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awooghan · 1 year

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24 to 25 ✧.* y.ji (TEASER)

➳ PAIRING: jeongin x fem!reader

➳ GENRE: fluff, angst, childhood friends to lovers

➳ WARNINGS: none (teaser only)

➳ WORD COUNT: 1.5k for teaser; 25k+ for full fic 😵‍💫

(UPDATE: i gravely underestimated my final wc t’s actually 47.7k 😭)

➳ SUMMARY: “stay for christmas?” was a phrase jeongin first uttered to you when you were both ten years old, but neither of you had any idea the bond those three little words would hold as the years go by.

➳ NOTES: hey besties! this is a backup account for @//plutominho , i got shadowbanned on there and just made a new account so ppl can actually see this come up in the tags 😭 this is my longest fic yet and i’m honestly still writing the last few parts of it 🫠 but i rly like how it’s turned out so far and i hope y’all will like it too! it’s a rewrite of a fic from last year. i’ll save the actual long note for when i post the final product but thank you so so much to @svtbabies for helping me throughout the course of writing this fic. you’ve helped so much in fleshing out the plot and the little details that i got stuck on and i absolutely adore what’s come out of this. also ty for the lovely banner ahhhhh ilysm 🥹🫂

ALSO LEMME KNOW IF U WANT TO BE TAGGED IN THE FULL FIC <3

@starlighthan @starseungs @crispy-chan @gloseoks @pearlychai @sulfurcosmos …uh hey i’m alive 👁👄👁

“Come on, Y/N, you can’t cling onto my shirt forever,” your mother urges you with a small chuckle.

You stiffen up in your spot at the edge of the picnic bench, and your eyes bounce between the several children on and around the playground equipment. Mixtures of squeals and cheerful laughter ring above the christmas song playing from the outdoor speaker your new neighbors, the Choi family, set up. You forgot if it was the one with the son older than you or the son your age, though—you didn’t exactly bother to learn their names when your mother introduced you.

“Go on, Y/N.” Her voice fills your ears again as she gently pushes you off the bench. Speak of the devil.

Shoving your hands in your pockets, you kick the dust with your feet and you keep your gaze cast down on the ground. You didn’t want to socialize—why would you want to make new friends when you had perfectly good ones back in your old neighborhood? Why couldn’t you just go back there? Or just snatch your mother’s dingy old flip phone for a couple minutes to send them a message?

Besides, most of the children here don’t seem like ones you’d be particularly… compatible with. You shouldn’t be one to judge, but the majority of the ones doing laps on the playground equipment couldn’t have been older than five or six. At your big age of nine years old, there’s not much you would have in common with a literal kindergartener. Plus, it seems like they had all formed a friend group of their own, and you’re more than content just watching them chase each other around, gleeful, high-pitched squeals bubbling from their sticky mouths.

Turning your head slightly, you find a group of teenagers sitting around another bench several feet away from all the adults, two of which had their bottoms perched on top of the table as they faced their friends. You would approach them, but just like how you wouldn’t exactly favor befriending the five-year-olds with crayons up their noses, the teenagers likely thought the same of you. Closing your eyes in despair, you groan to yourself and resort to dragging your feet across the dirt.

Why did you even have to move?

As you let out a sigh, you perk up at the fact you could see it in the cold air. It sparks an insurmountable amount of joy for some reason. Perhaps it’s because of the timing of the puff of air with the line, ’Jack Frost nipping at your nose’ that rings from the speakers at the other end of the small neighborhood park, but it causes a giggle to slip past your lips. It’s almost like a new light under the already-dimming sky, the soft pinks and oranges slowly dissipating as the sun begins to dip behind the mountains and give way to the overcast above.

However, you quickly get distracted by the sight of a boy your age—or at least, you assumed—and you hesitantly step closer.

And there he was.

He was short, upside down on the monkey bars, and wearing the most obnoxious shade of purple you had ever laid eyes on. You aren’t sure what hurts more: the sun in your eyes or staring at his sweater.

Looking away from the light gray clouds that hung above the park, you let your gaze fall to the boy. He watches you quietly as he continues to hang upside down, and you notice the small smile that paints his slowly reddening face.

Here goes nothing, you guess.

“Um… hi.”

He stays silent, staring at you with his beady eyes.

Gulping, you continue. “I'm Y/N.”

He mumbles something back, but you can barely make out what he says and you tilt your head slightly in confusion.

“Huh?”

“My name is Jeongin,” he repeats, only the slightest bit louder.

A smile of your own quickly forms on your face. You raise a hand up for him to shake, and he just stares at it for a second before moving one of his outstretched arms to meet you, his hand grasping yours at an awkward angle. You both can’t help but giggle as you give your best attempt at a handshake.

“Nice to meet you, Jeongin,” you say, slowly pulling your hand away and letting his drop above, or rather, below his upside-down head. “I'm Y/N.”

“You said that already,” He says, and his bluntness makes you chuckle.

Slowly, Jeongin maneuvers himself so he’s sitting on top of the monkey bars instead of hanging upside down. Once he gets upright and steadies himself from the blood rushing down from his head, he stares back down at you.

You stuff your hands into your pockets and heave out a sigh. “My mom says I need a friend,” you explain your current plight to Jeongin, and you find his soft gaze once again. It’s strange, really—you've only exchanged a few words with this boy, but you already feel comfortable enough to complain about your mother’s nagging to him.

You suppose that helps your next words spill out more easily.

“Want to be friends?”

You watch Jeongin expectantly as he looks down, picking at a piece of lint on his hideous purple sweater. He ponders your question for a minute, and you feel a wave of relief wash over you when he finally nods in response. If your mom wanted you to have a friend so badly, there you go. You got one.

You stand there awkwardly, your eyes drifting back up to the sky for a moment. It occurs to you that you’ve never asked someone to be friends with you; it’s always just kind of happened.

And now you’re stuck, unsure what to do next.

You let out another huff of air, another smile tickling your lips as you watch the faint, white puff form in front of your eyes. Then you look back up at the boy in the obnoxious purple sweater, who seems just as amused by the cold air as you as he lets out his own breath, exhaling like a small dragon.

A chuckle escapes your parted lips as you watch him, kicking his legs lightly as he stares up at the sky. After another minute, you speak again.

“Can I sit up there with you too?”

Nodding his head, he mumbles a small “yeah” and the corners of your mouth twitch up as you hurriedly climb your way up onto the monkey bars. You dangle your legs through the same section as Jeongin’s, and you shift your position slightly as you steady yourself.

A gust of cold air causes you to shiver and as a response, you pull your puffy coat closer to you. This seems to make Jeongin chuckle fondly, and you feel his eyes linger on you for a second before he looks out at the horizon. Neither of you are tall enough to see much above the houses in front of you, but you figure you can use your imaginations to picture what lies beyond that. It’ll have to do.

You both remain silent for a while like this, allowing the chatter and Christmas music below to fill the air around you. It’s comfortable, it feels like a weighted blanket wrapped around your shoulders—which is funny to say because you’re sharing this moment with a kid you’ve barely known for ten minutes. You don’t mind, though. By the looks of it, and the friendly glances you exchange with each other, Jeongin doesn’t seem to, either.

Suddenly, a cold, wet spot falls onto your nose, causing you to gasp and look up.

