“Hyung, do you know what day it is today?” Minhyuk asks, plopping down on the couch with phone in hand, camera roll open. Selfies. Video selfies. Photos of his hyungs. Videos of his hyungs. Basically his life.

 

“Uh… Wednesday? The fourteenth,” Dongmin answers from the floor. He’s in a fetal position, trying to fall asleep on the mat, and beside him lies a snoring Sanha. The maknae’s mouth happens to be attracting flies, as it’s half-open. Minhyuk spares him a glance, but Dongmin turns onto his other side, yawning audibly, which brings him back to Minhyuk’s attention.

 

“No, no hyung. I mean, what are we celebrating?” Minhyuk leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. The older of the two looks back at him and catches the pout the younger is showing off, Minhyuk’s phone now buried in his pocket and palms now holding the beauty that is his face.

 

“Aha!” Dongmin says. “It’s kiss day.” He smiles, and Minhyuk’s pink and adorable pout morphs into a million-watt smile. What a cute kid, Dongmin thinks to himself.

 

“Swag kiss.” Minhyuk flashes that same smile again, just a little brighter now.

 

Never mind, Dongmin changes his mind. He barks out a laugh, but covers his mouth with his hands so as not to wake Sanha from his slumber. “Swag… kiss?” He chortles, side-eyeing the younger one mischievously.

 

“Yes.” The dangerous glint in Minhyuk’s eyes should have warned Dongmin about the direction this conversation was going, but he dismisses it and instead listens for more. “A Rocky swag bonus… or, er, specialty.” He clicks his tongue and smiles wickedly. “It comes with the whole swaggy concept.”

 

Dongmin moves to put his hands behind his head, lying down straight and facing nothing but the ceiling. He catches a whiff of Minhyuk’s cologne, lets it in.

 

He entertains the kid. “Where did you get that concept of yours, anyway?”

 

“I was born with it,” Minhyuk quips in a split second, and the speed of his response causes the older to snort.

 

“Mmm.. okay then,” Dongmin says in reply, voice soft. Minhyuk returns to his phone while Dongmin closes his eyes, tries to see if he can actually take a nap with so much going on around him. Staff are buzzing around and Myungjun’s chattering away with Bin and Jinwoo at the other side of the room. He’s usually tired enough to fall asleep right away, but, now, he feels somewhat.. energized.

 

“Hyung, still awake?” Minhyuk prompts, voice barely a whisper.

 

Dongmin hums in response. “Yup. It’s been, what, like two or three minutes since we last talked.” He laughs, saying, “What is it?”

 

Smile etched on his face and confidence set in his mouth, Minhyuk answers with a question of his own. A question that isn’t unwelcome per se, but is a question that sets the alarms in Dongmin’s head and makes his insides flip and flip and flip and-

 

What was the question again? Dongmin thinks.

 

He voices his thoughts, clearing his throat and coughing out an awkward, “What did you say?”

 

“Would you kiss a guy?” Minhyuk’s grin widens as he says this (if that were even possible). They’ve known each other long enough for Dongmin to detect the hesitation and nervousness in his voice, no matter how little or heavily masked it is.

 

But look who’s talking.

 

Dongmin is okay with guys. With dudes. (He’s one himself.) With bros liking boys. And kissing them. Actually, he has no problem with them at all. He’s thought of doing it himself before, but with someone he knows? A concrete person? A model, a face? Nah. No way. And he should have expected this from Minhyuk who’s curious and outspoken and a guy like him, but the kid is unpredictable, and so what can you expect from the unexpected? The ever-changing and sometimes volatile? The thing is, you just stop expecting.

 

He comes to his senses. This is just Minhyuk he’s talking to. They’re friends, they’re bros, and they’re family. Families know how to communicate to avoid overthinking and fighting and, well, this. Obviously, someone’s been blowing things way out of proportion here.

 

“Wha- Why?” Dongmin hesitates. He sits up, stretching his limbs as if to show that he’s cool, nonchalant, communicating that, Hey, no biggie. What’s there to be worried about?

 

Minhyuk shrugs, acts cooler, or perhaps, swaggier. Dongmin almost forgets his anxieties. “I dunno. Sorry, just wondering.” He diverts his attention to his phone.

 

The tense smile on Dongmin’s face falls. “Yo, no need to apologize. It was a legitimate question.”

 

“Hyung,” Minhyuk looks at him, scrunching up his nose. “Yo? Eunwoo swag?” He guffaws and Sanha stirs in his sleep. Bin, Myungjun, and Jinwoo look at them - Bin eating and the two hyungs playing with each other’s hands - then resume their activities after a couple of seconds.

 

Dongmin his head to the side and says, “I’d kiss anyone if I liked them and they liked me too.” He fiddles with the hem of his pants as if they’re the best darned pair of pants he’s ever been privileged to wear.

 

Before Minhyuk says something back, he tries to utter the words, “You? How about you? Would you kiss a guy?” but at the same time the younger of the two blurts out, “Would you kiss me?”

 

Dongmin loses it, choking on his own spit and attempting to hide the incident with a laugh. He chokes until Minhyuk begins to look concerned, but he waves his hand at him. He’s okay, he’s okay, just flustered like, What the hell?

 

“You want me to kiss you?” Dongmin whispers at him, and for the record he’s fully aware his face is heating up. It shouldn’t be, but it is.

 

Well, it is kiss day. So to cut the silence short, Dongmin stands up and pulls Minhyuk with him. “Wha–” Minhyuk starts, but Dongmin just leads the way out after excusing themselves with a quick “We’re just gonna get something to eat.”

 

“Hyung, the vending machine is the other way…” Bewildered, Minhyuk moves to steer them other way, but Dongmin just then finds the door to the men’s comfort room. They enter it, and when Dongmin sees that no one’s there but the two of them, he locks the door. Just in case.

 

Minhyuk asks, “What are you doing?”

 

“I’ll kiss you if you want me to, but one condition: don’t tell anyone.” It’s something Dongmin has to offer. A gift on a special occasion. Looking down at Minhyuk’s cherry lips and doe-eyed expression, accompanied by the surprised lift of his eyebrows, he convinces himself that sure, sure, this is totally a logical course of events.

 

Illogically logical. Okay, maybe sillier than he admits to himself.

 

Dongmin is ready to backpedal, ears reddening in shame, when Minhyuk rushes out the word “deal” and, gentler than Dongmin expected, gives him a chaste kiss on the lips.

 

It’s… soft. Like a pillow. Warm but fresh. Like the shade on a sunny day.

 

It lasts for only eight seconds, but it feels like time has stopped, and the only people who exist are a boy and his hyung.

 

The smile that blooms on Minhyuk’s face brightens up the small comfort room. The combined feeling of endearment and giddiness surges inside Dongmin, and right now Minhyuk is the one better with words. “That kiss was…”

 

“Amazing.”

 

“Swaggy.”

 

Dongmin bows his head to stop himself from erupting in laughter.

 

 

 

Later, Sanha shoots Dongmin an unprecedented question: “So, hyung, are you and Minhyuk together?”

 

Dongmin just about chokes on his drink.