Suzy Bae hated first days of school, and she hated them even more when she had no friends with her and had to go for classes by herself. It wasn’t that Suzy was anti-social or a socially awkward girl with no friends at all. In fact, she was far from that because Suzy had enough friends to last her a lifetime. She wasn’t being narcissistic because what she meant by enough friends was that having Jiyoung and Jieun as her closest friends (apart from her lovely unnies, Fei, Jia and Min she met through club activities) was all she needed. Unfortunately, these were the exact friends who didn’t have the same timetable as her with the start of a new semester in school and the trio had done their fair share of complaining. Even with that, Suzy still couldn’t help but feel grouchy as she spotted a good seat in the lecture hall (not too front, not too back, good for her to have a clear view of the lecture but not get noticed by the lecturer) that was quickly filling up with students and settled down with all her stuff. Surrounded by the noisy buzz of voices because apparently everyone other than her knew someone else in the lecture hall, Suzy just wished the lecture would start so she could get this class over and done with, and save herself the process of making new friends all over again. And as the clock turned past 9am, Suzy got her wish. Yet, it didn’t completely come true because when the lecture had ended and she was all ready to escape the lecture hall, a voice stopped her.

“You’re Suzy, aren’t you?”

Suzy instantly turned around and her eyes met the owner of said voice, a guy who she knew she had seen somewhere before but couldn’t put a finger on it just yet.

“You are…?” Suzy frowned as she looked at the guy from head to toe, still trying to figure out why he was so familiar.

“Kim Jongin.” Jongin rose up a hand and did an awkward wave, “I’m Tae-“

“You’re Taemin oppa’s other best friend!” Upon hearing his introduction, Suzy snapped her fingers together and smiled brightly at the guy who she had heard so much about but was only meeting now. “You’ve probably heard too much about me from Taemin oppa too considering I’m his other best friend… well, I guess it’s about time we met in person.”

Letting out a laugh, Jongin nodded. “Nice to finally meet you. I guess we’ll be seeing each other at 9am on Mondays for the rest of the semester…”

“Such a small world.” Suzy agreed as Jongin signalled for them to take their leave since the next class was coming in. “Wait till Taemin oppa hears about this…”

And as they both stepped out of the lecture hall, Suzy and Jongin whipped out their phones to text their best friend who happened to be the same person because Lee Taemin was special like that, blessed with the fortune of having two best friends in his life.

*

“Lee Taemin, you’ve failed as a best friend.”

“What?” Taemin replied Jongin distractedly as he stretched his body to prepare himself for dance practice. “Why?”

Jongin should have been doing the same thing but he had more important matters to settle. “Why didn’t you introduce me to Suzy earlier?”

“Was there a need to?” Taemin simply raised an eyebrow and answered honestly. “You and Suzy belong to different social circles even if the both of you attend the same college; I never thought you two would ever meet.”

“I guess it’s fate then.” Jongin said as he looked dreamily into the distance, his eyes losing focus.

“What is?” Never seeing this side of Kim Jongin in their entire 5 years of friendship, Taemin finally stopped his warm-ups and looked seriously, a little worriedly as well, at his best friend.

“I’m in love.”

Taemin’s jaw dropped.

And dance practice was memorable not because of Jongin’s sudden confession, but because Taemin was chased out of the studio considering he had set a new record for the most amount of mistakes a person could make in one dance routine.

*

“Oppa, you don’t know how grateful I am that I have Jongin with me this semester.”

All of a sudden, Taemin felt like he had made the wrong decision to start the conversation at their weekly catch up session by asking Suzy how school was. It turned out that not only did Suzy and Jongin share the same lecture on Mondays, but they also had a few other classes together, enough for them to practically become best friends themselves. How Taemin wished he was a year younger so he at least had the chance to attend school with his two best friends and not feel all left out like right now…

“Jongin’s great, isn’t he?” As much as he was feeling bitter about how his two best friends were getting too close for comfort, Taemin meant every word he said while he smiled at Suzy.

“He is!” Suzy nodded enthusiastically. “He’s just so like you, you know…”

“That’s good.” Taemin replied absentmindedly as he stuffed himself with pizza and listened to Suzy rattle on about how wonderful it was to have Jongin’s company at school.

If only Taemin had listened harder.

*

“Remind me again why you’re single.” Jongin managed to sputter out once he had calmed himself after laughing so hard at a random guy who had tripped on air when Suzy accidentally made eye contact with him.

Suzy who had been covering her face because she couldn’t bear to laugh so openly like Jongin did, moved her hands away and admitted with a sigh, “I’m just waiting…”

Jongin’s whole body had instantly tensed as Suzy’s words registered in his mind and in the next moment, he found himself asking, “Is there a particular someone?”

Suzy shot Jongin a meaningful look and did nothing more, her expression unreadable, as she turned her attention back on to the assigned readings that she needed to complete before their next class.

At that moment, Jongin swore he forgot how to breathe. He also forgot all about the readings he had to catch up with as well.

*

“You should have seen the look she gave me, Taeminnie.” Jongin said over the phone as the image of Suzy’s face haunted his mind, “It was just- I don’t even know how to explain it! She said she was waiting for someone and I think-“

“Yeah?” Taemin managed to squeeze in a word.

