“Wow, our Noona looks so natural in that outfit,” Taemin said for the tenth time about the outfit he put together for you at the store that was now a few blocks back.

            “Heh,” You chuckled. “Thanks.”

            “You mean your noona, Taemin,” Jonghyun said. “I’m still the oldest here.”

            “You might as well be the youngest.”

            “What was that?” Jonghyun turned around to look at the maknae.

            “Nothing,”

            “No, you just—.”

            “Noona, look!” Taemin’s sudden burst of energy caused you to perk up with interest. He’s certainly gotten used to calling you that. “Noona, Noona,” He hooked his arm around yours, pointing to a large building that sat at the end of the long street. You couldn’t read Hangeul, but you did recognize the large 2-D fish that hung underneath the sign. Taemin tugged at your arm. “It’s the aquarium. Let’s go, huh?”

            “Right now?” You asked, already curious on what types of marine life were behind those sliding glass doors.

            “Oh no,” Jonghyun cut in. “Not now, Taemin. There’s no way we can go in there and not get recognized.”

            “We’ve done fine so far, Hyung…” He whined. “Hyung, please…” Jonghyun gave no signs of letting up, but that didn’t seem to stop Taemin. “Hyyuuuuuunnng, let’s go this one time, hm? Please?”

            “Taemin, no,” Jonghyun said, his mind set in stone, but his facial features gave you a different vibe. “There’s no way—”

            “But—”

            “Can’t we go?” You asked. “I think it’d be fun.”

            Taemin looked at you, half surprised. “Yeah,” He said, quickly taking advantage of his defenseless hyung. “It’ll be fun.”

            Jonghyun heaved a sigh. “You know, if we get recognized, be prepared for me to kill you, Taemin.”

            “Ne, Hyung~,” The maknae smirked.

            “I’m not kidding…”

—

            “Ooh, ooh, where should we go first?” You grinned as you gripped half the aquarium map in your hand. Taemin held the other half.

            “Well, there’s the small fish, like cuttlefish and the minnows, here,” He pointed to the left side of the map. “And then, on the right side, there’s the larger fish and the walkthrough shark tank.”

            “Whoa, you can walk through it?”

            “Yeah, you really feel like you’re in the tank with them.” He said, looking at the map further. “Oh, there’s also some penguins and birds and seals outside.”

            “Is it too cold for them to be outside?” You asked.

            “It’s not too cold today, so I think they might be out.”

            You grinned with delight at the thought of meeting the penguins. Realizing how quiet Jonghyun was, however, you looked over at him quick enough to notice he was smiling at you. “What?” You questioned.

            “Nothing,” He smiled. “Let’s just find a place to start and go from there. It’s still early in the day, so we should be able to see them all.”

            You hummed to yourself as you scanned the map for a starting point. “Maybe we should start with the small fish and work our way up? I think that’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway.”

            The two nodded in agreement. “Sounds good,” Jonghyun said. “Lead the way to the cuttlefish.”

—

            The three of you eventually made your way to the small marine life area, only having a few people turn their heads to look. Otherwise, the aquarium was filled with families only wanting to entertain their child. You looked at the small fish, admiring the detail that appeared on their scales. You looked at angelfish, anthias, gramma, blenny, boxfish, blowfish, butterflyfish, and even the eels. Though they were creepy-looking, you couldn’t help but be in awe by the patterns on the eels; that is, when they came out of their holes.

            After you’ve seen all of the fish that were smaller than a foot, you moved to another area to look at the stingray, batfish, frogfish, and the zebra moray. Taemin shared your excitement towards the moray. Although it was classified as an eel, it had black and white stripes; hence the name. And because of its length, it’s been put in a different tank with eels and fish similar to its size.

Every now and then, when you looked for Jonghyun to share a reaction, you would find him sitting on a nearby bench, looking at you like you did at the fish. You didn’t know if he realized that you noticed him, but you couldn’t help but feel your cheeks turn hot every time you looked. Normally, you’d be creeped out by any guy that showed even the slightest smile towards you, but it felt different with Jonghyun. It didn’t feel like some guy that you just met the other day. You couldn’t shake the strange feeling that kept sparking in your chest.

