Obvious and Oblivious for everyone 3/3

[feixing]

"How’ve you been, hyung?”

"Good! Great, actually,” Minseok’s in a good mood, smile bright and cheerful.

Jongdae sucks the tapioca balls up the straw while he speaks, "Mmm that’s good.”

Minseok scrunches his eyebrows, "Stop doing that, Jongdae, it’s rude.”

Jongdae takes his lips off the straw, letting the boba ball slip down the straw. He grins, "Sorry, hyung.”

Minseok knows well that Jongdae’s not very sorry. He brushes it off, though. "How are your classes going?”

"Good, good,” Minseok nods, "The University required me to take this seminar, though. So I’m taking it with Sehun ah.”

Jongdae takes a moment to answer, sipping the milk tea through the large straw. He sits there for a moment, eyes closed, and Minseok frowns at him, wondering if he’s heard what he said. "A seminar, huh? What’s it about?”

"It’s called Deep History of Food. It’s been interesting so far, last week we discussed how the impact of food impacts our global choices, and the week before that we sampled food!” Minseok is extremely enthusiastic about this.

"Oh, that sounds interesting.” Minseok has no doubt in his mind that Jongdae has no idea what he’s talking about. He chuckles softly.

"Mm, yeah, and since Sehun’s in the class, it’s more convenient. There are mostly freshmen in the class, so they kind of pair up together. Whenever the professor tells us to get into partners, we have each other so it’s really nice not having to partner with a stranger.”

"Partners, huh?” Jongdae waggles his eyebrows up and down.

Minseok is amused, "Yes?”

"You know, you’ve been spending a lot of time with Sehun lately. ‘Partner’ sounds really accurate.”

"What do you mean?” Minseok thin brows form a frown.

"Well...” Jongdae pauses. "You don’t see it?” he asks once he notices Minseok’s confusion, displayed by his eyebrows furrowing together. "Well, you know, recently you’ve been hanging out with Sehun a lot. He goes to all your soccer games, and to most of your soccer practices. You guys go to lunch and try out new restaurants every week. You tutor him in Chemistry whenever he needs help, and that’s like...every day. You guys are really tight.”

Minseok’s eyes widen, the realization finally dawning on him. "It’s like he’s my best friend.”

Jongdae nods, "Right. Which is weird, because Lu Han and Joonmyeon used to be Sehun’s best friends, and I used to be yours. Right?” He laughs, "Wow, are we breaking up?”

Minseok suddenly feels uncomfortable, eyes darting anywhere except Jongdae’s eyes. "Um, right.”

Jongdae grins brightly. "It’s alright Minseok ah,” Jongdae outright laughs. "Awkward isn’t it? It’s fine though, you’re entitled to having more friends. Hang out more with me, and we can both be your best friends. Or, like, I don’t know, since I don’t have any feelings for you, Sehun should just be your boyfriend and I could get back to being your friend!” It makes Jongdae laugh crazily, and he does so for a few minutes.

Minseok’s posture turns frigid, quieting immediately. He says nothing while Jongdae laughs. "What do you mean, Sehun has feelings for me?” Minseok asks quietly; Jongdae can barely hear him.

"Well-it seems like it, doesn’t it? It’s pretty obvious. Sehun’s been hanging all over you since you guys met. And looks at you a lot. So.” Jongdae sounds reasonable, too reasonable. It makes Minseok panic, mouth slipping open slightly.

"What? It looks like-Sehun’s-?” Minseok flails around a bit until Jongdae gets the message.

"You didn’t notice...?” he asks, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth, "That’s...”

"Well I-"

"You know what,” Jongdae interrupts, "Don’t answer. I thought you were like...? Don’t you like him too? I mean, to everyone, it’s pretty obvious-Lu Han told me that Sehun’s been talking his ear off about you, and that he’s too chicken to-”

Minseok shakes his head wildly and Jongdae stops himself from going further when Minseok knocks down the chair trying to get off.

The chair lands with a crack when it reaches the floor and the door rings shut as it closes.

Jongdae squints his eyes at the figure running across the street, Typical.

Minseok’s panting by the time he gets to his apartment; the sun’s started to go down, and the hallway is dark when he fumbles through his keys to open the door.

He blandly waves to Yixing watching the television and slips into his sleepwear, even though it’s only 6 PM. Minseok climbs into his bed, raising the duvet over himself. It becomes a little hot and stuffy, but Minseok refuses to take any of it off. He just lays there, quietly staring at the wall closest to him.

Sehun likes him.

Oh Sehun, that blonde haired boy with the flat face and bright eyes-that Sehun. Sehun, the boy that he hangs out with like it’s a full-time job-40 hours a week, minimum; Sehun, his newly realized best friend.

