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Kim Mingyu has declared war. Or, well, he hasn’t declared it (yet), but he has skipped to simply waging it. The first battleground is Seokmin’s favorite cafe which is quickly turning into his least favorite cafe.
“Does this place have wifi?”
Kim Mingyu is waging war, and Seokmin will not lose. Nor will he back down.
“Yeah, it’s written on the wall—”
Mingyu barrels on without letting Seokmin finish. “‘Cause I feel a connection.”
Seokmin doesn’t know what Mingyu gets if he wins, but regardless Seokmin refuses to lose.
“And I feel sick. I’m going to the bathroom.”
He grabs his drink, abruptly stands, then briskly walks in the opposite direction of the bathroom; namely, the exit.
He doesn’t know what game Mingyu is playing, but when he calls out to Seokmin’s back—“Are you okay?”—he sounds so genuine that Seokmin steels himself once more. He can’t afford to let his guard down.
As ridiculous and frankly offensive as this whole campaign against him is, he’s liable to fall for it if he’s not extra careful.
“Have you considered that he just, you know, likes you and is trying to hit on you?”
Seokmin looks at Soonyoung like he just suggested Seokmin get very drunk and then look for a musical to audition for. Which is to say, not that it’s entirely out of the realm of possibility but neither is it something he’ll entertain in a right state of mind.
“If he was into me, all he has to do is emphasize that he’s tall. I doubt he’d be so obnoxious if he was really going for someone.” Seokmin is a simple man and despite his ambiguously negative-leaning feelings towards Kim Mingyu, he has eyes. He can recognize the man’s best features, and they work on him too. “I’m not going to fall for it. I have more self respect than that.”
He’s too busy patting himself on the back for resisting Mingyu’s natural charms and prioritizing his faults to notice Soonyoung furiously scribbling notes.
The next stage is the library. Seokmin usually just comes here to study, but today he’s here to study and find a particular book his professor recommended.
He mutters the call number under his breath to not forget it, scanning the labels on the shelves as he gets closer and closer. He’s getting down to spine searching when a hand enters his field of vision and plucks out—the exact book he’s looking for.
Every polite suggestion on the tip of his tongue, fantasies of compromise or a time schedule or even studying together, dies when he sees the owner of the hand. Seokmin instantly grimaces.
“Hey, what’s that face for?” Kim Mingyu asks, pouting as he holds the evidence of his folly in his hand.
“That’s the book I need.”
“Yeah,” Mingyu nods. “And I found it for you.”
Now he wants to take credit for something Seokmin was perfectly capable of doing on his own. Was just about to do, actually, before Mingyu butt in.
“Are you trying to say I’m incompetent?”
Mingyu falters. “Huh? No, I just, wanted to help.”
It sounds like the clumsy lie of an excuse it is. Seokmin, resolutely, will not fall for it.
“Yeah, alright,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Just give it to me.” There’s no reason for business major Kim Mingyu to need Pet Goats & Pap Smears.
Seokmin reaches out for the book, and Mingyu instantly raises it above his head. Seokmin’s mouth actually drops. There’s no way he’s doing this.
“What are you doing?” he asks anyways.
Mingyu smiles, he beams, and it’s amazing how he can be so petty and childish while maintaining such a sincere expression.
“Come and get it. I’m confident in my height.”
Seokmin is not going to jump like an idiot for a book in their university library.
“Can you just give it to me? I don’t have time for this.”
Mingyu raises an eyebrow. “So you’re saying you can’t get it?” And just to be an ass, Mingyu raises it even higher above his head.
Seokmin is a gentle soul. Kim Mingyu is trying very hard to incite him to violence.
Instead, he huffs and then puts his hand on Mingyu’s shoulder to shove him down as he jumps like an idiot for a book in their university library.
The result is a combination of bad positioning, terrible foresight, and a truly regrettable decision to indulge Kim Mingyu.
They crash into a bookshelf and there is not only an avalanche of books to account for but a very irate librarian that—and this is the worst part of it all—scolds them for trying to be intimate in a library.
