Chapter Text
Jongho's Sundays were built on routine much like the rest of his life; he thrived in the comfort of consistency.
No matter what had happened that week or even that Saturday for the matter would stop Jongho from fully enjoying his Sundays. He slept in till around eleven and at the latest twelve; any more than that and he'd be groggy when he woke up. Then when it hit one; he found himself at the nearby hospital in volunteer scrubs for the next three hours.
After his shift at the hospital ended, he worked his way through any leftover assignments and started on the new ones for the next hour or two. After that, he typically lazed around in his bed watching whatever drama had taken the internet by storm that week.
His Sundays were peaceful, he knew what to expect, his friends knew what to expect, even the cook at the burger place he went to after his hospital shift knew what to expect.
So he wasn't sure exactly why he offered to give up some of his free time on Sundays to help someone he didn't know all that well. The conversation that started it all drifted back into his head.
Wooyoung was droning on in his ear about Mingi this and Mingi that; though Jongho was only half listening, focused more on the two little birds hopping near his chair. He grabbed a fry, picking off pieces of it to throw to them, watching as they snatched it from each other.
"Jongho, stop ignoring me," Wooyoung cut through his little show and Jongho turned his attention back.
"I wasn't ignoring you." It was a blatant lie, Wooyoung narrowed his eyes.
"Okay then what was I talking about?"
"Mingi."
"Mingi what?" Wooyoung replied, pressing for more.
"Too many questions, you asked what you were talking about and I said Mingi. I was right, you should've asked for details from the start," Jongho retorted smugly, tossing a fry in his mouth.
He didn't get more than five seconds before the foot to his shin came, "Fuck, you wear those heavy ass boots, what if you break my leg? Who's going to pay my hospital bills." It didn't hurt that bad, in fact, it didn't hurt at all; overexaggerating for the sake of.
"Anyways, I was saying that Mingi was struggling to find a singer for one of his classes' projects. If you were listening you would've heard me asking if you knew anybody." Wooyoung spoke up, an outsider might think his tone came off a bit rude, but Jongho could sense there was no real bite with his words.
"Doesn't he usually have that one tall dude he's always with sing for him?" Jongho asked, tossing a piece of his burger's lettuce onto the ground for the birds.
"Yeah, Yunho usually sings for him, but he's doing a study abroad this semester in Japan so Mingi's been looking around for someone that can fit with his schedule."
"Is his schedule that bad?" More of the little birds had flown over, there were maybe five circling the legs of his chair.
Wooyoung hummed, "It's not the best honestly; his part time job has weird hours not to mention the fact he's juggling a finance minor so it's just all over the place."
Jongho paused before he commented, words turning carefully in his head before he spoke them into existence. Perhaps, he should've asked a few more questions before the words came out of his mouth.
"Tell Mingi I know a singer."
"Really you do!" Wooyoung's voice revealed his excitement as he pulled out his phone, tongue ghosting over the piercing on his lip. "He's going to be so relieved," he paused, tapping away some more on his phone before he looked up at Jongho, "by the way, who is it?"
"Me."
Call it a gut feeling, Jongho knew he wouldn't regret this.
He was currently standing outside the Mingi's door, or at least what he believe to be Mingi's door, room 305 according to the message. He looked around the hallway; he hadn't lived in one of the school's dorms since his freshman year, his parents saying they'd prefer him to have his own place.
If you ignored the faint scent of mold the place was actually pretty decent on the eyes. His eyes moved back to the door; it had been a minute or two since he knocked. Was it rude if he knocked again, he bit his lip, pondering over it for a bit before raising his hand back up.
Right as he began to knock, the door opened up abruptly pulling a soft "oh" from Jongho's lips. He had to look upwards a bit to meet the other's eyes.
"Fuck, sorry I was in the shower." Mingi rambled out an excuse. Jongho took note of the man's short hair, bright pink and still damp. A droplet of water trailed it's way down Mingi's angular face and found it's end at the fabric of Mingi's t-shirt.
"You're fine," Jongho finally spoke up, he didn't really catalog anything else Mingi said after the first sentence.
"I'm Choi Jongho," he stuck out a hand towards Mingi.
