Ship/Member: Mingyu/Wonwoo Major Tags: Minor Character Death Additional Tags: College AU, kmg horatio jk unless Permission to remix: Please ask
***
And I just think you should know That nothing safe is worth the drive And I would follow you home - Taylor Swift, “Treacherous”
Two months before his father dies, Wonwoo broke up with Mingyu.
“I just think we’re better off as friends,” he said, his gaze focused on the black stone in his hand. They had finally sat down to finish their long-term game of Go. Wonwoo had started it at the beginning of the semester as he set up his board on his desk, suggesting that they play at their own leisure and place stones whenever they had time. A correspondence game. The last move had been Mingyu’s, his white stone ending a capturing race in seki. Mutual life. Mutual destruction.
“I don’t understand,” Mingyu said. Wonwoo hadn’t shown any signs of discontent. Earlier that day, he had eaten lunch with Mingyu’s friends and had joked around with them. “Did you have a problem with my friends?” Did you have a problem with me?
Wonwoo shifted his gaze to the board, still not meeting his eyes. “We have different goals,” he finally said. “After I graduate, you’ll be finishing school and I’ll be busy.” What Wonwoo left unsaid: he would be right back under his father’s thumb, set to inherit the family business.
Mingyu voiced as much. “I didn’t know that learning how to run a company prohibited you from visiting your alma mater.”
Wonwoo’s brow furrowed. “Don’t be childish, Mingyu.”
You’re the child, Mingyu wanted to retort, giving up at without even trying, but that would only prove Wonwoo’s point.
“So you’re just giving up?”
Wonwoo laughed hoarsely. “It appears so.” A group of white stones had surrounded the group of black stones that Wonwoo was playing. Instead of forming a second eye, Wonwoo simply abandoned the group by placing a black stone down on an empty section of the board, leaving the group dead.
Mingyu frowned. He was certain that if he reviewed the game, then he would see that Wonwoo’s turns had been riddled with holes. Although Wonwoo was avoiding Mingyu’s gaze by looking at the board, it was clear that he wasn’t registering the moves. It was like he had said all that he needed to be said and was now waiting for the game to end.
Did you stage this whole game just to break up with me, Mingyu wanted to ask, but that was ridiculous.
Mingyu wins the game. He watches Wonwoo sort the stones into the wooden bowls and then carefully place the lids on, the sound of the lid slotting over the wood like latching a coffin closed.
Because Mingyu is a masochist, they stay roommates. And then one afternoon, Wonwoo receives a call from his mother and goes deathly pale, clutching his phone like a lifeline.
“My father died,” he whispers after the call ends, like it will be false if he doesn’t speak it. He finally meets Mingyu’s eyes, his own shiny with grief, and Mingyu finds himself opening his arms, offering some semblance of comfort. He lets Wonwoo collapse into his arms and hide his face in his sweater, his tears seeping into the yarn.
“Hey,” Mingyu whispers as not to spook Wonwoo. He very carefully tilts Wonwoo’s face up, cataloging his splotchy eyes before he kisses his tears away, like a dog licking his owner’s face, begging to be noticed.
until the next truck comes
Major Tags: Minor Character Death
Additional Tags: College AU, kmg horatio jk unless
Permission to remix: Please ask
***
And I just think you should know
That nothing safe is worth the drive
And I would follow you home
- Taylor Swift, “Treacherous”
Two months before his father dies, Wonwoo broke up with Mingyu.
“I just think we’re better off as friends,” he said, his gaze focused on the black stone in his hand. They had finally sat down to finish their long-term game of Go. Wonwoo had started it at the beginning of the semester as he set up his board on his desk, suggesting that they play at their own leisure and place stones whenever they had time. A correspondence game. The last move had been Mingyu’s, his white stone ending a capturing race in seki. Mutual life. Mutual destruction.
“I don’t understand,” Mingyu said. Wonwoo hadn’t shown any signs of discontent. Earlier that day, he had eaten lunch with Mingyu’s friends and had joked around with them. “Did you have a problem with my friends?” Did you have a problem with me?
Wonwoo shifted his gaze to the board, still not meeting his eyes. “We have different goals,” he finally said. “After I graduate, you’ll be finishing school and I’ll be busy.” What Wonwoo left unsaid: he would be right back under his father’s thumb, set to inherit the family business.
Mingyu voiced as much. “I didn’t know that learning how to run a company prohibited you from visiting your alma mater.”
Wonwoo’s brow furrowed. “Don’t be childish, Mingyu.”
You’re the child, Mingyu wanted to retort, giving up at without even trying, but that would only prove Wonwoo’s point.
“So you’re just giving up?”
Wonwoo laughed hoarsely. “It appears so.” A group of white stones had surrounded the group of black stones that Wonwoo was playing. Instead of forming a second eye, Wonwoo simply abandoned the group by placing a black stone down on an empty section of the board, leaving the group dead.
Mingyu frowned. He was certain that if he reviewed the game, then he would see that Wonwoo’s turns had been riddled with holes. Although Wonwoo was avoiding Mingyu’s gaze by looking at the board, it was clear that he wasn’t registering the moves. It was like he had said all that he needed to be said and was now waiting for the game to end.
Did you stage this whole game just to break up with me, Mingyu wanted to ask, but that was ridiculous.
Mingyu wins the game. He watches Wonwoo sort the stones into the wooden bowls and then carefully place the lids on, the sound of the lid slotting over the wood like latching a coffin closed.
Because Mingyu is a masochist, they stay roommates. And then one afternoon, Wonwoo receives a call from his mother and goes deathly pale, clutching his phone like a lifeline.
“My father died,” he whispers after the call ends, like it will be false if he doesn’t speak it. He finally meets Mingyu’s eyes, his own shiny with grief, and Mingyu finds himself opening his arms, offering some semblance of comfort. He lets Wonwoo collapse into his arms and hide his face in his sweater, his tears seeping into the yarn.
“Hey,” Mingyu whispers as not to spook Wonwoo. He very carefully tilts Wonwoo’s face up, cataloging his splotchy eyes before he kisses his tears away, like a dog licking his owner’s face, begging to be noticed.
Title from “The Leash” by Ada Limón