43. The Theory of Everything
Title: The Theory of Everything
For: duijangs
Rating: NC-17
Other Pairings: Kai/Kyungsoo, Baekhyun/Chanyeol, light mentions of Sehun/Luhan
Summary: Jongdae is on his way to become a professional nerd and somewhere along the lines he accidentally falls in love with his best friend.
When Minseok and Jongdae first met, Jongdae had painfully mistaken Minseok for Chinese. Minseok put the blame on Luhan because no matter how many times he told the actual Chinese that he wasn't studying the language, Luhan insisted on talking to him in a language that wasn't his native tongue. He had gotten so used to it, he didn't have a reaction to it. He had even gotten used to responding to his Chinese name instead of his Korean one, so it seemed logical for Jongdae to think that he was anything but Korean. Jongdae didn't speak Chinese aside from the very basic 'hello' and 'I love you.' But Minseok was cute and he's always liked cute things, so he tried his best.
His best was quite laughable honestly, or at least Luhan thought so since he had a laughing fit the day Jongdae decided that he was tired of studying and tried to put all of his language skills to use. (Luhan would argue that he had no language skills because "You can barely speak Korean!") He was confident; at least, when he strode up to Minseok and Luhan and greeted them in what he thought was Chinese. Minseok, not understanding anything that involved Chinese, did not realize that Jongdae indeed was saying absolutely nothing at all. He just turned to Luhan with a deadpan look, asking in Korean for the translation.
Jongdae sputtered and flailed like an idiot in surprise and Luhan was laughing too hard at Jongdae's failed attempt at Chinese to even respond.
Their friendship was inevitable, to say the least.
When Jongdae finds himself slaving over his physics textbooks very late at night, hunched over with barely any light streaming from his desk lamp, he really regrets deciding to be a physics major. Moments exactly like this one make him think back on his decision to become a professional nerd.
"What did I do to myself?" Jongdae slumps over, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"You made the decision to torture yourself with an endless amount of equations that don't make sense and to keep your roommate up until ungodly hours of the night." He hears a voice mumble in return from across the room.
Jongdae turns his head, still resting on his folded arms on the desk, blinking tiredly at Minseok. Minseok with his brown hair sticking up every which way, white night shirt crumbled beyond repair, and a tired, dead look on his face. Looking at the sight made Jongdae chuckle.
Normally, Minseok would join Jongdae in the laughter, especially since he knows how ridiculous he looks at the moment. At three-thirty in the morning though? He's not particularly amused.
"How did I even wake you up this time?" Jongdae asks, still faintly chuckling.
"After all the times you woke me up late at night, I think I'm just conditioned to wake up now." Minseok joked bitterly.
Jongdae stared at Minseok, pondering the statement for a whole second and a half before standing up. His body ached from staying hunched over his textbook for hours, desperate for sleep, but instead of heading straight for his room he grabbed his coat and shrugged it on.
"Well, since you're already awake, let's go find somewhere open and grab a bite to eat." He throws the suggestion so light-heartedly; no one would guess he was dead tired and running on possibly three hours of sleep from the previous night.
Minseok's jaw drops at the mere suggestion of doing anything other than going back to bed. He squints a little, rubs an eye, shakes his head and asks Jongdae to repeat himself because really, who would suggest something like that? They're college students, every hour, minute even, of sleep they get is precious and honestly, Minseok already loses enough sleep with Jongdae's study schedule running late into the night.
"Food. Me, you. Let's go." Jongdae shortens his suggestion, grin evident on his face.
"I knew you would go crazy one of these days." Minseok mumbles, running a hand through his hair to smoothen it out.
Jongdae tilts his head to that and goddammit Minseok really wished he wouldn't because that's not fair how Jongdae can just look cute and automatically get what he wants.
"I hope you know I hate you." Minseok sighs, but is already heading back to his room to change his clothes.
From behind him he hears Jongdae hum in sarcastic affirmation while he closes his textbook, organizing his notes. Minseok hates having a soft spot for his best friend, sometimes. He knows he's going to regret this later when his nine-am class rolls around, but he can't say no to Jongdae. He never could, honestly.
The fact that it was snowing when the two stepped outside made him realize that although he couldn't say no to Jongdae, he could definitely despise his existence.
Something interesting about Minseok is that he holds an absolute distaste for pancakes. It would be just his luck that the only place open at three-something-maybe-four-something in the morning would be a pancake house.
"How can you not like pancakes? I think that defies the laws of physics and…basically everything!" Jongdae rants, his mouth full of blueberry pancakes.
Minseok pulls a face at the act, poking his own strawberry pancakes with a fork. "They're disgusting…much like yourself, actually."
Jongdae gasps, hand over his heart as if he's been truly wounded by the comment. "You are literally the worst best friend ever." Jongdae pouts.
"I know." Minseok laughs.
Jongdae narrows his eyes, deciding to take the ultimate revenge on his roommate. He stuffs a piece of his blueberry pancake in Minseok's mouth, watching as the elder chokes and coughs in disgust. Minseok is about to spit the atrocious thing out when he catches the poor waiter on duty glaring at them, probably for being so loud so late at night. He swallows his pride, along with the pancake, and ducks his head in embarrassment.
"I hate you and stop embarrassing me please." Minseok whispers harshly, shooting a glare at Jongdae.
Jongdae laughs at that, trying to contain it as best as possible behind his hand. "Sorry, am I embarrassing you in front of the pancakes?"
"More like the waiter behind you." Minseok rolls his eyes. "He's actually in my writing class. His name's Jongin."
"So?" Jongdae responds as he shovels another mouthful of pancakes into his mouth. "Who cares? You only see him in one class. Why would it be embarrassing?"
Minseok shrugs, going back to poking mindlessly at his pancake. He really doesn't want to answer that question. He's had conversations like this before with Jongdae and he hates where they go every time.
"You think he's cute, don't you?" Jongdae smirks.
Oh no.
Minseok looks up to see Jongdae turning around and call over Jongin. Minseok tries to get Jongdae to stop, but his pleas go unheard and he can see that Jongin looks very displeased with being bothered. Minseok sinks lower in his seat, his eyes downcast as Jongin stops at their table, practically glaring at Jongdae. Minseok wonders why exactly Jongdae goes out of his way to completely and utterly embarrass him.
"Can I help you with anything?" Jongin grumbles.
Minseok suspects he's too tired to worry about a good tip and he probably doesn't much care because he knows Minseok, anyways. Kind of.
"Your number for my friend would be nice."
Minseok splutters and flails his arms around because did Jongdae really just say that? And is Jongin actually looking at him now?
"I'm- I'm sorry?" Jongin asks, taken aback.
"Minseok here says you two are in the same writing class." Jongdae gestures to Minseok with his hand at the mention of his name. "For one, you must be quite smart since Minseok is a Senior. For two, he happens to find you attractive, so I'm just getting things started."
Minseok opens his mouth to say something, but ends up just closing it right back when Jongin turns his gaze to him again. Minseok has honestly never been so close to Jongin before, he's only been able to admire from a distance and just wow, he really is attractive.
"I- thank you. Really. The thing is though, I already have a boyfriend. I'm really sorry about that." Jongin says to Minseok shyly.
Minseok just nods, his face heating up with utter embarrassment, all thanks to Jongdae. At least the younger has the decency to look apologetic. Jongin shuffles away and Minseok lets his face sink into his hands.
"Sorry?" Jongdae smiles carefully.
"I hate you." Minseok mumbles into his hands.
"Love is weird, isn't it?" Jongdae sighs, resting his arms on the table.
Minseok drops his hands to his lap and glares at Jongdae as best as he could. "I'm not in love with him."
"In theory you aren't." Jongdae declares.
Minseok continues to glare at his now ex-best friend and decides that it's better they aren't friends anymore because he doesn't need a friend who questions anything and everything about the universe that isn't proven with science.
"Jongdae please don't try to suggest to me, a psychology major, that emotions have something to do with equations." Minseok sighs. "There is no theory to love because it's an emotion. It's just felt and that's the end of it."
Jongdae's eyes widen, his hand going to cover his heart and he's looking quite appalled. "Minseok, as a psychology major aren't you supposed to challenge these things? Analyze emotions and find out just why we feel them? Don't you want to know?" Jongdae leans forward.
"I know why we feel emotions and it has to do with our brain." Minseok rolls his eyes. "You, however, want to put an equation to everything possible. There is no theory to everything, Jongdae!"
"Not yet there isn't. No one's written one before, but I can." Jongdae sniffs.
Minseok just shakes his head because there's no point in trying to argue with someone who won't budge. That's who Kim Jongdae is though. Stubborn, physics enthusiast a.k.a extreme nerd, extremely embarrassing and also a terrible friend.
Minseok still likes him non-the-less.
"So, Jongin was a no, but is there anyone else you like?"
Okay, maybe not.
Jongdae has a habit of ignoring his professor when he lectures about boring topics, which is basically every single class. This lecture is no different because who really cares about kinematic concepts? Can someone remind him again why he became a physics major?
