Jongin’s only been up a few hours but he’s already onto his second cup of milk tea, stirring the drink with his teaspoon and enjoying the rare silence of an empty dorm. 

It doesn’t last very long though, the sound of the door clicking open and footsteps approaching the kitchen reaching Jongin’s ears. He’s wholly unsurprised to see Taemin walking into the kitchen, dropping down into a chair beside him like he belongs there. He slips into their dorms so often he doesn’t even bother with knocking anymore and Jongin finds himself counting down the seconds until he shows up anyway. 

Jongin leans over his tea to greet him with a kiss, smiling as he ghosts the tips of his fingers down Taemin’s cheek. He looks cozy in an oversized charcoal sweater, the sleeves just falling past his knuckles. 

“Where are the others?” Taemin asks, playing with Jongin’s fingers on the table. 

“Sehun and Zitao took Candy out and the others went out for coffee a few blocks away.” Jongin drains his cup glumly and moves to put it in the sink. He’ll wash it later. Besides, Taemin has already gotten to his feet, pressing up behind him and brushing his lips against the back of his neck. 

Jongin turns to face him, leaning back against the kitchen counter and holds Taemin close with a hand on his hip. Wasting no time, he meets Taemin in the middle, letting him coax his lips apart with a slide of his tongue. Taemin into his mouth almost lazily, humming low in his throat as he brushes their tongues together. Sliding his hands up, Jongin hooks them around the back of Taemin’s neck just as he feels Taemin’s fingers slip under his shirt. He shivers at the press of his cool palm, his fingers tracing up his sides and down the ridges of his ribs, angling his head to kiss him harder.

“Ugh, you ,” he grimaces suddenly, pulling away from Taemin’s lips despite keeping his hands firmly locked around his neck. "Were you drinking coffee?"

Grinning, Taemin squeezes his sides playfully.  "I did. Had an Americano."

Jongin scrunches his face in disgust, immediately whipping his head to the side when Taemin leans in again, letting him nose at his cheek instead. 

"God, that stuff tastes like , I thought you hated it."

"Hmm," Taemin murmurs, chasing his lips until Jongin relents and lets him press a kiss to his lower lip. "I thought I did."

He drags his lips down the side of his jaw and Jongin loses his train of thought, his breath hitching when Taemin stops to a mark into the side of his throat. Jongin breathes out a sigh, tipping Taemin’s face back up with a finger under his chin and kisses him again, barely sparing a second to register the taste when he curls their tongues together. 

Bracing a hand on Taemin’s shoulder and the other on the counter behind him, Jongin breaks the kiss to hoist himself up onto the countertop. He immediately chases after Taemin’s mouth again; the pull Taemin has over him constantly drawing him back in. 

"But," Taemin continues, suddenly breaking away; it takes Jongin a moment to catch on, feeling hot and somewhat dazed. Taemin taps Jongin's knee, prompting him to spread his legs so he can shuffle in between Jongin’s thighs. "Found a way to make it taste sweeter."

He leans in to flick his tongue into Jongin’s mouth again, setting off a full body shudder when he along the roof of his mouth and Jongin’s drowning in his warmth. 

“That’s great," he breathes in between kisses, too lost in the heat of Taemin's mouth and the softness of his lips to focus properly. Sliding his hands up to cup Taemin's jaw, he feels more than pleasantly lightheaded as he deepens the kiss. Taemin seems to have other plans though, ripping himself away yet again much to Jongin's frustration. 

"I bet I know how to get you to like it too," he starts, keeping their faces close as he smoothes his palms up Jongin's thighs and back down soothingly. 

“Yeah?” Jongin asks vaguely, barely swallowing down a whine when Taemin leans out of reach, keeping Jongin from trying to claim his lips again. “God, Taemin, come on.”

"Well," he pauses to press a kiss to Jongin's cheek, his lips moving against his skin as he speaks. "I could just distract you with this,” he kisses Jongin on the lips, dipping his tongue into his mouth and along the back of his teeth, “and you won’t even remember it tastes bad at all."

"You mean you want to use making out as a way to condition us into liking coffee." Jongin deadpans, eyes flitting up to meet Taemin's for a moment before zoning back in on the slickness of his lips. He presses his thumb just below the swell of his lip, enthralled by the rosy colour he’s given it. 

“Sure looks like it's working,” Taemin grins, ducking in to tug Jongin’s lower lip between his own, sinking his teeth into it lightly before letting go. “Maybe we can finally get the others to treat us, then.”

Pressing their foreheads together, Taemin brushes the back of his finger along Jongin’s cheek and Jongin sees the way his eyes soften when he looks at him. 

He only ever looks this tender when it’s just the two of them and it always gets his chest feeling tight and warm. Murmuring incoherently, Jongin pulls him back in to crush their mouths together again.  He hooks his legs around Taemin’s waist, crossing his feet behind his back to press him in closer.  

Jongin mouths his way down Taemin’s jaw, kissing a path along the length of his throat and marks into his skin to feel him shiver in his arms. He makes his way back up, lightly dragging his teeth along the skin before slotting their lips together again and threads his fingers in Taemin’s hair. It’s almost dizzying how hard Taemin kisses back and Jongin swears he’s seeing lights exploding in the backs of his eyelids.

"So, what do you think?" Taemin asks breathlessly when he breaks off, staring at Jongin with bright eyes, his pupils blown so wide his eyes are almost black. Chuckling, Jongin winds his arms around Taemin's waist, slipping his hands down to cup his and press their hips closer together. 

"I think I could do with some more distracting."

Taemin grins, reaching for Jongin’s belt buckle but the sound of a familiar bark, muffled by the door to the dorm, has him snapping his fingers away like he's been burned. Sehun’s laughter breaks through the silence, shattering the moment.

"," Jongin drops his head onto Taemin's shoulder heavily with an exasperated groan, unhooking his legs from around Taemin's hips. Sighing, Taemin pats the back of his neck, putting just enough distance between them that wouldn’t give away the fact that they were about to on the kitchen counter. 

“I should get going anyway,” Taemin says, though his thumb is still rubbing circles into Jongin’s hipbone. “I’ll text you later.”

Nodding, Jongin reaches up to cup Taemin’s face, pressing one final kiss to his lips. Beaming, Taemin leaves a quick kiss in the centre of his palm and another sweet kiss to his cheek before leaving the dorm. 

Jongin sighs, sagging against the counter. He presses a finger to his lip, the faintest taste of Taemin and coffee still lingering on his tongue, and he thinks he might not hate it that much after all. 

.

His phone vibrates with a new message later in the afternoon when Jongin is lazing around on the couch. 

‘So, Kibum-hyung just made me a latte…’

Biting back a smile, Jongin gets to his feet as he shoots off a quick reply to Taemin.

‘I’ll be there in five.’