[fic] part two
Title: Walk All Over You
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: SHINee
Pairing: Onew/Minho
Wordcount: 15,855
Summary: The thing Jinki does best: embarrass himself. This is that story.
part one
It was a beautiful summer's day, the sky was blue, the sun was warm, and any clouds that were floating idly about were Jinki's favourite kind, the fat, fluffy ones that reminded him of marshmallows. As nice a day as it was, however, Jinki didn't have much opportunity to enjoy it, as it was days like these that work was busiest for him.
“And there's a triple choc mint waffle cone for you, sir,” Jinki said pleasantly, a bright smile on his face as he leant down to hand a beaming child his ice cream. The child laughed at being called 'sir' and ran off happily with his ice cream.
The queue was fairly large by then, as the warmest part of the day rolled through the city, and Jinki was kept happily occupied. When he was busy like this, with a routine he was used to doing he didn't make very many stupid mistakes, which was a comfort to him. So it wasn't for awhile, as he was kept occupied with his customers, before Jinki noticed what looked to be Minho hanging around, as if waiting for an opportunity to talk to him.
He was surprised, but quite pleased, to see Minho and catching his eyes Jinki flashed him five fingers, mouthing the words five minutes to him. Minho smiled and nodded.
The queue began to thin out, and Jinki looked over to Taemin, who worked some of the busy summertime shifts with him in what Jinki thought of affectionately as the little ice cream shack. “I'm taking ten, okay?”
Taemin nodded, and Jinki quickly scooped out a couple of flavours into a small cup, before walking over to meet Minho.
“Hello!” he said brightly, offering the cup of ice cream out to Minho. “What are you doing here?”
Minho took the proffered ice cream with a smile. “Oh, well, I was in the area and I heard you worked around here, so I thought I'd come say hi.”
“Oh, well, hi.” Jinki beamed, and couldn't help but notice how good Minho looked, dressed casually for the warm weather in shorts and a shirt. It seemed like looking good just came so easily to Minho, he'd probably look great in a garbage bag. And when Jinki realised where his thoughts were trailing off to, he quickly tried to reign them back in again.
“Yes, we just did that bit,” Minho said, a smile quirking his lips.
“Of course! Um, it's nice to see you. Have you tried the ice cream yet?” He asked, searching for something to say, because Jinki's mind was going conveniently blank in that moment, as unprepared as he was for this surprise visit. And he vaguely wondered how Minho knew where he worked in the first place, he was sure he hadn't mentioned the address.
Indulging him, Minho took the little plastic spoon and took a mouthful. He made a face, his eyes widening, before swallowing. “What is that?” He asked, before taking another mouthful.
“Peanut butter and jam,” Jinki replied, pleased. “It's been really popular so far. There's also raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake, too. Try that, that one's really good.”
Minho complied, and seemed to enjoy that flavour as well, pleasing Jinki. He was quiet for a few moments as he ate, but eventually he spoke up again. “So, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime?” he asked, casually, between bites.
“Oh, sure!” Jinki nodded enthusiastically. “Where were you thinking? Kibum was interested in checking out this new bar that opened up nearby so we might go there next, and-”
“No, Jinki,” Minho interrupted, and his face looked a strange mix of amused and something else Jinki couldn't identify. “I meant just the two of us.”
“Oh.” Jinki's eyes widened in surprise, and he gaped, rather stupidly, up at Minho. “Really?” He asked, unable to cover his confusion.
Minho looked a little put off by that response, and looked down into his cup of ice cream. “Well, if you don't want to, of course, that's fine.”
Realisation hit then, as Jinki understood how it had sounded, and he waved his hands wildly, shaking his head almost until he was dizzy. “No! No no no, I didn't mean it like that,” he said, a blush covering his cheeks now. Why was he always so bad at this kind of thing? And he really couldn’t hide his surprise at this. “I'm just surprised you would want to, with me. I mean. Well,” and he pointed at Minho, and gestured down at himself, as words failed to properly express this.
“Well, I know that I am a king amongst men, and above all you lowly human beings,” he said, a smile beginning to curve his lips again, “but I thought I would deign to spend some time in your company. You're not completely unworthy, you know.” It struck Jinki then that he could recognise the gentle teasing note in Minho's voice, as well as see it on his face.
“Ah, don't tease me,” he said, looking away in his embarrassment.
“Jinki,” Minho said, and there was a note of insistence in his voice. Jinki was unable to keep his gaze away at the sound of it, and his eyes met Minho's. “I'm serious. Would you like to go out with me sometime, just us?”
Jinki tried to fight the stupid grin he could feel trying to crawl its way across his face, but knew the fight was in vain, and he beamed up at Minho, receiving an equally bright smile in return. “Yeah, okay, sure. That'd be great.”
“Okay, great.” They stood there for a moment, smiling stupidly at each other, until Minho pointed in the direction of the little ice cream shack. “I think Taemin's saying your ten minutes are up?”
Looking behind him, Jinki saw Taemin waving lazily over at him. He didn't think it had quite been ten minutes yet, but it was probably a good idea not to leave Taemin alone for much longer anyway. Jinki turned back to Minho, and nodded in apology. “Yeah, I should get back now. Um.”
“I'll message you soon, and we'll sort out a day,” Minho offered.
“Right, sounds good. Talk to you soon.”
“Thanks for the ice cream.” Minho nodded goodbye, smiled, and turned to leave. Jinki watched him go until Minho turned, glancing back briefly and caught him, causing Jinki to stumble around in embarrassment trying to cover up his shame and pretend he hadn't been watching. Minho only smiled and waved, before disappearing into the crowd.
And even after that Jinki felt almost like he was floating, as he walked back across the street. Floating so high, it hardly hurt a moment later, when he tripped on the curb and landed hard on his knees in front of everyone. He hardly felt the usual sting of embarrassment then, either.
**
“Minho wants to know where to take you on your date,” Kibum informed Jinki, a couple of days later.
Jinki, who was leaning over the bathroom sink trying to wash pink ice cream off of one of his work shirts, looked around at this sudden information, eyes wide. “What. What?”
“Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't know?” Kibum said, looking at Jinki with his usual unimpressed expression. “You were there, he did ask you out, even you couldn't be stupid enough to miss that.”
Jinki, feeling rather offended, shook his head. “Of course I knew, I meant why do you know, why are you telling me this, and why is Minho talking to you about our date?”
Why was Minho talking to Kibum at all, really.
“Oh, he's not,” Kibum said, waving a hand dismissively. His phone went off and he immediately started texting. “Minho's talking to Jonghyun about it, trying to come up with the perfect date, or something. Jonghyun figured to just ask you where you want to go, so he doesn't have to hear about it any more.”
Out of everything Kibum had just said, the only part that had really registered with Jinki was the idea that Minho was trying to create the perfect date for them, and seemingly beginning to worry about where to take him.
“Get that stupid smile off your face, you look ridiculous,” Kibum admonished, looking up from his phone. “So, come on, where do you want to go? Minho keeps asking what kind of things you like. All Jonghyun knew to tell him was that you like chicken, spa's, and sleeping. You're really boring, you know.”
Jinki frowned, and turned back to his shirt, he needed this for work tomorrow. “Let Minho decide, I feel like it's cheating, if he wants to surprise me and I just give him the answer.”
“Oh, please. You're an idiot.” Kibum returned to his phone, and Jinki returned to his shirt. After a few moments Kibum's face lit up with realisation. “Ah, you like karaoke, I'll tell Jonghyun that. That's at least one interesting thing you enjoy doing.”
“Have I ever told you what an excellent friend you're not?” Jinki grumbled, shooting Kibum a glare. Kibum only smiled smugly at him, before suddenly bursting into laughter.
Jinki looked down, and belatedly realised that he had somehow soaked the entire crotch of his trousers with water. At least tonight wasn't the date night, he thought to himself.
**
So far, everything was going quite nicely, and Jinki wasn't making an idiot out of himself. Minho had picked him up precisely on time (and Jinki enjoyed punctuality!) and he looked amazing. He might have embarrassed himself a little when Minho arrived, as he was sure he'd just stood there, staring, with his mouth open until Minho had laughed and brought Jinki partially back to the world of the living.
Kibum's parting advice for the evening had been, “If you need advice, don't text me. I don't want to know anything.” Jinki wasn't sure what kind of advice he would possibly find himself resorting to Kibum for, though.
But otherwise, the evening was off to a great start. Minho had taken them out for dinner first, somewhere that was nice but not too fancy, and over food Jinki had found himself relaxing in Minho's company. He was much less embarrassing when he wasn't nervous, and Minho's friendly chatter and cheerful smile did a lot to ease him. Jinki was learning that it was pretty easy to be in Minho's company, as long as he didn't let himself get distracted by Minho's face, or legs, or his hands, or his...
“Are you okay?” Minho asked, looking at Jinki with concern.
At that moment Jinki had started to choke on absolutely nothing. He shook his head, waving a hand, not sure what meaning he was trying to get across but Minho leaned forward anyway and started patting him on the back.
After a little embarrassing sputtering, Jinki tried to inform Minho that he was fine, and that being so close to him right now really wasn't going to help a lot. Instead, what came out of his mouth was, “Butt.”
“Excuse me?” Minho asked, frowning in confusion.
