A+, meanie

Calculus

Mingyu's all ready and prepared to fight off Wonwoo any moment now. Assessment scores were just handed out, and Mingyu, as usual, scraped past Wonwoo by a bit. Now he waits for the moment Wonwoo pounces on him like a rabid beast, glancing sideways to the boy next to him.

Except Wonwoo doesn't. If anything, he just looks numb. His only reaction is a heaving sigh, and he sets his paper down on the desk. Oh well, Mingyu likes this. He won't have to walk on eggshells if Wonwoo's going to be this way each time now.

"I need help with Calculus."

Yet another shock to Mingyu, as Wonwoo mutters a few minutes into the class. "You need what?"

"Don't make me repeat, Kim, it's humiliating enough."

"Why is it humiliating?"

"I'm asking you, off all people. Doesn't that explain enough?"

"Hm."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Good gods, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

Nothing's wrong with Mingyu, actually. He's just trying to process Wonwoo's flipped attitude towards him since the past week. "Are you going to help me or not? Or am I supposed to be kept getting beaten by my parents until I graduate?"

"I'm sorry, what now?!"

Wonwoo looks like a deer caught in headlights, and he silences himself right away, refusing to even look at Mingyu. It doesn't seem like Wonwoo was supposed to say that out loud. As soon as class is dismissed, he's the first one to grab his bag and run out the classroom.

And of course, Mingyu has to tell Chaeyeon everything. What Wonwoo said did make a bit of sense, considering he'd accidentally seen part of his diary.

"Did he actually say that?" Chaeyeon asks quietly.

"Which part?"

Chaeyeon thinks for a moment. "All of it, honestly. What the fuck's gotten into him?"

"I have no idea. It's scary, actually. Now I wish he'd leave me alone."

"Hard luck, Mingyu." Chaeyeon smirks.

"Shut up, Chaeyeon."

∿

Mingyu wants to shriek, scream and hide himself under his blankets, and stay hidden until everyone forgets someone called Kim Mingyu existed at Pledis. If not for his passion for acting, he would have dropped out of Theatre right away.

He regrets ever choosing the script to be based on a queer couple; he wouldn't have been stuck in this position if not for the stupid script - now further developed by Professor Lee on the basis of his own fantasies.

From making the protagonists kiss, to then setting up all those dramatic scenarios, Professor had made the basic draft into something definitely spectacular, but not something Mingyu wants to be part of. The universe just loves to play games with Mingyu's life.

He doesn't even want to imagine it, just the thought makes him gag. Having to kiss Wonwoo at some point in the next few months, and that too in front of several other people? Mingyu would rather disappear forever. Professor Lee had even conveniently ignored all of his and Wonwoo's pleas.

Gods, just after Mingyu somehow agreed to help Wonwoo out with Calculus -- like he'd asked -- this happens. He wouldn't even be surprised if Wonwoo bailed out. Mingyu would too, if not for the promise he made. Instead, he had to tightly mutter to Wonwoo after Theatre, "Let's keep this strictly for the clubs, alright?" Wonwoo replied with a brief thumbs up, and just as he was about to leave, he'd turned around once more, shamefully asking Mingyu for his phone number.

Mingyu had looked confused for a second, to which Wonwoo immediately clarified his reason. "It's for the Calculus thing."

"Oh, okay." And Mingyu proceeded to tap in his number in Wonwoo's phone.

Currently, a flashing text notification from Wonwoo sat unread on Mingyu's phone. "When do we start?" It said. Mingyu doesn't know, he isn't ready to face Wonwoo yet. Hence he decides to let the text stay as unread, focusing on his work sitting at his desk instead. "Fucking focus, Mingyu. There's better things for you to do." He mutters to himself.

∿

"If you had to just leave me on read, you could have said no yesterday itself."

Wonwoo barks at Mingyu first thing in the morning. "What?"

"I sent in a text yesterday."

"And?" What is Wonwoo saying?

"You just read it."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't!"

Wonwoo exasperatedly pulls his phone out, and opens the recent conversation with Mingyu to show him. "See? Just don't go around making promises if you don't want to. And why did I expect someone like you to actually consider it?" Wonwoo scoffs, turning around to leave.

Mingyu has no idea how this happened. He'd purposely hadn't opened the chat since yesterday, but not because he didn't want to help Wonwoo. He'd been too confused. And no one other than himself touches his phone, unless... His mother's completely jobless. Mingyu really wants to curse at her right now. "Wonwoo, wait!" He calls out to Wonwoo instead.

"What?" Wonwoo doesn't turn.

"I swear I didn't see it."

"What makes you think I'd believe you?"

An evil grin makes its way to Mingyu's lips. "Well... If you do need the help, you'd have to believe that I actually considered it, and I just hadn't seen your text."

Wonwoo finally looks at him, face expressionless. "See? This is what I meant when I said it's humiliating."

"The go ahead, you're free to deny."

What Mingyu doesn't know, is that Wonwoo in fact, isn't free to deny. If he was, he wouldn't have asked Mingyu in the first place.

"Okay then. I'm asking you in a way you know: When do we start?"

Mingyu shrugs. "Anytime you want."

"Okay. Is today alright?"

"Sure."