time you take it (tick tick tick) for adrislover
Title: time you take it (tick tick tick)
For: adrislover
Author: xiu_jie
Rating: nc-17
Length: 7.2k
Summary: For a smart guy, Joonmyun can be a bit dense in the social category. (College AU)
Author’s Note: I know nothing about massages so \o/ Also I made Jongdae ‘91line in this fic.
“Joonmyun, what are you doing?” comes Jongdae’s voice from their kitchen doorway. Joonmyun looks up to where Jongdae’s bathed in the low light from the fixture over their kitchen sink, wearing pajamas and a confused expression, an empty cup in his hand, presumably looking to fill it with water.
“I’m making lists. I needed a change of scenery, my room was making me feel sleepy.”
Joonmyun doesn’t have to have all the lights on to see that Jongdae’s rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, padding over to the refrigerator to retrieve their Brita pitcher.
“Maybe because you are sleepy and should sleep,” he mutters, placing the pitcher back on the shelf, shutting the door of the fridge. Joonmyun hums in reply, scratching in a few more empty bullet points on his list. Jongdae sits down next to him at their kitchen table. “What’re you making a list of anyway?”
“A list of lists I should make tomorrow.”
Jongdae snorts before realization dawns on him. “You’re serious?” he asks.
“Well, yeah,” Joonmyun rubs at his eye, suppressing a yawn (mostly) successfully, face twisting up with his effort.
“Attractive,” Jongdae drawls, and Joonmyun summons up the energy to punch him on the arm lightly.
“I’m just super busy with all the classes, and the lab research, and the volunteering and ugh. I need to join another club or something.”
Jongdae shakes his head. “You need to relax. No other pre-med student I know is as strung-out as you are.”
“Oh, do you know a lot of biology majors being a computer science major?” Joonmyun asks sarcastically, twirling his pen between his fingers. Good comeback, he mentally pats himself on the back before the pen flings out of his hand, clacking on the off-white tile floor.
Jongdae snorts again, tactfully ignoring Joonmyun’s… peculiarities. Maybe there were a few upsides to being his friend. “I actually know a few from my frat.”
Oh right. Jongdae’s frat. Which Joonmyun insisted he had no time to join because hello, he didn’t? Plus he didn’t need to be part of a specific frat for Asian men when he’d literally only been friends with Asian boys his entire life. Other than his one Mexican friend. He was nice. Besides, their Asian fraternity didn’t even have a house like a standard Greek fraternity. Just the drunken parties, he guessed.
“Oh,” Joonmyun replies dumbly, but apparently his roommate had been thinking at the same time. “Actually,” Jongdae says with a snap of his fingers, “how would you like to get a massage? That would help, right?”
Joonmyun splutters, brows knitted together in disbelief. “Are you propositioning me?” he asks suspiciously, to which Jongdae bursts out laughing.
“First of all, no offence, but ew? Second of all, no way in hell.”
Joonmyun scrunches up his nose mock disgust, sticking his tongue out. “Like I’d want you to, anyway.”
“Whatever,” Jongdae brushes him off with a wave of his hand, “but, my friend Minseok, he gives massages! I’m sure he’d be happy to give you one.”
Jongdae’s doing the thing with his eyebrows that Joonmyun refers to as “the thing” in his own mind (they’re sort of wiggling up and down out of sync? it’s unsettling).
“Your friend gives massages?” Joonmyun asks, totally not trying to imagine that at all. Because that sounds like a bad porno, like the one’s he’d watched when he was trying to figure out if he liked girls. The consensus is still unclear on that one (it’s probably a hard pass on the lady front, but who knows?).
Joonmyun tries to think of Jongdae’s friend as being ugly and it helps to dispel the scene forming in his head a little. Maybe he does need sleep.
“Yeah,” Jongdae replies while Joonmyun’s trying to clear his mind. He’s zen. Totally at peace. Calm. Like the water in Jongdae’s cup, like another viscous liquid - wait, fuck -
“But he took the massage classes for gym credit, and now he uses it as volunteer hours or something. Said he’s always looking for people who actually want to do it.”
“Hmm,” Joonmyun replies noncommittally, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “I’ll think about it.”
Jongdae hums in affirmation. “Why don’t you sleep instead?” he asks, standing from his chair, “I don’t wanna wake up at 9 and see you still in here.”
“Like you’ll be up at 9 anyway,” Joonmyun says teasingly, to which Jongdae sticks his tongue out in reply.
“But really, sleep soon,” he says, before he’s padding out of the kitchen, calling a quiet “goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Joonmyun murmurs, glancing down at his list. Maybe he should sleep. He had a lot of studying to get done this week.
--
Joonmyun is able to mostly forget about his conversation with Jongdae until he finds himself eating take-out Chinese on their couch around 8pm a few nights later. There’s a lull in their conversation where Joonmyun’s focused on the riveting (trashy reality tv) show they were watching, when Jongdae cuts in with, “Oh, by the way, I set you up on a date with magical Minseokie.”
Joonmyun blinks in reply, turning to meet Jongdae’s eyes as Jongdae wiggles his eyebrows lewdly. “…magical dick?” Joonmyun asks after a beat, causing Jongdae to promptly burst out laughing.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jongdae asks, laughing before putting a serious face on. “This is why I don’t let you out of the house, honestly.”
Joonmyun’s face turns a brilliant shade of pink as he splutters for words to reply, “y-you were talking about me de-stressing! It’s your fault for being so suggestive!” A clump of rice falls off his plastic fork onto his lap.
“See,” Jongdae says, punctuating his sentence with a wry smile, “you’re utterly unpresentable.”
“I’m plenty presentable,” Joonmyun grumbles, trying to get the greasy rice off his pajama pants without squishing the small grains into the fabric. Life was difficult sometimes (most of the time).
“Anyway, he agreed that you could come over on Wednesday night. I’ll text you his address.”
“Do you trust him?” Joonmyun asks, pouting around the fork in his mouth.
“Why?” Jongdae asks, glancing over with a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe you’re going to let him harvest my organs?”
Jongdae rolls his eyes, knocking into Joonmyun’s shoulder with his own. “He’s only a year older than you, I’d be impressed if his surgical technique was that good already. Is that a pre-med elective here? Intro to black market organ harvesting?”
Joonmyun snorts. “No. Wait is he pre-med?” he asks, sitting up further in his seat.
“Yeah, and he actually has a life. Imagine that, Joonmyun Kim.”
“Shut up,” Joonmyun frowns, “some of us have to work harder than others.”
“I know,” Jongdae agrees with a small smile, before taking a bite of his own dinner. “Why do we keep ordering from this place if it sucks so much?” he says with a laugh.
“Because we’re lazy and busy,” Joonmyun sighs, glancing down at his own greasy plate of half eaten fried rice.
--
And as Joonmyun’s life goes, it’s seeming more like he’ll get murdered tonight than star in a porno. Not that he wants to do that latter thing anyway (he did clean himself thoroughly though - you never know). The streets are fairly silent for a Wednesday night, and it’s a bit chilly for mid-October already. Dried leaves scuttle along the ground, giving Joonmyun a vague feeling of being followed; he keeps looking behind his shoulder only to find no one around.
After a stroll down a dimly lit shortcut, he finds himself ringing the doorbell of one Kim Minseok’s apartment. He idly reads the names of the other members of his apartment, noting that he lives with three other seemingly Asian males. He wonders if their apartment would smell like dirty socks, but then takes the thought back upon thinking of the state of his own room.
“Hi,” a boy maybe an inch shorter than him says in answering the door. “You must be Jongdae’s friend?” he asks, and Joonmyun struggles for words because he’s not very good with people, especially cute people whom he may or may not agree to make out with if they even simply asked him.
“Uh, yeah,” he finally replies after an awkward few seconds of blinking.
“Come on up,” the boy Joonmyun assumes is Minseok says, letting him in before shutting the door behind him. “Just go up the stairs, it just leads to our apartment, obviously,” he says with a small chuckle. Joonmyun only feels a little self-conscious climbing the stairs with someone behind him. Left, right, you’ve done this before, great job, Joonmyun!
“My room’s the one with the open door on the left up ahead,” Minseok says from behind Joonmyun once they reach the landing. Joonmyun continues walking, finding what he guesses is Minseok’s room. It’s quite nice, sort of spacious for an apartment, with a double bed, a desk, a dresser, and a small cot for what he assumes would be massages. It’s almost immaculately neat, with only a frat banner adorning the wall above his desk.
“What’s your name? I’m sorry we didn’t get introduced properly,” Minseok asks while Joonmyun’s checking out his room. Joonmyun turns to find Minseok rubbing at the back of his own neck.
“Ah, I’m Joonmyun. Joonmyun Kim.” Minseok’s eyes widen a bit in surprise.
“Jongdae didn’t tell me you were Korean,” he chirps in Korean, much to Joonmyun’s dismay. He barely has any American accent. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kim Minseok, a junior.”
“Uh,” Joonmyun starts eloquently, fingers clenching the material of the bottom of his hoodie. “Nice to meet you too,” he grates out in his ungraceful Korean, nervousness making him sound even more awkward.
“Ah, you’re shy?” Minseok chuckles in Korean, to which Joonmyun really can’t formulate a response.
“That’s fine,” he continues in English, “if you want to get started, you can just take your top off and lay face down on the table here,” he motions towards the cot, “I’ll just go wash my hands.”
Joonmyun gulps, waiting until Minseok leaves the room to awkwardly shuck his hoodie and tee-shirt, leaving them in a pile next to the cot. He lies on his stomach, trying to push away some of the uneasiness that was creeping up his throat. So what, he was half naked in a guy he’s never met before’s house who was about to put his hands all over Joonmyun’s bare skin. No big deal, right??
Joonmyun sees Minseok pad back into the room from the corner of his eyes.
“Ah, messy,” he chides in soft Korean, looking down at the lump of Joonmyun’s clothes. Should he have folded them? Seems like Minseok was pretty neat, maybe - he’s cut off from his train of thought by Minseok addressing him in English, “ah, so is this your first time getting a massage?”
