#wonwoo dark wallpapers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mikwrites-archive · 3 years

Text

tango in the night

♜ pairing: kim mingyu x reader ♜ warnings: death, suicide, swearing, guns, slight suggestiveness ♜ genre: apocalypse au, friends to lovers ♜ wc: 4.3k

♜ a/n: inspired by fleetwood mac’s song and the photos of mingyu from this hit performance bc WHEW - it turned out way longer than i expected and i ran past the image limit hence the weird dividers HWJBSJD ALSO every other part is a flashback so i hope its not confusing!! enjoy <33 (ps. i hope theres no mistakes bc im posting before i go to bed n im sleepyyy)

The sky is a hazy purple when Kim Mingyu reappears in your life.

There’s streaks of red on the horizon, like a bitter reminder of what it has taken to slowly heal, and something restless inside you is able to settle at the sight for a few moments as you look on from your porch.

You can tell it’s him the minute his figure solidifies past the sunflower field, but still, you rest your hand on the rifle warily. He doesn’t see you until he’s staring down your barrel, and he slows significantly.

“Stop right there.” Unwavering, you cock your rifle, aiming it straight at him.

“It’s me.” Mingyu blinks, halting, holding his hands up. He seems taller than you remember, honeyed skin curving over firm muscles.

“I know who you are.”

Kim Mingyu. You flash back to the moonlit night, tinted in deep blue and black, silver highlighting itself across his back like a sculptor’s pride. You shake yourself out of it quickly.

No use in dwelling over dreams held too closely to the heart.

“Take off your clothes.”

“Huh?” Mingyu’s features draw together confusedly, with a tinge of embarrassment.

“I need to make sure you’re not marked. It’s not like I haven’t seen you without them before.” You add on, unimpressed at his pace, and Mingyu reluctantly obliges.

“I would have enjoyed a nice candlelit dinner or something before this, didn’t know you were so possessive-”

“Oh, shut up.” You bite back a choked laugh that you hate being unable to control at his words, and Mingyu grins.

He’s got a new scar rippling across his shoulder as he turns slowly in a circle, and the others are committed to memory, traced under your fingertips more than enough.

“I think you trust me enough to know I don’t have a mark down there.” Mingyu smirks amusedly, eyes flicking down to his boxers.

You glare at him, letting your aim drop. He puts on his clothes methodically, tilting his head at you.

“You do remember that the sunflowers repel marked ones right?”

“Evolution is a sneaky bitch.” You sigh, leaning the rifle back against the rail, and Mingyu steps up the rickety porch, standing in front of you.

I missed you. You want to say. I’m glad you’re alive.

“Why are you here?”

“I dunno.” I wanted to see you if you still were here. “Nowhere else I could have gone.”

“Didn’t you know?” You crack a sarcastic grin. “We have the entire world at our fingertips.”

♜ ♜ ♜

The Apocalypse is expected.

You’re taught about it in school, the news broadcasting daily updates about another storm, another decrease in air quality, another hole in the atmosphere. The sky bled further to red every day, until you and Mingyu barely remembered its true colour.

The Virus, however, throws the world further into tempestuous chaos.

Till this day, no one knows exactly what bacteria, what symptoms, anything, except that a sickly circle mark appears somewhere on your skin.

With governments already crumbling, the disease made them shrink further within themselves, the upper class secluding themselves, and the lower succumbing, while the middle struggled, and you and Mingyu were the very latter.

Being next door neighbours, it was predetermined fate to be close friends with one another, walking home from school together, swapping lunches, and sharing secrets. Maybe even sharing a life, a love, a bond, unbreakable unless by death.

“It’s morning.” Mingyu comments, peering out the curtain, judging the light in the sky. Neither of you had slept since the announcement on the news that the Virus was now in your city.

“They’re not coming back.” You state flatly. Mingyu knew it as well, and only sighed. “They’re probably walking around downtown, not even knowing their own names.”

“They’re still our parents.” Mingyu argues weakly.

“Not anymore.”

Grim silence falls.

“Hey.” Mingyu cracks a hesitant smile, nudging you in the side. “Y’know what this means?”

Your wary stare doesn’t betray your curiosity, but Mingyu knows you.

“We have the entire world at our fingertips.”

Some kind of world, you think bitterly as you recall the memory. Yet Mingyu has a half smile on his face at your repeated words of the past, as if the world and your memories in it were meant to be savoured.

You supposed he was somewhat right.

The sky is healing back to blue and something inside you slowly begins to mend with Mingyu at your side.

♜ ♜ ♜

“You haven’t changed anything.”

“Of course not.”

Mingyu trails his fingertips along the walls. The wallpaper is peeling now, showing the bones of the structure that held too many memories to change. It felt disrespectful to shift anything, and cleaning the rooms even if they weren’t used, gave you something to do.

“Any word from the others lately?”

“I get letters from ‘Cheol, ‘Hannie, and ‘Shua. By pigeon. Can you believe it? Leave it to ‘Shua to tame pigeons in his spare time.” You snort, and Mingyu laughs at the image of Joshua with a pigeon. “They tell me about the other when they get news.”

“So no one else has visited?”

You shake your head.

“You’ve been alone?”

“I’m never alone.”

Mingyu swallows the lump in his throat. You don’t need to elaborate. He understands.

“I’m scared of forgetting them though.” You whisper. “Jun. Soonyoung. Seungkwan. Hansol. Chan.”

Junhui. No one knows where he is, except Minghao. He wanted it that way, whispering in soft Mandarin to his friend, and Minghao had disappeared for hours after Jun closed his eyes forever.

It was Minghao who pulled the trigger too, Jun pressing the pistol into his hand trustingly, the circle mark creeping out from under his t-shirt collar.

Soonyoung. He’s in the sunflower field, the one who had told you all about their repelling abilities. The sunflower boy, quiet yet exuberant, always facing the light.

He went too soon towards it, getting the group of you out of an abandoned mall populated with marked ones, deep gashes bloodying his clothes. His last breath was in Jeonghan’s arms, in the second bedroom of your house now.

Seungkwan and Hansol. All that you found of them was torn tie-dye cloth, and a battered navy cap, after they didn’t come back from looking for supplies. The last thing they had said to you, you remember clearly. A crooked smile, a breathless laugh. See you later.

Chan.

It was too soon to think about Chan.

♜ ♜ ♜

It was a week later when you both agreed to venture out of your house, and to go to the school. It was eerily quiet in your neighbourhood, the red from the atmosphere elongating the shadows.

The school is dark, and you barely make it two steps in when you encounter others.

“Who’s there?” The voice is loud, demanding, and with the shuffling that follows, you can tell you’re outnumbered in the dim light.

There’s a click of a gun, and you and Mingyu freeze. He scrambles for your hand reassuringly. Squeezes it once.

“Names. Now. And why you’re here.”

“We wanted to see if anyone would be here. If anyone could help us.” You stammer after you state your names.

“They’re okay. They’re in my class.” Minghao steps into view solemnly, and suddenly you both feel like you can breathe again.

There’s twelve of them.

Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Soonyoung, Wonwoo, Jihoon, Minghao, Seokmin, Seungkwan, Hansol, and Chan.

A tentative system is already set up in the days they’d arrived before you, and it’s easy to fit in. There’s a lot of travelling by foot until Jeonghan learns how to hotwire cars, tired of walking. There’s a lot of scavenging for weapons and food, competitions made out of it. There’s lots of soft singing, fooling around, and lots of quiet nights, holding each other.

The house is long abandoned by the time you all stumble across it, and it’s quickly shaped into a home.

You remember planting sunflower bulbs. Attempting numerous recipes to accommodate the scarce ingredients and everyone’s tastes. Sticky notes and knick-knacks everywhere. You couldn’t say it was broken when the group diminished in number, but the gaps left with each mourning never went away.

Soon enough, it was only you left in an empty house you still called home, despite lacking everything that once made it one. You, with the wispy dreams long gone, and the nightmares.

♜ ♜ ♜

The door slams open, and you wake up, the scream dying in your throat along with the night terror, and you forget you’re not alone anymore when your bedroom door bursts open.

Mingyu holds you close, soothing whispers falling from his lips, rocking you back and forth gently, and you shove him away like his touch scalds you, and in a way it does.

It’s burning, the evocation of the past, and once he relents, a shuddering chill falls over your body.

“Who was it?” Mingyu asks softly, and you can’t look at him. The moon shines too bright for your liking through your window.

You heave, eyes fluttering shut, shaking as a mix of sweat and tears drip down your cheeks.

“Chan.” You croak.

Mingyu imperceptibly flinches as if the gunshot reverberated just outside again.

♜ ♜ ♜

Chan was always clinging to you.

It was something the others all teased him about, picking favourites, and you remember his indignant response every time.

“If they don’t have a problem with it, why do you?”

And you never did have a problem. Chan was like your little brother, much like to everyone else in your ragtag team, doting on him in a world where loving care was scarce. You wished you could have shielded him from it all.

“I’m tired.”

“Then go to sleep.” You murmur with a teasing gleam of a smile, comfortingly smoothing his hair back. He’d been having nightmares more frequently since Soonyoung was laid down in the sunflowers, and it was common for one of you to stay up with him.

“Not that kind of tired. I keep… I keep seeing them. I want it to stop.” A tear rolls down his cheek, and you move to brush it away, but he beats you to it, struggling to sit up.

“Channie…”

His head falls to your shoulder, choking out sobs. You hold him close, praying to whatever higher being that may exist to spare him from further despair. And if no such thing existed, you’d swore to make one into life out of your own blood and tears.

“I’m not a baby anymore. You know that right?” He sniffles once he calms down.

“I know.” You blink, startled at his sudden statement.

“I know I’m the youngest… but I can take care of myself.”

“I know.” You nod, and Chan stares piercingly at you, before slumping down against his bed frame.

“I’m tired.”

You don’t say anything, unsettled at his sudden shift.

“Can you go get me a glass of water? I think it’ll help me sleep better.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you.” He calls out, and you pause, smiling at him. He returns it.

You drop the glass when the shot rings out, shattering across the floor, water cascading like the blood on the floorboards just above you.

You run up, uncaring of the glass shards, collapsing to your knees when the sight unfolds in front of you, thundering footsteps of the others hot on your heels.

They have to pry you away from his body, and you’re positive you’ve torn his shirt in your struggle, the blood on your hands unrecognizable from his or from your ripped off nails. The dark stain still lies on the wood under your feet when you dare to venture into the room painfully.

You sobbed for nights on end. You weep this night too. Mingyu sits by your side.

♜ ♜ ♜

“I think we should ask the others to come back again.” Mingyu clinks his spoon against the side of his cereal bowl, wincing when it resonates, as if increasing the severity of his suggestion. Yet it’s said in a tone of careful deliberation that has you knowing he’s thought it out.

So you pause in slathering butter on your toast. Setting down the knife and slice of bread, you lean your palms on the counter, thinking.

You wondered if Jeonghan still had trouble sleeping at times. You wondered if Jihoon still liked to write lyrics on whatever slips of paper he could find. You wonder if Minghao still stopped to look at the rain whenever it did. You wondered.

“Okay.” You nod finally, and Mingyu perks up.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Turning to stare out the window, you watch the sparrows swoop across the long abandoned telephone wires.

“I think it’s time.”

♜ ♜ ♜

Everyone leaves soon after that.

Everyone except Mingyu.

You don’t blame them. There’s promises to find ways to keep in touch. But it hurts all the same. And there’s no doubt it’s harder for you both to survive alone.

“Hey, wait, stop.” You grab Mingyu’s arm suddenly, nearly scaring the living daylights out of him as you make your way back to the house from scavenging for extra supplies and food, your voice hushed in the dark evening.

“My parents were wearing jackets like that the last time I saw them.”

Mingyu looks over at where your gaze lies, lost between the figures of two people undoubtedly victims of the Virus. Though Mingyu supposes he can’t call them people anymore.

“Let’s go.” Mingyu tugs at your arm. When you don’t move, he does it again, harsher.

“But…” You’re adamant, digging your heels in the dirt firmly, wistfully staring at the couple, staggering around a long abandoned car.

“Don’t you remember? They’re probably walking around downtown, not even knowing their own names.” Mingyu persuades, and you take a reluctant step with him.

“But what if it’s really them?” You persist, and Mingyu makes you stare into his eyes. The expression that meets his is chilling. Your gaze is clear, unmuddled, and somehow, that’s more terrifying to him than if they were glazed over by a lost delirium.

You pull out of his grip, and before he can stop you, you call over to them. A cold shiver runs down Mingyu’s spine as they look up at you both, ambling over, and he grabs you again.

“What are you doing?” He hisses.

“Aren’t you tired, ‘Gyu?” You state simply, helplessly. “Aren’t you tired of being alone?”

Something in Mingyu’s gaze hardens, like glowing tempered steel doused in water, and he yanks you back, pressing you to his chest, two shots firing off from his hand.

You squirm, shouting at him, and he claps a hand over your mouth, pulling you along with him. He drags you all the way back to the house, even after you stop resisting.

You disappear up the stairs the minute he lets go, and he watches you. He waits a few moments before following you, biting the inside of his cheek.

He finds you in Chan’s room, sitting on the bed cross legged, staring forlornly at the stained wooden boards.

“I know you’re hurting. It hurts for me too. But don’t take it out on me. Please.” Mingyu whispers from the doorway, and when you look up, he slowly walks over, sitting beside you carefully. “And I’m not tired of being alone.” He adds on quietly. “I’ve always had you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m really glad to have you by my side. Honestly. I just… I miss Chan. I miss everyone.” You lean on his shoulder tiredly.

“I know.” Mingyu says softly. “I know.”

He interlocks his fingers with yours, squeezing once.

“But there’ll be a time when we can be back together again.”

♜ ♜ ♜

It’s late springtime when they start to come home.

The air is warm, a gentle breeze often caressing your cheeks, and the sun lingers longer, a telltale sign of the upcoming summer.

It was a long ideal, letters taking weeks to send and the whereabouts of each group or person completely in the hands, or wings, of Joshua’s pigeons.

You’re pinning laundry to the clothesline when Mingyu thunders down the stairs, flying past you from the hallway.

“What’s going on?” You call, eyebrows furrowed concernedly, and he skids back, a grin curving beautifully across his face.

“Someone’s here.”

Dropping whatever was in your hands, you race after him, and you can’t help but break into an identical grin as you see Wonwoo and Jihoon stepping onto the porch. You both stand opposite each other from the doorway, until Wonwoo speaks drily.

“Long time no see.”

“No shit.” Mingyu laughs, striding to give them both a hug, and you join them, cheeks hurting from your joy. Jihoon even returns the embrace.

Minghao shows up that night, seeing him in the dim distance as you light the lanterns on the porch, calling the rest of them who are catching up over the dinner table.

“Nice to see you again.” Minghao smiles warmly, genuinely happy, and you’re all eager to throw your arms around him. “Alright, alright.” He giggles softly, nodding as he pries you off, walking inside and joining the group.

Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua are the last, appearing the next morning, just before the sun rises, with Mingyu, Jihoon, and Wonwoo still sound asleep, Minghao making tea for you and him.

“You’re awake early.”

“So are you.” He states pointedly by the kettle, and you smile. “Dreams?”

Your expression turns solemn at that, and you nod. Minghao pours the steaming liquid carefully, sliding the cup to you before he speaks again.

“I see Junhui most nights. Sometimes it’s nice. A good memory. Like when he let the chickens fly away because he thought they couldn’t fly. Or just the sound of his laugh. And sometimes…” Minghao hesitates, swallowing harshly. “Sometimes it’s me pulling the trigger over and over.”

You don’t realize you’re crying until Minghao hands you a tissue, and you brush at the wetness on your cheeks gently.

“Thank you.”

He smiles, a bit melancholy, and rises, beckoning you to the porch to watch the sunrise, hands wrapped around the warm mugs. You sit and wait in comfortable silence until it’s broken by a rumble of an engine pulling up.

“Surprise!”

“Joshua Hong, what the fuck!” You yelp, standing incredulously as they step out of the car. “Is that really you?”

“The one and only.”

“I mean this in the most admirable way possible, your arms are huge.”

“Not bigger than me.” Seungcheol grins, and both of them flex, Seungcheol burying his head in his hands embarrassedly afterwards as everyone laughs.

“Yes, we get it, but without me, no matter how many muscles, you’d probably be dead.” Jeonghan drawls, slinging his arms around their shoulders. “Did you guys have breakfast yet?”

“Not even a hello?” You laugh, the others join you as bickering breaks out, and when the dawning sunlight floods through the windows, something inside you feels like the last piece has fitted in your soul, finally complete.

♜ ♜ ♜

“What would you say if I went away for a little bit?”

Mingyu brings it up over washing dishes, the rush of running tap water almost drowning out his nervous inquiry. You don’t pause in your drying of a plate, yet you wonder if he can see the way your hands tremble.

It’s been a few months since Chan was buried next to Soonyoung, and you were doing better. Slowly, like honey trickling down the beehive on the old maple in the backyard, the result of hard labour like the bustling bees.

“A little bit? Or a while?”

“I don’t know yet.” He admits, and you swallow.

“Will you be okay?”

“Will you?” He asks in response, and you exhale.

“I think so.”

Turning off the water, Mingyu flicks the water off his hands into the sink, and then taps your cheek to make you look at him.

“I want you to be sure that you’ll be okay.”

“I will be.” You say more strongly this time, almost like a resolution to yourself, and MIngyu’s gaze lingers, before it drops with a nod.

“Okay.”

“When will you leave?”

“Tomorrow morning probably.” He laughs, but it sounds forced. “I don’t have many things.”

You nod, smiling weakly.

“Okay.”

He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it. You finish doing the dishes in silence.

♜ ♜ ♜

Noise becomes a constant in the house, or outside of it, as the days get warmer and more hours are spent in the sun.

Today was no different, Seungcheol, Wonwoo, Jihoon, and Mingyu washing the car, while Minghao and Jeonghan sat with you on the porch watching them.

“So.” Minghao starts, and you raise your eyebrows.

“So.”

“You and Mingyu?”

“What about me and Mingyu?”

“God, I’ve been waiting for years for you idiots to realize, and you’re telling me it still hasn’t happened?” Jeonghan sputters, and Minghao snorts.

“Something had to have happened.” Minghao agrees.

“I can't say if it was something or not.” You admit quietly.

“But it wasn’t nothing.” Minghao implores knowingly, and you lapse into silence.

♜ ♜ ♜

You’re awoken by a pounding at your bedroom door the same night. It ceases for a few seconds, making you think you’re dreaming until it starts up again.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” You shout, untangling your body from the mess of tossed covers, and you can’t help but feel irritated even if there was any threat of danger. You don’t bother turning on the lights, the moonlight bright enough. Throwing open the door, you glare at a disheveled Mingyu, as if he ran his hands through his hair too many times. “What?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“This couldn’t wait until the morning?” You gripe, and MIngyu’s face falls, and you realize it couldn’t wait till the last moment before he left. You soften, slightly ashamed. “What is it?”

“You’re my best friend. You know that right?”

The words sting, and you’re not entirely sure why, but you nod.

“I know.”

