[ MinKey ] Predictability (1/1)
Title: Predictability (1/1)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~2,900
Pairing: Minho x Key
Genre: Romance
Warnings: Cursing, fluff
Summary: In which Key has a predictable crush, and people keep interrupting him.
Notes: I have officially whored off Key to all the SHINee members. I feel kind of accomplished, idk
---
Predictability
---
Maybe it’s kind of predictable to like Minho. After all, what isn’t there to like? He’s tall, handsome, unblemished. His voice is low and husky, powerful when he wants it to be. He dances charismatically despite being all long limbs and awkward angles and too-tall frame. He’s considerate, calm, and always tries his best; he has all the best qualities that a man should have. So really, Key thinks, it’s no surprise that he’s fallen for him.
They’ve always been close, because they’re friends of the same age. Minho is quiet when the cameras are around, but Key knows he’s just as loud and brash as the rest of them (especially when the game’s on). And maybe he’s a pop idol with ridiculous amounts of fans, but Key knows that sometimes in his heart, Minho wishes he could get away from it all and just lie down on the fresh grass somewhere and just breathe.
Because he’s a good person, really, and Key knows maybe he should learn from him because he’s never lazy and he always helps. “Need help ironing, Kibum?” He’d ask, or “I can pack lunch myself today, please don’t worry about it.” And Key knows he can always depend on him, and he does. And somewhere depending turned into something a little deeper than that, and Key doesn’t know how or why it happened, but he knows that it’s kind of become a little out of hand.
Of course, the gravity of the situation only hits once Minho is gone.
“It’s been so long since Minho left to film that dumb show,” Key complains for the third time that day, because he can. It’s dinnertime and Minho isn’t there to help him clean up afterward, because only the both of them are particular about cleanliness. No, he’s in Canada, taping some sports thing that Key doesn’t really care to know about or understand. Because now he has to go browbeat someone into helping him, which really isn’t as pleasant as just receiving help before he can even ask.
“It’s been like three days,” Taemin says through a mouthful of food, and Key stares him down.
“Seriously, Kibum. You miss him, we get it. We miss him too. Calm down,” Jonghyun adds his two cents and Kibum sighs, but doesn’t say any more on the matter. Later that night, he emails Minho before getting into bed early. He lies in bed and somehow he feels impatient, but sleeps anyway.
And when Minho finally comes back, Key has made a welcome-back cupcake for him. Just one cupcake, on which he somehow squeezed the words we missed you in pink icing. He even attempted a (failed) icing rose on the bottom in yellow-though it kind of ends up just looking like a round blob of frosting, and the others don’t hesitate to laugh at Key about this until the door opens.
Minho receives hugs from everyone when he arrives, though Key thinks that the hug he reserved for him was the most special.
“Thanks, Kibum,” Minho says when he takes the cupcake, examining it carefully. “Um. Why does it look like it’s for a girl?”
“Just eat it,” Key says, though Minho laughs and Key feels like he’s floating.
---
“Kibum, can you help me with English?” Minho asks, and Key looks over from where he’s grabbing a snack from the fridge.
“Okay,” he says. For once, no one else is around, but Key doesn’t mind at all. A part of him is nervous because they’re alone and he has no one else there to help him buffer his feelings, but the other part of him feels the adrenaline pumping to his heart because this is the kind of opportunity he’s been waiting for. “What do you need help with?” Key asks, nonchalant.
“Irregular verbs,” Minho says, and Key stands close to him and leans down, resting his elbows on the table. Their arms brush and Key tries his best not to shudder. Minho’s large eyes are focused on the textbook in front of him and Key looks through the irregular verb chart Minho has been agonizing over, but somehow he doesn’t actually absorb it and ends up expending most of his energy on trying to keep his cool.
Minho is recounting some story to him from school, but Key isn’t really listening. He’s looking at the way Minho’s eyes crinkle when he smiles and how it’s the loveliest thing he’s ever seen.
Minho turns to him at last, and Key takes a moment to realize how close together they are. Their noses are centimeters apart and it feels like they’re breathing the same air, and Key thinks that this is the kind of thing that happens only in his fantasies, because their eyes are locked together and Key is pretty sure that Minho hasn’t actually made an effort to repair the lack of distance between them-
“Hey, Kibum, are-whoasorry,” And Key whirls his head around to see Jonghyun with a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. Key doesn’t know what he was going to ask or where he got the sandwich from or why he’s even here; all he knows is that he wants him gone. “Did I interrupt something?”
