He's just so perfect.

That was all Taemin thought as he gazed lovingly at the object of his affections from the back of the class. Kim Jonghyun, honor student, adjusted his glasses as he efficiently copied neat notes in the front row of their advanced English class. Taemin watched all his little movements with fascination; the slight flick of his head to the left to move his hair out of his vision, the subtle fidgeting of his right leg, crossed over his left under the desk, the occasional moment when his tongue would dart out to moisten his lips...

Taemin was infatuated, to say the least. He'd admired Jonghyun for so long he couldn't even keep track. They'd gone to the same middle school together, where he'd first met Jonghyun. He'd been an honor student then too, though significantly less built (it was only after enrolling in high school when Jonghyun joined various sports teams and began to bulk up - needless to say, Taemin's infatuation had exceeded to an alarmingly high level after that). Taemin had always admired him from afar because as unfortunate luck would have it, Jonghyun was a year his senior so they never ended up being placed in the same classes. Taemin had been pretty devastated when Jonghyun graduated a year before him too, but Taemin had somehow miraculously ended up passing the entrance exam to the prestigious high school Jonghyun was studying at.

But Taemin's luck ended there.

All through his freshman year Taemin struggled to work up the courage to approach him, maybe just out of sheer hope that Jonghyun would learn his name. All Taemin wanted was to hear his name fall from that graceful mouth in that sing-song voice and he could die happy, so he put his plan into action. Taemin (through close attentiveness and not obessession, he swore) had come to obtain the knowledge that Jonghyun was majoring in English with the hopes of one day studying journalism in America. Taemin was a little discouraged at first because English was nearly his worst subject, but he set aside his doubts and studied his hardest throughout the ninth grade. By tenth grade, Taemin was a little better at English but still nowhere near the level to be placed in the advanced class he knew Jonghyun would take the next year, so he attended some night classes and enrolled himself in a month-long summer course trying his best to master the English language...and he came out victorious. Lee Taemin happily enrolled in the advanced English class for the senior level (despite still being a junior), giddy with excitement over finally being able to walk into class everyday looking forward to sitting in the same vicinity as Jonghyun when he encountered yet another problem; Jonghyun had enrolled for a different section of the same class.

It seemed like Taemin just never had any luck.

But he had gone too far to study so much English without even really having an interest in it to give up on his goal now, and with persistent visits to the office and the course counselor, Taemin was able to transfer into Jonghyun's section by the last day of course switches. He had succeeded and he was as happy as ever...until the first day of classes when the teacher announced that the class would not be sitting alphabetically. Now, in that high school, typically it was protocol to sit alphabetically by last name to ensure order and withhold a structured name to the prestigious school that the academy was, and Taemin had been incredibly happy because, well, Kim and Lee are right next to each other in the alphabet, but when the teacher announced free-range for seating, it was all Taemin could do to watch Jonghyun claim a seat at the front of the class and quickly be surrounded by his friends and other honor students of the like. Taemin hung his head low as he slunk to the back of the class, plopping himself down in a seat by the window and wondering how it was possible for one kid to have such crude luck.

So Taemin sat there, absentmindedly fanning himself with his left hand as his hair curled around his pencil, watching Jonghyun take notes from the back of the class. He had thought he would sit next to Jonghyun and introduce himself with class, "Hi, Jonghyun-sunbaenim, I'm Lee Taemin," and Jonghyun would say, "Oh, Lee Taemin, you're a year younger, it's amazing that you got into this class, I'm impressed!" and Taemin would humbly allow a blush to spill across his cheeks, waving his hand in the air brushing Jonghyun off with an, "Oh, you think too highly of me."

Taemin smiled dreamily to himself thinking about the sheer priviledge of having Jonghyun actually be impressed by him. He imagined they'd make small talk and become acquainted, and Jonghyun would put a hand on Taemin's shoulder and say, "Oh, drop the formality, Tae, you can just call me hyung!"

Taemin began to mindlessly scribble hearts into his notebook as he bit his lip, imagining how smooth and melodious Jonghyun's voice would be, how amazing it would be to watch his lips wrap around the syllables of their conversation and see them curve into a smile upon uttering Taemin's name. He imagined that hand patting his back, rubbing his shoulder, tousling his hair in a gesture Taemin could only dream of receiving in his life. He gripped his pencil harder, basking in the sheer glory of his own imaginations and fantasises of Jonghyun praising him, smiling at him, rewarding him, boasting about him...