Jinki sputtered again, trying to cover up his slip and make it sound like it had been more of his very dangerous and life-threatening choking, and not that he'd been thinking about Minho's butt. Because he hadn't, at all.
“I'm, uh, fine, thanks,” he managed after a few moments, a bit breathless.
“Here,” Minho said, offering Jinki a cup of water. “Have a drink, it'll help.”
Well, Jinki reasoned to himself, as he clutched at the cup and gulped down water, one embarrassing incident was much better, and that hadn't even been Minho's fault but Jinki's own brain, unless it was okay to blame Minho for how attractive he was, in which case maybe it was his fault.
It didn't hinder their evening though, and after dinner Minho decided they should walk to their next destination, as the evening was warm.
“So, where are you taking me to now?” Jinki asked, looking across at Minho as they walked, an excited smile on his face. He really hadn't been on a date in quite a long time, and a good date was even further back in time for him, it was almost difficult for Jinki to hide his enthusiasm.
“Ah, you'll see when we get there,” Minho replied, and Jinki thought the little smile on Minho's face was likely to drive him a bit crazy. “To be honest,” Minho continued, “I really wasn't sure of what you like doing, so if I made the wrong choice we can go do something else.”
Jinki shook his head. “No, no, I'm sure whatever you've decided is great.”
Minho raised an eyebrow at him. “So you do enjoy watching synchronised swimming competitions?”
Jinki blinked, and wondered for a moment what to say, until he caught the glint in Minho's eyes and understood. “Oh, that's okay, but I really prefer watching Mexican bullfighting.”
“Damn,” Minho said, snapping his fingers, “what a shame, all the tickets for that were sold out.”
They laughed together as they made their way down the street, and every time they went to cross the road Jinki could feel the warm pressure of Minho's hand against the small of his back. Was there nothing Minho wasn't good at, Jinki wondered, adding 'dating' to the mental list of Choi Minho's talents.
Soon enough Minho pulled Jinki to a stop outside a building, and he realised it was a karaoke place. Warmth filled him then, as he realised Minho really had been trying to find out the perfect place to take him; he wasn't disappointed.
“You like karaoke, right? I thought it would be fun.”
Jinki nodded, smiling, and Minho looked pleased as he took Jinki's hand, and lead him inside.
Several songs, and several drinks later, and Jinki decided this was definitely a good idea, and a good date. It had taken them awhile to warm up and not be embarrassed around each other, but some drinks helped soothe that, and Minho approached the whole thing with gusto and before long they were belting out songs together. It was fun, and comfortable, and Jinki was finding it really easy to warm up to Minho like this, watching him laugh and dance around, and bang out the beats on a tambourine with a silly smile on his face.
It put Jinki at ease, and he felt like he, too, could relax and enjoy himself.
They had just finished belting out a most excellent version of Total Eclipse of the Heart together and Jinki collapsed, breathless and laughing, on the seats. Minho fell almost on top of him as he sat too, laughing just as hard.
“Air,” Jinki gasped, trying vainly to catch his breath. “I can't breathe, oh god. It hurts.”
Minho could only make wordless sounds in agreement, and it was only then that Jinki realised Minho had hold of his arm as he sat there, laughing. Casually, as if it was nothing. Jinki could feel his heart leap into his throat.
“You are surprisingly good at eighties power ballads,” Minho managed, the laughter still on his face as he looked down at Jinki. “Who would have known?”
“Why thank you,” Jinki replied, grinning, trying to push his heart back where it belonged. “It's my secret weapon.”
Minho seemed to sober a little then, his expression turning more serious. “I'm having a really good time with you tonight.”
The honesty of the moment touched Jinki, and a small smile crept across his face. Minho still had hold of his arm. “Me too.” He bit down on his lower lip, trying to keep a stupid smile from spreading across his face. Minho gazed steadily into his face, and Jinki could feel himself almost beginning to unravel, unable to tear his own eyes away. He wondered then if Minho was going to kiss him. His heart was thumping loudly inside his chest, and he didn't even know what was happening in his stomach, with all the flips it was performing.
Minho's eyes fell to Jinki's lips, and he knew that Minho was definitely at least thinking about kissing him. Please, oh please, I bet you're amazing, he thought to himself.
Jinki watched then, as Minho's expression became distracted and he could feel the moment slipping away, almost tangibly, between his fingers. “We're missing the song,” Minho said, looking thoughtful for a moment. “What did you pick, anyway?”
He tried not to let his disappointment show. “Backstreet Boys,” he mumbled, sitting up a little. He couldn't help but wonder what had stopped Minho, Jinki hadn't done anything stupid, embarrassing, or wrong in those five seconds of almost-kissing.
Well, nothing could have gone too wrong, Jinki amended a moment later, as Minho laughed and offered Jinki a hand to help him up, before handing him his microphone back. “Killer set list you've put together tonight,” he teased.
Jinki nudged Minho with his shoulder. “Just wait till we get to your songs, I saw what you were looking at.” A teasing smile of his own curved his lips, as he began to sing quietly, “You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen.”
The rest of the evening passed enjoyably, and almost too soon it seemed, Minho was walking Jinki back to his place. Minho wasn't particularly overt, but sometimes their shoulders touched, and every time they crossed the street or turned a corner, Jinki could feel the warm press of Minho's hand against the small of his back, and even that was enough to send his stomach flip flopping.
It reminded him of something he was curious about. “You know,” he started, glancing briefly over at Minho, “I'm still surprised you wanted to go out with me. I mean,” he continued quickly, “you didn't really give off any hints, before. That's why it's a surprise.”
Minho looked at him, a small smile on his face. “Well, I hadn't really decided until that day I came to see you at work. You're pretty hard to pin down, you know,” he added, laughing a little. “I had to keep following you to the bar just to get to talk to you a bit. Otherwise you're just hiding behind your friends.”
Jinki ducked his head, feeling a little bashful. “Oh, well.” He felt fingers curl loosely around his wrist, and looked up into Minho's face; he was just smiling at Jinki, but he didn't really need to say anything else in that moment, and he felt his heart swell. “Well, then.”
Moments later, and they were at Jinki's apartment building; too soon, he thought, much too soon, but he hoped that the success of this date would lead to more.
“Thank you for tonight,” Jinki said, as they stood outside the door. “I had a really good time.” He looked up at Minho, smiling softly.
“Yeah, me too,” Minho said, matching his smile. His fingers still held Jinki's wrist, and he moved to entwine their fingers. “Would you like to repeat the experience, sometime soon?”
“Definitely.”
Jinki could feel his heart almost trying to beat its way out of his chest, as Minho looked at him with that unwavering gaze. He really, really wanted a kiss, and he didn't want Minho to have a change of heart, like earlier. So Jinki decided, quite suddenly, to take matters into his own hands. After all, how dare Minho decide he didn't want to kiss him, without even kissing him first!
“To hell with it,” he mumbled, psyching himself up. And before words could follow Minho's puzzled frown, Jinki reached out, wrapping a hand around the back of Minho's neck and drawing their faces closer together until their lips met. Jinki's aim was a little off, his lips pressed to the corner of Minho's mouth, but he quickly adjusted this, and then Jinki was kissing Minho with every fibre of his being, with every beat of his heart. If it was the only kiss he might ever have, he was making sure it was a good one.
It only took Minho a moment to respond, and then he was sliding his free arm around Jinki's waist, leaning in closer, kissing him breathless. His hand was warm against Jinki's back, fingers clutching at the fabric of his light jacket. This, Jinki definitely took for a good response. And then he stopped thinking, because with the way he was kissing, and being kissed, he could feel his head spinning.
An involuntary sound escaped Jinki when Minho pulled away and he blinked, trying to regain himself. All he could do was stare up at Minho, and he was certain there was an idiotic look upon his face, but as Minho was smiling at him Jinki didn't think it was a big deal.
“Okay, well, um, thank you, for tonight,” Jinki babbled, still smiling up at Minho. He regretted the loss of heat as soon as he pulled further away. “I had a great time. I'll speak to you soon?”
“Yeah, I'll call you.”
“Okay, great. That would be great. I look forward to it, it'll be great.” He turned to step inside the building, and then smacked his face into the still-closed door, not realising he hadn't opened it yet. Jinki spun towards Minho again, one hand clutching at his nose. “I'm fine!” He assured, a bit too emphatically. “I'm fine, no damage, all is good. You didn't see anything, nothing happening here.” Now this really was an embarrassing way to end the night, and after he'd given Minho such a great kiss, as well.
“Are you sure?” Minho leaned forward, his face looking a mixture between concerned and amused. He reached out and gently pulled Jinki's hand away, so he could see. “You're not bleeding, and I don't see any marks.”
Jinki nodded, and then realised that that was a bad idea. “It hardly even hurts. Really, I'm fine.”
“Okay.” Minho took a step back. “Are you ready to try again?” He asked, but Jinki found that he didn't really mind Minho's gentle teasing, much.
Jinki glared, in a poor approximation of annoyance, and managed to get the door to the building open easily, and without further incident. “I'm not as stupid as you think I am,” he declared.
“I don't think you're stupid at all,” Minho replied, looking serious for about a second, “I just think you're endearingly clumsy sometimes.”
