Sitting there, outside the cafe, Jinki started to panic. What was he trying to do? Why was he there waiting for Minho in the first place?

Was he actually going to confess? Was this a good idea? The more he sat and contemplated it, the worse it became.

Maybe the best thing to do was to leave, it is not like Minho knew who had asked for him, he didn’t know it was Jinki. So in theory he could just get up and leave... maybe it was for the best.

Jinki could not confess to Minho. It was crazy to even think. Jonghyun was wrong, he had to be and Minho did not like him that way, it was impossible. He was just Jinki, clumsy, awkward, with small eyes and bad jokes... what would Minho want with that when he looked to be sculpted by the Gods themselves.

Looking at the empty cup in his hand, Jinki sighed heavily and stood up just as the coffee shop door opened and Minho stepped out. He immediately looked around to see who was waiting for him. Jinki panicked, looking around to see if he had somewhere to hide, if he could get out of there without Minho seeing him. He even contemplated jumping into the bush next to the outdoor seating, but in his desperation, the younger man's eyes met his.

"Hyung! Were you waiting for me?" he asked, approaching, a smile on his lips.

Swallowing, Jinki nodded, sitting back in the chair he had previously occupied. He began chewing nervously on the straw, not knowing exactly what to say.

Minho frowned and sat down next to Jinki. "Is something wrong?" he asked. Concern was evident in his voice, making Jinki even more nervous.

"N-no, it's okay." he said trying to smile but failing as it turned more into a grimace.

"It doesn't look like you’re okay... you look nervous. Is something happening? You know you can trust me, right?" he said, coming closer and sitting down across from Jinki. His big, worried eyes looking at him.

Feeling guilty for worrying Minho that way, Jinki took a deep breath and looked into the younger man's eyes. "I... I wanted to talk to you."

"You can tell me anything, I'm here for you." he said nodding and taking Jinki’s hand in his own.

Minho was really cute and it made Jinki feel a little better, a little less worried. Maybe he should just tell what was in his heart and see what would happen. If Minho did not like him the same way, Jinki would accept it. It would be difficult but he would be able to overcome it somehow, maybe taking some time alone after the musical end... He shook his head, noticing his mind wondering as he saw Minho still watching him worriedly.

"So..." he bit his lip, trying to figure out how to start. "I... I fell in love with someone."

"Oh." Minho said blinking and moving his hand away from Jinki. "Have you told the other person?"

"No," he said shaking his head. "I don't know what to do, I'm afraid that maybe he... he doesn’t like me in that way."

"Why do you think he does not like you?" Minho was trying to meet Jinki’s sight with big, earnest eyes.

"I don't know... I... I want him to. I want to be with him, and not only as a friend."

"You should tell him that, hyung. You... you really are a great person, you are cute, hm... handsome, smart and talented. I'm sure whoever it is, he will be happy to know that you like him."

Jinki's heart beat fast inside his chest, his face turning red. "D-do you really think so?"

"Of course," Minho said, smiling softly and taking Jinki’s hand once again to comfort him. "Don't be afraid."

Biting his lower lip, Jinki took another deep breath, more than ready. "S-so if I t-tell you that I l-like you, will you be happy?" Jinki looked down as he said this, unable to meet Minho’s eyes.

Time seemed to stop suddenly and Minho sat there. His hand that was holding Jinki’s frozen in place and his eyes wide, mouth hanging open in total shock.

"W-what did you say?" he whispered.

Unable to decipher Minho's reaction, Jinki tried again, for the last time. "I like you, Minho-ah."

"A-Are you saying you like me? And that you were afraid that I did not like you back?"

"Yeah." Jinki nodded, looking back and forth from his empty cup and the larger hand holding his own.

"Hyung," Minho smiled... no beamed at Jinki, "I really like you."

Jinki lifted his head, his eyes wide and his heart beating so fast inside his chest that Minho could probably hear it from sitting on the other side of the table. "What did you just say?"

Minho chuckled, his eyes shining. "I said that I like you too. If I am being entirely truthful here, I did not think you liked me but I’ve been trying for some time to make you notice me." he said with the tips of his ears turning red.

