When Taemin mentioned that his ideal type was someone who only had eyes for him, whose heart was unchanging, someone who was like a sunflower growing towards the sun, he would have never imagined that he would end up as the ideal type that he had defined for himself. The maknae couldn’t even deny it if he wanted to because it was so blatantly obvious – the very fact that Lee Taemin had become the sunflower and his sun was no one other than Choi Minho.

It took the months that Minho was away to film To The Beautiful You for Taemin to realise this. He knew he loved Minho but he never knew he loved Minho the same way he wanted his ideal type to love him. Absence certainly made his heart grow fonder. It wasn’t that he was pining away for Minho when his boyfriend wasn’t by his side, or that he wilted away like a sunflower would without its source of sunlight. Taemin wasn’t weak. Minho would have never fallen in love with him if he was. Oddly, although the words ‘strong determination’ was usually associated with Minho, it was Taemin’s own determination and strong will (which could easily match that of Minho’s) that became one of the qualities that attracted the rapper to him. Taemin didn’t allow himself to mope around and let that horrible feeling of missing Minho change him in any way. So even without his original source of sunlight, Taemin could still bloom from other sources of light, just perhaps not to his full potential. And Taemin knew this; he could feel he wasn’t at his best. He could feel the emptiness, that void in his heart, when he had time for himself – time that was supposed to be spent with Minho alone if the rapper was around. That was when he felt it the hardest – his need for his sun, for Choi Minho.

Secretly, Taemin had been counting down to the day Minho would finally return to SHINee. Sometimes, he would laugh at himself for being so childish or even pretend that he wasn’t. He couldn’t help it though; the dancer would still have the habit of checking his calendar and taking note subconsciously as the days passed. And when that fateful day finally arrived, Taemin didn’t care about hiding his excitement at all. The maknae couldn’t be at home to welcome Minho since he had a schedule to attend to, but once he had reached the dorm in the late afternoon, Taemin rushed straight to where he knew he would find Minho. It wasn’t surprising to find his boyfriend under the covers, sleeping so soundly on his bed after being constantly deprived from proper sleep due to filming. Unable to stop a smile from forming, Taemin made the effort to keep noise to the minimum as he silently crept towards the bed, slowly and carefully squeezing himself next to the rapper. The dancer turned to lie on his side and propped himself up on an elbow just so he could have a good proper look at the boy who had been missing from his life, the boy who had finally returned to where he was supposed to be, the boy who owned his heart.

Taemin could have spent all day just looking at Minho while he slept and that would have truly meant all day since Minho was notorious for being a heavy sleeper. Yet, with Minho right in front of him, Taemin couldn’t resist the temptation of reaching out to touch his boyfriend. He also couldn’t hold himself back from pressing his lips firmly against Minho’s. Minho was no sleeping beauty though, neither did he wake up nor did the maknae have any intention of waking him up. But after successfully stealing the first kiss, Taemin was greedy for more. He kissed Minho a couple more times on his lips at different angles while cupping Minho’s face, his thumbs caressing his cheeks, before he trailed more kisses along the rapper’s jawline and neck. It wasn’t soon before long that Taemin had naturally moved to sit on top of Minho and got into a more comfortable position to take even more advantage of his lover. With that weight pressing him further down into the mattress, Minho finally stirred in his sleep, creasing his eyebrows first and letting out a groan before slowly forcing his eyes open. Laughing, Taemin squeezed Minho’s face and bent down to connect their lips in a light kiss.

“Good morning!” Taemin chirped, beaming like a satisfied child.

Minho rubbed his face and breathed in, taking the time to comprehend what was happening even though his hands had already found its way to Taemin’s hips.

“What are you doing, Tae?” Minho croaked, his voice rough with sleep.

“Welcoming you home.” Taemin’s smile didn’t falter even though Minho was a little on the grumpy side.

With his boyfriend smiling at him like an angel, the corners of Minho’s lips curled into a smile as well.

“You sure you weren’t trying to suffocate me in my sleep?” Minho joked, squeezing Taemin’s hips in the process and eyeing their position.

“Have you done anything wrong to me that is punishable by death?” Taemin questioned back.

“I would never.” Minho stated in all seriousness, coming close to raising a hand to swear on it.

