Taemin had a crush on Minho for a long time.  The way he saw it, there were two major problems with that.  First was the obvious fact that they were both boys.  Minho was most likely straight, right?  His two best friends were gay, but he seemed to like girls.  The second problem was Minho’s popularity.  With his flaming charisma, Minho charmed all the girls and was easily one of the most wanted as a boyfriend in the whole school.  Taemin wasn’t a girl, but he was no exception.  He had been charmed too.

He had tried getting close to the older boy, but it was too intimidating, and the wall between them was too high.  Well, he had sort of tried…he had a habit of getting really nervous and running away.  Sometimes he gathered the courage to walk up to Minho and talk to him, but it was really straining on his nerves.  He was always worrying about silly things, like ‘what does he think of me?’ and ‘how do I look?'

Sometimes Minho had been the one to try starting a conversation with him, but Taemin was so surprised and overwhelmed with happiness when that happened that he just froze up.  Sometimes he would be screaming on the inside, and he would have to retreat to safety before the screams escaped through his mouth and he embarrassed himself.

Minho probably thought he was some sort of freak now, right?  He was always running away and avoiding facing him.  He was such a coward.  Actually, with how he had acted, he wouldn’t be surprised at all if Minho thought Taemin hated him.

I’m hopeless, Taemin thought as he stuffed his head under his pillow.  At this rate I’ll never even be friends with him, much less get the courage to confess to him.  Should I just give up?

He sat up, throwing his pillow on the floor, and shook his head.  “No.  You can’t give up yet, Taemin.  You can try one more thing, right?”  He wouldn’t back out this time.  No, he couldn’t.  He would never forgive himself if he didn’t give it his all.  Taemin’s lips curved into a smirk as a plan formed in his head.

It was a strange plan, but he was confident he could pull it off.

The next day Taemin only went to school in the morning to officially ‘transfer’ schools.  He would actually still be going there, but only he would know it was him.  He told them he and his cousin were switching homes for a while and they needed to keep going to school over that time.  His ‘cousin’, who would come to school a few days later, would actually be him in disguise.

Taemin didn’t stay for his classes that day.  Instead he started preparing for his plan.  If it was going to work, he needed a major makeover.  The first thing he did was get his hair done.  He had the lady dye it an auburn color, and then add extensions, making it longer and more feminine.  He looked in the mirror when she was finished and smiled.  It was perfect.

The next thing was makeup.  Most girls wore it, so it would probably make him look more girly if he wore some.  Besides, he would never admit it but he’d always kind of wanted to try wearing eyeliner, just to see what it would look like on him.

Last, but quite possibly most important, Taemin needed some clothes.  He couldn’t exactly go to school in his old uniform or it would be obvious even with his new haircut that he was a boy.  After buying his school’s female uniform, he went to the mall to go shopping for some other outfits too.  He enjoyed that part probably a bit more than any boy should have, but it didn’t matter, because none of the salespeople could tell for sure whether he was a boy or a girl.  As for male pride, he wouldn’t have any of that left soon anyway.

When the day finally came for him to transfer in as his cousin, Taemin was nervous.  He was up earlier than necessary, and he kept checking his hair and makeup in the mirror, worrying about whether he looked enough like a girl, and if his disguise was good enough.  If anyone recognized him, the whole plan would be ruined.

When he got to school, his anxiety only worsened.  It hadn’t even crossed his mind before that he would have to pretend not to know everyone.  He hadn’t considered how difficult it would be to act like he was meeting his old classmates for the first time.  He almost slipped up a few times, but luckily he caught himself just in time and nobody suspected anything.

Taemin looked around for Minho and finally saw him at lunch.  He leaned against a wall, pondering how he was going to approach the older boy and introduce himself without being too obvious.  The whole point of this plan was so that he could get closer to Minho and be friends with him, but one couldn’t just jump into a friendship like that.  Friendships had to be built slowly but surely.  Otherwise they would be fragile, and they wouldn’t last long before crumbling.

