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Yunho hated short, rushed goodbyes.

The kind that left one feeling like they hadn’t really cared enough to give a proper reason for leaving, one-worded, casual, and curt. It left him wondering if the person really even wanted to be there in the first place, or if they were just waiting for the moment they could mutter a quick ‘Later!’ and walk away without looking back.

That’s the kind of goodbye that the new exchange student had given his taxi driver when he arrived at Yunho’s parents’ villa that warm summer afternoon. Yunho had heard the car coming down the gravel driveway before he saw it, and by the time he’d closed his book and made his way from the veranda is when he heard the casual, “See ya!” of the exchange student.

Yunho already felt indifferent as he stood at the far end of the driveway, looking the man up and down as he busied himself collecting his luggage. He wore a billowy cream shirt, and the buttons on it seemed to be for decoration rather than keeping his chest covered. Said chest was on full display, all firm muscle and tan skin, a golden necklace that dangled right between the swell of his pecs.

When he spoke to Yunho’s parents, who had stepped out of the villa to greet him, he had a deep voice that carried through the yard. His smile was inviting, beaming even, which made him look much younger than he was. His brown hair was a little longer around his face and ears, and just within the few minutes of seeing him interact, Yunho had already noticed the student had a habit of running his hands through the lengths of it.

Yunho doesn’t know how long he stood there staring, watching his parents welcome the new exchange student, but it was long enough for his mother to notice him tucked away in the yard. “Yunho, come introduce yourself,” she called, beckoning him over with a wave of her hand.

Suddenly, all eyes were on him as he trudged his way over to where they stood near the main house, his novel tucked under his arm and headphones hanging from his neck. He didn’t make eye contact with Mingi until he saw the others' feet in front of him, which were in a battered pair of sneakers that had seen better days.

He held out his hand for the student to shake, giving him a polite smile and a slight nod of his head in formality. “I’m Yunho, nice to meet you.”

“Hey,” his handshake was firmer than Yunho had anticipated, and his looks up close were much more beautiful and enthralling. Yunho found the plumpness of his lips near impossible to peel his attention away from while he spoke. “I’m Mingi,”

Mingi. Yunho had said the name over and over in his head, drowning out the conversation his parents had started with him. It was a handsome name too, just as handsome as the muscles on his thighs that flexed whenever he walked, or the high slope of his nose from his profile.

Every year, his father, who was an anthropology professor, invited one lucky post-graduate student to stay at their family villa in Italy to study and work on their dissertations during the summer. During this time, the student was free to use all amenities of the villa, the pool, ride bikes, or walk to the lakes surrounding the area, roam the expansive gardens, or even eat meals with the family on the veranda if they pleased. The only caveat was that they must spend a few hours a day helping Yunho’s father with his own research.

After years of having exchange students visiting each summer, it became a normal thing for their family to receive many gifts during holidays from past students and colleagues giving thanks for the experience. Some of the students Yunho had grown to like, and others he’d had no opinion on. He hadn’t gone to college yet himself, and was the youngest of the house–he was typically glossed over rather than made friends with by the visitors. Yunho cared much more about the fact that he had to give up his room for six long weeks.

The said room was the one that Mingi would be staying in. Sleeping in his bed. Something about that knowledge made Yunho’s skin prickle with heat, and he couldn’t quite discern why. After a brief conversation with his mother and father about his long travels there, it was Yunho’s job to show him to where he’d be staying for the time being.

It was silent as they made their way up the stairs, Yunho’s bare feet leading the way up the cool tiled steps and down the hallway. He was never self-conscious about showing any of the other exchange students his room, but with Mingi, he hesitated before twisting the doorknob. Even went as far as looking over his shoulder at Mingi just to make sure he was still behind him. He only raised a languid brow at the younger as if to say: Any time today.

Yunho pushed the door open, leading him into what was now Mingi’s lodgings. “This is my room, but it’s yours for the time being. There is a balcony that overlooks the garden on that side, and a bathroom that connects to the room I’ll be sleeping in. We have to share the bathroom and the balcony, but other than that, it’s all yours.” Yunho explained as he made his way through the room. There was another door that connected the adjoining rooms, which Yunho shut. “This door stays closed, for um, privacy. Just don’t lock the bathroom door or else I can’t get out.”

He didn’t know if Mingi had caught wind of everything he said, since when he turned around, the other man was already sitting on the edge of the bed–Yunho’s bed, tugging his shoes off. Once he was able to toss them off, he turned to Yunho and gave him a half-smile. “Thanks, seems like you’ve got the short end of the stick, huh?”

Yunho blinked once, twice, three times before he processed Mingi’s words. “Oh! You mean giving up my room?” he finally answered. No one had ever considered Yunho giving up his own space as unfair, it was just how things were. How they always have been. He could feel his ears growing warm as he stuttered over his words. “I don’t mind that much, really. It happens every summer, so I’m used to it, I guess.”

“Hm,” Mingi gave Yunho a once-over before giving an impassive shrug of his shoulders. He fell back on the bed and let out a sigh of relief. The action made the billowy cream shirt ride up just enough for Yunho to see the slight softness of his stomach. Mingi made no move to cover it. “I’ve had a long day, I think I’ve got a serious case of jetlag,”

Yunho hoped that Mingi didn’t catch him staring, but it was damn near impossible not to. A man as handsome as Mingi was lying across his bed, and it was doing things to Yunho’s brain that it shouldn’t. “Right, I’ll let you get some rest. Dinner is at six, I’ll come wake you if you want.”

He’s sure Mingi was already half-asleep by the time he muttered out a muffled, “Yeah, thanks,”

Yunho tiptoed out of the room and through the shared bathroom to his own space. In the colder months, the same room was used for storage and family if they stayed for the holidays. Now, for the coming weeks, it would be Yunho’s room. The only thing separating him from Mingi was a wooden door and a balcony, on which at any point one of them could step onto and find themselves in the other's room.

It was still early afternoon, and with the windows ajar, Yunho could hear the constant hum of cicadas in the trees nearby. Similar to the hum that was lingering in his chest, a hammering of his heart just from a small interaction. He sat on the edge of his bed and let out a breath he hadn’t known previously he was holding.

Mingi was surely much older than Yunho. That was known. He was also most likely not interested in Yunho in the slightest. That didn’t stop Yunho from daydreaming about him, if he could befriend the older college student just enough to be around him that much more. To see if he’d pick up on the way Yunho couldn’t seem to peel his eyes away from his honeyed skin and solid build.

He was everything Yunho wasn’t, casual, with his short, ‘See ya!’ as a form of goodbye. He was all muscle, where Yunho was boyishly skinny as he’d always been. Thin and willowy, with soft, rounded cheeks that he’d inherited from his mother. Doll-like lips and a hooked nose were the most notable features about him, and to say the least, Yunho never got much attention from his peers. Not that it mattered to him, he much preferred keeping his nose in a book, or pouring over sheets of music for piano.

Still, he wished sometimes he’d been graced with a bit more manliness, a bit more grit to him like other men tended to obtain at some point in their lives. Yunho, being the ripe age of nineteen, had yet to grow into the strapping man he’d hoped to be. He remained boyish, soft with not only his appearance but his words and mannerisms.

Those mannerisms, hobbies, and interests were thankfully never suppressed by his parents. He was never told to ‘man up’ when he was younger. Despite his mother and father being staunchly religious, his so-called lack of masculinity was never brought up as an issue.

What posed an issue of sorts was the way in which Yunho seemed to be simply looked through like glass instead of a person. Talked at instead of spoken to. He’d grown so accustomed to it that it didn’t even phase him when he arrived at the dinner table and his father immediately questioned if Mingi was joining them.

“He’s still sleeping,” Yunho responded as he pulled out a chair and took a seat across the table. They usually ate outside during the warmer months. Sometimes it was on the patio right outside of the kitchen, and other times it was under the veranda across the yard. This time, the wrought iron table was under one of the large oak trees. “Said he’s tired from the jet lag.”

His father didn’t seem phased, instead told their housemaid Janie to remove the extra plate since they would no longer need it. “He seems like a nice young man, this Mingi,” his mother mentioned after a sip from her wine glass. “I like his way of speaking.”

His father leaned back in his chair with a hum of contentment. “Ah, he is very, how do you say? Easygoing?”

Yunho ran his tongue along his cheek as he listened. His mother passed a dish full of roasted vegetables over to him to have a serving of, and as he scooped them onto his plate, he responded. “Don’t you think it’s a bit too easygoing? I bet when the time comes for him to leave us, he’ll say something like ‘Later!’ and that'll be the end of it.”

He didn’t mean for what he said to come off as impolite, but his tone had a little sharpness to it that made his mother tsk. “I’m sure he won’t Yunho,” she raised a brow at him as a warning look. “You say this now, but he might grow on you more than you think.”

What she didn’t know was that Mingi had already embedded himself in Yunho’s mind just from the few hours he had been at their villa. It was almost embarrassing the number of times Yunho had to refrain from peering through the open door of the balcony just to watch the other sleep. To see if he could catch a glimpse of his face and stare unabashedly for as long as he wanted.

All throughout dinner, Yunho thought about Mingi, in fact. Even though he wasn’t there, Mingi was the main topic of conversation that evening. How much of a good student he was under his father's mentoring, how far he’d traveled alone, how he was barely twenty-eight but full of knowledge.

All things Yunho hoped he would be one day, and perhaps spending enough time around Mingi, just a bit of it would rub off on Yunho himself.

The next morning was quiet, a blanket of heat settled over the villa as Yunho got ready for the day. He woke earlier than Mingi did and made it a point to quickly dress and head downstairs before he roused from his slumber. Not that Yunho didn’t want to see Mingi, quite the opposite. He wanted nothing more than to see him, but rather, he didn’t want to seem like he was waiting up for the other either. Yunho didn’t want to come across as too desperate for Mingi’s attention, so he made his way down to the open-air kitchen and towards the veranda early.

He didn’t bother with shoes, simply stepped through the garden with bare feet under the cool grass. When he sat, his parents were already there, his mother flipping through pages of a magazine while his father savored a cigarette before breakfast had been served. His mother gave Yunho a smile when she saw him seated across from her, turning the page of her magazine, she commented, “You’re here early.”

Yunho didn’t look up at her, he knew if he did, it would give him away immediately. Instead, he busied himself with taking a plump grape from its stem from the platter of fruit and popping it into his mouth. “Early bird gets the worm,” he said around the bite.

His mother only smiled, glancing at him from her side of the table. After a few minutes of normal chatter between Yunho’s parents, Mingi finally arrived at breakfast. He made his way to the table leisurely, as if he hadn’t slept through dinner and now nearly breakfast.

“Mingi, are you feeling better now?” Mr. Jeong asked after spotting him approaching. Yunho didn’t fully turn in his seat, but he did glance over his shoulder to see Mingi behind him. The only other seat was right next to Yunho, and his stomach fluttered uncomfortably from the thought.

“As right as rain now that I was able to sleep,” Mingi replied. He pulled out the chair next to Yunho and sat down without a care in the world. As if Yunho wasn’t trying his hardest not to act normally next to him. “Sorry, I missed dinner last night. The time change really got to me.”

Mrs. Jeong waved a dismissive hand at his apology. “Don’t worry about it, please help yourself to some food. I’m glad you’re well rested.”

Mingi didn’t need telling twice. He filled his plate with various fruits, soft cheeses, sliced bread with a healthy amount of jam, and a soft-boiled egg to top it all off. Yunho sipped at his freshly squeezed apricot juice. The cup was beaded with condensation as he held it, but the grip he’d had on the glass was unyielding. Yunho was sitting so close to Mingi that if he moved his leg ever so slightly, they’d touch. All he had to do was move his knee over a few centimeters, and they’d brush against one another. He didn’t dare attempt it, even if he could brush it off as an accidental touch.

Instead, he quietly sat next to Mingi, once again listening to the conversation around him rather than participating in it. Though every now and then Yunho would steal a glance at the exchange student, watch the way Mingi’s throat moved when he swallowed down a sip of coffee, stare at his hands that held his utensils. Long, thick fingers with a healthy amount of veins along the back of his hand. Yunho wondered if Mingi also had veins somewhere else–

“Yunho?” his name being said snapped him right out of the nefarious thought he was about to have, and even though he knew no one knew exactly what he’d been thinking, his cheeks grew warm with shame. “Would you be able to take Mingi to town today?” his mother asked.

No one was paying attention to the way Yunho was flustered, and he was grateful when he was able to squeak out a reply. “Sure, I don’t mind.”

The ride into the nearby town wasn’t long, just about twenty minutes down the beaten path until the fields and trees gave way to old buildings stained with patina. The groundskeeper fixed an old bike in the shed for Mingi to be able to use, and by early afternoon, they were set to head out.

Yunho waited for Mingi near the back gate they’d leave from, it was faster than leaving from the main entrance of the villa and gave him some shade to stand in. He had a pair of cheap sunglasses perched on his nose, and when he saw Mingi heading down the dirt path to meet him, he pushed them up on the top of his head. Again, Mingi wore another billowy shirt that left little to the imagination, and blue shorts that had Yunho’s eyes lingering on the other man’s legs for longer than was considered normal.

Mingi, too, had his own pair of sunglasses, though his were hanging from the front of his shirt. The same battered sneakers from the day before were laced on his feet, and tucked under his arm was a thick stack of papers. He approached Yunho with a friendly smile, a flash of his white teeth through plump lips. “Hey, you ready to go?” he asked, brushing his hair out of his own face.

Yunho nodded, taking his bike from its position against the brick wall next to them. “Yeah, it’s not a long ride, so we should be there soon enough.”

Mingi let out a soft ‘Cool’ under his breath in response. He looked Yunho up and down, and even though there was a neutral expression on the older man’s face, Yunho felt the need to drop his gaze. Mingi pointed to the small backpack on Yunho’s shoulder and lifted a brow. “Mind if I put my papers in there?”

Yunho shook his head, then realized he should probably use his words. “N-no, I don’t mind,” he stuttered. As he was about to pull the bag down from his shoulders, he felt Mingi’s hand rest on him. He was standing behind Yunho already, but he placed a hand on his shoulder in order to keep him from moving. Yunho tensed, but he didn’t say anything, just inhaled sharply and held the air in his lungs. Instead of simply handing Yunho the pages to put into his bag, he unzipped the rucksack and placed them in there himself.

After zipping it back up, he gave Yunho a brusque pat on the shoulder and placed his sunglasses on his face. He didn’t even look phased as he straddled the bike that was set aside for him and popped up the kickstand.

Meanwhile, Yunho was stunned–his skin tingled from where Mingi had touched him. He rolled both of his shoulders back to try and shake the lingering feeling of Mingi’s hands, tried to hide the flush of his ears and cheeks as he mounted his own bike. When he looked over his shoulder at Mingi, the older simply gave him a wink and said. “Lead the way,”

The sun was bright and beaming down upon them relentlessly, but they made no stops while riding into town. Not a cloud painted the sky, and Yunho was grateful that at least they wouldn’t get stuck in sudden rain on the way back. It was a leisurely trip through cypress-lined paths that opened up into wide fields of grass and shrubbery.

Every now and then, Yunho would glance over his shoulder just to check if Mingi was still following behind him. This time, when he turned his head to look, Mingi gave him a small nod, a slight lift of his chin in acknowledgement. He was trailing closer than behind than Yunho expected, and had he not had to turn back around to pay attention to the road, he would’ve taken a moment to admire the other.

After a few more minutes, they arrived in the small town of Crema, and the uneven terrain underfoot became a paved road. It made it easier to pedal down the narrow pathways, and since it was a luncheon hour, few people roamed the streets. The ones who did gave Yunho a wave or tipped their hat upon spotting him. He would come into town often to visit the library and bookstores when he felt stir-crazy at the villa.

Though the town was small, it was ripe with historical buildings and statues, either depicting the region's deep religious background or other historical events. Buildings that looked to be straight from the Renaissance period lined every street, even more so towards the city’s center.

Yunho slowed his speed as he navigated the streets, then came to a stop when he saw the print shop up ahead. Mingi pulled up right beside him, and despite the warm weather and bike ride, he didn’t look winded in the slightest. They came here for the purpose of having Mingi’s work typed, along with some other material he’d found translated, so he could use it in his dissertation. Instead of heading straight for the transcriber, he pulled his glasses down a bit to be able to look at Yunho over the dark lenses. “You thirsty? I’ll get us something to drink.”

“Um, yeah, sure,” Yunho replied. He was, in fact, thirsty, parched even, and he didn’t think to pack any water in his backpack either. He stood from his bike and watched as Mingi walked straight into what appeared to be a bar. The door was open, and he could hear the chatter of older men sitting and chuckling amongst themselves from where he was outside.

He waited for a moment, wondering if perhaps he should follow Mingi inside, if he knew the place that he’d just walzted inside of in search of something to quell their thirst. But just when Yunho was about to head in after him, Mingi emerged again, holding an ice-cold bottle of mineral water. As casual as ever, he untwisted the cap and brought the bottle to his lips, lifting his head to take a few long gulps.

Yunho’s eyes couldn’t help but drop to watch his throat constrict around each swallow, but he was particularly enamored with a bead of sweat that fell down the column of Mingi’s neck. It slowly trailed down his tan skin until it reached his clavicle, dissipating into the gold chain that hung around his chest. It was the first time Yunho really paid attention to the pendant that was on the necklace, for other times, he was too busy gazing at Mingi’s pecs to notice.

Resting right above his sternum was a cross with Jesus upon it, engraved in the shining metal. Yunho had to avert his gaze and clear his throat when Mingi finally passed him the bottle. Without hesitation, he brought it to his lips and took several long drinks, then poured some into his hands to run through his hair and cool himself off. Even in shorts and an oversized t-shirt, he suffered from the heat.

“So what’s there to do in the summer in a place like this?” Mingi questioned once Yunho had had his fill of their shared water.

Yunho thought it over, then shrugged. “Wait for summer to end,” he replied bluntly. It was meant to sound humorous, but it came out dryly sarcastic.

“And when summer ends?”

Yunho only smiled, looked at Mingi over his sunglasses.

“Don’t tell me,” Mingi held up a hand in defeat, as if he knew exactly what Yunho would answer. “Wait for summer to come,”

“Something like that, yeah,” Yunho let out a breathy laugh. “It’s not all that boring, though. I usually go swimming, read, play piano, ride my bike to the lake, and go dancing at night. Once you get bored enough at the villa, you find things to do.”

Mingi hummed at this. “Is that what you like to do?”

No one had ever asked Yunho that before. If the things he did to stem boredom, he actually enjoyed, or just tolerated. And after a moment of thinking about it, he didn’t quite know the answer himself. He liked the way Mingi made him think of things he previously wouldn’t have. “Sometimes, yeah. I have friends, but they aren’t always around, so I’ve got to make do.”

Mingi seemed satisfied enough with this answer as he took another sip of his water. There was a pause between them, and Yunho didn’t know if he should ask Mingi something in return or wait for him to speak again. In the end, he decided to take the reins. “The shop is just over there,” Yunho lifted his chin to gesture towards the direction. “If you want, I can come with and talk to the guy for you, help translate–”

“S’fine, I got it,” Mingi interjected. It wasn’t to be rude, but rather to save Yunho the breath of even finishing his sentence. “Need to practice speaking anyway.”

Instead of taking his papers from Yunho’s bag himself again, he let the younger collect them and hand them over. He quickly thumbed through the stack to make sure he had everything he needed, then muttered a quick, “Be right back,” before he sauntered across the cobbled street into the shop.

Yunho watched him go for a moment, thought about how even the way Mingi walked was leisurely. As if he didn’t have a care in the world and strolled along with all the sureness Yunho never could imagine having himself. It was less envy that Yunho felt bubbling in his stomach than it was admiration.

He was even more captivated by the necklace he wore, proudly displaying his piety to those around him. Anyone who got close enough to him could peer down at his chest and see the cross he flaunted. It was as if Mingi were warding off any possible bad omens by wearing all the time a reminder of his humbleness. Though Yunho saw it as a challenge, another wall he’d like to climb in order to get closer to the other.

If Mingi was in fact religious, it meant that he’d be less receptive to ever seeing Yunho in a romantic manner. It was also a possibility that Mingi was just as secretive about his desires as Yunho was.

Yunho was so lost in his own thoughts as he leaned against the wall of a building covered in shade that he didn’t even hear Mingi approaching him. It wasn’t until those battered sneakers he always wore came into his line of sight that Yunho let his gaze lift from studying the ground to meet Mingi’s impassive stare.

“Let’s head back before it gets any warmer out here,” Mingi stated. He swung a leg over his bike and pushed off ahead of Yunho without looking back. How he managed to know the way after only being in town once was beyond Yunho, but he quickly gathered his thoughts and hopped on his own bike before he got left behind.

The rest of the following days went by slowly, as most of them did. Yunho sometimes found himself practicing piano in the sitting room, making notes of his sheet music that his mother would buy for him. Othertimes he’d go for a swim in the pool, float in the water until his fingers pruned and skin felt dry. He’d lounge in the grass, barefoot, and read novels or journals under the many trees, picking various fruits straight from the plant and snacking on them when he felt peckish. He only saw Mingi typically during mealtimes, when he wasn’t tucked away in his father’s study, poring over his manuscripts and research. It was obvious that his writing and scholarly accomplishments were important to him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken up the opportunity to become his father’s understudy, he supposed.

Still, every now and then, Yunho would become curious. After doing all he could to try not to think of Mingi, it was nearly impossible. The billowy shirts and honey skin, the mole right under his eye that he longs to touch and kiss. The firm muscles that moved under his skin when he moved a certain way. It all flashed through Yunho’s mind like the little shutter cameras he’d collected when he was younger, each glimpse more exciting than the last.

Once or twice, perhaps to many times, Yunho would like to admit, he would tiptoe towards his father’s study and press his ear to the closed door. Listen to the voices of Mingi and his father speaking about ancient artifacts and philosophy, if certain excerpts from books would suit his dissertation. If he heard someone heading down the hall, he’d quickly scurry like a mouse to not get caught eavesdropping.

Only one time he was caught by their housekeeper, Janie, who had scolded him with a tug of his ear. Yunho had narrowly swallowed down a yelp and was grateful to only be let off with a stern warning. Sometimes he felt like Janie parented him more than his own mother, as doting as she was.

Today, Yunho found himself lounging by the pool under the unruly apricot trees, lost in pages of sheet music and novels until dinner time came. Janie, their housekeeper, but more of a third parent to Yunho, told him to put on a nice shirt since his father had guests this evening.

“What’s the matter with this one?” Yunho muttered with a slight pout of his lips. He looked down at the oversized Joy Division shirt that he’d worn on his excursion to town earlier. It wasn’t the best, but it was far from shabby.

