Minghao Loves You, And It Comes As Easily As Breathing Most Days.

minghao loves you, and it comes as easily as breathing most days.

however, when he wakes up at 4:43 in the morning because you’ve stolen the duvet in your sleep, he has to remind himself of that a little bit.

everyone has flaws, and yours is duvet-hogging. leaving him practically shivering on the other side of the bed — yes, he’s being dramatic, but he’s cold, and it’s some sort of ungodly hour, and so he sighs, and tries his best to pry the ends of the duvet from you.

you barely even stir when he tugs you closer, brushing a hand over your face and kissing your forehead; it’s practically an unconscious movement, it’s so automatic for him. one arm loops around your waist, the other manoeuvres him back under the duvet, and he sighs with relief at the warmth that settles over him.

that’s when you decide to wake up, your eyes barely even opening. “hao?” you whisper sleepily, syllables running into each other. “did i steal the blanket again?”

minghao rubs a soothing hand over your back. “no,” he lies, just a little one to coax you back to sleep. he’ll complain to you in the morning, over coffee and breakfast and a little bit of nagging.

“okay,” you say hoarsely, and curl even closer to him. “i’m going back to sleep now.”

he smiles, just barely, at your sudden announcement, and brushes his lips over your forehead again. “okay,” he agrees, but you’re already gone — looking so peaceful that even when he wakes later in the morning to discover you’ve stolen the duvet a second time, he can’t be mad; because despite your blanket-hogging tendencies, loving you still comes as easy as breathing.

an / I HATE WRITINGGG (lie)

taglist: @n4mj00nvq @eoieopda @som1ig @glowunderthemoon @wondering-out-loud @graybaeismytae @hannyoontify @sahazzy @dokyeomin @icyminghao @smilehui @nicholasluvbot @lvlystars @immabecreepin @hanniehaee @kokoiinuts @astrozuya

minghao knows he’s in a mood again, but frankly, he couldn’t care less.

his whole day had just been wrong, and he’d set about it with a frown marring his features and a biting undertone to everything he’d said. it just happened sometimes — one of those bad, awful days where nothing goes right and it feels like everything’s against you.

it was when he snapped at jun that he finally gave in, retired to moping in his bedroom. his roommate had said he understood — jun had plenty of his own bad days, after all — but minghao still feels awful about it. he’s still too irritated to apologise — he will do it, though, he promises himself.

for now, he’s thrown himself on the covers of his bed, staring at the ceiling listlessly, and blasting music through his earphones — loud, but not so loud that he doesn’t catch the soft sound of the doorknob when you twist it, and slide yourself into the room.

you do it almost apologetically, a regretful smile directed towards him. you don’t even speak, just make your way over to his side.

minghao wishes he could be annoyed, but he never can be, at you. you’re his best friend, and maybe something more that he’s not quite willing to accept yet. it’s lurking, though, at the bottom of his chest, and it pushes up every so often — like now, as you take a seat on the edge of the bed, almost as if you’re unsure; uncertain if you’re welcome here or not.

you always are, but he doesn’t quite know how to say that yet.

instead he thinks about how he knows jun must have called you, just as he knows you, too good for this world, dropped whatever you were doing to come and talk to him.

not that you’re doing much of that — talking, he means. you’ve only flopped beside him on the white duvet; and yet it’s enough to relax a little of the tension in his limbs.

it’s so easy to be around you.

it’s so easy to offer you an earbud without even looking. it’s so easy to close his eyes, slip his hand into yours. it’s so easy to interlace his fingers with yours too, squeeze gently, keep his eyes shut, pretend.

and then suddenly it gets hard. when you shift slightly, card a hand through his dark hair like you’ve always been doing it — you’ve never done it before, he hopes you do it forever — and you blur the lines even more. that makes it harder, harder to breathe with your careful hand against his cheek, the smell of your conditioner against his lips, he can’t breathe, he thinks he loves you.

you move back slightly. the moment is gone, he can breathe, but the lines are still blurred and you can’t unblur them. god knows he doesn’t want to redraw them.

your hand slips back into his, and squeezes. his eyes flutter open — yours are shut — your breath catches — minghao realises, then.

