Sunlight was slowly tiptoeing its way from the wooden floor to soft linen sheets, where Taemin and Minho lay, asleep in each other’s arms. The darkness of night was shying away to the corners of the sky as the clouds left a soft stripe of blue in their wake.

The birds outside—red cardinals—were softly singing, more than a wake up call they sang soft lullabies. The bright little birds sang the equivalent of warm hands running down cold arms.

Sighing at the blaring sunlight, Taemin shifted a bit from his position, scooting over closer to Minho to bury his face into Minho’s chest. As his hands went around Minho’s torso, Taemin couldn’t stop his sleepy smile as Minho hugged Taemin closer unconsciously.

He could feel Minho’s heartbeat against his cheek, steady and soft, much like Minho himself. Its little beats tapped out a song so delicate, so vulnerable that Taemin felt privileged he had the chance to hear it, to feel it underneath golden skin that was even more breathtaking than the first steps of sunshine.

Opening his eyes just a little, and leaning a back a bit so that Taemin was level with Minho’s face, he lazily took in the sight of Minho sleeping. The light that filtered through their curtains hit the tips of Minho’s long, wavy hair, tangling itself in Minho’s eyelashes and curving against his cheekbones. 

Instinctively, Taemin tucked a loose curl behind Minho’s ear before combing his hands through Minho’s fringe. In his sleepy state, Minho hummed softly, pulling Taemin impossibly close until their legs tangled together underneath their sheets.

“Baby, wake up.” Taemin whispers, all soft and sweet, with little intention of actually waking Minho up.

But Minho groans nonetheless, childishly screwing his eyes shut as Taemin cups his cheeks. Minho’s usually puffy lips were squished together as Taemin smushed his cheeks together, making Taemin’s own smile only widen. With a small whine Minho opened his eyes, they were the most beautiful shade of sepia, but with the sunlight they looked more like burnt honey, more gooey and unearthly in a way.

Minho looks at Taemin accusingly, his eyebrows furrowed and his pout almost heart wrenchingly adorable. Taemin chuckles lowly as he gives Minho a soft good morning kiss, sighing as Minho grumbles about being woken up so early. His words were slurred from sleep and Taemin really couldn’t stop his small laugh as Minho’s eyes drooped, fluttering lazily as they fought to stay awake.

“Babe, you’re the one that has to wake up early, not me.” Taemin says then, a teasing edge to his voice, something playful and mischievous and utterly Taemin-like that Minho was suddenly jolted to consciousness.

“You just want me to turn off the alarm before it goes off because the noise scares you.” Minho mumbles as he reaches over to his nightstand, sluggishly pressing the snooze button as red numbers flashed 6:34 am.

Sighing heavily, Minho rubs sleep away from his eyes, letting out a soft yawn and gently smiling at Taemin yawning back. Minho’s gaze turns soft as he looks at Taemin, running up and down, eyes crinkling at Taemin’s sleepy state. His hair was flat on one side and frizzy on the other, his eyes were a little red and there was traces of drool on Taemin’s cheek. And Minho doesn’t think he’s ever seen someone so beautiful.

Languidly, Minho tumbles his way on top of Taemin, resting his chin on top of Taemin’s bare chest. He presses his large hands against Taemin’s sides, running his slender fingers up and down Taemin’s ribcage. Unable to stop smiling as giggles fell from Taemin’s mouth.

“You know I love you, right?” Minho asked, lifting himself up to press a quick kiss to Taemin’s laughing lips.

“Yeah. I love you too.” Taemin says back, wrapping his hands around Minho’s neck and pressing their foreheads together, trying to be as close to Minho as physically possible. 

Taemin sighs contently as his fingers slip down from Minho’s neck to his shoulders, and down to his arms. Softly, Taemin traces circles around the stag that decorated most of Minho’s upper arm. Taemin lived for mornings like these, he loved being lazy and cuddly with Minho. It felt so amazing and just all around comforting and sometimes Taemin couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had such an amazing person in love with him. Being with Minho felt surreal at times.

“I love this one,” Taemin says, eyes transfixed on the delicate tattoo that seemed to ripple with each of Minho’s movements. “It’s a lot like you. Strong yet soft, majestic and elegant. I really love how it came out.”

Minho lets out a laugh, leaning forward to press a kiss to Taemin’s nose.

“It came out so good because you’re the one who tattooed me.” Minho says, taking one of Taemin’s hands and holding it gently in his.

“It was your design though. Don’t tell Jonghyun this, but your artwork is my favorite.” Taemin says, giving Minho’s hand a soft squeeze. 

“You’re just saying that because I’m your boyfriend.” Minho says teasingly, rolling on the bed so that Taemin was more or less on top of him, his face tucked safely into the crook of Minho’s neck.

“I’m not. I’m serious Min, you’re a great artist.” Taemin nearly whines as Minho hums, he raises an eyebrow and Taemin rolls his eyes in response.

“I swear I’m serious, like I need you to learn how to tattoo so I can get something done by you.” Taemin says, biting back another yawn as he runs his fingers down Minho’s forearms, marveling at the intricate looking designs that ran along Minho’s protruding veins.

