"Alright froggy, what do you want?"

 

The loud voice of Kim Kibum immediately fills Minho's luxurious, loft, jolting the younger man from his seat on the couch. When he realizes that it is the person he had been expecting since three hours ago, he relaxes and settles back down as he replies to his visitor,

 

"What do you mean, hyung? I told you I was sick, didn't I?" Innocence is painted all over his face, but the smugness is still overpowering, "I called you over because I wanted a little company, that's all."

 

"Oh please, if you wanted company, you would have called Jjong." Kibum kicks the door behind him, slinging the satchel on his shoulder higher as he strutted straight to the kitchen, "The only reason you'd ask me to come over is probably because you need help with something, or you want to talk about something, but your man-pride is too much for you to tell me straight up, so you come up with this lame excuse of being sick so that I'd come over and then you'd smoothly ask me questions regarding your dilemma."

 

His faraway voice makes it hard for Minho to understand, but he figures it out eventually. He mumbles under his breath, "10 seconds in and I'm already regretting this."

 

"If that's the case," Minho turns around, seeing the blonde already swirling a shiny goblet of wine in his long fingers, looking at the younger with disdain in his eyes, "I'll be on my way then."

 

This makes panic rise in Minho's chest, making him jump up before he can stop himself and shout, "WAIT!" The blonde's eyes widen from the startling voice from the younger, but the surprise is not enough to make him drop the glass of reddish liquid.

 

Minho coughs, trying to regain his cool aura from his precious embarrassing exclamation. "Ahem. Wait, please. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

 

The shock is still not wiped off of the blonde's face, although it is for a different reason."Did you just apologize to me?"

 

"What?" Minho had not expected the older to actually stay, but the elder is doing just that, only he is asking irrelevant questions.

 

"Normally, you would have just forced me to sit back down. But then you said sorry. You're acting strange." Kibum arches a brow and peers at Minho, as if studying him.

 

The object of his scrutinizing stare can only groan, cursing Kibum's perceptiveness. Of course he would say sorry. A certain brunette would be upset if he didn't. "Do you want to know why I called you here or not?"

 

"Okay, okay." He plops down on the couch, patting the empty spot beside him. The younger occupies the space, tiredly resting his head against the back of the soft leather. Kibum looks at him worriedly as he leans his elbow on the back of the couch as well, propping his head against his hand as he sips from his wine. "What's wrong?"

 

"It's about..." He starts to speak, but embarrassment overwhelms him as his hands automatically come to cover his flushed, frustrated face.

 

Another tiny sip, and the blonde continues for him, "Taemin."

 

The younger man childishly peeks from behind his fingers, as if asking how the blonde knew.

 

Kibum only shrugs, "Call it instinct."

 

Minho silently thanks Kibum for his perceptiveness as he nods to affirm the blonde's suspicion.

 

"What about him?"

 

Minho's adam's apple bobs up and down slowly, as he begins to ponder on whether or not it is a good idea to consult Kibum about something that has been making him feel incredibly vulnerable and... quite frankly, shameful. But against his better judgment, he throws away his 'man-pride' as the blonde had so delicately put it and just lets the words escape his mouth.

 

"He's ruining me.” Kibum is slightly taken aback by the sudden change of Minho’s tone, “He's making me think things I shouldn't be thinking. He's making me do things I shouldn't be doing." Minho leans forward, running his hands frustratedly through his already unkempt hair, "He's fcking me up. He's fcking everything up."

 

Another tiny sip, and then a gentle smile.

 

"He's making you fall in love with him?"

 

Minho raises his hands from his face and warily looks at the older man, relieved that the question is not one of mockery or sarcasm. This is the reason why he had called the man in the first place. With Kibum, he is sure that there will be no biased judgment, only sincere concern and understanding. He knows that the frightened look on his face is worrying the blonde, but he does not have it in him to answer what he knows is the answer, so he only looks away.

 

His focused stare on a distant window is disrupted when he feels a hand ruffling his messy hair. And then a chuckle. Since he did not go to work today, he did not bother to comb it or muss it up, so he does not mind. Then he hears a voice, "It's been a while since you acted this way."

 

Minho's lips tilt into a sad smile as he thinks back on his first year of college, the first time he had called for Kibum, fussing over the first girl he had ever let himself fall in love with. The second time was when the same girl had broken his uncorrupted, untainted heart, leaving him for a boy who was more popular, more affluent, more worthy of her. He asked her why, what did he have to do to make her come back to him. The only response was, "I never really liked you, so don't bother trying."

 

The second time he had let himself fall in love was the third time he had called for his blonde friend. The fourth was when he was left for the same reason, only explained a different way. But it didn't make the pain any less for Minho.

 

The chain went on and on, until he was not capable of falling again.

 

Minho decides that it has indeed been a while since he acted this way.

 

"Do you like him?"

 

Having ignored the elder's questions one too many times, he answers as honestly as he can.

 

"I-I don't know."

