Chapter Text
Dongmin was in love with a beautiful, beautiful man.
He saw this man every single day. He would smile before heading into work, sometimes blow a little kiss if no one was watching, and whisper, “Good morning,” to him. He was the reason Dongmin woke up and the reason Dongmin appreciated life.
Dongmin just didn't know his name.
It was a tragic reality, honestly, to be in love with someone who had no idea he existed. It was a pitiful reality, honestly, to be in love with a man who had never once moved from his position.
He was just an image on the busy streets of Seoul.
Literally. An image.
They put a new billboard up right across from Dongmin's job. He watched the workers straighten out the large image they were using, watched with fascination and interest, and when they finally moved from their positions to reveal the advertisement, he was in love.
It was some catchy sign for underwear. They must have chosen the most amazing person they could possibly find, because Dongmin ordered some of their underwear the very day the advertisement had been shown. He didn't care for the way it felt, but wearing it made him feel all the closer to Mr. Underwear Model himself.
“I'm pathetic,” he mumbled to the small fish bowl at his receptionist desk. He noticed a woman in the waiting room glance at him, but he figured his existence was already ridiculous enough, so he paid no heed to her concerned stares. “Why am I so pathetic, Mr. Gold?”
His goldfish didn't care, but goldfishes never do.
It hadn't been a natural infatuation at all. He hadn't steadily grown to love Underwear Model (as he was affectionately called in Dongmin's mind). Instead, it had been sudden, quick, and it made Dongmin reject two dates simply because he wanted to at least find out more about Underwear Model. He wanted to know what Underwear Model's favorite food was, if Underwear Model had a nice apartment, if Underwear Model was also, coincidentally, into men.
Maybe it was pitiful and tragic to lust and fawn over some half-naked man on a billboard outside of the vet's office, but Dongmin really couldn't help himself. How would anyone not fall in love with him? He had silver hair that reminded Dongmin of starlight, toned abs and strong arms, and the sultry look he gave to his audience was enough to make anyone swoon.
Apparently, though, no one else seemed to give Underwear Model a second glance. Dongmin decided he was forced to suffer on his own.
Or, it would be on his own, if one of his coworkers hadn't caught wind of his obvious crush.
(Even if it had, shockingly, taken him weeks to figure it out.)
“Good morning, Dongmin!” Myungjun entered the practice rather cheerfully, as per the norm, smiling widely and waving at both Dongmin and the one lady sitting nearby. “Did you sleep well? Did you dream about your boyfriend today?”
Dongmin flushed and bit his lip. “He's not my boyfriend. And don't say it so loudly.”
“You sure act like he is. You turned down my roommate the other day for him.”
“I'm not interested in dating Binnie. He sleeps half the day away, and when he does wake up, he eats all of your food.”
“Yeah. Don't you just love him?” Myungjun's lips turned up in a grin as he spoke of Bin, and Dongmin wrinkled his nose up in distaste. “And he has the best laugh and the best smile, I just don't understand why you're so intent on dating your underwear boyfriend when Binnie-”
“Why don't you date him, then?” Dongmin fussed. The lady nearby kept staring at him, and he felt a blush rise up to his cheeks.
In response, Myungjun gasped, a little too dramatically, but Dongmin could see the signs of discombobulation growing in him.
(He would have smirked and silently congratulated himself for managing to make Myungjun so flustered, but that would make him seem petty; which he definitely was, but the customer waiting patiently needn't know that.)
“I'd never date my roommate. That's stupid. I didn't become his roommate so I could date him.” Myungjun quickly turned before Dongmin had the chance to say anything else and focused all of his attention on the lady nearby. “Are you here to pick up Suk?” he asked pleasantly, as if he hadn't just had the most awkward conversation ever with his receptionist.
Fortunately, that did mean that at least Dongmin no longer had to deal with Myungjun. The vet gave him a wicked grin before heading off into one of the rooms, the lady following along behind him, and Dongmin slumped over in his seat. He knew he wouldn't hear the last of this from Myungjun. The older boy would probably offer to walk him home in order to bug and tease him about everything concerning Underwear Model. It was difficult to refuse Myungjun, too, because he usually forced himself into situations regardless of anyone's actual wishes and desires.
Dongmin sometimes regretted taking this job. Even if he loved the animals and he loved the line of work in general, Myungjun was really growing to be a hassle.
Still, he would endure Myungjun's attitude if it meant he could take his lunch break outside, as he did normally, back leaned up against the building as he stared over at Underwear Model.
He chewed on his kimchi thoughtfully, slowly, wondering just what his life would be like if Underwear Model could somehow crawl out of the billboard and come down to the sidewalk. He wondered if Underwear Model would join him for lunch. He only had one set of chopsticks. He wondered if Underwear Model would want to share those chopsticks. He wondered if they could feed each other. He wondered if-
“Dongmin!”
It definitely wasn't the voice of Underwear Model.
(Not that he knew, certainly not. He just assumed that Underwear Model would have a deep, sexy voice, maybe something sultry and flirty, maybe something not so familiar.)
