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"Oh, no, no, no.." Having ripped open the curtains in their bedroom, Gally groaned, storming through the hut and doing the same to every window there was. Each one gave him the same answer, "Shit."
Minho rolled on to his side on the bed, a headache forming in his mind, "God give me strength." He whispered before snarling, "What now?"
Footsteps stomped up to the doorway, and Minho lifted his eyes to see Gally stood there with a scowl, "We're.. snowed in."
"Huh." More distracted by Gally's lack of clothing, Minho didn't hear him straight away, then abruptly came to his senses and realised what he'd just said, "...You're kidding."
Rolling his eyes, Gally muttered an insult, likely retard, under his breath before walking out of the room, rubbing the back of his neck as he went.
In disbelief, Minho sprung to the window, and felt his stomach churn. The snow was literally on the damn glass. That meant it was over a metre thick!
Any other day, he would've definitely used this to his advantage - which translated to; making the most of having Gally to himself - but his heated row yesterday afternoon with the man had put him off that idea almost entirely.
What had they even been arguing about? He didn't have a clue how it started. All he knew was that he shoved Gally into a wall, Gally got all up in his face, someone smashed a plate, he gave Gally the silent treatment, and Gally refused to sleep on the settee... there was more - but he had forgotten what. He was still pissed off.
So, he wanted to be anywhere else in the world right now other than this stupid hut, but as his luck would have it, that was going to be impossible. Glum, he slunk out into the corridor and made it to the kitchen, seeing Gally's tense frame gripping the kitchen counter, back to him.
"What do we do now?" Minho's voice was quieter than before, but it was stiff, "We can't fuck our problems away."
That made Gally turn his head, "Who says?" There was an unexpected glint of humour in his eye.
That pulled a scoff from Minho, "Me. 'Cause we tried last night, and I'm still mad at you."
"Wow, thanks." Gally clicked his tongue, slowly pivoting on the spot. He folded his arms over his bare chest, covered in scratch marks and various blemishes from their session of blowing off steam, "Was I really that bad?"
Sure his own torso looked the same underneath his nightshirt, Minho shrugged. Then, deciding to give Gally some credit, he shook his head with a small laugh, "No."
Gally raised an eyebrow, expecting more from him.
"But you barely made me cum, so."
"Oh fuck you." Gally's wide eyes flicked in to a sharp glare, one that sent a tremor through Minho's heart. "That's the last time I let you be a pillow princess." Moving aside, Gally started busying himself with making, presumably, his breakfast.
"Yeah, yeah," Minho yawned at him, "whatever. You wouldn't be able to last a day without me, be real with yourself."
"I lasted months without you, I'll have you know, love."
The audacity made Minho chuckle, "Involuntarily, first of all, and remember what happened the second we were alone on the ship to here? I've never seen someone look so desperate."
"Shut up."
"But sure, of course, you lasted months without me."
"Shut up! Stop acting like I need you, jeez. If anything, you're worse off without me." Gally took a few deep breaths, trying to stay in sync with his body. Minho knew things as basic as breathing could be a hassle for Gally sometimes, so he almost backed off. Almost.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, baby."
He almost smiled at the piercing look he got for that.
Minho loved Gally when he was happy and not being a pain in the arse, but he couldn't say he hated it when Gally was pissed off. It probably turned him on more than it needed to. "You love me." Minho chirped, winking and strolling away. He could physically feel Gally's ice cold stare on the back of his neck.
And so, their next few hours of isolation were filled with near dead quiet at most times. Except for a few moments..
Gally tried the front door multiple times, but he wasn't able to shove it forwards in any way, no matter how hard he rammed himself against it. Minho sneered at his efforts, eating his marmalade and toast in the safety of their living room. They had woken up at twelve, which was later than usual for them, but Minho wished he hadn't woken up at all. Because Gally - finally wearing pants - entered the room and sat far away from him, on the armchair opposite. The tension in the air was visible.
Lounging on the settee, Minho swallowed down what he was chewing, and he tried not to shrink in on himself when he saw Gally's stormy expression, "Aren't you going to start a fire? It's awfully cold in here."
"Do it yourself." Gally responded with a forced bluntness.
"Asshole." Minho wasn't amused.
