Minho hastily wrapped his biggest scarf around his bare neck. With the announcement that he would go for a walk, he fled the house. It was cold outside, the wind blowing stray snowflakes through the air. But he was already so chilled inside from the frosty glares his mother send in his father’s direction and the icy bits of conversation they shared, he barely felt the low temperature. At least outside, the air he breathed was free of all the unsaid conflicts and arguments that stuffed his house. He breathed in deeply.

“Hey, Jinki.” Kibum poked his partner in the side with his elbow. He jerked his chin to the other side of the road where a lone figure walked down the sidewalk. “Isn’t that the Choi son over there?”

“You think so?”

“Mhm… With those horrible parents, it’s no wonder he always walks hunched over.”

“Oh, yeah, you got a point I guess.” Jinki wanted to say something else, but his partner was already across the street, approaching the boy.

Minho looked up from his contemplations at the sound of approaching footsteps. In front of him stood Kim Kibum, one half of the infamous couple that had shaken the whole neighbourhood when they had moved in half a year ago. His partner, Lee Jinki, was just running over the street to catch up to him.

“Hey,” Kibum smiled nervously. “Are you alright?”

Minho narrowed his eyes as he looked at the couple. His parents had told him repeatedly that he was not to be in contact with those people. But then again, his parents had also told him that marriage was the highest happiness on earth.

“I’m cold.” He murmured into the scarf, almost hoping the men would not be able to understand him through the thick fabric. But they did.

“Would you like to come to ours for a cup of tea or hot chocolate? We have a fireplace.” Jinki offered, knowing that he was speaking Kibum’s mind as well. His partner nodded in affirmation.

“Wouldn’t I be a nuisance?” Minho bit his lip, his parents’ unwillingness to let him be part of the adult world taking effect on his mind.

“Of course not, otherwise we wouldn’t have offered. Come on, we even bought the small marshmallows a few days ago.” And with these words, Kibum took Minho’s hand and led him to their home a bit farther down the road. It was a small, quaint two story house, with a kitchen, dining area, living room and toilet on the ground floor and a big bedroom and big bathroom on the first floor.

Kibum and Jinki both adored it and especially Kibum had done his best to design it fitting to their personalities. Minho looked around with big eyes, not expecting the normalcy of it all. Couple photos on the walls, unopened letters scattered on a small cupboard next to the door, shoes strewn around.

“Sorry for the mess,” Kibum apologized immediately as he saw Minho taking it all in. “We didn’t know we had someone come over. But don’t worry!” He hurried to say when he say the shadow of insecurity creep over Minho’s face again. “We are glad you are here. Now, if you would give me your jacket and your scarf so I can hang them up.”

Jinki went ahead to the kitchen to start on the hot chocolate.

“Um.. do you mind if I keep the scarf on?” As a reflex, Minho gripped his armour with both hands.

Kibum frowned. “Of course not, keep it on if you want to. But we have it rather warm in the living room, I really don’t want you to get too hot.”

“I’ll be fine.” Minho smiled shyly.

Kibum refrained from taking his hand this time – thankfully – and simply went ahead to the door opposite of the entrance door. The living room was dominated by the fire place and the sofa, both in a light beige to contrast the dark wooden floor. They didn’t have a TV.

Minho was ushered onto the sofa where he sat with a rigid, straight back, right on the edge. He watched as Kibum knelt down at the fire place to light a fire. Two small dogs suddenly barged into the room, one brown and one black and proceeded to jump around the man.

“Now, now, Comme Des, Garcons, please behave. Greet our guest.” Kibum laughed and shooed them away with one hand. The dogs’ attention instantly shifted over to Minho. They jumped up to him to try and his face and Minho tried his best to push them away as gently as he could. As far as he knew, those dogs were more important to Kibum and Jinki than he was and he had to be polite.

“Don’t worry about them,” came Jinki’s voice from behind him. “If you are not slightly harsh, they don’t understand.”

Kibum turned around from where he built a pile of sticks and newspaper to stick his tongue out at Jinki. “They listen to my every word.” He grinned.

“I know honey.” Jinki laughed and sat down next to Minho, putting the tray with three steaming cups onto the low table in front of the sofa.

“Yah, old man, scoot over.” Kibum demanded as he got up and Jinki did so obediently. Minho watched with wide eyes as Jinki scooted to the very end of the sofa and Kibum snuggled against him so that he could stretch his legs out on the couch. If his mother were to ever use words for his father, Minho was sure it would again end in one of their louder arguments. He clutched his scarf with one hand.

Kibum, noticing Minho’s subconscious gesture, hurriedly tried to keep the atmosphere comfortable, not awkward, even though Minho seemed to be the embodiment of that sentiment.

