synopsis: You and your boyfriends work together to pull off a robbery.

Genre: Humor

Warnings: Poly relationship, criminal activity, swearing

A/N: I’m not 100% happy with this but I wanted to put something out for STAY day so I hope you enjoy 🫶🏾

~~~|~~~

“Stop moving” you whisper, crushed against an amused Minho as you two hide in a small closet. You could hear footsteps and talking outside, so you hold your breath and pray no one opens the door

“I wasn’t moving” Minho whispers back, causing you to pinch him so he could shut up. If someone finds you then you’re done for. The whole mission would go to waste and you know you and Minho wouldn’t be spared from the *very powerful* people you were currently stealing from.

Soon the talking fades away and you let out a sigh of relief. Minho sighs as well, leaning his head back to rest on the wall.

“Hurry the fuck up Hyung” He groans, making the older man chuckle over the earpiece.

“Shut up, Min. I’m working on it”. Chan was in a van with Felix parked several blocks away.

“How long does it take to create a distraction? You can’t call a fucking pizza guy or something?”

You laugh, earning a warm smile from Minho. You can hear Hyunjin and Jisung arguing over your earpiece and you were about to tell them to stop but Changbin beat you to it

“You two better keep quiet,” He says, “If you get caught it’s over”. He was disguised as a security guard at the front door. You had the pleasure of seeing him in the fitted tux he was wearing before the heist started. He looked so good that you couldn’t wait to take it off him later.

“Hyung no one can hear us. Everyone is enjoying the party. I bet I could scream and no one would even know” Hyunjin says, prompting Minho to threaten to air fry him if he even dared to do that.

“180 degrees, 20 minutes. That’s all I’ll need Hwang”

Hyunjin swiftly shuts up and waits for orders.

“Lixie, Minnie, Innie, how are you guys doing?” You whisper.

Felix responds happily, making you smile “All good! The loop is still playing on the security cameras so the guards won’t see you”

“Great” You responded, “But you’re still watching the live feed, right?”

“Of course. You’re fine for now but there’s some security not too far from you, just stay in there for a little while until I tell you to move”

You smirk at your boyfriend’s words, “I never knew I’d find hacking so sexy” You giggle, making Seungmin let out an exasperated sigh.

“Y/n this is no time to be horny. You’re in a life or death situation” He whispers. He and I.N. are disguised as party guests, using their charms to flatter rich, old people out of their wallets and jewelry.

“God Min you’re so serious,” Jisung says, “Loosen up a bit. We’re supposed to be having fun”

“We’re robbing some very dangerous people! This is the opposite of fun”

“It’ll be fun once we get that money. I’m gonna buy 15 cars” I.N. expressed. You could practically hear the smile playing on his lips.

“You don’t have your license Innie” Chan mumbled

“Okay? I could also use that money to get a driver’s license”

“Why not just take driving courses?” Jisung asked

“Why not just kiss my ass, hyung?”

You could hear muffled laughter and quickly put your head down to try and keep yourself from laughing.

“If we make it out of here I swear to God I’ll-”

“Problem,” Felix says suddenly, making you and Minho stiff with fear, “I’m looking at the live feed and it seems like someone is making their way over to Y/n and Minho”

“What if they’re just walking past them?” Changbin questions, “How do you know they’re gonna open the closet?”

“He has coats in his arms. I think he’s gonna put them in that closet”

“Come on! This big ass house and they don’t have any more coat closets?” You groan, preparing yourself for a fight.

“Hold on guys I got you,” Chan says. Just as you hear a hand resting on the doorknob, an explosion can be heard from outside.

You then hear rapid footsteps fading away from you.

“Wait 10 seconds, open the door, then run like hell,” Felix says to you and Minho. You count in your head, arms feeling clammy as you open the door and start running.

“Are we going the right way?” You ask

“Yeah. Keep going down that way and you’ll see two doors. Go into the door on the right.”

You and Minho follow his directions and are soon met by Hyunjin and Jisung.

“Let’s get this money and get the hell out of here” You breathe out, “Innie, Min, where are you?”

“Outside. Everyone’s out here trying to figure out what happened. You have about 3 minutes before they start to pile back in”

The four of you begin to carefully sweep the room. According to Chan, the money is hidden in not-so-smart places.

Truthfully, they probably saw no need to get a safe because they didn’t think no one would dare to rob them.

You lifted the mattress and found a hole in it, speedily reaching your hand in and feeling several stacks of money.

You immediately alerted the boys and you all started to fill your bags with money. Once they were full, you told Seungmin and I.N. They then went to the side of the house and stood outside the window of the room you were in. Felix was still watching you from the cameras, making sure no one was getting close to you all.

“They’re coming back in,” Changbin says, “You guys need to get all that you can and go”

Minho locked the bedroom door and you checked the closets and drawers one last time to make sure you didn’t leave any money in there.

Once done, you hurried to the window and opened it, looking down to see I.N. and Seungmin two stories down. You threw your bag out the window and Seungmin caught it. You repeated the action three more times before someone started to turn the doorknob

“HEY,” They yelled, frantically turning the doorknob, “WHO’S IN THERE?”

You all panicked a little, waiting for I.N. and Seungmin to finish setting up the latter so you guys can escape.

“Bin, we need you” you whisper.

Changbin leaves his guard at the door and makes his way into the house. He goes straight to where you guys are and confronts the man at the door

“Sir, are you drunk?” He asks, much to the man’s dismay

“Drunk? No! What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You seem to be inebriated, sir. You’re yelling and screaming in the middle of the hallway”

The man gets even more upset, getting closer to Changbin and jabbing his finger into his chest

“You calling me a liar? Huh?”

Changbin shrugs, “If you saw a random man with a bald spot yelling to himself at the top of his lungs in a dark hallway, would you not think he was shitfaced?”

By now, the four of you were able to escape out the window and were running for your lives to the van with I.N. and Seungmin.

“Okay, good work Binnie. Come on!”

“K” Changbin says, making the man look at him in confusion before being knocked to the ground.

“I should have just knocked him out to begin with,” Bin says to himself while quietly leaving the house, making sure not to be noticed.

When the 9 of you meet back up at the van, Chan is kissing and hugging you all.

“Stoooooop” Hyunjin whines, but doesn’t make a move to push the older one off him.

Chan smiles big, showing off his pretty dimples, “I’m proud of you all! I can’t believe we pulled this off”

“I knew we could” Jisung cockily smiles, “Now let’s get out of the country before they find our asses”

Everyone shares a laugh but Chan does start the Van and speed off.

Your smile got wider and wider as you counted the money. You guys didn’t know where you were going, but you knew you’d live comfortably.

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xiaojunsmintchoco · 2 years

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Taste of love - Kim Mingyu

Pairing: food science student!yn x food science student!mingyu

Genre: fluff, angst; enemies to lovers, polytechnic au

Synopsis: You and Mingyu have always been in competition for the top spot at everything since secondary school and the cycle doesn't end even after graduation, because you both end up in the same polytechnic AND the same food science course. Until one day, the professor puts both of you together for a year end project, and you both have to knock your heads together if you want to maintain your top GPAs.

CW: mentions of food (a lot because they’re studying food science)

wc: about 6.9k

a/n: this fic is dedicated to @bangchan-fairy! bee, I hope you like your (belated) christmas gift, and thank you so much for being one of the first moots to see me through my days as a beginning writer starting out on shaky steps — I truly appreciate the support 🧡 I hope you had a great christmas, and i wish you an amazing 2023 ahead!

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

“Finally, we’re back in the kitchen!” You exclaim to your best friend, Minho as you follow your polytechnic class to the food laboratory. “God, when I left the house this morning, I swore that if we had to attend another lecture today, I’m officially dropping out of this course,” you add, with a dramatic sigh and a hand on your forehead, as if you were about to faint.

Minho gasps in mock horror, and puts a hand to his chest. “So you were planning to leave me to take this course alone? Just because of the lectures?” he asks incredulously.

