Pulling out of the car park, Yunho hadn't realised it was raining heavily outside. His windows fogged up badly, forcing him to park temporarily and wait for the de-mister to clear the windscreen. But as he did, he noticed a person standing alone at the bus terminal, hugging themselves tightly to ward off the cold.
Recognising that familiar head of dark hair and dark rimmed glasses, Yunho felt his heart flutter.
Winding his window down a little, he didn't hesitate. 'Mingi!'
The boy turned around, glancing through the rain until his eyes fell upon the car...
'Min,' Yunho breathed, too quiet for it to be heard. 'Mingi get in! You're going to get drenched!'
He saw Mingi bite his lip, shaking his head. 'It's okay...'
Yunho felt awful for the fact that he would rather stand in the rain, than breathe the same air as him...
'Mingi get in. You're going to get sick,' he begged. 'I won't talk... I promise...' It hurt to say, but the moment he saw a gust of wind blow the rain in under the shelter, it didn't matter whether he had to promise not to ever speak again. When Mingi gave in, hurrying over to the car and getting in out of the cold, it was worth it.
As Mingi buckled his seatbelt and attempted to wipe the raindrops from the door, he shivered a little, and Yunho didn't even think as he turned up the heating for him. But as he leant forward, he was suddenly dizzied by a strong scent that took over his senses...
Mingi's scent.
Although he'd certainly noticed it before, it was stronger than ever, and it caused his stomach to fill with butterflies... It had never been so potent before... so intoxicating... could it have been the rain making it more intense...?
Yunho took his cleaning cloth from the center console and began wiping the fog from the windscreen to distract himself from the hazy cloud taking over his senses, as well as the incredible yearning he felt to speak to him...
Don't talk... I promised him...
Sealing his lips shut, he put away his cloth and indicated before pulling out and heading into the traffic. He kept his eyes on the road, not speaking a word. Instead, he just breathed in that sweet smell taking over every inch of the car, and let a strange calm fulfil him. It felt warming, and comforting to be with him...
But not nearly as comforting as the feeling that washed over him as Mingi's gentle voice spoke, breaking the silence between them. 'You didn't have to...'
Yunho nodded. Completely caught up in the way it sounded to have Mingi sound so gentle; unlike their last cold encounters; he found himself yearning to hear more...
Ding.
Ding.
Simultaneously, both of their phones chimed with notifications, breaking the moment. Yunho saw in his peripherals as Mingi frowned, taking his phone from his bag and glancing over the message. It made Yunho curious as to what it was. But the moment he saw Mingi's eyes widen, and his head snap to look at him, he had a fairly bloody good idea what it was about...
'What happened in Emergency?' he asked suddenly, his voice incredibly flat and anxious...
Yunho bit his lip, checking his mirrors extremely diligently as an excuse to avoid speaking... He'd promised...
'Yunho, talk. What happened in the ER? You were on shift, weren't you?'
Yunho felt his chest tighten as he saw Mingi swivel in his seat to face him, awaiting his answer. Those eyes studied him carefully as he focussed on the road, but despite trying not to give too much attention to his passenger, Yunho saw the moment Mingi noticed the large, padded dressing over his skin...
'Oh my god...' he whispered, and it was a sound that Yunho instantly knew he hated. It sounded mortified... 'Yun-ah...'
Indicating and turning off the main road towards the university housing, Yunho couldn't miss how those sparkling eyes widened, filling with terror and concern. All he wanted to do, was reach out and assure him that he was okay... He didn't want him to worry... Hell, it didn't even hurt that bad... Not since Mingi had gotten into the car, anyways...
'Yunho,' Mingi breathed gently, lifting his hand towards him.
And suddenly, his heart thudded out of his chest.
No matter how hard he stared at the deserted road before them, his vision was filled with Mingi's hand gently reaching towards him, his bracelet twinkling in the moonlight. The closer it came, the more his pulse began to rise, and the more space that diminished between them, the more he became intoxicated by his sweet scent...
