Jinki felt restless as he lay in the hospital bed, he had no idea why he was still there, he was fine. Well he was mostly fine except for the hangover, he groaned wondering why he had made such an idiot of himself, why he had said that stuff to Minho. Jinki rolled onto his side, covering his face with his hand, wishing that he could go back in time and change everything from the night before. He just felt sick because he had confessed to Minho in front of all those people, he had made himself into such a pathetic loser.

The clock was ticking loudly, and Jinki frowned, because Kibum said he was just getting a glass of water. He heard the sound of the door being slid back, his back facing the door. Jinki didn’t bother to look, the only person coming to see him would be Kibum. He inhaled softly, letting his eyelids shut as he lay there wondering what to say.

“Kibummie, I’m so stupid, you know what I did last night?” Jinki shook his head slowly, “It’s bad enough that Minho knew I liked him, but then I confessed in front of everyone last night.” He shivered slightly, “Everyone will be laughing at me, god I am so ing stupid. Why did I have to do that, and worst of all I probably just made Minho feel awkward.” Jinki hid behind his hands, as he heard footsteps coming closer to him.

“I feel so bad, poor Minho he probably feels terrible, I should never have said that stuff.” Jinki shook his head firmly, wondering why Kibum was being so silent he was usually vocal about everything. “Kibum,” Jinki frowned, feeling tempted to open his eyes, but at the same time he just wanted to lie there with his eyes shut, he felt safe in darkness.

“Why would I feel terrible?”

Jinki gasped, his whole body tensing as he heard Minho’s voice, he shivered and squeezed his eyes shut even more. He hoped he was only dreaming, or that he imagined it was Minho’s voice, surely he wasn’t even there. He opened one eye and peeked through his fingers, eyes widening with horror as he saw Minho standing there, looking tired and exhausted.

“Oh,” Jinki practically squeaked, wincing when he realised how terrible he sounded, “Um, no reason, sorry.” Jinki reached for the sheets, he quickly pulled them over his head to hide, hoping that if he lay there quietly Minho might somehow forget that he was even there and just leave. His heart was racing so fast, Jinki lay there silently, but after a few minutes the sheets were tugged back.

“Did you mean your words last night?” Minho chewed on his lip, teeth digging into the plump surface, “Did you?” He repeated, wringing his hands together, his fingers constantly moving. Jinki gulped, there was no way to back out now, so he just nodded his head, feeling tempted to shut his eyes. He frowned as he saw that Minho was holding a box in his hands, he stared curiously at it.

“What’s that?” Jinki asked pointing at the box, as soon as he spoke he regretted his words, “Uh sorry never mind me, just ignore that.”

“Letters from you,” Minho replied right away, Jinki swallowed, blushing slightly as he realised what Minho meant. “I don’t know if you know, but we wrote each other letters, do you remember that school project?” He started to ask and then shut up when he saw how Jinki was nodding his head quickly.

“Oh, you found out.” Jinki mumbled sheepishly, “I uh never thought you knew.” Jinki wanted to scream at himself, he couldn’t understand how they were talking so normally after what he said the night before. He should be hiding from Minho, but somehow he felt a little better, the throbbing had died down a little, and he no longer had the urge to hide behind his hands. It made no sense, even his heart had calmed down completely, he glanced cautiously at Minho through his long lashes.

“Yeah I did, by accident.” Minho pouted, “But why did you stop checking for letters, did you hate me that much? You never got the last letter I sent you,” Minho opened the box, and Jinki watched, mesmerised as Minho pulled it out, he felt so nostalgic and giddy as he saw the familiar envelope and the same hand writing. He gulped as Minho stepped right up to him, he reached down and grasped Jinki’s hand, warm, slightly rough fingers his wrist gently, before he pressed the envelope into his fingers.

“Minho, what is this?” Jinki asked, feeling his heart pound crazily, he knew what it was but he wanted to hear it from his lips.

“It’s the last letter I sent you,” Minho gulped softly, “I hope you read it hyung, my feelings haven’t changed since then.” He whispered softly, “I hope you feel better soon, I was so worried about you last night.  Oh but I understand if you don’t want to read it, but if you don’t can you please return it to me, so I know you didn’t read it.”

“Okay,” Jinki swallowed, clutching the letter tightly in his hands, “Okay, I’ll do that.”

“Thank you hyung, please take care of yourself,” Minho nodded his head, “I uh will give you some space, but Kibum has my number if you want to talk.” Minho leaned down and gripped Jinki’s hand again, it so tenderly that Jinki felt warmth flood his entire body.

Jinki felt so dazed that even after Minho left, he lay there blinking his eyes slowly, trying to decide if he should read the letter or not. He swallowed and then decided he should read it. He owed it to Minho, plus he was dying to know how he felt. His shaking hands he opened the envelope, his heart skipping faster and faster as he pulled the letter out.

*

Kibum and Taemin were holding hands when Minho walked out of the hospital room, they immediately looked up at him. Minho swallowed, feeling like he wanted to be sick, he felt so giddy and nervous. He clutched the box with clammy hands, sitting down next to his friend and his boyfriend. He could feel their eyes on him, watching him intently, wanting to know what was going on.

“Minho-hyung, what happened?” Taemin asked first, untangling his fingers from Kibum’s hand, sitting up and leaning towards his best friend, “Are you okay?” Taemin reached out with his hand, inching it along Minho’s forearm lightly, focussing all his attention on Minho.

“I’m okay, I think.” Minho nodded his head slowly, but he looked slightly shaken, “I um, gave Jinki my letter, but I didn’t tell him how I felt,” He looked down at the floor, unable to stop thinking that he was a coward for not telling Jinki, but leaving him a letter. “, I should go and confess shouldn’t I? An old letter that I wrote years ago is hardly going to say much is it?”

“A letter?” Kibum frowned, “Wait, by any chance are you the person Jinki-hyung was exchanging letters with?” Kibum suddenly burst out, Minho blushed and then nodded his head, “Ohh really? Haha, that is awesome.” Kibum grinned, “I suppose you kept all the letters too, so what did you show Jinki one of his old letters?”

“No, it was the last one I wrote to him, he never went to collect it,” Minho swallowed, “I revealed my name in it, and my uh feelings for him, well I think that’s what I said.” He nodded his head, offering Kibum and Taemin a lopsided grin.

“You think,” Kibum frowned, “Um, I think you better go and tell him how you feel, what if you wrote something stupid in the letter?” Kibum got up and stood in front of Minho, hands on hips as he glared down at him, “You better not hurt him okay, I will not forgive you if you do hurt him!” Kibum threatened him, until Taemin grasped Kibum’s hands and pulled him back gently.

“Kibum-hyung, just calm down, he won’t hurt him.” Taemin whispered pressing delicate kisses down Kibum’s neck.

“No, I won’t,” Minho nodded, “in fact I’ll go and tell him how I feel right now. I need to, I need Jinki to understand, I’m sick of trying to be subtle and failing miserably.”

“You tried to be subtle,” Kibum laughed, “Yeah subtle would not work with him, you need to take him by the collar and just show him.” Kibum grinned, “Give him his first proper kiss.” He mumbled the words without thinking, and then gasped realising Jinki would kill him for that. “Ignore me, I’m babbling stupidly, saying stuff that is meaningless, you just go and tell that idiot what he needs to hear.”

^^ posting today~ sorry for the lack of updates ;_; I will reply to comments when I can! Have been horribly busy :(