You flick his forehead jokingly. “Of course not,” you laugh. “We promised we’d graduate from this polytechnic and obtain our diploma together, didn’t we?”

“Glad you didn’t forget, else into the air fryer you go,” he replies. "180 degrees for 20 minutes," he adds with a smirk as you both put on your aprons and caps before turning back to the front to wait for the teacher’s instructions.

The sound of a chair being dragged out from the work desk beside you startles you, and you wish you didn't turn your head to find out who it was. You exchange dirty looks with said person – Kim Mingyu.

Mingyu had been your sworn rival ever since you both started secondary school. From grades to leadership positions to competition results, you were always nearly neck and neck with each other at everything – except that one of you would end up on top in the end. The arrogant glances and smug smirks Mingyu would send you whenever he beat you to the first place in anything never failed to make you bristle with anger. You thought the competition would end when you finished your final exam and graduated from secondary school, but to your dismay, he picked the same polytechnic course as you. So, here you both are, continuing your long-term rivalry in Nanyang Polytechnic's Food and Nutrition course.

"Alright, class," your professor announces as she makes her way into the classroom. "Listen up! As you know, we've been studying Asian food this week, so today we're going to try our hand at making popiah. On your work benches you should see the recipe as well as the ingredients you'll need. Feel free to add anything else you'd like to the fillings. Work on it with your partner, and by the end of the lesson we'll give them a try. If you need any help, I'll be around".

You and Minho quickly skim over the recipe for the Teochew-style spring rolls. "I'll make the filling, while you can make the wrappers?" Minho suggests.

And just like that, both of you are ready to start work. Throwing open the cupboard doors, both of you successfully locate the grater, mixing bowl, frying pans and other utensils. You begin by combining flour, salt and water in the bowl, then straining the batter to remove the extra lumps. After that, you set the stove to low heat and place the pan on it. "Good thing I brought my pastry brush today," you offhandedly remark to Minho as you pull the brush out of your apron pocket. Dipping the brush into the batter, you proceed to brush the batter onto the pan, brushing several times to ensure the wrapper would not have holes in it. When the first wrapper is done, you peel it off and set it aside on a clean plate, and repeat the process again until you have five wrappers complete. "I'm done with the wrappers, are you almost done with the fillings?" you ask Minho as he's busy frying an omelette.

"Yes, I just need to cut this into long strips after and then we can wrap the popiah," Minho replies, removing the omelette from the pan and placing it on a plate to cool. "In the meantime, what about you grind some peanuts? There should be a mortar and pestle in the cupboard and some peanuts in the drawer," he suggests.

"Sure! That's a great idea," you compliment your friend and get the peanuts, as well as the mortar and pestle. Pouring the peanuts into the mortar, you pound them with the pestle until they're finely ground up. At the same time, Minho is done with the omelette strips, so you both get round to wrapping the popiahs. It doesn't take that long, and soon both of you have three plates of popiah, all cut into pieces that are one inch in breadth.

"Cheers," Minho declares as you each pick up a piece of popiah with chopsticks, gently bringing his piece to yours before you both pop them in your mouth. The flavours in the popiah explode in your mouth, the savoury flavours of the omelette strips and dried shrimps and sweet flavours of grated vegetables and jicama blending together perfectly like a match made in heaven, enhanced further by the sweet-spicy notes of the chili sauce.

“I think we did a great job!” You remark to your partner, eyes wide in amazement. Minho simply nods, too enraptured by the tasty creation both of you had made together.

Turns out, the teacher agrees with both of you. “The skin is not too thick or thin, and overall, your popiah is very flavourful. I also really like the addition of omelette strips and ground peanuts for extra protein,” the teacher comments after sampling a piece of the popiah you and Minho had made. “Well done, y/n and Minho! Also, the use of the pastry brush for the popiah skin was smart”.

You both give the teacher a small bow and thank her as she moves to the next table, giving Minho a discreet high-five. “Hmm, it’s not bad, but the popiah skin is a bit lumpy and a bit too thick. How did you prepare it?” The teacher asks Mingyu and his partner, Junhui.

“I just spooned the batter onto the pan and spread it out,” Mingyu answers.

“Did you strain the batter before doing so?” The teacher fires another question at them. You watch on, mildly amused, as both of them exchange glances and shake their heads.

“Ah, so that is why the batter did not turn out that well. In the future, strain the batter before cooking it, and try to use a pastry brush like y/n and Minho have done,” the teacher remarks to both boys before moving on to the next table, and you don’t miss the glance of disdain Mingyu sends in your direction, which for some reason causes the sweet feelings of a small victory to bloom in your heart. Hey, it was only the first practical cooking session your class had had in a long time, but you felt good that you were able to cook up a better dish than him this time. You can’t resist the urge to send him a smirk and mouth “watch and learn” to him, and that gleeful feeling only grows as his scowl intensifies as well.

“Okay class, as you all know, we’ll be starting our year-end projects soon, so I’ll be giving out some details today,” your teacher declares, bringing your attention back to the front of the kitchen. “I’ve paired all of you up, and in your pairs you will pick a dish to do a macronutrient and micronutrient analysis of. After which, both of you will need to recreate the dish, but make it healthier by changing up the cooking methods or ingredients. Your choice of dish is up to you, you can even create your own fusion dishes. Just make sure to do a macronutrient and micronutrient comparison of the original and the one you both recreated, and write a report on how you made it healthier,” she instructs. “I’ve emailed the instructions to all of you, and right now I’ll be flashing the pairings on the screen”.

You fix your eyes on the screen, hoping that you would be paired with Minho. Unfortunately, your anticipation soon fades to dismay as you see the name next to yours: Kim Mingyu. Oh God, why?

“These pairings are final, so I expect all of you to cooperate with your partners to obtain optimum results, and I will not be entertaining any requests to switch partners. I wish all of you all the best!” Your teacher finishes, dashing the last of your hopes to request to be paired up with another person. “You may go look for your partners now, and discuss arrangements to work on the project”.

Begrudgingly, you push in your chair and drag your feet to where Mingyu is. “So, we’re gonna have to work together for our final project, huh,” you huff, making no attempt to hide your displeasure.

“Obviously so. Now, I don’t like this any better than you do, so we’ll just make this as quick and painless as possible, then we can get this over and done with and hopefully never have to work together again. Okay?” Mingyu asserts, looking down at you with the same haughty glare you hated so much.

You narrow your eyes into slits, glaring daggers at him. “Deal”.

“Okay then. Meet me at the subway station after school, we can go to my house to do our research first,” Mingyu instructs, before hurrying off to catch up with Junhui.

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

As agreed, you meet him at the subway station to go to his house. "It's only 2 stops away and then a five minute walk, so it won't take long," Mingyu informs you as you both board the train. Not willing to engage in a proper conversation with your enemy just yet, you simply acknowledge with a grunt.

Before you know it, you've reached his apartment block and are already in the lift to his fifth floor flat. Upon entering, the first thing that greets you is the row of medals hanging on the walls, right above the glass cupboard which houses all of his trophies and certificates. Immediately you feel slight bitter feelings rise in you, but you push them down, reminding yourself that you were here to focus on your year end project, and you'd also had your fair share of times when you'd successfully beat Mingyu to attain first place or top scores.

"You can put your bag down, and I’ll get you some water," Mingyu states. Though his tone was flat, you were mildly surprised that your enemy still treated you with basic hospitality. “Sit down at the table and we can start”.

Now, you weren’t expecting working on a project with your nemesis to be a walk in the park, but you weren’t expecting it to be this difficult and unpleasant either. It’s been more than one hour, and both of you are still arguing about which dish to pick.

“Goddammit, just pick something already!” Mingyu finally explodes, sick of the endless back-and-forth that both of you had been engaging in.

“Oh if it’s that easy, why don’t you pick then?” you snap, the last wisp of your patience vanishing as well.

“I don’t know, you keep refuting every one of my suggestions. You got a better idea then?” Mingyu shoots back, eyeing you with a challenging glint in his eye.

