Min walks into the living room one morning to find Taemin and Suzy sleeping, all pressed up against one another, on the floor. She stops in her tracks, tuts the heel of her limited release Burberry riding boot against the ground, and heads for the front door of the suite. She's got a schedule in a half hour and she's running late, and she just doesn't have any time to reprimand the maknae for sleeping on the floor when she still has a very cozy and fluffy bed.

 

But when she glances at them again, turning to look over her shoulder, she rolls her eyes, sighs, and walks toward where they lay. They're in a little heap on the floor, Suzy's leg slung over Taemin's and his arm around Suzy, holding her close, and Min realizes, with no jealousy or anything, that Taemin would always hold Suzy that way. She pulls a blanket off the back of the sofa and drapes it over them just as Fei steps out of her bedroom, and she merely shakes her head and murmurs yet another goodbye to her member. She gives her unnie a strong “fighting” and says, in all kinds of seriousness, "We need to do something about that," as she jerks her head towards the living room. She's out the door in seconds (she watches her go, a little in awe of her flawless appearance) and she doesn't even have to ask to what she's referring or what she wants to do. 

 

Fei watches the sleeping pair as she sips her morning tea, and she contemplates throwing water on them or something, but she's not quite that mean.

 

She just gets ready for her day and slams the door loudly on the way out. After all, she is the oldest one, if she doesn't have some special privelages, then she doesn't know who does.

 

Suzy is startled awake and realizes that both her unnies, Fei and Min have probably just left for the day. Taemin is still sleeping next to her, and she sits up, giggling as she does, because he's probably the heaviest sleeper she knows, and he can sleep through almost everything.

 

"Taeminnie oppa" she whispers. He doesn't budge. His hand is on her thigh now, since she moved, and her skin feels far too hot there. Her flannel pajama pants (ones he made fun of, since they have little yellow ducks on them) are riding low on her hips and her stomach is exposed where her long sleeved tee shirt has ridden up.

 

She'd almost feel weird about this, him seeing her so casual, so normal. Since she came back to Seoul at the end of her filming in Paris, she's been all about high fashion, wanting to look and feel older and be taken more seriously. For the first time since she was five, she doesn't have to wear a school uniform every day, and she's taking the opportunity to let her clothes make some kind of statement. Now she just needs to figure out what statement it is she wants to make.

 

But despite the labels and the high heels and the makeup she normally wears, the last two months have been spent almost entirely in this dorm. If she her schedule allowed her, that is. 

 

Since her Drama schedule ended, she's spent a lot of night sleeping with Taemin. Or at least sleeping near him. He fell asleep, after his vigorous Shinee practice, in the living room one night and she lay in her bed alone. Another weekend, he spent at his hotel on location for a cf the Shinee oppas were doing, while she attended her own cf filming.

 

But other than that, they share a bed. Or a couch. Or a floor.

 

Even though they aren't officially together. Just really close friends, that not many knew about.

 

He hasn't brought it up, and she's too afraid to. She's starting to wonder if maybe if starting this friendship was a really good idea. He heard the Sukira interview I did a few years ago, and actually started talking to me whenever Shinne and Miss A would bump into each other. Maybe friends is all they're meant to be.

 

She's finding it harder and harder to believe that. Especially when she wakes up next to him and is reminded that he smiles in his sleep, and that he always sleeps on her right, and that if he wakes up before her, he always brings her a cup of coffee before he wakes her.

 

He's too good to her. Lately, she's been learning how to be good to him too. Really good. She cooked him dinner one night last week (really just followed what Fei unnie was doing, but hey, she's trying) and she tidies up his room when it's messy. She helps him reherse his MC gig and tries to dance his choreography over with him..

 

And if she wakes up before him, she never jostles him or scares him from his sleep.

 

She leans down, her hand pressed lightly against his chest, and places her lips right next to his ear. "Ooppp-aaa," she sings softly.

 

"Mm."

 

"Oppa, wakey, wakey," she says, accidentally-on-purpose letting her lips graze his cheek. His eyes flutter open, pools of chocolate brown staring up at her sleepily, and he smiles a little wider. "Hi." He grumbles a little, closes his eyes again and reaches for her wrist, pulling her back towards him so she's almost on top of him. She settles in, because it's impossible not to, not when they fit together like this, and lets out a breath against his neck. "You have to get up.""Nuh uhn."

 

"You have a schedule, and you have to go before  Manager oppa finds you here again," But he's not moving, just pulling her closer.

 

"No."

 

"Thursday morning. Music Core."

 

“rescheduled"

 

"How do you know?" she asks, though her eyes are closed now too, and she thinks that she doesn't want him to move.

 

“Onew hyung."

 

She thinks he's lying, but she doesn't mention it. She just kisses his neck (doesn't know why, hasn't done it before) and his hand slips into her hair, and they fall asleep again.

 

When she wakes up close to noon, she's alone, but there's a full carafe of coffee on the table next to a note with his messy writing, telling her he'll get home late, but text him before she does anything, maybe they can eat dinner together after his schedule.

 

She smiles, stretches, and pours herself a cup of coffee.

 

They're acting like the perfect couple they aren't.

