The 8th of June.

The worst day Xu Minghao has ever experienced in his whole life.

Okay, maybe that was just being a little too overdramatic, maybe it wasn't as bad when Minghao broke several bones when he used to do b-boying, but okay let's just pretend that it was the worst day for him. He should have known the heavy rain was a sign that today was not his lucky day. How could it be? It was the 8th of June. His favourite day, the day he's been waiting for every year. The day when he feels the most alive. The 8th of June had to be his lucky day. It had always been. For some reason, things just had to take a turn this year.

Minghao showed up late to his class (thanks to Soonyoung who set his alarm to 10:10 last night), next he discovered that his last design got deleted from his folders, in the evening he received an email from his professor that mentioned he failed to submit a  project on time. Which was bullshit because you can always count on Minghao to be one of the first people to submit his projects. And this time, it's strange because he did submit it on time - okay, maybe it was a little late because there were a few hours left before the deadline since he fell asleep that evening but that had no reason to mean that he failed to submit it. Because when he last checked, he really did.

Now, not only Minghao has to redo a design that would take up three days of no sleep but also find out the unknown source of why his project didn't get submitted. And he hopes his professor gives him a second chance (although pfft this is college; what second chance?) since Minghao still has the draft of the email that was enough to prove that he had submitted his project to his professor on time. Either way, he had to see Professor Kang tomorrow.

Next unlucky incident that he encountered was that he knocked into some freshman girl with a cup of steaming hot coffee when rushing to his next class, which, not only stained his white brand new sweater that he's been saving up for months to own, but also his notes from his previous class. Usually, when someone accidentally knocks into him Minghao would let out an apologetic smile and help pick up whoever's things that dropped onto the floor but today was too much for him, since it wasn't him being clumsy but God just didn't want to let him live today. The freshman cowers at Minghao's death stare, followed by the string of profanities muttered by the Chinese boy somewhere close to under his breath, but audible enough. Minghao hoped she fucking listened and watched where she was going next time.

Anyway, Minghao didn't mean to be a piece of shit today but you could compare his grouchiness to Jihoon's when the boy loses a track whenever he forgot to save up a track he just produced. Scarier than Jihoon, even, since Minghao rarely gets mad.

Long story short, Minghao was tired, pissed and very hungry (which seemed to add fuel into the flame) and all he wanted to do was go home and have a good cry while he punches his pillows and maybe force Mingyu into cooking something for him. He just wanted the day to be over. For his 'so-called' lucky day to be over.

Obviously, he didn't get to do that too.

It was pouring. Minghao didn't have the chance to think about bringing an umbrella to class since he was already fucking late and almost forgot to bring his keys. Plus, it was perfectly sunny this morning. Don't underestimate the weather.

He quickly runs through the rain to find the nearest shelter, throwing his bag off his shoulder to the floor as he turns around to see the building he was standing in front of; a fast food franchise. He's seen this branch around somewhere since it was new, but he's never tried it before, and he doesn't want to. Although he was starving, Minghao didn't want some grease.

It took Minghao a while to realize that he wasn't the only one taking shelter there, there was another someone, or something right next to him. A ridiculous looking brown bear was staring into the rain, which Minghao assumes was the mascot of the restaurant. Perhaps it was standing there right from the very beginning of the day till night, through rain and sunshine and it's probably gone through much worse than Minghao because no way in hell does one want to wear a mascot costume (but okay Minghao respects his opinion), although surprisingly Japan makes that a job. But this isn't japan. And Minghao's not in the costume so all is well.

The mascot spares a glance at Minghao, staring for quite a bit and Minghao couldn't help but feel uneasy. His feet felt like they were freezing in a pool of cold water, his white hoodie was sticking to his body in the most uncomfortable way possible, and he could barely even dry his class notes today thanks to this rain. And now this fucking fast food franchise bear mascot was staring at Minghao like a fucking creep.