It’s not Seokmin’s fault he happened to fall into Mingyu’s chest and land that way. It’s not.
Scratch Kim Mingyu just making fun of him and thinking he’ll fall for juvenile tactics; Kim Mingyu is actively a bad omen. Nothing good happens when their paths meet, so Seokmin’s new strategy is this:
Do not engage.
If he sees even a hint of a tall man, he is evacuating. Even in spaces that don’t seem hazardous, he’s simply become unable to trust that Mingyu will somehow find a way to use anything to his advantage in ruining Seokmin’s reputation and hope of a peaceful campus life.
He already hasn’t been to the library in weeks and had to ask Wonwoo to borrow a book for him just so he wouldn’t see that librarian ever again. Now he owes Wonwoo a favor, and he doesn’t necessarily like to owe those to anyone.
When you owe people things, they become obligations, and obligations can sometimes become unforeseen calamities.
“Oh, hey, I didn’t realize you took this class.”
Seokmin turns and, to his horror, finds Kim Mingyu approaching him and taking the seat next to him as if he’s going to attend this class. Which, clearly, he is, except he really shouldn’t.
“You don’t take this class.” If he did, Seokmin would have noticed. He wouldn’t have come.
“Yeah, I don’t,” Mingyu admits, and before Seokmin can protest, explains, “But I owed Seungkwan and he wants me to sit in for him to get notes and do attendance.”
Boo Seungkwan, you have committed a sin to the degree of which you will never know.
Except Seokmin likes Seungkwan, mostly, and he knows Seungkwan actually tries hard for this course. If Mingyu is helping him by being here, then so be it.
They’re halfway through the lecture and Seokmin begins to think that he can at least have one normal interaction with Mingyu. Of course, Mingyu turns to him set on dashing that expectation.
“Hey, Seokmin.”
Don't call me so familiarly.
“Yes?”
He doesn’t like the smile on Mingyu’s face. It makes him wary.
“Didn’t we take a class together?”
Seokmin furrows his eyebrows, genuinely trying to recall.
“Maybe…?”
He’s about to ask what it matters when Mingyu proudly continues,
“I could’ve sworn we had chemistry.”
This one takes a second. Seokmin has enough time to think about how he hasn’t taken a chemistry class before he registers Mingyu’s delivery, the expectant look on his face, and the way he’s leaning into Seokmin’s space.
Oh, this is dirty, even for Kim Mingyu. Seokmin is not in an environment where he can just leave, and this hall is too cramped to change seats comfortably without drawing attention or disturbing other students. He’s stuck, and has no choice but to endure however Mingyu wants to try to break him down.
“I’ve never had chemistry with anyone in my life,” comes out of Seokmin’s mouth, and he resolutely turns his attention back to the professor and proceeds to ignore Mingyu for the rest of the block.
He just declared he’s a loveless loser who’s never connected with anyone, a certified self own, to counter a bad pick up line that the deliverer doesn’t actually have any shame about.
He walks away from the class with only one resounding impression.
It was a mistake to even open my mouth.
Soonyoung, during their weekly karaoke stint, suddenly asks him a strange question.
“Seokmin-ah, you've dated before, right?”
Seokmin takes a swig of water, sliding the digital catalog towards his friend.
“Yeah? You know I have.”
Soonyoung takes it and punches in what's probably another SHINee song. He has go-tos he sings every time and they haven’t hit them all yet.
“Yeah, right? I dunno, I heard something different so I just wanted to make sure. Like, you’ve had feelings for people too, haven’t you?”
Seokmin narrows his eyes. “What have you been hearing? Is someone saying I’m an emotionless husk?”
“No!” Soonyoung quickly chooses a song and it starts to load on the TV. Seokmin passes him the mic. “Nothing bad, it was more like… concern. Don’t worry though, I’ve got it.”
Seokmin doesn’t really like the idea of people talking about him, much less saying incorrect things. But he trusts Soonyoung to not be malicious and to not encourage malicious behavior, so he lets it slide and focuses instead on providing adlibs for his friend’s passionate rendition of noonan neomu yeppeo…
The next time Seokmin sees Mingyu, it’s almost routine that his feet spin and immediately exit the way he came.
