Teen And Up A udiences

Creator Chose Not T o Use Archive W arnings

No Archive W arnings Apply

M/M

SEVENTEEN (Band)

Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu

Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | V ernon

Jeon Wonwoo
Kim Mingyu
Boo Seungkwan

Alternate Universe - College/University

Fluff
Swearing
mingyu dog
guest appear ances from hansol and k ermit the frog
other members ment
English

spooked
lunahui

Summary:

Wonwoo nods as Mingyu continues. “I finished my essa y an hour ago and I was putting all
my books back when I heard,” he pauses for suspense, “a noise.”
A beat passes between them.
“A noise.” Wonwoo repeats.
“A noise.” Mingyu nods, eyes wide. “ A very spooky noise.”
---
"ive been in this libr ary for six hours and im losing my grip on reality an d oh fuck i think i
just saw a ghost" au
Wonwoo knows who Kim Mingyu is.
To be honest, it would be pretty hard to not know who Kim Mingyu is.
They have a few mutual friends, and the dude has built up quite a reputation for himself. If
Wonwoo didn’t know him for his soccer vice captain role and student am bassador status, he’d
know him as ‘the guy who hosted the festival party in December and almost burned down the
eastside accommodation block’.
Even though W onwoo’s never met the dude, he feels lik e he knows too m uch already.
Soonyoung loves br agging about how him and Mingyu stole the bronze mascot of their rival
University, and then accidentally dropped it into the river. Junhui never fails to mention every
time Mingyu tak es Minghao to some fancy party or bar uptown.
Wonwoo knows Kim Mingyu because everyone else does, lik e he’s some kind of campus
celebrity, so he’s a little surprised to see him slip into the seat across from him in the libr ary at
2:46am.
Looking up from his brok en coding assignment, W onwoo tries to hide his surprise as Mingyu
shrugs his backpack to the floor and puts both his palms on the table.
“Hey.”