Janie simply let out a sigh and crossed her arms with a tired expression. “Just change Yunho. Something with buttons and a nice color. I just folded your shirts this morning and set them on your bed. Don’t give me trouble.”

Yunho let his head roll back as if he were tired himself from being slightly scolded. It was nothing against Janie, she was probably one of the few people who really cared for Yunho. That also meant she had to put up with his antics now and then. “Fine, I’ll change.”

Janie said nothing more, just let out a hum of satisfaction and left Yunho to it. He sat up from the chair he’d been lounging on in the shade and watched her head back towards the house. He didn’t truly care for dinners with his father’s friends, usually because they became long-winded discussions about politics, literature, and anthropology topics. Anything and everything they could conjure up within the hour and after one too many glasses of grappa.

It bored Yunho to no end, but he sat there wordlessly and ate, then listened to them drone on until it was safe enough to ask to be excused. He had a feeling this night would be inescapable since it was Mingi’s first time meeting his father’s academic acquaintance.

After mulling over what to wear for a few minutes, he changed into a blue button-up shirt and a pair of crisp jeans that didn’t have grass and dirt stains on them. Before heading down, he checked himself in the bathroom mirror. Yunho thought he looked well enough, hopefully suitable so that Janie wouldn’t tell him to go change again. Without another glance at his reflection, Yunho made his way down the hallway and to the stairs, which would lead him to the sitting room.

He could already hear his parents chatting as he made his way down the last few steps, muttered voices echoing through the house. Quiet music was playing in the background, and the sun was setting leisurely, coating the inside of the sitting room with orange hues. When he turned towards the kitchen, he saw Janie scurrying about getting dishes ready to serve.

Yunho could smell the fresh herbs made to cook the fish that was caught earlier in the day, and his stomach suddenly groaned from the aroma. Janie hadn’t noticed him just yet, her back was turned in order to stir something over the stovetop. “Smells delicious,” Yunho commented as he peered at the food in their pots.

Janie turned when she heard his voice, brows raised in surprise as she didn’t expect anyone to be in the kitchen with her. The collar of her green dress and the front of her apron were stained with tomato sauce, but she still wiped her hands on them. “Oh, thank you. The cod was just caught today, any fresher and it’d still be moving,” she joked as she went to grab a bottle of wine from the shelf.

Her eyes scanned the selection for a moment with her hands on her hips, before turning to Yunho with her brows raised. “What do you think will go better with dinner tonight, a Pinto Gringo or Soave?”

Yunho pursed his lips as he did when he was thinking, but it only took a few seconds for him to come to a conclusion. “Soave,” he replied, moving to the shelf and grabbing the bottle beside her. “I know my mother enjoyed it when you last served some.”

Janie gave him a fond smile and nodded. “You know well, go take it to the table. I’m sure they're all waiting on you.” Yunho felt proud of his choice as he carried the bottle of white wine to the table with him.

They were eating at a table right under a pergola, with double doors that led into the kitchen. Yunho’s father let out a satisfied, ‘Ah,’ as he saw Yunho approaching with the wine. “He comes late, but bearing gifts.” His father chuckled as he stood to take the bottle from his son. Yunho let out his own shy laugh, which was closer to a nervous exhale. “You remember Mr. Rosso?”

Yunho gave the man a small nod of his head out of courtesy. “Yes, of course, how are you?”

The older man returned Yunho’s gesture, the crow’s feet on the side of his eyes growing deeper as he smiled. “I’m well, you seem taller since I last saw you,”

Yunho’s mother chimed in this time from her seat across the table, she already had Mr.Jeong pouring a glass of the bottle for her. “Oh, he’s growing like a weed. A fine boy he is,”

Yunho sat down, the only available seat left once again was near Mingi, who had been silent since he arrived. He sat tentatively, his parents and Mr. Rosso already on a different topic after greeting him. Mingi was dressed a bit nicely too, in a fresh pair of brown loose slacks and a deep V-neck linen shirt. The cut of the shirt allowed for his necklace to be visible, and a watch completed his accessories.

He didn’t look at Yunho when he sat, but he did lean over to mutter something. “Thanks for showing me around town earlier.”

Yunho busied himself by filling his own glass of water with the pitcher in front of him. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind,” he lowly replied. He could feel his ears growing warm, and he wished it didn’t happen every time he was in Mingi’s vicinity.

They didn’t speak many more words to one another during dinner. Mr. Jeong was able to rope Mingi into his debates with Russo, which left Yunho to eat quietly and listen. Every now and then, Mingi would nudge Yunho a bit and ask what a certain word in Italian meant, and Yunho would whisper over a translation.

It was interesting to see the way Mingi interacted with others, he spoke confidently despite not knowing every topic they landed on. Never once did he trip over his words or stutter, something Yunho struggled with greatly when he was put on the spot. He didn’t hesitate to ask his own question either, keeping the conversation flowing effortlessly. Yunho was in awe of his social skills, which he himself was self-conscious of.

After dinner, they moved into the sitting room to enjoy chilled glasses of grappa that Mr. Jeong poured for everyone. Yunho didn’t like it too much, something about the aftertaste it left on his tongue didn’t favor his palate. Still, he sipped the two fingers of the dark wine that was poured into the glass as he sat with his mother on one of the settees. He’d been relatively silent the entire dinner, listening and watching rather than putting his input on the buzzing conversation around him.

Even Mingi seemed somewhat tired now, whether it was the glasses of wine or simply the evening hour, he sat on a couch across from Yunho with his ankle perched on the opposite knee. He was also nursing his wine, fingers tapping along the armrest in anticipation of something more interesting to happen. When Yunho had the chance to study Mingi without him noticing, he picked up on the slow blinks, his lips slightly pouted in boredom.

As if his mother could sense the mood between the three had been gray, she leaned over towards Yunho and placed a hand on his knee to grab his attention. “Why don’t you play us something on the piano, Yunho?”

Yunho bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about it. He wasn’t particularly looking to play for others tonight, but at least it gave him something to do other than sitting there. “Alright,” he agreed, standing to his feet.

He could feel Mingi’s eyes on him as he sat at the bench of the grand piano and lifted the lid to reveal the keys underneath. He set his unfinished glass of wine on top of the dark wood as he thought about what to play. His sheet music was still there above the piano keys, but he didn’t bother flipping through it.

Instead, he took a deep sigh and stared at the black and white keys for a moment, eyes on the back of his head heavy with the weight of Mingi’s gaze. Yunho didn’t dare turn to peer over his shoulder, just let his finger settle over the instrument, and began the piece he’d been practicing the past few days.

The score was named ‘Sonatine Beaucratique’ or the ‘Beaucratic Sonatina’ by Erik Satie, something his piano teacher gave him sheet music for long ago. Now, after many years, Yunho could play the piece fluidly without even having to look at the sheet and follow along. It was upbeat enough to have his father and Mr. Russo silence their conversation and simply listen.

It was soothing in a way for Yunho to simply sit and play piano, despite everyone in the room watching him. It was the only time in which he felt as though he could handle the attention without feeling like he needed to hide afterwards. He didn’t have to speak a word–the piano and his fingers did all the speaking for him.

The song was a fairly upbeat tempo, and Yunho’s father leaned against the grand piano and tapped his foot along with the rhythm as he listened. It was peaceful to hear something other than voices for a moment, just the soothing sounds of the keys hitting the strings inside the instrument to produce each note. By the time the song ended, soft claps of those around him sounded mostly coming from Mr. Russo and Mingi. “Bravo, Yunho. That was impressive indeed,” the older man gave him a pat on the back, his face now flushed from the many glasses of wine throughout the evening.

“Thank you, it’s nothing really, something I learned many years ago.” Yunho downplayed himself just to get some of the praise to keep his cheeks from burning. Again, Mingi was silent, but he watched Yunho from across the room with a slight upturn of his lips as he sipped from his glass.

Yunho used the excuse of being tired to return to his room for the night after closing the lid of the piano, saying goodnight to everyone and quickly skipping up the stairs. He wasn’t truly tired at all, if anything, he liked to stay up late reading on his balcony or listening to music.

He couldn’t help but wonder as he made his way to his room why Mingi hadn’t interacted more with him as he had earlier in the day, why he’d suddenly gone so quiet with Yunho, rather than be his more expressive self. Perhaps it was to save face around their guest and his parents, but a part of Yunho wanted nothing more than to be alone with Mingi again.

Rather than changing into his sleep clothes right away, he opened the double doors leading onto the balcony he now shared with Mingi. The sun had gone down by now, and the glow of the moon was the only light above him. Below, he could see the garden, the trees swaying in the gentle breeze, and the sounds of crickets chirping in the grass.

He found himself leaning over the concrete railing, chin resting in his hand as he let his thoughts overtake him. Thoughts of how Mingi’s skin glistened in the sun when he was sweating from riding his bike. How his laugh sounded so genuine, how his eyes became little half-moon crescents from smiling too hard. If Yunho closed his eyes for a moment, he could still feel the firm way Mingi had grabbed his shoulder, the way his fingers dug into his skin, how he could easily push Yunho around if he wanted to.

Yunho didn’t even hear the other set of doors opening, and Mingi stepping out to join him. He remained unaware until he heard Mingi’s voice behind him, deep yet soft and gentle. “When you said you played piano, I wasn’t expecting you to be a prodigy.”

Yunho turned, his back ramrod straight as he inhaled sharply. Mingi was leaning against the frame of the doors that led into his room with his arms crossed over his chest. He hadn’t changed into pyjamas just yet, either, still in that tan linen shirt and slack he wore to dinner. Yunho swallowed since his mouth ran dry, having just thought about the other man.

“O-oh, I wouldn’t call myself a prodigy really,” he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and dropped his gaze to the floor. “I’ve been playing piano since I was young, and transcribing sheet music. It’s just a part of me now, I suppose.”

“I think it’s cool,” Mingi said as he moved from the door frame, now looking out over the balcony next to Yunho. They were relatively the same height, but Yunho found himself feeling much smaller next to him. “You seem to enjoy it,”

“I do,” Yunho replied a bit too quickly. He saw Mingi smile from the corner of his eye, but he didn’t say anything. “It takes my mind away from things.”

“Yeah?” Mingi turned, his back now facing away from the view of the garden. “You got a lot going on up there?”

Yunho shrugged. “I think a lot about things that don’t matter,” he paused and thought about his words carefully. Mingi let him take his time. “I know a lot about things that don’t matter, that no one else really cares about. So I play piano to let it all out. It calms me.”

Mingi's expression was unreadable, but after a pause, he spoke. “Everyone has something they do to clear their minds. I like to write, it’s easier than speaking. That’s why I chose to come here for the summer and work on my dissertation. Yours is music.”

He’d said it so plain and simple, so matter-of-factly. As if understanding him was as easy as walking. Yunho liked how Mingi was open to hearing his true reasoning for enjoying one of his passions. It was nice to talk to someone who wasn’t his parents or Janie. Yunho didn’t realize he was staring at Mingi there under the moonlight, but the way the soft light cast off his face was impossible not to notice. It reminded him of the many historic statues that were across the town.

He only turned away when Mingi looked back at him, forcing Yunho to look away before an inevitable redness crept onto his cheeks. He could tell Mingi didn’t look away, though, his gaze was so intense that he could feel it burning into his skin like a brand every time he glanced upon him.

“Maybe you could teach me a thing or two on piano while I’m here,” Mingi suggested.

Yunho couldn’t help but think about how that could have two meanings. Was he being serious? Probably, truly, maybe Mingi did want to learn something to play when he returned home. Or was it something more than that? Something that only in Yunho’s wildest dream he’d imagined would come true.

Either way, he decided to respond casually. They’d only known one another a few days at this point, and Yunho was certain Mingi wouldn’t be interested in that way. “Yeah, I could do that. There are some simple songs I think you could learn.”

Mingi smiled at his response, watching the way Yunho avoided eye contact again when Mingi refused to break it. They stood like that for a few seconds, to Yunho it felt more like minutes, with Mingi simply studying him and watching. After a moment, he moved to head back towards the double doors that led to Yunho’s old bedroom. “Well, I gotta get to bed, I have to let Prof go over what I’ve written so far since I got it printed today,” Mingi mentioned. Prof is what he’d taken to calling Yunho’s father recently. It was casual, but Mr. Jeong only gave Mingi a slap on the back and a hearty laugh when he heard the nickname.

“Oh, of course, no problem.” Yunho straightened up a bit, watching the older linger near the entrance to his room. He stood there almost as if he were waiting for something, his hands in his pockets and mouth twitching in want of speaking. Yunho waited, but the words he was hoping to possibly hear never came.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Mingi finally said softly.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

And with that, the door leading to Mingi’s side of the room shut gently. What he perceived as Mingi wanting to say something more was never spoken. Words swept away like the same night breeze that passed over the patio.

Yunho went to his room not long after Mingi, quietly shutting one door but leaving one of the double doors slightly ajar. Not only would it let the cool night breeze wash over him as he slept, but some lingering hope within him dreamt of Mingi gazing upon Yunho through the crack in the open door. Whisper in the dead of night all of the things Yunho wanted to hear.

‘I want to get to know you more, I want to be your friend, more than your friend. You are my forbidden fruit.’

That’s what Mingi was to Yunho. A ripened, sweet piece of fruit hanging in the garden that was high in a tree he couldn’t reach. Though one thing he could do was climb, yearn, shake the branches to get a taste of the syrupy nectar he longed to taste on his tongue and let it dribble down his chin. Bite into the warm, firm muscle that was Mingi and finally taste what he’d been craving.

Over the course of the next week that Mingi stayed with them, Yunho came to learn he was probably the most studious out of all of the understudies he’d met. Mingi spent hours working on his dissertation in his father’s study, reading books and excerpts to learn more about the history of Italy. When he wasn’t typing away, he’d occasionally go for a swim in the pool or play volleyball with some of the locals he’d met in town.

This time, he was lying right next to the pool with a book over his face to shield him from the sun. He’d just come out of the water, hair dripping down onto the towel and water rolling down his skin in steady rivulets. With how warm it was outside today, Yunho was sure he’d dry off in no time.

Yunho had seen Mingi shirtless countless times by now, the first when he was on the balcony after a shower, nothing but a pair of shorts on as he savoured a late-night cigarette. Yunho didn’t know what to do with himself and scurried back into his room like a scared kitten, slamming the door shut so harshly it shook in its frame. He still cringed when he thought about his own reaction, but Mingi told him it was nothing to worry about.

Now, seeing the older man shirtless had become a regular occurrence. It seemed Yunho sometimes saw more of his skin than his own, or rather, he noticed it more than he wanted to. Even now, as he lounged in the shade near Mingi, he couldn’t keep his focus on the romance novel he’d recently gotten from the bookstore. He kept stealing glances at the golden-skinned, exquisite man before him.

When Mingi moved the book from over his face, is when Yunho snapped out of his trance and quickly averted his gaze back to the words on the page. He, too, was shirtless from his earlier dip in the pool, and when Mingi turned to look at him, he felt nearly naked in his presence.

“Do you know Nietzsche?” Mingi asked.

It wasn’t what Yunho was expecting to hear from the other, but he casually looked up from his book as if he had forgotten Mingi was even there. “Of course I do, my father is a professor after all,”

A soft chuckle came from Mingi, accompanied by a lopsided grin. “Yes, I forgot, a prodigy and all,” Mingi had taken to calling Yunho that whenever he asked him an academic question. “Well then, tell me what you think of this.” Mingi cleared his throat and shifted to lie on his stomach so he could find the passage he was looking for. Yunho didn’t know what book in particular he had, but judging by the worn cover, it had to have been from his father’s many bookshelves.

“Everything goes, everything comes back; eternally rolls the wheel of being. Everything dies, everything blossoms again; eternally runs the year of being. Everything breaks, everything is joined anew; eternally the same House of Being is built. Everything parts, everything greets every other thing again; eternally, the ring of being remains faithful to itself. In every Now, being begins; round every Here rolls the sphere There. The center is everywhere. Bent is the path of eternity.”

Yunho watched as he read the passage, now biting the inside of his cheek as he listened intently and thought the words over. “I think he means the start and end is within every living creature. We all have a beginning and an end, and someone or something's end could be another's beginning. Animals may eat one another, as is the circle of life; no matter what, the world keeps spinning. Even a simple ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ could be perceived as a start and end. A passage of time and life is rather relative, I suppose.” Yunho finished.

When he finally looked up at Mingi, he seemed confounded. Lips pursed in a pout, brow furrowed slightly. He tapped his fingers along the page of the book as if it would help him process the words in it better. “You really ought to become a professor yourself. I’ve been lying here turning that over in my head for minutes now.”

“I’m sure my parents would be thrilled if I did that,” Yunho was thankful that his sunglasses covered the eyeroll he tried to prevent. If he had a dime for every time someone suggested he become a teacher he’d be as rich as his parents by now.

Mingi didn’t comment on his sarcasm, instead folded the corner of the page and shut the book dramatically. When he sat up, he pushed his still-damp hair off his brow to see Yunho better.

“Do you like to dance?” Mingi asked suddenly.

Yunho’s head tilted slightly at the question. The swiftness in the conversation made him feel like he had whiplash. “Y-yeah, sometimes? Why?”

Mingi pressed his lips together as he held back a smile. “Let’s go dancing tonight. I met some people in town who go to those, how you say?” His eyes wandered as he scanned his brain for the word he was looking for. “Discoteca?”

The first thought, rather feeling, Yunho had was nervousness. More like pure anxiety. Yunho had gone out, sure, there were a few other expat kids in the town his age, like Yeosang or Wooyoung, who enjoyed partying much more than he did. But why would Mingi ask him specifically to go with? Was this the opportunity he was looking for all along? An open invitation to a possible friendship that could lead to more?

All Yunho could muster to say was, “Tonight?”

Mingi stood this time, moving a step closer. He extended an arm to Yunho, like an olive branch of two people trying to make things work. “Yup. Tonight, after dinner. You down?” He winked at Yunho when he said it, hand still outstretched, just waiting for him to accept it.

Yunho pulled down his sunglasses to look Mingi right in the eye, and when he did, his stomach somersaulted. Suddenly, he felt hot all over, uncomfortably so. Yet he glanced back at Mingi’s hand and let his much smaller palm be engulfed by his larger one. “I’m game.”

A bright smile bloomed on Mingi’s lips, a slight glint of mischief in his eye. After giving Yunho’s hand a firm shake, his fingers brushed against his palm with the lightest touch. “I always heard musicians have soft hands,” his voice had dropped a bit lower, huskier.

Yunho swallowed harshly. He could only blink in bewilderment as he watched Mingi bite his full lower lip to hold back a grin. Yunho opened his mouth once, twice, three times to try and come up with a response, but nothing came out. Just a hot blush forming on his cheeks as he stared up at the older.

Mingi just turned back towards the pool as if nothing had happened, cool and casual as ever. “Meet me by the back gate at 9:30, okay?” he said, and before Yunho could respond, he had dived straight into the deep end of the pool. Didn’t even give him a chance to back out if he wanted to.

Mingi had emerged and swam out of earshot by the time Yunho was able to squeak out a quiet, “O-okay,”

Just as promised, Mingi was waiting by the back gate. Yunho could see him from their shared balcony when he’d went out to check if he was still there. He looked down at his watch. It read 9:15 pm. He had another fifteen minutes before he had to meet Mingi in their agreed-upon spot. All day, Yunho had been nervous after Mingi invited him, barely ate his dinner, which was unlike him. Even Janie commented on how little he ate, pressing her palm against his forehead to check for a fever.

“You’ve got to eat, as thin as you are, you’ll blow away in the wind if you lose any weight. Are you feeling alright?” she had asked him with concern in her voice.

Yunho was feeling fine in that sense at least. No fever, just a lingering tingling everywhere Mingi had touched him. His shoulder, his hand, his mind. If there were a name for such an impairment, Yunho would like to know it, just so he could feel like he wasn’t the only one in the world who’d experienced such infatuation.

Nonetheless, Yunho said goodnight to his parents after dinner, kissed his mother on the cheek, and rushed upstairs before Mingi could even make a peep. He’d paced back and forth in his room for about another twenty minutes until he heard Mingi enter his side, the water running in the sink as the other man brushed his teeth in the adjoining bathroom.

After a few minutes, he could hear Mingi in the other room open the closet doors and what he assumed was him changing clothes, only to leave again minutes later. That’s when Yunho had gone out on the patio to check if Mingi was really going to wait up for him, low and behold, he had.

Yunho moved towards the mirror in his room, checking his outfit one last time. He’d decided on something simple, just a black and white striped t-shirt and a pair of Levi’s blue jeans. The weather at night was still warm enough not to need a sweater, and dancing would keep him hot anyway. He ran his hands through his hair, just to get some of the longer lengths that curled around his ears to keep from sticking out.

Right next to his mirror was his wooden dresser, on top of which were a few notes of cash and an old lighter his grandfather had gifted him many years ago. He stuffed the money in his pocket and opened one of the drawers to put the lighter in, when something caught his attention. A small glint of silver against the low light of his bedroom. His crucifix necklace.

Yunho let himself stare at it for a moment, let himself remember why he’d stopped wearing it in the first place. He didn’t feel right wearing it after understanding what he was, who he was. Although when he saw the way Mingi wore his so proudly, not a hint of shame as he let his religion hang from his chest, Yunho suddenly felt inspired again.

So without much time to ponder, he lifted the necklace from the drawer and clasped it around his neck. The silver felt cold against his warm skin, even more so when he tucked it under his collar just to be safe.

Yunho looked at his watch again. 9:27. Just enough time to turn off the lights in his bedroom and tiptoe down the hallway to meet Mingi in the garden.

As he exited the house through the kitchen door, Yunho increased his pace, now able to take full strides so that he was out of earshot of everyone inside. Mingi was still there, now with a smouldering cigarette between his fingers as he gazed into the distance. He was leaning against the wooden fence, the gate already open, and their bikes resting against it. When he saw Yunho approaching, a languid smile crept onto his face, and he glanced down at his wrist watch.

“Right on time,” Mingi spoke lowly so as not to be heard by anyone. Even though they were in the garden far enough from the house, being too loud could still cause a ruckus in the stillness of the night.

Yunho had both his hands in his pockets just to keep from fidgeting too much. Mingi looked good, he’d changed into a pair of jeans that hugged his strong thighs before tapering out around his calves. His top, as per usual, served little purpose in being buttoned, as only one or two were being put to use, this time, it was a flowy forest green color that contrasted beautifully with his tan skin. so much so that if Yunho kept his eyes on the other too long, he might say something he didn’t want to slip out. So as he normally did, he dropped his gaze to his own tattered sneakers. “I don’t like to break promises,”

Mingi hummed at this, and when he stepped closer to Yunho, he could smell his cologne. Warm and spicy, with a hint of musk. “A good boy you are, huh?”

