Jonghyun never actually called Kibum during the whole holiday break.

He got his phone just like his mother had promised, and he even saved Key’s number on it, but was never courageous enough to make a call. He told himself that it’s not really a big thing and he should call him, but it didn’t change anything.

It was a time when Jonghyun was going to high school. Everything was going to be different – teenagers like to have fun then, drink and party a lot, and also fall in love on and on. Jonghyun was the type to believe in true love and all those love adventures had never been interesting to him. Yet, he had never met that one, special person in his life and he was really hopeful that it would happen in high school.

Holiday break passed really quickly. Nothing significant happened during this for Jonghyun, but there was one thing that he found out attracted him all this time – it was blond hair. It was very hard to find people with fair hair in Asia, yet Jonghyun decided that it was the colour that appealed to him the most.

The last day of holiday came and Jonghyun wanted to do something different, unusual. First thing that came to his mind seemed to be really stupid at first, but Jonghyun gave it a chance and thought about the idea more. Secretly, he bought what was needed and locked himself in the bathroom. He felt rather unconfident, holding something like that for the first time in his hands. But decisions had been made and he had to be a man, not a coward, he thought.

If Kibum had blond hair, he must have liked it. So Jonghyun decided to change the colour of his own hair.

He had never done it in his life and he felt strange, when he applied the cosmetic on the tips of his bangs, smiling to the reflection in the mirror at how funny it smelled and looked. But, just in time, his mother stormed into the bathroom and washed off the hair dye, but it already took effect on Jonghyun’s hair, leaving him with brown colour and blond tips.

Jonghyun took a breath and came closer to the crowd in front of the entrance. His stomach was clenched, because he was afraid that Kibum would possibly not be in the same class as him and he would have to sit alone for another three years. Jonghyun stood up on his toes to peek at the list of students and their classes, some girls studying his new hairstyle with silent whispers and giggles. He found his name on the list, but Kibum’s was nowhere around.

“Hyung!” Taemin jumped onto Jonghyun’s back and wrapped his arms cutely on his torso. Minho just cleared his throat a bit nervously. “Are we in the same class?”

“I don’t know” Jonghyun stated sincerely, shrugged and patted Taemin’s hands. The youngest of them three left Jonghyun and hopped in front of him with an indignant expression on his face.

“How is it possible? So what have you been doing?” Taemin’s head was titled to the side, spreading a smile across Jonghyun’s face. Whenever Taemin tried to act serious, he was more amusing than he probably thought.

“He was looking for Kibum, isn’t it obvious?” Minho said in his voice deeper and lower than before the holiday break. He was also higher, making Jonghyun feel like he’s a gnome. Taemin had also changed, but not that much like Minho had.

“He’s not on the list, why…” Jonghyun whined and glanced at Minho, who just raised both his hands.

Taemin seesawed his eyes between them two. After a while he decided to go through the crowd and closer to the list, then came back to Minho and pushed his elbow between his ribs.

“We’re in the same class as you!” his eyes shone when he turned to Jonghyun.

“Really? That’s cool” Jonghyun’s mind was still around the fact that Kibum’s name wasn’t mentioned on the list and it made him feel really uncomfortable. Before the holiday, they had promised each other that they would go to the same high school. And at the moment, Jonghyun couldn’t say if Kibum had chosen some other school or he hadn’t passed, there were too many students anyway or some other reason. Everything was a mess and he should probably ask Kibum about it in person.

“You don’t look much happy hyung” Taemin whined. Minho rolled his eyes with a tender smile and took Taemin by the elbow that was jabbed into his ribcage.

“Let’s go to our class, okay?” was all he said in his calm, deep voice. Jonghyun glanced at the list for the last time, only making sure that Kim Kibum had never been on it. They all walked along the crowded hallway, passing by students in uniforms same as their, Jonghyun seeking for that blond head almost unconsciously.

“I’m going to take the last desk!” Taemin chirped happily and rushed into the classroom as soon as they reached it. Minho obediently walked after him and Jonghyun soon passed the doorstep as well.