“You’re the tattoo artist, that’s your job.” Minho responds playfully, cupping Taemin’s face to give him one last kiss before pushing himself off their bed.

Taemin sighs as Minho pulls away, he falls back into their little nest of pillows deciding to burrow himself in a particular one that still had Minho’s scent. Cinnamon with vanilla and faint traces of laundry detergent, the same one Minho’s used ever since they were little kids.

And Taemin would nearly fall asleep once more if it weren’t for Minho’s phone beeping with a text from Jinki, alerting Taemin of how much of the morning they spent trying to grasp onto what little sleep they could.

“It’s late,” Taemin says distractedly as he climbed over the other side of their bed to get his phone that was charging, unlocking it to see a couple of emails from upcoming clients. “Hop in the shower and I’ll make coffee.”

“You’re the best.” Minho calls out as he walks to their bathroom, his clothes in hand, flashing Taemin his gorgeous back until he closes their door.

And Taemin smiles at that, the planes of Minho’s shoulders were sharp against his smooth skin, and his lunar cycle tattoo was absolutely gorgeous against the large expanse of his upper back. Taemin briefly remembers the day he tattooed that one, and absentmindedly wonders if Minho’s planning on getting something else done anytime soon.

With much reluctance Taemin pushed himself off the bedsheets, hissing softly when his bare feet hit the cold, wooden floors. Lazily, Taemin walks into their kitchen, quickly making some coffee, and watering the many flowers that are placed on most of their window sills, scattered throughout the apartment.

While rubbing his eyes, Taemin jumps on top of their kitchen counter, waiting for the coffee machine to beep as he enjoys the sunlight dance on his skin. The soft lighting makes his tattoos look as if they were glowing in the early morning, especially his eclipse piece that stretched across his left forearm.

A few moments pass until Taemin hears the soft sound of Minho’s footsteps, he laughs lightly when Minho walks into the kitchen, tugging on his sweater and fixing his glasses. He knows Minho can’t be bothered to poke in his contacts at such an early hour, and Taemin wouldn’t either honestly. 

It’s a shame the school Minho teaches at doesn’t allow any visible tattoos, even though Minho looks super cute in his endless sweaters. Today he was wearing a dusty pink one that Taemin had gifted him a couple months ago.

Taemin let a soft smile spread across his lips as Minho yawned again, he was always extra tired in the mornings, like a soft, cuddly teddybear and Taemin loved it too much.

“You look like a grandpa. Like, a cool grandpa with tattoos, but a grandpa nonetheless.” Taemin says as Minho sipped gently on his coffee, snickering as Minho scoffed.

“You’re still cute though.” Taemin says as Minho rolled his eyes, swishing his coffee in his cup before walking right in front of Taemin, pressing his warm hands onto Taemin’s thighs.

“You’re mean.” Minho says, pinching Taemin’s cheeks before Taemin hopped down from the kitchen counter, smirking when he pushes Minho’s glasses up the bridge of his nose teasingly.

“Ah yes, but you love me anyway right?” Taemin says, punching Minho lightly on the shoulder when he hums noncommittally in response.

The hallway clock beeps, signaling the passing of another hour, and Minho’s eyes widen slightly, the last of his sleep washing away as he checks the time. Taemin watches in amusement as Minho scrambles around the kitchen, running to the living room to grab his suitcase/messenger bag. Taemin sighs as he grabs Minho’s coffee mug, drinking the last bits of Minho’s coffee. 

Minho’s about to leave as he rushes back into the kitchen, snatching his keys from the top of the fridge. Taemin lets out a low whistle, placing Minho’s cup inside their sink.

“Are you leaving without kissing me goodbye?” Taemin asks, tilting his head in mock confusion.

Minho promptly runs over to Taemin, lifting him up and twirling him around a couple times before placing a sound kiss on Taemin’s puckered lips.

“Of course not, I love you too much.” Minho replies, kissing both of Taemin’s cheeks, his forehead and the very tip of his hooked nose.

A couple of shouted good-byes later and Minho was on his way out, leaving Taemin chuckling softly to himself. 

After a couple seconds pass, in which Taemin’s mind buzzes with what he has to do for the day, he contemplates on whether or not to shift their succulents from their kitchen window to their living room coffee table. Sighing a bit as he walks over to the cute little plants, Taemin softly touches the tip of a particular soft looking one that was a cold gray-green-ish color with purple gently coloring the ends. Mindlessly tapping his finger on the pricks, Taemin’s eyes can’t help but wander over to where the peonies they had bought yesterday stood, perched lovely in their squared, transparent vase.

The flower was a mostly a peach color, speckled with pale pink, much like the sweater Minho wore today. Briefly, Taemin remembers when Minho started the whole tradition of having flowers and plants all around the apartment, it was before they moved in into their current apartment. It had started out with peonies, actually. It was a random day in the spring semester of uni, and Taemin remembers walking into Minho’s dorm and finding the sweet little flowers.

He recalls that Minho commented that peonies weren’t supposed to bloom if they were contained, due to the whole ecology they had with ants. Taemin told him that they would anyway, and Minho had chuckled lightly at that.

And against all odds, they did bloom. And they were beautiful.