Jinki was torn between wanting to laugh, glare some more, or get the butterflies in his stomach excited, because Minho thought he was endearing. “I'll be fine now,” he said, settling for none of those. “I'll speak to you soon.”
Minho smiled, and this time it was warm, and without humour. “Goodnight.”
Jinki gave him a silly little wave, before closing the door behind himself. All the way upstairs he felt as if he was floating, he was so happy and giddy from probably the best first date he had ever had. He knew he was grinning stupidly, and he knew Kibum was going to make fun as soon as he saw Jinki's face, but in that moment he didn't care about anything except the feeling that was welling up within him.
**
The second date went better than the first, and the third went even better than that. Jinki was learning so much more about Minho during these dates, before all he had known was where he worked, how he met Jonghyun, and the sad state of his love life. He found out that Minho was really into soccer, his favourite team was Arsenal (this meant nothing to Jinki, he had no idea what an Arsenal was), his favourite colour was blue, he liked kids, and he liked dogs more than he liked cats. He also found out, to his surprise, that Minho was currently studying sports science at college.
Jinki never really asked Minho about his work, because Minho himself never brought it up and Jinki wasn't sure what to even say about it; how was work, did you get many tips, how many of those rippable trousers do you get through in a month? But he'd asked how work had been, during one of those dates, and Minho had told him about it.
“I just sort of fell into it, I suppose. But it's reliable work, and I get a nice bit of money from it.” Jinki remembered the way Minho had leant forward, his gaze steady on Jinki's face, a slight curve to his lips. “And, you know, there's something about knowing how attractive you are to people.” And then Minho had gone on to tell Jinki about his studies, and how when he graduated next year he was going to find work doing something he really enjoyed doing.
Minho was so open and forthcoming, willing to talk about himself, easy to talk to and he didn't seem to play games. Jinki appreciated that because he wasn't very good at games, but Minho didn't really hide what he was feeling and Jinki didn't have to guess. It was refreshing, and it was comfortable.
Their fourth date turned out to be a lot more fun than Jinki had expected. Minho had taken him rollerblading, which had seemed like a terrible idea to Jinki at first, because really, he was quite likely to break a bone if forced to move around on a single row of small, rolling wheels. To his surprise, and delight, he only fell over three times and had no serious injuries, and a lot more fun than he expected. There was something exhilarating about gliding down the street at a fast pace, wind in his hair, laughing with Minho. Of course, Minho had won in the impromptu little race he had instigated (and that was how Jinki had fallen over the third time) but it had been fun all the same, and Jinki didn't mind Minho winning things if the large, excited smile on his face was always a result of that.
It was after dinner, at one of Jinki's favourite places to eat, as they walked casually through the slowly darkening streets that Minho surprised him.
“Do you,” he began, glancing briefly at Jinki, and he would have thought Minho actually looked a little nervous, if he thought Minho was capable of feeling nervous in the first place, “do you want to come back to my place for a bit?”
Minho's hand was warm against his elbow, and Jinki felt as if his heart was beating unusually heavy, inside his chest. “Oh,” he said, blinking up at Minho, surprised, pleased, and suddenly anxious. “Yes? Yes, I mean yes, I'd like that.” He smiled, trying to sound more decisive, because he was goddamnit, he was.
Minho returned the smile, seeming pleased.
It didn't take long to get to Minho's apartment, and Jinki was full of curiosity, excitement, and wonder, as Minho lead him inside.
“Would you like something to drink?” Minho asked, slipping his shoes off and moving further into the apartment, with all the easy comfort of being inside his own home.
“Yes, please.” Jinki came through slowly, looking around. So far from what he saw the place was very neat and tidy, and there were enough personal items and things on display that gave it a lived in, homey feeling.
“I'll be back in a few minutes. Have a look around, make yourself at home,” Minho offered, smiling, before vanishing into another room.
Jinki was left to his own devices, and slowly moved around the living area, looking at the few pictures Minho had and trying to learn more about him from his belongings. He wandered into the hall, and peeked in through a half open door into what looked to be Minho's bedroom. A thought popped up into Jinki's mind then, and he was suddenly gripped by the strongest feeling of curiosity to ever hit him. He wanted to see Minho's work costumes.
He listened for a minute and heard what seemed to be general kitchen sounds, or tidying up sounds. He would just have a peek, he decided, a tiny, quick little peek, to satisfy this sudden and burning curiosity that had gripped him. And part of the reason wasn't because Jinki wanted aid with imagining Minho in various outfits, at all.
Jinki stepped into the room, but before he could even reach the closet, he knew he couldn't do it. It was too invasive, and Minho was pretty open about everything, Jinki was sure if he asked then Minho would show him. It was as he was about to give in to his conscience and go find Minho that Jinki heard his name being called, and before he could do anything Minho was in the doorway.
“Ah, here you are. What are you doing?” Minho didn't seem annoyed, merely bemused.
Jinki, trying to look completely innocent of anything (and especially innocent of impure thoughts) shook his head. “What, nothing. I was just looking around. Why would I be up to something?”
“You look guilty,” Minho said, pointedly. “Is this when I find out that you're a creep who steals peoples underwear, or something?” There was that teasing edge to Minho's mouth, as he levelled his gaze at Jinki.
Jinki fidgeted, and was very unwilling to be thought of as a creep. He hadn't actually done anything, and wasn't going to anyway! “No, I'm not a creep! I was just admiring your place. You have a nice apartment. It's very clean.”
“Thank you. But why do you look so guilty?”
Jinki sighed, resigned. “I wasn't going to, or anything, really,” he started, trying to put as much sincerity into this truth as he could, “I was just curious.” Minho raised an eyebrow, waiting for the rest, and Jinki added, “I just...I just wondered if you, uh, kept your work, um, uniforms here.” He looked away, trying to will any warmth out of his cheeks.
Minho's laughter made Jinki look up again, and relief swept through him at this reaction, even if it was at his expense, it was better than Minho thinking he was a creep, or weird, or something. He moved over to the closet, slid the door open, and pulled some of the clothes forward so that Jinki could see. Minho nodded, when Jinki moved to have a closer look, a smile on his face.
Jinki looked slowly through the costumes on display, and at the front was the only one he'd seen Minho in so far, his police officer's uniform. As he looked he also found a fireman, a doctor, and what looked to be a French revolutionary soldier. “Oh, wow,” he said, turning to look over at Minho briefly. “Are the Cowboy and the Biker in here too?” he asked.
Minho made a face. “Nice. The fireman is usually the most popular,” he said, moving to slide the costumes back when Jinki was done looking at them. “But the soldier is my favourite.”
Jinki hummed thoughtfully, biting down on his lower lip, before smiling up at Minho. “The cop is my favourite,” he admitted, quite boldly for him.
“You've only seen the cop, it doesn't count.”
He didn't realise he'd stepped forward, until he noticed how close it had brought them now, and Jinki was almost certain he could feel the warmth coming from Minho's body, they were stood so near. It made the breath catch in his throat. “Does that,” he said, and he kept his gaze focused on Minho's, a little smile on his face. He didn't feel like he was very good at this, but Minho wasn't laughing so that was a good sign, he thought. “Does that mean you'll model them for me, sometime?”
Jinki very nearly jumped when he felt Minho's hand against his hip, but he was too preoccupied by how close Minho's face seemed to be then, and how obscenely attractive he was. “If you'd like that,” he answered, and the low tone of Minho's voice sent a shiver down Jinki's spine.
He licked his lips, his mouth suddenly felt dry. “I would. I would like that.”
“Okay.”
Cool fingers slid across Jinki's neck, raising goosebumps in their wake. “I was thinking,” Minho murmured, his fingers curling in the hair at the nape of Jinki's neck, “of adding a cowboy costume to the mix.”
They were so close. Jinki was sure Minho could hear the furious beating of his heart, it was so loud in his own ears. “You should,” Jinki answered. His fingers curled into the fabric of Minho's shirt. “The boots.” Coherency wasn't much of an option for Jinki in that moment, but he really didn't care.
Minho smiled at that, as if he understood completely - and he probably did. He leant down then, closing the distance between them, pulling Jinki close as he kissed him. All the breath left Jinki's body, or it felt as if it did. This, he decided, as one of Minho's hands slipped into his back pocket, was the best date yet.
**
Jinki had no idea what he was possibly letting himself in for, when he'd attempted to be flirty with Minho. It would take him a little while to really discover this, as well.
The evening was growing, and Jinki was still at work. He'd let Taemin go home a little while ago and he was considering closing up soon for the day, as custom had definitely slowed down now. It was only as he began to tidy up that Jinki noticed Minho, leaning casually up against a street lamp across the street, an amused smile on his face. Jinki gaped in surprise, before gesturing for Minho to come over. He liked to surprise Jinki after work sometimes, and every time Minho did it made him giddy with joy.
It was only as Jinki watched Minho cross the street that he realised - Minho was wearing the boots, the tall, dark, boots that Jinki thought were only for work. He looked good, he looked great, ridiculously attractive, actually, and the boots went with the rest of his outfit, but still, Jinki was a little surprised as they weren't a part of Minho's normal outfits.
Jinki beamed, and gave a little wave as Minho came up to him. “Don't tell me you've been there for ages and I haven't noticed you,” Jinki began. Without even thinking, he grabbed a small cup and started to fill it with the nearest flavour of ice cream to hand.
