Archive of Our Own

Bored would have to be an understatement.

Minho is beyond bored. If he was just bored, he’d probably start watching a new show, or maybe rearrange some furniture, or make a snack. Regular boredom is easy enough to deal with. But what he’s currently feeling is somewhere past regular boredom, and it doesn’t help that it’s a late hour where it’s slightly too late to commit to going out, but too early to commit to going to bed. Nor does it help that he’s restless, pacing back and forth in his tiny living room and draping himself over the couch while the evening news drones on in the background.

His cats watch him from their various positions around the room, eyes following him with an equal amount of boredom mixed with slight irritation because they probably just want him to sit still and stop acting like this is his apartment, because obviously it’s their apartment. He’s the one intruding on their quiet time.

Eventually he resorts to sitting on the couch in a most uncomfortable position, his legs draped in awkward angles and his neck craned to look at his phone screen. There’s no texts on his phone. He could just text any of his friends, but they’ll just ask him to go out or come over, and even though he is beyond bored, he doesn’t want to worry about going out. Tomorrow night? Sure. Tonight? No. And don’t ask him to explain his reasoning.

He scrolls through his social media for a few minutes, but quickly runs out of new posts and finds himself opening one of his older dating apps that he hasn’t bothered to mess with in a while. Normally, he just goes on them when he’s bored, to talk to people for a little while and never letting it amount to much of anything. Tonight will be no different, since he has no intention of going out and even less intention to invite someone over.

Besides, most of the messages he ends up getting are pretty crude if anything. It’s not so much a dating app as it is an app for hooking up, which he knows, but sometimes it’s still fun to mess around with idiots on the app. They never see his face, after all, because he never puts a full face shot on his profiles when it’s the hookup apps. Sometimes he’ll add a blurry snippet of his face, or usually some form if shirtless picture that only shows his chest and never is seen by anyone else other than weirdos on a hookup app that will never know what he fully looks like.

He looks over his profile, the same as it last was when he used the app months ago during another time of dire boredom. He’d added some bullshit about liking animals and also an exaggeration of the size of his dick. After adjusting his location, he starts to scroll through the various profiles that flash across his screen, most of which burn his eyes with dick pics as profile pics.

For a while, he doesn’t send anyone messages and no one sends him any. But eventually, his phone pings and a little dot appears at his inbox for the app. He clicks on it, expectations low, but there’s not much to the message. Just a simple ‘hey’. He hesitates at first, unsure if he even wants to open the message, but this was kind of the whole point of opening the app anyway, wasn’t it? Besides, the message is simple enough, it’s not like they said anything offense or gross right off the bat. There’s potential, even if his expectations remain low.

He first clicks on the user’s profile, but the setup is similar to his own. There aren’t any pictures showing the guy’s face, which isn’t uncommon, but it can be annoying when Minho is trying to fuck around with someone. The ones that post their face are easier to rile up, for some reason. Regardless, he scrolls through the few pictures that are there. There’s a shirtless picture, and it’s obvious that the guy is pretty ripped. Another is him with a hat on and a hoodie, but his face is covered by his phone in the mirror. All in all, it isn’t much to go on.

Still, the boredom takes over.

soonie
hey?

Minho realizes a few moments after sending the message that his username is still his cat’s name, but he doesn’t bother to change it now. He’s seen weirder usernames. Like the one this guy has.

20cmst8top
Whats up

soonie
uhh nothing??
sitting around? bored?

20cmst8top
Yeah me too lol
Is Soonie your name?

soonie
lmao
no
is 20cm st8 top your name?

20cmst8top
Ha
You got me there.
It is not

soonie
is your username implying you’re straight? because I think you’re on the wrong app for that dude

20cmst8top
it’s not gay to top lol

soonie
oh my god

20cmst8top
actually I am newly single

soonie
so you decided ‘this is a good time to try some dick’??

20cmst8top
Wouldn’t I be getting ass?

soonie
no one said youd be getting anything
not from me anyway

Minho watches typing bubbles appear before they go away. His tendency to be blunt has oftentimes caused him to be left on read, so he isn’t surprised when he doesn’t get a response for several minutes. In fact, he doesn’t expect to get a response at all, because why would he? This guy is clearly messing around just as much as he is.

He’s already moved on to looking through other profiles when his phone pings again with another message.

20cmst8top
That’s fair
I haven’t actually met up with anyone on here so I wasn’t really expecting anything lol
So if your name isn’t Soonie then what does it mean?

soonie
it’s my cat’s name

20cmst8top
Damn dude are you a furry or something??
Wrong app for that I think

Minho snorts and one of his cats, Soonie, ironically, jumps up onto the couch, as if to see what he’s up to. After circling around for a few minutes, she settles next to him, watching the other cats still perched elsewhere.

soonie
im not a furry
are you?
20cmst8topfurry

20cmst8top
lol
I should change my user to that
Do you think I would get more messages?

soonie
you mean the straight guy act isn’t getting you any??
shocking
believe it or not, most dudes aren’t looking to fuck around with a straight guy
they aren’t usually as good in bed

20cmst8top
Do you know this from experience?

soonie
maybe, maybe not
I’m just saying I could definitely fuck your ass better than you could fuck mine

20cmst8top
Wow
A bold statement, cat boy

Minho laughs out loud again, but this time he catches himself and clears his throat. This random man has no business making him laugh. Who the hell does he think he is, with no pictures of his face and only pictures of his abs that are probably not even his abs. He came onto the app to make fun of others only. Respectfully, of course. Well, maybe not. But he did not come on the app to genuinely laugh at the jokes of a possibly straight man. Absolutely not.

soonie
so why don’t you have any face pics?
ugly?

20cmst8top
Ummm right back at you dude??

soonie
I can confidently say I am not ugly

20cmst8top
I’ve been told I am attractive

soonie
but are you REALLY?

20cmst8top
Well objectively I would say yes
Sometimes I would say no
But everybody has those days

soonie
ok Hannah montana

20cmst8top
lol
You’re funny
I like you

soonie
its too early for me to decide about you
you let me accuse you of being ugly without getting offended though
that’s a plus

20cmst8top
How old are you? It doesn’t say on your page

soonie
22

20cmst8top
Oh okay cool
I’m 23

soonie
ugh an older man
hot
how many grandchildren do you have?

20smst8top
Lmao shut up
I do have to go to bed tho
I know it’s an old man time to go to bed so don’t even say it
I wake up early to go to the gym before work

soonie
that sounds horrible
are the abs really worth it?

This time, Minho is actually left on read. He sits there waiting for typing bubbles or a notification for a good five minutes before he has to face the fact he’s not going to get a reply. And it’s not like it really matters, he’s talked to the guy for, what? Fifteen minutes? He knows absolutely nothing about the guy except that he’s newly single and twenty-three years old. It was fun to talk to him, though. He seemed like he had a decent sense of humor at least, and he wasn’t gross. He also didn’t send any unsolicited dick pics. That’s always a plus. Unless one is wanting dick pics, but Minho isn’t in the market for those tonight anyway.

He is still bored though, but considering it’s not likely that he’ll find anyone else decent to talk to on the app, he closes out of it and forces himself up. And since there’s nothing else to do, he makes his way into his bedroom to get ready to go to sleep. He has work tomorrow anyway, and he knows the cats will probably wake him up earlier than necessary so they can eat. For now, they join him in the bedroom, jumping up onto the bed so they can curl up with him.

Well, only Dori curls up next to him, right by his head. The others prefer to sleep near the foot of the bed. It’s okay though, having them with him makes him feel better. Less lonely. Though, he wouldn’t admit that he felt that way. Not out loud.

~

“I’m telling you, you would have fun! You never listen to me and I’m always right.”

“You are never right,” Minho says, pulling down a bag of cat food from a high shelf, stepping back before it falls on his head. Jisung just stands there, being absolutely no help at all. “I don’t want to come to a party with a bunch of nineteen year olds.”

“First of all, I’m twenty,” Jisung whines, kicking Minho in the leg, which earns him a dirty look. “Second of all, you’re not that much older than me, and you like me, so how do you know you won’t have fun at my friend’s party?”

“Because I don’t like you.” Jisung sighs loudly, because he knows Minho is lying. Jisung is probably one of his closest friends, but he still isn’t interested in going to whatever college party he’s trying to lure him to. Minho has been there, done that, and he’s met most of Jisung’s friends already. They’re all nice, but he doesn’t want to end up being their designated driver tonight.

“You are no fun,” Jisung mutters. “I’m convinced you think volunteering at the animal shelter counts as being social.”

“I like volunteering here,” Minho says. “But it would be nice if my dear friend would help me instead of just standing there.”

Jisung crosses his arms over his chest while Minho kneels down to tear open the bag of food so he can fill up the bowls for the cats. It’s been about a year since he’s been volunteering at the local no-kill shelter in the area. Even after work, he still likes to come. Two of his cats were adopted from here, after all, and while he doesn’t need a forth cat, it’s nice to be able to help out and play with the kittens. Soonie is a little bit jealous when he gets home, but she gets over it.

Jisung is right though, Minho does mostly count this as his social time. Not that he never goes out when Jisung invites him, but it’s not like he has a ton of free time with working at the front desk at veterinarian’s office down the street and continuing with school online. Plus, the cats demand his attention. That in itself is a full-time job. Cat parenting is no joke.

“I’m not helping you because you said you don’t like me,” Jisung declares.

“I’ll tell them you aren’t doing shit and then you won’t get your volunteer hours,” Minho deadpans.

“Sometimes I don’t know why we’re even friends,” Jisung mutters, but Minho can hear the joking tone in his voice. They’ve been friends since they met at the local university they both attended, when Jisung was a freshman and Minho noticed him in the library, working with a few other guys on a project that Minho recognized as one he’d already done himself, when he was a freshman. They clicked, and it was admittedly the kind of friendship that Minho had been wanting back then.

Breifly, they were roommates, before Jisung moved back in with his parents and Minho got an actual adult job. It feels, now, like life has moved too fast in the past two years. At least for himself. Jisung is still living out a phase in his life that seems so much easier. Maybe it’s not, because it wasn’t easy when Minho was twenty (things aren’t easy when he’s twenty-two either—maybe things never will be).

It’s just that Minho feels so busy all the time. Busy with work and trying to keep up with adult things that he doesn’t really want to keep up with, like rent for example. Meanwhile, Jisung is busy planning parties with his other friends. There’s a real possibility that soon Minho will be replaced, or that he will no longer even be invited. For now, at least, they have this time.

And eventually, Jisung does help him bring the bowls of food to the cats. They’re finishing up, putting away the bags, when Jisung smacks him on the arm.

“He’s here,” Jisung says, in a whisper that isn’t quite a whisper anymore. Minho raises an eyebrow and pretends not to know who his friend is talking about, even though he knows exactly who he’s talking about. There’s only so many regular volunteers.

One of them happens to be walking in, a baseball cap pulled over his brown hair and a black hoodie on despite the fact that it’s warm outside. Minho watches him walk over to the front desk and sign in, watches him speak to the woman there for a few minutes and apologize for being late. Of course, it doesn’t really matter that he’s late, and even if it did, Minho is pretty sure Chris Bang could smile his way out of anything. It’s the dimple. The one dimple that seems to pop out at just the right moment when he smiles his little lopsided grin. And his accent doesn’t hurt, either.

So irritating.

“He’s probably going to stop showing up one of these days,” Minho comments, averting his gaze before Chris notices him staring. “Maybe he’s late because he’s, like, moving back to Australia or something.”

Jisung snorts out a laugh. It’s loud enough that it echoes. “Did you just pull that out of your ass? He’s not moving anywhere. I’ll have you know we follow each other on Instagram and last night he deleted one of the three photos he has posted.”

“You’re a stalker.”

“Am not. Anyway, it was a picture of him and his girlfriend.”

Minho rolls his eyes. He’s pretty sure Jisung could pull gossip out of thin air if he tried hard enough. Though, it was pretty common knowledge that everyone’s (well most everyone’s) favorite volunteer had a girlfriend. As far as Minho knew, they were living together. He’s seen her a few times, dropping Chris off or picking him up. Not up close, and he’s never talked to her, but she’s pretty. Blond.

“So, what? You think they broke up or something?”

“Duh. The dude has three pictures and he deleted only that one? They definitely broke up. Which means he’s single.”

“He’s not going to date you, so I don’t know why you’re foaming at the mouth.”

Jisung throws a piece of cat food at Minho’s head. Luckily it’s the hard kind, or else Jisung would end up inside the bag of cat food, and it just bounces off and lands somewhere on the floor. Nonetheless, Minho doesn’t really get why Jisung cares so much about some random other volunteer’s love life. Chris is a little bit older than they are, at least Minho thinks so. All he knows is the guy must obviously be from Australia, given that his accent is pretty obvious. That, and he works for some online sports column or some shit. Which…gross.

“I’m gonna go see if they need help with any filing,” Jisung says after a moment of silence between them. “You should go ask Chris if he needs help with the dogs.” And with that, Jisung is walking off and Minho is left to lift the bags of cat food back onto the shelves. They’re heavy.

He’s visibly struggling to lift one of the fuller ones up onto the stack, wondering why the hell they make the shelves so high in the first place, when he feels a hand on his arm. It’s a brief touch, and then someone is helping him lift it the rest of the way.

“Sorry, looked like you needed a hand. I wasn’t sure I could reach though.”

Minho dusts his hands off on his jeans. “Yeah. I guess all those muscles don’t do much if you’re too short to reach.”

Chris blinks at him, and then he laughs, shrugs one shoulder. “Yeah. But it worked out this time. Plus, you’re barely taller than me.” He pauses and looks around. It’s a quiet evening, but some of the dogs are barking down the hallway. With Chris standing close to him, Minho notices that he looks tired. More so than any other time he’s seen him, anyway. His eyes are rimmed with dark circles and it’s like he’s trying to hide it with the baseball cap. Normally, Minho wouldn’t pry, but he guesses he and Chris are at least acquaintances. And he would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about the alleged breakup Jisung mentioned.

“Are you, uh, alright, man?” Minho asks, clearing his throat. “You look kinda…”

“Tired? Yeah.” Chris shrugs again though, gesturing down the hall as he starts to walk. Minho follows, glancing back at where Jisung is probably slacking off, talking to the receptionist. “I just had a long night and an early morning. But I’m alright.”

“Did something happen?”

“Just busy lately, I guess,” Chris murmurs. But Minho can see it on Chris’s face, that it’s more than that. Being busy doesn’t leave someone with eyes rimmed red from crying late into the night. Minho doesn’t have to have experienced the end of a long-term relationship to know what someone who has been crying looks like. And Chris looks like he’s been crying. Which is weird, because Minho has never really seen him like this. Normally, he’s a relatively upbeat guy. But he must have been dating his girlfriend for a while. Of course he’s upset.

“Yeah. I get that. But you aren’t too busy to come here.”

Chris opens some of the cages for the dogs and they each follow him to the next cage. Minho is pretty sure Chris is some kind of dog whisperer. They all listen to him and never to anyone else. “I like it here. I mean, I definitely have other shit I should be doing, but I figured I could take an hour to stop by and see these guys.” He crouches down while Minho just stands there, watching as the dogs jump and wag their tails to get their share of pets from their favorite volunteer. “It sucks though, I know Jisung is having some party? I probably won’t go.”

“He invited you to that shit?”

Chris laughs, looks up at Minho. Yeah, his eyes are definitely red. He’s definitely been crying, but now he’s laughing while sitting cross-legged on the floor while dogs surround him. Somehow, even if they don’t know each other all that well, Minho has a feeling this situation describes Chris well. “Nah, I mean, he mentioned it the other day. But we have a mutual friend, so I knew about the party through him. It’s this weekend right? Are you going?”

“No,” Minho answers quickly. “I love Jisung but last time I went to one of the parties he invited me to, this one kid brought brownies that got this other kid high and I had to drive both of them home at, like, two a.m. while they debated if Jisung and I had ever slept together.”

Chris’s eyebrows raise momentarily, but then he makes a sound of realization. “Ah, it was Felix, right? He told me the story.”

“You know Felix?”

“Yeah. Australian? Freckles? Deep voice? Yeah.” Right. Of course they know each other.

“Tell him not to bring pot brownies to any more parties.”

“Hey, have you had his brownies? They’re fuckin’ awesome.”

Minho rolls his eyes, but he feels a smile tugging at his lips. Even though Chris is annoyingly…whatever he is, it’s hard to deny that something about him leaves Minho feeling giddier. It’s probably his smile, that’s all. It’s contagious.

For a moment, it looks like Chris is going to say something else, but Minho hears his phone ping and watches Chris take it out of his pocket at look at the message on the screen. His demeanor instantly shifts and he sighs. “Sorry,” he says quickly, patting one of the dogs gently. “I gotta deal with something. I’ll see you next time? Maybe at another party, sometime?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Minho doesn’t complain that he has to round up all the dogs. He does it by himself, after making sure they’re all fed. They aren’t as thrilled to have him instead of Chris for the rest of the evening, but he knows Chris will be back. And if he’s not, Jisung will surely figure out why.

~

On Saturday, as expected, Jisung shows up at Minho’s apartment with a couple of his friends in tow, begging Minho to come out with them to whatever alleged party they have going on. But it’s also eight in the evening when they show up, and Minho is wearing raggedy old sweatpants and a t-shirt with a cat drinking boba on it. He’s pretty sure they know what his answer will be before they even have to ask, yet they still stick around trying to convince him.

Truthfully, even though they can be wildly annoying at times, Minho does like Jisung’s friends. More or less, they’re his friends too. They‘re just living different lives than he is now, but maybe he’s the only one of them all that realizes this. Or maybe it’s just all in his head and Jisung is right, he just needs to loosen up and have fun on a Saturday night.

Nonetheless, Minho will not admit that Han Jisung is right about anything.

Thus, he keeps his ass sat firmly at his small kitchen table while Jisung and three present members of his chaos squad help themselves to Minho’s snacks. Jeongin is currently the only calm one, sitting at the table with Minho, munching on some potato chips that are probably stale. He’s the youngest of their friends, and none of them are technically old enough to drink anyway, but Minho knows for a fact that Jisung shouldn’t already be corrupting Jeongin.

It could be worse though. They could be worse.

“How come you don’t come out with us anymore?” Jeongin asks and Minho shrugs, his eyes trained on the other three boys raiding his cabinet. “You know, just because you aren’t in school anymore doesn’t mean we can’t still hang out.”

“He is still in school, he’s just antisocial now,” Jisung points out. “Remember when he used to be fun? Remember that night we couldn’t find him because he was hooking up with not one, but two, guys in the bathroom?”

“No? That happened? Hyunjin talks about it, but I thought he was lying,” Jeongin asks, eyes wide.

