“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up,”
Taemin sighed.
He was at it again.

“One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven, eight.” the low voice echoed through his head.
It was two a.m.

Just when Taemin thought he'd have stopped, the rotten soulmate would start again, keeping him up again until five.

“Have to, better,”

“Yeah, yeah, you go improve yourself.” Taemin muttered.

Sadly the only thing he could actually hear clearly from his soulmate was his counting, when he was appearantly dancing. Which meant they weren't very close.

Grabbing a chunk of his own hair and shaking it a little, her tried to find soothe in his soulmate's voice and try to go back to sleep.

“When, two, ipod, again, improve,” Didn't the guy have school? Why was he up? It was tuesday?

“, soulmate, sleep, stop,”

Glad you got the message, Taemin thought to himself and burried his head in the pillow.

Whoever his soulmate may be, he sure didn't mind keeping Taemin up a bit.
Taemin couldn't wait until they'd actually meet so he could clearly hear what his soulmate was thinking instead of just annoying bits.

---

“Someone got out on the wrong side of the bed today.” Kibum stated as Taemin tried to keep himself from hissing at every other person he crossed.

“With a scowl like that, I'm sure your soulmate must think you're a gem.”

“Shut up, Kibum.” Taemin sighed.

“He just really likes dancing until late at night.”

“You stay up too, Tae. You play the piano sometimes.”

“Eh, I don't know. I don't know what he hears me thinking, anyway.” and Kibum hummed.

“You're lucky you met your soulmate so fast.” Taemin added. 

“Sehun, idiot, early, ,”

“I guess.” Kibum shrugged.

“It was really all Jonghyun, though. For tracking me down. A sappy sixteen year-old.”

“I can't forget the look on his face when you tried to run away.” Taemin chuckled.

“Shush, Lee Taemin. You'd do the same, if having heard his thoughts for only two years by then, you'd never expect him to come after you. Plus, it was three years ago. I was fourteen and freaked out.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Math, annoying, Sehun, dumb, dance, practice, tired.”

“Serves you right for keeping your thoughts busy until two A.M.” Taemin muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

---

“They're so grossly in love it hurts.” Kibum sneered with annoyance written all over his face when their table came into clear view.

“Finally, food, Chanyeol,”

“Look at them, I bet Sulli's going all; Minho, will you let me copy your homework? Still under the impression that Minho's actually smart.” Taemin joked.

“And Minho's probably saying something like; Sure, I'll let you copy everything in the world, Sulli-boo! When he doesn't even spare us a glance at his homework.” Kibum kept going.

“Plus, Minho hardly studies because of baseball practice.”

“Hey, you guys!” They heard Sulli shout at them and made their way over.

Soulmates, huh.

---

Taemin's soulmate had never implied at Taemin that he wanted to get to know him. Taemin simply heard his thoughts, and that was that.
Whereas Jonghyun slowly tried to connect with Kibum as soon as he could hear his thoughts and right away tried to track him down.

Minho and Sulli had realized they were soulmates when they shared the same English class.

Which made Taemin wonder,

Was it time to connect?

Could he hear this?

It had always been a silent (unwilling) give-and-take exchange of thoughts, and Taemin wasn't one to prefer having his thoughts all around the place.

Maybe he should just save it.

---

“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up.”

The boy had a problem, Taemin thought.
Who in their right mind would go right back down to practice after at least five hours of sleep, just to stay up and lose sleep again?

Appearantly, his soulmate.

Stuffing his head with his pillow, trying to suffocate his soulmate's thoughts, Taemin thought himself about a way to fall asleep.
His soulmate had always been like this and more often than once did Taemin find himself accidentally walking in the same rhythm as the boy on the other end counted, but never before had it been so late into the night.

“Soulmate, sleep, bus,”

Well, at least he was somewhat thinking of him.

---

Jonghyun was in a band. He played the bass and sung background vocals, though he clearly had the best vocals there.