So instead of taking notes like any sensible college student would do, he lets his mind wonder back to last nights breakfast with Minseok. Last night? This morning? Whichever it was, their conversation had piqued Jongdae’s interest. He wondered if he had been onto something when he talked about the theory of love.
Jongdae taps his pencils insistently against his desk, his eyes brows furrowing together. He tries his best to come up with any reasonable solution for there to be physics in the theory of an emotion. He thinks for a moment and then gives up and decides to leave it for later research because really, when he’s trying to ignore his professor talk about physics, he doesn’t want to think about physics. Instead, he chose to think about Minseok’s little crush on Jongin.
Jongdae knows of Jongin being friends with Yixing and all. Of course, Yixing always denies being his friend because “why would I be friends with a nerd?” is what he would always ask. So being friends with Yixing, he’s at least heard of Jongin. Jongdae, however, doesn’t exactly see what it is about him that Minseok is attracted to. He feels a little spark of an emotion that he can’t quite name in his chest and he doesn’t particularly enjoy the feeling.
Jongdae was too busy thinking about Minseok and his stupid crush that he hadn’t even realized his tapping had gotten so insistently faster, and thus in turn louder and more annoying, until the guy next to him, who happens to be his nerd in crime, plucked the pencil right out of Jongdae’s hand.
“Hey,” Jongdae whispers, glaring at Chanyeol. “I’m trying to take notes.”
Chanyeol raises an eyebrow, looks at the pencil he took from Jongdae then back and Jongdae. “Right. Well, I hate to break this to you, man, but I don’t think what you were doing is called taking notes.” Chanyeol whispers. Kind of. Jongdae isn’t sure Chanyeol is physically capable of whispering.
“Stop bothering me, Chanyeol.” Jongdae responds.
Chanyeol chuckles, sliding the pencil back to Jongdae. “What’s up with you today? I mean, I know you usually don’t pay attention- and it’s highly unfair you still get perfect grades- but today you’re just….off?”
Jongdae glances at the professor, not wanting to get kicked out of the lecture for talking. Even though he’s not paying attention, that’s just highly embarrassing.
“Well, I was with Minseok last night and-“
“And you finally realized you’re in love with him? Congratulations man! Took you long enough!” Chanyeol bursts out, making a few students glare at them.
Jongdae sat there, eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t even mention love…or well, he didn’t mention anything.
“Where did you get that from, Chanyeol?” Jongdae shakes his head. “You didn’t even let me finish.”
Jongdae watches in amusement as Chanyeol’s mouth drops into an ‘o’ shape, his eyes widening. He gives Jongdae a sheepish smile, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry, I just kind of assumed when you mentioned Minseok. I’ve been waiting to hear about you and him finally getting together.” Chanyeol claps Jongdae on the shoulder.
Jongdae sighs, shrugging Chanyeol's gigantic hand off his shoulder. This isn’t the first time he’s brought this up. Come to think of it, Chanyeol isn’t the first one to mention it. He finds it quite tiring having to explain that him and Minseok are just friends. Best friends. He doesn’t understand what’s so hard to understand about that.
“I’m not talking to you about this again.” Jongdae grumbles. “But what I was going to say is: I think I found a topic to write my final semester paper on.”
Chanyeol leans forward at this, eyes showing his curiosity. It makes sense because Jongdae has been trying to decide his topic for his thesis for about three weeks now.
“The theory of love.” Jongdae states, leaning back in his chair with a proud smile on his face.
Jongdae watches as Chanyeol visibly deflates, expression changing to one of boredom. “What a disappointment.” Chanyeol sighs. “After three weeks, that’s what you’ve come up with?”
Jongdae nods hesitantly, flinching when the person a few seats down from Chanyeol shushes them.
Chanyeol glances at them before continuing; “dude, besides being boring as hell, it’s an emotion. There’s no physics in it. If there’s going to be a paper written about the theory of love, that’ll be in Minseok’s area of expertise.”
Jongdae really doesn’t want to have to argue his point again; he’d rather research himself and put an equation to the feeling. He could see it now: Him dressed up in a suit going up to the accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Becoming rich beyond belief. Most well known physicist of his generation for finally putting math towards a useless emotion.
This paper would be gold. Chanyeol and Minseok don’t know what they’re talking about.
“Do whatever you want dude,” Chanyeol sighs. “I’ll keep mine practical by doing the theory of our solar system.”
Jongdae should’ve seen that one coming from a mile away. Chanyeol has an infinity for space. Why he didn’t become an astronomy major baffles him.
“Anyways,” Chanyeol grins. “Are you going to the play-off game this weekend?”
Jongdae gives Chanyeol a weird look. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I? We finally made play-offs and Minseok’s the captain. Of course I’m going to support him.”
Chanyeol just shrugs at this, turning to face the lecturer again as if he were about to start paying attention. “Well, you’ve never been to any of his games, so how was I supposed to know?”
Jongdae opens his mouth to retort because of course he has, Minseok’s his best friend. But he closes it because thinking back on it, he honestly doesn’t recall ever going to one. He remembers clearly the times Minseok has asked him to go as well as the times Minseok has come home disappointed to find Jongdae studying.
Jongdae feels guilt course through his body because he would always see the disappointment, but Minseok would never say anything to him and he didn’t connect the dots. He always forgot about the games, no matter how important, because of studying.
Jongdae thinks he should write his paper on something else.
The theory of why he sucks.
_ __
Minseok never asks Jongdae about the upcoming playoff game, he never even mentions football. Jongdae’s a little hurt, but he more or less understands. He also enjoys the look of shock on Minseok’s face when Jongdae shouts his name from the stands, bouncing up and down, annoying everyone behind him.
Minseok kept making random motions to Jongdae, wanting him to sit down and stop embarrassing him. This just got Jongdae to wave to him, smile wide on his face.
“Supporting your boyfriend?”
Jongdae looks down at the person sitting next to him who asked him the question. He immediately recognizes Sehun, the first year that Luhan completely adores. It’s quite gross, actually, if you ask him.
“No, best friend.” Jongdae states, finally taking a seat next to Sehun. Minseok is able to let out a breath of relief when he watches him sit down.
“Oh? But Luhan told me-“ Sehun starts, confusion written on his face.
“Rule number 1:” Jongdae interrupts, his index finger pointing up. “Never listen to Luhan.”
Sehun raises an eyebrow, chuckling. He doesn’t say any more, just turns to watch the game as it starts. Jongdae does the same, trying his best to ignore an uncomfortable and unidentifiable emotion that starts swirling around in his stomach.
As he watches the game progress, he realizes just how little he knows about this sport, or well, sports in general. Jongdae is a class A nerd, not a jock by any means. He’s mesmerized by the way Minseok moves down the field, passing the ball effortlessly to his teammates and even scoring a goal. Jongdae wishes he had gone to more of Minseok’s games, he finds himself completely captivated while he watches Minseok do what he loves.
When the game is nearing an end the teams are at a tie. Luhan has the ball and dodging the defense like a pro, Minseok calls out to him that he’s open. Jongdae sits on the edge of his seat as Minseok takes the ball down the field before shooting towards the goal. The final horn that signals the end of the game rings just after the ball sails into the net. Jongdae leaps out of his chair, pumping his fists into the air while cheering Minseok’s name.
Jongdae’s heart skips a beat (or maybe a few) when Minseok smiles at him from the field before his teammates tackle him.
“It was nice of your boyfriend to finally show up to one of our games.” Luhan laughs, pulling on a clean shirt.
The locker room was full of cheering, over-hyped guys that Minseok barely heard a word Luhan said. He could fill in the blank spaces that didn’t quite reach his ears, though. This wasn’t the first time a conversation similar to this has occurred.
“Please stop calling Jongdae my boyfriend.” Minseok sighs.
Luhan hands the football captain his bag when he points at it. “No.” He laughs. “Come on Minseok, we’re best friends, can’t you at least tell me if you like Jongdae or not?”
Minseok opens his mouth to reply, but Luhan beats him to it. “A real answer this time.”
Luhan looks at him so earnestly, Minseok almost believes he has feelings for Jongdae. But they’re best friends, that would just be weird.
“I don’t like-“ Minseok tries, but Luhan cuts him off.
“Yes you do.”
“You know what,” Minseok huffs. “When you actually come out and tell me that you and Sehun are dating instead of going behind my back, maybe I’ll give you the answer you’re looking for.”
Minseok turns on his heel, rushing out of the locker room ignoring Luhan’s shocked face and completely ignoring the fact that he practically admitted to liking Jongdae. Which he doesn’t.
The first person he spots when he walks out of the locker room is Jongdae, who was dutifully waiting for him. He wastes no time crossing the space between them and jumping into his awaiting arms and hugs him tightly. Jongdae laughs loudly as he spins his best friend around. When he sets Minseok back on his feet, he doesn’t even hesitate to lean in and kiss him. It was like it was the most natural thing to do, he never thought about it.