“Is that…”

Jeongin tilts his head up as well, and he chuckles when another wet drop lands on his face. Meanwhile, you’re in awe. You let your mouth fall open, and your eyes swirl with pure wonderment as you watch the white crystals above you flutter down. It sends chills down your spine, but wraps you up in a cocoon of warmth at the same time.

“Snow…” is all you manage to mumble.

Jeongin turns to you, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Have you never seen snow before?”

You glance at him once, shake your head, and look back up at the sky.

The boy’s jaw drops. It almost mirrors your dazed expression, except his features are twisted in surprise. But it’s true—snow was something you had only witnessed in movies. As far as you were concerned, the fluffy, white particles only ever graced the stop-motion characters on the old-timey Christmas cartoons you rewatched every year, or the main couple in whatever cheesy Hallmark movie your parents decided to indulge in.

That is, until now.

You didn’t know at that moment what type of future you had in store, but you know one thing: the snow is beautiful. And as you follow Jeongin down the monkey bars and to your first snowball fight, you have an inkling that you’ll be sticking with him for a while.

Maybe this move won’t be so bad after all.

full version release date: december 25 (hopefully)

#stray kids #stray kids imagines #stray kids fanfic #skz #skz imagines #skz fanfic #skz x reader #stray kids written #jeongin #yang jeongin #jeongin x reader #jeongin fanfic #jeongin fluff #jeongin angst #jeongin imagines

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starlighthan · 1 year

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SHOWSTOPPER — PART ONE.

pairings: non-idol!minho and gender-neutral!reader

genre: fluff, angst, enemies/academic rivals to lovers, fake dating au, university au

warnings: a kiss without consent, curse words, physical harassment, mentions of murder and violence, and minho being confusing ! :’D

word count: 11k words (WOW that’s a lot, and that’s just the first part help)

synopsis: minho really wanted to get his ex back by fake dating you, but why were you an obstacle in this plan of his?

tag list: @awooghan @hwangsify @cosmic-railwayxo

song inspos: 121u - day6, valentine - 5 seconds of summer, everything has changed - taylor swift & ed sheeran, best song - young k

note: i have returned... with a long cliché and cheesy fic, for the first time!!! this is an entry for @hiraya-m’s movie night! this fic is inspired by the movie, she’s dating the gangster, so expect a lot of parts similar to some scenes in the film! this has a ton of time skips (which i think are somehow essential for the fic lol), and this is my first time writing a long fic, so this could be fast-paced or something :’D bear with me in this fic pls i’m not sure if some of you all are fine with cliché content, i really tried to mirror the vibe of the movie at some point! i was thinking of posting this after the WHOLE fic is done but the 11k’s been sitting here for 6+ months (which is why the writing’s kinda shit plz), so here you go!

Lately, everything felt so unreal. And what did you do for the whole day? Pretend that the relationship you got yourself was nothing.

It’s working.

You feel the quick rush of the wind on your face. “Were you not kidding when you texted me? Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” Dahyun ran to you to bombard you with questions about a piece of particular news you just shared with her. You let the word spread before telling your friends about it after they heard such an unexpected update about you.

“Keep it quiet. I’ll tell you all about it if you keep your voice down,” you quickly covered the mouth of the girl in front of you. After that rough move, you dragged her to the seat beside you and fixed her messy hair.

“There you go,” you tried to smile. Dahyun looks… not that bad. “Alright, I’m not! We’re just doing this for his ex. And it’s been just a few days, Dahyun! I don’t want everybody to know right away.”

Dahyun snorted, moving her head away from you. Her assumptions were correct. There was no way that you’d date Lee Minho. You’re “out of his league”, and you two are secretly enemies.

Not only does he tease you every second, but almost every class is also a competition. You’ll never forget how he was petty over the fact that he got a perfect score in the machine project first just because he scheduled his demo earlier than you. You could’ve rejoiced since the two of you were the only ones who got a perfect score in your class, but no. Minho decided to use his bragging rights because of that demo appointment unnecessarily. You were too nervous to demo right after the deadline; that was it!

When you stepped into the computer lab earlier this morning, you immediately heard your classmates close to Minho talking about your relationship. They’re right, though. Who would date a new person just a few days after he and his ex broke up? You’re right. It’s Minho—he gave out that kind of vibe.

Sighing and shaking your head, you cross your arms. “You need time to process and laugh over that, Kim? He’s an annoying ass. Who would fall for him?” You know that anybody would. That dude’s not only smart but also attractive: a consistent dean’s lister, a volleyball varsity player, and a nice guy. You’re the only person he’s not friendly to.

“Anybody would. Minho is a pretty cool guy,” someone joined in your conversation. That was the only answer, as expected.

Chaeyoung gets a chair from your other side and places it in front of you and Dahyun. “I heard it, by the way, _____. Dahyun told me. Minho choosing you just to get his ex back totally makes sense. You hate him, and he hates you. Hell, even his ex hates you! That woman would take him back in a flash if she sees you with him.”

You recall the last encounter you had before confirming the relationship. You snort, “The funny thing is that that was not how he approached me and told me his problem.”

“Both of you avoid each other like the plague. Yeah, Minho would never ask you to fake date him all of a sudden—” Dahyun cut her off by hitting her arm. Chaeyoung groans, holding her arm tight. “Just tell us!”

I’m really sorry.

Is this the person who accidentally bumped you yesterday? You had to go home with a coffee stain on your white shirt. It might be him because you have no idea who he was, and you’re sure you don’t have his number.

I still love you.

“You just received a message, right? Why is that person flooding you right when you’re in class?” Yeji moves her seat closer to you, peeking at the phone in your hands. “You gotta hurry, though. You know our professor wants some peace in group activities.”

I miss you so much.

Who even is this?

In case you lost my number, it’s 09*********.

“_____, do you mind turning your phone off, even just for an hour?”

I know that you’re really happy with him, but I want to see you.

Shit, your professor’s glaring at you. Yeji takes your phone and does the work. “Just power off!”

Unconsciously scratching your head, you apologize, “I’m so sorry, Ma’am. That was a lot of spam messages.”

“Learn how to mute your phone next time.” You nodded right away and said yes. Oh, you’re so done. You’re the teacher’s pet in this class; you might’ve lost it because of these messages.

What’s weird is that it goes on even the next few days after. You still receive messages. While in the canteen, you lightly monitor the phone in front of you as you work on assignments. The truth is, you’re looking after every message and call made by this person. Even if you muted this number, you wonder if they will stop soon.

“I don’t understand that. What the hell is that?”

“That’s called math, you dumbass!”

“Sorry! I’m not in a computer-related degree like _____!”

“So am I, Chaeyoung!”

Grunting, you go back to flipping the notes in your notebook. You are already not in the mood to look at the messages and calls from your phone right now. The deadline for this assignment is less than an hour, and you’re unfortunately procrastinating.

The phone rings loudly, mixing with the noise made by your surroundings. The stoves from every stall sizzle very loud, the laughs students can’t hold in, and utensils and plates are clacking here and there. It was too overwhelming until you just wanted to get out of here. But you have got to eat, you still have two more classes later, and you’ll have no time to eat.

As your phone's ringing ends, it returns just a minute later. This cycle has repeatedly happened for the past twenty minutes, and you don’t give a damn about it now.

You quickly look at the surrounding people. The table at the center of the room was Minho and his friends. Felix and Chan are members of the volleyball varsity. From what you know, they’re the only close friends Minho has in computer science. His other friends, like Seungmin, Changbin, and Jisung, are taking different degrees, and you are coincidentally friends with them too. That’s all because of Yeji.