“Y-yeah,” Joonmyun stutters out, fingers flexing uselessly on the top edge of the cot.
“I’ll try to be gentle,” Minseok chuckles, “let me know if you want me to stop or something’s uncomfortable, okay?”
“Okay,” Joonmyun agrees weakly as Minseok’s fingers begin their work on his shoulders.
“So,” Minseok trails off, working at the knots in Joonmyun’s back, “what’s your major? Are you the same year as Jongdae?”
“Ah, yeah, we’re both sophomores,” Joonmyun answers, biting his lip gently when Minseok hits a particularly nice spot, “I’m a biology major though.”
“Ah, me too! Well, microbiology, but yeah. Are you pre-med?”
“I am,” Joonmyun agrees, smiling even though Minseok can’t see his face. “Jongdae told me you were too?”
“Yeah,” Minseok agrees, “I use these massages towards my volunteer hours actually.”
“Really?” Joonmyun asks, trying to crane his head to look at Minseok. “Well, yeah,” Minseok replies, smiling at Joonmyun, “I still do other volunteer work, but this counts as helping people, doesn’t it? Plus I want to put those massage gym lessons to good use,” he trails off in a chuckle before his phone rings.
“Ah, I have to answer this,” he explains, pausing his massage, “you don’t mind if I put it on speaker, do you? It’ll be quick.”
“Nope,” Joonmyun squeaks out, wishing Minseok’s strong hands were back on him.
“Hello?” he answers in Korean, setting his phone on the bottom of the cot as he starts working again on Joonmyun.
“Oh, hi hyung, just calling you about this Friday,” a booming voice answers in Korean as well.
“Ah, of course,” Minseok answers, “oh, yeah, you’re on speakerphone by the way. I’m giving someone a massage but he doesn’t understand that much Korean.”
Joonmyun’s about to correct Minseok - he does understand and speak a lot of Korean, just his accent is sort of way off - but his protests die in his throat when Minseok presses his elbow in just under Joonmyun’s shoulder. That feels good.
“Is he cute? Your type?” he hears the voice on the other end of the line drawl in Korean, and Minseok laughs while Joonmyun tries not to choke on his own spit as Minseok answers “maybe. But why’d you call?” And yeah, Joonmyun’s mind totally isn’t sprinting towards the idea that the cute boy massaging him (skin! on skin! contact!) may be gay and also might think he’s cute? He tries to control his own breathing, tuning out from their phone conversation that drifts towards planning some party and reservations for kegs and what not. In one two, out one two three.
Joonmyun somehow finds himself almost falling asleep, realizing with a snap that Minseok’s phone conversation ended, and his hands are slowing.
“Ah, did you take a nap?” he asks chuckling, giving one last hard rub to the span of Joonmyun’s back.
“I just wanna sleep here forever,” he mumbles into the fabric of the cushion his face was resting on, feeling boneless and thoroughly less stressed, even if he’s a new kind of tense that he wasn’t before he met Minseok. A good trade-off? Probably.
Minseok laughs and Joonmyun thinks it’s the cutest sound in the world.
“I’ll use oils next time,” he says with a grin, moving out of the room to fetch another towel. Joonmyun wills his semi to go away while simultaneously trying not to pass out on the spot.
He’s so fucked.
--
Joonmyun’s at the physics building despite it being almost 10pm. They had a lab due on Sunday afternoon, and Joonmyun didn't put as much studying in as he should’ve. Stupid autotutorial physics - having no class time seemed like it would’ve been easier, but it was really just more work on top of an already overstressed Joonmyun.
He’s chugging along on the problem set, the only student present at the TA’s late office hours, the TA looking bored while clicking around on his MacBook, head propped up on his hand. He probably thought no one would come to his office hours from 9-11pm on a Thursday. Silly thought.
He’s shocked from his reverie when a boy sits to the right of him, quietly gasping before saying, “Hi, Joonmyun,” in a voice that may or may not have been a feature in his dreams last night.
“Oh,” he looks up surprised to find Minseok smiling at him. “Hi, Minseok,” he tries to greet not too overenthusiastically, “you’re taking autotutorial physics as well?”
“Yeah,” he smiles, plopping his backpack in front of him, carefully fishing out a notebook and a pencil. “Wanted to get this lab out of the way before this weekend. Party on Friday,” he grins, pushing his bookbag to the right of him on the table.
Oh. Right. Jongdae and Minseok’s frat party. Jongdae had given up on inviting Joonmyun a while ago, since he always said no. Joonmyun simply nods in acknowledgement.
“Why don’t you ever come to those? Don’t you and Jongdae live together?” he asks, opening his notebook to a neat paper with some handwritten notes.
“I don’t really do good with uh, people,” he says, feeling his cheeks pink as he forces his eyes to focus back on his own work instead of the curve of Minseok’s smile, his cute little fingers gripping the yellow #2 pencil, his -
Mineok chuckles in reply. “You should try it out. It’s pretty chill. You don’t even have to talk to that many people if you don’t want to.”
“Maybe,” Joonmyun agrees quietly, before Minseok tries to wake the now napping TA to ask a few questions.
They work through the problem set together, and at 11, they leave the building together, walking towards Collegetown where they both live. They make quiet conversation the whole way home, and before they part, Minseok gives Joonmyun his number.
Joonmyun goes to bed even happier than the night before.
--
Joonmyun does end up going to the party with Jongdae, but after losing Jongdae in the crush of the crowd, being danced on by a girl (what even??), and not being able to find Minseok anywhere, he leaves, still semi-sober, walking home slowly in the crisp late fall evening air.
He’s two hours deep into a game of Counterstrike when his phone vibrates with a kakao message at 1:30 in the morning.
From: Minseok Kim: where ar eyou ㅠㅠ
Joonmyun giggles, was Minseok trying to be cute? Was he drunk?
To: Minseok Kim: i left a little while ago D: where were u
His phone vibrates again as soon as he clicks the screen off.
From: Minseok Kim: i was thereee!! >.< why you so sneaky!
Joonmyun chuckles, continuing his light kakao conversation with Minseok until he falls asleep.
--
It’s easy for Minseok to become incorporated into Joonmyun’s life, when their budding friendship is so low maintenance. Minseok’s a biology student like Joonmyun, so he must understand the hectic lifestyle that brings.
Right now, Joonmyun’s up to his eyeballs in organic chemistry studying, tiny hexagons dancing in front of his eyes. He’d been messaging with Minseok before but had put him aside to study, silencing his phone and throwing it somewhere on his bed. He picks up his phone now, time reading 2:03am, but also revealing a kakao message.
From: Minseok Kim: you’re studying too much! take a break!
From: Minseok Kim: we’re drinking tonight i guess ㅠㅠ i’m very sorry liver
From: Minseok Kim: still~ stu(dying)? hA!
Joonmyun types out a quick reply:
To Minseok Kim: well, u know how orgo goes u_u
He moves from his desk to go wash his face and brush his teeth, padding back into his room afterwards. His phone reveals no new messages, so he plugs it, setting it on his nightstand as he settles into bed.
Joonmyun’s happy when his phone chirps with another kakao alert, quickly sitting up to grab it, squinting at the bright screen in the dark of his room. He’s quickly confused, however, when it’s a message from Minseok reading call me hyung keke in Korean.
Huh? he types in English in reply. Why was Minseok suddenly bringing this up? Did he want Joonmyun to actually call him hyung? They spoke in English so that might be a bit awkward, but he guesses he could. Before he can think about it further, his phone alerts him of a flurry of messages.
From: Minseok Kim: ah sorry that was chanyeol
From: Minseok Kim: my friend is a little shit
From: Minseok Kim: jokes, right, haha… >.<
Joonmyun bites his lip, unsure how to reply. He could say something cute like get some rest, hyung~ but he shivers at the thought, curling up under his blankets. Embarrassing, Joonmyun. But Minseok was being sort of cute… what to say?
To: Minseok Kim: that’s fine! drink some water before you go to sleep okay is what he finally settles on. He sends a cute kakao sticker too, and turns his phone to alarm only, plugging it back in and setting it face down.
--
Joonmyun puts up barely any resistance when Jongdae says he’s going to drag him to the next party their frat’s hosting, but thankfully Jongdae doesn’t comment on his behavioral change (much). It’s at the same place as before - someone’s first floor apartment. There’s a basement as well, and Jongdae quickly pads down there to do god knows what. Joonmyun finds himself awkwardly standing in the kitchen, some concoction of Kool-Aid and vodka in the cup in his hand.
He’s on his third drink, being chatted up by two girls, when Minseok sneaks up behind him.
“Hey Myunnie~” he giggles in his ear, wrapping an arm around Joonmyun’s shoulders. “There’s something I wanna show you,” he says, forehead resting on the back of Joonmyun’s right shoulder now.
“Ah, let’s go then,” he says, letting Minseok lead him away from the swell of people in the kitchen, down the hall.
“You didn’t even say goodbye to those girls,” he chides, arm still wrapped around Joonmyun as he leads him to a small door towards the end of the hall.
“I didn’t even know them,” Joonmyun explains, laughing as Minseok pushes him into what appears to be a tiny laundry room.
“Isn’t that the point of these things?” Minseok asks with a chuckle, crowding a nervous Joonmyun into a proverbial and physical corner.
“It smells like laundry in here,” Joonmyun says smartly, lacking the brain cells to understand and reply to Minseok’s question.
“You’re so nervous, it’s cute,” Minseok murmurs, eyes looking even more cat-like in the low light of the cramped, warm room; he looks like a predator except Joonmyun’s not really scared (okay maybe just a little). He leans in closer, his hand burning where it’s touching Joonmyun’s hip, and his breath smells a bit like stale beer and Doritos, but Joonmyun’s heart still feels like it’s beating straight out of his chest, as he’s trapped between a laundry machine and Minseok.
