Yunho opened his eyes early that Saturday morning, and almost immediately he wanted to shut them again and lie below his covers for the rest of the day. It wasn't like he was tired or wanted to sleep, but usually waking up to silence and a creeping sense of loneliness tended to mess with one's mind sooner or later.

Of course, Yunho had plenty of friends to choose from and spend time with, but none of them -- except for Wooyoung -- were particularly close with him, and Yunho wasn't one to share personal thoughts with other people. He absolutely despised feeling open and vulnerable with someone.

He turned to his side and stare at the grey walls of his room. The area, just like the rest of his humanely void house, was minimalistic in the sense that it had no personality and looked dreadfully dull because that was the way his mother preferred it.

And Yunho never bothered reinventing his room either. It was no use -- the emptiness and desolation would've stayed the same anyways.

He groaned, biting his lip. Slowly, thoughts of a certain redhaired male swarmed his head and he found himself wondering what Mingi was currently doing.

Probably sleeping, creepy, his inner voice chastised him. Yunho, however, pulled his long legs into a sitting position and grabbed the phone next to his bed. No. Don't do it. Don't you dare text him Yunho --

- yunho
uhhh, hi|

Yunho rapidly proceeded to backspace his message before he accidentally sent it, and then blew a frustrated sigh out of his lips. Though his and Mingi's friendship was still considered new, both teens had gone out of their way to spend quite some time together lately, whether it be casual walks together after school, or that one time earlier that week that he'd actually met the shorter's lovely, homely family.

It was safe to say that Yunho was missing those moments. He really wanted to hang out with Mingi again.

He tried typing another text, his nerves ablaze and his heartbeat racing like he'd just ran a marathon or something along those lines. He always found himself like this around Mingi, and it was kind of embarrassing.

But suddenly the door to his room slammed open, a new person rushing into his room like someone was chasing after them. It totally made Yunho freak the fuck out, causing him to send the text before he could check it due to his highly startled state.

Plus, he freaking ended up hitting the back of his head on the wall, sharp sparks of pain pulsing from the affected area.

"Ow -- fuck," he cursed, glaring really hard at a scantily clad Wooyoung who had a half apologetic, half entertained look on his face.

"Oops!" Wooyoung exclaimed with a chuckle that just elevated Yunho's irritation. "My bad."

"I regret helping you out. Should've just left you in the rain or better, sent you back to your parents'," Yunho huffed, before glancing at his phone's screen.

- yunho
good morning, mingi
wanna do

His jaw clenched as his eyebrows furrowed even deeper. "Fuck, Woo. I really, really hate you right now."

"That's harsh." Wooyoung just crossed his arms over his bare chest, his expression still far too lightheaded for the peak devastation he'd just wrecked on Yunho.

"And why the fuck are you in my room anyway?" Yunho replied. He couldn't help it, he was pissed at his friend for making him accidentally send Mingi a text that wasn't even completed. The humiliation was too much.

"Can't find anything to eat in the kitchen. Hey -- " Wooyoung drew closer, and then abruptly tried to grab Yunho's phone from his grip. The taller male was quicker though, hiding the device before Wooyoung could see who the contact was. "Yikes, sending a nude photo of yourself?"

Yunho threw a pillow at Wooyoung, which the shorter narrowly missed. "Get out, and put on a shirt for Christ's sake. Those ribs are fucking burning my eye sockets."

"Hey!" Wooyoung exclaimed, his tone bordering on offended. "I've got sweet abs and you know it!"

"Just get out."

"I'm craving for some cereal though."

Yunho sent yet another pillow to Wooyoung, which made the dark haired male finally leave his room. After this, Yunho sighed and pulled out his phone again. To make things worse, Mingi had now seen his message before he could even attempt deleting it.

- mingi 🌹 is typing...

- mingi 🌹
??
wanna do what?

- mingi 🌹
and good morning too, yunho

Yunho tightly shut his eyes, trying to figure out a suitable response to Mingi's question that wouldn't make things a lot more awkward between them.

