Work Text:
If he’s honest with himself, Seungmin is quite cynical about love. It makes his job as a Cupid pretty difficult. Luckily, he has Lee Felix – hopeless romantic, matchmaker extraordinaire, Best Cupid in the Biz (Felix's words, not his) – to assist him on his jobs.
Technically, Seungmin isn’t even supposed to work with partners on his assignments.
His ratings are very high and he’s really experienced so it’s pretty unnecessary for him to have to have someone tag along with him unless he’s doing training. But while he’s an expert in the field he’s a little bit unenthusiastic about most assignments, which admittedly makes him a bit lazy when doing tasks. His supervisor thinks he just needs to get his optimism back up, to be more passionate about making people fall in love again. And stats are up apparently, an increase in new couples and people dating, getting married, falling back in love. Seungmin can’t handle all the jobs alone. (More like he can’t be trusted to do them efficiently on his own.) So now, he has Felix.
He’s worked with Felix before this, more or less. If attending the same staff meetings and making awkwardly charged eye contact in the break room around the office counts as working together, then sure. Felix is much different from Seungmin in lots of ways, but the biggest thing is that Felix really likes having this job. He’s always early to work and ready to receive his assignments, and he treats every job meticulously and seriously. He reads the full profiles of all of his targets, tries to get to know them better even if he’s only going to be in their vicinity for less than a minute, and he loves learning about the couple's timelines and backstories.
Seungmin is marginally less invested, now that he’s been here a while.
But having Felix tag along on assignments isn’t all that bad. He’s never late when they have to meet with each other to get the job done, and he always brings coffee for the two of them, which is nice. Even nicer that Seungmin doesn't have to buy his own. He’d never say it aloud, but it is actually enjoyable having someone else alongside him while he works. It could just be that Felix is enjoyable to be around, and it could be that Seungmin’s been sort of infatuated with Felix for some time. Could be. He’s not sure, though.
It’s Monday and he luckily has no assignments for the afternoon, so he sits behind his desk and drinks his first coffee of the day, pretending to go through weekly reports while he really just enjoys the lull in his workday and plays a few games on his phone. He doesn’t get to have too much silence before he’s hearing a knock on the opening of his cubicle, looking up into the eyes of a certain Han Jisung.
“Yeah?” Seungmin says, placing his hand back on his mouse as if to look like he’s doing something – then just as quickly removes it. He doesn’t know why he’s trying to convince Jisung he’s doing any work when Jisung is never doing any of his own.
He gives Seungmin a once over before glancing at his computer screen, noting the inactivity on the page he’s been staring at on and off for the last hour and says, “oh good, you’re not busy.” He steps into the tiny space and crowds behind Seungmin’s desk chair, fixing himself there as he does most days out of the week while he comes to complain to Seungmin about other people in the office. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Seungmin barely spares Jisung a glance. “Is this about Hyunjin?” He pauses before saying, “again?”
Jisung sighs, loud and overdramatic, before standing at Seungmin’s side and leaning against his desk with a huff. His tie clip catches in the sunlight and it glints rose gold – it’s a tiny heart with an arrow pierced through it, holding onto a silky blue tie patterned with tiny puppies bumping noses all over it. Seungmin holds in his laughter. “Yes, and let me tell you why.”
As if he wasn’t going to anyway.
Seungmin listens regardless when Jisung launches into the retelling of his altercation with Hyunjin alongside the coffee machine in the break room this morning – how they fought over the last of what was left in the pot – and he’s starting to regret letting Jisung into his cubicle to interrupt his peaceful afternoon.
“Why didn’t you just make another cup for yourself once he left?” Seungmin asks even though he knows it’s just going to get Jisung worked up all over again.
“It’s about the principle, Seungmin, I was there first! And I just turned away for a quick second to rinse out my mug, and then–”
“Are you still on this, Han?” Hyunjin’s voice carries outside of Seungmin’s cubicle, displeased. Jisung shuts his mouth immediately and his expression sours. Hyunjin makes himself visible in the opening, Felix trailing behind him and peeking through, wiggling his fingers in a wave toward Seungmin.
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
Seungmin groans. “Can you still be on it, but like, not at my desk?”
Hyunjin gives him a look before frowning. “You’re not even working.”
Seungmin picks up a spare piece of paper and balls it up before throwing it in Hyunjin’s general direction. It lands weakly on the floor at Felix’s feet and Jisung snorts from beside him. “Okay, everybody go away.”
Jisung grumbles under his breath and pushes past Hyunjin and Felix on his way back down the hall, bumping into Hyunjin’s shoulder which of course sets them both off again, bickering back toward the other side of the office. Away from Seungmin’s cubicle, thankfully. Felix sticks around though and steps in with a folder in his hands. He perches himself on the edge of Seungmin’s desk that’s not covered in reports and shifts a bit to make himself comfortable.