“No I don’t, your ideas were simply trash, and you weren’t listening to any of my suggestions either,” you state flatly. “You’re in the debate club, I thought you’d be more logical than this. Don’t waste my time. You’re my fucking rival but I still have to cooperate with you”.

Though you’re enemies with him, you regret your earlier words as a look of clear hurt crosses his features for a split second. Mingyu squeezes his eyes shut, draws in a deep breath, and then slowly lets it out again. “You know what, we’ve spent more than an hour here, but all we’ve done is bicker. Since today’s so unproductive and I don’t think we’ll accomplish anything, you can just pack and leave. We’ll continue another day”.

With that, you pick up your bag and brush past him in a huff.

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

“He’s so freaking insufferable! He didn’t agree to anything I suggested and still complained I was the one being picky, ugh. I can’t believe I’m doing my year-end project with him”.

You’re ranting to Minho over breakfast the next day before school starts, the unpleasant project work session with Mingyu still fresh in your mind. “Gosh dammit, I bet I could finish this project alone and get a much better GPA than this guy can. Lucky you, you got paired with Jaehyun”.

Minho patiently listens to your every word as you vent your frustrations to him, before finally offering his advice. “You know, y/n, both of you are in the wrong here”.

Your head snaps towards Minho. “What? You’re my friend, you’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Y/n, I’m just being real here. Did you both tell each other what you found lacking in the other’s suggestions, or did you guys just shoot down each others’ suggestions?” Minho asks.

You go quiet for a minute, sipping on your coffee as you reflect on yesterday’s events. “I think the latter”.

“There you have it. It’s understandable if you guys didn’t like each others’ suggestions, but at the very least you guys should say why, and do it in a civilized manner. From what I’m hearing, you said some pretty harsh stuff to Mingyu,” Minho continues, explaining his thoughts on the situation.

“You’re not wrong”.

“And besides,” Minho continues, chewing on his food, “you’ve got to cooperate with him, no matter what. I know he was your rival and you both were competing throughout the year for a better GPA, but here your GPA is at stake. If you don’t cooperate with him, I don’t wanna imagine the drop in your own GPA. You’ve gotta accept that this time you can’t be fighting him. After this project, compete with him all you want, that’s no one’s business. But for now, you’ve gotta put aside your differences and work together, unless you wanna risk repeating year one again”.

You sip on your coffee, quietly reflecting on Minho’s words. “You’re right. I should have chosen my words more carefully before speaking to Mingyu,” you admit, a twinge of embarrassment pricking in your chest as you remember the harsh words both of you exchanged yesterday. “Maybe I do owe him an apology. Thanks, Min”.

Minho nods, happy that he was able to help you know how to move forward from the argument and figure out your next steps. “No problem. You can always catch him after class later to say what you need to. If you’re done, shall we go? I don’t wanna be late”.

“Of course”. With that, both of you clear your table and head off to polytechnic again.

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

“Mingyu! Mingyu!”

You call for Mingyu as he’s leaving the lecture hall, a puzzled look on his face when he sees you hurtling towards him at the speed of light calling his name. You’d just fought yesterday, so why were you looking for him now?

“I just wanted to say, I’m sorry about yesterday. I should have thought before I spoke and gave your suggestions more consideration before shutting them down”. You pant out your apology, out of breath from running after him. “Sorry for wasting our time yesterday and speaking thoughtlessly to you”.

“It’s alright. I shouldn’t have snapped at you first, I’m in the wrong too,” Mingyu says, reciprocating your apology.

“Apology accepted. Can we get along properly and cooperate with each other from now on, at least until our project is over? I know both of us have been in competition for top grades ever since sec 1, but both our GPAs are on the line here. If we want to do well, we must work together,” you request, reaching out your hand to offer him a true truce this time.

Mingyu’s eyes glaze over with a thoughtful expression as he processes your words. For a moment you worried that he would let his ego get in the way and reject your proposition. “I agree with you. I don’t think any of us want to be retained, so let’s call a truce, at least until this project is over,” he answers, shaking your hand firmly.

“Good. Well then, I guess we can get to work on this project again. Since you offered your house last time round, shall we go to mine today?” you suggest. "It's not that far from here, just a few bus stops away".

"That'd be great. The last time you were over, we squabbled so much, my mum was worried we'd get a noise complaint from the neighbours," he chuckles, and to your surprise you find it in yourself to get out a small laugh in response.

"No more of that this time," you laugh. "Okay, after school today let's meet at the coffee shop nearby, I'd like to get coffee first".

"Okay. See you then!" Mingyu shoots you a small smile and a wave, and walks away.

He’s actually pretty nice when he’s not in his competitive mode, you think to yourself, happy that for once, you were able to talk to Mingyu in a much friendlier manner than usual, with no hateful or malicious undertones.

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

Mingyu: y/n

Mingyu: I'll be a bit late, Ms Lim wants to speak to me

Mingyu: sorry about it! you can buy your coffee first

Upon reaching the coffee shop, you open your phone to receive these three notifications from Mingyu, informing you that he wouldn't be able to make it on time.

You: no problem! would you like something too?

You figured you'd try to do something nice for him this time to make up for the last argument you'd both had. Besides, he did offer you a drink when you went to his house the other day, so one good turn deserves another.

Mingyu: yes please, I'll pay you later

You: alright, what would you like?

Five minutes goes by with no reply from Mingyu. Oh well, you'd take your chances with his order. He probably was already speaking to Ms Lim and wouldn't be able to reply to you for a while.

Making your way to the counter, you prepare to place your order. "Hi, can I have…" you tell the barista your order, before hesitating over Mingyu's order. What does he like?

You end up ordering him an iced Americano. Just as you collect your orders, Mingyu comes running in, panting heavily. "Y/n! I'm sorry I'm late".

"No problem. In fact, you seem a bit too excited to work on a project with your rival," you joke, completely missing the way his cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink.

"I mean, it wouldn't be nice to keep you waiting," he reasons.

"By the way, you didn't tell me what you wanted, so I got you an iced Americano," you inform, passing him the drink.

Mingyu takes the drink from you gratefully and sips on it. "Thanks y/n! How did you know I like this?" he asks, surprise crossing his features.

"I've seen you bring this into the lecture hall so many times, and I may have overheard Junhui joking about your Americano addiction yesterday," you explain, motioning to him to follow you. "Anyway, let's get going".

You both board the bus to your house and settle in the living room to do research. "I think that instead of trying to settle on one dish at once, we can just do our research today and make a list of possible dishes. After we come to a decision, we can get round to thinking of ways to make it healthier and drafting our report. Next we'll make a list of ingredients and possible equipment we'll need, edit our report, and try to find ways to make our practical session as efficient as possible. Sound good to you?” Mingyu fleshes out his plan to you.

You’ve got to give credit where credit is due, it was impressive that Mingyu was able to think up a sensible plan so quickly. “I guess we can do that. I’ll make a google document for us to list down our ideas, and then we can start doing our research”.

With that, both of you get down to doing the research again, listing out possible dishes as you go. “Jeez, there’s so many options. Now I understand why we had such a hard time picking the last time,” Mingyu mutters, scrolling through the document for what seems to be the millionth time.

You’re not having an easier time as well, simply staring blankly at the document on your computer while struggling to come to a conclusion. “Me too. I don’t know how we’re going to pick,” you grumble. At that moment, an idea hits you. “Why don’t we pick a dish that’s seemingly innocent and healthy, but is actually the opposite?”

“I was thinking of that too,” Mingyu agrees, considering all the options again. “In that case, it would probably be chicken rice? I mean, it’s rice, chicken, and cucumbers, which would be healthy in most cases, but in this dish the rice is swimming in chicken fat”.

“You’re right!” you exclaim, smacking your hand on the table in excitement as you swivel your head towards him. “Okay, let’s do chicken rice then. When shall we meet next to do our nutrient analyses?”

Mingyu swipes through his phone, looking at his schedule. “My next available day would be Friday after school, right after our practical session. Would that be okay? We can go to my house this time”.

You nod, approving the suggested date and noting it down in your own phone. “That’s fine by me. Okay, I guess that’s settled. See you on Friday”.