"A handshake? So formal?" Mingi smiled, a cheeky grin that softened his face, before he grasped Jongho's hand in his.
A handshake could say a lot about a person, and from Mingi's firm grip was it strange to say that Jongho already knew he'd like the other. Their hands separated, falling to their sides as they stood there for a moment more.
"Can I come in?" Jongho asked, watching in amusement as Mingi's expression visibly loaded in. Mingi moved backwards sheepishly, using his hand to welcome Jongho in.
Jongho took a step in, leaning down to remove his shoes as soon as he had fully entered the room. Whilst he did so he took the time to survey Mingi's room. It was much like he expected for a music major, one side was covered in posters ranging from K-pop groups to Korean rappers to American artists. Despite the amount of posters and decorations that painted the walls, there was a clear design to it all.
The main colors of the room seemed to either be black and a variation of grays. He definitely had a theme, Jongho thought. His eyes switched to the other half of the room. The decorations were sparse and the bed was neatly made. Jongho could make out some trophies lined on a desk nearby but other than that there wasn't much to say.
Perhaps, Mingi noticed Jongho's eyes were following the trophies because he spoke before Jongho even thought about letting the question into the air.
"The trophies are Yunho's," Mingi stopped deciding to end there before he realized Jongho probably had no clue who that was. "He's the really tall handsome dude that I'm with a lot. He's a business major but he's also the vice president for the dance club at the university. So those trophies are from that," Mingi finished.
"He's on a study-abroad right?" Jongho added, raising up once he had sat his shoes neatly at the entrance. He locked eyes with the other, Mingi nodded.
"Yeah, so unfortunately he's not here to sing for me and that's why you're here."
Jongho raised his eyebrow, the phrasing of that was a bit funny. So far, Mingi seemed like the type of guy who spoke before he thought about what he was saying.
Mingi realized, half a second too late, "Wait, fuck that sounds like I don't want you here. I mean like Yunho is usually here to help so it's pretty easy. So you are a replacement but like," he stopped, cutting off his own rambling, "I'm making it sound worse."
Jongho giggled softly, "It's fine I understand what you mean. I'm fine with being the replacement don't worry."
Mingi stood there for a second and the thought sat at the forefront of his mind.
Jongho had a really cute laugh.
Mingi cleared his throat, "Feel free to sit on Yunho's bed." Jongho was cute, there was no doubt about that. In fact, he was Mingi's type to a tee. A man that was smaller than him; had cute features but was still a bit serious. Wooyoung had told him a bit about Jongho when he sent the message. He might seem like he has a stick up his ass at first but he's actually a really good dongsaeng.
Jongho nodded walking over, before taking place at the edge of Yunho's bed. Mingi followed after him, sitting across on his bed. No one said anything for a bit, awkward silence taking over the room.
"Sorry, this isn't really a formal meeting or anything. " Mingi huffed a laugh, breaking the weird tension in the room.
"There isn't really any work you have to do today, it's more me getting to know you as a vocalist." Mingi switched from what seemed goofy to something more serious. Jongho adjusted himself, sitting up straighter unconsciously in response.
Jongho could respect someone who was dedicated to their craft, and it wasn't hard to see that Mingi was like that. His opinion of Mingi wasn't low but it had improved without the man even having to do anything.
"So Jongho, what music do you like?" Mingi asked, pulling his laptop open. The back of it was covered with stickers of band logos and anime characters, some of which Jongho knew and the other's Jongho had no clue.
"I like ballads and R&B the most; but, I also like to listen to k-pop sometimes," Jongho voiced honestly.
"That's chill; I listen to about anything under the sun but for me I tend to listen to rap and things that lean into the rock genre," Mingi replied, waving his hands around as he spoke. Jongho didn't listen to a lot of rock but he had a feeling he'd listen to a lot more of it over the next few weeks.
"Do you mind singing a song for me? I just want to get a feel for your voice and see if I have anything I've started on that feels right." Mingi asked, raising his hands again. Jongho nodded, pulling his phone up like he didn't already have a song he planned on singing.
"Do you know any EXO?"
"Yeah, a few songs," Mingi replied, nodding along.
