Most of them manage to find time on a Wednesday to watch a movie at the theater downtown. It's predominantly empty seats, which is fortunate because his friends are loud.

Jaehyun is sitting in the middle of the row that they occupied at the top most part of the cinema. "I can't remember the last time I came to see a movie," Jaehyun says, and Ten nods sagely.

"Ah, yes, Jaehyun, we call this 'having fun'," Ten says. "People do this when they aren't constantly worrying about anything and everything."

Yuta laughs. "Poor Jaehyunie," Yuta says. "So cute even simple unwinding seems new to you."

"I have fun," Jaehyun countered, "I might worry too much but you don't worry enough!"

Mark, who is half curled onto Keno and looking at the blank movie screen with sleepy eyes, scoffs. "I hear Ten is having trouble with school. Does this mean I'll stop being teased about math?"

Ten grins, about to fire a killer comeback but Johnny puts a calming hand on his arm.

"No," Yuta says, and then he's turning his attention back to Sicheng. Jaehyun feels really weird being alone, even though he's in the center of their line of friends.

Even weirder, he thinks it is Taeyong that he misses. Jaehyun needs to stop thinking about Taeyong so much.

The theater lights start to dim, and Yuta leans across Sicheng’s lap.

"I'm sure Taeyong will make it up to us, so stop moping," Yuta whispers, and Jaehyun flushes like a teenager and tugs at the sleeves of his sweater until his hands disappear beneath the knit. "Taeyong was disappointed too."

"Really?"

"He likes you more than he likes me," Yuta says, and Jaehyun can't see his eyes. "I'm getting as jealous as Jennie."

"That’s really unnecessary," Jaehyun says, as the previews start. "I'm no one."

"Oh you're someone all right," Yuta says, as Sicheng pushes him back and gestures for quiet.

Jaehyun has trouble focusing on the movie. He would very much like to be someone to Taeyong, and that, he thinks, might be a problem.

❖

The fact of the matter is, Jaehyun knows better than to crush on straight boys. His first year of undergrad, Jaehyun had looked at Kun and known he was in trouble. Kun had the kind of careless ease in himself that Jaehyun had envied.

Since Kun, Jaehyun has managed to avoid letting himself get caught up in feelings that will never amount to anything. Until Taeyong, who wants to know all of Jaehyun's secrets and tells him at least once a day how adorable he is.

Jaehyun has always admired people who really like themselves, and Taeyong is everything that he finds appealing, all in one warm and affectionate package, sunshine despite the ashen winter skies.

It's early December, and they're importing their fruits now. Ten has claimed a box of blueberries for himself.

"Taeyong, do you want to go ice-skating with us this weekend?" Ten tosses a blueberry up into the air and catches it with his mouth.

"What?" Taeyong looks up from where he's diligently organizing salad forks and dessert forks into separate piles.

"You've been here for seven months, and you've tapped out of almost everything," Mark says. "That is very much unfair, as I'm never allowed to tap out of anything."

Ten cuffs him on the ear and grabs another handful of blueberries. "Then bring your boyfriend-"

"Roommate," Mark corrects, viciously tugging the blueberries back toward himself. "He's my roommate, and if you say that to his face-"

"He'll laugh awkwardly, and I'll be so very sorry," Ten says, and Jaehyun sighs, running a hand through his bangs.

"Guys, are you really-"

"Sure I’ll come," Taeyong says, and all three of them turn to look at him. He's smiling, and Jaehyun likes the way his bangs brushed up away from his glistening eyes today. "If you're going on Sunday, I can come. Saturday, I have a date with my girlfriend and her parents, but Sunday is free."

"Sunday is fine," Jaehyun says. "We hadn't picked a day, yet, but Sunday is just as good as Saturday, and-" It is unfortunate that the mention of Taeyong’s girlfriend makes him a bit queasy.

"You're rambling," Ten says. "Sunday is fine. Okay, Mark?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Mark says, nodding at Taeyong. "As long as Taeyong is finally coming along to hang."

"You act like this is a mandatory employee get-together instead of a group of friends having fun on the weekend." Jaehyun gently slings an arm around Mark’s shoulders, and he's gratified when Mark doesn't shrug him off, too busy shoving as many blueberries as he can into his mouth so Ten can't eat them.

Taeyong finishes up with the forks and then adjusts his glasses, still smiling. "I'm sorry I couldn't come before, Mark," Taeyong says. "I know you missed my beautiful face lighting up your free days as much as it does your work days—"

Mark’s mouth is too full to speak, but he grabs a handful of blueberries and slips off his stool, walking up to Taeyong and mashing the blueberries into his face. "Now you're as pretty as a picture," Mark says sweetly, after he swallows, as Taeyong and Jaehyun stare at him with wide eyes as he retreats back to his stool.

"Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night of Blueberries," Ten says, and then Taeyong shudders once, twice, before exploding with laughter, eye twitching and teeth gleaming. Jaehyun, torn between amused and scandalized, finds himself laughing along too, and Ten is clasping his chest.