“We’ll be seeing each other tomorrow for class. Did you forget?” Mingyu points out, bursting into laughter at your expression of sudden realisation. “So I’ll see you tomorrow,” Mingyu chuckles, picking up his bag and preparing to leave.

“You’re right. Bye then, see you tomorrow,” you chuckle as Mingyu exits your house, pleasantly surprised at how well both of you were able to get along once you both put all forms of competition aside, and simply treated each other with respect and kindness. You hoped above all else, your future interactions with him would be more like today’s meeting, rather than all the other times that both of you ended up fighting like cat and dog.

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

“So…what I’m gathering here is, chicken rice is a great source of protein, but too high in fat, especially saturated fat, and lacking in fiber,” you mumble, looking through the information you and Mingyu had compiled in the google document. “So we should find ways to reduce the fat content and boost the fiber content of this dish”.

“In terms of micronutrients, it’s sorely lacking in vitamins A, C, D, E and K, and has sky-high sodium levels, which we should work to bring down,” Mingyu concludes, looking through the nutrient analysis you’d both done together. “I’m thinking of adding more cucumber slices, which are rich in vitamin B, C and K, as well as some tomato because they’re an excellent source of vitamins A, C, E and K. In addition, we could add in mushroom slices to boost the vitamin D content,” he adds, getting the ball rolling on your discussion by throwing in the first few ideas.

“Those are great ideas!” You give Mingyu a genuine compliment, and add your own ideas as well. “Boosting the fiber content won’t be much of a problem — switching the white rice for brown rice and adding more vegetables as you’ve suggested should do the trick. It will be tricky to get the brown rice to have that nice, fluffy texture, but it should be doable. As for the fat content, most of it comes from the chicken fat that’s used to cook the rice, which is what gives the rice its delicious flavour. So the challenge here is to find a way to find a substitute for the chicken fat so the rice retains its signature flavour,” you muse, hard at work thinking of ways to do as you just said. “What if we steam the rice with chicken stock?”

“The sodium content is a concern, though,” Mingyu points out.

“Many supermarkets offer low-sodium varieties now,” you remind him. “We can always just look for one”.

“Mm, that’s true,” Mingyu grunts, signalling his approval. “Should we just take these ideas for now and begin working on our report? If we have any other ideas we can always add them in later,” he suggests.

With that, both of you get busy, drafting out your report and working on the nutrient analysis for the improved version of the dish together. Though it takes about two hours, both of you eventually get it done as you put your heads together. After that comes the task of compiling a shopping list, which you’d have to send to the professor so that the school could help you buy the ingredients you’d need.

“Brown rice, chicken, chicken stock, cucumber…” you read off the list you’ve both compiled so far. “Anything we missed out?”

“Wait! We forgot to specify that we need a low-sodium type of stock,” Mingyu exclaims, jumping in to correct the minor mistake on the list and scanning through it again. “Okay, this should be it. We can send it to professor Lim now,” he decides, and presses “send” on the email. “Now we can split the work for the actual practical session. It’s actually not that hard to cook — what if we just chop up the vegetables and prepare the seasoning together?”

“Sounds good to me,” you utter. It’s in times like these you’re grateful for Mingyu’s natural leadership skills, it definitely helped both of you get things done in a more organised way.

“Okay then, we’re done for today”.

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

“Alright class, as all of you know, today we’re here to create the dishes you've picked for your year end project in your pairs. You have two and a half hours to complete your dishes. After the time's up, I'll sample your dishes and evaluate them accordingly. Don't forget to submit the final draft of your reports by the end of today".

You're back in the polytechnic kitchen with Mingyu, listening to Ms Lim prattle on about instructions which the whole class already knew about. Nevertheless, you and Mingyu still give her your full attention, worried that you'll miss out on some important instructions. After all, this project would contribute to your final grade for the year – none of you wanted to mess it up.

"Your time starts now, you may begin". Upon hearing that sentence, you and Mingyu spring into action, with you preparing the chicken while Mingyu slices up ginger and grates garlic and shallot. Once the chicken is safely in the pot of boiling water with the seasonings, it's your turn to chop up the vegetables while Mingyu cooks the rice. As you're chopping up the vegetables, the tantalizing aroma of stir-fried ginger wafts into your nose, signalling to you that all was going well.

Or so you think.

Out of the blue, a sharp pain stings your finger, making you cry out in pain. Holding up your finger, you're greeted by the sight of a red patch that's about the size of a five-cent coin. In your carelessness, you'd cut your finger rather badly.

In a flash, you hear the stove go silent, and Mingyu's hands are no longer holding the spatula, but rather cupping your hands gently and examining the cut, expression of fierce concentration having softened into one of concern. "Quick, wash it," he instructs, guiding you to the sink and turning on the tap, letting you wash the cut under the running water. "Ms Lim! May I bring y/n to the nurse? She's cut herself!" he calls out, raising his hand to get the teacher's attention.

"Go ahead, I'll give you both extra time. Y/n, be careful next time". Ms Lim gives you both the green light, and Mingyu hurriedly brings you out of the kitchen and to the general office.

"Oh snap, the nurse isn't in," Mingyu groans under his breath as he passes by the empty sick bay. "Nevermind".

He sits you down on a chair, before rummaging through the cupboard where the nurse kept her supplies and pulling out some cotton balls and a bottle of antiseptic. Pouring out some antiseptic onto a cotton ball, he gently dabs at your wound. "It may sting," he warns.

But you barely feel it. You're more distracted by your surprise at the genuine worry he showed when you'd cut yourself, as well as the sensation of electric sparks coursing through your whole being with every swipe of the cotton ball he made on your finger.

Electric waves continue to flow through you, and your pulse rate quickens the slightest bit as Mingyu maintains his firm grip on your finger while looking through a drawer for a plaster. Unwrapping it, he quickly wraps it around your wound. "All done. Jeez, be careful y/n! That was a nasty cut!" He exclaims, gently running his thumb over the wound, which was now nicely bandaged up.

"I will. T-thanks, Gyu". You mentally slap yourself as you catch the tiny stutter that slipped out of your mouth.

Mingyu raises his eyebrow at you, and his lips curve into a smirk. "Gyu? A week ago we were at each other's throats like there was no tomorrow, and now you're calling me by a nickname that only my close friends use on me?"

Shit.

You definitely did not intend for that to happen.

"What? You got a problem with that?" You reply with the boldest tone you can muster to cover up your flustered state.

Mingyu shrugs as if nothing happened earlier. "Nope. Just surprised. Continue calling me that if you want. Anyway, we should really get going – we've still got a dish to cook," he decides, switching the light off and making his way back to the kitchen with you.

Luckily the rest of the cooking session goes on without a hitch, and you both successfully complete preparing the chicken rice, all within the original amount of time the teacher had given the class. When she began inspecting each pair's work, thick tension was palpable in the air. "I feel like we're on an episode of Hell's Kitchen, with Ms Lim as Gordon Ramsay," you mutter to Mingyu.

Mingyu chortles in response. "That's actually a great comparison".

Both of you are stiff as boards when Ms Lim's shadow falls on your workbench, thanks to the apprehension that is plaguing you both. She scruntinises the food in front of both of you, then picks up the utensils you put beside the plate and proceeds to sample each component of the dish, starting with the rice, the chicken, and finally the vegetables.

With bated breath, you watch as her expression softens into one of approval and begins making notes on her clipboard, and mutters a "good" before heading to the next table. Palpable relief washes over you, and you know Mingyu felt the same way as he lets out the breath he's been holding for God-knows-how-long, and the subtle frown on his face disappears from sight.

Little did you both know, a week later both your relief would become joy as Ms Lim announces that you and Mingyu's project had scored the highest in the class with a distinction, allowing him to maintain his solid 4.0 GPA and raising yours to a 3.9. A few weeks ago you would have given him a glare laced with venomous jealousy, but this time, for a reason you can't quite put your finger on, you're satisfied with your own GPA and finishing second in class – happy for Mingyu even.