“Hyunjin was sworn to secrecy, now Minho is going to kick his ass,” Jisung hisses, but that only earns him a handful of chips thrown at his head. Not that it bothers him. Seungmin just laughs, but he doesn’t interject. Normally, he’s the only one with anything close to a level head. It’s unclear why he’s friends with Jisung in the first place.

Hyunjin must be meeting them at the party, because he hasn’t tagged along for Jisung’s attempted kidnapping. Instead he’s got Felix with him, which makes things weird considering Minho doesn’t know him as well and he’s just rummaging through his food in his apartment as if they do know each other. Jisung keeps leaning in and whispering to Felix, it’s more than obvious, but normally Jisung would tell Minho if he liked someone.

Still, it seems like Jisung is sticking closer to Felix’s side than the other two of his friends.

“I’m just tired,” Minho finally says. “So I’m not really in the mood for a party.”

“It’ll be fun. You know we wouldn’t invite you if we thought it would be boring. It’s a house party, Felix’s friend lives in a nice house so you won’t be crammed in a corner and there’s gonna be lots of people there,” Jisung explains. “Hyunjin is already there and he says it’s fun. The music is good. There’s room to dance.”

Minho rolls his eyes and Jeongin looks between them like he’s not sure if he wants to be in the middle if more chips get thrown.

When Minho was going to all the college parties with Jisung in the past, they’d always dance. Together, sometimes, or with other people.  And yeah, it was fun, because everyone else was dancing and having a good time and it didn’t matter if they weren’t very popular or didn’t have many friends. And eventually they made more, because Jisung insisted they needed to form a Korean club. It was stupid, it wasn’t even an official club, but they did make a few friends, and then Jisung made a few more.

Apparently he’s still making them, if Felix and Felix’s supposed friend are anything to go by.

Jisung was always better at making friends. He’s got the kind of bright personality that’s hard to stay away from.

“Chris will be there,” Felix says suddenly. Minho blinks at him.

“Okaaay?”

“I thought he wasn’t coming?” Jisung asks, as if the mention of Chris didn’t seem to be pointedly directed at Minho.

“Changbin convinced him to stop sulking about Jess. He’s trying to get him to rebound or something, I guess, so he decided to go.”

“Why do we care if Chris is there?” Minho asks. “I mean, why am I supposed to care?”

Felix shrugs and Jeongin’s head whips around to look at everyone. Clearly he’s lost too. “Jisung said you guys were friends.”

“No, I said I’ve seen Minho drooling over—”

“Okay, I’m going to stop you right there because I have not been drooling over anything,” Minho says, standing from the table. “I’ll just come to the stupid party if it makes you all happy, but I’m not staying for very long and I’m not driving any of you home, so you can’t get plastered. You are all children anyway and I expect good behavior.”

He points at all of them and they raise their hands like they’re surrendering. By the time Minho has changed and made himself presentable, he’s pretty sure they’ve eaten all his food and pissed off all the cats with their loudness. He makes sure to quietly apologize to them before he leaves (the cats, that is) so they won’t take revenge on him later.

It’s unclear where this friend of Felix’s lives, but Jisung is driving, so Minho just sits in the backseat and tries to pay attention in case he has to, like, fend for himself and walk back to his building or something. He notices when they start to head into a nicer neighborhood of actual houses and not apartment buildings and shops. It’s the opposite of how Minho grew up.

His parents had enough money to keep them going, but they lived in a small house in a lower income area, and his mom sometimes worked odd jobs to try and hide the fact that they were sometimes struggling with money. Of course, Minho did notice. He did well in school and managed to get a scholarship for the small university he attended near where they lived. They couldn’t afford to send him to the fancy school for dance that he wanted to go to. Things turned out alright though. Being a veterinarian will probably be a lot more stable than being a dancer.

At least, his parents would say that.

Though Minho knows his mother aspired to be more than what she was. He’s seen the photos from when she was young, heard the stories of how she tried to make it as an actress back home in Korea when she was young. It didn’t work out and she got married and eventually they moved to the states just after Minho was born. He’s not sure why, but supposedly his father’s parents didn’t really approve of the marriage.

Lost in thought, Minho almost doesn’t realize when his phone pings in his lap. He only hears it the second time, and glances down at the screen. The notification is from the hookup app he didn’t delete off his phone. He hasn’t even opened it since several nights ago, nor has he had any other messages. Probably because there are easier people on the app than himself.

Reluctantly, he tilts the phone away from Jeongin’s eyes and opens the app to check his messages.

20cmst8top
Hey
You probably thought I was ghosting you
Totally fair if you don’t respond

soonie
tbh I figured you found someone else to talk to
get any ass yet?

20cmst8top
Nah
No interesting prospects ya know :(
What about you, have you gotten any?

soonie
I don’t really come on here often
I’m being dragged out with friends tonight so maybe I’ll get some
doubt it tho

20cmst8top
Me too actually
Not really in the mood so I’m sulking and messaging a stranger so I don’t look like I have no one to talk to

soonie
wow
I love dirty talk

20cmst8top
lol
My friend says I need to rebound
I’m not asking to meet up tho

soonie
no?
why are you on here then? if not to hook up with someone?

“Who are you talking to?”

Minho’s head whips up and he realizes the car is still and Jeongin is waiting for him to open the door and get out. He’s also leaning in to try and get a glimpse at Minho’s phone screen, so he locks the screen. Naturally, that only increases the curiosity on Jeongin’s face, and catches the attention of Jisung, who is now peering in with his hands cupped around the window.

“I’m not talking to anyone,” Minho lies, pushing open the door and stepping out onto the street. The house they’re parked in front of is big, with the lights all on and several people hanging out on the massive porch. Music drifts out into the night, loud enough to carry but not loud enough to disturb neighbors. “I was just live tweeting about how annoying you all are.”

“You love us,” Jisung says, draping himself over Minho’s shoulders from behind as they make their way towards the house. “You should try and have fun,” he adds, the words soft in Minho’s ear.

“I’ll do my best.”

“If not for you, then for me.”

“I said I’ll do my best, but the underage drinking makes me nervous.”

“No one will even be drinking that much. It’s a chill party.”

Despite claiming to be an introvert, Jisung clearly doesn’t know what classifies as ‘chill’. As far as house parties go, this one is on the tamer end, but there are too many people for it to be chill. It’s not just a gathering of friends. It’s a full on party, with music and snacks and drinks and people that seem to be anywhere from eighteen to late twenties. As soon as they’re inside, Jeongin and Seungmin disappear somewhere and Felix is running through the sea of people like he knows exactly where he’s going. Minho just barely catches him flinging himself at Hyunjin before Jisung shakes his shoulders.

“Wanna dance?”

“Not yet,” Minho responds. “Maybe later. I kinda have to pee.”

“Dude, no you don’t.”

“I’m sorry, do you have a psychic connection with my bladder?”

“Whatever. I’m going to try and find the kitchen.”

Minho shoots a thumbs up before he wades further into the house, unlocking his phone screen again.

20cmst8top
I mean I’m not opposed to hooking up
I guess I was just messing around
But you seem cool for some reason
So I thought I would message you again idk

soonie
I am cool

20cmst8top
lol
So what’s your usual type or whatever

soonie
I don’t have a type

20cmst8top
Oh whatever
You said you don’t like straight dudes so??

soonie
I said straight dudes can’t fuck

20cmst8top
Who can then?

soonie
if I think you’re hot then I just do
I don’t have a checklist
I guess I’d say your abs are 7/10
but your pictures are shit quality so I can’t say for sure
abs are not a must-have but they don’t hurt

20cmst8top
Wow only  7???

soonie
maybe they’re better in person

20cmst8top
Fair

soonie
what’s your type?

The typing bubbles have popped up when Minho suddenly bumps shoulders with someone, too busy waiting for a reply from some random man on a hookup app to pay attention to where he’s going. How embarrassing. An apology slips from his lips when he looks up, but it falters, the words catching, when he meets Chris’s gaze.

“Oh. Hey, Minho,” he says, tucking his own phone into his back pocket with that stupid smile of his on his face. And it shouldn’t matter that they’ve run into each other, because they see each other all the time at the animal shelter, but Chris looks different tonight. His hair is styled back off his forehead, different from his usual fluffy curls, and Minho doesn’t want to lean in closer to check, but he swears Chris has got eyeliner on. And since when have his lips looked so…

“Hey,” Minho mutters in response. “I see you got dragged here too.”

Chris laughs. “Yeah, here I am. Well, Changbin said it was going to be fun, and then Felix convinced me. He wanted me to meet this guy he’s been talking to, I’ve heard a lot about him.”

“Oh? I’m out of the loop.”

“Hyunjin, I think? I haven’t found Felix yet, he texted and said he was on his way and that’s the last I’ve heard, but I guess he must be here now because he did mention Jisung wanted to go get you before they got here,” Chris explains.

“Honestly, I thought Jisung kind of had a crush on Felix,” Minho says with a shrug, which is maybe not something he should say to Felix’s close friend. “But I don’t blame him for liking Hyunjin. He’s hot. He’s also afraid of me, so if Felix ever needs me to, I’ll give him a stern talking to.”

Again, Chris laughs, but it’s really more of a giggle. And he doesn’t seem to be exaggerating it either, it’s like he really thinks Minho is funny. Which he is. So, like, obviously Chris should be laughing.

“Noted. But yeah, Felix showed me pictures of Hyunjin. He is hot.”

Minho blinks and Chris takes a sip of the drink he’s holding. It’s never seemed like Chris was the fragile masculinity type, but Minho has also never really talked to him for long enough to gauge him. However, he’s pretty sure Chris just means Hyunjin is objectively an attractive dude. Because he is. Anyone with eyes knows that. It doesn’t mean Chris is attracted to him.

Right?

Actually, it doesn’t matter.

Why would it matter?

“So...do you happen to know where a bathroom is?” Minho asks, clearing his throat. “Your friend has a giant house and I need to pee.”

“Sure, yeah, down the hall there to the right. It’s probably too soon for anyone to be in there making out, so you should be good.”

“Yeah. See you…around. Maybe?”

“Yeah. You better get back to Jisung.”

“Right.”

Whatever the fuck that means?

~

Because the bathroom is clean, and has fancy soaps, Minho hides for several (more than several) minutes while he stares at his phone screen waiting for a response from his mystery hookup man. In an attempt to be less of an embarrassment to himself and to maintain a shred of dignity, he opens Instagram and scrolls through the pictures from his friends. He does see a photo from Hyunjin, which is a picture at a café, shot from across the table, and the other person across from him is Felix. Maybe they are dating. Who knows. Minho guesses they’re cute together.

After going to Felix’s page and deciding to follow him, Minho goes to Felix’s following list and quickly finds Chris’s profile. Jisung was right, he only has two pictures posted. Previously it must have been three, but Minho missed that whole drama. The two pictures left aren’t that exciting. One is a picture of Chris with a dog, presumably his own. His hair is blonde in the picture, but Minho has never seen him with blonde hair, so it must have been taken a while ago. In the second picture, Chris looks significantly younger. It’s him and group of other people that look his age, and Minho recognizes Felix as one of them. It’s unclear where they are, and there’s no location tag.

He sighs, exits out of Chris’s profile without following him.

He’s about to give up on getting a response on the app, but just as he turns to open the bathroom door, he finally gets one.

20cmst8top
I don’t know if I have a type
I guess I’m a sucker for a pretty face, but who isn’t?

soonie
most straight guys are

20cmst8top
Right
Because I’m straight lol

soonie
aren’t you? isn’t that your whole thing?
Mr. It’s Not Gay To Top

20cmst8top
Well full disclosure Mr Cat Boy I’m not actually straight
It’s just a lame joke
I’ve only dated women though

soonie
I figured you weren’t but it was a matter of if you were lying to yourself or joking

MrItsGayToTop
Definitely joking
But despite what you thought, I have gotten a few other messages

soonie
lol nice name change
and wow, I’m impressed
didn’t think the straight guy act was still a thing

MrItsGayToTop
I guess it is.
I didn’t really respond to them though
I guess my type is cat boys

soonie
kinky

Minho is smiling down at his phone screen when someone knocks on the bathroom door. He sighs, both at the interruption and at the fact that he’s been reduced to smiling at his phone because of messages from someone who he doesn’t even know. Hell, he doesn’t even know what the guy looks like. For all he knows, it could be some creepy old man. After shuddering at the thought, he opens the bathroom door and slips out, letting the guy who was knocking in and ignoring his dirty look.

The party, of course, has not died down in the short amount of time Minho was in the bathroom. In fact, the music seems louder. Some searching is required, but he manages to find Jisung and Jeongin in the kitchen, luckily without any alcohol in their hands. Instead Jisung is eating a slice of pizza and Jeongin is drinking a Capri-Sun. When they spot him, Jisung pulls him in with his free hand, draping himself over Minho’s shoulders.

“Where’d you disappear to?”

“The bathroom. And I ran into Chris.”

“Ooh,” Jisung raises the pizza to his mouth, barely managing to miss Minho’s hair. “I saw him a second ago. He was glued to his phone though. Do you think he’s still talking to his ex?”

“I don’t know who you’re even talking about,” Jeongin mutters. “Can you guys at least try to explain whatever weird shit you have going on.”

“Don’t curse,” Jisung says, again waving his pizza around. “And Chris, if you paid any attention, is Felix’s best friend and he volunteers with us at the animal shelter.”

“Okaaay? Why do we care?”

“Because he’s mega hot, duh,” Jisung says simply, to which Minho shakes his head. Jeongin seems wildly uninterested. Like he’s rather be having literally any other conversation. “Minho thinks he’s hot,” Jisung continues. Minho continues to shake his head. “He’s always checking him out, but he won’t admit it.”

“This is not true. We’re friends with a liar.”

Jisung kicks the back of Minho’s leg and Minho pinches him in return until Jisung loosens his grip enough for Minho to step away. When he does, he catches Chris’s eyes from across the kitchen. He’s just grabbing a beer, and when their eyes meet, Chris almost instantly looks away. Like he thought he was watching something he shouldn’t have been, but it’s not like he could have heard their conversation over all the music and chatter.

And Jeongin has already changed the subject anyway.

Most of the evening goes that way. Quick conversations and loud music and awkward eye contact with random people from across the room. Jisung manages to convince Minho to dance for a while, but eventually that gets tiring and so they find an empty place to sit in one of the many rooms in the house. Despite having been at the party for a decent amount of time, Minho has yet to meet Changbin. He saw Chris talking with the guy, and Felix too, but he opted not to interject.

He doesn’t now, either, instead sits on a one person recliner with Jisung, his legs draped over his friend so they can both fit.

“You could meet someone here, ya know?” Jisung says suddenly. Minho has been watching him play a game on his phone. He’s tired, honestly, and it wouldn’t be the first time he fell asleep at a party. Now though, after Jisung’s comment, he feels wide awake.

“I don’t have time to date anyone. Besides, I have you, so…”

“You can admit that you’re lonely.”

“I didn’t realize you were a licensed therapist. What are you hourly rates and do you cuddle with all your clients?”

“Actually, I changed my mind. You’re too sarcastic and completely un-dateable. I think at this point you’ll have to solely rely on your looks,” Jisung says, laughing at his own joke while Minho tries to see how far back he can roll his eyes this time. “You need someone equally as hot though. And you know who’s hot?”

“If you say Chris I’m going to smack you.”

“He’s single. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Why do you think I’m interested in him? I’m not, I barely even know him. And he wouldn’t be interested in me, either.”

Sure, technically he’s known Chris for a while now, but they aren’t even really friends. They only talk occasionally during volunteering, and they’ve never hung out outside of that. Minho knows Jisung thinks Chris is his type. But he doesn’t even know what his type is. His type in college was whoever was interested in him, because he thought no one would be. He’s always had an overconfident attitude to hide insecurities that he rather not talk about, until he managed to grow out of (some of) the insecurities and realized most of the guys he was hanging out and hooking up with, were assholes.

From what he’s gathered about Chris, he doesn’t seem like an asshole, but how could Minho really know?

It wouldn’t matter anyway, because Chris has never even alluded to the fact that he might like guys, and Jisung always just makes shit up to fit whatever narrative he’s got running in his head at the time.

They’ve often been asked why they don’t just date each other, but Minho has never thought it would quite work out. Sometimes it almost feels like they are dating, but there’s a line they won’t cross with each other. Once, they tried, but they both knew pretty quickly that they were better off as just friends and one mistake of a make-out session really means nothing between friends at the end of the day. It didn’t make things awkward, but it wasn’t something they decided to do again.

“You know,” Minho finally says after a period of silence. “Even if I was lonely, I—”

“Oh my god,” Jisung says, sitting up straighter in the chair when he cuts Minho off. “That’s his ex.”

Minho sits up too, his eyes darting around the room, which isn’t that crowded, so he easily spots the girl Jisung is referring to. It’s hard to miss her, with her blonde hair and the pink dress she’s got on. Her eyes scan over the room before she ducks out again, and like the gossip-hungry fucks that they are, Jisung and Minho quickly scramble off the recliner and hurry out of the room to peer down the hallway.

“Don’t be so obvious,” Minho hisses, kicking Jisung in the leg before trying to act more casual, opting to lean against the wall so he can watch as the ex-girlfriend approaches Chris, where he’s now talking with Felix and Hyunjin.

The music is too loud for them to able to hear anything that’s being said, but Chris’s face says it all. When he sees her, he looks upset, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion and then into something else. Maybe anger? Minho has never seen Chris angry, he’s only seen him upbeat and friendly and surrounded by dogs. But now it’s different. The anger on his face morphs into something else, something that looks a lot like detachment. Like he’s trying to hide the fact that he’s upset.

If anything, Minho can relate to that. He can relate to having an ex that he wants nothing to do with. His dating history has been less than pleasant. Though, he’s never really been close enough to Chris to know what his relationship was like. They seemed happy enough, from what he saw when his now ex-girlfriend would pick him up and drop him off at the shelter. So…not much to go on, but what he did see…seemed alright. It was clearly a serious relationship. Probably ‘I love you’ status.

Now though, when his ex steps closer to him, he takes a step back and Minho sees her shoulders slump and Chris shaking his head. He’s saying something, but they can’t make it out. Jisung leans in anyway. “I think she cheated on him.”

“You think?”

“Felix may have alluded to it. Apparently he was really serious about her but then…yeah, she’d been messing around with some other guy for a long time,” Jisung whispers, his mouth right up to Minho’s ear. “I don’t know why the hell anyone would cheat on him, but whatever.”

“He looks pretty upset,” Minho observes. Chris hands off the drink in his hand to Felix just as his ex touches his arm. He’s quick to shrug her off and step around her.

