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High school was truly the best few years of your life— there’s a saying that goes between those few words. Your first dance, first heartbreak, first kiss— if you happen to be that lucky person who’s already experienced all these, then you’re living quite a fulfilled youth.
Every highschooler had that one experience they’re certain they’ll be bringing with them up until they’re functioning, working slaves of society. It can either be just as miniscule as a few words of wisdom to live by, or in Minho and Seungmin’s case…
It’s something as permanent as ink etched across delicate skin, a reminder of their powerlessness and lack of choice at the hands of fate.
The high school corridors were frequently abuzz with students hurrying their asses off to their own morning classes. Seungmin on the other hand, was used to the commotion and never bothered to follow suit, knowing that his first period professor arrived 15 minutes after the first ring of the bell without fail. Known for his studious, nerd-like nature, he comically came to class with his nose buried deep in a thick textbook, one hand gripping its spine and his free one mindlessly fidgeting a shoulder strap, whilst being immersed into whatever mathematical equation seemed to pique his interest.
As Seungmin unconsciously walked through the halls with his attention glued to his book, he failed to notice the hazard that laid directly in his path. Minho, the campus bad boy, looking slick in his school uniform with a bulky, too-hot-for-the-weather leather jacket draped around his shoulders, sat leisurely on the floor with his legs sprawled out, completely indifferent to the chaos he was about to instigate. With this, Seungmin's foot got caught into the obstacle that was Minho's outstretched legs, and he stumbled clumsily, losing his balance and crashing onto the floor, slightly crushing Minho’s legs beneath him. His book and papers scattered around him, some of them ending up crumpled from the incident.
Disoriented and way more than a little frustrated, Seungmin scrambled to his feet. His heart started pounding as he turned to confront the source of his unexpected fall, and his anger quickly took over—Minho. Of fucking course. He’d never spoken to the boy, has probably never been in such close contact either. But Minho had a reputation, and Seungmin, although indifferent, was far from oblivious. He was well aware of what churned through the gossip mill, especially when he was a frequent subject matter wrung through the merciless hands of high-schoolers gossip.
He locked eyes with Minho, and without further thinking and thought-filtering, he blurted out, "Watch it, assface!", loud enough for his scream to echo across the whole building floor for everyone to hear.
Minho, still lounging on the floor and unfazed by Seungmin's anger, smirked. He simply smirked, and that somehow riled Seungmin up a notch. He met his gaze followed by a chuckle, and in a tone of matched indifference, he retorted, "Eat shit."
Their quick exchange was brimming with tension, setting the stage for an unexpected feud that didn’t really end up commencing. Because just as their initial encounter reached its climax, both Seungmin and Minho felt an intense burning sensation on their wrists, causing them to wince in surprise and pain.
Seungmin gathered himself up, hastily tucking his stuff into his backpack as he immediately got up to leave before the burning sensation on his wrist subsided.
Both boys were out of each other’s sight, Seungmin entered his classroom with no professor to be found as Minho remained seated for the remainder of his free time. But just as soon as the scorching pain in their wrists waned, they instinctively looked down, only to discover that in the midst of their heated exchange, intricate tattoos had spontaneously appeared.
And it was hideous. On Seungmin’s right wrist, the phrase ‘Eat shit’ , in glamourous, barely legible cursive handwriting, appeared, while a ‘Watch it, assface!’ in block letters intricately appeared on Minho’s left. It seemed to gleam with an otherworldly glow that didn’t look like the tattoos one would get at their typical parlor.
Seungmin silently freaked out as he sat at a random chair at the backmost area of the classroom. Minho curled up from his initial position. Both were immediately distraught, their anger forgotten as they anxiously stared down at their tattoos. The tattoos were unmistakable—soulmate tattoos, like the universe had just played such a twisted trick on both them and their future. The realization of the permanence of the scar left them with a complex mixture of emotions, from shock to the fear of the unknown to resentment .
Just because, they were now inexplicably bound together, and neither of them had the slightest idea of what this newfound connection would entail.
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The one life-changing, earth-shattering, sanity-ending interaction between them sparked not only a permanent mark on their wrists which had them wanting to live the rest of their lives hiding in embarrassment, but it also caused a chain reaction of even more interactions which they had no intentions of instigating. The universe was a fucking bitch.
Now, every time Seungmin turned a fucking corner to head to his first class of the day, there Minho was, leaning against the wall in the barren hallway, eyes peacefully shut until they flew open every time they heard Seungmin’s approach. He’d send Seungmin this look— lips curled in distaste, eyes narrowing into a glare and right hand subconsciously going to wrap around his left wrist, over his soulmate mark. Seungmin’s soulmate mark. And Seungmin would meet him with a sneer, not realizing he’d reflexively hide his right arm behind him, fighting off the urge to press the slight tingle on the patch of skin over his own soulmate mark.
The words “Eat shit” seemed to haunt Seungmin. The minute his best friend found out about it—because Seungmin needed someone to confide in—he got laughed at for 10 minutes straight.
