Archive of Our Own ^beta

Seungmin is absolutely, undeniably the textbook definition of a mama’s boy. 

If you ask him, he doesn’t think he’s a mama’s boy at all. He simply values his mother and her opinions and wants to do whatever he can to make her happy. Honestly, he just thinks that that’s being a good son. 

However, being a good son did sometimes get Seungmin into tough situations, much like the one he’s in now. 

“Seungmin, you’re coming home for Christmas, right?” His mother asks over the phone. This isn’t an unusual occurrence for Seungmin. His mother calls him every Sunday morning so they can talk a little bit and catch up on things that happened during the week. 

Seungmin groggily makes his way into the kitchen in his apartment to start making his coffee. Every morning he tells himself that he should probably be less dependent on coffee and try to cut down on caffeine, but it’s honestly never gonna happen. “Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Seungmin replies, setting his phone on the counter and putting it on speaker so he can continue to rummage around the kitchen without worrying about dropping his phone. 

“Well, I didn’t know if you and your secret boyfriend had other plans.” Seungmin’s mom jokes and Seungmin cringes at the mention of his boyfriend. Or should he say ex-boyfriend. 

To be fair, he’s been wanting to tell his mom that he and Jaehyun broke up but every time he even thinks about mentioning it he gets so embarrassed that he just wants to curl up underneath his blankets and try to sleep for three months straight. He doesn’t really know why he feels so embarrassed to tell her. She doesn’t even know Jaehyun at all. Never met him, doesn’t even know his name. Seungmin didn’t mean to be so secretive about his relationship, but he didn’t know if it would last so he didn’t want to spill every single detail of his relationship to his mother until things got serious enough. 

Like he predicted, it never got that serious. They dated for about three months and broke up about four weeks ago and Seungmin still couldn’t find it in him to tell his mother that they weren’t together anymore. “Uh, not really. I think we’re both just gonna go home and spend time with our families.” Seungmin lies, placing his mug in his coffee maker and putting a pod in to start brewing. He hears his mother gasp on the other side of the line and raises his eyebrow even though he knows that she can’t see him. “You okay over there?”

“Wonderful! I just had an amazing idea!” She exclaims and Seungmin tenses up because he feels like he knows exactly where this conversation is going. 

“Mom, please don–”

“You should bring your boyfriend.” Seungmin’s mom cuts him off before he can even finish his sentence. Seungmin is quick to pick up his phone and take it off of speakerphone. He presses it back against his ear and checks down the hall to make sure his roommate, Hyunjin, isn’t awake yet. If he knew that Seungmin still hasn’t told his mom about his breakup, he would never let him live it down. “Baby, you’ve been dating for nearly five months now and I still don’t even know his name. Plus, everyone’s coming for Christmas this year and I hate to deliver the bad news but they’re all starting to think that you made this boyfriend of yours up.” Seungmin scoffs incredulously at the accusation, running his hand over his face. Now is the time, Seungmin. You need to tell her. You have to tell her. Tell her now. Before he can even open his mouth to speak, his mother speaks again. “Sehun’s son is even coming and bringing his girlfriend so your boyfriend won’t be the only new face around.” 

Seungmin fights the urge to roll his eyes at the mention of Sehun. His mom’s new boyfriend. Well, new probably isn’t the right word for it. They’ve been dating for almost two years now but Seungmin still didn’t like him and honestly preferred to pretend that he didn’t exist. That’s why he likes being away at college so much, he can just pretend that Sehun isn’t a part of his mother’s life. 

After a few moments of silence, Seungmin can hear his mom take a breath and get ready to start speaking again so he quickly speaks up. “Okay.” He finally says and the response from his mother is immediate. She’s suddenly speaking with much more enthusiasm, so fast that Seungmin can barely even understand everything that she’s saying. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Hyunjin’s bedroom door fly open and a much too peppy Hyunjin skipping out of his room. 

“Good morning, Mrs. Kim!” Hyunjin shouts loudly as he walks into the kitchen. 

“Tell Hyunjin I say hello!” Seungmin’s mom replies sweetly and Seungmin quickly delivers the message. He nervously eyes his roommate as he begins getting ready to make breakfast. 

“I’ll get this out the way, sorry.” Seungmin smiles awkwardly, taking his finished mug of coffee from the coffee maker and shuffling out of Hyunjin’s way. “Hey, mom? Can we talk about details a bit later, I’m gonna have breakfast with Hyunjin.”

“Of course, sweetheart. I’m so excited, I’ll let you know what all we have planned and ask you about food and wine preferences so we can get everything figured out.” Seungmin hums in agreement while taking a sip of coffee to let his mom know that he’s still listening. “I’ll text you later, I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Seungmin says and ends the call, a quiet sigh falling from his lips. 

“Details for what?” Hyunjin questions as soon as Seungmin lays his phone down on the counter. 

Seungmin takes another long sip of his coffee before answering. “Nothing interesting, just trying to get Christmas plans decided.” He says nonchalantly with a shrug and Hyunjin nods in understanding, going back to getting everything ready to make pancakes. 

“Jisung is coming over for breakfast, by the way.” Hyunjin says casually and Seungmin wiggles his eyebrows playfully. 

“Is this perhaps a breakfast date?” 

Hyunjin laughs at the question, trying to remain casual despite the way his cheeks obviously heat up. “We’re just studying for our exam together and I said that I’m making breakfast and he can come have some if he wants.”

“Mhmm,” Seungmin hums teasingly, bringing his mug back up to his lips again. “Well, I’m heading to the library to do homework with Minho so you’ll have the apartment all to yourself.”

“Don’t be gross.” Hyunjin warns with a glare as Seungmin bursts into laughter, making his way out of the kitchen and back to his room to get ready for his day.

“I was just letting you know about my plans for the day, Hyunjin. Get your mind out of the gutter, geez.” Seungmin teases with a smirk and even though he can’t see it because he’s already turned around to return to his room, he knows that Hyunjin rolled his eyes at the comment. 

. . .

Seungmin walks into the library, his mind still on the disaster of a conversation he had with his mother this morning. As soon as he left his apartment, the reality of the situation began to settle in. He promised his mom that he would come home for the holidays with his boyfriend that he broke up with a month ago. How was he going to get out of this one? If he was embarrassed to talk about the breakup with his mom before, he doesn’t even wanna think about how embarrassing it would be to have to tell her that they broke up after he already agreed to bring him home for Christmas. 

Without even paying attention to where his feet are taking him, he navigates his way to the usual table in the back of the library where he typically meets Minho to study. Still deep in thought, it’s almost robotic how Seungmin pulls the chair out from under the table, sets his backpack onto the floor, and plops into the chair. 

Minho glances up from his work, eyebrows slightly raised at the boy's strange behavior. He waits for Seungmin to say something, but it never comes. Curiosity definitely peaked, Minho reaches out to wave his hand in front of Seungmin’s face. “Earth to Seungmin.” He sings playfully, chuckling at how out of it the younger boy is. Seungmin immediately reaches up and swats Minho’s hand away from his face. “Everything alright, sweetheart?” Minho asks cautiously, voice oozing with sarcasm. 

“Not at all.” Seungmin groans. He lets his head fall onto the table in front of him, the sound of the small thud gaining the attention of another student who’s not sitting very far away from them, obviously trying a lot harder than them to actually get work done. 

“What’s up, buttercup? Tell Minnie all about it.” Minho teases with a cutesy voice that makes Seungmin wanna rip his own hair out. They’ve been friends for long enough that Minho can tell that Seungmin is probably being just mildly dramatic about whatever situation he’s in so he knows that it wouldn’t hurt to be lighthearted about it. 

Seungmin lifts his head off the table, immediately glaring at the older boy. “My life is over.”

“Oooh, I’m hooked. Tell me more.” Minho leans forward, elbows resting on the table with his chin settled on both of his fists. 

“Okay, well,” Seungmin pauses. He tries to figure out a way to tell this story without making himself seem too stupid but honestly, there’s no un-embarrassing way to explain. “My mom and I were talking about Christmas when she called earlier and she kind of sort of told me that I should bring my boyfriend to meet everyone. And I mean, like, everyone. My uncles and aunts, my grandma, her boyfriend’s son is even coming and bringing his girlfriend.”

Minho snorts at the predicament, dropping his arms so they were resting comfortably on the table in front of him. “Did she forget that you and Jaehyun broke up?” Minho asks, eyebrows furrowing slightly. 

Logically, that would make the most sense, Seungmin thinks. Sadly, however, Seungmin is too much of a mama’s boy for logic. 

“She kind of doesn’t know that we broke up.” Seungmin speaks quickly, hoping that somehow it’ll make the statement a little bit less humiliating. 

“She what? How doesn’t she know? I thought you were super close with her.” Minho questions, genuinely curious about the situation that Seungmin’s gotten himself into. 

“I am. I just, it’s just embarrassing. And now I can’t even tell her because I said my boyfriend would come visit for Christmas. What does it look like if I promised her that my boyfriend would come and then suddenly we've broken up?”

“Well, you better start searching the web for a fake boyfriend.” Minho jokes, figuring that that was a good enough piece of advice and returning his attention to his homework. 

You know, that could actually work. Just find a fake boyfriend to stand in for Christmas and then after everything passes they can “break up.” 

He can’t just find someone from the internet, though. That would be extremely weird. Most people on the internet aren’t really interested in faking relationships and Seungmin doesn’t know if he’s particularly fond of the idea of having a complete stranger in his home with all of his family. 

So maybe he should look for someone else. Someone he actually knows and is comfortable enough with to bring home. 

Maybe someone who suggested getting a fake boyfriend in the first place. 

Suddenly, Seungmin is smiling mischievously. “Or you could be my fake boyfriend.” He suggests and watches as Minho’s head snaps up. 

“Seungmin, that will never work.” Minho is quick to shoot him down and Seungmin visibly deflates from the rejection. “First of all, your mom knows me and she knows that my name isn’t Jaehyun.”

Seungmin speaks up as soon as Minho finishes his sentence. “Not a problem, my mom literally knows nothing about him.”

Minho freezes, face scrunching up in confusion. “Not even his name?”

Seungmin shrugs. “I didn’t know if things were ever gonna get serious between us so I just didn’t tell my mom anything about him.”

“Okay, but still. Your mom knows me and is quite good friends with my mom and they will both kill us if they think we’ve been dating and we didn’t say anything to either of them.” Minho explains. Honestly, it’s a valid point. Minho talks to his mom just as much as Seungmin talks to his, if not more. It’d be suspicious if they were supposedly dating for nearly five months and neither of them said anything to their parents. 

“So, we can just tell them that we didn’t know where things would go and we didn’t want to mention anything until it got serious enough.” Seungmin suggests with a hopeful look in his eyes. 

Minho has to admit, it is a good enough excuse for their parents. “Okay. But your mom.”

Seungmin immediately reaches out to punch Minho’s arm, not hard enough to actually hurt him but enough to get his point across. “What about my mom? You love my mom!”

“Chill,” Minho chuckles and dramatically rubs the spot on his arm that Seungmin just punched. “I’m just saying, I know your mom. She’s been waiting forever for you to finally bring someone home and she’s gonna tell us to get married and she’s gonna set up mistletoe and we’re gonna have to be all couple-y and it’ll be so awkward.” Minho whines with a small pout. 

“Well, would you rather me have to experience that with a stranger?” Seungmin asks and pulls out the puppy dog eyes. He has to say, it is kind of low, but the puppy dog eyes never lose. They’re Minho’s weakness and Seungmin knows exactly how to use them to get his way. 

Minho groans, rolling his eyes in faux annoyance. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Seungmin pretends to be clueless and leans forward on the table so his face is closer to the older boy’s. 

“You know what? Fine.” Minho finally cracks and Seungmin immediately bursts into a smile. “We’ll fake date for Christmas but then we break up and you tell your mom.”

“Fair enough, I’ll have enough time to prepare the bad news.” Seungmin says then leans forward even more to pull Minho into a very awkward hug over the table. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re absolutely the best.” 