"Slinthead." Still, Gally moved reluctantly towards the fireplace anyways, annoyed at himself for not getting into warm clothes. Or, just clothes in general.
Minho smirked at him, "Hurry. We can't have you catching a cold."
Grabbing a log and slamming it into the pit, Gally hissed, "We're inside. I'll be fine." He continued his task until the fuel was plentiful, then paused before striking a match, "You're worried about me."
"No 'm not." Minho took another bite of his toast, watching Gally.
His partner turned his head, eyes narrow, "You're worried about my-"
"No-"
"-lung."
Deafening silence.
Minho, finally, tsked at him. Gally grinned, then mimicked Minho's words from earlier, "You love me." and with that, he set the logs ablaze, before standing and beaming smugly down at Minho. Minho continued eating his toast, trying to not visibly show how bothered he was. Ambling over, Gally dropped down beside him, already slinging one of his arms behind Minho on the back of the sofa. But, when he leant in for a kiss, Minho laughed coldly and pushed his face away.
"Giving up already?"
Blinking, Gally helplessly ran through their previous conversations in his head, not knowing what Minho was going on about, "Huh? Giving up..?" Minho chuckled at this, starting to stand. Gally grabbed on to is waist, "Wait, baby, giving up on what?"
Holding on to Gally's hands, Minho slowly pried them off of him, "You said you could last a whole day without me."
After short-circuiting for a moment, Gally's brows furrowed, "Mín.."
"Go on, stick to what you said. I mean, it's not even a full day, if you think about it."
With cold eyes, Gally let go of Minho completely, "Seriously?"
“Yep.”
“Okay,” Gally leant back into the sofa, eyebrows rising, “fine. But. You too.”
“Me too?” Minho suddenly looked visibly unsure, then hardened his gaze on Gally, not wanting to be accused of being upset about that, because he wasn’t…
“Mhm. Prove me wrong.”
Nodding his head with a smile, Minho cleared his throat, “Alright, then.”
Gally got a patronising-pat on the cheek, then Minho left the room.
The fire crackled loudly in front of Gally, but all he could think about was Minho. Damn him. He ran a hand over his face, hanging his head.
Meanwhile, Minho was smiling ever so proudly as he walked to the kitchen with his empty plate, feeling bitter, but pleased with himself.
Turning the shower faucet off, Minho slicked his hair back with his palm and drew open the curtain beside him, reaching blindly for his towel. He didn't realise Gally was already inside until he cracked his tired eyes open, only to see Gally stood by the sink. The man, now with his dressing-gown loosely draped over him and a toothbrush in his mouth, caught his eye in the mirror.
"Pass us a towel." Minho murmured.
Gally sighed - his breathing pattern switching to heavy breaths being noticed immediately by Minho - and went back to brushing his teeth.
Eye twitching, Minho pulled the shower curtain open further, giving Gally a frown. It satisfied him greatly to see how Gally's face flushed. Minho dropped his voice low, hair slowly falling into his eyes, "Gal."
"Hm." Gally groaned, voice muffled, and he grabbed a folded towel from the shelf above his head, turning on his heel and shoving it towards Minho.
Minho grinned when he saw Gally's eyes fall for the third time, "Careful."
A laugh left his lips when Gally flipped him off.
Siting upright on his bed, Minho admired the still falling snow outside, a warm mug of steaming tea clasped in his hands. He heard footsteps, then turned his head to see Gally leant in the doorway, arms folded over his chest. When he didn't speak up, Minho took a loud sip of his drink, then set the mug back on his lap, "Can I help you?"
"..I'm bored."
"That's a shame." There was not even a hint of sympathy in his voice.
"But..." Gally pouted, "there's nothing to do."
The second Minho opened his mouth, Gally regretted speaking.
"You could do me."
Because he wanted to. Badly.
No - he needed to win at whatever mind game Minho was playing with him. He sniffed, "Not a chance. Sorry."
Minho only shrugged, smiling slyly as Gally advanced into the room, "If you insist. Instead.. I don't know. Read a book. Finish that thingy you were carving. Something like that." He planted his mug on the windowsill, already guessing what was coming.
Gally stopped at the side of the bed, looming over him, "What are you doing?"