 

Taemin is walking across the SM lobby on his way to meet Minho hyung,, and he's got a little extra spring in his step. He's been whistling to himself all day (songs from SNSD, because Suzy loves it and that's what they listened to the night before) and he gave a homeless guy a food on the way to his company building. He's already gotten a lecture on why being late to his schedule wasnt acceptable, just to spend a little more time with a girl, who wasn't really his. One of his friends, Kai, from his company, asked him what had gotten into him, or, "What girl you got into," and Taemin just shook his head, hoping that his smile wasn't totally transparent.

 

Because she kissed him. He didn't dream it, and he didn't imagine it. She kissed him. Okay, so it was only his neck, and it was two seconds and she probably thought he was asleep, but she kissed him. That has to mean something.

 

As he approaches the coffee shop that has become he and Minho hyung's hangout, he notices, Sulli, standing with her back to him, kissing some guy. It's not really weird, even though she's his ex, but he feels bad for his hyung. He'll be showing up any second and he has to see this display. But when they pull apart, she tips her head back and laughs at something, and Taemin sees that the guy she's kissing is Minho.

 

Before he can stop himself from ruining their moment, he shouts "What the hell?!" and holds his arms out, as if to ask what in the world has changed since he last talked to Minho about this a couple days ago.

 

"Oh. Uh. You know. Sulli and I...," Minho stutters. Sulli laughs, like he's the most adorable thing in the world, her face all lit up with newly-realized feelings (or something like that anyway) and she covers his mouth teasingly with her hand.

 

"We just...worked things out," she says seriously. The dancing machine shakes his head and she smiles at him. "I've gotta run." She kisses Minho quickly and starts down the street, and Taemin watches his hyung smiling like a complete fool.

 

He kind of wants to wear that smile himself.

 

"You and Sulli," the maknae says, patting Minho on the back. "That was only about, what? 3 years in the making?"

 

Minho shoots him a look as they walk through the doors into the shop. "You really wanna play that game? Because as obsessed as I was with Suzy? You've been obsessed with her for way longer."

 

Taemin rolls his eyes but doesn't argue, and he drops his things on the table and sits down, because it's Minho's turn to pay.

 

But he wasn't obsessed with Suzy. He was in love with her. There's a big difference.

 

Minho knows as much. He's become Taemin's sounding board for all things Suzy-related. Onew's too close to the situation, and far too 'involved' to just let things run their course. Taemin's already almost certain that Onew hyung is growing tired of playing the waiting game. Key is completely out of the question, since not only is he worse than Onew, as far as meddling is concerned, but he's also Suzy's close friend, and he's pretty sure they tell one another everything. Jonghyung is fairly impartial, and as messed up as his own situation was for a while, he's actually got some good advice. Minho, well, lets just say, he has no choice on listening to his problems.

 

But most of the last two months, they've just been two lovesick fools pining over girls who don't (didn't?) even know their feelings.

 

Minho sets a cup of coffee in front of Taemin and immediately starts filling in the details of he and Sulli's getting together, how she showed up at his door insisting that he entertain her, and maybe because he'd had a couple sojus before she showed up (confidence) or because he'd gotten tired of waiting for 'the right time' (sometimes you have to make the right time), he grabbed her by the arms and kissed her and told her that he is in love with her and has been in love with her, and that she should take him seriously because he doesn't want to stop loving her.

 

Taemin smiles. "What girl doesn't want to hear that?" he asks. Minho ducks his head a little bit, like he still can't believe that it actually happened.

 

And really, maybe his hyung got the nerve to say the words, but the maknae's been showing it in other ways. Big ways that he knows Suzy appreciates and understands. Well, maybe she understands. The more time passes since his confession (or two), the more he's beginning to think that this might just be her letting him down easy. And it's not like he really minds taking care of her this way, but he'd certainly like for her to...to...

 

To be his girlfriend?

 

"So what about you?" Minho asks after taking a sip of his coffee. "You and Suzy still perfecting the art of the sideward glance? Or have you progressed from there?"

 

Taemin scoffs, rolls his eyes and shakes his head, and runs his hand through his hair. "I dunno, man," he says in exasperation. "We, uh...she kissed me."

 

"What!? That's huge!" Minho says, his face lighting up at just the thought of his friend being as happy as he himself is.

 

"No, it wasn't...I mean, it wasn't like, a kiss," Taemin admits. The athletic idol looks confused. "It was...this morning, and we were laying together, and...Jesus, I'm talking like a girl."

 

"So, she kissed you, but she didn't really kiss you? I mean, she either did, or she didn't. There's not a whole lot of grey area there Taemin yah."

 

The cute donsaeng sighs and pulls open his laptop, and very suddenly, now that Minho's in whatever state of blissful couplehood he's in, he doesn't want to talk about his relationship with the Nations First Love.

 

Mostly because it isn't really much of one. Not the way he wants it to be.

 

"Look, I'm not...I mean, I don't want to make it seem like I'm some kind of expert, but...Maybe she needs to hear you say it," Minho says, and Taemin practically ignores him, because there's nothing worse than someone telling you to do something you've already thought of doing

 

"SuJi yah!" Min calls out as soon as she's inside the door.

 

"In here!"

 

Min sighs, rolls her eyes, because of course, Suzy is in her room, staring at a fancam of Shinee's cute maknae. She has no idea how they haven't just done it already, and she's bitten her tongue (but only because Jia promised her that their two friends would work it out) and hasn't said anything about it, but frankly, she's just sick of living with all this . For two people who were so completely unable control themselves before, they're completely unwilling to let themselves lose control now. Its a miracle that the two young idols haven't been discovered yet, with how the two of them act around each other in various music programs. You could be blind and still see their attraction for each other.

