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Minho was aimlessly scrolling through the news, while they waited for their boarding to start. He had recently made a resolution to spend less time on social media and actually read and inform himself more instead but wow… this was just fucking depressing. He already missed the cat videos that usually kept him entertained. So, for once, he wasn’t actually that annoyed when his manager walked up to him.
“We should go over your schedule for the next few days,” the man said. He didn’t look at Minho, frowning at a far too full calendar on his own phone instead. Minho already didn’t like the look of it. They were about to fly to Australia for their tour. Wasn’t that stressful enough? Why did they always have to add more to their schedule? “When are you going to the café on the 24th?”
“Huh?” Minho tilted his head. He didn’t have a clue what his manager was on about. What café? And why was that scheduled? Had he forgotten something? “Do I have plans to go to a café on the 24th?”
The manager looked back at him with equally as much confusion. “Don’t you? Han let me know to block off the afternoon last week.”
“Oh.” Minho had to bite his cheek to prevent himself from breaking out into a big, idiotic smile. His stomach was suddenly filled with butterflies. It was stupid really, pathetic even, just how gone he still was for his boyfriend after all these years. But how could he have helped himself?
Minho had always thought of himself as someone who was hard to love. And after a few failed attempts at relationships in his teens, he had resigned himself to being someone who was ‘in love with his career’… at least for the time being.
But then Han Jisung had shown up. An extremely talented trainee with a reputation for being petty and lashing out at people, all big eyes, round cheeks and a heart-shaped smile… of course Minho’s resolutions had immediately been out of the window again.
Back then, they had slowly gotten closer, and Minho had fallen more and more and more with each day. They had talked for hours, gone on dates, hell, Minho had even introduced him to his family and friends. He had never been in love with anyone in the way he was with Jisung.
However, then, one day, Jisung had cuddled into his side on the sofa at their dorms and had told Minho: ‘I’m so happy that you are my best friend’ and Minho’s heart had been shattered to pieces.
Still, after spending nights crying his eyes out and tending to his utterly broken heart, Minho had decided that he would make it his mission to make sure Han Jisung was as happy as he could be, even if he would never look at Minho the same way Minho looked at him.
And then, one day, almost five years ago now, Jisung had simply looked at him with those big, brown eyes and said: “Oh, I love you, don’t I?” He had sounded as surprised by the discovery as Minho had been.
But, as opposed to Minho, who had wrangled with his attraction to men for the better part of his youth, who had hidden himself away and waited until he was fully independent to tearfully come out to his parents because he had been afraid that they would kick him out… Jisung did not seem to have a problem with it at all.
He had simply leaned in and whispered: “Please tell me that you love me too.” And when Minho had nodded, he had kissed him. They had been together ever since.
And still, it was moments like these, when Minho inadvertently found out that his boyfriend had secretly planned a date for them the day before Minho’s birthday, presumably because they had work on the 25th and wouldn’t really be able to celebrate… it was moments like these that he was once again overwhelmed with love for the younger, even after so many years.
He grinned at the manager: “Well if Jisung made plans for us, I guess I am going to a café.”
***
Minho and Jisung shared a room in Australia. By now, they almost always did. And since they had renegotiated their contracts, their company couldn’t do much about it either.
Sharing his own space with Jisung was as familiar to Minho as his own heartbeat. It didn’t make him feel trapped the way it sometimes did when he shared with others. It made him feel free, comfortable, at ease.
Minho had never felt at home in the dorms, not really. He and Jisung had spent years talking about how nice it would be to be able to live together and Minho had thought that a shared apartment would finally give him that feeling again… But he had been wrong.
Not long after they had moved in, he had laid on their bed, mindlessly playing with Jisung’s hair who was peacefully sleeping with his head on his chest, and it had struck him that for him, home was never going to be a place again.
It was such a cliché, said in a million different ways before, but that didn’t make it less true. To Minho, home had become an unfairly talented rapper, who laughed upwards, who ‘forgot’ to not just leave his dirty clothes all over their place and who loved Minho with all of his heart.