‘Oh, fuck,’ Yunho thought to himself. He had to hold back a moan just from hearing those words slip past Mingi’s lips. Instead, what came out was a sharp inhale, and his head lifted so quickly it should’ve hurt. A warm feeling erupted in his gut, and when he stared back at Mingi, there was a knowing look in his eye. Mischievous. He knew exactly what he’d done.

“I-I’d call myself loyal, maybe,” Yunho stuttered. What a stupid response. It was obvious Mingi was flirting, though Yunho’s mind went completely blank when coming up with a response. Way to make things awkward, he supposed.

Mingi just chuckled, tossed his now finished cigarette to the ground, and toed it out with his shoe. He took the handlebars of one of the bikes he’d collected from the shed earlier and tilted his head towards the gate. “Let’s ride,”

The time it took for the two to ride towards the small town was minuscule. Even in the darkness of night, Mingi led the way, pedaling as if they’d be late to the party that wouldn’t end anytime soon. Yunho could hear the distant bass of the music as they approached the closer. It was taking place at an outdoor club, and even in the early hours of the night, many bikes and Vespas were parked in front.

Mingi wasted no time parking his own bike against the wall, dragging Yunho along with him as they entered the gated area. As Yunho assumed there were a good number of people there already, mostly locals around his age that he knew already. Across the dancefloor, he spotted Wooyoung, who’d just left the bar with a drink in hand. He waved at Yunho with a friendly smile and a twinkle in his eyes.

“You already know people here, huh?” Mingi asked, and he still held onto Yunho’s elbow as he guided them through the small crowd to try and find a table to claim.

Yunho tried not to make a big deal about the way Mingi was touching him, how his hands felt so grounding on his skin. “Yeah, he’s my friend,” Yunho explained. He had to speak a bit louder to be heard over the music that was playing from the speakers nearby.

Just as he mentioned, Wooyoung came prancing over to greet him. His V-neck shirt was a tad too big on him, exposing his shoulder and collarbones, and his dark raven colored hair was now much shaggier and grown out. Wooyoung tucked a piece behind his ear as he approached the two, but it suited his otherwise cat-like features. “Yunho, what brings you out tonight?” he asked after pulling the other into a hug.

Yunho let out a shy laugh before tilting his head towards Mingi, who was still standing near him. “This guy. He’s one of my dad’s understudies for the summer.”

As if Wooyoung didn’t notice Mingi had been standing there the entire time, he looked over at the taller man with awe. His mouth formed a ‘o’ shape as he connected the dots. “Well, good on you, I’ve been trying to get Yunho to come dancing with me, but he’s always got his nose in some book when I stop by.”

Mingi only chuckled, the same lopsided smile he gave Yunho when he was trying to be coy. “He didn’t fight me at all, agreed to come out and show me around when I asked. Isn’t that right, Yunho?”

Yunho’s cheeks formed a blush, and he was grateful that the lowlight was able to somewhat hide it. Of course, it went differently than Mingi had described, he had really given Yunho no chance to say anything else. Mingi knew that he’d jump at the opportunity to spend time with him if he offered. Still, he looked into Wooyoung’s expectant eyes and agreed. “Yeah, I guess it was my chance to let loose a bit.”

Wooyoung gave him a playful slap on the shoulder in response, and Yunho knew he deserved it. Typically, if Wooyoung came by or called and asked Yunho to come out that night, he denied. Not that he didn’t enjoy hanging out with Wooyoung, but more so because he felt so alone, even surrounded by others. He much preferred the company of his piano or many novels rather than losing count of how many cocktails he’d downed in the hour.

“I’m gonna grab a drink,” Mingi politely excused himself.

As soon as he did, Wooyoung’s jaw dropped dramatically. “Holy shit, were you gonna call me and tell me your dad’s understudy this year was a hunk?”

Yunho sighed and rolled his eyes, although he wasn’t truly annoyed. He knew his friend would pester him about it as soon as he found out. “What, so you could try and get in his pants?” Yunho retorted.

Wooyoung’s tone dropped just a bit, just so he wasn’t heard by anyone nearby. “No, I can already tell you’re the one who likes him.”

Yunho bit his inner cheek. He thought he was hiding it fairly well, but Wooyoung had just seen the two together and already picked up on it. He wondered if others back at the villa had too. Instead of trying to lie or brush it off, he folded. “Is it that obvious?” he asked, nibbling at his bottom lip as he awaited Wooyoung’s reply.

Wooyung didn’t respond right away, though, just gave Yunho a look through his lashes as if he should already know the answer to his own question. He quickly changed the subject before Yunho could become too embarrassed. “Come, I’ve already got a table we can sit at.”

As the night went on, Yunho found himself nursing a cocktail he didn’t remember the name of at Wooyoung’s table. Yeosang was there too, mostly dragging Wooyoung to and from the dancefloor when his favourite songs came on. Meanwhile, Yunho chose to sit, smoke a cigarette or two while he watched. He did like to dance, but he was much too interested in watching Mingi’s whereabouts.

All through the evening, he was tracking Mingi by sight, and quickly did he notice how popular the other man was. Many people came up to him just to talk, ask where he was from, most of them being women. For a moment, Yunho thought Mingi wouldn’t entertain them. But why wouldn’t he?

There was no telling what Mingi’s sexuality really was, the crush that Yunho had managed to form over the past two weeks was purely of his own imagination. Though seeing him become friendly with a particular woman, Yunho knew as Chiara from his town, got under his skin. Chiara was a nice girl, pretty and intelligent. She could get any man she wanted at the club tonight, but Yunho could tell it was Mingi she had her eyes set on.

And Mingi was no stranger to her attention. Yunho had watched him prance over to the bar to get her another drink, and how he let her lean in and whisper something in his ear. Yunho was no longer even interested in whatever his friends were discussing at their table that Mingi had neglected. He was focused on watching how closely Mingi and Chiara danced during a slow song.

His hands rested on her hips, head bent down to nuzzle her hair, and her arms curled around his neck like she never wanted to let him go. Yunho knew he was staring, and he couldn’t care less. The table Wooyoung managed to snag was right next to the dancefloor and gave him a perfect view of everyone on it. He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to feel like Chiara, with Mingi’s warm hands resting on his waist, nose in his hair as they swayed along to the beat.

He’d likely never know. That’s why Mingi never asked Yunho to dance with him. Even if they did, touching like that in such a public place would be heresy.

Yunho could tell that he was emanating a rather sour vibe as he sipped his now lukewarm cocktail that tasted more like vodka than anything else. It didn’t matter, at least it helped him not scream into the void about what was happening right before his own eyes. As if his friend could pick up on his foul mood, he stood in front of Yunho to somewhat block his view. The song changed to something more upbeat, synths blaring through the speakers. “C’mon, let's dance, party pooper,”

Yunho could only shake his head dismissively. “Maybe later,” he muttered.

Wooyoung just shrugged his shoulders, going to join their other friends who’d already left the table to dance.

Yunho leaned back in his chair and took another hit of the cigarette between his fingers. He’d lost count of how many he’d had, but it didn’t matter. It kept his hands busy as he watched Mingi now break apart from Chiara to dance somewhat on his own. She followed him like some desperate thing for his attention. Yunho wished he could say he’d be any better.

He really had no intention of joining the packed dancefloor until Mingi looked at him. Gave him direct eye contact, the first time in hours since they’d arrived together. He stared at Mingi as he danced like he was taunting him, chest and forehead sweaty from the body heat. He gave Yunho a playful smile once he noticed the other staring, then, within seconds had found the girl again and pulled her close.

Yunho stood in an instant, the rest of his drink he’d been nursing taken to the head in a few gulps. With some liquid courage, he made his way to the dancefloor, which was more of an area in front of the DJ where everyone could hear the music best. He could feel the bass in his chest as he moved past groups of people. The alcohol was giving Yunho a lick of courage he wouldn’t normally possess, inhibitions lowered, but senses somewhat heightened.

Wooyoung had grabbed him by the elbow and began dancing with Yunho the second he saw him, his laughter sounded distant, although Yunho was near his friend. With an airy laugh, Yunho let his body sway to the beat, finally able to somewhat get out of the funk he’d been in since he saw Mingi become friendly with another woman.

Yunho moved closer to Wooyoung, so close he could smell the scent of sweat on his skin, feel his hands up his sides in a way that would certainly draw attention to the two. Yunho didn’t care, he wanted it. He wanted to feel seen in that moment, in hopes that Mingi would become just as jealous as he was watching him and his dance partner all night.

He savoured the feeling of a warm body against his own in the corner of the dancefloor, letting his eyes close for a moment as he lost himself in the music, the heady feeling of the energy of those around them. Only when Yunho let his eyes flutter open again a few moments later, it was Mingi he saw, just feet away from him.

He was dancing with Chiara, this time just as close as Wooyoung and Yunho were. Only the where much more explicit, hips flush together, one arm around her waist as the other cupped her ass for anyone to see. Though Mingi wasn’t looking at her, his gaze was deadset on Yunho. Staring at him with such an intense gaze that it sent a chill down Yunho’s spine.

Mingi’s look was a challenge, with his mischievous smile barely contained. As if he were telling Yunho, I bet you wouldn’t do this much in front of everyone.

Teasing Yunho in a way only the two of them would really understand. And the unfortunate part for Yunho is that it was working quite well. He had been seething nearly the entire night, sitting at Wooyoung’s table and hating not only himself but the circumstances he was in. If Yunho could foresee the future, he wouldn’t have let himself come tonight to save himself the trouble.

But now with enough alcohol coursing through his veins, and his friend grabbing his hips to pull him inevitably closer, Yunho felt a streak of boldness, an amount of courage to piss Mingi off in the same way. He leaned in close to Wooyoung’s ear, smelling the scent of sweat and skin in his nostrils.

“I have an idea,” was all that Yunho muttered over the loudspeakers they were dancing near. Even as he spoke to Wooyoung, his eyes were on Mingi across the dancefloor.

“Oh yeah?” Wooyoung answered. He pulled back just a bit to be able to look at Yunho in the eye, make sure he was in his right mind. Yunho absolutely wasn’t, but that didn’t matter.

Yunho finally met his friends eyes, a certain glint behind his brown depths that hadn’t been there ever since he separated from Mingi. “Follow me,”

Yunho was dragging Wooyoung along before he even heard his response. Too focused on his own mission to even let it fail. If Mingi was going to make him feel jealous half the night, then he knew just the anecdote to get under the older man’s skin. Something bolder than he could ever muster. A challenge was a challenge, and one thing Yunho was–competitive.

He’d led Wooyoung to a corner just outside the club, on the cobbled sidewalk where not many people ventured unless they were leaving to head home. It was barely lit by the streetlights, and gave them just enough privacy to not be seen unless someone was really lurking. Yunho had barely heard his friends complaints of being pulled away from the dancefloor, completely drowned out by the sound of his own racing thoughts.

‘Make him sorry. Just as jealous as you were. He’s the one who put you up to this.’

Wooyoung was just as tipsy as he was, not in his right headspace as he continued to yap. “I love this song! Can’t we just go dance?”

Yunho didn’t reply, just pressed his friend against the brick wall that separated the piazza from the rest of the outdoor club and let his lips crash against the others. It shut Wooyoung up immediately, whines of compliant turning into soft pants, and hands desperately gripping at his shirt.

It wasn’t the first time they’d kissed. As close friends growing up in such a small town who’d both learned they were gay at a very early age, Wooyung and Yunho had experimented quite a bit. Either behind the many groves of trees in Yunho’s garden, or in the privacy of their bedrooms as teenagers, they’d made out more times than Yunho would like to admit.

Wooyoung nearly melted into Yunho’s touch instantly, his arms wrapping around Yunho’s waist much like Chiara’s did with Mingi. It only added to his motive, pulling his friend closer and deepening their kiss, licking at the seam of his lips that tasted of alcohol. It was enthralling for Yunho; letting himself go after so long felt so good.

Wooyoung was just as interested, his hips moving forward to meet Yunho’s as they kissed without even letting his lips pull away. It was so natural for the two that they didn’t even have to look at one another. Just hot mouths against one another, desperate for some sort of resolve in the small town they lived in.

If anyone did see them in their coveted corner outside of the club, Yunho couldn’t bring himself to care in the moment. He was much more interested in licking at the seam of Wooyoung’s lips and swallowing down the whimper that escaped him. Hands ran down Yunho’s sides, then back up to wrap around his neck, fingers tangling in his hair. It made his skin prickle with a chill from the light touch, nails scratching at his scalp in an almost soothing manner.

“You’ve been pent up, haven’t you?” Wooyoung was still mere millimeters away from Yunho’s lips when he muttered between them. “Mingi’s got you in your head, I can tell.”

“Forget him,” Yunho mumbled back. He didn’t want to even think about what Mingi was possibly getting up to right now. He’d much rather focus on how warm Wooyoung’s lips felt against his.

Their mouths found each other again, only this time it was less urgent, more needing, an underlying discerning among the two. Yunho was so invested in kissing Wooyoung, feeling skin against skin, that he didn’t even hear someone nearing them until a loud throat clearing interrupted them.

Yunho pulled away to look down at Wooyoung, who was a few inches shorter, but instead of looking back at him, his attention was on someone else. Standing a few feet away from them near the road, was Mingi. The girl he’d been dancing with wasn’t with him, but he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest like an older sibling who’d caught him red-handed.

He didn’t say anything at first, like he was waiting for either of them to explain themselves, or maybe move apart out of embarrassment. Yunho’s cheeks did flush, but he made no action to separate himself from Wooyoung. “Hey Mingi,” he finally said after a moment.

“Am I interrupting something?” Mingi asked, eyebrow raised. His expression was rather unreadable, and Yunho didn’t know if it was because he was slightly drunk or if Mingi really didn’t care that much he’d seen the two making out.

“Yeah, actually,” Yunho replied, barely able to hold back the smirk on his lips. Wooyoung audibly giggled, playfully slapping Yunho’s chest.

Instead of waiting for Mingi to say something back, or even leave if he wished, he turned back towards Wooyoung and pulled him in for another kiss. This one was sloppy, more tongue and teeth than anything, but he wanted Mingi to see. Wanted Mingi to wish Yunho was kissing him rather than his own friend.

It was that moment when Mingi finally snapped, his footsteps nearing closer until Yunho felt a hand grasp his shoulder and pull him away forcibly. He let out a pathetic whine, arms reaching out to grasp at air as Mingi put distance between the two of them. “Aw, c’mon, don’t be an ass,” Yunho pouted.

He tried to pull away from Mingi, but he was much stronger than Yunho could ever be. If he wanted to throw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, he very well could. Still, it didn’t stop Yunho from trying to push Mingi away from him and get out of his hold. Wooyoung had fallen into a fit of laughter now, watching the two tussle from his position against the brick wall.

“Enough, Yunho, you’re drunk,” Mingi’s voice was firm, stone cold, harsh, just like the hand on the back of Yunho’s neck to keep him from running back over to Wooyoung. “Say goodbye, we’re leaving.”

“M’not drunk,” Yunho huffed, straightening out his shirt after being manhandled. He gave Wooyoung a wave and made a phone motion next to his ear while mouthing the words ‘Call me!’ to his friend. Wooyoung gave him a wink, pulling up the sleeve of his own shirt that had fallen down due to their antics.

Mingi didn’t look back as he practically dragged Yunho back towards the front of the club to collect their bicycles. He still had a firm grip on Yunho’s arm, which he twisted to be released from. “Ow, you’re hurting me,” he whined, trying to free himself.

“If I let go, you stay right here. Understand?” Mingi looked at him with his eyes squinted, like he was being scolded.

His tone and harsh behavior were enough to send a shiver down Yunho’s spine. He liked how Mingi looked when he was properly annoyed. Yunho nodded slowly, looking at Mingi through his lashes. “I understand,”

Mingi let go of Yunho, and he really didn’t try to go anywhere as he got to work unlocking their bikes to head home. Yunho was in no shape to actually ride, so they walked alongside them instead. It was silent, the music from the club becoming more distant as the low bass gave way to crickets chirping in the night.

Thankfully, they weren’t too far from home, and within a few minutes, they could see the villa just down the road. Mingi hadn’t said a word the entire way, but he did give Yunho an occasional glance to make sure he was okay. Even held onto his elbow to keep him from tripping over his own feet in the dark along the path.

Once they arrived at the gate, Yunho opened it too quickly, the wrought iron squeaking loudly on its rusted hinges. The sound was as loud as a freight train in the dead of night, and he was grateful that Mingi was there to take hold of the gate to keep it from making more noise. He shot Yunho a look out of annoyance, but Yunho couldn’t help but giggle.

It was funny to him how seriously Mingi was taking everything. To him, Wooyoung could be Yunho’s boyfriend for all he knew. Seeing them make out did exactly what Yunho wanted it to, get under his skin, and that was enough to have him giggling to himself as they crossed the garden.

“What’s so funny?” Mingi whispered as they made their way inside, taking off their sneakers at the door.

“You’re really handsome when you’re upset. Did you know that?” Yunho gushed. The sober version of him would never dare to say such a thing to any man’s face, let alone Mingi.

“I’m not upset,” Mingi replied bluntly. He didn’t entertain Yunho’s flirting either, just took his elbow and led him up the stairs so Yunho wouldn’t fall trying to make it up on his own.

“Yeah, you are,” Yunho laughed, and when he spoke a bit too loudly, Mingi hushed him by way of putting a hand over his mouth. He looked down at Yunho with that cold, unreadable expression again, eyes devoid of what he was really thinking.

“Bed, straight to bed. Not another peep out of you.” Mingi stated. He still spoke at a low volume, but Yunho could tell his patience was wearing thin. He wondered what Mingi would do if Yunho really got him upset, if he’d manhandle Yunho as he did earlier.

This time, Yunho listened when Mingi used his stern voice. Maybe in the future he’d act up again, but for now, he could feel the tiredness starting to set in, his limbs feeling heavier than they were minutes ago. In silence, he followed Mingi to their room, letting the older sit him on the bed. Yunho fell back onto the mattress without a care, not even bothering to get under the sheets before his head hit the pillow.

He could hear Mingi let out a deep sigh before turning to leave the room and go back to his separate space. Though there was a slight pause between Mingi’s footsteps towards the door and the sound of him shutting it behind himself. Yunho didn’t dare to lift his head to peer over at him, but he knew Mingi was staring at him. He could feel the weight of his eyes without even knowing.

Perhaps he was just making sure Yunho was really asleep, that he was doing okay after drinking and wasn’t ready to puke all over himself now that he was lying down. But Yunho would like to think that he was admiring him, watching him sleep, and wishing he could lie right next to him.

Yunho eventually heard the click of the door shutting, the sound of the latch clicking to let him know Mingi had left the room. It didn’t take long for Yunho to fall asleep after that, his mind clouded with the thought of Mingi sleeping right on the other side of the wall.

The next morning, Yunho was late for breakfast. He would’ve slept through the entire meal had the phone in his room not rung and woken him up. He couldn’t even fully open his eyes with the sun blaring through the windows, his head pounding in tandem with each ring of the phone. With a deep groan, he rolled over to pick up the receiver, holding it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Morning, sleepyhead, what’re you up to today?” It was Wooyoung, and somehow, he sounded like he was in a much better state than Yunho despite drinking more than he did.

Yunho had to move the phone away from his ear since Wooyoung was talking so loudly, or maybe his headache was making any sort of sounds too much. “Today? I dunno, probably sleeping off this hangover,” he mumbled, voice gravely from slumber.

“That’s boring,” Wooyoung responded quickly. “I gotta tell you about last night, I bet you don’t remember shit, huh?”

Yunho didn’t even want to try to remember right now. He felt as if he thought too hard, his head might explode. “Was it bad? I didn’t embarrass myself, did I?”

Wooyoung just giggled on the other end of the line, and that was enough for Yunho to fall back into his pillows with a groan. “How about I come by this afternoon, and I’ll tell you all about it, yeah?”

“Sure, I’ll start praying for absolution now I suppose.” Yunho half-joked. He didn’t look forward to whatever Wooyoung would tell him later in the day, but he tried not to worry about it too much.

Now his main priority after hanging up the phone was mustering enough energy to head to the bathroom and find painkillers. He blindly made his way across the room, opening his eyes as little as possible until he was able to reach for the medicine cabinet and fish out a bottle of ibuprofen.

After shaking two pills out of the bottle and sticking his head under the tap to gulp down water straight from the sink, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. To say Yunho looked rough was an understatement. His hair was disheveled and sticking up in places all around his head. Creases had formed on his cheek from the pillows he lay on, and his eyes were red and puffy despite sleeping for at least a few hours.

Instead of running a brush through the mess atop his head, he quickly splashed his face with cold water and ran his fingers through his hair. It would be good enough until he properly washed up later. After changing out of last night's clothes, he made his way downstairs. Everyone was already at the breakfast table on the patio as expected.

Yunho’s parents greeted him as normal, and when asked about sleeping in, he stated he’d just stayed up late the night before. He wouldn’t get into trouble for saying he went out, but Yunho’s mother had a habit of prying, and he didn’t feel like deflecting her questions.

The only person who didn’t greet him was Mingi, he kept his focus on peeling a boiled egg, fingers meticulously chipping away at the shell piece by piece. It was the first time Yunho didn’t want to sit next to him, but he had no choice. All the other seats at the table were already taken.

So there Yunho sat, slowly munching on a piece of bread slathered with enough Nutella to send a small child into a frenzy, letting Mingi pretend they weren’t right next to one another. His parents chatted amongst themselves about their plans for the day, having no idea of what had occurred the night before.

Though when Yunho tried to think back to it himself, he couldn’t even quite remember. It was blurry, and only small glimpses flashed in his mind. Dancing with Wooyoung, being upset that Mingi had wandered off, finishing the drink that most likely did him in all in one go.

He briefly remembers walking home with Mingi, the other helping him up the stairs, and Mingi saying, ‘I’m not upset.’

Had he done something to warrant Mingi saying such a thing? Been awkward or standoffish after he’d left him for the night to dance with someone else? Yunho was so deep in thought that his brow was furrowed when his father grabbed his attention.

“Don’t think so hard, son, you’ll get wrinkles and gray hair by the time you’re thirty.” Mr. Jeong joked. He had a slightly concerned expression on his face, but didn’t ask Yunho about his absentmindedness directly. “I was going to ask if you wanted to join Mingi and me on a trip today? He wants to visit one of the famous libraries in a nearby town.”

Any other day, Yunho would’ve jumped at the offer. One of his favorite things, books, and certainly growing on him was spending time with Mingi. Though something told him that today wouldn’t be a good idea. When Yunho glanced over at Mingi, he was looking back at him, but his expression was stony, his eyes nearly pleading that Yunho would understand him without speaking.

