Rumours and Rain
College!AU
Summary: Everyone at university knows Song Mingi. The tall, intimidating student with tattoos, a permanent scowl and enough rumours surrounding him to keep everyone at arm’s length. They say he gets into fights. They say he’s dangerous, but you never believe any of it.
The first thing everyone told you during freshman orientation was to avoid Song Mingi.
“He beat someone so badly they transferred.”
“My roommate says he carries a knife.”
“I heard he got suspended last year.”
“He hangs around with the rough crowd.”
“He doesn’t smile.”
“If you see him, just keep walking.”
It became almost comical how often his name came up. You had never even spoken to him. Still, by the end of your first month at university, you knew exactly who he was.
Or rather, you knew who everyone thought he was.
He was impossible to miss. He was tall enough to tower over almost everyone on campus, broad shoulders hidden beneath oversized hoodies, dark hair that always looked like he’d run a hand through it one too many times, silver rings decorating his fingers and a pair of headphones always hanging around his neck.
His expression rarely changed.
Not angry.
Just… Closed off.
People moved out of his way in the hallways before he even reached them. Conversations stopped when he entered a room. Nobody ever sat beside him during lectures. Nobody ever approached him unless they absolutely had to. He always ate lunch alone beneath the old maple tree near the arts building.
You noticed because everyone else made a point of not noticing.
One afternoon, while waiting for your statistics lecture to begin, you watched him quietly crouch beside a frightened orange cat hiding under a bench.
His large hands moved slowly towards the cat.
“It’s okay…” His voice barely carried across the courtyard. “I’m not going to touch you.”
The cat sniffed his fingers before rubbing its tiny face against his hand.
He smiled a small, genuine smile that transformed his entire face.
Something warm settled in your chest.
That… Didn’t match the rumours.
—
It happened again a week later.
You accidentally stayed late in the library while finishing an essay. By the time you packed your laptop away, the campus was nearly empty. Streetlights cast long shadows across the paths leading towards the student apartments. You checked your phone.
11:43 p.m.
“Great.”
You pulled your jacket tighter and began walking. Halfway home, laughter echoed behind you.
Loud.
Slurred.
You glanced over your shoulder.
Four men, older than university students.
Probably leaving one of the nearby bars. One of them whistled, another called after you.
“Hey!” You kept walking. “Don’t ignore us.”
Your heartbeat sped up. The footsteps behind you became quicker. One of them laughed.
“Come on, sweetheart.”
Your fingers tightened around your backpack strap.
Keep walking. Don’t look back. Ignore them.
A hand suddenly caught your wrist.
“Where are you rushing off to?”
Before you could even react…
“Let her go.”
The voice was calm and deep.
The man’s grip loosened slightly. You turned. Mingi stood a few metres away.
One of the drunk men scoffed.
“And who are you, the boyfriend or a random hero?”
Mingi didn’t answer. He simply repeated himself.
“Let. Her. Go.”
The man laughed.
“What if I don’t?”
You barely saw Mingi move. One second he was standing still. The next he’d pulled the man’s hand away from your wrist with enough force to make him stumble backwards.
Just one firm movement.
The other three immediately stepped forward. Mingi positioned himself in front of you without even looking back.
His shoulders straightened, but his voice remained unnervingly calm.
“There are four of you. I really don’t feel like calling the police.”
One of them muttered something under his breath. Mingi took another step.
“You’ve got ten seconds.”
The confidence burning in his eyes was enough to make even drunk men hesitate. They exchanged uncertain looks. Then one cursed.
“Forget it. Not worth it.”
Within moments they were walking away, muttering insults over their shoulders.
The street became quiet again but your breathing hadn’t slowed.
Mingi turned around once the men were gone. You noticed his entire posture softening.
“Are you hurt?”
“…No.”
He frowned at the faint red marks around your wrist.
“They grabbed you.”
“I’m okay.”
“You sure?”
You nodded.
“Thank you.”
He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“I was heading home.”
“You were?”
“…Actually.” His ears turned pink. “I saw you leave the library.”
“…You followed me?”
“I…” He looked horrified. “Not in a creepy way.”
Despite everything that had just happened, you laughed causing his expression to turn even more flustered.
“I just…” He sighed. “It is late. You walk home alone a lot. I thought maybe…” He looked down at the pavement. “…someone should make sure you got back safely.”
“You’ve done this before?”
His silence answered for him.
—
From that evening on, you began noticing him everywhere.
Not in an unsettling way.
You’d leave your morning lecture. Five minutes later, Mingi would somehow be walking in the same direction. You’d sit outside with coffee. Ten minutes later, he’d sit on the bench opposite yours.
You’d head towards the library.
He’d already be holding the door open. Never speaking unless you spoke first. Never interrupting. Never imposing.
Just… there.
One afternoon you caught him.
“Mingi. Were you waiting outside my lecture?”
“…No…Maybe.”
“Mingi.”
“I wanted to ask if you wanted lunch. But then I got nervous.”
“You?”
“I know.”
“The scary Song Mingi gets nervous?”
He groaned quietly.
“Please don’t call me scary.”
“I don’t think you are.”
“You don’t?”
You shook your head.
“I never did.”
For a moment, he simply stared at you, then he smiled. The same smile you’d seen him give the orange cat weeks ago.
The rumours never stopped. You simply learned how ridiculous they were.
The student he’d supposedly beaten up? His roommate. They’d argued over a football match, and someone had exaggerated it.
The suspension? For skipping classes while caring for his ill grandmother.
The knife? A box cutter from his part-time warehouse job.
Every frightening story had a perfectly ordinary explanation, yet nobody ever bothered asking him.
It was easier to believe the gossip.
—
“You know…” You said one afternoon while sharing fries outside the student union. “You follow me around a lot.”
Mingi immediately looked embarrassed.
“I can stop.”
“I didn’t say I wanted you to.”
“…Oh.”
“You remind me of a puppy.”
He nearly choked on his drink.
“A puppy?”
“A very tall one.”
“I’m six foot something.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a very big puppy. The biggest.”
He covered his face with both hands.
“I’m never recovering from this.”
“No.” You smiled. “Probably not.”
Weeks turned into months.
Studying together became routine. Walking home together became expected. Sharing headphones. Borrowing hoodies. Stealing bites of each other’s food.
One rainy afternoon, while hiding beneath the library entrance waiting for the weather to calm down, Mingi suddenly spoke.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
“Why weren’t you scared of me?”
You thought about it.
“Because… The first time I really paid attention to you…you were apologising to a cat because you thought you scared it.”
His cheeks turned bright red.
“You saw that?”
“I did.”
“I’ve never been so embarrassed.”
“I thought it was adorable.”
He looked away, smiling to himself.
“I think you’re the first person who’s ever looked long enough to realise everyone else was wrong.”
You reached over and intertwined your fingers with his.
“No.” He glanced down at your joined hands. “I think… I’m just the first person who actually wanted to know you.”
Mingi looked at your intertwined hands as if he couldn’t quite believe they were real.
Then, with that same smile that had first caught your attention months ago, he laced his fingers more securely with yours.
Perhaps everyone else on campus still saw the intimidating boy with the impossible rumours and permanent frown. But you only saw the man who rescued stray cats, quietly walked you home without asking for thanks, blushed when you teased him, and followed you around campus like the world’s gentlest lost puppy.
And somewhere between shared lectures, late-night library sessions, and silent walks beneath the university’s maple trees, you had fallen hopelessly in love with the person he had been all along.