"minhyun-ah..." he starts, playing with his fingers as he fidgets in his seat, the game in front of them paused. "i....i think i like someone."

the shock was ever present in minhyun's features, eyes wide as he reached to shake him lightly. "who? is it the girl from class c?"

"it's...." he trails off, biting his lower lip in thought and hesitation before he looked up, "it's not a girl...."

expectation bubbles in minhyun's stomach as he looks at the boy, a small smile creeping on his features before it falls flat when he hears the other say a name that wasn't his. "i'm sorry? who?"

"class b's lim youngmin."

--

they were high schoolers, it's expected for them to be reckless, but falling in love left and right? well, sure. it's fine, minhyun thought, he comes back to me anyways.

jonghyun's list of crushes extends far and wide throughout their three years in high school, the boy jumping from girl to girl--he falls in love easily, he explains, and falls right out of it just as fast. he's a relatively known playboy--except he actually does invest his time and effort into every single person he ends up dating. why they fall apart remains a mystery; they always break it off first, but they tell him they fell out of love and so did he. there wasn't a use for staying in love with someone who isn't, he mused.

with all that dating experience, this was the first time minhyun's ever seen jonghyun this flustered. he fidgets a lot whenever he talks to the boy, his flushed complexion seemingly permanent in his presence. it puts him off, his mood constantly in the negatives (even when jonghyun's trying to cheer him up), a sigh escaping his lips whenever he sees the other boy. they didn't need disturbances in their dynamic. they didn't need any more people in their world.

it won't last more than a week, he mutters to himself, grumbling.

it won't last more than a month, he corrects, a groan escaping his lips.

the moment it passed a month, he finally made his move. minhyun had developed this awful habit of making sure the entirety of jonghyun's attention and affection belong to him, and he makes sure of this by getting rid of anyone and everyone--method varies. so far, telling girls he liked them with tears in his eyes as he says he confessed too late works the best, but his opponent this time doesn't look like he'd be swayed by such a half-hearted attempt.

first, he muses, he has to earn his trust.

--

it didn't take much to convince jonghyun to have youngmin come over during lunch and join them, jonghyun's smile blinding as he went to go and get him. he greets the other with a smile--they were acquaintances at most--gesturing for the other to sit down.

it was hard to make sure his distaste didn't show on his face as they ate and the two talked about their date the previous weekend (the date where their usual movie nights was disrupted and minhyun was ditched for the nth time) leaving him to only react with hums in varying tones. he switches the conversation to something youngmin had no idea about, a feeling of superiority rising from the pits of his stomach as they chatted along, jonghyun trying to insert youngmin in the conversation only to be blocked by minhyun's 'sudden' bursts in memory.

there was a quiet tension building between the two of them that jonghyun hadn't noticed, eating away as usual. he got up to go to the vending machi