Seungmin can’t find it in himself to ask Felix to leave, because he doesn’t especially want him to go, and besides – he’s not really busy.
“I actually came here to ask you about a few lines on my printout,” Felix says, and Seungmin is grateful it’s genuinely something important. “Can you look over these? It’s mainly stats.”
“Uh, sure,” Seungmin hesitantly takes the folder from Felix, “that’s – usually Hyunjin does all of that stuff, you could’ve asked him. I’m sure he would’ve helped you.”
Felix doesn’t blink before speaking. “Yeah, but I wanted to ask you.”
“Oh. Alright, I’ll look at it.” He begins to skim through the file, taking in all of Felix’s notes and highlighted lines.
Felix kicks his feet back and forth from where he sits, humming lightly. Seungmin is attaching a sticky note to the paper in front of him when Felix says, “what’s the deal with Hyunjin and Jisung, do you think?”
“You mean besides the fact that they’re both endlessly annoying.”
Felix laughs, “I just mean, when do you think they’re gonna get together?”
Seungmin almost drops his pen. “When are they what?”
“Oh come on,” Felix kicks his feet again. “They like each other a lot, it’s so obvious.”
Maybe it’s because Felix is still relatively new around the office, so he doesn’t fully understand the extent to which Hyunjin and Jisung have it out for each other, and not in the good way. Not even remotely. Seungmin has also noticed Felix has a thing for trying to see the best in people and takes pride in his optimism, so he’s chalking it up to that. “I can’t say that I see what you mean. Every time they interact with each other it ends in near-death.”
Felix shakes his head and tuts, his soft bangs falling into his eyes. “Oh, Seungminnie,” The nickname sounds like finely spun cotton candy rolling off of Felix’s tongue, “Sweet, naive Seungminnie. You clearly know nothing about how a crush works.”
Seungmin looks over at Felix – takes in his cute freckles and bright teasing smile and the way his eyes look golden in the afternoon sunlight, feels the way that he practically melts into his uncomfortable desk chair under the gentleness of Felix’s gaze – and he thinks he might have a pretty good idea of how a crush works.
“Not like it’s part of my job, or anything,” Seungmin manages to say and shuts the folder closed before handing it back to Felix. “Everything should be good now.”
Felix hops down and takes his printout, poking Seungmin in the cheek lightly and making a cute noise. “Thanks. See you tomorrow afternoon?”
Seungmin frowns. “What’s going on tomorrow?” It’s just Tuesday. Hyunjin usually brings donuts to the breakroom. Other than that, nothing interesting.
“Our next assignment together! I sent you an email, it should be in your calendar.” He walks off without a farewell, humming as he bobs and weaves through the corridor back to his own cubicle, and Seungmin goes to open his inbox, a little red circle on the app of his calendar icon and he clicks it: highlighted in a pink bar are the words Field Assignment w/ Felix @ 2pm!!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Seungmin bites the side of his mouth to keep the dumb smile he can feel about to breach at bay and writes the event down in his planner using a blue pen. And if he finishes off the entry with a few hearts scrawled onto the paper, nobody has to know.
✶
“I give it six months, tops.”
Felix scoffs. “Come on, that’s just insulting.”
“Maybe a year. But I feel like even that’s pushing it.”
Seungmin isn’t even looking at the couple he’s referring to, just takes another sip of his bitter americano and tilts his face up to the sun. The last thing he wants to be doing is sitting out on a Field Assignment all day when he’s not really supposed to have any work – he guesses his schedule is the least of his supervisor’s concerns. Especially when he’s splitting the job. (Meaning, he’s not doing any of it.)
Felix tuts and fastens a flat red bullet to the arrowhead in his hand, securing it tight before he positions it in his bow, pulling the string back to prepare to shoot. Seungmin always finds this part slightly amusing. Other people pass them by and don’t bat an eye at them; it probably looks like Felix is holding a camera with a long-range lens or something similar to that – Seungmin isn’t sure what projection Felix has set up for the mortal world to see. It’s not something he concerns himself with much. Felix sits still for a minute, closing one of his eyes to steady his aim, even though Seungmin has told him over and over that that does not do anything.
“Are you gonna do it, or what?” He challenges, leaning closer to Felix’s hand to see if he can throw him off balance a little, just for fun. Just to see the way Felix would huff and whine about it, puff out his cheeks in annoyance.
“If you stop talking to me so I could concentrate,” Felix slides a snarky glare Seungmin’s way, “I could get it done. Even though this isn’t even my assignment.” He mumbles the last part a bit, a touch miffed, and Seungmin laughs a bit before sitting back and leaving Felix alone. For now, anyway.
