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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

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howl’s moving castle is my favorite studio ghibli movie and the only solid reasoning i really have is because i am, a simp.

(im kidding its a beautiful movie)

and so today i will be rating this beautiful man, the blueprint for my longhaired guy with earrings type, on what i’d like to call:

｡+ﾟ.。+。｡+ﾟ.。+。howl’s (who’s) your favorite? ｡+ﾟ.。+｡+ﾟ.。+。。(´ω｀*)

where i tell you my rankings of the different versions of howl, let’s start!

#12 slimy howl

slimy howl is on the bottom of my list because LORD i cannot imagine touching him like that. WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE THAT?? if this is some sort of version of menstrual cramps to him i just don’t think i could wake up and say good morning sweetie just for him to wake me up with a slimy kiss. sorry.

#11 monster howl

this is the least howl form of howl and i simply do not like it. it represents his humanity being stripped away and shows him as his worst form, the beast that he must turn to the greater his power becomes. he’s the least himself in this form and that’s not good >:( scary to look at but higher ranked than slimy howl because at least his feathers are soft

#10 howl shoyo from haikyuu (omg hes #10 too i didnt even plan that)

karasuno’s best decoy’s entire appearance was only a big mental breakdown over his hair! he’s not ugly or anything but he’s very unhappy in this scene and i get it cuz one time i cut my bangs too short and looked like goshiki from haikyuu mixed with atsushi’s bangs but not cute and i started crying so i understand. unhappy howl is defo not my favorite howl (but he scores higher than slimy and monster because he is at least a human here)

#9 bird centaur howl

THIS MAN LOOKS LIKE HE WAS WEARING A SKIN TIGHT BIRD MASCOT COSTUME AND TOOK OFF THE HEAD. WHY DOES HE LOOK LIKE THAT. THE WORST POSSIBLE LOOK FOR ANY HALF HUMAN HALF ANIMAL CREATURE. ITS LIKE YOU SHUFFLED SOME KIND OF SUPERHERO GENERATOR AND GOT THE MOST UNNATURAL LOOKING ONE. HE LOOKS ANGRY.

#8 werebird howl

oh absolutely NOT. can you IMAGINE having to see the fucking feather things POP OUT OF HIS FACE????? oh good god help me. higher on the list because he looks kinda cool (maybe because it looks like facial hair?)

#7 surprise its howl!

LOOK AT HIM IN HIS LITTLE HAT. he’s all “ayo i gotchu follow my ring its like a little gps oh dont worry about wifi i have data”. he looks like those little nutcracker toys. only complaints is that green is not his color and he looks like a figure of authority and i dont really like figures of authority. still looks really dorky and cute tho! <3

#6 ¾ bird howl

i know what you may be thinking, “what the fuck.” and i understand. why is a bird howl so high on the list? but look at him! he’s not just a bird anymore. this is the thing that represent his loss of humanity, but now he uses that form to protect sophie, which is very empowering if you ask me! for someone who didn’t care about his heart he’s sure got a big one :> look at his little smile!

#5 injured little birdie howl

i know i just talked about his humanity and shit but he. looks. so. sexy. here. i dont wanna fuck a bird, okay. maybe its the jawline. maybe its the way his guard is down. maybe its the vulnerability in his face. maybe i need a therapist. it’s like…”im fighting to be human! its just so difficult….pls take care of me..” i dont know. the earring ties it all together. like he’s injured. and he’s a bird. but like, classy.

#4 haku from spirited away

DISCLAIMER: THIS LIST IS NOT THE ORDER OF ATTRACTIVENESS I FIND THE HOWLS. IT IS SIMPLY MY FAVORITE HOWLS IN ORDER, GENERALLY. I DO NOT WANT TO FUCK HOWL AS A CHILD. I DO NOT WANT TO FUCK A BIRD EITHER.

he’s so cute!!! he wanted to save a shooting star!!! he just didn’t know what would happen okay >:0 he is still so tiny and the little ribbon is so cute he looks like a little villager from animal crossing but guess what he’s actually a wizard! how cool is that!

#3 idol howl

i say idol because howl kind of reminds me of a kpop idol here??? i think it’s cuz he looks very pretty. and maybe his blonde hair is like when kpop idols dye their hair different colors and youre like oh wow that looks nice??? :0 classic howl look, probably the first image people think of when remembering his face! great fashion sense, the shirt, the necklace, his little jacket, the EARRINGS! a very aesthetically pleasing howl. he wouldn’t just take you to a movie on your first date he’d bring you into one <3 the walking in the sky scene is a classic! its beautiful!!! slowdancing with this howl is the dream. (only at #3 because of personal preference, i dont usually simp for blonde characters for some reason) also his character development hasnt happened yet so he’s still pretty selfish (but he’s also still pretty pretty)

#2 princess howl

LISTEN. THIS IS AFTER HIS LITTLE HAIR DYE MENTAL BREAKDOWN. BUT HE IS SO. PRETTY. i cannot EXPLAIN how pretty he is here. the length of his hair is so perfect. and it’s BLACK? oh god. this is such a close #2. he is so pretty. i actually think this look is his prettiest. im sorry i have no more funny commentary because hes actually so pretty. he’s #2 only because. he was acting so spoiled. I MEAN NOT REALLY. he’s just so dramatic but who could say no to THAT?? his earrings..his hair..his EYELASHES? no one looks this good lying down. let me spoil u my baby <333

#1 husband howl!!!!!!!!!

this is a man in love. look at him smile. you could just fall for him on the spot. this man can cook! he is so excited to show u the house he made with his magic!! and he gets you your own FLOWER GARDEN????? did you know flowers have a language i bet all of them are like “eternal love” “endless happiness” or something- well no he’s a wizard i bet all the flowers smell like happiness and sunshine. his shirt tucked in? AWOOGA! god he looks so good in those pants. he is so romantic. he is so genuinely happy. and he doesn’t even realize he’s in love with you!! he just wants you to smile. all the other howls i’d go yes i’ll do the cooking yes i’ll do the cleaning but THIS HOWL? “oh sweetie youre not feeling well? let me cook something for you to heal up, no don’t move, stay right there and rest” this howl is so endlessly cute and perfect and romantic and happy. if there’s something to be learned is that u may be pretty u may be sexy but u look the best when ur happy. oh my god he looks like he smells good too.

and that’s all! i hope you enjoyed (or actually read)

｡+ﾟ.。+。｡+ﾟ.。+。howl’s (who’s) your favorite? ｡+ﾟ.。+｡+ﾟ.。+。。(´ω｀*)

i hope everyone is well and i hope u liked this little list! any comments or replies are very appreciated because i dont wanna look like a psychopath talking about howl LMAO

#this is beautiful

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

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If I Could Tell You | Chapter Three: Just in Time

Pairings: Choi Minho x Lee Taemin

Genre: Romance, Enemies to Lovers, 🚨Smut🚨

Word Count: 9k words, divided in three chapters

Summary: Strict gym trainer Minho never wanted to confess to anyone ever again since his first heartbreak. But now, a stubborn client is making him reevaluate the path he decided to take towards love and happiness

Author’s Notes: Side stories on #ChangMinho and #TaeKai as well.

Other Chapters: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

CHAPTER THREE

In a dimly-lit bar somewhere in the city, Jongin took his time in ordering a drink. A whiskey. Something strong. Whatever it took to just get his mind off of dinner and of Taemin and of that Minho he kept on yapping about. He took his time going through every single item on the menu as if the minutes didn’t tick rapidly by; as if this was his first time letting something he wanted slip away because of his procrastination.

He sat alone—which, in bars, was just sad. There weren’t many tables and there weren’t many patrons, but none of them appeared to be alone like he was. He sighed before raising his hand to call the waiter over.

Jongin drank the amber liquid in his glass slowly, contemplating on where he had gone wrong. New customers were piling in and he noted that they were mostly in groups—except one.

He sat at the table across from Jongin and he wore the same expression as his. Jongin recognized him from the barbecue place from earlier.

The other man, Changmin, also recognized Jongin—and with a single glance plus a tiny nod, Changmin raised his glass and toasted Jongin in the air. The younger man only half-smiled, understanding. They were bonded in mutual defeat tonight; and the alcohol wouldn’t solve anything, but it would at least aid in their acceptance.

**********

Taemin woke up slowly, stretching his legs luxuriously. He was acutely aware that he wasn’t home; that he was in Minho’s room, on Minho’s bed…

Minho.

Taemin gasped as he felt that the other side of the small bed was empty. Panic rose to his chest and he got up hastily, stumbling by the doorframe to find out where Minho was. Did he leave? Why would he leave? Why would he abandon Taemin?

His worries were quelled as he saw Minho doing push-ups in the living room. He was shirtless and utterly beautiful bathed in the sunlight from the balcony. He had his earphones on and was counting softly under his breath.

“86, 87, 88…”

Nobody warned Taemin about what it felt like to be totally consumed by love. He thought he had felt it with Jongin—because surely, what else would he feel about his friend of more than ten years? It was love, it had to be. Yet that held no candle to what he felt right now looking at this warm, kind, man whom he only met a little over a month ago. The timing made no sense—but Taemin no longer believed in logic or reason or anything. He had made his choice and this was it.

He walked over to Minho and plucked the ear contraption off one side. “Hey,” he said, smiling. Minho looked up at him with a strange expression: a mix of love, guilt, regret. Taemin kissed him. “What’s wrong?” he asked but Minho only shook his head. He looked at Taemin with his big eyes, tearful. Taemin felt the panic returning.

“We can’t do this, Taem.”

The blow hit Taemin dully because of the little sense it made. It was stupid. Why can’t they do it? Because of Jongin? Or, could it be because of that other man, Changmin?

“Why not?” he asked, stubborn as ever.

Minho stood up and made a beeline for the shower. “I’d rather not say,” he called, pretending to be nonchalant about it. Then, before shutting the door he shouted: “You better not be here when I finish showering.”

Taemin was aghast—shame filling him up and burning his cheeks. He quickly got dressed, ignoring the fact that Minho had hung his clothes outside so that they were warm and dry. He left hastily, slamming the door behind him.

**********

In the bathroom, Minho allowed tears to escape his eyes. He heard Taemin slam the door with a finality that spoke volumes. He hates me, Minho thought. It was a thought so vile and so painful that he grasped at his chest. He didn’t want any of those quintessential melodrama moments in TV series—but yet now, under the shower, Minho found he had no choice but to give in.

He had been a coward since Changmin. And now, he would be a coward with Taemin, too. Yet, Minho genuinely thought there was something different this time. This time, he didn’t want to be a coward. For the first time in a long while, Minho wanted to jump—even though he knew that he would end up alone at the bottom of the cliff, wondering if all would have been worth it.

He finished his shower and made a choice. He took out his computer and typed up a letter.

**********

The day wore on painfully slow. Taemin had gone home—the magical night with Minho now marred with that stupid remark about them being unable to be together. It didn’t make sense; so as he sulked under his sheets, he contemplated whether he should just go back to Jongin. After all, he had already spent a night with Minho—and though he wanted more, he at least could hold on to that memory.

And yet, even in his pettiest moments, Taemin knew he had made his choice. And it was Minho. Even when what he said didn’t make sense, Taemin knew he couldn’t give up so easily.

An idea came to him. He looked for his phone and dialed Kibum. “Hey, I need you to give me a number.”

**********

Jinki was worried about Minho not showing up to work today. He didn’t inform Jonghyun, too, which made everything suspicious. Jinki had tried calling him but he wouldn’t pick up.

He was on his way to Minho’s place when his phone rang. “Hello?” A familiar voice answered from the other end. Taemin.

In less than 10 minutes, Jinki met Taemin up in the food cart near the gym. The younger boy looked pensive, but Jinki couldn’t bring himself to worry about him right now. He needed to go to Minho and the only reason he agreed to see Taemin was because the latter had said that the meeting concerned him.

“Taemin, I’m sorry but if you don’t mind, would you hurry? I have to get to Minho,” Jinki said in a steady voice that concealed his panic. Taemin nodded slowly and Jinki noticed that he wasn’t worried at all—which meant that Minho was, for now at least, safe.

“Hyung, can you tell me about Minho and Changmin?”

Jinki took a deep breath. So it had come to this, he thought. With a heavy sigh, Jinki told Taemin everything.

###

“What do you mean?” Changmin looked at Minho rather curiously. They stood outside their university—at a bus stop, of all places. Minho couldn’t have picked a lamer place to confess.

“Just that I like you. More than a friend or a brother.” Minho kept his voice level, pretending to be nonchalant as he often did to disguise his real feelings. Changmin knew this so, by extension, he also knew that Minho was probably breaking from the inside the longer he waited for him to answer.

Changmin turned his back to Minho and texted Jinki.

> Can you please walk with Minho home? He finally told me how he felt.

> And you’re not going to return it, huh?

> No. I can’t risk what we have.

> Changmin… you love him, too.

> Yes, I do. But I won’t. Because we can’t. I’m not brave enough. Please help me.

> I’ll be there in 10.

“I know you don’t feel the same,” Minho concluded, deciding even before Changmin had anything to say “just… I wanted you to know, that’s all. You don’t have to act differently around me.”

The older man placed his hand on the younger’s shoulder. “We are good friends. Let us keep it that way.” Minho had only nodded and agreed with a tiny “yes, that is best,” spoken through gritted teeth. Changmin smiled then walked towards the opposite direction.

By the time Jinki arrived, Minho had decided never to confess to anyone ever again lest they leave him, too.

###

Taemin knew what he needed to do.

After thanking Jinki, he sprinted towards the gym knowing Minho wouldn’t be there. He had to talk to Jonghyun and Kibum that he would withdraw his membership, but they couldn’t blame Minho for it. It was his choice—because he had fallen helplessly in love with him.

Foolishly, too, Taemin thought as he ran up the stairs and pushed the office door open without knocking. Without even looking at who was inside.

“Kibum, I have something—“

Taemin stopped as he took in the crowd in the office. Jonghyun was there and Kibum was there.

And between them was Minho.

**********

“Wh- why are you here?” Taemin asked. His gaze trailed to the envelope Minho was holding. Upon noticing that Taemin had seen it, Minho uselessly hid the paper behind his back like a child.

Taemin strode towards Minho and snatched the paper. The label was unmistakable. RESIGNATION LETTER. Taemin could only look at Minho, his eyes asking the question. Why?

“I can’t be a trainer here, Taemin. I can’t have you as a client.” Minho said quietly as he retrieved the letter and stretched it towards the gym owners. Taemin blocked it. “No! I’ll leave instead. I won’t train here. I won’t even go near you if that’s what you wanted…” Taemin’s legs suddenly felt weak at the prospect of not seeing Minho again. It was too much. He collapsed on a chair and Minho rushed to kneel in front of him. “Are you okay? Oh, baby, don’t cry.”

Taemin sobbed as Minho wiped his tears. “I… I know why you… said we can’t be together…” he said between shaky breaths. “You must be so afraid right now and I… I kept pushing. I’m sorry,” he continued. Minho only looked at him—but his beautiful eyes had a quiet resolve in them, something that wasn’t there this morning. It confused Taemin even more. “What?” he managed to ask.

Minho smiled, running a thumb across Taemin’s cheek before planting a kiss on his forehead. “You crybaby. I’m sorry, too,” he began “but can you let me finish?” He got up and faced Jonghyun and Kibum again.

“Misters Kim, I am unable to continue my duties here because of ethical reasons.” Minho looked at Taemin then, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “I can’t keep breaching our agreement of not getting involved personally with clients.”

Back to the gym owners, Minho continued with a conviction that made Taemin’s tears fall even more. “Because I have fallen deeply in love with my client, Sirs. I am in love with Mr. Lee Taemin. And I want to be with him freely.”

Kibum cringed at this very public display of affection; he fake gagged but rushed to Taemin’s side nevertheless to give him a hug. Jonghyun took Minho’s letter then tore it up. “Figure this shit out between the two of you, man, jeez,” he said good-naturedly “not in front of me and my fiance.” They all laughed, the silliness of this cheesy encounter would surely haunt Minho for years to come.

“Oh, does that mean you two will be each other’s plus one in our wedding?” Kibum perked up at the idea “that’s like two less mouths to feed, honey!” he said to Jonghyun. They all laughed again.

Jinki chuckled outside the office as he overheard everything. Minho had come a long way—and Taemin was ready to meet him there. He clucked his tongue, then, realizing that if he didn’t find a plus one, he’d be third-wheeling at the wedding. The inanity of this problem shocked him—he could worry about it later. With a spring in his step, Jinki made his way down the stairs.

“Oh! Jinki hyung!” Minho called. He and Taemin went out the office together. “Do you want to have dinner?” Taemin said, giving Jinki a wink. I guess I’ll be practicing my third-wheeling now, Jinki thought. He nodded. “Buy me some meat,” he teased.

They walked towards the familiar food cart. Taemin looked at Minho and Minho looked at Taemin. They were happy. They were the happiest.

And behind them, Jinki beamed at the sight of his two dongsaeng holding hands—like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like it was what they were meant to do all along.

END

#MY 2MIN CUTIESSSSS AHHHH #HAPPILLY EVERY AFTER #oh i forgot to mention that i love the jongkey fiancés so much MUAH #chefs kiss #minho doing push-ups in the morning in the damn living room is sO FUNNY TO MEE

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

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If I Could Tell You | Chapter Two: Double Date

Pairings: Choi Minho x Lee Taemin

Genre: Romance, Enemies to Lovers, 🚨Smut🚨

Word Count: 9k words, divided in three chapters

Author’s Notes: Side stories on #ChangMinho and #TaeKai as well.

Other Chapters: Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

CHAPTER TWO

Taemin tried.

As the clashing cymbals reverberated across the music hall and Jongin winked at him from the stage, Taemin felt an overwhelming sense of discontent. The drums sounded dull and the guitar solo too shrill. Jongin sang beautifully, of course—and the crowd welcomed his band’s music, embraced it as if it was the oxygen they breathed, as if they needed Jongin to survive. Taemin smiled and jumped and moved his body along, not feeling any real sense of happiness.

He thought back to last night with Minho: a laid back, quiet moment. It was just them in a food cart somewhere, drinking, laughing. There was nothing grand. The ordinariness of it contrasted too much with this huge display of affection: Jongin waving to him from the stage, winking, asking the tech guys to shine the spotlight on Taemin before finally announcing “my friend is watching me for the first time today, can you guys say hi?” The crowd went wild and a hundred pair of eyes turned his way. Taemin wanted to hide.

“That was embarrassing,” Taemin later told Jongin as they made their way to a barbecue place for dinner. “Your fans would think badly of me,” he said. Jongin only chuckled. “Nah, they’re good people. And they like who I like.”

Taemin’s thoughts jumbled up in his brain, incoherent, not quite putting two and two together until Jongin reached for his hand across the table and held it. “You have no idea how long I waited for you to come to one of my gigs,” Jongin said, his face triumphant but not as warm, as lovestruck, as Taemin would have wanted. He jerked his hand away, suddenly realizing Jongin’s hands were icy cold. Unlike Minho’s.

Minho. There it was again—the strange, bubbling feeling in his stomach, the one he expected to feel tonight with his love of 10 years. And yet, even alone with him, Taemin drank his presence only to find it lukewarm, undecided and unsatisfying.

He gave up hope. He decided he would eat in silence and mull over his confusing feelings while curled up in a ball in his room. Tonight, he needed to be polite and smile and enjoy Jongin’s presence—even if it did nothing to his heart.