 

She walks into the room to see Suzy wearing nothing but a pair of Shinee shirt and skirt, a pair of blue and white knee-high socks, and her hair pulled up and held in place with a pair of special edition Shinee chopsticks and a copy of Harper Bazaar open in front of her as she lays on the bed.

 

"Hey, unnie! How was filming?" Suzy asks happily. She's come to really love living in this dorm with three of her favourite people.

 

"What are you wearing?" The kkap queen asks, stopping in her tracks, hating (really hating) that her best friend looks so good in anything, but also feeling a little put out that Suzy ya is wearing a Shinee skirt.

 

"Oh," Suzy laughs, looking down at herself.

 

"Are you even...Sujiya! You don't even have a bra on!" Min says, but she's starting to laugh, herself, because only her dongsaeng would laze around in this ensemble, a nearly threadbare tee shirt and nothing underneath, and think it was completely acceptable.

 

"Who needs it?" Suzy asks, smirking mischievously, which is totally not her.

 

"Um, you do?" Min suggests. They both start laughing and Min walks over, sitting at the edge of the bed. "We need to talk."

 

Suzy sits up, jokingly squints, and says in a very business-like voice, "this sounds serious." She smiles again and flips her hair over her shoulder. "Unnie, I have on a bra, its the strapless one."

 

"Suji."

 

"Okay! Okay, serious talk. I promise," She pledges, crossing an X over her heart with her hand.

 

Min closes Suzy's magazine and sets it on the bedside table, and she smoothes out her skirt before her eyes meet her best friend's again. "We need to talk about you and Taemin." Suzy stiffens immediately, looking down to her crossed legs and running her thumb over a dimple on the inside of her ankle. She doesn't say anything, so the older woman presses on. "You two are practically married, but you haven't even started dating yet, maknae."

 

"Unni..."

 

"No excuses. I won't accept them. I've kept quiet long enough, and it's time for you to own up to it," Min insists rigidly. She pauses, waits for Suzy to look up at her. "You want to be with him, Suji ah."

 

"I don't..." She stops, because the truth is, she doesn't really know what she wants. "I don't know."

 

Min rolls her eyes dramatically, lets out a frustrated sigh, and glares at her best friend. "You're such a liar."

 

"Yah!" Suzy laughs.

 

"No, you're lying. To all of us. Because you can sit around here and deny it all you want, but you're wearing Shinee's...merchandise," Min says, doing her best to keep from smiling as Suzy giggles. "You two sleep together whenever you can, and you're...you act like..." She sighs again, and looks at her dongsaeng as the long haired beauty tries to comprehend the point. "You act like I always thought you would if you got together."The breath leaves Suzy's lungs, and she doesn't know what to say. 

 

The short hair beauty straightens her posture, then looks down at Suzy and stands. "So either do something about it, or move on, because I'm sick of watching you two like this, then seeing him acting like a lost puppy because he thinks you don't ever want him."

 

"What?"

 

"Oh please!" Min pleads, walking towards the door. "You don't honestly think that he's not in love with you." She tilts her head to the side and scoffs when she sees that Suzy  looks surprised. It's just about the world's worst kept secret. "Put some real clothes on."

 

"No!" Suzy protests childishly, standing from her place. "Actually, I demand that you put on a pair of Beast's merchandise." Min shakes her head as she slips out of the room, but the maknae trails behind her. "And a strapless bra!"

 

"Yah" Min hisses. "I most certainly will not wear..." She looks Suzy up and down. "That."

 

"Promise me!"

 

Min kinks her brow as she reaches the entrance to her room. Sometimes, she realizes, she needs to humor Suzy ya, to make a little bargain in order to get what she wants for herself. "Promise me you'll deal with the...Taemin situation."

 

Suzy grins all wide, the way she always has when she thinks she's getting her way, and nods once, emphatically. "Deal."

 

Min rolls her eyes and steps into the bedroom, and Suzy runs into the kitchen for two glasses of  banana milk and some cookies. When Min walks into the living room wearing a black tee shirt, a pair of black and red plaid Beast shorts, and some black and white polka dot socks, Suzy laughs, claps her hands together, and they collapse together on the sofa. They eat cookies and watch HealingCamp and cry when one woman from Busan is given a car and a college scholarship, and Min spits milk out her nose when she laughs at Suzy's best Shinyoung unnie impression.

 

Fei walks into the suite just after five o'clock and she's loosening her gym shoes as she steps into view, but she stops in her place when she sees what her prim and mostly proper members were wearing.

 

"Well, well," she says playfully, eyes fixed on her dongsaeng's admittedly silly ensemble. "What is this?"

 

Min gets up and runs towards her, and she smiles, because she never runs (Suzy's influence always did tend to make her a little crazy) and she throws her arms around her neck and squeezes her. “unnie, she says she's better at dancing kkap than me, she's so evil unnie...” glossy eyes look to Suzy and sneered, “Just wait till I tell Jia unnie!” 

 

Laughing histerically, Fei loosens her grip on Min and dutifully goes to the kitchen to start on dinner.

Min hot on her heels, complaining the whole time.