“oh,” he whispers softly. and it’s his turn to brush your cheek with slender fingers, but he’s always been the braver of you two — he leans, he brushes his lips against your cheek too.

you might not be able to call it a kiss, but maybe you could call it a confession.

an / guys i think this might be one of my fav things i’ve ever written which is so annoying because it starts off kind of badly 😭 but also it’s 12:17am and i’ve slept like 4 hours max in the last 24 hours so my judgement may be misguided. idk. possible deletion when i wake up ⁉️

❃Seventeen and surviving the Titanic❃

a/n: this prompt was suggested by a good friend of mine. As much as I love writing more serious prompts, I live for these idiotic scenarios. The serious prompts will come, but for now, CHAOS!

Scoups/Seungcheol: Dead

❀ He wasn’t having a good time even before the boat began to sink. Instead of enjoying the luxurious holiday he deserves, he was too busy running around the deck trying to get the members to stop doing cannonballs in the community pool. DK and Hoshi had been such nuisances that they almost got banned from the upper deck, leaving Coups to smooth things over. Thus, when the ship starts to sink, he can’t even feel stressed about it; it fits perfectly with how the rest of the holiday had been going. 

❀ Despite being absolutely done with everyone and everything, he remains perfectly rational. He knows he has to act fast; he will stress about his situation later. His eye hasn’t stopped twitching, though. Ever since he realized that he would have to find all twelve of his members on the massive ship, he has been on the brink of a nervous breakdown. 

❀ Coups will be running across the boat, searching every nook and cranny to retrieve each member. Nobody on the ship dares to talk back to him when he picks the members up by the scruff of the neck to throw them into one of the dinghies. He is about to snap, and nobody on the ship wants to be the one who receives the brunt of his rant. Truly, with Coups on the boat, the members actually will have a decent chance of making it out alive.   

❀ He ultimately doesn’t make it to a dinghy because someone tries to argue with him. A Karen pops up next to him and demands that one of the members should switch with her. The moment she insults Seungkwan for being ‘selfish’ when he quietly tells her that he doesn't want to give up his seat, Coups grabs her by the hair, ready to tie her to a pole so she and her rudeness can die with the ship. Who does Karen think she is, insulting his children? Unfortunately, in his anger, he forgets to put his safety first, and as he is tightening the knots to ensure she won’t be going anywhere, the ship sinks. 

Jeonghan: Alive

❀ Why do you think the ship is sinking in the first place? He has been brewing this plan since the moment he set foot aboard. Do you think he wanted to go on an expensive boat ride, stuck with twelve energetic children? He made sure to puncture a hole in the hull of the boat the night before, hoping for the journey to be cancelled. Nah, I am kidding, but yeah, he definitely survives this. He is too clever not to, and with his quick thinking, he will make it out alive. He won't feel too responsible for the others' safety either, prioritizing his safety before anyone else's.

❀ Mr. Gaslight-Girl Boss-Gatekeep convinces everyone around him to let him onto the dinghy. He made up an entire backstory that makes him look like a saint. If they had to believe Jeonghan, he is currently working on a ground-breaking treatment against Rat Hallucinations. It is a very serious disease for rats, as when they hallucinate, they tend to mistake people's fingers and toes for food. He reveals that he has stumbled upon a massive finding in his research. Apparently, certain cheeses can induce hallucinatory effects, but before he was able to share it with his fellow scholars, he had to leave for this trip. 

❀ Hey, he had very little time to come up with something, and all he could think of was rats after he saw one scurry past him as he made his way over to the dinghies. If he had had more time, he probably could've come up with a more believable story.

❀ Surprisingly, the people waiting for their turn to board the dinghy actually believe him; most of them find the prospect of rats gnawing on their toes scarier than drowning.

Joshua: Dead

❀ Joshua finds himself stuck in a loop when the ship starts to sink. He made his way to the dinghies just fine, arriving at the correct side of the boat just as the crew began disembarking people. 

❀ Initially, Joshua was fully prepared to Gaslight-Girl Boss-Gatekeep himself onto a dinghy, ready to make up some ridiculous background story that would give him priority. However, once he saw people's desperation to get their children onto the dinghies, he couldn't get himself to lie.

❀ He starts helping the crew load the children onto the dinghies, doing his best to save as many people as he can. He doesn't take a single break until most of the children in his vicinity are aboard the dinghy. However, even when spots do open up for adults, he still refuses to disembark the ship in favour of letting others go first. In Joshua's opinion, it would be rude of him to leave the ship before everyone else has done so. It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of him.

