A/N: Longer chapter today. Comment and let me know if u'd like me to skip posting tomorrow to give u time to read it without interrupting ur busy lives lmao ~ ♡ ♡ ♡
Scanning their bus cards as they got off the first stop, Yunho's hand tingled where Mingi's had just been. Falling into step as they walked together down the footpath, he was incredibly nervous, but also for once, incredibly at peace.
He wanted nothing more than to entangle their hands back together, but it was proving far more difficult this time for him to obey the three, two, one, countdown in his head, and just do it, like he was telling himself.
'Oh, there's that little finch again~' Mingi suddenly gasped. Gently, he took a hold of Yunho's elbow before pointing over to where there was a tree beside one of the other dorm mailboxes. 'Look~' he breathed.
Breath taken by how beautiful he found Mingi's behaviour, he leant towards him as Mingi pointed. And as he looked down the line of his finger, sure enough, there, in the cover of a bush, was a tiny, black and white bird.
'Do you see?' Mingi breathed.
Yunho couldn't help but smile as he nodded, melting as Mingi squeezed his arm. 'I do,' he said softly, far more mystified by him, than the bird.
Mingi smiled happily, watching as the tiny little bird flew off. 'That bird has a colourful little friend that sits outside my window each morning,' he said gently, still holding his arm as they approached the dorm.
Yunho's heart thudded. 'Do they sing?' he asked, knowing as much about birds as he knew about galaxies and black holes, which was to say, nothing.
Mingi smiled. 'They do. They have such pretty little voices... I haven't paid any attention in so long, but the other morning I just happened to be staring out the window and I saw it... They're so small, yet so happy...'
'Like someone else I know...' Yunho breathed.
And Mingi suddenly laughed. 'You can't possibly mean me, do you?' he asked in disbelief.
Yunho couldn't hide his amused smirk as Mingi's cheeks blushed. 'You know I'm taller than most people, right?'
'Well you're still smaller than me.'
'By a tiny bit.'
'But yet still smaller.'
Mingi's laughter turned to shy giggles as he dug through his pockets for his keys. Walking up the path to their dorm, he put the key in the lock and turned it, letting the door swing open.
But while he was focussed on letting them inside, Yunho was suddenly devastated by the space between them. He could still smell Mingi's scent that had seeped into his own coat, and could feel the ghost of his touch, but it wasn't enough... His heart was so warmed by him that he wanted badly to feel more...
'Min-ah,' he breathed. And something must have stuck out about the way he said it, since Mingi's glance rose almost immediately, eyes searching his expression and lips slightly parting...
Those lips... So rosy and soft...
He'd kissed them once before... twice before...
So perfect...
Before he knew it, he was reaching forward and letting his hands embed in the fabric on Mingi's waist, melting as he felt his skin beneath it. And as he stepped closer, their noses feathered against one another...
Yunho's nerves screamed.
Standing in the middle of the doorway, no amount of cold breeze would cool his feverish body. Not when he could see those eyes gazing at him with almost longing embedded within them, and see his lips parted, leaving just a glimpse of his white teeth behind them...
'I missed you,' Yunho found himself saying without a single forethought. His body jolted as his lip accidentally brushed against his, and his heart began to fibrillate in his chest.
Mingi let out a soft breath, searching his face. 'But we only saw each other yesterday...' he whispered.
His soft, gentle voice was enough to send him wild. 'I don't care,' he replied.
And with that, he pressed their lips together, just the way that felt right.
Ascending under the feeling of his lips melding against his, no words could ever describe the way his chest filled with butterflies, the moment Mingi's hands flattened against his chest. Not pushing him away, they clutched hold of him instead, and a soft exhale with a hint of his voice escaped him as their kiss began to deepen.
Yunho was briefly startled as he felt his lips slip apart, but the instant he felt something warm and textured, yet smooth brush at his lips, he had to hold onto Mingi for dear life. He had no idea what he was doing, and inside his head, his thoughts were in chaos, yet all overrun by the one repeated line of oh my god, oh my god, oh my god-.
But as if like magic, suddenly, his mouth slipped open, and naturally his tongue darted out and the fucking instant it met Mingi's, heat erupted between them. Mingi's hands shot up to cup his face, Yunho pulled his body closer, and as Mingi gently seemed to pull back, Yunho panicked, thinking he would end the kiss and push him away...
But instead, just like those other kisses they'd shared, he melded against him once more, letting their lips press together in ways that had Yunho dizzy, and their tongues to dance in a way that made him float.
He was sure his eyes were rolling into the back of his head, and he hoped to god he wasn't hurting Mingi by how hard he was holding onto his body. But he just couldn't function on his own. He needed Mingi, to ground him to reality, and keep him from melting down into the earth...
