I swear these chapters are getting longer and longer. Thank you for the lovely comments and thank you always for reading~

Each student from each class was lined up side by side, awaiting the results from yesterday’s discussion. Taemin and Jongin stood beside each other, Taemin sweating while Jongin seemed to be mentally constructing up a grocery list; he seem unfazed by the new knowledge he gained of Taemin.

The night before was sleepless, fantasies instead of dreams filled Taemin’s mind to the brink of cold sweats and nerves: for absolutely no reason in the end.  Knowing Jongin was sleeping in the next room, probably shirtless, his body limp and inviting, did not help the nerves either. In a way, this was Taemin’s worst nightmare, yet he refused to add extra weight to his already sunken heart. He gulped and looked at Jongin from the corner of his eye. The sneaky effect of this failed, Jongin immediately turned his head to stare right back. He smiled largely, grabbed Taemin’s hand and began swinging it in a Taemin get excited we’re about to find out who won c’mon let’s get pumped kind of way.

In the next few moments, the judges introduced themselves to the front of the large room holding three trophies representing first, second, and third place. They cleared their throats, and rambled on about the dedication and intelligence of the students, and how each class should have won a trophy but there could only be three. The judge holding the third place trophy cleared his throat and gave a quick speech on why this group was unique, and qualified to win. Taemin held his breath in anticipation, yet his anxiety was mainly based on the knowledge that Jongin knew his ual preference and still treated him as a good friend, with maybe even a little more smiles. Relief of understanding friendship is quite the beauty; yet the tension between them had increased immensely, if there was any tension in the first place.

Completely spacing out on third place, Taemin opened his ears for the next prize. “This next class was definitely deserving of first, and probably would have won if not for the vulgarity and unnecessary comments—“ Taemin’s teacher glared at him. “--yet we’ve decided to award the Debate and Speech Class of Seoul High School second place!” Shrieks of victory from Jonghyun echoed around the room, bouncing off the expansive and gaudy walls. A warmth was pressed into Taemin, shaking him gently yet eagerly, whispering fervent words directly into his ear. “We won, but it was you who won, Taeminie. It was right of you to stand up to that asswipe, even if we did win second: we all know you won us first.”Jongin finished his confession with hopeful eyes, begging Taemin to smile and raise his mood.

I’m so done with this.