Minho, Chan, and Felix are the popular ones. Being a varsity team member equals a big following from the student population. The yearly championships are like a tradition; everybody attends that every year. So, as expected, they’ll sincerely support their alma mater’s team.

You admit that they’re very skilled players. Minho’s the best at serving, Felix can receive the ball right away with his speed, and Chan can block so well because of how high he can jump. In conclusion, the team’s weak without them.

You felt a hand on your shoulder and looked at your side immediately. “Are you aware that you’ve been staring at Minho and his friends? And Minho’s looking back at you? With a phone in his hand?”

Widening your eyes, you pretend to be working on your assignment again. Hopefully, none of them will bother you. More like you hope Minho will not bother you. Chan and Felix are not menacing, like Minho.

You’re getting out of here. You ate your meal anyway, and all you have left is your assignment. Just go to the library as if nothing happened, and you can avoid Lee Minho for the rest of the day.

Packing up your things, you tell your friends that you’re leaving. “What? _____, don’t leave us here!”

“Dahyun, I feel embarrassed. I don’t want him to come here and make fun of me. He’s going to be egoistic all over again. I’ll just go to the library so nobody can ruin my day.”

As you quickly get out of the canteen and walk down the hallways, you feel a pull on your arm. “What are you doing—”

“Are you seriously playing with me right now?

Minho gets to scroll down your call history and all the messages he sent. Breathing loudly through his nose and clenching his teeth, he asks you another question, cornering you between the lockers and the wall. “Are you playing with me right now so I could look stupid?”

Unable to form a coherent answer, you try to speak whatever you can say, which is nothing. “Uh, well, you know, I really—”

His soft lips cut you off, leaving you widening your eyes for the nth time today.

“He kissed you?”

“Don’t tell me that’s real.”

You thrash around in your seat. “Let me continue!”

Still confused over the sudden turn of events, all you did was move your arms around in your place. Unfortunately, you can’t even take a step or stand tall because Minho still caged you in his arms.

His head moves to ask you near your ear, “Where is she?”

You don’t answer his question and push him off. The more you pushed him, the more he kept you in his arms. You do not know how weird this feels. He does not have any idea what personal space is. You try to complain louder; all he does is cover your mouth. You want to scream at his face, but you end up sounding muffled to him.

“Answer me, _____. And I’ll let you go,” he slowly moves his hand from your mouth.

“Do you mind telling me who’s that she first?”

Rolling his eyes, he finally steps away from you just a little. “My ex, Ara, of course. Who else would I mention?”

“I don’t know, a classmate or something? But yeah, Ara passed by earlier. She’s gone now.”

Heaven finally hearing your prayers, Minho lets go of you and steps away. You clear your throat. “Thank you. It was suffocating there in the corner.”

You thought he was going to leave you there already. You thought you could go to the library in peace after encountering the worst situation in mind. The worst of the worst came to you at this moment.

“From now on, we’re in a relationship—”

You step forward and raise your hand. “Who says we can be in a relationship?”

Minho tilts his head and smiles. “Why don’t you let me finish first before you react? We will do this to make Ara jealous and get her back. We’ll just pretend.”

This teasing asshole strikes again. You shake your head. “Why me? You could’ve picked someone better.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re the perfect fit. Remember this?” He shows you your phone in his hands. “You played me. Getting into this fake relationship is your way of paying me back.”

Minho hands you back your phone in your hands. Before leaving, he greets you with his classic smirk, making your blood boil. “See you around, love!”

“Chaeyoung, please tell me that _____ is hallucinating.”

Groaning, you shook her shoulders. “It’s real, Dahyun! He even introduced himself to my family earlier this morning already.”

Chaeyoung snickers. “This whole fake relationship sounds like torture.”

Your relationship barely started, and it’s not what you wanted. Even if some part of you liked this so you could see annoying Ara’s face, you know there will be regrets in involving yourself. Not only were students gossiping about you, but Minho’s friends also started teasing you. Felix is a sweetheart, but he had the guts to bug you about your relationship in your last class. Before you left the canteen alone, you found Jisung and Changbin asking you how your fling with Minho was, and you just pushed them away. You wanted none of this.

You take a bite of your sandwich. “Yeah, it is. I hope I get to see Ara pissed off at me so she can take Minho back, and I’ll be over with this deal.”

“Praying that Minho doesn’t treat you like shit, as usual. Maybe a teeny-tiny nicer than he normally is with you,” Dahyun steals the sandwich in your hands and takes a bite. “He is your boyfriend, after all. He must treat you well.”

“You have a distorted view of a couple. This relationship is not a one-sided thing. I, unfortunately, have to be friendly with Minho too, which is irritating.” You get your sandwich back, take a bite, and return it to Dahyun. “It’s all yours.”

You’ll have your next class in less than 30 minutes. Coming to class last minute is stressful sometimes, considering that you’ll do not know how long you can arrive at your classroom. There will be a crowd of students in the halls, especially when classes start again, like what will happen later.

“I’ll go now. The building’s two blocks from here,” you grab your bag and recheck your two friends. “I’ll be fine with him, don’t worry! Don’t give me those sad faces!” You pat both of their heads and push back your chair to the table. “I’ll be fine. I’m used to that.”

Walking past many people in the hallways, you felt more space around you as… Minho’s friends surrounded you? Your first few days with him were not like this.

“What are you guys doing here? Aren’t some of you supposed to be in the other building?” You looked around, seeing all of them walking near you.

Chan was the first to speak. “Honestly, we have no place to speak about this, _____.”

The one and only Lee Minho greeted you, who walked quickly to your side. “From now on, you’re not going to class alone.”

Not sure if he was joking, but you spoke your mind. “I can do this on my own, and I don’t need you guys joining me here.”

Before you argue more about it, Minho hands you a t-shirt. “Wear this.”

You look at your outfit for the day. “Does this shirt look that bad to you?”

Minho doesn’t answer your question, so you bombard him with more questions to get him on his nerves and say something. “Don’t I look nice? Isn’t this decent enough for me to stand beside you? Does this not fit your standards?”

Minho presses his lips and asks. “Do you want me to put that shirt on you?”

His friends around you stopped and let out some oohs. You sighed. You knew this was a bad idea.

“Change,” Minho moves his head toward the comfort room, “I’ll be waiting.”

You came out with a t-shirt with a large heart in the center. It has additional details like stitches, making the heart look like it was sewn. This shirt, in particular, is not your style, but this would suffice. “Do I look better now?”

Minho takes off his sweater and reveals a matching shirt. Oh, so that’s what he’s aiming for today. Couple t-shirts, cute, I guess? Impressed enough, you smiled at him. He smiles and gives you his hand, silently asking you to hold it with yours.

Walking around, hands tied still, with his friends, you saw Ara and her friend walking towards you. Now, this made more sense. The couple t-shirts were your first stunt to make Ara jealous.

“Didn’t work, Minho. It looks like Ara’s not affected by it,” you hear Seungmin behind you.

“That’s fine. It’s still the first,” Minho stops, leaving the rest of the group to stop. “I’ll leave it here. I’ll take them somewhere. You guys can do your own thing now.”

“Good luck, bro,” Jisung says, offering Minho a fistbump. He looks at you and whispers, “You can do it. He’s tolerable enough without us too.”