 

The shaky tone in Minho's voice makes the blonde remember the first time the boy had called him up, only instead of being confused and frustrated, he had been full of life and excited at the prospect of having found the girl of his dreams. He frowns when he goes on to remember all the other times the boy had called him. Shaking it off, he does what he had always done during the times where Minho needed comfort. He sets his glass of wine on the coffee table beside them and holds his arms out, catching Minho's shivery gaze.

 

It only takes a second for Minho to nestle into Kibum's embrace just as a frightened child would, burying his nose into the crook of the elder's neck. He wraps his arms around the other's waist, the familiar warmth and comfort making his heart swell from pent-up memories and emotions and tiny bits of the feeling of home.

 

Kibum rubs Minho's back as he repeats himself, "Do you like him?"

 

He feels the shaky breathing on his neck and the hesitant nod under his chin."Then what's scaring you so much?"

 

The grip on his waist tightens, with Minho's reply getting muffled from his clothed chest, "I'm not supposed to feel these things for... for a man, hyung. What would my father think?  And even if he were a woman, he'd just end up ditching me for the next best guy he finds." Kibum knows that the younger is trying his best to sound angry, but the disappointment is too painfully obvious in his voice not to be noticed.

 

"Well, I can't really help you figure out how your father would react to this, because I honestly don't know what he'd think." He plays with Minho's hair, rubbing the tips between his fingers, "But do you honestly think Taemin would do that?"

 

"Hyung, you hardly know him."

 

"Yeah, that's true... But I've seen the way he watches you. And you, him."

 

Minho misses Kibum's nose by a fraction of an inch as he brings his head up to gape at him. He doesn't say anything, and this makes the blonde laugh, despite the possible broken nose the younger almost gave him.

 

"Really?" He does not mind that his hyung had spotted him watching the alluring brunette. What surprises him is that his hyung had spotted the other doing the same, only to him. To him.

 

The hopeful eyes and the imaginary wagging dog's tail makes Kibum want to pinch the younger's cheek, but he opts to wrap his arm around the younger again, the latter easily leaning back into his side, wary hopefulness still b from him.

 

"Yes, really." Minho's head drops onto his shoulder, and he continues, "So would it really hurt to let yourself feel something again? Something other than disconnected with every woman you meet?"

 

"What's the point of letting myself feel something again when it's all going to go down the drain eventually?"

 

"Just give him a chance, Minho."

 

The last time he was given that piece of advice was when his father had dismissed his pleas of changing assistants, telling him that Taemin isn't all that bad. So far, the only downside in following that advice is the development of these confusing, unsettling (but not unwelcome) feelings.

 

Feelings like butterflies going wild in his stomach whenever a particular brunette showed the slightest bit of concern about him. Feelings like resentment and jealousy and the urge to beat someone's face into a wall coursing through his body when he sees that certain someone being overly touchy with a particular brunette. Feelings like want and need and the compulsion to be by the side of a particular brunette during the days he isn't corrupting his every brain cell.  

 

He unconsciously smiles at the thought of that particular brunette.

 

His brunette.

 

His Taemin.

 

Although Minho does not speak, Kibum knows that he has made his point loud and clear to the younger. He plays with Minho's hair again, smiling at the possibility of his friend finding happiness again. But then an image of a man wrapping his arm around the object of his friend's desires comes to his mind, reminding him that he has something else to tell Minho.

 

"Minho?"

 

The younger almost falls asleep under the soft touches of Kibum's hand, but he replies with a questioning hum anyway.

 

"We both know that when Jinki hyung tries, he can make women fall for him like cats in heat. And Taemin is no exception.”

 

Minho, not really getting the relevance of what the elder said to their current topic, lifts his head from his hyung's shoulder and squints at him instead, reacting in the most defensive way possible to what had caught his attention most, "Taemin is not a cat in heat."

 

"Aish," Kibum leans forward, taking hold of his wine again, "You're missing the point here." He sips some of the liquid, stressed at his dongsaeng's slow pick up speed, and explains himself, "Jinki hyung just might like the same person you do. So if you don't do something soon..."

 

This simple explanation wakes Minho, who sits straight up when he hears the offending statement. Kibum notes the glint of aggression in the younger's eyes, "No way am I letting hyung have him." He yanks the wine glass from Kibum's dainty arm and gulps the liquid down, probably to calm down his now-awake nerves. He stomps to the kitchen, and the blonde hears a low, 'Taemin better not like hyung or else I'll..' until the disgruntled voice is completely concealed by the kitchen's walls.

 

He chuckles with mirth as he turns on the television, because really, this is the first time that Minho has acted this way.

---

 

 

An entire chapter dedicated to the realization of a certain idiot's feelings, haha. For some reason, I really liked writing out Key's and Minho's sweet interactions with each other in their friendship here, although I'm not as big of a fan of their ship as I am for 2min. :)) Next up, a chapter dedicated to a 'certain brunette's' feelings!