The week after Minho's more than unexpected confession to his father is his brother Minseok's birthday. Upon remembering this, he realizes that it would be the perfect opportunity to tell his mother about Taemin.

 

So here they are in Minho's BMW with the elder driving distractedly because he is too occupied with apologizing to Taemin for once again dragging the brunette away from his 'friendly' date with Kai. (Minho is still not completely convinced that Kai has no ulterior motives behind their frequent movie nights.)

 

The venue for Minseok's celebration is to be held at the Choi's rest house 3 hours away from Seoul, and for the 2 hours that they have been on the road, Taemin has been glaring at the window, an annoyed twitch to his right eye. The elder has tried sweet-talking, bribing and blackmailing the brunette to get him to at least talk to him but the boy just wouldn't budge. The only things disturbing the darkness and silence in the car are the periodic street lamps and the cheesy love song playing on the radio.

 

"Minnie, are you really that angry?"

 

Taemin shifts in his seat and eyes Minho from the corner of his eyes. Sure, he was upset that the elder had suddenly kidnapped him and spontaneously told him that he'll be meeting Mr. Choi and the rest of his family today, but that isn't what's got him so antsy and fidgety. It's that he is worried that his boyfriend's family might not like him, much less accept him. He sighs and turns off the radio so that he would not have to raise his voice's volume.

 

"I'm not angry. I'm just... worried."

 

Relief floods Minho, the need to comfort the brunette slipping in as well. He takes his hand off of the gear shift to place it on top of Taemin's, even if it is just for a moment.

 

"We're going to be okay." He regrets that he cannot look into the other's eyes when he says this, but he knows that Taemin already finds the hand on his reassuring enough.

 

 

The large estate the Choi's rightfully call their estate comes into sight as Minho drives down the stretch of road, and so he gently wakes Taemin up in the voice he always uses to rouse the boy from his frequent naps. Taemin's eyes slowly blink open, his hands coming up to rub the sleep away from them. The sight reminds Minho of a child, and he resists the urge to just pull over and smother the boy in his arms.

 

They pull up to the driveway, finding the lot void of any vehicles. This puzzles Minho because from the bay window, he can see the telltale signs of a large television screen flashing different colors from what looks to be the living room. He turns the car's engine off and opens the door for Taemin on the other side. The brunette sleepily staggers onto the ground, thankful that the elder was there to catch him from falling.

 

"Careful, Minnie." He chuckles as he half drags Taemin to the house's porch. Minho doesn't even bother to ring the doorbell and just pushes the door open to let Taemin inside. The brunette is pulled from his sleepy daze when his eyes land on the magnificence of the mansion's interior. A glamorous chandelier hangs right above the double staircases to the second floor. Windows starting from the ground to the ceiling line the walls of the home. He sees a number of maids scuffling to and fro, and it dazes Taemin. Though he is admittedly one of the more fortunate citizens of Seoul, it is only now that he sees just how far ahead the Choi's are in terms of affluence.

 

Taemin is forced to stop his gaping when he hears a voice walking towards them from the spacey room on the right, presumably the living room.

 

"Hyung!"

 

The brunette almost jumps to Minho's back for safety when he sees a tall, young boy ambling towards them. The boy has chinky eyes and he has hair that looks a bit like Minho's. When the Minho-look-alike finally stands in front of them, Taemin notices that the boy is almost as tall as him, only smaller by a few centimetres. He takes a small step back so that he is hidden behind Minho's tall shoulder.

 

"Hey, Minseok." The brunette watches the dopplegangers exchange a tight, quick hug and it brings a smile to his lips. This is another side of Minho that he likes seeing. When they pull away, Minho asks the young man, a grin plastered on his face, "How have you been?"

 

The chinky eyed boy only replies with a shrug, "Fine, I guess." But then the nonchalance is gone when his eyes land on the subtly hiding Taemin. His eyes immediately light up and a smirk creeps up his small mouth to form a scary, knowing look.

