“Get in the car, Minho. You’re starting to get soaked.”

Kibum said turning his back to run to the car. Once inside, he looked through the glass and Minho was still in the same place so he opened the window and shouted. “Will you get your in this car?”

The other boy seemed to wake up from his trance and ran to the car, closing the door behind him and turned to the slightly older one, confused.

“Why?”

“Well, do you wanna walk in the rain? Be my guest, it’s not like you’re gonna get wet and then sick, or anything…” He said, sarcasm clearly in his voice. “Besides, you’re drenching my car.”

“Hum, sorry. I wasn’t expecting it to rain so I didn’t bring an umbrella.” Minho said, still shocked by the invitation. Was it even real?  “What are you doing?”

“I’m taking you home, obviously.” He answered, looking at the rearview mirror. “At least you think! I mean, Jinki and Taemin are always around me now. I wasn’t expecting Jonghyun to do that and he obviously doesn’t but I was afraid about you. Please, never look for me at that place, okay?”

“Why are you living there? It seems to be dangerous.”

“Don’t worry about me, everybody knows me, I’m totally safe. Besides, I live with a lot of people.” He said turning left on the street. “Here we are! I mean, your house is still here?”

“Yeah, it is. Thanks for driving me home.” Minho said, loosening the belt. “Do you want to come in?”

“No, thanks.” Key said, seeing a girl approaching to Minho’s door. “It seems that you have guests and I got to go.”

Minho looked at the door, trying to figure what Kibum was talking about and arched an eyebrow.

“What is she doing here?” He said seeing Sooyoung knocking. “It’s my sister. I didn’t know she was coming. Are you sure that you don’t want to come? She would love to see you.”

“I can’t. I’ve already told you that I got to go. Go; don’t make your sister wait.”

Minho got out of the car, waving and running to the door of the house. Key started the car and started driving. However, when he reached the end of the street, he noticed something on the seat beside him. Minho’s wallet. Rolling his eyes, the blond decided to turn around. He stopped the car in front of Minho’s house and got out, holding the wallet. The rain was stronger, making him run to the door and ring the bell immediately.

“I know you’re busy, but you left your wallet in my car.” Key said as soon as the other opened the door, stretching his arm. “I just came to deliver it to you.”

“You surprised me.” Minho said, with his eyes wide. “Hum, thank you. And… I’m not busy. Sooyoung isn’t here, she just came to say hello because I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Hum, whatever. Here’s your wallet.”

At this moment, the object slipped from his hands ending opened on the floor. Key bent down to pick it up seeing a photo inside. A photo of him and Minho when they were kids.

 

                “Jonghyun, why are you making me go? I told you all already that I don’t like soccer.” Sixteen years old Kibum whined, while the older dragged him around the school. “Hyung, stop, I don’t wanna go!”

                “It doesn’t matter, it’s the last game of the season and Minho is playing, we have to be there for him.”

                Kibum pouted and let Jonghyun continue to pull him knowing that it was a lost fight. He had no interest in that kind of game, the only thing they did was look like freaks running around a ball from side to side. Why did Minho even like that so much? It was stupid, and pointless, not to mention how sweaty they were afterwards and-

                “Hyungs! Here! The game is almost staring.” Kibum heard Taemin’s voice and looked at him confused.

                “What’s Taemin doing here?” He walked to the younger and sat at his side. “Did they make you come too?

                “No! I wanted to see Minho hyung, I promised him I would come!” He proudly said, smiling and hugging Kibum. “I like your outfit today, umma.”

                “Really?” His eyes sparkled. ”I made the t-shirt myself but no one seemed to notice. Oh, Taeminnie, you really are my son.”

                The boy giggled but before he could speak, Minho’s voice calling Kibum’s name was heard. Kibum got up and run through the benches to reach the other one on the field. When he got there, Minho wrapped his arms around him.  

                “Thanks for coming.”

                “Jonghyun hyung forced me, actually.”  He confessed, trying to sound annoyed.

                Minho, although, knew better.

                “I’m glad he did. It means a lot to me having you here.”

                “Yeah, yeah, I know.” Kibum pulled away from the other’s embrace and smiled. “You better go; your teammates are sending me these weird looks.”

                Just then, one of them, shouted: “Hey, Choi! You better leave the girl and get here if you want to play!”