Mingyu swallows. His hands flutter at his sides, uncertain, and you can’t help but feel the same at his behaviour.

“Mingyu, what’s-”

His lips fall onto yours, you think that’s the only explanation, but they’re soft, gentle, in a way that encompasses you with warmth and you can’t help falling into the embrace.

“You’re my best friend.” He whispers between kisses, over and over, and the words take on a new meaning with the tender look in his eyes as you fall back onto your bed. “You know that right? Tell me you know.”

“I know ‘Gyu. I know.” You murmur breathlessly, cupping his face, and the moon seems to shine just for him.

You knew Kim Mingyu in the sun like it was his natural element. But Kim Mingyu in the moon was like the supernatural, silver stealing across his jaw, his biceps, shoulder blades, every sharp and smooth curve that had you in its deadly soft clutches.

But it was still Mingyu. Your Mingyu. Your best friend.

♜ ♜ ♜

“Morning.”

Mingyu chimes cheerily, ambling into your room and drawing the blinds back, sunlight blinding your groggy state.

“Mingyu, what the fuck?”

“Jeonghan said we can borrow the car for the day.” Mingyu swings the keys from his hand excitedly. “I may or may not have woken him up to ask so he didn’t care, but still.”

“To do what?”

“Roadtrip.” Mingyu shrugs, smiling, as if to say what else? “I’ll meet you downstairs in ten minutes.”

You use an old map from the dusty attic space, tracing a route to the beach, and packing some sandwiches along. It’s soothing, the wind flowing through the rolled down windows, Mingyu’s old sunglasses perched on his nose as he drives and sings to some random song that resurfaced in his memory.

He sets up the blanket and basket of food while you stand at the tip of where the tide came in, watching the lulling waves roll.

“What’re you thinking about?” He huffs, tucking his hands in his pockets as he stands next to you, glancing at your solemn features.

“Do you remember,” you start just as Mingyu’s about to repeat his question, “that night?”

“You’ve gotta be a little more specific there.”

“The night before you left.”

Mingyu stares out across the water, wind ruffling his hair.

“Yeah.” He answers simply.

“Why me?” You blurt.

“What?”

“You could have had anyone, so why me?”

Mingyu knows you’re not talking only about that night now, but the entirety of your existence together. Maybe it was the fate of next door neighbours. Maybe it was the fact of the Apocalypse that numbers had strength. Or maybe…

“Because you’re the only one I want, you always have been. Is that really so hard to believe?”

“A little.” You whisper, and Mingyu looks at you finally.

“I’ll be by your side as long as I can. You don’t have to return anything. Just let me do that and I’ll be happy.”

“Then why did you leave that time?”

“Because I was scared. I couldn’t help but think that one of us might get the Virus. Then… I don’t think I would have been able to do it.” He admits, kicking at the sand lightly.

“You’re stupid.”

“Thanks.” Mingyu snorts sarcastically, and you sigh.

“You’re stupid to think that I wouldn’t want you by my side always. You’re stupid to think I depend on you too much, because people need to depend on each other. And… and you’re stupid to think I don’t love you.”

“You don’t make any sense.” He shakes his head, but he’s chuckling softly.

“You’re my best friend. You know that right?”

You clasp his hand firmly, looking at him, and he returns your gaze, slowly tugging him close. You press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, and they curve upwards gently as he murmurs.

“I know.”

♜ taglist: @seijoh @soranihimawari @peachy-yabbay

#caratwritersclub #kim mingyu x reader #mingyu imagines #mingyu x you #mingyu x reader #kim mingyu imagines #kim mingyu scenarios #svt x you #svt x reader #svt imagines #svt scenarios #seventeen imagines #seventeen x you #seventeen x reader #seventeen scenarios #tw suicide #suicide tw

79 notes · View notes

kkookies · 4 years

Text

02 | babble

⤷ minghao had become your best friend, but found himself in love instead

pairing / xu minghao “the8″ x reader

fluff / angst / smut

warnings: strong language, as always, and that’s pretty much it for this one

previous | next

Minghao’s first instinct was to distance himself from you. He wanted to place a wall between the both of you so he could figure out what the hell these feelings were.

“Being apart only makes the heart yearn.” Mingyu told him one day. He didn’t know what he was talking about.

You had managed to become one of his best friends in a couple of days. The two of you were basically attached at the hip; and even then, most days you ended up sleeping alongside him in his bed because “he’s always so warm”. Minghao didn’t mind.

He did mind how he could feel his heart beat faster whenever you touched him, however. He minded how whenever your eyes met his, he could only see you. He minded how incredibly infatuated he was with you.

But you were his friend. Only a friend.

Not only that, but Hansol’s best friend.

Minghao would not allow himself to.. catch feelings for you. He had only known you for a couple of weeks or so, barely even a month. There was absolutely no way he would allow himself to fall into this crush deeper.

So he distanced himself. For weeks he disappeared, basically ghosting you. Whenever you would come into a room, he would find a reason to leave. He spent most of the time distracting himself with practicing or with Junhui or finding a new hobby like painting and drawing.

That was until spring arrived.

The group was on a short break, they were allowed a week to themselves for rest and heal in between promotions. At the same time, flowers started to bloom and the sun stayed out longer. With pollen in the air, Minghao found himself craving you.

You had noticed his absence, of course. But Hansol was the one to tell you that Minghao was naturally more introverted and not to worry too much. It wasn’t something to stress over, you decided; even though you missed the man you had become close to.

That’s why you were surprised when Minghao had asked you to hang out for the day one morning.

He found you in the kitchen, putting a cup in the sink. Most of the members had already found something to do for the day and were either gone or preparing to leave. It was a good day, sun already beaming in the early morning.

“Are you doing anything today?” he asked, nearly startling you at his abrupt entrance.

You turned to him, a hint of a smile on your face. “Luckily for you, dear Hao, I happen to be completely free. What are we doing today?”

He almost broke out in a complete smile when he realized you said “we”.

“There’s a.. uh.. new museum that just opened up in the city and I wanted to check it out and I asked both Hansol and Wonwoo to come with me but they both said that they were busy and then I asked Mingyu but he said he was going out with the 97 liners, and I didn’t want to get ramen today so I decided not to go, and I’m glad I ran into you because I miss hanging out with you sorry about not talking to you a lot but...”

“Hao, you’re babbling.” you giggled. He paused, embarrassment blushing his cheeks. “A museum sounds amazing. Let me get ready and we can head out in like 20?”

He nodded, still kind of embarrassed. He always ended up rambling, babbling on and on, when he’s nervous or anxious. Why was he so nervous around you?

You pat his arm on your way to Hansol’s room to get ready.

The museum was beautiful. It wasn’t a huge building, just four floors high and each floor correlating with a different form of art. Completely free as well.

Most of the time, the two of you stood together in silence. The art museum was quiet, not many people there other than workers who stood around to make sure the rules are being followed. You wondered how he found a place like this.

You looked over to see Minghao staring adoringly at one painting, his eyes bright as they scanned the piece. You smiled.

“Do you want me to take some pictures of you in front of it?” you offered, catching him off guard.

“Yes, please.” he handed you the camera that hung around his neck.

He quickly showed you how to properly use the camera (which you already knew how to do, but let him explain anyway) before going to pose. You took a couple, and then took some of him in front of another that was next to it. He definitely had a very aesthetic vibe to him, and it felt good to be a part of it.

Once you thought you took enough good ones he could choose from, you jokingly took a selfie with it. You stood a couple of feet away, holding the camera up in hopes it got both of you, and snapped it. Both of you were laughing in it, the piece barely visible behind your head. You took a couple, knowing a majority of them would be blurry as you shook with laughter.

Minghao laughed, taking the camera back before you used the rest of his film.

An older woman came to you two, interrupting the laughter as you asked Minghao if you could see the pictures. Her eyes wrinkled in a smile as she asked, “Would you like me to take a picture of both of you together?”

She was so sweet, he couldn’t say no.

You posted next to the painting that caught his attention at first. The woman took a couple, and handed the camera back to Minghao. You thanked her, smiling at the cute old woman.

“I love seeing young couples enjoy art. You don’t really see that much these days.” she had explained as she said goodbye.

He didn’t correct her.

The city streets were far different than the nearly empty museum, full of life and a harmony of voices.

His mind wandered as you walked beside him. Was he standing too close? Was it okay that he had just brushed his shoulder against yours? Were you starting to get too hot? Too cold? Were you hungry?

Get your shit together, he told himself.

As you walked towards the dorms, he found himself joking around with you and just talking casually. It felt good to be back to normal with you.

“Hao, can I tell you something?” you asked as you turned the corner.

“Of course.”

You stopped suddenly, causing him to stop too. He looked down at you, his nervousness and anxiety skyrocketing.

“I just want to tell you that I am here for you.” you said sincerely, looking into his eyes and beaming into his soul. “I might not be staying for much longer, but even if I’m not staying with you guys, I’m here for you. Hansol told me not to worry because you’re naturally on the shy side, but I needed you to know that I consider us friends and it sucks when a friend just stops talking to each other.”

He freezed. Of course you had noticed his recent distance, it was just as the two of you had started to become closer.

“I just needed you to know that.” You grabbed his hands, and he thought that he was going to crumble onto the ground “We are friends, right?”

“We’re friends.” Minghao echoed, an out of body experience. “And I know you’re here for me, I do.”

“Good. Now lets get back because I promised Soonyoung a movie and I didn’t really understand what he said with his fast Korean, but I’m pretty sure he said he would kill me if I didn’t come back before dark.”

Minghao let out a laugh, and started to walk again. Your hands fell out of his, but he still felt the warmth.

Once the day was over, Minghao was in his room looking through the pictures of the museum. The pictures of him that you took were excellent, and he would definitely post most of them on twitter later.

He let out a small chuckle at the selfies, blurry and both of your heads at the very bottom of the frame. Cute.

And then he came across a picture. It was one the woman took. Neither of you were ready for it, trying to figure out what pose to do. His arm was hovering around your waist, and your arm was behind his back; he was looking down at you, in full discussion, and you were smiling and looking back up at him. Oh.

Oh.

It was quickly turned into his phone wallpaper.

#xu minghao #minghao #the8 #dreams come true #seventeen #kpop #minghao x reader #xu minghao x reader #minghao angst #minghao smut #minghao fluff #the8 fluff #the8 angst #the8 smut #the8 x reader #seventeen x reader #seventeen imagines #kkookies #best friends to lovers

244 notes · View notes

gamerwoo · 6 years

Text

Wonwoo & Mingyu: Glitch

Characters: Wonwoo x female reader but also Mingyu x female reader

Genre/warnings: hacker au, angst, fluff somewhere in there, enemies to lovers, mentions of abuse, kidnapping, implied torture/abuse, mention of death a lot, depression, mention of separation anxiety, brief mention of alcoholism, and smut at the end (threesome, ig sub!reader???, oral [male and female receiving] double penetration, some praise sprinkled in]

Word count: 18,751

Summary: After your boyfriend goes missing and you can all only assume he’s dead, your boss assigns you a new partner. But considering you don’t want to get close to anybody again in fear of something going wrong again, living together is a lot easier said than done. However, you don’t get hurt the way you think you will.

a/n: wow my longest writing yet!!! shoutout to @neverknewgrey2016 for helping me with the fighting toward the end because i didn’t know how to end this bitch, and also shoutout to markiplier because i had him playing fnaf in the background while i wrote the smut lmao

Masterlist

Very few things in this world could bring you joy: hot cup noodles at 3am, honey butter chips that greased your fingers and your keyboard, warm blankets fresh from the dryer that draped over your shoulders while you worked, and the rare moments of free time where you could spend time with the one thing that made you the happiest.

Mingyu was the one who would cook you ramen at 3am when you hadn’t eaten yet, would keep the cupboards stocked with your favorite chips that he’d gotten you addicted to, and would toss your favorite fuzzy blankets in the dryer to keep you extra comfortable while you worked. He was your best friend, your partner in crime, and the only person you truly loved in this world. You would do anything for him, and he would do the same for you. Despite your dangerous jobs, you loved each other more than anything.

You met through work. You two were the hacker extraordinaires that the agency relied heavily on. That was how your little rivalry started. He’d hack you, you’d hack him back; it was almost a game, really. It started out with ddosing and deleting important files, but it quickly turned into changing wallpapers to memes and leaving dumb notes open for the other. You were always one to keep people at arm's length because your job could get you killed, but you found yourself looking forward to Mingyu’s dumb antics everyday.

Eventually, you just grew closer. Mingyu wanted to video chat out of nowhere -- he just called, he didn’t even ask -- and the first thing that came out of his mouth was, “Should I dress as a sexy maid for this next mission?”

“Uh...what?” you asked, his question causing your fingers to stop typing codes.

“I have to go out for a mission, and I have this sexy maid costume I never used,” he explained as if he was talking to a close friend. “It’s not something I got myself but since it was a gift, I figure I--”

You interrupted his babbling, “Why did you call me?”

“Because,” he sighed happily, holding up his phone for you to see the screen, “I found your info on the agency’s database and you looked cute.”

“I-- Why are you hacking into the agency’s database?”

“Because I wanted to know who I was messing with for the last three months.”

You wondered why you didn’t bother trying to look up Mingyu. You also wondered why the agency’s database was easy enough for one of their workers to hack into it -- then again, you and Mingyu were the top hackers and could hack pretty much anything.

But now that you were looking at who was supposed to be your rival to compete against, you realized...he was really cute. His shaggy brown hair, tanned skin that glowed, and his smile that was even brighter, you wondered how someone like him was a hacker and not some kind of model. Then again, you didn’t think you were awful looking, so…

You spoke with Mingyu for hours while you worked. Even when the two of you fell silent to work, it was comfortable having Mingyu there -- well, not physically but still. That was how your relationship grew until he was taking you on a date, moving in with you, and talking about your future together. Mingyu was the only thing in this world that you truly had an attachment to that you wanted to keep safe -- other than his friends, who quickly became your...acquaintances.

But Mingyu was the same way, which was why he did what he did.

For once, you were asleep in your bed beside Mingyu, clinging to his side to steal his warmth. You had been awake for three days straight, so Mingyu wasn’t surprised when you slept through the intruder alarm going off. The alarm had never gone off before since your security was so tight, but it was a good thing Mingyu installed the precaution anyway. It just made an annoying beep that wasn’t too loud to alert anybody else to you knowing there was a break-in, but it was just annoying enough to wake anybody who hadn’t pulled an all-nighter for the last 72 hours.

Mingyu climbed out of bed, making sure not to wake you as he grabbed his gun and checked the small monitors. Apparently the intruder was in the lounge where the front door opened to. He opened the door quietly and went out to go apprehend the intruder.

That was around the time you woke up. Mingyu yelled, there was a loud bang like somebody had fallen, and you immediately jolted up.

“Gyu?” you asked into the dark bedroom. Realising he wasn’t beside you, you got out of bed as quickly as you could, pressing the emergency button by the door as you exited the bedroom. “Gyu!”

But Mingyu was gone. And there were no traces of him or the intruder.

Various people from the agency arrived to investigate. They said that your push of the emergency button was the only one they got -- Mingyu never pressed it. You wondered why he wouldn’t press it if there was an intruder. You wondered how there was absolutely no trace of him. The place was so clean that even the best investigators couldn’t figure out who took him or how they broke in.

But you held out hope, along with his friends, for three months. They’d reassure you that Mingyu must be out there somewhere, fighting to get back to you. Everybody knew that Mingyu loved you more than he loved anything, and he would do anything to be with you.

“Are you sure you don’t want somebody to come stay with you?” Seungcheol offered. “It might make you feel less lonely.”

“Plus with somebody breaking in, it’s better for you to have more protection in case it happens again,” Minghao agreed.

“Ah, I heightened the security,” Soonyoung scoffed. “She’s safer than the Crown Jewels.”

��I’ll be fine,” you reassured them, though you weren’t smiling, and your heart still hurt over Mingyu. You weren’t really fine. “It would be...awkward having anybody else live with me.”

“Gyu thought it was awkward living with you at first too, and yet…” Hansol’s sentence trailed off with a chuckle. “You guys really were perfect for each other.”

“Dude, shut up!” Seungkwan scolded him.

You opened your mouth to speak when there was a knock at the door. Your head shot up, looking at the monitor only to see a masked figure dressed in all black leaving your front door. Immediately, your hand hit the emergency button, and you could hear the alarm going off in the back of the video call of a few of the agents you were speaking with.

“___?” Seungcheol sounded worried. “What happened?”

“Somebody showed up at the door, but they were dressed in all black and hiding their face,” you reported as you went to review the security tapes. “They left something on the doorstep.”

“Don’t touch it,” Joshua advised.

“Yeah, we’ll be there soon!” Jeonghan chimed in before he ended his call.

One by one, they ended their calls to get to you.

When the agents arrived, they scoped everything out before deeming this another cold case. Nobody knew where the person came from, where they had gone, or who they were. They even checked whatever the person left to see if it was safe, and after careful examination -- including seeing what was inside -- Jihoon gave you the small box.

“You… You’ll want this,” he mumbled, handing it over to you.

As the boys continued searching for clues through the security tapes, you lifted the small lid on the box. There, resting on the cardboard, was Mingyu’s promise ring. The ring that looked exactly like yours; the rings neither of you took off. They signified that one day, the two of you would get married and be happy without worries.

Giving you this ring was like giving you his dead body. You fell to your knees, unable to even touch the ring, like it would burn your skin. Your eyes welled with tears that you couldn’t contain, and a loud sob cut through the murmurs of the agents and the clicking of keys.

It was official. Mingyu was gone forever.

“___, did you sleep at all?” Seokmin wondered as he stared at the dark circles under your eyes. He knew that the camera didn’t show just how severe they were, but the sight still worried him. “You can’t keep staying awake for days on end just to pass out for a few days straight and then repeat.”

“I slept enough,” you shrugged before letting out a wide yawn. “Fuck, I need another energy drink.”

“You need sleep,” he sighed. “I know it’s only been two months but you need to take better care of yourself--”

“Or you’ll send someone to take care of me,” you groaned, sitting back from the computer and rubbing your face with your hands, “I know, I know. You sound like my parent, y’know.”

“Somebody has to since you clearly can’t function as a real adult,” he chuckled.

“Are any of us real adults?”

“Cheol, maybe. ...Not so much Hoshi, though.”

“He’s good with security, though,” you laughed softly, stretching your arms above your head and letting out a groan. “Hey, have you heard from the boss yet?”

“About what?” he questioned.

“I was approved to move but he had to pick the location,” you explained, spinning slowly in your computer chair. “I was hoping he would’ve told one of you to relay the message since he’s avoiding my calls and emails.”

“Why would he be avoiding you? Don’t tell me you scare the boss?”

“No, I think I annoy him more than scare him.”

Suddenly, your phone started ringing on your desk. You checked the ID and saw it was Seungcheol, so you told Seokmin to be quiet before answering the call.

“Hey, ___,” he began, though he sounded...uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong?” you asked, furrowing your brows together. “You don’t sound too good.”

“Because I think you’ll find this news to be not-too-good,” he chuckled nervously. “So uh...boss decided it’s best that instead of moving, he’ll give you a new partner to work with.”

