(fic) for min!
special! | min/minwoo | fluff (PG)
you can find familiarity far away from home.
word count: 2.1k
for donghai/min ♥
It’s quite funny how life works out, really; how the two of them are suddenly off to Korea after the acceptance letter (and much rejoicing), crammed into a dorm which is thankfully close to the campus, never mind about the size. Min was always better at Korean than Beth, so it was natural that the moment they touched down, she would start doing most of the communicating.
But that was a year ago, and now that Beth has finally stopped getting lost on subways-and subsequently crying, but that was a long time ago-, life is finally starting to quieten down....sort of.
Min pushes the cup of ramyeon in front of Beth, who scowls for the umpteenth time.
“Evil, evil ramyeon.”
“You love ramyeon.”
“Yeah, loved,” Beth sneers, picking up her chopsticks. She ends up snapping one of them in half as she pulls them apart and makes a face at the remnants as Min laughs, stirring her own noodles.
“Evil, evil ramyeon,” the older repeats, going to find a fork.
Winter is beginning to say goodbye outside, much to their relief. The walk to the University is hell during winter, the air so cold that if you throw water out on the street it’ll freeze before it hits the ground. (Don’t try that.)
Their heater is beginning to wheeze and creak with old age, and Min is worried that it will shutdown at any moment. The dorm isn’t particularly new, after all, with it’s rattling window panes and various leaks and cracks. Still, they are considerably well-off for two transfer students, even if ramyeon isn’t that good a meal after a while.
“You should get a job,” Min says thoughtfully, through her mouthful.
Beth looks up at her with wide-eyes. “What?!”
“You are the older one.”
“By like what? Two months?”
“Still,” Min grins.
“You’re even more evil than the ramyeon.”
“A terrible comparison, but yeah, I am the evil maknae after all.”
Beth makes a face at her noodles before eating and effectively scalding the roof of her mouth.
“ARUGHFDDKLJA!”
“...sometimes I wonder about our age.”
~
Sometimes Min wonders about the cliches of life, too, particularly the next day when she comes home from the grocery store, arms laden with bags, and sees a man at the balcony of their hallway.
They’ve only crossed paths at the university but have never spoken. She thinks he’s her senior but she’s not sure, and as she studies his profile she forgets that she’s standing in the middle of an empty hallway, looking quite peculiar, and he ends up turning to look at her.
“Um...hello?” He laughs softly and Min feels the blush creep to her cheeks. She hurriedly bows in greeting.
“S-sorry! I was...um...” She struggles for the words, flustered. Relationships don’t exactly begin with the statement ‘I was staring at you’, platonic or not.
At least, not in real life, anyway.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. My dorm isn’t even on this level, anyway,” he grins, putting his hands in his pockets. She guesses he is probably older than her, but only by a few years.
(Hopefully.)
“My name is Minwoo, by the way.”
“M-min,” she half-blurts, half-stammers, and then kicks herself mentally for being so nervous. “Sorry, I mean, my name is Min.”
He smiles again at that, eyes curling into half-moons, and she feels her heart do somersaults. It’s an indescribable feeling, something Min can’t recall feeling; seeing him smile, but maybe what makes her feel like smiling in return is the fact that it’s so genuine.
“We go to the same university, don’t we?”
“Yeah,” she manages to swallow down the stammer this time. “I’m in the visual comm and dance courses.”
He hums in response. “I see, I’m quite sure we’re in different years, though,” he chuckles softly and she blushes again, nodding. The awkwardness is starting to settle in and she swings her shopping bags by her sides a little absentmindedly, wanting to continue their conversation but not knowing what to say.
I wanna love you ~ I can’t live without you ~
She straightens, embarrassed and regretting choosing EunHae’s collaboration song as her ringtone for the first time as she fishes her phone out of her pocket. The door to their dorm suddenly flies open.
“Oh! There you are, I was getting worried and-” Beth stops mid-sentence, eyes darting from Min to Minwoo, and then back again. Minwoo bows first in greeting and Beth returns it, eyes still wary. Min resists ‘tsk’-ing at her.
“Um...did I..interrupt something?”
“We um-”
“No, it’s alright, I was just heading upstairs anyway. I’ll talk to you later,” Minwoo smiles politely at Min before nodding and walking off. Min can’t help but watch his retreating form, listening to his sneakers against the stairs and then hearing the distant creak of a door swinging open and clicking shut. Beth is already pulling her into their dorm.