If Taemin remembers correctly, Minho’s roommate accidentally killed the flowers a couple days later. It was an honest mistake, nothing intentional, and they were just flowers really. But Minho had shown up in front of Taemin’s dorm on the verge of tears, and when Taemin had asked him what happened, Minho hugged Taemin close and started to softly cry.

It wasn’t loud, nor was it violent. It was small, with soft whimpers and tiny crystalline tears and Taemin knew Minho wasn’t crying about just the flowers. 

Smiling wistfully at the memory, Taemin stretches his arms high above his head, readying himself to begin his day. 

—

“I haven’t seen you wear that in a million years.” Taemin says as he pulls on his three inch creepers, kicking over Minho’s black book bag in an attempt to sit on their bed. 

The bedsheets were in a complete disarray, with a small mountain of black clothing starting to pile up in the middle of it. Outside, the brilliant sun was blinding, even though it was muted through the closed curtains, it still shone unabashedly. It was the type of weather that danced between the periods of late spring and early summer, bringing along temperate mornings and blazing hot afternoons.

“It’ll be hella hot at the music festival though.” Minho says as he smooths out the front of his muscle tank. He catches Taemin nearly staring and jokingly shakes his shoulders provocatively, a gesture that Taemin rolls his eyes at.

“Yeah, I just haven’t seen you in anything other than your work clothes. Like how long has it been since you wore a croptop?” Taemin responds then, walking up next to Minho to grab his phone off Minho’s nightstand, clicking his tongue once he sees the time.

Minho just smiles, knowing that he wore regular shirts and whatnot on the weekends. However, as he sees his shoulder piece when his shirt shifts a bit, he realizes he does cover himself up more, unsure if it had to do with actual work reasons, or something else entirely that he’s still not ready to come to terms with.

“Yes, it’s been a while but you’re only complaining because you have a thing for croptops.” Minho says then, shoving Taemin playfully with his shoulder, watching amusedly as Taemin falls back onto their bed, his smile a bit too wide when he sees Taemin’s hair fall back into his eyes.

“Okay yes but croptops are a gift.” Taemin says seriously, crossing his arms once Minho sits down next to him, smoothing out his hair and tucking a few strands behind his ear as a totally disgustingly cute romcom gesture that Taemin would have probably teased anyone else endlessly over.

And they stay like that for a while, Minho just petting Taemin’s head and Taemin nearly falling back sleep because they had to get ready extra early for the music festival. In all honestly, Taemin doesn’t mind if they even miss the festival now, doesn’t mind laying in bed for a couple of hours, not even doing anything remotely romantic, just being close, feeding off each other’s natural warmth.

Minho can’t help but chuckle when he sees Taemin’s eyelids start to flutter. Even with the expertly winged eyeliner and the newly acquired lip ring, Taemin looks all kinds of soft, especially when he’s still sleepy. When Taemin’s eyes close completely, Minho leans forward to press a kiss to Taemin’s forehead before lying on top of their little mountain of clothes, pulling Taemin into a warm embrace. Unable to bite back his smile, Taemin opens his eyes for just a moment to shift into a more comfortable position, his cold hands winding themselves around Minho.

They allow themselves this, a few moments of being together before walking outside to a place where Minho’s hold on Taemin’s hand is loose, as if ready to slip away at any given moment. Taemin indulges himself because he knows Minho, he knows what he’s comfortable with and what he just can’t do right now, what he can’t project to the public.

They lay in bed almost innocently, a type of nonchalance and love that doesn’t stem from anything romantic but rather years of growing up together, understanding each other’s weaknesses and being a source of strength for the other.

A couple minutes trickle by and Taemin’s already half asleep, but then their alarm rings from Minho’s nightstand, making Taemin groan and Minho laugh.

Taemin rolls himself off of Minho, watching him tiredly as Minho shuts off the alarm, and holds out both of his hands. Taemin takes them wordlessly, yawning as he’s pulled up. 

“I’ll get the snacks.” Minho says then, because the actual festival is around four hours away, and Taemin loves an excuse to get his favorite chips from the convenience store (flaming hot cheetos, which happen to be Minho’s favorite too).

Taemin in turn, bends down to snag his book bag off the floor, its sparse DIY studs glittering with the morning sun. ping the front pocket to retrieve his sunglasses, Taemin then grabs one of Minho’s random sweaters from the pile that was nearly about to fall from the bed to the floor. He pulls it on leisurely, it was dark gray and lightweight, perfect for the morning and light enough to bunch up in a ball and throw it into the backseat of the car or something before the festival starts. 

They’re about to step out, but Taemin remembers they left the car keys in the living room. Grabbing them off the coffee table, Taemin walks over to where Minho’s checking the top of their fridge for the keys, coy smile in place.

“Forgetting something?” Taemin asks cheekily, the long sleeves from Minho’s oversized sweater covered Taemin’s hands entirely, but Taemin jingled the keys nonetheless, holding them high above Minho’s head. It didn’t matter really, given that Minho was a few good inches taller than Taemin, but Minho scoffed in response anyway, reaching up to grab the keys only to break out into a smile when Taemin moved his hand out of the way.

