Chapter 3 - Backstories

(tw: a little talk about alchoholism, but nothing much. Be worried about how cheesy this is much more.)


His breath hitched in his throat when he heard the doorbell ring.

    Taemin stood in front of his mirror, only half dressed and looking like he had just woken up. Which he had. It was only 10:30am, and his date wasn't supposed to be showing up until 12:00. Practically throwing a shirt over his head, he made his way to the door. He figured that he would let Minho in, and sit him in the kitchen, telling him to wait a moment while he got his things together. He took a deep breath, then hesitantly opened the door.

“Hey Tae! How’s it going?”

    Kibum stood in the doorway in a sweater with a nice white dress shirt behind it. He carried a small bag, barely over the size of a purse, and had a large floppy sunhat hanging over half of his face. He looked ready to go on some urban adventure of some sort. Kibum let himself in, going straight to the other boy’s room and jumping onto his bed, then pulling out his phone. Taemin slammed the door behind him and walked back to his room as well, obviously frustrated.

“Why the hell are you here?”

Kibum looked up at the younger boy from over his phone, and chuckled a bit.

“I was bored, and I wanted to see you embarrass yourself when I opened the door. I regret nothing.”

Taemin almost punched him in the gut, but walked away to his room’s bathroom instead, and combing out his hair. After a moment of angry silence, he sighed and began to speak again.

“You gotta leave before 12—got it?”

Kibum rolled his eyes, even though his request made sense.

“Yeah, I’m not that much of a . Although I do kind of want to see him, I haven’t in so long…”

“No.”

Kibum nearly jumped at the sternness in his friend’s voice. He was dead serious about not wanting Kibum anywhere near his newfound love interest. He must have known that was a joke.

“Hey— Alright I was just kidding. I’ll leave, I’ll leave.”

    The blonde boy made some noise in between a scoff and a laugh, then flipped himself over so that he was resting his elbows on the blankets, still looking at his phone.

    There was some sort of silence, silence between each other except for the sound of Taemin doing something in the bathroom, probably putting another shirt on. Only after he was fully dressed did he walk out and address Kibum sheepishly.

“Sorry about that, but I don't want you, or anyone else screwing this up, okay?”

The blonde boy looked up at him and smirked, making Taemin blush up to his ears in sheer embarrassment.

“I won’t screw anything up, frankly I don't know if anything could. You two seem pretty set to me, and that’s coming from— well, how would you say—“

“An exibitionist…”

“YAH—”

The younger boy gave a quick crude smile, then walked out of the room, swinging himself off the side of the doorway. He was satisfied with his response and hummed to himself as he walked to his couch and sat down. Whipping out his phone in one quick motion, he checked it for messages.11:00, the screen read, bright and clear.

“Lee Taemin, you may seem like a sweet little angel, but you're truly something from the depths of hell… How do I stand you.”

Kibum rambled on walking around the house and scolding the younger boy for leaving things out, and whatnot. Even so, he did as he was told and left at around 11:45. At the door, he stopped Taemin to look at him, almost with a look of pain in his eyes. No- like a mother sending her child to school for the first time. Kibum pushed a piece of hair from out of his face beneath his sunhat, and sighed with a short breath. This automatically made the raven haired boy roll his eyes and almost push him out the door.

“You’ve grown up so much—“

The door slammed shut before he could go any farther with his speech, Taemin then leaning his back on the door and taking a breath of relief. This was until he head a muffled yell from his friend beginning to walk down the hall.

“I wont be over tonight, just in case you have plans.”

And suddenly he was red in the face, and walking at a steady pace away from the door.

—

A knock was heard easily from Taemin’s living room. Three knocks, with enough space between them to not be rushed or nervous sounding. Basically shooting off of the couch, Taemin walked to the door in fast excited steps.
    He checked himself in every possible way, his phone, clothes, hair, and then hesitantly reached for the doorknob. He thought to himself how much of a huge deal he was making out of this, but that didn't help much. Anticipation got the best of him no matter how hard he tried to push it to the side, it came back and forced a smile on his face as he swung open the door. He honestly half-expected it to be Kibum again, but as the light of the hallway spilled in, there was Minho, flowers in hand. He looked perfectly casual, but a nice casual. Jeans, a white tee shirt with a nice flannel, and sunglasses hanging on the collar of the shirt.
    Before the younger boy could even speak, the plain red roses were being nearly shoved at him, completely breaking Minho’s cool and confident glow. He was tinged pink a little bit, and it was now obvious how much he’d overthought this. 

“Here, I got these for you, I hope you don't have allergies—“

.

    Minho scolded himself in his head. This is the same exact thing that lead him to kissing the boy when they first met. He’d talk too much, and make things awkward to start out. Only this time, kissing him didn't seem like a good plan.
    His thoughts were cut off when he felt that Taemin’s hand had fallen over the older boy’s empty hand, and he was softly chuckling at him. Minho frankly didn't know if that was good or not, but he went with it, and gave a sheepish smile, staring off to the side.

