“Baby, if you’re not careful, someone might catch you drooling…”

The harsh whisper in his ear and the mischievous chuckle that followed was enough to snap Kibum out of his reverie. He fixed his posture to an attentive one and cast a very teethy smile to the first person that caught his eyes. It comes to his realization only then that he had been staring intently at the uninteresting wall behind Madam Jung’s head for far too long. So long, in fact, that he had been in the danger of drooling with how his jaw had gone slack in boredom.

“Thank you for saving me, honey…” Kibum whispered back to his boyfriend, pinching his thigh hard with every intention to cause pain.

Minho had a really good poker face. His minute flinch went completely unnoticed.

“You’re welcome, sugar…”

Kibum suppressed the urge to get up right there and then to smack Minho on his head till it registered in his mind that he hated that affectionate name. With a passion. He should do it. It doesn’t matter what their colleagues would think. It won’t be the first time it happened in the last couple of hours anyway.

Just as he was contemplating that in his head, he caught Minho’s eyes on him, expectant and bright. His lips were curved up on one side as he leaned the side of his face on an arm propped on the table. He wasn’t challenging. Or provoking. Or being cynical.

He was just… admiring.

Kibum cleared his throat, looking away purposefully. He took a sip of his wine nonchalantly, for good measure. Yes, he was completely unaffected by that look.

New Year’s Eve. A whole year had passed in the blink of an eye and Kibum was suddenly standing at the threshold of a promising new year. It was a special new year’s eve today, though, because this time, Kibum wouldn’t be standing at some countdown party pathetically by himself, drowning his sorrows in shots of vodka as the fireworks lit up the sky. This time, he had a hand to hold, a muscular torso to hug and a sweet pair of lips to kiss.

This New Year’s Eve, he wasn’t the geeky intern who was most definitely a ‘because look at him, nerdy glasses and plain button ups and all!’Nope. This time, he was the geeky intern with a Greek god for a boyfriend.

“Awww… Look at our Minho… He’s all googly-eyed…”  someone said from across the table. Kibum was caught off guard so it took a while to set in. When it did, he slapped Minho on his arm inconspicuously to bring him back to Earth.

The giggly makeup noona, who has been enjoying way too much beer tonight, stood up abruptly.

“Yah, what are we doing discussing shoots and paychecks and deadlines. Let’s talk scandal. Let’s talk scandal of the year…-“ she giggled a little more, the beer in her glass pouring out from being jostled so much, “-Let’s talk Minkey!”

Someone had to catch the poor woman before she emptied the glass over herself, but she had achieved what she wanted. The buzz of excitement spread down the table, everyone coming up with their own comments about the most unexpected romance of the year. Throw in some catcalls and it was slowly turning into Kibum’s nightmare. What happened to keeping low profile?

He figured it was impossible with Minho, the star photographer of the magazine, the man that brought out the magic in the pictures just with a touch of his fingers. On the models, that is. Boy, did they love his magic touch.

Kibum, on the other hand, was just an aspiring fashion designer, who had ended up working at shoots for lingerie. The magazine obviously had other, less revealing departments to assign Kibum to, but he had to start from the very basic, apparently. He barely survived seeing all those models walking around in skimpy clothes and changing with no care for who was watching. If he was lucky, he got to go help the designer brainstorm for ideas. If he was not, he was thrown into the studio to pick out the perfect style to go with every model’s body type and charm.

He was the man for the job because despite his notorious case of the bashfulness, he had the best eye in dressing models.

“Yeah! How did our Minho-goon fall for Key-shii? Strange, ain’t it?”

“Straight to gay in 3.5, Key-shii must have cast a spell on him or something!”

“Still, I feel pitiful for Key-shii…”

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing- drinking, laughing, on the verge of barfing- to stare at the person that had voiced that last comment. Kibum turned too, eyebrows raised. It was Madam Jung who had said that. She stopped talking two glasses of beer ago, what had pushed her to say that?

“What? I’d always liked innocent, shy, pink-cheeked little Key…-“she said, displaying very obvious cougar skills as she leaned forward and dragged one manicured fingernail on Kibum’s hand that was resting on the table. She even gave him one of those sleazy smiles that made Kibum want to throw up. He quickly pulled his hand away and hid it under the table where Minho’s hand quickly found it.

“Now he must have been spoiled rotten by our resident playboy…”

That drew snickers and looks filled with innuendo from the crowd as everyone settled back into their original activities. Funnily enough, it made Kibum want to laugh instead of his usual reaction of wanting to hide away in a different planet. For reasons only Minho would know.

“Yeah, well, I had to teach him a lot, but what do you know, he’s a good student…” Minho bragged, detaching himself completely from Kibum and avoiding his eyes.

“Yah! Go easy, will ya? You’ll scare the boy off!” Ki Woong, a close friend of Minho’s shouted to him. Minho made a good show of acting really confident. Kibum watched, amused, his own embarrassment forgotten.

“Yeah, yeah. Speaking of which, I heard you got the job for the Valentine’s Day special. I thought-“ Minho began, successfully distracting everyone from dangerous territories. Kibum let him. He can only enjoy a few more hours of this. Then Kibum would have his turn to point out some discrepancies in Minho’s statements.

It wasn’t until a couple of hours later- after the countdown was over, wishes were exchanged and they were finally home- that Kibum got his chance. Minho had kept him well distracted on the couch (nothing beats drunk make out sessions after all), but Key had his eyes on the prize.

“Yah, yah… Hold it… I need to ask you something…” Kibum asked, half-heartedly trying to push Minho away from his neck.