Jinki did not even have to look in the cafe window’s reflection to see that he was as red as a tomato still. "You didn’t have to do anything, I... I already liked you."

"I'm very happy to know that." Minho said quietly, bringing his other hand to Jinki's, who shuddered slightly when Minho’s thumb started rubbing his hands.

They sat there for a few minutes, just watching each other and basking in the joy of the moment. While it wasn’t awkward, Jinki felt he needed to break the silence. "And now?"

"How about a date?"

"A date?" Jinki asked with wide eyes, his head swirling with the contemplation of going on a date with Minho. The perfect Choi Minho, in Jinki’s eyes, wanted to go out on a date with him.

"Yes. Don’t you want to go out with me?"

"Oh... hm... of course." he said shakily in anticipation. Jinki could not wait to go out with him.

"So let's go," Minho said as he pulled away and stood up, one hand still holding Jinki. "How about a movie? I know a place where we can watch old American movies, you know, musicals." he said excitedly.

"Wait, right now?" Jinki felt as though he was being hit with mental whiplash. So much had happened in only a few minutes. This was already a lot to wrap his head around.

The younger man stopped and looked at Jinki. "Are you busy now? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought... "

"No, no," Jinki said cutting him off. "I'm not busy!"

Minho smiled, a beautiful smile that made his heart beat flutter. If Minho kept this up, then Jinki would surely have a heart attack before the day was over. "Come on then, let's go! We just need to buy some food," he said holding Jinki's hand tighter in his and starting to walk. "You're going to love this place!"

Looking at their hands together, Jinki did not even answered, part shocked and part very happy to be able to touch Minho so intimately.

As they walked in silence, hand holding hand, Jinki began to wrap his head around everything that had just occurred. It was still a little hard to believe that Minho said he liked him. Not that he doubted the feelings of the younger man, but that it was still surreal. Jinki truly felt over the moon and like he had won the lottery.

They reached the small corner store and set out to find some snacks to munch on while watching the musical. Minho immediately went for the usual snacks. Pretzels, chips, cheese puffs...but Jinki, Jinki only had eyes for one thing.

“Chicken.” he cheered, running away from Minho and finding a display of chicken flavored crackers on an end cap. He started grabbing one of each flavor; spicy, sweet; regular; honey coated... then he froze, hearing chuckling from behind him.

Looking over he saw Minho laughing at him quietly, his hand covering much of his face, trying not to look obvious. Jinki blushed and looked down at his arms, seeing five bags of different chicken crackers. He mentally hit himself, thinking how stupid he looked going crazy over the snack food. He put his head down and very quickly went to put all but one bag back, when Minho stopped him by grabbing his arm.

“Hyung, you forget I know you already. I know how much you love chicken and strawberry cake,” he winked. “Grab them all! I will pay for it today, my treat as I was the one who asked you out for our first date,” Minho noticeably blushed and became suddenly shy. “Besides...I think you are very cute when you are free and energetic like that...”

Jinki didn’t think his blush could get any deeper, but at that comment, it did. He quickly put all of the snacks into Minho’s basket and proceeded to make his way to the drink fridge, keeping his face turned away from Minho. He could still hear Minho’s little chuckles as he quietly followed his bright red hyung.

After paying for their snacks and drinks and walking a few more minutes, the pair happened upon an old, but well kept bookstore. It’s sign said Shim’s Shop: New and Used Books, Bought and Sold. Jinki had never entered this bookstore before, not because he didn’t want to. He simply had not had the time to visit it. Upon entering the store, Jinki noticed a few things. The shop was small compared to other bookstores in Seoul, but it looked cozy. There was even a small cafe counter on the right hand side so those that came to read could get tea or coffee and a small sweet treat.

"What are we doing here, Minho-ah?" Jinki whispered to Minho who was holding the bag of snacks in one hand and Jinki’s hand in the other.

"I said," Minho said smiling. "To watch a movie."

Jinki was confused. "But we..."

"Minho-ah, what are you doing here?"

