Title: Honey Ramen (3/?)
Author: jaesunbb 
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: 2MIN, JongTae
Genre: angst, AU, school life, romance, drama
Warnings: language, homophobia, bullying, OOC
A/N: Some secrets are revealed! Enjoy~

     The next day, after Minho had woken up, all ready for school, he sat at his kitchen table. Unfortunately, he remembered everything that had happened the previous night, even though he didn't want to. His mind kept replaying everything with Taemin, over and over, and how much it had disgusted him, yet excited him also.

    Minho heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Figuring it was his mom and not wanting to talk to her, he grabbed his worn backpack, and hustled quietly out the door.

    When he got to the school, he sat in the courtyard for a while, hugging himself for warmth. He was feeling so nauseous. He kind of wished he had just stayed home. 

    He has first period with Taemin and Key. Second period with Nicole, Nana, and Jinwoon. Thrid period with Mir, Eli, and Kevin. Fourth period with--

    Oh it, basically everyone went to the damn party and saw that gross display of Minho and Taemin... kissing.

    Shaking his head sadly at his thoughts, he decided to skip his class periods and just come back to hang around lunch. 
 

    
    When lunch time rolled around, Minho stayed outside the cafeteria to where the smokers hung out. He never went out there. The only people he even knew that hung out there were the two seniors, Narsha and Joon. 

    He noticed a familiar sandy haired boy sitting alone and wandered over to sit beside him. He was surprised he was out here, and not the usual two smokers.

    "Hey, dude…" Minho greeted Onew. He was only now aware of how little he had spoken that day. His mouth was really dry.

    Onew looked over to Minho as he sat down and gave him a dreary smile. Minho gives him a weird look as Onew usually greets people with a bright smile. He doesn't bother asking him what's wrong though. He wasn't the type of person to talk about other peoples' problems.

    "Hey, man," Onew replied. "What's got you out here today?" Onew knew the answer, but he figured he would ask anyway.

    Minho didn't waste any time, "Dude, it's just been eating the away at me. A guy kissed me! That's just--" Onew put a hand over Minho's mouth to stop him from continuing on.

    "Minho, it was just all fun and games. Didn't you notice Taemin was a little tipsy? It's not like it was your first kiss." Onew sighed, dropping his hand from Minho's mouth and looking down at the cigarette littered ground. 

    "It was my first kiss... with a guy."

    Onew shook his head dejectedly, "You can't just skip class everyday and avoid him."

    Maybe Minho was just overreacting, and that he should just forget about it. 

    They sat there for the entire lunch period, gazing at the foggy sky. Eventually, Onew had to leave to his other class periods and told Minho goodbye. After a couple minutes of sitting there by himself, he got up and instead of walking home, he wandered around the small downtown in his area.
 

    When Minho got home that afternoon, his parents were not present. He knew they wouldn't be home until late at night, and he felt glad since he didn't feel like being around anyone. 

    Minho decides to take a shower as he steps into his bathroom, feeling a bit dirty from hanging outside all day. 

    After his quick shower, the cold catches him fast as he shivers, and he steps from the shower wearily, drying himself off before wrapping his waist with a towel. 
    
    Before he can even reach his bedroom, the door bell rings loudly. Minho simply ignores it and continues his way to his room. Again, the door bell rings, but this time the person repeatedly presses it. Minho groans, holding the towel around his waist as he unlocks his front door. To his surprise and dismay, Taemin stood there on his door step with a backpack hanging over his shoulder. Taemin looked bewildered, his eyes looking over Minho's wet mess of hair, and his lean half- body in front of him.

    "W-we have that proje--" Taemin stuttered.

    "Didn't I tell you to stay the away from me?" Minho interrupts, annoyance dripping in his voice. Taemin puffs his cheeks angrily.

    "Look. We have a project that's due on Friday. Which gives us two days to finish it! Now let me in."

    "Let you in? Let a freak inside my house?" Minho scoffed, "No way."

    Taemin felt anger boiling up inside of him. He had enough. Without a thought, he tried to brush past Minho, in attempt to enter the older boy's house. Minho roughly pushes him back with one hand, a smirk on his face.

    "What do you think you're doing, kid?"

    "I'm thinking of doing a project with a partner." Taemin stated bluntly. Minho heavily sighed. He knew the younger boy wouldn't stop bothering him if he kept ignoring him. Minho wouldn't mind an A on this project either, knowing how well Taemin does his work in school.

    "Fine. Come in, and sit your down. I'm gonna dress first."

    Taemin face brightens up as he stepped inside the cozy house, removing his shoes before settling himself down on Minho's couch. He unpacked his backpack and took out pencils, paper, and several thick books onto the coffee table. 

    Minho finally comes out wearing a thin, white v-neck, his hands inside his sweats' pockets. He sat on the floor at the far end of the coffee table away from Taemin before he yawned. 

