#sorry if this sucks kshdks

[smilemingyu]

a free meal with an ex

member: kim mingyu (seventeen) 

word count: 4,070

genre: getting back together!au, humor, fluff, kind of angst?? 

summary: all you wanted was a free meal at your favorite restaurant, of course your ex boyfriend mingyu had the same idea in mind. 

notes: this was mostly inspired by a hooters valentine’s day deal, so, happy valentine’s day! also, i’m not too proud of this one so sorry if it kind of sucks, haha. all my friends have bfs and i felt like coping with it by writing something about my ultimate bias, so here it is. 

This Valentine’s Day was different than the last for you. 

A couple things have changed for you: 

You didn’t have a boyfriend this year, having broken up two months ago with your boyfriend, Kim Mingyu. You tried to ignore that fact, also along with the fact that all of your closest friends had a boyfriend or girlfriend themselves. You definitely felt significantly lonelier. 

You didn’t have friends to hang out with this year. Read the above statement that your friends had their significant other to be with this year. 

With the couple of things that changed, you start searching out for things that you could do on the day of Valentine’s Day which was coming up in three days. Walking into your favorite restaurant, a chicken restaurant you had loved every since you moved to the city. It was cheap, comfortable and you had made friends with your usual waiter, Seungcheol, who remembered yours (and by default Mingyu’s) order in the past year. 

Sitting at your usual place, Seungcheol comes up and greets you, “Hey, (Y/N), your usual?” 

You think for a second as if you would actually change your order but end up nodding in the end. 

“You coming here for Valentine’s Day?” He asks, writing down your order. You look up, confused as to why he would ask that. He knew you weren’t with Mingyu anymore, so coming to your shared restaurant on the romantic holiday seemed a little weird to you. Before you could answer, Seungcheol slides a pamphlet to you. You look down at it. It’s a deal for Valentine’s Day which definitely peaked your interest. “You get a free meal if you print out a photo of your ex and bring it here. I’m sure you have a ton of pictures with Mingyu. Only catch is you have to bring it to tear up to get the meal.” 

You laugh at his words. 

Of course you had pictures with Mingyu, Mingyu adored taking photos of everything you were surprised he never thought to just become a photography major. Mingyu definitely loved taking selfies with you and against your friends better judgement you still had all of them in an album on your phone.  

Seungcheol notices you thinking, and then knocks on the table to get your attention. “Think about it, you get a free meal for a small price.” And then he heads off to the kitchen to place your order in. 

You bit your lip in contemplation. 

Despite having broken up with Mingyu two months ago, you weren’t sure if you were yet at the point of “over him” to actually tear up a photo of him. If you’re being honest, you still loved Mingyu. More often than not, you feel like reaching out to him but you also have too much pride to actually do so. He let you go in the first place, basically agreeing it was best to break up when you suggested the idea at the time and he easily got his stuff from your apartment and returned you yours. You were a bit annoyed that he didn’t actually try to work things out, which made you feel like he didn’t actually want to stay in the relationship with you anyways. You sigh. Maybe tearing up his photo would be a good thing to do, maybe it would help you get over him and move on in a way. 

You’re too distracted by your thoughts that you don’t notice Seungcheol coming to you with your drink until he sets it down. 

“Your food will be out soon,” He tells you. “You think it over?” 

“I did,” You say, picking the pamphlet up again. “I think I might do it. Not like I have anything better to do. Plus, a free meal from the best place in this city? Count me in.” 

Seungcheol laughs at you, “I’ll look forward to seeing you.” 

He heads to another one of his tables and you quickly pull out your laptop to get some work done before you get your food. Not much happens afterwards, you make some conversation with Seungcheol who sometimes gets called out on slacking by his coworker and then you head home, texting your friends about your newfound plans for Valentine’s Day which they encourage. It’s not like they didn’t like Mingyu, though, they just didn’t like you not moving on from him which you understood. One of your friends sends a thumbs up over your texts and then adds on, “while you're at it, you should delete your album of him on your phone” which you ignore in favor of grabbing ice cream from your freezer and watching a variety show that was playing on your TV. 

Valentine’s Day comes around and you’re prepared with your picture of you and Mingyu, sitting side by side at an Ice Cream place. It’s your favorite photo of you together, with Mingyu looking at you with bright eyes which kind of makes your chest hurt thinking about how happy you two looked together. You think if you can actually tear this photo up, you’re definitely on the road to getting over him. 

You put the photo in your bag, grabbing it and switching off the lights of your apartment before heading to the restaurant. 

When you get there, you’re not too surprised by how busy it seems. The restaurant is a place that was sat in the middle of a college town, so of course it would have it’s fair share of young adults ready to get free chicken at the cost of bitterly tearing a photo of someone they no longer love. You couldn’t blame them. Free chicken is the best chicken, anyways. 