It takes a moment for Minseok to realize that he’s feeling conflicted. He hasn’t liked a person in...well, in a long time. The last one he’d remembered was that fleeting attraction towards Lu Han, whom he realized was much better as a friend than as a boyfriend.

Perhaps he should have realized it earlier, he thinks. If Jongdae had gotten the hints, surely he should have too. But how was he supposed to know that those stares weren’t friendly? How were you supposed to know, distinguish between which looks were which looks? If Minseok had gone by their standards, he would have been convinced that Jongdae or Lu Han liked him too. Which is ridiculous.

But then again, he doesn’t get butterflies in his stomach when he thinks about Jongdae or Lu Han either. Even back then, when he’d had a small crush on Lu Han, did he not feel like this. Nothing makes or has ever made Minseok feel the way Sehun makes him feel.

He suddenly feels sick, stomach turning. Does this mean that he likes Sehun? Does Sehun really like him as well? Was Minseok so totally oblivious to everything around him?

Minseok is plagued by these questions constantly rolling around in his head, even when he got into bed for the final time that night. As he lays looking at the ceiling, he's still thinking of Sehun, and it really should freak him out but he finds that it is not the case; he oddly feels comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that he finds his thoughts turning sexual, with Sehun replacing the men and women in his usual fantasies.

Sehun is the one that lifts the shirt off of Minseok, hands slipping down to slide over his stomach, up to his chest. Minseok sighs softly, eyes slipping shut at the thought. Sehun’s fingers are long, a little calloused at the pads. He sees Sehun running his fingers over the hips that Minseok’s worked so hard to get, then going over to his nipples. He would rub softly at the area around them, then pinch.

Minseok lets out a groan, "Sehun ah.” At that, he blushes hard, teeth grazing over his lips, biting down in frustration. He realizes that he likes that, calling Sehun that; he wants to give Sehun cute nicknames, and pet his head and ruffle his hair.

But on the other hand, he wants Sehun to take control of him, to forget that Minseok is the hyung and dominate him. He wants Sehun on top of him, rubbing against him, and inside of him. He blushes at the thought.

Minseok sighs, frustrated in more ways than one, and tries to forget about it, shuffling this way and that before he decides that he’s comfortable enough to lie down and go to sleep.

"Sehun ah," he sighs dreamily, reaching out for the boy. His hand hits the empty side of the bed and his eyes fly open, realizing that he had been dreaming. About Sehun. There is an uncomfortable feeling in his pants.

He realizes that he’s up later than usual, grabbing a cup of coffee on his way out of the apartment after a quick shower. Yixing gives him a smirk that tells him that there’s no way in hell that Yixing hadn’t been aware of what he’d been doing last night.

Over the next few days, Minseok can’t bear to look Sehun in the eye. Instead, his eyes wander, and most of the time, they land on the junction between Sehun’s neck and shoulder. Right over his collar bone. After this, Minseok just can’t help but stare at the way Sehun’s fingers curl around his cup of coffee and the way Sehun swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.

Minseok has a strong urge to curl up into a ball every time he notices these things. It’s embarrassing! Especially when they’re around friends, and Minseok knows that one of them’s bound to notice his strange behavior. It's so out of character for him to feel like this. He's reminding himself of Sehun. Which isn't helping his problem.

Minseok hasn’t been to one of Jongdae’s choir concerts in a while so he makes the attempt to go in the next few weeks. He recognizes many of the choir member’s faces and his friends come up to greet him. He has no idea why he’s so early, only that Jongdae had insisted that there would be pastries.

Kris directs him to the plates of cookies reserved for the guests and Minseok takes a few of each. He heads up front to find a seat, noting that people were already filing in for the concert. He finds a seat next to a familiar face from his English class, eating his cookies before the concert even starts.

The concert was enjoyable, and all of the singers did a good job. A few of the other audience members had fallen asleep and although he had chuckled at the time, he'd be sure to stress how rude and disrespectful that was when Jongdae brings that up later.

Minseok finds himself mingling around after the concert, going to compliment a few of the singers. Baekhyun’s particular high note had left him in awe, along with Jongdae’s. He doesn’t compliment Jongdae much though because the boy simply fishes for compliments.

Joonmyeon, Minseok notices, is there as well. Which means Sehun must be there too.

Minseok is right.

Minseok isn’t aware that he’s staring until an Oreo falls to the ground. He pays no mind, watching the two boys interact.