Yunho turned back to his father and mustered the best fake half-smile he could. “Sorry, Wooyoung called this morning and said he’s coming over in the afternoon. I haven’t seen him in a while, so I’ll sit this one out.”

“Oh, how’s Wooyoung doing? His mother asked me to play cards with her the other day.” Yunho’s mother chimed in this time.

Yunho swallowed harshly. He didn’t know why he had a guilty feeling growing in his gut, but it nearly made him lose his appetite. “H-he’s good,” Yunho muttered.

It was then that Mingi stood from the table, it was so abrupt that Yunho visibly recoiled. “Excuse me, I’ve got a phone call to make before we head out for our trip,” Mingi stated. Before anyone replied, Mingi was already walking back inside the house, the food on his plate discarded just like how Yunho felt since taking a seat next to him.

There was a slight pause at the table, and Yunho couldn’t even bring himself to make eye contact with either of his parents. If they didn’t pick up on any tension before, now they definitely did. Yunho slouched back in his chair and let out a sigh. He knew a long day was ahead of him.

Wooyoung arrived not too long after Mingi left with Mr. Jeong to set off for the day. They’d be back around dinner, therefore, Yunho had all the time in the late morning to think. He’d stood under the hot stream of water in the shower as he stared at the blue tiles, just thinking, pondering about the night before. Mulling over the lingering feeling of hands all over him, lips pressed against his own, the memory so vivid that Yunho touched his own lips with his fingers.

Was it Mingi that he’d kissed? That had touched him so intimately? Yunho was sure he’d remember such a thing. Or so he hoped. He was still ruminating over it as he sat in the garden later, waiting for Wooyoung to arrive.

It wasn’t long before he heard the tinkling of the little bell his friend used to let Yunho know he was coming. The same bell Yunho had gifted him years ago when they were kids, and he’d never replaced it. Within moments, Wooyoung was pedalling within Yunho’s sight, his shirt open to let the warm air cool his skin as he biked.

When he saw Yunho waiting, his lips split into a wide grin, and he swung one leg over his bike whilst letting it come to a stop a few feet in front of him. “Oh boy, I cannot wait to tell you everything, I’ve been thinking about it all morning–” he paused when he was able to get a good look at Yunho. “Shit, you look like you’ve been through it.”

Yunho rolled his eyes and ran a tongue along the inside of his cheek. “Gee, thanks,” he replied dryly. He knew even after washing up, he didn’t seem himself, his mother noticed it too when she caught sight of him in the sitting room earlier.

Wooyoung sat down next to Yunho on the bench he was on in the shade, legs outstretched in front of them. “Well, what do you wanna know first then?” he asked. He’d sat close enough to Yunho that their legs touched, a sense of comfort between the two.

Yunho stared down at his bare feet in the grass, spread his toes just a bit to feel the softness of it under his skin. “Mingi is upset with me, I can feel it. What happened that made him that way?”

Wooyoung pressed his lips together in a tight line and leaned back on the bench to stare up at the tree above them. “We made out that night, you were kinda pent up, and Mingi wasn’t helping. It seemed like he almost wanted you to do something rash. He found us outside the club all up on one another, and he was pretty miffed about the whole thing.”

Yunho’s eyes widened in shock, and goosebumps formed on his skin despite the hot weather outside. “Fuck, no wonder he’s pissed.” Yunho sighed, he could feel another headache brewing right under his temples. “B-but I remember he was dancing with that girl, Chirara, the one who works at the cafe in town.”

“He was, looked like they were extra friendly all night to be honest,” Wooyoung confirmed. He didn’t seem nearly as shaken up about the whole thing as Yunho was, his friend always seemed less in his head about his actions than Yunho was. “Although I don’t think what we did was wrong per se.”

Yunho looked over at his friend, who was still staring up at the branches outstretched above them. It was the same tree they’d enjoyed climbing as young children years ago. Now they sat under it years later, facing an issue much bigger than their innocent imaginations.

To say Yunho felt guilty was an understatement, a mixture of shame and remorse bubbling in his gut. “Maybe it was too much. I shouldn’t have acted out like that, it’s childish.” his tone was solemn, like he was admitting to something much more heinous.

“Nah, I probably would’ve done worse.” Wooyoung had a sly smile on his face now, brow slightly raised as he looked at Yunho’s pensive state. “He did pull you away from me like you were cheating or something. Even I was taken aback, I argue his reaction is almost worse in a way.”

Yunho had pulled his knees to his chest now, feeling a need to soothing his racing thoughts and emotions. “Why?”

“Oh you really don’t see it do you?” Wooyoung asked, a shocked look across his face.

“See what?”

“He’s fucking head over heels for you, Yunho.”

That should’ve made Yunho feel better, maybe even just a little bit. But the realization made his stomach have a terrible sinking feeling. His cheeks burned so hot that he knew he looked as red as the tomatoes growing in their yard. He blinked a few times before responding. “R-really? You think so?”

Wooyoung leaned in closer this time, placing his hands on Yunho’s cheeks to grab his attention. There was a seriousness in the other’s eyes, genuine candor as he peered into Yunho’s doe-like ones. “Yes, I really think so. It doesn’t take a professional to see that you two have chemistry. I mean, why else would he get so worked up about us kissing, hm? Try to make you jealous the way he did?”

Yunho could feel the emotions within building up in that moment, anxiety, shame, confusion, straight up fear. Wasn’t that what he wanted the whole time? For Mingi to like him back? To be just as head over heels for Yunho as he was for Mingi?

The thought that Yunho had been so oblivious was harrowing to him, like he should’ve known better, seen some sort of signs. How could someone as handsome as Mingi like him back? None of his other crushes ever had, it was so unfathomable that it sent fear into his mind rather than any type of relief.

“O-oh,” Yunho stuttered. He didn’t know what else to say, his mind was running a mile a minute, but to verbally express anything was lost upon him. “I-I don’t, I-I don’t, I know what to do, Wooyoung,”

His friend gave him a soft smile, thumb brushing along his cheek, the familiarity of the action the only grounding thing Yunho had to hold onto in that moment. “That’s okay. You’ll figure it out. We will figure it out. That’s what friends are for.”

He pressed a gentle, chaste kiss to Yunho’s forehead, and Yunho let out a sigh of contentment at the action. When they parted Wooyoung just smiled at him, not mischievous this time, but reassuring.

“Let’s go for a swim,” Yunho spoke up. “At the lake, I feel like I need some time away from the villa.” It was true, Yunho really did want to escape even for a few hours, away from the prying eyes of his family who probably noticed Yunho’s affinity for Mingi.

Wooyoung didn’t press or object, just stood from the bench and stretched his arms above his head. “I think that’s a perfect idea, it’s warm today anyways.”

By the time they finished at the lake it was nearly dark out, the sun setting into soft oranges and reds painting the sky. Wooyoung parted ways once they reached the path that led back to their respective homes. Yunho made it back to his villa right before dinnertime, and there was no sign of Mingi at all.

Instead of ruminating on it, he made his way to his bedroom, still basking in the happiness of getting to spend time with his friend. It let Yunho forget momentarily about the conversation he and Wooyoung had, even just for a little bit. But now that he was alone, the looming feelings came back full force.

Despite their rooms being separate Yunho could smell Mingi’s cologne wafting from the bathroom. The scent of a woody musk, mixed with the soft floral soap they used. When Yunho stepped into the bathroom, he noticed a few of Mingi’s clothes hanging on the edge of the window sill, likely handwashed and left to airdry.

Yunho stared at them for a moment, one of Mingi’s billowy shirts softly rustled from the breeze coming through the window, and right next to them were his swimtrunks. The same swimtrunks that Yunho would admire Mingi in as he lounged in the near the pool. His honey skin dewy with sweat and sunscreen, shirtless and showing off the sparse patch of hair that disappeared under his waistband.

Before Yunho could overthink he took the swimtrunks from the windowsill, turned them over in his hands a few times. They smelled like Mingi too, like his skin, his manliness. Yunho’s mouth ran dry, he wanted to memorize that scent, taste the saltiness of it on his tongue. Those shorts touched Mingi in a way Yunho never had, intimately, a hidden taboo just waiting to be discovered. Yunho wanted to experience touching Mingi in that way so badly that thinking about it made a warm feeling grow in his stomach.

He tiptoed back to his room, making sure to shut the door behind him with Mingi’s shorts in tow. The last thing he wanted was to be caught by Mingi nonetheless. At first Yunho simply laid the stolen pair of trunks out on the bed, stared at them as he nibbled at his lower lip. No one would know if he did what he wanted, if he let his intrusive thoughts get the better of him.

It was the thought that did him in, ‘No one would know…’

Yunho grabbed the shorts again as he lay on the bed and put them to his nose. He took a deep inhale, letting that masculine scent that Mingi emitted fill the back of his throat. It was as close as Yunho could get to actually nosing at Mingi’s groin, the same scent that would fill his nostrils if he mouthed at the older man’s cock like he’d imagined many times before.

When he exhaled a low moan escaped his lips, and so did all inhibitions. He did it again, this time finding the crotch of the fabric and taking another inhale, Yunho’s own cock leaking in the shorts he was still wearing. He couldn’t even care to bring himself to think about how lurid and perverted his actions were at the moment, sniffing an older guy’s swimtrunks like some desperate thing only made Yunho more aroused. The dirtiness of it all only made him more aroused, the shame turning into unbridled lust. Yunho simply let his imagination run wild as he began humping the mattress below him, the friction enough to have his eyes fluttering under his lids.

“F-fuck,” he breathed, another whimper falling past his lips as he covered his face in the soft fabric. This time he let his tongue shyly loll out to lick right along the inside of the gusset, salvia pooling under his tongue almost instantly.

Yunho was fully hard in his shorts now, rutting against the sheets as he imagined Mingi under him, tongue lapping at his hard cock, the sounds Mingi would make, the taste of his salty pre-come on his palate. The fantasy was so clear in Yunho’s mind that he could feel his release coming much faster than he wanted, but he was in no headspace to prevent it.

He lapped at Mingi’s shorts again and again, his spit dampening the fabric enough to leave a wet patch right where Mingi’s cock would sit. If Yunho could rub the smell that had filled his senses all over his own flushed skin he would carry Mingi’s heady scent on himself and wear it like cologne. Yunho’s eyes closed as he thrust steadily, the tip of cock becoming wet and sticky providing a delicious glide.

A particular image of Mingi gripping his hair came to mind, his cock filling Yunho’s mouth to the point of him struggling to accommodate it, tears welling in his eyes and Mingi brushing them away, in his low husky tone calling him a good boy, telling Yunho he was doing so well.

It was then that Yunho felt his cock throb, his mouth falling open and a series of pants and desperate soft whines. “S-shit, o-oh Mingi,” Yunho crooned into the pillow under him to not be heard. Another rough thrust had him coming right into his shorts, eyes squeezed shut and legs trembling from the sheer intensity of it. He could feel the warmth of his own come in his shorts, the shame making him blush down to his chest.

Yunho laid there for a minutes, basking in the lingering tingling in his groin, his cock softening, yet Mingi’s shorts still firm in his grasp. He felt like a real freak after doing such a thing, but the thought that Mingi would wear those shorts again after Yunho had desecrated them as such.

Mingi wasn’t at dinner that night, and once again Yunho tried not to blame himself for it. His father had said he was meeting someone in town, and Yunho couldn’t help but wonder if it was the woman from the club. If he was possibly avoiding Yunho as much as possible due to his actions.

Maybe it was better that way, Yunho didn’t know himself if he could stand looking Mingi in the eye after what he’d done to his shorts earlier. He knew that a wave of shame would overcome him, or possibly even worse, becoming aroused on sight when Yunho saw Mingi wear them next. After dinner he helped Janie clean up, staying silent as he put away plates in their respective cabinets.

Janie, much like his own mother, didn't comment too much on Yunho’s mood lately. They knew he’d needed space, time to let his emotions simmer until he could voice them properly. Though Janie did send Yunho a few concerned glances every now and then when he wasn’t paying attention.

When Yunho wasn’t paying attention she placed a square of chocolate on the counter where Yunho would see it. Once he did, he picked it up, glancing over his shoulder to see if Janie was watching.

“You used to always ask for chocolate when you were younger and got hurt while playing.” Janie mentioned, her back turned to Yunho whilst putting up dishes. She didn’t turn towards him either because she knew he was listening. “Sometimes a bit a sugar can cheer you up,”

Yunho swallowed a lump in his throat, moved by the small gesture. “Thank you,” he managed to choke out.

Yunho had retired early that night, not up for his nightly piano session after dinner while his parents listened and sipped wine. They’d instead turned on a telenovela, one that Yunho had no interest in watching. He decided to read for some time in the low light of his room, the door to the balcony ajar letting in a cool breeze.

He didn’t remember dozing off, but he was awoken by the sound of the shower in the connecting bathroom turning on. It must have been Mingi, who stayed out all day and missed dinner. Yunho could hear him shuffling about on the other side of the door, and he couldn’t help but think about what he did to the other man’s swimshorts earlier.

Those swimshorts that he’d put exactly back in their place after he was done with them in hopes that Mingi wouldn’t notice.

Yunho stared at the ceiling as he listened to the sounds of Mingi in the other room, wondering about where the other man had wandered off to in the later part of the day. The library that he’d visited was in Como, not too far away from their small town, therefore Mingi must’ve made plans afterwards. Perhaps he’d asked Yunho’s father to just drop him off in town on the way back just to save him the trouble. Maybe it was all to avoid Yunho himself after their night out.

Maybe Mingi had spent said evening with Chiara. She did work in town after all.

The thought made a chill run down Yunho’s spine and sudden irritation prickled under his skin. Was this his way of getting back at Yunho? To avoid him until he couldn’t take it anymore and Yunho had no choice but to beg for Mingi’s attention?

The sound of the bathroom door shutting and the balcony door opening roused Yunho from his thoughts, and he turned to look towards the noise. It was Mingi of course, he could see part of his wide shoulders turned away from Yunho leaning over the balcony outside.

Yunho didn’t know if he should try to speak to him, but his feet began tiptoeing over to the door before he could stop himself. He didn’t fully step onto the balcony to join Mingi, rather stayed in the doorway and leaned over the threshold using the door to shield himself from being seen.

He stood and watched, for how long, he didn’t know. Seconds felt like minutes whenever Mingi was in his presence and this was no different. The other man’s hair was still damp from showering, pushed back off his forehead with only a few strands that fell loose hanging over his strong brow. Mingi hadn’t bothered to wear much despite knowing he could be seen, just a simple loose fitting t-shirt and a pair of boxers. A simple sleep outfit really, but Yunho thought he looked rather domestic in it.

He wasn’t indulging in his nightly cigarette as he usually did, rather just staring, thinking to himself as he perched on the ledge, elbows resting on the banister with his chin in his hand. Yunho didn’t think that Mingi knew he was there, until he spoke directly to him.

“You can come join if you’d like,” Mingi addressed him over his shoulder without turning around.

Yunho’s heart immediately picked up in pace, a squeak leaving his mouth as he’d been caught doing something he was supposed to yet again. He couldn’t play it off as if he’d been busy with other things either, it was obvious he was watching Mingi. “O-oh, I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to intrude–”

“You’re not intruding, I mean this is technically your space after all.” Mingi replied, now turning to face him. His cheeks were slightly flushed from the hot water of his shower, nose rosy from one too many hours in the sun.

Yunho awkwardly cleared his throat as he stepped onto the balcony too, his bare feet softly padding against the concrete. “Right, I suppose you’ve got a point.”

He stood next to Mingi, still leaving a good amount of distance between the two. The garden was quiet, save for the trickling of water from the pool’s fountain and the gentle swaying of trees in the breeze. The scent of salt in the air was heavy due to the ocean nearby, and the mugginess of the air. It was likely to rain, Yunho could sense the precipitation in the thick air around them.

There was a period of silence between them, and to Yunho’s surprise it wasn’t uncomfortable. Almost as if they’d known each other for so long that they didn’t have to speak in order to enjoy one another’s company. Though Yunho’s mind was doing all the speaking for him. He was playing out different ways the conversation would go if he were to bring up his previous behavior. If Mingi would be upset or not. If he should first apologise for making a fool of himself the way he seemed to always do.

In the end he decided saying he’s sorry was the best course of action. Although Mingi nearly beat him to it.

“Listen–”

“I wanted to–”

They both paused, speaking at the same time as if they were somehow connected by way of telepathy. Yunho shyly dropped his gaze before heat could rise to his cheeks. Mingi bit at his lower lip and ran a hand through his still damp hair. “You first,” Mingi spoke with a soft voice.

Yunho inhaled a deep breath and let it go before finally speaking again. “I-I just wanted to say sorry. For making you mad if I did. I should have never done that in front of you and if it made you uncomfortable, that’s my fault. I didn’t mean to,” once Yunho had started talking he seemed to be unable to stop. The words simply spilling out of him like water lapping over the edge of the pool when someone jumped in. “It’s just I saw you dancing…dancing with her and I think after being invited that sort made me feel a bit…left out,”

Saying that he felt left out was an understatement, but Yunho couldn’t just blatantly admit that he was jealous. That would then insinuate that he indeed have a crush on Mingi, and no matter how obvious it was Yunho couldn’t bear Mingi knowing too.

The older man didn’t seem taken aback at all by Yunho’s apology, nor his confession. He just listened, let him get it off his chest. He did, however, lean a bit closer to Yunho, close enough that their arms brushed against each other. It could be passed off as just trying to hear the other better, but Yunho had a feeling it was on purpose.

“I appreciate the apology, but you didn’t have to,” Mingi stated in his typical matter-of-fact tone. “I was the one who invited you and left you with your–” he paused as if he were trying to find the right word, brow slightly furrowed. “Friend. Whatever you do in your free time with him is your business Yunho.”

Yunho pressed his lips together in a tight line, rubbed the back of his neck like he did when he was nervous. “So you aren’t upset? Even after I kissed him in front of you?”

Mingi shook his head. It made a few more strands of his dark hair fall in his eyes, and this time he made no move to push them away. “Nope. Never was.”

Yunho searched his expression to find any hint of dishonesty, but didn’t find it. Either Mingi was an exceptional liar, or he really meant what he said. Regardless, Yunho let out a sigh of relief to have cleared the air between them. He turned to face Mingi now, still leaning against the banister. He was grateful that no one could see them because they were so close to one another that it must’ve looked amorous from afar.

He could smell that same cologne on Mingi that he’d inhaled from his swim shorts just hours earlier, along with the floral body soap. Only this time it was coming to him in waves, straight from the heat of the other man’s skin rather than trapped in fabric. He wished he could lean in and kiss him right then and there, grab a fistful of his shirt and press himself against Mingi’s much broader frame just to feel his skin on his own. Kiss him until he was weak in the knees and Yunho had to be held up by a tight arm around his waist.

“You’re staring,” Mingi noted, not in a harsh way, but rather softly. Almost as if he were saying it out loud just to speak it into the wind rather than really be heard.

Yunho’s eyes widened a bit before he turned back to stare out at the garden again. “Sorry,” he blurted out of embarrassment. Nothing like openly staring at a man nearly ten years his senior in order to keep things cordial.

“Don’t be,” Mingi moved to walk towards the end of the balcony where his room was. “I like it when you stare, it’s charming really.”

Yunho was too stunned to respond, lips parted as if he wanted to say something but no words would come out. Mingi just smiled to himself to suppress a chuckle. “Goodnight, Yunho.” he said as he stepped into his room, a pleased look on his face.

Yunho blinked a few times before finally stuttering out a shaky reply. “Goodnight, Mingi.”

Over the next few days Yunho had busied himself with learning a new piano piece. It not only gave him something to do when the summer rain hit and drenched the villa in swaths of water, making it so he couldn’t go anywhere, but also gave him a perfect view of his father’s study. The grand piano was positioned in the sitting room, just down the hallway from the study in which Mingi spent hours going over his dissertation, and newly written first draft of a novel.

When the doors were open, which was often since the warm balmy air provided little relief when cooped up inside, Yunho had the perfect view of Mingi from his piano bench. He could sit there for hours and watch the other man typing away on a typewriter, or scribbling notes whilst he nibbled on the pen cap.

Every now and then Mingi would stand to stretch, or even pace around as he read something he just wrote aloud to Mr. Jeong for feedback. Yunho saw it all, and he certainly took his time with learning his new sheet music. He typically wouldn’t need much time in order to read over the notes and let them play in his head before perfecting it on the keys in front of him, but this time he was in no rush.

Currently he was going over a certain crescendo that he’d struggled to give the right nuance. The notes were fine, as was his timing, all he needed was the feeling behind it. The emotion to really bring it all together. Though Yunho’s attention was elsewhere, watching Mingi stretch his arms above his head as he sat, his shirt lifting just enough to show a hint of his waistband.

Despite Yunho’s focus being on Mingi across the hallway, his fingers moved across the piano keys with nothing but muscle memory. The crescendo was coming up in the piece, but he was too distracted to notice, therefore continuing to play as he stared at Mingi’s exposed skin.

That’s when he did it, managed to press the keys with enough force, enough passion that it finally sounded right to Yunho’s own ears. A lilted smile formed on his face once he noticed, and even Mingi lifted his head once he heard the notes carry throughout the house. When he met Yunho’s gaze, a grin spread across his lips, a smile that told him everything he needed to know.

Mingi was the catalyst for his so-called ‘crescendo’ and many more to come.

The next day the rain let up, the sun was beaming hot as if gray clouds had never covered it mere hours before. Yunho loved the rain, but was grateful to not be confined to the house all day either. Today he’d decided to lay under a tree with his headphones on, his own green swimtrunks still damp from taking a dip in the pool earlier. He had his journal with him today, writing down random thoughts that came to him, or drawings that weren’t anywhere near artistic.

Mingi was nearby, but Yunho wasn’t paying him much attention, rather focused on listening to the cassette that Wooyoung lent him the last they saw one another. It wasn’t until Yunho saw a pair of sneakers in his field of view did he look up to see Mingi staring down at him.

He’d said something, but Yunho didn’t catch it with The Smiths blasting through his headphones. He pulled them down around his neck so he could hear better before asking Mingi to repeat himself. “What was that?”

“I said, are you busy?” Mingi asked again, arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing another billowy shirt, the cream one he’d worn the first day they’d met.

Yunho looked back down at his journal and the cassette player that was sitting next to it. “Um, not really.”

Mingi lowered into a squat so Yunho didn’t have to crane his neck so much to look up at him. “Let’s ride to town, yeah? I got a few letters to post.”