“A-am I cute?” he stutters awkwardly, scrambling to string together a coherent sentence as Minseok’s breath fans out warm on his face, the musky smell of his cologne hitting his nose. His eyes are wide open, adjusting to the lack of light in the tiny room, and he can almost see every single one of Minseok’s eyelashes, and he’s just getting closer -
“Mmm, don’t push it,” Minseok murmurs, nudging Joonmyun’s nose with his own, urging him into their lips aligning and - oh - Minseok’s kissing him.
And it’s not like Joonmyun’s never been kissed before - but it’s never felt exactly like this, he’s never wanted anyone so badly, maybe that’s why it feels the way it does. Minseok’s lips are warm on his own, nipping gently at Joonmyun’s upper lip until he opens up further, allowing Minseok to lick into his mouth. Joonmyun’s hands somehow end up around Minseok’s neck, a hand snaking up to grip at the hairs at the base of his skull. They stop occasionally for a second, and Joonmyun’s so so nervous that Minseok’s going to pull away, is going to laugh, but after a quick breath his lips slide over Joonmyun’s again, warm and wet and perfect.
They kiss for what feels like to Joonmyun is an hour, but is probably significantly less time than that, when Minseok pulls away, chuckling as he takes in Joonmyun’s flushed face, his tented jeans.
“Come to the next party, maybe then I’ll show you a real college hook-up,” Minseok says with a smirk, hand running down Joonmyun’s chest, down the front of his jeans where his dick’s straining against the fabric, a fleeting touch that ends before Joonmyun can even comprehend what’s going on. Then Minseok’s turning around and the door clicks quietly behind him, leaving Joonmyun alone in the tiny room.
He takes a few moments to compose himself before going back out into the mass of people dancing in the main room. He wants to find Minseok and… he also wants to curl up under his bed comforter and hide for a century.
--
Their kakao conversations and randomly meeting across campus continue the next week as if nothing’s changed between them. Joonmyun steels himself for some kind of rejection, imagines Minseok waving off their kissing with some explanation involving their state of drunkenness, but it never comes.
Joonmyun’s confused and lost and he ends up doing the unthinkable, confiding in Jongdae over lunch.
“Awwh, baby’s first make out session,” Jongdae coos while Joonmyun scrambles to not drop his chopsticks on his lap.
“Shut up,” he hisses, glancing left and right to make sure no one was paying attention. “Why can’t you give me advice instead of making fun of me?”
Jongdae snorts, taking a sip from his water. “Did you expect differently, honestly?”
Joonmyun sighs, squeezing his eyes shut as he rubs at his forehead. He felt a tension headache coming on.
“Well, no, but…” he trails off.
“Well, part of me wants to say ‘no way’,” Jongdae laughs at him, “Minseok-hyung is like… I can’t even think of him like you’re describing him! He’s practically the definition of cute. Are you trying to insinuate a hamster seduced you?”
Joonmyun flails for words as his mouth is also burned by his own pad thai (he just had to get level 4 spiciness).
“Why would I lie?” he whines, taking a huge sip of his Thai tea.
“Well,” Jongdae looks thoughtful, lips pursed with his chopsticks resting on them, “if you think he likes you, ask him? I doubt Minseok would waste time on you if he didn’t like you.”
“But what if he just wants me as a friend?” Joonmyun asks, pouting, to which Jongdae rolls his eyes.
“Do you make out with just friends?”
“Well, no,” Joonmyun says, flushing red as a waiter passes by their table.
“There you go,” Jongdae smirks, focusing on eating again.
--
Joonmyun can’t bring himself to ask Minseok over kakao if they’re dating or if Minseok would even want to date him or… making out once probably didn’t equate dating, right? Joonmyun would hope his boyfriend wouldn’t leave him hard in some small room at a party, either. But then again, what does Joonmyun know about these things?
Minseok even said the words “hook-up”, and “next time”, as if implying… well, yeah. Joonmyun could maybe put the whole relationship talk thing on the backburner if it meant he got to touch Minseok. That might be okay.
And he doesn’t run into him on campus at all after this revelation, and all the stress from this not-even-a-relationship is bleeding into his study time. So much for being okay with their questionable status.
He and his friend Yixing always study for general microbiology together in the office of the research lab they’re both working in. Their jobs are kind of menial, mostly taking care of mice, but hey, research experience for the CV!
Except Joonmyun can’t even focus today, trying to read the chapter about plague that they’d be quizzed on next, words swimming in front of his eyes.
“This is such an apt metaphor!” Joonmyun cries before hanging his head down on his folded arms. “Stupid sexy plague-bearing gerbils and mice. Infecting me with their Yersinia before running off and leaving me to die. Metaphorically.”
Yixing blinks a few times, trying to comprehend what exactly Joonmyun’s trying to say, but all he can come up with is “what?” (There was nothing in the reading about sexy rodents?) Joonmyun groans again, and it must be a really pathetic sound, because then Yixing’s patting his head.
“Cheer up, buddy! Plague is endemic in a lot of areas!”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Joonmyun cries, leaning up to pout at Yixing from his folded arms.
“Well, since I have no idea what you mean, yes?”
Joonmyun sighs again, banging his head on the table a few times for good measure.
--
As expected, Joonmyun finds himself following Jongdae to the next party he’s invited to (by Minseok, nonetheless). Jongdae had done him the favor of pre-gaming with him, so he’s already halfway to drunk when they arrive.
“Remember,” Jongdae starts, grasping Joonmyun’s shoulders in his hands before they go in the house, staring him in the eye, “just be confident. Tell him you like him. That mushy stuff.”
Joonmyun tries to look serious as he nods, but he must’ve failed since Jongdae’s laughing.
“Well come on, let’s get in there, I’m freezing.”
Jongdae sticks with him this time, and Joonmyun’s not sure whether to feel better about that or not. They end up in the basement, and Joonmyun realizes why Minseok tasted like cheap beer last time - there’s a beer pong table in the basement. Minseok’s playing with people Joonmyun doesn’t recognize, but Jongdae must, because he’s yelling “hello, losers,” to them, smiling widely as he waves. Joonmyun tries to remember how to finish walking down stairs when he notices Minseok looking at him. Why must basic motor skills fail him at such important times?
Joonmyun watches them play for a while, respectfully bowing out of playing when Jongdae asks him to be his partner (his hand eye coordination was shit, anyway).
Minseok’s team finally loses after a riveting three games, during which Joonmyun had drank to pass the time. Minseok finally makes his way to where Joonmyun’s standing, tall gangly guy in tow.
“Ah, that last one was close,” Joonmyun says smiling, and Minseok chuckles in reply.
“Who’s this?” the tall dude asks, and Joonmyun smiles as Minseok rolls his eyes. “This is Joonmyun. Joonmyun, meet Chanyeol, my most annoying little bro.”
Joonmyun must look confused, because Minseok’s laughing, clarifying, “my fraternity little bro. Not like my real brother. We’re definitely not related.”
Chanyeol’s laughter booms even through the din of the bass on the stereo. “I’m not very little though, huh? It’s nice to finally meet you, though, Minseokie’s mentioned you before.” He waggles his eyebrows. Has Jongdae been teaching them all this? Disconcerting.
“You too,” Joonmyun smiles, before taking a sip of his drink.
“Aren’t you gonna go make out with your little boyfriend now?” Chanyeol asks Minseok in Korean, tone mocking.
“We’re both older than you, you little shit,” Minseok fires back. Joonmyun’s left to stand there awkwardly, sipping away at his drink for lack of anything to say (and trying not to choke on said drink). What would he say anyway, we’re not actually dating, haha? Like that would help.
Minseok flicks Chanyeol’s snapback off his head, laughing when Chanyeol scrambles to pick it up off the floor. “Do you know how dirty this floor is?” he whines, to which Minseok rolls his eyes.
“Let’s go upstairs, Joonmyun,” he says switching to English, smiling slightly, taking Joonmyun’s wrist in his hand as he starts moving towards the staircase.
He sees Jongdae out of the corner of his eye mouth “hwaiting!” and so help him does he need it.
Minseok pushes Joonmyun into the small laundry room they were in last time, murmuring a “hi,” before he’s kissing Joonmyun as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, tongue pushing into Joonmyun’s mouth, hands frantic as they roam Joonmyun’s back.
Joonmyun kisses back with just as much fervor, hoping to put all the words he’s too shy to say into it, hands roaming up under Minseok’s shirt to rest on the smooth, warm skin of his lower back.
“Mm,” Minseok hums, sucking on Joonmyun’s lower lip before pulling back. Joonmyun’s left confused, and semi-erect, watching as Minseok pushes a heap of laundry off a metal folding chair.
“Undo your pants, Joonmyunie,” Minseok singsongs, and Joonmyun scrambles to comply before Minseok’s leading him into the chair with a strength Joonmyun didn’t expect. The coolness of the metal feels odd in contrast to how hot he feels.
Minseok’s on his knees, pulling Joonmyun’s jeans off before settling between his spread legs. He nuzzles against the smooth skin of Joonmyun’s thigh, giggling slightly as Joonmyun’s cock jumps in his boxers, wet patch of precome already forming.
“I like you excited,” Minseok chuckles, biting at the flesh below Joonmyun’s belly button before he unceremoniously pulls his boxers down his thighs. Joonmyun can’t hold back his shiver, cool air on his warm skin.
“Cute,” Minseok chuckles, hand moving to grasp Joonmyun’s erect cock. Joonmyun gasps, taken aback and half of his mind still wants to talk to Minseok first, but apparently his cock is rapidly winning that battle as his mind goes blank when Minseok takes him in his mouth, gently sucking at the tip before letting his dick go with a lewd pop.
Minseok’s tongue works along his shaft, alternating between the head and licking in stripes down Joonmyun’s cock. He moves quickly from small licks to trying to take Joonmyun all the way into his mouth, right hand firmly holding the base of his cock as his head starts to bob rhythmically, left hand gripping at Joonmyun’s hipbone. Joonmyun squeezes his eyes shut, head lolling back in pleasure, hand fisted in Minseok’s hair, desperately trying not to cant his hips up to meet the warm wetness.
