ahh thanks for 27 subs before i even posted!! (i almost forgot to post this omg)
it's still january in iceland so its still festive,, right,,?''' lmao (sorry for disappoint)
 

Taemin sighs as he places the mask on the bridge of his nose and then proceeds to tie it at the back of his head.
Today was game day.

He heads out the door with a little over an hour until midnight and Kibum’s scowl is evident through his car’s window.

“We’re going to be late!” He shrieks and hits the gas as soon as Taemin jumps into the back seat. He can hear Jonghyun lightly laughing in front of him, hair styled up and all dressed up with a mask covering his face.
“You can never be too late for a party, Kibum.” He says before turning around in his seat and looking in Taemin’s direction.
“Nice mask! And by the way, Choi Minho will be there. You can thank me later, kiddo.” He says with a confident grin, enjoying Taemin’s unwillingly reddening cheeks and Kibum scoffs next to him.
“You spoil him.” He remarks and Jonghyun feigns hurt.
“You’re the one who insisted on driving Taemin there to get him there safely when Jinki lives four blocks away, practically picked out his mask for him and continuously feed him whenever he asks.”
“Whatever.” Kibum says and Taemin notices the small braids in his newly dyed green hair. (“It’s festive!” he had said. “You and the tree could be related. Key. Tree. Key. Tree.” Jinki had commented.)
“But it’s thanks to me that little lover boy over there can kiss the love of his life when the clock strikes twelve.” Kibum responded. Taemin sees a playful glint in Kibum’s eyes reflecting from the car mirror and scratches the back of his head awkwardly.
“I’ll be the one driving us back, though. There’s no way you won’t drink.” Jonghyun laughs as Kibum pulls over harshly in front of Jinki’s apartment and parks the car.
“No you won’t, Jjong. Trust me, this time, I won’t be drinking.” Kibum says and swings the door open.
“Whatever you say.” Jonghyun shrugs and Taemin immediately goes to his side.

The music is already booming when they enter the reception and Taemin is thrumming his fingers impatiently against his thigh and Kibum is adjusting his mask in the mirror.

It hadn’t even been Jinki’s idea to throw a masquerade party, Kibum had practically ordered him to do it, since his apartment was the biggest and well, Kibum wanted a masquerade party. And that was when Jinki had jokingly brought up that Taemin could probably lure in Choi Minho and kiss him when the clock strikes twelve.

And they laughed it off (save for an embarrassed Taemin because god damn it leave his crush on the school’s athlete idol alone) until Jonghyun had actually gone and told Minho about the party and Kibum and Jonghyun showed no mercy in teasing Taemin until he finally (forcefully) agreed.

It was dumb, because Taemin’s palms were sweating and Taemin’s palms don’t sweat. He’s nibbling on his lips and Jonghyun has an even dumber grin spread over his face.

Jonghyun waves to the guard in the reception, the other two walking behind him, having been there many times before.
“Hey, Jaesuk, how are you—” He begins before he’s quickly snagged by the hem of his shirt and dragged into the elevator by Kibum.
“Late.” He states and Jonghyun waves Jaesuk the reception guy one last time before the elevator closes.
“I mean, what kind of friends show up late to their best friend’s party?” He adds and taps his leg impatiently, glaring at the elevator’s buttons.
“Honestly,” Taemin croaks, too nervous to form proper words.
“I don’t think Jinki will even notice.”  He says and Jonghyun laughs.
“You may have forgot, Kibum, but you invited more people than us to this party. You pretty much invited the whole soccer team, the dance club, the choir—”
“You invited the choir, Kim Jonghyun—”
“Either way, there’ll be a lot of people there. It’s a wonder if Taemin will even be able to find his prince charming in there.” He teases and the elevator door opens with a ding! and for the first time in Taemin’s life he feels like he’s going to die just by entering Jinki’s apartment.

And that’s ignoring that one time Jonghyun and Jinki tried cooking that one Christmas when Kibum fell ill and the whole building was laden with the smell of burnt chicken.

Kibum doesn’t knock, but swings the door open and the music blasts in their faces along with heat and the smell of liquor. It’s some girl group that Taemin doesn’t recognize, and without a moment of adjusting to the air, the door is slammed shut behind him and Kibum’s dragging him through the flock of people and into the kitchen.

Taemin can already feel his forehead sweating under the mask due to the heat – Jinki’s held parties before but none of them had been so large.

