Whether near or far
I am always yours
Any change in time
We are young again

A knock on the door to their apartment.

The dozing boy scrambles from his diligent place of waiting in their armchair to open it, only to be disappointed to find an empty hallway and a simple letter folded and lying on the ground.

Picking it up with shaking, disappointed hands, he closes the door and returns to the armchair where he unfolds it with care and reads the content inside with sleepy eyes, taking it all in.

‘Dear lovely,’ it reads.

‘It’s December 11^th as I write this letter to you – only two weeks until I’m discharged from duty in the army to return home. By the time you receive this, I should be arriving.

There is something I need to tell you, but I have a question for you first, my dear. Do you remember how we met? I’m sure you do, because it was an event that neither of us could ever forget.

I was in the local coffee shop, only wanting to grab some source of caffeine before my brother’s inconveniently early wedding. I was in my brand new suit that I had bought specifically for that occasion, and what did you do? You ran right smack into me with a steaming coffee, successfully ruining my entire outfit and giving me what felt like third degree burns all over my hands and torso.

I was prepared to let you have it and make you pay for the damage you had done, but as soon as I saw your angelic face, red and eyes bloodshot from crying previously, I knew I couldn’t do it. You burst into tears once more at the sight of my shocked expression, apologizing profusely and asking if there was anything you could do. I told you no, and ignored your protests as I ordered a new coffee for you as well as my own.

After that, you helped me clean my suit in the small bathroom of the café, still sniffling and murmuring a string of apologies. I told you it was alright, and asked just for one thing in return, if you could tell me why you had been crying before you ran into me. When you hesitantly told me about your abusive boyfriend and that you wanted so badly to leave him, I boiled with anger and refused to let you leave to return to him, so I forced you to go with me to the wedding. You still say that I kidnapped you, but it isn’t kidnapping if you’re willing, doll.’

Yes, Taemin remembers it all clearly. He can’t help but chuckle at the memory.

 Lay us down
We're in love

‘We became such good friends after that, and I helped you confront that bastard boyfriend of yours and get away from him. I ended up with a bloody nose, but I’m sure you remember who got the worst end of it in the end.

It took me months to realize what the fluttery feeling in my heart that I got whenever you would smile, laugh, or brush those soft hands of yours against me meant. It took me months to realize that I was completely and utterly in love with you, although thinking back, it seems like it was love at first sight.

Once I realized how much I cared about you, which was more than I had ever cared about anyone before, I worked up the nerve to ask you out on a date. I still remember the flush of your cheeks as I posed to question so casually as we sat on my couch watching your favorite show, as we always did on Friday nights. The way you squeaked out a quiet, ‘Yes’, was the cutest thing I had ever heard in my life.

Then I kissed you, right on the lips. You kissed back. There were sparks, just like those romance novels and cliché movies always described, that I had never believed in before that very moment. From that moment, I knew I couldn’t ever let you go.

Our first date was ironically at the café where we had first met. We laughed until tears streamed from our eyes over the memory of the incident, and you blushed a beautiful cherry red as I teased you relentlessly throughout the entire date. In the end, I apologized to you for my ruthlessness by peppering soft kisses up and down your neck when we returned to my apartment, which were just as teasing as my words. You soon got embarrassed from that, too, and locked yourself in my room for an hour.

After a month of small dates and shy kisses, I came home to you already sitting on my couch, fiddling with the key I had given you. You looked disappointed – almost angry, even – and I was so afraid I had done something to hurt you. However, when you met my eyes and demanded to know why I hadn’t made you officially mine yet, I walked right over and kissed you just like the first time. Do you remember what I said then?’

Taemin finds himself smiling now, biting his lip out of nostalgia.

“I thought it was already clear that I’m yours, and you’re mine. You had me the moment I saw you, Lee Taemin.” He whispers to himself, eyes slowly welling with tears. Those were the words his boyfriend had said.

And God, he just misses him so much.

‘But, I’m afraid to say, these past two years apart have taken their toll on me – and my feelings, for that matter. What good is it doing us being apart for so long? Things have changed for me, and I don’t think I can bare going on this way, without you.’ The letter suddenly continues, and Taemin feels his heart drop.