Minseok’s so good at this though, swallowing around Joonmyun’s cock as his tongue laves the underside. He pulls back a little, sucking on the tip as his hand moves up and down, jerking Joonmyun off with the spit from his own mouth.
“Ha,” Joonmyun breathes out heavily, peeling his eyes open and moving his head slightly so he can look at Minseok, whose eyes are on his own.
“Fuck, Minseok,” he breathes out, hand moving from his hair to the side of his cheek, where it’s bulging from his cock. From his cock in Minseok’s perfect mouth. Minseok hums, a sound low in his throat, and Joonmyun knows he won’t last long.
“Ah, hyung, I’m really close,” he stutters, eyes squeezed shut again, so he’s surprised when Minseok’s hand moves from his shaft to fondle his balls, squeezing as his mouth applies more suction.
“Ah, fuck,” he whimpers, orgasm hitting him hard as he comes in Minseok’s mouth. Minseok swallows it all, predatory eyes looking up at him before he’s undoing his own jeans, straddling Joonmyun’s lap.
“Don’t pass out before you touch me,” he whispers, voice straining, using his still damp hand to guide Joonmyun’s hand to his own cock, bulging behind his boxer-briefs. His other hand wraps around Joonmyun’s back, a steady pressure that calms Joonmyun somewhat.
Joonmyun extricates his hand from Minseok’s, spitting on his palm before moving his hand quickly under the band of Minseok’s underwear. He jerks him off slowly at first, and Minseok starts pressing kisses into his neck, licking and sucking gently at his own leisure.
Joonmyun experimentally presses his thumb into the slit, rubbing precome around the tip of his dick.
“Ah,” Minseok breathes out, hips thrusting to gain some friction, and Joonmyun starts pulling faster, twisting his wrist on the upstroke until Minseok’s a mess of heavy breathing, forehead resting on his shoulder.
“Come for me Minseok,” Joonmyun breathes out, too enraptured in the moment to feel self-conscious about his own dirty talk. And Minseok does, spilling on Joonmyun’s hand before slumping all the way into Joonmyun’s chest, whimpering softly when Joonmyun continues to stroke him through his orgasm.
“We should clean up,” Minseok mumbles, mouth pressed in the fabric of Joonmyun’s tee-shirt. Joonmyun laughs, taking his cleaner hand to lift Minseok’s face up with two fingers under his chin, capturing his lips in a slow kiss.
Joonmyun pulls away first, chuckling. “I think we could probably find a towel in this laundry room.”
Minseok smirks, murmuring a, “maybe in a minute,” before he’s leaning in to kiss Joonmyun again.
--
“Jongdaaaae,” Joonmyun whines the next morning as he drags himself into the kitchen where Jongdae’s cooking something that smells magical. “Feed me, bring me back from death itself.”
Jongdae snorts, flipping an omelette in a pan. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll make you one too. Drank too much last night?” he asks, before glancing over at Joonmyun who’s settled in at their kitchen table with some cranberry juice. “Damn, nice hickey,” he laughs, causing Joonmyun to let out a very unmanly yelp, racing to their bathroom to check out his neck.
“Oh my god,” he moans from the bathroom, and can hear Jongdae’s laughter from the kitchen.
“So I can assume your thing with Minseok’s sorted, then?” he asks when Joonmyun sits back down at the table, a steaming, somewhat messily folded omelette sitting at his place.
“Not even close,” Joonmyun whines, grabbing two forks from the drying rack next to the sink.
“What happened?” Jongdae asks, sitting across from Joonmyun. His eyebrows are wiggling, of course.
“I’m starting to think he’s making fun of me for being shy or something. Chanyeol even said something to him, maybe I’m just a big joke to him” Joonmyun trails off, morosely taking a bite of his eggs.
“Minseok definitely wouldn’t do that,” Jongdae frowns.
“You said you couldn’t imagine him seducing me either, though.”
“Yeah,” Jongdae laughs, “but that’s not like a central character trait. Minseok’s a little quiet himself, and he’d never do something like that anyway. Did you even ask him if he uh… liked you?”
“No,” Joonmyun whines, his head hitting the table with a soft thump. “I’m bad at life.”
Jongdae sighs. “Just ask him to meet up somewhere else, both of you sober, and just really ask him. I’m sure he’d want to know if he’s causing you this much inner turmoil.”
“What if he says no if I ask him out?” Joonmyun murmurs, head still on the table, eyes squeezed shut. “Then I’d be sad and it’s almost finals season and I’d be depressed and unfocused and fucked.”
“I swear to god, you are so dramatic Joonmyun Kim,” Jongdae rolls his eyes, taking a bite of his eggs before continuing, “wouldn’t it be worse to keep agonizing over this during finals week rather than just knowing? And I’m pretty sure he’d say yes anyway so I think you’re being a huge-ass baby right now.”
Joonmyun chuckles, looking up at Jongdae. “You’re a true friend.”
“Shut the fuck up and eat,” Jongdae bites back, but he’s grinning.
--
Joonmyun’s opportunity comes soon enough, his phone vibrating with a kakao message around 10pm on Tuesday night.
From: Minseok Kim: did you understand the physics problem set? i’m having trouble with number 4 >.<
Joonmyun bites his lip, tapping out quickly in reply.
To: Minseok Kim: yeah i could show u.. i’m kinda in for the nite tho haha
Minseok’s reply comes quickly.
From: Minseok Kim: ah. i could come over?
From: Minseok Kim: i mean not to invite myself over rudely but >.<
From: Minseok Kim: i’m packing up at the library and your house is sort of on my way home
Joonmyun mulls it over, and decides, yeah, okay, he does want Minseok to come over. Even if they do end up just going over the physics set, he’ll be happy.
To: Kim Minseok: no prob~ c u soon
“Jongdaae,” Joonmyun whines, dragging himself out of his own room to glance into Jongdae’s, whose door is open. “Minseok’s coming over.”
“Oh?” Jongdae chuckles, eyebrows waggling up and down, “should I make myself scarce?”
“Maybe?” Joonmyun sighs, scrubbing his hand through his hair, “we’re just working on physics though.”
“What a great segue into a talk about relationships!” Jongdae chirps, leaning back in his computer chair, “you can talk about falling from a building and momentum! It’s like falling in love!”
Joonmyun doesn’t even chuckle at his bad joke, face remaining stoic in a frown. “Just be sure to shut your door.”
Jongdae rolls his eyes in reply, “well don’t look like that when he comes or he’ll never want your dick agaaain~”
Joonmyun slams the door shut himself.
Joonmyun opens the door for Minseok about fifteen minutes later. Bundled up in a thick striped scarf and winter parka, complete with a beanie hat and pink nose, Joonmyun thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen.
“December in New York, huh?” Minseok chuckles, shucking his boots off to leave in their entrance.
“Makes me miss LA,” Joonmyun says wistfully, motioning Minseok to hang his coat on one of the free hooks.
“Ah, you’re from LA too?” Minseok asks with a smile.
“Well, I moved there when I was like five, I guess.” Joonmyun explains with a shrug, watching as Minseok hefts his backpack up on his back again.
“Oh! I didn’t know. I moved there when I was 13.”
“Explains your immaculate Korean,” Joonmyun says with a smile, leading him into their living room. They’ve got a folding table that Minseok helps Joonmyun place in front of their couch.
“Did you forget all of yours?” Minseok asks with a small frown as the settle into the couch, papers spread on the table in front of them.
Joonmyun raises his eyebrows. “No? I speak Korean at home with my parents.”
Minseok’s face starts to drain of color, “wait, so you understand Korean?”
“Yeah,” Joonmyun says awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck. “I just have a terrible accent so I’m sort of self-conscious.”
“Oh my god,” Minseok buries his face in his hands. “You heard me tell Chanyeol I thought you were cute the first night we met. Oh my god.”
Joonmyun smiles thinking of that night, before it twists into a frown. “I also heard him on Saturday night too.”
Minseok glances over at Joonmyun, hands wringing together on his lap.
“Chanyeol is just a little shit of a jokester, he’s harmless honestly,” Minseok trails off, laughing awkwardly. It’s a quiet sound, but it feels like it’s echoing in the otherwise silent living room.
“No, Minseok, I -” he trails off, trying to pick his words carefully. He pulls his legs to his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees.
“Have all these times at the parties been some weird ‘introverted initiation’ thing?” Joonmyun asks, chin resting between his knees. “Because I really like you,” he whispers, barely audible.
Minseok’s lips quirk up to the side in a smile, and for a second Joonmyun really thinks Minseok is going to let him down in a terrible way, but then he’s leaning forward, fingers lifting Joonmyun’s face before he’s tentatively kissing Joonmyun.
“I like you a lot too,” he says when he pulls back from their kiss, cheeks slightly pink. “I’m not very good with words, but, ah,” he trails off, fingers still warm on Joonmyun’s jaw. “I’m usually too, um,” he frowns, and Joonmyun’s glad to see he’s not the only one who struggles with coherency. “I’m bad with talking about emotions, so I’m sorry if I forced myself on you instead of talking about it.”
Joonmyun shakes his head softly, letting his legs move so he can scoot next to Minseok, warm sides pressed up against each other.
“No, I, uh, enjoyed it,” Joonmyun says, trying to blink away the redness in his cheeks, “but I’m glad we’re talking now. Would you um - would you want to be my boyfriend?”
Minseok’s smile is so wide it melts Joonmyun’s insides. “Of course,” he says, and then they’re kissing again.
“Awh, finally,” Joonmyun’s neck snaps back when he hears Jongdae’s voice from the doorway.
“Jongdae!” he cries, grabbing his large calculator from the table to heft at Jongdae, who dodges it stealthily.
“Hey, I was just on my way to the kitchen to get water, if you two wanted privacy, shoulda stayed in your room.” Then he’s sauntering back down the hall.
“I’m so embarrassed,” Joonmyun whimpers, hiding his face in Minseok’s neck. Minseok’s hands find their way to the back of his head and his shoulder, patting him gently as he laughs.
“Don’t be embarrassed, boyfriend,” Minseok says in Korean with a chuckle. And Joonmyun thinks maybe one day he won’t be.
