Work Text:
I'll be your safety net
So why not raise the stakes?
I can hear your heart from across the room
Pulsin' through my veins, I know you need this too
🎬🎬🎬
“I’m not doing an onscreen kiss,” Minghao says flatly for the ten millionth time since Mingyu climbed through his window.
“But Minghao you have to. It’s part of the story, you can’t just ignore the story,” Mingyu tries to reason with him. It’s not the first time Minghao said that he wouldn’t do something in one of Mingyu’s films, but he always ends up doing it anyway.
This time though, he’s being particularly stubborn about it.
Minghao has been in every short film Mingyu has ever made. From the home videos to Mingyu’s Youtube era, Minghao has starred in every single skit in one way or the other. He can’t just stop showing up in them. Especially when they already filmed some of the scenes.
Mingyu is literally on his knees next to Minghao’s bed where Minghao is reading, trying to convince him. He’s really not far away from begging.
Minghao pointedly ignores him, which Mingyu is used to, but is not willing to accept. Especially not now. Mingyu takes the book that Minghao’s reading and places it to the side. He lays it down open so that Minghao won’t lose his page.
“You’re going to ruin the spine like that,” and Mingyu grabs the book and lifts it just out of reach of Minghao. Minghao leans over trying to grab it from him and even though Mingyu only has a few inches on Minghao, it’s still something.
“Okay, tell me why and I’ll consider it. It’s literally just a kiss Minghao. It doesn’t mean anything at all. It’s not like you like Soonyoung.”
Minghao’s face twists into something nasty and the tips of his ears turn a bright red. Mingyu’s eyes go big and he drops his elbow slightly. Oh my god, does Minghao have a crush?
Minghao snatches the book out of his hand and sits back on the farthest possible edge from Mingyu. “Get out, I have homework to do.”
Oh no. After years of friendship, Mingyu can see the signs a mile away. Minghao is closing in on himself and the only thing Mingyu can do is to absolutely not listen to him when he says to get out. If you do, he might not let you back in.
Mingyu scrambles onto the bed from where he was kneeling on the ground. “Wait, wait, wait. If you like him this is even better! This is the perfect excuse for you to make a move. One kiss can change it all!”
The gears are turning in Mingyu’s head. If they film the kiss scene, then Soonyoung is totally going to fall for Minghao and ask him out! Mingyu is actually pretty excited about this. Minghao has never really shown interest in anyone. At least, he doesn’t say it until he’s gotten over it. Mingyu has never caught him in the middle of it all. And to think that he can help make this happen? Mingyu thinks he’d make a great cupid.
Minghao buries his face in his hands. “Please stop talking.”
Mingyu tries to pry Minghao’s hands away from his face. “Hey, Minghao, why are you embarrassed, it’s literally me.” Mingyu frowns. He hates it when Minghao starts hiding.
“Are you worried that the kiss will be bad? Soonyoung is super experienced so it won’t be bad.”
“Ugh. But that’s the thing, Soonyoung is really…I haven’t kissed anyone in…a while.” Minghao’s face is as red as a stop sign when he says it.
“Minghao you won’t be bad, seriously. That’s not, that’s impossible.”
Minghao glares at him disbelievingly.
“Here, come kiss me and you’ll see it’s like riding a bike. You never forget.”
Minghao squints at him like he’s trying to see if Mingyu is serious or not.
Mingyu is serious. His film making career depends on it! And also, he feels a little bad that he made Minghao so embarrassed. Maybe that’s why Minghao didn’t tell Mingyu in the first place about his crush. He doesn’t want Minghao to regret telling him.
“That’s a little weird.” It sounds like one of the nicer options Minghao chose to say.
“What? How can it be weird? We’ve known each other forever. If you’re going to be bad at it, wouldn’t you want someone you trust to witness it first?”
Minghao groans. “You just said it can’t be bad. So you lied?”
“Well it can be, but it won’t be! You’ll be good, don’t worry! We’re about to practice, aren’t we? Most people don’t even practice.”
Mingyu takes both of Minghao’s arms and hauls him away from the wall and closer to the middle of the bed.
They’re sitting cross-legged facing each other now. Minghao has his back straight as a board like he’s some type of monk and Mingyu corrects his own posture to match him. It makes it so that he has to look just slightly down to meet Minghao’s gaze and Minghao has to look just slightly up.
“This is so weird,” Minghao mutters.
“It’s only weird if you say that it’s weird,” Mingyu pouts.
But Minghao is right. It is kinda weird if Mingyu thinks too much about it. He’s decidedly choosing to not. He wipes his hands on his basketball shorts and then decides to keep them there. They’re not going to need their hands.
“Okay, so when you kiss–“
Minghao makes an unhappy noise in the back of his throat. Apparently, discussing how to actually kiss is not the way Minghao likes to be kissed. The way he likes to be kissed, it seems, is to be the one who does it first.
Minghao places his hand around Mingyu’s neck and pulls him down inches away from his face, making Mingyu stop mid-sentence, mouth still open ready to finish his sentence. There’s a brief moment where Minghao searches for something in Mingyu’s eyes. Mingyu doesn’t know what.
Minghao usually doesn’t have to search that hard to find what he’s looking for when it comes to Mingyu. Mingyu usually just tells him.
In the end, Mingyu has enough time to close his mouth and Minghao finds (or decides it doesn’t matter) whatever it is he’s looking for it seems, because he pushes himself up the last few centimeters to meet Mingyu’s lips.
