Lee Taemin and Kim Jongin are cousins who look strikingly alike, enough for one to be mistaken for the other; and hence Taemin, who was the more sober of the two, kept his distance from Jongin’s affairs, because he did not want some random guy come ask him to repay ridiculous amounts of money, nor did he want some random girl to glare at him and then give him a tight slap for not recognizing her. It was pretty much evident who was at a loss and who was at a gain in this situation, because Taemin encountered all the trouble Jongin would have caused and Jongin took clever escape routes out of situations by pulling a sincere face and saying his name was Taemin.

When high school began, Taemin was all set to cast Jongin’s influence away, but no matter what he did, Jongin copied. Be it spectacles, dyeing the hair, piercings or fashion. Taemin swore it was annoying, but Jongin was his like his little brother in the end. He adored Jongin no matter how much he annoyed him.

They got into the same university and Taemin chose to be the nerd in looks to match his behavior, pulling out his spectacles instead of contacts. Jongin pouted but chose not to copy this time, saying that he was gonna live it large during college, joining a band, being the kingka, partying hard and such. Taemin just clicked his tongue, already counting the number of supplementary exams his cousin would be writing. It was going to be a big list.

It was the first day of their campus life and Taemin was excited because he could finally keep Jongin’s mess away and not worry about every little thing his cousin would do that would come biting his instead. They wouldn’t even be sharing classes because Taemin belonged to Computer Science and Jongin to Modern Music. So Taemin walked like a free man to his first class of the day after bidding Jongin goodbye and sat in the last row, waiting for the lecture to begin. He must’ve been very early because hardly anyone was in class and the lecturer hadn’t arrived yet. He stared at the door with slightly knitted brows and a pout, spinning his pen between his fingers, tapping his feet to a random song that was playing in his head.

And then he entered.

A cute, tall guy with these huge sparkling eyes and a nervous smile, speaking to someone in the first row in a voice that gave Taemin pleasant goosebumps. He then began to walk towards the row Taemin had taken a seat in, smiling and greeting the couple of students who sat in between. Those eyes then finally met Taemin’s, making his heart beat strangely faster. Taemin averted his gaze, coughing as he stared down at his name on the notebook, while the cute guy sat beside him.

“Choi Minho.” He said, waving his hand with a smile, making Taemin look to him, “Don’t mind right?” He asked, pointing to where he sat, “Everyone complains I am too tall for the first row.”

Taemin blinked away his daze when he realised he had been staring a few seconds too long, “Oh, I don’t mind at all. Lee Taemin, by the way.”

Minho grinned and before the conversation could have proceeded, the lecturer entered, beginning the class right away.

Taemin was too conscious throughout the class and when it finally ended, Minho got up, gathering his stuff, “I got Circuit Analysis next. You?”

“Operating Systems.” Taemin replied.

“Ah.” Minho seemed a bit disappointed, “We don’t collide there. I hope to meet you in other classes though.” He smiled and with a salute was off, leaving Taemin staring at his back, a sheepish grin forming on his face.

“Me too.”

Taemin was sure he liked Minho a lot. There was only one class they shared this semester- Programming Languages- but it was better than nothing. That meant he saw Minho once a week for an hour. The subject seemed unnaturally hard and Taemin messed up the codes because he was too busy secretly gazing at Minho and getting lost in his big eyes and handsome smile.

Jongin, who stuck around Taemin during the break, knew something was off with his cousin and it took him no time to get it out. Taemin was gullible after all. Taemin secretly pointed out Minho to Jongin one day and Jongin scrunched up his nose in thought.

“He watched us play at Hard Rock Cafe.” Jongin said after a while, “I remember him quite well. Stared at me weirdly.”

Taemin’s brows knitted, “Wait, what?”

“I made a band!” Jongin gloated, “We played for the owner last week and he had us come down three days in a row, he liked us that much! Can you believe that! We are gonna be permanent on every Friday this week onwards.” Jongin calmed down a bit after looking at Taemin’s expression, “Sorry. And so…this Minho guy was there all three days, same spot, staring at me like…I don’t know.” He finished with a shrug.

