cataclysm and infatuation ↳ a meanie!au in which wonwoo and mingyu meet during an apocalypse first chapter of many to come 3500+ words by sophie
Wonwoo was going crazy.
Or, at least he thought he was.
He’d been in the same enclosed place for weeks; seeing the same faces over and over again, eating the same, bland food, having the same conversations. There were so many good things to finally finding a place that they could take refuge, but there were also so many cons. At least he wasn’t stressed out searching for somewhere to take shelter; but now that he’d found one, there wasn’t much left to do but wait.
And survive.
Plus, he found himself continually getting into arguments with the others, probably because he had always had a hard time being around anyone for too long. Though he had been friends with them for as long as he could remember, and the cataclysm that had occurred only a few months ago seemed to have brought them all closer than ever, Wonwoo’s anxiety was rising and he needed a change of scenery.
“I think someone’s outside,” Soonyoung said from a different room, voice raised just loud enough for everyone else to hear.
“Good for them,” Seungkwan said, not bothering to look up from the gun he had been cleaning for the last hour. “We’re not letting them in.”
Soonyoung appeared from around the corner a few seconds later, his eyes full of empathy. “They look really rough. Maybe they need somewhere to stay.”
“Yeah,” Jisoo piped in, his caring personality causing him to instantly become defensive of the person that he had yet to even lay eyes upon. “what if it were you out there, and we refused to let you in?”
“I’d be fine on my own.” Seungkwan assured him, lips drawn in a straight line.
Soonyoung shut his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before opening them and looking at Seungkwan with a serious expression. “I’m letting him in.”
Seungkwan stood up quickly, shoving the disassembled gun into Wonwoo’s lap before following Soonyoung into the other room. Wonwoo locked eyes with Jisoo, both of them standing up simultaneously, setting down their things before crossing the room and peering around the corner.
Soonyoung was standing in the doorway, Seungkwan over his shoulder, probably studying the stranger as he conversed with Soonyoung. After a few moments of this, Soonyoung and Seungkwan finally stepped aside, allowing the stranger enough space to step into the building before quickly shutting the door behind him.
Though he couldn’t get a clear view of him, Wonwoo instantly noticed the man’s rugged, worn-down clothing, toned arms and legs, tanned yet clear complexion.
But most of all, Wonwoo noticed how the man’s eyes sparkled with such liveliness, a kind of liveliness he hadn’t seen in anybody in a long time. He found himself wondering how the man could possibly have such lively eyes, considering the conditions he must have been in prior to this.
Though Soonyoung showed signs of wanting to lead the man into the other room, Seungkwan stood promptly in front of them, arms crossed on top of his chest.
“We really shouldn’t let him in until we get permission from Seungcheol.” Seungkwan said sternly, his stance remaining.
“You expect him to just sit here until he gets back?” Soonyoung asked, eyes wide.
Seungkwan nodded, and Soonyoung’s expression fell. He slowly turned back toward the stranger, saying something in a very quiet tone, before following Seungkwan out of the room. As they walked away, the man nodded sharply, setting down the few things that he had in hand before sitting on the floor, leaning his back against a wall. Wonwoo caught himself watching the man for a few seconds too long, looking away only when he felt Jisoo’s hand on his shoulder.
“Staring is rude.” he whispered into Wonwoo’s ear, giving him a smirk before turning and following the others back into the room.
Wonwoo’s cheeks flushed for a moment, and he brought his hands up to cover them, returning to the spot he had been sitting in before. Though he had picked up where he had left off in the book he had been reading, his mind couldn’t help but wander back to the stranger in the next room.
Maybe that’s what he needed when he had wished for a change in scenery.
It was almost dark before Seungcheol and the rest got back, carrying with them supplies that they had spent the day collecting. As they stripped out of the layers of protective clothing they had worn, Seungkwan pulled Seungcheol aside and took to explaining the man in the other room.
Wonwoo helped the others in organizing and putting away the new supplies, trying to keep his mind off of the fact that he was, for some reason, nervous of Seungcheol’s reaction to the situation. What if he kicked the man back out onto the streets? What if Wonwoo didn’t even get the chance to learn his name?
After a long while of worrying, Wonwoo saw Seungkwan leading Seungcheol into the other room, the rest of the pack slowly dropping their things and following curiously. Wonwoo stayed toward the back of the group, peering tentatively over Minghao’s shoulder upon entering the room.
