The moment Lee Taemin stepped into his life, Minho knew his life would never be the same.

 

He was supposed to have a double room all to himself, because his previous roommate had made a last minute decision to go dorm with someone else. He was more than happy to see that he the entire room to himself, free to do as he pleased in there. He could do anything he wanted within those four walls.

 

Then Lee Taemin showed up, a pretty, skinny little freshman who was nothing but messy. Because of the mass of freshman, the typical freshmen dorms were filled, so Taemin was placed in an upperclassmen dorm, which was his room.

 

Now, being a junior college, Minho knew that starting out, it would be a bit difficult for Taemin to transition in. The work load was harder, classes were longer, and a lot of nights were spent doing work instead of sleeping. They had gotten along pretty well at first. Despite making a bit of a mess here and there, Taemin’s mess never made it to his side of the room, and the boy was generally quiet.

 

Or at least he used to be.

 

That was until Minho introduced him to his best friend Jonghyun. Taemin had immediately been awestruck by the slightly shorter male, instantly taking a liking to him. It pissed Minho off, because Jonghyun was his damn it, and he wasn’t going to let this little kid take him. Of course, it seemed a bit petty at first, a bit of a kindergarten situation, not wanting to share his best friend, but that wasn’t the case.

 

Oh no. It was much worse.

 

Taemin had a crush on Jonghyun. “Love at first sight,” as the boy liked to phrase it. Minho scoffed at the phrase, no longer finding Taemin as nice as he used to be. This little bastard was not going to take his best friend from him.

 

Minho spend every moment he could away from his dorm with Jonghyun. He wanted it to be known that Jonghyun was his and only his. Jonghyun didn’t see much of a problem with it. He thought it was cool that he got to spend so much time with his best friend. He would be graduating soon, being a senior and all, and he thought he’d spend as much time with his friends as he could before he moved away.

 

Everything was perfectly fine, until Minho realized just how much of a skinship monster Jonghyun was. The elder never missed a chance for physical contact. If he could have his hands on someone, he’d do it without hesitation, with absolutely no erse thought in mind. It was just how he was. THe problem was, that Minho was becoming more conscious of the touching, and the more conscious he became, the more he started to like it and start to feel tingles from it. He looked forward to it.

 

Taemin of course, noticed how much closer Minho and Jonghyun had gotten, and as a result, tried to get closer to the elder as well. Whether Minho was around or not, if he happened to see Jonghyun, with or without Minho, he’d run over. He learned in high school that sometimes, fleeting touches and short appearances often made the other person think of you more, curious as to what you were doing, and that was exactly what Taemin was going for. He wanted Jonghyun to constantly think of him, because Taemin himself wasn’t too aware of how much skinship he used, and when he was around Jonghyun, he made sure to use as much of it as he could.

 

It was nice that Jonghyun often returned the skinship.

 

And Minho didn’t like that.

 

So whenever he saw Jonghyun and Taemin together, touching each other in what anyone else would consider simple, friendly touches, it looked to Minho as if they were going to screw each other right there.

 

Most of the time, he’d find some discreet way to get Taemin away from Jonghyun, or at least piss the younger off. The first time he tried it, he settled for throwing random stuff he found on the floor at the younger’s back while he and Jonghyun sat on a park bench talking. He learned not to throw anything that could potentially dirty the younger. The last time he did, Jonghyun brought the boy back to his room, took his shirt off of him, and helped him clean himself.

 

It was not fun watching Jonghyun run his hands all over the upper half of Taemin’s bare skin.

 

Sometimes, he’d just walk up to them, beg Jonghyun to help him with something, and they’d leave Taemin there to himself. Minho had to stop himself from throwing a tantrum whenever Jonghyun said that he’d talk to Taemin later. Taemin always smiled sweetly at Jonghyun, then turned an angry glare at him, but Minho never missed the look of pure sadness on the younger’s face when he saw them together and thought that Minho was looking.