Taemin elbowed Jongin the ribs and began walking towards Jonghyun to calm him out of his triumphant state.  “Jongin, I already told you. There isn’t a ‘me’ without a ‘you’. We’re a package deal.” Care and worry leaked out of his troubled mind in a natural reflex to block out strong emotions, essentially rebuilding his mental wall.

~~~

Late afternoon. It was around that time when the evening owls hooted softy in some faraway hill that was never quite close enough to see. The wind was picking up gently, causing the bottoms of shirts to float upwards and hair to reveal fuchsia cheeks. The last few hours of sunshine were blocked by a few threatening clouds, yet they passed over, returned, and then passed over again. The kids of Debate and Speech shoved their bags into the trunks of their assigned car, obviously not packing as diligently as when they had first arrived.

The kids were beginning to squeeze into the limited cars, Jongin going in first because of his seat arrangement. Minseok, the boy who originally was sitting next to him, began to climb in after. Taemin watched as he struggled with his footing. I want to sit next to him… But…no, I cant. Taemin’s mind told him no, yet his heart and feet told him yes, one hundred percent yes. Before anybody knew anything, Taemin threw himself in front of Minseok, blocking his entry and literally ramming into Jongin due to his force. He wasn’t quite sure just what specific thought primarily provoked him, yet he figured it was a mix of jealousy, a now careless mind, and love. I don’t care anymore, I just want Jongin all to myself.

Jongin’s mouth was slightly opened, shocked, yet Taemin was just as shocked as he. Minseok’s “Umm, okay…” was just barely heard and irrelevant, because Jongin was smiling at Taemin with such honesty leading to the banishment of everything surrounding them.

A boy named Chen barged in after him, his overly muscular thighs pushing Taemin a little closer towards Jongin. Jongin’s overly long legs were sitting upwards, tightening his outfit closer to his body. Their required blazers scrunched when they sat, yet this was more than perfectly okay with Taemin. This ride was going to be long, yet Taemin hoped it would last forever.

~~

A few fleeting thoughts of the weather, tear threatening laughter, and meaningful life discussions later, they were stuck in horrible traffic. There had apparently been an accident many miles ahead, and Taemin felt horrible for loving the resulted extra time squished into Jongin. Occasionally, he pulled his pants over a certain area, in case there was a problem that would lead to the complete dissimulation of everything.

The late afternoon transformed to late evening, the sun waving goodbye to the day and returning to its slumber. The beauty of the outside was no competition to the radiating sunset in everything Jongin was, however.

Sunset eventually transpired into stars. The greeting of the night sky was the end to the consciousness of the other kids in the car. Everyone besides Jongin and Taemin had fallen deeply asleep.  Their voices reduced to the hushed voice, trying not to wake the others. “Taemin, do you ever feel frightened of the stars?” Jongin’s gaze was fixed through the window on the gorgeous, open view of the shining stars, sweeping over the entire earth. “Sometimes. But then I remember they’re on my side, and I know they would never hurt me.” “How do you know?” “Because I would never try and hurt them.” “Does that really make sense though?” “Probably not, but what really does make sense, Jongin?” Jongin turned back towards the window. The moon reflected on his delicate face, silhouetting his profile, light bouncing off of his eyes. It took everything not to stare, yet it wasn’t enough; Taemin’s jaw dropped slightly at the perfection right before him. They stayed that way for a few minutes. Taemin was contemplating all the powerful, insightful, or beautiful thoughts Jongin was thinking, as their eyes locked in the reflection of the window. Yet, Jongin turned to Taemin with an utmost serious expression.

“I really gotta pee.”

“Me too.”

To muffle their side aching laughter was quite possibly the most difficult task they’ve faced in their lives.

Eventually they had gotten the driver’s attention through silent waves of hands and whispers of hey driver hello can you hear us are you deaf or something. They laughed throughout the event, until they pulled off at the nearest rest stop. 

They stumbled out of the cramped car, still laughing at god knows what, leaning against each other for support because of their weak knees and stomachs. The bathroom was quite large, yet quite dirty, with flickering lights that sparked and hummed with the perplexed mosquitoes. It was as if they were in one of those movies where the lights were a little too fluorescent not to allow an intense romantic or violent happening to occur. For a few fleeting seconds, they had forgotten why they were there, yet the few urinals reminded them. Speaking of such urinals; there were no closed stalls.

Jongin seemed totally unaware of what that meant, as he proceeded to stand in front of the nearest urinal, with a significant zipping sound.

Wait.

Wait.

Holy .

If Taemin turned his head any further to his side, he would see Jongin’s private. He began sweating, while his blurry vision matched his blurry mind. The opportunity was beautiful, yet he couldn’t look. He tried his absolute best to ignore Jongin and the fact that he was a little , which was considerably not very much at all. He had forgotten to feel embarrassed or self-conscious for pulling out his own himself, especially in front of Jongin; yet the atmosphere was young, and the night was long. They finished, and washed their hands a little too well with the pink foam soap attached to the wall.

Taemin noticed Jongin staring at him from the reflection in the mirror, and he turned his head just as he felt a splash of water across his shirt and cheeks. Jongin stood by the faucet with dripping fingers, laughing at Taemin’s shocked expression. Taemin defended himself with a splash onto Jongin, which resulted in laughter and drops of water sliding down their clothes.

This eventually evolved into a minuscule battle, which they incorporated into their dance. They practiced the dance, splashing each other each time their fingers left their bodies. This was not intended to be serious by Jongin, yet he paused his movement to again watch Taemin dance. He glided almost as perfectly as Jongin, if not better, which was finally a challenge for Jongin to keep up with his own choreography. He found it strangely… attractive. Taemin noticed he was dancing alone, stopped, and laughed embarrassingly out of the room with Jongin close behind, sprinkling the remaining droplets of water on each other.