For: adrislover
Author: xiu_jie
Rating: nc-17
Length: 7.2k
Summary: For a smart guy, Joonmyun can be a bit dense in the social category. (College AU)
Author’s Note: I know nothing about massages so \o/ Also I made Jongdae ‘91line in this fic.
“Joonmyun, what are you doing?” comes Jongdae’s voice from their kitchen doorway. Joonmyun looks up to where Jongdae’s bathed in the low light from the fixture over their kitchen sink, wearing pajamas and a confused expression, an empty cup in his hand, presumably looking to fill it with water.
“I’m making lists. I needed a change of scenery, my room was making me feel sleepy.”
Joonmyun doesn’t have to have all the lights on to see that Jongdae’s rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, padding over to the refrigerator to retrieve their Brita pitcher.
“Maybe because you are sleepy and should sleep,” he mutters, placing the pitcher back on the shelf, shutting the door of the fridge. Joonmyun hums in reply, scratching in a few more empty bullet points on his list. Jongdae sits down next to him at their kitchen table. “What’re you making a list of anyway?”
“A list of lists I should make tomorrow.”
Jongdae snorts before realization dawns on him. “You’re serious?” he asks.
“Well, yeah,” Joonmyun rubs at his eye, suppressing a yawn (mostly) successfully, face twisting up with his effort.
“Attractive,” Jongdae drawls, and Joonmyun summons up the energy to punch him on the arm lightly.
“I’m just super busy with all the classes, and the lab research, and the volunteering and ugh. I need to join another club or something.”
Jongdae shakes his head. “You need to relax. No other pre-med student I know is as strung-out as you are.”
“Oh, do you know a lot of biology majors being a computer science major?” Joonmyun asks sarcastically, twirling his pen between his fingers. Good comeback, he mentally pats himself on the back before the pen flings out of his hand, clacking on the off-white tile floor.
Jongdae snorts again, tactfully ignoring Joonmyun’s… peculiarities. Maybe there were a few upsides to being his friend. “I actually know a few from my frat.”
Oh right. Jongdae’s frat. Which Joonmyun insisted he had no time to join because hello, he didn’t? Plus he didn’t need to be part of a specific frat for Asian men when he’d literally only been friends with Asian boys his entire life. Other than his one Mexican friend. He was nice. Besides, their Asian fraternity didn’t even have a house like a standard Greek fraternity. Just the drunken parties, he guessed.
“Oh,” Joonmyun replies dumbly, but apparently his roommate had been thinking at the same time. “Actually,” Jongdae says with a snap of his fingers, “how would you like to get a massage? That would help, right?”
Joonmyun splutters, brows knitted together in disbelief. “Are you propositioning me?” he asks suspiciously, to which Jongdae bursts out laughing.
“First of all, no offence, but ew? Second of all, no way in hell.”
Joonmyun scrunches up his nose mock disgust, sticking his tongue out. “Like I’d want you to, anyway.”
“Whatever,” Jongdae brushes him off with a wave of his hand, “but, my friend Minseok, he gives massages! I’m sure he’d be happy to give you one.”
Jongdae’s doing the thing with his eyebrows that Joonmyun refers to as “the thing” in his own mind (they’re sort of wiggling up and down out of sync? it’s unsettling).
“Your friend gives massages?” Joonmyun asks, totally not trying to imagine that at all. Because that sounds like a bad porno, like the one’s he’d watched when he was trying to figure out if he liked girls. The consensus is still unclear on that one (it’s probably a hard pass on the lady front, but who knows?).
Joonmyun tries to think of Jongdae’s friend as being ugly and it helps to dispel the scene forming in his head a little. Maybe he does need sleep.
“Yeah,” Jongdae replies while Joonmyun’s trying to clear his mind. He’s zen. Totally at peace. Calm. Like the water in Jongdae’s cup, like another viscous liquid - wait, fuck -
“But he took the massage classes for gym credit, and now he uses it as volunteer hours or something. Said he’s always looking for people who actually want to do it.”
“Hmm,” Joonmyun replies noncommittally, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “I’ll think about it.”
Jongdae hums in affirmation. “Why don’t you sleep instead?” he asks, standing from his chair, “I don’t wanna wake up at 9 and see you still in here.”
“Like you’ll be up at 9 anyway,” Joonmyun says teasingly, to which Jongdae sticks his tongue out in reply.
“But really, sleep soon,” he says, before he’s padding out of the kitchen, calling a quiet “goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Joonmyun murmurs, glancing down at his list. Maybe he should sleep. He had a lot of studying to get done this week.
--
Joonmyun is able to mostly forget about his conversation with Jongdae until he finds himself eating take-out Chinese on their couch around 8pm a few nights later. There’s a lull in their conversation where Joonmyun’s focused on the riveting (trashy reality tv) show they were watching, when Jongdae cuts in with, “Oh, by the way, I set you up on a date with magical Minseokie.”
Joonmyun blinks in reply, turning to meet Jongdae’s eyes as Jongdae wiggles his eyebrows lewdly. “…magical dick?” Joonmyun asks after a beat, causing Jongdae to promptly burst out laughing.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jongdae asks, laughing before putting a serious face on. “This is why I don’t let you out of the house, honestly.”
Joonmyun’s face turns a brilliant shade of pink as he splutters for words to reply, “y-you were talking about me de-stressing! It’s your fault for being so suggestive!” A clump of rice falls off his plastic fork onto his lap.
“See,” Jongdae says, punctuating his sentence with a wry smile, “you’re utterly unpresentable.”
“I’m plenty presentable,” Joonmyun grumbles, trying to get the greasy rice off his pajama pants without squishing the small grains into the fabric. Life was difficult sometimes (most of the time).
“Anyway, he agreed that you could come over on Wednesday night. I’ll text you his address.”
“Do you trust him?” Joonmyun asks, pouting around the fork in his mouth.
“Why?” Jongdae asks, glancing over with a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe you’re going to let him harvest my organs?”
Jongdae rolls his eyes, knocking into Joonmyun’s shoulder with his own. “He’s only a year older than you, I’d be impressed if his surgical technique was that good already. Is that a pre-med elective here? Intro to black market organ harvesting?”
Joonmyun snorts. “No. Wait is he pre-med?” he asks, sitting up further in his seat.
“Yeah, and he actually has a life. Imagine that, Joonmyun Kim.”
“Shut up,” Joonmyun frowns, “some of us have to work harder than others.”
“I know,” Jongdae agrees with a small smile, before taking a bite of his own dinner. “Why do we keep ordering from this place if it sucks so much?” he says with a laugh.
“Because we’re lazy and busy,” Joonmyun sighs, glancing down at his own greasy plate of half eaten fried rice.
--
And as Joonmyun’s life goes, it’s seeming more like he’ll get murdered tonight than star in a porno. Not that he wants to do that latter thing anyway (he did clean himself thoroughly though - you never know). The streets are fairly silent for a Wednesday night, and it’s a bit chilly for mid-October already. Dried leaves scuttle along the ground, giving Joonmyun a vague feeling of being followed; he keeps looking behind his shoulder only to find no one around.
After a stroll down a dimly lit shortcut, he finds himself ringing the doorbell of one Kim Minseok’s apartment. He idly reads the names of the other members of his apartment, noting that he lives with three other seemingly Asian males. He wonders if their apartment would smell like dirty socks, but then takes the thought back upon thinking of the state of his own room.
“Hi,” a boy maybe an inch shorter than him says in answering the door. “You must be Jongdae’s friend?” he asks, and Joonmyun struggles for words because he’s not very good with people, especially cute people whom he may or may not agree to make out with if they even simply asked him.
“Uh, yeah,” he finally replies after an awkward few seconds of blinking.
“Come on up,” the boy Joonmyun assumes is Minseok says, letting him in before shutting the door behind him. “Just go up the stairs, it just leads to our apartment, obviously,” he says with a small chuckle. Joonmyun only feels a little self-conscious climbing the stairs with someone behind him. Left, right, you’ve done this before, great job, Joonmyun!
“My room’s the one with the open door on the left up ahead,” Minseok says from behind Joonmyun once they reach the landing. Joonmyun continues walking, finding what he guesses is Minseok’s room. It’s quite nice, sort of spacious for an apartment, with a double bed, a desk, a dresser, and a small cot for what he assumes would be massages. It’s almost immaculately neat, with only a frat banner adorning the wall above his desk.
“What’s your name? I’m sorry we didn’t get introduced properly,” Minseok asks while Joonmyun’s checking out his room. Joonmyun turns to find Minseok rubbing at the back of his own neck.
“Ah, I’m Joonmyun. Joonmyun Kim.” Minseok’s eyes widen a bit in surprise.
“Jongdae didn’t tell me you were Korean,” he chirps in Korean, much to Joonmyun’s dismay. He barely has any American accent. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kim Minseok, a junior.”
“Uh,” Joonmyun starts eloquently, fingers clenching the material of the bottom of his hoodie. “Nice to meet you too,” he grates out in his ungraceful Korean, nervousness making him sound even more awkward.
“Ah, you’re shy?” Minseok chuckles in Korean, to which Joonmyun really can’t formulate a response.
“That’s fine,” he continues in English, “if you want to get started, you can just take your top off and lay face down on the table here,” he motions towards the cot, “I’ll just go wash my hands.”
Joonmyun gulps, waiting until Minseok leaves the room to awkwardly shuck his hoodie and tee-shirt, leaving them in a pile next to the cot. He lies on his stomach, trying to push away some of the uneasiness that was creeping up his throat. So what, he was half naked in a guy he’s never met before’s house who was about to put his hands all over Joonmyun’s bare skin. No big deal, right??
Joonmyun sees Minseok pad back into the room from the corner of his eyes.
“Ah, messy,” he chides in soft Korean, looking down at the lump of Joonmyun’s clothes. Should he have folded them? Seems like Minseok was pretty neat, maybe - he’s cut off from his train of thought by Minseok addressing him in English, “ah, so is this your first time getting a massage?”