 

Part of him felt guilty, doing this to Taemin. Truthfully, Taemin had never done anything wrong. Having a crush on someone wasn’t a bad thing. Minho knew that it was his fault that this whole feud started, just because he was being a possessive friend.

 

But now that he actually liked Jonghyun, he couldn’t just let Taemin have him without going done with a fight.

 

Taemin never talked to him, or even asked him for help anymore.  Minho started to notice how closed off the younger became the more he continued to steal Jonghyun away from him. Every time Minho saw the other, it was as if Taemin lost a piece of the cheerful boy he was when he first entered the college all those months ago.

 

“Why are you doing this?” Taemin asked him one day. Minho was getting ready to go meet Jonghyun to go hang out who knows where.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“You knew I liked him. You didn’t like him until I said that I did,” Taemin said.

 

“I’ve always liked Jonghyun,” Minho replied. Taemin scoffed at him, a scowl seemingly permanently imprinted on his face. Minho wondered if such a look was ever meant to be placed on those pretty lips, and immediately shook the thought away. He couldn’t keep feeling guilty. It made him think weird things.

 

“As a friend, sure. Now, you just like him because you don’t want me with him, you .”

 

“Oh? Since when did the little boy learn such bad words? Do I need to call his mommy?” Minho teasingly cooed.

 

“You bastard, I’ve got more than just a few bad words for you.”

 

“Whatever. I’m going out with Jonghyun now! See you later little baby,” Minho teased, slamming the door shut after him. He supposed that he really was being an , but he couldn’t bring himself to care much. He was getting Jonghyun, whether the other liked it or not.

 

Too bad Jonghyun wasn’t really on the same page.

 

The little (as Minho liked to call him as of this very moment) liked someone. He didn’t say who, but Minho had a strong feeling that it was Taemin. Minho had been ready to confess, starting out the conversation by asking Jonghyun if he liked anyone, and much to his surprise and disappoint, Jonghyun said that he did. He even went as far as to describe him, rambling on and on about how pretty and smart the other was.

 

And Minho stormed back into his room that night, fully prepared to beat the life out of (or probably just yell at) Taemin. The boy was calmly doing his homework when he returned, not even noticing that he had returned due to the headphones with music blasting from them in his ears. Minho went behind the younger, yanking the headphones off of him, which earned him a yelp and a glare from the younger.

 

“What the hell is your problem?” Taemin yelled at him.

 

“You’re my problem! Ever since you got here everything has been ruined!”

 

“I never did anything to you! You’re the one who decided to ruin my life by decided to go after Jonghyun hyun when you knew I liked him first!”

 

“Then have him! He’s all yours!” Minho yelled back. Taemin stood in front of him, stunned for a bit, and Minho took in the sight before him. The younger’s hair was a bit disheveled from having the headphones so harshly removed. His eyes were wide, and Minho found himself staring at those pretty brown eyes, scowl growing the longer he looked into them.

 

“What?” Taemin asked.

 

“He said he likes some pretty kid that he knows, and last I checked, you’re the only freakishly pretty guy here,” Minho said, tone softer than before. His face was so close to Taemin’s, their noses almost touching. He vaguely wondered if the younger’s lips were as soft as they looked.

 

A smile grew on Taemin’s face as he frantically ran around, checking his hair in the mirror before running to Minho and hugging him. The boy thanked him, for what, Minho wasn’t sure, and ran out of the room, no doubt in search of Jonghyun. He watched the younger go and laid himself in his best, vaguely wondering why he wasn’t as bothered by the fact that Jonghyun didn’t like him, as he was of the fact that Taemin was running for Jonghyun.

 

He couldn’t sleep much that night, simply thinking of Taemin’s warm hug. It pissed him off to no end that the younger had so much of an affect on him. He didn’t like it. He hated how he felt around Taemin.