Taemin remained silent, his brows still knitted at what Jongin said.

“Hey, tomorrow’s Friday. Come down and hook up with him. You can’t bond over Java unless it’s coffee.”

Taemin’s face brightened, “Really…?”

“Come on, bro. Live it large, like me!”

So Taemin stepped into said cafe before Jongin’s gig started, putting a little more effort in his clothes than usual. He didn’t lose the shabbiness or the spectacles all at once, because he had this trivial worry of letting his interest in Minho seem too obvious. He took a seat after getting himself a cool drink, watching Jongin’s band gather on the stage and tune their instruments in sync before beginning to play.

“Not bad.” he whispered to himself. Jongin and him had taken music lessons together when they were kids, and Taemin remembered that Jongin was not that good, especially at the guitar, but he must have worked hard because the song sounded tonnes more bearable than the tune Taemin had heard him strum last.

“Hey, Taemin!” A voice called out to him, making him flustered all of a sudden- because it was the voice of a certain adorably handsome guy who had taken over the majority of his mind. Taemin turned to find Minho waving and approaching. He sat up, greeting him and Minho took the stool beside him, “What brings you here?”

“I came to hear them play.” Taemin replied, pointing at the stage. “Heard the rookie college band got a chance at Hard Rock. Was curious.”

“Yes, yes.” Minho said, ordering a drink, “They are pretty good. The guitarist, especially.”

“The guitarist?” Taemin turned towards the stage and Jongin was strumming fiercely, playing his piercing solo, headbanging, every bounce of the mop of his hair gaining a scream from the crowd. “…I see.” He turned back to Minho and found him staring at Jongin with a strange glint in his eye. Taemin couldn’t figure out if it was because he was into the music or into Jongin. The latter option seemed more legit and made him swallow his drink with difficulty; a lump forming in his throat.

Suddenly Minho’s phone rang and he was off, saying his friend was in a pinch and he had to help. Taemin bid him goodbye, trying hard to maintain a straight face. He walked backstage after Jongin’s band was done playing, his morbid face painting creases on Jongin’s forehead. “What’s wrong?”

Taemin sighed heavily and Jongin’s eyes widened, “He rejected you or something?”

“Yeah. Something.” Taemin replied, “Seems like it’s you he likes.”

Jongin’s mouth fell open, “Did he say it?”

“No. But he looked at you in a way that made me a hell lot jealous. So…” Taemin sighed again, “I’ll just go sleep this off. Use your keys, I won’t open the door for you if you get late.”

Jongin nodded, looking a bit lost at how to console his cousin, but Taemin patted his shoulder, “Not your fault.” And he mustered up a weak smile before leaving.
 

Taemin decided not to like Minho, not to be swayed, not to interpret situations to his liking. He knew it was Minho’s handsome aura that made him look, but it was his persona, his kindness that had got him eventually hooked, leading him to one-sided love. His grades in Programming Languages were almost average and Taemin buried himself in practising programs, trying to understand syntax in an attempt to keep his mind off a certain adorable handsome guy who sat beside him.

Minho took the signal and did not disturb Taemin much, nor did he say anything when Taemin chose another person as a partner when the lab sessions began.

They didn’t exchange anything but a greeting and though Taemin itched to exchange more, he didn’t, knowing it would just hurt if he got into Minho more when the latter was kinda into Jongin.

“Messy.” Taemin whispered to himself, thinking of the scenario of the possible love triangle as he walked out the library on a Friday evening, all set to go home, take a break from his codes and re-watch Inception. But Jongin put his arm around his neck, chuckling as Taemin struggled and grumbled, yanking his arm off. Jongin then suddenly quietened, facing Taemin with his trademark cute ‘please help me, hyung’ eyes.

“What do you want?” Taemin sighed.

“Fill in for me.”

Taemin raised a brow, “Where?”

“The band. Today is our gig, remember?”

Taemin blinked, “What, why?”

