Sunggyu feels the tip of his nose becoming red. Minho’s large, calloused fingers are just as equally warm wrapped like a blanket around his own. But as usual, the taller boy is oblivious to everything when it comes to Sunggyu and his dangerously snowballing affection toward his dongsaeng. Chancing a glance toward their linked hands, Sunggyu feels his own body temperature skyrockets near boiling point.

“I wonder if spring will come soon,” Minho asks out, swinging their hands back and forth. His breathe comes out in a puff of white, like fluffy cotton candy Minho once bought him when they went to Everland nearly two months ago.

Sunggyu still remembers how he threw a tantrum at being dragged out from the contentment of his well-heated room to the dreary cold weather at eight in the morning, Minho very hot on his heels and was very persistent that they must go to  Everland that very day because the free ticket he received from his father was expiring in that particular date. It was silly, amusement park in the middle of forsty January when winter was at its peak. There was hardly people there, safe from some over excited children who’s foreign to the concept of freezing when it comes to amusement park. Sunggyu kept grumbling to himself and sending curse toward Minho with his blazing eyes in the first two hours, but after lunch when Minho had treated him anything Sunggyu wanted, he finally blew off his steam and enjoyed the rest of the day. The smile Minho kept sending him was dazzling as the sun that set beyond the horizon, the very same sun casted golden halo around his tall dongsaeng when he turned around and thanked Sunggyu for accompanying him despite the weather, the corner of his eyes crinkling, and Sunggyu felt his stomach flip at the breathe-taking sight.

“Neh, Hyung,” Minho tugs on his hand, rattling Sunggyu out from his reverie. The brunette looks up at his dongsaeng, startled. Minho is smiling down on him like sunray peeking through the trees, brilliant and a little bit dizzying. “Do you think spring will come soon?”

Sunggyu wants to tell him that spring is just behind the corner, maybe behind that turn they’re about to take. It happened to be turn in front of their favorite ice cream parlor, the one Minho had taken him after they had their proper first conversation in the blistering heat of July two years ago. Sunggyu recalls how their awkwardness had melted like the ice cream that dribbled down Sunggyu’s fingers as the two made their way toward the station. The chocolate, sticky substance was cool on his skin, refreshing like the laugh that escaped Minho’s lips at the messiness Sunggyu made. Another tug on his hand, subtle this time and Sunggyu blinks himself away back to reality.

“Huh, I wonder too,” he responds absent-mindedly.

They pass the ice cream parlor, Sunggyu’s eyes linger a second or two. There are nobody inside but the waitress who seemed to be playing with her phone behind the register. A wave of nostalgia splashed over him, the arrival of spring means summer is close by, will they visit this place again this year? He hopes they do, their linked hands tell him that they will.

“I hope so, I can’t wait to use the ground again. Playing indoor is boring,” Minho sighs, “I miss the feeling of wind when I run, the smell of grass-” he continues rambling on about how much he misses playing outside. A same old song, the one Minho keeps singing when sky turns bleak and temperature drops that the idea of stepping outside becomes unappealing.

Usually, Sunggyu does not like people who nags but Minho is an exception because when he nags, he actually act like he is the younger one between them, not Sunggyu. Annoying yet cute, as long as his nag does not drag on and on like the boring lecture Sunggyu’s homeroom teacher always give his class every Monday morning, Sunggyu does not mind. “Give it a couple of weeks, we will be playing outside again,” Sunggyu stretches his unoccupied hand forward, “and soon we will be ditching this stuffy jacket for lighter clothing, I always feel suffocated in this,” he adds with a scowl.

“But you look cute in this, Hyung,” Minho compliments him. Sunggyu always hates how easily those words leave Minho’s lips; cute, pretty, handsome. Maybe because Minho is just that honest, foreign to things like ulterior motive and for him, there is nothing wrong from stating your good opinion about other people. He showers Sunggyu with this kind of word on daily basis as if pointing out the day’s weather, causing Sunggyu’s face to turn scarlet while his mind wonders if Minho sincerely thinks that way. Because even if Sunggyu thinks Minho is undeniably handsome, he struggles a lot just to have the first sylabyle out of his mouth. But Minho does it so fluently like it does not require any effort at all.

“Cute and funny is separated by very, very thin line,” Sunggyu snorts. He hopes the whole world is convinced that the reason why his face is turning redder and redder is because of the onslaught of cold wind that keeps blowing around them, not from the ‘c’ words that flew away from Minho’s lips.

“Like love and hate?”