It’s just a press at first. Just both their mouths tightly closed on top of each other. But it’s soft. Minghao’s lips are really soft. And his hand covers the entire back of Mingyu’s neck–end to end. Maybe even a little over, which is crazy. Minghao is smaller than him in nearly every other way. He didn’t even think he could be bigger in this way. He’s never thought about it.
Right when Mingyu starts to think that he could stay like this, Minghao sighs and Mingyu feels the hand on his neck loosen.
Mingyu moves before he thinks.
He starts moving his mouth against Minghao’s to keep him from pulling away. Minghao doesn’t go with it right away, but he doesn’t pull back either. And soon he starts moving his mouth against Mingyu’s too.
It’s not fast or anything. It’s really slow, as if it were the part in the action movie where the superhero is mid fight and the director calls for the slow mo effects to turn on to really capture all the close calls, but gotcha! The hero always wins.
Kissing is not the same as getting into a final battle with a villain, but Mingyu also feels like he’s winning. So maybe it’s more like the romcoms that Minghao always picks when it’s his turn to pick the movie.
The slowness builds and as nice as it was being slow, Mingyu’s excitement starts to take over. They only agreed to kiss, but kissing can be so many things! They never clarified the definition. And now Minghao is opening his mouth just enough for Mingyu to slip his tongue in. Mingyu’s not going to leave him hanging.
Mingyu’s hands kick into gear, no longer confined by his mental will of keeping them on his thighs. They move from his to Minghao’s.
Fuck, Minghao’s wearing shorts.
The thought starts and ends there.
Beeeeeeeeeeep!
A motorcycle honking. A stray dog barking. An auntie outside yelling at the uncle driving to watch out and the uncle yelling back how come she can’t watch out too.
And Minghao and Mingyu are but arms length apart. Chests rising and falling out of sync.
Minghao is staring. Again. And Mingyu wishes he would just say what he’s thinking. But you can never get Minghao to say anything until he’s ready.
So Mingyu does what he’s always been good at, which is fill up the emptiness with as many words as he can spit out. His lips move a mile per minute.
“That was–that was really good! See! You have nothing to worry about. Just do that and the scene will be–it’ll be really good,” Mingyu rambles, finding the words as he keeps talking and then he remembers why they really did this in the first place. “And Soonyoung–”
Mingyu stops himself, realizing halfway through finishing that thought that he doesn’t really want to bring up Soonyoung at all.
“And Soonyoung will like it.” Minghao finishes for him. He says it slowly, waiting for Mingyu to…Mingyu doesn’t know.
Mingyu just agrees, because this is about Soonyoung. This was all for Soonyoung. “Yeah! Exactly! Soonyoung’s going to like it, like really, really like it. He’s going to–“
Minghao clamps a hand on Mingyu’s mouth. “Please stop talking,” Minghao pleads.
Minghao’s ears are entirely red at this point and his cheeks have a raging blush to them. Even though he sounds annoyed, he doesn’t actually look annoyed at Mingyu. In fact, he looks equally embarrassed and amused by Mingyu’s lack of filter.
Mingyu takes the opportunity to really clear the air. He sticks his tongue out, wetting Minghao’s palm.
Minghao pulls back with a disgusted face. “Ew! Mingyu!” Minghao wipes his hand on his shorts (which Mingyu now notices are actually his shorts that he left here weeks ago).
Mingyu bursts into giggles at the sight of Minghao’s face. Air cleared. Everything’s the same.
Mingyu flops onto the bed, his arms behind his head, letting out a satisfied sigh. He sees from the corner of his eye Minghao looking at him. If this were someone else Mingyu would ask if he likes what he sees, but this is Minghao and Mingyu doesn’t think he could say that without Minghao throwing something at him.
Minghao must decide not to say whatever he’s thinking because he just grabs his book that was earlier discarded pre-kissing and settles against the wall.
Mingyu pulls out his phone and texts Wonwoo.
Mingyu
Minghao is in!
Wonwoo
?? How’d you convince him?
Mingyu looks over at Minghao who is nose deep into his book again. The blush on his cheeks from moments earlier has subsided, but his lips are still a little pink.
Mingyu’s blush returns to him, remembering his part in making them look like that. A smugness creeps into his smile as he responds to Wonwoo.
Mingyu
I’m good at convincing people!
🎬🎬🎬
There’s a basketball court that all the kids in the neighborhood go to. Once a week, Seungkwan and Mingyu meet up to play. Sometimes the hyungs a few years above them, Joshua, Seungcheol, and Jeonghan, join too. They haven’t been joining as much as they’re overloaded with studying for exams this time of the year. Sometimes Seokmin joins, but not so much since he works part time for his mom.
Minghao comes along almost every time even though he never actually plays. He lays himself flat on one of the benches with his head on top of Mingyu’s jacket that he folds so he can lay down while reading some book. Tonight it’s a poetry book. His mom got an early copy from the publishing house she works at. She’s always bringing home new books for him.
Mingyu and Seungkwan start off with an easy 1-on-1 game as a warmup. Mingyu wins by just one point and when he turns with his arms up in the air to get Minghao to know it’s time to cheer, Minghao is already smiling over at him, giving him a round of applause as he uses his book to clap with.