“No,” you immediately replied, your mind already made up. “If I didn’t want any of you to live with me--”

“I know, ___, but that’s out of our hands. We just got a new guy in a few weeks ago, and boss thinks he’s about as good as you -- if not, better.”

“Better?!” you scoffed, rolling your eyes. “Please, nobody’s better than--”

You heard your front door open, causing you to pause your sentence abruptly. Seungcheol kept saying your name while Seokmin watched you curiously. He had heard the noise too.

“Do you want me to call somebody?” he offered.

“Is anybody home?” you heard a deep voice call out.

“Ah!” Seungcheol’s voice suddenly sounded brighter. “I guess Wonwoo’s found his way to your place!”

“Wonwoo?” you repeated.

“Wonwoo?” Seokmin repeated after you, looking confused. “Isn’t that the new hacker?”

“Helloooo?” the intruder apparently named Wonwoo repeated, holding out the last vowel.

You sighed, getting out of your chair and leaving Seokmin on his own, “Seungcheol, I’m gonna call you back.”

After hanging up on your friend, you left your room to go find this Wonwoo character. He was in the lounge, looking around with a duffel bag over his shoulder, and round glasses pushed up his nose. His sharp eyes landed on you when you appeared, but his expression stayed neutral.

“Oh, there you are,” he said as if he was playing a casual game of hide-n-seek. “You know, your system to keep out intruders is very complex.”

“Then how did you get through it?” you quizzed, crossing your arms over your chest.

He just shrugged, “I said it was complex, not impossible to get through.”

“You could’ve rang the bell like a normal person.”

“Considering how long it took you to emerge from your room to find what could’ve been an intruder, I can only imagine how long I’d be waiting outside for you.”

“Yes,” you nodded, turning your nose up at him, “because I didn’t agree to a roommate.”

“I’m not a roommate, I’m a housemate,” he corrected. “My name’s Wonwoo.”

“Do you tell every stranger your real name?” you sighed. “Don’t you have an alias?”

“Woo.”

You frowned, ‘Just like Agent Gyu.’

Wonwoo either didn’t take notice of your facial expression, or he didn’t care, “Do you have one?”

“Glitch.”

He chuckled with a snort, “Where’d you come up with that?”

“It was Agent Z, but...somebody gave me a new one,” you nodded, saying the last part softly.

Wonwoo nodded before he went back to scoping out the lounge. There were a few articles of clothing thrown around, a few empty soda cans, chip bags, and ramen noodle cups, and you weren’t sure when the last time you vacuumed was, but Wonwoo didn’t comment on any of it. Hey, he was a hacker too, there was no way he could always be clean.

“So…” he began slowly as he took careful steps further into the house as if he hadn’t hacked into your security system and technically -- no, he did -- break in, “where do I stay?”

“Away from me,” you replied, turning on your heels and starting back toward your room. “You can crash on the couch.”

“Where does my setup go?!” he called after you.

“Not my problem!”

You didn’t see Wonwoo for two days. You were holed up in your office doing work the entire time, and you lived off of the few snacks you had stored in there. But your friends knew when you ran out because your stomach would make loud noises that nobody could miss.

“___, you need to eat something,” Jeonghan had scolded.

You just shrugged and carried on with your work, ignoring Junhui’s comments about your dark circles. You knew you looked like a mess but you always invested so much into your work -- even more so after Mingyu died. Did they really think you’d suddenly change just because some guy had to move in with you?

But things did change. On the third day, there was a soft knock on the door. When you didn’t reply, the door opened slowly, light from the hallway streaming in and making you squint. Wonwoo walked in with a plate a sushi, setting it beside your keyboard. You stared at it like you’d never seen sushi before.

Truthfully, nobody had ever taken care of you, even if it was just bringing you food. Mingyu was the only person who ever made sure you ate. Other than that, it was completely up to you -- other than your friend berating you to eat something or catch some z’s. So your new housemate suddenly showing up with food was...weird.

“What...is this?” you wondered before you looked up at him.

He shrugged, “You haven’t been out of the room in three days and I didn’t know if you had anything to eat. I ordered some takeout and I figured you might want some. Do you like sushi?”

“You know there’s plenty of ramen, right?”

“Clearly, you live off of ramen, and that’s awful for you. I also noticed all those chips and--”

“Don’t touch the chips,” you snapped.

He held his hands up in surrender, chuckling, “I wasn’t planning on it. My point is, you can’t only eat ramen and chips. Just say thank you for the meal, and I’ll leave.”

“Why should I say thank you for something I didn’t ask for?”

Wonwoo let out a deep sigh, his glasses slipping slightly from his nose, “You’re stubborn, aren’t you?”

“Mmm,” you just hummed in reply, looking back at your computer screen.

He just shook his head and left the room, leaving you in the dark once again.

You didn’t touch your sushi.

“So what’s her deal?”

Your friends had brought in a nice welcome wagon for the new recruit, and they quickly became friends. Seungcheol had called to make sure he was settling in well, and of course, the conversation drifted to you. Wonwoo explained how you were cold toward him and had hidden away in your room for the last week. So far, your new housemate knew virtually nothing about you.

“Oh, uh,” Seungcheol scratched the back of his head, unsure how to explain your situation, “it’s...a long story.”

“Didn’t you say she had a housemate before me?” Wonwoo wondered as he did some side works on his computer. “How did they warm up to her?”

“Mingyu? Oh, well...I think he hacked the agency to look up her information.”

Wonwoo’s eyebrows furrowed together, glancing at the screen where Seungcheol’s face was, “Why would somebody do that? Didn’t he get in trouble?”

“Nobody even knew he did it!” Seungcheol laughed, remembering Mingyu bragging to him about it. “The two of them were the top hackers in the agency, and now it’s you two; that’s why the agency had you live with her. She was originally going to move away somewhere else.”

As Seungcheol spoke, Wonwoo’s fingers danced across the keyboard, interested in getting more information on you -- or at least whatever the agency had available. He knew it was an invasion of privacy, but he didn’t want to live with someone he was so distant with. He wanted to know more about you, and hopefully help you at least sort of tolerate him.

“Why was she going to move away?” Wonwoo wondered, his eyes scanning the screen as his fingers moved diligently.

“Well, if you’re doing what I think you’re doing, you’ll find out soon enough, won’t you?”

Quickly, Wonwoo found the files he was looking for. He scrolled down the names, noting a few of them as he scanned them. Choi “Coups” Seungcheol: active. Lee “Dino” Chan: active. Kwon “Hoshi” Soonyoung: active. Kim “Gyu” Mingyu: terminated.

Wonwoo stopped, his eyebrows pulling together as he clicked on the file.

“Who was Mingyu, and why was he terminated?” he questioned as he began to scan through the information. “Oh, was he Glitch’s roommate?”

“Yeah,” the older boy nodded solemnly, “but he’s why she was going to move.”

“Because he was fired? Oh wait...oh…”

Wonwoo got to the bottom of the page and read that he was deceased. It said the cause of death was unknown, but that he was kidnapped from his home -- the home that Wonwoo knew he shared with you.

“No wonder she wants to leave…” Wonwoo muttered as he continued his search.

“Yeah…” Seungcheol nodded. “Mingyu and her were inseparable.”

Wonwoo kept Mingyu’s profile up but went in search for yours next. He didn’t know what to look for since he didn’t know your name, but he knew he could at least find you based on your alias. But as he scanned all the files, he found nothing. Every name he didn’t recognize did not have the alias he was looking for. Kim “Kai” Jongin. Park “Chim” Jimin. Lee “Onew” Jinki. You just weren’t there.

But then he remembered what you had told him.

“It was Agent Z, but...somebody gave me a new one.”

Wonwoo went down the list again, softly clicking his tongue as he looked for the new alias. Sure enough, there it was: ___ “Z” ___: active.

“Cheol,” Wonwoo spoke up as he opened your information, “isn’t her name Glitch?”

Seungcheol shook his head, “Not officially.”

There wasn’t much information on you except your name, your address, your height, the year you were born, and a picture of you. Other than that, it said you currently weren’t deployed for an outside mission, and a few details about Mingyu’s kidnapping. It said you were in the house and asleep when it happened, that you knew nothing, and you weren’t a suspect. He also saw that it read, ‘priority,’ on your profile, which he assumed meant you were a valued hacker and were to be taken special care of. He only knew because he was added to that one-person list, so now it was the two of you.

But he at least had something to work with. He knew your name, that was good. That would have to suffice, at least for now. Although, he was a little curious about you and this Mingyu person, but Seungcheol had warned him prior to not say anything about your previous housemate. Maybe he could work up to it, though.

Wonwoo stretched, deciding he was hungry now, “I’ll be right back, Cheol. I’m gonna find some ramen or something.”

“‘Kay,” he replied as he continued to do whatever he was working on.

That was around the time you decided to emerge from your dark room to stock up on more food. You walked into the lounge, expecting to see Wonwoo working away since that’s where his desktop was now -- you only knew thanks to security cameras you accessed from your office. However, he was gone, but his work was still up.

You didn’t think much of it, simply glancing at his screen as you walked to the kitchen. But then something caught your eye: you. Your face was shown on the screen. So you walked over and sat down, scanning the page. He’d hacked the agency’s files to research about you. Your jaw clenched. He was doing exactly what Mingyu had done, and it had those memories flooding back into your head. You hated it because those happy memories only made you more upset.

You were about to look away to go chew out Wonwoo, but then it only got worse.

The familiar smile of Mingyu was peeking out behind the window that had your information, and you saw that Wonwoo was even researching about him. Boy, were you livid now. It was bad enough he was snooping around about you, but now Mingyu? Why would he do that? What right did he have to bring up Mingyu after what happened?

“Oh, ___!” Seungcheol jumped when he realized you were there, red faced and glaring at the screen, hot tears burning your eyes.

Wonwoo heard the older boy say your name, so he walked out of the kitchen to see you standing up to face him, your hands balled into fists at your side.

“So, your name is ___, huh?” he smirked, leaning up against the doorway.

“Do you really think I’m here to joke around with you?” you asked, seething with rage that dripped into the tone of your voice.

Wonwoo’s joking demeanor fell as he really took in your body language. You were so mad, you were shaking Tears were about to spill over, and he’d never seen your face so red.

“___--”

“Why did you look up all that information?” you demanded, cutting him off from whatever he planned to say to attempt to make this better.

He gestured to the computer, getting defensive, “So it’s okay that Mingyu did?”

“Don’t talk about him like you know him!” you shouted, your voice breaking toward the end. “You and him are two completely different people. Why did you even look him up? You don’t need to know anything about him except that he’s gone, and that’s it! Anybody else who mentions him to you will have to deal with me, because he is none of your business, got it? And if you ever look me or him up again, you’ll be the next person to disappear without a trace.”

All Wonwoo could do was stare at you, his mouth slightly agape. You thought it was because you’d really yelled at him, but then you realized you were crying when tears started to fall onto your shirt.

“___, I’m--”

“Shut up,” you snapped, wiping your tears before quickly stomping out of the room.

Wonwoo stood in the same spot for a moment after hearing your door slam before going over to the computer again. Seungcheol looked disappointed in himself, carding his hands through his hair. He let out a deep sigh, shaking his head.

“I shouldn’t have said anything to you,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I was the one who decided to research,” Wonwoo nodded. “It was my own fault. I was hoping I could use the information on her to get to know her better but…”

“She’ll come around,” the older boy promised. “She did before.”

Wonwoo gave you space the next week. He knew you were upset because of something dumb he did, and he did plan on apologizing, but he wanted to give you space beforehand. He knew you needed to cool off, but he also needed to figure out how to go about making it up to you. He wanted you to know he did really feel bad for snooping.

He didn’t know much about you, but he picked up on something you liked a lot: honey butter chips. The only times he ever saw you, it was when you made the walk from your office to the kitchen, and you had to go through the lounge. You’d walk back toward your room with your arms full of the bags before he’d hear your door close again. Well, after his little stunt, he noticed you were clean out of the snacks. He didn’t know if your feelings were causing you to eat more of them or not but he knew he should buy you more anyway just to apologize, even if it was a small gesture.

So Wonwoo went to the store in some sweats to grab you some. The cashier definitely gave him a weird look for buying copious amounts of chips -- only chips, and one box of protein bars for when Wonwoo couldn’t have a real meal -- and leaving, but he didn’t pay her any mind. He just wanted to get home so he didn’t have to be out in public for too long. He knew nobody would know he was an agent or anything, but he still hated being in public without some sort of disguise, or a hat at the very least.

When he returned home, there was no trace of you. You hadn’t left your office in four days, and he wasn’t sure if you were even sleeping anymore. But clearly, now wasn’t the time for him to lecture you on how to live your life.

He walked down the hall to your office, where he could hear a male’s voice.

“___, you need to sleep in a real bed, not your office chair,” they sighed.

At least you were sleeping, then.

“Are you sure you’re not working more to keep your mind off of...something?” a new voice asked.

“If you’re talking about Wonwoo, the answer is no,” you replied sharply. “I don’t care what he’s doing as long as it doesn’t involve Mingyu anymore.”

It hit Wonwoo that he shouldn’t be listening in on your conversation. So he knocked on your door before waiting for a reply. When he didn’t get one, he slowly opened the door, peeking inside to see you staring blankly at your many monitors. He frowned seeing the state you were in. Your hair was greasy and matted, your eyes had bags and dark circles, and you were hunched forward like you were going to pass out at any second.

“___?” his voice was soft as he fully entered the room. “I wanted to apologize.”

“You’re forgiven,” you said flatly, “now get out.”

He let out a sigh, “I’m serious! I even went out and bought you more honey butter chips, but I won’t give them to you if you don’t listen to me.”

Your eyes shifted from the screen to your housemate, narrowing at him as he dangled one of the bags in front of you, “You’re forcing me to listen to you with food?”

“Is it working?” Wonwoo asked with the hint of a smile.

“...Maybe.”

“I really am sorry for what I did, ___,” he repeated, turning serious again. “I won’t do anything like that ever again. I just wanted to get closer with you since we live in the same space, but your life should be your life; you should tell me what you want to, and keep secret what you want to. I should’ve respected that, and I’m sorry.”

You just stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly, “Thanks.”

“Then, here’s your chips,” he said, dropping the bag on your desk, “but you have to promise to eat this first.”

He then opened a box he had pinned between his arm and torso, and took something out of it. He tossed it to you, and you read the wrapper, scrunching up your nose, “Why?”

“If I’m being honest, you look awful,” he chuckled. “You can’t live off of chips, ___.”

“That’s what we tell her!” one of the voices from her computer shouted.

“Then make sure she eats that,” Wonwoo told them before exiting your room.

Immediately, you set the bar down on the desk, and went to open the chip bag. You were interrupted by Junhui’s voice.

“What was that?” he wondered.

“It’s a meal replacement bar,” you shrugged, pulling down on the chip bag to rip the side.

“Eat it,” Minghao ordered.

You paused, looking at the boys on your monitor, “Why? It’s still not real food.”

“But it’s better than chips!” Seungkwan agreed. “Please just eat it before you eat more chips. You haven’t been taking care of yourself, and you need to.”

“If you’re not in good health, you know what the boss will do,” Junhui reminded you.

With a groan, you tossed the chip bag onto the desk and picked up the bar. You tore the wrapper open with your teeth, spitting the plastic off into the darkness of your room before taking a bite out of it, and silently cursing Wonwoo.

You wandered out of your room one night to get some ramen or something. Seungcheol was scolding you because of your health and eating habits, so you were forced to go find some “real food” or Seungcheol would tell the boss.

With your shitty luck, you ran into Wonwoo as you passed through the lounge. He was staring at his setup before he noticed you walking by. He frowned, seeing you in real light for the first time. You looked even more awful than he thought.

“___,” he called your name softly, though you didn’t stop on your way to the kitchen.

“What?” you spat.

Wonwoo stood to follow you, pushing his glasses up his nose, “You should take some time for yourself before going back to work. Shower, take a nap, and such.”

“You should mind your business,” you shot back, looking through the pantry.

Suddenly, the door you held open was slammed shut. Wonwoo was staring down at you, his expression neutral, “___, please.”

“And what do you care? Huh?” you quizzed.

The two of you stood there in silence, simply having a staring contest with each other. Finally, you let out a loud groan and went to a cupboard. You opened it, took out a bottle of sake, and left the kitchen. You made it a point to stare at Wonwoo as you casually opened the bottle and took a swig before exiting.

“That’s not what I meant by taking time for yourself!” he called after you.

“This is my self care, asshole!” you shouted back before he heard the slam of your door.

Truthfully, it was your self care for a long time. It was how you coped with Mingyu’s disappearance for a while, which definitely wasn’t the most healthy way to deal.

Anybody would argue that your current actions -- or lack thereof -- were because of what happened to Mingyu. You didn’t take care of yourself, you deprived yourself of nutrients, sleep, and hygiene, and you shut people out. People like Wonwoo who were just trying to do their job, and help you. But you always insisted you did all of that because it wasn’t pertinent to your job.

You thought about all of this as you flopped down onto your bed, staring up at the ceiling. Mingyu had stuck a bunch of glow-in-the-dark stars up there because the two of you hardly got to go outside to look at them at night. He thought it was a funny joke, and you thought he was a big dork for it. But that was why you loved him. He was a big dork, but it made your life more tolerable; maybe even enjoyable.

The more you thought about all of it, the longer the drinks you took from the bottle became. You’d never admit it, but you missed Mingyu so much that it hurt. You missed him so much that it felt like every breath you took ignited a fire in your lungs that made it hard to keep breathing. You missed him so much that your heart felt like it was slowly shattering each and every second, to a point where it was hard to stand anymore. You just wanted your Mingyu back, but he was never coming back. The ring that belonged to him that you wore on the thin silver chain, hidden away under your shirt, was a reminder of that.

Mingyu was gone forever.

“Fuck,” you sighed, realizing your eyes were welling with tears.

So you wiped them with your sleeve, and took another drink.

You had no idea what you were doing. Stumbling out of your room an hour or so later, drunker than you’d been in a while, and sputtering out your need for chicken and pizza.

Of course, Wonwoo heard you down the hall, and concern showed on his face. He’d never heard your voice so garbled before. But then he remembered how you walked off with the bottle of sake, and he assumed you probably had a lot to drink from the bottle.

Soon enough, you found your way into the lounge where Wonwoo was, and you raised your eyebrows when you saw him standing up already, “You’re...tall.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “I noticed. Are...you okay, ___?”

“Yeaaaah,” you slurred, waving away his question while almost knocking yourself over from the movement, “no biggie.”

“You sure?” he asked, moving away from the couch and coffee table to go over to you.

Hesitantly, Wonwoo put an arm around your waist, and almost relaxed himself when you let him. You leaned into his side, having a hard time standing on your own, and gripped the side of his shirt with one hand. He led you over to the couch he was sitting on, setting you down slowly. However, you didn’t release your grip on Wonwoo.

“I haven’t been around anybody since Mingyu,” you spoke up, just blathering out whatever was on your mind, and Mingyu was all you could think about. Your voice was soft, but your words still ran together, and you were hiccuping between every few words. “You’re...warm.”

