“Nice job Yuta,” Johnny said as he came up to his friend and gave him a small pat on the back, “I’m pretty sure operation: ‘get Taeyong to stop crushing on Ten and start crushing on someone else who will actually appreciate him because Ten is a jerk who doesn’t know perfection when sees it’ is going to be a huge success thanks to you.”

Yuta rolled his eyes as he continued to stuff his heavy books inside his locker, “Well I’m glad you’re happy Johnny.” He slammed the locker door shut before turning to look at the other, “Because I feel like right now. And, please stop using that stupid operation name!”

“Why?” Johnny asked as he leaned back on the locker next to Yuta’s, which happened to belong to Taeyong, “We all agreed my operation name was cool… and I thought you wanted the plan to work just as much as the rest of us did. I mean… I know it’ll be a little awkward at first, but isn’t it more important that we save our best friend from heartache?”

Yuta let out a loud sigh, “First of all, no one agreed to your silly operation name, only you thought it was cool.” He met Johnny’s eyes with his own, “I know you’ve been friends with him for a long time Johnny. And I know that you have always looked out for him and protected him… but this… this just doesn’t feel right.” He looked down before speaking again, “Yeah, you’re right. Ten may be a huge jerk who doesn’t deserve Taeyong” he looked back up at his friend, “but we can’t always protect him from everything. We just have to be there for him if he’s hurt.”

Johnny let out a soft sigh, “You’ve been spending way too much time with Hansol.” He turned his head to look at Yuta, “Just… go with the plan for a few days. After that, I’ll talk to Taeyong and explain everything. I’ll tell him it was my idea and our friendship won’t be ruined. I swear.”

“Alright,” Yuta nodded, “But, why do you need a few days?” he asked.

“To talk to Ten,” his friend replied, “Get to know him, find out exactly why he rejected Taeyong.” Johnny noticed Taeyong slowly walking towards them, “I have a feeling that… Ten might have rejected Taeyong for a bigger reason then he says.” He turned around to leave, but not before giving Yuta another pat on the back and whispering a quick, “Good luck.”

Yuta noticed Taeyong walking towards him and mentally cursed Johnny out for leaving him alone before trying to quickly turn and walk away, pretending he hadn’t seen the boy making his way over. He didn’t get very far before he heard his name being called out, “Yuta! Wait.” He closed his eyes tightly, stopped walking, and hoped that he could somehow disappear.

“Yuta?” Taeyong stood behind him, “Wanna… talk about what happened today?” he asked almost hesitantly.

“Nope,” Yuta replied without turning to look at his friend, “Not really.” He began to walk away again, but he couldn’t escape. Taeyong quickly grabbed his arm to prevent him from getting far.

“Why did you do it?” Taeyong asked slowly, “D-Did you do it just to get Ten to stop talking to me… or-” he paused and looked down at the floor, afraid to hear the answer, “or do you actually like me? Like me, as more than just a friend.”

Yuta wanted to say no. He wanted to tell Taeyong the truth, but he had already promised Johnny that he would go with the plan. It was only temporary, he could handle this for a few days. He took a deep breath before turning to face his friend, “Have I ever joked around with serious matters?” he asked, “I do… l-like you.” Yuta found the words difficult to say, but he tried his best to sound and look convincing.

Taeyong let go of his friend’s arm slowly, “I’m sorry Yuta,” he replied, “But I’m still in love with Ten… and I’m going to keep trying to win his love.” He smiled apologetically before walking past the other and heading towards Ten’s classroom. School was nearly over, and he wanted to walk Ten home.

Yuta watched his friend walk away with a small smile on his face before shaking his head slowly, “You lovesick idiot,” he whispered, “I hope it all works out for you.” And he sincerely did, it was clear from Taeyong’s eyes that he was determined to get Ten to love him one way or the other and Yuta was secretly rooting for them.

“I can’t believe he rejected me though,” Yuta whispered softly to himself, “I mean, I’m such a catch.”

Ten was the last to walk out of his classroom that day, and he was surprised to find Taeyong standing there, waiting for him, like he usually did. He had thought for sure that after what had occurred earlier in the afternoon, Taeyong wouldn’t want anything at all to do with him, but the boy had managed to surprise Ten once again. He really wasn’t giving up so easily, the realization of that made Ten’s heart flutter. No one had ever gone to such lengths for him, the feeling was nice.

Taeyong smiled as soon as he saw Ten, he didn’t bring up what happened at lunch that day, instead he just greeted the boy as he usually did, “Hey. I’m walking you home today, I’m not taking no for an answer.” Ten let out a sigh but said nothing as Taeyong walked beside him, out of the building.