“I can’t do this,” he says, loud enough that they can finally hear. “I already told you, I’m done.” And then Chris is turning away and walking down the hallway, towards where Minho and Jisung have been watching. Of course, everyone in the hallway had turned to look, but Minho feels a little bit embarrassed when Chris looks up and they make eye-contact. Especially because Chris’s eyes look glassy, filled with tears that have yet to fall.

“Shit,” Jisung mutters when Chris turns the corner. Minho hears a door slam, probably the bathroom or one of the bedrooms. “I’ve never seen him like that.”

Back down at the other end of the hall, Jess, the ex, is talking to Felix, but he’s got his arms crossed and a sort of stern look on his face. Eventually, it seems like Jess gives up, and Minho can read the words, “I’m sorry,” on Felix’s lips. Sorry things didn’t work out? Sorry that he can’t put in a good word? Sorry for what, exactly?

“I’ll…be right back,” Minho mutters, pushing off the wall and turning the corner to find the bathroom door closed. That had to have been where Chris went. And normally, Minho would ignore all of this, (well, not the drama, but the aftermath) but he feels bad. Chris is a nice guy. If he’s crying in the bathroom at a party…well, no one should be crying in the bathroom at a party. So he knocks. “Hey, you in there?”

For a few moments, it’s quiet and the door doesn’t open. Eventually though, after Minho knocks again, he hears the lock click and he opens the door a crack. “You can come in,” he hears Chris mutter, and he does, slips inside and closes the door behind him. It’s not a cramped space, but it’s still a bathroom, so he leans against the door. Chris is leaning against the sink counter, and there are dark smudges around his eyes.

“I know you’d probably rather have, like, Felix or whatever to comfort you, but…I’m sorry. That looked like it sucked,” Minho offers. It sounds lame even in his own ears and he clears his throat. “I just mean, I get how you feel. Jisung said…I mean, I heard you got cheated on?”

Chris laughs, an abrupt sort of sound that Minho has also never heard from him. His laughter is usually a lot brighter, a lot happier. Usually Chris isn’t crying in a bathroom, though. “Yeah. It had been going on for a while. But it is what it is, she doesn’t want to break up, but I don’t want to keep trying when clearly it’s not working.”

“I don’t blame you.”

Chris rubs his hands over his face. It only smudges what must have been his eyeliner even more, but he doesn’t seem to care about that. Or else he forgot he was wearing it. “I hate crying. I hate…all of this. It’s so embarrassing.”

“Crying isn’t embarrassing. I cry all the time,” Minho says, which makes Chris look up and meet his gaze. “I mean, usually it’s only around my cats, but they’ve definitely seen some shit.”

That, at least, makes Chris actually laugh, though it’s a bit strained and another stray tear still streaks down his cheek, which he quickly wipes away. The music from the party is muted in the bathroom and it makes it feel like they’re more alone than they actually are. “You don’t strike me as a crier.”

“Well if the general public asks, I’m not,” Minho explains. “I’m just saying, your secret is safe with me as long as mine is safe with you. I can keep a secret.”

Chris smiles, that lopsided, dimpled smile that everyone seems to like so much, and nods. “Yeah. ‘Course. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Cool. And besides, I’m pretty sure everyone you meet ends up with a crush on you, so…” he trails off, knows that the fact that Chris is hot won’t make up for the fact that being cheated on blows. He can find someone else, but that doesn’t always fix the fact that it hurts.

“Everyone?”

“Jisung has a major boner for you.”

Chris snorts. “You said earlier that you thought he liked Felix, and now me? That doesn’t make you jealous?”

“Why would it?”

“Because you guys…” Chris trails off, and Minho feels his own eyes get wide.

“You think I’m dating Jisung? No. Definitely not.” Minho pretends to gag and it makes Chris giggle softly.

“Okay, okay. Sorry. You guys just seem very close.”

“We are. And I guess, you know, he wouldn’t be the worst person to date. I love him, but it’s ninety-percent platonic. Ten-percent would date him if we’re both single by the time we’re forty. If I had to.”

“Gotcha.”

Chris takes a deep breath and stands up a little straighter, like he’s getting ready to leave the bathroom. Minho is still blocking the door though, and when Chris faces him more directly, it’s very obvious that he needs some help with all the smudging going on. “You can’t go out there like that,” Minho declares. “Just, don’t move or make eye-contact with me.”

“What are you—”

Minho steps closer and cups the back of Chris’s head with one hand while he swipes his thumb under his eyes with the other. Clearly Chris cannot follow directions because he is very much making eye-contact, but Minho ignores it and wipes at the smudges until they’re mostly gone, instead blended out so that it looks intentional. This close, he can see that Chris’s eyes are red and that his lips are slightly bitten. He probably shouldn’t be looking at Chris’s lips though.

Except, it’s hard not to, because (not that Minho will ever admit it out loud and especially not to Jisung) Chris has nice lips. Like really nice. They look soft.

Maybe Jisung has done some kind of witchcraft on him, because there is no other logical reason as to why the entire atmosphere in the damn bathroom has shifted. There’s no reason why he should still be cupping the back of Chris’s head, or why Chris is looking at his lips now.

What the fuck.

This should not be happening.

Except it is.

Because one second they’re just standing there, and in the next…well.

In the next Chris is leaning in, or maybe it wasn’t Chris. Maybe it was both of them. Either way, when their lips meet, neither of them is pulling away. Chris’s hands are on his waist. They’re kissing. They’re making out in a bathroom as if this is just a thing that they do. Because it doesn’t feel as weird as it should. In fact, it feels really good.

Minho tangles his fingers in Chris’s hair before he grips hard enough that it must sting. The feeling pulls a noise from Chris, something low and guttural and really fucking hot. His lips are soft, and his tongue is insistent, but Minho’s teeth are sharp. He bites Chris’s lower lip when he walks him back against the bathroom counter, their hips pressed together.

Chris’s eyes open as Minho tugs on his lip and when he lets go, they’re both quiet for what feels like a long time. Minho can feel his heart thudding in his chest and he wonders if Chris can feel it too. For a moment, it seems like it’ll end, like they’ll agree it was a mistake and hurry out of the bathroom like nothing happened. Except then Chris surges forward again and Minho groans, slides his hand down Chris’s neck and then down his body, under his shirt and over his chest. He knew Chris was ripped, but damn.

When his hands move back up Chris’s body, back into his hair, he tugs hard enough that Chris is forced to tilt his head back. And he does, and his responding moan makes it seem like he must like it. Even though he’s making noise, he’s not very loud. Even as Minho kisses down his neck, bites at Chris’s pale skin, he only gasps.

“Do you want a blowjob?” Minho rasps, pulling away only enough to look at Chris’s expression. It’s the first time either one of them have spoken.

“What?” Chris’s voice cracks and he clears his throat. “A what?”

“A blowjob,” Minho repeats simply. It wouldn’t be the first he’s given like this. Maybe not the last. “Do you want me to suck your cock?”

“Fuck, I mean—” He cuts off, like he’s not really sure what to say.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Minho assures him. “I told you, I can keep a secret.” But Chris’s eyes are wide now, that is until Minho trails his hand down his chest and stops above Chris’s jeans. It’s a question.

There’s a definite chance that this is a bad idea. Minho knows that, but his mind is only half working. He’s completely sober, and he’s not even sure Chris is actually into guys at all, but he guesses he’s thinking more with his dick right now than with his brain. Which is gross and he’s definitely better than that. Normally.

Normally, Chris would not be nodding in agreement to Minho’s offer of a blowjob. Right now, however, he is.

And with that, Minho cups him through his jeans and kisses him again, quick and filthy as he feels out that Chris is definitely at least half hard in his jeans already. The kiss breaks again and Minho sinks to his knees on the tile floor, making quick work of undoing Chris’s jeans and tugging them down just enough. As much as he wants to ignore it, there is a nagging in the back of his head that he shouldn’t do this, that he’s an idiot for all of it. It manifests as a ringing in his ears, as goosebumps that have broken out over his skin even as Chris’s fingers card through his hair.

He glances up at Chris, just for a moment, but neither of them says anything. So Minho leans forward and mouths at him through his boxer briefs, ignores his own arousal because it’s not like he wants Christopher Bang to know he’s this turned on by…whatever the fuck this is.

He is though. Jisung is right. Chris is hot. Chris is hot and he’s got a nice dick and soft skin and pretty lips and it’s definitely unfair to the rest of the population.

Minho grips him, strokes Chris’s cock when he takes him out of his briefs. The head is flushed and Minho hasn’t been imaging what Chris’s dick might look like, but it’s definitely big considering the guy isn’t that tall. Not that one necessarily correlates to the other.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a nice dick?”

Chris laughs. “Um. I dunno.”

“Well you do,” Minho states. He thumbs over the head before following it with his tongue, and then licking up the shaft and taking Chris into his mouth. When he looks up, Chris has his head tilted back and his moans cut off into these breathy sort of sounds that are sexier than they should be. Minho bobs his head with purpose, intent on making Chris cum rather than drawing the whole thing out.

He sucks hard, takes Chris deep until he feels him in his throat. It burns, but it feels good. When he pulls off for a moment, Chris’s cock is slick with spit, the head flushed red and Chris is breathing heavy above him. Minho licks his lips and smiles up at Chris before he swirls his tongue through precum and spit and then takes Chris back into his throat.

Partly, he feels like he has something to prove. He’s not lonely like Jisung thinks he is. He doesn’t want anything…more. This is fine, this is fun. And he can still have fun. He can suck Chris off in this bathroom and never think about it again.

He won’t think about how Chris is heavy on his tongue, or about how Chris smells nice, or how his lips tastes sweet. He won’t think about the stretch of his lips or the way Chris’s nails scrape gently against his scalp. He won’t think about how Chris looks down at him, his bottom lip caught between his teeth and his eyes hooded. Most of all, Minho won’t think about the sound Chris makes when his hips stutter involuntarily and he cums in Minho’s mouth.

The sounds of the party slowly come back, drifting back to Minho’s ears to remind him they are not alone. Not really. He swallows. Chris’s cock slides out of his mouth and he licks his lips before wiping them with the back of his hand. His face feels hot and he’s not sure why.

“Fuck,” Chris breathes. Minho looks up at him. His chest is rising and falling and as if he too is hearing the music again, his hand falls from Minho’s hair. As Minho stands, knees cracking, Chris tucks himself back into his pants. It’s quiet. Is it awkward? Maybe, it’s hard to tell. “You’re really good at that.”

“I’m alright. You don’t have to hype me up that much just because I let you cum in my mouth.”

“No, I’m serious,” Chris insists.

“So am I. It’s not a big deal,” Minho steps back, even though he’s turned on too. He has no reason to expect anything from Chris. But then Chris is reaching back for him, one finger hooking around Minho’s belt loop.

“Do you want me to—”

Before Chris can finish his thought, before Minho can even think about how he might respond, there’s a harsh knock at the bathroom door and the knob turns, the door then swinging open abruptly. They hadn’t even locked it. Someone could have walked right in while Chris’s dick was in Minho’s mouth. In the spilt second between the knock and the door opening, Chris’s hand falls away and when Hyunjin peers in at them, it surely doesn’t look like anything was going on.

“Oh,” he says simply, his eyes darting between them. “Sorry, I was looking for you, Chris, but I didn’t realize—”

“We were just talking,” Minho says, clearing his throat. “Right?”

Chris blinks. “Right.”

“Felix said to tell you that Jess is gone,” Hyunjin explains. “Also, he said he has shots for you.”

“Oh. Minho, do you want—”

“No, I’m probably going to head home actually. You guys have fun.” And he knows the smile he gives Chris is tight. He knows his tone is short and he sounds like an asshole. But he also doesn’t know what else to say or do. All they did was hookup and the last thing he needs is for things to get even weirder. So he slides past Hyunjin and out of the bathroom and ventures through the house trying to find Jisung.

More than likely, Hyunjin is going to say something to someone. But he didn’t see anything, and just because Minho has had bathroom hookups in the past, doesn’t mean it’s happened again tonight (even though it has, only this time it’s worse because it was with someone he’s probably going to have to see again).

With his head spinning, it’s slightly difficult to find Jisung. Eventually he does though, in one of the many rooms playing a card game with Jeongin and a couple other people. Minho simply crouches down next to where Jisung is sitting on the floor.

“Hey,” he mutters, studying his cards carefully. “I got bored waiting for you, what happened?”

“Nothing, just made sure Chris was fine,” Minho lies. “But I’m going home now. I’ll call a cab or something.”

Jisung makes a pouty face, but he doesn’t say much. Clearly he’s more invested in his card game now than the drama that was going on only a few minutes ago (or was it longer?) with Chris and his ex, or whether or not Minho stays at the party all night. So it’s easy to slip away, though when he passes the kitchen, he sees Chris downing a shot and his stomach twists up unpleasantly.

As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, he supposes there was something about Chris that he liked. Jisung will never hear him say that though, and he’ll definitely never know what happened in the bathroom, but Minho can admit it to himself. He can admit that he feels bad when he leaves without saying goodbye.

In the end it’ll be fine though. Like it never happened. On the way home, Minho convinces himself that that’s what Chris would want. They’ll just be acquaintances at the animal shelter like they were before. What’s a blowjob between acquaintances, anyway, right?

~

MrItsGayToTop
hye r u upp?

soonie
wtf did you send that at like 3am
no I was asleep
like a sane person

MrItsGayToTop
Hey
Sorry :(
I had a late night.
I don’t really remember sending that to you.
My bad
I wish I had been asleep.

soonie
are you okay?

MrItsGayToTop
Yeah, totally
Don’t worry

soonie
I wasn’t worried
I was simply inquiring about your wellbeing

MrItsGayToTop
Uh huh
Are we not friends by now?
You could be worried about me.

soonie
let’s not get ahead of ourselves

MrItsGayToTop
We could be friends
Maybe we could meet up one day
Not to hookup
I mean unless you wanted to I guess
But just to hang

soonie
I don’t know
maybe eventually
as friends

MrItsGayToTop
What kind of stuff do you like to do?

soonie
im not picky
if you’re paying

MrItsGayToTop
:O

~

Days pass slowly, but somehow it’s the middle of the week and Minho has managed to make it to the animal shelter to volunteer for the first time since the party. He’s talked to Jisung and some of the other guys, but only through text and he hasn’t told anyone what happened between himself and Chris. Nor has he had any contact with Chris, because he doesn’t have his number and he hasn’t seen him. Truthfully, Minho has considered not going back to the animal shelter at all, but he would feel too guilty if he ghosted all the cats. What kind of example would he be to his own cats if he did that?

Of course, today Jisung has decided not to come, so when Minho comes into the back and sees Chris and only Chris, he considers turning on his heels and running to hide. Or just running all the way home and never stepping foot outside again just in case he should happen to run into Chris somewhere else. Just thinking about how awkward it’s going to be to talk to him makes Minho cringe.

However, he takes a deep breath and walks past Chris to the storage cabinet where the cat food is stored. At least since Jisung isn’t here, he won’t find out about what happened. He’d probably make it about ten times more awkward.

“I already fed the cats,” Chris says suddenly, and Minho turns to find Chris standing close, leaning against the door frame. “They weren’t happy about it. I think they’ve missed you. But maybe they’ll warm up to me.”

“They sense that you’re a dog person,” Minho says. Chris shrugs with a small smile. He seems normal. Too normal. “I’ll give them treats so they know I haven’t completely abandoned them.”

“Well, I was going to wait, but you haven’t been here for the past few days,” Chris explains. “So I wasn’t sure you’d show.”

“Yeah, I’ve just been busy, you know. Work and classes.” Minho grabs one of the bags of cat treats and opens it to see if there’s enough left, mostly to avoid Chris’s gaze. “Also, I guess I needed to chill after the party.”

Chris groans and tosses his head back slightly. It’s more exasperated than anything, but it still makes Minho think of…other things. “Dude, I barely even remember what happened at the party.”

“Wait, what?”

“I know you were there and then, I think my ex showed up or something, so I ended up getting pretty drunk. Which normally isn’t my thing, but obviously I was having a night.” He laughs, but his ears have turned red. Are they red because he’s embarrassed or because he’s lying? Is he saying he doesn’t remember Minho giving him a blowjob in the bathroom? He must not remember, because that’s a pretty significant thing to just not mention. Although. Minho is a bit offended, because his blowjob deserves better than to be forgotten.

“Oh,” is all Minho ends up saying. Then he clears his throat. “Yeah, you seemed upset at one point…but I ended up leaving early, so I don’t really know what happened.”

“Probably for the best. I guess it got kinda crazy.”

“Yeah,” Minho tries to read Chris’s expression, to figure out if he’s telling the truth about not remembering, but he looks like he always does. Friendly and open and honest. He doesn’t seem like the type that would lie. “You probably shouldn’t get blackout drunk again though. You could have forgotten something important. Like, Jisung embarrassing himself. Now who’s going to tell me?”

Chris giggles, touches Minho’s arm for the slightest second before he steps away from the doorframe so Minho can pass. “If I remember anything, I’ll let you know, dude.”

“Sure, you should probably go check on the dogs though, they might get jealous.”

Chris nods and Minho watches him walk down the hallway. He’s taken his phone out and Minho can’t help but wonder who he’s talking to. Not because he’s jealous, or because he wishes it was him, but because he’s curious. That’s all. He’s never seen Chris single, or with anyone besides that girl he was dating, so he wonders if Chris will move on to someone else quickly. He could.

On top of that, Minho wonders if Chris does like guys. Which is stupid, because he seemed pretty damn into it when they were making out in the bathroom, and his dick was definitely hard in Minho’s mouth. So, really, is there any question about it? Obviously he was into it.

But is he into dating a guy? Has he fooled around with other guys before? Would he be into dating Minho? Fooling around with him again?

Wait. No.

That’s not important.

Minho shakes his head and goes about what he would normally do during his volunteer time. Mostly, he doesn’t think about Chris, and they don’t exactly have to interact since they’re busy in different areas. It’s about when Minho is finishing up that his phone pings in his pocket. The usual suspect is Jisung, but he knows before he looks that it’s not.

MrItsGayToTop
At work today my coworker was saying how they met their boyfriend on a dating app

Minho rolls his eyes, but he feels a smile tugging at his lips anyway. Since the party, he’s been talking more to the mystery hookup app guy. Which might be weird considering they still don’t know what each other looks like, or their real names, but it’s been nice to talk. It’s almost like an unspoken agreement not to give away too much. Like they’re waiting for when they meet, eventually. If they meet. Because the reality is that this guy could still be a creepy old man or something. And unless he’s rich and plans to pay for Minho’s whole life, he isn’t interested.

soonie
and?

