Come a Little Closer
Title: Come a Little Closer
Rating: PG-13 (language and suggestion of sex)
Length: 3.9k
Side pairings: Sehun/Luhan
Warnings: Genderbend characters
Notes: A million thanks for the patience of the mods. You guys were super kind even when I was struggling! I apologize to the prompter, as I strayed very far from the prompt, but I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless~
Summary: a/b/o!au. Minseon falls in love between morning texts.
"Noona!”
It’s a terribly familiar voice that calls the honorific and Minseon knows exactly who it is. She curses under her breath, letting her forehead thunk against her door before she pastes a smile on her lips and leans back, steeling herself.
Regardless of how much she’s prepared for the sight, the easy grin on Jongin’s lips, the way he’s waving so enthusiastically takes away her breath in all it’s youthful innocence. Her breath whooshes out of her lungs when he shouts the honorific again, eyes curving upwards in a grin.
Her throat constricts as she catches the scent of Jongin-youth, strength, and alpha-and takes in a deep breath, quietly basking in it. He walks quickly, coming to her door to talk her like a normal person but god, all the words that he’s saying are just going in one ear and out the other. Minseon knows that she must look frazzled, eyes getting a glassy look so she blinks rapidly and tries to regain her composure.
“Minseon-noona!” she’s distracted out of her thoughts when a shadow looms over her. Minseon realizes that her knees have given out, Jongin’s strong arms underneath hers and she thinks she positively turns to jello.
Her neighbor turns a concerned frown at her, eyes worried and he opens his mouth and gets out, “Are yo-” before he takes a breath and his pupils constrict. No.
Her throats trying to get any word out, maybe ohmygod I’m so sorry, or IT ISN’T WHAT YOU THINK IT IS, or even please, just fuck me.
Jongin leens in, looking like he’s unable to pull away, magnetically attracted-
-when a song bursts through the scene and she’s startled awake, her phone alarm blaring an Apink song.
“Holy shit,” she mutters, feeling the dampness that’s stuck her thighs together and the sweat that beads at her hairline. Minseon groans, sinking back into her pillow, trying to ignore the cheerful song that’s still going on. She doesn’t have to look in a mirror to know that her cheeks are flushed, her hair is disheveled, and that her eyes are dazed with sleep and haze.
The dream sinks back into her mind and she squeezes her eyes, trying her best to calm down her frantic heart and god this is not what Minseon needs on a monday.
The damn song needs to be stopped, coffee needs to be brewed, and she needs to get to class, so she rips off the sheets sticking to her sweaty skin-making a mental note to wash her sheets-and throws her legs off the bed, muttering about “Luhua and her Apink” before she shuts off the alarm and waddles to the bathroom.
•••---•••
With that great way to start monday, Minseon can’t hope to look at her neighbor in the eye when she steps out of the apartment, an hour later, freshly showered and caffeine running through her system.
For the past few months, Jongin has stepped out of the house more or less around the time that she went off to class and they occasionally greet each other with a basic greeting but to Minseon, those little things are what brighten up her day. She hasn’t quite gotten past the hello! how are yous or the have a good day yet but she imagines that that day wouldn’t be far off. She hadn’t pinned her self as one to fall so hard for a younger boy but then again, she hadn’t thought that she would’ve turned out to be an omega either so Minseon’s used to surprises.
Only, unlike most days, she hopes and prays that Jongin doesn’t step out of his apartment at the same time she does. Minseon only feels slightly ridiculous when she cracks open the apartment door, her book bag clutched in one hand. Her sigh of relief gets clogged in her throat when she hears a familiar laugh.
“Good morning, noona,” the devil chirps, laughter bubbling in his voice.
Gotdammit, Minseon closes her eyes and tries to will down the heat that’s threatening to creep up. Pasting a smile on her face, she turns to where Jongin standing. He’s outside of his apartment, one hand on the knob, the other hanging casually on his jeans pocket and he looks so good he should be illegal. (The little voice that oddly sounds like Kyunghee chimes in that he recently turned 18, so technically he used to be illegal) “Good morning.”
He cocks his head (she clenches her fist because he’s so damn cute) and looks like he’s mulling over something. She’s about to ask him what the matter is when he gets the thought out, “Was something wrong, noona? Looking for something?”
Oh. Jongin meant the weird creeping thing she did.
Minseon shifts her weight, settling on her heels, while her free hand brushes the back of her neck sheepishly while searching for an excuse. “Oh, I, um watched a spy movie last night with Baekyuna and I guess I got a little too caught up in it.”
Jongin’s eyes light up with amusement and Minseon can see the way it hangs onto that little quirk of his lips but he doesn’t get anything out beyond a small chuckle. His phone pings and Jongin glances down at the device. “I got to go, noona! I’ll see you around.”
Minseon returns the goodbye, pretending that her face isn’t pink and scuttles in the opposite direction to use the stairs. Maybe walking down 10 flight of floors will help her head settle the right way.
•••---•••
“Your face is red,” is LuHua’s tactful greeting when Minseon slides into the seat next to her.