“Yah, Yang Jeongin! ” Seungmin huffed indignantly, watching as his friend practically folded in half in raucous guffaws, wholly uncaring of the hundreds of other students scattered about the school cafeteria.
Seungmin looked around in embarrassment when Jeongin still couldn’t stop laughing, and as fate would have it, managed to spot Lee Minho in a literal sea of students. Why the fuck was he already looking his way?
Seungmin felt his stomach churn from the coalescence of smells in the air around him, the food he had no appetite for pushing up a bitter taste at the back of his throat as both him and Minho whipped their heads away to break their accidental eye contact.
“ The Lee Minho?! He’s your sou— mmph— !” Jeongin’s words got cut off as Seungmin slapped a harsh palm on his mouth.
“Announce it to the whole world, why don’t you!” Seungmin hissed, chiding. He only let Jeongin breathe when the other seemed to surrender and stopped thrashing around.
“ Fuck you. ” Jeongin cursed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Be careful, dumbfuck. I don’t need people knowing that Mi—” Seungmin cleared his throat to stop himself. “That he is my soulmate. No way in hell am I ever accepting this, and no one’s ever gonna know.”
Jeongin raised a skeptical brow, pure judgment exuding from his expression as he asked, “And why do you even hate him that much when you don’t even know him?”
Seungmin scoffed, picking up his chopsticks to shove the rice on his plate around. “I don’t need to know him personally to know what type of douchebag he is. I mean, did you see that obnoxious and lameass leather jacket? Not to mention the talks of his fights, which aren't just baseless rumors since he actually got suspended.”
Jeongin looked increasingly amused the more Seungmin babbled on. “You sure seem to know a lot about him, huh?”
Seungmin slapped him on the shoulder, evoking a pained yelp and seething glare. “ Rumors. People talk, and I have functioning ears.”
“Yea, only when it’s rumors about Lee Minho~ ” Jeongin whispered the last part for the sake of self-preservation, though it was futile given the consequential punch he received on his side.
“I regret even telling you.” Seungmin groaned, hiding his face in his hands in misery.
“Oh please. ” Jeongin rolled his eyes. “Anyway, what’re you gonna do now?”
Seungmin glanced up, face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“About your soulmate, dumbass. Even if you two don’t, y’know, get together, people are gonna be asking questions about your marks.” Jeongin pointedly dragged his eyes to Seungmin’s right wrist which was hidden by the sleeve of his school’s blazer.
A full bodied shiver wracked Seungmin’s body at even the thought of the horrors he’ll face if he ever tried to date from now on.
“ Fuck. ”
“Yeah, maybe you should—”
Seungmin yanked Jeongin into a chokehold, not letting go until the younger croaked for mercy on the brink of passing out.
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One of the reasons Seungmin was very caught up in the happenings around campus, specifically what people were talking about, was because—as it was mentioned before—he was a household name. Alienated for being an overachiever, for his supposed “stuck-up” and unlikeable nature. Essentially, for being an annoying nerd and a stickler for the rules.
Seungmin didn’t care, had grown skin thick enough to not let it bother him. If he wanted to actually find success in his life, he had to study, get good grades, obey the rules. Though, it was a straight up fabrication of reality when they implied he had some sort of superiority complex. He knew his worth, he understood his place in the universe and that in the grand scheme of things he was just another guy doing what he can to get through the days gone by.
He figured, though, that maybe a big reason as to why he garnered a bad reputation amongst the troublemakers of the campus could be his inability to stay out of other people’s problems.
“Hey!” Seungmin yelled to get the attention of three guys who had a feeble looking first-year kid cornered by the lockers. They snapped their angry gazes at him immediately, their rage seemingly increasing as matching sneers broke out on their faces.
“The fuck do you want, Kim?” one of them grit out, presumably the ring leader, his fingers still tightly curled around the collar of his victim. He knew his name, though Seungmin can’t say he reciprocated.
Not one to be intimidated by petty tactics, Seungmin squared his shoulders and raised his chin, expression stony. “I already informed a teacher about what’s going on here, so if you don’t want things to get worse by the time they get here, I suggest you let him go. ” Seungmin glanced at the boy who was cowering still, eyes glued to the floor.
The leader of the three assailants dropped the boy from his grasp, turning his full attention onto Seungmin with ignited rage. “You fucker —” he growled, taking heavy steps towards Seungmin who didn’t move a single muscle lest he appear a coward. Besides, he could dodge a few jabs if necessary, though he started to realize he was outnumbered when the two henchmen began to menacingly creep towards him as well.
What Seungmin didn’t know was that Minho had been lurking around the corner by the stairs—not in a creepy way. More-so in a I-really-need-to-go-somewhere-but-walked-into-an-awkward-situation-so-now-I’m-stuck kind of way.