The bear looked so stupid, Minghao couldn't imagine who in the world would actually agree to work in one. From the lack of fresh air, the heavy head of the costume, the inability to see things properly and to the amount of effort required to actually attract customers in that kind of costume instead of becoming everyone's laughing stock, Minghao felt a hint of pity for the person inside it, but the pity quickly disappeared when the bear suddenly stood face to face with Minghao, this time, it's body turned to his direction.

The mascot was eerily still in that position, which creeped him out even more because this situation somehow was like the equivalent to standing next to a clown. And Minghao hates clowns. With a passion. He quickly covers his head with his hoodie to block the bear out of sight, and mentally prepares himself to lash out his martial arts skills if this bear ever tries to pull a killer clown on him.

The bear scoots a sideway step closer to minghao, incredibly disturbing. He tries his best to ignore it. Another step, and Minghao steals a glance at the mascot with the corners of his eyes. Another step and they were just a few inches away from each other, and if he takes one more step Minghao swore he'd slit the bear's throat and-

"Hey there! Looks like you're having a bad day! Want a bear hug?" The bear extends its arms, his obnoxious large eyes and wide toothy smile staring back at Minghao's face. The costume was lowkey tattered and slightly damp; probably from the rain, but what surprised Minghao even more was how familiar the voice sounded like, even if slightly muffled. But that wasn't the time to think about who the person in the costume was.

A flash of lightning and a boom of thunder filled their silence, and Minghao doesn't even bat an eyelash at the noise and so does the bear (although he expected it to move, the stupid mascot was still in that position, with arms extended for a hug). Minghao gives the bear a weird look.

"Congratulations, you couldn't have been more obvious." Minghao snorts, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.

"You don't want one?" The bear asks, bending its knees to match Minghao's height. Was this an insult?

"Do I look like I want one?" Minghao replies, trying his best not to roll his eyes to the back of his head, only flashing an uninterested look on his face. The bear stood up straight again, arms folded this time, ribbon on its neck bouncing as he did so.

"Aw don't be like that, everybody loves hugs!" the bear extends his arms again, and Minghao tries to trace the voice of the bear that was horribly familiar from every single piece of information inside his head, like it belonged to someone Minghao knew but still couldn't make out who it was. Both familiar and unfamiliar at once.

"Well, newsflash; I don't." Minghao spat, faking a smile for a split second and returning to the dark expression he wore on his face. Minghao didn't feel the need to continue talking, but the words slipped out of, his mouth before his brain could even think about shitting up "you know you're just a fast food franchise mascot, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Is it even appropriate to go around in that costume offering hugs?"

"That's my way of attracting customers. I'm surprised a cutie like you hates hugs."

This time Minghao really rolls his eyes, "Cutie is the last thing you want to fucking call me-"

"Hup! Up we go!" Minghao couldn't even finish his sentence when the bear lifts him up and off his feet (and that was the moment Minghao believed Soonyoung when the dancer stated that he was really light), proceeding to envelope him into a hug Minghao never asked for. Minghao doesn't mean to use his first language in a bad way but he promises that the Chinese profanities that came out of his mouth was despite the shock. He was ready to pull off a stunt on that bear but quickly took it back when the bear successfully snuck its hands (or maybe just the fingers, since the hand was too fucking big) into Minghao's back jean pocket, squeezing his ass in the meantime.

"Good boys shouldn't swear," the bear muttered, and Minghao could just, almost hear the smirk in the person's voice. He lets both Minghao and his ass go, pulling onto one of his stupid suspenders "especially a cutie like you."

Minghao was this close to kicking the bear in the face- correction; the teeth because that was how tall he was compared to the huge bear mascot, but quickly makes a second thought, mumbling a 'fuck you' towards the bear because he lost all his strength to even focus on his words properly after all those creepy flirting. Minghao shoulders his bag, shoves his hands in his pocket and took off running in the still heavy rain.

When he got home, tired and drenched, Minghao quickly rushes to his room and undressed. He spotted something in the back pocket of his jeans. He finds a stash of crumpled, half-soaked coupons with the large logo of the previous fast food franchise's printed on it, the words 'free meals!' in sickening yellow.

"What the fuck."

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What the fuck indeed