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Jonghyun's late night reading was abruptly interrupted by a purple-headed, brightly smiling boy popping his head in the doorway.
His head whipped up from his novel immediately, because he knew only one person would be visiting his room this late at night, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the culprit—Taemin was in a long, white robe and had this look in his eye that Jonghyun couldn't read.
Normally, when Taemin stopped by his bedroom in the dead of night, it was to ask Jonghyun if he could sleep in his bed, but the robe had Jonghyun's mind racing. Act cool.
"Taeminie." He pressed his lips into a kind smile. "What's going on, doll?"
Lately, he'd been trying (and succeeding) to incorporate more little terms of endearment into his and Taemin's conversations. This was a new one, and a sweet blush crept up the younger's cheeks at it.
"Do I have you at a bad time, hyung?" He gestured to the book in Jonghyun's lap. He asked this every night, even though Jonghyun, without fail, always said no. Just to be polite.
"Of course not." He quickly grabbed the bookmark off his bed-stand and shut it, before looking back to Taemin in an urge for him to continue.
"I was just about to shower and," Taemin's eyes fell the floor, his fingers fiddling at his chest. "And, um, wanted to see if you wanted to join?" Jonghyun's heart nearly stopped.
See, the members had showered together before as a group plenty of times—more times than what Jonghyun thought was normal, yet not so many that he couldn't count if he tried. But Taemin always opted out, pleaded them to get out faster so he could take his own, and like.. It wasn't like they were going to make him shower with them. None of them (as far as Jonghyun knew) saw Taemin any more naked than in something like swim trunks.
Jonghyun thought he might pass out.
"Well," he struggled to find the words, mind having been poofed. "I think it's nice you've warmed up to the idea, but why me?" And why now, anyways? The whole reason they would shower together would be to save time on busy mornings, getting ready. There was no deadline here, not that Jonghyun knew of.
"Because I trust you." Taemin peered back up into Jonghyun's eyes, sincerity spelled out on his face. "And, heh. My muscles are really sore and I don't wanna have to wash myself when I feel like this." That was when his gaze fell back to the floor, ashamed look growing in his eyes.
Jonghyun thought if Taemin was only showering now, he couldn't have been home for very long. His heart broke a little at the thought of Taemin working himself to the bone in the practice room until midnight. And God, he knew there had to be something wrong with showering with the guy you were just masturbating to an hour prior, but he felt that letting Taemin struggle to clean himself had to be worse.
So he nodded, rose to his feet. He trusts me. There was this affectionate crinkle in Taemin's eye, one that had Jonghyun's chest just erupting with love.
Taemin was so happy.. Grateful? He had his head laid on Jonghyun's shoulder with a rosy smile as they made their way to the bathroom, and Jonghyun prayed Taemin couldn't feel his pulse from where he was because his heart rate was through the roof.
Taemin sunk against the shower wall when they came in, hair falling in his face as he pouted. Jonghyun chuckled. "Needing help already?"
He only nodded, pushing himself back forward and holding his arms out for Jonghyun to help him take the robe off. Oh. He hadn't expected that.
Jonghyun gulped, but helped him regardless, that was literally what he was there for, starting with the satin ribbon.
Taemin's breath hitched underneath him, his hands running across the robe as delicately as they could possibly be when Jonghyun was in a state like this. He couldn't meet Taemin's eyes but lord, if he didn't feel them burning into his forehead.
He'd expected Taemin to have nothing on underneath it, but he turned up wrong—he hadn't yet taken off his underwear. Jonghyun let out a silent sigh of relief when Taemin giggled and said, "I'm not gonna make you take those off me." The younger turned around, peeking back for a second to tell him, "You go ahead and undress yourself, though."
Oh yeah, he suddenly remembered, I'm gonna be in there with him. The speed at which he scrambled to tear his own clothes off was horribly embarrassing, and he started appreciating that Taemin had turned himself around.
When he finished, clothes thrown in a pile on the counter, he turned around to see a waiting Taemin, eyes heavy on him. He shivered and Christ hoped that Taemin hadn't noticed that.
Jonghyun made his way over to the shower, hand lying on the knob, but holy shit, he couldn't stop looking at Taemin. It wasn't anything he hadn't known already just by seeing him clothed, but Taemin's body was just unreal—refined muscles covering his chest and arms, the way his waist dipped in an hourglass shape, his long, dainty legs, and Jonghyun was trying pathetically hard not to look at his dick.
Taemin must've caught him staring, because he giggled, face turning bright red, and said, "Take a picture, hyung, it'll last longer." Fuck.
Jonghyun shook his head, forcing himself to look at the shower knob as he finally turned it. "No, I'm sorry, it's just." He sighed, lip between his teeth now that Taemin's view of him was a little obstructed. Why not tell the truth? "You're just stunning, Taem."
"Oh." There was genuine shock in his tone, and Jonghyun could see in his peripheral Taemin scratching the back of his neck, bashful. "You don't have to be so sweet."
"Taemin." Jonghyun moved his head back, looking the younger in the eye with a newfound softness. "I'm not just being sweet. I mean it. You're beautiful." Taemin shook his head, hands flying to cover it up and eyes falling down, away from Jonghyun's, but he kept getting closer. He took Taemin's wrists in his hands, moving them just slightly out of the way.
