“Good work, Your Highness,” Jinki smirked when Taemin had flopped down into one of the stall seats after the drama rehearsal. He had been cast as Prince Charles for the play, contrary to the horrid expectations he was holding after what had transpired on the first day. He had almost expected himself to be wearing a mouse costume because there was one hanging in the dressing room’s rack.

Jonghyun chuckled, sitting down beside Taemin, taking the script from him, “You know, when I heard they were doing Cinderella I thought it would be a cringe-fest. But the story has been altered to make so much sense.”

“There are not many members in the club. Makes sense to cut down the roles of the cat, dog, the birds, and mice.” Jinki commented.

“No, no. I meant the whole fact that a witch sends Cinderella to the ball, not a fairy godmother.”

“It’s most probably because they have a witch costume readily available.” Jinki countered Jonghyun’s statement again.

“And what about the part where the witch says that All magic has a price and the price of Cinderella going to the ball was that the Prince will forget her face the next day? That’s why he has no choice but to use the slipper to find her.”

“What doesn’t make sense is why did the glass slippers remain when her gown and jewels vanished at midnight?” Jinki asked back, “And how come no other girl has the same shoe size as Cinderella?”

Jonghyun pursed his lips in annoyance and Jinki smiled victoriously.

“That’s just how magic works!” Jonghyun shot back, getting too annoyed by how Jinki was smiling and Jinki started laughing.

“He could be right, though.” Taemin said, pondering over their argument “It’s not the size that mattered but the fact that those shoes were made only for Cinderella so no other girl could wear them. A magical shoe that only fits one wearer.”

Jonghyun smirked, looking at Jinki’s furrowed brows. 

“Still doesn’t explain why the shoes didn’t vanish at midnight!” Jinki exclaimed.

There was a flash and everyone turned towards it, finding Minho, holding his camera. “Sorry.” He smiled apologetically, walking towards them, “I couldn’t help overhearing you guys and the reason they didn’t vanish is probably very simple.”

Jinki raised his brows, “I’m listening.”

“It’s a plothole.” Minho answered with a shrug, laughing when Jonghyun groaned and Jinki smirked, “But,” He continued, switching off his camera, “But does it even matter why they didn’t vanish? It would have been such a tragedy if something like that hadn’t happened. The hope that something impossible and unexplainable could happen and change all odds, is what makes the story what it is. A hopeful love story.”

“Another romanticist.” Jinki sighed, “Aren’t there any realists around here anymore?”

“You are not a realist, idiot. You are a cynic.” Jonghyun hit Jinki with the rolled-up script. “Minho is a realist.”

“Ouch.” Jinki grumbled, “Whatever.”

“Hey, Minho!” Someone called out, “The teacher’s calling you!”

Minho waved at the person before excusing himself, heading straight to where the teacher was standing.

“He’s got a lot on his hands, becoming vice-captain now.” Jinki sighed, watching Minho before he turned back, eyes settling on Taemin, whose eyes hadn’t shifted from Minho at all.

Jinki ruffled Taemin’s hair, breaking his daze. Taemin was slightly irritated, “,” He patted his hair down, “Why did you do that?!”

Jinki just flopped down beside him, “Your face is a dead giveaway, idiot.” 

Taemin grew flustered and continued to fix his hair while Jonghyun chuckled. “You better start being more careful, Taemin.”

Taemin sighed, looking at Minho talking to the teacher, his heart in simmering chaos, the chaos that had barely settled down, after having overflowed on discovering a piece more of Minho’s mind. 

“It’s one of the hardest things to hide, after all,” Jonghyun continued softly, “Love.”

The simmering chaos unsettled again because Jonghyun had named it finally, the feelings he had never thought of naming and it was overwhelming him because he couldn’t deny it. Anything and everything. And he knew it was only going to get harder to hide it from this point on.

Another week passed and everyone’s performances were smooth and almost perfect. The teacher had cut down their practice time so everyone could instead help build the sets. Some backgrounds could be reused but some needed to be painted again. Their teacher had requested help from the art & craft club to draw the outline of a few scenes and when it was done, the drama club took over, painting it according to the guidelines left behind. Taemin felt like he was coloring in a children’s book, filling in the shapes where every color had a number assigned to it. 

There was a lot to finish as there was a portable 10-step staircase that was going to be used for the iconic scene and everyone was working on painting the palatial background and the cloth that would go on the staircase to match it to the palace background.

There was no practice the next day as everyone was trying to finish the sets on priority. Taemin had made a quick stop at the library before heading to the theater. He took off his sweater the moment he entered the theater and joined Jonghyun and Jinki in painting the background, his senses piquing when he heard a peal of very familiar but peculiar laughter. 

He turned around, finding Minho laughing on the other side of the stage, painting a different background. He had also removed his soccer jacket and had pulled up the sleeves of his white t-shirt as far as they could go. There were little stains and blotches of blue paint on his clothes, even on his arms and face. He was trying to shift the strands of hair that had come undone from his parting and were getting into his eyes and he was shaking his head and blowing upwards to shift them away, only to fail. Taemin chuckled to himself, finding that utterly cute.

He turned back around quickly when he felt Minho look in his direction and got furiously engrossed in painting, his heart beating rapidly as he felt footsteps close in. 

“Hi guys, can I borrow some blue paint?” It was Minho’s voice and Jonghyun was the one who answered.

“Sure!” He grabbed the bottle of blue paint from their set and gave it to him, “But why are you guys not in soccer practice and here?”

“We don’t have soccer practice this week,” Minho answered, shaking the bottle of paint, “Coach sent everyone to help out for the fest. Jongin and I got sent here.”

“Damn, that !” Jonghyun frowned, “The Economics teacher also made Taemin join the drama club. What's with the teachers and the drama club nowadays?”

“The club needs help, that’s all.” Taemin murmured, suddenly flustered at how Jonghyun had dragged him into the conversation.

“That’s right, but maybe if we hadn’t gotten in detention for passing notes that day, Taemin wouldn’t have caught the teacher’s attention.” He smiled guiltily before he cleared his throat, noticing the blue paint in his hand, “Oh, and thanks. I’ll bring this back right away.” 

When he was gone, Jinki waited before he was out of earshot before he softly commented, “If “we” hadn’t gotten in detention?”

He smirked when he saw the embarrassment on Taemin’s face and it was right then a little piece of crumpled paper hit his forehead.

It was Jonghyun, glaring at him, “Oops my bad. Can you throw that in the trash can for me?”