Seeing Seungmin in trouble, and having seen the entire scenario unfold, Minho decided to make his presence known, steps relaxed but heavy as his shoes thumped on the tiles. The assailants turned their attention to him, alongside Seungmin, whose eyes grew wide and mouth fell agape just a fraction, shocked to see Minho here of all places.
“ Scram. ” Minho said, stern, face bearing no expression almost as if he were bored.
He’s…helping me? Seungmin had a hard time really processing what was unfolding right in front of his eyes. He was yanked out of his thoughts regarding Lee Minho when he felt one of their hands roughly grip and tug him by the collar, and what commenced after that was almost a blur.
Within seconds, Minho was in front of Seungmin, shoving away the boy who’d gripped him and tossing him onto the floor. Minho turned back to Seungmin for a transitory moment, placing a hand on his shoulder and pushing him back with enough force to give Seungmin the memo but not to actually hurt. “Stay back.” Minho said, anyway, ignoring the furious shouts of the bullies that were swiftly approaching Minho, ready to attack.
Seungmin nodded profusely, a little dumbly too, struggling to wrap his brain around the fact that Minho was fighting—to protect him. He forcefully snapped himself out his musings and scanned the area where the first-year was, feeling relief momentarily wash over him when he saw that the boy had escaped. He couldn’t be at ease for long since no matter how strong Minho was, it was one against three.
Fuck, when’s the teacher gonna get here!
He chewed the inside of his lip anxiously, spotting with growing horror that one of the assailants had pulled out a baseball bat from God knew where and was approaching Minho from behind while the latter was preoccupied with the two in front of him.
“Watch out!” Seungmin bellowed out in warning, leaping forward to tackle the boy holding the bat to the ground. Minho managed to kick down one of them while grabbing the other in a chokehold, whipping around towards Seungmin and finding Seungmin trying to wrestle the metal bat out of the bully’s grip.
“Kim Seungmin!” he exclaimed urgently, catapulting the guy he had in a chokehold to the ground and immediately going to help Seungmin.
He yanked the boy holding the bat away from Seungmin, his grip loosening enough for the bat to slide out his hands which Seungmin proceeded to shove far away from anyone’s reach. Before the scuffle could get any worse, the teacher finally showed up, yelling at them to break it up.
He was about to reprimand Minho alongside the three actual assailants when Seungmin spoke up.
“He helped me, sir. They’re the ones that attacked. They even had a baseball bat. Minho’s not in the wrong here.” Seungmin explained calmly, biting back a wince from the sting in his lip. In the scuffle earlier, the boy had managed to land a wayward punch to his face, causing him to cut his lip.
Given how Seungmin’s focus was completely on the teacher, he didn’t notice the incredulous stare Minho pinned him with from the side.
“I understand, Seungmin-ssi. But such violent acts are still against our code of conduct.” The teacher sighed.
“Then I’ll take responsibility and bear his punishment.” Seungmin declared resolutely.
Minho’s breath hitched from beside him, eyes going so wide they were threatening to bulge out the sockets.
“Yah, Kim Se—”
Seungmin held out a palm to cut him off, throwing him a stern look that said, shut up .
“Seungmin-ssi…” the teacher heaved a weary sigh. “Let’s discuss this later at the principal’s office. For now, you two should head to the infirmary. Let me deal with these three, alright?”
Seungmin nodded an affirmative, turning back to look at Minho who already had his eyes on him, a complex emotion swirling in them that Seungmin couldn’t comprehend.
“Let’s go, Lee.” Seungmin said, raising a palm towards Minho’s cheek. The boy flinched back, not knowing what Seungmin was trying to do, before tensing in place when Seungmin gently traced a finger around a rapidly darkening bruise on his cheek. “You look—”
“Like shit. Yeah, I know, Kim. So do you, might I add.” Minho managed a smirk, something shaky, so unlike the easygoing, almost condescending confidence that always surrounded him.
“Thank you for your valuable input.” Seungmin huffed a laugh, letting his hand drop away from Minho’s cheek, noticing the way Minho’s eyes followed the movement but thinking nothing of it. His soulmate mark tingled, blood staticy and prickly under his skin.
They headed to the infirmary together, and while Seungmin waited his turn to get patched up, Minho broke the silence by saying, “Are you always that nosy? It’s like you want to get beat up.”
Seungmin scoffed, rolling his eyes. “So what, I should stand by and watch someone get beat up?”
“Would definitely save you from it.” Minho shot back.
“The guilt would eat me up. I’d rather it be me when I at least have a fighting chance.”
Minho barked out a laugh, a little hysterical. “ You? Please. If I wasn’t there you’d have broken a billion different bones by now.”
Seungmin narrowed his eyes, indignation shooting up his spine as he pulled his lips into a pout. “If it weren’t for me you’d be in the ER with a concussion.”
Minho rolled his eyes dismissively, turning back to face the small mirror and continuing in swabbing his bruise.
“Why’d you help me, anyway? Wasn’t your business either. I’d say you’re just as nosy as I am.” Seungmin continued, tone bordering on teasing with a brow arced in curiosity.
