A/N: I apologize for any typos or awkward sentences. I'm my own beta, haha. 

===

All Minho can really do is stare. Stare at those high cheekbones, that jet black hair, those eyes with a gaze that can pierce even the most hardened souls. He lets out a little wistful sigh, watching as the object of his affections takes a sip of strawberry milk.

And then he realizes that someone is snapping their fingers in front of him. "-ho! Minho!" a voice cries out. He blinks rapidly and shakes his head, startled out of his reverie. His vision finally focuses on the hand in front of him and he follows it up from the arm to its owner.

"Jonghyun?" he questions. Of course he knows it's Jonghyun, with his trademark black snapback and toothy grin, but he just wants to make sure. There was a time he mistook an 8th grader for Jonghyun. That earned him 2 weeks of teasing and animosity from Jonghyun himself ("I'm not that short!")

Jonghyun laughs, a clear, pleasant sound. "Welcome back. You spaced out for a bit there," comes his teasing voice. Jonghyun clicks his chopsticks together before reaching over at Minho's tray and stealing a single piece of broccoli from it, popping it into his mouth. 

"Hey!" he playfully protests as he pulls his tray back, a ghost of a smile upon his lips. "Don't you have your own food?" He gestures to Jonghyun's own tray. Black bean noodles, kimchi, rice, pajeon...

"I'm a growing boy!" Jonghyun responds in his own defensive tone as if he's grown more than an inch since 7th grade year. He takes more and more of Minho's broccoli, and all that's left are a few stray buds and 2 lone florets. 

It happens all the time. Jonghyun eats half of Minho's tray (it would have gone to waste anyway; Minho isn't too fond of the cafeteria's food) and defends himself with the same excuse. "What if I was going to eat that?"

"Please," Jonghyun scoffs, rolling his eyes, "the only way to get you to eat this broccoli is to shove it down your thro-"

"Children please," a soft voice says, sounding surprisingly serious. "Stop fighting. Don't make me get the paddle."

At those words, Jonghyun's eyes widen almost comically. "Oh no, Jinki! Not the paddle!" he exclaims, voice in a higher pitch. So dramatic. He rests his chin on Jinki's shoulder and looks up at him pleadingly. Jinki's face distorts into something else entirely as he fights a smile that threatens to form. "We'll be good now, we promise! Anything but that!" he bats his eyelashes, and that's enough to send Jinki into a fit of laughter, eyes squeezing shut and his nose scrunching up. 

"You two are ridiculous," Minho says, clearly amused as Jonghyun leans back, a tongue between his smile. He thought the two being older than him meant they were more mature, but it appears not. 

Jonghyun shakes his head slowly, that smile still on his face. "Nah, you wanna know what's ridiculous? Your crush on Kibum."  

Jinki, who was just coming down from his fit, launches into a second round of laughter. Jonghyun's self-satisfied smile turns into a smug smirk. Of course. Of course it was too much to ask for this to be the one day that this isn't brought up. It's too much to ask for his best friends to not mercilessly. Maybe he should start looking for better ones... put up some ads around the school... post on Craigslist... it doesn't matter that Jinki and Jonghyun knew him since he was 10.

Minho frowns. A true, face-sagging frown. He can feel some heat creeping up his neck, but he thanks god for his tanned skin. The others won't see his blush. "I don't have a crush on him," he says, perhaps a bit too quietly. 

Jinki's shoulders are still shaking. Jonghyun groans at his denial. "Come on, Minho. You were just making googly eyes at him not even 5 minutes ago!" 

"I was-... I was admiring a painting!" He says the first excuse that popped into his mind, and he cringes as he hears the words coming from his mouth. At least Jinki is finally coming down from his high. 

"Minho. We're in a cafeteria. There are no paintings." Jonghyun sounds exasperated. "Just admit that you like him, and, I don't know... ask him out or something. The worst he could do is say no."

"Yeah, but..." Minho bites his lower lip. "He just seems out of my league, you know? He's one of the top people in his class, he's popular, but he's down-to-earth, he's handsome... and I'm just me. I'm just Minho."