Yeah he was looking forward to finding some new shoes, but not at the cost of being in the vicinity of Kim Mingyu. He’d accuse the other of stalking him if it weren’t Seokmin walking into the store first.
The difference is that this time Mingyu apparently sees him, and decides that a man running away means something other than I don’t want to see you.
Seokmin doesn’t realize he’s been pursued until Mingyu catches his wrist and almost makes him scream.
“What are you doing?!”
“Sorry—“ Mingyu lets go of him without being told, and Seokmin is actually impressed. So Mingyu can take a hint. He wonders what happens to that ability every other hour of the day. “I just had a question for you.”
Seokmin has a feeling he doesn’t want to hear it.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
For some reason, Mingyu wilts and vividly reminds Seokmin of a kicked puppy. Seokmin could never bring himself to kick a puppy, and he isn’t about to start.
“Fine, you have five seconds.” He holds up his hand and starts silently counting down. Mingyu perks up, and looks far more excited than he has any right to be. The puppy thing had to be a ploy for sympathy, and Seokmin fell for it instantly.
“Is it okay if I follow you out of here?”
Seokmin frowns. “No.”
Mingyu isn’t perturbed by his rejection this time; he just plays up looking confused. Seokmin knows it’s fake because he has a feeling he knows what to expect as a follow up. “But my parents always told me to follow my dreams!”
Seokmin allows Mingyu three seconds of silence so he can really take in his unimpressed expression. Then he turns around and stalks off without another word.
He doesn’t think he’s lost whatever game Mingyu is playing, but he doesn’t feel like he’s winning anything either.
“Have you considered just talking to him?”
Seokmin fixes Soonyoung with a Look.
“Yes.”
“And…?”
“He said he isn’t very good at holding conversations, but he’d rather hold my hand.”
Soonyoung at least has the grace to wince.
“Oh.”
It hadn’t occurred to Seokmin earlier, but recently it dawned on him that whenever he talked about Mingyu to Soonyoung, the other always seemed to be giving Mingyu the benefit of the doubt. He always seemed to be encouraging Seokmin to give him a chance or “subtly” drop hints that Mingyu isn’t as bad as Seokmin thinks. And by “subtly”, Soonyoung isn’t actually subtle at all but Seokmin can tell he’s trying to be, which says something in itself. Soonyoung is rarely consciously delicate about a lot of things, so it can’t just be a coincidence.
Soonyoung must have some stakes in this game, and Seokmin knows he definitely has no ill will behind his actions but he can be impulsive and competitive. He doubts Soonyoung proposed it anyways, which technically still makes it Mingyu’s fault.
Today though, Seokmin planned to confirm his suspicions after he heard something very interesting.
“Have you been holding this in for awhile?” Seungkwan asked after Seokmin accidentally veered into a rant about Mingyu at the very cafe he’d been ambushed at.
“It’s been going on for awhile, but do I seem pent up?”
Seungkwan shook his head and sipped his coffee louder than was absolutely necessary. For the dramatics. “No, I just mean if you had a problem with Mingyu-hyung I thought you’d have said so sooner. You must see him a lot since he’s best friends with Soonyoung’s boyfriend.”
Seokmin loves Soonyoung, and he loves Wonwoo too, but honestly he’s always only hung out with them on their own. Soonyoung’s circle of friends is frankly too expansive for Seokmin to keep up with, and Wonwoo always keeps himself to a small selection of people. Either way, Seokmin never saw a need to insert himself into aspects of their lives that don’t explicitly involve him.
That explains why he didn’t know. But the more he thought about it, the more Seokmin realized—as Seungkwan went on to talk more and more about the threads connecting him and Kim Mingyu—there was no way Soonyoung couldn’t know.
Which brings them here, at a regular hang out at their regular time, except Seokmin purposely brings up Mingyu and his difficulties handling him just to see how Soonyoung reacts. True to suspicion, Soonyoung isn’t outright objecting, but he’s doing his best to counter.