If Taemin'd ask him about it, he'd only sheepishly grin and him and tell him his golden voice was only saved for Kibum.

Taemin would snort.

---

“Yo, muy, pelo,”

His soulmate was in Spanish again, thick accent covering his thoughts aswell.
Taemin let out a chuckle, hearing the other struggle.

“Yo, tengo, morreno,”

“, Spanish, hard, tengo or soy,”

It's soy, stupid. Not tengo. Taemin tried really hard not to laugh at the other's misfortune sprawling over his mind.

“Thanks.”

And Taemin forgot to breathe for a moment.

---

It was too easy to forget that his soulmate did indeed hear his thoughts as well.
It could be so easy for them to communicate.
But they didn't.

“One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven eight.”

Taemin was losing sleep.
And he was sure his soulmate was too, at this point.

---

“Jesus, Taemin, If you didn't look like a fairy, I'd compare you to a panda right now.” Minho stated, examining Taemin's face.

“You sure you're okay?”

“I've been up thinking a lot recently.” Technically not untrue.

“Since when do you think about stuff, Tae?” Minho laughed.

“Tired, math, boring, algebra, sleep,”

“Anyway, hopefully you're not keeping your soulmate up.”

Oh, the irony.

“Shouldn't you be going and taking care of yours?” Taemin asked, and Minho smiled.

“She can take care of herself. I can always hear her thoughts, anyway.”

And Taemin wonders again how it would feel like to talk to his soulmate properly.

He'd save it.

---

“What if, good enough, stress, , can't, four, left, practice, time,”

A flood of wandering thoughts woke Taemin up at five a.m. that day and he rolled himself over with a groan.

“Contest, disappoint, soulmate, sleep, Sehun, need, perfect,”

Trying not to confuse his soulmate's thoughts with his own, Taemin tried to figure out the situation.
There seemed to be a dance contest.

“, , try, sleep, sleep, shut up, sleep, ,”

Taemin felt his heart tighten, as if his soulmate had a firm hold on his chest and was trying to squish him down with him. He felt as if the worry could crack a fracture.

“Need, sleep, stop thinking, soulmate, asleep, , practice, four, months”

Taemin wanted to shout at his soulmate to not worry about him, but to worry about himself, but it would end with no avail, since all his soulmate could hear were his thoughts.

His thoughts.

Taemin took a deep breath.

“need, stop, practice, perfect, practice, need, bette-”

Taemin, Taemin, Taemin, Taemin, Lee Taemin, he thought as hard as he could.
As hard as he could ever have imagined thinking his own name.

And then there was silence.

His mind felt weirdly empty without the said soulmate's thoughts filling the blank space, and he wondered if it was the right move. He wondered if he was stressing his soulmate by thinking too much. He wondered if he was just making it all worse.

And he waited.
Then he waited another couple of minutes.

“Taemin.”

And with the silence that followed, Taemin was sure he fell asleep.

In the end, he didn't save it.

---

As soon as he sat down, Taemin banged his forehead to the table, causing Minho to gasp, Kibum to frown, and Sulli to pout.

“Taemin, you okay?”

“I'm -”

“Practice, Sehun, idiot, tired, English, soulmate, Taemin,”

He banged himself against the table again.

“Fine.”

“Taemin, Taemin,”

“You look a little pale, you know.” Kibum stated and Taemin shifted his head into something that was supposed to look like a nod.

“English, sleeping, Taemin, practice,”

“I'm just tired.” He replied, burying his face between his arms.

“Appearantly, Taemin's been up thinking about things recently.” Minho chimed in and Sulli clapped her hands.

“Oh, Taemin, that's impressive!” Sulli praised.

“Thanks.” He muttered sarcastically.

“Lee Taemin.”

And then he couldn't help not rubbing his cheeks as roughly as he could to his arms, in order to hide the red spreading all over his cheeks in plain view.

---

It was a bit unfair, in a way.
Taemin felt childish.
His soulmate knew his name, but he didn't know his.