Wonwoo chose to ignore the first part, knowing you didn’t want him talking about Mingyu, “Do Seungcheol and the others not come visit you?”

You shook your head, “Nobody has the time. I lived with Mingyu, but...he was taken.”

Clearly, you wanted to talk about Mingyu, so Wonwoo had no choice but to ask, “He was taken?”

“Kidnapped,” you nodded, your face falling before you added on, “and killed.”

Wonwoo sat down beside you, “How do you know he was killed?”

“They sent me this,” you pulled the ring out from under your shirt, letting Wonwoo examine it between his fingers. “We had promise rings, and this one was Mingyu’s. I still wear mine. I couldn’t...I couldn’t take it off.”

Wonwoo heard you sniffle, and his eyes glanced up at your face as he let the ring drop from his hand. You rubbed at your eyes like a child, wiggling your nose as you sniffled again. Wonwoo frowned.

“___…”

“I miss him,” you admitted, coughing like you were trying to hide the fact you were about to cry. When you removed your fists from your eyes, your eyes were red and glossy. “I miss having somebody that loved me as much as I loved them.”

To that, Wonwoo didn’t know what to say. You had only been cold to him, and now you were suddenly blabbering everything you felt. While he was happy you were letting him in, he felt dirty because he knew it was just because you were drunk.

He noticed you started to cry, so he did the only thing he could think to do: he held you. He pulled you to him and let you cry. You weakly held onto his shirt like it was a security blanket, letting out all of the emotions you kept held in. He rubbed your back, trying to soothe you as best as he could.

Wonwoo let the two of you sit like there for a moment before he decided to take you to the bathroom to get you cleaned up, and hopefully a bit more sober. He managed to lift you relatively easily, carrying you down the hall to the bathroom. He set you down on the counter before going to turn on the shower and setting the temperature.

“Wonwoo?” you spoke up suddenly, watching him from where you sat. He looked over at you, humming in response. “...Why are you nice to me still?”

He shrugged, unsure of how to reply, “Well...if we live together, it would be kind of shitty to hate each other, right?”

“I guess,” you shrugged, leaning back against the mirror. “It’s just...hard. You remind me of Mingyu sometimes.”

That piqued Wonwoo’s interest, “I do? How?”

“He went by Gyu, and you go by Woo.”

“That’s it?” he chuckled, walking over to lean against the counter beside you.

“I wasn’t done,” you huffed. “You both always tell me what to do. Like, he would tell me I have to eat real food, and so do you. And you’re always like, looking out for me, I guess. Nobody looked out for me other than Mingyu.”

“So...do you want me to stop?” he wondered, furrowing his brows together.

“I...don’t...know,” you decided chewing on your lower lip as you thought about it. Part of you liked it -- liked Wonwoo, even -- but part of you still felt uncomfortable about that. You wanted to both push Wonwoo away, but also pull him closer.

But what if you lost Wonwoo too?

You didn’t want to think about that.

“You should shower,” Wonwoo said after the brief silence. “I’ll be in the living room when you’re done. I’ll make you some food, okay?”

“Wonwoo?” you slid down from the counter as Wonwoo opened the bathroom door. “Thank you.”

It was the first time you has genuinely thanked him before, and he smiled, “No problem.”

After the door was closed, you peeled off the clothes you’d been wearing for however many days -- you lost track -- and stepped into the shower. The water was hot, but not scalding. You found it comforting, and just stood there for a while without doing anything. You just...thought about things. About Mingyu, and Wonwoo, and how things were different but how things were still similar.

You spent a lot of time thinking about Wonwoo, though. You tried your best to avoid him, but you just chalked it up to you being angry about people moving on from Mingyu’s death so quickly. You were telling everyone -- including yourself -- that you were angry because you wanted to be alone and move out of this house, but the boss gave you the exact opposite of what you wanted. And sure, that’s what it was at first, but then it was something else.

Wonwoo watched over you. He made you eat real food, he tried to learn about you in the same manner as Mingyu, and he even used the same method of choosing an alias as Mingyu had. He reminded you so much of Mingyu, and it upset you and frightened you. You liked Wonwoo. You saw familiar things in him that made you feel something, and that scared you. What if Wonwoo got taken away too?

In your drunk state, you started crying all over again. You felt so many things at once that your drunk mind couldn’t process, so you just cried. And once that was all out of your system, you washed your hair and body before getting out of the shower and wrapping towels around yourself.

Once you were dried and dressed, you walked out of the bathroom and into the lounge. Wonwoo was working to pass the time, but immediately looked up when he saw you. He was pleased to see your hair was a wet mess, meaning you did actually wash your hair.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

You shrugged, “Still kinda tipsy, and I have a headache.”

He gestured to the coffee table, “Aspirin and water.”

“Thanks,” you mumbled, shuffling over to take the medicine and gulp down half the water bottle. Then you sat down beside him, pulling your knees to your chest. “I’m sorry for--”

“Don’t be sorry about anything,” he told you, sitting away from his computer and laying his head back against the back of the couch. “Somebody important was taken away from you; I can’t imagine how you’d be feeling.”

“And I’m not the best at expressing feelings,” you deadpanned with a breathy laugh.

“That’s okay,” he shrugged, “not everyone can express themselves with words. We’ll make things work.”

You nodded, staring straight ahead at the TV that wasn’t turned on -- you weren’t sure when you had last used it. Maybe before Mingyu was taken? You wondered if Wonwoo ever used it, and what he watched.

“Are you hungry?” Wonwoo’s deep voice pulled you from your thoughts.

You nodded, so he stood and gestured for you to follow. He had you actually sit at the counter -- something you hadn’t done in months -- to eat the meat and rice he’d made for you. It definitely wasn’t the prettiest plating, and it looked slightly overcooked, but hey, he tried. So you sat down and ate while he ate the little bits you didn’t want, as well as what was left in the pan.

While the two of you ate, you each found out small things about each other. How you were in love with the honey butter chips because of Mingyu, and how Wonwoo had a soft spot for cheesecake. How Wonwoo was terrified of dogs, and you always wanted one -- that made him laugh a bit nervously. But they were all tiny details, nothing like major facts about your backgrounds and where you came from.

By the time you were done eating, you were yawning and rubbing your eyes. There was still a little bit of food on your plate, but Wonwoo made sure to give you extra since you had barely eaten anything other than chips and ramen.

“C’mon, I’ll help you to bed,” Wonwoo offered with a warm smile as he went around to the other side of the counter to help you.

He placed an arm around your waist and guided you to your room as you tripped over your own feet. You were too sleepy, which mixed with the fact you were still a little bit drunk. Thus, you were half-dragged to your room where Wonwoo helped you lay in bed. He even tucked you in.

“Goodnight, Wonwoo,” you said softly, already half asleep.

He half-smiled, turning just as he exited your room to see you pull the blankets closer, “Goodnight, ___.”

After he closed the door and walked back to the living room, he thought about you. You said you were bad at expressing your feelings, but truthfully, so was he. Wonwoo was always alone; he never had anybody to take care of. He always wanted somebody he could look out for and take care of, but he never had it. So he usually shoved that want to the back of his mind, pretending like he didn’t feel completely alone.

But now he had someone to care for. Now, Wonwoo had you.

You slept for three days. Wonwoo made sure to check on you every few hours when he was awake -- he just wanted to make sure you hadn’t fallen into a coma or something -- and was prepared to order plenty of food when you did wake up because he knew his cooking skills were subpar.

When you did wake up, it was morning. The sun streaming in from your slightly-parted curtains was a clear indication of that. You checked your phone that was about to die where it was in your pocket, and you were impressed with how long you slept. However, you were also impressed with the amount of texts and emails you had.

You got out of bed, changed clothes, and went straight to the bathroom to at least fix your hair a little. You’d brush your teeth after eating, which was also a top priority. Your stomach loudly rumbling was a clear indication of that.

When your bladder wasn’t close to exploding, and your hair wasn’t as big of a mess as it was, you left the bathroom to go to the living room. As expected, Wonwoo was there, already working. However, he dropped everything he was doing when he saw you, his face brightening.

“Well, look who’s alive!” he teased with a bright smile that even made you smile a little.

Honestly, getting all your drunken feelings out kind of made you feel a little better about being around him. Sure, you didn’t completely tell him how you felt, but you definitely felt less tense around him.

“Unfortunately,” you joked with a yawn, stretching out your limbs.

“Your friends were worried about you, but I told them you finally went to sleep,” he chuckled, holding up his phone to signify that he was also blown up with messages. “They sure get worried about you.”

“They were Mingyu’s friends before they were mine,” you explained as you walked over to the couch and plopped down. “They’re nice, though. They make for good company since I was always alone.”

“Didn’t it get weird having them just...pop in out of nowhere?” he wondered, sitting back as he stretched out his arms with a grunt.

“Sometimes,” you nodded with a soft laugh. “It’s definitely a bit weird, but it’s something I got used to.”

Wonwoo just nodded, letting the two of you fall into an oddly comfortable silence. You could hear the purr of Wonwoo’s setup but that was all the noise you heard. You were surprised that you didn’t feel uncomfortable, and you assumed it was because you’d pretty much broken down that barrier you had put up between you and him. But was it really that easy? Just crying about your pent up feelings really solved everything?

It seemed too easy.

“Are you hungry?” Wonwoo’s voice broke you from your thoughts.

As if it understood, your stomach growled loudly. Wonwoo’s laugh was deep and loud and warm, and it made you smile. It reminded you of the loud laughs Mingyu would let out at the dumbest things. Your heart fluttered for a moment.

You did understand Wonwoo and Mingyu were different people, but there were things you saw in Wonwoo that reminded you of Mingyu. Did that mean you only liked Wonwoo because he reminded you of Mingyu? No. You liked Wonwoo because he did things that made you happy. Mingyu just happened to also do those things.

But did you want to like Wonwoo? No.

“C’mon, let’s go out for breakfast,” Wonwoo suggested as he pushed himself off of the couch.

Your thoughts seemed to stutter to a stop as your head whipped around, following Wonwoo as he walked toward the door, “Out? Like...to a restaurant?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, slipping his feet into his sneakers. “I think there’s a diner nearby, right?”

“Uh...I-I think so,” you stammered.

“What?” he chuckled, noticing how odd you were acting. “Do you not go outside?”

“I haven’t in a long time, no,” you answered truthfully, finally getting off the couch to go put on your shoes that had stayed untouched by the door. “I get everything delivered to me.”

“We need to get you some vitamins,” he said, making a face as he opened the door. “Let’s hope you don’t melt in the sun.”

The walk to the road was pretty long considering your security measures. Your front door could only be reached by a long driveway, which had plenty of cameras, motion triggers, and the like. Of course, you could turn them off via your phone, but the walk was still long because the path was long to give plenty of opportunities for warning and/or capture of any intruders in case any of the other traps didn’t work.

Once the two of you reached the road, you turned right toward the diner Wonwoo was talking about. You hadn’t been there in months -- the last time was with Mingyu -- but you remembered exactly where it was. You didn’t know if it was still there, but if it wasn’t, you could probably find somewhere else to have breakfast.

You reached a crosswalk, and went to just walk even though the little light didn’t tell you to. It was something you always did when there wasn’t traffic or the cars were momentarily stopped, figuring it wasn’t a big deal. However, Wonwoo grabbed your shoulder and pulled you back, almost pulling you over.

“Hey, what the--” you whined, turning to face him.

“You have to wait, ___,” he stated, hitting the button with the side of his fist. “If you get hit by a car--”

“I have yet to get hit by a car,” you told him, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Everyone has a first time to die, ___,” he stated matter-of-factly, “and it’s usually their last.”

You opened your mouth for a rebuttal, but came up with nothing. So you just snapped your jaw shut, taking note of the smirk on Wonwoo’s face.

When the light showed the little glowing person, Wonwoo gripped your upper arm and helped you across the street like you needed the assistance. But instead of pulling away, you just let him.

When you reached the diner, you sat yourselves at a booth, sitting across from each other. Wonwoo grabbed the menus from where they were pushed up between the wall and condiment holder, handing one to you before he opened his own. But you already knew what you wanted because you always got it, and Mingyu would tease you for it.

Wonwoo noticed you just put the menu back, smirking at you from behind his glasses, “Already decided that quick?”

“Chocolate milk, coffee, scrambled eggs with wheat toast, bacon, and potatoes, and two cinnamon buns,” you stated with a solid nod.

“Why do you need chocolate milk and coffee?” he asked with a chuckle.

“To appease the child in me, and the other part of me that’s dead inside,” you deadpanned.

Wonwoo nodded, raising his eyebrows as his eyes drifted back down to his menu, “I’ll cheers to that.”

The waitress came over to take your order, and you repeated everything you wanted, exactly how you wanted it. Wonwoo then gave off his order, and the woman wrote it down before going to turn to leave.

“Oh!” you suddenly spoke up, remembering something you forgot. “Can we have a Belgian waffle as well?”

The waitress added that to the list before walking back to the kitchen.

Wonwoo laughed, shaking his head at you, “You really are going to eat all of that?”

“Oh, the waffle was tradition for Mingyu and I,” you explained as another woman came over to pour coffee into the mugs already on your table. “We used to share it when we’d come here.”

Wonwoo thanked the woman before his attention was back on you. He looked interested in your little story, his hands folded together in front of him.

“So...should I share it with you?” he wondered softly, before quickly added, “Unless you want to keep it your thing with him.”

“I...don’t know,” you admitted, your brows knitting together as you thought about it. Would you feel like you were betraying Mingyu by sharing something you did with him, with Wonwoo? “What do you think?”

Wonwoo chewed on the inside of his cheek as he thought it over, “I think...you should leave the other half. For him. Kinda like pouring one out.”

You nodded, looking back at Wonwoo with a warm half-smile, “I like that.”

So you enjoyed your breakfast with Wonwoo, eating only half of your waffle. You laughed, talked, and you ultimately felt closer to Wonwoo afterwards. The two of you split the check, but Wonwoo insisted on leaving the tip himself. And then you left the diner, leaving the other half of the waffle behind for Mingyu. In a way, it felt like some form of small closure.

Things got better over the next two and a half months. You and Wonwoo spent more time together, you left the house more, and your health was getting better. You didn’t sport dark circles as frequently, and you were forced to eat a proper dinner at least four times a week. Wonwoo typically ordered out, but he was trying to learn how to cook. You taught him little things you’d picked up from Mingyu, since he was a fantastic cook despite his laziness when it came to actually making meals. You even let him sleep in your room since you didn’t have a second bed, and you often found yourself laying extremely close to him when you woke up in the morning. You also let him move his setup to the bedroom since yours took up the entire office.

Your friends noticed the change, too. They were pleased to see you weren’t as grumpy, and they wondered if you were finally coming out of your depression over Mingyu. Obviously, there wasn’t a time limit on how long you could mourn somebody, but you had mourned Mingyu for a long time, and you hadn’t really let your feelings out until that night you got drunk and cried in front of Wonwoo. You didn’t completely let everything out, but you addressed the biggest thing: you missed Mingyu, and you hated feeling alone. You’d conquered those feelings, and let somebody new in. Now, you didn’t feel so alone.

Wonwoo and you were closer than ever. However, that scared you. You realized you were starting to feel similar feelings toward him that you felt toward Mingyu, but you didn’t feel those things because he sometimes reminded you of Mingyu. You felt those feelings because he was Wonwoo, and you just liked Wonwoo.

Maybe even loved Wonwoo…?

When you thought about it, the fact was that Wonwoo took care of you, and you liked it; you loved it. You loved feeling cared for and loved. You loved having Wonwoo nag you to take care of yourself because he wanted you to be healthy. The fact Wonwoo took time out of his day just to make sure you were doing alright made your heart race, and your stomach do flips. That was something only Mingyu did for you, but now Wonwoo was doing it, and you thrived off of it. You figured it was because you never really had a proper family to care about you, but you absolutely loved being cared for.

But there were things Wonwoo did that Mingyu didn’t do, and you still loved those things. He wouldn’t let you go on work binges where you’d stay up for days at a time. He would force you to go outside at least once a week, even if it was just for walks. He liked to invite you to watch movies with him that weren’t just crappy comedies that the two of you would make fun of. Sometimes they were horror films based off of real events, or sometimes they were documentaries that made you think about the world, and cry sometimes. But Wonwoo was always there to comfort you, and he never laughed at you for crying.

Mingyu was Mingyu, and Wonwoo was Wonwoo, but you loved Wonwoo like you loved Mingyu, and that terrified you.

But some sadistic part of you wanted to love Wonwoo anyway.

One of the times the two of you were on the couch together watching a movie, you decided to play a drinking game. You were watching some classic horror movie, and you were supposed to take a shot every time a certain thing happened or someone said a significant word or line. It didn’t get you really drunk, but it got the both of you drunk enough to start talking about your past lives.

“Don’t you wonder why other people leave their lives and families to do this?” Wonwoo wondered after swallowing a shot. He placed his shot glass on the table before leaning back and sighing. “This is the shadiest job ever, so only people with shit lives could take up the offer.”

“So you had a shit life?” you assumed, hiccuping at the end.

He nodded, running his slim fingers through his hair, “I had a younger sibling who passed away from leukemia. My parents stopped giving a shit after that so...I left.”

“Oh…” you nodded, not really knowing what else to say. “I’m sorry.”

He just shrugged, “‘S okay. What about you?”

“I was raised in an abusive household, and one of the neighbors basically stole me away and had me training for the agency ever since,” you explained shortly before taking a shot just for fun. “That’s why I’m the best.”

“One of the best,” Wonwoo correct with a smirk. He wiggled his eyebrows when you playfully glared at him. “You and me are tied, cutie pie.”

“Cutie pie?” you scoffed, trying to ignore the heat rising in your cheeks. “That’s new.”

“You know what I think, ___?” Wonwoo asked, leaning over to pour himself another drink. He didn’t continue what he was saying until he had another shot ready in his hand. “I think Mingyu started calling you Glitch because you like...glitched out his heart.”

You paused getting yourself another drink, all of your attention hyper focused on Wonwoo now, “...What?”

“In our business, we’re not supposed to give a shit about anybody, right?” he asked. “But I give a lot of shits about you, ___. You like, glitched out my feelings and you just...you made me feel...things.”

All you could do was laugh, but the kind where you just exhaled out of your nose, “I make you feel things?”

“Yeah, like...warm, fuzzy, heart racing feelings.”

“Are we in kindergarten, Woo? You can just say you like me.”

“But I don’t like you,” Wonwoo groaned, running both hands through his hair, “I love you!”

You were completely frozen now. Yes, you loved Wonwoo, which you were still coming to terms with, but you didn’t think in a million years that he would ever love you back! So...what did you do now?

“Y-you love me?” you stammered out in a whisper.

Wonwoo just stared back at you, staying silent for a few seconds, “You know, if I wasn’t kind of drunk, I wouldn’t have told you like this.”

“How would you have told me?” you wondered, just staring at Wonwoo.

“Well…” he began slowly, sitting up a little straighter and taking your hands in his, “I’d sit you down, completely sober--”

“Already doing great,” you joked lightly.