"I'm gonna do Baby Don't Cry if that's okay," Jongho said looking at his phone, typing to find an instrumental of the song. He took a deep breath, it was largely audible in the small room.
"Don't feel pressured either, I'm not gonna like grade you or anything," Mingi said sincerely. Jongho huffed a small laugh, because really he wasn't sure why he was so nervous either.
The piano started up softly in the room, the audio quality from his phone was actually pretty decent. Jongho knew the lyrics by heart; but his eyes were glued to his phone screen as soon as the first lyrics left his lips.
Mingi didn't say anything at first, allowing Jongho to sing a few lines before his face twisted into another expression that Jongho couldn't quite name. Perhaps, he was disappointed. It had been quite a while since Jongho had sang in front of someone else; maybe, he had overestimated his ability.
The song finished off, the piano fading into the background as the room trickled back into silence. Both of Mingi's eyebrows were shot up and Jongho wasn't sure what his expression meant.
"Was is that bad," Jongho said, adding a fake laugh to his words. He definitely overestimated his singing abilities, he looked down at his legs.
"Was it bad?" Mingi said incredulously, Jongho looked back up to see what Mingi had to say.
"There is absolutely no fucking way you just asked me if that was bad," Mingi's jaw dropped for extra effect. Jongho's eyes caught the sparkle in his mouth in less than a second.
Mingi had a tongue piercing. Jongho chose not to think any further about that, pushing it to the back of his mind as Mingi started back yelling.
"Jongho your voice is crazy good, you could genuinely be a professional singer." Mingi said it so honestly, that Jongho was left flustered.
"I don't think I'm that good or anything," Jongho said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well too bad, I wasn't asking what you thought. I'm telling you what I hear," Mingi said cutting off anymore possible attempts Jongho was making to dodge the compliment. Jongho stilled, a soft, careful smile on his lips.
"Thank you."
The room entered silence again, this one comfortable and welcomed as Jongho soaked in the compliment and Mingi planned out his musical direction. Mingi was the one to break the silence, "I know it's been like 10 minutes since you got here but you completely derailed my original plans."
Jongho tilted his head to the left, "Is that bad?"
Mingi shook his head, "No, not at all. Yunho has been my vocalist for so long that most of my songs are based around his tone. The style I write for him wouldn't fit your vocal cadence." Jongho nodded along, tapping his fingers against his thigh as Mingi spoke.
He had a really nice voice, deep but soothing. He spoke like he knew what he was going to say, it was quite nice to hear. It took a few seconds before Jongho processed what Mingi had actually said.
"Will it take you long?" Jongho asked worriedly, he didn't want to put the man behind any. Mingi shook his head again.
"I have about a month and a half before the final song is due, so don't worry I'll have time. Not to mention, your voice is a challenge… In a good way," he added. "When I say your voice is a challenge, it's just that I haven't wrote a song before that fits what I think would be good for you."
Jongho hummed, "What song do you think fits me?"
"An emotional ballad," Mingi said with a finality that stood out. Perhaps, that had been what Mingi was thinking about when Jongho was singing. Jongho could see himself singing a ballad, they were his typical choice when he sang in the shower.
Mingi's fun buzzed interrupting their conversation, he grabbed it off the bed scrolling through the messages with his brows furrowed.
"Hey, let's exchange phone numbers really quick, my job asked me if I could come in for opening." Mingi asked, looking apologetic.
"Yeah sure."
Mingi handed his phone over, there hands touching for a moment before Jongho typed in his phone number and sent himself a message. He handed the phone back, fingers meeting again as he tried his best to pretend like he didn't notice.
"I hope you don't mind me asking but where do you work at?" Jongho was curious, it was around three ish, most places nearby would have already been open. Mingi had already started walking towards his closet before he replied to Jongho.
"I'm a bartender so my hours kind of flip between late at night and in the day," Mingi said tossing a pair of pants onto his bed. Jongho took that as a sign it was time to go, getting up from the bed. It wasn't the job Jongho was expecting but he wasn't really expecting anything. Mingi seemed like he could be a good bartender, the type customers of all ranges would love.