The first thing that catches W onwoo off guard is that Mingyu is dressed l ike shit.
 The first thing that catches W onwoo off guard is that Mingyu is dressed l ike shit.
To be fair, no one dresses up to go to the libr ary in the wee hours of the morning, he’s not
expecting black tie. But Kim Mingyu usually has a better fashion sense than most guys their age,
and he hangs out with Xu Minghao.
No one is allowed to be badly dressed around Xu Minghao. Junhui escapes b y the thread of his
grandpa sweater.
So yeah, seeing Mingyu in an old pair of sweatpants and a hoodie with a mysterious purple
stain on the sleeve throws W onwoo a little off kilter. Mingyu looks, for la ck of a better word,
frazzled, like he’s been in the microwave for thirty seconds too long. Thi s hair is fluffed from
running his hands through it and he looks a little tired, eyes puffy from sleep.
Kim Mingyu is a hot guy.
Wonwoo is fine with this because W onwoo’s not attracted to hot guys, he doesn’t lik e the
narcissistic vibe. They’re overly confident and greasy , and, not to gener alise any group of people
simply because their hot, but they’re usually about as interesting as a wet slice of bread.
The issue is that right now Mingyu is not hot at all, he looks lik e he need s to be wrapped up in
a blanket and it’s a little startling.
Wonwoo blinks for a second before replying.
“Hey?”
It’s not supposed to come out as a question, but it does an yway. It’s ‘hey’, but it’s also ‘why are
you talking to me and what do you want?’.
Kim Mingyu is popular, looks good dressed lik e that, and talking to him m akes Wonwoo’s
anxiety spik e.
Mingyu fixes him with a slightly wild stare. “I need help.”
“What.” Wonwoo says on impulse.
“I’ve been in this libr ary for seven fucking hours.” Mingyu starts, and W onwoo thinks that’ s a
great way to start an explanation. “My br ain is fucking fried, lik e triple deep fried with black
pepper seasoning, h yung.”
Wonwoo blinks, trying to k eep up. Did Mingyu just use an honorific?
“I need to get something from the print room.” Mingyu presses on. “But the fucking lights
broken, because Soon young hyung is incapable of understanding how el ectronics work and he
kept turning it on and off earlier to freak me out and tripped the fuse.”
Wonwoo nods as Mingyu continues. “I finished my essa y an hour ago and I was putting all my
books back when I heard,” he pauses for suspense, “a noise.”
A beat passes between them.
“A noise.” Wonwoo repeats.
“A noise.” Mingyu nods, eyes wide. “ A very spooky noise.”
“Spooky?”
“Listen.” Mingyu sa ys even though W onwoo was clearly already listening. “I am a sk eptic. Yes,
I hate horror movies and yes, I cried when me and Minghao got lost in that corn maze, but I am a
man of science, W onwoo hyung, I’m doing a BSC.”
Wonwoo quirks an eyebrow . “You’re doing culinary tech.”
“It’s a fucking science, it sa ys BSC on the Uni website so it’ s a science.” M ingyu arges.
“Whatever, I am a man of science, food or otherwise, I know ghosts don’t exist.”
There’s a pause as he collects himself.
“But.” Mingyu fixes him with that wild stare again. “I have been in this libr ary for seven
fucking hours and the print room is dark as shit and h yung, it was a really spooky noise.”
Right.
Wonwoo sighs and tilts himself back on his chair. Mingyu watches him c arefully. He looks a
little nervous.
“So what do you want me to do?” W onwoo asks.
“You’re the only other person in this libr ary, can you come with me to the print room so I
don’t get murdered?”
Wonwoo snorts, and then r aises both eyebrows when he realises Mingyu isn’t joking. “Oh.”
Mingyu looks at him with pleading eyes. It’ s a little ridiculous, and Junhu i is definitely going to
find this story hilarious later, but Mr Popularity Kim Mingyu is sitting in front of him looking lik e
he’s genuinely scared of going to the stupid print room alone right now , so Wonwoo relents.
“Sure.”
Mingyu grins, and W onwoo can’t help but think to himself, ‘ cute’, which is weird because Kim
Mingyu is definitely a hot guy , not a cute guy, definitely.
“Yes! Ah thanks h yung, you’re a lifesaver.” Mingyu grins harder through his words and
Wonwoo can’t look directly at him because its lik e looking at the sun, so he turns his eyes back to
his computer screen.
his computer screen.
“What are you printing?” W onwoo asks as he saves his work and shuts h is computer down.
He should probably leave an yways, if he sta ys up past 3:30 he will absolu tely miss his morning
class tomorrow .
“Oh.” Mingyu laughs. “It’ s dumb?”
Wonwoo looks up to r aise an eyebrow at him and Mingyu relents.
“Pictures of k ermit the frog.” He sa ys. “One hundred pictures of k ermit the frog.”
And there’s nothing for W onwoo to sa y, other than, “ why?”
“I was going to break into Minghao’ s room and cover his ceiling with the m. He’s out of town,
so, I thought wh y not you know?” Mingyu laughs nervously , turning it into an awkward cough as
Wonwoo stares at him.
“Because then when he comes back,” Mingyu continues weakly , “it’s like, he won’t notice them
straight away, but when he lies down to sleep it’ll be lik e kermit’s watching him from heaven.”
Yeah, this is not the Mingyu W onwoo’s heard about.
“Right.” Is all W onwoo can sa y, stuffing his laptop into his backpack.
“It wasn’t my idea.” Mingyu sa ys quickly. “Seokmin suggested it, I’m just the perpetr ator
because I have the spare k eys because Minghao trusts me, a trust I am g reatly abusing.”
“How long did you sa y you’ve been here for?” W onwoo interrupts.
Mingyu’s left eye twitches a little. “Seven hours.”
“Alright buddy.” Wonwoo smiles. “W e’ll print those frogs.”
Mingyu looks stupidly relieved.
It takes a few seconds for W onwoo to tidy up his stuff, and Mingyu anxiously taps his hands
against the table as he waits. Slinging his backpack onto his shoulder, W onwoo stands, not
forgetting to gr ab his empty coffee cup. The Starbucks on campus sta ys open until 6pm but they
have a hot drink vending machine in the libr ary reception, thank God.
Wonwoo wanders over to throw his tr ash away, and is surprised to turn around and find
Mingyu following him to the bin lik e a puppy after it’s owner. The other tries not to look sheepish,
and simply shrugs when W onwoo throws him a questioning look.
They head towards the print room, on the second floor of the libr ary.
Wonoo can feel himself itching to break the silence as they climb the sta irs. “Did you send it
via the website, or?”
“Yeah, um, about an hour ago.”
Wonwoo gives Mingyu a look over his shoulder.
“I was doing other stuff!” Mingyu r aises both hands in defence. “I wasn’t like, loitering around
waiting for you to finish your work so I could ask you or whatever! Hah. That would be weird.”
Wonwoo pauses at the big double doors of the second floor to give Ming yu a pointed look.
“Yes. Yes it would.”
The other looks at him a little fearfully and it mak es Wonwoo want to pat him on the head.
Which he doesn’t do, obviously .
He laughs at Mingyu’ s expression instead, pushing through the doors. Th e motion sensor
lights flicker on, so there’ s definitely no one else up here.
“Kidding.” Wonwoo grins as Mingyu’ s face goes from scared to incredulous.
He follows Wonwoo through the doors with a pout. A fucking pout. How old is he?
“You know, you can be a little intimidating, h yung.”
Wonwoo blinks at him. Really? Intimidating? W onwoo’s about as intimid ating as a paper
towel.
“Me?” Wonwoo laughs. “How can you sa y I’m intimidating when you hang out with Xu
Minghao?”
“Minghao’s a baby.” Mingyu smiles, and W onwoo stares at him.
“Pretty sure he’d violently murder you if he heard you sa y that.”
“Oh yeah one hundred percent, but he’ s literally my son and no one can stop me from loving
my baby boy.” Mingyu looks completely serious.
“You sound lik e Junhui.” Wonwoo mumbles, and Mingyu nods.
“We have similar priorities.”
They arrive at the print room, it’ s huge sign looming over them. W onwoo peers through the
glass windows, seeing nothing but four rows of printers and a desk in the far left corner. Usually a
nice old man will sit at the desk and help first time students figure out how to understand the
stupid amount of options each printer has. T onight, it’s empty.
The door is a fire door which, because it’ s after hours, will lock shut beh ind them, so they
prop it open with W onwoo’s backpack.

