I can’t believe I agreed to help Key with this, thought Jonghyun as he sat on the couch with his boyfriend and other best friend, playing a video game with the latter.  Key was watching the two play a fighting game, and cheering for Minho.  He couldn’t believe that!  Here he was, doing his best, and his boyfriend was cheering for the opponent!  That pissed him off.

Minho cheered triumphantly as he finally won the match, and Key high-fived him.  Jonghyun stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend, who mirrored the gesture teasingly.  Jonghyun rolled his eyes and leaned back on the couch, sulking.

“So, Minho,” Key started, grabbing the younger boy’s attention before he could start another match.  “That girl at lunch today, her name was Taeyeon, right?”

“Hmm?”  Minho nodded.  “What about her?”

Key smirked slightly.  “What do you think of her?”

Minho shrugged.  “I dunno.”

“Ow!” Jonghyun yelped as his boyfriend elbowed him hard in the side, reminding him he was supposed to be helping.  He shot a glare at Key, then looked at Minho.  “I think she’s pretty.  Isn’t she pretty?”

Minho nodded.  “Yeah…what’s your point?”

“Do you like her?”  Jonghyun asked, earning him another harsh elbow in the ribs.  Ow…why did I agree to this stupid idea?  He hadn’t wanted to get involved, but his boyfriend knew just how to manipulate him.  Key was completely aware of how weak Jonghyun was for his kisses.

The trio’s youngest boy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.  “You two aren’t trying to set me up with a girlfriend, are you?”

Key’s eyes widened and he shook his head.  “No, of course not!”  Jonghyun had to hold back a chuckle.  He knew what Key was thinking; technically he wasn’t lying.  They weren’t trying to get him a girlfriend, but a boyfriend.  Minho would kill them if he figured it out.  The boy was, as he claimed, straight as an arrow.  Jonghyun used to think he was too, until Key came along.

“So much for subtlety,” Jonghyun heard Key mutter under his breath.  Minho luckily hadn’t heard it; he was once again engrossed in the video game.  It took Jonghyun a minute to realize that his opponent was beating his character to a pulp when he wasn’t paying attention.

“Yah!  No fair!” he growled, demanding a restart.

Jonghyun wasn’t sure how their plan was going.  He couldn’t quite tell yet if it was working, but ‘Taeyeon’ and Minho were definitely getting closer, and they were acting much more comfortable around each other.  ‘She’ was spending a lot of time with them lately, sitting with them at lunch every day, hanging out with them after school some days, and the four even got together on weekends sometimes.  Key seemed encouraged.

Yes, Jonghyun agreed, they were definitely good friends now…but Taemin’s goal was to be more than friends, wasn’t it?  Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite see that happening, especially not if Minho found out ‘Taeyeon’ wasn’t actually a girl.  Even if they did start going out, it was unavoidable that Minho would eventually figure it out, because…well, you know…  He didn’t feel he needed to elaborate on that reason.

One day Jonghyun was walking through the hallways after school, trying to find Key, when he heard a commotion nearby.  He didn’t pay any attention to it until he heard Taemin’s name clearly spoken.  He halted.  Maybe it’s a different Taemin?

“I think he transferred out a few weeks ago,” a voice said.

No, that’s our Taemin.

“That can’t be right.  He didn’t say anything to me about it…”

Oh crap.  He hesitated, then decided Key would kill him if Taemin’s cover was blown when he could have done something to prevent it.  He walked around the corner to find the owner of the voice.

“You’re looking for a Taemin?”

One of the people in front of him nodded.  He looked a little older, maybe in college?  Oh well, it didn’t matter anyway.  He pulled the older boy aside to where nobody else could overhear them.  “I’m Jonghyun, a friend of his.”

“Onew.  I’m his cousin.”  Onew flashed a smile at him.  “I came to see him, do you know where he is?”

Jonghyun scratched his neck thoughtfully.  “Well…that’s kind of complicated.”  Onew raised an eyebrow.  “You see, he’s kind of in disguise right now, as…well, as a girl.  He pretended to transfer out and then back in as his cousin.”

Onew was clearly confused.  It showed on his face.  “Why would he do that?”

Jonghyun shrugged.  “I won’t say I don’t know, because I do, but I won’t tell you why.  He should answer that himself.  You’ll have to ask him.”

The older boy nodded.  “Well then, could you tell him I’m waiting for him at the gate?”

Jonghyun smiled.  “Yeah, I’ll tell him.  See ya!”  He waved and went off to resume his search for his boyfriend, adding Taemin to the search as well.

Taemin ran hurriedly to the gate and stopped when he almost ran into his cousin.  “Hyung!” he exclaimed.

“Ah, Taemin?  I almost didn’t recognize you.”  Onew laughed.  “You’re such a pretty girl!”

The younger boy blushed furiously.  “Yah!  Why are you here?”

“I missed you.  I haven’t seen you in too long, so I came to visit.”  He raised an eyebrow.  “But why are you pretending to be a girl?  You didn’t say anything about it to me before.”

Taemin bit his lip.  “Eheh…hyung, remember that crush I had?”  Onew nodded.  “Well, it was a guy.”  He waited to see if Onew would freak out at the revelation that his little dongsaeng was gay, but he didn’t.  Feeling relieved, he explained the whole situation to him.

The last thing he expected was that Onew wanted to get in on the plan.

“Can I help?”

Taemin blinked.  “What?”

“I said, can I help?”

“I…I guess.  How?”

Onew smiled.  “I have some ideas.”

Taemin inwardly groaned in frustration.  Oh come on…first Key, and now Onew-hyung?  Why won’t anyone tell me their plans?  I told them mine!  He pouted.  So not fair.

“Can I see your phone for a sec?”

The younger boy nodded and lent it to his cousin, who looked through the contacts and found the one with the familiar name, Jonghyun.  He copied it into his own phone.  “I’m gonna need this.”  He handed Taemin’s phone back to him and grinned, messing up the younger boy’s hair with his hand.  “Let’s go home and hang out now!”  He turned and started walking, then tripped over his own feet.

Taemin burst out laughing.  “Hyung, you never change, do you?”