Love Is a Losers Game
Originally posted here, for SHINee Secret Santa 2012.
For: chocolaiit
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: Love Is a Losers Game
Pairing: Minho/Key
Rating: pg
Warnings: none
Authors’ Notes: I was requested an ice skating fic and… I know nothing about skating. But wiki taught me! Now I know everything, lol. It was a lot of fun to write and I hope you will enjoy ^^
The sun was slowly setting behind the evergreen pine trees, creating a beautiful glow of golden and pink across the sky which reflected in the mirror-like ice.
But Minho had eyes for nothing but his goal. He ran his fingers through his hair and sped up before making an axel jump then a perfect landing, skating backwards with his arms spread wide for stability. As often when he was skating, a silent smile escaped his lips.
He had dreamt of being a professional, hell, he had to some extent even been one, but then he’d twisted his foot in a wrong way, causing it to sprain and had never been able to spin an axel jump again; or any remotely difficult jump at all. A professional career had been unimaginable.
For several months Minho did nothing but lay on his bed, staring out the window, until his fringe grew past his eyes to the point where the weekly visits from his former skating partner, Jessica, became more than just dreadful visits where he was forced to recognize that he was depressed about his situation, to a visit where he was actually forced to leave the house. Just for a haircut.
“Can’t you just cut it?” he asked her, utterly annoyed while putting on his jacket.
“No way! Minho, I want you to look good. Do I look like a hair stylist to you? I’m a skater, you of all should know!”
The young man followed her outside in the cold snow with an exasperated sigh, though it didn’t take long for him to realize that some fresh air did him good. Their town was small and he knew the hairstylist by name, so even that became a pleasant experience, and Jessica’s cheerful chatting stopped annoying him too.
But on their way home, she insisted on walking past the skating rink, making him feel utterly uncomfortable to an extent where he could almost feel his heart turning into ice, as if his body wanted to become a part of that rink just as much as his mind did, to the extent where his body might start turning into ice altogether.
“Let’s get out there,” she suggested with a bright smile, which was unusual for her. The bright sun and overall nice weather might be the reason. Or the fact that she didn’t have to fight with Minho about his haircut for the next few months.
No matter the reason her smile made it impossible for him to reject. At least he could still skate, even if he couldn’t fly across it like he had been used to.
It took several minutes before Minho noticed someone staring at them from the edge of the rink. A slender, young boy, who Minho barely recognized from school. They had a few classes together. Minho had never been very social in class though, only hanging out with other sports-interested people, especially the skaters, though occasionally the dancers too, because their knowledge was relevant to him.
This guy on the other end of the rink, standing in the snow, just looking at them… he was a dancer. Minho was almost certain he had seen him before. With his petite face and charming eyes he would be hard to forget, even if Minho had never said a word to him, nor watched him perform.
“Key!” Jessica called from the top of her lungs; still, somehow, managing to be elegant about it, then took a few long strides, until her skates took her to her target in a flowing motion.
“I didn’t know you would be here today!” she said, loud enough for Minho to hear and possibly just fake enough for him to notice that something was amiss. He did have difficulties spotting lies though and Jessica’s facial expressions were already a mystery to him.
Nonetheless, he still hesitantly skated over there, until he stood next to his former skating partner, who just smiled at him with another confusing expression on her pretty face.
“What?” he said. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
“But we have classes together.” The boy interrupted, in a tone suggesting that Minho was being a jerk. “You should know my name already.”
“Well, I don’t.” Minho snapped back, angrier than usual because he hardly came for classes anymore, not since his accident, and it made him ashamed since he knew that he should be fighting harder to not let people down.
“Well,” Key copied his tone while starting his sentence the same way he had, making Minho wrinkle his nose in frustration. “My name is Kibum. But you can call me Key.”
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, Minho knew this guy. He was supposed to know this guy.
“You taught me how to dance, when I had to learn for my noona’s wedding…”
Key gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. “You only remember just now? I dyed my hair, but I don’t think that’s enough reason to forget me completely. We spent like… 2 weeks together.”
“2 weeks?” Minho repeated, shocked. He remembered it to be no more than 2 days. “I must have been really bad.” It was a bad try at making up for having forgotten someone who helped him out, but Key laughed and so it seemed to have worked.
“You were horrible. My worst student so far.”
Key kept laughing and Minho took the time to carefully study his beautiful features. He had done the same thing when Key had first taught him how to dance, which was probably the reason why it had taken him so long to get it right.
He snapped out of his trance-like state when Jessica started talking again, unlike her usual self with a tone that didn’t suggest anger over having been ignored for more than a minute;
“So… I had actually promised Key to teach him how to skate, but… I totally forgot that I have something else to do. … Maybe you could help him out instead, my sweet dongsaeng?”
She blew him a fickle kiss, then almost flew away before Minho could decline.
“Sorry…” Key mumbled under his breath as he put on his skates. “She said it would be good for you to get some training… that it might even help your injury. But I think she just wants you to be happy.”
Minho pretended not to hear and Key silently tied the laces tighter. He respected Jessica and accepted her help, but he couldn’t help but to do it with an offensive attitude. Even if Key really was the guy of his dreams.
Key tried to stand up, awkwardly, and Minho, with the reflexes of an athlete, grabbed his elbow and held him up, just as he was starting to lose his balance.
“Thank you.”
The blonde, petite boy smiled at him, a heart-warming smile, which would have sent Minho’s cheeks blushing if he had been made of something less rough.
“Let’s just take a round first.” He instructed and kept just next to his pupil, who was absolutely awkward, yet adorable, at skating, hardly able to keep his balance. Minho doesn’t say anything, he almost never does, not even before his accident, but Key is the type that starts chatting away, even if it’s obvious that he is nervous. It doesn’t annoy the other boy; he actually kind of likes it. Better than he likes it when Jessica does the same thing at least.
But Minho keeps on not saying anything and evidently Key is starting to think, that he doesn’t like him. It unsettles him and his loss of concentration (yes, he has so far been able to concentrate even though he has been talking non-stop), causes him to almost fall over again.
Once more Minho catches him. This time not so much due to having good reflexes, but because he has been constantly aware of the thin boy next to him, even if he hasn’t been looking directly at him.
Key looks at him with shining, loving eyes, and it is easy to tell that he is idolizing him.
Minho’s heart skips a beat, then he grabs Key’s arm and drags him along to make him keep skating. The open ice rink is completely silent for a long time and it only makes it worse that Minho can feel Key’s eyes at him. He wants to say something, but doesn’t know what.
“If you improve, we could do pair skating” is the first thing that comes out his mouth. He doesn’t really know why, but somehow it’s the only thing he could think of and he really wants Key to know, that he cares about him.
Key laughs at his suggestion. “But I can’t even skate without falling!”
Minho joins in on his laugh, realizing that it’s the second time today that he has been laughing. Key is definitely doing something to him, because it feels like forever that he has done anything but sulk all day.
He takes Key’s hand in his own, and tells him to hold on tight; “then, even if you slip, I’ll catch you, okay? You won’t get hurt.”
Saying those words hurt slightly. He can’t even stop himself from getting injured, how can he possibly protect Key now? He thinks to himself. But there’s still a slip of pride left in him, a pride that tells him that he is really fucking good at skating and that he knows what he is doing. He can do this.
And so he does. Until the weather changes and it starts raining.
Rain is terrible for ice skating, so Minho leads Key back to the bench and they change into their regular winter shoes.
“It’s just a light rain, is it really necessary to stop?” the blonde guy complains and Minho smiles at him as he unfolds his umbrella.
“Yeah, it is. Even this would make you sick, mixed with the chill in the air. Come on, we’ll share my umbrella and I’ll walk you home. I don’t want you to get sick because of me.”
They started walking down the street together, when the drizzle suddenly turns into snow and Minho stops at the sidewalk for a moment to fold his umbrella again, now that it is pointless. When he has put it into his backpack again and turns to look at Key, warm breath is puffing from his mouth and Minho’s stare is fixated on how sweet and innocent his lips appear in the biting cold.
Minho’s own cheeks are getting red by now, only partly because of the cold, but mostly because Key has frozen snowflakes in his eyelashes that slowly melt away and Minho can’t possibly shake the thought from his head that Key is the most beautiful being on earth.
Yet, he doesn’t dare to kiss him. He didn’t dare back when he was taught dancing and he has been regretting ever since, but even now he can’t seem to find the courage.
Luckily, Key is not a patient being. He reached up and softly places a kiss on Minho’s lips, which are cracked and bloody from the cold. Key doesn’t mind. He still believes it to be the most romantic kiss anyone has ever had, with the sun setting in the horizon and the street lights turning on to remind them that they have to go home soon.
As their kiss ends Key smiles sweetly at Minho. “You should start coming to school again. I will miss you if you don’t. And I’ll let you teach me how to skate if you do.”
Minho smiles back at him. “It’s an offer I can’t reject, isn’t it? I’ll look forward to it.”
The rest of the way to Key’s house they walk in a comfortable silence, Key making sure that their hands are as intertwined as possible, despite both of them wearing cloves.
At his front door the two of them both stop and Minho takes a deep breath before he admits; “I really like you.”
Key returns his words with nothing but a sweet smile, because he has known for a long time, but waited patiently up until now. “I know,” he finally answers and leans in for another not-so-chaste kiss. “I really like you too.”
For: chocolaiit
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: Love Is a Losers Game
Pairing: Minho/Key
Rating: pg
Warnings: none
Authors’ Notes: I was requested an ice skating fic and… I know nothing about skating. But wiki taught me! Now I know everything, lol. It was a lot of fun to write and I hope you will enjoy ^^
The sun was slowly setting behind the evergreen pine trees, creating a beautiful glow of golden and pink across the sky which reflected in the mirror-like ice.
But Minho had eyes for nothing but his goal. He ran his fingers through his hair and sped up before making an axel jump then a perfect landing, skating backwards with his arms spread wide for stability. As often when he was skating, a silent smile escaped his lips.
He had dreamt of being a professional, hell, he had to some extent even been one, but then he’d twisted his foot in a wrong way, causing it to sprain and had never been able to spin an axel jump again; or any remotely difficult jump at all. A professional career had been unimaginable.
For several months Minho did nothing but lay on his bed, staring out the window, until his fringe grew past his eyes to the point where the weekly visits from his former skating partner, Jessica, became more than just dreadful visits where he was forced to recognize that he was depressed about his situation, to a visit where he was actually forced to leave the house. Just for a haircut.
“Can’t you just cut it?” he asked her, utterly annoyed while putting on his jacket.
“No way! Minho, I want you to look good. Do I look like a hair stylist to you? I’m a skater, you of all should know!”
The young man followed her outside in the cold snow with an exasperated sigh, though it didn’t take long for him to realize that some fresh air did him good. Their town was small and he knew the hairstylist by name, so even that became a pleasant experience, and Jessica’s cheerful chatting stopped annoying him too.
But on their way home, she insisted on walking past the skating rink, making him feel utterly uncomfortable to an extent where he could almost feel his heart turning into ice, as if his body wanted to become a part of that rink just as much as his mind did, to the extent where his body might start turning into ice altogether.
“Let’s get out there,” she suggested with a bright smile, which was unusual for her. The bright sun and overall nice weather might be the reason. Or the fact that she didn’t have to fight with Minho about his haircut for the next few months.
No matter the reason her smile made it impossible for him to reject. At least he could still skate, even if he couldn’t fly across it like he had been used to.
It took several minutes before Minho noticed someone staring at them from the edge of the rink. A slender, young boy, who Minho barely recognized from school. They had a few classes together. Minho had never been very social in class though, only hanging out with other sports-interested people, especially the skaters, though occasionally the dancers too, because their knowledge was relevant to him.
This guy on the other end of the rink, standing in the snow, just looking at them… he was a dancer. Minho was almost certain he had seen him before. With his petite face and charming eyes he would be hard to forget, even if Minho had never said a word to him, nor watched him perform.
“Key!” Jessica called from the top of her lungs; still, somehow, managing to be elegant about it, then took a few long strides, until her skates took her to her target in a flowing motion.
“I didn’t know you would be here today!” she said, loud enough for Minho to hear and possibly just fake enough for him to notice that something was amiss. He did have difficulties spotting lies though and Jessica’s facial expressions were already a mystery to him.
Nonetheless, he still hesitantly skated over there, until he stood next to his former skating partner, who just smiled at him with another confusing expression on her pretty face.
“What?” he said. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
“But we have classes together.” The boy interrupted, in a tone suggesting that Minho was being a jerk. “You should know my name already.”
“Well, I don’t.” Minho snapped back, angrier than usual because he hardly came for classes anymore, not since his accident, and it made him ashamed since he knew that he should be fighting harder to not let people down.
“Well,” Key copied his tone while starting his sentence the same way he had, making Minho wrinkle his nose in frustration. “My name is Kibum. But you can call me Key.”
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, Minho knew this guy. He was supposed to know this guy.
“You taught me how to dance, when I had to learn for my noona’s wedding…”
Key gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. “You only remember just now? I dyed my hair, but I don’t think that’s enough reason to forget me completely. We spent like… 2 weeks together.”
“2 weeks?” Minho repeated, shocked. He remembered it to be no more than 2 days. “I must have been really bad.” It was a bad try at making up for having forgotten someone who helped him out, but Key laughed and so it seemed to have worked.
“You were horrible. My worst student so far.”
Key kept laughing and Minho took the time to carefully study his beautiful features. He had done the same thing when Key had first taught him how to dance, which was probably the reason why it had taken him so long to get it right.
He snapped out of his trance-like state when Jessica started talking again, unlike her usual self with a tone that didn’t suggest anger over having been ignored for more than a minute;
“So… I had actually promised Key to teach him how to skate, but… I totally forgot that I have something else to do. … Maybe you could help him out instead, my sweet dongsaeng?”
She blew him a fickle kiss, then almost flew away before Minho could decline.
“Sorry…” Key mumbled under his breath as he put on his skates. “She said it would be good for you to get some training… that it might even help your injury. But I think she just wants you to be happy.”
Minho pretended not to hear and Key silently tied the laces tighter. He respected Jessica and accepted her help, but he couldn’t help but to do it with an offensive attitude. Even if Key really was the guy of his dreams.
Key tried to stand up, awkwardly, and Minho, with the reflexes of an athlete, grabbed his elbow and held him up, just as he was starting to lose his balance.
“Thank you.”
The blonde, petite boy smiled at him, a heart-warming smile, which would have sent Minho’s cheeks blushing if he had been made of something less rough.
“Let’s just take a round first.” He instructed and kept just next to his pupil, who was absolutely awkward, yet adorable, at skating, hardly able to keep his balance. Minho doesn’t say anything, he almost never does, not even before his accident, but Key is the type that starts chatting away, even if it’s obvious that he is nervous. It doesn’t annoy the other boy; he actually kind of likes it. Better than he likes it when Jessica does the same thing at least.
But Minho keeps on not saying anything and evidently Key is starting to think, that he doesn’t like him. It unsettles him and his loss of concentration (yes, he has so far been able to concentrate even though he has been talking non-stop), causes him to almost fall over again.
Once more Minho catches him. This time not so much due to having good reflexes, but because he has been constantly aware of the thin boy next to him, even if he hasn’t been looking directly at him.
Key looks at him with shining, loving eyes, and it is easy to tell that he is idolizing him.
Minho’s heart skips a beat, then he grabs Key’s arm and drags him along to make him keep skating. The open ice rink is completely silent for a long time and it only makes it worse that Minho can feel Key’s eyes at him. He wants to say something, but doesn’t know what.
“If you improve, we could do pair skating” is the first thing that comes out his mouth. He doesn’t really know why, but somehow it’s the only thing he could think of and he really wants Key to know, that he cares about him.
Key laughs at his suggestion. “But I can’t even skate without falling!”
Minho joins in on his laugh, realizing that it’s the second time today that he has been laughing. Key is definitely doing something to him, because it feels like forever that he has done anything but sulk all day.
He takes Key’s hand in his own, and tells him to hold on tight; “then, even if you slip, I’ll catch you, okay? You won’t get hurt.”
Saying those words hurt slightly. He can’t even stop himself from getting injured, how can he possibly protect Key now? He thinks to himself. But there’s still a slip of pride left in him, a pride that tells him that he is really fucking good at skating and that he knows what he is doing. He can do this.
And so he does. Until the weather changes and it starts raining.
Rain is terrible for ice skating, so Minho leads Key back to the bench and they change into their regular winter shoes.
“It’s just a light rain, is it really necessary to stop?” the blonde guy complains and Minho smiles at him as he unfolds his umbrella.
“Yeah, it is. Even this would make you sick, mixed with the chill in the air. Come on, we’ll share my umbrella and I’ll walk you home. I don’t want you to get sick because of me.”
They started walking down the street together, when the drizzle suddenly turns into snow and Minho stops at the sidewalk for a moment to fold his umbrella again, now that it is pointless. When he has put it into his backpack again and turns to look at Key, warm breath is puffing from his mouth and Minho’s stare is fixated on how sweet and innocent his lips appear in the biting cold.
Minho’s own cheeks are getting red by now, only partly because of the cold, but mostly because Key has frozen snowflakes in his eyelashes that slowly melt away and Minho can’t possibly shake the thought from his head that Key is the most beautiful being on earth.
Yet, he doesn’t dare to kiss him. He didn’t dare back when he was taught dancing and he has been regretting ever since, but even now he can’t seem to find the courage.
Luckily, Key is not a patient being. He reached up and softly places a kiss on Minho’s lips, which are cracked and bloody from the cold. Key doesn’t mind. He still believes it to be the most romantic kiss anyone has ever had, with the sun setting in the horizon and the street lights turning on to remind them that they have to go home soon.
As their kiss ends Key smiles sweetly at Minho. “You should start coming to school again. I will miss you if you don’t. And I’ll let you teach me how to skate if you do.”
Minho smiles back at him. “It’s an offer I can’t reject, isn’t it? I’ll look forward to it.”
The rest of the way to Key’s house they walk in a comfortable silence, Key making sure that their hands are as intertwined as possible, despite both of them wearing cloves.
At his front door the two of them both stop and Minho takes a deep breath before he admits; “I really like you.”
Key returns his words with nothing but a sweet smile, because he has known for a long time, but waited patiently up until now. “I know,” he finally answers and leans in for another not-so-chaste kiss. “I really like you too.”