It seemed as though time was slipping through his fingers.

It wasn’t as though that were a bad thing though.

Only three more months until he could see his Taemin.

His beautiful, y, kind, loving, perfect Taemin.

Yunho’s friends often made fun of him for keeping his boyfriend’s picture where ever he went, but what did they know anyways. After all, all their girlfriends sent them mostly photos, and the whole group would gather around and compare girlfriends.

He was one of the only gay men in his unit. But that didn’t mean that they weren’t close.

When one man’s girlfriend had broken up with him in a letter, saying that she’d been cheating on him with two other men when he was gone and asked for her picture back, they had all pitched in and lent him their girlfriend’s and boyfriend’s photos to send her. He’d told her to remove hers and send the rest back. She wasn’t pleased.

Taemin and he corresponded frequently in letters, and Taemin was the sweetest thing ever. Every letter, he would send another picture to put up on his wall or to take with him in case he lost the previous photo, not that he ever did, of course.

In the most recent photo, his perfect boy took a picture with their new kitten, which the brunette had gotten to keep himself from being lonely in their spacious apartment. He smiled because on the back, there was always an encouraging message, telling his “Yunnie-ah” to push on through. The men in his unit found it sappy, he found it cute.

The only dirty photo that Taemin had sent him was the most worn. He didn’t let the other men see it, he didn’t compare his Minnie to the other girls and boys who sent pictures. He kept it private, because that part of his boyfriend was for his eyes only. Yunho had used it many times during his private time. He’d even had Taemin laminate it so that he would always have it during those special times. Taemin was all too happy to comply. It was certainly the better option, Yunho had told him about how the men in his unit would borrow other people’s pictures if their own partners wouldn’t put out.

The most recent photo that Taemin had sent (with his new hairstyle) was his favorite. He had gone back to the long brown hair, but this time it was a lighter color and a bit longer. His bangs covered his eyes but he often pulled it into a ponytail according to the letter he’d gotten with the picture. Plus, he’d gotten another dirty photo, and he loved it.

Taemin was wearing one of his shirts (which was obviously several sizes too big) and a tie. He was sitting on his heels, legs spread slightly, but he pulled down the white button down shirt to cover anything he didn’t want seen. His back was slightly arched and he held the tie in his mouth, an innocent look written on his face, despite the fact that the photo was not innocent at all. His hair was down and he looked perfect. And the photo was pre-laminated.

Then it hit him that someone had seen his Minnie that way. Someone had to have taken the picture. That made him unhappy.

Sighing, he let it go. They would be landing soon, and he would risk his life for the umpteenth time for a country he didn’t even care for that much. He wasn't doing it for his country, he wasn't really even patriotic.

He was doing it for Taemin, not anyone else.

The jet opened and he unstrapped himself from the seat, making sure his parachute was securely strapped onto his back. He slipped the letter and the picture into his uniform jacket and prepared for the fall.