Taemin woke up the next morning to his head pounding.

 

He groaned and sat up, slowly massaging his temples. Grimacing in pain, he tried to remember when and how he had gotten home last night. He remembers playing soccer on the beach, going swimming, drinking a lot of soju...after that it was all fuzzy. Kicking his bed sheets off and grabbing a robe to cover his bare chest, he walked out his bedroom door to the kitchen to look for some painkillers.

 

When Taemin arrived at the kitchen, he found Jonghyun rummaging through the cupboards, looking for a mug. Upon hearing Taemin entering the room, he turned his head and gave the prince a soft smile.

 

“Good morning, Taemin.” He greeted, before returning his attention to the cupboard.

 

Taemin self-consciously pulled the front of robe tighter. “Hi, hyung.” His voice came out thick and hoarse. Clearing his throat, he continued, “Do you know where I can find some pain meds?”

 

Jonghyun pointed over his shoulder. “Top drawer, right of the dishwasher.” Taemin bowed in appreciation and opened the drawer, finding the bottle before dropping two pills into his hand. Jonghyun had successfully found a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee, leaning against the countertop as he sipped.

 

Taemin stood next to him, also searching for a mug. “You feeling okay?” Jonghyun asked.

 

Taemin turned the mug around in his hand. “I have a headache.” He poured the coffee into his cup and turned around to search through another cabinet.

 

“Well, that’s to be expected, what with how much you drank last night.” Jonghyun sipped. Taemin pulled some creamer out and poured it into his coffee. Jonghyun grimaced as Taemin nearly emptied the entire case into his cup.

 

“I honestly don’t remember anything.” Taemin took a sip of his coffee and scowled, turning around to find the sugar.

 

Jonghyun stared down at his black coffee, deep in thought. Once Taemin had decided his drink was sweet enough, he put the pills in his mouth and washed them down with the coffee.

 

Jonghyun looked Taemin over, taking in his scruffy hair, his red-rimmed eyes, his mouth pressed into a tight line. He felt kinda bad for the prince, even though it was his choice to get so drunk last night…

 

“So for lessons today…” Jonghyun started, noticing how Taemin’s frown deepened as he mentioned the subject.

 

“Maybe...um…” He glanced over at Taemin before biting his lip. “You know, the only times I’ve been to Seoul was for work.” Taemin’s head shot up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

 

“So um...maybe, instead of lessons, you could show me around? There’s no better way to experience a city than through the eyes of a native?”

 

Taemin’s lips curled up. “I’d like that.”

 

 

---

 

 

“.” Taemin grumbled as he dropped the toy gun.

 

“FINALLY! I mean, uh, better luck next time.” Jonghyun picked up the gun and put both his and Taemin’s back into the slot. They had been playing a shooting game at an arcade for the past half hour and Jonghyun hadn’t won a single round.

 

“I let you win because I’m ing tired of you yelling ‘shoot!’ every five seconds.” Taemin lied. Jonghyun flashed a smirk. Fine, so Taemin lost. He can’t be perfect at everything.

 

“So, what do you wanna do next?” Jonghyun asked, searching through the arcade for something interesting. “Skeeball? Whack-a-mole? The arm-wrestling games you know are rigged but you try anyway?”

 

Taemin scanned alongside him, eyes bulging out when he caught sight of two girls leaving his favorite game. “Pump it Up is open!” He gasped and began to pull on Jonghyun’s arm. “Come on, hyung, we have to play!”

 

“Okay, Taemin-ah, chill!” He said, grinning as Taemin dragged him along like a child.

 

They each stood on the dance platforms, Taemin excitedly searching through the songs and Jonghyun watching him with an amused smile. Stopping about halfway through the list, Taemin picked the song and got in position.

 

“This one’s fun, trust me.” He smirked as dubstep poured in through the speakers. Jonghyun stood with his mouth agape. They were only two seconds into the song and the arrows were already moving faster than he could keep up with.

 

At first, Jonghyun attempted to match his steps with the screen, but eventually he just ended up stepping on the buttons randomly. Taemin, however, didn’t seem to have any problem keeping up. In fact, Jonghyun noticed he would sometimes spin around or push himself off the railing, just for show.

 

As the song’s ending rang in his ears, Jonghyun turned to Taemin, panting, “You did that on purpose.”

 

“Did what?” Taemin was barely breaking a sweat.

 

“Picking the hardest song on my first try!” Jonghyun clutched the front of his shirt as he breathed out. “That was a move.”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Taemin replied, focusing on the selection screen again.

 

Jonghyun crossed his arms. “You can play by yourself, but I am NOT taking part in that again.” He left the platforms and leaned against the nearest console. “I’ll just watch from here.”