❀ Everyone around him agrees that he deserves to leave; he acted so selflessly and helped so many people that it is only fair that he gets another chance to live. One lady, in particular, tries her best to convince him to board the dinghy. It turns into a "no after you" loop, where Joshua and the lady keep trying to get the other to disembark first. 

❀ Yes, Joshua wastes precious time being too polite, and it gets him killed in the end. 

Jun: Alive

❀ It is genuinely a miracle that Jun manages to survive the sinking of the Titanic. You see, he remembered a single survival tip and decided that now was as good as any time to try it out. He once read that fridges are great to hide in during nuclear attacks; surely, they can protect him from drowning as well. 

❀ He spends a considerable amount of time walking around the ship, selecting the most promising-looking fridge. Somewhere tucked away in the corner of a kitchen, he finds one that looks like it would work. It is big enough for him to fit in, but small enough that he can maybe get it to the upper deck. He is feeling very optimistic about it.

❀ It takes him a considerable amount of time to drag it up to the upper deck, getting help from a confused staff member passing him on his way up. They have asked him whether he wants to try to get on a dinghy instead, but he maintains that his fridge plan will work. The only reason they help him move the heavy fridge is because, well, they are going to die anyway. At the very least, his insane plan might work.

❀ They lower it into the water before Jun gets on. For those of us who are not aware of this fact, fridges float. Jun didn't even know that they did until he saw it casually float on the surface of the sea. It is not the most functional impromptu dinghy, but it works well enough to allow him to drift to the nearest piece of ice. 

❀ Yeah, he survives by sheer luck and insanity. 

Hoshi/Soonyoung: Dead

❀ In his never-ending quest to convince everyone that he is a tiger, Hoshi has decided the best moment to prove his theory is when the Titanic starts to sink. He reasons that being a tiger and all that, he must be skilled at swimming, considering that tigers are naturally born swimmers. Thus, in all his stupidity, he jumps straight into the ice-cold water. He regrets it immediately as the cold chills him right to the bone, realizing that the waters in which the tigers swim are probably considerably warmer. 

❀ Luckily for him, that is the moment when he meets DK in the water, floating aboard a door. He is just as soaked, but at the very least, the door is keeping him afloat despite his exhaustion. In the true Jack-and-Rose fashion, the two try their best to share the door. However, when Hoshi tries to climb aboard, their collective weight results in the door sinking beneath the surface. In order to save his best friend, he tries his hardest to cling on to its side, hoping that he can stick it out until rescue arrives. 

❀ DK has a death grip on his arms, and the two keep making stupid jokes the entire time, trying to keep each other awake and distracted. Some of the jokes might be made a bit too soon, like "What do you get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic? About halfway." or "Titanic, sorry, that was a terrible icebreaker." At the very least, DK and Hoshi are having a great time, giggling at their stupid jokes. 

❀ Despite Hoshi's sheer motivation, even he won't be able to deal with the hypothermia. Even when DK and he take turns resting on the door, Hoshi has been in direct contact with the water for much longer and will ultimately succumb to hypothermia. 

Wonwoo: Alive

❀ Well, technically, Wonwoo is screwed. Wonwoo has admitted before that he can't swim, so if he ends up in the water, he is most certainly dead. At the very least, he will not chance his life by jumping overboard, hoping that maybe he can swim ashore. No, he will try his chances with the overloaded dinghies instead. 

❀ What ends up saving Wonwoo in the end is his knowledge of boats. He has been researching the Titanic ever since Coups mentioned they would be taking a trip on it; it is a technical wonder, after all. He has been recounting fun facts about the Titanic the moment they stepped aboard, but the other members found them boring and told him to shut up. Well, guess who is having the last laugh? 

❀ He knows that something is wrong with the boat even before the crew does. When the other members wave away his worries, he decides to take action in his own hands. Even before the first alarm sounds, he has already reached the dinghies, ready to leave the ship. 

❀ He is one of the first ones to board the dinghy and part of the first batch of people who leave the sinking board. Thanks to his Titanic facts, he was able to be first in the queue and, therefore, made it out alive before the crew realized they needed to prioritize who would be leaving the boat. 

Woozi/Jihoon: Alive

❀ If it had been up to him, he would've given up on surviving long ago. The moment the boat started to sink, Woozi had accepted his fate, ready to go down with the ship. Why bother running around in a panic, trying to save yourself when you could use that time to enjoy your last moments? 

