LOSE MY BREATH

LMB 18

18: Wanna rob!

The Yangling sect had the gaudiest, weirdest heap of expensive-looking buildings that Jisung had ever seen. There was so much gold.

"To be honest, I had kind of expected this place to be a little more beautiful, similar to our sect, but it is not.” Jisung whispered to Minho when they were ascending a billion steps that led to what was hopefully their accommodations.

This place badly needed escalators.

“Why don’t we just fly up?” he groaned.

“Not proper.” replied Minho, who looked like it took him no effort to glide up the never-ending steps. How was this man real?

“Oh, there better be a lot of food once we get up. Like, heaps and heaps of it or I’ll burn this place down,” hissed Jisung.

As it turned out, they weren’t even led to the banquet yet, once they were finally at the main entrance. They were greeted by a dimpled man calling himself Kim Namjoon, whose eyes got stuck on Jisung just a second too long before moving on like nothing happened.

They bowed back, of course, and then Minho brought him Chan’s regards because apparently, they were good friends or something.

Following the introductions, they were escorted to their even more extravagant quarters via ostentatious hallways. Jisung felt as if he were visiting the private mansion of a Russian oligarch. This must be a joke. Why would the windows be lined with gold? Were not they concerned about thieves?

“Minho, I want to rob them.” he said. “They are begging me to. Minho, no one should have this much money and this little taste.”

“Jisung should change.” was Minho’s reply, which, Jisung noted, was neither a rejection nor a warning.

They each had their own room here, with a shared common room, so they left to change in their own space.

Jisung was relieved to be rid of the sweaty traveling robes. There was a tub waiting for him inside his room, so Jisung wasted no time getting clean and putting on the new outfit Minho had bought for him.

Red silk goes underneath, and a black one made of heavier material goes over. Jisung had gotten used to the robes here, despite his initial dislike for them. They were also extremely flattering and of high quality.

“ Hey Minho! Will you do my hair?” Jisung called by the time of the final step, and when there was no answer, left his room.

Minho was already there, waiting in regal white robes that were looser and flowier than the ones he usually wore. They really made him look his title. Light Bearing Lord, a deity among men. Jisung might’ve gone blind looking at him. The clouds in his heavy hairpin glimmered.

“Ah, Minho… ” Jisung said after a moment of embarrassing silence where his tongue got stuck. “Want to do my hair? I don’t know how to put it.”

Minho, for his part, was no less embarrassing. With red ears, he nodded and made Jisung sit in front of him on his knees.

They hadn’t done this before, and when Minho’s deft fingers carted through his hair, Jisung had to ask himself why. This was the best thing he’d ever experienced. Heaven was getting his hair played with, clearly.

It was relaxing. Minho was very careful and deliberate with everything he did, including this. The downside was that it felt like seconds that it was done.

Jisung jumped up, hands immediately flying up to touch the hairdo. Minho smacked them away.

“Do not touch,” he said.

“How does it look?” asked Jisung. Only half of his hair was up, braided into a bun over the crown of his head, tied with a red ribbon, and the rest was left down. His hair was wavy by nature, and only through luck had he kept it long back home. A short hairstyle would’ve been a fun thing to explain when he first showed up.

Minho swallowed looking at him, face carefully blank, though his ears were definitely red again.

“It is fine.”

“Fine? Just fine? Minho, I’m offended! Shouldn’t it be dashing? Devastatingly beautiful? Breathtaking?”

“The banquet will start soon. We should leave,” Minho said, and Jisung gave up.

His hair was fine. That was all he was going to get out of Minho. He could not help but pout slightly, disappointed. Regardless of how much Minho's compliments emotionally destroyed him, there was a part of him that desired them.

After exiting the rooms and making their way to the grand hall, Minho turned to face him, appearing a little ashamed, and leaned in.

“Jisung,” he said. “It is very beautiful.”

 Jisung’s heart, for sure, was knocked out by Minho’s unexpected words but he couldn’t help the stupid grin from forming on his face after that.