He snorted a bit, but kept going, “And I’d look you in your eyes…”

You just barely nodded, “Y-yeah…”

Wonwoo leaned in slowly, his lips getting closer and closer to yours, “And I’d ask if I could kiss you…”

You stayed still, anticipating what you knew would happen next. When you didn’t stop him, Wonwoo let his lips press softly to yours. Your hands instinctively went up to his shoulders, and one of his hands cupped your cheek as the other held your waist. His kiss was slow and sweet, his lips moving cautiously against yours in case you wanted to stop. But nothing in you wanted to stop. In fact, every single part of you wanted to keep going.

His lips tasted like the alcohol the two of you were drinking, but it somehow seemed like the alcohol from his lips got you drunker than the alcohol straight from the bottle. Your head felt like it was spinning in the best way possible, and your heart was pounding in your chest. You hadn’t felt like this in a long time, and you didn’t want it to end. You didn’t feel afraid to love Wonwoo anymore, you felt somewhat comforted.

As the kiss got deeper and his lips moved a bit faster with yours, you found him suddenly on top of you. You were on your back, your legs wrapped around his hips as Wonwoo held himself above you just enough that he wouldn’t completely crush you.

“I love you,” he mumbled into the kiss, making your heart beat so quickly, you were sure he could feel it.

“I love you,” you replied, not even giving it a second thought.

You could feel Wonwoo smiling against your lips, pulling back to look at you, “Really?”

You nodded, “Really. I was afraid to, but...I do.”

“It’s okay, I get it,” he reassured you, stroking your cheek with the pad of his thumb. “We’ll take it slow, don’t worry.”

“You...do realize you’re completely on top of me, right?” you laughed.

The serious, sensual mood suddenly shifted as Wonwoo let out a deep belly laugh, his face turning red, “Okay, yeah, you make a good point.”

Wonwoo sat up, climbing off of you and sitting back in his original spot on the couch. This time, though, you sat closer to him, resting your head against his shoulder.

“Actually, that was why Mingyu called me that,” you informed him suddenly. “He started calling me Glitch when he started to like me, and then he told me he loved me by hacking into my computer because he said it was ‘only fair’.”

Wonwoo laughed deeply, shaking his head, “He sounds like he was funny.”

“He was definitely something,” you agreed with a laugh of your own. “It doesn’t hurt to talk about him anymore. I still miss him, but I don’t mind telling you about him.”

“That means you’re coping,” he chuckled, letting his head rest on top of yours.

You fell into silence, just watching the movie. You weren’t really paying attention to the movie, though, because you couldn’t get over what just happened. Wonwoo actually loved you, and you loved him. You had to realize you couldn’t just shut yourself out from others; you had to move on if Mingyu wasn’t ever going to come back. These last few months, you had realized it’s okay to be happy.

And Wonwoo really made you happy.

You sat at your computer, eyes staring at the screen. They were dry, but you just powered through, wanting to get this last bit of the project done before you stopped. Once it was done, then you would take a break. That’s what you told yourself.

Of course, it wouldn’t be work without somebody distracting you.

“How’s it gooooing?” Soonyoung sang.

“Do you ever do work?” you asked with zero emotion in your voice.

“Do you ever take breaks?” he shot back. “Don’t you know what day it is?”

“I do, but I need to get this done,” you replied, your eyes flickering back and forth between monitors. “Besides, Wonwoo’s working too.”

“Is he?” Soonyoung asked with a smirk in his voice.

You finally peeled your eyes away from your work to look at Soonyoung’s face in the corner of your screen. As expected, he was smirking at you expectantly, wiggling his eyebrows.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you asked with a sigh.

“Go see for yourself,” was all he said before ending the call.

You let out an even deeper, longer sigh as you leaned back in your computer chair, running both hands through your messy hair. Deciding you could just pick up where you left off, you went to go check on Wonwoo like Soonyoung suggested, trudging to the bedroom in your sweatpants and thin t-shirt. However, your bedroom was empty.

“Woo?” you called out.

“Kitchen!” he replied.

You groaned loud enough for him to hear across the small house as you stomped toward the kitchen, “Why are you and Soonyoung doing this to me? I’m almost done with work, and you guys just--”

You stopped when you saw the kitchen lights dimmed, a chocolate cake with the words “Happy One Month Anniversary” written poorly in red gel frosting, and various takeout boxes on the counter. Wonwoo was smiling brightly, gesturing to it all.

“Happy anniversary!” he cheered.

“Oh my god!” you laughed, shaking your head. “Woo, it’s just one month!”

“One month since I told you I love you, and that’s a big milestone for both of us,” he stated proudly as he walked over to you, his hands settling naturally on your hips, “C’mon, let me have an excuse to eat junk, drink alcohol, and get you naked.”

“You just want your dick sucked,” you scoffed, playfully rolling your eyes as his lips pressed against yours.

“Sort of,” he grinned, “but that, among other things. My dick is not the point, ___.”

“Well, thank you for buying all of this food,” you finally sighed, letting him kiss you again. You backed away from him to grab some food since you hadn’t eaten since morning. “I appreciate it.”

After that night that you and Wonwoo confessed to each other, you both just kind of...assumed you were dating. He referred to you as his girlfriend, and you referred to him as your boyfriend. Nobody was really surprised -- to be fair, Wonwoo had told all of your friends about his feelings for you -- but they were definitely happy that you were moving on.

Things were going well, too. You still got anxiety about Wonwoo suddenly getting ripped away from you, but he did everything he could to make you feel better about it. He definitely understood you had separation anxiety after what happened, so he always tried to make you feel like everything would be okay. He had yet to really see how afraid you were -- you never had somehow been able to avoid anxiety attacks around him -- but he knew you were severely worried. But he did manage to make you feel better. You really had to learn to trust him, and you were. So much so that you took off the ring that matched Mingyu’s -- you still wore Mingyu’s on a necklace, but nobody expected you to take it off.

Wonwoo grabbed plates and got you some food before getting his own. As the two of you sat at the counter to eat, you suddenly felt your phone vibrate where you had stashed it away in your pocket. You ignored it, wanting to just spend time with your boyfriend. However, you then heard the security system announce an “intruder”.

“It might just be a package,” Wonwoo shrugged, thought he went to stand up to check anyway.

“Security disarmed,” the system said in it’s female-sounding voice.

Your eyebrows furrowed, knowing only very few people could disarm the system: You, Wonwoo, Soonyoung, Junhui, and Jihoon. However, the next words from the system had your heart stopping completely.

“Person identified: Kim Mingyu.”

Wonwoo whipped his head around to look at you, his expression unreadable. You just stared back wide-eyed until you managed to fumble around in your pocket and fish out your phone. You opened the security app and searched through all the cameras until you saw a figure in tattered clothes, but his head was aimed down. However, the height was the same, and his build almost looked similar to Mingyu -- just thinner than you remembered him.

But...there was no way...

“Stay here,” Wonwoo said before going off to investigate.

He did grab a knife before he left the kitchen, going toward the lounge. But despite Wonwoo’s instructions, you followed behind him, wanting to know who was pretending to be your dead boyfriend.

Wonwoo stalked up to the door right as there was a loud knock. You gripped the back of Wonwoo’s shirt tightly as you poked your head around him to see.

Cautiously, he opened the door, but it was quickly shoved open before being slammed closed behind the intruder. They were panting, and looked afraid with their clothes a dirty, tattered mess, and their face just as dirt-stained and beaten up. However, you still recognized him under all the blood, bruises, cuts, and grime.

“Mingyu?” you breathed out, stepping out from behind Wonwoo.

“Oh god, ___!” Mingyu sighed, already holding his arms out for you.

Without a second thought, you threw yourself into his arms, immediately sobbing into his shoulder. Mingyu just held you -- he definitely felt thinner than you remembered -- enjoying the feeling of having you in his arms again.

“Fuck, I was afraid they got you, too,” he mumbled.

Wonwoo wasn’t really sure what to do -- you were his girlfriend now, but here was the boy you were in love with first -- but Mingyu’s last sentence really caught Wonwoo’s attention, “Who’s ‘they’?”

Mingyu lifted his head to study the unfamiliar boy in his house, but kept his arms around you as you cried, “The pricks that kidnapped me! We need to get out of here; they’ll come find us.”

“W-what?” you pulled away to look up at Mingyu, your face streaked with tears. “H-how did you…?”

“I barely escaped, but I did,” he explained quickly, “but I’ll tell you everything when we get somewhere safe. Call Seungcheol, tell him there’s a code black. I’ll start packing things.”

“I’ll call,” Wonwoo told you as Mingyu pulled away from you to go pack some of your belongings, “you help him.”

Even though Wonwoo was trying to help, you could tell his demeanor shifted. His eyes seemed...sad. But you couldn’t focus on that, you had bigger things to worry about, like everybody making it out alive.

You ran off to help Mingyu pack and delete data from the computers while Wonwoo called in the emergency. Seungcheol was confused as to why there was a code black, but he couldn’t question it when everybody was safe. So Wonwoo was connected to the boss, to whom he explained the situation.

“There’s a safehouse on Jeju Island, inside the city so it’ll be harder for any kidnappers to be discreet,” the boss told Wonwoo. “Delete all data before going to the airport. You’ll have three plane tickets under the name ‘Kim Jisoo’. I’ll have Agent Vernon drop off your fake IDs in one hour, so please be there on time.”

“Three?” Wonwoo questioned.

“You’re also in danger if you live there, Agent Woo,” the boss stated. “You’ll go with Agent Z and Agent Gyu to Jeju; please do not be late.”

With that, he hung up.

Meanwhile, you and Mingyu had come out of the bedroom with duffel bags and backpacks. Mingyu had changed into cleaner clothes -- you had kept a few of Mingyu’s things just because they were your favorite things to steal from his closet. He tossed a bag to Wonwoo before helping you get your jacket on.

“You’re coming, breadstick,” he stated.

“That’s Wonwoo to you,” Wonwoo informed him neutrally.

“What did the boss say?” you asked as you slipped on your sneakers.

“We’re going to Jeju Island, and Vernon will meet us at the airport in an hour,” Wonwoo reported.

“Then let’s get going,” Mingyu said, opening the door and ushering you and Wonwoo out. “The sooner we get to the airport, the safer we’ll be. I’ll drive, you keep ___ safe.”

Mingyu pulled a gun out from the back of his jeans, tossing it to Wonwoo like it was nothing. All Wonwoo did was nod curtly before placing a hand on the small of your back and leading you to the garage under the house.

You knew which car Mingyu would go to since it was “his baby”. It was the fastest car in the garage but you had never touched it since he was kidnapped. But getting back into the car in so long made you nostalgic for the rare midnight drives with him. The car even still smelled like him.

Mingyu got in the front to drive while Wonwoo sat in the back with you, one arm protectively around you. All thoughts of your one month anniversary were gone now that he knew you were possibly in any danger, so all he could focus on were the windows. His eyes were scanning the surroundings carefully while Mingyu peeled out of the garage and left your house behind, pulling onto the road and weaving easily through traffic. He was always amazing at driving.

“So,” Mingyu began as his sharp eyes checked every mirror while also watching the road to make sure nobody was following him, “who’s this?”

“Wonwoo,” you replied as Wonwoo muttered, “Why does it matter?”

You looked up at him, “What does that mean?”

“I think you know what it means, ___,” he said harshly.

“Is he your…?” Mingyu let his question trail off, unsure if he even wanted to know the answer.

“Well…” you began slowly, but you knew things would only be made worse with Wonwoo if you didn’t outright say it, and it was better to only deal with an angry Mingyu rather than two angry boys, “yeah; Wonwoo’s my boyfriend.”

“Oh,” Mingyu said flatly, and you noticed his knuckles gripping the wheel tighter.

You groaned, “Jesus, Gyu, can we deal with this when we’re not in danger?!”

“As much as I’d love to get through this awkward situation as soon as possible, I agree,” Wonwoo decided.

“Nobody cares what you think,” Mingyu grumbled.

“Mingyu!” you growled.

“Alright, alright!” he sighed, deciding to drop the topic for now. “But once we’re on that plane, we’re having a talk. All of us.”

After that, the car fell into a tense silence as Mingyu drove to the airport. Thankfully, Wonwoo didn’t seem to see anybody following the three of you, but he refused to let his guard down. That meant all you were left to do was think. Think about how you loved Wonwoo, but you still loved Mingyu. About how you’d have to choose between them but you weren’t sure how that would ever happen because you loved them both just the same.

Mingyu finally pulled into the airport parking lot and went to the trunk to grab all your stuff. Wonwoo helped you out of the backseat and held you close even as Mingyu handed him things to hold. Mingyu stood on your other side, keeping an arm around you almost in a territorial manner as the three of you walked into the airport to find Vernon.

Wonwoo took out his phone to find the information given about where to meet Vernon, “He’ll be waiting by the McDonald’s with Hoshi.”

You heard Mingyu let out a short laugh, so you looked up at him. He was actually cracking a smile, and it made your heart flutter.

God, you missed that smile.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen them,” he said, running his free hand through his matted hair. “They don’t know I’m back, huh?”

“No,” Wonwoo replied, “I haven’t told them. Only the boss knows, unless he told them, too.”

“At least Hansol has to know,” you realized, remembering that it was Hansol that was usually in charge of making fake documents. “If he had to make our IDs, he would need to know Mingyu’s alive if he was asked to make one for him.”

“Can we at least keep the reunion short?” Wonwoo requested as he held the door open for the two of you. “We’ll be safer waiting at the terminal.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mingyu replied, waving his free hand. His other hand moved away from your waist to hold your hand tightly. “C’mon, breadstick.”

“For fucks sake, it’s Wonwoo!” he groaned.

Without even having to think about it, your other hand reached behind you to grab onto Wonwoo. He walked closer to you, putting his arm around your shoulder. Your arm went around his waist, your hand fisting his shirt as Mingyu dragged you toward the McDonald’s to meet Vernon and Hoshi.

The two boys weren’t hard to spot. They were standing up against the wall together, talking casually, but their eyes were sweeping the airport in search of the three of you. When they spotted you, Vernon’s face broke out into a smile, and Hoshi looked like he was about to pass out.

Mingyu let out a loud laugh before letting go of your hand to go hug his friends. Wonwoo scoffed beside you, but you weren’t going to feed into his immaturity.

When you reached their little reunion, the three boys were talking and laughing like old college friends meeting at a bar. Vernon’s eyes finally landed on you while Soonyoung was still giggling at Mingyu. Vernon looked confused, and you noticed his gaze had zeroed in on how you and Wonwoo were holding each other. He had seen you and Mingyu holding hands just before the tallest agent had ran over…

But thankfully, Hansol didn’t ask.

“We’ll make sure you’re safe,” he assured you. “I have the passports, and Soonyoung will bring the car to HQ so Mingyu doesn’t have to worry about his baby.”

“Good,” Mingyu nodded with a pout. “Don’t scratch her.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Soonyoung smiled, waving away Mingyu’s concerns.

“Here’s your documents,” Hansol said as he distributed them to their respective owners, “and some money.”

Vernon held the back of one of your hands in his palm before placing a wad of money in your hand and closing your fingers around it. He looked deeply into your eyes for a moment, trying to tell you something you couldn’t understand. It was like he was worried for you specifically, and you had a feeling you knew what it was: he was worried you’d be left alone again. He knew you loved Mingyu, and he knew you loved Wonwoo. So the money was for you to take care of yourself more than anything else.

Hansol suddenly pulled you in for a hug, pulling you away from both boys to wrap his arms around you.

“Be safe,” he whispered, “and watch out for yourself. Call if anything happens, and we’ll come get you.”

“Thanks,” you replied quietly, letting your arms drape around his waist.

He pulled away and hugged the two boys while Soonyoung pulled you into a spine-crushing hug. Once all the goodbyes were done, Hansol dragged Sooyoung off to get Mingyu’s car and get back to HQ. That left your awkward trio alone once again.

“Alright,” Mingyu nodded, “guess we should get going. Do you need anything before we go through security?”

Both boys were looking down at you -- Mingyu really didn’t give a shit if Wonwoo needed anything, and vice versa -- so you shook your head, “No… I’ll relax when we get on the plane.”

“Okay,” Mingyu sighed, placing a hand on the small of your back and leading you toward bag check.

Everything went by in a blur. Your bags were taken care of, you got through security no problem -- you trusted Vernon’s skills -- and you were waiting at the terminal in what seemed like a short amount of time. Your head rested on Mingyu, your eyes looking up at him as you couldn’t believe he was here in front of you. He had excused himself to the bathroom to wash up, so you could actually see his skin a lot better. He was a little bit paler, he had some scars you didn’t recall him having before, and he still had some cuts on his face that were healing. He definitely looked tired, but his eyes were hard and determined as he stared straight ahead.

Meanwhile, your hand was in Wonwoo’s, gripping it as tightly as you could. His hand was warm despite the tense situation. He was silent the whole time, only speaking up to ask if you needed anything. But you could tell he didn’t really want to hold your hand since his grip wasn’t as solid as it normally was. It was loose, and he didn’t lace your fingers together. He held your hand like Mingyu liked to hold your hand, but Wonwoo always held your hand with your fingers woven between each other. It just didn’t feel right.

But what did feel right currently? Mingyu was angry, Wonwoo was upset, and you were caught in the middle. Nothing felt right anymore, at least not right now. And you were pretty sure nothing would really feel right after this, either.

You didn’t notice your eyelids drooping as you thought about the two boys beside you. You hadn’t realized you’d dozed off until Mingyu helped you up so you could walk down the terminal and onto the plane. But once you were in the seat between the two boys, you were out once again, and you wouldn’t remember the walk from the airport to the airplane.

Neither of the boys spoke to each other on the plane. Mingyu stared out the window while Wonwoo just stared blankly at the movie playing in front of him. They chose to pretend the other wasn’t there instead of at least trying to be civil. Mingyu hated Wonwoo because he was the new guy, and Wonwoo hated Mingyu because he was the old guy who was supposed to be dead. Both had ruined the others plans.

But then there was you. They were both upset with you: Mingyu was upset that you moved on, and Wonwoo didn’t know why he was upset with you, but he was. You knew deep down that both of them had some harsh feelings toward you, but you were trying to put that conversation off for as long as possible. You were scared they’d both just leave you, and you couldn’t handle that. You lost Mingyu once, you couldn’t lose anybody else anymore.

The plane landed safely in Jeju, and Mingyu gently shook your shoulder while Wonwoo gathered your carry-ons. Wonwoo just carried everything off the plane while Mingyu helped you walk in your sleepy state. A car was ready for you when you got to Jeju, so all you three had to worry about was getting the rest of your belongings from bag check, and following the directions to your new house.

By the time the three of you reached the car, you were wide awake. You helped put bags in the trunk before getting in the backseat with Wonwoo -- he refused to sit near Mingyu -- again. Mingyu just started up the engine and drove to where the GPS told him to, not saying anything to either of you.

It was nighttime, but you couldn’t see the stars here like you did back home. The lights of Jeju City made the stars invisible, and it made you miss your home even more. But you couldn’t focus on that, you had to let the agency know you arrived safely in the city.

You texted Seungcheol to let him know, and he called you immediately after. You put the phone to your ear, guessing exactly what he would say next.

“Vernon and Hoshi said Mingyu’s alive,” he said quickly, though it sounded like a question.