“Yeah, yeah. You’re buying me dinner, though.”

. . .

They don’t really talk about the fake dating thing again until about a week later. The two boys are currently at Minho’s apartment, Seungmin sprawled out on the elder’s bed while Minho watches a recorded lecture from one of his classes. He’s only about halfway through the lecture when he hits the pause button, groaning dramatically and taking his earphones out. 

“Is your elementary math class giving you that much trouble? I thought you’d have adding single digit numbers mastered by now but I suppose everyone learns at a different pace.” Seungmin jokes. Minho spins around in his chair to face the younger boy, laughing monotonously. 

He pushes himself up out of his chair and walks over to his bed, deciding to plop himself down right on top of Seungmin. The younger boy simply grunts at the impact but doesn't make any effort to move or shove Minho off of him. “We have a lesson planning assignment but it’s not just creating a lesson plan, we have to do all kinds of different stuff like dissecting the standards and making worksheets and assessments and talking about how each part of our lesson directly correlates to the standards.” Minho rants and lets his head rest on Seungmin’s shoulder. 

“Sounds tough, buttercup.” Seungmin teases, moving one of his hands to rub Minho’s back. “I’m sure you’ll do great, you always nail these kinds of assignments.”

Minho sighs dramatically. “Yeah, it’s just a lot of work but it'll be fine, I suppose.” The older boy abruptly sits up from where he was laying on top of Seungmin, causing Seungmin to groan at the shift in weight on top of him. “Have you thought any more about the fake dating stuff?”

Seungmin raises an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic. “Not really, we still have like two months.” Seungmin shrugs. 

Minho slowly breaks into a smile and Seungmin can already tell that he has an awful idea brewing in that mind of his. “Well, I was thinking–”

“That’s never a good start.” Seungmin interrupts and Minho glares at the boy, pinching his thigh. “Ow!” Seungmin exclaims dramatically. 

“Play nice.” Minho warns before going back to what he was saying. “Anyway, you know that I don’t like to half-ass things so I was just thinking that maybe we should get some practice in.”

“Some practice?” Seungmin questions with a raised eyebrow. “Like with fake dating?”

Minho nods his head. “Yeah, like making it seem real so we’re not super awkward in front of your family.” Minho explains, tapping his fingers against his own thigh. Seungmin glances down at Minho’s fingers, noting the habit of the older boy. Is he nervous right now? After a long pause of silence, Minho begins speaking again. “I mean it was just an idea, we don’t have to.”

“No, you’re right. We should probably have some kind of practice.” Seungmin agrees, nibbling at the skin on his lip while he thinks. “What did you have in mind?”

Minho smiles mischievously as soon as Seungmin asks the question. He finally slides off from where he was sitting on Seungmin’s stomach and stands up. “I am so glad that you asked, Kim Seungmin.” Minho shuffles over to the small bookshelf in the corner of his room, pulling out a notebook and walking back over to the bed. He lays down on his stomach next to Seungmin who flips around to lay on his stomach as well. 

Minho opens up the notebook and Seungmin snorts when he sees that he has an entire plan sketched out. “What is this?” The younger boy asks, obviously amused. 

“ This is our master plan.” Minho smiles excitedly. “So, our first move is this weekend. If we want to seem real with your family then the best people to practice on are our friends. If we can convince them that we’re dating, convincing your family will be a breeze.”

Seungmin thinks about it for a minute. He guesses that Minho does have a point. Their friends see them everyday, know them like the back of their own hands, and are very observant. “Okay, so this weekend? What, we show up at your birthday party and make out in front of everyone?” 

Minho glances over at the younger boy with a playful raised eyebrow. “You wanna make out with me?”

“What? No, that wasn’t what I was saying!” Seungmin denies and Minho chuckles at his flustered state. 

“Okay okay, we’re not going to make out in front of everyone. I think our best move is to show up like normal but just drop some hints. We can stay with each other pretty much the entire night, be a little touchy, be all secretive and whisper to each other all night. Just small things that make them wonder if something’s going on but they can’t actually tell if there is or not.” Minho lays out his plan and Seungmin does have to admit that it’s pretty smart. “Then, we can have our big reveal at the Halloween party next weekend.”

“Big reveal?” Seungmin questions, obviously unimpressed. 

“Yeah, holding hands, clinginess, the whole shebang. It’s foolproof.” Minho smiles confidently and Seungmin scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief. “After that, it’ll be super easy. We just have to keep being seen all couple-y together, hold hands when we’re in public, be annoying around them, all the fun stuff.”

Seungmin crosses his arms underneath him, continuing to consider everything about this master plan . There is potential for things to go very wrong, but worst case scenario, they just explain the entire situation to their friends. Sure, it’d be embarrassing, but they would all understand. “Okay, fine. But we need to work on our stories, they’re gonna have questions.”

Minho nods and opens up his notebook to a different page, reaching over to his desk to grab a spare pen before writing ‘2MIN STORIES’ in big letters at the top. “2min?” Seungmin asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“It’s our ship name, obviously.” Minho explains with a laugh and Seungmin just shakes his head again. “Okay, so where do we begin?”

. . .

The weekend comes around much faster than Seungmin would have preferred. Minho’s birthday party is tonight, in about ten minutes to be exact, and Seungmin is beginning to second guess this entire ‘fake dating in front of their friends’ thing. It’s not that he’s uncomfortable with Minho or anything, he just isn’t sure if they’ll be able to pull this off in front of their friends. Someone would have to know, right? 

“You okay?” Minho suddenly asks, glancing away from the road for a quick second to check on Seungmin. The younger boy was nibbling on his lip nervously and fidgeting with a loose string that was hanging from the inside of his sleeve. Okay, so maybe he isn’t the best at hiding his nerves. “We don’t have to do this, you know.” Minho reminds him, turning on his turn signal before making the turn into Chan’s apartment complex’s parking lot. 

“No, I want to. Like you said, it’s good practice.” Seungmin says and he doesn’t realize how unconvincing it sounds until the words have already left his mouth. Minho pulls into an empty parking spot and puts his car into park before unbuckling his seatbelt and turning his entire body to look at Seungmin. Minho doesn’t have to say anything, he just raises an eyebrow at Seungmin and suddenly the younger boy is spilling all of his feelings. “Okay, I’m just nervous. Not about you, I feel fine with going in there and going through with the plan but I’m just afraid someone will know. They’re our best friends and they know us really well and I’m bad under pressure, Minho, what if someone asks me if we’re dating and I get so nervous that I just tell them everything? I mean, I guess it’s not really a big deal but that’s so embarrassing, I would never be able to recover from that. And–”

“Seungmin, it’s going to be okay.” Minho cuts the younger boy off with a laugh. “It’s going to be fine, I promise. If it’ll make you feel better, we can just go in there and see how you feel about it before making any decisions about the plan. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” Minho speaks seriously, his eye contact with Seungmin so intense that Seungmin thinks he’ll actually start dissolving. 

Seungmin takes a deep breath before finally nodding. “Okay, we can go feel it out.” 

“Alright,” Minho smiles and pulls his key out of the ignition. “Now, try to relax. It’s my birthday, for fuck’s sake.” The elder jokes and opens his door to exit the car. 

Seungmin laughs quietly and nods again, opening his door as well and hopping out of the car. 

The two boys walk together into Chan’s apartment complex, having normal conversations about their day. Seungmin can tell that Minho’s trying to help relax his nerves and he’s really grateful for it. Minho has always been observant of Seungmin and always knew how to help him in these kinds of situations. 

As they approach Chan’s door and Minho knocks fairly aggressively, Seungmin begins to feel a bit silly for being so nervous. Minho has always been so attentive with him and would never do anything that would make him uncomfortable. He trusts Minho more than anyone and he knew that the older boy would look after him and make sure that he didn’t mess anything up with the plan. 

Seungmin can hear shuffling and shushing inside Chan’s apartment and before the door opens, he quickly says, “Let’s do it.” The front door whips open as soon as the words leave his mouth and all of their friends inside shout happy birthday before Minho can even enter the apartment. 

The older boy walks in first, sliding his jacket off and putting it on the coat rack that Chan had next to his front door. Chan immediately greets him with a hug, telling him happy birthday again before letting him go. Minho continues walking into the living room where everyone was waiting for him, greeting all of their friends with hugs and handshakes and yelling for absolutely no reason.

“Hey, Seungmin!” Chan says happily and Seungmin jumps slightly because he honestly forgot that Chan was standing there. 

He slides off his jacket as well and places it on top of Minho’s because they’ll be leaving together. “Hey, Chan. It’s been a while, how have you been?”

“It does feel like it’s been forever,” Chan smiles before taking a sip of whatever he had in his cup. “I’ve been pretty good, school has been hectic. Nothing new, really. How about you?”

Seungmin pauses for a moment to think about how he should respond. Is now a good time to drop hints? He lets his gaze travel to where Minho is standing on the other side of the apartment and Chan stands in confusion for a moment before following his gaze across the room. Minho looks over at that moment, feeling the two pairs of eyes on him and sends a wink in their direction. Seungmin quickly snaps out of it, noticing the way that Chan turns back around to face him with a small smirk on his face. 

“Nothing. Nothing new. Just, yeah.” Seungmin fails at speaking. Holy shit, how was he already messing this up? “I’m gonna get a drink.” Seungmin excuses himself and makes his way into the kitchen area without waiting for a response from Chan. 

Seungmin takes a moment to check what kind of alcohol they have for the night before settling on starting with a seltzer. He cracks open the can and immediately starts drinking, not stopping until more than half of the drink is gone. 

“Starting with a seltzer? Cute.” Minho suddenly speaks from behind Seungmin, causing him to jump in surprise again. 

Seungmin turns around to face the older boy who’s leaning back against the other counter. “Cute? What are you starting with then?” Seungmin questions, taking another sip from his can.

“Hmm,” Minho hums, pretending to be thinking about it before he moves forward, trapping Seungmin between him and the island. “I think,” he pauses again, closing any space that was left between them to continue looking at the drinks. “I’ll start with soju.” He finally finishes, reaching behind Seungmin to grab a bottle. He takes off the cap, letting his eyes flicker over to the living room area where he sees Chan and Jisung whispering and looking in their direction. “I think our plan is working.” 

Without another word, Minho is walking away and leaving Seungmin standing alone against the counter. He is definitely too sober for this. 

Seungmin quickly throws his head back, finishing off his seltzer and recycling the can before reaching for a bottle of soju as well and heading to the living room. 

“Seungmin!” Felix says excitedly when Seungmin enters the room. “Oh my god, how do you think you did on the astronomy exam yesterday?” He questions, sitting up from where his head was laying in Jeongin’s lap and his legs were resting on Minho’s lap to make room on the couch for Seungmin. 

Seungmin walks over to the couch and instead of sitting evenly between Felix and Minho, he sits as close as possible to Minho. “I think I did alright, it didn’t seem like anything too difficult.” He says with a shrug and glances over at Minho who’s deep in conversation with Jisung and Hyunjin. 

“I think I failed, my mind went blank as soon as I saw the exam.” Felix whines, taking a sip of his drink. 

“I’m sure you did fine, Lix. You’re probably just psyching yourself out.” Seungmin reassures his friend and takes the cap off of his soju, tossing it onto the coffee table in front of them. 

Seungmin and Felix keep talking for a while before Felix excuses himself to go pee because he already had three drinks and they were going right through him. 

Whenever Felix disappears down the hall, Seungmin feels a hand reach over to rest on his thigh. “Minnie, do you agree that mint chocolate chip is the best ice cream flavor?” Minho suddenly asks with a pout. 

Seungmin looks over at Hyunjin and Jisung who are both viciously shaking their heads and telling him to say no. He’s guessing that this is what their conversation has been about for at least the past fifteen minutes. 

“Hmm,” Seungmin hums and brings his bottle up to his lips, taking a few gulps. “Yeah, I could get behind that.”

“Ha!” Minho exclaims, sticking his tongue out at the younger boys. 