You have to wait in a line for a little bit, before Seungcheol finally seats you to a table by yourself, one a little further in the back that was different from your usual place. Being sat, you feel the loneliness sort of wash over you when you notice a group of people at your usual place. 

Seungcheol seems to notice, “Happy Valentine’s Day, (Y/N), ready for some free chicken?” 

You snort at that. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Cheol. How is working this busy?” 

He shrugs, “Not that bad, actually. Other than the occasional panic attack, I’ve gotten tons of tips tonight so I’m feeling good.” You nod at his words, before noticing his coworker, Joshua, leading a tall figure to the table beside you. Seungcheol follows your eyes when they widen at the sight of who Joshua was leading. He sits your ex-boyfriend down at the table beside you, and you immediately don’t know how to feel as he asks Mingyu what drink he wants. 

Seungcheol laughs out loud, and you glare at him. Mingyu perks up at Seungcheol’s laugh and he and Joshua look in your direction. It takes everything in you to not shrink into the booth. His eyes widen the way yours had just done when he sees you and you look away. 

Looking away isn’t enough, though, as Mingyu calls out your name and Joshua heads over to Seungcheol before pulling him to the kitchen with him. You glare in Seungcheol’s direction. You just know he totally set you up. 

“(Y/N), hey, what are you doing here?” Mingyu asks as if he doesn’t know. You finally look at him and meet eyes with him. “I mean, here on Valentine’s Day. Your friends didn’t have plans with you?” 

Salt on a wound. You frown, “No, they’re doing stuff with their boyfriends. I decided to come here because it’s my favorite restaurant.” 

“And they’re having a deal,” Mingyu adds on for you, glancing down at your bag that was sat beside you in the booth. You shift uncomfortably. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you, I’m here to do the same. Just with a different ex.” He waves a photo around and you catch sight of a photo of him with a person before you. It makes you frown even more. Did he have that person on his mind in the time you were dating? Was he bringing their photo here to tear up so he could finally get over them like you were doing? 

Seungcheol comes back with your drink, cutting off any response you would give to Mingyu and Joshua brings Mingyu’s to him. When Mingyu gets distracted with Joshua asking what he wants, you tug on Seungcheol’s sleeve, pulling him down to your height. 

“You set this up!” You quietly accuse him, not wanting Mingyu to hear. “You had to! I’m going to kill you Choi Seungcheol.” 

Seungcheol just laughs in return, put doesn’t pull himself from your grip. “Come on, Valentine’s Day would be boring without my favorite couple, now wouldn’t it be? Jeonghan was the one who suggested it, by the way, I just went along with it. So if you’re going to kill anyone, kill him,” He now pulls himself out of your grip as it loosens when you realize Mingyu’s friend was the one who set this up. “Besides, neither of you are over each other and you broke up for a dumb reason. I’m not saying get back together, necessarily, but at least be friends again, it’s annoying always having to text him when he can come in.” 

You always wondered why you never saw Mingyu here. While it was both of your favorite restaurants, he was the one who introduced you to it, so you were surprised that after your break up you never saw him here. You always thought that maybe he stopped coming, not wanting to see you. You never knew he actually actively seeked out times you weren’t there, but it made sense. 

Seungcheol gives you a thumbs up, before walking away and going to another table and you’re left to sip on your drink contemplating if you should have ordered something alcoholic instead. Glancing over at Mingyu, you’re not surprised he ordered a beer. He was always a chicken and beer kind of person. 

You pull out your phone, thinking maybe he wouldn’t talk to you anymore now that he was distracted with his drink, but you’re poorly mistaken when you hear a cup being put down on your table and look up to see Mingyu sliding into the booth in front of you. 

“Hear me out before you glare at me,” He says, putting the picture of his ex downside on the table as your eyes follow it. “The place is busy so opening a table for someone else is the right thing to do and, like, it feels pretty lonely sitting alone, doesn’t it? One meal together won’t hurt.” 

You want to tell him to speak for himself. The one meal might not hurt him, but you were here wanting to tear his photo to get over him, more so now than before now that he was here with someone else’s photo. 

“Fine, you’re right, I guess. It is pretty lonely surrounded by so many groups,” You say. Mingyu smiles at your agreement. Even though you had broken up with him, the two of you never actually argued. You agreed on most things, which always made you feel like he was too good to be true. You fit together really well. The reason you had broken up with him was dumb, like Seungcheol said, you started to get insecure that maybe Mingyu was staying with you because he had nothing better to do. “What did you order?” 

“My usual,” Mingyu says, before taking a gulp of his beer. You nod, knowing exactly what his usual was. He would always order hot wings with fried pickles, you would always order a chicken sandwich along with fried pickles, too. “You?” 

