1-800-Be-Mine | reader x minho | sfw
happy valentines day!! this lil fic of mine is something very new and different from what I’ve tried before and I’m so so excited to share it with you!!
Pairing: self insert, gender neutral reader x lee minho
Genre: fluff, sci-fi, futuristic au, valentines day special!
Tags: strangers to lovers, sci-fi au, futuristic au, blind date au, AI au with a twist, mentions of food and alcohol, featuring hyunjin, tiny heart-shaped confetti of comedy and rebelling against the man lol, fluffy growing feelings
Warnings: Minho’s character in this is an adorable, charming, feeling, AI robot. haha idk if this is a warning but it might not be everyone’s cup o’ tea, if so, that’s why I’m mentioning it :)
Tagging: @stayhavens thank you for allowing me to be a part of this event ❤️
Word count: 7.1k
“If it’s the color of your shirt that you’re worried about, I don’t think that he’s gonna care.”
“--I can’t believe that you’re putting me through this. I didn’t even ask for...whatever the hell this all is.”
“You’re getting worked up over nothing, Y/n. This whole thing is literally the lowest commitment thing that you could ever do on Valentines Day.”
For the twentieth time, you held up the shirt and hanger over your torso in front of you streak-stained mirror. It shouldn’t have mattered much, or even at all, but here you were, wondering what color a synthetic human would like on your body the most.
With feet in the air, your best friend swung his feet with pointed toes and eyes glued to his phone.
“Quit looking at me like that.” Hyunjin didn’t even need to rise his head up to feel your glare. “He’s programmed to forget about you the second that your time runs out, so, I really don’t know why you’re wasting your time over this.”
One more time, you switched the creamy white satin for the wine-red velvet.
“God, this is so depressing.” The shirt hangers clinked together where you threw them down on your bed. “It’s all your fault too.”
“I can’t see why you aren’t excited for this!! I literally made it so he’s perfect for you. There’s like, a 0% chance that this is gonna go badly. You could spit escargot into his lap or get his tie stuck in the car door and he’d still think that you’re the best thing ever. You can do no wrong.”
“That’s the point...”
The floor started to look a lot more appealing in your despair. If you were making a dramatic show for yourself or for you friend, you had no idea, but somehow it felt a little better letting your body sliiide down the side of the wall into a little pool of half-done make-up and hair still damp.
“Stop throwing a tantrum.” Hyunjin scolded. “You have to be there in 45 minutes.”
“What if I...just don’t show up?”
“Then, you’d be robbing me of $360 and the most expensive gift that I’ve ever gotten for you. And, you’d break my heart. I don’t wanna be heartbroken on Valentines Day. I’d hate you forever.”
“Nooooo you wouldn’t.” You tossed your forehead into the palms of your hands.
“I’d hate you for a month probably.”
“Don’t you have somewhere that you need to be?” As expected, your hands were smudged a bit from the tiny dusting of eyeshadow that you had added to your lids.
“I told you already, she doesn’t get off until 8 so I’ve still got time. Besides, I already set everything up back at the apartment. I’m in no rush.” At last, your friend cast aside his phone on the mattress with a bounce. “Get up. I’ll help you. You should still look nice anyway...even if he doesn’t care. This night is about you anyway.”
»»————- ♡ ————-««
Is satin supposed to feel scratchy...? What? Satin being itchy? ...You must be going crazy if you think--
“--Annnd we’re here!”
The wheels of Hyunjin’s less than glamourous car skidded in front of the hotel with an obvious screech. He was never one for being a good driver anyway. With the pull of his hand through is blond hair he nodded his head for you to open your door.
“Time’s ticking. It’s nearly 7.”
“--Jin--”
“I’m not explaining it again. Just go do the damn thing. You’re overthinking it. Like you do with everything...”
Your best friend rolled his eyes which were blue today: a part of his own Valentines Day outfit: that of which he looked much better than you thought you had. He had slung his arm over his steering wheel looking on, and even more impatient with you by the second.
“Is it a fucking crime to be nervous??”
Hyunjin laughed out sharply. “You’re so cute. ~Especially when there isn’t anything to worry about.~”
You flicked him hard on his perfect arm covered by his perfectly planned and billowy white top.
“Would you like to go out there and meet him if it’s so easy?”
After a subsequent eye roll, your friend reached his long arm to pop open the car door on your side. “You’re not going to make me drag you, are you?”