Minho glanced at Seungmin’s reflection through the mirror. “Never said I wasn’t.” He muttered, keeping his eyes resolutely on the mirror. “Why’d you say you’d take my punishment in my stead? Wouldn’t that just put a stain on your perfect record?”
Seungmin pondered the question for a moment before answering, ignoring the verbal jab. A soft smile subconsciously arched his lips as he responded, “Same principle, Lee Minho. Why should someone innocent be punished for no good reason? You saved me. Take this as my way of thanking you.”
Minho didn’t speak after that, keeping his gaze resolutely on the mirror as he cleaned his wounds. Interestingly enough, Seungmin spotted the tips of his ears peeking out through his messy black hair, a vibrant crimson as opposed to his apathetic countenance.
⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇
After that incident, things between Seungmin and Minho shifted, ever so slightly. They didn’t necessarily become the best of friends, or even have the most amicable relationship, but it sparked perhaps a mutual respect for one another, something which they’d show by arguing at any chance they’d get.
It would always start with Minho saying something snarky, or playfully shoving Seungmin to get his attention, followed by Seungmin’s heated response, devolving into them bickering while their respective best friends, Changbin and Jeongin, were standing there exasperated and not knowing how to stop them. Sometimes, on the not-so-rare occasion, Seungmin would be the one instigating seeing the fresh wounds of battle littering Minho’s face.
“You think this is their way of flirting?” Jeongin whispered to Changbin who was standing right next to him, both of them facing Seungmin and Minho who looked about ready to start throwing hands. Jeongin and Changbin weirdly grew close over these abnormal interactions, finding camaraderie in their shared situation of having best friends who “hated” (said with all the sarcasm that existed within their souls) each other.
“ Definitely. ” Changbin muttered back.
Jeongin nudged his shoulder, making him face him. He adorned a mischievous grin. “Wanna bet how long it takes for them to start going out?”
Changbin gasped, scandalized. “We’ll be decrepit old men with a foot in our graves before either of them suck it up and admit to their feelings.”
Jeongin’s expression turned manic and Changbin found it more than just a little frightening. “Nah. You and Minho-hyung are graduating soon, right?”
Changbin’s face scrunched in puzzlement. “Are you saying they’ll get together before we’re gone?”
Jeongin’s lips split on a wolfish grin as he turned back to eye Seungmin and Minho, Seungmin’s delicate hand on the cut on Minho’s cheek juxtaposing the scathing tone of his voice as he called Minho every variation of “stupid” known to man, and shrugged in feigned nonchalance.
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Seungmin didn’t know when his best friend had replaced him with the friend of his mortal enemy, but Jeongin and Changbin had decided at some point that they needed to start sitting together during lunch, and by proxy, Seungmin and Minho did as well.
“Can you two cool it with trying to devour each other with your eyes?” Jeongin commented, face morphed in a look of disgust as he glanced between Seungmin and Minho.
“ Ew— !” Seungmin exclaimed while Minho retched at the very notion of his implications.
“Great. Now I lost my appetite. Thanks a lot Innie-yah.” Minho said with a grimace, pushing away his lunch tray with the tip of his pointer and looking off to the side.
“So now you know how we— “ Jeongin gestured between himself and Changbin, “feel.” Changbin was too busy snorting in laughter into his palm to add anything to the conversation at hand.
“This wouldn’t be an issue if you didn’t force us to have lunch together.” Seungmin groused.
“Seriously, Bin. Cause of you I have to look at this face,” Minho pointed an accusatory finger at Seungmin, the latter rolling his eyes in exasperation, “everyday. EVERY. DAY.” Minho exclaimed to nail in his grievances.
Changbin raised his palms in a show of surrender. “Hey man, I’m not forcing you to be here. I’m just here to have lunch with my new buddy—” Changbin threw an arm around Jeongin’s shoulder and tugged him close, squeezing him hard enough that the younger yowled in pain. “Oh and Seungmin too.” Changbin flashed Seungmin a smirk as an afterthought.
“Wow, I’m sooo honored.” Seungmin rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time before they landed on Minho who was already looking at him, that Seungmin-induced scowl furrowing his brows as permanent as the, “Watch it, assface!” tattooed across his wrist, shining under the sunlight filtering in through the windows.
Seungmin couldn’t help the quirk of his lips as he pointedly gazed at the mark, subsequently dragging Minho’s quizzical gaze down to where his was transfixed before realization flitted across his face in a look of horror and he tugged down the sleeve of his shirt to cover the marking.
With the deepening of Minho’s scowl, Seungmin’s grin brightened, and he reveled in the way Minho burned red.
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Fate was strange, and feelings were even more-so, because when Seungmin’s faced with a fairly handsome boy from the other section, standing in front of him with nervousness clear in the jitteriness of his body and shakiness of his voice, all Seungmin could think of was the scene he’d stumbled upon that morning on his way to school.
