Sweetest Thing (Taemin/Minji)
Sweetest Thing
Taemin/Minji
Minji first meets a beaten up Taemin in a grimy alleyway.
sweetest thing
Maybe I should keep this to myself
Waiting 'til I know you better.
Colbie Caillat; Fallin’ For You
“Hey,” someone says, “Aren’t you…?”
Taemin roughly wipes the wetness off his face with the back of his sleeve and blinks away the last of his tears. A pair of trainers appears before his line of sight, beaten and dusty on the cement. He looks up, squints against the sunlight and there she is, staring down at him as if he’s crazy for sitting on the wet pavement behind the row of grimy shophouses.
“No,” Taemin says roughly. He stands up, the knees of his pants slightly ripped from his fall onto the gravel. He grabs his bag and turns away to leave, but the girl follows, her bob bouncing against her cheeks as she does.
“Are you okay? I mean, you look like you cut yourself pretty bad - “
“I’m fine,” Taemin says curtly, and he refuses to look at her because it could be bad if she confirms who he is. The girl grabs his arm, and Taemin flinches in pain.
“Please,” she says, “let me help.”
Taemin wants to push her away, but he’s too busy wiping the tears from his eyes - don’t let a girl see you cry, he tells himself sternly, don’t -
“We got to get you cleaned up first,” she says, and then Taemin realizes she’s not really looking at his tear-streaked face, her gaze directed over his shoulder. “Look, there’s an eatery over there. If you want, you can wait here - I’ll be back in a minute.”
Taemin doesn’t know why he doesn’t just leave when she does. He stays, thumbs the blood from the corner of his mouth and tastes the copper with his tongue. His uniform is torn in several places, and he doesn’t need a mirror to know what a mess he looks.
Kibum-hyung is going to be pissed.
She appears a few minutes later, and after handing him a warm towel to wipe his face, she gets onto her knees and then her hand is on his ankle. “What are you - “ he protests, but then her fingers press in and he hisses; he doesn’t know what it is in her eyes but it could be fear. “You’re hurt,” she says.
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“No,” she says firmly, getting to her feet. “I’m getting you to a doctor.”
Taemin bristles at the finality in her voice, but her lips are pursed with determination. “I promise I’m okay,” he mumbles. She ignores him and grabs his sleeve, damp and torn, and starts to pull him along.
“I’m sorry, I have to make sure,” she says, and he hears the anxiety in her voice. “...What if you never dance again?”
He only asks for her name the next time he sees her. It’s now that he notices her uniform, a dull beige colour that is trademark to the girls’ school just down the lane from his. “Minji,” she says, her bangs falling into her eyes with the breeze. “Sorry, this is not the way I wanted you to know me.”
“I’m Taemin,” he says, ducking his head a little. She’s studying his bandaged ankle, her apprehension obvious in the way she bites down on her lower lip. “I’m okay,” he reassures her. “It’s not a big deal. I could be walking normally by next week.”
“And dancing by when?”
Taemin sucks in a breath. His groupmates had been furious when Taemin returned to their shared apartment, but it was unexpectedly Jinki who blew his top. Who did this to you? Taemin-ah, why do you -
It was my fault, I forgot to greet my sunbaes.
That is no excuse for them to beat you up!
But hyung…
Your ankle. Oh my god. Are you okay?
“I… don’t know,” he says at last, as she sits down on the bench, their pinky fingers touching. Taemin feels a blush fill his cheeks. Maybe Minji notices, because she abruptly shifts away from him. He looks at her, and she’s staring up at the cloudless sky, as if in deep thought.
“You shouldn’t let them do this to you,” she says then, and Taemin feels humiliation curdling in his stomach, a mixture of bile and nausea. “How long has this been going on?”
“It’s not your business,” he says quietly.
None of our business? We’re your groupmates, for goodness sakes -
Kibum, stop it. Give him some time.