The man had stood up as soon as he saw Seungcheol, bowing before holding out his hand in greeting. Seungcheol shook it stiffly, nodding his head in response to the man’s bow. Closer this time than before, Wonwoo was able to hear almost everything that was being said, which quickly relieved his nerves.
“Kim Mingyu.” the man said confidently, and Wonwoo was sure his breath hitched in his throat. Seungcheol replied quickly with his own name, before wasting no time in speaking business.
“I think that the first thing to be done is a proper examination.” Seungcheol said in a professional voice, one that Wonwoo hadn’t ever heard before the incident, and had heard more than enough since then. Actually, he was sure that he hadn’t heard a tone other than that from Seungcheol in a very long time. Nowadays, he was all business.
“Examination?” Mingyu asked, eyebrows furrowing together slightly.
“Though you have told us that you are clear of disease, there is really no way to be sure. Even if you are telling the truth, there is some chance that you may have it and be oblivious to it.” Seungcheol explained promptly, hands clasped behind his back. “Of course, there is no way to officially diagnose you that we are aware of, but with a proper examination we can see if there are any physical symptoms. If there are not any, we will consider letting you join us. But if we find something…” Seungcheol’s voice trailed off, eventually just nodding his head, knowing that Mingyu knew what he meant.
Mingyu nodded back, completely understanding of Seungcheol’s precautions.
“If you wouldn’t mind, I will ask you to remain in this room until after the examination, when I have had time to discuss with the others and we have come to a decision.” Seungcheol said.
“Yes, of course.” Mingyu replied, bowing again toward Seungcheol.
Seungcheol turned and left the room, everyone else beginning to follow. Wonwoo felt himself lingering for a moment, watching again as Mingyu sat himself against the wall, before snapping out of it and quickly leaving the room.
“Would someone please volunteer to do the examination?” Seungcheol asked. He was now standing in front of the group, who sat on the floor, all eyes on him.
“Wonwoo will.” Jisoo said almost immediately, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. Seungcheol’s eyes met Wonwoo’s, eyebrows raised in surprise.
Wonwoo’s heart instantly began to raise. The thought of Mingyu completely stripped down in front of him, his only job being for his eyes to roam the entire expanse of skin, was too much for him to wrap his head around. Wonwoo looked down and played nervously with his hands, praying in his head for someone else to pipe up and volunteer before his head burst.
From the corner of his eye, Wonwoo saw a hand fly in the air, a voice escaping into the silence.
“I’ll do it.”
Wonwoo’s head snapped to the side, finding that the hand raised in the air belonged to Seokmin.
“I know a lot about the symptoms, and have seen a few cases of the kinds of rashes and blemishes that it can cause up close. I wouldn’t mind giving the examination.” Seokmin added, receiving an immediate nod from Seungcheol.
Though Wonwoo felt relieved at not having to perform the examination, part of him felt somewhat jealous of Seokmin. Jealous that he’d be alone in that room with Mingyu, jealous that he would be the only one whose eyes would roam the tanned skin of his body, jealous that Mingyu’s attention would be directed only toward him.
Wonwoo shook his head, pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind and trying to focus back on the words spewing from Seungcheol’s mouth.
“If all is well after the examination, and this man doesn’t seem to have any signs of disease, there is a good chance that he will join us here. There’s strength in numbers, and we could always use another set of hands around here. Though I encourage you all to be friendly toward him, I would advise that each and every one of you stay as far away from his as possible - that is, until after the examination. We still want to be very cautious, as we are not yet sure what his condition is.”
Wonwoo nodded in reply, along with everyone that surrounded him, and Seungcheol emitted a prompt “good” before leaving the room.
“I tried,” Jisoo said, elbowing Wonwoo in the side and shrugging his shoulders.
Wonwoo shook his head as Jisoo smirked at him. “Stay out of it, Jisoo.”
“If you say so.” he replied, grinning as he picked himself up off the ground.
By the time Wonwoo had collected himself and stood up, everyone had gone back to what they had been doing before the somewhat emergency-meeting. Figuring he’d get yelled at for being lazy if he went back to his book, Wonwoo decided to help Seungkwan with cleaning the firearms, which he was always grateful for.
Plopping down on the floor next to Seungkwan, Wonwoo motioned for him to hand over a pistol, which he obliged to.
“Say, how do you feel about this new guy?” Wonwoo asked, trying to make his voice as monotone as possible, in attempt to make it less obvious that Wonwoo simply couldn’t get the kid off his mind.
“Mingyu?” Seungkwan asked, knowing that the older’s reaction would be a nod. “He’s infected. I’m sure of it.”
