Archive of Our Own

Honestly, Seokmin hadn't particularly wanted to go rollerblading, but Mingyu had been so enthusiastic about it. Seokmin hadn't been rollerblading in ages and the chances that he'd make a fool of himself had been worryingly high. He would have worn knee pads if they didn't make him look like a child. If he was with anyone other than Mingyu, possibly he would have.

He regrets his decision not to, now.

Their date had started out so well. It was a beautiful Saturday, one of the first really warm days of spring, the kind that made Seokmin feel like life was actually quite worth living after surviving the depths of winter. A day that felt like it was thawing off a frozen layer of his soul. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, Seokmin was on a date with Mingyu, and there had been a lot to be hopeful about.

Mingyu had rented both of them rollerblades from the rec center in the park while Seokmin tried not to eye the bucket of knee and elbow pads in the corner. He'd be fine. He was athletic. Sure, it was better to be safe than sorry, but if safe meant looking like a fool in front of the guy he'd been interested in for the better part of their friendship, sometimes it had to be foregone. It's not like it was Seokmin's first time on rollerblades. He used to skate when he was a kid. Seokmin was coordinated. He'd run miles and miles without ever falling!

Unfortunately, running was very different from rollerblading, and perhaps Seokmin wasn't as coordinated as he'd thought, or that tiny crack in the pavement had something against him. He'd chosen sorry over being safe, and he'd ended up very, very sorry. A sorrow which included looking like a fool on the pavement in front of the guy he'd been interested in for the better part of their friendship.

"Seokmin!" Mingyu's eyes had gone wide, alarmed, but there was something to be said for the fact that regardless of everything else, Mingyu was a good person to have around during an emergency. He was quick to act; practical. He'd gotten Seokmin off the path and into the soft grass. The knee of Seokmin's jeans had been ripped straight through, which was unfortunate, because they were one of Seokmin's nicer pairs. He should have of thought of that before he'd gotten ready that morning, trying to look so nice. His knee was a torn, bloody mess, and Mingyu was doing his best to stop the bleeding, even if his face had gone a little pale at the sight of it.

He managed to get Seokmin back to the recreation center, which luckily wasn't too far, because Seokmin obviously couldn't last long on rollerblades at all. Mingyu had returned their blades and gotten their shoes. He even put Seokmin's on for him. Seokmin's cheeks had burned, feeling like some sort of helpless, injured Cinderella.

So, in hindsight, it would have been better to look like a fool in knee pads than to hobble around, hanging off of Mingyu's shoulder the entire way back to Mingyu's apartment. What kind of adult falls and scrapes their knee like this? It appeared that either way, he'd ended up looking like a little kid. Which was just great.

And it was only their third date.

Now, Seokmin has an arm hooked around Mingyu's neck as Mingyu keys in the code this his apartment and lets them in. He makes a beeline for his couch and gently deposits Seokmin down onto it, which is embarrassing. This whole thing is embarrassing. Mingyu doesn't seem to have a single care about Seokmin getting blood on his cushions, but Seokmin cares, so he very carefully angles his injured knee away. It's not the type of bodily fluid he's made of habit of staining his dates' couches with. Which, okay, he must be a little delirious if he's making jokes with himself about this in his own brain-

"Let me get some disinfectant and some new band aids," Mingyu says, standing up straight. The recreation center had a first aid kit they'd let them borrow, and Mingyu had hastily applied a few bandages for Seokmin before they'd left, which was also embarrassing. Mingyu frowns at his knee again. "Ah, and let me get you some new pants-"

Mingyu hurries off down his hallway. Seokmin falls back against the couch cushions and closes his eyes. This is terrible. His knee throbs painfully, and now Mingyu has to tend to him like he's a helpless child.

Maybe if they were a few more dates in, this would be less embarrassing. Maybe if they weren't dating at all, this would be less embarrassing. Seokmin doesn't know. Right now they're still in that delicate spot of brand-newness that makes Seokmin think twice about everything. Surely he knows Mingyu, right? They've been friends for a long time, and he knows, objectively, that Mingyu doesn't think less of him for this. Who thinks less of someone just for falling in rollerblades? No one as as good as Mingyu. But they're newly dating, and that makes everything feel mortifying. Mingyu actually likes him.