Jongho made his way towards Mingi's door, pulling his shoes on. Mingi didn't seem to care that he was still in the room. Mingi pulled off his shirt revealing his upper body. Jongho knew he should probably look away but his eyes were stuck on the man's figure.
His figure was unbelievably tapered, wide shoulders and a thin midsection. He was clad only in his sweatpants and the band of his underwear was visible above the low rise of the sweatpant's waistband.
Was it rude if Jongho said that Mingi had a fat ass?
He didn't have crazy muscles so Mingi probably didn't hit the gym like he or San did. So maybe he was just blessed with an insane physique. Mingi's fingers reached into the band of his sweatpants about to pull them down before Jongho spoke up. That definitely would've crossed a line and Jongho didn't want to seem like some pervert.
"Text me for our next meetup." Jongho said, avoiding eye contact with Mingi who turned his body around to face Jongho. This had to be worse than the view of his back, Jongho's eyes kept catching on everything about Mingi.
He didn't have any abs, at least not any well defined, so the man probably worked out. Though his adonis belt, it was unfairly defined. Jongho's eyes caught onto the dusting of pink hair trailing below Mingi's belly button and his ears had never reddened so fast.
He didn't bother hearing what Mingi's response was, he had overstayed his welcome, rushing out of the room. Only once he had closed the door behind him, did he allow his thoughts to settle.
He hadn't even considered that as an option, dyeing your pubic hair. His brain supplied him images of Mingi's body, so much so, that Jongho had to put his headphones in to distract his mind.
It was a bit odd for him to be thinking so much about a guy, but he chalked it up to it being his first meeting with Mingi. He headed straight for the comfort of his apartment; his bed was calling his name.
Jongho found himself at the exact same spot he was only four days ago, outside Mingi's door raising his hand up to knock when it opened.
"Is that gonna become a thing," he asked with a smile. Mingi leaned against the doorframe, with a casual smile on his lips.
"If you want it to be?" Jongho didn't respond, a small chuckle leaving his lips as he scooted past the taller man. He didn't wait for the man to close the door before he bent down, untying his shoe lace.
"I'm so excited to show-" Mingi's brain went blank as he took in the sight of Jongho in front of him… bent over. He turned his head away, bringing his hand to his mouth in hopes it'd control the blush on his face.
Jongho was clueless to the sitatuion behind him, "What were you saying? You didn't finish."
"Oh yeah, I worked on a song and I really want to show it to you." Mingi said, still looking away from Jongho. It wasn't like he could walk by without bumping into the other, so he was stuck with this blessing and curse of a view.
"That fast?" Jongho asked surprised, he wasn't really sure how long things like this took.
"I mean it's a rough draft more than anything but I know what I want the direction to be." Mingi said, lettiing out a sigh of relief when Jongho raised up. He moved past with a quickness to his bed opening his laptop.
"Come sit next to me," Mingi said, eyes still focused on his computer screen. Jongho tossed his bag to the side before he slowly made his way over to Mingi. He wasn't sure what felt so daunting about this, he just needed to sit down.
He lowered himself onto Mingi's bed, giving Mingi ample space.
Mingi looked over, huffing out a laugh at Jongho's distance, "I'm not gonna bite you, I'm not Wooyoung." Jongho flushed red, why was he embarrassed, he really didn't know. His body just seemed to like making things difficult for him.
He scooted over, giving them a bit of space still. Mingi overexaggerated rolling his eyes and before Jongho even had the time to think. An arm was wrapped around his waist, pulling him till there thighs were touching. Jongho froze, his brain stopping in real time.
Mingi realized his actions after seeing Jongho's face, "Wait, fuck- I'm so sorry, I'm used to tugging my friend's along, I didn't mean to do that without seeing if you're comfortable with it."
This issue at hand for Jongho wasn't about being uncomfortable, in fact, it lay more with the fact that he had found the grip more than comfortable. His ears were probably beet red by now and he hoped to god that Mingi didn't notice.
Seeing that Jongho didn't speak, Mingi's concern grew. He took his time to actually see what Jongho's expression was before he said something else. It was only then Mingi noticed Jongho's ears and the soft blush that was growing
He tried to mark it off as nothing; Wooyoung had told him that Jongho was straight. Mingi defintely didn't send a message asking right after his and Jongho's first meeting.