“Only an hour,” Minho said, with a shrug and a smile.
“No!” Jinki looked aghast, until reasoning caught up to him. He frowned, “You're joking.”
Minho took the offered ice cream, grinning. “Five minutes,” he answered, truthfully this time. “Felt like a long five minutes though.” He dug into the ice cream, making a sound of approval as he ate. “This is really good, what flavour is this?”
Jinki, straight faced, answered, “Me.”
Minho blanched, surprised, staring with one eyebrow raised until Jinki dissolved into a silly little laughing fit. Apparently, he was the only one who got the joke.
“Peaches and cream. It's good, right? It's been popular so far this summer.”
After a moment spent savouring the ice cream, Minho spoke up. “Are you busy after work?”
“Tonight?” Jinki shook his head, “no, not at all. I mean, I did have some important plans involving myself and the couch and some relaxing, but I think the couch will understand.”
Minho smiled. “Good. I'll pick you up in an hour?”
Jinki nodded, unable to hide the probably goofy smile he could feel filling his face. “Sure.”
**
Evenings out together had become much more enjoyable to Jinki as of late, and he was certain that this enjoyment correlated with Minho's presence amongst their company. It did wonders for Jinki's mood, and his confidence, to be dating someone as disgustingly handsome as Minho, who was sexy for a living, how many people could claim that? Kibum certainly couldn't.
Jinki didn't realise he was looking around expectantly, until he saw Minho coming through the crowd, a head above most of the people in the room. He waved, a little too enthusiastically as Taemin's cry of pain attested to, and gestured at their table. A smile unfolded on Minho's face as he saw them, and after a moment it settled on Jinki, warming him through and through.
It was as Minho came around to Jinki's side to sit down that he noticed, because of course Jinki was appreciating Minho and how he looked, and how long his legs were, and he saw that again Minho was wearing those boots, the ones from his cop costume. Perhaps it was a new exploration in personal style, for Minho, but Jinki could feel his mouth growing dry. Why did he have to have an apparent weakness for tall, sexy boots on tall, sexy men.
“Hi,” he said quietly, warmly, turning to face Minho.
“Hello,” Minho said, smiling. His hand moved to rest at the small of Jinki's back, warm, his fingers sometimes stroking in slow circles through the fabric of Jinki's shirt; his hand would be there for most of the evening, and Jinki would spend most of that time trying not to be hyper aware of it. He would also spend a large part of the evening trying not to stare at Minho's legs, in those boots; he would fail at them all.
**
“Oh my god,” Jinki exclaimed, loudly, “are you trying to drive me crazy? You are, aren't you, Choi Minho.”
Minho, who had only opened the door, looked momentarily surprised by this outburst. He ushered Jinki inside, before his despondent wailing could disturb the neighbours. “What are you talking about?” He asked, puzzled.
As Jinki moved to take his shoes off he noticed them, sitting right there, ready to be put on, the boots. Minho had worn them again when they'd gone out the other night. Jinki had watched, a lump in his throat and heat in his chest, as Minho had slipped into them, as if wearing them were the most natural thing in the world.
“Those,” he said, pointing wildly, and not at all in the direction of the boots themselves. “Those boots! You keep wearing them, every time I see you. You are going to drive me crazy.”
“Oh.” The confusion was gone from Minho's face, and all that was left was a teasing little grin, playful, and that made Jinki's heart thump. “I was wondering when you were going to crack.”
Jinki stared up at him in disbelief. “So you were doing this to me on purpose.”
Minho nodded, his smile widening. “Of course.”
Jinki pouted, feeling very toyed with.
“Oh, come on,” Minho said, reaching out and taking hold of Jinki's arm. “It was fun seeing you get all flustered when you noticed. And I like it.”
Jinki let himself be pulled towards Minho, even if he was still trying to feign annoyance. “Like what?” he asked, before he realised he probably shouldn't be feeding whatever Minho was grinning about, because he still had that maddeningly sexy grin on his stupidly handsome face.
“Knowing that you find me sexy.”
“O-oh. Well...” Jinki looked away, because Minho's gaze was going to fluster him, he could tell, by the way his face was already starting to feel hot. “Well, who wouldn't find you sexy,” he added, trying for casual. “I mean, have you seen you? You're all tall, and good looking, and stuff.”
“And stuff?” The lilt to Minho's voice made Jinki look up, and it was a mistake. Minho's face was inches away, and there was a hand resting against Jinki's hip, fingers stroking softly.
“Stop it,” Jinki whispered, his throat thick. His heart was racing.
Minho thread the fingers of his other hand through Jinki's hair. “Stop what?” His gaze dropped to Jinki's mouth.
“Being annoyingly sexy.”
Minho's breath was warm against Jinki's neck, and he tried to stifle a sigh. He wound an arm around Minho's back, fingers pressing into his shoulder.
“But it's my job.” There was a goddamn grin in Minho's voice, and Jinki slid his eyes closed as warm lips met his neck, scattering kisses over his skin. He could feel the blood pulsing hotly through his body. “And it's fun,” he added, his tongue exploring the length of Jinki's neck, slowly, and thoroughly. Jinki's fingers twisted into the fabric of Minho's shirt.
“Well,” Jinki murmured, and thoughts were becoming increasingly difficult to voice, and much less important than a moment ago. He looped his other arm around Minho's waist, drawing them closer. “Fine. That's fine.”
“Jinki,” Minho said, pulling away briefly to look him in the eye. “Please, stop talking now.”
Jinki would have huffed and pretended to be annoyed again, but Minho slid a hand down Jinki's back, rested on the curve of his ass, and squeezed. A small noise escaped Jinki, and then Minho kissed him, removing any desire to carry on talking.
**
“So, what movie do you want to see?” Jinki was lying sprawled comfortably across Minho's couch, phone in hand as he looked up the local cinema listings for that evening. He was at Minho's place half as much as at his own place these days, and he felt comfortable there. “There's some dumb action film out at the moment, if you like. Though why on earth you like those films is beyond me, I'd much rather see something with an actual story, but there's no accounting for taste.”
“My taste,” Minho called out, from wherever in the apartment he had disappeared to, “accounts for you.”
Jinki gasped. “That was low! What are you saying?”
There was no answer and Jinki huffed, returning his attention to his phone again. Kibum was texting him, something about how he had broken one of Jinki's plates but not to worry, he'd replaced it with a Harry Potter themed plate. Jinki had texted back that he was going to break that new plate over Kibum's head, to which Kibum texted back with: :'(
“Jinki, could you come here for a minute?” Minho called.
He was happy to have an excuse to ignore any of Kibum's ridiculous text messages, and made his way down the hall. “Where are you?”
“In the bedroom.”
When Jinki stepped through, Minho wasn't to be seen. The lights were low, and there was music playing, music with a filthy club beat.
“I'll be right there, just sit down for a minute.”
Jinki, confused, saw the chair in the middle of the room, and sat down. “What are you doing? Are we going out or not?”
There was a noise and then Minho walked in, and Jinki felt the breath just leave his body. Minho stood there, dressed fully in his police officer's costume. His trousers were ridiculously tight, almost painted on, and the boots hugged his legs almost to his knees. Jinki looked up, and he could feel his face flushing. Minho's eyes were dark, his face set with an almost predatory look.
It clicked then, for Jinki. The chair, the dirty dance music, the costume. He wanted to die.
“Oh, god, you're not?” He shook his head, and his chest felt like it was shrinking around his erratically racing heart. “You're not really, are you?”
Minho only answered with a smile, that teasing, playful little smile that drove Jinki crazy. And then he stepped forward in one smooth motion. His gaze was heated, and it never left Jinki's face as he began to dance. Minho's moves were fluid, natural, and he seemed effortlessly sexy, as he danced to the music.
“Oh, you are. You are giving me a lap dance. You are giving me a lap dance, in your police officer's uniform. Okay.”
The blood was pounding in Jinki's head, his face was hot, and he didn't know what to do or where to look. This reminded him, very forcefully, of the only time he'd seen Minho at work, how flustered he had been then to watch this happen. And now it was happening again, but just for him, and Minho was so close as he danced, leaning into his space, dropping a hand onto his shoulder or pressing fingers against his thigh as he moved around Jinki.
“This is, um. This is very interesting,” Jinki said, struggling with trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. But he couldn't take his eyes off Minho, off the way he moved, the look on his face, his legs in those boots. His tongue felt thick in his mouth.
And then in one fluid movement Minho was sitting on Jinki's lap, straddling him, and those trousers really were very, very tight. Minho was close, and he was still moving to the music, and Jinki could do nothing but sit there and look at him, slowly dying inside. He couldn't believe this was happening, and that this was happening to him, that he had a lap full of tall, sexy, writhing Minho.
His hands went to Minho's thighs, because they were right there, and he couldn't not touch Minho, even as flustered as he still felt.
“You're very good at this,” Jinki murmured, pushing his voice through his dry mouth. He looked up into Minho's face, and was unable to tear his gaze away. That little, self-satisfied smile hovered teasingly at Minho's mouth.
With an arm draped loosely around Jinki's shoulders, Minho leaned in close. “I know.”
Minho grinded his hips against Jinki's, and he let out a gasp, his head spinning with the heat, with the music, and with Minho.
It was the single best night of Jinki's life.
