A couple of weeks later, Taemin woke up to a very pink room. Balloons were everywhere, dancing along the ceiling. Some were shaped as hearts, some as lips, some as Xs and Os. There were also some simple round ones as well. They were in various shades of pink and red. Taemin could only stare. When he glanced over at his desk, he found a bouquet of yellow tulips sitting there. Pink and white striped carnations were in a vase on his nightstand, and a mason jar holding some red gerbera daisies were on top of the fridge. What was going on?

Taemin stretched and got out of bed, groggily making his way to the bathroom. Inside, a cut-out heart with the center missing was taped to the mirror. When Taemin looked into it, he appeared to be framed in the heart. He raised his eyebrows. It had to be Seunghyun. What on earth was he up to?

The boy in question was leaning against his bed when Taemin emerged from the bathroom. He smiled at Taemin in that dimpled way that

always released butterflies in his stomach. It was so unfair.

“Morning,” Seunghyun murmured. “Happy Valentine's Day.”

Taemin blinked. “Is that today?”

Seunghyun chuckled, wrapping his arms around Taemin's waist and pulling him close. “It is.”

“Hmm.” Taemin took a deep breath, breathing in Seunghyun's cologne. He smelled so good. “I've never had a valentine, so I never pay attention to when the holiday is coming up. I usually only notice when the girls at my old school would start freaking out about it. Niel sometimes got a valentine, though.”

Seunghyun chuckled again, pressing his lips to Taemin's hair. “Don't tell Minsoo.”

Taemin giggled.

“What do you say, Tae?” Seunghyun said softly. “Do you want to be my Valentine?”

Taemin blushed so hard it felt as if his face were on fire. He couldn't hide his grin when he leaned back and replied, “Oh, I suppose.”

He squealed when Seunghyun retaliated with tickles.

They left their room arm in arm, bumping into Niel and Minsoo on the way to breakfast. Niel tugged Taemin away from Seunghyun so they could walk alone.

“Minsoo and I had this morning,” Niel whispered.

Taemin's jaw dropped for the second time that morning. “Are you serious?” he whispered back.

Niel nodded, blushing.

“How was it?”

“Painful at first, but then really really good.”

Taemin bit his lip. “I don't know what I would do if Seunghyun wanted to have .”

Niel looked startled. “Has something happened?”

Now it's was Taemin's turn to blush. Again. “He asked me to be his valentine. The room was filled with balloons and flowers.”

“Are you boyfriends?”

“No.”

“Don't even think about it, don't worry about it unless you guys date. Even then, really take your time with it.”

“Did you?”

Niel nodded. “Everyday for a few months. Luckily for me, Minsoo was very patient and never pushed. I knew he was willing, but the final decision was mine.”

Taemin smiled at his friend and reached out to hug him. He caught Minsoo's eye, and the senior blushed but winked. Taemin was happy for Niel, and they walked into the dining room with their arms wrapped around each other. He spotted Jonghyun with Jay Park, a foreign exchange student. Jay was a tucking a flower behind Jonghyun's ear. He was speaking softly, and they were both blushing. Taemin felt conflicted. Jonghyun had broken up with him, but Taemin did like Seunghyun more, which wasn't fair to Jonghyun. But it wasn't fair that Jonghyun had already found someone else. Sure, Seunghyun and Taemin were valentines, but it didn't mean they were a couple. Taemin sighed and pouted a little.

“Taemin why are you pouting?” Minsoo asked when they sat down.

“Yeah, if anyone should be pouting it's Niel for having Minsoo as a valentine,” Seunghyun replied.

Niel stuck out his tongue, and Minsoo kicked his fellow senior.

“Who's your valentine, smart guy?” Minsoo demanded.

“Taemin,” Seunghyun replied smugly.

Minsoo's eyes widened. “Wow. You don't deserve that.”

“Shh!” Seunghyun glared. “He doesn't need to know that.”

“He probably already does.”

Seunghyun scowled, but his face softened into a smile when Taemin began giggling.

“See? He knows he's too good for you.” Minsoo goaded.

Niel smacked his boyfriend's arm and rolled his eyes. “Are you guys doing anything for Valentine's Day?”

Taemin frowned. “I dunno. I'm so used to spending the day with you, I haven't thought about it.”

“What do you guys usually do?” Minsoo asked.

“Watch scary movies and pig out,” Niel answered.

Minsoo raised an eyebrow. “I didn't know you liked scary movies, babe.”

Niel nodded. “Not the super gory stuff though.”

“Yeah, same here,” Taemin piped up. “I love older scary movies when they couldn't show stuff. Sometimes it's the stuff you can't see that's the scariest.”

“Man, how many times have I scared myself, thinking I saw something out of the corner of my eye?” Niel scoffed, shaking his head.

“Let's do that,” Seunghyun suggested. “Let's stock up at the general store and watch scary movies all day.”

Taemin and Niel perked up, eyes shining.

“I have an old projector that we can hook up to Seunghyun's laptop so that we can watch movies on the wall,” Minsoo offered. “So we'll have to watch in our room.”

“That's fine,” Taemin replied. “Our room is filled with balloons anyway.”

Niel shot Minsoo a pointed look as they stood and began cleaning up after themselves. Minsoo sighed deeply and glared at Seunghyun.

“Unrealistic expectations,” he huffed.

They all curled up on Niel's bed to watch their scary movies. Sometimes Niel and Taemin would curl up with each other, sometimes they would stretch out on top of the upperclassmen. Niel would wiggle his toes in Minsoo's face, which resulted in Minsoo grabbing the foot and sliding his tongue between the offending digits. Niel squealed and fell off the bed. That made Taemin laugh so hard he fell off the bed. Taemin settled into Seunghyun's lap after that, and Niel grumbled about Minsoo not getting any kisses.

They broke for lunch and dinner, but after their final meal of the day, Taemin and Seunghyun went back to their own room. Taemin gathered the balloons into bunches and tied them together.

“Are you going to release them?” Seunghyun asked, tucking a daisy behind his ear.

“No way!” Taemin exclaimed. “I've never gotten anything like this before. I'm keeping them.”

Seunghyun smiled and stood next to him. “I'm glad you like them,” he said softly. “I was trying to show you how much I like you, Taemin.”

Taemin blushed. “Really?” he looked up at Seunghyun, then away. “But, Sohee-”

“Is nothing compared to you,” Seunghyun replied. “She was a mistake, she's not even real.”

Taemin's brows knit in confusion.

Seunghyun smiled that damn warm little smile that Taemin loved so much.

“Don't smile like that,” Taemin huffed. “It's not fair.”

Seunghyun tilted Taemin's chin up and leaned in for a kiss.

It was so unlike their first kiss. This one was hot and desperate, months of pent up desire built up between them. Taemin gripped Seunghyun's shirt tightly, while Seunghyun's hands slid into Taemin's hair. Taemin was becoming dizzy, but he wasn't allowed to pull away for very long before his valentine pulled him back for more. When he pulled away breathlessly for a second time, Seunghyun let him breathe.

“I love you, Taemin,” Seunghyun said. “You and no one else. I want to belong to you, and you to me. I want us to belong to each other.”

“Okay,” Taemin replied, a wide smile forming across his cheeks. “I'll be yours, and you'll be mine.”

Instead of a kiss, Seunghyun pulled Taemin to his chest and held him tightly.