“So Minho, how old are you again?” Jinki slightly pinched him in the side. Kibum grabbed that hand firmly but he could understand. It was an awkward question.

“14?” Minho automatically cowered – his father would immediately jump to the insecurity in his voice, reprimanding him about how a man should always be sure of himself. But Jinki and Kibum just smiled at him.

"It's alright if you feel slightly uncomfortable, you're here for the first time after all." Kibum reassured him.

Minho smiled back nervously. 

They started drinking the hot chocolate over some more polite, superficial questions. Minho could feel the warmth of the fire and of genuine human interaction sink into his bones. He loosened the scarf slightly. 

The two dogs eventually came to snuggle up to them. Comme des, the brown one, curled up between Jinki and Kibum. Garcons made himself comfortable on Minho's lap. 

He was just contemplating whether or not he should finally lean back and enjoy the comfort of the couch when Kibum smiled and announced, “so, we’re not going to keep you any longer. Your parents must be worried, and it’s probably dinner soon.”

Minho looked at the clock over the fireplace – 7:13. Dinner was always at half past seven. He subconsciously tightened the scarf.

“Yes, I should really go.” He admitted quietly, trying to gently coax Garcons to leave his lap. It took a while, mainly because Minho himself was rather unwilling to let go of the warmth and acceptance only an animal could provide. But eventually he stood, fiddling with the empty cup in his hands, wondering where he should put it.

Jinki took it out of his hands wordlessly and disappeared to the kitchen. Minho followed Kibum to the front door where he slipped back into his shoes and was handed his jacket.

“Thank you for having me.”

Jinki had just come out of the kitchen and slung his arm around Kibum’s waist. The couple smiled brightly at him. “Please come whenever you want to, Minho.” Jinki said. “It’s nice to have you here.”

There was no dinner waiting for him at home. He went to bed with his scarf on.

He showed up at Kibum’s and Jinki’s door 4 days later, when his mother threw plates at his father. Jinki was out for work (“He is a lecturer for music theory,” Kibum announced proudly,) and Kibum took Minho for a walk with Comme Des and Garcons. It was freezing outside and despite his gloves, Minho lost the feeling in the fingers clutched around Garcons’ leash.

He was glad when they got back to the small house – it was cosy and it meant that no one would see him with Kibum anymore. The thought made him feel ashamed but he had enough of his father teasing him for never being aggressive enough in soccer or his classmates making fun of him for being too soft spoken. He did not need another item to be added to their list.

Minho’s visits became a regular occurrence. If his parents and brother noticed that he was gone most of the time, they didn’t show it. And since his mother had apparently decided that she would not adhere to the domestic rules of society anymore, Minho more often than not had dinner with the couple down the street. He apologized regularly for being such a burden on them until one day he was alone with Jinki and the man told him that he was making their lives better than before because they had finally found someone who wanted to be friends with them, despite their uality. Their parents were not that open. This, and Kibum's assurance that he made them feel needed, made him feel infinitely better. 

Minho was laying on the carpet in front of the fireplace, doing his homework. Kibum sat on the couch, bent over the low table to sketch some more designs for his companies new formal dress line. Jinki would come home soon with the groceries for dinner. Minho had asked whether they could have a western style meal, so Jinki and Kibum had decided on self-made hamburgers. It felt good to be able to make such a simple decision and still make Minho happy. 

"Kibum?" Minho broke the silence. Kibum looked up, noting with satisfaction that Minho's thick scarf was next to him on the floor. The boy had just recently started to take his scarf off when he was with them and Kibum knew that it wasn't because of the weather slowly getting warmer - the scarf was still tightly wrapped around Minho's neck whenever he came or left. 

"Yes?"

"Are you good with English grammar?" Minho nibbled on his pen. His eyes stared accusingly at the book on the floor in front of him. 

"Thank God it's the only subject I was ever good at," Kibum grinned and slid down to the floor to lay next to Minho. 

They were in the middle of the exercises when Jinki arrived. The oldest stuck his head into the living room, smiled gently at the sight of his two favourite people being so close and announced he would make the dinner alone. He got a synchronous "Thanks old man," in return. Minho and Kibum grinned at each other and high-fived. 

Jinki was still chuckling when he set the table. It was endearing how Kibum’s personality rubbed off on Minho and made him cheekier and, but only slightly, more confident. Confidence was most certainly a trait Minho did not learn from his parents. The few instances Jinki had seen them so far, both had been looking down on him, obviously of the opinion that his life choices made him undeserving of respect or even politeness. It must be a hard environment for a kid to grow up in.