All of the people were so normal in Jonghyun’s eyes. Everyone in those uniforms they had to wear (Jonghyun’s sleeves were always too long, and this year was no exception. His arms were really short and people sewing their uniforms didn’t really care much about the fact that Jonghyun’s were shorter than others), dark hair, dark eyes. His eyes moved up a bit painfully when he tried to see his blond bangs. At least, his appearance wasn’t as dull as others’.

Taemin quickly sat at the desk by the wall, patting the chair next to him eagerly for Minho to take it. Those two were definitely too obvious in Jonghyun’s eyes, whenever they talked or just simply sat so close to each other. Taemin’s smile grew wider when Minho passed some sweets towards him, all the cuteness and cheesiness of the sight forcing him to turn to his own place, happening to be the last desk by the window.

His bag landed on the desktop and Jonghyun plopped down onto his chair, sighing. The number of students was really going to be uneven and he would have to deal with Minho’s and Taemin’s sweet chirping just one desk from his own.

Jonghyun pressed his forehead to the material of the bag, debating in his mind whether to call Kibum or just leave the things as they were. He couldn’t even say why he was caring about it so much, probably just because he didn’t want to be alone in the class full of students again.

A sonorous, familiar laughter reached Jonghyun’s ears.

“What happened to your hair?”

Jonghyun’s head snapped upwards in seconds. And, as he predicted, by the desk stood no one else but Kibum. Key.

If not because of the laughter, Jonghyun would have difficulties with recognizing the boy. He was much taller, slimmer, his upper body covered with the same uniform Jonghyun had, but emblazoned with colourful badges. Face wasn’t so chubby, cheekbones sharp and high and perfectly shaped, lips bowed in a small smile, eyes shining and hair…

Jonghyun opened his mouth in some numb protest. The blond hair was gone, replaced by raven, striped with rainbow-coloured strikes.

“What happened to your hair…” Jonghyun emphasized the word with disbelief. Beloved, fair hair had just disappeared.

Kibum sat down next to him and arched an eyebrow while looking at him.

“I needed some change, we’re in high school, you know… And you? Were you painting the walls with your hair?” Key chuckled and looked away when Jonghyun’s cheeks tinted in some light pink.

“It’s not funny, it’s in fashion now if you want to know” the bag disappeared from the desk and fell down to the floor, bringing the attention of two girls sitting in front of them. Jonghyun cleared his throat and nervously patted flat his bangs.

“Sorry, never thought paint brushes on heads would be ever fashionable” Kibum did his best to not burst into laughter when both of the girls turned around to peek at Jonghyun curiously, whose face turned tomato red in seconds. The shorter boy straightened his leg and pushed with his foot onto Key’s chair, moving it just a little bit.

“I’m not going to sit with someone like you” it was a lie, but Jonghyun really felt embarrassed when two pairs of eyes, girls’ eyes, were staring at him so intensively. And then some other thing struck him “And what are you doing here anyway? You weren’t on the list”

Key waved his hand nonchalantly “Some error, I’m in this class and school, just like promised”.

Jonghyun’s heart warmed when he had heard those words. Even if Kibum had changed so much, in both appearance and behavior (because he was laughing and talking to him so freely and it made Jonghyun to feel guilty that they hadn’t been in touch for the whole holiday break), he was still that Key who knew how to unlock most of the locks and spoke English fluently.

“What’s with that stupid face… Better tell me if you know anyone here” Kibum’s head turned from left to right, scanning all the new faces. Jonghyun did the same and noticed that Taemin and Minho were staring towards him with round eyes.

“Two of my friends are in this class as well” Jonghyun shrugged, he didn’t really want to make it such a big deal or anything.

“Really?” Key glanced at him and placed his chin on the palm “Is that sweet baby Taemin in this class?” he raised his eyebrows questionably. Jonghyun laughed in his head at the word ‘baby’.

“Yeah, he’s sitting there” Jonghyun pointed at Taemin, whose hand shot up as soon as he caught Jonghyun’s gaze. Kibum turned towards him and smiled brightly.

“He changed a lot…” he wondered, studying the childish boy, whispering something to Minho at the moment “And who is that tall guy he’s sitting with?”

