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“Concept,” Bin said. His voice was like a shallow stream in the summer, warm and playfully cutting through the air to where Dongmin laid beside him in the grass. The sun was beating down on them, just over the line of too hot.
Dongmin rolled his head so that he could look at Bin.
Bin was summer personified, lying on his back with his face up towards the sky, eyes closed as he soaked in the sun’s rays. His bright blue tank top showed off tanned arms, muscled from years of dance and playing outdoors. His hair was pushed off his forehead messily by the wind, ruffled and messy. The sun made the brown dye turn almost auburn.
“What’s that?” Dongmin finally asked. The slowness of the summer heat had crept into him, settling in his body and making every moment seem to stretch to an eternity.
Eyes still closed, Bin’s lips turned up in a smile that the sky could not appreciate. “One day we move in together.”
Dongmin’s grin grew slowly. Reaching over, he intertwined his and Bin’s hands even though it was far too warm for any type of physical contact. “Good concept,” he said, and when Bin finally turned his head to look at him, his smile burned brighter than any summer sun.
“Concept,” Dongmin said. He could barely hear his own voice over Bin’s gagging. Coughs came in short bursts as he finished throwing up, and there was a thump as he collapsed against the alley wall next to Dongmin.
Bin was autumn now- older than the summer boy Dongmin had known in high school. Instead, he was rough around the edges, with his eyeliner and ripped up jacket. Unforgiving coolness had radiated off of him in the bar they had just gotten thrown out of for Bin starting a drunken fight. But the warmth of old stayed in him in the way he gently rubbed the back of Dongmin’s hand, clasped loosely.
Pulling his hand out of Bin’s grasp, Dongmin reached up and wiped a bit of blood trailing down from Bin’s eyebrow, his thumb coming back scarlet like the falling leaves.
Head tipped back to rest against the bricks, Bin closed his eyes. “Concept?” he repeated back to Dongmin, and his voice was rough, rough like the smoke that billowed up from bonfires and came with the smell of grilling meat and roasted marshmallows.
Dongmin wrapped an arm around Bin’s waist, pulling him into his side and resting his head on Bin’s shoulders. “One day we move in together,” he said, and paused. A rumbled hum of agreement made its way from Bin’s chest to Dongmin’s ear. “We’ll get a small apartment and decorate it with plants,” Dongmin continued, and he could feel Bin slowly relaxing into his side.
Dongmin let them sit in the alleyway for a little while longer, but the briskness of autumn invaded his bones. He stood and helped Bin up, but before Dongmin could herd them back towards campus and their separate university dorms, Bin stopped him with his hands gripped tight around Dongmin’s forearms.
The way that Bin smiled softly at him was like the glow of the last embers of the previously raging bonfire. “That’s a good concept,” he said, and Dongmin could only smile as he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Bin’s forehead.
“Concept.” Bin said. His voice crackled over the phone, like the popping of wood in a fireplace to chase away winter’s chill.
Dongmin rolled in his bed, and the empty space, though it had never been filled before, was cold like the winds that cut straight through a jacket and into your body. Bin’s military service stretched out before him like a snow-covered field, unending and without color.
“Minnie,” Bin said, and this time his voice was warm like the hot chocolate you drank after playing in the snow. “Concept.”
Successfully pulled away from the edge of crippling anxiety, Dongmin rolled to the other side of his bed and grabbed a pillow, tucking it against his chest. “What’s that?” he finally whispered into his phone. Winter’s chilly hand had wormed its way into his brain, making even the simplest of tasks hard to managed. Bin had taken all of winter’s charm with him to the military, where Dongmin was unable to see it.
He could hear, though, the smile in Bin’s voice. “One day we move in together,” Bin started. Dongmin’s heart flooded with warmth immediately, their age-old mantra like a beloved quilt that always kept you safe and warm, no matter how the winter winds may howl. “We’ll get a small apartment and decorate it with plants.” There was a moment of silence, and all Dongmin could hear was Bin’s breath. Then, whispered into the phone like he was avoiding eavesdroppers, “We’ll watch the sunset from our bed, and every night I will kiss you goodnight.”
Giddiness like Christmas morning crashed over Dongmin. “Good concept,” he said, imagining the warm press of lips against his cheek.
“Concept,” Dongmin said.
Bin looked up at him from where his head was pillowed on Dongmin’s chest. His face was as bright as spring, well rested and beautiful, painted with the bright colors of the sunset that poured through their large bedroom window. Drawn to him like a bee drawn to a flower, Dongmin ducked his face down and pressed his nose into Bin’s hair, leaving soft kisses on his scalp.
A contented hum was the loudest noise in their small apartment for a moment. The hum was followed by a sleepy murmur. “Concept?” Bin repeated, shuffling so that he was no longer on his back, instead, leaning on his side and facing Dongmin. His voice was like honey, smooth and soothing.
Dongmin smiled, shifting so that he matched Bin, dragging the sheets they had washed together that morning down a bit as he moved. On the bedside table, yellow flowers that Bin had brought with him home from work bloomed brightly. Dongmin took Bin’s hand in his, smoothing a thumb over the back of it.
“One day, we’ll move in together,” Dongmin said, and Bin’s smile was like the sun that came after a spring rain, soft and bright at the same time. Dongmin continued, his heart as light as spring’s gentle winds. “We’ll get a small apartment and decorate it with plants.”
Bin’s grin was delighted as he shuffled closer, close enough that it was more comfortable to unclasp hands and throw arms over one another’s waists. “We’ll watch the sunset from our bed, and every night I will kiss you goodnight,” Dongmin finished, tipping his head forward so that his forehead rested against Bin’s.
They were close enough that their breath mingled with every exhale. "That's a good concept," Bin said, and then tipped the rest of the way forward.
The kiss that followed was brighter than any spring day could hope to be.