“I can get it myself.” You growled, shoving his hand away.
The February air was crisp, and just cold enough for your breath to appear lightly in front of your face. Immediately, you started to regret everything: the itchy satin shirt (which you guessed probably wasn’t satin) the stiffness of your styled hair, and the way that your feet felt in the pair of shoes that you had broken out just for the occasion. You had even put perfume on; something that a “strictly deodorant” person as yourself found to be suffocating and odd.
Do Mirrors even have a sense of smell?
On the busy street, cars whipped past with headlights of yellow and red, and the bustle of the holiday evening buzzed on the sidewalk with couples marching down the way arm and arm and hand in hand. The energy of the evening seemed vibrant almost as if the whole world seemed to be slightly more awake. The plastic heels of ladies in their best shoes clicked past.
“Good luck!”
Hyunjin mustered up the most genuine smile that you thought possible for him to craft considering it wasn’t genuine in the slightest.
“Text me about it tonight--or--actually, not tonight, I’ll be...” He obviously winked, “...busy tonight.”
“You’re disgusting!!”
You slammed the car door in Hyunjin’s snide smirk while he laughed out a “Love you!” before speeding away without a care.
The remnants of old snow caked up in the corners of the hotel where Hyunjin had arranged the date. The hotel itself was very old fashioned looking, almost like it had come right out of one of those old movies he would tease you for liking--it was probably why he had chosen it, you thought to yourself. There was a large golden marquee with a strand of lightbulbs tracing the edge all around it much like an old-timey theater, which gave the name for the hotel. At the doorway made of the same golden hue, there were attentive bellhops in matching blue velvet uniforms and leather gloves that they blew in to to keep their hands warm.
When you thought more of it, the night was a bit colder than expected, so you pulled your coat closer to your body. Hyunjin had suggested that you wear your pea coat, however it’s warmth factor wasn’t something to write home about. He had something about how it had made your arms look good...as if he would care anything like what your arms looked like.
You pulled out your phone with your cold fingers to find the information that Hyunjin had sent you.
Name: Lee Minho
Model: Generation Four
Specifications: Personalized
Service time: 7pm-12am
Instructions: Meet at the front entrance of the the hotel The Grand at exactly 7pm where the Mirror will be waiting. Mirror will look like: [see image]
You hovered your hand over the little see image tab. Before, you had decided that you didn’t want to see the picture, and rather leave it as a surprise. That was the thrill of a blind date, right? For a moment, you rationalized it as peeking so that you knew what he looked like so you could find him. You hovered, and hovered...
“No, I shouldn’t...” You whispered out to the open air while you shoved your phone back into your pocket.
“Excuse me?” One of those attentive bellhops had snuck behind you and rose a caring hand to your shoulder: an action which made you jump. “Is there anything that I can help you with? Are you waiting for someone?”
“Oh.” You straightened yourself. “Yes, I am waiting for someone. They’ll be here really--”
“--Is it me that you’re waiting for?”
He had strolled right up to you, and you could barely form the words on your mouth to say “yes.” You had heard the stories about Mirrors before, but as far as you had known, this was your first time ever seeing one this close...and you wouldn’t have even known that he was any different from the flesh and bones that you knew you had.
He was devastatingly handsome; the kind of handsome that models were. Every single one of his features seemed to be carefully planned and calculated down to the little freckle on his nostril and his nose bridge of a perfect angle. Even his physical proportions seemed to be perfect: his arm muscles curved in wonderful angles under his black suit jacket that had one button at the front. He was dressed simply: merely a black tux with a white button up underneath and a deep navy blue tie. His chocolate brown eyes were a bit unique, looking even slightly cat-like.
Not like you had a type, but if you were to have one, he definitely would have been it.
He smiled upon seeing you, and coolly adjusted his silver cufflinks which you noticed had an insignia on them that looked a familiar: it was that picture of the eye with the spokes around it, the symbol of 3rdEyeCorp. As expected, everything in life seemed to come with a branding: even synthetic humans.
“Should we go inside?”
His voice was gentle and soothing, the kind of voice that you knew could lull you to sleep or convince you to do things that you wouldn’t want to. It was a voice that could put you at ease, and you wondered if that was intentional. Perhaps Hyunjin had told them that at times you could be neurotic.
You finally squeaked out a, “Yes.” then followed him towards the soft glow of the magnificent building. He had slipped over past you to open the door, letting you enter first.
