It was the stupidest idea he had ever heard of, this whole ‘First Kiss’ thing, (“Campaign, Hyung!” Kibum whined. “Campaign!”). Who just enters a room, with a camera he might add, to kiss a total stranger?

Lee Jinki, that’s who.

To be fair, it wasn’t really his decision to begin with. It was stupid Kibum and Taemin’s fault. His two (now former) best friends who were also members of the culture committee in the university the three of them were attending. The very culture committee that had come up with the crazy idea to put two strangers in a room and make them ‘kiss passionately’, which basically meant faces with a stranger. Oh, the joy.

“It’s to show the power of a simple action of love,” Kibum had wisely explained when Jinki had protested profoundly to his ridiculous suggestion that he should be one of the participants.

It was a campaign (Jinki thought the word viciously) for love in all its sizes and forms. And while Jinki didn’t have a problem with that at all as he believed love was an uncontrollable force that could happen wherever, whenever, he had a very big issue with being dragged to the very room it was happening in by Taemin because he “owed him a favour”. Jinki was almost entirely certain he had already paid his debt to the younger, but the other refused to acknowledge it no matter how much he pleaded.

“What if I’m already seeing someone!” he protested, willing his feet to grow roots into the ground as the black haired boy dragged him with forceful purpose down the halls of the main building. “This would be considered cheating!”

“Hyung, do you hear yourself?” Taemin scoffed. “What if? Would be? That means it is still just a speculation. And I know for a fact that you haven’t dated anyone. Ever. You’ve always been too busy with your studies!”

“For a good reason!”

“Can you just relax, Hyung? We can film you in the dark so you don’t even have to look at the other person.”

That didn’t make it even a little drop better. However, Jinki’s spluttered comeback was interrupted by Kibum’s appearance as he walked out the door they had now stopped in front of and Jinki realised they were outside the auditorium. The blonde looked him up and down once, a disapproving frown forming on his forehead, before sighing like he had the world’s problems on his shoulders. Although Jinki wasn’t a violent person, at that moment he wanted nothing more than to rip the other’s head off. He was feeling burdened?

“Hyung, lose the glasses will you? It’s a good thing yours is going to be one of the ones that are shot in the dark, your fashion sense is as horrible as ever.”

“Excuse me, but did I ever ask for your opinion?” Jinki said indignantly. “No. So just leave my clothes alone!”

Kibum rolled his eyes and Taemin snickered. This was seriously not his day. Jinki was about to give both of them a lecture in his best Hyung-voice when a girl with short, black hair and cute, round face stuck her head out the door, smiling upon seeing the trio.

“We’re ready!” she announced cheerily.

“Thank you, Sulli,” Kibum smiled at her before turning to Jinki with a stern expression, trying to snatch his glasses off his face. Jinki put up his best fight but lost quickly thanks to a little devil named Taemin, who grabbed his wrists to keep him from swatting Kibum’s hands away. Jinki looked at them with pleading eyes, which were pointedly ignored.

“Now I want you to go in there confidently and kiss the living daylights out of your partner.” Kibum ordered. “You need some more action in your life other than the turn on you get from solving difficult equations.”

Jinki just stared at him incredulously for a moment. He knew he was not socially gifted but he definitely didn’t get a turn on from equations, no mater how satisfying it was to solve one he had been trying to decipher for hours.

“I-I can’t! I didn’t even volunteer!” he protested weakly, knowing that when Kibum ordered something it happened no matter how impossible it may seem.

“Minor details,” Taemin piped up and received a glare from the oldest, which was returned with a cheeky grin.

Suddenly Jinki was pushed forward by a force on his back and it took him a moment to realise Kibum had repositioned himself behind him when his attention was elsewhere in order to push him towards the open door.

“Hyung, don’t make this harder than it is,” his blonde friend panted since Jinki wasn’t going down without a fight even if the outcome would still be according to Kibum’s plans, spurning his feet into the floor the best he could.

