“Hyung! You’re finally back!”

It was close to 2am when Minho eventually returned to his dorm after a few hours at the nearby bar and was welcomed by a wide awake Taemin. This was not normal because it was a school night and Taemin usually made sure he slept before 1am to ensure he could wake up in time for his morning classes. Minho was certainly surprised to see the lights still on and Taemin looking at him with eyes so big from where he was on his bed. The older of the two closed the door behind him and then proceeded to step out of his shoes, replying Taemin at the same time.

“Tae, why aren’t you-“

“That’s why!” Taemin cut his hyung off and pointed towards Minho’s bed.

Minho looked up from pushing his shoes against the wall and followed the direction of Taemin’s finger. There, he saw a sleeping form tucked under the covers, face almost hidden in the pillow, but Minho didn’t have to get a closer look to know it was his boyfriend that was sound asleep on his bed. He immediately looked back at Taemin for an explanation.

“Key hyung came here with bloodshot eyes… he didn’t say anything, just told me he was going to wait for you if I didn’t mind. He sat on your bed at first but you took too long to come back, and I guess Key hyung was too tired so he fell asleep.” Taemin described as short and simple as he could and then went on to add his two cents worth.

“If you ask me hyung, something terribly wrong must have happened. I’ve never seen Key hyung looking so distraught and uneasy. And he obviously cried before coming here so-“

Taemin paused abruptly as the smell of alcohol that accompanied Minho as he walked towards their beds became apparent.

“Did you go drinking?”

Minho remained silent, the answer was obvious. And all Taemin had to do was put two and two together to figure out something had happened between Minho and Key.

“Should I ask if you’re alright?” Taemin went ahead to ask even though he knew Minho couldn’t be fine at this moment. It was a stupid question but the only one that could show he was worried for his hyung.

Minho smiled faintly and shook his head. “No Tae, it’s okay. We’ll figure things out ourselves. Don’t worry.”

“Hyung…”

“You should get to sleep, it’s late.” Minho’s tone was final.

Taemin looked at Minho for a while before letting out a sigh and then lying down in his bed and covering himself with the blanket. “Good night hyung.”

“Thanks Tae. Good night.” Minho turned off the lights on Taemin’s side and then headed straight to his wardrobe to get some clean clothes to change into after his bath.

When he returned from the bathroom, it was a different scenario. This time round, Key was awake and sitting upright against the headboard, looking nervous enough to be dripping cold sweat. It took everything inside of Minho to forbid himself from comforting Key with an “it’s alright, we’re fine now” because the truth was, everything wasn’t alright and it definitely could not be settled overnight. As much as it was torturing, Minho forced himself to ignore Key, choosing instead to go around the room to carry out his daily chores (though he could only do so little like sorting out his laundry). Key’s eyes were following his every move, almost like he was pleading him to say something, but Minho refused to budge.

The silence was deafening. The tension in the atmosphere was so thick Key felt like he was being suffocated. He could no longer stand being treated as invisible by Minho and so, he plucked up the courage to speak.

“Do you… want me to leave?” Key’s voice sounded so broken and hoarse.

Minho threw his dirty training clothes into the laundry basket and then glanced over at Key. “Do you want to leave?”

Key immediately shook his head.

“I guess I won’t be able to have the bed to myself tonight then.” Minho muttered under his breath but it was loud enough in the quiet room for Key to hear.

Key instantly brightened up, returning (a little) to his normal self. Although Minho wasn’t looking at Key, he could tell that his boyfriend was smiling and wasn’t as nervous as before.

“Don’t get too happy, I’m still angry. But it’s late, and I don’t want to wake Taemin up so I’m letting things go for now. We’ll talk when the time’s right.”

Key nodded and watched as Minho joined him on the bed but turned his back against him, making it obvious that he refused to have any contact with Key tonight.

“Good night.”

“Min-“

“Sleep.”

Key pouted and unwillingly slid back down into the bed. He just had to wait until sunrise…

---------------------------

When Taemin’s alarm went off at 8 in the morning, Minho and Key both felt like they barely slept. Key dragged the covers over his head, refusing to wake up since his earliest class was only at 2pm. Besides, he needed more sleep to ensure his senses were functioning well enough to deal with the problem he had with Minho. Minho, on the other hand, got off the bed rather zombie-like and lugged himself towards Taemin’s bed to wake the maknae up.

Like an older brother, he turned off the alarm and shook Taemin’s body. “Tae, wake up… you’re going to be late for class.”

“Go away.” Taemin hid his face into the pillow.

“I would once you wake up.” Minho stifled a yawn and forced himself to stay awake until he managed to successfully get Taemin out of bed.

“10 more minutes.”

“Alright, but don’t blame me when you don’t have time to drink your banana milk.”

Taemin groaned and used all his energy to sit up on his bed, shooting a death glare at Minho.

“I hate you.”

Minho couldn’t help but ruffle Taemin’s already messed up hair adoringly. “That’s what you say to me every morning… and this is the part where I’ll head back to sleep while you go get ready for class.”

Taemin stared grudgingly at his hyung for emphasising and rubbing the fact that he could get more sleep in his face while Taemin had to attend his morning class.

“It’s a wonder how Key hyung can put up with you.” Taemin yawned and stretched his arms, not realising that his comment could come off wrongly if Minho were to be sensitive.