Sunggyu blinks, perplexed, where did that come from? “I don’t think they’re the same. Love and hate are on opposite spectrum of feeling, aren’t they?”

“Oh, but both of them stems obsession,” Minho refutes. “So they are still very similar.”

“You’ve been hanging around Jonghyun too much,” Sunggyu shakes his head, understanding where does Minho’s new insight comes from.

Jonghyun - Kim Jonghyun- is a year Minho’s senior and a year Sunggyu’s junior. At a glance, he’s easily mistaken as the shcool jock; white-bleached hair, piercings, broad shoulders and crooked grin that makes skirt fly (figuratively, of course). His smooth, tenor voice is as melodic as the song he composes and lyrics he writes. Many girls had become the unlucky victim of his undeniable charm. But the truth is, Jonghyun is far from a jock; he cries faster than anyone in class when watching Titanic, he does not flirt around with girls but treat them with utmost respect, he always has his sister as the wallpaper of his phone, and he is deeply enamored with the school’s resident fashionist and once was Minho’s sworn enemy - Kim Kibum. Jonghyun follows Kibum’s every single whim like puppy would its master and, yes, Kim Jonghyun is not a school jock despite his nearly bulging biceps; he is simply a puppy.

His short stature aside, Jonghyun is a very thoughtful person. He is vocal when it comes to social issue and does not afraid to voice out his opinion. His hoby is collecting candles - because it helps with his insomnia and gives him a calm state of mind, he claims - and watching documentary. Sunggyu often sees him nose-deep in book too complicated (boring)  for Sunggyu to find it entertaining.

Jonghyun also happens to be a hopeless romantic. Minho once told Sunggyu with mischevous grin that he ‘accidentally’ saw the inside of Jonghyun’s journal – filled with toe-curling lines that Minho was sure Jonghyun wrote when he was staring at Kibum. Even though Minho teases Jonghyun on daily basis just like how he flatters Sunggyu, the eldest of the three knows Minho respects Jonghyun deep down and looks up to him. So it rarely does surprsine Sunggyu anymore when Minho says something that sounds like it would come out of Jonghyun’s mouth instead of his own.

“Are you jealous, Hyung?” Even from his voice alone, Sunggyu can tell Minho is grinning. “You don’t like it if I hang around Jonghyun-hyung too much?”

The elder boy snorts. “Why should I be jealous and what is it to you if I am?”

“Are you admitting you are jealous?” If possible, Minho also sounds very very excited. Sunggyu frowns despite the tingling flutter in his stomach.

“I’m not.”

Beside him, Minho walks a little faster that he is two steps ahead of Sunggyu. He turns around so he is walking backward, their hands still linked together. The grin he wears on his handsomely-sculpted face is too brilliant for Sunggyu’s eyes to take but he cannot tear his gaze away. “You are.”

“Who are you to dictate my feeling?” Sunggyu asks, concealing his quickening heartbeat with withering glare.

The glare does not do the desired effect, instead, Minho grins even wider that it nearly knocks all oxygen out from Sunggyu’s lungs. “Your cutest, favoritest dongsaeng Choi Minho!”

Sunggyu steps on Minho’s shoes, hard. The tall boy yelps in pain but he does not detangle their hands, increasing Sunggyu’s pleasure tenfolds. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Choi. You are far from my cutest and favoritest dongsaeng,” Sunggyu says with a disparaging smirk toward Minho’s scrunched up face.

The pained look is gone from Minho’s face as quick as Sunggyu’s heartbeat when he feels Minho’s hot, blazing gaze on him. With serious look and equally serious voice, Minho asks, “If it’s not me, then who?”

, Sunggyu curses mentally. It is very likely that he has stepped on a land mine. When it comes to this particular topic which is actually very trivial in every sense possible, Minho’s humor flies out the window and he takes his no-nonsense attitude which includes scroching hot and inquisitive gaze that makes Sunggyu’s stomach churns. “Not this again,” he groans tiredly.

Sunggyu tries to walk forward and hopes that with every step he take, they’re going to move on from that topic as well. But Minho is famous for not knowing what giving up is, he tugs Sunggyu’s hand hard that he stumbles backward but Minho is already there to catch him with his sturdy chest, keeping him from falling but Sunggyu is already falling - albeit in an entirely different meaning with losing your balance and letting gravity pulling you down. His cheeks are bursting scarlet as he recites a poem of gratitude toward any otherwordly being willing to listen because in their current position, Minho cannot see his boiling face.

“Who?” Minho asks again, this time his voice is coming right above Sunggyu’s ears.

