That Stupid List (A Seventeen Fanfic)

Spin-Off #2: Christmas Break

Wonwoo's mother was to give birth to a baby boy over Christmas break, and Wonwoo was looking forward to it. For one, he looked forward to spending time with his family whilst they were preoccupied with something other than his deviation from religion or his attraction to boys, and he also looked forward to having a new baby brother.

He was packing his belongings listening to After School songs when Mingyu came up with the idea: "Can I come with you?" Mingyu asked him suddenly.

Wonwoo knew that it had been on Mingyu's mind for a long time. And he knew exactly why he wanted to come in the first place. For a long time now, Mingyu had been encouraging Wonwoo to come out to his parents about their relationship, but Wonwoo alwaysrefused. He didn't want to deal with their disapproval and their homophobia, and wanted to maintain the stable relationship he now had with them, even if that meant lying to them about who he was with (they still thought he was with Jin).

He was planning to tell them, but he never found any time appropriate. He kept postponing and postponing, and it has now been over a year now since Mingyu and Wonwoo were together.

Wonwoo's parents still don't have a clue.

"Mingyu, I don't want to tell them. I'm not ready yet," Wonwoo told his lover.

"You'll never be ready, Wonwoo. But you can't just keep them in the dark forever."

"I know how they'll react."

"Well obviously they're not going to be all rainbows and sunshine about it, but the sooner you tell them, the more time they will have to come to terms with it. Tell them now and give them the next semester to process it and realize that you're not backing out. Otherwise you'd just be lying to them your whole life."

"And I'm okay with that..."

"Wonwoo, no you're not. You love your parents and you want to maintain a relationship with them. You can't do that lying to them about a big part of your life."

Mingyu was right about that­, but Wonwoo hated to admit it. Whenever he thought about the topic, he just pushed it away and decided to deal with it later, but he couldn't do that anymore. He had to tell them. He dreaded it so much; he dreaded their reaction and their disappointment. He dreaded that they would choose to disown him and have nothing to do with him anymore.

But there would no better time to tell them, especially if Mingyu came along. Wonwoo trusted that Mingyu could charm them like he did when he first met them. And plus, his parents were having a baby: there was so much happiness to offset the disappointment that would inevitably follow coming out to them.

And of course, a newborn baby meant they would not divorce, and that was the most important thing. They had a new boy to raise, a new boy to keep from becoming an "abomination."

"Mingyu," Wonwoo called out to his lover the following day before Mingyu headed out to his internship, "I've thought a lot about what you said about my parents... and you're right. I want to be honest with them, and now is the time. So... would you come with me?"

Mingyu smiled and nodded to agree. Wonwoo let out a jittery sigh, one filled with anxiety. Mingyu took Wonwoo's head in his hands and kissed his forehead, "it'll be fine."

"I hope so," he said as he wrapped his arms around Mingyu.

No matter what happened, Wonwoo felt like nothing could be terrible when he had Mingyu at his side. No matter what his parents did to him, if Mingyu was there with him, Wonwoo could overcome anything.

-

When Wonwoo asked his parents if Mingyu could come along, they were very welcoming. They remembered Mingyu from the time they first met him when they came to visit from Changwon to meet Jin. They liked him, and so they were eager to have him over for Christmas and New Year's, and happy to let him witness the birth of Wonwoo's new baby brother.