the next time taemin sees jinki is in his algebra classroom, the friday after choir practice. it’s nearly five o’clock in the afternoon, and taemin’s expected back at the dorm he shares with jonghyun so that they could both have an early (unhealthy) dinner together. he rubs the back of his neck before he bows in greeting to his professor.

“taemin-goon, glad you’re here. this is lee jinki, he tells me the two of you have met before,” the fifty-something professor states, pushing his wired glasses up his crooked nose with one hand and gestures to jinki with the other.

taemin nods slowly, his eyes flickering to the older student.

“that’s great. i hope the two of you get along well because jinki-goon has agreed to become your algebra tutor. your grades have been regressing, taemin. it’s not a sight every professor wants to see in their students.”

taemin’s eyebrow quirks and his eyes widen. “algebra tutor,” he repeats with a tone of slight disbelief. he’d never really needed an actual tutor before, and he doesn’t see the need for one now. “i don’t think i need a tutor, professor. i’m just… in a bit of a slump.”

he stares at jinki who could only offer him a sympathetic smile.

“nonsense, if getting c’s in all your test papers is what you call a slump, then jinki needs to pull you out of it right away. midterms are only a few weeks away – you need to be prepared.” his professor stands and slings his messenger bag over his shoulder. “i’ll leave you and jinki to discuss your schedule.”

taemin watches him leave the room and makes a face at him when the door closes. he sighs heavily and turns to jinki. “i really don’t need a tutor, you know. i can handle this on my own.”

when the only reply taemin receives is silence and a staring match, he hitches his bag higher up on his shoulder and turns to leave.

“it wouldn’t hurt.”

he stops in his departure at the thick, sweet tone of voice that echoes in the empty room and turns back around. jinki’s hands are finally freed from their – what seemed to taemin – permanent location and are now swinging freely at his sides.

“what wouldn’t?”

“having a tutor. i used to have one – it wasn’t so bad. it doesn’t make you any less of a smart student.” jinki smiles at him and taemin wonders how anyone could have such a soothing voice.

“i never said it made me feel that way. i just don’t need one. what’s the point?”

“then do you just not like the feeling of having to depend on someone?”

taemin blinks once, twice

”i don’t need you”

his eyebrows furrow, “i never said that either. why are you assu-“

“so you won’t mind me being your tutor then?” jinki’s smile widens and his eyes disappear. it throws taemin off how this guy doesn’t seem to let taemin’s impoliteness bother him. usually, he would’ve earned himself a hard smack upside his head via kibum if he spoke that way to someone older than he was.

he can’t understand how this is the same jinki that he met in the choir room the other day – the same jinki who sat through a whole lunch in silence. then taemin sees that impossible smile of his again and he feels his glare start to crumble.

they stand in silence for a few more minutes until taemin rolls his eyes and starts digging in his pockets for his phone.

“okay, fine, whatever. here, register your number, i’ll figure out when the best day is and-“

“we can always have it wednesdays after choir, so it won’t be too difficult to find each other after class. do you dorm?”

taemin is silent for a few seconds before he nods, watching as jinki punched in numbers on the handphone handed to him. that was the second time he’s interrupted him, and he isn’t sure if he likes it.

“great, because i live far from campus. since choir ends at 5, i think maybe just two hours of tutor would be good enough to start with, don’t you think? you don’t have to worry about feeding me dinner or anything, i can manage on my own.”

“are you always this bossy?” taemin asks him, taking his phone back from the older.

“i wouldn’t say bossy,” jinki chuckles, wrapping a hand around the strap of his backpack. “ just a natural tendency. so i’ll see you soon, then, taemin-ssi.”

taemin ends up left alone in the room with a dash-o-dash face.


{…}

“what did your prof want with you?” jonghyun asks the moment taemin plops down on the couch and takes the steaming bowl of instant ramyun from the older.

taemin doesn’t answer for a while and settles with slurping the noodles loudly into his mouth. he chews thoughtfully and slumps back into the couch.

“do you think i need a math tutor?” he asks.

jonghyun quirks his eyebrow and takes the bowl back from taemin. “how should i know? depends on your standards, i guess? why, did he say you were failing?”

“he said my grades were ‘regressing’.”

“… right, and so?”

“jinki’s my algeb tutor.” taemin tries to emphasize on the fact that he doesn’t want this to happen with a perfectly timed sigh. thankfully, jonghyun isn’t actually the idiot kibum accuses him of being – at least, not when it matters – or… doesn’t matter, it’s all in the perspective.

“what’s so bad about that? he looks nice.”

“yeah, sure, he looks nice. we hardly know the guy and he’s- he’s-“ taemin tries to explain, hands dancing in the air as if trying to grab the words meant to complete his sentence.

“new?”

“yes, there we go, thank yo- wait, what no, it’s not that-“

“taemin, when is this hatred for anything and everything new of yours going to go away. everything changes – it’s the way life goes.”

