Title: What is love
Author: argh
Part: 25 of 26(ish)
Rating: PG-13 for now
Word count: 2,574
Pairing: Onew/Minho, Taemin/Kibum
Summary: Jinki loves working in this cafe, until a particular person begins to frequent it, and the person that Jinki tried so hard to get over. University!AU. I suck at summaries ;_;
Warnings: long neverending fic XD (around 75k).
Notes: This was my nanowrimo fic back in 2010!
Dedications: written entirely for
ryukilla no matter what she thinks.
Previous parts:
one,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six,
seven,
eight,
nine,
ten,
eleven,
twelve,
thirteen,
fourteen,
fifteen,
sixteen,
seventeen,
eighteen & nineteen,
twenty,
twenty one,
twenty two,
twenty three,
twenty four,
twenty five Note: Man I abandoned this fic majorly :( oops. I'll post the rest now...
“Is that the last one?” Kibum let out a loud breath, beads of sweat across his forehead as he looked across at Jonghyun. The normally immaculate Kibum was looking, scruffy and even sweaty, he stood with his hands on his hips, the cardboard box balanced on a chair in front of him.
“Hm, yeah I think so,” Jonghyun replied, his voice muffled from the box he was holding up, he gingerly lowered it to the ground offering Kibum a grin that made the younger male’s stomach flutter. Kibum’s body ached, his muscles hurt and he felt like going to bed right then, but to see Jonghyun standing there, he felt thrill slide down his body. It was really happening, it was not just another night that Jonghyun stayed over it was something bigger and better than that.
“Good, I’m exhausted,” Kibum groaned, reaching behind his back to touch his back lightly, “I don’t want to carry another box up those damn stairs.” He shuddered slightly, but when he saw how Jonghyun looked, the wide smile across his face and how his eyes seemed to shine brightly, it made him perk up. Kibum glanced around and he felt excited and very satisfied.
“Oh,” Jonghyun breathed in deeply, “Really, I see I guess this means you’ll just have to go to bed and rest.” Jonghyun’s smile disappeared as he nodded his head seriously, “that’s the only thing you can do.” He mumbled a moment later, Kibum frowned pouting slightly, he knew Jonghyun was right but it didn’t make it any more appealing. Kibum wanted to throw a party, celebrate or do something special to mark the day, going to bed sounded pretty damn boring.
They had just moved into a brand new apartment to live together. Kibum didn’t think anything could make him happier, but it felt wrong to just go to bed. It was their first day in the apartment, so he felt a little upset that Jonghyun was just suggesting he should just go to bed and rest. He was a dancer, Kibum knew he could easily ignore his exhaustion, he just did not want to trek up and down those cursed stairs again.
“Hm, I’ll be fine,” Kibum frowned, “I mean, I just don’t want to go up those stairs with heavy boxes,” he scrunched his nose up, “I think we should do something to celebrate.” Kibum kept his expression serious, frowning when he saw Jonghyun shrug. Kibum felt nervous, he felt like their relationship was rock solid, but at that moment it seemed shaky, the way Jonghyun wasn’t really listening or he seemed like he did not really care.
“Yeah we should, but you should have a rest first. We have all of today, and I’d rather you rest and we celebrate later.” Jonghyun stepped closer to Kibum, making him realise that Jonghyun was not going to take ‘no’ for an answer. Jonghyun pressed his hand into the small of Kibum’s back, guiding him gently towards the bedroom, Kibum breathed out softly, feeling slightly annoyed at how Jonghyun shut him down and overrode what he was saying.
“Jjong,” he frowned as Jonghyun shut the bedroom door, Kibum half turned to protest, but Jonghyun’s hand moved to rest against his stomach. “Jjong, why are you,” Kibum trailed off when Jonghyun began to tug his shirt up, confusing Kibum slightly, until he noticed how Jonghyun was smirking down at him, licking his lips softly.
“Do you want to ‘rest’ now?” Jonghyun asked, his voice coming across slightly lower than usually, with a slightly gravelly edge to it. Kibum gulped, feeling his heart rate pick up thanks to Jonghyun’s voice, he inhaled deeply, dropping his hands to the hem of his shirt before sliding it off quickly. Kibum nodded his head before he turned away and crawled under the covers, leaving his jeans on for now.
He lay on his back, watching as Jonghyun stripped off his sweaty singlet, he felt so nervous and embarrassed because he was all hot and sweaty from carrying all those boxes. Kibum started to turn onto his side, facing away from Jonghyun, but when the older male slipped into the bed he reached for Kibum pulling him into his arms loosely.
“Hey,” Jonghyun murmured, “I thought you wanted to celebrate,” He kissed Kibum’s shoulder lightly, letting his lips press tender kisses across his shoulder blade. Jonghyun gently pressed his arms around Kibum’s body, “Hey, Kibummie are you okay?” Jonghyun murmured, Kibum shivered slightly he found it impossible to stay where he was so he rolled over to face Jonghyun.