 

It was roughly around midnight when he realized that Taemin still out, probably enjoying his time with his new boyfriend. Minho scowled at the word, though a had a bad feeling at the pit of his stomach. He ignored it however, judging that Jonghyun would probably help the brat if he had any problems.

 

Except it was now 2 AM, the feeling had intensified, and Minho was annoyed because he couldn’t sleep.

 

Damn flipping Lee Taemin: always making his life difficult.

 

He got out of bed, ignoring the fact that he was only wearing a random white shirt, some baggy sweat pants, and his extra fuzzy slippers (his feet got cold), and went out to search for Taemin with the excuse that he was just out for a nightly stroll if the younger was actually fine and he was questioned. Because he wasn’t worried about Taemin. Nope, not at all.

 

Minho grumbled around, too lazy to even pick up his feet as he walked and let the slippers drag. He walked around half of the campus before he saw Taemin curled up on a bench, knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs. His faces was buried between his knees and Minho had to wonder if the other was even awake or not. He dragged himself closer to the other, his glides angrier than before for having to go to the younger at such an hour.

 

As soon as he was close, he flicked the other on the head, earning him a mumbled “.” He assumed that it meant that Taemin was awake, but when he looked closer, the younger was indeed asleep.

 

So even in his sleep he’s a brat, Minho thought. Without any amount of delicacy, he slapped the back of Taemin’s said, earning himself a much clearer shout of “!” He smirked to himself, enjoying the younger’s pain as he rubbed the back of his head.

 

After rubbing the pain away for a bit, Taemin half squinted and half glared at him, still clearly half asleep.

 

“You’re uglier in person than in my nightmares,” Taemin said bluntly.

 

“Yah!”

 

“Stop yelling. Don’t you know people are trying to sleep around here?”

 

“Yeah, but they’re asleep in their rooms. Why are you sleeping out here?” Minho asked. Taemin’s eyes saddened and his head went back to his knees.

 

“What do you think? You set me up you .”

 

“What are you talking about?” Minho asked.

 

“He doesn’t like me. He likes Key,” Taemin mumbled. A part of Minho wanted to laugh at the brat, saying that if he couldn’t have Jonghyun, then neither could the brat, but the larger part of his decided that it would be a better idea to comfort him. He wasn’t that much of an , especially not after he had gotten the younger’s hopes up so quickly, only for them to be shot down cruelly. “And I made a damn fool of myself, all because of you! I could’ve lived with keeping it all to myself, but you just had to make me feel like I actually had a chance!”

 

“I honestly thought you did,” Minho whispered. Taemin sighed and looked back up at him, his brown doe eyes shining in the moonlight and Minho nearly choked on his own spit for thinking that it actually looked cute.

 

“Yeah well, Jonghyun will probably avoid me now and pity me for being so pathetic, so are you happy now? I won’t get in the way of you and your best friend anymore.”

 

Minho wanted to punch himself for actually feeling sympathy for Taemin. The younger had been making him feel weird for days now and it was pissing him off. There was no way he could have any feelings for the younger other than minor indifference. Any other feelings for the younger should be miles away.

 

But nope. Here they were. Screwing around with his emotions.

 

He picked up the younger, tired of being outside and carried him in his arms towards the room. Taemin struggled viciously in his arms, hitting his chest and even going so far as to bite–yes, bite–his shoulder.

 

“Will you stop?! I’m trying to be nice here!”

 

“Let go of me you disgusting cow! Get your filthy hands off me!”

 

“You want me to drop you?” Minho asked. He teasingly loosened his hold on Taemin, slightly dropping the younger before getting a firm grip again. Taemin’s arms immediately went around his neck, holding on for dear life.

 

“You cow! Don’t drop me!”

 

“Yah! I’m not a cow! Respect your hyung!”

 

“Oh, I’ve seen how you eat. You’re worse than a cow.”