For a long time, it was quiet between the two. Their walk to the bus stop was quiet. It was quiet while they sat on the bench, waiting for the bus. And, it was quiet when they boarded the bus. It wasn’t until a few minutes into the bus ride that Taeyong finally decided to break the awkward silence, “I-I’m not going out with Yuta… just so you know.”

Ten continued to look straight ahead, “Oh really?” he said, trying to seem uninterested, “Why not? He seems like a great guy.”

“You know why,” Taeyong replied as he turned to look at Ten, “It’s because I’m in love with you.”

“You really need to stop saying that Taeyong,” Ten said, as he continued to stare straight ahead, refusing to meet the other’s eyes with his own. “How can you possibly love someone who you know absolutely nothing about, that’s just ridiculous.”

It was silent between them again for a long time again. Taeyong turned to look straight ahead, and Ten thought maybe he had finally stumped him.

“You’re passionate about dancing, it’s always on your mind, that’s all you think about,” Taeyong started, “You’re learning to play the guitar, sometimes you stay after school, go to the practice room and practice for hours, you lose track of time.”

Ten slowly turned to look at Taeyong.

“Everyday for lunch, you bring chocolate pudding, if you don’t have one, you get grumpy and take your anger out on Doyoung,” he continued. “You hate the cold and your favorite season is summer.” Taeyong looked right at Ten as he kept talking, “The person you care about the most is your little sister, you would do anything to protect her. And you always do whatever you can to make your parents happy. In fact, you put everyone’s happiness above yours. It’s one of the things I love the most about you.”

Ten broke eye contact with Taeyong and stood up as the bus came to a stop, “T-That’s nothing Taeyong. So you know a few of my favorite things, it doesn’t mean you know who I am. And I definitely don’t know you.”

Taeyong stood up as well, following Ten out of the bus. “But I could know a lot more about you if you gave me a chance,” he said as he quickly caught up to Ten and walked besides him, towards his home, “How do you expect me to know more if you won’t let me in. And how do you expect to know me if you won’t give me a chance?”

Ten stopped walking and turned towards Taeyong, “That’s because I don’t want to let you in or give you a chance, but you just don’t seem to get that,” he let out a sigh, “What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone? Why won’t you quit? Chase after someone else, plenty of people like you.”

“But those people aren’t you,” Taeyong said as he took a step towards Ten, “They don’t have your smile, or your shining eyes… and I didn’t fall for them from the moment I saw them like I did with you.”

“You’re never going to leave me alone, are you?” Ten asked as he took a step back, wanting to put some distance between him and Taeyong. The latter shook his head and smiled proudly, “Nope, not ever. I refuse to give up.”

Ten flashed him the smallest of smiles before shaking his head, “Okay, well… thanks for walking me home today,” he turned to leave, “But, you really didn’t need to, I’m perfectly capable to getting myself here safely.”

Taeyong felt his heart flutter at the small smile directed towards him. Ten thought he hadn’t noticed, but he had and he was elated, “My house is nearby anyways,” he stated. “I’m coming to pick you up tomorrow, okay?” he asked before Ten could go inside his home.

Ten only offered him another small smile before walking inside his home without a word. Taeyong felt a smile spread across his own face as he began to practically skip home, Ten hadn’t said no, so he was taking it as a yes. Sometimes it felt like he was taking one step back, but then two steps forward. It was difficult but Taeyong knew the hard work would be worth it in the end.

“Kim Doyoung and Moon Taeil, correct?” Johnny asked slowly. He tried his best to appear intimidating as he stood in front of the two friends early next morning. In the back of his mind though, he could hear Yuta telling him how stupid he looked. It was probably true though, Johnny wasn’t very good at being menacing, he was a pretty chill guy.

Doyoung’s eyes grew huge as he looked up at the boy in front of him. Johnny was taller than him, and a lot taller than Taeil. It was scary when a guy of his height came up to you, in an empty hallway, and stood in front of you looking quite intimidating. Doyoung pushed Taeil in front of him as he stood behind his friend.

Taeil let out a nervous laugh before looking up at Johnny, “C-Can we help you?” he asked, his voice shaky from fear.

Johnny smiled to himself, his menacing act was actually working. ‘Take that Nakamoto!’ he thought to himself. He was pretty proud of himself, not only was his plan working, but he was also proving Yuta wrong. He could be very intimidating, this situation was proof of it. He actually couldn’t wait to be done here to brag to Yuta, but that would have to wait, he had business to take care of for now.

“You two are friends with Ten, correct?” Johnny questioned the two. Both of them nodded and replied with a quick, “Yes.”

“Good… so tell me the real reason why your friend rejected Taeyong,” Johnny said, and, without hesitation, added, “I’m not stupid, I’ve seen how Ten looks at him. He may not love Taeyong, but he definitely likes him, so I’m curious, why exactly did Ten reject my best friend? And don’t you guys dare tell me that you don’t know the real reason, cause we all know you do.

Taeil and Doyoung turned to look at each other and seemed to communicate with their eyes. Neither of them opened their mouths to speak, unsure of what to say. What could they say? Of course they knew the reason for Ten’s rejection, but it wasn’t a secret that was theirs to tell. Johnny wasn’t backing down though, so they knew they had to say something to get the tall freak to leave them alone.

Doyoung cleared his throat and looked up at Johnny before speaking, “W-Why do you even care? Isn’t this something that should be between Ten and Taeyong?” he asked meekly.

“I care,” Johnny began while looking down at the shorter male in front of him, “because Taeyong is my best friend. I was the one who encouraged.. no, I forced him, to ask Ten out because I thought for sure Ten liked him back. I-I feel guilty… and I just want to fix everything. Because if it weren’t for me, then Taeyong wouldn’t be suffering through this heartache. That’s why I care.”

“We can’t tell you the reason, because it’s not our story to tell, it’s Ten’s.“ Taeil said. Doyoung nodded before adding, “But you are right, Ten does like your friend, and he has liked him for a while. He won’t be admitting it anytime soon though.”

Johnny nodded before offering the boys a smile, “Thanks for your help gentlemen,” without another word, he turned around and walked away. Doyoung and Taeil watched him walk away, and once he was far enough away, they both said what they had been thinking, “He’s weird.”

“Oh. My. God!” Tern slowly said as she stared at the perfect boy standing outside her home with wide eyes. “TEN! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOUR BOYFRIEND WAS SO HANDSOME?” She yelled as she continued to peek through the blinds of the living room window. She was shamelessly checking out the boy who was waiting outside the locked gate, leaning against his car, and looking down at his phone.

“What are you talking about?” Ten asked as he came rushing down the stairs and into the living room. He walked towards Tern and attempted to see what she was looking at, “Who’s out there?”

“I’m talking about HIM!” she said as moved aside only slightly to allow Ten to peek out the window. Her brother joined her and looked out the window as well, he was surprised to see Taeyong out there, waiting for him. Of course Taeyong had said he would be coming for him, but he hadn’t actually expected the boy to show up so early in the morning just to drive him to school.

“It’s him isn’t it?” Tern asked, “That’s Taeyong, the boy you’ve liked for a while?”

“Yeah,” Ten replied, it was no use lying to his little sister. He had been talking about him to her for a long time. Since the first day, when he saw Lee Taeyong singing a High School Musical classic with his friends, Ten had ran home just to tell Tern all about him. “That’s him,” he said with a smile before taking a step back and letting out a sigh, “But… what’s the point of it now, right? I’m already technically engaged.”

Tern looked away from the good looking boy outside and faced her older brother, “Yeah, but you still have a couple of months before you meet this mystery fiancee of yours,” she smiled a huge smile, “And the boy you like asked you out.”

“Your point is?” asked Ten.

“My point is,” Tern began, “that before you give up your happiness to make our parents happy, you should, for once is your life, put yourself first. Be with him for now, date him, even if it’s only for a while… let yourself really fall in love with someone who genuinely wants to know you and who you want to get to know.”

Ten look at his little sister and let out a small sigh before smiling, “When did you get so good at giving advice?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “So… you’ll do it?” she asked.

“We’ll see,” Ten replied, making no promises as he went back to looking out the window.

“Good morning Ten!” Taeyong greeted the said boy much too happily for someone who had woken up at nearly five in the morning to get ready, drive to Ten’s house, and wait for nearly forty-five minutes for his crush to be ready. He quickly ran to the passenger side of his car and opened the door for Ten, “Thanks for agreeing to letting me drive you today.”

Ten closed the gate behind him and slowly approached the other’s car, “I didn’t agree though,” he said before stopping in front of the other and cracking the smallest of smiles, “But… thanks for the ride anyways.” Without another word, he got in the car, missing the look of pure happiness the spread across Taeyong’s handsome face.

After recollecting his thoughts, Taeyong finally closed the door on the passenger side of the car before running to the other side and getting in. Before turning the car on he looked over at Ten and smiled, “Seatbelt,” he said as he put his on as well. The other smiled to himself before putting his own seatbelt on as well and facing forward.   

The ride to school was nice. Taeyong was surprised that Ten seemed to actually want to talk to him, because he honestly had expected for the other boy to ignore him and be on his phone or something. He was surprised when Ten asked questions about him and actually listened, and he was even more shocked when Ten answered his questions. Taeyong was happy though, he really was making progress.