"Hey, don't talk about yourself like that," Jinki says softly. "I know you're smart too, Minho. Weren't you one out of the... what... 4 people who actually passed Mr. Oh's last test?" He might be a bit salty about that, considering that he studied and Minho didn't, but...

"Barely," Minho mumbles.

"And let's not forget that Mrs. Jeon called you an 'absolute sweetheart' in her class last year," Jonghyun chuckles. "You were always helping her out and stuff. She loves you more than her own kids, I bet."

That makes Minho crack a small smile. 

Jonghyun keeps going  "Plus, you got all these girls asking you out, but you're too in lo--" he abruptly stops as his eyes flicker to something in the distance before he leans over to whisper something in Minho's ear. "Kibum's coming over right now. Say hi." 

Minho takes a quick peek over his shoulder and sees that Kibum is, indeed, coming over their way. He has his carton in one hand. Probably empty. And they sit near the trash can ("less energy exerted equals more energy to pay attention in class!" was Jonghyun's reasoning). He's just going to throw it away. Yeah. That's it. 

And that’s what he does. The carton makes a soft thunking noise as it comes into contact with the side of the bin. Kibum turns around and makes eye contact with Minho for a solid second and gives him a polite smile. Minho waves his fingers at him, unable to hear anything over the chorus of angels ringing in his ears. Maybe he smiles back. Then Kibum is gone.

He looks at his two friends only to find Jonghyun with his palm against his forehead and Jinki looking sympathetic. "What?"

"You should've said something," Jonghyun says. 

"He's a shy guy, Jjong," Jinki says in Minho's defense, slightly frowning as he glances at Minho. "Plus, this is someone he likes. You understand, right? You're not the most outgoing guy either." He's not wrong. Jonghyun does tend to be shy unless he's around the two of them. Minho keeps it in mind to buy something for Jinki as thanks. Maybe socks? The guy is always complaining about how his feet are cold. 

Jonghyun is silent for a moment before his growls, removing his hand from his forehead. "I hate it when you're reasonable." He honest to god sulks as Jinki pats the top of his hat. 

"I know you do."

===

Minho's eyes glaze over as he watches Jinki and Jonghyun argue over which top looks better. Jonghyun seems sets on this off-white shirt with a few well-placed rips and holes in it, while Jinki insists on a more modest, soft pink longsleeve with the word "love" written in impossibly small, black letters on the chest. It's a Saturday, and they were supposed to be watching a movie, not arguing over clothes at the mall. 

"You know nothing about fashion!" Jonghyun says, throwing his hands up in the air. His hands take the shirt with them, and Minho watches as it flounces up. 

Jinki narrows his eyes. "Says the one whose idea of a 'nice outfit' is a pair of sweatpants and a tank top! Why would you pay $40 for a ripped shirt when you can do the exact same thing at home for free!" Once again, Minho's eyes are enraptured as a fabric moves back and forth with Jinki's hand motions.  

"Well, we should ask Minho," he hears Jonghyun say. He closes his eyes and groans internally. See, that's the thing with having an odd-numbered friend group. You're bound to be the tiebreaker at some point. "Hey! Open your eyes." He does. 

The both of them look at Minho expectantly, silently presenting their choices. Jonghyun jiggles it, hoping to gain more of Minho's attention. Jinki just raises his eyebrow in question. He rubs his chin with his thumb and index finger, really drawing out the voting process. He can see Jonghyun start to get more and more fidgety, while Jinki is as calm as ever. "I like..." Jonghyun leans closer. "Jinki's selection," he says, nodding his head. 

Jonghyun makes a noise close to a snarl and Jinki wiggles his body in some sort of dance. "This is because I teased you about your crush, huh? This is payback, isn't it?" he rambles as he sets the shirt back where he found it. 

Minho simply shrugs and smiles. 

===

They're standing in line for the cash register. Jonghyun holds  onto the top that Jinki picked out--along with a simple red cap and a pair of jeans--as Jinki fishes into his pocket to retrieve his wallet. Minho absent-mindedly taps his foot while they wait for the line to more forward. 

