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1.
The first time it happened, Minho thought it was an accident.
The waiting rooms for the music shows they attend during promotions have always been cramped. With their managers and stylists and the whole eight of them, it's near impossible to not bump into someone every now and then. There's hardly enough space to sit around, so it's pretty normal for Minho to find himself pressed against someone while he kills time before their stage.
Minho doesn't even blink when Seungmin inadvertently gets pushed against him on the tiny couch they were sharing. He turns his head to find Hyunjin squeezing himself between Seungmin and the other end of the couch, mouth already on a roll as he details something that Jisung did when they grabbed food at the canteen downstairs. He quickly tunes them out and goes back to the cat video he'd been watching on his phone.
A few minutes later, his heartbeat begins to spike up when he feels Seungmin get jostled from his side, warm hand automatically finding place above Minho's to steady himself
This happens often. The waiting rooms are cramped and having your own space for more than a few minutes at a time is near impossible. What doesn't happen often is how Seungmin doesn't immediately remove his hand, opting instead to gently cover the back of Minho's with his palm, encasing it in warmth.
Cat video completely ignored, Minho sneaks another glance to find that Seungmin was smiling and nodding along to Hyunjin's stories. Minho could feel his ears beginning to burn. Whether it was because of how Seungmin's hand looks bigger when it's covering Minho's or because of how indifferent Seungmin looks while holding Minho's hand, he doesn't really know.
Clearing his throat, he tries to divert his attention back to the cat video he'd been watching. They still have half an hour until the pre-recording, and he's not gonna let Kim Seungmin ruin his free time like this.
Minho was on his third cat video since Seungmin held his hand when Hyunjin stood up to leave. With all the space left for the two of them, he'd expected Seungmin to scoot over a little. Instead, the little devil himself stayed glued to Minho's side, even going as far to lean his head against Minho's shoulder and take a peek at his phone. All the while still keeping his hand firmly on top of Minho's.
They stayed like that until they were called in for the pre-recording, pressed up side to side with hardly any space between them, watching cat video after cat video. Somewhere along the way, Seungmin had gently slipped his fingers in between the spaces of Minho's own.
Minho pretends that Seungmin couldn't feel how warm his ears had gotten.
2.
The second time it happened, Minho's sure Seungmin did it on purpose.
They were on their way home from filming dekira. Traffic was particularly bad tonight, and they've been stuck in the same spot for almost half an hour already. Minho was getting a little worried because they were nowhere near home and his phone had less than fifteen percent of battery.
He was in the middle of browsing through this shop for some new accessories when he felt a tap on the back of his hand. Lifting his head from his phone screen, he finds Seungmin turned towards him, pointing towards the window. "Hyung, did you bring an umbrella? It's raining."
Minho turns his head and finds that, yes, it is raining. Traffic is still bad and they have yet to move an inch. The rain looks like it isn't going to stop soon, either.
"I didn't," Minho says, not even bothering to ask Seungmin because he already knows. "We're probably gonna be stuck in traffic for a while so it's fine."
Seungmin nods and turns back to his own phone. Minho goes to do the same when he notices that the hand he had on his knee had been suddenly surrounded in warmth. A large hand had been draped over his own, long fingers mindlessly playing with his short ones.
The owner of the said hand looks completely unbothered, as usual, just scrolling on his phone and bobbing his head to whatever was playing in his earphones. Minho stares at their hands, unsure as to what is going on. He knows he can easily just pull his hand away, but for some reason, he can't.
The car was starting to get cold amidst the heating and Seungmin's hand was so warm against his.
Traffic continues to be terrible. The rain continues to fall like there's no tomorrow. Seungmin doesn't retract his hand from Minho's for the whole ride home.
3.
It was movie night. The eight of them were huddled together in the living room surrounded by different kinds of junk food. The big Netflix logo plays out on the tv before the list of movies and dramas appeared.
Chan hands the remote to Changbin who accepts it with a good natured scream of triumph. They take turns in choosing the movies every week, through backwards age order. Last week, Hyunjin made them sit through a 12 episode drama instead of a movie and Changbin likely wants to get his revenge, even though Hyunjin was the only one who actually finished those 12 episodes in their entirety.
Minho munches on a pack of gummy bears, completely uncaring to the chaos unfolding right in front of him. He feels someone lean against him for a quick moment before the pack of gummies was taken from his hands.
"Don't glare at me. I'm just holding them for you," Seungmin says as he leans completely against Minho. "Don't want your hand to get tired and all."
"It's a pack of gummy bears. Not a bag of rocks."
Seungmin just raises a finger to his lips before popping a gummy into his mouth. He nudges Minho's hand with his own, gesturing to the pack of gummies. Minho goes to take a few pieces.