“Maybe he really isn’t good at conversations. He’s basically proven that already hasn’t he?”
This is where Seokmin is going to get him to spill.
“I think Wonwoo would know better than me.”
Soonyoung freezes like he’s been caught. Before Seokmin can open his mouth to continue though, Soonyoung grasps his hands.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this. It’s not like that, I swear!” he insists, losing Seokmin entirely. Soonyoung must read something in his stunned silence, because he squeezes Seokmin’s hands far too desperately for what Seokmin was actually going to say.
“Wonwoo isn’t cheating on me!”
Seokmin squints. “I’d hope not…?”
“He’s not! He and Mingyu are just friends! I don’t know what you saw, but it’s not like that at all!”
The dots are slowly connecting, but not before Seokmin lets out a, “Huh?” prompting Soonyoung to launch into a speech.
“One, Wonwoo would never do that to me, but I guess you already know that. So, two! Mingyu doesn’t have a thing for Wonwoo; he’s not homewrecking either. I promise they’re just friends.”
That’s kind of the problem, but Seokmin finally understands what Soonyoung thinks is the problem.
“You think I don’t like Mingyu because I thought he was interested in your boyfriend…?”
Soonyoung gives him a look that tells him he’s right before he actually voices it. “Is that not it…?”
“I didn’t even know they knew each other until recently.”
The way Soonyoung withers makes Seokmin feel just a little guilty, but only enough to quickly change the subject. “What I want to know is what you get out of this.”
Soonyoung looks at him in a way that’s too sincerely confused to be faked. He’s never been good at faking emotions.
“What do you mean?”
“This…” Seokmin gestures vaguely. “This game! Whatever Mingyu’s doing, trying to flirt with me so obviously.”
“So you know he’s flirting?” Soonyoung perks up like that’s a good thing, except Seokmin can’t imagine why.
“Of course. He’s not being subtle.”
“And…?”
Seokmin scrunches his nose. “And what? I don’t think it’s very fun to be mocked so often.”
“What? Who’s mocking you?”
There’s no way Soonyoung doesn’t know. “Who else? Kim Mingyu.”
“But,” Soonyoung pouts, “you just said he was flirting!”
“Yeah, terribly and obviously. He’s trying so hard, but I don’t know what he’s trying to get by bothering me so often.” If Mingyu were actually seriously aiming for him, he wouldn’t be so shameless. His attitude is more of someone who has nothing to lose and something to gain; otherwise he’d just approach Seokmin like a normal person.
Soonyoung kind of winces though. “Uh, probably your number?”
Seokmin’s face goes blank. “Now you sound just like him.”
It’s clear that Soonyoung wants to say something, but he has a very visible inner war with himself, and whatever side wins has him sighing. “I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but like… you should really trust me. He doesn’t mean anything bad, Seokmin-ah.”
Seokmin snorts. Of course Soonyoung can’t say something if it’s some kind of bet. That would ruin the whole gig. “Okay.”
There’s nowhere left to go from here, and Seokmin isn’t necessarily angry at Soonyoung, so they seamlessly transition into another topic and continue to spend their time together as usual.
Soonyoung rarely has bad intentions, and he wouldn’t actively contribute to something that would hurt Seokmin, but he still can’t quite bring himself to clear Kim Mingyu of his suspicions.
In the end, Soonyoung’s advice wins him over. The more Seokmin consulted with the facts, the more he realized the chances of Kim Mingyu having malicious intentions and Soonyoung knowing about them were close to zero. His faith in his friend was, ultimately, stronger than his distrust of Mingyu, who he’d only really met a handful of times before the pick up lines started coming.
A guest teacher had been scheduled to come to their school for a special archery class, and Seokmin had signed up for fun. It was a coincidence and truthfully probably an example of beginner’s luck that he did decently well. He noticed Mingyu, naturally, because of his height.
Except after they all held a friendly competition at the end of the class, the first words that Mingyu said to him with a dazzling smile and straight off a shot that put him just ahead of Seokmin were:
“You were really great during practice, but I could still beat you in a competition huh?”