❀ Woozi is in no rush to make it off the boat; he even pauses in front of the orchestra, which has continued to play music as the ship sinks. It is a beautiful scene in his eyes; despite the chaos aboard, music continues to fill the night air, trying to tame the rising panic. For a moment, he feels overwhelmed by the strong emotions, before inspiration hits him. He has such an amazing idea for a song that he needs to write it down somewhere. Well, pen and paper are hard to find on a sinking ship, forcing Woozi to make his way to the dinghies. 

❀ The only reason why he can make it out on one of the dinghies is because people mistake him for being a child. He is so tiny that he won't take up much space anyway, and the crew argues that it doesn't matter whether he is a child or not. Woozi considers arguing with them before realizing that they are practically giving him a way out, so he lets the short comments slide for the first time in his life.

❀ He is grumpy the entire time, sulking that what saved him was being vertically challenged. When he meets up with the other surviving members, he will lie and tell them he was let on, as they trusted him to take care of the other children aboard. He will take it to the grave that they thought he was pocket-sized and a child.

DK/Seokmin: Alive

❀ Ah yes, the other member who finds himself floating on top of a door. DK survives by pure luck. Immediately when the boat started to sink, he grabbed onto the first object within his reach, and he still hasn't let go of it. That object happened to be a door. He blacked out for most of the sinking; he blinked twice and suddenly found himself in the water, floating on top of the door that he initially grabbed onto. Fortunately, he isn't too soaked; somehow, the door has been keeping him dry, for the most part, that is. 

❀ He is just as lucky to find Hoshi as Hoshi is to find him. DK has been panic crying the entire time, and Hoshi has been able to divert his attention from the disaster that the two have found themselves in. Hoshi is the one to suggest cracking jokes about their situation, knowing that DK could do with a cheering-up. The jokes are stupid, which is precisely what makes them funny. DK is the one to propose switching positions on the door, feeling bad for Hoshi having to float next to him in the cold water. 

❀ Once Hoshi drifts away, DK considers floating away with him. By some sheer luck, it is precisely that moment that a dinghy floats nearby, and they hoist him aboard. Huddled between all the dry and warm bodies, DK warms up in no time and gets some much-needed therapy from the sweet older ladies who sit on either side of him.

❀ After that night, they practically adopted him. After the rescue efforts have passed, they stay by his side, helping him find what is left of his members, before heading off to find their own family. He still visits them every other weekend and he makes sure to write them weekly letters to let them know how he is doing.

Mingyu: Dead

❀ Welcome to the tales and woes of Kim Mingyu's time on the Titanic. He wasn't really having fun, to begin with. The rocking of the boat constantly made him lose his footing on the deck, as he couldn't find his balance on the ship; he couldn't remember how many times he had tripped so far. Even worse were the waves, making him either fall over or drop whatever he is holding in order to steady himself. 

❀ When the ship started to sink and slowly tilted to one side, Mingyu found himself in a tiring game of evading rolling objects. So far, he is miserably losing, getting repeatedly hit by random things. He can't even make his way up to the dinghies; he hasn't even been able to move from the spot he was first in when the ship started sinking. For every step he is able to take, he ends up tripping and falling five steps back. He doesn't even understand how every object seems to hit him; he has somehow managed to trip over fifteen rolling cups and stepped right into the path of a sliding beach chair. 

❀ He finally gets taken out by a flying parasol that hits him squarely on the head, successfully knocking him out. Instead of stepping out of the way, he manages to step right into its path. His limp body rolls, together with everything else, off the side of the ship, and he hits the water, unconscious. 

❀ If he doesn't die from the head injury inflicted by the parasol, he will definitely die from drowning or hypothermia. Nobody bothers hoisting his unconscious ass aboard a dinghy; he is too tall to fit on the already overly full rescue boats. 

The8/Minghao: Alive

❀ Minghao has meditated so much that he simply levitates above the surface of the sea. Why worry about floating when you can fly? This is the moment he has been training for, to let go of all his worldly ties and, quite literally, ascend. Consequentially, as the chaos ensues around him, he can be seen sitting perfectly still on top of the deck, meditating. 

❀ All jokes aside, his meditation does allow him to keep cool, calm and collected. Compared to some of the more stress-prone members, he can stay level-headed, understanding that it will do him no good if he starts freaking out. He is the only one who notices when Wonwoo slips away and does not hesitate to follow him; he knows that regardless of whether his warning is unfounded, it would not hurt to follow Wonwoo to the dinghies. 