“Minho. They both have crush on each other, I’m definitely positive about it” Jonghyun let go of his hair and sat more comfortably on the chair, his back propped against the windowsill. The other boy shook his head and turned back to Jonghyun.

“How can you be so sure?” his fingers drummed on the desktop and his head tilted to the side when he laid his cheek on the palm.

“Intuition” a smirk brightened his features.

“Yeah, like women’s intuition? If you had had that kind of intuition, you would have noticed that the girl in the second desk is staring at you for fair fifteen minutes” Kibum looked down at his knees when Jonghyun straightened himself to look at the girl from above other students’ heads. There she was, her cheeks flushing when meeting Jonghyun’s gaze and bangs covering her eyes when she lowered her head in embarrassment.

“She’s not my ty-“

“Definitely, I wouldn’t choose her from girls here anyway” Kibum cut him off and Jonghyun looked at him surprised.

“How can you act like that, what was that even supposed to mean?” Jonghyun’s brow furrowed. Kibum only shrugged, fully focused on the material of his uniform he had been rumpling in his hands for a while. The boy stared at his dark hair for some more seconds, wondering why he had been acting like this (or maybe he was just oversensitive), but his deep thought was disturbed when a teacher walked in.

“Good morning students, I’m your new class teacher and I hope we will get along well” she smiled politely and wrote her full name on the blackboard. Jonghyun glanced towards his two friends, pushing at each other with his shoulders and quickly replaced the view with Kibum’s concentrated face, which made him smile sincerely.

“Maybe not many teachers do it, but I decided that if we want to know each other better, we should go on a trip together. What do you think about camping?”

“This is going to be the best week in our lives! Right, Minho?”

Taemin was pulling at Minho’s sleeve, who only nodded slightly and ruffled hair of his friend. Jonghyun sat down on his suitcase and covered eyes from the sun .

“We’re going to fry like on a pan” Key whined and adjusted his baseball cap. Jonghyun peeked at him through his fingers, to see him applying some sunscreen on his face.

“It’s not Egypt, you don’t need it” Kibum only wrinkled his nose at the comment and spread some leftovers of the cosmetic on the bridge of Jonghyun’s nose. Without words, he took his bag and headed towards the bus.

“He acts like an umma” Taemin tilted his head cutely to the side and Jonghyun only sighed in response. Their form teacher waved at them and after some more minutes they were already on their way to the campsite.

“Hyung, do you think there will be any lake?” the youngest of the four kneeled on his seat and turned back to look at Kibum and Jonghyun sitting together. His round eyes were shining in pure excitement.

“No” Jonghyun simply replied and closed his eyes, propping his knees on the back of Taemin’s seat.

“Maybe river?”

“No”

“Hyung, there has to be some water!” Taemin pouted and moved his eyes at Key “Umma, will there be any water?”

Kibum raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Umma?” an honest laughter left his lips. Jonghyun opened one of his eyes to look at Key. Whenever Kibum was laughing, he couldn’t help but smile. “I can’t be your umma, sweetheart” Key brushed some strands off of Taemin’s forehead gently.

“Jonghyun calls you Key, so I will call you umma, it’s your unique nickname from me” the boy nodded proudly with a wide smile, while Kibum was still fixing his bangs. “So, umma, what about that water?”

“Come here, I found a map” Minho stated calmly and in a trice Taemin disappeared from Kibum’s view. The boy with rainbow hair grinned and searched in his shoulder bag. Jonghyun’s eyes opened wider in curiosity when Kibum pulled out his mp4 player along with earphones.

“Want one?” Kibum offered with a hint of smile and Jonghyun sat more comfortably, nodding and taking one of the earbuds. He placed it in his ear and waited for Key to switch on the player. The boy seemed to be looking for any right song like forever but finally he found it and Jonghyun froze on his place.

A calm, silent voice echoed in his head with some beautiful piano accompaniment in the background. The woman had a strong tone, but was singing so softly and gently, as if caressing his eardrum with a feather. He stealthily gazed towards Kibum, dressed in colourful t-shirt and jeans vest, and wondered if he would have ever thought that guy like that could have been listening to such beautiful music.

Key turned to him slowly with questionable eyes and cocked an eyebrow, but Jonghyun quickly shook his head and closed his eyes, fully enjoying the music.

