Chapter One: The Wish

Lee Taemin stumbled through the door, threw his shoes off, and made a beeline for the staircase. After yelling out a quick, “Hey, Sanghyuk!” he scampered up the stairs and ran to the room he was looking for. He kicked it open with his foot and quietly stepped in. On the bed, a figure lay, , but otherwise motionless.

“Yeonie?” he called out. His only response was a moan. Taemin sighed and ripped the cover off of the girl. Surprisingly, she didn’t even flinch. She just moaned again.

Taemin took her desk chair and sat himself beside her. “I got gummy bears, ice cream, Skittles, and anything else I could think of. Come on, Yeonie. You can’t sulk all day while I still don’t know what made you miserable.” That got a rise out of her. She lifted her head and glared at him.

“Remind me why I called you, Lee Taemin?”

“Because I’m the best, Han Boyeon,” he said with a smile. He dug out a pint of ice cream from the bag, along with a plastic spoon, and handed both to Boyeon. “Now, hurry up and tell me why you needed this emergency snack kit. I have to get back to Naeun before she figures out where I went. I keep telling her we’re just friends, but no matter what, she won’t seem to listen to me.” Taemin was unaware of it, but his words made Boyeon’s heart sink.

“It’s Byun Baekhyun,” Boyeon said as she opened her ice cream, willing herself not to cry.

“What did he do?” Taemin asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do I need to punch him?”

“No.” Boyeon sighed. Even the delicious chocolate chip cookie dough chunks were doing little for her mood. “He got a girlfriend.”

“Really?” Taemin asked incredulously. “You know, I was starting to think he swung the other way, but I guess–”

It only took one look at Boyeon for Taemin to figure out why she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Oh.

“I’m so sorry, Yeonie,” Taemin said, taking the girl in his arms. He’d become much gentler, and the teasing tone was gone from his voice. Honestly, he had gotten so used to his friend’s crush on Byun Baekhyun that he had momentarily forgotten how much Boyeon really liked him. Ever since he met her in their third year of middle school, it hadn’t mattered that she was a girl and he was a boy. Even if Taemin had liked her, he knew he never would have had a chance, anyway. Her heart had been for Byun Baekhyun long before Taemin had met her, and it continued to be. While Boyeon had only spoken a few sentences to the boy over the course of her entire life, she was content with watching Baekhyun from afar and imagining that someday he would notice her and begin to like her. Baekhyun hadn’t dated anyone since middle school, seeming uninterested in having a girlfriend and instead being a massive flirt. Honestly, Taemin wasn’t the biggest fan of his – the biggest fan was, of course, Boyeon – but he had, for the most part, been alright with Boyeon having a crush on him. Now, in their second year of high school, Byun Baekhyun had finally found a suitable girl for him, and it was crushing Boyeon’s heart. “If you don’t mind me asking, who is it?”

Boyeon let out a choked sob. “Kim Taeyeon.”

Taemin paled. Was it really Kim Taeyeon, that beautiful third-year with the awesome hair and heavenly singing voice? No wonder Boyeon was so upset.

So, Taemin decided to be a good friend that Friday afternoon. He decided to stay there and eat junk food with her and listen to all the latest girly gossip she had to tell him. He stayed even though he hated her pink room. He stayed even though his girlfriend kept texting him and asking where he was. He stayed because that’s what friends did.

When Han Boyeon met Lee Taemin, she immediately found him to be one thing: irresponsible. He lost his homework regularly, spaced out in the middle of class, and had a tendency to be notoriously late. That night, however, when he brought her junk food and comforted her, Boyeon found him to be one of the most dutiful, responsible, and down-right wonderful people she had ever come across. She stared at her phone in the darkness, smiling at the last text he had sent her.

From: Minnie

Don’t be down too long, okay? Who else is going to cheer me on at the dance competition next weekend? And don’t you dare say Naeun. Her family is going on vacation next weekend so she won’t be there. I need you to make me a sign and scream out “Taemin oppa!” You got that?

After firing back that she was two months older than he was – a fact she never quite let him forget – Boyeon put up her phone and stared at her ceiling. Even with a great friend like Taemin, she was still miserable about Baekhyun. It would have been alright if he were dating a girl she could compete with, but Kim Taeyeon? Trying to compete with her was just asking for humiliation. 

She sighed. “Dear, God,” Boyeon whispered. “Why can’t I be as pretty as Taeyeon? Or maybe as talented? It’s obvious that Byun Baekhyun would like her more than me. But maybe, since you can do anything, do you think I could have a little help? If Baekhyun would just notice me once, if he would look at me romantically, I think I could be happy.”

And with that, she drifted off to sleep.

When I originally planned this story, Taemin wasn't a big character, but once I started writing, his role got bigger and bigger. I'm just so proud of him! Only like a year and a half ago, he was risking becoming an international missing child in Switzerland and now he's the first SHINee member preparing for solo debut! *proud tears* He's actually been a huge inspiration to me, so I like him a lot.