grand entrance
grand entrance
→ taemin x minho; pg-13; 2940 words
it took me an entire day to write this piece. ;A; i still have one more day of exam (my last papers are on monday), i should be burying my nose into the books and probably sniff the words out of the pages, but here i am the entire day, writing this 2min. blame shinee, they're the lucifer in disguise that would make someone like me forsake my books. ;A; i'll go back to them now.
grand entrance.
Minho had always made a big impact in Taemin’s life. Always. Taemin knew of Minho’s existence when he was only six. Minho beats up the boys who were bullying him right in front of his eyes. Minho offers to walk Taemin home, to which he gladly agrees to. “You shouldn’t let them bully you like that, just because you look awfully pretty” Minho says quietly. Taemin smiles back, “It’s alright. I get that all the time”. Minho frowns, “I’ll protect you”
Taemin giggles. Minho walks into Taemin’s life with a grand entrance.
Taemin notices the smallest things about Minho, like how the number of bruises on his hands increases, like how he doesn’t talk a lot and like how the pretty smile that plays on his lips when the two of them walk home form school hand in hand. They were only seven, no one told them it was wrong, they didn’t need to know anyway.
It is the next day that Taemin finds out that Minho is suspended from school, due to fights. “Why did you fight?” Taemin asks, concern looming over his voice. Minho keeps quiet. Taemin shakes Minho’s hand for an answer, Minho heaves a sigh, “I did it for you”. Taemin looks at the seven year old boy, “Why?”. Minho looks away, “Because they were talking about you behind your backs”
Taemin giggles, and pinches Minho’s cheek.
Minho asks Taemin a question one day, “Will you wait for me?” to which Taemin gives Minho a pat on his back, “I will wait for Minho!” Taemin was seven when Minho decides to take another route out of his life. There is absolutely no trace of Minho, not in the school, not in his house and certainly not in Taemin. He disappears.
Choi Minho walks right out of Taemin’s life with a grand exit.
Taemin is seventeen when Kibum tells him to forget about his childhood prince. Taemin finally decides to listen to Kibum after a year. “You’ll never get a girlfriend at this rate” Kibum nags to which Taemin only grunts and nods (and rolls his eyes). Taemin retaliates, “You tell me how to get a girlfriend if all I dream about at night is him”. Kibum rolls his eyes, “Are you going to tell me that you dream about a kid who’s, what, seven years old?”.
“Yeah”
Kibum almost wants to choke the pretty boy.
Taemin is eighteen when he finally agrees to go for blind dates. He thinks there’s two kinds of girls that would turn up on a blind date - one, those kind of girls who would arrive early with mountains of make-up on and clothes that look like they’re about to go for prom and two, those kind of girls who doesn’t give a shit and ditch you, leaving you waiting like an idiot.
He taps the wooden table as he dials Kibum’s number, “If she’s not coming in five, I’ll take it that she ditched me”. Kibum’s sigh is heard over the phone, “Just order something to eat, I’ll pay for it”. Taemin snorts, “She decided to ditch me, didn’t she?”. Kibum chuckles, “They just don’t know what a gorgeous man they’re missing”. Taemin hangs up and decides to order heaps of food that would empty out Kibum’s leather wallet.
Kibum arrives after an hour, pays for Taemin’s bill and to the younger boy’s disappointment, Kibum didn’t have to empty out his wallet because there is this damned creation on this earth called the credit card. Taemin thinks that he’s just not made for blind dates.
Taemin is nineteen when he finally starts working. It’s a small yet stable job, Taemin works in a cafe that is owned by a certain Lee Jinki. Kibum visits everyday, Taemin wonders why but he doesn’t ask. He finds out a bit later that Kibum and Jinki are dating. Taemin scoffs, “And you told me to forget my childhood prince”. Kibum defends, “Well, I didn’t ask you to not like men”
Taemin feels like dumping an entire whip cream on Kibum’s nicely made hair. “Hyung” Taemin says from making his cup of coffee. Kibum leans on the counter, waiting for Taemin’s next sentence. “Let me tell you that I haven’t stopped dreaming about my childhood prince”. Kibum rolls his eyes.
“You do know that it’s one in a million chance that you’d get to see him ever again, right?”
“Yeah”
Taemin is twenty when he decides to follow Kibum to clubs. “Don’t drink too much” Kibum says. But you see, Taemin never really listens to Kibum. He chugs down more than seven cups of vodka, his face is beet red and he lets himself free on the dance floor. Kibum only observes, he’d only stop Taemin when things gets too far.