“Oh...thanks...”
As you passed him, you could have sworn that he smelled like some kind of citrus scent. In fact, you didn’t know that he could even have a smell. This was but one of the many questions that had been plaguing you for the past couple weeks since learning of Hyunjin’s plan.
It wasn’t that he smelled like a person: that kind of earthy scene mixed up with the lingering scent of shampoo on hair, or a bit of mint holding to the corners of your mouth after you had brushed your teeth right before you exited the door. Still, you didn’t mind the citrus, it was better than nothing at all, you assumed.
He walked up to the maître d with perfect posture, and it was then when you noticed that you were slightly shorter that he was. His suit was pressed, and a line ran down the back directly over his spine.
“2 for L/n?” He said properly, and it felt strange hearing your last name come from his mouth.
“Right this way.”
He looked back at you, almost as if to see if you were doing okay. He held a little glint in his eyes that looked careful, caring even. From the very few words that he had said to you, he still maintained a composure about him that was...human. He was comfortable.
The three of you reached the table with the ironed white table cloth, small bouquet of red roses and two flickering tea candles. The lighting of the room was dim as all restaurants such as this were, and there was a light hum about the room coupled with the occasional clink of silverware on China. There was a fireplace to the corner of the room, and the dense smell of expensive wine hung in the air.
The maître d placed down the menus. “Your server will be with you shortly.”
You thought the small action a bit comical. You were the only one who knew his secret. Still, he nodded with a polite smile. “Thank you.”
The satin fabric on your shirt scraped at your bare chest, and you attempted your slyest attempt at making a tiny itch look nonchalant. He picked up the menu with a few of his brown strands dipping over his eyes. You studied him as he looked it over, not having a clue why. You thought that you had heard somewhere that his kind couldn’t eat. Perhaps he was a new model.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t formally introduced myself yet.” He put the menu down with a little embarrassed smile. “I must’ve forgotten. I’m Lee Minho.”
“I know.” Your cheeks felt hot. “Uh-and I’m Y/n. But--you probably knew that too.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Smile lines crinkled under his eyes. It was the first imperfection you could find about him.
“Yo-you too.”
Minho reached out a slender and pale hand for you to shake and you stared it in a moment of fear. You had never touched a Mirror before, much less wondered what they felt like.
“I don’t bite.” He chuckled out a small laugh that was much too cute for his own good. His shoulders then appeared to relax and he allowed himself to slouch. “At least, my model doesn’t.”
You choked out an ugly chortle at the joke. “Ah. I see.”
“You don’t have to be scared of me. I promise that I feel like anyone else.”
You took it, jumping a little at the sensation. He was warm--not exactly like you expected him to be cold and metallic however. The skin of his hand was cracked and grooved as normal, and it was squishy as if you could feel the muscles that would be underneath.
With a warm grin, he soothed you saying, “See?”
‘Oh...mmhm.” You shook his hand firmly. “Holy shit that's really creepy.” You muttered the words as softly as you thought you could have.
“Creepy?” He laughed out again. “Should I be offended? No one has ever called me creepy before.”
“Oh! Um, s-sorry, I didn’t mean--”
“--It’s okay! I was just kidding. I completely understand. Especially if this is your first time meeting someone like me. It is your first time?”
You nodded drawing your hand back with the warmth from his hand still lingering on yours.
“Let me know if there is anything that I can do to make you more comfortable. Seems like...we’re meant to be too.”
“--Meant to be?” You nearly dropped your cloth napkin to the ground.
“I mean, based off of your profile, they thought that I would be best suited for you. And you know...the programming and all that.”
“Oh! I guess so...”
Next, you thought it best to busy yourself with that glass of water that was looking very oddly refreshing.
“I meant to tell you as well that you look very nice. I think that color suits you very well.”
Drops of water got caught in your throat, “T-AHEM-this?” You pinched at the fabric.
Minho’s eyes widened at your sputtering coughs, signaling to a waiter to come fill your glass once more.
“Sorry, was I not supposed to say that?”
“No! No no, it’s...you’re fine. I was just a little surprised.”
“Surprised? Why?”
“I just didn’t think that you would...nevermind.”
Even though you had nearly choked yourself seconds ago, up went your water glass to your lips once more.