 

As Suzy lays back down on her plush bed, curling up into the fetal position and putting on a little IU (she always was a bit of a er for the girl), she realizes that maybe she and Taemin balance each other out too. Maybe that's why they've always gotten along so well.

 

She's mouthing the words to You and I, when she feels a hand on her arm and startles a little bit, opening her eyes and turning onto her back. It's Taemin oppa, staring down at her and smiling, his plaid button down shirt's collar all messed up and his hair wet from snowflakes. He mouths a hello as she tugs her earbuds from her ears. She looks at the clock and sees that it's nearly 6:30, and when she raises her brow at him, he shrugs his shoulder. She almost laughs at herself, because it's not like he owes her any explanation or anything, but she does know his schedule. He said he was going to be late, but she didn't think he'd be this late, not when his class ended at 4:00.

 

"Hi," he says, still smiling, looking really cute, she thinks, as he tries to hide the way he's checking her out.

 

But he can't really help it. She just looks so good, wearing what she's wearing and laying on her bed. Well, what he's come to call their bed. Thank goodness her manager hyung likes his auntie, atleast he can get away with these things for now.

 

And as he thinks about it (he's been doing it since he left Minho hyung an hour ago and started walking home) he realizes that their situation is completely stupid and messed up and just absurd. She's sleeping with him (not that kind), and acting like his girlfriend, but she isn't his girlfriend. He thinks that she must want to be, at least on some level, or she wouldn't be acting the way she is. And he doesn't think he's just making that up, either.

 

"I borrowed these," she says, running her hand over the fabric at her thigh. He laughs, shakes his head and rests his hand on her calf as she drapes her legs over his. "How's Minho oppa?"

 

He smiles, loving that she knows of his coffee after practise with Minho every Thursday. "With Sulli."Her eyes go wide, and he laughs. "What?!" He shrugs his shoulder and shakes his head. "About time."

 

She bites her lip and looks up at him through her eyelashes when she realizes what she's just said, because it probably applies to she and Taemin even more than it does Minho and Sulli. Taemin runs his hand over her skin, like he feels the same way, and though Min is indisposed at the moment, Suzy is sure that if she were witness to this moment, she'd very sternly tell them to just get together already.

 

"Where are Fei and Min and Jia noonas?" he asks, kinking his brow, because he's not sure he even really wants to know. She just laughs and points down the hall through the open door, and he rolls his eyes playfully.

 

"It's kinda my fault," she laughs. "I forced Min to wear something like this, and...i was teasing her about being better at kkap and now shes complaining to the unnies abput it! And I'm pretty sure she told Jokwon oppa also." Taemin shakes his head and moves to lay down next to her, his arm falling across her stomach, chuckling.

 

"What's not to like?" he says quietly. She feels her cheeks heat up. He's given her more direct compliments, of course, (beautiful, amazing, alive) but this one is making her blush. "Suzy?"

 

"Yeah?" she asks as she weaves her fingers together with his.

 

She turns on her side and he pulls her close, almost like he wants to make sure she can't leave him this time. Her eyes look crazy brown, she's wearing just a coat of mascara, and she's looking at him without any worry at all. They've made their apologies, and they've talked about everything but the thing he's about to bring up. He thinks she's expecting it, almost, that maybe she's just been waiting for him to bring it up, and she's prepared for it, prepared to finally stay if he tells her to.

 

She groans when her phone rings, and he reluctantly lets her get up and answer. He wonders if he'll ever get a proper, uninterrupted chance to have the conversation he's almost certain she wants to have too. He watches her (can't help but) as she talks, and she makes some promise to JYP hyung to attend some benefit or another, and she rolls her eyes when she says that she'll go to Chanel's for a new dress, and yes, she'll make sure the rest of Miss A is still planning on attending.

 

She hangs up the phone and throws it towards Taemin, making him laugh as she flops back onto the mattress. "Promise me you'll never let me become so absorbed in work," she pleads as she moves so her head is resting on his lap, now that he's sitting up.

 

He laughs. "There are worse people to become."

 

His heart is pounding though, because never is tied to always, and always is tied to forever, and forever is tied to love.

 

Or at least that's how he sees it.

 

She looks up at him again, lashy eyes and freckled nose and pink glossed lips. "I guess," she concedes. "So you wanna be my date to this thing on Saturday?"

 

He grins, far too widely, and it gives him away. "Your date, huh? Are we trying to create a scandal?”

 

She rolls her eyes, but she's almost laughing. "Mhm. You have to wear a tux. You'll be my arm candy. Don't expect me to actually enjoy your company. After all, we will be sharing a special stage in a few weeks...this is just promotions stuff."

 

"Oh?" he laughs. "Am I that hard to be caught in a scandal in?" She shrugs her shoulder coyly as he twirls a long strand of her hair around his index finger. "Well, I don't have to stay in your room, then," he teases.

 

"Shiro!" she says, grabbing onto his hand. He laughs when she holds it against her cheek. "I like you in here."

 

"Well, i..like it too..." he says. They look at each other for a moment, then both burst into laughter. "Sorry. You know what I mean."

 

Her phone rings again, and she grabs it, immediately hitting the ignore button. "Who the hell is calling me? Half the important people I know are in this dorm right now!”

 

The door at the other end of the apartment opens, and Fei, Jia and Min saunter out, fully clothed, dressed to the nines, and they insist that they, the four of them, are going out to dinner. They went ahead and called the Shinee oppas to meet up for dinner.