Taemin joined soon after, noticing how Kibum’s strength wasn’t enough, and both of them successfully pushed him over the threshold and into the completely pitch black room. Jinki turned to plead with his torturers, panic striking him in a cold wave, only to find the last bit of light (both literally and metaphorically) get extinguished as the door slammed in his face and darkness pressed on his eyes.

“Smile!” Kibum’s muffled voice came through the door hearing the click of the lock. Great. “First impressions are everything!”

“First impressions can go to hell,” Jinki muttered. “They can’t even see me.”

He stood for a moment in silence, his arms crossed over his chest in protection and defiance. It was weird being in a completely light free room. It gave him an eerie feeling and he almost expected some sort of weird creature to come and grab him, eager to devour his soul. Trying to convince himself nothing of the sort would happen, he took a small step forward. Having absolutely no idea of exactly where in the room he was didn’t really work in his favour, though, and he stumbled. He cursed silently and decided to stay put. Whoever was kissing him had to make their way through the darkness alone, he was staying right where he was. With his clumsiness he would probably end up face first on the floor with a broken nose and, first impressions or not, that was not something he wanted the other party to know. Because if they knew he was clumsy they would figure out who he was in no time. Even if he was socially inept Jinki was unfortunately infamous for being one of the smartest but clumsiest persons on campus. And since he was childhood friends with two of the most popular people in university, most knew who he was.

Suddenly there was the sound of another door opening on the other side of the room, sending in a small spot of light and Jinki’s heart flying into his throat. He barely managed to find the source of it before the door had closed again and the darkness returned. He hadn’t even managed to see how his partner looked, if it was a boy or girl, tall or not, long hair or short hair. He let out another small sigh, trying to calm his now hyper alert nerves. It was futile as he could feel himself start trembling with nervousness. He was going to kill Kibum and Taemin.

“Um…” a deep voice said uncertainly and Jinki froze. “Hello?”

He cleared his throat awkwardly and shifted his feet slightly. Well, it was a boy. That much could be concluded. Although he had no problem with it he wasn’t so sure about the other party.

“H-hi,” he stammered back, the pitch of his voice slightly higher than normal, making him even more awkward.

“Oh, so you’re a guy,” the deep voice said and there was a thud of something bumping into another.

Jinki could feel heat prick his cheeks and he cleared his throat again.

“Y-yeah… sorry.”

“No, no, it’s cool,” the other said. Another thud. “I’ve kissed both guys and girls before, so it doesn’t matter.”

I haven’t kissed anyone.

Jinki decided that that little piece of information was something he didn’t need to let the other in on. Instead he settled for an: “O-oh.”

There was a chuckle on the other side of the room and the sound of the thudding grew louder, closer.

“What a-are you doing?” Jinki asked, slightly panicked. It sounded like the other was hitting stuff and he didn’t really want to imagine why with his hyperactive mind at the moment, thanks to the darkness.

“Mostly trying to find you,” the deep voice chuckled again and Jinki felt stupid for not realising that was what the sounds were. Then he blushed at the thought of what would happen when the other finally did. “We’re kissing, remember?”

How could he forget?

“Oh.”

For being someone as smart as Jinki his brains were certainly not proving their worth at the moment, especially in the language department.

Suddenly there was a fumbling at his sleeve before a warm hand grabbed his. Jinki jumped slightly, letting out an embarrassingly girly yelp of surprise.

“Found you.”

The deep voice was now right in his ear and he couldn’t help the small shiver going down his spine caused by the vibrating hum in the baritone that could be heard because of their closeness.

“Now, where is your face?” the other murmured and Jinki felt his breath ghost over his cheekbone.

Another conclusion; he was taller.

The hand that had been holding his let go in favour of sliding up his arm slowly, rounding his shoulder and caressing gently up his neck to cup his cheek. Jinki’s breath stopped and he thought he would pass out any moment.

“Here it is!” his soon to be first kiss announced triumphantly.

Jinki could only make a strangled, surprised noise.

“This is going to be awkward since I can’t see properly,” the other laughed, sounding a little nervous. “So I apologise if I miss the first time.”

“N-no- I- you-” Jinki started but cut off abruptly as a pair of slightly chapped but soft lips landed in the corner of his mouth, making his head spin with incoherent words that wanted to be spoken. Instead his brain was now all filled with white and pink fluff, making him think of cotton candy absentmindedly.

“Damn,” the deep voice said lowly, the words barely registering in Jinki’s mind. “Missed.”

He barely managed to form a coherent thought in his head before the lips were on him again. This time they found their target and Jinki was suddenly overwhelmed with the foreign feeling of someone else’s mouth on his, the cotton candy exploding into stars in all the colours of the rainbow and more even if it was only a soft, innocent press of lips against lips. Jinki found himself closing his eyes automatically. He wondered briefly if his make-out partner had closed his as well but forgot all about it when he felt the tip of the other’s tongue gently nudge his bottom lip. He frowned, having absolutely no idea of how he was supposed to reciprocate that action. He was only academically smart after all.

“Open… your mouth,” his make-out partner said in-between the soft presses of their lips when he seemed to realise Jinki’s confusion.

He obliged without question and let his lips part slightly, his breath coming out in an involuntary gasp. He could feel the other smile as he let his tongue run along his upper lip before meeting his own, leading it in a dance that was entirely new to Jinki. His partner’s other arm sneaked around his waist to pull him flush against his body while the thumb of the hand that was still on his cheek rubbed his cheekbone gently. Jinki’s heart was at its exploding point and he completely lost himself in the small gasps they both emitted, the feel of their tongues meeting again and again and the small pecks between the heavier making out. If there was such a thing as falling in love with a kiss, Jinki had just accomplished it.

Sadly, it was over all too soon. His kissing partner (who was a complete stranger Jinki suddenly realised with burning cheeks) pulled away, leaving a last soft press of lips against lips. Jinki let his arms, which had been squeezed between their bodies, fall limply to his sides as disappointment washed through him when the body contact disappeared completely. He brought one hand up to gingerly touch his kiss-swollen lips, staring into the darkness in amazement while forcing his wobbly legs to stand properly.

“I-” the deep voice cleared his throat. “That was… nice… thank you.”

Jinki just nodded dazedly, then remembered the other couldn’t see it and hummed instead to inform him he had heard and agreed. There was a low chuckle and the thumping started up once again.

“I have to go now,” the other said, sounding slightly reluctant, “but see you around, I guess?”

Jinki could only hum an affirmative again. The other seemed to have reached the door by then as there was a knock on wood and the room was slightly lit up by the outside light. Jinki’s senses returned to him and he quickly squatted down, hiding himself from view. There had been something magical about the way everything had happened and he wanted to keep it that way for a while, the mystery of who his partner was and the feeling of only the kiss connecting them without being disrupted by looks or names. He was sure his kissing partner wouldn’t really be thrilled to know who he was anyway. That’s why he didn’t see the other turning around, his eyes sweeping over the seemingly empty room in search for him, and that’s why he didn’t take the chance to investigate the other’s looks more either. This would be his precious memory to keep without expectations or opinions.

He sat on the floor after that, continuing to stare dazedly out into space in the darkness until someone opened one of the doors again with a loud bang and turned the lights on. Jinki hissed and shielded his eyes with his hands, not quite used to the brightness after so long staying in the dark.

“So how was it?!” Kibum’s excited voice rang through the room.

“Totally worth it, right?!” Taemin cheered.

“Yeah,” Jinki mumbled under his breath, an inevitable grin spreading on his face.

“Hyung?” Kibum asked, clearly not having heard him, which he was quite thankful for. “Where are you?”

Jinki got to his feet heavily and turned to his two friends, giving them a fake glare.

“You two are buying me lunch,” he ordered before stalking past them and out the door without another word, trying his damndest to keep away the gigantic grin threatening to take over his features.

Two weeks passed after that incident and the kiss was still very much on Jinki’s mind, messing up his usually focused study hours to daydreaming sessions instead. He couldn’t help letting his imagination get the better of him as he thought of a sweet reunion with the one who had kissed him where the other would magically know who he was by just looking at him, walk over and kiss him much like he had in the dark. It made him extremely tempted to force Kibum or Taemin to spill about his kissing partner, but always changed his mind in the last second. If they realised just how big an impact that kiss had on him he would never be able to get them to stop having fun at his expense.

