Taemin cracked his eyes open, his body bathed in warmth as he curled his legs to his chest. He groaned as he felt his head throb, feeling nauseous and his stomach doing somersaults from drinking too much of that whiskey last night. His long, burgundy hair fell in his face as he stood up, shakily. The room swayed in front of him and he attempted to regain his balance. He peeked out of his bedroom door, checking to see if his mother was home. He tiptoed towards his parents' bedroom and quietly opened the door. The covers on the bed were neatly fixed and he sighs in relief. 

    He needed to be alone.

    Taemin slowly dragged himself to the bathroom, flicking the light on and staring at the white tiles. He took a couple steps towards the sink before turning on faucet the and soaking his face with lukewarm water. With the water still running, he raised his gaze and stared blankly at his reflection.

    He swallowed the hard lump forming in his throat and held his breath, forcing himself to hold in pathetic whimpers and tears threatening to push their way through his tired eyes. It had been a day since Minho had told him those words and he couldn't get rid of the throbbing pain in his chest and the memories swirling around in his mind. He seriously thought that this must have been what heartbreak felt like.

    How was Minho able to do something like this to him? 

    It was Choi Minho. 

    The guy who had beaten him and made him frustrated and confused. The guy who said liked him yet told him it was just a game. Just jerk face Minho that he had known absolutely nothing about before all of this had started. 

    Taemin hunched over the counter, clutching at his burning chest and his racing heart, unable to get the black haired boy out of his thoughts.

    How did he let Minho do this to him? 

    Get him so worked up and head over heels that he wasn't even able to function normally day to day. Even during school, thinking about him and about the stuff they did together, that it would give him butterflies in his stomach like some naive teenage girl. All of this after only two weeks. He wished he had never talked to Minho. 

    He stood up quickly and angrily and shoved at the items on the bathroom counter, sending them crashing onto tile floor loudly. He dug both of his palms into his burning eyes, cursing Minho's name over and over, hating him for ever having disrupted his stupid, normal, perfect life. 

    He quickly stopped his tantrum and shut the faucet off when he heard the doorbell ring, his face heating up immediately from embarrassment at the thought of whoever was out there hearing him having his little break down. 

    Taemin didn't move a muscle and the doorbell kept on ringing. Finally getting fed up with the persistence of the idiot behind all the noise, he wiped his face, jogged downstairs and yanked the door open, swearing that it would have unhinged if he had pulled on it any harder.

    Jonghyun looked at him startled with his mouth agape, his hand slowly retracting from the doorbell and back down to his side. 

    Taemin looked back at him in horror and tried to swing the door back shut, but Jonghyun was quick and jammed his foot between the closing door and the door frame. The door connected with his foot, crushing it between the two solid objects and he swore as loudly as his lungs would allow him.

    "Stupid, Why did you put your foot there?!" Taemin grabbed Jonghyun's arm, dragged him inside and shut the door as he noticed his neighbor's front door begin to open.

    Jonghyun sat down on the couch, and ripped off his shoe as he tightly gripped his pulsing foot while he glared anger into Taemin. Taemin ran to his kitchen to fetch an icepack and brought it back out to his friend.

    "I've came to check up on you. I need to know what's going on between Minho and you," Jonghyun hissed through his teeth as he noted Taemin's faltering steps when he approached him and handed him the icepack.

    "What are you talking about?" Taemin tried to act dumb, and he felt extremely stupid for even trying. 

    Jonghyun stared at him, annoyed, and Taemin stared right back, his gaze shifting nervously. When Jonghyun's stare didn't let up, Taemin sighed and sat down beside him. He felt his body trembling and his heart was beginning to pick up it's panicked pace from where it had left off earlier. 

    How was he supposed to tell Jonghyun that he had a weird relationship with Minho for the past two weeks? He let out a hitched breath and set his head into his shaking hands. Jonghyun looked at him worriedly and swung his arm around Taemin's shoulders.

    "You can tell me, Taemin..."

    Taemin realized Jonghyun had always been there for him, no matter what it was. But how could Jonghyun possibly understand something like this? All Taemin could think of was the rejection and humiliation that would come from revealing everything to him.

