“But I don’t want this one. I want yours…” Minho whined in a very manly way (that’s what he calls it anyway, if it’s even possible to whine like a man.)

Kibum stared at the boy, wide eyed. How does he do that? How does Minho change from the charismatic military man with the flaming gaze when he’s in front of others to this whiny child in front of Kibum? It was quite the thing to witness because just a few minutes ago, this man was glaring down Jinki who came by their motel room with Jonghyun (he had learned about the ‘friendly’ conversation between Kibum and Jinki from Kibum’s ranting.)

“You! What have you done to Minho?” Kibum asked, pointing an accusing finger at him. Minho straightened up, pushing the shirt in his hand back into Kibum’s hand.

“I was just voicing my opinion that I prefer your shirts over these new ones. They are much more comfortable because they don’t scratch against my skin. The delicious aroma on your shirts is a given bonus too,” Minho said in a mature tone that had Kibum almost believing that what he was saying is actually mature. Minho bent down to pick a shirt out of Kibum’s neatly packed suitcase and messing up the arrangement in the process.

“Yah, you’re messing it up!” Kibum said, waving his hands in front of his bag wildly.

“And you’re quite loud. Are we done stating the obvious?” Minho said with a devilish grin on. The grin flickered a tiny bit as he pulled the shirt over his bandaged back because the action must have caused him some pain. Instinct told Kibum to strangle the other but he refrained from doing so, remembering the injury on Minho’s back.

Kibum went on to silently pack the shirts he bought for Minho in his own bag and finally finishing up by throwing his toiletries in. Minho stayed quiet the whole time, surprisingly. He must be a quick-learner, knowing that a silent Kibum is a ticking bomb waiting to explode. By the time that Kibum was done, his mood had lifted considerably just thinking about going home today.

Kibum’s grandmother is finally getting discharged. After what seemed like months but was actually less than one, he was going to take his grandmother home where she belongs. She had been pretty excited too, chatting away about the morning breezes that she missed while Kibum packed her things up. Kibum was so glad that she was doing so much better now. To think that the same old woman had been so close to being claimed by death just shortly before was unfathomable even for Key, who had been the one to hurt the most from all the events that led to it.

Minho, on the other hand, was just beginning to recover. After three days of staying in the room above the traditional medicine shop, Kibum had opted to’discharge’ Minho from the place because they didn’t want to burden the old man anymore. Kibum was planning to nurse Minho back to health by himself anyway. So they left the shop carrying bags of medicines, herbs and bandages along with a lot of new wisdom learned from the kind old man, so that Kibum could tend to the wound by himself. It’s not too difficult a task to take care of Minho now, especially since they had passed the critical stage where infections were the major cause of worry. Kibum had been taught how to change bandages and disinfect the wound, something that has to be done every day. How was he to do that when Minho’s off at his military base camp when they got home, well, Kibum hasn’t thought that far yet. But he will, sooner or later.

It looked like Kibum was going to have his hands full, taking care of two patients. But Kibum doesn’t mind. Not a single bit, for what he was doing was only a given when you love someone. And Kibum loved his grandmother and Minho with all his heart.

“She’ll be fine, Kibum. Now, go!” Jonghyun repeated, arms crossed quite similarly to how Kibum’s are usually. Well, that’s the benefits of being Kibum’s friend for you.

Kibum glanced at his grandmother behind Jonghyun, who was talking very animatedly with Jonghyun’s father. Her hand gestures were so wild even though she was sitting and it made her seem like an overgrown child. Kibum smiled at the thought.

“I know she’ll be. Just keep your hyung away from her. I don’t like him,” Kibum said finally, turning to get back into the car. He was glad that Jinki wasn’t here right now because if he was, he would’ve had Kibum’s blood pressure rising to a dangerous level.

“Yeah, yeah. Be safe, alright? And for god’s sake, please don’t pick a fight with anyone!” Jonghyun shouted to him as they drove away from Jonghyun’s house. Kibum frowned at him and turned to face Minho who was fast asleep in a very awkward position in the backseat. Even in his sleep, his face looked contorted in some sort of discomfort.

Kibum was accompanying Minho to his base camp. An idea that was very strongly objected by Jonghyun’s father, for he knew just how much Kibum hated military men. He also knew that military men don’t spare a thought when it comes to using their rifles. So when you put two and two together, the outcome doesn’t seem very pleasant to be imagined. But being the stronghead Kibum was, a simple ‘no’ was not going to stop him. Hence, the reason Kibum is leaving his grandmother to stay overnight at Jonghyun’s.