The couple of the day haven’t been dating long, just a few weeks, according to the write-up Seungmin and Felix were both handed this morning. The new couples are more Felix’s vibe, the people he has fun with the most, so Seungmin had no issues handing the job over to him. He’s not a big fan of the Honeymoon Stage Couples. It’s a waste of an arrow, in his opinion. They’re head over heels for each other in the beginning anyway, no need to give them more of a boost or any more encouragement to fall deeper in love this early in the relationship. Not to mention sitting and watching couples make heart-eyes at each other for the entirety of their interactions is nothing short of nauseating. He prefers Established Couples, ones that have been together for a significant amount of time and maybe just need a reawakening of their love after some time. There’s less risk there. More understanding. His supervisor refers to it as “rekindling an old flame”, which Seungmin finds incredibly cheesy and stupid. Even for the business he’s in, he thinks it’s a bit over the top in the choice of wording.
But Felix loves the newer couples, the fresh romance, the sticky-sweet honey glances they send to each other and the rose pink blush of their cheeks when they brush hands. He giggles and smiles a mile wide when he watches them with his eyes twinkling like a night sky full of stars.
The taller one – Chan, apparently – leans down and whispers something into his date’s ear, making him laugh loudly and shove him away with the shells of his ears going slightly pink, but he glows with adoration and leans into Chan’s side. Even though they’ve got no troubles with PDA, the shorter one at Chan’s side – Changbin – looks shy and hesitant in his actions, maybe unsure if he’s feeling too much too soon. Seungmin knows Felix is thinking the same thing and Felix lets out a little coo, a happy noise of contentment, and lets his arrow fly. It zips through the air so quick it barely makes any sound but Seungmin can hear it loud and clear. The rushed beating of a nervous heart, the timid but honest pitch of a confession. It lands right on Chan, dead in the center of his lower back, and he jerks a bit where he’s standing in place. Changbin gives a concerned look, asking him silently if he’s okay, but Chan just stares as his surrounding aura turns bright pink, the color of freshly bloomed cherry blossoms. He meets eyes with Changbin, and it’s like his whole world changes and turns, as if the sun is rising again for the second time that day, and the grin he bears is enough to convince Changbin that he’s not the only one feeling too much too fast. Not too much at all. Just the perfect amount.
Felix sighs wistfully from next to Seungmin, and he has to hold back from rolling his eyes. He knows what’s coming. This is the best part, Felix is going to say.
“This is the best part.” Felix swoons in his seat, watching on adoringly. Seungmin should play the lottery or something. His intuition is pretty good. It also could be that he’s just coming to know Felix a bit too well, and that’s not a thought he particularly wants to read into at the moment. Not now, when Felix has one of those smiles on, when he really looks like the embodiment of a true angel, showering happiness and excitement over two people young and in love. “You could stand to look a little more excited?”
“I am,” Seungmin deadpans. “I’m super excited. This is my happy face.”
“You have one of those?”
Seungmin really does roll his eyes this time, “ha ha.”
But he gives a small twitch of his lips when Felix isn’t looking, when he turns to put his bow away and Seungmin catches sight of his self satisfied smile from another job well done, a task succeeded, when he bounces in his seat a little bit from gratification. Even Seungmin can admit happiness is hard to avoid when Felix is around, no matter the circumstance.
Nearly impossible.
Felix takes a sip of his iced tea before holding out a hand toward Seungmin without saying anything, looking expectant. Seungmin’s not sure what he’s asking for – he has half a mind to put his own hand in Felix’s palm, even though he has a feeling that’s not what he wants. “I need the follow up sheet,” Felix finally says, and Seungmin lets out a noise of affirmation before reaching in his bag for it. “Should I fill it out, or do you actually want to do some work?”
“You’re hilarious. I’ll do it, let me have a pen.”
The pen Felix hands Seungmin is bright magenta and glitter, with a springy heart on the top of it and a red feather attached – because of course it is. He scribbles down the assignment notes: today’s date, subject names, relationship status, date and time of the arrow being fired, and any additional comments. Felix leans close and watches Seungmin record his answers.
“You should put in the comments that they were a really cute couple,” Felix suggests and lays a hand on Seungmin’s arm. He tries not to shy away from their close proximity and keeps filling in the blank spaces on the form.
“I can write it, but I’m not sure it’s really that important.” Felix scoffs in response but stays quiet for another minute before speaking again, “what’s that section for?” He points in reference to a box in the lower right hand corner of the paper containing a series of numbers, like a rubric.
“It’s a rating system we use to determine how long we think the couple will last. Maybe in a few years they’ll need another oversee or a fresh arrow. Like a follow up to the follow up.”