He tore his eyes away from the advertisement to look down the street. Bin was jogging towards him, waving lightly as he dodged the afternoon traffic of people walking past. “Hey, Dongmin!” He settled to a stop by Dongmin's seated body, a goofy smile on his face. “I still don't get why you sit out here so often. It's a little busy near the street, isn't it?”
Dongmin hadn't ever noticed.
(He only noticed one person, and that was Underwear Model.)
“It's away from Myungjun, so that's a bonus,” Dongmin responded instead, and he earned himself a light bout of laughter before Bin took a seat beside him, minding his feet to ensure they didn't stretch out too far and trip anyone walking nearby. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
Bin showed off a small bag in his hands. “Hyung forgot his lunch again.”
Myungjun always forgot his lunch, Dongmin suddenly realized, and Bin always brought it.
Myungjun was an idiot.
“Shouldn't you go give it to him, then? He's inside.”
“Aw, come on!” Bin giggled and nudged Dongmin's shoulder. “I think I deserve to spend some time with my best friend first, don't you? Even if he's just fawning after an underwear model.”
Dongmin blushed heavily and ducked his face down. “I am not!” he argued. “I just so happened to be looking at that brand of underwear.”
“Myungjun's told me everything.” Bin was still smiling, looking pleased to have this certain blackmail information on Dongmin. Curse Bin and Myungjun. “Don't worry, though. I won't tell. I mean, no one would believe me anyway if I mentioned that logical and smart and quiet Lee Dongmin had a massive crush on this underwear model he's never met before in his life.” He slung an arm around Dongmin and sighed. “You're sure not as smart and put together as people think.”
Dongmin shoved him. “I'm smart!” he retorted. “I'm smart enough to understand that I'll never have him as my boyfriend.”
“Then why do you sit out here and look at him for an hour?”
It was a good question, and Dongmin didn't have a good answer.
“You need to find someone else, Dongmin. I mean, sure, that guy is really attractive, but he probably lives hours away and works for some modeling company, and he might even be a complete jerk. And I don't want my best friend to fall in love with a jerk, do you hear me?”
Dongmin snorted, making certain now to not look up at the image of Underwear Model. He already knew that he was definitely going to continue to swoon over the image of Underwear Model. He already knew that he wasn't going to get the man out of his mind so easily. However, while around the people he was close with, perhaps he could play as if he was a normal guy who didn't fall in love with someone on an advertisement. He was smart enough to do that, wasn't he?
“I hear you,” he responded. “And I'll listen. Unless the model walks right through my door and comes into my arms, I won't think about him anymore.”
Bin was quiet for a second before patting Dongmin's back. “Well, I know that's a complete lie, but at least act like it around Myungjun. He doesn't need more fuel to make your life miserable.”
“Especially after he tried to set us up on a date,” Dongmin mumbled.
Oddly enough, Bin looked confused at that. “He tried to what?”
Dongmin glanced over at him and furrowed his eyebrows. “He...I thought he did. He told me multiple times that we needed to go out; you and me. I thought he might have told you, too.”
“Well, he should have. You need two people for a date.” Bin sighed loudly and leaned his head up against the brick building. His phone vibrated, and Dongmin peered over to see Myungjun's name light up. “Speak of the devil,” Bin murmured. “He's probably whining about his lunch. I'll talk to you later, Dongmin.”
If it was much later, Dongmin would have plenty of time to gear himself up and act like he was over Underwear Model. Of course, Bin could see right through him and would easily be able to figure out the truth behind the matter, but as long as his acting was good, Myungjun would probably leave him alone over it.
So he told himself he wasn't in love with Underwear Model. He told himself that it had been a slight infatuation, a little crush, and he could easily get rid of it. He told himself that Underwear Model probably had flaws, too, that had been covered up with the lighting and the angle and an intense bout of photo editing.
(And even if that was true, Dongmin's inner thoughts and emotions felt that Underwear Model's flaws would probably make him even more perfect than he already was.)
The rest of the day went by slowly. They had a few appointments, and so Myungjun was occupied with animals for the majority of their time, but when it slowed down as the clock neared five, Dongmin wasn't so lucky.
“How did lunch go with your boyfriend?” Myungjun teased, wiggling his eyebrows and gesturing outside.
Dongmin made it a point not to look over. “I don't know. How did lunch go with yours?”
Fortunately, a few days ago, Dongmin had discovered Myungjun's weak point: Bin. He wasn't sure why Bin, of all people, was Myungjun's weak point, and he wasn't sure why Myungjun would puff up like a scared cat, but it made it easier to avoid Myungjun's relentless torture if he had his own card to play against him.
“Bin isn't my boyfriend, and it's stupid to refer to him as such.”
“Yeah? Well, that model isn't my boyfriend, and it's stupid to-”
“You'd like him to be your boyfriend, wouldn't you?”
“As much as you'd like Bin to be your boyfriend.”
Myungjun glowered. “Which is zero percent. I would like that zero percent.”
“Then the feeling here is mutual.”
He had to congratulate himself; he actually managed to shut Myungjun up. Or, at least, he managed to shut Myungjun up about that, because instantly the man started mumbling about taking care of something in the other rooms, and Dongmin could hear his rambling down the hall.