‘Things have changed, and… I think it would be best for you to no longer be my boyfriend.’

The tears fall freely now, staining and smudging the ink on the paper.

Nononono. This can’t be happening.

He doesn’t want to continue reading, but he has to. There has to be an explanation. It’s the end of the front of the page, and he flips it over.

But there’s nothing. That’s it. Just words telling Taemin that he’s no longer wanted.

The hole in his heart that had been there since Minho left to go to the army is even larger now, consuming his entire heart, and he can’t breathe. He’s gasping for air as he sinks form Minho’s armchair to the floor, ugly broken cries escaping his throat.

He’s sobbing, letter strewn on the floor and face buried in his hands as the emotional pain wracks his body, when another knock sounds through Minho’s apartment.

Unwillingly, he rises to answer it, muffling his sobs with a fist as he unlocks the door to curse the visitor and tell them to leave him be.

He doesn’t expect what he sees –

Minho, on one knee and in that old coffee stained suit (Taemin was sure it had been thrown out), staring up at him with loving eyes and a velvet box in hand. The man opens his mouth to speak with that voice that Taemin missed so much, but hates just as much now.

“I don’t want you as my boyfriend, but something more than that,” he says, and Taemin feels lightheaded. He grips the doorway with a hand to keep himself grounded as the love of his life continues to speak, shaking him to the core. “Will you marry me?”

 In these coming years
Many things will change
But the way I feel
Will remain the same

And then Taemin is falling, collapsing into Minho’s arms and pounding his firm chest with weak fists, sobbing out nearly incoherent sentences. “G-god, you a-sshole. H-how dare you w-write me a damn letter like that and ask me to marry you? I hate you so much right now, I shouldn’t even say yes to you, oh my God.”

Taemin can feel Minho stiffen under him at those words, and the man pulls him up, forcing Taemin to look at him. “Yes? Did you say yes?” he asks desperately, eyes pleading to know.

Taemin swallows thickly before his eyes zero in on those lips, and he dives in and presses more kisses than either of them can count to them. “Yes,” he whispers between kisses, “Yesyesyesyesyes.”

Minho kisses him back, passionately and fully. Taemin can feel himself rising as he’s lifted into the air, being carried into the apartment, the door kicked closed, and to the bedroom, where he’s quickly stripped and soon gasping in pleasure as those rough lips press to his thighs, ‘I love you’s’ being whispered in between.

They make love, becoming one after so long. Round after round, even when Taemin feels spent and exhausted, they keep going – making up for lost time and a nearly lost future.

Later, just as they’re laying together, damp with sweat, sticky, and the smell of love lingering in the air, Taemin comes to his senses to realize a heart shattering fact.

“Hyung,” he whispers, voice cracking. “We… can’t get married in Korea.”

Underneath him, as Taemin lies on his chest, Minho shifts and presses a kiss to his forehead. “I know, that’s why I need to tell you something. I –“ He begins, breaking off as Taemin sits up and stares down at him questioningly.

“I know I should have waited, and asked you first, but… I’ve found us a place, somewhere else. We can get married there and live there. But, if you don’t like New York, we can always just move back later, and –“

Taemin is pressing his lips against the elder’s again, hand weaving into the damp hair. Minho follows suit, pulling Taemin into his arms after a few kisses that are filled with love.

“Okay?” he asks, staring into Taemin’s orbs.

Taemin nods, smiling. “I’ll do anything to make sure that I’m always yours, and you’re always mind. Anything.”

Because now Taemin understands what Minho meant in his letter – he couldn’t possible bare to be without Minho ever again, either.

Lay us down
We're in love

A/N: This series is finally finished.. I'm really sad about that. :c However, I really like how it has ended, and I'm so thankful to my readers, subscribers, and commenters. They mean the world to me and keep me going!

Thank you so much to everyone who has loved this series~ I hope you can enjoy my other stories, too!

See you in my other stories, and don't forget to request fics at my request challenge shop!