“You’re supposed to try to figure all of that out this early?”
“It’s really just like a bet,” Seungmin concedes with a laugh, “to see if we end up being right based on the initial meeting.”
Felix sits back in his chair and shakes his bangs out of his eyes, “well I think they’ll be together for quite some time.” He peers over and taps his finger on the paper, right above the number 5. “Circle that.” Seungmin raises a brow in disagreement but listens anyway, whipping the pen around in a quick little bubble.
“I would’ve given them maybe a 3, but that’s just my opinion.”
“Wrong opinion. They look practically married already!” Felix nods his chin to the other side of the open cafe patio where Chan and Changbin are sitting, looking extremely in love and not ready to leave each other’s sides anytime soon. “It’s 5. I’m willing to bet on that.”
Intrigue. If there’s one thing Seungmin can’t ignore, it’s the fact that he’s discreetly highly competitive, and this peaks his interest. “Deal. What am I going to get when I win?”
“I’ll give you time to think about it, even though you’re going to lose.”
Not a chance. Seungmin is a professional, he’s fantastic at this job even though he pretends he couldn’t care less, but he knows what he’s doing. Felix has beginner’s luck. It won’t last long. He holds out his hand to shake and Felix takes it, palm warm and soft. “Okay, it’s a bet.”
And of course, it doesn’t stop there. It seems every assignment that Seungmin and Felix are paired together on ends in a wager of some sort, the two of them bickering back and forth by the end of it about their future predictions. As level-headed and fair as Felix is, he can’t deny that he likes a good competition, can’t ignore that he likes the back and forth with Seungmin about who’s going to win and who’s going to lose.
In the break room later that week, Felix waltzes in with a huge slice of strawberry shortcake and a proposition.
“I’ve got one for you,” He says to Seungmin while he’s standing at the coffee pot, no context following. He hops onto the counter next to the machine, trousers riding up his ankles high enough for Seungmin to catch sight of his baby pink socks, embellished with tiny pairs of white bunnies on patches of grass. “Well, first – cake?”
Seungmin accepts and pulls a drawer open to grab two forks and a knife. The container cracks loudly and echoes through the entire break room, the saccharine scent of strawberries drenched in syrup filling the air. “You were saying?”
Felix accepts a fork and digs it into the slice straightaway. “Are you willing to bet that I can get Jisung and Hyunjin to admit they like each other?”
“Probably not, since you won’t win. But okay, I’ll humor you for the sake of this great joke.”
“I’m not joking!” Felix huffs and stuffs his mouth full of cake. “I should just hit them both with an arrow, right in front of you to prove that I’ve done it.”
“Arrows don’t work on Cupids,” Seungmin says, cutting the remainder of the cake in front of him to divide into two pieces for them to share. He slides Felix’s half over to him and gives him the strawberry from off the top of his own.
“How else are we going to nudge Hyunjin and Jisung in the right direction?” Felix sounds actually put out by the situation, contemplating seriously on the solution.
Seungmin frowns. “In the direction of what? Nothing will ever happen between them.”
“It will if I have anything to say about it.” He pops the strawberry into his mouth and scoops the whipped cream off of the surface of the cake with his fork.
“Even if they did somehow miraculously work out, who says they would even want you involved? Sometimes people think third-party meddling is rude.”
He gets a flat look from Felix in return. “We are literally professional third-party meddlers.”
Which – is true.
“If you manage to do this, I’ll do all of your work for like the next five years,” Seungmin says and holds out his hand for a shake of confirmation, Felix raising a brow.
“You really think there is no chance of them getting together?”
“Are you gonna shake on it, or not?”
Felix sighs and sticks his hand out to take Seungmin’s, not shaking, just holding. “Because I’m a nice person, I’m not going to take this agreement too seriously. It would really suck if you had to do my work for the next five years when you never even want to do your own.” Seungmin makes an affronted noise, opening his mouth to refute but Felix stops him. “But you’re still going to lose.”
✶
Even though it’s been a little while, sometimes the job still comes with surprises. It's kind of impossible to never get assigned to a couple that someone doesn’t know personally; a pair of friends or a member of someone’s family. Seungmin remembers taking an assignment for one of Hyunjin’s cousins after they just got married. That was years ago though; seemingly ancient history. The passage of time has always moved a bit differently for them than it went by for the rest of the world.
So – rare, but not entirely out of the question. Still, Seungmin can’t control his surprise when he opens a new case file on his desk that Jisung drops off before he’s even had his first coffee of the day that contains two profiles he recognizes instantly.