Jongdae doesn’t even realize what he’s doing until he feels Minseok kiss him back. He feels Minseok press closer to him, his arms tightening and his heart beating erratically. It’s nice, Jongdae thinks. He likes this and it feels right, so even he’s confused when he’s pulling away abruptly and taking a step back.
Minseok blinks, confused, as he watches Jongdae run his hand through his hair. He looks conflicted and he keeps opening his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.
“Jongdae-“ Minseok starts.
“I’m sorry.” Jongdae blurts out, interrupting Minseok. “I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know why I did” He’s rambling by now, chuckling nervously.
Minseok watches as Jongdae keeps backing up, a little hurt and a lot confused. “I need to go.” Jongdae mumbles before turning on his heels and walking away as quickly as he can.
Minseok doesn’t try to stop him.
_ __
One month. Minseok has been avoiding Jongdae as much as he possibly could for one month. It’s hell, to say the least. He can’t concentrate in class (he’s actually been trying!), he doesn’t feel like going out anymore because his best friend won’t be there to accompany him and he can’t even write his research paper. He’s staying up even later at night, pulling all-nighters left and right, but he finds himself still stuck on the same sentence he was on yesterday, and the day before that…
Jongdae hates how he can’t seem to function without his best friend by his side. He wonders when he got so attached. He never even realized it. It hurts, a lot honestly, to not have Minseok by his side. What makes it all worse is Jongdae knows it’s his fault.
“Why don’t you just apologize, confess your love for him and then you two can live happily ever after?” Baekhyun pipes up from across the table from him.
Jongdae feels annoyance bubble up inside of him. He hates how he has to deal with Baekhyun tagging along with him and Chanyeol when they go to study now. Ever since the two finally started dating, Baekhyun wouldn’t leave Chanyeol alone, which in turns means Jongdae had to suffer through his annoying personality.
Jongdae doesn’t particularly like Baekhyun, if that wasn’t clear.
“Who said I was in love with him?” Jongdae grumbles, not bothering to look up from his laptop, which has his unwritten paper on it. He glares at the screen, willing his final semester paper to write itself because he’s growing increasingly annoyed with the fact that he can’t write anything past the second paragraph.
“Jongdae, are you still trying to deny that you’re completely head over heels for Minseok?” Chanyeol laughs. “You kissed him! Doesn’t that tell you enough?”
Jongdae doesn’t grace that with a response, instead he lets his mind wonder back to that night. He lets himself think back on every day he’s spent with Minseok, and that’s a lot. He thinks about his smile and how breathtaking he looks when he laughs. He thinks about Minseok coming out to chew his head off at three in the morning because he’s keeping his roommate awake. He thinks about Minseok and how wonderful he is and he smiles, but all Jongdae can really think right now is “oh shit” because he’s in love with his best friend and what is he supposed to do about that?
“Maybe tell him?” Chanyeol laughs when Jongdae jumps slightly. He completely forgot two people where still here with him.
“Did I…say that out loud?” Jongdae coughs in embarrassment when Chanyeol nods his head, laughing boisterously.
“Just tell him, Jongdae.” Chanyeol finally gets out when his laughter calms down. “I told Baekhyun and look at us now!” Chanyeol throws an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and pulls him into his side as Baekhyun laughs, his eyes crinkling into crescents happily.
“What am I looking at? Two idiots in a dysfunctional relationship?” Jongdae scoffs jokingly.
“Dysfunction, maybe.” Baekhyun wrinkles his nose before turning his head up to smile at Chanyeol. “But happy. We’re in love. What do you have?” Baekhyun directs his question to Jongdae without looking at him.
Jongdae sighs because he knows Baekhyun is right. And he really hates it when Baekhyun’s right.
Jongdae’s back at his research paper at god knows what time in the morning. He just knows it’s late and he’s barely made progress, even after hours of working. He’s exhausted and slumped over his laptop. His eyes hurt from staring at the screen for so long and his bed sounds more than appealing right now.
He hears a door creak open and he knows Minseok is awake. Every time him and Minseok are around each other he feels his nerves start acting up, but right now he’s too exhausted to even think about being nervous.
He lifts his head when he hears a chair being pulled up to his desk and he watches Minseok sit down next to him, a tired look on his face. They stare at each other for a moment, Minseok raising one eyebrow when Jongdae gives him a confused look.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” Minseok asks quietly, not looking away.
Jongdae sighs, rubbing an eye under his glasses. “Why am I always awake at this time?” He motions to his laptop screen with his research paper still on it.
Minseok looks down, staying silent for a moment. When he looks back at Jongdae, he can see the dark circles under his eyes and his heart clenches. He notices Jongdae’s glasses slipping down his nose, as well. Minseok gently pushes his glasses back up Jongdae’s nose, sighing softly.
“You should really get more sleep.” Minseok mumbles, hands slowly gliding over Jongdae’s cheeks before falling back into his lap. “I don’t think it’s healthy to get so little sleep every night.”
Jongdae smiles wryly and shrugs. “I’m not a medical major so I guess I wouldn’t know.”
Minseok rolls his eyes, but smiles non-the-less. He steals a glance at Jongdae before closing his laptop and standing up, pulling Jongdae up with him. Jongdae gives him a confused look, but complies.
“It’s time for bed.” Minseok starts pulling Jongdae to his bedroom.
“My rooms the other way though?” Jongdae chuckles nervously.
“I’m aware.”
Jongdae doesn’t fight against Minseok, just follows him obediently. Minseok pulls him towards the bed, letting both of them fall onto it. He doesn’t quite know himself what he’s doing but when he wraps his arms around Jongdae and pulls him close, everything feels right.
“I have to make sure you don’t go back to your computer.” Minseok lies, staring at Jongdae with wide, innocent eyes.
“Right.” Jongdae whispers.
Jongdae brushes Minseok’s hair away from his forehead, eyes not able to leave his. He’s so close and this is the most contact they’ve had since the night Jongdae kissed him. Minseok’s so close, he could just…
Jongdae cups Minseok’s cheek gently, leaning in to brush their lips together. It’s so soft and innocent; Minseok lets his eyes flutter shut and presses harder. Minseok's heart thumps in his chest as their lips slide together and Jongdae nibbles on his lower lip.
When Jongdae slides his tongue across Minseok’s lower lip, a tingling sensation spreads throughout his whole body. Jongdae let his tongue slide against Minseok’s sensually, slowly. Minseok’s hands slide up Jongdae’s sides and land on his chest. There, they grip his shirt tightly as he tries to press closer.
Jongdae eventually breaks the kiss, but only to attach his lips to Minseok’s jaw, placing a trail of kisses down to his neck where he exchanges nips and licks, marking Minseok. He hears Minseok let out a shaky breath as he sucks on a particular part of his neck, right on his pulse.
Jongdae detaches his lips from his neck, rolling over so he’s hovering over Minseok. They stare at each other, both panting slightly with half-lidded eyes.
“Is this okay?” Jongdae whispers.
A nod from Minseok is all Jongdae needs to reattach their lips, his hand sliding up Minseok’s shirt. Minseok shivers as Jongdae runs his fingers up his side and back down, pressure building up at the front of his pants.
Jongdae pulls away to pull Minseok’s shirt off over his head, pulling his own off as well. It’s not as if Minseok hasn’t seen his best friend shirtless, but in the current situation he finds himself marveling at how absolutely stunning Jongdae is.
In a bold move, Minseok flips Jongdae over to switch their positions and purposely lets his hips brush against Jongdae’s. Minseok smirks when Jongdae inhales sharply, thrusting his hips up to meet Minseok’s.
Minseok, growing increasingly impatient, started trailing kisses down Jongdae’s chest and stomach, paying extra attention to the area just above the waistband of his pants. Jongdae’s hips lifted slightly when Minseok ran a hand up his thigh as he continued to nip at his hipbones.
“Minseok, please.”
Minseok wasn’t one to disappoint. He tugged Jongdae’s pants, along with his boxers, down, wrapping a hand around the base of his cock. Jongdae’s nerves start to catch up to him when Minseok gives the tip an experimental lick. He’s never gone this far with anyone before.
Jongdae let’s out a moan in response to Minseok wrapping his lips around the head and slowly moving down to take in as much as he can. Minseok bobs his head at a steady pace, his hand pumping at the same rhythm.
Jongdae’s fingers thread through Minseok’s hair, tugging slightly. Jongdae unconsciously rolls his hips for more, thrusting into Minseok’s mouth. Minseok’s free hand rests on Jongdae’s hipbone to steady him.
Jongdae, not able to take it anymore, pulls Minseok gently away, flipping their positions once more. He pulls Minseok’s pants and boxers down, letting Minseok kick them off and their erections brush together. Minseok lets out a moan, lifting his hips for more contact.
Jongdae lets out a shaky breath as he tries to control himself. “I don’t suppose you have…”
Minseok curses and shakes his head.
Jongdae nodded before holding three fingers up to Minseok’s mouth. “Suck.”