That was the first declaration of war, before all this terrible flirting even started. It had only mildly annoyed Seokmin then, but since he didn’t have many stakes in being the best archer he’d just said something noncommittal and escaped from the situation as fast as possible. His lasting impression had been that there were some things height couldn’t make up for, like a bad personality.
As he reflects on that though, there really hadn’t been any other incidents to enforce that opinion of Mingyu aside from a disastrously abysmal ability to read the room. If, somehow, Mingyu had first met him at a party where he was pleasantly tipsy, some of the lines might have even worked on him. After all, Seokmin had said it himself; he’s simple, and a tall man isn’t hard to like at first glance. It was just unfortunate that Kim Mingyu had spoken afterwards.
Now, though, he’s going to give him one more chance to prove himself. If Seokmin can trust Soonyoung—and he usually can—then all of his doubts should be cleared.
“I never expected you to invite me out first,” Mingyu says, seated across from him at a fast food chain that Seokmin felt was casual enough for a not-date but private enough to talk about… all of this.
“Sorry I had to do it through someone else.” Right when Seokmin had decided to talk with Mingyu properly, he realized he had no way of actually doing so. Thus, he employed Soonyoung, who was more than happy to pass along the message. So now, he has Kim Mingyu’s number and Mingyu his, one because playing telephone was a little too petty and childish for their current level of distance and two because Soonyoung didn’t need to know too many of the details that Seokmin could tell he was dying to find out. If this goes terribly, he can always just block Mingyu.
“It’s alright. We never really exchanged contacts.” Mingyu says it with some level of self awareness, probably because he’s asked for it and been rejected before. That might be Seokmin’s L; they’re here to find that out after all.
“Ah, yeah.” He sips his water awkwardly. For all the effort that went into arranging this, Seokmin hadn’t actually prepared a script or anything. He knows what he wants to say; he doesn’t know how to get there smoothly. “I’m going to tell you first: if you try to land a pick up line I’m leaving.”
Kim Mingyu at least looks embarrassed. “Oh, that’s—understandable. I’ve figured that out.” The way he fumbles with his words is humanizing and a bit humbling; Seokmin won’t allow himself to think that it’s cute just yet.
“You figured that out and still kept saying them?”
“I said it once, didn’t I? That I’m not very good at conversations?”
Seokmin remembers. “You don’t have to remind me.”
“Ah. Sorry.”
They go silent again, and Seokmin sips his water. Maybe this was a mistake. They’ll clear the air, but also find out they’re not a very good match for each other. That’s also… somehow a bit disappointing. Now that it’s possible Mingyu doesn’t have it out for him, he is still attractive, and no longer annoyingly so.
“It was like a nervous tick,” Mingyu says suddenly. It takes Seokmin a few seconds to connect it to their earlier thread of conversation. “Whenever we met, I wanted to talk, uh, naturally, but then I spent so long studying pick up lines that when the moment seemed right they just… came out.”
Seokmin hums. “They were very situationally appropriate.”
Mingyu grins. “Right?” Then he seems to remember the context of their conversation and his expression dims. He gives off puppy vibes, and not the hyper happy ones, which leads Seokmin to believe this at least isn’t a ploy; Mingyu is just like this. “But you didn’t like them, did you?”
“I thought you were making fun of me.”
“What? How? I was always complimenting you!”
And well, he was. This is where it gets awkward, because now Seokmin has to explain why he always assigned ill-intent to all of Mingyu’s actions.
“Those aren’t real compliments. If you were really going for someone… wouldn’t you try to be more genuine?” He’s dancing around the issue, but if these were really Mingyu’s actual attempts like Soonyoung had implied, then they could have been a lot better.
Mingyu looks sheepish. “Ah, well… this is going to sound bad, but I didn’t really know anything about you. So when I asked for advice from Wonwoo, he mentioned Soonyoung is friends with you, and his advice was… wooing you like this.”
Oh. That kind of makes a lot more sense than Mingyu believing this was a good approach.
“I’ve never told him that I like pick up lines.”
“He said you’d like someone charming and then sent me a list.”