And let this go on? You guys, why aren’t you more upset about this -
“Okay,” Minji says. She fidgets with the hem of her skirt, turns her head and the curve of her lips makes her eyes disappear. She’s not pretty at all, Taemin can’t help but think - or at least, she’s not the sort of pretty that Jonghyun-hyung advocates, that Minho-hyung has on the posters pasted on their wall. Still, she’s got an open, friendly smile, and Taemin wonders if they’re friends or…
“A lot of people don’t talk to me, either,” she admits softly. “I mean, in school. I’m new, I just moved from Gwangju. So nobody really talks to me yet.”
“Country bumpkin,” Taemin mumbles absently. Minji blinks at him, and Taemin gives her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, that’s what everyone in my school calls the new kids who aren’t, you know, from here.”
Minji frowns a little. “What do they call you, then?”
Taemin pauses and thinks about it. “Cripple.”
“Why do they do this?” Minji asks, almost to herself. “You’re an amazing dancer. Don’t they see that? I’ve seen you on Music Bank. Noona neomu yeppeo,” she hums. Taemin flushes uncomfortably and looks away. The corners of her mouth pull into a hesitant smile. “Is it scary?”
Taemin shakes his head. “I’m used to it.”
“I mean the fame. You’re used to the fame?”
Taemin doesn’t answer for a moment. The leaves rustle as the evening chill seeps into his blazer, and the park is deserted now, empty of laughing children and chatting mothers. He should be going home, he tells himself. Jinki-hyung will be worried.
Yet he has no desire to leave.
“It’s okay,” he says then. “This is how it is.”
“Being alone?” He glances at Minji, who is looking back at him with the oddest expression on her face. “You’re used to this?”
Taemin rests a hand on the cool wood of the bench, his pinky brushing against Minji’s. The warmth is no different from Minho’s hug, no different from Kibum’s hand in his own, but it doesn't feel completely the same, either.
He exhales, his heart skipping a beat in his chest.
“Yeah,” he says. “I’m used to it.”
Minji is crouched against the wall, grinning up at him with Big Bang blasting from her iPod. Taemin is admiring her headphones, caressing the smooth curves of Dr Dre’s Beats. “This is so awesome,” he says, a hint of envy in his voice. “We don’t get stuff like this.”
“It was a birthday present from one of my sunbaes,” she says cheerfully. “So are you ready?”
“Ready for what?” Taemin’s still distracted by the headphones, holding it close to his ear. “I like this song.”
“Oh, don’t avoid the subject.” Minji skips to a house track, and beats course through Taemin’s body by sheer instinct - a shift of his shoulder, a lock of his elbow. Minji sees the change in his posture and he doesn’t miss the delight in the sparkle of her eye -
“I’ll challenge you,” she says, standing up and clapping her hands. “Loser buys ice-cream.”
“Who’s the judge?” he asks, and he feels the beginnings of a smirk against his lips, the same way it comes whenever music plays.
“You’re going to lose.”
The headphones lay on the ground, beats filling the night air between them as he dances, music filling his movement. Pop and lock, and god - Minji. Taemin doesn’t know how to fly, but the way Minji dances, her feet are practically off of the ground - chest bops and wrist rolls, her body moving in sync to the thumping of the music, and that is when Taemin knows she’s no normal person. She could feel the music and understand it with an intimacy that others cannot.
She’s exactly like him.
“Best you can do?” he manages, and he finds that his heart is beating the way it does whenever SHINee performs, because that is the only time he feels alive, feels like himself. Minji tilts her head at him, and he’s never seen the flirtation in her smile before today. She raises a finger and curls it with a wink.
“Bring it.”
And they’re dancing, sneakers squeaking against the cement of the empty car park, the strength of her moves rivaling his own grace - she is so good, he thinks, so good. “You never told me you could dance,” he breathes.
“Guess it never quite came up,” she responds, somewhat sheepishly. “Does it matter?”
No, Taemin realizes, not as long as they keep on dancing.
And they do.
He could cry about it, but he doesn’t. He supposes they’ve beaten all the tears out of him the last time. He refuses to cry over this. Especially not over this.
“We’ll see each other eventually,” Minji says uncomfortably. “I’m just taking a break from school because I’m going to be really busy.”
