Tonight seemed far away.

"We're going out tonight, sweetie." Jonghyun whispered into Minki's long, long hair, all tied back from the night before, when he'd pulled it up to sleep. Jonghyun often complimented Minki for how his hair looked when it was tied up. He couldn't touch it, but he could look, and he appreciated the sight. Jonghyun's hand came up to tug the little ponytail out of Minki's hair. Minki blinked a few times, having just woken from his boyfriend shifting, sitting them both up. Minki rubbed his eyes, straightened up from where he'd been curled against Jonghyun's chest.

"Hmm?" he hummed. Jonghyun smiled softly, ran his fingers through Minki's hair. There were a few beats of silence as Jonghyun admired Minki's tired face, played with the long strands of his blonde hair. The silence ended when Jonghyun spoke again, "I'm going to take you out tonight. Would you like to go on a date with me tonight?"

Minki nodded. He was a little tired to speak, still trying to keep his eyes open. Jonghyun chuckled softly. He tugged Minki back down into his chest and his hair, and Minki wanted to let out a whine to tell Jonghyun that he would only fall asleep laying on him like this, but Jonghyun didn't give him the chance. "I'll take you out as soon as I get back from work, okay? Sleep some more in the meantime-- it's early."

Jonghyun slipped out of bed after he'd tucked Minki in, after he'd rest his boyfriend back down against the pillows. He leaned down and kissed Minki's lips softly, left a breath of a whisper against his mouth, "Get your beauty rest baby-- want you to look nice and pretty for our date tonight."

Minki nodded, eyes closing, and he found himself unable to properly open them after that. He heard a chuckle from Jonghyun, felt his pillow shift and Jonghyun seemingly tucked something under his head, felt his hand being taken and his ponytail being slipped onto his wrist. He heard Jonghyun shuffling out of the room after a brush against his cheek let him know his boyfriend had given him a soft kiss, and then everything faded, one last close of a door sounding out before Minki had fallen into sleep again.

How long he slept, Minki had no idea. He wasn't sure when Jonghyun had woken him, couldn't tell if it was dark or light out by the way their curtains were drawn and the lights in their room were still off. He wasn't sure what time it was when he woke up after Jonghyun had left. All he knew was he was tangled in his hair and his phone was ringing beneath his head; that must have been what Jonghyun slipped under his pillow as Minki was drifting back to sleep. Minki sat up and rubbed his eyes again, glanced around the room. Had Jonghyun moved their clock again? Jonghyun did that sometimes. He liked to move things around, loved change. It was for that reason Minki often bought himself new clothes-- finding a new y outfit to surprise Jonghyun with, the reason he tried new hairstyles. But he always went back to keeping it down. Jonghyun liked it that way.

Minki reached under his pillow and grabbed for his phone, his blurry vision showing Minhyun on his screen. Minki blinked at it. It rang once, twice, and then it was going to voicemail. Minki could only imagine Minhyun had the same stupid things to say-- "Please pick up your phone," "I need to talk to you," "You must be doing your hair right now," and calling him by a name he didn't like to be referred to as anymore.

"You can't imagine how much I miss you, Minki. It's been so long since I've last seen you or even heard your voice. Jonghyun said even he hasn't heard your voice in a long time, but he's used to you being so silent. You're not like that, Minki. Please talk to me, okay? Please call me. I love you." Minhyun said. Minki blinked at his phone screen as it went dark, Minhyun having hung up. He hadn't heard Minhyun said I love you in a long time. Then, he hadn't heard Minhyun say much other than call me-- please call me in forever, either.

Minki unlocked his phone and went onto the internet, slipped himself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He looked up some cute hairstyles as he was reaching in to turn on the shower, as he went back out into the hall and grabbed a towel from the closet right next to the bathroom. He set his phone down on the counter once the page had loaded, hopped under the water. He had to adjust the water, finding he'd turned it too warm. Usually, he wouldn't mind taking a hot shower, but he didn't want any red blotches of skin today. He wanted to look good for Jonghyun. He wanted to look perfect.

He would find red marks on his skin later, anyways, once Jonghyun took him home, once Jonghyun took him out of the pretty outfit he was going to wear.