    "You won't understand. I don't even know where to start. I just… forget about it, okay? Everything's fine," Taemin ran his hand through his hair and bit his quivering lip.

    "How can I understand if you won't tell me?" Jonghyun's heart was pounding. His heart leapt when he saw tears trickling down Taemin's face. He tightened his hold on his younger friend, trying to reassure him that he was in fact there for him. 

    They continued arguing, Taemin demanding that Jonghyun wouldn't understand. It took a while for Taemin to give into Jonghyun's prodding, but he eventually gave up and let it all out through painful sobs and stuttering sentences. He told Jonghyun every little detail, starting from the night he kissed Minho for a game at Eli's party the week before and how he went over to Minho's house to do a school project, to having with Minho, and up to their "break-up" not even twelve hours prior to Jonghyun's arrival.

    Jonghyun was baffled. He didn't know what to say. He never would have expected something like this to come out of Taemin's mouth. And about Minho? He felt disgusted and angry at him.

    "Taemin..." Jonghyun remained sitting there staring at the floor in front of them with his arm wrapped tightly around Taemin, his mind churning and trying to grasp at what he'd just heard.

    "Do you hate me now? I'm a , I'm dirty, I'm a ... I don't even know how it started or why it started, but I--"

    "No, no! I don't hate you! I could never hate you, Taemin! You're not a ! And I don't care if you're gay. … I just--"

    "I am a !" Taemin shouted and let out a shaky breath, "I-I had with a guy who didn't even feel the same way."

    "Forget about Minho. He doesn't deserve you. He has beaten you and just used you like some toy!"

    Taemin looked away from Jonghyun, blinking back a few tears. "Can I really forget about someone that fast?" His head throbbed horribly when he said that and felt his stomach churn, his complexion turning green.

    "Oh, ." Jonghyun hurriedly moved Taemin to the nearest bathroom.

    Taemin threw up the second he hit that toilet.

    Jonghyun rubbed Taemin's back, not in the least grossed out by his friend hacking up an entire night's worth of food.

    Taemin wiped his mouth with a cloth and flushed the toilet, feeling embarrased of throwing up in front of someone other than his parents.

    He slouched against the bathroom wall, tears b his eyes and eventually he started sobbing, "I hate him!"

    Jonghyun looked at him sadly before lifting Taemin by his arm and placing it around his neck, dragging the younger boy upstairs who trembled and continued crying to his bedroom. He gently placed him on the bed and pulled the covers to his chest.

    "You should stay in bed. I'll see you at school, okay? Your mom should be here soon. Do you need anything before I go?"

    Taemin turned away from Jonghyun and rolled onto his side, choking back a sob, "Please. Just go."

    Jonghyun nodded and left Taemin's room quietly, walking downstairs and pausing at the front door. He turned his gaze in the direction of Taemin's room.

    "Why Minho?" He whispered. "Why him? Why not me?" He sighed deeply and headed out the door, locking it with the spare key hidden underneath the mat.

    The next morning, Taemin groggily woke up in the same clothes he had on two days ago, still feeling tired even after sleeping straight yesterday. He couldn't believe it's already Monday, meaning he had school today. Even though he didn't want to go and begged with his mother, she told him education is very important and he eventually gave up, too tired to plead any further with his mother.

    He strolled into his bathroom and peeled off his clothes, tossing them onto the floor and hopping into the shower. He washed his body clean as he felt dirty. Mostly, he stood still in the shower and let water run over his body.

    After pulling on his school uniform, and entering the kitchen, his mother had prepared a big breakfast for Taemin to make him feel better and motivated. He didn't feel hungry though as he only took a few bites of his food and left the house quickly, walking towards the school. He wanted to get the day over with.

    Taemin eventually made it to the school. He was freezing and his hands were completely numb, but he continued walking around outside searching for someone to hang with before class starts, not wanting to see Minho. He sighed heavily when he couldn't find anybody he was familiar with and decided just to go to his first period.