“I’m going to take a chance.” Jongin announced his decision but he still wanted to hear what his best friend had to say, “What do you think?”

“Why ask when you already know the answer?”

“You know her best… you practically grew up with her!” Jongin breathed out, voice then changing to sound so vulnerable that Taemin could actually feel how nervous his best friend was.  “Do you think she feels the same way about me?”

Taemin honestly didn’t know the answer to that question but he knew, as a best friend, he needed to say something to reassure Jongin. And so, Taemin tried to string words together to at least say something encouraging. His efforts weren’t needed though because Jongin had let out a groan and filled in the silence.

“Urgh, to hell with it, I’ll just find the right time to confess to her and we’ll see what happens!” In a flash, Jongin had found his courage and was determined as can be. “But first, I need to think of what to say. Talk to you later, Taem!”

Jongin had always been the more reckless of the two. This was no exception.

Still holding the phone to his ear, Taemin muttered to the sound of static, “That’s one question I’ve always been asking myself too.”

*

Taemin had sort of prepared himself for today – the day when Jongin finally joined Suzy and him at their weekly catch up sessions. Suzy had talked about this before, she had mentioned how it was ironic that they were all so close but they never did think about meeting up together with all three present. Taemin would like to think that it was because nothing had changed and the status quo remained – they all still belonged to different social circles but just so happened to know one another. So when Taemin found out Jongin was coming for their catch up session, he knew he had to accept the fact that things were going to change and he was prepared for what he believed was about to come…

“This is just lovely.” Suzy sighed in bliss as her eyes travelled from Taemin to Jongin and then back before a grin broke out on her face. “Oppa, you must be happy that your two best friends are getting along so well with each other!”

Looking up from the menu, Taemin couldn’t help but return a smile because Suzy’s smile was just infectious. “I see you’re enjoying this.”

“How could I not?” Suzy beamed.

“Yeah, she has the company of two attractive guys with her.” Jongin quickly in, a teasing smile on his face. “I don’t think she could ask for more.”

Suzy narrowed her eyes at Jongin and leaned closer just to nudge him in the side with her sharp elbow. Taemin pretended that he didn’t see their playful interaction and kept his smile from falling. Like he said, he had prepared himself for this.

“That hurts!” Jongin huffed.

 Suzy shrugged, holding back a giggle. “You asked for it.”

“Like how I asked for it yesterday?”

A blush crept onto Suzy’s cheeks as she looked down and away from the eyes of the two guys.

Puzzled, Taemin frowned and shot a questioning look at Jongin.

“I’m trying to guilt trip her since you know, Suzy Bae broke my heart yesterday.” Jongin shrugged nonchalantly while Suzy buried her head in her hands, unable to understand how Jongin could talk so openly about his failed confession, his alleged heartbreak.

“You seem fine…” Taemin was always direct with his best friend.

“I am!” Nodding, Jongin replied with a smile and explained, “Only because I know she’ll end up in safe hands. What can I say? I lost to someone who deserves to win her so much more than I do.”

Upon hearing what Jongin said, Suzy instantly looked up and glared at said boy. “You promised not to say anything!”

“I only promised not to tell Taemin you’ve been hopelessly in love with him since forever.”

Taemin had dropped the menu as well as his jaw. Suzy had shrieked and literally dropped her head into her hands, shaking her head and constantly repeating that her life was over. And Jongin, well, he had the most innocent look on his face but even the blind could tell that what he just did was nowhere near an honest mistake.

See? Taemin’s intuition was right. Things were indeed going to change. He just didn’t prepare himself for this change.

And if time could stop at that moment in time, it truly did.

*

“Suzy, are you never going to look at me ever again?”

Taemin decided to man up and take the initiative to break the stifling silence that surrounded them. It was just the two of them finally by themselves walking down the street with Taemin sending Suzy home after Jongin voluntarily left knowing his two friends had so much to settle between themselves.

“That actually sounds like a good idea.” Paying close attention to every step that she took, Suzy spoke into her scarf that covered half of her face.

As they continued walking with a safe distance between them, Taemin let out a sigh and couldn’t stop himself from muttering under his breath, “I guess I can just forget about ever having the chance to kiss you then.”

But Suzy heard him loud and clear. She gasped and finally turned to stare at Taemin with the widest eyes possible.

Knowing Suzy’s attention was finally on him, Taemin kept his eyes to the front and said, “And I don't think I can ever kiss you if you look at me like this either...”

“Oppa... you actually thought... of kissing me before.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement and even though she was still terribly shy, Suzy was in awe at what she had just found out.

“You can't blame me!” Taemin sneaked a glance at Suzy and let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding, “I do, after all... like you.”

“I... like you too.” Suzy’s eyes crinkled into a smile and added as an afterthought, “Just in case Kim Jongin didn't make it obvious enough.”

“I think he made it crystal clear.”

Taemin grinned and reached out to hold Suzy's hand in his, pulling her so close that their arms were now gently brushing against each other as he walked her back home… this time, not just as best friends, but also as a couple. And nothing else mattered anymore.

Author's Note: so Taemin was the last T i had in mind for this story... obvious wasn't it? hahah. after reading it, i know it's really cliche but i still hope you enjoyed the fluff! have a lovely weekend dear readers! ^^