Things did go far when Kibum notices that there are girls hovering over Taemin, touching him all over. Kibum grabs a drunk Taemin by the collar and drives him home. Taemin mutters gibberish on the journey home but Kibum can only make out one word.
“Minho”
Taemin is twenty-two when Jinki doubles Taemin’s salary and when Jinki and Kibum decide to snog whenever Taemin takes Jinki’s shift. Taemin decides to not eat breakfast during work days because he thinks he might hurl. “Don’t be jealous” Kibum would snap over Jinki’s shoulder before going back into making those obscene sounds that Taemin swears he can hear from the other side of the world.
Taemin starts noticing little things about the customers in the cafe. There are the familiar faces that would ask for coffee with extra sugar and leaves an enormous amount of tip, Taemin feels thankful. There are also the familiar faces that would ask for only thick, black coffee with a grumpy face and leave the cafe with a snort, Taemin only forges a smile across his pretty face.
But none of them look like Minho, because their eyes just aren’t huge enough to match his.
Kibum would say, “Are you looking for a frog or what?”
Taemin is twenty-four when clubbing becomes a habit. His double salary which he receives from Jinki would usually be blown up because of Taemin’s vast collection of skinny jeans, because he thinks he looks best in skinnies. Another part of his salary was used to buy a new closet, to keep his many different jeans of a large variety of colors. He’d wear black leather skinnies to club, because he thinks it’s sexy and because he thinks it suits the clubbing atmosphere.
It is also then that Taemin receives the nickname ‘Desirable Dancer’ in the club because of his obscene dance moves on the dance floor. Kibum would pull him off the dance floor when Taemin feels someone touch him down the legs or down his back. There are also times when Taemin would skip out dancing and drown himself of immense amount of alcohol, to which Kibum takes advantage to pull Jinki into a bathroom stall.
The two of them would usually take an hour and they’d return almost breathless.
Taemin admits, he’s jealous.
Taemin is twenty-six when he gets a frog as a pet. Jinki finds it absolutely cute and Kibum only snorts because he thinks frogs are disgusting. Jinki suggests that Taemin should name the frog ‘Minho’, to which Taemin gladly agrees. Jinki increases Taemin’s salary again by triple fold, because he’s the only worker who had stayed for so long and the only worker who’d attract people into the cafe with his face.
Taemin doesn’t know where to blow his money off.
Taemin is twenty-six and four months when a boy hits on him for the first time in a club. “I’m Jonghyun” he says, Taemin only replies with a curt smile. “I know you’re Taemin” He continues, Taemin nods. “Man, you look absolutely delicious” Jonghyun licks his lips to which Taemin replies, “Sorry, I don’t taste good eaten”. Jonghyun chuckles, “Alright. You win. Man, if only Minho comes to clubs”
Taemin perks up, “What? Who?”
Jonghyun blinks dumbly, “Oh. Minho. He’s a friend on my campus, he’s a footballer and player who doesn’t club and he has huge eyes like a frog”. Taemin chugs down another glass of vodka.
Taemin thinks he found Minho after twenty years.
Taemin is twenty-six and five months when Jonghyun is on good terms with him and when he finally invites him over to his house. (Kibum strongly disagreed but Taemin only threw Jinki in his face) “Just treat it as your own house” Jonghyun waves a hand as he heads towards the bathroom. Taemin nods and explores the extravagant huge house.
It is a second later that Taemin feels something extremely cold splash down from his head. “OH MY GOD. NICHKHUN WHY DID YOU PUSH ME!” There is a deep voice yelling, Taemin looks up, his hair sticking to his face due to the water trickling down his face. “I’M SO SORRY” The voice yells again and there is a loud stamping down the stairs. The boy with huge eyes grabs a few tissues and immediately wipes Taemin’s face.
Taemin looks into the boy’s eyes, “You look like a frog”
The boy laughs, “I’ve heard that a lot and hey, are you okay? I’m really sorry about that. Khun-hyung pushed me”. Taemin grins, “Yeah. I’m okay”. The boy wipes the last bit of (thank god, it was only mineral water) water trickling down his face, “Sorry about your hair. I’m Choi Minho, by the way”. Taemin grins sheepishly, “Nice to meet you”. Minho raises an eyebrow, “Aren’t you going to tell me your name?”. Taemin looks at Minho for a moment and somehow thank the gods that Kibum was not with him. He lies with a straight face.
