Onew sighed, looking at the gorgeous boy dancing on the gym floor. He was the school's star athlete, and he was smart. He had a warm personality. People loved him. And that was Onew's problem. He was a nobody, how could a somebody like Minho even notice Onew, let alone love him back?

Onew probably could have been somebody too. He had decent grades and he was fairly decent looking himself. But people avoided him like the plague because of his uality. Homouality was frowned upon heavily in his school and he was hardly shy about his like of other men. He often heard whispers and jeers in the halls whenever he passed by. He ignored them, since that was practically all he could do.

Onew sighed again, looking around at the other males sitting down. The school dance was seemingly unkind to his gender this year. He noticed a skinny boy sitting all by himself. Onew frowned. It was a shame because the boy was absolutely gorgeous. He stood up and walked over to the boy. He smiled charmingly and offered a hand.

    "Wanna dance?" The boy snapped his head up eagerly. He frowned slightly to see another male standing there, but nonetheless took Onew's pro-offered hand.

    "I'm Lee Jinki, but call me Onew," the boy smiled.

    "We have the same surname. My name is Lee Taemin. I transferred here almost a month ago," Onew was surprised. He hadn't seen the other boy in the hallways at all.

    "I haven't seen you at all, otherwise I would've got to know you a lot sooner," Onew smirked at the blush that graced Taemin's cheeks.

    "I don't spend a lot of time in the hallways. The people here make me uncomfortable," Taemin clarified. Ah, that explains why Onew hadn't seen him. He chuckled.

    "The people here make me uncomfortable as well. Of course, I suppose I brought it on myself. It's not exactly a secret that I'm gay, and this school is full of homophobes," Onew sighed. Taemin blinked, but smiled slowly.

    "Well, I'm not gay, but I don't mind gay people. They're people too," Onew nodded in knowing. 'Knew it was too good to be true' he thought. Just then, the song ended and he bowed gracefully to Taemin.

    "Thank you good sir, for such a lovely dance," Onew straightened and headed back to his seat. Taemin followed him this time, catching Onew when he tripped over air. He chuckled and sat down next to Onew.

    "You're really clumsy for a guy," Onew put a hand over his heart and pretend fainted.

    "It's a curse. My entire family is clumsy," Taemin giggled like a girl. And that was how Onew and Taemin became friends.

Taemin started showing his face in the hallways and he slowly became popular. He had a few enemies simply because he remained friends with 'that stupid homo', but most people accepted him because he was a really nice person. Nearly a month after the school dance, Taemin was invited to a party/sleepover at some jock's house and he could bring a friend. He chose Onew to go with him, not knowing that he was playing right into the hands of the people who invited him in the first place.

Onew was beside himself at being able to be so close to Minho. Taemin knew all about his crush and about it from time to time, but when Onew started teasing Taemin about Sulli (the girl he had a crush on), he'd shut up.

When Taemin came to get him, he was shocked by how good Onew looked out of his school uniform. Onew was wearing skin tight black skinny jeans, a cherry  red undershirt and a black leather mini jacket. Red Converse completed the ensemble. His hair was slightly teased, and he had on eyeliner. He smirked when he saw Taemin staring.
    "That's right, I can make even straight guys question their uality," Taemin blushed and glared but didn't deny it. They walked out to Onew's car and arrived at the given address. There was loud music, and obviously alcohol as there were people stumbling around, looking lost. Taemin quickly found Sulli, and left his friend to fend for himself.

He wandered around, seeing all states of drunkenness before he came upon a group of people playing 7 Minutes in Heaven. His breath stopped when he saw Minho sitting next to one of his friends, laughing and talking. A jock noticed Onew standing there looking there dumbly and shouted.

    "Yo, man, why are you just standing there? We could use another player anyway," the jock internally smirked when he noticed Onew's eagerness to play. Onew sat down nervously between a couple of jocks and tensed up when one of them patted him on the back.

    "Loosen up man. Seriously," Onew relaxed a little, but was uneasy with how friendly they were being towards him. He chalked it up to them being drunk and shrugged, noticing that the game started. Onew was actually having a fair bit of fun when he noticed that it was his turn to pick a piece of paper from the hat. He slowly unfolded the paper to show a badly drawn frog, and slowly smiled, feeling highly amused.

