Taemin stuffed his hands in his sweater pockets, trying hard to suppress the tears that wanted to spill. It wasn’t right for him to cry, right?

“THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU!”

He flinched, unable to stop Dongwoon’s scream from playing in his head. Why hadn’t Taemin tried harder?

I’m sorry…

I’m really sorry. I’ll keep trying so don’t be sad.

Everyone had been working so hard for him. Mir was there for him, but why couldn’t he see it? What was wrong with him? Taemin chewed his lip, fighting off the tremors. It was so wrong. Mir shouldn’t have been apologizing like that.

If he had paid more attention, would he have noticed what sort of place Mir was in? Everything pointed towards something more serious but why hadn’t Taemin seen it? Why couldn’t he protect Mir like Dongwoon could?

Tonight I could see it. They were the tops of buildings – the lights I mean. I was looking down at them.

Taemin slumped down on a bench, covering his face angrily. Was it really true? Could two broken people really not fix each other? Logic wasn’t supposed to have a place in love so why was it choosing to stick its head in now?

How come Dongwoon could see everything without even being there? Why couldn’t it be Taemin who saved Mir? Were they really a lost cause?

“Hey, are you crying?”

Taemin ignored the stranger.

“Do you need help?”

He glared up at the person, seeing exactly what he had been expecting. “Go away. I don’t need help.”

The teacher frowned, correcting his glasses and taking a seat beside Taemin. “I don’t really recognize you but I can’t just leave a crying girl here. Not everyone who goes to this school is friendly you know. Most would probably try to kidnap you or something. As a faculty member I can’t—”

“—I’m a boy and I’m not crying,” he interrupted.

“Oh, sorry,” the teacher said sheepishly, “your long hair fooled me. But now that we have a dialogue going, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” He smiled, “It’s hard to believe but sometimes adults have more experience in life than teenagers.”

Taemin shot him a glare, standing up to leave. The last thing he needed was some freaky adult trying to give him life lessons.

“W-Wait, where are you going?” a hand caught Taemin’s wrist but then it slipped away. There was a crashing noise and the young boy whipped around, eyes wide. The teacher was sprawled on the ground, glasses rolling a few feet away.

He sighed, wiping his moist eyes and going to pick up the clumsy person’s spectacles. “Here,” Taemin offered the object to the adult, noting absently that he looked pretty young for a teacher.

“Thank you,” a blush reddened the man’s face and he awkwardly pushed the glasses back on, dusting his clothes off.

“Uh-huh,” Taemin mumbled, turning away to leave again.

“Wait, don’t go!” the man shouted, stumbling after him, “I really can’t stand seeing troubled kids. Are you sure you don’t need any help? I can get the school’s psychologist or do you want me to call someone to talk to you?”

“Would you back off?” he snapped, jerking away from the stranger. “I don’t want anyone’s help! Why do you think my problems are so easy to solve, huh? Do you even know what I’m going through?”

There was only a second’s pause before the man shook his head, eyes sparkling earnestly, “But if you tell me I can help you. I’m a teacher! We’re here solely to help students. If you’re troubled in some way, I want to help you somehow so you’ll be able to move on.”

Taemin made a face, shivering at the goody-two-shoes behavior. What sort of person spoke so honestly anymore? Where the hell did a drop out university find a teacher like him? It was probably an act. He studied the cluelessness in the adult’s eyes and could only feel a bit of disgust.

These were the types of people Taemin hated the most. Innocent people didn’t exist yet they acted as if they were just that, angels, purity, whatever you wanted to call it. Clean people would’ve been tainted after so much time on a polluted plane like their world.

“Hey, you haven’t said anything…how can I help you?” the teacher reached out but Taemin moved away, frowning

“You really wanna help me?” he whispered, his lips.

The man nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes I do!”  

Taemin smirked, slipping his fingers around the uptight tie circling the teacher’s collar. “Then please, me.”

Confusion clouded the older one’s face. Taemin looked around the deserted park, and then dragged their bodies together, free hand roaming down the expanse of a well toned backside. “You…wanna, don’t you?” he brushed a firm as he leaned his face into the teacher’s neck. “Haven’t you ever imagined…well, ing a student? C’mon…you’re still young. You must be so persistent because you wanna get in my pants, right?” Taemin bit down softly, waiting for an inevitable moan to fall from the not-so-innocent teacher’s purely speaking mouth.

