[Fic] Self-Improvement (EXO)
Title: Self-Improvement
Pairing: Lu Han/Minseok
Rating: NC-17
Genre: AU, fluff
Warnings: sexual situations, pining
Prompt: Lu Han decides to give up sex for Lent, just to prove he can do it to Yixing. The stakes are high and he's determined not to lose. Then he meets Minseok.
***
“Lent,” Lu Han said, having not heard too many ideas out of Yixing’s mouth that indicated he thought one way or another about religion. “Why?”
“It sounds self-improving. A good time for reflection. We can all use that.”
He wasn’t sure why Yixing was looking so pointedly about it at him, exactly. Except for some kind of shared pain.
Six weeks, no sex. It sounded simple. No sex with other human beings, and given that he wasn’t dating and he’d gone longer than that - sometimes quite a lot longer - he wasn’t sure what could go wrong. He was doing it in solidarity, he supposed. Yixing had given him such an interesting look, half humor, half something like disbelief. The problem with best friends was that they tended to know all of a person’s weaknesses. And hey, Lu Han hadn’t agreed to no jerking off. That would’ve just been cruel.
And Lu Han didn’t want to think about what Yixing would do if he lost the bet. Somewhere under that occasionally angelic face was a master of sadism, and they said Lu Han was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They’d clearly never met Zhang Yixing.
***
Day one, no problems. No one jumped out from behind a bush and tried to proposition him for want of his masculine beauty.
Day two, same.
Day three, stripper music was blaring in Lu Han’s head. A sweater was being lifted off a slim torso, revealing a simple t-shirt. Lu Han wasn’t sure what had caught him. Bright hair, or set of the man’s hips. All of a sudden an ass in cute little athletic shorts was being thrust out toward him, and Lu Han’s fingers involuntarily twitched. And the thighs under those shorts, and the truly hideous athletic socks, he-
He had a thing for guys in athletic gear, a leftover from high school and soccer dreams, and he really meant to look away, until the man turned. And Lu Han swallowed, watching hair being shaken back from his forehead, a laugh being directed at the guy beside him.
“Hey, Minseok!” Jongin hollered from right beside Lu Han, nearly scaring him right off his knees. “Lu Han, this is the guy I was telling you about who’s joining us for-“
Lu Han lost track of the conversation because Minseok turned his smile on Lu Han instead. And Lu Han smiled back, mechanical and sharp.
***
Kim Minseok. Tasty thighs. From a distance, of course, it wasn’t like he’d actually sampled them yet. Cheekbones he wanted to weep over. Lu Han had to turn away as Minseok completed his stretches, because nothing like an untimely boner to blend in. Yixing was behind it, he was certain of that. There was no way that he’d laughed in Yixing’s face about no problem, no sex, and then Minseok with that ass-
Lu Han was fairly certain his face scared away some teenagers who were jogging around the field.
Playing, he was fine. They split up into four on four, and Lu Han was competitive enough that playing against Minseok meant that he only paused a couple of times because of flashes of thigh, and that was when he was catching his breath anyway.
But after, oh after. He inhaled his drink, because Minseok had sat beside him all flushed, and…flushed. There was such a tiny distinction between Male: flushed and sweaty after a rousing game of soccer, and Male: flushed and sweaty after a rousing roll in the sheets. Or on the couch. Or the table. Or the bench. Or the grass.
Minseok caught him staring, offering a questioning smile, and Lu Han grinned and looked away and gnawed on the spout of his bottle in frustration.
“Want to shower together?” fantasy!Minseok asked, running his hand up Lu Han’s neck and licking his very, very kissable lips. And Lu Han just leaned in, like a love-sick cartoon.
Lu Han grimaced at the grass, and nearly choked on his own tonsils when Minseok announced he was heading for the showers.
“Did you pull something?” Jongin asked a couple of minutes later, when Lu Han hadn’t moved off the bench.
“No, I’m going,” Lu Han said, trying for his best “no really, I’m okay, look I’m smiling” face. Worked almost every time.
If Yixing hadn’t put Minseok in front of Lu Han on purpose, then he’d definitely wished for him to show up, there was no doubt about that in Lu Han’s mind. Somehow it had to be Yixing’s fault.
***
After Lu Han made it home, safe and un-propositioned, he’d realized he didn’t have it that bad after all. All he had to do was be strong a few hours every week, that was all. Minseok wasn’t going to go slathering over him in bed like some kind of sex kitten because of Lu Han’s manly prowess of wheezing around mouthfuls of sports drink.
An unknown number showing up on his cell phone didn’t even make him bat an eyelash, but he answered and kicked off his shoes after getting home from work.
“Hey?”
“Hello? This is Minseok. From soccer.”
The door swung back to hit Lu Han’s foot and he barely even felt it.
“Oh yeah. Hey. Yeah?”
Articulate, the middle name he’d never known he had.
“Yeah, so I’d asked Jongin about maybe practicing some during the week too, and he said you might be interested, since no one has been able to join you.”
Did Jongin know Yixing? Were they in this plot together?
Reasonable, rational Lu Han told him to take Minseok up on the offer and that more sweaty Minseok in his vicinity, and more smiles and laughs weren’t going to hurt. Minseok still wasn’t going to fall into bed with him. Lu Han might end up confined to bed because of critical injuries to his anatomy due to lust-induced inattention, however. Human, hormonal Lu Han warned him to run away and fast.
“What day works best for you?” he heard himself say.
Not even two days a week was going to change things. Five and a half weeks to go. No problem.
***
When Minseok arrived, he stripped off track pants to reveal a different pair of cute shorts and jersey of indeterminate origin. Lu Han had only just barely begun to warm up and stretch, because he felt doing it together would curb any urge to, say, watch.
“Good week?” Lu Han asked, reaching for his ankle.
“Yeah! So far really productive.”
And seductive. No. He meant the way Minseok’s voice came out in a bit of breathless rush as he bent over. Not that Lu Han could see. Except out of the corner of his eye.
As Minseok finished, and to keep himself occupied, Lu Han juggled the ball around, trying for a record as he counted in his head. He didn’t make it but better that than obsessing. He wasn’t even sure why-
Maybe it was because he couldn’t. Maybe that was what was making Minseok shine like the shiniest, lustiest apple he’d ever seen and wanted to nibble.
And beat, apparently, as Minseok stole the ball with a quick move and sent a look over his shoulder daring Lu Han to catch him.
Soccer wasn’t supposed to be a lot of hard contact. But there were still shoulders meeting, and hips bumping, and forearms meshing, and intricate footwork as they tried to get a big round ball to go the way they wanted, all without falling over each other. Interspersed, of course, with time spent with their hands on their knees, snorting like bulls because no one was meant to run for that long. And brilliant conversations that went like:
“That’s all you can do?”
“I’ll show you-“
“Hey!”
“That’s mine. My ball. Go-“
“Then take it, you-“
“Fuck!”
Minseok all but laughed in his face.
Lu Han had to keep reminding himself that grabbing Minseok and rolling him on the ground until he cried mercy, or Lu Han’s name or something far dirtier, was out of bounds,
But after he’d drenched his face in water, pouring it into his mouth, too, he wandered back to the field and let himself imagine.
He stared at the back of Minseok’s thigh, where he wanted to bite, and dip of his shirt collar, where he wanted to lick, and his belly when Minseok stretched, where Lu Han wanted to bite and lick and, just for fun, come all over. He watched Minseok do some kind of sexy jock swagger toward the soccer ball, and nearly took the ball straight in the gut because he was envisioning that body pinning Lu Han down all sexy and hot against his back and fucking Lu Han until he’d lost track of his limbs. Maybe in front of a mirror, so he could watch Minseok’s face. Or maybe that’d be too much to handle.
“We playing or is it nap time?” Minseok needled while Lu Han jogged after the ball. Lu Han tried not to leer at the ball with just what kind of nap time with Minseok he’d really like.
