Minho’s POV

My arm leaves his body, but my fingers twine with his as I his cheek. His arm falls and his eyes search mine for something… Something.

“I love you,” I say earnestly, and this time, no one pulls away.

~

His eyes stay locked with mine as I wait for his reaction. For him to run and be disgusted and hate me forever… or for him to hold me and love me back.

“What?” he asks, his voice barely a whisper. I swallow, unsure if he’s testing me or if he really didn’t hear me. Well, he’d better hear me this time, because I’ll never get enough guts to say this again. I take his hand and pull him closer by his waist, commanding his attention because he needs to hear this.

And then, looking into those bright, beautiful eyes and holding that slim, perfect body, I can’t say it. I can’t tell him how I feel, because there’s too much tied to it, so I release him. Slowly, I remove my hand from his body. I go to let go of his hand, but he recaptures my fingers, tugging insistently.

“Say what you were going to say,” he whispers, his lips barely parted. His eyes are large and shining as he stretches forward. My throat feels dry and my mouth fills with scratchy, cotton-like air.

“I…” I look away, but he takes his cool, pale fingers and turns my face back to his. His eyes look down and back up as he sits back down. His voice is high-strung as he clears his throat, and then his eyes meet mind again.

“Minho, I… I think I… I know that I feel something for you,” he says, leaning forward. My eyes widen.

What the what the whatthewhatthe WHAT.THE..

“W-what?” I ask shakily. He closes his eyes and covers my lips stunned with his. The kiss sends my nerves on full alert mode, waiting for an answer to my question. Suddenly, I’m seeing double and my heart feels like it’ll just right out of my chest. I squeeze his hand and the world shakes with uncertainty around me.

“I love you too,” he breathes as he pulls away, and suddenly I can’t bear to have him pull away because this means that he’s mine! He’s finally mine, in my arms, in my heart… He’s mine.

There’s a moment of pause as I see the truth of the moment sink in for him. I don’t blame him. I give it a moment to sink in too. Then, with a sense of urgency, I grab the back of his head and kiss him hard, because this moment is perfect. He’s mine. I love him, and he loves me. He loves me too. He loves me.

He loves me.

“Oh God, Taemin,” I whisper as I pull away, pressing our foreheads together so that I won’t lose a second of this. Not a single second. I kiss him again, and his hand comes up to touch my cheek tenderly. His kiss is slow, seemingly calm, but I can feel his own urgency pulsing at his fingertips. I pull him closer by the waist, his back arching under my touch as I kiss him desperately.

“I love you. I love you, Minho,” he gasps every time we pull away for a breath. Somewhere in this kiss, our tears begin to trickle down our cheeks, and every moment we’ve ever had flashes in my mind.

When I got him fired…

When I realized I was Yoogeun’s father…

When he moved in…

When I almost him…

When I won him back…

Our first real kiss…

And when I realized that I loved him.

“I love you,” I hear him whisper as his lips leave mine, cutting off my thoughts. I open my eyes and see his cheeks smeared with tears. I wipe one of the trails away with my thumb, my other hand gripping his harder than ever.

“I’m so sorry for everything,” I murmur, trying to ignore my own tears. He gives me a small smile and swallows thickly. He lets his fingers dance over my face.

“It’s alright. I haven’t been the best to you either,” he says, laughing softly. He sniffles and looks down, his hair hiding his eyes. I bring his face up and kiss him.

“I won’t hurt you anymore, Tae,” I promise through our lips. He tilts his head and kisses me back, his hand going down to grip my shirt.

“Please don’t let me go,” he pleads, his voice cracking between presses of our lips. I nod and swallow his mouth, hungry for every touch and every kiss and every inch of Taemin’s body. Every emotion, every thought… I want to feel them all. I pull Taemin’s waist into mine and he begins to thread his fingers into my hair, letting out smalls sounds of pleasure as I at his lips. He parts them for me, inviting me in and urging my tongue to invade his warm mouth.

This isn’t the first time we’ve kissed deeply. This is, however, the first time that I’ve been allowed to pour all of my emotions, all of my love, all of my wanting into the kiss. He returns my enthusiasm, wrapping his tongue around mine and twining his fingers through my hair as we take short, unavoidable breaks in between heated battles for dominance. I win, of course, and I use every second to explore his mouth. I touch every inch, probe every corner, and he gently urges me on with shameless moans.

“W-wait,” he whimpers, turning his face suddenly. His cheeks are red, and his breath is choppy. His hand squeezes mine as he swallows and tries to pull himself together.

He’s so beautiful, I think as I watch him struggle for control. Finally, he looks at me again and stands. I get up onto my feet and face him as he smiles and pecks me.

“We should go in,” he says solemnly, but there’s still a grin on his tear-stained face. I feel my own tears cool and dry on my cheeks, leaving salty residue that Taemin touches lightly. His fingers dance over my skin like feathers.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I murmur to him, cupping his cheek in my hand. He nods and leans forward, placing his head on my shoulder. I hug him loosely, our fingers fiddling with each other as he pulls away. He turns and leads me down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs, he turns and, illuminated by darkness, nothing has ever seemed brighter.

“Will you…” He trails off and looks down, smiling secretly to himself, and I kiss his temple lightly.

“I should get some sleep,” I murmur against his hair. He nods and turns quickly to kiss me goodnight. I accept the kiss and give his hand one final squeeze before letting go.

I hope he doesn’t notice that I was grinning like a five year old.

Taemin

I bite my lip as Minho’s door closes, and I feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I can’t believe he said it. I can’t believe I said it. I can’t believe it could actually happen. I practically run back to my room, holding back triumphant whoops in my throat. I practically rip open my door and jump into my bed, surprising Yoogeun.