 

Taemin pouted at him. “I’m not gonna let you just stand there and watch me, it’s too weird.”

 

“What?” Jonghyun asked, incredulous. “But you just danced in front of everyone else here!”

 

“Yeah, but I don’t know them.”

 

“It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve seen you dance, what’s the problem?”

 

Taemin furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean? I’ve never danced for you.”

 

“You don’t remember?” Jonghyun said, slightly taken aback. “But the party last night…”

 

“The party? Hyung, I was drunk beyond belief, and…” The color pink started creeping up Taemin’s face. “Are you saying...I danced at the party yesterday?”

 

“Um...yes?” Jonghyun’s eyes darted around, not sure what Taemin was suddenly flustered about.

 

“Ooh no no no!” Taemin stepped off the platform and stood in front of Jonghyun. “Did people see?”

 

“Well I mean there was a crowd surrounding you, so I’m assuming yes.” He leaned back slightly as Taemin was crossing personal space boundaries by now.

 

“They all saw me?!” Taemin grunted out and hid his face behind his hands. “But I was drunk, and it’d be one thing if they saw me sober, but to think they saw me all wobbly and uncoordinated and tipsy…”

 

“You weren’t wobbly at all! In fact, when you tried to dance with me…”

 

“I TRIED TO DANCE WITH YOU?!” Taemin now crouched to the ground as if hiding within himself. , Jonghyun thought, probably shouldn’t have mentioned that…

 

“Oh my god I am so sorry I’m so ing embarrassed…” Taemin rambled off, voice muffled from behind his hands.

 

Jonghyun crouched down so they were on the same level, not caring what looks were thrown at them from the other arcade-goers. “You have no reason to be sorry or embarrassed. I’ll admit, I was a bit shocked when you grabbed my shoulders and asked to dance, but...I mean, it wasn’t...unpleasant…”

 

Taemin peered up from behind his hand. It was Jonghyun’s turn to blush now. “I mean, it’s not everyday you get to dance with a prince, right?” He chuckled scratched the back of his head. Taemin was no longer hiding, but instead resting his head on top of his knees.

 

“And for what it’s worth, I’d really like to see you dance again.” Jonghyun bit his lip and looked to the side as his cheeks burned.

 

Taemin snorted. “Yeah right, like that’ll ever happen.”

 

 

---

 

 

The prince and his tutor sat at the far end of a quiet cafe. Despite getting along so well at the arcade, they suddenly felt extremely awkward sitting across the table from each other. Not willing to look into the others eyes, they both looked to the side as they waited for their orders, Taemin twiddling his thumbs and Jonghyun biting his lower lip.

 

A waitress with approached them carrying a plate. “Here is your espresso,” she laid it down in front of Jonghyun, “and here’s your banana milkshake and strawberry pie.” She placed them in front of Taemin.

 

“Thank you.” Jonghyun said, flashing a bright smile. She gave a polite nod and left. Seeing Jonghyun smile at her irked Taemin for some reason. He blamed it on hunger and pursed his lips around the straw, taking a sip of his milkshake and immediately brightening up.

 

Jonghyun eyed the sweets Taemin had ordered. “So, uh, I noticed you have quite the sweet tooth.” He said.

 

Taemin stopped sipping. “Um, yeah, I guess.”

 

That’s kinda cute, Jonghyun thought, smiling bashfully. He drank from his cup and decided to keep the conversation rolling while he’s ahead.

 

“So, how did you meet Minho?” He asked.

 

“We met in middle school.” Taemin replied, still not meeting the other’s eyes. “What about you and Kibum-hyung?”

 

“Well, we both work for King Jinki.”

 

Taemin blushed. “Oh. Right. It’s just, you seem close.”

 

Jonghyun crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back. “He’s an , and a complete dickwad sometimes, but he’s fun to be around. But honestly, I wouldn’t consider him my best friend by any means.”

 

“Then who is your best friend?” Taemin asked as he swirled his straw around in his shake.

 

Jonghyun’s smile widened. “Jieun. She lives back at Aellyn. We write music together.”

 

Taemin was tempted to ask if she was his girlfriend, but quickly decided against it because it seemed rude. Plus, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. “So uh, I just realized you’ve seen me dance, but I’ve never heard your music.”

 

“You heard me sing at the senior party!”

 

“But you didn’t write that song.”

 

Jonghyun pursed his lips. “All in good time, Taemin-ah.”