But then it started racing. A quiet thump, thump, thump at first, but it built on steadily until Taemin could hear nothing but his heartbeat at the sight of this familiar man walking in the restaurant. And then it got even louder, on hyperdrive, as he was followed by another.

Taemin felt like he couldn’t breathe. Minho had walked in with another man at his heels.

**********

Minho really didn’t want to have barbecue with Changmin but the latter had insisted, stating they hadn’t hung out in a while and that he had a piece of news long overdue. If it was about him proposing to his girlfriend, Minho already knew that from Jinki—but Changmin didn’t know that he knew. So Minho indulged him; to clear his mind and rid himself of intrusive thoughts involving Taemin.

It wasn’t his lucky day, however, because of all the barbecue places in the city, Changmin had to pick the one where Taemin was having a date. Minho saw him first—how could he not when Taemin literally shone anywhere you put him—and his heart had stopped, all hope of tonight going well thrown out the window.

I should ignore them, Minho thought as he entered, eyes trained forward. It was entirely possible for him to miss seeing Taemin, who sat at the other end of the establishment, obscured by those exhaust pipes that dropped from the ceiling. It was only natural to not acknowledge his presence; no one’s feelings would be hurt if they just continued on with their respective dates and pretend nothing happened the night before.

Yet it only took a split-second, when Minho’s resolve faded just a tad and Taemin’s control wavered infinitesimally, their eyes met—longing meeting longing, an anchor they could share but never speak of; certain about their uncertainty of where they stood in time. They knew they came with the wrong people, that they should sit in that corner over there, laughing as they had the night before, then going home drunk but euphoric and happy. Not like this time when the minutes dragged like sandpaper on their skin, scraping painfully by as if the distance between them grew with every minute they didn’t say a word to each other. There was only so much they could do, and Minho chose an easy way out. He ignored them, letting Taemin’s heavy stares flow like water that he hoped would evaporate soon enough, not knowing it would turn to the very air he breathed.

“Are you okay?” Changmin eyed him curiously, setting pieces of meat on his bowl of rice. “You have been quiet.”

The remark wasn’t an insult, merely an observation, but Minho snapped. “I’m not quiet. I just don’t want to be here.”

Changmin looked aghast. He followed the general direction of where Minho was staring at and saw a pair of guys much like them—also eating in silence while the other looked over at their table with a palpable yearning. Understanding dawned on Changmin and he called the waiter over to hand them their bill.

Minho snapped back to reality. “I’m sorry, hyung,” he apologized “we can stay here if you want.” But Changmin had seen enough. He shook his head and motioned for Minho to finish his food. His news wasn’t important—at least not anymore.

He sighed as he watched Minho wolf down his meal, like old times, whenever he was upset and wanted to be left alone to cry. He recognized the desperation in the younger one’s eyes, the kind that was directed at him once, long ago, when it was the wrong time. It will never be the right time, I guess, Changmin thought as he pushed his fiancee’s ring deeper in his pocket. He had asked for it back because of this boy in front of him—but that was lost now, too.

**********

He wasn’t very good company, so when Changmin dropped him off at home, he apologized profusely. They said their farewells. There was a sadness in Changmin’s eyes, one that Minho didn’t recognize. And that was that.

Minho trudged up the stairs, sulking and couldn’t believe his luck, or lack thereof. He was back to wanting to put as much space as he could between him and Taemin, now for completely different reasons.

The hot shower washed over his skin, providing momentary relief as the scalding drops of water demanded his full attention. Any other distraction would have led him back to Taemin, and frankly, it wasn’t what he needed. He needed to be alone, to sit in his silence and think and then decide what to do. He wanted the quiet.

As he stretched out on his bed (very carefully trying hard not to think of the last time Taemin lied on it), Minho felt an overwhelming sense of disorientation. He wasn’t sure of anything and it seemed that nothing else mattered. Nothing except… except.

The loud banging on the door woke Minho up from his trance. “Open the door you asshole!” someone called from the outside. Minho momentarily forgot how to use his legs and the slams of fists on the door crescendoed. He got up quickly then and ran, swinging the door open to find a rain-drenched Taemin outside, glaring at him with dagger eyes that demanded an explanation.

Taemin walked in without invitation. He was livid—the reasons for which, Minho didn’t know. Anger seethed from his very pores, thickening the air with unspoken words that further drove them into confusion. Into madness. Minho decided to break it.

“What’s wrong, Taem?”

The mention of his nickname stirred Taemin to speak. “Taem? Do you know that I hated that nickname? Hated it when my friends called me that. But then you… you mentioned it and suddenly I don’t hate it anymore. Why?”

Minho didn’t know what to say. He stood frozen on his spot by the kitchen counter, leaning against the sink. He said nothing and Taemin continued.

“And why, Minho, do you think I had lunch with you and spent time with you even after our sessions? Why do you make spending time with you sound so… so fun?!” Taemin balked at the last word, it sounded lame compared to other parts of his monologue; but he pushed on. He took a step towards the kitchen, towards Minho, towards the very confusing storm of emotions brewing in his chest.

“You… you ruined Jongin for me. You stepped in and offered to help but when I finally got what I wanted you… you sabotaged it!”

That last remark left Minho more confused than ever. “How did I sabotage it?! I wasn’t even aware you were there in the restaurant!”

Taemin tried—even though he was tired of trying—to bottle it up, to swallow the truth because he couldn’t do this. Couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t handle it if he were wrong. Minho just stood there, three steps away from him, not going to him or anything; immovable in his kitchen even though Taemin was breaking down. He hated having to mince words. Now wasn’t the time for it.

“Because you kissed me!”

The confession hit Minho square in the chest and he gripped the edges of the counter for support until his knuckles turned white. He kissed Taemin? When?

The memory of Taemin’s blurry face suddenly replayed in his head and in it, he was leaning forward, whispering “can I kiss you?” in a voice that left Minho dry with want. Minho remembered closing the gap and taking Taemin’s lips, his tongue, his chin, his neck, behind his ear. Taemin had moaned softly and Minho stopped. Either from fatigue or from alcohol or from a god-given self-restraint, he couldn’t know himself.

“Taemin, I…” he began but he didn’t know what to say next. I’m sorry? I don’t remember? I remember but I don’t want to? I love… There was no obvious answer so Minho just stared at Taemin in front of him, with his soppy clothes creating a puddle by his feet, and his face angry but soft, curious about how he would finish that sentence.

“What?” Taemin challenged, taking half a step towards him.

There was a certain kind of panic that gripped Minho, an all-too-familiar sense of impending heartbreak. Because whatever it was that he felt, if Taemin would still choose Jongin, it all would have been for nothing. Minho wasn’t a risk taker. Minho wanted the stability which came from a love that was sure—everything that Taemin wasn’t and yet also everything Minho wished he would be.

“Taemin… I…”

“Finish that sentence, Minho.”

“I need you to stop.”

The realization of what Minho said froze Taemin on the spot. He couldn’t believe it. He felt his heart breaking and it seemed as though the shards would spill out his eyes—and yes, it felt just as painful as it sounded.

But Minho wasn’t through. He stood up straight and continued “Because if you take one more step towards me, Lee Taemin, I won’t be able to stop myself.”

Taemin didn’t obey. Taemin was never good at obeying Minho.

Minho caught him as their bodies crashed. One hand found the small of Taemin’s back and another ran up his hair. Their lips met with a fiery need that burned every single one of their fears that night. No Jongin or Changmin. No careers on the line. They just melted into each other as Taemin and Minho—as they were. As they should have.

Taemin’s wet coat met the kitchen floor in a second, then his shirt followed, then his jeans. Minho lifted him with ease, not breaking their kiss, as he carried him towards the room. “So beautiful,” Minho muttered as he licked Taemin from the collarbone to the neck. Taemin moaned at the heavenly feel of Minho ravishing him, of his skilled hands massaging his entrance, knowing as if by instinct what would make Taemin’s knees weak.

For his part, Taemin stroked Minho’s member—gently at first until Minho whispered “harder.” Their actions were no longer tender—they were frantic, rough, and desperate. Taemin’s vision almost turned white as he concentrated on the sensations Minho was creating. His own member jerked and longed for Minho’s touch.

“Hyung, please.”

It was the last straw. Minho no longer held back. “Get on your hands and knees,” he commanded and when Taemin complied, exposing his backside to him, Minho let out a low growl. He squeezed the cheeks slightly apart and traced the outline of Taemin’s hole with his tongue.

“Oh—Minho. Fuck!” Taemin’s cries reverberated across the walls of the room. He frantically reached for his own cock, stroking it until he felt it spill some pre-cum. Behind him, Minho continued to lap at his entrance, adding the vibrations of his delicious moans to Taemin’s pleasure. “Hyung, hyung! I need you inside me please. Please fuck me please, please.” His words turned incoherent but Minho understood. In one swift motion, he replaced his tongue with the tip of his cock, then he gently pushed in, joining Taemin in moaning as he did.

“Jesus christ Taemin you feel so good,” Minho praised only because it was true. He moved in and out of Taemin’s addictive heat, building a rhythm that made Taemin whimper, then moan, then scream Minho’s name over and over. The sounds he made were so beautiful and Minho savored each one with each thrust.

It came suddenly and violently. Taemin’s orgasm shot out of his hand and he felt his knees give. “Don’t stop! Don’t fucking stop, Taem!” Minho commanded as he slipped out of Taemin and laid him flat on his back, the cum on the bed forgotten. Minho knelt over him as his orgasm also built at the sight of this beautiful creature still stroking himself dry. Taemin reveled at the sight of Minho above. “On my face, hyung. Cum on my face!”

“Taemin, fuck, I’m…” the last word came out as a loud moan instead. Minho’s cum painted Taemin’s face and the latter lapped it up. He pushed what he could off his cheeks and into his mouth, drinking Minho in as he continued chasing his second orgasm.

This fact wasn’t lost to Minho. He switched his orientation on the bed so that his face lined up perfectly well above Taemin’s dick. He swatted his lover’s hands away as he sank, taking Taemin entirely in his mouth. Taemin screamed anew—a string of expletives and desperate moans, then Minho’s name, then a loud, surprising shout as he rutted his hips into Minho’s mouth for the last time before he exploded.

“You taste so good,” Minho said as he wiped Taemin’s face and backside. “I think I will never get enough of you.”

Taemin’s lids felt rather heavy already but he was just too happy to not say anything back. Half asleep, he smiled and told Minho: “Then have your way with me, Choi Minho, I am yours. No take-backs.”

NEXT CHAPTER

#WHEN MINHO SAID TO STOP I FELT THAT IN MY WHOLE BODYYYYY MY GOD #THIS WAS SO WORTH THE BURN #the changmin side story BROKE ME THO :(#poor baby changmin

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

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If I Could Tell You | Chapter One: First Impressions

Pairings: Choi Minho x Lee Taemin

Genre: Romance, Enemies to Lovers, 🚨Smut🚨

Word Count: 9k words, divided in three chapters

Author’s Notes: Side stories on #ChangMinho and #TaeKai as well.

Other Chapters: Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

CHAPTER ONE

“That’s the fifth one this week, Minho, and it’s only Tuesday.”

Jonghyun spun his swivel chair to dramatically face Minho, who stood frozen on the spot, eyes glued to the floor. A woman in her 40s had just screamed expletives at them before storming out with a full refund of her membership fee. In the tiny office above the gym, Jonghyun stared at his best personal trainer—and he could do nothing but sigh.

“Look, man, I like you,” he began, making Minho look up with those puppy-dog eyes. “But the clients don’t want a hothead screaming at them to add more weights, or to run faster on the treadmill, or to dip lower. We’re running a business here, man.”

Minho knew that, of course. He always never meant to shout or to push his clients beyond limit. Naive as he was, he always just assumed everyone could do what he could. Clearly, they couldn’t.

“I’ll try to fix it,” Minho said in a small voice that didn’t convince his boss. “I’ll onboard a client and they’ll sign up for a year at least, no refunds.” Jonghyun sighed anew. If there was one thing he admired about Minho other than his skills, it was his dedication to always see the positive. He nodded solemnly. “Alright. This is your last chance, Minho,” he said “screw up again and we’re done.”

The door flew open then and in waltzed Kibum, Jonghyun’s fiance, the gym’s marketing head. “There might be a solution, babe,” Kibum said, unabashedly sitting on Jonghyun’s lap. He turned to Minho. “Take my friend as your client. He’s madly in love with my cousin and wants to buff up to impress him. He’s a little shy so I don’t think he’ll have the guts to quit. He’s charming that way.”

“Who? Taemin?” Jonghyun asked, incredulous. Kibum nodded happily. Then, once more turning to Minho, he held out the new client’s profile. “He’s already downstairs waiting for his trainer. I said I’ll give him the best we have.”

Minho blushed pink but took the file anyway. He scanned the profile. “Oof, he’s skinny,” he remarked. He found it more challenging—but also more rewarding—for petite clients to build muscle than for heavier ones to lose weight. Maybe he got the work cut out for him after all.

Without another word, Minho exited the office and bounded down the stairs, ready to meet his new client. He had to get this one right somehow.

**********

Taemin fumbled with the paper cup he held in his hands, couldn’t decide if he should fill it up with water for the fifth time. Kibum had promised him the best coach or whatever. It didn’t matter. He just had to get fit and impress Jongin at the quickest possible time—and hanging out in his cousin’s gym is the easiest way to do that.

“Taemin?” Taemin startled a little when he heard his name spoken by the tall, muscled man in front of him. His voice was surprisingly like honey, kind of deceitful when heard from his sculpted body. He wore a dry-fit shirt that hugged his torso masterfully, and a pair of black shorts that told Taemin all he needed to know. This man was attractive. He looked up to the man’s face and he held back a gasp. Great bod, great face. It looked like he wouldn’t have any trouble coming here at all.

“Yeah, hello,” Taemin said, extending his hand. The man took it and shook. Firm, I like it. “I’m Choi Minho, I’ll be your personal trainer,” he said. Taemin nodded in acknowledgement.

“So, tell me more about yourself, Taemin,” Minho said coolly, gesturing for the skinnier boy to take a seat on the couch. Taemin plopped down comfortably, surprisingly not shy around his new trainer. Friend?

“Hmm, there isn’t really much to tell. I was born in 1993, I weigh 53kg, I’m 5’10”… but you probably know all of that already from your file.” Taemin rambled. Minho smiled. “Yeah, I do. What I want to know, Taemin, is why you are here.”

Taemin paused. Why was he here? It felt too childish to say that he was here because of Jongin; but other than that, what could be a plausible lie?

Minho caught him filtering the thoughts in his head. His reprimand came gentle and hushed. “The truth, Taemin.” Minho looked at him with eyes that genuinely wanted to understand; so with a sigh, he said “I want to look good for a boy.”

Blood rushed to Taemin’s cheeks immediately, making him cower behind his hands. Minho didn’t judge nor prod any further. Instead, he perked up and said “okay! Now that, we can work with.” He gave Taemin a wink then motioned for them to stand up so he could show the inside of the gym. Taemin breathed a sigh of relief. No more embarrassing questions at least.

**********

Minho fought the urge to roll his eyes when Taemin told him he was doing it to look good for a boy. It wasn’t a good motivation at all—but given his, Minho’s, precarious situation, he couldn’t be picky. If looking good for Kibum’s cousin was what would make this boy stay, then everyone had best believe Choi Minho would make him simply irresistible.

He’s already attractive, Minho thought. It shouldn’t take a lot of effort.

So he led him to the treadmill first. “Let’s do a little cardio first, shall we?” he beamed at Taemin and asked him to step on the machine. “You have to know how good your heart is, so you can know how much it can handle.” Taemin’s eyes widened.

Fucking hell, that was so cheesy. Minho held the panic at the back of his throat and cleared it with a cough. Then he proceeded to press some buttons on the machine and in a snap, it whirred to life. Taemin reluctantly began running to keep pace.

After several steps, Taemin was exhausted. “Oh no! No! No! Don’t put me up for cardio!” Taemin cried, winded. His legs felt like they would give way from under him in a tangle of limbs by the gym floor. Minho eyed him curiously. “Oh don’t just stand there, you dick! Turn this thing off!” Taemin cursed.

Everyone in the gym momentarily stopped at the sound of Taemin cussing. They were used to Minho screaming at his clients but not the other way around—usually, his clients didn’t shout until they were inside the sanctuary of Jonghyun’s office.

It took a beat, but the abrupt silence finally fueled Minho’s fingers to stop the machine. Taemin hung on to the railings, panting, glaring at Minho who was as dumbfounded as the rest of the gym’s clientele.

“Did… did you just yell at me?”

“Yes, you asshole. You can’t push people to run that fast right away. Jesus Christ, I thought I was gonna die!”

“But… I don’t understand. Kibum said you’re…”

Taemin stepped off the machine to stand toe-to-toe with Minho. He stared straight up to his eyes with a smirk on his face.

“Shy? Timid?” Taemin offered, scoffing. “Well, Minho, it looks like you’re gonna know me very well.”

**********

Jinki poured Minho another shot of soju in their favorite food cart. He had been ranting about his new client every night for the past week—so Jinki created a drinking game where he would fill Minho’s glass every time he said “Taemin.”

“And you know, hyung? He looked so irritatingly weak, couldn’t even lift the lightest weight today. I asked him, ‘Ya, Taemin, how did you carry your school books when you can’t even lift this much?’”

“Drink,” Jinki said, smiling to himself.

Minho downed the glass. “And then that little brat just stuck his tongue out at me, made an excuse to go to the bathroom, then disappeared for half an hour!”

It felt nice indulging Minho in these moments. Jinki, who had witnessed Minho’s biggest heartbreak, found it great that his dongsaeng finally had someone else in mind whenever they drank. Jinki was getting tired of hearing Minho say “Changmin hyung” over and over. It had been too long.

The ahjumma came to serve them their fifth soju bottle that night and Jinki thanked her with a smile and a bow. She, too, had been a witness to Minho’s ramblings all week—so she, too, knew what Jinki had concluded.

The litany wasn’t done. “And the worst part, hyung, is he’s doing it all for a guy! What a stupid, fucking reason.”

“Sounds like you’re having a little crush on your client,” Jinki said as he picked a rice cake from their teokbokki platter and forced fed it to Minho. Minho choked.

“Me? On Taemin? No way! You know me, hyung, I don’t like people who are too fussy or too whiny or too childish. Taemin, like, took all the things I hate and made it his personality.”

Jinki and the ahjumma exchanged glances as if to say “oh, he’s going to regret that.” She smiled good-naturedly before retreating to the back of the counter, leaving Jinki to take care of Minho by himself.

The older one sighed, patting Minho at the back. “Drink.”

**********

The next morning, Minho frantically tapped the snooze button on his phone as he felt a bad hangover creeping in. His head pounded and he couldn’t keep his eyes open for too long. With much effort, he dialed Jonghyun’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hyung, I’m afraid I’ll have to take a day off.”

“Went out with Jinki again?”

“Y-yeah. How did you know?”

“He’s here for his shift with bloodshot eyes. Seriously, Minho, you have been drinking all week. Is everything okay?”

Minho could only grunt on the other end of the line. No, everything was not okay. But of course he couldn’t say that, not when his career was on the line. He heard Jonghyun sigh.

“Take care of yourself, man. Just text your client to reschedule. Gotta go.” The line went dead.

