Summary: Taemin is the new up-and-coming rookie actor that lands a lead role in Minho’s new movie, however things get complicated…fast.

Warnings: Slight cussing, mention of homophobic parents 

Fill for anon from Tumblr!! I'm sorry this is so late, and this isn't exactly the prompt you asked for bc I had to condense a bit :( It would've extended way out from a one shot otherwise, although maybe I can make it a seperate chapter fic later on? Or give it just a sequel? I'm not sure, if you'd like me to expand on this though, just message me again as I did really like this prompt!

Taemin spots him their first morning on set, over the lip of his coffee mug that he is trying to hide from his over-paranoid manager who thinks that caffeine before shooting is practically a sin. The man has a strong set to his jaw, a stony look on his face, and a rather, well, regal look to his general appearance. Taemin can see why the noonas from his college theater courses swooned over Choi Minho, the “it” actor of the cinematic world ever since his debut in To The Beautiful You in 2011. Taemin sets his coffee down and tears his eyes away from his co-star, staring down instead at the script sitting precariously on the edge of his lap. The words seemed to swim up at him after looking at it too long, legible but no longer holding meaning. 

Nerves. That had to be the only explanation. It was, after all, Taemin’s acting debut. Only 21 years old and he had already landed a lead role in one of the most widely anticipated movies of the year. And the star of the show? Choi Minho. 

Taemin’s friend Kibum had shrieked when Taemin first told him that he had landed the role, although Taemin still thinks that it was mostly Kibum releasing his innner fanboy over the fact that he would be working with /the/ Choi Minho, not necessarily that he had landed his own special role. Nevertheless, Kibum upheld his good friend duties, working with Taemin endlessly these past few weeks with running lines, memorizing cue-ins, and just generally becoming more in-tune with his character. Taemin wishes that his best friend could have been here with him today for moral support before his first big shoot, but Kibum had already promised his boyfriend Jonghyun that he’d spend the day helping the shorter boy move into a bigger apartment. They probably weren’t going to accomplish much moving today though, as Taemin had overheard Kibum mentioning something about “christening the living room” during a recent phone call with Jonghyun. The memory caused Taemin to smile, just slightly more at ease now that something broke the wall of tension that had been tightly wound in Taemin’s chest. 

Setting his coffee mug down on the desk along with his neglected script, Taemin knew that no amount of studying now would make anything easier. He glanced once more over to where he originally saw Choi Minho, frowning once he realized that the tall actor was no longer in sight. He must’ve gone to his dressing room, Taemin reasoned. Now that he thought about it, today would be the first day that Taemin would have extended contact-time with the other lead; Minho kept to himself more often than not it seemed, and their previous interactions were brief and rather awkward.

Their very first meeting was at the casting call, when Taemin had to do a practice run-through of a scene with the older boy to see how they interacted together. It was all very much a blur (Taemin couldn’t help but be a little starstruck), and Taemin refused to call that a proper first introduction since they hadn’t even greeted each other normally once the scene was done. Taemin was simply sent out of the room, his small frame shaking with nerves and excitement. He felt like he could reach out and grab the role for himself at that point, he had never longed for an opportunity so badly. 

The second was 2 weeks later, when Taemin was called into the office of the director for the movie for a meeting. Those 2 weeks of waiting had practically drove Taemin up a wall, refusing to believe that he hadn’t gotten the role while simultaneously losing more hope as the days dragged on. He had been a wreck, and Kibum told him as much after spending one Thursday afternoon trying to alleviate the younger boy’s nervous energy by having him focus on something fun instead: dancing. However, Kibum’s good-natured attitude quickly unraveled once Taemin had accidentally elbowed him in the ribs for the third time while doing a dance routine that Taemin usually had down by heart. It had taken Taemin multiple days of buying Kibum gifts and promising to chill out about the role for his best friend to agree to hanging out again, Kibum’s snarky side sated for the moment.