“So what do you want me to do?” W onwoo asks, leaning against the door frame. Mingyu
 “So what do you want me to do?” W onwoo asks, leaning against the door frame. Mingyu
hovers awkwardly in the hallwa y.
“I don’t know, just like, lookout?”
“For what?”
Mingyu huffs at him. “I don’t know! An ything?”
“Alright.” Wonwoo pats him on the shoulder. “Y ou’ll be fine. Go print you r frogs.”
A look of determination crosses Mingyu’ s face and he nods, stepping into the dark print room.
It’s still pretty ridiculous, W onwoo just kind of loitering in the doorfr ame, watching as Mingyu
bumbles around with the printers. Amused, W onwoo watches him for a minute. It’s obvious
Mingyu doesn’t really know what he’ s doing, struggling to get past the lo gin screen on the small
printer screen. It cute.
Wonwoo frowns to himself. Kim Mingyu. Hot guy Kim Mingyu is not cut e. Stop it br ain.
Pulling out his phone, he opens his group chat with Soon young and Junh ui, expecting them to
both be asleep but wanting them to be updated an yways.
 
wonton
      guys something dumb is happening
 
Wonwoo gets two posts into reddit and Soon young is already spamming chat, very much
awake.
 
callmesoon
      WITHOUT ME?
      wonu whta the fUCK this is so rude
moonjub
      betrayal,,,
callmesoon
      you NEVER let me do stupid shit and now!!!!!!! here we are!!!!!!
wonton
      are you guys not gonna ask what im doing
callmesoon
      I DONT CARE WHY W AS I NOT INVITED
moonjub
      i, an amazing and wonderful friend, do care
      what are u up to noni my love
wonton
      shut up
      helping kim mingyu fuck his friend
moonjub
      uh
callmesoon
      wonwo wha the fuck
moonjub
      im so fukin proud omg,, shedding a tear rn,,,
wonton
      not what i meant!! helping him print out pictures of k ermit the frog
moonjub
      oh
      two things that do not align in the slightest
callmesoon
      gettin down an freaky w k ermit,,, i rate that tbh
wonton
      this is wh y i dont tell you an ything
callmesoon
      ur fuckin rude wonwoo u know that
 
“Hyung!”
Wonwoo jumps about a foot in the air, dropping his phone and clutching a hand to his chest.
“Oh shit.” Mingyu scr ambles to pick up the mobile. “Sorry! I just - sorry h yung I didn’t mean to
scare you!”

