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Today's episode of Best Choice was hands down one of Minho's favorite, the reason being was obvious to every one but the absolutely oblivious blonde next to him.
"Kibummie, your place tonight?"
A little huff slipped past pink lips but an affirmative answer came. "Okay."
Beaming brightly, Minho quickly helped clean up the set and circled around to thank all the staff. Giving no chance for him to take back his invite, Minho nabbed all of Key's things and made a beeline straight to his car, knowing that Kibum took a cab to get to the studio today.
The other man took his time, ambling after the taller one with a rather placid look, his fingers occasionally strumming along the curve of his new Lemaire bag.
The drive to Kibum's apartment was comfortably void of conversation, both of them decompressing after their work demanded them to engage in mindless chatter.
They fell into their regular routine whenever Minho would stay over after they had a schedule together. Kibum would cook a simple yet delicious Korean meal, while Minho would do the dishes, then peel and cut their fruit for dessert.
Lastly, they would settle down onto the couch for a movie before bed. Usually, it's something that they both wanted to watch, but under the pretense that they were unable to find someone else to see it with. Then they proceed with the reasoning that they had no choice but to watch it together.
They don't talk much during the movie, opting for the occasional commentary and sharing snacks that were mostly polished off by Minho.
When the credits started rolling, Minho had finally drummed up enough courage, turned to his companion, and spoke.
"Kibum... today during the shooting, you said that you thought you'd probably be alone for the rest of this life. What made you say that?"
Unperturbed, Kibum clicked on their favorite rerun for background noise and sighed deeply as he sank back into his seat.
"Well, it just seems like it's headed that way, doesn't it? I, for one, am not fighting it either."
"...You won't be alone. You have me," came his soft reply.
"And Taemin and Jinki-hyung, I know."
"You know that's not what I meant."
For once, Kibum stayed silent, the relaxing atmosphere taking a turn he wasn't expecting. Now the air felt like glass, so delicate that if he said the wrong thing, everything would come down shattering around him.
Finally, he turned and looked straight into Minho's eyes, both revealing their unwavering resolution.
Minho's conviction was one Kibum simply could not afford to entertain. It would certainly leave him heartbroken one day.
His own resolve was to keep this friendship intact, and to put to this frivolous notion to bed once and for all.
Kibum licked his lips slowly before speaking, each word he spoke heavier than the last.
"You'd make a great father one day Minho."
Eyes widening at the surprising response he received, Minho replied, his eyes never leaving the dark ones that always seemed to see right through him. "I will be one, if that is what you want as well."
Kibum's nostrils flared slightly as he took in a sharp breath, his lungs burning from the dense air.
"It shouldn't matter what I want," he muttered as he looked away, the first to break their eye contact.
A pregnant pause as both men let the last exchange sink in. With a small voice unbefitting of the larger than life character that he was, Minho's admission came as a murmur but it was loud and clear as day to Kibum.
"It does to me. Everything about you matters to me."
And he shouldn't have let this farce continue, but Kibum practically egged him on at this point. "Why?"
"You know why. I've been telling you for nearly the last decade now."
Kibum made a noise from the back of his throat in disagreement and folded his arms protectively across his chest, stubbornly refusing to look the other man in the eye again.
Sensing a small chip in his invisible armor, Minho pressed on.
"I've waited for you all these years, and you still won't believe me?"
He lifts Kibum's small pale hand to touch his cheek before turning to press his lips against his inner wrist. "I've been chasing after you all this time. What will it take for you to accept me?"
"...I thought that after our time apart in the military service, you'd come to your senses and give up." The older man sighed in slight resignation, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand to hold back what was bound to be the biggest headache of his life thus far. "Why are you so stubborn?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Minho kept his gaze fixed on the man before him, gingerly brushing his lips down from his wrist, testing how far he could taste his supple skin. His friend, his band mate, had never looked so vulnerable as he did in this moment. "Two years later, and my feelings haven't changed. In fact, I missed you so much that I'm more sure now than I've ever been."
Kibum didn't trust himself to speak, so he remained quiet which Minho took as his acceptance for him to continue.
"I'm sure you are the only one for me."
Kibum could feel the heat of tears pricking the corners of his eyes. Whether it was from the magnitude of feelings he had kept at bay behind a shabby facade of nonchalance, or pure frustration that the younger man had not grown tired of his unrelenting pursuit, he could not say.
