[One Shot] Veni, Vidi, Vici [English ver.] {MiniMo}

Title: Veni, Vidi, Vici [English ver.]

Author: Riz Aino

Pairing: MiniMo (Koo Jungmo + Kang Minhee) [CRAVITY]

Rating: PG–13

Genres: AU, racers, “romance”, humor

Word count: 2.8k

Summary: when Minhee proposes a bet to make the tournament final even more interesting, Jungmo accepts it without much question because he has never backed down from a challenge and he’s not going to start now.

Warnings: mention of excessive alcohol intake.

Notes: story written using the “God’s Menu” MV by Stray Kids as a basis for #MVFest24 and also to complete the Seasons of Bingo 6 “crepuscular rays” and “rivals to lovers” boxes.

Author's comment: it had been too long since I wrote about the group and after so long, I wanted to do something again. I hope you like it.

 

 

The overcast sky welcomed Jungmo as soon as he left his team's garage, threatening imminent rain that would make the race much more dangerous than normal. His team of mechanics had put the rain tires on the car a while ago because the weather forecast had changed in the last few hours and now announced that the black and compact clouds that were over the circuit would discharge all their content into half of the race, wetting the asphalt and making it slippery, so all the grip that the wheels could provide was little. Jungmo didn't like driving in the rain, but he didn't have the power to control the weather, so he had to grit his teeth and fight the rain if it decided to make an appearance in the middle of the race... the last race of the season, in which the winner would finally be decided. Throughout that year, when Jungmo felt that he was about to gain enough advantage over his rival, he ended up overtaking him and won the race to put himself ahead of him again in the classification and, in the end, in that last race, the winner would be decided, the one who would take all the glory and the majority of sponsors and advertisements.

 

Jungmo sighed deeply and walked through the pit area until he reached the starting grid, avoiding as much as possible all the journalists who wanted to jump on him to get the last interview before the race. Three years in the top competition and they still hadn’t taken notice of the fact that he didn’t give interviews in the moments before competing. He’d never been a friend of the media, he was cordial with them when he had to be, but he despised them even more when they tried to shove the cameras and microphones in his face minutes before the race, when all he needed was to concentrate on what was waiting him ahead and relax a little for it. It was a complicated task, but in the end, he managed to make his way to the track where they couldn’t follow him and where his car was in first position, ready to give everything, like him, in the finale of the season and he couldn’t prevent a smile rose to his lips. Unfortunately for him, the pleasant satisfaction of having left the media behind died almost instantly, as soon as he saw the silhouette of the last person he wanted to see next to his car, clearly waiting for him. Jungmo rolled his eyes because he didn't have the mood to deal with that person right now, but he was next to his car, so he had no choice but to confront him and see what he wanted to be there waiting for him.

 

“What brings you here, Kang Minhee?” He asked his greatest rival in the competition as soon as he arrived at his side. “I don't know why, but I thought you were still talking to the media.”

"I was with them for a while before," he replied, turning to him with a mischievous smile on his face. “Now I wanted to talk to you a little before the race.”

"As you wish," Jungmo replied, shrugging his shoulders. He couldn't imagine what Minhee wanted to tell him and he was a little curious, but he didn't want to show much interest in it either. “Until they tell us that the race is going to start, we have a few minutes left to chat.”

"Well... I wanted to make you a proposal," the boy said, running his fingers through his blonde hair and brushing it out of his face. “Something you won't be able to refuse: a bet." Jungmo couldn't stop one of his eyebrows from rising in disbelief when he heard this. "Don't give me that face, man, you're going to love it," Minhee replied immediately. “I mean, it's nothing too original, but I wanted to do something to add a little more spiciness to the race besides what it already has.”

"I'm gonna listen to you because you're right in front of the door I have to open to get into my car," Jungmo replied, crossing his arms, "but as soon as you say everything, get the hell out of here."

"Okay, perfect," he agreed. “The bet is simple, the winner of the race will be the winner of the championship and, in addition, he’ll be able to ask the other for a favor that he won’t be able to refuse” and he also added: “but with some rules, nothing about money or, I don't know, illegal. Any small favor like washing the other's car or twerking on the floor at tonight's party.”

