To be quite frank, Taemin didn’t expect so many people would be interested to subscribe to his YouTube channel when he first started uploading videos. And if it wasn’t for his friends practically begging him to post up one of his dances he recorded, he wouldn’t have considered becoming a YouTuber at all.

His first video was a dance to a R&B song he choreographed for his Sunday dance class he instructed. Kibum helped him with the editing because he insisted that posting an unedited video wouldn’t deemed a lot of viewers. Taemin had rolled his eyes—he didn’t care much for the popularity as long as someone enjoyed it—but appreciated the tweaks Kibum made to his footage. The final result had the song added in to enhance the audio, resulting a better hearing of each beat, and he also included a nice fade-in intro to the video. He had to admit that everything made the video looked a little more professional, especially with the high quality from his own camera.

He uploaded the video and left it alone until a week later, when he received a call from Jonghyun.

“Hello?”

“HEY YOU!”

Taemin internally groaned at the loud volume. “Yes, hi.”

“GO ON YOUR CHANNEL RIGHT NOW.”

“Did someone leave comment that they think I should stop making videos altogether? Threatened to track me down to kill me?”

“What? No! Just go to that video you uploaded, now!”

Taemin was too curious to criticize how Jonghyun talking in exclamation marks was running his patience to tolerate him. Once he was on his video, he fell into the state of disbelief.

“Holy ,” he mumbled.

“I’d love to say that ‘we told you so.’ But you’ll hate us for being right.”

Taemin was still looking at the number in shock, at least 200,000 views. It definitely skyrocketed his expectations. Sure, he did assume around a few thousands of people would watch the video. But 200,000? In a week? That’s an insane amount for a dance video.

He scrolled down at the comments. People actually left him comments. There was a fair amount of hate and troll comments on his video, but that is a given. Other than that, the comments consisted of people telling him that he had nice flow, nice choreography, encouraged him to make more videos, and even a few complimented on his looks though he wondered how they could even identify his face when it was so far away.

“You still there?” Jonghyun asked, and Taemin momentarily forgot he was on the phone in the first place.

Snapping out of his daze, he said, “Yeah. And I would rather jump off a building than to agree that you guys were right.”

That was how Taemin became a YouTuber.

Taemin met his current group of friends through VidCon in Los Angeles two years ago. He liked to think that they were brought together by some sort of twisted destiny, carefully planned by fate.

While walking in a lobby toward his hotel room after day one of VidCon, he found two guys standing in front of the elevator, looking like they would jump each other any second. On second thought, they were going to jump each other soon enough if no one puts a stop to them.

One guy stood taller, with muscular arms and a built frame, and the shorter male wore an outfit that probably costs more than Taemin’s bank account.

“Do you want to fight?” Shorter male’s voice was stern in distaste.

The taller one appeared to want nothing to do with this. “No man. Can’t you just take my sorry?”

Hearing a commotion, another guy walks towards the scene, stopping next to Taemin. “What’s going on?” he whispered.

Turning around, Taemin recognized a familiar face. Taemin knew him.

Well, technically, he knew him from his famous Maroon 5 mashup video and other covers on YouTube, Jonghyun Kim. Pushing down his astonishment that a popular YouTuber was talking to him, he cleared his throat. “No idea. I think they’re about to fight.”

“Him?” Jonghyun darted his eyes between the two, not really believing that the smaller guy could really take down the other.

Taemin shrugged. “He’s ambitious.”

“More like an idiot,” Jonghyun mutters. “I’m going to stop them.” With that, Jonghyun dropped his guitar case on the ground and stepped in between them.

“Who the hell are you?” Shorter guy asked, clearly annoyed that someone else was involved in this.

If Jonghyun thought that was rude, he didn’t say anything to patronize the guy. On the other hand, the tall guy looked relieved.

“Whatever you guys are fighting about, it’s not worth it.”

“Who the are you to tell me what to do?” Recognition dawned on the ill-tempered guy’s face. “You’re Jonghyun, aren’t you? That wannabe singer who overdoes his vocals?”

A vein popped on Jonghyun’s throat, biting down his jaw. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me right.” Short guy folded his arms. Immediately, Jonghyun grabbed the guy’s collar and forcefully pulled him in.

“You, over there.” The guy cocked his head to the muscular guy, seemingly already forgotten that he was pissed at him. “Hold my purse.”

The male contorted his face, looking as though he wanted to flee the scene.

When Taemin was about to take out his phone to record all this, the elevator dinged open. A blonde guy walked out of the elevator, eyes widened at the situation and rushed to all of them before one of them was about to throw the first punch. He held down Jonghyun while the tall male dragged the feisty one away.

“Let go of me! Or I’ll cut your throat!” he struggled against the iron grip of the male. And then his eyes zoomed into Taemin, finally noticing him for the first time. “You!” He pointed his finger at him. “Are you recording this?”

He was going to say that he didn’t get the chance to since the fifth guy entered, but the guy's rudeness stopped Taemin from explaining himself. “What? Are you going to fight me too?” Taemin prompted, amused.

“Once I get these hands of me, I will make sure I’ll kick your next!”

“Hey! What is happening here?”

All five swiveled their heads, facing the security guards who were storming towards them after acknowledging the chaos.

“Elevator!” Jonghyun shouted. Taemin ran to press the button and luckily, the door slid open not long after. The two holding down Jonghyun and the other released them in the panic of the moment, and five of them ran to squeeze themselves into the confined space, footsteps pit-pating loudly on the floor tiles.

Jonghyun repeatedly tapped the button that lets the elevator close quickly. When the door shut close and knowing the guards didn’t chase them in time, they let out a breath they were holding.

Staring at each other, awkward silence ensued as their chests heaved up and down from the adrenaline rush.

The blonde guy who last joined them let out a boisterous laugh, suddenly breaking the silence. This caught everyone off guard, but somehow, they joined in too, finding the whole situation ridiculously hysterical. Next thing they know, tears were escaping, because they couldn’t stop laughing.

“This is so ing crazy,” Jonghyun commented.

The muscular guy replies, head resting on the wall as he tried to control his laughter, “Insane.”

“I’m ing insane.” The short male admitted, laughing along too as if he didn’t declare that he wanted fight all of them minutes ago.

In that moment, they knew that they were all going to be the best of friends.

They went to get coffee afterwards, and it eventually melted into this coffee tradition they repeat every weekend.

The quick-tempered one was Kibum, who ran a fashion instagram along with occasional hauls and lookbooks uploaded on YouTube. He insisted that they should call him Key, his online name, but they refer to him as Kibum just to spite him.

Minho, the buff guy, was a personal trainer who had his fair share of workout videos on YouTube, or Kibum gave him the nickname of ‘Fitness .’ Turned out the whole reason why Kibum was ticked off was because Minho didn’t notice him running to the elevator, and judging on how dramatic Kibum is, he gave Minho for not holding the elevator for him.

As for the last guy, his name was Onew. He travels everywhere and posts Instagram pictures of the photogenic food he eats and architectural buildings. He has a vlog channel, and his subscribers love his soothing voice and his photographical appreciation of the places he visits. He has an updated twitter too, but his followers stopped trying to dissect the meaning of his confusing tweets.