It was kind of embarrassing.
Hearing his name echoing in his own mind so many times by a voice that wasn't his, but with a voice that seemed to pronounce his name like it was meant to be spoken by him and him only.
He felt as if he was slowly becoming cheesier than ever before.
Maybe he was really becoming a lovesick schoolgirl, as Kibum had said.

He wondered if this was how Kibum felt when Jonghyun tried to track him down, minus the fact that Jonghyun had more information than his name, and actually went right out to find him in person.
Jonghyun was sweet.

“I will chase you down the whole school if I have to, Kim Kibum!” Taemin laughed at the memory.

---

“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up,”

Taemin was starting to find himself a strange soothe in whenever his soulmate was up practicing.
Lying in his bed listening to his thoughts wasn't as uncomfortable as before at two a.m.
He didn't mind anymore.

“Better, need, Taemin, practice,”

Taemin wondered if it was unnatural to think about a person so often.
Maybe his soulmate was genuinely curious of Taemin?
Maybe his soulmate was just full of thoughts for the future?
Taemin could guess he was similiar.

“Back, practice, show, name,”

And Taemin who usually found himself staying up, unable to sleep while his soulmate practiced felt himself drifting to sleep with that voice as a lullaby.

---

Except he was right back up a few hours later.

Tossing himself around in bed seemed like a good idea, in hunt for a better position.

“Taemin, up, why, Taemin,”

Sorry, Taemin thought to himself.

“Okay,”

Which Taemin assumed meant “it's okay.”

Going back to sleep proved difficult if the other person at the end of the line was awake too.

Like going back to sleep with your phone left on.
Taemin heard nothing on the other side and wondered if his soulmate went to sleep.

“It, Jongin,”

Taemin blinked his eyes once,
twice,
and wondered if the name sounded as perfect to him as it was to his soulmate.

“Kim Jongin,”

Taemin tried rolling it off his tounge.

Jongin.

It had been a rash decision, Taemin would have heard him contemplating it.
He had been wondering about it too.

Hello, Jongin, Taemin thought in deceisive breaks.

“He-, Taemin,”

And they would call it a night.

---

“Oh, so his name is Jongin, huh?” Kibum cooed.

“Nice name, though.”

“It is, isn't it?” Taemin replied.

“Taemin, name, school, tired,”

“Seems you two are finally making some progress.”

“Shut up, Kibum.” Taemin sighed.

He wondered if his soulmate's mind –Jongin's mind– was full of his own name too.
It got him kind of flustered, thinking about it.

“Everyone!” Kibum stated proudly, at the everyone which only included Minho and Sulli.

“Sehun, idiot, lunch, Taemin,”

“Taemin has his soulmate's name!”

“Impressive!” Minho clapped his back.

“Chanyeol, out, practice, Taemin,”

“Outstanding, Taemin!” Sulli raised her voice and Taemin felt a slight feeling of déja vu.

---

“Mom, I have my soulmate's name now.” Taemin said to his mother.

“Hmm? Maybe you two should meet soon.” She laughed.

“I don't know.”

---

It wasn't as if Taemin didn't want to meet Jongin. Taemin was merely just to nervous to ask.
How would he ask?
How would Jongin react?

“One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven, eight.”

But Taemin was already imagining embarrassing scenarios in his head, which he couldn't stop from Jongin seeing.
He just hoped he was too immersed in practice to notice it.
He probably did see them.
Taemin threw himself on his bed as if it would actually help him in hiding his embarrassment away from Jongin.
No avail, Jongin could hear almost every thought.

“Want, show, Taemin, need, shower, practice,”

Jongin didn't seem disinterested, though. Taemin did hear his own name coming from Jongin's thought on regular basis.
Seventeen was young, but most soulmates would decide to meet at that age, (with the exception of Kibum and Jonghyun who were fifteen and sixteen at the time)

“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up,”

Taemin was curious.

