The alarm clock wailed its scheduled ring, immediately disturbing Taemin from an incredibly deep sleep. His face was buried in his pillow while he felt his way around the bedside table to find the snooze button, groaning when he couldn’t find it. Finally, he tilted his head upwards and blinked his eyes repeatedly until they were awake enough to read the time; the numbers were intangibly blurry. It was 5:15am. Although it was still so early, Taemin usually set his alarm at this time purposefully for each morning it takes him almost an hour to find enough motivation to get out of his warm bed, or at least to wake up. The blankets were smothering his body and sealing in his warmth. Birds were singing, and the sun’s rays gracefully welcomed Taemin’s sheets which reflected an angelic glow around his room. He tossed over onto his back and stared straight at the ceiling, beginning to feel his heart sink as he remembered he needed to get dressed for school and leave his safe, anxiety-free, and cozy bed.
As soon as his mind was fully awake, his memory hit him like lightning. Jongin was in his class, and he needed to look his utter and absolute best. He struggled with his constricting blankets that were wrapped around him multiple times, freed himself, and headed to his closet to find an impressing outfit. His heart was still pounding vigorously and it only increased as he remembered the euphoric day before. Sudden familiar embarrassment washed over him and caused Taemin to bury his face in the palms of hands and squeal to himself. It’s too early for this.
The amount of time it would have taken him to get ready normally was now subtracted by at least an hour; all because of a teenage boy. It was astonishing just how easily Taemin let this boy control him. The authority, the domination, the supremacy, were all mastered with only a smile.
Jonghyun’s Perspective
It was halfway through the school day, and Jonghyun was amused by Taemin’s very distinguishing mood swings of excitement, to embarrassment, to absolutely quiet. Jonghyun would have normally been very appeased and reassured had he not known the cause for Taemin’s sudden animation. Seeing Taemin deeply passionate about something was great of course, but he was worried it was built on something so feeble and so uncertain. He wasn’t about to let his best friend truly have his heart broken.
It was P.E. The only class besides debate that Jonghyun shared with Taemin’s crush. He arrived somewhat early, for he remembered seeing said boy before in the changing room humming to himself and dressing himself painfully slow. Jonghyun walked into the dressing room and sure enough, Taemin’s crush was sitting on the bench fishing in his gym bag for something.
“Hey.”
The boy was startled slightly and looked up into Jonghyun’s eyes and seemed to recognize him. “Hey.” His voice was quite husky, yet it was very well refined and simply gentlemanly. Jonghyun couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. “I know I have you in a few of my classes but I don’t think we’ve ever officially met before.” Jonghyun placed his bag on the bench besides the boy and continued casually, “I’m Kim Jonghyun.” He placed his hand out as a generous gesture, and the boy smiled whole heartedly and rose to greet his hand. “Kim Jongin.” Jonghyun stared into space for a brief second. Kim Jongin sounds so much better then Kim Jonghyun.
He watched as Jongin turned around to take off his shirt and change into his gym clothes, and Jonghyun laughed to himself as he imagined Taemin’s reaction if he had been there. It was Jonghyun who kept the conversation alit, not allowing any awkward silences. “So you’re into debating?” Jongin continued to pull his shirt over his head and fixed his tussled hair. “Yeah I guess so. It’s based on actual important stuff which runs our whole world so…” He chuckled to himself, “I guess it’s just a little necessary for me to get involved with issues that could determine our world’s fate." Jonghyun too began changing, their backs facing each other. He coughed a little to himself and responded showing just as much interest as Jongin had. “Well it seems like you and my friend Taemin have similar opinions, maybe you two should stick together through your debating-lives. Do you know him?” Jongin turned around to find his pants, allowing Jonghyun to just catch a glimpse of Jongin’s body to compare to his. Toned. Extremely toned. Jongin’s enthusiasm had died faintly and he replied with less energy, “No, I don’t really know him that well but I guess he seems like a cool kid. I mean it’s great he’s not homophobic and stuff but I would hope that most of the people in our school are like that too, besides a select few”.