This was Kibum’s chance to see Minho’s life. All he has seen up until now are snippets of it, where Minho is conveniently always not in his uniform and it’s so easy for Kibum to forget just what exactly he is. The closest thing to Minho’s army life that Kibum has witnessed is the time the former sliced the kempetai’s throat open with no emotions whatsoever on his face just a few nights ago. Seeing Minho in his place, doing what he does, well, it’s going to be hard. Kibum will just have to swallow the bitter pill of reality if he wanted to make sure that this wide-eyed, freakishly tall man was going to be taken care of.

“This is as far as I am allowed to go, young master. Specific orders from Master Kim,” the driver said when they reached the edge of the forest, in which the military base camp is hidden. The place they are at now is actually quite far from Kibum’s place, although Kibum’s house is also at the edge of the forest. It’s just that they were on the opposite ends of the forest, this spot being a better place for a stealthier entrance into the forest rather than near his house.

Kibum nodded once to the driver and got down from the car. He went to the back and shook Minho gently to wake him up. From here on, they would have to walk to wherever the base camp is. It will be difficult for Minho in his semi-drugged, weak state but that is what Kibum is here for; to help him get there.

“I don’t wanna. Come cuddle with me, Kibum,” Minho said, pulling Kibum’s wrist downwards instead. Kibum glanced at the driver through the rearview mirror as the man sent a curious look at the both of them in the backseat.

“Painkillers. He’s messed up now…” Kibum said, smiling awkwardly. That’s it. injured or not, Minho is going to be woken up the rough way now.

“Ouch, Kibum!” Minho said, sitting up instantly while clutching his forearm where Kibum gave a very powerful slap.

“Let’s go! We’re here,” Kibum said, moving back to allow the taller boy some space to come out of the car. Minho glared at him for being woken up from his slumber. Kibum ignored it as he told the driver to go. He would find his way through the forest to his own house later so there was no need for the driver to wait up. Kibum and Minho didn’t wait until the car was gone to start their journey. Clutching the bag full of Minho’s medicinal supplies closer to his side, Kibum started walking in the direction Minho said.

It was a silent journey. Not the awkward silence that had been between them when they first made a trip together to Itaewon, although the situation almost felt similar. It was a silence full of a lot of emotions, actually. Kibum’s fear and nervousness in seeing more military men soon, Minho’s pain and discomfort from putting himself through so much strain and above all, the curiousity shared by them both about what was going to happen next.

So Minho has confessed to Kibum and Kibum, too, although not so much in the form of words rather than actions (who would have thought that three short words would be a difficult thing to say?) However, the real question was what happens now, now that they were being open with each other about their feelings? They can’t shout it out from the rooftop and declare the other as theirs and theirs alone. They can’t go around telling their friends and families that they have fallen head over heels in love for each other. They definitely can’t go around on romantic dates.

What can they do, then?

They can steal glances of each other when they are amongst friends and family, hopefully raising no suspicion. They can pretend like they’re casual friends in front of everyone when really, what they wanted to do is to push each other up against the wall and kiss the living daylights out of each other.

Or they can simply let their fingers find their way to each other absent-mindedly, so that they can entangle themselves around each other blissfully, in the middle of a forest where they knew for sure that they wouldn’t get caught.

“What happens to us now, Minho?” Kibum asked, truly curious of what the other would have to say to this, while he watched Minho’s long digits squeeze his hand. Kibum loved seeing his smaller hand being held by that big, warm hand. He felt protected, secure, all just through that one simple action.

“We… I don’t know, Kibum…” Minho said, much to Kibum’s disappointment. He was hoping that the younger would have an answer to the question. They turned to the east, changing direction from their earlier straight route. The canopy of trees was making the forest seem darker and darker even though the sun was shining brightly above them.

“I didn’t think that far before because all I had running in my mind was, ‘Go get Kibum. Apologize. Beg for him to accept you even if he doesn’t have the same feelings for you’.”

Minho’s revelation changed the atmosphere around them suddenly. Kibum looked at him in surprise. Did Minho really think all that when they were apart after the beach incident?

“Kidnap him if he refuses to forgive you,” Minho added as a joke, obviously to cover up the sappy confession earlier. Minho was a tough guy and tough guys don’t do sappy (even though that’s exactly what he has been doing ever since he came back to Kibum.) Kibum’s grin, that he only realized just now that he was wearing, grew wider still.

“You really thought all that? Why did you never tell me? That’s so romantic of you,” Kibum said on purpose to get revenge for all those times Minho had made him blush for the silliest things. Minho was obviously having a tough time swallowing his own spit now as Kibum watched him getting flustered.

“I was so mad at you. I was frustrated beyond even my standards, Minho. But if you were to come back apologizing, I would have forgiven you in a heartbeat. Because that’s how much I missed you,” Kibum admitted boldly. It was something that the other needed to know because Kibum wouldn’t be able to take another separation like that easily if it were to happen ever again.