Their first date had been simple. Just dinner at a place they'd been to before, nothing fancy, nothing expensive. Sure, Seokmin's palms had sweat the entire time, but luckily he'd managed to keep a grip on his chopsticks. It honestly all felt pretty normal, except for the fact that Seokmin was extremely aware that it was a date. Mingyu had paid the bill. He'd walked Seokmin home. Again, it felt normal, until Mingyu had hesitated outside Seokmin's doorway before asking Seokmin if it was okay if he kissed him. Seokmin, with a steadiness voice that he hadn't felt inside his skin, had said it was okay.

It was a little embarrassing, the way it had left him breathless afterward. Like Mingyu really took his breath away with one simple, close-mouthed kiss.

It was also a bit scary, and Seokmin isn't deluded enough to be able to fool himself into thinking it wasn't his own fault that this all hadn't happened sooner. That for as long as he'd known he'd had feelings for Mingyu, there'd been something in him fighting against it, like antibodies fighting a virus.

So as long as they'd been friends — introduced years ago through Seungkwan when he'd been trying to put together a group of friends willing to play volleyball with him on the weekends — a prickliness had also existed between them. And if it had cropped up the second Seokmin's gaze had landed on Mingyu's handsome face and friendly eyes, well. His heart knew a threat when it saw one.

Mingyu rushes back into the room, his hands full of first aid items and a pair of sweatpants draped over his arm. He puts them all down on his coffee table and kneels down in front of Seokmin, eyes concerned, focused. Soft.

Still very much a threat to Seokmin's heart, he realizes.

Seokmin sits up as Mingyu reaches out to roll up his pants over his knee, just like he'd done back at the rec center.

Impulsively, Seokmin draws his knee back. "I can fix it myself," he hears himself say, but the action of moving his knee makes him wince.

He glances back up when he hears silence. Instantly, Seokmin realizes that he may as well have taken a knife from the kitchen and stabbed it straight through his leg, judging by the wounded look that's flooded Mingyu's eyes.

"What? No," he says, reaching forward but not quite touching Seokmin. "Why would you do that? You're hurt."

"It's my own fault" Seokmin says, not quite knowing what he's saying.

"No it wasn't." Mingyu's brow furrows. "And anyway, kids don't put casts on their own arms when they fall out of trees. It was an accident."

Cold mortification washes over Seokmin. He really is just a kid. He should have worn the damn knee pads.

"I'll do it," Mingyu says, firm, fixing his eyes on Seokmin's knee as he scoots forward and goes about rolling up the leg of Seokmin's jeans. Seokmin lets him, helpless, his embarrassment a cool, hard stone in his stomach. He watches as Mingyu very slowly and carefully folds his jeans over the scraped part of Seokmin's knee, but it's impossible to do it perfectly and Seokmin winces again. Mingyu glances up, guilt flashing across his face.

"Just do it quickly," Seokmin says, sensing that Mingyu is about to drag this out with even more caution. Seokmin eyes the antiseptic ointment on Mingyu's coffee table. Is it the kind that will burn? He hopes not.

"Sorry," Mingyu says, and rolls the rest of his pants above his knee.

It really is a nasty scrape, the skin raw and sliced open. Seokmin averts his eyes, stomach flipping over. He's horrible with these types of things. Blood makes him queasy. If it was Mingyu that got injured, he doesn't know what he'd do. Seokmin wasn't made for these kinds of incidents. His eyes focus on the far side of Mingyu's living room, where, on the wall, Mingyu has fixed rows of photographs.

Mingyu is in every one of them, but he's always with a friend, or a group of friends. There's a group photo of all thirteen of them at Mingyu's birthday dinner last year at the top of the wall. There are older photos, ones of Mingyu in college with Wonwoo and Seungkwan, before Seokmin knew them. There are more recent photos, too. One of Mingyu with Hansol at a concert for Hansol's birthday, and another one of him out for barbecue with Seungcheol and Jeonghan about a month ago. Seokmin knows because saw when Mingyu posted them on Instagram. Seokmin has always been impressed with Mingyu's ability to keep this wall updated, to go to the effort of printing his pictures and hanging them up. He used to look at this wall and seek out all the ones he appeared in, used to count them, used to compare that number to the appearances of the rest of Mingyu's friends. It's always been a silly exercise: he appears all over this wall, as much as anyone else. There's even a photo from that first volleyball game they met at.