“Appa!” he exclaims, hugging my tightly. I hug him back, rolling onto my back and lifting him into the air before pulling him back to my chest for a crushing hug.

“He loves me!” I squeal. Yoogeun flails and I loosen my grip. His little head pops up from the tangle of arms and limbs, and he takes an exaggerated breath. He looks at me curiously for a second before smiling sweetly.

“Now will appa and appa marry?” he asks eagerly. I open my mouth to answer, but I can’t think of an answer to that.

“I can hear you, you know,” a deep voice says from the other side of the shoji. I blush as I realize that these walls are literally paper thing.

“H-hi Minho,” I say nervously, turning to look at his shadow. It’s dimly outlined from the barely-there light. His face is turned towards us, and I imagine that he’s smiling.

“Appa, does appa know the secret?” Yoogeun asks my new boyfriend – is he my boyfriend? – enthusiastically.

“Yes, Taemin knows the secret,” Minho chuckles. My face burns as Yoogeun claps enthusiastically.

“Now Taemin appa will have a baby, right?” Yoogeun presses. I cover Yoogeun’s mouth.

“Go to sleep now!” I order sharply. He wriggles as Minho laughs.

“I don’t know if that’s possible, Yoogeun,” Minho chuckles. I blush even more and Yoogeun looks up at me with wide eyes. He squirms his mouth out from under my hand.

“Minho appa, Taemin appa turned into a cooked tomato!” he exclaims. I get even redder and pull the blankets down over my head in embarrassment as Minho laughs behind the screen.

“Damn bastard,” I mutter.

“He also called you a damn bastard!” Yoogeun reports. Minho gets louder as Yoogeun crawls over and pats my humiliated head for attention. “Tomato appa, what’s a damn bastard?”

“Just sleep,” I groan into my pillow, keeping the blanket over my head. Yoogeun whines.

“I’m not sleepy!” he protests, but Minho chuckles and taps the shoji to get Yoogeun’s attention.

“Do what tomato appa says,” he commands gently. Yoogeun whimpers but obeys, snuggling up to my blanket cocoon. I feel his breath even out as he falls asleep. Slowly, I emerge and turn to hug him close. Now, Minho and I are facing each other’s faceless figures through the shoji.

“You really are a damn bastard,” I whisper, Yoogeun happily snuggled in my arms.

“You love that about me, though,” he teases. I let out a small chuckle.

“I love everything about you,” I say softly, so softly that I can almost hope that he won’t hear me.

“I love everything about you, too,” he replies. I blush as I realize that he actually heard that.

“I’m so lame,” I mutter to myself.

“But I love that,” he whispers. He scoots closer to the shoji; his shadow grows bigger. I shift closer too, carefully protecting Yoogeun so he won’t wake up.

“Am I your boyfriend now?” I ask nervously. He chuckles and I blush some color probably akin to an apple. “Y-yah, I was serious.”

“Yes, you idiot,” he murmurs. “You’re my boyfriend.”

“Really?” I ask, cautious, because this is too perfect to be true. Yet, I hear his deep voice on the other side of the paper screen, and I know that this is really happening.

“Yes, really,” he murmurs, and I hear his voice drop to a bare whisper. “I’m going to make up for everything. Every single thing I did to you, I’m going to make up for it now.”

“Hey, I have some blame too,” I protest gently, but Minho shakes his head. I can see his shadow quiver in the dim light. I can imagine the deep frown imbedded in his face.

“No. I stopped your life for my own selfish reasons. I’m going to make you happy now. I really will,” he says resolutely. I smile, touched to my deepest core by his words. I close my eyes and nestle into my bed, already feeling exhaustion stealing on me.

Let me stay awake for just a few more moments with this man, I beg my body desperately.

“Are you tired?” he asks. Damn ninja.

“No,” I mutter, but it’s no use. There’s a yawn scrawled all over my voice. He chuckles.

“Liar,” he coos affectionately. I hear him move, and I open my heavy eyelids just a slit to see him on his back, head towards the ceiling.

“You’re sleeping too?” I ask, making sure that I won’t be drifting off alone.

“Yeah,” he says, and I smile. I close my eyes again and hold Yoogeun close, imagining that I’m in Minho’s arms for the night.

Minho’s POV

I smile as I look to the side, watching his sides rise and fall, illuminated by the soft moonlight as it blankets his body. Does he know how much I want to hold him? I sigh and close my eyes.

I’m going to make everything right. I’m not going to let him slip away or get hurt again. Not if I can protect him.

“I love you,” I whisper into the air, hoping that the words will reach his ears as he sleep. No, I won’t let him get hurt again. I close my eyes and go to a world where there’s no paper curtain, no barriers. Just me, him, and Yoogeun in an impossible fairytale ending.

~

Onew’s POV

“What do you mean they’re together now?” I shout into the phone. Yuri groans on the other side of the phone.

“Listen, Minho grew some balls and confessed, just like you said he wouldn’t,” she snarls. I grit my teeth, but I’m good at this. I’m good at scraping up a broken plan and fixing it up. In the back of my head, I can imagine Hannibal from the A Team smoking a cigar and reclining in my position. I smirk as my own plan comes together.

“You know what GHB is?” I ask. Yuri pauses.

“Why?” she asks finally, cautiously.

“Just answer the question,” I say, getting impatient. She sighs.

“Yeah. Should I use it?” she asks.

“Yes you should. Tell me how it works out,” I command. I hang up before she can protest. I lean back and rub my face to release some of the tension, although I know that it won’t help. Then a grin breaks out over my face.

So what if they’re together?

So what if they’ve admitted their ephemeral love?

In the end, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

A/N – Yeah, I could’ve just let it be fluff, but where’s the fun in that?

More to come, comments are love <3

THEY CAN'T DENY IT D':