“I got grounded. No phone, no net, no TV and 5pm curfew.” Jongin replied nervously, “I got a zero in one of the exams and Mom found out when I went home to change. She’s damn angry. Thank goodness Dad ain’t home. Uncle helped me sneak out for a bit. Please fill in for me, today’s gig is important. Some recording company guy is rumoured to visit, so it-”

“No.”

“Please, please, please, please.” Jongin whined, “You are the only one I know who knows how to play the guitar. Just one song. My band members will brush you up and dress you up in my style. No one can tell the difference.”

“Nope.”

“Minho will be there!” Jongin continued, “You said you were jealous of the way he looked at me, right? Don’t you wanna know how it feels when he’d look at you like that? Gosh! Please! I am running out of reasons to make you say-”

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll do it. Only this one time, though.”

Jongin beamed, pulling Taemin into a tight hug, “Will do!”
 

So there Taemin stood, in front of the mirror, wearing black ripped skinnies, a sleeveless white printed t-shirt, a leather studded jacket and a studded cap to match. His glasses were trashed and he wore contacts. His dark parted, overgrown hair now fell on his forehead and a little bit on his kohl-rimmed eyes, making him look an extreme opposite of how he had walked in.

Jongin had gone home after accompanying him to where they were gonna practise one time before heading to the cafe and Taemin took his guitar, getting all the parts right after a couple of attempts. With encouraging pats and comments like, ‘he’s damn good’ ‘better than Jongin’ ‘how lucky we are’ ‘it’ll be smooth’, they headed to the cafe and it was soon time for their performance.

Taemin knew it was Minho’s mention that made him give into Jongin’s request, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself and hence decided to not look for Minho in the crowd when they played.

Argh, but his shameless heart took over when his eyes spotted Minho and instead of letting his gaze drift casually, he kept it intact on the guy, who watched back with increased awe, that expression, those eyes, making Taemin’s heart race like it never had, only to start stinging soon on realising that it was Jongin and not him, for whom it was all meant for.

The realisation made him unnaturally upset and he played furiously, extending the song with his solo, finishing up and storming out, leaving the crowd in loud cheers, feeling all kinds of emotions collide within himself.

He took a bench in the nearby park after he had walked out too far, flopping down and sighing to himself, regret forming on his face, “Messy.” He groaned, resting back his head, closing his eyes shut in frustration, his heart a mess with anger and disappointment.

“I didn’t think it was messy though.”

Taemin opened his eyes and straightened up, finding Minho stand a couple of steps away from him, smiling.

Taemin just stared open-mouthed a while, watching Minho approach and sit by his side. He extended a can of soda after unsealing it and Taemin took it hesitantly, his confounded eyes still on Minho.

“It was a lot better, actually.” Minho continued, looking at the grass, “You even look a lot better.” He sighed, “Call me crazy or something, I have a big crush on a guy who looks kinda like you. You almost fooled me once, okay?” He chuckled, “Anyway, I just come along and watch you guys play when I miss him. Imagine him standing where you stand…looking cute trying to sing or play…” He knitted his brows, finally looking at Taemin, “He’s been avoiding me for a while, though. I wonder if I did something wrong? So…if you were him, what do you think I should do to fix it?”

Taemin bit his lip and turned away at his question, flustered.

“What do you think?” Minho urged him further, his voice tinged with playfulness.

“Ask him out,” Taemin muttered, “What else.”

Minho chuckled, tugging at Taemin’s jacket to make him look at him, “Hey, Taemin. Wanna watch a movie together?”

Taemin tried to suppress the smile tugging at his lips, but he failed too bad, “Only if it’s Inception.”

Minho grinned, shifting closer to Taemin, making him drop the soda can at the decreasing distance between them, the cool contents spilling onto both their pants.

Taemin flushed, opening his mouth to apologise but Minho sealed it close with a small peck, “No worries, I got extra pajamas.”

And that was how Taemin’s love story although messily, finally, began.

(Jongin: Shouldn’t you be thanking me, guys?)