There are not, Seokmin realizes now as his eyes scan the wall, any photos from their dates. To be fair, they've only been two dates, and did they even take any photos during their first one? Should they have? If this really goes somewhere, will they regret not having a photo from their first date? Stupidly, Seokmin is filled with regret at the thought they don't. Mingyu, who takes pictures of everything, doesn't have a photo of their first date.

Seokmin jolts when he feels a wet cloth pressed to his knee, the fabric cold and stinging against his hot skin. He smells the fragrance of soap. Mingyu pulls it back, eyes on his.

Seokmin shakes his head. "Just do it," he says. Get this over with so they can put this failure of a date behind them. Mingyu presses the cloth back to his knee and starts wiping off the leftover blood, cleaning it, and Seokmin does his best not to let himself grimace.

Their second date had been nice. Seokmin took Mingyu to the aquarium. He'd been weirdly nervous, thinking maybe Mingyu wouldn't like it, but his eyes had lit up when Seokmin had told him where they were going. It's just- Seokmin has this idea in him that dates should be magical, and the aquarium with its underwater tunnels and glowing creatures has always seemed magical to him. Dreamy. He'd never taken someone there before, and maybe it was a lot for only their second date, but this was Mingyu. And maybe Seokmin had thought one or two or a hundred times in the past where he'd take Mingyu if he ever had the chance.

"This shouldn't hurt," Mingyu says, reaching for the tube of antiseptic. He holds it up to his eyes, like he's reading the ingredients. "No alcohol." He flashes Seokmin a smile.

Seokmin nods, his stupid heart fluttering at that smile despite himself. It's so unfair that Mingyu is so handsome like this, always. It's still a little unbelievable that he ever asked out Seokmin in the first place.

Seokmin had spent years believing it would never happen. That Mingyu was just another one of his hopeless crushes. It's far more a reflection of himself than of Mingyu, he knows. The way he'd been so insecure. It's a problem he has.

"It's Mingyu," Seungkwan used to say to him, like Mingyu was some lowly street boy while Seokmin was a talented princess worth so much more. And Seokmin appreciated that. Except he'd also had crushes before, many of them, and not even Seungkwan's pep talks could convince him that Mingyu wasn't a catch. He was bright, thoughtful, optimistic, smart. Sociable with anyone, friendly to all. He was perceptive and helpful and reliable. And most unfairly of all, he was unreasonably handsome, which was only intensified by how truly kind he was.

It was incredibly annoying. Especially earlier on in their friendship, it had made it impossible for Seokmin not to want to fight him all the time. To get some sort of reaction out of him that would prove that Mingyu wasn't as good as he seemed. Most of the time it only left Seokmin feeling like the rotten one.

Mingyu takes the antiseptic and, very lightly, applies it to Seokmin's skin. He's right, it doesn't hurt, and in fact it barely feels like anything at all. Mingyu touches him so gently. His eyebrows are furrowed, concentrating. Like he's performing surgery or something equally as serious.

Seokmin watches him. An acute sting abruptly starts behind his eyes.

Seokmin knows he's worth receiving good things, a good relationship. The thing is, Seokmin just isn't used to having his wishes fulfilled like this. Not without some kind of intense effort.

Mingyu puts the ointment down and starts unwrapping bandages, applying them to Seokmin's knee with the same utmost care. Luckily, all cleaned like this, the scrape isn't as bad as it had seemed. It'll probably scab over and be painful to bend, but that's fine. He can walk. And if he couldn't, something very certain in him says that Mingyu would be there to help him.

Seokmin isn't used to getting anything without some kind of intense effort, but Mingyu has never made anything difficult for him. It's always just been Seokmin getting in his own way, deciding what he did and didn't deserve. But Mingyu has always been easy.

A few weeks ago, they'd spent the day hanging out with Minghao. They'd gone to a movie and then little tea place, Minghao's choice. It always felt nice hanging out, just the three of them, their same-aged trio. They always went out after seeing a movie, because Mingyu and Minghao liked to share their thoughts. Mingyu usually chose a bar. Seokmin liked coffee shops.

Listening to Mingyu and Minghao go on and on, Seokmin used to feel so simple compared to them. But that was okay, he liked listening to them talk, hearing them air out the complexities of their brains. Minghao especially, who could sometimes be so quiet in bigger group settings, grew so talkative that Seokmin thought he might be difficult to make quiet again, not that anyone would ever try. Mingyu had once pointed out that Seokmin, who was so good at commanding energy and attention in their group gatherings, took their trio hangouts as an opportunity to let himself be quiet. Seokmin hadn't even realized that was true until Mingyu had said that. So maybe he wasn't being simple at all, actually. Seokmin had thought about it for a while, the way Mingyu saw him like that. And then there was Mingyu himself, steady and talkative in any setting. A temper for Seokmin and Minghao both.

