As the weekend passed by, Taemin completed his homework and tasks he received from his different classes. Jinki had tried to call him several times not only throughout the night, but also on Saturday and a little on Sunday; Taemin never answered, and he eventually got swamped from twenty missed calls from the senior.
He hadn't received even one message from Kibum, and that dampened his mood, but he just passed it up to his boyfriend being busy. Being a senior was hard, especially when they got loaded with tasks. Taemin had to be patient, he knew it.

When Monday came around, he groggily opened his eyes only to stick his one arm out and shut off his alarm, slinking back into the comfort of his warm bed soon after.
There were many things he wanted to hide from - all the work waiting for him, the loneliness at school, even a few looks from his old friends, and mostly, Jinki. He still didn't know what he wanted to say to the older one; they had to talk about what happened, but the brunette felt uncomfortable just thinking about it. He wanted to forget it instead of talking about it.
With a groan of tiredness and unwillingness to get out of bed, Taemin kept his head buried under his covers.
Maybe if he pasted a big smile on his face, did his hair perfect, and made himself smell extra good, then Kibum would spend some time with him. He didn't know. But he still hoped, and that was enough to get him up and out of bed instead of hiding there for the day.

He tied his hair in a neat ponytail, used Kibum's favorite strawberry scented body wash, and practiced forcing smiles in the mirror. He didn't feel happy at all, but he had to look the part; he wanted Kibum to feel attracted to him all over again, and the older one had seen him happy when they first met.

He arrived at school a little earlier than usual to hopefully find Kibum somewhere and then hang out a little with him.
As he clung onto the strap of his bag, he nibbled his plump bottom lip. He hoped he wouldn't run into Jinki now - that would be a disaster.
The more Taemin walked through the hallways, the more anxious he felt; he missed Kibum, he wanted to see him, so where was he? He needed some attention. He wanted some affection from his boyfriend...but he hadn't thought of how it would feel if the senior would say he was too busy to give Taemin attention. It would sting, and he would no doubt be unhappy about it, but what could he do? He couldn't force Kibum to give him attention.
As he rounded the one corner, he paused immediately and his sneakers squeaked as he tried to make a run for it back down the way he came; he saw Jinki, and the senior spotted him, but he would no doubt try to disappear. Maybe if the junior ran fast enough, he would disappear into thin air and not deal with the upcoming situation.

He almost leaped down the staircase when he heard footsteps behind him, and he gripped the rail to not trip and make a fool of himself. But he misjudged himself, and his shoe hooked on the last step - with a rather embarrassing fall, Taemin landed on his knees. He didn't waste time in trying to get up again, but Jinki was already there, offering a hand.
The junior didn't take it.
“If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to avoid me,” The older one attempted some humor in the situation, just as he always did. He wanted to diffuse awkward situations as much as possible.
“Yeah?” Taemin muttered dryly, almost wanting to cry at the thought of his messy hair he spent twenty minutes working on. Maybe if he wasn't such a klutz, then his little fall wouldn't have happened.
“We need to talk,” Jinki said, knowing Taemin wasn't in the mood for a few lighthearted laughs.
“I don't want to,” The brunette muttered sullenly, folding his arms over his chest after fixing his bag on his back. Jinki could see the junior was trying to shut off from the situation from the way the younger one looked around; at the floor, around them, everywhere but Jinki.
“I'm sorry,” The black haired male apologized anyway, “I didn't plan to kiss you,”

Taemin didn't reply.

