Red Bracelets
Title: Red Bracelets
Genre: Romance, Fluff
Rating: G
Pairing: 2Min
Summary: Minho is seeking for the right valentine, one day he caught view of his neighbor gazing out a window, watching and admiring the snow... He wonders why doesn't he just come outside? So, he somehow convinces the boy to come out into the snow.
The childhood memories are deeply buried in Minho’s mind, it’s like that for most people though, and the memories resurface if the person either tries to remember hard enough or it just comes back naturally. There are times when Minho looks across the street to his neighbors, it seemed empty. The grass was lightly green, no flowers decorated, neither was the porch. It was just a plain house colored white and outlined with navy blue. Minho vaguely remembers that the house didn’t used to be like this before. It used to be more bright and lively, and he remembers he used to play with a young boy that was his age many years ago. He concluded that the old neighbors must have moved out, but it wasn’t like it mattered anymore anyways, he leaded a new life and there was nothing in the past he held of value.
Love was in the air; after all, Valentine’s was just in the next couple of days. All Minho really ever wanted was to meet someone who made him completely happy, someone he felt comfortable around with, and someone to be just accepts him whole-fully. He was never really interested in anyone, no one seemed to have caught his interest, and therefore he was kind of getting tired of the girls who would make a fuss over him. Every day after school, as Minho walked on his way home, the snow began to fall gently and lightly, floating in the sky. Luckily, it wasn’t that cold outside as it was a couple weeks ago. Once Minho was reaching the edge of his driveway, he glanced across to his neighbor’s house; perhaps he did this by curiosity to see if there was anyone living in such a lonely place. There he saw, an unknown figure standing before the window that was on the second story of the house, Minho stopped in his tracks and squinted his eyes for a clearer view.
It seemed to be a young boy around his age, with blonde hair, that was all he could see from his viewpoint. Minho wasn’t sure if the boy was staring directly at him or just gazing outside to watch the snowfall. He looked around to see if anyone else was outside, no one was, so Minho did a little wave at the boy. The young boy seemed to be dazed because he didn’t responded to Minho’s mild gesture, but then again, could he even see Minho wave at him? Unexpectedly, the boy seemed to have seen the tentative movement of Minho’s hand and waved back slowly, it appeared that the boy was also smiling. Minho nodded hesitantly once and walked off, a bit embarrassed since it felt as if he was caught stalking someone. Later that night, the snow was still gracefully falling onto the ground when Minho was taking out the trash; it began to become somewhat colder out now. When he dragged the trash bin out onto the end of his driveway so the garbage truck could come pick it up in the morning, he glanced over across the street again. He saw the light beaming outside of the younger boy’s room and saw that they boy was still staring outside his window, looking upwards towards the sky. Strange, Minho began thinking; does he like to watch the snow fall? How long as he been watching it? Minho shrugged it off and walked back into his house.
The next day, he saw the same boy, making the same posture, in the same spot as he walked home from school. This time, it wasn’t snowing but the boy still gazed upon his window. Minho became more interested in his little mysterious and unknown neighbor, questions such as how long has he been watching? Why haven’t I seen him before? And who is he? Ran through his mind. When Minho entered into his house, he looked out his window and tried to watch since he was curious on the peculiar boy across from his house. An hour has passed and the boy was still looking out the window, this made Minho feel a bit anxious and scared, there really wasn’t anything to look at besides snow. The next following day, Minho again saw his porcelain neighbor before the same exact windowsill. The young boy behind the window appeared to be gloomy and lifeless; Minho found it hard to believe since just a few days before the boy showed him such an angelic and delighted smile. Whatever the case was, Minho wanted to know more about this boy that he became so aware of.
Minho walked across the street onto his neighbor’s yard; the boy seemed to take notice of this and stared at him abruptly. As Minho drew closer to the neighbor’s house, he gestured for the boy, and since he was a lot closer to the boy, Minho thought the boy was a life-size doll or something because he was simply too beautiful. The boy simply looked at Minho with a puzzled expression; he slowly pointed a finger at himself, wondering if Minho was really talking to him. Minho smiled and nodded his head, moving head and mouthing the words, “come out here.” The younger one shook his head quickly, slightly frowning; it seemed he was a bit too afraid to come outside. Minho stared at the ground for some time, thinking of a way to persuade his neighbor to come outside, his neighbor watched him with great curiosity. Then an idea sprung into Minho’s mind, even though he didn’t really like the idea but if that’s what it takes to make the boy come out, then so be it. He got down on both of knees, he could feel the cold, wet snow sinking into his pants and looked up at his neighbor as he put both of his hands together, his eyebrows rose and he gave a light smile, mouthing, “Please?”
This action sure did shock his neighbor, the boy slightly dropped his jaw and then he disappeared from the window. When Minho saw this, he was wondering if the boy really would come out, so he watched the front door for awhile, he could feel himself getting anxious yet eager. Minho wanted to see who this boy was, how he acts, just so many questions he wanted to ask but he just didn’t know where to start. The front door slowly began to creak open, his neighbor left a slight crack and peeked outside, this actually made Minho chuckle a bit since he thought it was pretty cute. He got off his knees and dusted the cold snow off, inching closer and closer to the door. “Hello. Won’t you come out?” Minho asked, stopping a few feet before the porch steps, the boy began opening the door a little more. First, the boy slowly slide his fingers out, clutching the side of the door frame and then he took a step outside, he took a step and his foot touched the snowy porch of his, he unexpectedly jerked his foot back into his house.
Minho was obviously perplexed at what just happened, he saw his neighbor smile as he looked down at his footprint and tried to come outside again, it was as if he never stepped in snow before. His neighbor was wearing light grey sweat pants, a t-shirt, a thin light blue jacket, and some sneakers when he fully stepped outside of his house and stood before the porch. He looked around the whole neighbor in amazement, almost forgetting Minho’s existence. “Have you never been outside when it snowed before?” Minho asked in disbelief, the younger one replied by shaking his head and walking down the steps, he almost slipped on the icy stairs but luckily Minho caught him. This startled both of them, the boy gave him a slight bow for his thanks and he smiled, putting his foot back on the step and sliding it around. At first, Minho felt a bit speechless, the boy’s beauty was breath-taking and he is so slender but he wondered why hasn’t the boy spoken a word yet? Minho assumed that they boy probably is really shy when meeting strangers so he dropped it, he didn’t want to make the boy feel uncomfortable, if he wants to talk then he’ll talk.
“Come on, there’s lots of things to do in the snow besides just staring at it,” Minho said nicely as he grabbed the boy’s wrist and dragged him across the street, when Minho looked back, he could see the boy giggling quietly as he stomped and jumped around in the snow as they walked. “Too bad there isn’t a lot of snow though, I guess 3 inches of snow is fine, we can still make a small snowman. You do know a snowman is right?” The boy nodded firmly and quickly, flashing his bright smile, when Minho saw that he thought it was a really pretty smile and he hopes he could make him smile even more. When they reached Minho’s yard, Minho began squatting down to build his little snowman, his neighbor squatted down beside him and watched attentively. He scooped up a lot of snow and patted it together to make it rounder, Minho was really focused on this while the boy next to him also scooped some snow and occasionally glance up to see Minho’s master art work in process. After a while had passed, Minho asked the younger one to go some twigs or something; they both got up and found a couple of sticks so Minho used them to complete his 8 inch snowman.
“Well, I could have made a bigger snowman but, you know, that’s too much work” Minho said smugly as he shrugged his shoulders. The boy laughed softly and pointed at the snowman and then back at Minho. “Are you trying to say the snowman looks similar to me?” The boy nodded happily, pointing the long stick arms on the snowman and then grabbing Minho’s arms. Minho pouted and said, “My arms aren’t that long!” Then, the boy squatted down again and made hand prints in the snow, Minho followed his movements by also squatting and placing hand prints in the snow and he also began drawing a smiley faces in the snow. This seemed to interest his neighbor a lot, the boy stuck out his index finger and began drawing, Minho stopped and tried to see what it was he was drawing but the boy shook his head and moved to block Minho’s view. After a few minutes have passed, the boy moved and showed Minho his master piece; it was an attempted drawing of him, though it was poorly drawn. They both laughed and continue to draw in the snow for awhile, drawing whatever they could think of.
The next activity Minho thought of for the both of them to do was play with the icicles that were hanging off his parent’s car. He gave his neighbor a stick and walked over to the car, telling him to come along, and then he bent down and began hitting the icicles, trying to make a beat. This also made the boy laugh and he was eager to play along, they both tried to make music by hitting the icicles but somewhat failed, though they did had fun trying. After they were done hitting the icicles so much that it broke off, Minho asked if the boy had ever gone sledding before? He replied by shaking his head no. “Well, then, let’s go!” Minho exclaimed with a fist in the air. “I have a sled in the garage, and there’s a small hill at the end of the street, it’s kind of far though. But it’ll be worth it.” When they reached their destination, the boy tugged on Minho’s coat sleeve, a bit worried about what they were about to do. “Well, this sled is big enough for the both of us, want to try riding it together?” Minho offered as he looked at the boy’s pale face, he heard the boy gulp and he slowly nodded his head. Minho smiled, he knew he was getting quite attracted to this delicate and interesting yet strange boy, he placed the wooden sled onto the ground and he pulled the younger one placing him in front of him. “Sit down, I want you to experience the rush, so you’re gonna sit before me.” The boy stood there stiff, Minho ruffled and patted his head, assuring him that it would be alright because he’s right behind him, this relaxed the boy a bit and so he sat.
“Alright, ready?” Minho asked he was getting impatient; he really wanted to sled down this hill that seemed to be about 10 feet long. His arms was under the boy’s arms, holding the front of the sled, the boy hesitantly nodded once and grabbed Minho’s arms. With Minho’s long legs, he pushed down the sled to slide down, and off they went with the cold air brushing against their faces and hair. After the sled came to a complete stop, the boy looked back at Minho and grinned widely as he bounced in his place. “Did you like it?” Minho asked as his lips also curled into a smile. The younger one nodded, his hands were still on Minho’s and Minho could feel the coldness. “Ah, you must be getting cold, huh? You should have worn a thicker jacket.” Minho took off his coat and wrapped around his neighbor, luckily, Minho was wearing a sweater under the coat. They played around some more in the snow, since it was getting really cold out, Minho offered his neighbor to come over to his place for some hot chocolate. As soon as they got to Minho’s house, they drank the hot cocoa.
“By the way, you never told me your name,” Minho brought up, looking at the cute boy as he took tiny sips from his mug with a pink nose, the boy looked at Minho in the corner of his eyes, sealing his lips into a tight line. “Are you not going to tell me your name?” The boy stayed silent, he awkwardly repositioned himself in his seat. “Well, I’m Minho, if you don’t know...” The boy looked up at him and nodded, this shocked Minho, “You know my name?” The younger one replied back with a nod, this made Minho happy yet a bit disappointed in himself since he didn’t know his name. “Will you tell me your name later?” Again, the boy nodded but this time with a soft, sweet smile as he blinked. With that, Minho was satisfied for now, and then he remembered something. “Oh, wait here for a second...” Minho got up from his seat and set down his mug onto the table to go upstairs; he came back down and sat besides the boy. “I guess I just wanted to give you a valentine’s gift,” Minho bashfully admitted, he showed the younger one a red braided bracelet. “I made it myself, even though it’s nothing special, it’s just that I heard that if people are fated to be with each other, there’s a red thread connected to them...” Minho started to blush as he cleared his throat; he was beginning to get nervous since the boy just stared at him with those beady, pretty eyes. “So anyway, happy early valentine’s... Wait, you don’t have a valentine’s, do you?” Minho’s expression was beginning to drop pale, hoping he didn’t just do something stupid and embarrassing. The boy giggled and shook his head, he stuck his wrist out and Minho took it to put the bracelet on; it was a perfect fit and that made Minho smile, maybe it really was fated after all. Later, his neighbor went home and Minho rested upon his bed thinking that this was probably the first time he’s been interested in someone and he couldn’t help but smile when he thought about the things they did today. He was sure that this boy made me him completely and utmost happy, he didn’t even realize the day went by so fast and he was absolutely sure that he wanted to be with him and that Minho wanted him to be his.
The next day was Valentine’s Day, all the girls were trying to make Minho accept their gifts but he kindly rejected telling them that he already found a valentine’s. He was really in a good mood since he couldn’t wait to see his fated person again but when he walked home he didn’t see him by the window at all. Minho tried to ring the doorbell but there wasn’t anyone home to answer, so he just waited and watched from his window to see if the boy would appear. When night came, Minho sighed and laid on his bed as he wondered what could have happened? Maybe he was being played with? He was beginning to doubt and worry, but finally, he drifted to sleep. The next morning, he could hear his parents talking. “Isn’t it sad?” Minho heard his mother talking out in the halls to his dad. “The neighbor’s son across the street had to move out of the country to have surgery on his voice.” This caught Minho’s attention, he jumped out of his bed and stood behind his door and he listened. “Ah, is that why they’re never really home?” His father asked.
“Yeah, I mean, they told me they had to get money for their son to have surgery out of the country and they said he left last night. They thought that he was always sickly so they never really let him go outside. I’m glad this didn’t happen to our son.”
Minho couldn’t believe what he just heard, so he looked out his window and saw something in his yard. He quickly searched for some pants and a jacket, threw it on and dashed outside. He saw another mini snowman besides his snowman that he made just before Valentine’s. He slowly crept closer to the two snowmen, they were standing side by side as their stick arms touched each other, and there he saw on the snowman he didn’t make a red bracelet that was similar to the one he gave to the boy. This bracelet was a bit bigger though and poorly sewn, Minho crouched down to take the bracelet off of the snowman’s head and he put it on his wrist, it fitted nicely and right before the snowmen’s feet was words that were written in the snow. Lee Taemin. Minho smiled a rather glad yet sad smile, he was glad that he was able to get his lover’s name but sad that he left. That’s when the memories came flashing in, memories when he was mere child playing with his neighbor.
Yeah, he remembered that he used to have fun playing with this adorable young boy, who his parents worried about a lot. His friend had to move whenever it was cold or allergy season because his parents thought he got sick easily. Minho couldn’t believe he had forgotten about him, everything made sense to him now, and now that he knows his name, it’ll be a name he’ll never forget. Minho looked at the red bracelet on his right hand and kissed it. He was absolutely positive that they would meet once again since they are both bounded by the red thread of fate.
A/N: I'm sorry your valentine left Minho, but if I have no valentine then you don't get one either, LOL. P.S. I came up with this story because my friends pushed me into a ten foot high pile of snow & I was trying to convince myself that they did that out of love, lmfao. Also, I had a hard time naming this story...