Chapter 1

...Morning Jealousy...

A scream of laughter resounded from one of the member’s rooms and bounced to every part of their dorm. Kim Jonghyun awoke from his slumber with much annoyance. He groaned and covered his ears with his pillow. He knew who the laughter belonged to, and he knew who had caused it. The scream came again and Jonghyun threw the pillow away and sat up.

The one who had screamed with laughter was none other than Jonghyun’s boyfriend, Key. And the one who brought joy to Key in the morning was Jonghyun’s nemesis, Onew. As Key’s boyfriend, Jonghyun tried to wake up early in the morning and be the first face his lover would awaken to, but sadly, he wasn’t the early type. He once had set up an alarm but he had smashed it without realising it and went back to sleep. Onew on the other hand, was the opposite of Jonghyun.

He was Mr Sunshine; always the one who woke up early and prods his other members awake. But when it came to Key, the leader would tickle him awake, resulting to the screams of laughter. Key had a few tickle spots, and Jonghyun knew where. But Onew would beat him every morning at being the first person in Key’s eyes as soon as the latter woke up. Ever since Onew did those tactics, Jonghyun had a reserved jealousy towards him, and it was building up every day as he woke up to Key’s joyful laughter.

Jonghyun heard Key yelling playfully for Onew to stop, and he did. And the dorm was quiet again. A delicious smell wafted into Jonghyun’s room, indicating that breakfast was ready. His stomach growled and he jumped out of bed and opened his door, only to meet the eyes of Onew.

“Oh, you’re awake already,” Onew said with that bright smile of his. Jonghyun looked blankly at him, not wanting to give away the fact that he was angry at the leader for having stealing his morning role as Key’s boyfriend. Onew patted him on the shoulder and went towards the kitchen, ready to have breakfast prepared by Minho and Taemin. Jonghyun watched Onew walking away with eyes full of scorn. And then he spotted Key poking his adorable head outside of his room, with his back to Jonghyun.

The latter smirked and crept towards his boyfriend and hugged him from behind, earning a squeak from the younger. Key turned around and his lips collided into Jonghyun’s.

“Good morning!” Jonghyun said happily after the kiss. He could see the faint pink line that was steadily spreading across Key’s fair face. Key smiled back and responded with equal happiness. They both walked hand in hand towards the kitchen and the smell of breakfast hit them like a slap on the face. Their mouths instantly watered and the couple took their places beside each other, taking the food into their bowl of rice to enjoy.

“Good morning, hyung!” Taemin greeted. “How’s the breakfast? Super delicious, right?”

“Yup!” Onew, Jonghyun and Key said with their mouths full. Taemin turned to his boyfriend and Minho nodded for him to sit and eat. As Jonghyun filled his train of thoughts with the delicious food, Onew had pulled Key a little closer to him and they began trading gossips. A giggle escaped Key’s mouth and Jonghyun snapped out of his daydreaming. He looked at the 2Min couple to see if they were the ones who produced the giggle, but they were eating away merrily while sending love beams into each other’s eyes. Jonghyun then heard hushed whispers and muffled giggles coming from beside him and his mood turned sour.

Onew was with Key again! Jonghyun was about to turn away with annoyance when he saw something that could have made him smash the dining table in half if he weren’t sane. Onew leaned in closer to Key and put his lips beside the diva’s ear, and his hand resting slyly on Key’s lap. It infuriated Jonghyun more when Onew started whispering and he glanced at Jonghyun with a slight smirk on his mouth. Jonghyun’s eyes widen and his teeth clenched together. He trembled with rage and was about to shout when Onew pulled away.

Key giggled and straightened up in his seat. He was about to have another bite of rice when Jonghyun snatched his bowl away. “Yah! Why’d you do that?” Key said. He was quite shocked at Jonghyun’s sudden action. Jonghyun, who didn’t want any fuss, fed Key and shut him up.

“Yeobo, you’re so slow at eating. Let me help you,” Jonghyun snickered and he could see Key’s eyes soften at his explanation. Jonghyun stole a glance at Onew, but the leader was eating and didn’t once look at the two couples, like he had done nothing in the past few minutes. Key opened his mouth and said ‘Aaah…’ in a childlike voice, and Jonghyun couldn’t help but chuckle and gave Key another scoop.

He hated when Onew ignores his glares after what he had done. The latter would just continue with what he was doing, completely making himself innocent from any possible wrong doings. Jonghyun hated mornings the most, because Onew would be there to take Key away from him. The leader’s tactics weren’t that of - blocking like Minho does whenever Jonghyun and Key got a little comfortable with each other. Onew, always being the naïve person he was, turns into another person when it came to messing up Key’s relationship with Jonghyun. Jonghyun once had warned Key regarding Onew, but his boyfriend had laughed it off and told him that he and Onew had nothing special with each other.