Soonyoung, who never really got wooed by a guy who’s known him too long to even consider this kind of approach, probably had a field day playing matchmaker. Unfortunately the fantasy that lives in his head didn’t play out as perfectly in practice. Seokmin can’t fault him for trying though; Soonyoung, as he expected, had good intentions. So he switches his angle.
“So you like me?”
It’s cute, how Mingyu blushes now of all times rather than when he was spewing some of the cheesiest lines Seokmin has ever heard.
“I, uh, I’d like to get to know you more, but… I think I could.”
The approach might have been questionable, but Seokmin can at least see that the heart behind it was genuine. Which suddenly makes guilt hit him like a truck.
“I haven’t been very nice to you.”
“I didn’t express myself well just using lines I’d memorized from the internet,” Mingyu counters, which is kind of him but not what Seokmin meant.
“No, I mean… before all of this. Do you remember that archery workshop we went to?”
Mingyu perks up, and Seokmin really hates having to dampen that expression multiple times now.
“Of course I do. I remember thinking how great you were for doing so well, and I…” Mingyu hesitates. “I kinda thought I’d have an excuse to talk to you if I did better, to show that I was… worthy.”
Seokmin expected it, but it doesn’t make the realization any more easy to come to. If he could pick prime examples of his worst behavior, they would all intersect with everything about how he’s handled the situation with Mingyu. He doesn’t like to think of himself as a spiteful person at his core, but petty is certainly one of his vices.
“I thought you were making fun of me,” he admits. “I felt so happy and accomplished, and you… well it was kind of like you were rubbing it in my face and I’ve been assuming the worst of you since.” I’m sorry doesn’t feel like enough to cover willingly and purposely pursuing a vendetta that had little basis to begin with. “But, you don’t have to be worthy to talk to me or anything,” he says quickly, both because he means it and he’d shamefully like to change the topic from his own shortcomings.
“I know,” Mingyu says, though he rubs his neck awkwardly. “It just felt like that at the time, and I realize it… didn’t come off as I wanted to. I’m making that a pattern, I think.”
“You know,” Seokmin chuckles, even though the mood doesn’t really call for it. Except he’s reflecting on everything that went wrong, and marvelling a bit about how they both messed this up. “If you’d just introduced yourself upfront, I think it would have changed things.”
“Really?”
Seokmin nods. “I like your face already, and you’re tall. It wouldn’t have been hard.” Honestly they had all the makings for an easy hook up; Mingyu was into him for some reason, he was pretty simple and used his eyes before his heart. But somehow they ended up like this.
Mingyu seems to recover from the cloudy atmosphere as well, his smile spreading across his lips a lot like how Seokmin imagines the sun emerges after a storm.
Mingyu leans forward, “Hello, I’m Kim Mingyu. I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
Seokmin smiles. “If you’d started like this, I might have just gone home with you by the end. All that’s missing is your height.”
“Would you still?” Mingyu grins in a way that emphasizes his sharp canines. Less puppy, a little more wolf. “Hi, I’m Mingyu. I’m 187 centimeters tall.”
Seokmin genuinely laughs, and Mingyu’s eyes crinkle.
“I’ll think about it, after date three.”
“Does this count as date one?”
Seokmin shakes his head, even as Mingyu pouts at him. “This is date zero, but you can ask me for date one.”
Mingyu brightens up, and then shuts his mouth so purposefully Seokmin already knows what he’s holding back. Now that they’ve cleared the air, there really isn’t anything harmful about bad pick up lines.
“Just say it.”
The way Mingyu launches into it, now with permission, is almost cute. “I’m in the mood for pizza.”
Seokmin hums. “I could go for pizza.”
“Ask me what kind.”
It takes a moment to really register that he’s doing this, he’s playing along, before he actually succumbs. “What kind?”
Mingyu winks. “A pizza you.”
It’s completely against Seokmin’s will that he snorts, and then dissolves into an actual giggle fit. Mingyu joins him, and when they look up actual pizza places nearby, they decide that there’s nothing stopping them from making date one the same day as date zero.