“There’s no amount of apology that I could ask of you to truly say just how sorry I was to leave you, Kibum. That was a punishment in itself, you know…” Minho said, regret so deep in his voice. Kibum squeezed his hand despite being weaker than the other, to tell him that it’s alright now.

“You’re here now, Minho, and that’s all that matters.”

Minho brought their interlocked hands up to his lips, pressing a chaste kiss onto the back of Kibum’s hand, leaving Kibum a blushing mess for the millionth time already. Minho was surely doing a terrible job at not appearing to be sappy.

Only a few more minutes of walking and Kibum started hearing signs of a civilization nearby.He heard chattering and footsteps that were pretty obvious against the silence of the forest. The forest was beginning to open up into a clearing, the trees growing further apart and allowing more sunlight to reach the ground. Kibum untangled his fingers from Minho’s just as he saw the first human figure at the edge of the base camp.

Rows of tents were the first thing that Kibum saw as he stepped into the clearing. Arranged in two somewhat straight lines were… ten tents, Kibum counted. All similar in size except the last one at the far end of the clearing that looked much bigger than the rest and another beside it that also looked quite big. Kibum also noticed an open tent that looked more like some tarp draped over four pillars where there was smoke rising from.

Minho led Kibum through the crowd of burly men that had stopped doing whatever it was they were doing to look at the two of them. Kibum tried not to make eye contact, just in case he started scowling for no reason and ended up pissing someone off. But he still managed to look at most of their faces. Some were serious, some just curious and one looked particularly happy. Kibum saw another giant of a man beside the happy one that seemed about ready to chew someone’s head off with his glare.

Then, Kibum noticed the stench. Goodness, did these people never take a bath? Well, he guessed they didn’t snce they were probably too busy to and their closest water source was just a small stream branching off from the main river. Hardly sufficient to get themselves cleaned up. There was also a rusty smell, the smell of blood underlying in the stench and Kibum wondered if all the military men just naturally smelt of blood or something. Overpowering all the other smells, surprisingly, was the smell coming from the tent with the smoke.

“What is that stench, Minho?” Kibum asked in a whisper, having a hard time holding his hand down from trying to shield his nose so that he doesn’t offend someone. Minho, who had on a stoic expression since they entered the clearing, cracked a small smile at that.

“Lunch.”

Minho’s one word answer had Kibum’s stomach twisting in disgust. Now, he really couldn’t help bringing his hand up to his face. He received a few glares from the men that have made it their responsibility to tail Kibum and Minho’s every move with their eyes. Kibum was only able to eye the rifles they were all carrying warily.

“We’re here,” Minho said to him before he pushed open the flap to go into the biggest tent that Kibum saw just now. Kibum followed behind him unsurely.

“Minho! Where on earth have you been?!” were the first words that left the mouth of a tall, muscular man with fair skin seated at a makeshift table in the tent. He had on a stern expression while his tone was anything but, carrying a hint of concern. Kibum saw a whole lot of documents strewn all over the table. He must be some form of a leader around here, Kibum guessed.

Minho bowed a full right angle, despite the ache on his back as clearly shown by his expression.

“Tae Jun-shii, forgive me for my absence. I had to leave to take care of personal things,” Minho answered him formally. Kibum just stood back and watched, which was an easy thing to do because neither men in the tent were paying him any attention now.

“Personal things? We’re on a mission here. You know better than to abandon a mission to go take care of personal matters! Do you realize just how insolent you sound?!” the man said in a low tone, the authority in his voice unforgiving. He stood up to come stand in front of Minho, glaring down at him.

“I know, sir. But this was really important. Weren’t you the one who always said that family comes first, no matter what?!” Minho said, obviously knowing exactly what to do in the situation. This didn’t look like the first time they were having this conversation. On a less important note, Kibum noticed that Minho just referred to him as family, which left Kibum feeling very light-hearted.

“Minho, just because you’re the General’s nephew, doesn’t mean that you can bend the rules on your own whim! I’m not letting you go easily this time, Minho.”

Kibum looked at Minho, worriedly.

“But sir, I have valuable information from my reconnaissance in the city. I was away for personal reasons but I was still doing my job,” Minho said, not seeming one bit tensed.

“Job that you were NOT told to do, Minho!-“ the man paused, considering something, “-But information, you say. What exactly are those?”

“I can’t discuss that in front of civilians, sir…” Kibum pouted at that.

“What civi- Oh, him. Who are you? What are you doing here?” and just like that the man’s full attention was on Kibum. Kibum didn’t know exactly how to explain the reason he was here so he ended up staring at the man for quite some time, dumbly.

“Actually, he’s here to take care of me. You see, I’m injured and I will be needing his help,” Minho helped Kibum start.