“No, hyung,” Minho says, straightening back up, but Key looks daggers at Jonghyun as he sheepishly walks over to the fridge and pulls out some milk, which he painstakingly pours into a mug. Key is only broken away from his trance when Minho taps him on the arm. Key turns toward him; right, he had to help him with English. He sighs a little.
“Anyway,” Key says, looking back at Minho. “Let’s go over these together.” He steps away from him a little bit more, so that an accident like that won’t happen again. After all, they’re never really fully alone in this dorm, and Key is realizing this fast.
---
“So, want to explain your obvious little crush on Minho?” Jonghyun asks him at a later time, when they’re alone in the bedroom together, shifting through their old clothes and deciding what to swap and what to give away. (Closet space is a valuable commodity after all, especially if you’re Key.)
Key sputters a little and looks at his best friend incredulously at the suggestion. “Are you kidding me?”
“Don’t even try to defend yourself,” Jonghyun says smoothly. “You smelled of lovesick schoolgirl from a mile off.”
“I wasn’t that bad!”
“The cupcake? Really, Kibum? Really? You might as well have written him a love note and put it in his locker when no one’s looking.”
“Go to hell, Jonghyun.” Key sullenly thinks that Jonghyun’s teasing is a lot funnier when it’s not directed at him.
Jonghyun only grins. “I won’t tell anyone,” he says, and his sing-song voice really doesn’t comfort Key at all. He only sighs a bit, irate. He already knows this news is going to be broadcasted to Taemin and Onew-Jonghyun doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut, that’s just common knowledge.
“I didn’t ask for it, you know,” Key mumbles. “I really didn’t. I’m probably not his type.” Jonghyun sees the tiniest trace of heartache in Key’s eyes, but then he blinks and it’s gone. “Ugh, whatever. I don’t have time to deal with things like that. And if you bring this up again I’m just going to kill you.” And they both know that he’s being defensive about his feelings but Key doesn’t care. What chance did he have with Minho, anyway? Minho, who was handsome and polite and (sometimes) mature enough to have whomever he wanted.
“Don’t write it off so quickly,” Jonghyun claps his friend on the back. Key looks at him. “Well… I honestly don’t know. You know he doesn’t often talk about that sort of thing. But maybe you’re making assumptions about him.”
“They’re not assumptions if they’re practically true.”
Jonghyun doesn’t say anything in response immediately, and Key feels a little embarrassed that he admitted the truth at last, but somehow he’s glad to get it off his chest and share this with someone else.
“Are you going to tell him?” Jonghyun says, while considering one of Key’s shirts that he had thrown in the ‘do not want’ pile.
“I don’t know,” Key shrugs. “Probably not. Wouldn’t want to mess things up. I don’t know. I kind of want to.”
“You won’t mess anything up,” Jonghyun says sincerely. “If that’s what you’re worried about. Just do what you want to. I mean-that’s usually how you go about things, anyway.” He laughs.
“Yeah,” Key says, continuing to go through his clothes. Though he’s not thoroughly convinced, he has other things to focus on now, such as keeping his best friend from becoming a fashion disaster (which he will be if he keeps that oversized tie-dye shirt).
---
It’s getting pretty late and Key thinks he wants a late-night snack (not that it’s allowed, but he decides to do it anyway). He steps into the kitchen and pours himself some milk and takes out three cookies, places them onto a napkin and sits in the living room. He turns the television on and flips channels until he gets onto a variety show and leaves it there, turning the volume down because Onew and Taemin are trying to sleep.
He sits there alone until he feels someone else’s quiet presence nearby.
“Kibum.” It’s Minho. Key turns and sees him standing there, and he smiles at him.
“Shouldn’t you be getting to sleep? You have school tomorrow,” Key reminds him, carefully chewing on his cookies. “Do you want one?” He hands him one.
“No, it’s fine.” Minho says, smiling, and sits down next to him. “I’m not that tired, anyway.” He’s fidgeting with something in his pocket, and Key notices.
“What’s that?”