He got updates on the progress of the campaign, though. The culture committee had gathered all the footage they needed and it would take about a month and a half for them to finish the entire product, which they then would show the school as a Valentine’s Day special as the project would conveniently have been finished the day before.

Jinki was a little nervous thinking about the entire thing. While he imagined a romantic meeting between his first kiss and him involving toes in the sand and sunsets even though it was in the middle of December, he knew it was most probably never going to happen. It might even backfire in his face once the owner of the deep voice finally realised who he was. It left a sinking feeling in Jinki’s chest. He had always been told that he was too plain and boring, only focusing on his studies since he was awkward around other people which he hadn’t known for long. He just hoped his kissing partner wouldn’t be too disappointed when he found out his identity because they both had clearly enjoyed the kiss.

Completely caught up in his own thoughts, Jinki failed to pay attention to his surroundings and crashed right into another student, their books and papers flying everywhere as they both fell to the floor. Jinki, being quite used to always tripping here and there only let out a small sigh, ignoring the stinging coming from the end of his spine where he had landed, and quickly got to his feet to help the person he had knocked over up as well.

“I’m so, so sorry,” he apologised as he started picking up anything in his reach, not properly looking at the other in his hurry to fix his mistake.

“It’s alright. It was my fault as well,” a deep voice said and he froze in the middle of gathering up a pile of papers.

The voice was more familiar than Jinki would have liked to admit and his heart was beating against his ribcage painfully as he looked up into dark brown eyes that were now studying him curiously. He stared back into them, his mouth opening and closing as he racked his brain for something, anything, to say while his eyes took in the handsome young man before him. He had a small face, his lips were plump and oh-so-kissable (which Jinki admittedly already knew), his eyes were the biggest he had ever seen on a Korean and his black hair was nicely ruffled on top of his head.

“Uhm…” the other said and Jinki blinked, trying to compose himself as he broke his gaze away from his face, looking down at the floor instead. “I think you have some of my books… and papers too.”

Blushing, Jinki promptly dumped everything onto the floor again much to the other’s apparent amusement. He let out the very same chuckle Jinki had been replaying in his mind for the past two weeks, turning his brain into pink fluff, before he swiftly rearranged a the things on the floor in two piles. Then he picked one up to give to Jinki, who just stared at him uncomprehendingly.

“Here. Everything is yours,” he said with a friendly smile.

Jinki blinked at him a few more times before shakily reaching out to take it, his head completely empty.

“T-thank you,” he remembered to stutter.

The other got the curios glint in his eyes back and he tilted his head to the side slightly, looking thoughtful.

“Are you in my class? I feel like I’ve met you somewhere before,” he said and Jinki thought his heart would stop, praying to every higher being that the handsome and tall young man wouldn’t recognise him for who he was.

“No, I-I don’t t-think I am,” he answered shakily. “I have n-never seen you b-before.”

Technically, he wasn’t exactly lying. He had never seen him. Only felt his lips on his own, his arm around his waist and his breath ghosting over his cheek. Jinki’s face grew hotter.

The taller was still looking at him, pondering.

“Minho!” someone called from behind him and the other, now identified as Minho, turned around to look at a shorter, blond man. “Are you coming or what? We’re gonna be late for class!”

Minho laughed a little. “Coming!” then he bent down to pick up his pile and turned back to Jinki. “Sorry about walking into you. I have to go, but let me make it up to you sometime!”

Jinki just stared at him dumbly, his brain too overworked with information and nervousness to even process what the other was saying. Minho smiled again and balanced all his stuff in one hand so he could give a small wave before hurrying over to his friend, leaving Jinki rooted to his spot in the middle of the hallway.

Well, this was certainly going to be his most interesting school semester yet.

A/N: Half of this was written in the middle of the night, so I apologise if it seems weird :(

Anyway, I hope you liked it!

Bye~~!<3