 

He raises his eyebrows suggestively and then scuffles to Minho's other side. He doesn't have to stand on his tip toes to whisper into Minho's ear, and it makes Taemin feel even more depressed about his lack of vertical growth.

 

But the depression is easily pushed aside when he hears the boy's not-so-low whisper."So hyung," He pauses to glance over at Taemin and then continues, "he's the one who's got you whipped?"

 

Different shades of red color the brunette's face, and Minho only gets embarrassed by how inappropriate his 16 turning 17 year old brother is being. He smacks him upside the head and tells him to 'Shut up, idiot.' while half angry and half laughing.

 

He shakes his head as he chuckles, hand coming up to rub at his temples, "Minseok, meet Taemin. Taemin, Minseok."

 

Minseok offers a hand for a shake and says, "Nice to finally meet you." His cheeky grin is inviting enough that Taemin actually shakes the offered hand. "Dad's told me all about you two." The knowing, teasing look is back, and it makes the redness of Taemin's cheeks turn even worse.

 

Minho lets out a surprised noise, "Dad? Really?"

 

"Yep, said you were in a relationship with a guy named Taemin." Minho is surprised at how nonchalantly his little brother says this, as if it is the most normal thing in the world to find out that your brother is gay and in a relationship with another man. He wants to ask the teenager what he thinks about the whole thing when the said boy suddenly turns to Taemin and blurts out, "Hey hyung, can I call you hyung?"

 

"O-Of course."

 

"Great! Do you want to play some games with me, Taemin hyung?"

 

"Uh..." Taemin fiddles his fingers like he always does when he is feeling socially awkward, and Minho is kind of sorry that he finds his boyfriend's uneasiness adorable. So he does what he can to save the poor brunette.

 

"Minseok, stop hogging Taemin to yourself. We just got here." He feels Taemin's small hand clutching onto his coat sleeve, and he forces himself not to smile. He likes it when Taemin is like this, but the brunette would probably get angry if he found out. 

 

"But he's so pretty, like a girl! I bet if I got to him first he probably would've liked me better." Thankfully, Minseok wasn't looking at Taemin when he said this, or else he would have seen the obvious flush of Taemin's cheeks.

 

But then the brunette notices how Minho tenses up a bit, and he finds it kind of amusing that he would even get jealous from silly things his little brother is saying. Minho grits through his teeth, "Do you want me to tell Taemin here about your little incident with Sun Ye?'

 

'YAH SHUT UP!'

 

The elder keeps teasing Minseok about a missent text to a girl named Sun Ye and Taemin doesn't understand anything else after that. They joke around with each other for a little while, and eventually their laughter and rough housing dies down. By this time they have settled into the living room, Minho and Taemin on one couch and Minseok sprawled on a single. Then Minho asks him, "So where are mom and dad?"

 

"Oh they just went out for dinner." He flips the channels boredly as he slouches in the cushions. "They told me to stay home so I could welcome you back." When he finally settles on a channel he likes, he pouts at his older brother. "So it's your fault that I didn't get to eat out with Umma and Appa tonight."

 

"Stop being such a brat." He ruffles the boy's hair. When Minseok roughly shakes his head to prevent Minho from messing up his hair even furthe, the elder laughs and then says, "Tell you what, since it is your birthday tomorrow and we just got off the road, I'll personally cook dinner for you."

 

Simultaneous responses from Taemin and Minseok, respectively: "You cook?" and "Really? No help from any of the maids?"

 

"Of course I cook, Minnie!" He pecks the brunette on the nose and the couple hears a distant 'Eeeeeeew' from Minseok's spot. Taemin only ducks his head and Minho blatantly ignores his brother's immaturity. But he replies, anyway. "And yes, no help from any of the maids."

 

"Okay then, I'll take you up on that offer." He goes back to watching his television show, slouching even further into the cushions until what is left to be seen is a pile of pillows.

 

 

"Your brother, he's interesting." Taemin runs the pasta through a strainer to drain away all of the remaining boiling water. He quietly winces when a few droplets land on his skin.

