(just friends? don't make me laugh)

Taemin and Krystal are friends- the best of friends.

To Krystal, they are just best friends.

To Taemin, they are that, but he knows that they could be so much more.

He has been in love with his best friend for the past three years, seventeen days, and 41 seconds- okay, he doesn’t actually count the seconds, but he has been in love with her for roughly three years.

And unfortunately for him, not only is he in the “in love with my best friend” group, he also happens to fall in the “I am in love with my best friend and I will be supportive even if it kills me” category.

It doesn’t help much (or at all) that she is completely, amazingly, and almost stupidly oblivious to his feelings (since they’re supposed to know each other inside out).

The previous statement didn’t sound good at all, right? Well, it gets worse.

Krystal has a date tomorrow (with someone that is obviously and sadly not him).

But wait a minute, it gets even worse!

He helped Krystal score that date.

“You’re late.” is the first thing Krystal says when she sees her best friend’s face.

He gives her the best apologetic face he can pull out of nowhere and whines, “My mom made me do the dishes before I came here!” He pulls up a seat across from her in the café that they go to at least once a week.

“You made me wait for half an hour!” complained Krystal. To be honest, Krystal hated waiting for longer than five minutes for anything. The fact that she waited for half an hour showed her dedication to her best friend.

Taemin continued to whine and beg for forgiveness; he was only forgiven once he bought the girl cake. She had an almost strange weakness for cake, and he makes very good use of that weakness.

They are sitting in a café doing nothing- it is what they do best with each other. There is mild and free chatter accompanied by tea, cake, and muffins. It is one of their traditions to just go and sit anywhere together at least once a week, just to talk.

(When this first started, they said once a week to get their friendship going, but as of now, they hang out most days of the week.)

Krystal is sipping on her tea when the café door opens, she looks up at the newcomer, and almost spits out her drink onto the table (and Taemin).

Luckily for Krystal, she manages to avoid that and only dribbles onto her chin a little bit.

Taemin laughs at her and teasingly goes, “Ew!” but is already holding a napkin, ready to wipe her chin. “A soon-to-be 18 year old girl can’t even drink tea without spilling~” he teases, patting her chin dry. He loves doing these little things for her.

“Taem!” she whispers, moving the napkin and his hand away. He is slightly saddened at the loss of contact, but manages to recover.

“What?” he asks, looking at her curiously. He is clearly humoring her.

“He’s gorgeous!” she whispers, pointing as discreetly as she could. Taemin turns around (as obviously as he could, because why did he have to be discreet for?). Krystal kicks him lightly for not even bothering to be subtle.

But Taemin sees the guy that Krystal pointed at instantly. “Ah, so he’s what made you almost spit everywhere. He walked in and you lost the ability to swallow?” asks Taemin, whispering back to her. He is smiling (at least, he hopes he’s smiling. He’s trying hard to be okay with the fact that Krystal is checking out another guy in front of him. He reassures himself that it’s okay because Krystal just doesn’t know).

Krystal sighs dreamily and Taemin feels kind of like throwing up. He can’t look at her while she is looking at someone like that, so he turns away.

Taemin takes another look at the guy Krystal is fawning over (with disguised displeasure) and immediately says, “He’s kind of short, isn’t he?”

“No, he’s perfect!” Krystal immediately defends her new mystery man while Taemin rolls his eyes.

Taemin looks a little harder at the so-called “perfect” man and snorts. “I think you’re taller than him, Krystal.” It is with childish satisfaction that he quickly figures he’s much taller than the “perfect” man.

“I am not!” Krystal insists, whacking Taemin lightly for teasing her. “He’s at least three or four inches taller!”

Taemin pulls a ridiculous face and says, “I’m sure he is then, Krystal.” The face makes Krystal laugh with her eyes turning into perfect crescents (and Taemin adores her eye-smile).

“You’re horrible, Taem!” She laughs a little and he loves the sound so much.

“I’m not horrible, I keep it real.” Taemin says, pout clearly on his face. “Except for the fact that I can’t tell my best friend who I am in love with that I am actually in love with her…but besides that, I keep it real!” he thinks.