Kibum and Minho eventually spilled into the kitchen and Kibum proudly told Jinki that Minho figured most of it out himself. Minho ducked away from Kibum’s hand trying to pat his head. He sat down at the table, smiling brightly at the two adults. He felt all warm and fuzzy inside and the smile just wouldn’t go away. Especially with the prospect of handmade hamburgers. Handmade!

As Jinki quickly sliced some tomatoes, Kibum side-hugged him. Jinki rested his head on Kibum’s which was rested on his shoulder.

“He left his scarf in the living room.” Kibum murmured, his voice almost drowned out by the radio playing on top of the fridge.

Jinki didn’t reply in words but he beamed his, as Kibum fondly called it, sunrise-smile.

After dinner, Minho insisted on doing the dishes. Knowing that it made him feel more comfortable, Jinki and Kibum retreated to the living-room where Jinki started rereading the lecture notes for the following day and Kibum continued reading his book with his head in his partner’s lap. Minho eventually came back to lie on the carpet to finish his homework. It was a comfortable silence, even the dogs were peacefully sleeping in their respective beds.

It was again Minho who interrupted the silence. “Jinki, Kibum?”

The couple looked up, just to notice that the boy had his scarf slung around his neck again. “Are you leaving?” Kibum asked cautiously but he knew that this wasn’t it, Minho looked too nervous to just announce such a mundane thing.

“Um, no, I just have a question.” Minho fiddled with his thumbs and just barely resisted the urge to tighten his scarf. That was it. He had talked himself into having courage during the whole process of cleaning, then drying and the putting away the dishes. He could do this.

“Ask away.” Jinki smiled and pet Kibum’s head to signal him to sit up. Kibum obeyed and added a quick, “you know we won’t laugh or anything.”

Minho nodded and tried another smile – he failed. “Ok, so let’s say, hypothetically.. You know, just as a theory, ok? Let’s say I would maybe think about what it would be like to wear a dress or a skirt. Hypothetically speaking of course.” He gulped, not daring to look into the adults’ faces. “Would that make me any less of a boy?”

Kibum replied almost immediately. “Only if you want it to, otherwise, no.” He pointedly didn’t look at Jinki and gave the boy on their floor his full attention. He knew, if he sounded even the slightest doubtful or hesitant, Minho wouldn’t believe him. He needed to be confident now and sure of himself. For Minho.

“There is nothing like a ‘true boy’ or a ‘true girl’. Some people may match with society’s standards better than others but that’s it. If you are a boy that feels comfortable in feminine clothing, you are still a boy by your own definition. If you are a girl in a boy’s body that still feels more comfortable wearing rather masculine clothing, you are still a girl. You decide who you are, nobody else.” Kibum smiled at the wide-eyed look on Minho’s face.

“But my dad-“ Minho started quietly.

“Your father-!” Kibum began sharply but was stopped by Jinki gently nudging him in the side. The boy didn’t need to know what they thought of his parents. Making a quick decision, Kibum slid down onto the floor to take Minho into his arms.

“Always remember Minho baby, we are all God’s creation and God made us perfect. Never forget that alright?” He murmured as gently as he could. Minho gave a shuddering nod before he started crying into his jumper. Heavy sobs wracked his body and Kibum looked up and his watery eyes met Jinki’s, who had already shed some tears. I love you, his boyfriend mouthed and Kibum’s tears spilled over his shaky smile as well.

Jinki got up after some minutes, when Minho’s sobs had calmed down and he was just silently soaking Kibum’s jumper, to make three cups of hot chocolate. It was Minho’s favourite drink and he was sure that the warmth and sweetness would also be good for him and Kibum.

He went back to the living room, to see that Kibum and Minho had not moved. But Kibum’s eyes were dry and Minho’s breath was even and deep, a sign that he was probably trying to calm himself down.

“I brought hot chocolate.” Jinki announced quietly and helped Kibum untangle himself from Minho’s hold. The boy clutched onto Jinki instead. Jinki led him to the couch and let him cuddle into his lap. Comme Des and Garcons seemed to have sensed that something was wrong because they nuzzled up to Minho as affectionately as they could.

After drinking his chocolate, Minho gave Jinki his empty cup and forcefully ripped his scarf off.

“Would you like to sleep here tonight?” Jinki suggested, receiving an approving nod from Kibum on the other side of the sofa.

“Can I?” Minho sounded almost too hopeful.

“Of course you can Minho.” Kibum’s voice was full of loving assurance.

That night, Minho was curled up between Jinki and Kibum in their king sized bed. He had sent a quick text to his brother, saying he’d be sleeping at a friend’s house. The scarf lay forgotten on the floor of the living room, serving as a pillow for Garcons. For once, there were no loud voices interrupting his sleep and the silence did not feel stuffed, only soothing.

This story is very close to me so please give it some love ❤