The elder shivers like falling leave in cold, frosty wind and his voice that leaves his throat is just as shaky, “why does it matter to you, really?”

Minho is quiet for several seconds before answering, “because I don’t like the idea that I’m not your cutest and your favoritest dongsaeng.”

Sunggyu feels his face heating up manifolds if possible in his near-boiling state. If Minho says or does anything that make his marathoning heart runs faster that it already is, Sunggyu has no doubt he will probably self-combust. His mind takes the speed of his heart, racing to find a way to dissuade Minho from this topic. Something strong enough to shift the focus from Sunggyu to Minho himself. He stops at particular words that sparked this conversation in the first place. Praying that his voice is no longer trembling like his poor heart, Sunggyu speaks, “are you jealous?”

From the very little space left between them, Sunggyu can feel Minho stiffens. He mentally jeers in victory when Minho’s voice carries defensive edge, “I am not.”

“You are,” Sunggyu presses on. Just a little bit more and he can distract Minho’s attention away. Where should he lead him to? Ah, yes, spring, they were talking about spring, that topic is defnitely safer ground. “Insecure, huh, Choi?”

“I’m not!” Minho insists. “Unlike you, Hyung, I am confident at myself.”

Sunggyu frowns; did Minho just say that he is insecure? Deciding that he will have more success if he ignored the implication, Sunggyu drops the prickling word and continues with his mission, “then stop. It doesn’t matter then, isn’t it?”

Minho seems to be contemplating with himself before he finally relaxes with a soft murmur, “I guess you are right.”

“Of course, I am. I’m your hyung,” Sunggyu declares, doing an excellent job at hiding glee from achieving his goal. With another tug to their joined hands, he turns slightly that only half of his face is visible to Minho, “So we were talking about spring…”

Spring, that word makes Minho’s face lit up like a child at the mention of candy. Minho walks forward and Sunggyu falls into step beside him. Minho continues to chatter about what he wants to do when spring comes while Sunggyu listening to him with a small smile, agreeing and giving Minho some of his own opinion. As Minho’s body heats seeps in not only from their linked hands but also from the lighter clothes they wear, Sunggyu wonders when did his feeling for his dongsaeng started.

At first, Minho was just a convenient junior from same club. Minho’s father is a football player turned coach who often makes appearance on TV and his love for football apparently runs very deep in his blood that his son shares same amount of passion toward sport as he does. Famous father, good look that can rival even actor, and equally good grades plus behavior - Minho basically won the ticket as ‘disliked junior’ when he joined soccer club. The seniors tried making his life living hell and as determined as they were, was Minho and his resilience. In mere span of three months, he had splendidly turned the table to his favor, now his seniors are doting on him as much as he dotes on them, and threaten any other club who tried to scout Minho to their own. But nobody receives Minho’s affection as much as Sunggyu does. Sunggyu had been the only soccer club member who didn’t join the ‘bully Choi Minho’, simply because to him the act was too petty for third year like him. He didn’t understand why the other third years even bother to do such childish act when they have college entrance exam looming over them like living terror.

And for such reason alone, Minho looks up to him like chick would its mother. When the ice between him and the rest of club members had melted off, Minho started initiating conversation with him and. Minho told Sunggyu he actually always walk behind Sunggyu every morning from train station to school, and it was the very same day when Minho took Sunggyu to the ice cream parlor they had just passed couple of minutes ago. As quick as the season changes, they grow closer. Sunggyu still remembers how Minho cried when he announced he’s retiring from the team then promised Sunggyu he won’t cry when the elder graduate. He kept his promise and Sunggyu’s graduation memory is dominated with Minho’s heart-fluttering smile and ardent, tender gaze.

It feels like yesterday but now it’s just a couple of weeks away until Minho officially become a third year student. And here they are, walking toward the station just like the first time they go home together, the only difference this time being their joined hands. Just like his feelings, Sunggyu does not sure when did such intimate contact being normal between the two of them. Not only limited to hand-holding, Minho sometimes hug him, lie down with his head on Sunggyu’s laps, and gives him innocent peck on the cheek as well. Each and every action always leave Sunggyu’s mind reeling but at the same time he is afraid; is Minho being sincere without actually meaning anything or he is just playing with Sunggyu?

He earnestly hopes it’s the former because while he can stand Minho not holding same kind of affection that he holds for the younger boy, he will be utterly devastated if Minho treats his heart as if it’s a mere toy.

It started one day without any warning, when Minho did as much as smiling at him, when Minho’s eyes flickered alive animatedly at the sight of him, everything else around him stop for that single moment. Minho did not come to him like a dream -  he is a walking reality that is even better than images conjured up by Sunggyu’s subconsciousness when he bids goodbye to world of waking up and retreats to the land of sleep.

