of paying rents and writing poems [1b/1]
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‘I’m so happy you said yes,’ Sungmin said when he enveloped Kyuhyun’s left arm as they were strolling through the streets of Seoul. The air was frosty and cold, and their breaths became clouds of smoke that withered in the icy wind. Kyuhyun nodded, burying more of his face in his scarf and wanting to tug his coat tighter around himself but finding it rather difficult when his arm was occupied the way it was.
‘What do you want to do?’ Kyuhyun asked, turning his head to the other. Sungmin was clad in a baby blue beanie, a colorful patterned scarf, and a bright yellow parka. His cheeks were rosy from the cold, and his lips were blue and quivering as he spoke.
‘Maybe a café to get some hot chocolate?’ Sungmin suggested, and Kyuhyun smiled at him before leading him to his favorite place.
Jongwoon was surprised to see them there. He had approached their table without really looking whom it was and was just about to ask for their order when his narrow eyes caught a glimpse of the familiar coat, making him finally looked up from his notepad.
‘Kyuhyun? What are you doing here?’ he asked in utter confusion, and Kyuhyun chuckled.
‘Nice to see you too. I’m buying Sungmin here something warm to drink,’ Kyuhyun explained, and Jongwoon’s eyes automatically went over to the mentioned person. His lips formed into a smug smile.
‘So everything worked out, huh?’ he asked, question directed at Kyuhyun yet still looking at Sungmin. Kyuhyun simply smiled and asked if Jongwoon could bring them one cup of hot chocolate and a cup of coffee, black.
When Jongwoon finally left to get their order, Sungmin smiled confusedly at him. ‘What was that all about?’
Kyuhyun shrugged and stripped out of his coat and hung it over the chair like he owned the place. Sungmin followed his example, eyes remaining at Kyuhyun wonderingly.
‘Jongwoon is my roommate. I told him a bit… about you.’
Sungmin’s eyebrows went to his hairline and he smiled amusedly. ‘You talked about me?’
Kyuhyun nodded and swallowed a nervous lump in his throat, looking down at the table. Sungmin giggled and reached out to touch Kyuhyun’s chin, tilting his head up again so he could look into his eyes.
‘You know, when I first saw you, I knew I had to get you, somehow,’ Sungmin confessed, corner of his lips twitching with amusement of the memory with a slight trace of anxiety. ‘It was just something about you that really got to me. I can’t exactly pinpoint what, but just something. You looked totally freaked out though.’
‘I was freaked out. You were staring at me and sticking your face up in mine, ignoring me when I tried to talk to you, remember?’
Kyuhyun spoke with a monotone tone, only making Sungmin find the whole situation a lot funnier. Kyuhyun flashed him a teasing smirk, and Sungmin giggled, eyes glinting.
‘I think,’ Kyuhyun started, suddenly serious, ‘that after I started working in the flower shop and after I met you, this emotional gap I had within me was filled, which does good for my poetry.’
Sungmin’s cheeks were pink as he widened his eyes at the other. ‘You write poetry?’
Kyuhyun nodded shyly. ‘I’ve wanted to live of my poetry since I was twelve, but only now at age twenty can I fulfill it. Henry offered me to write cards to accompany the flowers.’
Sungmin beamed. ‘That’s wonderful! I have to read what you write one day. Maybe later?’
Kyuhyun only smiled mysteriously, and just then Jongwoon appeared with the two hot drinks.
‘Enjoy your drinks,’ Jongwoon nearly sang and grinned at the two of them. Sungmin thanked him when Jongwoon served him his hot chocolate, as did Kyuhyun. Jongwoon simply bowed and then went back to serve other costumers.
‘I’ll show you one of my poems after this date,’ Kyuhyun finished, and Sungmin beamed, trace of liquid chocolate gracing his plump lips adorably.
Kyuhyun slid the door leading to the balcony of his and Jongwoon’s apartment to the side and beckoned Sungmin to enter. Sungmin took wary steps through the door and looked around, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Kyuhyun chuckled silently and followed suit, embracing Sungmin from behind when Sungmin finally reached the railways. Sungmin’s immediate reaction was to tense up, but soon relaxed in Kyuhyun’s hold, enjoying how his large, warm hands held his hips firmly.
‘My cold lips call out more and more. Though you never respond when called, I’m waiting for you,’ Kyuhyun preached in a hushed voice, making the other shudder of the hot breath touching his sensitive skin.