"You're not mad or jealous?" Mingyu questions, audible suspicion in his tone after you congratulate him.

"Nope," you answer, popping the "p" as you firmly shake your head. "I mean, now that I think about it, second place isn't that bad. Hey, I still got a decent GPA and can move on to year 2".

"Funny you say this, because I know for a fact that if this happened a week ago you wouldn't have taken this so well". Mingyu points out as you're both leaving the school compounds. "Anyway, congratulations to you too! 3.9 is an amazing GPA as well". He finishes his sentence by offering you a handshake, which you gladly accept while trying to ignore the mild frenzy of butterflies in your stomach.

Outside the school gate, the sight of a shimmering pastel rainbow greets both of you, as if to signal that the animosity and hostility between you and Mingyu had been dissolved and replaced with genuine friendliness and harmony, just like how storm clouds clear to make way for rainbows. Looking up at the rainbow, a happy, warm feeling filled your heart, so much so that you felt like it would spill out of you.

⋆*̣̥☆·͙̥‧❄•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙☃˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥❄‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

After the project, though you and Mingyu remained friendly with each other, you both didn’t interact much, aside from a few comments on each others’ instagram posts.

Hence why it came as a surprise when Mingyu slid into your instagram DMs with this message one day:

Gyu: hey y/n! would you like to come to my house on the 24th for a Christmas potluck dinner party? it’s for all the fn course students!

y/n: sure! I think i can make it

Gyu: alright that’s great, thank you!

You chuckle as you shut off your phone, thinking back to last year when Mingyu hosted a post-exams party for your whole class. You had also gotten the invite, but because you and Mingyu had such bad blood between both of you, he had refused to personally invite you, opting instead to relay the message to Minho who sent you the details of the party. This was really the first time he’d personally invited you to any class gatherings, a sign that your relationship had improved significantly.

A potluck dinner filled with food and nutrition course students can only mean one thing — every single course will be mouth-wateringly delicious, while not compromising on nutrition. From the air-fryer chicken you’d prepared, to Minho’s greek pasta salad, to Kun’s steamed fish, everything was tasty and healthy — truly a gastronomical heaven.

But the most unique dish of all would’ve been Mingyu’s fortune cookies. They would have been rather ordinary, if not for the fact that he’d infused them with peppermint flavour and stuffed each cookie with Christmas messages he’d handwritten. If there was one thing the whole class was in agreement on, it was that Mingyu’s fortune cookies were the sweetest thing at the party, both taste-wise and thought-wise. You'd already eaten a couple of them and uncovered messages wishing you a Christmas filled with light and love.

"Ha! Slowpoke!" you announce gleefully, gathering up the remaining Halli-Galli cards as Kevin groans.

“Damn, I was hoping to beat her winning streak,” he huffs, though a smile still remains on his face to indicate he wasn’t being a sore loser. “Let’s rematch!” he declares, shuffling the cards again.

“Um actually, I wanted to steal y/n aside for a moment, if that’s alright”. Mingyu’s voice sounds from behind, startling you slightly.

“No problem! You guys go ahead without me,” you answer, excusing yourself from the group and following Mingyu into his kitchen, with their arguments about who will win the next round fading into the background along with the Christmas music.

“I wanted to tell you something, but before I do, please have this,” Mingyu whispers, handing you a fortune cookie. Thanks to the dim light entering from the living hall, you’re able to pick up on the slight tint of pink on his cheeks.

Biting into the cookie, you remove the piece of paper from the inside and unfurl it, squinting as you try to make out the words. y/n, I really like you a lot. This Christmas, would you be mine? ♡

As you read the note, you feel as if the butterflies in your stomach are having their own Christmas party in full swing as well. You look up at Mingyu, mouth slightly agape as you’re still processing the words that he’d written.

“Actually y/n…I’ve liked you since secondary one, when we were in the same class. You were constantly topping the cohort in so many subjects, and you were acing all of the cello competitions you represented the school in. I was in awe of how smart you were, not just academically but musically as well, and I found that so attractive — though I admit I was always slightly envious of you. I thought that I should learn from you if I wanted to pull up my own grades. But when I came to ask you for help with Mathematics homework, I think you were having a bad day, which caused you to lose your cool with me and tell me to figure out the question myself, and I snapped back at you in response. It fuelled my jealousy even further, and I began competing with you all the time, which pretty much kickstarted our long-lasting feud,” Mingyu explains while shifting his weight from foot to foot, the words tumbling out of his mouth so quickly that you could barely make sense of what he was saying. “Even though you’ve been my supposed rival since secondary school, I’ve had a crush on you throughout. But I suppose I felt that there wasn’t any way to fix things between us, since we were constantly at war with each other over grades and shit. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have flung those harsh words at you that day”.

The memory of that first interaction you ever had with Mingyu replays in your head as you try to put yourself in his shoes. If someone you asked for help had lashed out at you for not understanding a question in front of the whole class, you’d be wishing the ground could swallow you. Yes, maybe he shouldn’t have retaliated so fiercely, but you shouldn’t have let your negative feelings take control of you that day as well and just offered him the assistance he needed — maybe then you’d both have had a much more pleasant relationship for the past four years you’d known each other.

“Oh, Gyu, I’m so sorry. I really was having a bad day then, but it wasn’t an excuse to lash out at you when you simply asked me for help with a question. I’m sorry for causing you so much embarrassment back then,” you offer Mingyu a sincere apology. “And I have to admit, I looked up to you a lot as well. You did a great job as the class chairperson, through the ways you maintained order in class, settled class disputes and also brought everyone together. I was also amazed at how you never forgot to check in on everyone from time to time, and how you showed such genuine care for any struggling classmate in any way you could, even if you were bogged down by your own school work. I was slightly jealous of your leadership capabilities and how the teachers found you so trustworthy, but I thought that those qualities made you very attractive”. Taking one of his hands in yours, you continue to speak. “Don’t worry. It’s not too late. I think I’ve always harboured feelings for you, even throughout our time as academic rivals, and those feelings haven’t faded after we began getting along — if anything, they’ve only grown”. You catch the way his eyes crinkle into an adorable eye smile, and you feel your heart rate begin accelerating.

“Really? So…I take that as a yes?” Mingyu asks, gesturing to the slightly crumpled note that’s still in your hand.

“I mean…since we’ve both had feelings for each other for so long, why not?” you reason, a shy giggle escaping your lips. “Of course, we shouldn’t rush into things given the previous tension between us, but we could always see where things go. If we’re both happy, I would really love to be with you”.

Mingyu immediately pulls you into a bear hug, pressing a quick peck to your cheek. “Of course, y/n. I’m so glad you’re willing to give us a chance”.

Both of you remain like this for a few moments, soaking up the warmth of each others’ embrace. You marvel about how one single polytechnic year-end project had not only dissolved the tension between you and your previous rival, but also given you your first taste of love, one so sweet that even Jaehyun’s air fryer peach pies could never come close.

“Noooo! I was hoping they’d kiss!” A whine from Jeonghan suddenly punctuates the air, and you turn your head around in surprise.

“Gosh dammit, you idiot! You ruined their moment!” Minghao scolds, smacking Jeonghan on the head gently.

“Hey hey, be nice now,” Kun chides them both gently, but you see that he’s giving the both of you a happy smile. “Congratulations, y/n and Mingyu”.

“Thank you, Kun,” Mingyu replies, returning the smile. “Wait- why’s the whole class here?”

“Um so…I may or may not have been a bit of a big mouth and told all of them about your plan to confess to y/n”. Junhui blurts out in a tiny voice, but Mingyu picks up on it, and before you know it he’s torn himself out of your hold and is dashing out of the kitchen, to the amusement of all of you.

“WEN JUNHUI I’M GONNA FREAKING DEEP FRY YOU!”

