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Sounds of cars honking in the lobby and people running around filled the air as Minho arrived at the hotel. While not usually so fond of the busy scene, he paid them no mind. He only had one goal in mind.
He revved his engine (earning him some dirty looks he promptly ignored) and sped towards the parking building.
It wasn’t long before he found parking, thanking his past self for his recent decision to buy a bike instead of a car. It often saved him both money and time finding parking since less people tended to fill up the bike parking spaces and, in an expensive area like LA with horrendous public transport, Minho would take anything he could get.
Taking off his helmet, he pulled out his phone, checking his hair in the camera and brushing down some strands of hair. The once vibrant purple had faded out into a duller grey-ish color but Minho had been reluctant to dye it back after getting a certain reaction from a certain someone.
Minho could already feel the heat rise up his face at the thought of seeing him again, heart rate picking up despite his best attempts to try and appear calm and collected on the outside.
Shaking his head, he pocketed his phone and picked up the extra motorcycle helmet he had brought along (purple of course) and held it behind him. The giddiness of surprising the other with the helmet had him jumping up and down internally as he tried (and failed) to fight down the smile growing on his face.
Schooling his face once again, he made his way towards the lobby. Entering a public area once again helped him calm down a bit.
It took a while, but Minho eventually spotted a head of hair flopping up and down. Even at its short length, it seemed to still form the same imaginary puppy ears they did when it was longer.
The moment Kim Seungmin burst through the crowd, earphones and all, Minho found himself exposed to the full brunt of the bright smile that annoyingly wormed its way into his dreams. It looked just as cute without braces as it did with and filled Minho with warmth.
He felt his own eyes crinkle at the sight of the matching eye-smile as their eyes met. The other’s smile only widened at the action.
Then, his eyes caught something unusual.
Minho blinked once, twice, and a final third time before he felt his jaw drop.
Kim Seungmin had an eyebrow slit.
Kim Seungmin had an extremely good-looking eyebrow slit.
How could anyone, let alone, Kim Seungmin pull it off without looking like a cringey bad boy?
While Minho’s brain went through a hard reboot, he didn’t notice he had let go of the motorcycle helmet behind his back until it made a loud noise as it hit the ground.
Seungmin’s eyes instantly widened, his eyebrows shooting up. Minho’s eyes shamelessly followed the way the slit moved up at the motion before instantly cringing at the noise, heat quickly finding its way to his ears as he scrambled to pick it up and check for any damage.
To his relief, the helmet was fine.
Rushing over, Seungmin called out to him as he pulled his ear buds out, “Hyung! Are you okay?”
To Minho’s horror, his blush grew stronger from embarrassment, spreading across his cheeks as he struggled to meet the other’s eyes while desperately trying to hide the helmet away from his gaze, “Y-Yep, hyung is fine, Kim Seungmin.”
“Hyungie, if I knew you weren’t gonna bother looking at me throughout our date, I wouldn’t have bothered flying all the way to LA,” Minho could just hear the pout in the younger’s voice.
Reluctantly, he met the other’s, focusing intently on his eyes and not lifting his gaze at all, “It’s not like I asked you to come.”
Seungmin tilted his head, grin turning smug, “Really? If I recall correctly, it was you who asked me out in the first place, Lee Minho.”
When did Seungmin get so bold? Minho remembered that night the younger had been shedding insecure tears over the state of their friendship. That boy was nowhere to be seen now, the thought made Minho’s heart swell.
Regardless, he filed away that thought for another sleepless night of reminiscing their past as he scoffed, “You’re delusional.”
“Nope, this is the proof,” Seungmin pointed at that damn eyebrow slit, “I had a bet with Hwang Hyunjin, he told me to get an eyebrow slit if you beat me to asking me out before I could.”
Minho wanted to air fry that ferret.
(Across the world, Hyunjin felt a shiver run down his spine)
“Of course Hwang Hyunjin gave you another makeover,” Minho muttered.
“It’s even weirder this time, don’t you think?” Seungmin laughed fondly.
Minho dared himself to look at the slit again before quickly returning to his eyes, “It’s fine.”
Seungmin smiled at the semi-praise before trying to go around the elder who quickly dodged, “What do you have there, hyung?”
Minho smirked, finally ready to turn the tables and surprise the other.
Tossing the helmet to the younger, he then turned around and waved his hand towards the parking lot, “Come and find out, Kim Seungmin.”
“Huh? Wait, hyung!” Seungmin stumbled to catch the helmet, nearly dropping it again before he stumbled after the other.
Safe from the other’s curious gaze, Minho let a gleeful grin form on his face, happy that the surprise worked. But, unlike Minho, Seungmin seemed to be built different and quickly recovered.
“Hyungie,” Seungmin’s voice became akin to a nasally whine as he trailed after the other.
It didn’t take long for him to catch up to the elder despite dragging his feet, not hesitating at all when he held onto the sleeve of Minho’s leather jacket.