The hyungs eventually do decide to join. Jeonghan complains that Joshua forced them out because he got hooked on some health kick that’s now taking away from their studies. It’s bullshit. Mingyu has seen the three of them in a room studying and Jeonghan is never doing anything of the sort.
“I invited Jihoon to come by the way, so we can have an even team split. He should be here soon,” Seungcheol lets them know when they arrive.
Jihoon does come, but he doesn’t come alone. Soonyoung walks alongside him. Mingyu’s confused. This definitely doesn’t even out the teams.
“Oh, Soonyoung-hyung is joining?” Mingyu asks right as Soonyoung swerves the actual court in favor of making a beeline to where Minghao is sitting.
Jihoon pfts, stealing the basketball out of Mingyu’s hands easily. “Basketball is not what Soonyoung cares about here.”
Well then what does he care about here then?
Mingyu doesn’t get to ask Jihoon to clarify because Seungcheol chucks the ball over to him. It makes a thump sound against his chest and Mingyu is only slightly winded by it.
“Okay, you guys versus Jeonghan, Seungkwan, and I.”
Mingyu groans. Being on the opposing team of Jeonghan is always the worst because Jeonghan is both athletic and really good at cheating without getting caught. And when Seungcheol is on his team, Seungcheol is like a big bull dog protecting a small chihuahua, even if the chihuahua started it in the first place.
Mingyu tries to stay focused, but every time he gets to the left side of the court, he gets a clear view of Soonyoung and Minghao.
Minghao was originally laying down on the bench, with his head supported by Mingyu’s hoodie. Now he’s upright and cross-legged. The hoodie (Mingyu’s hoodie) folded off to the side.
Discarded.
Forgotten.
Soonyoung is sitting on his knees leaning in to look at Minghao’s book. Which makes no sense. The book is in Chinese. Soonyoung definitely doesn’t know Chinese.
“Yah! Mingyu!” Jihoon’s voice cuts through Mingyu’s thoughts. “Why are you pouting instead of trying to get the ball?”
In the time between when Mingyu was looking at them originally to now the end of the game, Soonyoung has just gotten closer. His hands toy with the fabric that’s gathered at Minghao’s elbow. Minghao’s wearing a hoodie too big for him. It could be Mingyu’s.
Mingyu’s left so many jackets at Minghao’s just from his forgetfulness. He’ll discard his jacket in the room the second he gets inside and not remember it until he’s already home and his mom is asking how come he’s back without a jacket.
Soonyoung’s whispering something to him or maybe he’s saying it regularly, but Soonyoung is always loud by default. He always wants people to hear what he has to say. So what gives right now?
It’s not strange, but it’s not usual. Soonyoung and Minghao don’t really hang out. At least, not that Mingyu knows of and Mingyu is sure that he would know if Minghao were hanging out with Soonyoung.
They all know each other because Mingyu and Wonwoo are both in film class and Wonwoo and Soonyoung are in the same year along with Jihoon and Jun. And Jun and Minghao are the few Chinese kids at their school, which means, of course they know each other.
“Are you okay?” Seungkwan asks, passing him the water bottle.
“Huh? Yeah,” Mingyu tears his eyes away reluctantly. “I’m not that big of a sore loser.” Even with his lack of focus, they only lost by two points. One if it weren’t for them having to ignore Jeonghan’s fouls.
Seungkwan raises his brow at him. “You are and that’s not what I was referring to.”
When Mingyu looks at Seungkwan blankly, Seungkwan rolls his eyes. “Is something up with you and Minghao? You keep staring.”
“No, we’re good, we’re always good,” Mingyu’s frown deepens.
Things are good between them.
They haven’t talked about the kiss since it happened, but that’s just because they don’t need to. Things have been fine. They don’t need to talk about it, even though Mingyu has been thinking about it a lot. Not that he’s actively choosing to, it just tends to pop up.
Like yesterday when they were studying in Minghao’s room and Minghao kept chewing on the side of his thumbnail, a habit he’s been doing since they were eight whenever he was thinking. Which is a lot. Minghao is always thinking a lot.
So Minghao had his thumb in his mouth nearly the whole time because he was trying extra hard to focus on the algebra problem sets that were due tomorrow. Math has never been Minghao’s strong suit and his brows were furrowed the whole time in frustration.
Mingyu couldn’t focus on his own problem sets because he was too focused on the way Minghao’s lips were puckered around his thumb. His teeth sometimes showed when he started to really tug at a hangnail that he created for himself.
But yeah, things are great between them. Nothing’s changed. It’ll take way more than a little kiss for them to be anything but Minghao and Mingyu.
***
It’s just Minghao and Mingyu during lunchtime today. Seungkwan and Chan had a student council meeting and Seokmin decided to play basketball with Jeonghan and Joshua. Joshua is really committed to his health kick.
Minghao and him push their desks together so they can create one big table. Mingyu’s mom packed him kimbap and extra sides so that he could share with Minghao. Not the kimbap though, Minghao isn’t a fan. Minghao’s mom packed him rice and beef and one pastry each for him and Mingyu. He gives Mingyu both.
They each have a banana milk that Mingyu picked up for them at the convenience store that morning. Mingyu has never paid attention to how people drink banana milk, let alone how Minghao drinks banana milk.
The straw is already small, but it looks extra small when Minghao wraps his hand around it and pounds it against the table a few times to get it to poke through the wrapper. He uses his teeth to pull it all the way out.
