#multifandomet

He glared at her and simultaneously aggressively pulled at his small black bowtie and the elastic band of the birthday cap.

“This is tight that’s why.” he justified himself.

The little girl took his words for granted and shrugged; and then she popped the cake into her mouth.

She chewed slowly and grinned at him, her teeth covered in chocolate.

Taemin grimaced. Was this why his parents told him to close his mouth while eating?

“Why aren’t you with your friends?” he asked. Finally, he took in her appearance properly. The small tiara on her head was dangling at a dangerous angle, and her hair looked like she had pulled it for fun. She looked younger than him, judging by her super sparkly pink shoes, frilly pink frock and the little teddy bear she was clutching.

“This is my friend.” she said, her mouth still full, waving the soft toy in front of his face. 

“T-That’s not a breathing thing so it's not considered.” he said.

Her smile fell. “Oh.” she said, her small mouth turning into an O.

She muttered something inaudible and he leaned in slightly to hear it better. He got a whiff of her perfume and he pouted slightly. Why did little girls like wearing perfume?

“What did you say?” he asked her.

She shuffled even more closer to him until their elbows were brushing.

“I said,” she said with a bit more emphasis, even though she was still whispering, “ I don’t have any friends.”

Taemin looked at her shocked. The real reason why he had been crying was because he didn’t want to come to this birthday party. He didn’t like the kids here, and he just couldn’t bring himself to talk to anyone else.

“How old are you?” he asked curiously.

She grinned back at him like nothing had happened. “I’m five! Mummy said I’m a big girl now!” she explained, her eyes sparkling as bright as the pink glittery clips on her hair.

Taemin snorted. “Well, I’m a bigger boy. I’m six.” he huffed at her.

She looked at him in awe. “If you are a big boy can you protect me? Every princess needs a prince.”

“I’m not your prince-”

“Oh but the other girls keep making fun of me.” she said sadly. “And I did offer you my cake.” she said, showing him her small fingers covered in black sticky chocolate.

He sighed. He wanted to turn her away. But there was something about her that was making him want to protect her. And besides, even he didn’t have any friends right?

“Sit here beside me and do not move an inch.”

[TAEMIN - 7 YEARS OLD, Y/N - 6 YEARS OLD]

“Are you okay?” the small boy asked worriedly to the even smaller girl, holding her hand tightly in case she fell again.

She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, and he felt a pang in his heart.

“No.” she whispered, blood still coming out of her mouth. Her front two milk teeth had broken and Taemin was in total confusion about how to stop the bleeding.

He had heard that people could die out of bleeding and he definitely didn’t want his best friend to die.

“It's okay.” she whispered, as he struggled to unpin his napkin from his shirt. “It will stop.” she said looking at her worried best friend.

She had been swinging on the swing in the playground when a bigger boy, yes, he was even bigger than Taemin, came and pushed her off the swing.

At first, when she fell, he started crying. But when she looked up at him with teary eyes and blood on her small lips, he felt an anger spark through him. He had never been this angry but watching his best friend cry had made him furious.

Which resulted in the boy knocking the bully down from the swing and he too ended up in the same fate as her. Luckily for Taemin, the bully didn’t fight back; instead, he ran away wailing about his missing teeth.

Taemin plopped himself down beside his best friend and wrapped his arm around her. 

She leaned into him and attempted to smile, with the blood on her lips and missing teeth, as he looked at her disgusted.

“Show me your hands.” he ordered her.

She stuck out her small palms, both of them very dirty due to her fall. He took them in his own small hands; his hands always seemed to be smaller than others, and tried dusting the dirt out of them with his pined handkerchief.

“Thank you.” she said after some time. 

Taemin smiled at her. “You don’t need to thank me. That’s what friends do for each other.”

She too grinned back at him and leaned in closer, until he got the familiar smell of her. Somewhere down the line, he had realised that it wasn’t her perfume, but just the way she smelt all the time.

And somewhere around that time, he realised that he loved the smell.

And their friendship.

[TAEMIN - 8 YEARS OLD, Y/N - 7 YEARS OLD]

“Look at that.” she giggled, pointing at the wisps of whiteness floating on the blue sky. 

They were lying under the sun, the stream water tickling at their feet. Their parents had taken them to some far-off place whose name he hadn’t bothered knowing. All he cared for was having fun with his best friend.

“It's pretty.” he said, They look so beautiful and sparkly.”

True, the spotless white clouds seemed to be glittering in the blue sky, but his main attention was on the way the sun caught his best friend’s hair.

“Oh, that looks like a boat!” she exclaimed, pointing at one of the clouds.

He snorted. “That looks nothing like a boat. You are just copying what you read from those silly 5-year-old books.”

She stuck out her tongue at him. “No, I am not.” She said indignantly. “It really looks like a boat!” 

"No, it doesn't!"

She whined. "Why do you tell me that everything I say is wrong ?"

"Because you are still a baby." Taemin snorted.

She poured at him and he laughed.

"I hate you!" She cried, and got up and ran.

Taemin too shot up and chased her down, tackling her into a hug.

She too started laughing as they both rolled down the hill.

Finally, they stopped and stared at each other, wrapped in each other's embrace. 

"I don't hate you." She giggled.

"I know. I could never hate you too."

[TAEMIN - 10 YEARS OLD, Y/N - 9 YEARS OLD]

“Taemin.” she hissed at him, causing him to turn away even more.

She climbed up the benches of the empty gallery and sat beside him.

“Taemin, what did he do?” she asked, a little more forcefully this time. She got a sniffling as an answer.

Edging closer to him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and said, “Taemin, if you don’t tell me what he did, I'm going to accidentally spill glitter into his water bottle-”

“You can’t do that! Th-that’s murder!” he exclaimed in shock, trying to process his best friend’s murder scheme.

“If he doesn't die, it isn’t. But if you don’t tell me what he did-”

“H-he tripped me.” Taemin sobbed. “And I fell down with my plate. A-And there was milk on my tray and it spilled on my pants and everyone in the cafeteria was laughing because apparently, I peed my pants-”

“It's okay.” she mumbled, pulling him into a hug. “It’s okay. Minsung is just a jerk and he’s just jealous you’re a precious small bean-”

“But I’m not small anymore!” Taemin said, now visibly crying hard. “I’m 10! I’m not supposed to be crying! I’m supposed to-”

“Protect me blah blah blah but Taemin I’m not little either anymore. We aren’t in our delusional fantasy of princes and princesses but we are best friends and best friends give their shoulder for each other to cry on. ”

Taemin stared at her with his watery eyes, wondering when she had grown up so much. In his eyes, she was still the small girl who had asked him to be her prince.

He leaned into her until his face was buried in her shoulder.

“Don’t go.” he croaked.

“I’ll never leave you.”