"Hello, you must be the new teacher."

Turning around, he smiled at the shorter man standing in front of him. "Hello, I'm Choi Minho."

"Hello," he said reaching his hand. "I'm Kim Jonghyun, the violin teacher. Since our dear principal isn't here now, she asked me to show you to the school."

"Thank you." he said bowing and following Jonghyun.

Even though he had been there for the interview, it was on the weekend, so now he could see how colorful and lived was the kindergarten.

"As you already know, our school is specialized in art, music and sports, so our kids can be prepared for the world when they are older," Jonghyun said showing around. "We were looking for a soccer teacher for a while now, I'm happy that you'll join our team." he said beaming at Minho, who smiled back.

"I'm happy to be here too, I was teaching PE in a primary school in Incheon but since I move to Seoul, I was looking to teach in kindergarten."

"Is that so? You'll love the kids, they are much easier to deal it." he said chuckling.

 

 

"Hello, my name is Choi Minho and from now on I'll teach soccer."

The kids smiled at him, looking nothing more than excited, even the girls.

"For now, I'd like you to..."

A loud crash cut off what Minho was going to said. Widening his eyes, he looked around to see what happened, all the kids seemed fine, so what was that?

The kids started to giggle and soon a laughter filled Minho's ears. One of the kids raised his little hand.

"Yes?"

"I'm Lee Taemin," he said politely. "That was our piano teacher, he's always falling."

"Because of the papers he's always carrying around into boxes." one girls said.

"Sheets." the other boy corrected.

"Is he okay though?" Minho wondered aloud.

"We should check," Taemin said nodding. "Maybe he's hurt."

Minho could see into Taemin's eyes that the boy was not particularly worried, but he was, so he got up from his chair and all the kids followed him, showing the way.

In the next room, in the piano classroom it seems, there were a mess of papers scattered around and in the middle holding an empty box was a man with messy hair and crooked glasses.

"Seonsaengnim!" the kids said running to him, who smiled wide while fixing his glasses.

"Hey kids, what are you doing here?" he asked ruffling Taemin's hair, who looked proud of himself for being the one who was getting an affection gesture from the teacher.

"Choi seonsaengnim was worried." Taemin said and Minho blinked, getting embarrassed.

Since he lay his eyes on the piano teacher, he kind of lost in the beauty of the man in the middle of that mess of papers.

"Oh, hello. I'm Lee Jinki." he said getting up and running his fingers to fix his hair.

"Choi Minho," he said bowing and shaking Jinki's outstretched hand. "And yes, I was worried, as Taemin-goon said."

"Don't worry," he said chuckling. "I'm fine as you can see. It happens often so I'm used to it."

"Okay, then let's help Lee seonsaengnim." Minho said looking away from Jinki's beautiful brown eyes.

Damn, he was starting to fall in love with the man in front of him and that was not good. Not at all.

The kids agreed and started to collect the sheets. Jinki smiled happily thanking them and Minho's heart skipped a beat.

 

 

In the end of his first week as a kindergarten teacher, Minho was more than tired. The kids were easier to deal it, as Jonghyun had said, but that did not mean that it was that easy. Lee Taemin was one of the most eager kid he met in his academic life.

And of course, Minho couldn't forget Lee Jinki, the handsome and cute piano teacher. It seemed like he was always near Minho and since their classrooms was near, they would bump into each other all the time, making Minho's life even harder.

His phone started to ring, taking Minho out of his thoughts.

"Hello?"

"We're going out tonight."

Minho frowned. "Kim Jonghyun-ssi?"

"Yeah, it's me, and please call me sunbae. As I said, we're going out tonight. I'll text you the address."

"Wait! I..."

"I'm not taking no as an answer. We're waiting, so hurry up. Bye!"

He stared at his phone gaping. Jonghyun for sure was energetic.

The restaurant was close to the school and Minho squinted his eyes to find Jonghyun who as soon as spotted him, started to wave, shouting his name.

“Over here, Minho-ah!”

Jinki was there too and Minho took a deep breath when the older man smiled at him, inviting Minho to sit next to him.

"You live around here? You arrived incredible fast." Jonghyun said handing him a glass.