    He gazed down at the action plan for dividing the work that Taemin already written up. 

    "I don't want to do the research. That's the most boring part," Minho states.

    Taemin sighs, switching him with editing.

    "And my spelling ."

    "Well, what are you going to do, Minho? I'm not doing the whole thing by myself!"

    Minho's still staring at Taemin's notes, and Taemin finally gets the nerve to hit him playfully, watching him barrel roll across the carpet of his living room, laying like a dead fish on the floor. Taking an irritable breath through his nose at Minho's silence, he turns at him with narrowed eyes. There seems to only be the way of politeness to get through this - it's his last option.

    "What would you like to do?"

    "Um, I don't know. Maybe go to a movie or something later..."

    He sighs once again, "In reference to the project, Minho."

    He looks at Taemin slowly, "I don't even know what we're ing doing."

    Taemin lightly slaps his forehead, and takes a seat beside Minho. Minho leans away, but Taemin simply shrugs it off, picking up their project introduction sheet, and one of the thick books. He opens it up to a certain page.

    "Basically, we're just describing how the characters in the story have changed in the end compared to the beginning. We're also summarizing the story. Pretty simple, but we need to write a rough draft and the final draft has to be atleast five pages typed out, and we're presentating it."
    
    Minho nods his head as if he clearly understood Taemin, "Mmhmm... What?"

    Taemin groans and finally stands up, giving up on the hard-headed boy beside him. He instead scans the room around him with sudden interest, "You have a lot of trophies." He walked over to Minho's trophy shelf, reading the labels on them.

    "Yeah… my dad kind of insists I keep them on display. I don't exactly care for keeping them out like that, but whatever." 

    "Hey. These were pretty recent. I didn't know you were in soccer." Taemin eyed Minho.

    "I was kicked off the soccer team months ago."

    Taemin's mouth formed a small 'o', he was about to ask why, but was interrupted by Minho.

    "Because of Jonghyun."
    
    Taemin watches Minho sit up off the floor and goes into the kitchen, pulling open a drawer and pulling out a pack of smokes, lighting one up. He returns to his seat as Taemin scrunches up his face.

    "Put that out. I don't want to go home smelling like smoke."

    Minho ignores his complaint, and blows a puff of smoke in the younger boy's face. Taemin coughed and turned his head away.

    "Your friend, Bling Bling, or whatever the his name is, is just a fake. He's a liar, he's a backstabber, he's a girlfriend stealer."

    Taemin doesn't know what to say. Jonghyun was his friend right from the day he was new to this town, he didn't feel right hearing these bad things about him. He remains quiet while Minho continues.

    "You know what I did? I beat the out of him one day during soccer practice, and the coach kicked me off the team." Minho laughs lightly.

    Taemin chimes in, "Was it really worth it? I mean, if Jonghyun really was like that... why would you waste your time beating him up?"

    Minho looked at him angrily, "How would you feel to have your best friend flirt with your girlfriend and take her away from you?"

    Taemin finally understands Minho's feelings against Jonghyun, even though he was unsure if it was true. Taemin was sure he heard a completely different story from several students at school though. That Minho was the one who broke up with his girlfriend because he got tired of her. 

    Taemin looks around before asking, "Where's the bathroom?" He felt the urge to give Minho some space as Minho clearly looked upset.

    Minho points in the direction of it and tells him to quickly come back within five minutes for he didn't want Taemin snooping.

    Taemin enters, shuts the door quietly, and locks the door. He stands there looking at his reflection. Looking down, he notices a prescription bottle. He picks it up and reads the label.

    NO 19-08-09-14-05-05
    MINHO, CHOI
    TAKE 1 TABLET THREE 
    TIMES A DAY

    CARBAMAZEPINE

    Taemin widens his eyes in surprise as he remembers from his brother's medical notes that Carbamazepine was a medication for bipolar disorder. It was filled out after the soccer incident Minho had told him. Minho had developed the disorder after the incident? Was this the reason why Minho suddenly decided to open up to him even though he was clearly angry with him the night before?

    He shakingly puts the bottle down and returns to the living room. Taemin stops in his tracks as he sees Minho with his shoulders hunched over his knees, strange stiffling noises coming from older boy's form. Taemin takes tiny step towards him, afraid that he will upset the boy furthermore.

    "I really loved Jiyoung," Minho babbles, "I trusted Jonghyun." The palms of his hands rubbed against his eyes. Taemin remained silent, and took another step closer. He was now standing an inch away beside Minho. 

    Minho pays him no attention as if Taemin was invisible and continues sobbing. 

    As Taemin moved away to pack his things to leave, he felt Minho grab onto his arm. He yelped in surprise as he was pulled forward, Minho roughly clutched Taemin's shirt into his fist, their lips crashing together. Taemin didn't know how to react or what to do.

    This was unreal. Taemin's mind was swimming.