“I heard that!” Minho attempts to pinch Jisung. Hearing a loud screech from Jisung, you step away from the small scene. Jisung was pulled by Changbin, dragging him away from both of you.

Once Jisung is out of the picture, Minho faces you. He doesn’t have any idea where to take you since he only thought of the couple t-shirts to show it off to his ex. A part of him feels bad about dragging you into this short stunt.

“I know where to take you.”

In the sports building, obviously. You both bought some taho on the way, though. More like, Minho paid for both of your taho, which was surprising.

“You know how to play table tennis?” He asks as he drags you to a room.

“Nope, I hope you wouldn’t judge,” you tell him, trying to grip the paddle properly.

Minho was going to comment about it, but he stopped himself right away and understood you. “All good. That’s fine with me. I can teach you.”

It felt like your eyes were sparkling out of wonder. You immediately look at Minho and ask, “Really? You’re willing to?”

He genuinely smiles at you and answers, “Yeah, I’m willing. No worries, I think you’ll get the hang of this right away.”

“Which is easier, table tennis or volleyball?” You hand him the paddle in your hand. “You’re pretty good with anything at this point.”

Minho felt his body tense on the spot. That was the first time you said something nice to him. He’s used to bickering with you. Were you serious about this too? It seemed like you were being nice to him for real this time.

He knows you’re a good person. This whole enemy and competitor thing happened between you, resulting in you excluding him from your people-to-be-nice-with list. He has seen you with other people, and you’re usually like how you behaved just a while ago.

He’s glad enough that you could let your guard down around him for once. Maybe he’ll treasure this even if it was too early. He knows you’ll be back to arguing soon.

“Uh, it depends, really. I’m more used to volleyball, though. I just play table tennis for fun since I hang around here in the sports building quite a lot,” he awkwardly gets the paddle from your hand. With a scratch on his head, he reminds himself of his manners. “Thanks, though. I’m not an expert at everything. I just like trying out new things.”

“We must be the same, then!” You hold the ball, playing it with your hand. “You know, I grew up people saying I’m smart at everything,” you look at him.

Minho agrees. He notices that you’re brilliant about a lot of things. You’re a dean’s lister like him. Sometimes, he thinks you’re one of the best out there. He just doesn’t confess about that. “You in computer science say a lot about that. You’re intelligent.”

You laugh, memories flooding back in your head when you hear Minho mention your degree. “Did you know how stupid I felt when I failed my first programming course? Maybe I blame my professor for that. But when I discovered I got a failing grade, I asked myself for days if computer science was for me.”

Snorting, you shake your head. “As expected, I had to take it the next semester, and there we go! I did very well! I passed, and I enjoyed programming. And yeah, I got the same score as you on our machine project in discrete mathematics.” You hand him the ball. You felt a little better that you brought that out now. Your friends never understood how hard it was for you since they’re not in the same degree as you.

“I realized I’ll do great if I have to work my ass off twice as much as I usually do. It sucks, but it’s fulfilling to know that I’m doing fine.” You look at Minho. “I’m still surprised that I’m still a part of the dean’s list. The last time I heard, I almost slipped off the list.”

“I’m not good at consoling, _____, but I know you’re doing great, whether you fail, pass, or get on the list.” You hear Minho mutter your name, “I know it was hard for you. You said all of it. But I hope you don’t use it to bring yourself down.”

Minho gently places the paddle on the table and gets the ball from your palm. He faces you, leaning on his side on the table. “You’re outstanding. Don’t think that you’re not that good compared to me. I also went through a lot to get into that volleyball team. All of us really have to deal with rough shit before getting up there.”

You chuckle. “You’re right, sorry. I made it sound like it’s all about me—”

“No worries, I totally get you anyway,” he pats your back and smirks. “I know it feels nice to dump your problems sometimes.”

Gasping, you lightly push him. You get to hear his laugh. “I did not intend to dump all of it, Lee! I said I’m sorry already!”

You see Minho change his behavior, returning to his usual, insufferable self. He blinks multiple times, fixes his shirt, gets the paddle again, and playfully waves it on your face. “Shall we?”

You nod. Minho nods back and walks to your back. He gets your hand from behind and helps you grip the paddle properly. “You can hold the paddle like that. Don’t hold it like you’re going to murder somebody.”

“Does it look like I can murder you with this paddle, Minho?” You look at him, raising your eyebrows.

He grips your hand tightly, making you groan. “Yes, I know you can, which is why I’m teaching you the right way how to hold it.”

Minho’s aware of the presence of Ara in the room. It was why his demeanor changed right away. “She’s there again, by the way. Let’s look decent for a bit.”

“Yes, sir, on it.” You look at your hand with the paddle. It feels weird because it’s your first time playing this sport. Minho lets go of you confusingly and walks away.

Minho returns to your side with the other paddle and a ball. As Minho explains how to serve the ball, you focus on Ara. You hope that she’ll see this whole thing.

“Are you even listening?”

You look back at him, his face filled with annoyance, “Yes—well, no. Ara saw us!” You see Ara and her friends leaving suddenly, “And now, she’s gone. Why is she leaving right away every time we're together?”

He sighs. “She might’ve seen how dramatic you are every time you’re with me. It’s great.”

Before you get to defend yourself, you see Minho leaving you as well. “Dang, Minho’s right. It must be a me problem.” You get your things and chase Minho. “Don’t leave me, Lee! What the hell? You brought me here, and you’re just going to get out of here on your own?”

You tried to find Minho, but he’s really gone. Slowly walking through the tiny sidewalk, you attempt to see if Minho’s still nearby. And as expected, he’s nowhere to be seen.

Mindlessly walking, you plug in your earphones and listen to music on your way home. The music was a great way to make your life less boring. Your life has been full of adventures; the music made it more entertaining. Who knew getting a fake boyfriend was a part of your story, anyway? It could’ve been more. You get to enjoy your non-curricular activities, like being in organizations. Unfortunately, you temporarily abandoned your book club for this relationship. You could’ve recommended books to first-year students! You could’ve exchanged books with your friends and read them overnight!

You move the papers and folders under your arm to check the time on your phone, 7:05 PM. Great, you’ll have less time to review for your exams later. You could’ve gotten a tricycle ride to get home quicker, but the terminal’s a few minutes from where you are. Groaning, you carelessly walk and grumble over your cravings for pancit canton—the chilimansi one, to be specific.

The louder you talked to yourself about how desperate you were to get home and get things done, the more people behind you knew what to do.

You shrieked at the sudden noise coming from your back. Everything was so fast; you didn’t know a bunch of those mean and nasty students honked their car and almost ran it over you intentionally, dropping all of your things out of shock.

Several kids shouted from the car, “Sorry!” And all of them laughed. If only they were out of the vehicle, you could’ve charged them and punched all of their faces. That would be no regret, even if you were never the type to fight people. They deserve it for being assholes.

Bending down, you try to chase for the papers, lightly flying above the road. They almost crashed a human being and drove recklessly. Why are there no police officers here?

“Didn’t those people skip GMRC or homeroom classes when they were young?”

You have no idea who that was, but you agree. That must be a stranger passing by, not caring about what happened to you. “Yeah, they probably skipped. Not surprised, though. There’ll always be people like them.”

You heard some sounds nearby while picking up all of your notes. Unexpectedly, you see a person getting your papers on the sidewalk across from you. Was this guy the one who just talked to you?