Ugh, I really don’t want to text him, Minho thought angrily. Something about Taemin irked him in a way he couldn’t really understand. He just needed to get away from him as much as possible—so if a single text message will be the key to that, so be it. He began typing.

To: Lee Taemin

Hi, Taemin. This is Minho. I’m sorry but I can’t come to work right now. Can we reschedule the session to next week? Thanks so much.

He put the phone face down as his heartbeat accelerated. Unwelcome thoughts about that being his first text message to Taemin swam rapidly all over his hungover brain, making him groan once more. “Stoooop torturing me,” Minho cried to no one in particular. Then he drifted back to sleep.

It was noon when Minho woke up—all thanks to the incessant knocking on his door. He stumbled towards the sound of the noise, thinking it was Jinki again, probably with some lunch. Perfect timing, Minho was hungry. He swung the door open enthusiastically. “Hyung, I— Yah! What are you doing here?!”

In a twisted turn of events, Minho found the last person he wanted to see on the opposite side of his door.

“I made you hangover soup,” Lee Taemin said innocently, looking at Minho with his beautiful, hazel eyes.

**********

When Taemin read Minho’s message that morning, he knew he wanted to do something. Maybe it was out of pity—he only ever saw Minho talk with that other trainer, Jinki; so Taemin concluded that he didn’t have many friends. Maybe it was Taemin’s sense of responsibility—he hadn’t exactly been an easy pupil to handle, Minho must have had a hard time.

For whatever reason, Taemin found himself whipping up a quick hangover soup for his gym coach and asking Kibum stubbornly where he might go to find him. Kibum gave an address—and so here they were.

“Aren’t you going to let me in?” Taemin asked, trying very hard not to fixate on Minho’s naked upper body. They stood awkwardly by the doorway until Minho let out a huge sigh and opened the door wider to let his visitor in.

Taemin headed straight to the kitchen. “Where do you keep your bowls?” he called; but Minho was already behind him, his arms reaching up the cupboard to get two bowls, unintentionally pressing his body against the younger boy. Taemin’s pulse quickened.

Without a word, Minho set the bowls down on the counter. Then he took the small lunchbag from Taemin and dumped the containers in a small pot on the stove. “Sit down,” he barked, pointing to one of the two chairs on opposite ends of a small dining table. The smell of the soup being heated calmed his nerves.

When Minho had scooped the soup in separate bowls, he brought them to Taemin who, until then, had been busying himself with his phone. The kid couldn’t sit still in silence, Minho thought. He didn’t understand why he would come here.

“Thank you for the food!” Taemin said, smiling so wide that Minho suddenly noticed how bright he looked when he was happy. It sent a chuckle up Minho’s throat. “What?” Taemin asked—but Minho only smiled and took a spoonful of soup.

It tasted horrible.

But Minho found that he didn’t mind. As he and Taemin slurped the soup in silence, he noticed a warm feeling in his chest. He was grateful.

Taemin offered to wash the dishes but Minho declined. Instead, he led him to the living room to watch some TV. The dishes could wait.

“Thank you for the food,” Minho shyly said as Taemin flipped through the channels. “Ah, hyung, don’t mention it.”

Minho’s heart stopped. Hyung?

Taemin seemed to have noticed. He panicked and retracted. “Oh. Uhm. I mean, Minho-ssi.”

Minho considered it. Thought about it a little longer than necessary. Then he decided. “Hyung is fine.”

Taemin smiled wide again—only this time, Minho joined along.

**********

Taemin stayed all day.

They enjoyed some light TV viewing at first but as time passed, Minho found that they had more fun when talking. So Minho made coffee for both of them and they sat on the balcony (well, laundry area), just talking until the sun had set.

They talked about random things, too. Favorite colors, movies, songs. Minho liked classic hues: black, grays, whites. Taemin opted for bolder blues and reds. Minho liked a wide range of movies. Taemin watched his favorites over and over again. Minho liked ballads. Taemin liked songs he could dance to.

Everything was going so well. So much, actually, that Minho felt comfortable enough to ask: “so, what’s the deal with you and Jongin?”

Taemin couldn’t say he didn’t expect it, but it still felt foreign coming from Minho. He shrugged it off, though. “I’ve known him since we were kids but I only realized I liked him recently. So, like, I’m making up for 10 years worth of missed opportunities.”

Minho laughed. He remembered his own experience all too well. “I’ve been there and done that. Trust me, Taemin, it doesn’t really end well.” Taemin was indignant. “I could make it work! If I don’t give up, I can do it.”

“Do you want me to help you?” Minho caught himself too late. It was against reason or ethics to do this, wasn’t it? But Taemin looked hopeful and giddy in front of him, he didn’t have the heart to take it back.

“But hyung you’re already helping me at the gym.”

“No, no. A different kind of help. Like, let me tell you what to text him or something. I’m not an expert, but at least I can try.”

Taemin paused, considering, before deciding there was no harm in trying. “Okay,” he said. “What do I tell him now?”

Minho snatched Taemin’s phone away from his hands and quickly turned to his chat history with Jongin. It was dryer than a desert. “Jesus Christ, Taemin, is this how you text?!” Taemin blushed scarlet. “Give that back!”

“Okay, but send this first.” Minho typed quickly before handing the device back to Taemin. “Read it aloud before you hit send.”

Taemin rolled his eyes but obeyed. “‘Hey, Jongin. What are you up to next weekend?’ Oh my god this is so cheesy!”

“Just send it!”

So Taemin did. He and Minho stared at each other, holding back the laughter that mixed with anticipation. It felt like an eternity… until finally, Taemin’s phone beeped.

From: Kim Jongin

Saturday? My band has a gig. Wanna come?

“Aaaaah! Hyung he replied! He’s asking me out!” Taemin stood up and jumped up and down, much to Minho’s delight. He couldn’t stop screaming and jumping. “Ya, ya. Careful! Stop jumping! Are you that happy?” Minho said between giggles.

Oh, but yes. Taemin was that happy—and it did something funny to Minho’s stomach. It must be the hangover still, he reasoned.

That night, when Taemin had thanked him a million times, Minho finally managed to drag him outside his door. They exchanged goodbyes.

“I’ll see him again soon,” Minho said as he rushed to take a shower, ignoring the fact that, if he was being honest, he never really wanted to see Taemin leave.

**********

Monday rolled around pretty quickly and much to Minho’s surprise, Taemin arrived at the gym earlier than he did. The student greeted the teacher with a cheery smile and a cup of coffee.

“For you. So we can start the week right,” Taemin said, handing Minho the warm cup. Minho took it as his heart swelled with joy, curving his lips up to an involuntary smile. Taemin was practically bouncing with energy. Finally, they could get a decent workout today.

Taemin obeyed Minho without complaint. He lifted what he had to until his arms were sore. He ran as fast as he needed to until he had emptied out his lungs. He didn’t escape to the bathroom nor yelled at Minho for pushing him beyond what was comfortable. Finally, their session was up—and he lied down on the floor after cooling down, drenched in sweat, and stared at the ceiling pensively. “Minho hyung,” he called softly. Minho double-backed and asked “hmm?”

“Do you think he’ll like me?”

Minho stopped for a moment before finally saying what he really thought. “You’re very attractive, Taemin. He’d be a fool not to like you.”

“Really? You think so?”

“I know so. So come on, get up.”

Minho extended his hand to help Taemin up, but the moment the younger boy held his hand, his heart went on overdrive and he felt his cheeks burn. This new, unfamiliar feeling gripped Minho with fear. He knew he shouldn’t. He knew it would jeopardize everything. But he also knew that this feeling—whatever it was—had him in a chokehold and he was powerless. Completely helpless at the mere touch of Taemin’s hand. So he found himself forming words in his mouth, hesitant but desperate, blurting it out out of the blue. “Let’s have lunch?” And when Taemin agreed, Minho felt the happiest.

**********

They had lunch together every single day they had a session that week—and Minho was over the moon. He hummed even while doing mundane tasks of wiping down the gym equipment. He smiled at his new clients and never yelled at them, much to Jonghyun and Key’s delight. Minho didn’t know it but Jinki, too, was happy to see him like this.

The Friday before Jongin’s gig came and Taemin, as usual, was brimming with nervous energy. He had done all of Minho’s regimen but he still felt jumpy. “Are you sure there aren’t any more, hyung?” he asked, eyes darting around the gym to find any suitable vessel for his pent-up nerves. “No, you’ve done them all, Taemin. So you can wash up and go home.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then stay in the lobby, jeez. I have a next client coming in.”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“I’ll stay in the lobby and wait for you. I want something stronger than just a meal today.”

Minho audibly heard his heart skipping a beat. “O-okay. This will be long so… feel free to go when you get bored.” Taemin rolled his eyes and scoffed. “I won’t.”

It must have been the longest two hours of Minho’s life. The thought of Taemin waiting for him at the lobby, anticipating his company, probably even craving for it as much as Minho craved his, filled Minho with too much… something. It remained unnamed at the pit of his stomach, occasionally clawing out, threatening to spill its ugly truth out in the open. Minho swallowed. Not today.

When the time came for Minho to leave, he half-expected Taemin to have gone—but to his surprise (and delight), Taemin had stayed. He sat on one of the chairs, asleep, and Minho couldn’t help but notice that his face was, in all ways, angelic.

“I’m ready to go, Taem-“

Taemin woke with a start. “Hmm? Uhm…” he rubbed his eyes. “Taem is a good nickname, hyung, I like it.”

It wasn’t what Minho wanted to say at all, but then Taemin smiled his gummy smile, eyes disappearing behind his happy grins… and there it went again, the feeling in Minho’s stomach, begging to be released. Minho cleared his throat.

“Well, let’s go then, Taem.”

**********

“Drink.”

Taemin happily poured soju in Minho’s glass, much to the latter’s protests. They had been drinking since 6:00 PM. It was already 10:00 PM—but neither of them wanted to go home.

Jinki had joined them sometime about an hour ago. He smiled warmly at Taemin and asked “do you want to see Minho drunk?” Of course, Taemin said yes. So Jinki said they should play Exhaust: a drinking game where they had to name items from a given category. If a player repeated an answer or couldn’t give one in five seconds, he would drink. And it turned out that Minho totally sucked at this game.

If Taemin was being honest, he was having a blast. Minho had been a huge help in calming his nerves down as the impending “date” with Jongin loomed near. He didn’t know why, but Minho’s striking presence was calming. He felt at ease, as if he was home, whenever he was with his coach. It was weird.

At any rate, Taemin decided he would just enjoy his time with Minho. The more time he spent with this attractive man, the more he gained confidence with facing Jongin over the weekend. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t make a fool of himself. If someone as handsome and kind as Minho could enjoy his company, maybe Jongin would, too.

He was pondering over these things when Minho suddenly stood up and staggered outside the food cart. Jinki hastily paid and led Taemin to follow Minho. He was singing and laughing, asking Jinki to sing along with him. The still night air rejoiced at Minho’s carefree cackles; and Taemin found himself beaming, charmed. His pulse quickened as he ran up to walk beside Minho.

“Aigoo here’s Taemni. Taeminnie. Taeminaaaah,” Minho said, then he laughed again. He called Jinki. “Hyung, hyung! Do you remember how I said I hated this boy?” Jinki only smiled, indulging his dongsaeng. “Yeah, why?”

Minho stopped dead in his tracks then rushed over to Jinki to wrap him in a tight embrace. Then he whispered so that Taemin wouldn’t hear. “I was so wrong. Look at him, he’s adorable.” The smile on Jinki’s face grew and he looked at the confused younger boy in front. “Go to him,” he urged Minho—who gladly obeyed.

“You hated me?” Taemin asked, a little sulky. Minho only pinched his cheek. “That’s a secret,” he said, melting Taemin with his gaze that lingered longer than it should have had.

They continued walking. Minho draped his arm over Taemin’s shoulders beside him. “You’re very cute, Taem,” he said “that Jongin guy is so lucky.” Taemin blushed under Minho’s touch, undecided if he felt shy around Minho’s body being that close or because of Jongin tomorrow.

Finally, after stumbling a thousand times across five blocks, Minho’s apartment building loomed into sight and the three headed straight to his unit. Without thinking, Jinki crashed on the couch and ignored the two younger boys to figure out sleeping arrangements for themselves.

At first, Minho tried to be nonchalant about it. “You can’t go home when we’re drunk like this,” he said to Taemin “stay the night.”

Taemin’s heart lurched and caught in his throat. “O-okay,” he agreed and followed where Minho led: in his room with a bed that seemed too small even for Minho alone. “Stay beside me.” It was barely a whisper, scarcely an invitation, but Taemin took it and laid his rigid bones beside Minho, uncaring about the initial discomfort. The bed surely should be preferable over the floor.

It didn’t take long before Minho’s breathing turned even; and Taemin, sleepless, faced him. He could no longer ignore it. Something brewed in his stomach at the sight of this man sleeping peacefully beside him. They were closer than ever and if Taemin just leaned in…

Even in his slumber, Minho sensed something had shifted. It was dark and it felt like seeing things through a thick veil. He barely heard Taemin say something but he remembered looking at his beautiful face through his heavy lids, an unspoken question passing between them. Taemin was so close, he could feel his breath on his lips.

Minho embraced Taemin, wanting to get closer and closer and closer. Their bodies clicked together in place, every nook and cranny seemingly finding its way home.

**********

The next day, Minho woke up to an empty bed. Did I just imagine it? he wondered, replaying the scenes from last night in his head. They all blurred. “Hyung?” he called as he got up.

“In here,” Jinki said. He was frying rice in the kitchen.

“Where’s Taemin?” Minho asked. He looked around the house but there was no trace of him. Jinki eyed Minho carefully then sighed. “He left earlier,” he told Minho whose shoulders visibly slumped. “He said he had to get ready for his date.”

Minho’s face hardened. Of course. It was Jongin. It had always been Jongin. He made his way back to his bed and flopped face-down, ignoring the way his pillows smelled of Taemin’s hair.

“Are you okay?” Jinki called. There was no answer.

NEXT CHAPTER

#MY 2MIN IS BACK #pobrecito minho with the kiss at the end #he wants taemin so bad poor thinggggg #TAEMIN FIGURE YOUR SHIT OUT POOR MING IS SUFFERING FROM A CRUSH #his crush is so cute #the soup tasting had made me cackle

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

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i’m definitely not opposed to that! if i do, it’ll be another little drabble thing (i don’t want to turn this into a long multi-chapter fic) and i’ll make sure to tag you in it. i’m working on some longer projects now so it would have to come after those

Impress Me

Pairing: Lee Taemin x Gender-neutral reader

Summary: A regular old sleepover with your high school best friend turns into something more. **ONESHOT**

Word Count: 2.1k

Note: This was a fic written for the SuperM Exchange Fic Event on Tumblr written for @taeyongslilkitty! Go check out his blog too and, Chai, I hope you enjoy it!

“Are you sure you can’t come?”

You looked around your usual cafeteria lunch table to focus on who would answer your question, unconsciously tuning out the chattering of students and clanging of plates and tupperware in the background. You were used to it after almost four years of high school.

“I’m sorry, but I really can’t miss ballet tomorrow,” Jongin said, stabbing the plastic straw of his apple juice carton through the hole before taking a quick sip. “We have the show soon, you know.”

“It’s fine, I remember you telling me,” you said to Jongin with a sincere smile. You glanced around the rest of the table and narrowed your eyes at your friends in accusation. “Now, I don’t remember any of you telling me why you were missing Movie Night.”

Ningning, a freshman who you all had practically adopted into your group, was the first to speak up. Shyly looking down at her lunch tray, she said, “I have to babysit my cousins. I can’t get out of it.”

Your features softened at Ningning’s nervous tone and you replied as genuinely as you could, “That’s okay, Ningning. Don’t worry about it.”

“Got a game,” Johnny cut in nonchalantly. He scooped up another glob of Mac ‘N’ Cheese and added before eating it, “Sorry, I forgot to tell you.”

You groaned dramatically, thumping your head against the table. “Volleyball?” you asked into your arms, loud enough for him to hear over the cafeteria sounds.

“Oh, what so Jongin’s ballet is fine but my volleyball game isn’t?” Johnny asked pointedly.

“No, no, they’re both fine,” you said. Still, with your head in your arms, you mumbled quieter, “I just had a really good movie picked for this time.”

“I can still go!”

You raised your head up slightly, peaking over your arms at Taemin across from you, chewing his lunch. He swallowed quickly and added, “If you still want to have Movie Night, that is.”

“Taemin, you practically live at my house. It won’t be any different from a regular sleepover,” you said halfheartedly.

“I want to watch whatever movie you picked out, though,” Taemin said. “Maybe give the rest of them FOMO.” Taemin shot the rest of the table a shit-eating smile.

“Ha, ha, still can’t go,” Johnny said, rolling his eyes. “But I promise to go to the next one.”

“Me too,” Jongin said.

“Same,” Ningning agreed.

“Fine,” you dragged out, lifting your head up from your arms to look at your friends. “I get to pick next time too, though.”

“Fine by me,” Taemin said cheerily, beaming at you with his big, gummy smile from across the table. You looked at him quizzically, confused as to why he was so happy to be having just a regular sleepover at your house, something you’d done hundreds of times since you were little. But whatever. He was just Taemin.

. . .

That Friday night, you drove Taemin to your house after school, trying to think of what you would even do after watching the movie with just you two. You’d probably just talk into the late hours of the night like you usually did, laying down side by side on your bed, speaking up at the ceiling, your sides pressed against each other comfortably.

Nothing new, basically.

When you parked in the driveway and made your way towards the front door, you noticed Taemin only had his backpack with him. “Where's your clothes?” you asked as you unlocked the door.

“I left my pajamas here last time. I’ll just use those,” he shrugged.

“Oh so that’s what those random pair of pants and tank top are doing in my drawers,” you chastised lightheartedly. He followed you into the entryway and up the stairs to your room. Dropping your backpack with a bang onto the floor, you said, “Well, FYI, they got washed with my clothes.”

“And that’s exactly why I left them here,” Taemin said with a teasing elbow nudge into your side as he also dropped his backpack beside yours. “Not because I forgot them or anything.”

“Honey? Is Taemin here too?” Mom called loudly from downstairs.

“Yes, Mom!” you called back, poking your head out of your bedroom door so she’d hear you. “He’s sleeping over for Movie Night!”

“None of your other friends could come?” You heard her footsteps clomping up the stairs and went out into the hall to meet her there. But before you could answer with the disappointing truth that a real movie night fell through, Taemin cut in.

“It’ll be just us two, tonight, ma’am.” You rolled your eyes at the formality. No matter how many times Mom told him to just call her by her first name, he still insisted on being formal and polite.

But Mom just smiled kindly and reached over to pet Taemin’s hair, ruffling it up into an adorable mess. “Okay, kiddos. Don’t stay up too late,” she said in a sing-songy voice, turning to head back down the stairs. “Chicken nuggets for dinner, by the way!”

You noticed Taemin’s eyes widen at that and you laughed. “You’re more excited about that than the movie,” you teased, following Mom back down to eat.

Taemin caught up to you quickly to shoot back, “You won’t even tell me what it is. How am I supposed to be excited about something I don’t even know about?”

“It’s called a surprise, idiot.” You continued bantering back and forth lightly over the delicious chicken nugget dinner, laughing when Taemin asked for cereal as a dessert. “Sure, whatever you want, weirdo,” you said as you poured the milk into the bowl for him.