 

Taemin scrunched his nose in reply and removed a section of his strawberry cake off with his fork. As he popped the cake into his mouth, a bit of frosting stuck to his upper lip. Jonghyun felt the sudden urge to the frosting off himself before Taemin ran his tongue across his lip. Wait, that was weird. He shouldn’t be thinking those things about his pupil. Or...his friend, maybe?

 

“Sorry I don’t know a lot of cool places to take you. I don’t really go out much.” Taemin apologized.

 

Jonghyun let out a shaky laugh. somewhat unsettled by his previous thoughts. “No, it’s fine. I’m having fun.”

 

Taemin looked up from his cake and met eyes with Jonghyun, giving a shy smile. They stared at each other for a moment before Taemin interrupted. “You know, you could always meet my baby.”

 

Jonghyun’s jaw went slack and he raised his eyebrows. “Your what?!”

 

 

---

 

 

“So your baby is...a dance studio?” Jonghyun asked as he and Taemin stood in front of the building in question.

 

“Yes. I gave birth to it myself.” Taemin smiled and Jonghyun raised an eyebrow at him. Ignoring the look, Taemin grabbed Jonghyun’s sleeve and starting pulling him inside. “Come on, let’s go!” Jonghyun couldn’t help but laugh at Taemin’s excitement, letting the prince lead him into the building. Taemin gave quick wave to a person sitting in the lobby before approaching a narrow hallway, turning towards the first door on the right.

 

“Taemin, you stretched my sleeve out!” Jonghyun pouted. Taemin paused with his hand on the door handle as he caught a quick look of Jonghyun’s bare shoulder before he put his sleeve back into place. Flushing a soft pink, Taemin turned the door handle and the hall was filled with the sound of synth-pop.

 

There were three people dancing in the mirror-surrounded room. The dance consisted of vogue-like moves, and they were all dressed in clothes reminiscent of the 70s. Taemin stood in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt their practice, while Jonghyun had to peer over Taemin’s shoulder.

 

Once the song ended with the dancers kneeling on the ground, Taemin began to clap, and they all turned around surprised, obviously not realizing they were being watched.

 

“Taemin! It’s been forever!” The sole male dancer said, approaching the prince and wrapping him in a hug.

 

“Jongin, get off of me, you’re all sweaty.” Taemin whined, but Jongin just held tighter.

 

“Hey now, make room for the rest of us.” A short haired girl said, standing next to another girl with hair down to her waist. Jongin pulled away and they both hugged him at the same time.

 

“You guys are sweaty too, you know.” Taemin pouted, but still reciprocated the hug.

 

The long-haired girl lightly smacked him upside the head. “Shut up, kid. It’s been a month since we’ve seen you, let us have our moment.”

 

“I’m older than you.”

 

“Don’t care.”

 

“Krystal, come on, my friend is here.” The two girls finally pulled away.

 

“What, are we embarrassing you or something?” The short haired girl said with a playful grin.

 

“No, it’s just…” Taemin sighed.

 

“Don’t be rude, Taemin, introduce your friend to us.” Krystal said, looking at the man who had been awkwardly standing in the hallway this entire time.

 

“Ah, right. Amber, Krystal, Jongin, this is my friend Jonghyun-hyung.” Taemin replied, gesturing towards the older man. Jonghyun’s heart skipped a beat and his ears grew hot. Taemin just said they were friends.

 

That probably shouldn’t make him as happy as it does.

 

“Nice to meet you.” Jonghyun said with a bow, regaining his composure.

 

“Nice to meet you.” They all answered back, also bowing.

 

“You’re all very talented dancers.” Jonghyun remarked, hoping it was a good ice breaker.

 

“Thanks!” Amber said, putting her arm around Taemin’s shoulders. “Taemin here was supposed to be a part of the routine at first, but that obviously changed. Bet you would’ve liked to see that, huh?”

 

Jonghyun and Taemin both blushed at the same time. “No, uh, I think you have the wrong idea.” Jonghyun fumbled. “We’re not a couple.”

 

“Amber, why…” Taemin hid behind his hands for the second time that day.

 

“Hey, it’s only logical for her to assume that. You’ve never introduced us to any of your friends before.” Jongin spoke up.

 

“That’s because we’re Taemin-oppa’s only friends.” Krystal smirked.

 

“That’s not true!” Jonghyun said, mouth open wide. “Minho’s his friend, and I’m his friend, and Kibum is...sort of his friend…”

 

Krystal let out a high-pitched laugh. “Oppa, we’re only joking.” She ruffled Taemin’s hair from where she was standing. “We love him, we just like to .”