Joonmyeon’s got his arm around Sehun’s neck and they are laughing at something that tall guy said. He feels a twinge of jealousy; he wants Sehun to be laughing at something he said, so he makes his way over to the group.
"Uh, hi,” Minseok greets with a weak wave. Sehun nearly jumps.

"Oh! Hi Minseok hyung!” Sehun grins, eyes curving into half-moons.

"Oh,” the tall says. Minseok turns to him and finds that he has to look up. He is grinning too widely. "So you’reMinseok, huh?”

Minseok nods dumbly at him.

Chanyeol stares at him; it feels like he’s being examined by a doctor. "I'm Park Chanyeol, I’m part of the bass section.” He holds out his arm to shake Minseok’s hand. It is very large.

"Oh, nice to meet you, I am Kim Minseok.”

"Oh, I've heard a lot about you," Chanyeol smirks. "Isn't that right, Sehun?"

"You have?” Minseok looks over at Sehun to confirm, "He has?”

Sehun’s eyes dart everywhere but him, "Well, um, I guess?”

Minseok’s curious, "What has he said about me?”

"Hmmmm,” Chanyeol drawls, eyes bright with mischief, "Well, you guys met on a subway right?” Minseok shuffles, knowing where this is going. "Did you really drool on him?”

"Um yeah, I-well I didn’t mean to, but...yeah.”

Chanyeol starts to laugh, and this startles all three of them; his voice is so deep, and if Minseok had any doubt that he wasnt a bass (which he hadn’t), he wouldn’t have any now.

"Sehun likes small guys, doesn’t he?” His eyes shift over to Sehun and Joonmyeon; Joonmyeon’s arm is still around Sehun. It takes a moment for Minseok to realize that Chanyeol is talking to Joonmyeon. Chanyeol winks, loud and obnoxious, at him.

Minseok watches Joonmyeon’s face for a response.

He knows what this means. It means that Sehun likes small guys, and Sehun is already with a small guy and-why didn’t he see it before? Sehun is so obviously with Joonmyeon. They’ve been all smiley and lovey-dovey since the moment he’s met Sehun!

And if Sehun likes small guys-well Minseok’s not exactly small around the waist. And his cheeks aren't particularly small, either. Minseok comes to the realization that the only thing small about him is his height, and therefore he is not Sehun's type.

Minseok barely notices Sehun kicking Chanyeol, hard.

"Please. Leave,” Sehun mutters.

Minseok’s head snaps up and he takes a moment to stare at Sehun’s head, which is staring directly at the floor. It hurts, the way Sehun won’t look at him when he says it. Tears spring to his eyes, but he’d rather not cry there. His lips turn into a grim line, muscles tightening up in anger.

Minseok huffs. "Alright, I had somewhere to be, anyways." He starts for the door, but pauses. "It was nice to meet you, Chanyeol. Goodbye Joonmyeon," he says with as much composure as possible, purposely leaving out Sehun and heading for the door.

Minseok stays in his room for the rest of the week, only shuffling out to go to his classes when he needs to. He skips the classes with no attendance and bugs his classmates for the lesson plans.

He grabs the tin of ice cream-chocolate brownie, and hides it in his room every night, bugging Yixing to buy him more when he runs out. His chocolate stash is running out, the whole two years of Halloween candy’s worth. He can feel himself getting fatter, but he regrets it only a little.

In a way, he’s kind of looking forward to working off the fat. The pain of exercising will be nothing compared to the pain in his heart right now. Minseok realizes that he’s been watching too many chick flicks. He shrugs off the cheesy thought and selects another one from his Netflix queue. He’d rather watch chick flicks than watch Mulan, or anything else that reminds him of Sehun.

By the third day in bed, Yixing’s already gotten tired of it.

"Hey,” Yixing grunts, "You need to be in shape for soccer.”

Minseok buries himself into his comforter, "Shut up. I’m in pain.” The words are muffled.

Irritated, Yixing pulls at the duvet, "Come on.”

"Come on what?” Minseok scoffs at him, "I’m only getting up to get more ice cream.”

Yixing smirks. "Sure, that's where we’re going.” He chuckles darkly. "To get more ice cream, come on.” The promise of more sweets has Minseok up in no time.

"This...isn’t the store?”

Yixing’s dragged him out to the dining hall of the university. The hustle and bustle annoys Minseok out of his mind, and the fact that Yixing had lied to him infuriates him even more.

"We’ll get ice cream,” Yixing promises. "After we get lunch.”

Yixing drags Minseok over to the line. "What sounds good?”