MrItsGayToTop
And so it’s possible to find love on these kinds of apps

soonie
it’s far too soon for you to be saying ‘I love you’
so im sorry I don’t feel the same

MrItsGayToTop
Damn
Your words wound me

soonie
lol shut up
this isn’t even a dating app anyway
its for fucking

MrItsGayToTop
I never said we couldn’t factor that in too

soonie
I don’t know if you’re emotionally prepared for the things my dick could do to you

MrItsGayToTop
Oh so you’re fucking me, in this scenario?

soonie
depends
I’ll have to evaluate

MrItsGayToTop
Evaluate what?
My ass?

soonie
exactly

MrItsGayToTop
I can’t say that i‘ve had too much commentary on it in the past
But personally I think it’s decent

soonie
wow is this sexting
its so hot

MrItsGayToTop
Lmao
It could be
I mean not right now
I mean later
If you want ass pics I can provide

soonie
well when you call them ass pics it makes it less appealing

MrItsGayToTop
Butt photographs?
Anus images?

soonie
STOP

Minho doesn’t realize he’s laughing until the front desk lady looks at him with her eyebrows raised. Luckily she doesn’t ask, likely because she doesn’t care and she prefers Jisung or Chris over him. Speaking of Chris, he comes out from the back as well, ready to leave. He’s got a sort of smile on his face. It’s there before he even makes eye-contact.

Chris smiling is the norm though. When he was sulking and crying in the bathroom, that was weird. Maybe that’s why he’s always smiling, because that’s what everyone expects from him.

“See you next time?” Chris asks, holding the door open.

“Yeah. I’m um—” Glad you’re doing better? What if he’s not doing better? “I’ll see you around.”

And it’ll be fine because they never have to talk about what happened at the party and Chris won’t treat him any different because of it. The fact that things will carry on as normal is what Minho wants. It doesn’t bother him at all that Chris won’t remember how amazing the kiss was, how it felt like it could have led to more.

It’s fine because they’ll see each other around. Like always.

~

Minho’s first boyfriend was in high school.

It was exciting and he can still feel the remnants of electricity when he thinks about that time of his life, however brief it was. Maybe it was just the sneaking around, though, the fact that what they had was just theirs. For the duration of the relationship, they snuck away in quiet corners to kiss, held hands under tables and spoke in hushed whispers so no one else would know their secrets.

When it was all happening, it felt like it would never end. He thought no one else would ever know him better, would ever love him more. Things didn’t progress much past kissing, besides one night, during a sleepover at Minho’s house. He thought his boyfriend was pulling away, thought it was going to be over, but then they kissed and Minho was certain he was just worrying for nothing.

Except, the next day at school, he got dumped behind the bleachers. He watched the boy he thought he loved go to dances with a girl from their science class. He watched them date for the rest of the year, and into the next year. He watched them and he kept their secret, because that was all he had left.

But he also didn’t sleep for weeks. Instead he would toss and turn and kick the sheets off in the night because he couldn’t stand to be in the same bed where he thought something monumental had happened to him. Something that turned out to have meant nothing. He didn’t understand how he could have gotten it so wrong. How things could have felt right, how they could have shared something intimate, and then just act like it had never happened.

He didn’t understand it at all until he did it himself. Until in college, relationships were too complicated. Until his parents told him they didn’t want to meet any boyfriends, so he shouldn’t even bring them home. Until he realized no one seemed to care quite enough. So neither did he.

And sure, he knows it’s stupid to assume everyone will be like his high school boyfriend, and letting that short relationship continue to affect him is only hindering his ability to actually find someone who will love him. But whatever.

Jisung even tells him he’s an idiot, when he’s told him the story. Because he has, since Jisung is his best friend and they tell each other most everything.

Most everything, excluding the fact that Minho is talking to some random guy on an app meant for hookups, and he’s starting to wonder if the excitement he feels every time he gets a message means something.

He probably should tell Jisung.

Especially considering the fact that he’s sitting right next to him on the couch while Minho is replying to a message from his mystery guy. In his defense though, Jisung is very focused on the movie they decided to watch. He’s shoving popcorn in his mouth, so it’s basically like Minho isn’t even actually here, in his own apartment.

MrItsGayToTop
So what are you doing tonight?
Any exciting plans?

soonie
just chilling with a friend
messaging this weirdo

MrItsGayToTop
Oh shit
That’s so weird
Me too
This guy I’m talking to is SOOO weird
Plus he’s mean to me

soonie
I am not mean
I’m honest

MrItsGayToTop
That’s what mean people say
but
Okay so honestly
When do you think we can meet

soonie
honestly
are you going to murder me
are you actually a gross old man

MrItsGayToTop
Honestly?
Since you asked, I guess I won’t
And no I’m not a gross old man
I promise

soonie
wow you really know how to ease my worries

MrItsGayToTop
I jest
But I do want to meet
Do you like sports? I have tickets to a game, we could go?

soonie
disgusting
no

MrItsGayToTop
Lmao damn
okay
I thought you weren’t picky???

soonie
like look I like you but no
we would have to be dating and I would have to REALLY like you in order to want to go to a sports game with you

MrItsGayToTop
Oooh
You liiiiiike me

soonie
shut up
only a little bit

MrItsGayToTop
What if I turn out to be ugly

soonie
don’t joke about that lol

MrItsGayToTop
Idk you seem like you have high standards
Like full disclosure I am not that tall

soonie
height doesn’t bother me
length however

MrItsGayToTop
So I have to be not ugly, have a nice ass, and a big dick
See? High standards.

soonie
so you have a micropeen

MrItsGayToTop
Are you asking for a dick pic?

soonie
no
you promised an ass pic, as you called it, first

“Dude, who are you talking to? You haven’t even been paying attention to the movie.” Jisung throws several pieces of popcorn, which hit Minho right in the face. “You’re never texting anymore except me, so who is it?”

“It’s no one,” Minho mutters, flicking the popcorn on the floor for the cats. They deserve a treat (they always do, though).

“Why are you such a liar? Like, I know you’re lying and you aren’t even good at it,” Jisung says, reaching over to try and snatch Minho’s phone away. He’s quick though and moves it out of reach.

“I’m texting my doctor. I think I have a hemorrhoid.”

“First of all. Gross. Second of all, you’re still lying.”

“It’s private, okay? Just watch the movie.”

Jisung frowns. No, actually, he pouts. Which is understandable, because it’s not like them to keep secrets from each other. But this secret is…stupid. It’s a stupid secret and it would feel stupid to explain it out loud. Jisung will either laugh or he’ll get way too excited and encourage Minho to pursue this guy. But then he’ll have to explain that they don’t even know what each other looks like, or really anything deep at all. Sure, they can eventually get to know those things, but it’s nice like this. It’s nice to joke around and laugh and not worry about feelings or baggage or a relationship.

Still, Minho understands why Jisung wants to know so bad. The fact that he’s being cryptic only makes Jisung want to know more. And if it was the other way around, Minho would definitely be pestering Jisung until he spilled everything.

“If you were seeing someone, you’d tell me, right?” Jisung asks. He’s paused the movie now. “Like, is it someone you don’t want me to know about? One of our friends or something? Is it Seungmin?”

“What? No, why the hell would you think that?”

“Because you won’t tell me!”

“It’s no one, alright? It’s just, like, people from a dating app,” Minho mutters, which isn’t that far off from the truth.

“You’re on dating apps? Since when?”

“I just downloaded one out of boredom, alright? If it was something serious, I would tell you.”

Jisung narrows his eyes. Obviously, he doesn’t believe a word Minho is saying. That, or he’s wanting Minho to admit that he’s lonely and he needs Jisung’s help. Truthfully, neither of them would be any good at dating advice. They’d probably advise each other straight into a breakup, but they both think they know best. Minho would still be the best at giving advice though, because he has more experience with the complexities of love. Jisung is a newbie. But he’s also a know-it-all.

“Honestly, I thought you were going to say you were talking to Chris.”

Minho coughs. If he was drinking something, he would have spit it out. “Chris? Why? Why do you keep bringing him up? I’ve known the guy for, what? A year now? We don’t even have each other’s numbers?” Minho’s mutters, putting his phone down on the side table so he can sit up straighter. Did Chris say something to Jisung? Something about what happened at the party?

“See? Every time I bring him up, you get this look on your face. You like him.”

“I don’t.”

“Felix told me he was asking about you after the party. Like, if you were single and stuff like that.”

“Chris told me he was blacked out drunk at the party so he was probably just asking all kinds of shit,” Minho says, except his heart is beating a little bit too fast.

“No, he was asking after. When he was sober. So I thought you guys had talked or something happened. But nothing did?”

“No.”

“Whatever. He’s boyfriend material, that’s all I’m saying.”

This is a fact Minho is already aware of. Of fucking course Christopher is boyfriend material. Everyone knows that. But…that doesn’t mean Minho is boyfriend material. At least, he’s convinced himself that he isn’t, which is probably why he hasn’t had a serious boyfriend in so long. He’s convinced himself that he’ll always have Jisung, at least, and his best friend is enough. And his cats.

And his random hookup-app friend.

Until that fades into nothing and until Jisung moves on with his life and everything starts to change. Everything always changes.

“Can we just stop the subject,” Minho says after a few minutes of silence. “I’m not interested in being perceived or vulnerable.”

Jisung just rolls his eyes at him, but he does start the movie again, this time pulling Minho in closer on the couch so they’re leaning against each other. Eventually, Jisung falls asleep and Minho lets the movie finish before he untangles himself from his friend and covers him with a throw blanket. Dori curls up next to Jisung instead while the other two cats follow Minho into his bedroom.

It’s late by the time Minho settles in bed, but that doesn’t stop him from checking his messages again. His mystery guy might already be asleep, because he does tend to stop responding if it’s past ten.

MrItsGayToTop
I don’t really know how to take a good ass pic
You aren’t responding
Have you given up on me?
I’ve given up on myself with this one all the pictures look terrible

soonie
show me anyway

Minho sends the message without really thinking about it. Initially he meant it to sound joking, but he knows it doesn’t sound like that at all. It sounds like he’s asking for nudes in a blatantly horny way. And okay, he is. He’s thinking about what Jisung said, about Chris asking about him, and that leads to thoughts about sucking Chris off in the bathroom at the party and Chris not even remembering it. So basically, Minho wants to think about literally anything—anyone—else.

MrItsGayToTop
Wait really?

soonie
I thought youd be asleep

MrItsGayToTop
Nah
Can’t sleep actually

soonie
me neither

His best friend is in the next room, but the door is closed and it’s quiet, so Minho doesn’t really feel that bad about the direction the texts seem to be going in. He doesn’t feel nervous when he scrolls back up through his camera roll for some pictures he took of himself a little while back. He could take something now, but the pictures he already has are good. He knows they’re good. And they don’t show his face, just the arch of his back and the curve of his ass against his sheets. It’s suggestive, but it’s not just a dick pic. It’s classy.

soonie
can I send you something?

MrItsGayToTop
??
Sure?

soonie
[image attached]

Typing bubbles appear and disappear. A minute passes. And then another. Minho shifts in bed, sits up a little bit straighter and drags his hand along his thigh. Maybe it was too much.

His eyes close and he places his phone down on his chest, thoughts again drifting to where he doesn’t want them. His fingers dance along the waistband of his pajama pants as he remembers Chris’s finger curling around his belt loops, asking him ‘do you want me to…’. Yes. Yes would have been the answer. Because even if it meant absolutely nothing, Chris had this look in his eyes that made it feel like they could pretend. He’s kind.

He’s fucking boyfriend material.

Minho groans between his teeth, his hand falling back to his side before he grabs his phone again and switches over to Instagram. Instead of being so emo, he could just do what a normal person would do. Chris’s Instagram is still pretty dead, just the two pictures, but Minho follows him anyway. At midnight. Fuck.

Before Minho can overthink the timing, a notification finally pops up at the top of the screen and he clicks on it eagerly.

MrItsGayToTop
Fuck
Is that sseriously you?
You’re so hot??
fuck youre so hot

soonie
lol
yeah
I mean its kind of an old pic like from a few months ago
at the moment I’m wearing pajama pants that are too short for me lol

MrItsGayToTop
You should take them off

soonie
should i?

MrItsGayToTop
Yea
I mean im hard
Have been

soonie
what are you thinking about?

MrItsGayToTop
You
I mean your picture
Idk

soonie
if you were here
I would suck you off
you can cum in my mouth
on my face if you want

MrItsGayToTop
Damn
I wan t to do you too

soonie
have you ever before?

MrItsGayToTop
No
You can show me how
Fuck I wish you were here
Are you touching yourself?

soonie
yeah

And he is, his hand beneath his pajama pants, palming himself through his boxers. But he shimmies them both down, even though his face feels hot and he feels a little bit ridiculous. He’s done things, things with people he didn’t know well, but he’s never done this. Never sexted with a near stranger. Still, he snaps a half-blurry picture of his hand wrapped around his cock and sends it before he can decide against it.

There’s a good enough chance that the guy won’t like it. The other picture was more ass than anything. This is an uncreative dick pic, the kind of thing Minho normally wouldn’t even want himself. But he wants it now. He wants whatever he can get.

MrItsGayToTop
Shit
Yeha I wanna suck you off
Fuck I would right now

soonie
are you a quick learner?

MrItsGayToTop
Could be
Your cokc is so pretty
I bet the rest of you is

soonie
want me to fuck your mouth?
don’t know if you can take it though
I can fuck your mouth till u cant take it
can fuck your ass too
bet youre tight

There’s no response for a few minutes. It almost kills the mood, but finally something else comes through. This time it’s a picture. Equally as blurry as the one Minho sent, a hand around a spent cock, splatters along dips of defined abs and pale skin. It’s embarrassing how easily Minho is able to get off when he sees the picture. He’d never admit it. It’s just—fuck—he made this guy cum with a few nudes and dirty talk that really wasn’t even all that great.

Maybe they were both just horny.

Maybe Minho was thinking about someone else, when he came. Was thinking about if Chris had gone down on him, too, of his fingers in messy curls and a lopsided grin on lips slick with spit. It makes guilt pool in his gut.

soonie
i came

MrItsGayToTop
lol
Me too
Obviously
Sexting is weird
But nice
Also I was serious
Like I want to do those things
I know we’ve been joking but I wouldn’t mind if you fucked me

soonie
I was just saying shit

He sends the message out of habit, the kind of thing he’d say to someone so that he won’t get hurt. That, and now that it’s all over, he isn’t really sure what to think. Is he leading this guy on somehow? Or are they on the same page? Sure, they talk regularly now, but is it more than friends? If this guy likes him, then what does that mean? For fucks sake, he got off thinking about Chris, not about this guy. He was imagining it was Chris’s picture, Chris’s voice and words and mouth.

So yeah, he’s probably leading this guy on.

But he still feels shitty when he sees his last message is read. Just because he was thinking about someone else, doesn’t mean that would always be the case. It doesn’t mean if they met, if they did the things they talked about in person, that he’d still think of Chris. Maybe he’d end up liking this guy that he doesn’t even really know. That’s the point right, to get to know each other? It’s not like he even knows Chris that well.

MrItsGayToTop
Oh.
Okay

Minho sighs and tosses his phone to his bedside table before grabbing a wad of tissues and wiping himself off. After turning off his lamp, he slides down under the covers and pulls them over his head. He feels one of the cats jump onto the bed and curl up against his back, but tonight it doesn’t make him feel better. If he hadn’t just gotten off, he might go back to the living room and sleep next to Jisung on the couch. Anything not to feel so alone.

Luckily, he must be tired, because he falls asleep easily. Even more lucky, he doesn’t have any dreams about any certain people. It’s just sleep. That is, until he’s jerked awake by a loud clattering sound coming from outside his room.

When his body catches up to his eyes flying open, he sits up and squints against the sun coming in through the bedroom window. The door is cracked open and none of the cats are still in his room, which means they could have knocked something over. But his cats don’t laugh, and Minho can definitely hear laughing coming from somewhere outside his room.

Right.

Jisung.

Minho drags himself out of bed, still just in his pajama pants and without checking his phone. As soon as he’s stepped out of his room, he can see straight into the kitchen, where Jisung is wielding a pan like a weapon, and Hyunjin is doing the same with a spatula. The cats are probably hiding somewhere, because even they wouldn’t want to witness whatever atrocities Jisung and Hyunjin are attempting in Minho’s kitchen.

“I swear I can flip pancakes, I don’t know what happened!” Jisung exclaims. “But Minho doesn’t have to know it was on the floor.”

“Are you seriously going to try and serve me a floor pancake?”

Jisung jumps and Hyunjin drops the spatula he’s holding, so it falls to the floor to join its fallen pancake brethren. “Oh,” Jisung says, clearing his throat. “You’re awake.”

“Yeah. I don’t remember Hyunjin being here when I went to bed.”

“Jisung asked me to bring stuff to make breakfast. I told him I would just pick something up, but he insisted,” Hyunjin explains. “So this isn’t my fault.”

“Right.”

“We fed the cats though,” Jisung says, as if that’s supposed to be reassuring. “Why do you look like shit though?”

Minho sighs and makes his way into the kitchen. There’s only one pancake on the floor, which he picks up between two fingers and tosses into the trash. He can feel Jisung and Hyunjin watching him with curious eyes. It’s a Sunday, and normally he would be sleeping in right now. Well, he would be trying. Normally the cats wake him up early to eat, but of course if it’s not the cats then it’s Jisung.

“I was up later than you were,” Minho answers. “Why are you guys even trying to make breakfast for me?”

“Who said it was for you? Only the floor pancake was going to be for you.”

Minho pinches Jisung in the side, but Hyunjin points a butter knife in Minho’s direction before he can give him the same treatment. It’s hard to actually be mad at either of them though, or even irritated. Even if he is tired, this is better than lying in bed all morning and contemplating why he’s so emotionally constipated. He’s much rather have a butter knife sword fight with Hyunjin and fight with Jisung over the last of the maple syrup.

Of course, at some point during breakfast, Hyunjin starts talking about Felix. He’s talking more to Jisung than anything, telling him about how they went to some kind of flower gardens earlier in the week. For a while, Minho watches Jisung’s reaction to Hyunjin’s story, because he’s still partially convinced Jisung likes Felix, but it doesn’t seem like he cares or is jealous at all. And if he did like Felix, he would tell Minho.

Eventually, Chris’s name comes up. Something about Felix telling Hyunjin that he thinks Chris is interested in someone new. But that it’s too soon after his breakup. Obviously that catches Minho’s attention, but he does his best to act nonchalant about it. Surprisingly, Jisung doesn’t direct his attention Minho’s way at all. The mention of Chris is skimmed over, like it’s nothing. Like Jisung has decided he’s going to stop meddling now, of all times.

Whatever.

That’s what Minho wanted, right?

It’s what he needs. He needs to stop thinking about Chris.

Which is hard to do when he checks his phone after breakfast and sees that Chris has followed him back on Instagram. He almost forgot he followed him last night. There are no new messages from his mystery hookup app guy (not surprising, but a little bit disappointing), instead Chris has commented under Minho’s latest Instagram post of himself and Dori. It’s just two words. “So cute!”