However, Taemin was saved from having to take the initiative.  He felt a tap on his shoulder pull him out of his thoughts.  To his surprise, Minho was standing right there, smiling at him.  He felt butterflies in his stomach.

“Are you the new transfer student?” Minho asked, even though the answer was pretty obvious.

Taemin just nodded.

“What’s your name?”

“Taeyeon.”  Oh crap, that name is too similar.  What if he figures it out?

A dazzling grin appeared on Minho’s face.  “I’m Minho.”

Aaaah no, not the flaming charisma!  It burrrrnnnssss!

“You remind me of someone,” the older boy muttered quietly, but Taemin didn’t miss it.  He tried desperately to keep his heartbeat under control.  He crossed his fingers behind his back.  Don’t figure it out, please…

“Oh well,” Minho shrugged, and Taemin had to hold back a sigh of relief.  “I guess it’s probably my imagination.”  He smiled again.  “You wanna come sit with me for lunch?”

Taemin blinked, surprised at the offer.  Lucky!  He could only nod in response.

They talked a lot over lunch, and Taemin was surprised by how easy it was once he had gotten past actually starting the conversation.  He was still really nervous, but it was a lot easier than he had expected.  As with a lot of things, the anticipation was worse than the actual thing.

There was one added factor that was making him rather uncomfortable.  Key and Jonghyun, Minho’s gay best friends, were watching him strangely.  He felt transparent in their gazes.  It was like they could see right through him.  Did they recognize him?  Could they tell he wasn’t actually a girl?  To his relief, neither of them said anything.  Key did, however, confront Taemin alone about it after lunch, confirming his fears.

“Lee Taeyeon!  Or should I say, Taemin?”  He crossed his arms.

Taemin’s eyes widened.  “H-how did y-you know?” he stuttered.

Key smirked.  “I don’t forget faces easily, Taemin.”

The younger boy grimaced.  “Could you…not call me that?  Please?”

“Don’t want people to overhear?”  Key shrugged.  “Fine.”  Taemin hesitated to ask the question, so Key just answered it, saving him the trouble.  “You’re wondering if I’m gonna blow your cover, right?”

Taemin nodded.

“Hmm…”  Key thought about it for a moment.  “I haven’t decided yet.  That depends.”  He stared right into the younger boy’s eyes, which were wide and filled with fear.  “Why are you doing this?”

Taemin hesitated again, but he knew he didn’t have a choice.  He had to tell Key the truth or he’d probably reveal his identity.  He took a deep breath, and then blurted out, “I like Minho.”

Key raised his eyebrows.  “Oh?  Keep going.”

Taemin bit his lip.  “I’ve had a crush on him for a long time…I just wanted to be his friend.  I did this so I could get close to him.”

“And you couldn’t do that as a guy?”

Taemin looked down at his feet and shook his head.

There was a long pause, in which Taemin imagined Key was thinking, and trying to decide how to deal with the fake girl.  Finally the older boy spoke.  “Alright, I’ll keep your secret.”

Taemin looked up at him in surprise.  “Eh?  You will?”

Key nodded.  “Not only that, but I’ll even help you.”  He grinned.  “I can’t abandon a little dongsaengie in need of help~”  He ruffled Taemin’s hair.  “Besides, it seems like fun.”

Taemin squeaked and tried to fix his hair.  “But how can you help?”

“What’s your phone number?”  Taemin told him and he typed it into his phone.  “I have my ways…that you don’t need to know.”  Key chuckled.  “You just concentrate on your part.  Minnie hwaiting!”  He started to walk away, then turned and added, “If you need any advice, I’ll be here!”  Then he waved and left for class.

Taemin stood there frozen in place, wondering what had just happened.  He hadn’t expected that at all!  “I…gained an ally?”  He blinked.  I seem to have really good luck today!  He headed to class, grinning like a fool.