Minghao sucks on the straw lightly. His lips puckering around it and his glasses sliding down his nose just slightly. Minghao doesn’t actually have bad eyesight. He says it’s for preventative measures. He uses them for “reading.” Mingyu thinks it’s just because he thinks they make him look intelligent.
They do. It gives him that smart, sexy look.
Not that Mingyu thinks Minghao is sexy. Or he didn’t before. Or now. That’s, well, he’s never had this debate in his head before.
He never had thoughts about Minghao like this, like, ever.
Minghao has always been…Minghao. They’ve known each other since they were seven. Their moms are best friends from college.
But now, Mingyu is thinking about Minghao a lot like that.
“We should kiss again,” Mingyu blurts out.
Minghao pauses mid-suck. He stares at Mingyu unblinkingly over the rim of his glasses.
Okay, for sure. Very sexy look.
Minghao pulls the straw out of his mouth at sloth speed and Mingyu catches a glimpse of his tongue poking out just a little as he does it. Mingyu really shouldn’t be that disappointed when it disappears again.
“Why?” Minghao’s face shifts from a confused frown to an upset one. “Were you lying before when you said it was good?”
“What? No! No, I didn’t lie. I wouldn’t lie,” Mingyu states, suddenly offended that Minghao would think that.
Mingyu did not lie. He also did not plan to have this conversation. Not that he didn’t mean it when he said they should kiss again. He does mean that.
“The vibe wasn’t right. For the scene,” Mingyu explains. “So I want to test it out like it’s going to be for real. In the scene. So I can know if it’s the right vibe.”
Minghao raises a brow at him, clearly not believing Mingyu’s reasoning. Mingyu’s palms are sweating and this time he has at least pants to wipe them on. Mingyu’s pretty sure he’s going to say no. Which makes sense. Minghao has someone he wants to kiss already and it’s not Mingyu.
“Okay,” Minghao says, surprising him.
“Uh, what?”
“You really care about this film. I’ll help you get it right,” Minghao says, like it’s simple, like it’s not a big deal.
And he’s right. It’s not a big deal. They’ve already kissed before! It’s not even a little deal.
“Thanks Minghao,” Mingyu says slowly. Something clenches in his chest when he processes what Minghao is really saying. Minghao always takes him so seriously.
And then before Mingyu can stop himself, “We’ll keep practicing until we get it right,” he says brightly.
Minghao’s eyes get wide. His entire face turns red and so does Mingyu once he realizes the implication of his own words.
Mingyu doesn’t have time to correct himself. Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Chan are pushing each other and loudly gossiping towards them. They take their usual seats on either side of them.
It’s better this way though. Mingyu decides he doesn’t want to correct himself. He would like to keep practicing.
🎬🎬🎬
Mingyu’s favorite genre of film is thrillers and action movies. He watches all the Marvel films and is on all the internet forums for them and he loves the idea of the superhero beating the bad guy. Good winning out always in the end. The writer makes you think it might not happen in the mix of everything happening, but when it happens in the end, you feel triumphant.
Wonwoo does a lot of the writing for the films they make, because he’s better with like, dialogue and plot. But Mingyu is really good at making it come to life. And he has a vision too, of how to convey the story with more than just words, but through looks and touch and feeling.
They don’t have the budget to make a full on action film. So Mingyu has to get creative with the special effects on the 10 year outdated video editing software on the computers in the school’s computer lab. And even though the story is about a hero who fights the bad guys and wins, at the end of the day, the film is really a love story.
Because the story starts with the hero searching for the love that he lost and the story can’t end without them finding each other. And the hero only really becomes a hero so that he can find him.
That makes it a love story.
At least, that’s what Minghao told him when Mingyu tried to explain to him that he only makes action films. Minghao said, eyes rolling, using his chopsticks to steal the rice cake right out of Mingyu’s bowl during one of their countless meals, “No, you write love stories and people also get beat up.”
So the kiss is pertinent. Every good love story has a good kiss. Mingyu needs to make sure that the kiss in this film is perfect.
That’s why he has to kiss Minghao again. To make sure it can actually work.
For the film.
🎬🎬🎬
In order to get into the school on the weekend, you have to have a key. Jeonghan has one because he’s class president and has “responsibilities” (that he gets Seungcheol to do for him most times). He lets Mingyu borrow them, but he doesn’t give them to Mingyu for free. When Mingyu went up to their lunch table to ask for them, Jeonghan said he could get it if he barked.
Mingyu did. Head hung, ears burning, figurative tail between his legs – Mingyu barked.
He really needed the keys.
“The scene is right after the big fight. Soonyoung is going to come running through the hallways looking for you. And you’re going to be in the library,” Mingyu explains once they step inside the building.
It’s a little eerie in the school with how empty it is. Mingyu swears every time they take a step something rattles in the building.
Like now, when they’re walking through the bookcases of the library, which is supposed to be silent, and he hears a squeak. He stops dead in his tracks. Minghao hits his chest to Mingyu’s back. Mingyu’s hand automatically reaches out behind him and finds Minghao’s hand there, ready to be held.
“Did you hear that?” Mingyu whispers. He jumps when he hears the echo of his own voice. Maybe he wasn’t whispering as quietly as he thought.
“You’re the only one making noise,” Minghao says, not even attempting to lower his voice. Mingyu guesses ghosts can hear you regardless if you whisper or not. Zombies are sound sensitive though, so if it was a zombie, then Minghao would have just gotten them killed.