Wonwoo wheezes, trying to catch his breath. “It’ s - you’re fine,” he snatches the phone back
 Wonwoo wheezes, trying to catch his breath. “It’ s - you’re fine,” he snatches the phone back
before Mingyu can see his group chat, “you just surprised me.”
“Sorry,” Mingyu flashes him a sheepish grin, “I need some help with the printer? It won’t do
what I say, you’re doing computer science right?”
Wonwoo blinks at him in surprise. “Y eah?”
“I’m an idiot, please help?”
Mingyu throws him another dangerous pout, eyes wide, and W onwoo re lents.
“Sure. What’s the issue?”
They both crowd around the tin y screen on the closest colour printer, w hich is flashing an
angry red ‘NO PRINT RECEIVED’ popup. Absentmindedly , Wonwoo notices the smell of Mingyu’ s
deodorant, something spicy and warm. Kind of autumnal.
Wonwoo catches himself. Smelling other people is weird, focus. He tries to concentr ate on
whatever Mingyu is sa ying instead.
“- so I just tried pressing this button, but it froze. I think I’ve brok en it.”
He might be right, actually . Wonwoo jabs the ‘esc’ button on the little k eypad and gets no
response.
“You might have killed it.” He nods, and Mingyu looks troubled.
“They can’t fine me right? Oh fuck, I bet these printers are lik e thousand s! I can’t afford that!”
Mingyu puts both hands on the printer and shak es it a bit. “You bastard! Just print my frogs!”
Wonwoo sighs and holds down the power button.
“Mingyu.” He r aises his other hand in front of the younger ’s face. “Please, you don’t have to
buy a new printer.”
“Oh thank God. Student loan would not cover that.”
Wonwoo gestures to the other printers. “Go load it up on another one, I’l l sort this.”
The printer screen blinks and goes black, successfully forced to shut down.
“Thanks hyung.” Mingyu str aight up beams. “Y ou’re a genius.”
Wonwoo is liter ally just turning it off and on again, but oka y.
“No problem.” He offers a genuine smile.
Seemingly satisfied, Mingyu wanders over to another printer and starts jabbing at the screen
again. Again, Wonwoo watches him, his eyes dr awn to where a bit of Mi ngyu’s hair is sticking up
at the back, lik e a duck’s butt.
Somehow, Mingyu has managed to destro y almost every preconceived n otion Wonwoo had
about him in about twenty minutes. Sure, he’ s still Kim Mingyu, soccer c aptain and ex prom king,
but he’s also fluffy sleep deprived Mingyu who can’t seem to remember his print login and screws
his whole face up as he yawns.
Wonwoo’s brain stutters a little. Mingyu dog .
The printer beeps back to life and it startles W onwoo, focusing his attent ion.
Across the room, Mingyu’ s printer whirs into action, loudly filtering its paper and slowly
ejecting pictures into the tr ay.
Mingyu meets W onwoo’s eye with glee. “Victory!” And W onwoo can’t he lp but grin back.
Behind them, there’ s a soft click.
Both faces fall as they whirl to see the fire door safely tuck ed into its fr ame, shut.
Wonwoo lets out a breath. “ Fuck.”
“Fuck!” Mingyu startles.
They both scr amble over to the door, W onwoo grabbing the handle and yanking with no luck.
There’s his backpack, knock ed over on the other side of the glass, seemingly bested b y the weight
of the door. They’re lock ed in.
Mingyu presses his face up against the glass window . “I knew this fucking place was haunted.”
“Mingyu,” Wonwoo sighs, “come on, it’ s not haunted, my backpack must have been too light
or something.”
The other hums a little, lik e he’s considering the logic, and then nods.
“You’re right, I’m just being a bab y.”
“Not a baby, just tired.” Wonwoo turns to face Mingyu, leaning against th e window. “I know
someone who lives on campus, I’ll ring him and he can let us out.”
“Okay.” Mingyu nods again, and wanders back over to the printer to look at the bits of paper.
Junhui, Soon young, Wonwoo and their other friend Jihoon share a house on the other side of
town, and he knows his friends are more lik ely to leave him to suffer overnight than mak e the
thirty minute trip to campus. But Seungkwan is still a first year and lives in one of the campus
halls, meaning he should only be a couple of minutes awa y. Wonwoo jus t prays that he’s still
awake.

