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Hyunjin thinks it was a joke, of course. Because, well... it usually is. Especially when Minho gets clingy or flirty with him in front of the other members.
So, when they leave Changbin's hotel room together and Minho follows him instead of going the opposite way —where he should be going— Hyunjin is a little surprised. But Minho is so nonchalant about it too, almost walking one step ahead of Hyunjin as they make their way to Hyunjin’s hotel room, where he had indeed left the water running for a little too long without supervision. Hyunjin takes out his key card from the bathrobe and spins it between his fingers and palm as they round the last corner.
Minho looks back for a second, his eyes going straight to the key card and stealing it from Hyunjin's grasp with feline speed.
The hotel room’s air is a little humid and thick when they step in. Minho clicks his tongue in disapproval as he turns on the bathroom light and, in consequence, the ventilation on the ceiling.
"Should've left it on," he chastises.
Hyunjin shrugs, making sure the door is locked properly before untying his bathrobe. He walks past Minho, who had gotten distracted with something on his phone. Hyunjin goes to grip the waistband of his pants before looking up at his hyung and hesitating, "Are you really going to join me?"
Minho looks up, slow-blinking in his direction. But his eyes soon fall to Hyunjin's hands, where his thumbs have hooked over the waistband and lowered a little, showing a little more of Hyunjin's navel. A healthy blush rises on Minho's neck, "If you don't mind."
Hyunjin watches the inkling of nervousness creep up on Minho, making him fidget with the edge of his phone case. But his eyes remain intense, as dark as they had been back in Changbin's room. There's this underlying suggestive tone to it, and Hyunjin would be lying if he said it wasn't familiar. It approaches the line between too explicit, and too honest, but remains secured by the playful nature of their relationship.
"Sure, but we'll have to drain some water out then," Hyunjin snorts, keeping his attention steady on Minho's face as he finally slides the pants down. He isn’t wearing any underwear, and now that he's left the bathrobe open and loosely hanging from his shoulders, he knows he is left fully on display. But he doesn't feel weird or uncomfortable, not even when Minho's eyes snap down instinctively. They've seen each other naked before, it doesn't have to be a big deal.
Hyunjin turns around to remove the bathtub plug and listens intently to some of the water going down the drain. He can hear the rustling of Minho taking off his clothes too. When Hyunjin thinks the water level is low enough he plugs the drain close again. He actually can't wait to get in and let the warmth wash away the soreness in his body, remaining from both their earlier schedule and their back-to-back concerts.
Minho walks up to him, a hand immediately coming to rest on his waist, over the robe. He hooks his chin on Hyunjin's shoulder and Hyunjin can't help but wonder if he had to stand on his tip-toes to do so. Minho's other arm moves past Hyunjin's body until he can hold his phone in front of his face.
"Look, my mom sent this video earlier."
It's a short video of Soonie, hugging Dori and licking his head, all snuggled together on a blanket. Hyunjin's heart swells at the cuteness, from both the video and Minho's unfiltered affection being unmistakable in his voice.
Hyunjin coos at the phone, taking it from Minho's hand and pressing play again: "Cute~"
Minho hum,s satisfied with the reaction, and takes back his phone to place it with his discarded clothes.
"Are you getting in with the robe or what?"
For what could be the thousand time that day, Hyunjin feels Minho's hands on his sides, not quite grabbing him but rather just keeping him close. Hyunjin shakes his head, rolling back his shoulders for the robe to fall down his back. He doesn't question it when Minho slides it further down and out of his arms, much slower and careful than necessary.
While Minho goes to hang the robe on the towel rack, Hyunjin steps into the tub and sinks into the water. He closes his eyes in delight, straightening his legs and leaning back until his head touches the tiles on the wall. He breathes in and the steam fills his lungs with warmth. He feels the water swoosh around wildly when Minho steps in, and Hyunjin quickly flexes his knees to make more room for him.
The bathtub is bigger than the ones in their current dorms, but it's still a tight fit with the way Minho tries to fit between Hyunjin's legs. He is hugging his knees to his chest, looking exceptionally small and awkward for someone who pretty much had invited himself to Hyunjin's bathtime. It makes Hyunjin want to tease him, but despite the high tension and constant earlier bickering, the atmosphere is different now that they're alone.
The corner of Minho's mouth curves into a downturned smile. His neck and upper chest have turned red from the warmth, just like it does after hours of practice or when he is exceptionally shy. When their eyes meet, Minho huffs: "What?"
Hyunjin grins a little, straightening his legs again until his foot is pressed to the outer side of Minho's thighs.
"Nothing hyung," Hyunjin says, with poorly disguised amusement, "Are you going to stay there this whole time?"
Minho's poker face is hard to believe with his quick blinking, "Where am I supposed to go?"
