Chapter Text
"Napansin ko lang, you don’t call me by my name," wika ni Seungmin. A small, childish part of his brain snickers at what he says and immediately thinks of peaches. Ha, if you know you know.
"Pag kinakausap mo ako or tinatawag, 'hoy!' lang ako sa'yo. Hindi man lang Seungmin."
"Huh? Eh ano ngayon?" tanong ni Minho. "You don't even call me kuya. Kahit si Hyunjin minsan kuya tawag mo, eh 'di naman siya mas nakakatanda sa'yo."
"Oo nga but at least I use the name your parents gave you. Not 'hoy!' or something," Seungmin insists, "Ang rude kaya."
Minho all but rolls his eyes at the younger. "Eh what if nickname ko 'yan for you? Silang lahat tawag sa'yo Minnie, pup.." the older trails off, a teasing smirk on his face.
"What if gusto ko lang maiba? Don't you feel my love for you when I call you that?"
Seungmin feels his entire heat up, his mouth going open-close, feeling like a fish out of water. "Pinagsasabi mo dyan, tanga," he mumbles. "Edi kung 'yan talaga nickname for me, 'yan na din tawag ko sa'yo."
"So may callsign na tayo?" Minho grins, waggling his eyebrows at the younger boy. Seungmin wants to kiss him silly, just to wipe the smirk off his face.
Pero syempre, he resists. Let it be known na hindi po marupok si Kim Seungmin. In love siguro, pero hindi marupok!
Instead, he gives Minho a confused look and shakes his head. "Ba't tayo magcacallsign? Tayo na ba?"
And then Seungmin walks away.
Nakilala ni Seungmin si Lee Minho through a friend of a friend na friend nung isang blockmate niya na jowa ng ex ng friend na...you get the point. Six degrees of separation or whatever.
Circumstances had it na yung maliit na barkada ni Seungmin, mga kaibigan niya since high school, ay nagmerge sa barkada ni Lee Minho. Ayun, isa na silang maliking squad.
Gago, ang cringe talaga ng term na 'yan para kay Seungmin.
The friend group consists of Seungmin, si Hyunjin na best friend niya since kinder na medyo obsessed sa kanya at sinundan siya hanggang college, si Jisung na jowa ni Hyunjin since 3rd year high school at seatmate ni Seungmin since 1st year high school, and their Kuya Changbin na mas matanda sa kanila ng one year pero mas pandak naman so okay lang.
Yung friends of friends na naging friends ng apat ay sina Jeongin na third-degree cousin pala ni Hyunjin, si Felix na platonic soulmate raw ni Jisung dahil lang magkasunod birthday nila (as a September 2000 baby, medyo offended si Seungmin dun), si Kuya Chan na alam ng lahat may crush kay Changbin pero kung makapag hey-dude-bro-pare akala mo siya yung nang friendzone, at si Lee Minho.
Here's the thing about Kim Seungmin and Lee Minho. It's not that they don't get along. It's just that napaka awkward nilang dalawa sa isa't isa. Their friends say dahil sobrang similar ng dalawa, 'di sila nagcclick. Parang magnets raw. Or something. Ewan, ayaw mag-isip ni Seungmin ng metaphor tungkol sa (non-existent) relationship nila ni Minho.
And it's not to say that they don't talk to each other because they do. Sometimes naghahang-out sila sa labas at dahil early birds ang dalawa and their friends operate on the typical Filipino time, they get to the cafe or co-working space or bar or karaoke place first.
Naguusap naman sila dun. Pero again, awkward. Minsan nga naiisip ni Seungmin na ayaw ni Minho sa kanya. But then Minho argues and makes fun of him too much a.k.a alam ng lahat na love language 'yan ni Lee Minho sa friends niya.
So, okay. The older thinks of him as a friend siguro. Not the closest of friends pero friends pa rin.
Seungmin doesn't mind. What Seungmin does mind is the fact that, somewhere in between the first and second sem of his sophomore year, na realize niyang he had a crush on one (1) Lee Minho.
Ulol ka gago bro, Kim Seungmin.
At dyan po nagtatapos ang kwento ni Kim Seungmin, 21-turning-22 years of age, suffering from unrequited love.