“Shall we move on to the sharks and squid?” Jonghyun asked as he approached you and Taemin in front of a baby stingray tank.

“That’s right up there, isn’t it?” You asked, looking at the map.

“Yeah, over there, to the left, is a long hall we have to go down to get to the shark tunnel.” He said, not missing a beat.

“Whoa, Hyung,” Taemin said. “Daebak.”

“What?”

“You really know this place, huh?” You asked, though it was more of a statement.

“Uh, hah, I guess so.” Jonghyun rubbed the back of his neck. “Let’s, uh, let’s go.”

“Yeah, sure,” You said, following close behind him. Just like he said, the three of you turned left into a long hallway. A sign at the front showed a picture of a shark, so you must be going the right way; not that you didn’t trust Jonghyun.

“Here we are,” He announced.

The three of you were standing in a hall surrounded by thick tempered glass. The dense crystal wrapped from one side of the passage, up above you, and down to the other side; it was just like a tunnel that ran under the ocean. You couldn’t believe that the glass was strong enough to hold up thousands of gallons of water without breaking or at least cracking. You walked up to the glass and looked in the large tank. It wasn’t full, but there were enough sharks to pull anyone’s attention. Hammerheads, tiger, and bamboosharks swam around the glass, barely grazing the top of the tunnel as they switched sides.

Unexpectedly, as you were pressed up against the glass, one of the sharks passed right in front of you. You jumped back, startled by the animal’s sudden appearance, and accidentally collided into someone.

“Are you okay?”

You looked over your shoulder to find Jonghyun was the one who broke your fall. Embarrassed, you stepped away from him. “Y-yeah, sorry about that.”

“It’s fine…” He said.

You both heard a scoff from the other side of the hall. “Get a room, you two.”

“T-taemin…!” Jonghyun started to protest, but the maknae already went back to looking at the sharks.

You quickly turned back to looking at the sharks, too, before Jonghyun turned back to you. He let out a sigh as he stood next to you. He cleared his throat. “Sorry about that.”

“No, I’m sorry.” You apologized. “I’m the one who bumped in to you in the first place.”

“Yeah, well…at least let me apologize in Taemin-sii’s place.” He gave a shallow bow. “I’m sorry if he made you uncomfortable.”

“No, I wasn’t.” You said a little too quickly, surprising Jonghyun along with yourself.

“Oh, I—”

“Crap,” You swore. “No, wait, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I did but I…what I’m trying to say is…it wasn’t really….but wait, I’m not saying that I didn’t like…wait…this is coming out all wrong..!” You shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut from embarrassment. You were sure you confused him with your chopped up sentences—hell, you confused yourself—but you were even more confused when he started laughing. You slowly looked up at him.

He chuckled unashamedly. “You’re so cute.”

He was so straightforward about it that it caught you off guard. Did he mean it in an adult to a child kind of way or was he serious? By the look on his face, it seemed like he was just talking to you on a friendly level. But even if that was it, why was your heart pounding so fast?

He seemed to read your thoughts because he quickly turned away and coughed. “I mean…that, uh, I was just saying ‘cause Taemin kept going on about how you’re…” He smiled

“You sure are smiling at me a lot today.” You teased, trying your best to seem calm.

“Am I? I didn’t notice.”

You grinned. “Thanks for the dress, by the way.”

His eyebrows raised in question. “You…”

“I was able to tell,” You said. “When she said one of you got me the dress, you really didn’t look at me. Taemin, on the other hand, was the opposite.”

“I’ll keep that in mind next time.” He smirked.

“Next time...?”

“YAH,” A yell came from at the end of the hallway. The two of you looked over to find Taemin waving his arms. “Noona! Hyung! Let’s go! We need to get back for dinner..!”

A/N:
Cuuutee. I mean, nice chapter.
Another chapter, another scene of intensifying cuteness
WHO SAW TAEMIN'S M/V??
My baby's all grown up :')
Jonghyun said he's really proud of Taemin and that he's Taemin's number one fan. (Even said he's the leader of the fannclub)
My favorite song on the album is Pretty Boy
(Taemin's song, featuring Kai, and written by Jonghyun??? Amazing song)
Thank you all for reading, once again, and as always, don't forget to comment.
(Tell me the song you like the most on his album if you've listened..!!)