Everyone keeps putting pictures in their stories so I figured maybe I should too. I found this on tumblr and it fits almost exactly. Thank you so much for reading~<3

Jonghyun’s words failed to remove from Taemin’s mind for even a second. “He’s the straightest person in the world.” Although Taemin was emotionally disorganized already, he forgave Jonghyun yet made him promise not to interfere. As an experiment, Taemin decided to try and think of things other than Jongin. Of course, he did already, yet replace every thought of Jongin with school, or his favorite bands, or his favorite books. It worked for a short while in the least, yet he still held his feelings  true and strong.

It was a few weeks after Jonghyun had talked Jongin, and Taemin was parading around campus after school looking for the math club which he thought would occupy his mind. Although before he felt as if he might have had a chance with Jongin, it was always prominent in the back of his mind that he had no idea what he was doing. He was less joyous now, but he learned to just appreciate Jongin’s beauty from afar; perhaps he wanted what was best for Jongin.

Taemin began walking down the art hallway, though he had no idea why a math club would be down there. He passed open doors of kids painting, practicing their parts for the school play, or just finishing homework. It really was a nice atmosphere; Taemin wondered if maybe he ought to also become an art kid.

There was suddenly an extremely loud thud that came from the room on the left side at the very tip of the hallway. Curious and worried, Taemin peered around the doorway just to reassure him that everyone was okay, and so he wouldn’t have that on his conscious if he had just ignored it. Laying in the middle of the room was Jongin. Of course.

His face was scrunched up as if he was in some type of extreme pain. In all honesty, Jongin’s pain reflected a sharp stinging in his heart. The pose he was laying in on the floor did not look natural or comfortable, so Taemin pushed away all thoughts of finding this person the most perfect of all, and rushed over to see just what had happened. “Jongin, Jongin! Are you okay?” He crouched besides Jongin, not daring to touch him. Jongin groaned slightly and put his forearm to his forehead, eyes closed. “This always happens”. “Sorry, what always happens?” Jongin opened his eyes and looked at Taemin. “Sorry, please don’t worry, sometimes when I dance I pull a specific muscle in my ba-“ He was interrupted from pain in his lower back as he tried to get up. He released a cry of agony; which released a cry of agony for Taemin.

Taemin reached out his hands to try and support his back muscles, and tried to ignore how well built and warm he felt. He managed to keep him upright momentarily, yet Jongin snapped back down as if he were a rubber band.”Jongin… what can I do??” Jongin struggled to smile. “You don’t have to do anything, Taemin. It’s nice enough you came here to help”. Taemin’s stomach erupted in butterflies. “Jongin. You can’t even sit up. How are you planning on getting home?” Silence.

Jongin’s voice was low and antagonizingly seducing, to Taemin anyway. “Taemin… could you do me a huge favor?” Anything for you. “Yeah sure! What is it??” Jongin propped himself up on his arm and stared at Taemin. “You have your license, right?” Taemin nodded. “Could you drive me home? It’s not too far from here, and I can feed you dinner and pay for a taxi. I trust you won’t crash my car”. He looked as if he was begging.

If we slow down, and take a few moments to process from Taemin’s point of view just what Jongin was asking, we would understand just what this implied. We also would understand Taemin desperately wanted nothing more than to get away from his house and the beautiful aura. It was difficult to say no to Jongin, and this was actually an important reason. He didn’t need to respond; Taemin just grabbed Jongin’s lower back and used his feeble thigh muscles to push themselves upwards. Jongin had his arm wrapped around Taemin while the other limped to the side while he managed to drag his feet.

Don’t think about his arm around you. Don’t think about his body heat. Don’t think about how close he is. Taemin remained silent as they hobbled over to Jongin’s car. From the outside, it didn’t seem like a very nice or expensive car, but Taemin was greatly surprised when he opened the back to lay Jongin down. The seats were black with a texture of soft leather (What’s with him and the leather.) while the interior was beautifully detailed and colorful marble. Taemin again, blocked out how nice the car was, and how nice it smelled.

He placed Jongin down in the back seat so he could lay down, yet stared at the seatbelts in confusion of which one he should use to buckle him down. Jongin just looked at Taemin and a smile began to form as he watched Taemin concentrating and contemplating. Finally, that smile was turned into a laugh when Taemin buckled him down with all three seatbelts. “Taemin, what the hell.” “Shh, you’re safe now. Your back won’t get tossed around as much this way.”

If the reader is wondering why Taemin is not fainting already, it’s due to Taemin breaking his own heart by telling himself over and over that Jongin was straight, and that he would always be just an unrequited love. After practicing time and time again, he finally felt numb and unworthy, and associated all things with Jongin to be painful. Sometimes he even went as far as to question why he had to be gay, or what he did to deserve so many emotions only for them to be washed down the drain. Our young Taeminie fell into a mild depression.