Stepping out of the shower, Minki moved over to the mirror, listening as those drops of left-over water falling from the faucet faded to silence. Minki dried his hands off on the towel he had wrapped around his body and picked up his phone. He found he had a few messages from more distant friends, which struck him as odd. How had they gotten his number? He'd changed it long ago, right after all his friends dumped him. He knew Minhyun got it from Jonghyun, because the two of them were good friends, and Jonghyun had handed it over easy when Minhyun had asked for it. How had the others gotten it? Minhyun? Jonghyun? Did they even talk to either of them anymore?

Minki ignored the messages. He didn't read a single word from a single one of them, went back to the internet and looked at the different, pretty hairstyles there. He looked for something that would be easy to take away when he and Jonghyun got home, something that didn't required too much-- maybe only a ponytail here and there so Jonghyun could rip them out. Minki could almost taste the rough in Jonghyun's fingers, and he bit down on his bottom lip, tried not to let a moan escape. He glanced at the time on his phone. 3:00-- he wondered how he'd slept so late, having only gotten up-- what? Half an hour ago? He only had three hours before Jonghyun was home! And maybe that was a long time, but he took so long to prepare himself, to make himself look good! Minki scrambled a little bit, nearly dropped his phone in his haste to grab his hair dryer. It took quite a while to get his hair completely dry-- that was the problem with long hair. It took so long to get dry.

Minki scrolled quickly through the different hairstyles running down the page, sighed when he didn't find anything pretty and quick. He thought about what to do for a moment. Should he tie his hair back? Would Jonghyun think he was lazy, then? Should he tie his hair off to the side? Would that look awkward with his bangs? Perhaps he should brush his bangs off to the side. Perhaps he should put an acessory in his hair. Would he look too much like a girl, then? But-- Jonghyun liked that. Jonghyun bought him little pins and flowers for that reason.

Minki left his hair for after he painted his nails and got dressed, for he could easily do it up quickly. He put on some boxers and threw on a temporary sweater as he painted his nails a real simple black, the middle one white; and he let that dry before he added designs to the plain white nails. He was down to an hour and a half before Jonghyun got home by the time he was finished with his nails-- and he had to let them dry! Minki decided not to panic, knew he would sweat-- always did when he panicked. He didn't need that-- he'd just showered. He watched a video instead, listened to a little bit of music and blew on his fingernails, urging them to dry quicker, quicker, quicker.

One hour. Minki traveled into the bathroom, had finally decided on what he wanted to do with his hair. He tucked it all into a side ponytail, falling pretty over his shoulder-- something he could easily lift a shirt over without messing up. He reached into the drawer and pulled out one of those pretty flowers Jonghyun had gotten him, one that was fake but looked so real, and he tucked it over his ear just to see what it looked like before he changed. Perfect, he thought, because the flower was light blue, just like the little bracelet he planned on wearing-- all to match his shirt. He shuffled back into his room, pulled open the drawer to his dresser.

"Minki!" a voice called as the front door opened. Jonghyun? Minki's eyes went wide, turned to the door of his bedroom. Jonghyun walked in half a second later, loosening the tie around his neck. He gave a soft chuckle at the sight of Minki, with his eyes big, with only a long sweater on to cover what was also concealed behind boxers. "This is a sweet sight to come home to. Were you in the middle of dressing, baby?"

Minki nodded, a little flustered at having been caught half- by his boyfriend. Jonghyun moved forward smoothly, hand falling from his tie. He reached out to place the same hand on Minki's shoulder instead, his other hand going up to play with the ends of his hair, to tap at the flower over his right ear. "Are you going to wear this sweater on your date, baby? You look comfortable."

A blush came to Minki's cheeks as he blushed. Jonghyun frowned, tilted his head, "Oh. Too bad-- you look so cute. Ah-- but I bet you want to look even nicer, huh? I can't imagine how you do it, sweetie, how you make yourself so much more flawless day by day. You should teach me how. Maybe it's this long hair of yours-- should I grow my hair out, do you think?"

Minki shook his head softly, shyly. He reached his hands up to play with Jonghyun's hair, closing his eyes with a content smile on his face. Jonghyun gave a chuckle, face tilting forward to kiss Minki's nose, "You're right. I wouldn't look nearly as pretty as my baby, hmm?"

