enjoy the fluffer ;)))

Taemin practically stumbles down the sidewalk. A coffee in one hand, multiple textbooks in the other, and a heavy backpack on his posterior. He huffs as he skids down the sidewalk, probably already late for class. He made careful to watch where he was going, but as we all know, clumsiness came to Taemin all too easily. After saying ‘sorry’ too many times to count he just gave up and said nothing when brushing past people, because at this point he just hopes he makes it to his seminar alive.

“Aww what a cutie-patootie you are my lovely Roo” Jonghyun coos as he’s crouched next to his dog. He pats her lovingly, hoping all his affection was shown through his actions. Roo seems to like it, but she too busy looking at a bird in the distance to even pay attention to Jonghyun's words. Jonghyun clears his throat and stands up, dusting his knees off when a buzzing emerges from his pocket. Jonghyun reaches for his phone, pressing the ‘answer’ button after seeing it was his boss.

“Jonghyun speaking” he says in a firm tone, feigning professionalism.

A voice blabbers on the other side, making anxiety settle in Jonghyun's mind. It seems he can never get a day off, even if he was the manager, or so his boss said.

“Yes- yes yes, alright, I will. Okay” Jonghyun stammers and then hangs up, letting a loud groan fall from his pouting mouth.

“Well Roo, looks like we're going home a little earlier than expected. Don't worry baby, next time I'll take you to the big dog park- it'll be great you'll see” Jonghyun tried to comfort Roo as she stared at a ladybug on the floor. Jonghyun sighs again, adjusting his casual clothes and starts up a brisk walk.

Taemin tries to grab his phone in his pocket, he struggles to reach for it with the hand that holds his textbooks threatening to spill at any moment. Finally after an aching amount of effort he reaches his phone. As he almost runs down the sidewalk he pulls up Jongin’s number and texts him.

“Did class start yet??” Taemin asks in a panic, hoping he'd be able to arrive before they closed the doors on him- again, that’d be the third time this month, and he couldn't afford to be late, not with this much of a workload and the impending pressure to keep an above 80 average, which Taemin was barely teetering on.

“No, I think teach is running late, you better get ur here soon” Jongin texts back. Taemin scoffs and shoves his phone in his front pocket again. Soon he's almost jogging down the street, fretting as he realised he only has moments. As he lightly jogs, Jongin texts him back. He looks towards his pocket and tries to reach for his phone, but a body collides with his own.

His coffee is sent flying, his books tumbling, and his body collapsing as he bumps into a light brown-haired man walking his dog.

“Ahhgg” Taemin complains as he hits the concrete sidewalk, his hands breaking his fall and absorbing the shock.

“Whoahh” yelps Jonghyun and he tips backwards and falls directly on his . He lets out a small squeak as his rear his the stone hard floor.

It takes them both a minute to realize what's happened, and before Jonghyun even looks up to see who he bumped into, he's yelling Roo's name.

“Roo! Where-” Jonghyun is interrupted when he sees Roo on Taemin's left, up a puddle of sweet spilt coffee.

“Roo! Don't do that!!” Jonghyun complains as he reaches for Roo’s small body, placing her in his lap before he finally looks up again to the the stranger.

Taemin has sat up by now, he's rubbing at his hands, trying to soothe the sore feeling in his palms, but the stinging remains. Jonghyun studies his unique face before speaking.

“Umm...hi” Jonghyun says.

Taemin realizes Jonghyun is speaking to him and looks up, looks up to see a stunningly handsome face looking back at him, and for a moment he's shocked, shocked that a face like that exists. With sharp angles and soft features, he almost can't comprehend the stranger before him. Taemin gulps, trying to hide the fact that he wants to cry, the stinging in his palms only burning hotter like an iron on his skin. Taemin mumbles a pained noise and then speaks quietly.

“Uhm, hi- ow!” Taemin says as as he notices his hands aren't the only part of his body that are hurt. He'd ended up scraping his knees too. Curse his ripped jeans, jeans that exposed his knees to the world. His knees were red and bruised and scraped, with a bit of blood escaping his left.

“I'm- oh my gosh are you okay??” Jonghyun says as he sets Roo to his side, keeping a hand on her leash before sitting on his knees to get a closer look at Taemin's injuries.

“I- I” Taemin tries to say but is flustered by Jonghyun staring at him with such worried eyes, almost reaching a hand out to touch his knees.

“Oh right, sorry, I don't even know you and I'm trying to touch you, I was just worried. Can you move at all?” He asks as he leans near Taemin, close enough that Taemin can notice the rise and rest of Jonghyun's shoulders as he pants.

“I can move..I think” Taemin suggests. Jonghyun makes a pained sound and then stands up, stretching himself out and dusting his clothes. He looks at Taemin still on the floor, barely moving and he just really wants to help this poor boy.