Minghao moves in front of him, not letting go of their hands as he tugs Mingyu further into the library. “C’mon. The longer we stay in one place, the longer we’re prey.”
Mingyu stops again, nearly yanking Minghao back. He looks Minghao dead in the eye with the most serious expression he can muster. “So you do think there’s something out there?”
Minghao lets out a laugh and it bounces off the walls. It startles him for a second, forcing him to look left and right as if someone else was actually there. Mingyu feels Minghao tighten his hand around his and there’s just the slightest pull to bring Mingyu closer.
Mingyu’s own laugh gets caught in his throat.
They haven’t been this close since they kissed. Exactly eight days ago. It’s been a long time. Which is crazy because Mingyu has gone much longer without kissing Minghao. He’s gone years without kissing him.
And now, he suddenly has so many moments where he wonders when he could kiss Minghao next. When Minghao would let him.
“This is a good spot for the scene,” Mingyu breathes out.
When Mingyu speaks, Minghao’s eyes flicker down to his lips. Mingyu swears he’s not making it up the way Minghao watches his mouth move like he can’t hear him and is trying to read his lips instead.
It feels like an invitation, one that Mingyu will meet with enthusiasm.
Mingyu kisses Minghao first this time. And this time, he knows to use his hands. He takes a half step forward to close the gap between them, wrapping his arms around Minghao’s waist and colliding their lips. Minghao lets out a surprised noise, bending back a bit like he might fall over.
Mingyu tries to pull away to ask if Minghao is okay, but then Minghao throws his arms around Mingyu’s neck to keep himself upright and to pull Mingyu closer. Mingyu’s not going to reject that.
The kiss is sloppier than the last one. There’s no moment of just their mouths pressed together. There’s no moment of hesitation.
Minghao is coaxing his mouth open with his tongue and Mingyu complies, not wanting to deny Minghao of anything that he wants. Minghao doesn’t disappoint him either with the way he tugs at Mingyu’s bottom lip and then swipes his tongue across the bite like an apology, just to do it again. It’s addicting and Mingyu wants more of it.
There’s a faint voice in the back of his mind that says he might never be able to get enough of it. One time, two times, a million other times, will never make him want this any less.
He ignores the voice because he doesn’t need the pessimism, not when he has exactly what he wants and what he asked for right in front of him.
Mingyu deepens the kiss, pulling Minghao closer and closer and the voice returns. Even when they somehow end up with Minghao’s back to the bookshelf, Mingyu pressed against him, there is nowhere else either one of them can go, no more space to fill. It’s still not close enough.
“Yah! Who’s there?”
They pull apart at the same time, swollen lips and wide eyes, shocked into reality. Mingyu forgot that anyone else could exist.
There’s a flicker of a flashlight in the corner. Mingyu hears the jingle of keys as the man walks closer towards them.
Shit, the school probably still has security on the weekends. Jeonghan never mentioned that.
Mingyu grabs Minghao’s hand and pulls them deeper into the book stacks. They weave between the aisles until they’re far enough away. They squat down low in hopes the security guard isn’t looking too seriously.
Mingyu doesn’t know how long they wait. Probably only a few minutes. The security guard tires himself out quickly. Mingyu waits until he hears the door click shut again and for his footsteps to fade before he lets himself slide down onto the floor. He wipes the single bead of sweat that formed from the adrenaline of almost getting caught and lets out a huge breath.
He turns to Minghao in relief to find Minghao is already standing up. He’s dusting off his pants and there’s a slight furrow in his brow.
Mingyu scrambles off the floor. “Thanks again Minghao for helping. I think, I think we got it right. This scene. I think it’ll work. The vibes are…right,” Mingyu finishes.
Minghao squints at him. His face serious. Minghao has a talent for changing the vibe in a matter of seconds. “So you want to keep filming the scene?” Minghao asks. The evidence of their last kiss…well there isn’t really any evidence now.
Mingyu gulps. “Well, of course. That’s what we did all this for!” The second it comes out of Mingyu’s mouth, he knows it’s not entirely true. His voice gets embarrassingly high at the end and Minghao definitely notices. The only way he knows how to move past the awkwardness is to bulldoze right through it.
“C’mon, I’ll get us fishcakes,” he says, throwing an arm around Minghao’s neck, nearly putting him in a headlock so Minghao can’t even try to look at him again. Mingyu doesn’t even want to think about what he would see.
🎬🎬🎬
Biking has always been Mingyu’s favorite mode of transportation. He doesn’t have to be at the whim of the bus schedule or squish himself into a corner if the bus is too full. His bike rides are when he also works through his hardest problems – from class debate prompts to plot holes in his movies – everything can get sorted on his bike.
So naturally, on the bike ride home after kissing Minghao again and after buying an exorbitant amount of fishcakes for the both of them (Minghao only had two, Mingyu had five. He was nervous and also he’s bigger), Mingyu goes through the timeline of events the past week.
Minghao and him kiss.
Not weird. Not normal, they don’t do this regularly, but it’s not weird. It was bound to happen at some point, Mingyu reasons. They’ve known each other their whole lives and they’re growing boys. If it didn’t happen now, it’d probably happen right before they go off to university. Makes sense.
Mingyu asks to kiss him again.