“He is,” you insisted, nodding even though he couldn’t see you. “He just...showed up.”

“Holy shit,” Seungcheol breathed. “How is he?”

“Thinner, paler...dirtier,” you listed off, remembering the scars you’d seen on his skin. “He hasn’t said much about what happened, so I can’t tell you anything. Sorry.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“He’s driving.”

“Can you have him call me as soon as he can? But make sure he gets some sleep. The boss will call when you guys get to the house, though.”

“Alright, got it.”

Seungcheol kept the conversation short since he figured you were stressed out and exhausted. But that just left you once again in an awkward silence among the people in the small car. But hey, you’d be living like this for a while, so you might as well get used to it.

The house was small but it had a basement with computers already set up. There was a bedroom on the main floor -- the house was only one floor if you didn’t count the basement -- and a bed in the computer room in the basement. That meant only two beds, and three of you. So somebody was sharing, and you weren’t sure who it was going to be.

Other than the beds, though, there was a bathroom, and a small living room/kitchen. Basically, the house had the bare minimum, but it was really all you needed for now. Besides, the less conspicuous, the better.

All of the bags were dropped on the floor in the basement while Mingyu turned on all the monitors and towers. While he did that, Wonwoo looked around slowly before breaking the silence.

“I guess we should talk about this now, then,” he decided.

“No, we--”

“Good idea,” Mingyu agreed with a way-too-cheery tone. His sharp gaze went straight to you, and you almost flinched. “___, care to tell me why you’re dating someone else?”

You gave Mingyu an incredulous look, “Are...are you serious?”

“I was only gone for a few months!”

“Mingyu, everybody thought you were dead!”

“Oh,” he let out a harsh laugh, “is that why I found this in the nightstand?”

Mingyu’s hand came out of his pocket, holding your promise ring between his index and middle finger. His eyebrows were raised, waiting for your response, but all you did was stare at the ring, every memory with Mingyu suddenly hitting you all at once. You missed him so much it hurt, but all he was doing was accusing you for doing what? Moving on? Not being miserable forever?

All of your emotions escalated into anger.

“Mingyu, you’re acting like a dick!” you burst.

“Me?” he snorted before his expression turned dark. “I was kidnapped and tortured, and you went and found someone new as soon as you could!”

“I waited months, Gyu!” you told him, standing toe-to-toe with him and leaning up to get even more in his face.

“Yeah, she held out hope for a dead guy,” Wonwoo scoffed to himself, but it was still loud enough for both of you to hear.

You looked over at him where his fingertips were running over one of the keyboards, and you saw his eyes roll in the dim glow of the monitors.

“And you,” your anger was now zeroed in on Wonwoo, who looked up at you like he didn’t expect the outburst, “what do you have against me now? Do you think it’s my fault I loved Mingyu before I even knew you existed? Is it my fault Mingyu came back?”

“No, but you have to choose one of us,” Wonwoo stated, trying to avoid making sense of why he was so angry at you. “We both know it has to happen.”

“Ugh, I can’t!” you shouted, your hands slapping against your thighs as your head dropped back and you just stared at the ceiling. You lifted your head to look between the two boys that were surprised by your outburst. “I still love Mingyu, but I love you, too! I-- I can’t help it; I can’t decide!”

“Just admit I’m a second choice, ___,” Wonwoo scoffed.

“Oh, fuck off. You and I both know that’s not true. You reminded me of Mingyu, but you are not Mingyu. I didn’t fall in love with you to get over Mingyu, I fell in love with you for you.”

“Then what am I, huh?” Mingyu chimed in, holding his arms out. “Just the dead boyfriend?”

“Oh, don’t you act like I haven’t been clinging to you since you walked through my door,” you frowned, your hands balling into fists at your sides. “I think we all know how I feel about you, otherwise Wonwoo wouldn’t be acting like a huge fucking baby right now.”

“That’s not--”

“You--”

“You numbskulls do realize we’re all being hunted down by whoever the fuck took Mingyu, right?” you quizzed them, interrupting their arguing. “So until you two can get your goddamn priorities straight, you two can share the bed down here!”

With that, you grabbed your things and marched up the stairs before slamming the door closed behind you, leaving the two boys in a stunned silence.

You didn’t go see either of them for two and a half weeks. You were furious and upset and afraid and confused all at once. All you did was cry and talk to whoever was available to listen to your worries. You knew you should’ve tried to fix things, but you were just so angry with them for worrying over who gets your heart when you could die at any moment. Not only that, but you loved them both. How could you let one of them go?

Slowly, though, you were gathering your thoughts. You were figuring out the best way to go about handling the situation -- with a little help, of course -- and you were mentally preparing yourself to finally go and talk to them. It had been two and a half weeks, anyway, so you figured you should go check on them.

“What’s the worst thing that could happen, anyway?” Hansol had asked through the phone.

“They could both decide to not be with her,” Jihoon deadpanned.

“Technically the worst thing that could happen is that the island explodes,” Seokmin interjected.

“Neither of you are helping,” Hansol sighed.

Jihoon shrugged, “You asked.”

“I’m just gonna go do it before you idiots make it worse...” you grumbled before hanging up from the call and trudging down the stairs.

To your surprise, all was silent.

“U-um...” you didn’t really know what to say, but the sound of your voice made both boys look up from their work, “hello...”

“Wow,” Mingyu was the first to speak up, “I thought you were going to leave us down here to rot.”

“We’d deserve that,” Wonwoo nodded, standing up from his chair. “Are you feeling better, _____?”

Your eyebrows furrowed, “You guys...aren’t...mad at me anymore?”

“We shouldn’t have gotten upset with you in the first place,” Mingyu admitted with a sigh, standing up as well and going to stand beside Wonwoo in front of you.

“We did some talking and--”

“You talked?” you asked.

Wonwoo chuckled, “Well, after messing with each other for like, a week -- give or take a few days.”

“But we realized we were the jerks,” Mingyu continued.

“And we’re both just afraid of losing you,” Wonwoo admitted.

“So,” Mingyu’s face began to break into a smirk.

You made a face, eyeing the taller boy up and down, “I don’t like the look you’re giving me...”

“Stop that,” Wonwoo scolded, whacking Mingyu in the stomach and making him laugh. Then he turned his attention back to you, looking at you softly. “It’s okay if you love us both.”

Your eyes widened, playing his words over and over in your head, making sure you heard him correctly, “I-it is...?”

“Yeah, only if you’re okay with it,” Mingyu smiled to show you that everything was okay now. He even tossed an arm around Wonwoo’s shoulder. “We can share, we’re big boys and shit.”

“W-wait,” you stuttered, leaning away to look seriously at Mingyu, and then up at Wonwoo who was watching as his chewed on his lip, “what about...you two?”

Mingyu shrugged, “I mean, I personally don’t get what you see in him, but I think he’s alright.”

Wonwoo playfully scoffed as he brushed Mingyu’s arm off of him, “You’re no prize, either,” he chuckled before turning serious again and looking at you. “We’ll make it work, _____. We know you're afraid of losing both of us, but you won’t have to worry anymore. Neither of us are going anywhere.”

“Yeah, nobody will leave,” Mingyu agreed, walking over to stand behind you, his hands moving to your waist and holding you flush against his body, “okay?”

You nodded slowly, breathing out, “Okay.”

Mingyu’s lips pressed to the skin of your neck, nipping softly and playfully as his thumbs pushed up your shirt just enough for him to touch our skin just above your shorts. You whined and tried to elbow him away.

“Stop, I missed you!” he whined back. “I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Yeah, but Wonwoo--”

“He can watch, I don’t care,” he chuckled. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you again? The boss could walk in and that wouldn’t mean shit to me.”

Wonwoo’s eyebrows twitched upward as he turned to go sit back in his chair, “Yeah, pretend I’m not even here.”

Mingyu cupped your cheek and turned your head to look at him, gently pressing his lips to yours. Mingyu bit down a little harder on your flesh, making you gasp, and he deepened the kiss. But Mingyu was always a little more impatient when he hadn’t seen you in a while, and this time, it had been the longest you’d gone without seeing each other. So he was already trying to tug your shirt off over your head.

“She likes being teased more,” Wonwoo murmured, his eyes scanning his screen as if he wasn’t even paying any attention to the two of you.

Your eyes snapped open again at the sound of his voice, already so lost in Mingyu that you actually kind of did forget his presence.

“I will tease her,” Mingyu pouted, managing to pull your shirt off over your head before throwing it directly at Wonwoo, the clothing landing on the older boy’s head. “Don’t tell me how to fuck my own girlfriend.”

“She’s my girlfriend, too,” Wonwoo reminded him, glancing over at him. “Maybe I should show you how to do thing properly with her since it’s been a while for you.”

You tensed as arousal suddenly shot through you at the thought.

Mingyu smirked as he caught your reaction, “I think she likes the idea.”

“Oh really?” Wonwoo asked, a smirk of his own growing on his face as he slowly stood and walked over to you until he was right in front of you, cupping your jaw. “Would you like that, baby? Do you want me to join you and Mingyu?”

Slowly, you nodded.

Wonwoo leaned down to kiss you, his thumb rubbing softly against your skin. Mingyu brought his attention back to your neck, nipping and sucking and kissing. After a moment, the two men switch spots with Mingyu’s lips on yours. But you soon turned in his arms and your lips went to Mingyu’s neck to nibble on him like he had with you. Your hands moved straight to the waistband of his sweats, slowly pulling them down. Mingyu whined into the kiss -- he hated when you didn’t pull his pants down quickly, and you knew it.

The clothing pooled around his ankles, and you let one hand drift over his boxers as you sucked a mark on Mingyu’s neck. You could feel his member starting to get hard, so you palmed him through the thin material, smirking when he moaned softly. You even heard the older boy chuckle.

But your actions were stopped when you felt a hand on your wrist, tugging your and away from Mingyu’s crotch. You pulled away to see Mingyu staring at you with a raised eyebrow, “You don’t get to tease me, baby. We’re going to tease you.”

Wonwoo smirked immediately, eyeing you up and down, “I kind like that idea. Why don’t you strip for us, baby?”

The two boys moved to sit back in their computer chairs. Wonwoo undid his belt and jeans while Mingyu pulled his half-hard member from his boxers and started to stroke himself. Both pairs of eyes were on you as you stood before them in just a shorts and your bralette.

Your clammy hands moved up to grab your bralette and tug it over your head. You heard Mingyu suck in a breath between his teeth, and when the article of clothing had dropped to the floor, you could see him staring at you through lidded eyes.

“Fuck, I haven’t seen you in so long,” he groaned as his hand stroked up and down his length slowly. “My memory did not do you justice.”

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Wonwoo agreed as his fist wrapped around his own cock, watching you as he licked his lips.

“You two talk too much,” you smirked, rolling your eyes. “Neither of you know how to just shut up and enjoy a show.”

Mingyu’s eyes slid closed momentarily, “She still loves to talk back, huh?”

Wonwoo let out a low groan, “Y-yeah. I think she likes punishments.”

You were almost completely hypnotized by the boys in front of you that you almost forgot to remove the rest of your clothes. You shimmied out of your shorts before kicking them off to the side, and then you turned around and bent over as you slowly discarded your panties that had your arousal pooling in them.

Wonwoo pointed over to the bed, “Go lay down on your back.”

You did as you were told, swinging your hips as you went. You sat down on the mattress and laid back on your elbows, watching the two boys. Mingyu walked right over to you, taking off his shirt and boxers, tossing the clothing off in a random direction. Wonwoo just watched you as he started discarding his own clothes.

Mingyu eagerly kissed your lips, his hands finding yours and holding them above your head. His lips trailed down lower, his tongue momentarily flicking over one of your nipples before he carried on, going lower as his hands slid down your body. He held your hips in place with one hand while the other parted your legs. He settled between them, his hot breath fanning against your core. You could feel your arousal dripping down your thighs and onto the bed, and Mingyu smirked as he assessed how wet you were.

“You want both of us, hm?” his voice was low and rough as his eyes glanced up at you through his lashes. “C’mon, _____, I know you can speak. Say you want both of us.”

“I want both of you,” you breathed.

“Good girl,” he hummed before pressing his tongue flat against your clit.

You let out a soft moan, trying to push your hips into Mingyu’s face, but he kept his grip on you solid. You went to at least move your hands down to his hair, but you felt the bed dip before you felt strong hands on your wrists. You looked up and saw Wonwoo kneeling beside you, his hands holding yours above you, and his half-hard cock in your face.

“I think the idea was for you to stay where you are,” he mused as you bit your lip, feeling Mingyu’s tongue slip in and out of you. “Maybe you need a distraction.”

Wonwoo used one of his hands to hold his length, lightly tapping the side of your face with it. You opened your mouth, looking up at him with wide eyes because you knew he loved when you looked at him like that. He bit his lip, inhaling sharply.

“Fuck, you look so good like this,” he grunted, cupping your cheek.

Mingyu looked away from what he was doing to watch you and Wonwoo. Your head bobbed at a slow pace, trying to get him fully erect before you did anything more. You sat up on one arm while your other hand wrapped around the base of Wonwoo’s member. The older boy let out a shaky breath as he watched you before his eyes flickered to Mingyu, meeting his darkened gaze for a moment.

You started taking more of Wonwoo in your mouth, letting him thrust into your mouth as he pleased while his head dropped back, letting out throaty moans. His hand moved from your cheek to your hair, guiding your head to move just how he liked. His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly, groaning softly.

“Fuck, you’re so good, love,” he mumbled.

Mingyu wrapped his lips around your clit and sucked, making you moan around Wonwoo. The vibrations made the older boy moan out louder, and he suddenly pulled himself out of your mouth with a pop.

“I wanna cum inside you,” he said softly, his finger tracing over your jaw. He turned to look at Mingyu, who was still working his tongue against you. “I have an idea. Lay on your back.”

“Since when am I taking orders from you?” Mingyu mumbled, sitting up before crawling to lay on his back beside you.

“Since now,” he replied before he looked at you and nodded toward Mingyu. “I want you to ride him.”

“What do you have planned for yourself, then?” you quizzed as you straddled Mingyu’s hips.

“You’ll see,” Wonwoo sang with a smirk before he got off the bed and walked over to the corner of the room the bags were still dropped in.

As you sank down on Mingyu’s length, you let out a soft moan, enjoying each delicious inch of him. Mingyu just watched you, relishing in the look on your voice, and the noises you made. His hands held your waist, guiding you down onto him.

“You feel so much better than I remember,” he groaned, waiting for you to move. “Fuck, I missed you so fucking much.”

Just as you were adjusted and ready to start moving your hips, you felt something cold against your hole. You sucked in a breath between your teeth, not expecting the sudden coldness.

“Shh, relax,” Wonwoo cooed as he swirled around his finger coated in lube. “Have you done this before?”

“Plenty,” Mingyu replied with a breathy chuckle. “She’ll be okay.”

“So,” Wonwoo began, his voice a little more mischievous than you would’ve liked, “if I did this, then…”

Wonwoo slid his long digit in slowly, leaning around you to watch your face for any signs of discomfort. While your eyes did close, the noises you made were all out of pleasure. You whimpered, but pushed back on his finger, therefore swiveling your hips a bit on Mingyu, causing him to let out a quiet moan.

Wonwoo smirked, “You like that, don’t you? You want more, huh?”

You nodded, biting on your lip.

“Words, baby,” Mingyu told you teasingly.

“I-I want m-more,” you managed to stammer out.

Slowly, Wonwoo added more of his index finger, making sure you were still okay before each move he made. Mingyu was patient about it, not expecting you to move much while Wonwoo stretched you out with more fingers. Just being inside you, watching your expressions, and hearing your moans was enough for him anyway. It had been so long since he was touched at all that even this was amazing to him.

Finally, Wonwoo coated his length in the cold lube before lining his tip up with your hole, “Relax, baby.”

You nodded, feeling his warm hand move down your back before resting on your waist. Carefully, he inserted his cock into you, your eyes squeezing shut as your mouth opened without sound coming out.

Mingyu watched, biting his lip as one of his hands moved down to your clit. His thumb rubbed small circles into the bundle of nerves, and your hips jerked at the sensation. He smirked, nodding to Wonwoo who was looking to Mingyu to see if you were okay.

“Shit, you’re such a good girl for us, _____,” Wonwoo breathed when he was completely buried inside you. “Look how well you take both of us at once.”

The praises motivated you to slowly lift your hips before moving them back down, a low, long moan trailing from your lips. Mingyu groaned out your name quietly while Wonwoo sucked in a sharp breath.

“Oh fuck, you’re so tight,” Wonwoo mumbled before slowly thrusting in and out of you in small movements.

Mingyu matched his pace despite the fact he wanted things hard and fast. He knew he wouldn’t last nearly as long as the two of you, but he just wanted to finally cum. But he held back and copied Wonwoo’s movements to bring you the most pleasure.

You’d never felt anything like this before. You’d never felt so full, and the feeling was euphoric. You couldn’t even open your eyes, your nails digging into Mingyu’s chest as he held you close to him. Wonwoo’s hands held your waist tightly as his thrusts became longer and faster, and your moans started to turn into high cries of pleasure.

“Are you gonna cum, baby?” Mingyu cooed in your ear as he thrust up into you in between pants and gasps, his thumb still circling your clit. “Are you gonna cum on my cock like a good girl?”

“God, fuck--! Y-yes,” you cried, nodding frantically as you swiveled your hips, chasing your high.

Your need to reach your orgasm had Mingyu releasing without warning, filling you with warmth as his head dropped back. You peeled your eyes open to see his Adams apple bobbed as he groaned out your name, his hips bucking up into yours sporadically.

Wonwoo leaned down slightly, still thrusting into you. You whimpered loudly as your orgasm hit you, your eyes meeting Mingyu’s for a brief moment. Your eyes squeezed shut as your back arched forward and away from Wonwoo’s front that was flush against your back. Your toes curled, and your legs shook from the intensity, everything behind your eyelids going white. You clenched around both boys, making Mingyu cry out softly, and Wonwoo groan deep in his throat.

“Fuck, that’s it,” Wonwoo’s breath was hot on your neck as he praised you through your orgasm.

With a few more thrusts, Wonwoo released into you as well, his arms snaking around your waist and holding you close to him, his face buried in your neck. Mingyu ran one hand through your hair as he rode out his release, his teeth grazing against your bare shoulder.

“Fuck,” Wonwoo panted, gently pulling out of you before rolling over to lay down on his back beside Mingyu. “God, that was… Fuck…”

Mingyu placed a kiss on your jaw before looking up at you, smiling as brightly as he could for somebody was tired out from sex, “You did so well, baby. I’m proud of you.”

You let yourself relax onto Mingyu’s chest, your cheek squished up against his sweaty skin. One of your hands wandered over to Wonwoo, your thumb stroking his cheek as you stared at him.

“I love you,” you mumbled sleepily. “Both of you. I don’t ever want either of you to leave.”

“We won’t,” Wonwoo promised, holding your hand to his cheek as he leaned over to press a chaste kiss to your forehead. “Neither of us.”

“Promise?” you asked as your eyelids got heavier.

“Promise,” Mingyu mumbled, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“Promise,” Wonwoo agreed, his smile being the last thing you saw before your eyes closed.