 

Minho stayed silent, choosing that as a better choice then constantly arguing with the boy in his arms. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was a bit worried at how light the boy felt in his arms. He simply huffed in defeat, and heard Taemin chuckle a bit at him before resting his head on his chest. Minho stiffened a bit, pausing to look down at the younger.

 

“I’m sorry hyung,” Taemin whispered.

 

“For what? For being a little wise-?” Taemin lightly hit his chest and shook his head.

 

“For being here even though I know you hate me,” Taemin replied. He yawned, and by the time Minho was finished putting his words together in his head and coming up with a response, Taemin was asleep against his chest, and Minho wanted to curse the brat for falling asleep when he hadn’t even gotten a wink of sleep just worrying about him.

 

“Stupid little brat... I don’t hate you.”

 

---

 

It was admittedly difficult for the both of them seeing Jonghyun hanging around Key so much a few days after that night. Minho wasn’t too affected considering he realized his little crush wasn’t much of a crush at all. He had made it clear to Jonghyun that he wasn’t awkward around him. Although it wasn’t completely back to normal, mainly because Jonghyun felt the need to be cautious around him in case he ended up ‘hurting his feelings,’ Minho thought their friendship was pretty much the same as it used to be.

 

Taemin had taken it a bit harder though, and Minho learned that when the younger fell for someone, he fell hard. Jonghyun seemed to notice it too, because he was staying as away from the younger as he could and giving him space. Taemin would still smile, but he was definitely quieter than Minho remembered.

 

It wasn’t until a few weeks later that Minho noticed something really different about Taemin.

 

Taemin was more than just quiet. Taemin would never argue with him anymore. Usually the younger would make some kind of snarky remark at him, or Minho would have to engage a discussion himself, but lately, the younger would just humm and return to his work. Minho wanted to feel offended, but he felt as if he should let Taemin deal with his unrequited love.

 

Most of the time, Taemin would just ignore him and look away, promptly putting on his headphones had always had Minho questioning how the boy wasn’t deaf. He wanted to question the younger so badly, especially considering the faint pink color on his cheeks, but he chose against it. The boy wouldn’t even look in his eyes.

 

Taemin was a lot nicer to him too. It was like when Taemin had first moved in. The boy was respectful again, and overall, tried his best to stay out of his way.

 

It wasn’t until one day when he heard Taemin’s phone vibrate, that he had a bit of an idea of what was happening to the younger.

 

He was curious, and Taemin was in the shower. He grabbed Taemin’s phone in hopes of getting a glimpse of the message, but by the time he got to it, the message was gone and all that was left the the phone’s lock screen staring back at him. At first glance it looked like a simple selca Taemin had taken of himself, even if only half of his face was showing. What really caught his attention, was that he was also in the picture. He wasn’t looking at the camera, it actually looked like he was probably doing homework or something, and he wondered how Taemin managed to get the picture without him noticing.

 

He wondered if the younger had anymore pictures of him. He wanted to know why Taemin had a picture of him at all, because even though he had an idea, his mind wasn’t too keen on believing it.

 

He was attempting to unlock the phone. He wanted to unlock it and look at more pictures, but the door opened and Taemin, clad in his baggy t-shirt and shorts, stared at him with wide eyes as soon as he noticed the phone in his hands.

 

“Why do you have my phone?” he asked. Minho turned to him, taking in the sight of the younger’s damp hair and skinny frame and pretty eyes and damn it Choi Minho wanted to punch himself for only now noticing all of this.

 

“Why do you have a picture of me as your background?” Minho asked back. Taemin flushed but walked over to try and take his phone back. Minho thanked his height advantage and raised his arm up, trying to keep the phone out of the younger’s range because he wanted answers. He needed them.

 

“Give me back my phone!” Taemin hit Minho’s chest, hoping it would get the other to lower his arm, but Minho seemed barely affected by it. Instead of what he wanted, Minho’s other arm reached around him and pulled him closer. Just as he was going to push away, Minho finally lowered the arm with his phone, but only wrapped that one around him as well to keep him in place. “Choi Minho, let me go right now.”