When Taemin walked into the director’s office, Choi Minho was sitting in one of the plush swivel chairs placed in front of the director’s desk, looking as prim and proper as ever. The director had greeted Taemin with a big grin and firm handshake, confirming that Taemin had actually landed the role and that he looked forward to working with him. Minho had simply sat there the entire time, watching silently as Taemin lit up in a huge grin, trying not to squeal in front of his new boss. They hadn’t talked this time either, Minho only offering Taemin a curt nod of acknowledgment before standing up and leaving the room. Taemin had been too overjoyed by the fact that he had actually accomplished his dream that he didn’t really register the way Minho seemed to almost glare at him on his way out, his cold demeanor blocked by the ray of sunshine that was Taemin. 

Presently, Taemin had simply chalked it up to the older boy not being the most adept at meeting strangers, which he resolved to change today. They were going to be co-workers for the next 8 months after all, the least they could do was be on good terms while they were at it. 

The intercom system buzzed overhead, the deep voice of the director ordering everyone to get to their places on set to begin the first shoot. Taemin’s manager suddenly showed up, the short but sweet-tempered woman nitpicking little imperfections in Taemin’s hair and correcting them, all the while spewing words of encouragement that ended up making Taemin smile once more. He really did appreciate his manager, Ms. Young, she had sacrificed so much time and effort to help him, and he really wanted to do his best to make her proud. 

“You’ll be amazing Taemin-ah, just breathe and do what you do best,” Ms. Young said quietly, sending Taemin off with one last grin and pat on the shoulder. He didn’t quite trust his voice at the moment, his throat closing up with every step closer towards the beautiful set in front of him, so he simply waved in response before beginning to worm his way through the bustle of cameramen and makeup artists doing last touch-ups before the cameras were set to start rolling. 

The movie was about a dashing, young detective by the name of Yoon Tae Oh, played by Minho, who was forced to partner up with a nosy pick-pocket who went by the name of Ryu, in order to solve a string of seemingly unsolvable murders in the Hongdae district. Ryu served as one of the main conflicts for Minho’s character: he was invaluable to the investigation since he knew everything there was to know about the underground in Hongdae, and yet he was a criminal in the eyes of the law. Taemin thought it was a bit ironic that he had landed the role of Ryu, seeing as his actual personality couldn’t have been more different from his character’s. But that was the exciting thing about acting, you didn’t have to be yourself. For a short amount of time, you got to be someone totally different, someone new. 

The set was arranged for the interrogation room scene, where Minho would be grilling Taemin for knowledge about the recent murders. At the end of the scene they would come up with a compromise, albeit begrudgingly on Minho’s part; Minho would get Taemin’s advice and help with the case, but Taemin’s previous charges for stealing would be forgiven and wiped clean from his slate. 

Taemin took his place in the cold metal chair, one of the cordi-noonas fixing the handcuffs around his wrists and touching up the final details of his makeup. The nervousness from before seemed to intensify ten fold as the last touches were done, leaving Taemin struggling to take a full breath to calm down. His nerves weren’t at all calmed by the fact that Minho had suddenly made his appearance on set, dark chocolate eyes scanning the room before settling on Taemin. If Taemin thought it was hard to catch his breath before, it was impossible now. Taemin had never really gave much thought to his uality before, regarding it as something that didn’t need to be labeled so long as he was happy in the end. However the young brunette couldn’t deny that Minho was dashing, dressed to the nines in his pressed navy blue business suit, fitted to his athletic frame expertly. Minho’s normally fluffy hair was slicked back for this scene, but not obscenely so; just a tad bit of hair gel to tame his bangs and push them back to better define his face.

A loud bang on the metal desk in front of Taemin snapped him out of his reverie, his cheeks heating up at being caught off-guard.

“Yah. You better pay attention, I don’t deal with newbies who can’t pull their heads out of their .”

Minho was staring Taemin down icily, his curled fist resting on the table where he had slammed against it to get Taemin’s attention. Taemin noticed that none of the staff seemed to be fazed by Minho’s outburst, in fact some of the cordis seemed to even look rather sympathetically towards Taemin, as if they knew what was to come.

“S-Sorry…” Taemin said awkwardly, eyes flicking away to avoid staring back at Minho. A few tense seconds passed by before the director’s sharp voice once again cracked through the air like a whip, everyone settling into their final places. Taemin shifted in his seat, trying his best to keep his composure under Minho’s gaze. He hoped that his mistake wasn’t going to interfere with the quality of their performance. He’d just go resolve thing with Minho after the shoot. 