Fuck.

Fucking shit.

~

“Hey.”

“Hey?”

“Are you doing anything tonight?”

Minho looks up from where he’s been deeply concentrating on petting one of the new kittens at the shelter. She’s asleep in his lap and Chris has just plopped down on the floor next to him and now he’s reaching over to pet the kitten too. His hand brushes Minho’s thigh when he pulls away, but he just sits there, waiting for Minho’s response.

“Um. I mean, I have to work tomorrow morning so…I’ll probably go to sleep?”

“Oh. I was wondering if you wanted to do something after we leave here,” Chris says with a long sigh, leaning back on his palms. He’s wearing black, like he almost always is, and Minho tries not to notice the way his t-shirt is just thin enough that it’s obvious he works out. This is all Jisung’s fault. For putting ideas about Chris in Minho’s head and for making him go to that party.

“Like what? You’ve never asked me to hang out before,” Minho asks carefully. The kitten stirs in his lap, meows softly and looks around, eyes landing on Chris before she stumbles over to him instead.

“Well, I have to go to this baseball game tonight, technically it’s for work, like so I can write about it, but they gave me two tickets and Felix is already going out with Hyunjin tonight so he can’t go,” Chris explains. “And Changbin doesn’t want to. I used to go to with my ex…but obviously…she’s my ex now. So…yeah. I mean, it’s not a big deal. I dunno if it’s even your kinda thing.”

It’s not. It’s definitely not. Hell, the guy from the hookup app asked him about going to a game or something, and he said no, because it sounded like a horrible date idea. Although Chris isn’t asking him on a date right now, he’s just asking to hang out. But it’s still weird, since they’ve never hung out before. It’s not even that Minho hates sports that much, or that he’s worried about it being awkward, it’s just that…how will it make any of this easier if he goes?

Chris still won’t remember the party, and Minho will still wonder if all these emotions are actual feelings towards Chris, or if he’s just horny. Actually, it will only solidify any feelings that might be there beyond horniness. Because it’s definitely something more than that. It probably has been for longer than he’d like to admit. Even from afar, when he and Chris barely talked, Minho thought he was cute. He thought he seemed nice, in that annoying  way that made everyone like him. There’s something about his voice, about his smile and his eyes.

“I just, um, I shouldn’t stay out late,” Minho murmurs. “So maybe another time?”

“Yeah, it’s cool. I get it. I usually try to go to bed early, but…it doesn’t tend to work out. I’m always up late even when I say I’m going to bed,” Chris says with a small chuckle. “But yeah, don’t worry about it, I just thought I would ask.”

“Yeah. Are you…I mean, you won’t be sad or whatever, right? Going by yourself?”

Chris smiles at him, and Minho glances down at the kitten in his lap. Even cats like him, despite the fact that he’s clearly a dog person. He radiates dog-person energy. “No, I’ll be alright. I mean, I don’t miss my ex if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did. You guys were together for a while.”

“I guess. Since I moved here, pretty much. But it didn’t work out, so…” Chris trails off and shrugs. “I kind of was interested in someone else, anyway.”

“Oh?” Minho knows he sounds too interested, too eager to know who it is that Chris is suddenly interested in.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you for advice?”

“Me? Why me?” Minho asks. He reaches over to take the kitten from Chris’s lap. She doesn’t seem too happy about it, but she lets Minho hold her anyway. “I haven’t even been in a serious relationship since…a while? I also don’t give good advice.”

“Well, I meant more, like, what kind of things would a guy like to do? On a date, I mean?”

Oh.

Wait.

“Oh,” Minho says again. “I guess…it depends?”

“I’ve never asked a guy out before, honestly,” Chris says. His face and ears have gotten red and Minho feels like his heart is going to beat out of his chest. Is Chris asking him because he wants to ask Minho out, or because…because he’s here? It seems like Chris could ask literally anyone else. Felix. Hyunjin. Jisung. He knows plenty of guys that could answer this question.

“I didn’t know you were…” Minho trails off and Chris laughs, a high little giggle. Minho doesn’t add that he didn’t know until the party. Because that whole thing was kind of a giveaway.

“So? Like, if I was asking you out, where would we be going that would make you say yes?”

“I don’t know!” Minho tries to laugh, but it ends up sound nervous and forced.

“Dude, you have to know.”

“I feel like if someone likes you, they’ll be fine with wherever you pick. As long as it’s not something obviously bad. Dinner is always good? Coffee? The basics.”

“But not a baseball game?”

Minho blinks. “Were you trying to ask me out?”

“Well I—”

“Hey guys!”

Jisung’s voice reverberates down the hallway and the kitten decides that is the final straw and wiggles out of Minho’s grasp. Chris is quick to scoop her up though so he can bring her back to where all the youngest cats sleep. He leaves without saying anything else, and Minho feels like he has whiplash. This is probably a sign that he should just give up on whatever these weird feelings are. Clearly, the universe does not want it to go any farther.

He hasn’t talked to the guy from the hookup app in several days, not since sexting with him. They went from talking daily to not at all, and Minho feels kind of shitty about it, mostly since he knows it’s his fault. Which does mean he could fix it. He should fix it.

“You’re late,” Minho says simply to Jisung. “We already finished everything for the day.”

“Ugh. I figured. What were you and Chris talking about?”

“Nothing. He wanted advice on how to ask someone out.”

Jisung’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really?”

“Yeah. I guess he’s never been out with a guy before. On a date. But don’t ask him about it or bother him. You don’t have to be so nosy all the time,” Minho says seriously. Naturally, Jisung just rolls his eyes. He never listens, so Minho isn’t sure why he bothers anymore.

“I won’t make it weird, don’t worry,” he sighs. “It sucks though, I know you said you don’t like him, but I thought maybe you’d change your mind. You guys would have been cute together. Like I really thought I’d seen him checking you out. Oh well.”

Now Minho rolls his eyes. “Sorry your attempt at playing matchmaker didn’t work.”

“Usually I’m right, you know. Who do you think set up Hyunjin and Felix?”

“So who are you setting up next? You aren’t allowed to set up Jeongin with anyone. He’s a baby, leave him alone.”

“I’m still working on you,” Jisung declares. “We’ll find you someone.”

~

soonie
hey
so like im sorry about the other night
I didn’t mean to be rude or whatever
ugh
sorry I suck at apologies
but I am sorry

20cmst8top
Hey
It’s cool man
I get it if you aren’t interested

soonie
it’s not that
I am
I liked talking to you
honestly I just freaked out
idk why I do that sometimes
you know when you want a relationship really fucking bad but you keep fucking it up because you’re afraid?
because yeah
not that this has to be a relationship
I’m just saying im an idiot
which I will never repeat and if you tell anyone I said this I will have to kill you

20cmst8top
Lol
I liked talking to you too
I was bummed about…everything
But I accept your apology

soonie
ok good
so are we good?

20cmst8top
Yeah
Are we pretending we didn’t sext or are we acknowledging that it happened
Just for future reference

soonie
lol we can acknowledge it
maybe we can meet up or something
like this weekend?
not necessarily to hookup
unless we wanted to

20cmst8top
Are you asking me out?

soonie
im asking to hang out
from there we’ll see?

20cmst8top
I’m down

soonie
but first
whyd you change your user?

20cmst8top
Because I thought you were going to ghost me and it was kind of an inside joke?
I haven’t really talked to anyone else on here

soonie
oh
honestly
there was someone I thought I liked
but it’s not really amounting to anything
and I figure we should at least meet and see what happens?
don’t be ugly, okay?

20cmst8top
Lmao I’ll try
Where are we meeting?
I’ll let you make the call

Minho takes a deep breath.

They decide to meet at a café near where Minho works (not that he tells the guy that detail, just in case he turns out to be a weirdo after all). But there’s still a few days until Saturday, and even though they’re meeting in a public place, he’s still nervous. Maybe it’s because this does seem like a date. A simple date, sure, it’s just coffee, but obviously it’s not like he’s meeting just a friend.

But this is good. He’s putting himself out there and maybe it’ll backfire completely, but maybe he’ll forget about Chris and maybe he’ll finally find someone decent so he doesn’t have to hookup with near strangers in bathrooms anymore.

He has no plans to tell Jisung about any of it though, not until he actually knows if it’ll amount to anything. Also, he doesn’t want to have to explain the whole situation. And at the end of the day, this might just be a hookup. Which would be fine, because Minho wouldn’t mind getting laid. But he also wouldn’t mind going on a date first.

He can’t keep wondering if Chris was indeed trying to ask him out. It didn’t happen. Just because Chris is probably one of the nicest people Minho has ever met, doesn’t mean they’d even be compatible. A bathroom blowjob does not a relationship make. He’d much rather roll the dice with his mystery guy anyway. Someone new will be good for him.

~

The café is busy, full of friends hanging out on a Saturday afternoon and various people sitting alone with their laptops. Minho is no stranger to sipping on his coffee alone, watching the other customers. Sometimes he comes with Jisung, just so they can people watch and gossip, but he often comes alone too, to work or study or just to hang around if he has nothing better to do.

It makes him less nervous to show up early, so that’s what he’s done, arrived at the café thirty minutes before he’s supposed to meet mystery hookup app guy, who he still has no idea anything about. Including what he looks like. Maybe they should have exchanged pictures first. But he figures they’ll realize who each other is. At least, the guy will message him when he arrives, and then that’ll be enough of a clue. Still, Minho’s eyes are trained on the door.

The iced coffee he’s been drinking is already almost half empty, which is probably not good. He should have waited to order because he’s definitely going to have to pee soon and he’ll also be finished with his drink before the guy is, but he could just order something else. Maybe a muffin? Another drink? He glances over at the menu above the counter, eyes darting over the various drink options, but not really taking anything in. He’s too nervous. Caffeine isn’t helping.

It’s definitely been too long since he’s been on an actual date. Since he’s liked someone. What if they don’t click in person, or they have nothing to talk about? The whole thing might get really uncomfortable really fast.

Minho takes a deep breath and glances back at the door. Nothing. And then a mother and daughter walk in and take the last open table. So definitely good that he got here early. But it’s not really early anymore. The guy should be here in the next few minutes. Unless he ends up being late. Which he might be, because Minho hasn’t heard from him since this morning when they confirmed they were still meeting up.

Deciding to check that they’re still on, Minho looks down at his phone and opens his messages. Maybe he should wait though, he doesn’t want to seem too intense right off the bat and technically it’s his own fault for getting here early. So, he locks his phone again and looks back up just as the door to the café opens. He gets a first glimpse through the door of the guy coming in and his stomach does a somersault. It has to be him.

The guy is dressed in all black, a hoodie and black jeans ripped at the knees. He’s not that tall, but Minho doesn’t really care about that. He’s about to wave him over, about to get out his phone and text, but then the guy looks up and Minho feels like his stomach is going to drop out of his ass. Like right out, right onto the floor, and then he’s going to crawl into a ball and try to disappear.

Because it’s not his mystery guy.

It’s fucking Chris.

It’s Chris and there are no empty tables and when Chris takes off the hat he’s wearing, cards his hand through his annoyingly hot curls, he looks over and makes direct eye contact with Minho. His face does something funny, something like surprise and confusion, and then something Minho can’t quite figure out. And then Chris’s ears turn red, Minho can tell even from where he’s sitting.

There is absolutely no way in hell that Minho is going to admit to Chris why he’s here. In fact, he’s not even going to be able to tell his mystery guy that he’s here now, because then Chris would know. So he does what seems like the most reasonable thing in his moment of panic. He waves Chris over and watches Chris cross the café until he’s at Minho’s table.

“Hey,” he says, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I didn’t—um, it’s pretty crowded in here, huh?”

“Yeah. I guess it normally is on the weekends,” Minho says, nervously glancing at the door again. Nothing. And no messages on his phone. Maybe he’s getting stood up. “Were you…I mean, if you’re alone, you can share a table with me.”

“Yeah,” Chris looks back towards the door too. “I’ve never been here, I just…thought I would try it.”

“Cool. Yeah, I come here all the time, so I recommend the vanilla latte, but anything with matcha is really good too,” Minho explains. “The macarons are good, but they’re way too expensive, so just get a muffin or something.”

Chris laughs. “Alright. I’ll order and…be right back?”

Minho watches him go to the counter, but once Chris has his back turned, his head whips around to watch the door. It doesn’t open though. No one comes in and his phone is silent. Did they have some kind of miscommunication? He could message the guy now and ask, but he doesn’t want him showing up while Chris is here. He doesn’t want Chris to know he’s meeting some guy from a hookup app and he doesn’t want hookup app guy to know of Chris’s existence. That situation would be both Minho’s worst nightmare and also maybe something like the start to a sex dream, but that’s beside the point.

He can figure out why he’s been stood up later.

When Chris comes back with his drink and muffin, Minho shifts around to try and get comfortable. He doesn’t have his laptop or anything, so he can’t pretend he was here for studying or work. The best bet is to let Chris talk.

“So…how did your baseball game go the other day?”

“Mmm,” Chris takes a sip from his drink and then shrugs. “It was fine. I ended up going by myself, so…kinda boring. I tried asking some of my coworkers, but most of them are pretty annoying so I’m glad none of them went with me.”

“Honestly I don’t really know much about your job,” Minho admits. This time, Chris is the one who glances towards the door, but after a few seconds, he looks away again and meets Minho’s gaze. He looks good today, despite the fact that he’s just wearing a black hoodie and jeans. Then again, he has the kind of face that makes it hard for him to look bad.

“You’d probably be bored by it,” Chris answers. “I mean, it’s not really what I thought I was going to do with my life, but I’ve always been into sports, I guess. Mostly swimming.”

“Yeah, you look like you’d swim,” Minho says, which makes Chris laugh.

“Is that a compliment?”

“Just an observation.”

“You dance right? Jisung mentioned it.”

“Yeah. More in high school, but I still do sometimes. It never really amounted to anything,” Minho says.

“You look like you dance.”

“Ah, you didn’t know, I was born with this amazing body?”

Chris snorts. “I just mean, I’ve been around dancers before, so I can definitely tell you have the legs,” he says. “They didn’t have your amazing face though.”

“Wow. That was a terrible line, but you’re right. I do have an amazing face,” Minho jokes. “Who are these dancers you’ve been around?”

“Oh,” Chris sighs, cuts his muffin in half with a fork before scooting the plate to the middle of the table, offering the other half to Minho. It’s sweet, even though it’s really nothing. Still, Minho breaks off a piece and pops it into his mouth. “Before I got this job and moved here, I was living in Korea. My family lived there for a little while, but they moved back to Australia when I was a teenager. I stayed behind.”

“What? Why?”

“I was, uh, I wanted to be, like, an idol,” Chris says. “I mean, I was going to be. I was a trainee under a big company and everything.”

Minho blinks. The confession definitely wasn’t one he was expecting. It reminds him of a time when he wanted that life, when he thought he would audition and it would somehow work out for him. But he never really went for it, never fully believed in himself enough for that.

“Wow. And here I thought you were just a jock.”

“The head of the company didn’t like that I wanted to pick my own group. I pushed back and when he told me my friend didn’t have the skills, I realized maybe…maybe it was better if we left. So we—Felix, it was Felix—we decided to leave. I don’t know if he regrets it. Sometimes I do,” Chris admits, but then he shakes his head. “But mostly things are good now. I don’t know why I just told you all that. It’s not like it’s a big sob story or anything, me and Felix got into school around here and I know he’s happier.”

“Are you?”

“I guess,” Chris says. “I mean, I can openly date guys now if I want, so there’s that.”

Minho snorts. “How’s that going for you?”

“How’s it going for you?” Chris retorts, and Minho tries to take another sip from his coffee, only to find it now empty.

“I told you the other day, I haven’t even been in a serious relationship in forever, so obviously not great,” Minho mutters, even though he doesn’t want to bring up the conversation from the other day again. If Chris wasn’t going to ask him out, he doesn’t want to hear about whoever he did ask out. The whole point of today was to forget about Chris, but that has not worked out so far.

“Honestly,” Chris says, drawing out the word a little bit. “I feel like Jisung is kind of in love with you.”

Minho coughs. “What? No, he’s definitely not.”

“He talks about you all the time. I dunno, maybe I’m wrong. You know him better than I do.”

“He’s been trying to convince me I should go out with you since…since, I don’t know, we met you? Not to make it weird or anything though, it’s just because he thinks you’re hot,” Minho says, his mouth working faster than his brain. “And I’m hot, so naturally Jisung thinks we’d be great together. But until recently you’ve been in a relationship.”

“I’m probably not your type though, being a jock and whatnot,” Chris says. His face is a little bit flushed, made more noticeable by his dark clothes and pale skin. Minho wonders if his skin would mark easily. If he dragged his nails down Chris’s back, would the lines be visible for days afterwards? He already knows Chris’s lips are soft, but he can’t quite remember if his skin was just as soft.

“I don’t have a type.”

“No?”

“No. Just guys that aren’t interested in me and have nice…um, eyes.”

“Dude. You and I both know you were not about to say ‘eyes’,” Chris says, kicking Minho lightly from under the table. They both laugh, and it feels easy, despite the fact that Minho can feel anxiety still thrumming under his skin about possibly being stood up here. That, and the bathroom hookup. Oh, and Chris’s weird questions the other day. All of it is there, in the back of his mind, but it’s still easy to laugh with Chris.

But this is a familiar feeling. It’s one he’s felt with plenty of boys, and plenty of times his anxiety was justified. The worries that he would push down always seemed to end up proven right. Maybe that was his own fault, maybe he was worrying things into reality back then. Because all of that wasn’t quite the same as what he’s feeling now. Now, he doesn’t worry that Chris is secretly an asshole who would break his heart. However, Chris could still break his heart in other ways. It could be as simple as Chris not reciprocating the feelings that Minho keeps trying to push down.

In the past, it’s been easy to push down these feelings. Sure, Minho has love to give, but he’s given it in other ways. To his friends, to his pets. He’s given it in places where he knows it’ll be accepted and returned.

“Anyway,” Minho clears his throat. “You never…there was never anything between you and any of the other guys under the company with you?”

“What happened in the dorms, stayed in the dorms,” Chris says jokingly, but then shakes his head. “No. Nothing really happened there with anyone. Honestly, maybe that’s why I started dating Jess so soon when I moved here. I just…really wanted it, ya know?”

“So it sucked when it didn’t work? I know.”

“But I haven’t, like, given up on love or whatever,” Chris says. He looks towards the door again and then taps his phone to check for notifications. It’s flat on the table, so Minho can see when the screen lights up. There are no messages, just a lockscreen photo of a small dog.

“What’s your dog’s name?”

“Oh. Berry. She’s really friendly, she’d like you even though you aren’t a dog person,” Chris says. “I think she’d convert you, actually.”