Of course, Jonghyun, a passionate songwriter, singer, and composer was widely known to everyone.

And Taemin, who didn’t really plan this fame upon him, was one of the fans’ favorite choreographer.

Despite their differences, in some strange ways, they fit like pieces of puzzles that were already unique on their own, but formed a perfect semblance altogether.

Taemin should’ve know that special people in his life came without his permission. Like a tornado that intrudes and leaves an significant impact, without you really predicting that it would happen. And that was Kai.

It wasn’t like in the movies where the protagonists are instantly attracted to each other’s appearance, then proceed to ask the other out on a date. It was the complete opposite.

Earlier in the day, Yunho had asked Taemin to sub in his beginner’s class that Saturday. He agreed to it, mostly because he couldn’t say no to someone who recommended him this job in the first place. Thankfully, Yunho’s class was as friendly as his class, even friendlier actually. Partly they were excited to get a new teacher for a day, and partly because Taemin was getting popular with his channel.

He stayed behind a little, signing autographs and taking selfies with his students. The little delay caused him to be in a rush, hastily shutting down the lights and locking the doors in order to make it to the crew’s coffee meetup. Running out, he bumped into another body, then falling flat on his . He cursed, rubbing his sweaty forehead that probably had a bump forming.

“You should’ve watched where you’re going.”

The guy before him had an equally disheveled appearance, matted hair with a slight sheen of perspiration on the surface of his tan skin. Who was he to tell him what to do? “Well yeah excuse me not for dodging you fast enough when you randomly appear in my way,” Taemin snapped, sarcasm laced in his voice.

Realizing that he didn’t have time for a pointless argument, Taemin picked up his pace and exited the building.

By the time he reached inside the cafe, he was boiling from anger.

“You’re late,” Kibum said as soon as Taemin approached the table.

“Well, no . I totally did not realize that.”

Onew whistled lowly at the tone Taemin spoke in. The other four darted their eyes at one another, reading the sour mood. The table was stunned speechless, the only sound audible was Minho slurping down his usual order of smoothie.

As an afterthought, Taemin added, “Sorry. Long day. I bumped into this guy when I was walking out of the studio. He was so rude.”

“Ruder than Kibum?” Onew asked.

“Yes.”

“Woah ho ho.” Jonghyun snickered, nudging Kibum on the side teasingly. “Looks like you got competition.”

Kibum smacked his elbow away. “I am not rude.”

“Have you listened to the things you say?” Minho mumbled. His words nearly incomprehensive from simultaneously talking while gnawing his straw.

“First of all, I am blunt, not rude. Second of all, I’m nice to people unless they piss me off. Third of all, why don’t you shut up before that drink is thrown at your face?”

Minho snorted. “Huh, not rude at all.”

“Knock it off guys,” Onew said, though not unkindly. He was that middle ground in the group, the peace maker amongst themselves. Taemin couldn’t appreciate Onew more than he could then. He wasn’t in the mood for another argument from those two. “Why were you at studio today anyway? You work on Sundays.”

“Subbing for Yunho,” explained Taemin. He groaned. “I’m still so pissed though. Who pops out in the middle of the nowhere and then has the nerve to say that I should watch where I’m going?”

Jonghyun reached over and patted Taemin’s arms as an attempt of comfort. “Why don’t you bump into that kid next time? Appear out of nowhere like he did with you, then tell that little punk he should watch out where he’s going?”

Taemin’s stern exterior almost crack with a smile.

Kibum gave an eyeroll, voice filled of mockery. “Oh yes Jonghyun, good idea. Just let Taemin pretend he’s a five year old seeking revenge, that’s very mature.”

Onew shoot his hand up.

“Yes, Onew? Comments?” Jonghyun raised his brows in curiosity.

“For once, I agree with Kibum.”

Taemin nearly forgot about what happened until two weeks later, he was summoned by Yunho two hours prior to usual class time. Yunho tend to be late, so he decided to go over the routine he choreographed for the class today. Whilst dancing, it did cross his mind once or twice why Yunho would want him to be there early. He wasn’t bothered by it though. Yunho had helped him so much and doing small favors like this wasn’t enough to show his gratitude.

The door slid open once he was breaking a sweat. Looking in the mirror, Yunho walked in, followed by someone else. Recognition crossed Taemin’s memories.

“You!” Taemin’s face darkened as he turned around, glaring at the guy with a baseball cap and dancing attire.

Yunho was momentarily frozen in place, realization dawning him. “I see that you guys . . . have met.”

The newcomer’s jaws tensed. Voice gruff when he spoke. “So it seems.”

“What are you doing here?” Taemin demanded.

Yunho intervened, smiling a weary smile. “This is Kai, if you didn’t know. And this is Taemin, he is Sunday’s morning advanced class instructor.”

Taemin had no clue what was happening. But he knew it couldn’t be good.

“Can I talk to you for a sec, Taemin?” Yunho sent him a pleading look. Sighing, he nodded and exited the room, leaving behind Kai in the practice studio.

“What’s up?” Taemin forced out the most calm voice he could manage, contrasting of his unsettledness.

Yunho inhaled deeply. “Kai is new to this job, so he needs a few weeks of experience in order to take over Eunhyuk's class when he leaves in two months. I hope you don’t mind the abrupt change in routine, but I honestly think you’re suitable for this. So I really, really hope you guys can get along.”

“Couldn’t Hyoyeon help him? or Eunhyuk?” Taemin knew it was inconsiderate and selfish of him to ask that, but he was desperate with a capital D.

Yunho put a hand on his shoulder. “They’ve been busy lately, so they can’t meet up with him outside of class time to go over their choreographies with him beforehand. I know you have your own things too, but Eunhyuk has been really stressed out lately and barely even has time to show up. As for Hyoyeon, her father has been sick and—”

Taemin raised his hands up, feeling ty for even asking. “Okay okay, I understand. I’ll try my best.”

Yunho grinned widely, relieved, and ruffled Taemin’s hair. “Thank you so much, seriously. I’m counting on you.”

Taemin wanted to take Jonghyun’s advice, to act childish and tell Yunho he did not want to associate with someone who is so unpleasant like Kai. Ever. He wanted to cover his ears and pretended that he didn’t hear what he heard the past minute.

However, sometimes, his rational side wins.

If Taemin thought the two hours they spent together would result in some sort of murder, it didn’t. Maybe it was because of what Yunho said, and the last Taemin wanted was to disappoint him. Or maybe because Kai knew that too, and he wanted this job badly to the point he thought their personal resentment weren’t worth it. Either way, they had to put their differences, or whatever unknown conflict they had, aside in order to achieve these goals.

Kai was fairly quiet, and Taemin assumed that he was avoiding to speak so he wouldn’t say something they’d get heated over. And he was glad that he also didn’t have to speak, except once or twice when Kai was lost on how to do certain movements, because he wouldn’t trust that the things coming out of his mouth would be friendly.

With their silence replaced by music, speaking replaced by dancing, it was considered tolerable to be in the same room.

Things were almost okay. Almost.

Taemin slumped down on the ground, breathless from exerting his energy. With a hand wiping his matted bangs away from his face, he said, “So are you ready to teach the class by yourself?”

Kai closed his water bottle after a gulp. “Already?”

