#gcmerbrc

-. @gcmerbrc

—

Being inside that building was overwhelming enough.

He was fine, he’s alright. Yes, he can breathe, he’s worn a suit before, and he’s often had to pretend he felt more secure and confident than he actually was. And having Minhwan there certainly helped. He’d come to trust the man almost as much as he trusted his sister, came to realise the personality that was hidden behind the protectiveness he’d shown during their first meeting.

Yes, he’s come to see Minhwan as an older brother.

So he was okay. Up until the point where Minhwan started taking him somewhere. At that point, curiosity had started to mix with the unpleasant jittery feeling of anticipating a surprise. He’s never been a big fan of surprises because during his childhood they had never meant anything well. And nowadays, he’s just used to feeling too nervous when being met with one.

Especially when finding himself in an environment so foreign.

So he doesn’t ask a single question and just stares ahead of himself with wide eyes, the wonder clear in features that seem to grow younger and younger, as if wanting to show the real mental age that Taemin had to shove away to survive.

When he reads his name on the door he stops breathing.

He doesn’t even dare step inside, staring into the pleasant looking room as if he had just walked into a hanged man’s dying place. He can see some of it from the doorway, the levels of comfort, the professionality, the luxury that is all that is inside and that... is supposed to be for him?!

His gaze flickers up to stare at the other man instead.He can’t believe his eyes. Or his ears. He can’t believe any of this is real and for a moment his vision swims as if he was seriously trying to remove himself from the situation at hand because there is no way this isn’t a dream. And for this to be a dream is his brain’s most cruel trick so far, so he doesn't want it. He doesn't want to be dreaming of something so good.

But then his eyes focus again and he remembers thinking a similar thought months ago when he had first woken up next to Hana and realised how fucking important she is to him. It had felt like a dream he would have never wanted to wake up from, terrified of the moment he actually would.

His mouth feels dry and he returns to stare at the room, back at Minhwan, back at... god, his office?? Taemin’s?!“Are you serious?” he manages to croak at, looking at the brother of the love of his life.“You... you would really...?”

But something makes him break the sentence off before his brain can even complete it. No, he doesn’t... he doesn’t want to keep thinking like that. Fuck, he can’t think that way every time an opportunity arises, every time one of the Songs does something for him.

He should start to learn... showing gratitude.

he almost expected music to start on cue, but none of that happened because it was a thing of films and dramas,and that was real life ━that was minhwan so close to him he could feel his own heart against the roof of the mouth and his stomach twisting and seizing, red all over his cheeks that could only make the pink hue of his hair look even more pastel. but minhwan never felt threatening, or scary ━minhwan felt safe, like tall cliffs for pirate ships to hide within when the sea was raging boisterous and nights were full of eldritch terrors, and he knew he could bask himself in that same safety. minhwan would never, ever harm him, he knew ━so close to his plump lips, so close to grasp the hyperventilating heart in his thin, thin chest. 

-. @gcmerbrc

---

He hadn’t noticed the glance.All Taemin was doing is busying himself with what work Minhwan himself had actually assigned him, doe eyes focused on his desk and what lied upon it, trying to put the effort in it requires to assure the other having him work with him is not a waste. And in fact, he finds he’s been getting, if perhaps slowly, a hang of what is that Minhwan actually does.

And the step from understanding to imitating can’t be that hard, right?

That’s what his mind was preoccupying himself. No thoughts were spent on the marks on his neck that he’d all but forgotten about after a while. The low hanging collar had been an attempt of showing them off, but after he’d sat down the memory of them had simply slipped him.Which is why the look he shoots Minhwan at his sudden bursting is one of pure and utter confusion, the shock evident in the way his eyes widen almost comically large and his head whips around to throw the gaze and look of said eyes directly at the other.

What...?His first thought was that something he’d messed up somehow, but one quick glance at the computer screen reveals that... there’s no way he messed up something as simple as what he was working on. Plus, he’s literally working with the templates he got from the other. So that’s not it.

The second thought was that something had happened but he doubts Minhwan’s reaction to it would be like that, and not of the more serious kind. Plus, he covered his eyes only after looking at Taemin, so whatever it was must have-

Oh.

Oh.

Oh shit.

-. @gcmerbrc

---

It was ingrained in his heart now.Reaching the topic of Hana with Minhwan was fairly easy, they might very well be the two men closest to her that dance in her age range, one a boyfriend, one a brother. She was like a mutual friend, but deeper than that, because while the love they feel for her is different in nature, they’re both strong, deep, and willing to survive for longer than perhaps they will.

So Taemin likes to speak about Hana with Minhwan, likes to sneakily ask him questions about their childhood, figure out whether or not she’s always had that pout of hers and if it was as effective with her family as it seems to be with him. Did she always have those chipmunk cheeks when she stuffed them with her favourite food? Has pink always been her favourite colour? When did she start gaming?

Etc, etc, etc, all those questions he came up with on the spot because whatever conversation they were having suddenly reminded him of her, brought him back to her, to her smile, her lips, her laugh, her sparkling eyes, the intensity in them when she games, her power, and her strength.

It’s so easy to suddenly be thinking of the person he thinks about the most anyway, to the point where questions suddenly turn into exchanging anecdotes, and exchanging anecdotes turns into rambling on, laughing over all that she is, the fondness in his eyes making the chocolate in them melt and flow over into the colour on his cheeks.

Those same eyes suddenly widening, lifting their gaze from where he’d been staring off, lost in his own memories of his love. The faint hint of Hana’s favourite colour on his cheeks accentuates, darkens just a little, at having been caught in such an obvious display of his feelings, but honestly... why feel embarrassment?There’s nothing embarrassing about everything Hana makes him feel.

* late night sentences ! ; accepting

ft. @gcmerbrc

* late night sentences ! ; accepting

ft. @gcmerbrc