Minki giggled. Jonghyun kissed Minki's nose once again. Upon opening his eyes, Minki could see Jonghyun's eyes had traveled down, were now looking at Minki's thighs. Minki blinked up at him once, twice, gave a small whimper when Jonghyun just kept staring, didn't pay his expression any actual attention. Jonghyun glanced up into Minki's eyes, made proper eye contact with the boy-- contact broken when Jonghyun's hand slipped between his thighs, palm against the inside of his left. Minki gave out another small whimper, and Jonghyun looked down to his thighs again, smiled.

"You're such a little beauty, you know. It drives me crazy-- I just want to ravish you every single time I come home, every time I see you." Jonghyun said. Yet another whimper left Minki's mouth, and Jonghyun gave a smile, leaned in to kiss Minki's lips, his hand leaving Minki's thigh to go to his hip instead. "Sorry about that, baby, I shouldn't get you all riled up before we go out, hmm?"

Minki only gave a pout in response. Jonghyun kissed him again, "I'll go and shower real quick, okay? And then we can go out. Are you all ready? Just need to get dressed?"

Minki made a shy gesture to his eyes, pointing out how they were still plain. Jonghyun gave a nod of understanding, "Okay, baby. Well-- you get dressed real fast, okay? You can come in while I take my shower to do your make-up. Don't worry about going too quick, okay? We'll go whenever you're ready. It was my fault for not telling you I was going to be home early-- and for keeping you up for so long last night."

The way Jonghyun said last night sent shivers through Minki's spine, shivers Minki was almost sure Jonghyun could feel by the way his fingers were pressed against Minki's spine. Minki focused back on telling Jonghyun it was okay rather than his touch; he nuzzled his nose against Jonghyun's jaw to get the message across. Jonghyun chuckled softly, and he turned to steal a kiss from Minki's lips-- a quick, quick kiss before he was heading off to the bathroom, whispering something Minki didn't quite catch.

Minki turned back to the dresser and pulled out the black jeans he was going to wear. They were very simple, with a little charm hanging from the pocket. He pulled his pretty, sky-blue shirt out of his closet and put it on, slipped it easily over his hair once he'd taken the flower away from his ear, and the he tucked that back on, too. He found his bracelet, but he kept it in his pocket as he was going to the bathroom as to keep it out of his way as he was doing his make-up.

Doing his make-up was easy. He put on eyeliner, a very light layer, very simple, almost giggled at how the pencil ticked his eyelashes as he was brushing over them. He added a touch of eyeshadow to his eyelid, a light blue to match his flower, his jewelry. Jonghyun stepped out of the shower as Minki was finishing up, grabbed his towel and dried his hair quickly, dried off the rest of his body just as quick. Minki was putting his make-up away when Jonghyun wrapped the towel around his waist, when Jonghyun traveled over and pressed into his back, hands on he edge of the sink, trapping him.

"You look so beautiful." Jonghyun whispered, kissing the back of Minki's ear. Minki smiled at him through the mirror. Jonghyun spun Minki around and pressed him back into the counter, pushed him up onto it, sat him down. Their lips connected quick, hard, with Jonghyun's hands on Minki's sides, with Jonghyun's body pressing its way between Minki's thighs. Jonghyun pressed his forehead, still slightly damp, against Minki's when he shifted back, lips parting away. "Ah, sorry, sweetie. It's so hard not to love you up-- to ravish you. You're such a beauty."

Jonghyun shifted back again, took two steps away and grabbed both of Minki's hands, led him off the counter. Jonghyun laced their fingers together for a moment, played at the back of Minki's hands, "Anyway, baby, I just need a couple minutes to fix up my hair and get dressed. Are you all ready? Anything else you want to do?"

Minki shook his head. Jonghyun nodded, and then he was sending Minki off gently-- back to wait in their room. Minki sat on the bed, toyed with the bracelet he had just locked around his wrist. He kicked his feet back and forth as he waited. He thought back to the morning-- well, back when he'd woken up without Jonghyun, at least. He remembered those text messages from his friends, remembered seeing Dongho and Aron's names, two names he hadn't seen in so long-- to names he didn't think he ever wanted to see again. He wondered what they said; but he didn't want to know. So why was his hand traveling to his phone?