    "A frog? Dude, that's gotta Minho's symbol since his nickname is frog," the guy next to him said. Onew could hardly believe his good fortune. He stood up, not seeing the smirks everyone around the table wore. He walked into the dark room, waiting anxiously for Minho when he heard the door open. He turned around, hoping to see him, but Minho shut the door before he could get a good look.

    "M-minho? Are you there?" he asked, looking in what he thought the general direction of the door was.

    "Yeah. I'm here," Minho sounded a lot closer than Onew thought he'd be. He was increasingly nervous.

    "Can we turn on the light? I-i..," Onew sighed and blushed. "I'm afraid of the dark." he mumbled. At 18 years old, Onew was more than a little ashamed of his fear. Minho just chuckled warmly and replied with a yes. He the light, and Onew found himself staring into a crew of faces, all wearing a cruel smirk. The next thing he knew, he was covered in something wet. He looked at his hands and found them to be covered in bright red paint.

He tuned everything out after that, not hearing the howling laughter of the other people in the closet. He merely sighed and opened the door, tracking wet paint all over the place. He didn't care. He didn't blame Taemin. Taemin probably didn't know that they'd even planned something like this. He knew it was good to be true, and surprise surprise... It was. He walked out the front door and just sat on the porch, trying to get as much of the red paint out of his hair as possible. He was proud of his hair, and he didn't want to have to chop it all off.

    "Oh man, Onew, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that they were planning something like that," he jumped slightly when he heard Minho's voice. He was surprised. He turned to look at Minho. He chuckled bitterly.

    "I knew it was too good to be true, ya know? Them acting nice to me and inviting me to play... I knew deep down, but I wanted to be accepted, so I shoved that aside," he sighed. He looked up and smiled warmly at Minho.

    "But thanks for coming out here. It's nice to know not everyone was in on it," he stood up. "I better call Taemin. I was his ride here, and while I hate to cut his time with Sulli short, I kinda need to go home. This kind of paint doesn't come out once it's dry. Though, it doesn't look half bad on these pants..., " he trailed off thoughtfully and heard Minho chuckle. He blushed and called Taemin, explaining to him what had happened.

Taemin came rushing out, looking like a kicked puppy. He hugged Onew, careless of the paint that got on his clothes and stood back.

    "Onew, I'm so sorry that this happened. If I had known, I wouldn't have even bothered coming," he rambled. Onew chuckled at his cuteness.

    "Taemin, it's perfectly okay. Come on, let's go. I'll buy you some banana milk, yes?" Taemin happily agreed and Minho watched as they walked off towards Onew's car. 'How was it that Onew was the one who got humiliated and he still managed to wind up comforting instead of being comforted?' he wondered. He shrugged and went back inside. He was definitely going to have to talk to the people he called his friends.

When Onew walked in the school cheerfully on Monday, he was not expecting Minho to be standing near his locker. He grabbed the things he needed out of his locker before looking towards Minho and raising an eyebrow.

    "And may I ask what you're doing at my locker, Minho?" he blushed when Minho grabbed a lock of his hair inspecting it closely before smirking.

    "You're an interesting person. All that red paint hasn't washed out yet?" Onew snorted and blushed harder.

    "No, and it's going to take at least a week to get out fully. Ugh, what a hassle," Onew turned away from his locker and headed to his first class. He stopped after only a few steps, noticing that Minho was still walking with him. He continued on his way, bursting with happiness.

Minho started to spend all of his free time with Onew, even going so far as to hang out with him outside of school. They started eating lunch together and Onew couldn't have been happier. Until one day at school a group of jocks cornered him at school and sneered in his face.

    "He's just hanging out with you because he feels bad. Don't get used to it," they said. What hurt was that they were probably right. Onew shifted his backpack and continued on his way to class, ignoring everyone in the vicinity. He sat with Taemin at lunch for the first time in nearly 2 weeks. Taemin wanted to know where Onew had been for the past couple of weeks and Onew hummed noncommittally, signalling he wasn't going to answer.

Taemin dropped it and chatted about how Sulli seemed to like him back and he was all smiles. Onew couldn't help feeling jealous.

    "Hey, why didn't you sit with me at lunch today?" Minho asked after school, grabbing Onew's wrist to stop him from walking. Onew frowned before tugging his wrist out of Minho's grip.

    "Why do you hang out with me? Is it really because I'm an interesting person, or because you feel bad for me?" Minho frowned. He didn't like the bitter tone in Onew's voice.