When Jongho's brain decided to finally process, his words came out choppy sounding almost like a robot.
"You're fine, you didn't make me uncomfortable." Mingi looked him over once again, trying to make sure that Jongho wasn't just saying it to not make the situation awkward. Once he deemed that Jongho wasn't just bullshiting him, his focus returned back to his laptop.
"The audio quality is better in my headphones but I'll play it from the laptop speaker first,"
Mingi commented. Jongho nodded along, when in reality, his focus was on the place where his and Mingi's thighs were touching. Mingi was radiating heat, their point of connection was scorching. Not to mention how thick Mingi's thighs were. Jongho had nice thighs himself, but comparing them to Mingi's they seemed almost miniature in comparison. Jongho couldn't figure out why he was so invested in comparing himself with Mingi over every little thing.
The soft piano notes of a ballad quieted Jongho's mind. As the notes played and the song continued on, Jongho found himself entranced. It was more than a song for a project, it had already becomes something he felt in his chest.
It might be too early too say, maybe he's exaggerating his own feelings. Nonetheless, Mingi had made a song that fit Jongho's color tone beautifully.
What Jongho assumed to be a bridge was being built up in grand instrumentation before it ended even quieter than the way it began. Jongho sucked in a breath, unable to say anything at first.
Mingi watched with rapt attention. He was prepared for however Jongho reacted to the song, even if it wasn't necessarily a good reaction.
"Mingi!" Jongho exclaimed, his body fully turned towards Mingi, one of his hands grasping at the man's shoulder and the other taking residence on Mingi's thigh. Mingi's eyebrows raised, he hadn't ever seen Jongho this excitable, if that was even the right word for it.
"That song… I'm sorry but I'm legitimately speechless right now. That was so beautiful and to know that you made something that fits me so well in just a few days is like… wow." Jongho couldn't express himself in words, it was really that good.
"That's really high praise Jongho." Mingi said sincerely, Jongho's sheer awe hitting him right in his heart, it felt great to have his work appreciated so much.
He scrateched the back of his head awkwardly, "I still have some work to go, it can only get better from here." Jongho nodded along to Mingi's words, his expression falling when he realized he still had an iron-clad grip on Mingi's thigh. He snatched his hands back, turning his body back away.
A smile formed on Mingi's lips from Jongho's sheepish expression; he wouldn't try and tease the other for his excitement. He turned away, looking back at his laptop when he spoke again.
"The next step is working on lyrics," Mingi paused, "I was thinking something emotional like heartbreak or loss," Mingi said waving his hands around as he spoke.
Jongho bit his lip, face still slightly flushed from the earlier situation, "I agree, something like a breakup would be good."
Mingi hummed in agreement, clicking around on his laptop.
"I'm assuming you haven't written lyrics before but honestly anything that comes to mind you should write down." He closed his laptop, placing it to the side of him. Adjusting one of the rings on his finger, he started back up.
"I'm gonna send you a file for us to both edit and add lyrics too. I don't have it made right this second but for now I recommend just working in your notes app."
"I don't know if I'll be any good," Jongho admitted, Mingi couldn't say Jongho didn't warn him.
"No, it's no worries. I'm not expecting you to send me some god-tier stuff. Just some thoughts and ideas that we can work around. I'll help putting it all together." Mingi voiced, pulling his phone.
Was he leaving again, Jongho wondered. He watched as Mingi typed rapidly on his phone.
"Work?" he asked.
Mingi finished typing before he looked up, shaking his head. "No, it's just my mom." Mingi didn't say anymore, and Jongho wondered if it was appropriate to ask more.
"Are you and your mom super close?" Jongho mentally brought a palm to his face because what kind of question was that. Was he socially inept?
Mingi's lip raised into a soft smile, "Yeah, she's like my best friend. As long as it's been, it's been me and her," he stopped before adding, "and Yunho if you want to count him. How about you"
Jongho thought for a second, his and his mom's relationship couldn't quite be captured as close. Probably not by someone like Mingi's standards especially.