 

"He's not interesting." The brunette feels a damp cloth on his very mildly burnt hand, realizing that Minho is holding it in place. The elder gently wipes at the pink dots on his hand as he continues, "He's like a hyperactive kid high on sugar with absolutely no filter between his brain and his mouth." He hangs the cloth on a rack and goes back to the pasta sauce on the stove.

 

Taemin is absentmindedly checking the tiny blisters that have formed on his hand when he mumbles, "It's just interesting how he doesn't seem to care that you and me are... you know."

 

"That's because he doesn't. As blunt and tactless as he may be, Minseok could care less about those kinds of things. As long as I act like a responsible brother to him, he wouldn't have a thing to say about anything or anyone else."

 

The brunette observes how Minho had explained all of that without stumbling on a single word as he stirs something in the pot he is working on. They must be pretty close.

 

He smiles at the thought and then walks up to Minho's back, hugging him from behind, arms around the elder's toned torso. He leans his head on the taller's broad back, taking in his scent as he thinks about how the brothers must care for each other a lot. "That's nice," he whispers, and he doesn't know how, but he senses the small smile that forms on Minho's face. And when he does, he stands on his tip toes and props his chin on the taller's shoulder to look over at what he's doing. "Am I seeing things or are you actually cooking with your own two hands?"

 

"Why? Do I not look like the cooking type?" The faux-insulted tone in Minho's voice just presses the brunette to even more.

 

"Absolutely not. You look like the 'Hey you go make me a sammich' type of guy." Cue saucy grin from the younger. 

 

"Really?" If he didn't know any better, Taemin would have thought that Minho was really curious, "And is that type of guy attractive to you?"

 

"Nope." He cutely shakes his head, Minho's hair tickling his cheek in the process, "I'd pick cooking Minho over bossy Minho any day."

 

"I'm your boss, so I have to be bossy."

 

"That's besides the point. Now hurry, I'm getting hungry."

 

"Yeah, yeah." Minho lets slip a secret grin as he mutters, "Such a demanding girlfriend."

 

"What did you just say?" He squeezes his arms around Minho's torso, tickling him in the process.

 

"Y-Yah stop that or else this sauce is going to spill," he says between deep chuckles. The threat is not enough, only fuelling the brunette's roaming fingers.

 

"Take back what you said first."

 

"I d-don't even remember what I said anymore!" Minho does not even know how he managed to form that sentence between his continuous laughs. 

 

Taemin's upcoming taunt is cut off when they hear an old man's voice at the kitchen's doorway.

 

"There you two are!"

 

Taemin immediately jumps back from Minho's back and his face is burning red because Minho's father had just seen him being molested by his assistant/boyfriend/girlfriend. Minho only rubs his neck sheepishly, replying to his dad.

 

"Hey, dad.  Sorry about the mess."

 

"That's okay, just ask Sunny to clean up for you afterwards." Then he turns to Taemin, "Taemin! It's great to see you!" he hugs the brunette and Taemin raises his arm shyly to hug him back. He is saved from the embarrassment of awkwardly pulling away from Mr. Choi when Minho asks the elder a question, making the man tear away first.

 

"Where's mom?"

 

"She's in the living room, probably nagging at Minseok." He cranes his head a bit, trying to hear what his wife is saying from the living room. He looks at Taemin and Minho decidedly. "When you two are done here, you better head upstairs first until she cools down. You wouldn't want her to be in a bad mood when you tell her."

 

Upon hearing this, Minho looks down at the ground, finding a spot of spilt red sauce more entertaining to look at. He does not give a reply, looking very hesitant about something.

 

"You are telling her, right?"

 

The tone in the old man's voice, that very familiar tone, tells him that he has to look up and answer properly. "O-Of course, dad!"

 

"Good." And with that, the intimidating man walks away.

 

Taemin flicks off a tiny basil leaf off of Minho's chin just for the sole purpose of getting to touch him and asks, "What's wrong? Why do you seem so afraid of her?"

 

"No particular reason." The topic is quickly dismissed, "Come on, let's get this packed and served for Minseok and then we can go to my room."