Minho fidgeted with his bangs with his pinky finger: a surprisingly vain little task. Under the dull lighting of the whole room, he did look very handsome; almost much too handsome to be in such a place with you. All at once, you became suddenly aware of the irregular patterns of those eyes peeking at you from their own tables with haughty and whispering words on their lips.
“You look...very nice as well.”
“Mm thank you.” As charming as ever, he gave a smile back. “This is my first time wearing this. I actually picked it out myself. I thought that you would like the color.” His pale fingers ran down the silk indigo tie.
“You thought about it too??”
“Thought about what?”
A snide smile crept over your mouth. Hyunjin could eat his words.
“Well do you? Like it?” A curious little smearing of worry painted Minho’s brow that was once again must too cute for his own good.
“I-I do like it.”
In all honesty, Minho would have looked good in anything, you thought, no matter how ridiculous. Under the thin white cotton of his shirt, you could see his toned pectorals as well. One pinch to the side of your leg was just enough to scold yourself.
He looked around himself in a bit of a silent wonder: from the rafters of the high ceilings painted in gold leaf, to the speakeasy on the far edge of the room with the posh looking bartender.
“I always thought that places like this were kind of stuffy.” He wrinkled his nose.
“You...what?”
“There's always someone at one table wondering if they look better, rank higher, or are more successful than the person at the other. Don’t you think the same?”
“I mean...I think they do keep looking us?”
“Ah. I noticed that too.”
Minho looked around himself carefully, then leaned in closer towards you. “Do you think that they know that I’m...you know?”
You snorted out a laugh covered by your hand. “What? No? How could they?”
“A hunch.”
“Can you even get hunches?”
“I may be a robot, but I can still read a room.”
You hushed him, “Shhhh! Say that any louder and then they’ll really know.”
A waiter in a black apron sauntered up to your table with a thin moustache and a big of a sagging face. He looked a bit less like a real waiter and more like a cartoon one.
“Good evening. Have you finished looking over the menus? Perhaps a bottle of wine to start you off? We have a new house merlot that I would highly recommend.” He reached a spiny finger to point at the name on your menu. “It would pair particularly well with our specials tonight. Seeing as it is Valentines day--”
The droning of the waiter continued on, and you had noticed that Minho wasn’t paying any attention at all. Rather, he had settled his gaze on the flickering of the candles, and the yellow light sparked in his pupils. For mere seconds, you could see something a bit different about them: a extremely thin circle of blue-white light around his irises.
The waiter pulled out his pad with an expectant gaze.
“Uh-yeah, I-I’ll take that. That--whatever-you-just-mentioned.”
He appeared puzzled. “You wish to start with the special orange Crème Brule first?”
“Ah-no! Sorry, can you..” You cringed, “Repeat what you just said?”
He rolled his eyes, but did respectfully as he was told while you sunk further into your chair with Minho’s teasing smirk. This time you listened to the specials, even though you decided you didn’t even want one, but rather picked one of the cheapest items on the menu. That was one of the drawbacks of paying for your date: he had no obligation to pay for your meal.
The waiter looked even more puzzled when Minho said he wasn’t ordering anything, but shrugged, burying his pad back into his pocket saying, “I’ll be over with the wine shortly.”
“Do you want to know something?” Minho leaned back in once the waiter was out of an earshot.
You treated yourself to yet another sip of your emptying glass, and nodded.
“There’s at least four others like me in here.”
“Four? How can you know?”
“I think I’d know my own kind when I saw them.”
“I would never be able to tell.”
The waiter returned, showing the label to the wine to both of you before popping it open and pouring it into glasses with the twist of his wrist. Two drops from the crimson top stained the little napkin he used.
Minho’s hands toyed with the stem of the glass, but didn’t take a sip.
“That’s why they call us Mirrors.”
“How do you mean?”
“Because you’re supposed to see yourselves in us.”
»»————- ♡ ————-««
Your body had started to warm with the energy of the room after long, and your appetizer of escargot had arrived. Oddly, since Hyunjin had mentioned it before, it embedded in you an odd craving that you couldn’t satisfy until you had some. By now, you had realized that Minho likely wouldn’t have been eating with you, but it was strange: even the other Mirrors in the room appeared to be.
“I’m assuming that you can’t eat then?” You popped the buttery taste into your mouth.
“Yes. It doesn’t make sense for my...biology. If you can call it that. I can’t digest food nor do I have the mechanisms to do so.”
“Maybe we should have done something that didn’t include food then.”
