The Secrets We Keep - Taekai

the one where they do a couples photoshoot

"You're really cute, you know that?" He said, looking up at Taemin.

Taemin looked down at him, rolling his eyes slightly. "Shut up." He mumbled, pulling Jongin's hair a little bit.

"It's the truth, Taem." Jongin said, leaning up and kissing Taemin.

"Woah, cool it down in here." Sehun said, a shake of his head accompanying his words as he walked through the living room - hand shielding his eyes. "This is still a public house and not all of us want to watch you two make out in here."

Jongin's face turned a bright shade of red as he looked over at Sehun - forgetting that they hadn't been alone in the dorm. Taemin laughed lightly, "Then don't watch." He said, pressing his lips to Jongin's again.

■

Jongin and Taemin had gotten so used to their routine that any day that they weren't able to get together as soon as they were both done with recording or practice - it left whichever one of them that wasn't busy unsure of what to do.

Taemin had ended up on the short end of that stick for the most part as of recently. He seemed to constantly be stuck waiting for Jongin to get done with whatever date they had sent Krystal and him off on. Besides that EXO seemed to have more of a schedule going on at the moment as well - so it meant Taemin was spending a lot of his time either alone or just with the rest of Shinee, which he wasn't complaining about really. He just missed Jongin.

"You're awful quiet." Minho said, plopping himself down on the couch. "What's wrong?"

Taemin shook his head, "Nothing."

"You know who I haven't seen in a while? Jongin. Are you all still friends?"

"Yeah, course we are. He's just been busy with Krystal."

Minho nodded, "I never would have thought that Krystal was Jongin's type."

"I don't think Jongin necessarily has a type."

"Everyone has a type, Taem." Minho said, shaking his head. "Besides I don't just mean looks wise."

Taemin felt the shock pass through his body at what Minho was suggesting - despite Taemin already knowing it was true, he felt the need to act stupid. To protect Jongin in any way he could.

"What are you talking about? Have you not hear the literal hundreds of stories about Jongin being with most of the girls within SM?"

Minho shrugged, "So? I figured it was a cover or something. Or that it was him  trying to convince himself of something. But I guess I was wrong, cause I doubt Krystal would let herself be used as a cover."

Jonghyun walked over after hearing the conversation going on, sitting down in one of the chairs off to the side of the couch. "Cut it out, Minho. It's not really any of anyone's business who Jongin likes or doesn't like and who he's dating."

Minho nodded, "I know - I was just saying that I was surprised about Jongin being with Krystal." He said, tilting his head slightly and shrugging a little bit.

■

Jongin was exhausted from the long day of practice that he had finished earlier with EXO and then the date he had to go on with Krystal. And even though it was late enough that he could go on back to the dorm and go on to sleep and he wouldn't get any flack for that fact.

But he felt awful for not having really talked to Taemin that much during the day. And his feelings of guilt had only gotten worse after he got a text from Taemin.

I hate this so much.

He didn't know what had happened, but he knew Taemin was supposed to be at Shinee's dorm today and so he decided it wouldn't hurt for him to stop by for a while before heading back to his dorm.

Jongin quickly knocked a couple of times on the door, Minho opened it after a second with a smile.

"Oh hey Jongin. We were just talking about you a little while ago." He said, stepping out of the way.

Jongin walked inside, "Hey." He said as soon as he was inside. Taemin stood up from the couch and smiled over at him, tilting his head over toward the hallway. Jongin nodded and they walked down the hallway and into Taemin's old room.

Taemin shut the door behind them and Jongin collapsed over onto the bed - Taemin following suit after a moment. Jongin immediately intertwined their hands between them, hoping to somehow comfort Taemin for whatever had gone on that had upset him and caused the text earlier.

"You wanna talk about whatever was bothering you?"

"Not really. But I mean it's just Minho." He replied, shrugging slightly and staring up at the ceiling. "He was just saying earlier that he couldn't believe you and Krystal were together and that he always kind of thought you might have liked guys - but that he knew Krystal wouldn't be the type to be anyone's cover so he guessed that that proved him wrong. And it just bothered me for some reason."

"Taem - this, me dating Krystal, is just for us to be able to continue to be us without the world being nosey about it." Jongin said, lifting their intertwined hands to his lips and pressing a kiss to Taemin's hand. "I swear to you, it's nothing more than that."

"I know that. I just - it got in my head and just got me thinking."

"I'm sorry." Jongin said, looking over at Taemin. "I'm really sorry we're in this predicament."

"It's not your fault."

"Yeah it is though. If I wasn't so scared about being out then we wouldn't have to be hidden away like this. I could have just owned up to it when the rumors started going around, but instead I didn't and now I'm having to fake date Krystal and you're stuck here."

"Don't worry about it, Jongin."

Jongin couldn't help but worry about it though. He just couldn't help it. Because he could see it was taking a toll on Taemin, having to hide their relationship. But Jongin was still too scared to admit to the world who he was interested in.