Subject 1: Lee Minho, 25
Subject 2: Yang Jeongin, 22
The smile that makes its home on Seungmin’s face isn’t unwelcomed – in fact, he has to hold in a giddy little laugh at the prospect of getting to assist two people he considers to be his close friends. He hasn’t been this excited (albeit silently) over an assignment in ages. He skims the profiles quickly, not really having a need to know any additional personal information on them, but just curiously because he wants to see how the information is laid out for him. In a way, he’s relieved this assignment came to him.
Seungmin knows Minho and Jeongin well, has known them both for many many years, and knows that they definitely harbor unspoken feelings towards each other. So in a way, he knows this is going to be good. He considers making the task more interesting by following the two of them around and letting himself be seen so he can assess the situation up close and catch up with them – but that’s strictly against policy, and as much as Seungmin pretends to be nonchalant about parameters, he’s always been a rule follower. Hyunjin calls him a loser for it once a week at minimum. Instead he decides to take another route. Technically he’s not doing any rule breaking, just casually inquiring about his friend’s plans for the day, and there’s no harm in that. He pulls out his phone to text Jeongin.
me: are you busy today?
innie: hanging out with minho for a bit. why
Seungmin pockets his phone and straightens up his desk before grabbing his coat from the back of his chair, draping it over his arm, tucking the file folder into it and exiting his cubicle. He won’t need to be out in public for a couple more hours, but he heads down the hallway anyway, passing by the meeting rooms and the breakroom, over toward the west wing of offices.
He passes by Hyunjin’s desk on his way there, confused and a little appalled to see Jisung sitting there with him, the two of them poring over an email draft together and – not fighting or arguing. Actually looking like they’re enjoying each other’s company. Leaning in close to talk in low tones, sharing a giggle over something. Seungmin blinks to make sure he’s not seeing things wrong, but nothing changes – so he keeps going. Best to just mind his own business. When gets to the end of the hall, he knocks on the side wall of Felix’s enclosed space to get his attention. Felix looks up, surprised to see Seungmin standing there. “Oh! Hey, what’s up?”
“I have a field assignment today,” Seungmin starts, and suddenly feels a little bad about bothering Felix. But he’s gotten so used to the two of them being together for this job, he thinks it wouldn’t be right to go on ahead without inviting Felix to come along. “If you don’t have anything scheduled for the afternoon, do you want to–”
“You’re kidding,” Felix doesn’t even let Seungmin finish, just exits out of his inbox and logs off of his computer before grabbing his bag and jacket. “Yes. I’m coming with you. Let’s go.” He attaches himself to Seungmin’s side, grip firm on his arm and leading back down the hall the way he came.
They go out of the side entrance into the warm midday air, Seungmin listening to Felix complain about how boring his day was and he’s glad that Seungmin pulled him away from the slow drag of work. They cut around the corner in front of their building, passing by other people out for an afternoon stroll against the breeze blowing around gentle flower petals that coat the sidewalk in a baby pink film.
“What’s on the agenda today?” Felix asks and adds a bit of bounce to his step as they walk. He still has not let go of Seungmin’s arm, looping his own through and Seungmin’s sure to anyone looking them over thinks they probably seem like a couple. He ignores it in favor of keeping his sanity.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s actually something fun.” He responds, Felix lighting up the moment the words are out of his mouth, pestering him for more details. He explains more about his friends, their story; how they’ve all known each other since they were young kids and went through the same schools all together. How Minho has always been subtly smitten with Jeongin, how Jeongin has always been just as quietly adoring in return.
The park entrance is wide and welcoming when they walk through the big fence, passing by the vendors on the sidewalk and passing the playground that’s already noisy even this early in the day, to take their post on the north side, overlooking the walking paths. It’s a bit difficult to essentially spy on someone from the ground when the goal is to be as inconspicuous as possible, so they take refuge in a tall oak tree with lots of shade.
Felix skims through the file while they wait for Minho and Jeongin to make themselves seen while Seungmin busies himself with getting everything set up for the task – he loads up the arrow they’re going to be using that has a flat arrowhead the color of a ripe peach, and fastens it properly into the bow.
Seungmin starts to get fidgety when he finally sees his friends coming into the park entrance together, standing closely to each other’s sides and talking amongst themselves. He sees Felix moving from the corner of his eye, pulling something out from his bag and holding it up to his face: a pair of binoculars. Really fancy ones, like people use at the theaters to watch plays. Seungmin snorts a laugh.
“I cannot believe you brought those,” He says, Felix not moving an inch, binoculars poised on top of his nose while he watches the scene below intensely.
“I want to be sure I can really see what’s happening!”
“Glasses, maybe?”
“This feels more stylish and professional, though.”
