Sweet Greetings (A JongTae Oneshot)

            The second they laid eyes upon each other they knew that the times they’d spent chatting with each other meant more than just the words that had been written and said. Simply by the way they stared at each other, with her eyes shining with the brilliance of ten thousand unshed diamond tears and his dark eyes glowing with an underlying glint of curiosity, it was easy to tell that this was more than just a friendly exchange.

            With graceful steps they approached one another, advancing one foot and another, closing the gap that had separated them for so long. The wind blew their clothes and hair around gently, providing a little slapping noise that filled the sparking air. One knot tied into four more in TaeMin’s stomach as he neared the boy he had longed to meet. If he squinted his eyes in the direction of the sun he could almost see the fireworks going off above his head so grand was his excitement.

            Alas, the space minimized itself until there was not but the white puff of their breath between them.

            Silent – except for the muffled breaths of air chilling their insides and moving out in big gusts and the steady boomp-boomp of TaeMin’s heart beating against his chest. As the birds chirped up above and sent the naked branches of the dozing winter trees into frenzy, he hushed his excited heart and spoke the opening words of their meeting.

            “Hello.”

            Simple, short and sweet and the most normal of greetings and yet he knew that there was more than just fireworks dancing above his head now. There was a full orchestra with the violinists working their bows at an unrealistic pace, the cellists rocking dramatically with every move of their arm and the trumpeters red in the face from blowing fiercely into their mouth pieces. Somewhere, the percussionists were stumbling around with their cymbals and banging the life out of their drums as the conductor desperately tried to reign in his musicians to no avail. And to think that the orderly chaos had been sprung about by one look into the face of the suave fellow in front of him was enticing…

            “Hey.”

            As if the orchestra had needed any amplifying, it now had the leading voice of the angel’s choir accompanying it and that sent TaeMin into a giddy fit.

            “Hi.”

            The greeting game was long way done, but somehow that had slipped out. It was followed by a scattered line of apologies and cheap explanations that drew a melodious laugh out of the boy. He raised his hand, long fingers that TaeMin knew spent hours plucking guitars and writing lyrics that had touched his heart more than once, and halted him mid-sentence.

            “Relax,” he chortled, flipping his hair out of his face with a quick flick of his head. “Let’s go.” A smile that could have outshined the sun was directed in TaeMin’s direction, abruptly ceasing the beat of his heart for milliseconds. He nodded absently, in a stupor from the brilliance, and followed on autopilot. His shock took time to wear off, but it rushed back in the moment he felt those lithe fingers loop with his, squeezing slightly to make sure he couldn’t slip away.

            “My fingers are cold,” he joked, cocking his head sideways to grin at TaeMin.

            Another nod, his chin hardly reaching his chest.

            Part of the orchestra line fell over in their rush to achieve the loudest, most perfect combination of noise. It gave the conductor time to reorganize the scattered sheet music and rearrange them so they were in a neat pile. But when he raised his baton, ready to swing it around and call the attention of his troops, the pianist danced his fingers across the keys and kindled another round of disorganized music.