Hyunjin rolls his eyes, leaning back into Jisung’s chest lazily. “When’s the last time you even got mint chocolate chip ice cream?” Hyunjin directs the question at Seungmin. 

“When’s the last time I even got ice cream?” Seungmin shoots back and Hyunjin thinks about it for a second before accepting defeat. “Plus, even if it used to not be my favorite, things change. Maybe I have better taste, maybe I’ve learned to appreciate mint chocolate chip, maybe I just didn’t understand the greatness behind mint chocolate chip.”

Minho snorts at the tangent that Seungmin went on, amused by the confused looks on their friends’ faces. Seungmin quickly finishes off his bottle of soju and shoots up from his spot on the couch, slightly stumbling from the quick motion. “Woah, careful.” Minho says gently, reaching out to help steady the younger boy. 

Seungmin apologizes sheepishly before moving to stand on his own. He hears Minho say something about how cute he is but decides to ignore it for now. “Anyone else want something to drink?” He offers and everyone shakes their head, saying no thanks. On his way back into the kitchen, he can hear Jisung asking Minho what’s going on between them and he decides to take a little bit longer getting his drink because he really doesn’t trust himself in that situation. 

As the night continued, Seungmin and Minho were able to follow through with their plan despite probably having too much to drink. Hyunjin ended up taking them back to Minho’s apartment because he didn’t have anything to drink and Minho was in absolutely no condition to drive. Seungmin ended up stopping drinking way before Minho, figuring that Minho would probably need someone to watch after him with how much alcohol he consumed. 

Somehow, Seungmin managed to get Minho safely into his apartment while he was being an absolute menace. He kept singing happy birthday to himself, throwing himself onto Seungmin, and threatening to knock on random people’s doors even though it’s 3 in the morning. It’s not the first time Seungmin has made sure he got home safe after a night of drinking, but it is his first time seeing him this sloppy. 

“Okay,” Seungmin whispers when they finally make it into Minho’s room. “Let’s lay you down.” He mumbles to himself, flicking the light on and guiding Minho over to the bed. 

Minho is quick to comply, dropping himself into bed. He shifts around so he’s laying on his side, looking up at Seungmin. “Are you staying?” He asks softly, eyes already beginning to feel heavy. 

“Do you want me to?” Seungmin responds with another question, moving to the edge of the bed to take off Minho’s shoes for him. He tried to get them off at the door but Minho was not stable enough to go through that entire process. Minho nods in response, mumbling a thanks when his shoes are finally off his feet. 

Seungmin smiles slightly, admiring how cute Minho looks now that he’s lying peacefully in his bed. “Are you gonna get in bed or are you just gonna stare at me?” Minho utters and Seungmin chuckles with a shake of his head. He stands up from his spot and moves over to turn off the light before walking to the bed. 

Seungmin doesn’t even bother searching Minho’s drawers for something to wear to bed, he just crawls in. “Get some sleep now, okay?” Seungmin orders and Minho hums in response. He can’t tell if the older boy is actually trying to sleep because his back is facing Seungmin, but the silence is enough for Seungmin to assume that he is. 

He sighs quietly as he thinks about the events of tonight. As far as he can tell, their plan is working pretty well and he thinks that everyone will believe them next weekend at the Halloween party when they say that they’re dating. 

Seungmin glances over at Minho once more, noticing his shoulders rise and fall. 

Maybe this fake dating thing wouldn’t be so bad. 

. . .

The night of the big reveal finally arrived. Honestly, Seungmin wasn’t too nervous about pretending to be dating in front of their friends this time. Before coming to the party, he and Minho had a conversation about rules and boundaries to make sure that the night went smoothly and neither of them would feel uncomfortable. 

“You ready?” Minho asks, walking around his car and approaching where Seungmin is standing. 

Seungmin glances over at the small house where all their friends were gonna be gathering tonight. This is a lot more upscale than Minho’s birthday party, which made Seungmin a little bit more nervous, but it still wasn’t some kind of huge frat party. Just a bunch of their friends getting together at someone’s parents’ vacation home. 

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” 

Minho hesitantly reaches forward, taking Seungmin’s hand into his own. Seungmin looks down at where their fingers are intertwined, appreciating the new warmth. “Is this okay?” Minho asks, making sure that Seungmin is still okay with what they agreed on earlier. 

Seungmin hums in approval, lightly squeezing Minho’s hand. “This whole thing was my idea, but you’re the one always asking me if I’m okay with things.” Seungmin jokes and Minho simply shrugs. 

“If I was uncomfortable I would let you know. I know that you like to avoid confrontation so I’m just making sure. You can always be honest with me, though. I promise I’ll never get upset.” Minho reassures the younger boy. He’s kind of caught off guard by his seriousness, but grateful nevertheless. 

“I will, promise.” Minho smiles at the younger boy’s confirmation and begins walking to the house. 

He squeezes Seungmin’s hand gently before tugging him along. “Come on, boyfriend.” Seungmin rolls his eyes in faux annoyance and before he knew it, they were inside the party house. “See any of our people?” Minho leans over to ask Seungmin over the loud music. 

Seungmin takes a moment to look around and observe the space. There’s not as many people here as he thought there would be, but the night is still young. He recognizes a lot of these people as friends of friends or general acquaintances. “Knowing them, they’re probably wherever the alcohol is.” Seungmin assumes. Minho cracks a small smile. 

“Kitchen, then?”

“Lead the way.” Seungmin says dramatically, motioning to the general direction of the kitchen. 

Minho does lead the way, swerving through the different crowds of people that gather in different areas of the house. Seungmin can feel some people staring at them as they walk but tries not to think anything of it. They finally arrive in the kitchen and Seungmin was right, all of their friends were standing right there either already drinking or trying to tell Jisung what kind of mixed drink they wanted. 

“I don’t remember agreeing to being the bartender for the night.” Jisung says loudly, trying to overpower everyone that was giving him orders. The moment that he turns his head to see Minho and Seungmin, he gasps so dramatically that everyone else’s head turns immediately to see what had made him gasp like that. “Lee Minho, you’re a filthy fucking liar!” Jisung shouts, making a beeline for Minho and shoving him gently in his chest. “You said that nothing was going on between you two.”

Minho raises an eyebrow, disinterested. “Did I say that?”

“You smug little piece of shit. You lying little piece of shit.” Jisung yells. People in the other room probably think he’s actually angry but for everyone else in the room, it’s easy to tell that he’s just joking. “What the fuck ? You guys have to tell us everything.”

“I agree, like when the fuck did this happen?” Hyunjin questions, sipping on his drink that Jisung probably made for him with no issues. “Is this why you’ve been poorly sneaking into the apartment so late recently?”

All of their friends gasp like some huge piece of incriminating evidence has been presented to a jury that just swayed them to believe that the defendant is guilty. 

Seungmin’s face immediately flushes when he realizes what’s being implied. “It’s not–it really isn’t like that.” 

“So tell us what it’s like.” Felix speaks up, sending a playful wink in Seungmin’s direction. 

Alright, they expected to get to this conversation eventually, but they didn’t think that it would happen so fast. Seungmin and Minho move deeper into the kitchen, fingers still intertwined. Their friends all watch their every move like they’re expecting something big to happen. 

“Well, we’re dating.” Minho says simply, glancing over at Seungmin who smiles a little bit. 

“How exactly did this happen?” Chan asks the question that everyone is thinking. “I mean, it’s about time but what changed? We all thought you wouldn’t start dating for at least five more years with how oblivious you both are.”

Suddenly, all of their friends are laughing and murmuring in agreement while Seungmin and Minho are both silent in a state of shock. That was definitely not the response that they were expecting but as much as they both wanted to deny liking each other and being oblivious, it wouldn’t really be good for their plan. 

Minho forces out a laugh that sounds as natural as possible before speaking again. “Well, we both decided to stop beating around the bush and just be honest with each other. We sat down and had a really honest conversation and we decided to give it a try so we went on a few dates before I asked him to be my boyfriend.”

Seungmin’s impressed by the way Minho lies so smoothly and all of their friends seem content with the explanation. “I’m happy for you guys.” Jeongin finally speaks with a huge smile plastered on his face. “I always thought you two were good together, like you were meant for each other.”

Seungmin can feel his cheeks heating up even more as Jeongin speaks. What the fuck were they all talking about? I mean, he’s grateful that they’re believing it all so easily but did they really think that he and Minho had feelings for each other? Seungmin was literally in a relationship with someone else less than two months ago, how did they think that he and Minho have been longing for each other for who knows how long? They’re just good friends, they grew up together and they’re good friends. They get each other and they’re close, yeah, but they haven’t been secretly in love with each other. 

Minho must be able to tell that Seungmin is stuck in his head because he gives his hand another comforting squeeze before bringing it up to his lips to plant a small kiss on his knuckles. It’s part of the plan , Seungmin reminds himself and smiles brightly at the action. “How about Jisung makes us some celebratory drinks?” Minho suggests and Seungmin is extremely grateful that he changes the subject. 

Jisung whines from his spot by the door of the kitchen, dragging his feet across the floor to go back to the island. “Fine, but only because I’m happy for you two.” He says with a pout before asking everyone what they want. Of course, he serves Hyunjin first even though he’s already had a drink. 

Minho releases his hand from Seungmin’s and instead moves to stand behind him, wrapping his arms loosely around his waist and pulling him into a back hug. “You okay?” He whispers sweetly into the younger boy’s ears. Seungmin simply nods with a content hum, relaxing into Minho’s touch. “What do you want to drink? I hear Jisung makes a mean amaretto sour.”

Seungmin smiles, watching as Jisung continues to make drinks for everyone. “Hm, I guess I’ll have an amaretto sour. What are you getting?”

“Nothing, my head is still pounding from last weekend,” Minho jokes and Seungmin laughs. “Also, I don’t feel like having to come back here to get my car tomorrow so I’ll just stay sober so I can drive and make sure you don’t get too crazy.” 

Seungmin gasps dramatically, turning around in Minho’s arms to face him. “Me? If anyone here gets too crazy while drinking it’s you. Last weekend is the perfect example of that.” 

“Touché.” Minho laughs. Seungmin leans forward and rests his head on Minho’s shoulder. “Tired already? The party just started.” The older boy teases and Seungmin rolls his eyes. 

“Not tired, just comfortable.”

“Hey, lovebirds. What do you want to drink?” Jisung interrupts.

“He wants an amaretto sour, I’m not drinking.” Minho replies and Jisung immediately gets to work, ready to be done with making drinks. 

“Wow, already ordering for me? What an amazing boyfriend I have.” Seungmin says and hears a fake throwing up sound from behind him. He whips his head around to glare at the culprit, Changbin. “You’re just jealous that you don’t have what we have.”

“Sure, that’s it.” Changbin replies sarcastically with a small smile on his face. 

“Okay! I’m officially done, I’m off the clock.” Jisung announces as he walks over to hand the mixed drink to Seungmin. “We,” he begins, reaching over to grab Hyunjin’s hand, “are going to go dance. If you need another drink, make it yourself.” He pulls a laughing Hyunjin out of the kitchen and into the living room. 

“I suppose things are going well between them.” Minho points out as Seungmin takes a sip of his drink. He hums in satisfaction, offering Minho a sip but he just shakes his head. 

“Yeah, Jisung’s been coming over a lot lately.” Seungmin tells him and wiggles his eyebrows playfully. “You didn’t hear it from me, but apparently Hyunjin really really likes him.” Seungmin whispers directly into Minho’s ear. 

Minho gasps dramatically, placing his hand over his chest as if it’s some shocking piece of information. “Wow, who would’ve guessed?” 

Seungmin places a playful slap on Minho’s thigh. “Be nice.” He says with a pout. 

“If you guys are going to make out or something, can we get a warning first? I’d like to not have to witness that.” Jeongin jokes and finishes off his drink. “Actually, I’m going to go dance so I don’t have to worry about it. You kids have fun.”

Seungmin rolls his eyes at the youngest and takes another sip of his drink. “Wanna go to the living room?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Minho agrees and drops his arms from Seungmin’s waist to intertwine their fingers again so they can walk to the living room together. 