“You know him?” Min asks once the door is shut.
“Vaguely. I know he’s in the music department.”
Min blinks for a while, registering this information. “But...you’re in performing arts.”
Beth freezes for a moment and Min watches her with a raised eyebrow as she gathers her thoughts. “We...we work with the music department sometimes too.”
“Oh, you mean you stalk Henr-”
“I do not stalk him!” Beth blurts out, sorting the milk into the fridge rather forcefully. Min smirks at her, plopping herself onto the counter.
“Suuuure.”
“Anyway, that’s not the point,” Beth cuts-in quickly, clearly too embarrassed to continue on the topic. Min shakes her head in disdain.
“The point is that you like this...Minwoo-sunbae. I think that’s his name, right?”
At that, Min feels her cheeks turn pink again. Beth grins triumphantly.
“So that is his name.”
“Don’t turn the tables around.”
“Hey, hey. I didn’t know you guys were on a date.”
“We weren’t!” Min splutters indignantly. “I just met him!”
“The way you were looking at him, though.” Beth mimicks her, tilting her head to the side with a dreamy look on her face before bursting into laughter.
“That’s gross.”
“It was your face.”
Min retaliates by picking up the dishcloth and tossing it at Beth’s face.
~
As Min passes by one of the music rooms the next day, she realizes that Beth hadn’t been joking. The door is slightly ajar but she can hear soft electronic beats coupled with the sound of a classical piano. Through the gap she recognizes Minwoo, seated in front of the keyboard, bobbing his head to the rhythm. He turns the beats off for a moment and stops playing to write something down before hitting some keys again.
She decides that she really does find him attractive, with his soft-looking hair and defined jawline. His elegant fingers dance up and down the keyboard as she watches, her ears taking in the beautiful mix of classical and contemporary. When he finishes the new sequence he grins and writes something down again, and she holds back the urge to start clapping.
The sound of people chattering and turning into the previously empty hallway surprises her a little and causes her to jump, knocking the door further open. The two juniors, completely oblivious to this, continue talking as they pass by the room. Minwoo looks up at the sound of her surprised squeak and raises his eyebrows in surprise, but his expression is soft.
“U-um...sorry, I was um...”
“Being creepy?” His tone is teasing and he laughs, standing up before gesturing for her to come in. Min blushes but steps in anyway.
“You can shut the door. I forgot about it,” he says, taking some more papers out of his bag before sitting back down. Min is unsure of what to do after the door clicks shut, so she ends up standing there awkwardly, fingers holding onto the strap of her bag. Her beating heart picks up a little, an indication that she’s nervous, and she wonders if he can actually hear it in the deafening silence of the room, only broken by the sound of his pencil scribbling against paper.
She finds herself studying his features again as she watches him write, eyebrows furrowed a little in concentration.
“I-it um, it sounded really good,” she speaks up, almost so softly that she wonders if he’s heard her. But he does, and he looks up at her, eyebrows raising a little in expectance.
“I-I mean, the song. It sounded really nice. I really liked it,” she continues, just as shyly as before, managing a smile. For a moment she wonders if she’s said the wrong thing because Minwoo’s expression seems unreadable, but then he smiles and it feels like everything is alright.
He moves over, patting the space next to him. “Thanks. It’s a work-in-progress but...I don’t think it’s half-bad so far.”
The first step she takes towards the seat is hesitant, but it’s so brief that Minwoo doesn’t seem to notice, arranging his sheet music. She makes sure she breathes as she walks closer to him before sitting down almost at the edge of the chair. Minwoo turns to look at her and then looks down at the space before laughing.
“I’m not that fat, you know,” he says with twinkling eyes. She ends up laughing too and moves closer until she’s comfortably seated. He shifts a little and their sides end up brushing, and the butterflies in her stomach refuse to settle.
Minwoo hits a few buttons on the keyboard and the beat starts up again. He looks at her and starts bobbing his head, making his face into an expression which Min guesses means to say ‘I’m feeling the music’, which makes Min laugh, partly out of second-hand embarrassment. He grins and turns back to the keyboard, counting the rhythm softly in his head before starting to play.