“Yah, what do you think you’re doing, Kim Seungmin?” Minho protested as he tugged his arm away slightly, a knee jerk reaction to any public display of affection.
Seungmin merely grinned, “People here are more accepting of people like us, right?”
Minho paused as if just remembering that they were no longer in Korea, at least for the moment. Seungmin took the moment as a sign to be bolder, stepping closer and invading his personal space.
“You look so handsome like this, hyung. If only you didn’t have class when I landed, I would have loved to be greeted like this,” Seungmin told him, his sincere tone making Minho’s poor heart pump more blood up his neck and to his face.
“Shut up, I wouldn’t be able to carry your stupid luggage with us,” Minho hissed, tugging the taller boy along to get to the parking building faster.
Seungmin simply giggled as he followed along willingly.
Minho wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
“When did you get your license anyway?” Seungmin asked.
“A few months ago, public transport got annoying once I started working at the studio,” Minho replied.
“I bet there aren’t any cute guys on the bus either, huh? You must’ve been so bored, Lee Minho,” Seungmin lamented.
“Yah, Kim Seungmin, watch that tongue of yours. I might knock you off the bike before you even get to see the restaurant,” Minho retaliated, emphasizing his point with a light shove.
Seungmin only laughed. God, Minho missed that laugh. He couldn’t hold back his own small smile at the sound.
“Here I was hoping to catch a ride with the dashing young man visiting my hotel, but I guess he’s just a bad boy after all. My parents would never approve if I asked him to be my boyfriend,” Seungmin sighed dramatically, an unmistakable twinkle in his eye.
Minho froze.
Did he just say boyfriend?
“Seung-ah-“
“Wow, haven’t heard that in a while,” The younger one remarked but his face was just as red as Minho’s and his voice an octave higher.
“Seungmin-ah, do you have no shame?” Minho covered his face with his free hand to preserve whatever dignity he had left.
If he wasn’t visibly embarrassed before, he was definitely a tomato now. Maybe crashing his bike wasn’t such a bad idea anymore. At least they had already left the lobby, Minho couldn’t bear the thought of an audience to the shitty k-drama he found himself starring in.
To his side, he heard a huff before the hand holding his sleeve let go. He kept his eyes closed even when his other hand was pried away.
“Hyungie, could you at least look at me for a moment?” Seungmin requested.
Minho reluctantly opened his eyes, looking back at the younger who visibly brightened at his action, a smile growing on his equally red face. Despite what Minho assumed to be shared embarrassment, Seungmin hesitantly grasped the hand that had been covering his face, pausing for a moment as he studied Minho's expression. Minho said nothing while also making no move to pull his hand away. With a smile, Seungmin squeezed his hand as he looked directly into his eyes.
There was an unreadable look in Seungmin’s eyes, something Minho couldn’t quite place. Was this how Seungmin felt when they had first reunited during Jeongin’s graduation? Minho could feel his heart rate pick up with anticipation and fear.
“Lee Minho-hyung,” Seungmin said simply before pausing.
“That’s my name, Kim Seungmin,” Minho tried his best to keep his composure, silently encouraging the younger to speak his mind.
“Lee Minho-hyung,” Seungmin reiterated before taking a deep breath and blurting out, “Will you be my boyfriend?”
Minho couldn’t trust his words at that moment, afraid that his sharp tongue would ruin everything.
So, he simply nodded as he squeezed Seungmin’s hand in return
Regardless, Seungmin grinned, “I’m glad, yeobo.”
Minho felt his face get even warmer if that was even possible (at this rate he might be able to fry an egg on it he fears), “A-Aren’t you getting a bit ahead of yourself there?”
Seungmin shook his head, “You made the first move to ask me out, I’m only doing you a favor by taking the next step. Who knows how old we’d be if I left that to you.”
“Yah, what makes you think I’d want to ask you at all?” Minho retaliated, bowing his head to avoid the other’s sincere gaze.
He could practically hear the grin in Seungmin’s voice as the younger said his next line, “I know you like me, hyung, and I’ve liked you for years. I’m doing both of us a favor by speeding up this process so we could get to the good part already.”
Seungmin then raised their joined hands, bowing his head as well to place a soft kiss on Minho’s hand, “Besides, you’re the only person that can make me lose my patience like this, always have been. You’ve been driving me insane since forever.”
“Yah, you’re the one that’s been driving me insane, Kim Seungmin,” Minho complained, lightly hitting the other's forehead with their joined hands.
“Well now we’re stuck driving each other insane forever, yeobo,” Seungmin told him.
“I’ll show you driving insane. We have a reservation to get to, Kim Seungmin, chop-chop now” Minho tugged their joined hands towards the direction of his motorcycle.
“Whatever you say, yeobo,” Seungmin replied as he followed Minho just like he always did.
Minho smiled. Maybe surprises weren’t all that bad after all.