acutepencil
Summary: Jonghyun is always telling (and showing) Taemin that he loves him. Taemin isn't as good at expressing himself, but he figures out a way to tell Jonghyun how he feels.
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Winter is the season of bitter cold nights and short days, the season of bolted doors and shuttered windows. It is the season of flannel shirts and sheepskin blankets, hot cups of cocoa and blazing fires. Winter is the time of year when sane individuals stay inside and avoid venturing out into the harsh winds and feet-deep snow drifts.
One such winter afternoon however, two boys lay flouting sanity in a snow-covered clearing, panting and exhausted. The younger one, Taemin, was thin and willowy even through the many layers of winter clothes he had been stuffed into by his worrywart mother, with shoulder-length hair the color of honey. His long bangs fell into his eyes as he stared up at the ice blue sky, the expanse pricked by the tops of hundreds of snow-frosted evergreens.Jonghyun was slightly shorter, but broader in his shoulders and made of lean muscle. His short dark-brown hair was in disarray, having been the main casualty of the boys' snowball fight just minutes before. He too was looking at his surroundings in reverent silence.After several minutes filled with nothing but the boys' quiet breathing, Jonghyun spoke, his melodious voice sounding almost too loud in the snow muffled clearing.
"Everything is so pretty. It sucks that the world is ending soon. It's all gonna be destroyed."Taemin made an incredulous noise and propped himself up on one elbow to get a better look at the boy lying next to him."What? You're crazy, hyung." he laughed.
Large chocolate-brown eyes swiveled to look at him. Jonghyun shrugged, saying calmly,"And you're gorgeous. So?"
Taemin blushed, rolling his eyes. Glaring at the older boy, he countered heatedly,"So," he said, emphasizing the word cheekily, "What makes you think the world is going to end?"
Jonghyun pushed himself up, supporting his torso on arms he had strengthened through countless hours at the gym over the past few weeks."It's 2012, Taeminnie. The world's supposed to end on December 21st."
Taemin goggled at his hyung's matter-of-fact tone."You can't be serious, hyung. You actually believe that Mayan Calendar crap?"
Jonghyun thought for a moment before saying seriously,"You never know, right? I wanna be prepared, just in case. I have some stuff I gotta do before the world ends, you know."Taemin scoffed, letting out a derisive snort.
"Pft! Sure you do. Like what?" At this the boy's face broke into a broad grin and he tackled Taemin, slinging one leg over the younger boy's body and straddling him firmly, eliminating any hope of escape. He leaned closer, despite Taemin's adamant protests, to whisper coyly in his ear."Like this." He began ticking Taemin mercilessly, his fingers racing over the boy's sides and pressing into spots he knew made the younger boy scream with laughter."Hyung! Stop it! Hyung, I-I'm serious!" Taemin's breathless voice, light and airy, floated through the clearing as he squirmed frantically, trying to dislodge himself from underneath his captor.
Suddenly he could breathe again. He cracked an eyelid open experimentally to see a hand hovering in front of his face. Grasping it, he pulled himself up before falling into step alongside the older boy, who had made no move to let go of his hand. Taemin flexed his fingers, but Jonghyun only squeezed them tighter, so he resigned himself to endure his hyung's love of skinship until the two parted ways at the end of the driveway to Taemin's house.He said goodbye to Jonghyun, who was waving his hand enthusiastically, a huge smile on his face.
As he walked away, Taemin turned and watched the boy trudge wearily up the street to his own house, shoulders bowed and hands tucked into his armpits for warmth. Crunching up the snow-covered driveway to his house, Taemin thought about the first time he met Jonghyun. It had been the summer before he was due to start middle school, when he had been worried about going to a new school and having to make new friends.When he saw the large moving truck outside the house a couple doors down, he had been filled with nameless anticipation. His mother had sent him over to help their new neighbors unpack, bringing a fresh-baked berry pie with him, Taemin had seen a boy hunched over on the curb, tears spilling from his huge brown eyes and falling thickly onto the pavement. He sat down next to the boy, setting the pie down beside him, and put an arm around his shoulders. The boy looked up cautiously, hiccuping with the force of his sobs.