“You’re right. But that doesn’t mean you’ll let them roam around like that. Here you go.” The person hands you the rest of the papers you couldn’t catch earlier. After thanking him. He introduces himself to you, “I’m Hyunjin.”

You have never heard his name yet. You’re acquainted with many students because of connections, but you probably haven’t met this one. It’s not wrong to meet a new person. Meeting a new friend after an unexpected accident like this was funny enough to think that you must be friends with Hyunjin. “Hey, Hyunjin. I’m _____. Nice to meet you in this way,” you chuckled.

He’s a transferee, perhaps?

He grins, “Oh, no worries. I have nothing to do, and I’m also on my way home, anyway. Is your place nearby?”

When Hyunjin saw your mouth fall open and rock your feet in place, he knew you still had a long way to go. “Want to grab some dinner first? Let’s eat pares, my treat.”

None of you know that those students who sped past you were watching nearby. Unfortunately, they have a plan against you.

Are you really up for volleyball class this early? No.

This sport shouldn’t sound complicated since you’ve played this before in high school. Frankly, you’re not the worst player out there. You could be very useful for an actual volleyball team, according to several varsity team members who were your classmates.

Have you told your boyfriend who excels in this specific sport? No.

You’re nothing compared to him in volleyball, you just know. If you mention this to him, he might ask you to play with him on the spot, and you know it’ll end up in the loser treating the winner. That’s how he competes with his teammates in training, according to Felix. You don’t want to go home physically exhausted and suffering financially.

Well, you’re a little rusty in volleyball since it has been years since you properly played this. So, you might need extra warm-ups and practices for this friend.

Setting the ball for a few rounds now, you wouldn’t say you’re that bad for starters. You’re underestimating yourself. This progress is pretty good for someone who’s a newbie or needs a refresher. Okay, maybe, you can brag about this to Minho a little bit.

It was fun and all, until someone threw the ball in a different direction—directly on your head. Why is existing more challenging now when you got Minho with you? Peace is non-existent in your fate.

“How ambitious of you!”

Automatically falling into a face of confusion, your search for the voice leads to a familiar face—that girl in the car a few nights ago.

Let’s be honest. Self-defense is your biggest weakness. You never taught yourself to fight for yourself in situations as immediately intense as this, since you always want no harm. If this was a verbal argument, maybe you still had the guts to fight back. But this involves physical damage.

Before you get to fend for yourself, the girl and the rest of the group throw all the volleyballs at you, leaving you a pained mess on the floor. This is you against a group. You immediately knew you’d lose in this battle. Not only were you thrown with actual objects, but they also threw unnecessary words at you.

“You’re such a gold digger!”

“You’re from nowhere! How did you get them?”

“Two-timer, are we getting a little flirty?”

When you knew this was about Minho and Hyunjin (who should be innocent in this case), you had to get out of here. You’re assuming their next move will harass you with their own hands based on how they move. Groaning, you get up and grab your bags from the bleachers.

One of them shouts, “Where do you think you’re going?”

You look behind and see the girl chase you until you leave the building. She stops before heading back inside. “Wake up, _____! You and Minho are not compatible!”

Same place, same people. The same road where nothing was by your side. The same street where you were so helpless. All you wanted was the life you had a week ago. How did you get into this torturous cycle of people getting jealous of bagging one of the biggest stars of the university?

That was pure evil. Why are they this mean towards you? Maybe all you want is to go back to your dorm, sulk and cry with some ice cream. Hopefully, the world will be better one tear at a time.

Another honking sound surprised you, reminding you of last night's turn of events. Irritated by the sound, you asked nobody and continued walking, “Why do drivers like to surprise people with that?”

The car behind you stops. “And that’s because I’m here to really surprise you with—wait, _____, are you crying?”

Minho gets out of the car and chases you to greet you with a hug. “What happened?”

Melting into his embrace, you hummed on his chest, sobbing more than before. This is officially your first time breaking down in front of him, and it’s all because of him. “Nothing really. Can you just take me to my dorm and—”

Minho smoothly rubs your back, “Don’t hide it from me. I know this is all pretend, but don’t be afraid to share it with me if you like. I’m all ears, _____.”

That might’ve made you cry even more. Why is he so nice again? You know he’ll switch back to his usual self later on. Are you falling for this trap? Are you sure he is genuinely willing to listen to your rant about jealous students? Will that be a sensible conversation with him?

“It will sound so petty, Minho. This is nothing I’m telling you—”

He gently holds your head, ensuring you keep eye contact with him. “_____, let’s be serious here. Is it petty if you’re a crying mess like this?”

Shaking your head, you mumble no multiple times, bringing you back to tears. Minho brings you back to his arms, crossing them around you in the right fit, not too tight and not too loose. His scent was so comforting—lavender and baby powder. He smelled so pure and clean. “Do you still want to return to your dorm?” He asked you softly, hearing a small yes as an answer.

What are you doing to him? Barely two weeks into this fake relationship, and he’s willing enough to soften his heart already. He will stick with you, making sure that you did the stunts, and you got to treat each other as actual significant others. But wasn’t he like this with Ara, too? Didn’t he open up to her right away? Maybe he’ll just see what’s going to happen next. Give you both a few more weeks before facing the growing tingling feeling on his chest. You’re not that bad after all; indeed, you’re better than you seem. He’s up with making you his actual friend. He’s aware that he’s guarding his heart sometimes, knowing he grows attachments immediately. Maybe after a few more stunts, he’ll get Ara back and get to know you more.

Minho reaches for your hand on the side, pulling you to the car. “I should’ve stayed by your side on our last visit to the sports building. I’m really sorry.”

He didn’t break his promise of staying by your side until that night. Maybe it was because of the feeling that he couldn’t do the stunt with you properly, or he wasn’t in the right mind. When he left you in the sports building, he thought you were behind him all this time until when he got into his car. He even tried to find you in the building, going through the floor by floor, until you messaged you were back in your dorm already, stomach full. Out of pure concern, he was relieved that you were safe. He knows that both his and your parents will kill him if he loses you.

And now, he arrived slightly late. He could’ve prevented the still-unknown problem that left you gripping his shirt tightly and sobbing heavily on his shoulder. Better late than never, he thought. He knows how to deal with this. He lost Ara somewhere when they were together. Ara’s phone was dead, and Minho searched for her from night until the day. In the end, he got scolded by Ara’s father in front of their house. He doesn’t want that to happen to anybody again, and he hated he left someone—you—after that.

“It’s fine, Minho. You don’t have to apologize. I should have protected myself,” you told him, getting into the passenger seat of his car and buckling your seatbelt.

After Minho got into the car again and started the engine, he curiously asked, “What happened there? Who are they to make you cry a river like that?”

“Why did you cry?” Minho glances at you, steering the car. “I just want to know so I can help you somehow. I don’t want to see your puffy face cry that much.”

Sighing, you lean back in your seat. Do you really have to tell Minho now? You’d rather keep this one. You don’t want him teasing you all over again. “You have to ask me right now?”

“Yeah, well, if it’s fine with you,” he eyes the car's rear mirror, “because if you’re not ready to tell me, I can wait.”

You thank the heavens that he has patience within him. Maybe you can do it once you’re back in your dorm? Saying it here and now might be a little overwhelming, for you are still recovering from whatever happened earlier. If you recall all of it, you might burst into tears just to explain it to Minho for the nth time.