 

 

The hunger that had been plaguing Taemin is gone because as of the moment, Minho is kissing him so greedily, and he finds that his hunger can be satisfied with just the feeling of Minho against him. But despite the pleasure and the excitement running up and down his spine, Taemin feels kind of worried because Minho is never this aggressive when he kisses Taemin. As much as he hates to do it, he ruptures the extremely close connection they were once sharing so that he could look the elder in the eyes when he asks, "Minho, are you okay?"

 

"Yes." A reprimanding look from Taemin, "No."

 

"Is it about your mother?"

 

He nods.

 

"What about her?"

 

The elder does not know if it would be appropriate to tell Taemin what is on his mind. They are offensive and downright insulting, and Minho hates that he had once believed in these things. But he knows that Taemin is understanding and that he will understand no matter what, because they already trust each other enough to know that their past differences are long gone now.

 

So Minho tells Taemin everything. He ashamedly tells him how his mother is the reason why Minho has such a bad impression of homouals. She always says things about how they are a disgrace to society or about how they are embarrassments to their families. So he is pretty sure that no matter how much he manipulates the words when he confesses to Mrs. Choi, it will not go well in the slightest. He is worried about what may possibly happen.

 

"You don't have to do this if you're not ready yet. I'm fine with keeping it under wraps as long as I have to, until you're comfortable with it." He squeezes Minho's hand just as he always does when he tries to make him feel better. And as always, it works, because the elder visibly relaxes.

 

"No. I want to do this, and I want to do it now. I want my family to accept you, and so far, two of them already have. I just don't know how badly my mother will react. What if... What if she does something to you? Oh god..."

Minho buries his head in his hands, threading his fingers through his black hair in frustration.

 

"Minho, you don't have to worry about me. I'm already happy enough that you actually (want) your family to know about me." He peels Minho's hands away from his face and intertwines their fingers, "It's... nice. It makes me feel special."

 

"Because you are special, Minnie." He pulls Taemin close to him, "You're beautiful," a kiss on the forehead, "and perfect," a kiss on the nose, "and everything I've ever ing wanted in anyone." a kiss on the lips.

 

Taemin's eyes tear up because in all his life, no one has ever told him anything quite as sweet and genuine as that. He pushes Minho down to lie on the bed so he can bury his burning red face in the man's chest. "... Just shut up."

 

Minho smiles because no one has ever endeared and charmed him quite as much as the boy in his arms has. They stay in that position until they are called downstairs for dinner.

 

 

 

When they get downstairs, they keep the contact to a minimum. Mr. Choi and Minseok pretend that they don't know anything about the two of them and they are immensely grateful because the last thing they need is for Minho's mother to hear the news from someone else.

 

The long dining table is eloquently prepared with food of the finest quality. Taemin would have drooled at the sight of the delicious-looking gourmet meals if he weren't so nervous about what was to come later. Minho, Taemin and Minseok are already seated, waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Choi to enter the dining hall. The teenager had already informed the couple about his and Mr. Choi's plan to not give away anything. This comforts the pair, lightening the mood of the room.

 

But then they hear heels and dress shoes clicking against the marble floor of the dining hall, and the tense atmosphere is back again. The three youngsters rise out of sheer politeness to greet the elders. This draws a laugh from Mr. Choi, because it is a rarity to see his sons so prim and proper. A pleasant thought runs through the old man's mind: Must be Lee's son's influence.

 

He greets both his sons, but then acts surprised when he sees an unfamiliar face at the table. "Oh," Minseok internally laughs at his father's lame acting, "And who might you be?" The woman beside Mr. Choi has a look of annoyance and curiosity on her youthful face as she stares down the visitor, scaring Taemin out of his mind.

 

"Dad, Mom, this is Lee Taemin. He's my... friend." It is almost physically painful for Minho to have to call Taemin a label that is so unfeeling and impassionate.