526 notes · View notes

itzsana-kiddingmenow · 10 months

Note

May I ask a Lee! Know and Ler! Hyunjin- bro is tired of the airfryer and being stuffed with tissues 😂

Air Fryer:

𝒍𝒆𝒆: Know

𝒍𝒆𝒓: Hyunjin

𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘢 𝘪 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨! 💗🧋

𝕥𝕒𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥: @someone-who-loves-kpop-saranghae @jeonginsdiary @leeknowstan33@v--143@wereallgonnadieonedaybutnottoday@inkytornpages@lajanaa

“180 degrees! 20 minutes!” Lee Know screeched when Hyunjin cackled again, holding Soonie captive.

“Gimme my cat back! You’re a DOG person!” Minho squealed when Hyune bounced Soonie up and down, almost dropping the flailing cat every time.

“I’m tired of the air fryer, hyung!” Hyunjin shrieked when Minho lunged at him, and he bounded away, laughing yet again.

“Soonie! Come here!” Lino tried to bait his cat back to him, but turns out Soonie found that Hyunjin’s arms were a good place for a nap.

“Awe look! Looks like he likes me better-” Hyunjim giggled at Lee Know’s desperate look, screeching when the older finally managed to catch him around the waist.

Lino immediately slammed Hyune onto the couch, knocking Soonie off, and the cat ran away.

Hyunjin immediately caught Minho’s wrists, suddenly overpowering the older and managing to pin him instead.

The wrestle continued for a while, until Hyune decided to play dirty and squeezed at the older’s sides.

“AI-ahaha hyuhuhunjihin!” Minho batted at Hyune’s hands.

“You brought this on yourself, hyung.” Hyunjin shrugged as he continued to tickle the cat dad’s [mom’s] torso.

“hahaha hyuhuhunjihihin plehehease!” Lino whined, throwing his head back from the ticklish heaven torture.

Hyunjin said nothing, just continuing to tickle his hyung with a wide smile on his face.

Minho bucked and squirmed as much as he could, the light tickling becoming unbearable.

However, his sweet giggles continued to bounce off the walls in the room, giving the area an aura of warmth.

“Want me to go harder?” Hyune asked after a while. He had a feeling that the older was enjoying this.

“please”

Hyunjin grinned. He was so right.

“So cute hyung! You’re like a cat. You looove your belly rubs~”

Hyunjin stuck his fingers into Minho’s armpits, earning a loud scream and a pair of clamped arms.

“NAHAHA HYUNJIN!”

Lino flopped around like a fish on the bed, cackling his head off.

Hyune just smiled fondly at his adorable hyung. He could tell Minho was enjoying this very much.

He scribbled over Minho’s collarbone, eliciting strained peals of laughter. So, the older was still trying to hold it in…that would be fixed soon enough.

Hyune scanned Lino’s body, looking for a new target. He adjusted his position so that his knees were holding Lee Know’s apart.

Minho panted, catching his breath, he didn’t realize Hyunjin’s diabolical plan until it was too late.

Fingers attacked in the inner part of his thighs, and that’s when Lino broke.

Hysterical laughter flowed out of his mouth like a waterfall, natural and beautiful.

Minho tried his hardest to close his legs, but Hyunjin’s legs made that impossible long ago.

“HYUN-HYUHUHUNJIN! NAHAHAHAT THEHEHERE! PLEHEHEHEASEEE!” Minho shook his head and his cheeks reddened in embarrassment from the sheer volume of his laughter.

“You just love this sooo much, don’t you, hyung?~” Hyunjin teased, loving the way Minho laughed louder and tried to curl in on himself.

Hyune vibrated his fingers into Minho’s v-line, and that was enough to drive the older mad.

“HYAAAAA! HYUNJIN-HAHAHA! IHIHIHIT’S SOHOHO BAHAHAHA-” And just like that, Lino’s voice was gone.

He flip-flopped around the couch, Hyunjin smiling and digging deeper, which only elicited another ticklish screech.

Finally, Hyunjin let up, giggling at the older as he let out a few more residual giggles and the cutest smile ever.

“You. Are wayyy too cute.” Hyunjin squeezed Minho’s cheeks afterwards.

“He is, isn’t he?” The spectator for the entire scene commented.

“FELIX!”

i hope you enjoyed! please check my intro post before interacting! love ya! 💕💗💖

#kpop tickle #midzywannabeitzy #stray kids #skz tickle #skz

66 notes · View notes

lixiesfreckless · 10 months

Text

Burn It | l. m.

the last installment to Punch It, a fic from the PICU

➸ synopsis: The Golden Tire Cup semifinals is today, and Minho has the opportunity to get the Wolfgang Street Racing club to the finals for the first time in four years.

Hopefully with you by his side, he'll be able to make it into the top two.

➸ starring: lee minho x female reader(ft. idols from jypnation, smtown, hybe, kq, everywhere, I went a bit crazy)

➸ word count: 3.6k words

➸ general content: streetracer!minho, very very dangerous street racing(do not attempt to do any of this, no matter how tempting it may be), a stupid amount of cameos, one somewhat misogynistic background character, gearhead culture

➸ warnings: alcohol consumption, swearing, a mild car wreck

➸ rating: teen+

➸ author's note: this is(should be) the final official installment to the picu! imagine punch it, floor it, and burn it as one continuous timeline, with the ending being this chapter. do I have a favorite? no, not after writing this chapter.

♫ this fic has a soundtrack! you don't need to listen to it while reading(especially if the lyrics will bother you), but it's a street racing tournament for crying out loud. do yourself a favor and listen to these epic vibes.

yes, it's meant to be listened to in that order(starting from Deja Vu). shuffling it will result in Minho cramming you into an air fryer for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

♫- Deja Vu

You feel the refreshing spray of hose water on your bare back, soaking your black bikini top for the fourth time this evening.

Whipping around, you find Minho rinsing off the back of his car, free hand stuffed into his pocket as he whistles and avoids eye contact.

He’s hit with a soapy sponge, square on the back of his black shirt.

“Hey!” He ditches the hose, deciding to pause washing the vehicle in favor of chasing you around the bumper.

The Wolfgang racing club had gathered at Changbin’s house for the annual Golden-Tire-Cup-and-car-show-preparation-party, detailing and fixing cars as needed before it’s time for the race, which takes place in the California desert shortly after sundown. Members were littered across the lawn and garage, replacing rims, tightening brakes, and avoiding Minho, who had taken a liking to spraying anyone that came close to his ride.

“Yo Min, I love what you did with the brakes!” Jisung points and yells to him, twirling and fumbling a ratchet wrench as he runs into the garage, kneeling to meet Seungmin who slides out from under someone’s car on a skateboard.

“What did you do to them?” You ask, cocking your head to the side and crossing your arms.

“Oh, I painted them red to match,” he says nonchalantly, the only sign of something strange being the pink dusting his cheeks.

“Match…match what? There’s no red on your car-”

No, but your whole car is red.

A slow smile spreads across your face as you walk around the hood of the car, and Minho only looks up at you right before you lean in and plant a kiss on his cheek. He smiles as you step back, sighing and admiring your teamwork.

The 1993 Toyota MR2 glistens in the late afternoon sun, not a single scratch or scuff mark streaking the ebony shell. Minho doesn’t think the car has been this clean since he first got the keys.

“You nervous at all?”

“Me? Nervous?” He scoffs and waves you off, and then worry creases his features as he drops the act. “...a little. We haven’t made it this far in years.”

“Yeah, but…” you say, pulling him in to wrap your arms around his half-soaked waist, “for the best racer in the city, I think it’s manageable.”

“Laying it on thick, are we?”

“Better take advantage of it while you can,” you giggle, and he rolls his eyes before leaning down.

Suddenly, a set of loud engines cut into the air as they fly around the block corner, cars rumbling and thundering as they slow down and approach Changbin’s house. A modified black vintage Mustang jerks to a stop in the driveway, and then the door flies open, a slender man with long skunk-stripe hair stepping out onto the hot pavement. A leather jacket with the word Guerillaz across the back sits draped on his shoulders as he closes the car door behind him, and other men start leaving their respective cars.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what did I miss?” The man says, tilting down his sunglasses and smirking at the two of you, still holding each other. You take the hose from Minho and aim it at him, spraying a stream of water and sending him into a fit of shrieks as he holds up his team jacket as a shield.

