Naeun~

Eungh. There was a weight on her waist. Naeun shifted uncomfortable and moved her arms a bit. She was a little bit surprised to find that her hands found a warm surface. A moving surface.

Her eyes flew open, and she gasped. She was facing Taemin’s upper body now, his arm still hugging her, and her hands on his chest. She automatically shoved him off the bed and sat up.

“Oof!” Taemin grunted as he landed on the ground with a thud. “Ouch!”

“You’re staying on the couch next time,” Naeun ordered, her face burning.

“Oww, I just needed a stuffed animal of some sort . . .,” Taemin complained. Naeun’s face went red with embarrassment and annoyance.

“Fine. Today, we’ll go to the store with everyone and get you a stuffed animal while we discuss war tactics. Does that make sense?” Naeun inquired, glaring at him. “Just stay away!” Taemin ran his hand through his bedhead and shrugged.

“Sure. Whatever,” he mumbled, getting up and dusting himself off coldly. “You don’t have to act so disgusted.” He left to go to the bathroom, throwing the bedroom door back so it would close loudly.

Naeun bit her bottom lip guiltily, knowing she had hurt his feelings. Well. It was out of line for him to just waltz into her room, right? She must’ve been too tired to think it through . . . That was the reason she let him stay, right? Right, she told herself. Naeun put her hands to her cheeks and waited until the warmth of her face died down. She checked her reflection and made sure her complexion was normal.