“You don’t have my refined taste.”

“My taste is refined. You just don’t have any.”

“Shut up and have your boring vanilla ice cream,” Taemin said, his cheeks lightly blushed pink as he stuffed his face with a spoonful of cereal. You glanced over at him, his cheeks bulging as he chewed his cereal, his focus entirely on that. He looked kind of cute.

“What are you looking at?” he suddenly asked.

You jumped in your seat and blinked away, pointedly looking at your ice cream bowl in front of you and avoiding Taemin’s knowing gaze. “Nothing.” Taemin continued staring you down and you relented. “Your cheeks are just so stuffed,” you said with an awkward laugh.

He turned visibly red at that, turning away so you could only see the tips of his ears redden. “You know I don’t like my chubby cheeks,” he muttered.

“But they’re so cute!” you cooed, reaching over to pinch them, something you frequently did to tease him. He turned back to look at you when you did, his cheek pinched between your fingers, his face stretched out comically and you laughed. “See?”

“I feel like I just look ugly.”

“Ugly-cute,” you corrected. He shyly glanced back down at his cereal bowl and you finally let go of his cheek, deciding to quickly finish up your ice cream before it melted.

After cleaning the dishes and finishing up with dessert, Taemin followed you up to your bedroom and flopped down onto your bed, stretching so that he took up all the space. “Hey, scooch over. I need space too.”

Taemin rolled over onto one side of the bed with a groan before propping his head on his hands and asking, “Where are we watching anyway?”

“I figured since it’s just us two we could watch on my laptop here.” You snapped open your laptop as you settled next to Taemin on the bed and scrolled until you found the movie. “Ready?”

“Wait.” Taemin scooched around some more, trying to get comfortable, and in the end, you ended up lying pressed up next to each other, the laptop between you two, balanced on both your laps. “Okay, now I’m good,” he said as he adjusted and fluffed the pillows behind you both propping you up.

“Johnny would say we look like a cuddling couple,” you laughed out without thinking, pressing play on the movie and watching the opening credits roll.

Taemin tensed beside you. “Well, he would be wrong. This–” he cleared his throat. “This is normal for us.”

You glanced at Taemin from the side, arching a brow suspiciously. Why was he acting so weird? “Right. We do this all the time. Anyway, pay attention, okay?” you said, hitting him lightly with a nearby pillow.

“Okay, okay!” he laughed, the atmosphere easing back to normal.

Halfway through the movie, when the rest of the house was fast asleep, the soft yellow lamplight of your room creating dancing shadows across the ceiling, you watched the male lead slam a hand against the wall, trapping the female lead, and kissing her fervently. Taemin rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “Bruh, he’s doing it all wrong. This is their first kiss! Why’s he so rough?” He waved his arms around animatedly as he spoke, almost slapping you in the face.

“You’re so worked up about this,” you laughed, swatting Taemin’s hand away and letting the movie just continue playing.

“Well, of course, I am! Nobody should be that rough on the first kiss.”

“It’s just a movie, Taemin,” you said with a smile, turning to look at him sitting up completely now, fuming. “Plus didn’t you say you wanted to be run over by the love of your life? If anything that’s rougher.”

“That’s different,” Taemin stuttered out. “That’s like a meet-cute. And I was just being dramatic. For laughs. You know?”

You sat up now to look across at him directly, the laptop playing the movie forgotten at the foot of the bed. “Fine, that was exaggerated. But you don’t know how you’d act in the heat of the moment.” You gestured towards the laptop. “Those two almost just died!”

“Still not an excuse,” Taemin crossed his arms.

“How would you do it then?” you rolled your eyes.

Taemin’s widened. “Do you want a description or–”

“Sure, whatever.” You smirked at him. “Impress me.”

Taemin froze, staring at you for a few moments before his eyes regained that mischievous, charming look in them you recognized from the night preparing the senior prank or whenever he tried dodging questions about your obvious surprise party. Your heart quickened at the knowledge that Taemin was up to something. And it didn’t help when he scooched forward, closer to you, your knees touching. “First, I’d say something romantic.”

“Like what?” you deadpanned, feigning a yawn for the effect. “Currently, not impressed.”

Taemin simply smirked and your chest tightened. “Like ‘I love you.’” A pause. His teasing smirk falling. His deep brown eyes gazing into yours. “I love you.”

A silence hung in the air between you two. You just stared at each other, waiting for the other to break the silence first. Your heart was beating out of your chest now, suffocating you. Was Taemin saying that to you? “Okay,” you forced out quietly, barely above a whisper.

“Then I’d cup their face.” He reached forward with his soft hand to do just that to you, the touch sending shivers down your spine, cradling your face. “And lean in until…” His voice trailed off, as he continued looking at you, silently asking for permission to continue. You imperceptively nodded, surprisingly okay with the idea of kissing your best friend. Everything about this moment just felt right.

At your tiny nod, Taemin leaned even closer, until he lightly touched your lips with his. He was hesitant and gentle at first, just an innocent peck. But your heart was racing, your face flushed, you wanted this. You leaned more into Taemin, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him closer to kiss him deeper, harder, more. He melted into you scooching even closer and pulling you up until you were sitting on his lap, his arms wrapped around you.

You kissed like that for a few more long moments, before you pulled away, out of breath. Looking down at Taemin, he beamed back up at you, equally as out of breath. “Impressed?”

You blinked at Taemin, confused about what he was talking about. Oh, right. The movie thing. Exhaling into his mouth, ready for round two, you smiled back and said, “Very.”

But Taemin pulled back before you could kiss him again. He looked back up at you with more serious eyes to say, “When I said ‘I love you,’ I meant it. To you, I mean.” He paused, another smile crawling onto his face. “As a friend and more.”

He looked so cute, beneath you with his chubby cheeks breaking into a gummy, big smile that was impossible to reciprocate. “I’ve loved you for years, Taemin," you said. It was the truth. "But maybe after tonight, as more than a friend too,” you breathed out.

“Maybe?” Taemin gawked dramatically. “I thought you said you were impressed!”

“Mmm,” you leaned down to give him another quick peck. “It could become more certain if you just…kissed me more, perhaps,” you smirked.

“Gladly,” he said before flipping you down onto the bed to kiss you again.

END

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

Text

It Started with a Drink - Ch. 5

Pairing: Lee Taemin x Kim Jonghyun.

AU info: (US) High School AU.

Genre: Fluff, Pining

Other tags and warnings: Underage drinking, Misunderstandings and miscommunication, House party, Teen Romance, Teen Angst, Jealousy, Two idiots basically

Summary: Taemin’s crush on his best friend Jonghyun comes to head at a high school house party. If only Taemin didn’t drink so much…

Total Word Count: 21k (divided into 5 chapters)

READ CHAPTER 1, CHAPTER 2, CHAPTER 3, CHAPTER 4 HERE

Taemin studied himself in the mirror. He looked so…bland.

Just like this night was going to be.

Taesun’s old black tux just looked plain on him, no matter how much he adjusted the bow tie choking his neck to spruce it up. And the sleeves were a bit long. Whatever. He gave up trying to look good for no one anyway.

“Taemin! Come down, we’re all ready to take pictures!” his mom called.

“Coming!” Taemin yelled back, brushing his hair out of his eyes one final time before bounding down the stairs, stopping short on the last step when he saw Minho chatting with his parents. He looked like a drama character, his hair perfectly brushed, his suit fitted well on his tall body. Everything Taemin was not.

“Minho’s been ready for a while now, Taemin,” his mom chastised lightly with a smile, leaving the conversation with Minho to admire Taemin on the steps. “Oh, but you look so handsome!”

“Mom…” Taemin whined, embarrassed. He flushed when she pulled out her phone to take photos, forcing a smile as his dad and Minho also turned to look at him.

“You look great!” his dad said encouragingly. “See? I knew we didn’t have to get a new suit,” he said to Taemin’s mom.

“Looking good, Taemin.” Minho flashed him his movie-star-worthy smile.

Taemin’s mom seemed to remember that Minho was still there, spun around quickly, and grabbed his arm, dragging him up beside Taemin. “Smile, boys! Your parents are going to love these, Minho.” Minho and Taemin posed for a few photos, Taemin trying his hardest to keep up the smile that seemed so easy to Minho. Hopefully, he didn’t ruin the pictures. “I’m so sorry we can’t take you tonight,” his mom said when she finished. “We really can’t miss your father’s work dinner.”

“It’s alright,” Minho said, coming down from the step. “Jonghyun said he could take us.”

“Oh, bless that boy’s heart,” his mom said before pulling Taemin and Minho into a tight hug. “Have fun tonight, okay? That’s the whole point of prom.”

“Will do, Mom,” Taemin mumbled into her chest as she squeezed him impossibly tight.

“I’ll make sure he has a good time,” Minho said with a nod when she pulled away. Just then, they heard a car beep outside. “Oh, that must be him.”

Jonghyun leaned out of the open car window when he saw Minho and Taemin approaching. “Hey guys! Looking good~”

Taemin shoved down the blush he felt creeping. Not now. “Thanks, Jonghyun. You too.” Taemin couldn’t keep his eyes off his face, which somehow looked ten times more handsome than usual. It must have to do with how he pushed his hair back, Taemin thought, staring for too long into Jonghyun’s glittering eyes before snapping himself out of it.

Taemin felt Jonghyun’s eyes on him as rounded the car to sit in his usual shotgun spot. But Jonghyun hesitated when Taemin opened the door. “Uh– wait, Taemin.” He froze, the passenger door half-opened. “We have to pick Kibum up too.”

“Oh.” That was all he had to say for Taemin to understand. He wasn’t going to throw his prom date in the back of the car that he was driving. And Taemin should probably sit together with his date, Minho. If he could even call him his date. They were really just going together because he lived with him and because no one else had asked him.

Taemin slammed the door shut and shuffled into the backseat, vaguely listening to Minho asking Jonghyun about whether there would be food or not at the dance. Taemin tuned them out as Jonghyun reversed out of his driveway, making his way towards Kibum’s house. He spaced out as he looked out the window, the trees and familiar houses whizzing past in a dark blur.

Jonghyun beeping the horn wrenched him back to the present. Taemin kept his eyes on his window, ignoring how Kibum rushed up to the shotgun seat - his seat - and gave Jonghyun a quick hug, chattering excitedly all the while about how good Jjong looked. “You too, Taemin and…” he said, craning his head back to look at Minho and Taemin in question.

“Minho,” he answered.

“Minho,” Kibum said with a nod. “Ready for your first prom?”

Minho answered as Jonghyun began driving again. “I just hope my expectations aren’t too high.”

Kibum turned back to look to the front. “They probably are,” he said honestly. “Movies and shit hype it up too much.”

“It’s whatever you make of it, Minho,” Jonghyun said wisely to the back. “And the after-parties can be a lot of fun too.”

“Are you going to one?” Minho asked.

“He’s singing with my band at Jack’s after.” Taemin could practically hear Kibum’s grin from the back, even as he stared numbly into the back of his head.

He ignored the pressure growing on his chest and turned away from the window, forcing his voice to work. “Did you join?”

Jonghyun glanced at Taemin through the rearview mirror. He hesitated again. “Not yet. I’m just trying out a performance with them.”

Taemin felt his stomach twisting in on itself again. He kept his voice level. “I guess they weren’t trash.”

Kibum laughed loudly at that. “Of course, we aren’t.” He twisted around to look at Taemin behind him. “I’d never waste Jjong’s talents that way.”

Taemin tried smiling back at Kibum before returning to his window, pressing his face against the cool glass. Why couldn’t he just be happy for Jonghyun, why did he have to get angry and jealous over everything, why did he hate this Kibum guy so much, why–

“You okay, Taemin?”

Minho. He asked softly enough that the front of the car didn’t hear, Jonghyun and Kibum talking about some senior year history teacher. Breaking his stare from the window, Taemin saw that Minho looked genuinely concerned, his brow furrowed into a worried expression. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You always say that when you’re lying,” Minho pressed. He smiled. “I’ve gotten to know you pretty well this past month.”

Taemin opened his mouth to lie again but the car jolted to a stop just then. “We’re here!” Kibum cheered loudly, unclicking his seatbelt and hopping out of the car. Taemin took the diversion in Minho’s attention to avoid his question, also getting out of the car and busying himself by adjusting his tux and staring at his shoes and the pavement beneath him.

The rest went by in a blur and before he knew it, Taemin was staring at clean marble hotel floors, strobing lights brightening and darkening his vision every second, and whatever pop song was playing thrumming its way through his bones. He felt a nudge into his side. “You aren’t going to dance?”

Jonghyun. Taemin forced his eyes up, reading Jonghyun’s smiling face, which faltered a bit when he noticed Taemin’s. Did he really look that miserable? Taemin fixed a smile on his face as well, willing it to look real enough. “I dance enough in practice.”

“Yeah, but this is for fun!” Jonghyun pressed his shoulder into Taemin’s lightly, gesturing to the crowded dance floor. “Unless you want to sit around one of the tables the entire night.”

“What if I did?”

“Then I’d go with you.” Jonghyun grabbed Taemin’s arm and guided him through the tables, looking for an empty one. When he found one, he picked a spot and pulled Taemin into the seat beside him. “I really hope you change your mind about the dancing, though,” he said with a laugh.

“Punch?” Kibum held up two pink drinks, placing one down for Jonghyun and keeping the other one for himself. “Ah, Taemin. I didn’t have enough hands for one for you,” he said, pulling out a chair and sitting on Jonghyun’s other side. Then scooting closer to Jonghyun.

“It’s fine,” Taemin said, busying himself by looking around the gym for a way out. He recognized people from some of his classes here and there and they waved at him when they caught his eye. But Minho had disappeared and Taemin really didn’t have anyone else to talk to besides Jonghyun. He was stuck.

“Jinki!” Jonghyun exclaimed suddenly, getting up from his chair. Taemin followed suit. “You finally showed up to one of these.”

Jinki smiled and hugged Jonghyun to greet him. “Yeah, I figured senior year prom was one I couldn’t miss.” Then he noticed Taemin behind Jonghyun and talked to him. “It’s great to see you, Taemin!” His voice was normal, but his expression was curious and expectant.

Taemin gave Jinki a quick hug and was trying to figure out how to tell him that no, the “plan” didn't work, of course, and Jonghyun had rejected him and not just that but rejected him in favor of another guy, when Jonghyun cut in, “Jinki, this is my date, Kibum.”

Jinki’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?” But he composed himself quickly, shooting Kibum that same smile. “Nice to meet you, Kibum.”

“Since Taeminnie here doesn’t want to dance,” Jonghyun laughed, ruffling up Taemin’s hair even as Taemin went hot everywhere, “let’s not stand around. I chose this table for a reason.” Taemin took his spot again, staring at the tablecloth in front of him and pointedly ignoring Jinki who sat at his other side.

“When do you think we’ll get dinner?” Kibum asked.

“Probably soon, the place is pretty crowded now,” Jinki replied.

“Oh my God, is that Mr. Riviera with Ms. Rodriguez over there?”

Taemin tuned out. Studying the individual strands of fabric weaved into the tablecloth was more interesting than this conversation. He only looked up when someone called his name.

“Taemin?”

It was Jonghyun, again. Why couldn’t he leave him alone and miserable? That way he wouldn’t have to listen to his conversation with his date the entire time and–

Kibum had his arm around Jonghyun.

“You look pale.” Jonghyun shifted in his seat to fuss over Taemin, seemingly oblivious to Kibum’s arm draped over him. He held Taemin’s face in his hands and brushed the hair out from his forehead to press the back of one against it to feel his temperature. “You don’t feel hot, though.”

Except now he did. Because of Jonghyun staring into his face like that all while Kibum still had his stupid arm around him, scooching even closer to Jonghyun to also examine Taemin. “Do you need some fresh air?” Kibum asked him.

Taemin couldn’t take it. He pushed Jonghyun’s hands off him and roughly stood up, his chair clattering behind him on the floor. “I’m going to get a drink.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Jonghyun. Again. Why did he have to sound so concerned, why did Taemin’s heart have to hurt so much for him, why…

“No, I’m fine,” Taemin snapped, before spinning quickly on his heel so he didn’t have to see Jonghyun’s reaction to that. He could still feel his heavy gaze following him as he beelined to the table of cups, taking a deep shuddering breath when he got there to slow his racing heart.

He wanted to go home. He wanted to bury himself under his covers and breathe in the stale air and forget about Jonghyun, forget about the first time he realized he liked him in freshman year, forget about his crush. Which was a fitting name, with his heart hurting and the pressure on his chest crushing him deeper and deeper.

Just when Taemin thought about going to hide in the bathroom, Minho appeared beside him, a comforting hand heavy on his back. “You okay, Taemin? Tell me the truth this time.”

“I’m…” Taemin tried forcing out his usual I’m fine but it wouldn’t come out. “I just feel a bit dizzy.”

“Here, have some.” Minho shoved a cup of punch in Taemin’s face, then seemed to reconsider. He fumbled around for some water instead. “This is healthier.” Taemin took the cup and swallowed a few gulps, and Minho asked, “Feeling more refreshed?”

Minho looked so worried that Taemin couldn’t bear to tell him that he really didn’t feel much better. He wasn’t dehydrated or hungry or anything. His problem was on the opposite side of the hall with another guy's arm draped around him. “Mm,” he said instead of all that.

Minho relaxed, his shoulders drooping in relief. “Good. Keep drinking water throughout the night.” He patted Taemin on the back again. “And let me know if you feel bad and we can both go home. There’s not much to do here anyway.”

Before Taemin could ask him about who would even take them home if they wanted to, another voice popped up beside him, high-pitched and bell-like. Clara. “Hey, boys! It’s been a little while.”

She wore a short, shimmery dress, reflecting all the colorful lights in the hall. Taemin blinked at her, not sure if he was annoyed or relieved at her presence. “Hey, Clara.”

“You both look great!” she complimented cheerily. But Taemin caught how her eyes lingered on Minho a second too long. She caught herself and looked back at them both. “Don’t mind me, just here to get some drinks for my friends.”

“Yeah– yeah, no worries,” Minho stuttered, moving quickly out of the way so that Clara could grab two cups and shoot them another kind smile before sashaying back to her table probably. Minho exhaled loudly and looked down at his shoes as she left, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, searching for the right thing to say before finally, “Taemin, I know I came with you and all, but…”

Taemin had an idea of what was up. “Minho, you don’t have to babysit me tonight. And we came as friends. Do whatever you want.”

Minho looked up at Taemin excitedly. “If you feel bad though, I promised your mom–”

“I feel better after the water.”

“And you don’t feel anything towards Clara?”

Ah, straight to the point. Taemin nodded as vigorously as he could and said, “Just go dance with her. I’m sure she’d love to.”

“Really?” He brightened up like a puppy but asked Taemin one more time. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, Minho, seriously.”

“It’ll just be for a bit but text me if you need anything, okay?” Taemin nodded but Minho pressed on. “Promise?”

Taemin rolled his eyes and smiled. “Promise.”

Satisfied with his answer, Minho beamed at Taemin one final time and gave him two thumbs up before rushing over in Clara’s direction.

Now Taemin was really alone. Which is what he wanted, right? His eyes scanned the hall, noticing the music change from whatever hype pop song was playing to a slow, romantic song and couples start pairing up. With a small smile, he spotted Minho taking Clara’s hand and guiding her to the dance floor together.