“Look what the scaredy cat dragged in,” Changbin taunts from the garage, before ditching his work gloves and crossing the lawn to meet the unexpected intruder.

Wooyoung catches Changbin in a hug, elated to see his old teammate after so long.

He used to be a part of the Wolfgang racing club before he moved up the coast to Sacramento– but since he couldn’t keep his hands away from the wheel, he ended up making his own club, one that ended up driving back down to team with Wolfgang to win the Kingdom Cup a year later.

They only come back down twice a year; once for the Christmas car show, and again in the summer for the Golden Tire Cup Championship.

Wooyoung lets go of him, nodding towards Minho as he takes off his sunglasses.

“Semifinals, huh?” He says, looking at him in awe. “You must have gotten a lot better since I last saw you.”

“My teacher was alright,” he sighs and shrugs, and you spray his face and walk off, leaving him dripping wet in favor of going to find Yeji.

“Now that, I did not see coming,” San whispers, dapping up Hyunjin as he approaches the latter’s Supra, now painted red to match his hair. “The last time I saw them, they hated each other.”

“Wouldn’t you feel the same way if you met your match?” Ryujin pipes up from the ground, tightening the nut on a wheel. “They both thought they were the best before Minho won Changbin’s car.”

“Minho did what?” He asks, eyes turning to saucers.

“Dude, let me tell you about what happened last summer…”

‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧ ♫- Hall of Fame ‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧

Night is falling in the desert, but it’s never looked more awake.

Rows upon rows of cars line up on the dry earth, and photographers and gearheads alike gawk at the automobiles, snapping endless amounts of pictures and videos with their devices.

Further down the track a stage is set up, with some DJ working a growing crowd as they sip on whatever they can get their hands on.

You’re at the edge of the car show with Yeji, helping her ward off condescending men with boring car questions. Surely they must know that car enthusiasts don’t all have to be male.

Another one saunters up to the two of you, sizing you up with a stare that lingers just a little too long at your exposed midriff.

“And this is your car?” he asks, and in favor of keeping your team from being disqualified, you keep your arms folded tight against your chest.

“Yes, it’s-” Yeji stops you with a raised hand, looking up from inspecting her manicure and staring him dead in the eyes.

“It’s my 608 horsepower V8 engine 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder, why do you ask?” She asks sweetly, smiling and batting her eyelashes at him. He narrows his eyes and reluctantly walks away, realizing this wasn’t a fight he could win.

“Nice one,” you chuckle, right as your phone rings in your team jacket. You check the time and answer it, noting that it’s just after 8 pm before speaking.

“Hello?”

“Your boyfriend says to ‘get your ass over here’. The race is about to start,” Lia says, half drowned out by the crowd you’re sure is swarming there by now. You look at Yeji, who waves you off with a shake of her head.

“I think I can fend for myself,” she whispers, and you nod in response.

“I’ll be there in two minutes.”

‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧

You hear bets being made and taunts being thrown as you push your way through the crowd, making your way to the start of the track. Four cars of different makes, models, and colors sit at the starting line, with members of their respective teams standing near each one, buzzing with anticipation.

After showing the back of your jacket you get let onto the track, where at least half of your gang circles Minho, giving him some last words of advice and encouragement.

“Remember, the gas is on the right and the brakes are on the left,” Felix jokes.

“Oh oh, and your seatbelt,” Jeongin joins in, egging him on, “don’t wanna break the law, now do we?”

“Alright alright, knock it off you two,” Changbin laughs, then looks to the team’s resident mechanic.

Chan is silent for a moment, then puts a hand on Minho’s shoulder.

“You’ve got this,” he says quietly, and the team nods in agreement. “Be safe.”

You push your way into the circle, and Chan smiles at you before gesturing to everyone else.

“Let’s give them some space, yeah?” he says, and the group disperses, wishing safety and slapping Minho on the back before exiting the track.

The man of the hour turns to you as you step up to him, the shouts of the crowd fading into the background as you meet his eyes.

“How are you doing,” you whisper, flicking some sand off of his team jacket. He looks out at the crowd, drawing in a deep breath before looking down at you again.

“I’m scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“Of losing,” he admits, running a hand through his black locks. “I don’t want to let everyone down, we’ve come so far-”

“Because of you, Minho,” you interrupt, pushing a pointed finger against his chest. “We only got this far because of you. We’ll be proud no matter what trophy you take home.”

The creases in his forehead ease at your words, and you take his gloved hand into yours.

“You’re not here to be the best; we already know you are,” you remind him, smiling. “You’re here to have fun. Winning would just be a nice bonus.”

“Oh yeah? And what happens if I win?” He grins, pulling your hand a bit closer as you chuckle at his forwardness.

“I can think of a couple things-”

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE TENTH ANNUAL GOLDEN TIRE CUP SEMIFINALS!”

The voice of the announcer booms over the speakers as a tall man with a silver microphone enters the track. You quickly leave a kiss against Minho’s cheek, then lean over to his ear.

“Come back to me in one piece,” you whisper, then squeeze his hand and run off the track.

“WE HAVE QUITE THE LINEUP FOR YOU TODAY, SO LET'S HEAR IT FOR OUR RACERS!”

The crowd erupts into cheers as each racer stands in front of their car, awaiting their introduction.

“FROM THE P1ECE PEDAL PUSHERS, HWANG INTAK!”

A guy with curly brown hair waves at the crowd, blowing kisses and causing several girls pushed up against the barricade to faint.

“FROM THE BLUE FLAMES, NAKAMURA KAZUHA!”

A Japanese chick with sick looking sunglasses does a small curtsy, and you scream along with the crowd, always excited to see other women excited about racing.

“FROM THE NEVER CRASHING TIRES, LEE JENO!”

A guy with snow white hair spells out his team’s acronym with his hands before waving, and you can hear his team start chanting from down the track.

“AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, FROM THE WOLFGANG, LEE MINHO!”

You and the gang howl as loud as you can as Minho turns around and points to his back, showing off the detailed wolf design on the back of his team leather jacket.

The four racers shake hands with each other before each getting into their cars, waving one last time at the crowd before shutting the doors.

‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧ ♫- Turn Back Time ‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧

If Minho really thinks about it, all races are the same.

The announcer had gone over the rules, and despite this not being his first race by a long shot, he assumes that anyone would have been able to guess them.

Three laps around the track.

No shortcuts.

Start at the sound of the gun.

Unlike NASCAR, foul play technically is allowed, but none of the teams that made it to the semifinals made it by playing dirty. It felt too much like cheating. That, and no one wanted to scratch their nice cars for a trophy if they didn’t have to.

Minho grips the wheel and closes his eyes as a girl wearing next to nothing struts out to the middle of the track, holding an air gun in her gloved hand.

Slowly, the sounds of the crowd roaring and his opponents cheekily revving their engines fade into the background, the world around him becoming more still as he goes to his happy place.

He opens his eyes again and he’s back, back in the passenger seat with you holding the steering wheel.

“What are you waiting for?” you say, giving him an annoyed side eye.

“Aren’t you going to tell me when to go?”

“Okay, go.”

“What-”

BANG!

“Go!”

Minho breaks out of his reverie and floors it, the racers doing the same as the crowd screams in delight.

“AND THEY’RE OFF!” The announcer booms, standing in a tower on the other side of the starting line as a black haired girl next to him waves a giant checkered flag. The cars zoom forward, getting smaller and smaller as they tear down the track. A tiny drone follows them, becoming a tiny red light flashing in the distance.

Minho grins, falling into the rhythm of upshifting like it’s an old song he loves.

The P1ECE’s car takes the lead, narrowly cutting corners while NCT’s car stays hot on its trail, not letting it get a lead. The Wolfgang’s car gives them their space as Blue Flame’s car stays next to it, hugging the inside of every curve.

One lap down, and Minho is cruising in third place as the cars zip past the finish line.

