Ok last drabble I promise ;~;

Something wasn’t quite right. Morning humidity, dew drops masterfully painted across the grass, and a heated climate: something definitely wasn’t right.

Ah, the first signs of summer.

This realization shot Taemin clean through his heart and weakened his breath. The inevitable arrives so lamentably quickly when one is not anticipating. When one survives on hope, foolish dreams, and what-ifs.

~~

“Taeminie, can I talk to you for a sec?”

Truthfully, at the end of fifth period on a Monday, Taemin didn’t really want to talk to anyone. But Jonghyun actually seemed serious for once, so Taemin groaned a little and followed him to the isolated corner of the room. “Watchu want?”

“Is everything okay with Kibum? He’s been acting really weird for the past, I dunno, month.”

Taemin’s palms dampened slightly. “Uhh…,” but before he could answer, he noticed Jongin a few feet behind Jonghyun, sticking out his tongue and crossing his eyes in Taemin’s direction. Taemin tried not to laugh and bit the inside of his cheek as he offered an explanation. “Stomach problems?”

Jonghyun gave Taemin one of his famous looks of "how damn stupid do you think I am this is dead serious". Taemin sighed. “He’s okay. I mean, he’s not okay. But he is. He’s just going through some stuff. Don’t say anything, just….”

Taemin noticed that Jongin had mouthed something along the lines of “meet” and “car” and “afterschool”. Taemin tried to nod to Jongin while simultaneously maintaining his serious conversation with Jongyhun, “Just… He’s a sweet kid, you know that. So just treat him… how he should be treated. Be nice to him but don’t be nice. Maybe you should be a tad more considerate. And don’t flaunt your girlfriend all the time.”

“But you flaunt Jong—”

“Just don’t.”

They stared at each other until Jonghyun finally agreed to drop it.

Taemin knew all too well how Kibum felt, but each time this situation was brought up, he couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest boy in the world. Having his love returned after so long, but then having to see it wither away. Perhaps it really was too good to be true, or maybe it was a test of luck; or maybe Taemin just couldn’t be bothered to ponder this with such limited time to focus on the absolute positives.

~~

The back of Taemin’s neck burned from the sun after each step across the seemingly endless parking lot. He saw Jongin’s car, and hoped it wasn’t a mirage. He finally reached the door, opened it, and threw himself inside with a “yo, blast on that AC it’s hot as balls out there”. After panting for a few seconds, he turned towards Jongin. His arms were crossed, and his head leaned against the window; eyes closed so delicately.

Taemin reached out his hand to shake him awake, hesitated, and withdrew. He decided to wait a few minutes. Not to give Jongin rest, but to admire his beauty and etch every detail about Jongin’s flawlessly sculpted body deep into his memory.

His eyes started with Jongin’s jaw, and drifted further down, admiring every freckle and every scar. Further still, until his eyes anchored on a certain place between his legs. He tried multiple times to look away, but his eyes refused. Mostly because he didn’t necessarily want to look away from Jongin’s crotch, although he felt his body temperature rise; along with the growing lump in his throat. To tame the urge to place his hand onto Jongin’s thigh required much discipline. The urge to then slide his hand upwards and just gently massage…

“What the hell are you staring at, Taemin?”

Taemin snapped back to Jongin’s eyes. Not even a fleet of soldiers could stop the blood sprinting to his head. “No I was. I wasn’t. Uhh. That’s. I. Um. No."

Jongin tried not to laugh. “Taemin—”

Taemin buried his head into his lap to hide his embarrassment. “Ugh don’t say anything.”

Jongin opened his mouth to comment back, but thought better than to worsen Taemin’s regret (he so desperately wished Taemin acted on impulse). He focused his attention back outside the window, and he too noticed the unusual bipolarity of the sun. “It really is hot today.”

“Global warming,” Taemin mumbled, “or Mother Nature is being an and reminding me of summer when it’s still in’ spring.” Jongin laughed and placed his hand to Taemin’s shoulder, which ultimately pulled him back up and out of his humiliation. “Since I don’t want to miss a second with you, I thought we could do something. But all the things I had in mind are outside so… D’you wanna see a movie with me or something?”