 

Taemin smiles at the old couple, also pretending that it is his first time to meet Mr Choi. The smile on Yun-Gyeom's face as he greets him makes him feel at ease. But it is sad that he cannot say the same for Mrs. Choi. She is still staring at Taemin with icy eyes, as if judging him for everything he is worth. From the corner of his eyes, he can see Minho and Minseok observing their mother, as if silently pleading with her to react positively to the visitor. Taemin feels himself shrinking under Mrs. Choi's gaze, wanting the earth to just swallow him up whole. But then a bright, beautiful smile overtakes the cold glower on her wrinkle-free face, making Taemin let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding.

 

"It's nice to meet you, Taemin."

 

 

Dinner officially begins when they are served their first course. Taemin and Minho are seated beside each other, with Minseok seated across the brunette and Mrs. Choi sitting across Minho. Mr. Choi, as the man of the house, is seated at the end of the table. Mrs. Choi, being her usual curious self, starts throwing questions at Taemin, wholly interested in what the boy does for a living and how he knows Minho. Taemin barely has time to answer one of her questions before she moves on to another one.

 

Yun-Gyeom cuts between them with a laugh, "Yura, go easy on the boy. He might choke on his food if you keep bombarding him with questions like that."

 

"He's fine, yeobo." She waves her husband off dismissively, and Taemin is taken aback when the usually intimidating man backs down easily. Their one-sided conversation starts once again, going on for several more minutes until the main course is served. Minho is glad to see that the two are getting along, and he smiles at his brother, because from the looks of it, maybe things won't be so bad after all.

 

Halfway through the dinner and the chatter, Mr. Choi looks around, scanning the room for any available maids. "Where have they all gone? We're running out of wine," His brows are furrowed, looking slightly upset at the unawareness of his househelp.

 

Taemin, already feeling a tad more comfortable with the prominent Choi family, stands up and offers in the most polite way Minho has ever seen, "I can go get it, sir."

 

Yun-Gyeom smiles up at him and nods his head, thanking him and complimenting his father for raising such a polite young man. He goes to get the wine before they get the chance to see the burning of the tips of his ears.

 

When the dining hall's doors close, Yura leans forward and props her chin on her intertwined fingers, "I really like this friend of yours, Minho."

 

The statement catches Minho by surprise, really not expecting his mother to be so blunt about it. He coughs on his wine before pulling himself together, "That's good." He smiles at Mr. Choi and Minseok, and then at his mother, "I like him too."

 

"Of course you should like him, silly. He's your friend, isn't he?" She giggles at how foolish her son is being.

 

"Uh..." He lets his hand finds it way to the back of his neck, abashed, "technically, I guess?"

 

"What do you mean, 'technically'?" A laugh is still present in her voice, because she really can't understand his son's antics at the moment.

 

"I also consider him as a friend, though to me..." . "he is also more than a friend."

 

Now the amusement is completely gone, but her tone is not one of anger just yet. "I don't think I understand what you're saying."

 

"Mom..." He frantically looks to his father's direction, meeting gazes with the older man. The encouraging look on his face pushes Minho to just come out with it, "Taemin is my boyfriend."

 

If they were outdoors, crickets would be chirping. One painful minute of silence; then comes the loud bang of a spoon slamming down onto a plate and the sound of heels stomping against the dining hall's marble floor.

 

"Mom!" Minho goes after her before the door connecting the dining hall to the living room slams closed. Minseok and Mr. Choi stare after them, but their attentions are snapped to something else when they hear another door loudly hitting its doorframe. There stands Taemin, hands clutching at a bottle of wine, eyes wide and mouth slightly hanging open. He is about to run after Minho and ask him if he is okay, but he is held back by a firm hand on his wrist. He snaps his head to glare at whoever is restraining him from reaching Minho, and he only sees Minseok's worried mien.

 

"It would probably be better if you stayed here. You wouldn't want to see hyung angry, especially when it's with our mom." The grip on his wrist turns lax, and it is unnecessary now because what Minseok said is already enough to keep him in his position. Taemin thought that he has already seen everything an angry Minho has to offer, but what the teenager said scares him, makes him rethink how much he really knows the man he is involved with.