Someone turns off the lights as Changbin finally picks a movie. The chatter soon dies down, everyone's attention fully on whatever's going on the screen. Despite actually liking the movie, Minho could barely focus, too aware of Seungmin's warmth pressing against his side.
A few minutes into the movie, Minho feels Seungmin's hand gently nudge Minho's again, before he fully takes Minho's hand in his own.
It's a good thing Seungmin took the gummies from him, because he probably would've dropped it and made a mess of their living room. Minho looks at Seungmin from the corner of his eye and finds him completely focused as he watches the movie. He turns his gaze on their joined hands, watches the way Seungmin's thumb was drawing patterns on his knuckles, and wills the something rising up in his throat to go back down.
Seungmin's hand wasn't really that big, just average sized for someone his age, but it looks positively bigger when it holds Minho's smaller one. His fingers were longer too, and Minho could easily pinpoint the difference even if their fingers weren't properly aligned.
Minho never really paid much attention to their movie nights, opting to either zone out or catch up on some good old fashion sleep. Tonight, he chooses to keep his gaze trained on his and Seungmin's joined hands, marvelling at the little size difference.
Their hands remain joined for the rest of the movie. And the next movie. And the next.
4.
The weather gets colder and colder and Minho's moods just continue to get worse and worse.
It already started snowing a few days ago and Minho downright refuses to step foot outside the dorm if they don't have a schedule. He holes himself up in the bedroom, all bundled up in layers with his phone in hand, wasting away his free time by watching youtube video after youtube video. It's too cold to do anything else but stay in bed.
Unfortunately for Minho, the world has other plans for him when he pads into the kitchen hoping to make a quick snack, only to find that their cabinets were devoid of the ramen brand that he'd been craving.
Logically, he could've just settled for something else. There were a bunch of other ramen brands available, but his body seems to move on it's own, already heading towards his bedroom so he can grab extra layers. The convenience store isn't that far anyway. He can stock up on other things too, like his almost empty bottle of shampoo that Hyunjin says he's not using.
Right as he was about to leave, he bumps into Seungmin by the door, who greets him with a smile, cheeks pink from the cold. "Where are you going?"
"Convenience store," Minho says, tugging his padded coat tighter around his body, still annoyed at the fact that he has to go outside and experience the terrible winter just to be able to get his ramen fix.
For some reason, the smile on Seungmin's face gets impossibly bigger. "I'll come with you."
Minho just shrugs and heads straight to the elevator, not even looking back to see if Seungmin's following him. Once they step out of the building, Minho immediately tucked his hands deep into the pocket of his padded coat, trying to will his teeth to stop chattering. Why did he forget to bring gloves? Why is it so fucking cold?
He kinda wishes he just grabbed a random pack of ramen instead of leaving the warmth of their dorm, but it's too late now. Too focused in trying not to freeze to death, Minho doesn't even notice his hand being removed from his pocket as long fingers thread against his own.
Seungmin looks completely stoic as he deposits their joined hands in his own pocket, where his hand immediately gets enveloped in warmth – from Seungmin's hand or the hot pack he kept inside, Minho isn't really sure.
They continue on their trek towards the convenience store. Seungmin grabs a small basket with his free hand and lets Minho navigate them through the aisles. Their hands remained joined in the warmth of Seungmin's pocket throughout the entire time Minho weaves around the store, as he drops pack after pack of instant ramen and gummy candies and a new bottle of shampoo in the basket Seungmin was holding, as they reach the counter to pay and as they make their way back to the dorms.
Seungmin only lets Minho's hand go once they part ways in the dorm, with Minho heading towards the kitchen and organizing the stuff he bought and Seungmin padding towards their shared bedroom.
Minho ignores the way his hands feel cold even if the heating in their dorm has been turned up at an all time high.
5.
The first thing Minho notices when he wakes up is the warm hand that was grasping his own.
Blinking at the light, he belatedly realizes that he’s in his bedroom. Images of landing on his feet wrong during practice start to play in his head, the sharp stab of pain, voices coming from all directions asking if he was okay and then – nothing. He sneaks a glance and finds that yes, he did hurt himself. His ankle had been bandaged up and propped up against one of his pillows.
That doesn’t explain why someone was holding his hand, though. Minho turns his head and finds a mop of familiar brown hair by his bedside.
“Seungmin,” he says, gently nudging the younger boy awake. The way his head is angled on the bed looks painful. “Wake up.”
Lifting his head, Seungmin yawns, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his free hand. “Ah, hyung, you’re awake. Does your ankle hurt?”
“I don’t really feel much,” Minho answers. For once, he isn’t lying, it’s a little hard to move his ankle but other than that he doesn’t feel much of anything.
“Must be the amount of pain medication that they gave you earlier.” Seungmin leans his chin on his free hand, smiling sleepily. “You passed out from the pain at the practice room. It’s just a mild sprain, but it must’ve hurt a lot for you to pass out like that.”