Minseon shoots her an irritated look, mostly irritated by how fast the beta caught on. “I ran down 10 flights of stairs,” she chooses to reply, diving into her backpack to pull out her notes for the class.
When Minseon comes back from the depths of her backpack, notebook clamped triumphantly in her hand, she stops in her tracks with the look on her best friend’s face. It’s a suspicious look that pulls her brows down and narrows her eyes. It’s not a good look by any means on the usually pixie faced girl, but Minseon’s not going to point it out. “What?”
She glances around the pretty empty classroom and leans in close, whispering, “Is that Jongin I smell?”
She sucks in a harsh breath, automatically jerking back. “LuHua!”
The smirk on the corner of LuHua’s lips make Minseon just want to bring up the fact the LuHua positively reeks of that freshman boytoy she claimed to not be dating. And so she does.
“For the last time, Minseon, I’m not dating him. Sehun’s only a fling,” LuHua protests, as Wufan drops into the seat next to LuHua.
“That’s a lie, and you know it,” Wufan comments, not even looking up at the fuming beta. LuHua turns to him, ready to toss out more protests, and just like that, the two bicker until the topic of Jongin is far out of LuHua’s mind and class starts, shutting up the beta.
•••---•••
“Have you even managed to say anything to Jongin besides ‘hello’, ‘how are you’, or ‘the weather looks lovely/miserable/cloudy today’?” LuHua corners Minseon again after soccer practice, the omega’s jersey tugged halfway off over her head.
Minseon rolls her eyes underneath the fabric, before tugging off the thing, heat radiating off of her. “Of course I have.”
As usual, LuHua is 120% unashamed of her staring and doesn’t reply, eyes riveted on the pale flesh peeking above Minseon’s bra. She blinks, before glancing at what LuHua’s looking at. When she realizes what the beta is staring at, Minseon snorts. “You are so gay.”
“Bi,” LuHua weakly corrects, brain slowly returning back to its usual functions as Minseon wraps a towel around herself, effectively covering LuHua’s distractions. “They’re so full,” the Chinese girl whispers wistfully mainly to herself, hands coming up to cup her own breasts. When they don’t quite fill her hands like Minseon’s does, she frowns down sadly at her hands, sighing.
“There’s nothing useful about big boobs,” Minseon reminds, brushing through her hair, all her clothes ready and neatly folded on the bench while LuHua blindly reaches into her locker. The beta quizzically stares at a blouse, bringing the fabric to her nose to sniff and when she deems it apparently clean enough, she chucks the item on the bench.
Cheeky Jongda passes by the omega, hand coming up to squeeze at Minseon as she squeals in indignation. “They feel pretty damn nice, though,” the other comments, smirk confident and hand slipping away. A hot flash flares across her face as she curls into herself, arm crossed defensively across her chest. Minseon’s other elbow flies out and she nearly clips Jongda on the solar plexus but the slim girl slips away into a stall with a “Meitao, pull up your jaw before you lick the floor.” Said girl straightens up against her lockers, pink high on her cheeks as her eyes flick down at Minseon.
“Sorry, unnie,” the blonde breaths out. LuHua just sighs.
“Yeah, but they’re gorgeous,” LuHua emphasizes, gesturing at Minseon’s chest. Minseon’s lips press into a thin line as she sweeps into the showers, pulling the curtains across with a sharp flick of her wrist. She can hear LuHua, or rather all the shower items that she just dropped, get into the stall next to her.
Minseon turns the knob, cold water rushing out to cool her flushed face. A small sigh escapes her, eyes closed reflexively. Next to her, LuHua squeals as the water turns on and she can hear the heavy thud as LuHua shrinks against the wall. “Don’t worry, your face is gorgeous enough.”
Minseon reaches for her shampoo, her hair thoroughly soaked, “Excuse me. Says the girl who won the campus wide beauty pageant.”
LuHua lets out a noise of protest, loud over the sound of shower. “I didn’t enter that on my own will ok. I was drunk and lost a bet.” Her best friend makes a snuffling noise and says in a much meeker voice, “I thought we agreed to never speak of that again.”
“No, LuHua. That was between you and Sehun.”
There’s a loud thud of a shampoo bottle and a hissed “fuck!” followed by a trail of angrily muttered “ow, ow, ow, godfuckingdammit ow”. Minseon just shakes her head slowly and says more to herself than LuHua, “Just admit that you’re dating him.”
“Not! dating!”
“Right.”
•••---•••
Minseon always gets a suspicious feeling when LuHua texts her:
From Luluie~:
Seeeeoooooooonaaaah
She debates on answering, glancing almost longingly at her homework sprawled in front of her. Until she spots her angry scribbles across her notebooks, and hisses, agreeing that a little 5 minute break couldn’t hurt.
From me:
What’s up?
LuHua’s reply is almost immediate.
From Luluie~:
You know that im a huge member of an animal rights ground on campus, right?
From me:
I do now
From Luluie~:
Well. I have a little request. Dont be surprised when someone contacts you a few weeks from now.