“Can’t it wait, love? I’m busy…” Minho slurred drunkenly, pinning Kibum’s wrist on the couch and working more diligently on his neck. Kibum laughed, ticklish from Minho’s tongue laving over bitten skin. He squirmed and squirmed till his upper body was hanging off the couch. It was no hindrance to Minho though, he just continued to Kibum’s stomach merrily while Kibum’s eyes fell on the cartoon running on TV upside down.

Oh right, he was upside down.

“Yah, how dare you? How dare you do that to me? How dare you spoil me rotten?” Kibum asked, laughing out at his own joke. Minho stopped immediately and pulled Kibum onto the couch properly. He had this determined look in his eyes. But at the same time, it was pleading. Kibum was feeling unforgiving today.

“Don’t laugh at me, Kibum. You promised never to bring that up again…” Minho said, a cute pout forming on his lips. Kibum smiled, running his thumb over Minho’s pout.

“Yes, I promised. But someone else brought it up, my mighty teacher. I simply couldn’t resist…”

Minho groaned, burying his face on Kibum’s chest and throwing a silent tantrum. Kibum has never failed to enjoy Minho’s burst of manly aegyos, especially the ones he did when he was embarrassed.

“I was new at it! Wasn’t like I knew how to, you know, penetrate a man!” Minho whined. Kibum laughed again, rolling them over so that he was on top and sitting on Minho’s middle.

“Penetrate?! Yah! Did you think I was an expert at gay ?”

“Well, you were, weren’t you, honey?” Minho said, recovering from his pouty state, having found his way out of his misery.

“In fact, you knew a lot for an innocent, pink-cheeked , didn’t you?”

Minho grabbed Kibum’s waist, pressing his fingers deep into his sides. Kibum crossed his arms, petulant.

“Don’t turn this one onto me…” Kibum warned.

“I’m not. I’m just curious of how you knew just how to blow-“

“YAH!”

“-my mind. Relax, darling…” Minho chuckled, coaxing Kibum to bend over.

“I should be saying that. You were an emotional wreck our first try…” Kibum replied, teasing his lover with little kisses close to his lips.

“You stoop so low, love. I love it, how dirty you can get…” Minho made a comeback and Kibum had to admit it was good. Reminding Kibum just how… hot he gets when , knowing that it would embarrass him to think of it afterwards- well played by Minho.

“You enjoyed every second of it, especially after all that crying for your mommy…” Kibum whispered, arching his back to drag his teeth down Minho’s chest.

“Exactly how many weekends did you spend home watching , Kibum?”

Kibum sat up instantly, casting a murderous glare down at Minho. The bastard had it coming. Kibum grabbed handfuls of hair and began tugging mercilessly.

“KIBUM-AH! LET GO!”

“Not until you apologise, you jerk!”

“Not fair. You say meaner things!”

“So?” Kibum paused, breathing heavy and awaiting an explanation. Minho looked temporarily relieved.

“So I’m just saying… You know... you had a lot of tips and tricks for a …”

That was enough to get Kibum riled up again. He began tugging harder until he had Minho screaming and thrashing beneath him.

“It’s common sense, you idiot! You asked me if was a type of caffeinated drink! AND YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE EXPERT!”

There was a tiny break in the hair-pulling because Kibum was growing tired, but Minho took the opportunity to insert more of his thoughtless opinions.

“You’re good at that, you know?” Minho said with a shameless smile.

“You little-“ Kibum could not find harsh enough curses,”- thief!”

Minho flushed pink at that, enough to satisfy Kibum. He decided to enjoy the moment by leaning forward again, following Minho’s eyes wherever they went.

“I’ve… I’ve stopped doing that…” Minho said, unwilling to own up to his odd habit of keeping random girls’ underwear after they’ve spent the night at his place. Kibum didn’t really like thinking about other girls feeling up what’s his, but it was in the past and it was good teasing material so Kibum kept it safe in his collection of ‘things to use against Minho’.

“Really? You stole mine just before we left for the party earlier…” Kibum said, snapping the elastic of Minho’s briefs against his skin for emphasis. Minho looked adorable, trying to find some excuse to get out of this.

Awkward laughter.

“You noticed? Funny story, really. I was just standing there in your living room, minding my own business when suddenly-“ Minho swallowed, not knowing how to go on and finally resorting to an “I love you?”

Kibum shook his head condescendingly.

“Is that a question? You sounded more convincing when you said it after our first time…”

It’s a one-two punch to Minho. He had blurted the love confession after their very first time, way before they’ve even gotten past the stages of a newly dating couple. It might have been a spur of the moment thing, but Kibum also thought that it had been as sincere as confessions could get.

“Oh come on baby… Don’t go there… You know yours are the only ones I steal now…” Minho went back to pouting.

“You’re hopeless…” Kibum sighed, falling on Minho’s chest, drained of energy.

“You sleepy?” Minho asked, shaking him with a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m drunk and I’m exhausted…” Kibum answered, non-committed.

“So… no ?”

Kibum lifted his head and gave Minho the scariest glare he could manage.

“Okay, no …” Minho backed down, hands up above his head. It’s only after Kibum went back to snuggling into Minho that those arms came back around him. They settled down into comfortable silence after that, broken only by the whimsical sounds from the cartoon playing on the TV. It had Kibum thinking for a bit about the new year they have stepped into just a few hours ago and how he had started it with his boyfriend, something that was a first in Kibum’s life.

“Minho-yah, you know that you’re the only ert that I’d allow to steal my underwear and live, right?”

Minho answered with a kiss to the top of his head that made Kibum smile to himself sleepily.

Now, that. That would have been a perfect end to a perfect day. But no. Minho just couldn’t let it be.

“I love you too, sugar…”

(A/N) Thank you for reading guys! <3