He nodded.

Kai answered coldly, “Um, I mean, I guess so.” A movement told Taemin he was clenching his jaws down.

Closing his eyes in annoyance, reminding himself of the whole objective of this, Taemin took in a deep breath. He turned to his side, temple touching the floor from his laying position. “Look.” Kai focused on him. “I’m not trying to be an by sending you by yourself on the first day. I saw that your forms looked clean, so that’s why I trust you to teach the dance to the class. But if you’re not ready, it’s no big deal. We can do it together.”

Kai averted his stare to the ground, focusing on his worn pair of shoes. Moments later, he said something that was unintelligible to Taemin’s hearing.

“Can you repeat that?” Taemin asked.

“Let’s do it together.” Kai didn’t elaborate further.

When first few students arrived, they immediately took notice in Kai, who stood tall with confidence in the middle of the room.

“Who’s the cute dude?” A girl in red dyed hair asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

The boy next to her covered and sent Kai an apologetic look. He hissed at her, “He has ears, Sori.”

For the first time since this morning, Taemin fought an incoming smile. “Shameless Sori. Nice seeing that you finally show up this week.”

“Hey you.” She saluted and flashed Taemin a cheeky smile. She stepped closer to Kai, extending a hand. “Can I get your name?”

“Kai.” Taemin was stunned at the sight before him. Kai had smiled. An actual smile that looked genuine. Like, actual ear-to-ear, teeth-displaying bull instead of clenched jaws and hostility he expressed to Taemin. “Nice meeting you, Sori.”

Taemin suppressed a scoff. So he could be nice to anyone except for him. What did Kai have against him, anyway?

Sori grinned at this, satisfied that the newcomer had given her his attention. She cupped , swirling her body towards the group of students that had piled inside in the last five minutes. “Cute guy has a name! It’s Kai! Say hello to Kai everybody!” she shouted.

Even when they were stretching, people laughed at her antics of resembling a human announcer. “Hello Kai!” They joined in full enthusiasm, waving their hands wildly in the air.

Pride filled his heart. This was why Taemin loved his job; seeing the spirit and the energized environment never seized to amaze him. Despite his personal resentment towards Kai, Taemin couldn’t help be appreciative of everyone’s welcoming attitude for him.

“Huh. I guess I was rendered useless at talking,” Taemin commented.

“Not again Sori!” Someone in the back of the room yelled in exasperation, causing a round of laughter. In the corner of his eye, he saw Kai joining along also. Taemin wasn’t used to seeing that from the other.

“Settle down everyone,” Taemin said, signaling a look at Kai for him to introduce himself.

Kai cleared his throat, testing his voice. He stepped forward and adjusted his cap backwards. “I’m going to be here for two months, every Sunday morning session, to assist your teacher before I become an official instructor here.”

“Does that mean Taemin will stop teaching?” another student chimed in.

Taemin retorted, “You wish you could get rid of me that easily.”

“What? Where’d you get that idea? Believe it or not, we actually like you,” Sori joked.

He resisted a smile. “You guys only like me because I’m easy to bully. Come on, let’s get started.”

Taemin pressed the box that confirmed he wants to upload the video. Seeing that YouTube validated his song in the video hadn’t violate copyrighted issues, he felt his shoulders relaxed.

Sometimes it was a pain to run a dance channel due to copyrights. If a certain song couldn’t be included in the video, it was a pain to remove it, knowing all of his time choreographing, filming, and editing the video went to waste. He could always use the video’s audio instead uploading a different one, but they aren't always clear enough to hear the exact beat, especially with bass.

The person in the video moves to the beat fluidly and swift movements, and sometimes in the state of watching, he would forget that the dancing male in the video was himself.

This choreography for “The Hills” by The Weeknd was the one designated for last Sunday’s tutorial. The video was different than the other ones he had posted though. Because Kai was in this one, dancing next to him as their movements synchronized in their studio. Their different styles clashing yet brought out a good contrast. Taemin had to admit that the guy was real good. He could hear the cheers admitted from his students behind the camera in this one, since he did not disable the video’s audio all the way.

He smiled, remembering. The classes had been good in exception for Kai’s coldness towards him.

The first Sunday, Taemin had pushed his pride away to sincerely say a ‘good job’ to Kai, but the guy merely nodded. No thank you's or anything, not that Taemin had expected much regardless.

On the second Sunday, Taemin had asked Kai if he should take out a certain part of the dance. He shrugged and told Taemin that he didn’t care.

That irked the crap out of Taemin. Here he was, having a decency to be nice but in return, it backfired. He would never understand why Kai behave that way with him, because with everyone else, he smiles and laughs and even makes jokes with the class now. The treatment was only directed at him.

Even when Taemin confined this topic with his friends, updating them on everything, they didn’t offer any logical answers.

(“Maybe he’s just an ?” Minho had commented.

Taemin shook his head. “It’s only towards me though.”

“A temporary ?” Onew corrected.

“Or maybe he likes you.”

Kibum smacked Jonghyun in the head. “This isn’t ing middle school.”)

Taemin decided he would stop fussing and worrying about it, regardless of how much it bothered him inside.

Hovering his finger over the mousepad, he scrolled down to the comments section. The usual compliments were there, accompanied with a fair share of criticism and troll comments. But there’s a new curiosity that wasn’t there before.

who is the one next to u taemin??!?!!

Great as always! Is the baseball cap guy going to make more appearances?

GOALS AF

pls tell me u guys are dating

Taemin shut his laptop screen closed.

When he first started hanging out with his crew, random people on the streets would come up to them and recognize at least one person in the group. It took him a while to get accustomed to his friends’ social media fame. After uploading his first video, a group of girls his age came up to him and excitedly asked for pictures when he was out shopping for Christmas presents.

Until now, he was still in disbelief that people from across the world had heard of him. It was surreal for him to fathom once in awhile. He wondered if Kai felt the same too.

During a Friday night practice at the studio, Kai had told Taemin of his knowledge that people recognized him. “The kids,”—they referred to their students as ‘kids’ even when they were the same age as them, some even older—“told me they really liked the video you posted. Someone recognized me. I didn’t know you were YouTube famous.”

It was probably the most words Kai had ever spoken to him. Taemin tried to search for the anger or anything unpleasant in Kai’s voice. There wasn’t any. Truthfully, Taemin had feared that Kai would be upset that he posted the video without asking in advance.

“Yeah. The video has the most views out of the ones I posted,” he said breathlessly, repeating the routine minus the music by himself. “And I don’t openly tell people about my videos. You’ve attracted a lot of viewers by the way.”

It was more a compliment rather than jealousy. Silence grew even deeper, only squeaks of Taemin’s sneakers were audible. They were the only ones at the building, resulting the studio to lack its the normal energetic atmosphere.

Taemin took a glance in the mirror, peeking at Kai’s standing reflection in the back. He had a baseball cap on as usual, though he worn it in a way that obscured his eyes. Therefore Taemin couldn’t decipher the expression behind it, what he was thinking.

Though it appeared like he was searching for things to say.