“Yes, my name is Kim Kibum,” he would have added ‘It’s nice to meet you’ but it really wasn’t, so Kibum left it out on purpose. The man looked at both Minho and Kibum, perplexed.

“What injury? You look fine to me,” the man said. This led Minho to dive into the entire tale of what happened with the kempetai. The man listened attentively, asking appropriate questions where necessary.

“Oh really? Your bravery should be complimented, boy. For a civilian to do what you did to save Minho, it’s quite impressive I must say,” the man said and Kibum just nodded politely, not flattered by the compliment at all although it seemed sincere from the man. It’s not what was said that was the problem, but rather the person that said it (or more specifically, what the person did for a living.)

“Just leave the medicines with our resident doctor and he will take care of Minho,” the man added later, turning to go through some papers on his desk. Of course the military would have a resident doctor to take care of the military men’s health! Why hadn’t Kibum realized it before? It was probably because he was set on using this as a reason to stay by Minho’s side for just a while longer.

Minho looked like he was thinking very hard about something.

“Sir, you mean the seventeen year-old newbie who knows how to band-aid a cut and wrap bandages loosely around broken bones,” Minho asked the man. The latter stopped what he was doing to send Minho a warning glare.

“You sure have a lot of complaints for someone awaiting punishment for misconduct while on duty, Minho. The boy’s got to go. It’s not safe for us to trust anyone at this point. He already knows too much as it is. Minho, you will be held accountable for anything that leaks out of this place, I tell you,” the main said, his commanding tone coming back.

“But sir, he already knew of us a long time ago. He was the one who supplied rice to us,” Minho tried again.

“The answer’s still no. The boy must go. Someone here can help you treat your wound, Minho.”

Minho looked just as desperate as KIbum to find a reason to see each other often, even if it was for just a while. Kibum just got his love back and he was not prepared to be away from it so soon. This is the only thing that drove Kibum to say the next words that he knew will make his life very hectic from that point on. Not to mention, a shame to Kibum’s principles in life; to never be related in any way to the army. But that principle was broken a long time ago anyway, the moment he laid eyes on Minho.

“I can cook for the army.”

(A/N) Chapter 17 guys!!! enjoy!! :)

Soooo I have nothing much to say (actually I do, refer to the totally unrelated content below if you want to...) Thank you so much for reading and commenting guys!! I love you guys!! <3

Have a good day!!!

@jess_mmam~ Hahaha.. I'm glad you're liking the cheesiness!! :D Minho just can't keep his hands off of his Key, can he?? Well, more reason for us to fangirl!! (Look at me talking like my characters are actually real... OTL) But seriously, these two are so cute together even in real life that it's so hard for me to keep the cheesiness to a minimum level... Hehehe... I'm happy making you happy!!! So thank you for commenting!! :)

@kpoplina95~ Welcome new reader!!! About Minho's line- I was seriously fangirling over that when I wrote it myself (yes, I'm weird... just a lttle teeny weeny bit... :D) I hope you continue enjoying my story and please leave me comments!!! Thank you for commenting!! <3

@shinestarsky~ Unnie!! I'm glad you liked the MinKey's romance part!! *cue mischievous smirk* Thank you so much for commenting!! <3

Warning: Totally unrelated content!! Ignore this if you have a short attention span or if you cannot accept my personal views or if you simply don't care about my personal views! With that said, please don't bash on me or anything! I'm just stating my opinion and addressing a matter that concerns all of us, Shawols!

There's actually something that has been bothering me for a while... I'm sure you guys heard about the JongTae controversy and how there are shawols petitioning for these two to be removed from Shinee. I know things like this were gonna happen when JongTae decided to be brave and do something so out of character (at least in Taemin's case..) But I didn't expect for it come to the point where ppl would actually want to REMOVE the two from Shinee!!! Shinee is 5, 5 is Shinee!! I have no idea what is driving these ppl to react this way. I mean, don't you think they're overreacting??!! This was something that I decided to ignore when I first found out about it. But recently Jong changed his twitter dp to one of his performance with Tae- 'Internet war.' It's so sad to think that Jong knows about ppl hating on him for such a stupid thing... :( But that's Jong's way of showing that he did what he had to do as an artist and I SUPPORT HIS EFFORTS TO BRING JOY TO HIS FANS 100%!! What I want to say here to those who are hating on JongTae- Please don't blow things out of proportion. These are the idols you love that you are talking about and ONE performance is not going to change who they are as a person! Stop hating! Shawol is a fandom of LOVE and it's one of the biggest reasons I love Shinee, the fans are simply awesome!!! (this is based on my observation/ *cough*stalking*cough*of countless fansites over the past year and a half)

Please Shawols, don't hurt our boys!!! They're only growing up and doing what they love for us, their fans!! Thank You!!