"Is this what I have to look forward to on Sunday?" He's got purple streaked across his pale cheek, and there are blueberry skins in his hair and blueberry drips on his white button down. Jaehyun thinks, in a strange way, it suits him.

"I would say no," Jaehyun says, smoothing his shirt out of habit, "but I would be blatantly lying."

Jaehyun walks over to the counter and grabs a napkin, wiping at his face, and Jaehyun hurriedly shuffles back behind the bar to wet a paper towel.

He means to hand Taeyong the towel, but instead, he reaches up and grabs Taeyong's neck, pulling him down closer, and dabs at the mess. Taeyong's eyes are wide with surprise, but then he smiles and shrugs, leaning into it.

Jaehyun's brain only catches up with him when he's almost finished. "Sorry," he murmurs. "I can't help it." Taeyong's neck is warm under his palm, and his hair is soft. Taeyong's lips are still stretched in that increasingly familiar grin, and Jaehyun's stomach is tied into knots so big they're stretching out his insides.

"I know," Taeyong says. "The first time we ran into each other outside of work you were buttoning my coat up even as you shivered."

Ten ineffectively hides his laughter behind his hand, and Mark shakes his head. "Umma taking care of his babies," Mark says, and Jaehyun drops the hand holding the paper towel away from Taeyong’s now mostly blueberry-free face.

"Sorry."

"It's fine," Taeyong says. "You probably cleaned it up better than I could have." Jaehyun lets his hand slide away from Taeyong's neck. The skin is silky beneath his fingertips as he withdraws. "And it was cold, that day."

Jaehyun flushes, and looks down at the counter in time to see Taeyong quickly grab his own handful of blueberries. Before Jaehyun can blink, Taeyong’s pulled out the collar of Marks’s shirt and dropped them down into the gap between skin and material. Marks yelps and shifts forward, and Taeyong follows him with a fist, mashing his knuckles into the small of Marks’s back right above his belt. They all hear the berries squelch.

"See you guys on Sunday," Taeyong says, stepping back and waving jauntily.

The door chimes as he leaves, and Jaehyun can still feel the heat of Taeyong's neck on his palm. He feels silly, and he squeezes the now-blue paper towel in his fist.

"I like that bastard," Ten says, as Marks pulls his white shirt and undershirt over his head, getting caught in it as berries fall to the floor and presumably down his pants.

"I hate him," Marks says, voice barely intelligible through the fabric of his shirt.

"That's what you get for wasting my blueberries," Ten says, grabbing the last few and popping them into his mouth. Then he looks at Jaehyun, eyes gleaming with curiosity at Jaehyun’s still red cheeks.

Jaehyun spins around and throws the dirty paper towel in the trash.

Mark is staring at him, when he turns around, with a pensive look on his face, and something in his expression makes Jaehyun feel exposed.

❖

The skating rink is cold. "Of course it's cold," Ten says as he laces up his skates, angrily tightening the tangled strings. "It's a rink. Made of ice."

"There's Taeyong," Mark says, already gracefully easing out onto the ice. "Jaehyun-hyung, go hover."

"I don't hover," Jaehyun says to himself, watching as Taeyong leans forward to joke with the girl behind the counter as she looks for a pair of skates for him. He's wearing a stupid furry hat, with fleece on the insides and ear flaps. "I just…"

"Do you prefer the term lurk?" Ten sits up straight, moving his feet in circles to test the ties, and then setting his feet back on the ground with a sigh. "I wonder if Taeyong's any good at skating."

"You're hoping he isn't, aren't you?" Jaehyun says, and Ten is looking out on the ice, to where Mark is effortlessly circling the rink. "Poor 'skating god' Ten…"

"It was a joke!" Ten is flushed. "That was three years ago, give me a break!"

"The sound of your tailbone hitting the ice was no joke, Ten," Jaehyun teases, before he jumps as a warm hand lands on his shoulder.

"Taeyong, Jaehyun is picking on me," Ten says, batting his eyelashes.

"I can't really imagine Jaehyunie picking on anyone," Taeyong rumbles, and his hand slides down Jaehyun's arm before falling away from him completely. "Mark, on the other hand…" He says the second bit louder, because Mark is stepping off the ice with an impatient look on his face.

"Are we going to skate, or what?" He shakes his hair out of his eyes. Jaehyun stuffs back the urge to remind him it needs cutting. "I wish Jeno could have come."

"Boyfriends," Ten says, and Mark rolls his eyes.

"You two go ahead," Taeyong says, pushing at Jaehyun's back as Ten stands on wobbling legs, and Jaehyun should really be used to Taeyong's touchiness by now. "I'll catch up."

"But," Jaehyun starts, but Ten gestures him toward the rink.

"I'll wait with Taeyong," Ten says. "I'm sure delaying my humiliation a few more minutes won't hurt anything."

Jaehyun wants to protest, but instead he lets Taeyong shove him toward Mark.

The two of them skate around slowly as Jaehyun warms up, talking about Mark's physics professor and about how Jeno had blown up the kitchen at their hasukjib again last night trying to make popcorn. Jaehyun's eyes keep shifting over to Taeyong and Ten. Ten is frowning at the ice like it's going to bite, and Taeyong is bouncing at his side, excited as always.