“Y-yeah,” Joonmyun stutters out, fingers flexing uselessly on the top edge of the cot.
“I’ll try to be gentle,” Minseok chuckles, “let me know if you want me to stop or something’s uncomfortable, okay?”
“Okay,” Joonmyun agrees weakly as Minseok’s fingers begin their work on his shoulders.
“So,” Minseok trails off, working at the knots in Joonmyun’s back, “what’s your major? Are you the same year as Jongdae?”
“Ah, yeah, we’re both sophomores,” Joonmyun answers, biting his lip gently when Minseok hits a particularly nice spot, “I’m a biology major though.”
“Ah, me too! Well, microbiology, but yeah. Are you pre-med?”
“I am,” Joonmyun agrees, smiling even though Minseok can’t see his face. “Jongdae told me you were too?”
“Yeah,” Minseok agrees, “I use these massages towards my volunteer hours actually.”
“Really?” Joonmyun asks, trying to crane his head to look at Minseok. “Well, yeah,” Minseok replies, smiling at Joonmyun, “I still do other volunteer work, but this counts as helping people, doesn’t it? Plus I want to put those massage gym lessons to good use,” he trails off in a chuckle before his phone rings.
“Ah, I have to answer this,” he explains, pausing his massage, “you don’t mind if I put it on speaker, do you? It’ll be quick.”
“Nope,” Joonmyun squeaks out, wishing Minseok’s strong hands were back on him.
“Hello?” he answers in Korean, setting his phone on the bottom of the cot as he starts working again on Joonmyun.
“Oh, hi hyung, just calling you about this Friday,” a booming voice answers in Korean as well.
“Ah, of course,” Minseok answers, “oh, yeah, you’re on speakerphone by the way. I’m giving someone a massage but he doesn’t understand that much Korean.”
Joonmyun’s about to correct Minseok - he does understand and speak a lot of Korean, just his accent is sort of way off - but his protests die in his throat when Minseok presses his elbow in just under Joonmyun’s shoulder. That feels good.
“Is he cute? Your type?” he hears the voice on the other end of the line drawl in Korean, and Minseok laughs while Joonmyun tries not to choke on his own spit as Minseok answers “maybe. But why’d you call?” And yeah, Joonmyun’s mind totally isn’t sprinting towards the idea that the cute boy massaging him (skin! on skin! contact!) may be gay and also might think he’s cute? He tries to control his own breathing, tuning out from their phone conversation that drifts towards planning some party and reservations for kegs and what not. In one two, out one two three.
Joonmyun somehow finds himself almost falling asleep, realizing with a snap that Minseok’s phone conversation ended, and his hands are slowing.
“Ah, did you take a nap?” he asks chuckling, giving one last hard rub to the span of Joonmyun’s back.
“I just wanna sleep here forever,” he mumbles into the fabric of the cushion his face was resting on, feeling boneless and thoroughly less stressed, even if he’s a new kind of tense that he wasn’t before he met Minseok. A good trade-off? Probably.
Minseok laughs and Joonmyun thinks it’s the cutest sound in the world.
“I’ll use oils next time,” he says with a grin, moving out of the room to fetch another towel. Joonmyun wills his semi to go away while simultaneously trying not to pass out on the spot.
He’s so fucked.
--
Joonmyun’s at the physics building despite it being almost 10pm. They had a lab due on Sunday afternoon, and Joonmyun didn't put as much studying in as he should’ve. Stupid autotutorial physics - having no class time seemed like it would’ve been easier, but it was really just more work on top of an already overstressed Joonmyun.
He’s chugging along on the problem set, the only student present at the TA’s late office hours, the TA looking bored while clicking around on his MacBook, head propped up on his hand. He probably thought no one would come to his office hours from 9-11pm on a Thursday. Silly thought.
He’s shocked from his reverie when a boy sits to the right of him, quietly gasping before saying, “Hi, Joonmyun,” in a voice that may or may not have been a feature in his dreams last night.
“Oh,” he looks up surprised to find Minseok smiling at him. “Hi, Minseok,” he tries to greet not too overenthusiastically, “you’re taking autotutorial physics as well?”
“Yeah,” he smiles, plopping his backpack in front of him, carefully fishing out a notebook and a pencil. “Wanted to get this lab out of the way before this weekend. Party on Friday,” he grins, pushing his bookbag to the right of him on the table.
Oh. Right. Jongdae and Minseok’s frat party. Jongdae had given up on inviting Joonmyun a while ago, since he always said no. Joonmyun simply nods in acknowledgement.
“Why don’t you ever come to those? Don’t you and Jongdae live together?” he asks, opening his notebook to a neat paper with some handwritten notes.
“I don’t really do good with uh, people,” he says, feeling his cheeks pink as he forces his eyes to focus back on his own work instead of the curve of Minseok’s smile, his cute little fingers gripping the yellow #2 pencil, his -
Mineok chuckles in reply. “You should try it out. It’s pretty chill. You don’t even have to talk to that many people if you don’t want to.”
“Maybe,” Joonmyun agrees quietly, before Minseok tries to wake the now napping TA to ask a few questions.
They work through the problem set together, and at 11, they leave the building together, walking towards Collegetown where they both live. They make quiet conversation the whole way home, and before they part, Minseok gives Joonmyun his number.
Joonmyun goes to bed even happier than the night before.
--
Joonmyun does end up going to the party with Jongdae, but after losing Jongdae in the crush of the crowd, being danced on by a girl (what even??), and not being able to find Minseok anywhere, he leaves, still semi-sober, walking home slowly in the crisp late fall evening air.
He’s two hours deep into a game of Counterstrike when his phone vibrates with a kakao message at 1:30 in the morning.
From: Minseok Kim: where ar eyou ㅠㅠ
Joonmyun giggles, was Minseok trying to be cute? Was he drunk?
To: Minseok Kim: i left a little while ago D: where were u
His phone vibrates again as soon as he clicks the screen off.
From: Minseok Kim: i was thereee!! >.< why you so sneaky!
Joonmyun chuckles, continuing his light kakao conversation with Minseok until he falls asleep.
--
It’s easy for Minseok to become incorporated into Joonmyun’s life, when their budding friendship is so low maintenance. Minseok’s a biology student like Joonmyun, so he must understand the hectic lifestyle that brings.
Right now, Joonmyun’s up to his eyeballs in organic chemistry studying, tiny hexagons dancing in front of his eyes. He’d been messaging with Minseok before but had put him aside to study, silencing his phone and throwing it somewhere on his bed. He picks up his phone now, time reading 2:03am, but also revealing a kakao message.
From: Minseok Kim: you’re studying too much! take a break!
From: Minseok Kim: we’re drinking tonight i guess ㅠㅠ i’m very sorry liver
From: Minseok Kim: still~ stu(dying)? hA!
Joonmyun types out a quick reply:
To Minseok Kim: well, u know how orgo goes u_u
He moves from his desk to go wash his face and brush his teeth, padding back into his room afterwards. His phone reveals no new messages, so he plugs it, setting it on his nightstand as he settles into bed.
Joonmyun’s happy when his phone chirps with another kakao alert, quickly sitting up to grab it, squinting at the bright screen in the dark of his room. He’s quickly confused, however, when it’s a message from Minseok reading call me hyung keke in Korean.
Huh? he types in English in reply. Why was Minseok suddenly bringing this up? Did he want Joonmyun to actually call him hyung? They spoke in English so that might be a bit awkward, but he guesses he could. Before he can think about it further, his phone alerts him of a flurry of messages.
From: Minseok Kim: ah sorry that was chanyeol
From: Minseok Kim: my friend is a little shit
From: Minseok Kim: jokes, right, haha… >.<
Joonmyun bites his lip, unsure how to reply. He could say something cute like get some rest, hyung~ but he shivers at the thought, curling up under his blankets. Embarrassing, Joonmyun. But Minseok was being sort of cute… what to say?
To: Minseok Kim: that’s fine! drink some water before you go to sleep okay is what he finally settles on. He sends a cute kakao sticker too, and turns his phone to alarm only, plugging it back in and setting it face down.
--
Joonmyun puts up barely any resistance when Jongdae says he’s going to drag him to the next party their frat’s hosting, but thankfully Jongdae doesn’t comment on his behavioral change (much). It’s at the same place as before - someone’s first floor apartment. There’s a basement as well, and Jongdae quickly pads down there to do god knows what. Joonmyun finds himself awkwardly standing in the kitchen, some concoction of Kool-Aid and vodka in the cup in his hand.
He’s on his third drink, being chatted up by two girls, when Minseok sneaks up behind him.
“Hey Myunnie~” he giggles in his ear, wrapping an arm around Joonmyun’s shoulders. “There’s something I wanna show you,” he says, forehead resting on the back of Joonmyun’s right shoulder now.
“Ah, let’s go then,” he says, letting Minseok lead him away from the swell of people in the kitchen, down the hall.
“You didn’t even say goodbye to those girls,” he chides, arm still wrapped around Joonmyun as he leads him to a small door towards the end of the hall.
“I didn’t even know them,” Joonmyun explains, laughing as Minseok pushes him into what appears to be a tiny laundry room.
“Isn’t that the point of these things?” Minseok asks with a chuckle, crowding a nervous Joonmyun into a proverbial and physical corner.
“It smells like laundry in here,” Joonmyun says smartly, lacking the brain cells to understand and reply to Minseok’s question.
“You’re so nervous, it’s cute,” Minseok murmurs, eyes looking even more cat-like in the low light of the cramped, warm room; he looks like a predator except Joonmyun’s not really scared (okay maybe just a little). He leans in closer, his hand burning where it’s touching Joonmyun’s hip, and his breath smells a bit like stale beer and Doritos, but Joonmyun’s heart still feels like it’s beating straight out of his chest, as he’s trapped between a laundry machine and Minseok.