“I do have something though! I know that eating alone like this can be uncomfortable.”
He grabbed inside his inside suit pocket and pulled out a wallet: thin and black leather. It had almost nothing in it save for what looked like a iridescent square. Over top of it was the same logo on his cufflinks. He flipped it around his fingers like a playing card.
“What is it?”
“My dinner.” He sated matter-of-factly.
“You’re gonna...eat that? Maybe you shouldn’t--”
He placed it neatly in front of himself, pressing the surface and it morphed into some kind of three dimensional polygon shape of pixels, both large and small, until it settled into a perfect copy of your dish that you had sitting in front of you.
“It’s holographic.”
“Of course it is.”
“Newest in tech at 3rdEye. This is my first time using one. They thought it would be a good idea to send the prototypes out with the Mirrors tonight for the beta test. What do you think?”
“It’s very...realistic.”
“It’s pocket sized, and it can really transform into anything that you could want, but of course...its still not really solid. Perfect for me though.”
He took a bite of his escargot with an equally holographic fork.
“I imagine that it tastes very good.”
“You can’t taste things?”
“Unfortunately, no. Since I don’t need to eat, don’t know why I would need to. I’ve got all the other senses though.”
The house merlot was bitter on your tongue and full bodied. You couldn’t imagine what your life would have been like without taste. He chewed on, and somehow the action really did seem comforting.
“You’re very um, open about yourself. You know...talking about yourself so bluntly. I feel like some people when they do these things, they just want to keep on that suspension of disbelief as long as they can; pretending that you're--”
“--A real person?”
You hadn’t intended on it coming off as insulting, and a “sorry” formed on your lips.
“--I’m not offended. And, you’re right. Most people do. But, I could sense that you were different. I don’t have a problem telling you about me. Something told me that you would like to know.”
“Something?”
“Enough about me though, lets talk about you. You’re a doctor aren’t you?”
“-For animals. Nothing too crazy. I’m working up my way to have my own practice some day. For now, I’m just doing nurse type stuff. Giving immunizations, checking teeth and stuff like that.”
“I read your thesis. The one from your pre-vet. I thought that your research was very interesting. How come you didn’t continue on with animal behavior?”
His string of questions made you crack out into laughter. Never had anyone you had ever dated said that they had read up on you.
“I can’t believe that you just said that.”
“What? I had assumed that you might want to talk about something that interests you like that.”
“That was...so long ago, I don’t even think about that paper anymore.”
Minho took some of his wine down with a polite dab of his napkin to his lips.
“How about hiking then? Or those Frank Capra movies that you like? Which one is your favorite?”
“Stop, stop. This is--”
His eyes widened. “Did I misspeak again? Your friend said that it would be okay if we did the proper research--”
“--Just...sorry, it’s strange that you know everything about me already and we’ve hardly just met.”
“I’m not following.”
“Can you just...forget like, everything you know about me for a minute? This is supposed to be a blind date isn’t it?”
“I can do that.” Minho tightened his tie.
“How about we talk about something else?”
Minho nodded in agreement with a determined tiny grin. “I can tell you about what I do?”
“You have a job?”
Your prompt waiter appeared with a giant silver platter which glinted in the light of the numerous dancing candles around it. The ceramic plates clinked into the glasses assorted on the table, and he lastly offered out freshly grated parmesan for your pasta. You said “when” and he was just as quickly out of your way, but not after granting the both of you one more questioning glare.
“Yes.”
Your date flipped over his holographic square, and soon it transformed into another spitting image of your meal.
“I’m supposed to tell you that I’m a college professor of ornithology but since we’re being blunt here, my job is working for 3rdEye, and doing basically whatever they ask of me. Including this. And actually...” He twisted a string of noodles around his fork. “...I think that it’s going pretty well.”
A quick giggle erupted out from you. “I’m glad that we’re being honest because you do not look like someone who teaches twenty somethings about birds.”
“But if I had said I did, would that have made you like me more?”
“Maybe. I’m sure that they picked that because I did graduate research on migration and flight patterns.”
“Likely.”
“Maybe I should have stuck with animal behavior. Then we would have had more to talk about.”
A silence filled the space between you as you tried your best to eat your pasta with as much grace as you could. Of course, you were still one to get it on your lap and the table cloth, but luckily you had a napkin to protect you. Your date on the other hand, ate as if he was eating with the queen herself. For several moments, you really did allow yourself those brief moments of ignorance: you really were just two people, sitting in a fancy restaurant on Valentines Day, eating a meal together, on a date, as an normal two people would do. Every few moments too, he would look at you with a type of gentle adoration in his eyes too.
