I hope this was satisfactory! Thank you for reading~
It was late afternoon, and the last moments of school finally arrived, bringing sweet laughter and relieved faces. It was Thursday after all, a few days after Taemin’s inward explosion. The seconds counting down to Friday tasted like candy to the energetic teenagers. The rush of students storming out of their classes and practically skipping towards the exits made it especially difficult for Taemin to scope out the large crowd for his friends, or his ulterior motive, Jongin.
He knew there was a very small chance of running into Jongin, for Taemin rode the bus home and Jongin drove himself—the school parking and bus loop were on the complete opposite sides of campus. It had been two days and 9 hours since Jongin and Taemin’s last interaction, and Taemin tried to ignore the fact he was counting the time since. In all honesty, our young protagonist was not discontent for the heartbreak of silent love; he was very used to that. This new kind of pain, which focussed more on exclusion, was just an addition to add to the growing list of things that made his emotions scream.
Sun instantly introduced itself to Taemin’s vision, which blinded him momentarily and signaled he had stepped outside and was walking towards the bus loop. He spotted Kibum laughing hysterically at something Jonghyun had said, for his hand was completely covering Jonghyun’s right shoulder, which usually meant Kibum could no longer hold himself up due to an intense sweep of giggles. The wind and sun danced together and swept angel’s whispers through Taemin’s hair, while he managed to smile to the beautiful and cloudless day of “almost Friday”.
“Taeminiee!!” Jonghyun slightly laughed to Taemin as he approached, clearly not finding whatever he said as funny as Kibum did. “Hey guys.” Taemin hoisted his backpack over his shoulders and adjusted his wind swept hair while smiling largely as his response to Jonghyun. The trio began walking and discussing the ungodly load of calculus homework they were presented with for the weekend, while also discussing the particularly bright day. There was something odd however, an unusual vibration began pounding through the earth and beat into Taemin’s veins. He looked back up at the sky to check again there were no gray skies, and saw that his friends had too checked the weather again. As Taemin began to open his mouth to ask what it was, his arm and shoulder were abruptly knocked into, sending Taemin to fall slightly into Kibum. Looking to see just what had almost knocked him senseless, Sehun apologetically patted Taemin on the back, profusely apologizing for his lack of coordination, and that he didn’t know just what had gotten in to him. Then, without warning, without time to let Taemin to set up his mental camera for the upcoming heart cruncher, he heard Jongin’s comfortingly low and velvety voice. “Hey, only I’mallowed to run into Taemin”.
With his feet facing sideways and his torso facing forward, as if he was in mid-step, stood Jongin. His uncommonly old yet still intact backpack swung around his shoulder, about to fall to his elbow. “Or should I say… Taeminie”. He ended the last syllable with a wide grin while his eyes also smiled, exposing his vulnerability and inner pureness. Taemin’s reaction, as we can imagine, was equivalent to shooting fireworks into his now puffing and shaking veins. It was just then that he realized Jongin was wearing that red and tan shirt that Taemin so dearly cherished for a short time. Taemin began, uncontrollably, analyzing Jongin’s every single flinch of his muscles, every breath, and every second their eyes locked, which reminded him of their first time alone. Jongin had already waved goodbye, and started walking with Sehun to the parking lot. Taemin couldn’t help but let his eyes stroll from Jongin’s neck, to his upper back, not daring to look at his due solely from fear of hyperventilating. If it was possible, the sun seemed to shine a little brighter.
A hand was waved in his face, snapping Taemin back to his friends, who looked a little concerned yet suspicious of Taemin’s surprising reaction. Kibum was the first to speak, “Taemin? You okay in there? You totally just froze up”. Taemin opened his mouth to respond naturally, as he had practiced many times before, but surprised himself when he found his voice had been lost with the wind and his lips tripped over each other. It was Jonghyun this time who tried to find reason in Taemin’s lost expression. Still, Taemin only croaked out his consolations. “Taemin, this past week you’ve been acting especially—“it suddenly became clear to Jonghyun. He looked from Jongin’s flawless figure in the distance back to Taemin’s observant and infatuated eyes.
Jonghyun had, throughout their childhood, always wondered why Taemin had never bothered to find a girlfriend when he was constantly surrounded by hormone driven boys. It was always a wonder why Taemin was always that one kid in the back of the party who seemed humbly lost, yet always declining (considerately, of course) any dance offerings from underdressed girls. He had questioned it before, yet he never bothered as deeply for it to become a lingering thought in his mind. He decided to keep quiet about it though, it wasn’t a necessity for Kibum to know, he simply had closure now.
Taemin was oblivious to the thoughts of his friend, and was interrupted by his bus pulling into the drive, stopping for the riders to climb aboard. He half-heartedly waved good bye to his only friends, and began jogging towards his bus, his backpack bouncing against his with each step. Within seconds, almost magically, he began replaying the last few minutes of his life over and over again. He wasn’t sure how much more of these fleeting heart stoppers he could bare, especially since they were suddenly piling up within a short time as opposed to being exceedingly ignored. This young, emotional boy desperately needed to scream into a pillow, and release his mental smiles.
His bus rides were long and exhausting, for he lived almost forty-five minutes away from his school. Many people would ask him how he occupied himself or dealt with the time span. His reply was usually along the lines of “Oh you know, it gives me a chance to get work done. I don’t really notice the time!” The second part was true at least. Re-thinking the muted gestures and meaningless glances Taemin and Jongin occasionally shared sprinted through his eager and energetic mind. While he effortlessly did this, the time flew by his ears and seemingly warped into a dream. Sometimes, he spent his bus rides trying to figure out just why exactly he was so drawn to this teenage boy, but he has never found an exact answer, only characteristics of his perfection. His cheeks were so flushed. He’s totally the god of sunshine. The way his wrists fell to his sides and dangled as if they were feathers…
He was again interrupted by the soft buzz of his phone, which was only used to communicate with his two friends and his mother. He received a text message from Jonghyun, and Taemin’s first instinct was to reply cheekily, asking if Jonghyun had missed him already. Yet his face dropped and his mouth slightly gaped open.
“Taeminiee you know we change electives this Monday right? Just reminding you to decide over the weekend! See youuuu”
Taemin stared at the text message. Normally, this wouldn’t have any effect on him, and may even spark dread and sheer laziness to decide on a new class. However, electives were for all grade levels, meaning that maybe just maybe Jongin would choose the same class as he. He brushed away the thought without a second consideration; it was simply impossible that he would choose the same class as Taemin out of the many choices. He half wished he wouldn’t be in a class with him, just seeing Jongin in the hallway was emotionally neutering enough. There was no way his life would be that fair to him. He chuckled lowly to himself and rested his head against the window, and fell asleep instead of re-thinking his continual and useless thoughts.