“Why did you get so close to him earlier then, if you think he has it?” questioned Wonwoo, his eyes staying on the pistol in his hands rather than looking up at Seungkwan, knowing that his expression would be blank as usual.
“You know that the disease can’t be transmitted by air, right?”
Wonwoo looked up, meeting Seungkwan’s eyes. “No, I didn’t. I...I was told to take every and all precautions, so I was never quite sure.”
“You can only get it from exchanging bodily fluids. That’s why you never just go up and stab someone - that’s what these are for.” he shook the rifle in his hand. “It would be difficult to contract it just by standing next to them, but it’s possible. They could easily bleed or spit on you, if they really wanted to. You can’t trust anyone nowadays.” he shrugged, his hands moving quickly as he reassembled the rifle. “I don’t trust that kid. Something about him.”
“He seems like a nice guy. What could he have done to get on your bad side?”
“Ah, he didn’t do anything.” Seungkwan shrugged, setting the rifle down before picking up a shotgun and taking it apart as quickly as he had put the last together, making Wonwoo wonder if there existed a gun that Seungkwan didn’t know everything about. “It’s just the way that he carries himself, I think. He’s too happy, too confident. I’m almost positive he’s hiding something.”
“You think?” Wonwoo stopped for a moment, cracking his knuckles before continuing. “But we still have some optimistic people in our group, and I’m sure they have nothing to hide. Jisoo, Chan, Minghao. They are almost always happy, happier than Mingyu is.”
“They’re still so innocent, young at heart. They haven’t seen some of the things we have, the things that make you grow up quick. But that Mingyu,” Seungkwan glanced toward the doorway that led to the other room. “he’s seen things. Maybe things that even we haven’t. How can he still have such a positive outlook after what he must’ve been through? It’s not right.”
Wonwoo shrugged, finishing the pistol and beginning to put it back together, at about half the speed that Seungkwan had. “Maybe.”
“I’m almost positive.” Seungkwan said, snapping the handgun into place and setting it by the rifle. “You’ll see, when he fails that examination.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Wonwoo questioned, holding the clean pistol out to Seungkwan.
“If he’s lucky enough to slide past that, it’ll come out sooner or later. I can guarantee it.”
“Hmm.” Wonwoo hummed. Upon being handed another pistol (the only thing he really knew anything about), he began cleaning in silence, not quite understanding Seungkwan’s argument.
Mingyu seemed like the most trustworthy person Wonwoo had ever been in the presence of. Even despite his shocking good looks and sparkling eyes, Mingyu held himself in a manner that just felt right to Wonwoo. Even having never spoken a word to the kid, Wonwoo knew that if put in the situation, he would trust Mingyu with his life.
And he wasn’t even sure he would put that much trust in the others.
Once the sun had been down for a few hours, and a majority of the guys had already gone to sleep, Wonwoo decided to quit cleaning the firearms and read a few pages of his book before dozing off himself. Though, he realized after reading only a couple sentences, his mind was much too scattered to fall asleep, nevertheless try to read a book properly.
His mind wandering naturally to the thought of their new guest, Wonwoo realized that it was dark and cold, and that Mingyu didn’t have anything to keep him warm.
Picking himself up from the ground, Wonwoo tiptoed into the room that everyone had cluttered their sleeping bags and blankets, trying to search for anything that wasn’t already occupied. Coming up with only his own blanket, Wonwoo didn’t have to think very hard before making the decision of giving it to Mingyu, figuring that he could just slip his way under Jisoo’s covers and stay fairly warm.
Trying to step as quietly as possible, Wonwoo ventured through the rooms toward the one that housed Mingyu, peeking around the corner to make sure that he was awake.
Having heard Wonwoo’s quiet footsteps, Mingyu’s eyes were already looking in the direction of the doorway, catching Wonwoo’s almost instantly. Wonwoo felt his heart flutter uneasily, this being the first time that the man had ever really acknowledged his presence.
“Hey, um…” Wonwoo’s voice cracked in pitch, and he cleared his throat before attempting to speak again. “I have a blanket for you to use if you want. It gets pretty cold in here at night.”
“Oh?” Mingyu began to stand up, but Wonwoo motioned for him to sit back down, entering the room and holding the blanket out to him. “Is everyone else already asleep? It’s gotten pretty quiet in the last hour or so.”
Wonwoo nodded, his empty hands now fiddling nervously behind his back.