Wonwoo knows Seungkwan b y accident. He’ s a friend of a friend of one of Soonyoung’s first
 Wonwoo knows Seungkwan b y accident. He’ s a friend of a friend of one of Soonyoung’s first
year dance buddies, but he’ s also the anno yingly perky barista that works in the coffee shop
between Wonwoo’s place and the bus stop, so W onwoo knew his face wa y before he showed up to
Soonyoung’s 22nd and ate all the complementary rice cak es.
Seungkwan had spotted W onwoo from across the room, pointed, and sh outed his coffee order
at him. Like that was the only wa y they knew how to communicate.
Ever since then Seungkwan will babble awa y while he mak es Wonwoo’s morning coffee,
about anything or nothing in particular. W onwoo has to pretend he doesn’t find it endearing.
They fit together weirdly well. The talk er and the listener. Unstoppable f orce and immovable
object.
Seungkwan picks up on the seventh ring. “What?”
Instantly Wonwoo holds the phone awa y from his ear, pounding music filters through the
line.
“Hyung?” Seungkwan’ s voice crackles, “Wonwoo, hyung?” Wonwoo hear s a sigh, “is this a
fucking butt dial? Oh my god.”
“Seungkwan,” W onwoo interrupts him, “where are you? Shit, are you ou t right now?”
“Hyung? Yeah I’m - fucking,” there’ s rustling on the other end of the line , “hey!” and then a
different voice breaks through.
“Seungkwan?”
“Wonwoo!” It’s not Seungkwan, it’ s Hansol, slurring his words. “Shit, sor ry, Wonwoo hyung!”
Wonwoo frowns. “Hey man, can I talk to Seungkwan please?”
“Yeah he’s just -” there’ s a pause, “uh, actually I might have lost him?” W onwoo tries not to
audibly sigh.
“Oh! Wait,” Hansol sa ys, “there he is! He’ s talking to some dude at the ba r, hey!”
Wonwoo waits patiently , watching Mingyu collect up his stacks of paper. He seems to be
struggling to organise them.
Hansol seems to have completely fuck ed off on the other end of the line, a familiar club beat
replaces his voice. About five seconds awa y from hanging up, W onwoo taps his foot to the music.
It’s like he’s somehow been put on hold.
There’s some rustling on the other end of the line. “Hi h yung,” Seungkwan’ s voice finally
filters through, “sorry about Hansol, my bo yfriend’s an idiot.”
“Oh?” That piques W onwoo’s interest, the tone in his voice catches Mingyu’ s attention from
across the room. “Finally made it official?”
Seungkwan laughs down the phone. “Y eah, fucking finally . I was droppin g hints for lik e a
month hyung you have no idea.”
Wonwoo does have an idea. Seungkwan wouldn’t stop complaining abou t it.
“Anyways,” he hears Seungkwan move to a quieter part of the club, “how can I help you on
this lovely eveningtide?”
Wonwoo pauses for a moment. “I need your help.”
“Oh! Help you sa y?” Seungkwan mak es a weird haughty noise down the phone. “W ell, Jeon
Wonwoo-sshi, how ma y I be of your assistance?”
“Seungkwan.” W onwoo deadpans. “I’m lock ed in the print room of the libr ary.”
There’s a pause.
“Sorry?”
Wonwoo sighs. “I’m fucking - I’m with Kim Mingyu and we’re trying to p rint pictures of
kermit the frog and the print room door mysteriously lock ed behind us and it’ s 3am and I’m very
tired so can you please, I’m liter ally begging you please, come and let us out.”
Seungkwan sucks in a breath. “Kim Mingyu?”
“Don’t get distr acted,” Wonwoo jumps in quickly , “I know you’re out righ t now but please, you
must be coming back to campus soon right?”
“I - I guess?”
“We’re trapped in the print room, please free us.”
There’s another pause, and then Seungkwan bursts into laughter. W onwoo puts his face in his
free hand.
Mingyu notices from the other side of the room and stick his head out of his papers.
“Everything oka y?”
“Yeah, he’s just -” Wonwoo sighs, “he’ s just laughing at me.”
Seungkwan continues to cackle over the line as Mingyu r aises his eyebro ws.
“That’s, wow.” Seungkwan sighs happily . “That’s fucking funn y. Yeah, of course I’ll come get
you, just give me lik e twenty minutes to get back to campus.”
“Thanks, br at, you’re the best.”
Seungkwan laughs again. “I know babe. See you in twenty!”
 Seungkwan laughs again. “I know babe. See you in twenty!”
The dial tone sounds and W onwoo breathes relief, he turns to where Min gyu is waiting
expectantly.
“He’s coming to get us.”
“Oh!” Mingyu grins. “F antastic!”
“In like, twenty minutes.”
“That’s okay!” Mingyu sa ys quickly. “We can play noughts and crosses on the back of these
kermits!”
Sounds fantastic.
Wonwoo opens his mouth to sa y something snarky in return, but before he can the motion
sensor lights in the hallwa y outside the print room flick er off and both of them are plunged into
darkness.
There’s silence for a few moments, and then, a small voice in the dark; “ hyung?”
“Mingyu?”
After spending most of his teenage years bundled in the darkness of his bedroom, and a
stupid amounts of night time deep chats on the roof with Soon young, Wonwoo’s eyes can
acclimatise to the low light pretty quickly , and he only needs to blink twi ce to see Mingyu’ s
panicked expression.
“Hey,” Wonwoo stumbles forward and reaches out to put a hand on Mingyu’ s arm, feels a
little guilty as he feels Mingyu slightly jump, “it’ s just me, I’m here.”
Mingyu instinctually puts his hand over where W onwoo’s rests on his bicep and lets out a
breath. “I’m oka y,” he says shakily, “I was just surprised.”
“Sure,” Wonwoo grins under the darkness, “It’ s just the motion sensor lights going off because
no ones in the hallwa y.”
“I know!” Mingyu frowns in the darkness, his eyes finally finding W onwoo’s form. Wonwoo
laughs at his expression it Mingyu falters into a smile. He pushes W onwoo’s hand off his arm in
mock offence.
Wonwoo can basically mak e out the whole room now . The back of the room has a large
window that spills moonlight into the carpet and closest few printers, catching Mingyu’ s honey
brown hair in a silvery hue. W andering over to the window , Wonwoo inspects the view of their
city below. The campus is up on the left hill of the valley , close enough to be walking distance but
still providing a nice view of the suburbs and the city center.