    "My friends talked to you, didn't they? God, they don't know how to keep their ing noses out of my business," Onew's heart sank. So it was because he felt sorry for Onew? He started to walk away, but Minho grabbed his wrist again.

    "I hang out with you because I want to, Onew. And yeah, I really do think you're an interesting person. You're probably the most amazing person at school," Onew blushed. He couldn't help but hug Minho.

    "Thank you, Minho. For being the only other person in this school who accepts me, besides Taemin," he mumbled, embarrassed at the chick-flick type moment. Minho smiled warmly at Onew.
    "Any time," he said and hugged back.

The next day at school, Minho was standing at Onew's locker again. He was smiling and holding something in his hands, though Onew couldn't see what. When he reached his locker, Minho held out a small box and when Onew opened it, he couldn't help but laugh. He pulled out a black and red studded bracelet and put it on, not caring that it didn't match his uniform. Minho smirked.

    "It reminded me of that party. And I figured you could wear that with your now fashionably paint-stained jeans," he said, and blushed uncharacteristically. Onew smiled.

    "Aww, thanks Minho," Onew cooed. He kissed his fingertips and rested them against Minho's forehead, giving him an indirect kiss. He smirked when he noticed Minho blushing harder. He walked off to his class, exploding with happiness on the inside.

Later that week, Minho appeared at his locker again, this time smiling softly. He approached his locker and smirked.

    "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to stalk me," his smirk widened when he noticed Minho blushing again. "Minho the frog is blushing? Aww, how sweet."

    "My friends shouldn't trouble you anymore," Minho took a breath. "Because I stopped being friends with them." Onew's smirk fell and his eyes widened.

    "What? When?" he was flabbergasted. Minho smirked.

    "After that day you asked me if I hung out with you because I felt sorry for you," Onew felt tears sting his eyes and he threw his arms around Minho.

    "You didn't have to do that, you know," he mumbled against Minho's shoulder. Minho chuckled.

    "I never had a valid reason to quit being friends with them before. But I've never really liked those people, and when I got to know you, it was the perfect time to quit being friends with them. You're tons more fun and interesting anyway," Onew blushed at hearing those words and smiled big.

When Onew came to school a few days later and found Minho waiting at his locker once again, he sighed and shook his head.

    "You know, if I didn't know better Minho, I'd think you were my boyfriend," he smirked expecting Minho to blush, but Minho's expression was serious.

    "I'd like to be," Minho said quietly. "Onew, you're amazing, and funny, and brave, and sweet. I never admitted it to anyone, but I've admired you since freshman year. I couldn't believe you were so easily able to be comfortable with your own uality, and honestly I was a little envious. I wanted to talk to you so bad, but I could never work up the courage to break out of my comfort zone. These past few weeks have helped me so much, you don't even know, Onew. Thank you for helping me feel comfortable enough to be myself," Minho blushed and waited anxiously to hear what Onew had to say.

Onew was shocked beyond belief. His face broke into a wide smile. He jumped up and down and squealed like a little girl.

    "Yes, of course Minho. I've liked you since the first time I saw you, and yes, of course I would like for you to be my boyfriend," Onew tightly hugged Minho. Minho tilted Onew's face up and kissed his lips softly, putting all the feeling he could muster in the kiss. Onew closed his eyes and sighed happily. Not even the world's worst homophobe could touch his mood right now.

Taemin stood, watching the couple happily. He couldn't be happier for his friend. He wrapped his arms around Sulli, and kissed her, feeling her happiness radiating from the kiss.

A few months after Minho and Onew started dating, they still had trouble with the jocks, but were for the most part left alone by the rest of the student body. Minho was forced to quit the soccer team after he became involved with Onew, but he couldn't care less. If the administration couldn't accept him for who he was, then that was on them. He had Onew, and that was all he needed, anyway.

_________________________________________

I feel like this could have easily been a Minkey, but originally in my head it was an Onho, so I kept it an Onho. :P

Haha, if you didn't catch it already, I'm not a huge fan of homophobes. This oneshot actually embodies some of my own personal frustrations over the 'taboo' of homouality in the world's various cultures.

I apologize for the fail ending. I started this piece at 3 am and didn't finish it until 6 am. -.- I was tired by the end, and I hope it's not too awful for you guys.

Kamsamnida for reading. -bows-