“Um. Untrue. And even if she tried, I would come home and the cats would try to murder me. Do you really want that on your conscience?” Minho teases. “You may win the hearts of the cats at the shelter but my cats are not as easy to please. Especially Dori.”

For a while, the two of them talk about their pets. That, too, is easy to talk about with Chris. Probably because no matter what the subject is, Chris has a way of listening like everything Minho says is the most important thing he’s ever heard. And he laughs at all Minho’s jokes, even the sarcastic ones. Chris is funny too, in a shy sort of way, which is cute because Minho never really thought of him as being shy before.

Even though Chris is clearly confident, clearly can keep a conversation flowing, he also blushes easily. It’s endearing.

Eventually though, Chris excuses him to go to the restroom and Minho is left alone at the table again. It’s over an hour past when he was supposed to meet the guy from the hookup app. So definitely stood up. Great. Well, in this instance, it is great, because having to explain to Chris what he was actually doing here would have been very embarrassing. But it’s not great in the sense that being stood up sucks ass. And not in the fun way.

With a sigh, Minho leans back in his chair and opens his messages with the guy. Just as he does, the typing bubbles appear and his stomach flip-flops. No one new has come into the café though, so he waits to see what the message says.

MrItsGayToTop
Hey
Do you think we could raincheck today?

Minho waits a moment. So…not quite stood up? Or slightly stood up, but not ghosted?

soonie
yeah sure
something came up for me anyway
I was going to message you but I lost track of time

MrItsGayToTop
Okay cool
I still wanna meet
You do, too, right?

soonie
yeah
maybe this week you could just come over to my place or something

MrItsGayToTop
Really?

soonie
yeah I mean we can’t miss each other if you’re at my apartment

MrItsGayToTop
What about a date?

soonie
you can still take me out
but honestly the more I think about it
its been way too long since I got laid

MrItsGayToTop
Lol
I do like your honesty

soonie
cool because I wanna fuck you
if that’s cool with you
idk if its your first time but like I’ll take care of you

MrItsGayToTop
Dude don’t I cant sext you right now

soonie
it wasn’t a sext I was just saying lol

MrItsGayToTop
Noted

Before Minho can respond, he sees Chris coming out of the bathroom, so he locks his phone and shoves it back into his pocket. Chris does the same, looking up with a smile when his phone is tucked away in the pocket of his hoodie.

Both of them have finished their drinks and the muffin by now, and most of the other people that were at the café when Chris arrived, have left. There are a few other empty tables now, so technically Chris could go sit by himself. He doesn’t though. He slides back into the chair across from Minho and looks at his empty cup. “Should I order something else?” he asks after a moment. “I probably shouldn’t drink anymore coffee though, or else I’ll never go to sleep tonight.”

“You could. They have good smoothies, too,” Minho suggests.

“Are you hungry?”

“Oh. Yeah, I could eat?”

“Do you wanna come over? I can order delivery and we can watch a movie or something? Unless you have something else to do today,” Chris asks. Of course Minho doesn’t have anything else to do today. But he also wasn’t expecting to be invited to Chris’s place. “If it’s more incentive, I could show you old videos of me from when I was almost an idol. There’s tons of shit on the internet from when I was doing background stuff.”

“Wow, you’re going to let me into your secret past so soon?” Minho teases. “I guess I can’t really say no to that.”

“Honestly, Hyunjin has kind of stolen Felix from me and Changbin is always busy,” Chris admits with a little shrug. “And all my other friends live in other countries.”

Minho snorts. “So I’m like, what, the fifty-third choice?”

“No! No, I wanna hang out with you.”

“I’m just kidding. We can go to your place.” Even though it’s a horrible idea. Minho can’t read Chris at all. He can’t figure out if Chris really wants to be just friends or if he wants something more. But they’ve had a nice time, so the natural progression is for them to go somewhere else to hang out. Then again, they could get food anywhere. Yet, Chris suggested going back to his place. What does that mean? Something? Nothing?

As it turns out, Chris lives in a building just around the corner from the café, so they end up walking. Which means Minho doesn’t have too much time to overthink the whole thing. Chris talks most of the way, explaining that his apartment is kind of plain, so not to make fun. When they get there, the first thing Minho notices are the boxes in the hallway by the door.

There’s clothes in a couple of them, as well as some decorative stuff that doesn’t really seem like Chris’s taste. Based on the bright pink hoodie on top of the pile of clothes in one box, Minho assumes it must be Chris’s ex’s things that she hasn’t gotten yet. Did they live together? Minho guesses they must have.

The second thing he notices is the little dog that jumps off the couch in the living room and runs to greet them. She jumps up for Chris to pet her first, and then sniff’s Minho’s hand when he crouches down. Almost right away, she climbs into his lap, tail wagging.

“See? Told you she’d like you,” Chris says, kicking off his shoes by the door.

“Is there anyone she doesn’t like?”

“I guess not. You can make yourself at home, I’ll order us some food.”

Chris disappears into the kitchen and Minho carries Berry with him into the living room after taking off his own shoes. The apartment is plain, but it’s clean and the couch looks new. Chris also has a nice TV, and a bunch of movies on the shelf under it. There are a few pictures framed on the wall, so Minho sets Berry down on the couch and walks over to look at them.

Most of them look like Chris with his family. His mother stands with a much younger looking Chris and two other young kids in one photo. She’s pretty, and Chris has the same lopsided, dimpled smile. In another photo, Chris sits on the floor in what looks like a dance studio with a group of other kids that look to be around the same age as he is in the picture. Minho recognizes Felix, sitting next to Chris, their arms around each other.

It reminds Minho of himself and Jisung, in a way. Clearly, they’ve been through a lot together.

There aren’t any pictures of Chris with his ex on the wall.

“There used to be more stuff in here,” Chris says suddenly, and Minho turns around. “But as you saw, I’m waiting for Jess to come get it. Most of it was stuff she bought so I don’t really want it anymore.”

“Would it be weird if I said I usually just keep things from my exes?” Minho asks, sitting next to Chris on the couch. “I mean, if they leave stuff or give me stuff…I’m not gonna throw away perfectly good stuff, ya know?”

“Mm, she’d probably kill me if I threw any of that away. But she won’t come over and pick it up either. She’s decided to be mad at me now, because I wouldn’t get back with her after she tried to apologize,” Chris explains. “But honestly…I’m not really sure if it’s a good idea for her to come over. I feel like we’d end up sleeping together and then I’d be stupid enough to agree to get back together. Because I always give people way too many chances.”

“You’re too nice,” Minho decides, which makes Chris’s eyebrows shoot up. “I’m just saying, sometimes you gotta stand up for yourself. I can teach you.”

“Jisung said when you’re being mean, it actually means you like someone.”

“I’m not a five year old boy. I’m not gonna pull on your hair on the playground. That’s not what he meant. That’s not what I mean,” Minho says, shaking his head. “Like, yeah, I tease my friends and stuff, but they know how I am. They know I love them.”

“So what did you mean then?”

“That if you wanna have break-up sex with your ex, then do it, but she cheated on you. So I wouldn’t recommend getting back together and you should tell her to just come get her stuff or you’ll throw it away. Actually,” Minho pauses and glances back at the boxes. “I’ll throw it away for you. Tell her your strikingly handsome new friend Minho is taking all of it today if she doesn’t come get it.”

Chris laughs, but he rolls his eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Come on. And hey, if I’m here, you can’t sleep with her. I’m not interested in a threesome today.”

This time Chris’s ears turn pink again when he laughs. “Okay. Okay fine, I’ll text her and you can stay here until she leaves.”

“Unless you really want to get back with her,” Minho mutters, crossing his arms. “But you’re hot and you can do better than someone who cheated on you.”

“Thanks. That was almost nice of you.”

“Ah,” Minho bumps his shoulder against Chris’s. “Don’t push it.”

Chris giggles, but he does take out his phone and sends a text. Once he has, he takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to get back with her,” he says.

“I figured. I mean, you were saying you liked someone else, anyway, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you should see what happens with that.”

Chris nods, and Minho reaches over to the coffee table to grab the TV remote so he doesn’t have to meet Chris’s gaze. Because he can feel Chris looking at him. It makes him buzz under his skin. And obviously he wants to ask, obviously he wants to know who Chris likes. But he can’t ask. If Chris liked him, he would have said so by now.

And so they don’t talk about it anymore, instead Chris shows Minho an old music video where he was a background actor. It’s pretty funny, leads them into talking about safer subjects until the food arrives. While they’re eating, Chris’s phone pings and he tells Minho it’s his ex, saying that she’ll be there to pick up the rest of her stuff in a little while. Minho can feel Chris’s demeanor shift, can tell that he’s nervous, but he doesn’t want to bring attention to it.

“You know, I got cheated on twice in college.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. And my high school boyfriend ghosted me one day and started dating some girl and it was like we never even went out.”

“Minho—”

“So I get it. And I guess maybe it’s not such a bad thing that you’re so nice.” They’re both quiet for a few moments, so Minho looks away and starts to pet Berry, but she jumps off the couch instead. Without her wedged between them, Chris is able to shift closer and Minho feels his hand briefly on his arm before it drops away. “And not to knock rebound sex, but that’s kind of all I’ve been doing so you should probably keep being nice and not ever ask me for advice.”

“Dude, you know that a few bad people doesn’t mean everyone is gonna cheat on you, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah I know that,” Minho says with a shrug. “I didn’t mean to get all depressing on you.”

“It’s okay. You can talk to me about whatever.”

But not really, because Minho wants to talk about what happened between them at the party. He wants to tell Chris why he was really at the café today, just so he can see his reaction. Just so he can find out if Chris wants him instead.

“Let’s just, um, finish eating,” Minho decides, stabbing his chopsticks into the noodles Chris had ordered for them.

“You’re funny,” Chris murmurs, but he does the same, leaning over his takeout container when he takes a bite.

“I am funny, but I wasn’t trying to be, so what’re you talking about?”

“That you’re kind of mysterious but at the same time you aren’t.”

“Says the guy dressed in all black with a past that I never knew about until a couple hours ago.”

“I’m an open book. Anything you wanna know, you can ask me,” Chris says. “But I’ve always been nervous to ask you to hang out because you have this whole…vibe. And you and Jisung always seem so close, it was like a club I couldn’t get into.”

“Well it is,” Minho jokes, setting his takeout container down on the table. “You can try to get in, but I don’t know if you can pass initiation.”

“See? That’s what I mean.” Chris points his chopsticks in Minho’s direction. “Sometimes you’re really honest and then sometimes you do…that.”

“What? Use sarcasm as a defense mechanism.”

“Yeah.” Chris’s lips quirk up into a small smile. “Are you just tough to crack? Like, do you eventually soften up.”

“Maybe. If I like you enough.”

“Do you like me?”

Minho leans back on the couch and meets Chris’s eyes. He’s not even sure why they’re talking about this, or how they got here. “Everyone likes you.”

“I’m not asking about everyone.”

Minho rolls his eyes and then sighs loudly. “Yeah, I think you’re alright.” I want to kiss you right now.

“Cool. I think you’re alright too,” Chris says. “When we first volunteered together, and you got mad at me because I put dog food in the storage cabinet for the cat food, I kinda had a crush on you. Not because you, like, yelled at me. But because I watched you for the rest of the evening, taking care of all the cats and staying longer than you had to. I saw you and Jisung laughing and joking around when we were all leaving. I could tell you were fun to be around and that you were passionate about the things you cared about.”

Minho blinks. What the fuck.

This is exactly the kind of shit Chris would pull. Confessing something and giving compliments over takeout while his eyes practically sparkle. So annoying. So, so, fucking annoying.

“What’s your point?”

“That you’re going to find someone, dude,” Chris says simply. “You’re kind of amazing.”

Oh. Right. Someone. As in someone else.

Unless Minho stops being an idiot. Because he could. He could stop worrying about what might happen and just go for it. Jisung would certainly encourage him to do so. All signs are pointing to Chris liking him anyway, right? Who cares about some random guy on a hookup app when he has Chris right here in front of him?

“So are you,” Minho finally says, because he should probably say something. Chris tilts his head to the side, like he’s not exactly sure what Minho means, because too much silence has passed between them. He’s turning away, twirling his chopsticks back in his food, when Minho sits up and cups the side of Chris’s face, turning him back so they’re facing each other. It all happens fast, too fast, but Chris doesn’t jerk away and normally Minho would ask, but it’s like his head is buzzing when he leans in and slots his lips over Chris’s.

For a moment nothing happens, everything is still. But then Chris has his hands on Minho’s waist and his lips have parted and Minho groans against his lips. They’re still so soft, and Chris’s hands grip the fabric of his shirt when Minho’s tongue curls into his mouth, even tighter when he bites Chris’s plush lower lip. And then Chris is pressing forward, kissing Minho harder, his hands sliding up under Minho’s shirt, against the skin of his back. His hands are warm and he feels solid, and Minho wants.

But Chris must also move, turn so he can push Minho back into the couch, because something hits the floor and Berry starts barking and Chris pulls away.

Minho feels like he did in the bathroom when Hyunjin knocked on the door. Like time has suddenly sped up again, even though Chris is just looking over his shoulder and his hands are still on Minho’s body.

“Shit,” Chris mutters, and then he’s gone. The takeout had fallen off his lap onto the floor and Berry is trying to eat it. Minho manages to compose himself enough to scoop Berry up while Chris tries to shovel noodles back into the takeout container. His carpet will probably have a stain.

“Chris—”

“It’s fine, it’s my fault,” Chris says, but his voice sounds different. Short. Curt.

“Chris, you should just leave it,” Minho says, but even though he tries to sound sexy, it probably comes off more desperate than anything. Still, Chris turns to look at him again and Berry wiggles in Minho’s arms. “Come back. Kiss me again.”

As soon as Chris opens his mouth, there’s a knock at the door. Fuck. The ex-girlfriend. Of course.

“I—I’m really sorry,” Chris says. He stands up and holds his hands out, lets Minho hand Berry off into his arms instead. “I think…I think I gave you the wrong idea.”

“What?”

Another knock at the door.

“I just—it’s not that I don’t like you, but there’s someone else and—”

“So you just had your tongue down my throat for what? Fun and games?” Minho asks, and he knows he sounds mad now. He knows he looks mad, because Chris looks genuinely upset with himself. “You kissed me back.”

“I know. I’m really sorry. I don’t wanna lead you on and I’ve been talking to someone else, so I want—I was going to see where that goes, ya know? So—” Another knock and Chris cuts off mid-ramble. But it’s fine, because Minho wants to leave anyway.

“Whatever,” he mutters, walking towards the door just before it opens and Chris’s ex steps in tentatively, like she’s not sure if she’s allowed. When she sees Minho, her eyes narrow slightly, but she doesn’t say anything because he’s putting his shoes on to leave. “I’m sorry too,” he finally adds, and Chris looks between Minho and his ex like he doesn’t know what to do. And Minho doesn’t blame him. The whole day has felt like a rush of anxiety.

“Minho, I—”

“No seriously. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have—just—I hope it works out with whoever it is you like,” Minho says, and then he gives Jess a tight smile before slipping past her into the hallway. He can hear her voice as he walks away, asking Chris what happened. But eventually it fades and then he’s outside, his head spinning and his hands shaking just slightly.

Somehow he manages to start walking in the direction of the café, where he left his car, but he can feel tears stinging in his eyes, so he stops and takes out his phone. He desperately wants to talk to Jisung, but he also doesn’t want to rehash everything just yet. Besides, Jisung is probably out doing something on a Saturday.

So Minho walks the rest of the way to his car and drives home.

Once he steps into his apartment and is promptly greeted by his three hungry cats, he almost wonders if kissing Chris even happened. It doesn’t feel like it did. Soonie circles around his legs, but when he bends down, she runs off into the kitchen. It could be because they’re all hungry, but he was also petting Chris’s dog. They probably sense the betrayal.

Of course, they’re all happy when he feeds them, even though Doongie keeps giving him a death stare while he’s fixing their food. For a little while though, he doesn’t think about what just happened. That is, until he’s cleaning the cat bowls and his phone buzzes and he sees a DM on Instagram from Chris.

“Hey, can we talk?”

Minho unlocks his phone while still standing at the kitchen sink, but he doesn’t open Chris’s message. No they can’t talk. What is there to talk about? They kissed (for the second time) and Chris has decided he isn’t into it. Which seems contradictory considering he was all over Minho for a few seconds there.

Instead of respond to Chris, Minho sends a message to someone else.

soonie
hey
are you still busy
because you should come over now

A few minutes pass. Long enough for Minho to finish cleaning up in the kitchen, brush his teeth, and change into more comfortable clothes. He’s situated himself on the couch and the cats have decided to forgive him for his sins when he gets a response.

MrItsGayToTop
Now?
Are you sure?

soonie
yes
fuck it why not?

MrItsGayToTop
Okay
Um
Am I coming over to hook up?

soonie
for whatever you want

MrItsGayToTop
I wanna hook up
Actually today kind of sucked and I was bummed we didn’t meet up
So yeah
I want you

soonie
good
come over then
[address shared]

MrItsGayToTop
Okay
I’m gonna take a shower or whatever so I’ll text when I’m outside

soonie
just come up theres not like a doorman or anything

Minho spends the next hour attempting to make his apartment look as nice as possible. He checks that he has lube, which he does, and condoms, and he brushes his teeth for a second time. It’s been a while since he’s actually hooked up with someone like this. At his apartment. He’s not really sure what to expect.

All he knows is he wants to take his mind off Chris. For real this time. Fuck whatever Jisung ever saw in him. And he’s going to tell Jisung that next time he sees him.

“Okay,” Minho mutters to himself. He looks down at the cats. They’re all watching him like they know something is going on. “Just act normal guys,” he says to them. They definitely won’t listen. “I’m probably going to have to lock you out of the bedroom, but it’s nothing personal.” Dori meows at him. “Yes, you too. Especially you.”

Maybe he should light a candle. He starts to look around for one, but then he decides he probably shouldn’t. The cats might knock stuff around if he forgets to blow the candle out and the last thing he needs is a fire while he trying to get laid. Instead he runs back to the bathroom and sprays on some kind of body spray that Jisung got for him a long time ago. It’s weird. Probably not the move. But it’s too late now.

He sighs and runs his hands through his hair a few times, smoothes his hands down the front of his shirt and sweatpants and tries not to think of the way it felt when Chris’s hands slid under it, over his skin.

And then his phone pings.

MrItsGayToTop
Hey I’m here
I’m coming up

Fuck.

“Fuck.”

Minho runs back into his bedroom and tries to make sure the sheets look nice, but then he starts to wonder if he should have changed the pillowcases. But there’s not time and Dori has already come in and jumped on the bed, so that’s fucking great.