He was snapped out of reverie as he heard the chime of the bell indicating the end of class, and thus the beginning of Taemin's lunch break. He quickly packed his things into his bag and began to make his way out of the class when it happened; the inevitably unlucky incident that would happen to the inevitably unlucky Taemin; in his rush to leave class, he accidentally bumped his hip on the side of none other than Kim Jonghyun's desk, hissing in pain, and dropping his phone. As he massaged his hip with his right hand, he reached down slowly to retrieve his phone, only for someone to swiftly grab it up before him. Taemin's heart dropped at the prospect of his phone getting stolen; then he'd never get it back, until he looked up and caught the eye of the handsome upperclassman he'd been doting on for years.

"Hey buddy, you okay there? That was a nasty hit," Jonghyun said, a smile gracing his mouth. Taemin was frozen. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't even think straight; the only thing running through his head was 'I must be staring at Adonis right now' and 'this is the greatest moment of my life.' When Taemin didn't answer, Jonghyun continued, "you sure you're okay, man? I'd be happy to help you carry your stuff to the nurse's office if you want so she can take a look at your hip?" Taemin was silent. He couldn't comprehend that Jonghyun was actually speaking to him, words flowing out of his mouth in perfect, structured form, not like Taemin could do - his choppy, awkward sentences with the occasional stutter reminiscent of the anxiety pills he had to keep nestled in the bottom of his bag for situations such as these - and so Taemin continued to stand there in utter awe, ignoring the throbbing ache in his side.

Jonghyun gave a short chuckle, reaching out to grab Taemin's hand and gently press his phone back into his palm. Taemin jolted, because oh god, oh god, Jonghyun was touching him, Jonghyun had touched his hand, and dear lord he was never going to wash that hand again and he probably wouldn't even touch his phone again after this because Jonghyun had held it and-

"C'mon, I got your stuff," Jonghyun said cooly, reaching for Taemin's shoulder bag and slinging it over his shoulder to settle next to his own backpack, "I'll walk you down there, okay? What's your name, buddy?" Jonghyun spoke sweetly, gently guiding Taemin's rigid frame around the remainder of the desks and out the classroom door.

"T-Taemin," he squeaked out, "I'm a *hic* junior." As soon as it slipped out, Taemin mentally smacked himself. What kind of terrible introduction was that? It was nothing like the smooth, perfectly articulated, well thought out line he'd practised for probably over three years now, and why was he getting nervous hiccups?!

"Hey, Taemin, I'm Jonghyun," Jonghyun replied with ease, "I didn't know our class took juniors, that's cool, you're hardworking then?" Taemin could only nod slowly, the heavy throbbing in his hip becoming more apparent as he struggled to limp-walk next to Jonghyun to the nurse's office, revelling in the fact that Jonghyun was praising him...he was acknowledging him...he had said his name.

Unfortunately for Taemin, he had just about exceeded his speech limit and wasn't able to form coherent sentences for the remainder of the walk down the hall which left Jonghyun laughing (Taemin wasn't sure if it was at him or with him but he didn't mind either way because Jonghyun's laughter was absolutely precious and music to his ears). When they got to the nurse's office, Taemin sat down while Jonghyun went to summon the nurse, before he returned and took a seat next to Taemin on the bench. Taemin could feel the heat radiating off his body and grew embarrassed at just now close Jonghyun's thigh was to his thigh and maybe if he inched just the slightest bit closer, they'd be leg to leg-

"Hey, Taemin?" Taemin looked up, "the nurse will be out in a few minutes...but I actually don't have a break right now...I'm a little late for class. Don't worry about it, I'm a good student so my teacher won't say anything about it, but I should probably get going, alright?" Taemin could only manage a feeble nod in Jonghyun's direction. Jonghyun smiled warmly at him as he adjusted his own bag over his shoulder, standing up and making his way to the door, before pausing and turning around, "hey, Taemin?"

"Y-Yes, sunbaenim!" Taemin forced out.

"I'll see you next class. Why not sit in the front next time?" He smiled casually and made his way out the door and down the hall, leaving Taemin to absolutely melt into a puddle of goo. It may not have been his picture perfect confession, but it was sure something.

Hey guys, LifeisSHINee here! Wow so I have really not written anything in a while and this is not really my best work but it's a cute little drab I thought up of the other day so I thought I'd write it out. Things have been pretty stressful lately (I'm sure many of you can agree with me when I say how taxing school can be on a student...) so I really haven't had the time to write anything which because I probably have almost 20 fic ideas that I'm dying to write, I just have no time! Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze out some little fics like this here and there, and hopefully they can be of better quality! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this one, I liked writing it; Taemin admiring Jonghyun from afar sounds so precious to me, haha. Please stay tuned, I have several more fics I'd like to share with you guys, for now, take care!