There are a few more people than there were earlier, but it still wasn’t too big of a party. Seungmin really didn’t like going to huge parties so he was glad that this was a lot more lowkey and that he knew almost everyone here. Minho pulls him over to the couch and plops down before pulling Seungmin into his lap. 

“Oh,” Seungmin says once he’s settled in the older boy’s lap. “You’re okay with me sitting on your lap? I can sit beside you, there’s a lot of space.”

“It’s fine, I wouldn’t have pulled you down here if I didn’t want you here.” Minho smiles, wrapping his arms around the younger boy’s waist again. For some reason, Seungmin feels his heart rate beginning to speed up so he takes another gulp of his drink to try to relax his nerves. “Is this alright with you?” Minho asks quietly, watching in amusement as Seungmin continues taking large sips of his drink. 

“Yeah, if your legs start hurting or anything just let me know.” 

Minho just hums in agreement. 

Seungmin begins to feel a little bit awkward. He doesn’t know why it feels so strange to be this close to Minho, they’re honestly pretty clingy with each other but it seems different now that people think they’re dating. Somehow it feels more intimate even though he knows it’s all just a part of their fake dating plan. 

After a few moments of talking quietly with each other, Jisung suddenly appears in front of the two boys. “Minho, you have to come dance.” He says seriously and crosses his arms across his chest. 

“But why?” Minho whines, tightening his arms around Seungmin’s waist and pulling him closer. “I don’t wanna go dance.” He pouts up at Seungmin. 

“You gotta.” Seungmin says simply accompanied by a shrug. 

“You heard your boyfriend, let’s go!” Jisung says and turns around to give Hyunjin a thumbs up, telling him that Minho is gonna come dance with them. 

“Minnie, nooooo.” Minho whines again and Seungmin just unhooks his arms from around his waist and stands up from his lap. He wasn’t usually the type to push people into things, but he was very aware that Jisung came to ask him to dance because Hyunjin was probably extremely drunk and wanted to have a dance off again. “You’re gonna regret this later.” Minho says when Seungmin helps Jisung pull him up from the couch.

“Gross.” Jisung mutters. 

“He didn’t even mean it like that, you just have a filthy brain.” Seungmin rolls his eyes dramatically. “Now hurry up and take him to Hyunjin, I need some entertainment.” He doesn’t have to say it twice because immediately, Jisung is dragging Minho behind him in Hyunjin’s direction. 

Seungmin sits back down on the couch and sees Felix walking over to sit with him. Felix drops himself onto the couch, careful not to spill his drink that he had just refilled. “So, you and Minho?” The blonde boy asks, nudging Seungmin with his elbow. “You want some of this?” He suddenly asks, not waiting for a response before pouring some of his drink into Seungmin’s empty cup. 

Seungmin laughs at the way Felix almost misses his cup. “What about us?” He asks curiously, cautiously taking a sip of the drink. 

“Nothing, just happy for you guys.” Felix smiles genuinely, leaning over to pull Seungmin into a suffocating hug. “You guys deserve to be happy and you’ve always made each other so happy, I’m so happy for you. I’m so glad that everyone’s happy.” 

“Thank you, Felix.” Seungmin says through a laugh. As usual, Felix has gotten extremely intoxicated in a short amount of time. “I’m lucky to have him, he’s always been good to me.” He admits and looks over to where Minho and Hyunjin are dancing. Hyunjin is obviously a lot more into the dance off than Minho, but Minho does put in a little bit of effort just to make him happy.

Seungmin brings his cup up to his lips to take another sip of his drink when Felix speaks again. “I hope you guys get married.” He says nonchalantly and Seungmin really can’t avoid the way he chokes on his drink. Where the hell did that come from? He knows Felix has probably already had too much to drink, but damn that really came out of nowhere. “Oh my god, are you okay? Are you dying? Oh god, Minho is gonna kill me if you die.” Felix panics, reaching out to pat Seungmin’s back. 

“No, no. I’m fine, you just shocked me.” He explains through coughs. “Wow, that was just- I’m gonna go get some water.” Seungmin stands quickly, leaving behind a slightly confused Felix who probably won’t remember this conversation in the morning. 

The rest of the night goes fairly smoothly. There wasn’t really much talk about Minho and Seungmin after a while, probably because everyone was too occupied with trying to get as drunk as possible to really care too much so Seungmin was grateful. 

Whenever it got to around 1:30 in the morning, Seungmin started getting whine-y and pouty and ready to go home. Minho, of course, complied and got ready to leave as soon as Seungmin said anything. 

They made sure to say bye to all of their friends before leaving the house and making their way out to Minho’s car. “Alright, your place or mine?” Minho asks as soon as both of the boys are in his car. 

“Yours.” Seungmin responds almost immediately. “Hyunjin and Jisung were making out when we left and I’d rather not be there if he brings him back to the apartment.” 

“That’s fair.” Minho laughs and starts his car. He turns the heat on full blast to warm the car up as fast as possible. “You okay? You didn’t drink much tonight, did you?” Minho watches Seungmin’s actions closely. They spent most of the night together, but he also knows that he spent a lot of time with Felix when they weren’t together and Felix likes to drink and is good at convincing other people to drink as well. 

“No, I’m good. I wouldn’t say I’m drunk but I’m definitely not sober either.” Seungmin speaks before being interrupted by his own yawning. “I’m extremely tired, though.”

Minho puts his car into drive and begins making his way back to his apartment. “Alright, let’s get you back so we can go to bed.” 

It’s not a long drive from the house to Minho’s apartment, especially because Seungmin falls asleep before Minho even makes it half a mile out. He’s awakened by a soft tapping on his thigh. When he opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is Minho smiling fondly at him. “Are we back?”

“Mhmm, I hate to wake you up because you just look so adorable sleeping but I think you would prefer a bed.” Minho teases lightly. He begins moving to get out of his car, taking his keys out of the ignition and unbuckling his seatbelt. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were tired.”

“Tired is an understatement. I’m exhausted.” Seungmin yawns again and unbuckles his seatbelt as well, getting out of the car. 

Minho walks over to the other side of the car where Seungmin is waiting, tossing his keys into the air and catching them. Mindlessly, the older boy takes Seungmin’s hand into his own and begins walking inside. 

Seungmin doesn’t say anything or try to pull his hand away. Maybe it’s because he’s too tired to try to ask questions or object. 

Or maybe it’s because he just enjoys the feeling of his fingers intertwined with Minho’s. 

. . .

It’s about two weeks later when Seungmin is rudely awakened one morning by a phone call from his mother. He’s usually awake by the time that she calls on Sunday mornings, but he had a movie night with Minho, Hyunjin, and Jisung last night and they didn’t go to bed until about four in the morning. 

Minho groans next to him, obviously a bit irritated by the loud ringing. “Sorry, it’s my mom.” Seungmin apologizes and shifts in the older boy’s arms to grab his cell phone from his nightstand. “Minho, let me go. I need to answer this call.” Seungmin whines, trying to wiggle out of Minho’s grasp. He doesn’t remember exactly when they started cuddling up like this to go to bed, but it was definitely a normal occurrence now. It was starting to get cold, anyway, they needed the extra warmth when they were sleeping. At least that’s what they told each other to justify their nightly cuddling. 

Minho hums, only tightening his grasp around Seungmin’s waist and pulling him back into his chest. “I don’t mind, go ahead and answer.”

Seungmin rolls his eyes even though he knows that Minho can’t see it because his own eyes are closed and answers the call right before it sends his mom to voicemail. “Hey, mom.”

“My darling! Good morning, how are you?” His mom asks cheerfully. 

“I’m okay, a little bit tired.” He admits, rubbing his eyes to try to help himself wake up. “How are you?”

“Doing well! I’m trying to get some stuff figured out for Christmas, your boyfriend is still coming, right?” She asks and Seungmin laughs quietly. 

“Yes, mom. For the third time this week, he’s still coming.” He teases. 

“Well, I’m sorry for being excited. It’s the first time you’re bringing someone home, I’m just ready to meet him already.” She sulks and Seungmin can tell that she’s pouting. “By the way, did you ever ask him what kind of wine he likes?”

“Mmm, I forgot.” Seungmin admits and taps Minho’s arm to make sure he’s still awake. “Min, what kind of wine do you like?”

“Min?” Shit. “Like Minho? Sweet little Min from down the street?” Shit. Fuck. Shit shit shit. 

“I–” Seungmin tries to begin but gets cut off by his mom. 

“Kim Seungmin, how could you not tell me that you’re dating Lee Minho?” Minho smiles when he hears Seungmin getting scolded, his eyes still closed peacefully. Seungmin glares at the other boy, knowing that he won’t see it but he knows that he probably assumes Seungmin is glaring at him. “Did you think I wouldn’t approve?”

“No, it wasn’t that.” Seungmin responds, scratching his neck sheepishly. “We were just trying to see how things went before we told you guys.”

“Has he told his mom yet?” His mom asks and Minho’s eyes shoot open immediately. He quickly shakes his head, motioning for Seungmin to tell his mom that Minho has already delivered the news to his parents. 

“No.” Seungmin says, sticking his tongue out at Minho when his jaw drops. 

“Ha!” Seungmin’s mom exclaims. “I’ll call you back later, Seung, I need to make a phone call.”

“Bye mom, love you.” Seungmin sings.

“Love you too, sweetheart.” She replies, hanging up the phone shortly after. 

“My mom is gonna kill me.” Minho whines, burying his face in Seungmin’s neck. 

“Hey, I wasn’t just gonna go down on my own. It was the only fair way to handle things.” 

“Whatever.” Minho feigns anger. His phone dings after a few short moments and he doesn’t make any moves to reach for it. “I don’t think I can check that.”

“Want me to check it for you, my poor baby?” Seungmin teases. Minho doesn’t even say anything, just hands his phone to the younger boy. And there it is, the text from his mom. “Your mom says you’re in big trouble and you’re getting a lecture the next time she calls. Also apparently your cats miss you.”

“Awww, did she send pictures?” Minho pops his head up excitedly. He rests his head on Seungmin’s shoulder, looking at the messages from his mom on his phone. “Aren’t they the cutest? Look at my little babies.” Minho coos. 

“The cutest.” Seungmin mutters happily, moving his hand up to play with the older boy’s hair. 

. . .

“Do you think we should practice, like, kissing and stuff?”

What the hell, Seungmin. He doesn’t know why he let the question slip past his lips. Yeah, it’s something that he has been kind of concerned about, but he didn’t plan on asking like this. Not when Minho is laying in his arms on the couch, eyes extremely focused on the animated movie playing on the TV. 

He feels his cheeks begin to heat up whenever Minho doesn’t immediately respond. God, he would do anything to go back in time and just never ask the question. How does he even go about taking it back? Should he say it was a joke? Should he say he didn’t me–

“You want to kiss me?” Minho asks and Seungmin is thrown off by how genuinely shocked he sounds. 

Well, he definitely wasn’t expecting that response. He hesitates for a moment before answering. Is this a trap? “I mean,” he begins, shifting his weight underneath Minho, “I just thought we should practice so it’s not super awkward with my family. My mom likes mistletoe and now that she knows you’re coming she’ll probably be all weird and extra, y’know? Not like making out or anything, just simple kissing so it can seem more natural.”

Minho nods slowly and Seungmin can’t tell if he’s agreeing or just trying to process everything Seungmin just said. “That’s true. I don’t mind practicing if you don’t.” 

“No, of course not.” Seungmin responds, probably with way too much enthusiasm, but Minho doesn’t seem to notice. “Um, do you wanna sit up?”

“Oh, yeah.” Minho laughs awkwardly, sitting up from where he was laying on Seungmin’s chest. Seungmin sits up as well, scooting back so his lower back was resting against the arm of the couch. “So, should we just…?” Minho trails off and Seungmin nods, not really sure about what to say. 

Minho utters a quiet okay under his breath before moving forward. Suddenly, his face is right in front of Seungmin’s and they’re both very aware of what’s about to happen. “Whenever you’re ready.” Seungmin says and it takes Minho less than a second to close the space between them, finally connecting their lips. 