Mingyu follows him over. “Who knew the print room had such a nice view?”
“Right?” Wonwoo laughs softly , and Mingyu throws him a smile under the moonlight.
The printer splutters behind them and spits out its last k ermit, the room falls into silence.
Outside the window a gust of wind rushes past.
In the midst of the quiet, they’re able to hear the slight creak of the roof under the gale.
Wonwoo can also hear the small noise Mingyu mak es in the back of his throat.
“You know what I do when I need to calm down?” W onwoo says, catching the younger ’s
attention.
Mingyu blinks at him for a second. “What?”
“It’s - it’s kinda stupid but just bare with me.” W onwoo gently tak es Mingyu’s hand and leads
him over to the center of the room where there's space. He lies down flat on his back, guiding
Mingyu to do the same.
“Uh, hyung?”
“I lie down lik e this,” Wonwoo pushes on, “and I just, I just fuckin’ scream, lik e really loud.”
There’s a pause, and W onwoo panics.
“It’s uh, it’s something my ther apist recommended,” he babbles, “it’ s supposed to be lik e a
physical manifestation of getting the stress out. Because lik e, our ancient monk ey brains used to
yell to call out for help when they were in danger so b y yelling it automa tically -”
“AHHHHHHHH!” Mingyu shouts in the darkness, his voice projecting around the room.
It scares the absolute shit out of W onwoo, who feels his whole body jolt a t the sudden sound,
like he’s suddenly being projected into the goddamn astr al plane. Silence fals again, and he tak es a
second to recollect himself, heart pounding.
Rolling onto his side, W onwoo slaps Mingyu on the chest. “ Asshole! You scared the absolute
shit out of me, fucking hell!”
Wonwoo smacks him again, and Mingyu catches his wrist in the air, bur sting into laughter.
Wonwoo glares at him in the dark.
“Sorry,” Mingyu splutters through breath y laughs, “sorry h yung, I didn’t mean to.”
Wonwoo, despite himself, allows a small laugh to slip through his frown . Mingyu rolls onto
his side to face W onwoo, and starts laughing again as soon as he spots th e others face, which sets
Wonwoo off properly .
Wonwoo off properly .
They lie there in the dark, just snick ering at each other, Mingyu still has Wonwoo’s wrist in his
grasp. His palm is warm, W onwoo notices, starkly contr asting from Wonwoo’s own consistent cool
temperature. Mingyu feels lik e a snug blank et against his skin. Gentle an d comfortable and wow ,
Wonwoo is overwhelmed b y the sudden desire to put on a large jumper and mak e a nice hot cup
of tea, Mingyu pressed against his side.
Okay, maybe his brain is running a bit. Control yourself W onwoo.
Once silence falls again, it settles lik e an awkward haze of them. W onwoo feels his face start
to uncontrollably flush, and is suddenly very thankful for the lack of light.
Mingyu breaks the silence, and W onwoo thinks he can mak e out a small smile through the
darkness. “You know, hyung, you really aren’t as scary as I thought you w ere.”
Wonwoo snorts at that. “Scary? Really?”
“Yeah,” Mingyu sheepishly laughs, “I mean, I just alwa ys pictured you as Junhui’s cool
housemate you know?”
Wonwoo almost chok es. COOL??
“I guess you just alwa ys seemed lik e you know what you’re doing.” Mingyu sa ys into the dark.
“I’m a little envious of that, I guess.”
“Envious?”
Mingyu laughs again, soft as a feather. “I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kind of
a mess.”
“Mingyu,” the words tumble out before W onwoo can stop them, “don’t. Y ou’re funny,
charismatic, kind, and so much cooler than me.”
“Wonwoo hyung,” Wonwoo can hear the grin in Mingyu’ s voice, “that’s very kind of you.”
“Don’t get cocky.” Wonwoo reaches out to slap Mingyu on the arm again, the younger mak es
an exagger ated pain sound and W onwoo laughs.
There’s a couple moments of comfortable silence, and then W onwoo speaks again. “W ell, if it
helps, I alwa ys just assumed you were the typical ‘ Arrogant Popular Hot Guy’, but I was wrong. I
guess we both need to work on our judgement skills.”
There’s a long pause, and then, through the darkness. “ Hot?”
Fuck. “I mean -” Wonwoo stammers, “don’t be anno ying, you know what I mean.”
Mingyu laughs at that. “Y eah, you mean that I’m hot. Thanks h yung, I’m flattered.”
“Shut up, I said I was wrong, didn’t I?”
“So I’m not hot?”
Wonwoo smacks the other again. “Y ou know what you look lik e, asshole.”
“Ah!” Mingyu tries to push his hand awa y. “Abuse!”
Snickering, Wonwoo shoves Mingyu harshly on the shoulder, and the other giggles stupidly
(and it’s adorable).
“Seriously,” Mingyu gr abs Wonwoo’s wrist again, “I was a little scared of approaching you,
you know.”
“Approaching?”
Mingyu shrugs. “Our friends are friends.”
Their friends are friends, and have been for a while now , Wonwoo can’t help but wonder how
him and Mingyu had never met before. Never crossed paths. Never stumbled into each other in
line at the cafeteria and had the oh, hi, I’m Junhui’ s flatmate moment tha t kicks off their tumbling,
awkward, jo yful friendship.
Coincidence, W onwoo had thought, never even occurred to him that it c ould have been
Mingyu’s own choosing.
“Well,” Wonwoo says after a moment, “we’re here now .”
“That we are.”
Friends, Wonwoo thinks, but it feels too wrong to sa y out loud.
They chat for a while, about their courses, friends, all of Mingyu’ s dumb stories that
Wonwoo’s probably already heard through Soon young. It feels a little w eird to be lying on the
floor of the print room, but it must be approaching 3:30 and W onwoo’s so tired and Mingyu’ s
voice is so warm that he almost feels lik e falling asleep.
Time flies, and before he knows it the motion sensor lights flick er on in t he hallway and both
of them jump to stand, light illuminating their proximity . Wonwoo’s neck flushes.
On the other side of the print room, Seungkwan comes into view , phone outstretched and
supposedly filming. He cackles at the both of them for a solid thirty seconds before opening the
door.
“Ahh! He’s free!” Seungkwan laughs, shoving the camer a right into Wonwoo’s face.