“With what?” and he can’t help the hostility in his voice, even as hurt flits through her features, making her even less pretty than she usually is. Jonghyun would probably tease him if he knew this is the girl Taemin was hanging out with, not to mention the kids at school, because god, this Gong Minji isn’t that cute at all, especially not when she’s looking miserable like this.
But Taemin adores her, as devotedly as puppy love can be. It’s stupid, he knows.
So stupid.
“I…” Minji takes a deep breath. “I can’t tell you. Listen, if it works out, you’ll know. Just trust me.”
“But I don’t.” The words don’t come out the way they’re supposed to, because Taemin always screws up in front of the stupid bullies in school, because he gets so worked up about situations and his mouth runs faster than his brain. Minji nods, lowers her head. No, no, no, Taemin thinks, hates the way she’s looking right now, as if she wants to cry. But Minji doesn’t because she’s Minji and Taemin wants to tell her it’s not the same without you here, but doesn’t. Minji gives him a tight smile, bangs falling in her eyes again.
“I’ll work hard so we’ll see each other. I promise, oppa.”
She turns to leave, doesn’t look up to see the red enter his cheeks at her words, doesn’t hear the breath catch in his throat. “Minji - “ he says hoarsely. “Minji-ah.”
She pauses. Taemin bites down on his bottom lip, wants to ask her a million questions, including where are you going I still owe you ice-cream don’t leave. “Hwaiting,” is what he says, holding up a fist. “Gong Minji, hwaiting!”
She looks back at him, and she’s laughing now as she holds up her fist, too. “You too, Lee Taemin,” she says, and he knows he will remember that smile long after she’s gone - “hwaiting.”
He doesn’t see her in the flesh until SHINee returns with Juliette. Jonghyun is all over their comeback because he wrote the lyrics, so everything must be perfect and amazing and flawless, are his exact words. Kibum hates him all the way until the end of the performance, when Jonghyun finally “chills the fuck out”. But once comeback is over Taemin finds himself tiptoeing, eyes straining backstage because it’s too damn dark -
“What are you doing,” Kibum says, exasperated. “Taemin, this way to the changing rooms - “
“Hold on a minute, please,” he says a little desperately, because he hears the applause after 2NE1’s performance, and Minji could be here any minute. He doesn’t want to miss her even if this isn’t exactly the way he wants to look right now, in jeans too skinny and hair too curly for his liking -
But Kibum is stronger than he looks, and he pulls Taemin along with him, through the pitch black of their surroundings and into the dull light of the changing rooms. Taemin wants to scream in frustration, but the hyungs are giving him a look as though he’s gone a little crazy. “Is everything alright?” Jinki asks, bewildered. “You don’t look too good.”
“Toilet,” Taemin mutters, heading out of the changing room because he is just so frustrated right now -
“Oof!”
He looks up and blinks - a palm tree stares back at him. “Oh,” he says.
“Oh, SHINee-sunbae!” And then the tree is bowing, and Taemin sees the girls all bowing to him respectfully, like he is senior in the business - oh, well, maybe he kind of is now, Taemin realizes in a daze. But it’s the girl at the back that catches his eye, her formerly dark hair now stained brown. Taemin feels naked all of a sudden, god, his getup is so ridiculous - but he just kind of returns Minji's smile with his own.
“I like your song,” he blurts. The other three girls beam and give their thanks, and Minji only sort of huddles behind them and nods politely. They say their goodbyes, and Taemin hooks his pinky on Minji’s as she passes him by -
“Hello,” he whispers.
“Hi,” she murmurs. He watches her go, and he can’t stop the elation from beating in his veins.
“Look, we’re still competitors at the end of the day,” Minji huffs, sounding muffled for a moment. Taemin holds the phone closer to his ear, just to keep her near to him if nothing else. “I couldn’t possibly tell you we’re debuting. It’s against policy.”
“We’re above policy,” Taemin argues good-naturedly, and he holds back a chuckle as she screeches at him from the other end. “Okay, I get it. I understand.”
“Thank you. Sheesh.” Minji calms down, and the silence between them feels more comforting than awkward. “How’s it going? At school?”