    When Taemin arrived at the entrance of his first period class, his heart pace quickened and his breathing increased, and suddenly he has the urge to run away. He shook his head, brushing off the urge, and pulled open the door with his eyes shut closed.

    Taemin slowly opened his eyes and glanced towards his usual seat, instead of seeing the familiar older boy seated beside his, his gaze was met with Amber before he walked over to his desk to take his seat. She greeted him and proceeded to tell him that she would be sitting beside him for now on. Taemin scanned the room and saw Minho seated near the front with his head down onto the desk. He felt his heart in his throat and he blinked away tears that threatened to fall. 

    Key immediately noticed Taemin and came over to him with his arms stretched out towards him, pulling him into a tight hug.

    "I told you... You're too good for him."

    Taemin doesn't reply and simply lets the older boy hold him. The tomboy seated beside him doesn't in in their little moment, afraid of upsetting the boy any further as she doodled into the align of her notebook.

    Once class started, Taemin spent staring ahead at the board while tuning the teacher out and thinking about Minho even though he didn't want to. Taemin completely hated what Minho did to him, but he couldn't get him out of his head. He shook his head sadly at his thoughts and scribbled notes into his notebook.
 

    When lunch rolled around, he sat at his new spot in the cafeteria, next to Key and other juniors. Much to Taemin's surprise, none of them said anything about what happened on Saturday night at Eli's party nor did they asked why he looked so miserable. They actually joked with one another and tried to make him laugh, but failed horribly when Taemin couldn't even crack a smile.

    Taemin's breath caught in his throat as he heard the familiar laugh of the person he was always thinking about so much. He looked over to the other junior table, and sure enough, there was Minho, sitting there with them laughing and joking like Taemin didn't even exist.

    If it were even at all possible, Taemin's stomach tightened up even more than it had already been. His chest began constricting while his heart thrashed up against his rib cage. He wasn't sure whether to feel outright pissed or just completely perplexed and hurt by Minho's actions. 

    Taemin's body started to flush and tremble, and beads of sweat began to run down his forehead. Both of his fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles were completely white and the palms of his hands were bleeding from the fingernails being dug into the sensitive flesh. It took every ounce of strength in him not to get up and strangle Minho so that he could feel every little bit of helplessness that Taemin was feeling.

    He felt the bile in his stomach reach his throat when he saw a tall girl walk over to Minho and whisper something into his ear. Minho grinned at her, and the two of them walked out of the cafeteria and into the hallways, holding hands. Taemin's breathing was erratic, and it almost hurt.

    He wiped a shaky hand over his eyes, sweeping away the tears that were forcing themselves through. Jonghyun looked over to Taemin, his expression quickly switching to concern.

    "Taemin, are you okay? Are you sick or something?" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Key and Onew looked over at Taemin with worried expressions.

    Taemin's chest was throbbing painfully and his heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest with the irregular, rapid pulses. His whole body was on fire, and the entire room was a complete blur. He heard Jonghyun's voice, but it only came out in a bunch of murmurs. All he could hear was the constant booming of his heart. Taemin was terrified and dazed. He tried to stand up to leave, but he knew better. His whole body was a shaky, tense jumble - he wasn't going anywhere.

    He was supporting himself on the lunch table, but he was eager to get the hell out of there. He let go of the table to walk towards the cafeteria entrance and his legs gave out under him. He fell to the floor onto his knees and forearms in a trembling, sweating heap. Jonghyun, Key, and Onew jumped off of the bench they were seated on, and darted down to Taemin trying to help him up.

    "Say something, Taemin! What's wrong?" Jonghyun was panicking, he could feel Taemin quivering uncontrollably. He tried to lift him up, but Taemin was just dead weight and wouldn't budge.

    Taemin couldn't speak, and he could barely breathe. It felt like every single organ in his body was about to shut off and yet he couldn't stop crying. He had the entire cafeteria's attention by this point and they were all crowded around, craving drama. Hundreds of voracious high school students gawked at Taemin being comforted by Jonghyun and whispered things to one another.

