“Hi, you look awfully familiar…”

Those were the first words that spilled out of Jonghyun’s mouth the first time he laid eyes on his personal tutor. There were a million other conventional introductory lines he could have used. Something along the lines of ‘Hi, nice to meet you’ or ‘Hello, thank you for taking the time to be here’. Yes, those would have been the politer ways of greeting a person that he would be spending the next couple of months with.

It was hard to ignore, though, how much Jonghyun recognized the boy’s thin nose, bony cheeks and sharp jawline. Not forgetting those lips -those pink, plump lips- Jonghun definitely has seen those.

But where?

Still, what was done was done. Besides, it didn’t seem like the boy minded anyway. He simply pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, smiled and stretched a hand out for a handshake.

“Lee Taemin. I’m pretty popular around here…” the red-head said, giving Jonghyun a firm handshake before moving to place his belongings on the library desk that Jonghyun had been saving for this tutoring session.

His words were cocky, but Jonghyun could not bring himself to believe that the boy was. He just seemed pretty confident and sure of himself. In fact, his clothes were even speaking to him at that same volume with the rest of his personality. Dressed in bright red coloured skinnies and plaid shirt, not to mention the ears that adorned multiple piercings, he made Jonghyun feel like someone from a different time. He paled in his washed out jeans and old t-shirt next to Taemin.

“Ah, I see… that must be it then… My name is-“ Jonghyun began to say, finally shaking off his inferiority.

“Kim Jonghyun, I know…” the boy finished for him. Jonghyun was struck speechless for a moment before he remembered that the tutors were usually given all details of the students they are helping so that they could prepare beforehand. He smiled a little sheepishly, rubbing a hand behind his neck as he gestured for the other to take a seat.

Why was he acting this way? Jonghyun was usually more tactful when meeting people, no matter how beautiful and adorable and attractive and- he’s off on a tangent again. There’s just something about Taemin that was making him lose all his wits. Something. He has definitely seen him somewhere before, he just couldn’t recall where.

“So maths, huh?” Taemin said, pulling out his endless teaching materials. He can’t really be serious with all these, right? Jonghyun was hoping to do this tutoring thing just for the sake of his teacher’s incessant nagging. It’s not like he needed to pass the exam with flying colours. Where he’s going, numbers are as pointless as can be. He just needed to pass. Period.

But looking at all the books on the table now, Jonghyun felt like he was going to be preparing for the college entrance exam after all.

“Look, sunbae-nim. I was-“

“Sunbae? I’m in the same year as you…” Taemin interrupted, amused. Jonghyun looked away, teeth digging into his lower lip.

“Alright, Taemin-shii, we should-“

“Taemin’s fine. Can I call you hyung?” Taemin asked, looking up from a book that he was scanning through.

“I don’t think that’s necessary. We’re the same age-“

“I’m a year younger than you. Fast-track program, heard of it?”

This time, Jonghyun really was too embarrassed to even meet the other’s eyes. He was going to be tutored by a seventeen-year-old. Not that Jonghyun really minded the cute face that he was supposed to be ‘stuck’ with. But still, a year younger?

Way to go, Jonghyun.

Anything Jonghyun had to say, he swallowed it all and just prepared to listen and follow. The faster he gets this done with, the faster he could leave to hide for the rest of his life.

“Hyung, I’m here to help you and all, but I can only do so much. You’ll have to work hard on your own to pass, alright?” Taemin said, getting straight to business. No beating around the bush for him. Jonghyun wondered how Taemin managed sounding so serious and looking so laidback at the same time. The mixed expressions left Jonghyun’s ego no space to be hurt for being tutored by someone younger.

It’s the point of learning right, to receive knowledge from someone who knew more. So there’s really no reason for Jonghyun to be feeling second-rate. Right.

“Shall we get to it, then?” Taemin asked, eyebrow cocked in question and lips curved up in a small, disarming smile. All of a sudden, Jonghyun wasn’t dreading this anymore. In fact, he had a feeling that he would be enjoying his lessons more than he did his school classes. And who knows, he might actually learn a thing or two in the process.

By the fifth tutoring session Jonghyun had with Taemin, he was actually beginning to make some progress. He no longer referred to the letters in his mathematical problems as just ‘x’s and ‘y’s, he now knew to call them algebraic terms. He took an effort in memorizing the formulas Taemin taught him and he learned to be patient with the questions that required really long answers.

It really helped, though, that Taemin was always there, egging him on to finish what he started. Jonghyun could not imagine himself spending hours and hours on end with numbers without the other beside him, being completely devoted to teaching most of the time, but also up for some goofing around when it got boring. They had a lot of things to debate about; music choices, sports, TV shows. And Taemin always had the wittiest things to say about everything, which left Jonghyun -hurt about his own lameness mostly, but also awestruck.