“I’m Lee Jinki”
Taemin is twenty-seven when he thinks he should tell Minho that he’s actually Taemin and not some chicken-maniac named Jinki. He doesn’t know how to say it because he thinks Minho might blow Taemin’s head off. Jonghyun shakes him, snapping him out a daze, he shouts something that Taemin can’t really hear because his voice is mixed chemically with the popping music that’s booming over the club.
“What?” Taemin says as loud as he can.
Jonghyun shouts again, “Minho is drunk. BRING HIM HOME”
Taemin points at himself, “WHY ME?”. Jonghyun rolls his eyes, “BECAUSE THERE’S NO ONE WHO’S SOBER ENOUGH TO BRING HIM HOME”. Taemin grunts and approaches a Minho who’s half limping off his seat and his cup almost slipping off his long fingers. “We’re going home” He mutters (Minho doesn’t actually hear anything), he slips Minho’s long hands over his shoulder and hails for a cab.
“Minho, where do you live?”
Minho mutters gibberish as an answer, Taemin decides to bring Minho back to his own house (Kibum might freak out the next morning, but he could keep quiet about it). He slips Minho on his bed and decides to sleep on the couch instead. He wakes up earlier than Minho the next morning, he makes toast for Minho.
Minho wakes up a little later, grunting and complaining about his hangover. Taemin gives him a glass of warm milk. Minho thanks him and drinks the milk. Before the milk is able to get their way down his throat, he spits it right out on Taemin’s face. Taemin doesn’t know what to say, Minho immediately wipes his face with tissue that was on the bedside, muttering thousands of sorrys.
Taemin explains that he was too drunk and that this is his house. Minho only smiles.
Taemin is twenty-seven and eleven months when Kibum plans a surprise birthday party for him. He feels thankful, but all he wants is to be with Minho. There are several familiar faces at the party, there are also several unfamiliar faces at the party. Taemin only smiles and he feels his cheeks cramping up. He excuses himself for the bathroom.
“My cheeks hurt” Taemin massages his cheeks and splashes water over his face.
The door to the bathroom opens.
“Hey, Jinki” Minho greets. Taemin gives a short smile, still not used to the alias name. Minho turns on the tap beside him and washes his hand, “Hey”. Taemin looks.
“Never mind”
Taemin frowns.
Taemin is twenty-eight and one month when he finds out that Minho and Jinki are actually friends. He skips work for three entire days and ignores the one thousand missed calls from Kibum. Taemin is too embarrassed to walk out to society. He feeds on instant noodles for three days and doesn’t meet anyone for three days, because he is embarrassed.
On the fourth day, Taemin swears that his door was about to ripped off its hinges when Minho finally knocks on his apartment door. “Taemin” comes Minho’s deep voice, “Open the door or I will knock this door off its hinges”. Taemin swears that Minho means it, so he opens the door, revealing a dressed up Minho looking as perfect as always. He enters Taemin’s apartment.
“You just disappeared for three days, I got worried”
Taemin closes the door. “Hey” Minho tilts Taemin’s chin upwards, “Look at me”. Taemin frowns and wrinkles his nose, “I am looking at you”. Without warning, Minho grabs Taemin by the sides of his face and rams his lips onto Taemin’s pouty ones. Taemin lets out a little shriek into Minho’s mouth while Minho snakes an arm around his waist, pulling him closer.
Taemin wraps his arms around Minho’s, because he thinks it helps the atmosphere.
Taemin breaks it off first, panting slightly and suddenly realizing what he was doing, he pushes Minho off. “I-I’m sorry” Taemin mutters, Minho growls, “Don’t you tell me you’re sorry” and he grabs Taemin by his (too) skinny waist and snatches another kiss, letting his hungry tongue explore his mouth. Taemin moans unconsciously into Minho’s mouth.
Minho always, makes a grand entrance into his life and this time, through his door.
Taemin is twenty-eight and two months when Minho moves into Taemin’s apartment. They sleep on one bed, so it makes no difference. “Why did you tell me your name was Jinki?” Minho asks one day when they are under the covers, ready to be folded into sleep. Taemin smiles, “Because I don’t know whether you’re the Minho from my kindergarten”. Minho snakes a hand under his shirt, Taemin shivers at his cold hand, “Now you do”.