For some time only.

Jonghyun furrowed his brow and opened one of his eyes in annoyance, when one of the two boys in front of them was giggling loudly and throwing himself all around the seat. Jonghyun kicked the back of his seat flatly with his foot.

“Stop it, someone is trying to concentrate here” he mumbled and closed his eyes back when Taemin calmed down immediately. Still, Jonghyun could feel that something was odd anyway and opened one of his eyes again. Both Taemin and Minho were peeking curiously from between their two seats – Taemin with a wide smile, Minho with his round, froggy-like eyes.

“What are you doing, get away!” the repeat of kicking didn’t do much, only woke up Kibum from his small daydreaming.

“What on earth… Be silent or I will stab all of you when you least expect it” he turned to the other side, all of the others completely frozen. Taemin mumbled something to Minho and they sat properly on their seats. Amused, Jonghyun stared at Kibum’s back and shook his head calmly, adjusting the earbud in his ear.

After some more hours of listening to Kibum’s music and ignoring Taemin’s judging peeks from between the seats, they reached the campsite. The area was nice and silent, field hedged in trees and some of the tents already set out on the ground. Jonghyun took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled widely.

“We’re splitting into two groups” their form teacher started and Jonghyun saw her coming in between the students, already parting them into groups. He quickly grabbed Key’s upper arm and pulled him away from Taemin he had been talking with, before the teacher walked between them. Taemin’s eyes widened a bit when he understood the situation. “Alright, groups are made, one of them is going with me through that small forest, let’s go” the group Taemin and Minho belonged to started heading towards the trees and Jonghyun could notice how Taemin was holding Minho’s sleeve tightly.

Kibum placed both of his palm on the hips and looked around.

“Well, it’s not that bad” he nodded to himself and Jonghyun shrugged.

“We’ll see how the night’s going to be”

Jonghyun stared at the wall of his single tent, tightly wrapped in his sleeping bag and covered with a duvet, keeping himself warm when the weather outside was rather chilly. His mind flew around their new students, new teachers, but eventually stopped on his desk friend, Kibum. Even without blond hair, that boy still managed to push Jonghyun closer and closer to himself and it was just beyond Jonghyun.

The boy heard the door being ped and sat up, only to see Key’s head popping into the tent with some tentative smile plastered to it.

“Hi…” he started and bit his lower lip gently. Jonghyun looked around and moved to the side with his sleeping bag to make some more room for Kibum.

“Come in” a nod of his head finally invited Key, who hopped in in his purple sleeping bag, widening Jonghyun’s smile in a blink. Kibum situated himself more comfortably and covered the body almost to the nose.

“It’s really cold outside, huh? I hope Taemin is warm…” the boy stared at the door, but Jonghyun’s eyes were still glued to him. It was dark and he couldn’t clearly see his features, yet he could say that Kibum looked really nice even in sleeping bag and with tousled hair. When they went silent, the only thing that filled the tent was Kibum’s teeth chattering, which he definitely tried to stop anyhow.

“Are you cold?” Jonghyun narrowed his eyes to see Kibum better, but he only shook his head, the whole silhouette shaking in the dim, outside light. Jonghyun hadn’t even thought much before coming a little bit closer to Key and offering his quilt. Kibum raised his eyes questionably, but when Jonghyun handed out one of the corners of the duvet, he smiled thankfully, lay down and covered himself fully.

“Thanks…” Kibum managed to mumble and turned his back to Jonghyun. Much calmer, the other boy nodded gently and turned around as well. Something about their closeness kept him calm and nervous at the same time. Still, he found it much better than sleeping alone.

“You disappeared from my tent pretty early…” Jonghyun mumbled still a bit sleepily when they were walking towards the small lake (much to Taemin’s happiness). The other group was already there, since their part of campsite was just a stone’s throw from it. Kibum looked around a bit nervously and cleared his throat loudly, then glanced back at Jonghyun sternly.

“Don’t say things like that, stupid, how do you think it sounds?” his whisper was forceful, but Jonghyun only replied with a yawn “Anyway, it was just because I was cold, nothing else” Kibum straightened himself and acted cool, but in the corner of his eye Jonghyun saw his tensed jaw and heated cheeks. Even more prefect definition than Taemin for ‘adorable’ in Jonghyun’s eyes.