The song sounds ridiculously addictive, even if it is a work-in-progress, with a melodious tune that she’s sure she’ll end up humming sooner or later. She ends up moving along with Minwoo, despite the occasional giggle, but she feels as light as the notes that float from the keyboard, harmony reverberating around the soundproof room. This time, when he finishes, she doesn’t hold back and applauds, and he grins at that, bowing ridiculously.
“I really, really like it,” she breathes after she’s finished laughing at his antics. She catches his eye and feels incredibly warm again but doesn’t look away. He’s looking back at her, eyes soft. Min is close enough to see her reflection in his eyes, but it doesn’t deter her.
Yeah, she really does like Minwoo.
“Do you...want to get something to drink?” His voice snaps her out of her reverie and she comes back down to earth, realizing that she’s been gawking at him for god knows how long before blushing furiously. His smile starts to look a tad bit like a smirk now.
“Y-yeah, sure. That’d be nice.”
They gather their things and he slings his bag over his shoulder before taking her hand. It surprises her and her eyes widen at him, but he just looks back at her and smiles. His hand is soft and warm in hers, and Min realizes that Minwoo makes her feel incredibly comfortable and safe, even if her heart races.
As she walks behind him a little, she can’t help but notice a sheet of music sticking out of his bag slightly, flapping in the breeze. Two words scrawled at the top catch her eye.
For Min
It couldn’t be...could it? She looks at Minwoo for somewhat of an explanation but he doesn’t seem to notice. From her angle she notices the serene look on his face, his eyes seemed to be closed as he looks up at the sky and she smiles at that, looking down at her shoes.
Something tells her it is.
[DELETED SCENE]
“YOU WENT ON A DATE?!”
Min’s phone isn’t even on speaker but several other patrons of the cafe turn to look at her, hearing the screeching voice. It’s Beth, of course, that stalker must have seen her and Minwoo or something. Minwoo looks at her from where he’s sipping his coffee, an amused smile on his lips.
She ignores the stares and takes her time to reply, sipping her drink.
“Yeah, so you should hurry up and talk to Henry. You are the older one, after all.”
There’s a pause on the other end before Beth finally mutters, “evil maknae,” and hangs up.
===
A/N: MIN YOU BRAT SEE WHAT I DO FOR YOU. DON'T NAG SO MUCH OK ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Also I'm sorry this is so word vomit-y I have like no idea what I'm doing orz
you can find familiarity far away from home.
word count: 2.1k
for donghai/min ♥
It’s quite funny how life works out, really; how the two of them are suddenly off to Korea after the acceptance letter (and much rejoicing), crammed into a dorm which is thankfully close to the campus, never mind about the size. Min was always better at Korean than Beth, so it was natural that the moment they touched down, she would start doing most of the communicating.
But that was a year ago, and now that Beth has finally stopped getting lost on subways-and subsequently crying, but that was a long time ago-, life is finally starting to quieten down....sort of.
Min pushes the cup of ramyeon in front of Beth, who scowls for the umpteenth time.
“Evil, evil ramyeon.”
“You love ramyeon.”
“Yeah, loved,” Beth sneers, picking up her chopsticks. She ends up snapping one of them in half as she pulls them apart and makes a face at the remnants as Min laughs, stirring her own noodles.
“Evil, evil ramyeon,” the older repeats, going to find a fork.
Winter is beginning to say goodbye outside, much to their relief. The walk to the University is hell during winter, the air so cold that if you throw water out on the street it’ll freeze before it hits the ground. (Don’t try that.)
Their heater is beginning to wheeze and creak with old age, and Min is worried that it will shutdown at any moment. The dorm isn’t particularly new, after all, with it’s rattling window panes and various leaks and cracks. Still, they are considerably well-off for two transfer students, even if ramyeon isn’t that good a meal after a while.
“You should get a job,” Min says thoughtfully, through her mouthful.
Beth looks up at her with wide-eyes. “What?!”
“You are the older one.”
“By like what? Two months?”
“Still,” Min grins.
“You’re even more evil than the ramyeon.”
“A terrible comparison, but yeah, I am the evil maknae after all.”
Beth makes a face at her noodles before eating and effectively scalding the roof of her mouth.
“ARUGHFDDKLJA!”
“...sometimes I wonder about our age.”
~
Sometimes Min wonders about the cliches of life, too, particularly the next day when she comes home from the grocery store, arms laden with bags, and sees a man at the balcony of their hallway.