 

Jungmo looked at Minhee, wanting to identify why he was proposing that and if he had some ulterior motive for doing it, but the boy only seemed a little nervous, his laugh was awkward and he ran his fingers through his hair again. He didn't know the person in front of him very well even though they were almost the same age and literally worked in the same field because, being their teams rivals, there were few occasions in which they had the opportunity to meet in other environment and not for work, so he didn't know if the other was joking or not with that; however, he didn't know why, but Jungmo decided to give him a small vote of confidence, anyway, if he played his cards right, he had a much better chance than Minhee of winning that race and, consequently, the championship.

 

“Sounds good to me,” he said, causing a smile to appear on Minhee's face. “Having one more incentive to win doesn't hurt.”

"So... shall we seal our deal?" The boy held out his hand and Jungmo shook it immediately. “May the best win,” he wished.

 

Jungmo didn't say it out loud, but as Minhee walked to his car, he could only think that he was the best of the two and, therefore, he would win the race and their bet.

🏎️

 

Obviously... Jungmo lost the race, the championship and the bet. Everything had gone well for most of the race, he’d had a good start, he had held up well to all the attempts that Minhee's blue car made to overtake him and he had taken as little time as possible in all his pit stops to refuel... but then, with only ten laps to go, the damn rain had finally appeared and had to ruin everything. Jungmo had overbraked in the second curve and had skidded, it was only for a moment, but that was all Minhee needed to overtake him and take the lead, winning the race and taking away from Jungmo absolutely everything he had worked for during all that year. When after an hour he went out onto the track again to take second place on the podium, the black clouds had almost completely dispersed and on the horizon crepuscular rays could be seen adorning the sky, as if they were laughing at him. Jungmo wanted to throw himself out of the nearest window because of the shame it gave himself, but at that moment he was in a fucking basement in the most exclusive hotel in the city, at the party they were holding to end the season and to which, from his team had forced him to go because appearances mattered too much in that world and he couldn't let people or the press speak badly of him and call him a “bad loser” for not going. He had agreed with them that he would stay for the duration of dinner and one more hour, then he would claim fatigue to retire to his room and finally get out of there, but the minutes passed as if they were hours and Jungmo couldn't take it anymore.

 

His great idea to make it more bearable was to get up from the table as soon as he finished dinner and go to the long table at one end of the room, full of glasses with different alcoholic drinks and take one after another, drinking them almost without tasting them, just to have the immediate pleasure of the slight stinging sensation in his throat when he drank their contents and the haze that formed little by little in his mind. Jungmo didn't usually have good ideas, so like accepting Minhee's bet that afternoon, drinking until he almost fell into an alcohol coma backfired when his body movements became a little more uncoordinated than expected and he ended up throwing the glass he wanted to take from the table to the floor, breaking the glass into a thousand pieces and causing its contents to fall on the floor and on his new pants and shoes. Jungmo's misfortune could have ended there, but since misfortunes never came alone, his misfortune had also ended up splashing a person who he hadn’t even realized that had approached him until that very moment: Kang Minhee.

 

“Are you okay, Jungmo?” The boy asked, in a way that made the tone in his voice almost sound like concern. “Do you need me to take you to your room?”

"No... no... I'm fine..." he responded at first, but at the moment his neurons reconnected a few seconds later, he added: "I think... I think... yes... I better go... to my room...”

"I'll accompany you," Minhee declared.

 