Taemin took the wheel and sighed heavily to himself. Oh god this is Jongin’s seat. This is where he sits every day. He shook out the thoughts and buried the keys into the ignition. He slowly began backing out of the parking lot and looked behind the seat to check if he was about to hit anything. He felt Jongin’s smile and looked down at him. He double took a few glances until he figured out Jongin was laughing. Taemin couldn’t help but smile back, yet he had no idea what was so funny. “Taeminie,” he began through laughter, “are you sure you’re not too small for that seat? Do you want me to raise it up a bit?” Taemin looked back at the wheel, and realized his eyes were just reaching over the edge of the steering wheel. He turned back around and couldn’t help but find it slightly funny too, yet he remained stern. “No! I’m not too small! I can do this!” Jongin just looked at him from the backseat and bit his lip to muffle his laughter. Sweet jesus, it was probably the cutest thing Taemin had ever seen.

He began pulling out of the school drive; a few minutes had passed already. He stopped the car briefly to slowly turn around, his eyes barely poking out from behind the seat. “Jongginnn… how do you raise the seat..?” They both laughed whole heartedly. Taemin’s purest emotions were only triggered by Jongin.

Okay. Don’t crash the car. You can’t afford to mess up. Don’t get distracted by Jongin’s face. Don’t think about it. He cleared his throat, a feeble attempt at sounding manly. “So, you dance?” He heard Jongin’s especially soft and velvety voice. “Yeah, ten years.” “How often does this happen to your back?” He was sincerely concerned. “Once or twice every month or two. It goes away eventually.” Taemin felt as if he was his mother. Besides the fact he found it absolutely y that Jongin was a dancer, getting hurt in the same spot every month was not normal. It was a few seconds before Taemin responded, contemplating the horrible consequences it could lead to later in life. “Jongin… I’m worried about you.” He gulped. Oh god what did I just say. It was silent in the car for a few, very long, seconds. “Yeah?” The steering wheel shook under Taemin’s shaking hands. His palms began to dampen. “Y-yeah… You should go see a physical therapist.” “They’ll stop me from dancing.”

It was quiet in the car, only the sounds of blinkers and windshield wipers filled the space. Taemin started the conversation again. “W-well, maybe you don’t have to stop dancing. Just put it on hiatus for a little while until you figure out why you keep basically breaking your back. What if you paralyzed yourself? There are different exercises you can do in the meantime.” He heard Jongin smile in his words. “Thanks a lot Taemin, really. You’re probably right.”

It has never been so hard for Taemin to control his ‘fangirling’. He began to sweat, and he was blushing uncontrollably. Don’t crash. He was thankful Jongin couldn’t see Taemin’s victorious and joyous face, yet Jongin could see everything from the rear-view mirror; he smiled. Widely.

~~

Finally, they reached Jongin’s house. It looked different during the day. There were butterflies and birds swarming around the small flower garden and the windows were open, letting in a cool draft. Taemin got out of the car, more than happy to have brought him and car back alive. Jongin staggered to the door, both wiping their feet on his “wome” mat. Taemin definitely did not want to go inside, so he waited outside until he saw Jongin was in safely. He was just about to make his escape, when he heard Jongin’s voice. “Where are you going, Taemin? Dude, get in the house.” He shook his head at Taemin’s politeness and smiled to himself.

That same gorgeous smell, that same gorgeous house. Taemin stood there awkwardly, while Jongin called for a taxi. Taemin made gestures to hang up and that he could walk home, yet Jongin just softly whispered. “I’m not letting you get away with that this time. My dad is asleep upstairs so we probably shouldn’t be too loud.”

After the taxi had been called, Jongin began offering Taemin food, water, or anything. Taemin politely rejected everything and smiled as if he truly didn’t want it. Jongin looked a little concerned. “Jeez, Taemin. Do you ever eat? You’re so thin.” He began poking at Taemin’s tiny and flat torso, which caused Taemin to begin laughing. Quite hard actually. Jongin looked amazed. “You’re ticklish too?” Taemin was laughing through tears and said through his panting, “….Noooo….” Jongin smirked and began poking around Taemin’s stomach until Taemin was almost on the floor laughing. “Stopp Jongin stop sTOP!” Jongin put his finger to his lips telling him to be quiet.

Just at that moment, the taxi pulled up into their drive and honked. Taemin thanked Jongin profusely for the taxi and the food offering, while beginning to finally escape from his private heaven. Jongin pulled his hand back just as he was reaching for the door knob. “Hey, just wait a second.” Jongin wrapped his arms around Taemin in a tight, warm, and amazingly comfortable hug”. Oh my god. What’s going on. This isn’t happening. Jongin’s low voice was whispered into Taemin’s ear and he slowly mumbled words Taemin wouldn’t ever forget. “Thank you so much for taking me home. You’re a really good guy, we should chill more at school.” Taemin had no idea what he should do, so he wrapped his own arms around Jongin’s upper back, careful not to squeeze too hard. “It’s my pleasure, Jongin.” He closed his eyes briefly as if to capture that moment before Jongin let him go and opened the door for him. Taemin felt empty after being released from the embrace, yet he couldn’t bear to spend another second with Jongin.

Taemin was tossed more than enough money for the cab, and waved goodbye to Jongin, while Jongin waved goodbye back, smiling.

Then it sunk in.
The ride home was undeniably long. That was the first time Jongin hadn’t addressed him as a kid. All the emotions he had ignored or blocked out came rushing forth like a raging ocean, and he couldn’t wait to get home and scream into his pillow, and he couldn’t wait to see Jongin again.