Minho winces, vaguely remembering the embarrassing yelp he let out when he fell, and now Seungmin’s telling him he passed out from the pain. He can never face his teammates ever again.
Seungmin squeezes his hand. “You don’t have to be embarrassed of being hurt,” he says, as if he could hear every single one of Minho’s thoughts.
The way Seungmin could read him like an open book no matter how hard he tries to tamper down his emotions never fails to leave him breathless.
“It is embarrassing, though.” Minho lets his gaze trail to their joined hands. Seungmin’s palm feels almost scorching against his own. “Did you sleep here? Where are the others?”
“Company.”
“Why aren’t you with them?”
“To keep you company,” Seungmin answers, running his thumb over Minho’s knuckles, as if keeping Minho's hands in his would help his ankle heal faster. “Go sleep some more, hyung. I’ll be here.”
When did he get so sleepy again? Minho feels like his mouth is filled with cotton and he can barely keep his eyes open. “Won’t your neck hurt? Go back to your own bed.”
Seungmin just smiles and lifts their joined hands up to his lips, whispering against Minho’s cold skin, “Good night, hyung. Feel better soon.”
Minho’s dreams are filled with a warm body pressed against his side and an even warmer hand tangled through his own.
1
As the last remnants of winter slowly begin to ebb away, so does Minho's desire to keep pretending.
The weather has significantly warmed now, no need for hot packs or heavily insulated clothing. The thick indoor clothes reserved for winter get shoved at the bottom of the closet. Indoor heating didn't need to be turned up too high and it became easier to consume iced drinks.
With spring nearing its head, there had been less need to stick together like sardines in a can when they were at the dorms. Prolonged skin to skin contact creates more discomfort these days than the usual warmth back in the dredges of winter. It made sense that everyone began to retreat into their own separate bedrooms at night instead of their usual cuddle pile in the living room to create as much warmth as possible.
What doesn't make sense is how Minho's hands continue to remain cold even as the snow steadily melts on the sidewalk.
He repeatedly tells himself that it isn't because he got used to Seungmin holding his hand in the winter. Because it's not. Minho's hands are naturally cold, it's why he always has a stack of hot packs at his disposal and why he always makes sure to wear gloves whenever he goes out during the winter. Minho's hands have always been cold even before he even met Seungmin.
It doesn't help that he and Seungmin share a bedroom. Whenever he opens the curtains to his bed and sees Seungmin from across the room, he immediately zones in on the younger's big, warm hands. Minho has to physically restrain himself from just jumping on Seungmin's bed and taking Seungmin's hand in his, rubbing their palms together so his hands can stop feeling so damn cold.
This goes on for a few more days. Minho's hand continues to feel cold and uncomfortable no matter what he does. The weather becomes cool enough that they can don their padded coats to their usual trench coats and yet Minho's hands still feel like they're freezing.
After a particularly long day of practice, he finally snaps.
No matter how much he sweated and how warm his body felt from hours and hours of dance practice, his hands were still too cold. He makes a point of this when he barges into the bedroom, all but growling at Hyunjin to get out before climbing the ladder of the bunk bed so he can sit cross legged in front of a very bewildered Kim Seungmin.
"Hyung?" Seungmin sets aside the book that he was reading so he can give Minho his entire attention. "Is everything okay?"
"My hands are cold."
"What–"
"My hands." Minho raises his glove-covered palms and practically shoves them in Seungmin's face. "They're cold."
It takes a few seconds before realization dawns on Seungmin's face. He gently takes off the gloves and sets them by his book, and then taking both Minho's hands in his, tangling their fingers together.
Minho sighs, closing his eyes in content.
"You know," Seungmin says and the knowing edge to his voice makes Minho's eyes shoot open, "you could've just asked me if you wanted to hold my hand. You know I wouldn't mind." Seungmin's smile was almost as warm as his giant hands that were caging Minho's own. "After all, I do like you the best."
Feeling his ears begin to burn, Minho turns his head to the side, choosing instead to focus on the way his curtain was haphazardly done. Seungmin's warmth becomes too much all of a sudden. "Don't say things you don't mean, Kim Seungmin."
"You know I'm not one to lie." Seungmin pulls him by their joined hands, forcing Minho to meet his eyes. "I'll keep your hands warm for as long as you let me."
Minho clears his throat, letting his gaze drift from Seungmin's eyes, to his lips and finally, to their joined hands. "Sure," he says, as if his voice wasn't reduced to barely a croak, overwhelmed with emotion of being able to keep Seungmin's hands in his, "do whatever you want."
Seungmin laughs and tugs them closer, keeping their hands trapped in the small space between them. Minho comes to realize that Seungmin's mouth is just as warm as his hands.