There Lee Minho was, crouched at a corner of the campus ground, shrouded in the shade of an ancient tree and engrossed by a tiny little calico feasting away on a can of tuna. His leather jacket still draped over his shoulders and back—he never seemed to actually wear it properly, always having it just stay on him.
He didn’t know what urged him to walk over—perhaps the weeks of forced proximity with Minho, the weeks of accepting that he was his soulmate and that Seungmin seemed to not be as resentful of that fate, weeks of getting to know Minho in a way he was never planning to.
Minho, contrary to his “bad boy” image, liked to listen to rock ballads. Minho was a huge weeb who kept a fucking excel spreadsheet of all the ongoing anime of the season he was watching. Minho collected anime figurines which he begged his parents to buy a glass case for since his three cats were determined to break them on site. Minho loved to read books, which is why Seungmin could almost guarantee he’d find him in the library if he couldn’t in that favorite resting place of his in the hallway of their doomed meeting.
Seungmin also allowed Minho into his world, little by little, piece by piece, sharing mundane, uninteresting bits of himself that Minho pretended to not absorb. Yet, when Minho offhandedly started to recommend him songs from an artist he liked, or when Minho always had a second book next to him in the library, a seat he saved for no one , as he would supply as a flimsy excuse, allowing Seungmin to take it up, watching as Seungmin would flip through the pages of the book he’d chosen—Seungmin didn’t know what the hell the universe was trying to tell him with the way his mark seemed to flare up every time he made accidental physical contact with Minho, his mind was already a fucking mess.
“Yah.” Seungmin said by way of greeting, crouching down a short distance away from the hungry kitten so as to not spook it and stop it from eating and also in Minho’s line of sight.
Minho’s eyes flickered up to him, a little stunned, probably from Seungmin’s surprise appearance.
“What.” Minho said, his own greeting, shock clearing away in place of indifference as he looked back down at the kitten. The kitten must hold powers unfathomable to Seungmin, however, since Minho’s steely façade immediately melted into a soft, gooey grin.
Seungmin wished he could be on the other side of that expression.
Shaking away his wayward thoughts, Seungmin opted to twist back and pull out the water bottle from his backpack, opening the large cap and pouring in all of the scant reserve of water inside the bottle into it. Minho eyed him curiously, an angry curl to his brow which Seungmin learned wasn’t from actual annoyance, but that it was the face he made when he was perplexed or in thought. Seungmin wordlessly slid the cap towards the kitten, next to the can of dwindling tuna. With unconcealed anticipation, he watched, hawk-eyed, as the kitten paused in demolishing the tuna and warily eyed the cap of water. It leaned in close, slowly, sniffing away at it before deeming it safe for consumption and starting to drink. Seungmin couldn’t suppress the wide grin that broke out on his face, the sigh of relief and joy that escaped his mouth alongside an airy chuckle, endeared by the cuteness of the kitten in front of him.
When he eventually tore his gaze away from the feline, he was surprised to find Minho already looking at him, teeth digging into his bottom lip and a complex amalgamation of emotions painting his face. Seungmin couldn’t explain what they were, could barely get the time to look because as soon as they made eye contact, Minho whipped his head away, the tips of his ears turning a shade of red that Seungmin could accurately pick out in a sea of color.
It was that same shade of red, that same image of Minho chewing at his lip while he watched Seungmin instead of the kitten like Seungmin assumed he was, that flashed across Seungmin’s mind as the unfamiliar boy in front of him fumbled through a confession.
This wasn’t something especially new, but having someone ask him out was uncommon enough for it to be a novel experience whenever it randomly happened.
Seungmin couldn’t bring himself to say yes, to even consider him an option—not when the skin surrounding his soulmate mark began to itch, when all he could think of at this moment was leather jackets and kittens and red-tinted ears.
“I’m sorry.” Was all Seungmin said, watching with a tiny smidge of guilt as the boy dashed away from him with glassy eyes.
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“So, heard through the grapevine that you got asked out.” Changbin nudged Seungmin’s shoulder mid-bite, causing Seungmin’s chopsticks to painfully clack against his teeth.
“ Ow! Binnie-hyung!” Seungmin whined, rubbing at his aching tooth as he glowered at the perpetrator.
“My bad.” Changbin apologized, kissing his teeth as he shrunk away from Seungmin’s ire.
They were interrupted by Minho spontaneously choking on water, turning their heads to find Jeongin aggressively slapping the shit out of Minho’s back in an attempt to pacify him.
Seungmin was confused while Changbin sent him a knowing look which only deepened his puzzlement.
“Word travels that fast, huh.” Seungmin said instead, in an attempt to carry the conversation now that Minho was wiping his mouth with a tissue, red-eyes shooting daggers through Changbin’s face.
“That’s an understatement when the guy that supposedly wanted to go out with you proceeded to essentially throw a temper tantrum cause he was rejected. Why’d you say no?” Jeongin butted in, the look in his eyes seeming to be peeking into Seungmin’s soul.