“A-am I cute?” he stutters awkwardly, scrambling to string together a coherent sentence as Minseok’s breath fans out warm on his face, the musky smell of his cologne hitting his nose. His eyes are wide open, adjusting to the lack of light in the tiny room, and he can almost see every single one of Minseok’s eyelashes, and he’s just getting closer -
“Mmm, don’t push it,” Minseok murmurs, nudging Joonmyun’s nose with his own, urging him into their lips aligning and - oh - Minseok’s kissing him.
And it’s not like Joonmyun’s never been kissed before - but it’s never felt exactly like this, he’s never wanted anyone so badly, maybe that’s why it feels the way it does. Minseok’s lips are warm on his own, nipping gently at Joonmyun’s upper lip until he opens up further, allowing Minseok to lick into his mouth. Joonmyun’s hands somehow end up around Minseok’s neck, a hand snaking up to grip at the hairs at the base of his skull. They stop occasionally for a second, and Joonmyun’s so so nervous that Minseok’s going to pull away, is going to laugh, but after a quick breath his lips slide over Joonmyun’s again, warm and wet and perfect.
They kiss for what feels like to Joonmyun is an hour, but is probably significantly less time than that, when Minseok pulls away, chuckling as he takes in Joonmyun’s flushed face, his tented jeans.
“Come to the next party, maybe then I’ll show you a real college hook-up,” Minseok says with a smirk, hand running down Joonmyun’s chest, down the front of his jeans where his dick’s straining against the fabric, a fleeting touch that ends before Joonmyun can even comprehend what’s going on. Then Minseok’s turning around and the door clicks quietly behind him, leaving Joonmyun alone in the tiny room.
He takes a few moments to compose himself before going back out into the mass of people dancing in the main room. He wants to find Minseok and… he also wants to curl up under his bed comforter and hide for a century.
--
Their kakao conversations and randomly meeting across campus continue the next week as if nothing’s changed between them. Joonmyun steels himself for some kind of rejection, imagines Minseok waving off their kissing with some explanation involving their state of drunkenness, but it never comes.
Joonmyun’s confused and lost and he ends up doing the unthinkable, confiding in Jongdae over lunch.
“Awwh, baby’s first make out session,” Jongdae coos while Joonmyun scrambles to not drop his chopsticks on his lap.
“Shut up,” he hisses, glancing left and right to make sure no one was paying attention. “Why can’t you give me advice instead of making fun of me?”
Jongdae snorts, taking a sip from his water. “Did you expect differently, honestly?”
Joonmyun sighs, squeezing his eyes shut as he rubs at his forehead. He felt a tension headache coming on.
“Well, no, but…” he trails off.
“Well, part of me wants to say ‘no way’,” Jongdae laughs at him, “Minseok-hyung is like… I can’t even think of him like you’re describing him! He’s practically the definition of cute. Are you trying to insinuate a hamster seduced you?”
Joonmyun flails for words as his mouth is also burned by his own pad thai (he just had to get level 4 spiciness).
“Why would I lie?” he whines, taking a huge sip of his Thai tea.
“Well,” Jongdae looks thoughtful, lips pursed with his chopsticks resting on them, “if you think he likes you, ask him? I doubt Minseok would waste time on you if he didn’t like you.”
“But what if he just wants me as a friend?” Joonmyun asks, pouting, to which Jongdae rolls his eyes.
“Do you make out with just friends?”
“Well, no,” Joonmyun says, flushing red as a waiter passes by their table.
“There you go,” Jongdae smirks, focusing on eating again.
--
Joonmyun can’t bring himself to ask Minseok over kakao if they’re dating or if Minseok would even want to date him or… making out once probably didn’t equate dating, right? Joonmyun would hope his boyfriend wouldn’t leave him hard in some small room at a party, either. But then again, what does Joonmyun know about these things?
Minseok even said the words “hook-up”, and “next time”, as if implying… well, yeah. Joonmyun could maybe put the whole relationship talk thing on the backburner if it meant he got to touch Minseok. That might be okay.
And he doesn’t run into him on campus at all after this revelation, and all the stress from this not-even-a-relationship is bleeding into his study time. So much for being okay with their questionable status.
He and his friend Yixing always study for general microbiology together in the office of the research lab they’re both working in. Their jobs are kind of menial, mostly taking care of mice, but hey, research experience for the CV!
Except Joonmyun can’t even focus today, trying to read the chapter about plague that they’d be quizzed on next, words swimming in front of his eyes.
“This is such an apt metaphor!” Joonmyun cries before hanging his head down on his folded arms. “Stupid sexy plague-bearing gerbils and mice. Infecting me with their Yersinia before running off and leaving me to die. Metaphorically.”
Yixing blinks a few times, trying to comprehend what exactly Joonmyun’s trying to say, but all he can come up with is “what?” (There was nothing in the reading about sexy rodents?) Joonmyun groans again, and it must be a really pathetic sound, because then Yixing’s patting his head.
“Cheer up, buddy! Plague is endemic in a lot of areas!”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Joonmyun cries, leaning up to pout at Yixing from his folded arms.
“Well, since I have no idea what you mean, yes?”
Joonmyun sighs again, banging his head on the table a few times for good measure.
--
As expected, Joonmyun finds himself following Jongdae to the next party he’s invited to (by Minseok, nonetheless). Jongdae had done him the favor of pre-gaming with him, so he’s already halfway to drunk when they arrive.
“Remember,” Jongdae starts, grasping Joonmyun’s shoulders in his hands before they go in the house, staring him in the eye, “just be confident. Tell him you like him. That mushy stuff.”
Joonmyun tries to look serious as he nods, but he must’ve failed since Jongdae’s laughing.
“Well come on, let’s get in there, I’m freezing.”
Jongdae sticks with him this time, and Joonmyun’s not sure whether to feel better about that or not. They end up in the basement, and Joonmyun realizes why Minseok tasted like cheap beer last time - there’s a beer pong table in the basement. Minseok’s playing with people Joonmyun doesn’t recognize, but Jongdae must, because he’s yelling “hello, losers,” to them, smiling widely as he waves. Joonmyun tries to remember how to finish walking down stairs when he notices Minseok looking at him. Why must basic motor skills fail him at such important times?
Joonmyun watches them play for a while, respectfully bowing out of playing when Jongdae asks him to be his partner (his hand eye coordination was shit, anyway).
Minseok’s team finally loses after a riveting three games, during which Joonmyun had drank to pass the time. Minseok finally makes his way to where Joonmyun’s standing, tall gangly guy in tow.
“Ah, that last one was close,” Joonmyun says smiling, and Minseok chuckles in reply.
“Who’s this?” the tall dude asks, and Joonmyun smiles as Minseok rolls his eyes. “This is Joonmyun. Joonmyun, meet Chanyeol, my most annoying little bro.”
Joonmyun must look confused, because Minseok’s laughing, clarifying, “my fraternity little bro. Not like my real brother. We’re definitely not related.”
Chanyeol’s laughter booms even through the din of the bass on the stereo. “I’m not very little though, huh? It’s nice to finally meet you, though, Minseokie’s mentioned you before.” He waggles his eyebrows. Has Jongdae been teaching them all this? Disconcerting.
“You too,” Joonmyun smiles, before taking a sip of his drink.
“Aren’t you gonna go make out with your little boyfriend now?” Chanyeol asks Minseok in Korean, tone mocking.
“We’re both older than you, you little shit,” Minseok fires back. Joonmyun’s left to stand there awkwardly, sipping away at his drink for lack of anything to say (and trying not to choke on said drink). What would he say anyway, we’re not actually dating, haha? Like that would help.
Minseok flicks Chanyeol’s snapback off his head, laughing when Chanyeol scrambles to pick it up off the floor. “Do you know how dirty this floor is?” he whines, to which Minseok rolls his eyes.
“Let’s go upstairs, Joonmyun,” he says switching to English, smiling slightly, taking Joonmyun’s wrist in his hand as he starts moving towards the staircase.
He sees Jongdae out of the corner of his eye mouth “hwaiting!” and so help him does he need it.
Minseok pushes Joonmyun into the small laundry room they were in last time, murmuring a “hi,” before he’s kissing Joonmyun as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, tongue pushing into Joonmyun’s mouth, hands frantic as they roam Joonmyun’s back.
Joonmyun kisses back with just as much fervor, hoping to put all the words he’s too shy to say into it, hands roaming up under Minseok’s shirt to rest on the smooth, warm skin of his lower back.
“Mm,” Minseok hums, sucking on Joonmyun’s lower lip before pulling back. Joonmyun’s left confused, and semi-erect, watching as Minseok pushes a heap of laundry off a metal folding chair.
“Undo your pants, Joonmyunie,” Minseok singsongs, and Joonmyun scrambles to comply before Minseok’s leading him into the chair with a strength Joonmyun didn’t expect. The coolness of the metal feels odd in contrast to how hot he feels.
Minseok’s on his knees, pulling Joonmyun’s jeans off before settling between his spread legs. He nuzzles against the smooth skin of Joonmyun’s thigh, giggling slightly as Joonmyun’s cock jumps in his boxers, wet patch of precome already forming.
“I like you excited,” Minseok chuckles, biting at the flesh below Joonmyun’s belly button before he unceremoniously pulls his boxers down his thighs. Joonmyun can’t hold back his shiver, cool air on his warm skin.
“Cute,” Minseok chuckles, hand moving to grasp Joonmyun’s erect cock. Joonmyun gasps, taken aback and half of his mind still wants to talk to Minseok first, but apparently his cock is rapidly winning that battle as his mind goes blank when Minseok takes him in his mouth, gently sucking at the tip before letting his dick go with a lewd pop.
Minseok’s tongue works along his shaft, alternating between the head and licking in stripes down Joonmyun’s cock. He moves quickly from small licks to trying to take Joonmyun all the way into his mouth, right hand firmly holding the base of his cock as his head starts to bob rhythmically, left hand gripping at Joonmyun’s hipbone. Joonmyun squeezes his eyes shut, head lolling back in pleasure, hand fisted in Minseok’s hair, desperately trying not to cant his hips up to meet the warm wetness.
Minseok’s so good at this though, swallowing around Joonmyun’s cock as his tongue laves the underside. He pulls back a little, sucking on the tip as his hand moves up and down, jerking Joonmyun off with the spit from his own mouth.
