Rental Boyfriend ; Meanie

Chapter 10

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After dinner on Christmas eve with Junhui, Jeonghan, and Minghao, Wonwoo wakes up early on Christmas morning to prepare his present for Mingyu. He feels silly, sneaking off to the bathroom at seven in the morning to put on a pair of cat ears and to fix a bowtie around his neck.

It was Soonyoung's stupid idea. He had given Wonwoo the cat ears he found at a Halloween frat party and told him to wear it with his bowtie and nothing else. Wonwoo draws on whiskers with a black eyeliner that Soonyoung also scavenged from a frat party.

He crawls back into bed and licks Mingyu's face to wake him up, dragging the flat of his tongue from his jaw to his cheek.

Mingyu flails awake, startled by Wonwoo's wake up call.

"Merry Christmas," Wonwoo grins. "Your present is me. I'm your pet cat today."

"God you're so cute," Mingyu groans, "Come here."

Wonwoo decides that even though most of Soonyoung's ideas are stupid, he might have a good one now and then.

By the time spring semester begins in late January, Wonwoo has gotten dangerously accustomed to waking up in Mingyu's arms. Even when Wonwoo's classes are in full swing, they try to make as much time for each other as they can during their last few weeks together before Mingyu moves to LA. There's a bittersweet flavor edging into their kisses now, which Wonwoo tries to ignore before the pain tears his heart in two.

It's the last week before Mingyu has to leave when Soonyoung asks Wonwoo if he has any plans for Valentine's Day that weekend.

"Are you trying to ask me out?" Wonwoo jokes. "I know we've gotten close over the past couple years, but you're a little late to the game, buddy."

"No," Soonyoung says, shaking his head vehemently. "I just wanted to know if you and Mingyu are doing anything special for Valentine's Day on Saturday."

Saturday, the day of Mingyu's flight to LA. He had actually forgotten that it would also be Valentine's Day. Wonwoo considers for a moment and then says, "I don't think so."

"Umm, yes you are," Soonyoung corrects. "First lacrosse game of the season this Saturday!"

"How could I forget," Wonwoo grins.

The stadium is chilly with flecks of snow swirling through the blustery February air, but Wonwoo's hands are warm clasped in Mingyu's under the blanket draped across their laps.

"I don't know that much about lacrosse," Mingyu admits. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"It's kind of hard to follow since it's so fast paced and the ball is so small. But see those two crouched in the center there? Our guy, Jongdae, is a face-off specialist. Once he steals the ball and passes it to our team, he'll leave the field-like that, see?"

Wonwoo knows little about sports in general, but being Soonyoung's roommate and best friend for the past two and a half years has transformed him into a lacrosse expert.

"Where's Soonyoung?" Mingyu asks, unable to discern the players' identities through their helmets. "Is he on the field?"

"Yeah, he's a midfielder! His jersey number is 96, do you see him near the line in the center? Look, he just passed the ball to Sehun and oh-ouch, he just got hit in the back. That's actually a foul. It's called a body check, and it's illegal when you don't have the ball."

Barely keeping pace with the rapid exchanges, Mingyu asks, "Who's in possession of the ball now? I'm sorry, I can't even tell where the passes are going."

"Jongin, the tall guy on defense has it now. He's giving it back to Chanyeol in the goal, who's probably going to pass it across the field. Like that, see?"