But his smile fell when he saw Kibum doing the same to Jonghyun. The now-familiar rush of emotions flooded through Taemin, leaving him hot and burning with tears he didn’t realize were there until one fell on his cheek. Roughly rubbing them away, he trained his eyes on Jonghyun and Kibum, now holding hands as they paired up for the song. He was too far to see his face, but Taemin figured he was probably smiling wide, wider than he ever had with Taemin. He rubbed his eyes aggressively again, willing for the sight in front of him to disappear, hoping he had just made it up. But no, there was Jonghyun dancing with Kibum. Taemin stared for another few moments until Jonghyun turned his head and looked in Taemin’s direction, locking eyes with him.

But Taemin was done. Vision swimming, he broke his stare and stumbled out of the hall, bumping into a girl on the way out and accidentally stepping on her dress. He needed fresh air. He needed somewhere to cry alone. He needed to get over Jonghyun.

Taemin walked and walked blindly, inhaling the dewy night air once he stepped outside and exhaling hot anger if that's even what he was feeling. He only stopped when he somehow reached a field of finely trimmed grass. Blinking dumbly, he realized he had ended up at the hotel’s golf course. There was a little pond with rocks lining the edge nearby, the water reflecting back at him the moon hanging low in the sky. Taemin picked the flattest rock and sat down on it, bringing his knees up to his chest and focusing on breathing.

Maybe Jonghyun going off to college would be a good thing for Taemin. If he didn’t have to see him so often, he could forget about how his laugh bubbled up from deep in his chest when Taemin said something funny, how the wind from the windows he insisted on keeping down in his car blew his hair messily, how he pinched Taemin’s cheeks and said Taeminnie~ in that voice of his. Maybe Taemin could forget how his heart raced whenever he looked at him and how he loved him more deeply than he could ever love anyone else.

Maybe the Taemin of the future, off to college who knows where, would look back on this Taemin and think he’s stupid. He’d think of Jonghyun, his best friend for years, and his chest wouldn’t constrict, his stomach wouldn’t flutter. He’d just see him as a normal friend, able to do normal friend activities like introduce each other to their significant others or get coffee without Taemin thinking too much into it. Taemin buried his head into his knees, wishing so hard that he could skip to that Taemin of the future, just so that it wouldn’t sting so bad when Jonghyun danced with another guy or joined some band. Just so that it wouldn’t hurt his heart anymore.

“Taemin?”

Taemin startled, spinning around to see Jonghyun standing behind him on the grass, his face contorted in concern. Concern over Taemin. Shit. He rubbed his eyes again to hide any remaining tear streaks. “Oh, Jonghyun,” he said, standing up quickly from the rock.

Too quickly. He stumbled back, losing his balance, and for a split second, it felt like he would fall back into the water, ruining his brother’s suit and his hair which he had fussed about for ages this evening. He flailed his arms, trying to regain balance before they caught and held onto something solid.

Jonghyun pulled him up and steadied him on the grass now, his grip on his arms tight. “Taemin, what are you doing out here?” His voice was rough, caught somewhere between anger and worry.

“I needed fresh air.”

“You could’ve gone with me. Or at least told me.” Jonghyun sighed deeply as if he was frustrated that Taemin disappeared on him when he could’ve been dancing happily with Kibum the entire night. Or something. “You looked bad the entire night.”

“Gee, thanks,” Taemin tried sarcastically.

“Not that way, I–” He shook his head at Taemin, then exhaled deeply before saying, “You’ve had me so worried and– and confused for this entire fucking month and you won’t ever tell me anything unless you’re drunk and just, why don’t you ever say anything?” His voice climbed in volume and desperation as he continued. “I don’t want to hurt you, Taemin, but I can’t do anything right if I don’t know.”

“Unless I’m drunk?” Taemin repeated stupidly. He didn’t know how to respond to the rest of what Jonghyun said.

“I–” Another deep breath, his shoulders drooping and his grip on Taemin loosening. “I never told the truth about that night at Jack’s. Or at least the whole truth.” Taemin froze under his hands. “You…said some stuff. And then you kissed me and when I told you I couldn’t kiss you drunk like that you started crying and saying things and stormed off and I just never wanted to see you like that again,” Jonghyun said in a rush, out of breath and looking at Taemin desperately when he finished.

“I kissed you?” Taemin asked dumbly again. This was all too much, too much especially with Jonghyun looking at him like that and holding him tightly again–

“Taemin, when you kissed me, I kissed you back. You have to understand, I didn’t realize how I felt towards you until you did that, but it was just so confusing and I didn’t want to take advantage of you drunk and you just looked so hurt.” Jonghyun’s voice cracked slightly as he said in a ragged breath, “I could never imagine hurting you like that ever again. So I didn’t say anything.” He got quiet and broke his eye contact with Taemin, staring down at the ground, his voice rough and whispery. “I didn’t want things to change if it would end in me just hurting you even more. But now I’m just doing that again and I don’t even know how to fix any of it.”

Taemin found his voice and thoughts again. “You wouldn’t be hurting me. If things changed, I mean.” Losing control over his body, his hand tipped Jonghyun’s chin up to look back at him and not the ground. He hesitated, forcing himself to say these words because Jonghyun was right: He never said what he was feeling, especially when it mattered. He felt his heart beating out of his chest as he said, “I want things to change.”

Jonghyun just looked at him unblinkingly, eyes watering. “Really? Even after how confused I’ve been and everything I’ve done and–”

Taemin leaned forward and quieted him with a quick peck on his lips, pulling away quickly to gauge Jonghyun’s reaction. “Yes. It’s all I’ve wanted for years now.”

Something in Jonghyun’s expression cracked and he held onto Taemin even tighter before rushing forward until their lips met again. He kissed him, harder and longer this time, his body pushing closer into Taemin’s, who groaned involuntarily when Jonghyun let go of one of his arms to hold the back of his neck, skin-on-skin contact making him go hot. Taemin’s knees went weak but Jonghyun held him up, still kissing him deeply. Taemin’s mind went numb and all he knew was Jonghyun as he kissed him back, reaching forward to wrap his arms around Jonghyun’s neck and pull him even closer. Taemin felt Jonghyun’s hand on his arm tickle its way up, settling on his hair and tugging until Taemin moaned into Jonghyun’s mouth, melting into him completely.

After a few more moments, Jonghyun pulled away, voice ragged and out of breath when he said, breath tickling his face, “Taeminnie.”

That nickname. The one that he thought made him seem like a baby, now coming out of Jonnghyun’s mouth, which was red with Taemin's kiss, felt so much heavier, like there was so much more left to explore between them. “Jonghyun,” Taemin said back, voice equally raspy and breathless as his.

“I’m sorry.” His voice cracked again and he looked away, hands letting go of his hair and neck, leaving Taemin cold. He stood before him and said, “I’m so sorry for this past month. Like I said, I was confused and I didn’t want to let Kibum or anyone down but I just hurt you. Are you sure you still want me?” Clenching his hands into fists by his side, he forced out, “I’m such a fucking mess. I don’t even deserve your friendship. I’m just so sorry.”

Taemin held his hand gingerly, feeling him relax immediately at his touch. And for once, it was easy to say the truth. “Did you not listen to anything I said? I’m in love with you, Jonghyun.”

Jonghyun met his eyes and breathed. “I love you, Taemin. So much it hurts and so much I didn’t even realize what I wanted right in front of me for so long.” He unclenched his fist in Taemin’s hand, stretching his fingers out until he tangled them with Taemin’s and squeezed. Then he smiled softly, his eyes crinkling. “At least accept my apology. Please?”

“I accept your apology,” Taemin said, smiling back. “It was all worth it if I get to kiss you again.”

“That’s easy.” Jonghyun pulled Taemin towards him and kissed him softly this time on the lips, his touch gentle and warm. Taemin again melted into the kiss, letting Jonghyun hold up his weight before he abruptly pulled away, a teasing smile now on his face. “Why don’t we go back in for a bit? Mosquito season is starting and you know how they like to eat you alive.” Taemin blinked at him before nodding in agreement, leaning down to scratch his ankle at the reminder. “See? I knew it,” Jonghyun t’sked before grabbing Taemin’s hand and dragging him through the golf field back to the prom hall.

“Wait, Jonghyun.”

“Mm.”

Taemin swallowed the lump in his throat. “Are we dating?”

Jonghyun glanced at him, a smile tugging at his lips again. “Whatever my Taeminnie wants~”

“Yes.” At Jonghyun’s raised eyebrows, he cleared his throat and tried again. “I’d like to be dating.”

“See, saying what you want isn’t so hard.” Jonghyun used his free hand to pinch Taemin’s cheek. “Then we’re dating.” Taemin’s smile grew until it felt like it was hurting his face, but he didn’t care, just kept holding and swinging Jonghyun’s hand in his, walking step in step together, until they reached the party doors. There, Jonghyun hesitated before walking in. “I probably have to talk to Kibum…just so he knows and stuff.”

“Okay,” Taemin said, squeezing Jonghyun’s hand in encouragement before letting him go. He watched by the doors as Jonghyun found Kibum and pulled him aside from the dance floor to talk to him. But then he caught Minho’s eye from the other wall. He was chatting with Clara, but when he saw Taemin all alone, he excused himself and rushed over to him, a question in his eyes.

“You doing alright, Taemin?”

“Yeah. More than alright,” Taemin smiled and leaned against the wall.

Minho noticeably relaxed. “Good. You look better too. Did you go outside?”

“Yeah.” Taemin blushed, remembering his kiss with Jonghyun. “The fresh air really helped.”

“Awesome,” Minho nodded. “Okay, I’ll be right over there.” He waved goodbye and sped off to Clara again, just as Jonghyun returned, an easy smile on his lips that Taemin wanted to suddenly kiss again.

“He took it pretty well,” he said with satisfaction. “I’ll still sing in the band and all– for tonight at least, but…” He looked at Taemin hesitantly.

“If you want to be in the band, be in the band. It doesn’t bother me.” Taemin surprised himself at how much he believed his own words. “It shouldn’t. I trust you and you should be able to do whatever you want with your free time.” Then he smirked. “As long as some of that free time includes dates with me…”

“Of course,” Jonghyun agreed immediately, pressing his back against the wall beside Taemin and pushing his shoulder into his lightly. “I can’t even imagine my life without you.”

“And college?” Taemin slipped out. Jonghyun glanced at him weirdly. Fuck, he ruined the moment.

But Jonghyun just brushed his hand against Taemin’s, tickling his fingers until he finally entwined them with his, holding his hand comfortingly. “We’ll figure it out. I love you so much, we have to.”

Taemin relaxed into Jonghyun’s side, leaning his head on his shoulder and feeling his warmth. “I love you, too.”

--END OF STORY--

#shinee #shinee fic #kpop fic #shinee fanfic #fluff #angst #kpop fluff #kim jonghyun #pining #high school au #lee taemin #jongtae #jongtae fluff

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

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It Started with a Drink - Ch. 4

Pairing: Lee Taemin x Kim Jonghyun.

AU info: (US) High School AU.

Genre: Fluff, Pining

Other tags and warnings: Underage drinking, Misunderstandings and miscommunication, House party, Teen Romance, Teen Angst, Jealousy, Two idiots basically

Summary: Taemin’s crush on his best friend Jonghyun comes to head at a high school house party. If only Taemin didn’t drink so much…

Total Word Count: 21k (divided into 5 chapters)

READ CHAPTER 1, CHAPTER 2, CHAPTER 3, CHAPTER 5 HERE

“Prom’s next week? Your school does it so early.”

Taemin glanced at Minho lounging in the back of the car, his seatbelt off so that he could lay down horizontally across all the seats, his new favorite position after a week or so of driving to school with Taemin and Jonghyun. Taemin always thought he did that to fall asleep, but every time he checked on him, his eyes were bright and awake, chatting up at the ceiling nonstop. They never drove in silence anymore.

“Guess we do things differently on the East Coast,” Jonghyun said with a yawn. Taemin felt a twinge of guilt, remembering that he had asked Jonghyun to take them thirty minutes earlier than usual for office hours with Taemin’s math teacher. He had a test on integrals coming up and he wanted to at least pass, even if by a small margin. “It’s always in April for us.”

“Are you going with anyone?” Minho asked the ceiling nonchalantly. “No one’s going to want to go with me, I just got here,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh.

Taemin’s chest tightened as he waited for Jonghyun’s answer. He would tell him if someone asked him to go prom right? Or if had asked someone? Taemin's felt his stomach drop at that thought.“No one, right now,” Jonghyun said after a moment of staring at the red light in front of them. Taemin could breathe again.

“You, Taemin?” Minho asked.

“No one.” Did he say that too quickly? Clearing his throat, he added, “It’s more fun to go with friends anyway. From what I’ve heard.”

“Well as long as we all don’t have dates that is,” Minho laughed. “Also, I keep getting lost on the way to the gym. Your school is a gigantic maze.”

Grateful for the change in topic, Taemin’s shoulders drooped in relief and he carried on chatting casually with Minho in the car, while Jonghyun mainly stayed silent as usual. When they arrived at school, Taemin sped off without Minho or Jonghyun, waving them a quick goodbye so that he could make it to his office hours appointment in time. And he spent most of the day without Jonghyun, catching up with Minho instead in the morning who shadowed him in all his classes. But Taemin knew he’d see Jonghyun for lunch in the cafeteria. They’d been eating lunch together since elementary.

“Usual spot?” Minho asked him in the lunch line, dragging his tray along to pick up a good glob of mashed potatoes. Taemin nodded, keeping an eye on his own tray and the food he wanted. “Okay, I’ll meet you there. I need to talk to the soccer captain real quick.”

“Sure, no rush,” Taemin assured him. He finished up in the line and dodged litter and a few stray basketballs left on the cafeteria floor as he headed towards his and Jonghyun’s usual table.

But there was that guy again—the one from the coffee shop. Talking to Jonghyun, his leg propped up on the chair across, casually leaning towards him. Taemin noticed from this angle that he had a scar on one eyebrow. They were smiling, laughing together. Taemin frowned at the sight in front of him but knew that he had to get over himself. If he could expand his circle of friends, so could Jonghyun, right? Taemin took a deep breath and forced his feet to the seat right beside Jonghyun, setting his tray down onto the table with a noticeable clang. “Hey.”

“Taemin!” Jonghyun smiled at him, reaching over to ruffle up his hair once Taemin had sat down. “How were your office hours?”

“Fine.” Taemin stabbed the plastic straw of his apple juice through the carton, sucking on it aggressively after he sat down. Jonghyun’s expression shifted into something like concern as he looked at Taemin. He cringed at himself internally for being so easy to read, so he swallowed his apple juice and looked up at the guy at their table to force out as naturally as possible, “Hi. I’m Taemin.”

“Hey, I’m Kibum,” the guy responded, taking his foot off the chair finally but deciding to sit in the chair across from both Jonghyun and Taemin. “I think I saw you at the showcase.”

“That’s where we met,” Jonghyun said for Taemin, who resisted the urge to respond with an obnoxious, “I know.”

Instead, Taemin shot Kibum his most genuine, welcoming smile. “Wasn’t Jonghyun amazing?”

Jonghyun blushed and shook his head, opening his mouth to say something humble before Kibum cut in, “He was spectacular. I told him so that night.”

Taemin felt his stomach open up but kept his expression as neutral as possible as he agreed, “Mm.”

“Well, I gotta go now,” Kibum said standing up and glancing back, probably at his own usual lunch table. Taemin could hear someone faintly calling “Kibum!” from across the cafeteria. “Nice to meet you, Taemin. And Jjong, don’t forget about tomorrow.” Then he turned and left, leaving Taemin confused and Jonghyun blushing.

Taemin didn’t know what to start with. Jjong? Tomorrow? Instead what came out was, “He was annoying.”

Jonghyun gave him a strange look. “How come? He was just complimenting me.”

Taemin didn’t know how to respond, staring down at his food instead. After a few painful moments, “I don’t know. His vibe.”

Jonghyun just rolled his eyes and nudged Taemin playfully. “First impressions aren’t everything, you know.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“He asked me to join his band.”

“Huh?” Taemin blinked up at Jonghyun. “He has a band? Did you say yes?”

“He helps manage it, he said. Costumes and stuff,” Jonghyun said nonchalantly, biting into his homemade sandwich. His mom always packed his food for him, sometimes even leaving something extra for Taemin. “I said I’d check it out first. That’s where I’m going tomorrow after school.”

“Oh.” Taemin refocused on his food, trying to fill his stomach, but it tasted like nothing as he chewed it over and stuffed his mouth. After forcing himself to swallow, he asked the question he already knew the answer to, “So you can’t take me home tomorrow?”

Jonghyun hesitated. “The practice is right after school. I’ll miss it if I don’t go straight away.” Whatever he saw on Taemin’s face made him reach forward with a smile and pinch Taemin’s stuffed cheek with a t’sk. “The bus isn’t too bad. And it’s just one day.”

“Not if you agree to join.”

He shouldn’t have said that. Jonghyun’s smile faltered and he said, “Or you can wait for me, I guess." He waggled his brows at Taemin and cooed playfully, “Spend some extra time with Minho at school. Or Clara…”

“Yeah, I guess.” Taemin was being so selfish. It was literally just one day. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Don’t worry about me, Jonghyun. I’ll catch up on some homework in the library or something.”

“Are you sure? I can always tell Kibum no if you need me–”

“No,” Taemin said firmly. “Seriously, it’s okay.” Nudging Jonghyun back playfully to ease the mood, he added, “Let me know if the band is any good. Don’t join if they’re trash.”

Jonghyun’s warm smile returned, bright as ever. “I’ll let you know if my ears bleed.”

Then Taemin steeled himself and said quickly, “By the way, Clara and I are just friends.”

“Oh?” Jonghyun put down his fork, looking at Taemin intently. “The date didn’t go well?”

“More like I didn’t even like her to begin with,” Taemin chuckled, the kind that said it wasn’t actually funny. “It didn’t even sting.”

“Oh, okay. Well that’s good,” Jonghyun said. After a pause, he reached over again and ruffled up Taemin’s hair, leaving it an even bigger mess. Taemin should just give up on brushing it in the mornings at this point. “So then why do you look so sad?”

“I’m not.” Taemin slurped up the remains of his apple juice and stood up to clean his tray. “Worried about my math test,” he lied.

But Jonghyun bought it. Or at least pretended to. “You’ll do fine. They always curve those, remember?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Taemin said again. He was always guessing.

He wasn’t sure of anything.

That Friday, Taemin pushed his way through the hall to the library after the bell. Since Minho went to practice with the soccer team, he was alone, setting his books down on a free table as he watched others pick theirs up and leave.

It was also quiet. Too quiet for Taemin, who didn’t want to listen to his own thoughts that bounced around so loud and obnoxiously in his own head. He pulled out his headphones and blasted a playlist Jonghyun had made for him. It’s to study, okay? It’ll help you focus, promise me you’ll use it~

Taemin shook his head, trying to not think of Jonghyun for once in his life. But everything led back to him. The pencil in his hand, stolen from his desk on a late night while studying for finals. His organized math binder lying flat on the desk, because you can’t neglect your notes like this, Taeminnie. The first song he sang at the showcase ringing in his ears.

He sighed deeply, rubbing his eyes aggressively so that he saw spots and colors in his vision when he opened them again. Once they cleared, he blinked and noticed someone across from his spot at the table. Jinki.

“Do you mind if I study here with you?”