But as soon as Minho’s lips land on Seungmin’s, they’re gone. Seungmin sits frozen for a second. Does that even count? “No.”

“No?” Minho asks with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean no?”

“I just mean, like, that wasn’t a real kiss.” 

“I thought you said no making out!”

“Yeah, but that was just a peck! We can kiss more than a peck without it being making out, there’s a happy medium. I didn’t even feel your lips!”

“Oh, so you do wanna feel my lips?” Minho teases, a small smirk finding its way onto his face. 

“I–” Seungmin begins, but stops himself when he realizes that he doesn’t even know what he wants to say. “Can you be normal for once?”

Minho laughs quietly and throws his hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine. You want a normal kiss?” He asks and shifts his body into a proper sitting position with his feet planted on the ground. “Come here.” Minho pats his lap and Seungmin just looks at him. The older boy pats his lap again and then Seungmin finally moves. 

Whenever he scoots close enough, Minho gently grasps his waist and pulls him into his lap so that the younger boy is straddling him. 

It’s too intimate. At least that’s what Seungmin tells himself when he’s straddling his best friend, faces just inches away from each other. It’s just practice , he has to remind himself in his head. 

His mind completely tunes out anything that isn’t Minho as soon as the older boy’s hands settle on his body. One hand on his waist and the other cupping his jaw. “I’m gonna kiss you now, okay?” Minho asks, searching Seungmin’s face for any sign of hesitancy. Seungmin, however, just nods in agreement. 

And then it happens. Again. But longer this time. Both of the boys’ eyes close as soon as their lips connect. Minho tilts his head slightly, allowing their lips to slot perfectly with each other. 

Objectively speaking, it’s a perfect kiss. Subjectively speaking, it’s still a perfect kiss. 

Minho is the one that pulls away, his eyes fluttering open slowly. When Seungmin finally opens his eyes, he can see a certain nervousness lingering in Minho’s gaze. “How was that?” Minho asks slowly. 

But Seungmin doesn’t answer. At least not with words. 

Before he can even think about what he’s doing, he’s diving back in and connecting their lips in a needier, hungrier kiss. He can hear Minho groan in surprise but he acts immediately, pulling Seungmin as close to his body as humanly possible. 

It’s too intimate. God, it’s too intimate. But neither of the boys can find it in themselves to care. 

Seungmin’s hands make their way to Minho’s hair, tugging gently. The older boy whispers a curse against Seungmin’s lips. It sends a tingle up his spine. This was really happening. So much for not making out. 

Minho drops both of his hands to Seungmin’s thighs, giving them a gentle squeeze before letting them travel up his body. His hands find their way underneath the oversized sweatshirt that Seungmin is wearing (it’s Minho’s) and makes contact with his bare skin. 

Seungmin can feel the goosebumps covering his body at the contact and it only makes his lips move more desperately against the older boys’. Minho tries to pull Seungmin’s body even closer but has to settle for bucking his hips up against Seungmin’s. 

The younger boy gasps in pleasure, hands falling to Minho’s shoulders and tightening his grip. Minho uses the opportunity to slide his tongue into Seungmin’s mouth, which gains a soft noise of approval. 

The kiss is so messy, so desperate. Seungmin really doesn’t know what came over them, but he certainly doesn’t mind. Especially not when Minho is biting at his lower lip and pulling the neediest whimpers out of him. 

“Oh, my god!” 

Suddenly, Seungmin is pulled out of whatever world he was just in with Minho. He pulls away from the older boy, struggling to get out of his lap and ending up tumbling awkwardly onto the couch. 

Hyunjin stood by the front door of their apartment, his hands slapped over his eyes to stop him from seeing more than he already had. 

“Hey, Hyunjin.” Minho says awkwardly. 

“Um, hi.” Hyunjin replies, slowly pulling his hands away from his face. “The couch, really? Are you trying to scar me for life?”

“We weren’t even doing anything!” Seungmin lies and Minho snorts when Hyunjin just stares at him in disbelief. 

“You mean to tell me that I didn’t just walk in on you two about to have sex on our couch !”

“We weren’t, like, I mean,” Seungmin trails off, looking to Minho for assistance. 

“Sorry, won’t happen again.” Minho says nonchalantly. 

“See? That’s what you should say, Seungmin. I kind of like boyfriend Minho,” Hyunjin teases and begins walking back to his room. “Anyway, I’ll be doing homework now. With my noise-cancelling headphones on. Just try not to get too crazy, yeah? I can still hear things through them sometimes.”

“Okay, bye Hyunjin!” Seungmin shouts and Hyunjin laughs, going into his room and closing the door behind him. 

“So, we should probably go back in the movie and see what we missed.” Minho suggests and Seungmin glances over at the TV. He honestly forgot all about that stupid movie. 

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Seungmin agrees and leans forward to grab the remote from the coffee table. He’s quick to rewind the movie, ready to have Minho’s attention off of him.  

The older boy spares him, though, deciding to act like nothing just happened. He lied down on the couch again, opening his arms for Seungmin to join him. Whenever he hits play on the movie, he happily obliges and lazily throws his body on top of Minho’s. 

And so the rest of the evening goes like that, the two boys cuddling and watching movies. Hyunjin even joins them at one point, only making a few jokes that make Seungmin wanna crawl in a whole and never come out. 

But Minho is right there the entire time, rubbing his back and intertwining their fingers to help him not feel so awkward. And somehow, that makes everything alright.

. . .

“So,” Seungmin begins. 

“So?” Minho asks with a raised eyebrow. 

The two boys were at Minho’s apartment again. They decided to have a homework day together because they both had a lot of assignments that needed to be turned in soon. They were planning on getting coffee and then going to the library but it started raining so they settled for just staying at Minho’s. 

They had already been working for two hours straight and Seungmin’s brain was beginning to ache so he decided that it’s time for a break. 

Seungmin closes his laptop and sets down the pencil that he was holding. “How am I as a fake boyfriend?” Seungmin asks mischievously, wiggling his eyebrows playfully. 

Minho chuckles and closes his laptop as well, pulling his glasses off. Honestly, he didn’t mind having a distraction right now. “An absolute dream compared to my exes.”

“Awww, thank you, babe.” Seungmin teases. “Which ex would you say is your worst?” Seungmin asks, holding an invisible microphone up to Minho like he was interviewing him for an important news story. 

Minho taps his chin, pretending to be thinking for a moment. He hums in fake thought before leaning forward to speak into the fake microphone. “Definitely Hyuk. He turned out to be a complete asshole.”

“Is that why you’ve given up on love?”

Minho laughs loudly at the question. “I haven’t given up on love. I just decided that I prefer more casual relationships.”

“And by that you mean one night stands?”

“Seungmin,” Minho whines, throwing himself back against the couch behind him. “That was literally only twice. And I’ve only had sex, like, maybe six times.”

“Six more times than I have.” Seungmin sings and Minho chuckles while shaking his head. 

“Don’t rush into it. Your first time should be special.” Minho advises. 

“Hypothetically, would you have sex with me?” Seungmin asks hesitantly, watching Minho’s reaction closely. The older boy’s eyebrows shoot up at the question, undoubtedly confused about where this came from. 

“I mean, yeah?” Minho says, but it sounds more like a question. “It’s not like I find you unattractive or anything, we literally made out three days ago, Seungmin.”

Seungmin internally cringes at the mention of their little make out session the other day. Neither of them had talked about it since then and Seungmin really hoped it would stay that way. “Okay, now legitimately. Would you have sex with me?”

“Seungmin,” The older boy whines again. “This is embarrassing.”

“It’s just a question, Min. I’ll tell you my answer if you tell me yours.” Seungmin offers and Minho’s face slowly begins heating up. 

“Okay. My answer is the same as hypothetically.” Minho speaks quickly. 

Seungmin freezes for a moment. He isn’t really sure what he expected Minho to say, but he’s definitely not mad at his answer. “Okay. I want to have sex with you.” Seungmin says, suddenly embarrassed by his confession even though he’s the one that started this conversation. 

Minho pauses and Seungmin pretends he doesn’t notice. It’s better if he just pretends that this is a normal conversation. “What?” Minho finally says after a few beats of silence. 

“I want to have sex with you.”

“What?”

Seungmin groans loudly, leaning forward until his forehead connects with the coffee table in front of them. “I’m not saying it again.”

“I just-” Minho stops speaking, deciding to choose his words very carefully. “Where did this come from?”

Seungmin pulls his head up from the table, sighing deeply before responding. “I don’t know, I guess I’m just ready, you know? I want to have sex already, everyone in our friend group has had sex except for me, even Jeongin!”

“But Seungmin, you don’t need to rush into it like that. I know you think people probably look at you as some kind of loser virgin, but I promise you they don’t. And your first time should be with someone special, trust me, you’ll regret it if it’s not.” 

“Minho, you are someone special.” Seungmin says. “You’ve been with me my entire life. I trust you more than anyone, I love you more than anyone except, like, maybe my mom. You’re my best friend. You’re not just some person to me, you’re my person.”

Minho is silent for a few moments, watching Seungmin’s face for any sign that he might be joking. “And you want to have sex with me?” He asks as if Seungmin didn't just say that twice. 

“Yes.”

“Like now?”

“I mean,” Seungmin starts, scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t wanna pressure you into anything.”

“Seungmin, trust me, I don’t feel pressured at all. If I didn’t want to have sex with you we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. I just want to be certain that this is what you want. If you want to wait a few days I can probably make it a lot more special and romantic and that kind of thing.” Minho offers. 

Seungmin laughs, shaking his head. “No, no. I don’t really want all of that, I kind of just want something natural and normal and lowkey.”

“Interrogating me about if I want to have sex with you is your definition of natural?” Minho teases and Seungmin’s face begins to heat up again. 

“I wouldn’t say it was an interrogation ,” Seungmin tries to defend himself. 

“Okay, well, I’ll have sex with you if you’re sure that that’s what you want. Don’t feel like it’s ever too late to turn back, either, if we start doing things and you decide to change your mind then we can stop.” 

Seungmin smiles slightly as Minho speaks. “See, this is exactly why I want to have sex with you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Minho jokes, rolling his eyes. He leans forward, resting his arms on the coffee table that’s between them. “Alright. If you can look me in the eyes and tell me exactly what it is that you want, we’ll do it. I just need to know you’re certain about this.”

Seungmin leans forward as well, resting his arms right in front of Minho’s. His face is just inches away from Minho’s, looking him directly in the eyes. “Minho, I am absolutely certain. I want you to fuck me.” 

Minho’s breath catches in his throat as soon as the words leave Seungmin’s mouth. “Jesus Christ, Seungmin.” Minho says so quietly that Seungmin almost misses it. “Okay, um, we can go to my room?” 

Seungmin laughs softly at how flustered Minho seems. “Sure, if you want. I don’t know what you’re into, you can bend me over the kitchen counter if you’d like.”

“First of all, it’s your first time having sex. I’m not bending you over anything. Second of all, this is going to be all about you, so just let me know whatever it is that you wanna do, okay? I want it to be a good experience for you.” Minho says sweetly, reaching out to take Seungmin’s hands in his. 

Seungmin nods in agreement, standing up from his spot on the floor and tugging on Minho’s hands so he’ll stand up as well. 

“Okay,” Minho says awkwardly once they’re both settled on his bed a few moments later. “We can just start with kissing, you know? Get things going.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Seungmin laughs, squeezing Minho’s hand gently. “You don’t have to be so awkward, you know. Doesn’t really fit the natural vibe I’m going for.” The younger boy teases. 

“Oh, shut up.” Minho smiles gently before pulling Seungmin into his lap. Seungmin can’t stop his brain from going back to them making out a few days ago and he can feel his cheeks starting to heat up. “This okay?”

“More than okay,” Seungmin whispers before leaning down to connect their lips. 

Minho tilts his head almost immediately, pressing his mouth firmly against Seungmin’s. Despite how awkward he was being literal seconds ago, he’s now kissing Seungmin like his life depends on it. Minho’s lips are just as soft as Seungmin remembered, a stark contrast to the aggressiveness of the kiss. 

