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The afternoon sun shone through the kitchen windows, warming Minho’s skin. He and Chan were preparing the ingredients for that night’s dinner. Their whole group of friends was coming over to celebrate both of their birthdays, even though Chan’s already passed, and Minho’s wasn’t for about two weeks. It was not easy to find a night where the eight of them could be together, so they had to adapt somehow.
“Baby?” Minho distractedly asked, grabbing the freshly washed cucumber.
“Yeah?”
“Can you pass me the knife I was using before?”
“Sure, here you go!” Chan chirped, too happily for Minho’s liking.
That’s when Minho realized what he just said and froze in his spot. Chan turned around with the knife on his left hand, and a playful smile on his face. “You’ve just called me baby” he said, handing the knife over to him.
“No I didn’t” Minho took the knife and quickly went back to cutting the cucumber, hoping his ears were not as red as he felt them. Chan came closer and stood right behind him.
“Yes, you did” he whispered in his ear. (Which indeed was very red).
“I’m carrying a knife, Bang Chan”, Minho deadpanned.
“That’s Bang Chan hyung to you. Besides, you wouldn’t harm your baby, wouldn’t you?” the older teased.
“Oh for fucks sake, stop it” Minho pleaded.
“Not until you admit you’ve called me that” he grabbed his hands, making him drop the knife, and spun him around so Minho ended up facing him. Chan had that cocky expression that always got on his nerves, and Minho knew he wasn’t going to be able to pretend this didn’t happen, so he just gave up.
“Okay, fine” Minho sighed, “yes, I did call you that. Can we please forget about this embarrassing moment and move on with our lives?”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not an option. I’m going to make fun of you for the rest of your existence.”
“Well then, fuck you!” Minho gave him a fake smile, ready to go back to making the salad and also stab himself in the process so he could forget about how ridiculous he was feeling. Suddenly, something hit him. “But if we’re gonna talk about that, then we have to address the way you just answered like you were sure it was you.”
“C’mon, Min, what else could’ve been? The cucumber?” Chan snorted. He had a point, but Minho would rather jump out the window than admit that to his face.
“Well, maybe I like to call names to my veggies”, he grumbled. “This cucumber looks very cute to me. Just like a baby.”
“Oh shut up, don’t take this moment away from me. No one ever in his life has ever called me that, and you doing it made me fall in love with you even more” the Australian stated.
Minho froze for the second time in less than ten minutes. Chan suddenly realized what he’d just said, and panic started showing on his face expression.
“You’re in love… with me?” Minho asked, shocked. At the same time, a sensation of relief was growing all over his body. “Even more?”
“Well… uh, I...” Chan cleared his throat, growing pinker by each second. “Fuck, you were not supposed to find out that. Like ever. Can we forget this whole conversation ever existed?”
“Yeah, not a chance”, Minho scoffed. “Why wasn’t I supposed to find out?” honestly, he could’ve not been more surprised.
“it’s just, your history with Jungkook and everything… Jungkook is one of my best friends, I don’t want to hurt him”, the older finally admitted.
“Do I have to remind you he was the one who broke up with me without any explanations? Twice?” those words came out of his mouth with a little more bitterness he was expecting, but Minho had been hurt.
(Honestly, he probably still was. But that was a conversation for another day.)
“I just don’t want to make things more complicated”, Chan sighed. He looked defeated, and oh so tired. Minho’s chest tightened at the sight.
“Well, I think it’s too late for that. Or are you telling me last summer was all some kind of hallucination that occurred while I was in a coma?”
“Of course not! Last summer was one of the best I’ve had in my life. I just care a lot about his feelings, okay? He doesn’t want you to...” Chan had the decency to not finish that phrase, but it already made Minho angry.
“So I can’t move on, is that what you’re saying he wants? What about my feelings? What about your feelings?” the younger blurted out, breathing heavily. “He’s not a great friend if he can’t look past his own self…”
“I can get over them, as long as you don’t call me baby anymore”, Chan softly said. A little sad smile appeared on his lips. If only, that made Minho angrier. Tired of hiding his own repressed feelings, he decided it was time to confess.
“Fuck getting over anything, I’m gonna call you baby anytime I want, because I am in love with you!”
Chan didn’t say a word for quite a few seconds. He looked like he was processing the words Minho just said, as if he didn’t understand them. “You’re what?” he finally asked.
“Are you seriously going to make me repeat that? You know how I hate all these feelings… things”, Minho groaned.
“Since you actually confessed you love me, yes, Minho; I want to hear that again just in case I was the one hallucinating or it was all part of a scam”, Chan practically begged.
Minho sighed, but then he remembered all the untold truths and all the lies Chan suffered with Woosik. A little reassurance of a pretty big confession was the least Minho could do for him. He shuffled closer and cupped Chan’s cheeks with his hands. “I am in love with you, baby”, he teased.
“Dumbass”, Chan whispered while leaning over and reaching for a kiss. He moved his hands to Minho’s hips, pulling him closer to him. Minho let his travel through Chan’s already messy curls, as he had always loved to do. When the kiss was over, Minho was out of breath. Chan kept his forehead pressed against his and he smiled softly, with his eyes closed, as Minho’s fingers were still playing with his hair.
“You know, today wasn’t the first time you’ve called me baby”, he spoke after a while.
“Are we really on that again!?” the younger exclaimed, letting his hands fall on Chan’s shoulders.
“Shut up, I’m trying to be romantic!” Chan opened his eyes and frowned at him. “Can’t you just let me talk about my feelings?”
“But I hate talking about feelings”, Minho pouted.
“Dear god, you’re so annoying.”
“I have a knife just right there, Bang Chan. Right there” he threatened, narrowing his eyes.
“Just let me talk, or I swear to god I’ll put tape on your mouth.”
“There are some other things you can put in my mouth to make me shut up”, Minho said naively. Chan groaned, confirming that his words had the desired effect. He flashed an innocent smile at him, bringing his hands up to his neck.
“There, you ruined the moment”, Chan picked him up as Minho wrapped his legs around him with a smug expression. “We are so having this conversation after; you cannot avoid feelings forever.”
“After what?” Minho blinked, faking confusion.
“I hate you” he groaned, carrying him to his bedroom.
“Wrong, baby. You just said the opposite” Minho cheekily said as Chan laid him on the bed. He stared at the older playfully until he gave up and pressed their lips together.
With their chests pressed together, he could feel Chan’s heartbeat, and he was quite sure Chan could feel the content thumping of his own heart.
(Even better, Minho thought. It was time for Chan to feel as loved as he made Minho feel.)