“i do not have a hatred for new things, excuse me. i just- can’t-“ he begins, still trying to explain his confused mind to someone he thought probably wouldn’t be able to understand it either even if he reached into taemin’s skull, pulled out his brain and unfurled it like a map, “i don’t even know. there’s just something about him that unsettles me.”

“is it the way he looks at you and smiles?” jonghyun asks, apathetically slurping a noodle into his mouth loudly.

“because i can tell you what it is that unsettles you about him – he makes you feel a little bit like you’re falling love.”

taemin quirks an eyebrow and turns to him, who only looks back at him with raised eyebrows.

“whatever gave you the indication that i was gay?”

jonghyun laughs, nearly choking as the spicy soup travels down his throat the same time that he lets out the first ‘ha’.

“i never said anything about being gay, taemin. i just meant that he makes you feel good on the inside. or, well, i don’t know about you, but that’s definitely the way i feel everytime he smiles. and you know kibum and i are-“

“yeah, i know, don’t remind me.” taemin leans back on the couch and grabs the nearly finished ramyun from jonghyun.

he ponders the other’s sentiments on the matter and thinks about jinki’s smile again. he allows the image to embed in his brain until the corners of his own lips curl.

“it’s not so bad being gay, you know,” jonghyun whispers into his ear and touches taemin’s jean clad thigh. the younger jumps away and off the couch with a yelp.

jonghyun laughs throughout taemin’s shouts of ‘hyung, that wasn’t funny!’ and ‘you’re cleaning off the ramyun stains!’

{…}

taemin hates – absolutely loathes – his humanities class more than anything for quite a few reasonable… well, reasons.

one, it required him to wake up at 6:30 on monday mornings so that he has just enough time to get up, shower, get dressed, have a bite of bread and get to his class at exactly 8.

two, despite the fact that the lecture room is only a ten minute walk from their dorm, he always finds himself only a little late so that he doesn’t miss any important notes, but late enough to garner the professor’s attention.

three, his stomach grumbles mercilessly halfway through the hour and a half lecture and he can only stare at the board while those around him stare.

four, minho was in this class, and much worse than that was the fact that on the very first day for this class – and the very first time he was late – all his classmates had already chosen their permanent seats and he was left with the vacant seat next to him, of all people. not that he ever bothered taemin, much less talk to him. it was more of the fact that every time taemin saw his calm, serious profile, unwanted memories and feelings resurfaced and it made things a little awkward for taemin.

he leans forward, now, on his desk to try and muffle the grumbling his stomach makes and leans his chin on his neglected book and notes. he tries to stifle a yawn but fails to at the last second and it’s just his luck that that was the same second his professor decides to take a sip from her tumbler.

“is there a problem, taemin-ssi?” she asks haughtily, staring at him with a disapproving gaze. everyone keeps their heads down, staring at their blank notes – the same as his.

he straightens up from his slouch, “no, sonsaengnim.”

a blush colors his cheeks and he ducks his head away from her as she continues her lesson. his eyes wander carelessly for a short moment and it lands on minho. the strong jaw is even more prominent now with the loss of just a little bit more than baby fat. his cheekbones are sharper, hardly hidden by the dyed dark brown hair curling around them.

he blinks once and minho turns his head. he wants to look away and smack himself on the forehead, but their eyes are locked for the first time in years and he can’t break his gaze. minho stares at him with a brief look of surprise and then curiosity before detachment glazes his pupils. the older turns away first and returns to looking out the window on his left.

taemin feels just a little bit oddly affected by the moment, but his stomach growls loudly and he suffers half an hour more of lecture.

{…}

he slams his locker shut and nearly catches kibum’s hair had the latter not reached out and smacked jonghyun on the arm. taemin stuffs the books he retrieved into his bag and closes the bag with a huff.

“what’s on your grill?” jonghyun asks, holding kibum’s hands away from his face.

“just really tired and sleepy,” he grinds out, flicking his fringe out of his heavy eyelids.

“well, come on, let’s go home then. goodbye, kibum.” jonghyun forcefully turns kibum around and pushes him into a flustered freshman who was not so subtly watching the two banter. he then wraps an arm around taemin’s shoulders and quickly leads him out of the building before kibum can even finish placating the younger student in his arms.

he shrugs off jonghyun’s heavy arm off of him and runs a hand through his hair, feeling sweat wipe off on his hand. he grimaces at the dampness and wipes his hand on his jeans. he blames the heat and the project he crammed last night on his horrible temper.

he turns his head to jonghyun when he starts talking about his day and instead focuses his gaze on the pair walking across the field beside jonghyun’s head. jinki and minho.

taemin watches as jinki talks animatedly at minho more than to him because the other seems to be more intent on walking and getting out of the campus than to listen to anything jinki had to say. but jinki laughs on his own, head thrown back and neck exposed.

“are you even listening to me?”

“no, stop talking.”

taemin adds that image to the list of things to blame for his mood.