❀ As a result, he finds himself happily next to Wonwoo when the ship starts to sink. Wonwoo feels incredibly touched at the trust Minghao put into his deduction; in reality, Minghao didn't really expect the boat to sink but partly wanted an excuse to take a break from the other members. Still, he will pretend for Wonwoo's ego that he definitely thought that Wonwoo was onto something. 

❀ He will be the type to point around, trying to spot the other members, judging them for how well they managed to escape the sinking boat. Honestly, he and Wonwoo are having a bit of a blast with it. 

Seungkwan: Dead

❀ Seungkwan is so incredibly scared when the ship starts to sink. Not because he feels like he will drown, but because he feels like he has made so many enemies aboard who would want him dead. He should've known better than continuously nagging the crew and other passengers, but could you really blame him? The coffee they were serving was atrocious, and if he didn't suggest changing it, they would all still be drinking dirty bean water instead of quality crafted Iced Americano.

❀ He regrets it now, as he hurries towards the dinghies, constantly watching his back. Despite his paranoia and vigilance, he doesn't notice the dark figure slowly creeping up behind him, following him closely like a shadow. Seungkwan does feel a chill running up his spine, and he can't shake the feeling that someone is watching him, but every time he turns around, he can't figure out why. Unfortunately, that is the last time that Seungkwan is seen alive.

❀ Before he knows it, he suddenly gets ambushed as someone grabs him from behind. Nobody knows where he went or whether he made it off the boat for the longest time. It's only when the rescue team recovers his body, floating face-down in the water, that it becomes apparent that foul play is involved in his death. 

❀ To this day, his death has gone unsolved; his story is hugely popular in conspiracy communities. He would be proud of the countless videos discussing his death and how he managed to inspire decades worth of conspiracy theorists. 

Vernon: Dead

❀ Vernon was never in any danger to begin with. As an alien who travelled back in time from his planet to observe how humans deal with catastrophes, he is rather enjoying his time aboard the sinking Titanic. He looks completely out of place as he wanders around, humming a tune under his breath as he observes the absolute chaos around him.

❀ Okay, I know I have used the Vernon-is-an-alien-joke way too often, but, in reality, Vernon will not survive whatsoever. Vernon isn't even aware that the boat is sinking; he decides to take a relaxing bath after dinner, and he is so absorbed in his own world that he doesn't even notice that the boat is dangerously tilting to one side. Even when he does, he gaslights himself into believing that it is part of the experience or due to some rocky waves.

❀ Even when it slowly starts to dawn on him that the ship is sinking, he can't move fast enough to get to the deck, let alone the dinghies. Vernon doesn't run; he is not about to change that for a life-threatening situation. At most, he is jogging up the many flights of stairs, trying to make his way to the upper deck. Nobody knows where he is, either, leaving him to figure out what to do all by himself.

❀ He arrives too late on the upper deck, noticing that all the dinghies have already left and that most people have already taken whatever object might help them stay afloat. Instead of trying to jump into the water, he will simply sit down and accept his fate. He finds some left-behind food, which he nibbles on as the ship sinks, taking him with it.

Dino/Chan: Alive

❀ You might be thinking, "Wait, Dino survives? How? Do you mean to tell me he survives his members, all whilst a boat is sinking? Do they suddenly baby him?" The answer is no; he survives because they forgot to bring him in the first place. In his hurry to leave on time, Scoups miscounted, and Dino, who was still on the toilet, got unceremoniously left behind. Honestly, he doesn't even mind it that much; being home alone was better than any holiday where his members would bully him. 

❀ He is thriving back home. Suddenly, his skin has cleared, and for the first time in a long while, he doesn't constantly feel hopeless. He gets to do and eat whatever he wants, not getting out-vetoed by his members. Sure, eating pancakes drenched in syrup and a mountain of whipping cream for breakfast every single morning for weeks might not be good for you, but he is young; his metabolism can handle it. 

❀ Still, when he hears about the Titanic sinking, he makes his way to the dock where the survivors gather. Initially, he is worried sick, praying that his members make it out okay, but when it becomes apparent that they hadn't noticed he was missing for the past few weeks, that worry melts away really quickly. 