The two of them were like two toddlers learning how to speak the first time, not knowing how to properly communicate with each other. While he practiced, Kai remained immobile by the wall since he had already gotten the choreography for this Sunday down. Taemin briefly wondered if Kai had searched the video up and watched it at all, or if he only heard about it, and didn’t bother to take a glimpse.

When they leave for the day, Kai walked a little bit further like every other times. They’ve never walked together, to save themselves from talking to the other. Taemin almost stumbled into him when Kai paused and faced him.

Taemin stared up at him, confused as to why he stopped mid-walk. Kai appeared conflicted, but that emotion vanished soon enough, replaced by t else Taemin couldn’t identify.

A beat later, he spoke. “I um . . . I think your videos are pretty cool.”

With that, Taemin watched him stalked off to his car without looking back.

Taemin didn’t know what to make of Kai most of the times. To him, Kai was like a choreography he couldn’t master regardless of how much he put his efforts into it. Equally frustrating and infuriating. Sometimes, he would do things to suggest that they were getting along. The other day, he passed Taemin a water bottle once, and nodded when Taemin said thanks afterwards. Or once in awhile, Taemin would see a crack of smile, letting him know that Kai was listening to his conversations with the students and found it at least amusing.

The rest of the times, Kai would exchange a few words with him, but that was it. They didn’t talk about anything else besides dancing, not even trivial things. Their texts only consisted of Taemin informing the day and time they should meet up. The dryest conversations in the history of dry conversations yet.

“Are you listening?”

Taemin snapped out of his daze, returning to four pairs of eyes. “Um no, you guys lost me when Kibum started talking about clothes,” he quickly recovered.

Kibum gave him a middle finger, a knowing smile etched his lips. “The topic has changed ten minutes ago babe. What has gotten you distracted?”

“Or who,” Jonghyun teased.

Taemin ignored him. “Just tired.”

“You know that’s like one of the biggest lie? Right after ‘I’m fine’?” Onew added, “But if you're actually tired, then nevermind what I just said.”

Taemin rolled to his side, closing his eyes from annoyance. He dragged Kibum’s soft blanket over his body. Taemin had always wanted to steal the blanket every time he visited his friend’s condo. Minho’s roar from a few feet away told him that his favorite soccer team most likely just scored a point. It was obvious Minho wasn’t paying attention to them either, so why didn’t they call him out too?

“I am tired. I’ve been dancing an extra day every week, and experiencing some dancer’s block,” he confessed. “Is that even legit? Well anyway, my dances are getting off and I don’t like how they flow. Let me correct that, most of the times they don’t even flow. Everything I choreographed just looks off, or the basically repeated. I hate it. Why can’t I just be talented at singing? It’s easier to cover a song then post it up.”

Jonghyun faked a wounded sound. “That’s some serious shade you just threw right there. Don’t worry, just wanted to let you know my feelings weren’t damaged severely.”

Taemin laughed. “Sorry, you know I don’t mean that Jonghyun. Your is complicated, takes real skills and talent. I don’t even know which button in your recording studio is ‘record’ or ‘play.’ I’m just salty right now.”

“That’s you 24/7, isn’t it?” Minho asked, apparently paying attention only because it was commercial break. Taemin threw a pillow at him, opening his eyes to send daggers at the male. He laid down again, sinking lower into the blanket coven.

Kibum questioned, “You still meet up with Kai?”

Taemin grumbled at the mention of his name. “Yes.”

“I called it! It was a who!” Jonghyun jumped up, as if knowing the source of Taemin’s mood was a great discovery, then managed to give Onew a highfive.

“How is he?” Onew asked.

Taemin groaned even more.

Kibum snickered at this. “This boy must be trouble.”

Confused, Minho voiced from the sofa, seemingly more interested at this change of topic rather than his soccer game. “Care to elaborate?”

“No.”

Onew nudged him softly with his foot. Kibum booed along with Jonghyun.

“Fine.”

He sat up, gaining the others’ attention, even Minho had muted the television. A nosy bunch they were, Taemin thought. Others would think as popular social media people, they’d be more interested in more entertaining gossip, instead of some lame conflict one of their best friends was dealing with.

“Well you guys are updated with his attitude towards me. But recently, he’s been . . .” Taemin trailed off, searching for the right words, “Decent?”

Confusion on their faces. “Like?”

“Like secretly cracking up at something funny I said to someone. Waiting for me to get out the studio to lock the door. Things like that. I don’t know what’s up, because we still don’t utter any words to each other. I have more words with a wall more than with him. And I honestly have no idea why he is like that with me.”

“That’s a tough case, babe,” Kibum sang.

Minho spoke, “So evolved to soft ?”

“He’s not worth your time,” Onew reassured.

“Maybe he likes you.”

Kibum made a face. “Not this again Jonghyun.”

There was no progress in new dances for Taemin. His mind was a cluster of thoughts roaming all over the place. The pressure of not making a choreo for the next Sunday filled him with dread. He didn’t want to let anyone down, not his class, not Yunho, and not even Kai. The pressure built up movements after movements because nothing looked right to him.

Sure, he can slap together something by the next week, but half-assing things wasn’t Taemin.

He texted Kai on Wednesday that practice was canceled. He wasn’t surprised by the lack of concern and the mere reply of “ok,” since he didn’t expect much from Kai anyway. What surprised him though, was Kai initiated a text on Thursday night.

Practice tmr?

ok. see you @ 4.

Taemin didn’t know how to tell him he still got nothing for Sunday.

They encountered each other in the hallway the next day. Kai was pressing a button to the elevator, wearing a baseball cap backwards.

“You’re early,” Taemin commented. Which was dumb, because Kai was always early.

“Yeah.”

The elevator dinged in time to save them a poor attempt at conversation, and they stepped inside once the door opened up. Standing a few feet away from each other, the small elevator seemed so big with their distance. Even though their studio was on the fourth floor, the few seconds felt so long surrounded by the quiet tension.

On third floor, the elevator shook slightly, but the jolt was enough to result them to lose balance momentarily.

“What the is happening?” Taemin’s voice was laced with trepidation.

Kai bunched up his expression, which must be similar to Taemin more panicked one. “. I think it stopped working.” He pressed the emergency button, his jaws clenching as he reached for his phone. “I don’t have signals here.”

Kai turned to gave him an intense stare, anticipation. Taemin went to search for his phone, hoping the fear on his face isn’t as obvious as his trembling fingers. “I . . . don’t have signals either.”

They were officially stuck. No one else entered this building on weekdays so there was no hope. The walls were closing in on Taemin, suffocating him to the point his knees were weak, dropping him to the floor. His chest heaved heavily, forcing his eyes close and snaking his arms around his folded legs.

He was shaking, everywhere.

“Think of the sky.” A thick voice cut through his thoughts. Taemin bent his head up, eyes wide at Kai, who had dropped down beside him in the same sitting position.

“W-what?” he choked out.

His voice was soft, soothing. “Don’t think about where we are. Close your eyes, imagine that we were outside, a vast sky above us.”

Reluctant, Taemin shut his eyes closed. He envisioned the rich blue of the sky, and clouds. The sky stretched upon him, so large and wide. Limitless.

As he loosened the thought of their current location, his breathing slowed down to match a normal pace.

Slowly, he let his eyes adjust open. The fear poked at him, but he had to remind himself that he could escape it. He wasn’t trapped inside. Everything was temporary.