                “Kibum…”

              “Don’t.” He shrugged, stopping Minho and smiling, before giving him a little hug and stepping away from him. “Just go and do your best, okay?”

                And his best he did. Minho’s team won the game and he even scored two goals. At the end, the whole team invited him for a party they would hold to celebrate but the brunet kindly refused, saying he was tired and needed to rest. The truth was that he preferred to celebrate with his little group of friends that were already waiting for him at the exit of the locker room. He took them to his house since his parents were out of town and the only one there was Sooyoung.

                “Noona! I won!”  He sang as he opened the door.

                “Ahah, you did it?” Sooyoung came from the kitchen and headlock Minho’s head, ruffling his hair. “Well done, now I can say to my friends that I have a cool little brother.”

                “Yah, noona, stop it! My friends are here.”

                Jonghyun laughed and patted him. “We’re enjoying the show, Minho, don’t worry about us.”

                “You know who’s here too?”  Sooyoung asked, once they were in the backyard.

                “Sulli!”

                “What?” Kibum suddenly yelled and all of them turned to him. “Sorry. I just… Never mind.”

                “Hi, oppa!”  A girly voice was heard and just then Sulli appeared, starting to run to Minho and putting her arms around him. “Congratulations!”

              Kibum scoffed and rolled his eyes when Minho started to blush. God, did he wanted to make even more obvious that he had a crush on the girl? He couldn’t really understand why though. She was annoying, always around Minho whenever she could and she always, always, appeared at the wrong time. Like right now! This was supposed to be intimate party so what was she doing there?

                “Why are you so bothered by her?”

                Kibum jumped, scared and looked to the side where Jonghyun was eyeing him: “I’m not.”

                “Then what? Are you jealous?”

                “I guess.”  He shrugged but then widened his eyes, putting his hand on his mouth. ”No! Why would I?”

                Jonghyun chuckled and in the next second his arm was around the other’s shoulders. “You can’t fool me, Kibum. I know you since you were in your mother’s belly and I just know you like him.”

                “What?” Kibum’s head snapped at him. “What you’re talking about?”

                “Don’t try to hide it, I know what it feels like.” He said, with a sad smile looking in front.

                When Kibum followed his eyes, he found their older friend: “You… Jinki hyung? Really? Wow… I never knew.”

                “That’s how I wanna keep it, Kibum.”

                “Hey! Step away from my best friend, hyung, don’t corrupt him!” Minho said, throwing himself between the other two. “I wanna take a photo with him to remember this day.”

                “Yah! If wasn’t me, you wouldn’t even see his there so be grateful to me too.”

                “Well, I agree that seeing this…” Minho pointed to the other’s .” Was partially the reason why I got so energized but-”   

                “MINHO!”

                Jonghyun, together with the taller, initiated a fit of giggles while Kibum started to feel like his cheeks would set themselves on fire from the embarrassment. He wiggled his arms around, hitting the other two but they didn’t even seem to notice since they just continued. When Minho could finally look at his best friend without laughing, he asked Jonghyun to go get the camera and hugged Kibum from the back. They waited for Jonghyun to come back and when he did, the two of them made a ‘V’ with their fingers, smiling wide.

                The taller one showed his pinky finger to Kibum. “You’ll stay with me forever, right? Like we promised?”

                “This is childish, Minho. But, yeah, whatever.” He rolled his eyes, wrapping his little finger around Minho’s. “Forever.”

 

“You still carry this around?”

“Yes.” Minho said, grabbing the wallet and looking at Kibum. “Are you sure you don’t want to come in? You’re wet and it’s still raining.”

He sighed, looking at himself: “Only until my clothes dry a bit or stops raining.” Key said, getting in and following Minho to the living-room. “So, you didn’t answer my question.”

“I answered. Yes, of course I still carry the photo. You’re my best friend! Was I supposed to forget you?”

“No, maybe, hum… We weren’t speaking, I wasn’t expecting that… Forget it.” He shook his head, trying to forget all those memories. “Could you get me a towel or something?”

Minho nodded and disappeared through the door that led to the bedrooms. Kibum remember how he used to spend all his free time there with the other. He wondered if the room was still the same, the walls full with posters of Minho’s favorite soccer players. He had a strange obsession for those, that’s for sure.

Sighing, Key stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room, not sure of what to do. It was obvious that he couldn’t sit on the couch because of his wet clothes. Thinking of those, how would they even dry if he kept them on. Should he just take them off? Maybe that would scare Minho but what other way could he use to make them back to normal?