Normally, those words would always extinguish any jealousy or rage Jonghyun felt towards Onew, but not today. He had always kept quiet about Onew’s behaviour when the latter was around Key. Jonghyun decided that that morning, he would settle things his way.

After cleaning up the table, Onew was always the first to shower. And so Jonghyun followed him. When Jonghyun knew that they were far from the kitchen, he pushed Onew towards the wall and pinned him there with his arm to his throat. Onew’s eyes went wide with fear, but Jonghyun knew it was a mask; a mask that Onew always wore whenever he wanted people to think he was as innocent as an angel. He glared up at Onew, his face clearly the picture of anger.

Onew’s scared face suddenly turned menacing. Jonghyun knew that the elder was beginning to show his real self. “Ne, Jonghyun. Why are you doing this? Have you gone crazy?” Onew said. His voice was casual and disappointed. But Jonghyun was smarter than that. He could see in Onew’s face that the leader was taunting him of his wits. He growled.

“Shut up, hyung!” Jonghyun pushed his arm, making Onew choke but otherwise his face remained the same; sly and witty. “You’d better stop getting close to Key, or—”

“Or what, Jonghyun? You’ll punch me in the face? Throw me out of the window? I don’t think you dare to do so.” Onew interrupted. This time, his voice was full of mockery. He smirked and Jonghyun cursed under his breath, realising the truth in his leader’s words. “You know you can do nothing to stop me from getting under your sweet boyfriend’s arm. He loves me… More than you.”

And with those words, Jonghyun’s eyes grew wider with rage and he pushed Onew to the floor with so much force that the latter tumbled for a bit. He groaned and tried to get up when a foot pushed him back down. Jonghyun glared down at Onew and the latter smiled devilishly.

“My, my, Jonghyun. You’re quite the bad boy now, huh?” Onew clicked his tongue, infuriating Jonghyun further. “Have you seen Key’s eyes whenever he’s with me? Happiness. When he’s with me, his happiness is more than when he is with you. You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you?”

When Jonghyun stayed silent and kept his death glare focused on Onew, the latter continued, “Oh wait. Of course you noticed. You’re just too scared to do anything about it,” Onew sneered and earned him another loss of breath as Jonghyun lifted his leg and slammed in onto the elder’s chest. “You know… When it’s too late, you can’t do anything to change Key’s mind. He’ll be mine forever, you’ll see.”

Jonghyun was about to lift his foot and hit Onew in the face when a familiar voice called his name. He turned and saw a shadow on the wall; walking towards the both of them. He heard Onew chuckle mischievously and Jonghyun sighed in defeat. He pulled his leg away from Onew’s chest just as Key’s face appeared and stared at them. His eyes widen with curiosity and fear when he saw that Onew was on the floor and Jonghyun standing above him.

“W-what happened here?” Key looked from Jonghyun to Onew. Jonghyun was about to reply when Onew intercepted him, using his carefree, leader Onew’s voice.

“I slipped and fell! Clumsy me,” Onew said in an innocent sing-song voice. “It was a good thing Jonghyun was here. He was about to help me up.” When he said that, he glanced up at Jonghyun and gave him the brightest of smiles. Jonghyun heard Key sigh in relief and chuckle at his leader’s clumsy acts. He had no choice but to admit defeat and help Onew up. Onew thanked him and dusted his body before excusing himself to the showers. Onew gave Jonghyun one last evil grin before disappearing into his room.

Jonghyun sighed loudly in frustration and leaned against the wall, his head hung low. Key walked slowly towards his boyfriend and bent a little, and connected his forehead with Jonghyun’s. The latter who was a bit surprised at the contact, lifted his head and his eyes met Key’s sparkly ones. Key smiled. “Ne, yeobo. What’s wrong? Is something bothering you?” His tone was soft and caring, like that of a mother’s. At the sight of Key’s radiant smile, Jonghyun’s mood lifted and he managed a weak smile.

“I’m okay, Key. Really.” Jonghyun stood up straighter and hugged Key, and the latter hugged him back. “Just… promise me you’ll stay with me forever,” Jonghyun said his voice barely a whisper. Key was about to ask him the reason why he had said that when Jonghyun pulled away from the hug and kissed Key on the forehead. And he smiled mischievously.

“Race you to the bathroom.” And Jonghyun was up and running, laughing cheerfully as he heard his diva boyfriend curse after him as he tried to race him towards the bathroom.

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