He looked to the side and a tall, handsome man was coming toward them, his eyes sparkling happily and a huge smile on his face.

"Changmin-hyung." Minho said releasing Jinki's hand and hugging the other man who laughed.

"What are you doing here?" Changmin asked again as Minho stepped away. "I haven’t seen you in a while."

"Sorry about that," Minho smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. "We are working on a new musical and have been really busy...” Minho seemed kind of awkward while answering. “To answer your question, I came here to watch a movie with him." he said pulling Jinki closer, while Jinki seemed to be trying to look anywhere but at the 2 taller men.

The older man looked at Jinki and smiled. "Oh, I'm Shim Changmin, the owner of this bookstore and I’ve known Minho since when he was a cute little boy."

"Hyung." Minho said in embarrassment and Jinki couldn’t help but chuckle.

"I'm Lee Jinki, music student," he said taking the hand Changmin offered. “Nice to meet you.”

“He is Jonghyun's friend and has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard." Minho said, nodding.

Changmin smiled and looked at Jinki who, with the additional attention, blushed, looking at his own feet.

"That's not true." Jinki murmured, embarrassed.

“Well, one day I'll listen you singing and then decide your talent for myself, okay?” Changmin said seriously and Minho laughed.

Jinki only blushed harder, looked down and wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.

"We're going to the back room, okay?"

"Yeah, you can go," Changmin said smirking in understanding. "Just do not stay until late because I need to close the shop."

"We won't, don't worry!" Minho said waving and waiting for Jinki.

Changmin chuckled and then went back to his organizing and helping a costumer who waited with a question.

"Minho-ah, what are we doing here?" Jinki tried to ask again.

Minho opened a door at the back of the bookstore that read “Employees Only”. It was a small room and there was not much in there besides shelves full of books, a large, old television and a small couch in the corner.

"I told you, watch a movie." Minho said entering and closing the door behind Jinki as he pulled him through.

"Here?" he asked, looking around until his eyes found a separate bookshelf under the television, lined with old VHS tapes and newer DVD cases. There had to be over 100 of them in total.

"Changmin-hyung has a huge collection of old movies here, most of them musicals. My favorites are anything with Gene Kelly, but you can choose whatever you want."

Jinki looked with wide eyes to all the cases. Seeing all of the options, some nearly impossible to find titles, Jinki knew that Changmin had a treasure in that small room. He did not even know which one to choose to watch. Jinki wanted to sit there and spend the whole night watching them all.

"I do not know which one to choose," Jinki murmured with a sparkle to his eye, then looked at the younger who only smiled widely. "I wish I could watch everything."

"Well," Minho said, chuckling softly. "We can't do that today, but we will certainly do it another day."

The promise of another day to watch movies together, the promise of yet another date filled Jinki with joy, who smiled and nodded.

"How about seeing one of my favorites? Top Hat?"

"Oh, I love that one! 'Heaven, I'm in heaven'." Jinki sang smiling, dancing around the small room, for once not falling over his feet. Minho laughed, putting down the back of snacks and reaching out for him.

"Would you like to dance with me?"

He laughed when Minho bowed and reach out his hand, as if he was Jerry Travers asking Dale Tremont for a dance.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Jinki said with a laugh. "Besides being in too small a space to dance, my accident prone self can’t really dance well. Besides, you need to perform the musical in a few weeks. It would not be nice if I stepped on your foot and caused the male lead an injury."

Minho laughed. "You're right, the space is too small, but one day we'll do it."

"No, that is not going to happen,” Jinki said sitting on the couch and grabbing a bag of the chicken crackers to eat. "Now let's watch the movie."

"Okay." Minho said, laughing and shaking his head. He picked the video tape up and put it on the VCR.

Only when Minho sat down and not so subtly put his arm around Jinki's waist, did he realize how close they were sitting. Not that there was too much space on the couch, but there was enough room for them to sit without touching if they had wanted.

Looking briefly at Minho, who was staring at the television, Jinki noticed that there was a slight blush on the younger man's cheeks, which made him a little more confidence.