Jonghyun nudges Minho with the elbow of his free arm. When he doesn't get a reaction, he does it again. And again and again and again-

"What?" Minho snaps, looking at Jonghyun with a powerful glare. If Jonghyun didn't know Minho, he'd almost be intimidated.

"Look who's here," Jonghyun says in a singsong, almost sickeningly sweet voice as he looks somewhere behind Minho.  

Minho follows Jonghyun's line of sight until it rests on him. Kibum. He seems to be looking through a rack of clothing, eyeing every article critically. The sound of the metal hangers scraping along the wood reaches Minho's ears. 

Minho turns back to look at Jonghyun.

"I'm not gonna force you to talk to him," Jonghyun assures him, recalling an earlier conversation with Jinki, "but... I'll encourage you to." He nudges Minho again, this time with his hip. "And so will Jinki. Right?"

"Right," Jinki replies. Both of them highly suspect that he didn't hear a word that Jonghyun said and is just blindly agreeing. But no matter.

Then, Jinki is called up to a register. Minho looks around in disbelief. He didn't think time passed that quickly. As they walk up, Jonghyun subtly nods his head towards Kibum, who is now focused on a different rack. "Once we leave, we leave," he warns. 

Minho nods his head. Then nods again. "Okay. Okay, I'll go talk to him," he says. Just saying that gets his nerves running, though. He rolls his shoulders, not caring if he looks silly to other people. "Wish me luck?"

Jonghyun laughs. "Good luck, Choi. Now go!" He pushes Minho's shoulder gently with his free hand, and that's enough encouragement Minho needs to make his way over to the person in question. 

Kibum seems to be torn between two different tops. One is a sweater with a v-neck, a sort of wine red with a white stripe going along the neckline. The other a faux leather jacket with silver accents. His eyes go from one to the other and then back again.

"The sweater suits you more, I think," Minho says, standing next to Kibum with his hands in his pockets.

Kibum looks up at him, seeming surprised but not irritated. That's a good thing, Minho thinks to himself. Kibum then breaks into a smile, and Minho wills himself to stay upright. "Yeah, I was thinking the sweater too." He holds it up against himself, hanging the leather jacket back in its place. Minho didn't know it was possible to be jealous of a sweater. "You're Minho, right? The one on the soccer team?" 

Minho's heart flutters when Kibum's says his name. He could get used to that. "Yeah, that's me. Surprised that you remember me, though. People only really pay attention to Changmin and Heechul." 

"Nonsense. You're just as good as them. I'm honestly surprised you weren't chosen as team captain this year, especially since it's your last," Kibum says, sounding sincere. Minho notices that Jonghyun and Jinki are now situated near a display behind Kibum and sneaks a quick glance at them. Jonghyun gives him a thumbs up and a wink while Jinki simply nods encouragingly. "Minho?" 

Minho shakes his head, looking back at Kibum. "Changmin handles the ball better than I do, and Heechul is godly at passing." Not that Minho's talent is anything to shake a stick at, but he wants to be modest. "You picking out clothes for something special, or..?" he asks. 

"My friend, Taemin, is having a dance recital and he asked me to come." Ah, of course. Everyone knew that he and Taemin were pretty damn close. "And I wanna look good for it."

Minho nods. "Do you, uh... need any help with picking out an outfit?" 

"I'd say yes, but I saw you with your friends earlier on." Kibum laughs and Minho can't help but to laugh along with him. "So I can't, in good conscience, ask you to help me and ditch them. But I appreciate it."

"Alright." Minho nods his head, still smiling. "I'll be going now." He starts to walk, but Kibum grabs his wrist and oh my god Minho don't explode, not right here, not right now. 

"Wait- you should come. To Taemin's dance recital, I mean. I'm sure he'd be happy to see more people there. You can bring your friends too. It's on Wednesday. Dance studio above that salon across from Lotteria. So... will you be there?" Kibum sounds almost hopeful that Minho will say yes. 

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

===

A/N: Maybe I'll expand this later on, but for now I'm marking it as complete. Maybe I'll also rewrite this from Kibum's point of view? He's def tending a cute li'l crush on Minho which he's too oblivious to see, haha. 

Thank you for reading and giving this story your attention! I appreciate it!