It was a long time before he could find his voice again. He felt lightheaded and exhausted. “Thanks,” Taemin whispered, “Where’d you learn that?”

“My niece,” Kai explained while resting his arms atop of his knees. “She’s claustrophobic also. And thinking of big places distracts her from it. It’s ineffective sometimes, though.”

Taemin swallowed, finding it difficult to keep his eyes open, so he settled on closing them.

“Since we probably all the time in the world being here, do you want to hear something?”

Taemin wasn't certain that they could conversate without any disputes. Nonetheless, he responded with a yes.

“I’ve been dancing since I could walk,” Kai kept talking, it was the most he had ever spoken between them.

Somehow, in that functioning part of his brain, Taemin believed that Kai didn’t want to be here as much as he did. But he felt grateful for the distraction. God knows how much Kai didn’t want to talk to him.

“I started with ballet, jazz, then moved up to contemporarily dances. It’s my favorite thing ever.

“I worked really hard for it, and chose it as my career even though my parents believe that dancing was not a real career.”

Taemin understood that perfectly from earning the same response. Although over the years his parents have soften, knowing that Taemin was serious and determined about dancing.

“So when I applied to this job here, they told me that I exceed their expectations.”

Taemin internally agreed.

“But they rejected me,” Kai said.

“What?!” Taemin’s eyes shot open in disbelief. Kai’s lips twitched in response.

He continued, “They said they recently had a spot for one of the owner’s closest friend. Told me that they’ll call me again when they need an instructor.”

“They did call you back, right? That’s why you’re here?”

“Yeah, they called me back a year later,” Kai confirmed. “Do you remember the first time you saw me?”

Nearly a month ago and a half ago was when they bumped into each other. Taemin scoffed. “‘You should watch where you’re going’? ,” Taemin recalled the first thing Kai had said to him. He took a deep breath, asking the question he had always wanted the answer to, “Why are you different to me lately? Don’t you hate me?”

Kai worked his jaws, eyes intently staring at the ceiling. “You proved me wrong.”

That was not the answer he anticipated. “I… I what?”

Kai shook his head. “I was bitter about the whole ordeal a year ago. After my interview, I went to one of your classes just to see who was the person who got this job through connection, while I believed I worked really hard for the job. I only saw your face and left. I kind of felt robbed, and stored this resentment towards you up until we met the second time with Yunho. Then you showed me your choreography, which totally pulled my ignorant head out of my .”

It was meant to be a funny comment, and usually, Taemin would have laughed. But he was stunned into silence with every revelation.

Kai met his eyes. They were the closest they’ve ever been and Taemin could see the deep brown of his irises. “I was an . And I still don’t know how to act around you. Nothing justifies my behaviors so I kept my distance.”

“You’re a ing idiot.”

Dumbfounded, Kai replied, “Excuse me?”

The words rushing out of his own mouth surprised Taemin too.

“This whole time, I was convinced you hated me. But your reason was you kept your distance? Because of some one-sided misunderstanding? Why couldn’t you apologize like a normal person like, I don’t know, a few weeks ago?” He snapped. “This whole, entire time! ing hell, you stress me out.”

Kai’s face was stricken, guilty as he diverted his gaze elsewhere. “There wasn’t a good time to bring it up.”

“But this is? Were you ever going to tell me? Actually, don’t answer that.”

Taemin didn’t comprehend why he was so mad, or where all this anger was coming from. However, deep down, he felt this overwhelming rush of relief. Like a truce after a fight, except they didn’t even fight to begin with.

And although he was upset, he understood Kai’s reasons for doing what he did. Because if he was in his position, he wouldn’t know how to act around someone after believing in such a misconception of them for so long, then was proven wrong a year later.

And partly, Taemin felt that he was at fault too. He didn’t allow Kai any opportunities to explain himself or confront him about it until now. And if he haven’t brought it up, they’d probably still have this unresolved tension. At least, hopefully, things were shifting between them.

Kai aligned his hat so the rim would be in front. Regret and something else were evident on his face, which was different than the typical impassive expression he displayed around Taemin.

Taemin worked his throat, pushing his pride away to say, “You look really happy in there, you know? Teaching, dancing, being around those kids. They’re a big part of you. So me just showing up and easily got the job because of Yunho, I can understand why you felt that way towards me. I'm sorry I took your job.”

“No…” Kai spoke softly. “I'm sorry for putting the blame on you. You deserve it as much as anyone who works hard as you do.”

They didn’t talk after that. Truthfully, Taemin was at a loss for words. He wasn’t good at this kind of conversations, the one that allows him to elaborate his thoughts and feelings. But the silence then wasn’t too bad. The air seemed lighter, like this weight between them had been lifted.

The muffled noise from the other side jerked Taemin straight awake. It took him a few, slow seconds to register the current situation in front of his eyes. Between last night and then, he had dozed off on Kai’s shoulder without remembering when. He had dozed off on Kai’s shoulder.

Taemin’s sudden movement stirred Kai into consciousness. He brought a fist to his eyes, wiping the bleariness, and then covered his unkempt hair with the baseball cap lying on the floor.

“What time is it?” he asked throatily, watching in silence as Taemin make his way to the door and putting his ear to the metallic surface.

“I don’t know. You check. I think I hear people from the other side.” Taemin pounded the door with his fist as he called out, “Is anyone there?!”

A pause. A string of curses. Then, “Taemin? It’s Yunho! How long have you been in there?”

“Thank goodness. Kai and I have been stuck here since last night!” he explained.

“I came in this morning and noticed that the elevator stopped working. I called the technicians. They’re here. I’m so sorry! We’ll get you out as soon as we can, okay?”

Taemin voiced out an okay before slumping down to the other wall. Besides not having signals, at least his phone was useful enough to tell him the time. Already nine forty in the morning.

Thinking about it now, being stuck inside , but it could’ve been much worse. The elevator could’ve stopped working on Wednesday, the day they were supposed to meet but Taemin had canceled last minute. So they could’ve been trapped inside for two days straight, without outside communication to seek for help. The thought of that made everything they experienced didn’t seem as awful as before, although it was awful nonetheless.

“We’re taking the stairs next time,” Taemin demanded. He didn’t noticed that he said we instead of I until later.

Kai’s eyes glinted with humor, and Taemin took it was the closest thing to a smile. “To the fourth floor?”

“ yeah.”

The look on Yunho’s face when the door opened resembled the look of a parent who forgot about his kids at a grocery store. He kept apologizing, even after Taemin or Kai had told him that it wasn’t his fault. Taemin was so happy to be anywhere but in there, he wasted no time to bolt up the stairs.

Turning the studio’s door handle, a voice put Taemin to a halt. “Hey.”

“Hm?” He maintained his composure and pushed the door open.

“So … We’re cool, right?” Kai questioned. There was uncertainty in his voice that Taemin had never heard before.

“Yeah,” he replied, twisting his face away from the other’s view, because how embarrassing would it be if Kai were to see the stupid grin on his face. “We’re cool.”

The moment Kai’s face lit up after Taemin offered that he could choreograph for the class, Taemin believed he did something right for once. If all it took was one simple offer for him to glow like it's the holidays, then Taemin would have done it a long time ago.