This kiss... it was everything...
There was not a single thing on this planet that could make him feel the way he felt in that moment. He was alight. Never, had he felt so alive...
Feeling their lips slip from each other, Yunho had to force himself to take a breath, and as their foreheads rested against each other, he felt like his body was vibrating...
'Min-ah,' he breathed, loosening his grip on his waist, and gently bringing a hand up to cup his delicate face. He brushed his thumb softly over his bottom lip, staring at the way it bounced back from under his finger like a stuffed pillow...
'You make me feel so alive...' he breathed, barely able to hear anything over the sound of his heart thudding in his ears.
Mingi smiled softly, brushing his hands over his cheeks, before slipping them back down to his chest. There, he trailed his fingers over the fabric of his shirt, until his eyes caught on the thinner dressing on his neck.
Ever so gently, he reached up and ghosted his fingers a couple millimetres above the white rectangle, biting his lip a little as he watched. 'Does it hurt?' he asked softly.
Yunho swallowed, shaking his head. 'I don't feel much of anything at the moment, other than butterflies...' he admitted.
Mingi let out a soft giggle, blushing as he gently smacked him on the chest. Taking a hold of him, he then pulled him inside out of the cold. 'Come on,' he said, shutting the door behind him.
And Yunho melted as he felt Mingi's hands on him, leading him in after him.
'We'll never get anything done if we stand in the doorway all day.
~~~
Following Mingi down the hallway into his room, Yunho recognised it from the night he had brought him home from the hospital in the dark...
It looked different in the light though... Smaller... Cosier...
'I'm sorry... It's kind of cramped...'
Cramped...? That was not a word that came to mind...
His eyes drew to where all of Mingi's textbooks were lined up along the wall on his bed, each stacked with the spines facing out like some kind of makeshift bookshelf.
He let his eyes drift along the side of his bed, noticing a happy little cactus sitting on his windowsill...
But as his gaze drifted to the end of his bed, he was surprised to see a keyboard...
'Min-ah, do you play piano?'
Mingi glanced up at him in confusion for a moment. 'How did you...' His eyes drew to his instrument, and his cheeks blushed softly. 'Oh. I can... A little... I learned when I was younger, but I don't really play much anymore... not enough time...'
Yunh's lips fell apart in awe, once again astounded by his serenity.
'Can you play?' Mingi asked softly, looking up as he sat on the end of his bed and took his shoes off.
Yunho shook his head, intimidated by the idea. 'No...Is it hard?'
A soft smile grew upon those crimson lips as he shook his head. 'Not if you're not trying to be perfect. Do you want to try?'
Yunho gulped. 'Oh no. No, I'm not very artistic...'
He was met with a gentle, amused giggle. 'Yes I do remember the hand painting... Come~ Sit~ I'll show you how.'
Yunho shook his head, waving his hands a little before him. 'You really don't want to see-'
'I really do. Si~i~i~t.'
The aegyo melted him, and he caved, because how could he not?
As Mingi shuffled over on the end of his bed to sit next to his makeshift bookcase, Yunho slipped in beside him; his heart beginning to flutter and his stomach to fill with nervous butterflies.
'Imagine you're holding apples,' Mingi breathed, reaching out and taking his hands in his own. Gently manipulating them into cupped shapes, he laughed softly as Yunho's awkward fingers seemed to refuse to take the shape he was hoping for.
'Yun-ah, you have to relax,' he said, giggling.
Yunho had never heard anything more hilarious in his life. 'Did you just tell me to relax, when I've never been so jittery in my life?'
Mingi glanced up at him, and as their eyes met, a few long moments passed before those crimson lips slowly pulled into a smile that had his heart fluttering.
'Okay, well maybe just don't tense then,' he giggled. 'Okay now rest your fingertips on the keys,' he instructed.
But Yunho had more of an idea how to build a spaceship than put his hands on a piano... Where was he supposed to put them? There were a lot of keys, and he might not have been a mathematician, but there seemed to be a lot more keys, than he had fingers...
Mingi laughed softly, nudging him gently in the shoulder playfully before helping him. He gently extended his hands out and rested them right in front of him on the whites of the keys, wriggling his wrists a little to keep them "relaxed."
'Okay... umm... Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. You know the rhyme, right?'
Yunho nibbled on the corner of his lip, glancing down. No...
'...N-not really...'
Mingi nudged his shoulder, causing him to look up and see his surprised face. 'You don't know it? Didn't you sing it as a child?'
He shook his head as his cheeks flared a little. 'No... I'm sure we probably did in preschool, but... If we did, I don't remember it...'