“You’re such a loser… Hold on, let me put these inside and then we can go, Alright?”

Taemin laughed again, and took the flowers from his hand in one gentle motion. As he walked away, he quietly replied to the question from before.

“And no, I don't have allergies to roses.”

    Minho gave a small huff of a laugh, then rested with his shoulder propping his weight up on the doorway. He watched as the short, but elegant somehow, body of his love interest scurried around in his kitchen, getting things from shelves with ease. If he thought about it, Minho found that Taemin was perfectly his “type” if he had such a thing. He was skinny, but also wasn’t unfit, seeing as he did dance classes in his spare time. He just had a small frame was all, but beneath it was probably more agile strength and flexibility than Minho could ever hope to have. This made him question things that he really shouldn't be questioning to himself on a first date. 

    In what seemed like a second, the raven haired boy had reappeared in front of him, smiling cheerfully before taking his arm. Before speaking, he closed the door behind him and looked up at Minho with an almost playful glint in his eyes.

“What were you so spaced out about when you were staring at me a moment ago, hm?”

And in an instant Minho was red in the face, and wide eyed, to stiff to look at the floor in embarrassment. Because of that, he just stared, before mumbling a quiet, “Uh…” under his breath.
“Yah, maybe if this goes well you’ll get more than to just stare at my from a distance. Now let’s get going.”

From Taemin’s pretty and welcoming face, the taller boy had no idea how much of a tease he could turn out to be. His eyes would go into a laser-focused, heart piercing, face heating gaze, and his heart-shaped lips go into a smirk that could probably seduce a priest into sinning.
Minho shook his thoughts away, and told himself to stop zoning out again. He cleared his throat to speak, trying to bring his confidence up more, as now he looked like a blushing bride.

“How’s classes been lately for you?”

Minho steered away from the topic of anything suggestive at all, and smiled, almost proud of himself for coming up with a topic. The younger boy sighed and intertwined their fingers, going out of linking arms, and into hand holding. For the first time since after Kibum left, he stopped smiling for a brief moment.

“Fine, I guess. Grades are good, and I’m good at what I do, honestly. I’m not interested in it very much though, I guess.”

Before Taemin could say much more he was cut off by a brave suggestion.

“Then why don't you just quit it to pursue what you like? You’re into dance right, that’s what you like, so why not?”

    They were now past the doors of the dorms, and walking along the sidewalk. It was a quiet, gloomy day. Just by looking at the sky, Taemin could tell it would start to rain in the next few hours. The dorms weren't busy this time of day either, which was nice because there wouldn't be much judgement of them holding hands if not many people were around. Just quiet sidewalk, and the occasional car on the road, which was calming.

“Minho…”

    Taemin took a breath and looked down to think of the right words to say.

“That’s an incredibly hard route to go, career-wise. I’m not going to get famous or something, so it wouldn't make money, and would kind of be pointless if I wanted to make a living. Not to mention my parents—“

“I’m sure you’d be plenty well off, I mean if you can rent an entire multi-room dorm to yourself. Plus you have me now too, I guess.”

    Taemin scoffed in obvious amusement. He then moved his bangs out of his eyes with his free hand and smiled sweetly.

“That sounded a bit like a proposal, remember this is only a first date.”

    The taller boy rolled his eyes and flushed slightly on his cheeks. Taemin continued, trying to make the mood lighter, as grey skies and career talk did not go well together.

“I know my parents, and they wouldn't really fund that kind of thing. They want me living a traditional lifestyle, with a two story suburban house, and a wife, and children, and most importantly a job where I can work in a cubical, at a desk.”

    Minho made a smile-less laugh, that nearly sounded like a cough.

“That sounds a little like hell,”

“Yep. So, I guess until I can find a way to do something I like, and not rely on my family for money, I’m stuck. Not to mention…”

    The raven haired boy squeezed Minho’s hand gently, as if referring to their relationship in a vague, symbolistic manner.

“I’m not really the wife type… So there’s that too.”

    Minho could tell by now that Taemin wanted to get off the subject, but at the same time it seemed like Taemin wanted to rant about it. Maybe now wasn't the time, he thought, planning out his next sentence, as they were nearing the cafe by now.

“If you cant rely on them, even if this is early, you can rely on me. I’m not that rich… Hell, I’m a college student living in a one-room dorm with another person… But, I guess I can provide something. Besides, we seem to be making a habit of doing things early, huh.”

    They both laughed, and even as that confession wasn't very formal, Taemin could tell how much it meant. He stood on his toes, and kissed him gently on the cheek before letting him open the door for the shorter boy, and walking in behind him.