Minki's fingers moved on their own, pulling his phone out his phone, unlocking it. He clicked on his little green message app, with a red notification of 20 hanging off of it. 20 messages-- what could they possibly want, he wondered. He stared at their names for a long, long time, how both of their last messages to him started off with please... and listen... and likely spiraled into something more-- a little if not a lot. Minki doubted there was going to be an in-between with them.

Minki's mind finally took over where his fingers had been controlling him, and he left his message app, shoved his phone back into his pocket. He took a deep breath once his hands were free from the weight of his phone. But now he had a weight on his shoulders, beating him down. Minki wasn't even sure he could stand up. How was he supposed to go out with Jonghyun tonight? How was he supposed to act proper? All he could think about now were his stupid friends-- Minhyun and Dongho and Aron. He could only think about how they might be missing him, how at least Minhyun wanted to contact him so badly. He couldn't speak to them. He hated them. They hated him. They hated Jonghyun-- Aron and Dongho did, at least. They didn't like Minki's relationship with Jonghyun, and Minki was almost positive Minhyun was only against it because he wanted Jonghyun.

It wasn't fair. Minki wasn't even sure Minhyun did want Jonghyun; he just had a suspicion. Was he supposed to let Jonghyun go for Minhyun? No-- he wouldn't. He couldn't. He loved Jonghyun too much. Minhyun could have said something about his feelings for Jonghyun back when he and Minki had begun to date, when Minki could have broken it off easily. It was too late now, especially since Minhyun and Minki were no longer on good terms.

"Ren." Jonghyun was suddenly in front of Minki, crouching down, arm extending up and out to touch Minki's cheek. Minki let his eyes travel up, lifted his head and looked at Jonghyun. The man was frowning, his hair done, dressed nicely for their date. He had a pretty watch peeking out from under his un-rolled sleeve; he must have seen the expression on Minki's face before he got to properly prepare his outfit. Jonghyun's other hand came up to Minki's cheek, "Ren? My sweetheart-- what's the matter? Something has you down."

Minki shook his head. Jonghyun's look turned concerned-- though the worry was still very apparent. His voice was as stern as his expression, "Ren. Sweetheart-- tell me what's bothering you. I can't let myself take you out if I know you're not okay. I want you to enjoy yourself tonight. I want us to have a good night. Please tell me what's wrong?"

A few moments of silence passed with Minki wondering if he should say something. He didn't want to tell Jonghyun about his friends, for he knew Jonghyun would encourage him to reach out to them, to message them back, to connect to them once again. Minki didn't want to; he didn't want to talk to them again. Jonghyun didn't understand that they hated the relationship he and Jonghyun had together. He didn't care. He just wanted Minki to have friends. He didn't want Minki to feel alone. He cared about Minki; and that was something his friends hadn't done.

"Baby." Jonghyun called softly, tapping on Minki's cheeks. Minki didn't realize he'd broken eye contact with the boy; he looked back up, saw that same stern, worried look. Jonghyun's hands fell from Minki's cheeks, slipping down onto his legs, resting against them. "I'm going to guess your bad mood has something to do with Minhyun.... I'm right, aren't I?"

Minki decided the best thing to do was nod. Jonghyun gave a little sigh of almost understanding, "It's okay not to want to be his friend anymore, but.... Look, baby, I know he's been calling you. He asked me once if you were still alive, because he had no idea if you just weren't picking up his calls or if something had happened to you. He really wants to talk to you. I don't know the topic but it's important."

Minki nodded softly. Jonghyun gave a mini smile, "So, sweetie? Are you alright? If you want to stay home, that's okay-- do you still want to go out?"

Minki nodded again, smile coming to his lips; a matching one came to Jonghyun's. "Alright-- let's go out now, hmm? I made reservations this morning; we should be down at the restaurant in a few minutes. You're ready, right, love?"

Another nod told Jonghyun Minki was ready, had been ready for a little while. Jonghyun offered out a hand for Minki to take once he'd lifted himself completely to his feet. Jonghyun looked down Minki's body once the boy was standing completely. His smile was almost subtle, and he had that expression he always did when he told Minki something like he was lucky to have the boy, that he was surprised Minki chose him out of the million people that wanted him. (Minki always thought he was the lucky one, not Jonghyun, but he let Jonghyun think what he had to; he always did.)