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"you can do this, xu minghao. you're gonna win this fight and end up victorious. one winning leap, that's all you need." minghao mumbles to himself before running and leaping as high as possible.
- only to be met by the marble tiles of the relatively vacant supermarket aisle after tripping over an untied shoelace.
"what the hell? i was so close." he groans out throwing an arm over his eyes. it seems that his quest for the last box of Lucky Charms on the top shelf has failed again, miserably.
he hears the shuffling of footsteps and immediately gets up from his current position on the floor.
minghao spares the man who seemed to be around his age carrying a basket of groceries a glance, and lets out a huff as he wracks his brains for another Strategic plan to get his fix of Lucky Char-
"uh hey, do you need some help?" a voice cuts through the silence.
minghao turns around and scowls at the man previously mentioned, who apparently was doing a shitty job at hiding his laugh.
"what are you laughing at jerk?"
"i prefer junhui but sure jerk works too. and you do realize they have stools to help people that are... you know, short?" junhui counters while reaching for the box with ease before handing it to minghao.
"i'm gonna pretend you didn't say that because i had a pretty fantastic day before you showed up and i'm not letting some self centred guy mess that up. not everybody has the luxury of being tall." minghao snaps as he snatches the box from the stranger's hands.
and immediately flinching at the tone of his own voice. - okay, that sounded a bit too harsh?
".. but thanks." he manages to mumble earning a sheepish smile from junhui.
junhui scratches the back of his head and stares at minghao who was suddenly preoccupied by a loose thread from his sweater.
great, how did he manage to make himself look like an asshole when all he wanted to do was impress the other boy? what an intellectual™, wen junhui. truly impressive!
"sorry i didn't mean to sound rude. um as you can see, i'm bad at introductions." junhui apologizes profusely, fiddling with the handle of the basket he was holding.
minghao was half expecting junhui to be messing with him and was ready to throw another scowl his way but decided against it.
minghao then feels something warm inside his chest, tumbling over him like waves. he can only describe it as a sense of fondness for junhui. sure, they had a rough start but it was only 5 p.m. and they had plenty of time to patch things up.
"well hi bad at introductions, i'm minghao. i suppose i owe you a cup of coffee?"
"you do?" junhui questions, cocking his head to the side.
"yeah, for helping me out. what do you say?"
the man with the soft pink hair eases out a smile.
"sure, why not."
☆
as they left the store together, both of them balancing paper bags haphazardly in their arms, a thought crossed minghao's mind.
that box of lucky charms really lived up to its name.