"Yeah," he said accepting the drink Jonghyun was pouring. "In that new building two blocks from here."

"Oh, I live there too," Jinki said excited. "Which floor?"

What were the chances they would been living in the same building?

"Fifth."

"I live on the sixth floor. I'm a bit disappointed, it would be awesome if we'd live next to each other." he murmured drinking up his drink.

Minho didn't know what would he do if they were neighbors. Having classrooms next to each other was already too much for his sanity.

"This is interesting," Jonghyun said smiling. "You two can go to work together."

"I would like that." Jinki said nodding, a tiny blush on his cheeks.

"Yeah, sure,” he said breathless. His poor heart. “We can do that Lee Jinki-ssi."

"Hyung," he said staring at his own hands. "You can call me hyung, if you want."

“Hyung?”

“Yes, you can call me hyung too,” Jonghyun said nodding. “We’re not at work right now.”

"Okay." Minho said smiling at them.

"Let's drink then! Kibum-ah, bring me more soju!"

Minho saw a handsome man approaching with three bottles of soju in his hands.

"Hey, I'm not a waiter," he said with an angry expression on his face. "If you want, go get it yourself."

"Minho-ah, this is the owner of the restaurant, Kim Kibum. We know each other since forever."

"Correction, I know Jinki since forever, you just went to the same college as Jinki and since then, follow him everywhere."

"Kim Kibum, my childhood friend and Kim Jonghyun, my friend for a couple of years," Jinki said cutting them both. "They date since forever though."

"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Choi Minho, the new teacher."

Kibum smirked. "So you are the new teacher," he said sitting next Jonghyun. "The soccer teacher."

Jinki cleared his throat and Minho blinked.

"Yeah, did you hear about me?" he asked frowning.

"Oh yeah, I did."

"Did you bring a glass for you too, Kibum-ah? Oh, you didn't, let me get you one." Jinki said getting up suddenly.

What was going on there?

"Are Jinki okay?" Minho asked worried, looking at the older man who just stumbled on his way to the bar.

"He's fine," Kibum said waving a hand. "He's just a little..."

"Tired," Jonghyun said cutting Kibum off. "Maybe we should go."

"Already?" Kibum whined. "I thought you'll help me to close the restaurant tonight."

“But I can’t let Jinki go by himself, you know how he is when he drinks.”

"I... I can take Jinki home. We live in the same building anyway, so we'll just go together."

"Isn't it a great idea?" Kibum said happily and Jonghyun narrowed his eyes.

“What is a great idea?” Jinki asked placing the glass in front of Kibum who smirked at him.

"I think it's time to go," Jonghyun said smiling at him. "Since you're in the charge of the Winter musical, you had a busy week."

"Well, that's true but I can stay."

"Actually, I'm tired too, hyung. So what do you think if we go home together?"

Jinki looked at Minho with big shinning eyes and he bit his bottom lip. The older man was so beautiful that all he wanted to do was kiss those damn plump lips.

"Really?"

"Yeah, so let's finish drinking." Minho said opening the bottle and pouring in Jinki's glass, who smiled at him.

 

 

Minho’s heart was beating so fast that he was sure that Jinki could hear it. The two was walking side by side on the sidewalk in silence, both not knowing what to say.

"Thanks for inviting me today."

"Sure," Jinki said fixing his scarf around his neck. "I'm happy that you came."

"Me too." he said burring his hand inside his pocket's coat.

"Why?"

The question caught Minho in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Why you're happy?"

"Because... because you and Jonghyun are nice people and more than coworkers, I consider you my friends."

"Oh, okay."

"What's wrong, hyung?"

"It's nothing," he said smiling. “I’m happy that you think of us as friends.”

Minho frowned but he didn’t had time to say anything else, since they arrived at the building and Jinki said goodbye and hurried inside. That was weird.

 

 

Monday morning and Minho didn't know if he should wait for Jinki or not. It was settle that they were going to work together? He was not sure.

Minho then decided to go to work. He did not even have Jinki's phone number, so he could not call and ask if they were going or not together.

So to Minho's surprise, when he opened the door Jinki was there standing in the hallway awkwardly, fidgeting with his bag.

"Jinki-hyung?"

"Hi Minho-ah. I... I didn't know if I should knock or not, so I kind of stood here waiting for you.”