-*-
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: SHINee
Pairing: Onew/Minho
Wordcount: 15,855
Summary: The thing Jinki does best: embarrass himself. This is that story.
part one
It was a beautiful summer's day, the sky was blue, the sun was warm, and any clouds that were floating idly about were Jinki's favourite kind, the fat, fluffy ones that reminded him of marshmallows. As nice a day as it was, however, Jinki didn't have much opportunity to enjoy it, as it was days like these that work was busiest for him.
“And there's a triple choc mint waffle cone for you, sir,” Jinki said pleasantly, a bright smile on his face as he leant down to hand a beaming child his ice cream. The child laughed at being called 'sir' and ran off happily with his ice cream.
The queue was fairly large by then, as the warmest part of the day rolled through the city, and Jinki was kept happily occupied. When he was busy like this, with a routine he was used to doing he didn't make very many stupid mistakes, which was a comfort to him. So it wasn't for awhile, as he was kept occupied with his customers, before Jinki noticed what looked to be Minho hanging around, as if waiting for an opportunity to talk to him.
He was surprised, but quite pleased, to see Minho and catching his eyes Jinki flashed him five fingers, mouthing the words five minutes to him. Minho smiled and nodded.
The queue began to thin out, and Jinki looked over to Taemin, who worked some of the busy summertime shifts with him in what Jinki thought of affectionately as the little ice cream shack. “I'm taking ten, okay?”
Taemin nodded, and Jinki quickly scooped out a couple of flavours into a small cup, before walking over to meet Minho.
“Hello!” he said brightly, offering the cup of ice cream out to Minho. “What are you doing here?”
Minho took the proffered ice cream with a smile. “Oh, well, I was in the area and I heard you worked around here, so I thought I'd come say hi.”
“Oh, well, hi.” Jinki beamed, and couldn't help but notice how good Minho looked, dressed casually for the warm weather in shorts and a shirt. It seemed like looking good just came so easily to Minho, he'd probably look great in a garbage bag. And when Jinki realised where his thoughts were trailing off to, he quickly tried to reign them back in again.
“Yes, we just did that bit,” Minho said, a smile quirking his lips.
“Of course! Um, it's nice to see you. Have you tried the ice cream yet?” He asked, searching for something to say, because Jinki's mind was going conveniently blank in that moment, as unprepared as he was for this surprise visit. And he vaguely wondered how Minho knew where he worked in the first place, he was sure he hadn't mentioned the address.
Indulging him, Minho took the little plastic spoon and took a mouthful. He made a face, his eyes widening, before swallowing. “What is that?” He asked, before taking another mouthful.
“Peanut butter and jam,” Jinki replied, pleased. “It's been really popular so far. There's also raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake, too. Try that, that one's really good.”
Minho complied, and seemed to enjoy that flavour as well, pleasing Jinki. He was quiet for a few moments as he ate, but eventually he spoke up again. “So, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime?” he asked, casually, between bites.
“Oh, sure!” Jinki nodded enthusiastically. “Where were you thinking? Kibum was interested in checking out this new bar that opened up nearby so we might go there next, and-”
“No, Jinki,” Minho interrupted, and his face looked a strange mix of amused and something else Jinki couldn't identify. “I meant just the two of us.”
“Oh.” Jinki's eyes widened in surprise, and he gaped, rather stupidly, up at Minho. “Really?” He asked, unable to cover his confusion.
Minho looked a little put off by that response, and looked down into his cup of ice cream. “Well, if you don't want to, of course, that's fine.”
Realisation hit then, as Jinki understood how it had sounded, and he waved his hands wildly, shaking his head almost until he was dizzy. “No! No no no, I didn't mean it like that,” he said, a blush covering his cheeks now. Why was he always so bad at this kind of thing? And he really couldn’t hide his surprise at this. “I'm just surprised you would want to, with me. I mean. Well,” and he pointed at Minho, and gestured down at himself, as words failed to properly express this.
“Well, I know that I am a king amongst men, and above all you lowly human beings,” he said, a smile beginning to curve his lips again, “but I thought I would deign to spend some time in your company. You're not completely unworthy, you know.” It struck Jinki then that he could recognise the gentle teasing note in Minho's voice, as well as see it on his face.
“Ah, don't tease me,” he said, looking away in his embarrassment.
“Jinki,” Minho said, and there was a note of insistence in his voice. Jinki was unable to keep his gaze away at the sound of it, and his eyes met Minho's. “I'm serious. Would you like to go out with me sometime, just us?”
Jinki tried to fight the stupid grin he could feel trying to crawl its way across his face, but knew the fight was in vain, and he beamed up at Minho, receiving an equally bright smile in return. “Yeah, okay, sure. That'd be great.”
“Okay, great.” They stood there for a moment, smiling stupidly at each other, until Minho pointed in the direction of the little ice cream shack. “I think Taemin's saying your ten minutes are up?”
Looking behind him, Jinki saw Taemin waving lazily over at him. He didn't think it had quite been ten minutes yet, but it was probably a good idea not to leave Taemin alone for much longer anyway. Jinki turned back to Minho, and nodded in apology. “Yeah, I should get back now. Um.”
“I'll message you soon, and we'll sort out a day,” Minho offered.
“Right, sounds good. Talk to you soon.”
“Thanks for the ice cream.” Minho nodded goodbye, smiled, and turned to leave. Jinki watched him go until Minho turned, glancing back briefly and caught him, causing Jinki to stumble around in embarrassment trying to cover up his shame and pretend he hadn't been watching. Minho only smiled and waved, before disappearing into the crowd.
And even after that Jinki felt almost like he was floating, as he walked back across the street. Floating so high, it hardly hurt a moment later, when he tripped on the curb and landed hard on his knees in front of everyone. He hardly felt the usual sting of embarrassment then, either.
**
“Minho wants to know where to take you on your date,” Kibum informed Jinki, a couple of days later.
Jinki, who was leaning over the bathroom sink trying to wash pink ice cream off of one of his work shirts, looked around at this sudden information, eyes wide. “What. What?”
“Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't know?” Kibum said, looking at Jinki with his usual unimpressed expression. “You were there, he did ask you out, even you couldn't be stupid enough to miss that.”
Jinki, feeling rather offended, shook his head. “Of course I knew, I meant why do you know, why are you telling me this, and why is Minho talking to you about our date?”
Why was Minho talking to Kibum at all, really.
“Oh, he's not,” Kibum said, waving a hand dismissively. His phone went off and he immediately started texting. “Minho's talking to Jonghyun about it, trying to come up with the perfect date, or something. Jonghyun figured to just ask you where you want to go, so he doesn't have to hear about it any more.”
Out of everything Kibum had just said, the only part that had really registered with Jinki was the idea that Minho was trying to create the perfect date for them, and seemingly beginning to worry about where to take him.
“Get that stupid smile off your face, you look ridiculous,” Kibum admonished, looking up from his phone. “So, come on, where do you want to go? Minho keeps asking what kind of things you like. All Jonghyun knew to tell him was that you like chicken, spa's, and sleeping. You're really boring, you know.”
Jinki frowned, and turned back to his shirt, he needed this for work tomorrow. “Let Minho decide, I feel like it's cheating, if he wants to surprise me and I just give him the answer.”
“Oh, please. You're an idiot.” Kibum returned to his phone, and Jinki returned to his shirt. After a few moments Kibum's face lit up with realisation. “Ah, you like karaoke, I'll tell Jonghyun that. That's at least one interesting thing you enjoy doing.”
“Have I ever told you what an excellent friend you're not?” Jinki grumbled, shooting Kibum a glare. Kibum only smiled smugly at him, before suddenly bursting into laughter.
Jinki looked down, and belatedly realised that he had somehow soaked the entire crotch of his trousers with water. At least tonight wasn't the date night, he thought to himself.
**
So far, everything was going quite nicely, and Jinki wasn't making an idiot out of himself. Minho had picked him up precisely on time (and Jinki enjoyed punctuality!) and he looked amazing. He might have embarrassed himself a little when Minho arrived, as he was sure he'd just stood there, staring, with his mouth open until Minho had laughed and brought Jinki partially back to the world of the living.
Kibum's parting advice for the evening had been, “If you need advice, don't text me. I don't want to know anything.” Jinki wasn't sure what kind of advice he would possibly find himself resorting to Kibum for, though.
But otherwise, the evening was off to a great start. Minho had taken them out for dinner first, somewhere that was nice but not too fancy, and over food Jinki had found himself relaxing in Minho's company. He was much less embarrassing when he wasn't nervous, and Minho's friendly chatter and cheerful smile did a lot to ease him. Jinki was learning that it was pretty easy to be in Minho's company, as long as he didn't let himself get distracted by Minho's face, or legs, or his hands, or his...
“Are you okay?” Minho asked, looking at Jinki with concern.
At that moment Jinki had started to choke on absolutely nothing. He shook his head, waving a hand, not sure what meaning he was trying to get across but Minho leaned forward anyway and started patting him on the back.
After a little embarrassing sputtering, Jinki tried to inform Minho that he was fine, and that being so close to him right now really wasn't going to help a lot. Instead, what came out of his mouth was, “Butt.”
“Excuse me?” Minho asked, frowning in confusion.