It should be weird. It should be awkward. This entire situation is definitely not normal . There’s nothing normal about fake dating your best friend and on top of that, losing your virginity to them. 

But somehow Seungmin isn’t nervous. 

Maybe it’s because he’s with Minho. Lee Minho. His best friend since he was born. The boy he grew up with. The boy that always took care of him. He knew that there was nothing to worry about with Minho. Everything always turned out okay with Minho. 

“Can I lay you down?” Minho whispers, barely pulling away from Seungmin’s lips enough to get the words out. Seungmin nods eagerly and Minho laughs quietly, shifting their bodies so the younger boy is now laying flat on the mattress with Minho hovering above him. “If you change your mind about anything please let me know, okay?”

“Hey, I really don’t see myself changing my mind about this but I promise if I do, I will tell you. I promise.” Seungmin says, smiling fondly at the older boy. It honestly warms his heart that Minho is looking out for him so much but he really didn’t expect anything else from the boy. “I can’t imagine anyone else that I’d rather be doing this with.” Seungmin speaks honestly, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss on Minho’s lips. 

“Thank you for trusting me.” Minho says whenever they pull away from each other. 

“Thank you for fucking me.” Seungmin jokes through a laugh. 

Minho gently slaps his thigh, shaking his head in disbelief. “When did you get so vulgar?”

“Just trying to lighten the mood.” Seungmin smiles, reaching up to run his fingers through the older boy’s hair. “Feel free to slap my thigh again, though.”

“Oh?” Minho teases with a raised eyebrow, leaning down to place the softest kisses on Seungmin’s neck. “You into that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Seungmin responds quickly, tilting his head to the side to give the older boy more access to his neck. 

“You're annoying, you know that?” 

“But you love me.” Seungmin says smugly. Minho pulls away from his neck, moving so their faces are just inches away from each other again. He hums with a small smile and closes the space between their lips once again. 

This kiss is gentle. More gentle than any of the other kisses the two boys shared. 

Minho hesitantly moves his hands to the hem of Seungmin’s shirt and pauses to look down at him before making any moves. “Can I?” He asks, tugging at the shirt to emphasize his question. 

Seungmin nods in response to the question, not really trusting himself to form words as the realization of the fact that he’s about to have sex with his best friend continues to grow more intense. 

Minho moves to take his shirt off, still slow with his movements in case Seungmin changes his mind at any point. He drops the shirt to the floor beside his bed before allowing his eyes to scan over the younger boy’s naked torso. Of course, they’ve seen each other shirtless before. Hell, they’ve even seen each other completely naked before, but this is so much different. Minho’s eyes scan over Seungmin’s body, stopping to linger every now and then, because he finds him attractive. And they’re about to have sex. 

Seungmin suddenly feels a bit shy after completely overthinking the situation. He begins to move his arms up to attempt to cover his body, but he’s too late because Minho is already occupying the space and leaving tender kisses over the newly revealed skin. 

“Don’t, you’re so beautiful.”

Fuck . Well, shit. How was Seungmin supposed to respond to that? He settles for letting the needy whine he’s been trying to hold back fall from his lips.

“Mmm, you make the prettiest noises, too.”

“Minho,” Seungmin whines, unable to stop his hips from grinding forward. Minho gasps quietly at the action, holding himself back from roughly grinding his hips forward as well. “Your turn.” Seungmin says simply, moving his hands down to tug at the hem of Minho’s shirt like he did to the younger boy. Minho smiles and raises his arms enough for Seungmin to pull off his shirt for him. 

And then it was Seungmin’s turn to let his eyes freely roam over the smooth skin that had been revealed. “Happy now?” Minho jokingly asks.

“Very, now please kiss me.” 

Minho lets out a breathy laugh at Seungmin’s neediness, but immediately satisfies his request. Their lips meet again, slotting together perfectly like they are meant to be together. Minho’s hands move from holding onto Seungmin’s waist, sliding up his body until they reach his jawline. He cups Seungmin’s face so gently in contrast to the way his lips press against Seungmin’s so desperately it’s driving him crazy. Minho’s hands left a trail of hotness on his body, every single piece of bare skin that he touched warm and tingly. 

Whenever Minho’s hands trail back down Seungmin’s body, they stop right at the button of his jeans. “Don’t ask. Please, just take them off.” Seungmin blurts before Minho can even open his mouth. 

The older boy raises an eyebrow at Seungmin, popping the button of his jeans open. “I knew you were needy, Seungmin, but this is just a whole new level.” 

“Oh, shut up.” Seungmin breathes, trying not to buck his hips when Minho’s hand grazes over his crotch while he unzips his pants. He’s quick to lift his hips off the bed to help with the process of Minho pulling his jeans off. “This seems a little unfair, you know.”

“Hmm, does it?” Minho asks lightly. He starts pressing kisses against Seungmin’s skin again, this time his collarbone. “I’ll get to that later, promise. Right now, it’s about you.” And then he’s biting, sucking gently at the skin on his collarbones while he rubs small circles right above the elastic of Seungmin’s boxers. 

Seungmin sighs in pleasure, relaxing into Minho’s touch. God, it all feels absolutely amazing and they haven’t even gotten to the sex part yet. While Seungmin is distracted by his own thoughts, Minho’s hand dips beneath the waistband of Seungmin’s boxers. He wraps his hand around the shaft of his cock and Seungmin hips push forward off the bed. “Good?”

“Fucking amazing.” Seungmin sighs, continuing to rock his hips forward. He’s already too lost in the pleasure. He thinks he hears Minho curse under his breath, but he honestly can’t tell if he imagined it or not. 

“Do you want me to keep going?” He asks, his hand still wrapped around Seungmin’s painfully hard cock. 

“Please,” is the only thing Seungmin can manage to squeeze out of his mouth. 

Minho smiles and leans down to plant a gentle kiss on Seungmin’s nose. “So cute.” He says and then his hand disappears, tugging Seungmin’s boxers down until they’re about halfway down his thighs.

“Minho, what the fuck?” 

“Relax, I’m just getting the lube.” Minho chuckles, reaching over to open the drawer of his bedside table to grab lube and a condom while he’s at it. He places the condom on top of the table and opens the lube, placing the cap on the table as well. 

Seungmin eyes the bottle of lube, raising an eyebrow when he realizes how empty it is. “Almost empty? I thought you said you didn’t have sex that much, Lee Minho.” Seungmin teases and Minho rolls his eyes.

“Some of us like to get off sometimes, angel.” 

Seungmin doesn’t know what it is that makes him gasp, the pet name or the feeling of the cold lube dripping onto his cock. Almost immediately, Minho’s hand is wrapped around him again. Seungmin gets so lost in the pleasure, his hips jerking forward uncontrollably. Minho moves his hands skillfully over his cock and Seungmin has to force himself to not think about how many other people he’s done with this. Why the fuck does that even matter, Seungmin? He scolds himself in his head. 

“Okay, I hate to sound like a horny little teenage boy but I really don’t think I’m gonna last much longer if you keep this up.” Seungmin admits and Minho smiles so cutely at him that it almost gives him whiplash. 

The older boy gives Seungmin another gentle peck before moving down on the bed to finish pulling his boxers off. “Is it alright if I finger you?”

“If you plan on fucking me, I would highly suggest it.” Seungmin snaps, a bit impatient at this point. 

Minho grins in amusement as he reaches over to grab the lube again. “Well, I didn’t know if that’s what you wanted. Maybe you’ve mastered the art of fingering yourself and you wanted to do it yourself.” Minho offers while spreading the lube across his fingers. 

“Trust me, I’m more than okay with you fingering me. I want the full having sex with Lee Minho package.” Seungmin jokes and Minho snorts, taking the time to warm up the lube a little bit on his fingertips. 

“I’ll try my best to not disappoint, don’t set your expectations too high.” Minho laughs and moves his hand down to his hole. He settles in between Seungmin’s legs, tapping them gently to tell him to spread them a bit further. “Are you ready?”

Seungmin hums in approval, shivering when he feels Minho’s finger cautiously pressing against him. When Seungmin doesn’t say anything to deny him, he slowly slides his finger in and pauses again to make sure the younger boy is okay. “Is this okay?” Minho asks, still motionless. 

Seungmin groans, his head falling back against the pillow before he speaks. “God, yes. It’s perfect, Minho.” He says while moving his hips, trying to press the older boy’s finger deeper into him. “Two is fine.” He suddenly blurts, face flushing when Minho stops his movements. 

“Are you sure?” Minho asks. Seungmin nods quickly and Minho slowly thrusts his fingers a few more times before adding a second finger. 

Seungmin squeezes his eyes shut, moving his hips desperately in rhythm with Minho’s fingers. He swears his soul leaves his body when Minho leans down and presses kisses along his thighs. There’s no way this could possibly feel any better. He’s already in heaven and Minho hasn’t even pulled his dick out yet. How was he supposed to survive that ? 

“Fuck.” Seungmin suddenly moans out and looks down to find a smug-looking Minho between his thighs. 

“There it is.” He sings teasingly, pressing his fingers against the younger boy’s prostate again.

Minho is a God. Seungmin is convinced. There’s no way that it should be possible for Seungmin to be this close to coming undone with only three fingers. He never gets this close with his own fingers. Maybe he should consider asking Minho for some pointers after this is all done. 

It finally gets to the point where Minho is stripping out of his remaining clothing. “You still want this, right?” Minho asks cautiously as he slides the condom onto his own cock with a hiss. Seungmin watches his every move, somehow getting even more turned on while he watches Minho’s hand work over his shaft, both his hand and his cock shiny with lube. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more in my entire life.” Seungmin finally speaks when he realizes that he never answered the older’s question. 

Minho cracks a smile at the comment, brushing some hair out of Seungmin’s face so he could properly look him in the eyes. “Let me know if it’s ever too much, okay?”

“Promise.” Seungmin says, his hips moving impatiently once again. 

Minho presses a final gentle kiss to Seungmin’s lips before positioning himself above him. He lines himself up, checking Seungmin’s reaction once more to make sure he didn’t wanna back out before finally sinking the tip in. 

“I’m gonna go slow, tell me if I should stop.” Minho reminds Seungmin who just nods in response. If he didn’t trust his voice before, he definitely doesn’t now. 

Minho begins moving his hips slowly, pressing further into Seungmin. He watches Seungmin closely, keeping an eye out for any signs of discomfort so he can stop if he needs to. All he gets, though, are breathy curses and high-pitched whines. 

“Fuck,” Minho breathes directly into Seungmin’s ear as he bottoms out. The curse sends chills down Seungmin’s spine, making him feel somewhat proud that Minho was enjoying this just as much as he was. In the end, that’s what he wanted this to be. An enjoyable sexual experience rather than a favor from a friend. “It’s still okay? Does it hurt at all?”

Seungmin quickly shakes his head, wrapping his legs around Minho’s torso to try to push him deeper. “It’s just different. But good different. Amazing different.” Minho smiles sweetly at the younger boy. “You can move, you know, whenever you’re ready. No rush.”

Minho nods, pulling out only a little bit before pushing back in gently. It really wasn’t much, but it was enough to pull a moan out of Seungmin. “I’m gonna touch you, baby.” Minho says, reaching down to take Seungmin’s cock in his hand again. 

God, Seungmin nearly comes on the spot. His hips immediately jerk forward into Minho’s heavenly hand. 

Minho keeps a nice, gentle pace the entire time. Once Seungmin gets used to it, he thinks that he really might be able to last for a while. 

And then Minho starts talking. 

“You look so pretty underneath me, baby.” Minho breathes out, his thrusts steady while his hand continues stroking the younger’s cock. 

“Minho, please,” Seungmin doesn’t know why he’s saying please. He can’t even think straight right now so he doesn’t even register that the word left his mouth until Minho’s raising an eyebrow teasingly and asking him what he wants. “I just–fuck. Just please don’t stop.” Seungmin stumbles over his words and Minho laughs fondly.