 

As they get up to change, Suzy is very aware that she misses the way Taemin was twirling her hair, and he is very aware that he misses the way she was holding his hand.

 

"You know," she says as they stumble back into their bedroom (she's in a frame of mind to think of it as that) after dinner, "no matter how much I see them together, it's still really weird that Jia unnie and Onew oppa are together."

 

"I know!" he cries, like he's been thinking it forever and waiting for someone else to bring it up. "It's like...it's like they so don't belong together, but they really do, and...and..."

 

"And if they were apart, it'd be...stupid," she says, as though it's the most profound thought she's ever had. She flops onto the bed, though she's still wearing the dress she wore to dinner, and her shoes are still fastened and she's still got her makeup on. She's just really tired all of a sudden.

 

"Yeah," he says. He's watching her, though, kind of on display (she's beautiful, so she's always something to behold). Her dress is crimson red and tight through the body with a flirty little flare at the skirt. Her hair is kind of a mess and her eyes look dark chocolate in this lighting. He's not sure if she's more beautiful now, in this, or hours before when she was wearing Shinee clothes and very little else. That's the thing with the Nation's first love; every look is better than the last.

 

She rolls onto her side, definitely feeling the effects of the wine they had with dinner, and lifts her arm up to show the zipper at her side. " me?" she requests.

 

He loves this, always has, and he walks towards her thinking that of all the things she used to 'make' him do, this was probably his favourite. She'd ask him to zip her into her dresses before they went to functions, or her after them, and everything in the middle was just bonus. Something about the smoothness of her skin at her side always did make his heart race a little bit. There's a freckle right on her ribcage where the band of her bra (she never did wear one with these dresses) would sit. He always liked to run his finger over that freckle, knowing that she wouldn't notice, that she probably had no idea that freckle was even there.He doesn't want to keep that secret anymore. As he tugs down the zipper and the fabric falls open to reveal her skin, he runs his thumb back and forth over that freckle.

 

"What?" she asks, when she notices he's paying attention to something.

 

"This," he says, and she looks to where his hand is. "I spent a lot of time looking at this freckle."

 

"What?" she giggles girlishly.

 

"Your bathing suits always showed this," he explains, their eyes meeting. She's finding it hard to focus on his words and not his hand. "I love it."

 

"Oppa," she says, though it's more of a breathy whisper than anything else.

 

He shrugs his shoulder and his hand slides from her side, across her back and onto the mattress, and she sits up, leans over and kisses his cheek, and stands up. She'd like to respond, to tell him something about him that she loves, but it's a dangerous game. That'll turn into lingering looks (they've got those down to a science) and soft touches, and they're alone in this room, and she doesn't want things to escalate without having a conversation. She just doesn't know what to say, and the amount of wine they've both consumed leads her to believe that they aren't in any frame of mind to talk about much of anything. Except freckles, apparently.

 

When she steps out of the bathroom with her satin slip on (the navy blue one, his favourite, he's told her) he's laying beneath the covers, and she wonders if he feels about their relationship the same way she does.

 

Like they're too important to mess up, and if they don't do this right, it won't last. The more time she spends with him, the more things he tells her about herself that she never even knew, the more she starts to think that them not lasting isn't even an option.

 

She honestly doesn't know how they've gone this long making all the wrong moves. As she feels him fall asleep next to her in the darkness, she realizes that whatever the next move is, as long as it ends up in them being together, there's no way it can be wrong. Even if it means loosing fans, its worth it...he is worth it.

 

They look so good together that it's almost criminal. Suzy, with Jia's help, picked a long black silk Valentino with a bit of a sweeping train and a plunging neckline. The only jewelry she wears is a plain gold bangle that Wooyoung oppa brought her from Paris when 2PM was on tour, and a simple pair of gold hoop earrings. And Taemin pulls off a tux even better than most, and he changes his hair so that he looks just a little older, he wants to be Taeman now.

 

Suzy's breath stops for a second when she sees him, fastening his gold monogrammed ( L.T. engraved on the back, a gift on his 16th birthday) Omega when she walks into the living room where he, Min and Fei unnies are waiting. Jia went ahead with Onew just to start speculation with the media.

 

"Finally!" Min proclaims dramatically, heading for the door, heels clacking against the floor. "Maybe if you didn't wait to get dressed until fifteen minutes before we have to leave, we'd actually get someplace on time for once! Ppali!!"

 

Suzy laughs, ignoring the glare she gets from her best friend, and walks over to Taemin. "When'd she get so mean?" she asks.

 

Shinee's maknae laughs and shakes his head. "Where have you been?" he asks teasingly. "Pretty sure she was born that way." He takes her hand as she giggles, and she inhales quickly when he smiles at her, that smile that's always made her totally weak in the knees. "You look beautiful." She rolls her eyes, but they both know she's gorgeous, and he doesn't want to let her get away with brushing it off. He pulls her towards him a little more, his thumb grazing the inside of her wrist. "Beautiful."

 

"Gomawo," she whispers. For something she's heard so much in her life, Taemin has always had a way of making it seem like she's never received that compliment before. "Ooh! Selca!"

 

"What?" he laughs, watching as she runs on her four inch heels back into his bedroom. She comes out holding a camera in her hand, and she presses her cheek against his and tells him to smile, so he does just before the flash goes off. "Fei noona's going to kill us."

