It had been 3 days since Kibum had laid on his bed with Minho and talked about their countdowns. He hated that he had looked. Now he could figure out which day, which hour, the EXACT TIME if he wanted to. He wouldn’t do that. He made every effort to try to force his brain to think about something else, ANYTHING else. He sat in class, staring out the window at the school grounds. He’d already finished his work and it was just his study period anyway. Typically, he’d try to find Minho to help ward off thoughts about the countdown, but Minho had practice during this period. So, Kibum was left to himself.

It wasn’t that he was unpopular. He could make friends well enough and got along well with pretty much everyone. It was that he just didn’t really feel like he truly fit in anywhere. Everyone else already had their little groups of friends when he had transferred in. He’d already started going to a different high school, but he found that, as annoying and dorky as his best friend was, he really wasn’t prepared to go to an entirely different school than Minho. So, 6 weeks after the beginning of their freshman year, his parents transferred him to this school. This was also an athletics high school, and he wasn’t really that into sports. He didn’t remember that until he’d already transferred in and basically just had to decide quickly that “I’ve always had a high interest in cross country!”. He didn’t mind running. It could get boring, but he wasn’t bad at it, and he had a good coach who was very encouraging.

Kibum rested his chin on his hand and swayed his foot lightly as he stared out the window. From his second story classroom view, he could see some students milling around, packing up equipment, moving from the fields towards the school building. The school building wasn’t huge, and formed an L shape. From Kibum’s stand point, he could easily see the entrances to the building on the other side. He could see a few students sitting on benches or just talking in the grass, enjoying the sunlight. He should do stuff like that, but then he’d have to walk all the way down the stairs just to sit in the grass alone. No thanks. Movement from the fields caught his eye and he shifted slightly to get a better view. Three boys where holding hands, skipping and shouting as they made their way back to the school. Behind them, another boy was doubled over, laughing. Even from this distance, Kibum could tell that it was Minho.

He watched Minho stand back up and heave a heavy sigh. So much about who Minho was was large: his height, his eyes, most of his physical movements. He even had a big personality. People loved him. Kibum still couldn’t truly fathom why Minho was so worried about his countdown. Oh, no! No, don’t think about countdowns…. Look at Minho, what is he doing? He’s jogging towards the school. He’s attempting to do a cartwheel. He’s laying on his back in the middle of the path. What a dork. Kibum wasn’t even surprised.

He was a little surprised, however, when another student rushed to Minho’s side. He couldn’t tell from where he was who the student was. It looked like a male student around their age, but that didn’t really narrow down the options. He watched the unknown boy help Minho to his feet and hold his bag while Minho dusted himself off, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he said something that Kibum couldn’t hear. The other student handed back Minho’s bag and gave him few sturdy pats on the shoulder before they both turned and headed inside. The unknown boy kept his hand on Minho’s mid-back as they walked, and Kibum could see Minho smiling and laughing at something the other boy was saying. “Nosey-Kibum”, as Minho called it, was starting to appear in “regular Kibum”’s personality.

Kibum watched them disappear through the entrance of the building and immediately turned his body to face the door of the classroom. He sat with his arms crossed and an expectant look on his face. It took Minho exactly 7 minutes and 41 seconds, according to the clock above the door, to enter the room. As soon as he did, he locked eyes with Kibum and the pleasant smile he’d previously been sporting was replaced with a mock annoyance. He rolled his eyes and pressed past some students in the front of the room, taking his seat in front of Kibum’s. Kibum shifted his body to follow Minho’s movements, but otherwise, he said nothing. They had a system. Minho would sit down and situate his things at his desk. He would take out whatever books, papers, and pens he needed for the next class. He would feign ignorance to Kibum’s actions for as long as he could. But he could always feel those sharp eyes boring into the back of his skull. He sighed and turned in his seat to face the older boy.

“What?”

“Who was that?”

Minho’s brow furrowed and he looked around confused for a few moments. “What? Who was who?”

“That guy you were talking to?”

“I swear, Kibum, one day, you will actually REALIZE that I cannot read your mind!” He turned back around and flipped his textbook open to the chapter they would be covering today. Kibum gazed at the back of his head, giving Minho a few seconds of peace before he spoke again.

“The guy in the courtyard who helped you up. The guy who put his arm around you…”

“Okay, first of all,” Minho turned swiftly around in his seat to face Kibum again. “First of all, he didn’t put his arm around me. He patted me on the shoulder.”

“Okay.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kibum shrugged. “Okay means okay.”

Minho glared at him.

“What was the second thing? You said ‘first of all’.” Kibum lowered his tone and sat up straighter as he imitated Minho’s voice and stance.

The younger rolled his eyes. “Second of all, his name is Jinki. He’s a second year student at a university nearby, but he used to go here. I just know him from around school.”

“Okay.”

“He swims.”

“Okay.”

“He’s really smart.”

“Okay.”

“When are you going to stop saying ‘okay’?” Minho hissed at him.

Kibum quirked his head to the side and smiled. “When you stop answering me.” Minho swiveled back to face the front of the classroom. “You know, Minnie, you sure seem to know a lot about him, considering you ‘just know him from around school.’” Kibum used his nickname for Minho, in hopes that it would help settle Minho’s anger towards Kibum’s curiosity. Kibum could always tell when he was toeing the line with Minho, but he always tried not to cross it.

Minho didn’t respond right away. After a few moments, “Yeah, well, that’s what you do with friends. You learn about each other. Besides, he was the one who tutored me for that big exam last year.”

“Oh, I remember you mentioning him. The guy with the eye smiles!”

Just as Minho was about to reach behind himself and smack Kibum, the teacher walked in and all the other students rushed to their desks for the lesson. Kibum made a mental note to apologize at the end of class, but he also smirked to himself internally. He only had a few more days before Minho’s countdown began, but he might just try to slip some teasing about this in there. As open as Minho had always been with Kibum, he’d never liked to mention his own crushes, which Kibum always found immensely irritating. Minho’s 18^th birthday was in 5 days. That’s more than enough time, Kibum thought.