He’s perfect. Smart, funny, hot and completely, utterly taken.

Leave it to Kim Jonghyun to fall for the guy who already has a boyfriend.  Not that it would have been obvious. There is nothing obvious about Lee Jinki. With his thick glasses and serious coordination problems, he doesn’t make the best of first impressions. But beneath that surface of goofs and grins was a beautiful heart and a quick wit coupled with an odd quirky humor that endeared him to you quickly. Goodness knows he took Jonghyun by surprise. Here Jonghyun is, thinking he is just signing up for a little academic assistance and three weeks later he is drowning his sorrows in a giant bucket of ice cream, ruining the careful body sculpting he has been doing for the last 5 years (thank you Insanity workouts).

Lee Jinki was ruining him and it’s all because of one little sentence:

“And umm, I actually have a boyfriend too so we do go out quite a bit.”

Perhaps it was Jonghyun’s fault for thinking that he would be a godsend into the bookworm life he thought Jinki was living. That his smirk and hard won abs would be enough to convince the other to give in to Jonghyun’s deep desire for more than a tutor/student relationship. But there goes life, always throwing you a curve ball. And it seems that the fates weren’t quite done with him yet.

The next few tutoring sessions after jinki’s revelation were torture. The subject matter they were covering was the hardest yet and Jonghyun just didn’t seem to be getting it. And no amount of hovering over his shoulder or repeated admonitions in Jinki’s velvet timbre could get Jonghyun to focus on the task at hand. Finally Jinki was about to give up.

“Jonghyun, I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but you’re never gonna past the final if you don’t pay attention. Since none of my current methods seem to be working, how about we go to dinner?”

That got Jonghyun’s attention and then some. Did the gods finally decide to take pity on a poor bastard and grant Jonghyun his only wish? Not wanting to get ahead of himself, Jonghyun chose to play it cool and give a breezy “Whatever” as his response.

“Great, because Key’s tutoring one of the soccer players and seems to be running into this same mental block. You both could use a night on the town to let loose and maybe get you motivated. So go home tonight and meet me at Gong-il’s Chicken Hut tomorrow at 8. See ya.”

Not a-ing-gain! Can’t Jonghyun ever win? Will he continue to have the happiness on his paramour repeatedly thrown in his face while he’s stuck having conversations with some sweaty meat-head jock with the IQ of a fruit fly? I mean, how great could a guy named ‘Key’ (which by the way sounds super gay) be and what does he have that Jonghyun doesn’t have. Yeah, what makes him so damn special? Maybe it was time for Jonghyun to find out.

Friday at 8 o’clock found Kim Jonghyun standing on the corner of What-the & Who-gives-a sville waiting for Jinki, his boyfriend and whoever to arrive. The night was cool but not enough for the goose bumps forming under Jonghyun’s coat. Waiting was never Jonghyun’s strong suit. He was a go with the flow type of guy and inactivity (as opposed to laziness) just wasn’t his deal. But luckily the wait didn’t last for long. Five minutes later found Jinki approaching with a cat-eyed pretty boy that had to be his Key from the way his arm was wrapped around the other’s waist and a taller guy with large eyes baby soft features.

, Damn Mother er. If this Key character had been anything close to what Jonghyun thought he would be, this could have been a lot easier. But Key just was not typical in any respect. After catching up with the group, Jonghyun took a little visual inventory of the competition. Flawless skin? Check! Stylish clothes and hair? Check! Charming and flirtatious. Double Check! Hell, if Jonghyun had met Key first, he might have tried to hit on him too but at present he was hopelessly pinning for a Lee Jinki that was getting further and further out of reach.  Not seeing an obvious defect, Jonghyun figured he would keep his eyes open just in case his enemy’s weakness came up over casual dinner conversation.