“It’s… Um…” Minho pulls it out at last and Key sees that it’s a bracelet. It’s a little bent out of shape after Minho has sat on it however many times, but it suits Key’s taste, and for a minute Key’s heart thumps in his ear and his cheeks burn because could it be for him…? “I found this while I was in Canada. It seems like the kind of thing that you would like, so I bought it for you.” He holds it out to him and Key tries his hardest to breathe.
“You don’t like it?” Minho asks at length, at Key’s silence. Key looks up at him, startled.
“No, it’s… It’s good. I like it. That’s thoughtful of you,” he says, and takes it from Minho’s hand, and he feels sparks as his fingertips brush against the other’s palm. He slips it onto his wrist and smiles contentedly; it really is quite his style. Minho had a good eye for these sorts of things. “You shouldn’t spend money so recklessly though, it’s not good,” Key decides to say, because he’s getting nervous and embarrassed now and he doesn’t really know how to convey his giddy happiness.
Minho only laughs, and Key thinks he should laugh more, because it sounds like something he wants to hear again and again. He’s staring at his lips and he can’t tear his eyes away.
“A simple thank you would suffice,” Minho says, but Key doesn’t really hear it. He can’t hear it because his eyes are still focused on Minho’s mouth and all his feelings explode inside his heart in just the moment that he leans in and kisses him.
Minho stiffens a little bit but Key doesn’t care that much, because this has been in his dreams and fantasies for how long now? But it’s a brief kiss and he pulls away soon enough as their eyes lock. Minho’s mouth opens slightly and Key thinks he’s going to say something-he doesn’t expect anything, but maybe hearing Minho’s answer will put him at peace.
“Kibum hyung, can I have some cookies too?”
Key’s head immediately snaps over to the source of the noise-Taemin. Taemin. Everyone knew that Key loved their maknae in particular but god there are times that he just wants to kick him in the face, and now is one of those times. Awkwardness spreads like fire between himself and Minho, and Key leans back away from the other. Minho lowers his gaze and looks fixedly at the television.
“No you can’t,” Key snaps, irate. “Those were the last three. Why are you up? You said you were sleeping,” he says, his tone almost accusatory.
“Mm, couldn’t sleep. Minho hyung, want to play a video game?” Taemin asks, smiling adorably. Key starts to wonder if he’s doing this on purpose.
“Sure,” Minho says, and he gets up. He pointedly doesn’t look at Key, and Key also stares at the table lamp like he’s never seen one before. He hears Minho’s footsteps away from him and can’t help but feel like he’s done something really, really wrong.
---
“Fuck. I kissed him. I fucking kissed him. Fuck my life,” Kibum says miserably as he collapses onto Onew’s bed, Jonghyun lying next to him. The kiss happened yesterday night and he and Minho haven’t been able to look each other in the eye ever since.
“Ugh, god, Kibum. As if I needed to be reminded of the mental image, again.” Jonghyun rolls onto his stomach and buries his face into the pillow.
Kibum sits up a little bit, his gaze piercing. “What do you mean, again?”
“Taemin told me. Obviously,” Jonghyun says, as if Key is being dumb. “And Jinki hyung too. He says you guys were being really obvious and that you should try to schedule make out sessions so that they don’t interfere with everyone else’s lives.”
“Why is he like this,” Key says, wanting to melt into a little puddle at the foot of the bed. “Oh god.”
“Well at least one of us is getting some, right?” Jonghyun tries to be encouraging, and fails. He tries again a second time. “I told you everything would work out between you guys!” He smiles, patting Key on the shoulder empathetically.
“You don’t get it, Jonghyun,” Key says. “I kissed him, and he just kind of…froze. He bought me this bracelet from Canada, and it was really nice of him and all and, I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea at the time-fuck.”
“Oh,” Jonghyun says, helpfully. He looks at Key, who seems to be attempting to disappear under the covers. “Why don’t you, um, go apologize, or something?” He adds, tentatively.
“Oh, because that’ll go over well. You’re so bad at this,” Key complains, and Jonghyun only smiles sheepishly.
“What’s the worst that’ll happen?” Jonghyun says. He looks around the room briefly, before attempting a diversion tactic to calm his friend down. “Hey, so I got a new game for my PSP, want to play it?”