Yunho’s head tilted at this. Mingi knew his way to town, he’d been with the Jeong family for nearly a month now, and had gone to town on his own perfectly fine. Yunho knew there was a reason he was asking him to join. “Right now?”

Mingi nodded. “Right now,” he repeated.

It was warmer than usual when they biked to town, so much so that Yunho stopped by a neighbor who was sitting in the shade in their garden for water before they kept going. She was an older woman, and she gladly shuffled inside to fetch two cool glasses of water for them both.

“Grazie, signora” Yunho gave her a small bow out of courtesy. He might’ve been raised on the Italian countryside but his manners never left him even outside of home.

The older woman pat Yunho’s head with a grin of her own before waving them off as they rode down the rest of the path leading to town. The water helped Yunho not feel as parched, and by the time he and Mingi arrived at the post office, sweat was trailing down the sides of his face at a steady pace.

Yunho waited in the shade after using the hem of his loose striped tank top to dab at the sweat on his face. “I’ll be right back, it won’t take me long,” Mingi stated, a stack of letters in one hand.

It truly didn’t take Mingi long at all, Yunho was thinking of heading across the street to buy a soda, and by the time he’d made up his mind Mingi was stepping out of the post office again. He was holding a new stack of letters this time, likely ones that were waiting to be picked up.

Yunho didn’t need to be told to open his backpack anymore, he did it on instinct now so that Mingi could stuff his letters of varying colors in the canvas bag. Mingi pushed his sunglasses up on his nose before looking at Yunho over the dark rims. “I’m gonna pick up some cigarettes. You want something?”

“A Fanta. And a popsicle.” Yunho responded almost immediately. It was so warm that he’s sure the popsicle would melt nearly instantly, but it was more so the artificial sweetness and sugar he craved.

Mingi gave him a pat on the shoulder before starting to walk towards the small shop. “Got it,”

Minutes later Mingi returned with an arm full of things. Two popsicles, one must’ve been for him, a fanta as requested and a bottle of water. He held it up as he walked towards Yunho and when he was within earshot said. “For the ride back home, I’d rather not get heatstroke.” he joked, passing the soda and sweet treat to Yunho.

They’d decided to eat their snack on a bench across the street from a flower shop. Yunho used to love to peer into that shop and admire the different bouquets that decorated the windows each time he came to town with his mother. His favorite were the white peonies, and tulips, so pristine, free from even the slightest blemish. Almost as if they’d been untouched by a human hand at all.

He stared at the flowers now, there were no white ones other than lilies, their rosy petals bright in the sun. They sat in relative silence, even after finishing the half melted popsicles. “I never thought there would be so many bookstores in this little place.” Mingi mentioned. He was looking in the direction of another store that sold books, a smaller one that typically specialized in academic writings.

“There’s a lot of teachers, a lot of students that come here to study the history of the area.” Yunho replied quickly. “This town was quite pivotal in World War I, many battles took place not too far from here. Brings in a lot of tourism.”

Mingi lowered his glasses to look at Yunho, his brow raised slightly in an acquisitive manner. “Is there anything you don’t know?”

Yunho scoffed. Mingi was being sarcastic of course. “There's plenty I don’t know. Like I’ve said before, I know nothing of the things that matter.”

Mingi studied Yunho’s face for a moment, running over the younger boy’s profile. “What things that matter?”

They were speaking in a sort of code now. Beating around the bush as some would say. Yunho was surely booksmart, he could list off endless facts and knowledge about nearly any subject, ramble for minutes at a time about his favorite philosophers or composers. But those things didn’t matter. Not in the grand scheme of it all. No, what mattered was some way, somehow, letting Mingi know that Yunho liked him. Having the guts in order to make a move instead of hoping and praying that the older could somehow read his mind just so Yunho didn’t have to scrounge for social skills he didn’t possess.

Yunho could’ve said what he was really thinking, what he really meant. That he was head over heels for Mingi since the moment he laid eyes on him. That he’d fantasized one too many times about what his plump lips would feel like against his own. Instead he gave into the chase, kept the code that they’d been speaking in. “You know what things,”

Mingi never looked away from Yunho, not even for a second. He ran his tongue along his inner cheek as if he were searching for saliva in his mouth that had run dry. Yunho almost thought that Mingi didn’t understand, until he finally replied, voice a tone lower. “Why are you telling me this, Yunho?”

Yunho didn’t let too much time pass before he responded truthfully. “Because I thought you should know…”

He leaned back on the wooden bench, and tucked his knees under his chin. A habit when he was feeling a bit uneasy, needed to self soothe.

Mingi repeated Yunho’s words in an almost confused tone, as if he knew Yunho’s response wasn’t the full truth. “Because you thought I should know?”

‘Because I wanted you to know,’ is what Yunho really wanted to say. He repeated this to himself as he let his gaze run down Mingi’s body slowly. From his shaggy brown hair, to the cross necklace that rests against his exposed chest, down to his thick thighs and battered white sneakers. He met Mingi’s eyes and let the truth spill past his lips before it reeled itself in again and Yunho lost his chance.

“Because I wanted you to know,” he nearly whispered. “Because, I can’t tell anyone else about it,”

Mingi took a shaky inhale, Yunho could tell with the way his shoulders tensed and relaxed upon exhaling. “Are you saying what I think you are?”

Yunho nodded, not breaking eye contact either, not even when Mingi’s arm that was resting on the back of the bench moved so he could brush a finger over Yunho’s warm skin. It made goosebumps form across his arm, yet all he could do was smile at the older, who returned the flirtatious grin.

“I want to show you something, will you follow me?” Yunho asked.

“Anywhere,” Mingi responded immediately.

Yunho led the way on his bike, pedaling quickly enough that he had to peer behind him everynow and then just to make sure that Mingi was keeping up. It wasn’t very far, just a few minutes off the beaten path they’d normally take back to the villa. Mingi kept up without an issue, right behind Yunho just like he said he would be.

Once a certain familiar brush of trees that Yunho had become so acquainted with over the years came into view, he hopped off the seat of his bicyle excitedly. The rear wheel was still spinning when he’d left in in the grass, but that didn’t matter. He quickly made his way through the thick lush leaves of many bushes and low hanging branches, guiding Mingi along with the sound of his airy giggles.

“Where are you taking me?” Mingi finally asked, following Yunho through the brush, careful not to get hit in the face by a branch.

“We’re almost there,” Yunho responded.

Just as he said it, the sound of trickling water could be heard, and he knew instantly they were close. After a few more steps through the foliage, they were welcomed to a clearing, surrounded by tall grass and a large willow tree. In the middle was a freshwater pond, water streaming in steadily from a nearby river.

Yunho didn’t hesitate to kick off his shoes and step into the cold water, it was so clear that one could see straight to the bottom, wet muddy dirt underfoot soon gave way to small pebbles that sat at the bottom of the pond.

Mingi seemed in awe of the place, looking around slowly as he took in the scenery around him with his hands on hips. Rays of sunlight cast within the clearing so that shade was covering them from the heat, and made the temperature more bearable. After a moment of admiration Mingi too tossed off his sneakers and stepped into the water, only to let out a yelp of surprise.

“It’s freezing!” He gasped, hands balled into fists from the shock of the chill that ran down his spine.

Yunho turned and laughed, he was already knee deep in the water, used to the coldness of the pond from many visits in the past. “They say Monet would come here to paint, how true that is we’ll never know, but by how beautiful it is I’d like to think so too. The water comes from the mountains, stays cold even when the heat outside is sweltering like today,” he explained.

Mingi eventually adjusted, wading a bit further into the water slowly. “How’d you know about this place?”

Yunho nibbled at his lower lip before he answered. “It’s my spot. I come here when I need a break from life. To read, to listen to the sounds of nature, to think and ponder things. It’s my escape, I can spend hours here just staring up at the trees and thinking.”

He’d spent countless times doing just that, dipping his feet in the cold water whilst he read a novel, or laid in the tall grass nearby and watched the sunset as he contemplated whatever was on his mind. Yunho had never taken anyone else here, not even Wooyoung. It was personal, an extension of himself, like letting Mingi see a version of him that no one else had access to. A show of trust, like a flower finally blooming for a florist to display it. Raw and so pure.

“Do you come often?” Mingi asked, and he stepped a bit closer to Yunho, who didn’t exactly notice because he was too busy examining the rocks in the pond.

He picked one up and ran his thumb along the smooth polished surface. “Sometimes. Usually when I feel overwhelmed by the weight of simply existing.”

Mingi hummed in understanding. “I like the way you say things,”

Yunho bit back a smile before he skipped the pebble he was holding across the pond. It skid across the surface smoothly before finally stopping and sinking back to the bottom. “How do I say things?”

“Like you’ve been through it before. Like you’ve taken the time to navigate your feelings before turning them into words. Like you’ve lived it.” Mingi replied with a certain candor that he’d only heard the other use when the two were alone. Without any other prying ears around.

Yunho turned to face him, and Mingi was only a foot or two away, eyes fixated on his legs before focusing on his face. That's when Yunho noticed a stray leaf that had stuck itself in Mingi’s hair, and without asking he reached up to brush it away. Mingi didn’t move, only lowered his head ever so slightly to let Yunho take the leaf from his hair, their eyes never leaving one another.

He was about to pull his hand away after getting the leaf, until Mingi’s firm grasp took hold of his wrist, keeping him there so that he couldn’t pull away. Yunho gasped, eyes widening a bit as he stared at the other man, waiting, hoping.

Mingi’s thumb was pressed right against his pulse, and Yunho knew his heart was beating quickly with the way his breath had picked up. He didn’t dare move, he didn’t want to ruin the moment, as he knew what could be coming next, what he’d dreamt of for so long now.

What he didn’t expect was for Mingi to bring Yunho’s fingers to his lips, let them brush over the soft skin teasingly, almost as if Mingi were testing the waters. Seeing how far he could push Yunho before he went in for the kill. Though it didn’t take much at all, Yunho let out a sigh that was more akin to a soft plea. “Mingi…”

It was then that Yunho couldn’t bear it anymore, closing the gap between them as quickly as he could standing in the pond, pressing his lips against Mingi’s. He kissed him slowly, let their mouths get to know one another like strangers who’d only just become acquainted. Mingi was just as cautious, though his hands did rest on Yunho’s waist, his grip firm and his kisses equally gentle.

Mingi’s lips were just as warm and soft as Yunho had imagined, if not more so. It was nearly surreal how natural their kiss felt, how they’d melted into each other with ease. How Yunho felt his knees go weak and the soft sigh he let escape Mingi swallowed down like it was nothing. It was all too much and not enough, nothing like the kisses he’d shared with anyone else. When he pulled back after a moment, he looked away from Mingi shyly, even took a step back to fully collect himself.

It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy the kiss, that was far from the truth. Though he knew that if he kept going it would send him into overdrive. Getting to kiss Mingi was much like finally having a bite of a cake one had waited so long to eat. Have too much at once and it would quickly become an issue. Mingi didn’t look offended by Yunho’s sudden aversion, instead he had a knowing smile on his lips like he knew exactly what was running through his mind.

Yunho didn’t know why he’d stopped himself, he knew he should. He knew that was the demure thing to do. Not letting his greed get the better of him, but when he locked eyes with Mingi again who looked at him with such desire, he couldn’t help himself.

He grabbed Mingi by the collar, again letting their lips meet in a much more heated kiss than before. Something visceral overtook Yunho in that moment, latching onto Mingi as if he’d somehow float away if he didn’t. Mingi must’ve felt it too with the way he licked into Yunho’s mouth, arm wrapped around his waist just as tightly. Nothing else mattered in that moment, not the coldness of the water they stood in, nor the knowledge that Yunho might be too young for a man of Mingi’s age. None of which necessarily concerned Yunho in the moment.

He was so immersed in the kiss, so lost within the taste of Mingi on his own lips that he lost himself, hooking a leg around the other to bring them closer. It was at this that Mingi had pulled away, suddenly taken back to reality rather than the present moment. He separated their heated kiss, still holding Yunho close with their foreheads pressed together.

“We can’t” He panted, eyes squeezed shut and out of breath. He was holding Yunho by the back of his neck, a firm hand on him like he knew Yunho would try to lean in to let their lips meet again.

Only this time Yunho didn’t, he listened to Mingi’s words with a clouded mindset, he was more so excited at even being able to kiss Mingi, get as far as they did that he wasn’t even upset at the separation of their lips or his words. “But please, Mingi,” Yunho breathed.

“No, we’ve been good until now,” Mingi responded immediately. Almost as if he was trying to tell himself rather than Yunho. “Let’s try to continue that? Can you do that? Be good?”

Those words sent a chill down Yunho’s spine, not out of fear, but arousal. He quite liked the way Mingi spoke to him like this. Sternly yet with a hint of sensuality behind it. Like being ‘good’ held more than one meaning. Be good for Mingi, be good for his parents who most likely wouldn’t approve of what the two had formed. Be good for society, as two men expressing these feelings and acting upon them was blasphemous in itself. The eyes who’d frown upon the two for such unabashed shows of affection.

“I can be good,” Yunho promised.

Being ‘good’ was much more difficult than Yunho had anticipated. He knew what it meant, but part of him was confused by the true meaning of it all. If he were to hide such intimate feelings for another man such as Mingi, then when exactly was he supposed to express them? Only in the confines of their shared balcony when no other prying eyes were watching? Wait for Mingi to make a move so that Yunho knew it was the right time?

No, Yunho was tired of waiting, he wanted Mingi all for himself. Something had changed in him when they kissed that warm evening in his hideout. He wanted Mingi, coveted like a secret that one kept close to the heart in fear they’d tell others. Even in the garden, Yunho kept close watch of the older man, whether he was reading a book near the pool or helping Janie, their housekeeper who'd become well acquainted with Mingi while he was picking fruit from their peach trees. Yunho saw it all, saw the way in which Mingi was his authentic self around anyone who was willing to perceive him.

It was in a way that it was almost as if Mingi was unafraid of being judged, careless of what others thought of his habits or personality. Even now, when he climbed an old wooden ladder in order to grab ripe peaches from a high branch that Janie couldn’t reach, he spoke so openly about his thoughts.

Yunho could overhear their conversation as he sat on a beach nearby within earshot. He pretended to be engrossed by a novel, but he wasn’t reading a single word on the page. Instead, he watched Mingi holding the wicker basket full of ripe fruit whilst Janie watched in from the grass below. She would ask him to pick the ones that were blushing, meaning in her words, the ones in which had a reddish orange hue on their skins.

Mingi would chuckle and follow along, picking each one and asking “Is this one blushing?” looking for approval from the older woman below him.

“No” Janie would reply upon a single glance and a shake of her head. “Blushing comes with maturity. That one is still too young to have blushed yet. The reddening of the fruit only comes with shame.”

Yunho knew they were speaking of the fruits, but he couldn’t help but relate the analogy to himself. When one was old enough to be ashamed, then they knew of adulthood, of shame, of the bigger meaning behind their coy mannerisms. Blushing only came with the shame of knowing what it all could mean. A ripe fruit picked from a tree that was ready to be cultivated, as such was a young man maturing and ready to leap into adulthood. Yunho knew he wanted Mingi, there was no shame behind it besides the acquiescence of his own beliefs.

It was later in the day in which Yunho found himself lounging on his bed, the sun streaming in from the windows and open patio door making him feel sleepy. It was the time in the day in which the entire household began winding down for dinner, putting work away in order to ease into the evening.

Mingi had left for town in the early afternoon, his usual errands of sending letters back home and having copies of his manuscript translated for publication. Before he’d hopped on his bike though, he ushered Yunho over and pulled a ripe fruit from his tote bag with a grin. “This one reminded me fo you,” he said.

That peach now sat on Yunho’s nightstand, still uneaten, waiting to be bitten into. He wasn’t sure what exactly reminded Mingi of him in the peach, maybe it was the sweetness of the juice within it? Or the prettiest one he’d seen in the tree he’d picked them from. When Yunho grabbed it and let his thumb brush across the fuzzy surface, he noticed the redness of the peaches skin, how it blushed just like Janie had mentioned.

A sudden image ran through Yunho’s head, one of Mingi finally stepping into his room through the balcony one late night, both of them having the guts to make a move like they’d been longing for. How Mingi’s lips would feel with his cock pressed against him, just as ready as Yunho was. A kiss wasn’t enough for Yunho, his skin buzzing with frisson whenever he thought back to the heated moment, mind racing with instances of what could be.

The urge overtook him before he could really think about it, he knew everyone was downstairs readying themselves for dinner, so he let his nefarious idea come to fruition. He pressed his thumbs right along the top crease of the large peach, the soft meat of the fruit giving way to his hands as he pushed the brown pit out. Juice had dripped down his wrist and his forearms, and after tossing the pit onto his nightstand he licked the sticky nectar from his hands.

It was sweet, sticky in a way that he’d imagined what Mingi’s come would feel like on his own skin. What it would taste like as he licked it up just as he did the peach juice running down his fingers. It was heinous what he’d do to such an unsuspecting fruit, the mere thought making Yunho blush down to his chest. The hole from his thumbs was just large enough for him to bring the fruit to his groin, his briefs hastily pulled down to expose himself to the crude opening he’d made. When he brought the fruit onto his cock, it was warmer than Yunho expected, warm enough to make him think about how Mingi’s mouth would feel around his cock, slick, wet and hot. Inviting, and just as naughty. Yunho bit back a moan, he couldn’t risk being too loud.

The more fantasies that made themselves apparent in his mind, the quicker he thrust into the makeshift hole of the peach. A flash of Mingi with his fingers wrapped around his own cock much like the peach currently encasing his length, or Mingi falling apart right under his touch, much like Yunho envisioned himself doing.

With his eyes squeezed shut he laid on his back, feet planted into the soft mattress below him as he thrust upwards into the soft flesh of the fruit. The sound of squelching was just as obscene as the action of him helplessly fucking into the fruit, the peach juice now mixing with spurts of pre-come from Yunho’s cock was enough for him to have to bite his fist to control another whine. “F-fuck,”

He didn’t mean to come so soon, but when he imagined Mingi being the one to slide the debauched fruit down his cock, encouraging him to keep going, telling him how pretty he looked doing such a dirty thing, his deep rough voice so vivid in his memory that Yunho could almost feel his presence. Yunho’s resolve faltered quicker than he’d liked. His forehead was slick with sweat, chest slightly heaving as his hips stuttered with the final few thrusts into the peach. It was nearly split in half, but Yunho didn’t notice, nor care. He still rolled his hips forward just to chase the stickiness of the wet fruit, pulling back at the last minute just so his own come would land directly on the fruit rather than around it.

Regardless it was a mess, with Yunho’s back arching slightly and his head back into the pillows beneath him as his orgasm hit him. Just like any other time he’d touched himself thinking of Mingi, his name slipped past his lips as a last resolve of his own illusion.

“Hhh–Mingi,” he panted, letting his own come dribble down the sides of the fruit and onto his own hand. It was warm just like the peach, a bit runny but more vicious. Yunho brought his soiled hand to his mouth to lick up the mess he’d made, a satisfied hum muffled by his own fingers.

It was salty, sour, and sweet when he caught a bit of the peach juice on his palate. Enough to have his own eyes flutter under his lids as he made sure to not miss anything on his own skin. He could’ve stayed there, licking his own secretions from his hand, but the feeling of the cooling peach against his groin was growing uncomfortable. He set the now mutilated peach on his bedside table, turning to face away from such a sight. He’d figure out what to do with it later.

Yunho didn’t notice that he’d drifted to sleep after the whole ordeal until he heard the balcony door slowly creeping ajar, his eyes barely opening to see who had stepped in. Of course it was Mingi, who placed a soft kiss behind his ear when he approached him. Just like his own fantasy he had stepped into Yunho’s side of the room through the balcony and sat on the bed next to him. He looked at Yunho’s relaxed body for a moment before speaking. “Dinner is almost ready,”

Yunho rubbed one eye from sleep, his bearings still not quite about him. He hummed in response, turning over to meet the other man’s face. It wasn’t until Mingi had already noticed the peach that Yunho had remembered what he’d done.

“What’s this?” Mingi asked, reaching for the torn apart fruit near Yunho’s bed without asking. It still had Yunho’s come within it, but Mingi still touched it as if it were ripe from the branch of a tree. “You haven’t done what I think you have?’

“No, it’s nothing,” Yunho was wide awake now, his hand reaching for the peach within Mingi’s grasp to save himself the embarrassment. He was sitting upright in order to stop him from grabbing the fruit from the nightstand.

Only Yunho wasn’t quick enough, Mingi holding the younger back with one arm as he grabbed the peach he’d gifted him earlier with his free hand. “Let me see, here, what a gift, huh?”

Yunho whined, high pitched and needy in his throat when Mingi brought the peach closer to his face. “Mingi please,”

Only the older one didn't flinch, just held him back from being able to take the evidence away. There was a mischievous smirk across his face, one that seemed even more nefarious than what Yunho had done. Yunho tried to grab the debauched fruit from his hands, but Mingi was much stronger than him, holding him back with only one arm whilst he examined the peach in the other hand.

“I’m sick aren’t I?” Yunho whined, his words a bit breathless, “I’m sorry, I know it’s gross–”

“You’re not as sick as I am,” Mingi was quick to interrupt him, his eyes never leaving the deflowered specimen in front of his face. “You wanna see sick?”

Yunho let out a gasp so sharp it was as if he’d been watching a gory horror movie. His eyes shut, body tensing with shock as he watched Mingi do something even his wildest dreams couldn’t conjure. He’d taken a bite out of the decimated peach, right into the core in which Yunho had ejaculated. As horrifying as it was to Yunho, it sent an involuntary chill down his spine and made his stomach turn with a certain intense heat he’d never felt before.

It was erotic the way Mingi had bitten into the thing without hesitation, as if it was freshly picked from the branch without a trace of Yunho ever touching it. His eyes were closed as he savoured the bite, letting the sweet juices of the fruit mix with the sour salty notes of Yunho’s excrement. He chewed ever so slowly, not because he wanted to spit it out, but rather he wanted to let the notes of Yunho sit on his palate. Like he’d been longing to taste the other and now was his only chance to do so.

Yunho himself could only watch with such a look of distress that his mouth couldn’t form words. Such a mix of emotions fell over him at once, the pure show of tenderness within such an act was unlike anyone had exhibited for him before. Yunho imagined something like this, seeing another divulge every aspect of his essence to be more intimate than sex itself. To be willing to have Yunho, have all of him in such an act of veneration made his chest feel tight. Though the catalyst of it all was the lingering shame, the act of such a devious thing, all the while thinking of the other man was enough to let tears spring to his eyes.

