The soldiers Lee Jinki, Kim Jonghyun, Kim Kibum, Choi Minho and Lee Taemin were in an indecent relationship.

It was just the five of them in the smallest hut, at the end of the last row, too run-down to house the usual number of soldiers (12). An acquaintance of Minho had let his uality slip in front of another soldier of the same division. The bullying that had come as a result had been cruel, had driven Minho to self-harm several times. Jinki had found him one day, passed out on the floor of their hut. He had forced himself to do the day’s training again and again until all strength had left him.

It had begun then, with Minho silently seeking comfort with Jinki, but none of the five could remember when the other three had joined them – much less how they had become intimate. But soon they were exploring together how the military service changed and toned their bodies. They knew how the others preferred to be kissed in various situations. They got used to sliding their hands over flesh that was not soft and pliant but firm and rough. They learned how to please several people at once.

Jinki became their security blanket. They liked cuddling with the oldest in the middle. Especially when their loneliness got overwhelming. Jonghyun cried about his sister and mother having to fend for themselves without him being there. Jinki missed his mother terribly, they had always been wonderfully close. Just like Kibum and his grandmother. Taemin especially longed for the protecting and comforting figure of his older brother. He found comfort in his religion and made the others pray with him before bed. Minho just told them he had no family left.

They became each other’s support, the warmth at night that made it possible for them to get through yet another day.

Not everybody was made for the military after all. Especially not them. All five of them were too soft, too emotional and sensitive to survive in a fully testosterone-laden environment. Jonghyun cried too easily, Jinki was too gentle, Kibum and Taemin were too pretty. Minho was too well-known for being a ‘’.

“But you know, otherwise your body is pretty much perfect.” Taemin murmured one night when Minho was especially insecure. Kibum and Jinki hummed in agreement as they let their lips glide over his skin. Minho sighed contently and let them indulge him in their forbidden pleasures. And when Jonghyun came back from his night-guard duties, half an hour before Minho and Taemin had to leave, they were quiet enough not to wake the other two.

Taemin and Minho were caught hugging behind a storage building. But the younger was more resistant to the vicious bullying than Minho. The older three gave them all the support they could – inside their hut. It made Minho and Taemin grow closer, to have a pain they shared. They started sleeping in one bed, even if there hadn’t been any intimacies before. They finished each other’s sentences. They preferred each other’s touch.

Jinki decided to step in, backed up by Jonghyun and Kibum. “Don’t do this.” He started looking sternly at the two youngest that were on Minho’s bed, wrapped up in a blanket and each other. “We said we’d be friends with benefits. We won’t need this after serving and you know that.” Jonghyun and Kibum nodded behind him.

Taemin and Minho stared at their friends, then at each other. Taemin nodded and, after he pressed a kiss to Minho’s temple, climbed out of the bed. “You’re right.” He forced a smile.

Things went back to normal after that. Taemin continued to be bullied but this time, he mostly went to Kibum to be comforted. The latter’s grandmother had fallen sick and he desperately craved the feeling of being needed. Those few weeks it was not unusual when Kibum slipped into the role of a servant – be it intimately or otherwise.

It was hard to get used to, to see the strong Kim Kibum be so submissive. But eventually he got back on track and the only habit that remained from his dark weeks was the tendency to smother Taemin in affection. All of them were relieved. Even their supervisors praised them for great results.

“We can’t let this affect our real life.” Kibum said one night, after their sweaty bodies collapsed all over other. He leaned into Jinki’s fingers that caressed his cheek and trailed his own over Jonghyun’s back.

“Because we won’t need each other?” Taemin quipped from where he lay on top of Minho.

“Exactly.” They wouldn’t need each other outside the military grounds. Their relationship was unnatural. It only existed because of the outer pressure, nothing else. They weren’t themselves in there. Jinki was the first to agree, Taemin and Minho just hummed and nodded. Jonghyun, who depended on their shared warmth the most, needed a few minutes before he also murmured a quiet ‘alright’.

And so it ended.

They went back to their respective worlds and families. They didn’t tell each other where they lived or how to get into contact.  A clean break. That’s what they had decided on. They wouldn’t let their rash choices made due to loneliness and isolation influence their real lives to go into the wrong direction. They would just live normal, happy lives, like they had intended to before they met each other.

Jinki got back together with an ex-girlfriend of his and they soon moved in together to start a family.

Jonghyun quit his previous job to become a songwriter.

Kibum found a girlfriend at university.

Minho also went to uni.

Taemin one day stood in front of Minho’s apartment door.

Minho for the lack of a better reaction, invited him to the dinner he had just cooked.

They sat in silence for the whole meal, stealing glances at the other ever few seconds. Taemin, Minho realized, seemed just as lost as he felt. Later, when they lay next to each other in Minho’s small bed, Taemin said the first words that weren’t just empty phrases. “I missed you too much.”

Minho just hummed and pulled him into his embrace. Taemin understood.

Being together in the real, limitless world was a challenge. They learned a lot about the other that just hadn’t come up during their military time. Taemin was astonished at how meticulous Minho was about cleaning his apartment. Minho developed a deep affection for Taemin’s absentmindedness and tendency to lose or forget everything. A learning process that taught love in the end.

“We should find the others.” Taemin panted and pulled an equally breathless Minho into his arms.

“You mean Jonghyun and Jinki and Kibum?”

“Mhm.”

“Yes, we should. Definitely should.” They sealed the promise with a kiss.

Kibum immediately closed his apartment door into their faces, just to invite them in for coffee a minute later. He was not impressed but admitted that he may have missed them just a tiny bit.

Jinki made them stay for dinner and introduced them to his pregnant wife as ‘military-acquaintances’. He was genuinely happy for them.

Jonghyun burst into tears; too many unsaid conflicts inside of him taking their toll. It didn’t take long for his regular visits to turn into dates and soon their relationship once again left the realm of the socially accepted. But this time it was purely out of love.

Even though Jinki and Kibum had nothing to do with the other three’s relationship anymore, there were still days when all five of them were in Minho’s, Taemin’s and Jonghyun’s apartment, huddled close together. It was where they found peace of mind and acceptance when life got rough, where they could rant and complain about people some of the others had never met.

And after a while, the argument ‘but we wouldn’t have known each other without the military’, so often used to express honest wonder about how important they were to each other, turned invalid. Because when fate decides we have to meet someone, we do – no matter the circumstances.

Please, please tell me what you think. I'm actually quite fond of this :)