When you arrive at your building, you bring Minho to your dorm room when you come to your building. No one’s in your place. Yeji probably hung out with some of her friends today. “Home, sweet home, I guess?”

On the left, a kitchen countertop matches the color of the walls, white. The bathroom’s already on the right, with a door open, displaying the simple sink and mirror. And further back to the dorm are your beds and study spaces. The room isn’t that cramped for everything you need, luckily. Your beds were on one side, and your tables and shelves were across them.

The first thing you did after closing the door was drop your lumpiang togue on your table. Minho was compassionate enough once again to treat you to some food.

He scans the whole market for anything you can eat quickly. Glancing at you, he asks, “You like lumpiang togue?”

Did he just read your mind? How did he know your love for lumpiang togue?

“Yeah, I like them,” you softly answer, fiddling the sleeves of your white t-shirt, which you wore earlier this morning for volleyball class. You haven’t changed your attire, also still wearing your rubber shoes and navy jogging pants.

Minho sighs. “Great, that’s what I can afford for now. I left the rest of my money in my place.” He finds some bills in his pockets. He was planning to take you to his dorm since Seungmin visited his family. But the whole you-crying-on-the-streets happened, so he had a change of plan, making you feel better. Seriously, it’s not his strength, but he’s willing to try.

You hold his wrist, stopping him from reaching for any money, “I can pay. I have some money with me.” Minho stiffens, and you try to get your wallet from your backpack, mumbling, “You probably brought anything barely to buy here. I’ll just take it from here.”

He was persistent in treating you today. He had to do it. He wanted to do it. Shaking his head, he’s now the one who’ll reach for your wrist. “No, _____. I’ll pay. You can keep your money.”

Looking at his face, you feel hesitant to let this slide. You think it’s because of the lack of money in his pockets, and he’s really trying hard to be the perfect (fake) boyfriend he is. But the problem is that you only hear some clinking sound from his pockets, implying that he probably has mostly coins. And he might just fight you back if you don’t surrender. Maybe he’s really striving to treat you again.

You clear your throat. “Yeah, sure, go on. If you really want to, then. I’ll just do it the next time we eat outside.”

Perhaps Minho only heard the last few words. I’ll just do it the next time we eat outside. Are you implying that you guys will go out again for food? With this setup you have, Minho was not sure if there’ll be a next time for everything. It’s unclear to assume how long you will continue this. Even if it has been a week, Ara could take him back tomorrow or the other day.

This could be the last time you can eat together. Why did he feel a little heartbroken over this thought? Is it because he got to see more of your softer side? Is it because of this little friendship you were progressively growing that is still as small as a seed? Maybe he wasn’t ready to go back to the usual bickering both of you do. He genuinely enjoyed your fun and calmer side. In the first few days, you got to go around the campus hand in hand. It was initially awkward. Both of your hands were sweating. But he enjoyed your presence, regardless. You got to treat each other decently in classes, picking each other immediately as partners in some projects. Why is he overthinking about you too many times now? He’ll miss this. It’s been a week, and he might’ve not regretted picking you. It could’ve been worse if he had got someone senselessly crazy over him.

On your side, though, you’re taking this whole fake relationship lightly. Yes, you got to see an angelic Minho with a halo on his head rather than those red horns. You’ve seen his side of being intelligent and humble. From your time together working on some papers, you’ve seen how hardworking he is. Well, he is hardworking, but his tremendous pride overshadows it. Working with him wasn’t so bad. If you ever get to pick a partner after this fake relationship, you might genuinely pick him over some of your friends. You appreciated his taste on the first few dates you had. He wasn’t the fancy type, even if he looked like a person who thought highly of himself. Your time in the park wasn’t so bad. You enjoyed the messy conversation with some ice cream. You also enjoyed your time in the mall. He was the type to window shop than splurge. You were going to tease him about being broke, but he was letting his guard down for a few minutes, so you appreciated the small moment of peace between the two of you.

Nodding, he steps forward to buy on the stall in front of you.

Leaning your back on the table beside him, you ask, “Have anything to say about my place?” Deep inside, you know he will lightly tease you about your dorm. It’s been looking too dull, considering the only prominent color: white. You could visit some of your friend’s places, and their homes and rooms were full of color. You got to see Dahyun’s place, and her room’s walls painted a beautiful shade of sky blue. Chaeyoung’s dorm has an incredible combination of brown and black, giving her space a vintage vibe that suits her style. Some of your other classmates’ rooms had rooms in bright colors like pink, violet, or dandelion, which you admit are very pleasing colors. “Does it look too boring? I was trying to convince Yeji to change this whole place again. White’s not clicking with me anymore.”

Minho looked around once again. He displays an unreadable expression, which makes you feel uncertain. “I guess it is boring. I knew it.” Minho waves his hands. “No! I actually like it. It feels very peaceful,” he sighs. “I think it shows a lot about who you are.”

“So you’re telling me I’m boring?”

Groaning, he explains to you once again. “It’s a nice color for a dorm. It’s not boring. You’re very pure and sincere, like the color white. Even if we spat the most unnecessary words at each other, you’re pretty honest and genuine in what you say. I don’t mean this badly, but you’re sensitive. Sensitive in a way that you easily pull yourself into emotions, you feel quite a lot, from what I noticed. You’re not that numb, and I like it. White’s not that blank in my own eyes.”

That was… wonderful. Minho got a point once again. He’s not like you, who quickly rambles a lot. He makes sure he says everything with his actual intentions straightforwardly. You liked how he mentioned your bickering; it made you laugh for the first time in a while. It was nice to hear that from Minho for another time. “Thanks, maybe the color’s not so bad after all. I appreciate the words.”

“You’re getting shy, aren’t you?” You pulled out your handkerchief from your pocket and tossed it to his face. “Shut up! I don’t get those kinds of words a lot. Being sensitive is a bad thing for some, but I appreciate how you made it sound nice—something in your voice that told me in my head that it’s alright to feel things with so much impact,” you grin, “so, don’t be surprised that I’ll cry over something again in the next few days. We still have the articulation paper! We should get it done! I’ll cry for real if we procrastinate it!”

Minho laughs. “Want to start it tomorrow? After my training in the morning?” It took you a few seconds to answer him because… he laughed! That was a very genuine laugh, and it sounded so lovely. It suits him so much. If only you heard that every day, that’d be better than the fuss both of you make every time. When he scratches his head nervously, you answer, “I’m not that busy for the next few days, so I’m up for that! Maybe I can take you out for coffee if you’re into that?”

You have no idea how Minho loved the word coffee. He drinks coffee every day, almost like his water, so he might’ve been the happiest person ever when he heard that you’d treat his coffee. “I am in love with coffee, so you don’t have to ask, _____,” he smiles. “Great, now that we’ll have coffee tomorrow, I’m sure we’ll finish our paper just fine. Trust me.”

The next few days with Minho were relaxing, much to your surprise. You joined each other’s agendas, including Minho’s training sessions for the incoming volleyball championships. You opened up to him about what happened to you in the sports building, resulting in him getting outrageous on the spur of the moment.

Minho tries to ask calmly after taking a sip of his beloved coffee, “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” He knew you wanted to recover from what happened emotionally, but he didn’t think you had to recover from that, right?

