Again, thank you so much for reading. You all give me so much motivation~ <3

The alarm clock wailed its scheduled ring, immediately disturbing Taemin from an incredibly deep sleep. His face was buried in his pillow while he felt his way around the bedside table to find the snooze button, groaning when he couldn’t find it. Finally, he tilted his head upwards and blinked his eyes repeatedly until they were awake enough to read the time; the numbers were intangibly blurry. It was 5:15am. Although it was still so early, Taemin usually set his alarm at this time purposefully for each morning it takes him almost an hour to find enough motivation to get out of his warm bed, or at least to wake up. The blankets were smothering his body and sealing in his warmth. Birds were singing, and the sun’s rays gracefully welcomed Taemin’s sheets which reflected an angelic glow around his room.  He tossed over onto his back and stared straight at the ceiling, beginning to feel his heart sink as he remembered he needed to get dressed for school and leave his safe, anxiety-free, and cozy bed.

As soon as his mind was fully awake, his memory hit him like lightning. Jongin was in his class, and he needed to look his utter and absolute best. He struggled with his constricting blankets that were wrapped around him multiple times, freed himself, and headed to his closet to find an impressing outfit. His heart was still pounding vigorously and it only increased as he remembered the euphoric day before. Sudden familiar embarrassment washed over him and caused Taemin to bury his face in the palms of hands and squeal to himself. It’s too early for this.

The amount of time it would have taken him to get ready normally was now subtracted by at least an hour; all because of a teenage boy. It was astonishing just how easily Taemin let this boy control him. The authority, the domination, the supremacy, were all mastered with only a smile.

Jonghyun’s Perspective

It was halfway through the school day, and Jonghyun was amused by Taemin’s very distinguishing mood swings of excitement, to embarrassment, to absolutely quiet. Jonghyun would have normally been very appeased and reassured had he not known the cause for Taemin’s sudden animation. Seeing Taemin deeply passionate about something was great of course, but he was worried it was built on something so feeble and so uncertain. He wasn’t about to let his best friend truly have his heart broken.

It was P.E. The only class besides debate that Jonghyun shared with Taemin’s crush. He arrived somewhat early, for he remembered seeing said boy before in the changing room humming to himself and dressing himself painfully slow. Jonghyun walked into the  dressing room and sure enough, Taemin’s crush was sitting on the bench fishing in his gym bag for something.
 

“Hey.”

The boy was startled slightly and looked up into Jonghyun’s eyes and seemed to recognize him. “Hey.” His voice was quite husky, yet it was very well refined and simply gentlemanly. Jonghyun couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. “I know I have you in a few of my classes but I don’t think we’ve ever officially met before.” Jonghyun placed his bag on the bench besides the boy and continued casually, “I’m Kim Jonghyun.”  He placed his hand out as a generous gesture, and the boy smiled whole heartedly and rose to greet his hand. “Kim Jongin.” Jonghyun stared into space for a brief second. Kim Jongin sounds so much better then Kim Jonghyun.

He watched as Jongin turned around to take off his shirt and change into his gym clothes, and Jonghyun laughed to himself as he imagined Taemin’s reaction if he had been there. It was Jonghyun who kept the conversation alit, not allowing any awkward silences. “So you’re into debating?” Jongin continued to pull his shirt over his head and fixed his tussled hair. “Yeah I guess so. It’s based on actual important stuff which runs our whole world so…” He chuckled to himself, “I guess it’s just a little necessary for me to get involved with issues that could determine our world’s fate." Jonghyun too began changing, their backs facing each other. He coughed a little to himself and responded showing just as much interest as Jongin had. “Well it seems like you and my friend Taemin have similar opinions, maybe you two should stick together through your debating-lives. Do you know him?” Jongin turned around to find his pants, allowing Jonghyun to just catch a glimpse of Jongin’s body to compare to his. Toned. Extremely toned. Jongin’s enthusiasm had died faintly and he replied with less energy, “No, I don’t really know him that well but I guess he seems like a cool kid. I mean it’s great he’s not homophobic and stuff but I would hope that most of the people in our school are like that too, besides a select few”.

Jonghyun sat himself on the bench and stretched his back, disguising his panic that maybe he had gone too far. He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed his temples before laughing light heartedly. “Yeah you’re probably right.” It wouldn’t necessarily matter what Jongin thought of Jonghyun, as long as he didn’t reveal anything about Taemin or his ulterior motives. He simply asked the next question for his own purposes. “Hey what do you do for exercise?” “Dance.” Jonghyun nodded understandingly; the question burning in the back of his mind was finally let out in the same exalted breath. “So do you have a girlfriend? Find any girls you like?” He made sure to sound ironic, as if it was something all guys naturally talked about with each other instinctively. Jongin glanced over to Jonghyun and smiled wryly, as if he was wondering just what Jonghyun was inferring.