They buckled up their seatbelts and signaled the driver to leave with laughter and “Hi-ho silver, awayyyy!”

After a few minutes, Jongin replied to a bored text from Sehun by telling him to go call up Luhan. Before he turned off his phone, Taemin caught a glimpse of a yellow app and gasped excitedly. “Is that Temple Run?!” Jongin’s eyes widened slightly and smiled with one corner of his mouth. “Yeah, you wanna play?” “Yes!” Jongin chuckled and passed him the phone.

Jongin hadn’t really liked Temple Run; he never understood what was so exciting about a man running from crazed monkey-things and collecting coins. Yet he watched Taemin as he intently focused on the slides, ducks, and jumps. Jongin found himself absorbed after a few hundred points, and leaned further into Taemin’s gaze, encouraging him on. Sometimes they took turns rounding corners or jumping, reaching a million points… two million points… three million. “Taeminie, why are you so good at everything?” Taemin answered with a monotone voice, still concentrated on the game, sometimes moving the phone in time to the turns. “Genetics.” Jongin laughed with his heart and eyes.

Maybe it was the moon’s seducing glow, their journey together, or maybe because it was just an honest longing. The reason for the teenage lust didn’t matter anyway, lust didn’t require an explanation; few emotions did.

“Taemin, let me try something.”

“What?”

“Close your eyes.”

Obeying with maybe a little extra trust than rewarded, Taemin’s eyes were closed. Perhaps it was that time of night, or maybe this was the first time Taemin wasn’t thinking of what would happen in the next few moments, or the next day.

Callused fingertips brushed against the roundness of Taemin’s cheeks, along with an obvious presence a little more intrusive than when his eyes were open. Jong…

Top lips touched slightly enough to feel the fuzz from their skin, which Jongin inhaled, placing his fingers under Taemin’s chin before pushing his lips further into a molded kiss.

The sound of the man in Temple Run running into a tree told them they had lost.

Lips overlapped each other with considerable entry, yet with enough restraint to be tender.

Jongin pulled away slowly at the most appropriate time, smiling into the last few milliseconds of the kiss. There were no traces except for the permanent remains engraved into Taemin’s pure heart.

“Yep. I definitely like you.”

And slowly, without rush, Taemin’s eyes welled; painting streams of love which smeared down inflamed cheeks. Shivers and pants released an occasional whimper exposing a form of purity anyone would be honored to receive, or share a car seat with. Saved and locked away cherished sentiment poured into Jongin’s chest, as Taemin clutched his blazer for support. His lips were still tingling, feeling much lonelier with Jongin's warmth missing from them.

The sweet happiness leaked through to Jongin’s undershirt, yet Jongin was only stunned, not thinking twice about removing Taemin from his sanctuary.  There was little Jongin could do, yet nothing was required to be done except enjoy the seconds. 

Time had frozen, their movements sang a slow motion pirouette; yet this mostly reflected off of Jongin. Taemin adjusted himself in the nape of Jongin’s neck in accordance with his tear flow. His quivering lips eventually spilled out nickels and dimes of his billion dollar feeling, this trillion dollar moment. “You don’t know… How long… How…much…” The wet mumbles from Jongin’s chest were muffled, yet Jongin heard him crystal clear. He held Taemin close, the closest possible way it could be done in their limiting seats, restrained by seatbelts. Jongin’s soft, “Shhh” was whispered into Taemin’s hair, while he watched the moon jump through the cracks in the trees, following his eyes.

Jongin spoke warmly and faintly to the moonlight. “I had no idea you would react this way…I had no idea what you felt, or what you feel, actually.” Taemin managed to push himself off of Jongin’s chest to look at him. His hair was sticking up in the wrong places, his face burning red, smothered in tears and racing heartbeats, yet he looked nothing short of beautiful to Jongin. “I really… ever since…” Taemin wiped his eyes with the bottom of his palms, trying and trying again to continue without breaking down. He tried his best to ignore the anxiety and nerves, along with the bumps of the car ride. Not to mention the embarrassment that was hidden quite well.

Jongin wrapped his arm around Taemin, his elbow resting on the back of the car, ultimately and reassuringly pulling him closer.  “Talk to me, Taemin. What is it? How long have you felt this way?” Such low and forcedly hushed words from Jongin’s mouth danced with sincerity and seriousness into Taemin’s weak spot. Taemin sniffled in his emotions, questioning if this was a dream, if he was still in his bed about to wake up to another day of heart-break.

And the silence would have been agonizing if it was with anyone else, if the breaths from the sleeping debaters were not soothing. Taemin turned his head upwards to face Jongin with no secrets (much less, anyway), no what-ifs.

Their heads were tilted oppositely, foreheads nuzzled against each other, noses brushing every now and then. Taemin whispered into Jongin’s lips. “Since I opened my eyes to the beauty around me.” Jongin finally blushed.

“Taemin… What does that mean exactly?”

Taemin pulled back from Jongin’s warmth to really look at him, though still locked in by Jongin’s clasped arms. If he was going to do this, he was going to do this right. “It means I really ....like you. I like you... so much. It means I probably sound a pathetic loser or a stalker, but that’s okay because how I feel is one-hundred percent real, and I’ll have to get over my embarrassment eventually. It means I was becoming even more depressed, or sad... or something. Each day I had to see you thinking you could never…would never...", Taemin’s final tear was falling, yet Jongin brushed it back with his thumb before Taemin could. “Taeminie, you act as though you’re the most hard-core and opinionated person who’d kill for what is right, and maybe that’s true, but really you’re just a sweetheart.” Jongin added after chuckling at Taemin’s expression. ,”that can dance on clouds.”

Taemin again, buried his head inside of Jongin’s chest and whispered out his built up months of angst, ache, and love. “Please stop, I think I’m about to pass out.”

“Then pass out, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

It was a genuine and pleasant surprise Taemin managed to deal with that much of Jongin in a day, especially to the extent of a kiss. A kiss. They actually kissed. Life painted by their eyes with and vivid colors of peach, red, and a soft pink. Slowly, everything besides Jongin ceased to exist, minus the sound of Taemin's raging heart beat, and the whimpers of true and finally, happiness.