in the olden days of dbsk, changmin was always left out of in-group shipping by virtue of being the youngest. whenever he got a romantic partner, he was either paired with a woman (female idol, oc, etc) OR the super junior maknae... and depending on when the author got into both groups, they perceive sj's maknae differently. therefore, there are countable yunjae fic writers of 2009 - 2015 who paired kibum[1] and changmin together just so that he wouldn't be lonely in-universe.

when i first came across the concept of minbum, i was morbidly curious. i figured changkyu was the obvious maknae pairing, but i still gave the fic a try. it didn't quite grip me, so i just moved on with my life... but then i noticed it was a /trend/, and i was amused. considering ot18 dbsj don't have that many interactions + kibum leaves sj not very long after debut, it's truly laughable that he continued to get cast as changmin's boyfriend.

it wasn't until i read a fic where minbum were pining exes[2] that i changed my mind. the execution wasn't that deep tbh, but i saw the potential and Agreed. as i thought more about it, i thought that there were real, personality-based reasons i could see romance bloom between a fictionalised max and kibum, so allow me to extol the virtues of minbum:

• max is canonically a little and kibum is canonically unbothered which is a good dynamic tbh! i like the idea that changmin's one goal in life is to make kibum explode in curses, and kibum is aware and would actually not mind giving in sometimes, but kibum is just sooo lackadaisacal that the worst changmin can do just makes him like chuckle a bit or raise an eyebrow.
  • there's also something in here about how you can be the worst person you could possibly be yet the person you're with doesn't ever push you away for it b.c they see something else in you that you purposefully (or inadvertently) hide with your outward behaviour, which is sooo 🥺🥺🥺
• at the same time, kibum /is/ a member of super junior and just as prone to shenanigans as the others are, just in much more lowkey ways. not to mention that he was known for his wit and quips as well. changmin's sharp edges and comfort with chaos would still find a kindred spirit in kibum.
• max never minded energy and noise, but kibum is so much more reserved and introverted, so i could see this leading to a nice lil angst fic wherein maybe sometimes changmin leaves kibum alone for the sake of instant gratification. the entire time he wishes kibum were there to enjoy it with him, meanwhile kibum is back home or wherever wishing he were just a lil more outgoing enough to want to join changmin on infrequent escapades to begin with
• they have a height difference! xD

i think changkyu is kinda overhyped tbh (despite being an elf, kyuhyun is actually pretty low in my ranking of boybanders), so i am happy to find another changmin ship for me to look forward to. (the other is, ofc, jaemin.) my bestie in brainrot challenged me to write a fic where minbum are the main pairing, so i'm keeping my mind open to a good fic premise for them. i haven't finished a fanfic in eight months, but that's neither here nor there.

[1] on reread of this blog post, i had the belated thought that perhaps some instances of these minbums were kim 'key' kibum from shinee. in any case, i imagined sj's kibum while reading those fics ^-^;;;
[2] i forgot which fic this was, and i couldn't find it with a quick search, so i will come back and edit this with a link once i find it. in general, i don't plan on highlighting specific fics in my blogs (which will soon take a more critical turn, so i don't want it to look like i'm calling out specific authors or fics) unless i am speaking of the fic in a complimentary fashion lol
EDIT (3.18.2024): AFTER FOUR DAYS OF SEARCHING, I FOUND THE FIC!

published: 3.14.2024