"What, you wanna give up?" Minho couldn't help scanning Gally with his gaze. He was still only in his boxers and robe, and Minho doubted that he was going to change into something proper at all today. He had to avert his gaze from the man entirely after staring at his happy trail for a second too long, feeling annoyed at himself.
"I never said that." Arms falling to his sides, Gally sat down on the side of the bed, eyes dark, "Am I not allowed in the same room as you either now, huh?" he tsked at Minho, picking at his nails.
"Maybe. I'll have to think about it." Minho pinched his lips firmly together.
Expression unreadable, Gally glanced down at the clothes Minho had changed himself into, voice adopting a clipping edge, "Is that my hoodie?" The way Minho followed up by shaking his head, with an exaggerated poker face, said everything. Gally knew what Minho was doing now - attempting to get a rise out of him by pulling strings he knew struck him where he was weak. This was the problem with knowing someone well. However, Gally had his own set of cards.
He, without words or a smile, grabbed Minho's waist, tossing him downwards and pressing him against the bedding. Minho swatted him away as his head hit their unmade pillows, but he was failing to keep a grin at bay. His pupils dilated massively - not that his naturally almost black irises made it easy to tell. Being thrown around thrilled Minho, he was terrible at hiding it. Gally squinted down at him, face serious, "Go on. You know you want to give up."
"What? N-no." Minho sucked in a breath, glaring up at Gally. Gally sat back on his heels, hands lightly moving downwards from Minho's hips, nails gently raking against the black haired man's jeans. Minho scowled, "You're cheating."
"Cheating? I didn't know there were rules to this." Gally laughed without humour, putting his hands up in mock surrender. “You fucking started this. And, you’re being a bitch, I say. So when you decide to end.. whatever this is, then you can get what you want.” Calculatingly, he backed away and got off the bed, dodging when Minho went to kick him.
"I don’t want anything from you." Minho grit his teeth.
Gally's jaw was clenched, but he eyed Minho's trousers, "Tell your dick that."
The brittleness of Gally’s voice had Minho on edge. Gally used to get angry all the time in the Glade, but had cooled off drastically when Minho met him again in the Last City. Moments like this reminded him to keep on his toes, though, because despite him only getting mad rarely nowadays - when Gally got angry, he got angry.
For some reason, Gally was currently getting worked up, and Minho could no longer distinguish sarcasm from reality.
A pair of irritated eyes, belonging to Minho, followed Gally until he vanished through the doorway. Minho pushed himself back up, mouth dry. Gally had snapped his body from neutral to wanting. His lips twitched, "Fucker."
What wasn't helping was how, wearing both Gally's shirt and jumper, Minho could only smell him.
He was going to have a very long evening.
Gally was chopping up some vegetables when Minho gravitated into the kitchen. Minho stared intensely at Gally’s back, frowning. Usually, he would walk right over there and wrap his arms around Gally, kissing his neck. That didn’t seem like a good idea now, as Gally would likely stab him instead of the carrots he was slicing. Silently, he crept over to their table and took his seat, looking out of the window.
He was tired, and was just thinking about whether to go to bed early, when he noticed two plates on the counter. His frown lessened.
Minho's presence unknown to him still, Gally whistled to himself, scraping the carrot chunks into a cooking pot. He boiled them, took some sort of steaming pie out of the oven, then a second one, and neatly organised the food on to two plates. Scooping one dish up, he turned towards the dining table, ready to grumpily call Minho's name. He opened his mouth and-
Saw Minho.
Lips closing again, his briefly surprised face fell and he moved away, leaving the room quickly. Minho winced at that, feeling slightly hurt, but his stomach growled and he stood wordlessly. Gally had cooked for him, like always, even though he was angry… Minho felt a bit bad now.
"Do you love me?"
The question made Minho lift his head.
Sitting on a footstool some space away, Gally didn't look up from what he was carving.
Minho stopped scribbling in his diary, "Sometimes."
Gally nodded.
Lowering his pencil entirely, Minho watched Gally's hands as they tenderly filed away at a small block of wood.
"I do. I do love you. I'm just messing with ya."
The blonde, from across the room, didn't look disbelieving as such, but more disappointed.
With furrowed brows, Minho decided to shut his diary and place it to the side, "Do you love me?"
