If you had a dollar for every time someone told you how much they wished they had a twin, you'd have enough to rent out your own apartment. If only that were the case so you could move out of your college dorm and not have to deal with said twin's nagging every waking hour of the day.
Even though you were born merely 15 minutes after him, Seungmin has always treated you as if you were 5 years younger. As kids, you were often grateful for how diligent he was as a brother, always taking over your chores so you could hang out with your friends, negotiating with your parents to give you less of a punishment than you deserved, and overall being a reliable shoulder to lean on all your life.
You've always known that he loved you, but sometimes it got a little too much.
Because throughout all your years of school together, you could never find the opportunity to date while he was around. Without fail, every time a guy approached you it only took one fiery glare from Seungmin to send him running with his tail tucked between his legs.
"You deserve better than him anyway," he would say with his arms folded across his chest. And every time, you would sigh, hoping he didn't frighten the poor guy too much, being all too familiar with your brother's wrath yourself.
"Hah, I'd like to see him use that excuse this time," was all Minho said with a huff of his chest. You'd just relayed the last incident of when Seungmin chased away the baseball team's ace on prom night. Even now, you could still clearly recall the wave of shock that passed through the entire cohort upon seeing the high school sweetheart stained in tears.
It took another two years of putting your dating life on pause to get over the embarrassment, fearing not only for your own dignity but for any other guy who tried to make a move on you. And that was why you presently sat jaw-dropped at Minho's flippant response to your account of the story.
You twisted in the cafe's booth to make sure he had a clear sight of the graveness in your eyes, further accentuated by the deep furrow of your eyebrows. "I'm serious, Minho. Seungmin will not be a happy-go-lucky puppy anymore if he found out about us."
He simply scoffed, "I never knew him to be. In case you forgot, (Y/N), Seungmin and I aren't exactly best buddies."
You've heard this narrative too many times to count from both ends. It was honestly getting a little tiring at this point that you wondered how they could have possibly kept up this fueling rivalry for so long.
You sighed. "I know, I know all about the dynamic you guys have of going at each other's throats every law class but believe me, you don't want to imagine Seungmin at the peak of his fury." You searched for his hands and gripped them dearly. "It's terrifying."
"Well, lucky for me-" Minho returned the gesture with a reassuring squeeze. "I am just about the scariest person I know." When he saw the concern in your eyes, the ghost of a smile flitted across his face before he planted a kiss on your forehead. Softening his tone, he said, "I wouldn't worry about me. There's nothing I wouldn't take care of for you."
You could never get used to how heat would rush to your cheeks whenever Minho would get intimate with no fair warning, rare as it is, and tried to cover it up by shaking your head in mock frustration. "How did I end up with two of the most stubborn men in my life? It's like a match made in hell, the two of you."
"Hell may be the journey but it brought me heaven," he said much too casually for your liking, nothing but sincerity gracing his gorgeous face.
This time, nothing could have prepared you for the way your heart absolutely imploded in your chest. It was unexpected not only because it caught you off-guard, but because over time you'd learned that Minho was someone who expressed affection through his actions rather than flattering words. Not that you'd complained, but you didn't know how to react either.
You simply buried your face in his chest so he wouldn't notice the maddening blush spreading to your ears. "You're not supposed to say poetic things like that out of nowhere. I'm supposed to be the literature student here."
"Aww, it's okay, (Y/N). There, there." Minho murmured as he stroked your back. You refused to sit back up until your heart rate turned to normal, rendering him stuck to comfort your flustered frame. He almost enjoyed these moments too much and decided to reward himself by finishing the last of his iced americano.
Eventually, you were reminded of your own abandoned drink by the sound of sloshing ice and sat back up. On the table lay a cup of half-finished iced latte, or what used to be iced latte before the ice cubes melted and no doubt watered down your drink. You set it off the side and looked back at Minho. "Hey, let me pay you back for my drink."
"Sure."
That was another thing you liked about Minho. Always so straightforward and upfront that you never have to be left guessing what he's thinking. He never questioned why you demanded to assume total responsibility for everything you touched and why you refused to accept anything from anyone without the gesture being squarely returned. He simply let you be, and you were grateful for that.
However, a thorough search through your backpack revealed your wallet wasn't inside despite practically having its contents turned inside out. An exasperated sigh escaped your lips. "My wallet must be in my dorm. I told you not to drag me to a cafe on such short notice."
Minho whined in defence. "Can you blame me? This was supposed to be a study date."
"Just what studying did you think the two of us were going to be doing? We're in two completely different majors."
With a hopeful grin, he tried, "A historical analysis of law during the era of Shakespeare?" to which you responded with a quizzical brow. When he saw that you didn't buy it, he slumped down the seat in defeat. "Fine... I admit I just wanted to see you really badly."
You saw this as an opportune moment to plant a kiss on his nose, giggling at his slightly startled expression. "You're adorable when you're pouty, you know that?"
"Of course I know that." He shrugged. "It's just one of my many charming points that you fell in love with."
You folded your arms over your chest, not even fighting the smile that took over your face. "Damn right I did. I wouldn't be hiding it from my brother for six months if I weren't absolutely infatuated with you."