Still, he wonders how did he come to love the younger boy? At one point in his life he tried to push Minho away because the rapid growth of his feeling scared him that he found himself unable to sleep at night from the thought of his dongsaeng. His mind might try to deceive him but his heart cannot, almost naturally like breathing, his heart reached out for his junior. And just like answering the call of his fluttering feeling, Minho came to him, banishing all of Sunggyu’s fear and worry away with his radiant eyes and endearing smile. Then the rest of his story, Sunggyu falls deep and deeper into Minho’s charm, bewitched that no spell can release him from the enchantment Minho had unknowingly casted over him.

“Hyung, are you listening?” For the third time that day, Minho plucks him away from his musing.

“Huh?”

Minho gives him an amused smile, the one where one corner of his lips would turn higher than the rest and his eyebrows arched high. “You’re walking home together with a very handsome boy who happened to be very courteous as well. How could you pay no attention to him?”

“Stop flattering yourself, Choi,” Sunggyu grunts, “you are not handsome as you think you are.”

“Definitely because you are million times more handsome than me,” Minho agrees, nodding to himself.

It throws Sunggyu off guard, he momentarily forgets that Minho does this just as often as he calls Sunggyu ‘cute’. Really, it seems that Minho cannot spare his poor heart even for a second. “That’s true,” Sunggyu says quickly to hide the quiver of his voice, “you can try for million years but you can never surpass me.”

“Don’t even dream of it,” the taller boy says easily.

“So, about spring!” Sunggyu speaks unnecessarily loud that he is even surprised at the volume of his own voice. “This year will be the second spring we spend together, huh?” Right after those words left him, Sunggyu immediately regrets his own choice of words. He had meant it as ‘friend’ and Minho with his non-suspicious mind has a high chance of taking it as it is, but Sunggyu is not as oblivious and he cannot help but fear that Minho translates his words differently.

Thankfully, Minho does not disappoint him, however, he does furrow his brows together in what looks like dejection. “Hyung, this is the third spring for us.”

‘Us’. The word makes Sunggyu thinks of several different meanings it could hold, but the crestfallen expression on Minho’s face distracted him away from such thought. “What do you mean? The first spring was my graduation, no? I graduated last year so this is the second one.”

Minho pouts then casts his gaze down to his shoes. He is quiet as his steps falter before it comes to a complete halt altogether. The sudden change in mood worries Sunggyu, did he do anything wrong? But spring this year will be the second one he spend with Minho by his side, why does Minho look so down about it?

“Minho-yah?” Sunggyu inquires worriedly, he tries to look at Minho’s face but the moment he almost catch a glimpse of it, the tall boy quickly turns away.

“It wasn’t the first one,” he says. The he adds very quietly that if Sunggyu didn’t strain his ears, wind will carry Minho’s words away, “at least for me…”

“What do you mean ‘at least for me’?”

Sunggyu does a double take when he sees Minho’s cheeks are, ever so slowly, beginning to glow in the most subtle shade of red. “When we first talked, I told you that I walked behind you every morning right?”

“Mm-hmm, and?”

“So for me, that was the very first spring we spend together…” Minho trails off, still resolutely refusing to meet Sunggyu’s face.

Meanwhile, Sunggyu’s heart and mind goes haywire. Does Minho really say what Sunggyu thinks he said? “What-”

“I always watched after your back,” Minho blurts out suddenly, startling Sunggyu. “Always, always wondering if I can only look at it from afar for the rest of my life, wondering if next year I will by your side when the petals fall to your shoulder instead of watching from behind you. And I-”

“What are you trying to say, Minho-yah?” Roughly,Sunggyu grabs Minho’s elbow and turns him around so they’re looking at each other. Minho’s eyes are trembling just like Sunggyu’s own searching gaze and his cheeks are just as red as Sunggyu’s. He has never seen Minho like this before, his dongsaeng is always so sure of himself. Above them, snow slowly cease to fall, few of its last flakes land atop their head and between them, their hands are still tightly fastened around each other.