---

It was on a sunday evening when Jongin first implied that they meet.

Strangely, Taemin would find that Jongin would ask him about things closely after he thought about it.

“Taemin, Taemin, Taemin, awake? Taemin, awake?”

Was Taemin urging him on?
Yes, he was awake, but barely.
He sat up in bed.

“Taemin, d-, want, show, dancing?”

Taemin didn't catch that.
No wonder they at communicating.

“Taemin, do, y-, want, see, m-, dancin-?”

Did he want to see him dancing?

Was Jongin seriously attempting for them two to meet?
Taemin felt sweaty.
He did, he did want to meet.
Or see Jongin dancing, whichever Jongin meant.

“I have, show, dancing, w-, team, meet me?”

Taemin pinned back his bangs.
Why was he getting so nervous?
He felt like he was in a shoujo manga.

“Cute,”

Ssh, Taemin thought.
As if he wasn't nervous enough already.
I do, he continued.

This was their first actual conversation, a conversation that didn't start with a Hey and end with a Hi. Taemin gulped his own saliva.

“In, two, w-,”

In two weeks?

The show was in two weeks?

Did Taemin have the courage to see him with only a two week notice?
Taemin felt like slapping himself.

---

“No, Kibum, you have to go with me, you have to!” Taemin whined, clinging on to Kibum's shoulder.

“What a personality shift from recent days,” Kibum muttered.

“He's not my soulmate, you know? Go see him yourself.”

“No, please, I was there for you when you met Jonghyun –“

“As in; laughing your off while we played cat and mouse?”

“Whatever, you were happy in the end! All is well that ends well!”

“Go by yourself.”

“Please!”

“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up,”

“Kibum, I think you should go.” Jonghyun sat up from laying on the couch.

“Oh, Jonghyun, you were here?” Kibum asked, not-so-surprisedly.

“You just waltz into Kibum's house?”

Kibum shrugged.

“My parents don't mind, so he can do whatever he wants.”

“One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven, eight.”

“Kibum, go with him.” Jonghyun said sternly.

“Look at him! He's all nervous, about to meet his soulmate? Isn't it cute?”

“Shut up, Jonghyun.” Kibum replied snartly.

“I'll go.” He added.

“God bless you, Kim Kibum!”

“I'm atheist.”

---

“Practice, practice, Taemin, practice,”

“No, Taemin, you have to dress to impress!” Kibum wailed.

“What, as in a suit?”

“God, no, this is definitely not that sort of thing.”

“I thought you were atheist.”

“I can still say god.”

“Oh.”

“Just wear a nice t-shirt and jeans!” Jonghyun shouted from the counter.

“Which nice t-shirt and jeans?!” Taemin cried.

“I only have like, -” He checked his phone.

“Twenty-eight hours until the show!”

“Twenty-seven if you count the one-hour train ride.”

“Do not test me, Kibum.” Taemin threatened.

“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up,”

“Oh, my god, he's practicing, is he adding fuel to the fire?”

“It's not like he'll recognize you right away.” Jonghyun said.

“Seems like this Jonghyun guy is really excited to see you.” He added.

“His name is Jongin –Wait, why would you think his name was Jonghyun?” Taemin shrieked but was only replied back with a shrug.

“I remembered it was Jong-something, and I thought; Jonghyun is a nice name. I remember you saying it was a nice name.”

“Jonghyun, you-” Taemin made an effort to attack, but was quickly grabbed with Kibum's fingers latching onto his collar.

“Wear this.”

“One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven, eight.”

“Thank you.”

---

“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up,” Jongin's voice filled his mind.

It was two a.m.

Jongin probably felt as restless as Taemin.

“Taemin, awake, Taemin?” He heard Jongin ask, the broken sentences only lasting for eighteen more hours.

Awake, he thought.

“When you, tomorrow, knock, after, “staff on-”, ask, Kim Jongi-, dancer,” Even as it spread its way like usual through Taemin, even he could sense his soulmate's nervousness. He wasn't sure he had ever heard Jongin as nervous before. Or ever.