“I’m okay,” Kibum whispered, “I just feel embarrassed because I’m all sweaty,” he whispered avoiding Jonghyun’s gaze, he could feel him study his face. Jonghyun’s fingertips stroked down his torso lightly, making Kibum relax slightly as Jonghyun kissed the front of his shoulder, letting his lips kiss along his collarbone.
“Kibummie, why,” Jonghyun frowned lifting his face from Kibum’s shoulder, his fingers sweeping across his stomach, Kibum was aware of each touch, it made him struggle to breathe evenly, and his thoughts seemed clouded. “We’ve been friends forever, you never should feel embarrassed in front of me.”
“I guess it is just the fact that we’re living together, it’s something new and maybe it scares me a little, what if it doesn’t work out?” Kibum replied honestly, biting his lip as he gazed across at Jonghyun. He loved him, but he was scared they would ruin their friendship.
“Baby, listen to me,” Jonghyun cupped Kibum’s face with his hand, “we’ve been through so much in the past, nothing could ever destroy our love. I love you, Kibum.” Jonghyun whispered tilting his face up, he pressed kisses along the underside of Kibum’s jaw, letting his lips linger faintly across the skin there. His arms wrapped so tight around Kibum’s waist, that even though he was hot and sweaty he felt comforted and relaxed, he knew that Jonghyun was right.
*
Jinki swallowed as he glanced down at Minho curled into the sheets, he looked like he was asleep but Jinki knew he was awake. He felt nervous as he twirled the thread around his fingers, breathing in deeply before he knelt at the foot of the bed. Jinki looked up at Minho and then down at where his ankle dangled out from under the sheet. He crouched down, and tied the string around his ankle, reaching for Minho’s ankle, which he stroked gently.
“Mmm, feel’s nice,” Minho murmured from the bed, “I should get up soon,” Minho commented, making Jinki panic slightly, he gulped glancing up at Minho’s perfect profile and then down at his ankle. Sticking the side of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, Jinki quickly wrapped the red thread around his ankle, fastening it loosely in a knot.
“Minho,” He inhaled softly standing up, feeling satisfied with his handiwork and trying to calm his rapidly beating heart down, as he took a step backwards forgetting that his ankle was tied to Minho’s, “Minho, will you~” he started to speak but when he lost his balance and started to fall, he ended up yelping instead, as the thread was pulled tight digging into his ankle painfully.
“Hyung, what are you doing?” Minho sat up, his eyes widening as he saw Jinki sprawled on the floor, he moved holding out a hand to help the other up. He frowned as he saw the red thread tied around Jinki’s ankle and attached to his, “What is this,” Minho gestured towards the red string tied between them both, “Are you purposely trying to trip yourself up?” Minho frowned reaching down to untie the knot immediately. Jinki felt his hopes dashing, he ignored his throbbing knee and pouted as Minho started to undo the knot around his ankle.
“Hyung? What’s wrong?”
“I uh,” Jinki swallowed nervously, “ever heard of the um,” Jinki avoided Minho’s worried gaze, and the way the sheet kept slipping revealing his bare hip, “the red thread of fate?” Jinki glanced down blushing, “Actually don’t worry about it, it was a stupid idea.” Jinki blinked his eyes rapidly, half turning away from Minho, but Minho reached for him, tugging him into his arms and holding him lightly.
“Hyung, I don’t know what it is? But I’m sure it’s not a stupid idea.” Minho reassured Jinki, pressing feathery kisses down his back and shoulders, making Jinki shiver slightly. “Just tell me about it.” Minho sounded determined, but Jinki felt so small and pathetic, because this was not at all how he envisaged this scene to go. He blinked and looked down at his scraped knee, it stung but it wasn’t bleeding too much.
Jinki didn’t know what to say, in his head it had all gone so smoothly and now it was turning into a disaster, so he just sat there thinking. Minho’s hands pressed warm to his stomach, it was reassuring but Jinki’s mind had gone blank, his mouth felt too dry as if he had forgotten how to speak. It suddenly now seemed like the most idiotic idea ever. Gently he felt Minho turning him around, so that Jinki was nestled in between Minho’s spread legs, one of Minho’s thighs against his butt, Jinki didn’t say anything as he was pulled in to lean against Minho’s chest.
“Hyung, you hurt yourself?” Minho’s voice sounded higher than usual, “I’m sorry, I guess I’m still half asleep.” Minho yawned as he leaned over Jinki inspecting his knee. “You’re starting to worry me,” Minho murmured kissing along Jinki’s collarbone, “please say something, Jinki.”
“Sorry Minho,” Jinki mumbled sounding upset, “I wanted to surprise you, but yeah, kind of didn’t work out as planned.” Jinki looked down at his legs and Minho’s leg, swallowing as he saw the red thread connecting them, it was their third anniversary the day was meant to go perfectly. But the day had barely started and he had stuffed up already, so much for his perfect plan to surprise Minho. Nice one Jinki, tripping yourself up on the thread.