He saw Gally almost slice a chunk of his finger off, and hissed. Gally didn’t even react.
"Gal?"
"Min."
"..Do you love me?"
Fortunately, there was a subtle smile on Gally’s face, "Well you’d think so, having lived with you for this many years."
"Three years isn’t that long. It’s the same amount of time-"
"-We spent in the Glade. Yeah, I know." Gally stared at the fire for a beat, "I love you."
Minho huffed, "Good."
"Good?"
Licking his lips agonisingly slow, Minho raised an eyebrow, "You heard me."
"Yeah, but.." Gally dropped his carving and penknife on to the carpet at his feet, putting his head in his hands, "It's not though, is it?"
"What?"
"I'm sorry for getting angry earlier. And yesterday. It sort of feels like I'm slipping into my old ways again, if I'm being honest."
"Gally, hey-"
"I'm scared."
The fireplace suddenly felt too loud compared to the utterly silent room it was in. Minho's voice softened, "Of what?"
Face likely red from embarrassment, Gally didn't look up towards Minho, "My good change reversing. Me getting more rowdy. You not liking me anymore." He groaned, "I've worked as hard as I can to get here. I don't wanna argue with people like I did."
"I like you when you're angry." Minho blurted out before he could stop himself.
That made Gally peer over at him.
Minho didn't stop there, "This is all probably just seasonal depression, love. I understand you're upset and confused, but the weather does that to some people, I'm afraid." Standing, he walked to Gally and crouched in front of him, "And just so you know, I'm not sure anything can stop me from liking you. After what we've been through? One silly argument isn't going to sway me much."
Hands gentle, Minho cupped Gally's face and brought it towards his own. Alarm briefly crossed Gally, "What about the lasting a whole day-"
Lips met his anyways, tender and sweet. Minho had his eyes shut, and he smiled warmly, feeling the entire weight of today crumble from his shoulders. When he pulled back, Gally looked like he had melted on the spot - arms limply hanging at his sides, expression a gooey smile, eyelids closed. He managed to murmur, "I win."
"I don't care." Minho pressed a second, quick kiss to Gally's face and moved backwards. His eyes flicked to the window nearby. It was dark out now, but snow was still falling.
Gally must've followed his eyeline, because he spoke up, "Remember when it first snowed here?"
"Yeah. Remember when I hit you with that damn good snowball?"
"Sadly." Gally scoffed. He got up with a sigh and stepped over to Minho, wrapping an arm around him, "I like it when it's snowing."
Turning his head, Minho grinned up at him, eyes creasing, "Me too..." It made Gally laugh when he tipped his chin towards their bedroom.
"Use your words." Gally rolled his eyes.
Scrunching his face up, Minho stuck his tongue out at him, "What! I'm just saying, no one can walk in on us."
Exhausted, Minho had to wait a minute so he could catch his breath before he could even think of speaking.
"Fuck."
A pair of lips brushed against his nape. Minho turned his head.
"That was good."
"Glad you approve." Gally slurred, weakly grabbing at their duvet to pull it over his exposed chest.
Minho stared over at the window by their bedside, eyes blank and hazy. Snow. Snow was still falling. "We're going to get frozen even more tonight."
"Hm?" Gally sighed and opened his heavy eyelids.
Quickly, Minho looked at him and kissed his forehead, then glanced back at the window, "Our entire house is gonna be buried soon."
Gally hugged Minho closer to him, "We have enough firewood to last years. We'll be alright." He ran his hand absentmindedly over Minho's bare stomach. They were quiet, breathing in synchronisation. The harder Minho stared at the window, the better he could imagine snowflakes falling against his body. Gally noticed his focused gaze and started drawing random shapes on his skin with his finger. "Do you think that... that we came from somewhere cold?"
Feeling Gally's calloused hand touching him as gently as it was, Minho's body relaxed further into the mattress beneath him, "Possibly. Though I think I probably come from somewhere hot."
"The Scorch?" Gally blinked, "Or is this going to turn into a joke about your looks?"
Snickering, Minho shrugged, "I'm not wrong, though."
"No, you're not."
"..So you think I'm hot?"
Yawning, Gally buried his face in Minho's neck, "Yeah."