Instead, he felt his body being shoved away with such force, there was a moment of sheer panic.

The teacher’s face was bright red, tears looking ready to fall from his eyes. Taemin blinked, bewildered by the reaction. “You can’t treat your body like that, y-young man!”

“Young man?” he repeated under his breath, cocking an eyebrow. How much older was the teacher than him? It looked like a few years at best.

“You still have a wide and wonderful future out there so you can’t waste it by playing these games with strangers! Most adults wouldn’t take your words as a joke! They would actually try to…t-to, well, yes!” He rigidly moved Taemin back to the benches, sitting him down. “N-Now, let’s talk about what’s really bothering you. Why would you make such an offer when you were obviously crying a few minutes ago?”

Taemin rolled his eyes at the nagging. Maybe this adult really was pure. Naw, that couldn’t be it. He rolled his neck, taking his time to answer the question. “…You really wanna know?”

“Yes.” The teacher’s face was starting to go back to normal.

“Fine,” he shrugged, figuring there was no way to get away from someone so obviously ditzy and persistent, “I just found out my ex-boyfriend tried to kill himself because he thought it would make me happy. Now I can’t even face him. Not to mention the person who stopped him from offing himself is currently beside him. I bet they’re already making plans for a ing wedding. You happy now, mister? Does my angsty teenage make you feel like you’re so much wiser and better?” Taemin wanted to say more but then he was jerking back, heart beating wildly.

The man was bawling and sobbing, trying to wipe the tears away and only managing to knock his glasses to the ground where they went on to crack.

“A-Are you okay…?” Taemin questioned gingerly, standing up and pushing the teacher down on the bench beside him.

“I-I t-thought your c-cat had d-died or s-something,” he wailed, covering his face miserably, “I didn’t know it w-was s-something so s-serious!”

Taemin stiffly placed a hand on his shoulder, patting it awkwardly. “There, there…?” He worriedly looked around, afraid that other people might misunderstand what was going on – then again, what the hell was going on? “It’s okay, mister…,” he said lamely.

“No it isn’t!” he cried, shaking. “That boy could be the l-love of your l-life and n-now you’ll never know…how is that fair?!”

“Yeah…I guess it isn’t,” Taemin murmured, feeling the words sinking in for some reason. The guy was right. What if Mir was the only one who would ever love him? What if…What if he had thrown away everything at a moment of weakness?

“But now it’s too l-late…it’s over…,” he croaked.

Taemin gulped, body starting to grow cold. It…it’s over…it’s over?

“Onew? What are you doing with Taemin?” They both looked up to see Jonghyun jogging towards them, headphones around his neck and sweats covering his body. The university student stopped before them, one eyebrow lifting curiously. “And why are you crying again?”

“B-Because this boy has b-been hurt so m-much,” he sniffled, abruptly throwing his arms around Taemin’s slim frame.

The latter staggered, turning helpless eyes to Jonghyun and mouthing “Who is this?”

“Ah, Onew is a student teacher,” he explained, “he’s really passionate about teaching – if you haven’t already realized.” The blonde glowered at the teasing. Jonghyun laughed nervously before grabbing the man named Onew and pulling him off the suffocating pretty boy. “Hey, Onew, let’s get you cleaned up. Taemin is fine so you don’t have to cry for him.”

“B-But,” he blubbered, lips trembling.

“No, no,” Jonghyun assured, “it’s okay. He’s a strong boy. He’ll figure things out.” He glanced back at Taemin who was looking at him. “I’ll see you later then? There’s a massive rave tonight if you wanna go. Just don’t tell Key or Minho.”

“Rave?” Onew repeated, starting to calm down.

“Yeah, you wanna come, teach?” he grinned.

“Oh you crazy kids,” the student-teacher laughed softly, still trying to stop the sniffling, “I’m too old for that stuff.”

“Come off it,” Jonghyun rolled his eyes, slapping Onew on the back and sending the young man flying. He winced, hurrying to help Onew back up. “Sorry, I forgot you’re uncoordinated…and even less coordinated without your glasses or contacts.”

“It was an accident,” Onew sighed, peering back to smile shakily at Taemin, “I’m sorry for the trouble but hey, you stopped crying. That’s something right?”

Taemin managed a small “ah” but could think of nothing else to say. What sort of person…