And well, although Minho knew Taemin did not have any hidden intentions or mean it any way else, it still hit a sensitive spot inside him. As Taemin went ahead with his daily morning routine, Minho returned to his bed and slipped back into his original position under the covers. He was tired but there were too many thoughts running in his head, the very same thoughts that had been bothering him since their argument. Did Key really think they were better off if they broke up when he had to leave for New York? Was that really the only reason? Perhaps, Key might have realised his feelings for him were not as strong as he thought they were? Or maybe, Key believed he could find someone better in New York so it was best if they broke up first. Minho’s thoughts were running wild but pretty much all towards the negative side. His fists tightened unconsciously, his body temperature rising, his eyebrows furrowed deeply as he glared at the ceiling like it was his most hated enemy.

It took a goodbye from Taemin and a hand that closed around his fist immediately after Taemin left to snap him out of his anger. Upon the touch of the hand, Minho gradually relaxed his fist and turned to look expectantly at the owner of said hand who he thought was sound asleep. Well, apparently not because Key was looking at him with worried eyes.

The fashion student adjusted his hand so he could hold Minho’s hand tightly in his as the most serious, sincere expression appeared on his face.

“Never doubt that I love you, you hear me?”

Minho hesitated.

“I just told you I love you, babo! What’s there to pause about?” Key sat up on the bed, furious at how Minho didn’t seem to believe him. It was almost like saying that whatever they had for close to 4 months was akin to nothing… that the feelings weren’t real and it didn’t mean anything at all.

“What are you getting angry for?” Minho huffed as he sat up as well. “You’re not the one who was on the receiving end of a break up!”

“But i… didn’t even say it out loud.” Key knew his argument was useless but he just had to say something… anything that could get Minho to talk to him.

“So what? That doesn’t make it any better. You were thinking it Kibum. And how you can even think of breaking up as a solution shows me how lightly you take our relationship.”

Key couldn’t take Minho’s accusation lying down and he finally released his anger, frustrated that Minho couldn’t understand where he was coming from.

“It’s precisely because this relationship means so much to me that I don’t want us to get into the ed up situation we can get into if we dated long distance! I don’t want us to end up hurting each other more. I rather we break up now than hate each other later, you get it?”

“No, I don’t.” Minho was brutally honest. “But alright, let’s say we break up, you leave Korea for 6 months, what’s going to happen to us when you return then? What will we be, Kibum?”

‘Because I know for sure I’ll still love you then.’ Minho held these words back, hoping Key would see the point for himself because that was what would get them through 6 months apart if they stayed together. It was having this faith in each other, trusting each other, sharing such special strong mutual feelings for each other that were going to make the long distance relationship work. And if Key couldn’t see what Minho believed they had and shared, perhaps breaking up would be the best option.

Key fell silent, unable to answer Minho’s question. Who knew what the future held for them? Yet, Key only hoped for one thing, that they could get back together. And before he knew it, he blurted out his thoughts.

“I want us to be together.”

Minho smiled sadly. “Then why, in the first place, did you think of breaking up with me?”

Key was stumped. Minho had nothing else to say either, putting in no effort in making the situation better. They were at a standstill now. Their argument seemed like it got them nowhere. Minho eventually let out an audible sigh, breaking the deafening silence that rang in their ears.

“What brought you here anyway? I told you I needed to cool down.”

“If you want me to leave, just say so.” Key pushed the covers away and got off the bed. “I’ll go.”

“What do you expect me to say, Kibum?” Minho felt so defeated. “I just can’t let it go… you actually thought of breaking up with me without even giving us a shot at a long distance relationship. We ing love each other, Key! What makes you think we can’t do it?”

At Minho’s words, Key paused on his way out of the room and turned back.

“I’m scared alright!” Key lost it, unable to hold back his true emotions any longer. “I’m scared of the uncertainty that we’ll face when we’re going to be at two ends of the world, 14 damn hours apart! No one knows what will happen in the future, Minho, I rather lose you now when I can at least see you, feel you physically than lose you over email, phone or the ing social network!”

And once Key had said his peace of mind, he looked away, not allowing Minho to see the tears that were threatening to fall, and took in deep breaths to calm himself down. Minho pushed himself off the bed and walked to where Key was, reaching out to lift up his face so he could look Key in the eyes.

“You won’t lose me.” Minho promised. “You’ll never lose me.”

“You can’t promise me that. It doesn’t work this way, Minho.”

“Do you even hear yourself when you talk?”

“I-“

“Kibum, I’m fighting for us.” Minho wiped the tears at the corners of Key’s eyes. “But I need you to fight with me too in order for this to work. Why aren’t you letting us tackle this together?”

“I think…” Key breathed in, then releasing the breath out before removing Minho’s hands from his face to speak calmly. “I think we need a break. I need to have some time to think it through and decide what’s best for us.”

“Fine, I’ll give you all the time you need.” Minho raised his hands up, even taking a few steps back to show Key that he was giving him the space he needed. “But Kibum, if you decide to break up with me, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be waiting for you when you return from New York. If you can let go of what we have so easily, I don’t see why I can’t as well.”

And that was Minho’s ultimatum. No matter how much it hurt him inside to say that to Key, Minho still went ahead to say it. As long as he could get an answer from Key, he didn’t care if it sounded like a threat.

With Key staring at him silently and looking as if he couldn’t believe what Minho had just said, Minho turned away and walked back to his bed. And as he walked back, Minho heard footsteps walking away from him and the sound of the door closing. Just like that, Key was gone. And all that Minho could do now was wait.

Author's Note: unrelated to this story, all i have to say is... i cannot deal with Key's me2day update and his pictures with Minho. oh my minkey~ ♥ (i'm sorry i'm giving you two a tough time in this story, just hold on a while longer... hee.) dear readers, hope you ejnjoyed the update! do feel free to drop me a comment on how you feel about the story! XOXO