Taemin's eyes were a little teary and Jonghyun started getting worried he might be making him uncomfortable, so he only tilted his head to the side and gave Taemin an endeared smile. "You're the prettiest boy I've ever seen." And Jonghyun meant it.
Taemin sniffled, laughing softly under his breath. "I love you, Jjong."
The older pressed a hand to his cheek and Taemin all but melted into the touch, sighing contently. "I love you so much," he mumbled, before the realization struck him, again, they were here for a shower and it was nearly one in the morning.
"We should get started on that shower now, yeah?" Jonghyun chuckled quietly.
He pressed a gentle hand against Taemin's back, the skin pulsing underneath his touch, leading him over, nervous looks on both their faces. Taemin's gaze was glued to the ground, and it was a good thing because Jonghyun didn't think he could look into his eyes like he just had again.
Jonghyun had set the water at the temperature he usually showers with, Taemin baring his teeth when he felt it and whining about how it stung (yet he refused to let Jonghyun turn the faucets any more than they were). Taemin's skin was so silky, Jonghyun ran his hands across his shoulders just to feel it up. The little shivers Taemin did when Jonghyun touched somewhere particular, like the lower part of his back or his collarbone, God, it was driving Jonghyun crazy.
"Use the loofah," Taemin mumbled, and he really didn't want to but he obliged regardless. Anything for Taemin—he could ask Jonghyun to drive his own car off a cliff and he probably wouldn't think twice.
It was so lovely to be alone with Taemin like this, not having some in-depth conversation about this or that but just existing in one another's presence, Jonghyun soaking up all there was he could see in front of him. The lilac back of Taemin's hair clung to his neck, and Jonghyun pressed his fingers into it softly, the younger making a shocked kind of whine that Jonghyun decided to ignore for the sake of his own sanity.
"I'm washing this next, right?" Referring to his hair.
Taemin nodded, leaning his head back and just sighing sweet in Jonghyun's ears when he began lathering it, eyes pressed barely shut. Jonghyun could feel his heart in his throat because Taemin was so close to him and oh, how terrified he was to get a hard-on.
"Thank you so much," Taemin suddenly told him, eye squinting open just enough to see his face. "Really. This is making me feel a million times better."
Taemin's hair was surely clean by now, but Jonghyun just continued massaging it, heart feeling like it might burst. He snaked a hand free to rest on Taemin's shoulder, and he did his best not to get carried away but he couldn't help migrating it downward to press on the front of his chest, making Taemin's breath flutter.
Jonghyun wondered if Taemin knew how insane he was making him feel.
"We've been in here a good twenty minutes or so," Taemin mumbled, head pressed against Jonghyun's bicep. "We really should get out."
God, had it really been that long? "I didn't even notice," Jonghyun confessed, nose twitching.
Taemin pushed open the shower door with a soft giggle, Jonghyun frowning when he separated from him. "A good, hot shower will do that to you, won't it?"
More like a good, hot Taemin, he thought, trying just so hard not to start laughing at his own stupid joke.
Taemin whined, which caught Jonghyun's attention, only for him to see the boy gesturing to his robe on the counter with a pout. "More help, hyung."
The stupid fucking aegyo always got him, but he still knew it was just Taemin doing it to get what he wanted, chuckling as he helped him back into the robe: "I don't think you needed help with that."
"Hmmm.." Jonghyun could hear the amused smile in his voice. "Maybe not that particular part."
For the whole of the walk to Jonghyun's bedroom, Taemin clung to his arm like he would disappear if he let him go. He yawned, pressing his face into his shoulder, and Jonghyun's heart skipped a beat or maybe several.
He nearly hit his head against the headboard with how hard he flung himself onto Jonghyun's bed. It pulled a laugh out of the older, shaking his head and just observing as Taemin curled up into a ball and jutted his lip out.
"Sleepy?" He asked, sitting down beside him with a flump. Taemin crawled over to lay his head on Jonghyun's chest, nodding against him with slow blinks.
"Exhausted," Taemin replied, making grabby hands at the blanket sitting at Jonghyun's feet. "Come onnn."
Jonghyun tsked, shaking his head as he lifted it up with his leg and pulled it onto the both of them. "So lazy, Taeminie," but they both knew he didn't mean it. He wrapped a tight arm around the boy's chest, reveling in how warm he was, still amazed at how soft his skin was.
It seemed like Taemin was dozing away already, so Jonghyun used his free hand to brush Taemin's slightly-damp hair out of his eyes and get a good look at him. He could barely keep his eyes open to match Jonghyun's gaze, and a small smile grew on Jonghyun's lips at how hard he was trying to keep them on him.
"I love you, sunshine." Another new nickname. "Sweet dreams, alright?"
Taemin pressed his eyes shut, unable to hide the rosy flush that spread across his face. "I love you the most, Jonghyun."
I doubt that, Jonghyun thought, but didn't say. He couldn't disturb Taemin when he was so comfortable on his chest like this, breathing deep and lulling Jonghyun right to sleep along with him.