“Wasn’t really planning on it, angel.” Okay, so maybe is a sweet-talker during sex. Is it good for Seungmin’s heart? Most definitely not. But does he moan each and every time a praise or pet name falls from Minho’s lips? Absolutely. 

It’s really all too much to handle. He doesn’t know if sex is always this amazing or if Minho just fucks him perfectly but he’s close to the edge and there’s no holding back anymore. “I-I’m close.” Seungmin stutters and Minho hums in what Seungmin hopes is agreement before littering the younger boy’s neck in kisses. 

“Don’t hold back, my pretty baby. Let me see you come undone.” Minho says, pulling himself away from Seungmin’s neck to look into his eyes. He wishes that it ended there, he really does, because he thinks a part of him dies when Minho reaches down with his free hand to intertwine their fingers and kisses Seungmin with so much determination that he believes he could’ve came untouched if Minho’s hand wasn’t still stroking away at his cock. 

“Shit. Fuck, I’m gonna-” Seungmin tries to warn but gets cut off by his own loud moan and warm strings of cum shooting across his stomach. 

He hears Minho grunt above him, squeezing his hand tighter as he snaps his hips one more time and releases into the condom. 

There’s a moment of silence shared between the two boys, but it’s far from awkward. Minho smiles fondly at the younger boy as he pushes some sweaty strands of hair out of his face. “Good first time?” Minho asks teasingly and intertwines their fingers again. 

“Amazing, I knew I could trust you.” Seungmin says playfully. Minho laughs quietly and carefully pulls out of the younger before pressing another kiss against his lips. 

Seungmin kisses back just as gently as Minho started the kiss, wanting to stay in this moment forever. He doesn’t know why, but his heart begins to swell when he feels Minho smile against his lips. The older boy playfully bites on Seungmin’s lower lip before pulling away with a wide smile. 

“I love you.”

What the fuck. Seungmin, what the actual fuck? He repeats in his head over and over again while trying to think of a way to recover from it. Why did he say that? He doesn’t love Minho, right? Not like that, just as a friend. That’s what this entire thing is, a friend helping a friend. 

Seungmin finally opens his mouth to try to explain, but Minho speaks first. “Seungmin, it’s okay,” Minho laughs softly, “I know you didn’t mean it like that, no need to freak out. I love you, too.” 

Oh, perfect. 

Perfect, right? 

There’s no way that he has feelings for Minho and Minho understands that so everything is perfect. 

“I’m gonna go get a washcloth to clean you up and then we can cuddle and watch movies, yeah? You can choose what we have for dinner.” Minho places a gentle kiss on Seungmin’s nose and shoots up from the bed, making a beeline for his bathroom. 

How did Seungmin manage to just make everything 1000% more complicated?

. . .

The next morning, Seungmin wakes up in Minho’s bed. The older boy’s body is practically completely on top of Seungmin, his arms tightly wrapped around his waist. 

Seungmin takes a moment to gather his thoughts before even thinking about waking Minho up. He should go home, right? He needs to go home. God, he’s felt like he’s been suffocating ever since he accidentally told his best friend that he loves him. 

He gently cards his fingers through Minho’s fluffy and messy hair, softly calling his name to get him to wake up. 

Minho’s eyes slowly blink open, looking up at Seungmin groggily. “Good morning.” He says with a gentle smile and Seungmin returns it. 

“Good morning.” He says, his fingers still running through Minho’s hair. “Um, I really need to get home. I forgot I promised Hyunjin I would come back last night and never updated him so now he wants me back to confirm that I’m alive.” It’s not completely a lie, he did promise to come back and never updated Hyunjin but his roommate wasn’t asking him to come back home.

Minho hums lazily in understanding, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and rolling off of Seungmin. “Are you sure you can’t stay? I can call Hyunjin and use the boyfriend voice to tell him that you’re all safe with me.” 

Seungmin laughs, kissing Minho’s pouty lips. “I should probably go anyway, we have to work on a project together.” Also not completely a lie, they do have a project to work on together but it’s not due for another month so they most definitely aren’t working on it now. 

“Let me take you back.” Minho says, immediately sitting up from the bed. 

“You really don’t have to, I don’t mind walking.”

“I want to.” Minho says simply, meeting eyes with Seungmin. “Plus, it’s still raining. You shouldn’t walk in the rain, you’ll get sick.” 

Seungmin finally gives in. He doesn’t really wanna bother Minho with the task of driving him back to his apartment, but the older insists that it’s not a problem at all. 

He expects the ride to be awkward. He doesn’t know why, it’s never really awkward with Minho. The boy in question even went out of his way to go to Seungmin’s favorite coffee shop and buy him his coffee for the morning. He says it was ‘well-earned’ and Seungmin jokingly tells him that he doesn’t sell his body. It’s all comfortable and familiar. He doesn’t know why he was expecting anything to change. Probably because he’s been so on edge about Minho saying literally anything about yesterday, but again, he’s underestimated his best friend. Minho can tell that Seungmin doesn’t wanna talk about it just yet, he’s always been good at reading him. So he doesn’t mention it. 

They finally make it back to Seungmin’s apartment complex and he smiles over at Minho. “Thank you for bringing me back. And for the coffee.” 

“Of course,” Minho says simply. Before Seungmin can make any moves to get out of the car, Minho leans forward and places a sweet kiss on his temple. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

Seungmin nods, not ready to speak because he feels like his heart has swelled so much that it’s blocking circulation to his throat. Alright, Seungmin, leave. He reminds himself after spending another thirty seconds staring at the older boy in admiration. He quickly gets himself together, muttering a pitiful bye and stumbling to get out of the car and collect his belongings. 

Minho shoos Seungmin into his apartment complex, not wanting to leave until he sees Seungmin make it safely into the building. 

Seungmin is quick to walk to his apartment once he’s inside the complex. He slides his key into the door and pushes it open, immediately greeted with Hyunjin’s loud voice. “He’s alive!” Hyunjin jokes from the couch. 

Seungmin snorts, sliding his shoes off and leaving them by the door before walking deeper into their apartment. He gently throws his backpack on the ground and places his to-go cup of coffee on the table before he collapses onto the couch with a content sigh. 

Hyunjin raises an eyebrow suspiciously. “You’re way too happy at nine in the morning.”

“Wow, sorry for being happy, Hyunjin. Would you like me to watch some sad videos and cry instead?” Seungmin jokes and Hyunjin rolls his eyes at the dramatics. “I've had my coffee, of course I’m in a good mood.”

“Mhmm,” Hyunjin hums, eyes narrowing to show that he’s obviously unimpressed with the excuse. “Are you gonna tell me or am I just gonna have to embarrass you?”

Seungmin blinks. Hyunjin blinks in return. There’s no way that he knew, right? Was Seungmin that readable? 

He decides to play dumb to find out. “Tell you what?” He asks slowly. 

“That you and Minho obviously had sex and you were planning on just walking in here and not telling me , the best roommate of all time, that you’re no longer a virgin.” Hyunjin speaks quickly without breathing and Seungmin feels frozen on the couch. “Come on, we’re supposed to have best friend talk about these things. How was it? Was it romantic? Was his dick big? Wait, sorry. Inappropriate question.”

Seungmin finally cracks a smile at Hyunjin’s self-correction. “Wait, how could you even tell?” 

“Are you kidding? I know a morning after glow when I see one, which also means that it must’ve been good. Also, you’re happy at nine in the morning and you’re wearing his clothes and am I supposed to pretend that I don’t see the hickey on your collarbone?” 

“What?” Seungmin looks down and lo and behold, there’s a hickey sitting exposed on his collarbone because of the way Minho’s oversized shirt shifted on his body. Seungmin’s face heats up a ridiculous amount and his hand flies to move the neckline of his shirt up to cover it. “Yes, pretend you don’t see it.”

Hyunjin laughs at the sight of a flustered Kim Seungmin before it quickly transforms into a pout when he realizes that his roommate didn't answer any of his questions. “Seriously though, how was it? Did he treat you right? I mean, it’s Minho, of course he treated you right. He treats you like you put the stars in the sky yourself.”

“It was good.” Seungmin says awkwardly, he’s never been good at talking about sex because he was a virgin and now that he’s had sex, he isn’t really sure what he should say about it. He mostly just says it so Hyunjin will stop talking about how much he thinks Minho loves him. “I mean, it was pretty amazing. I have nothing to compare it to but I really enjoyed it.” Hyunjin laughs again at Seungmin’s awkwardness while he speaks and Seungmin pouts. “Stop, I’ve never had to talk about this stuff before.”

“Sorry, I only laugh because it’s cute.” Hyunjin says playfully, reaching over to pinch Seungmin’s cheeks. “I’m happy for you, Minnie. You must really love him and you seem so happy with him, I think you two were really meant for each other. All that soulmates shit and everything.”

Seungmin scrunches up his nose in fake disgust. “You are so cheesy, Hwang Hyunjin. What has Jisung done to you?”

“Oh, shut up.” Hyunjin rolls his eyes and reaches over to slap Seungmin’s arm playfully. 

The front door suddenly swings open and Seungmin practically jumps out of his skin in shock. “What the hell?” As if he was summoned, Jisung is there standing awkwardly in the doorway of their apartment. 

“Oh, Seungmin’s back.” Back? “If I would’ve known you were coming back, I could’ve gotten you something.” Jisung says with a pout, closing the door behind him and walking into the kitchen to set down the take-out bag from wherever he went to get breakfast. 

Did he miss something? Since when does Jisung just waltz into their apartment without knocking? And that’s when he finally puts the pieces together. 

“Holy shit! You only noticed my morning after glow because you have one, too!” Seungmin bursts out while Hyunjin is walking over to the kitchen. “You guys are actually fucking? I thought we were just joking!”

“We’re not fucking.” Jisung says nonchalantly as he unpacks their food. 

“Yeah, last night was the first time we fucked.” 

“Wait, you and Minho fucked?” Jisung suddenly returns to what Seungmin said moments ago. “Isn’t that, like, a big deal for you?”

“Is that your gentle way of calling me a loser virgin?” Seungmin asks with a raised eyebrow. “But yes, me and Minho had sex. Yes, it was amazing. Now let’s stop talking about my sex life, I’m bad at this.” 

Hyunjin and Jisung shared an amused look before agreeing to let it go and walking over to the living room to share their breakfasts with Seungmin. 

. . .

“Alright, we got this.” 

“We got this.”

“Ready to be absolutely, completely smitten with me for the second day in a row?” Minho asks teasingly and Seungmin scoffs. 

“Sure, babe. Let’s go.” Seungmin smiles sweetly, pulling Minho along behind him to his front door. 

Christmas has finally arrived and it was time for Minho to meet Seungmin’s family as his boyfriend. Seungmin spent some of Christmas Eve with Minho’s family, which went pretty well and they survived without suspicion. Today, Minho was only staying for a few hours to spend time with Seungmin’s family so he could go home and have dinner with his own family later. 

Seungmin opens up the front door, stepping inside and still pulling Minho behind him. “Mom? I’m back!” 

“In here!” Seungmin’s mom responds from what he assumes is the kitchen. He gives Minho one last playful look before making his way through the house. Minho looks around, taking in the house that he’s been in plenty of times before. Seungmin’s mom is quite fond of changing things up every once and a while, so of course some things are different but in general, it feels like a second home to him. 

“I brought company.” Seungmin jokes as he walks into the kitchen, fingers intertwined with Minho’s. 

“Minho, darling!” She exclaims excitedly, putting down the plates that she was carrying and moving across the room to pull Minho into a tight hug. “I feel like it’s been so long! Seungmin was right, you’ve definitely gotten even more handsome.” 

She turns her back to the two boys and Minho looks over at Seungmin with his eyebrows raised playfully. “Do you need any help with anything?” Minho asks sweetly and Seungmin playfully glares at the older boy because he beats him to asking. 

“Oh, no. I’m just trying to get everything started so it can be ready by the time everyone shows up for dinner.” She says, shuffling around the kitchen to keep working on making the food. “You can set the table if you want, but other than that, you two can just relax until Sehun gets here with Jaemin.”