Wonwoo bats it awa y with one hand and pulls Seungkwan into a hug with the other, the
 Wonwoo bats it awa y with one hand and pulls Seungkwan into a hug with the other, the
younger giggles into his shoulder.
“Thanks, br at.” Wonwoo grins, hugging Seungkwan a little too tight.
Seungkwan pulls out of the hug quickly with a grin. “Y ou’re welcome and all but Hansol is
probably ruining the downstairs bathroom as we speak so I gotta run.”
“Ah!” Mingyu claps Seungkwan on the back and pushes him down the hall a bit. “Can’t be
helped I guess! B ye!”
Seungkwan finger guns at both of them before scampering down the hall and through the
double doors. W eird.
“Well,” Mingyu quickly redirects W onwoo’s attention, handing him his f orgotten backpack, “I
uh - thank you, for helping me out.”
Mingyu runs a hand through his honey brown hair, the sleeve of his oversized university
hoodie slips to reveal a multicoloured friendship br acelet on his wrist, h is other hand curls
around the papers against his chest. He grins, sheepish but sincere, canines on show .
Wonwoo’s caught, hook line and sink er.
“No problem.” He manages, and Mingyu smiles lik e a summer morning, bright and hopeful.
“I promise I’m not this much of a loser,” Mingyu laughs, “I’m just very sleep deprived. Next
time you see me I’ll be ‘ Arrogant Popular Hot Guy’ again.”
“Don’t,” Wonwoo says before he can stop himself, “I lik e loser Mingyu m ore.”
Mingyu laughs at that, the tips of his ears are red. “Noted.”
There’s a beat, and something hangs in the air. W onwoo’s brain is in overdrive, he can see the
flush on Mingyu’ s neck and feel the unsaid words on the tip of his tongu e.
But, he sighs to himself, Mingyu is golden, and W onwoo has coal dust on his fingertips. And
maybe he’s just a little too sleep deprived, the lateness of the night pulls on his bones,
hallucinating an inflection in tone that his heart wishes was there.
Wonwoo could reach out, to touch and to mark and to change something , but the progress is
already enough and he can’t risk gr asping at air.
So instead he smiles once more, and shrugs his backpack higher onto his shoulder. There’ s a
flash of resignation in Mingyu’ s eyes.
“I’ll see you around, then.” W onwoo says with a smile, and Mingyu’ s face buffers for a second
before returning it.
“Yeah, right.”
Mingyu grins tightly , gripping his papers to his chest, and turns. He offer s one last wave over
his shoulder before disappearing through the double doors.
They flutter shut behind him, and Mingyu is gone. W onwoo sighs and le ans back against the
railing of the second floor hallwa y, overlooking the book cases of the floor below .
Silence envelops him, W onwoo stands in the quiet with the books at his back and the print
room in front of him. He can see through the glass into the room and beyond, the city blinks back.
Wonwoo pulls out his phone with another sigh.
 