“Same.” Taemin doesn’t want to talk about it, but he knows the topic is important to Minji. “I can’t change what they feel about me. But they’ve stopped beating me up after my ankle got busted the other time, so.”
He traces the patterns on the fabric of his couch, listening to her hum quietly through the phone. “I got beaten up once,” she says then. “...After people found out I was in YG.”
“No way.”
“Way.” He can hear her chuckle softly. “It’s not a big deal, though. They just knocked me onto the floor and locked me up in the toilet. But I don’t care. Eh eh eh eh eh…” and she’s humming again.
“New single?” he teases softly.
“Don’t tell anyone. Policy.”
“I wish I were there.” Taemin smiles wryly. “Not to beat them up, but I would have been in the toilet with you.”
“Nasty.” Minji snickers. “It’s a narrow stall.”
“Even better.”
He hears her inhale quietly, the silence between them no longer all that simple and comfortable. Taemin feels his face heat up, and he grips the phone receiver as he swallows and tries to work up the courage to ask -
“I owe you ice-cream,” he says finally. “Remember?”
“So I did win?” Her laughter makes him blush stupidly, fingers absently pressed against his chin as he listens to her.
“Yeah,” he says, trying to not fumble on his words - “um. So you want to go? Get ice-cream? I mean. We’ll have to be quiet about it, but - “
“Yes.” He can see her smile, the way he remembers it from the day she said goodbye - “we’ll go for ice-cream, Taemin-oppa.”
He hangs up after they talk awhile more, settling into the couch and hugging his pillow as he buries his cheshire grin into the soft cotton. Yes, he thinks, yes, yes, yes. He wants to shout to the world, sing Juliette on top of his lungs and laugh out loud, but he clutches at his pillow and closes his eyes - recalls her crinkling gaze and crazy dance moves and god - he’d be so okay with this.
He breathes deeply, dreams of ice-cream wonders what flavour she likes best; maybe he should just buy her all the flavours that exist. Maybe then the date will last forever, he thinks with a silly smile.
He could get used to this feeling.
Gong Minji and Lee Taemin -
Hwaiting.
Taemin/Minji
Minji first meets a beaten up Taemin in a grimy alleyway.
sweetest thing
Maybe I should keep this to myself
Waiting 'til I know you better.
Colbie Caillat; Fallin’ For You
“Hey,” someone says, “Aren’t you…?”
Taemin roughly wipes the wetness off his face with the back of his sleeve and blinks away the last of his tears. A pair of trainers appears before his line of sight, beaten and dusty on the cement. He looks up, squints against the sunlight and there she is, staring down at him as if he’s crazy for sitting on the wet pavement behind the row of grimy shophouses.
“No,” Taemin says roughly. He stands up, the knees of his pants slightly ripped from his fall onto the gravel. He grabs his bag and turns away to leave, but the girl follows, her bob bouncing against her cheeks as she does.
“Are you okay? I mean, you look like you cut yourself pretty bad - “
“I’m fine,” Taemin says curtly, and he refuses to look at her because it could be bad if she confirms who he is. The girl grabs his arm, and Taemin flinches in pain.
“Please,” she says, “let me help.”
Taemin wants to push her away, but he’s too busy wiping the tears from his eyes - don’t let a girl see you cry, he tells himself sternly, don’t -
“We got to get you cleaned up first,” she says, and then Taemin realizes she’s not really looking at his tear-streaked face, her gaze directed over his shoulder. “Look, there’s an eatery over there. If you want, you can wait here - I’ll be back in a minute.”
Taemin doesn’t know why he doesn’t just leave when she does. He stays, thumbs the blood from the corner of his mouth and tastes the copper with his tongue. His uniform is torn in several places, and he doesn’t need a mirror to know what a mess he looks.
Kibum-hyung is going to be pissed.
She appears a few minutes later, and after handing him a warm towel to wipe his face, she gets onto her knees and then her hand is on his ankle. “What are you - “ he protests, but then her fingers press in and he hisses; he doesn’t know what it is in her eyes but it could be fear. “You’re hurt,” she says.
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“No,” she says firmly, getting to her feet. “I’m getting you to a doctor.”
Taemin bristles at the finality in her voice, but her lips are pursed with determination. “I promise I’m okay,” he mumbles. She ignores him and grabs his sleeve, damp and torn, and starts to pull him along.
“I’m sorry, I have to make sure,” she says, and he hears the anxiety in her voice. “...What if you never dance again?”
He only asks for her name the next time he sees her. It’s now that he notices her uniform, a dull beige colour that is trademark to the girls’ school just down the lane from his. “Minji,” she says, her bangs falling into her eyes with the breeze. “Sorry, this is not the way I wanted you to know me.”
“I’m Taemin,” he says, ducking his head a little. She’s studying his bandaged ankle, her apprehension obvious in the way she bites down on her lower lip. “I’m okay,” he reassures her. “It’s not a big deal. I could be walking normally by next week.”
“And dancing by when?”
Taemin sucks in a breath. His groupmates had been furious when Taemin returned to their shared apartment, but it was unexpectedly Jinki who blew his top. Who did this to you? Taemin-ah, why do you -
It was my fault, I forgot to greet my sunbaes.
That is no excuse for them to beat you up!
But hyung…
Your ankle. Oh my god. Are you okay?
“I… don’t know,” he says at last, as she sits down on the bench, their pinky fingers touching. Taemin feels a blush fill his cheeks. Maybe Minji notices, because she abruptly shifts away from him. He looks at her, and she’s staring up at the cloudless sky, as if in deep thought.
“You shouldn’t let them do this to you,” she says then, and Taemin feels humiliation curdling in his stomach, a mixture of bile and nausea. “How long has this been going on?”
“It’s not your business,” he says quietly.
None of our business? We’re your groupmates, for goodness sakes -
Kibum, stop it. Give him some time.
And let this go on? You guys, why aren’t you more upset about this -
“Okay,” Minji says. She fidgets with the hem of her skirt, turns her head and the curve of her lips makes her eyes disappear. She’s not pretty at all, Taemin can’t help but think - or at least, she’s not the sort of pretty that Jonghyun-hyung advocates, that Minho-hyung has on the posters pasted on their wall. Still, she’s got an open, friendly smile, and Taemin wonders if they’re friends or…
“A lot of people don’t talk to me, either,” she admits softly. “I mean, in school. I’m new, I just moved from Gwangju. So nobody really talks to me yet.”
“Country bumpkin,” Taemin mumbles absently. Minji blinks at him, and Taemin gives her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, that’s what everyone in my school calls the new kids who aren’t, you know, from here.”
Minji frowns a little. “What do they call you, then?”
Taemin pauses and thinks about it. “Cripple.”
“Why do they do this?” Minji asks, almost to herself. “You’re an amazing dancer. Don’t they see that? I’ve seen you on Music Bank. Noona neomu yeppeo,” she hums. Taemin flushes uncomfortably and looks away. The corners of her mouth pull into a hesitant smile. “Is it scary?”
Taemin shakes his head. “I’m used to it.”
“I mean the fame. You’re used to the fame?”
Taemin doesn’t answer for a moment. The leaves rustle as the evening chill seeps into his blazer, and the park is deserted now, empty of laughing children and chatting mothers. He should be going home, he tells himself. Jinki-hyung will be worried.
Yet he has no desire to leave.
“It’s okay,” he says then. “This is how it is.”
“Being alone?” He glances at Minji, who is looking back at him with the oddest expression on her face. “You’re used to this?”
Taemin rests a hand on the cool wood of the bench, his pinky brushing against Minji’s. The warmth is no different from Minho’s hug, no different from Kibum’s hand in his own, but it doesn't feel completely the same, either.
He exhales, his heart skipping a beat in his chest.
“Yeah,” he says. “I’m used to it.”
Minji is crouched against the wall, grinning up at him with Big Bang blasting from her iPod. Taemin is admiring her headphones, caressing the smooth curves of Dr Dre’s Beats. “This is so awesome,” he says, a hint of envy in his voice. “We don’t get stuff like this.”
“It was a birthday present from one of my sunbaes,” she says cheerfully. “So are you ready?”
“Ready for what?” Taemin’s still distracted by the headphones, holding it close to his ear. “I like this song.”
“Oh, don’t avoid the subject.” Minji skips to a house track, and beats course through Taemin’s body by sheer instinct - a shift of his shoulder, a lock of his elbow. Minji sees the change in his posture and he doesn’t miss the delight in the sparkle of her eye -
“I’ll challenge you,” she says, standing up and clapping her hands. “Loser buys ice-cream.”
“Who’s the judge?” he asks, and he feels the beginnings of a smirk against his lips, the same way it comes whenever music plays.
“You’re going to lose.”
The headphones lay on the ground, beats filling the night air between them as he dances, music filling his movement. Pop and lock, and god - Minji. Taemin doesn’t know how to fly, but the way Minji dances, her feet are practically off of the ground - chest bops and wrist rolls, her body moving in sync to the thumping of the music, and that is when Taemin knows she’s no normal person. She could feel the music and understand it with an intimacy that others cannot.
She’s exactly like him.
“Best you can do?” he manages, and he finds that his heart is beating the way it does whenever SHINee performs, because that is the only time he feels alive, feels like himself. Minji tilts her head at him, and he’s never seen the flirtation in her smile before today. She raises a finger and curls it with a wink.
“Bring it.”
And they’re dancing, sneakers squeaking against the cement of the empty car park, the strength of her moves rivaling his own grace - she is so good, he thinks, so good. “You never told me you could dance,” he breathes.
“Guess it never quite came up,” she responds, somewhat sheepishly. “Does it matter?”
No, Taemin realizes, not as long as they keep on dancing.
And they do.
He could cry about it, but he doesn’t. He supposes they’ve beaten all the tears out of him the last time. He refuses to cry over this. Especially not over this.
“We’ll see each other eventually,” Minji says uncomfortably. “I’m just taking a break from school because I’m going to be really busy.”
“With what?” and he can’t help the hostility in his voice, even as hurt flits through her features, making her even less pretty than she usually is. Jonghyun would probably tease him if he knew this is the girl Taemin was hanging out with, not to mention the kids at school, because god, this Gong Minji isn’t that cute at all, especially not when she’s looking miserable like this.
But Taemin adores her, as devotedly as puppy love can be. It’s stupid, he knows.
So stupid.
“I…” Minji takes a deep breath. “I can’t tell you. Listen, if it works out, you’ll know. Just trust me.”
“But I don’t.” The words don’t come out the way they’re supposed to, because Taemin always screws up in front of the stupid bullies in school, because he gets so worked up about situations and his mouth runs faster than his brain. Minji nods, lowers her head. No, no, no, Taemin thinks, hates the way she’s looking right now, as if she wants to cry. But Minji doesn’t because she’s Minji and Taemin wants to tell her it’s not the same without you here, but doesn’t. Minji gives him a tight smile, bangs falling in her eyes again.
“I’ll work hard so we’ll see each other. I promise, oppa.”
She turns to leave, doesn’t look up to see the red enter his cheeks at her words, doesn’t hear the breath catch in his throat. “Minji - “ he says hoarsely. “Minji-ah.”
She pauses. Taemin bites down on his bottom lip, wants to ask her a million questions, including where are you going I still owe you ice-cream don’t leave. “Hwaiting,” is what he says, holding up a fist. “Gong Minji, hwaiting!”
She looks back at him, and she’s laughing now as she holds up her fist, too. “You too, Lee Taemin,” she says, and he knows he will remember that smile long after she’s gone - “hwaiting.”
He doesn’t see her in the flesh until SHINee returns with Juliette. Jonghyun is all over their comeback because he wrote the lyrics, so everything must be perfect and amazing and flawless, are his exact words. Kibum hates him all the way until the end of the performance, when Jonghyun finally “chills the fuck out”. But once comeback is over Taemin finds himself tiptoeing, eyes straining backstage because it’s too damn dark -
“What are you doing,” Kibum says, exasperated. “Taemin, this way to the changing rooms - “
“Hold on a minute, please,” he says a little desperately, because he hears the applause after 2NE1’s performance, and Minji could be here any minute. He doesn’t want to miss her even if this isn’t exactly the way he wants to look right now, in jeans too skinny and hair too curly for his liking -
But Kibum is stronger than he looks, and he pulls Taemin along with him, through the pitch black of their surroundings and into the dull light of the changing rooms. Taemin wants to scream in frustration, but the hyungs are giving him a look as though he’s gone a little crazy. “Is everything alright?” Jinki asks, bewildered. “You don’t look too good.”
“Toilet,” Taemin mutters, heading out of the changing room because he is just so frustrated right now -
“Oof!”
He looks up and blinks - a palm tree stares back at him. “Oh,” he says.
“Oh, SHINee-sunbae!” And then the tree is bowing, and Taemin sees the girls all bowing to him respectfully, like he is senior in the business - oh, well, maybe he kind of is now, Taemin realizes in a daze. But it’s the girl at the back that catches his eye, her formerly dark hair now stained brown. Taemin feels naked all of a sudden, god, his getup is so ridiculous - but he just kind of returns Minji's smile with his own.
“I like your song,” he blurts. The other three girls beam and give their thanks, and Minji only sort of huddles behind them and nods politely. They say their goodbyes, and Taemin hooks his pinky on Minji’s as she passes him by -
“Hello,” he whispers.
“Hi,” she murmurs. He watches her go, and he can’t stop the elation from beating in his veins.
“Look, we’re still competitors at the end of the day,” Minji huffs, sounding muffled for a moment. Taemin holds the phone closer to his ear, just to keep her near to him if nothing else. “I couldn’t possibly tell you we’re debuting. It’s against policy.”
“We’re above policy,” Taemin argues good-naturedly, and he holds back a chuckle as she screeches at him from the other end. “Okay, I get it. I understand.”
“Thank you. Sheesh.” Minji calms down, and the silence between them feels more comforting than awkward. “How’s it going? At school?”
“Same.” Taemin doesn’t want to talk about it, but he knows the topic is important to Minji. “I can’t change what they feel about me. But they’ve stopped beating me up after my ankle got busted the other time, so.”
He traces the patterns on the fabric of his couch, listening to her hum quietly through the phone. “I got beaten up once,” she says then. “...After people found out I was in YG.”
“No way.”
“Way.” He can hear her chuckle softly. “It’s not a big deal, though. They just knocked me onto the floor and locked me up in the toilet. But I don’t care. Eh eh eh eh eh…” and she’s humming again.
“New single?” he teases softly.
“Don’t tell anyone. Policy.”
“I wish I were there.” Taemin smiles wryly. “Not to beat them up, but I would have been in the toilet with you.”
“Nasty.” Minji snickers. “It’s a narrow stall.”
“Even better.”
He hears her inhale quietly, the silence between them no longer all that simple and comfortable. Taemin feels his face heat up, and he grips the phone receiver as he swallows and tries to work up the courage to ask -
“I owe you ice-cream,” he says finally. “Remember?”
“So I did win?” Her laughter makes him blush stupidly, fingers absently pressed against his chin as he listens to her.
“Yeah,” he says, trying to not fumble on his words - “um. So you want to go? Get ice-cream? I mean. We’ll have to be quiet about it, but - “
“Yes.” He can see her smile, the way he remembers it from the day she said goodbye - “we’ll go for ice-cream, Taemin-oppa.”
He hangs up after they talk awhile more, settling into the couch and hugging his pillow as he buries his cheshire grin into the soft cotton. Yes, he thinks, yes, yes, yes. He wants to shout to the world, sing Juliette on top of his lungs and laugh out loud, but he clutches at his pillow and closes his eyes - recalls her crinkling gaze and crazy dance moves and god - he’d be so okay with this.
He breathes deeply, dreams of ice-cream wonders what flavour she likes best; maybe he should just buy her all the flavours that exist. Maybe then the date will last forever, he thinks with a silly smile.
He could get used to this feeling.
Gong Minji and Lee Taemin -
Hwaiting.