“IT REALLY IS ANYONE’S GAME FOLKS…”

Silently, you say a prayer as the cars disappear from view, the crowd going insane around you and your gang.

Inside the car, Minho is having a ball, treating the desert track as his own personal time trial as he and the others burn rubber, trading places around every turn.

He lets Kazuha’s car pass him as he eases up on the gas, enough to let her gain a small lead.

“What is he doing?!” An angry man yells, gripping onto the barrier as the cars fly past the start again, signaling the final lap. You assume he has money on the line as you smirk, knowing Minho’s real strategy.

“THERE GO THE RACERS AND- HOLD UP- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, DO WE HAVE A DRIFT RACER?!”

The crowd becomes uncontrollable as they hear the announcer, seeing a small cloud of smoke go up from the edge of the track as Minho drifts around the first turn, not slowing down.

“That’s my boyfriend!” You point and scream, barely keeping yourself behind the barrier.

Minho spins the wheel left and right, howling inside of his car as it slides around every curve, leaving a smoky trail behind it. Threatened, the other racers speed up, attempting to widen the gap between him and them, but he’s gaining ground way too quickly.

He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face if he wanted to. He’s having too much fun.

He hardly realizes there’s only thirty seconds left between him and the GT Cup Finale.

And then, on the final turn, the unthinkable happens.

Jeno’s car pulls away as something under Kazuha’s car explodes, and then starts smoking.

Minho watches as her car drifts into Intak’s, making them both turn sideways and start to block the inside of the turn.

Heart dropping, he realizes he won’t be able to clear the turn.

“Are you not going to slow down?!” He yells, frightened at the calmness in your voice.

“Why would I do that-”

“To keep us ALIVE?!” He screams, grabbing onto the middle console. “Because that’s how you handle turns?!”

No.

“This is how you handle a turn,” Minho whispers, and then taps on the break and spins his steering wheel to the right.

Up ahead, you feel yourself going lightheaded as you see the smoke start to build, blocking the rest of the track from view. Only the neon green NCT car was visible, blazing towards the finish line.

Next to you, Hyunjin goes pale, and you grip onto his arm, more to steady yourself than to comfort him as the crowd collectively holds their breath.

And then, the crowd explodes into cheers.

“RUN ME OVER AND CALL ME DINNER- WOLFGANG MAKES IT AROUND THE FINAL TURN!”

Minho flies around the corner, tires skidding against the ground while the car drifts before he steps on the gas again, emerging from the smoke. You scream, nearly shaking Hyunjin to death as you grip onto his jacket and watch the MR2 draw near to the finish line.

The girl next to the announcer wildly waves her checkered flag as the NCT car crosses the finish line, followed two seconds later by the Wolfgang car, before they both screech to a halt.

Minho throws the door open, nearly tripping over himself as he strains to see down the other end of the track, followed by Jeno.

A hush falls over the crowd as they wait in near silence, hoping to see anything other than smoke emerging from the two cars that fell behind.

In the red haze from their tail lights, one figure emerges.

Kazuha’s thumb shoots up from her body, carried in Intak’s arms as he walks them both towards the starting line.

“THEY’RE OKAY!” The announcer cheers, nearly dropping his binoculars as the crowd joins him.

Relieved, Minho's eyes search for yours before locking on them, barely having any time to react as you sprint across the track, and subsequently crash into him. The rest of the gang hops the barrier, whooping and hollering as they celebrate their finalist.

“I knew it, I knew you could do it,” you nearly sob, clutching onto his jacket.

“You saved my life,” he shudders, holding your shoulders tightly. “I would have crashed into them if you never taught me to drift.”

You don’t hesitate; you can’t. You throw your arms around his neck, pulling him in for the kiss he should have gotten before the race.

The crowd screams as he picks you up and spins the two of you, not caring one bit about who’s looking as he returns your embrace in earnest, smiling against your lips.

“GET A ROOM, WILL YOU?” The announcer laughs, walking up to the two of you and dragging Jeno with him. Minho chuckles and puts you down, and you catch a glimpse of the announcer’s mic, spelling Soobin in sparkly silver letters.

“EVERYONE, OUR GOLDEN TIRE CHAMPIONSHIP FINALISTS!”

Soobin takes Minho’s arm and raises it along with Jeno’s, and the crowd goes wild.

‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧ ♫- Be Free ‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧

slowlee: come to the kitchen rq

You read the text and swipe away the notification, slipping the phone back into your jacket pocket.

“Glad to hear that no one got seriously injured,” the man you were talking to says, stepping back onto his motorbike. “Typically for people like us, crashes end up being way less epic.”

“Well I'm glad you haven't gotten into any,” you jest, waving to him and his crew before they roll off the driveway, their silver hexagonal logos glinting off their jackets in the moonlight.

You turn and walk back up to Changbin’s house, alive and overflowing with guests as the afterparty is in full swing.

Making your way through the crowded house, you dap up Hongjoong and a tipsy Mingi, do a shot with Chaeryeong and Yuna, and slide into the kitchen right as Minho picks up a brown bottle, instantly meeting your gaze.

“EVERYONE!” Minho yells, pouring a shot of whiskey into his cup before pulling you to his side. You try and fail to keep a grin from landing on your face.

“I’d like to make a toast,” he announces, surveying the room of members and supporters turning to face him and grinning. “To this team, for making it to the finals after four years!”

Whoops and whistles fly around the room.

“To Changbin, for helping me keep his old car in top condition so I don’t die on the road!”

A crazy sounding laugh comes from the man holding baby Chun Ja, complete with a mini racer jacket and red binkie.

“And to the rightful owner of his car,” he lowers his voice, face softening as he looks down at you.

“Minho,” you whisper, eyes widening as you stare up at him in shock.

“I want them to know,” he whispers back, hand squeezing your waist.

“For beating my ass by seven seconds in our duel last year,” he continues, and you watch as several members around the room blink and look at each other in confusion. Yeji and Hyunjin’s eyebrows shoot up simultaneously, and your best friend’s eyes meet yours, equally shocked. “And teaching me that there’s no point in being the best, if you’re not having fun with it.”

The room erupts into cheers as Minho raises his solo cup, and everyone follows suit, cups rising all around the kitchen. “Next stop, the Golden Tire Cup Finals!”

“Shit, I’ll drink to that,” Wooyoung laughs, before everyone throws their shots back.

As the party quickly resumes, you’re swarmed by some of the girls in the gang, bombarded with questions about the legendary duel that decided the fate of the club’s leader. Amongst the chaos, you lock eyes with Minho, who’s getting slapped on the back by Hyunjin while some other members tease him.

He mouths three words to you, and you swear you feel your whole soul light on fire.

You giggle, flaming red as you mouth them back.

I love you too.

After all, you should have known that after acquiring your heart, there’s only one thing he could do.

Burn it.

‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧

Burn It

a lixiesfreckles_ production

cast(in order of appearance)

Lee Minho as the finalist

Han Jisung as the baby mechanic

Kim Seungmin as the only one working

Jung Wooyoung as the old teammate

Seo Changbin as the host

Choi San as the one that's figuratively late to the party

Hwang Hyunjin as the drama

Shin Ryujin as the pit crew

Hwang Yeji as the one who knows her shit

Lia as the messenger

Lee Felix as thing 1

Yang Jeongin as thing 2

Bang Chan as the experienced mechanic

Choi Soobin as the mc

Hwang Intak as the heartthrob hero

Nakamura Kazuha as the victim

Lee Jeno as the neo one

Kim Hongjoong as the designated driver

Song Mingi as the passenger princess

Lee Chaeryeong as party girl 1

Shin Yuna as party girl 2

dedicated to everyone who read Punch It and demanded a book afterwards. it's never gonna happen, but the flattery stayed with me.

#stray kids #stray kids fanfiction #skz #picu #lee know fanfic #lee minho fic #lee know #lee minho #lee minho fanfiction #stray kids imagines #stray kids ff #lee know x reader #lee minho x reader #Spotify

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