Taemin had been dropped to the school dance by his mom and he noticed how the hallways were lit with soft lights. It wasn’t that bright– only bright enough to be able to find the way to the gym. When he was at the entrance to the gym, he noticed there were black, shimmering curtains covering the door. He walked through and was greeted by a student, dressed formally and a mask over his eyes. He let Taemin choose a mask from a tray and only when he had his mask on was he allowed to walk through another set of black curtains, into the gym.

He hadn’t had a chance to look at how the gym was being decorated the other day and he was impressed at how the Events Club had improvised for the lack of standard decorations. They had used glitter cleverly and all the plain decorations they had folded were looking so pretty, especially in the dim lights.

A disco ball was spinning, throwing soft, colorful lights around the whole gym and Taemin saw people standing in the middle, all of them dressed in black, white, or both. It seemed like they were waiting. Taemin glanced at his watch, barely able to make out the time. It was 7PM sharp.

Exactly on time, an announcement came out over the speakers.

“Let’s play a game of How Well You Know Your Date! The lights are going to go out, leaving only a few for safety, so that we don’t trip and cause accidents. C’mon folks, you guys are wearing good clothes, let’s be careful and not ruin them!” There was laughing and even the crowd laughed along, “So everyone please gather on the dance floor right away! You’ll have ten minutes to find your date and at the end of ten minutes, the lights will be restored and the ones who found their dates correctly will get goodies and will also initiate the dancing! Rules are simple, no gestures, no shouting, no calling out names, or even speaking until you find your date. And you get only one chance. No changing partners. Once you hold hands, that’s it. Play fair and good luck! PS A tip, don’t just stand there if you’re lost or have run out of time, just grab someone’s hand who’s alone too, and who knows they could be your date?!" There was a pause, “Everyone ready? Time starts now!”

Taemin sighed, smiling slightly as he understood the reason for the dim lighting, why everyone was asked to come alone, why the masks were handed with such discretion, and why there was a BnW color code. It was to obscure and mislead the major details of someone’s appearance.

Taemin waded through the people, looking around for Minho, but he couldn’t find anyone matching him. There were quite a lot of people and almost everyone was on the move to find their dates, making it harder for Taemin to focus. He stopped and glanced at his watch, realizing more than five minutes had passed and he bit his lip in anxiousness, deciding to look around from a stationary point. He turned after scanning his left, only to find someone standing there, hands folded at the back, a little smile playing on the person’s lips and Taemin blinked in familiarity. 

The person extended his hand and Taemin averted his gaze, looking at the extended hand for a moment before taking it, the remnant doubt of his identity was gone the moment their fingers entwined.

“How did you know it was me?” Taemin asked softly.

“I just knew,” Minho whispered, “About 99%.”

“99%?”

Minho raised his hand, caressing Taemin’s ear, his fingers grazing the star stud earring that he’d given Taemin along with the scrapbook that day, “When you turned around, you confirmed it.”

Taemin blushed, his ear tingling at his touch, “What if I hadn’t worn these?”

“I’d still have offered my hand because,” Minho’s voice was slightly flustered, “Um…” He was stalling, regretting having said because.

Taemin found it unbearably cute and he wanted to , “Because?”

“Your…” Minho sighed, his voice meek as he continued, “Your lips. They… they are such a pretty shape, I could recognize them anywhere.”

Taemin felt like he had dug his own grave by asking that question. He felt his whole face burn at Minho’s words, his heart beating rapidly as he felt Minho’s gaze on him.

“Time’s up!”

The lights came back on one by one, and Taemin was able to look at Minho better, he had gotten a trim, his short hair was neatly gelled into a parting, his suit was crisp, and with that gentle smile, he looked unbelievably handsome, though he still had a fancy black mask over his eyes.

“Time to remove your masks!”

Both of them removed their masks and exchanged bashful smiles, waiting for the next announcement when someone came crashing into Taemin. Taemin had impulse, before falling back into Minho, who caught him.

“!! I’m so sorry!” The guy who had crashed into Taemin said and Taemin straightened up, looking at his white shirt drenched with a pink liquid and then at Minho’s dripping hands and finally to the guy’s half-empty glass.

The guy’s face paled on seeing the huge stain on Taemin’s shirt and he took out tissues, offering them right away and muttering sorry over and over again as Taemin wiped his shirt with them. Only when Taemin had said it’s okay three times was when the guy left.