“We’re gonna be late.” Minho says then, wrapping his arm around Taemin’s waist and leading them both out the door, soft laughter left in their wake as Taemin kept bumping his hips with Minho’s on purpose.

They settled who was driving by their usual game of rock, papers, scissors, with Minho being the eventual winner. Taemin didn’t really mind though, not when Minho kissed his check twice as an apology, and especially not when the entire drive was spent eating junk food and singing along to their cds brazenly as they pass long winding highways.

—

“We need more cinnamon toast crunch.” Taemin says suddenly, nudging Minho down the cereal aisle as Minho shook his head lightly, rolling their over flowing cart down to wherever Taemin decided fit.

Most of their grocery shopping went something along the lines of either of the two getting too distracted over buying something that probably wasn’t on their grocery list. In between the white tiled floors and aisles and aisles of produce Taemin would occasionally peck Minho’s cheeks, or lock their fingers together, casually strolling throughout the store, not really caring that they were taking a couple hours to purchase everything.

And it was all a quite sweet ordeal, they lived in an “open” neighborhood, so not a lot of people stared down at them for their tattoos or body mods. And this Tuesday, like any other day they had to buy groceries for the week, was going fine. They had almost finished buying everything off their list, and even though it was the early evening, the fluorescent lighting seemed to play with Minho’s hair, giving the natural black an almost blue shine. The artificial bright light seemed to make his tattoos glow almost elegantly, making the white highlights in his winding snake piece on his left forearm look like it was gently curving around his veins.

Taemin really couldn’t help himself at that point, taking one hand off their cart to slide it down Minho’s arm, gently brushing Minho’s golden skin that was almost perfectly inked before intertwining their fingers together. He felt Minho give him a hesitant squeeze, one that was a little scared and a bit shy. In turn Taemin bumped his shoulder with Minho’s in encouragement as they softly ambled down the aisle.

And it was going pretty well really, until a relatively new teacher at Minho’s school managed to walk in one them in the candy aisle. Instantly Minho froze, and Taemin reluctantly let go of Minho’s hand, side stepping a bit to give Minho a comfortable distance.

“Oh, Minho?” Kibum asks, soft smile in place as Minho smiled a bit awkwardly, the tips of his very pierced ears turning a blushing red.

“Kibum, Hi.” Minho says back, painfully aware on the way Kibum’s gaze lingered on his tattoo sleeves. 

There was a soft type of panic in Minho’s eyes, like a torrent of gushing water held behind a tiny, makeshift dam. Kibum in turn, fidgeted awkwardly, a friendly smile in place as he subtly looked over Minho’s shoulder, where Taemin stood, twisting the ring on his thumb with his index. Minho had gifted him that silver ring about four years ago.

“This is my—this is—” Minho faltered, looking at Taemin’s crossed arms and the beginnings of a scowl twitching on his lips.

“Hey, I’m Taemin.” Taemin says, cutting in Minho’s soft stammering. He leans over their cart, tilting his head and gives Kibum the best smile he could muster at that point. It probably looked like Taemin was in pain, or maybe it came off as a little sarcastic, but Kibum’s eyes shimmered with understanding, and Taemin suddenly realized that he knew Kibum from somewhere.

He was positive he hadn’t seen him while he was visiting Minho’s school, maybe they frequented the same cafe?

Kibum nods then, smile turning into a melancholy one. He waves softly at the two before reaching up to grab something off the top shelf and continuing on his way. The spikes on his over sized denim jacket glitter faintly under the lighting, the patches that were deliberately placed all over the jacket seemed to blur together as he walked away, blurring over until he disappeared behind another row.  

Minho sighs then, pure relief settling along his tense shoulders. And Taemin holds his breath. There was a moment of complete silence between Taemin and Minho, until Taemin sighed and grabbed their cart, pushing it down the aisle, wordlessly throwing a bag of m&ms into it before nearly running to the checkout lane.

Minho followed him without a single complaint, keeping quiet as Taemin slid his card through the self-checkout machine. He noticed how Taemin’s eyes shifted between frustration and hurt and Minho wanted nothing more but to kiss it away, but he knew he couldn’t. Not now and not here.

“Tae…” Minho says then, incredibly soft and small. He wasn’t really quite sure what he was asking for or where he was going with his sentence, he just knew he had to say something, anything really.

Taemin looked up at him, hurt splaying on his features as he bagged all their purchases, holding out a few bags for Minho to carry, unable to meet Minho’s gaze. 

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Taemin says, lowly while glaring at the floor. “The fact that you tried to hide your tattoos even though you’re absolutely covered in them, or the fact that you can’t even mention me as you partner or flatmate or anything like that.”

And Minho could feel the rest of his face coloring itself in shame, he tried to reach out to grab Taemin’s arm, but Taemin tugged it away. Minho sighed at the air of pure strain buzzing around them, wondering if they would be able to talk things out when they reached their car.

But Minho didn’t say anything, even after they placed their bags in the trunk, Minho kept silent trying to figure out how to string together any mesh of words to explain to Taemin how sorry he was. 

