~*~

  A knock on the door distracted Heechul from his work (though he was really just reading fanfics on his phone), and he did not appreciate his train of thought being interrupted one bit. Heechul decided to wait for his visitor to come in since the door to his office was always unlocked (except on certain occasions), but when no one came in, he decided to ignore the disruption and return to his work. But then came another knock, much louder than the previous one.

  “Whoever it is, go away.”

  However, his guest paid no heed to his words as he opened the door and came in carrying a large bouquet of assorted flowers. Heechul was dumbfounded when he found himself staring back at Siwon’s (adorable) nervous smile. There were no words said between them for the next couple of minutes, until Heechul’s senses finally kicked in.

  He cleared his throat, though his voice still came out rather croaky. “S-Siwon. What brings you here?”

  “Um, I-I brought these f-for you.” He stuttered clumsily as he sheepishly handed him the colorful posy. Suddenly, the most popular guy in school didn’t seem all that confident in the presence of the art teacher.

  “Why, Choi Siwon,” Heechul smirked as took a whiff of the delightful scent the flowers brought. “You’re not trying to up to the teacher, are you?”

  For some reason, his playful quip took a lot of weight off Siwon’s shoulders. “I just wanna get on your good side,” he shrugged, finally able to smile comfortably.

  “Rest assured, Mr. Choi,” he rested his chin on the back of his hand, and Siwon had no idea how he could make such a simple gesture as that look so alluring. “You never ever have to worry about that.”

  “Good to know,” he gave a shy chuckle as he rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet. “So…how have you been?”

  “So far, so crappy.” Heechul shrugged; it suddenly occurred to him that he and Siwon were actually having a real conversation. “How about you, Mr. Big-Football-Star? Speaking of which, don’t you usually have practice around this time?”

  “Actually, it’s try-out week for anyone who wants to join the team.” He explained. “We don’t start practice until next week. So that means I have just enough time to get my affairs in order.”

  Heechul arched one eyebrow warily. “Just out of curiosity, what are these affairs that you speak of?”

  “Oh, you know…stuff.”

  “Ah, yes, that’s not vague at all.”

  Seeing Kyuhyun drop his whole reputation right then and there at lunch earlier just to be with his boyfriend sparked something in Siwon. Perhaps it was courage or inspiration, or perhaps it was both, but all Siwon knew was that he didn’t get a speeding ticket for going too fast on the way to the flower shop and back to school just so he could chicken out now.

  “So, Heechul,” he started, feeling his throat grow dry. “What do you say we go get a bite to eat or something?”

  Heechul’s face positively paled. Was Choi Siwon asking him out? “Oh…my God…”

  “What? What? I didn’t say anything!” Siwon hastily retreated, and Heechul couldn’t help but laugh at him.

  “No, I just…” Heechul shook his head at the irony of the situation. “Oh God, Siwon, you couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

  “What?”

  “I kind of already made plans for today.” He revealed, mentally slapping himself for turning down a date with a boy he spent the whole summer chasing. But he had to remember the promise he made to himself after he got out of camp. 

  What he went through with Siwon was awful, not to mention humiliating. By no means did Heechul ever want to go through something like that again, so he swore to himself that he would never let someone break his heart again. Besides, he was still pretty much recovering from the last time it got broken.

  “Doing what?” Siwon’s jaw was nearly on the floor. For some reason, he found it very hard to believe that Heechul had just turned him down. Come to think of it, he had never been turned down before. By anyone.

  “Heechul?” The new English teacher appeared by the door, knocking on it softly as he came in. Siwon could remember his name from when he introduced himself in class this morning—it was Hongki. “Ready to go?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Heechul was secretly rejoicing at the fact that his hawk-like eyes caught a hint of jealousy flicker briefly in Siwon’s eyes. “I’ll be right with you.”

  After Hongki told Heechul he’d be waiting in the car, Heechul started to gather his things and Siwon nearly had a breakdown right in the middle of his office.

  “You’re going on a date with him?” he asked, clearly peeved.

  Heechul smirked, “What? He’s cute.”