    Jonghyun felt his face heat up with anger listening to the selfish people around him whispering, giggling and pointing fingers. Acting purely on impulse, and wrapped his arms around Taemin's waist, heaving him up and telling Key and Onew to leave Taemin to him before he tearing through the crowd of onlookers, quickly leading him out of the cafeteria.

    Jonghyun leaded Taemin out of the cafeteria as quickly as he could, clutching onto the other trembling boy tightly as hundreds of whispering eyes stared them down. Jonghyun was having a lot of difficulties keeping Taemin up and Taemin wasn't even at least trying to help Jonghyun keep him standing up straight. They managed to avoid anymore students and made it outside of the school. He helped Taemin down against the side of the building and sat down closely beside him, rubbing Taemin's back as he hyperventilated - practically passing out.

    It was kind of frightening Jonghyun to see Taemin spill out so many emotions all at once. Especially to have a panic attack as severe as that one was. 
    
    Jonghyun ran his free hand through his dyed hair as the sides of his mouth seemed to tug lower and lower at every depressing thought. He felt Taemin start to loosen up and calm down beside him.

    "Are you still upset about Minho?" Jonghyun asked hesitantly, afraid to break the silence. He retracted his arm from Taemin's back and cradled it in his lap.

    Taemin didn't reply and continued blankly staring at the ground as his chest painfully heaved up and down. Jonghyun shifted uncomfortably and chewed on his bottom lip. 

    Taemin shut his heavy eyes and let his head fall back against the school wall. His breathing had almost finally normalized, though his chest pains didn't feel like they were about to go away anytime soon. 

    Jonghyun eyed him carefully, and hesitatingly curled his arm around Taemin's waist, pulling him closer to his side. Taemin rested his head onto Jonghyun's shoulder, looking up at him. 

    Jonghyun looked over to him and Taemin moved his head forward, pressing his lips onto Jonghyun's immediately. Jonghyun completely tensed up, and then melted into the contact eagerly. Taemin pulled himself up, acting on what little fumes of adrenalin he had left, and swung one of his legs over Jonghyun's hips, straddling his lap. Their kiss quickly became more aggressive, tongue's pushing their way past lips while they panted into one another's mouths.

    Jonghyun's eyes shot open, and he broke away from Taemin, reluctantly pushing the other boy off of him, looking away. Taemin tensed up nervously and watched Jonghyun, holding his breath as he waited for him to say something.
    
    "You don't want this, Taemin… At least not from me," Jonghyun sighed sadly. "You're just upset, and you're not thinking right."

    Taemin exhaled and fell back down against the wall a bit further away from Jonghyun. "Sorry," He mumbled.

    Jonghyun raised an eyebrow at him. "Sorry for what?" Taemin merely shrugged arduously as a response.

    "Don't be sorry..."

    After quite a long period of time sitting there in complete silence, the two of them started talking about Minho. Taemin just completely broke down crying without holding anything back. Letting every little bit of tucked away emotion pour out as Jonghyun held onto him. 

    "I can't forget about him. I love him. I really do. He's an but I feel he's different inside."

    Jonghyun's insides felt like mush. Those words stung at his heart. It hurt him so much to hear Taemin talking about Minho like that even after everything Minho had done to him.

    Taemin eventually calmed back down, and the two boys quietly talked with one another about anything and everything that came to their minds. This really wasn't at all helping Taemin get over Minho.

    Taemin was physically and mentally exhausted. He and Jonghyun said their goodbyes to one another, hugging longer than they probably should have, and Taemin tiredly headed back to class. 

    Jonghyun looked at Taemin wearily as he walked away and then headed back into the school as his mind swam with an uncountable amount of emotions. He clenched both of fists tightly.

    He's going to deal with Minho.
 

    Jonghyun scanned the empty hallway, checking both ways to see where Minho had gone. He knew the taller boy would be skipping class at this time of day. He managed to spot him further down the hallway to his right before he completely turned the corner. He jogged at a school-friendly pace, only having to pick up his speed when he realized that Minho wasn't exactly moving slowly.

    "Minho!" Minho stopped and turned around, grimacing when he realized that it was Jonghyun. But he remained standing there as he waited impatiently for the shorter boy to catch up.