“Me, too,” You answer, also taking a drink from your cup. It was a bit awkward, but you tried to ignore it. It was a while since you had talked to him, the last time being a month ago when you had “accidentally” called him while drunk, which you liked to not talk about. He had found it amusing, sending a text to you the next day asking how hungover you were feeling but you didn’t reply. 

You watch him bite his lip, “What picture did you choose?” You stay silent for a second before pulling the picture you stuffed in your bag out and showing it to him. He smiles when he looks at it, “That’s my favorite photo of us.” 

Of course it was his favorite too. 

You were about to tell him just that when Seungcheol came to the table, setting down some bread, “Oh, Mingyu, you’re here.” 

You glare at him, as if he didn’t know Mingyu would end up there. 

“You knew I would come here, you’re the one who texted me earlier that I should,” Mingyu answers, looking confused. Mingyu wasn’t dumb, so you were a bit confused as to how he didn’t put two and two together and realize that you both were being set up by his friends. 

“I mean, at this table. With (Y/N),” Seungcheol mentions, “I’ll let Joshua know you’re at my table now.” 

He leaves, and Mingyu looks back to you. 

“So,” He says, taking a drink again. “How have you been?” You almost laugh at how formal he sounded. It felt weird being like this with him when just two months ago you guys were as close as you could be, it never felt formal or uncomfortable with him, you wished it didn’t have to be like that. 

“I’ve been fine, doing the usual, not much has changed,” You answer and entertain yourself by picking up a piece of the bread and starting to butter it. “This is awkward.” 

He laughs at your words and you almost smile at the sound of it. You always loved his laugh, trying your best to crack jokes to make him laugh, which wasn’t actually that hard to do. 

“The same for me, then,” He says and takes a piece of bread you had naturally buttered for him. “Do you have anyone you’re talking to?” He seemed to hesitate within his sentence but said it anyway. For a second you consider lying and saying that you were talking to someone. But you were a bad liar and knew Mingyu knew that. 

“Nope,” You answer. “Why else would I be alone on Valentine’s Day if I was?” 

Mingyu shrugged. 

“Are you? Talking with someone?” You kind of didn’t want to ask it, but felt like you had to at the same time. You didn’t think he was, considering he was also here alone on Valentine’s Day, but who knows? You take a drink while waiting for his answer.

“No, I have to get over you before I can do that,” He answered, then his eyes widened as you choke on your drink. He leans over the table to pat you on the back until your choking calms down. You forgot how blunt Mingyu could be. “Are you okay?” 

You let out one more cough before nodding, “I’m fine, God. Why did you say that?” 

“Because it’s true,” Another shrug from him. He looks over at you, “I want to be honest with you, so.” 

“You still like me?” He gives you a look, like you shouldn’t be surprised at that fact. “Why?” 

“I mean, one, I never really got any closure with you, I still don’t understand why you broke up with me, but it’s fine, whatever. You don’t owe anything, you know? But, I love you, you knew that. It’s not gonna go away so easily. Did you know that apparently it takes like 15 months to get over a crush? Imagine how many months it would take to get over the person you consider the love of your life… Without any closure.” Leave it to Kim Mingyu to look into the statistics of how long getting over someone takes. You couldn’t judge him too much, though, because you did the same. Not that you would admit that. 

“You consider me the love of your life?” He looks at you with the look he had given you before, like it was super obvious. “Why didn’t you… like, I don’t know, fight for us, then?” His eyebrows furrow, and as he is about to reply, Seungcheol comes up with your food. You thank him as Mingyu does too, and he seems to get the hint that you guys were in a conversation as he doesn’t even try to make conversation and goes back to work immediately. That, or the restaurant is so busy that he does have time to conversate now. 

“You wanted me to fight for us?” Mingyu jumps right back into your conversation, not even paying attention to the food in front of him which was honestly a first. 

“I mean, yeah,” You say but almost cringe at how crazy you must seem. “I ended up thinking you just were with me because it was a way to pass the time and when you didn’t put up a fight and just accepted the break up, it felt that way even more.” You almost giggle when Mingyu openly facepalms. You’re also glad he hasn’t touched his food yet because he definitely would have started crying if he facepalmed with fingers dirtied with hot sauce. 

“I wasn’t gonna try and force you to stay with me,” Mingyu answers, putting his hand on the table and starts drumming them on it, which you always recognized as his nervous habit. You wanted to hold his hand and almost did. “I just accepted it because I thought you were over me. I didn’t want you to think you were obligated to stay with me just because I’m super in love with you.” You look down, feeling stupid for even breaking up with him in the first place. 

“Are you not still into your ex, then?” 

He looks super confused at your words, “What? Did you think I was into my ex? Is that a reason you broke up with me?” 

“Not until tonight. If I’m being honest, I broke up with you because I felt insecure. It was stupid,” You answer. “But I brought your photo to try and help me get over you. If I can tear this photo up maybe I can move on, you know? Are you doing the same with them?” 