They’ve only crossed paths at the university but have never spoken. She thinks he’s her senior but she’s not sure, and as she studies his profile she forgets that she’s standing in the middle of an empty hallway, looking quite peculiar, and he ends up turning to look at her.
“Um...hello?” He laughs softly and Min feels the blush creep to her cheeks. She hurriedly bows in greeting.
“S-sorry! I was...um...” She struggles for the words, flustered. Relationships don’t exactly begin with the statement ‘I was staring at you’, platonic or not.
At least, not in real life, anyway.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. My dorm isn’t even on this level, anyway,” he grins, putting his hands in his pockets. She guesses he is probably older than her, but only by a few years.
(Hopefully.)
“My name is Minwoo, by the way.”
“M-min,” she half-blurts, half-stammers, and then kicks herself mentally for being so nervous. “Sorry, I mean, my name is Min.”
He smiles again at that, eyes curling into half-moons, and she feels her heart do somersaults. It’s an indescribable feeling, something Min can’t recall feeling; seeing him smile, but maybe what makes her feel like smiling in return is the fact that it’s so genuine.
“We go to the same university, don’t we?”
“Yeah,” she manages to swallow down the stammer this time. “I’m in the visual comm and dance courses.”
He hums in response. “I see, I’m quite sure we’re in different years, though,” he chuckles softly and she blushes again, nodding. The awkwardness is starting to settle in and she swings her shopping bags by her sides a little absentmindedly, wanting to continue their conversation but not knowing what to say.
I wanna love you ~ I can’t live without you ~
She straightens, embarrassed and regretting choosing EunHae’s collaboration song as her ringtone for the first time as she fishes her phone out of her pocket. The door to their dorm suddenly flies open.
“Oh! There you are, I was getting worried and-” Beth stops mid-sentence, eyes darting from Min to Minwoo, and then back again. Minwoo bows first in greeting and Beth returns it, eyes still wary. Min resists ‘tsk’-ing at her.
“Um...did I..interrupt something?”
“We um-”
“No, it’s alright, I was just heading upstairs anyway. I’ll talk to you later,” Minwoo smiles politely at Min before nodding and walking off. Min can’t help but watch his retreating form, listening to his sneakers against the stairs and then hearing the distant creak of a door swinging open and clicking shut. Beth is already pulling her into their dorm.
“You know him?” Min asks once the door is shut.
“Vaguely. I know he’s in the music department.”
Min blinks for a while, registering this information. “But...you’re in performing arts.”
Beth freezes for a moment and Min watches her with a raised eyebrow as she gathers her thoughts. “We...we work with the music department sometimes too.”
“Oh, you mean you stalk Henr-”
“I do not stalk him!” Beth blurts out, sorting the milk into the fridge rather forcefully. Min smirks at her, plopping herself onto the counter.
“Suuuure.”
“Anyway, that’s not the point,” Beth cuts-in quickly, clearly too embarrassed to continue on the topic. Min shakes her head in disdain.
“The point is that you like this...Minwoo-sunbae. I think that’s his name, right?”
At that, Min feels her cheeks turn pink again. Beth grins triumphantly.
“So that is his name.”
“Don’t turn the tables around.”
“Hey, hey. I didn’t know you guys were on a date.”
“We weren’t!” Min splutters indignantly. “I just met him!”
“The way you were looking at him, though.” Beth mimicks her, tilting her head to the side with a dreamy look on her face before bursting into laughter.
“That’s gross.”
“It was your face.”
Min retaliates by picking up the dishcloth and tossing it at Beth’s face.
~
As Min passes by one of the music rooms the next day, she realizes that Beth hadn’t been joking. The door is slightly ajar but she can hear soft electronic beats coupled with the sound of a classical piano. Through the gap she recognizes Minwoo, seated in front of the keyboard, bobbing his head to the rhythm. He turns the beats off for a moment and stops playing to write something down before hitting some keys again.
She decides that she really does find him attractive, with his soft-looking hair and defined jawline. His elegant fingers dance up and down the keyboard as she watches, her ears taking in the beautiful mix of classical and contemporary. When he finishes the new sequence he grins and writes something down again, and she holds back the urge to start clapping.
The sound of people chattering and turning into the previously empty hallway surprises her a little and causes her to jump, knocking the door further open. The two juniors, completely oblivious to this, continue talking as they pass by the room. Minwoo looks up at the sound of her surprised squeak and raises his eyebrows in surprise, but his expression is soft.