Hyunjin clicks his tongue, then presses it to the inner side of his cheek, smirking. He opens his arms and knees a little further, "You said you wanted to bathe together," Hyunjin points out, "So, come here! You are never going to relax like that!"
Minho mutters something under his breath, but Hyunjin misses it with the sound of splashing water as his hyung obliges. It's difficult to maneuver the movement at first. But once Minho has turned around, back facing him, Hyunjin goes to grab him by his middle and bring him in. Until he is pressed flush against his chest, sort of sitting on Hyunjin's thighs.
Hyunjin leaves both his arms around Minho, completely wrapping him, fingers digging between his ribs. It makes Minho squirm a little, even letting out an involuntarily high giggle when Hyunjin presses in too strongly. Hyunjin laughs along, a little too endeared for his own good, and then allows himself to relax. Bringing his forehead down, Hyunjin nestles himself on the crook of Minho's neck, hearing his breathing hitch when Hyunjin's lips graze his skin.
It feels good to be this close.
"You know, Changbin-hyung is right," Hyunjin mutters, thinking back to some of the earlier conversations they had on camera. "You do cling to me a lot."
Minho's instant reaction is to snort, and Hyunjin gets reminded of the raised-eyebrows-stare he'd given to Changbin at the comment. As if it should've gone unsaid from how evident it was.
"I thought you of all people would've noticed," Minho says, throwing his head back, the tinsel threads in Minho's hair tickling Hyunjin.
Had he noticed? Yes, maybe. Somewhere around New Years’ Eve and February, when Minho had taken to complain about Hyunjin not eating with him to their fans instead of further complaining to him through their private chat. It had seemed like harmless teasing at the moment, but maybe Hyunjin was a little too immersed in getting his alone time to look past a surface-level joke. Not that it needed to mean so much more. But, at the very least, it was living proof of how Minho liked to cling to him in the most tsundere ways he could.
At Hyunjin's extended silence, Minho seems a little offended: "I wasn't trying to be subtle at all, Hyunjin-ah."
"And earlier? When you said I should've called you to eat together?"
Heat rises to Minho's ears. "I meant that too..."
Hyunjin's lips stretch into a smile. "Even though I said I was naked?"
Minho writhes a little out of his hold, twisting his torso to look at him with a grin, "Especially because you were naked!"
Hyunjin hears the nervous cackle leave his mouth before he can stop it, half because he finds Minho's aggressive flirting style quite funny, half because it does manage to make him feel flustered. "You are so shameless, hyung."
"So what? You are hot as fuck, am I supposed to be ashamed of admitting it? Huh? Should I, Hwang Hyunjin?!" Minho sounds nearly like he is having a temper tantrum, and his investment in it must erase the last of his earlier apprehensions because he is suddenly fully facing Hyunjin, knees caging his waist as he straddles him in the bathtub. The sudden movement has Hyunjin slipping too far, head momentarily underwater, and he has to hoist himself up with one hand on the wall, the other grabbing Minho tightly from the back of his shoulders. He gasps to fill his lungs with air and coughs a little, Minho's body spasming with laughter as he tries to help him sit back up.
It ends with them closer than before.
So much closer. Legs tangled, one of Minho's hands firm at the back of his head, the other helping their balance by grabbing the edge of the bathtub. Their chests are shaking against each other because they can't stop laughing, and it turns into a close embrace as they try to catch their breath.
Minho's hand slides further into his hair, collecting the wet strands and unsticking them from his skin. Hyunjin moves to push the rest out of his hair, rubbing some of the leftover water out of his face as well.
Suddenly, he feels Minho's touch under his right eye and quickly understands he is trying to remove the smudged makeup there when he does the same with his other eye.
Hyunjin smiles in gratitude, he can only imagine what a mess he looks like right now. But Minho is still smiling at him with that smitten look Hyunjin used to believe was only reserved for a handful of their members – Jisung and Felix, mostly. Maybe even Jeongin. But never him.
Maybe he had been blind to the affection all this time.
"Can I wash your hair?" Minho asks, eyes focused on where he is slowly untangling the mess of wet hair.
Hyunjin nods, a little too awestruck by the thoughts running wild in his head.
Minho reaches for the shampoo behind Hyunjin easily enough, pouring way too much into his palm and bringing it to the top of Hyunjin's head. He wets his hands more and starts to massage the shampoo around, fingernails gently scraping Hyunjin's scalp, creating more and more white foam, until some of it slides down Hyunjin's forehead and threatens to get in his eye.
"Close your eyes," Minho says, washing the shampoo away from his eyebrows and running his fingers from the top of his head to the back, combing through his hair to keep it away from his face. Hyunjin sighs and lets Minho do his thing.
"Wait, I'll bring the showerhead to rinse it," Minho whispers, carefully beginning to untangle himself and standing up, "Don't open your eyes yet, Hyunjin-ah."