"Sort of, my family isn't super showy about affection or things like that in general but she- they show it in different ways." Jongho finished off, avoiding eye contact with Mingi. His face was still red; he could feel the heat on his cheeks.
What did it mean if he was blushing because another man was staring him down?
It meant a lot of discoveries about himself.
"That's chill, everyone's relationship with their parents is different. She was just asking me about my hours this weekend, she wants to visit."
"That's nice, my parents are usually on business trips out of the country so it's rare for me to see them outside of summer or winter break."
"Oh? What do your parents do?" Mingi said inquisitively.
"My dad helps manage international business's; specifically, Korea-based one's in foreign companies. My mom owns a hotel chain." Jongho replied nonchalantly.
"Fuck, you're loaded." Mingi said suprised. Jongho nodded, he'd admit it.
"I mean yeah, I'm super greatful to have money but I try not to make it a personality trait of mine." Jongho admitted earnestly. Mingi nodded, jaw still dropped slightly.
"I would ask what hotel chain but I feel like the answer might give me a heartache," Mingi said jokingly, a soft giggle leaving his lips. Jongho thought it was really cute especially when the man's voice was so deep.
"It sounds kind of boring in comparioson but my mom's an elementary-school teacher."
"It's not boring, teachers are the backbone of our society. How long has she been teaching?"
Mingi tilted his head back and forth, thinking about it, "Honestly, it's probably been around fifteen or sixteen years." Jongho nodded appreciatively.
"I know you're a music major, right? What do you plan on doing after graduation?" Jongho was curious, he realized he didn't know much about Mingi. Of course, he had only officially met the guy three times including this time.
"Yeah, I'm a music major, so I'm hoping to work as a producer when I graduate. I've got internships planned with a company this summer so hopefully that goes well. I'm also minoring in accounting, you know in case my dreams don't exactly work out. I like math so it's not all that bad," Mingi ended softly.
Jongho didn't realize how much stress Mingi must be under, "You're doing all this and working, I don't know if I'd be able to do it." Jongho added honestly.
"Yeah, it's hard work but I don't want to make it more difficult on my mom by asking her to pay for stuff so it's just something I have to deal with," Mingi ended, looking away from Jongho as he spoke. The room went quiet before Mingi spoke again.
"Sorry, I didn't meant to make it sound so depressing." Mingi groaned, slapping a hand against his thigh.
"No, that's respectable. I don't know if Wooyoung mentioned it to you but I'm a kinesiology major and I'm trying to be a Physical Therapist once I graduate." Mingi looked back at Jongho, eyes following his features as he spoke.
"That's really cool," Mingi said after a long second, too focused on Jongho's face to realize words were no longer coming out of his mouth.
Jongho's face softened and before he even realized what he was asking, "Do you maybe want to go to a cafe?"
Mingi's expression froze, "Like now?"
Jongho cleared his throat, looking around to avoid Mingi's stare, "Yeah, not that your room isn't nice. It's just…" God, Jongho didn't even know a good reason. "We don't really know each other all well, so I thought maybe we could get to know each other and write some lyrics together."
It defintely sounded like a date. Jongho had no doubt in mind about that because really… Getting to know each other. That was definitely in the playbook for asking someone on a date.
Mingi was a nice guy, and that was part of the problem. The fact that he was a guy. As long as Jongho had known himself, he'd consider himself a pretty straight guy.
Though he hadn't had any actual relationships; he found women plenty arousing. He hadn't ever considered a man in that way, but neither had he tried to. It was all too confusing to think about.
Mingi opened his mouth to speak, but the words came out delayed, "Yeah, that would be nice." Mingi couldn't help but think it, it sounded like he was being took on a first date. His brain supplied him with the fact that Jongho was straight, but he could pretend that Jongho thought he was date-worthy.
Jongho stood up abruptly after the answer, "I know a cafe nearby that's really good." He couldn't help but think, was he giving the man the wrong idea? Jongho wasn't blind, he could see the slight flush on the man's face.
Yet, the weirdest part of it all was that he didn't want to clarify anything. The ambiguity of it all felt right in that moment.