“And they have quokkas apparently!” Jisung now excitedly said and shoved a phone far too close to Minho’s face for him to actually be able to see anything. Not that Minho was really trying to look anyways. He was far too distracted with how Jisung’s eyes sparkled as he happily told Minho about the Zoo he wanted to visit on their afternoon off.
Minho smiled fondly. “Didn’t you plan on taking me to a café?” he asked cheekily. It was hilarious to watch as Jisung’s expression slowly morphed from one of innocent excitement to one of sheer horror.
“Oh my God!” he exclaimed. “I totally forgot! I made that reservation weeks ago!” He jumped up and ran to the desk, presumably to find the phone that was still in his hand. “It’s supposed to be really good. Wait…” He turned around and tilted his head. “How do you know about that? That was supposed to be a surprise for your birthday.”
Minho couldn’t help it, he simply had to chuckle at that. Jisung was so fucking cute. “My manager told me,” he explained. “He asked me when I was planning on leaving and I didn’t even know I was going anywhere.”
Jisung blushed but he smiled as well. “It was kind of hard to get him to agree,” he mumbled. “He wanted you to work all afternoon.”
Minho got up and wrapped himself around the younger before pressing a chaste kiss to his neck. “Well luckily, I have a very cute and very persistent boyfriend who likes coffee more than he likes me.”
Jisung giggled and rolled his eyes before turning around in Minho’s arms and interlacing his fingers behind his neck. “That’s not true,” he whispered and pressed a small kiss to his lips. “I’d give up coffee for you if I had to.” He huffed out a small laugh. “I’d try everything else first… obviously. But if I had to, I would do it for you.”
Minho chuckled again and kissed him back. “I’m honoured.” He frowned and pretended to really think about something. “What about cheesecake?” he eventually mumbled against Jisung’s lips. “Would you give up cheesecake for me as well?”
Jisung threw his head back laughing. Then, he dramatically clicked his tongue. “Know your limits, Hyung,” he scolded and Minho grinned and kissed him again.
“We can go to the Zoo if you would like,” he said quietly. “I don’t mind where we go as long as we go together.” He meant it.
***
Their day at the Zoo was as perfect as it could have possibly been. The weather was nice, not too warm but not too cold either. It was spring in Australia, and you could tell. People were enjoying the sun, kids were running around and flowers were blossoming.
Jisung and Minho got themselves blueberry smoothies and spent the day walking around, pointing out cute animals to each other and giggling happily at a bunch of “That’s you, Hyung!” and “Look! This one’s Channie, do you see its butt?” It was sweet, it was easy, it was happy.
By the time they got back to the hotel, Minho felt as if someone had removed his intestines and replaced them with pink cotton candy. Normally, he worked hard to sort out the chaos inside of him, the turmoil, the stress, hell, even the anger. But in that moment, there was nothing but softness in there.
He didn’t expect it, when Jisung suddenly pulled him into a tight hug and whispered: “I feel so lucky to have you.”
His words had Minho’s throat constrict around nothing but air. Of course they told each other that they loved each other all the time. It was second nature at this point, whispered when they woke up, before they went to bed, when they were about to hang up the phone… And the casual nature of their proclamations didn’t make them less true.
Still, this felt different. It wasn’t often that they said stuff like this with as much solemness as Jisung had used, with as much pure and utter honesty.
“You?” Minho breathed back. “Baby, I am the lucky one.”
Jisung shook his head where he had it pressed against Minho’s shoulder. “You always take such good care of me,” he mumbled. “You have always been so patient with me. I mess up so much and you never get mad. You just sit there with me in my mess and make sure that I am never alone and that I know I can do anything.” He paused to swallow audibly. “I love you, Hyung. So much.”
Minho wanted to tell his boyfriend that he did so much for him as well, that he had never thought he would find a love like they had and that he still had days where none of this felt real to him. But the lump in his throat had gotten so big that he couldn’t manage more than a croaked: “I love you more.”