“I brought you some clothes since yours are still wet so you can change in the bathroom if you want.”

“Yes, thanks, I was thinking about it, actually. Oh my god, you-“ Kibum stopped himself from finishing the word when he turned to Minho and saw he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt. “Y-Y-YAH! P-put some clothes o-on.” He gulped, turning around. “You’re gonna catch a cold.”             

Yes, he saw shirtless Minho before but he wasn’t that tall and awkward teenager anymore. Much to Kibum’s agony, he wasn’t like that at all. Now, the boy had abs. Glorious, toned and tanned abs and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep his eyes off of them, if he looked at Minho again.

“Okay, I’ll just leave the clothes here, then. I’m sure you still remember where the bathroom is.”

Kibum nodded and bent his knees a little to reach the clothes on the couch and when he grabbed them, he ran to the bathroom without even sparing Minho a glance. Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly true because he did peek which resulted in him almost colliding with the door. When he reached his destination, he leaned against the door and took a deep breath. Then he proceeded to quickly take his clothes off and dress himself with Minho’s ones which had his scent. The blond didn’t even know if it was a good or a bad thing.

He nearly had a heart attack when a knock on the door interrupted the silence. He gulped and turned the knob, finding Minho on the other side. Thankfully with a piece of cloth on.

“Is everything okay? You left with a strange expression, you’re feeling sick?”

Kibum shook his head and blinked a few times, before reaching Minho’s hair with his hand: “Your hair is still wet; you’re really going to catch a cold. Sit there, let me dry it.”

“What?”

“Sit on the toilet, idiot!”

The taller did what he was told and quickly sat, sighing in delight when Kibum’s fingers brushed his hair. Then, the blond replaced his fingers with a towel and rubbed it against his head, making him sleepy.

“This reminds me of that day when you scolded me all the way here because it was raining and I had a soccer practice. You also made me sit on the toilet so you could dry my hair just like now.” He laughed but it had a sad feeling attached. “I missed you, Kibum. So much. Why did you leave?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But I do. We’re best friends, remember? We made a promise!”

Key continued his task: “We were five, Minho.”

“We did it again when we were almost seventeen.” The brunet reminded. “Why did you break it? What made you break our promise?”

“I told you I don’t want to talk about it!” He snapped, putting the towel aside. “It’s all done; you should be fine. I have to go now.”

“Kibum!”

When he got up, the other was already outside of the bathroom and quickly heading to the front door. He ran a little and stood between the boy and the door.  “I’m not letting you go again.”

“Get out of the way.”

Minho grabbed the blond’s arms: “Listen. You’ve escaped from me once; I’m not letting you break our promise twice.”

“Forget that stupid promise and let me go!” He freed himself from Minho’s grip and pushed him aside, opening the door. “Goodbye.”

**

At that exact moment, Onew and Jonghyun were inside of the car, driving to the restaurant. The main street was interrupted due to an oil spill so they had to find other way to reach the destination. The only option was a little street next to Minho’s house, which was always without transit. When they were about to turn on this street, Minho’s door opened making them stop the car to wave to their friend. But the things changed a bit when they saw a blond person getting out of the house. He was, without doubt, Kibum.

“What is he doing here?” Jonghyun asked, opening his mouth. “Is anything wrong?”

“I don’t think so.” Onew said, frowning. “Look! Aren’t those Minho’s clothes?”

“Oh my God.” The smaller one said, hitting the other’s arm. “Oh. My. God. What happened inside of that house?”

“Don’t be a ert!” Onew exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “If that was the reason, why was he wearing other clothes instead of his own? It should be because of the rain.”

“Yeah, that makes sense! It’s raining; let me wear your clothes.” He said, rolling his eyes too. “You need to stop being so innocent.”

“And you need to stop being such a fool. Why are we even living together?”

“Because you love me, but that’s not the point.” Jonghyun said, turning to the window again. “We should get out of this car and ask Minho about what happened!”

“We should stay in the car and go to the restaurant. I’m starving, and that’s not our business. If he wants, he will tell us later.” Onew said, starting the car and starting to drive. “Stop with these puppy eyes, you look like Roo. Forget it and let’s enjoy our time together.”

 

Personally, this chapter is one of my faves. I hope you enjoy <3