❀ Honestly, as he listens to their stories, he can't help but wonder whether he can stage another maritime disaster where the remaining members accidentally perish. Maybe he can drown them himself in the harbour when nobody is watching. 

masterlist

IMA -EVEN IF THE WORLD ENDS TOMORROW SEVENTEEN . 2023

when the world's final night comes, i want to treasure our "now"

DRABBLE MARATHON #1:

LEE SEOKMIN + internship

1,7k words /// genre: fluff (?) /// warnings: food mentions.

In which Seokmin becomes your own ray of sunshine.

Hands shaking and panic in your mind, you entered the office. 

What had been a goal and a dream just a few weeks ago was now your reality. You had scored the very internship you had aimed for. But that didn’t make you any less anxious about it all.

People dressed in business casual scurried around you, a cup of coffee in one hand and a printed report in the other. No one seemed to notice you.

Unsure who to talk to, you stood off to the side, offering a polite smile to anyone who gave you a curious look as they passed by. None of them seemed to realise who you were or what you were in their office for.

The door opened, startling you just a little, and revealed a young man. He entered and politely bowed to a woman who walked past him. His hands seemed to be shaking as much as yours were as he also stood off to the side, a little away from you.

“Are you–” He cleared his throat and leaned closer to you. “By any chance, do you work here?”

You shook your head. “Just an intern.”

He seemed relieved at your words, his body visibly relaxing as he took in the information. Realising he must’ve looked like a fool to you, he put on a smile. “I’m Seokmin. I’m an intern too.”

You smiled back at him. “Really? What’s your major?”

“Marketing. You?”

“Translation and localisation.”

He looked a little stunned at your answer, a dumb expression on his face. “Translation?” A lightbulb seemed to go off in his head right at that moment. He lit up again. “Oh, maybe we’ll get to work together then.” 

“Right,” you replied with an awkward smile. 

You feared he’d interpret your expression as unfriendliness – a bit unfortunate because you were only socially anxious and actually wanted to make a friend at this internship – but he seemed to see right through you. 

He offered a bright smile and gentle nudge, as if you were friends already. “Hey… I’m scared too. This is my first ever internship. I’m not even entirely sure what I’m going to be doing here. But that’s okay. We’ll be fine.”

“Do you really think so?” you asked him, feeling a little better at the display of camaraderie. 

He nodded confidently and that was all the assurance you needed.

You were given a desk near a ceiling-high window. Though you first couldn’t believe your luck, it quickly became clear why they gave this seat to an intern: the afternoon sun shone right through the glass and onto your desktop screen. This made your work just a bit more difficult, but hey: dream internship.

Your schedule had you coming to the office for full days on Mondays and afternoons on Wednesdays, right after your lectures. The first Wednesday proved to be challenging. You were overcome with the urge to take your post-lecture nap and yet you had to drag yourself to the office where a folder full of documents to be translated had been placed on your desk. 

The sight made you both giddy and weary. But at least the chair was comfortable. 

“I knew we’d be working together!” you then heard a familiar voice. When you looked up, Seokmin was smiling brightly at you as he approached your desk. His eyes shone in the afternoon sunshine – it was easy to get lost in them. 

He placed a folder on your desk. “My supervisor told me to bring these to be translated, but then the translators here told me to bring this to you instead.”

“What are these?” you asked, opening the folder to find the answer to your question. “Oh. What do I do with these?”

“I honestly have no idea,” he answered, his eyes widening to convey his apologies for him. He quickly squinted his eyes again as the sun began to hurt them. “Can you even see anything here?”

“Barely.” You sighed, still eyeing the marketing materials he had brought for you. 

He frowned. “Why not just close the blinds?”

“Because this is the only window in this department that doesn’t have working blinds,” you replied and offered him a tired smile. “Yeah, I can’t believe my luck either.”

“Well,” he paused and tried to find some comforting words to say. It took him a moment, but he got there eventually: “There will probably be less sunshine when autumn sets in.”

You hummed in agreement. “I both dread it and can’t wait.”

“Right?” He offered you an encouraging smile. “They said those materials need to be translated by next Wednesday. Can you do it?”

“I can try,” you answered hesitantly, looking up at him and once again getting lost in the pretty golds and browns of his eyes. 

He took your silence for worse than it was. “Do you want me to beg my supervisors for an extension for you? Because I can do that. I’ve practically perfected the whole ‘getting on my knees and begging for an extension’ thing.”

You laughed. “How come?”