So Minseok did. Jongdae’s cock twitched at the sight. Minseok’s heavy lidded eyes met Jongdae’s, his hair disheveled from Jongdae’s fingers, as his tongue swirled around his fingers. Pressing one finger to his entrance, Jongdae made sure to kiss him as he entered slowly.
Discomfort was the first thing to come to Minseok, but as Jongdae kept going, discomfort turned to pleasure. The second was added, and soon after, the third. When Minseok was stretched properly, Jongdae slicked up his length with his own saliva as best as he could and positioned himself at Minseok’s entrance.
Jongdae pushed himself in slowly, until he was seated deep inside of Minseok. He paused, waiting for Minseok to adjust to the size. Minseok brought his hand up to Jongdae’s and entwined their fingers together above his head, smiling slightly and giving him a nod.
Minseok’s tight muscle was creating delicious friction as Jongdae pulled out halfway before thrusting back in. Everything started out slow and sensual, nothing being rushed. Eventually things started to speed up, Jongdae thrusting in harder and faster. Minseok gasped as Jongdae rocked into him particularly roughly, chanting his name over and over again.
Jongdae presses his forehead to Minseok’s, wanting to tell him that he loved him. He knows at a moment like this, Minseok would want to hear it.
I love you. I love you. I love you. He chants in his head as his thrusts become more erratic. He doesn’t say it out loud though. Not then, not when Minseok comes undone under him, nor when he buries his face into Minseok’s neck as he, too, met his release.
Jongdae rolled off of Minseok, but kept him close as they let their breathing calm down. Neither of them would look at each other and both had something to say.
They both, however, left them unsaid.
Things aren’t back to normal afterwards, obviously. Minseok at least isn’t avoiding Jongdae anymore. However, he won’t look at Jongdae when they talk and he keeps his replies short and curt. Jongdae grows increasingly frustrated by the day, but he never has time to confront Minseok because his paper is due in less than a week. All he ever does now is work. Sometimes he can find the time to eat and sleep, just enough to not die.
Minseok spends most of his time with Luhan if he’s not in class. Jongdae only knows this because Chanyeol always sees them together. Jongdae can feel jealously at the pit of his stomach, but tries to squash it by burying himself in research.
“You should really put his mind at ease, Seok.” Luhan sighs, watching Jongdae nearly fall asleep at the library table across the room.
“He’s busy.” Minseok sighs, flipping the page in his textbook. “There’s nothing to say anyways.”
“You two had sex.” Luhan hisses. “Of course there’s something to say! You guys can’t dance around each other forever.”
Minseok glares at Luhan, but doesn’t bother to respond. He really didn’t feel like talking about it at the moment. It hurt too much to think about how him and Jongdae have become awkward around each other. It filled him with regret for even letting it go as far as it did.
“Minseok-“
“Luhan I don’t want to talk about it!” Minseok yells.
Everyone in the library turns their attention to Minseok, even Jongdae who is now wide awake and very aware Minseok is there. Minseok flinches when he realizes the attention he’s gathered and slides lower in his seat, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment.
Luhan blinks in astonishment. He has only seen Minseok lose his cool a few times in all the years they’ve known each other, and never had it been directed at him. Luhan waits until everyone turns their attention back to their own tasks before speaking again.
“I want you to meet Sehun.” He smiles slightly.
Minseok sighs. “What?”
“I want you to meet Sehun.” Luhan repeats. “My boyfriend.”
“Luhan, you don’t have to- I’m sorry I shouldn’t have-“
“No I want to!” Luhan laughs humorlessly. “You were right, what kind of friend keeps their relationship a secret? Come on, he should actually be getting out of class right about now.”
Luhan stands up and drags Minseok with him. He makes sure to gather Minseok’s things for him before dragging him out of the library. Minseok is aware of Jongdae’s stare as they pass by his table, but he wills himself not to look. It’s hard and he has to hold his breath and concentrate.
Once he’s outside he lets his breath out and silently follows Luhan. No matter how much he wanted to run back in and kiss Jongdae and apologize, he willed himself to keep walking. He does his best not to look back.
It doesn’t work.
_ __
Jongdae finally confronts Minseok when he comes back to the dorm from winter break. He can’t take the awkward tension between them anymore. They didn’t even spend time together on their break, which they do every year, even if they’re going home to visit family. He wanted his old best friend back, maybe something more. But anything was better than this.
“Minseok, please talk to me.” Jongdae begs. “I’m sorry.”
Minseok flinches, a hurt expression flashing across his face. “Please don’t say that.”
“Then what do you want me to say?” Jongdae asks, completely at a loss of what to do.
Minseok doesn’t respond, just looks away. Jongdae groans in frustration, running a hand down his face. He looks at Minseok in despair, his heart aching when he sees’s the expression on Minseok’s face. Worn out, hurt, and confused. Jongdae didn’t mean for any of this to happen. As the silence stretches and grows more awkward, Jongdae grows more nervous.
“I got an A on my paper.” Jongdae blurts out, breaking the silence. “I changed the topic though.”
“What did you write about then?” Minseok asks quietly.
“The theory of everything.” Jongdae laughs, running a hand through his hair. “It’s funny because the theory of everything to the world is different than to me.”
Minseok finally looks up at Jongdae giving him a confused look, not quite following.
“The theory of everything is the final theory, the ultimate theory, the master theory. It’s a hypothetical single, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical aspects of the universe.” Jongdae makes useless motions with his hands to emphasize his words. “The universe. That, in it’s own, can be defined and theorized so many ways. But mine,” he motions to himself. “Is simple. My universe is full of love and want and it revolves around my best friend.”
“He’s pretty great.” Jongdae is laughing again. “He’s beautiful, he goes to get pancakes with me at ungodly hours of the morning, even when he doesn’t like pancakes. He puts up with my extremely lame jokes and the fact that he’s still here even though I’m learning how to be a professional nerd says something.”
Minseok’s eyes widen, just slightly, as he watches Jongdae pick at his shirt nervously before continuing.
“Best friend. I guess it’s a relative term now because I don’t think best friends kiss each other or, you know, have sex with each other.” Jongdae pauses. “Well, I mean, friends with benefits is a thing so I guess it does happen.” Jongdae see’s the confusion on Minseok’s face from his rambling. “The point is; throughout this whole time I’ve been in love with you, even if I didn’t realize it. The theory of everything doesn’t exist in my world because you’re here; you’re most definitely real and not just a theory. Minseok, you are my everything.” Jongdae tries his best not to flinch at his own cheesiness.
Minseok stares at Jongdae, blinking once, twice. He doesn’t say anything and Jongdae starts to panic because why isn’t he saying anything? He starts to think he misread everything and Minseok actually hates him now because the sex was probably bad and oh god, what has he done?
Minseok starts chuckling, seeing the growing panic on Jongdae’s face. That, in turn, just freaks him out more because now he’s laughing at him and he’s making a fool of himself. He shouldn’t have said anything; he should’ve left it at ‘I’m sorry’.
“It’s about time you said something.” Minseok laughs. “Way to be overly cheesy, by the way.”
“Wait, what?” Jongdae’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.
Minseok sighs exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. “I love you, too, you idiot.”
“Wait, what?”
“You know, for someone supposedly smart, you’re really dumb.” Minseok smiles widely, leaning up to kiss Jongdae on the cheek. “I’ll say it again: Kim Jongdae, I am completely and utterly in love with-“
Minseok never gets the chance to finish because Jongdae already has his lips covering his in a sweet kiss. This kiss is different. It sends tingles down Minseok’s spine and butterflies to his stomach and he just feels ultimately and completely happy and in love.
He has a feeling that this is something he’ll enjoy getting used to.
End.
_ __
Bonus:
“You guys are gross.” Jongin grumbles, setting the plate of pancakes in front of the couple.
Jongdae and Minseok aren’t listening as they continue their conversation, Minseok cuddled into Jongdae’s side. Jongin of course isn’t surprised they’re ignoring him.
“Can you guys, you know, not?” Jongin groans.
“Jongin!”
Jongin immediately perks up hearing his name, recognizing the voice. He leaves the gross couple to walk to the front and wrap his arms around a smaller, doe-eyed boy with a wide smile on his face.
“Hey, Soo.” Jongin grins. “What are you doing here?”
They share a quick kiss before Kyungsoo responds. “I came to visit you. Your shift's over soon right?”
Jongin nods. “I’ll see if I can get off a few minutes early.”
Kyungsoo hums in affirmation, pulling his boyfriend into a longer kiss before sending him off so he doesn’t get in trouble.
“Wait here! I’ll be right back!” Jongin calls over his shoulder.
He starts walking towards the back to ask to get off with a dopey smile on his face. He passes by the table with the gross new couple sitting together and hears a: “And you said we were gross.”
Jongin throws a glare at Jongdae who smiles slyly in return before turning back to place a sloppy kiss on Minseok’s lips and digging into his pancakes.
“Totally gross.” Jongin grumbles.
Author's note: What did I just write? I'm not even sure. Where did Kaisoo, Hunhan, and Baekyeol even come from? I really don't know. I hope I met your expectations!