  “I’m cute.”

  “…Did you really just say that?”

  “No, I mean, yes, I mean…” Siwon slapped his palm on his forehead, realizing just how pathetic he must have seemed right now. “You used to think I was cute.”

  “Well, who says I don’t anymore?”

  Siwon’s thick eyebrows rose, which made Heechul realize just how much of a derp Siwon was without even trying. As Heechul strolled past him with a smug grin on his rosy lips, Siwon decided that he at least had to save some of his pride.

  “Um, Heechul, when I asked you earlier if we could go out, I hope you know that I didn’t mean that as a romantic thing or anything.” Siwon grabbed his wrist to stop him from taking another step out the door. He couldn’t go just yet; at least not until Siwon had recovered his pride. “I just thought we could hang out…as friends…you know?”

  “Riiight,” Heechul nodded along, but he was nowhere near that stupid to actually believe Siwon’s words.

  “I’m glad we’re clear on that.” Siwon cleared his throat, shoved his hands in his pockets and excused himself. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

  As Heechul closed the door to his office and Siwon went to the field to watch football tryouts, Heechul wanted to give himself a pat on the back for keeping calm and cool the entire time with Siwon. However, even as he made his way to the parking lot to meet Hongki, he found himself still thinking about Siwon, but not in the usual way that he did.

  Hmph. Coward.

~*~

  Eunhyuk never realized how hard it was to do homework with Donghae until now. It’s not just that Donghae couldn’t get most of the questions right, but as much as he loved him, it was just impossible for him to stay focused. Every five minutes, Donghae would either see something shiny or think about something he found interesting, and they’d end up wandering off topic again.

  But Eunhyuk was really in no position to complain, because to be frank, he didn’t exactly have the easiest time staying focused either. Every time he would turn to Donghae to help him with a Math problem, his eyes would fall on Donghae’s scrumptious lips and he could swear that he could hear them calling him to pounce on them. And so he did. Again. And again. And again. And Donghae never objected.

  They were so caught up in each other that they didn’t even hear Donghae’s parents come in. They only pulled away when a very shrill, girlish shriek filled the room, followed by a loud thud. Eunhyuk’s heart filled with panic, thinking Donghae’s mother had passed out seeing them, but actually…

  “Donghwa, revive your father.” Donghae’s mother mindlessly pointed to the unconscious figure on the floor as she went into the kitchen to start dinner. “You having fun doing your homework, kids?”

  With the back of his hand, Donghae wiped his lips of Eunhyuk’s saliva before replying, “Absolutely, mom.”

  “Oh, really? How many questions have you done so far?”

  Donghae looked at the scattered papers on the coffee table; then he sheepishly turned back to his mother in a tiny voice. “…Two.”

  “Well, I see you two have had a very productive night.” She quipped. “So, Eunhyuk, will you be joining us for dinner?”

  “Um, yes, if it’s not too much trouble.” He said, causing Donghae’s eyes to light up with excitement. “My sister kind of wants me out of the house for the night.”

  “Oh, it’s no trouble at all, Eunhyuk,” she assured him. “You’re always welcome here.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Lee.” Eunhyuk flashed a gummy grin towards her before wrapping his arms around Donghae and letting him cuddle up to him. “So, what do you say we get back to our homework?”

  “But I was hoping we could do something else…” Donghae started to nibble on Eunhyuk’s jawline, causing the older boy to laugh at the tickling sensation.

  “Donghae, we really do need to get our work done.” Eunhyuk didn’t know where he got the will power to resist his boyfriend’s advances. “The sooner we finish it, the sooner we can start fooling around again.”

  “Ooh, I like the sound of that.” Donghae pecked Eunhyuk’s lips before flipping his textbook open, hoping to get it all over with so he could feel Eunhyuk’s mouth on him again.

  Just as they were about to get back to work, Eunhyuk’s phone buzzed and Sungmin’s name glowed on the screen.

~*~

  “You know, this is actually kind of romantic.” Sungmin sighed into Kyuhyun’s chest as he played with his boyfriend’s fingers. “It’s kind of chilly, but that just gives me all the more reason to cuddle up to you.”