He showers Taemin with kisses on his earlobes, cheeks, nose, eyes, lips and body. Taemin falls asleep soon with Minho’s hand around his waist.
Taemin is twenty-eight and three months when Minho asks him whether he’ll wait for him. Taemin frowns, “You told me that when I was six. Are you going to leave me again?”. Minho caresses Taemin’s cheek, “I’ll be back in a year”. Taemin shakes his head, “Do you really have to go?”. Minho only nods. Taemin decides to trust Minho even if he’s about to walk out of his life, again.
Taemin is twenty-nine when he is finally fed up of waiting for Minho. There is no texts, letters or emails from him. Maybe he just wasn’t meant to love. Minho just had to walk out of his life, over and over again.
Taemin is thirty when he sees Minho on television, a gold medal around his neck, his eyes sparkle in tears. Minho smiles happily as he says to the camera, “Taemin, I’m coming home”. Taemin cries in happiness as he says to the television, “You’re two years late”. Taemin waits for Minho to come home, he doesn’t sleep for two days, bags under his eyes getting heaver and he glues his eyes to the door, waiting for it to creak open.
Taemin is thirty-one when he moves out of the apartment. Minho never came home, Taemin is sick and tired of being sick and tired. Kibum and Jinki opens a restaurant together, they offer Taemin a job which he gladly accepts. “Aren’t you going back to your old apartment?” Kibum asks one day, doing the dishes. Taemin shrugs, “No point. It’s not like Minho’s going to be there anyway. I’ve waited for over twenty years, Kibum. There’s really no point in waiting anymore”
Kibum keeps quiet as he continues doing the dishes, Taemin is right.
Taemin is thirty-one and four months when Kibum finally manages to convince Taemin to visit his old apartment. He opens the door (the lock hasn’t been changed) and the first thing he sees is a Minho in the kitchen. “Oh my god” Minho mutters and stares, Taemin finds himself lost in this black orbs. Minho drops his cup of coffee, the brown liquid staining the clean floor, he hugs Taemin so hard that Taemin thinks that his ribcage is about to break.
“I’m so sorry, Taemin” Minho whispers into the crook of Taemin’s neck. “I’m so sorry for being late, please don’t leave me ever again”
And Choi Minho walks back into Taemin’s life with another grand entrance.
→ taemin x minho; pg-13; 2940 words
it took me an entire day to write this piece. ;A; i still have one more day of exam (my last papers are on monday), i should be burying my nose into the books and probably sniff the words out of the pages, but here i am the entire day, writing this 2min. blame shinee, they're the lucifer in disguise that would make someone like me forsake my books. ;A; i'll go back to them now.
grand entrance.
Minho had always made a big impact in Taemin’s life. Always. Taemin knew of Minho’s existence when he was only six. Minho beats up the boys who were bullying him right in front of his eyes. Minho offers to walk Taemin home, to which he gladly agrees to. “You shouldn’t let them bully you like that, just because you look awfully pretty” Minho says quietly. Taemin smiles back, “It’s alright. I get that all the time”. Minho frowns, “I’ll protect you”
Taemin giggles. Minho walks into Taemin’s life with a grand entrance.
Taemin notices the smallest things about Minho, like how the number of bruises on his hands increases, like how he doesn’t talk a lot and like how the pretty smile that plays on his lips when the two of them walk home form school hand in hand. They were only seven, no one told them it was wrong, they didn’t need to know anyway.
It is the next day that Taemin finds out that Minho is suspended from school, due to fights. “Why did you fight?” Taemin asks, concern looming over his voice. Minho keeps quiet. Taemin shakes Minho’s hand for an answer, Minho heaves a sigh, “I did it for you”. Taemin looks at the seven year old boy, “Why?”. Minho looks away, “Because they were talking about you behind your backs”
Taemin giggles, and pinches Minho’s cheek.
Minho asks Taemin a question one day, “Will you wait for me?” to which Taemin gives Minho a pat on his back, “I will wait for Minho!” Taemin was seven when Minho decides to take another route out of his life. There is absolutely no trace of Minho, not in the school, not in his house and certainly not in Taemin. He disappears.
Choi Minho walks right out of Taemin’s life with a grand exit.
Taemin is seventeen when Kibum tells him to forget about his childhood prince. Taemin finally decides to listen to Kibum after a year. “You’ll never get a girlfriend at this rate” Kibum nags to which Taemin only grunts and nods (and rolls his eyes). Taemin retaliates, “You tell me how to get a girlfriend if all I dream about at night is him”. Kibum rolls his eyes, “Are you going to tell me that you dream about a kid who’s, what, seven years old?”.
“Yeah”
Kibum almost wants to choke the pretty boy.
Taemin is eighteen when he finally agrees to go for blind dates. He thinks there’s two kinds of girls that would turn up on a blind date - one, those kind of girls who would arrive early with mountains of make-up on and clothes that look like they’re about to go for prom and two, those kind of girls who doesn’t give a shit and ditch you, leaving you waiting like an idiot.
He taps the wooden table as he dials Kibum’s number, “If she’s not coming in five, I’ll take it that she ditched me”. Kibum’s sigh is heard over the phone, “Just order something to eat, I’ll pay for it”. Taemin snorts, “She decided to ditch me, didn’t she?”. Kibum chuckles, “They just don’t know what a gorgeous man they’re missing”. Taemin hangs up and decides to order heaps of food that would empty out Kibum’s leather wallet.
Kibum arrives after an hour, pays for Taemin’s bill and to the younger boy’s disappointment, Kibum didn’t have to empty out his wallet because there is this damned creation on this earth called the credit card. Taemin thinks that he’s just not made for blind dates.
Taemin is nineteen when he finally starts working. It’s a small yet stable job, Taemin works in a cafe that is owned by a certain Lee Jinki. Kibum visits everyday, Taemin wonders why but he doesn’t ask. He finds out a bit later that Kibum and Jinki are dating. Taemin scoffs, “And you told me to forget my childhood prince”. Kibum defends, “Well, I didn’t ask you to not like men”
Taemin feels like dumping an entire whip cream on Kibum’s nicely made hair. “Hyung” Taemin says from making his cup of coffee. Kibum leans on the counter, waiting for Taemin’s next sentence. “Let me tell you that I haven’t stopped dreaming about my childhood prince”. Kibum rolls his eyes.
“You do know that it’s one in a million chance that you’d get to see him ever again, right?”
“Yeah”
Taemin is twenty when he decides to follow Kibum to clubs. “Don’t drink too much” Kibum says. But you see, Taemin never really listens to Kibum. He chugs down more than seven cups of vodka, his face is beet red and he lets himself free on the dance floor. Kibum only observes, he’d only stop Taemin when things gets too far.
Things did go far when Kibum notices that there are girls hovering over Taemin, touching him all over. Kibum grabs a drunk Taemin by the collar and drives him home. Taemin mutters gibberish on the journey home but Kibum can only make out one word.
“Minho”
Taemin is twenty-two when Jinki doubles Taemin’s salary and when Jinki and Kibum decide to snog whenever Taemin takes Jinki’s shift. Taemin decides to not eat breakfast during work days because he thinks he might hurl. “Don’t be jealous” Kibum would snap over Jinki’s shoulder before going back into making those obscene sounds that Taemin swears he can hear from the other side of the world.
Taemin starts noticing little things about the customers in the cafe. There are the familiar faces that would ask for coffee with extra sugar and leaves an enormous amount of tip, Taemin feels thankful. There are also the familiar faces that would ask for only thick, black coffee with a grumpy face and leave the cafe with a snort, Taemin only forges a smile across his pretty face.
But none of them look like Minho, because their eyes just aren’t huge enough to match his.
Kibum would say, “Are you looking for a frog or what?”
Taemin is twenty-four when clubbing becomes a habit. His double salary which he receives from Jinki would usually be blown up because of Taemin’s vast collection of skinny jeans, because he thinks he looks best in skinnies. Another part of his salary was used to buy a new closet, to keep his many different jeans of a large variety of colors. He’d wear black leather skinnies to club, because he thinks it’s sexy and because he thinks it suits the clubbing atmosphere.
It is also then that Taemin receives the nickname ‘Desirable Dancer’ in the club because of his obscene dance moves on the dance floor. Kibum would pull him off the dance floor when Taemin feels someone touch him down the legs or down his back. There are also times when Taemin would skip out dancing and drown himself of immense amount of alcohol, to which Kibum takes advantage to pull Jinki into a bathroom stall.
The two of them would usually take an hour and they’d return almost breathless.
Taemin admits, he’s jealous.
Taemin is twenty-six when he gets a frog as a pet. Jinki finds it absolutely cute and Kibum only snorts because he thinks frogs are disgusting. Jinki suggests that Taemin should name the frog ‘Minho’, to which Taemin gladly agrees. Jinki increases Taemin’s salary again by triple fold, because he’s the only worker who had stayed for so long and the only worker who’d attract people into the cafe with his face.