Minseon squints at her screen but asks what the request is. It isn’t even 5 minutes later when she regrets the decision to reply at all. Because now, she’s the grand prize for raising awareness for the rapidly receding environment for polar bears.
•••---•••
LuHua gleefully forwards Minseon the poster that advertises the club and the guidelines on how to win a date with the omega, namely anything that the club can tell that shows the most dedication on helping the animals.
She’s quick to blow up Minseon’s phone with multiple heart eyes emoticons on kakao and jokes that help ease away the irritation stemmed from the fact that LuHua had already put her on the poster before even asking her permission. When Minseon had asked why she wanted to put her as the prize LuHua had answered that the club had voted that Minseon would attract the largest audience and well, she’d be the most willing to agree.
Minseon sends a picture of her middle finger with the message of ‘ure banned from my boobs’. She ignores the multitude of ‘NOOOOOOOO’ messages by turning off her kakao notifications and goes back to finishing her school work, a little smug smirk on her lips.
•••---•••
“You know, this is the most participation the club’s seen for this contest,” LuHua says when she sits down on the bed opposite from Minseon’s desk, her eyes drifting sadly over Minseon’s baggy blouse, hiding any sort of hint of curves.
Minseon snorts, “I’ve never even heard of it before. Is this the first year?”
LuHua shakes her head, eyes glued to her phone when it notifies her of a new message. “No, this is the 5th time we’ve hosted it.”
“Never heard of it before.”
The beta just shrugs, “Little exposure.” She turns away from the phone and shows the screen to Minseon to scroll through the few emails that she’s received from submissions and wiggles her brows.
She chooses not to answer but rather chucks a pencil at her best friend, smiling happily at the satisfying “ow!”.
She forgets completely of the contest until weeks later when a message arrives in her inbox.
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
Hello, noona.
From me:
Who is this???
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
Oh, I’m so sorry! I’m the winner of that contest the A.A club. Um. LuHua gave me your number…
Minseon curses and switches over to kakaotalk to tell LuHua of the most recent development.
From me:
Oh…….do I know you…?
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
You do...but not really well
There’s too many people that Minseon vaguely knows to try to play a guessing game.
From me:
This is a little unfair isnt it? You know my name, but i dont know yours
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
I’m kai! ^^ sorry that we had to meet this way, but im shy >///<
She tries to lie to herself that she didn’t chuckle, thinking that he seemed cute, his messages full of emoticons.
•••---•••
Without fail, every morning she’d wake up to a text waiting on her phone. They weren’t big things, but they were messages like “Good morning, noona~” or “Did you have a good sleep last night?” and they made her smile.
The messages ran on for days, weeks, eventually turning into a month until Minseon had finally asked why he hadn’t met her in real life.
From me:
You know kai….you won this contest for a date with me, right?
It wasn’t 5 minutes later when her phone beeped, and Minseon tugged her hair behind her ear before unlocking her device.
From Kai:
O-O-OF COURSE I KNOW
From me:
Then why havent we….even met in real life?
This time, Kai’s answer came a little later, a little longer than his usual replies.
From Kai:
Cause i knew that if we met right after i had gotten your info then itd wouldve been a 1 time thing. we would have said hi, spent a few awkward hours together, then youd never want to see me again.
From Kai:
Besides, i thought that youd prefer if i got to know you better before asking you out.
From me:
:o
From Kai:
AHAHAHA, so...are you free this saturday?
Minseon burst out laughing, homework long forgotten sprawled across her desk.
From me:
Not anymore. What time should i be ready by?
From Kai:
Oh my, eager are we?
From me:
Should i not come, then?
From Kai:
NO
From me:
Kekeke then quick, pick a spot
Just as the younger sent her the location and she agreed to meet Kai at the time, LuHua burst into her room wailing about Sehun. Minseon bid him a quick goodbye before putting down her phone to attempt to tune into LuHua’s constant denials of her feelings.
•••---•••
From me:
I’m here
She fidgeted, fingering the bottom of her skirt, unsure of what to expect. Through the month that she had known Kai, Minseon had bugged LuHua numerous times about the real identity of Kai. All the younger had told her, with a small smirk that she didn’t like at all, was that he was her type and not to worry, he wasn’t a creep or anything. Still, it didn’t give the omega much to work with and she wasn’t even sure of what to wear tonight.
From Kai:
I see you
Her head snapped up, eyes scanning the area. They had agreed to meetup at a very public place, the campus’ quad, in case Minseon felt uneasy, then she could just slip off. Looking around the lawn, she could see a number of students loitering around, each just as likely to be Kai as the next. Frustrated, she returned back to her phone.
From me:
Theres a lot of people here. Any hints?
From Kai:
The tall, handsome guy
Barely flicking her eyes up, she ran another scan, her eyes catching on a familiar figurebreath when she sees Jongin fiddling on his phone. Like a natural reaction, her cheeks pink but it doesn’t have the same heart stopping power as it used to be. Before she can dwell too long on her new reaction, her phone vibrates in her hands and it pulls her attention away.