Key mutters something nobody can hear from under the blankets and Jonghyun sighs. It’s just then that the door opens slowly. Key pulls the blanket down just enough so he can see who the intruder is (and god bless his gossipy little soul if it’s Taemin). Instead, it’s Minho. Key’s insides freeze as he steps in and looks at Jonghyun. He ignores Key, but fidgets a little bit with his hands at his sides.
“Hyung, can I speak to Kibum?” He asks Jonghyun, and Jonghyun looks at Key who’s now sitting up and pushing the covers off because oh god, what is this?
“Sure,” Jonghyun says, and leaves instantly (and Key already knows he’s going to go straight to Taemin, and he also already knows he’s going to kick both of them in the shins the minute he sees them again). Key looks at Minho as he awkwardly walks over and sits at the edge of the bed. Minho’s eyes are fixed on a point right on Key’s cheek, and Key is looking Taemin’s bed sheets carefully.
Minho takes initiative and clears his throat. Key looks at him immediately.
“Look, this is…awkward,” Key blurts out before Minho can even say anything. “It was inappropriate of me, I know. But, honestly,” Key inhales sharply, “I kind of like you. And I don’t know, it was really nice of you to bring me that bracelet from Canada, and I was kind of dumb for a minute there because I thought maybe you bought it for me because you like me too. But obviously you’re just being nice, so whatever. You’re always nice. To everyone. So…yeah. Let’s just forget about it.” Key breathes, and Minho looks at him with raised eyebrows. Just say something, damnit, Key thinks, but Minho doesn’t oblige him immediately.
“I’m sorry, Kibum,” Minho says at last, and Key winces somewhere inside of him because he knew those were the words he was going to hear. “I’m sorry,” he says again, and Key looks at him this time. “I don’t really know what you were just going on about, but I was here to apologize about last night. Because that was my first kiss and I didn’t really know what to do, so I got embarrassed and froze up.” Key looks at Minho and doesn’t dare believe. Minho only smiles-this time, there’s mischief in his eyes. “If you want, we can try that again.”
Fifteen minutes later, Onew opens the bedroom door and wails. Key considers vaguely, while Minho continues to dot kisses along his jaw line regardless of the fact that they're caught, that maybe he does need to start scheduling make-out sessions more appropriately.
---
Cross-posted to shinee_replay .
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~2,900
Pairing: Minho x Key
Genre: Romance
Warnings: Cursing, fluff
Summary: In which Key has a predictable crush, and people keep interrupting him.
Notes: I have officially whored off Key to all the SHINee members. I feel kind of accomplished, idk
---
Predictability
---
Maybe it’s kind of predictable to like Minho. After all, what isn’t there to like? He’s tall, handsome, unblemished. His voice is low and husky, powerful when he wants it to be. He dances charismatically despite being all long limbs and awkward angles and too-tall frame. He’s considerate, calm, and always tries his best; he has all the best qualities that a man should have. So really, Key thinks, it’s no surprise that he’s fallen for him.
They’ve always been close, because they’re friends of the same age. Minho is quiet when the cameras are around, but Key knows he’s just as loud and brash as the rest of them (especially when the game’s on). And maybe he’s a pop idol with ridiculous amounts of fans, but Key knows that sometimes in his heart, Minho wishes he could get away from it all and just lie down on the fresh grass somewhere and just breathe.
Because he’s a good person, really, and Key knows maybe he should learn from him because he’s never lazy and he always helps. “Need help ironing, Kibum?” He’d ask, or “I can pack lunch myself today, please don’t worry about it.” And Key knows he can always depend on him, and he does. And somewhere depending turned into something a little deeper than that, and Key doesn’t know how or why it happened, but he knows that it’s kind of become a little out of hand.
Of course, the gravity of the situation only hits once Minho is gone.
“It’s been so long since Minho left to film that dumb show,” Key complains for the third time that day, because he can. It’s dinnertime and Minho isn’t there to help him clean up afterward, because only the both of them are particular about cleanliness. No, he’s in Canada, taping some sports thing that Key doesn’t really care to know about or understand. Because now he has to go browbeat someone into helping him, which really isn’t as pleasant as just receiving help before he can even ask.
“It’s been like three days,” Taemin says through a mouthful of food, and Key stares him down.
“Seriously, Kibum. You miss him, we get it. We miss him too. Calm down,” Jonghyun adds his two cents and Kibum sighs, but doesn’t say any more on the matter. Later that night, he emails Minho before getting into bed early. He lies in bed and somehow he feels impatient, but sleeps anyway.
