Chapter Text
aside from dragging his butt out of bed to go to class and to eat food, yunho hasn’t done much other than pity himself the last couple days. he’s also thought lots of thoughts.
like, why is he so heartbroken over his roommate when they really only started hanging out less than a school quarter ago? is this the fall in love too fast and fall out just as easily, too? when did yunho’s sense of validation begin to hang on mingi, when just under two months ago he still despised the guy’s existence?
he also thought about what happened that night. mingi always said things like “you had your reasons” or made other ways to help him understand yunho’s thoughts. yunho noticed that about mingi, he went out of his way to excuse others’ poor actions, even if it was at the detriment of his own self-confidence. so yunho draws a little line in his mind, where on one side he tries to understand what happened and why, and the other is the validation side that yunho doesn’t cross.
it’s difficult to read between lines when there are more tiny lines in yunho’s brain like this. at some point in the back and forthness of his thoughts, he decides he’ll just wait for mingi to come to him and talk things through, and shovels the entirety of it into a box and shelves it in the back of his brain.
by the third morning after the party, his eyes are swollen and dry, the underside of his nose is tissue-chapped, and there’s the edge back in his gaze that he missed the last few days. he gets dressed in more than his christmas pajama pants and brushes his teeth. he leaves early enough to pick up a coffee. third day is the charm, because with his favorite latte made by his favorite barista in hand, he navigates through his morning classes with an alertness that surprises even himself. by his afternoon classes, he’s already made good with the teachers he’d dozed out on the last couple days and shot a text to the group chat for the notes he’d missed.
apparently, third time is also the charm for the universe to kick yunho’s ass again, because he sort of forgets that mingi is also in their group chat. it wouldn’t feel very nice if mingi didn’t respond, but what he does respond with sends yunho into a fit of nervousness as he unlocks his dorm door.
i already have them for you.
yunho takes a deep breath and turns the handle, pushing the door open with his whole center of gravity as though mingi would slam it right back at him if he didn’t. inside, he finds mingi on the edge of the bed with a stack of papers clutched in two shaking hands and a bouquet of flowers next to him. there’s a sharp inhale that yunho can see in his torso, but mingi keeps his gaze trained on the papers.
“hi,” says yunho softly. he’s entirely unsure of what to do in this situation. mingi looks like a scared animal right now.
mingi holds out the papers to yunho, seemingly still unable to meet his gaze. “notes.” yunho takes the notes, forcing a smile off his face at the familiar tone mingi takes on when the sentence is one word. he thanks mingi with his words, but he would much rather do it with snuggles. he gets a nod in return.
yunho sits on his bed, fully aware that the tension in this room is slowly suffocating him and probably doing the same to mingi. still, he waits while mingi gathers what he clearly needs to say.
“yunho, i– ” he chokes wetly on his words, hands trembling as they fidget in his lap. “i’m sorry. i’m gross, i’m so sorry.”
“why would you say that?” says yunho in what he absolutely hopes is an understanding tone at least.
mingi inhales deeply. “the woman at the party, she wouldn’t leave me be. and i’m stupid when i’m drunk. yunho i cheated on you.”
yunho frowns in confusion. that phone call makes little sense, then. “did you really?”
“what?” says mingi.
“did you really cheat on me? what actually happened then?”
“i– she– i drank a lot and she kissed me and we had sex,” says mingi unceremoniously. yunho doesn’t recall any come on the bathtub floor, and mingi’s pants had looked like they hadn’t come off at all, the belt still perfectly in place and with half his shirt still tucked into it. he relays this much to mingi, and gets a whisper of a scoff in return. “might as well have, yunho, the intentions were there. you’re taking philosophy class. there’s plenty of philosophers who agree on one thing, that if the intentions were bad, then the actions don’t justify them. even if i didn’t have sex then–”
“sure, i took philosophy,” says yunho with a shrug, now understanding why mingi pushed him away. it’s almost freeing, like a weight off his chest, because now he knows what to do with this conversation. “i also took biology.”
“…congrats?”
“yeah,” says yunho, nodding. “i even passed that class, too. mingi, did you intend to have sex with her? did you go to that party expecting to hook up with someone?” he saw the thoughts crossing mingi’s face and continued without an answer. “because i know these things from philosphy, but i also learned in biology that in intense situations the body reacts uncontrollably to stimuli regardless of the mind’s level of control. if you were inebriated, too, then your mind’s level of control was probably… less. my point is, intentions versus biological reactions. mingi, which one makes you think you’re gross?”
mingi thinks about yunho’s question for a long time. it’s one of the first things yunho fell in love with, how he always thinks through what he says and does. after a while, mingi looks up at yunho’s face, searching for something with a wide, water gaze. he seems to find what he’s looking for, because he whispers out his answer. “biological.”
“you didn’t want to hook up with her?”
“no.”
“then there’s nothing to be forgiven here. just take me next time,” yunho jokes with a wink. mingi huffs out an amused smile.
“i, um, got these for you,” says mingi, holding out the bouquet. “you liked the ones i brought last time. and i felt like, asking you to be my boyfriend over the phone while i was trying to get someone off my back isn’t the nicest way. so, um. yunho, will you be my boyfriend?”
yunho stares at mingi, who seems to find an innate fascination with the middle knob of his bedside table. he looks at the flowers, a bundle of pink and yellow roses. he smiles, sliding off the bed and right into mingi’s lap, taking the bouquet and setting it aside as he presses mingi back into the bed.
“absolutely.”
“yes?”
“yes, silly goose,” mumbles yunho, snuggling into mingi’s very comfortable chest and relaxing into his arms.
“oh thank god,” says mingi. yunho hums. “um, yunho?”
“yeah?”
“you don’t, um. you don’t have to ask me for hugs, you know. you can– you can have them any time. in fact, don’t ever ask again. if you ask me, then i won’t give them.”
yunho doesn’t know where this is coming from, but he loves it. he squirms happily in mingi’s arms and looks up at him. “yes sir.”
mingi returns his gaze with one that’s loaded with love. “i’m sorry i left for the last two days. i stayed with a friend because i felt gross, but i think i was too untrusting of you. you did your best to understand, because that’s just how you are and i love it, but i was too afraid to confront you about that night. sorry.”
“already forgiven,” mumbles yunho. “i found a good pancake recipe for us to try in the morning, by the way. or tonight. we have time to cook. definitely tonight. yeah, let’s go make pancakes.”