Luckily for Minho, who really did not want to start crying, Jisung stepped back in that moment. “I have something for you,” he said and smiled, before scurrying off to his backpack.
Minho raised a brow. “Oh?” he made and bit his lips to supress a grin. “Do I get another jockstrap?”
He had hoped that his joke would defuse the tension a bit and hopefully save himself from starting to sob about just how much he loved the younger. And it worked. Jisung stopped in the middle of his movements. “What?!”
Minho laughed. “Changbin gave me one,” he explained simply. He hadn’t even been surprised when the rapper had walked up to him at breakfast that morning with a smirk on his face. ‘Since we have work tomorrow, I thought I’d give it to you today so you can have your fun with it,’ he had said, and Minho had almost fallen off his chair from laughter when he had unwrapped the… piece of clothing. Of course, he had expected something like that ever since he had gifted Changbin lingerie. It wasn’t bad quality though and actually the right size as well. Changbin must have tried harder than he let on.
Jisung rolled his eyes. “Of course he did.” He blushed. “I did actually get something more uh… in that direction as well,” he mumbled. “But I was too scared that they would find it in my suitcase and so I left it at home.” He looked to his feet. “Sorry.”
Minho chuckled quietly and got up to give Jisung a gentle kiss. “That just means that I get two surprises,” he whispered. “Sounds good to me.”
Jisung blushed an even deeper shade of red. He was so fucking adorable. But before Minho could start really kissing him - which he absolutely would have, because how could Jisung look like that and not expect Minho to want to fucking devour him - the younger pushed a small gift bag into his hand.
Inside, there was what looked like a delicate jewellery box. “Oh?” Minho raised a brow before smirking and asking: “Are you finally proposing?”
Jisung rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “If anyone proposes to anyone here, it’s you to me, Sir,” he scoffed. “We have talked about this.”
Minho grinned and leaned over to kiss him again. “And I promised that I would one day make it special for you, didn’t I?” he asked. “But you said you weren’t ready.” He whispered it not as an accusation of any sort but as a reminder that he would never, ever pressure Jisung into anything. “I told you that I’d wait for you for as long as it takes, right?”
Jisung smiled shyly and looked at his feet. “Well…”
His response had Minho’s heart stop and then double its speed. What?! He searched for Jisung’s eyes, a thousand questions suddenly flooding his mind, but Jisung simply nodded at the box in his hand. “Open it.”
Minho frowned, but then he nodded silently. They would have to talk about this. They definitely did. But for now, maybe it was okay to focus on what Jisung had prepared. He leaned forward to give his boyfriend another quick but meaningful kiss. “Thank you, Baby,” he whispered, and he was sure that Jisung knew that he did not just mean the gift.
He looked down and focused on finally opening the box… only to let out a disbelieving gasp a few seconds later. It was a watch. A fucking expensive one. Minho couldn’t help himself, his jaw dropped, and he stared at the younger in complete and utter disbelief. Sure, they made a lot more money now… but this was still… wow.
Jisung blushed. “It’s custom,” he mumbled quietly. “It has volcanic rock in it, see?” He pointed at the dial. “And there are both of our birthstones.” He showed Minho the sapphire and opal at the centre of the intricately made watch.
Minho still couldn’t believe what he was looking at. His mouth was still dropped open. He really hoped that Jisung wouldn’t mistake his lack of reaction for ungratefulness, but he was simply at a loss for words.
Fortunately, Jisung knew him better than anyone else in this world. He simply smiled at him and placed his hands on Minho’s own. “Turn it around Hyung,” he whispered gently, encouragingly.
For a moment, Minho was almost afraid to obey, scared that what he would find might immediately make him cry… He was shaking and his heart was racing when he finally turned it. His breath immediately got caught in his throat. The gift was engraved with a few neatly written words: ‘Sometimes, home has a heartbeat’. Fuck.
Tears were starting to sting in Minho’s eyes again. He wrapped Jisung in the tightest hug he had probably ever given him and while he whispered just how much he loved him over and over again, he thought about how it was definitely time to go look for a ring.