Taemin ignores the very familiar pang in his heart as he encourages her to go ask out the (admittedly) gorgeous male who looks busy checking the menu. “Just go ask him out if you think he is so gorgeous and perfect!” Those words leave a bad taste in his mouth.

He doesn’t know why he does it, why he encourages her to date people not him. He figures it is because he wants to be a good friend, to support her in whatever she wants to do. He can’t exactly say that he’s completely selfless- on more than one occasion, he has shown has bratty and selfish side, after all. But for her, he will always try to be as selfless as can be.

“I can’t just do that!” she protests. But he can tell that she is thinking about it. He knows her, knows that all she needs is a little push.

With a sigh and a playful (but not really) scowl, he stands up from his seat, walks over to her, makes her stand, and then pushes her softly in the direction of the newest guy that will unintentionally and indirectly cause him heartache.

He sees Krystal walk up to him shyly (to which he rolls his eyes at) and finds that he has to advert his eyes as the guy smiles easily at her.

Taemin knows how this will go; before she walks back to him, he is already preparing his heart. She will get that date. She is Krystal Jung Soojung and in his (probably biased, but he doesn’t particularly care) opinion, she is the most amazing and beautiful person to ever live.

And she will get that date.

Ten (excruciatingly long) minutes later, Krystal comes back to his side with a grin so wide, he wonders if hurts. He almost has to bite on his tongue to keep from asking her if hurts.

“I have a date with Kim Jonghyun tomorrow!”

He knew it.

Later that day, seven hours after Krystal has asked Jonghyun for a date, Taemin shifts around in his bed. He thinks of Krystal for the better portion of half an hour before he falls asleep.  He thinks of the girl he is in love with, who is also his best friend. He thinks about his feelings, why he is putting himself through this pain, why he fell for his best friend in the first place. It is when he is recalling their first meeting that Taemin falls asleep.

Unbeknownst to him, Krystal does the same thing. Not about her feelings for him or anything like that. She just simply thinks of her best friend. She thinks about their adventures and the adventures that they should have, will have, one day. On this certain night, she also thinks about how they became friends, and recalls how they met. It is when she is thinking about the exact moment they became friends that Krystal falls asleep.

The next morning, Krystal wakes up and she immediately sits up groggily; she takes a moment to rub at her eyes and yawn before she smiles and reaches for her phone. She waits patiently for the phone to ring five times. “Taemin!” The first thing she really does this morning, right after waking up, is call her best friend.

She is greeted with a groggy sounding, “What?”

“Come to my house at three p.m. today! You need to be my moral support when I get ready for my date!” She grins into the phone, knowing full well that she just woke him up. She likes that he’ll pick up no matter what time she calls, whether he was sleeping or not.

Taemin groans and Krystal misunderstands it; she thinks he is grumbling and groaning because he will essentially be there to do nothing as she pretties herself up. He is actually groaning and grumbling because he hates that Krystal pretties herself up for someone else not him. She hangs up with a smile with Taemin goes back to bed. He can’t think about her dating someone else so early in the morning; he needs to sleep off those horrid thoughts for a couple hours. He’s not ready to face reality just yet. He falls asleep thinking of Krystal again.

He does, to his credit (and undying love for the girl), show at three p.m. at her house after sleeping for another three hours. He walks into her house like it is nothing; he has the house key, after all.

(Krystal decided he should have it just in case she was dying and couldn’t get to the door herself. He snorted at her once he heard the explanation, but took the key with a smile. He loves that he is important enough to her to have her house key.)

Taemin sighs as he hears Krystal rummage through her closet. He is sitting in her room while Krystal has locked herself into her walk-in closet. “Seriously, babe? That’s got to be the bajillionth outfit you’ve tried on by now.” Babe. He calls her that, from time to time. It has become a little teasing nickname between the two of them. He doesn’t quite remember how it started; he doesn’t care enough to remember how. He likes the word though.

“I’m trying to match up to perfection, leave me alone!” Krystal says this as she contemplates another outfit.

“You’re already perfect though.” he mumbles, irritated but supportive of the whole thing.

“Did you say something, babe?” Krystal asks, stopping her raid of her closet for a moment.