  “You’re cold?” Kyuhyun, being the gentlemanly boyfriend he was, took off his own blazer and draped it over the shorter boy’s shoulders. “There. All better?”

  “You’re so sweet,” Sungmin rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek. “Are you sure your folks aren’t expecting you?”

  “Nah. They’re probably still at work anyway.” He waved his hand dismissively.

  Kyuhyun hadn’t come out to his parents yet, and he wasn’t sure exactly when he was going to. Every time he gathered enough courage to come up to them, he would always end up backing down at the last minute once he stared into those cold, dead eyes of his own flesh and blood. It didn’t really pose much of a problem though, as Kyuhyun was actually very good at hiding his uality from his family. He only hoped that they’ve never heard any of his phone sessions with Sungmin late at night.

  “I wish we could stay like this forever.” Sungmin mused as he and Kyuhyun slowly rocked back and forth on the front porch swing. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this morning. What you did, snubbing me, I mean, was really rotten of you.”

  Kyuhyun pulled his best pout on him, “I know, bunny, I’m sorry. But I made it up to you at lunch, didn’t I?”

  “Well, that’s true,” he agreed. “Thank you for that, by the way. Just for that, I love you even more.”

  Kyuhyun cooed and placed a soft kiss on Sungmin’s lips, which were ever so slowly turning blue due to the cold the air brought. “Are you sure there’s no way we can get inside? You look really cold.”

  “All the windows and doors are locked and my parents aren’t gonna be home for a few more hours. So, yes, we’re stuck out here for a while.” He sighed loudly, wrapping Kyuhyun’s blazer tighter around himself. “You know, you don’t have to stay with me all night. You can leave if you want.”

  “I’m your boyfriend. Why on earth would I want to do that?”

  “That’s a good question.” Sungmin giggled and snuggled closer in Kyuhyun’s arms for warmth. “Oh, look, there’s Eunhyuk and Donghae. Just in time, too.”

  “I got your text,” Eunhyuk was short of breath, despite having only walked a few blocks from Donghae’s house to get to Sungmin’s. Perhaps it was time to take up Sora’s suggestion (more like mockery) to join a gym. “What’s up?”

  “Sungmin forgot his keys,” Kyuhyun explained as Sungmin pouted childishly. “And we can’t get inside.”

  “Did you call us here to ram the door down or something? Because you know I bruise like a peach.” Eunhyuk said, which Donghae nodded in agreement to. God knows how many bruises he had given Eunhyuk’s neck just by kissing—sometimes, he wasn’t even trying.

  “We did not call you two here to make a fool of yourselves, though I’d really like to see that.” Sungmin squeezed Kyuhyun’s thigh to let him know that their plan (which they had only come up with forty minutes ago) was about to spring into action. “We called you here because the four of us are going to make a little house call…”

~*~

  “Oh dear Lord, have mercy on me.” Heechul knew his pleads to the heavens were in vain though, as he had been an atheist for as long as he could remember. “Please tell me this is not happening.”

  Heechul stood by the door of his house in a skimpy robe and a pair of bunny slippers, completely clueless on what to do with the four grinning faces on his front step.

  “We’re bored,” Sungmin snapped his fingers, which cued the other three to follow him as he allowed himself inside. “Maybe you could give us something to do.”

  “I can only think of one thing: go home.” Heechul pointed outside, but none of his students were listening to him. Surprise, surprise. “It’s a school night, for crying out loud.”

  Soon, they had all made themselves comfortable in Heechul’s home, much to his dismay. Heechul was in no mood to entertain tonight, especially with the situation he had stewing in the bedroom. Heechul thought he might actually get away with it, but then Sungmin with his nose of a bloodhound had to in.

  “Your house smells funny. Sort of like…like…” Sungmin turned to the jittery Heechul with a gasp. “Oh my God, you hooked up!”

  Heechul quickly shut the door to his bedroom, as if that could actually save his right now. “No, I didn’t!” he gulped as beads of sweat already started to roll down the sides of his face.