He realized that he was harbouring a little crush for the younger boy by now. It made him feel completely amateur (which he completely was, for the lack of many dating experiences...) But it felt good too, the butterflies in his stomach when he managed to make Taemin laugh a little or when rare physical contacts occurred between them. He hadn’t felt those butterflies since the first time he kissed a boy. Speaking of kissing, Jonghyun imagined a lot about doing that with Taemin. A lot.

Especially whenever Taemin chewed on his lower lip thoughtfully as he checked through Jonghyun’s work. Yeah, Jonghyun would be sitting there feeling nervous for all the wrong reasons.

Just like he was now.

“You skipped a step here and you messed up the entire working after that. I think you’d be doing much better without all the blank staring…” Taemin said nonchalantly, never once lifting his eyes from the paper.

Jonghyun began choking up on his own saliva then. He reached for his bottle of water on the floor beside the bed, trying hard to drink without sputtering the fluid out. Taemin barely glanced up, obviously amused but not saying anything as he returned to checking after uncrossing his ankles on Jonghyun’s study desk and re-crossing them the other way.

“You know, for someone who learns so quickly, I’m wondering how it’s possible for you to this bad at maths…” Taemin thought out loud.

“Not my thing, I guess…” Jonghyun said, shrugging. A few more minutes passed by in silence. Jonghyun simply collapsed back on his bed, sighing out loud.

“Bored already?” Taemin asked.

“It’s the weekend. I’m supposed to be writing…” Jonghyun said, stretching and yawning.

“Your music? Why aren’t you, then? You called me here, remember?” Taemin pressed and Jonghyun heard some shifting in the room. Jonghyun sat up, excited.

“Yeah, because you promised you’d listen to my music the other day. I wanted to show you… Do you want to listen now?” Jonghyun asked, bursting with a new energy since they were on his favourite topic.

Taemin placed the sheets of paper in his hands on the table before turning to Jonghyun, legs and arms crossed. He eyed Jonghyun for a while, god knows what was running in his mind.

“I’d love to stay longer, but I’m busy on the weekends too, you see?” Taemin said.

It had Jonghyun wondering- why? Despite Taemin’s initial claim that he was popular in the school, Jonghyun had quickly come to realize that it was not for all the good reasons. He didn’t have many friends, the few he had were not really close to him. He was the resident genius that everyone envied and nobody liked. The only reason Jonghyun hadn’t known him was because he had transferred just a couple of months ago.

So what could possibly be keeping the boy busy on the weekends?

“I have to work…” Taemin answered simply, as if he had heard Jonghyun’s question.

“Oh…” was Jonghyun smart reply as he watched Taemin collect his belongings and get up to finally come up to him. His sweater was way too big on his slim figure so it had slipped down his shoulder a little, but Jonghyun’s view of the pale skin beneath was obstructed the very next moment by the bag’s strap.

 “Yeah, which is why I have to leave. I’ll listen next time, if you’re still interested in showing me, that is…” Taemin said, brushing his bangs off to one side absent-mindedly before his eyebrows furrowed at something. Jonghyun’s did the same. Just as he was wondering what’s wrong, he watched Taemin’s hand reach out for his face. He didn’t know what got into him, but Jonghyun recoiled like he had just been shot by electricity. It startled Taemin a little too, but he broke into a small chortle, retracting his hand.

“I just thought I saw white hair, hyung. Don’t worry, it’s just lint…” he said, voice filled with mirth. Jonghyun groaned as silently as possible. He thanked god then for not being one to blush. Nevertheless, his awkward shifting must have been a dead giveaway of his embarrassment.

“Hey, Jjong! Mum told us to order takeout, do you want-“ Jinki stopped abruptly with his ranting as soon as he saw Taemin. It seemed like a silent spell fell over everyone for a few moments. Just as always, it was Taemin that was first to diffuse the spell. Youngest in the room and still he carried himself more maturely than Jonghyun’s older brother that was already in university.

“Taemin. Jonghyun-hyung’s tutor…”

They shook hands but it was slightly comical to watch as it was more like watching the President shaking the hands of a dead mummy for how unresponsive Jinki was, given that he wasn’t the most eloquent with first meetings either. It was a trait that seemingly ran in the family. Jonghyun had to do the introduction to save his brother the pain.

“Well, I guess I’ll go first then…” Taemin said, waving a little back at Jonghyun first before leaving.

It wasn’t until Taemin had left that Jinki came back to life. And come back to life he did with all this bursting energy out of nowhere.

“Goddammit! Jonghyun, seriously?! How did you even meet the guy?!! I mean, how’d you do it?!!!” Jinki was shouting, following Jonghyun around, bouncing with endless enthusiasm. It was beginning to get annoying. Taemin was his to crush over. Not Jinki’s! He wasn’t even gay, for heaven’s sake.