You rubbed your dry eyes, letting your head drop back against your computer chair. You knew you should’ve gone to bed two days ago, but you thought you were on the verge of getting through this firewall. But then there were other obstacles that had popped up, and you kept telling yourself you were almost there. Therefore, you persisted on for three days straight.

Wonwoo wasn’t happy about that, and neither was Mingyu.

“_____!” Mingyu called your name from up the stairs. “Dinner’s ready!”

“Just a sec!” you called back, your hands moving from your face, up to your hair and carding through it.

“No, now!” you heard Wonwoo’s deeper voice shout.

You let out a loud groan, frustrated you had to stop your work when you were -- yet again -- so close to being done. But you knew better than to argue against both of your boyfriends, so you pushed yourself up from your chair and went up the stairs.

The house smelled like food, and you knew Mingyu was trying to teach Wonwoo how to properly cook. Both boys were in the kitchen, bickering as usual. They were facing away from you, looking down at the stove instead. Mingyu seemed to be showing Wonwoo something while the older boy watched beside him, squinting down at the stove like it had just insulted his mother. The two continued to bicker about something Wonwoo didn’t understand about cooking.

“Hey, don’t tell me dinner is ready when it’s not,” you pouted, crossing your arms over your chest.

Wonwoo turned around, laughing at your expression, “Don’t ‘hey’ me. Dinner is ready, he’s teaching me how to make dessert.”

“But it’s our one year,” you pointed out, sitting at the counter as you waited for Wonwoo to bring over the plates, “I thought we had...not food for dessert.”

“No, that’s still the plan,” Mingyu nodded, untying the apron from his waist, “but he wanted to know how to make something himself.”

You rolled your eyes as Wonwoo placed a plate full of food in front of you, “Woo, you act like you’re a worse cook than you actually are.”

“She has a point,” Mingyu agreed, walking around to the other side of the counter to sit beside you and eat.

Wonwoo shrugged, bringing over the last two plates, “Yeah, but Mingyu’s better.”

As the three of you ate in a comfortable silence, your mind wandered to moving. The three of you were moving into a new house tomorrow that would be larger to accommodate all of your things. Since it had been a year since Mingyu escaped his kidnappers -- he never would tell you exactly what happened, though he did tell Wonwoo, and Mingyu often woke up from nightmares -- the agency deemed it safe for the three of you to move into a better living space. Security would still be tight, and you were going to be living closer to Minghao, who was a pretty decent assassin when he had to be.

“_____, stop that!” Mingyu frowned, his thumb pressing down on the crease formed between your eyebrows.

You looked up at him, “What, stop thinking?”

Wonwoo snorted, covering the lower half of his face with a napkin.

“You’re stressing over moving again,” he sighed. “C’mon, we have everything packed, and nobody is tracking us. Things will be okay.”

Mingyu’s warm hand landed on your knee comfortingly, his ring shining in the light from the kitchen. Then, you felt Wonwoo’s on your other knee, stroking your leg through the fabric of your jeans with his thumb. He had gotten you and him promise rings about six months after that first night the three of you spent together. You looked between the two boys, both giving you looks like just screamed, ‘stop worrying’.

So you sighed and nodded, knowing with both of them with you, things would be okay, “Alright, fine.”

“Good,” Wonwoo smiled before pressing a chaste kiss to your temple.

“Well then,” Mingyu sighed, shoving his half-empty plate away, “I’m ready for dessert.”

“We’ve hardly even started eating!” Wonwoo pointed out.

“Just wrap it up,” he shrugged before he stood up. You thought he was going to go get whatever Wonwoo had made, but instead, you were tossed over Mingyu’s shoulder as he said, “I’ll take dessert to go!”

You let out a squeal, “Mingyu, put me down!”

“Yeah, put her down!” Wonwoo agreed, which had Mingyu pausing as he went to walk to the bedroom. But the older boy’s next sentence had him laughing with glee. “We’re supposed to share dessert, remember?”

1K notes · View notes

svt-writers-club · 5 years

Note

14 and 20 for the otp question game/thingy!!! The ships are verkwan, meanie, junhao and jihan please! Thanks 😄💕💞 (Btw, I LOVE YOUR WRITING IM OBSESSED!) 💙

i’m so sorry that it took me this long to get around to this but i’m an avoidant bitch D: i love you though!!!!!!! i love getting asks from you pls talk to me i’m lonely and sad

VernKwan

14. Who tags them in memes captioned “this is you”

They both do it to each other, but Hansol definitely does it more to Seungkwan. My man Hansol is, after all, a connoisseur of memes. A meme maestro, if you will. Half of Hansol’s texts to Seungkwan in their private chats consist of Hansol sending Seungkwan memes and saying “this is you”. His favourite Seungkwan meme is the “I could’ve dropped my croissant!” vine.

The only reason they don’t send each other memes on their current instagrams is cos they have private instagrams where they just tag each other in memes and post vague meme-y pictures about each other without showing their faces.

(Seungkwan pretends he hates it, but he actually really loves how they kinda have their own method of communication that the other members don’t quite get. It’s like having a secret code all to their own… except their codes just happens to be memes.)

20. What’s your own headcanon?

Hansol really adores the different hair colours that Seungkwan has cycled through, but his personal favourites are when Seungkwan went blonde and his current dark blue hair. He thinks that, despite the two hairstyles being complete opposites to each other, they suit his Seungkwan the best.

Blonde, for those moments when Seungkwan is bright and happy.

Dark blue, for those moments when Seungkwan is intense and focused.

(Either that, or Hansol just really likes Seungkwan no matter what.) (Except for his red hair. He’s not so sure about Seungkwan’s red hair era. It wasn’t bad… it just wasn’t his favourite.)

Seungkwan, on the other hand, likes it when Hansol has his hair cut short. He’s not too picky about Hansol’s hair colour (although he does have a weakness for Hansol’s silvery blue hair from the TEEN,AGE album jacket shoot), but he’s more concerned about Hansol’s hair length. His favourite is Hansol’s hair for Pretty U, when he’d cut short enough that it reminded Seungkwan of his predebut hair, when the hair curled around Hansol’s ears just for Seungkwan to brush his fingers through.

Meanie

14. Who tags them in memes captioned “this is you”

Wonwoo is always tagging Mingyu in memes in the SVT groupchat and he is unstoppable. He’s tagged him in everything from pepe memes to the breadsticks meme to the current butterfly/bird meme and he will not be stopped.

You would think it stops when it’s in their own private chat.

It does not.

Mingyu is constantly drowning in memes. His boyfriend is a memelord and he will not be stopped.

20. What’s your own headcanon?

Wonwoo is more sentimental than Mingyu. Like… stupidly sentimental. He keeps all the ticket stubs from their dates, he actually gifts Mingyu a scrapbook for their fifth anniversary and he’s constantly cycling through wallpapers, but they’re all just pictures of Mingyu. Hell, he even has an entire photo album of Mingyu’s selcas, and they all range from Mingyu’s professionally taken selcas to the ones where he’s just woken up and his face is all swollen.

JunHao

14. Who tags them in memes captioned “this is you”

Minghao is another meme maestro and since he got his kermit puppet, he’s just gotten worse. There are multiple pictures of kermit in various positions all throughout the dorm and all of the memes are related to Junhui in some way. Junhui’s not sure if he’s exasperated or endeared – probably a mixture of both, though.

Fucking memelord boyfriends though. (Junhui still doesn’t know how Minghao got that picture of kermit “crying” over his sleeping body. All he wanted was a nap on the couch.)

20. What’s your own headcanon?

Minghao plans to move back to China one day, but Junhui doesn’t. It’s something they’ve gotten into arguments about, but they do eventually reach a compromise where they’ll spend half of the year in Korea and the other half in China. It’s way too soon to tell where they’ll eventually settle for retirement, but Junhui is fairly sure it’ll be in Korea, because that’s where all of Minghao’s friends are and really, he much prefers the weather in Korea (but mostly the proximity to his best friend).

JiHan

14. Who tags them in memes captioned “this is you”

Jisoo discovered memes thanks to Hansol. Jeonghan doesn’t thank Hansol for that, because for a full week after his introduction, Jisoo didn’t stop talking in memes. Half of them, Jeonghan doesn’t even understand because they don’t translate very well.

To this day, Jisoo still sends the occasional meme with a little “this is you!!!!!” message. If it were anyone else (Mingyu or Minghao), Jeonghan would be so pissed with them. But, well, Jisoo is his precious boy and it’s so cute to see him so enthused about something… even if it has to be memes.

20. What’s your own headcanon?

Jeonghan actually wasn’t that into marriage. Not until he started dating Jisoo and he could actually envision tying himself to someone for the rest of his life. He doesn’t tell Jisoo about his initial aversion to marriage, but Seungcheol knows. That’s why he’s always shooting Jeonghan knowing looks, but it only gets worse after Jeonghan buys Jisoo a ring, some time after their eighth anniversary.

Feel free to ask me more of these ship asks here!

23 notes · View notes

17mounteens · 6 years

Text

I’m okay (I’m not okay) (Mingyu)

Request:

Hello! Can you write a mingyu angst about him coping with a one sided breakup? The other hip hop unit members try to make him feel better by taking him out to the movies but mingyu runs into the reader when he goes to get refreshments and she makes small talk but mingyus dying inside. Thank you~

» Mingyu is coping with a one-sided breakup. The other hip hop unit members try to cheer him up, but he ends up running into you.

It had been weeks since Mingyu had felt alright. Heck, it had been weeks since he had felt anything, anything but the emptiness in his chest, and the more he tried to put his thoughts together the worse he seemed to feel as he was met with the reality that he didn’t particularly want to face.

Not even his puppy was able to make him feel much enjoyment, nor did his favorite TV shows, and the only thing that seemed to still go well was writing lyrics: even Jihoon had been impressed by how fast he had gotten at it. Mingyu winced every time, because the reason behind the improvement was, as cliche as it may be, heartbreak.

He had been with the love of his life for well into two years that he had enjoyed to the core, looking forward to many, many more shared years. And yet, with him still hopelessly in love, his whole life seemed to have been crushed with only a few words, piercing him like freshly sharpened knives.

”I want to break up.”

”...Why?”

“I’ve… been thinking for a while, and Mingyu, I’m sorry but I… don’t love you anymore.”

Mingyu could’ve sworn he felt his heart break in two, and he had been glad he hadn’t been holding anything in his hands: if he had, that something would’ve broken as his body went limp, his hands falling to his sides and his face losing all expression they had held.

The fact that your voice was trembling only made his chest tighten more.

”You don’t… love me anymore?”

”Mingyu, I’m so sorry…”

”...Are you sure it’s not temporary? Have I changed somehow? Is-- Is there anything I could do to make you reconsider--”

You had shaken your head, tears glistening in your eyes, and told him it’s over.

Mingyu had felt all air leave his lungs, and not wanting to cry in front of you, had just nodded and left, not looking back.

And there he was now, some weeks later, sitting idly on his bed in the room he shared with Minghao, surrounded by darkness, which seemed to be his only comfort, while fiddling with his phone absentmindedly. He still had a photo of you two as his wallpaper, and his heart ached every time he saw it. He knew he’d have to change it soon, but he didn’t have the heart to erase you from everywhere just yet. It had hurt enough to delete any photos of and with you one by one.

Wonwoo stood by the door, expressionless, and sighed quietly as he shut it and walked to the living room of the dorm, where Seungcheol and Hansol were trying to beat each other at a mobile game. Wonwoo sat down next to them on the couch and sighed again. “Guys, we need to do something about Mingyu. He’s really not okay.”

The two put their phones down fairly soon, distracted by the mention of the tall male enough to lose at the game, and turned to look at Wonwoo. They both nodded, visibly empathetic, and Hansol hummed in thought. “Do you think he’d like to go to the movies? It’s always a good way to get your thoughts elsewhere, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, you get to just focus on the movie,” Seungcheol agreed readily, nodding, and sighed quietly. “But what if the movie doesn’t keep him interested enough?”

Wonwoo nodded in understanding. “I feel like anything would be good for him right now, really, he just needs to do something so that he doesn’t wallow in the break-up. Besides, I think one of the movies of his favorite series it showing right now, I remember him shoving it at my face a few weeks back.”

Hansol snickered at the mental image that Wonwoo’s words painted in his mind, and both him and Seungcheol nodded, the latter one unlocking his phone to see the next screening of the movie once Wonwoo told him the name.

“It’s settled. We’re going to the movies tomorrow, at… 5pm. That’s fine, right?”

It was, and he went to inform Mingyu about the plan, too, only to get a mumbled “Okay” back from the tall male, now curled into a ball in his bed under the blanket. Seungcheol sighed regretfully, contemplating on just going to comfort him for a moment, but he came to the conclusion that Mingyu probably didn’t want it; he’d come to him for comfort if he did.

The next day, the four entered the movie theater, three of them cheerful while keeping an eye on the fourth, and Mingyu visibly unwell, hardly able to hold a small smile for more than two seconds at a time.

Hansol patted his back. “Chin up, we’re about to see the movie you’ve wanted to see for a long time. It’ll be great.”

Mingyu’s thoughts immediately went to how much he had wanted to see the movie with you, but he didn’t want to ruin it for his friends, who he knew just wanted to cheer him up, and ended up just nodding, smiling a little. “Yeah.”

They got the tickets and all, and since Mingyu excused himself to use the bathroom while the others got themselves something to drink and snack on, he was then left alone to get himself some refreshments as well, while the others already went to the auditorium.

Mingyu looked around, pondering on what he wanted: he was feeling unwell and didn’t particularly feel like having anything, but he knew he’d probably miss something during the movie, so he tried to get himself a drink. While he was looking at all the popcorn and candy options, his eyes met a familiar figure, and it felt like his heart stopped for a second, right before jumping into his throat.

You.

He wasn’t able to think straight, all kinds of emotions storming inside of him, and his initial reaction was to turn around and walk away, hoping you didn’t see him.

Yet of course that was too much to hope for: someone as tall as him was hardly missed.

“Mingyu?”

He froze, and the way he could hear his heartbeat made him feel all the worse, as if he wasn’t feeling nauseous and anxious enough already.

Slowly, he turned around. “Oh, I didn’t see you.”

You smiled at him, and he felt like his heart was being torn apart all over again. How could you look so fine when he was so utterly miserable?

“How have you been?” you asked casually, carrying a big tub of popcorn, and looked into his eyes with yours shining brightly.

Mingyu could easily tell you were happy, and he wished he could’ve said the same.

“I’m alright,” he lied through his teeth, forcing a small smile to his face, although it didn’t reach his eyes. I’m not alright.

You let out a relieved sigh. “I’m glad to hear that. How’s the puppy?”

Mingyu wanted to leave, really: you looked great, sounded so awfully sympathetic and smelled as comforting as ever, and he hated the way he just wanted to cuddle up to you on your couch like he used to when he was upset, or how you used to tell him things would be okay with your voice just as warm and comforting as it was now.

He wished he could’ve just put his head on your lap, let you stroke his hair and hear you whisper him sweet nothings, but he knew that was all in the past, and accepting that hurt.

“A-ah, he’s okay, very playful,” he rushed to say a bit dumbly when he got back to reality, feeling his eyes sting a little. It felt like his heart was being clenched tightly, painful and empty at the same time, and knowing he wouldn’t be able to keep himself together for too long, he could hardly finish the small talk with you that you seemed to insist on continuing, all too long for his comfort as you asked him about what movie he was seeing, what he had been up to and all that. “I-- I need to go, Wonwoo and the others are waiting.”

You nodded, a shadow falling to your eyes. Mingyu’s voice was wavering, and you could tell he wasn’t as okay as he tried to play out, but you didn’t have it in you to bring it up. “It was good seeing you, Mingyu.”

“You, too,” he said quickly and began backing away already. “Bye.”

He rushed to the cashier to pay for his drink and a rushedly chosen bag of candy he wasn’t sure he even liked, and took fast steps to the auditorium the movie would play in, disorientedly looking for the right row and the familiar sight of his friends.

Mingyu hadn’t been particularly vocal about how he had been doing after you broke up with him, as he’d only told the others that you had broken up and shown that he wasn’t okay without really going into it, but when he finally sat down on the plush seat, his body shaking all over, he leaned against Seungcheol’s shoulder and broke down, sobbing into his hoodie while clinging onto him.

The eldest looked at him in surprise, and felt his heart ache, too, as the younger male managed to speak with his voice thick and shaky.

“I miss Y/N so much, I love them, I--”

And without a word, Seungcheol got his arms around Mingyu and held him close, stroking his hair and shushing him quietly even as the curtains opened and trailers began playing.

Admin Scooter

#mingyu angst #mingyu scenarios #mingyu imagines #seventeen angst #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines

215 notes · View notes

thekidultlife · 6 years

Text

MANSAE AU Part 1 | Choi Seungcheol

A/N: This scenario came from a request. THANK YOU, ANON, FOR REQUESTING THIS! As of the moment, we are also trying to work on the other scenarios, so watch out for it, please! <3

Btw, I put in a backstory for Mansae, and this is just the first half of the story. PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR THE NEXT ONE! Thank you for loving us!

Words: 4391

Genre: Fluff, angst

The guys were all splayed around, watching action movie reruns. The smell of chicken and beer permeated the room, and you could tell from the wasted looks of everyone that they had eaten and drank a little too much. That is, everyone except for Chan, who was still forbidden to drink with the others. And Jisoo, who was at that moment asking God why He put him in such a trying predicament.

“Unfair, if you ask me,” Chan grumbled as he continued attacking a chicken leg. “Hansol’s a few months older and he gets to eat chicken and drink beer along with it.”

“Just wait one more year, will you?” Hansol muttered, glaring at Chan, before turning back to the screen.

“Oh, dear God, forgive me for I have sinned,” Jisoo said aloud, his eyes looking above as he tossed Seungcheol another can of beer. Then he looked at the screen and his eyes widened as he watched the zombie on the movie. “Shit. The zombie just got crushed.”

“Did you just say ‘shit’? Hey, boys, JISOO JUST SAID SHIT,” Soonyoung bellowed, laughing with the boys as Jisoo sulked and leaned back on a couch, praying again.

It was considerably quiet for a time. Everyone was busy watching and gnawing at bones and sipping beer and spewing out nonsense at each other. Meanwhile, the zombies in the movie were growing in number, and the train was getting torn in half now.

Everything was as normal as any Friday night could get until Mingyu stood up.

“I’m asking her out,” he announced. “I’m asking her out!”

Yep, he said it like that. No edits here.

And it was kinda silent for a few seconds.

A few seconds only, mind you.

Because everybody started talking to everybody at once the moment Kim Mingyu’s words sank into their drunken minds.

“What the heck is this guy talking about.” “Hey, dude, go f*ck yourself.” “Shut up.” “Who’s ‘her’?” “Thought he was friggin’ gay with all his cooking and washing clothes.”

“Language, please,” Jisoo shouted as he turned the volume of the TV louder. “And this is the good part of the movie! The zombie is about to bite his hand!”

“Please let me have just one drink,” Chan pleaded as he quickly got himself one can.