For: duijangs
Rating: NC-17
Other Pairings: Kai/Kyungsoo, Baekhyun/Chanyeol, light mentions of Sehun/Luhan
Summary: Jongdae is on his way to become a professional nerd and somewhere along the lines he accidentally falls in love with his best friend.
When Minseok and Jongdae first met, Jongdae had painfully mistaken Minseok for Chinese. Minseok put the blame on Luhan because no matter how many times he told the actual Chinese that he wasn't studying the language, Luhan insisted on talking to him in a language that wasn't his native tongue. He had gotten so used to it, he didn't have a reaction to it. He had even gotten used to responding to his Chinese name instead of his Korean one, so it seemed logical for Jongdae to think that he was anything but Korean. Jongdae didn't speak Chinese aside from the very basic 'hello' and 'I love you.' But Minseok was cute and he's always liked cute things, so he tried his best.
His best was quite laughable honestly, or at least Luhan thought so since he had a laughing fit the day Jongdae decided that he was tired of studying and tried to put all of his language skills to use. (Luhan would argue that he had no language skills because "You can barely speak Korean!") He was confident; at least, when he strode up to Minseok and Luhan and greeted them in what he thought was Chinese. Minseok, not understanding anything that involved Chinese, did not realize that Jongdae indeed was saying absolutely nothing at all. He just turned to Luhan with a deadpan look, asking in Korean for the translation.
Jongdae sputtered and flailed like an idiot in surprise and Luhan was laughing too hard at Jongdae's failed attempt at Chinese to even respond.
Their friendship was inevitable, to say the least.
When Jongdae finds himself slaving over his physics textbooks very late at night, hunched over with barely any light streaming from his desk lamp, he really regrets deciding to be a physics major. Moments exactly like this one make him think back on his decision to become a professional nerd.
"What did I do to myself?" Jongdae slumps over, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"You made the decision to torture yourself with an endless amount of equations that don't make sense and to keep your roommate up until ungodly hours of the night." He hears a voice mumble in return from across the room.
Jongdae turns his head, still resting on his folded arms on the desk, blinking tiredly at Minseok. Minseok with his brown hair sticking up every which way, white night shirt crumbled beyond repair, and a tired, dead look on his face. Looking at the sight made Jongdae chuckle.
Normally, Minseok would join Jongdae in the laughter, especially since he knows how ridiculous he looks at the moment. At three-thirty in the morning though? He's not particularly amused.
"How did I even wake you up this time?" Jongdae asks, still faintly chuckling.
"After all the times you woke me up late at night, I think I'm just conditioned to wake up now." Minseok joked bitterly.
Jongdae stared at Minseok, pondering the statement for a whole second and a half before standing up. His body ached from staying hunched over his textbook for hours, desperate for sleep, but instead of heading straight for his room he grabbed his coat and shrugged it on.
"Well, since you're already awake, let's go find somewhere open and grab a bite to eat." He throws the suggestion so light-heartedly; no one would guess he was dead tired and running on possibly three hours of sleep from the previous night.
Minseok's jaw drops at the mere suggestion of doing anything other than going back to bed. He squints a little, rubs an eye, shakes his head and asks Jongdae to repeat himself because really, who would suggest something like that? They're college students, every hour, minute even, of sleep they get is precious and honestly, Minseok already loses enough sleep with Jongdae's study schedule running late into the night.
"Food. Me, you. Let's go." Jongdae shortens his suggestion, grin evident on his face.
"I knew you would go crazy one of these days." Minseok mumbles, running a hand through his hair to smoothen it out.
Jongdae tilts his head to that and goddammit Minseok really wished he wouldn't because that's not fair how Jongdae can just look cute and automatically get what he wants.
"I hope you know I hate you." Minseok sighs, but is already heading back to his room to change his clothes.
From behind him he hears Jongdae hum in sarcastic affirmation while he closes his textbook, organizing his notes. Minseok hates having a soft spot for his best friend, sometimes. He knows he's going to regret this later when his nine-am class rolls around, but he can't say no to Jongdae. He never could, honestly.
The fact that it was snowing when the two stepped outside made him realize that although he couldn't say no to Jongdae, he could definitely despise his existence.
Something interesting about Minseok is that he holds an absolute distaste for pancakes. It would be just his luck that the only place open at three-something-maybe-four-something in the morning would be a pancake house.
"How can you not like pancakes? I think that defies the laws of physics and…basically everything!" Jongdae rants, his mouth full of blueberry pancakes.
Minseok pulls a face at the act, poking his own strawberry pancakes with a fork. "They're disgusting…much like yourself, actually."
Jongdae gasps, hand over his heart as if he's been truly wounded by the comment. "You are literally the worst best friend ever." Jongdae pouts.
"I know." Minseok laughs.
Jongdae narrows his eyes, deciding to take the ultimate revenge on his roommate. He stuffs a piece of his blueberry pancake in Minseok's mouth, watching as the elder chokes and coughs in disgust. Minseok is about to spit the atrocious thing out when he catches the poor waiter on duty glaring at them, probably for being so loud so late at night. He swallows his pride, along with the pancake, and ducks his head in embarrassment.
"I hate you and stop embarrassing me please." Minseok whispers harshly, shooting a glare at Jongdae.
Jongdae laughs at that, trying to contain it as best as possible behind his hand. "Sorry, am I embarrassing you in front of the pancakes?"
"More like the waiter behind you." Minseok rolls his eyes. "He's actually in my writing class. His name's Jongin."
"So?" Jongdae responds as he shovels another mouthful of pancakes into his mouth. "Who cares? You only see him in one class. Why would it be embarrassing?"
Minseok shrugs, going back to poking mindlessly at his pancake. He really doesn't want to answer that question. He's had conversations like this before with Jongdae and he hates where they go every time.
"You think he's cute, don't you?" Jongdae smirks.
Oh no.
Minseok looks up to see Jongdae turning around and call over Jongin. Minseok tries to get Jongdae to stop, but his pleas go unheard and he can see that Jongin looks very displeased with being bothered. Minseok sinks lower in his seat, his eyes downcast as Jongin stops at their table, practically glaring at Jongdae. Minseok wonders why exactly Jongdae goes out of his way to completely and utterly embarrass him.
"Can I help you with anything?" Jongin grumbles.
Minseok suspects he's too tired to worry about a good tip and he probably doesn't much care because he knows Minseok, anyways. Kind of.
"Your number for my friend would be nice."
Minseok splutters and flails his arms around because did Jongdae really just say that? And is Jongin actually looking at him now?
"I'm- I'm sorry?" Jongin asks, taken aback.
"Minseok here says you two are in the same writing class." Jongdae gestures to Minseok with his hand at the mention of his name. "For one, you must be quite smart since Minseok is a Senior. For two, he happens to find you attractive, so I'm just getting things started."
Minseok opens his mouth to say something, but ends up just closing it right back when Jongin turns his gaze to him again. Minseok has honestly never been so close to Jongin before, he's only been able to admire from a distance and just wow, he really is attractive.
"I- thank you. Really. The thing is though, I already have a boyfriend. I'm really sorry about that." Jongin says to Minseok shyly.
Minseok just nods, his face heating up with utter embarrassment, all thanks to Jongdae. At least the younger has the decency to look apologetic. Jongin shuffles away and Minseok lets his face sink into his hands.
"Sorry?" Jongdae smiles carefully.
"I hate you." Minseok mumbles into his hands.
"Love is weird, isn't it?" Jongdae sighs, resting his arms on the table.
Minseok drops his hands to his lap and glares at Jongdae as best as he could. "I'm not in love with him."
"In theory you aren't." Jongdae declares.
Minseok continues to glare at his now ex-best friend and decides that it's better they aren't friends anymore because he doesn't need a friend who questions anything and everything about the universe that isn't proven with science.
"Jongdae please don't try to suggest to me, a psychology major, that emotions have something to do with equations." Minseok sighs. "There is no theory to love because it's an emotion. It's just felt and that's the end of it."
Jongdae's eyes widen, his hand going to cover his heart and he's looking quite appalled. "Minseok, as a psychology major aren't you supposed to challenge these things? Analyze emotions and find out just why we feel them? Don't you want to know?" Jongdae leans forward.
"I know why we feel emotions and it has to do with our brain." Minseok rolls his eyes. "You, however, want to put an equation to everything possible. There is no theory to everything, Jongdae!"
"Not yet there isn't. No one's written one before, but I can." Jongdae sniffs.
Minseok just shakes his head because there's no point in trying to argue with someone who won't budge. That's who Kim Jongdae is though. Stubborn, physics enthusiast a.k.a extreme nerd, extremely embarrassing and also a terrible friend.
Minseok still likes him non-the-less.
"So, Jongin was a no, but is there anyone else you like?"
Okay, maybe not.
Jongdae has a habit of ignoring his professor when he lectures about boring topics, which is basically every single class. This lecture is no different because who really cares about kinematic concepts? Can someone remind him again why he became a physics major?