The car ride was everything but pleasant, they didn’t hold hands at stop lights, they didn’t sing off key to whatever song was playing on the radio. The sky above them was starting to burst with color as night started to fall, and yet Minho didn’t tug on Taemin’s shirt to talk about how pretty the clouds look while they’re pink, or how beautiful the orange sun was as it climbed slowly downwards to let the moon take its place. 

It’s later when Minho finally gathers the courage to talk to Taemin. He sees Taemin all snuggled up in their bed, wearing sweats with freshly washed hair, randomly tapping away on his phone. He’s lazily toying with his lip ring, his nose scrunching whenever he touched the tender skin a little too abrasively. And Minho feels himself almost melt at the sight, because Taemin looks so comfortable and it reminds him of when they were sixteen and Taemin would sleep over at his house. They would lounge of Minho’s bed for hours, not necessarily doing anything together, just enjoying being near each other. 

With an apologetic smile, Minho crawls into their sheets, pushing Taemin’s bangs out of his eyes in a way that was so tender that Taemin couldn’t ignore it. He pulls the blankets over both of them, turning up the volume of their television that was currently playing a re-run of parks and rec before opening his arms slightly underneath the sheets.

Taemin looks up at him slowly, his eyes running across the planes of Minho’s face and Minho knows that no matter how hurt Taemin could be, he always understands Minho, even when he doesn’t want to. With a small tsk, Taemin throws his phone onto his night stand before shuffling his way into Minho’s embrace, breathing in the scent of Minho’s cinnamon vanilla body wash and laundry detergent from when they washed earlier today.

“I’m sorry.” Minho says after a while of playing with Taemin’s still damp hair, noting the way Taemin’s eyes would flutter shut whenever he scratches the base of Taemin’s neck.

Taemin doesn’t say anything at first, looking up at Minho and giving him a defeated smile, his lip ring catching the soft light from the city lights outside their window. Taemin’s eyes are etched with a sort of accepting sadness that makes Minho’s heart hurt almost painfully. It’s like his eyes held the remains of shattered planets, and god Minho wants nothing more but to make sure that everything will be okay, that he could be just the slightest bit braver.

“I know. It’s just, we’ve been together for so long, seven years yeah? So I just don’t know what’s—holding you back.” Taemin says quietly, shifting his arm underneath the blanket until his hand found Minho’s.

Minho gives Taemin a soft smile in return, bringing Taemin’s hand to his lips and giving each of Taemin’s knuckles a gentle kiss before trailing little pecks down Taemin’s arm until he hits the self tattooed galaxy on Taemin’s right forearm. It was a beautiful piece, one of Minho’s favorites. It was massive and gorgeously colored, there were vivid blues and deep violets, all accented with splashes of stars, all clustered together on Taemin’s skin, seeming to expand onto forever.

“I’m sorry Tae.” Minho says then, unable to speak out loud the thousands of promises he has on his lips, unable to explain to Taemin how scared he still was, unable to voice how he wishes he was a little more like Taemin, less scared, less apologetic.

“It’s alright.” Taemin responds, because he knows Minho’s heart, knows that Minho’s trying and he knows Minho’s terrified. He knows that unsaid promises would have to suffice for now.

—

Minho can’t help but chuckle when he hears Taemin groan from the living room. He shifts his papers as he waits for the webpage he has open on his laptop to load. He taps his finger’s on the little office table in their bedroom, because their apartment is a little small but it’s alright because neither of them really mind. He knows Taemin is about to pop in and pester him right on the middle of grading his students exams, and of course, just a few minutes pass until he feels something warm and restless on his side, feels Taemin’s chin dig into his shoulder.

“You’re messing up my papers.” Minho comments, pressing a swift kiss into Taemin’s temple before returning to his work, ignoring the way Taemin tugs on his mustard colored sweater.

Today in particular the sun seems to be shining a little bit brighter, just the tiniest bit, making everything seem much more illuminated, making the golden flecks in Taemin’s beautiful brown eyes seem even more otherworldly. Spring has fully unraveled now, the chill in the air barely lingering, it’s spring and everything feels like a whirl of freshly picked flowers and bright sunny smiles.

“Babe I’m hungry.” Taemin whines, pressing harder onto Minho’s shoulder, sliding onto Minho’s chair until Minho’s nearly thrown off.

“We have leftovers.” Minho says, tilting his head in the direction of their kitchen. But Taemin shakes his head in response, his eyes gleam playfully and Minho knows he’s about to do whatever Taemin is about to ask him in the next minute. 

“Can you go get me the giant chocochip cookie from the shop we love?” Taemin asks, tugging a bit harder on Minho’s sleeve to accentuate his point, nearly draping himself all over Minho and evidently, tearing a few bits of his papers Minho had on his lap.

“Tae that place is like twenty minutes away.” Minho says, gesturing to his mess of work on his table. “I really have to finish these before the semester closes, can you wait for like half an hour?”

And Taemin nods, kissing Minho’s cheek before walking off, back into the living room, jumping on the couch and curling into the wild tangle of sheets Minho had laid out for him. They were warm and soft, and they smelled exactly like Minho. The blankets were so incredibly comforting that Taemin couldn’t help but fall asleep, all tangled up and relishing at the way the sun seemed to warm him up even further.