When it started getting darker, they called it quits. They hadn’t really been playing for points, so there wasn’t any ribbing, but Lu Han was both satisfied and unsettled.
“Thanks for coming out tonight,” Minseok said, flashing a grin up at him from where he was tying on his shoes. They’d have to shower at home, lucky fellow public transportation travelers. “I’d gotten a little out of shape and out of practice, so getting more time in is great.”
“No problem. It was good. Fun. You’ve got skill.”
Surprisingly sneaky, quick, athletic. Maybe not the best, but not even the worst on their weekend team by far.
“You too,” Minseok tossed back, hefting his bag onto his shoulder and walking with Lu Han to the street. “I’d offer to buy you a drink, but no one would want to sit near us.”
Lu Han fanned his sweaty shirt and laughed. “No joke.”
“Another time, then. See you!” Minseok said, smiling, voice too husky for Lu Han’s brain to process. And then Minseok waggled his fingers before he turned to walk down the street. His eyes had done a little sparkling thing in the light of the street lights that was unfair.
Lu Han was afraid he’d stood there gaping, holding a soccer ball and lifting his hand and spitting out out a “See you” several seconds too late.
Minseok was cute. Really cute. Funny. Competitive. Hot. Contemplative. Cute.
Though if anyone knew about the power of underestimating someone who looked cute, it was Lu Han. He’d gotten a couple of sore knuckles in his lifetime proving that, too. But he’d done it. He’d gotten through an entire workout with Minseok without propositioning him. But he had a problem, kind of a big one. And that wasn’t even a euphemism.
Two hours earlier, Minseok had been a lusty fantasy that Lu Han could imagine breaking his bet for. He still wanted Minseok, but he also wanted to run after him and offer his own shower so they could go get a drink and just talk.
And that was a different kind of thing altogether.
***
Lu Han’s goal for their group game and practice was “no touching.”
So he ended up with his arm around Minseok’s shoulders four times, Minseok resting his forearms on Lu Han’s shoulders twice, and then nearly bit his tongue when Minseok pressed up against his side to talk strategy.
Soccer. Soccer. He was focusing on soccer. Not grabbing Minseok’s arm to steady him, or falling over laughing when Minseok and Jongin got into a standoff. Minseok gave him the stinkeye and Lu Han beamed back, and it was only later that he cursed himself because A. Liking Minseok more wasn’t helping him get away from wanting to spread him all over his sheets, and B. He was causing all of his own problems.
The kindest thing the universe could do for him would be to let him sprain his ankle and have to sit out a month. And then Lu Han took a nice long look at his fascination. If he hadn’t had a bet hanging over his head with Minseok like the far away prize he couldn’t have, he figured he’d have had three routes to take. One was pining delicately from a distance, which he couldn’t say he’d ever excelled at. He was a physical person and that usually outed him in one sense or another. Two was jerking off and resigning himself to getting used to that. Three was doing the logical thing and finding out if Minseok was into dudes in the first place, since that was kind of a big deal breaker. And from there, figuring out if Minseok was into him in particular. There were pretty wide swaths of preference, and he was not everyone’s cup of tea. The guys who saw him as some demure, doe-eyed little virgin got educated, the ones who found him too pretty full stop got ignored, and everyone else at least was worth taking note of. Maybe if Minseok had been a blazing jackass, that would’ve cooled his libido, though that wasn’t always true either. Lust, not always a logical thing.
So Lu Han lurked after their game, since Jongin was prone to probing questions for nothing more than his own curiosity. If Lu Han could’ve planted the question in Jongin’s mind he would’ve. Ask if he’s dating, Lu Han politely mind-beamed to Jongin. And of course, he did no such thing, talking about boring things like where the nearest library was and where he bought his socks at.
“See you Wednesday!” Minseok called, hair politely shining as he jogged to catch up with a couple of the guys.
“Oh, that worked out?” Jongin asked, rounding on him like a hungry walrus.
“Yes?” Lu Han said, rubbing his neck and feeling wary and somehow guilty.
“Cool! He’s really nice. I wonder…” Jongin got that gleam in his eye that made Lu Han afraid. “Since he’s new, we should all go out! Get to know him. Weekend is probably best, but maybe so we don’t get totally smashed… Are you free Tuesday?”
His person was free Tuesday. His sanity and self-preservation, that was still up in the air.
***
The table they snagged at their chosen bar was so small they almost ended up in each other’s laps. It was about the only time when touching became better than seeing, because even if Minseok was pressed up against one arm, at least Lu Han couldn’t see him if he kept his head turned just right. Except maybe his hand stroking his bottle.
But he learned things, just by virtue of being around a lot of chatty guys getting considerably tipsier as the night wore on. He heard Minseok’s little biting bits of humor, laughing outright once and shoving Minseok’s arm. It was better when he wasn’t thinking. Avoiding. Obsessing made it worse, when he was there to have fun.
Not just to pine.
“Still waiting for someone to come over here to take Lu Han’s pretty face home.”
Lu Han sneered across the table. “I’m not going to be some china shepherdess for some guy to put up on a shelf somewhere.”
“Remember that guy who thought you were a woman?”
Lu Han threw back his head and laughed, and Jongin leaned forward to tell the tale despite the fact that everyone except Minseok had probably heard it seven times. He didn’t even dare look at Minseok’s face.
“No, really. It was winter, what, a year ago? We’re walking home at night and Lu Han has on this fur-lined hood, and this guy comes out of the convenience store and tries to proposition him.”
“I don’t think he was drunk yet, either,” Lu Han said. “That’s actually happened before though. Men are pigs.”
There was a moment of reflective silence.
“There’s no way I’d mistake you for a woman,” Minseok said. “You walk too much like a man.”
Lu Han turned to thank him, catching on the way Minseok’s eyelashes fell as he looked down Lu Han’s body. And Lu Han nodded instead, washing down his tangled words with another drink.
Had Sehun been with the team instead of taking his sexual odyssey world tour with Zitao, Lu Han wouldn’t have heard the end of it. Taking a tour with his best friend he was also sleeping with sounded like a great deal. Too bad Lu Han’s best friend would giggle him right out of his apartment, plus the whole no-sex-for-over-a-month thing.
His hand on Minseok’s thigh was the effect of a tipsy Jongin, reeling into Lu Han, who in turn tried not to fall over Minseok.
“Sorry,” he half grunted. Not sorry. Very sorry. Infinitely regretful. For one second he’d breathed against Minseok’s shoulder, and that combined with his accidental groping was enough to fuel his jerk off fantasies for at least a few days. There was this little mark on Minseok’s neck that he just wanted to nuzzle, and maybe the point of his jaw, and his earlobe, and feel his hair feather against his face, and-
He was creepily breathing hard into his glass, so he changed the station in his head that blared “You’re fucked” to “Go home before you touch on purpose.”
But on the sidewalk, it was different. Everyone was filtering away, and Lu Han was caught. His friends joked about him being in control, getting shit done. Don’t let Lu Han charge right over you, ha. Ha. Lu Han was beginning to wonder right then if his resistance was having less to do with the attraction, and more to do with the like.
“Thanks for getting this together,” Minseok said, elbowing him and turning to Jongin.
His mouth dropped open because he hadn’t. Jongin had. And Lu Han couldn’t exactly disabuse him of the notion, because Minseok and Jongin were walking away, and Lu Han was stuck.
***
Lu Han sat himself on the bench before Minseok arrived for their mid-week practice, and began to stretch. He’d had a good sleep, no hangover, a semi-stupid day at work, though that was typical. Minseok waved as he trotted in.
“Sorry I’m late,” Minseok breathed, kicking off his street shoes and pulling out his cleats.
“I didn’t set that up last night,” Lu Han said, as soon as the hey, how are yous were over.
Minseok’s eyes went wide, confused for a second at Lu Han’s declaration. “Oh. Don’t worry, I know. But Jongin said you’d given him the idea and agreed, so. It’s fun getting to know everyone when we can all breathe properly.”