Objectively a little odd, but not really because if a kiss was good then you would want to do it again. Makes sense, once again, and is very normal to want to keep doing something that was good. And that is much healthier than trying to do something that was bad. Minghao would praise him for not building a bad habit, but actually a good one.
Minghao lets Mingyu kiss him again.
Minghao won’t admit it, but he actually hates being bad at something. He’ll act like it’s not about that, but if he realizes he’s bad at something, he won’t let anyone see him do it unless he’s good at it. So Mingyu, good friend Mingyu, will of course help make sure he succeeds. And Minghao is really succeeding.
Mingyu doesn’t want Minghao to kiss Soonyoung.
A new development. One that is a little strange and one that Mingyu couldn’t stop thinking about while they were at the fishcake cart. It wasn’t even in Mingyu’s head until Minghao had asked if he still wanted them to film the scene. They only kissed so that Minghao could feel better about kissing Soonyoung in the first place. So Mingyu should want Minghao to kiss Soonyoung.
But that’s also not really weird because Minghao and Soonyoung don't make sense.
Soonyoung is not Minghao’s type. Not that Minghao has ever expressed what his type is. But Mingyu knows Minghao best and even if Minghao hasn’t said what his type is, it’s not Soonyoung.
Minghao’s type is someone taller than him, for sure. And someone broader than him, definitely. Because he likes to be carried and spun around. Mingyu has spun Minghao around countless times.
And someone who argues with him about if a movie can have a happy ending or a sad ending. Minghao always says it has to be happy and Mingyu thinks there is room for sad endings and Minghao always ends up saying that it’s not that he doesn’t think there shouldn’t be, he just won’t watch it if there is.
And someone that can hang out with him in silence. Sometimes Minghao needs silence and Soonyoung is always talking, so that definitely means that Soonyoung is not his type. Mingyu knows when to read Minghao’s silence for real silence and fake silence.
And–
Doosh!
Mingyu’s front wheel collides into the bushes that outline the park. The bushes hold the bike captive, but Mingyu is not so lucky. The force flings him off the bike and over the bush onto the grass.
Oof.
He rolls, once, twice, until he’s flat on his back, body star fished on the ground with little grass and orange leaf bits in his hair and on his clothes.
He should be checking himself for broken body parts or even a concussion. But all he can do is lay there and come to the realization that he was thinking so hard about the fact that Soonyoung is not Minghao’s type that he biked into a bush.
Objectively, not a normal thing. The thinking about Soonyoung and Minghao, not the biking into the bush. Mingyu has done that before.
And then another wave of clarity falls over him.
Mingyu wants to be Minghao’s type.
Fuck.
Which means he likes Minghao.
Double fuck.
And Mingyu set up this whole thing so that Minghao can kiss someone else.
Triple fuck.
🎬🎬🎬
The school isn’t as scary when it’s four of them breaking in this time. They walk down the same hallways to the same library as him and Minghao did, but it’s different now that it’s not just them.
It’s actually good though that everyone is around. It allows for Mingyu to be distracted.
They’ve filmed for two hours at this point and they’re finally on to the last scene: when Soonyoung finds Minghao in the library and kisses him.
“Wonwoo-hyung should stand at that bookcase and I’ll stand here. Minghao, you should be facing the bookcase with the book open.” Mingyu places his hands on Minghao’s arms to guide him to where he needs him and unlike most days, Minghao moves easily.
“Soonyoung, you’re going to run down this aisle and look between the book cases until you find Minghao and then you run to him and–” Mingyu stutters to a halt. He doesn’t really want to say the last bit. But he has to, he’s the director. He wrote the scene. Well, Wonwoo actually wrote it, so yeah, fuck Wonwoo. It’s his fault.
“You know, kiss him,” Mingyu strains out. “Like you’ve been waiting to do it.”
Unfortunately and fortunately for Mingyu, Soonyoung is really good at taking direction. The filming goes by fast. There’s only one take for Soonyoung running through the bookcases. And there’s only one take for Soonyoung to run towards Minghao.
Soonyoung pauses when he gets to him. Mingyu gets ready to call cut so that Soonyoung can do it over, but then Soonyoung takes a step forward. It finally registers in Mingyu’s mind that Soonyoung is actually acting. Taking creative liberty. Acting like he’s savoring the moment to kiss Minghao because he’s been waiting to do it the whole time. Like what Mingyu asked him to do.
Except, Mingyu never told Soonyoung to hold Minghao’s gaze before kissing him. He never told him to cup Minghao’s face in his hands or do a gentle swipe at the mole right at the tip of Minghao’s cheekbone. And he never told him to put a leg between Minghao’s and walk him backwards into the bookcase as he brought their lips together.
Soonyoung is an actor though so that makes sense. There are things he doesn’t need to be told to do to make the scene complete. Minghao on the other hand, is not. Minghao always does exactly what Mingyu directs him to do in the film, already out of his comfort zone by being there in the first place.
And Mingyu never directed Minghao to let the book drop from his hands so that he can place them on Soonyoung’s waist to pull him closer.
“Cut!” Mingyu calls out without meaning to.
It has the desired effect however. Soonyoung places a foot long distance between him and Minghao.
Okay, maybe Mingyu meant to.
“I think that’s enough,” Mingyu says with the biggest grin possible. He tries to make the corners of his mouth go up to his eyes. The way that you do when you are happy with something. He turns off his camera. “We’ve got enough.”