 

"Fei unnie's just bossy. It's fine," she insists, turning her head slightly and puckering her lips at the camera. "Oppa! You have to smile!" He laughs, but obliges, and she giggles at having gotten her way (as if there was any doubt.) "Okay. One serious one." She turns to look at him, and he turns to look at her, their faces just inches apart, and the corner of turns upward as she presses the button and takes the picture. She flips the camera around and looks at the photo. "Wow," she whispers. He peers over at the screen and she looks at him. "We look...that's a good picture."

 

She's standing so close that he can feel her hand brushing against his hip as she stands in front of him, and he can smell her perfume. He's kind of going crazy with wanting her.

 

"Suzy, " he says softly, eyes searching her face for any indication that, if he were to kiss her right now (he so wants to) she'd be alright with that.

 

She presses her lips together softly as her hand comes up to take hold of the lapel of his jacket, and he reaches out to rest his hand on her hip. He's watching her lips, and when she smiles, he knows he's got her. In whatever ways he wants her, he has her. So when he kisses her, he almost sighs a little, because it feels like he's wanted this forever (probably has) and that this time, he's never letting her go, and that the fact that she's kissing him back, holding his jacket even tighter, means a whole lot more than anyone might think. She moves a little closer, so her whole front is up against his whole front, and his free hand comes up to cup her cheek, and her arms are draped around his neck. He can feel the discrete, slim little zipper at her side, and he's really ing tempted to tug it down (that freckle...), but he can't do it.

 

She pulls away from him, feeling lightheaded and crazy and giggly and in love or something, and she rests her forehead against his. She doesn't laugh, because it's not funny. It's...it's real. Her forehead is against his, and his eyes are still closed, so she brushes her lips against his once more, just softly. She can't get enough of him. She has no idea why they didn't do this sooner.

 

"We have to go," she reminds him. He sighs, holds her tightly and doesn't appear to want to stop holding her tightly. "I know," she whispers. "But we promised."

 

"We have to...we should...talk," he manages, though when he opens his eyes, he's a little spellbound by her.

 

She nods, slips her hand into his and walks backwards towards the door, knowing damn well that he can't not follow her. "We will," she promises.

 

When he finds her again, a fresh glass of champagne in his hand to give to her, she's talking to some politician, and he almost laughs, because since when is she so into politics? But he hears her holding her own in a conversation about low-income housing in Gangnam, and he's reminded that she's been reading the paper and watching news shows when she's  sitting in a chair waiting for her filming to begin. And there's something ridiculously y about a girl that gorgeous being well-informed. But there he goes again, thinking that something (everything) about her is the best thing. As he weaves through a few people, flashing a smile as he does so, he thinks that if he were asked to, he wouldn't be able to pick his favourite thing about her.

 

They got separated after saying their initial hellos to her JYP Nation family, Suzy asking, too loudly for Jinyoung hyung's liking, what the benefit was for anyway. Taemin just smiled politely and tried to reign Suzy yah in just a little bit, catching the subtle wink Jinyoung hyung sent him for his efforts; the two of them have been doing the same thing for years, it's just easier now, getting Suzy to plaster on her smile, stand up straight, and act like the perfect idol she is. The media are always crazy to get more pictures of the most saught after idol. And now that Miss A and Shinee have shown up to this big benefit, nietizens will be going crazy for the scoop on these two famous groups.

 

She's certainly living up to that title now, Nations First Love. He rests his hand on her back and offers her the flute of champagne as he smiles at the man she's been speaking with. Taemin sees now that it's one of the Mayor's advisors, and he extends his hand.

 

"Taeminssi" the man, Park Hyun Byul says. "How is your President? Sooman ssi?"

 

Taemin smiles and nods his head; he's gotten used to bluffing. "Same as always," he says, and both he and the ahjussi laugh, for no reason in particular. "How is Sooyoung ssi? Is she still organizing the clothing drive at the orphanage?"

 

Suzy looks over at Taemin, completely surprised that he both knows who HyunByul's wife is, and which charities she's tied to. That's kind of...y. But then again, everything about Taemin especially right now, his soju, in one hand and his other resting at the small of her back, his black bowtie tied to precision and his brown eyes shining in the light of the chandeliers, is y.

 

If she thinks hard enough (if she lets herself) she can almost see them in ten years, rings on their fingers, doing this very same thing.

 

She stands, the very picture of a perfect woman, and listens as HyunByul explains that his wife is indeed still chairing the committee, that she's currently visiting relatives in the US, and Taemin promises to have his mother be in touch to help out with the charity. When it's just the two of them alone again, Suzy drapes her arm around Taemin's shoulder lazily and turns so they can survey the room.

 

"This isn't so bad," she notes.

 

She watches Onew and Jia talking to one of the city's foremost real estate developers, Jia smiling easily and Onew hanging on the man's every word. She watches Jonghyung and Fei, looking completely uncomfortable and out of place, and when Minho oppa checks his watch, she knows he's promised Soomanssi and JYP Oppa that he'll be there only until a certain time. Key sends Suzy a pleading glance from across the room and she laughs, because he's caught in a conversation with three 70-year-old women who think he's just the cutest thing. Min's giggling into her champagne flute and tossing her hair over her shoulder as she talks to some boy or another. Things could be worse. She realizes that this is one of the first functions she's been to when neither she nor Taemin are avoiding each other.. She doesn't want to remember how that feels like.