From Kai:
See me yet?
From me:
But i dont see any handsome guys
From Kai:
NOONA
From me:
Keke then come up to me and say hi
Her breath clogs in her throat when a timid tap on her shoulder comes from behind her. A soft, too familiar voice whispers a quiet, “Hello, noona.”
Oh my god.
Eyes wide, Minseon whips around. “Oh my god,” slips out when she turns and sees Kim Jongin, holding his phone in his hand and a small smile on his lips.
He’s standing there with a smile that’s getting more and more uneasy as the seconds tick by and Minseon’s just standing there mind whirling at a thousand miles an hour. “But you’re Kim Jongin.”
Her neighbor blinks and nods, “Yes, yes I am.”
Hands brushing through her hair in agitation, Minseon glances back at her phone screen, the display name of Kai bright on the top of her texts. There’s still confusion in her voice when she says, “Who’s Kai then?”
This time, Jongin visibly blushes and ducks his head. “That’d be me.”
“How come you said that you were Kai, though?” she asks, trying to process everything. The same boy that said good morning to her when they met outside the apartment complex was the same boy that made her morning when he’d send her a hello text. It wasn’t surprising, now that she thought about it.
He shrugs, “Kai’s my stage name when I dance. I, I was just too scared to give you my full name, I guess?”
“Oh for heavens sake, Jongin,” Minseon breathes, eyes curving into crescents now that the confusion was giving way to a bubbly feeling coming from her stomach.
“I-I got us reservations,” Jongin blurts out, fingers twisting around themselves.
Minseon smiles, bending her right arm, creating a loop and a hint, “Perfect.”
Biting his lip, Jongin leads her in the direction of the restaurant, arm coming in to tuck hers by his side. Conversation is thankfully easy and full of questions from Minseon.
•••---•••
Dusk is falling, the colors of the sky blending into beauties of gold, orange, and red when they start making their way back to their apartment, Jongin joking that he’ll drop her off at her home. She smacks his chest and relishes his small wince, smiling when he’s wincing so he doesn’t see.
When they make it to her door, they stop. Silence befalls them before Jongin reaches inside his jacket to pull out a small box. Minseon glances at him with her brow crooked in a question but he doesn’t say anything beyond a short explanation, “LuHua said that you’d like it.”
Confused and slightly suspicious, Minseon takes the proffered box, opening it to find a few slips of carefully folded paper in it. Glancing up as though asking a question, Jongin just responded by smiling, tilting his chin to tell her to unfold it, Minseon takes one of the slips and reads the slip.
Written in slightly messy hangul is 1 free date with Kim Jongin and Minseon squints up at the younger. “Did you…..?”
Like a shy puppy, he ducks his head mumbling, “In case you wanted another date, I made those. If you ever want another other one, just slip it under my door or something.” His head shoots up and his hands pop up in front of him, waving side to side, and Jongin’s quick to add, “Oh! But if you never want to see me again, you don’t ever have to!”
Minseon stares for a long time, cicadas singing loud in their silence, as Minseon scrutinizes Jongin under a hard stare. Just as he’s about to shrink away with the most heartbreaking expression on his face, she takes his hand and turns it over until his palm is facing upwards. “Here,” the omega says, placing a little slip of paper into his hand, “for next time.”
Jongin’s got the most stunned expression on his face and it gives Minseon the little surge of courage that she needs to stretch up on her tip toes to give his cheek a light kiss.
She slips away with a quiet goodnight, closing the door on Jongin’s delighted, frozen expression. Leaning against the door, Minseon pulls out her phone and texts:
From me:
Thank you for tonight, Kai ♥
From the other side of the door, she hears a barely repressed sigh of delight. Minseon giggles before whispering goodnight, already eager for the next date.
•••EPILOGUE•••
It’s on their 8th date, 5 months after their first date, when at the end, Minseon doesn’t let go of Jongin’s hand when he turns to leave her at her door. When he turns back confused, she places another piece of paper. She gestures for him to read it when he looks confused at her.
When Jongin unfolds and reads, his eyes go wide, something darkening them. “Are you sure?” he asks, his voice dropping an octave, almost reaching something husky.
Minseon tries to will away the high blush that comes up, and tip toes, placing her lips right next to his ear before whispering, “Yes. I really need a helping hand tonight.”
She hears his sharp intake of breath and she enjoys having the audible effect on him. His hand comes up to her hip and squeezes. Jongin closes his eyes, hand crumpling the small piece of paper, asking again. “Are you sure?”
Minseon pulls away, voice stuck in her throat and nods. That’s all it takes for Jongin to wrap his arms around her, piece of paper with "Fuck me" written on it, falling sadly down on her doorstep, forgotten.
Her high giggle drifts out loudly into the night air as Jongin pushes open her door, picking up his small girlfriend and hoists her bodily into the apartment, and before long, his sharp alpha scent mingles with her softer omegas. She enjoys it so much that she’s tempted to ask him to stay forever, in his arms and in her heart.