Seungmin just shakes his head and rests the bow between them gingerly, ensuring it won’t fall, before going back to just watching. Minho and Jeongin continue to walk along the park path, slowing their paces to stay in stride with each other and walking side by side. Minho offers Jeongin a sip of his drink and the younger accepts, deciding he likes it better and switching his own for Minho’s – who pretends like he's annoyed and put out by the whole ordeal. Seungmin knows better. So does Jeongin, with the way he just gives a laugh and keeps walking.
“Do you want to do this one?” Felix asks, his feet swinging idly from the branch they’re sitting on while he fiddles with his bow. Seungmin tries not to huff out a stupid laugh when his mind starts to jingle, Felix and Seungmin sitting in a tree…
He furrows his brows instead and fixes his gaze on Felix, who looks equal parts intrigued and uneasy. “Why, you don’t want to?”
He looks down at Minho and Jeongin, hunched over on a bench and looking at something on one of their phones, leaning in close to each other. Seungmin can feel the yearning radiating off of them in waves and he cracks a little smile at the sight of them. Felix shifts from his left and makes an uncertain sound.
“I just think it would be better if you did it. It would mean a lot more, right?”
It really shouldn’t matter who fires the arrow in the grand scheme of things. There’s no big difference between whether Felix fires it or when Seungmin does it. But he catches the weight in Felix’s words, the undertone of knowing, and it almost makes Seungmin blush. “I guess so,” is what he settles on, but Felix purposely lets their fingers brush when he passes Seungmin the loaded arrow, and gives a reassuring smile. Those are not butterflies in Seungmin’s stomach. That’s a myth, a common misconception, something Cupids use in reference to other people as a mushy confirmation to describe feelings. It’s just – nausea, maybe, from being so high up and far from the ground. Felix’s cheeks are pinker than the magnolias filling up the background behind them, his lips curved sweetly and Seungmin feels as close to swooning as he’s ever experienced.
Definitely nausea.
He turns away to notch the arrow in his bow, take his formation, and inhale a breath to refocus. He hesitates. His instincts are telling him to shoot it at Minho – who is older and more in tune with his feelings, less inclined to show them but will if he really wants something bad enough. But Seungmin feels himself tilting his aim more to the right, to Jeongin, who has never been especially good with words and painfully shy his entire life; more in need of an extra boost to get his feelings out, to get the answers he’s been looking for. Seungmin is supposed to hit Minho, he knows, but – he lets the arrow fly, closing his eyes when he shoots and it lands right in the middle of Jeongin’s upper arm, like a shot at the doctor’s office.
A love shot, his mind supplies. Wait, no. Not his mind. It was–
“Did you just say what I think you said?” Seungmin gives Felix a side look and he laughs, so hard that he almost falls out of the tree, but Seungmin grabs his wrist to steady him.
“You were thinking it, too, I know you were. I know you’re full of corny jokes.”
“Thinking it and saying it are two very different things,” Seungmin says, but he can’t hold his giggles in either, and gives in to let the laughter shake his body. “You’re so stupid.”
Felix takes no offense to it, just keeps trying to contain his laughter behind his palm before leaning into Seungmin’s side and resting his head on Seungmin’s shoulder gently. He squeezes Seungmin’s upper arm playfully and says, “you’d be so bored without me here, though. Admit it.”
Seungmin keeps his eyes trained on his friends below, watching Jeongin blush and stutter his way through the start of a confession, and watches how Minho tries to keep his expression neutral while his ears turn cherry red. He just lets Felix sidle up to him, keep his place on Seungmin’s shoulder and rest there. He turns toward the crown of Felix’s head where a flower petal has landed, and says, “you’re right. I probably would be.” He’s not sure if he’s feeling particularly nice today or something to that effect, but the little surprised look Felix gets on his face makes the cringey admission worth it.
He covers it quickly though, eyes sparkling and a smile curving his mouth. “Careful, Seungmin,” Felix’s voice lilts into something playful, “if you say things like that I might start to think you like me.”
Seungmin’s heart skips, stops, then settles; like a rock on the surface of water before sinking to the bottom. He figures he must be silent for a while, caught from the surprise, because Felix’s face shifts slightly into something more amused and hopeful. Seungmin turns away and tries to ignore the burning in his cheeks. “You wish.”
When he looks at Felix’s he’s going a little pink in the face himself, blush pooling on either side of his nose and glowing a sweet rose. He continues on with confidence in his voice, though. “Well – maybe I do. Who’s to say?” He punctuates the sentence with a playful shrug, but doesn’t elaborate, and Seungmin is grateful because he thinks if he has to construct a response he’ll do something stupider, like utter out a confession. So he keeps his mouth shut and says nothing, too focused on the feelings swirling around in his chest – and he decides they could possibly be butterflies.
✶
Exactly one month after their first bet, they decide to tally up their wins and losses.
They pick an empty meeting room on a slow day, bringing coffees and snacks in case they’re there for a while because Felix thinks Seungmin will spend a significant amount of time trying to spin his losses in his favor so that he can win.
“Alright, so what do we have?”
Felix spreads the papers on the table in front of him, lining them up in order and positioning them neatly. “I think it’s too soon to tell for some of them, but it’s looking like I’m in the lead so far.” He smiles at Seungmin’s affronted expression and laughs when Seungmin protests.
“Says who?!”
“Says me. Face it, Kim, you lost.”
“Give me those reports.” Seungmin reaches out to grab the stack of forms from in front of Felix to shuffle through them but Felix is quicker, snatching them up and holding them close to his chest.
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re cheating.”
“Why can’t you just accept that I won!” Felix sighs and rolls his eyes playfully. “Alright fine, here, look.” He grabs the first form. “Chan and Changbin, still going strong. Which I was right about.” He waves the paper in Seungmin’s face before putting it flat on the table. He picks up another one, complete with Minho and Jeongin’s names, and Seungmin pulls it out of his hands instantly.
“I won this one.” He fixes it on the table in front of him, the start of his victory pile.
Felix whines, “it shouldn’t even count, you know them! Of course you’d be able to tell how long they’ll be together.”
Seungmin shrugs. “Never said it had to be fair.”
Felix grumbles under his breath about how when it comes to his losses, suddenly cheating is okay, and Seungmin can’t hold in his laugh. Felix bypasses the form he filled out for Jisung and Hyunjin, giving Seungmin a sly look before saying, “I’ll be taking this one, thank you.”
“Taking it for what, a souvenir of defeat? I told you, it’s not gonna happen.”
Felix sniffs indignantly, “it will, you’ll see. I’m gonna make it happen.”
Seungmin shakes his head and Felix continues to divide the folder between the two of them, their piles looking disappointingly even and Seungmin is trying to come up with a way to weasel his way into being the winner – when he notices one form at the back of the folder that looks unfamiliar.
“Wait,” Seungmin’s eyes catch on the paper marked with a pink post-it stuck to the corner of it, “what’s that one?”
Felix takes it into his hands and presses it close to his chest, shielding it from Seungmin’s eyes. “Nothing. It was just – it’s nothing.”
Seungmin shifts from his seat and leans forward, grabbing for the page, “I knew you were cheating! Let me see it.” He manages to wrangle it from Felix’s hands, nearly tearing it in half and wrinkling it to near oblivion against his protests of Seungmin give it back! – but he gets it in the end and holds it out of Felix’s reach. He wonders how many of these forms Felix has been keeping to himself, how many of his guesses he’s rigged – but when he looks down at the paper in his hand, it’s nothing even remotely close to what he’s expecting to see.
The majority of the sheet is blank, void of any dates or important information, but the subject fields are filled out with their names in the form boxes:
Subject 1: Kim Seungmin, 23
Subject 2: Lee Felix, 23
And in the lower right hand corner, the rating box goes as follows:
Do the subjects have high levels of engagement and chemistry? Select a rating on the scale provided, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
The 5 is circled in bright pink glitter gel from that stupid feather heart pen that Felix carries around, the one that Seungmin pretends he doesn’t find cute. There are a few small smiley faces drawn around the number in the shimmery ink.
Do the subjects engage in high levels of Public Displays of Affection? Select a rating on the scale provided, 1 being little to none and 5 being moderate to high.
The 2 is circled this time, with a little note beside it that says, something we’re going to have to work on >.<
Seungmin barely manages to hide his lips twitching into a small smile behind the paper he’s holding in front of his face, continuing to read down the questions.
Do the subjects have a longstanding chance of being part of a continuous and successful relationship? Circle yes or no.
Neither answer is selected, and Seungmin looks up and over the top of the sheet at Felix who looks less than five seconds from passing out from embarrassment. Seungmin isn’t sure that he’s ever seen his face so red, isn’t sure that he’s seen Felix look like a flower shielding itself away from the sun instead of facing it head on. He puts the paper down and clears his throat, and says, “you didn’t finish filling out the form.”
“I – huh?”
“The last question. It’s blank.”
Felix shuffles on his feet a bit before taking the paper back, now that Seungmin’s grip on it has slackened, shoving it back into the file folder of their reports, now empty. “It’s not even real, it's just – I was just messing around, it’s nothing.”
“Still though, it's kind of unprofessional to start one of these and not finish it.” Seungmin holds out his open palm. “Can I have it?”
“What? No! Why do you even want it–”
Seungmin gets hold of the folder and slips the page back out. “I want to answer the last question for you.” He pulls a blue ballpoint pen from the pocket of his shirt and uncaps it, twirling it around between his fingers before making a circle on the form. He sticks it back into the folder without letting Felix see it and tucks his pen away. “I think we can call that one even, and just not count it toward the bet.”