After some minutes they got to the tiny beach, sandy, the weather chilly and windy, even if the day before sun was shining mercilessly. Taemin waved eagerly at them from one of a few blankets spread on the cold sand.

“Umma, can I go swimming?” Taemin asked childishly when they sat down on the blanket in a small circle.

“What? Definitely not, it’s too cold, don’t you see?” Kibum zipped his hoodie up to the chin and hid hands in its pockets.

“I told you it’s too cold” Minho reasoned calmly and looked at the lake.

“It’s not cold at all” Taemin pouted. Jonghyun smiled sarcastically, seeing how many layers of clothing the boy had on himself, probably most of them belonging to Minho to begin with.

“Listen to your boyfriend, it’s cold today” Jonghyun covered his mouth to hide another yawn. Both Minho and Taemin looked at him with wide eyes, Taemin’s cheeks perfectly pink and Minho’s eyes avoiding meeting with Jonghyun’s ones.

“He’s not my boyfriend, hyung” Taemin’s brow furrowed, voice cracked nervously and when Jonghyun  arched and eyebrow and glanced at Kibum, he saw him giggling to the palm. Somewhere inside him, Jonghyun wanted to take away that hand and hear that laughter clearly, just because he found it the most heartwarming sound on earth.

“Hi…”

All of the heads snapped upwards and Jonghyun recognized the girl Kibum had told him about the first day of school. Her hair was combed in a ponytail, but bangs still covered half of her eyes.

“Hello” Jonghyun answered a bit awkwardly and heard Kibum snorting with some annoyed note.

“Umm… I thought I could sit there and we could know each other better…” she looked everywhere but Jonghyun, her voice little and barely audible. Kibum stood up suddenly and pulled at Taemin’s hand, forcing him to stand up as well.

“I’m really sorry, but we’re going to swim a little bit” Key took a hold of Jonghyun’s hood, when Taemin was jumping around Minho, shouting happy ‘swimming’s all around. Jonghyun smiled apologetically and got up too, when Kibum pulled at his hood, dragging him towards the water. Jonghyun started walking more properly next to the rainbow-haired boy, observing his scrunched up nose and slightly narrowed eyes with amusement and question.

“You don’t like water” Kibum only shot him a glare after hearing those words, so Jonghyun remained silent, doing his best to not start laughing all of a sudden. Taemin rolled up the legs of his pants eagerly and walked into the cold water slowly, squealing like a child and holding onto the sleeve on Minho’s upper arm.

“They really look like a couple” Kibum’s features softened when he looked at them almost longingly. He then turned to Jonghyun with those little, joyful sparks in his pupils, making Jonghyun’s heart leap in his chest.

“Yes, they do” having turned back to the lake, Jonghyun saw Taemin taking some of the water into his palms and running after Minho, splashing the water all around them and soaking their clothes.

Kibum sat down on the sand and wrapped arms around his legs, chin on the knees and eyes looking at the calm water tenderly. Jonghyun took a place next to him and instead of watching the water, stopped his eyes on the sand, doodling some shapes with a stick. Key lowered his eyes curiously, taking a glimpse of Jonghyun’s drawings and joined him with another stick.

The longer Jonghyun was around Key, the more guilty he felt for not keeping their contact for such a long time. They knew each other for a short period, but still, Kibum seemed to be the one and only person Jonghyun felt so different being around. This feeling  wasn’t as calm as his relationship with Taemin or Minho, no, he was nervous every time he bumped into Kibum, every time their eyes met and he felt even more guilty that for the whole holiday he had lied to himself that he had loved blond hair, when actually it was Kibum personally he missed and adored the most.

Another monster, this story surely teaches me how to write long chapters like a boss xD Well, sorry it took me so long, I still have some problems with my health and also have piles of homework waiting for me every day~ 

Anyway, I hope you like it, even if nothing really happens here - the third one will probably be much more interesting (since they kiss there, right? xD)

Keep warm and healthy my dear readers and Merry Christmas to all of you!