It’s already after midnight, and it’s nearing around one thirty? 

Maybe. 

Minho can’t really tell at such a late hour. He’s tired and whenever he tries looking at his watch his eyes glaze over and his vision blurs until everything is nothing, the world is just swirls of bright neon against the beautiful blackness of night. The glowing signs from outside emit a beautiful spectrum of colors that manage to tangle themselves together, until the night isn’t just an inky purple or a dark blue. The night has never looked so multicolored before, has never seemed so hazy and dream-like.

And in this swirling storm he makes out the sound of Taemin laughing softly, gentle and slightly restrained, but beautiful and genuine at the same time. A laughter that begs to be let out freely and wildly, to be thrown out recklessly among the city lights, to twirl itself among the glowing colors.

“You seem sleepy.” Taemin notes, looking up at Minho behind his eyelashes, marveling at the way the neons signs play with Minho’s tousled dark brown hair, how they highlight the tips of Minho’s features in the most stunning of magentas and vibrant blues.

“I am sleepy.” Minho answers back, a small smile forming on his face as he gently kicks Taemin’s leg from underneath their little booth.

Taemin smiles back at Minho for a few moments before, kicking Minho back softly before resting his head on the foggy glass window of their favorite restaurant that’s open 24/7. Absentmindedly, he trails small patterns on top of their glossy table before looking back at Minho with starlight in his eyes.

“Is this okay then?” Taemin asks, because he’s tired too, and he knows he doesn’t mind losing sleep, but he’s unsure if Minho would keep doing this, this whole sneaking around thing, meeting up in the stolen hours of the day. Hours that are meant for just them two, with nearly no one else.

“Yeah, yeah more than.” Minho says, rubbing his eyes a bit and stretching in his seat before reaching over to the middle of their table and eating a few bits of the ddeokbokki they had decided to share.

Minho chews softly, resting his head on his arms as he watches Taemin’s leather jacket catch the dim lighting from inside. It looked like Taemin held thousands of stars trapped onto his skin, and they bounced off of him to lend shine to his own clothing, to his hair, to his eyes, until Taemin was nothing except starlight. It was fitting in every way, especially whenever Taemin would try to suppress a laugh whenever Minho would try to crack a joke.

They ate and laughed until well into two, almost three in the morning, both of them tired but content, sleepy enough to say things they were too vulnerable to say in the daytime. They talked about their fears, how inadequate they felt, especially being in a business in which your very essence is picked apart and commented on. 

And slowly, through all these late night conversations, they found themselves healing just a bit, found themselves being able to face what they truly needed to. Or at the very least acknowledge it.

When the words softly faded from their lips and all the food was gone, they contented themselves with watching the streets outside, amazed at how the fogged window seemed to make everything feel like a dream. The lights from advertisements alongside the stop signs and car headlights, would filter beautifully through the window. The condensation would catch the light and split it apart, making everything fuzzy and pleasantly soft.

When they finished paying for their food, they leisurely walked out to the middle of the streets, cloaked by night and illuminated by the lights. They couldn’t hold hands because they had to be extra careful, but they could lean into each other, whisper and giggle to each other as they walked.  

After a while of wandering around they would stop at a convenience store, and eat whatever candies they could find, not really caring about how they had to watch what they eat. 

They would resume walking about in the dead of night, pushing each other playfully and their eyes reflected an entire spectrum of gorgeous, shimmering lights. And Taemin would look at Minho, and Minho would look right back at Taemin, and then Taemin would stuff one of his rice paper candies into Minho’s mouth mischievously. And Minho would laugh and ruffle Taemin’s hair, offering up one of his strawberry pepero sticks to Taemin.

“We should go back.” Taemin says after a while, when their legs are tired and the sky itself starts to lighten just a little bit, signaling that they really should head home. 

Minho hums a bit at that, slightly dejectedly but understanding at the same time. “Are you heading back to the dorm, or to your parent’s?”

“Nah, I’m gonna crash at the dorm, been working on a few side projects. Staying the dorm means I can sleep in more.” Taemin jokes, wrapping his arm around Minho’s shoulders when he sees Minho’s expression fall just a bit. “Ah, don’t look so sad like that. You know I don’t care about losing sleep to be with you.”

And Minho laughs, leaning in just a bit closer to Taemin before chuckling, “I know. I know.”

The subway ride is a standard one, both of them stuck between bright artificial lights and the sound of the intercom announcing each stop. The movement of the subway seems to almost drag them both into slumber, but they manage to stay awake. Like always, Minho sits a little too close to Taemin, and like always, Taemin makes sure that their knees bump slightly with every stop they pass.

When they get to the dorm, they slowly sneak in, trying their hardest to not wake anyone up. And Taemin’s about to head into his shared room with Jonghyun, before he’s stopped by Minho lightly tugging on his hand.

He follows Minho wordlessly into the kitchen, leaning against the counter as Minho yawns slightly, running his hands through his hair while Taemin drums his fingers alongside the countertops.

A few seconds pass, in which they don’t have to say anything, the silence is more than enough. They stay still as the moonlight and city light comes from outside their window, muddled by the curtains. The lighting is less than sufficient, but Taemin can make out Minho almost perfectly, even though his usually tanned skin is now a lovely blue tone due to the shadows.

They stay like that for a while, just looking at each other before Minho leans forward and engulfs Taemin into his arms. And Taemin returns it, patting Minho’s back while rocking them back and forth a bit, until Minho’s hold loosens. Taemin gently cups Minho’s face, rubbing the pads of his thumbs alongside Minho’s cheekbones.

“How long can we stay like this?”  Taemin whispers, leaning closer onto Minho.

“We should go and sleep a little, actually.” Minho says then, smiling a bit when Taemin rolls his eyes. “But if you want me to be cheesy, I’d say forever then.”

And Taemin laughs breathlessly at that, tip-toeing just a bit to press a small kiss to Minho’s forehead. Softly, Taemin breaks away from the hug, grabbing Minho’s hands to give them a soft squeeze before backing up a little bit. 

“I love you.” Taemin says then, soft and shy, almost ready to run back into his room and hide. But it’s alright, because Minho smiles brilliantly and brazenly, just like the afternoon sun in the middle of four in the morning.

And Taemin smiles back, and they stay like this, until it is just them and stolen moments, tiny instances of neon lights and stolen touches. And this continues on well into forever, happily so.

—

this is a mess of 1k words pls forgive me ;A;

took me forever to finish this serious tho ;; hope you all enjoyed it <3