Rating: PG-13 (language and suggestion of sex)
Length: 3.9k
Side pairings: Sehun/Luhan
Warnings: Genderbend characters
Notes: A million thanks for the patience of the mods. You guys were super kind even when I was struggling! I apologize to the prompter, as I strayed very far from the prompt, but I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless~
Summary: a/b/o!au. Minseon falls in love between morning texts.
"Noona!”
It’s a terribly familiar voice that calls the honorific and Minseon knows exactly who it is. She curses under her breath, letting her forehead thunk against her door before she pastes a smile on her lips and leans back, steeling herself.
Regardless of how much she’s prepared for the sight, the easy grin on Jongin’s lips, the way he’s waving so enthusiastically takes away her breath in all it’s youthful innocence. Her breath whooshes out of her lungs when he shouts the honorific again, eyes curving upwards in a grin.
Her throat constricts as she catches the scent of Jongin-youth, strength, and alpha-and takes in a deep breath, quietly basking in it. He walks quickly, coming to her door to talk her like a normal person but god, all the words that he’s saying are just going in one ear and out the other. Minseon knows that she must look frazzled, eyes getting a glassy look so she blinks rapidly and tries to regain her composure.
“Minseon-noona!” she’s distracted out of her thoughts when a shadow looms over her. Minseon realizes that her knees have given out, Jongin’s strong arms underneath hers and she thinks she positively turns to jello.
Her neighbor turns a concerned frown at her, eyes worried and he opens his mouth and gets out, “Are yo-” before he takes a breath and his pupils constrict. No.
Her throats trying to get any word out, maybe ohmygod I’m so sorry, or IT ISN’T WHAT YOU THINK IT IS, or even please, just fuck me.
Jongin leens in, looking like he’s unable to pull away, magnetically attracted-
-when a song bursts through the scene and she’s startled awake, her phone alarm blaring an Apink song.
“Holy shit,” she mutters, feeling the dampness that’s stuck her thighs together and the sweat that beads at her hairline. Minseon groans, sinking back into her pillow, trying to ignore the cheerful song that’s still going on. She doesn’t have to look in a mirror to know that her cheeks are flushed, her hair is disheveled, and that her eyes are dazed with sleep and haze.
The dream sinks back into her mind and she squeezes her eyes, trying her best to calm down her frantic heart and god this is not what Minseon needs on a monday.
The damn song needs to be stopped, coffee needs to be brewed, and she needs to get to class, so she rips off the sheets sticking to her sweaty skin-making a mental note to wash her sheets-and throws her legs off the bed, muttering about “Luhua and her Apink” before she shuts off the alarm and waddles to the bathroom.
•••---•••
With that great way to start monday, Minseon can’t hope to look at her neighbor in the eye when she steps out of the apartment, an hour later, freshly showered and caffeine running through her system.
For the past few months, Jongin has stepped out of the house more or less around the time that she went off to class and they occasionally greet each other with a basic greeting but to Minseon, those little things are what brighten up her day. She hasn’t quite gotten past the hello! how are yous or the have a good day yet but she imagines that that day wouldn’t be far off. She hadn’t pinned her self as one to fall so hard for a younger boy but then again, she hadn’t thought that she would’ve turned out to be an omega either so Minseon’s used to surprises.
Only, unlike most days, she hopes and prays that Jongin doesn’t step out of his apartment at the same time she does. Minseon only feels slightly ridiculous when she cracks open the apartment door, her book bag clutched in one hand. Her sigh of relief gets clogged in her throat when she hears a familiar laugh.
“Good morning, noona,” the devil chirps, laughter bubbling in his voice.
Gotdammit, Minseon closes her eyes and tries to will down the heat that’s threatening to creep up. Pasting a smile on her face, she turns to where Jongin standing. He’s outside of his apartment, one hand on the knob, the other hanging casually on his jeans pocket and he looks so good he should be illegal. (The little voice that oddly sounds like Kyunghee chimes in that he recently turned 18, so technically he used to be illegal) “Good morning.”
He cocks his head (she clenches her fist because he’s so damn cute) and looks like he’s mulling over something. She’s about to ask him what the matter is when he gets the thought out, “Was something wrong, noona? Looking for something?”
Oh. Jongin meant the weird creeping thing she did.
Minseon shifts her weight, settling on her heels, while her free hand brushes the back of her neck sheepishly while searching for an excuse. “Oh, I, um watched a spy movie last night with Baekyuna and I guess I got a little too caught up in it.”
Jongin’s eyes light up with amusement and Minseon can see the way it hangs onto that little quirk of his lips but he doesn’t get anything out beyond a small chuckle. His phone pings and Jongin glances down at the device. “I got to go, noona! I’ll see you around.”
Minseon returns the goodbye, pretending that her face isn’t pink and scuttles in the opposite direction to use the stairs. Maybe walking down 10 flight of floors will help her head settle the right way.
•••---•••
“Your face is red,” is LuHua’s tactful greeting when Minseon slides into the seat next to her.