They were not two teenagers, both had made it clear they liked each other and they were there on a date, so what was the matter of touching a little? They had walked all the way to the bookstore holding hands, and people were staring at them. A few with that look of disapproval, but it seemed Minho did not care, so Jinki tried to ignore it and only care about the warmth of the younger man's hand against his palm.

Then Jinki decided to be brave and to act out how he felt. He moved closer to the younger, his body vibrating as he felt the warmth emanate from Minho's body. Then Jinki laid his head on the taller boy’s shoulder, fitting perfectly against the younger who only tightened his hold around him. Jinki could not hold the smile that appeared on his lips, or even act shy about it. He was too happy to care.

They stay that way for a while, bodies pressed together in such an intimate position that Jinki felt he would wind up in Minho’s lap before the end of the musical. He couldn’t figure out how they had gotten so close, so fast. At least for their first date anyway, but he strangely felt so comfortable next to Minho. Maybe because they had known each other for some time now, maybe because they were already comfortable with each other, or maybe, Jinki dared to say, because they were compatible and completed each other.

The urge to kiss Minho was too great, especially as he looked up at the younger man. Minho was still watching the movie, and the way the screen’s light reflected off his plump and slightly red lips only pushed Jinki to want to act. He stopped himself though, even if they were two adults, two men, even if he wanted to, he tried to reason with himself that he could not kiss Minho. It was still too early for that he tried to mentally argue. Everything was very sudden and Jinki had not even stopped to think about what was happening.

The best thing to do at that moment was to let things go naturally, there was no need to hurry. Or at least that’s what he tried to convince himself.

The credits of the movie went up and Jinki sighed, moving away from Minho. Honestly, it was less that he wanted to and more trying to pull himself away from the temptation to kiss the younger. If it was up to him, they would watch another movie but he knew they had to go. Changmin had made it clear that he needed to close the bookstore.

"That movie was wonderful, right?"

Jinki smiled and nodded, sliding his fingers into his hair to fix it up a bit. "Yeah, I wish I could watch another or maybe just all of them!" he said pointing to the movies lined up on the bookshelf.

"We can do it another day, when we have more time. Changmin-hyung will not mind."

"Okay," he said biting his lip. "I would like that a lot."

"We should go now," Minho said looking at the time on his phone. "Before the dorm curfew." Neither wanted to be left out when they locked the gates for the night.

"Yeah, let's go."

On the way back to the dormitory, Jinki was more than happy to see that their hands, once again, were together, Minho’s long, slender fingers holding tight to his smaller ones.

"Changmin has a real treasure room in that shop." Jinki said as they walked quietly down the sidewalk.

"Yes, he inherited it from his father and he is very proud of it," Minho said with a laugh. "Almost nobody knows about it though. If they knew about the rare movies and musicals in that room, people would want to buy them and cause a headache for hyung."

"So then how do you know about it?"

"I've known hyung since I was a little kid. He was our neighbor so we basically grew up together. Taemin and I always went there to spend the afternoon watching movies. That's how we decided what we wanted to do in college. While I fell in love with acting, Taemin fell in love with dance."

"Oh, that's pretty cool! I mean... figuring out what you want to do by watching those wonderful movies and musicals as a kid."

"And Changmin is also proud of it," he said laughing. "He says he helped us choose what we would do when we grew up."

Jinki laughed. "In a way he was right."

"Well, I guess so. And you, how did you find out you wanted to become a singer and music producer?"

"Me? I think I’ve known since forever. When I was little, I got one of those plastic kiddie pianos, you know, those little ones with terrible sounds," he said with a laugh. "And I loved to pretend to play and sing senseless songs, so my parents put me in piano class and I learned how to sing there. It was my piano and voice teacher who put the idea into my head that I had talent and should study it in college... and here I am."

"So you play the piano, too?"

"Yes," Jinki said with a smile. "Like you."

"We should play together, a duet."

"We're making a lot of plans for the future." Jinki mumbled with red ears, staring at the sidewalk.

"Hyung," he said as he stopped walking, making Jinki look up. "I do not intend to let you go, not now that I've finally have you."