"You should have knock." he said stepping outside his apartment and punching the code to lock the door.

"I will do it next time." Jinki said smiling.

His heart was beating like crazy and Minho was fighting against an inconvenient blush from his cheeks. Why Jinki's smile had such power over him? That was so unfair.

“Let’s go then?” he asked and Minho nodded, still trying to calm down his heart beats.

Minho could not even remember what was the last time he felt this awkward next to someone. He seemed like a teenager next to his crush, awkward and shy.

Jinki looked even more awkward than him, hugging his bag against his chest and shuffling his feet along the way like a sulking kid.

Looking ahead, Minho took a deep breath. He should at least talk to the older, make this painful and silent walk a bit better.

"So, hyung..."

And then Jinki tripped while they were crossing the street and Minho's heart stopped. He could see in slow motion while the older man was falling and his bag flying away.

He could have helped Jinki, he could have hold Jinki and preventing him to fall, but he was not fast enough and the older man fall on his four on the ground, people stopping to look at him, frowning.

"Hyung!" he said hushing to his side, helping Jinki to get up. "Are you okay?"

Jinki pouted, holding Minho's hard tight. "I guess." he murmured.

"I can see that you're not. Did you get hurt somewhere?"

"I'm not sure, but maybe we should go to the sidewalk first."

"Sure, here, let me help you." he said wrapping a hand around Jinki's shoulder and leading him to the other side.

The older man groaned while they walked, limping a little and Minho was more than worried now. What if Jinki broke something? Maybe they should go to the hospital.

"Maybe I should take you..."

"No, I'm fine," he said shaking his head. "Don't worry, I just need to sit down for a little."

Sighing, Minho nodded helping Jinki until they enter into a cafe near they were. “Sit here, I’ll get you something warm to drink.”

Jinki nodded and hold Minho’s wrist, stopping him. "Thank you.”

“Sure.” he said smiling and going to order something.

When he returned, Jinki had rolled up the leg of his pants and was carefully touching his ankle.

“Did you get hurt?” he asked handing Jinki a cup of coffee.

“It’s just a sprain, I just need to put some ice.”

"I'm sorry, I should have done something to prevent you from falling." he said sighing.

Jinki smiled, sipping his coffee. "It's not your fault and things like that happens, often. But I'll appreciate if you help me in our way to school."

"Are you still going to work?"

"Of course I am, the kids are waiting and I have a ton of work to do."

"But hyung..."

"Minho-ah," he said getting up and placing a hand over Minho's arm. "I am fine."

Not knowing what to say anymore, Minho nodded and wrapped an arm around Jinki's shoulder again, helping the older till they arrived at school.

When Minho left that afternoon, Jinki was there waiting for him, casually leaning against the wall and holding his bag against his chest as this morning.

"Hey." Jinki said smiling at him.

"Did you waited for me, sunbae?"

"W-well, I thought we were going home together as well. I mean..." he trailed off, biting his bottom lip.

Oh, what could Minho do when Jinki was acting so cute?

"No, of course. It's just that I was late today so I thought you went home already."

"I didn’t mind, this is the least I can do after what you did this morning. You helped me a lot, I don't even know how to thank you."

"Sunbae, you don't need to thank me. I'm glad that nothing serious happened. I don't know what I would do if you get hurt."

"Minho-ah," he said holding Minho's hand, squeezing their fingers together. "You are... "

"Hey guys, what are you still doing here?" Jonghyun asked, widening his eyes when he saw the two holding hands.

Jinki dropped Minho's hand and stepped back, biting his bottom lip nervously. "Nothing much. I was... I was thanking Minho for helping me today."

"Oh... oh, yeah. Thank you Minho for helping our clumsy teacher."

Minho's heart was still beating fast and Jinki's warm was still lingering in his hand. "Don't need to thank me, I'm glad he's okay."

"So... I'm going. I'm gonna help Kibum tonight." he said stuffing his hand on his pockets and leaving.

"We should go too." Jinki said starting to walk, still limping a little.

"Do you want my help?" he asked coming closer to Jinki who shook his head.

"I'm okay now, just don't walk too fast."