“Ha,” Joonmyun breathes out heavily, peeling his eyes open and moving his head slightly so he can look at Minseok, whose eyes are on his own.
“Fuck, Minseok,” he breathes out, hand moving from his hair to the side of his cheek, where it’s bulging from his cock. From his cock in Minseok’s perfect mouth. Minseok hums, a sound low in his throat, and Joonmyun knows he won’t last long.
“Ah, hyung, I’m really close,” he stutters, eyes squeezed shut again, so he’s surprised when Minseok’s hand moves from his shaft to fondle his balls, squeezing as his mouth applies more suction.
“Ah, fuck,” he whimpers, orgasm hitting him hard as he comes in Minseok’s mouth. Minseok swallows it all, predatory eyes looking up at him before he’s undoing his own jeans, straddling Joonmyun’s lap.
“Don’t pass out before you touch me,” he whispers, voice straining, using his still damp hand to guide Joonmyun’s hand to his own cock, bulging behind his boxer-briefs. His other hand wraps around Joonmyun’s back, a steady pressure that calms Joonmyun somewhat.
Joonmyun extricates his hand from Minseok’s, spitting on his palm before moving his hand quickly under the band of Minseok’s underwear. He jerks him off slowly at first, and Minseok starts pressing kisses into his neck, licking and sucking gently at his own leisure.
Joonmyun experimentally presses his thumb into the slit, rubbing precome around the tip of his dick.
“Ah,” Minseok breathes out, hips thrusting to gain some friction, and Joonmyun starts pulling faster, twisting his wrist on the upstroke until Minseok’s a mess of heavy breathing, forehead resting on his shoulder.
“Come for me Minseok,” Joonmyun breathes out, too enraptured in the moment to feel self-conscious about his own dirty talk. And Minseok does, spilling on Joonmyun’s hand before slumping all the way into Joonmyun’s chest, whimpering softly when Joonmyun continues to stroke him through his orgasm.
“We should clean up,” Minseok mumbles, mouth pressed in the fabric of Joonmyun’s tee-shirt. Joonmyun laughs, taking his cleaner hand to lift Minseok’s face up with two fingers under his chin, capturing his lips in a slow kiss.
Joonmyun pulls away first, chuckling. “I think we could probably find a towel in this laundry room.”
Minseok smirks, murmuring a, “maybe in a minute,” before he’s leaning in to kiss Joonmyun again.
--
“Jongdaaaae,” Joonmyun whines the next morning as he drags himself into the kitchen where Jongdae’s cooking something that smells magical. “Feed me, bring me back from death itself.”
Jongdae snorts, flipping an omelette in a pan. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll make you one too. Drank too much last night?” he asks, before glancing over at Joonmyun who’s settled in at their kitchen table with some cranberry juice. “Damn, nice hickey,” he laughs, causing Joonmyun to let out a very unmanly yelp, racing to their bathroom to check out his neck.
“Oh my god,” he moans from the bathroom, and can hear Jongdae’s laughter from the kitchen.
“So I can assume your thing with Minseok’s sorted, then?” he asks when Joonmyun sits back down at the table, a steaming, somewhat messily folded omelette sitting at his place.
“Not even close,” Joonmyun whines, grabbing two forks from the drying rack next to the sink.
“What happened?” Jongdae asks, sitting across from Joonmyun. His eyebrows are wiggling, of course.
“I’m starting to think he’s making fun of me for being shy or something. Chanyeol even said something to him, maybe I’m just a big joke to him” Joonmyun trails off, morosely taking a bite of his eggs.
“Minseok definitely wouldn’t do that,” Jongdae frowns.
“You said you couldn’t imagine him seducing me either, though.”
“Yeah,” Jongdae laughs, “but that’s not like a central character trait. Minseok’s a little quiet himself, and he’d never do something like that anyway. Did you even ask him if he uh… liked you?”
“No,” Joonmyun whines, his head hitting the table with a soft thump. “I’m bad at life.”
Jongdae sighs. “Just ask him to meet up somewhere else, both of you sober, and just really ask him. I’m sure he’d want to know if he’s causing you this much inner turmoil.”
“What if he says no if I ask him out?” Joonmyun murmurs, head still on the table, eyes squeezed shut. “Then I’d be sad and it’s almost finals season and I’d be depressed and unfocused and fucked.”
“I swear to god, you are so dramatic Joonmyun Kim,” Jongdae rolls his eyes, taking a bite of his eggs before continuing, “wouldn’t it be worse to keep agonizing over this during finals week rather than just knowing? And I’m pretty sure he’d say yes anyway so I think you’re being a huge-ass baby right now.”
Joonmyun chuckles, looking up at Jongdae. “You’re a true friend.”
“Shut the fuck up and eat,” Jongdae bites back, but he’s grinning.
--
Joonmyun’s opportunity comes soon enough, his phone vibrating with a kakao message around 10pm on Tuesday night.
From: Minseok Kim: did you understand the physics problem set? i’m having trouble with number 4 >.<
Joonmyun bites his lip, tapping out quickly in reply.
To: Minseok Kim: yeah i could show u.. i’m kinda in for the nite tho haha
Minseok’s reply comes quickly.
From: Minseok Kim: ah. i could come over?
From: Minseok Kim: i mean not to invite myself over rudely but >.<
From: Minseok Kim: i’m packing up at the library and your house is sort of on my way home
Joonmyun mulls it over, and decides, yeah, okay, he does want Minseok to come over. Even if they do end up just going over the physics set, he’ll be happy.
To: Kim Minseok: no prob~ c u soon
“Jongdaae,” Joonmyun whines, dragging himself out of his own room to glance into Jongdae’s, whose door is open. “Minseok’s coming over.”
“Oh?” Jongdae chuckles, eyebrows waggling up and down, “should I make myself scarce?”
“Maybe?” Joonmyun sighs, scrubbing his hand through his hair, “we’re just working on physics though.”
“What a great segue into a talk about relationships!” Jongdae chirps, leaning back in his computer chair, “you can talk about falling from a building and momentum! It’s like falling in love!”
Joonmyun doesn’t even chuckle at his bad joke, face remaining stoic in a frown. “Just be sure to shut your door.”
Jongdae rolls his eyes in reply, “well don’t look like that when he comes or he’ll never want your dick agaaain~”
Joonmyun slams the door shut himself.
Joonmyun opens the door for Minseok about fifteen minutes later. Bundled up in a thick striped scarf and winter parka, complete with a beanie hat and pink nose, Joonmyun thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen.
“December in New York, huh?” Minseok chuckles, shucking his boots off to leave in their entrance.
“Makes me miss LA,” Joonmyun says wistfully, motioning Minseok to hang his coat on one of the free hooks.
“Ah, you’re from LA too?” Minseok asks with a smile.
“Well, I moved there when I was like five, I guess.” Joonmyun explains with a shrug, watching as Minseok hefts his backpack up on his back again.
“Oh! I didn’t know. I moved there when I was 13.”
“Explains your immaculate Korean,” Joonmyun says with a smile, leading him into their living room. They’ve got a folding table that Minseok helps Joonmyun place in front of their couch.
“Did you forget all of yours?” Minseok asks with a small frown as the settle into the couch, papers spread on the table in front of them.
Joonmyun raises his eyebrows. “No? I speak Korean at home with my parents.”
Minseok’s face starts to drain of color, “wait, so you understand Korean?”
“Yeah,” Joonmyun says awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck. “I just have a terrible accent so I’m sort of self-conscious.”
“Oh my god,” Minseok buries his face in his hands. “You heard me tell Chanyeol I thought you were cute the first night we met. Oh my god.”
Joonmyun smiles thinking of that night, before it twists into a frown. “I also heard him on Saturday night too.”
Minseok glances over at Joonmyun, hands wringing together on his lap.
“Chanyeol is just a little shit of a jokester, he’s harmless honestly,” Minseok trails off, laughing awkwardly. It’s a quiet sound, but it feels like it’s echoing in the otherwise silent living room.
“No, Minseok, I -” he trails off, trying to pick his words carefully. He pulls his legs to his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees.
“Have all these times at the parties been some weird ‘introverted initiation’ thing?” Joonmyun asks, chin resting between his knees. “Because I really like you,” he whispers, barely audible.
Minseok’s lips quirk up to the side in a smile, and for a second Joonmyun really thinks Minseok is going to let him down in a terrible way, but then he’s leaning forward, fingers lifting Joonmyun’s face before he’s tentatively kissing Joonmyun.
“I like you a lot too,” he says when he pulls back from their kiss, cheeks slightly pink. “I’m not very good with words, but, ah,” he trails off, fingers still warm on Joonmyun’s jaw. “I’m usually too, um,” he frowns, and Joonmyun’s glad to see he’s not the only one who struggles with coherency. “I’m bad with talking about emotions, so I’m sorry if I forced myself on you instead of talking about it.”
Joonmyun shakes his head softly, letting his legs move so he can scoot next to Minseok, warm sides pressed up against each other.
“No, I, uh, enjoyed it,” Joonmyun says, trying to blink away the redness in his cheeks, “but I’m glad we’re talking now. Would you um - would you want to be my boyfriend?”
Minseok’s smile is so wide it melts Joonmyun’s insides. “Of course,” he says, and then they’re kissing again.
“Awh, finally,” Joonmyun’s neck snaps back when he hears Jongdae’s voice from the doorway.
“Jongdae!” he cries, grabbing his large calculator from the table to heft at Jongdae, who dodges it stealthily.
“Hey, I was just on my way to the kitchen to get water, if you two wanted privacy, shoulda stayed in your room.” Then he’s sauntering back down the hall.
“I’m so embarrassed,” Joonmyun whimpers, hiding his face in Minseok’s neck. Minseok’s hands find their way to the back of his head and his shoulder, patting him gently as he laughs.
“Don’t be embarrassed, boyfriend,” Minseok says in Korean with a chuckle. And Joonmyun thinks maybe one day he won’t be.