    "What the do you want?" Minho insisted bitterly as Jonghyun reached him.

    "You know very ing well about the damn panic attack Taemin had about you earlier." 

    Minho glowered at him. "I don't ing care. Just off."

    Jonghyun clenched his jaw at Minho's hostility but held his tongue. Minho turned around and continued walking. Jonghyun growled and grabbed Minho's arm, pushing him back into the nearby lockers roughly. Jonghyun was growing impatient of Minho's attitude.

    Minho merely looked at him with an emotionless expression. Jonghyun was stunned the boy didn't punch him already. 

    "This is serious! That panic attack was…" Jonghyun shook his head and eyed Minho drearily. "It was really bad." He sighed, stepping slightly away from the taller boy, and leaned the side of his head against a locker, releasing Minho from his painfully firm grip. He wasn't really as interested as before to hit the taller boy.

    Minho swallowed a hard lump in his throat and looked desolately at Jonghyun. He shifted his body to get comfortable against the locker beside Jonghyun and stared at the floor.

    Jonghyun was shocked and confused when Minho stood beside him. He had expected Minho to walk away or beat him up. But he just quietly stood there with his palms against the lockers.

    Minho looked tired. He looked sad and he looked absolutely lost. As much as it tore at Jonghyun's heart to admit that there was someone out there better suited for Taemin than he was, he realized that Taemin and Minho needed one another. It was so painfully obvious. Jonghyun knew that he would eventually get over Taemin, but he couldn't say the same for Minho.

    Jonghyun hesitatingly gave Minho a friendly, brotherly pat on the shoulder, compelling Minho to look back up to him sheepishly. Jonghyun smiled weakly at him and threw an arm around his shoulders without thinking. Minho tensed up, which made Jonghyun extremely uncomfortable. Out of nowhere, Minho threw both of his arms right around Jonghyun's neck, squeezing the hell out of him. Jonghyun immediately froze. It took a few seconds to register into Jonghyun's brain that Minho wasn't actually attacking him, but instead hugging him. He relaxed, wrapping his arms around the taller boy's frame. This is so unreal. Did Minho suddenly have a change of heart towards him?

    "I'm so sorry, man." Minho bit his bottom lip. "For everything." Minho's voice was shaky, and he couldn't get rid of the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. How could he let a girl ruin their close friendship with each other?

    Jonghyun gulped as he began to sweat. The entire time Minho was with Taemin, Jonghyun absolutely loathed him. Every time he saw how sad Minho made Taemin or how happy he made the younger boy. Even after all the wrong things Minho had done to Taemin, Taemin couldn't stop talking about Minho, and every single word of it just burned at Jonghyun's heart. Jonghyun started to feel so small and useless, and he constantly worried that Taemin wouldn't need him anymore with Minho in the picture.

    "Don't worry about it... happens. Really. But you should be saying that to Taemin." They pulled away from one another, but Minho wouldn't look at him.

    "No. It's not okay - I… I really ing hated you, man." Minho's eyes started to feel extremely heavy. "You don't deserve that. You really are a good guy and an amazing friend. And Taemin... I don't think he wants to see my face."

    Jonghyun stood there looking at him. He felt warm hearing the violent Minho say those words. Maybe Minho was really changing back to who he was before everything went wrong. He took his hand and placed it onto Minho's shoulder, gingerly shaking him.

    "No, I think Taemin would feel a whole lot better if you fix this ," He sighed deeply. "You two really do belong together, and you have no idea how hard it was for me to say that."

    "But I'm so in' scared. I'm not a and I thought my relationship with Taemin was just a fling -- a experiment. But it's more than that... I can't explain it. "

    Jonghyun chuckled lightly, "Love has no gender. Don't worry about the people are going to say about you."

    Minho remained standing there just staring at the floor silently. Jonghyun smiled sadly and nodded to himself. He gave Minho one final pat on the shoulder and walked off.

    Minho knew Taemin wouldn't forgive him so easily after the harsh words he had told him two days ago.

    , what is he going to do?