He throws his phone on the bedside table and takes one more deep breath just as there’s a knock at the door. More than anything, he’s hoping this guy is hot. At least a little bit. He also hopes he’s not a murderer, because that would really ruin the day.

He doesn’t bother looking through the peep hole when he gets to the door. Instead, he turns the knob and swings the door open in one swift motion, before he can chicken out because he’s way more nervous than he’d like to admit. Even more nervous than he was earlier, at the café.

“Hey, I’m—”

Minho’s voice dies in his throat. Shrivels up and crawls down into his stomach and then probably falls out of his ass.

The entire fucking universe has got to be playing some kind of sick joke on him. There’s no other explanation for the absolute fuckery that is this day.

Because it’s Chris.

Chris is standing at his door.

Christopher fucking Bang.

“Minho?” Chris asks, looking down at his phone and then back up at Minho, and then down the hallway. Is he thinking about running? Because Minho is.

“What—what are you doing here?” Minho asks. This has got to be a misunderstanding. Chris is here because—because he wanted to talk. And he must have gotten Minho’s address from someone, from Jisung. Although that would not explain why he sounds so confused.

“I’m…um, this is apartment 207, right?” Chris asks carefully.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. Um.” Chris laughs nervously and shifts on his feet. “Wow. Are you…are you Soonie?”

Minho could deny it. He could act like he has no idea what Chris is talking about. He definitely could. That is an option. He could also slam the door in Chris’s face and never emerge from his apartment ever again. Just become a hermit. Try and turn into a cat. That might be easier than facing whatever this is.

Except the fact is, he’s been talking to Chris this whole time. And because they are obviously both idiots, they didn’t even realize it.

“Actually,” Minho says. “Soonie is my cat.”

Chris laughs, a high pitched sound that gives away the fact that he’s nervous. It all makes sense though, in an annoyingly frustrating way. The guy from the app was too likeable to not be Chris. If anyone on an app made for hookups, where most guys are assholes and usually a little bit racist, of course Chris would be the singular decent person that Minho just so happened to end up talking to during a night of dire boredom.

But what the hell are they supposed to do now? They just had a fight, didn’t they? At least, a mild argument, and Minho just kissed Chris a little over an hour ago. A kiss that was shut down pretty quickly. And now he’s got Chris standing in the hallway outside his apartment, his hair slightly damp from a shower and dressed in one of his many tank tops that shows off his arms.

“Can, um, can I come in?” Chris asks, and Minho steps aside even though he might be slowly dying inside.

“This is weird,” he says, once Chris is standing in the entryway taking his shoes off and the door is shut again. “So…you were at the café earlier because…”

“Yeah,” Chris answers, leaning against the wall. Doongie saunters over, circling between Chris’s legs before giving Minho a curious look. “I kind of panicked when I saw you. I thought for a second maybe you were…you know…but then you acted like you were surprised to see me and like you were just there to hang out by yourself, so I didn’t say anything.”

“Well obviously I wasn’t going to say anything!” Minho says. “What the hell was I supposed to say? ‘Oh yeah sorry I’m here to meet some guy from a hookup app but I don’t actually know what he looks like so can you please leave?’”

“I wouldn’t have made fun.” Chris looks down at the cat and when he crouches down, Doongie doesn’t run away. “Besides, I was obviously there for the same reason.”

“Duh.”

“Is this Soonie?”

“No, that’s Doongie. I have three cats.”

“Right.”

“Do you want, like, something to drink? I don’t know what to do now. I mean, this whole thing is…I don’t know. My head is spinning.”

Chris looks up from where he’s crouched on the floor. It’s still hard to read him, or figure out what he’s thinking. Is he disappointed? Was ‘Soonie’ the other person he was interested in? And if so, then what does that mean? They were going to hook up, but are they still? It’s not like they haven’t already, both as themselves and as their hookup app alter egos.

“I’ll have some water,” Chris decides. “Unless you just wanted me to go?”

“Do you want to go?” Minho asks, but he wanders into the kitchen anyway, Chris trailing behind him. He offers a bottled water from the fridge, which Chris accepts.

“I don’t necessarily wanna go,” Chris admits carefully. “You know, I didn’t stop you earlier because I don’t like you or anything like that. Honestly, I guess you started talking about how you’ve been cheated on and I didn’t want to pursue anything with you until I saw things through with…”

“With me?” Minho asks jokingly. “Me when you didn’t know it was me, anyway.”

“Exactly. And—and you know, I do like you. But for a while I kinda thought you didn’t like me, so…yeah.”

“What? Why?”

“Because at the party—” Chris cuts off and his ears turn pink again. Minho stares back at him though, his eyes narrowing. When Chris clears his throat and looks down at the floor, Minho steps a little bit closer to him, but not quite close enough to reach out and touch him yet.

“What about the party?”

“Okay, fine, I lied, I did get blackout drunk but I still remember everything that happened. Which means I remember how you acted after…after what we did. And I thought you would have wanted to pretend nothing happened, so that’s what I did. I wanted thing to be normal between us,” Chris explains with an exasperated sigh. “I’ve probably been overthinking everything. I still liked you and I just didn’t want you to be mad. I was worried you didn’t enjoy what happened or…I don’t know. You’re weird.”

Minho feels his own lips turn up in a small smile. “Says the guy who told me ‘it’s not gay to top’.”

“Ugh, please do not bring that up,” Chris covers his face with his hand.

“Have you really never done anything? I know you’ve pretty much alluded to being inexperienced with guys?” Minho asks, because he’s still mildly horny and Chris did come here to hookup, didn’t he? That was the original plan.

“Not really. Besides with you,” Chris shrugs. “The opportunity never really presented itself.”

“And what if it was presenting itself now? Because honestly at this point I don’t really care if you lied about not remembering the party blowjob.” Minho says. He watches Chris twist open the water bottle and take a sip. He doesn’t seem nervous despite the fact that his ears are still pink. It’s always been obvious that Chris is confident in a shy sort of way. He doesn’t go out of the way to brag or show off, but Minho knows Chris knows he’s hot.

“I mean, isn’t that what I came here for?”

“I’m asking if you still want to?”

“Do you?”

“You answer first.”

“Yeah. Honestly, you kind of scare me, but…yeah,” Chris says, setting his bottle of water down on the counter.

“I scare you?”

“You’re kinda intense, yeah,” Chris nods with a small smile. “In a hot way, I guess.”

“Wow. Your dirty talk needs some work, but that’s okay,” Minho steps closer again, and even though there’s obvious intention there, he doesn’t expect it when Chris hooks his fingers under the waistband of Minho’s sweatpants to pull him in even closer.

“My dirty talk is fine, actually,” Chris says decidedly. “I wasn’t trying yet.”

“I think you should shut up and kiss me instead.”

There’s a good chance this is a horrible idea. They’re doing things all out of order and it’s all been so weird already, except that obviously something was meant to happen between them. Minho doesn’t believe in fate or anything like that (Jisung does, or else he believes  in astrology, which is slightly more annoying than fate) but Chris being both his regular crush and his mystery hookup app crush is a little bit too much to ignore. Everything could end up crashing and burning, but that doesn’t mean they can’t…have tonight, at least. Plus, if he passed this up, he won’t have anything interesting to tell Jisung next time they hang out. If he tells Jisung he passed on the opportunity to sleep with Christopher Bang, Jisung might actually murder him.

Besides, Minho really wants to sleep with Christopher Bang. Like really fucking bad. He’d be an idiot not to want to. And, he’s quite the catch himself. He doesn’t need anyone to tell him that, so actually Chris is pretty lucky too. For the record.

So when Chris smiles—actually it’s a little bit more of a smirk this time—and leans in, Minho is eager to meet him halfway. Kissing Chris is easy. He already knows that though. He already knows Chris’s lips are soft and his hands are grabby. But it’s good every time.  Maybe even better.

When Minho presses Chris into the kitchen counter, Chris moans. It’s louder this time, louder than he was in the bathroom and louder than he was on his couch, and Minho is pretty sure the sound goes straight to his dick. Of course, it helps that they’re pressed together now, bodies close enough that Minho can slot their legs together. His hands trail up Chris’s body, over his sides until he’s got his hands in Chris’s hair. Maybe he likes Chris’s hair too much, but he can’t help it. It’s too easy to pull on.

Which is exactly what he proceeds to do. He yanks hard enough that Chris’s head tilts back, exposing his neck. His eyes are hooded when he opens them and his lips are slick. “You can tell me,” Minho says softly, “what you like or don’t like.”

“Dude, just ‘cos I’ve never been with a guy before doesn’t mean I’m fragile or anything.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Okay, well if I don’t like something, I’ll say so. But you don’t have to be careful,” Chris says, and when he cups Minho through his sweatpants, he doesn’t exactly expect it. He’s not fully hard yet, but he’s definitely getting there because he’s been horny for Chris for ages now and it’s not like his sweatpants leave much to the imagination. Although, Chris has seen his dick already via blurry sexting photos. “I want this.”

Minho yanks harder at the back of Chris’s hair and this time when they kiss, it’s harder, hungrier. Chris’s tongue is insistent in Minho’s mouth. Minho sucks on it, the sound lewd in the otherwise quiet kitchen. Chris makes a softer noise, pulls away and licks his lips before kissing Minho again. His hand dips into Minho’s  sweatpants without any more preamble. His other hand grips Minho’s ass and it’s all so much at once that Minho can’t think. He only remembers that they’re making out in his kitchen when he feels one of the cats weaving between his legs at the same time Chris’s hand wraps around his cock and starts to stroke him to full hardness.

“Fuck,” Minho breaks the kiss, his lips grazing Chris’s jaw before he leans away. “Let’s go to my room. We have an audience.”

Chris’s eyes get wide for a moment before Minho nods towards where Dori is sitting on the opposite side of the counter, watching them with a very unamused expression. Meanwhile, Soonie is meowing at them from near their feet. “Right. Yeah. Bedroom,” Chris agrees. His hand slides out of Minho’s pants and when the waistband snaps back against his skin, Chris smiles at him. But Minho doesn’t say anything, instead grabbing Chris’s wrist and pulling him past the living room and into his bedroom. He closes the door behind them and when he turns around, Chris is sitting on the edge of his bed.

Now that they’re here, Minho feels a rush of nerves. He supposes he knew Chris was inexperienced with guys. He knew the person he was planning on hooking up with tonight was. But he didn’t know that person was Chris. Somehow that makes it more daunting. Probably because Chris is hot and Minho really fucking wants this to be good for them. Both of them. But Chris could very well hate all of it. A blowjob does not equate to Chris liking everything they might do tonight. Who doesn’t enjoy blowjobs?

“You’re staring at me,” Chris says.

“Yeah. Sorry. I was just thinking,” Minho mutters, walking closer until he’s standing between Chris’s legs.

“And here I thought you were just checking me out.”

“Well that too,” Minho says. Chris is fiddling with the strings on his sweatpants now. “I guess if I think about it, this whole thing is still kinda weird.”

“So don’t think about it,” Chris says simply. “I’m going to suck your dick. And then you can fuck me because I’ve been thinking about it and that’s what I want.”

Minho snorts. “Wow. Okay then.”

“So shut up and enjoy the blowjob.”

“What if you suck at it?”

“Am I not supposed to suck?” Chris wiggles his eyebrows and Minho rolls his eyes, looks up at the ceiling to hide the fact that he’s smiling, even though Chris is pulling down his pants and he’s kicking them aside and okay—okay, this is happening.  Chris is taking him out of his underwear and Minho hears him curse under his breath as his hand strokes Minho back to full hardness after their quick banter session. His touch is gentle, at least at first, before he grips him harder and smooths his other hand up under Minho’s shirt. “You’re pretty.”

Minho feels heat spread over his cheeks, down his chest and pool in his gut. He reaches over and thumbs over Chris’s lower lip until he parts his lips and sucks Minho’s thumb into his mouth. Chris’s inexperience doesn’t show. Although he doesn’t seem like the type to half-ass anything, so it makes sense that he would be good at something even on his first try. It would make sense that he doesn’t seem fazed when Minho presses down on his tongue before his thumb slides out of his mouth with a wet pop. It would make sense that Chris’s mouth falls open like he’s done this a thousand times already.

Maybe he’s been thinking about it. The idea that he might have been turns Minho on more than he’s like to admit. Though, he’s been thinking about it too. He’s been thinking about a lot of things. About this, Chris’s lips wrapped around his cock, and about how Chris’s cock felt on this tongue. About fucking Chris, riding Chris into the mattress. Because Chris has a really nice cock and Minho would like to do all the things with it.

Right now, it’s hard to focus on much else other than the way Chris takes him slowly into his mouth and bobs his head and the way his hands feel on Minho’s waist. When he pulls back to the head, his tongue swirls and his eyes flutter up to meet Minho’s gaze. “Are you—fuck are you sure you’ve never done this?”

“Pretty sure,” Chris speaks against his dick, one hand gripping him again and the other pushing at Minho’s shirt. “You should take this off.”

“So you can be fully dressed while I’m naked?”

“Dude, I’m not staying fully dressed. I don’t need to be naked to suck your dick.”

“Wow, call me ‘dude’ again. That’s so hot.”

Chris pinches him in the thigh, but Minho does pull his shirt off, throws it somewhere in the corner. He’s never been the type to show off his body, not the way Chris does, but he knows he looks good. He knows Chris thinks so by the way his eyes seem to darken, by the way his hand moves over Minho’s chest, over his nipples and back down to his cock before he takes him back into his mouth.

Somehow, probably because Chris is an overachiever or something, he takes Minho deeper. His eyes water, but he doesn’t gag and when he moans, Minho rolls his hips forward slightly. When Chris doesn’t protest, only moans louder, Minho does it again. And again. Again, until tears streak down Chris’s face and Minho feels a little bit too close to the edge. He pulls out abruptly and Chris inhales sharply.

“Are you okay?”

“Holy shit,” Chris wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. His lips are red and slick and so, so pretty. “I’m fine. I’m really fucking hard, actually. You can—were you close?”

“Yeah. But I don’t wanna cum yet,” Minho pushes Chris back so he scoots up the bed and Minho straddles him, yanking Chris’s shirt off and kissing him, his tongue moving languidly against Chris’s. He can taste himself and when he pulls back again, he swipes away the tears on Chris’s cheeks. His face and chest are flushed and Minho sits back on Chris’s thighs so he can look at him. He’s still got his shorts on, but he arches up into Minho’s touch when he trails a finger down the center of Chris’s chest, down further along the dips of his abs.

“Are you gonna touch me?”

Minho looks back at Chris’s face. “Do you like it rough?”

Chris blinks. “How rough?”

Minho scrapes his nails down Chris’s chest. It’s not hard. It’s just enough to leave a lingering red mark behind on Chris’s pale skin. “Like, do you mind if I leave marks?”

“I don’t mind.”

“You liked it when I fucked your mouth,” Minho states, leaning over and caging Chris’s head in with his arms. They’re almost nose-to-nose, but he’s hovering enough so their bodies aren’t touching.  “You look really fucking good with a cock in your mouth.”

“Yeah? You didn’t look so bad either last time,” Chris retorts, His leg hooking around Minho’s waist and pulling him flush.

Time moves slow and syrupy as they kiss, Chris’s hands roaming over Minho’s back and his pants eventually discarded somewhere on the floor. When Minho leans back to look at him, he wonders why the hell anyone would give up wanting to be with Chris. Of course, looks aren’t everything, but…but it’s kind of hard to think about anything else when Chris looks as good as he does.

Minho leaves marks across Chris’s neck, down his chest and stomach. When he bites down on Chris’s thigh, Chris groans through his teeth and his hips undulate off the bed. Minho’s eyes shift up, his hand grazing over Chris’s dick just enough to tease, cupping his balls breifly. There are purpling marks on Chris’s skin already, light scratches and bruises against pale skin that turn Minho on more than they probably should.

“Are you just gonna tease me all night?” Chris huffs. His hair is pushed back off his forehead now, and Minho just shrugs before he crawls back up the bed.

“I dunno. I like watching you squirm.”

“You know I could just flip us over and pin you to the bed, right?” Chris asks, and it sounds like a challenge.

“Kinky.”

But before Chris can even try anything, Minho has pinned Chris’s hands beside his head, grinding down against him, his tongue dragging along the marks he’s already left behind on Chris’s skin and pulling on Chris’s silver earring with his teeth. The friction feels a little bit too good, and Chris must agree because he grinds up to meet Minho, their cocks sliding together with nothing but sweat and precum and Minho could definitely cum like this, but he doesn’t want to.

So he lets go of one of Chris’s hands so he can press his hips back down. When he does, Chris whines into his mouth, uses his now free hand to grip Minho’s ass and try and pull him closer again. Minho smiles against Chris’s lips and bites down until Chris is gasping and he pulls away completely, sits up and reaches over to the bedside table.

“Fuck. You have sharp teeth,” Chris says between sharp inhales.

“I can’t help that you’re very biteable.”

“I’m pretty sure biteable is not a word,” Chris mutters. “What are you doing?”

“Getting lube and a condom.”

“Oh.”

“Do you still want to?” Minho looks back at Chris before pulling a condom from his bedside drawer and grabbing the lube. Chris’s eyes are a little bit wide, but he otherwise looks relaxed. He’s definitely still hard, anyway, the head of his cock is flushed and sticky with precum and his chest is rising and falling.

“Yeah,” Chris finally breathes. His fingers flex against Minho’s bedsheets.

“You sure?” Minho tosses the lube and condom onto the bed. “I mean, since you aren’t topping that makes it kinda gay, doesn’t it?”

Chris groans and covers his face with his hands. Minho just laughs and smooths his hand over Chris’s chest, plays with his nipple, as he settles back next to him. His blush travels all the way down his chest and Minho’s hand moves lower until he’s gripping Chris’s cock, stroking him slowly. Not enough to get him off, just enough to distract him a little bit. “You’re—ah—you’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Um, definitely not. But you know, you can fuck me if you’d rather. I like everything.”

“I mean obviously I want to, but I want—yeah, I want you to fuck me tonight,” Chris says. He smiles his lopsided little grin and Minho can’t help but feel warm inside. He can’t help but wonder what this might lead to. It could lead to nothing at all. Just a one night stand and shared glances, but nothing more. Or maybe things will work out. “Next time,” Chris adds, “Next time we can try something else. But for now, ya know, I’ll let you know if I’m uncomfortable.”

Next time.

“I’ll be gentle with you.”

“Oh, says the guy who was just asking me if I like it rough?”

“I can do that too.”

Chris rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t get to say anything else because Minho kisses him. This time it’s Chris who wraps his hand around Minho’s cock, his thumb moving in slow circles around the head. As much as Minho doesn’t want to stop kissing, he groans and sits back again, only Chris sits up with him, trailing feather light kisses along Minho’s jaw. “How do you want me?” Chris asks.