“Can I?” Jonghyun asks as he nears his hands to Taemin's body. Taemin lets out a weak nod and allows Jonghyun to touch him, to grab him under his arms and prop him up into a standing position. Taemin groans lowly, feeling sore all over.

“Here-” Jonghyun says as he gestures his hands to a nearby bench. He grabs Taemin by the waist and helps him limp over to sit down, removing his heavy backpack in the process, he sets it down next to Taemin. Taemin sighs loudly as he plants himself on the wooden seat.

“Ugh! All my crap” Taemin complains as he sees a disaster of papers, books, and coffee on the ground, lucky for him the coffee didn't get on his work.

“Ah, here allow me” Jonghyun says as he crouches down to pick up all of Taemin's things.

“No..you don't have t-” Taemin struggles to say before he's interrupted by a sensation on his mildly bloody knee- Roo is tending to his wound and he almost wants to giggle, but the pain he feels all over reminds him not to. As Jonghyun picks up Taemin's work and textbooks he turns around to see a happy Roo trying to help clean and heal Taemin's injuries. His heart beats a little faster as he looks at the two cutest beings he's ever seen, and he doesn't know which is cuter.

“Roo! Stop that! Sorry” Jonghyun apologizes as he pulls Roo away from Taemin's leg.

“It's alright, he was helping” Taemin says.

“Oh she's a girl, her name’s Roo, full name Byulroo, but Roo for short” Jonghyun explains with a smile.

“Crap! What am I doing, I'm introducing my dog instead of myself” Jonghyun says as he mentally face palms himself.

“I'm Kim Jonghyun” he says bringing a hand out to shake Taemin's, other hands still holding Taemin’s books.

“I'm Lee Taemin, and thanks fo- ahhgg” Taemin cries out as he shakes Jonghyun's hand, completely forgetting his raw hands. Jonghyun’s face lights up in horror and he quickly sits next to Taemin and pulls his hand into his lap.

“Do you have a water bottle and tissues?” Jonghyun asks quickly.

“I- I think so, in my bag..but wha-” Taemin is interrupted by Jonghyun leaning his body over Taemin to reach for the bag. As much as Taemin hated to admit it, he did think there was something nice about Jonghyun touching his legs, and being so close to him. He almost craves more but remains quiet. Jonghyun pulls the bag over onto his lap and searches for a water bottle and tissues.

“Aha! Found them” Jonghyun says proudly as he sets the items on his lap and sits the books next to him on the bench. Jonghyun makes quick work of opening the cap on the bottle and pouring some water onto four different napkins. He wrings the excess water out of each tissue and then carefully places one on each of Taemin’s knees, patting it down to keep it in place. Taemin groans a bit, but already feels some of the pain subsiding. Then Jonghyun grabs Taemin’s hands and places them on his palms. Before he sets the damp napkins on his raw hands, he looks at them, almost pained.

“Do they hurt a lot?” Jonghyun asks as he delicately massages the palms of Taemin’s hands, staring at him intently.

All coherent words leave Taemin’s mind as he stares at the elder. His heart races at an impossible speed and he can’t seem to peel himself away from Jonghyun’s gaze. At one point, Taemin thinks he’s leaning closer to Jonghyun, but then quickly backs away, realizing how stupid that’d be- to kiss a stranger.

“I’m- they still..sting a bit” Taemin says quietly, but before he can think of something to say, Jonghyun is pulling his hands up to his face. Jonghyun lifts Taemin’s palms right in front of his eyes, inspecting them. Taemin is confused by this, and his chest only seems to pound more as the other holds his hands and touches him. A small smacking sound near his palms brings Taemin’s attention back to Jonghyun. Jonghyun is kissing Taemin’s palms; delicately, but a kiss no less. Taemin gulps, unable to move as he feels the other’s lips on his raw hands. Jonghyun moves from one hand to the other and peppers a kiss on Taemin’s left hand as well.

By this point, Taemin’s face is redder than a tomato, but he prays it doesn’t show up, he really doesn’t think he’d be able to handle it if Jonghyun saw him blushing after what he did. Taemin’s breathing slows a bit as Jonghyun’s lips leave his hand. He lowers Taemin’s hands into his lap once again and then looks up to meet Taemin’s eyes. Jonghyun immediately sees the shock and embarrassment written all over Taemin’s face. His eyes widen as he realizes what he’s done.

“Taemin I- I’m so sorry, it’s something my mom does for me whenever I get hurt, and, and I do it for her too! I’m so sorry, that must have been so weird. I got carried away” Jonghyun panics to apologize, rubbing his hands over Taemin’s palms to soothe him, before noticing the fear in Taemin’s eyes swell into something a bit sweeter.

“Would it be bad if..if I said I liked it” Taemin eyes the other shyly with a new found surge of confidence.

Jonghyun’s lips curl into a smile and Taemin smiles back. Taemin probably had about a hundred unread messages from his friend, but at this point, Taemin gave up going to class for the day, and for once, Jonghyun skipped work.