The thing about Jongin is he can, in a matter of seconds and simple words, send waves of butterflies and lightheadedness while also wiping clean any daunting thought. Taemin should’ve been used to this by now, but of course, his smile revealed itself along with a few small giggles.  “Yes, I’d love to see a movie with you.”

Because they both knew they weren't going for the purpose of see a movie at all; they were going for the sake of squeezing in every ounce of memories they could make.

Jongin smiled his crooked smile before backing out of the school and into the road of infinite possibility.

~~

“Oooh let’s see that one.”

“We can’t get into that one.”

“Taemin… I’m eighteen.”

“Oh, yeah….” Jongin’s birthday had been in January, though Taemin wasn’t told it had been his birthday until days after (which was highly infuriating). He laughed a little with “technically our relationship is illegal now” and Jongin replied with “but that makes it all the more exciting, doesn’t it?” Taemin blushed and stared at his feet. Jongin laughed at how easy it was to embarrass Taemin.

He pointed to another movie poster, but Taemin stuck out his tongue in disapproval. He pointed to another, but Taemin still shook his head. Then he pointed to one with a cover of a young couple wrapped in each other’s arms, surrounded by zombies. Taemin raised his eyebrows and asked the rating.

“Eighteen and up.”

“Why?”

Jongin read the fine print of the billboard. “Extreme ual content and graphic violence.”

“Awesome.”

Jongin showed his identification to the ticket clerk and ordered two tickets for the stupid looking zombie movie. They stepped inside. Fluorescent lights beamed from all corners of the concession; advertisements for upcoming films and half price skittles only in the month of April. A nice lady ripped Jongin and Taemin's tickets and directed them towards their designated hallway. Jongin thanked her and began walking in the pointed direction, only to be stopped by a surprised tone.

"Don't you want food first?"

"Nah, I'm okay."

"Suit yourself." Taemin walked to the front of the concession and ordered extra-large popcorn. Jongin hummed into his ear that he didn't want anything, but Taemin reassured him that the large popcorn was indeed for himself and himself solely. Jongin smiled, muttered something about fast metabolisms, and insisted on paying.

Eventually, they found the room in which the movie was playing, and stepped inside to the darkness with only the illumination from the previews to guide them to their seat. After they took their spots in the far back, they realized nobody else was in the audience. This made them to laugh to themselves over the movie actually being that bad.

Taemin wasn't quite sure what it was about the situation that caused his adrenaline to travel a little faster, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with being alone with Jongin in complete darkness. Maybe because when he looked over, all he could see was the outline of Jongin's profile and not the distance between them. He shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth as though it were a shot of bourbon; as though it would calm his nerves.

After approximately fifteen minutes of previews for dumb action films, the movie finally began. The opening scene began with a preview of what was to come for the future of the young couple: limping zombies with bloodstained teeth tormented the city. A certain scene with a camera angle designed to startle and scare the audience indeed managed to get a scream and twitch from Taemin.

Jongin couldn't help but laugh. "Are you seriously scared?"

"Shutup."

Jongin pushed back the arm rest that divided them so he could hold onto Taemin's hand and his thumb with his own. Taemin's heart jolted and the smile from Jongin made it that much more difficult to endure.

The scene jumped back in time to the daily life of the protagonists. They were on a very "hot and steamy" date and were now leaning in to enjoy an overly dramatic kiss. Jongin took a piece of Taemin's popcorn, popped it into his mouth, and pointed to the screen. "Hey look, it's us!"

Taemin laughed. "We’re much cuter.”

“You’re right.” Taemin turned his head to Jongin’s soft yet sincere gaze. It was only after a few (very long) seconds that Taemin realized their stare implied much more than said. He had to physically pull himself away from the current of Jongin’s eyes and focus back on the screen in fear of future lightheadedness.

He inhaled another handful of popcorn.

The couple had finished their date and were now tongue and tongue, groping each other as though they hadn’t practiced that scene millions of times. Jongin took another piece of popcorn and nudged Taemin with his elbow. “Hah look it’s—”

But the scene cut to an apparent few minutes later. Moans, the sound of a bed creaking, and “oh yes, yes, yes!” echoed around the theater. Taemin gulped, but Jongin finished what he was going to say.