He watched as Mingi's expression filled with a pained glaze, and it made him feel uneasy. He didn't want to see that sympathetic look... He wanted to hear him laugh and see him smile again like before... 'Maybe... If you show me? I could try...'
Much to his relief, he saw Mingi's lips pull into a small smile. 'I'll play it for you,' he whispered.
Gently, he turned to rest his hands over the piano, and as he softly began to tinker away at a tune that was only half familiar to his ears, he couldn't help but feel that the music Mingi created painted a picture of him perfectly.
It was soft and gentle... Playful, yet heartfelt...
Beautiful...
Serene...
Mesmerising...
Yunho had to force himself to pay attention to what he was playing, instead of becoming lost in his awe... He wasn't exactly keen on running the risk of being openly embarrassed by being caught just staring at him again...
There was accompaniment, and there was melody, and despite having watched some extremely complex surgeries in the past, Yunho thought playing piano looked like the hardest thing to do in the whole entire world...
But Mingi seemed to be playing without even thinking about it. His eyes were closed, and his lips were forming a soft smile... One that had Yunho slipping right back to staring at him...
Suddenly, the music stopped, leaving just one chord left suspended in the air between them...
And as Mingi opened his eyes, it was too late to look away. He'd been busted.
Yunho bit into an awkward, guilty smile as he glanced down and cleared his throat. 'So... umm... How do I know which notes to play?'
Mingi giggled a little, before reaching out and moving his right hand along the keys until his thumb rested over one that he seemed to want. Arranging his fingers over the keys, he laughed softly as he had to wriggle his wrist to force it to become more pliable. 'Relax. And you can ignore your left hand,' he said, prompting him to put it in his lap instead.
'So you go thumb, for twinkle, and all the way up here to your pinky for the second twinkle, okay?'
Yunho very awkwardly, and with the grace of an elephant on roller-skates, attempted to execute his first instructions-
-and failed miserably. Somehow, other notes sounded, and the ones that did, sounded clunky and forced.
But Mingi cheered nonetheless, smiling widely and proudly. 'Okay, so little, is one note above that, so you have to move your pinky one note to the side, and then move it back. The rest of the notes are all beside each other going downwards, okay?'
Yunho swallowed back his embarrassment and nodded. Taking a deep breath, he tried again, instructions fresh in his mind, but somehow getting confused and causing him to jump notes.
But despite sounding like a dying cat, Yunho was becoming fascinated by this instrument that made noises when he pressed buttons - softer when he didn't press very hard, and louder when he did.
Moreso, he was surprised how this instrument could paint a picture of a person; gentle and poetic when Mingi played, and harsh and clunky when he did...
This music... It reflected how Yunho felt in his life. Cold, lifeless, and perhaps most importantly, without direction. The notes were simply being pressed, because he'd been told to press them, and thus, with no understanding of why he was pressing them, they lacked meaning.
It only made him want to try harder.
But as he decided to try again and focus harder, Mingi started playing a soft accompaniment to his clunking, and somehow, it made it somehow feel like music...
He was making music...
He'd never made music in his life...
It ended too soon. Miraculously making it to the end of the phrase, he exhaled a massive breath, running his hands through his hair, and melting as Mingi's excited reaction graced his ears.
'See! I told you that it's not hard!'
Yunho laughed airily, somehow exhausted. 'You also said if you're not trying to be perfect.'
Mingi's lips pulled into a wide smile. 'There's no such thing as perfect, so why would you want to be, anyway?'
His words hit Yunho with profundity. 'Good point...'
'... Do you maybe want to feel what it's like to play something harder...?'
Yunho glanced up at him, and seeing his suddenly timid expression, his heart fluttered. 'H-how?'
Mingi's lips pulled into a soft smile, and one that left Yunho speechless. 'Put your hands over mine,' he said softly.
And Yunho's lips fell apart in shock. He looked at him as if to ask, are you sure?
But Mingi only nodded, smiling. 'Come~' he breathed, almost a whisper between them.
And Yunho could never go against anything he said.
Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, he shuffled closer until their bodies were pressed together, and gently reached his hands over, feeling a spark as his skin touched Mingi's.
Leaning into him, he was almost forced to rest his chin on his shoulder, and with the warmth of Min's cheek such a tiny distance from his, he found himself becoming intoxicated with the feeling of being so close to him...
And then Mingi began to play.
Yunho had never really listened to much music, but he instantly knew he would be craving listening to it again, and dreaming about this moment for the rest of his life. It was beautiful, and as he realised he had to rest his hands heavily upon his not to be left behind, he began to feel as though he were floating...
Like a magician, Mingi conjured notes that struck Yunho through the heart, and never before had he felt like this...
As his left hand stretched further away as Mingi's hand jumped to reach other notes, Yunho regretfully let go, resting it against his thigh instead.
However although he was no longer forced to stretch across Mingi's body, he left their sides pressed together, and as his right hand still moved with Mingi's, he let his fingers slip between his and entwined them under his palm, holding his hand as he played.
Closing his eyes, he felt incredibly heart warmed as he listened and let himself just be with him.
A word popped into his mind...
Home.
"Home," for Yunho, had always been a cold, emotionless, lonely place.
But this... This, felt like what home should have felt like.
Nuzzling his cheek into the crook of his neck, he couldn't believe how utterly thawed he felt from the inside out...
But as Mingi suddenly stopped playing, letting an unfinished chord ring out around them, Yunho fluttered his eyes open, and the instant their eyes met, the world around him vanished.
Sitting up slowly, mesmerised by him, he felt Mingi un-weave their hands, only to touch one to his chest, and leave the other on the bed...
And as Yunho found himself locked in by his gaze, he felt like he was swaying... Swaying with the throb of his heart... Loosing his balance...
He let one hand fall down into the bed to hold him steady, but it came down over Mingi's, and it created lightning through his wrist...
Lighting, he was quickly becoming addicted to...
Lifting his other hand up, he gently brushed Mingi's cheek before letting his palm slip down to rest upon a swatch of skin he had never touched before...
His neck.
Resting half atop his velvet skin on the side of his neck, it knocked the air from his lungs, and somehow, it had been all it took for their lips to suddenly collide together.
Stronger than their other kisses, almost immediately, their tongues began to dance and swirl together in a way that had Yunho's head spinning.
Every kiss, felt like his first, and as he felt himself slowly being starved of a breath he couldn't remember how to take, his body began to burn...
Hotter...
And hotter...
And hotter...
Somehow, even the kiss felt as though it were heating up too...
And as Yunho felt his mouth open wider than he'd expected, he gasped as Mingi's tongue delved into a particularly sweet spot beside his tongue - jesus christ, his eyes rolled back into his head.
A hand slid up his feverish chest, over the skin of his neck, and then - to his surprise, buried itself in his hair.
A teeny tiny sound escaped Yunho's throat... One he absolutely hadn't planned on making, but one that had surfaced alas.
And for the first time, instead of staying dead still, Yunho finally, took an immense breath, and as he did, his chest moved...
And Mingi's moved with it.
Somehow, like a gentle roll of the waves in an enclosed, protected bay, as their kiss deepened, they breathed and moved together... Mingi pulling him closer, and Yunho pulling him closer...
Yunho raised the hand that had been sitting atop Mingi's and flattened it against his chest, melting under his warmth and under his tongue...
He was floating... He was melting...
How?
How was it possible to feel like this?
Suddenly, the sound of keys in the front door tore through the abyss surrounding them, and their lips parted just a few millimetres. Nervously breathing the same air, they listened to the sound of the door to the dorm swinging open...
Mingi looked down, tearing their lips further away. Slipping his hand down his neck and onto his chest, he rubbed gently, before slowly, he let their foreheads separate.
And Yunho's body was a mess. A light and jittery and flustered and disappointed, mess...
The moment Mingi leant forward and pressed a delicate peck against his cheek, his heart erupted.
'Min-ah? You home? I'm just passing through. I forgot my lesson plan. I'm going now! Back later have fun~!'
'Okay, you too~' Mingi called back.
And with that, the door opened and clicked shut again, leaving silence throughout the dorm once more.
Yunho watched as Mingi nibbled a little on his lips, before glancing down. 'I guess we should probably get some study done...'
Gulping, he didn't dare speak. He was a mess. He had no idea what was happening to his body... He felt dazed...
Or probably more appropriately...
High.
As Mingi shuffled up to the head of the bed and reached to his bag to retrieve his computer, Yunho didn't even register as he followed, shuffling like an idiot to sit beside him. He barely noticed having his laptop dug from his bag or put atop his lap, but dear lord, the moment they sat side by side; he had never felt so content.
'Yun-ah... Are you okay?'
He looked up to see Min's concerned expression as he gazed at him with something in his eyes that looked like terror...
'Yes,' he breathed. And he'd never meant anything more in his life.
Without even thinking, he reached down and took Mingi's hand in his own, entwining their fingers together.
And Mingi bit gently into his lips; slightly more crimson than before they'd kissed... After a few moments he squeezed, nudging him a little with his shoulder...
And Yunho's heart melted.
This was what he wanted... He didn't know what it was, or what it meant, but fuck...
I want this...
I want this so, badly.
~~~
A/N: Dying. That is all
☠️