  Eunhyuk gave a gasp of his own, “Oh my God, is Siwon in there?”

  “What? No!” Heechul’s whole face turned red, which didn’t help his situation at all. “I’m telling you, there’s no one in there!”

  “Is that so?” Sungmin arrogantly lifted one eyebrow as he ordered his henchman boyfriend to, “Sic him, Kyu.”

  Before Heechul knew it, he was on the floor, being pinned down by the surprisingly strong Kyuhyun. Despite the compromising position they were in (he could feel Kyuhyun’s knee on his groin and Heechul had to admit, he didn’t not like it), the first thing that came to Heechul's mind was, “So apparently now you do anything Sungmin says with a snap of the fingers. Man, you are so whipped.”

  He expected Kyuhyun to get all defensive and maybe even blush a little, but instead he outright admitted, “I know.”

  After Sungmin took a quick peek inside Heechul’s bedroom, his eyes widened at the sight that greeted him and he quickly shut the door with his hand to his chest to calm his racing heart. “Oh my God, you slept with the new English teacher? You are such a !”

  “Hey, he came on to me!” He said as he finally managed to push Kyuhyun off of him. “And in my defense, nobody was supposed to find out…”

  “You mean Mr. Hongki is in there ?” Donghae had a certain look in his eyes that made Eunhyuk facepalm. “Maybe I should go check if he’s alright…”

  “Oh no you don’t.” Before Donghae could get any farther from his reach, Eunhyuk grabbed him by the collar and spun him into his arms, where he gave him a stern look of disapproval while Donghae put on his most adorable grin to get off the hook.

  Heechul ignored the judging looks the teenagers were giving him, told them to keep themselves preoccupied with the crap in his living room and pulled Sungmin into the kitchen for a little chat.

  “Oh, now you want to talk.” Sungmin rolled his eyes. “But when I needed you this morning—”

  “This is different; we’re not in school.” He dismissed. “And I actually want to talk to you about something important.”

  “Oh, so my problems aren’t important?”

  “Could you please just stop thinking about yourself for one damn minute and listen to what I have to say?” Heechul snapped, having to cup Sungmin’s face to shut him up. “Siwon just asked me out today after school.”

  Sungmin grew wide-eyed, “And you blew him off for Hongki?! Are you out of your ing mind? That was the moment you’ve been waiting for the whole summer!”

  “I know, I know, it sounds stupid, but,” without even knowing it, Heechul’s mouth had curved upward into a sly smile, “it felt good. You should’ve seen the look on Siwon’s face, Min. For once, I wasn’t the one who felt stupid.”

  “Do you hear yourself right now?” he slapped Heechul’s head a couple of times, as if that could snap him to his senses. “You just turned down a date with Choi ing Siwon. What the hell have you been snorting, Heechul?”

  “I know what I’m doing, Sungmin,” he stated. “It’s all just a matter of time until Siwon finally realizes that he loves me and that he’s a fool for trying to convince himself otherwise. If not, well…I always have Hongki to bounce back to.”

  Sungmin narrowed his eyes at him, “I still can’t believe you had with him.”

  “To be fair, he wasn’t really that good.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  “Guys?” Eunhyuk came in, grasping the bouncing Donghae’s wrist tightly. “Donghae’s getting kinda , so we’re going to take off now.”

  “Okay, first of all, that is way too much information,” Heechul grimaced (while Sungmin smirked at the tent forming in Donghae’s pants). “Secondly, yes, please, go! And do me a favor and take Sungmin and Kyuhyun with you.”

  “But I like it here,” Sungmin went back inside the living room and seated himself on Kyuhyun’s lap on the couch as they turned the television on. “You don’t mind if we stay here a little longer, do you, honey?”

  “Not at all,” Kyuhyun raised the volume of the TV when he realized his favorite drama was on. “Say, Heechul, why don’t you cook some dinner for us while you’re in there?”

  Heechul could only grumble as he perused the cupboards for something decent he could serve—though he really didn’t see the point either way, as he was pretty sure he was going to spit in their food anyway.

~*~