Minho kept to himself that who was walking fast was in fact Jinki and not him, choosing for nod and slowing his pace, making the older walk slowly.

 

 

“Seonsaengnim!” Taemin said pulling Minho’s pants.

“Yes, Taemin-ah?”

“Can you help me with something?” he said looking sad.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“No… I… Jongin is mad at me.” he murmured pouting.

Minho looked up at Jongin, who was sitting in the grass, arms crossed and pouting just like Taemin. "And why he's mad at you? Something happened?"

"I accidentally hit the ball on him, it was not on purpose but Jeongmin said that it was. Jongin didn't believe me." he said on edge of tears.

Although he has been a teacher for a few years, Minho is never ready when a student starts to cry. He needed to do something fast. Looking up for the other kids, he saw that all of them was busy kicking the ball around so he decided he could take Taemin to the bench.

"Here, drink some water," he said handing the bottle to Taemin. "You don't have to be sad over it, maybe Jongin is just waiting for an apologize. Did you apologize to him?"

Taemin looked up and bit his bottom lip. "I didn't."

Ruffling his hair, Minho smiled. "So why don’t you try it? Go talk to him and apologize."

"Okay," he said given the bottle back to Minho. "Thank you, seonsaengnim."

"You managed to handle it well," Jinki said scaring the out of Minho. "Taemin can be handful sometimes."

"He has a strong personality," Minho said smiling, looking at the two talking. "But a good kid."

"He is," Jinki said sitting next to Minho. "Actually he's my nephew."

Minho's eyes widened. "What?"

Jinki chuckled. "That's why he's always around me."

"That's explain why he likes you so much," he said nodding. "But then, everybody likes you here."

"Is that so?” he asked being shy. “Even you?"

He looked at Jinki, his heart beating fast. Did he say too much? Well..

"Even me, sunbae. Probably more than the others.” he murmured to himself.

“What did you said? I couldn’t hear everything you said.”

“Nothing.” he said smiling.

The older smiled happily then. "I didn't know."

And Minho thinking that he was too damn obvious about it.

"Hyung," he said getting closer, almost whispering. "It's impossible not to like you."

Minho was being bold, too bold, but he couldn't step back anymore and seeing the way that Jinki reacted, blushing furiously, maybe he was not wrong about it.

With a red face, Jinki his lips, Minho felt his hands starting to sweat. “Really?”

"Yeah, really."

And then the bell rang, breaking the mood and Minho cleaned his throat, getting up. "I have to go."

Jinki nodded. "Me too, I... I have classes."

The two stayed like that, looking at each other till the kids started to call for Minho and that time he really needed to go.

 

 

“Choi Minho-ssi?”

Turning around, Minho met Kibum a few steps away from him. “Oh, hello.”

"What are you doing here? Groceries?"

"Yes, my brother is coming to town this weekend."

"Oh, so this weekend you're going to be busy." he said thoughtful.

"I guess... why?"

"Nothing," he said patting Minho's shoulder. "I was just thinking about something."

"Okay," he said stepping away from Kibum when the other held his arm. "Yes?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Okay."

Kibum bit his thumb. "It's about Jinki."

Minho raised his eyebrows waiting, it was weird to see Kibum acting so unease. "Is there something wrong with him? He seemed fine the last time I saw him."

"He is fine, is not that," he said and then took a deep breath. "I'm just gonna say it. You know that he likes you, right?"

He blinked. Minho didn't see that coming. "Actually I do."

"Oh God, you do know!" he said running his finger on his hair. "So why don't you do something about it? I mean, it's been months!"

"Because over these months I got to know him, I learned something. Jinki is an insecure person and if I tell him anything, he'll not believe in me."

"If you tell him something... that's mean you like him too! Oh my God, I'm so excited!" he said slapping Minho's arm, who groaned.

"I do like him, so that's why I have to wait till he confesses first."

That is what he thinks it will happen, he hopes so.

"Well, you're right about Jinki's insecure, but I don't think waiting it's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"You know what? I just had an idea. I'll help you guys with this."

"What idea?" Minho asked cautious.

Kibum smiled, maybe a little too wicked. "Don't worry, just come when I call."

Minho frowned. "I don't know..."