“It should be us.”

Taemin tried not to laugh, but failed. Of course, trust Jongin to turn any potentially awkward situation into one more comfortable than to begin with. Though awkward may not be the right word.

The darkness, the illumination of Jongin’s perfection, the aloneness, and the grunts of ual pleasure were almost too much for Taemin. Why did he agree to see this movie? He felt a familiar pressure in his jeans as he continued to secretly stare at Jongin, but focusing particularly on his lips. He suddenly wished he hadn’t turned Jongin down all those times before…

Thankfully, the affair was interrupted by a zombie entering the house which softened not only the mood but the snugness of Taemin's jeans. The only other similar scenes were infrequent and occurred only after the couple had survived a peril situation.

“That’s why you never have in a horror movie.”

“Too true.”

Every fifteen minutes or so, Taemin noticed that Jongin had scooted in his seat significantly closer. Because Taemin was, in all honesty, actually frightened over this film, Jongin used this as an excuse to wrap his arm around Taemin’s shoulder as if they were pre-teens on a first date. If Taemin were truly aghast at the terrifying scenes, Jongin came up with the brilliant idea to sooth him using only his lips and tongue until the scenes had ended.

Much to Taemin’s delight, the kisses had been different from the ones before. Highly protective and not with only his lips, but his body language kissing away any doubts or fright (and maybe not even the fright from the film). Jongin, intent on bruising Taemin’s bottom lip with his love and Taemin, intent on accepting all Jongin offered. He strangely felt wanting—needing—more as Jongin pulled away when the scene cut.

Towards the end of the movie, during an unexpected scene where one of the protagonists was killed, Taemin yelped and hid behind the now empty bucket of popcorn. So Jongin pulled him in again into another distracting kiss, though it was Taemin who seemed in control of the specific way their mouths crashed and tongues tasted.

Jongin slowly pulled away. “Taemin, the scene ended.”

Taemin, still staring at Jongin’s lips and still in the same position, breathed out an “uh huh” before joining their lips again. Jongin, finally getting the message, placed his hand to Taemin’s waist and squeezed a little too excitedly. Taemin quietly groaned into Jongin’s mouth. He wasn’t sure what he was doing, but he knew that he desperately needed Jongin, and maybe he had been too ignorant to accept this obvious passion before.

Their make-out session probably would’ve transpired into something a little more meaningful, if only the theater workers hadn’t barged in with their flashlights checking for any people remaining in the audience. Apparently the movie had ended; though neither Jongin nor Taemin were conscious enough in reality to have any recollection of this.

They were forced out of the cinema, and Jongin flashed a dirty look towards one of the ushers that read “right when I was just about to finally get some.”

They stepped out into the humid air with their fingers interlocked tightly. The sun hadn’t left yet, but the early symptoms of the golden sky with streaks of red signaled it would soon be dark.

The infatuated boys almost skipped to Jongin’s car, discussing the poor quality of the movie and the high quality of each other’s lips.

Maybe it didn’t matter what they did together, and it didn’t even matter if all they did was stare at each other; being within the other’s presence at this point was more significant than any planned affair or attempt at romance. But they’ve realized this by now.

Jongin drove Taemin home under the twilight sky with only the sound of silence. The windows were rolled down halfway, letting in a breeze that ruffled their hair. Taemin rested his head against the side of his seat and closed his eyes. The evening air felt refreshingly cool against his skin. It was safe to say Taemin was truly content with the beauty of the night, the beauty of Jongin, and the beauty of life’s whimsical surprises.

Jongin pulled into Taemin’s driveway and brushed his fingers over Taemin’s hand. Taemin lazily went to reach for the door handle, but his arm seemed too heavy; how could he bring himself to leave?

For a few seconds, Taemin sat in silence.

“Uhh… Taeminie?”

Taemin turned his head to face Jongin.

The sun had set.

“Just a little longer, Jongin.”

Just a little longer.