#poufe

He’s about to ask another hypothetical question regarding Taeyeon when Jinki looks back at him and sighs.

“You can ask her to homecoming,” Jinki tells him. “I trust you not to be a dick to her, but just know that if I find out you do something really not cool, the fact that you’re my best friend won’t save you from my wrath.”

“Fair enough,” Jonghyun says. He nods his head, his lips set into a straight line as his head bobs up and down. “What are her favorite flowers?”

“Hell if I know,” Jink answers with a snort.

“You are absolutely no help,” Jonghyun says. He lets out a huff of a sigh, slumping down on the bench.

“Better figure out how you’re gonna ask her soon,” Jinki tells him. “She’s adorable, I bet she’s gonna get tons of people asking her.”

Jonghyun curses under his breath, and he picks up his backpack and hurries over to the lockers to go see if Gwiboon is still at hers. 

On second thought, he really shouldn’t say anything to Gwiboon about asking her best friend to homecoming; she might just strangle him at the mere thought of such an idea.

The internet will have to help him come up with a good idea.

That Friday, Jonghyun brings his guitar with him to school along with a little white teddy bear and a pink rose. He finds Taeyeon sitting at the lunch bench she usually sits with Gwiboon and their other friends, Kai and Ravi. He stands at the end of their table, placing the teddy bear and the rose on the tabletop and taking a deep breath as he starts to play his guitar. 

It’s a song he wrote himself, but he only has the very beginning of the song actually written. It’s called Moon right now - which is good, considering the theme for homecoming this year is “Night Under the Stars” - but even the chorus only goes up to “I’ll take you to the moon.”

Gwiboon starts nudging Taeyeon’s ribs with a sly grin on her face. Taeyeon’s cheeks are heating up, but she holds the bear and the rose close to her after Gwiboon slides them over to her. 

After Jonghyun finishes his little song, he grins and asks, “Will you go to homecoming with me, Taeyeon?”

She nods her head, her cheeks going as pink as the rose she’s holding in her hands. 

“Yes,” she squeaks. 

Jonghyun goes over and kisses her cheek, and the crowd that started forming when he started playing his guitar starts clapping and cheering.

“A junior just asked a freshman to homecoming!” someone shouts. There’s more cheering after that, because it’s pretty uncommon at their school for an upperclassman to ask out someone younger than them.

Taeyeon is a blushing, giggling mess as she holds her little presents close to her. Jonghyun gives her a big hug, squeezing her tiny little frame for a moment while he whispers that people will be over the shock by lunch time.

When Taeyeon walks into her and Gwiboon’s math class at the end of the day, Mr. Choi spots the teddy bear and rose that she’s clutching to her. She sits down and places them both in her lap, and he goes over and grins at her.

“So who’s the lucky guy that got to you first?” Mr. Choi asks.

Taeyeon blushes and ducks her head, but she squeaks out, “Jonghyun Kim.”

“Ooooh,” Mr. Choi teases. He chuckles when her cheeks turn bright pink, but then he waves his hand and tells her, “I’m only playing. Homecoming season is such an exciting time, isn’t it? Now, everyone in their seats! The bell is going to ring any moment, and we need to get right into the review session so you can ask all the questions you want before your test on Monday.”

“If my brother is an ass to you, just tell me and I’ll smother him in his sleep,” Gwiboon whispers to her. 

Taeyeon frowns and slaps her away, saying that she can handle herself just fine, thank you.

Come homecoming, Jonghyun is secretly relieved that Taeyeon is still shorter with him even when she’s wearing heels.