"You're an idiot."
"I want to be your idiot."
"No." His rejection practiced but strained, his resistance was fraying rapidly by the second.
"You don't want me?" His voice faltered slightly, tugging at Kibum's heartstrings.
"I can't want you."
"Whether you want me or not, you have me. I'm yours."
Kibum bit his lip to try to hold back the word vomit that threatened to spill out.
He wanted nothing more than to have Minho.
But he knew from the very beginning that this boy who was the physical embodiment of sunshine could not be his.
Not when there was so much at stake and all the odds were stacked against them.
So he had tried to push him away, to deny his feelings and vow to himself to never get close to him.
However, despite how harshly he treated him or how many cruel words he threw his way, Minho was steadfastly present in his life, and managed to worm his way deeper into his heart, luring him into the fairytale notion that they could be friends, or possibly more.
"Yah." Like the brute that he was, Minho put a complete halt on his inner ramblings, pulling Kibum's focus back onto him entirely as he tugged his hand to drew him in, their unsteady breaths mingling. "Give me one good reason why not."
Kibum opened his mouth to respond only to have his words die upon the softest of lips he'd ever felt.
Not giving him any time to process, Minho's hand snuck up to cradle the back of his head, tilting him back to aid his pillaging of Kibum's sweet lips.
Stunned by the sudden change in their conversation, Kibum could only close his eyes and savor the taste and feel of Minho.
Lips sucking, tongues licking and everything in between happened in the span of seconds.
A desperate kiss that neither wanted to end.
A kiss that unleashed years of repressed feelings and tension.
A kiss that was like a dam that finally broke, flooding their five senses with the entirety of the man they'd been yearning for since they learned the name to that itching feeling that bloomed deep in their hearts.
Every single time their lips met, Kibum could feel the shackles around his heart break, one by one.
Duty.
Rules.
Expectations.
How could something that everyone would surely view as wrong feel so damned right?
When Minho finally pulled back, he continued his barrage of kisses on flushed cheeks and along the elder's soft jawline.
"I didn't hear one."
Wanting to retort, he heaved in a strong breath and puffed his chest out, Kibum was about to tear into him when he was yanked roughly into Minho's lap, his lips captured for another scorching kiss.
One that stole all the air from his lungs.
And Minho kept kissing him, not giving him a chance to speak or even to breathe.
When his hot velvety tongue pushed past his lips, he was gone, melting into the larger frame of the younger man, pressing their bodies together tightly as if this would ensure that they would never be apart.
A barely audible mewl resounded between them when Kibum grabbed Minho's collar a little too roughly, signaling that he had truly run out of oxygen.
Reluctantly, Minho pulled back just enough for Kibum to catch his breath, pressing their foreheads together while panting heavily. Minho licked his lips tantalizingly slow, noting the way Kibum's eyes have glazed over while following his every move.
"You keep kissing back. You still want to tell me you don't want this? Us?"
Kibum let out a defiant whine from the back of his throat, hitting Minho's chest with his clenched fists halfheartedly. "You're not being fair."
"I'm done playing fair. I just want you."
"...Unbelievable," he scoffed as he toyed with the buttons on his jacket. He bit his lip ruefully and tried to force down the blush that wanted to spread like wildfire across his cheeks from the other's intense stare. Finally he managed to force out the one word that was left on his mind. "Why?"
A few beats of silence passed between them until Kibum made the mistake of caving first.
"Yah! I asked you a question." He snapped his head up to find those infuriating doe eyes crinkling with mirth, a stupid grin plastered on his admittedly handsome face.
He was left speechless when Minho closed in until the tips of their noses brushed.
"Are you trying to fish a confession out of me?"
Flushing crimson from being caught, Kibum was just about to wriggle away but he stopped when he felt Minho's arms tighten around him, holding him as close as physically possible while he buried his nose into the nook at the base of his neck.
A shiver ran up his spine when he felt the younger's lips brushing against a vein, his breath ghosting across his skin. His heart was pounding so frantically that he easily could have misheard Minho's next words.
"I love you, Kim Kibum."
Kibum trembled, his whole body betraying him as every single cell of his being thrummed with excitement and happiness. It's not like he doesn't hear these words on a daily basis, be it from fans or friends.