Taemin laughed and placed his hands on Minho’s chest. “Then no, hyung, I can never bear to kill you.”

“You can’t live without me anyway… right?” Minho wanted to sound confident but when he thought about how Taemin seemed perfectly fine when he was away filming, he doubted himself.

“Hyung…” Taemin grumbled, unhappy that Minho sounded so unsure when the answer had been obvious all along that it shouldn’t even be a question.

“I’m just saying… because you know, you always seem capable of taking care of yourself that I feel you don’t actually need me to be with you.” Minho explained and let his guard down, sharing his inner thoughts with Taemin. “Sometimes… sometimes I even feel that if we weren’t bound together in SHINee, you wouldn’t choose to be with me.”  

“Hyung, shut up before you say even more stupid things.” Taemin covered Minho’s mouth with his hand and sighed. “I can’t believe you don’t even know what you do to me…”

Minho raised his eyebrows, not resisting Taemin, and waited for his boyfriend to continue speaking.

“Do I have to walk around with a stamp on my forehead that says ‘property of Choi Minho’ for you to understand that I can’t see myself with anybody but you?” Taemin rolled his eyes, very much annoyed that Minho needed him to spell things out so blatantly.

But when he personally felt a smile growing on Minho’s lips against his palm, Taemin found himself smiling defeatedly as well.

Feeling so much more assured, Minho gently removed Taemin’s hand away from his mouth but only to hold it tightly in his as he kissed the maknae’s hand before interlocking their fingers.

“Sounds good actually.” Minho mumbled and added as an afterthought.

“What?” Taemin couldn’t catch on.

“Stamping your forehead with ‘Property of Choi Minho’…” Minho answered.

Taemin’s immediate reaction was to hit Minho on his chest with his free hand.

“How about I tattoo that somewhere only you can see instead?” He then suggested, his tone laced with sarcasm.

Minho laughed, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Sounds better.”

Taemin looked up to the ceiling and let out a breath. “How am I going to spend the rest of my life with you?”

“Too bad Taem, I’m never letting go.” Minho said as he lifted their entwined hands to Taemin’s eyes.

“Who said anything about wanting to let go?” Taemin looked away, coming across as indifferent like his words made up a casual question that meant nothing when in fact, the reality was that his words expressed his commitment to their relationship. It was his own promise to Minho’s vow.

Minho pushed his upper body up and once he was sitting upright, he pulled Taemin by the hips to hug his boyfriend even closer until they could feel each other’s chest rising with every breath they took.

“I love you, Tae.” Minho kissed the corner of Taemin’s lips and spoke against the very lips he hadn’t touched for too long.

Taemin closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the feel of Minho’s lips against his own as his boyfriend pressed kiss after kiss on his lips. He shivered when Minho slowly ran his tongue along his lips and willingly parted them to allow the rapper to deepen their kiss – a proper kiss that was long overdue.

“I’m glad you’re home.” Taemin whispered when Minho released his lips and continued to place kisses along the dancer’s neck while his hands slipped under his shirt and up his .

“Me too.”

In one swift action, Minho removed Taemin’s shirt and threw it aside. The rapper then held Taemin securely in his arms as he flipped their bodies over so that the maknae was now trapped underneath him. Yet, although Minho had successfully carried out the action, he did not expect to feel a sudden ache that caused him to stop all movement. He winced in pain and closed his eyes while Taemin looked up at him with concern.

“What?” Brushing Minho’s fringe aside and his face, Taemin asked worriedly, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t…” Minho leaned his forehead against Taemin and laughed airily. “…feel my thighs.”

Taemin froze for a moment before he burst out laughing, not at all guilty that he was the cause of Minho’s pain. Well, he knew just the way to make Minho feel better…

“Don’t worry, hyung.” Taemin said, placing his hands around Minho’s neck and sliding one hand into his hair to pull him down and draw him closer.

As the distance closed between them, just before their lips reconnected, Taemin uttered,

“I’ll make you forget about the pain.”

Author's Note: and 2min lived happily ever after, like they always do. hahaha. okay, not funny. but yeah, the end! felt like that was needed considering it ended quite abruptly since i always cut off the . hehh. still, i'm crossing my fingers that it was a good read for you. thank you for reading lovelies! ^^