“I wanted to forget about it for a while, Minho. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my time feeling miserable because of your fans crossing the line,” you answer, taking a bite of Minho’s cheesecake.

Before getting another bite, Minho reaches for your hand, removing the fork. He points the utensil at you, “_____, you just said they crossed the line. Don’t you think you should’ve told me right away still, and we could’ve done something about it?”

“I’m too nice to report it to the office, Minho,” your other hand reaches for his. “I know it’s a problem, but I’m seriously going to let this go. I know I cried over it, but this is not the worst thing I cried over. Maybe knocking some sense to themselves will make them more realistic that you’re not going to pick them.”

Snorting, he laughs and leans back in his seat. “Did you think I’m going to pick them over you?” He was misinterpreting it! You didn’t mean it that way. “Hey! You wouldn’t pick them in general because of how they acted, right? They were violent. Do you want a significant other like that?”

You pulled your hands away from him and stood from your seat. “You—” He cuts you off by holding your hands again, rushing over to the seat beside you, and gently pushing you back on your chair. “Get off of me! You’re twisting my words again!” All he did in response was laugh and hold you loosely. At least he didn’t grip your hands that tight.

“I get you. I get you. Don’t worry! I’m teasing you with good intentions!” He continues to laugh and move his things near you, returning to your side. “Sorry, really, but I understood what you meant. I would rather not have somebody who attacks people with volleyballs.”

Speaking of volleyballs, he remembered one of the things you said while you recalled the whole incident to him. “You said you were setting the volleyball? Didn’t you guys just start learning volleyball? How could you set the ball on your own properly without anybody monitoring? You could’ve squished your head with the volleyball—”

You shushed him, whispering a secret you thought you’d keep from him. “I know how volleyball works, okay? Unlike my other classmates who had no idea how to receive a volleyball, I’ve done it before. But it doesn’t mean I am a professional at it!”

He’d seen you stick your face with books and papers. But you… as an athlete? That’s something new. He never saw you as a type to engage with sports. “And you said I was good at many things, huh? You can also play volleyball! Why don’t you try out for the team too? I know you’ll do great there too!”

Slumping on your seat, you shudder. Minho’s convincing you with something good now, and it doesn’t fit your plans well. “Never saw myself dedicating my life to sports. Even if I say I’m not that bad, I don’t have any plan to spend a lot of time training.”

“I bet you can serve the ball very well like me. Your hand’s so heavy every time you push my head away—okay, I’ll stop!” Minho playfully glares at you. You did push his head away again. Laughing, you tell him, “Stop being so cocky, MVP! We all know you’re good with the sport!” Minho gasps, placing his hand on his chest. “Is _____ really acknowledging my skill in volleyball? That’s such an honor!” He repeatedly bows to you, “Thank you very much, _____. I value your kind words!”

Chuckling, you stop him from bowing, holding onto his built body, “Yeah, whatever, Lee. I just watched you train earlier this morning. You were pretty good.”

And now, you’re back to where it all began, the sports building. You’re facing the same people who had the guts to hurt you. The news of this group expressing their jealousy through volleyballs didn’t go well for Minho’s friends. They had them kneeling on the ground. A crowd surrounded you, implying that many knew about what happened.

Minho is beside you, snaking his arm around yours. “Do you have anything to say to _____?”

Minho and his friends set this whole thing up? Did they plan this right after you told him what happened?

“None of you are answering,” Changbin shouts, “Say something!” Jisung joins, playing with a volleyball in his hand and giving another to Changbin, “Quickly! Say sorry!”

Oh, these guys are taking it seriously. You did not know this duo could be louder than they could have ever been, and it scares you a little. They’ve been happy and fun most of the time. Their faces scream terror.

The group mumbled sorry a few times, making Minho puzzled at how quiet and short they apologized. “Doesn’t sound sincere to me, right, boys?” His friends agreed, telling the kneeled they should apologize genuinely.

Changbin and Jisung handed the volleyballs to Minho and passed them to you. “Nobody should hurt the person I love.”

Some of the boys, specifically Chan, Felix, and Jeongin, squealed loudly, getting the attention of Ara nearby. Ara, unfortunately, heard all of it since all the boys’ voices were echoing in the room. She steps into the crowd and watches the whole scene. You, on the other hand, tried to control your feelings. If Minho said that on a typical day, you’d push his head away like you always do. He said this in front of people, many people. You can’t screw the stunt up.

“Hit them on the face, _____!”

“Go _____!”

And they were all chanting your name. Did you want revenge? No. Do you feel these people should learn their lesson by publicly embarrassing them? No. Do they deserve to get harmed the same way as you did? No. You were truly too nice to treat them like this. Even if you were like royalty to Minho and his friends, you’d rather stay back and let things flow like how they’re supposed to. It already happened, and you’d rather keep things that way. You’re sure you don’t want them to go home with bruises. Shaming them wasn’t the way to go for you.

The group assumed you would hit them, so they covered their heads with their arms and whimpered. Minho’s friends still chanted your name to support the payback until you dropped the volleyballs from your hands. Smiling, you didn’t give in and got out of the room by pulling Minho away to the entrance of the building. Minho holds your hand after closing the door for you.

He stops you from walking down the building’s steps. “You really are too nice for this, _____. I wanted to do something in return for what happened to you.”

Lightly removing his hand from your arms, you roll your eyes. “You mean to bring them back there with volleyballs again for vengeance? Of course not, Minho. It’s so wrong to hit them.” Proceeding with your short trip to his car, Minho follows you behind, not noticing your rolling eyes. “Yeah, keep that bad boy facade. That doesn’t work for me. We’re in a relationship in this deal. If I’m not tolerating violence, then so are you. Let them go, yeah?”

You completely forgot that Minho has the intimidating side that everybody fears. Nobody knows about it except those who’ve seen him retaliate. With those large hands and muscled arms, you knew he could throw a big punch. You’ve seen it. And you know he’s willing to do it if he needs it. Frankly, his throwing punches might be a little attractive to you—whoops.

“Yes, I’ll stop! I’ll stop for you!” Minho raises both arms to his sides, giving in to your request. He knows you mean well, and maybe he needs a little of a change. For the past few days, he hasn’t told you about this yet, but he felt guilty over his teasing of you and all the little competition he started between you two. He began to truly appreciate you, acknowledging that he now considers you his friend, not this weird enemy-slash-competitor like you were before. When his friends asked about you, he was comfortable enough to mention you without cringing by simply thinking about you as he did back then. Minho cared for your thoughts and feelings, only occasionally inserting the teasing when he felt he needed it, which is still all the time, minus the intention of making you push his head away. He doesn’t want to get headaches anymore.

You stay still, the tips of your fingers on his car’s door handle. Will Minho truly stop for you? Well, he has been honest with you for the whole time in this deal. Maybe he felt how uncertain you were about what you could’ve done to the group earlier? If yes, thank the heavens he did; you seriously didn’t want to hurt anybody. “Alright, then. Let’s just go somewhere else.”

“How about the seaside near the mall in the other city?” You blinked after he delicately pulled your hand once again from the door handle. All the touches that happened ruined you, making you feel butterflies every time. The hand-holding, too, was making you flustered every time now. Is it because you brought down the walls against each other now? Were you getting too comfortable about his affections? He might’ve done this to others without making them flustered.