That day, they'd seen a drama, a romantic one, and they'd all enjoyed it. It had made Seokmin cry, but it's not hard for a movie to make Seokmin cry. Most things can make Seokmin cry.

"Ah, I just wish they hadn't made it so complicated," Seokmin had said, hands around a warm cup of tea that Minghao had poured him. He had thoughts to share that day. His heart had felt tender, open.

Minghao looked at him, a curve to his lip. "Isn't that the point of a romance? You love dramas."

Okay, well, fine. Seokmin was no stranger to binging a good drama. The last one had ended with him and Seungkwan weeping on on his couch. But still! "The point of a romance is that they fall in love."

"Which they did," Mingyu said. He looked at Seokmin across the table. Maybe he wasn't admitting it, but Seokmin spied the red around his eyes, too.

Seokmin had sighed. "But isn't it easier to just be straightforward?"

Minghao tilted his head, considering. "It sounds like it would be, doesn't it? I don't think any way is actually easy, though, if you feel that strongly for someone."

"I said easi-er," Seokmin said, a little pouty.

Minghao laughed. "Okay, sure then."

The conversation had moved on after that, but not before Mingyu caught Seokmin's eye. There was something bare in his gaze, as open as Seokmin's heart had felt. It had sent a jolt through Seokmin and he'd looked away.

"Ah, there you go," Mingyu says, flattening the last band aid on Seokmin's knee. He sits back on the heels of his feet, smiling but not quite looking at Seokmin. He starts gathering his first aid materials and the bandage wrappers, crinkling them so they fit into his fist. The blood on the cloth Mingyu had been using to clean him off makes Seokmin a little queasy.

Mingyu gets up to dispose of everything, and Seokmin wonders if he should just go. He feels like an idiot and his knee hurts and he sort of just wants to wallow in his own apartment, a place that is already familiar with how low he can sink. He's patched up well enough that he can get back without a problem, he thinks.

He's halfway to standing when Mingyu walks back into the room. "Seokmin-ah- " he starts, but he stops short when he sees Seokmin on his feet. His eyes widen. "What are you doing? You should sit!" Mingyu rushes back over. He grabs Seokmin by the elbow and guides him back down, like he's got a broken leg and not just a little scrape. "Are you thirsty? I can get you some water. Or hungry? I was going to make us lunch. You need to rest!"

"I'm not hurt that badly," Seokmin argues, though clearly it's useless. Actually, this is a little overwhelming. Mingyu's hand is warm on the skin of his arm, the touch sending flutters all the way through him. He sits back down.

"That doesn't mean you should go doing things," Mingyu says, sitting down beside him. He takes a breath, then runs a hand through his hair. "I can do what you need." He finally turns his eyes on Seokmin. They carry a strain of pleading, though Seokmin doesn't know exactly what for.

"Actually, Seokmin-ah," Mingyu says before Seokmin can say anything. He's perched on the edge of the cushion, a stiff set to his shoulders. An icy anxiety instantly settles over Seokmin. Actually, Seokmin-ah. Oh. Okay. Well, it was fun to give it a try, the two of them. He's simply not the kind of person that can keep up with Mingyu. That's okay. That's fine! He'll get over it. Actually, Seokmin is going to be sick.

"It's my fault, really," Mingyu says, which is— not what Seokmin was expecting. Before Seokmin can say anything, or even absorb Mingyu's words, Mingyu keeps going. "This was kind of a dumb date idea, right? I didn't really think about getting hurt. I should have thought more about it. I really didn't mean for you to get hurt, Seokmin-ah." He lets out a breath.

"What?" Seokmin says. He's usually a pro at keeping up with Mingyu's speed-talking tendencies, but the words feel garbled entering his ears. Mingyu's eyes are wide, darting between Seokmin's, and his body is so tense. This doesn't make sense. Seokmin has hardly ever seen Mingyu like this. Not even when, two days after they'd seen that movie with Minghao, Mingyu asked Seokmin if he would be interested in going on a date with him.

"I'm sorry you got hurt," Mingyu says, and he sounds miserable about it.