"You're weird about Taeyong," Mark says. "Always watching him." He slows, so he and Jaehyun are skating closer to each other, side by side.

"He's clumsy," Jaehyun says. "What if he hurts himself on the ice?"

"He's not being clumsy right now," Mark replies, and he isn't. Jaehyun tucks his hands deeper into his coat pockets as Taeyong’s careful hands wrap around Ten's small, thin wrists. He's skating backwards with considerable skill, pulling Ten along carefully. They're laughing at something together, and Ten doesn't look nearly as nervous as he'd looked the last time they'd all gone ice-skating together last year. "But I don't just mean today."

"Taeyong's different," Jaehyun says, and even that is too much, so he stops more words from tumbling out of his mouth. "I mean…"

Mark looks uncomfortable. "Hyung," he says, and Jaehyun looks down at his toes, where the blades of his skates scar the ice beneath him, "I've been wondering."

"Wondering what?"

"Before, when I thought you liked Jennie…" Mark halts, and Jaehyun laughs awkwardly.

"I told you I didn't."

"I believe you, now," Mark says. "I think I might have been a little off."

"Off?" This isn't good. The word 'off' is another of those words Jaehyun doesn't want to be connected with.

"Hyung, are you…"

"Am I what?" Jaehyun asks. His ears are too cold. He should have worn a hat, too. His face, though, is hot, and if he's shaking, it's not from the chill in the air. The reality that Mark might suspect--

"Hey!" ten says from behind them, and then laughs as Taeyong tugs him past them. "Taeyong is way better than you two at this. Next time, I may even let him hug me." Ten's eyes are lit up with pleasure at not being -to-ice, and Taeyong's smile is lighting his whole face.

"A small victory," Taeyong says. "I'll take them as they come." His face screws up with amusement. "What's wrong?

"Jaehyun-hyung is surprised you're not eating rink," Mark says, avoiding Jaehyun's gaze.

"I'm not always clumsy," Taeyong says, mysteriously, and Jaehyun swallows and skates ahead.

"Follow me if you can," he shouts behind him, and Ten squawks as Taeyong pulls him along faster and Mark swears and tries to keep up.

They lose themselves in games of cat and mouse. Taeyong catches Jaehyun once by throwing an arm about his waist, laughing softly into his ear, and Jaehyun relishes the warmth of him for only brief seconds before he slips free, chasing after Mark and ignoring the heat pooling in his stomach.

Ten retires to the sidelines with a coffee and shouts obscenities at Mark every time he's in earshot until they all stumble off the ice laughing and tired. "Can we get something to eat?" Ten whines, and Taeyong digs into his pocket for his phone.

"I have another hour before I have to go," Taeyong says, hat sliding down on his forehead. Jaehyun itches to straighten it.

Ten ends up pulling down on the back of it, mussing Taeyong's hair, and he raises his fingers to comb through them. It must be nice, Jaehyun thinks, remembering the way his heart beat faster at the warmth of Taeyong's arm around his waist, to take simple touches like that for exactly what they mean and nothing more.

Taeyong scooting over until their elbows brush is unexpected. "Are you sure you're all right?" he whispers.

"Huh?"

"You've looked out of it since Ten and I interrupted your conversation with Mark." He leans his head on Jaehyun's shoulder. The fur of his hat tickles Jaehyun's cheek and jaw. "I just wondered…"

"It's really nothing," Jaehyun says.

"Then smile," Taeyong says. "I really like your smile, Jaehyunie."

Jaehyun pats Taeyong's knee gingerly, not allowing himself to linger. "Not as much as I like yours."

They end up buying sausage on sticks from street vendors, Ten and Taeyong debating over whose sausage is bigger until Mark slyly interrupts with "mine has more girth," and Jaehyun bursts out a laughs and eats. Everyone was having a really good time.

"You've got a bit of mustard-" Taeyong says, and reaches up with his thumb to wipe it off; Jaehyun steps back, out of the range of Taeyong's arms.

"I've got it," Jaehyun says, and Taeyong blinks at him owlishly a couple of times before shrugging and checking his phone again.

"I should really head out," he says, waving goodbye to all of them. His eyes hold onto Jaehyun's for a moment, and then he's walking away. “See you guys later.”

"I should go too," Mark says. "But as always, this was fun." He seems to realize he's admitted to liking something. "Like going to the dentist."

"We won't tell anyone you can feel true happiness, Mark," Ten says. "Your secret's safe with us." Mark makes a rude gesture with his hand before taking off toward the subway, leaving Ten and Jaehyun standing at the crosswalk. "Ready to go home?"

Jaehyun's phone beeps. It's Taeyong.

I had a blast today.

He read the text carefully, and Jaehyun's heart thuds loud enough that he's sure Ten can hear it. Another message arrived.

We should do it again sometime. ❤

Maybe just me and you?

Jaehyun nods to Ten, clicking his phone shut.

"It's cold out here." He finally spoke. It might be cold, but this time it feels warm.