“I know you're angry, but that's not why I wanted to hang out with you. Really. You have to know what Kibum is doing behind your back,” Jinki carried on - he had come to the conclusion that he had to let Taemin know what was happening before trying anything weird again. It was bad enough the junior was avoiding him, but he knew Taemin would evade him even more now.
“Just let it go. I'm not interested in you. It's not fair that you're trying to break us up just because of your crush,” Taemin said sullenly, pouting out his lips a little. He wanted to see Kibum, and he was growing more and more agitated as the seconds ticked by.
“I'm not trying to do that!” Jinki exclaimed from frustration, trying to blow some of his long black hair out of his eyes, “you just don't deserve to be taken advantage of,”
“Kibum loves me! He wouldn't take advantage of me, hyung!” The brunette almost yelled, grabbing his hair tye, and tugged it roughly out of his hair. What did it matter if he looked good or not anyway?! Kibum wouldn't even pay him any mind. Just like always.
“Won't you just listen to me for one minute?!” Jinki said with urgency, but Taemin would have none of it. Before the black haired male could even open his mouth to speak, the brunette had already started stomping down the hallway.

His hair was messy, his knees hurt, Kibum was nowhere to be found, and in general, the day had started off awfully for Taemin. There was nothing good to really see about the morning, and the more the junior thought about it, the more cranky he felt. As he trudged through the hallways, he finally turned a corner and saw his boyfriend chatting to Minho, one of their mutual friends. He was nice and all, a bit sporty for Taemin's tastes, but all he currently cared about was at last being successful in finding Kibum, even if it was by accident.

“Hyung!” He called out happily, and Kibum looked towards him after laughing at something the jock said and hitting his shoulder playfully.
“Hyung, I've missed you,” Taemin said when he reached the two, all the day's crappy moments already forgotten as he invited himself into the older one's arms to feel that loving embrace as always.
“Taemin,” Minho greeted once the youngest had pulled away, and the brunette smiled at the black haired man with the piercing blue eyes; sometimes he wondered if the other junior maybe had contacts, but he couldn't be sure. Maybe they were really just Minho's eye color.
“Hello,” The brunette replied with a smile, and Minho excused himself to give the two privacy.

“You won't believe it, Jinki found me again this morning. He was still going on about the same thing, that you were doing something bad behind my back. But I told him you wouldn't, because I trust you. I'm sure he's doing all of this just to make you look bad. He likes me,” The younger one blabbered as he walked with Kibum to the senior's first class of the day.
“Mhm...I guess you're right. Don't worry, I'll handle everything with Jinki, yeah?” He offered, and the younger one nodded eagerly. It was like Kibum was trying to defend his honor, and that made him happier than anything else in the world. How could Jinki think someone like this would try to do harm to Taemin? It didn't make sense. Kibum was the most loving person in the world to Taemin.

Throughout the day, the junior managed to spend a lot of time with the senior. He was more than overjoyed, and Kibum even allowed him to hold hands in the hallways in between classes. It made Taemin feel secure, knowing his boyfriend was happy to be seen around school with the brunette. It gave him confidence, and he felt good about himself when he noticed some of the stares he got; he knew Kibum was attractive, but he didn't know people would be this shocked to see the two together. Except, he didn't know everyone was looking at him in pity, rather than in awe.
Break time came, and Taemin sat with Kibum and his friends, Minho and Jonghyun. The other ones like Dongwoo, Woohyun and Amber weren't around, presumably working on a group project. The junior felt comfortable amongst the other junior and the two seniors - they never treated him like a kid like most seniors did.

“Who wants to come play soccer with me?” Minho asked once they had finished their lunch; he could be so energetic at times that it made the brunette feel somewhat tired just thinking about the sports Minho did.
“I could!” Jonghyun offered with a big grin. He wasn't as good as Minho (was anyone as good as him in 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔? Taemin wondered) but he still tried, and he was still a good player.
“Let's go with, Taemin. Soak up some sunlight,” Kibum said, much to the junior's disappointment; he thought he would be able to spend some time with his boyfriend now, alone, but he guessed that wasn't the case.