“Lay on your front. I like to see what I’m doing.”

“Of course you do,” Chris says, but he turns over and lays on his front anyway. He hums slightly when Minho straddles the back of his thighs and runs his hands down his back. His hair is messy now, and when Chris turns his head to the side slightly, Minho knows they can’t go back to how things were before after this. Not that he wants to. But they can’t pretend this didn’t happen.

“You have a nice ass,” Minho comments, slicking his fingers with lube because he doesn’t want to wait anymore. “I would have enjoyed any ass pics you would have sent.”

“Thanks?”

“It was a compliment, why’d you say it like that?”

“I guess I never really thought about it, that’s all.”

“Liar. You know you look good.” Minho grips Chris’s ass cheek and spreads him, rubs his finger down over his hole, watches him clench before he’s even really done anything. And he wants to tease Chris, wants to maybe eat him out, he wants to see just how much he can make him squirm, but he wants to fuck him even more, so he slowly presses his finger against Chris’s hole. “Relax.”

“I’m relaxed.”

“No you aren’t,” Minho grips his ass harder, and the muscles in Chris’s back flex, Even if he’s not saying so, it’s clear he’s nervous. “You ever had anything in your ass before?”

“Um.”

“Never mind,” Minho leans over him slightly, shifts so his cock rests against Chris’s ass, so he knows Chris can feel it. “I’ll make you feel good, but you have to let me.” His finger presses in a bit further. It still feels so tight, but somehow, when he digs his fingers into the flesh of Chris’s ass, it finally makes him relax enough for Minho to slide his finger the rest of the way in.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t getting off on this, on the subtle things that seem to affect Chris. Even though he’s quiet while Minho fingers him, his hands grip the sheets and he keeps his face mostly hidden in the pillows. Minho can tell without Chris saying anything that he feels good, at least a little bit. Enough that he lets out these soft gasps when Minho curls his fingers just right.

Normally, this isn’t necessarily Minho’s favorite part. Actually, he guesses he doesn’t normally have sex that feels like this. Heavy. Like it means something. He’s never been anyone’s first time for something like this, at least not that he knows of. His relationship in high school doesn’t feel like it counts for much. This feels like it does. And when he pulls his fingers out, Chris lets out a long breath of air and looks over his shoulders. Minho can feel his eyes on him as he rolls on the condom.

“Go slow, okay? At first?”

“Yeah. Are you—”

“Yeah I like it so far,” Chris assures him. “Fuck me.”

Minho’s lips quirk up. “Your face is all red.”

“Just fuck me already, I feel like you’ve been edging me all fucking night, dude.”

Minho smacks Chris’s ass. It’s not hard, barely even hard enough to sting, but Chris still groans and turns his head back around. He’s flush to the mattress, and Minho knows his cock is trapped against the sheets, but he also knows it’ll feel good soon. He positions himself before slowly pushing in and when he does slip inside Chris lets out a sound, lifts his hips and grips Minho’s wrist from where his hand is next to Chris’s head.

“How is it? You’re so fuckin’ tight.” Minho pauses his movements and looks down at the way Chris is stretched around his cock.

“Big. I dunno. You aren’t even that big. But it feels like it.”

“Oh thanks, really stroke my ego, would you?”

“I’m just saying, mine is bigger.”

Minho rolls his hips. And then he does it again and again until he’s bottomed out and Chris doesn’t have any further commentary. His body seems to tremble slightly as Minho slowly fucks into him, but he doesn’t tell Minho to stop and his moans sound like he’s enjoying it. And Minho definitely is. Even if it hadn’t been a while, Chris really does have a nice ass. Maybe Minho is biased.

The air is sticky now, or maybe it has been.

“I want—fuck Minho—”

“Want what?”

“Wanna turn over,” Chris mumbles.

“In a minute.”

“You can—you can be rough with me.”

“Yeah? You want me to fuck your tight little ass harder?”

“Minho—”

“Say it.”

“Yes, god fuck, please, fuck me harder,” Chris tries to crane his neck to look back again, but Minho snaps his hips forward now, setting a pace that makes it hard for both of them to keep quiet. He hopes his neighbors aren’t too bothered, but he can’t really make it a point to care very much. Especially not with his hips are slapping against Chris’s ass and heat is pooling in his gut. And definitely not when he does pull out and Chris rolls over, his chest rising and falling and his eyes hooded, cheeks flushed and hair wild around his face.

His mouth drops open when Minho pushes back into him, and when Chris pulls him down into a messy kiss, their teeth clack. The room fills with the sound of skin on skin, of moans and whispered dirty talk spoken into each other’s mouths. Minho can feel Chris’s nails scrape down his back and it stings, but he doesn’t care. Doesn’t care if it hurts tomorrow, doesn’t care if it draws blood.

His teeth sink into Chris’s skin, into his neck and broad shoulders, and his fingers grip Chris’s thighs where they wrap around his waist.

“I’m—I think I’m close,” Chris gasps, “Feels so good baby.”

And that—that’s new. At least it’s new from Chris, and it sends a wave of pleasure down Minho’s spine. “Say it again.”

Chris whines, his heels digging into Minho’s back. Minho grips his jaw, hand sliding down to wrap around Chris’s neck. He doesn’t do anything else, doesn’t apply any pressure at all, but he sees the way Chris’s eyes open a little wider before they roll back until they’re closed. “You’re so good,” Chris repeats. “Your cock feels so good, baby.”

“You too,” Minho whispers, his words slightly broken and his rhythm faltering because they’ve been going at this for too long and he knows he can’t hold off. “Taking it so good.”

“Need you—need you to touch me.”

“I don’t want it to be over,” Minho says, without really thinking, He doesn’t actually mean to say it all, it just comes out anyway. Being vulnerable is not exactly Minho’s favorite thing, and of course he would end up saying some shit like that while he’s ball deep in Chris’s ass. Because he probably wouldn’t say it any other time.

Except, Chris doesn’t seem to mind. It’s nothing like what they’re doing, nothing like the sharp pace Minho is still fucking into him, but Chris still smiles and brings Minho into a kiss that’s much softer. His hands cup the back of Minho’s head, carding gently through his hair until Minho reaches between them to jerk Chris off. As much as he doesn’t want it to be over, he also wants to see Chris cum. He wants to get him there.

It doesn’t take much, not after how long they’ve been going. When Chris cums, his back arches off the bed and his eyes clench shut and Minho can feel it, the way his whole body tenses and his grip tightens in Minho’s hair and his ass pulses around Minho’s cock. Even though it only lasts a few seconds, Chris spilling over Minho’s fist and across his own stomach, it feels like it’s longer. Minho won’t admit it—not now anyway—but Chris is kind of beautiful.

“Fuck,” Chris breathes, and Minho pulls out, because he doesn’t know if Chris can handle anything else. He pulls off the condom and tosses it somewhere (he doesn’t care if it’s gross, he just made Chris fucking Bang cum) and jerks himself off until he’s made a mess of Chris, still panting under him. He leans down a moment later and licks a stripe over Chris’s abdomen and his softening cock. Then he drags a finger through the mess and presses the same finger to Chris’s lips until he parts them, sucks them into his mouth and swirls his tongue around them until he makes a distressed sort of noise that’s half of a laugh.

“Too much?” Minho asks, pulling his fingers out of his mouth and flopping over next to Chris. Now that it’s over, now that the room is quiet save for their heavy breathing, it feels like time catches back up to them. Just like it always does.

“My ass hurts,” Chris answers. “Actually everything might hurt, but I feel too good to really care.” His eyes flutter closed and then back open and he turns his head to the side to face Minho. “You’re really cute.”

“Um, I just blew your mind and all you have to say is ‘you’re cute’?”

“Ah, just embrace it,” Chris rolls over and wraps himself around Minho, his legs hooking over him so Minho can’t move. He is strong, no longer pliant.

“You’re gross.”

“So are you.”

“Yeah but you’re getting cum all over me.”

“Actually, you got it all over me first,” Chris points out, which, yeah, is true. “I guess we do probably need a shower. But I don’t wanna move.”

Chris has already closed his eyes, so Minho manages to get one of his arms free so he can reach over and grab some tissues. He wipes them both off as best he can before poking Chris in the side until he moves so they can get under the covers. “We’re going to regret this in the morning.”

“Regret what?” Chris is clearly tired, his eyes open for only a second before they fall shut again.

“Not cleaning up,” Minho clarifies, but he kisses Chris, something gentle and careful. Chris just hums, so Minho rolls over and lets Chris latch onto him despite the fact that it’s hot in the room. Having Chris close, having someone with him when he closes his eyes, feels nicer than he’d like to admit. “I won’t regret sleeping with you,” Minho adds a moment later, but Chris’s breathing already feels evened out against the back of his neck and so he probably doesn’t even hear what Minho has said.

It doesn’t make it any less true though.

~

Jisung
hey loser
hey
HEY
why were you MIA all day yesterday
I was trying to videocall to tell you about this fancy cat tree thing I saw online
that’s like the kind of shit you like
are you ghosting me
are you mad

Minho
?????
I just woke up
I told you I was going to be busy yesterday weirdo

Jisung
you always say that and never mean it
what were you doing

Minho
well I WAS busy thanks very much

Jisung
doing what? breaking my heart?

Minho
no
so dramatic
actually I was fucking chris

Jisung
LMAO WHAT
ARE YOU JOKING
YOU ARE NOT FUNNY

Minho
I’m not joking and I am funny

Jisung
WTF???
THE CHRIS???
CHRIS CHRIS???

Minho
yeah we only know the one

Jisung
???????????????

Minho
we had sex
full on

Jisung
?????????????????????????????
WTF
ARE YOU NOT GOING TO ELABORATE FURTHER???
I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T LIKE HIM?

Minho
I lied

Jisung
omfg
I have to tell the groupchat

Minho
what?? what groupchat?
don’t tell anybody??

Jisung
the groupchat with everyone in it
you probably have us muted

Minho
don’t tell the groupchat???

Jisung
I have to
there are bets on the line

Minho
is chris in the groupchat??
jisung
jisung
why do you wake up every day and choose violence???

Jisung
ooo felix says chris is a libra
you guys are totally not compatible
but I bet the sex was good
did you wreck his shit?

Minho
I hate you

Minho tosses his phone down towards the end of the bed and tries to ignore the fact that he can hear Chris’s phone buzzing from somewhere on the floor. Sunlight spills into the room through the curtains, and Chris is still asleep next to him, his limbs still draped over Minho’s body. There’s definitely a sense of anxiety that has settled in for Minho, because he doesn’t know how things are going to be when Chris wakes up. But it’s nice now. He curls back in next to Chris, maneuvers himself to he can wrap an arm around Chris’s waist.

Yesterday plays on a loop in Minho’s head, from running into Chris at the café all the way to falling asleep next to each other, until Chris begins to stir. He stretches first, rolling onto his back and then rubbing his hands over his face. For a few moments he still doesn’t open his eyes, but when he finally does, Minho contemplates if she should pretend to be asleep.

He doesn’t really get the chance. As soon as Chris looks over at him, eyes still heavy still sleep, he leans in and kisses Minho. Just like that. It’s a chaste kiss, just the press of their lips together, but when he pulls back, he’s smiling.

“You were right,” Chris murmurs.

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“We should have taken a shower.”

“You can. Now, I mean,” Minho suggests, even as Chris is still pulling the sheets up around his chin and situating himself back in a comfortable position. “Unless you wanted to leave.”

“Does it look like I wanna leave?”

“It looks like you want to go back to sleep,” Minho says, his hand reaching out and trailing over Chris’s neck. The marks from last night have stuck around, and considering how Chris dresses, they’ll probably be hard to hide. Not that he wants Chris to hide them, but Chris might not want to show up at work this week with a bunch of hickeys.

“It depends. Are you going to be joining me in the shower?” Chris asks. “Because in that case I would be very awake.” Chris captures Minho’s hand and intertwines their fingers before he rolls Minho onto his back so Chris hovers over him. It makes Minho’s stomach twist, but not unpleasantly. If anything, it’s excitement.

“What happens after we take a shower?” he asks.

“Maybe breakfast?”

“That’s it?”

“Maybe we fool around and then breakfast? Maybe we fool around in the shower?” Chris amends, his lopsided grin returning before he kisses Minho once, twice, a third time, and then rolls back off him and kicks the blankets aside. For a moment Minho just watches him, watches the sunlight dance off his skin and the way his muscles flex when he moves. He’s probably showing off on purpose.

“And then what after that?”

Chris looks back at him and shrugs before he crouches down to get his phone out of his discarded pants. His eyes dart over the screen. “Whatever you want,” he finally answers. “I’m not really much of a casual hookup guy, but if that’s all you want then…I mean it’s fine, but it’s not really what I wanted.” He pauses and starts to look at something on his phone. “So, like, I can take you out. We don’t have to call it anything, but…um, I think our friends already are.”

Minho groans. “I texted Jisung. He can’t keep his mouth shut.”

“I don’t care if they know.”

“Good. Because Jisung is not going to let us off the hook without details,” Minho says, finally getting out of bed and pulling on his sweatpants even though Chris is still naked. “But, um, I wouldn’t mind going out sometime.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not saying I’m ready to be your boyfriend or anything like that. But I’m not talking to anyone else and I guess you already know I like you.”

Chris stands up, his shorts in his hand. It’s distracting having to talk about feelings or whatever the hell they’re doing when Chris is standing in front of him without any clothes on. “I like you too,” Chris says. “But I know you probably need to consult with your cats before it gets serious. I understand things might be different from my last relationship and, I mean, I’ve never dated a catboy before.”

Minho rolls his eyes and walks past Chris to open the door. “I take it back. You’re really annoying.”

But Chris just laughs and Minho feels his hands grazing along his waist on their way to the bathroom. The cats definitely give both of them a death stare on the way, they’re clearly mad about being locked out of the bedroom all night, and they’re probably also hungry. But Minho knows they’ll forgive him, and he knows they’ll grow to like Chris.

It’s kind of hard not to like Chris, after all. It’s more than a little bit terrifying,

Not quite as terrifying as his cats turning on him though. Which is exactly what they do by the time he and Chris emerge in the living room. It turns out they all love him and Minho is pretty sure that means he’s going to have to keep Chris around. Shouldn’t be too hard. If his cats like Chris, then he must be worth risking heartbreak for.

~

Six Months Later

“Okay, okay, this is supposed to be a normal movie night, can the couples please stop being gross?”

“We aren’t doing anything!” Felix raises his hands in the air, but Minho only barely sees it happen out of the corner of his eye, because he’s busy making out with Chris in Changbin’s kitchen. He thought they were out of sight from the living room, but apparently Jisung has a sixth sense for when someone is not following the strict ‘don’t be gross’ rules of their get-together.

“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten the time you two invited me over and then snuck to your room after you thought I fell asleep,” Jisung says, “Hyunjin, you’re super fucking loud. But I’m not talking about you presently.”

“I think they’re talking about us,” Chris whispers.

“No shit!” Jisung yells, poking his head into the kitchen. “Are you guys going to actually get the popcorn, or are you going to fuck on the kitchen counter?”

“Please don’t fuck on the kitchen counter,” Changbin interjects.

“We’re coming, chill out,” Minho says with a small smile, dropping his hands from Chris’s waist. “Do I have to remind you again that this is your fault?”

“I wouldn’t have encouraged you to get with Chris if I knew you would constantly be so gross,” Jisung mutters, but Minho can hear the smile in his voice. “Like we get it, your boyfriend is super hot, but you can keep your hands to yourselves for a few hours while we watch a movie.”

“Okay, we promise,” Chris says. “I’ll get the popcorn.”

Minho kisses his cheek dramatically before he follows Jisung back into the living room where the other guys are arguing over which movie to watch. Jeongin wants to watch some rom-com that’s rated R and will probably make him cringe, and Changbin is trying to sell Hyunjin on a horror movie while Felix looks through a pile of DVDs on the floor. Minho settles on the floor and Seungmin offers him a soda.

“You and Chris are cute,” Seungmin comments. “Things have gotten pretty serious huh?”

“Yeah,” Minho looks down and pretends to study the nutrition facts on his soda. “I mean, not ‘in love’ serious or anything.”

“Really? I thought you guys—”

“I want to. I guess I’m waiting for him to say it first,” Minho admits. Jisung looks over and he knows that means he’s heard them talking. Admitting out loud that he loves Chris isn’t really something he ever thought he would have to do. Truthfully, he thought they wouldn’t last. But that was just his pessimism talking, because he did want it to last. And so far, it has. Not everything has been easy, but Minho knows that he does love Chris. How could he not?

“You should tell him,” Jisung whispers, giving up on backing Changbin’s horror movie suggestion. “It’s obvious he loves you too. And you guys have been together a while now.”

“Please do not peer pressure me,” Minho says, jabbing Jisung in the side until Jisung scoots a safer distance away.

“I mean, he’s kinda right for once,” Seungmin says. “Which I will never say again. But I’m sure Chris feels the same.”

“Chris feels the same about what?” Chris walks in with a few bags of popcorn, passing them off to their friends. It seems Changbin has won, because he’s pulled up a scary movie on the screen and Jeongin is complaining loudly.

“Nothing,” Minho says quickly. “Just that we shouldn’t traumatize Jeongin by making him watch this movie.”

Jeongin’s head whips around. “I won’t be traumatized! Fine. Just play it.”

Minho chuckles and Chris settles next to him on the floor. “Reverse psychology?”

“Of course. Always works,” Minho confirms, maneuvering so he’s sitting between Chris’s legs and Chris has his chin rested on Minho’s shoulder. When Chris wraps his arms around him, kisses his neck softly once the lights have been turned off and the movie has begun, Minho feels butterflies that he hadn’t felt before he started dating Chris. Maybe they are in love. He’ll say it soon, he knows he will, but he also doesn’t want anything to change.

Things are perfect, just like this.

“Hey,” Chris whispers, a few minutes into the movie. His voice is quiet enough that no one else seems to notice, but Felix also turned the volume up to a thousand, so it would be hard to hear much of anything. Chris’s lips graze his ear and Minho shivers.

“What?”

“I’ve already seen this movie.” Minho turns his head to the side slightly. Chris smiles at him, his hand moving up from where it rests on Minho’s thigh. Fuck. “Meet me in the bathroom.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. Five minutes,” Chris whispers, and Minho feels his heart start to beat a little bit faster.

Minho scoots forward so Chris can stand up, but before he can turn and go, Minho grabs onto his wrist. Chris bends back down so he can hear when Minho speaks. “Hey,” he says, and he can feel Jisung looking, but there’s no way he can hear them. “You’re crazy.”

“Yeah? So are you,” Chris replies, his dimple popping out when he smiles. “Five minutes.”

“Five minutes,” Minho agrees.

It’s not ‘I love you’ yet. But it’s just as good.