Much like how he couldn’t hold back orgasming into the peach, Yunho fell into a fit of tears. Overwhelmed with the thought of what would happen once Mingi had to return to his university. How he may have started something he didn’t possess the maturity nor knowledge to finish. Mingi’s arm was still holding his wrists, preventing him from grabbing the peach, but when he heard the first sob escape the younger’s lips he expression changed, arms now reaching out to comfort the other.

Yunho clutched at Mingi’s billowy shirt, tucking his face into the warm soft fabric to further hide his true feelings. It smelled just like him, like sunscreen and sweat, with a hint of the floral soap that Janie stocked each bathroom with. Instead of asking what was wrong, Mingi just held him, softly petting Yunho’s hair, rubbing soothing circles along the column of his spine.

“I’m sorry,” Yunho sniffled once his tears somewhat subsided. He knew he looked a mess, nose runny and cheeks red from shame just like the peach Mingi had left on his bed. “I-I just feel so, so…”

“Ashamed? Deplorable even?” Mingi finished his sentence. He had already known the words that Yunho had been thinking, unphased by the fit of crying that had just occurred. Yunho nodded, wiping the stray tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Mingi replied in a comforting tone. He gently moved a stray hair that had been stuck to Yunho’s cheek and tucked it behind his ear. Then he lifted his chin to grab Yunho’s attention before asking him another question. “Is it me who you were thinking of?”

Yunho swallowed hard, his mouth had run dry, but he needed something to keep himself from spiraling in that moment. He stared at Mingi, looked into his sharp eyes and couldn’t find a reason to be dishonest. “It was,”

A hint of a smile formed on Mingi’s lips, a slight upturn at the corners that made Yunho drop his gaze to watch his mouth. Their faces were so close that he could feel the heat of Mingi’s skin radiating off of him, the warmth of his exhales upon his own inhale.

Mingi bit back the growing fondness for a moment, brow furrowing as he thought over his words. “I’ve wanted you since we first shook hands. Since the moment I saw you all those weeks ago, I knew you liked me. None of it is anything to be ashamed of. Not around me, I think–” Mingi hesitated, wetting his lips with his tongue and taking a shaky inhale. “I think sometimes I long for you more than you have ever noticed. Always so caught up within that sharp mind of yours.”

Yunho was surprised, but deep down he knew it had been coming. The kiss they shared was only the start of something much more intrinsic, profound even. Another overwhelming urge overtook Yunho, though this time it wasn’t nearly as visceral and raw as tears. He sat up on his knees on the bed, leaning so close to Mingi their lips nearly touched. “Kiss me, show me how much you’ve wanted me,”

The kiss that Mingi gave him wasn’t chaste nor slow like the one they shared at the pond. No, it was needy and nearly ravenous. He held Yunho by the back of his neck like he was set to run off at any moment, licked into his mouth like he was trying to catch a hint of any lingering shame left within the other to swallow it down himself. Only Yunho returned the kiss with the same amount of passion, the same amount of eagerness, practically crawling into Mingi’s lap and savouring each second much like Mingi did the peach earlier.

It was only when Yunho’s leg wrapped around Mingi’s waist, his arms desperate to pull him down onto the bed did Mingi finally pull away. His expression was pained in a way of which he didn’t want to cease their actions, but it was nearing sunset and soon was supper.

“We can’t,” Mingi breathed against the crook of Yunho’s neck, his voice was deep and gruff, brow cinched from the effort to ground himself. “Not right now,”

As much as Yunho would’ve liked to protest, he knew Mingi was right. At any moment someone could come fetching them for dinner, and seeing the two in such a compromising position wouldn’t fare well for either of them. So with reluctance, he fell back onto the bed with a sigh, elbows seated in the mattress below him so he could meet Mingi’s gaze.

Yunho could see how much Mingi wanted it, how badly he longed for him in the flush of his reddened cheeks, the haziness of his eyes when he stared back at him. The way in which his hand lingered on Yunho’s thigh that had been around his waist, thumb brushing just under the hemline on his shorts. Normally he hated leaving things unspoken, not having a certain answer to ‘the things that mattered’. But rather than asking directly, Yunho simply looked Mingi in the eye and asked. “Later?”

A breathless chuckle escaped Mingi, he knew exactly what Yunho was referring to. “Later,” he agreed.

For Yunho, later was an eternity. He sat at the dinner table with his mind elsewhere, which wasn’t unlike him, only this time he wasn’t thinking of books or music. Instead a buzz of excitement mixed with nerves was the reasoning for his absentness from the dinner conversation. He picked at his food, only nibbling at a few of the roasted vegetables on the ceramic plate in front of him. It wasn’t due to the food being unappetizing, but rather Yunho was too anxious to eat anything. As usual, his parents were invested in a conversation about the telenovelas they had been watching, another episode was airing tonight, and his mother had many theories about what would happen to the main character.

Yunho did occasionally take sips of the dry white wine that was served alongside dinner that evening, he knew he would need the liquid courage to come that night. Mingi was sitting next to him, their knees brushing together every so often under the table. Even the smallest of touches were driving Yunho up the wall, making his heart flutter in his chest in a way that would’ve been concerning otherwise.

He couldn’t bring himself to glance over at Mingi, no matter how many times the other man added to the bustling discourse around him. When he laughed at a joke that Mr. Jeong told, Yunho didn’t even have to look at Mingi to know he was smiling wide. The kind in which his eyes scrunched up into little half-moons and his slightly crooked front tooth on display. Mingi was in good spirits, more cheery and talkative than he normally was, and only Yunho knew the real reason why.

After dinner, Yunho paced the room for minutes. The curtains to the balcony were drawn tight, the door shut, silence in the space other than the soft padding of his own bare feet on the floorboards. The anxiety that he held through dinner was now spilling past the seams, bubbling up so much that he felt the need to physically move his body in order to keep himself from freaking out.

The two didn’t set a specific time to meet, though as soon as dinner was over Yunho retreated to his room with a swiftness. He knew he’d have to wait until late into the night after everyone had gone to bed to even think about stepping foot into Mingi’s room. They couldn’t risk being caught, and both knew better than to let haste cloud their reasoning.

So at first, Yunho sat on his bed and tried to journal. Opened a fresh page of his leatherbound notebook and nibbled on the end of a fountain pen as he thought over what to write. Only nothing came to mind other than Mingi of course. Momentarily he thought about slipping a note under the other man’s door, just to let him know that their plans were still set in stone.

Is that what adults did? Yunho wondered to himself. Pass notes under doorframes like school friends in class? Nonetheless, Yunho scribbled down something. ‘Should we still meet tonight?’

No, that was too passive. He tore the page out and crumpled it up, tossing it aside on his sheets. He needed to sound more confident, more sure of himself than that. After a few more scribbled out sentences and fresh sheets of paper, he settled on something that sounded better.

‘Your room after midnight?’

It was simple enough, unsuspecting to the average person, but only he and Mingi would know what would ensue after that point. With a deep breath Yunho stood in front of their connecting door and folded the paper in half. He could see the light from under Mingi’s door, signaling that he was in the room rather than still downstairs chatting. Before Yunho’s thoughts could psych himself out of it, he crouched down to slide the note under the gap of the door.

Part of him wanted to sit in front of the threshold cross legged and wait for a response. Though he knew it was best to turn away and try to be patient. That’s when the pacing began again, back and forth, from one end of the room to the other. He’s sure that if he continued he’d wear a desire path right into the hardwood beneath his feet.

Only he didn’t have to wait long, a few minutes later a note slipped under the door in return. Yunho stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the folded piece of paper on the floor as if it were a potential winning lottery ticket. He held his breath as he bent down to pick up the paper and read the response.

‘Stop overthinking. See you at midnight.’

It was a very Mingi response of course, straight to the point and blunt in a way that it nearly seemed like dry humorous banter. Yunho plopped down on his bed, paper still clutched in his hand. Mingi could likely hear Yunho pacing back and forth in a fit of mania from the other side of the wall, and the thought of it made Yunho let out an embarrassed chuckle. When he checked his watch, the hands read 10:13 pm. Midnight seemed so close yet so far.

By the time 11:50 rolled around, the house was silent. Yunho had opened his balcony door just a hint to allow some fresh air to quell his mind. Even with ten minutes left he stood near the door, as eager and nervous as he’s ever felt. His palms were clammy, and the loose collar of his t-shirt felt suffocating. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his dinner clothes, still wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white graphic tee from earlier.

Despite Mingi telling him not to overthink, he still did. It was damn near impossible for Yunho to not overthink. He glanced down at his watch again. 11:53 pm. Should he be a bit early? Or fashionably late? Make Mingi wait for a few minutes, just to see if he’d come knocking first. Yunho knew he didn’t have the patience any longer to pull such a move. He didn’t know how to navigate such an experience, heated kisses here and there were one thing, but Yunho knew in his gut that something more was bound to happen.

He didn’t even look at his watch to check the minute again before he raised his fist to let three gentle knocks rap on the door. A beat passed, and then footsteps neared until the knob twisted and the door that had been separating the two opened. Mingi too had the same clothes on from dinner, his fitted navy polo shirt was tucked into the jeans he wore, top buttons undone as always to show a hint of his broad chest. The only difference was the way in which his hair looked a bit messy, as if he’d been running his fingers through it many times in the passing hours.

Mingi stood in the doorway for a moment, looking Yunho up and down slowly as if he was taking him all in. “You’re early.”

Yunho scratched the back of his neck bashfully. “Yeah, I couldn’t wait I guess.”

Mingi stepped aside to let Yunho into the room, his room really, but Mingi’s for the time being. It was dim, save for the bright cast of moonlight through the open balcony doors. Yunho stared at his own bed, how the sheets had been pulled back to the bottom of the mattress so that only the fitted sheet was exposed. It was the sound of the door softly shutting, and Mingi’s steady, slow steps that pulled his attention away.

Mingi was close behind him, though he hadn’t touched Yunho, just hovered over him like a weighty shadow, eyes raking up and down his smaller frame. Yunho knew Mingi couldn’t hear his own heart beating out of his chest, but it was so loud in his own ears that he was certain it could be picked up by the naked ear.

“Are you nervous?” Mingi asked, his voice barely a whisper, warm breath ghosting right against the shell of Yunho’s ear, making him shudder with delight.

Yunho swallowed harshly, head turned ever so slightly just to see Mingi’s profile in his peripheral vision. He wanted so badly for Mingi to touch him, or to perhaps reach out and touch the other, his fingers twitched at his sides. “A bit, yeah,” he let a beat pass before speaking again. “Are you?”

Mingi circled him, the heat of his body gone when he moved to lean against the end of the bedframe. He thought about it for a moment, tongue peeking out to wet his bottom lip. “I think it’s more eagerness than nerves.”

Yunho didn’t know what to say, he stood there awkwardly, shoving his hands in his pockets to save himself from twiddling his thumbs and looking dumb. He already felt like an imbecile, standing in the middle of the room much like the day they first met and Yunho had shown Mingi around. Only now the weight of their few weeks together was pressing down against his shoulders like lead.

As if Mingi noticed his rumination, he himself went to sit at the edge of the bed, then pat the seat next to himself for Yunho to join him. Wordlessly Yunho neared the bed, only instead of sitting beside him, he stood between Mingi’s wide parted legs. His knees touched the edge of the mattress, and he rested a hand on Mingi’s shoulder instinctively as he stared down at the other.

They didn’t speak, and for some reason Yunho didn’t feel the need to. Mingi looked up at Yunho with such sultry eyes and pouty lips that he already knew what Yunho was implying with the position he’d assumed. His groin was just mere inches from Mingi’s face, and the sight alone made Yunho’s cock begin to stir in the confines of his jeans.

It was Mingi that broke the silence first, his hand drifting from holding Yunho’s hips down to his thighs. “You really want this?”

Yunho couldn’t hesitate now. Not when he was so close to getting what he’s wanted after so long. He could practically taste the sweet satisfaction on the tip of his tongue. “More than anything,” he responded breathlessly.

It was then that Mingi pulled Yunho closer by the hips, hands firmly cupping his ass over the material of his jeans. He buried his nose into the crotch of Yunho’s pants shamelessly mouthing over the rough material like a starved man. The feeling was so foreign to Yunho yet so arousing, his knees nearly buckling upon his touch. His fingers sank into the silky hair at the nape of Mingi’s neck, making him grunt over Yunho’s clothed half-hardness.

Even over the thick material he could feel the slightest hint of friction from Mingi’s mouth, his nose pressing into his now quickly stiffening cock. “Fu-fuck,” Yunho whimpered, biting his lower lip so harshly he was bound to draw blood.

Mingi took his time, reveling in the perverted act of nosing at Yunho’s groin as if he could get high off the lingering scent. Yunho was sure that Mingi likely couldn’t smell much through the material of his jeans, but it was more the act of it that he was after. The rawness and intimacy of feeling Yunho’s arousal hidden behind layers of fabric. When he pulled back for air, his eyes were lidded with residual lust, a damp patch left on the front of his pants.

Yunho couldn’t wait any longer, he needed to feel Mingi’s bare skin on his own, feel his lips on every inch of his body that he so desired to kiss. It was a burning feeling, one that he knew wouldn’t be satiated so easily. “Kiss me, kiss me now or I’ll go mad,” Yunho pleaded.

He practically fell into Mingi’s lap, straddling his hips, hands cupping his cheeks gently yet with a yearning that pulled at his chest as if it were clawing it’s way out. Their kiss seemed to pick up where the two left off, heated and so passionate that Yunho’s head was spinning after a few moments. He couldn’t tell where one kiss ended and the other began, every small moan and whimper swallowed by Mingi’s hungry mouth against his own.

Yunho didn’t know how they’d ended up on the bed with Mingi beneath him, staring up at him with those cunning eyes, just as longing as Yunho felt. Mingi’s hands made quick work of Yunho’s jeans, unbuttoning them and pulling them down just enough to let the front of his underwear to be shown. Instead of tugging the waistband down himself, he rolled his gaze up to look at Yunho.

“Let me see, show me how beautiful you are,”

If Yunho’s cheeks could burn any hotter they did, he was thankful for the lowlighting in the room, though he was sure that the blush he dawned was still visible. He caught his lower lip between his teeth, then sat back on his heels so he could do as Mingi asked. He didn’t just pull the hem of his shirt up either, he bought the soft fabric between his teeth to hold it up and expose a bit of his stomach and chest. Carefully he pulled down the waistband, almost like it were some sort of dirty peep show that he was putting on for the older man under him. Mingi didn’t rush him either, just laid back and watched, enjoying the ride as he anticipated the reveal.

Once he’d pulled it down far enough, Yunho’s cock sprung out and slapped against his lower abdomen. The cool air made him inhale sharply from the corner of his lips, the tip was already forming a bead of pre-cum from being able to reach full hardness within seconds.

Yunho knew he wasn’t lacking in terms of being well endowed, but the hard exhale that Mingi let out was like none other. He could tell the other was affected with the way in which he stared, from the flushed pink tip down to the shaft, then the sparse patch of hair that covered the base. It was nearly like he was enamored by the sight, tongue poking out between his lips as he fixated on the sight.

“Even prettier than I imagined,” Mingi finally said after what felt like minutes. He finally looked back up at Yunho, the smallest upturn of his lips as he spoke his next words. “A pretty cock for a pretty boy like you,”

Yunho’s cock twitched, a moan leaving his lips past the fabric that he held between his teeth. The fabric was starting to soak with his salvia, but Mingi’s hands moved from his hips to run across his chest, fingers brushing over a nipple which made his hips jolt involuntarily. He didn’t know why he liked being called pretty, but hearing it come from Mingi’s lips in such a soft tone made heat pool low in his belly.

“Does that feel good? When I touch you like this and call you pretty?” Mingi asked, his pointer finger and thumb toying with one of Yunho’s nipples, and with each pinch his hips moved in response.

Yunho let the fabric fall from his lips, with his hands planted on Mingi’s chest to help stabilize him. “Y-yes, but–”

“But what?” Mingi teased, even tilted his head to the side slightly to mimic real intrigue.

“I need you to touch me,” Yunho blurted out before he could be ashamed of what he was asking for. It still felt like he was in a dream, so he leaned into the feeling to stave off any lingering shame in the back of his mind. “Please, i-it hurts,”

Mingi feined a small pout on his lips, never breaking eye contact. He did touch Yunho, let his hand wrap around Yunho’s flushed cock between them and his thumb press right into the slit. “Like this?”

Yunho nearly lost it, and had it not been for the firm grip Ming had placed on his hip to keep him from bucking forwards he might’ve. The friction from his rough palm was too much and he would’ve come way sooner than he liked to. Still the sensation of Mingi’s fingers wrapped around his shaft and the pad of his thumb circling around the head of his cock had Yunho letting out a pained moan from deep within his chest.

“Fuck, fuck Mingi, please I might come,” he whimpered, eyes screwed shut just so he would’ve have to keep gazing down into Mingi’s dark ones.

Mingi stopped, but he didn’t take his hand away. Just let Yunho collect himself, watching the way his brows furrowed as he took in a few deep breaths to center himself. After a few seconds he tugged on the hem of Yunho’s shirt, pulling it up again. “Off, wanna see more of you,” he demanded.

Yunho didn’t hesitate, pulling the now wrinkled material over his head and tossing it behind himself to land on a heap on the floor. Mingi had seen him without a shirt countless times, but this time felt different. The way Mingi raked his gaze down Yunho’s torso was unlike any other time he’s glanced at him whilst lounging by the pool with only his swim shorts on. This time his gaze was famished, as if he was drinking it in and trying to commit each dip of his body and every freckle that graced his skin.

While he took in the sight of Yunho half-naked on top of him, his thumb continued absentmindedly brushing along the head of his cock, slow and steady, then his fist languidly pumping up and down the length. He was slowly building up his tolerance, keeping Yunho teetering on the edge until he couldn’t take it anymore and his orgasm knocked the wind out him when it finally came.

Yunho felt an overwhelming urge to see Mingi too, touch that tanned skin that he had stared at for weeks now. Run his hands along the firm expanse of his chest, down his stomach and to the thick thatch of hair that disappeared underneath his waistband. Oh how Yunho longed to see all of Mingi, for his imagination had conjured up so many versions of what his cock could look like he had to see for himself.

When he reached for Mingi’s shorts, his fingers were slightly shaky, but Mingi didn’t stop him. Simply watched as Yunho fumbled with the button a few times before unzipping the fly, letting him lift his hips just enough to pull the denim down around his thighs. From his bulge alone Yunho could tell that Mingi was big, big enough that the thought of him fucking someone with a cock like that sent an excited shiver down his spine.

Even within the confines of his underwear Yunho could smell that manly scent he’d engorged himself on when mouthing at Mingi’s swimtrunks. Like salty sweat and skin, a hint of the spicy cologne he sprayed on every morning, and a certain musk that Yunho couldn’t get enough of. His mouth pooled with saliva, so much so that he had to swallow it down save for it spilling past the seam of his lips.

“Go on,” Mingi encouraged.

Yunho’s hands were just above the waistband of his briefs, finger trailing down the sparse bit of hair underneath his belly button. He was taking his time, reveling in the thought that he had finally gotten to touch him in such an intimate place. He looked back up at Mingi, who was focused on Yunho’s willowy fingers on his skin rather than keeping eye contact.

When Yunho finally tugged his briefs down enough to expose his cock, he had to bit back a moan by way of pressing his lips together. His cock was much thicker than Yunho’s own, veiny and girthy, tan just like the rest of him. The head was slick and shiny with a steady amount of pre-come that had been leaking into the damp patch on his briefs.

Instead of asking directly, Yunho wrapped his long fingers around Mingi’s shaft too, eliciting a low groan from the other. He stroked it just like he did to himself, slow and with a steady pace until his cock fully hardened in his grip.

“Just like that, keep going,” Mingi praised, which only encouraged Yunho to continue. He liked the idea of making Mingi feel good, the thought that it was him causing the pants to escape his lips along with groans of pleasure.

Yunho moved further up the others lap to bring their cocks together, moving his hips slightly each thrust forward. Their cocks brushed against one another, their mix of seminal fluid enough to make the glide lubricated enough without any friction.

Mingi inhaled sharply with a hiss, hands gripping at Yunho’s waist firm enough to leave red marks in their wake. Once again it was a flurry of hands and Mingi’s mouth, the drag of their cocks against one another enough to drive them both mad. It wasn’t long before Mingi’s hand held the back of Yunho’s neck as he kissed him, supporting his weight on his elbow behind him to meet Yunho halfway.

When he pulled back, it by way of gripping the nape of Yunho’s neck harshly, a tug to the hair there to bring a few centimeters between them. A string of salvia fell against Yunho’s chin as he winced from the pull. Mingi took a steadying breath, studying Yunho’s face before he spoke.

“You really want this?” He asked.

Yunho tried to nod but the grip that Mingi had on his hair held him in place. “Y-yes, I want to know what it feels like,”

Mingi’s jaw tinged, Yunho could tell with the way the muscle twitched on the side of his cheek. “What it feels like?” he repeated.

“You,” Yunho responded so quickly it should have been embarrassing. Only he was far from the point of it now. “Your cock in me,”

It took nearly no effort for Mingi to have Yunho lying on his back, clothes falling to the floor or on the far side of the bed in their haste. It was only when Yunho was fully naked in front of Mingi did he feel somewhat exposed, the chill of the air around him causing goosebumps to rise on his skin.

Though it was also no time at all for Mingi’s lips to find their way to the column of Yunho’s neck, biting and soothing the spot with a kiss right afterward. Pain followed by the sweetest kiss pressed against his flushed skin. He continued down his chest, biting, sucking, leaving marks that Yunho knew he’d have to cover for days to come.

It felt so nice that Yunho didn’t even notice Mingi slipping a slick finger under him to press against his perineum. It startled him at first, eyes widening at the corners before he let out a moan from low in his chest. On instinct he wanted to shut his legs, but Mingi kept them open by leeway of his hand on his knee.

“Just relax,” Mingi soothed, lips brushing along the line of Yunho’s jaw. He pressed an open mouth kiss to the angle of his jaw, finger pressing right against his rim. “Deep breath,”

Yunho was able to steady himself enough to inhale, chest rising, he could hear Mingi doing the same, breathing in tandem. On the exhale, Yunho relaxed just enough for Mingi to penetrate him with one finger.

“Mingi–” Yunho gripped Mingi's arms, the feeling was unfamiliar, a slight burn that made the corners of his eyes sting.

“Shhh,” Mingi didn’t move at first, his voice soft and comforting when he spoke to Yunho as he let him adjust. “It’s okay,”

Yunho trusted Mingi, likely more than he trusted himself. He listened to the older’s soft guidance until he was able to work in another finger, pumping them in and out that had Yunho letting out moans of pleasure. It was when Mingi curled his fingers upwards that Yunho could sworn he saw stars in his vision.