“I know it’s crazy and ridiculous,” Jinki swallowed, “But uh I was trying to um,” Jinki sucked in a deep breath, his chest heaving, he could feel panic rising up and compressing his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. Jinki wondered what crazy thought had possessed him to come up with this ridiculous idea, just because they were living together, he wondered if he was jumping the gun a bit.
“Imitate…” Jinki paled, he could feel Minho’s eyes intently watching him, “no not imitate,” he mumbled weakly feeling nauseous, “there is a theory, a Chinese theory that people are connected,” he paused again, breathing in deeply to try and calm down, his limbs felt jittery and he was light headed with nerves. “That uh soul mates are connected by a red thread of fate.”
“Ahh,” Minho nodded his head, “I think I did hear of something like that, so why did we need a red thread tied to our ankles,” Minho’s brows furrowed, and Jinki could see he still did not get it. “I mean, baby, we are soul mates so our thread is there, we just can’t see it.” Minho hugged Jinki tightly in his arms, not realising how distraught the other boy was.
“If anything it’s just a hazard, Jinki,” Minho added after thinking carefully. “We don’t need to see a red thread to know we’re soul mates.” Normally Minho’s words would make Jinki excessively happy, but because he had a different aim they didn’t comfort him.
“B-but,” Jinki started to babble, feeling all of his hops slip out of the window, he felt sick and felt like it was a mistake, “I wanted to, d-do something,” He paused, gulping at air desperately, “with it. But I guess it didn’t work.”
“What were you trying to do?”
Jinki could tell from Minho’s tone that he was getting confused, which made Jinki feel ten times worse. He somehow thought that Minho would just get it, but then he figured that was stupid. Soul mates didn’t mean mind readers or anything like that. So it was ridiculous to even think that Minho would immediately get it, he should’ve thought of that too. He sucked in a deep breath, feeling better when Minho rubbed his back gently, his hand was warm and soothing across his bare back.
“Jinki, please tell me what you intended, baby?” Jinki licked his lips nervously, he had to tell Minho now, he could feel it.
“I was um, trying to pr-propose to you.” Jinki forced the words out, feeling unsure and nervous, immediately he shut his eyes, wondering how Minho would react, how Minho would take this unusual proposal. “Somehow, I thought the red thread could symbolise a ring, and to unite us,” Jinki mumbled his nerves getting the best of him, making him just feel the need to talk even if it was nonsense.
“Yes.”
Jinki’s eyes were still squeezed shut, but he could feel Minho’s hand stroking his back, it made him feel both calm but anxious at the same time. Jinki’s heart was pounding, he wondered what the random ‘yes’ was meant to mean, he opened his eyes and turned to look at Minho.
“Y-yes,” Jinki frowned, tilting his head to the side, “What do you mean, yes? Oh, did you want me to explain more? Okay, just… uh give me a minute.” Jinki’s thoughts felt all jumbled and he regretted not preparing something to explain his thoughts about this or the Chinese theory around it. He felt like a complete idiot for being so unprepared.
“Oh Jinki,” Minho smiled so sweetly across at Jinki, eyes full of love, making Jinki’s heart leap about in his chest, “Jinki, it means, yes I want to marry you.” Minho grinned watching how Jinki’s eyes widened in surprise, the shock that filled his eyes for a second before replaced with such happiness. Minho laughed softly, hugging Jinki tightly, loving how he hadn’t realised what the ‘yes’ was for.
“Oh, right,” Jinki’s voice came out sounding all high pitched, his cheeks flushing as he sat there blinking at Minho like an owl. “Haha, oh I see.” Jinki swallowed, leaning forward to hug Minho tightly, he didn’t even have to say that he was an idiot, because he was sure Minho already knew he was thinking it.
“Wait,” Jinki glanced across at Minho, “are you sure, you uhh w-want to mar-rry me?”
“Yes, Jinki, I want to marry you,” Minho whispered into Jinki’s ear, his breath hot washing across his ear lobe, “I love you.” Minho kissed his ear, unable to stop smiling, “Thank you for making this the best anniversary ever,” Minho brushed Jinki’s hair aside with soft strokes of his fingers, his lips followed the path with kisses.
Jinki thought his heart was going to burst out of his chest at any moment, he squeezed his eyes shut as Minho continued to smother him in kisses. It was not possible for him to be any happier, as he had tripped over he had the sense that Minho would reject him. But instead he had accepted the unusual proposal, Jinki shivered and clung to Minho, he had this sense that everything was complete. There was nothing more he would ever want, he already had everything he could possibly ever want, his eyes sparkled as he glanced across at Minho happily.
*
OMG I am so so so sorry for not posting this sooner ;-;! I am very forgetful about things unless people remind me ;-;!!! Anyway I wanted to say I am so sorry for neglecting and abandoning you guys for such a long time T-T; never was my intention and I kind of hate myself for doing something I promised (to myself) I would never do… which was leave a fic hanging without an end.