 

She can tell he's a little nervous or something, and she assumes it's because they were kissing earlier and didn't have any time to talk about what that all meant (though she hopes to God it means the same to him as it does to her). This is the most she's stood next to him in an hour and a half, and she really hopes that wasn't by design.

 

They make it through another hour, standing there together, nursing their drinks and talking to anyone who talks to them. She laughs, says it's kind of weird that they're already so well-known that people seek them out to chat at these things, and Taemin reminds her that not only have they been coming to these parties since they debut, but now that they're 'famous and successful idols', they're deemed almost equals. So Suzy laughs when one man tells her that she never would have liked college anyway, and Taemin laughs when someone makes a satirical idol joke, and she's on her third glass of champagne when things start to go south.

 

Han Chungi, a man notorious for taking advantage of open bars and running his mouth just a little bit, walks towards them, and Suzy can't think of a good excuse for a quick exit, so they're ered into a half hour conversation with the man and his gossip of a wife. The conversation starts to wind down, and Suzy is just about ready to breathe her sigh of relief, but it's premature, she learns.

 

"Tell Myungoo, he's doing a great job in Infinite, will you?" Peter says. "It's about time we had a good man like that representing..."

 

She tunes the rest out, and she's never been more thankful that Taemin knows her so well. He locks eyes with her, notes that her glass is empty, says a quick goodbye to the couple, and holds out his arm for her to slip hers through. They make it out of the room and into the hall, but Suzy hasn't said a word, and he doesn't know what that means at all. They've talked, and he knows she isn't still hung up on L, but on this night, of all nights, he really wishes she hadn't had the reminder.

 

She leans back against the wall and tips her head back. "Thanks," she breathes out, her eyes closed.

 

"Kwenchanna?" he asks worriedly, taking a step towards her. She looks at him and smiles, because he's just so perfect. Perfect looking, perfect...everything. She nods her head and slips her hand into his. "Okay."

 

"You wanna go?" she asks. She's looking at him through her eyelashes, gorgeous eyes blinking at him in the dim light of the corridor, and he can't say no. It's his turn to nod, and he can't stop himself from kissing her forehead, just gently. "We'll just say goodbye." The two did not notice a person with their camera out when they were sharing an intimate moment. 

 

She tries to move away, but it's just been killing him to not have been able to really talk to her at all, not about the thing he thinks is most important. "Suji ya."

 

She sighs, like it's not the time or the place (it probably isn't) but pulls him a little closer anyway. "Oppa," she whispers. She doesn't know how many tries it's going to take before they actually have this conversation. She wants to just kiss him, because she's not great with words, but she's great with that. But she thinks he deserves words, because he's said so many amazing ones to her recently, and she wants to make him feel the way she felt when he said what he said. "I want you so bad," she admits, her eyes locked with his. She weaves their fingers together. "So bad."

 

"Suzy."

 

"No, Taeminnie, it's been...I've felt more...me in the last couple months than I have in forever...," she says quietly, because that just sounds so similar to what he said to her that night, and she doesn't want to ruin his sentiment by merely saying it back to him. "And that's you. You do that for me."

 

He shakes his head and laughs softly. "That's all you."

 

She bites the corner of her lip and she thinks she's going to do something stupid like cry, because he's always seen her as the perfect girl, even though he knows she's not. He doesn't ignore her flaws, try to cover them up or offer up solutions to fix them, fix herself. He knows what she is, every part of her, and he wants her anyway. She thinks that's kind of beautiful.

 

"It's just...with you and me, there was always a reason not to, you know?" she says, and he nods, because it's true. "And...maybe I was trying to find a reason why we shouldn't...why we couldn't do this, because it was easier than admitting that...that we really should," she admits. He looks just a little confused. "Because...because what if it doesn't work, Oppa?"

 

He brushes her hair back from her face and shakes his head as he smiles. "What if it does?"

 

"Taemin ah."

 

When he speaks, his tone is so soft that she has to really pay attention, to look at him as he talks. "Don't give up on us before we even start," he insists. He can tell she's trying not to smile. "You know we're good together, Suji, You know that."

 

"Yeah, Taminnie oppa, but...what if...the fans...”

 

"What if I love you?" he says, and he'd swear his heart stops, because doesn't he know by now that you can't just tell this girl that you love her? 

 

But she smiles, and her eyes shine like she might be tearing up, and he leans in a little closer. "What if you do?" she asks coyly.

 

"I won't hurt you," he says seriously. "I promise. I'm not..." He takes a breath, closes his eyes as he says the words that he thinks she might hate. "I'm not like them. And the fans, if they are truly our fans, they will always be there.”

 

She knows what he means. Who he means. He's not L or Kim Soo Hyun or Junho, and he's not her costar in a movie or drama, who disappears after their work is complete. He is real, what they have is real.

 

She kisses him hard, because he's never been any of them. He's never lied or judged her or used her (okay once, but it's water under the bridge now anyway). He's never left her to fend for herself or left her crying in a candlelit room. He'd do just about anything for her, and he's proven it time and time again.

 

And the thing is, she loves him so much, the way she loves him, but she knows that she doesn't love him the way he loves her, not yet anyway, and it scares her a little, because feeling more for him than she already does is kind of a big deal. There'll be no going back once she's told him so, once she feels the same way he does. The way he's so insistent that they'll work and that he won't break her heart, makes her really want to get to that point. She doesn't think it's going to take very long at all.