That was a matter of opinion, the breathing thing anyway.
“I might need to leave about ten minutes earlier tonight, so I guess we’ll see how it goes,” Minseok said, and pulled at his socks.
“Hot date tonight?” Lu Han asked, the words nearly sticking to his teeth.
“Yeah,” Minseok laughed, and oh. See, that was why it was better to know right away. “Me and my TV.”
Lu Han bounded from disappointment to imagining how Minseok watched TV. Sprawled in his underwear maybe.
“Yeah, me un- Too.”
Words. Right, he used words.
“What are you going to watch?”
It took him a moment to parse that, and then to remember what he might actually watch since he had everything on record and it was difficult remembering which day was which sometimes.
“There’s a new hospital drama starting tonight?” he ventured. “I think?”
Minseok’s eyes went excited. “Oh, yeah I heard about that!” Oh. Cute. “It’s with the guy who was in that historical, where everyone died in the end? He looked like he made a good doctor in the preview. I wonder-“
Lu Han wished he hadn’t opened his mouth. Minseok was passionate about soccer. He was athletic, and good looking, and interesting, and held his liquor. He also was apparently interested in some of the same TV shows that Lu Han was. And before his mouth could get any bright ideas about issuing invitations, he lifted the ball with his foot and kicked it out onto the grass.
No talking. No touching. No pseudo-date invitations. No sex. Preferably no jerking off imagining Minseok’s gasps, and all the wicked things-
In retrospect it was good Lu Han got through half an hour without running into a goal post. Usually he was decent at compartmentalizing, but it was difficult when Minseok was taunting him, trying to rile him up. It made him want to yell, and shove, and wrestle for his pride, and without a hint of anger in it - just for the fun of it. Getting irate and trading insults with grins, and flicks to the face. It could flow so easily to traded kisses, and tugging hands. Softer, no less needy.
He really wasn’t sure how he was chasing a ball and not bleeding with it.
They folded together like a house of cards, Lu Han’s chirrup of surprise only compounded when their tangled legs sent Minseok’s shoulder into his chest. The ball rolled away politely, like they hadn’t been trying to fight for it or anything, just giving them their time alone. Lu Han added a new rule.
No Touching was to be joined by Definitely No Touching While Horizontal. Not when there was warm skin, and pretty hair, and he even smelled good while sweaty. And he was just so where Lu Han could imagine hauling him up a little closer and breathing against his neck and maybe napping a little. Something else in him chirruped entirely.
But Minseok wasn’t moving. Okay, he was, in that he’d gotten his elbow out of Lu Han’s stomach, but there was no way for Lu Han to sit up, much less stand up, without bowling Minseok right over.
So he closed his eyes and pretended he was resting. Best plan ever.
“It’s a good thing soccer balls can’t get back at us by kicking us around,” Lu Han said, his lips twisting because ha, joke.
And Minseok laughed, still half leaning into Lu Han’s rib cage. “We’d really have to be cautious then. No concussions from practices.”
Lu Han was a tree. A rock. A bobble of gelatin. Nothing, not even Minseok breathing against him, was going to penetrate his armor.
Not even Minseok’s weight shifting, and his leg moving, and finding himself with Minseok poised over his stomach with thighs temptingly spread on either side.
“Ready to get up?” Minseok asked.
Lu Han’s only answer was a sound that even Lu Han couldn’t translate.
And the correct answer was more like yes. For the sake of them both, Minseok needed to remove himself from- He was straddling Lu Han’s stomach. If he just wiggled back a ways, his ass would be pretty much right where Lu Han had imagined it. Minseok couldn’t have more effectively pinned him if he’d put barbells on all four limbs.
“Why’d you ask me if I had a date?”
“No,” he said, his lips pausing rounded on that word just a fraction too long given the way that Minseok stared at him. “Um. Good to… Know. Or.”
He’d lost all track of the conversation, his answer, words, because Minseok leaned forward and he both simultaneously got a glimpse down Minseok’s shirt and a hand planted by his shoulder. As long as Minseok didn’t ask about why he was suddenly so flustered, his face going hot and a nervous tickle starting up in his throat. Half-cocked fantasies were easy to joke about. A man hovering over him like Lu Han was a wounded zebra on the savannah was something else. Never underestimate the cute ones. He really needed to remember that.
Imagining him pushing himself up on his elbows and trying to squirm away had him barking out a laugh. Minseok actually froze, confusion in his tense shoulders and furrowed brow, but Lu Han realized that backing away had been last week’s. He’d known Minseok had been something different, but he’d been too busy focused on a bet to figure out just how much.
“Okay,” Lu Han said, hooking his fingers in Minseok’s collar. “Okay.”
He’d just barely lifted his head, invitation, when Minseok’s mouth met his. It was every bit a “yes, please” kiss, without any kind of question. His lips slid open, arm hooking around behind Minseok’s neck, and so, so glad they’d caught their breath first or it would have been a gaspy, messy affair. Minseok and his warm, soft tongue and the pleasing little sounds, not quite moans but encouragement. A kiss that had him digging in his mental cleats, trying to enjoy it, prolong it.
“You ogle really loudly,” Minseok breathed.
Ogling. Pining. He did nothing by half. He met Minseok’s lips again, feeling like a soufflé that had given up. No more fighting. Just…
Minseok’s hand was spread over Lu Han’s cheek, and it was all Lu Han could do not to reach and pull so Minseok was all over him, though that might’ve come at the expense of breathing. Minseok stared at Lu Han’s lips, licking his own for a moment before speaking.
“Is that why you agreed to practice with me?”
“No. Maybe why I shouldn’t have agreed to practice with you.” Though something about the question had Lu Han’s head rising. “What about you?”
“I wouldn’t have minded if the others had agreed, too,” Minseok said, raising his eyebrows. “I needed it, whether it was with you or not. But I wasn’t upset it was just you.”
A terrible thought began to occur to him, as he watched Minseok grin. Had Minseok been the one with the bet, Lu Han would have waited. They could’ve skirted the edges, and it would’ve driven Lu Han wild, but it would’ve been worth it. He didn’t sleep with everyone he dated right off. Another month was maybe pushing it, but it could’ve been a funny thing, something to laugh together about. Meeting a guy he really liked, and was attracted to, that wasn’t always a sure thing. He’d been so focused on no sex, he’d forgotten that there were a lot of other things he might like to do with Minseok. Not just to him.
“I like you, a lot,” Lu Han said, and suddenly he was five on the school grounds with his favorite rock clutched in his hand again. Only instead of the little boy who’d chased him off, Minseok huffed at him. And Lu Han huffed right back, feeling way more in control. “If you couldn’t tell.”
He felt like he was being mocked in the best way possible. Lu Han lifted his head, wanting another kiss, but Minseok had him pinned.
“Probably not good to do this here.”
Oh right. They were in public. Anyone could swing by and see them. The way they were, someone would either think that they were making out or that Minseok was strangling him. He knew which he preferred.
“I have a shower at my place,” Lu Han said.
And Minseok just grinned wider.
***
If anyone saw them for what they were on the way to his apartment, two guys anticipating hooking up, then Lu Han wasn’t sure what he would’ve told them. It was easy enough to distract himself, moving the soccer ball on top of his bag with his fingertips and letting Minseok drive the conversation. He was utterly capable of thinking on two tracks, one of which was utterly ordinary - how was the coffee at the shop nearest the station? - and the other more, extraordinary - hey, I’m on my way home to have sex.
Or he hoped. He wasn’t counting on anything before it happened, no matter how Minseok patted his butt as they went up the stairs to his second floor apartment. A little faster. Sliding his key into the lock, throwing his bag and the ball to the side. Their shoes were left haphazardly, Minseok pressing up into the kiss, insistent, hungry, and only his well-timed hand kept them from slamming into a wall.
“We can wait,” Lu Han said, stroking down Minseok’s hair. Not just a token offer, because he meant it. It had nothing to do with the bet. “I want you, but we don’t have to tonight.”