Again, Taemin thought.

“After, show, knock, door, “staff only”, ask, for, Jongin,”

After the show, knock on a door that says staff only and ask for Jongin.

Taemin clenched his hands and fought the excessive urge to throw himself on his bed and roll around until he was a catterpillar.

Okay.

Okay.

And then Jongin continued, rehearsing the same two lines as usual and Taemin tried to drift away to sleep.

“One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven, eight.”

---

“Okay. Okay. Three hours to go.” Taemin cried out.

“Stop whining, you look good, you'll meet your boyfriend–“

“Soulmate” Taemin corrected.

“Literally the same thing, and get him see kick at dancing.” Kibum said.

“You know what would be funny?” Kibum asked.

“What.”

“If he actually at dancing, that'd be pretty amusing, wouldn't it?” Kibum laughed.

“Kibum, I swear, I'll-”

---

The train ride felt like eternity.

Kibum didn't seem to mind and happily chatted away but Taemin was becoming a mess.

“Taemin, Taemin, Sehun, idiot, Taemin, practice, don't, l-, stress,”

At least they were two in the same boat.

“Maybe you should put your hair in a ponytail.” Kibum suggested.

Taemin shrugged.

“Why?”

“I just think it looks good on you.”

“Isn't that sort of last-minute?”

“Tae, we've got thirty-seven minutes left of this train ride.”

---

“So, when do you think you can take a step inside.” Kibum glared as Taemin couldn't move an inch to the door.

“It's just –Don't you think there are more people here than we expected?”

“Maybe they're popular? Kicks away the thought of him .”

“Practice, Taemin, has to, perfect,”

Taemin tried to comb his hair with his fingers in his newly put-up ponytail.

“Taemin, if you so much dare to ruin that ponytail, I will personally chase you down to hell.”

“Sheesh, okay. Let's do it. I'm ready-”

“You're so not ready.”

“Shut up, let's just go.”

---

When Kibum and Taemin had found their seats, Taemin turned back into being a nervous wreck, covering his ears and eyes.

“You know, the show is going to start and you're going to miss seeing your soulmate.”

“I know, I know but-”

And the lights went off.

“Holy .” Taemin heard Kibum say next to him.

“Taemin, 3, 2, 1,”

Twelve boys appeared on stage.

“Are they usually that many?” Taemin whispered to Kibum.

“No idea. Which one is yours?”
Taemin stayed silent.

So the music blared.
They were all really talented, Taemin could see from first glance, but he still didn't see which one of them might be Jongin.

“Xiumin.” The speakers rose and out went a short guy and danced a little solo.
Definitely not him.

“Not, yet,” Jongin's voice spoke.

An the members went from a Xiumin, to a Luhan, to a Suho, a Baekhyun, Chen, and then something caught Taemin's attention.

“Chanyeol.”

“I think he and Jongin are friends, he thinks about him sometimes.” Taemin whispered.

“He's pretty good, I think. They all are.” Kibum hummed.

“D.O.” The speakers went off again.

“No sign?”

“I'll just wait a bit.” Disappointment rising in Taemin's thoughts.

“Kai.” Out stepped a lean, yet muscular figure with messy bangs.

“One, two, three, four, down, turn, seven, up,”

Taemin saw it.
He saw it all.
That was definitely him –That was...

“One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven, eight.”

One, two, twist, round, jump, slide, seven, eight.

It was him.

Taemin's cheeks reddened.
He was amazing.

“K-I, That- That's him, Kibum.”

“No way. Jesus- Taemin you really lucked out there.”

“I, I that's him, that's...h-”

“Tao.”

The moment had been all too short-lived.

“Taemin, saw, wonder,”

He noticed Kai, Jongin, scanning the crowd.

He felt so obvious in a crowd of at least five hundred people.

“Sehun.”