“Are you sure?” Kai kept asking for reassurances, even though Taemin knew that Kai would be disappointed if he changed his mind.

“Yeah I'm pretty sure. I don’t have anything up my sleeves for tomorrow. Unless you don’t have anything either. Then we can pretend to be high schoolers and ditch class. But then Yunho might fire us. No pressure,” Taemin had said in a straight face, and Kai had cracked up then.

Later, while music thumped against his eardrums as Taemin sat in the corner of the room, tentatively noting the way Kai moved, he was incapable of taking his eyes of the male’s dancing form. Captivating. Mesmerizing. His gaze traveled up to the dancer’s face, who naturally met his stare then. When Kai smiled at him, there was a drop settling deep in his stomach that wasn’t the typical confusion or frustration that used to associated with Kai. Instead, they were butterflies.

Ah, dammit.

Taemin Lee posted a video: I Choose U by Timeflies | Taemin Lee Choreography

PLS TELL US IF UR DATING ANYONE

Jonghyun Kim commented: Glad you’ve recovered from dancer’s block!

are you trying to create a manslaughter with those moves? totally killed it again!

You’re so perfect please marry me Taemin T.T

Where is baseball cap boy? Does he have a YouTube channel?

The five of them didn’t live close to one another. Well, not close enough to make regularly visits at each other’s places. The two closest friends Taemin lived near were Minho and Onew, whose places were roughly twenty minutes away from him. Kibum and Jonghyun’s places were a little farther, each with an hour away from Taemin’s apartment. The distance from Kibum’s place to Jonghyun, Minho to Onew, Jonghyun to Minho, and so on was a whole different story. Taemin’s lucky he lived somewhat in the middle of the four, because it can be convenient at times.

Like when he forgot his iPod at home the next Sunday, which contained the remix track for the class later in the day. Even before hearing Minho’s groggy voice through the speaker, Taemin already knew he would be interrupting his sleep. The other times he left his stuff at home, Taemin got Onew to bring it because he never wakes up late in his entire life, even when he has jet lags from traveling. This Sunday was an exception, because Onew was on a trip in France.

After getting off the phone with Minho, who surprisingly didn’t sound too irritated to be disturbed on a Sunday morning, Taemin headed back inside the studio room.

“Incoming!” A Gatorade bottle zoomed pass Taemin, merely inches from hitting his face if his quick reflexes hadn't kicked in in time.

“What was that?” Taemin lowered the bottle, facing Kai. “Were you trying to kill me?”

“Don’t hate me for trying.” Kai shrugged as he gave Taemin a boyish smile.

If he had said that a week ago, Taemin would’ve flung the bottle right back at Kai’s face, or empty the whole drink on him. Now though, things had changed, and Taemin recognized the recent easy flow between them. There was playfulness in their interactions that was missing before.

“Is that your favorite?” Kai cocked his head to the bottle, guiding Taemin to take a look.

Taemin glanced at the Gatorade, just then realizing that it was blue. His heart stuttered. “No,” he lied, “red is my favorite.”

Kai must had seen through his bull, because he was looking at him, leaning back with his hands on the floor, with these gleaming eyes that implies you’re so full of it. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

They got into a conversation of which flavor of Gatorade tasted the worst. Kai was persistent on the lemon-lime one while Taemin argued that the grape one was worse. Both were so preoccupied with their disagreement that by the time Minho was in the room, he had to clear his throat to gain their attention.

“Oh sorry.” Taemin’s lips curled into a bashful smile, standing up. “Answer one question first, which one is more awful than the other: lemon-lime or grape?”

Minho didn’t even take a second to decide. “Lemon-lime.”

Laughing in satisfaction, Kai jumped up to give him a highfive while Taemin stood on the side, with his arms crossed and rolled his eyes.

“So much for knowing each other for two years,” he muttered bitterly. “Well, this is Kai, and that’s Minho. You’re welcome, I just established BFF opportunity for you guys. When one of you look back at this, I’ll accept your gratitude with a Lamborghini and those fuzzy dice people put on the rearview mirror.”

“Funny,” Minho deadpanned. “I already set your iPod next to your bag. It’s really nice to meet you Kai. Taemin, you don’t mind if I talk to you for a second?” He gestured his thumb at the door.

“Sure, whatever,” replied Taemin, clueless to what Minho wanted to talk to him about. Was he upset to get up early because of Taemin?

By the time they were out of Kai’s earshot, Minho wasted no time to talk. “Explain.”

“Explain what? Why I forgot the iPod? Well, there’s this part of the brain called hippocampus that is responsible for memory functions—”

“No,” Minho cut him off. “I recalled correctly that you said you guys don’t talk. But minutes ago, you guys look like you would never stop talking to each other. Care to elaborate?”

Taemin ran a hand through his hair. He hadn’t told his friends what happened last Thursday with Kai. Not that he didn’t want to, but he didn’t know how to bring it up in the conversation. Plus, he wasn’t prepared to talk about Kai. He was scared that these new, unvoiced emotions would be obvious on his face, and they would be obvious to his friends too.

“There have been some developments,” he answered briefly. Although Minho didn’t verbally pushed further, he leaned his body against the wall with patience in his posture. It seemed to work. “But we’re friends now.”

Friends would be a little stretch, so maybe acquaintances? Co-workers? Taemin wasn’t sure yet. Maybe he’ll ask Kai later. Or he wouldn’t, because Kai might laugh at him for such a childish question.

“Alright well, that’s good to hear.” Minho tapped his fingers on Taemin’s cheek. “I’ll be heading to the gym now. Have fun today. And tell Kai I said bye.”

“Thanks. And thank you for bringing me the iPod.” Taemin waved his hand at Minho’s retreating figure. Before he proceeded inside, Minho had stopped walking, calling out his name.

“Yes?” he answered.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have a crush on Kai.” With a wink, Minho turned his heels and vanished down the hallway.

Remaining motionless at the door for a few stunned moments, a shaky breath escaped his lungs. He sighed. “If I didn’t know any better,” Taemin whispered, to no one in particular. “I’d say you were right.”

“Quick question. Have you guys ever get bored with just you two alone, and then there’s nothing much to do after your practice, right?”

“Right,” Taemin replied.

It was kind of funny how Sori thought the both of them even exchanged words during the past month, because the truth was, he wanted to tell her, that they had only gotten along since last week. The students were probably oblivious to Taemin and Kai’s awkwardness with each other, and assumed the reason neither of them talked to each other before was due to being too focused on teaching the dances.

“By chance, did you guys ever freestyle for fun during past times, or have like … a dance battle?” She looked hopeful asking this, like the answer would fulfill her biggest wish. The other kids were also interested for his respond, giving their complete attention to him. Even Kai paused his drinking to stare at him.

“Nah, I wouldn’t want to make Kai cry when he loses to me,” said Taemin in a composed and relaxed manner.

Everyone cooed “oooooh,” laughing and clapping their hands together in amusement at the smacktalk. A boy near Kai, Sehun, used a plastic bottle as replacement for microphone. In his professional reporter voice imitation, Sehun interviewed Kai with the bottle hovering under his mouth, “Sir, you just got roasted by Mr. Lee, what do you have to say in return to him?”