Minseon shoots her an irritated look, mostly irritated by how fast the beta caught on. “I ran down 10 flights of stairs,” she chooses to reply, diving into her backpack to pull out her notes for the class.
When Minseon comes back from the depths of her backpack, notebook clamped triumphantly in her hand, she stops in her tracks with the look on her best friend’s face. It’s a suspicious look that pulls her brows down and narrows her eyes. It’s not a good look by any means on the usually pixie faced girl, but Minseon’s not going to point it out. “What?”
She glances around the pretty empty classroom and leans in close, whispering, “Is that Jongin I smell?”
She sucks in a harsh breath, automatically jerking back. “LuHua!”
The smirk on the corner of LuHua’s lips make Minseon just want to bring up the fact the LuHua positively reeks of that freshman boytoy she claimed to not be dating. And so she does.
“For the last time, Minseon, I’m not dating him. Sehun’s only a fling,” LuHua protests, as Wufan drops into the seat next to LuHua.
“That’s a lie, and you know it,” Wufan comments, not even looking up at the fuming beta. LuHua turns to him, ready to toss out more protests, and just like that, the two bicker until the topic of Jongin is far out of LuHua’s mind and class starts, shutting up the beta.
•••---•••
“Have you even managed to say anything to Jongin besides ‘hello’, ‘how are you’, or ‘the weather looks lovely/miserable/cloudy today’?” LuHua corners Minseon again after soccer practice, the omega’s jersey tugged halfway off over her head.
Minseon rolls her eyes underneath the fabric, before tugging off the thing, heat radiating off of her. “Of course I have.”
As usual, LuHua is 120% unashamed of her staring and doesn’t reply, eyes riveted on the pale flesh peeking above Minseon’s bra. She blinks, before glancing at what LuHua’s looking at. When she realizes what the beta is staring at, Minseon snorts. “You are so gay.”
“Bi,” LuHua weakly corrects, brain slowly returning back to its usual functions as Minseon wraps a towel around herself, effectively covering LuHua’s distractions. “They’re so full,” the Chinese girl whispers wistfully mainly to herself, hands coming up to cup her own breasts. When they don’t quite fill her hands like Minseon’s does, she frowns down sadly at her hands, sighing.
“There’s nothing useful about big boobs,” Minseon reminds, brushing through her hair, all her clothes ready and neatly folded on the bench while LuHua blindly reaches into her locker. The beta quizzically stares at a blouse, bringing the fabric to her nose to sniff and when she deems it apparently clean enough, she chucks the item on the bench.
Cheeky Jongda passes by the omega, hand coming up to squeeze at Minseon as she squeals in indignation. “They feel pretty damn nice, though,” the other comments, smirk confident and hand slipping away. A hot flash flares across her face as she curls into herself, arm crossed defensively across her chest. Minseon’s other elbow flies out and she nearly clips Jongda on the solar plexus but the slim girl slips away into a stall with a “Meitao, pull up your jaw before you lick the floor.” Said girl straightens up against her lockers, pink high on her cheeks as her eyes flick down at Minseon.
“Sorry, unnie,” the blonde breaths out. LuHua just sighs.
“Yeah, but they’re gorgeous,” LuHua emphasizes, gesturing at Minseon’s chest. Minseon’s lips press into a thin line as she sweeps into the showers, pulling the curtains across with a sharp flick of her wrist. She can hear LuHua, or rather all the shower items that she just dropped, get into the stall next to her.
Minseon turns the knob, cold water rushing out to cool her flushed face. A small sigh escapes her, eyes closed reflexively. Next to her, LuHua squeals as the water turns on and she can hear the heavy thud as LuHua shrinks against the wall. “Don’t worry, your face is gorgeous enough.”
Minseon reaches for her shampoo, her hair thoroughly soaked, “Excuse me. Says the girl who won the campus wide beauty pageant.”
LuHua lets out a noise of protest, loud over the sound of shower. “I didn’t enter that on my own will ok. I was drunk and lost a bet.” Her best friend makes a snuffling noise and says in a much meeker voice, “I thought we agreed to never speak of that again.”
“No, LuHua. That was between you and Sehun.”
There’s a loud thud of a shampoo bottle and a hissed “fuck!” followed by a trail of angrily muttered “ow, ow, ow, godfuckingdammit ow”. Minseon just shakes her head slowly and says more to herself than LuHua, “Just admit that you’re dating him.”
“Not! dating!”
“Right.”
•••---•••
Minseon always gets a suspicious feeling when LuHua texts her:
From Luluie~:
Seeeeoooooooonaaaah
She debates on answering, glancing almost longingly at her homework sprawled in front of her. Until she spots her angry scribbles across her notebooks, and hisses, agreeing that a little 5 minute break couldn’t hurt.
From me:
What’s up?
LuHua’s reply is almost immediate.
From Luluie~:
You know that im a huge member of an animal rights ground on campus, right?
From me:
I do now
From Luluie~:
Well. I have a little request. Dont be surprised when someone contacts you a few weeks from now.