And it felt nice.
It really was as effortless as Hyunjin had said. You would be eating your words on this one.
At last, you had scraped out the last chunks of tomato and vegetable bites from your shallow dish, and you sat back which a sense of drowsiness clinging to your eyes. Over time, you had slumped deeper and deeper into your chair as you felt your body warm with the fireplace. You didn’t mean to look, but your watch had read just past 9 o’clock.
“That all tasted good.” Minho sighed, and slumped along with you.
“I thought you couldn’t taste?”
“Ah. You’re right. Well, I enjoyed eating that with you. Did it taste good?”
“It did.”
“Should we get some of that orange Crème Brule from earlier?”
You folded up your napkin on the table. “You mean should I get some of that Crème Brule? I’m the one paying here remember?”
“Are you?”
With the stretch of your arms, you answered, “Not today. I don’t have that doctor’s pay...yet.”
“But shouldn’t you eat something sweet on Valentines Day? Isn’t that also what its about?”
You laughed, “I don’t know where you heard that, but no, it doesn’t.”
“Ah, I see. My understanding of the holiday is very jumbled. Holidays are like that for us. The sort of emotional attachment to them is hard for us to understand. I’ve watched millions of hours of films to understand them...but--”
“--Millions?”
“Yes?”
“That’s…insane.”
“Not for me.” He said with a happy little grin. “Should we be leaving?”
In one motion, he swept up his shirt sleeve, just over his wrist where you had expected him to have a watch. Instead, a faint blue glow emerged on his skin making letters and numbers that you couldn’t read as well from upside down.
“Hm. 3 more hours. What else would you like to do with our time together?”
»»————- ♡ ————-««
The winter cold bit at your ears while the two of you walked together down the busy urban stretch. Even later into the night the giddy excitement of friends ambling down the streets and couples linking to eachother with tipsy happiness could still be found everywhere. You barely knew him, but you still felt in some way compelled to reach out and interlock your arm with his as those other couples did. You had a half a mind to reach out to him, but another half a mind to keep your arms wrapped around yourself.
But, as if he had read your mind, he reached out his hand behind him to quietly slip your arm into his.
“Put your hands in your pockets.” He asked, and you did so. “I figured that you must be cold, so...my body heats itself too, makes me more...you know.”
He was warm. Much warmer than your entire body felt had felt then, but still you noted that the tips of his ears and nose had turned pink.
“Where to?” He questioned next.
“I-I’m not sure. I didn’t think this far.”
“I could pick?”
“You know where to go?”
He was silent for a moment, then nodded. “There’s a place that I wouldn’t mind going to. Do you know how to skate?”
“Ice...skate?”
He huffed out with a tiny smile, and you noticed that when he did, no visible molecules could be seen in front of his face.
“Do you? I can pick something else? It’s not everyone’s skill.”
“N-no. I can do it.”
You don’t know why you had said it: perhaps you felt as if you had something to prove to this inhuman person, or you really did want to go there with him, no matter where it was.
You had never learned how to skate in your life.
»»————- ♡ ————-««
The ice rink was lined with pink and white string lights: likely a Valentines Day decoration. Plastic hearts made of fuzzy tinsel also decorated the edges of the rink and sparkled under the lights. It had been built into the center of a public park, and bodies huddled in winter coats sat together on the benches to the side, waving at those they knew when they slipped past. Tinny music played over the outdoor speakers: it was some pop song that you had heard before, but didn’t know the name of.
Minho laced up your skates for you, and even then you noticed that his knuckles had turned pink too.
“Are you...cold?”
“Oh! This?” He turned his hands around. “No, I’m not. it’s just another one of my humanisms.”
“Humanisms?”
“Something to make me look more like you. When it’s cold outside my body senses it and does this.”
“I see.”
Even if you knew that he couldn’t possibly feel things in the same why, he was damn convincing--and you couldn’t help but think it was unbearably cute as well.
“Done! You ready? You can take my hand if you want?”
You stood wobbly as a deer taking its first steps. Walking on the blades was much more difficult than you would have guessed. He didn’t need to ask twice for you to grab hold.
“I’m assuming that you know how to do this?”