And Jungmo wanted to reject him a second time, but this time, his neurons reconnected before he did and he simply nodded. It was very foolish to refuse that when all that being seen leaving the party with Kang Minhee could do was absolutely good, since then he wouldn't look like a bitter, sore loser and alcoholic who didn't want to be at the party where the winner would took all the spotlight. That way, nothing bad would happen. Minhee finished drinking the glass in his hand and left it empty on the table, then grabbed Jungmo by the waist and led him out of the room where they were. The action sent a shiver down Jungmo's spine, who hadn’t expected the sudden contact, but the boy did nothing to push it away, knowing that his legs at that moment were a few minutes away from giving way under his weight and he simply leaned a little more on the other's body, noticing how the fingers that clung to his waist did so much stronger, sinking into his skin. The path to the floor reserved for the pilots in that hotel was short and at the same time very long, short because in reality the elevators were only a few meters from the door through which they exited, but very long because at the moment when they got into the elevator, their bodies were still pressed together, and Minhee never took his dark eyes off him. Jungmo felt a kind of heat throughout his body because of that, but although his brain tried to send the order to his muscles to move and get away from the boy, they didn’t pay the slightest attention to him, not even during the elevator ride or when the boy began to guide him back down the hallway of the floor towards his own room, without Jungmo even telling him the number.

 

“We're here,” Minhee murmured the moment they stopped in front of his door. “Tonight I wanted to ask you a favor for winning the bet... but I don't think it's the best time to do it after all.”

“Why not?” Jungmo questioned him when the other had barely finished speaking.

“Because…” Minhee nervously scratched the back of his neck. It seemed like he didn't know whether he would really say it or not, until his eyes met Jungmo's again and he seemed to make a decision, moving much closer to his body so he could whisper against his ear. “I would have liked to ask you to suck my cock tonight, but you are very drunk and now I don't want to impose anything on you...” Jungmo's heart skipped a beat when he heard him say that, “if you remember this conversation tomorrow, you can come find me to my room to talk about it.”

 

Minhee turned his face away from him again to look at him with those dark eyes that had caused heat to rise to his face moments before in the elevator and Jungmo visibly swallowed. His brain had a thick fog that didn’t allow him to think or reason with the clarity he should, so he didn’t fully understand why Minhee had just proposed that to him. He didn't understand it and wasn't able to come up with an answer to what had led him to say that. It was a joke? Did Minhee have some kind of feelings for him? Would he want to spend a good night with him? Had he set up the bet so he could sleep with Jungmo? He didn't know it. He didn't know anything. Absolutely nothing because he barely knew the person before him. However, something inside Jungmo guided him to do something he would never have done if he had been completely sober: take the boy's chin with his hand and bring their faces closer until their lips met in the middle. For the first few moments, Minhee seemed as confused as Jungmo himself by what he was doing, but a few seconds later he began to move his mouth against his, clinging even closer to his body and cornering him against the door of his room, responding hungrily into the kiss and leaving Jungmo breathless, who inevitably had to separate from him to be able to catch his breath again.

 

“I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I shouldn't be doing this…” Minhee murmured, letting his head fall against Jungmo's shoulder.

"Don't be sorry," he replied. “Tonight I may not be able to do what you asked me to do…” he began, not even knowing what he was going to say. “But if you stay with me tonight... maybe tomorrow we can see it...”

 

Minhee nodded to that, leaving a small kiss against his neck that sent shivers through Jungmo's body and Jungmo tried to be a normal and sane person despite having more drinks than he should have ever had, putting the card in the door lock so that they could both go to their room, succeeding on the ninth try.

🏎️

 

Jungmo woke up the next morning to the insistent noise that his cell phone was making near his ear. With his head throbbing with immense pain, the boy felt with his hand for the place where he thought he heard the sound until he finally found the device, unlocking it with his fingerprint without even fully opening his eyes. A bunch of message notifications and missed calls from his manager appeared before him and, even more asleep than awake, the boy opened the conversation with him, seeing a bunch of capital letters and exclamation points, but not being able to understand what the words said. Jungmo had to blink a couple of times for the blemishes to let him see and then he got into the photo that he had sent him, looking at the cover of one of the digital sports newspapers... a cover in whose main headline he could read “Are Kang Minhee and Koo Jungmo more than rivals off the circuit?” and the accompanying photo was one of them kissing in the hotel hallway. Jungmo looked at the photo and stared at the headline again, blinking a few more times in disbelief, but the headache and sleepiness he was feeling ended up overriding any other function his brain wanted to perform, so the boy simply turned off his phone and dropped it on the bed without even worrying where it ended up and then turned and snuggled against the body that was lying next to him, the Jungmo of the future would deal with all that, the Jungmo of the present just wanted to sleep.