“No, nothing!” he chimes, busying himself with staring at her ceiling.

“Well, bajillionth isn’t even a word!” Krystal says, laughing a little. The sound is muffled due to her being in the closet and him in her room, but he enjoys the sound nonetheless.

“Well, it should be, with how long you’re taking!” he teases her.

He only has to wait seven more minutes for Krystal to finally be done- he honestly thinks she took much too long to emerge from her closet.

When she comes out, Taemin has to remind himself to breathe. His best friend always looks good in anything she wears, but when she dresses up-he really does have to remind himself to breathe. (Not to say that she isn’t gorgeous with a make-up free face while wearing sweats and a baggy t-shirt. He would punch anyone in the face if they called Krystal anything along the lines of unattractive.)

Krystal walks around the room, putting on accessories and haphazardly throwing things into her purse. Taemin watches her mill around in a daze.

When she walks out of her room, Taemin finally finds the will to do more than just watch; he follows her to the living room. He plops himself onto the nearest couch.

Krystal grabs her house keys and the turns to look at him with an eyebrow raised. “You’re staying here?”

“You’re going to call me over to squeal and shriek and do whatever girlish thing you do when you’re done with your date anyway. I might as well just stay here, to save gas money.” Taemin says, sounding exaggeratedly pained. It does pain him though, to hear about her date with some other guy. He takes it all in stride though, like the best friend that he is. That, and he is a little used to it by now. It has been three years of this, after all.

Krystal rolls her eyes and playfully takes a swat at Taemin. “Thanks for the consideration.” Krystal’s eyes are bright and clear and the way she is staring and smiling at him right now makes him think that he might have a chance with her- he breaks the exchanged stare. He can’t look at her while she is looking at him like that. He doesn’t like false hope.

Taemin playfully waves her off and turns away from her, waving a flippant hand and making himself comfortable on the couch that he is sitting on. “Any time, babe!” He loves calling her that.

“Bye babe!” she teases, walking out the door with a little spring in her step. Krystal practically skips out of her house.

He sits on the couch, alone and a little sad. “Well, time to drown my sorrows in ice cream and Running Man.” he mutters, getting up to head for the freezer where he knows Krystal’s secret stash of ice cream will be. It’s not much of a secret stash when Taemin knows that it is there, but she is determined to continue calling it a secret stash.

By the time Taemin goes back to the couch and risks a look out the window, Krystal is long gone.

--

Krystal and her date decided to meet at some restaurant twenty minutes away. She didn’t mind the distance- she had a date with the most gorgeous person ever. (The back of her mind tells her that Taemin is pretty gorgeous too- but she disregards that part of her mind.) The car ride there was silent; she pouted a little as she thought about it. Usually Taemin was in the car with her, and they could talk about nothing for hours. He made car rides bearable; he was usually the designated driver too, since Krystal tired of driving very easily. Krystal shook her head madly as she parked her car- why was she thinking of her best friend when she was about to go on a date with perfection? She hit her forehead once, twice, checked her appearance about three times, and then left her car to enter the restaurant.

She spots her date immediately; he is easily the most distinguishable and attractive person in the room. “Hi.” she greets him, walking up to him and sitting down shyly; the easygoing smile that she is given in return of her greeting makes her smile. She feels like it is going to be a wonderful date.

And half an hour later, as they are seated in a fancy restaurant, she is not wrong.

Kim Jonghyun turns about to be a fabulous date; he is wonderful. He is as funny and charming as he is good-looking.

But as Krystal finds herself laughing at another one of his jokes, her heart tells her that something is missing right now.

She always wonders why she feels like that on dates. The only time she doesn’t feel that strange little sense of loneliness is when Taemin is around. Krystal thinks that is silly- she can’t possibly drag her best friend around on each and every date she goes on just because she feels a little lonely without him! The whole thing sounds a little weird to her.

Krystal tries to shrug off the feeling and her strange thoughts by continuing the conversation with the super attractive boy in front of her. “You like to sing? My best friend does too!”

“Yeah, I like to play the guitar too.” Jonghyun says, smiling still.