 

 

The moment Minho asked his mother to just stop and listen to him, shouts were immediately let loose.

 

"Do you have any idea what impression you'll be posing? What people will be saying about you, about us?!"

 

"Why should I care about what they have to say? Why can't I do what I want to do for once?!"

 

"Stop being a brat, Minho. You already have everything you want." Yura lets her glare stray from Minho to the maids who are standing around, watching the argument unfold. They immediately disperse when both mother and son send them identical death glares, burning with a fury that they had never seen before. Yura does not want anyone to know about what they are fighting about, so when the living room is vacated and void of any living creature save for them, that is when she looks back to her son and growls out, "You don't need that little boy toy of yours. Ms. Jung is a million times more qualified than that... that thing!"

 

The way his mother says it so disgustedly, so arrogantly, almost pushes Minho over the edge. He grits his teeth, not wanting to raise his voice any more than he already has. The grim, deathly tone of his voice would be enough to scare anyone less. "Don't you dare say that about Taemin."

 

"What happened to you, Minho? Did that boy mess with your head or something? I thought I taught you well enough that those kinds of people aren't worth anything." She reaches up to touch her son's face, "I thought you listened to your umma. Was I wrong all this time?"

 

He flinches his head, as if burning from his mother's touch, "Damn straight you were wrong. You were wrong about them, mom. You're just too ing blind to see how people aren't that different, no matter their uality."

 

"Now you're cursing at your own mother." The woman starts pacing with her hands gesturing hysterically, "What has he done to you, boy?"

 

"The only thing he's done is that he's been nothing short of perfect to me."

 

His mother's mouth opens and closes, as if she is trying to find a good response but doesn't— couldn't come up with any. So she just shakes her head and keeps denying what has already been laid out in front of her.

 

"I refuse to accept what you're saying now. This is all just a phase, Minho." She stops in front of him and searches his eyes, desperate to see if he is registering what she is saying, "One day, you're going to realize that he was just an experiment you were curious about and then you'll break it off with that piece of--"

 

"I love him."

 

...

 

"What?"

 

At the span of time that he had been arguing with his mother where the woman had been verbally abusing Taemin and indirectly attacking his relationship with the brunette, he felt overly protective, his insides raging with an anger he had never before felt in his entire life. Never in his life had he allowed himself to care about someone so much that he would want to slap his own mother just to make her listen to him and realize just how amazing Taemin is. If this isn't love, then he doesn't know what is.

 

He loves Taemin.

 

"I love him. And no matter what happens, no matter what you say, I will always be glad that I met someone as perfect as Taemin."

 

 

 

Taemin hears him from where he is restlessly sitting on the dining table. Mr. Choi and Minseok were courteous enough to excuse themselves from the dining table to do who knows what so that Taemin could hear the people currently arguing in the living room right next door.

 

Their voices are muffled, but Taemin still hears the three words Minho is saying, loud and crystal clear.

 

'I love him.'

 

Taemin could not make out the next verbal exchanges between the mother and son because their voices had turned low and quiet, completely opposite to their angry shouts a while ago.

 

Minho returns a few minutes later, fists already clenched in anguish, eyes slightly twitching in irritation. When he catches sight of the brunette on the table though, his demeanour immediately switches from angry to apologetic as he says something about how his mother can really be a handful at times and that they were going back home now. He repeatedly apologizes about the unpleasant experience until he is standing in front of the boy, but Taemin does not care about what he is saying at the moment because he is already jumping from his seat and into Minho's arms, whispering into his neck:

 

"I love you too."

---

 

 

For the purposes of this story, Minseok will be the younger brother. :))) But the characterizations of the people in this story are entirely fictional, and though their names and appearances may be the same, their beliefs and ideals (I hope so, anyway) are not. Apologies to anyone who may be offended! :o A lot of you guys were asking for Mrs. Choi to like Taemin, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that just yet. :D Leave a comment and tell me what you think? D: