Ship/Member: Junhui/Soonyoung, Junhui & Minghao Major Tags: N/A Additional Tags: the thought experiment of soonhui exes, au Permission to remix: Yes A/N: also heavily inspired by everything by muna
***
Wen Junhui
hey do you want to come over
i’ll make you pancakes for lunch :D
Xu Minghao
either you want something from me or you bought another contraption on the dark web?
A PANCAKE MAKER?
the plastic in those has to be bad for your health, I won’t eat them
Wen Junhui
fine, i’ll make them in the pan! mingyu showed me once, it can’t be that hard
and yes, i need your help
Junhui’s pancakes are rubbery and awful. Minghao eats the dubious food at the coffee table, seeing as Junhui’s proper kitchen table is covered in unsorted mail.
“I’m disgusted, you know that.” He leans his weight on his palms, flat against the beige carpet, wool pressing into his skin. “Mingyu would be ashamed.”
“He only taught me once.” Junhui pouts, and Minghao almost, almost feels a little bad for saying it out loud. “Never mind that, I did what I said and I fed you.” He lifts the half-eaten plate from in front of Minghao’s face and promptly deposits it into the kitchen sink. The sunlight streams nicely into his apartment, it’s a shame he lives here alone. Beautiful boy who makes enough from his stray commercial acting gigs to pay full rent without living here full-time, even if it’s in the suburbs of the city.
“Okay, so what did you want from me?”
“A little company,” Junhui admits with a flair of drama, “and also, I need help clearing my phone storage.”
Minghao gives him a look. “You made me come here for that? You’re not—” He stops, and clears his throat.
“I said, I wanted a little company,” Junhui repeats. “I said that part first.” He smiles a little sadly.
Minghao does feel bad now. And he’s not trying to make it his job to take care of Junhui but every time he comes over here the guilt sorts of eats at him, as if it’s his fault Junhui’s alone.
“What’s on your phone?”
“I don’t know,” Junhui says, “it won’t tell me why it’s full, the storage screen just loads forever. I need space to download that new game everyone’s talking about, Wonwoo said there’s an event going on so I better hurry up and get it.”
Minghao rolls his eyes. “Give it here.”
Ten minutes later Minghao’s booted up Junhui’s laptop and connected his phone via cable. A glass of lemonade is sitting next to it, but Minghao hasn’t touched it because Junhui never puts enough sugar in. “You have a shit ton of videos on here, Junhui. Do you never delete anything?”
“Oh really? I didn’t realize they took up that much space,” Junhui says. He leans over Minghao’s shoulder to get a look at what he’s scrolling through. “Hey— that’s—”
Minghao closes the file explorer window.
“You know, when people break up with someone and don’t stay friends, they usually get rid of all this stuff. Things that remind them of, well, their ex.”
“I didn’t see any harm in it,” Junhui says, arms crossed over the coffee table, looking away from Minghao.
“You have so many pictures with him,” Minghao says.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Minghao splutters. “Well—”
To be fair about it. Minghao doesn’t exactly have an objective standpoint on this situation. He introduced them at the dance studio, he was the one that encouraged the ever-nervous Junhui to talk to Soonyoung at all. And before long Junhui was talking about him all the time, Soonyoung this, Soonyoung that, “Soonyoung always sends fun emoticons to my animal pics, Soonyoung’s so cute, Soonyoung doesn’t ignore my texts like you do sometimes,” and Minghao was equally happy for him and equally resentful about it. Soonyoung’s all-consuming love can burn out, he’d seen it before. Everyone else is left in the aftermath. In the end he was right that it wasn’t sustainable.
Minghao wishes he didn’t believe in manifestation.
“Do you look at these often?”
Junhui grabs the phone, takes it gently in his hands. “Here, let me show you my favorites.”
First is the picture of the four of them at the dance academy, standing together after the showcase in which Minghao, Soonyoung and Chan performed for family and friends. Minghao thought Junhui didn’t have enough friends sometimes, which was more obvious when he was awake and alone late at night and Minghao, trying to fix his sleep schedule, would charge his phone on the other side of the room. He woke up one morning and at the top of his most recent notifications was you’re all I have, you know? Junhui never means to guilt anyone, which made the feeling worse.
Soonyoung bowed three times at the end of their performance, sweaty but grinning like he’d won the world or something identically huge. The image of Junhui clapping stood out to Minghao amongst everyone else in the crowd and he thought— well, why had he never thought of it before?
“This is Junhui,” he’d told them next to the mirrors, and Chan shook his hand and smiled, and the first thing out of Soonyoung’s mouth, to absolutely no one’s surprise, was “Do you know how to dance?”
Junhui didn’t at all but was willing to embarrass himself in front of the three of them after the lights were dimmed and all the other families went home. When the night was over Junhui had Soonyoung and Chan’s numbers and Minghao felt a forged sort of relief. Minghao forwarded the photo of them that’d been taken on Chan’s phone over to Junhui, and Junhui replied thank you with a bunch of heart emojis. For the first time, Minghao sent them back.
Second is a selfie of Soonyoung and Junhui, posing outside next to metal statues of an otter and frog respectively. ^^ they look like you guys, Soonyoung said, after Junhui’d sent the picture in their group chat. The botanical garden in the city has a kids’ playground and in its center is the pond where those statues have sat for many years. Minghao remembers being told about this date— “It’s not a date,” Junhui had complained, but Minghao knew him well enough to know when not to believe him— and at the time Junhui hadn’t been able to stop smiling.
Third is a video cropped out of a behind-the-scenes film of Soonyoung and Junhui practicing tiger poses at the back of a commercial set. On the table next to them is a cardboard holder and two drinks that Soonyoung must have brought for when Junhui was on break, the ice melting away as they spend more of it talking and joking around than anything else. Soonyoung’s wearing his fluffy vest, it must have been the following autumn.
Fourth is a Snapchat of Soonyoung lying in a field of wildflowers. His eyes are closed and the wind blows into the microphone, brushing petals into his charcoal-colored hair. The camera inches closer to his face, and when it reaches past his nose Soonyoung’s eyes open wide. The text on the screen reads “Jeju”. Minghao doesn’t know when this one is from.
Fifth is a photo of a striped kitten, walking across a brick wall in what looks like a local neighborhood.
“I saw it last week, it reminded me of him,” Junhui says softly. “I wanted to text him and hear him say it was cute.”
Minghao takes a sip of the lemonade. It’s sweet, after all.
“Did Soonyoung teach you how to make lemonade too?”
“He’s all over my life,” Junhui says, devastated. “I can’t get rid of him.”
Minghao takes a deep breath in.
“You don’t have to,” he says, creating a new folder on Junhui’s desktop, naming it Things to Remember. “I’ll help you.”
[FILL] eviscerated
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: the thought experiment of soonhui exes, au
Permission to remix: Yes
A/N: also heavily inspired by everything by muna
***
Wen Junhui
hey do you want to come over
i’ll make you pancakes for lunch :D
Xu Minghao
either you want something from me or you bought another contraption on the dark web?
A PANCAKE MAKER?
the plastic in those has to be bad for your health, I won’t eat them
Wen Junhui
fine, i’ll make them in the pan! mingyu showed me once, it can’t be that hard
and yes, i need your help
Junhui’s pancakes are rubbery and awful. Minghao eats the dubious food at the coffee table, seeing as Junhui’s proper kitchen table is covered in unsorted mail.
“I’m disgusted, you know that.” He leans his weight on his palms, flat against the beige carpet, wool pressing into his skin. “Mingyu would be ashamed.”
“He only taught me once.” Junhui pouts, and Minghao almost, almost feels a little bad for saying it out loud. “Never mind that, I did what I said and I fed you.” He lifts the half-eaten plate from in front of Minghao’s face and promptly deposits it into the kitchen sink. The sunlight streams nicely into his apartment, it’s a shame he lives here alone. Beautiful boy who makes enough from his stray commercial acting gigs to pay full rent without living here full-time, even if it’s in the suburbs of the city.
“Okay, so what did you want from me?”
“A little company,” Junhui admits with a flair of drama, “and also, I need help clearing my phone storage.”
Minghao gives him a look. “You made me come here for that? You’re not—” He stops, and clears his throat.
“I said, I wanted a little company,” Junhui repeats. “I said that part first.” He smiles a little sadly.
Minghao does feel bad now. And he’s not trying to make it his job to take care of Junhui but every time he comes over here the guilt sorts of eats at him, as if it’s his fault Junhui’s alone.
“What’s on your phone?”
“I don’t know,” Junhui says, “it won’t tell me why it’s full, the storage screen just loads forever. I need space to download that new game everyone’s talking about, Wonwoo said there’s an event going on so I better hurry up and get it.”
Minghao rolls his eyes. “Give it here.”
Ten minutes later Minghao’s booted up Junhui’s laptop and connected his phone via cable. A glass of lemonade is sitting next to it, but Minghao hasn’t touched it because Junhui never puts enough sugar in. “You have a shit ton of videos on here, Junhui. Do you never delete anything?”
“Oh really? I didn’t realize they took up that much space,” Junhui says. He leans over Minghao’s shoulder to get a look at what he’s scrolling through. “Hey— that’s—”
Minghao closes the file explorer window.
“You know, when people break up with someone and don’t stay friends, they usually get rid of all this stuff. Things that remind them of, well, their ex.”
“I didn’t see any harm in it,” Junhui says, arms crossed over the coffee table, looking away from Minghao.
“You have so many pictures with him,” Minghao says.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Minghao splutters. “Well—”
To be fair about it. Minghao doesn’t exactly have an objective standpoint on this situation. He introduced them at the dance studio, he was the one that encouraged the ever-nervous Junhui to talk to Soonyoung at all. And before long Junhui was talking about him all the time, Soonyoung this, Soonyoung that, “Soonyoung always sends fun emoticons to my animal pics, Soonyoung’s so cute, Soonyoung doesn’t ignore my texts like you do sometimes,” and Minghao was equally happy for him and equally resentful about it. Soonyoung’s all-consuming love can burn out, he’d seen it before. Everyone else is left in the aftermath. In the end he was right that it wasn’t sustainable.
Minghao wishes he didn’t believe in manifestation.
“Do you look at these often?”
Junhui grabs the phone, takes it gently in his hands. “Here, let me show you my favorites.”
First is the picture of the four of them at the dance academy, standing together after the showcase in which Minghao, Soonyoung and Chan performed for family and friends. Minghao thought Junhui didn’t have enough friends sometimes, which was more obvious when he was awake and alone late at night and Minghao, trying to fix his sleep schedule, would charge his phone on the other side of the room. He woke up one morning and at the top of his most recent notifications was you’re all I have, you know? Junhui never means to guilt anyone, which made the feeling worse.
Soonyoung bowed three times at the end of their performance, sweaty but grinning like he’d won the world or something identically huge. The image of Junhui clapping stood out to Minghao amongst everyone else in the crowd and he thought— well, why had he never thought of it before?
“This is Junhui,” he’d told them next to the mirrors, and Chan shook his hand and smiled, and the first thing out of Soonyoung’s mouth, to absolutely no one’s surprise, was “Do you know how to dance?”
Junhui didn’t at all but was willing to embarrass himself in front of the three of them after the lights were dimmed and all the other families went home. When the night was over Junhui had Soonyoung and Chan’s numbers and Minghao felt a forged sort of relief. Minghao forwarded the photo of them that’d been taken on Chan’s phone over to Junhui, and Junhui replied thank you with a bunch of heart emojis. For the first time, Minghao sent them back.
Second is a selfie of Soonyoung and Junhui, posing outside next to metal statues of an otter and frog respectively. ^^ they look like you guys, Soonyoung said, after Junhui’d sent the picture in their group chat. The botanical garden in the city has a kids’ playground and in its center is the pond where those statues have sat for many years. Minghao remembers being told about this date— “It’s not a date,” Junhui had complained, but Minghao knew him well enough to know when not to believe him— and at the time Junhui hadn’t been able to stop smiling.
Third is a video cropped out of a behind-the-scenes film of Soonyoung and Junhui practicing tiger poses at the back of a commercial set. On the table next to them is a cardboard holder and two drinks that Soonyoung must have brought for when Junhui was on break, the ice melting away as they spend more of it talking and joking around than anything else. Soonyoung’s wearing his fluffy vest, it must have been the following autumn.
Fourth is a Snapchat of Soonyoung lying in a field of wildflowers. His eyes are closed and the wind blows into the microphone, brushing petals into his charcoal-colored hair. The camera inches closer to his face, and when it reaches past his nose Soonyoung’s eyes open wide. The text on the screen reads “Jeju”. Minghao doesn’t know when this one is from.
Fifth is a photo of a striped kitten, walking across a brick wall in what looks like a local neighborhood.
“I saw it last week, it reminded me of him,” Junhui says softly. “I wanted to text him and hear him say it was cute.”
Minghao takes a sip of the lemonade. It’s sweet, after all.
“Did Soonyoung teach you how to make lemonade too?”
“He’s all over my life,” Junhui says, devastated. “I can’t get rid of him.”
Minghao takes a deep breath in.
“You don’t have to,” he says, creating a new folder on Junhui’s desktop, naming it Things to Remember. “I’ll help you.”