“Guys! Where have you been?” A very familiar voice speaks behind them as Kibum is already pouring vodka in glasses.
“Jinki!” Jonghyun exclaims and turns to hug him.
“I’m surprised you could actually find us through all these people.” Kibum states and hands Taemin a glass before taking a sip of his own and Jonghyun sends Taemin a smile.
“What? It was easy, you’re like the least drunk people here. I don’t think I’ve ever held a party where everyone gets wasted so fast, like barely an hour in and I could see people grinding on the couch.”
“See? We’re late.” Kibum glares at Jonghyun and Taemin laughs.
“Also!” Jinki says and leans to whisper in Taemin’s ear.
“Target spotted; He’s in the living room with the other soccer guys.”
---

With ten minutes to midnight, Taemin swallows his own breath and takes one last tequila shot before searching through the crowd, the liquid burning slightly at the back of his throat. Kibum’s already far gone, already dancing to whichever song is playing on Jinki’s living room table with Jonghyun sipping on soda next to him.
“Jjong, I’m going to do it!” Taemin says determinedly. Jonghyun raises his fist in a ‘fighting’ motion and Taemin doesn’t realize how he’s everything but sober until Jonghyun pats his back in what he assumes is Choi Minho’s direction. Because that tall figure over there—that seems like Choi Minho doesn’t it?

Brown hair, taller than Taemin, tanned skin (he thinks? It’s dark) and it’s hard trying to crawl through the people pushing at him (with some occasional attempts at pulling on his shoulders) he finally seems to reach the soccer table.

Their laughter is loud, boisterous and Taemin groans. He’s never been a sports person and just stepping into their aura makes him want to gag but he can’t ing gag right now – he has to be sneaky, okay, because sneaky will gain him the kiss of a lifetime—

And he feels real sneaky, when he literally sneaks behind Choi Minho. He had a mask on, put those plump limps? That dark hair? Those guns for arms? Taemin could recognize him anywhere. Even in a fish pond with four thousand fish in.

He quickly glances at where there’s supposed to be a clock on the wall –there isn’t anymore, someone must have taken it—and sees Jonghyun and Jinki give him a thumbs up. He (sneakily, of course) sends them a thumbs up back and he can hear Kibum yelling something Taemin something but his brain is a little fizzy and he’s a little dizzy so he thinks he should just stick to his original objective.

Claiming Choi Minho’s lips.

And he’s about to ing do it, grab his shoulder and turn him around when some girl appears in front of Choi Minho, talking excitedly and making Taemin’s stomach churn. Her hair is long, she’s probably pretty and she’s reaching up and patting the top of his head and it makes Taemin even more anxious that he can’t hear what they’re saying.

Okay, so Choi Minho’s talking to a pretty girl and Choi Minho is most likely as straight as a ing ruler but Taemin had made a (sort of, that wasn’t supposed to happen) deal with himself to kiss him and so he had to kiss him.

Maybe he shouldn’t have cut his hair.

Whatever, Minho may be drunk enough to not notice anyway, and Taemin is pretty much losing his balance here so he may as well do it and it’s almost a new year: new Taemin.

A super Taemin who dares to go up and kiss the school’s soccer idol.

A magnificent and gracious (and sneaky) Taemin, hopefully with a Minho at his right and four children at the left. And a dog.

And it’s when the people start shouting “Ten, nine, eight,” that Taemin gets pulled the out of his thoughts because he has to ing move – who cares about being sneaky now this is life or death because it’s eight seconds to the new year and he needs to do this now or he’ll never forgive himself (and Kibum, Jonghyun and Jinki will never stop teasing him) and he seriously, really needs to ing move.

“Seven, six, five,” and when they hit five is when Taemin reaches out for the shoulder of the love of his life (wait, Kibum must be messing with his head again it’s just a crush--) and turns him around and he can briefly hear Choi Minho say something like “what” and Taemin thinks he sounds a little different but it might just be the surprise.

“Four, three, two” Taemin throw his arms on Choi Minho’s shoulder and drags him down to his level and the music and the counting is already starting to feel muffled because Choi Minho looks really lost and Taemin knows he’s smiling really stupidly, which is super embarrassing, but Kibum has practically started stripping on the table so it’s a little more bearable.

“One!” they all shout and Taemin does it, he ing does it and pushes his own lips against Choi Minho’s and Choi Minho makes this really cute little muffled sound against his lips in surprise but goes along with it and even if it’s Taemin’s tongue at Minho’s bottom lip for access, its Choi Minho who ends up leading the kiss.

The people around them are shouting about the New Year and Taemin’s happy 2016 Taemin is getting a ing good start – living the dream, 2015 Taemin would be in tears of jealousy.

He can hear Jonghyun shouting a “woo!” in the back but Taemin resists the urge to send him the finger because Choi Minho smells really good and he feels really good and he’s not backing away from Taemin and that’s the only thing that matters, even if their masks keep bumping a little into each other. But Choi Minho turns out to be a really good kisser and Taemin releases accidental embarrassing moans into the kiss.