Minseon squints at her screen but asks what the request is. It isn’t even 5 minutes later when she regrets the decision to reply at all. Because now, she’s the grand prize for raising awareness for the rapidly receding environment for polar bears.
•••---•••
LuHua gleefully forwards Minseon the poster that advertises the club and the guidelines on how to win a date with the omega, namely anything that the club can tell that shows the most dedication on helping the animals.
She’s quick to blow up Minseon’s phone with multiple heart eyes emoticons on kakao and jokes that help ease away the irritation stemmed from the fact that LuHua had already put her on the poster before even asking her permission. When Minseon had asked why she wanted to put her as the prize LuHua had answered that the club had voted that Minseon would attract the largest audience and well, she’d be the most willing to agree.
Minseon sends a picture of her middle finger with the message of ‘ure banned from my boobs’. She ignores the multitude of ‘NOOOOOOOO’ messages by turning off her kakao notifications and goes back to finishing her school work, a little smug smirk on her lips.
•••---•••
“You know, this is the most participation the club’s seen for this contest,” LuHua says when she sits down on the bed opposite from Minseon’s desk, her eyes drifting sadly over Minseon’s baggy blouse, hiding any sort of hint of curves.
Minseon snorts, “I’ve never even heard of it before. Is this the first year?”
LuHua shakes her head, eyes glued to her phone when it notifies her of a new message. “No, this is the 5th time we’ve hosted it.”
“Never heard of it before.”
The beta just shrugs, “Little exposure.” She turns away from the phone and shows the screen to Minseon to scroll through the few emails that she’s received from submissions and wiggles her brows.
She chooses not to answer but rather chucks a pencil at her best friend, smiling happily at the satisfying “ow!”.
She forgets completely of the contest until weeks later when a message arrives in her inbox.
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
Hello, noona.
From me:
Who is this???
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
Oh, I’m so sorry! I’m the winner of that contest the A.A club. Um. LuHua gave me your number…
Minseon curses and switches over to kakaotalk to tell LuHua of the most recent development.
From me:
Oh…….do I know you…?
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
You do...but not really well
There’s too many people that Minseon vaguely knows to try to play a guessing game.
From me:
This is a little unfair isnt it? You know my name, but i dont know yours
From xxx-xxx-xxxx:
I’m kai! ^^ sorry that we had to meet this way, but im shy >///<
She tries to lie to herself that she didn’t chuckle, thinking that he seemed cute, his messages full of emoticons.
•••---•••
Without fail, every morning she’d wake up to a text waiting on her phone. They weren’t big things, but they were messages like “Good morning, noona~” or “Did you have a good sleep last night?” and they made her smile.
The messages ran on for days, weeks, eventually turning into a month until Minseon had finally asked why he hadn’t met her in real life.
From me:
You know kai….you won this contest for a date with me, right?
It wasn’t 5 minutes later when her phone beeped, and Minseon tugged her hair behind her ear before unlocking her device.
From Kai:
O-O-OF COURSE I KNOW
From me:
Then why havent we….even met in real life?
This time, Kai’s answer came a little later, a little longer than his usual replies.
From Kai:
Cause i knew that if we met right after i had gotten your info then itd wouldve been a 1 time thing. we would have said hi, spent a few awkward hours together, then youd never want to see me again.
From Kai:
Besides, i thought that youd prefer if i got to know you better before asking you out.
From me:
:o
From Kai:
AHAHAHA, so...are you free this saturday?
Minseon burst out laughing, homework long forgotten sprawled across her desk.
From me:
Not anymore. What time should i be ready by?
From Kai:
Oh my, eager are we?
From me:
Should i not come, then?
From Kai:
NO
From me:
Kekeke then quick, pick a spot
Just as the younger sent her the location and she agreed to meet Kai at the time, LuHua burst into her room wailing about Sehun. Minseon bid him a quick goodbye before putting down her phone to attempt to tune into LuHua’s constant denials of her feelings.
•••---•••
From me:
I’m here
She fidgeted, fingering the bottom of her skirt, unsure of what to expect. Through the month that she had known Kai, Minseon had bugged LuHua numerous times about the real identity of Kai. All the younger had told her, with a small smirk that she didn’t like at all, was that he was her type and not to worry, he wasn’t a creep or anything. Still, it didn’t give the omega much to work with and she wasn’t even sure of what to wear tonight.
From Kai:
I see you
Her head snapped up, eyes scanning the area. They had agreed to meetup at a very public place, the campus’ quad, in case Minseon felt uneasy, then she could just slip off. Looking around the lawn, she could see a number of students loitering around, each just as likely to be Kai as the next. Frustrated, she returned back to her phone.
From me:
Theres a lot of people here. Any hints?
From Kai:
The tall, handsome guy
Barely flicking her eyes up, she ran another scan, her eyes catching on a familiar figurebreath when she sees Jongin fiddling on his phone. Like a natural reaction, her cheeks pink but it doesn’t have the same heart stopping power as it used to be. Before she can dwell too long on her new reaction, her phone vibrates in her hands and it pulls her attention away.