“Stop it, hyung! I know he’s pretty and all but you don’t have to be so-“

“Oh my god, you don’t know him do you?!” Jinki asked, causing Jonghyun to stop dead in his tracks.

“Know him?” Jonghyun repeated after him skeptically. Jinki opened his mouth to continue before he apparently found a better idea. He ran off at the speed of light, socked feet sliding on the wooden floor more times than it should. He returned with a blank disk in his hand that he shoved into Jonghyun’s hands. The marker ink scribbled on it read ‘Assignment 2’.

“Your collection?? What?!” Jonghyun asked, confused.

“You have the first part. Didn’t you watch it?” Jinki asked, breathless from running.

“What does it matter if I did? I thought we were talking about Taemin here. What is the connection-“

Jonghyun went mum for a bit, realization setting in and slowly, all pieces of the puzzle falling into its places.

“Holy !” Jonghyun cursed, almost dropping the disk in his hand.

“Hey, careful there! That’s my prized possession, alright? Holy indeed. And here I was thinking that my brother was finally getting some action…” Jinki said, clicking his tongue in apparent disappointment. He hopped away gleefully with the disk in his hands, leaving a very dumbfounded Jonghyun behind.

How did he not realize?!

The hair had been different. That was the only argument Jonghyun could come up with. Because how could it have slipped past him that this red-head was the exact same brunette in Jinki’s collection of premium adult movies. Those same eyes that were usually hidden under bangs –sweaty bangs matted on his forehead, that is- and those lips. Jonghyun definitely remembered where he had seen that mouth work its magic before, as incredulous as it was to conceive.

Intelligent, mature, cute seventeen- year-old Taemin was the star of many adult fantasies that Jinki had introduced him to. Now that’s something completely unimaginable.

But even amidst all the shock and disbelief, there was still that tiny little disappointment in Jonghyun that was vying for attention. Something that should be the last thing on his mind now.

Taemin made straight .

Jonghyun has had a terrible time that entire day at school and it all has been mounting up to this situation right here. He knew it was going to be awkward for him to see his tutor dearest again after the latest revelations. He had tried to put it off his mind, thinking that if he never mentioned it, they would get through this whole tutoring thing without complications on either party. But it’s hard to put it off his mind when it’s all he could think about.

Jonghyun probably should have fought off his curiousity to rewatch one of Taemin’s movies last night because now the images were as fresh as ever. It sent shivers down his spine just picturing it.

 “Hyung, you’ve been zoning out a lot today… What’s wrong?” Taemin asked, shaking Jonghyun a little from his reverie. He had been trying not to stare the whole time and considering just how much self-restraint he had, of course Jonghyun had been doing just that.

“S-sorry… Didn’t get enough sleep last night…” Jonghyun murmured, avoiding eye contact by looking at the problem he was currently working on. Now, how does he solve it when there are so many unknowns? Should he take one out first- Taemin has such a musical moan, it’s truly beautiful to listen to although it might as well be faked-

, my mind’s in the gutter again!

“Really. Well, we still have to-“

“You know what? I’m feeling really tired. I think I’ll just go. So sorry for bothering you and taking up your time for nothing…” Jonghyun said in one breath, standing up abruptly causing his chair to skid on the floor and disrupt the peace in the library.

“You know, don’t you?” Taemin’s calm voice registered in Jonghyun’s brain long before the meaning of the words did. He looked up, worried that he might have insulted the other, only to find Taemin staring up at him expectantly. No anger, no embarrassment, no awkwardness. Just him wanting to know the answer to his question.

Taemin seemed to understand by the lack of answer and the reluctance to meet his eyes.

“Do I scare you somehow?” Taemin continued to ask. Jonghyun had it in him to scoff at that, as unconvincing as it sounded.

“Okay, not scared. Are you by me?” he asked. Jonghyun’s face felt way too hot by then. He broke out into an awkward coughing fit for no reason at all, grabbing onto textbooks with sweaty palms to put them in his bag.

“Are you disgusted then?” Taemin asked, with that same nonchalant tone. It caught Jonghyun’s attention even in all his self-conscious state. This time, he made the effort to lift his head and to look Taemin in the eyes as he answered.

“No, I’m not.”

It’s Jonghyun’s most convincing answer of the day. Because it was the truth. As easy as it would have been to begin looking down on the younger boy for doing what he does, Jonghyun had brought himself to thinking if that fact changed anything about the way Taemin has made him feel the whole time. No, it hadn’t. It had just been a new thing to learn about the younger boy. A very interesting new thing, of course. Now, Jonghyun was just even more curious.

What’s the story behind this boy?

“Then, sit back down. We’re continuing this lesson…” Taemin said, smiling again before pulling Jonghyun down by his wrist.

“Look, don’t go being all awkward on me, okay? If you would be a good student and finish all these questions by the end of our session today, I’ll treat you by letting you ask all the questions I know you’re dying to, okay?” Taemin said, really tempting Jonghyun with his offer.