‘Wearing my Bachelor Button, I stand before you,’ Kyuhyun continued, placing a light kiss on the nape of Sungmin’s neck. Kyuhyun trailed his lips along the curve of his neck, and Sungmin’s breath hitched in his throat.
'The world I see through the looking glass
corners bent, edges blurred
polaroid pictures of the living
their remains nothing more than shattered dreams .
My eyes are fogged by the smoke
walking by the days, glazed and clouded.
There is a gem hidden beneath the colours
and heat bright like the sun,
as beautiful as the moon a rainbow painted before the rain,
strong and frail, caged and free.
Tender carcasses and whispered breaths,
that are so small yet so much.
I've been afraid, the fall beneath my feet,
But I'd like to embrace this
And see the world once for the first time.'
Sungmin turned in his grip and looked wonderingly at him, eyes twinkling with tears.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Sungmin said breathily, eyes wide as saucers. Kyuhyun grinned at him, deciding to be a bit on the cheesy side.
‘Not as beautiful as you. I wrote this for you, you know.’
Sungmin flushed and hit Kyuhyun’s shoulder teasingly and Kyuhyun’s laugh rang out in the crisp, cold air.
‘I meant it though; before I met you I didn’t know of the beauties in the world. I’m so happy I met you,’ Kyuhyun confessed. ‘I think you were that spark that lit those missing emotions within me. I have never really appreciated those small things in life, like flowers, or flushed cheeks, or hot chocolate and black coffee on a cold day. So thank you.’
Sungmin giggled and put his face up close to Kyuhyun’s, staring at him creepily with wide eyes but a beautiful smile gracing his lips.
‘I’m glad Henry hired you so that we could meet, you cheesy creature,’ Sungmin said before nuzzling their noses together. Kyuhyun was taken aback but chuckled at the contact, putting his hands on Sungmin’s waist to hold him still.
‘So we’re both happy. That’s good.’
Sungmin beamed and tilted his head upwards. Kyuhyun smiled and brushed his fingers along Sungmin’s face tenderly, closed the distance between them and pressing their lips together.
Kyuhyun was waiting outside the train station. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag, watching as the smoke blended out in the air. He was early out, but didn’t mind waiting. He would’ve been waiting anyway if he had been at home, so he had just gone early so he at least killed a few minutes.
It was yet another quarter until Sungmin would be there. They were going to have their second date, and Kyuhyun had decided to take his new boyfriend out on a Japanese restaurant. Sungmin had told him about how he had been studying Japanese in high school and really wanted to visit the country one day. As Kyuhyun didn’t really have the economy to afford two tickets to Japan, he figured a trip to a Japanese restaurant would have to do for now.
Fifteen minutes went by faster than Kyuhyun really thought it would, and the silhouette of his lover appeared amidst all the rushing people eventually, the bright, yellow parka revealing his position. Kyuhyun beamed and dropped his smoke to the ground, crushing it with the tip of his shoe. Sungmin approached him and ran into his arms, Kyuhyun enveloping his arms around the man and hugging him tightly. Sungmin sniffed into the air.
‘What’s that smell?’ Sungmin asked, frowning as he continued sniffing. Kyuhyun shrugged and released Sungmin from his grip, giving his lover a confused look.
‘I don’t now?’
Sungmin looked at Kyuhyun with a pout. ‘Do you smoke?’
Kyuhyun shrugged again. ‘Yes? Well, only when I’m bored or thinking about something. I’ve been waiting for you for half an hour, so-’
Sungmin made a sound similar to a squeaking cat. ‘Half an hour?’ he gawked, staring wide-eyed at the younger. Kyuhyun cocked his head to the side as if it was nothing.
‘Technically, I’ve been waiting for you since we agreed to this date. It’s just that I have been waiting here for half an hour. Anyway, are you ready to go?’
Sungmin looked at him, stunned, before breaking into a grin and interlacing his fingers with Kyuhyun’s. ‘Yeah, totally. I’m starving! And for your information, I don’t mind that you’re smoking, as long as you’re not doing it often and it’s just… As long as you have control.’
Kyuhyun chuckled and tightened his grip on Sungmin’s hand, smiling softly to the other.
‘Don’t worry.’
Sungmin giggled, cheeks pink.
Sungmin let out a low moan, running his tongue over his lips and shutting his eyes in utter satisfaction. Kyuhyun swallowed and beamed at the other, reaching his hand out to hold his lover’s.
‘It’s good, isn’t it?’ Kyuhyun purred, and Sungmin just nodded breathlessly.
‘Yes, this has to be the best sushi I have eaten in my life!’ Sungmin said, sentence ending in a content sigh. Kyuhyun chuckled and took another bite of his food, downing it with a sip of his tea. He hissed as the tea still was hot, making him burn his tongue.
‘You should consider lowering the volume though,’ Kyuhyun said after having cooled his tongue with a piece of the cold sushi, smirking. ‘The other costumers are giving us weird stares.’
Sungmin, being rebellious and completely strange, moaned loudly again just for the heck of it, receiving ugly looks from about everyone in the restaurant. Kyuhyun couldn’t keep in his laughter and guffawed, spitting his food out in the process. Sungmin screamed out about how disgusting it was and how Kyuhyun had to swallow it all up. Kyuhyun was wheezing with laughter and desperately held around his stomach, trying to stifle his laughter.
‘I’m serious, Min! We could be kicked out,’ Kyuhyun said in a chuckle after having calmed somewhat, drying tears from the corners of his eyes. Sungmin giggled and grinned smugly, eyes widening crazily, something similar to what they had done when they first met on the train.
Fortunately, Sungmin kept quiet after that, eating up his food and just making low, satisfied sighs. Kyuhyun smiled adoringly at the other, deciding that this was the time to bring that up. Putting his hand under the table, he fished up a bouquet and put it on the table. Upon seeing the flowers, Sungmin’s eyes widened and he choked on his food, coughing adorably as he tried to not suffocate. Kyuhyun chuckled and waited until Sungmin was done coughing until he said or did anything. When Sungmin finally had calmed down, Kyuhyun took Sungmin’s hand again and looked into his eyes.
‘These flowers are usually not used in bouquets, but this… It’s a mixed bouquet, for all the things that I feel and think when I’m with you,’ Kyuhyun told him, cheeks getting pinker by every ticking second, and Sungmin’s eyes went to the bouquet with a beam.
‘There are Bluebells, symbolizing everlasting love,’ he said hesitantly, flush so hot on his skin it felt like they were radiating. ‘Buttercups, symbolizing childishness; Carnation flowers, who is often given here in Korea to parents on Parents’ Day, but in western countries is believed to be an, uhm, aphrodisiac, and… and it’s symbolizing b-betrothal, love and fertility. Then there are some Forget-Me-Nots, for remembrance and true love. Then there are my favorites, Honeysuckles. They symbolize devoted love, and is known as a so-called ‘love bind’, which symbolizes a lover’s embrace because it has a clinging growing habit. It’s also said that the heady fragrance induces dreams of love and passion.’
Sungmin’s eyes went wider by every flower he described until tears started running down his cheeks and he was sobbing. Kyuhyun stopped talking abruptly, watching in mortification as Sungmin couldn’t stop his sobs. Kyuhyun hushed at him and reached his hands out, using his thumbs to wipe away Sungmin’s tears. Sungmin chuckled embarrassedly and grasped at Kyuhyun’s hands.
‘It’s beautiful. Thank you, Kyu,’ Sungmin said hoarsely, smiling lovingly at the other. ‘I… I love you, so much.’
Kyuhyun grinned and looked over his shoulder before leaning over the table and stealing a quick, soft kiss from his boyfriend. ‘I love you too,’ he whispered warmly, and Sungmin giggled again.
‘Let’s get out of this place,’ Sungmin then suggested, corners of his lips tilting upwards into a mischievous smile, eyes twinkling darkly.
‘Yeah,’ Kyuhyun agreed, returning the smile. ‘So who’s taking the bill?’
Sungmin’s smile grew into a grin. ‘Who said anything about taking the bill?’
A shared look, and they gathered their things and was up on their feet in a heartbeat. They ran hand in hand through the sliding doors and was out of the restaurant before anyone even noticed they had moved, rushing down the streets and giggling childishly. Kyuhyun tightened his grip on Sungmin’s hand and desperately tried to hold Sungmin’s bouquet in the other as they turned around a corner.
They stopped in an alleyway to catch their breaths and grinned boyishly to each other, Kyuhyun handing the bouquet to Sungmin again. Sungmin took it and smelled it, smiling widely to Kyuhyun before taking his hand again and resuming running. As they ran, Kyuhyun felt a warm swelling in his chest as he looked at his lover that ran a step ahead, a warmth inside like no other he had ever felt, and just that moment as he held Sungmin’s hand, he felt like he could conquer the world.
FIN.
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a/n: a big thank you to Amber for writing the beautiful poem. go compliment her!