"Why not?" Hyunjin asks, frowning because he can't feel any shampoo on his face anymore, but obeying anyway.
"Because..." Minho grunts, clearly straining to reach the thing, "I don't think you want to see my dick all up in your face."
Hyunjin snorts, instinctively leaning away, heat creeping up his face. He waits until Minho is back in the water to answer: "What makes you so sure?"
Minho hits him on the shoulder, then turns the water on, waiting only a quick second for it to warm up. He starts with the top of his head again, rinsing the shampoo away, "Shut up. Tell me if it's too hot."
"It's fine."
Hyunjin stays obediently still as Minho dutifully continues with his self-imposed assignment. But of course he does continue, because… it’s Minho. Never complaining in earnestness, not even when he struggles from time to time.
"I'm using the white conditioner," Hyunjin says when he hears another bottle being opened.
"I know," Minho lies, and Hyunjin doesn't call him out on it even though he can hear him shuffle and change the product.
Minho's touch is a lot smoother now, and he combs through Hyunjin's long hair repeatedly, humming away as he does. Massaging his scalp with little circular motions.
"You are good at this hyung." Hyunjin smiles, wondering if Minho is blushing again.
"I've always been told the opposite," he muses and Hyunjin instantly knows he is referring to that time he had aggressively washed Jisung's hair when filming SKZ-CODE.
Hyunjin hums, "It's different when you aren't playing around." The repeated motions are making him sleepy, "Can I open my eyes now hyung?"
"No! I'm going to rinse the conditioner now."
Hyunjin sighs, but nods. Minho does speed up though, maybe sensing his impatience, and it doesn't take long for him to turn off the water again.
"Can I now?" Hyunjin asks again, although he is pretty sure he could just do it if he wanted to.
"Nope! Keep them closed." Hyunjin can hear a smile while he talks.
"Why?"
Suddenly, Minho's hands are cupping his face, thumbs settling over his cheekbones.
"Because..." Minho's breath ghosts over Hyunjin's lips, and for a second he thinks he is about to be kissed and his brain short-circuits. He jumps a little when lips touch his nose instead, featherlike and humid. "I still have to hang the showerhead back up."
And then Minho is standing up again and Hyunjin's heart is beating erratically inside his chest. Both painfully endeared and disappointed.
When Minho settles down in front of him again, all Hyunjin can think about is his lips.
"Now?" he asks, impatience eating him inside.
"Mhm, yes."
Hyunjin finally opens his eyes, blinking the whiteness of the bathroom back into focus. His hands come up to Minho's waist before he can even think about it, lifting him until he is forced to fall into Hyunjin's chest again, faces inches apart.
"Hyung," Hyunjin sighs, hoping he hasn't been reading this entire thing wrong, "Can I kiss you?"
Minho doesn't even let him try.
His arms come up to circle Hyunjin's shoulders as he leans in. The kiss is so much slower than he expects, but it's also so much sweeter. The way Minho's lips move against his is filled with intention. It washes away the last of Hyunjin's doubts, finally turning off his overactive mind to let him be here instead. Holding Minho's warm body against his, surrounded by the now lukewarm water.
It really is just a gentle slide of lips for a while, slow pecks and nibbles that follow no particular rhythm. But then Minho's hand is pulling on his hair and his teeth are dragging on Hyunjin's bottom lip, his mouth going slack as he lets out a little gasp. Minho's tongue licks teasingly over Hyunjin's lips, and he loses the last of his patience.
He buries a hand on the back of Minho's hair, keeping a firm grasp that gains him a little whine. Hyunjin takes the opportunity to retaliate, running his tongue over the edge of Minho's cute front teeth, sucking on Minho's tongue, and relishing in the way it makes him shiver.
Minho's body is all heat and pliancy, and Hyunjin is overcome by the desire to care for him. To make sure Minho feels safe to pull his walls down, to let Hyunjin exist within his quieter, most vulnerable, moments. Something Minho had done for him months ago, and he had never believed to be worthy of replicating, of giving back. Hadn't thought Minho could want him to.
Maybe Hyunjin hasn't been the smartest after all.
Hyunjin slots their lips together again, both of them sighing, both of them pleased with the closeness, and decides he will start paying attention to all the ways Minho has stayed with him. Always within arm's reach, always comfortable. How Minho had carved a space in his daily life so easily Hyunjin had almost missed the importance of it.
When they move away for air, both of them are shivering from the now cold water, their skin pruney. Hyunjin knows it's time for them to get out of the little bubble of comfort they created.
But he never wants it to end.
Kissing the underside of Minho's jaw, he smiles, "Stay the night hyung, please."
Minho hums, nuzzling into him, and lets out a sigh of immense relief: "Thought you'd never ask."