- yunho
well
it was a typo
i mean, a mistake

- yunho
accidentally sent the message
before finishing it, sorry

- mingi 🌹
no need to apologize.
though i must admit, it's
kinda funny

- yunho
no its not

- mingi 🌹
it is 😂

- yunho
this is highkey embarrassing

- mingi 🌹
nah, its cute

"I just found a box of frosted flakes in the cupboards and I kinda already opened it to eat, just letting ya know!" Wooyoung suddenly shouted from outside, almost making Yunho drop his phone.

Shit, Wooyoung was so loud, it made the blue haired male briefly wonder how on Earth a boisterous guy like him could actually tolerate someone as quiet and as softspoken as San.

- mingi 🌹
hey, do you wanna hang out with me today?
that is, if you have the time

- yunho
thats crazy
i was kinda planning on asking you the same thing

- mingi 🌹
guess we share the same mind then lmao
so,, are you coming?

Yunho immediately straightened up his posture, this dorky kind of smile growing on his face. He rarely ever smiled like that, ever.

- yunho
yeah
i mean, whenever u want i'm down

- mingi 🌹
is around 12 good??

- yunho
mhm
yep
its god

- yunho
*good
aHk i'm a total cringefest,
i apologize

- mingi 🌹
its fine tho lmaoo
i like it :)

"And I like you," Yunho whispered. "A lot."

A part of him wanted to try something out, a dumb flirting trick he'd done with a couple girls in his earlier years as a method to keep up the façade that he was into the opposite sex. He had no idea if it would work on Mingi -- the guy he actually liked romantically -- but it never hurt to shoot a shot, right?

- yunho
i don't believe you
but i would if you'd do something for me

- mingi 🌹
what?

- yunho
send me a pic of yourself
i'll believe you then

Yunho really couldn't believe he'd actually sent that to Mingi. He became filled with instant regret, because what had he been thinking?

And to make matters worse, Mingi was now taking some time to reply to him.

- yunho
its ok though,
if you don't want to
i was just making a joke

- mingi 🌹
relax yunho

- mingi 🌹
i'm looking through my gallery for a good pic

- mingi 🌹

- mingi 🌹
they may kinda suck
but hopefully they got the message across 😅

Yunho was now at loss for words. He'd only asked Mingi for one picture of himself, but the shorter had sent him three. The implication of his actions was loud and clear. Yunho felt himself blushing, to his dismay.

Mingi looked breathtaking.

- yunho
you're handsome
very handsome

- mingi 🌹
i won't believe that until you send me a pic of urself too 😉

- yunho
i never take selfies though

- mingi 🌹
its okay
any picture of you would do

- yunho

- mingi🌹
wow

- yunho
wooyoung took this pic cause he said i should smile more often.
i kept it just because

- mingi 🌹
he's right though
you have an amazing smile

- yunho
thanks, i guess
you too

- mingi 🌹
you're super cute
like seriously

- yunho
ughh you're making me smile too damn much

- mingi 🌹
i'll consider that a good thing, cutie ;)

Now Yunho looked exactly like he did in that picture, grinning and his face flushed.

* * *

"Cute shirt," Yunho sarcastically muttered once he entered the livingroom where Wooyoung was at. "Where'd you get it?"

"San," Wooyoung casually replied, eating a spoonful of cereal with a content hum. It got a raised eyebrow out of Yunho, because very rarely did Wooyoung look so...happy.

"What?" Wooyoung peered up at Yunho from where he sat, and chuckled. "Do I have something on my face or what?"

Yunho grabbed a bowl and spoon and dumped some cereal into it. "No. You just..."

"Just what?"

"You...have this glow to you," Yunho found himself admitting to Wooyoung, "like you're actually enjoying life now."

Wooyoung raised his brows, but he still had on a small smile. "Really? Huh, I guess I do."

Yunho shrugged. "Yeah. And you've got this dazed look in your eyes too. Either you're high, or you and that San dude had some heated makeout session yesterday night, because you looked nothing like this yesterday morning."

Wooyoung just continued eating his cereal, grinning and humming that same tune to himself. Usually, he would've defended himself against the taller's assumptions, but now he was just...silent and content. It freaked Yunho out, but he decided not to comment further on it. He had a 'date' with Mingi in a few hours, after all.