Mingyu lets out a loud laugh and attracts a look from the table behind him. You give them an apologetic smile before giving your attention back to Mingyu again. 

“I just brought their photo because it would be easy to tear,” He says, still laughing a little. “I wouldn’t be able to tear a photo of you, and I really don’t want to.” You blush. You kind of hated yourself for misunderstanding so many things. 

“Sorry,” You say and his eyes soften from amusement to understanding. “I… still love you, too. I should have just talked to you about how I was feeling.” You almost hit your head on the table when dropping it to, but Mingyu quickly puts his palm up to cushion the fall. You look up to him. 

“Hey, don’t beat yourself over it,” A smile is on his face, wide and comforting. “We can come back from it, you know? Especially since we both equally love each other, right?” 

You lift your head up, “You’d still want to be with me even though I acted stupid?” 

“You should replace acted with act,” He teases and pokes your lip as you pout. “Of course I do. Only if you still want to be with me?” 

You nod, “I would love that. I miss you a lot.” 

“I’d kiss you to celebrate, but first I would like to eat before my food gets cold,” You giggle at his words. That’s way more like the Mingyu you know. But thinking about it, you realize how hungry you were and feel your stomach grumble. You start to dig in as he is and if your unoccupied hands find way to each other, neither of you mention it. You make conversation at the times you’re not stuffing your face would food, and it feels really natural how easy it is to fall into conversation with him despite not having seen each other in forever. Now that you had your misunderstanding out of the way, you were thankful to just talk with him. 

When you’re done with your meal, after playing rock, paper, scissors over who gets the last fried pickle, you flag Seungcheol down for the check. 

He immediately eyes your intertwined hands and looks excited over it, “Are you guys back together?” 

You and Mingyu make eye contact and you feel like messing with Seungcheol. 

“Just for the night,” Mingyu says, and you pretend to cough to cover up your laugh as Seungcheol’s face falls. “Can’t be lonely on Valentine’s Day, right?” 

“Oh,” Seungcheol says. “Well, are you doing the deal or paying?” 

Mingyu picks up the picture of his ex, showing it to Seungcheol and then quickly tearing it up. 

You bite your lip as you reach for the picture of you and Mingyu, before turning back to Seungcheol, “I think I’ll just p-” Your words are cut of by Mingyu plucking the picture of you two together, and tearing it up. You gasp as Seungcheol does, but Mingyu waves your looks towards him off. 

“Don’t stress it,” He says, places the torn pieces down. “We can take an even better picture together later. Free chicken is the best chicken.” 

You laugh, and laugh louder when Seungcheol looks excited for the second time since he’s arrived at the table, “So you two are back together!”

“No thanks to you,” You say. “Tell Jeonghan I said thank you.” 

Seungcheol glares at you, “He might have come up with the idea but I’m the one who played it out!” 

“Nah, I think we have Jeonghan to thank,” Mingyu agrees with you, and squeezes your hand as he looks at you fondly. 

“Great,” You hear Seungcheol groan as you look back just as fondly. “I should have known it would be bad to get you guys back together. You’re great together but too chaotic.” 

You just giggle at him as Mingyu pulls you up from the seat, and glance in his direction. 

“See you later, Seungcheol,” You say and Mingyu sends an acknowledgement in Seungcheol’s direction as you both walk outside. 

“I say we get some ice cream,” Mingyu prompts when you both make it outside. You shiver at the cold air that hits you and Mingyu lets go off your hand to slip his jacket off and put it over your shoulders. “Some ice cream and a walk through the park.” 

“That’s 

,” You say, slipping your arms through the sleeves of his jacket and feeling comfortable at the familiar smell that hits your nose. 

“As if you don’t adore cliché’s,” He says, attaching his hand back to yours again. He got you there. “Plus, I’m pretty sure this whole night has been one big muddled cliché. Why stop there?” He wasn’t wrong, so you just nod to the idea of ice cream. “I like ice cream.” 

He chuckles and looks over at you, “I like you.” You blush and try to stomp on his foot, but almost trip because he stops on the sidewalk, when he was sure you wouldn’t be getting in the way of anyone. 

He catches you before you could fall. “By the way,” He says, pushing a strand of hair out of the way of your face. You smile up at him. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” He leans down, placing a kiss on your lips which doesn’t take too long for you to return. You smile into the kiss, before stomping on his foot, prompting him to pull back. You point your finger at him childishly, before running off in the direction of the ice cream shop. You hear his laugh follow you, and you feel happy and significantly less lonelier than you had felt at the beginning of the day. 

You couldn’t wait to take some new photos with him, which you definitely that night after you guys full on ice cream and found silly places to take photos at at the park. 

It was a great Valentine’s Day, and you were happy to be back with him.