Seungmin averted everyone’s gaze, staring down at his lunch as he gave a shrug. “With this on my wrist? He’d obviously ask questions and I’d rather not deal with that whole thing.”
Seungmin didn’t notice the look on Minho’s face, eyes trained solely on him, narrowed into slits and his entire body tense.
“You’re going to have to eventually, though.” Jeongin pressed on, glancing warily at Minho at his side. Minho sat there, stiff as a board, hands balled into fists on top of his thighs. Jeongin gulped, breaking out into a nervous sweat. He was treading a very dangerous line here with his questions. He didn’t know if getting his dumb friends to admit their feelings was worth getting murdered over, but it was already too late by the time Seungmin opened his mouth to answer.
“Wasn’t really interested. Besides, with this, ” Seungmin raised his right arm and rolled down his sleeve just enough to reveal the spectacular inking of, “ Eat shit” on his wrist, pointedly pinning Minho with a sarcastic look, “i’ll just be a laughing stock.” There was a hint of a smile playing at Seungmin’s lips as he ran a thumb over the mark.
Minho was triggered, apparently, by the way the tension snapped in his body and he raised his own left arm to mimic Seungmin’s position. “You’re the one that started it, assface. ” Minho grit out.
Seungmin was still not picking up on the evident anger in Minho’s tone as he barked out a laugh, more amused than mocking. “It’s not like I knew this would happen.”
“Yeah, it’s not like I wanted to be your soulmate either.” Minho said, dropping his hand down under the table, fiery eyes still glued onto Seungmin. His words weren’t loud, and to someone else could even come off as indifferent. Impersonal. To Seungmin, those words were like a knife to the gut, twisting with every word he seemed to hear in slow motion.
Everyone froze all at once, the air surrounding the four of them standing still. Seungmin’s smile slowly dropped, fading away into a frown before settling on an impassive, tight line. He pursed his lips, trying not to display the quiver of them as he felt his eyes glazing over. Minho’s deadpan instantly morphed into a look of panic, and Seungmin didn’t even know what his other two friends looked like at the moment. All he saw was a cloudy haze as he valiantly fought back the tears prickling at his eyes. He shot up from his seat, the grating sound of his chair garnering the attention of the surrounding students, but he didn’t care. Didn’t have the capacity to give a shit at this moment as he stared Minho down, the older boy resembling a deer caught in headlights.
“ Fuck you.” Seungmin hissed out, the words pushing through the growing lump in his throat.
“Seung—” Minho croaked, attempting to say something, but Seungmin didn’t let him as he hurriedly zipped open his bag and pulled out a marker pen.
He flicked the cap off with his left thumb, bringing the tip of the black pen to the tattoo on his right wrist. Minho looked horrified as Seungmin began to scribble over the mark. “Fuck this. I’m so fucking done. ” Seungmin said, his voice finally giving up and breaking, and he felt so mortified at being unable to suppress his hurt that he threw the pen in his bag without bothering to close it with the cap, slung his bag over his shoulder and fled, completely ignoring the loud call of his name by both his friends, by Lee Minho.
Jeongin followed not long after, immediately shooting out his seat when Seungmin broke into a run. He spared a stricken Minho a disappointed look before swiftly giving his best friend chase.
“ Seungmin! Wait up— oof !” Jeongin crashed into Seungmin’s back when the latter stopped dead in his tracks.
He looked up to find Seungmin’s shoulders trembling, the two of them standing in the fortunately deserted corridor. Jeongin silently slipped his hand into Seungmin’s curled palm, stopping him from digging his nails into the soft flesh. He squeezed his hand in comfort, not uttering a complaint when Seungmin’s grip turned steely. He led Seungmin into an empty classroom and sat him down by the windows at the back, taking a seat right next to him and letting him silently cry on his shoulder.
“He didn’t mean it, hyung. You know that, right?” Jeongin eventually said when Seungmin’s tears ceased and he was left a sniffling mess.
Seungmin raised his head then, pinning Jeongin with a look of annoyance and scoffed. “You’re fucking with me, right? You heard what he said, how he said it. Whatever. It’s my fault anyway, for–for even thinking that there was a chance of anything with him. Should’ve never let it get to this point.”
Jeongin wanted to say something more, defend Minho more—because he knew that it wasn’t the case at all, that the fury burning in Minho that fueled him to act out so petulantly wasn’t hatred like Seungmin wrongfully assumed. But seeing the resentment and hurt in Seungmin’s eyes made him hold his tongue and they sat there in silence till the school bell indicating the end of their lunch break rang.
⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇
The following days of school went by with everyone staying at a six foot distance from Seungmin. There was almost a tangible, formless gloom, a thunderous fury, that followed Seungmin, attached to him like a dark aura. No one dared slight him, and the minute he walked past anyone, they’d immediately shut their mouths, their never-ending gossip and rumors about Seungmin dying in their throats.