“Really? Taemin can’t play the guitar, but he knows how to play the piano~” Krystal says this before she can really think about what she’s saying.

His smile turns a little awkward as he says this line. “I don’t think your heart is in this.”

“Why?” pouts a little. She sincerely thought that this date was going well!

“That best friend that you have. You talk about him a lot. Actually. He is kind of all you talk about.” Jonghyun sounds a little sheepish and sort of teasing; Krystal vaguely thinks that he and Taemin would get along well and then mentally face palms. Krystal wonders what is wrong with her mind at the moment. “I can take a hint, you know.”

“I didn’t realize.” She smiles apologetically, but she doesn’t think that she has talked about Taemin that much. “But I couldn’t have talked about him that much~”

Jonghyun gives her a pointed look and says, “In the half hour, I learned that your best friend Lee Taemin’s birthday is on July 18^th, he wants to visit the north pole some day, he is a super huge fan of Michael Jackson, he loves meat, he has a crush on Emma Watson, and that you’ve known him for about three years.” Krystal blushes hotly as Jonghyun continues to look at her pointedly. Okay, so maybe she did talk about him too much. But was it her fault her best friend was such an easy topic?

She finds herself apologizing again. “I really didn’t know that-”

He cuts her off and waves away her unspoken apology with a flippant hand and another easy-going smile. “It’s okay. Tell me the truth though- are you in love with him and am I just a distracting date?”

Krystal isn’t surprised at the question- so, so, so many people have asked if she was dating Taemin or if she was in love with him, but she has always brushed the questions off with a laugh. Krystal doesn’t think she can just laugh off the question this time around. She can’t screw this up, after all.

“What are you talking about? He’s just my best friend! I promise!” She sounds earnest and her eyes are shining.

Jonghyun wags a playful finger at her. “I know a person in love when I see one!” He smiles easily at her again. “I’m not mad, don’t worry. I’m flattered that someone as beautiful as you asked me out on a date, even if I am just a distraction.”

“You’re not a distraction!” she protests, pouting. She adds quietly, “What would you know anyway?” Krystal huffs. She suddenly does not like where this is going.

“Believe it or not, I’ve been in love before.” Jonghyun teases her with an infuriating grin on his face. She is slowly finding him less and less attractive. (Right now, she completely prefers Taemin’s teasing grin.)

Krystal only scowls at him, and he takes it as the signal to enlighten her.

“Let me tell you how you know when you’re in love~ First of all, you can’t stop thinking about that person. They’re always on your mind, no matter what you do. And it will show in your actions and words.” Krystal is suddenly reminded of her car ride here and recalls every single word that she has said to Jonghyun in the past hour that relates to Taemin. She almost groans. All Jonghyun does is smile at her knowingly.

Jonghyun continues with a nice smile. “You are comfortable with that person, and they can always make you smile.” Her mind immediately goes back to her car ride again, and how she thought about how comfortable car rides were because of him.

“When you’re not with that person, you don’t feel right. You don’t feel complete.” He says this almost wistfully, but he is still smiling. Krystal doesn’t want to think about how she always feels like something is missing when Taemin is not around her.

“You are unconditionally selfless to that person; you want to give them everything. That goes both ways, of course.” And then there was the secret stash of ice cream in her freezer. It was called a secret stash for a reason; no one else knew about it but her and Taemin. That made her frown; she didn’t know exactly why she was alright with sharing her secret stash, but ice cream couldn’t possibly fulfill this requirement on love. She thought it wouldn’t, anyway. The fact that she gave him her house key doesn’t count either, right? “And you trust that person wholeheartedly.” Krystal thinks about how she gave him that house key because she trusts him to save her if she is ever in a situation where she cannot save herself. She frowns at the revelation. This, she thinks begrudgingly, might fulfill that requirement on love.

“You know that person inside out.” Jonghyun tilted his head as he said this, almost like he was thinking of a distant memory.

“We’re best friends. Of course we know each other inside out.” Krystal says this with her tone flat, not willing to believe her date-turned-love-counselor. She doesn’t realize that she has directly related Taemin to this subject on being in love by saying that they are best friends.