Just get it done and over with. It’ll all go smoothly from there.

______

Needless to say, it did not go smoothly. 

In fact, it was a spectacular mess, with both lead actors tense and at each other’s throats. The shoot staff looked on, bewildered, as Taemin and Minho were once again back to bickering as soon as the director warily called out “Cut!” for the nth time. No one seemed to understand what the problem was, both young men knew the lines like it was engrained into the back of their eyelids, and both could delve into their characters just like any other professional actor. In fact, for the few scenes that weren’t interrupted by more arguments the staff were stunned at how well the two played off of each other’s strengths; while Minho could pull off the cool, suave personality of Tae Oh, Taemin was young enough to have the natural charm and wit about him to pull off Ryu’s impish attitude. They seemed to be able to gauge how far they could push their bounds to make the act more realistic to the viewers, a skill that was very hard to perfect, even for experienced actors like Minho. And yet, here they were, able to do it at the tip of a hat during the few times they seemed too disinterested to carry on with their antics.

“I wouldn’t have faltered if you hadn’t had such a ing brute grip on my arm Choi!” Taemin spat, standing up in Minho’s personal space and roughly shoving him to the side. Minho didn’t stumble far, quickly righting himself before giving Taemin a not-so-gentle shove back, causing the younger boy to fall back into the edge of the table. Taemin winced, rubbing the space of his lower back that had crashed into the corner. 

“I can’t deal with this anymore,” Minho muttered, quickly walking off the set with a flurry of cordis trailing after him. 

Taemin sighed, staring off to where Minho disappeared behind the doorway leading to his dressing room. He vaguely registered some of the staff telling him that they’d put a hold on shooting for today, and resume recording early the next morning. He just didn’t get it. What did he ever do to piss Minho off so badly? They didn’t even know each other and the elder was already dead set against cooperating with him.

Later that night Taemin found himself cuddling up against Kibum in the blonde’s bed, seeking some comfort from his best friend about what lay ahead of him.

“I don’t know what to do Ki, it’s like we hate each other but we haven’t even had a real conversation yet. He can’t stand me, and he just…gets under my skin so easily. I just don’t understand…” Taemin says quietly, the darkness of the room covering the two boys like a blanket. Kibum gave a soft hum as he thought about what to say, gently carding his fingers through Taemin’s silky hair. Kibum always seemed to know what little movements put Taemin at ease, this being one of them.

“Make him talk to you then. Sit him down and figure out what’s causing all this tension, then work it out from there. If he really is as professional as you say, he’ll come to some sort of compromise with you, he won’t want to put the quality of the movie at risk.”

It made sense, and sounded like a responsible course of action to take. Then again Taemin was only 21, and responsibility was still a pretty new concept to him in the adult world. He figured he’d give it a shot, if nothing else he could be content with knowing that he at least tried to fix the situation.

“Thank you Ki.” Taemin smiled and pressed a quick kiss to Kibum’s cheek, his best friend mirroring his smile, albeit a bit tiredly.

“Now go to sleep you doofus.”

“Meanie.”

“Mhm.”

_______

It took another month of tense shooting (thankfully with significantly less fighting than the first day) before Minho agreed to sit down with Taemin at the younger’s small apartment to talk. At the time that Taemin had invited Minho over to talk, he didn’t really think about the state of his apartment or what the older would think of it. But now as the pair silently toed off their shoes in the messy front hallway, Taemin couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious. 

“It’s a little…messy right now. And it probably isn’t at all what you’re used to residing in but please bear in mind that not everyone is as well-off as you.” Taemin hadn’t meant for the last part to come out so bitter sounding but he couldn’t help it. Taemin had been on his own ever since he turned 19, his parents decidedly giving him the silent treatment and cutting off all financial support when the boy had admitted that he had a crush on some senior boy in his psych class. Ever since then it had been an uphill battle, struggling to pay rent and afford to eat every weak. He had to drop out from college after only attending one year, unable to afford the steep tuition on his own. Kibum had been a big help in the beginning, but Taemin had decided to move out on his own once he saved up enough money from working at their local theater as an assistant stage manager, not wanting to burden the blond who already had enough on his place as it is. 