So instead of taking notes like any sensible college student would do, he lets his mind wonder back to last nights breakfast with Minseok. Last night? This morning? Whichever it was, their conversation had piqued Jongdae’s interest. He wondered if he had been onto something when he talked about the theory of love.
Jongdae taps his pencils insistently against his desk, his eyes brows furrowing together. He tries his best to come up with any reasonable solution for there to be physics in the theory of an emotion. He thinks for a moment and then gives up and decides to leave it for later research because really, when he’s trying to ignore his professor talk about physics, he doesn’t want to think about physics. Instead, he chose to think about Minseok’s little crush on Jongin.
Jongdae knows of Jongin being friends with Yixing and all. Of course, Yixing always denies being his friend because “why would I be friends with a nerd?” is what he would always ask. So being friends with Yixing, he’s at least heard of Jongin. Jongdae, however, doesn’t exactly see what it is about him that Minseok is attracted to. He feels a little spark of an emotion that he can’t quite name in his chest and he doesn’t particularly enjoy the feeling.
Jongdae was too busy thinking about Minseok and his stupid crush that he hadn’t even realized his tapping had gotten so insistently faster, and thus in turn louder and more annoying, until the guy next to him, who happens to be his nerd in crime, plucked the pencil right out of Jongdae’s hand.
“Hey,” Jongdae whispers, glaring at Chanyeol. “I’m trying to take notes.”
Chanyeol raises an eyebrow, looks at the pencil he took from Jongdae then back and Jongdae. “Right. Well, I hate to break this to you, man, but I don’t think what you were doing is called taking notes.” Chanyeol whispers. Kind of. Jongdae isn’t sure Chanyeol is physically capable of whispering.
“Stop bothering me, Chanyeol.” Jongdae responds.
Chanyeol chuckles, sliding the pencil back to Jongdae. “What’s up with you today? I mean, I know you usually don’t pay attention- and it’s highly unfair you still get perfect grades- but today you’re just….off?”
Jongdae glances at the professor, not wanting to get kicked out of the lecture for talking. Even though he’s not paying attention, that’s just highly embarrassing.
“Well, I was with Minseok last night and-“
“And you finally realized you’re in love with him? Congratulations man! Took you long enough!” Chanyeol bursts out, making a few students glare at them.
Jongdae sat there, eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t even mention love…or well, he didn’t mention anything.
“Where did you get that from, Chanyeol?” Jongdae shakes his head. “You didn’t even let me finish.”
Jongdae watches in amusement as Chanyeol’s mouth drops into an ‘o’ shape, his eyes widening. He gives Jongdae a sheepish smile, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry, I just kind of assumed when you mentioned Minseok. I’ve been waiting to hear about you and him finally getting together.” Chanyeol claps Jongdae on the shoulder.
Jongdae sighs, shrugging Chanyeol's gigantic hand off his shoulder. This isn’t the first time he’s brought this up. Come to think of it, Chanyeol isn’t the first one to mention it. He finds it quite tiring having to explain that him and Minseok are just friends. Best friends. He doesn’t understand what’s so hard to understand about that.
“I’m not talking to you about this again.” Jongdae grumbles. “But what I was going to say is: I think I found a topic to write my final semester paper on.”
Chanyeol leans forward at this, eyes showing his curiosity. It makes sense because Jongdae has been trying to decide his topic for his thesis for about three weeks now.
“The theory of love.” Jongdae states, leaning back in his chair with a proud smile on his face.
Jongdae watches as Chanyeol visibly deflates, expression changing to one of boredom. “What a disappointment.” Chanyeol sighs. “After three weeks, that’s what you’ve come up with?”
Jongdae nods hesitantly, flinching when the person a few seats down from Chanyeol shushes them.
Chanyeol glances at them before continuing; “dude, besides being boring as hell, it’s an emotion. There’s no physics in it. If there’s going to be a paper written about the theory of love, that’ll be in Minseok’s area of expertise.”
Jongdae really doesn’t want to have to argue his point again; he’d rather research himself and put an equation to the feeling. He could see it now: Him dressed up in a suit going up to the accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Becoming rich beyond belief. Most well known physicist of his generation for finally putting math towards a useless emotion.
This paper would be gold. Chanyeol and Minseok don’t know what they’re talking about.
“Do whatever you want dude,” Chanyeol sighs. “I’ll keep mine practical by doing the theory of our solar system.”
Jongdae should’ve seen that one coming from a mile away. Chanyeol has an infinity for space. Why he didn’t become an astronomy major baffles him.
“Anyways,” Chanyeol grins. “Are you going to the play-off game this weekend?”
Jongdae gives Chanyeol a weird look. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I? We finally made play-offs and Minseok’s the captain. Of course I’m going to support him.”
Chanyeol just shrugs at this, turning to face the lecturer again as if he were about to start paying attention. “Well, you’ve never been to any of his games, so how was I supposed to know?”
Jongdae opens his mouth to retort because of course he has, Minseok’s his best friend. But he closes it because thinking back on it, he honestly doesn’t recall ever going to one. He remembers clearly the times Minseok has asked him to go as well as the times Minseok has come home disappointed to find Jongdae studying.
Jongdae feels guilt course through his body because he would always see the disappointment, but Minseok would never say anything to him and he didn’t connect the dots. He always forgot about the games, no matter how important, because of studying.
Jongdae thinks he should write his paper on something else.
The theory of why he sucks.
_ __
Minseok never asks Jongdae about the upcoming playoff game, he never even mentions football. Jongdae’s a little hurt, but he more or less understands. He also enjoys the look of shock on Minseok’s face when Jongdae shouts his name from the stands, bouncing up and down, annoying everyone behind him.
Minseok kept making random motions to Jongdae, wanting him to sit down and stop embarrassing him. This just got Jongdae to wave to him, smile wide on his face.
“Supporting your boyfriend?”
Jongdae looks down at the person sitting next to him who asked him the question. He immediately recognizes Sehun, the first year that Luhan completely adores. It’s quite gross, actually, if you ask him.
“No, best friend.” Jongdae states, finally taking a seat next to Sehun. Minseok is able to let out a breath of relief when he watches him sit down.
“Oh? But Luhan told me-“ Sehun starts, confusion written on his face.
“Rule number 1:” Jongdae interrupts, his index finger pointing up. “Never listen to Luhan.”
Sehun raises an eyebrow, chuckling. He doesn’t say any more, just turns to watch the game as it starts. Jongdae does the same, trying his best to ignore an uncomfortable and unidentifiable emotion that starts swirling around in his stomach.
As he watches the game progress, he realizes just how little he knows about this sport, or well, sports in general. Jongdae is a class A nerd, not a jock by any means. He’s mesmerized by the way Minseok moves down the field, passing the ball effortlessly to his teammates and even scoring a goal. Jongdae wishes he had gone to more of Minseok’s games, he finds himself completely captivated while he watches Minseok do what he loves.
When the game is nearing an end the teams are at a tie. Luhan has the ball and dodging the defense like a pro, Minseok calls out to him that he’s open. Jongdae sits on the edge of his seat as Minseok takes the ball down the field before shooting towards the goal. The final horn that signals the end of the game rings just after the ball sails into the net. Jongdae leaps out of his chair, pumping his fists into the air while cheering Minseok’s name.
Jongdae’s heart skips a beat (or maybe a few) when Minseok smiles at him from the field before his teammates tackle him.
“It was nice of your boyfriend to finally show up to one of our games.” Luhan laughs, pulling on a clean shirt.
The locker room was full of cheering, over-hyped guys that Minseok barely heard a word Luhan said. He could fill in the blank spaces that didn’t quite reach his ears, though. This wasn’t the first time a conversation similar to this has occurred.
“Please stop calling Jongdae my boyfriend.” Minseok sighs.
Luhan hands the football captain his bag when he points at it. “No.” He laughs. “Come on Minseok, we’re best friends, can’t you at least tell me if you like Jongdae or not?”
Minseok opens his mouth to reply, but Luhan beats him to it. “A real answer this time.”
Luhan looks at him so earnestly, Minseok almost believes he has feelings for Jongdae. But they’re best friends, that would just be weird.
“I don’t like-“ Minseok tries, but Luhan cuts him off.
“Yes you do.”
“You know what,” Minseok huffs. “When you actually come out and tell me that you and Sehun are dating instead of going behind my back, maybe I’ll give you the answer you’re looking for.”
Minseok turns on his heel, rushing out of the locker room ignoring Luhan’s shocked face and completely ignoring the fact that he practically admitted to liking Jongdae. Which he doesn’t.
The first person he spots when he walks out of the locker room is Jongdae, who was dutifully waiting for him. He wastes no time crossing the space between them and jumping into his awaiting arms and hugs him tightly. Jongdae laughs loudly as he spins his best friend around. When he sets Minseok back on his feet, he doesn’t even hesitate to lean in and kiss him. It was like it was the most natural thing to do, he never thought about it.
