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“and love will tell you, you are beautiful, and mean it. over and over again.”
***
"Bin." His own name is the first thing Bin hears every morning, they pull him from his favourite pastime no matter how many times Bin throws out excuses to get up later. The first few seconds of Bin's day are the worst, made slightly better by Dongmin's presence, sure, but still the worst. He hates the way tiredness clings to him as his eyes blink open, hates that the light hurts to look at, hates waking up in general if he's being honest, preferring to stay in bed well into the afternoon when he can.
"Binnie, it's time to wake up," Dongmin mumbles softly, gently shaking Bin's shoulder until he finally flutters his eyes open. He turns away from Dongmin with a groan, pulling the covers over his head and tightly gripping them as he shuts his eyes once again.
Bin knows it's pretty childish to argue about getting out of bed in the morning, however he's also aware of the fact that it's a Sunday and Dongmin's insistence to pull him out of bed anytime before 2:00pm is wildly unnecessary.
"Binnie." This time his name is more of a whine, he can hear the slight pout he knows is playing on his boyfriend's lips but nevertheless refuses to make any effort to get up, only hums out a question of what before beginning to drift back off slightly.
"I want to go for breakfast like we talked about last night," his pleading voice is nearly as good as Sanha's and Bin wishes he was as good as Minhyuk at turning it down.
"But Min, I want to sleep in," he protests in reply, turning over only to cuddle himself against Dongmin, "Plus, I look really bad right now because we were up late." His cheeks flush slightly red at his own words, still just this side of embarrassed when it comes to that half of his relationship and fully aware of the fact that him and Dongmin are both still without a shirt, and that the heart-shaped, purple bruise sitting just below his boyfriend's collarbone hadn't come out of nowhere.
He's pretty sure Dongmin's cheeks are just as red, not that he's opened his eyes long enough to check, but he knows him pretty well and can only assume. Instead Dongmin pushes the covers off Bin's unsuspecting body, causing him to shriek and finally open his eyes at the blast of cold air which suddenly hits him, "First of all, you promised me we'd go for breakfast today so we're going. And second of all, don't say you're ugly, you are beautiful, Binnie."
"Stop it."
"No, you are beautiful. I'll tell you that every day if I have to, don't test me Moon Bin."
"I love you." Bin presses a quick kiss to his lips before sliding out of bed, beginning to get ready for the breakfast he promised Dongmin they would go to.
***
Dongmin hadn't had a worse day in a long time.
To start his day, he couldn't find the suit for his research program interview for his graduate study, leaving him to use one of Bin's instead. Not that they were worse in any way, they just weren't his suit, which he could've sworn he had laid out the night before but somehow had still gone missing.
Then, he'd completely forgotten his application forms and mandatory paper, which he had been working on for nearly a month now in preparation for the interview. Luckily, the interviewer had been nice enough to let him reprint everything there, clearly able to tell that he wasn't having a good morning.
The interview itself was going great after that, up until Dongmin somehow managed to spill his coffee all over the woman interviewing him, only to make the accident better by trying to clean it up for her. (Fun fact: She didn't seem to appreciate his hands on her chest, even if it was just with napkins in an attempt to help.)
He had left the interview after that, apologizing profusely for his many mess-ups and just about ready to cry.
He didn't, though, at least not yet because apparently his day could get worse.
On his way to the bus stop it began pouring rain, and Dongmin had forgotten his umbrella. A car drove by, and in full movie fashion, sprayed the water puddled on the side of the road all over him somehow. By that point, he had completely given up on having a good day; deciding instead to just rush home and try to get to work on time.
Of course, that would make his day better, which wasn't an option because instead, the bus was 15 minutes late making Dongmin have to run to his apartment, giving him no time to shower and instead show up to work still 10 minutes late and looking like he'd been run through the mud. (Which really, he may have been for all he knows because he isn't exactly sure what was in that puddle.)
He had unintentionally mixed up seven different orders in his three hour shift, broke two glasses, and accidentally made a little girl cry by knocking her doll off it's chair.
By the time he got home, he had nearly cried on about four different occasions, and was ready to crawl into bed and not think about anything at all except how bad his day had been. To top things off, Bin had texted him that he was working late at the studio on something with Minhyuk, meaning Dongmin was left alone and to his own devices until his boyfriend returned to their apartment.
At 10:53, as Dongmin is sitting on the couch staring blankly at the wall, trying to figure out why his day had gone so wrong; Bin walks in the door. Immediately, he knows something is wrong, specifically because he knows his boyfriend much to well that he only sits on the couch not watching a drama when something is actively wrong.
"What's going on, babe?" He places his keys down on the table as he speaks, listening carefully for whatever Dongmin might say. He expects a response of being annoyed Bin had to work late (he'd been doing it a lot lately), maybe he'd had to deal with a rude customer at work, or maybe his interview hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped.
What Bin doesn't expect, is his boyfriend to simply start crying, hard; tears slipping down his cheeks and hands raising to his cheeks to wipe them away.
Bin sits down next to him on the couch, pulling the older boy into his chest and rubbing his back, pressing light kisses to the side of his head, "What's going on? What happened? Who do I need to fight?"
"The world."
"Bad day?"
"I don't even wanna talk about how bad." Dongmin's breaths even out slightly, tears beginning to subside after being welled up in his eyes almost all day.
"It's alright, Min, everyone has bad days sometimes. It'll be alright."