Seokmin frowns. "It's not your fault."

But Mingyu's eyes are little pools of defeat. "I just wanted it to be a good date."

Seokmin frowns again, harder. As if Seokmin would assume he wanted anything else. He doesn't think Mingyu has ever had a bad intention in his life.

Seokmin, on the other hand— this is why it's taken so long for them to get here. All this time thinking he simply wasn't good enough. All this internal ire directed toward Mingyu.

Seokmin's heart sinks.

Of course this would make Mingyu think Seokmin might drop him at the first bad thing, wouldn't it? Like Mingyu only ever had one chance. And to think, he was just about to leave because he was so stuck inside his own head. Seokmin feels suddenly like he's been cruel. The realization washes over him that, all this time, he's been instilling this kind of reaction in Mingyu.

Maybe…maybe they both need to just relax.

"It wasn't a bad date," Seokmin says, but he can hear the lie in his own voice. Wasn't he literally just planning his escape so that he could go wallow?

Mingyu gives him a look because he knows better, and he knows Seokmin. "Literally the only thing that's happened is that you got hurt. What could possibly make it good? You don't have to lie to me." He presses his lips together. "Let's just be honest, okay? That's important. This was a bad date and I'll think of another one." He hesitates for a fraction of a second, then keeps going. "I actually have a lot of different ideas. I have a whole list in my phone. Lots of better ideas, I promise, like this food hall I've been wanting to try, or the beach when it gets hotter, or this karaoke place Junhui told me about because I know you like to sing so much-"

Mingyu's voice begins to blur over in Seokmin's ears again. This time, though, it might be because Seokmin's heart is beginning to expand inside his body so much that it's impeding on his senses.

Blindly, Seokmin reaches over and puts both of his hands on the sides of Mingyu's face.

"Hey, Mingyu-yah," he says, speaking without even thinking. "Sweetheart."

Something happens in Mingyu's eyes. They widen and flicker, like his brain glitching in real time. His voice dies and goes silent.

Oh. Is that what it takes? Pink is blooming along Mingyu's cheeks under Seokmin's palms.

"Relax," Seokmin says, aware that it's pretty hypocritical thing for him to say as he's intensely aware of the rabbiting of his own heart. But he's gained some clarity in the last several minutes, and he really doesn't think either of them need to worry about anything.

Mingyu, very much, does not relax.

Why are they like this? Seokmin thinks they might take each other way too seriously, actually. "Relax, Mingyu-yah!" Seokmin says, pressing on Mingyu's cheeks. It makes him look cute, and a laugh bubbles out of Seokmin. Mingyu's lip twitches, like it wants to smile, his eyes softening a little.

Well, that's something. "Okay, maybe falling and scraping myself up wasn't the best time I've ever had on a date," Seokmin says, but he squeezes Mingyu's cheeks again to soften any hurt that could come with his words. He loosens his grip, gently swiping one of his thumbs across the top of Mingyu's cheek. He's so stupidly handsome, and if Seokmin wasn't focused on defusing this right now, he'd probably be overwhelmed by the way Mingyu is looking at him while Seokmin's got his face quite literally in the palms of his hands. Seokmin holds it back. Stays focused.

"But you patched me up right away," Seokmin continues. "And it was really romantic." Seokmin realizes how true this is as he says it. Mingyu made sure he was okay right away, cleaned and bandaged him up with all the care in the world. He brought Seokmin here and took care of him. He said he was going to make him lunch.

Seokmin toys with the hair behind one of Mingyu's ears. He thinks of what Mingyu said about being honest. Isn't it easier to be straightforward? Seokmin supposes he's answered his own question. He sighs. "I should have told you I wasn't good at rollerblading. I'd thought about putting knee pads on but I didn't want to look like an idiot."

"You wouldn't look like an idiot," Mingyu says instantly, as Seokmin should have expected. "It's smart!"

"Yeah, well," Seokmin says. He huffs. "You make me kind of not-smart."

Mingyu frowns a little comically. "So you are saying it's my fault."

Seokmin laughs. He can't help it— he pulls Mingyu's face toward him and presses a kiss right on his lips. He likes Mingyu so much. He likes him so much.

"I'm saying I like you, Mingyu-yah!" Seokmin says, a little overly loud, like he's speaking over his own insecurities. And also because he wants Mingyu to hear it. He doesn't want Mingyu to have any doubts any more. He doesn't want to see him afraid of Seokmin. Seokmin should have said this sooner. It's a curse that sharing his affection with Mingyu has always been harder than with anyone else.