He knows people are dropping their masks already, but Choi Minho might run away if he takes his off. Probably not, but better to be safe than sorry.

Though it’s a minute into the new year and 2016 Taemin is already kicking 2015 Taemin’s .

Choi Minho tastes faintly like liquor and his hands are on Taemin’s waist and Taemin is pretty sure this is what heaven feels like when Minho presses a little closer and Taemin attempts to tighten his hold on Minho’s shoulders, because Minho feels really, really, really nice and Taemin thinks he’d be okay with dying like this.

He opens his eyes slightly when Choi Minho pulls away for a second and Taemin only really wants to desperately pull him back because he needs a little more Choi Minho and a little more of the bliss.

But then he sees something.

He sees something very, very familiar. And Taemin widens his eyes because Choi Minho isn’t in front of him.

“Look at Jongin, guys! He’s getting some!” He can hear the love of his life shouting in the back and their eyes meet and Taemin glances quickly from Choi Minho to the guy in front of him, and back to Choi Minho and again to the guy in front of him.

“Your mask—” the guy says, and Taemin notices, everyone has their masks off, save for a few couples practically grinding in the back and Taemin drops his jaw and everything is spinning.

That guy isn’t Choi Minho—

And the guy removes his own mask slowly, painfully slowly and with every second it’s more real that Taemin did not kiss Choi Minho but, but some—

Some really handsome guy from the soccer team.

Taemin gapes. , it’s rude to gape isn’t it—he quickly pulls his jaw back in place and he can’t ing believe his own eyes.

So maybe, he didn’t make out with the love of his life but he sure as hell hit the jackpot anyway because jesus christ this guy’s face should be illegal and he has this little sheepish smile plastered on his face. Taemin thinks he’s going to scream, he’s going to ing scream and he can already hear Kibum’s loud laughter in the back and this time he really sends them the finger but not for too long, he needs to stare at the stranger’s face a little more.

“I’m Jongin.” He says and Taemin stumbles a little and into his grasp (not like it’s hard anyway, they’re pretty much as close as humanly possible.) and his arms immediately go around Taemin’s waist again.
“Who are you?” He asks and Taemin purses his lips.
“I’m, um, Taemin.” He says with an unnecessary stretch of the n at the end. Jongin laughs a little.

“Well, Taemin,” he says, his fingers trailing from Taemin’s waist to his shoulders before stopping at the crook of his neck.
“Mind if I remove your mask?”
Taemin nods slowly – still not exactly over the fact that he’d been so sure that this was Minho – as Jongin reaches and unties the mask from behind and it drops on the floor. Kibum will probably be mad if Taemin leaves it there to get trampled on by drunk people but he could care less about Kibum now because Jongin is leaning in again and Taemin releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and then they’re kissing again, but this time with no masks bumping.

It isn’t long before Jongin pushes Taemin against the (clock-less) wall and Taemin’s fingers are in his hair and he can see Choi Minho laughing from the corner of his eye but it, Taemin is making out with the hottest guy alive so all’s good and well and Taemin really, just, hit the ing jackpot.

---

It doesn’t take long for Taemin to lead Jongin into Jinki’s guest bedroom after a couple more tequila shots but he feels a little high and Jongin seems to feel the same and locks the door behind them.

It surprises Taemin that no one had actually been in there when they entered but the thought was quickly brushed away when Jongin pins him down on the bed and trails kisses down his neck.

And he knows Jonghyun and Kibum saw him going in with Jongin but Kibum is drunk off his so they have more to worry about than Taemin the face of a beautiful human that isn’t Choi Minho.

Jongin chuckles and pushes Taemin’s hand away before bringing them together above Taemin’s head. Taemin is still laughing, Jongin must think he’s crazy because he has no idea what Taemin is laughing about (Taemin just finds it really ing funny.) and their shirts are on the floor quicker than expected and Jongin’s body is really warm and Taemin really thinks he might die.

---

Turns out, Jongin is the team’s goalkeeper and is only a centimeter taller than Minho. Also, on top of that Jongin makes the most perfect boyfriend ever, even if Taemin still gets made fun of like no tomorrow by his friends (and even if Jinki is still in shock about the sheets in his guest bedroom.)

(i have so many taekai something files in my documents that it was actually hard to find this wtf)
thank you for making it to the bottom of this thing thats really great ahh 
im sorry lmao its not very good (n a lil cringy but i think it has some good points probably. not sure.  its been a while since i looked this over. u m.)
also where are all the jongin birthday fics i am u p s e t
okay but really thanks for reading!! i appreciate it!!