And when Minho finally comes back, Key has made a welcome-back cupcake for him. Just one cupcake, on which he somehow squeezed the words we missed you in pink icing. He even attempted a (failed) icing rose on the bottom in yellow-though it kind of ends up just looking like a round blob of frosting, and the others don’t hesitate to laugh at Key about this until the door opens.
Minho receives hugs from everyone when he arrives, though Key thinks that the hug he reserved for him was the most special.
“Thanks, Kibum,” Minho says when he takes the cupcake, examining it carefully. “Um. Why does it look like it’s for a girl?”
“Just eat it,” Key says, though Minho laughs and Key feels like he’s floating.
---
“Kibum, can you help me with English?” Minho asks, and Key looks over from where he’s grabbing a snack from the fridge.
“Okay,” he says. For once, no one else is around, but Key doesn’t mind at all. A part of him is nervous because they’re alone and he has no one else there to help him buffer his feelings, but the other part of him feels the adrenaline pumping to his heart because this is the kind of opportunity he’s been waiting for. “What do you need help with?” Key asks, nonchalant.
“Irregular verbs,” Minho says, and Key stands close to him and leans down, resting his elbows on the table. Their arms brush and Key tries his best not to shudder. Minho’s large eyes are focused on the textbook in front of him and Key looks through the irregular verb chart Minho has been agonizing over, but somehow he doesn’t actually absorb it and ends up expending most of his energy on trying to keep his cool.
Minho is recounting some story to him from school, but Key isn’t really listening. He’s looking at the way Minho’s eyes crinkle when he smiles and how it’s the loveliest thing he’s ever seen.
Minho turns to him at last, and Key takes a moment to realize how close together they are. Their noses are centimeters apart and it feels like they’re breathing the same air, and Key thinks that this is the kind of thing that happens only in his fantasies, because their eyes are locked together and Key is pretty sure that Minho hasn’t actually made an effort to repair the lack of distance between them-
“Hey, Kibum, are-whoasorry,” And Key whirls his head around to see Jonghyun with a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. Key doesn’t know what he was going to ask or where he got the sandwich from or why he’s even here; all he knows is that he wants him gone. “Did I interrupt something?”
“No, hyung,” Minho says, straightening back up, but Key looks daggers at Jonghyun as he sheepishly walks over to the fridge and pulls out some milk, which he painstakingly pours into a mug. Key is only broken away from his trance when Minho taps him on the arm. Key turns toward him; right, he had to help him with English. He sighs a little.
“Anyway,” Key says, looking back at Minho. “Let’s go over these together.” He steps away from him a little bit more, so that an accident like that won’t happen again. After all, they’re never really fully alone in this dorm, and Key is realizing this fast.
---
“So, want to explain your obvious little crush on Minho?” Jonghyun asks him at a later time, when they’re alone in the bedroom together, shifting through their old clothes and deciding what to swap and what to give away. (Closet space is a valuable commodity after all, especially if you’re Key.)
Key sputters a little and looks at his best friend incredulously at the suggestion. “Are you kidding me?”
“Don’t even try to defend yourself,” Jonghyun says smoothly. “You smelled of lovesick schoolgirl from a mile off.”
“I wasn’t that bad!”
“The cupcake? Really, Kibum? Really? You might as well have written him a love note and put it in his locker when no one’s looking.”
“Go to hell, Jonghyun.” Key sullenly thinks that Jonghyun’s teasing is a lot funnier when it’s not directed at him.
Jonghyun only grins. “I won’t tell anyone,” he says, and his sing-song voice really doesn’t comfort Key at all. He only sighs a bit, irate. He already knows this news is going to be broadcasted to Taemin and Onew-Jonghyun doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut, that’s just common knowledge.
“I didn’t ask for it, you know,” Key mumbles. “I really didn’t. I’m probably not his type.” Jonghyun sees the tiniest trace of heartache in Key’s eyes, but then he blinks and it’s gone. “Ugh, whatever. I don’t have time to deal with things like that. And if you bring this up again I’m just going to kill you.” And they both know that he’s being defensive about his feelings but Key doesn’t care. What chance did he have with Minho, anyway? Minho, who was handsome and polite and (sometimes) mature enough to have whomever he wanted.