“Haven’t you ever heard the saying that best friends make the best lovers?” Jonghyun asked, grin teasing and tone drawled.

Krystal’s mouth opens in shock and before she can say a word, Jonghyun continues.

 “You’re willing to wait however long it takes.” Krystal is unhappily reminded of yesterday, where she waited for Taemin for half an hour. She hates waiting, but she’ll do it for him. She says nothing.

“When you’re in love, that person can give you those silly little feelings that make you feel sick- but in the good way.”

“All those signs can show a very good friendship though!” argues Krystal, a little in denial about the whole thing. “Except for the last one, but that one is weird! Since when is there a good type of sick?”

Jonghyun rolls his eyes at her and says, “Fine, fine. Here is the deal-breaker. That person- before you fall asleep, they are the last thing you think about. Your heart is with that person.”

It’s like a metaphorical ice bucket has just been spilled over Krystal’s head.

He is what she thinks of right before she falls asleep- hell, he’s the first thing she thinks of once she wakes up! She even called him the moment after she woke up this morning!

Jonghyun laughs a little at her frigid reaction and just calls, “Check, please!”

--

She thinks about what her date has told her during the silent ride home. The car ride is not at all what it would be if Taemin was in the car with her. She feels like banging her head on the car window after thinking that.

Krystal suddenly doesn’t like what she’s thinking. It’s true, he’s probably the first person she thinks of when she wakes up and the last person before she falls asleep, but she always thought that was because they were best friends. She thought it came with the best friend code! And, yeah, she was selfless and willing to wait for him, and so what if they knew each other inside out? So what if he occupied most of her thoughts?!

It took all of Krystal’s willpower to not smash her head against the window.

But she only refrains because she knows Taemin would be angry if she hurt herself so stupidly.

“AH! MAKE HIM GO AWAY!” she complains, holding her head as she flailed around in her seat.

Jonghyun just smiles as he pulls up at her house.

--

Krystal enters her house as quietly as possible. She looks out the window and sees Jonghyun driving away.

She tiptoes up to her room and she finds Taemin sitting at her desk, playing on her laptop.

Taemin is waiting up for her and she suddenly feels awkwardly uncomfortable as she stares at him watching some video on YouTube in her house.

(Krystal vaguely wonders what on earth a video called ‘Electric Shock’ is like. She also wonders if she needs to give Taemin a stern talking to when she sees a girl pull out a taser from nowhere.)

“Hi.” she greets him almost hesitantly.

He swivels around in her chair almost immediately and greets her with a, “Hey.”

They stare at each other for a while before Taemin asks her, “How was your date?”

“I got love advice.” Krystal scowls as she thinks of Jonghyun’s infuriating grin and all her thoughts in accordance to his “love advice”.

“And how was that?” Taemin asks, not exactly looking pleased.

Krystal is blunt and has no word or mouth filter when around Taemin. That’s why she is not as shocked as she should have been when she says, “What would you do if I said I was in love with you?”

To Taemin’s own credit, he manages to stay still as his mind, heart, and soul go haywire. He doesn’t respond to her; he can only gape while his mind tries to make sense of what was just said to him.

For the first time in their time together, Krystal feels awkward. In fact, she feels almost sick to her stomach. She is sure that she is blushing a little too. She thinks back to what Jonghyun said about there being a “good sick” and it makes her think that her way of acting is suspicious; that she may actually feel some strange little something for Taemin.

Krystal almost wants to blame Jonghyun for planting these thoughts into her head and these feelings into her heart, but the rational part tells her that she shouldn’t do that. She begrudgingly admits that those thoughts and feelings were probably already there, in her mind and in her heart.

She just never took notice.

She notices the strange (lack of) reaction because Taemin usually laughs off questions about love (much like how she laughs whenever someone asks if they’re dating) and smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to creep you out or anything.”

Taemin calms a little after hearing that, mentally forcing himself to calm down. “What brought that on?” There is a playful smile on his face, but he is completely serious.

“You’re on my mind 91% of the time!” Krystal suddenly points an accusing finger at him. “All I think about, all I talk about is revolved around you!” Taemin gapes at her, completely in shock.