They were almost at school when Ten finally decided to ask something he was curious about for a really long time, “Hey Taeyong,” he paused for a few seconds before continuing, “y-you don’t have to answer this but… why do you reject so many people. I mean, even before I knew you, I heard from a lot of people that you were never interested in anyone who confessed to you. A-And so many people like you… out of all those people, why do you like me? A boy? A boy who never showed interest in you and who you never really talked to?”

Taeyong stopped the car as he came up to red light, he turned to look at Ten for a few seconds before speaking, “It’s true, what they say, I do reject people easily… but it’s not because I’m playing hard to get. I’ve dated in the past, but those girls were only with me because they expected expensive gifts, they wanted popularity, and attention. They never really wanted to get to know me and they didn’t love me… they loved the idea of me.”

Ten nodded slowly, understanding Taeyong’s situation better, “So, you reject people because… they chased after you for the wrong reasons?”

Taeyong nodded as he began driving again, “Exactly. At first I did reject people to guard my heart, because I don’t want to be with someone who wants me for the wrong reasons. But…” he stopped and smiled as he recalled the memory, “But then, you walked into my first period English class seven months ago and I fell in love with you, even though everyone says it’s crazy, I know it’s fate. My mom always told me that love is love, and we can’t help who we fall for. She was shocked when she found out that I fell for a boy-”

“You told your mom that you love me?!?” Ten suddenly said loudly, interrupting Taeyong before the boy could finish his sentence.

Taeyong parked his car on the school parking lot and smiled as he looked at Ten, “Of course I did, I told mom and dad,” he stated, “As I was saying, they were a little shocked but they said that it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl, as long as you’re a good person with a kind heart, that’s all that matters to them.” He unbuckled his seatbelt, “They’re actually excited to meet to you.”

Ten leaned back on his seat and stayed there for a few minutes, processing everything as Taeyong continued to talk.

“I’m telling you Nakamoto, it’s true!” Johnny insisted as he followed Yuta down the crowded hallways of the school, Hansol and Jaehyun walking closely behind, talking among themselves and not really paying attention to the other two.

“Yeah freaking right Johnny,” Yuta scoffed and rolled his eyes, “No one finds you menacing, you’re just a tall freak of nature with a funny looking face.” He stopped at his locker and opened the door but Johnny closed it again and smiled.

“Well Taeil and Doyoung found me very menacing,” he continued to claim with the proudest of smiles on his face. “All I have to do was give them this look,” Johnny made his best threatening face, “and they began spilling details like that!” He said with the snap of his fingers.

Yuta let out a loud cackle before pushing Johnny aside and opening his locker door once again, he grabbed his books and fought hard to try and stop laughing, “I-If anything, they wanted to get rid of you faster after seeing that face!”

He leaned against Hansol, who held Yuta up, and continued his laughing, Jaehyun and Hansol following soon enough. Johnny stomped his foot and pouted, “Stop laughing!” he whined, “I’m menacing! I’m very menacing I tell you!”

It was five minutes later when Yuta, Jaehyun, and Hansol finally managed to calm down. They leaned against each other, trying to catch their breaths. Yuta wiped away a fake tear from the corner, “It’s been so long since I’ve had a good laugh.” The other two nodded in agreement as Johnny just watched them with an annoyed look plastered on his face, “Are you finish now?” he asked.

“S-Sorry Johnny,” Hansol said, still trying to catch his breath, “But you have to admit, it was pretty funny,” Jaehyun added.

Yuta began cracking up again but before he could fully laugh, he caught of something very interesting, “G-Guys, wait,” he said, the tone of his voice serious. He pointed towards the other end of the hallway, “I-Is that what I think it is?”

“Taeyong and… Ten?” Hansol said as he squinted his eyes.

“Are they… hugging? Or am I blind?” Jaehyun added.

“What kind of bull is this?!?” Johnny yelled as he watched the pair from afar.

“They do look kinda cute together though,” Hansol quietly stated, a small smile on his handsome face. Jaehyun nodded, “They do.”

“I guess operation: ‘get Taeyong to stop crushing on Ten and start crushing on someone else who will actually appreciate him because Ten is a jerk who doesn’t know perfection when sees it’ isn’t necessary anymore,” Yuta said.

Johnny stared at Taeyong and Ten for a while before realizing what Yuta had just said, he smiled brightly, “You used my code name!” he jumped up and down, “I knew it was cool!” Yuta, Jaehyun, and even Yuta let out loud groans before turning around and heading towards the classroom, Johnny chased after them with the hugest smile on his face, “Just admit it guys!”

SORRY! I haven’t updated for so, so, so long and I honestly have no excuse. Anyways, I’m going to try really hard to post the next chapter within these five days to make up for the time I’ve wasted. As always, thanks for the support on this story, I truly appreciate it.