A/N: Based on Valerie-hyung's beautiful dp! She inspires me <3

It was raining heavily. Minho's clothes were drenched and the water dripped off his nose, little droplets that splashed onto the ground and formed puddles at his feet, swirling into the gutter. He shivered slightly in the cold; his smart designer suit was not made to protect him from any sort of bad weather.

His phone rang, again, the shrill ringtone piercing through the steady patter of rain. Minho sighed but knew he should answer it; it was probably important, like all of the calls he got. He was the type of guy whose work followed him everywhere he went...and he didn't mind, because really, what else was there? He looked up at the sky; it was dark and overcast, the grey clouds obscuring any sunlight so that it looked a lot later than it actually was. Dark and dull, like Minho's mood was becoming these days.

Another useless phone call, another long talk about something that didn't matter outside the world of Minho and his colleagues. He sighed, trying to listen patiently but honestly not caring what the person on the other end had to say. Couldn't someone else deal with it, he asked after a while? Obviously not. Partly because he was tired and partly because he was trying to concentrate half-heartedly on the conversation, he didn't notice that he'd almost walked right into the road. He stopped himself just in time at the crossing and glared at the red traffic light as if he blamed it for almost getting him run over.

“Minho-sshi? Are you there?...Minho-sshi!”

“Oh, sorry, um...yeah, I'm here. Carry on...”

He closed his eyes for a second, cursing his colleague and the awful weather and everything else he could think of that was disrupting the peace he craved from life. He was unusually melancholy that afternoon, maybe because it was Monday or maybe just because he was fed up with the same old boring routine.

When he opened his eyes and the lights still hadn't changed, he looked around impatiently, noticing for the first time the figure that stood to his left. It was a man (boy?) around the same age as himself – no, definitely younger – carrying a blue umbrella that was way too large for his slight frame. The thing that stood out most about the boy was his bright blonde hair; it shone like an unnatural beacon of light in the grey, colourless surroundings. Minho found himself drawn to it, wondering what it would feel like under his fingers...it looked so silky and smooth, just like the boy's pale skin. He wore skinny jeans, highlighting his slim, toned thighs, and Minho couldn't remember seeing a boy with such a flawless figure.

And then the boy turned to look at Minho, and Minho couldn't help but stare back. His dark eyes sparkled with slight curiosity; he didn't seem put off by the fact that a stranger was staring at him. Any other time and Minho would've been embarrassed by his behaviour, but as it was he couldn't tear his eyes away.

He had never seen anyone so beautiful.

_

No-one had ever looked at Taemin like this man was looking. His gaze was intense, to say the least; his eyes seemed to look straight through Taemin's to somewhere deep inside him. Taemin shivered, but it was definitely not from the cold. He gripped the handle of his umbrella tightly and shifted from one foot to the other, suddenly self-conscious because this man was hot, and he was looking at him.

He was taller than most of the people Taemin had met, with tanned skin, a chiselled jaw and strongly defined features. His eyes were the most stunning feature of all, almond-shaped and coloured a deep shade of brown that contrasted with his short, jet-black hair. He had full lips and a body to die for, with muscles in all the right places. But Taemin wasn't jealous...it was enough that he was able to look at someone so perfect. Taemin appreciated beauty more than anything else in the world, and here he was, presented with a masterpiece all to himself. He carried on staring, mesmerized, not caring how strange or creepy he might have looked to a passer-by.

It had been Taemin's first day of the last year of high school, and needless to say it hadn't gone well. There was the usual teasing, and name-calling, and shoving in the corridors...ignorant kids calling him 'poof' and 'flower' and the most original of all, 'gay boy'. But mostly people ignored him, and he ignored them, and all in all the worst thing he could say about his day was that it had been boring.

But all of that was forgotten, now. Everything was forgotten completely as he stared into the eyes of this mysterious, handsome man who stood barely metres away from him, seemingly as awestruck by Taemin as Taemin was by him. Time passed slowly to Taemin as he stood across from the man, unwilling to move or blink for fear of losing the sight before him.

Because as far as he knew, there was nothing in the world so beautiful.

_

The traffic lights changed from red to green and back again, neither figure noticing as each stood motionless, transfixed by the other. To any observer they were an odd pair; tall and short, dark and light, the moon and the sun, if you will. They were together, it seemed, and yet so far apart. They couldn't read each other's thoughts but they didn't have to; in some unexplainable way, they were connected beyond even the power of thought. They had forgotten, in that short space of time, everything but the person before them; the rain continued to fall but it might as well have been droplets of gold for all they noticed.

The younger one was the first to act; he smiled shyly, his stance timid but his expression confident and assured. Anyone watching would've seen the older's eyes widen slightly, momentarily too stunned to do anything but stare. He hoped his eyes could convey the smile that couldn't quite reach his lips.

Nothing happened for a moment, but it seemed that the boy hadn't been put off; breaking eye contact, he stepped forward cautiously and offered his umbrella to the older figure, who accepted with a grateful nod and moved so that his body was completely covered from the rain. They were close now, close enough to touch and close enough to hear each other's steady breathing.

The pair stayed like that for a long while, content to watch the traffic drift past and feel the other's presence beside them. They remained in silence for what seemed like an age, and when it was finally broken it was by the younger, of course.

“My name is Taemin,” he said hesitantly, the simple introduction suddenly sounding ridiculously trivial.

“Minho,” replied the other in a deep, equally unsure voice.

And there it was. Taemin and Minho, Minho and Taemin; their names didn't matter to them exactly – after all, they were just words – rather it was the way that they fitted together so perfectly in spoken form, transforming them from strangers at a crossing to acquaintances with a potential future ahead of them.

But at that moment neither the blonde boy or the tall, dark-haired man cared about the future, or anything else, really. They stared once more at each other, and their stares became smiles, and time stretched out until they didn't know how long they'd been like that, just smiling at each other, memorising each tiny feature on the other's face as if it were an undiscovered treasure.

“Taemin...” whispered the man, tasting the name on his tongue tentatively, only loud enough for one person to hear. “I'll remember that.”

And he did. He remembered it forever; long after the rain stopped falling, the lights stopped changing, and the traffic stopped passing by. The name was ingrained on his memory for many years to come; through the early stages of their relationship, through their life together and into old age, he would always be reminded of that slight figure at the crossing whose light shone brighter than any sun. And although he would maintain as an old man that love at first sight was complete nonsense, deep down in his heart he would thank the heavens for this moment that allowed him to experience the meaning of true beauty.

Without either one making a conscious decision, they finally linked hands and walked across the road, focusing only on the green light ahead.

Needless to say, they never looked back.