"That's my girl."
With an extended hand, you helped Minho sit back up before you conjointly tidied up the table. When you were finished, you dusted your hands and pulled him out of the booth, one hand still holding onto your watered-down coffee. "Alright, now let's go back to my dorm so I can pay you back."
"You're not worried about Seungmin being there on one of his 25 daily checkups?" He laughed under his breath.
"Oh, he won't be there. He'll be visiting our parents today."
(...)
For the umpteenth time that day, Seungmin checked his wristwatch with growing irritation at every passing second. He knew he should have called you about the present he was supposed to be bringing to your parents.
If it weren't for your habitual forgetfulness, he would have left for the train earlier that morning, but here he stood, rapping on the door to your dorm yet again as his foot tapped along impatiently. He gnawed on the inside of his cheek, regretting not stopping by before your morning classes to pick it up. Now he was going to be late.
He had called out your name several times already but received no response. Just as he was about to leave, he shoved his hands in his pockets and remembered he kept a copy of your dorm key attached to his key ring. The door opened with a satisfying click into your disordered little dorm room.
Almost every space was cluttered with randomly strewn items from stray sheets of paper like magazines and revision notes to pending laundry piles. An aggravated sigh escaped his lips as he began sifting through all your stuff - starting with your bed - thinking that maybe he shouldn't have been cleaning up after your messes your entire childhood.
(...)
When you reached the floor of your dorm, hands clasped in Minho's, your pace quickened when you noticed the front door hanging ajar. "That's strange. Maybe my roommate didn't close it properly on her way to class," you remarked as you dragged him down the corridor.
You cracked open the door the rest of the way and paved a path through all your clutter for Minho to pass through with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about the mess. My roommate and I were gonna wait until midterms were over before we did some..." you trailed off.
From the corner of your eye, you spotted a familiar head of hair sticking out from under your bed. At the sound of your voice, it perked up and released a sharp "ow!" upon colliding with the bottom of the bed. The all too familiar presence made your heart plummet straight down to the pit of your stomach.
"...cleaning."
"What's wrong?" Minho caught the sheer dread that crept into your voice and closed the door behind him. His face deadpanned when he locked eyes with Seungmin who was slowly standing up. "Oh."
Seungmin's expression shifted rapidly from relief to hostility when he spotted Minho with you by the door. The only time he wasn't glaring daggers into him was when his gaze kept flickering to your intertwined hands.
"Seungmin, what are you doing here?" you gulped, bracing yourself for an explosive reaction.
But what was even more disconcerting was how his voice remained steady and calm despite him visibly clenching his teeth. "What am I doing here?" he spoke slowly, disbelief spilling out of his voice. "I'm here to get mom and dad's present since you forgot to hand it to me yesterday. What is he doing here?"
Your heart felt like it was beating in your throat, rendering you unable to formulate any coherent sentences, much less any believable excuses. "I-"
"We're dating," said Minho matter-of-factly, so casually, so nonchalantly that you were taken aback. But not nearly as much as Seungmin who was blinking rapidly as if he couldn't believe his own ears.
"You're what?"
"I said we're dating, Seungmin." Minho rolled his eyes and held up your joined hands. "You know, that thing people do when they spend time with someone they're romantically interested in?" He paused as he flashed his signature smirk. "Oh, you've probably never been on one, have you?"
"Minho!" You scolded, smacking him in the shoulder. Leave it to Minho to make light of your worst fears coming true in the heat of the moment. And yet, you couldn't help but find yourself stifling a laugh.
Seungmin, meanwhile, kept staring back and forth between the two of you. It was unusual to see him too stunned to retaliate to one of Minho's insults. So the three of you stood there in your cramped-up dorm room in uncomfortable silence while he gathered his thoughts. Except for Minho's occasional awkward coughs, not a word was spoken while you tried to decipher the look on your brother's face.
They say twins were supposed to be telepathic, but you never wished that were true until this moment.
Just when you thought about making a run for it, Seungmin cleared his throat. "For how long?" was all he asked.
"Six months," you answered before Minho could sour his mood any more than he already did.
Seungmin took a step back and then proceeded to fall onto the edge of your bed, preferring to stare off into the distance instead of looking at you. Grasping Minho's hand, you made him follow you in sitting on your roommate's bed across from Seungmin.
Seungmin sucked in a large breath and asked feebly, almost as if he were afraid of your answer. "How come I didn't know about this?"
This was it. Better to get it over with now instead of spending forever imagining the worst-case scenario.
"For starters, I knew you would react exactly like this and I wasn't sure I was ready to face that yet. But I am now." You craned your head and tried to peer into his eyes. "Seungmin, are you upset?"
He shook his head, refusing to look at Minho who was shifting his weight around in obvious unease and tried to busy himself by picking at a thread sticking out of his jacket. It was very strange to see two of the most stubborn men you knew sitting in awkward silence.