 

“Krystal…” Taemin pouted, and all three of his friends hugged him again, playfully swaying him from side to side. Jongin made a remark about how cute Taemin is, which made him pout harder. Jonghyun watched from the doorway, smiling to himself. Taemin is really cute, isn’t he? Being smushed by his friends, his pout eventually giving way to laughter, the way his hair looked ruffled…

 

, he’s doing it again. Stop being a creeper, Kim Jonghyun, he told himself. It’s normal for an instructor to worry about his pupil’s well-being, right? That’s the only reason his heart skipped a beat when he said they were friends, or why he thought about kissing him, and why right now seeing Taemin smile is making his heart soar.

 

That’s the only reason.

 

 

---

 

 

After the three dancers changed into their casual clothes and cleaned up a bit, everyone sat on the floor of the dance room and played guessing games on Jongin’s phone. Two hours passed by like that, clutching their stomachs as they laughed and occasionally smacking their head against the wooden floors. Even though Jonghyun had just met these people that day, he didn’t feel awkward and was accepted as part of the group. Eventually, it was time for the studio to close, and they went their separate ways, Jongin going to his apartment to study and Amber and Krystal meeting with their girlfriends for dinner.

 

It was colder out now, so Taemin wrapped himself in a tight hug as they walked. “We should find a place for dinner, too.” He said, scrunching his nose. “Amber and Krystal get real lovey-dovey when they’re with their girlfriends, and I don’t want any part of that.”

 

“You don’t like lovey-dovey things?” Jonghyun asked.

 

“No. Well, yeah, sort of. I’ve just never had a boyfriend so I get kind of uncomfortable is all…” His voice trailed off at the end.

 

“That’s understandable.” They continued walking, Jonghyun eyeing the restaurants they passed in hopes there’d be anything good. “You have anywhere in mind for dinner?”

 

Taemin tilted his head and pursed his lips in thought. “There’s a music club a few blocks from here, I heard they serve good meat. I’ve never been there, though.”

 

“That sounds great, Taemin-ah.” Jonghyun grinned, reaching for Taemin’s hand as the other walked ahead. He pulled back when he realized exactly what he was doing.

 

I really need to get a hold of myself soon.

 

 

---

 

 

Since they had arrived at the club rather early, the band was only just setting up and there were only a few people milling about. It didn’t take long for Jonghyun and Taemin’s meals to arrive, and once they did, the band had started a slow, acoustic song. As they ate, Jonghyun found himself humming along to the music.

 

“Do you know this song?” Taemin asked, swallowing a large bite of his steak.

 

“No, I’m just humming.” Jonghyun replied.

 

“How can you hum along if you don’t know the song already?”

 

“Musical aptitude.” Jonghyun smirked and Taemin rolled his eyes.

 

“You’re just being a show off.”

 

“Why would I need to show off to you?” Jonghyun raised his eyebrow and smirked again.

 

“Now you’re just being cocky.” Taemin mumbled, crossing his arms.

 

Jonghyun gave a genuine smile this time. “I’m just teasing, Taemin-ah.” He said, deciding to leave out the fact that he was doing it to see Taemin pout again.

 

Taemin went off into this whole spiel how much he hates it when his friends and now Jonghyun’s doing it too which just makes everything worse, while Jonghyun rested his head on his palm and pretended to listen. He was way too preoccupied with the way Taemin’s lips moved as he talked, how he would gesticulate as he spoke faster, how his eyebrows would furrow when he mentioned something that made him especially angry.

 

Okay, so I have a crush on Taemin. It’s not a big deal. He’s a good looking guy, so it makes sense that I’d develop feelings, right? It’ll go away eventually. I’ve gotten over plenty of crushes before and Taemin is no different.

 

Jonghyun grabbed Taemin’s hand and tried to pull him up out of his seat. “Let’s dance, Taemin.”

 

“You weren’t listening to a thing I said, were you?” Taemin replied, facing away from the elder and hoping he wouldn’t notice the pink tinting his cheeks.

 

“Can’t you just give me what I want for once?” Jonghyun whined, backing up onto the dance floor. He started moving his shoulders and brought his arms in close, trying to look cool but actually looking like a pitiful grandpa.

 

“You can’t dance like that to rock music, you idiot.” Taemin said from his seat, watching Jonghyun with a smile on his face and giggles pouring from his lips.

 

“Then show me how to do it right.” Jonghyun replied, moving his body even more to the rhythm.

 

“In your dreams.” Taemin said, turning back to his meal, only occasionally looking at Jonghyun out of the corner of his eye and smiling to himself. Jonghyun saw every one of those secret smiles and it just spurred him on to dance even more.

 

I’ve gotten over plenty of crushes before and Taemin is no different. It’ll go away eventually.

 

Right?