If figures that Jinki would pick a chicken restaurant. But the place was nice. Not fine china and linen table cloth nice, but much nicer than paper sacks and foam drink cups. It was more like an upscale sports bar environment and probably not a place that Key would choose. Jonghyun took note and started engaging Jinki in conversation right from the start.  It seemed to be working and pretty soon Jonghyun forgot all about the whole blind date pretense and the fourth member of group who looked busy in his own conversation with Key. Hmm..he looked REALLY interested in his back and forth with Jinki’s boyfriend. Maybe even obsessed. It wasn’t lost on Jonghyun the intense gaze the other was giving Key or the way he found ways to sneak skinship into their interactions. This should have been great news for Jonghyun, but really, it was kind of sad because in Key’s eyes, Jonghyun could clearly see toleration, but nothing more. And suddenly Jonghyun had to wonder, was Jinki merely tolerating him too?

The air around the table changed as tension suddenly hung heavy. Jonghyun no longer felt like monopolizing Jinki’s time any more than he wanted to continue watching this other guy making an out of himself trying to be with someone that wasn’t meant for him. After all, a guy like him could get anybody he wanted. He was tall, good looking in that classically handsome way most athletes are – you know, fresh faced and rosy cheeked, but with a squishy boyish charm that didn’t at all match the husky tone of his voice.  Really, he was kind of beautiful and Jonghyun started to wish he had bothered to asked the other’s name. So he did.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt you guys, but I never did get your name. I’m Jonghyun.”

Jonghyun watched as a hint of annoyance played across the other’s face before manners forced him to respond with a short “Name’s Minho”.  Alright, not great but it’s a start.

“Well Minho, Jinki told me that you play soccer. How long have you been playing?”

Maybe Minho was surprised that Jonghyun was still trying to talk to him since he was clearly giving out the ‘leave-me-the-hell-alone’ vibe or maybe he was a little shaken to know that Key had told Jinki anything about him, but it was now clear that Jonghyun was not gonna quit pestering him. ‘Fine’, thought Minho, ‘You wanna talk? Let’s talk.’

So began a rather one-sided discussion of the most random sort. What is your favorite color? Where did you grown up? What are you majoring in? Which way does your junk hang? Just kidding about that last one. Still, Jonghyun was trying anything and everything to get the other’s focus away from Key and Jinki who were now starting to lean in close at the other end of the table. Just as Minho looked ready to curse the other out for ruining his evening Jonghyun finally came out with it.

“Aren’t you sick of it?”

“Sick of what?”

“Sick of being on the outside looking in?” Jonghyun nodded his head towards the two on the other end as Key was gently the back of Jinki’s neck and rubbing the top of his thigh. Jinki, for his part, looked entranced with his lover, eyes filled with an emotion Jonghyun had never seen directed towards himself. It was a look of love and he could see the shame of unrequited feelings burn in Minho’s cheeks. It made Jonghyun’s heart hurt for him. Reaching for Minho’s hand under the table, Jonghyun gave it a squeeze and leaning over the table whispered in the other’s ear “C’mon, let’s go get a drink.”

Jonghyun and Minho gave the excuse of early morning workouts to leave the loving couple (with the bill) and ventured into the night, two broken hearts glad to have a shoulder to drink on.

That night Jonghyun listened to Minho talk about his yearlong infatuation with the fashion major that was tutoring him in English and Jonghyun told Minho about his crush on the ever smiling Lee Jinki. Drink after drink passed their lips and by sun rise Jonghyun couldn’t remember how he ended up in that foreign bed with a sleeping Minho and wearing only half of the clothes he started the evening with. And honestly, he didn’t really care. He simply shut his eyes and nestled back into the other’s embrace, happy to feel warmth breathed against his neck and strong arms around his waist.

Across town Jinki was enjoying his own warm embrace, only breaking the morning’s peace to murmur, “Maybe now those two can start paying attention to their lesson and not our asses.”

"It probably would have never worked between you two anyway. I bet Minho's a bottom."

"Lee Jinki, you are terrible."