Taemin woke about an hour later, blinking his eyes wearily as the living room lights made his vision go blurry. Still half asleep he dragged himself over to Minho’s work place, holding a few blankets around him in order to preserve some warmth.

“Min, it’s been a while, lets go.” Taemin whines softly, sitting in Minho’s lap when he gets no response.

“Tae just give me a sec.” Minho replies when Taemin buries his face into Minho’s neck, his eyes fluttering shut once more.

“You know whenever I get a new tat I need comfort food.” Taemin says, his eyes closing as he slurs his words over.

“Not my fault you decided to get another one.” Minho jokes, smiling when Taemin punches him playfully, his sleepiness causing the punch to hurt less than a soft poke.

And Taemin groans, all sleepy and tired, opening his eyes to look at Minho accusingly. “When you got your elbows tattooed I drove all the way across the city to get your favorite caramel shake.”

Minho rolls his eyes at that, knowing that Taemin was going to bring it up sooner or later. With a sigh, Minho gently nudges Taemin off his lap, standing up straight and stretching a bit. His sweater rides up and Taemin catches himself smiling at the winding tattoo that runs across Minho’s hipbones. 

Minho catches Taemin’s gaze and smiles back softly, and for a second nothing else really mattered, not even the fact that Taemin looked absolutely stunning when he was slightly sleepy. The sunlight of late afternoon surrounded Taemin in a way that made him seem like he was practically glowing, but that didn’t matter either. None of Taemin’s physical traits mattered really, all that was there was Taemin just being Taemin, a little whiny, a little sleepy, but Minho knows him too well at this point, and he knows Taemin just wants Minho to take a break from all the work he was doing, especially since it was the weekend. 

“Alright, lets go, I’ll get the car ready.” Minho says, holding his hand out, which Taemin gladly took. 

“You can walk right?” Minho asks, looking at Taemin’s bandaged calf. He knows that Taemin is really good with getting tats, especially since Taemin liked traveling to get them if it was in a specific style or neither Jonghyun nor Jinki were able to tattoo him. Usually that wasn’t the case, but it happened frequently when Taemin was just starting to out.

“Yeah I’ll be fine. I’ll just wait in the car or something if it’s really that bad.” Taemin says, lacing their fingers together before pecking Minho’s lips twice, because once was never really enough.

Minho whispers a soft okay, before walking outside still holding Taemin’s hand, marveling at the way his anxiety gets calmed every time Taemin’s thumb brushes against his palm. And Minho’s still a bit paranoid, still a bit scared, but Taemin’s next to him, and he’s warm and a little bit moody, but he’s real and he’s beautiful and it gives Minho enough strength to try to be just a little bolder.

—

It’s nearing the end of the school year, and Minho’s sprawled out on their bed, listening to the soft music playing from the speakers of their old cd player. The sounds are crackly, filled with empty static. But while the audio is slightly low quality, but there’s something almost raw about it, a trait added that was a bit messy, a bit imperfect, yet almost frail at the same time.

The night time seemed to envelop the entire bedroom, the moonlight almost twisting and curling itself with the soft music, working to take up the entire space in the room, letting Minho cover himself in nothing but sound and city lights. 

He lets his mind turn clear, trying not to think about anything really, except for the beats and the feel of the stars shining on his bronzed skin, watching as they lent him some of their silvery glow.

The open window allows the sounds of the streets to mix with everything that’s going on, to the point where Minho almost feels himself falling asleep, unable to register the fact that it’s nearing midnight. The sound of rumbling cars and the general bumbling of the city seem to be the perfect lullaby.

But then he hears, above all the clamor, soft footsteps, their bedroom door opening, and a soft sigh. And he knows without a doubt it’s Taemin, and he knows exactly why Taemin’s given him a bit of space for the day.

“You sleeping?” Taemin asks softly, closing their window but not turning off the music entirely, simply turning it down a bit before sitting on the edge of the bed, twisting the edge of their grid patterned comforter between his fingers.

“No, not really.” Minho says back, his voice groggy and laced with a type of weariness he didn’t know it could possess.

“Have you made up your mind?” Taemin says then, rolling Minho to his proper side of the bed (the left) before making a little nest for them with a bunch of pillows and a spare blanket that was lying haphazardly at the foot of their bed. 

Wordlessly, Taemin tucks Minho in, stopping just a moment to run his hands through Minho’s hair just as Minho’s eyes start to close.

“Be back in a sec.” Taemin promises, sealing it with a soft kiss to the bridge of Minho’s nose, and Minho nods in response while struggling to not fall asleep.

As Taemin quietly walks into their kitchen Minho opens his eyes slowly, smiling once he saw that Taemin the fairy lights in their room. They were purple and soft, brilliant in some way Minho can’t even figure out yet, all he knew is that he felt something warm and calming in his chest, like flowers were the edges of his lungs.

Taemin came back moments after, holding in his hands a bunch of chocolate kisses. He softly laid down next to Minho, placing the chocolates between them before unwrapping one and popping it in his mouth, smiling when Minho did the same.

“I figured you’d appreciate them.” Taemin says, and Minho gives him a soft smile, sitting upright a bit to press a small kiss to Taemin’s neck before lazily falling back onto their bed, throwing one leg over Taemin.

