027: but this love is ours. [drabble!fic]
This fic -- and the next fic I'll be posting after this -- is for blindteddy , who is the cutest, most lovely-est, inspirational, Minho-biased, and The Pillows-loving girl I've ever known! \*w*/ ♥♥♥
She asked for Taemin/Minjung (and yes, that means we're talking about GIRL!Minho and Taemin lol), so I wrote this little highschool!AU piece~ It's a small token of my love for her, but I hope she likes it, anyway~
but this love is ours.
Choi Minjung had a soft spot for cute things.
It was a secret, and a well-kept one at that. She planned to keep it that way, of course. Minjung had a reputation to live up to, so she made certain that no one would ever catch a hint about her weakness ever, lest her quiet days at Seoul Public High School Number 21 would be over for good.
Then again, most people didn’t assume too much about Minjung.
She was extremely quiet and reserved, but all the girls in her year held her in high regard. Minjung had strong legs-it was no wonder she was the representative for SPHS-21’s girls’ track team for two years in a row-and long dark hair that framed her slender face, so it was no surprise that she had a dedicated fanbase among the male students.
Most those male students didn’t dare approach her, though, in fear of igniting the brotherly protective instincts of Lee Hyukjae and Lee Donghae-Minjung’s cousins and personal bodyguards of-sorts-or inciting the wrath of Kim Gwiboon, resident diva and Minjung’s good friend ever since their first year of junior high.
But they were bold enough to break into her locker every morning and leave notes for her.
Every afternoon before she left school, her fellow sophomore class girls would gather in the hall and ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ as Minjung opened her locker. Every afternoon, there would be a sizeable stack of love letters and other miscellaneous notes sitting on the main shelf.
And every afternoon, Minjung didn’t bother trying to catch them from falling to the floor. Instead, she gave a little sigh and tossed them into the bag she brought every morning just for that purpose. Later on, after running the track for a bit, Minjung would carry the bag home and read through each and every one of them, throwing out the perverted or unremarkable ones and keeping the others in a little box she stored in the back of her dresser drawer.
It seemed like a waste to throw away someone’s well-intentioned note, after all. She was awkward about the thought of dating or anyone liking her, but Minjung wasn’t cruel. Even if she didn’t reciprocate their feelings, at least she got the message they left her.
But one particular morning at the beginning of spring, Minjung opened up her locker to find nothing inside of it.
Her mouth fell open, disbelief writ across her face. This had to be some kind of prank, right? Maybe someone took them all out before she got there just to mess with her. Or maybe someone was jealous and decided to steal all the usual letters and gifts from her out of spite. That had to be it, right?
Right?
“Noona!” A voice chirped from behind her; Minjung felt herself turn on instinct, her mind too focused on her locker mystery to recognize who was speaking. “I brought something for you~”
After she turned around, Minjung’s bookbag slipped from her shoulder and fell unceremoniously to the floor and her jaw dropped wide open-because she couldn’t believe who was standing in front of her.
Ever since he transferred there three months ago, Lee Taemin had been SPHS-21’s golden boy. In that time, he had become almost as popular as the school’s kingka Kim Jonghyun, and almost as adored as the current valedictorian Lee Jinki. He should have been a freshman, but Taemin was too smart for freshman class material, so they bumped him up a grade at his parents’ request. Despite his reputation as something of a wallflower-because he was-Taemin was also extremely polite and always willing to please, so it was only natural the popular kids took notice of him and the regular kids tried every way possible to catch his attention.
Minjung, on the other hand, had been rendered positively spellbound by Taemin from day one.
“Ummm.” How eloquent of you, Minjung, she groused inwardly, starting off a conversation with THE Lee Taemin sounding like you just fell out of bed a minute ago. “What’s with that big bag you got there?”
“It’s all the letters that were in your locker.” Taemin answered glibly, as if it made all the sense in the world. “I’ll be your personal postman from now on!”
He smiled, those bright and pretty eyes crinkling pleasantly from one end to the other, and Minjung struggled to swallow back a blush. It was always hard to tell anything from that smile, but something told her it was a genuine one. In all the times she had watched him from afar from the back of the classroom, Taemin never, ever smiled showing all his teeth.
But no matter how much she had watched him, she always, always was struck by how painfully and ridiculously cute he was. And now, here he was, offering to carry her letters around for her.
She was touched and bewildered all at once.
“Are you sure?” But she couldn’t help it, the way her rational side was beginning to get the better of her heart’s desires. “I don’t think my fanclub would really appreciate that. I don’t want to bother you, either-”
“But noonaaaaaaaa-!” Taemin whined, hopping up and down on the balls of his feet and pouting, like a little kid having a temper tantrum because their parents wouldn’t let them buy candy. “I really want to do this for you and I’m offering, so why would you think it’s a bother?! Besides, I don’t care about your fanclub!” His honesty made Minjung’s eyebrows disappear behind her long dark bangs. “I just care about making you happy!”
She really, really hoped she had heard that right.
“Taemin-ah.” His name just…slipped out-it was so easy to call him that so casually and her cheeks darkened from the realization alone. “I-I really appreciate you wanting to do this for me, but did you really break into my locker…just to show me how much you want to make me happy?”
And Taemin just smiled-smiled that soft, bright-eyed, absolutely adorable smile-and bent down to start picking up the things she had dropped from her bag before, laughing a bit to himself when Minjung did the same and hurriedly apologized to him for her clumsiness.
“I only do things like that when I really someone.” There was a sparkle in those lovely eyes when he met her wide-eyed gaze, and when he reached out to take her shaking hand in his, Minjung could only open her mouth uselessly in not-quite protest. “And I really, reaaaaaally like you.” He giggled, holding onto her hand just a little bit tighter. “So I’m sorry, noona…forgive me?”
Every sensible cell in her body screamed out for her to give the most obvious answer. But every inch of her heart knew what to say-with an honest, toothy smile on her lips and a strange, bubbling warmth building up in her chest:
“Of course not.” Minjung squeezed Taemin’s hand back, helping them both stand and taking the bag of letters from him. “Don’t ever apologize for making someone happy.”
(This was just the beginning, Minjung knew, and they didn’t need a happy ending to their story as long as they knew-beyond the shadow of a doubt-that it was theirs.)