This, along with a couple more drabbles (that I will add here in the near future), was written for my sweet friend Caroline ♡

Of Neckties and Cute Laughs; Taemin x Minho

Taemin has a crush on his nephew’s playschool teacher.

It just happened one day when he was still new to his job and didn’t know how to tie a necktie. His sister was doing it for him when he picked up his nephew, Jinki, from her apartment, but that Friday, she was heading out to work early so she left right after Taemin picked up Jinki. As he was driving the kid to the playschool, he was contemplating whether to turn up without a tie or to turn up a few minutes late instead, at least giving it a try by following a youtube video.

But his worries had evaporated the moment someone had called out to him when he was leaving after dropping Jinki off to his class. It was Jinki’s playschool teacher. He was new, Taemin had seen him only a few times before. They only had exchanged greetings and smiles and knew only each other’s names.

“You need help with that?” He had asked, pointing to the tie neatly tucked in Taemin’s suit pocket.

Taemin had just blinked, looking at him blankly, pulled out of his contemplation, finding it hard to adjust to reality, “Huh?”

“I know how to tie it. I can do it for you- if it’s okay with you.”

Taemin’s eyes had subconsciously trailed towards the huge clock on the wall ahead. He wouldn’t be just a few minutes if he tried tying it on his own. And no way was he going to show up to work without one.

He plucked out the necktie from his pocket and handed it to the teacher, “You’re a lifesaver, Minho.”

Minho had just laughed. Only laughed.

Yep. That was exactly when it had happened.

It was a bit uncomfortable. The good kind. Whenever Minho tied Taemin’s necktie, he didn’t have to look up, but down, because he was slightly taller. Taemin really liked his eyes, how they seemed handsome when closed, that little furrow in his brows when he concentrated. That little, faded scar on his cheek, the faint blemishes of his skin,  the faint moles on his face, his cute, thick pout that always spread into a charming smile when he was done…every detail about him was either handsome or adorable and Taemin had then finally realized that he probably had a bad crush on Minho, for being able to notice such details, for describing them with such adjectives in his mind.

It was probably also that goofy smile he had caught on his face at work, reflected on the blank screen of his computer.

It was every Friday, but soon enough, it became every other day. Taemin’s sister was way confused, seeing Taemin happily refuse the offer to have his necktie tied. He bluffed that he now knew how to do it, and in his hurry to get to Jinki’s play school, he promised to show her his skills over the weekend.

And the Friday evening before that weekend was when Taemin finally learned how to tie a necktie (courtesy of a youtube video, of course).

His sister was impressed, but she couldn’t help but notice his tie tucked in his pocket when Monday came. She just let it go, thinking maybe he was running late and would probably do it later in the car. Taemin had exactly that same excuse ready if she ever asked.

Around three months passed. Taemin decided not to overdo it. Though he kept asking Minho to do his tie for him, he restricted it to only a couple of days a week and did the rest days himself. This way, he wouldn’t be a nuisance to Minho nor evoke any suspicion from his sister, who seemed onto him– not for the tie reason– but for his obvious cheery disposition.

Nowadays, Minho took a few moments extra when he did Taemin’s necktie. He started a conversation about a random topic or told him about what Jinki did the other day. He often paused, his fingers still at Taemin’s collar, too engrossed in what he would be saying. From the conversations, he did get a lot about Minho– like how Minho was a year older to him, how much he loved children and always wanted to become a kindergarten teacher. He was posted at the playschool for now but how much he loved this experience as well. Taemin didn’t get much chance to speak because Minho was quite talkative but he could not complain because that gave him a chance to relish his soft, low voice and how handsomely crinkled his eyes became when he smiled.

He deemed it a miracle that Minho couldn’t hear his heart with the way it raced in his presence.

He had been working the second and fourth Saturdays starting from his second month. He always grumbled when Friday came; grumbled and grumbled over how unfair it was. He usually headed home but that Friday night, his colleagues had gotten him drunk so he ended up going to his sister’s place since it was closer than his own apartment.