From Kai:
See me yet?
From me:
But i dont see any handsome guys
From Kai:
NOONA
From me:
Keke then come up to me and say hi
Her breath clogs in her throat when a timid tap on her shoulder comes from behind her. A soft, too familiar voice whispers a quiet, “Hello, noona.”
Oh my god.
Eyes wide, Minseon whips around. “Oh my god,” slips out when she turns and sees Kim Jongin, holding his phone in his hand and a small smile on his lips.
He’s standing there with a smile that’s getting more and more uneasy as the seconds tick by and Minseon’s just standing there mind whirling at a thousand miles an hour. “But you’re Kim Jongin.”
Her neighbor blinks and nods, “Yes, yes I am.”
Hands brushing through her hair in agitation, Minseon glances back at her phone screen, the display name of Kai bright on the top of her texts. There’s still confusion in her voice when she says, “Who’s Kai then?”
This time, Jongin visibly blushes and ducks his head. “That’d be me.”
“How come you said that you were Kai, though?” she asks, trying to process everything. The same boy that said good morning to her when they met outside the apartment complex was the same boy that made her morning when he’d send her a hello text. It wasn’t surprising, now that she thought about it.
He shrugs, “Kai’s my stage name when I dance. I, I was just too scared to give you my full name, I guess?”
“Oh for heavens sake, Jongin,” Minseon breathes, eyes curving into crescents now that the confusion was giving way to a bubbly feeling coming from her stomach.
“I-I got us reservations,” Jongin blurts out, fingers twisting around themselves.
Minseon smiles, bending her right arm, creating a loop and a hint, “Perfect.”
Biting his lip, Jongin leads her in the direction of the restaurant, arm coming in to tuck hers by his side. Conversation is thankfully easy and full of questions from Minseon.
•••---•••
Dusk is falling, the colors of the sky blending into beauties of gold, orange, and red when they start making their way back to their apartment, Jongin joking that he’ll drop her off at her home. She smacks his chest and relishes his small wince, smiling when he’s wincing so he doesn’t see.
When they make it to her door, they stop. Silence befalls them before Jongin reaches inside his jacket to pull out a small box. Minseon glances at him with her brow crooked in a question but he doesn’t say anything beyond a short explanation, “LuHua said that you’d like it.”
Confused and slightly suspicious, Minseon takes the proffered box, opening it to find a few slips of carefully folded paper in it. Glancing up as though asking a question, Jongin just responded by smiling, tilting his chin to tell her to unfold it, Minseon takes one of the slips and reads the slip.
Written in slightly messy hangul is 1 free date with Kim Jongin and Minseon squints up at the younger. “Did you…..?”
Like a shy puppy, he ducks his head mumbling, “In case you wanted another date, I made those. If you ever want another other one, just slip it under my door or something.” His head shoots up and his hands pop up in front of him, waving side to side, and Jongin’s quick to add, “Oh! But if you never want to see me again, you don’t ever have to!”
Minseon stares for a long time, cicadas singing loud in their silence, as Minseon scrutinizes Jongin under a hard stare. Just as he’s about to shrink away with the most heartbreaking expression on his face, she takes his hand and turns it over until his palm is facing upwards. “Here,” the omega says, placing a little slip of paper into his hand, “for next time.”
Jongin’s got the most stunned expression on his face and it gives Minseon the little surge of courage that she needs to stretch up on her tip toes to give his cheek a light kiss.
She slips away with a quiet goodnight, closing the door on Jongin’s delighted, frozen expression. Leaning against the door, Minseon pulls out her phone and texts:
From me:
Thank you for tonight, Kai ♥
From the other side of the door, she hears a barely repressed sigh of delight. Minseon giggles before whispering goodnight, already eager for the next date.
•••EPILOGUE•••
It’s on their 8th date, 5 months after their first date, when at the end, Minseon doesn’t let go of Jongin’s hand when he turns to leave her at her door. When he turns back confused, she places another piece of paper. She gestures for him to read it when he looks confused at her.
When Jongin unfolds and reads, his eyes go wide, something darkening them. “Are you sure?” he asks, his voice dropping an octave, almost reaching something husky.
Minseon tries to will away the high blush that comes up, and tip toes, placing her lips right next to his ear before whispering, “Yes. I really need a helping hand tonight.”
She hears his sharp intake of breath and she enjoys having the audible effect on him. His hand comes up to her hip and squeezes. Jongin closes his eyes, hand crumpling the small piece of paper, asking again. “Are you sure?”
Minseon pulls away, voice stuck in her throat and nods. That’s all it takes for Jongin to wrap his arms around her, piece of paper with "Fuck me" written on it, falling sadly down on her doorstep, forgotten.
Her high giggle drifts out loudly into the night air as Jongin pushes open her door, picking up his small girlfriend and hoists her bodily into the apartment, and before long, his sharp alpha scent mingles with her softer omegas. She enjoys it so much that she’s tempted to ask him to stay forever, in his arms and in her heart.