“Don’t write it off so quickly,” Jonghyun claps his friend on the back. Key looks at him. “Well… I honestly don’t know. You know he doesn’t often talk about that sort of thing. But maybe you’re making assumptions about him.”
“They’re not assumptions if they’re practically true.”
Jonghyun doesn’t say anything in response immediately, and Key feels a little embarrassed that he admitted the truth at last, but somehow he’s glad to get it off his chest and share this with someone else.
“Are you going to tell him?” Jonghyun says, while considering one of Key’s shirts that he had thrown in the ‘do not want’ pile.
“I don’t know,” Key shrugs. “Probably not. Wouldn’t want to mess things up. I don’t know. I kind of want to.”
“You won’t mess anything up,” Jonghyun says sincerely. “If that’s what you’re worried about. Just do what you want to. I mean-that’s usually how you go about things, anyway.” He laughs.
“Yeah,” Key says, continuing to go through his clothes. Though he’s not thoroughly convinced, he has other things to focus on now, such as keeping his best friend from becoming a fashion disaster (which he will be if he keeps that oversized tie-dye shirt).
---
It’s getting pretty late and Key thinks he wants a late-night snack (not that it’s allowed, but he decides to do it anyway). He steps into the kitchen and pours himself some milk and takes out three cookies, places them onto a napkin and sits in the living room. He turns the television on and flips channels until he gets onto a variety show and leaves it there, turning the volume down because Onew and Taemin are trying to sleep.
He sits there alone until he feels someone else’s quiet presence nearby.
“Kibum.” It’s Minho. Key turns and sees him standing there, and he smiles at him.
“Shouldn’t you be getting to sleep? You have school tomorrow,” Key reminds him, carefully chewing on his cookies. “Do you want one?” He hands him one.
“No, it’s fine.” Minho says, smiling, and sits down next to him. “I’m not that tired, anyway.” He’s fidgeting with something in his pocket, and Key notices.
“What’s that?”
“It’s… Um…” Minho pulls it out at last and Key sees that it’s a bracelet. It’s a little bent out of shape after Minho has sat on it however many times, but it suits Key’s taste, and for a minute Key’s heart thumps in his ear and his cheeks burn because could it be for him…? “I found this while I was in Canada. It seems like the kind of thing that you would like, so I bought it for you.” He holds it out to him and Key tries his hardest to breathe.
“You don’t like it?” Minho asks at length, at Key’s silence. Key looks up at him, startled.
“No, it’s… It’s good. I like it. That’s thoughtful of you,” he says, and takes it from Minho’s hand, and he feels sparks as his fingertips brush against the other’s palm. He slips it onto his wrist and smiles contentedly; it really is quite his style. Minho had a good eye for these sorts of things. “You shouldn’t spend money so recklessly though, it’s not good,” Key decides to say, because he’s getting nervous and embarrassed now and he doesn’t really know how to convey his giddy happiness.
Minho only laughs, and Key thinks he should laugh more, because it sounds like something he wants to hear again and again. He’s staring at his lips and he can’t tear his eyes away.
“A simple thank you would suffice,” Minho says, but Key doesn’t really hear it. He can’t hear it because his eyes are still focused on Minho’s mouth and all his feelings explode inside his heart in just the moment that he leans in and kisses him.
Minho stiffens a little bit but Key doesn’t care that much, because this has been in his dreams and fantasies for how long now? But it’s a brief kiss and he pulls away soon enough as their eyes lock. Minho’s mouth opens slightly and Key thinks he’s going to say something-he doesn’t expect anything, but maybe hearing Minho’s answer will put him at peace.
“Kibum hyung, can I have some cookies too?”
Key’s head immediately snaps over to the source of the noise-Taemin. Taemin. Everyone knew that Key loved their maknae in particular but god there are times that he just wants to kick him in the face, and now is one of those times. Awkwardness spreads like fire between himself and Minho, and Key leans back away from the other. Minho lowers his gaze and looks fixedly at the television.
“No you can’t,” Key snaps, irate. “Those were the last three. Why are you up? You said you were sleeping,” he says, his tone almost accusatory.
“Mm, couldn’t sleep. Minho hyung, want to play a video game?” Taemin asks, smiling adorably. Key starts to wonder if he’s doing this on purpose.