“...and I wonder too,” Minho says quietly, “if you noticed my heart that I’ve been hiding for a while now…”

All ability to think desert Sunggyu for that instance. He stares at Minho and instead of this tall brunette who is also the captain of their football team, he sees a first year with determined gaze who always looked at him with knowing smile. He sees Minho like he is seeing him properly for the first time. His mind revived the first real conversation he had with Minho. He approached Sunggyu with sweat dripping down his forehead, sliding down his bronze skin to pool on his collarbones before disappearing down his dampened shirt, telling Sunggyu that he always walked behind him from the same station to school every morning. It’s two years ago but the memory is as bright and vivid like it just happened yesterday because now Minho is reliving that moment; his eyes flickering to anywhere but Sunggyu but in between, he steals a couple of glances; he subtly bites the corner of his bottom lips; and his fingers are restless, even now as they’re laced with Sunggyu’s own, Sunggyu can feel how Minho tries to move it around.

“What,” Sunggyu finally finds his voice back, “are you trying to say, Minho?”

Minho does not answer for a while, instead, he reverts his gaze back to his shoes. After awhile, he looks up, this time meeting Sunggyu’s gaze dead on. “Hyung…”

“Yes?” To be honest, Sunggyu just want to strangle Minho and tell him to go the hell with it but he is probably just as nervous as Minho is and he doubts he has any strength to manhandle Minho in their current situation.

“I’m trying to say that,” Minho stops at that to exhale, very, very loudly that Sunggyu follows after him. The two of them are just as edgy as the other, in any other situation, this would be something they laugh over but right now with the possibility that the nature of their relationship could change with every next words, they cannot even manage any other expression but anxious one.

“You are trying to say?” Sunggyu leads him on, tightening his hold on Minho’s hand as encouragement.

A small smile makes its way to Minho’s face at Sunggyu’s gesture. Closing his eyes, Minho takes another deep breathe, then he opens his eyes once again to find Sunggyu looking at him so earnestly that he blushes deeper. “I’m trying to say, Hyung, that I’ve been in love with you since forever,” he finally says, “so would you do me the honor of being my boyfriend?”

Sunggyu stares, stares and stares until he is convinced that all he can is stare at Minho forever, even then he will be content because it is Minho he is staring at, not anyone else. And he knows if he was cursed to do nothing but stare at Minho for the rest of his life, Minho will protect him so no harm will fall on him. He stares and he only stop staring when Minho tries to untangle their linked hands.

Sunggyu holds on tight then with no hesitation, he answers, “Yes,” he releases the breathe he was holding, “yes, Minho. Yes, I will do you the honor. Yes, yes I will.”

Minho smiles that time-stopping smile of his and for that one single moment, all Sunggyu can see, hear, and feel is Minho. He feels the corner of his own smile tugged upward when Minho pulls him closer that there is barely any space left between them while they gaze into each other’s eyes.

“Yes?” Minho asks again.

Sunggyu nods when Minho’s forehead touches his own, a small laugh escapes his lips. Giddiness starts bubbling up within him as a big, contented grin takes over his junior who just turned into his boyfriend. “Yes, are you happy now?”

“Very!” Minho laughs, his breathe tickling Sunggyu’s face. One of his hand has already find purchase on the small of Sunggyu’s back, subtly pulling him closer. “Because wow I am officially the number on in your heart, Hyung.”

This time, the laugh that leaves Sunggyu is bolder and more open. He smiles so wide that his cheeks are aching, looking at Minho lovingly with relief flooding his chest now he can expresses his affection toward the younger boy freely, “you will never let drop that topic down, won’t you?”

“Never,” Minho confesses proudly. “I’ve always been wanting to be your number one, Hyung. Just because I’m now your boyfriend doesn’t mean I stop wanting it, in fact, I just want it even more.”

Sunggyu blushes at the implication behind Minho’s words but Minho is Minho and he probably should just take Minho’s words exactly the way it is at face value. But when he’s just about to do it, Minho’s grin transforms into a lopsided smirk and his lids lowers themselves. Something flickers within his amber eyes then when he his bottom lips, Sunggyu feels himself heating up several degrees.

“W-what is it?” He stammers, suddenly wanting to detach himself away from Minho because the look Minho gives him is a foreign one but not that unfamiliar that Sunggyu cannot dechiper what lies beneath those fiery gaze.

“Just,” Minho falters, fixing his eyes to Minho’s lips before flitting back to Sunggyu’s jittery eyes. “Thinking of things that I couldn’t do with you but can from now on, Hyung.”

There is several instance when Minho becomes impatient, like when his favorite team football’s match is about to start. And apprently, putting his words into action when it comes to his affection toward Sunggyu is one of them. Because before Sunggyu can even respond to Minho’s words that can be interpreted into about ten different meanings, he bends down and catches Sunggyu’s lips in a gentle yet sure, tender kiss.

Wind blows around them, still chilly but carrying the sweet fragrance of spring.