"Oh my god." Sehun said, gasping slightly. "You're fucking Taemin."
"No." Jongin said, shock filling his voice and his head snapping back to look at Sehun. "No I'm not."
"Yes you are." Sehun said, smirk sliding onto his face. "I can't believe I didn't realize it before. You've been sneaking out so fucking much. And then Jonghyun came to see you which obviously was probably an excuse for you to go see Taemin."
"No, you're not right."
Sehun stood up, grabbing hold of Jongin's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "Yes I am dude. Admit it. You're fucking Taemin. It's all good, I'm happy for you."
Jongin didn't exactly know what to say or do at the moment - and he especially didn't know what to do when Sehun suddenly grabbed him up into a hug.
"I'm happy for you, Jong. I'm being honest here. I'm actually really happy for you." He said, patting Jongin's back. "You can feel free to answer at any time here man."
"Thanks." Jongin muttered, unsure of what else he could say.
"No problem." Sehun said, stepping back with a smile. "If you all need me to cover for you, I don't mind to. Just let me know ahead of time the next time I'm supposed to be out somewhere with you."
"I'll make sure to let you know." Jongin said, nodding and shoving his hands into his pockets.
●
Shinee being gone on a world tour wasn't necessarily an unusual thing for Jongin to be dealing with. Both of their groups had been on tours since Taemin and Jongin first got together. But Jongin still hated the distance it put between them every time one of them had to leave the country.
Not to mention this time was bringing up past memories of the last time Jongin was out of the country and what happened with Kyungsoo.
He still hadn't managed a decent conversation with his bandmate since then regarding what had occurred between them. And then whenever EXO had had a performance since that tour, Jongin had to go on stage and act as if nothing was wrong between them.
So having Taemin gone was a downer. Jongin hadn't noticed how much of his time was spent with Taemin until Shinee left to go on their tour. All of his free time had seemingly been spent with his boyfriend.
His boyfriend. A phrase Jongin still struggled to say. Don't even get Jongin started on the other phrase that had yet to come out of his mouth.
He hadn't told Taemin he loved him. He didn't know when he would ever manage to say the words that Taemin had already said pretty early on in their relationship. Hell Taemin had even said it before there was a relationship to speak of.
Taemin had let the words slip so easily out of his mouth in regards to Jongin on multiple occasions and Jongin hadn't even managed to say it once so far. And the worst part was Taemin hadn't even made him feel pressured to say it in return when he had said it in the past.
But he was worried that eventually Taemin would want to hear Jongin say it back. And Jongin wouldn't be able to say it. He wouldn't be able to say the three damn words that should be easy enough to say.
Deep down inside of him, Jongin had a feeling of dread. He felt like he knew eventually Jongin not being able to say I love you to Taemin would be the end of their relationship.
Did he love Taemin? Jongin wasn't sure. Because honestly he had never thought he loved anyone outside his family. None of his girlfriends in the past had ever inched past mere lust and liking. And none of them had ever told him they loved him either.
But as he had already figured out, Taemin was different than any of his other relationships. And maybe Jongin did kind of love Taemin.
●
Jongin was praying. Yes it was a kind of new thing for him. Not that he didn't believe in God, he just had never really been the praying type exactly.
But for this occurence, praying seemed to be the right thing to do.
But as Jongin sat at the award show, he wasn't praying for EXO to win something - even though they were nominated for the award that was about to be announced. No he was praying for their competition to win.
He was praying and hoping for Shinee to beat his own group.
The irony was definitely evident to Jongin, but he desperately wanted to see Taemin win the award. Even more than he wanted to win it himself.
Because Shinee deserved it - not that EXO didn't. But there was also a part of him that hoped that if Shinee won the award, maybe it would somehow change Taemin's mind about moving out of the dorm.
Yes, Jongin was still slightly disapproving of the idea of Taemin moving out of the dorm. But he wasn't about to tell Taemin that. Hell, Taemin hadn't even brought up the idea to his bandmates yet.
But here Jongin was, hoping winning an award would change Taemin's mind. He knew his hope had about a snowball's chance in hell. But he was still hoping and praying that it would turn out to be the case.
To top all this off, tonight was his first time getting to see Taemin since Shinee went off on their tour - and up until now he's had to act all normal best friends with Taemin because of the fact that they've only seen each other in front of a ton of other people and cameras.
"And the winner is... Shinee!"
Jongin was one of the first people up out of his seat amongst EXO's little sitting area. The rest of his bandmates were up right after he was, and as a group they walked over to congratulate Shinee.
Shinee quickly had to walk up on the stage as a group to accept the award and give acceptance speeches - which were filled with happy tears and thank you's.