He closed the schedule book and sighed. It wouldn't be as difficult as he thought it would be to avert Myungjun's attention away from his obvious crush, but it did send a little pang through his heart knowing that he was betraying Underwear Model.
When he left that day, he let Myungjun walk ahead, and then turned to the Underwear Model and gave a quick, short bow. “Sorry,” he apologized in a whisper. “I just need to seem like a normal person.”
Underwear Model didn't speak, because Underwear Model was just an image on the billboard.
It sucked. Myungjun, for all his obnoxious speech and ridiculous antics, had someone to go home to. And maybe Bin was absolutely oblivious to how high on a pedestal Myungjun put him, but they still got along so well and they at least could eat dinner and converse and watch television. Dongmin only had himself to eat with, and there was no one there to fight over the remote with him.
(He had contemplated taking a picture of the Underwear Model's billboard and sticking it in his living room, but he figured he was already pathetic enough and he needn't make himself seem even more like a moron.)
Maybe Bin was right, though. Maybe he needed to stop thinking so much of Underwear Model and find himself someone real and attainable. It was stupid to fall in love with someone who would never know of his existence. There were real people out there, real people who would love and cherish him and he would do the same back.
And so the next morning, he didn't stop to say hello to Underwear Model. He pretended that he was just like everyone else on the streets, passing by with little regard to the extremely attractive man showing off an equally attractive body.
(He tried to convince himself that Underwear Model was probably straight, regardless, probably dating girls and enjoying parties and drinking himself to a stupor; any stereotype about models, he tried to apply to Underwear Model. And Dongmin was into men and cuddling and quiet nights in with a movie playing, and they just wouldn't be compatible.)
Myungjun arrived later, as per the norm, straightening out his white jacket and smiling just as brightly. “Good morning, Dongmin!” he greeted.
The first sentence out of his mouth wasn't about Underwear Model. Dongmin was impressed.
(But he figured that Myungjun knew Dongmin would counter using Bin. Myungjun was smart to avoid that.)
“Morning, Hyung.”
“What's on my schedule for today?”
Dongmin booted up his computer, and while waiting for that to load, he began to flip through the schedule book. “Um...you have two appointments before noon. A new guy, Park Jinwoo, with his lab for a checkup, and Lee Eunji has another cat she found, so she's bringing it in to get it tested and up to date on shots.”
“Eunji and her cats.” Myungjun snorted. “Dongmin, don't you ever become a cat grandma like she is, alright? You can have one cat, but I'm going to draw the line there.” He gently tapped on the small fish bowl on Dongmin's desk. “And try and find something bigger for Mr. Gold here, okay? Even fish need room to play and grow.”
And that was the conversation. Dongmin smiled softly to himself as he filled in his timesheet. He had discovered Myungjun's major weakness, and he would definitely use it against him if Myungjun put even a toe out of line again.
To pass the time until the first appointment, Dongmin messed around on the computer. He fought the urge to look up underwear models for a specific underwear brand; he had tried that before, anyway, and the results always came up short. Instead, he read about various animal ailments, trying to further expand his horizons and become more acquainted with animals in general. Myungjun was definitely the animal nerd out of the two of them, but Dongmin didn't want to be a receptionist for his entire life. It would be fun, perhaps, to try being a vet assistant of some sorts. Was there such thing as an animal nurse? He could accompany Myungjun in healing animals and taking care of them.
So if he couldn't find love, perhaps getting a small promotion would be good enough for him.
After a while, Dongmin heard the small bell above the front door ring, sign of a guest entering. He looked up from his computer, the usual smile on his face, but it completely faltered when he saw the man in front of him.
“Hi!” His voice was a little rough, a little deep, but brighter than Dongmin could ever imagine. “I'm here with my lab. I made an appointment earlier in the week, so I might have talked to you, but I'm Park Jin-”
“Underwear Model?”
The words came out before Dongmin could stop them. He could see Underwear Model's eyebrows rise up, eyes widening as he blinked owlishly at Dongmin. He hadn't meant to say that, but it was difficult to control his own words when his dream man was standing right in front of him. Obviously he had clothes on this time, so Dongmin (unfortunately) couldn't make out any abs or toned muscles, but he was dressed warmly in a sweater to counter the cool, fall weather, and his hair was hidden underneath a snapback, pushed on backwards and revealing more of his forehead than the image outside the vet practice even had.
“Underwear...model?” Jinwoo repeated. “Oh, that...that advertisement? You recognized me? Really?” A smile came to his face, a giddy little grin, and Dongmin's heart skipped a beat.
“I...y-yeah, your, um, your advertisement is right out...right outside, so I figured-”
“This has never happened before, honestly. I can't believe – god, my mom would kill me if she knew my underwear photo was the one people noticed.”
“Not most people,” Dongmin clarified. “Just me.”
And that was the wrong thing to say. He flushed heavily and knocked over a small mug of pens in his attempt to busy himself with grabbing Jinwoo's paperwork, but Jinwoo just laughed, cute little bouts of breath that escaped his mouth and made his eyes crinkle upwards.
Dongmin was stuck now; there was no way he could ever forget about Underwear Model at this point.