* * *

When Yunho arrived at Mingi's house that afternoon and pressed on the doorbell, the redhaired male slowly opened the door, peeking his head through the opening like a cautious kitten.

"Mingi?" Yunho asked, a bit worried. "What's wrong?"

Mingi sighed. A pair of thinly framed glasses were perched on his nose, his reddish hair in adorable curls. "Actually...you kind of came a bit earlier than expected..."

Yunho immediately felt guilty. "Oh -- I'm sorry -- "

Mingi shook his head, before opening the door even wider. "No, it's fine. Don't mind my dressing -- Just pay attention to my face, okay?"

Yunho paused, his heart vibrating wildly in his chest. "What?"

The shorter interlocked their hands, warmth immediately sprouted between them.

"It's nothing. Just come in, I'll get you something quick and we can watch a movie or something."

Yunho nodded, his palm feeling strangely empty when Mingi stopped holding it to get some snacks from the kitchen. But as he made his way over there, Yunho slowly figured out why Mingi was so adamant on him not focusing on his clothes so much.

Mingi had on long sweatpants, but even with them, Yunho could spot his prosthetic foot, as well as his real one, peeking out at the seams of the loose fabric.

And he couldn't help it. He continued to watch -- not because he was weirded out, or because it was strange or anything along those lines -- but because he genuinely cared, because he wondered how hard and how isolating it must've felt for Mingi to go through so much at such a young age.

By then, Mingi had already turned around with a tray of chips and other bags of snacks on it, their gazes meeting.

"Uhm." Yunho cleared his throat, looking away. "I'm sorry for looking -- "

Mingi placed the wide tray on the table in front of the couch, his face deep in thought. "It's okay... I mean, I am an amputee after all. It's probably weird, I get it."

"It's not weird," Yunho disagreed, shaking his head.

Mingi smiled, but it held a bit of pain that reflected in his eyes as well. "I honestly wouldn't have been barefeet right now if attaching my prosthesis wasn't so particularly difficult to do earlier..."

"You can...take it off if it makes you uncomfortable," Yunho said, causing Mingi to stare at him, "I won't mind. I mean, you're at home, right? You kinda have to be comfortable." With this, he let out a chuckle to try and lighten the atmosphere, while Mingi's face remained stoic.

"Gosh..." Mingi took a few steps closer to the taller boy, taking note of how Yunho instantly gulped due to their close proximity. "I used to think you were a jerk... But now you're just unbelievable."

Yunho ran his eyes over the shorter's face, taking in his soft red hair, his pretty shaped lips and his sculpted jawline. Mingi was simply gorgeous, so much so that whenever he looked at the shorter boy, he felt like he was in Mrs Ji's math class of last year all over again, sneaking glances at the brown haired boy at the back of the class because he'd never seen anyone more beautiful.

"I don't understand," Yunho breathed out, unable to speak properly.

"You're a nice guy," Mingi answered, gently smiling at the blue haired boy. "I can tell you're being sincere, and I appreciate that sincerity very much. ...But I can't... I can't do it. Not with someone like you, at least not now. It's kind of embarrassing, not gonna lie, and I don't want you seeing my incomplete leg."

Mingi's smile had grown a lot more subdued now, but his eyes shined with this new emotion. He moved in and pressed a delicate kiss on Yunho's flushed cheek, before whispering: "Thank you, for a lot of things... especially for being here right now, with me."

He leaned back to stare at the taller male, and Yunho had to look away since he was blushing madly.

"You like me that much, huh?"

Yunho cleared his throat. "I dunno, maybe?"

Mingi laughed, nudging the taller's arm. "...I'll believe you if you do something for me."

With that, Yunho looked up to see Mingi staring so deeply into his eyes. And he didn't have to say anything, because Yunho knew -- they both did.

And so, Yunho sealed the space between them with a kiss, holding Mingi's face like he was the most ethereal, the most fragile piece of art that he wouldn't dare taint. And god, Mingi's lips were softer than he'd imagined, tasting of the sweetest longing and an opened Pandora's box of newly-acquired feelings and sensations.

The kiss itself was oddly innocent, but Yunho liked it. There was no way he'd ever forget this moment.

* * *

a/n: thoughts?