Minseok’s lips parted and there was something molten that expression, that dip of eyelashes and tilt of head, that was scorching.
“Or we can wait next time?”
“I like you a lot,” Lu Han reiterated fervently, and Minseok was still laughing at - with - him as Minseok’s shirt hit the floor.
He had words he wanted to use as he pressed Minseok back onto his bed. Words like gorgeous, that ended up being kisses against Minseok’s neck. And delectable, as he discovered, delighted, that Minseok’s nipples went hard between his lips, and made Minseok gasp.
“Why’d we wait?” he asked, dazed, as Minseok’s hips rubbed up against his.
“Had to get to know each other first,” Minseok snarked back at him, and Lu Han had to kiss him. But he was poised over Minseok, wondering. He didn’t care which way, what Minseok wanted. He just wanted.
“What do you want?” they asked, words running over each other’s.
Minseok reached, hand between them and gripping where his underwear was playing tug of war with his body.
“This’ll do,” Minseok said.
And it was a challenge. Lu Han loved challenges.
And Minseok’s hands on him. And the way Minseok laughed when Lu Han cursed just trying to get their shorts off. And the way Minseok moaned as he sucked marks into Lu Han’s shoulders as Lu Han teased him with his fingers.
And he really loved the part where they were hard and they were ready, a condom clutched in Lu Han’s hand, and Minseok still ended up half over him because they got too lost kissing to remember to do anything else.
“Tell me how many times you want to come tonight, and I’ll make it happen,” Lu Han said against Minseok’s neck.
Minseok’s laugh was gasping. “Why is that so gross and so hot at the same time.”
He knew, but Minseok still didn’t kick him out of bed for it. He was going to spend a lot of time figuring that out, some other time, when he didn’t need quite as much, if that ever happened. And when Minseok’s body gave, they moaned together, Minseok’s hands tight on his hips and not in a way that urged him slow. He watched Minseok’s face, a half smile there prodding him on, enthralling him, before moaning again. And he dropped his head, trying to not come right then and there.
“Waiting next time, remember,” Minseok said, gripping Lu Han’s sides. Reminding him. Lu Han was hardly alone.
Next time. Next time could be slow, could be anything they wanted. So Minseok kissed him, and they raced like they had earlier, only trying to work together instead of trying to take anything away. Minseok’s hips lifted and they nearly tumbled into each other, his hand on Minseok’s thigh and watching between Minseok jerking himself off and the tension in Minseok’s face. Lips he was going to kiss, as soon as he could breathe again, as soon as his body could stop, when he wasn’t so close, so close to seeing Minseok-
And when Minseok gasped and clutched around him, Lu Han knew holding out had been worth it.
***
Lu Han stared at the ceiling, his head newly-showered head planted firmly on Minseok’s shoulder. Languid satisfaction suited him, he thought. He needed more of that in his day to day life.
“You know, I wasn’t supposed to sleep with anyone for a few more weeks,” Lu Han mused.
“Oh?” Minseok asked, not a variation in his voice. Right. He should explain, before Minseok thought he was contagious or something.
“Yeah. I made a bet with my best friend that I wouldn’t. Yixing? You’ll meet him.”
“For any particular…reason?”
Lu Han sighed. “Yeah, so I could suffer with him.”
But suffering no more, there was that. And then Lu Han thought. First question, Minseok might’ve thought he had some kind of weird disease. Second, that he slept around and that going a month or whatever without sex was some kind of hardship.
“You just kind of showed up during a time when I couldn’t, rather than when there wasn’t anyone,” Lu Han said, shoving himself up a bit so they were at least even. “I actually haven’t slept with anyone for a while.”
And when he really settled so he could see if Minseok believed him, he saw Minseok’s chin propped on an arm, a smile flirting at his lips.
“That’s good to know.”
“You knew that already,” Lu Han said, blinking.
“I asked around about you a little,” Minseok admitted. “It doesn’t hurt to know about someone.”
“You must be better about being subtle than I am,” Lu Han said, and Minseok just laughed.
It was getting late, and he realized he had to work the next day. They both did. The numbers on the clock behind Minseok’s shoulder mocked him. They’d missed the TV. But Lu Han had it recorded. He couldn’t exactly pause sex. And there wasn’t any sense going halfway.
“If you want to stay, you’re welcome.” Lu Han toyed with the soft hair in front of Minseok’s ear. When it came to sex, he wasn’t that squeamish about someone else in his bed, in his space. Once the deed was done, it kind of felt like a co-owned space. There wasn’t anything left to protect it from, no sense being proprietary. It was a thing in his head, one he didn’t understand but lived by anyway. If a hook-up happened to sleep over, he could be nonchalant in the morning and see them out. Boyfriends, that was a bit different. He tended to like boundaries. Even if he crossed the boundaries, at least he knew they’d been there and that he could make new ones.
Minseok wasn’t a hook-up, and he wasn’t a boyfriend. He was in-between, a possibility.
“If I wake up fifteen minutes early, I can get home in time to change and get to work,” Minseok said, his hand closing around Lu Han’s wrist. “If you let me get some sleep.”
He could do that, he thought, even as he waggled his eyebrows and plopped his head down into the pillow. Sometimes someone staying over was no big deal. Sometimes it was a huge deal.
So Lu Han slipped his arm around Minseok’s waist, and put on his best smile. “And what are you doing after work? I think you promised me a drink, and then…hospital drama?”
Minseok inhaled, and his curling grin told Lu Han this in-between business was just as fleeting as Lu Han’s grasp on the bet had been.
Oh right.
The bet.
***
It took two days. And no, not because he was holed up in some den of love with Minseok naked and ready at all hours. That was only partly true. Lu Han had leaped the gap and slept in Minseok’s tiny, tiny bed the night previous, before dressing in the clothes he’d brought. And when he’d stared at himself in the mirror - and closed his collar to cover up the mark at the base of his neck - he was a little startled. Sure, no sex, have sex with cute guy, whatever. Immediately begin shacking up with said guy with three consecutive sleepovers and plans for the next two days, and drooling on him during TV watching, with soccer practices not included. He pushed at Minseok a little and watched him give, and then was so ridiculously pleased when Minseok pushed right back.
His grin into the mirror might have been a little tired, but it was stupidly pleased, and exactly zero people were going to miss the change between him and Minseok at practice. And none of them were particularly paragons of silence, either. So he called Yixing, determined when he’d be free after Lu Han was off work, and steeled himself.
It was time to decipher his punishment. Yixing wasn’t going to let him off with a promise to do better next time, that was for certain, and Lu Han wasn’t interested in either hiding his transgression or waiting too long to confess, no matter how loose-lipped his other friends were. There’d been one time when he’d had to jog home at night in only his underwear, courtesy of Yixing. That was why he’d decided to tell Yixing at night, just in case. He knew what Yixing was capable of.
Yixing’s door was open, which was kind of weird. It was possible he’d just gotten home. And he spotted Yixing’s shoes, with Yixing’s body still attached, and started talking before he really got a good look beyond that.
“Look, I’m sleeping with the new guy on the soccer team, okay, so do your worst-“
Lu Han stopped in the doorway of Yixing’s apartment, staring. A really, actually gorgeous hand was clutching Yixing’s face, and the owner of said hand had his tongue buried somewhere in Yixing’s mouth. And even through Lu Han’s outburst, it still took a few seconds for them to break the kiss, Yixing staring at Lu Han like he wasn’t sure who he was.
Lu Han tried for outrage. He tried for relief. He settled on indignation.
“We’re even,” he declared, pointing at Yixing and doing the friendly thing by pulling the apartment door closed behind him. He figured they were moments away from getting naked, at the very least. It was only after he’d made it down the hall that he realized that Yixing had known he was coming over, and that might have possibly been his own confession. Whatever. They’d duke it out later.
And without the threat of punishment looming over his head, Lu Han was free to wave down a taxi and contemplate all the interesting sounds that he could get Minseok to make the second he got home.