Taemin nodded, pushing some of his things out of the way to make more space for Jinki who pulled out his own fat textbook and a binder full of notes.

“I never see you here,” Jinki said. Taemin barely heard him over his headphones, which Jinki definitely noticed. But here he was, still talking to him. So Taemin pulled his headphones down.

“I usually study at home. Or at Jonghyun’s,” he said.

“Ah,” Jinki said with a nod as if that answered all his questions.

But the silence was too weird for Taemin, even in a library. Plus Jinki was looking at him all funny as if he wanted him to talk more. That he’d listen. So Taemin talked. “He couldn’t take me home today.”

“I was half expecting him to show up right now,” Jinki laughed softly, conscious of the school librarian organizing books a few tables away. “You two are attached at the hip every time I see you.”

“He’s checking out a band. They asked him to join.” His voice sounded clipped and annoyed, even to his own ears. He tried to soften it. “It happed at the showcase actually.”

“Ohh,” Jinki simply said. After a moment, “And you don’t want him to?”

“It’s not that,” Taemin said quickly. God, he was so childish. Feeling some heat rush up his face, he said, “He should join if he wants to.” But Jinki didn’t respond, just looked at Taemin some more, same pensive, waiting look on his face. So Taemin continued, “I just hope the band isn’t trash.”

Finally, Jinki spoke. “If he does decide to join, it’ll only be a summer thing. With college starting in the fall and all.”

Taemin groaned loudly, running a hand through his hair in frustration and tugging on whatever he found until it hurt. “Don’t even remind me about you guys graduating.”

“It’s going to happen, Taemin.”

“I know it is, you don’t have to keep telling me,” Taemin snapped back.

But Jinki’s voice remained gentle. “You shouldn’t keep waiting. It’s just hurting you.”

Taemin’s heart sped up again. “What do you mean waiting?”

“For Jonghyun.”

“It’s not like that,” Taemin said immediately. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, so just stop.” He moved to put his headphones back on, ready to tune Jinki out completely and ignore him.

“Taemin, I think he likes you back.”

He froze, dropping his headphones back down onto his neck. “You– what? Really?”

Jinki looked at him with sympathy, and for a second, Taemin wanted to slap it away. But then Jinki said, “You don’t see the way he looks at you. Or talks about you at work.”

“Has he–” Taemin started, feeling his voice crack at how dry his throat had become. He tried again. “Has he said something?”

Jinki shook his head. “That’s not my place to tell, Taemin.”

Taemin groaned loudly again and threw his head down onto his arms on the table, earning him a “shh!” from the librarian. He lowered his voice to say, “Jinki, help me. I’m going insane. He’s so confusing.” Then, in an even lower whisper, “And I’m a fucking mess. I always say the wrong thing, and I can’t even be okay with him going to check out a band with some guy.” He let out a quieter groan again into his arms, feeling his hot breath hit his face back.

“Ask him to prom.”

Taemin lifted his head up, peeking up at Jinki over his arms. “What if he thinks it's just as friends?” Then another, horrible thought entered Taemin’s head. “Or if he says no?”

“The only way you’ll know is if you ask him,” Jinki said wisely.

“But what if I ruin everything?”

“You won’t.”

But what if he did? Taemin didn’t want to ask Jinki again, realizing that he hadn’t touched his notes the entire time he had been talking to Taemin and Taemin was just distracting him. So he just burrowed his face further into his arms. “Fine, I’ll ask him, and if interprets it as just friends, or-" Taemin took another breath. "Or if he says no, then I’ll know. And hopefully, my heart gets the hint to give up.”

“Taemin, you should be clearer–”

“I don’t want to lose him, Jinki,” Taemin cut in, lifting his head again so he could look Jinki straight in the eyes. “That would be worse than him joining a stupid band or going to college.”

Jinki pursed his lips but didn’t say anything else, just nodded. Taemin was thankful when after another long look at Taemin, Jinki just sighed and turned a page in his textbook, pulling out a highlighter to start on some homework. Taemin put his headphones back on again, letting the song that Jonghyun sang better than the original fade into the background as math symbols filled his mind.

The next time Taemin saw Jonghyun, it was in Jonghyun’s bedroom. Taemin laid flat on the floor and stared up at his ceiling, listening to whatever Jonghyun was playing from his record player he’d spent two years saving up for.

Taemin’s stomach twisted and twisted until he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want to ask Jonghyun to prom in front of Minho, and Minho was always with them now. So that Saturday afternoon, Taemin made up an excuse that he needed Jonghyun’s help on homework and showed up at his house unannounced. Jonghyun’s mom opened the door and ushered him inside, asking if he wanted anything to drink and if he’d prefer pasta or pizza for dinner, and Jonghyun’s sister squeezed him into a tight hug and said she’d missed his adorable face, all before Jonghyun came bounding down the stairs, surprise in his eyes.

“Taemin?”

Taemin just grunted in response. The floor was really comfortable. And if his stomach twisted in on itself enough maybe it’ll shrivel all of him up with it so that he could disappear into the floor and out of Jonghyun’s heavy gaze above him.

“Did you really just come to lay on my floor?” Jonghyun asked. He leaned forward on the edge of his bed, his laptop and notebook strewn across it. He was probably in the middle of writing a song when Taemin interrupted. “Is Minho being that annoying?”

“No,” Taemin whined, rolling over onto his side, his back to Jonghyun’s bed. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” A pause, then Jonghyun’s bed groaned loudly as he sunk down onto the floor next to Taemin, sitting cross-legged by his head. He stroked Taemin’s hair lightly and asked gently, warmly, “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me, Taeminnie.”

Taemin’s heart hurt so much he felt like he could die. Here was Jonghyun, petting his hair, asking him to tell him what’s wrong – when it’s him. But it’s not even his fault. He can’t hate Jonghyun for it when It’s Taemin’s and his stupid heart’s fault for falling for his best friend when it could ruin everything and–

“Go to prom with me.”

It slipped out. Shit. When he realized, his stomach twisted impossibly tighter, and he curled in on himself on the hard wooden floor, feeling Jonghyun’s hand on his head freeze, waiting for his response.

After an eternity, Jonghyun said slowly, “Taemin, Kibum already asked me.”

Oh. Kibum already asked him.

“I’m really sorry. If you had just asked me before–” Jonghyun continued helplessly in this rush, his hand gone from Taemin’s head.

“It’s fine, Jonghyun,” Taemin forced out. He pulled himself off the floor, sitting across from Jonghyun but looking everywhere but at him. He settled on the floor, studying the pattern of the wooden planks beneath them. Then asked what he already knew, “He asked you yesterday?”

Jonghyun nodded. Taemin didn’t need to look up to know. Jonghyun continued talking again, apologizing in this awful voice that said he knew Taemin felt hurt, “Taeminnie, I would’ve gone with you but I already promised Kibum, since he asked me first. We can hang out together the whole night, though. And I’ll buy you coffee for a week.” He smiled at him, trying to bring out the same smile in Taemin.

But it didn’t work. Not when Taemin waited too long and wasted his chance, like Jinki said. “I hope you guys have fun.” It took everything to say that, and Taemin collapsed back onto the floor face-up, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling.

“We’re just going as friends.”

Taemin shut his eyes tightly, blocking out the light. He hated the part of himself that jumped when Jonghyun said that, filled with a tiny sliver of renewed hope. He was hopeless, that’s what. He was utterly hopeless. “Seems fun.”

“Taemin, are you mad?” Taemin kept his eyes shut, but then he felt a gentle push of his shoulders on the floor. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad, Jonghyun. I swear.” That was the truth. This feeling sinking inside of him like a heavy stone at the pit of his stomach wasn’t anger. But Taemin couldn’t figure it out either, just knew that it kept sinking and sinking, pulling him down deeper until–

“Okay,” Jonghyun said, lying down on the floor with Taemin, pressed together side by side. Taemin went hot, acutely aware of every place that they were touching. “I hate when you’re mad at me. Especially because you bottle it up and don’t say anything for ages.”

At least he was good at hiding his feelings. Which would be especially useful now, what with Jonghyun reaching over to pinch Taemin’s cheek, their sides still pressed close together. The smart and perhaps petty part of Taemin bubbled up then, saying quickly, “I’ll go with Minho. As friends too.”

Jonghyun’s hand fell from his cheek. After another eternity he answered, “That sounds like a fun night.”

Taemin glanced over at Jonghyun. He stared back up at the ceiling but when he noticed Taemin’s eyes on him, turned to look back at Taemin, holding his gaze. He was caught and couldn’t look away, entranced by his deep brown eyes. They were so close that Taemin could feel Jonghyun’s breath on his face when he said softly, “I just want you to have fun, Taemin. That’s all I want.”

Taemin closed his eyes and turned away.

--END OF CHAPTER--

READ CH 5 HERE

#shinee #shinee fic #kpop fic #shinee fanfic #fluff #angst #kpop fluff #kim jonghyun #pining #high school au #lee taemin #jongtae #jongtae fluff

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

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It Started with a Drink - Ch. 3

Pairing: Lee Taemin x Kim Jonghyun.

AU info: (US) High School AU.

Genre: Fluff, Pining

Other tags and warnings: Underage drinking, Misunderstandings and miscommunication, House party, Teen Romance, Teen Angst, Jealousy, Two idiots basically

Summary: Taemin’s crush on his best friend Jonghyun comes to head at a high school house party. If only Taemin didn’t drink so much…

Total Word Count: 21k (divided into 5 chapters)

READ CHAPTER 1, CHAPTER 2, CHAPTER 4, CHAPTER 5 HERE

“How’d you sleep last night, Minho?”

Taemin bit into his buttered piece of toast and chewed it over slowly as he glanced over at his mom, cleaning up some of the dishes. Then a glance at Minho. Taemin thought that it was impossible for anyone but Jonghyun to wake up looking good in the morning, but Minho’s perfect visage, no dark circles or puffy eyes in sight, surprised him again and again.

“I slept well, thank you, ma’am. The bed was very comfortable.” Minho finished up his breakfast and began excusing himself from the table, before Taemin’s mom stopped him.

“Wait, Minho." She looked back at Taemin expectantly. "Doesn’t Jonghyun have a performance tonight at the Cozy Bean?” Taemin gave a small nod in response and his mom lit up. “You should take Minho with you! I’m sure he’ll love it.”

Minho looked over at Taemin, a question in his eyes. Taemin did promise him to hang out together. There was no way to say no to this, especially with his mom right there. “Sure. Jonghyun’s picking me up so he can just go with us.”

“Amazing. And maybe you’ll meet some new friends there, Minho,” his mom continued on cheerily. The sound of clinking dishes interrupted her words. “Every time I’ve been for showcases, I always feel so out of place with all you young people there,” she said with a laugh.

“That’d be great,” Minho said graciously, ever the gentleman. It was almost irritating to Taemin if he didn’t pull it off so well.

“It’s at 6 PM,” Taemin said, checking his phone for the time now. It read 10:37 AM. Fuck, he also had to call up Clara for his date with her, plus go to dance practice, plus study for the SAT, plus, plus, plus. He wasn’t going to have enough time.

But then an idea hit him. He searched for Clara in his contacts and shot her a message, telling her to just come to his house around 5:30 PM. This way, he could be with Clara, Minho, and Jonghyun simultaneously and save time. It was genius.

Proud of his time management skills, Taemin excused himself from breakfast and went about his day, working himself until he was sore at dance, studying algebra at his desk until his eyes crossed, all until a text from Jonghyun reminding him that he’d be there in thirty minutes to pick him up sent him flying to his closet to put something presentable on.

After deciding on a casual shirt tucked into some blue jeans, Taemin heard his phone ringing. He mentally facepalmed when he read the contact name: Clara. Right, he had arranged this to save time but now would have to deal with the consequences and awkwardness that came with inviting his date, his new roommate, and his best friend to his best friend’s showcase.

Whatever. He’d deal with it, he thought as he threw on a jacket and ran downstairs to open the door for Clara. But his mom had already beat him to it.

“Welcome dearie!” his mother cooed as she ushered Clara inside. Clara wore a cute spring dress that hugged her hips and showed off her smooth shoulders. She was objectively really pretty.

“Thank you for letting me in. Oh, Taemin!” She beamed up at him when he appeared and he tried to smile back genuinely, ignoring the way his anxiety about the car ride sat heavily like a pit in his stomach. “I’m ready to go when you are. I can drive since I brought my car.”

“Oh, actually–” Before Taemin could correct her and let her know about the actual plans, Minho came bounding the stairs, clearly unaware of the reunion happening. He stopped short at the foot of the stairs and stared at Clara, his eyes wide.

“Hi,” was all he said, his mouth left slightly open.

“Hey,” Clara said shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Taemin, why don’t you introduce everyone?” his mom asked him as she turned on her heel and left them all alone in the entryway.

Taemin was put on the spot. “Um, so Clara, this is Minho. He's an exchange student staying with us.” He gestured lamely to Minho at the foot of the stairs. “Minho, this is Clara. My date,” he added hesitantly.

He noticed Clara flush a little at that. She stuck out her hand for Minho to shake. “Hi, Minho. Nice to meet you.”

He blinked once and noticed her waiting to shake his hand. He took her hand gently and replied, “Nice to meet you too, Clara.”

Taemin eyed both Minho and Clara and decided to cut in. “So Minho will be joining us tonight,” he blurted out.

“Oh?” Clara looked at him with an arched brow, confusion and hesitation all over her face. “On our date?”

“You’re going on a date?” Minho asked, his eyes widening even more. “Oh no, don’t worry about me then, Taemin. I don’t want to intrude.”

A beep from outside startled them all. “That’s Jonghyun,” Taemin said under his breath, checking his phone in his pocket to see that he had already sent him some texts letting him know he was outside.

“Your friend from yesterday?” Clara asked.

“Who’s Jonghyun?” Minho asked, looking towards Taemin.

“Um, okay so.” Taemin didn’t realize how messy and disorganized he had been about this. Not even Jonghyun knew that he was actually driving three people over to the Cozy Bean and not just Taemin. “Jonghyun is my best friend,” he said to Minho. “And he's having a showcase at the Cozy Bean tonight,” he said to Clara. “He’s driving us all there.”

“Oh.” Clara pursed her lips and gave him a small nod, her brow furrowed. No doubt she was confused on why her date with Taemin was turning into a group hangout with two other guys she didn’t know well. “I guess that’s fine.”

“Sounds good to me,” Minho said, more cheerfully. “As long as you two are okay with it.”

“Yeah, it’s fine for me,” Taemin said quickly, waving a hand dismissively at Minho. Clara opened her mouth to say something but immediately snapped it shut when Taemin hurriedly ushered everyone out. “Anyway, he’s outside now. Let’s go.”

Taemin frantically thought of something to say to Jonghyun when he showed up in front of his car with two more people, but he was too late. Jonghyun leaned his head out the open window of the driver’s seat and called out, “Is everyone coming?”

Taemin rushed up to Jonghyun before Minho and Clara and said to him quietly, “Look, my mom is forcing me to take Minho and it got complicated with Clara. We’re all going to your showcase.” He shot him an apologetic smile to try and smooth it over.

It worked a little bit. Jonghyun’s handsome features softened and he said, “Well, as long as you all are okay with it. The more the merrier, right?”

“Ladies, first.” Taemin caught Minho in the corner of his eye, opening the back seat door to Clara, preparing to follow in after her. Taemin had the vague thought that maybe he should sit in the back with his date, but his legs immediately took him towards his usual spot in Jonghyun’s car. And Clara didn’t seem to mind, Taemin noticed when he snuck a glance at the back. She and Minho were getting along very well, smiling at each other and chatting easily about what California is like.

“Taemin, the aux,” Jonghyun said expectantly as he pulled out of their driveway.

“Right.” Taemin was about to click on the same old R&B playlist he always played for Jonghyun before twisting around and asking the back, “What music do you guys want?”

“Uh…” Minho hesitated.

“Top fifty is fine,” Clara cut in.

“Okay, top fifty.” Taemin played a generic pop playlist promising the top of the charts and sat back in the chair, glancing quickly over at Jonghyun. He gripped the steering wheel and focused entirely on the road, his jaw locked in place. He looked uncomfortable. So Taemin leaned over and whispered so that only Jonghyun could hear it, “Are you okay?”

Jonghyun startled a bit. His eyes locked with Taemin’s for a split second before he refocused on driving. “I’m fine. Why?”

“You’re lying again.”

He sighed. “I just feel a little weird literally driving you to your date. Plus Minho just tagging along?” He arched a brow at Taemin, making a gesture with his head towards the back of the car, Minho and Clara oblivious to the conversation happening in the front.

“I know it’s weird,” Taemin rushed out. “But there was no way around it. And besides, isn’t a bigger crowd better practice for you?” he tried reasoning.

“I guess,” Jonghyun relented. “Just let me know next time you expect me to drive you and your date to places.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“Good.”

The rest of the car ride went on smoothly, with the occasional generic conversation topic floating its way through the car. Taemin learned that Clara went to the same school as him and Jonghyun but with a school as large as theirs, it’s not strange that they hadn’t crossed paths before.

“What are you singing, by the way?” Minho then asked when they parked in front of the Cozy Bean.

“Hmm,” Jonghyun hummed out. They all filed out of the car and Jonghyun locked it behind him with a click. “That’s a surprise.”

“You’re no fun, man,” Minho laughed.

Jonghyun smirked to himself and opened the door for the party. “Okay, guys. Just find a seat, I’m going to go get ready.” Taemin noticed the way his voice slightly shook. Was he nervous? He turned to leave but Taemin grabbed his arm and pulled him into a quick, tight hug.

“You got this,” he whispered to Jonghyun who froze under his touch. Taemin pulled away and followed after Clara and Minho to find a table for the three of them. When he looked back at the doorway where he left Jonghyun, he was already gone to prepare in the back with Jinki.

Taemin made his way through the maze of tables in the reasonably crowded coffee shop to where Clara and Minho sat at a table. Clara was chatting easily with Minho when Taemin joined them, barely sparing him a glance when he pulled up a chair. Taemin caught something about Formula 1 and immediately tuned out, scanning the crowd and anticipating Jonghyun’s turn.

After a few moments, Jinki took the small stage and spoke into the mic, “Hello everyone!” His soothing voice sent a reverent hush over the shop. “Thank you for joining us on this very special night. Tonight, we have one of our own employees and a regular at the talent showcases performing entirely on his own. Everyone, please give it up for Jonghyun!”

The crowd clapped as Jonghyun stepped up behind Jinki, a guitar slung around his shoulders. Jinki patted him encouragingly on the back and left him as the lights dimmed slightly, one sole golden light shining on Jonghyun. He sat down on the stool, propping his guitar on his knee. Taemin noticed him take an almost imperceptive deep breath and shut his eyes. “You got this, Jonghyun,” Taemin whispered under his breath as if Jonghyun could hear him.

When Jonghyun’s first note sounded, Taemin knew everyone in the shop would fall in love with him. It rang clearly and melodiously, perfectly in harmony with the soft plucking of his guitar. He had chosen a soft romantic song, touching on marriage and soulmates. Taemin let himself get lost in the music, his gaze transfixed on his best friend, watching Jonghyun smile through his singing the entire time.

At one point, his eyes locked with Taemin’s. Taemin held his breath, his heart pounding out of his chest as Jonghyun finished up his first song. The last note hung in the air for a few moments after the song ended, and Taemin and Jonghyun continued staring at each other.