“I guess there are a few nice girls but I haven’t really found anyone special in particular. A lot of the girls in our school are pretty self-centered. You?” Just as Jonghyun opened his mouth to respond, a boy Jongin’s age walked in and immediately spotted him. He walked over and they shared a complex handshake followed by friendly laughter and ‘see ya Jongin’ followed by ‘later, Luhan’. Jongin turned his attention back to Jonghyun while zipping up his bag to head into the main gym room. “Sorry what were we talking about?” “Oh, don’t worry about it.” Jonghyun stood from the bench and began heading over to join his friends, for the bell had just rung. “Nice meeting you!” Jongin smiled while tightening his shoe lace. “Nice meeting you too.”

~~~
Sixth period. Jonghyun walked through the classroom doorway to find a bright and especially good-looking boy sitting in the back who was making ual faces towards Jonghyun as his greeting. Jonghyun laughed and shook his head. “Hey Taemin.”

They sat in the seats they were in the day before, assuming it was now their assigned seat. Taemin did look especially nice today. His blonde hair was combed and Jonghyun wondered if Kibum had dressed him. Then it hit him; why else would Taemin suddenly care for his physical appearance? The thought reminded him of his talk with Jongin, and he began confessing slowly and cautiously. “Hey, Taeminie… I talked to Jongin.”

Taemin’s face fell entirely. His body became rigid and his chest stopped rhythmically moving, which meant for a short moment he stopped breathing. Suddenly the life was pushed back into him and he began half-screeching half-hissing, “….Oh my god. What?! What did you say to him?! Oh my god oh my g-“ He was cut off from Jonghyun physically restraining Taemin by covering Taemin’s mouth with his hand. “Please calm down.” Taemin’s eyes were burning holes into Jonghyun, signaling him to confess everything. “Taemin, he doesn’t like boys. He’s pretty much the straightest person I’ve ever met”. Taemin’s expression was a combination of betrayal, hurt, and ultimate confusion. “Jonghyun, what are you talking about. What did he say.”

In all honesty, Jonghyun had forgotten how intimidating Taemin could be when he was angry or upset. Unfortunately he was now both which caused Jonghyun to slightly stutter with his story. “I really don’t want you to become lead on by someone who doesn’t return your feelings. He’s into girls, and you didn’t seem to take up too much of his thoughts. At least, compared to how much you think about him.”

Unadulterated silence.

Taemin’s Perpective

He was absolutely speechless. The only words he could possibly form without drowning too far in his emotions were, “How did you… know I was gay?” Jonghyun just looked at Taemin and smirked. “I know you. Plus you practically drool over that Jongin guy. Did you know he was a dancer?” No, Taemin did not know Jongin was a dancer which evoked his heart to swell further into a knot of despair. That gorgeous new characterisitic only added to the growing list of things that made Kim Jongin a god. He decided to dwell on that thought later in the endless time he had to think about it. “Jonghyun, that was really none of your business. You had absolutely no right to go talking to him, and about me of all people. This isn’t about you. You think I don’t already know he might not be gay? You think I don’t know the chances of him liking me back are less then negative? Thanks for making me feel even more like an idi-“ He stopped mid-sentence. Jongin walked in, dexterously swaying his hair that fell perfectly and flawlessly formed his face. His jeans were on the tighter side, which provoked Taemin to briefly forget his heart-ache and anger momentarily to replace it with lust. However that rapidly reduced as he saw Jonghyun and Jongin salute each other as Jongin strutted effortlessly down the aisle of desks.

Taemin whispered hoarsely towards Jonghyun. “Did he just wave at you? Are you two friends now? How am I…” His nose turned a deep shade of red and his vision blurred. Taemin, don’t ing cry. Don’t ing cry. It’s okay, you’re okay. He blinked a faint tear down the side of his cheek that faced away from Jonghyun. It’s not okay. It’s really not okay. He ignored Jonghyun’s attempts at apologizing and calming him down, and blocked him out entirely along with the class lecture, which was mostly based on analyzing speeches from important people.

The teacher heard Jonghyun’s desperate attempts to reassure Taemin that he only wanted to help, and glanced down at him through his glasses. “Mr. Kim… Do you have something you’d like to share with the class?” “No sir. Sorry, sir.” Naturally, the whole class looked over at Jonghyun, along with Jongin. Taemin glanced over at Jongin, and was surprised when Jongin’s gaze led from Jonghyun over to Taemin and was held for a few seconds. Two seconds, exactly. Jongin formed a crooked smile and made a gesture to punch Jonghyun if he didn’t shut up. Taemin giggled sweetly, eye candy overcoming him, reminding him of how truly beautiful Jongin was, along with that same unbelievable adrenaline rush that has not subsided in the least over the past few interactions they’ve had. He felt oddly reassured, as if they were the only two people in the room.

He refused to let Jonghyun maliciously crush his (literal) reason for getting out of bed in the morning. It wasn’t up to Jonghyun to decide who Jongin likes and who he doesn’t. Just this simple smile from Jongin recharged his inner strength which was currently so very weak. The willpower to become everything Jongin wanted was overwhelmingly strong, and he was going to prove Jonghyun undoubtedly wrong.