***
Pairing: Lu Han/Minseok
Rating: NC-17
Genre: AU, fluff
Warnings: sexual situations, pining
Prompt: Lu Han decides to give up sex for Lent, just to prove he can do it to Yixing. The stakes are high and he's determined not to lose. Then he meets Minseok.
***
“Lent,” Lu Han said, having not heard too many ideas out of Yixing’s mouth that indicated he thought one way or another about religion. “Why?”
“It sounds self-improving. A good time for reflection. We can all use that.”
He wasn’t sure why Yixing was looking so pointedly about it at him, exactly. Except for some kind of shared pain.
Six weeks, no sex. It sounded simple. No sex with other human beings, and given that he wasn’t dating and he’d gone longer than that - sometimes quite a lot longer - he wasn’t sure what could go wrong. He was doing it in solidarity, he supposed. Yixing had given him such an interesting look, half humor, half something like disbelief. The problem with best friends was that they tended to know all of a person’s weaknesses. And hey, Lu Han hadn’t agreed to no jerking off. That would’ve just been cruel.
And Lu Han didn’t want to think about what Yixing would do if he lost the bet. Somewhere under that occasionally angelic face was a master of sadism, and they said Lu Han was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They’d clearly never met Zhang Yixing.
***
Day one, no problems. No one jumped out from behind a bush and tried to proposition him for want of his masculine beauty.
Day two, same.
Day three, stripper music was blaring in Lu Han’s head. A sweater was being lifted off a slim torso, revealing a simple t-shirt. Lu Han wasn’t sure what had caught him. Bright hair, or set of the man’s hips. All of a sudden an ass in cute little athletic shorts was being thrust out toward him, and Lu Han’s fingers involuntarily twitched. And the thighs under those shorts, and the truly hideous athletic socks, he-
He had a thing for guys in athletic gear, a leftover from high school and soccer dreams, and he really meant to look away, until the man turned. And Lu Han swallowed, watching hair being shaken back from his forehead, a laugh being directed at the guy beside him.
“Hey, Minseok!” Jongin hollered from right beside Lu Han, nearly scaring him right off his knees. “Lu Han, this is the guy I was telling you about who’s joining us for-“
Lu Han lost track of the conversation because Minseok turned his smile on Lu Han instead. And Lu Han smiled back, mechanical and sharp.
***
Kim Minseok. Tasty thighs. From a distance, of course, it wasn’t like he’d actually sampled them yet. Cheekbones he wanted to weep over. Lu Han had to turn away as Minseok completed his stretches, because nothing like an untimely boner to blend in. Yixing was behind it, he was certain of that. There was no way that he’d laughed in Yixing’s face about no problem, no sex, and then Minseok with that ass-
Lu Han was fairly certain his face scared away some teenagers who were jogging around the field.
Playing, he was fine. They split up into four on four, and Lu Han was competitive enough that playing against Minseok meant that he only paused a couple of times because of flashes of thigh, and that was when he was catching his breath anyway.
But after, oh after. He inhaled his drink, because Minseok had sat beside him all flushed, and…flushed. There was such a tiny distinction between Male: flushed and sweaty after a rousing game of soccer, and Male: flushed and sweaty after a rousing roll in the sheets. Or on the couch. Or the table. Or the bench. Or the grass.
Minseok caught him staring, offering a questioning smile, and Lu Han grinned and looked away and gnawed on the spout of his bottle in frustration.
“Want to shower together?” fantasy!Minseok asked, running his hand up Lu Han’s neck and licking his very, very kissable lips. And Lu Han just leaned in, like a love-sick cartoon.
Lu Han grimaced at the grass, and nearly choked on his own tonsils when Minseok announced he was heading for the showers.
“Did you pull something?” Jongin asked a couple of minutes later, when Lu Han hadn’t moved off the bench.
“No, I’m going,” Lu Han said, trying for his best “no really, I’m okay, look I’m smiling” face. Worked almost every time.
If Yixing hadn’t put Minseok in front of Lu Han on purpose, then he’d definitely wished for him to show up, there was no doubt about that in Lu Han’s mind. Somehow it had to be Yixing’s fault.
***
After Lu Han made it home, safe and un-propositioned, he’d realized he didn’t have it that bad after all. All he had to do was be strong a few hours every week, that was all. Minseok wasn’t going to go slathering over him in bed like some kind of sex kitten because of Lu Han’s manly prowess of wheezing around mouthfuls of sports drink.
An unknown number showing up on his cell phone didn’t even make him bat an eyelash, but he answered and kicked off his shoes after getting home from work.
“Hey?”
“Hello? This is Minseok. From soccer.”
The door swung back to hit Lu Han’s foot and he barely even felt it.
“Oh yeah. Hey. Yeah?”
Articulate, the middle name he’d never known he had.
“Yeah, so I’d asked Jongin about maybe practicing some during the week too, and he said you might be interested, since no one has been able to join you.”
Did Jongin know Yixing? Were they in this plot together?
Reasonable, rational Lu Han told him to take Minseok up on the offer and that more sweaty Minseok in his vicinity, and more smiles and laughs weren’t going to hurt. Minseok still wasn’t going to fall into bed with him. Lu Han might end up confined to bed because of critical injuries to his anatomy due to lust-induced inattention, however. Human, hormonal Lu Han warned him to run away and fast.
“What day works best for you?” he heard himself say.
Not even two days a week was going to change things. Five and a half weeks to go. No problem.
***
When Minseok arrived, he stripped off track pants to reveal a different pair of cute shorts and jersey of indeterminate origin. Lu Han had only just barely begun to warm up and stretch, because he felt doing it together would curb any urge to, say, watch.
“Good week?” Lu Han asked, reaching for his ankle.
“Yeah! So far really productive.”
And seductive. No. He meant the way Minseok’s voice came out in a bit of breathless rush as he bent over. Not that Lu Han could see. Except out of the corner of his eye.
As Minseok finished, and to keep himself occupied, Lu Han juggled the ball around, trying for a record as he counted in his head. He didn’t make it but better that than obsessing. He wasn’t even sure why-
Maybe it was because he couldn’t. Maybe that was what was making Minseok shine like the shiniest, lustiest apple he’d ever seen and wanted to nibble.
And beat, apparently, as Minseok stole the ball with a quick move and sent a look over his shoulder daring Lu Han to catch him.
Soccer wasn’t supposed to be a lot of hard contact. But there were still shoulders meeting, and hips bumping, and forearms meshing, and intricate footwork as they tried to get a big round ball to go the way they wanted, all without falling over each other. Interspersed, of course, with time spent with their hands on their knees, snorting like bulls because no one was meant to run for that long. And brilliant conversations that went like:
“That’s all you can do?”
“I’ll show you-“
“Hey!”
“That’s mine. My ball. Go-“
“Then take it, you-“
“Fuck!”
Minseok all but laughed in his face.
Lu Han had to keep reminding himself that grabbing Minseok and rolling him on the ground until he cried mercy, or Lu Han’s name or something far dirtier, was out of bounds,
But after he’d drenched his face in water, pouring it into his mouth, too, he wandered back to the field and let himself imagine.
He stared at the back of Minseok’s thigh, where he wanted to bite, and dip of his shirt collar, where he wanted to lick, and his belly when Minseok stretched, where Lu Han wanted to bite and lick and, just for fun, come all over. He watched Minseok do some kind of sexy jock swagger toward the soccer ball, and nearly took the ball straight in the gut because he was envisioning that body pinning Lu Han down all sexy and hot against his back and fucking Lu Han until he’d lost track of his limbs. Maybe in front of a mirror, so he could watch Minseok’s face. Or maybe that’d be too much to handle.
“We playing or is it nap time?” Minseok needled while Lu Han jogged after the ball. Lu Han tried not to leer at the ball with just what kind of nap time with Minseok he’d really like.
When it started getting darker, they called it quits. They hadn’t really been playing for points, so there wasn’t any ribbing, but Lu Han was both satisfied and unsettled.