Then the thunderous applause cracked through the silence and Jonghyun snapped out of it. His eyes crinkled into a humble smile as he bowed his head towards the audience and murmured small thank you’s.

Taemin couldn’t get his heart to calm down even as Jonghyun started up with the next song, a more upbeat pop song. Taemin broke his stare on Jonghyun, took a shaky breath, and let it out, deciding to distract himself by chatting with Clara and Minho instead.

“My God!” Clara exclaimed in a whisper, Jonghyun’s voice still booming over them. “I didn’t know he was that good!”

“That was really impressive,” Minho said, genuine awe in his voice. “Is he going to a conservatory?”

Clara and Minho looked at Taemin in question. “Oh, he’s going to NYU.” Taemin felt his heart swell with pride for Jonghyun at Clara and Minho’s wide-eyed expressions.

“Damn.” Minho let out a whistle. “And it’s not too far from here.”

“Yeah…” Taemin tried not to think about Jonghyun in college too often, the idea of being more than a five-minute walk away from him too much to bear. So he changed topics. “Where do you two want to go?”

“I’m thinking somewhere in-state,” Clara responded. Jonghyun’s voice continued echoing throughout the shop, and at one particularly impressive note Clara’s eyes widened again and she turned her head to pay attention to Jonghyun again. Taemin looked over at Minho and noticed the same thing. It seemed like he had no choice but to let Jonghyun destroy his heart again.

But the four more songs Jonghyun sang weren’t so torturous for Taemin, who didn’t lock eyes with Jonghyun for more than five seconds at a time again. When he finished, he stood up and bowed deeply to a cheering and enthusiastic crowd. An adorable red flush colored his cheeks as he beamed from ear to ear and waved excitedly towards him when he caught Taemin’s gaze. Taemin replied with an equally bright smile and pumped his fist in the air in a show of congratulations.

“So Taemin, what now?” Clara began asking him. But Taemin barely registered what she said, pushing his chair out of the way and rushing through the maze of tables and people to get to Jonghyun. He had to be the first to congratulate him. As his best friend, this was imperative.

But he stopped cold when he saw Jonghyun talking to someone else. He was smiling humbly and looking at the ground, probably from all the praise he was getting from this person. Taemin stepped closer and could make out the person to be a guy around Jonghyun’s age. He said something to Jonghyun who then laughed heartily.

Taemin resisted the urge to interrupt their conversation. That would be rude, he told himself. Jonghyun is allowed to talk to other people, especially if they’re there to praise his spectacular talents. And so Taemin just stood off to the side, awkwardly leaning on a table and pretending not to be watching their conversation.

The guy said something else and Jonghyun rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit Taemin knew all too well. Taemin’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. What was going on? Then Jonghyun nodded, and the rest happened too fast: the guy giving him his phone, Jonghyun typing something in, and both of them smiling through it.

The Taemin of the past would have been jealous. He would have recognized the white-hot anger rising within him as jealousy. He would’ve known it made no sense logically but would still recognize it as such.

But this Taemin was over Jonghyun. He wasn’t angry. Of course, he wasn’t.

“You good there, Taemin?”

Taemin jumped, his body tense. He spun around and noticed Jinki cleaning up a table near him and watching him with a concerned look on his face. He blinked at him in confusion. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“You’re just holding onto that chair really tightly…” Jinki said, gesturing to Taemin’s death grip on the back of a chair.

Taemin noticed and immediately let go of the chair, wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans. “Yeah, just - uh - lost my balance there for a sec.” He let out an awkward laugh and shot Jinki a strained smile.

Jinki’s gaze stayed on Taemin then strayed to behind him, where Taemin was watching Jonghyun talking to the guy. His face softened, and he looked back at Taemin with sympathy. “You should tell him how you feel,” Jinki then said.

Taemin was taken aback. He stuttered out, “What do you mean? I was just going to congratulate him because he did so well in the performance. His singing. And guitar playing, and all.”

“Do it now before it’s too late.” Jinki finished wiping the table and stood straight, looking at Taemin in the eyes. “I’ll be rooting for you two.” Then he walked away, leaving Taemin cold and shocked.

Was he that obvious? Or maybe Jinki was just very observant… But either way, he couldn’t be obvious about anything because he was over Jonghyun.

Or at least working on that.

Puffing his chest out and taking a deep breath, Taemin finally decided to approach Jonghyun once he realized the guy he was talking to had left. “Ooh, did that guy just ask you out?” Taemin cooed when he sidled up next to Jonghyun. He tried sounding smooth but his voice came out strangled and hoarse. He coughed to clear it.

“Oh, you saw that?” Jonghyun asked instead. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously again. “He was just complimenting my performance.”

Taemin arched a brow suspiciously but kept quiet. He was there to congratulate Jonghyun anyway. “As he should. You did amazing, Jonghyun.”

“Really? You think so?” Jonghyun asked eagerly, bright eyes staring into Taemin’s. “Your opinion is the most important to me.”

Taemin felt something catch in his throat but forced out, “Yes, you did so, so well.” He couldn’t stop himself from adding, “Minho and Clara think so too.”

Jonghyun’s expression went a little strange at that, but only for half a second. He smiled at Taemin again and pulled him into a tight hug to say into his ear, “Thanks for the boost of confidence earlier.”

“It was nothing,” Taemin said quietly into Jonghyun’s shoulder, ignoring the way his heartbeat quickened. It was nothing.

Jonghyun pulled away and looked at Taemin for another moment before something caught his eye behind him. “I think Clara wants to talk to you,” was not what Taemin was expecting him to say.

“Oh– right,” Taemin said, turning away from Jonghyun to look for Clara behind him. She was leaning against a chair as Taemin had earlier, obviously waiting for Taemin to finish up his conversation. Her eyes were glazed over with distraction as she looked around the bustling coffee shop, but when she noticed Taemin coming toward her, she perked up immediately.

“Taemin! I need to talk to you real quick,” she started. Taemin nodded mutely, following her out of the shop when she grabbed him by the wrist like the first time they met. The cool night air brushed past his skin, making the hair on his arms stand up. Pedestrians, couples on dates, and families eating out lined the brightly lit sidewalk of Main Street, the sounds of the traffic and talking fading into the background when Clara said, “Taemin, I think you’re a great guy and all…” Taemin shot her a wry smile, knowing exactly what was coming, and she stopped. “C’mon, don’t give me that look.”

“No, it’s just I know what you’re going to say. And it’s fine. Just say it.” Taemin didn’t know why he was acting so catty, especially when he didn’t even like Clara that much to begin with, but he had his pride, right?

Everything was just so messy tonight.

Clara just sighed, as if Taemin had said something stupid. “How did you even expect this night to go? All four of us, stuck in a car together.”

“My schedule got all messed up–” he attempted pathetically.

“Taemin, this isn’t a huge deal,” she cut him off firmly. “We went on one quasi-date and it didn’t really work. Let’s just stick to being friends, okay?” She tried smiling at him, maybe to soften whatever blow she thought she was giving to Taemin.

Taemin released a breath he had been holding in, letting his shoulders droop with relief. This really wasn’t so bad. Besides, he didn’t even like Clara much to begin with, and they had nothing in common. Perhaps this really was best. “Sure, as long as you still want to be friends. For real and you're not just saying that,” he said lightheartedly.

Her smile expanded into something more real, and she patted Taemin on the arm kindly. “I'm not just saying that. It sounds great to me.”

After another hour of just hanging around the coffee shop, Jonghyun finally called his whole party back to his car so that they could go back home. Minho and Clara showered Jonghyun with congratulations and compliments, to which Jonghyun responded with shy thank you’s and oh it wasn’t all that. Taemin stayed silent most of the drive, letting Minho talk and talk about a little bit of everything. Boy, that kid could talk a lot when he was given the chance.

Jonghyun parked the car outside of Taemin’s house, something so familiar yet so foreign right now to Taemin with all these other people in the car. Clara thanked Jonghyun and Taemin for the night and quickly left in her own car. Minho went after and waited awkwardly outside Taemin’s front door for Taemin to follow him in. But Taemin didn’t want to leave Jonghyun just yet, now that he finally had a moment alone with him. He needed to apologize for the night, so he called out to Minho to knock and go in without him.

“Aren’t you tired?”

Taemin turned back to look at Jonghyun, his head leaned back casually against the seat, arms crossed. He looked at Taemin out of the corner of his eyes. “No, I’m fine,” Taemin lied, suppressing a yawn at the very thought.

“Sure,” Jonghyun said with a light chuckle, seeing right through it.

An expectant silence hung in the air in between them. They both knew Taemin lingered behind Minho to say something. Now it was up to Taemin to actually say it. “I’m sorry for how messy tonight was,” he started.

“It’s okay,” Jonghyun said, reaching over to ruffle up Taemin’s hair. His hand felt heavy and rough, comforting. “It’s cool seeing you expand your circle of friends.”

“Minho’s not my friend,” Taemin said immediately, regretting it right after when confusion flickered across Jonghyun’s face. “I mean– he is. But he’s just annoying. He’s perfect at everything.” Taemin didn’t care how much like a little kid he sounded, but Jonghyun was the only one he could talk to about these things. The wrong things always just spilled out of him and sounded horrible.

But Jonghyun didn’t see it as horrible. “You’ve known him for like two days, Taeminnie,” he said gently. “Give it time and he might just be replacing me,” he teased lightheartedly, pinching Taemin’s cheek.

Taemin shook him off and snapped, “Don’t even joke about that. That’ll never happen.” Taemin didn’t know whether that was the wrong or right answer at Jonghyun’s slightly surprised expression. “No one can replace you,” he mumbled, staring down at his hands when he felt the tips of his ears go hot.

“Well,” Jonghyun said after an eternity. “I still say you should give him a chance. You never know, right? With Clara too. Don’t just give up on them.”

Taemin was about to tell Jonghyun that, no, there was really nothing going on with Clara, he really didn’t have to worry about her, when Taemin’s mom popped her head out of the front door and waved at them both. “Taeminnie! Come inside now, it’s getting late.”

“Jonghyun, there’s nothing–”

“Go, go, Taemin,” Jonghyun interrupted him, shooing him out of his car. “I don’t want to get in trouble with your mother for keeping you too late. It’s a miracle she likes me at all,” he laughed.

“How could she not like you?” Taemin asked rhetorically, getting distracted by Jonghyun’s pushing. He rapped on the passenger window once the door slammed shut and Jonghyun lowered it for him to say, “Good job again today, by the way.” He hoped his voice conveyed all the sincerity and awe he wanted it to.

Jonghyun just smiled warmly at him again, placing his hands on the steering wheel and glancing away from Taemin shyly. Were his cheeks pink? No, that was just the wonky lighting from the car lights. Yeah, of course. “Thanks, Taeminnie. I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.”

“With Minho,” Taemin accidentally slipped out.

“Right.” Jonghyun nodded with pursed lips. “With Minho.”

Taemin couldn’t read Jonghyun’s expression but kept talking because he didn’t know how else to fix this or make it less awkward, “I’ll give him a chance. I promise.”

“Good,” was all Jonghyun said before Taemin’s mom called out from the front door again impatiently.

“Taemin! At least let Jonghyun go home or his mother will kill me.”

“Going!” Taemin leaned into the open car window one last time. “Goodnight, Jonghyun. Drive safe.”

“Goodnight. And goodnight Mrs. Lee!” Jonghyun said loudly to Taemin’s mom on the front steps. “Sorry for keeping him!” Taemin watched Jonghyun pull his car out of the driveway, lights blinding his vision for a few seconds. When he blinked the spots and colors away, Jonghyun was gone again.

“Taeminnie,” his mom began chastising. He followed her through the front door, slipping off his shoes. “It’s a school night, you know that.”

“We weren’t even out there that long,” Taemin countered.

Like he wasn’t supposed to. His mother looked at him with narrowed eyes. He was taller than her already so she had to crane her neck up to look at him in the eyes, but somehow the anxiety and terror that came from that look had not lessened throughout the years. “You know the rules,” she said evenly.

Taemin sighed, knowing there was no way he was winning this fight. “Sorry, Mom,” he muttered as he stomped up the stairs.

“At least go check on Minho.”

“Huh? He’s grown, he can get himself to bed,” Taemin couldn’t help himself from saying.

That just earned him another look from his mom. “Just ask him if he enjoyed the night, okay? He’s your guest too. Let’s try to be good hosts.”

“Fine…” Taemin dragged out, sounding every bit the whining teenager he felt. He continued stomping up the stairs loudly until he reached Minho’s closed door. He knocked on it halfheartedly. Maybe Minho was already asleep or showering or anything so that Taemin didn’t have to talk to him—

“Come in!”

Taemin sighed and opened Minho’s door. He was sprawled out on his bed, tapping his phone furiously. “Texting friends back home?” Taemin asked, the only thing that popped into his mind.

“My parents.” Minho sat up, making some space for Taemin to also sit on the bed with him. Taemin accepted the implicit invitation, awkwardly sitting on the very edge of the bed. “What’s up?”

Minho’s tone wasn’t accusatory at all but Taemin wished it was so that he could leave. He didn’t want to sit there and say, “My mom, uh, asked me to check on you.”

“Your mom is so sweet.”

“Yeah…” Taemin said, filling the silence with meaningless words, staring down at his hands again.

“I had a nice time tonight if that’s what you meant.” Taemin looked up at Minho now, who was looking at him intently. “Thanks for inviting me, by the way. Even if it interrupted your date.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Taemin said in a rush. “Clara and I aren’t even together.”

“You aren’t?” Minho perked up when Taemin said that, but quickly realized his mistake and slouched back down again, leaning against his mountain of pillows. He cleared his throat and said as safely as he could, “Clara is a nice girl, though.”

Oh. So Minho liked Clara, hm? Taemin, ever curious, decided to push more. “She’s nice, but she’s not all that,” he said dismissively, rolling his eyes for the acted effect.

“Right, yeah,” Minho said quickly.

“But you two hit it off really well.”

“You think?” Minho’s eyes sparkled with hope. Catching himself again, he looked away towards the dark window. “We had…a lot in common.”

Tired of beating around the bush, Taemin sighed and said, “It’s okay if you like her, by the way. I met her like two days ago. There’s nothing between us.”

Minho’s big eyes widened comically as he looked back at Taemin. “I never said–”

Taemin held his hand up to shush him. “I’m serious, dude. Shoot your shot. I think she likes you too.” Taemin smiled ironically and said, “I think she had a better time with you than me tonight.”

Minho was silent for a second, simply staring at Taemin. “Are you sure?” he asked finally. Taemin nodded solemnly, watching the realization hit Minho who lit up immediately before remembering his manners and saying, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out between you two though.”

“Don’t be,” Taemin said, already getting up from the bed. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Oh, Taemin.”

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t tell anyone about Clara. I’ve been here for like a day, I don’t want people to think I’m a weirdo.” He looked so small sitting cross-legged on the bed, pleading for Taemin to keep his secret.

“Of course, I won’t. Don’t worry about it,” Taemin said sincerely.

“Not even Jonghyun, please.”

Taemin stopped in his tracks. He wasn’t planning on telling Jonghyun, but still. What was the big deal? Jonghyun would also keep the secret. Besides, “He doesn’t even know Clara.”

“Still,” Minho insisted. “Can this just stay between you and me?”

Taemin nodded again. He had told Jonghyun that he would make an effort to be Minho’s friend. And if this is what it took…

Whatever. It wasn’t like Jonghyun would even care who Minho likes. Or ask. Taemin said goodnight to Minho and excused himself to his own room before flopping down onto his bed, trying to quiet his mind to sleep.

--END OF CHAPTER--

READ CH 4 HERE

#shinee #shinee fic #kpop fic #shinee fanfic #fluff #angst #kpop fluff #kim jonghyun #pining #high school au #lee taemin #jongtae #jongtae fluff

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luvjjongtae · 2 years ago

Text

It Started with a Drink - Ch. 2

Pairing: Lee Taemin x Kim Jonghyun.

AU info: (US) High School AU.

Genre: Fluff, Pining

Other tags and warnings: Underage drinking, Misunderstandings and miscommunication, House party, Teen Romance, Teen Angst, Jealousy, Two idiots basically

Summary: Taemin’s crush on his best friend Jonghyun comes to head at a high school house party. If only Taemin didn’t drink so much…

Total Word Count: 21k (divided into 5 chapters)

READ CHAPTER 1, CHAPTER 3, CHAPTER 4, CHAPTER 5 HERE

Taemin’s head hurt. And the sunlight beaming through the windows was way too bright. Taemin squinted and turned his head against the light, burying his face into his pillow and groaning.

So this was a hangover. It certainly didn’t feel nice, Taemin thought as he sighed and slowly tried again to open his eyes to the light. He stretched and felt the clothes from the last night clinging to his body and decided the first thing he was going to do was shower.

After stumbling into his dark bathroom and turning on the hot water, he allowed his mind to wander. Fractions of images of the night before flashed through his mind and he almost slipped in the shower when he suddenly remembered telling Jonghyun that he wanted to peel off his tank top. Holy shit, did he really say that?

Heart pounding, he closed his eyes under the stream of hot water and tried to gently invite the memories back in. He couldn’t have been that drunk, right? He remembered talking to Jongin - no, Kai now, was it? - and taking shots with Clara, feeling the burn, dancing with Clara, seeing Jonghyun across the room, leaning against his shoulder… Then nothing.

He dragged his hands down his face and let out a frustrated sigh. He furrowed his brow and squeezed his eyes shut tighter until they almost hurt. “C’mon…remember, remember,” he whispered to himself. But he got nothing. Just a black hole in his memory.

He couldn’t even remember how he had gotten home. Had Jonghyun dropped him off? He must’ve; Who else would’ve? He dried himself off and felt his headache subside a bit before dressing himself casually and plopping back down on his bed to pull out his phone that had 3%. Great, he had also forgotten to charge it.

When he plugged it in, he opened his messages and his eyes widened with all the notifications on his phone. His thumb immediately tapped on Jonghyun’s familiar profile picture and read a succession of desperate messages from last night and this morning, begging him to talk, asking if he got home okay, pleading for him not to ignore him, and finally, a message sent five minutes ago saying that he was outside his house.

Taemin jumped up from his bed and flew downstairs, calling out quick good mornings to his parents in the kitchen and telling them Jonghyun was outside. He flung open the front door and smiled widely when he saw Jonghyun parked in his driveway, all the windows down. The joy of seeing Jonghyun made Taemin forget about how brightly the sun shone that morning or how his head hurt, and he cheerily settled into the passenger seat, his usual spot.

“Good morning!” Taemin piped up, feeling like a completely different person from when he woke up and clicking his seatbelt into place. “Where to?”

Jonghyun did not reciprocate Taemin’s cheeriness. He was silent for a moment, then frowned, thumped his forehead against the steering wheel, and breathed out, “I was worried sick about you. You didn’t respond to any of my texts.”

“I’m sorry. Last night was crazy.” Taemin shrank a little in his seat, feeling like a child being chastised. “I don’t even know how I got home,” he said in a small voice.

Jonghyun sat up to look at Taemin. “I couldn’t find you after you stormed off and you were so drunk. And then the cops showed up after, and I just didn’t know what—” He paused, rubbing his temples. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine, Jonghyun,” Taemin said reassuringly. “Just had a little bit of a hangover, but besides that I’m okay.” He cracked a small smile, trying to bring up the mood in the car a bit.