“Okay,” she whispered, pulling on her school uniform and hitting her chest repeatedly so that her heartbeat pace would slow down. “Nothing even happened. School. Shopping. Discussing plans to overthrow a hoard of angels. Nothing. Even. Happened.”

~~~~~~~

“We’re heading to the store down the street,” Naeun told Kai, who nodded.

“We can head to the restaurant after and the guys will talk about it while you work. Jonghyun says he can get the boss to go really easy and give them a break. Something about his perfection and Minho’s aegyo,” Kai sighed, shaking his head. Naeun laughed, but it died down when she noticed Taemin staring at them.

He hadn’t talked to her for the whole day. It was weird.

It was the first time he was really mad at her.

“God, why do they always hang out with her?” It wasn’t Da-yeon, but just another pretty girl from the school. “I don’t get how someone like her can get all those boys with her. What is she, a-”

Naeun knew what they were going to say, but she just turned towards the gate. It would be the usual, how she was just some attention-seeking girl with a bad attitude and whatnot . . . It shouldn’t have hurt anymore, but it did.

“Naeun, are you okay?” Kai said quietly. “You know what they’re saying is stupid, right?” Naeun nodded, pressing her lips together. She felt weird. Kai was comforting her, but . . . was it not him she wanted the comfort from?

Taemin~

Those girls were such jerks. Automatically, Taemin stepped forward to Naeun, but Kai was already whispering to her. Naeun nodded, and Taemin couldn’t see her expression from behind . . .

He stepped back and lowered his head so he could glare at the ground.

“Why are you still acting like this?” Taemin turned to the voice. It was Onew, and right next to him was Minho, crossing his arms.

“What? Ignoring her?” Taemin laughed dryly as Naeun and the others started down the street. She noticed her walking very slowly for some reason, but he didn’t think much of it. He knew better than to be too hopeful.

“No. Not trying. And that, too,” Onew added, shaking his head. “It’s ridiculous. We all feel awkward with you two acting so distant. It’s obvious you’re both uncomfortable.”

“Really? I can’t tell with her,” Taemin said angrily. Minho wrinkled his nose and hit Taemin over the head. Taemin’s eyes widened. He only saved those kinds of whaps for Onew Condition!

“You’re acting stupid, Taemin.” That was all he said before joining the others ahead. Onew looked at Taemin and jerked his head, a signal for him to follow. Taemin’s shoulders sagged and he followed slowly.

“Here,” Naeun said softly as they arrived at the small store. It wasn’t very crowded, but a few people stopped to look when eighteen teenagers crowded into the toy shop. Taemin watched as Naeun turned into a random aisle. He had the urge to follow, but then Kai did and . . .

“Kai! Help me with this,” Key called to the oblivious boy. Kai’s tan skin wrinkled up around his eyes when he frowned.

“Why?”

“Decide which one is better.”

“Ask your boyfriend.” Kai glared at Jonghyun.

“Jjong isn’t my boyfriend; he’s my servant. You’re the most mature here besides Suho, help me.” Key smirked when Kai let out a big sigh and trudged over. When Kai wasn’t looking, he winked at Taemin and mouthed, “Go get ‘em!”

Taemin smiled weakly and hesitantly entered the aisle. Naeun was tiptoeing and trying to reach the top shelf for something. He quietly walked forward and pulled her back lightly by the shoulder. Naeun gasped when she saw him.

“Sorry. Which one did you want?” Taemin asked quietly. Naeun blushed and pointed. Taemin reached up and took it down, staring at the stuffed toy in his hands. He couldn’t help but be puzzled. He was holding a mushroom plushie with a red head and white polkadots. It had a tiny winking face on its surface. “Why . . .?”

Naeun quickly snatched the medium-sized toy away, looking away. “It . . .” Naeun stopped and looked at the mushroom before she started to giggle. Taemin blinked.

“You’re . . . laughing?”

“It . . . I got it because it looked like you,” Naeun gasped, laughing harder as she grabbed her stomach. Taemin’s mouth fell open. “I still remember how you looked when I first met you. That bowl cut was really weird! I had to keep drawing that silly head of hair in my sketchbook when I tried to remember you.” Naeun was on her knees now, shaking with silent laughter. “It’s like a twin!”

Taemin hadn’t realized that he was grinning widely until Naeun looked at him in surprise. His stretched cheeks relaxed as his smile slowly went back to normal. Naeun got up from the ground and cleared .

“S-sorry,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to make fun of you.”

“No. It’s okay,” Taemin mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He pretended to look at the other things lining  the shelves. He remembered his hyungs making fun of him for his mushroom head a lot before. And he remembered seeing her sketches of him in the notebook.

“Here.” Naeun stuffed the mushroom in his hands. Taemin raised his brows.

“Why are you giving this to me?” he asked, squeezing the plushie slightly.

“Y-you said you needed something like this to sleep with. Isn’t that why you barged into my room?” Naeun replied softly. Taemin gripped the toy tighter.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. I didn’t know it would annoy you so much. I won’t do it anymore, then,” Taemin said, turning away. She’d told him to stay away, so he would do that. Suddenly, he felt a hand grab his arm. He blinked a few times and looked back at Naeun, who was holding another plushie. This time, though, i had a little eyelash, and it was pink with white polkadots.

“I - I didn’t mean it like that when I told you to stay away, you know,” Naeun said quietly. “Is that why you’re mad?” Taemin didn’t say anything, letting her decide what the answer was herself. “I’m sorry I made you feel bad. If I get a matching one, will you forgive me?”

Taemin couldn’t help but smile as she held up the mushroom so that it covered part of her nose, her eyes peeking cutely and apologetically over the toy. He pretended to consider this and rubbed the back of his neck, brushing at his black hair. Naeun’s eyebrows furrowed, and he chuckled.

“Okay,” he said softly. He wasn’t completely happy yet, but he couldn’t stay mad at her for long. Naeun smiled brightly and hopped forward so that she was a few inches away from him. Taemin smiled wider. She was getting used to him, being close. That was a good sign. “You have to promise to sleep with it every night, okay? I’ll send you good luck through it!”

“So corny,” Naeun sighed, shaking her head as she left the aisle. After she left, Kai came around the corner and stared at Taemin for a long time from across the corridor. Taemin twisted the side of his mouth, one hand in his pocket and the other holding the plushie.

“You got a point this round, Tae,” Kai said.

“This isn’t a game to me,” Taemin said sharply, turning around to pay.

“It’s not a game to me either,” Kai said before he could start walking. Taemin froze. “This is a competition, and she’s the prize. And I’m winning.” Taemin felt his gaze burning as he whirled to glare at Kai. He closed the distance between them in a few long strides and grabbed Kai by his shirt.

“She’s not just a thing you can win like some toy at a fair booth, okay, Kai?” he growled, shaking Kai angrily. “This isn’t about us fighting over her, it's about her. Only her, not you! You’re just something in the way.” Taemin let go of Kai’s shirt and stormed off, leaving the younger to gape at him.

A/N:

I didn't check the grammar and how I wrote this chapter.

Really sorry for any mistakes or boring/useless/overall bad parts because

I have like three projects I need to get done!

But

Even though I have three projects

I'm literally just staring at my laptop screen

And scrolling through fanfics

And not even trying

siiiigh

Do you realize why I'm so tired?

It took me hours to make a gif. Yes. A GIF.

With all the editing and spacing.

And colors and pictures.

And then guess what?

My sister came and used my laptop.

AND

LOGGED

OFF!!! AJSHDIAJROFIWJSPRJFKLZ

THEN I HAD TO REDO ALL THE EDITS

And the gif didn't even turn out well!

SUCH SHAME

But thanks for reading y'all!

Yes, I said y'all.

P.S.

YES, this was the gif that took me forever. OKAY.

Don't judge.

I worked hard on it.

I'm going to try to make more, because even though it's a pain, it's sort of fun to make them.

Ok, bye now~~~~