And every single day, at any chance he’d get, Minho would approach Seungmin, pleading to get a chance to talk to him, for Seungmin to give him a chance to apologize. Seungmin wouldn’t hear any of it, immediately turning the other direction and walking away, shrugging off the warm palm Minho would place on his shoulder in a futile attempt at keeping him there.
He’d noticed during one such interaction, Minho’s eyes dropping to his exposed right wrist, the hurt that flashed across them when he saw that Seungmin continued to cross out his soulmark with a patch of black. Seungmin pretended that guilt didn’t flood his chest at the sight.
Three days and Minho gave up trying to talk to him.
Good. Seungmin lied to himself. He didn’t want to see his face, didn’t want to hear his stupid fucking voice and hear his stupid apologies.
But then, something peculiar started showing up at his desk.
A white tulip, delicately wrapped in a sheet of pastel with a small card inside it.
I’m sorry.
– Minho
A part of Seungmin wanted to chuck the whole thing out the window. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to, so he silently stuffed the flower into an outer pocket of his bag, making sure it wouldn’t get crushed, and slipped the little card inside his pencil bag.
The next day, another one, accompanied by yet another card.
I’m an idiot, I’m sorry.
– Assface
The sender's name startled a laugh out of Seungmin who quickly cleared his throat and hid the card when multiple heads in the classroom turned to look at him.
He slipped the card inside his pencil bag next to the previous one, tucking the flower into his bag’s pocket after inhaling its pleasant scent.
I’ll apologize a million times if that’s what it takes. I’m sorry, Seungmin.
– :(
And another.
Seriously, just talk to me. Please? I’m not below begging on my knees.
– Desperately sorry
And another.
Will you at least look at me?
– Invisible and emo
…
I’m sorry.
⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇
Seungmin showed up to class ten minutes earlier that day, before anyone else started to filter in, mentally hyping himself up to put an end to his childish tirade and confront Minho.
He thought back to the vase of tulips he’d accumulated on his desk back home, the cards he’d transferred to a little box and kept inside his desk drawer.
He opened the door to his classroom, sighing in relief yet simultaneously feeling his heart stop at the sight he was hoping to catch.
Minho froze mid-action, fingers holding yet another white tulip, carefully wrapped in a sheet of baby blue paper, about to place it on Seungmin’s desk. He looked frightened, lips parted, bunny teeth peeking out, wide-eyed.
“Yah.” Seungmin said in greeting, stepping inside the classroom and shutting the door behind him, willing his hands to stop shaking.
Minho made a wounded noise, face turning an alarming shade of red when Seungmin met his gaze. He cleared his throat, the action devolving into a violent fit of coughs as he hunched over and clasped a fist over his mouth. Seungmin hurried over to him, concerned, thoughtlessly bringing a hand up to rub circles over Minho’s back in a soothing gesture.
“You okay?” Seungmin asked worriedly, canting his head down to Minho’s level.
Minho turned to look at him, eyes red and watery from his coughing fit which had finally subsided. “You’re never here this early.”
Seungmin straightened up, followed by Minho who creakily did the same and immediately looked away, eyes shifting down to burn holes through the floor.
Seungmin snorted unattractively in amusement, letting his palm that was still on Minho’s back fall away, immediately missing the warmth.
“Well, someone wanted to talk. So, here I am.” He said airily, his confidence and composure a complete facade, contrasting the frantic thumping of his heart against his ribcage.
Minho’s eyes darted up to him, a look of disbelief etched onto every crevice of his expression. “ Oh. ” His voice cracked, and Seungmin held back the giggle bubbling at the back of his throat. The situation was probably embarrassing enough for the both of them, he didn’t need to add onto it by laughing at Minho for something he couldn’t control.
“Yeah, oh. So are you gonna get on your knees or what?” Seungmin arched a brow, pursing his lips to stop the mischievous smile from showing.
Minho gawked at his words, flinching as his head whipped up to properly look into Seungmin’s eyes, scandalized. “ What ?!” he screeched, making Seungmin wince from the piercing volume.
“It’s what you said in your card, assface .” Seungmin explained through creased eyes, recovering from the damage done to his eardrums.
“ Seungminnie —!” The nickname slipped out of Minho’s lips as an indignant, pleading whine.
Seungmin didn’t know when Minho started to call him that, but the endearment sent his heart fluttering despite the tone.
“Yeah?” Seungmin said, a little breathless but steadfast in pulling out the words Minho promised to tell him the last few days. And if he was enjoying teasing Minho, seeing the bad boy persona withering away to reveal a sulky kicked puppy, he told himself he deserved it after what Minho had done to hurt him.
Minho’s pout pulled into a frown, eyes searching every inch of Seungmin’s expression before locking with his gaze. He seemed to have gathered his courage, made up his mind, when he sucked in a deep breath and parted his lips on the words, “I’m so—”
Seungmin didn’t let him finish, however, instead grabbing a hold of his collar with his hands and yanking him towards himself, stopping only when his face stood a mere breath away. Minho’s breath hitched at the sudden action and he choked on his words, pupils trembling as they looked into Seungmin’s eyes. Seungmin tilted his head a little, enough to brush their noses together, watched with awe the way Minho’s eyes fluttered shut, his long lashes fanning over his cheeks.
And he shut his own eyes, breaching the distance between them and crashing his lips into Minho’s in a searing kiss. Minho’s hesitation seemed to fall away fairly quickly, his hands immediately flying up to grip Seungmin’s waist, lips parting to deepen the kiss, and Seungmin felt dazed. The warmth and plushness of Minho’s lips left him heady, all thoughts immediately fleeing his brain except for Minho. He felt his soulmate mark flare to life, the patch of inked skin burning as he slid his right hand over Minho’s neck and tangled his fingers in his hair. Minho gasped into the kiss, biting down on Seungmin’s bottom lip to elicit a whimper. Seungmin had kissed people before, but nothing felt this all-consuming, as if he needed Minho, like a dying man thirsting for a drop of water in the middle of a desert and Minho magically embodied the entire sea. Was this what it felt like? Having a soulmate? Loving a soulmate? Was it supposed to feel like his entire being shattered and began to completely rearrange to fit the shape of Minho’s lips, the curve of his tight grip on Seungmin’s sides? Seungmin was gone.
They kissed until their lungs felt like it caught on fire, kissed until they felt dizzy with the lack of oxygen reaching their brains, finally parting only so they didn’t spontaneously faint from a prolonged lack of air.
Seungmin’s eyes flew open, finding Minho doing the same. Minho looked as gone as Seungmin felt—eyes lidded, clouded. Lips swollen and cherry-red. Fingers twitching against Seungmin’s waist where they were still holding him.
Seungmin didn’t bother clearing his throat, voice coming out hoarse when he asked, “What were you saying?”
Minho gulped, Seungmin following the bob of his Adam’s apple before looking back at Minho, feeling his chest swell with pride at the flush Minho sported down to his neck. He did this. Lee Minho was this red and dazed because of him.
“I love you.” Minho said, and those were not the exact words of apology Seungmin was expecting would leave his mouth.
The words jump-started Seungmin’s already battering heart to beat even more frantically, his insides doing flips and somersaults and all the variations of gymnastics known to man.
He didn’t think he was coherent enough to give any intelligible response so instead he pulled Minho’s dumb-looking face in for another kiss.
⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇
“Seungminnie.” Minho huffed a laugh, trailing his hand down to wrap around Seungmin’s right wrist, lifting Seungmin’s hand up to his lips and pressing a tender kiss over the patch of inked skin. “Why’re you crying as if you’re never seeing me again? It’s just graduation. My university is a 15 minute bus ride from here.”
Seungmin sniffled, hiccupping through his tears as he glowered at Minho, the desired effect falling flat as to Minho he just looked adorable.
“Shut up. ” Seungmin grumbled, diving forward and smushing his face into the crook of Minho’s neck as he wound his arms around his soulmate. “We can’t meet as easily, idiot.” He muttered into his skin, sagging against him when Minho hugged him back, squeezing him tight in reassurance.
“Sure we can. Will just have to adjust around the timings, but we’ll still meet as much as possible, okay?” Minho rubbed a soothing palm over Seungmin’s back, helping his muscles release their tension.
A beat of silence then Seungmin whispered, “I’ll still miss you.”
Minho silently nudged Seungmin to detach his face from his neck and look at him, the younger doing it reluctantly, meeting him with tear-stained cheeks and swollen red eyes. Minho brought his hands up to cup his face, thumbs gently wiping away the tears. “I’ll miss you too. We’ll make it work, so don’t worry okay? You’re in your senior year so focus on your classes. I’m just a text or phone call away, Minnie.”
Seungmin brought his hands to rest over Minho’s, nuzzling into the warmth of Minho’s palms. “Yeah?” he said breathily.
“Of course. Besides,” Minho’s left hand shifted and he interlaced his fingers with Seungmin’s right, bringing their conjoined hands between them and displaying their marks. The two phrases that caused so much embarrassment for them at the beginning, that made their blood boil in resentment, had become something so precious. Something they’d joke about, laugh about, something they’d softly kiss in the comfort of their privacy. “With this on our bodies? Who else is gonna love me if not you.”
Seungmin croaked out a laugh, eyes disappearing into crescents and cheeks bunching up from the force of it.
“You’re right.” Seungmin traced his thumb down to glide over Minho’s mark, eyeing it with a reverence that should be comical when concerning the words, “Watch it, assface” but somehow it wasn’t. Somehow, Minho’s heart inflated with the sheer volume of love he felt for him. “You’re mine,” Seungmin said, leaning in to peck Minho’s wrist before looking back up at him, cocking his head with a wide grin stretching his lips, “and I’m yours.”