wonton
      yall will not b e l i e v e
 
A loud crashing noise startles W onwoo awa y from his phone, and his att ention snaps up to
see the doors being flung open and Mingyu storming towards him, completely red in the face.
Wonwoo opens his mouth but Mingyu interrupts him with a ‘ fuck it’, reaching out one hand to
hold Wonwoo’s chin and pressing his back into the r ailing and clumsily sliding their lips together.
The scent of spice and warmth envelops him and W onwoo can’t help the surprised ‘oomf!’
noise or the wa y he drops his backpack right on his own feet, arms hang ing uselessly for a second
before automatically reaching up to tangle in the front of Mingyu’ s hoodie as his brain finally
responds and he starts kissing back. So sweet and soft and so totally unexpected that W onwoo
probably forgets his own name for a moment.
And ah, that feels right.
Mingyu, eager and awkward, hums into the kiss and reaches his other hand out to tangle in
Wonwoo’s hair. There’s a fluttering of papers behind W onwoo’s head an d he can’t help but stutter
a laugh into the kiss because -
“Mingyu,” he pulls awa y with a grin. Mingyu frowns at him and it's ador able, but Wonwoo
resists the urge to kiss him again and instead gestures behind himself.
With no room to turn because of the wa y Mingyu’s pressed against him (not that he’ s
complaining), W onwoo can only laugh over his shoulder at the one hund red kermit the frog
printouts gliding through the air, landing strewn across the first floor. Some catch on top of
bookshelves, some float down onto the soft carpet below , one even gets snagged b y a low hanging
bookshelves, some float down onto the soft carpet below , one even gets snagged b y a low hanging
light fixture.
“Oh fuck.” Mingyu groans, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against W onwoo’s temple.
The other laughs at the sight.
“It’s kind of beautiful, in a wa y.”
“Hyung.” Mingyu whines, and W onwoo feels lik e he’s going to be hearin g a lot of that in the
future. “It’s gonna tak e me hours to pick all of those up.”
Wonwoo slings both of his arms around Mingyu’ s neck and pulls him in for another quick
kiss, one the younger enthusiastically responds to.
“Or,” Wonwoo says after pulling awa y, “we could, just, you know , leave.”
Mingyu quirks an amused eyebrow . “And go where?”
Wonwoo’s neck flushes and Mingyu grins. “Start with fries?”
Mingyu laughs lik e the chiming of bells in the sunkissed afternoon, sling s Wonwoo’s backpack
over his shoulder with one hand and slots their fingers together with the other, and tugs W onwoo
towards the door.
“Quick! Before Seungkwan comes out of the bathroom and realises what we’ve done.”
Wonwoo laughs lik e the crackling of a warm fire, low and sudden and sp arking to life. He lets
himself be dr agged behind Mingyu, feet catching on carpet for a second before they find their
footing.
Mingyu, Mr Popularity Kim Mingyu, who’ s vice captain of the soccer tea m because he alwa ys
tries to lift everyone's spirits after a loss, who almost burned down the eastside accommodation
block because he was trying to mak e chips for an extremely drunk Seok min, who grins with his
whole face and is scared of the dark.
Wonwoo tumbles, hands still tightly lock ed together, watching as Mingyu’ s honeyed hair
flutters with each step, out into the night air.
Close (#)