“I do, thanks.” Minho replies, marveling at how Taemin’s beautiful brown eyes seemed to have a violet sheen to them.

The lights around them seemed to echo their almost broken cd player, making everything feel softer, calmer, sleepy but in a good way. The type of tired that was almost cute, the type of tired that allowed people to say their innermost thoughts, the time of night that made people the slightest bit more vulnerable.

“Well then?” Taemin says after a couple of songs passed by. His fingers seem to have found their way into Minho’s hair, braiding a couple of strands together.

“I think, I’m gonna try it.” Minho says tentatively, as if speaking what’s stuck in his heart out loud would make everything that much more permanent. “I’m taking up the offer.”

Taemin nods at that, cupping Minho’s face so that Minho would look at him properly.

“I know you’re scared, and that’s okay. Teaching was something safe you could do, and that’s fine. But you knew it wasn’t the end point, right?” Taemin says, his lips a bit before looking to Minho’s night stand when his favorite song started to play. “You have this song?”

And Minho smiles, noting how Taemin instantly lit up. Minho’s unable to stop himself from tweaking Taemin’s nose, and laughing when Taemin subsequently gave him a glare.

Minho ate a few of the kisses before responding a bit sheepishly, “Yeah, this was a playlist I made a while back. That song kinda fit the overall theme, plus it reminded me of you, so.”

And Taemin smiled, all wide and gummy, and Minho suddenly was pulled into thousands of flashbacks, of all the times he’s seen Taemin smile like that. It started from when they first met, when Taemin was only twelve. The memories last only seconds, and Minho’s jolted through his teenage years, his young adult life, running through high school, college, and now this, with him twenty six and Taemin’s birthday coming up in a few weeks.

“You’re cute Minho.” Taemin says then, laughing a bit before he lays down completely, nestling against his pillow. “But anyway, I just wanted to remind you that, I’m here for you, okay? No matter what, you know that right?”

Minho nods in response, letting out a small of course, thinking about what happened just a few hours before, letting the office of the school know he wasn’t coming back next year. It was strange really, saying goodbye to his classroom for the last time, the students had already left on summer vacation, but the teachers still had a bit more time to wrap things up. He thinks back to how hot it was now that summer was here, and how surprised everyone had been when Minho rolled up his sleeves.

He could hear the shocked gasps coming from the faculty with the outmost of clarity. It was almost comical in a way, how some teachers tried to play it off as nothing, while others almost looked angry that Minho had possessed so many tattoos. All of them, in some way had to say something about it, except Kibum, who happened to have gotten really close to not just Minho but to Taemin too. 

“You know that lady that always glared at you whenever you’d come to spend half days with me?” Minho asks suddenly, shaking Taemin out of whatever he had been mulling over.

Taemin nods in response before he picks up the last two pieces of chocolate, promptly shoving one in Minho’s open mouth, before smugly eating the last one.

“Yeah well, Kibum nearly tore her head off when she said something about how everyone that’s tattooed is a criminal and whatnot.” Minho says, smiling when Taemin starts to softly chuckle, shaking his head as he imagines the anger in Kibum’s eyes.

“You’re going to be seeing him often, Kibum.” Taemin notes, blinking softly as the album finally finishes, leaving them with nothing except for their soft breathing and purple lights.

“Yeah, he and his sister are pretty close. Apparently they’re going to joint own the advertising company in about a year? Honestly I’m just lucky Kibum convinced her to expand enough to have the need to hire me.” Minho says, shifting a bit in their bed as he curled into the sheets, effectively making a little cocoon of linen.

“It’s not luck Minnie, you’re incredibly talented, anyone would love to have you as creative director.” Taemin says then, pulling back the mess of waves that fell over Minho’s eyes just a bit before letting them fall back in place. He repeats the action a few more times until Minho catches his wrist and presses a kiss into Taemin’s palm.

As the night drags on and turns into early morning, Minho’s progressively gets sleepier and Taemin starts feeling extremely drowsy as well. Gently, almost unknowingly, they fall asleep with mauve dancing across their eyelids, softly whispered “i love yous” on the tip of their tongue, and promises no longer unsaid, instead hushed, not exactly a proclamation, but it’s a little step forward, and that’s more than enough for now.

—

“Minho, you’re absolutely sure about this?” Taemin asks, still slightly bewildered at Minho’s request, even though they’re in the middle of the tattoo shop and Taemin already has the stencil ready.

“Tae I told you a thousand times already, yes.” Minho says with a laugh, and Taemin can’t do anything except smile back, shaking his head good-naturedly.

It’s a couple weeks after Taemin’s birthday, and summer is officially in full bloom, a gorgeous and sweltering heat that unapologetically twists itself through the air. The summer breeze seems to be lighter now, the world just a bit brighter, less suffocating in a way.

Taemin’s eyes are their gorgeous dark brown, and they seem to glisten with gold this time around, holding the entirety of the sun inside his iris. And Taemin’s laughing as Minho jokes and is, generally, very difficult, as per usual whenever he gets tattooed.

Minho always takes Taemin a bit longer to tattoo because they always end up getting sidetracked, but Jinki doesn’t mind at all, and even joins in with Jonghyun to tease them endlessly.