 

And she's confusing even herself, because every time they kiss, every time he even gets this close to her, she feels like she's in love with him. It'd scare her if she could feel more for him than this, because she was in love with someone else before, but this is even deeper than that. Maybe it's the history and the friendship they've always had, but with Taemin, it feels like more of everything than it ever was with anyone else.

 

She pulls away from him, his eyes dark chocolate and his breathing heavy, and the way his hands feel on her hips and the way he feels pressed up against her, she doesn't think she can wait until they get home. And besides, it's kind of their 'thing' to sneak out of parties to be together.

 

She gets a devious look in her eye as she slips her hands into his and pulls him towards the unmanned coat check room, and as crazy as she's making him, he at least has the good sense to say her name and ask her what she's doing. The door closes behind them, and her hands are on his lapels as she giggles, pulling him close, and he's laughing when she kisses him. He can't very well tell her to stop, not when all he's wanted for months is this, her, like she is right now, happy and laughing and gorgeous and his.

 

Her shoe tumbles from her foot as she pushes him back into the room, and she smiles against his lips and s his jacket. She's lopsided as they walk, and they break apart only to laugh at themselves, and then he pulls the clip from her hair (she knows how much he loves it when she wears it down; it's just her) and his hand cups the back of her head to keep her close.

 

It's not until his back is pressed against a wall and she's got his tie and his top two buttons undone that he takes a second to think about exactly where this is going, what they're doing and what they've said. As much as it kills him to stop her, as for the second time in their lives she slips her hands beneath the fabric of his dress shirt, he pulls away a little bit.

 

"Suzy." He's almost certain his eyes roll back in his head when she kisses him, just to the left of his adam's apple. He places his hands on her upper arms, holds her tightly and their eyes lock. "I've waited so long for this."

 

She smiles and blinks slowly. "I know."

 

"So let me take you home and..." He stops to take a breath, knowing that what he's about to say won't scare her away. It's an amazing feeling. "Let me lay you down and be with you."

 

She feels like her heart might explode or something, overwhelmed by him but not getting enough of him at the same time. She takes his face in her hands gently and kisses him, just once. "Okay," she whispers.

 

He buttons his shirt and jacket as she finds her shoes again, and her hands shake the entire cab ride back to the Empire, and when he slides closer to her, nuzzling against her neck and whispering something about how she looks in her dress, she feels like she's 16 again with a silly crush on him that she's not supposed to have. Only now she's 19, and they're together (together! and it's making her giddy) and whatever's about to happen between them is completely okay. More than okay.

 

She kisses him in the elevator, both her hands in both of his and their bodies pressed together, because it's been far too difficult to not kiss him since they left the function they were at. He nearly keels over when she tucks her hand into his pants pocket and comes up with they key to their place. But as soon as they're inside, she tells him that she doesn't want interruptions, that she just wants him, and so they take the stairs, stopping to kiss (they don't laugh, because they want one another far too much to think anything is funny), two floors down to the suite that's hers that she hasn't stayed in in far too long.

 

He s her dress, kisses that freckle he's only ever kissed once or twice before, and he lays her down on her bed and looks at her like she's all he's ever wanted. When she breathes out his name and reaches out for him, he loosens his tie and drops it to the floor, and he kisses her as she s his shirt.

 

"Suzy, I..." He stops, shakes his head and looks at her, because he knows her too well to think that he could just say those three words, present tense, and not scare her.

 

"What?" she asks, placing her hands on his cheeks as their eyes lock.

 

He's never felt anything more amazing than this. She's telling him that it's okay to say them, that she wants him to, and that she's not going anywhere if she hears him say that he loves her. It'll be real, serious and big and something that he can't take back. It won't be part of another discussion, not like earlier. It won't be a question. It'll be absolute, and it is, he knows, but saying it out loud to her, having her want to hear it, is almost too much; he's been waiting for this, for some variation of this moment, for all his life.He smiles, runs his thumb over the apple of her cheek sweetly like she's the most delicate thing he's ever touched. "I love you."

 

She wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him close, and he kisses her neck a few times. She doesn't know how they got here, and suddenly all the stuff that happened before, their entire sordid past, doesn't seem so complicated anymore. After all, at the root of it, there was just love. She loved him, and he loved her, and maybe that was wrong or inappropriate at times, but it's all seemed to work out. Because right now, she's realizing that they're still young. They're not as old as they sometimes feel, and they have all sorts of time to figure everything else out. Very little is more important than him, his weight resting atop her and her heart beating a million miles an hour.

 

"I love you too," she whispers, her lips right next to his ear.

 

Maybe it's a little crazy to say it so soon; they're just barely a couple. But they've been building towards this for years and years, probably since he sat and listened to her talk about him on Sukira . Since he told her he wanted to be closer to her too. Since he told her not to go with Lssi and since he fell asleep in that bean bag chair, waiting for her from her schedule. Since he stayed with her and since he insisted she stay with him. Since he'd do anything for her and she realized she'd do anything for him.

 

They don't say much more after that. He's finally heard what she's wanted to say for so long. And she's his now. This was how it was supposed to be, Taemin and Suzy. Taezy... Fans would have to accept them because he breathes for his woman and she lives for her man. In time, more words will be expressed, moments will be shared  but their love...will always be their Truth.