Jinki sputtered again, trying to cover up his slip and make it sound like it had been more of his very dangerous and life-threatening choking, and not that he'd been thinking about Minho's butt. Because he hadn't, at all.
“I'm, uh, fine, thanks,” he managed after a few moments, a bit breathless.
“Here,” Minho said, offering Jinki a cup of water. “Have a drink, it'll help.”
Well, Jinki reasoned to himself, as he clutched at the cup and gulped down water, one embarrassing incident was much better, and that hadn't even been Minho's fault but Jinki's own brain, unless it was okay to blame Minho for how attractive he was, in which case maybe it was his fault.
It didn't hinder their evening though, and after dinner Minho decided they should walk to their next destination, as the evening was warm.
“So, where are you taking me to now?” Jinki asked, looking across at Minho as they walked, an excited smile on his face. He really hadn't been on a date in quite a long time, and a good date was even further back in time for him, it was almost difficult for Jinki to hide his enthusiasm.
“Ah, you'll see when we get there,” Minho replied, and Jinki thought the little smile on Minho's face was likely to drive him a bit crazy. “To be honest,” Minho continued, “I really wasn't sure of what you like doing, so if I made the wrong choice we can go do something else.”
Jinki shook his head. “No, no, I'm sure whatever you've decided is great.”
Minho raised an eyebrow at him. “So you do enjoy watching synchronised swimming competitions?”
Jinki blinked, and wondered for a moment what to say, until he caught the glint in Minho's eyes and understood. “Oh, that's okay, but I really prefer watching Mexican bullfighting.”
“Damn,” Minho said, snapping his fingers, “what a shame, all the tickets for that were sold out.”
They laughed together as they made their way down the street, and every time they went to cross the road Jinki could feel the warm pressure of Minho's hand against the small of his back. Was there nothing Minho wasn't good at, Jinki wondered, adding 'dating' to the mental list of Choi Minho's talents.
Soon enough Minho pulled Jinki to a stop outside a building, and he realised it was a karaoke place. Warmth filled him then, as he realised Minho really had been trying to find out the perfect place to take him; he wasn't disappointed.
“You like karaoke, right? I thought it would be fun.”
Jinki nodded, smiling, and Minho looked pleased as he took Jinki's hand, and lead him inside.
Several songs, and several drinks later, and Jinki decided this was definitely a good idea, and a good date. It had taken them awhile to warm up and not be embarrassed around each other, but some drinks helped soothe that, and Minho approached the whole thing with gusto and before long they were belting out songs together. It was fun, and comfortable, and Jinki was finding it really easy to warm up to Minho like this, watching him laugh and dance around, and bang out the beats on a tambourine with a silly smile on his face.
It put Jinki at ease, and he felt like he, too, could relax and enjoy himself.
They had just finished belting out a most excellent version of Total Eclipse of the Heart together and Jinki collapsed, breathless and laughing, on the seats. Minho fell almost on top of him as he sat too, laughing just as hard.
“Air,” Jinki gasped, trying vainly to catch his breath. “I can't breathe, oh god. It hurts.”
Minho could only make wordless sounds in agreement, and it was only then that Jinki realised Minho had hold of his arm as he sat there, laughing. Casually, as if it was nothing. Jinki could feel his heart leap into his throat.
“You are surprisingly good at eighties power ballads,” Minho managed, the laughter still on his face as he looked down at Jinki. “Who would have known?”
“Why thank you,” Jinki replied, grinning, trying to push his heart back where it belonged. “It's my secret weapon.”
Minho seemed to sober a little then, his expression turning more serious. “I'm having a really good time with you tonight.”
The honesty of the moment touched Jinki, and a small smile crept across his face. Minho still had hold of his arm. “Me too.” He bit down on his lower lip, trying to keep a stupid smile from spreading across his face. Minho gazed steadily into his face, and Jinki could feel himself almost beginning to unravel, unable to tear his own eyes away. He wondered then if Minho was going to kiss him. His heart was thumping loudly inside his chest, and he didn't even know what was happening in his stomach, with all the flips it was performing.
Minho's eyes fell to Jinki's lips, and he knew that Minho was definitely at least thinking about kissing him. Please, oh please, I bet you're amazing, he thought to himself.
Jinki watched then, as Minho's expression became distracted and he could feel the moment slipping away, almost tangibly, between his fingers. “We're missing the song,” Minho said, looking thoughtful for a moment. “What did you pick, anyway?”
He tried not to let his disappointment show. “Backstreet Boys,” he mumbled, sitting up a little. He couldn't help but wonder what had stopped Minho, Jinki hadn't done anything stupid, embarrassing, or wrong in those five seconds of almost-kissing.
Well, nothing could have gone too wrong, Jinki amended a moment later, as Minho laughed and offered Jinki a hand to help him up, before handing him his microphone back. “Killer set list you've put together tonight,” he teased.
Jinki nudged Minho with his shoulder. “Just wait till we get to your songs, I saw what you were looking at.” A teasing smile of his own curved his lips, as he began to sing quietly, “You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen.”
The rest of the evening passed enjoyably, and almost too soon it seemed, Minho was walking Jinki back to his place. Minho wasn't particularly overt, but sometimes their shoulders touched, and every time they crossed the street or turned a corner, Jinki could feel the warm press of Minho's hand against the small of his back, and even that was enough to send his stomach flip flopping.
It reminded him of something he was curious about. “You know,” he started, glancing briefly over at Minho, “I'm still surprised you wanted to go out with me. I mean,” he continued quickly, “you didn't really give off any hints, before. That's why it's a surprise.”
Minho looked at him, a small smile on his face. “Well, I hadn't really decided until that day I came to see you at work. You're pretty hard to pin down, you know,” he added, laughing a little. “I had to keep following you to the bar just to get to talk to you a bit. Otherwise you're just hiding behind your friends.”
Jinki ducked his head, feeling a little bashful. “Oh, well.” He felt fingers curl loosely around his wrist, and looked up into Minho's face; he was just smiling at Jinki, but he didn't really need to say anything else in that moment, and he felt his heart swell. “Well, then.”
Moments later, and they were at Jinki's apartment building; too soon, he thought, much too soon, but he hoped that the success of this date would lead to more.
“Thank you for tonight,” Jinki said, as they stood outside the door. “I had a really good time.” He looked up at Minho, smiling softly.
“Yeah, me too,” Minho said, matching his smile. His fingers still held Jinki's wrist, and he moved to entwine their fingers. “Would you like to repeat the experience, sometime soon?”
“Definitely.”
Jinki could feel his heart almost trying to beat its way out of his chest, as Minho looked at him with that unwavering gaze. He really, really wanted a kiss, and he didn't want Minho to have a change of heart, like earlier. So Jinki decided, quite suddenly, to take matters into his own hands. After all, how dare Minho decide he didn't want to kiss him, without even kissing him first!
“To hell with it,” he mumbled, psyching himself up. And before words could follow Minho's puzzled frown, Jinki reached out, wrapping a hand around the back of Minho's neck and drawing their faces closer together until their lips met. Jinki's aim was a little off, his lips pressed to the corner of Minho's mouth, but he quickly adjusted this, and then Jinki was kissing Minho with every fibre of his being, with every beat of his heart. If it was the only kiss he might ever have, he was making sure it was a good one.
It only took Minho a moment to respond, and then he was sliding his free arm around Jinki's waist, leaning in closer, kissing him breathless. His hand was warm against Jinki's back, fingers clutching at the fabric of his light jacket. This, Jinki definitely took for a good response. And then he stopped thinking, because with the way he was kissing, and being kissed, he could feel his head spinning.
An involuntary sound escaped Jinki when Minho pulled away and he blinked, trying to regain himself. All he could do was stare up at Minho, and he was certain there was an idiotic look upon his face, but as Minho was smiling at him Jinki didn't think it was a big deal.
“Okay, well, um, thank you, for tonight,” Jinki babbled, still smiling up at Minho. He regretted the loss of heat as soon as he pulled further away. “I had a great time. I'll speak to you soon?”
“Yeah, I'll call you.”
“Okay, great. That would be great. I look forward to it, it'll be great.” He turned to step inside the building, and then smacked his face into the still-closed door, not realising he hadn't opened it yet. Jinki spun towards Minho again, one hand clutching at his nose. “I'm fine!” He assured, a bit too emphatically. “I'm fine, no damage, all is good. You didn't see anything, nothing happening here.” Now this really was an embarrassing way to end the night, and after he'd given Minho such a great kiss, as well.
“Are you sure?” Minho leaned forward, his face looking a mixture between concerned and amused. He reached out and gently pulled Jinki's hand away, so he could see. “You're not bleeding, and I don't see any marks.”
Jinki nodded, and then realised that that was a bad idea. “It hardly even hurts. Really, I'm fine.”
“Okay.” Minho took a step back. “Are you ready to try again?” He asked, but Jinki found that he didn't really mind Minho's gentle teasing, much.
Jinki glared, in a poor approximation of annoyance, and managed to get the door to the building open easily, and without further incident. “I'm not as stupid as you think I am,” he declared.
“I don't think you're stupid at all,” Minho replied, looking serious for about a second, “I just think you're endearingly clumsy sometimes.”
Jinki was torn between wanting to laugh, glare some more, or get the butterflies in his stomach excited, because Minho thought he was endearing. “I'll be fine now,” he said, settling for none of those. “I'll speak to you soon.”