The buzzing noise that comes with being tattooed doesn’t phase Minho at all anymore, although the sharp pain he feels on his hand is slightly worse than what he was expecting. It’s nearing the last hour when Minho starts to get restless, when Minho starts to actually feel the burn of Taemin constantly wiping down the ink and blood away. Arguably, it was one of Minho’s most painful pieces, but he’s too excited about the end result to really have any disdain for the process, although he does clench his teeth when Taemin goes over a particular curved line.

“I know babe, I know. Hold out for just a little bit longer, I’m almost done.” Taemin says as he goes over the pink in Minho’s tat, smiling when Minho in a deep breath, knowing how much it hurts to get your hand tattooed.

Just as Taemin’s wrapping him up, Kibum strolls into the tattoo parlor, smiling at Minho and greeting Taemin with a cute little wave before stoping right in front of Jinki’s station, bending down to give Jinki’s cheek a soft kiss. 

Taemin smiles when Kibum rolls up the sleeves of his loose shirt, revealing the arm piece that Taemin remembers helping Jinki brainstorm.

“I don’t have to give you the speech about how to care for your tattoo’s, right?” Taemin asks playfully, rolling his eyes as Minho looks away thoughtfully before nodding.

A few seconds pass as Taemin cleans up his little area, where Minho just stares at his right hand, absolutely in love with the fine lines that swirl across his veins, each dot of ink meticulously planned out, created with nothing except love. Every seemed to have a hidden meaning inside of it, each color chosen specifically. And while Minho has seen Taemin do number of absolutely stunning pieces, he can’t help but to be blown away at how beautiful his tattoo really is. The fine details of the unfurling petals of a pink peony flower that was just starting to bloom were almost breathtaking.

“You were my last session today, wanna head over to that diner on fourth street before going home?” Taemin asks, rolling his shoulders back and stretching his arms a bit, the few hours he spent on Minho meant being hunched over for a while, and he was dying to walk around a little, loosen up his bones.

Minho nods in response, holding Taemin’s hand with his left one, shouting a couple goodbyes to Jinki and Kibum, and high-fiving Jonghyun that was closing at the front desk.

They walk outside with their hands still intertwined, walking straight out of the shop into one of the busiest streets in the city. After a few moments, Minho pulls Taemin closer, looking down at Taemin’s soft smile and Minho swears he’s never loved anyone as much as he’s loved Taemin.

And just like their love, Minho plants a soft kiss on Taemin’s cheek. It’s gentle and a little shy, and leaves Taemin’s mouth open, his eyes widening in shock. Instantly, Taemin looks around, seeing a few people staring but other than that, everything seems to be alright. 

“I love you.” Minho says then, still a bit scared, still a bit hesitant, but incredibly fearless at the same time.

“I love you too.” Taemin says back, giving Minho’s hand a soft squeeze before they continue walking, their shoulders bumping occasionally, soft smiles gracing both their lips.

And this is where everything starts really, where Minho suddenly finds himself feeling comfortable in his own skin, like there was a blossoming of tiny, little flowers in his ribcage, a meadow growing in his heart, outwards and outwards until there were no more judging eyes, no more judging looks or snark comments.

There was just Taemin, with his soft smiles and unending support.

Just Taemin, and millions of flowers in bloom.

—

a/n: ahhhhhhh it’s finally finished! this took me so long and it was so hard not only to write but to finish ahh ;;

this is kinda un-edited and you can totally tell when i picked it up/stopped and it’s lowkey choppy and could use better development buttttt i really kinda wanted to finish n post it up!

took me nearly a month since i posted the foreword but i made this an extra long 7.7k words ;;

real quick i want to explain a bit of the symbolism going on: the tattoos represent minho’s uality; minho loves his tattoos, loves getting them, loves looking at them but ultimately is scared of showing them/being judged for them. taemin is kinda a faultless angel in this piece but ;; anyway the catalyst for minho’s change was when he realized he hurt taemin (grocery store) which in turn caused him to rethink many things that he was already having conflict with

if you didn’t catch it: minho’s kinda an artist, at the beginning tae talks about how he designed his tattoos and whatnot. so minho was supposed to be teaching as a ‘safe’ option, because being an artist/working in a creative field isn’t really the traditional way of doing things like being covered in thousands of tattoos or loving his boyfriend of seven years (they’ve been friends longer tho!) 

so working as a teacher was socially acceptable and in minho deciding to quit his job was kinda the step he needed to take, like rechecking his priorities and what he really wants in life

getting the peony tattoo on his hand out of all places is super important because the place that minho taught at said he couldn’t have any visible tattoos, so in tattooing his hands is kinda his way of reminding himself of what he really wants and who he really is and to not occult any parts of himself

getting peonies tattooed also has ties in with his uality and his overall journey

(also minho’s uality can be v debatable but i like thinking he’s pan ;;)

and thats a hella long a/n buttt a few people have told me they like to see the whole thought process for my fics??? so here ya go! lots of love goes into making these ;;;;;;;

i hope you guys liked it and thanks sososo much for reading ♡

edit: nine yrs later but hopefully fixed all those typos!