Jongdae doesn’t even realize what he’s doing until he feels Minseok kiss him back. He feels Minseok press closer to him, his arms tightening and his heart beating erratically. It’s nice, Jongdae thinks. He likes this and it feels right, so even he’s confused when he’s pulling away abruptly and taking a step back.
Minseok blinks, confused, as he watches Jongdae run his hand through his hair. He looks conflicted and he keeps opening his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.
“Jongdae-“ Minseok starts.
“I’m sorry.” Jongdae blurts out, interrupting Minseok. “I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know why I did” He’s rambling by now, chuckling nervously.
Minseok watches as Jongdae keeps backing up, a little hurt and a lot confused. “I need to go.” Jongdae mumbles before turning on his heels and walking away as quickly as he can.
Minseok doesn’t try to stop him.
_ __
One month. Minseok has been avoiding Jongdae as much as he possibly could for one month. It’s hell, to say the least. He can’t concentrate in class (he’s actually been trying!), he doesn’t feel like going out anymore because his best friend won’t be there to accompany him and he can’t even write his research paper. He’s staying up even later at night, pulling all-nighters left and right, but he finds himself still stuck on the same sentence he was on yesterday, and the day before that…
Jongdae hates how he can’t seem to function without his best friend by his side. He wonders when he got so attached. He never even realized it. It hurts, a lot honestly, to not have Minseok by his side. What makes it all worse is Jongdae knows it’s his fault.
“Why don’t you just apologize, confess your love for him and then you two can live happily ever after?” Baekhyun pipes up from across the table from him.
Jongdae feels annoyance bubble up inside of him. He hates how he has to deal with Baekhyun tagging along with him and Chanyeol when they go to study now. Ever since the two finally started dating, Baekhyun wouldn’t leave Chanyeol alone, which in turns means Jongdae had to suffer through his annoying personality.
Jongdae doesn’t particularly like Baekhyun, if that wasn’t clear.
“Who said I was in love with him?” Jongdae grumbles, not bothering to look up from his laptop, which has his unwritten paper on it. He glares at the screen, willing his final semester paper to write itself because he’s growing increasingly annoyed with the fact that he can’t write anything past the second paragraph.
“Jongdae, are you still trying to deny that you’re completely head over heels for Minseok?” Chanyeol laughs. “You kissed him! Doesn’t that tell you enough?”
Jongdae doesn’t grace that with a response, instead he lets his mind wonder back to that night. He lets himself think back on every day he’s spent with Minseok, and that’s a lot. He thinks about his smile and how breathtaking he looks when he laughs. He thinks about Minseok coming out to chew his head off at three in the morning because he’s keeping his roommate awake. He thinks about Minseok and how wonderful he is and he smiles, but all Jongdae can really think right now is “oh shit” because he’s in love with his best friend and what is he supposed to do about that?
“Maybe tell him?” Chanyeol laughs when Jongdae jumps slightly. He completely forgot two people where still here with him.
“Did I…say that out loud?” Jongdae coughs in embarrassment when Chanyeol nods his head, laughing boisterously.
“Just tell him, Jongdae.” Chanyeol finally gets out when his laughter calms down. “I told Baekhyun and look at us now!” Chanyeol throws an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and pulls him into his side as Baekhyun laughs, his eyes crinkling into crescents happily.
“What am I looking at? Two idiots in a dysfunctional relationship?” Jongdae scoffs jokingly.
“Dysfunction, maybe.” Baekhyun wrinkles his nose before turning his head up to smile at Chanyeol. “But happy. We’re in love. What do you have?” Baekhyun directs his question to Jongdae without looking at him.
Jongdae sighs because he knows Baekhyun is right. And he really hates it when Baekhyun’s right.
Jongdae’s back at his research paper at god knows what time in the morning. He just knows it’s late and he’s barely made progress, even after hours of working. He’s exhausted and slumped over his laptop. His eyes hurt from staring at the screen for so long and his bed sounds more than appealing right now.
He hears a door creak open and he knows Minseok is awake. Every time him and Minseok are around each other he feels his nerves start acting up, but right now he’s too exhausted to even think about being nervous.
He lifts his head when he hears a chair being pulled up to his desk and he watches Minseok sit down next to him, a tired look on his face. They stare at each other for a moment, Minseok raising one eyebrow when Jongdae gives him a confused look.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” Minseok asks quietly, not looking away.
Jongdae sighs, rubbing an eye under his glasses. “Why am I always awake at this time?” He motions to his laptop screen with his research paper still on it.
Minseok looks down, staying silent for a moment. When he looks back at Jongdae, he can see the dark circles under his eyes and his heart clenches. He notices Jongdae’s glasses slipping down his nose, as well. Minseok gently pushes his glasses back up Jongdae’s nose, sighing softly.
“You should really get more sleep.” Minseok mumbles, hands slowly gliding over Jongdae’s cheeks before falling back into his lap. “I don’t think it’s healthy to get so little sleep every night.”
Jongdae smiles wryly and shrugs. “I’m not a medical major so I guess I wouldn’t know.”
Minseok rolls his eyes, but smiles non-the-less. He steals a glance at Jongdae before closing his laptop and standing up, pulling Jongdae up with him. Jongdae gives him a confused look, but complies.
“It’s time for bed.” Minseok starts pulling Jongdae to his bedroom.
“My rooms the other way though?” Jongdae chuckles nervously.
“I’m aware.”
Jongdae doesn’t fight against Minseok, just follows him obediently. Minseok pulls him towards the bed, letting both of them fall onto it. He doesn’t quite know himself what he’s doing but when he wraps his arms around Jongdae and pulls him close, everything feels right.
“I have to make sure you don’t go back to your computer.” Minseok lies, staring at Jongdae with wide, innocent eyes.
“Right.” Jongdae whispers.
Jongdae brushes Minseok’s hair away from his forehead, eyes not able to leave his. He’s so close and this is the most contact they’ve had since the night Jongdae kissed him. Minseok’s so close, he could just…
Jongdae cups Minseok’s cheek gently, leaning in to brush their lips together. It’s so soft and innocent; Minseok lets his eyes flutter shut and presses harder. Minseok's heart thumps in his chest as their lips slide together and Jongdae nibbles on his lower lip.
When Jongdae slides his tongue across Minseok’s lower lip, a tingling sensation spreads throughout his whole body. Jongdae let his tongue slide against Minseok’s sensually, slowly. Minseok’s hands slide up Jongdae’s sides and land on his chest. There, they grip his shirt tightly as he tries to press closer.
Jongdae eventually breaks the kiss, but only to attach his lips to Minseok’s jaw, placing a trail of kisses down to his neck where he exchanges nips and licks, marking Minseok. He hears Minseok let out a shaky breath as he sucks on a particular part of his neck, right on his pulse.
Jongdae detaches his lips from his neck, rolling over so he’s hovering over Minseok. They stare at each other, both panting slightly with half-lidded eyes.
“Is this okay?” Jongdae whispers.
A nod from Minseok is all Jongdae needs to reattach their lips, his hand sliding up Minseok’s shirt. Minseok shivers as Jongdae runs his fingers up his side and back down, pressure building up at the front of his pants.
Jongdae pulls away to pull Minseok’s shirt off over his head, pulling his own off as well. It’s not as if Minseok hasn’t seen his best friend shirtless, but in the current situation he finds himself marveling at how absolutely stunning Jongdae is.
In a bold move, Minseok flips Jongdae over to switch their positions and purposely lets his hips brush against Jongdae’s. Minseok smirks when Jongdae inhales sharply, thrusting his hips up to meet Minseok’s.
Minseok, growing increasingly impatient, started trailing kisses down Jongdae’s chest and stomach, paying extra attention to the area just above the waistband of his pants. Jongdae’s hips lifted slightly when Minseok ran a hand up his thigh as he continued to nip at his hipbones.
“Minseok, please.”
Minseok wasn’t one to disappoint. He tugged Jongdae’s pants, along with his boxers, down, wrapping a hand around the base of his cock. Jongdae’s nerves start to catch up to him when Minseok gives the tip an experimental lick. He’s never gone this far with anyone before.
Jongdae let’s out a moan in response to Minseok wrapping his lips around the head and slowly moving down to take in as much as he can. Minseok bobs his head at a steady pace, his hand pumping at the same rhythm.
Jongdae’s fingers thread through Minseok’s hair, tugging slightly. Jongdae unconsciously rolls his hips for more, thrusting into Minseok’s mouth. Minseok’s free hand rests on Jongdae’s hipbone to steady him.
Jongdae, not able to take it anymore, pulls Minseok gently away, flipping their positions once more. He pulls Minseok’s pants and boxers down, letting Minseok kick them off and their erections brush together. Minseok lets out a moan, lifting his hips for more contact.
Jongdae lets out a shaky breath as he tries to control himself. “I don’t suppose you have…”
Minseok curses and shakes his head.
Jongdae nodded before holding three fingers up to Minseok’s mouth. “Suck.”