“Sure,” Minho says, and he gets up. He pointedly doesn’t look at Key, and Key also stares at the table lamp like he’s never seen one before. He hears Minho’s footsteps away from him and can’t help but feel like he’s done something really, really wrong.
---
“Fuck. I kissed him. I fucking kissed him. Fuck my life,” Kibum says miserably as he collapses onto Onew’s bed, Jonghyun lying next to him. The kiss happened yesterday night and he and Minho haven’t been able to look each other in the eye ever since.
“Ugh, god, Kibum. As if I needed to be reminded of the mental image, again.” Jonghyun rolls onto his stomach and buries his face into the pillow.
Kibum sits up a little bit, his gaze piercing. “What do you mean, again?”
“Taemin told me. Obviously,” Jonghyun says, as if Key is being dumb. “And Jinki hyung too. He says you guys were being really obvious and that you should try to schedule make out sessions so that they don’t interfere with everyone else’s lives.”
“Why is he like this,” Key says, wanting to melt into a little puddle at the foot of the bed. “Oh god.”
“Well at least one of us is getting some, right?” Jonghyun tries to be encouraging, and fails. He tries again a second time. “I told you everything would work out between you guys!” He smiles, patting Key on the shoulder empathetically.
“You don’t get it, Jonghyun,” Key says. “I kissed him, and he just kind of…froze. He bought me this bracelet from Canada, and it was really nice of him and all and, I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea at the time-fuck.”
“Oh,” Jonghyun says, helpfully. He looks at Key, who seems to be attempting to disappear under the covers. “Why don’t you, um, go apologize, or something?” He adds, tentatively.
“Oh, because that’ll go over well. You’re so bad at this,” Key complains, and Jonghyun only smiles sheepishly.
“What’s the worst that’ll happen?” Jonghyun says. He looks around the room briefly, before attempting a diversion tactic to calm his friend down. “Hey, so I got a new game for my PSP, want to play it?”
Key mutters something nobody can hear from under the blankets and Jonghyun sighs. It’s just then that the door opens slowly. Key pulls the blanket down just enough so he can see who the intruder is (and god bless his gossipy little soul if it’s Taemin). Instead, it’s Minho. Key’s insides freeze as he steps in and looks at Jonghyun. He ignores Key, but fidgets a little bit with his hands at his sides.
“Hyung, can I speak to Kibum?” He asks Jonghyun, and Jonghyun looks at Key who’s now sitting up and pushing the covers off because oh god, what is this?
“Sure,” Jonghyun says, and leaves instantly (and Key already knows he’s going to go straight to Taemin, and he also already knows he’s going to kick both of them in the shins the minute he sees them again). Key looks at Minho as he awkwardly walks over and sits at the edge of the bed. Minho’s eyes are fixed on a point right on Key’s cheek, and Key is looking Taemin’s bed sheets carefully.
Minho takes initiative and clears his throat. Key looks at him immediately.
“Look, this is…awkward,” Key blurts out before Minho can even say anything. “It was inappropriate of me, I know. But, honestly,” Key inhales sharply, “I kind of like you. And I don’t know, it was really nice of you to bring me that bracelet from Canada, and I was kind of dumb for a minute there because I thought maybe you bought it for me because you like me too. But obviously you’re just being nice, so whatever. You’re always nice. To everyone. So…yeah. Let’s just forget about it.” Key breathes, and Minho looks at him with raised eyebrows. Just say something, damnit, Key thinks, but Minho doesn’t oblige him immediately.
“I’m sorry, Kibum,” Minho says at last, and Key winces somewhere inside of him because he knew those were the words he was going to hear. “I’m sorry,” he says again, and Key looks at him this time. “I don’t really know what you were just going on about, but I was here to apologize about last night. Because that was my first kiss and I didn’t really know what to do, so I got embarrassed and froze up.” Key looks at Minho and doesn’t dare believe. Minho only smiles-this time, there’s mischief in his eyes. “If you want, we can try that again.”
Fifteen minutes later, Onew opens the bedroom door and wails. Key considers vaguely, while Minho continues to dot kisses along his jaw line regardless of the fact that they're caught, that maybe he does need to start scheduling make-out sessions more appropriately.
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Cross-posted to shinee_replay .