“I have nothing to say,” Kai uttered back as a triumph smile made its way on Taemin’s face. Kai added, “My mother taught me not to pick a fight with the weak, so.”

The whole class exploded.

Hearing poundings on his door on a Tuesday evening couldn’t be a good sign, especially when two familiar faces greeted him.

“What are you guys doing here?” grumbled Taemin. Momentarily getting the urge to slam the door on them, but rethink otherwise because it must had been a long trip to his house.

“Are you wearing that to the date?” Kibum eyed his black joggers and shirt he threw on barely five minutes ago with unconcealed judgment.

“Yes.” Taemin slumped down on his couch, already regretting on updating his crew about everything between him and Kai via Skype group chat. Though he did make a right choice of not admitting his personal feelings, his friends most likely had already noticed even without it ever being spelled into words. “And for the last time, it is not a date. He’d only ask me to go shop for shoes with him. That’s what friends do.”

“‘Friends.’” Jonghyun air-quoted the word, unconvinced.

“And good friends would advise you that your outfit is going to get you stuck in the friendzone,” Kibum pointed out.

“I don’t care.”

“Oh yes you do babe.”

Kibum began examining Taemin’s closet inside his room, hands resting on his hips. Taemin followed without further protests because it was easier to agree with Kibum than going against him. He settled on sitting next to Jonghyun, who was picking out a radio station on the bed.

Taemin didn’t attempt to cover his yawn. He couldn't get enough sleep last night due to the excitement for today. “I’m surprised Minho and Onew aren’t here.”

“Minho’s at a baseball game. He’d probably miss his wedding than miss out on watching sports live,” Jonghyun exaggerated.

Taemin broke out in laughter. “True.”

Grinning, Jonghyun continued, “And Onew would probably fly back here just to witness your first date with Mr. Dancer if he had the chance.”

“For goodness sake, it is not a date—”

Taemin’s words were cut off with clothes covering his head. “Wear those,” Kibum ordered, using his there’s-no-room-for-fighting-me voice.

He complied, only because knowing that the faster Taemin tried those clothes on, the faster this would be over.

Even though Taemin stubbornly objected to his friends that it wasn't a date, deep deep down inside, he’d secretly wished it was. When Kai asked him to go look for shoes together, there was no denying that he felt delirious at the confirmation that they were friends. And truthfully, that was good enough for him.

He was running late to the outlet due to Kibum’s dress up game. The tight jeans he wore were uncomfortable, but Kibum insisted that they were nice on him.

Technically, his exact words were, “Ooh yes, these makes your look fine. What do you think Jonghyun?”

Jonghyun nodded approvingly. “It’s not Kim K, but it is a nice . I really like Minho’s too, have you felt them? He sat on me once, and they were pretty firm.”

“That’s because he works out, that Fitness . Your has potential too Taemin, maybe a few squats per day and next thing you know, you’d be featured in Nicki Minaj’s music videos.”

They were so nonchalant and casual about the conversation that you’d think they were talking about the weather, not people’s buttcheeks. It was definitely a sign for Taemin to find new friends.

“I’m sorry I’m late." Taemin caught up to the bench Kai was stationed at, eyes immediately lifting to find his. A smile brightened up Kai’s face and it took all of Taemin’s efforts to remind himself not to spontaneously combust then and there.

Shoving his phone into his back pocket, he stepped into place beside Taemin. “Took you long enough, I thought I’d start to get wrinkles by the time you show up.”

He shoved Kai on the shoulder. “Well good, maybe you’ll be less cocky with wrinkles on your face.”

Knowing beforehand that it wasn’t a date, he couldn’t help but evaluate Kai’s behaviors towards him the entire hangout. He was hyperaware of the proximity of the way they walked, the lingering touches whenever Taemin handed Kai a pair of shoes for suggestions, the softness of Kai’s gaze when he listened to Taemin talk. But Taemin doubted all of this. He wasn’t sure whether it was his delusional mind deceiving him that things better than they appear.

To make things worse, Kai didn’t wear his trademark baseball cap, leaving his hair a messy fluff of brown. Taemin had to resist combing his hand through it the strands, because friends don’t do that gay , he reminded himself countless of times. He couldn’t help it, like a moth gravitating toward a flame, that he was so drawn to Kai so hopelessly that it was almost painful.

At the end of the day, two girls approached him with giddiness and that distracted Taemin out of self-pity at his love life crisis. They asked for pictures and even requested Kai to join in, probably because they recognized him from the video with Taemin. He had draped his arm over Taemin’s shoulders without hesitation and leaned his face closer to him. It was cruel how unaffected Kai was about this while on the other hand, Taemin struggled to calm his nerves.

Before parting, the girls repeatedly thanked Taemin, enthusiastically passed on their support, and even asked to tell Key they said hello.

“Sorry,” Taemin had apologized later, feeling uncharacteristically shy all of the sudden.

Kai furrowed his brows in confusion. “What for?”

Taemin lifted his shoulders up and released it. “I feel like I was burdening you with the abrupt attention.”

He offered Taemin a strange look and shook his head firmly. “No, I don’t think that. Your fans are great, and your talent deserves that support everywhere, honestly.”

And if it was an alternative universe, Taemin would be brave enough to kiss him after that comment, right then and there.

“Let’s collab,” Kai declared.

“What?”

“It’ll the last Sunday I’ll be teaching with you, go big or go home right?”

“Right,” Taemin managed to say calmly, but his heart sunk a little with the thought of teaching the class alone again. He was already accustomed to weekday practices with Kai, these jokes they exchanged in between. And the most terrifying thing was, he didn’t know how to let everything go.

It was Kai’s idea to choreograph a dance together. Initially, it was a great idea. However, what Taemin didn’t know was that he signed up to create a couple dance with Kai. The acoustic version of Justin Bieber’s Boyfriend was excruciatingly sensual, matching the intimacy of their movements. It was ing a terrible idea.

By the time they went over the choreography one last time, Taemin’s heart wanted to be out of his chest and his lungs couldn’t take anymore oxygen due to his continuous sharp intakes of breaths. Not because he was tired from dancing, but because Kai’s presence was driving him absolutely insane.

If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go

Kai s a hand around his waist, sliding it smoothly down until he grasped Taemin’s hips in place.

I can take you places you ain't never been before

Baby take a chance or you'll never ever know

Taemin swayed his hips, moving along with the strumming of the guitar.

I don’t know about me but I know about you

So say hello to falsetto in three, two

Kai swung Taemin around, his back meeting his chest. Their feet glided upon the wooden dance floor.

I'd like to be everything you want

Feeling Kai’s breathing ghosting the nape of his neck, his skin shivered and he shut his eyes close.

I can be a gentleman, anything you want

If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go

By the time Taemin opened his eyes, the routine was over. But Kai was still holding onto him, breathing as erratically as he was. Taemin rest a palm on the other’s chest, the pulse of a beating heart was as equally rapid as his.

Kai placed his hand around Taemin’s neck, guiding Taemin to meet his eyes with the tilt of his fingers. Taemin broke the gaze for a quick second as he dropped it to Kai’s lips before him, and automatically parted his own.

“Please push me away,” Kai whispered softly, “if you don’t want this.”