Wonwoo lowers his camera and stares at Mingyu with confusion. “Shouldn’t we do another shot just in case?”
“No,” Mingyu stops him. “We should be good. We’ll lose the magic with too many takes.”
Soonyoung claps his hands together and then swings an arm around Minghao whose entire face is flushed red. Mingyu wishes he didn’t look. Then he could pretend that other people didn’t have that effect on Minghao too.
“Should we get food then to celebrate? Jihoon’s almost off from part-timing,” Soonyoung suggests.
“I can’t,” Mingyu says almost too quickly. Minghao frowns at him. “I have to help my mom at home. I’ll see you guys at school though.”
Mingyu throws the school keys at Wonwoo who does not have the hand eye coordination to catch them at all. They land directly over his shoulder without Wonwoo even attempting to catch them or move out of the way.
“Can you give those to Jeonghan-hyung?”
Wonwoo nods, still confused. Mingyu doesn’t even try to see the way Minghao is looking at him. Minghao could also not be looking at him. Soonyoung is there. And Minghao obviously loves to look at Soonyoung.
On his way out, he hears Soonyoung ask Minghao if he still wants to go eat with him. Mingyu books it down the hallway so he doesn’t have to hear Minghao’s answer.
🎬🎬🎬
Mingyu really tries to edit the clips from yesterday. In normal circumstances, he would open them the second they finish filming, too excited to start weaving his vision together.
Unfortunately, Mingyu realizes quickly that he is currently not under normal circumstances. The beginning clips are fine, but as he gets closer to the scenes with Minghao in them, Mingyu starts falling into a worse and worse mood.
He already had to watch Minghao kiss someone else in real time. He doesn’t want to have to loop it again and again.
Maybe he can get Wonwoo to edit this part.
No, Wonwoo would look at him all suspiciously again. Wonwoo doesn’t really ask anything, but he will if it’s awkward. And it’ll be awkward for sure. Because it’s Wonwoo.
Mingyu exits out of the video editing software. He’ll do it eventually. Just, not right now. Right now, he wants to nurse his broken heart by watching his favorite movies.
Usually during this time on Sunday nights, he would be waiting for Minghao to show up.
Sunday nights are their designated movie nights. They have them at Mingyu’s place after dinner and they watch a movie in Mingyu’s room where he has an old projector that his dad helped him fix up and a makeshift projector screen that him and Minghao made out of an old bed sheet and a dozen thumbtacks to attach it to the wall.
Mingyu’s mom was not happy after seeing all the holes. But she didn’t force them to take it down either after Mingyu went on a speech on how this is his dream, his livelihood.
Mingyu’s not sure if Minghao’s coming over tonight. They didn’t confirm, but also they don’t tend to.
Mingyu connects his laptop to the projector. If Minghao shows up then they can start the movie over. If he doesn’t, it’s fine. He’s probably hanging out with Soonyoung anyway. Probably kissing.
Mingyu presses his palms to his eyes, willing his brain to forget those images all together. Maybe he can ask his dad if his lab is doing any research on like memory erasure. Mingyu saw that happen in a movie once. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. That was Minghao’s pick for one of their movie nights.
Mingyu just got past the opening credits of The Dark Knight Rises when he hears a knock on his window.
Mingyu audibly yelps. He’s so startled that he nearly kicks his laptop off his bed.
He’s expecting a tree branch scraping the window or maybe his sister playing a prank on him. He does not expect it to be Minghao.
Mingyu rushes to open the door. He lives on the second floor. Minghao is literally standing on a tree branch.
“What the hell? You said this was uncivilized.” Minghao always uses the front door. He’s told Mingyu more than once that he thinks he’s crazy for always using the window. But look at him now, climbing through Mingyu’s window on a Sunday evening. Mingyu nearly drags him inside. He could have gotten hurt.
Minghao shrugs. “I texted you,” he says, ignoring Mingyu’s disbelief and his help.
“My phone is…somewhere.”
Minghao frowns. “You keep lying to me,” he says flatly.
But Mingyu isn’t lying! It is somewhere. He put it somewhere when he saw Minghao’s name flash across his screen a few hours ago. And he’s not entirely sure where he threw it.
“I’m not,” Mingyu says firmly. “It really is somewhere.”
Minghao raises his eyebrow at him. Now he looks really annoyed. It makes Mingyu feel like he’s being scolded. Minghao’s gaze falls on Mingyu’s open laptop and the first scene of Batman and Catwoman meeting is projected onto the bed sheet.
“You already chose the movie?” Minghao says. He rosses his arms over his chest. Yeah, he’s definitely mad.
Mingyu doesn’t know what for though. He got what he wanted! So why can’t Mingyu pick the movie?
“You like this one too,” Mingyu whines. “You love Anne Hathaway.”
They’ve seen the Dark Knight Rises a dozen times. The only superhero movie they both like enough to keep watching repeatedly. If they ever can’t decide one night, Dark Knight Rises it is.
Minghao shrugs off his jacket. He climbs onto the bed like it’s his own and pauses the movie. It takes Mingyu a second for him to realize that Minghao is waiting for him to get on the bed to press play. Mingyu tentatively sits down on the opposite edge of the bed, leaving plenty of space between them.
His hands are folded neatly in his lap and he can feel Minghao’s stare carving holes into the back of his head.