“I suck at meeting deadlines. It’s a miracle I’ve made it this far, honestly,” he confessed before offering again, “So, should I?”

“No, no,” you shook your head quickly, grinning, “I’ll be fine. I’m a quick worker.”

“You sure?” 

You weren’t entirely sure why this stranger – an acquaintance at most – was so hell-bent on getting on his knees for your sake, but it was a sweet gesture. You offered him one last smile. “I’m sure.”

He narrowed his eyes at you as if he had a built-in lie detector, but if he did have one, it proved to be ineffective. Before long, his scowl melted back into a warm, sunny smile. “Well, I’ll come back for these in a week then.” He turned to leave. But before he got more than four steps away, he turned on his heel and made a cheering gesture, bellowing, “I believe in you!”

You hid your embarrassed (yet flattered) face in your hands and waved him away. He laughed and waved you goodbye for the day.

Lunch breaks quickly became your favourite part of internship days for three reasons: 1) lunch, 2) break, and most importantly 3) Seokmin. 

Without fail, on every Monday, at 1 pm sharp, Seokmin appeared at your desk with a sweet smile. Every time, he’d invite you to get lunch with him – even when marketing team members invited him instead. 

“Eating in the park was a great idea,” you told him on this Monday, happily eating your salad. “The weather is so nice today.”

He smiled at that. “It’s the last nice days of autumn. Might as well enjoy them before it gets cold and rainy.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a whole month at the company already. Feels like we met just yesterday.”

“I worried I’d get bored, honestly,” he responded. “I’m not actually a big fan of marketing.”

You chuckled. “Then why are you a marketing major?”

“Mom told me to study something useful,” he grimaced before bursting into laughter. “It’s not all bad though. It’s more creative than business, at least. Or engineering. God, I would’ve sucked at engineering.”

“Yeah, I figured maths wasn’t your strong suit,” you joked and pinched his cheek. 

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Slander.”

You laughed as he dramatically turned his head away from yours. You laughed because you knew that any second now he’d burst out laughing with you. He always did. 

He did it because he knew that it would make you laugh even harder and make your day better. He did it because he had fallen in love with your smile.

Seokmin was good at pretending he wasn’t nervous. Years of drama club participation had paid off in that aspect even if he could never fulfil his dream of becoming an actual actor. And yet, you seemed to see right through him at your last lunch together.

“I can’t believe it’s our last week here,” you breathed out, watching people pass by the otherwise empty break room. 

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” was all he offered, apparently more interested in the fried noodles his roommate had so kindly packed for him.

You looked at him, seated across from you at the table, his back facing the hallway and his face the sun shining through the windows (he always sat on that side, not wanting you to suffer with sun in your eyes). Today his usually sunny expression had been replaced with gloomy skies. 

You reached for his hand across the table. “Are you okay?”

He glanced up, startled by your touch. “I– Yeah. I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not,” you replied. Weeks of knowing him had made you more perceptive to his moods. “You can tell me, you know. I won’t judge.”

He took a deep breath. “... You promise?”

“Of course.” You had thought it was a given.

He took another breath, even deeper. He fingers wrapped around yours and squeezed them tightly. Then, he said, “I have a confession to make.” You nodded for him to continue. “I… (Y/n), I like you.”

“You… like me?” Your eyes widened and you almost slipped your hand out of his on instinct. 

His grip only tightened. “I like you. I’ve liked you since the first day we met. You’re so kind and so sweet and so, so dedicated to your studies and the work you do here. You’re gorgeous inside and out. I can’t help but like you, as more than a friend, and I’m scared that you won’t–”

“I like you too, Seokmin,” you breathed out and rushed to stand up and round the table to hug him. He tensed only for a moment before relaxing into your embrace, relishing in the feeling of your lips against his hair. You repeated and kept repeating, “I like you too. I like you so much. Gosh, of course I like you. How could I not? I like you.”

He wasn’t sure which was warmer: your embrace? the warmth of a blush on his cheeks? the sun shining on his hands as he wrapped his arms around you?All three. He liked all three. But he liked you the most.

A/N: is this my best work? no. could i have written a full slow-burn-ish fic out of it if i was in the right space of mind? yeah. am i proud of it? meh. however, i wrote this, like, a day before scoring an internship so i think it deserves to be uploaded anyway :)

S.COUPS in April Shower for @97-liners (just because!)