Late Nights | Meanie

2

Mingyu walks into the store a few nights later, seething, as he gently massages his finger. Just an hour ago, he had been cutting up a couple of apples for him and a couple of his other friends to eat. Seungkwan and Hansol had been fooling around, and the latter had carelessly ran into Mingyu as he was cutting the apple. Mingyu had nearly cut his finger off. Long story short, he had yelled at the two of them for a long time after he'd washed the blood off his finger and tightly wrapped it in a Band-Aid.

The pale boy hadn't showed up since that night they had kept prolonged eye contact with each other while wearing their matching yellow sweaters and blue jeans, much to Mingyu's relief. It had started getting really creepy. He had even begun getting a little paranoid, glancing around whenever he went out to see if he ever caught a familiar someone staring at him.

He offers a smile and a defeated "see you later" to Jeonghan as the boy beams at him and exits the store with a cheerful "Bye, Mingyu!"

Mingyu sits on the stool and turns on the small radio on the counter, adjusting the dials to find a station before finally giving up and listening to the staticky voice of a man talk about the weather forecast for the next week. Apparently it's going to rain tomorrow. Fantastic.

Approximately a half hour later, as Mingyu picks at the edges of his Band-Aid, the door slams open and hurried footsteps echo through the small store. He stands up, eyes narrowed, as he cranes his head this way and that to see who it is. He hears an irritated groan and footsteps hurrying towards him. It's the pale boy again, much to Mingyu's annoyance.

His eyes widen in surprise when he sees the boy rush towards the counter, clutching a blood-stained handkerchief around a thin finger as the boy's white teeth sink into his soft pink lip, face contorted in anxiety.

"Oh," Mingyu gasps, bending down and scrummaging through the shelves behind the counter. He sighs in relief when he finds a Band-Aid, and hands it to the boy, who peels away the bloody cloth and covers his wound with the Band-Aid. Mingyu then realizes, gritting his teeth in frustration, that the Band-Aid that he gave the boy has the same design as the one he's wearing right now. This is just too weird.

As the boy exhales in relief and rubs his finger, Mingyu glares at him. "Are you fucking stalking me or something?!" he asks angrily, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "How is it that you managed to wear the exact same outfit as me? And for three days in a row, too!"

The other male's eyebrows raise in surprise. "I was going to ask you the same thing," he says. His voice surprisingly deep, and Mingyu ignores the pleasant shiver it sends down his spine. When he doesn't have anything to say, the tanned male rolls up the sleeves of his grey-blue sweater, frustrated, noticing that the boy is wearing the same one. "Doesn't it seem weird to you, though?" he asks, rubbing the back of his neck.

The boy shrugs. "Yeah, I guess." After a pause, he asks where the Band-Aids are and goes to the aisle that Mingyu directs him to. He returns to the counter and purchases a small box of Band-Aids. As Mingyu scans it and hands the box to him, the boy gives him the money owed and asks curiously, "What's your name?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, he answers. "Kim Mingyu. Yours?"

"Jeon Wonwoo," the pale boy answers. "Nice to meet you."

"You too."

Their hands extend and meet in a friendly handshake. Mingyu is pulling his hand away when he hears Wonwoo gasp and tug his hand closer to him.

"W- What are you doing?" Mingyu stammers, laughing nervously, his eyes widening in surprise. Wonwoo just stares at the inked design on the inside of Mingyu's wrist and looks up at him questioningly. "Oh, this?" Mingyu asks, glancing at his tattoo of a key. "I got it a while ago. I was super drunk when I got it, so it doesn't really mean much, but, eh," he shrugs, "it's pretty." Wonwoo doesn't say anything else, instead just rolling up his own sleeve to show a tattoo on the inside of his own pale wrist.

It's a lock, with similar designs as Mingyu's key tattoo and roughly the same size. Mingyu's eyes widen. This is definitely stranger than having matching outfits.

Wonwoo slowly lets go of Mingyu's hand with a chuckle. "Do want to go on a date with me?" he asks nonchalantly, rolling his sleeve back down. "We've already got matching couple clothes. And tattoos, apparently." He smirks at Mingyu's shocked face. "Come on, you don't want to at least give it a shot?"

Mingyu licks his lips as his heart races in his chest. "Sure," he hears himself say. "Why not?"

And that's how they end up with their fingers entangled the next day, giggling as they try to squish under a single umbrella together as rain pours down.

☾

Late Nights: 2/2