His heart suddenly tells himself that he has hope, and he is almost afraid to blink in case this turns out to be some strange, super realistically looking dream.

“I showed you my secret stash of ice cream and I gave you my stupid house key and I care about you too much!” Krystal continues to complain and point at him accusingly. “I can’t even drive in a car or go on a date without thinking about you!”

Taemin stares blankly as he absorbs all that Krystal is throwing at him right now. “What does this all mean?” he asks this slowly, almost as if he was afraid to ruin it all by speaking too quickly.

“My stupid date made me realize that I have feelings for you.” Krystal pouts at him, and Taemin is completely floored.

He doesn’t know how to respond- he really doesn’t. He stares at her embarrassed face and blushing cheeks for almost a full minute. He notices that she cannot look him in the eye and that she is fidgeting under his the scrutiny of his gaze.

And then a shy, adorable grin shows itself on his face. It makes Krystal feel kind of weird. She feels squeamish, but not in an unpleasant way.

She suddenly hates that Taemin can suddenly evoke this type of emotion from her, but realizes that he has always made her feel things people don’t feel for just friends. She has only realized this now.

“That’s great, Krystal.” Taemin says, tone happy and chipper. He is still smiling. Before she can ask “why?” he manages to make her speechless. “Because I have had feelings for you since forever.”

Krystal’s eyes widen and opens to stare at him wordlessly. She never expected such a direct confession, and from Lee Taemin no less? She didn’t plan any of this conversation, but she didn’t think any of her newly realized feelings would be reciprocated. Her mind has untimely short-circuited. She can’t think straight; Krystal never thought about her best friend being in love with her. (She didn’t realize that it was a two-way thing- with what she was feeling and what he had to be feeling as well.)

Taemin chuckles and moves to stand closer to her, closing by making a gentle finger push it back up. “You know I’m in love with you since I find you gorgeous even with your eyes all bugged out and your mouth wide open.” he teases.

Krystal tries to sputter a response, but she can’t even form a coherent sentence right now. Somehow, even though this feels too fast, it also feels good to her. Like it was supposed to happen. He said he was in love with her though. And she is not ready for that yet.

“I’m not saying that I am completely in love with you right now.” She has to explain herself. Taemin deflates a little at the words, slumping his shoulders almost unnoticeably. But Krystal knows Taemin, and she knows he does that whenever he is disappointed. That causes her to smile at him and continue. “But I wouldn’t mind giving this…” She gestures to herself and then him and then the both of them. “…a try.”

All he does for a moment is stare at her; she stares back uncomfortably. And then his lips form one of those breathtakingly beautiful smiles- the ones that leave people feeling breathless.

That is how Krystal feels right now. Breathless. And she wonders why she didn’t think of dating Taemin earlier. He is doing weird things to her right now. And she enjoys seeing that smile.

“I would like that, Krystal. I really would.” He is still smiling at her like that which is making her feel strange, strange things in her stomach.

She smiles awkwardly and laughs a little, “So much for being just friends. Now I feel like I owe an apology to all the people I laughed at when they asked if we were dating.”

He takes her statement with a little laugh of his own. “But Krystal, what happened that made you…” he pauses for a little bit before smiling bashfully and continuing with, “want to give us a try?” He wants to how this was brought into the open and why Krystal has suddenly realized that she has feelings for him. He wants details. In the back of his mind, Taemin wonders what kind of love advice she has received this evening. Taemin realizes that he owes Jonghyun a fruit basket. Or something. Anything. Everything. (Anything but Krystal because she is, right now, his everything.)

Krystal almost doesn’t want to tell him because she doesn’t want to feel awkward, but decides that he deserves to know. Her cheeks feel like they’re on fire as he stares at her earnestly, waiting for her answer. “Because you’re the last person I think of before I fall asleep and the first person I think of when I wake up.” 

(e n d)

 My second TaeStal one shot! <3 hope you lovelies all liked it! It is fluffy, and I usually don't write fluff, so...I am not so sure what I think about it. Haha. I hope I did the prompt justice, but my thoughts were all over the place when I was writing this >< well- if you got to here, thank you for reading and I hope you liked it at least a little bit!