the sight of twelve grown men, one being dragged by his collar as he was obviously confused by his surroundings, unfortunately did not surprise the boy's neighbours when they looked outside. in fact, most of them just shrugged it off, knowing the thirteen boys who rented floors seventeen and eighteen were just a little strange.

however, mingyu was beyond confused as to why his friends were all chatting and why did he have to catch a boyfriend? they all, well, dino knew so everyone knew, the only person he was interested in was wonwoo.

that was, until his phone buzzed and he answered it without much thought. "hi?"

"hey, i'm sorry but what part of the park do you want to meet at? i may be a few minutes late."

"um," mingyu managed, hearing wonwoo's small gasps of air on the other end. "well, take your time first, and let's just go to the swing set."

"okay. see you there mingyu."

and now mingyu was even more confused. "seungcheol?"

"what's up?"

"why am i going to the park? and why am i catching a boyfriend?"

"check your text messages." chan chirped, and mingyu opened it to see what seemed to be a text message from him to wonwoo, and he paled.

"what is this?"

"we helped you out!" seokmin said happily. "now you two can kiss kiss fall in love!"

"you have to stop hanging out with joshie, you're making too many anime references," woozi groaned as he had a hyperactive hoshi cling to him. somehow, when hoshi had seen that they were putting this "plan" into action, he got them there in no time to witness it.

"there's never enough," joshua laughed, casually holding seokmin's hand and looking at him with a smile.

honestly, he'd have to be blind not to know seokmin was crushing on him, but he thought seokmin was pretty cute too. he just didn't want to randomly confess and feel pressure to start dating him, and have their friendship ruined.

"anyways, are you all coming along?" mingyu asked, feeling nerves bubble inside of him as he realised one, his friends had confessed to his crush for him, and two, he had to go confess to his crush now. probably a lot worse than his friends did, but he did have to now.

"ye -"

"no, we aren't," seungcheol cut off jeonghan, making jeonghan pout.

"but my dear husband -"

"we're not married."

"not yet!"

"why would we be? it's not like you're in love with me."

"oh you have a shit storm coming cheol."

"we're here!" seungkwan claimed, and mingyu sighed as they pushed him forwards and towards the playground, which was empty due to the fact it was freezing out.

as mingyu made his way to the swing set, he looked up to see the sky was a mix of blue and grey, kind of sad but also cheerful.

he didn't even realise someone was sitting next to him until wonwoo gave him a hand warmer. "oh."

"lost in thought again?" wonwoo asked, and mingyu nodded. just like that, silence stretched over them again, thick enough to cut with a butcher knife.

to his surprise, wonwoo talked first.

"i'm sorry for making things awkward. obviously there was a mind-to-mouth disconnect."

"no it's okay, but you know i'm taller than you right? why am i being called baby?"

"that's what you're focused on?" wonwoo asked, trying not to smile, and mingyu beamed at him.

"you already read that i like you, so why is it a surprise that's what i'm focused on?"

"are you that confident i have the same feelings for you?"

mingyu wasn't, not in the slightest. the friends called each other baby and cute all the time, so it wasn't really different coming from wonwoo except for the tingly feeling and increased heart rate.

he was the exact opposite of confident when it came to wonwoo. he could pretend, but he was always scared he'd mess it up and never recover from it.

after all, wonwoo was one of the most important people in his life.

"your face tells me you're not." wonwoo's voice sliced through mingyu's thoughts, and he felt himself flush more. "you did ask me here to hear what you had to say though, so i'm all ears."

mingyu could see the slight teasing twinkle in wonwoo's eyes, and sighed. "well it started when you elbowed me in the face in seventh grade."

"oh no," wonwoo groaned, and mingyu laughed.

"you asked wonwoo!"

"you start with how we met?"

"yeah, because that's when i got a crush on you that hasn't gone away! i think you're literally the best at everything. even if you think your presence is weak, it isn't. you're so vibrant."

"yeah i like you too," wonwoo managed, cutting mingyu off as he took a breath, knowing if he continued, wonwoo would die on that swing set.

"i could continue."

"i'll probably have a heart attack if you do."

"i can give mouth to mouth."

"no." this time the silence wasn't awkward as wonwoo smiled at mingyu's fake pout and stood up. "so, should we head back? i'm in the mood for hot cocoa."

"i know a good café!" mingyu said as he got up too, grabbing wonwoo's hand like he had a million times before. "you know very nice right?"

"yeah, we've gone there before."

"they have the best cocoa!" mingyu smiled, and the two of them began to walk that way, noticing their friends had left them with a respectable distance but just close enough to overhear any fights or altercations.

"look at you go cupid," someone said behind chan as he watched the couple walk away, and chan turned to smile at jeonghan.

"all in a day's work. now, how's it going with seungcheol."

"how do you think?"

the two of them looked to see seungcheol laying face down on the ground as hoshi climbed a jungle gym and woozi laid on seungcheol's back. "just as normal."

"precisely."

1️⃣7️⃣

meanie chapter you asked for! also