“Would you, uh…” Mingyu looked down at the blanket in his hands for a moment before glancing back up at Wonwoo. “Would you mind maybe staying and talking to me for a bit? It’s been a while since I really had a decent conversation with someone and, uh...that is, y’know, if you’re not tired.”
Wonwoo shook his head immediately. “No, I’m not tired at all, actually.”
“You can, uh, sit if you’d like.” Mingyu said, motioning toward the wall.
Wonwoo nodded, slowly taking a few steps forward and closing the distance between them. Sliding down the wall as Mingyu had, Wonwoo sat next to him, just a few inches of distance between them.
“It must be nice to have a bunch of people to rely on. You’ve always got someone to talk to, to have your back.” Mingyu said quietly, glancing down at his hands like he had before. Wonwoo noted it as a nervous habit.
“I guess.” Wonwoo replied after a moment, his eyes fixed on the wall across the room, careful not to stare at the man for too long. “They get on my nerves after a while, though.”
“Ahh.” Mingyu nodded. “At the end of the day, though, it’s a lot better than being alone.”
Wonwoo wasn’t sure how to reply, and they sat in silence for a long moment before he thought of the question he had been wondering about all day. “Why is it that you ended up alone, anyway? Did you not have anyone before this big mess?”
“Not really.” Mingyu shrugged, biting his lip as he thought of the right words to say. “I did, but I couldn’t trust them with very much. Especially with my life, which is something you really have to think about in a situation like this.”
“Mmm.” Wonwoo hummed in agreement. “How long were you alone?”
“I left my group about a month into all of this. So...two months or so.”
Wonwoo’s eyes widened, his head turning to look at Mingyu. “How did you survive that long, by yourself?”
“I’m not really sure myself, actually.” Mingyu replied, chuckling slightly. “Luck, I guess.”
Wonwoo smiled at the way Mingyu’s eyes had crinkled when he laughed, his mouth opening just slightly to let the sound escape. Realizing that he had been silent for a few seconds too long, Wonwoo nodded his head in reply. “Same for us, I think. We’re lucky that we’re all still alive, honestly.”
Mingyu nodded, though his expression showed that his mind was on something completely different from what they were currently talking about. And, after another long moment of silence, he spoke what he had been thinking, asking something that he had probably been thinking about all day.
“Do you think that I’ll pass the examination?” he asked. Wonwoo could feel Mingyu’s eyes burning into the side of his cheek, but he tried not to turn his head, knowing that they would make direct eye contact if he did.
“If you are telling the truth that you aren’t infected, then I don’t see why not.” Wonwoo replied.
“Ah, not like that. I mean…” Mingyu looked away from Wonwoo, causing him to relax now that he knew that he wasn’t under the man’s gaze. “I mean, they seemed really...harsh. Like they’ll be willing to find any reason that they shouldn’t let me in. Y’know?”
Wonwoo nodded, looking down at his hands. “I see why you’d think that, yeah. Though I don’t think they’re necessarily...out to get you, or anything.” he turned his head to look at Mingyu, whose gaze was now fixed on the wall across the room. “They are just really protective. They’ll take a lot of precautions before they let you in, is all.”
“That’s understandable.” Mingyu said, moving his eyes to meet Wonwoo’s. “They don’t want someone just walking in here and infecting them all. I get that.”
“They’ll warm up to you, though.” Wonwoo assured him, though he was finding it difficult to focus on his words when Mingyu seemed to be looking so deeply into his eyes. “I mean, if you pass the examination and everything, there wouldn’t really be a reason not to.”
Mingyu nodded, finally breaking eye contact and looking down at his hands.
They talked a while longer, Wonwoo telling Mingyu about some of the others, relaying who was the friendliest and who was more severe in attitude. Mingyu told Wonwoo of the people he had been with before he split on them, and explained some of the reasons why they couldn’t exactly be trusted. After they had run out of things to talk about, they resorted to sitting in silence for a while, becoming more and more exhausted as the moments passed.
Wonwoo was surprised at a sudden weight landing on his shoulder, glancing down to find that Mingyu had fallen asleep, his head lolling to the side and deciding to rest itself on whatever was closest. Wonwoo was stunned for a moment, not knowing exactly what he should do. Of course, there was only one thing to choose from, and that was to sit still so that Mingyu could sleep. He probably hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in weeks, having not had shelter and all - how could Wonwoo take that away from him by waking him up?
So, Wonwoo shut his eyes, carefully tilting his head to the side and resting it on the top of Mingyu’s. He fell asleep almost instantly, the thought of Mingyu’s lively eyes staring deeply into his own being the only thing on his mind.