“There’s not as many people as I thought there would be”, you say as you walk through the main entrance of the park. Taemin is walking a few steps away from you, while the rest of the guys walk a little faster, in front of you.

“I know”, replies Minho. "I thought it would be a mess."

Taemin is quiet, you notice. He’s staring at the grass under his red Converse as it is the most interest thing in the entire universe. The collar of his plaid light-blue shirt is folded, and you feel the urgent need to fix it. But you don’t, and keep walking instead.

“Is something wrong? You have that look in your eyes”, you ask him. It takes him by surprise, so he jumps a little at the interruption of his train of thoughts and the looks at you.

He’s wearing your favorite smile of his: so sweet, and yet so playful. Your heart attempts at escaping from your chest, but you force it to calm down.

He’s just my friend, you repeat to yourself. Just my friend.

“No”, he finally answers. “I was just thinking.” He suddenly looks a bit more serious again. His brows are frowned and his full, pinky lips are parted in a confused expression. You wonder what could be worrying him so much.

He is now walking down a low hill and his black backpack, full with the food he picked for the picnic, is bouncing on his back. He looks at you again, smiles at you once more and says:

“Thank you for worrying, though. You’re a good friend”. He grins, looks to the front again and starts walking a little faster to meet his bandmates.

“Yeah... friends. Of course.”, you whisper to yourself in a bitter tone you didn’t know you could manage.

He turns back and makes you a gesture, indicating you to hurry up and join them.

You do. You get closer and sit on the grass full of flowers with them, but you lost the intimacy.

He seems happier than thirty seconds ago, though. And thats all that matters, right?

The whole park looks brown and golden, the color of fall, as you walk next to the trees along the path, wondering what brought you to this situation in the first place.

Taemin is walking beside you, silent. His face has been looking rather blushed for about fifteen minutes now, since the very first second he asked you to go on a walk with him. Just a walk in the park with your best friend, nothing new. Why is he blushing?

His hands are in the pockets of his grey coat and a black beanie is covering his reddish-brown hair. His lips are a bit chapped from the sudden cold weather; you catch yourself staring at them.

You got to finally accept it. He is your best friend and, in fact, you are his, too. But whatever titles you have, that doesn’t really change your feelings for him.

You don’t put pressure on him. He doesn’t need it. What he needs is an unselfish friend from outside the superstar world, someone who can just listen and offer him a shoulder. You love him so, if that’s what he needs, then why not?

“Listen, I...”, he says all of a sudden. “I’ve got something to tell you.” Words are coming out of his mouth fast and in a rush. Whatever he has to say is making him really anxious.

“What is it?”, you ask. You’re always interested in what he has to say, but when he’s this nervous, well... you’re human. You’re curious.

“Ok, we... we’ve been friends for a while now, right?”. He looks at you looking for approval. You nod, encouraging him to go on, so he looks to the front while still walking, closes his eyes and starts gabbling again: “You’ve always been there for me when I needed you and I don’t think I’ve thanked you enough.” He looks at you again and right when you’re about to say somethnig, he interrupts you. “No, don’t say I don’t have to thank you. I am really lucky to have you.”

Somehow, you are now sitting on the grass under a tree. The leaves are already dry and they are falling down around you like a golden snowfall.

He turns around and looks at you, and his look is warmer than ever before.

He places one hand on the grass you’re both sitting on and the other fixes one curl of your hair. He’s looking in your eyes like never before.

“I’ve been feeling different lately”, he says, so low you can hardly hear him. “As if I didn’t know a part of me was missing until I found it.” His voice cracks and one single tear falls down his cheek. You lean foward and catch it with your lips, and in one single move of his, his lips are now on yours.

You just surrender to the feeling, with both of your hands his face sweetly, like you’ve always wanted to, as the leaves keep falling around you.

The sunset light is bathing the initials you both carved inside a heart in the tree, your tree. The leaves you didn’t notice were dying on it a few hours ago are now crunching under your feet as you both walk, hand in hand, on your way back home.

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a/n: Short, cute, simple one shot featuring my bias. Wrote it for a friend a while back, and it's still my favorite yet c: Looking back to it, the present tense is kind of awkward, but thats how I felt like writing it in that moment and I feel like changing it would be, eh, change the original concept. And things go fast and all but hey, it's a one shot. xD

If you found yourself here somehow, god bless you because it's the first thing I post here and I have no actual idea of what I'm doing. why am i posting this someone stop me

EITHER WAY. I hope you liked it c: