It's been a month since Taemin quit and being able to see him was the hardest part. Before, Taemin still used to hang out with everyone despite Jimin's presence that he'd ignore. But now, he's ignoring the whole gang and is barely seen on campus except from the few glimpses Jimin tried to get by peeking into his lecture halls.

Jimin tried to get close and talk to Taemin but every time he ended up with just a few feet away from the older, Jimin felt himself shutdown. He wasn't able to say anything to Taemin and it made him frustrated. Jimin decided it's be best if he gave the older more space.

Jimin was sitting with the gang during break time, scrolling aimless through his phone when he came across pictures and videos that he had captured of Taemin and him together. It was like a slap to the face and a kick the gut but he couldn't stop looking at them.

“Another dance competition?”

Jimin picked his head up at the curious voice of Jiwoo who had walked over to them, a flyer in her hand as she read over it. She made eye contact with Jimin, as if sharing a mutual thought before she extended the glossy piece of paper to him.

“Why don't you enter?” Jiwoo went on, taking a seat next to him.

Jimin skimmed through the flyer, his eyes dropping down to the due date. It was a competition at a dance show, nearby. He remembered the last time he tried to audition for the school's dance program only for Hoshi to beat down his self esteem.

And for Taemin to help pick him back up.

His grip tightened on the piece of paper. Unsure of whether or not he should participate. Jiwoo nudged him in the side to get his attention, shooting him a small smile.

“Do what you love,” Jiwoo whispered. “It may feel like time has stopped moving but it's only waiting for you to move a move.”

Maybe this dance show was the thing that'd get Jimin out of his slump. Maybe this dance show, he would be able to express everything he's been feeling in this time capsule. With encouraging glances from the gang, Jimin agreed to take part.

***

Hoshi whistles as he strolls into Taemin's apartment, pulling open the fridge and rummaging through it. Taemin frowned and trailed behind him. Having opened the door only to be unexpectedly greeted by his brother who was now walking around as if he was home, Taemin felt like dragging him over to the window an flinging him out.

“What are you doing here?” Taemin asked in a deadpan voice.

“Didn't you get the message eomma sent you?” Hoshi questioned, poking his head out from the fridge before appearing with a can of beer.

“Eomma...?” Taemin pulled out his phone from his pocket and sighed. He had forgot to charge the device last night. “Well, what did she want?”

“She found out that I was taking part in this popular dance show,” Hoshi continued, opening the can and walking past Taemin to plop himself on the boys couch. “She wants you to accompany me and take a video of it for her.”

Taemin couldn't help but roll his eyes. “Couldn't one of your friends do that? Why bother me.”

“Because,” Hoshi took a long swing of from the can. “Eomma apparently wants, 'to see Taemin support his younger and dashingly talented brother'. So yeah. You're driving me to the dance show and recording my performance to Eomma. Whatever you do afterwards is not my problem.”

Taemin rolled his eyes and sat down next to Hoshi. “Fine, whatever. Now, when is this dance show?”

The Dance Show was held two weeks after the entrance period had closed. Being held in a concert hall, Taemin was surprised to even see the places were fully booked. He was able to get it by being one of the participants family. Grimly taking a seat at the front row, Taemin wishes he could go back home and get some sleep.

‘Did Jimin apply?’ The thought had crossed the older's mind, subconsciously and Taemin scolded himself.

Why should he worry about someone who merely wanted to get into his pants? Sinking deep into the chair, Taemin continued to watch as dancers got on and out of the stage. Doing their custom performances and letting the next one get on. Taemin felt as if he was watching a clip on repeat because all the performances looked the same to him.

“Next up is Kwon Soonyoung, or what he preferably likes being called Hoshi! Here to perform Spider, one of his original songs!”

The crowd begun to clap, as they did for every other participant. He spotted Hoshi going up on stage and Taemin rolled his eyes before pulling out his phone and hitting the record key. He lazily gazed at the screen. Hoshi wore light makeup and skin tight, black clothing. Half of his parted hair was brushed back with hair wax and Taemin admitted that Hoshi looked like a K-Pop idol. Hoshi begun to perform his original song, Spider.

Not many people knew that the two were brothers, especially because of the last name difference. The story behind it was that Hoshi had taken his mother's surname while Taemin remained with his father's surname. Hence, the difference.

Hoshi's song came to an end and the applause were louder than Taemin expected. Perhaps his brother had gained some fans after that performance. Taemin begun to lower the camera, when his arm froze in the air.

“Next up, we have by Park Jimin! A special performance that's very different from the previous performers, a contemporary shadow dancing.”

Taemin's hand wavered in the air but he didn't lower his phone nor stop recording. His fingers merely tightened and pressed into the plastic see through case of his phone as his eyes fixated on the stage.

The entire stage went dark for about five minutes. Murmurs of curiosity went around the audience and just when Taemin believed that it must've been some technical fault, it lit up again. But it was a solo light, flickering brightly onto the enter of the stage. A white sheet hung and a projected begun to play what seemed like a video.

“Taemin-ah~” A cheery voice emitted from the speakers from the video. All you could see from the video is someone's leg before the camera shifts upwards and Jimin's face comes into view. The younger smiled brightly at the camera before turning it to display a sleeping Taemin on the couch. “You're asleep right now so I'm going to take the opportunity to confess a lot of things that I'd probably die out of embarassment if I said it to your face.”

Taemin's grip on the phone weakened, his brows were furrowed and his heart rate picked up. Countless thoughts were running through his head that he refused to pay attention to.

“You see, I know we've only been together for two months and this may be selfish of me but,” The video clip now fades away but the voice is still there. The stage lights beamed against the blank white sheet. “I want everything of you in my future. I want you.”

The appearance of a shadow behind the white sheet appeared and Taemin's breath hitched in his throat. He knew that the silhouette belonged to Jimin. He had watched the boy from dance numerous times, from away. Whether it was in the dance studio or when Jimin's onstage. Taemin's eyes were always drawn to him.

The background music began and eased into a lower volume than Jimin's voice in the video but loud enough for the audience to hear. The boy behind the sheet started to move in an elegant manner before halting in a stance as if he had just opened and door and walked inside a room.

More shadows appeared, backup dancers and they took the form of characters, shapes and objects. Projecting a story with their body.

"I have lived life thinking that I would've been committed to a person who people pushed towards me. And so by default, I considered and truly believed that I was living life to the fullest. And after the future I saw was crushed, crumbled in the palms of someone I devoted myself to. I decided that I'd rather continue to live."

The shadows moved around, displaying a scene where Jimin sat on a couch. Another shadow next to them and he was on the phone, speaking to someone.

"Live by being responsible for no one, answering to no one and committed to no one except myself."

Suddenly he was walking while dragging a suitcase behind him. A shadow had bumped into him.

"Then all of a sudden, you came into the picture. Like a bucket of cold water thrusted on me, you showed me every bit of hatred you could muster."

Taemin's eyes widened, and he begun to register the events that Jimin and the dancers were displaying were of the exact copy of the boy's life and their meeting.

"And we had to keep meeting under a circumstance. Whenever our eyes met, you'd look away or give me a dirty look. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't easily irritated by your petty and stubborn actions. I even found myself being amused at most times."

When Taemin and Jimin met at the club.

"Seeing you infuriated? It was cute"

And next at the university.

"When we kept getting thrown in the confines of space that only held us, I was able to see it. You had a warm smile specially designed for me."

Now they were in a lonely practice room, dancing slowly and goofing off. It was when they were supposed to make a dance for the club's anniversary.

"You were somehow able to dissect my mind. Body. My entire being. Dissect me with your piercing eyes and it was then that I realised. I'm an incomplete fool in need of wholeness."

Next was a series of events. Every little gestures and eye contact that eventually led to them falling for each other. Taemin pressed his free palm against his mouth, muffling the sobs that escaped. His right hand was still raised, catching the beautiful performance on camera. Taemin didn't allow the tears in his eyes from distracting and distorting his vision.

"You, a beautiful creature with a sharp tongue and the ability to work it's way around my thoughts and emotions. You have captured me, Taemin. In every way that's possible and I refuse to be let out."

The end of the many series of events were of Jimin banging against the door while the other shadow sat on the opposite side of the door.

"In the confines of your heart and I want to be the only one."

The white sheet that allowed for the shadow dancing to take place fell to the ground. Many gasps erupted from the crowd. Jimin was the only person on stage now, his body clothed with a white, loose outfit. His hair, a strikingly electric silver.

"I want to stay there."

The music fell into it's final chorus and Jimin went all out. His figure flew across the stage, gracefully as he performed his own contemporary dance.

Taemin found himself dropping into a squat, the camera spilling from his hand as he buried his face into his hands. Bawling those emotions he had kept bottled up for the past months. He could never hide from the fact that Jimin was the one and only person who made him feel a certain way, a way that Taemin would like to refer to as love. Not even Hobi could come close to the amount of love and affection Taemin has for Jimin.

Perhaps this was the revelation that Taemin needed. That despite everything Jimin had spewed out in anger, Jimin hadn't meant it. No one ever means what they blurt out in anger, it was all in the moment and Taemin had bared witness to Jimin's continuous apologies for the past months. It should've been enough to make the older realise that what he feels can account for Jimin's feelings.

The crowd is applauding him, or that's what Taemin believes. Voices and sounds were muffled and low compared to his raspy breaths and shuddering shoulders. He pushed himself up and scanned the stage, catching a glimpse of a figure in white disappearing backstage.

Taemin squeezed and shoved himself through the crowd. He needed to get to Jimin, he needed face him properly, to unload the weigh that's been trampling down on him, to confess and apologize for his stubbornness. He was no better than those two cheaters if he didn't act any time soon.

Luckily he was able to slip backstage because of being the family of one of the participants. His brother was probably doing his own things. Not like they even cared where or what the other did. He entered the area where recent and next up performers were. Cooling down or getting ready.

And that's where Taemin spotted Jimin, locking direct eye contact because the younger had already been staring. Taemin didn't want to know what he must've looked like, right now. All rumpled clothes and disheveled hair. Swollen eyes and a red face. Taemin appeared as if someone had died.

Meanwhile Jimin knew better. He saw the flash of sincerity and happiness in the older's eyes. He wants to go up to him, to hear his voice, hug him and breath in his scent. But Jimin couldn't move. He was rooted in one spot due to utter shock.

For a moment he thought he was hallucinating. But the approaching Taemin with wild eyes and mismatched paced strides was about to prove him wrong.

“I didn't know you'd be here.” Was the first words Jimin croaked out to Taemin after months, his eyes swelling up with fresh tears.

“Well. Here I am.” Taemin chuckled awkwardly, unable to look away from the younger.

“Jimin, I'm sorry—”

“Taemin, I'm sorry—”

The both of them halted, having spoken at the same time before breaking out into bright smiles. A warm, fuzzy feeling settling down in the pit of their stomachs and once again they've shared the same thought. It's been so long.

“I want to say that I'm sorry,” Jimin began, taking the initiative. “Truly. It wasn't right of me to accuse you of false issues and take out everything on you. If I could go back and change what could've been the outcome, then I would do it.”

Taemin shook his head, staring at the ground. “No, no. You shouldn't have to apologize, you've done enough of that so far. I'm the stubborn one at fault, I knew that you were angry and upset and didn't take the time to think about you must've been feeling in the moment. Instead I also lashed out at you and became petty.”

“I couldn't have blamed you for behaving that way,” Jimin smiles, playfully hitting Taemin's arm. “You have every right to feel the emotions you were feeling because it involved us.”

Taemin nodded, running the area where Jimin touched him before looking up. “Do I still?”

”Huh?”

The older dared to take a step nearer Jimin. “So I still have the right? Because I'd love it if we could put the past behind us and move forward with each other in our future.”

“Oh,” Taemin could feel the sting of sadness laced in Jimin's voice when he replied. “Y-yeah, of course. Behind friends with you—”

“I don't want to be friends, Jimin,” Taemin shook his head. “I want you.”

Jimin didn't wait for taemin to elaborate on his statement and pulled the elder into a long, slow kiss. Something they've missed for what felt like decades. Upon pulling away, Jimin muttered a yes.

“Under one condition, that is,” Taemin began, tangling his arms around the younger who's eyes widened, curiosity sparkling in what this condition could be. “You move in with me.”

Jimin erupted in laughter, pecking the boy's lips. “That would simply be amazing but if you want me to move in, I have a condition of my own.”

Taemin raised an eyebrow.

“Marry me,” Jimin breathed out, his arms that laid around Taemin's torso tightened. “Marry me, Taemin.”

The older stared at his rekindled lover, flabbergasted. But he regained his composure and chuckled.

“Of course, love,” He responded, the palpitations of his heart echoed in his ears. “I'll marry you.”