“Thanks for coming out tonight,” Minseok said, flashing a grin up at him from where he was tying on his shoes. They’d have to shower at home, lucky fellow public transportation travelers. “I’d gotten a little out of shape and out of practice, so getting more time in is great.”
“No problem. It was good. Fun. You’ve got skill.”
Surprisingly sneaky, quick, athletic. Maybe not the best, but not even the worst on their weekend team by far.
“You too,” Minseok tossed back, hefting his bag onto his shoulder and walking with Lu Han to the street. “I’d offer to buy you a drink, but no one would want to sit near us.”
Lu Han fanned his sweaty shirt and laughed. “No joke.”
“Another time, then. See you!” Minseok said, smiling, voice too husky for Lu Han’s brain to process. And then Minseok waggled his fingers before he turned to walk down the street. His eyes had done a little sparkling thing in the light of the street lights that was unfair.
Lu Han was afraid he’d stood there gaping, holding a soccer ball and lifting his hand and spitting out out a “See you” several seconds too late.
Minseok was cute. Really cute. Funny. Competitive. Hot. Contemplative. Cute.
Though if anyone knew about the power of underestimating someone who looked cute, it was Lu Han. He’d gotten a couple of sore knuckles in his lifetime proving that, too. But he’d done it. He’d gotten through an entire workout with Minseok without propositioning him. But he had a problem, kind of a big one. And that wasn’t even a euphemism.
Two hours earlier, Minseok had been a lusty fantasy that Lu Han could imagine breaking his bet for. He still wanted Minseok, but he also wanted to run after him and offer his own shower so they could go get a drink and just talk.
And that was a different kind of thing altogether.
***
Lu Han’s goal for their group game and practice was “no touching.”
So he ended up with his arm around Minseok’s shoulders four times, Minseok resting his forearms on Lu Han’s shoulders twice, and then nearly bit his tongue when Minseok pressed up against his side to talk strategy.
Soccer. Soccer. He was focusing on soccer. Not grabbing Minseok’s arm to steady him, or falling over laughing when Minseok and Jongin got into a standoff. Minseok gave him the stinkeye and Lu Han beamed back, and it was only later that he cursed himself because A. Liking Minseok more wasn’t helping him get away from wanting to spread him all over his sheets, and B. He was causing all of his own problems.
The kindest thing the universe could do for him would be to let him sprain his ankle and have to sit out a month. And then Lu Han took a nice long look at his fascination. If he hadn’t had a bet hanging over his head with Minseok like the far away prize he couldn’t have, he figured he’d have had three routes to take. One was pining delicately from a distance, which he couldn’t say he’d ever excelled at. He was a physical person and that usually outed him in one sense or another. Two was jerking off and resigning himself to getting used to that. Three was doing the logical thing and finding out if Minseok was into dudes in the first place, since that was kind of a big deal breaker. And from there, figuring out if Minseok was into him in particular. There were pretty wide swaths of preference, and he was not everyone’s cup of tea. The guys who saw him as some demure, doe-eyed little virgin got educated, the ones who found him too pretty full stop got ignored, and everyone else at least was worth taking note of. Maybe if Minseok had been a blazing jackass, that would’ve cooled his libido, though that wasn’t always true either. Lust, not always a logical thing.
So Lu Han lurked after their game, since Jongin was prone to probing questions for nothing more than his own curiosity. If Lu Han could’ve planted the question in Jongin’s mind he would’ve. Ask if he’s dating, Lu Han politely mind-beamed to Jongin. And of course, he did no such thing, talking about boring things like where the nearest library was and where he bought his socks at.
“See you Wednesday!” Minseok called, hair politely shining as he jogged to catch up with a couple of the guys.
“Oh, that worked out?” Jongin asked, rounding on him like a hungry walrus.
“Yes?” Lu Han said, rubbing his neck and feeling wary and somehow guilty.
“Cool! He’s really nice. I wonder…” Jongin got that gleam in his eye that made Lu Han afraid. “Since he’s new, we should all go out! Get to know him. Weekend is probably best, but maybe so we don’t get totally smashed… Are you free Tuesday?”
His person was free Tuesday. His sanity and self-preservation, that was still up in the air.
***
The table they snagged at their chosen bar was so small they almost ended up in each other’s laps. It was about the only time when touching became better than seeing, because even if Minseok was pressed up against one arm, at least Lu Han couldn’t see him if he kept his head turned just right. Except maybe his hand stroking his bottle.
But he learned things, just by virtue of being around a lot of chatty guys getting considerably tipsier as the night wore on. He heard Minseok’s little biting bits of humor, laughing outright once and shoving Minseok’s arm. It was better when he wasn’t thinking. Avoiding. Obsessing made it worse, when he was there to have fun.
Not just to pine.
“Still waiting for someone to come over here to take Lu Han’s pretty face home.”
Lu Han sneered across the table. “I’m not going to be some china shepherdess for some guy to put up on a shelf somewhere.”
“Remember that guy who thought you were a woman?”
Lu Han threw back his head and laughed, and Jongin leaned forward to tell the tale despite the fact that everyone except Minseok had probably heard it seven times. He didn’t even dare look at Minseok’s face.
“No, really. It was winter, what, a year ago? We’re walking home at night and Lu Han has on this fur-lined hood, and this guy comes out of the convenience store and tries to proposition him.”
“I don’t think he was drunk yet, either,” Lu Han said. “That’s actually happened before though. Men are pigs.”
There was a moment of reflective silence.
“There’s no way I’d mistake you for a woman,” Minseok said. “You walk too much like a man.”
Lu Han turned to thank him, catching on the way Minseok’s eyelashes fell as he looked down Lu Han’s body. And Lu Han nodded instead, washing down his tangled words with another drink.
Had Sehun been with the team instead of taking his sexual odyssey world tour with Zitao, Lu Han wouldn’t have heard the end of it. Taking a tour with his best friend he was also sleeping with sounded like a great deal. Too bad Lu Han’s best friend would giggle him right out of his apartment, plus the whole no-sex-for-over-a-month thing.
His hand on Minseok’s thigh was the effect of a tipsy Jongin, reeling into Lu Han, who in turn tried not to fall over Minseok.
“Sorry,” he half grunted. Not sorry. Very sorry. Infinitely regretful. For one second he’d breathed against Minseok’s shoulder, and that combined with his accidental groping was enough to fuel his jerk off fantasies for at least a few days. There was this little mark on Minseok’s neck that he just wanted to nuzzle, and maybe the point of his jaw, and his earlobe, and feel his hair feather against his face, and-
He was creepily breathing hard into his glass, so he changed the station in his head that blared “You’re fucked” to “Go home before you touch on purpose.”
But on the sidewalk, it was different. Everyone was filtering away, and Lu Han was caught. His friends joked about him being in control, getting shit done. Don’t let Lu Han charge right over you, ha. Ha. Lu Han was beginning to wonder right then if his resistance was having less to do with the attraction, and more to do with the like.
“Thanks for getting this together,” Minseok said, elbowing him and turning to Jongin.
His mouth dropped open because he hadn’t. Jongin had. And Lu Han couldn’t exactly disabuse him of the notion, because Minseok and Jongin were walking away, and Lu Han was stuck.
***
Lu Han sat himself on the bench before Minseok arrived for their mid-week practice, and began to stretch. He’d had a good sleep, no hangover, a semi-stupid day at work, though that was typical. Minseok waved as he trotted in.
“Sorry I’m late,” Minseok breathed, kicking off his street shoes and pulling out his cleats.
“I didn’t set that up last night,” Lu Han said, as soon as the hey, how are yous were over.
Minseok’s eyes went wide, confused for a second at Lu Han’s declaration. “Oh. Don’t worry, I know. But Jongin said you’d given him the idea and agreed, so. It’s fun getting to know everyone when we can all breathe properly.”
That was a matter of opinion, the breathing thing anyway.
