- December 26, 2009 -

Well, Kibum thought to himself as he opened his eyes. I don't feel any different. Aside from a vague sense of lingering happiness, he really didn't. Did it actually happen? He rubbed his eyes, staring up at the pictures adorning his bunk's ceiling. Which one was it? he couldn't help but wonder. If he had to guess, it was the one nearer to the top, where he and Minho were posing with leaves in the pile he and Gil had made last year.

He could be wrong, though…

Sitting up, he surveyed the room, taking in the dress robes and shoes and ties and shirts strewn about the room. The Yule Ball did in fact happen, then...unless this was just a dream as well.

He pinched his arm. Hard.

"Ow."

The room didn't vanish. He didn't jolt awake. Nothing.

"Huh…"

He braced himself as he sat up, his hand pressing into his open notebook. He picked it up as soon as he was situated, his smile growing as he quickly scanned the messages between him and Minho. Yeah, it wasn't a dream...it was real.

Minho was actually his boyfriend.

His heart sang as he flipped back to the start, rereading I can't stop thinking about you...

This was gonna be a fantastic day, he could already tell.

Even though breakfast was nowhere near ready, he hopped out of bed, finding and pulling on his socks. Excitement thrummed through him, and he couldn’t stay still any longer. He left the room, being careful not to wake the others up, and made his way out into the common room, only to stop in his tracks.

Minho was awake. Awake and sitting on the couch across from Analecia. “What are you doing up this early?” he asked, unable to keep the surprise from coloring his voice.

“Why do you think?” he said in Korean as Kibum moved further into the room.

"I mean, I have a guess -- "

"Oh good," Analecia said, rolling her eyes and trying not to smile. "The flirting in Korean thing is still happening."

"Who said we were flirting?" Minho asked as Kibum chuckled and made his way over to the everlasting tea set.

"I'm not an idiot, Minho." Kibum poured himself some coffee, spooned a little sugar in it, and went over to sit beside Minho.

"You didn't put any cream in it," Minho said after he leaned over to inspect it.

"I don't like cream in it."

"But I do."

"Go make your own, then?"

Minho shook his head, huffing a sigh as he looked across the table at Analecia. "See what I have to put up with?"

"I don't know how you do it," she said with faux sympathy.

Kibum scoffed. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side."

"I'm on nobody's side except my own. And occasionally my mother's."

"I'd drink to that if Kibum's coffee had cream in it."

Kibum smacked Minho's thigh as he got up to get his own coffee, which in turn made him laugh. "Why are you being such a brat right now?" he asked, once again slipping into Korean. He wasn't mad, more amused than anything, and he knew Minho could tell by his tone that he wasn't upset with him.

Minho, who was still smiling, shrugged as he tapped the side of the teapot twice before he poured himself a cup. "Because your reactions are cute."

Kibum his teeth at him, his face inflaming before he returned his attention to Ana across the table. She was watching him, highly amused, and her gaze flicked up to follow Minho's progress back to his side. He glanced at his cup, doing a double-take when he saw that it was cocoa instead of coffee. Minho's eyes lit up when Kibum's met his, and he took a sip, seemingly waiting for Kibum to make some sort of remark.

Kibum unsuccessfully tried to keep himself from smiling as he looked back at Analecia. "Is breakfast upstairs today? I forget."

"McGonagall mentioned it last night when you came upstairs, didn't she?" Kibum blinked at her. He had no memory of that, but then he had been just slightly distracted after he left Minho last night. Minho coughed quietly into his cocoa, disguising a laugh, and Analecia's smile slowly grew.

"Both of you need to stop teasing me, I swear to -- "

But Minho had leaned over, pressing a quick kiss to Kibum's cheek and bringing his train of thought to a screeching halt. "Sorry, I'll stop."

Kibum slowly turned, meeting Minho's adorably mischievous gaze. "You know what's sorta funny?" he asked in Korean, sniffing a laugh when Analecia let out an exasperated sigh.

"What?"

"I got after Aaron and Arabella for making out last night. They were sitting right here."

Minho let out a clipped laugh. "Really?" Kibum nodded, giving Minho a wry smile. "So, what? Am I in trouble?"

"You're on very thin ice,” Kibum said as sternly as he could manage, but Minho still cracked up, which made Kibum do so as well. He looked back over at Analecia, who was shaking her head as she glanced over to watch Chloe sleepily trudge into the common room.

The others were waking up then, one by one coming out to join them for their morning coffee or tea or cocoa before they all decided to head upstairs for breakfast. Kibum lingered toward the back of the procession and Minho, of course, joined him. By the time everyone else had stepped into the main corridor, Kibum reached the top step. He grabbed Minho’s hand, leading him to the shadows beneath the stairs.

“What’s this about?” Minho asked when his back hit the wall, an easy grin brightening his features as Kibum pressed his hand against the wall by his shoulder, leaning over him.

Kibum shrugged nonchalantly, glancing down at his lips before meeting his gaze again. “Just wanted to say a proper good morning, that’s all.”

And, before Minho could respond, Kibum was kissing him. Minho’s arm slipped around his waist, pulling him close as he cradled Minho’s face in his hand. When Kibum started to pull away, just enough to look into his still-closed eyes, he murmured Good morning against Minho's parted lips.

It took a second for Minho to open his eyes again. “You know,” he said, a little breathlessly. “If you keep this up, you might just make a morning person out of me.”

“Oh really?” Minho nodded, still smiling.

Before Kibum could kiss him again, footsteps sounded up the stairs. They stayed close, both unmoving until the footsteps passed. Kibum melted into Minho's embrace when he initiated another kiss, but it was cut short by even more footsteps. Reluctantly, they parted, and Kibum held his hand for as long as he dared as he pulled him out into the main corridor.

Analecia eyed them as they took their place on the bench beside her, but she said nothing, instead turning to Gil when he said through his mouthful of eggs, “Anyone wanna come down to Hogsmeade later?”

“Do you want to?” Minho asked him quietly after Aaron and Callum started discussing it with Gil.

Kibum shrugged. “Probably. I mean, what else is there to do?” Minho met his eye, then, his amusement shining in his eyes. Kibum started smiling, but caught himself and instead looked back down at his breakfast. “Besides that.”

“Oh, I don’t know, then.”

Kibum snorted, nudging Minho with his elbow before he tuned back into the others’ conversation.

It was decided by Gil, Analecia, and Aaron when they would go -- Aaron had to finish writing a letter to his mom, but after stopping by the owlery, they could head down. They separated at the corner, Minho and Gil heading off to their common room while Kibum and the other’s made their way to theirs. Aaron finished up his letter as quickly as he could while everyone else put on their coats and boots and scarves and knit caps that Callum’s mom made them this Christmas.

With Aaron’s finished letter in hand, they were off, rejoining Minho and Gil on the stairs. They were already near the top by the time they reached the landing, but both of them stopped to wait for him and Analecia to join them.

Even though he knew he should keep his feelings a secret, he couldn’t help but grin whenever he was around Minho now. Maybe that feeling would fade and he would become less obvious as time wore on, but right now...right now he knew he was positively beaming, just because Minho was there. It wasn’t like anything was out of the ordinary. He was just...just with him, and he knew that he liked him back, and it was like a heavy burden he never realized he had been carrying all this time had been lifted, and they could just be...well, themselves.

He would have thought that by now he would have already realized the weighted effects that secrets had on him…

But, at least it was gone now. Well, that part of it.

He glanced up at Minho, who immediately looked his way, returning his smile. Sure, their relationship was still a secret from most everyone, but at least they were now sharing the burden of it.

And that was more than he could have ever hoped for.