Minho smiled, and this time it was warm, and without humour. “Goodnight.”
Jinki gave him a silly little wave, before closing the door behind himself. All the way upstairs he felt as if he was floating, he was so happy and giddy from probably the best first date he had ever had. He knew he was grinning stupidly, and he knew Kibum was going to make fun as soon as he saw Jinki's face, but in that moment he didn't care about anything except the feeling that was welling up within him.
**
The second date went better than the first, and the third went even better than that. Jinki was learning so much more about Minho during these dates, before all he had known was where he worked, how he met Jonghyun, and the sad state of his love life. He found out that Minho was really into soccer, his favourite team was Arsenal (this meant nothing to Jinki, he had no idea what an Arsenal was), his favourite colour was blue, he liked kids, and he liked dogs more than he liked cats. He also found out, to his surprise, that Minho was currently studying sports science at college.
Jinki never really asked Minho about his work, because Minho himself never brought it up and Jinki wasn't sure what to even say about it; how was work, did you get many tips, how many of those rippable trousers do you get through in a month? But he'd asked how work had been, during one of those dates, and Minho had told him about it.
“I just sort of fell into it, I suppose. But it's reliable work, and I get a nice bit of money from it.” Jinki remembered the way Minho had leant forward, his gaze steady on Jinki's face, a slight curve to his lips. “And, you know, there's something about knowing how attractive you are to people.” And then Minho had gone on to tell Jinki about his studies, and how when he graduated next year he was going to find work doing something he really enjoyed doing.
Minho was so open and forthcoming, willing to talk about himself, easy to talk to and he didn't seem to play games. Jinki appreciated that because he wasn't very good at games, but Minho didn't really hide what he was feeling and Jinki didn't have to guess. It was refreshing, and it was comfortable.
Their fourth date turned out to be a lot more fun than Jinki had expected. Minho had taken him rollerblading, which had seemed like a terrible idea to Jinki at first, because really, he was quite likely to break a bone if forced to move around on a single row of small, rolling wheels. To his surprise, and delight, he only fell over three times and had no serious injuries, and a lot more fun than he expected. There was something exhilarating about gliding down the street at a fast pace, wind in his hair, laughing with Minho. Of course, Minho had won in the impromptu little race he had instigated (and that was how Jinki had fallen over the third time) but it had been fun all the same, and Jinki didn't mind Minho winning things if the large, excited smile on his face was always a result of that.
It was after dinner, at one of Jinki's favourite places to eat, as they walked casually through the slowly darkening streets that Minho surprised him.
“Do you,” he began, glancing briefly at Jinki, and he would have thought Minho actually looked a little nervous, if he thought Minho was capable of feeling nervous in the first place, “do you want to come back to my place for a bit?”
Minho's hand was warm against his elbow, and Jinki felt as if his heart was beating unusually heavy, inside his chest. “Oh,” he said, blinking up at Minho, surprised, pleased, and suddenly anxious. “Yes? Yes, I mean yes, I'd like that.” He smiled, trying to sound more decisive, because he was goddamnit, he was.
Minho returned the smile, seeming pleased.
It didn't take long to get to Minho's apartment, and Jinki was full of curiosity, excitement, and wonder, as Minho lead him inside.
“Would you like something to drink?” Minho asked, slipping his shoes off and moving further into the apartment, with all the easy comfort of being inside his own home.
“Yes, please.” Jinki came through slowly, looking around. So far from what he saw the place was very neat and tidy, and there were enough personal items and things on display that gave it a lived in, homey feeling.
“I'll be back in a few minutes. Have a look around, make yourself at home,” Minho offered, smiling, before vanishing into another room.
Jinki was left to his own devices, and slowly moved around the living area, looking at the few pictures Minho had and trying to learn more about him from his belongings. He wandered into the hall, and peeked in through a half open door into what looked to be Minho's bedroom. A thought popped up into Jinki's mind then, and he was suddenly gripped by the strongest feeling of curiosity to ever hit him. He wanted to see Minho's work costumes.
He listened for a minute and heard what seemed to be general kitchen sounds, or tidying up sounds. He would just have a peek, he decided, a tiny, quick little peek, to satisfy this sudden and burning curiosity that had gripped him. And part of the reason wasn't because Jinki wanted aid with imagining Minho in various outfits, at all.
Jinki stepped into the room, but before he could even reach the closet, he knew he couldn't do it. It was too invasive, and Minho was pretty open about everything, Jinki was sure if he asked then Minho would show him. It was as he was about to give in to his conscience and go find Minho that Jinki heard his name being called, and before he could do anything Minho was in the doorway.
“Ah, here you are. What are you doing?” Minho didn't seem annoyed, merely bemused.
Jinki, trying to look completely innocent of anything (and especially innocent of impure thoughts) shook his head. “What, nothing. I was just looking around. Why would I be up to something?”
“You look guilty,” Minho said, pointedly. “Is this when I find out that you're a creep who steals peoples underwear, or something?” There was that teasing edge to Minho's mouth, as he levelled his gaze at Jinki.
Jinki fidgeted, and was very unwilling to be thought of as a creep. He hadn't actually done anything, and wasn't going to anyway! “No, I'm not a creep! I was just admiring your place. You have a nice apartment. It's very clean.”
“Thank you. But why do you look so guilty?”
Jinki sighed, resigned. “I wasn't going to, or anything, really,” he started, trying to put as much sincerity into this truth as he could, “I was just curious.” Minho raised an eyebrow, waiting for the rest, and Jinki added, “I just...I just wondered if you, uh, kept your work, um, uniforms here.” He looked away, trying to will any warmth out of his cheeks.
Minho's laughter made Jinki look up again, and relief swept through him at this reaction, even if it was at his expense, it was better than Minho thinking he was a creep, or weird, or something. He moved over to the closet, slid the door open, and pulled some of the clothes forward so that Jinki could see. Minho nodded, when Jinki moved to have a closer look, a smile on his face.
Jinki looked slowly through the costumes on display, and at the front was the only one he'd seen Minho in so far, his police officer's uniform. As he looked he also found a fireman, a doctor, and what looked to be a French revolutionary soldier. “Oh, wow,” he said, turning to look over at Minho briefly. “Are the Cowboy and the Biker in here too?” he asked.
Minho made a face. “Nice. The fireman is usually the most popular,” he said, moving to slide the costumes back when Jinki was done looking at them. “But the soldier is my favourite.”
Jinki hummed thoughtfully, biting down on his lower lip, before smiling up at Minho. “The cop is my favourite,” he admitted, quite boldly for him.
“You've only seen the cop, it doesn't count.”
He didn't realise he'd stepped forward, until he noticed how close it had brought them now, and Jinki was almost certain he could feel the warmth coming from Minho's body, they were stood so near. It made the breath catch in his throat. “Does that,” he said, and he kept his gaze focused on Minho's, a little smile on his face. He didn't feel like he was very good at this, but Minho wasn't laughing so that was a good sign, he thought. “Does that mean you'll model them for me, sometime?”
Jinki very nearly jumped when he felt Minho's hand against his hip, but he was too preoccupied by how close Minho's face seemed to be then, and how obscenely attractive he was. “If you'd like that,” he answered, and the low tone of Minho's voice sent a shiver down Jinki's spine.
He licked his lips, his mouth suddenly felt dry. “I would. I would like that.”
“Okay.”
Cool fingers slid across Jinki's neck, raising goosebumps in their wake. “I was thinking,” Minho murmured, his fingers curling in the hair at the nape of Jinki's neck, “of adding a cowboy costume to the mix.”
They were so close. Jinki was sure Minho could hear the furious beating of his heart, it was so loud in his own ears. “You should,” Jinki answered. His fingers curled into the fabric of Minho's shirt. “The boots.” Coherency wasn't much of an option for Jinki in that moment, but he really didn't care.
Minho smiled at that, as if he understood completely - and he probably did. He leant down then, closing the distance between them, pulling Jinki close as he kissed him. All the breath left Jinki's body, or it felt as if it did. This, he decided, as one of Minho's hands slipped into his back pocket, was the best date yet.
**
Jinki had no idea what he was possibly letting himself in for, when he'd attempted to be flirty with Minho. It would take him a little while to really discover this, as well.
The evening was growing, and Jinki was still at work. He'd let Taemin go home a little while ago and he was considering closing up soon for the day, as custom had definitely slowed down now. It was only as he began to tidy up that Jinki noticed Minho, leaning casually up against a street lamp across the street, an amused smile on his face. Jinki gaped in surprise, before gesturing for Minho to come over. He liked to surprise Jinki after work sometimes, and every time Minho did it made him giddy with joy.
It was only as Jinki watched Minho cross the street that he realised - Minho was wearing the boots, the tall, dark, boots that Jinki thought were only for work. He looked good, he looked great, ridiculously attractive, actually, and the boots went with the rest of his outfit, but still, Jinki was a little surprised as they weren't a part of Minho's normal outfits.
Jinki beamed, and gave a little wave as Minho came up to him. “Don't tell me you've been there for ages and I haven't noticed you,” Jinki began. Without even thinking, he grabbed a small cup and started to fill it with the nearest flavour of ice cream to hand.