Without anymore warning, he crashed their lips together, catching Taemin in bewilderment. He kissed Taemin as though he wanted to devour him. And when Taemin returned the same passionate desire back, he swore Kai was smiling through their kiss.

They kissed until Taemin forgot what it was like to be on the ground, because he only knew what floating felt like. They kissed until their lips were red and swollen, until their hands roamed everywhere on each other’s bodies because where do you put these hands. Until Kai’s hair was a mess from Taemin’s fingers combing vicariously through the brown strands, because he finally got the chance to.

“I need to know,” Taemin inhaled deeply, desperate for air, “what this means between us.”

Their foreheads were touching, and Kai closed his eyes before fixating them on Taemin’s worried ones. “I like that you make me laugh and your devotion for dancing, and I can’t help but look forward to being around you, to the point that I used a loserly excuse to go shoes shopping when I don’t even need new ones.” Kai swallowed a lump in his throat. “. . . And it means that I like you.”

“Okay.”

“‘Okay?’” Kai looked mortified.

Taemin pushed himself away from Kai. “Just give me a second, to process all this.”

Kai bobbed his head in a slow nod, dejection flickered across his face.

For Taemin, the last five minutes hadn’t sunk into his thick skull. He had kissed Kai, and Kai had told him his feelings. But his state of disbelief was refusing to accept the past minutes was reality. He wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, but that would be a bizarre reaction for someone who just told him his feelings.

“I um.” Taemin coughed. “Can be a pain sometimes.”

Kai stared at him in silence, listening.

“And I have four best friends,” he confessed, “who are equivalent as a circus when they’re together. But they’re wonderful people, and I care about them.”

Taemin continued, “And sometimes I get moody for no reasons. At all.”

Kai nodded in comprehension.

“I also get carried away with dancing. And there’s a chance that I would forget to call you back.”

Taemin casted his gaze down on his hands, biting his lips. “So yeah, if you can deal with all that, then you can have me, because I like you too.”

“Well, you’re a ing idiot,” Kai said, smiling widely, “if you think I mind about all that.”

Despite rolling his eyes, Taemin failed to stop a grin forming on his face.

“Questions?” Kai asked the class. It was the final Sunday before Kai leaves to replace Eunhyuk’s afternoon class, and everyone wanted to ask last minute questions. Taemin was sitting in the back of the room, letting the spotlight to center Kai instead of himself since it is his last day with the class afterall.

A student blurted out, “Do you like anyone?”

It was brief, but Taemin caught the way Kai paused and flickered his attention to him.

“I do,” Kai responded. “Anymore questions?”

A random kid shouted, “IS IT SOMEONE IN THIS ROOM?”

Taemin covered his mouth to contain his laughter. In discrete, Kai sent a pointed look at him.

“I’ll going to pass. Next question please.”

Taemin Lee posted a video: Boyfriend by Justin Bieber | Taemin Lee & Kai Kim Choreography

Jonghyun Kim commented: You guys look like you’re going to make babies on the dance floor

OTP!!! U GUYS R MY LIFE TBH

PLEASE MAKE MORE VIDEOS WITH KAI

he is ur bf rite??????

Key Kim commented: This ship better be canon.

Taemin Lee replied to Key Kim’s comment: it is.

On Friday night, Onew forgot his keys after returning from France. It happened so frequently that Taemin wasn’t surprised to see his face at his apartment.

“How are you?” asked Onew, stripping to his t-shirt and boxers before plopping right upon the sleeping bag Taemin had set up for him.

“I'm doing really well.” Taemin smiled, although Onew wouldn’t see it in the darkness of his room. “Better than ever actually. How was France? I saw your vlogs.”

“Amazing. Nothing much to say if you already saw my vlogs.” Onew’s laugh rumbled deeply. “So how’s Kai?”

Warmth creeped on Taemin’s cheeks, and he was suddenly glad for the lack of light. “He treats me really well. I think I’ve never this happy because of someone,” Taemin admitted with an awe accompanied in his soft voice. “Dancing has always been my source of happiness. But this is different, you know? Like I'm falling—” in love.

The realization hit Taemin with a stark shockness. The kind of impact that alerted him completely awake, and no doubt he would be up all night thinking about this.

The sudden silence was comforting. Taemin was certain Onew knew what Taemin was going to say, but he was thankful that his friend didn’t force it out of him. “Is it me or are you crying?” questioned Onew, the sound of him shifting position was audible in the air.

Taemin wiped the dampness of his eyes like he had just been caught, although he wasn’t really crying. Just overwhelmed with his own emotions. “It’s just you. Why would I cry? I'm not some emotional baby who talks and cries about my feelings. Why would you think that?” he babbled.

“My bad,” he teased. “I'm happy for you, you know? I’ve always wished happiness for you four, regardless of how handful you guys are at times.”

Taemin didn’t even cry often. Maybe because he was so deeply touched by the confession. Maybe it was late at night and Onew always knew what to say to him, because the tears started pouring out of Taemin, and he was sobbing endlessly. Like ugly and loud sobbing because Taemin happened to care and appreciate his friends a lot too.

“I'm never having late night talks with you ever again,” Taemin later said.

Onew gave a low chuckle. “You dork.”

The first time Kai directly met all of Taemin’s friends was comical, because Kai was practically squirming from nervousness. It was after their second date, when Kai was about to drop Taemin off the cafe he always went to with the crew.

“Want to come?” Taemin had joked, not really expecting him to come along anyway.

“They seem intimidating. It’s like you but times four.”

Taemin erupted into a laugh. “Nah, I’m not intimidating. And they can’t do no harm. They wouldn't say anything mean. Except for Kibum, he can make people cry sometimes. So prepare some tissues.”

It was a regret Taemin couldn’t take the picture of the way Kai’s face had paled four shades lighter then.

Feeling bad, he kissed Kai’s cheeks in reassurance. “Just kidding, he has a sharp tongue but it's all talk. Blunt? yes, but he is a total softie. Trust me.”

If Taemin thought Kai’s face was funny, then the faces of his group was even more hysterical when they spot him walking in with his boyfriend. However, even though Kai was a little bit stiff at the new environment, he fitted in just fine.

Definitely scored bonus points in Taemin’s book.

Kai was left alone by the time Taemin stood to go to the bathroom. He was doing his best not to panic and follow after him.

Staring at the other four faces, he cleared his throat to attempt conversation. “Would this be the time one of you threaten me that if I do anything to Taemin you’ll hurt me?”

Jonghyun and Minho cracked up while Onew hid a knowing smile behind his hand. Truthfully, Kai had no idea what was so funny.

Kibum smirked at him, eyes flashing with sympathy. “Not really babe, Taemin is capable of kicking your on his own.”

this one is lowkey dedicated to alka bc she deals w my endless plot ideas that i would never finish and was patient w me when my motivation to write was at zero
i haven't finished writing a real length fic in a long time, so i'm like shaking and nervous to post this up????
i'd love to hear what you think of this 11,400 words crappy mess ^^;;;;;;; which i totally underestimated the length when i first started this
&& i'm always thankful for your comments (even though i really at showing my gratitude towards you guys) & i hope you enjoyed it!! <3 <3 <3