Stee(a)l heart [2Min] (Shortfic/Completed)

7

Seungmin’s gaze was focused on him without blinking. He didn’t dare to move or say a word, too afraid to break the spell when Minho was pouring his heart out for the first time.

“Did you ever hear about the aromantic spectrum?” He asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
Seungmin blinked in confusion, far from expecting such a change of subject. “I. Yes. Like… I’ve checked all the terms when I was struggling with my orientation. Why do you suddenly…?”
“Feelings don’t come easily to me.” Minho interrupted him. “Romantic ones. Sex, or any kind of intimacy, despite what some tend to think, takes time. Way too long for normal people, I assume. So most of the time people don’t stick around long enough. I can’t blame them, who would want a freak as a boyfriend?”
“They’re stupid. You’re not…” Seungmin complained, offended on his behalf.
Minho didn’t let him finish his sentence once again. “Where everyone gave up and disappeared before I could start feeling anything, you stuck around. You stayed there, with me, through everything. Complaining, but never leaving. You stayed around without asking for more. I thought it was enough. That somehow, you found the manual no one had the patience to read before and you could understand me.”

Minho looked at Seungmin with the little confidence he managed to gather.

“There’s a lot of direct words, but I’m still not sure what fits me best. What I know, is that I can’t bond so easily with random people.”

Seungmin’s eyes widened with realisation, forgetting his pain to mend Minho’s, as he always does.

“You mean…” Minho nodded.
“Oh my God. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have… I mean… you don’t owe me an explanation but…I’m so sorry you had to fight through that by yourself. I should have been here for you instead of … I don’t know.”
“How am I telling you I’m a broken human, hurt you and you’re apologizing to me?”
“You’re not broken. You’re just you.”
“How are you like that? ”
“I’m so sorry,” Seungmin finally said, tears threatening to fall down his cheeks.
“Why are you sorry when I am the one apologizing?”
“For being a coward. An insecure coward who didn’t dare to ask.”
“You didn’t have.”
“No, I should have. I’m not saying this is all on me, but when I knew it was off I let it grow in my head, drawing my conclusion because  I was so hung on to what you gave me and I tried to ignore my fear every time until it was too much to face you properly. I was too afraid to get hurt, afraid to hear you liked someone else… I couldn’t bear to hear you say you didn’t feel anything for me.”
“I’m sorry… I should have faced it properly. Faced you too. It’s kinda hard to accept; Being so different. As if being gay wasn’t enough trouble,” he chuckled without real feeling. “I think I’ve always known, that I was on the spectrum. I wasn’t sure where, but well there’s you. So I guess I’m somewhere in the middle.”
“Hyung?” Seungmin hesitated, replaying the sentence in his head, unwilling to get his hopes too high. “Me? You mean...?”
“Yes, you. Because you helped me understand I don’t feel sexual attraction without a strong emotional bond. Or well, I can’t do it without real feelings,” he ended his sentence in a whisper, his ears turning suspiciously pink at the admission.
“But we…” Seungmin’s eyes grew wider “You mean… Am I understanding that properly? Don’t wake me up if I’m dreaming.”

He sat down on their sofa, taking a minute to process the words. Minho sat beside him, arms crossed on his chest almost ignoring his presence.

“I… does this mean what I think it means? You have feelings for me? I’m not getting this wrong, am I?”
“No joke Sherlock,” Minho deadpanned, body temperature suddenly too high. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know,” he grumbled.
“How do you expect me to know?!” Seungmin retorted.
“I thought it was obvious…”
“Are you kidding? I’m no mind reader, you know.”
Minho paused. “This is ridiculous. We’re here bantering as usual as if you didn’t try to break up with me minutes ago.”
Seungmin blushed, ashamed. “I’m sorry about that. I thought I was doing that for you. That even if it broke me, it was the best for you.”
“You’re stupid you know. If I wanted to be away from you I can do that on my own. I didn’t need your help,” Minho criticised, wrapping the kind feelings with stronger words.
Seungmin nodded, agreeing easily. “I’m stupid. But so are you. I can’t expect you to force yourself all the time, but we will have to improve our communication skills if we want to make it work.”
“You just said it’s not my fault, why are you blaming me now?” Minho asked eyebrow raised.
Seungmin laughed, loud and free. “I never thought I’d say that, but I really missed it. Talking this freely with you. And I’m not blaming you. I just want to avoid future issues. You have to admit we both have our fault and we need to make some efforts.”
Minho grumbled for the sake of continuing the argument. “I didn’t say I wanted to go back with you.”
“I’m pretty sure I heard you say you care about me.”
“And you’re the one who broke my heart and accused me of cheating with Jisung!”
“I know. I shouldn’t have assumed. I guess I just love you so much it messed up my brain. I learn my lesson though.”
“I hate you. You’re infuriating.” Minho replied, ears turning beautifully pink.
“It starts to sound like a compliment by now,” Seungmin replied cheekily.
“Maybe it is,” he whispered, smiling brightly.
“What did you say???” he asked, despite having heard perfectly the first time.
“I love you, stupid puppy.”

Seungmin froze, dumbfounded. He was lucky to have nothing in his hands or he would have surely dropped it.

“I… what?”
“What, what?”
“What did you just say?”
“I said you’re a stupid pup. Nothing new. Do you have early hearing issues Kim Seungmin?”
“No! before that you…” Minho felt his cheeks burn and turned around to hide the new shade taking over his skin.

Seungmin pressed Minho against the back on the sofa, holding his hands on each side of his body as he got closer. Be it the rollercoaster of emotions and the pure joy of knowing their feelings mutual or the physical proximity, Minho was more affected than he would like to admit.

“Can you repeat that?”
“Dream.”
“Surely feel like I do right now,” He said, capturing his lips in a soft kiss.
“I didn’t know you could be this bold.”
“I learn from the best. And I was taught recently I should be more honest with my feelings.”
“I’m not repeating that,” Minho said defensively, way too shy to be scary.

Seungmin looked at him fondly. “It’s okay, I would love to hear it again, but I don’t want to force you knowing how much it takes you to say it,” he said fondly. “But keep in mind I’m only letting it go because I love you.”

This time, Minho was sure that the redness on his ears was competing with the wine leather of their sofa.

.o°❤️°o.

The end!!!!

This was emotionally draining at times but I loved writing about these two
I hope you enjoyed it too!!

Just an additional note since I got some questions on the topic:

About Asexuality/demisexuality spectrum

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources?s=Ace+Spectrum

About aromantic spectrum and the nuances
https://www.aromanticism.org/