"Binnie, I probably blew my chances for the getting into the research program, I ruined your suit by getting caught in the rain and splashed on by a car, I was late to work, I mixed up a bunch of orders, broke two glasses, made a little girl cry, and I'm pretty sure there was mud in my hair until I got home."
"And you know what Dongmin?"
Dongmin pauses, looking over at his boyfriend through his tears, swiping at his cheeks and nose as he does, "Hmm?"
"You're still alright. The sun is still gonna rise in the morning and the moon will fade away into the morning sky. You're still gonna go to work and do a damn good job at your job, and you still might get into that research program, you're most definitely the best applicant they have, one bad interview isn't going to change that, Min. You're still gonna have the world's best boyfriend," Bin pauses as Dongmin laughs at that, "and you're still gonna be the most beautiful man- no, person, I've ever laid eyes on."
Dongmin allows Bin to wipe his tears, quickly pressing a kiss to Bin's lips. "You're right. You're right, Binnie, I don't know what I was thinking. It's just a bad day, it isn't a bad life."
"Exactly!"
"Although you're wrong about me being the most beautiful person you've laid eyes on, I'm really not tha-"
"Lee Dongmin!" Bin cuts him off quickly, speaking loudly despite the fact that they're right beside each other, "Lee Dongmin you are beautiful, you are so beautiful that even the stars look down and are jealous of your beauty, okay?"
Dongmin laughs again, leaning into Bin's offered embrace and tucking his face into Bin's neck, leaving quick kisses along it as he does. "The stars, hmm?"
"Yes, Dongmin, the stars."
"I love you," he mumbles against Bin's skin, presses another kiss to his neck, "I'm so glad I have you, Binnie."
"I love you too, Min; so so much. Now c'mon, let's get you and your muddy hair to bed."
"Shut up," he pushes at Bin's shoulder as they stand, nearly causing the younger boy to lose his balance.
It's domestic, and distracting, and everything he needs after a particularly bad day; Bin is everything he needs after a bad day.
***
"This looks so bad, Min," Bin groans as he looks in the mirror, complaining for the millionth time about the outfits his boss at the studio chose for one of his classes.
Dongmin laughs lightly, trying to keep it to himself as best he can. The outfit really is terrible, not just on Bin; Bin wearing it actually makes it look better in Dongmin's opinion. No, the outfit, from an objective perspective, truly does suck, and Dongmin isn't exactly sure what possessed Bin's boss to actually buy it.
"Are you laughing at me? Quit laughing. Dongmin," he pauses for a second as the older boy continues to laugh, "Babe." The word is meant to be said mainly in annoyance but the slightly joking lilt to Bin's voice lets Dongmin know he isn't really too annoyed.
Bin begins to laugh with him after a moment, falling to the bed beside him as they both collapse into fits of giggles.
"Jeez," Bin groans out after a while, "Who in their right mind would have ever chosen these?"
Dongmin laughs once more, "I honestly couldn't tell you."
Bin sighs, "Minhyuk hates them even more than I do, he nearly threw a fit when we were handed them." Bin laughs then, "Min you should've seen his face like, you know that one he gets when he's annoyed with me? It was like that one times a million."
Dongmin laughs along with him, both of them falling into fits of giggles once more.
"Oh God wait until Jinwoo sees these, he's never gonna let me or Minhyuk live this down."
Dongmin smiles once more, "You know, Bin, you're really beautiful; even in that."
"Shut up Min, seriously, shut up I will actually fight you right now." Bin pushes at his boyfriend's shoulder, causing the older boy to laugh as Bin begins taking the outfit off, sliding his own clothes back on.
"No, seriously," Dongmin defends, "Even in that ridiculous outfit you still manage to look good, Binnie."
Bin scoffs once more as he hops around pulling on his pants, "Listen Lee Dongmin, not even you, an actual angel could pull this off okay?"
Dongmin just shakes his head, slightly unamused as Bin mutters his next sentence, "I don't wanna hear how beautiful I am while wearing this terribly ugly outfit."
Dongmin hums, "Well now that you're out of it can I tell you?"
Bin finishes shrugging his shirt on, leaning down to press a kiss to Dongmin's lips, "Sure. Now you can tell me how beautiful I am."
He laughs in response to Bin's words, tugging on his shirt to pull him down for a few more kisses, mumbling out that he's beautiful between each one. It's loving and romantic and Bin wouldn't exchange it for the world; wouldn't exchange Dongmin for the world.
***
The words are exchanged more often than not, one of a million substitutes for I love you's between Bin and Dongmin. A "you look beautiful" thrown out before Bin leaves for the studio, all messy hair and glasses and sweatpants; his bag thrown over his shoulder as he steps out the door. One said when Dongmin gets the call back that he'd been accepted for the program placement, all smiles and a few tears, top of his shirt unbuttoned as he'd just walked in the door from work and had begun taking it off as he got the call.
They're mumbled at their wedding, whispered as everyone takes their seats and heard only by each of them, all tuxedos and neatly styled hair, corsages pinned to jackets and silver cuff links fastened to sleeves. Another is said in a hospital room, all shaking hands and a small pink blanket, tired eyes and a baby girl in a cradle.
They're mumbled over and over again throughout their lives, each time changing the meaning in some way but still holding that same sentiment for each of them; continually synonymous with I love you, always known even when it isn't said, missed some days but not forgotten, never forgotten.
Dongmin and Bin aren't exactly sure if they'll ever stop telling one another they're beautiful, when each time will stop changing the meaning of them. What they do know is that they mean it wholeheartedly each and every time it's said, and that they don't particularly care about a changed meaning, as long as they're said for the rest of their lives.