“Only an hour,” Minho said, with a shrug and a smile.
“No!” Jinki looked aghast, until reasoning caught up to him. He frowned, “You're joking.”
Minho took the offered ice cream, grinning. “Five minutes,” he answered, truthfully this time. “Felt like a long five minutes though.” He dug into the ice cream, making a sound of approval as he ate. “This is really good, what flavour is this?”
Jinki, straight faced, answered, “Me.”
Minho blanched, surprised, staring with one eyebrow raised until Jinki dissolved into a silly little laughing fit. Apparently, he was the only one who got the joke.
“Peaches and cream. It's good, right? It's been popular so far this summer.”
After a moment spent savouring the ice cream, Minho spoke up. “Are you busy after work?”
“Tonight?” Jinki shook his head, “no, not at all. I mean, I did have some important plans involving myself and the couch and some relaxing, but I think the couch will understand.”
Minho smiled. “Good. I'll pick you up in an hour?”
Jinki nodded, unable to hide the probably goofy smile he could feel filling his face. “Sure.”
**
Evenings out together had become much more enjoyable to Jinki as of late, and he was certain that this enjoyment correlated with Minho's presence amongst their company. It did wonders for Jinki's mood, and his confidence, to be dating someone as disgustingly handsome as Minho, who was sexy for a living, how many people could claim that? Kibum certainly couldn't.
Jinki didn't realise he was looking around expectantly, until he saw Minho coming through the crowd, a head above most of the people in the room. He waved, a little too enthusiastically as Taemin's cry of pain attested to, and gestured at their table. A smile unfolded on Minho's face as he saw them, and after a moment it settled on Jinki, warming him through and through.
It was as Minho came around to Jinki's side to sit down that he noticed, because of course Jinki was appreciating Minho and how he looked, and how long his legs were, and he saw that again Minho was wearing those boots, the ones from his cop costume. Perhaps it was a new exploration in personal style, for Minho, but Jinki could feel his mouth growing dry. Why did he have to have an apparent weakness for tall, sexy boots on tall, sexy men.
“Hi,” he said quietly, warmly, turning to face Minho.
“Hello,” Minho said, smiling. His hand moved to rest at the small of Jinki's back, warm, his fingers sometimes stroking in slow circles through the fabric of Jinki's shirt; his hand would be there for most of the evening, and Jinki would spend most of that time trying not to be hyper aware of it. He would also spend a large part of the evening trying not to stare at Minho's legs, in those boots; he would fail at them all.
**
“Oh my god,” Jinki exclaimed, loudly, “are you trying to drive me crazy? You are, aren't you, Choi Minho.”
Minho, who had only opened the door, looked momentarily surprised by this outburst. He ushered Jinki inside, before his despondent wailing could disturb the neighbours. “What are you talking about?” He asked, puzzled.
As Jinki moved to take his shoes off he noticed them, sitting right there, ready to be put on, the boots. Minho had worn them again when they'd gone out the other night. Jinki had watched, a lump in his throat and heat in his chest, as Minho had slipped into them, as if wearing them were the most natural thing in the world.
“Those,” he said, pointing wildly, and not at all in the direction of the boots themselves. “Those boots! You keep wearing them, every time I see you. You are going to drive me crazy.”
“Oh.” The confusion was gone from Minho's face, and all that was left was a teasing little grin, playful, and that made Jinki's heart thump. “I was wondering when you were going to crack.”
Jinki stared up at him in disbelief. “So you were doing this to me on purpose.”
Minho nodded, his smile widening. “Of course.”
Jinki pouted, feeling very toyed with.
“Oh, come on,” Minho said, reaching out and taking hold of Jinki's arm. “It was fun seeing you get all flustered when you noticed. And I like it.”
Jinki let himself be pulled towards Minho, even if he was still trying to feign annoyance. “Like what?” he asked, before he realised he probably shouldn't be feeding whatever Minho was grinning about, because he still had that maddeningly sexy grin on his stupidly handsome face.
“Knowing that you find me sexy.”
“O-oh. Well...” Jinki looked away, because Minho's gaze was going to fluster him, he could tell, by the way his face was already starting to feel hot. “Well, who wouldn't find you sexy,” he added, trying for casual. “I mean, have you seen you? You're all tall, and good looking, and stuff.”
“And stuff?” The lilt to Minho's voice made Jinki look up, and it was a mistake. Minho's face was inches away, and there was a hand resting against Jinki's hip, fingers stroking softly.
“Stop it,” Jinki whispered, his throat thick. His heart was racing.
Minho thread the fingers of his other hand through Jinki's hair. “Stop what?” His gaze dropped to Jinki's mouth.
“Being annoyingly sexy.”
Minho's breath was warm against Jinki's neck, and he tried to stifle a sigh. He wound an arm around Minho's back, fingers pressing into his shoulder.
“But it's my job.” There was a goddamn grin in Minho's voice, and Jinki slid his eyes closed as warm lips met his neck, scattering kisses over his skin. He could feel the blood pulsing hotly through his body. “And it's fun,” he added, his tongue exploring the length of Jinki's neck, slowly, and thoroughly. Jinki's fingers twisted into the fabric of Minho's shirt.
“Well,” Jinki murmured, and thoughts were becoming increasingly difficult to voice, and much less important than a moment ago. He looped his other arm around Minho's waist, drawing them closer. “Fine. That's fine.”
“Jinki,” Minho said, pulling away briefly to look him in the eye. “Please, stop talking now.”
Jinki would have huffed and pretended to be annoyed again, but Minho slid a hand down Jinki's back, rested on the curve of his ass, and squeezed. A small noise escaped Jinki, and then Minho kissed him, removing any desire to carry on talking.
**
“So, what movie do you want to see?” Jinki was lying sprawled comfortably across Minho's couch, phone in hand as he looked up the local cinema listings for that evening. He was at Minho's place half as much as at his own place these days, and he felt comfortable there. “There's some dumb action film out at the moment, if you like. Though why on earth you like those films is beyond me, I'd much rather see something with an actual story, but there's no accounting for taste.”
“My taste,” Minho called out, from wherever in the apartment he had disappeared to, “accounts for you.”
Jinki gasped. “That was low! What are you saying?”
There was no answer and Jinki huffed, returning his attention to his phone again. Kibum was texting him, something about how he had broken one of Jinki's plates but not to worry, he'd replaced it with a Harry Potter themed plate. Jinki had texted back that he was going to break that new plate over Kibum's head, to which Kibum texted back with: :'(
“Jinki, could you come here for a minute?” Minho called.
He was happy to have an excuse to ignore any of Kibum's ridiculous text messages, and made his way down the hall. “Where are you?”
“In the bedroom.”
When Jinki stepped through, Minho wasn't to be seen. The lights were low, and there was music playing, music with a filthy club beat.
“I'll be right there, just sit down for a minute.”
Jinki, confused, saw the chair in the middle of the room, and sat down. “What are you doing? Are we going out or not?”
There was a noise and then Minho walked in, and Jinki felt the breath just leave his body. Minho stood there, dressed fully in his police officer's costume. His trousers were ridiculously tight, almost painted on, and the boots hugged his legs almost to his knees. Jinki looked up, and he could feel his face flushing. Minho's eyes were dark, his face set with an almost predatory look.
It clicked then, for Jinki. The chair, the dirty dance music, the costume. He wanted to die.
“Oh, god, you're not?” He shook his head, and his chest felt like it was shrinking around his erratically racing heart. “You're not really, are you?”
Minho only answered with a smile, that teasing, playful little smile that drove Jinki crazy. And then he stepped forward in one smooth motion. His gaze was heated, and it never left Jinki's face as he began to dance. Minho's moves were fluid, natural, and he seemed effortlessly sexy, as he danced to the music.
“Oh, you are. You are giving me a lap dance. You are giving me a lap dance, in your police officer's uniform. Okay.”
The blood was pounding in Jinki's head, his face was hot, and he didn't know what to do or where to look. This reminded him, very forcefully, of the only time he'd seen Minho at work, how flustered he had been then to watch this happen. And now it was happening again, but just for him, and Minho was so close as he danced, leaning into his space, dropping a hand onto his shoulder or pressing fingers against his thigh as he moved around Jinki.
“This is, um. This is very interesting,” Jinki said, struggling with trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. But he couldn't take his eyes off Minho, off the way he moved, the look on his face, his legs in those boots. His tongue felt thick in his mouth.
And then in one fluid movement Minho was sitting on Jinki's lap, straddling him, and those trousers really were very, very tight. Minho was close, and he was still moving to the music, and Jinki could do nothing but sit there and look at him, slowly dying inside. He couldn't believe this was happening, and that this was happening to him, that he had a lap full of tall, sexy, writhing Minho.
His hands went to Minho's thighs, because they were right there, and he couldn't not touch Minho, even as flustered as he still felt.
“You're very good at this,” Jinki murmured, pushing his voice through his dry mouth. He looked up into Minho's face, and was unable to tear his gaze away. That little, self-satisfied smile hovered teasingly at Minho's mouth.
With an arm draped loosely around Jinki's shoulders, Minho leaned in close. “I know.”
Minho grinded his hips against Jinki's, and he let out a gasp, his head spinning with the heat, with the music, and with Minho.
It was the single best night of Jinki's life.
-*-