“Ohh, fuck” he panted, back arching a bit to chase the tingling heat that blossomed in his stomach. “Do that again, please, fuck”

“Feels good doesn’t it?” Mingi hadn’t taken his eyes off of Yunho once with his digits seated deep inside the other. He watched every miniscule change in Yunho’s expression, possibly searching for a hint of discomfort. Though there was a heat that fell from his gaze that Yunho could feel burning into him. “You’re doing so well,”

Yunho crooned from the praise, unable to hold his desperate sounds back trying to muffle them with his own hand. His cock was drooling over his stomach with each press against the spot, twitching in want of release. It was such an overwhelming sensation that he didn’t know if he could hold on much longer, cock throbbing and twitching from the pads of Mingi’s fingers pressing into him. His release was so close that Yunho could taste it.

Only then Mingi’s hands were gone, no longer pressing against that sweet spot inside him that made his eyes roll back in his head. A whine left Yunho’s mouth, missing the feeling until he felt the tip of Mingi’s cock lined up with his hole.

Yunho didn’t dare look down between them, instead he stared up at Mingi with half-lidded wet eyes. He knew the look was pleading, but also one of complete trust, one that showed his walls were down in a way that he’d never let anyone else experience. “Please, I want it,”

If Mingi wasn’t mere meters from Yunho he would’ve missed those words spoken in such a broken tone. He pressed his cock against Yunho’s puckered hole slowly, just enough to breach the ring of muscle with the tip, and enough for Yunho’s back to arch and his body tense.

Mingi was quick to soothe him with gentle words and kisses along his neck and jaw. “I’ve got you, remember to breathe,”

Yunho could feel the burn of being stretched open much more than he did on Mingi’s fingers minutes ago. This was a different sort of discomfort, one that made his eyes screw shut as he let out a labored breath. Though it wasn’t anything he couldn’t push past, he knew it would feel so good once he got through it.

Mingi was as gentle as he could be, pushing Yunho’s sweat clumped hair off his forehead to place a kiss there too. After a moment he pushed in further, and kept going until he was fully seated and their hips met. Still he watched Yunho carefully, looking closely at his body language for an indication that he could be pushing himself past his limits.

But Yunho powered through, his cock still hard against his stomach leaking steadily with the weight of Mingi’s cock in him. When he finally lifted his head enough to look down between them, it was nearly difficult to tell where he ended and Mingi began. As if they’d been conjoined as one, in the lowlight of his bedroom.

“You can move, fuck, please–”

Mingi started with shallow thrusts, but even that was enough to have Yunho’s head tossed back in the pillows and biting back moans. His cock felt like it was in his stomach, the heat pooling in his gut growing stronger by the second.

“Fuck, you’re taking it so well,” Mingi breathed heavy through his nose as he spoke, like he was trying his best to keep himself together. His skin was slick with sweat where Yunho touched him, hips rolling forward in a steady pace. “I always knew you’d fall apart for me like this, so pretty,”

If Yunho was being too loud, he couldn’t bring himself to care in that moment. Mingi’s pace quickened by the minute, deep shallow thrusts that rocked Yunho into the mattress with each meeting of their hips. Yunho couldn’t take his eyes away from a bead of sweat that trailed down Mingi’s neck, viens and muscles straining under his skin with the exertion of fucking him.

He reached up just enough to press his face into Mingi’s neck and lick it up, hot, wet tongue lapping against even hotter and wetter skin. The saltiness and sharpness of his skin on Yunho’s tongue, mixed with Mingi hitting directly on his prostate with a slight change in angle made him hiccup on a moan.

“Oh you’re just as much of a pervert as me,” Mingi spoke past gritted teeth, one hand was holding Yunho’s knee to his chest, making each roll of his hips hit deeper than before. Yunho licked at another trickle of sweat right along his clavicle, eyes shut in bliss.

“Mm, like the way you taste,” Yunho replied breathlessly, hands around Mingi’s neck to bring him closer.

Mingi groaned at this, a low exhale of air with a small upturn of his bitten lips. Kept thrusting into Yunho with those quick more precise thrusts that made him begin to see stars every time he closed his eyes. His cock twitched in tandem with each brush against his prostate, and he couldn’t help they way his hips moved up to meet Mingi halfway in search for more. The change in pace and need to come had Yunho letting out small ‘Ah ah ah’s’ each time Mingi pushed into him.

Yunho could feel his orgasm building so quickly that he felt like he needed to grip the sheets and hold onto something nearby. “Fuckfuckfuck, ah, Mingi slow down I can’t hold it–”

Only Mingi didn’t slow, he kept thrusting and fucking Yunho into the matress below them. “So don’t hold it, let go. Show me how pretty you are when you come,”

All it took were a few more brushes against Yunho’s sensitive prostate for him to tip over the edge. Even if he wanted to let the moment last a bit longer, the feeling of his orgasm finally rushing over him was like none other. Hot streaks of come painted his belly as his cock twitched hard and an array of incoherent moans fell past his lips.

Mingi wasn’t far behind, only he pulled out of Yunho after his orgasm so as not to overstimulate him too much the first time around. Instead he fisted his length until he spilled his load over Yunho’s chest and stomach with a series of groans. “Oh, fuck Yunho,”

He fell onto the bed next to Yunho, both of them trying to catch their breaths coming down from sharing such a high together. Silence overtook the room, but it wasn’t awkward like Yunho would have thought. Instead he felt a rush of warmth, a swell in his chest of fondness as he turned to face Mingi laying beside him.

Mingi was looking at him, eyes half lidded as he scanned Yunho’s face with the same fond expression. Yunho felt as though he was floating on cloud nine, even when Mingi used one of their shirts to clean him up and then pull him into his arms. Warm skin against skin, Mingi’s scent surrounding him, engulfing him, feeling as though in his arms Yunho could be a part of him too.

Yunho didn’t know how long they laid there like that, holding one another until they had both drifted into sleep. When he opened his eyes, the sun was barely rising over the horizon, a soft orange hue settling over the room. The patio doors were still ajar, the curtains drifting in the breeze coming from outside. Mingi was still asleep beside him, the white sheet covering his backside as he laid on his stomach next to Yunho. An arm was tossed over his waist, almost as if he needed to touch some part of him whilst he slumbered.

Yunho lifted his head to brush some of the longer lengths of hair out of his face, then do the same for Mingi. His dark brown hair was sprawled across the pillow, his cheek pressed against it in a way that made a charming pout form on his lips. Yunho leaned down to press a feather light kiss to his mouth, to which Mingi didn’t budge.

Feeling restless, Yunho left the bed as quietly as possible. Mingi didn’t wake when Yunho carefully slid from under his arm and his bare feet padded across the room towards the patio. He grabbed a shirt from the floor to pull on, it was one of Mingi’s oversized ones, the hem reaching right above his thighs.

The morning air was cool, the patio’s stones slightly chilly under the sole of Yunho’s feet as he sat near the door. Birds chirped in the trees that surrounded the patio, signalling to the world a new day had begun. Yunho didn’t know why he felt the need to sit out and watch the sunrise, but it was calming to do so.

Watching the sky turn gorgeous shades of pink and orange before finally settling into a cornflower blue for the rest of the day. The same red hues that painted the sky were on Yunho’s skin when he looked at his chest and hips. Bite marks from Mingi’s mouth, now settling into a deeper shade of soft purple. Reminders of what he’d committed to lfet over on his body for all to see.

Only Yunho would let anyone see them, they were for his eyes only. The same with the soreness he felt in his body, the way his lower back tinged with a twinge if he moved a certain way. All different things to remember that night he had, one he couldn’t forget even if he tried.

Yunho sat there for some time, long enough for Mingi to rouse from his own slumber, likely from not feeling Yunho by his side warming the bed. He could hear him shuffling around the room for a few moments, before Mingi’s bare feet were standing next to Yunho in his line of sight. He looked up at the other, a soft smile across his lips as he saw the mess of hair atop Mingi’s head along with a face riddled with sleep.

Still he sat right beside Yunho wordlessly, a cigarette tucked behind his ear, the lighter stuffed into the pocket of the robe he tied loosely around his hips. “You’re up early,” Mingi stated, his voice was rough from having just woken. He lit the cigarette he had and took a deep pull before passing it to Yunho.

“Wanted to see the sun come up,” Yunho replied. He took a drag of the smouldering stick and then passed it back to Mingi. The explanation was simple enough, but even he figured there was a bigger reason for waking so early. Perhaps his body recognized the shame he’d felt before he could realize it himself.

Mingi didn’t say more, but his expression was somber, as if he knew the feeling that Yunho had within himself. He took the cigarette and took another deep pull, holding it in his lungs before releasing it again.

“You’re wearing my shirt.” Mingi noticed, though he said it like it was a fact rather than a statement.

“I know,”

“You can keep it if you’d like.” Mingi replied without hesitation. “Something to remember me by. Our time together.”

Yunho looked at him, for some reason he felt a lump in his throat as if were about to shed tears. He blinked them away, a half smile forming on his lips. It was a smile of melancholy from the reminder that Mingi’s time here at the villa was limited. That he was never meant to stay forever, as much as Yunho wanted him to.

Instead of dwelling on the inevitable, making himself more miserable than need be, he sat up a bit and proposed an idea. “Let’s go swimming.”

It was still very early morning when they arrived at the lake nearby. The body of water small enough that one could see the trees on the other side, smell the thick scent of cedar and dewiness from the leaves and grass surrounding the area. The same lake that he’d swim with Wooyoung when they were too lazy to ride their bikes all the way to the beach.

The water was covered with algae, but that didn’t stop Yunho from shedding his sweater and shorts and wading in the cool lake. Mingi followed closely behind, shedding his outer layers that kept him warm from the morning chill and floating on his back not too far from Yunho.

Yunho liked the silence that the lake provided. As he floated amongst the waters much like the leaves atop the water, he could hear nothing but the cicadas in the distance, the soft lapping of the lake on the shore. It was hard to talk, much less think when focusing on floating or swimming.

It was cold enough that it gave him a clear head, exactly what he needed after such a perilous night. He could feel Mingi reaching out to hold his hand, just so the two would float too far away from one another in the water, so that he had a piece of him no matter where they drifted off to.

They didn’t stay too long however, just a dip enough to wake both of them up and get their heads in the right place. When they emerged from the lake and got dressed, Mingi finally spoke up after the long period of silence between them.

“You’re not upset with me are you? About last night?”

“No,” Yunho responded with a shrug. Mingi bit at his lower lip, but seemed to know better than to question further.

In reality, Yunho wasn’t upset with Mingi. It wasn’t his fault that Yunho had this shameful feeling lingering after their escapade. It was all in his head and he knew it. A part of him felt like he’d committed the ultimate sin of lying with another man, that another person would be able to see it on him at a glance. The soreness he felt, the marks that Mingi left were no help. It was a constant reminder that they’d slept together, and that Yunho had enjoyed it.

At breakfast Yunho tried to act normal. He greeted his mother and father with a kiss on the cheek as he normally did, then sat in his seat next to Mingi. The air was charged, Yunho could feel it, but no one else seemed to notice. Still, every eye that looked at him, felt bare under their gaze, as if everyone at the table knew the exact details of what he and Mingi got up to.

“Professor, I have to go to town today to see the translator,” Mingi mentioned after a bite of his food. “I hope it won’t put a damper on our work,”

Yunho’s father waved a dismissive hand as he set his coffee cup on the table. “Not a problem, we’ll go over the draft you have when you get back,”

Mingi nodded, using the napkin that rested on his knee to wipe any crumbs from his mouth. “Cool, I’d better get going then so we don’t lose any time,” He stood from the table, and headed back toward the house. Before he got too far he waved a hand and let out his farewell of “Later!”

Mr. Jeong cracked a smile, now used to the casualty of the saying and replied back a singsong-like, “Later!”

Yunho watched him go, with an overwhelming need to follow him. The goodbye that he’d despised in the beginning was now one that he longed to chase after. How Mingi managed to be so unbothered by the fact he’d just mere hours ago fucked the son of his professor baffled him.

He stared at his plate for a moment, so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice it was just him and his mother there now. “Yunho,” her voice snapped him out of his own head. “You’ve taken quite a liking to Mingi haven’t you?”

Yunho bit at his lower lip in hesitation. He knew it was obvious, though that didn’t make him any less nervous. “Everyone likes Mingi.”

“Yes,” she agreed, stirring her coffee with a teaspoon after adding a bit of milk to it. “But you get attached to people easily. Mingi is a person that has a certain hold on you no? I think he likes you more than you do.”

Yunho inhaled a sharp breath, held it for a moment before exhaling. He had to steady himself to not make it apparent that what she was saying had such an affect on him. Could she see it too? How Yunho was sitting there blushing with shame much like the peach trees in their garden? “How do you know?” he questioned.

“He told me,” his mother said casually after a sip of her coffee. “He says you’re a smart boy, likes conversing with you.” she paused, likely pondering if she should keep on or if Yunho would push back. When he didn’t interject she continued. “You two have a beautiful friendship. You’re too smart not to notice that. Hold it close to your heart,” His mother leaned over the table to rest a hand over his, gently stroking his knuckles as he stared at her.

“I will,” Yunho responded quietly. If he could put Mingi in his pocket so he could never leave he would, only he knew there was merely weeks before their story was finished.

The afternoon dragged by as slowly as Yunho expected. Mingi came back from town only to lock himself in his father’s study to go over one of his final drafts that he’d written. Yunho tried his best to keep busy, lounging in the sitting room with a novel on the sofa, pacing back and forth around the room when his mind wouldn’t let him read in peace. Sat at the grand piano and played his favorite pieces by ear until his fingers tired.

It wasn’t until he heard the door at the study open and saw Mingi step out to quickly ascend the staircase did Yunho perk up. He watched him climb the steps two at a time, and rose from his spot on the settee to follow behind him. Mingi was already in his room by the time Yunho reached the top of the stairs, so he went to the end of the hall where his door was and entered it. The bathroom door that connected the two was still open, so he glanced over to see Mingi with his back facing him. Instead of walking up to him, Yunho went to his side of the room, shutting the door loud enough for Mingi to know he was there too.

Yunho was doing it on purpose, trying to get Mingi’s attention without directly asking for it. In a way it was the only way he knew how to, by acting like he really didn’t want it at all. He crossed the room to stand by his open window, and waited. Like clockwork, seconds later Mingi opened the door that separated the two rooms. He stood in the doorway with a hand on one hip as he looked Yunho up and down, from his bare feet to the jeans he’d cut into shorts, then to the loose fitting striped tank top he wore.

“Yunho,” Mingi said slowly, the same way he spoke to him the night before when they’d slept together. Dripping with candor and lust. “Come here for a moment.”

Yunho quietly crossed the floor to stand in front of Mingi with his hands behind his back. He looked up at him with expectant eyes like a child waiting for their gold star. “Yes?”

Mingi gave him another once over, tongue running along the inside of his cheek as he took in Yunho. “Drop your shorts.”

Yunho paused, blinked a few times. His stomach flipped in a way that only Mingi was able to do to him. He didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t this. Still he listened, stared Mingi in the eye as he undid his shorts and let them pool around his ankles with his underwear. Nearly instantaneously Mingi fell to his knees, so quickly that Yunho could hear the dull thud of them hitting the floorboards.

Yunho had to grip the edge of the doorway in order to steady himself, because within seconds Mingi’s mouth was on him, lips wrapped around the head of his now rapidly stiffening cock. He couldn’t maintain eye contact, the feeling of Mingi’s wet mouth was enough to have him biting back a moan. “Mingi, oh f-fuck,”

It took no time at all for Yunho to reach full hardness, and when he did Mingi took him fully into his mouth, cheeks hollowed out and providing just the right amount of suction. He had an overwhelming urge to thrust forward into Mingi’s mouth, but knew better than to do so. It may be his first blowjob, but he did know not to choke the other man.

Though one thing he did have a hard time controlling was the growing heat within his belly, the tingling in his groin that he knew all too well. He breathed deeply through his nose but it was no help, he was going to come if Mingi didn’t slow down. “Shit, I’m gonna come pull off,”

Only Mingi didn’t listen, just looked up at him with now slightly teary eyes and kept going, holding his hips in place. Yunho’s mistake was looking down to meet his gaze, fingers curling in his hair and gripping him harshly. The thought of spilling his load down Mingi’s throat whilst he had such a debauched look on his face is what finally sent him over the edge. “Hng, fuck,”

Yunho could feel the spasms of Mingi swallowing each hot spurt of come that fell past his lips, and only when it stopped did he pull off like Yunho had asked. He wiped at the corner of his lips with his thumb and gave Yunho a shit eating grin. “You come so fast, it’s hot. Though I wonder if that means if you can last long enough to fuck me.”

Yunho’s jaw dropped at this, eyes widening at the corners as he stared down at Mingi who quickly got to his feet. He looked more than pleased with himself as he crossed the room and left Yunho standing in the doorway naked from the waist down. “W-what?”

“You heard me.” Mingi replied over his shoulder. He grabbed his swim trunks from the bed and looked over at Yunho one more time before chuckling to himself. “Later!”

And with that he was gone. Like it never even happened. Yunho had his first blowjob by a man nearly ten years his senior and the only evidence he had to show for it was Mingi’s now drying saliva on his cock and shorts around his ankles. He stood there dumbfounded for longer than need before pulling his shorts back on and rushing to the patio to see where Mingi had gone.

He was in the garden, heading towards the pool with a book and a notebook in hand. He had on a pair of sunglasses now, and had omitted his shirt somewhere between their rooms and the way downstairs. Yunho watched him until the trees covered him from being seen in the distance, then let out a laugh of shock.

That night for dinner, Mingi was nowhere to be found. Where he’d wandered to after Yunho saw him walking in the yard he didn’t know. Perhaps he’d gone to town and found another person to share drinks with as he often did. It was easy for Mingi to make friends and get lost in conversation, even sitting and playing cards with the old signores at the pub. Rather than dwell on his absence, Yunho tried to focus on tonight’s dinner guests.

They were his mothers family friends, a lovely couple who’d bought cheesecake for dessert and loved to talk about anything but his father’s academics. It was refreshing for Yunho, and the conversation flowed just as easily as the wine being poured into their glasses when empty. After dinner Yunho didn’t mind when his father asked him to play a piece on the piano while he poured grappa for everyone.

He decided to keep it classic with a song that everyone would know. Something to wind down after their meal. It was Debussy’s Rêverie, L. 68, one that Yunho liked not only for it’s ease of playing, but its slight melancholic tempo, like a daydream within a melody. The room was silent as everyone sat near the piano, and even though all eyes were on him, Yunho didn’t feel uncomfortable in the slightest.

He played with his heart, eyes closed in focus of the sound rather than watching his fingers on the keys below. When he opened them again nearing the end of the quiet song, he saw Mingi in the hallway behind everyone, leaning against the wall right in front of the stairs. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was staring right at Yunho with a fond smile.

Yunho let a hint of a smile spread across his lips as he finished the song, looking down at the piano once again so as to not become distracted. The sound of claps from his parents and their family friends are what pulled him from his trance, and when he looked back to the spot Mingi was standing in he was gone.

“Thank you,” he softly replied to the gentle applause. He stood from the piano and lifted his arms above his head with a long stretch. “Sorry, I’m a bit tired. I think I’ll excuse myself to bed,”

Yunho’s mother hummed as he gave her a kiss on the cheek, then followed by another touch of the cheek to his father. “Get some rest,” he nodded, giving Yunho a soft pat on the shoulder. After saying his goodbyes to everyone, he darted upstairs with only one thing on his mind. Mingi.

When he reached their adjacent rooms, he could hear the shower water running from their connected walls. Yunho knew he was likely washing the day away, any lingering sunscreen or dirt from the yard he’d tracked in from riding his bike everywhere. He knew he could’ve waited for Mingi to come out of the shower, but when he thought back to the way in which he left him earlier, he had an even better idea.

Quietly he opened the door to the bathroom, making sure the hinges didn’t creak to alert Mingi to the sound of someone stepping in. The steam from the shower blanketed the bathroom in a warm dampness despite the window being ajar to let some fresh air in. Yunho stepped over the clothes Mingi had tossed on the floor, only to rid himself of his own shirt and pants.

He could smell the floral soap they both used wafting through the air, see Mingi’s form through the frosted vinyl curtain. He was humming some poppy tune under his breath, completely unaware that Mingi was standing there. Instead of simply pulling the curtain back, which would surely give Mingi a fright, Yunho let his mischief take over.

He pulled the lever down on the toilet next to the shower and let it flush, biting back a smile when he heard Mingi’s curses from behind the curtain. “Ah fuck that’s cold–”

When he pulled the curtain back, there Yunho was, naked as the day he was born with a shit-eating grin. “Doesn’t feel good, huh?”

Mingi scoffed, pushing his wet hair out his face and sighing. “What’s this? My payback for earlier?”

Yunho didn’t say anything, but he did step into the tub to join Mingi and pulled the curtain back around them. The water was hot again, and the warm stream felt good on his tense shoulders. He stood under the hot water for a moment before finally replying to him. “You said I wouldn’t be able to last long enough to fuck you. I wanna prove you wrong.”

Mingi’s jaw tensed. Yunho saw the twitch of the muscle under his skin, the furrow of Mingi’s brow in slight surprise. He’d gotten him right where he wanted him. “Now?”

Yunho nodded, took a step closer in the small space so that their chests nearly touched. “Right now,”

He didn’t wait for Mingi to reply, there was no need to. Just pulled him into a heated kiss by the back of the neck, tongue licking at the seam of his soft lips to be let in. It wasn’t a sweet kiss full of longing, but rather one full of arousal and desire. Yunho wanted Mingi, not only for the thought of fucking him, but just to get that much closer to the other. To fully know him inside and out was just as alluring to him.

Mingi let Yunho take control of the situation, passed the torch to him leading the way, setting the pace of their kiss, letting his slender fingers trace his skin until he’d had his fill. Though Yunho still needed some guidance, it was his first time doing such a thing. “Tell me what to do, teach me.”

Mingi’s lips pulled back into a grin as he looked down at Yunho, his hands resting on the other's hips. “Just go with the flow, I’ll tell you everything you need to know,”

With some shifting, Mingi was able to get into a comfortable enough position with his back to Yunho, hand resting on the cool shower titles to steady himself against the wall. He and Yunho were nearly the same height, yet the difference in the size between the two was staggering. Mingi’s broad shoulders made Yunho look even lankier next to him, but still he hovered over Mingi’s body without a hindrance. The water was still warm, falling on Yunho’s back as he ran his hand along Mingi’s ass.

He let himself have his fun, sinking his fingers into the firm muscle, squeezing and kneading until Mingi nearly grew impatient. When his finger finally brushed against Mingi’s ring of muscle a soft gasp was heard coming from his lips, soft and nothing like the sounds he made the night before.