“U-um...sorry, I was um...”
“Being creepy?” His tone is teasing and he laughs, standing up before gesturing for her to come in. Min blushes but steps in anyway.
“You can shut the door. I forgot about it,” he says, taking some more papers out of his bag before sitting back down. Min is unsure of what to do after the door clicks shut, so she ends up standing there awkwardly, fingers holding onto the strap of her bag. Her beating heart picks up a little, an indication that she’s nervous, and she wonders if he can actually hear it in the deafening silence of the room, only broken by the sound of his pencil scribbling against paper.
She finds herself studying his features again as she watches him write, eyebrows furrowed a little in concentration.
“I-it um, it sounded really good,” she speaks up, almost so softly that she wonders if he’s heard her. But he does, and he looks up at her, eyebrows raising a little in expectance.
“I-I mean, the song. It sounded really nice. I really liked it,” she continues, just as shyly as before, managing a smile. For a moment she wonders if she’s said the wrong thing because Minwoo’s expression seems unreadable, but then he smiles and it feels like everything is alright.
He moves over, patting the space next to him. “Thanks. It’s a work-in-progress but...I don’t think it’s half-bad so far.”
The first step she takes towards the seat is hesitant, but it’s so brief that Minwoo doesn’t seem to notice, arranging his sheet music. She makes sure she breathes as she walks closer to him before sitting down almost at the edge of the chair. Minwoo turns to look at her and then looks down at the space before laughing.
“I’m not that fat, you know,” he says with twinkling eyes. She ends up laughing too and moves closer until she’s comfortably seated. He shifts a little and their sides end up brushing, and the butterflies in her stomach refuse to settle.
Minwoo hits a few buttons on the keyboard and the beat starts up again. He looks at her and starts bobbing his head, making his face into an expression which Min guesses means to say ‘I’m feeling the music’, which makes Min laugh, partly out of second-hand embarrassment. He grins and turns back to the keyboard, counting the rhythm softly in his head before starting to play.
The song sounds ridiculously addictive, even if it is a work-in-progress, with a melodious tune that she’s sure she’ll end up humming sooner or later. She ends up moving along with Minwoo, despite the occasional giggle, but she feels as light as the notes that float from the keyboard, harmony reverberating around the soundproof room. This time, when he finishes, she doesn’t hold back and applauds, and he grins at that, bowing ridiculously.
“I really, really like it,” she breathes after she’s finished laughing at his antics. She catches his eye and feels incredibly warm again but doesn’t look away. He’s looking back at her, eyes soft. Min is close enough to see her reflection in his eyes, but it doesn’t deter her.
Yeah, she really does like Minwoo.
“Do you...want to get something to drink?” His voice snaps her out of her reverie and she comes back down to earth, realizing that she’s been gawking at him for god knows how long before blushing furiously. His smile starts to look a tad bit like a smirk now.
“Y-yeah, sure. That’d be nice.”
They gather their things and he slings his bag over his shoulder before taking her hand. It surprises her and her eyes widen at him, but he just looks back at her and smiles. His hand is soft and warm in hers, and Min realizes that Minwoo makes her feel incredibly comfortable and safe, even if her heart races.
As she walks behind him a little, she can’t help but notice a sheet of music sticking out of his bag slightly, flapping in the breeze. Two words scrawled at the top catch her eye.
For Min
It couldn’t be...could it? She looks at Minwoo for somewhat of an explanation but he doesn’t seem to notice. From her angle she notices the serene look on his face, his eyes seemed to be closed as he looks up at the sky and she smiles at that, looking down at her shoes.
Something tells her it is.
[DELETED SCENE]
“YOU WENT ON A DATE?!”
Min’s phone isn’t even on speaker but several other patrons of the cafe turn to look at her, hearing the screeching voice. It’s Beth, of course, that stalker must have seen her and Minwoo or something. Minwoo looks at her from where he’s sipping his coffee, an amused smile on his lips.
She ignores the stares and takes her time to reply, sipping her drink.
“Yeah, so you should hurry up and talk to Henry. You are the older one, after all.”
There’s a pause on the other end before Beth finally mutters, “evil maknae,” and hangs up.
===
A/N: MIN YOU BRAT SEE WHAT I DO FOR YOU. DON'T NAG SO MUCH OK ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Also I'm sorry this is so word vomit-y I have like no idea what I'm doing orz