"Ice cream,” Minseok mumbles rather childishly, but Yixing just rolls his eyes. As they progress through the line, Yixing justs gets a little bit of everything for Minseok, all the while educating him on the importance of a well-balanced diet, and why he has to eat the entire plate of food before he gets any ice cream. Minseok just pouts and trails behind Yixing on the way to a table. He only looks up when he hears a familiar voice.

"Hey, Yixing, Minseok, over here!” It’s Sehun. Minseok panics. He looks up to see the lanky boy seated with Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon, and pulls on Yixing’s arm before he has the chance to walk over to them.

"You know what? This looks so good; I think I’ll enjoy it the most outside! Come on,” he drags Yixing out the door and seats them on a bench before Yixing even knew what was happening.

At the end of the meal, they don't get ice cream. Minseok doesn't really want anymore, anyways.

Sehun blinks as he watches Minseok drag his roommate away, puzzled. "What...”

Joonmyeon frowns, but not at Minseok-he frowns at Sehun. "Don’t you get it? The other day...” he trails off, quiet.

"Get what?”

"You told him to shove off, Sehun,” Joonmyeon explains, exasperated. His frown deepens when Sehun whips his head around in confusion.

"What? I didn’t-that was to Chanyeol!”

Joonmyeon’s heart nearly stops, and he starts to choke on water. Kyungsoo flails, moving to help him, pounding on his back until he was okay.

"Didn’t God damn look like it, Sehun,” he growls.

Sehun’s eyes are wide. Joonmyeon never curses. "It didn’t...? But it was!”

"Sehun,” Joonmyeon sighs. He feels old. "This is what happens when you don’t communicate-I told you to tell him. And-" Joonmyeon lights up, like he’s having an epiphany, "-He sees our interactions as flirting. No wonder he’s not talking to you.”

Kyungsoo chips in, "From what you’ve been telling me, it looks like he likes you a lot. And, uh, I thought you guys were a couple, too. When we first met.”

It’s amazing how Joonmyeon’s mood changes around Kyungsoo, Sehun notes. Joonmyeon wraps an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders and soon, they forget about Sehun altogether.

The door bell rings, but Minseok doesn’t bother to get the door. Yixing grumbles at him from the kitchen before sauntering over.

"Oh-” Yixing is startled. Minseok can’t hear the person outside. "Yeah, he’s here...”

Minseok doesn’t move from his spot on the couch; he’s fairly sure he knows who it is. He rises, shuffling to the kitchen for composure. Yixing meets him there, comforting with a hand on his back. "Are you gonna be okay?” he asks, and Minseok just wants to flee into the bathroom to hide.

"I think...Yeah, I guess.”

When he steps back into the living room, Sehun’s already on the couch, right where Minseok had been previously. He’s nervous, though Minseok can’t really understand why. Minseok keeps a brave face on.

"Um,” Sehun’s shoulders droop just a tiny bit, as though his courage is diminishing. "I brought Chinese food.”
"Oh...” Minseok looks at the ground. "I just ate,” he lies. His stomach rumbles softly, but he chooses to ignore it. Sehun's face contorts, but he says nothing.

"Oh. Well, okay then. I just-we have to talk.”

"Do we have-" Minseok’s about to whine, but he stops himself, "Fine. What about?”

Sehun lifts his head only a little bit, and Minseok catches his eyes before they disappear from view again. "Yeah. I should’ve...been clear from the start.”

Minseok’s entire body freezes, and he’s aware of the fact that he’s standing-he feels as though he’s going to fall any minute. "Is that so?”

"Okay, so,” the words come out slowly, "Joonmyeon hyung...He told me to come, because he had a few assumptions. Actually, a lot of people had assumptions. It seemed to him that you were...jealous.”

Minseok attempts to prepare himself. Sehun is going to tell him that he’s with Joonmyeon and that Minseok shouldn’t be jealous of their love. Minseok tells himself over and over. The image still doesn’t click.
"I wasn’t jealous.” He feels himself cracking, "I just-Let me take the food.”

Minseok makes a grab for it, eager to simply get out of there, even if it’s only for a few minutes, heading for the kitchen. When he gets there, he sets the food is set on the counter and he notices that his hands are shaking. It’s a jittery kind of feeling, similar to a coffee high’s shake, but rather than feeling hyperactive, he feels terrified.

Minseok’s never been in so deep with-this, whatever this is, too uncomfortable and embarrassed and horrified to even try to deal with it. But Sehun’s here, he’s here in the apartment, and Minseok has no where to go. Running off on him would be an awful last impression, and at the very least, the last should be of him as a proud, perhaps indifferent man, not a tear-stricken little boy.

"So,” Sehun starts again, when Minseok’s back in the living room, clasping his hands together. "E-Even so, even if you weren’t jealous, I still need to explain myself, even if this doesn’t work out because you have become a really good friend of mine even though that wasn’t the-the intention.”