So, Jonghyun stayed. He did his best to concentrate and he finished his work in record-breaking time, although he doubted that even half of it would be correct. At least that’s what Taemin’s expression was saying as he went through the workings.

“Ask away, hyung…” Taemin said distractedly, pulling out his calculator to check something.

Jonghyun stalled for a bit, knowing that this was what he had been waiting for. He twiddled with his fingers for a bit and shifted on his seat countless times, phrasing and rephrasing the questions in his head to make sure he doesn’t come off nosy or rude.

“Ask, hyung. We haven’t got all day…” Taemin pushed and Jonghyun blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Why?”

Taemin did not respond for a while, his eyes scanning the papers in his hands carefully.

“It’s my job. What do you do jobs for, hyung?”

Jonghyun nodded quickly, not wanting to seem like he was judging or anything.

“Oh it’s not just for the money though. I’m not going to tell you a sob story that got me into the industry. I started ‘cause I had what was needed and I was good at it. I’ve come to learn that it’s extremely… fun as well…” he answered, leaving Jonghyun frowning a little from how simply Taemin took all of this.

“So you’re not being forced into it? No one’s-“

“Oh for god’s sake. I wasn’t sold into some brothel to be used. I chose to do what I’m doing…” Taemin looked slightly irritated by now. He put the papers in his hand down and he took to looking at Jonghyun straight on, which only made it that much harder for Jonghyun to keep talking.

“Do you do it with men too?” Jonghyun asked the thing he had been most curious about the whole time. Taemin lifted an eyebrow, as though he was reading into the question and even into Jonghyun if that was possible.

“I’m gay, if that’s what you wanted to know. But I guess I’m a in that area, on camera anyway…”

Jonghyun’s heart lurched a bit at the little piece of information, but it didn’t help that it only reminded him about Taemin doing things for the camera.

“Why not-“

“I guess they think I suit the innocent student meets naughty school teacher roles better, I don’t know, hyung. Are you done interrogating me now?”

Taemin seemed more than just a little irritated now. Well, he was the first to suggest this question-answer thing so Jonghyun’s about to take advantage it whether he likes it or not.  

“No, I have one last thing to ask…” Jonghyun stated indignantly.

“Don’t you get shy? You know, with all those eyes on you, while you’re at your most vulnerable state too…”

It took a while for the question to sink in, but when it did for Taemin, he seemed to go lax a bit as a small smile grew on his lips.

“Shy?” Taemin sounded patronizing. Jonghyun simply swallowed his pride and stay put to listen to the answer.

“It’s called acting, hyung. I’m never at my most vulnerable state, I only seem like it. It’s only logical, don’t you think, since I obviously swing for the other team…”

“Still! With your… you know, junk hanging out and all-“

“You’re really cute for a senior, you know? I’d think I’m corrupting a child for the way you speak…” Taemin pondered, making Jonghyun’s stomach flip. Biting back a smile, he fought to come up with a reply.

“Well, how else am I supposed to speak?”

“Honestly? I was expecting you to ask for my services…”

Jonghyun’s face felt pretty damn hot right then with all the heat rising. He exhaled deeply before he continued.

“I don’t need your services. All I need is your time. This Saturday, at the restaurant you spoke about the other day…”

“Would that be a date?”

“Errr... It doesn’t have-”

“So it’s not?”

“No! I mean, yes. I mean-“

“So it’s a date which is not a date?”

Jonghyun had to stop to get his bearing in the conversation because he was completely lost. Heck, he didn’t even know how they came down this path of conversation that had possibly disastrous outcomes.

 “Lika a non-date?” Taemin looked dubious.

“Errrr… yes? Don’t you want to?” Jonghyun finally settled for saying.

Taemin stared at him long and hard, obviously waiting for the punch line of the supposed joke. It never came because it was never a joke. Jonghyun was being dead serious, despite how thoughtlessly and spontaneously the words had spilled out his mouth. Taemin held his stare for a moment longer before he looked away, eyebrows furrowed.

“Okay then. Pick me up at 7…” Taemin agreed, still expecting it to be a joke Jonghyun supposed.

“7 it is…” Jonghyun confirmed, feeling proud for having been smooth once in his life and having asked this beautiful boy out. Okay, smooth is an overstatement, but still, it was unbelievable. He had a date (a non-date, really) with his dearest tutor and it wasn’t supposed to involve books and calculators.

Like a real date date.

As Jonghyun watched Taemin leave, it finally dawned upon him just what he had gotten himself into. A non-date. The prospect of it was already beginning to scare Jonghyun and it hasn’t even been a few minutes since he asked Taemin out.

(A/N) Cookies for those who understand the stupid pun I was going for with the title... XP Thank you again for your time!