Taemin doesn’t know where to blow his money off.
Taemin is twenty-six and four months when a boy hits on him for the first time in a club. “I’m Jonghyun” he says, Taemin only replies with a curt smile. “I know you’re Taemin” He continues, Taemin nods. “Man, you look absolutely delicious” Jonghyun licks his lips to which Taemin replies, “Sorry, I don’t taste good eaten”. Jonghyun chuckles, “Alright. You win. Man, if only Minho comes to clubs”
Taemin perks up, “What? Who?”
Jonghyun blinks dumbly, “Oh. Minho. He’s a friend on my campus, he’s a footballer and player who doesn’t club and he has huge eyes like a frog”. Taemin chugs down another glass of vodka.
Taemin thinks he found Minho after twenty years.
Taemin is twenty-six and five months when Jonghyun is on good terms with him and when he finally invites him over to his house. (Kibum strongly disagreed but Taemin only threw Jinki in his face) “Just treat it as your own house” Jonghyun waves a hand as he heads towards the bathroom. Taemin nods and explores the extravagant huge house.
It is a second later that Taemin feels something extremely cold splash down from his head. “OH MY GOD. NICHKHUN WHY DID YOU PUSH ME!” There is a deep voice yelling, Taemin looks up, his hair sticking to his face due to the water trickling down his face. “I’M SO SORRY” The voice yells again and there is a loud stamping down the stairs. The boy with huge eyes grabs a few tissues and immediately wipes Taemin’s face.
Taemin looks into the boy’s eyes, “You look like a frog”
The boy laughs, “I’ve heard that a lot and hey, are you okay? I’m really sorry about that. Khun-hyung pushed me”. Taemin grins, “Yeah. I’m okay”. The boy wipes the last bit of (thank god, it was only mineral water) water trickling down his face, “Sorry about your hair. I’m Choi Minho, by the way”. Taemin grins sheepishly, “Nice to meet you”. Minho raises an eyebrow, “Aren’t you going to tell me your name?”. Taemin looks at Minho for a moment and somehow thank the gods that Kibum was not with him. He lies with a straight face.
“I’m Lee Jinki”
Taemin is twenty-seven when he thinks he should tell Minho that he’s actually Taemin and not some chicken-maniac named Jinki. He doesn’t know how to say it because he thinks Minho might blow Taemin’s head off. Jonghyun shakes him, snapping him out a daze, he shouts something that Taemin can’t really hear because his voice is mixed chemically with the popping music that’s booming over the club.
“What?” Taemin says as loud as he can.
Jonghyun shouts again, “Minho is drunk. BRING HIM HOME”
Taemin points at himself, “WHY ME?”. Jonghyun rolls his eyes, “BECAUSE THERE’S NO ONE WHO’S SOBER ENOUGH TO BRING HIM HOME”. Taemin grunts and approaches a Minho who’s half limping off his seat and his cup almost slipping off his long fingers. “We’re going home” He mutters (Minho doesn’t actually hear anything), he slips Minho’s long hands over his shoulder and hails for a cab.
“Minho, where do you live?”
Minho mutters gibberish as an answer, Taemin decides to bring Minho back to his own house (Kibum might freak out the next morning, but he could keep quiet about it). He slips Minho on his bed and decides to sleep on the couch instead. He wakes up earlier than Minho the next morning, he makes toast for Minho.
Minho wakes up a little later, grunting and complaining about his hangover. Taemin gives him a glass of warm milk. Minho thanks him and drinks the milk. Before the milk is able to get their way down his throat, he spits it right out on Taemin’s face. Taemin doesn’t know what to say, Minho immediately wipes his face with tissue that was on the bedside, muttering thousands of sorrys.
Taemin explains that he was too drunk and that this is his house. Minho only smiles.
Taemin is twenty-seven and eleven months when Kibum plans a surprise birthday party for him. He feels thankful, but all he wants is to be with Minho. There are several familiar faces at the party, there are also several unfamiliar faces at the party. Taemin only smiles and he feels his cheeks cramping up. He excuses himself for the bathroom.
“My cheeks hurt” Taemin massages his cheeks and splashes water over his face.
The door to the bathroom opens.