“I might need to leave about ten minutes earlier tonight, so I guess we’ll see how it goes,” Minseok said, and pulled at his socks.
“Hot date tonight?” Lu Han asked, the words nearly sticking to his teeth.
“Yeah,” Minseok laughed, and oh. See, that was why it was better to know right away. “Me and my TV.”
Lu Han bounded from disappointment to imagining how Minseok watched TV. Sprawled in his underwear maybe.
“Yeah, me un- Too.”
Words. Right, he used words.
“What are you going to watch?”
It took him a moment to parse that, and then to remember what he might actually watch since he had everything on record and it was difficult remembering which day was which sometimes.
“There’s a new hospital drama starting tonight?” he ventured. “I think?”
Minseok’s eyes went excited. “Oh, yeah I heard about that!” Oh. Cute. “It’s with the guy who was in that historical, where everyone died in the end? He looked like he made a good doctor in the preview. I wonder-“
Lu Han wished he hadn’t opened his mouth. Minseok was passionate about soccer. He was athletic, and good looking, and interesting, and held his liquor. He also was apparently interested in some of the same TV shows that Lu Han was. And before his mouth could get any bright ideas about issuing invitations, he lifted the ball with his foot and kicked it out onto the grass.
No talking. No touching. No pseudo-date invitations. No sex. Preferably no jerking off imagining Minseok’s gasps, and all the wicked things-
In retrospect it was good Lu Han got through half an hour without running into a goal post. Usually he was decent at compartmentalizing, but it was difficult when Minseok was taunting him, trying to rile him up. It made him want to yell, and shove, and wrestle for his pride, and without a hint of anger in it - just for the fun of it. Getting irate and trading insults with grins, and flicks to the face. It could flow so easily to traded kisses, and tugging hands. Softer, no less needy.
He really wasn’t sure how he was chasing a ball and not bleeding with it.
They folded together like a house of cards, Lu Han’s chirrup of surprise only compounded when their tangled legs sent Minseok’s shoulder into his chest. The ball rolled away politely, like they hadn’t been trying to fight for it or anything, just giving them their time alone. Lu Han added a new rule.
No Touching was to be joined by Definitely No Touching While Horizontal. Not when there was warm skin, and pretty hair, and he even smelled good while sweaty. And he was just so where Lu Han could imagine hauling him up a little closer and breathing against his neck and maybe napping a little. Something else in him chirruped entirely.
But Minseok wasn’t moving. Okay, he was, in that he’d gotten his elbow out of Lu Han’s stomach, but there was no way for Lu Han to sit up, much less stand up, without bowling Minseok right over.
So he closed his eyes and pretended he was resting. Best plan ever.
“It’s a good thing soccer balls can’t get back at us by kicking us around,” Lu Han said, his lips twisting because ha, joke.
And Minseok laughed, still half leaning into Lu Han’s rib cage. “We’d really have to be cautious then. No concussions from practices.”
Lu Han was a tree. A rock. A bobble of gelatin. Nothing, not even Minseok breathing against him, was going to penetrate his armor.
Not even Minseok’s weight shifting, and his leg moving, and finding himself with Minseok poised over his stomach with thighs temptingly spread on either side.
“Ready to get up?” Minseok asked.
Lu Han’s only answer was a sound that even Lu Han couldn’t translate.
And the correct answer was more like yes. For the sake of them both, Minseok needed to remove himself from- He was straddling Lu Han’s stomach. If he just wiggled back a ways, his ass would be pretty much right where Lu Han had imagined it. Minseok couldn’t have more effectively pinned him if he’d put barbells on all four limbs.
“Why’d you ask me if I had a date?”
“No,” he said, his lips pausing rounded on that word just a fraction too long given the way that Minseok stared at him. “Um. Good to… Know. Or.”
He’d lost all track of the conversation, his answer, words, because Minseok leaned forward and he both simultaneously got a glimpse down Minseok’s shirt and a hand planted by his shoulder. As long as Minseok didn’t ask about why he was suddenly so flustered, his face going hot and a nervous tickle starting up in his throat. Half-cocked fantasies were easy to joke about. A man hovering over him like Lu Han was a wounded zebra on the savannah was something else. Never underestimate the cute ones. He really needed to remember that.
Imagining him pushing himself up on his elbows and trying to squirm away had him barking out a laugh. Minseok actually froze, confusion in his tense shoulders and furrowed brow, but Lu Han realized that backing away had been last week’s. He’d known Minseok had been something different, but he’d been too busy focused on a bet to figure out just how much.
“Okay,” Lu Han said, hooking his fingers in Minseok’s collar. “Okay.”
He’d just barely lifted his head, invitation, when Minseok’s mouth met his. It was every bit a “yes, please” kiss, without any kind of question. His lips slid open, arm hooking around behind Minseok’s neck, and so, so glad they’d caught their breath first or it would have been a gaspy, messy affair. Minseok and his warm, soft tongue and the pleasing little sounds, not quite moans but encouragement. A kiss that had him digging in his mental cleats, trying to enjoy it, prolong it.
“You ogle really loudly,” Minseok breathed.
Ogling. Pining. He did nothing by half. He met Minseok’s lips again, feeling like a soufflé that had given up. No more fighting. Just…
Minseok’s hand was spread over Lu Han’s cheek, and it was all Lu Han could do not to reach and pull so Minseok was all over him, though that might’ve come at the expense of breathing. Minseok stared at Lu Han’s lips, licking his own for a moment before speaking.
“Is that why you agreed to practice with me?”
“No. Maybe why I shouldn’t have agreed to practice with you.” Though something about the question had Lu Han’s head rising. “What about you?”
“I wouldn’t have minded if the others had agreed, too,” Minseok said, raising his eyebrows. “I needed it, whether it was with you or not. But I wasn’t upset it was just you.”
A terrible thought began to occur to him, as he watched Minseok grin. Had Minseok been the one with the bet, Lu Han would have waited. They could’ve skirted the edges, and it would’ve driven Lu Han wild, but it would’ve been worth it. He didn’t sleep with everyone he dated right off. Another month was maybe pushing it, but it could’ve been a funny thing, something to laugh together about. Meeting a guy he really liked, and was attracted to, that wasn’t always a sure thing. He’d been so focused on no sex, he’d forgotten that there were a lot of other things he might like to do with Minseok. Not just to him.
“I like you, a lot,” Lu Han said, and suddenly he was five on the school grounds with his favorite rock clutched in his hand again. Only instead of the little boy who’d chased him off, Minseok huffed at him. And Lu Han huffed right back, feeling way more in control. “If you couldn’t tell.”
He felt like he was being mocked in the best way possible. Lu Han lifted his head, wanting another kiss, but Minseok had him pinned.
“Probably not good to do this here.”
Oh right. They were in public. Anyone could swing by and see them. The way they were, someone would either think that they were making out or that Minseok was strangling him. He knew which he preferred.
“I have a shower at my place,” Lu Han said.
And Minseok just grinned wider.
***
If anyone saw them for what they were on the way to his apartment, two guys anticipating hooking up, then Lu Han wasn’t sure what he would’ve told them. It was easy enough to distract himself, moving the soccer ball on top of his bag with his fingertips and letting Minseok drive the conversation. He was utterly capable of thinking on two tracks, one of which was utterly ordinary - how was the coffee at the shop nearest the station? - and the other more, extraordinary - hey, I’m on my way home to have sex.
Or he hoped. He wasn’t counting on anything before it happened, no matter how Minseok patted his butt as they went up the stairs to his second floor apartment. A little faster. Sliding his key into the lock, throwing his bag and the ball to the side. Their shoes were left haphazardly, Minseok pressing up into the kiss, insistent, hungry, and only his well-timed hand kept them from slamming into a wall.
“We can wait,” Lu Han said, stroking down Minseok’s hair. Not just a token offer, because he meant it. It had nothing to do with the bet. “I want you, but we don’t have to tonight.”