Until suddenly, Mingi leant back, taking back his hand and biting into his lip.
Yunho felt his chest jolt. Given the chance to regain his composure, he attempted to breathe through the thousands of iridescent glittering butterflies aflight within him... Driving in complete silence, his mind was filled with thoughts; one standing out in particular amongst the others...
I've missed being with him...
It felt calming to be in his presence again... relieving... So much so that he even found himself driving deliberately slower than necessary, not really wanting to seperate just yet...
But the tortoise, and the hare, both arrived at the finish line eventually, and the moment Yunho pulled into their empty car spot, he could feel his body begging for time to stop, and the clock to pause just for a few moments longer...
Both sitting quietly, glancing down, Yunho felt a throbbing in his neck, as well as a slightly hot flush under his dressing. He tilted his head a little in discomfort, glancing down at his hands in his lap as disappointment tore through him. In probably less than a minute, he would be sitting here by himself, in a car that he somehow wished would soak up that sweet scent into the upholstery...
'Are you okay?'
Mingi's agonisingly gentle voice broke the silence between them, causing his heart to flutter in his chest. Not trusting his own voice, he nodded instead, taking a deep breath...
Self consciously, he could feel Mingi's eyes on him, filled with concern. He'd maybe expected for him to say something else, but suddenly, Yunho had to slam back into his seat as Mingi leant forward, directly beside him. He lifted a hand up, gently touching his fingertips to his chin and sending an immediate jolt of electricity down Yunho's spine. He shivered; dizzy and light headed with his potently soft scent drowning his senses...
Ever-so-gently, Mingi used his fingers to tilt his head towards him a little, and suddenly, all Yunho could see was Mingi's jaw and neck right there - so close that he could just about taste his scent...
With a gentle sigh, Mingi nibbled on his pink lip for a moment, before letting it bounce back, plush and soft looking...
'Yunho, come inside and have some water. You look really pale.'
Spooked and distracted by literally being able to see the patterns embedded in that skin, Yunho fumbled with his words. 'I- I'm okay...'
But Mingi shook his head. Very suddenly, Mingi leant forward between his chest and the steering wheel, forcing Yunho to sink back into his seat. His chest burned where Mingi's arm was pressed against, and his head went dizzy with the sudden concentrated scent inches from his nose, and the sensation of Mingi's hair brushing past his nose... his cheek...
Yunho felt his heart stop. 'Wh- what are you doing?' he stuttered, trying to calm his nauseating butterflies and somehow defy the laws of physics to sink through the seat...
But as Mingi ignored his question, a few moments later, Yunho saw him pull up the handbrake and take the keys out of the ignition, before sitting back and leaving him with an ocean of space around him...
'Taking away your choice,' he said simply, pocketing the keys and starting to gather his things. 'You shouldn't drive when youre faint.' And with that, he suddenly got out of the car and ran for cover under their porch, leaving Yunho alone in his car; the rain belting down over the roof.
Sighing heavily, Yunho rested his head forward against the steering wheel. 'Fuck,' he whispered, breathing deeply to calm himself. With no keys, and seeing no way around it, he sighed. Taking his phone, he decided he had no choice but to follow, hurrying out of the rain to shelter. He waited for Mingi to unlock their door and let them in.
It was dark inside, and as Yunho found himself being corralled into the kitchen to sit on a stool, Mingi walked over and flicked on their weak kitchen light above their heads.
'What are you doing?' Yunho asked quietly, but it was too late. Mingi had already disappeared down the hall out of view, leaving him alone with his own thoughts. It took perhaps a minute or two for him to reemerge, this time holding a first aid kit, and a recycled tissue box filled with medical supplies.
Suddenly nervous and unsure as to what was happening, Yunho watched anxiously as Mingi pulled up another stool beside him, sitting down and letting one of his knees slip between his own... He came close enough for that sweet scent to engulf him once more, and Yunho felt his heart beginning to flutter once more...
'Your dressing is soaked through.'
Momentarily drawn from his inner swarming of emotions, Yunho frowned. Soaked through...? He reached up to touch it, but his eyes widened as his hand was suddenly swatted away.
'Don't touch.'
Yunho bit his lip, glancing down at his hands in his lap, and the thigh between his knees... 'I wondered why it felt hot...'
Mingi didn't reply. Instead, he focussed on his task of taking out supplies and laying them out on the bench beside him.
And Yunho began to panic. If Mingi touched his skin, he wouldn't be able to think straight... 'It's fine! I can do it-'
'Yunho, just sit and be still,' he said gently, shaking his head. He pulled out a few more things and put them down on the bench before suddenly standing up and walking to the sink, washing his hands thoroughly and coming back to sit - closer than before.
With the proximity, came an intoxicating waft of his dizzying scent, and suddenly, Yunho felt drunk. Somewhere inside his head was a voice asking why he was being affected so badly, but through his haze, he almost didn't care. He was too busy finding himself lost staring at Mingi leaning forward, rubbing his hands together to warm them...
The instant his fingertips touched his skin, Yunho's breath caught.
Mingi froze. 'Sorry,' he whispered, his voice raw with an apologetic tenderness.
Yunho swallowed back his nerves and mustered a smile. 'Nono, it's fine. You're very gentle,' he breathed softly, his eyes unable to look away... Mingi was so close, gently peeling the dressing back and brushing his skin to take away the sting.
And for Yunho, it was the first time he realised that he was able to openly stare at him, without having their eyes meet awkwardly and spooking himself... Like this, he could let his eyes fall permanently on his face, seeing the tiny little diamond patterns in his skin, the faintest of freckles he hadn't known he'd had, and the slightest of blushed crimson and golden brown mixed together above his eyelids... It felt like a gift to be able to look for so long...
It made his heart leap.
But as the dressing was almost completely peeled away, Mingi exhaled in relief, and it ghosted across his skin, causing Yunho a wave of dizziness and butterflies. His heart fluttered in his chest, and as he stared at Mingi reaching up and leaning in to see his wound, Yunho could fucking count, every single one of his individual eyelashes...
Yunho held his breath.
Feeling warmth run down his neck, Yunho watched as Mingi let the dressing rest over him for a moment and picked up some thick, fresh gauze. Gently peeling the last of the soaked dressing away, he tenderly pressed the fresh gauze against him and mopped up the blood before it soaked into his scrub top the hospital had given him.
Removing the old dressing altogether, he cleaning the blood from the area, but as he leant in to see if it was still bleeding, his scent washed over Yunho and made his stomach suddenly leap up into his chest...
And suddenly he could breathe again. One hand holding the gauze gently under his wound to protect his clothes, Mingi leant back, soaking some cotton balls in saline and picking them up with tweezers.
But the instant he sat forward again, his hair almost tangled with Yunho's and the proximity robbed him of his breath. With Mingi's sleeves pushed up to his elbows, Yunho could see that little bracelet twinkling under the kitchen light... almost as dazzling as his irises sparkling from beneath his eyelashes...
'You really aren't bothered by proximity, are you?' Yunho asked, his voice just a whisper between them.
Mingi's brows pulled together a little; probably more in concentration than anything else; before gently mopping his skin and cleaning away the blood and saline. 'Not really, why?'
Yunho let out a shaky breath as Mingi leaned forward again, his thighs bushing his as he inspected the wound. 'No reason. Just an observation.'
Leaning back, Mingi focussed on pouring Betadine onto a cotton ball and cleaning the area. 'People are meant to be with people,' he said simply, biting his lip a little as he held his tender attention.
Yunho glanced out of the corner of his eye to see their reflections in the kitchen window, feeling woozy now from drowning in his strong scent...
'Are you bothered by proximity?' Mingi asked softly, sitting back and discarding the cotton.
Yunho took a shaken breath. 'Mmm... Maybe? I'm not usually a very touchy feely person...'
Almost comically, Mingi immediately retracted his fingers and sat back a little. Biting his lips as they formed the tiniest of smiles, he glanced up, and their eyes met for the first time that night. It evoked some kind of relieved, yet heartfelt emotion within Yunho; one he once might have shied away from, but now was too intoxicated to care for.
Once upon a time, he might have been spooked by such intense eye contact... But now, it was something he felt he yearned for...
A few long moments passed in silence, before Mingi's lips parted a little, and a soft giggle escaped them. 'Whoops...'
And it may have just been a tiny laugh, but it had an immense effect on Yunho. His entire body melted, and the smile had been contagious, for Yunho couldn't help his lips turning up in the corners... 'It's fine,' he whispered softly, feeling his stomach lighten and give flight to another magnificent butterfly. 'I'm getting used to it... It's different when it's you...'
Mingi gave him a small smile. 'Ah...' Nodding a little, he tore his sparkling eyes from his, returning to his work. Lost in concentration, he measured a dressing against his wound before cutting it to size and peeling the back off.
And Yunho held his breath. Feeling Mingi rest his fingertips, feather light on his skin, he almost didn't register the pain as it touched down over him and flattened against his skin. Too swept up in staring at his locks of soft dark hair, those long lashes and his lip caught between his teeth, he felt his heart beating away from him...
'Mingi...' he breathed, feeling his stomach fill nauseatingly with butterflies and his body flush hot...
'Mmm?' he replied, leaning back just a little to put down the plastic backing of the dressing and clean up...
Staring at his side profile, Yunho felt himself become lost in the way Mingi didn't seem as hostile as before... He was calm and gentle and there was even a soft hint of a smile on those lips...
Those lips; so rosy and so soft looking... Suddenly, he found himself wondering if they too, were as gentle as the rest of him... Were they as delicate and soft as his touch...? Were they as tender and silky as his fingertips...?
'Min...' he breathed, feeling his stomach wind into multiple knots... Sick with butterflies, he couldn't stop staring at him, and as Mingi glanced up, it only got worse. He was so close... So close, and he smelled so sweetly... so intoxicating...
'Are you okay? Does it hurt? Is it pulling? Did I put the dressing on awkwardly?' He tilted his head to the side and lifted his hands to brush his fingertips over the edges of the dressing, looking for something that could be causing discomfort.
'No,' he whispered, only half paying attention. The more time ticked by, the more he felt himself slipping, and the more he felt his dizzy haze sweep him up and away. 'It's fine...' he breathed.
And his neck might have been fine, but he wasn't.
He could barely think.
Staring at Mingi so blatantly, he found himself leaning forward... captivated by those lips and the mysteries they held... They were slightly glistening under the light, and Yunho had never noticed that the corners were puckered, with a pale line around them accentuating their plumpness...
Vaguely in his peripherals, he could see Mingi's brows pull together in confusion and wonder at what his problem could possibly be, but as Yunho leant forward until they were suddenly just millimetres apart, he saw Mingi's eyes dart down...
Fascinated by the way his scent blinded him and intoxicated his senses, Yunho reached a hand up and ever so tenderly brushed his fingertips against the soft skin of his cheek, listening in awe as his breath caught. Unmoving, with the exception of their hearts beating hard enough for them to hear, Yunho could feel the heat between them, their unsteady, shaky breath, and together with his senses being smothered, it made him dizzy.
Staring down at his lips... those lips that were a pretty shade somewhere between ruby and pink, Yunho found himself tilting his head, licking his lips, and leaning closer...
And closer...
And 𝒸ₗₒₛₑᵣ...
Until suddenly, fireworks exploded behind his eyes and within his heart.
His body felt like it exploded and butterflies had disolved through his skin and into the air around them. His heart hammered in his chest... His mind felt the most alive, and static it had ever been. And every single inch of his skin burned with the white hot heat of the sun.
But nothing compared to the feeling of his lips pressed against Mingi's.
The evil clock finally slowed and stretched each millisecond in favour for hours, and as Yunho stopped breathing altogether, his eyes fluttered shut as he melted.
Those lips... they were bliss. They were heaven and they were hell and they were forgiveness and they were retribution and they were forbidden and illegal and divine and curing and healing and they were a fucking drug... They were the single most addictive drug that existed. They defied the laws of the world and encaptured every single adjective that existed in any language, but if Yunho had to pick one, he would say that they were perfect.
They were somehow so soft and tender that it felt like if he moved just a little, he would pop their velvety delicate surface and leave them melted against his own... They were gentle... Just like Mingi...
Fingertips on his soft cheek, Yunho touched his thumb to his skin and died at the hands of the shaken breath Mingi let out against him as he moved just a tiny bit, causing their noses to brush delicately.
And Yunho's heart stopped.
He felt their lips press together a little more; melding in against one another; and as a smacking sound sounded as their lips half parted, Yunho immediately leant forward to press more deeply...
But then with a massive pained breath, Mingi's chest rose and he flattened his hands against his chest, looking down a little and separating their lips with a soft puckering sound that seemed to echo around them.
The world stopped.
Foreheads resting together as they breathed heavily, Mingi bit his lip for a moment, their noses still brushing.'I don't think you want this...' he whispered, so quietly that he was just about silent. He took a deep breath; one Yunho had to copy to calm his nerves and reign in his butterflies.
Mingi rubbed his hands against his chest, almost shaking... 'If you do want it, Yun, I don't think you're ready for it.'
Barely able to remember how to breathe, Yunho felt his body go jittery and suddenly light as a feather. Letting his fingertips fall from his cheek, he felt Mingi take one last breath against him, before slowly leaning back and giving him a small, sad smile. Rubbing his chest once more, he bit his lip and retracted his hands altogether.
And suddenly, it felt like the space between them was so vast that an entire continent could easily sit between them. Yunho watched as he soaked a spare gauze in saline and turned to him, letting his lip free from his teeth in a way that had Yunho staring...
'Tilt your head a little for me,' Mingi said softly, gently guiding his chin to the side. He cleaned the excess Betadine from his skin around the dressing; his fingertips causing Yunho an immense amount of butterfly induced nausea.
'Does it feel okay?'
Yunho nodded, gulping. His whole body felt alight and his stomach felt as though it had permanently migrated into his throat. Seeing Mingi looking at him, he pushed down his state and tried to sort through expressions to find a smile. 'It feels perfect,' he whispered, his voice surprising him with it's husky grit.
It made Mingi's lips pull into a magnificently beautiful, amused smile. 'You were very lucky,' he said softly; his eyes resting tenderly over him.
Yunho cleared his throat, suddenly embarrassed to meet his gaze... 'I- I was?' he asked, mind filled to overflowing with images of what it had felt like to kiss those lips...
Mingi laughed softly, reaching up and ruffling his hair. 'Your injury,' he said, rolling his eyes a little. Standing up, he walked over to the sink and poured a glass of water, before returning and sitting down beside him. 'Does it hurt?' he asked.
And Yunho had to guilt back his nerves and look anywhere other than at his gentle face...
'I honestly can't feel it...'
Mingi's lips pulled into a smirk, before nodding. 'Somehow, I didn't think you would.'
~~~
A/N: Hope u enjoyed that~ I might come back and have another go at editing/changing this a little bit when I'm in a bit of a healthier and more poetic mindset. I love these two. Suddenly, My writing can't suffice to tell their story. It is very irritating not to be able to capture it in a literary sense. 😔 I hope u can forgive me ♡ 😔