When he pulls back, Mingyu is smiling widely, a little blindingly. Good, good, that's— good. Seokmin lets go of his face before his palms can start to sweat on his cheeks. Ew.

"Wow," Mingyu says. "You want to look cool in front of me." His smile has turned a little shit-eating. So much for Seokmin trying to be earnest!

Seokmin flicks Mingyu in the chest. "Don't push it."

Mingyu laughs, that real, high-pitched airy laugh of his. It's a nice laugh.

Seokmin goes and changes into the sweatpants Mingyu brought him — which he can do by himself! He's fine! — while Mingyu gets started on making them lunch. When Seokmin had mourned his nice jeans before he went to change, Mingyu had offered to sew them for him. Sew them! Seokmin had shoved past Mingyu on his way to go change, telling he didn't have to solve everything, and Mingyu had grinned. Seokmin might be creating a monster. A monster that's attentive to his every need, and has a real sense for romance, and is the kind of person Seokmin has always dreamed of.

Seokmin can't let himself think about it too hard. He'll start hoping for things that people shouldn't hope for only on the third date.

But it's a good third date. It's a really good date, because Mingyu cooks a lunch that is delicious, a meal that he knows Seokmin likes because he knows Seokmin. And they sit on the couch, close, watching TV, and it's comfortable and cozy and they're not balancing on wheels on hard pavement anymore. It's still a nice day outside, the kind that makes Seokmin feel like life is worth living, but as he leans close against Mingyu's shoulder in the warmth of his apartment, he thinks that this makes him feel like life is worth living, too. He make a quiet vow to himself that he's not going to be stupid about it anymore, and he's going to do everything he can to keep it.

"You should put more pictures of us on your wall," he blurts out during an ad break.

Mingyu looks at him a little blankly. Then he looks at his wall of photos. Then he looks back to Seokmin. "You want more photos of us?"

Seokmin feels his face burn. "Just- like, you know. Of us now." He pauses. "Compared to before."

"Now…" Mingyu says slowly. Then a smile bursts on his face. "Oh! Like couple's photos."

"No!" Seokmin says, more out of instinct than anything. His face burns harder. It makes Mingyu laugh again.

Mingyu pulls his phone out. "I have all these."

He holds up his phone, scrolling down his camera roll of pictures from their date at the aquarium, where they did take a few together. Then there are photos Seokmin takes a moment to recognize. They're from their first date, at the restaurant. They're all of him.

Seokmin stares at them. "You took pictures of me?"

"Oh, yeah," Mingyu says. He lowers his phone. "Sorry, I- ah, I didn't want it to be, you know, too much-"

They're nice photos. Seokmin laughing over his food. Seokmin smiling out the window. Seokmin walking a little head of Mingyu down the sidewalk. He didn't notice Mingyu taking any of these.

Oh.

Seokmin leans over and presses a kiss to Mingyu's mouth. A deeper one than before. He tries to convey an apology in it. He doesn't want Mingyu to feel like he ever has to restrain himself again. Not anymore. He doesn't want Mingyu to think twice about expressing any of the loud affection he's so good at having for people, least of all him. Especially him. He's sorry he ever made Mingyu feel like he had to. It doesn't scare him off. It makes him want to stay.

"I'll print some," Mingyu says, a little breathless, when they pull away. Seokmin smiles.

"Print this one," Seokmin says, and grabs Mingyu's phone from his hand. He holds it up for a selfie of the two of them right now. On Mingyu's couch, during a bad date that really isn't bad at all. Seokmin can see the way Mingyu is beaming in the image reflected back at them on the screen. It makes Seokmin's heart hurt from the fullness of his own affection. He can't help nudge Mingyu's shoulder with his. "Okay, sweetheart?"

He snaps the photo just as Mingyu's face goes all red again. Seokmin presses his lips together, but it's hard not to laugh. Out of happiness and affection! He's not mocking him! Mingyu pouts and looks at him. Seokmin decides he definitely will be keeping that in his back pocket.

But it's true, that's what Mingyu is. A big sweetheart. Seokmin lets himself fully acknowledge that he plans on keeping him for a very, very long time.

He's already thinking about what he'll plan for their fourth date, and the next, and the next.