Minseok’s lips parted and there was something molten that expression, that dip of eyelashes and tilt of head, that was scorching.
“Or we can wait next time?”
“I like you a lot,” Lu Han reiterated fervently, and Minseok was still laughing at - with - him as Minseok’s shirt hit the floor.
He had words he wanted to use as he pressed Minseok back onto his bed. Words like gorgeous, that ended up being kisses against Minseok’s neck. And delectable, as he discovered, delighted, that Minseok’s nipples went hard between his lips, and made Minseok gasp.
“Why’d we wait?” he asked, dazed, as Minseok’s hips rubbed up against his.
“Had to get to know each other first,” Minseok snarked back at him, and Lu Han had to kiss him. But he was poised over Minseok, wondering. He didn’t care which way, what Minseok wanted. He just wanted.
“What do you want?” they asked, words running over each other’s.
Minseok reached, hand between them and gripping where his underwear was playing tug of war with his body.
“This’ll do,” Minseok said.
And it was a challenge. Lu Han loved challenges.
And Minseok’s hands on him. And the way Minseok laughed when Lu Han cursed just trying to get their shorts off. And the way Minseok moaned as he sucked marks into Lu Han’s shoulders as Lu Han teased him with his fingers.
And he really loved the part where they were hard and they were ready, a condom clutched in Lu Han’s hand, and Minseok still ended up half over him because they got too lost kissing to remember to do anything else.
“Tell me how many times you want to come tonight, and I’ll make it happen,” Lu Han said against Minseok’s neck.
Minseok’s laugh was gasping. “Why is that so gross and so hot at the same time.”
He knew, but Minseok still didn’t kick him out of bed for it. He was going to spend a lot of time figuring that out, some other time, when he didn’t need quite as much, if that ever happened. And when Minseok’s body gave, they moaned together, Minseok’s hands tight on his hips and not in a way that urged him slow. He watched Minseok’s face, a half smile there prodding him on, enthralling him, before moaning again. And he dropped his head, trying to not come right then and there.
“Waiting next time, remember,” Minseok said, gripping Lu Han’s sides. Reminding him. Lu Han was hardly alone.
Next time. Next time could be slow, could be anything they wanted. So Minseok kissed him, and they raced like they had earlier, only trying to work together instead of trying to take anything away. Minseok’s hips lifted and they nearly tumbled into each other, his hand on Minseok’s thigh and watching between Minseok jerking himself off and the tension in Minseok’s face. Lips he was going to kiss, as soon as he could breathe again, as soon as his body could stop, when he wasn’t so close, so close to seeing Minseok-
And when Minseok gasped and clutched around him, Lu Han knew holding out had been worth it.
***
Lu Han stared at the ceiling, his head newly-showered head planted firmly on Minseok’s shoulder. Languid satisfaction suited him, he thought. He needed more of that in his day to day life.
“You know, I wasn’t supposed to sleep with anyone for a few more weeks,” Lu Han mused.
“Oh?” Minseok asked, not a variation in his voice. Right. He should explain, before Minseok thought he was contagious or something.
“Yeah. I made a bet with my best friend that I wouldn’t. Yixing? You’ll meet him.”
“For any particular…reason?”
Lu Han sighed. “Yeah, so I could suffer with him.”
But suffering no more, there was that. And then Lu Han thought. First question, Minseok might’ve thought he had some kind of weird disease. Second, that he slept around and that going a month or whatever without sex was some kind of hardship.
“You just kind of showed up during a time when I couldn’t, rather than when there wasn’t anyone,” Lu Han said, shoving himself up a bit so they were at least even. “I actually haven’t slept with anyone for a while.”
And when he really settled so he could see if Minseok believed him, he saw Minseok’s chin propped on an arm, a smile flirting at his lips.
“That’s good to know.”
“You knew that already,” Lu Han said, blinking.
“I asked around about you a little,” Minseok admitted. “It doesn’t hurt to know about someone.”
“You must be better about being subtle than I am,” Lu Han said, and Minseok just laughed.
It was getting late, and he realized he had to work the next day. They both did. The numbers on the clock behind Minseok’s shoulder mocked him. They’d missed the TV. But Lu Han had it recorded. He couldn’t exactly pause sex. And there wasn’t any sense going halfway.
“If you want to stay, you’re welcome.” Lu Han toyed with the soft hair in front of Minseok’s ear. When it came to sex, he wasn’t that squeamish about someone else in his bed, in his space. Once the deed was done, it kind of felt like a co-owned space. There wasn’t anything left to protect it from, no sense being proprietary. It was a thing in his head, one he didn’t understand but lived by anyway. If a hook-up happened to sleep over, he could be nonchalant in the morning and see them out. Boyfriends, that was a bit different. He tended to like boundaries. Even if he crossed the boundaries, at least he knew they’d been there and that he could make new ones.
Minseok wasn’t a hook-up, and he wasn’t a boyfriend. He was in-between, a possibility.
“If I wake up fifteen minutes early, I can get home in time to change and get to work,” Minseok said, his hand closing around Lu Han’s wrist. “If you let me get some sleep.”
He could do that, he thought, even as he waggled his eyebrows and plopped his head down into the pillow. Sometimes someone staying over was no big deal. Sometimes it was a huge deal.
So Lu Han slipped his arm around Minseok’s waist, and put on his best smile. “And what are you doing after work? I think you promised me a drink, and then…hospital drama?”
Minseok inhaled, and his curling grin told Lu Han this in-between business was just as fleeting as Lu Han’s grasp on the bet had been.
Oh right.
The bet.
***
It took two days. And no, not because he was holed up in some den of love with Minseok naked and ready at all hours. That was only partly true. Lu Han had leaped the gap and slept in Minseok’s tiny, tiny bed the night previous, before dressing in the clothes he’d brought. And when he’d stared at himself in the mirror - and closed his collar to cover up the mark at the base of his neck - he was a little startled. Sure, no sex, have sex with cute guy, whatever. Immediately begin shacking up with said guy with three consecutive sleepovers and plans for the next two days, and drooling on him during TV watching, with soccer practices not included. He pushed at Minseok a little and watched him give, and then was so ridiculously pleased when Minseok pushed right back.
His grin into the mirror might have been a little tired, but it was stupidly pleased, and exactly zero people were going to miss the change between him and Minseok at practice. And none of them were particularly paragons of silence, either. So he called Yixing, determined when he’d be free after Lu Han was off work, and steeled himself.
It was time to decipher his punishment. Yixing wasn’t going to let him off with a promise to do better next time, that was for certain, and Lu Han wasn’t interested in either hiding his transgression or waiting too long to confess, no matter how loose-lipped his other friends were. There’d been one time when he’d had to jog home at night in only his underwear, courtesy of Yixing. That was why he’d decided to tell Yixing at night, just in case. He knew what Yixing was capable of.
Yixing’s door was open, which was kind of weird. It was possible he’d just gotten home. And he spotted Yixing’s shoes, with Yixing’s body still attached, and started talking before he really got a good look beyond that.
“Look, I’m sleeping with the new guy on the soccer team, okay, so do your worst-“
Lu Han stopped in the doorway of Yixing’s apartment, staring. A really, actually gorgeous hand was clutching Yixing’s face, and the owner of said hand had his tongue buried somewhere in Yixing’s mouth. And even through Lu Han’s outburst, it still took a few seconds for them to break the kiss, Yixing staring at Lu Han like he wasn’t sure who he was.
Lu Han tried for outrage. He tried for relief. He settled on indignation.
“We’re even,” he declared, pointing at Yixing and doing the friendly thing by pulling the apartment door closed behind him. He figured they were moments away from getting naked, at the very least. It was only after he’d made it down the hall that he realized that Yixing had known he was coming over, and that might have possibly been his own confession. Whatever. They’d duke it out later.
And without the threat of punishment looming over his head, Lu Han was free to wave down a taxi and contemplate all the interesting sounds that he could get Minseok to make the second he got home.
***