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Minho has seen Seungmin with a guitar before — occasionally in the dorms, and more often in the videos he watches (preferably SKZ-TALKER’s). But it was just recently that Seungmin started to really get into learning the acoustic instrument.
It was subtle at first, Seungmin coming home later than usual but saying that it was because he spent more time on his vocal lessons.
None of them were really suspicious about it — but when Seungmin comes home and enters the room he shared with the other members, someone notices.
Minho wakes up groggily to the sound of the door being opened and closed, along with the soft sound of footsteps at the late (or was it considered as early? Minho doesn’t care.) hours of 2 am. He opens his curtain and sees Seungmin sitting on the floor, seemingly fiddling with his hands.
“What took you so long?” Minho asks, slightly startling Seungmin.
“Ah, I took extra time for vocal lessons again,” Seungmin says sheepishly. “Why are you awake?”
“Don’t change the subject, Kim Seungmin.” Minho squints at him. “What’s wrong with your hands?”
“Huh? What’s wrong with my hands?” Seungmin stammers. “Nothing, there’s nothing wrong with them. Why? Are you concerned?” he asks, smiling cheekily.
Minho only glares at him before he gets out of his bed and joins Seungmin on the floor. The younger silently watches as Minho scoots over and reaches out for his hands.
Oh, how gentle and delicate.
Seungmin was usually one who paid attention to what interested him — so why is it just now that he notices how small Minho’s hands are compared to his?
“Your hands are becoming rough,” Minho says, voice only nearly above a whisper.
The contrast of how calloused the pads of Seungmin’s fingers were to Minho’s soft, and gentle ones was there. And Seungmin couldn’t help but to be hyper aware of it.
“Be honest with me?” Minho asks so carefully as he looks up from their joined hands to look at Seungmin.
Seungmin takes in a deep breath at the sight of Minho’s concerned eyes looking directly at him, and lets it out slowly.
“I’ve been practicing playing the guitar,” Seungmin says as his fingers mindlessly fiddles with Minho’s.
“And you spent sleepless nights because of it?” Minho asks, still careful with his words, before he sighs. “You need to take care of yourself more, Kim Seungmin.” he says before he stands up to get something from the small storage they have near the beds on the left side.
He comes back holding what Seungmin could only assume was a small container of aloe vera gel and sits back down across him, before he starts ranting out (read: concerned scolding) while applying the gel on Seungmin’s hands.
“We can’t have you losing sleep. You should know that you being exhausted can affect your voice. Not only that, your sleep schedule is all messed up and that could lead to you becoming used to feeling awake at night and being sleepy or lousy in the morning, as well as your performance can get affected. Do you know how much losing sleep time can affect your health? You really should be aware of how—”
Seungmin squeezes his hands with his own, making Minho stop and look up at him.
“What?” Minho blurts out.
Seungmin only smiles and looks back at him with a knowing look. He doesn’t have to say anything. Minho knows that he knows.
And the way his face grows a soft shade of red even in the dim light gives it all away.
“Don’t speak.” Minho says, looking back down on their hands.
Seungmin’s smile only gets bigger as he watches Minho continue to take care of his hands.
Minho was never really open about what he feels, opting to do things for the members subtly rather than showing it off. Doing favors for them after acting like he ignored them, wordlessly taking care of them, etc.
But of course, when he gets found out, not only do his cheeks get stained with a soft pink or red, his whole body does. The pop of color travelling down all the way to his chest, and sometimes even appearing subtly on his hands.
So Seungmin keeps silent.
“That should be good,” Minho says as he pats Seungmin’s hands one last time before standing up and walking to where the aloe vera gel found home. “You should go to sleep now, Kim Seungmin.”
Seungmin looks at his hands mindlessly before standing up himself. He looks back and forth at his top bunk and at Minho, who still had his back turned towards him.
Minho flinches slightly when he feels a pair of arms wrap around his waist and a chin prop on his shoulder, but realizes that it was Seungmin.
“I told you to go to sleep, didn’t I?” Minho mumbles, subtly leaning into Seungmin’s embrace.
Seungmin only hums as he lingers there.
They stay like that for a while — only the soft snores of the other member (read: one (1) sleeping Hwang Hyunjin) along with their own soft breaths resonating in the room. Words weren’t spoken. They didn’t need to be.
Seungmin gives Minho a soft peck on the crook of his neck before pulling away. “Good night, hyung.”
Minho finally turns around to look up and see Seungmin already on his bunk, propped up on his elbow and looking down at him.
“Good night, Kim Seungmin.” Minho says, gaining a soft tired smile from Seungmin.
Days, weeks pass by. Only Minho really paid attention to how Seungmin’s hands were doing, and if the younger was taking care of himself properly.
Everytime Seungmin arrives back home late, he’s met with Minho dozing off on the couch, his small hands loosely holding that all-too-familiar container of gel.
And whenever he taps Minho awake, whatever sleep the older has in him bolts out of the window and he goes into his, what Jisung and Hyunjin call; “strict wife mode”, asking Seungmin how many breaks he took, how much water he drank, and so many more questions.
Seungmin appreciated it. Really.
So when he found out that he and Minho were gonna be alone in the dorm for a while — with the other members having their own schedules or just being out of their dorm — he decided to take a quick trip to the practice studio.