“Hey, Jinki” Minho greets. Taemin gives a short smile, still not used to the alias name. Minho turns on the tap beside him and washes his hand, “Hey”. Taemin looks.
“Never mind”
Taemin frowns.
Taemin is twenty-eight and one month when he finds out that Minho and Jinki are actually friends. He skips work for three entire days and ignores the one thousand missed calls from Kibum. Taemin is too embarrassed to walk out to society. He feeds on instant noodles for three days and doesn’t meet anyone for three days, because he is embarrassed.
On the fourth day, Taemin swears that his door was about to ripped off its hinges when Minho finally knocks on his apartment door. “Taemin” comes Minho’s deep voice, “Open the door or I will knock this door off its hinges”. Taemin swears that Minho means it, so he opens the door, revealing a dressed up Minho looking as perfect as always. He enters Taemin’s apartment.
“You just disappeared for three days, I got worried”
Taemin closes the door. “Hey” Minho tilts Taemin’s chin upwards, “Look at me”. Taemin frowns and wrinkles his nose, “I am looking at you”. Without warning, Minho grabs Taemin by the sides of his face and rams his lips onto Taemin’s pouty ones. Taemin lets out a little shriek into Minho’s mouth while Minho snakes an arm around his waist, pulling him closer.
Taemin wraps his arms around Minho’s, because he thinks it helps the atmosphere.
Taemin breaks it off first, panting slightly and suddenly realizing what he was doing, he pushes Minho off. “I-I’m sorry” Taemin mutters, Minho growls, “Don’t you tell me you’re sorry” and he grabs Taemin by his (too) skinny waist and snatches another kiss, letting his hungry tongue explore his mouth. Taemin moans unconsciously into Minho’s mouth.
Minho always, makes a grand entrance into his life and this time, through his door.
Taemin is twenty-eight and two months when Minho moves into Taemin’s apartment. They sleep on one bed, so it makes no difference. “Why did you tell me your name was Jinki?” Minho asks one day when they are under the covers, ready to be folded into sleep. Taemin smiles, “Because I don’t know whether you’re the Minho from my kindergarten”. Minho snakes a hand under his shirt, Taemin shivers at his cold hand, “Now you do”.
He showers Taemin with kisses on his earlobes, cheeks, nose, eyes, lips and body. Taemin falls asleep soon with Minho’s hand around his waist.
Taemin is twenty-eight and three months when Minho asks him whether he’ll wait for him. Taemin frowns, “You told me that when I was six. Are you going to leave me again?”. Minho caresses Taemin’s cheek, “I’ll be back in a year”. Taemin shakes his head, “Do you really have to go?”. Minho only nods. Taemin decides to trust Minho even if he’s about to walk out of his life, again.
Taemin is twenty-nine when he is finally fed up of waiting for Minho. There is no texts, letters or emails from him. Maybe he just wasn’t meant to love. Minho just had to walk out of his life, over and over again.
Taemin is thirty when he sees Minho on television, a gold medal around his neck, his eyes sparkle in tears. Minho smiles happily as he says to the camera, “Taemin, I’m coming home”. Taemin cries in happiness as he says to the television, “You’re two years late”. Taemin waits for Minho to come home, he doesn’t sleep for two days, bags under his eyes getting heaver and he glues his eyes to the door, waiting for it to creak open.
Taemin is thirty-one when he moves out of the apartment. Minho never came home, Taemin is sick and tired of being sick and tired. Kibum and Jinki opens a restaurant together, they offer Taemin a job which he gladly accepts. “Aren’t you going back to your old apartment?” Kibum asks one day, doing the dishes. Taemin shrugs, “No point. It’s not like Minho’s going to be there anyway. I’ve waited for over twenty years, Kibum. There’s really no point in waiting anymore”
Kibum keeps quiet as he continues doing the dishes, Taemin is right.
Taemin is thirty-one and four months when Kibum finally manages to convince Taemin to visit his old apartment. He opens the door (the lock hasn’t been changed) and the first thing he sees is a Minho in the kitchen. “Oh my god” Minho mutters and stares, Taemin finds himself lost in this black orbs. Minho drops his cup of coffee, the brown liquid staining the clean floor, he hugs Taemin so hard that Taemin thinks that his ribcage is about to break.
“I’m so sorry, Taemin” Minho whispers into the crook of Taemin’s neck. “I’m so sorry for being late, please don’t leave me ever again”
And Choi Minho walks back into Taemin’s life with another grand entrance.