“Yeah, you’re fine. You’re fine,” Jonghyun said mostly to himself. He shook his head, blinked a few times, and then immediately perked up. “Coffee?”

“Of course,” Taemin said excitedly, letting out the breath he had been holding in since he got in the car. Everything was back to normal and fine. He connected his phone to the aux and played Jonghyun’s favorite R&B songs, the smooth tunes carrying them as they drove through the familiar suburban roads with the windows down. The breeze ruffled up Taemin’s unruly hair no matter how many times he tried to smooth it down. And once they stopped at a traffic light, he looked over at Jonghyun who glanced back at him and they both burst out laughing at the birds’ nests on their heads but still didn’t bother to raise the windows.

The light and cheerful mood stayed with them as they entered Jonghyun’s workplace, a quaint, locally-owned coffee shop on Main Street. Jonghyun opened the door for Taemin and the friendly jingle alerted the barista who waved to them. “Hey, guys!”

“Jinki!” Jonghyun waved back. “Thanks for taking today’s morning shift, man. I appreciate it.” Jinki just smiled back warmly. Jonghyun turned to Taemin at the register and asked, “What do you want today, Taeminnie?”

“Hm…” Taemin hummed out, looking at the menu. He always went with his usual order of a latte but he was feeling adventurous this morning. “How about the special?”

“Two orders of the special, please,” Jonghyun nodded to Jinki. “On me.” He turned and winked at Taemin who slapped him lightly on the arm.

“Why are you paying for me?”

“You deserve some free caffeine after your first real hangover,” Jonghyun said with a light laugh.

“Hangover, huh?” Jinki asked, overhearing them as he worked on their drinks. “You two must’ve had fun last night at Jack’s.” He smirked at them knowingly over the counter.

“Were you there too?” Taemin piped up.

“Yeah, but I left a little early. Before the cops showed, from what I heard.” He put the plastic tops on both their cups and handed them to Taemin and Jonghyun as Jonghyun swiped his card to pay.

“I was there for that,” Jonghyun said proudly, puffing his chest out as he took his drink.

Jinki just chuckled. “That’s not exactly a good thing, Jonghyun.”

“Well it’s better than Taemin here who just disappeared without a trace and doesn’t even remember anything from last night,” Jonghyun said lightheartedly, patting Taemin on his back. “This kid had me worried sick.”

“Hey, I remember some things!” Taemin teased back.

Jonghyun froze, his hand hovering over Taemin’s back. “You do?”

“Yeah…some things.” Did he say something wrong?

“What thi–” Jonghyun started quickly. Then stopped himself. “I thought you didn’t even remember how you got home,” he whispered mostly to himself. He dropped his hand and backed away from Taemin. “Anyway, thanks Jinki. I’ll see you later.”

Jinki blinked at both of them, surprised at the sudden mood shift. “Okay, bye Jonghyun. Bye Taemin,” he said, confusion drawn on his face. Jonghyun turned quickly on his heel and speed-walked to the furthest table from the register while Taemin and Jinki watched on. “Did something happen between you two?” Jinki asked quietly.

Taemin stared at Jonghyun across the shop intently. “I don’t know,” he let out honestly.

“Best way to find out is to talk to him.” Jinki’s tone wasn’t forceful or overly curious, simply kind. His wise words crept into Taemin’s mind and made him determined to be communicative with Jonghyun for once in his life.

Taemin nodded once at Jinki and followed to where Jonghyun sat, a small table for two in the corner of the shop, right beside a large window that the morning sun pleasantly shone through to illuminate the shop in natural light. Taemin pulled out his chair and plopped down across from Jonghyun. He started off strongly: “What happened last night?”

Jonghyun’s wide eyes snapped up to meet Taemin’s as he absentmindedly stirred his iced coffee. “What? What do you mean?”

“Something clearly happened last night for you to be concerned if I remembered any of it.” Taemin kept his voice level and cool. Acting accusatory wouldn’t do him any good. Besides, it was his fault that he forgot everything in the first place. “Plus I read your texts.”

“Nothing happened.” Jonghyun’s gaze fell back down to the coffee that he continued stirring even though it was definitely already evenly mixed.

“Don’t lie to me, Jonghyun.”

Jonghyun stopped stirring and sighed. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he said instead.

Taemin shut his eyes and tried his best to remember. The last thing that came to mind was him telling Jonghyun that he wanted to peel off his tank top again. He felt his cheeks redden at the memory and said, “You holding me up and telling me I was drunk.” It wasn’t a complete lie at least.

Jonghyun’s shoulder’s sagged a little when Taemin said that. With what - Relief? Disappointment? - Taemin couldn’t tell. “Okay.” Jonghyun took his time with his next few words, weighing each one carefully in his mouth. “After that, you got mad at me…for telling you that you were so drunk. And then you stormed off.”

A silence pulsed between them. Jonghyun looked back up at Taemin and studied him, his reaction. “I really stormed off because of that?” Taemin finally asked.

Jonghyun hesitated. “Listen, actually something else–”

“Taemin!”

Taemin snapped his head to where he heard his name and Jonghyun stopped talking. There was Clara from last night, bouncing towards him in a pretty summer dress.

“Taemin, oh my God, you’re here!” She laughed lightly, a delicate sound like bells jingling through the otherwise quiet cafe. “What are the chances?”

“Pretty small I guess,” Taemin said with a smile. He stood up to give her a polite hug. “What’s up?”

“Oh, not much. Getting coffee before volunteering at the shelter later.” Clara looked behind Taemin and noticed Jonghyun hunched over his coffee, pointedly ignoring the conversation. “Who’s your friend?” she asked Taemin.

“This is Jonghyun,” Taemin said, grabbing his arm and pulling him up next to him with a slightly forced smile. “Jonghyun, this is Clara. I met her last night.”

“I guess he remembers you,” Jonghyun said warmly, snapping out of his mood. He shook her hand politely and smiled at her.

“Oh, I’m surprised he remembers anything. He was so drunk when I dropped him off at home,” Clara teased. “Looked so sad too.”

“Oh,” was all Jonghyun said as his smile faltered.

“Wait, you dropped me off at home?” Taemin asked, piecing together all the memories from the last night.

“Yeah, I saw you walking - well, more like stumbling - home and took you in my car,” she said cheerily.

“Clara! We gotta go now,” someone called from the door of the shop.

“Oh shoot, sorry guys. I gotta go or I’ll be late.” She shot them a friendly smile and said, “It was nice meeting you Jonghyun!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” he responded politely.

Clara rushed towards the door and, just before pulling it open, leaned back to call out, “Don’t forget to call me about our date tomorrow, Taemin!” Then she disappeared.

An awkward silence filled the space between Taemin and Jonghyun. Or maybe Taemin was making that up. “A date?” Jonghyun asked after too many seconds of silence.

Shit. Did he also ask her out last night? He vaguely remembered giving her his number along with all the strobing lights on the dance floor. She called him cute too, right? He must’ve agreed to something if she said that. “Uh, yeah. I guess I asked her out,” Taemin said, fiddling with the fabric of his shirt.

Jonghyun sat back down in his chair, his expression unreadable when Taemin looked back at him after following suit. “Okay.” He paused. “Why are you so nervous?” His caring, deep brown eyes stared back at him, a soft smile pulling across his lips.

“I– I don’t know,” he admitted. Why did it feel like he was asking Jonghyun for permission to go on a date with Clara? Taemin hadn’t really gone out with anyone throughout their friendship, with him being stuck on Jonghyun. Meanwhile, Jonghyun had enjoyed a few fleeting relationships. This was nothing different. Besides, they weren’t together, Taemin reminded himself firmly. “Just…last night was a lot, I think.” Taemin said quietly, dragging his hands down his face in frustration. “And I can’t even remember half of it.”

Jonghyun was silent for a bit, just staring at Taemin with his unblinking eyes, his coffee cup empty and forgotten on the table.

“What?” Taemin felt his face go hot under Jonghyun’s heavy gaze. “Is there something on my face?”

“I hope your date with Clara goes well,” Jonghyun finally said. His voice was even and measured, no hint of strain or hesitation.

Taemin blinked. “Thanks,” he managed out while wringing his hands together and staring down at his lap. Taemin tried to ignore the way his heart shattered into a million pieces. Jonghyun wasn’t fighting him on it. Wasn’t making a big deal about dating someone he met at a house party, drunk. He didn’t even tease him about it. Just…let it happen. Let him go.

He really did only see him as a little brother.

He let out a shuddering breath and tried to regain his composure, at least externally. He forced himself to look back at Jonghyun and crack a smile. “So that’s it?”

He meant between them. Whatever weird bros-that-are-way-too-touchy-in-public-to-look-like-bros friendship dynamic they had going on that had people asking if they were dating when they went out. Or earned them snide comments from Taemin’s mom like, “Leave the door open, boys!” whenever Jonghyun slept over.

“Are you really done?” Jonghyun asked instead.

To anyone else, it would look like they were talking about their coffee and whether they were ready to leave. Maybe Jonghyun really only understood it that way.

But Taemin puffed out his chest and squared his shoulders. This was his chance to move on, and he was taking it. No more pining. No more wasting his years on someone who clearly was not interested in more. No more wishing for more when that could ruin what they already had. He wasn’t losing Jonghyun, no matter what. “Yes. I’m done.”

Jonghyun practically leapt to his feet at that and quickly grouped their trash together, saying in a weird rush, “Okay then. I’ll drop you off at home. I’m sure your parents want you or something. Or don’t you have that exchange student arriving this weekend?” He spoke quickly, and by the time he threw out the trash and walked with Taemin to the door he was out of breath.

Taemin eyed him suspiciously but groaned loudly and forgot about Jonghyun’s strangeness at the mention of the exchange student. “God, I genuinely thought I had another week before that.”

They both settled into their seats in the car and Jonghyun smoothly pulled onto the road. “The school year is finishing up soon, you know. And I’ll be graduating too.”

Taemin shrunk into the passenger seat and grumbled out, “Don’t remind me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Jonghyun said with a laugh, the energy between them back to normal. Almost. Because now Taemin didn’t have a crush on Jonghyun. He didn’t. He couldn’t. “No more graduation talk. I promise.”

“Anyway…” Taemin said, purposefully shifting topics. “Who even is this exchange student? My mom sent me his name and number but I haven’t said anything to him yet.”

“Stalk him on Instagram,” Jonghyun suggested, his eyes focused on the road.

“Hm.” Taemin scrolled back to the text his mom sent him with the contact information. Choi Minho. He was coming from California for some interstate program their schools hosted. Taemin’s older brother stayed with Minho’s family a few years back and so now Minho was to live with Taemin’s family up until July, overlapping into the summer. “My brother thinks we’ll get along but I don’t know.” He typed his name into Instagram, seeing a promising account come up immediately. Choi Minho, Los Angeles. “Looks like he likes sports a lot,” Taemin said with a groan as he scrolled through countless soccer and golf photos.

“What’s wrong with that? You like dancing.” Taemin could practically hear Jonghyun’s amused smirk in his voice.

“It’s different,” he huffed out, crossing his arms indigninantly. “Dancing is an art. Kicking a ball around is not.”

“Whatever you say, Taeminnie,” Jonghyun said, a sing-songy lilt in his voice at the nickname. A pause. Then, “Is he cute at least?”

Taemin almost dropped his phone. Why was he asking that, of all things? He shot Jonghyun a suspicious glance and then zoomed in on one of the photos: Minho posing with a soccer ball under one arm, his foot balanced on a second one, a victory smile plastered on his handsome face. Fuck. He was really handsome. Taemin cleared his throat before answering. “He’s okay.”

“Just okay? Lemme see.” Jonghyun leaned over to look at Taemin’s phone at a stop sign, studying Minho’s frozen smiling face carefully. He pursed his lips and refocused on the road after a few moments. “Now don’t go seducing him with your charms, Taeminnie.”

Taemin’s heart skipped a beat. “Huh?” Operation: Don’t Have a Crush On Jonghyun was doomed to fail if he kept saying things like this. “Why? What do you mean?”

“You can’t date both Clara and Minho, silly.”

“Oh, right. Clara.” Taemin steadied his breathing right as Jonghyun pulled into his driveway.

“And he’s coming tonight?”

“Yeah, it’s tonight. My mom told me she wanted to set up a nice dinner and everything.”

Jonghyun nodded solemnly, his expression unreadable again. “Tell your mom I say hi.”

“Okay.” Taemin was about to get out of the car before freezing and turning back to Jonghyun. “Aren’t you singing at the cafe tonight? You were so excited about it last week but you haven’t talked about it since.”

“Tomorrow night.” Jonghyun shot Taemin a genuine and warm smile. “You remembered.”

“Well, no thanks to you,” Taemin said with a laugh. “Okay, good. If it’s tomorrow, I’ll be able to go for sure.”

“You better.” He smirked at Taemin, a face that usually sent butterflies fluttering all around his stomach. He shoved them down aggressively. “See you, Taeminnie.”

“See you,” Taemin said, giving Jonghyun a quick side hug before finally leaving and jumping up the steps to the front door. He turned to see Jonghyun still in his car, watching him until he was sure he entered his house as usual. He waved excitedly and then opened the door, greeted by his two fluffy dogs, Adam and Eve, jumping up and scratching his legs. By the time he turned around to check if Jonghyun was still there, his car was gone.

“Taemin! Come down and say hi!”

“Coming, mom!” Taemin scrambled out of his bed, checking his reflection in the mirror quickly to make sure his hair was at least presentable, before rushing downstairs to meet the boy who was to live in his house for the next four months.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Lee,” Choi Minho said, politely shaking hands with Taemin’s parents. Then his eyes strayed to Taemin and he flashed him a bright, movie-worthy smile. “Hey Taemin. You look kind of like your brother.”

Taemin fought the urge to roll his eyes. This would be weird, becoming friends with someone who already was technically friends with his brother. But he stuck his hand out anyway and shook Minho’s, responding coolly, “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“Thank you so much for letting me stay in your home,” Minho continued after shaking Taemin’s hand. He was the spitting and handsome image of chivalry and manners, and Taemin could practically see the heart eyes on his parents’ faces. “I hope accommodating me won’t be too much trouble.”

“Oh, honey,” Taemin’s mom said, fawning over Minho and helping him with his suitcases. “It’s absolutely no trouble. And you and your family were so kind to Taesun, how could we not repay the favor?”

Taemin’s father jumped in, “We just want you to have a nice time here, son.” He clapped him on the back in the most dad way possible. “Just make yourself at home here, and I’m sure Taemin will help you adjust, no problem.”

Taemin nodded, pursing his lips and eyeing Minho and the magic he seemed to possess over his parents until his mother motioned for him to help bring Minho’s luggage upstairs. They dragged his things up to the guest room right next to Taemin’s. Minho took a look around and graciously smiled at Taemin and his mom. “This is perfect, thank you.”

“We made a special dinner for you tonight too,” Taemin’s mom jumped in excitedly. “It’ll be ready in about half an hour. Just start getting settled in and I’ll call you boys down when it’s ready, okay?”

“Thank you Mrs. Lee.”

Taemin simply nodded, watching in silence as his mom left him alone with Minho. He frantically searched for something to say, anything. “Uh, so. I saw you like sports.” What a great conversation starter.

But Minho’s eyes immediately lit up. “Yes! I love soccer especially.” He paused, gauging Taemin’s dull reaction. “What about you?”

“I’m more of a dancer.”

“Oh,” Minho said, nodding solemnly. Then, “Do you think I could try out for the teams at your school? Or maybe just practice with them if the season’s over.”

Right. He was going to be following Taemin around at school for the next two months. “You’ll have to ask about that. I’m not sure.”

Minho sat down at the foot of now-his bed. “I told my parents it was too late in the year to do this, but they forced me to come anyway.” He stared down at the floor and Taemin felt a little sorry for him. “I just hope I can adjust okay.”

“I’m sure you will.” Taemin stood awkwardly near the door of the room, not sure of what else to say or if to just leave Minho alone.

“Can I hang out with you?” Minho suddenly asked, looking back up at Taemin with those big, handsome eyes of his. “At least until I make other friends,” he added in a rush.

Taemin wasn’t expecting him to be so forward, but how was he supposed to say no? His days consisted of school, dance lessons, and Jonghyun… Jonghyun. Minho would hang around with them on their morning coffee trips, after school, in the halls, during lunch. Nothing would be just them two again.

But maybe this is what he needed to move on. A way to hang around Jonghyun without thinking that every interaction between them two was like a date. Without reading too much into every gesture or snide comment Jonghyun loves to make because, no, of course it’s not meant that way, Minho is right there. “Sure,” Taemin said, shooting Minho his most genuine smile. “You’ll be fine, don’t worry. There’s plenty of ways to get you out there.”

Minho sighed in relief. “I’m glad. And thank you.” He looked at Taemin through his lashes with a look so appreciative, Taemin’s mom would be melting.

“Do you need any help unpacking?” Taemin offered, partly to be helpful and partly to have Minho stop looking at him that way.

“Yeah, actually.” They got to work unpacking some of Minho’s memorabilia - lots of sports posters, trophies - before Taemin’s mom called them both downstairs for dinner. And dinner was what Taemin expected: His parents asking Minho about his classes, his sports teams, and his life back in California. More fawning over how good his manners and etiquette were, and some snide comments about how Taemin’s could be improved. Minho just seemed to radiate pure perfection, in every sense of the word.

When dinner finished up and the dishes were clean, Minho and Taemin said quick goodnights to each other before disappearing into their respective bedrooms. Taemin flopped down onto his bed and immediately tapped on the message he received from Jonghyun.

How was minho~~

Taemin rolled over onto his stomach and smiled at his phone, imagining Jonghyun’s teasing lilt to his voice saying that.

cool. basically perfect lolTaemin hoped that text didn’t sound too jealous or bitter but before he could think about it more, Jonghyun responded.

Youre more perfect

jonghyunnnnnn

It’s the truth Taeminnie

Taemin felt the familiar flush creep up his face and buried his face into his pillow to try and stop it. He typed out:

he’s going to be hanging out with us for whileA pause. The text bubble that meant Jonghyun was typing something appeared, then disappeared just as quickly. What was he trying to say?

After a few more agonizing moments:

Ok as long as you arent drooling over his perfection the whole time

What? What type of response was that?

i don’t like him that way

I didn’t say you did

Now what? They were at a standstill. Taemin should just end this strange conversation now.

goodnight jonghyun. pick me up tmrw before ur gig

Goodnight Taeminnie. Sleep well

After a few more moments of staring at the screen, analyzing Jonghyun’s words, Taemin was ready to shut his phone off and try to sleep before he felt it buzz in his hand.

I love you

This wasn’t unusual for Jonghyun. He’d frequently say this after particularly deep talks or when something memorable happened for either of them, like at Taemin’s sixteenth birthday or when Jonghyun got his acceptance letter for his dream college. But this felt different…

No. Taemin wasn’t going to let it feel different. It was the same as every other time Jonghyun said it, and he didn’t have a crush on Jonghyun anymore. There was no deeper meaning and he was an idiot to even try to look into it. He sent back a “<3” and shut his phone off for real this time, closing his eyes and trying to wish away thoughts about Jonghyun so that he could sleep in peace.

--END OF CHAPTER--

READ CH 3 HERE

#shinee #shinee fic #kpop fic #shinee fanfic #fluff #angst #kpop fluff #kim jonghyun #pining #high school au #lee taemin #jongtae #jongtae fluff

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