“I don’t mind, your place is rather homely.” Minho’s voice brought Taemin’s attention back to his guest, who looked rather…normal for once, instead of his usual intimidating stature. Minho was dressed casually, in a pair of sweats and a tee which Minho somehow managed to make look much fancier than it really was. The comment brought a small smile to Taemin’s face, igniting a small hope that they’d be able to sort out whatever issues there were between them.

Taemin sat down at the kitchen table, internally wincing as the wooden legs of the bar stool scratched noisily against the floor as he made room to slip into the seat. Thankfully Minho didn’t seem to care and simply took the seat next to Taemin, although with considerable more grace than the younger boy. A minute passed by where the two exchanged quiet, awkward glances to each other, unsure of how to broach the topic of their discourse.

“Do you hate me?” Taemin eventually blurted. Minho’s eyes widened a fraction, seemingly flustered by the question.

“Wha..what? No, of course not,” Minho defended, laying his palms flat against the table top. 

“Then why have you acted so rude to me? Ever since the first time we met, you’ve always seemed annoyed by me. I’m just not sure what it is about me that you have a problem with.” Taemin sighed and drummed his fingertips lightly against the edge of the table, thinking back to make sure there really wasn’t anything he had done to rub off the wrong way on Minho. He couldn’t think of anything, but the seed of worry that he was really to blame was already nestled in the back of his mind.

“I…” Minho trailed off, sounding unsure in how to explain himself. Taemin gave him a moment to collect his thoughts, knowing that the situation was odd enough, he wasn’t about to rush the older boy. “I suppose I was just jealous. I mean, here comes this amateur actor out of nowhere, and he has already landed a lead role on his first try. I’ve worked so long to get to where I am now, but you just…did it. Just like that.” Taemin frowned, watching Minho as the older boy stared resolutely down at his hands and nowhere else. Taemin had certainly not expected that answer, and before he could stop himself he let out a small chuckle.

“That’s ridiculous! You’re /the/ Choi Minho, you’re basically the Adonis of the acting world. I’m no threat to you…” The thought of Minho being threatened by Taemin was amusing; Taemin was pretty much nothing compared to Minho, that was just a fact. Taemin didn’t take it personally, but he wondered if maybe acting was all Minho had, the one thing that he really felt confident in. He supposed he could understand the elder’s sentiment of jealousy if he looked at their situation from that perspective, but even so Minho had still made his reaction a bit extreme. 

“I’m sorry that I made you feel that way, it really wasn’t my intention to do so.” Minho smiled a bit at Taemin’s words, once again causing the Taemin’s breath to catch in his throat. A smile from Minho was a rare occurrence, especially around Taemin himself, but it held a certain warmth that made Taemin’s chest constrict almost painfully. 

“I should be the one apologizing, not you. I’m sorry for making you suffer through that, it was really unfair of me to do so.”

Taemin perked up at this, wiggling a bit in his seat with excitement. “Does this mean we’re okay now?” He stared at Minho expectantly, becoming a tad distracted as Minho’s tongue darted out quickly to wet his chapped lips. 

“If how intensely you’re staring at my lips is any indication, I’d say we’re probably okay,” Minho answered back cheekily, his smile growing wider as Taemin’s cheeks reddened from embarrassment. Taemin swatted at his arm, pouting.

“I was not staring! I just…happened to notice, that’s all.” 

Minho smirked and leaned forward in his seat, placing his lips right by the younger’s ear. A shiver ran down Taemin’s spine as he felt Minho’s warm breath fan across his skin, lips just barely brushing against the area right below his earlobe.

“I wouldn’t mind if you happened to notice more often, Taemin-ah,” Minho whispered softly, gently resting one hand on Taemin’s waist as he did so. 

Taemin wondered how they’d gone from hating each other to…whatever this was so quickly, but he figured it probably had always been lying there below the surface tension, and decided to just focus on the here and now. He had a feeling they’d have plenty of time to sort it out in the future anyways. 

“Are you gonna kiss me or what, Adonis?”

_______

The End!! :D If you'd like to request a pairing/prompt, feel free to message me on here or comment down below! Thank you for reading, and comments are always appreciated <3 Have a nice day everyone~