So Minseok did. Jongdae’s cock twitched at the sight. Minseok’s heavy lidded eyes met Jongdae’s, his hair disheveled from Jongdae’s fingers, as his tongue swirled around his fingers. Pressing one finger to his entrance, Jongdae made sure to kiss him as he entered slowly.
Discomfort was the first thing to come to Minseok, but as Jongdae kept going, discomfort turned to pleasure. The second was added, and soon after, the third. When Minseok was stretched properly, Jongdae slicked up his length with his own saliva as best as he could and positioned himself at Minseok’s entrance.
Jongdae pushed himself in slowly, until he was seated deep inside of Minseok. He paused, waiting for Minseok to adjust to the size. Minseok brought his hand up to Jongdae’s and entwined their fingers together above his head, smiling slightly and giving him a nod.
Minseok’s tight muscle was creating delicious friction as Jongdae pulled out halfway before thrusting back in. Everything started out slow and sensual, nothing being rushed. Eventually things started to speed up, Jongdae thrusting in harder and faster. Minseok gasped as Jongdae rocked into him particularly roughly, chanting his name over and over again.
Jongdae presses his forehead to Minseok’s, wanting to tell him that he loved him. He knows at a moment like this, Minseok would want to hear it.
I love you. I love you. I love you. He chants in his head as his thrusts become more erratic. He doesn’t say it out loud though. Not then, not when Minseok comes undone under him, nor when he buries his face into Minseok’s neck as he, too, met his release.
Jongdae rolled off of Minseok, but kept him close as they let their breathing calm down. Neither of them would look at each other and both had something to say.
They both, however, left them unsaid.
Things aren’t back to normal afterwards, obviously. Minseok at least isn’t avoiding Jongdae anymore. However, he won’t look at Jongdae when they talk and he keeps his replies short and curt. Jongdae grows increasingly frustrated by the day, but he never has time to confront Minseok because his paper is due in less than a week. All he ever does now is work. Sometimes he can find the time to eat and sleep, just enough to not die.
Minseok spends most of his time with Luhan if he’s not in class. Jongdae only knows this because Chanyeol always sees them together. Jongdae can feel jealously at the pit of his stomach, but tries to squash it by burying himself in research.
“You should really put his mind at ease, Seok.” Luhan sighs, watching Jongdae nearly fall asleep at the library table across the room.
“He’s busy.” Minseok sighs, flipping the page in his textbook. “There’s nothing to say anyways.”
“You two had sex.” Luhan hisses. “Of course there’s something to say! You guys can’t dance around each other forever.”
Minseok glares at Luhan, but doesn’t bother to respond. He really didn’t feel like talking about it at the moment. It hurt too much to think about how him and Jongdae have become awkward around each other. It filled him with regret for even letting it go as far as it did.
“Minseok-“
“Luhan I don’t want to talk about it!” Minseok yells.
Everyone in the library turns their attention to Minseok, even Jongdae who is now wide awake and very aware Minseok is there. Minseok flinches when he realizes the attention he’s gathered and slides lower in his seat, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment.
Luhan blinks in astonishment. He has only seen Minseok lose his cool a few times in all the years they’ve known each other, and never had it been directed at him. Luhan waits until everyone turns their attention back to their own tasks before speaking again.
“I want you to meet Sehun.” He smiles slightly.
Minseok sighs. “What?”
“I want you to meet Sehun.” Luhan repeats. “My boyfriend.”
“Luhan, you don’t have to- I’m sorry I shouldn’t have-“
“No I want to!” Luhan laughs humorlessly. “You were right, what kind of friend keeps their relationship a secret? Come on, he should actually be getting out of class right about now.”
Luhan stands up and drags Minseok with him. He makes sure to gather Minseok’s things for him before dragging him out of the library. Minseok is aware of Jongdae’s stare as they pass by his table, but he wills himself not to look. It’s hard and he has to hold his breath and concentrate.
Once he’s outside he lets his breath out and silently follows Luhan. No matter how much he wanted to run back in and kiss Jongdae and apologize, he willed himself to keep walking. He does his best not to look back.
It doesn’t work.
_ __
Jongdae finally confronts Minseok when he comes back to the dorm from winter break. He can’t take the awkward tension between them anymore. They didn’t even spend time together on their break, which they do every year, even if they’re going home to visit family. He wanted his old best friend back, maybe something more. But anything was better than this.
“Minseok, please talk to me.” Jongdae begs. “I’m sorry.”
Minseok flinches, a hurt expression flashing across his face. “Please don’t say that.”
“Then what do you want me to say?” Jongdae asks, completely at a loss of what to do.
Minseok doesn’t respond, just looks away. Jongdae groans in frustration, running a hand down his face. He looks at Minseok in despair, his heart aching when he sees’s the expression on Minseok’s face. Worn out, hurt, and confused. Jongdae didn’t mean for any of this to happen. As the silence stretches and grows more awkward, Jongdae grows more nervous.
“I got an A on my paper.” Jongdae blurts out, breaking the silence. “I changed the topic though.”
“What did you write about then?” Minseok asks quietly.
“The theory of everything.” Jongdae laughs, running a hand through his hair. “It’s funny because the theory of everything to the world is different than to me.”
Minseok finally looks up at Jongdae giving him a confused look, not quite following.
“The theory of everything is the final theory, the ultimate theory, the master theory. It’s a hypothetical single, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical aspects of the universe.” Jongdae makes useless motions with his hands to emphasize his words. “The universe. That, in it’s own, can be defined and theorized so many ways. But mine,” he motions to himself. “Is simple. My universe is full of love and want and it revolves around my best friend.”
“He’s pretty great.” Jongdae is laughing again. “He’s beautiful, he goes to get pancakes with me at ungodly hours of the morning, even when he doesn’t like pancakes. He puts up with my extremely lame jokes and the fact that he’s still here even though I’m learning how to be a professional nerd says something.”
Minseok’s eyes widen, just slightly, as he watches Jongdae pick at his shirt nervously before continuing.
“Best friend. I guess it’s a relative term now because I don’t think best friends kiss each other or, you know, have sex with each other.” Jongdae pauses. “Well, I mean, friends with benefits is a thing so I guess it does happen.” Jongdae see’s the confusion on Minseok’s face from his rambling. “The point is; throughout this whole time I’ve been in love with you, even if I didn’t realize it. The theory of everything doesn’t exist in my world because you’re here; you’re most definitely real and not just a theory. Minseok, you are my everything.” Jongdae tries his best not to flinch at his own cheesiness.
Minseok stares at Jongdae, blinking once, twice. He doesn’t say anything and Jongdae starts to panic because why isn’t he saying anything? He starts to think he misread everything and Minseok actually hates him now because the sex was probably bad and oh god, what has he done?
Minseok starts chuckling, seeing the growing panic on Jongdae’s face. That, in turn, just freaks him out more because now he’s laughing at him and he’s making a fool of himself. He shouldn’t have said anything; he should’ve left it at ‘I’m sorry’.
“It’s about time you said something.” Minseok laughs. “Way to be overly cheesy, by the way.”
“Wait, what?” Jongdae’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.
Minseok sighs exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. “I love you, too, you idiot.”
“Wait, what?”
“You know, for someone supposedly smart, you’re really dumb.” Minseok smiles widely, leaning up to kiss Jongdae on the cheek. “I’ll say it again: Kim Jongdae, I am completely and utterly in love with-“
Minseok never gets the chance to finish because Jongdae already has his lips covering his in a sweet kiss. This kiss is different. It sends tingles down Minseok’s spine and butterflies to his stomach and he just feels ultimately and completely happy and in love.
He has a feeling that this is something he’ll enjoy getting used to.
End.
_ __
Bonus:
“You guys are gross.” Jongin grumbles, setting the plate of pancakes in front of the couple.
Jongdae and Minseok aren’t listening as they continue their conversation, Minseok cuddled into Jongdae’s side. Jongin of course isn’t surprised they’re ignoring him.
“Can you guys, you know, not?” Jongin groans.
“Jongin!”
Jongin immediately perks up hearing his name, recognizing the voice. He leaves the gross couple to walk to the front and wrap his arms around a smaller, doe-eyed boy with a wide smile on his face.
“Hey, Soo.” Jongin grins. “What are you doing here?”
They share a quick kiss before Kyungsoo responds. “I came to visit you. Your shift's over soon right?”
Jongin nods. “I’ll see if I can get off a few minutes early.”
Kyungsoo hums in affirmation, pulling his boyfriend into a longer kiss before sending him off so he doesn’t get in trouble.
“Wait here! I’ll be right back!” Jongin calls over his shoulder.
He starts walking towards the back to ask to get off with a dopey smile on his face. He passes by the table with the gross new couple sitting together and hears a: “And you said we were gross.”
Jongin throws a glare at Jongdae who smiles slyly in return before turning back to place a sloppy kiss on Minseok’s lips and digging into his pancakes.
“Totally gross.” Jongin grumbles.
Author's note: What did I just write? I'm not even sure. Where did Kaisoo, Hunhan, and Baekyeol even come from? I really don't know. I hope I met your expectations!