He followed behind the group a little sulkily, staring at his sneakers as he walked at a steady pace to keep close to the others. He didn't like how nice Kibum was being with Jonghyun now, and it made him feel jealous; why couldn't the senior laugh with Taemin like that? Jonghyun wasn't even saying anything funny.
He sat down and placed his bag on his lap, Kibum putting his own with Jonghyun and Minho's beside them both.
As the senior cheered his two friends on, Taemin felt his mood sinking lower and lower. Maybe he was being childish now, but Kibum never cheered for him like that.
“Why are you cheering so loudly for Minho, anyway? I thought you don't like him,” The brunette muttered once his boyfriend had quieted down for a little bit, maybe to get a sip of water.
Kibum turned to his boyfriend. “It's a love-hate relationship...are you jealous?”
“No,” Taemin snapped immediately, and then went silent. It wasn't the first time something like this happened - Kibum was nice to all the seniors - but it made the younger one's blood boil all the same. He knew it wasn't good to bottle up his feelings this way, and that he would explode eventually, but it didn't matter. The senior had things to do, and there was no point in Taemin ranting about his feelings and wasting Kibum's valuable time.

But it made the younger one wonder again, how could Kibum have so little time to spare for him, yet Jinki seemed to have many more extracurricular activities and have at least two hours for Taemin? Maybe Kibum was lying about the things he was doing? Maybe he didn't even ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 that many activities.
𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑦, 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑝 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎, Taemin mused to himself, then shook off the thought before he could overthink things. Just because Kibum was too nice to others for Taemin to be comfortable with, didn't mean he was cheating. And if that was so, then he'd be cheating with everyone since he was touchy and friendly with everybody.

Even though Kibum was right beside him, the junior felt lonely once again. It was like the senior was there in body, but not spirit. No matter what Taemin could think to say, the older one seemed to be more interested in the game rather than listening to what the brunette could speak of.
“I'm going to play,” He muttered wryly - he didn't really want to, and he hoped Kibum would stop him, but the senior just looked at him shocked.
“Well, okay...” Kibum said, and Taemin suppressed a sigh as he loosened his tie to go to the field.
“I want to play too!” He said, and both Minho and Jonghyun looked up with shocked gazes; why was it so hard to believe that Taemin wanted to play a sport?! He was a dancer in his spare time, for crying out loud!
“Fine. I'll be on one team, Jonghyun and you can be on the other. That should make the odds even,” Minho said with a grin, and Taemin felt himself grow more annoyed at the sight. The other junior could be so cocky at times, though for the most part he was very humble.

The game started, and Taemin made it his mission to impress Kibum. If he did a good job, and showed his boyfriend he could really play, then maybe he'd get the senior to cheer for him too!
But Minho was too good, even against two people, and he scored a goal before Taemin could even find his footing on the field.
“Don't worry. Practice makes perfect,” He chimed out, and the brunette felt himself bristle as they placed the ball back in the middle of the field again. The sun was hot, beating down on their skulls, and causing the youngest to sweat even though he hadn't run around a lot like Minho.

The second goal came from Minho again, this time making Taemin look like a fool as he spun around in circles trying to stop the ball from reaching the goal point. The junior clenched his fists as he panted, more from anger than from fatigue, and he heard Kibum cheer for Minho. The youngest felt annoyed, bitter, and tired; he only wanted to do well for his boyfriend, but Kibum didn't even seem keen on trying to motivate Taemin. He almost wanted to sit down and cry like a baby, but he knew he couldn't do that.

By the time the third goal came around, Taemin was fuming. The ball slipped right in between his legs, and Minho's cheeky (but obviously not intentionally malicious) remarks only made things worse.
He gritted his teeth and let out harsh pants through them as he demanded they try one more game.
“Break is almost over, I think we won't have ti-” Jonghyun was saying, before he rudely got cut off by Taemin.
“I don't care! One more game!” He almost yelled, and both Minho and Jonghyun just shrugged it off to some anger over not winning the game.
They placed the ball in its original spot, and this time, Jonghyun scored a point. But it didn't matter; Taemin didn't do it, therefore, it didn't count in his mind. He had to do something right, just one thing, for Kibum to be proud.
Minho scored the second goal, and Taemin had some sweat dripping from his forehead at this point. He was exhausted, but he had to win. He had to. There was no other choice.
But hearing Kibum continously cheering for Jonghyun - had he even cheered for his own boyfriend? - made the youngest explode from rage, and before he could really control it, he kicked the ball too hard and aimed right at Minho.