 

“No. Tell me why you have a picture of me on your phone.”

 

“Because you looked like an idiot trying to study when we all know you’re stupid and it won’t work.” Taemin replied. Minho huffed in annoyance and pressed Taemin closer against him. Taemin’s cheeks flushed darker and he struggled harder in Minho’s embrace. Minho would’ve laughed at all of the insults Taemin was spouting if they weren’t all directed at him.

 

“Taemin,” Minho warned. “Stop moving around. I’m not going to do anything to you. Just tell me why.”

 

“I already did!”

 

Minho tossed Taemin’s phone to the floor, ignoring the boy’s louder insults and grabbed the boy’s face in his hands. He forced Taemin to look at him and the younger’s complaints and protests immediately stopped in the moment. Minho could see the other’s eyelashes touch his cheeks as the boy blinked up at him rapidly. Minho noticed it was similar to Taemin’s nervous quirk when they had first met, except now it was much more intense.

 

“Tell me why,” Minho requested, his tone much more gentle than it originally had been.

 

“No,” Taemin whispered. “I won’t tell you. I can’t. I can’t go through that again and I’m an idiot and I’ll get over it so just let me go. Please.”

 

His hands were clutching onto Minho’s shirt, and Minho could see in his eyes that everything Taemin had said was a lie. Taemin wanted to be held. He wanted to be hugged and cuddled and he wanted to be loved and Minho just now decided that he wanted to try doing all of those things for him.

 

He rubbed his thumbs on Taemin’s cheeks, hoping to soothe the other’s raging thoughts.

 

“I want to know,” Minho said. Taemin felt his anxiety turning into anger. He wanted Minho to understand. He just wanted to go.

 

“No you don’t. You’ll just laugh at me when you find out. You’ll probably parade it around the damn school,” Taemin replied. “Just leave me alone! Why can’t you see that I just don’t want to tell you?!”

 

“Because I think it’d be great if you’d talk to me again.” Taemin scoffed at him.

 

“We’re talking now, aren’t we?”

 

“Why can’t you just tell me?” Minho asked, getting frustrated.

 

“Because I you won’t understand!!”

 

“What won’t I understand?!”

 

“That I like you!!”

 

Taemin froze in Minho’s arms, staring up at him with wide eyes and Minho did the same, not expecting Taemin to confess to him so suddenly. All too soon Taemin was trying to get away from him and Minho couldn’t have that. He absolutely couldn’t have that because now he wanted Taemin in his arms and he wasn’t about to let him get away.

 

“L-Let me go. Are you happy now?”

 

“Yes,” Minho replied. “I’m happy because I like you too even though you’re an annoying little brat,” Minho said. Taemin stared at him, eyes disbelieving as he once again gave up his struggle. “I don’t even know why I like you. All you ever do is insult me and harass my life and I don’t even know why I think you’re cute or pretty or adorable or smart or–”

 

He was cut off by Taemin’s lips and Minho swore in that moment he was happier than he ever had been. He couldn’t imagine ever being like this with Jonghyun. His insides burned imagining Taemin like this with Jonghyun. He pulled Taemin closer, savoring the other’s simple taste that seemed too extraordinary to him.

 

“You talk too much,” Taemin said as he pulled away. Minho scoffed, but smiled at him anyway. He’d have to get used to have such a sassy boyfriend, but he didn’t think it’d be too bad. He’d never have a boring day for a long time.

 

“Shut up,” he whispered, and he kissed Taemin again as the younger’s arms went to rest around his neck.

 

He’d have to thank Jonghyun for rejecting them both later.

---

SHINeebiased080525, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry that I took so long to write it for you, and I'm sorry that it isn't the best, but I hope I did a good enough job for. ^^ (I've been loosing my touch on writing fluff. I feel like everything I write is too cliche now)

 

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the oneshot!!!

Please comment and let me know what you think! 

Bye bye~