Finally, Seungmin said, "I'm not upset that you're dating, (Y/N). Of course I expected you to someday or another now that you're an adult and you can make your decisions." His hand reached up to rub the back of his neck. "I'm just a little hurt that you kept something this big from me for so long. I'm sorry I made you feel like you couldn't trust my reaction."
You placed a hand on the one on his lap to prompt him to finally meet your eyes. "I know you've just been looking out for me my entire life, but I really don't think you can blame me for trying to keep this from you after what happened last time."
This elicited a laugh from him that thankfully had started to ease the tension. "Do you still remember the look on that jock's face when I sent him packing home with all his rose bouquets?"
"How could I forget? That night scarred him so much he dropped out of the baseball team the next year," you chuckled.
A smug smile spread across his face as Seungmin crossed his arms. "And I don't regret it. Ironic how he gave up on sports given how much of a player he was. That guy couldn't keep a girlfriend for more than two weeks and I wasn't going to let you become another one on that tally."
Once again, you sighed even though you knew he was right. It was always hard letting go of your ego to admit that to him every time.
"What I am upset about though," he said, jaw locked, "is that out of all the tens and thousands of people on this campus, you chose this heathen." He pointed an accusatory finger at Minho who was looking almost bored until this point. "What spell did he cast on you, (Y/N)?"
Both you and Minho burst into a fit of laughter which left Seungmin confounded yet again. By the time you were done, you were wiping tears from your eyes. "You can be so overdramatic, Seungmin. It's funny actually, we have you to thank for introducing us."
Minho nodded sagely while Seungmin looked like he was just about to faint. But before he could, you passed him your cup of coffee to cool his head as you related your first meeting with Minho.
"The first time we actually met in person after all the times you ranted about him to me was at one of your mock court trials. You were the prosecutor and Minho was the defence attorney. You had invited me to be part of the jury because you wanted me to watch while you quote, unquote "Demolish this bastard's sorry ass in front of the judge." What I didn't expect was for the bastard to be such a charmer." You nudged Minho's arm, while he was undoubtedly sporting that cocky smirk of his.
He picked up from where you left off. "Unfortunately, dear Seungmin here overlooked a crucial piece of the evidence so I was the one who kicked his ass instead. And then after you stormed out of the court, I went up to (Y/N) before she had a chance to catch up with you and asked her out." Minho slung his arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer. "Simple as that."
Smoke was practically billowing out of Seungmin's ears, eyes narrowed into slits, while he furiously sipped the coffee. When he was finished, he simply responded with an "I see" until he noticed the logo on the cup. "Hey, I work at this cafe. Isn't it Felix's shift today?"
"Yeah. What of it?" you shrugged as if you couldn't already guess.
Seungmin set the emptied cup on your bedside table and put his hand to his temple. "And he didn't tell me about you two? What a traitor."
Letting out a quiet laugh, you remembered the way Felix had put his finger to his lips and winked when he saw the two of you walk in together. You were suddenly grateful for your unlikely friendship, also formed through mutual relations with Seungmin.
Seungmin leaned back on his arms and regarded you closely. "I was starting to wonder why you'd been going out so much recently. Not even I could drag you out of bed on weekends when you wanted to sleep in."
"Well, now she has another bed to sleep in on the weekends," added Minho not-so-helpfully. You might have smacked him again if Seungmin didn't look like he was about to do it for you first. Fortunately for Minho, you didn't want any blood spilt in your dorm room so you pushed Seungmin back down onto his seat.
"I'm an adult, Seungmin," you reminded using his own words.
"But did it have to be you?" He glared pointedly at Minho, heaving. "I just don't understand how someone like her could fall for someone like you."
"I just don't understand how someone like her could have someone like you for a brother."
"Alright, enough!" You jumped out of your seat so you could stare down at both of them. "Seungmin, I kept mom and dad's present in the kitchen so it wouldn't get mixed in this mess. Is it too much to ask for the two of you to just stay here and get along while I go get it?"
"No." They answered begrudgingly in unison, the first thing they probably ever agreed on since meeting each other.
You've had enough of their childish rivalry. Their arguments were starting to sound like that of a divorced couple, and you were going to make them tolerate each other if it was the last thing you did. But for now you were satisfied, and so moved on to tiptoe over the scattered items on the floor into the adjacent, equally cramped room you called the kitchen.
Seungmin could hardly wait for you to leave to turn back to Minho with gritted teeth. "If she ever sheds a single tear while she's with you, I'll make sure you never see the light of day again"
"I should say the same thing for you." He lifted his chin defiantly. Admittedly, a part of him was glad that Seungmin was finally reciprocating his taunts. "And don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're her brother-"
"Twin brother," he interjected.
"In that case-" The corner of Minho's lips upturned in a dare. "I have a very special place in my air fryer reserved especially for you. I hope 180 degrees is warm enough."
Before Seungmin could retort, their verbal warfare was interrupted by your voice calling from the kitchen, "Minnie~?"
Much to their dismay, they once again responded at the same time with a "Yes?" before proceeding to continue sending death stares at the other. But they didn't need to say anything to know that each of them was thinking much the same thing:
Their relationship dynamics were never going to be the same again. Not while you were involved.