The force of the ball hitting his chest made Minho fall back, trying to somehow scramble and save himself, only to land on his ankle. He let out a loud howl of pain, not even sure which hurt more; his ankle or his chest.
“What the hell's wrong with you?! Geez, Taemin!” Kibum exclaimed as he rushed over to Minho, Jonghyun doing the same.
“It was...an accident...” He almost whimpered out, standing and watching the scene of destruction created by him as the two seniors helped Minho up carefully.
“I won't lie, you did kind of deserve it for being such a smartass, Choi,” Kibum chuckled as he helped the limping Minho back to the school building, presumably to the nurse's office.
“Oh shut up, Kibum,” He groaned out, not in the mood for the diva's sass in this moment.
Once the two seniors had deposited the damaged male in the nurse's office to get some ice on his ankle, Kibum turned to Jonghyun.
“Thank you,” He said, and then hugged the other one before leaving a small kiss on his cheek.
“Anything for you,” Jonghyun answered with a smile, and playfully patted the diva's before they went to get their bags, noting that Taemin was already gone.

As expected, Kibum didn't try to find the junior for the rest of the day. Why was he even mad? Taemin said it was a mistake. It's not like he purposely aimed for Minho, and plus, it was Kibum's fault partly for always cheering the wrong people on.
As if the day couldn't get worse, Taemin overheard some chatter coming from his old friends, Lucas and Jongin.
“...I wonder if he even knows about Kibum and Minho,” Lucas said, and Taemin strained to listen.
“I'm sure he does. Everyone knows they're exes,” Jongin replied, and the brunette almost wanted to hurl. He didn't know, in fact, because Kibum had never told him. No one did, really. Maybe they all just expected him to know already, but hearing it come from his old friends made something crack in his heart. He didn't know if it was the fact that they knew this, and didn't tell him, or if it was because Kibum himself didn't tell the junior.

Exhausted, fatigued, sad, and feeling guilty, Taemin stopped by the nurse's office when it was time to go home. How could the day go so good, then turn so crappy? Just the junior's luck.
As he stepped inside, he noticed Jonghyun was with Minho already.
“Hey,” Taemin greeted quietly, fiddling with the strap of his bag as they stopped their conversation to glance up at him.
“Well if it isn't Mr. Sore Loser!” Minho chuckled, and Jonghyun just smiled. At least they didn't seem too mad.
“I just stopped by to say sorry. I didn't mean to make you sprain your ankle,” The junior said with a tiny smile, glancing at the ice placed on the other junior's left ankle.
“No stress. Accidents happen,” Minho shrugged easily; it was like he didn't even care.
“But...now you can't play,” The brunette said guiltily, which made the other junior shrug again.
“It's okay. I mean, I need to study and catch up with homework, so maybe it's a blessing in disguise,” He said with a grin, and Taemin could see why Kibum would fall for him. He was funny, goofy, easily happy and easily impressed, mature...and Taemin? He was none of these things. He wondered what Kibum even saw in him. How could he compare to Minho, the god? He was so popular, so good in everything he did, that it made Taemin want to curl up and hibernate for the next two years.

With a damaged heart, Taemin started his walk home. He fished out his phone to find out where Kibum was, mainly because he missed him, and because he wanted to confront the senior about not telling the junior about Minho being Kibum's ex.

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕? [15:04]

There was no answer for a little bit, and by the time Taemin had almost reached his home, he got a reply.

𝑩𝒖𝒔𝒚. 𝑺𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍. [15:28]

The junior sighed, and put his phone away; Kibum was obviously still mad, and he clearly wouldn't be talking to Taemin for the rest of the day. Between him hiding the fact that he was friends with his ex, and the fact that he was so friendly with Minho too, combined with how easy it seemed to be for Kibum to go a whole day without speaking to Taemin made him wonder just how important he was to Kibum...and if the senior wanted this relationship at all.