Yet someway, somehow, these same five words that came from this one man had the magical ability to make him feel truly alive.
"I want to be the one to make you happy. Will you let me love you the way you deserve?"
He swallowed back the lump that formed in his throat, his heart bursting from the deep sincerity in Minho's words.
"...Promise me."
"Anything."
"Please, don't break my heart."
His doe eyes softened like molten chocolate, but burned with a passion that Kibum had never been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end before.
"I promise. I will make you the happiest man alive."
"..." You already have.
"Is that a yes?"
Finally relinquishing to the temptation that he had denied himself for over a decade, he cupped the younger man's tanned cheeks in his palms, and sealed their promise with a kiss.
Drawing back slowly, Kibum tried desperately to no avail to hold back the smile that was about to split his cheeks.
Minho however didn't spare anything, his million watt smile directed only at the man who had won his affections years ago.
"You still didn't say it. I want to hear it."
"It's not obvious already?"
"Hmm, it's not enough." Kibum wanted to wipe that charming smirk right off his face with his retort but Minho cut him off, thumb pressed against his reddened lips. "Come on baby, say yes."
Kibum gasped at his audacity and gave him a playful shove. "Who's your baby? Keep dreaming, Choi Minho."
"I suppose, I could convince you..."
Kibum quirked an eyebrow at him, a slight pout forming on his lips. "Oh? And how do you intend to do that? M-mhm...!"
Minho's hands went straight to the small of his back and neck, lips crashing against his in another hungry kiss, leaving Kibum in a daze, every touch from the younger man igniting a carnal desire to both take and give in, completely.
It was absolutely thrilling.
Yet downright frightening just how much he had always wanted exactly this.
Choi Minho, the golden boy.
A literal fairytale prince.
The apple of the country's eyes.
Right at his fingertips.
Kissing back with the same urgency, Kibum held onto him with every ounce of his being.
They kissed and kissed until their lungs protested, breaking apart reluctantly, lips so close they could feel the pants of air the other was desperately taking in against their swollen lips.
"Well?" asked Minho, his hooded eyes unable to contain back the overflowing lust that swirled within.
With his last shred of pride, Kibum tugged the ends of Minho's luscious dark hair, leaning in so that their lips brushed together with every word he spoke.
"I think I need more convincing."
A flash of dark, unveiled desire flared in the other man's eyes but it was short-lived because Kibum smashed their lips for another hot insatiable kiss.
The next morning, Kibum woke up to an empty bed, still slightly warm though, so at least he was reassured that last night was not just one long dream.
Padding out to the kitchen after freshening up, he was greeted by his two pups whose food and water bowls were already topped off.
He caught the floral scent of his favorite coffee and sat down at the counter to a plate of eggs and toast.
Leaning against the steaming cup of coffee was a note.
He hasn't changed one bit... he just loves quaint little things like this huh?
Lips curling into a small smile, Kibum took a long sip while he unfolded the note to read.
My Bum,
Can you crack this 02?
Kibum blinked, a bit perplexed by the way the younger man's note started.
But somehow, he knew exactly what Minho was up to.
"CØDE?" He thought out loud.
I hope you know, I meant everything I said last night.
It's been 07 (Days and Years) since I realized I'd fallen for you.
This, us, means everything to me.
Believe me when I say 08 (I Really Want You).
And now that I have you, all I want is to 09 (Kiss Kiss) with you.
I want all your 10 (Attention) because you have always had mine.
Consider yourself warned for tonight.
I don't have a schedule tomorrow so we will be spending all night finding our 11 (Body Rhythm) together.
I've waited for so long, please don't say no to me now.
Just say yes.
P.S. This is real, Kim Kibum. One day, you will hear me say 06 (Marry Me).
Kibum felt his face burn a flaming hot red. He wouldn't dare look in the mirror right now because he's certain all he would see is a big fat tomato.
"Idiot." He hissed under his breath, failing miserably to stop the wide silly grin that was threatening to split across his face.
He carefully folded the note and pocketed it before going about his day. If there was an extra pep to his step, everyone was none the wiser.
But he knew.
This one little nugget of information was enough to last him a lifetime.
Choi Minho was his, Kim Kibum's.
And he was his, always was.
Always will be.
Yes. I say yes, dummy.