“Oh.” Taemin said.

“Changed your mind?” Kibum asked only to receive a light hit in the shoulder from Taemin.

“Of course not. I just think this Sehun guy is an idiot, according to Jongin.”

---

“They were all amazing, though. I bet you're bound to a real moneymaker, Taemin.” Kibum wondered as he dragged Taemin along to the staff only door.

“Taemin, soon, soon, , not ready,”

Knocked aggressively at the staff only door.

“Kibum, I'm not so sure I'm ready for thi-”

“Did you see him? Hot dancer, full of charisma, if you don't take him, I will.”

“You have Jonghyu-”

“Yes, and he's being really annoying in my thoughts right now.”

“Hello?” A girl with with a nametag that said “Luna – Staff” asked at the bickering teens.

“Yes, hello, his name is Taemin and he's here to see Choi Jongi-”

“Kim Jongin.” Taemin corrected.

“Yes, Kim Jongin.”

“Soon, soon, hair, ,”

“Lee Taemin?” The girl asked again and Taemin responded with a nod.

“Yeah, you can come right in. Your friend too if you'd like.” She said.

“I'll be staying here, waiting for his return. Off you go, little sheep.” Kibum said ad pushed Taemin inside with the girl.

“Kibum!” Taemin scolded.

“Who is it that said; “All is well that ends well?”” Kibum said and the door was closed with a final look of smirk from Kibum.

The hallways seemed countless as the blonde girl asked him to follow her. His eyes met a few others, who were probably a part of Jongin's dance crew who started at him knowingly.

It wouldn't be surprising if Jongin had told them, but it only made his hands sweat.

“I'm a mess, he's comin-, soon, god,”

Jongin's thoughts were becoming disturbingly clearer the nearer Taemin got.
Taemin wondered if they were perhaps not a good combination, since Jongin's stress was stressing Taemin as well.

“We're here,” She said calmly and knocked the door receiving a subtle “Come in.” in a very nervous voice and a voice that Taemin could tell from miles away was definitely Jongin's, followed by a waterfall of thoughts.
He took a deep breath and she opened the door.

“This is Lee Taemin, that you informed us of earlier.”

“Thank you.”

“He's here, he's here, he's-”

And Luna shut the door, leaving only Jongin and Taemin.

“I, Tae-, I” Taemin started.

“He's here he's literally here in front of me, oh mygod he's gorgeous, I, what,”

“H-Hello.” Taemin decided on, looking at Jongin from feet to head.

He was breathtaking.

“It's him, it's, he thinks I'm breathtaking, I-”

Taemin felts his cheeks redden uncomfortably, but he noticed Jongin's were too.

“Hey.” He replied, obviously trying to not act nervous but his thoughts ruined any chance for him to hide that.

“His hair, his lips, Jesus Christ, he's here in the flesh,”

“This feels so embarrassing when we can't hide our thoughts.” Taemin awkwardly laughed.

Jongin's bangs were a mess, but it was a handsome mess and Taemin was nearly about to inwardly slap himself for forgetting the fact Jongin heard everything.

“Y-” Jongin began.

“Your hair. It's nice, I,”

“You were really cool out there.”

“He thought I was cool,”

“Well, you're really handsome.” Jongin said awkwardly, deep voice sounding entirely different when it wasn't only in Taemin's mind.

“I'm so embarrassing myself,”

But Taemin was too.
And it was okay.
 

---

Hello! Sorry if you wasted your time, but thank you for reading all the way til' the bottom, I appreciate it. 
I couldn't guarantee it was good or anything too i just
yeah. 
Thank you!

/2018: i wrote this fic back when i was a freshman in high school. :') maybe one day i will rewrite this, but i know a lot of people really like this fic? it's kinda of the baby that made me start writing a lot more hahaha. i'm thankful even though my english was pretty lacking back then. i like to think i'm a little better now? so feel free to check out my other works hahaha (aside from the first one... that one is embarrassing.) thank you!