After a few moments they were allowed to go up onto the stage with Shinee. Jongin had been planning on seeking out Taemin as soon as he got onto the stage, but Jonghyun grabbed him into a hug as soon as he reached him.
Jjong turned his head toward Jongin's, "Thank you Jongin." Jonghyun said, hugging him only tighter. "Thank you for being there for Taemin."
Jongin nodded, "You don't have to thank me."
"Go celebrate with him." Jonghyun said before releasing Jongin from the hug.
Jongin smiled and walked toward the back of the stage, the emotions from watching Shinee win finally winning over. After a few seconds, Jongin looked up to find Taemin rushing over to him. They grabbed each other into a tight hug, their heads pressed tightly into each others shoulders - tears flowing freely on both of their parts.
"You won, Taem." Jongin said, quietly. He took the risk and pressed a quick kiss to the side of Taemin's neck while they were hugging.
It was a risk that was for sure, but they were toward the back of the stage - behind the larger group of their two groups. Jongin was sure they were safe from anyone being able to see the kiss, including their bandmates, and when they separated from their hug everything was going on normally around them still.
●
As soon as the award show was over, they were all chauffeured over to an afterparty. Jongin was trying to balance partying with EXO like he normally would be and watching Taemin as discreetly as he could.
Everyone was in a partying mood and the rest of his bandmates kept ordering shots for all of them. Kyungsoo and Jongin were still slightly awkward around each other ever since the end of their tour and being out here - drinking once again - was only making things more awkward between them as they both sat in their booth area with the rest of EXO.
Jongin kept his eyes away from Kyungsoo, focusing on the table in front of them whenever he wasn't looking over at Taemin - who was off with the rest of Shinee in their own little area.
Every once in a while Jongin would end up meeting Taemin's eyes and after a while of sitting there he made out a small smile on Taemin's face after they managed to meet each others gazes again.
"I'm gonna go congratulate our hyungs over there." Jongin said, standing up.
Sehun shot him a grin, "Yeah you do that."
Jongin shook his head and began the walk across to where Shinee was all crowded around a table - Taemin sitting in between Jonghyun and Minho. Jonghyun and Key were in the middle of a deep conversation, leaning in to speak to each other. Minho looked up and scooted over closer to Onew when he saw Jongin walking up.
Jongin sat down in the now empty space that Minho had created and leant in toward Taemin. "Can I just say congrats again on winning tonight?"
Taemin smiled, "Thank you." He said, resting his hand against Jongin's leg. "Been having fun?"
Jongin laughed lightly, shrugging. "It's been an alright night so far. Would have been better if I had came over here earlier and spent more of the night with you."
"Could have came over here whenever you wanted to." Taemin said, nudging Jongin's shoulder with his own. Taemin leant in a little closer to Jongin, "I was thinking about heading back to the dorm here in a minute if you wanted to join me."
"Party scene not appealing to you?" Jongin asked, grin accompanying his words.
"I'd much rather be back in my room with you." Taemin said, matter of fact tone.
Jongin nodded, "Same here."
"But?" Taemin asked, sensing the excuse as to why they couldn't just run off together coming eventually.
"But, if I disappear with no excuse -"
"Your bandmates will begin to wonder." He replied, nodding and looking away from Jongin. "You might want to get back over there then. Sehun's looking over this way awful hard, I'd hate for him to get any ideas."
Jongin glanced over toward Sehun - who was indeed watching them. He hadn't told Taemin that Sehun knew about them, didn't want to have to explain how Sehun found out honestly.
Sehun stood up from where he was sitting, letting out a sigh. "I'm feeling pretty sick at my stomach guys. I think I'm gonna see if Kai or one of the Shinee hyungs can give me a ride back to the dorm."
The rest of the EXO members all nodded before Sehun walked over to the Shinee table. "Jongin - I need a ride home. Can any of you guys drive us back to the dorm? Our manager drove us all here together."
Jongin tapped Taemin on his leg, "Can you give us a ride back to the dorm?"
Taemin nodded, shooting a curious glance toward Sehun before looking back at Jongin. "Yeah sure. Come on." He said, standing up and motioning for Sehun and Jongin to follow him.
●
The ride back to the dorm was silent, Sehun scrolling down something on his phone in the backseat while Taemin drove - Jongin sitting in the passenger's seat. He kept glancing over at Taemin while they drove down the road, but Taemin's eyes never left the road in front of them.
As soon as Taemin parked the car and they were getting into the elevator, Sehun perked up - dropping the feeling sick act. "Thanks for the ride hyung. I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Jongin."