He walks into the room that he’s been spending more time in compared to in their dorm, and his eyes immediately travel to where his guitar case sat on one corner of the room.
He comes back to the dorm, guitar case in hand and strapped on his back, determination higher than ever.
He walks in and goes straight to their shared room, knowing that Minho was most likely just lounging around in there.
And he was right. Of course he was.
There Minho was, his figure peeking out behind his curtain and his face illuminated by the screen of his phone. He doesn’t seem to mind Seungmin coming inside, eyes still trained on his phone.
Only when he hears something thud against the floor does he peek his head out, and for the first time, sees the instrument that has been ruining Kim Seungmin’s sleep schedule.
“Are you gonna practice here?” Minho asks. “Because the others aren’t here?”
“No, I wanted to show you one of the songs I’ve learned.” Seungmin replies, lightly strumming the strings of his guitar before placing his gaze on Minho.
There it was.
That small stupid fond smile that Seungmin has reserved for only Minho to see. That stupid endeared look in his eyes, them having small stupid sparkles in them. That stupid rise of his cheeks that were caused by that stupid smile.
Minho knows his body is giving him away. It always does. But still, he acts like he isn’t anticipating whatever Seungmin will show him as he pulls his curtain to the side and gets out of his bunk, opting to sit across Seungmin on the floor.
Just like how they were on that night when Minho first began taking care of Seungmin’s hands.
“So? Will you show me your little performance or do I have to wait until the sun sets?” Minho asks, leaning back on his bed behind him and crossing his arms as if excitement wasn’t bubbling in his stomach.
“Okay, okay,” Seungmin chuckles. “I know you’re excited but let me go over the chords in my mind before I start playing.”
“Just get on with it.”
And get on with it did Seungmin do.
The song started off calm. It wasn’t a song that Minho was familiar with, but it sounded nice. This was nice.
It was when Seungmin started to sing did Minho realize that those lyrics weren’t just — lyrics. He doesn’t want to admit to it so he just continues to listen as Seungmin’s voice plays in the room along with the sound of the guitar.
Minho doesn’t even notice that Seungmin had already stopped playing.
“So,” Seungmin clears his throat. “How was that?”
Minho snaps out of whatever trance he was in and gives Seungmin a gaze that he thinks looks unaffected. But as always, that deep pop of color on his skin gives him away.
“It was decent,” Minho says, trying his best to hold back a smile.
But Seungmin sees right through him. He always does.
“I’m glad you liked it,” Seungmin smiled — that damned stupid smile.
Minho scoots over to where Seungmin was seated and looks directly into the younger’s eyes, trying to search for something.
It seems that he found what he needed because the next thing Seungmin knows, Minho’s leaning in to give him a soft peck on his nose.
“Care to teach me sometime?” Minho asks, a small smile forming on his lips, that all-too-familiar soft shade of red adorning his cheeks.
Seungmin’s well taken aback by everything and takes a while to process things — to process that Lee Minho gave him a small peck on his nose.
Oh.
“Only if I get another kiss,” Seungmin smiles cheekily. “One that isn’t on the nose.” he continued, tapping his lips and continuously raising his brows.
Minho returns the cheeky smile before he’s leaning in again, only to give Seungmin a peck on his left cheek. He pulls back, looking all too satisfied with himself.
“That’s not what I meant,” Seungmin frowns, before tapping his lips more. “Here!”
Minho lets out a giggle before leaning in for the third time and delivering a small peck on Seungmin’s right cheek.
“Okay, that’s it.” Seungmin says, placing his guitar on the bed behind him before tackling Minho to the floor — hands immediately going up to cradle Minho’s head in order for the older to not hurt himself.
He then starts littering kisses all over Minho’s face — on his nose, on his cheeks, on his forehead, on his eyelids, purposefully avoiding the older’s lips — and Minho does nothing but giggle and squirm about.
Seungmin pulls away and moves to cup Minho’s face. He sees the genuine smile that adorned the older’s face, the sparkles that glistened in his eyes, that soft shade of red on his cheeks and ears, the way his hair fanned around him — Minho was beautiful.
He gives that stupid fond smile before leaning in to finally kiss Minho on the lips, feeling the small smile against his own.
He pulls away, only to be pulled back down by Minho, kissing him once again. And Seungmin was nothing but happy to oblige.
Seungmin pulls away again, in order for them to catch their breath but keeps Minho close, placing his forehead on his.
“You’re so stupid,” Minho suddenly says with a giggle. But it wasn’t laced with that usual teasing tone, it was laced with the feeling of being flustered and fondness.
Seungmin only hums as he gives one last peck on Minho’s nose and pulls away fully, looking down at Minho and caressing his cheeks with his thumbs.
“You’re so beautiful,” Seungmin says genuinely.
“Shut up,” Minho retorts, pushing Seungmin off him, making the younger laugh.
They both stand up and Seungmin immediately latches himself to Minho, wrapping his arms around the older’s waist as he looks down at him with that stupid fond look.
“So, do you agree to be my partner?” Seungmin asks with a smile, and Minho lets out a sigh.
“I’m whatever you want me to be,” Minho responds with a soft peck on his lips.
And if the guitar that led them into what they were was left forgotten on Hyunjin’s bed for a few more hours, it was fine. They had each other, they had time. They were gonna be okay.