Minseok feels as though his heart is being squeezed relentlessly. "Intention?” Minseok can see that Sehun is sweating a little bit, somewhat puzzled because the temperature is set to low.

"No, as in-Joonmyeon hyung is like my cool older brother who I used to have a crush on. You...You were actually the first person I liked after him but...”

Sehun pauses, and Minseok can’t breathe.

"You don’t like me back just like Joonmyeon hyung so it’s-The reason Chanyeol said that I liked small guys was because both you and Joonmyeon are short and just, you guys are short compared to everybody and I...I just thought I had to explain this to you so you wouldn’t think I was a total freak, but I probably am anyway, and I just can’t-“ he emphasizes the word, “can’t bear the thought of losing you, even as a friend.”

Minseok watches as Sehun’s knuckles turn white from gripping the back of the chair. He looks as nervous as Minseok feels. It’s then that what Sehun had said made sense. Sehun is shaking as well, and something inside Minseok’s head clicks as he watches the sheer desperation on the boy’s face.

"You...like me?” Minseok’s cheeks starts to warm. His legs are weak, and getting weaker still, but he walks over to Sehun.

He’s still staring at the floor, just like he had been when he had told Minseok to leave-was the statement even towards him? Minseok had first thought it was irritation that had made Sehun avert his eyes, but really-it must be shyness, Minseok realizes.

Oh Sehun is shy. And he is shy because of him.

"Yes, yes I do, but I-I’d rather be your friend okay. I couldn’t bear it when Joonmyeon hyung was my friend, but I can; I will,” Sehun shakes, and Minseok has a very strong urge to wrap his arms around his torso.

So he does.

Sehun kind of hiccups at him, unsure of where to put his own arms because surely this can’t be a romantic hug. It feels like a romantic hug, the way Minseok presses himself into Sehun’s body. Minseok thinks he’s going to set on fire from the heat, the way both of their faces are burning so badly.

"Sehun...” Minseok mumbles. "I like you too.”

The simple confession breaks Sehun’s composure even further. His hands spring to life, snaking them around Minseok’s waist.

They stay in the same position, Minseok wiping off the stray tears that had managed to come out of Sehun’s eyes. Minseok presses a kiss to Sehun’s forehead, lingering for a few moments before settling against him.

Eventually, Sehun turns him around, and they’re spooning, Sehun’s head on top of Minseok’s shoulder.

Minseok remembers when he had last fallen asleep on Sehun, on the same couch. He hadn’t realized how comfortable it was, and how incredibly open Sehun was being by just simply letting him sleep on him in the first place. This time, he enjoys the feeling of being with Sehun, falling asleep against the boy. He doesn’t warn Sehun that he’s falling asleep-mainly because Sehun is also yawning, right into his hair; it tickles a little bit. Minseok’s eyes droop slowly as the light seeps out naturally as the sun goes down. He’s glad that he hadn’t been doing much before Sehun’s arrival, having no need to turn on any lights despite how late it was getting.

Minseok drifts to sleep against Sehun’s chest, content for the first time in weeks.

Their first date is at UnPhoGettable; Sehun orders the beef Pho again, and the date is almost completely mimicked from their previous visit to the restaurant.

There are slight differences.

For example, Sehun pulls the seat out for Minseok. It makes Minseok blush; Sehun takes the moment to take in the flush on his cheeks, the way he makes the tip of his nose pink.

They share a dessert together. Sehun’s too embarrassed to let Minseok spoonfeed him. His neck itches from the embarrassment.

There is also a kiss accompanying the date; it comes at the end, when Sehun drops Minseok off at his apartment.
Sehun tastes like Vietnamese food, which is to be expected-but Minseok giggles anyway, “Good thing I like Vietnamese food, huh?” Sehun hits him softly on the shoulder, rolling his eyes. Minseok hums, kissing him again, “Your lips are soft.”

The chatter is idle before Sehun and Minseok arrive; Kyungsoo is snuggled up under Joonmyeon’s arm, looking rather happy, and Lu Han is teasing them.

It is a definite change in volume when they come through the door, fingers interlocked.

Lu Han’s the first to come up to them, mischievous smile in place. "Sehunnie ah, took ya long enough.” He winks at them, which is actually more like a spasm of the eyes. "Otherwise you would’ve ended up with yet another awkward best friend, huh?”

"Shut up Lu Han, no one likes you,” Sehun kicks Lu Han in the shin and Minseok mutters something about how he’s got to stop kicking people so much, he’s not the soccer player.