“Just like I did last night, slowly,” Mingi softly guided Yunho with a look over his shoulder. It took some tries before Yunho was able to sink a finger in, the warmth and tightness was almost as foreign of a feeling as being penetrated. “Good boy, just like that,”

Mingi sounded affected already, moans growing more desperate by the second. Yunho kept going, planting soft kisses along his shoulder blades as he pulled out slightly to add another digit. It was then that Mingi let out a groan deep within his chest. “Fuck, that feels good, keep going.”

He loved the praise, knowing that he was making Mingi fall apart in such a way made his cock twitch in anticipation for what was to come. Just like Mingi did to him, he curled his fingers upwards, trying to find the same spot within Mingi that made his toes curl. Yunho knew he found it when Mingi’s back arched into him and his fingers tried to grip the wall for more purchase.

“Yunho–”

Yunho hummed in response, a grin on his face as he held his waist. “Am I doing a good job?” he asked ever so innocently.

“Shit, you’re doing so good,” Mingi panted, head hanging between his arms. “I’m ready, fuck I can take it,”

Yunho didn’t need telling twice, within seconds his fingers were replaced with the tip of his cock, and a nervous swirl in his gut. He nearly couldn’t tell if it was excitement or anxiety he was feeling, as he nosed at Mingi’s neck shyly for some form of comfort. “I’m a bit nervous,” Yunho admitted.

Mingi turned his head just enough to look over his shoulder, not a hint of malice in his eyes. “Don’t be, you’re perfect. Remember to breathe, slow and deep.”

Yunho did exactly that, deep breath in, and on the exhale he let himself push into Mingi ever so slowly. The feeling of the head of his cock being sucked by Mingi’s tightness was like none other. A sigh escaped his lips, fingers gripping him so harshly that it had to hurt. Though Mingi seemed too lost in the feeling of being penetrated to notice, his breathing was heavy enough to move his shoulders up and down in tandem with Yunho’s slow thrusts.

Each push further in was engulfing Yunho’s cock more and more, his own moans difficult to control. “Oh, I like the way that feels,”

Mingi tossed a glance over his shoulder, cheeks flushed by the constant stream of warm water along with his arousal. “Yeah? Think you can manage all on your own big boy?”

Yunho visibly shuddered from the teasing. For some reason being spoken to in a nearly condescending tone made his cock twitch and his hips want to plunge deeper than before. He took a sharp inhale through his nose, then nodded. “Y-yeah, I’ll make you feel so good, so nice,”

It was then that Yunho began his shallow thrusts, less thrusts and more along the lines of grinding against Mingi’s ass in the small space of the shower. He nearly had the older man pinned against the wall, holding his hips whilst he rut against him.

The warm heat of Mingi was intoxicating, the drag against his cock addicting as he tucked his face into the crook of Mingi’s shoulder to muffle his own moans. He didn’t know if it felt good for Mingi, but by the sound of his pants and the way his back had arched into Yunho’s groin was telling enough. It was less about the mechanics and more the feeling, the passion and arousal behind the act itself.

After a few tries Yunho got a more steady pace going, one that allowed for more drag and a proper pull in and out each time. Were they being loud? Could the slap of skin against skin and choked moans be heard past the walls of the tiled bathroom? Or perhaps through the open window next the shower? Yunho couldn’t bring himself to care, the prospect of fucking Mingi whilst everyone else was unaware of him doing such a thing only added to his arousal.

“Touch me,” Mingi told him breathlessly, each thrust forward punching out another sigh. He didn’t wait for Yunho to process his words either, already guiding his hand to his leaking cock and leading each pump of his hand with a fist wrapped around Yunho’s. “Right there, keep it like that,”

Yunho was good, he listened. Kept pumping his fist around Mingi’s length in sequence with each thrust forwards. It was a miracle that he had enough coordination to keep up, but his mind was fixated on doing whatever it took to please Mingi. Though, just as he expected, he could feel the tingling in his gut growing with each quickening push forwards. “Fuck, Mingi I don’t know if I can hold on,”

For some reason he sounded much more ruined than Mingi did. More vulnerable despite being the one fucking him. His voice wavered with a mix of shame and overwhelming pleasure that couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.

“You can do it,” Mingi half-soothed, again with the slightly condescending tone that Yunho enjoyed so much. Caring, but with a hint of artifice behind it. “Just a little more,”

Yunho squeezed his eyes shut, tried to focus, tried to ground himself and not let the desire to come overtake him. It worked, but only for a moment as Mingi clenched around him in such a way that had him leaning over his bigger frame just to keep himself upright. “I-I can’t, Mingi–”

He quickly clasped a hand over Mingi’s where he gripped the shower wall, his palm resting against the back of Mingi’s and their fingers intertwining just so he could hold onto something. Yunho didn’t know if it was the water running into his eyes, or tears brimming that somewhat clouded his vision, but he hung onto Mingi’s words as he whined into his ear out of desperation. “You’re doing so good, fucking me so well, such a good boy for me,”

Yunho really did try his best to not let the constant throbbing of his cock not get the best of him, but he couldn’t help it. The words falling from Mingi’s lips, the closeness of the two, the sheer act of fucking another man, becoming one in such a way had him sliding down a slippery slope from the very start. His thrust became more desperate, quick snaps of his hips that dissolved into an uncoordinated mess.

“Mm, you gonna come? Go on, you deserved it,” Mingi managed to choke out, his eyes were closed, brow furrowed and teeth biting into his lower lip so hard it could nearly draw blood. His cock twitched hard in Yunho’s fist, signalling he wasn’t too far from coming either.

“Ohh fuck, Mingi,” Yunho was reeling now, as he knew he only had seconds before his body overtook any sort of control he was exuding over himself. It felt too good not to give into the temptation. It only took two more sloppy thrusts before his hips were flush against Mingi’s, burying himself as far as his cock would allow. Each hard twitch of his cock made his hand squeeze Mingi’s in his hold, his eyes fluttering under his lids as he let the orgasm roll over him.

Yunho had practically slumped over Mingi’s back by the end of it, his breathing unsteady as he came down from his own high. He was still seated inside Mingi, fist still around his cock that was hard. He didn’t say a word, simply continued pumping his fist with his half-hard cock inside him to help him finish.

Mingi came with a string of curses and pants that were nothing but music to his ears, thick rivulets of come painted the soft blue titles to only be washed down the drain seconds later. They stayed like that for a moment, even though the water was lukewarm, nearing tap cold, neither of them moved. It felt good against their hot skin, both of them wet and flushed from such intense orgasms.

Once they’d both managed to come down, Yunho slipped out of Mingi slowly, helped him clean up just like Mingi did the night before. Turned the tap off to plunge the room into a comfortable silence. Once they had stepped out of the shower and wrapped in fluffy towels, Mingi using his to dry his hair did Yunho say what was on his mind.

“Did I prove you wrong then?” He asked, biting at the inside of his cheek as he awaited Mingi’s reply. It was a cheeky thing to say, but Mingi was used to his sudden streaks of mischief by now.

“You proved me right,” Mingi corrected, wrapping the towel around his waist. “Just enough of a push to your ego and I can get you to do anything I want,”

There was a pause, filled with tension, an electric spark that gave Yunho chills along his bare arms. He should’ve been upset, seeing that Mingi doing all that to tease him earlier was simply a ploy to get what he wanted in the end. Only the last thing he felt was irritation. He stared at Mingi slightly shocked before a smile bloomed on his face, and he hid a giggle behind his lips.

Mingi cracked a grin too, closing the gap between them to press a kiss on the top of Yunho’s head. Yunho gave him a playful nudge of the shoulder. “Silly me,”

Mingi didn’t take offense to this either, instead he too chuckled and brushed the wet strands of hair off of Yunho’s forehead. He looked at him, really looked at him for a moment, that same longing in the depths of his eyes that Yunho saw many times before. His voice was a whisper when he said, “Silly you.”

There was a protective aura over Yunho in the coming days, one that didn’t like to let Mingi leave his sight for too long. He didn’t know if it stemmed from their dwindling days remaining, or rather the fact that they’d become secret lovers. At the most random times, it was as if his body longed for Mingi, every fibre of his being calling out to the other.

It wasn’t only sexual. Sometimes it was as simple as wanting to speak to him, see him doing laps in the pool or the lake. Listen to him read the latest edits to his drafts. Find a secluded part of the garden where no one was bound to stumble upon them and lay in the grass together. When the tension became too much, when it felt as if it were about to spill out of the seams of Yunho’s being, he’d give in to his desires.

Many times did they find themselves sharing quick passionate kisses together in passing. In the empty hallways of the house, along the dirt roads they took to town, or against an unsuspecting peach tree. Like two lovesick teenagers that couldn’t wait for a chance to ravish each other when no one was looking. Even small confessions that Yunho would have never expected Mingi to notice.

“I know what you did with my shorts, the swimtrunks.” Mingi told Yunho one evening after dinner whilst they were under the sheets together.

Yunho was embarrassed of course, but Mingi was far from it. “H-how?”

“They smelled like you.” Mingi responded quickly. There wasn’t a hint of anger in his voice at all, instead it was laced with something else that Yunho couldn’t place. “Everything in this room does,”

Never has he felt so deeply intertwined with another, like he’d managed to find a piece of a puzzle that he never noticed completed the picture. It was as comforting a feeling as it was daunting.

Yunho never counted the days that he and Mingi had left. He knew from the start that it would end badly for him if he did. Make him feel like he was on some sort of deadline to gain Mingi’s attention before the clock was up. Though now he had made it further than he’d ever imagined, it was hard not to feel as though time was slipping through his fingers.

The days began colder now, a misty chill hung over the villa in the mornings, the lingering scent of moist earth strong on the senses. Yunho could tell autumn was nearing, now wearing a sweater in the early hours until the sun warmed enough to have a rather tepid afternoon. Early mornings and late nights became he and Mingi’s sacred time.

They sat on the balcony, enjoying one another’s company over a shared smoke, talked about anything that crossed their minds while the radio played softly in the background. This time it was a bit more quiet, with Yunho sitting between Mingi’s legs as he read a book, repeating quotes aloud that he’d underlined with a pen.

It was a collection of short romance stories, this one being about a knight who falls hopelessly for a princess. The knight suppresses his feelings until his love is too great to keep hidden. Yunho nibbled at the cap of his pen until Mingi caught his attention.

“What book is it today?” He questioned with a raised brow. His own manuscripts in a pile next to them. He let a hand rest over Yunho’s knee, thumb rubbing circles along his skin.

“It’s a love story, about a knight and a princess.” Yunho perked up a bit, turning to face him. “Want me to read you a bit?”

Mingi nodded, setting down his own work to let Yunho rest his back against his chest. He got comfortable as he flipped back a couple of pages to the last part he’d underlined. “Here, this part; A handsome knight is madly in love with the princess, and she is too. Though, it seems the princess is not completely aware of her feelings for the knight, despite the growing companionship between the two. Or perhaps it was that very companionship, that the knight felt he had to keep his love hidden. One day, he asks her, ‘Tell me ardently, is it easier to speak or to die?’ ”

Mingi was silent for a few seconds after Yunho finished, nibbled at the end of his writing pen, then after some thinking, he responded. “To speak,”. It was so simple as if the question wasn’t that difficult at all. It took Yunho by surprise. Only a few moments of deliberation over something that would take someone like Yunho ages to decide. “Having spoken is always the best decision. Leaving words unsaid, leads to regrets later on.”

Should Yunho speak? Should he confess to Mingi that he was all he could think about? That everywhere he touched, Yunho could feel if he closed his eyes and thought back on the memory. If he spoke, it would take more bravery than a knight, he thought to himself. Though if he were to stay silent, swallow down his feelings, it could make it worse.

Instead of replying to Mingi’s answer he asked a different question. “How did you know that I liked you?”

Mingi again didn’t take long to think about his answer. “The moment we met. Especially after the first day. You couldn’t seem to stop staring.”

Yunho blushed as he turned back to face his book. “Then why didn’t you give me a sign?”

“I did,” Mingi pressed, furthering his point with a gentle pinch to Yunho’s thigh. “We’d go to town together, parties, I took care of you when you got drunk,” he chuckled to himself at the memory. “There were plenty of signs.”

Yunho laid against Mingi’s chest and let out a sigh. The morning was warming slowly as they sat on the balcony, the sun beginning to rise higher in the sky. Soon it would be time for breakfast and Janie would ring the bell to call them all downstairs. “We’ve wasted so much time,”

Mingi pressed a kiss to the top of Yunho’s head then stroked his hair softly. It was so soothing that Yunho closed his eyes to savor the moment. “It took time for both of us to come out of our shells. Time was never on our side,”

The short conversation with Mingi made Yunho realize that the persona he’d had of him was an illusion of his own making. Rather than the cool nonchalant person Mingi exuded on the outside, he was arguably just as shy as Yunho was. His experience is what made him seem intimidating, the ways in which it appeared he had everything figured out, when in reality he was just as pensive.

Yunho was simply in the swallows of his acquiescence. Much like the story of the prince or the night, or his favorite Shakespeare play Hamlet, he was constantly debating ‘To be, or not to be?’. In the end he found that being, as opposed to simply existing, was a much better option than having never taken the risk at all.

“Yunho?”

The cassette player that Yunho had been listening to was paused, his headphones around his neck. Mingi was standing in the doorway of his room, one of his flowy shirts completely unbuttoned to expose his chest and stomach. Yunho redirected his focus to Mingi’s face before responding. “Yes?”

“Would you like to come to town with me today? I have some last letters I’d like to send off,”

Yunho sat up from his bed, pages of sheet music spread out around him. Any excuse to be around Mingi he’d take without hesitation. “Yeah, I’ll come,” he said with an enthusiastic tone. He rarely hid his excitement around Mingi anymore, there was no point if the other could see it in him.

“Meet you in the garden in 10,”

Yunho was in the garden in record time, not even bothering to clean up the papers on his bed or put his things away before he jet downstairs. He was still hopping into his shoes as he crossed the lawn to catch up with Mingi, their bikes already at the gate waiting for them. Mingi chuckled at the sight of him rushing, swinging one leg over the seat of his bike before calling out over his shoulder. “C’mon slowpoke!”

The ride to town was leisurely, a cool breeze had settled over them as they navigated the pathways together. Mingi was ahead on his bike, looking over his shoulder every now and then to see if Yunho was still close behind. He always was, Mingi knew he wasn’t going anywhere.

Yunho waited outside of the post office on the steps of the building as he always did when he came along. The sun was high in the sky, right after their pranzo hour, many people just came back from their afternoon meals. Yunho watched an older lady carrying her groceries across the street, a loaf of bread peeking out from the top of her bag. Tucked under her other arm was a bouquet of flowers from the florist nearby. The town was barely waking up after the long rest it took midday. It didn’t take Mingi long, a few mintues later he came back, and there was something he was holding. A card in his hand and a pen tucked behind his ear.

He looked to be thinking something over with the way his brows were furrowed as he looked down at the card in his hand. Before Yunho had a chance to ask what it was, Mingi beat him to it. “Lemme write something on here, turn around,” he instructed.

Yunho did as he was told, turning to face the other way so that Mingi could scribble something down using his back as a surface. He held the card right between Yunho’s shoulder blades, and began writing. Yunho shut his eyes to try and focus on the pen pressing along his skin, trying to make out the words he was scribbling down, but he was writing too quickly to pick it up.

“All right, done.” Mingi spoke with the cap on his pen in his mouth. He re-capped the fountain pen before gently blowing on the card to let the ink dry. When Yunho looked closer, he could tell it was a postcard, perhaps for friends or family back home. “Read it,”

Mingi handed him the postcard with the picture side up, and he recognized the image immediately. It was a print of one of Monet's paintings of a pond, called Waterlillies. On the other side, Mingi's careful handwriting contained only a few words. ‘Think of me someday, Cor Cordium.’

“Cor Cordium?” Yunho asked, he turned the postcard over again to stare at the image on the back. It reminded him an awful lot of his spot in the trees where they shared their first kiss only weeks ago. That’s when he began putting the puzzle pieces together. His hideout at the pond known as Monet’s Berm. A place only the two of them knew and cherished so deeply. It was their hideout now, not just Yunho’s. A kiss permanently engraved in the dirt there like a mark on the earth.

“Heart of Hearts,” Mingi replied. He was studying Yunho’s reaction carefully, waiting for his reaction. “I’ve never spoken anything truer.”

“Is it for me?” Yunho finally asked, he had to nibble on his bottom lip just to contain the surplus of emotion he was feeling at that moment. When Mingi nodded, Yunho threw his arms around him so suddenly that Mingi stumbled back from the force of it. “I love it,”

Mingi’s arms held Yunho there, bodies pressing against each other in the town square with such a display of affection. Neither of them cared, and Mingi only let go when Yunho did, his cheeks tinged pink and his eyes slightly misty. “I’ll never forget, how could I? This was the best summer I could have asked for,” Yunho spoke softly, he wanted to cry, but held back the stinging in his eyes.

“You have no idea how happy I am we met Yunho,”

Yunho slept with Mingi the night before he left. If he tries to think back to the day, it is a vivid memory but some parts are blurry. He remembers the soft kisses that Mingi pressed against his face that morning. The taste of his lips on his own, and the last smoke they shared on the balcony. The bitter chill of the morning air that gave him goosebumps on his arms. The feeling of Mingi’s warm hands on his skin when they made love the night before.

Though he doesn’t remember the little things like what he wore, or what he had for breakfast if anything at all. If he played his piano that day or if he stared out of the window that evening with a detached expression. All he remembered was Mingi. That’s all he wanted to keep, if nothing else at all, the little moments they shared. Taking little bites of their happiness together so they could have their cake and eat it too.

There were things that Yunho could recall, if he so much as closed his eyes and smelled the shirt that Mingi left behind, the scent of his cologne still trapped in the fabric. Those lonely late nights where he wished Mingi had never returned to his college to become a professor. Like the way he hugged Yunho at the station before he boarded, held him as if Yunho would dissipate right there and then. How his own hands trembled when he gave Mingi his copy of Heptameron, his favorite stories and quotes underlined. There was a bookmark in it, left on the page of the story Yunho read to him on a cool summer morning.

Mingi leaving was likely the most perilous thing that Yunho had gone through, as he felt a piece of him distant with him. It was hard not to notice the way Yunho folded in on himself, his mother there to comfort him in the moments that the emotions grew too big to handle. Though, with time, as most things do, it got better.

It’s winter now, right before the holiday season. A sheet of white covered the villa and the surrounding landscape for miles. Those same trees that Yunho and Mingi kissed under are now bare, devoid of life. He could hear his parents in the study down the hallway chatting amongst themselves, about the current decision about the person they’d choose to be a mentee next summer. Mingi’s successor. Only Yunho knew there would never be anyone like Mingi to step foot in this villa again.

He was scribbling things down in his journal, recently a new hobby being drawing. The current sketch was of a blackbird, it’s wings spread in flight. He smudged a line with his thumb, then sat back to look at his work so far. The sound of the hearth crackling next to him was soothing, until the shrill sound of the phone ringing cut through the silence.

Immediately Yunho hopped over the back of the settee to answer it first, his heart lurching in his chest in hopes it was the person he wanted to talk to. “I got it!” Yunho called down the hall so his parents would pick up the line from the study.

He let out a steadying deep breath, hand over the receiver and exhaled it when he picked up. “Hello?”

“Yunho?”

Yunho had to sit in the chair next to the phone just so his knees didn’t go weak from standing there hearing his voice. It had been so long, too long. “Yeah, it’s me, hi.”

Despite their past romance, there was hesitation from both of them. Perhaps the time and lack of seeing one another had dimmed their previous passion, but Yunho still felt it warming him from the inside out. “How’s New York?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation cordial.

“Cold,” Mingi responded quickly. “Cold, and very busy. My book was published and I haven’t had a moment until now to myself. How are things across the pond?”

Yunho hummed, suppressing a slight grin behind his fingers. He glanced out of the window nearby to see the tree covered in snow. “It’s cold here too, but staying by the hearth keeps me warm.” he stated, hands now toying with the wire connecting the phone to the receiver. “I-I um, I’ve been applying to universities, a lot of them.”

“Oh? Have you heard back?” Mingi sounded interested, a glimmer of optimism in his tone.

“Not yet,” Yunho replied, he bit at the inside of his cheek as he debated if he should tell Mingi the truth. “I’ve applied as a music major, I want to be a composer.”

“I’m sure someone will take you,” Mingi reassured softly, his voice was in that same deep yet caring tone Yunho remembered.

His legs bounced up and down out of nervousness, biting at the hint of dry skin on his lip as he again stared out of the window. He had to ask, had to speak or else he was sure he’d die this time. “Mingi,” he sighed his name so breathlessly into the phone that he shut his eyes. “I can’t stop thinking of you, do you-” he swallowed past the lump in his throat that had been growing since he started the conversation. “Do you think of me too?”

There was the slightest pause on the other end, a hint of static, then the most yearnful and desperate sigh that Yunho had witnessed. Soon after came Mingi’s voice, wavering and husky. “I remember everything.”

That was all Yunho needed to hear, needed to know, is that somewhere deep down Mingi had never let his memories fade into nothing.

A few weeks later Yunho did get a letter back from the universities he’d applied to. He took the letters up to his room and sat on his bed staring at the unopened envelopes. Three of them were universities nearby, ones in Rome, France, and even Britain. Though only one was in the same city that Mingi’s university was, and now taught at.

With a lack of patience he tore open the envelope, he could read the other responses later. He only cared about this one letter in particular. How it would decide his fate moving forward. It was better to rip the band-aid off quick and clean if the answer wasn’t what he wanted. After some fumbling with shaky fingers Yunho was able to pull the paper out of the crisp envelope and read the first few lines.

Dear Mr. Jeong,

We would like to thank you for applying to our fine arts program. After careful consideration, you have been accepted to begin in the coming Fall….

Yunho didn’t need to read the rest, he was overcome with excitement nearly instantly. He held the letter to his chest, eyes scanning over the page again and again, since he couldn’t believe it. By way of some miracle, there was a prospect of seeing Mingi again, not just memories, but real tangible love.

He had the postcard Mingi gifted him pinned right next to his nightstand above the bed, his handwriting preserved in the moment in time forever. The few weeks that changed both of their lives irrevocably.

Cor Cordium, heart of hearts, them beating as one, the core the essence of being, the gateway to the soul. All of the exact things that Yunho learned that phrase meant after Mingi left, in doing his own research.

Cor Cordium, to give all oneself to another, to let someone into your heart if the chance arises, because it may never come again. His time to speak was the here and now, the present, as it always was. As it will always be.