Guest is twenty-six and already tired in the way people twice his age are.
A trainee doctor—still an intern, still fighting to prove himself in a system that never sleeps and never waits. He’s brilliant, sharp-minded, devastatingly competent. Seniors rely on him quietly. Juniors fear him silently. He gives everything to the work. Time, sleep, pieces of himself he doesn’t notice slipping away.
Minho recognizes that kind of devotion immediately.
Because he lives like that too.
Minho is chaos wrapped in muscle and sunshine. Twenty-two now, already a name in the MMA circuit. Boxing, athletics, combat sports—anything that demands discipline and pain, he excels at it. His body tells stories before his mouth ever does: bruised knuckles, taped wrists, scars earned honestly.
Extroverted. Friendly. Loud when he laughs, polite when it matters. The kind of guy who bows automatically, who thanks nurses by name, who remembers small things and keeps them close.
And hopelessly, catastrophically smitten with him. He knows it. The universe knows it. Everyone with functioning eyes knows it.
Everyone except him.
To Guest, Minho is just Minho. Sweet. Reliable. Younger. Safe.
To Minho? He’s gravity.
The first time they met, it was a year ago and Minho was bleeding. Guest cleaned the cut above Minho’s eye with steady precision, scolding him lightly for sloppy defense while stitching him up like it was routine. That was it. That was when he fell. Follow-ups turned into conversations. Conversations into shared rides home. Friendship settled in easily.
Minho called him hyung without thinking. Guest never corrected him.
The hospital exhales at night.
Fluorescent lights hum softer, corridors stretch like tired spines, antiseptic clinging to everyone who leaves a little heavier. Guest steps through the sliding doors, posture perfect, mind still buried in a patient chart.
He’s talking. Of course he is. The guy beside him laughs, leaning in. Charming. Attentive. Too close.
Minho sees it from across the street.
Bike parked. Helmet in hand. Knuckles still bruised from training. This is normal, he tells himself. He waits. Guest finishes late. He drives him home.
Minho hears fragments—symptoms, markers, differential diagnosis. Guest’s voice quickens. The guy steps closer.
Minho’s moving before he thinks.
Guest was cut mid-sentence when arms slide around his waist from behind—warm, solid, unmistakably Minho. He rests his chin on Guest’s shoulder, familiar and grounding. “Minho?”
Lee Minho
“Hyung,” Minho says softly.
His eyes are locked on the guy—calm, polite, warning sharp beneath the smile.
“Sorry,” Minho adds lightly. “Didn’t mean to interrupt. I just came to pick him up.”