    Then there they were, having a meal and talking about everything they could with each other. Taemin finally educated himself on who exactly Minho’s friends were, and about his family as well. He had one older brother, and his only close friends were girls—and Kim Jonghyun. Turns out he also knew Jinki as well, but wasn't that friendly with him. They had a mutual respect for one another, and had similar classes was all. Minho’s roommate was an older student, going on 28, and they didn't talk much. Only when they needed to about dorm bills, and going out for drinks occasionally.
    And of course there was Kibum. Everyone knew Kibum somehow, or so it seemed. When Taemin thought about it, he had dated what had to be half of the people he knew at the school. Not that he had that much of a problem with it, because they were so close with each other. But, the moment Kibum was brought up in the conversation, Minho went quiet again.

“Yeah, so you do know him, hm.”

    Taemin sighed and cursed his friend, wherever he was right now. The older boy answered quietly, suddenly going sheepish, and poking at the coffeecake on his plate with a fork.

“Yeah, I do.”

“So were you friends, or…”

    Minho continued to look down at the table and poke his food nervously.

“Yeah, uh. We dated, but it didn't really turn out great, that’s about it.”

“How so? What happened?”

    The older boy sat up in his seat and stretched his arms above his head. He then put them down again and put his elbows on the table, using his hands to prop his face up. He closed his eyes and sighed, uncomfortably looking to the side, and then back to Taemin.

“Are you sure this is what you want to talk about on a first date?”

“I am.”

    Taemin replied in a heartbeat, very sure of himself. His eyes were laser focused on Minho’s despite how much the older boy would look around the room.

“Why?”

“Because he’s my friend, and I know if you lie to me about this—I can ask him what happened. Kind of like a test. And I…”

He cut himself off and finally looked to the side, realizing how cheesy his sentence would get if he went on any farther.

“You what?”

Taemin shifted in his seat and finally looked up again.

“I think I really do like you a lot. I don't want something like this to come up a few weeks from now and make us uncomfortable. I’m not judging you or anything, I just want you to be honest.”

Minho took a sip of his coffee before starting his story. He took an unnoticeable shaky breath, than opened his mouth to talk again.

“It was… October? Somewhere around there, last year. I was a freshman, and we had quite a few classes together, surprisingly.—“

Taemin remembered Kibum talking about his first year at the school. He took quite a few design and fashion classes, balanced with pop culture-esque classes. Taemin and him were just about as close then as they were now, but somehow October felt so long ago, and so different. Minho continued, lifting one hand and making vague hand movements along with his talking.

“But back then I wasn't really friends with the right people, and I got pretty distant in the middle of the school year. I drank heavy, probably was an alcoholic, and my grades dropped. I guess that was when he dumped me, and I don't blame him really.”

    His tone lowered, and he paused to think about what he’d say next to not make him seem like an ex-junkie. The fact Taemin had met him through alcohol didn't make things much better for him either. But Taemin didn't look pitiful, or disgusted at all. He was actually listening, and maintaining eye contact with each word he spoke. 

“I got better this year, went to therapy and so on… And now I’m doing fine, and you’ll never have to deal with what he had to. But as much as I was a mindless jerk last year, I don't think everything was completely my fault either. He wasn't very reliable; showing up at midnight out of nowhere, being really late to things, and I could of sworn he was sleeping around too… We weren't very compatible, and breaking up was for the best.”

    Taemin was still listening silently, waiting for Minho to signal that he was finished talking; which he wasn’t.

“I honestly think that wont happen again. I really like you too—and I guess being with you gets me farther away from that low I was at then. Hell, I haven't known you for very long, but I’ve told you literally everything that is bad about myself. That’d gotta mean something I guess.”

    Taemin took this as an invitation to finally reply. He wasn't bored, just quiet and paying attention. Thinking things through and playing this all out in his head. He trusted Minho was telling the truth, mostly because of how incredibly in depth he went. The younger boy focused back on Minho’s now somewhat flustered face, and smiled delicately.

“Thank you. I trust you, and everything you stand for, flaws and all. And now, we really don't need to talk about that ever that again.”

They both laughed quietly, breaking the quiet aura of the shop. Taemin slowly stood up from his seat and stepped out of the booth they sat at, then realizing that they were the only ones in the cafe anymore, making it even more silent. It had to be passed 2:00 by now, but the room was still and almost dark.

“Where do you want to go? Anything that wont make me broke. We still have pretty much the rest of the day.”


-- -- -- -- 

a/n 

hey so i'm finally back from hell, and i am so sorrrryyyy for how damn long this took. I've been dying from writer's block and school at the same time.
anyways, i couldnt get everything from that one day on to this chapter, because it ended up being longer and heLLA cheesier than i expected. 

i am so sorry for the cheesiness. i also kind of skimped on editing so i apoligize for that too. hhhhahh,,,

please please comment and subscribe! thanks for reading !

-Ki