This is probably their most uncomfortable movie night to date. And it does not help that when Minghao presses play, Anne Hathaway and Christian Bale are going to be seducing each other on screen.
“Mingyu,” Minghao states after a few minutes.
“Huh?” He says over his shoulder. He’s starting to get engrossed in the movie. The Dark Knight Rises is always so good.
“You can lay back. Your head is blocking the projector. ”
The back of Mingyu’s neck burns. “Oh, yeah I can,” Mingyu says dumbly. Duh.
Mingyu scoots himself to the headboard, maintaining the space between them though. “This better?”
Minghao nods, but doesn’t look at him. His arms are still crossed over his chest. Mingyu copies him on the other side of the bed. He guesses they’ll just watch the movie like this.
But Mingyu really can’t pay attention anymore because now the air is so stiff. He can’t believe Minghao just climbed through his window (something he never does), just to show up and have the worst attitude of all time (something that he does do). Directing it all towards Mingyu and Mingyu can’t even reach for him to make it better.
And Mingyu really can’t pay attention because he can’t stop thinking about if it has something to do with Soonyoung.
“How was your date with Soonyoung?” Mingyu finally blurts out, not being able to hold it in any longer.
Minghao’s eyebrows pinch together. He stares straight ahead. Mingyu isn’t even sure if he’s staring at the movie or at his bedroom door. “I didn’t go on a date with him.”
Okay, now Mingyu is really confused.
“But he asked you. I heard him.” It comes out more accusatory than Mingyu planned.
Minghao shrugs again, still not looking at him. “I said no.”
This doesn’t make any sense. Mingyu pauses the movie. He turns his full body towards Minghao.
“Why would you do that?” Mingyu demands. Mingyu doesn’t get it. They literally kissed so that Minghao could kiss Soonyoung. That was the whole point and Minghao is just going to throw that all away?
Finally, Minghao turns to him.
“If I go on a date with Soonyoung, we have to stop kissing right?”
Mingyu blinks at him, confused as to why he’s asking. Is he trying to rub it in? No, Minghao wouldn’t be that mean.
“Right?” Mingyu agrees.
Minghao looks at him dead in the eye. “Right, so if I date Soonyoung, I can’t kiss you. And I want to keep kissing you.”
“What?”
The certainty on Minghao’s face slips. Minghao turns back towards the screen. He tightens his arms around himself and goes completely still.
When Minghao’s pride is hurt, he can do a lot of things. Including shutting Mingyu out.
Mingyu can’t have that, not if his intuition is right and Minghao said what Mingyu thought he heard. He has to take measures into his own hands.
He climbs into Minghao’s lap.
Minghao sputters, snapping his eyes up to look up at Mingyu who’s now straddling him. His arms uncross and hold Mingyu by the waist to hold him in place. But Mingyu has to do it. It’s the only way he could think of to get Minghao to stop focusing on Batman and focus on him instead.
Under the light, Mingyu can see now that Minghao is beet red.
“You don’t want to do what?”
Minghao glares at him for making him say it. But Mingyu needs to hear it from him.
Minghao takes a breath and then tilts his chin up to look at Mingyu for real. “I don’t want to stop. But if you want to, we can just–,” Minghao falters, “watch the movie. Whatever.”
Minghao has never been good at being nonchalant. Minghao used to say “whatever” a lot more until eventually he realized he never meant it a single time and then stopped. Minghao cares too much and takes things too seriously for anything to ever really be “whatever” to him. He’ll find meaning in anything.
The fact that Minghao is using it now–Mingyu knows that means Minghao is scared of what Mingyu will say. Maybe he doesn’t even want to hear it.
Mingyu never wants Minghao to be scared with him.
In action films, it seems like the good guy wins after the final battle, when he pummels the bad guys and sends them to jail or to oblivion or to hell. Sometimes they stuff them in a pod and shoot them to outer space for them to float forever.
But Mingyu knows better. The real win is after that. It’s when the hero searches for the person they were doing all the fighting for, who they promised to come back to, what kept them alive in the first place.
The victory is not in beating up the bad guy, it’s in the kiss.
Mingyu cups Minghao’s face with both his hands. He has to tilt Minghao’s face up to look at him. Mingyu isn’t that much taller than Minghao so it’s rare that he’s actually looking up at him. Until now that they’re like this. Minghao is looking at him more openly now. Like he’s saying it’s Mingyu’s move. His face is relaxed, but anticipating.
He’s not going to kiss Mingyu first this time. That’s okay. Mingyu is sure there will be plenty of times after where he will.
Mingyu drags his thumb across Minghao’s bottom lip, pulling it down a little. He watches it jut out slightly. He is suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that he can’t go another second not kissing Minghao. And then Mingyu leans in.
Mingyu kisses him, with confidence, with certainty. And Minghao does the same.
When they finally come up for air, Mingyu leans his forehead against Minghao’s. He’s panting, just a little. Minghao can probably feel it all over his face.
“I want to watch a movie and keep kissing you,” he pouts.
It makes Minghao throw his head back and giggle. Mingyu’s so close to him that he can feel his whole body vibrate.
“You’re ridiculous,” Minghao says to the ceiling, to the universe, to Mingyu.
Minghao says it, he means it, he lets Mingyu press play on the movie, but he never lets Mingyu off his lap long enough for them to catch any scene completely.
It’s okay. Mingyu was never trying to be too far anyway.