He starts to collect his pile to take back to his desk, busying his hands to distract from his slight blush and nervous tremble of his fingers.
“Well,” Felix says, mirroring Seungmin’s actions before crowding in close to him, “it depends on if I agree with what you chose or not.” And Seungmin catches the hopeful glint in Felix’s eyes, shining like stars, just before he brushes past Seungmin to exit, both of them getting back to their workspaces.
(And inside of the folder, circled in bold, sure, blue ink: Yes )
✶
On a Saturday full of warm breezes and cloudless sky, Seungmin, Felix, Hyunjin and Jisung decide to take the day for themselves and hang out outside of the office. They end up going for ice cream that Jisung and Hyunjin begged to get, standing together in line looking at the endless options from the menu board. Seungmin and Felix elect to wait outdoors since it’s nice out, positioned in view of the window where Hyunjin and Jisung can see them.
While waiting, Felix takes a folded piece of paper from his pocket and his gel pen follows, and Seungmin rolls his eyes slightly, not having to even ask to know it’s the subject form for their friends. “Why did you bring that here?”
“Because,” Felix drawls, as if the reasoning is obvious, “I’m documenting this to build my case. This is a date between the two of them, so I’m marking it down for my notes.”
“This doesn’t count as a date if we’re all here together, Felix.” Seungmin says, pulling out his own pen. “Let me see that.”
“Do not mess it up!” But Seungmin’s already started to mark it up, putting in his own notes amongst the ones Felix has written all over the page.
Subject 1: Hwang Hyunjin, 23
Subject 2: Han Jisung, 23
Do the subjects have high levels of engagement and chemistry? Select a rating on the scale provided, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
In bright red glitter ink, the 5 is circled, and in plain blue ink, the 3 is also circled.
“You’re just being mean at this point,” Felix gives Seungmin the side eye, who pointedly ignores him in favor of filling out the next question.
Do the subjects engage in high levels of Public Displays of Affection? Select a rating on the scale provided, 1 being little to none and 5 being moderate to high.
In bright red glitter ink, the 4 is circled, and in plain blue ink, the 2 is circled. Felix doesn’t put up as much of a fight on this one.
Do the subjects have a longstanding chance of being part of a continuous and successful relationship? Circle yes or no.
“Answer this one honestly,” Felix points his pen in Seungmin’s face, tone stern. It loses a bit of impact due to the fact that the feather and springy heart on the top of the pen are bouncing as he waves it around.
“I’ve been answering all of the questions honestly.” He replies. Felix begs to differ. He, of course, circles the Yes option vigorously, plopping his pen down with a satisfied grin, waiting for Seungmin to make his choice. “I feel like you’re setting yourself up for this, really.” He hovers his ballpoint over the No option, Felix’s eyes widening the closer his pen gets to the paper.
“You better not – Seungmin!” The pen in his hand goes flying when Felix knocks it out of his grip as soon as the tip of it dots the form with a spot of ink, and Seungmin almost falls over with laughter. The pen falls onto the ground with a light clatter and Felix hides his own, in case Seungmin tries to pull anything funny.
“I’m sorry,” Seungmin says through giggles.
“You are not!”
“You just look so funny when you get angry,” He leans closer to Felix to tap him on the nose gently. “It’s adorable.”
“Don’t say cute things, I’m trying to be mad at you.” Felix attempts to swat Seungmin’s hand away from his face but Seungmin catches it instead, lacing their fingers together. Seungmin thinks he’s not doing a very good job – especially since Felix is starting to smile now and preen under the compliment and attention – but he doesn't say anything. He instead leans down and presses a kiss to Felix’s nose, to both of his rosy cheeks, to his forehead. Felix rests his head on Seungmin’s shoulder and nuzzles against the material of his shirt before saying, “still mad.”
So he goes for another kiss, this time pressed directly to Felix’s mouth, soft and delicate as spun sugar. “How about now?”
The smile that breaks across Felix’s face is blinding, his blush getting deeper, and Seungmin thinks he’s sweeter than anything. He can’t hide the laughter in his voice when he answers, “furious.”
“Hey!” They hear Jisung call, breaking their moment when they look over, “We have everything, we’re headed to the park.”
Felix lets go of Seungmin’s hand to put his pen and paper away, but not before Seungmin snags it at the last second and makes a mark right at the bottom of the form encasing the No printed there in a big bold circle before running ahead of Felix with a breathless laugh to catch up with the others. He hears Felix yell out indignantly behind him with annoyed fondness filling the air, “Kim Seungmin!”
✶