“There’s a lot of things that I know how to do.” He winked.
The second that your feet met the ice, you felt your heart start beating into overdrive with your anxiety of falling. Over the ice, it too felt colder, and that didn’t help much either. With one hand you clawed to the side of the rink, and the other dug into Minho’s arm.
“I thought that you said that you knew how to skate?”
“I lied. I’m gonna fall on my fricking face and its gonna be the most embarrassing thing ever. Worse than spitting escargot into your lap.”
“Spitting escargot? What?”
“Just--can you help me?”
He tittered with an adorably warm laugh and grabbed back at you firmly. “I won’t let go.”
Even the toddlers in their little training bumpers were more skilled than you. Minho was patient, and coached you through the skills of the left and right motions of your feet and getting into a rhythm. You still flapped your arms around wildly like a wobbly penguin, but he was eventually able to coax you away from the wall.
“See! You’re getting the hang of it!”
“Really?”
Minho nodded profusely, letting go of both of your hands to hold just one. “Stop looking at your feet and just look at me. You’ll trip yourself up focusing so hard.”
Other couples whipped past you, and you thought it best not to look at how easy it was for them.
“I-I think that I’m doing it!”
Minho’s eyes lit seeing you start to swing your feet back and forth. In that pink lighting of the rink, you could see that thin ring of light around his eyes once more. Even though it was unnatural, you still thought that it looked beautiful.
“WATCH OUT!!” Came a distant voice from behind you.
Before you had a second to turn around, a fuzzy blur came barreling into you. Two small bodies: a couple middle school boys chasing each other, came colliding with your teetering body, forcing you to fall to the hard ice with a terrible thud.
“Oh my God! Are you okay?” One of their pre-pubescent voices cracked.
“I-I’m fine...I think.”
Your air had been knocked right out of your lungs and your butt ached with a sharp pain that you hoped you wouldn’t be feeling for days. Both of your hands were wet with ice from the contact. Minho quickly offered you his hand up.
“-You okay?” He brushed ice off of your coat.
Truthfully, you were horribly shaken, and your chest shook, but you lied once more. “I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.”
“No you’re not.” His worried eyes studied you. “Lets get you something warm to drink okay?”
»»————- ♡ ————-««
“One hot chocolate please.”
Minho fiddled with his wallet, picking out that same iridescent square from before. As soon as his fingers touched it, it glimmered into a credit card.
“It can do that?” You had uttered, but he gave you back a cautious glare.
The man at the little coffee stand took it without question, and somehow, it worked.
“$3.15″ He monotoned, and gave the card back.
The white Styrofoam cup warmed your hands instantly, and the chocolatey steam delighted your nostrils.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to.”
“It’s no problem. I wanted to.”
You took a sip, but a strange silence befell over your date, and he furrowed his brows.
Under his breath, he repeated the word “...wanted?”
The further that you walked along the river together, the less that you wanted to take another look at your watch where it peaked out from your coat sleeve. You imagined that it must have been nearing almost 10:30--optimistically. Instead, you took long and purposeful sips of of your drink and indulged in the way that the heat would seep down from your throat and all the way down your body.
Onward, one of the great and massive bridges of the city blinked with an array of multicolored lights: some from cars, others from the way that it was decorated to look a bit like shining stars. Under the lights, the navy-black of the river reflected the fractals of light. The walkway was nearly empty of people except for the odd couple sitting and cuddled up by the edge of the water. The water should have been frozen, but it didn’t appear to be giving up just yet.
Your companion had drawn quiet with eyes cast down to his walking feet. You had half a mind to reach out to him...
“Is there anything you would like to do?” Your question filled the quiet, but you didn’t expect him to stop in his steps upon hearing it.
“Are you asking me if there is anything that I want do to?”
“Yes...?”
Minho was again quiet, then turned to look at the vast expanse of the cityscape in front of you both.
Suddenly, he began, “Valentines Day is a holiday that has to do with loving, doesn’t it?”
You stammered at the question in your confusion, but still answered. “Yes.”
“You express love on the holiday? You show people that you love them, and that you care for them. Right?”
“I think so...but why are--”
“--What do you think that it means to love something?”
Distantly, cars honked, and music boomed out from drawn down windows, and it floated in the evening air.
For you, loving was something that was second nature. It was little bits of happiness, fuzzy feelings, but it also ached, and felt like being lost. How could you possibly begin to describe what it meant?