“We can get that done for you.” Seungmin smiles and moves forward to pick up the plates that his mom set out. “Baby, can you get the utensils?” Seungmin directs the question to Minho, nodding his head in the direction of where the utensils are. Minho nods in agreement, gathering all of the utensils and following Seungmin into the dining room. The two boys set the table fairly quickly. Seungmin suddenly wraps his arms around Minho’s waist, pulling him into his chest with a smile. “Lee Minho, we make a pretty good team.”

“You’re just now realizing that?” Minho teases, pushing up onto his toes to kiss the younger. Seungmin’s grinning like an idiot whenever they pull away. He says it’s just because he’s in a good mood because of the holidays. 

“Am I interrupting a moment?” Seungmin’s mother asks playfully in the doorway. 

“Just a little bit.” Seungmin jokes, removing his arms from around Minho’s waist. “We finished the table.” He says, motioning dramatically to the set table. 

“I can see that.” She smiles, stepping a bit further into the dining room. “I hid some gifts up in your room while you were gone, can you bring them down whenever you have a minute?”

“Yeah, I’ll run up and grab them.” Seungmin says and begins moving towards the stairs. “Come with?”

Minho hums in agreement, following Seungmin up to his room. Whenever they get up to his room, Minho immediately goes over and throws himself onto Seungmin’s bed. “Tired already? That’s not a good sign, my mom is the least crazy member of my family.” Seungmin teases. He walks over to his closet, searching for the presents. He doesn’t really know where he’s supposed to be looking but he assumes his closet is a good start. 

“Not really, nervous more than anything.” Minho admits as he spreads his limbs out across the bed. 

“Why are you nervous? You afraid you won’t get everyone’s blessing?” Seungmin makes his way out of the closet, holding a bunch of small gifts in his arms. He places them on the ground and then walks over to his bed, laying down beside the older. 

“Even if we’re fake dating, I still want your family to like me. Especially because it’s my first time meeting Sehun.” Minho shrugs, trying to seem relaxed. 

“Okay, well, Sehun’s opinion doesn’t really matter anyway so don’t worry about it.” Seungmin says bitterly and Minho is caught off guard by his harsh tone. He turns around so that he’s laying on his stomach and gives the boy a confused look. “What?” 

“You don’t like him? Did he do something to you? Or say something?” Minho asks, tilting his head curiously. 

Seungmin groans, looking up at the ceiling. “No, he hasn’t. I guess it’s just,” Seungmin pauses, not really sure what to say. He knew why he disliked his mom’s boyfriend, but he’s never talked about it before. Not even to his mom. Minho doesn’t push him, though, just waits to see if Seungmin will continue explaining. “I don’t know. It’s always been me and my mom, you know? It’s just weird thinking about adding on to us. I don’t need a new dad. I don’t want a new dad. I know it sounds selfish, I just–I’m bad with change.”

“Hey, it’s not selfish.” Minho comforts him, sliding up on the bed a little bit. He gently tilts Seungmin’s head back down so they can meet eyes. “Getting used to having another person around can be really weird and hard and it’s a lot to get used to, you don’t have to feel bad for that. Don’t think of it as him trying to become your new dad or anything, just think of it as him being another pillar of support in your life. He makes your mom happy, doesn’t he?” He asks and Seungmin sighs, nodding his head eventually. “So maybe it’s worth giving him a chance. I’m not saying that you have to immediately welcome him into the family or try to convince your mom to marry him or anything like that, just give him a chance, maybe?”

“I guess I could try to be civil for once.” Seungmin mumbles and Minho smiles softly. 

“And if you need any kind of support, I’m here. I’ll even stay for dinner if you need me to, okay? Just let me know whatever it is that you need.” Minho offers. 

“Thank you. Seriously, it means a lot.” Seungmin says, leaning forward to press his lips gently against his temple. 

They share a moment of comfortable silence, watching each other with fondness in their eyes. And then they’re both moving forward to connect their lips. Neither of them can tell how long they stay like that, lips moving slowly against each other. They do know, however, that they get interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing. 

Minho hums lowly, pulling away from the kiss with a content smile. “I guess it’s time to meet the rest of the family.” 

Minho is great with Seungmin’s family, as expected. He’s a people person, really. It’s hard to find a person that doesn’t love Lee Minho. 

And as promised, Seungmin does give Sehun a try. It’s not as bad as he always made it out to be, maybe it’s because of the happy smiles from his mother when she realizes that Seungmin is finally actually talking to her boyfriend. Maybe it’s because of the way Minho proudly squeezes his hand whenever he starts conversations not only with Sehun, but his son and girlfriend as well. 

Whenever it’s time for Minho to leave, everyone practically begs him to stay at least for a little bit of dinner but he politely insists that he has to go home. 

Seungmin does feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders when he lays in bed, realizing that Christmas is actually over. But then he remembers what comes next and he’s not too sure that he’s ready to fake break up with Minho. 

. . .

Seungmin eventually finds himself sprawled out lazily on the couch of his apartment. What the hell was he supposed to do? Minho could mention the break up at any point and Seungmin doesn’t want to break up anymore. 

He really should've seen this coming. How did he expect himself to be in a fake relationship and not catch feelings? This is what literally every fake dating story ever warned him about. 

“Honey, I’m home!” Hyunjin shouts as he enters the apartment. He waits by the door, eyebrows furrowed when Seungmin doesn’t respond. “I was expecting a warmer welcome than this.” Hyunjin grumbles, dropping his duffel bag on the ground.

“Hyunjin, my life is over.” 

“Oh,” Hyunjin says and moves towards his roommate. He sits on the floor beside him, awkwardly patting his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. “Did something happen with Minho?”

Seungmin groans, sitting up abruptly and turning to face his unsuspecting roommate. “Can you keep a secret?” 

Hyunjin just sits quietly for a moment and blinks a few times while he tries to think of what Seungmin could possibly have to tell him. “Yeah, what’s up?” He asks, getting up from the floor and getting comfortable on the couch next to Seungmin. 

“Minho and I weren’t actually dating. We were never dating. We were just faking for the holidays because of this whole situation with my mom and then we needed to practice so we just pretended with you guys as well.”

Hyunjin snorts, slapping his hand over his mouth as he lets out the loudest laugh Seungmin has ever heard. “You’re joking, right?” He asks through giggles, his laughter eventually dying down when Seungmin doesn’t say it was a joke. “What? You have to be joking. Minho is literally in love with you, anyone with eyes can see that. He’s almost as obvious about it as you are.”

“I’m not–I don’t–” Seungmin fumbles over his words before deciding to not even deny it. “We’re supposed to fake break up soon…” Seungmin begins but trails off at the end of his sentence. 

“But you don’t want to?” Hyunjin asks and Seungmin nods. “Have you talked to him about it?” Seungmin shakes his head. “Seungmin, you should really talk to him.”

“Hyunjin, I don’t think you understand how embarrassing that would be for me.” Seungmin whines. 

“It wouldn’t be embarrassing, he is so in love with you! I don’t understand how you can’t see that, everyone wants what you two have. Or had. Or fake had?” Hyunjin questions, trying to figure out the right way to say it. “Not important. What’s important is that he 1000% has feelings for you. You’re both just idiots who don’t know how to communicate.”

“Thanks.” Seungmin deadpans. 

“Seungmin, look at me.” Hyunjin demands and Seungmin sighs loudly, looking up at Hyunjin. “Just trust me. You need to talk to him.”

Seungmin finds it hard to say no when he realizes how sincere Hyunjin is being. “Fine, I’ll talk to him tonight.”

. . .

Okay, so maybe Seungmin won’t talk to him tonight. 

He spent the rest of his day leading up to the New Year’s party planning out exactly what he wanted to say to the older boy but as soon as he laid eyes on him, he couldn’t remember a single word that he had rehearsed over and over. 

“Can we talk?” Minho asks as soon as he approaches Seungmin, hands immediately falling onto his waist. Seungmin’s heart starts beating out of his chest. 

Shit. He probably wants to talk about the break up, right? God, he’s gonna break up with me before I can even tell him how I feel. Is that why he’s so late showing up? He felt bad about breaking up–fake breaking up–with me on New Years so he tried to put it off as much as possible?

“Seung?” Minho asks gently, squeezing his waist delicately. 

“Oh. Um, yeah. We can go to my room.” Seungmin offers and Minho nods in agreement. The younger awkwardly reaches down to grab Minho’s hand and lead him to his room. He isn’t sure if it’s really the best time for hand holding considering Minho is about to fake dump him but they have an image to uphold and Seungmin kind of wants to indulge while he still can. 

Whenever they both make it into Seungmin’s room, he closes the door behind them. He turns to face the older boy, taking a deep breath to try to calm his nerves. 

Minho seems just as nervous for some reason, fidgeting with his fingers as he makes his way to Seungmin’s bed to sit. Seungmin stays by his desk. There’s an awkward tension in the room and it’s absolutely suffocating. 

“Seungmin, I really don’t think I can–”

“Wait, Minho.” Seungmin cuts off the older boy as soon as he begins speaking. “Can I please talk first? I have something that I really need to say.”

Seungmin doesn’t even realize he’s tearing up until Minho speaks again. “Baby, are you okay? Come here.” He speaks so gently like he’s afraid his words will somehow break the boy. Seungmin immediately walks over to where Minho is sitting and allows himself to be pulled into his lap. “What’s wrong? Please talk to me.”

Seungmin laughs defeatedly when a tear finally falls down his cheek. Minho is quick to cup his face, gently wiping the tear away. “I love you.” Seungmin swallows harshly. “Like, I love you. I’m in love with you.” He can feel the way Minho tenses up at the confession which only sends him into a state of panic, tears spilling out of his eyes again. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Minho. I should’ve just called this whole thing off when I realized but I’m an idiot and I’m selfish and I’m sorry.”

“When did you realize?” Minho asks slowly, looking at the younger in disbelief with furrowed eyebrows. 

Why did he have to ask questions? It was already hard enough for Seungmin to muster up the courage to finally spit it out. 

“Um,” Seungmin begins. He reminds himself to breathe before opening his mouth to speak again. “I don’t really know. When I said I loved you after we had sex I meant it. Like that.” Seungmin clarifies nervously, his voice shaking. 

Minho huffs, letting a singular chuckle fall from his lips before wiping Seungmin’s tears again. “Please don’t cry, angel. I guess we’re both idiots.” Minho laughs breathlessly. “I love you, too. God, Seungmin, I’ve loved you for years. When I said that I knew you didn’t mean it like that it was just because I didn’t want to hear you say it yourself. But when I said it back, I meant it as so much more than just friends.”

Seungmin chokes. He actually chokes on his own spit in shock. “You what ?”

Minho laughs shyly, his thumbs still moving to dry the younger boy’s face. “Yeah, a little bit embarrassing.”

Seungmin slowly cracks a smile, bringing his hands up to rest on Minho’s chest. “You love me?”

Minho immediately nods. “So much. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to say that to you.”

The younger smiles widely, blinking away the tears that were threatening to fall again. Minho becomes visibly concerned at the sight of tears in corners of his eyes. “Happy tears this time.” Seungmin explains. 

Outside of his room, they can hear everyone counting down until midnight. 

10

9

8

“We should probably kiss so we can stay together forever or whatever it is.” Seungmin jokes and Minho raises an eyebrow. 

7

6

5

“Yeah? Who says I wanna be with you forever?”

4

“Okay, Mr. ‘I’ve loved you for years’ doesn’t wanna stay together forever.”

3

“I hate you, you know that?”

2

“Actually, you’re in love with me.”

1

“Come here.”

And Minho pulls Seungmin down for a kiss. 

“Happy New Year!”

They both pull away, way too happy about the kiss considering it was just a peck. 

Seungmin leans in again for another kiss, stopping right before their lips connect. “I love you so much.” He mumbles before pressing their lips together again. 

Minho really doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of hearing those words leave Seungmin’s mouth. 

“I love you more.”