"Yah, I know what's best for Jinki, I know him better than you, so I'm sure this will work out perfectly fine."

What else could Minho said?

"Okay then."

However, Kibum’s call came faster than Minho thought, like, the next day.

“Are you ready?” Kibum asked excited.

“Ready for what exactly?”

“To confess, of course.”

“Kibum-ssi,” he said sighing. “I’ve told you that I’m not going to that, I don’t think Jinki will believe me if I do that now.”

“He will believe because he’ll going to confess first. Listen, Jinki becomes a very honest person when he’s drunk, so all you need to do is drink with him.”

"I don't think this is a good idea though."

"Why not?" Kibum shrieked on the other end of the phone.

"I don't want to make him confess, this should come from him honestly, not like that. I rather wait."

Kibum snorted. "Are you going to back off now? Are you a coward?"

"Hey!" Minho said starting to get pissed. "You may know Jinki but you don't know me, so don't do that. I know what's best for me and I am saying that I'm not going to do anything, got it?!"

"Whatever." Kibum said before hand up.

Minho stared at his phone, pissed. What the hell was that?

Later that night, very late, someone started to frantically knock on his door, startling Minho.

Opening it, what Minho saw made him frown. Jinki was there with red face and messy hair.

"Jinki-sunbae?"

Smiling, Jinki stumbled forward. "Minho-ah~"

"What are you doing here?"

"Can I... can I talk to you?"

"Sure, wanna come in?"

Jinki looked at him, pondering if he should go in or not. "Okay."

Letting Jinki inside his apartment, Minho wondered what was going on, clearly the older man was drunk and he had to admit that he was a bit scared of what could happen.

"Do you want something to drink, maybe a coffee?"

The older man giggled. "It's too late for coffee, Minho-ah."

"Right," he murmured looking at Jinki who was standing in the middle of his room. "So, what did you want to talk?"

"Oh, oh, right," he said gigging again. "I came all the way thinking of what should I say or perhaps how should I say it but... I-I think I should just say it."

Minho came closer to Jinki, knowing where this was going to end. "Okay."

Then Jinki froze and Minho frowned, following the older man's gaze. Minseok was standing there with messy hair and wearing his pajamas.

"I... I didn't know you had company. I'm sorry." Jinki said looking around as he was searching for something and then dash through the door, leaving the apartment.

He glared at Minseok who raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"What? I didn't know that there was someone here."

Snorting, Minho ran after Jinki and as soon as he left the apartment, he saw the older man pushing the elevator button.

"Hyung, wait."

Jinki turned and shook his head. "I don't want to heard anything, I'm sorry that I came here out of nowhere. I didn't mean to interrupt you two."

"You didn't. Please, listen to me."

“I shouldn’t have listened Kibum.” he murmured to himself.

“Kibum?”

“Forget about it. I think I should go.”

“No, wait please. Let me explain.”

"What is it?" he asked, looking down.

"You get it wrong, he's my hyung."

"I... I didn't need to know he's older than you, Minho-ah."

Minho chuckled. "No, he's Choi Minseok, son of Choi Yunkyum and Choi Jaehwa, you know, my parents."

Jinki looked up with wide eyes. "He's... he's..."

"Yes, my hyung (older brother)."

"Oh my God," he said covering his face with his hands. "I'm so sorry."

"Did you really thought that I was seeing someone when I pretty much made it clear that I like you?"

"What?" Jinki whispered with very big eyes.

"Didn't you know? I think I've said that to you a few times."

"No, I mean... did you mean it that way," he said pointing to himself and then to Minho. "Like... like..."

"Lovers."

Jinki took a step back, hitting the wall behind him. "Are you meant it? For real?"

"Yes, for real. I love you, Jinki-hyung."

The older man took a deep breath and then the elevator dinged, opening the doors and they look at it in silence. For a second Minho thought Jinki was going to run away.

"How about you?" Minho asked, starting to get nervous about all that situation.

Jinki looked at him and bit his bottom lip. "I... I... I love you too."

Minho smiled, heart pounding loudly. "Finally," he said cupping Jinki's face and bringing him closer. Jinki help his wrist, his hands shaking. "You finally say it." he murmured before close the gap between them, kissing Jinki for the first time.

The first time of many.