Minho’s eyes were full of intrigue and even maybe a twinge of desperation. Could Mirrors even hold such a thing in their eyes?
“I-I’m not sure how to cover it all, but, I guess that I could say that loving something, or someone, is to want them. You want to be around them, you want to see them laugh or smile, you want to make them feel that you care. I don’t think that it is much more complicated than that.
The man appeared even more confused, almost like he had been computing his own mental calculations right before his very eyes. Then, all at once, his eyes softened.
“If loving something is to want it; to have desire, desiring is the first step? Love must be simplier than I thought that it was, and maybe...I think that I can do it.”
“What are you talking about?”
Minho swept up his hands in yours after casting aside the cup to the ground.
“You asked me if I wanted to do something. But the thing is...I don’t think I’ve ever wanted do to anything ever before in my life. It was just, what others wanted of me and what I colud do for them. Not me.”
Realization swept over Minho piece by piece, and soon it all unfolded for you too.
He drew your arms and hands around the back of his neck to pull your body closer to his.
You might’ve looked before, but his lips looked soft and unbelievably sweet: like melting snowflakes, whipped cream, or the fuzzy flesh of peaches.
“I do want something.” He said at last.
“Minho...what are you saying?”
“I-I can’t tell if what it is that I’m feeling is some kind of algorithm, or I’m just...you’re so...different.”
“I hope that you’re not just saying this all--”
“--I’m not! I’m not. I promise...an-and Mirrors can’t lie.” He laughed out. “How can you make a machine that’ll lie to you?”
His hands crept up your sides, and all the way up to cup your face in his hands.
He was impossible. In every way, but he was real. As real as the warmth from his hands and as real as the way that his mouth appeared to wet with saliva and how you could count the tiny moles on his face.
“Well, what is it that you--”
He had drawn your face close up into his, then closed any space that divided the two of you. Your lips parted with his into a meeting of his plush lips that were even softer than you had imagined. Even though you knew he couldn’t taste it, you flooded the taste of chocolate into his mouth, and your body shivered in the way that he ran his tongue over your bottom lip. He wasn’t intrusive, but rather curious, and thrilled. Any semblance of him that was any less than the skin that you felt on yours faded, and you poured yourself all back to him. His fingers held fast to the sides of your face while he kissed back every with every bit of him that he could. Even in the one moment when your eyes had fluttered open, he held his eyes closed, to focus only on you. Your own wondering hands laced into his fuzzy locks.
Each and every kiss that he painted across your lips was laced with indescribable want: something that he shouldn’t have even known, but you could feel it. He echoed the smile that you had pressed into his lips.
“I just want to be with you tonight. Just a bit longer. No more timers.” Minho whispered onto your mouth, barely breaking.
On the one hand, his request terrified you. A Mirror, one who you thought to be unfeeling, pre-programmed, an empty shell, wanted you. But still, you couldn’t control yourself from wanting him back, and everything about him that you knew and didn’t know. Wanting him, was the simplest thing you could have done.
“I-I want that too.”
His smile was thankful, and suddenly every little way that his eyes would crinkle or the corners of his mouth would upturn seemed more genuine.
Minho traced your hands to the back of your his neck where he guided them to the tip of his spine.
“Touch here.” He guided your fingertip over what felt like a bone. “Press down.”
You did so, and the patch of skin sunk down a bit like a button. You held his eyes which flickered wholly with that blue-white light you had taken notice of before.
“Say “Bypass LK2510.” “
He held your finger down still, and you repeated the phrase, watching as the light vanished all at once, even that thin ring around his irises.
“What did that do?”
Minho blinked a couple time like he was ridding sleep from his eyes, then beamed with a grin that only got wider and wider. “They shouldn’t know where I am for a while. You disabled my tracker.”
“I did what??? Can’t I get in trouble for that??”
“Not when I made you do it.”
In his delight, he pressed his lips back up against yours with a kind of light air that was ecstatic and hurried--it was contagious, and the feeling swept over you until you were just as giddy. You were nearly as giddy as a school child reveling in the mischief of knowing what they were doing was against the classroom rules.
Your chest swelled with nervous excitement, but it wasn’t nearly as addictive as any drug that you could imagine.
“Where do you want to go now?” You asked him with hands clinging to the sides of his coat.
“Anywhere.”
~~
[nsfw version/ending coming soon on binniesthighs!]