Minho rose his brows at how unresponsive you were to his touch. He assumed you didn’t get that much sleep before fetching you earlier this morning. After all, you volunteered to proofread your paper before emailing it to your professor. Both of you were on a video call the whole night. Minho was sweet enough to watch you proofread the articulation paper as impressive as you two made. Waving his hand in front of your face, he expressed his confusion about your lack of action. “You good? Did you get to sleep well last night? You were staring at the ground.”

Shaking your head, you answer him right after you get out of your trance. “Yes, I’m fine. Yeah, maybe. I still got the sleep, but it wasn’t the best, to be honest.” You finally got into the car after Minho opened the door for you.

You yell through the window as Minho goes to the driver’s seat. “The seaside’s an excellent choice, by the way!” Minho smiles, satisfied with the idea he just made. He thought of taking you there for some fresh air after a lot of stress and work over the last few days. Dedicatedly working with you day and night made Minho realize how far you’re willing to go just to pass. No, you’re not doing everything just to pass; you wholeheartedly wanted to excel, and that’s what he liked about you. He remembers how you will not let his outline for the paper slide.

“Minho, we have to make this paper detailed. Based on your outline, our paper’s going to be vague. We wouldn’t be able to dig deep into our topic.” You underlined some parts in the outline he attempted to create. “If we have the chance to explain further, then take it. Let’s not take this lightly. The paper is a part of our major requirements for the class.”

Minho didn’t care about this class much since his degree’s technicalities weren’t there. There was no math and programming, so he cared little about his work. Not until you became his partner for this paper. Did he guess he’ll take this more seriously now that you’re with him?

He mumbled under his breath. “Felix wasn’t kidding when you take every requirement seriously.” You glance up at him, raising your eyebrow. “Felix told you? We were group mates in another class.”

Nodding, he peeks at the pad of paper you were writing on. He meekly answers, “Felix told me you were the leader, and he thought the position fits you. He told me you were ‘artistic’-ish since you always have many ideas in your head.”

“Seems like Felix dropped many things about me to you.” You chuckle. “Was that why you knew much about me before we got into this fake relationship?”

Since Felix is a good friend, you didn’t expect him to talk about you to Minho. Although, you didn’t expect that he’ll get into detail like that since both of you bond together during classes only. “You got to use them against me.” You mumbled, playfully rolling your eyes. “Thanks for all of the teasing, by the way. I still remember how you embarrassed me about how I messed up my report to my prof last year.”

Minho was going to apologize already since it was the right timing, but you cut him off showing what you wrote on his face. Not the right timing. “Here! I made the outline you made more specific! What do you think? Do you think our paper could be good with this flow?” He grabbed the paper and distanced it from him a little, squinting his eyes.

The outline you made was jaw-dropping for him. He was astounded by how comprehensive your outline was. He wasn’t in the right mind to create a good articulation paper right now with this hell of a topic, so it amazed him how you could plan the critical points necessary for the paper. “You do not know how good this is, _____. This is great!”

In Minho’s head, he declares that you’re one of the most intelligent group mates he has ever encountered. And he found you interesting at that moment—how was your mind this brilliant? Papers like this take him days. It’s not his field of interest, so it consumes a lot of his time. “I don’t even do outlines. This one’s thorough and very impressive. You even pointed out things here that I never thought of!” He uses his ballpen to show them to you, laughing out of wonder. “This is not even the paper, yet you’re surprising me for real.”

“Great! We’ll be on the road for a long time, so buckle up! We’re going to have a nice time!” Minho bashfully grins. That was so adorable. You cannot help but poke his cheek for that. There was something about the glint in his eyes and the bottomless energy spewing out of him. This is a different Minho, a very joyful one, to be exact. When you notice Minho’s ears turn red, you giggle, reaching for his cheek again to pinch. “Your ears are so red! So adorable!”

Minho scratches his head and moves it away, you out of his sight. His hand climbs up to his face, feeling the heat on his face. Smiling, he tries to keep the tension down. “Shut up. I’m just a little excited.” Laughing, you lightly push his shoulder. “And it’s adorable, Minho. I don’t see you get excited quite a lot.”

Grumbling, he pushes your head away, similar to what you usually do to him. With shouts of protest coming from your mouth, he shouts back nonsense to tease your way of resisting. “Why don’t you take a nap first, _____? We have around an hour to go before we arrive at the seaside. If traffic persists, maybe another hour stuck on the road.”

You surrender by slumping your shoulders. “That wouldn’t be so bad, I guess.” Minho smirks and slowly pushes your head to the window. “You spent the whole night worrying about our paper. Take a nap, please. Take this as a little favor from me.” Minho waves his hand up and down as a sign to close your eyes. You whine. “I’m doing a favor right now. Ask me one at a time,” you move around on your seat, getting comfortable, “but I might take that little one. I’ll sleep for a bit.”

He waits for you to settle down and close your eyes before turning the engine on and starting the trip. When he hears your tiny snores, he unknowingly pats your head, letting out a satisfied sigh from his lips. Minho’s absolutely glad that you gave yourself time to rest. You're unstoppable—he learned something new about your work ethic over the past few days. While working on your paper and other requirements, Minho saw you sit endlessly, writing, typing, reading, and doing everything you could have done to complete the demands. Including no sleep, you barely let your eyes close completely like you always do until Minho ensures you get enough rest. Minho couldn’t believe that you were still so lively despite your normality of barely sleeping. Pretty much like Chan, he thinks. He thought only Chan was capable of doing that.

He takes this as an exchange for your acceptance of this deal he made with you. He thought that helping you in your routine while staying by his side to have you as his boyfriend was a great way to get the chemistry needed for a couple and that heart of yours (to be your friend, obviously). And so far, his plan is working. You’ve been getting comfortable with him, and he’s happy to see you no longer see him as this horrendous human being who’ll ruin your week every time. Plus, his group chat with his friends is flooding his notifications that Ara saw the occasion earlier in the sports building.

jisung: seungmin said ara was staring at both of you earlier!

jisung: it should be working!!!!

felix: i got to see it! she has the usual sad face lol

chan: are you sure you saw her face…?

changbin: you were too busy squealing over minho and _____

felix: JHSFDADJ STOP YOU TWO???

seungmin: LMAOOO felix, you probably forgot that they’re not a real couple, right?

felix: WELL, they *are* a real couple right now so…

felix: and they’re getting along very well!!! have you seen them the other day?

chan: oh, when you guys were talking about the next machine project?

felix: YEAH, the three of us were initially discussing it until they argued what type of loops they were going to use in the program lol

seungmin: so that’s how you define “they’re getting along very well” then?

minho: for the record, it was a peaceful argument, kim seungmin.

seungmin: oh HE’S ALIVE

minho: and we’re not cheating btw, i know talking about the project to others is not allowed lmao we’re just talking about which loop truly fits the mechanics

minho: _____ kept on pushing the exit-controlled loop, but i pointed them out the program should check the conditions first before starting the loop

seungmin: and i barely understand what he’s talking about again

minho: turns out, i misinterpreted the mechanics, and their point really made sense

seungmin: thanks for the tmi bro

felix: WAIT REALLY? i used an entry-controlled loop all this time :’>

felix: so i have to change tons of things in the source code then… DAMMIT

chan: hi minho, where did _____ take you?

minho: we’re leaving

minho: taking them somewhere

minho: and i’m not going to tell any of you where we’re going because i’m going to drive already

minho: goodbye!

jeongin: I JUST CAME BACK FROM MY CLASS