“Probably some schoolteacher he seduced, since finals are coming up.” Laughter at Wonwoo’s words made Jisoo turn the volume at a hundred, just in time for Gong Yoo to scream as the zombie bit his hand.

”Listen, you mongrels!” Mingyu’s long limbs swayed as he tried to shut everyone up by pulling out his phone and showing everyone his wallpaper. “This, my friends, is the girl I’m asking out.” He was standing up on the couch near the television screen now, completely blocking everyone’s view.

And when everyone saw who he was talking about, oh well.

Chicken be damned if the pic didn’t sober them up.

“The hell you are, Mingyu,” Jeonghan said, his deadpan eyes menacing. “She’s mine.”

Mingyu laughed and dumped his phone in front of Jeonghan on the carpeted floor. “Not a chance. I ALREADY DID IT! Ha.” Giggling with profound glee, Mingyu watched as everyone scrambled to look at his phone. And sure enough, there it was. At least a hundred messages and calls, asking the girl out. Taking another swig of beer, Mingyu fell on his knees and finally turned his back on his roommates. “The zombie bit his hand! Arrrgghh. That must have hurt. Oh, shit. Is he going to bite his daughter now? Aissshh.”

But nobody was paying attention to the zombie anymore.

Jisoo pulled the plug on the TV and crossed his arms.

“This isn’t happening,” Seokmin said, rubbing his face. “What did he mean, that he was gonna ask her out?”

“Probably means nothing. You know how Mingyu sometimes is,” Soonyoung said a little too brightly.

But it was Choi Seungcheol who was deeply affected by what Mingyu just announced. Eyes wide and face pale, he stood up shakily and took Mingyu’s phone. Then he threw it outside the nearest window he could find.

“No one’s asking no one out,” he said, his hands swinging on his sides, unaware that everyone had stood up and were out of their drunken stupor. They were all surprised because of what he did.

“Whoa, hyung, you didn’t have to go that far,” Seungkwan said.

“What the hell…?!” Without any warning, Mingyu pinned Cheol to a wall and used all his might to keep Cheol there. “That was my phone there, hyung,” he said, seething.

“And that was my girl right there on your phone screen, buddy,” Seungcheol said calmly, but his eyes were flashing. Not drunken at all. Controlled rage was his specialty, and he had held his liquor well enough to process what was happening. “You can’t ask her out.”

“What if I want to?” Mingyu countered, his dark eyes boring into Seungcheol’s. “What are you gonna do about it?”

“Oh, believe me, that’s not gonna be a cakewalk,” Seungcheol promised. “Let me repeat: she’s mine. No breaking the bro code, dude.” He pushed Mingyu away. “The minute she walked in, I staked my claim. I said that she’s mine.”

“If you liked her that much then you should have showed it instead of keeping it a secret,” Mingyu replied in a harsh tone, a tone not usually associated with him.

“And we weren’t aware of the “I staked my claim” part,” Minghao said, scowling.

Seungcheol was about to lash out when Seungkwan stepped in between them, scratching his head.

“Okay, guys, I know that everyone here’s crazy about her,” Seungkwan began, “but we’re not supposed to fight about her, am I right? We’re like family here. We can talk this out. Jeez.” He started picking up cans and other litter. “Anyone interested in what I’m thinking about will come to the mess hall in thirty minutes, as sober as possible. Would that be okay?”

Everyone glumly agreed and shuffled off to different parts of the dorm.

. . .

When thirty minutes finally came around, everyone had washed up somehow and were seated in a circle on the floor. The remains of Mingyu’s phone was in the middle of the circle, and Mingyu looked like he was about to cry because the screen was completely shattered. Seungcheol was muttering that he was gonna pay for the damage, but Mingyu was doing a good job at ignoring him.

“Okay. It’s good to see that we’re complete!” Seungkwan clapped his hands and did his best to look as cheerful as possible to somehow dispel the uneasiness in the room. “I called for a meeting because we almost killed each other over a girl.”

No one said anything, just stared at the broken phone.

“Do they sell iPhone Xs on discount stores?” Seokmin wondered.

“Since we all like her so much,” Seungkwan continued, ignoring Seokmin, “I came up with a plan. Are you ready to hear what I’m about to propose, gentlemen?” Seungkwan asked, his eyes gleaming, his hands clasped together, with all the flair of being an MC. Not waiting for a reply, he went on. “Let’s all ask her out,” Seungkwan said, his voice merry. “Let’s all try to win her heart. Let’s all give it our best. And when someone wins in thirty days, then the game’s over and we go back to being friends.” He looked around at his dormmates. “Would that be fair?”

Surprisingly, no one disagreed.

Within the space of an hour, a deal was made.

A competition for the girl’s heart would be commenced.

“Boy, am I so ready for this,” Jeonghan said, before standing up and walking out

All of them got up to their feet and called it a night, except for Seungcheol, who was unable to shake off the feeling that he might lose this competition.

But to lose would mean blowing his one chance to be with the girl on Mingyu’s phone screen.

And that would be too painful. Because for eighteen beautiful years, he’d known her. Talked to her. Been with her through thick and thin. He’d been with her since they were kids. He knew her like the back of his hand, like a book he’d read for a hundred times. He knew her story well enough that he could write it down without a single mistake. He knew her well enough to feel her love for him over the years.

And he knew her well enough to take note that she hated him so much now. Chances are, she’d choose someone else.

And when she does, he knew that it would be over.

He’d lose her.

He’d lose you.

But giving up just because chances were slim doesn’t mean that he’d simply let other guys win her heart. And so he promised to himself, as he stared at Mingyu’s broken phone that was abandoned in the middle of the room, that he would give everything he has to make you his.

The other guys like you. No doubt about that.

But he loves you. He always has, and he always will.

That would never change, even if you will.

Eight Weeks Until the Competition

The moment you stepped into that godforsaken hallway, your ears have been ringing with countless whispers.

“Why is she going to be their classmate? I asked someone from the faculty and they said that she wasn’t anything special. She’s not the rich type.”

“Not pretty.”

“Yes, she’s smart, but aren’t we all?”

“I bet she begged her way in.”

“They keep saying that she’s a beauty and all that but she’s really not who I’d thought she would be when I first heard of her transferring here.”

“Why is she going to be classmates with them, then?

You almost wanted to turn around and tell them to go fuck themselves but then, what good would that do? You were just a transferee and you’re still trying to get your bearings right in this campus.

And who the heck is the “their” and “they” these people keep ratting on about?

“She’s that bitch from Daegu, I heard.”

“The Queen will have a good time playing with her, don’t you think?”

You’d promised yourself that you would be nice and all that, especially today, but you couldn’t resist snapping back because 1) PMS got you badly; 2) this was your first day in this school, and 3) “that bitch” is not how you would want people to call you in the morning.

“Do you have a problem with me?” you asked coldly, your arms tightening on the books you held as you whirled around to face the girls who were whispering. The girls immediately stopped whispering and looked at you with embarrassed faces. One of them made a weak attempt at an answer.

“N-nothing,” she stammered, her eyes darting from one end of the hallway to the lockers scattered about. “W-we were just—”

“—Do me a favor,” you cut in, your voice sharper than you intended it to be, “and shut your trap. I’m not having a very good morning.” You stalked off, but you could still hear the words people continued to whisper as you passed.

“She really is a bitch.”

Oh, yes, you thought to yourself in a devilish way. I am.

You stood outside the door of your new class, and took a deep breath. This is it. You pushed open the door and found yourself in a bright, sunny room with some of your new classmates still settling in as well, slinging backpacks over chairs and placing books on desks. Heads turned as you entered.

Yes, here I am, folks, you mumbled to yourself.

The homeroom teacher smiled and beckoned you to come close.

“Y/N, it’s so nice to see you here with us.” The teacher turned to the class. “Everyone, this is your new classmate, Y/N. She will be joining us for the rest of the semester. Y/N, why don’t you introduce yourself briefly?”

. . .

First of all, Y/N, why did it have to be you?

Seungcheol thought to himself as he looked up from his desk in complete and utter bewilderment.

Fuck.

There you were, in front of the class, with the homeroom teacher, being introduced.

“Hi, everyone,” you said flatly, your eyes wary of the new faces before you. “My name is Y/N. I came from Daegu, and I hope I can have good times with you all despite the fact that I enrolled late. Thank you.”

Then his eyes caught yours.

Fuck. It is you. I know that look. God, I missed the way you would look at me, Seungcheol thought to himself, as for a few seconds he claimed your eyes. But you quickly turned away and strode off to your designated seat.

For the rest of the period, all Seungcheol could do was stare at your back, at the way the sunlight streaming from the windows glinted on your hair and how your fingers would tap incessantly on the wooden desk.

I’ve missed you, Y/N, he moaned to himself as he leaned back and looked on as you impressed the teacher with your brilliant mind.

How did you end up here? With me, again?

For months now, there has been talk of a new transferee from Daegu. Of course, transfer students weren’t a new thing, but this one was supposed to be a genius. Seungcheol had thought about you then, and deep in his heart, he’d wished for it to happen, but he never thought his wish would actually materialize.

And now here you were.

And here he was, dazed with happiness and this bittersweet feeling that you were there.

A tap on his back broke Seungcheol’s reverie, and he turned around.

“She looks amazing,” Seokmin gushed, his face breaking into a sunny smile.

Seungcheol grinned. “Oh, yeah.” Then he turned back to continue staring at you, his eyes mesmerized. “And that girl is mine,” he said in a low voice, a slow smile forming on his lips.

. . .

Why did it have to be you, Seungcheol?

The moment your eyes met, you felt your insides melt again. And there was that familiar ache in your throat. You almost cried when you saw him.

What the heck?! I went away from Daegu to get away from memories of him; but here he is. He’s still with me.

How worse could this get?

You have to be cold. You glared at the boys who were scattered around him. One look was all it took for you to note that they were his friends.

And all of them were staring at you like bewitched sheep. So you just turned away from Seungcheol and walked to your desk, did great on recitation time and escaped that classroom.

Six Weeks Until the Competition

You hadn’t wanted to run into him again; your existence in this campus was already an issue at the very least. And you knew how popular Seungcheol could get. How many girls were after him all the time. You, of all people, knew about it. And with that bitter thought in your mind, you did your best to avoid him and his gang of too-good-looking friends. You busied yourself and ignored everyone and their judging comments about you.

But then, you had a run-in that Jeon-something guy.

You should’ve gotten up and left when he went to sit with you in the library during lunch break. But nooooo, you had to be all studious and grade-conscious, so you just sat there. And look where it got you now.

Oh, how did that incident start again?

You were given tons of projects and reading materials to be able to catch up with the rest of the class. Finals was coming in a few weeks, and the teachers weren’t particularly pleased when you came in at a very late time. But your credentials as a student were very impressive, and the reason for your late enrollment was quite a sympathetic one, so the administration gave you leeway.

A very narrow leeway.

Doubled—no, tripled—schoolwork. And other activities recommended by teachers. Ugh.

And so you were working your ass off, reading, writing, submitting and doing the same cycle all over again. This time, you were in the library, scribbling notes on history when all of a sudden, someone sat next to you.

“Hi.”

Your heart skipped a beat at the voice, because it was so deep and the drawl it took to enunciate the word it just spoke sent shivers up and down your spine. You looked over at the person who just sat…

…and your heart sank.

Oh.

It was one of “them”. Seungcheol’s too-good-looking friends.

You were about to get up but then, he pushed the book he was reading your way.

“The book you’re taking notes from is out of date,” he said matter-of-factly, his dark eyes boring into you. You squinted your eyes and thought that he looked somewhat like an actor (Lee Joon Gi, yes! Like Lee Joon Gi) from a drama series you just watched. “Take mine. You’ll be needing it.” Then he took another from the pile that he had brought and started reading.

It took you a few moments to take away the surprise from your face. You looked down at the book, and saw that, yep, yours was out of date.

“Thank you for this.” You pretended to look at your watch and stood up. “There’s something I need to finish, so I have to go now.”

“Don’t.” He didn’t look up from the book he was reading, but his voice was casual and yet…commanding.

His words caught you off-guard again. But this time, you recovered quickly enough to brush the hair from your fa00ce and say coldly, “I have to. Please don’t be like the others and leave me alone.”

“Why? Others? Is anyone giving you a hard time in this school?” his voice rose a tad sharper, and suddenly he was looking around the library. “Who are they? Show me. I’ll tell them to quit it.”

“No, thank you,” you snapped, before snatching up your books and leaving him alone.

Why did he have to say ridiculous things like that? As if all the things people were saying about me would just disappear when he steps in to intervene.

And there it was again: the voices of the students who were silently observing the little scene you had with that guy.

“Oh my god. She just had a conversation with Jeon Wonwoo.”

“What did they talk about?”

“Wonwoo never sits with anyone else. What makes her so special?”

“The Queen will hear about this.”

“I’d like to watch that scene. The Queen feels like she owns those boys.”

Heat rose up your neck and you tried not to feel angry.

Who the heck is this “Queen” of theirs?

“Hey. Shut up, will you?”

You knew that voice so well.

You thought you had been imagining it, but you couldn’t help but look back.

Seungcheol.

“S-seungcheol-sunbae,” one of the students said in a horrified whisper.

You looked back and you saw his deep black hair, his huge, dark eyes staring at you intently, as if he’d known you’d look back and look at him the way you are now. You took note of how tall he’d grown and of how the uniform suits him and how—

—and how you wished you’d never see him again. You walked away quickly and left the library.

Why did it have to be you, Seungcheol?

Why?

. . .

“Wonwoo, what did you say?”

Wonwoo leaned back on the couch and smiled, his nose scrunched up like the way it is when he looked genuinely happy.

“I talked to the new girl today,” he said softly.

It was nighttime, and the boys were playing cards in the dormitory. But Wonwoo suddenly told them about his encounter with you. And Seungcheol, of course, couldn’t help but ask what happened.

“And then…so? What happened? Tell us,” Seungcheol coaxed. He got up from where he was sitting. Accidentally, his feet kicked the stack of cards, which then flew in all directions.

Minghao scowled at Seungcheol. “Look at what you did. You ruined it. I was about to beat your asses to a pulp.”

“Quit bluffing, Minghao. Just restart the game,” Seungcheol snapped and then he looked back at Wonwoo. “Hey. Spill the beans, will you?”

“What’s gotten into him?” Minghao muttered.

“Oh, goddammit.” Jisoo was trying to put the cards back to their original place, but some had flown underneath chairs and couches.

Soonyoung clapped his hands. “He said it. Finally. How does it feel to learn a new curse word, Holy Jisoo?”

“I feel blessed beyond measure. Happy?” Jisoo glared at Soonyoung.

“Shut your mouths, I’m talking,” Seungcheol growled, and they looked up at him. “Now, Wonwoo,” he said, breathing deeply, “tell us.”

“It was nothing. I simply lent her the book I was reading because I thought it might help her.” Wonwoo casually shrugged. “I saw that the books she had borrowed were outdated so I lent a hand.”

“That’s all?” When Wonwoo nodded, a huge weight was lifted off Seungcheol’s chest.

It’s been a long time, but I still get jealous when someone gets close to you, Y/N.

“Wonwoo-ya, you shouldn’t approach her like that. Alone,” Jeonghan warned. “You know how crazy our school is. She might become a target of bullying, you know.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about her,” Seungcheol said confidently.

“During the brief time that we talked, she did imply that a lot of people were bothering her,” Wonwoo said thoughtfully.

“Who wouldn’t be? She came here at such a very late time,” Junhui remarked. “And Jeonghan’s right, Wonwoo. Don’t do that next time.”

“I can’t help it. Before I knew it I was actually sitting down next to her.” Wonwoo smiled briefly again. “There are so many girls in this place, but I only see her.”

Four Weeks Until the Competition

After you ripped Six’s head off and gotten the respect of the campus body, a note was tacked onto your desk.

Hey. It’s been a long time. Can we talk?

You knew the handwriting even though you didn’t see who put it there. After contemplating on whether to keep it or to throw it away, you decided on simply leaving it there and letting him take it back.

I’ve learned my lesson, Seungcheol, you said as you walked out of the classroom.

An unconscious boy blocked your way, though.

Panic rose up through your body as you looked at him. You knew him because he was one of Seungcheol’s friends.

“Chwe Hansol,” you whispered as you shook him, trying to wake him up. “Chwe Hansol!”

. . .

“It’s a good thing that you found him there, Y/N,” the guy named Seungkwan said with tears in his eyes as you waited with him at the school clinic. “He’s my best friend, and I wouldn’t have known what to do with him if he’d gotten hurt and no one was there.”

You just rolled your eyes and nodded. “Okay, okay. You’re welcome. Can I go now? I still have a lot of work to do.”

“You can’t.” Your heart did somersaults when you heard his voice.

“You can’t make me stay, Seungcheol,” you said with distaste in your voice.

“Did you get my note?” Seungcheol said casually. “I said I wanted to talk to you.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” You pretended to look at your watch again. “I have to go. I have to pick up the groceries for my mom, so—”

“—you know that doesn’t work on me, right?” Seungcheol cut in, his huge, droopy eyes staring at you intently. Then he laughed. “I can’t believe you still do that ‘looking at the watch’ stunt. You really think it works, don’t you?” He waggled a finger at you. “Don’t do that anymore; it’s gotten pretty old on me.”

“Shut up,” you hissed, before turning back to Seungkwan, who was looking kinda confused.

“Do you guys…know each other?”

A few seconds passed before you finally had the chance to speak.

You looked at Seungcheol squarely in the eye. “No,” you said flatly, before turning away from him.

“Ouch,” Seungcheol muttered. “That hurt.”

“If you guys are done hating each other,” Jeonghan suddenly cut in, materializing from nowhere, “then, Y/N, please date me.”

The whole planet must have been suspended into space for a time, because you just froze there, staring a hole at this purple-haired man’s face.

He was beautiful, like an angel.

It took you a minute to shake off his words.

“There you guys go again, making fun of me,” you spat out, before turning away. But a hand caught your arm, and you couldn’t go.

“Stay.”

. . .

You walked with Seungcheol in silence. The sunset was already pouring into the vast quad, and you guys were going towards the main gates, heading for home.

“This feels just like the old times,” Seungcheol said, smiling as he gazed at you. “You. Me. School.”

“Yeah. I feel like I’m reliving a nightmare already,” you said venomously, and Seungcheol stopped talking for a while.

But he found his voice after a time.

“I know that you still hate me, and I know that you’re still hurting, Y/N. But I just want you to know that—”

“—Don’t say it,” you whispered. “For the love of God, Cheol, please don’t say you’re sorry.”

Seungcheol looked taken aback. “I wasn’t going to apologize. Jeez, look at how mysterious your eyes are right now. Don’t look at me like that,” Seungcheol said, his face flustered, and he was laughing as he talked. “It’s so hard to say even one word to you,” he said in a rush. Then he recovered from the surprise he felt and said softly, “But all I was gonna say, Y/N, is that…

…I missed you.”

You hadn’t expected that.

“Thanks for coming with me today. Want to shoot a few hoops with me?” He was beckoning, just as he would when you were still together in Daegu. He was still reaching out for you.

“No,” you said, before slowly looking at him. “But I’ll watch you.”

58 notes · View notes