"F-finally?"

"Yeah, I’ve liked you for a really long time and now that I know you like me too, I will not let you go. You are kind, talented, handsome but cute, polite and just amazing to me. What else could I asked for?"

A wave of heat spread through Jinki's body at the younger’s words and he bit his lip. He looked at Minho through his lashes, his heart beating fast inside his chest. It was too early, he kept reminding himself, but after that, how could he resist?

Leaning closer, Jinki looked directly into Minho's eyes, without saying a word, trying to show what he wanted and the younger man swallowed. His free hand cupped Jinki's face, who trembled with the contact and he could see that Minho was shaking too, was as nervous as Jinki about this.

Slowly Minho leaned down and Jinki reach for the younger man's shoulder with his free hand, pressing their lips together. Minho let go of Jinki's hand to hold his waist, bringing Jinki closer, pressing the bodies together.

Standing on his toes a bit, Jinki hugged Minho's shoulders and slid his tongue over the younger’s lips, who immediately parted them, deepening the kiss, shuddering as he felt the younger man's tongue brush against his.

Jinki didn’t think they could get any closer, yet Minho did, taking a tiny step forward, pressing their bodies together even more and Jinki gasped, breaking the kiss. He could feel everything. All of Minho’s muscles, his rough breathing, his hair brushing up against Jinki’s face. It was all making him hyper aware and set his senses on overdrive.

Breathless, they looked at each other and Minho smirked, his thumb sliding over Jinki’s chin and wiping up the little bit of saliva their kissing had left, making Jinki feel his legs go weak. God damn if he did not want to kiss the younger man again, and again, and again, but they were outside, where anyone could see them and two men kissing was something still taboo and looked down on by some.

They were playing with fire and up until this point had come out lucky.

"W-we," Jinki cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound normal despite everything that had just happened. "We should go."

The younger man nodded, smiling like a fool, and took Jinki's hand, interlacing their fingers together tighter than ever. "Let's go."

When Jinki entered his room, Jonghyun was lying in bed reading a book.

"You’re late, where were you?" he asked without looking up from his reading and he looked up towards Jinki when the older didn’t answer him, finding Jinki standing in the door redder than a tomato and lips still plump and bright pink. "Hyung?"

"He... we... I..."

Jonghyun raised an eyebrow, waiting and Jinki fumbled with his own shoes as he tried to take them off. Then stumbled on the step.

"I-I was with Minho." he muttered, turning even more red, still remembering the kiss.

"Wait..." Jonghyun said, getting out of bed in a hurry, practically throwing the book. "You were with Minho? Just the two of you together? The whole afternoon?"

Jinki finally sat on the bed, his legs still wobbly and his heart beating fast inside his chest, his hands sweating. "Yes," he said, nodding. "We were watching a movie in that bookstore near that jjajjangmyun restaurant."

"You were watching a movie in a bookstore?" he asked confused.

"Yeah, the owner has a collection of old American movies and..."

"Who confessed first?" Jonghyun asked suddenly, excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.

"Well," he scratched his neck, turning red. "It was me."

"You?" Jonghyun said shocked. "The guy who said he didn’t want to confess, that he preferred things the way they were?"

Jonghyun was right, Jinki had always said that he would not confess, that he would not do it because he thought Minho did not care about him. Though after all the evidences Jonghyun had pointed out, he tried his luck. It was Jonghyun who suggested it in the first place!

"I was wrong, okay? I confessed that I liked him and he told me that he liked me too."

The younger man smiled as he sat down next to Jinki and hugged him. "I'm glad you finally took the courage to do this."

Smiling, Jinki hugged Jonghyun back, proud of himself for having had the courage and for listening to his friend. If he had not done that and if Minho did not confess to him either, the two would never have had a chance to go out on their first date... to find out if they can work together as a couple or not.

He still didn’t know what will happen, if he and Minho could really work or if they would ruin the friendship they had built over all that time... but Jinki was tired of being a chicken-hearted coward of sorts and now he would try to make it work.

And if that kiss had not been enough proof that they were compatible, Jinki did not know what would be.