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Mwah!

“What is that smell?”

“Ohmyg0d, someone farted!”

The stench finally reached Sungmin, who rolled all of the car windows down as he tried not to crash the tiny Volkswagen Beetle. Once the glass pane was out of the way, Ryeowook popped his head out letting the breeze hit his face. “Oxygen! I have missed you!” he gasped. “Someone better fess up now.”

“It was me,” Hyukjae, wedged between Donghae and Ryeowook in the backseat, raised his hand up with pride.

A collective round of Oh, Hyukae! filled the cramped up car that they almost didn’t hear what Donghae had to say.

Donghae cleared his throat, “I let one out, too.”

Everybody cackled after hearing his confession. “I will have to fumigate my car after this,” Sungmin pretended to be really angry before laughter took over. Kyuhyun, sitting on the passenger side, turned to the perpetrators, “No more Mexican food for you two. That was almost deadly.” He wrinkled his nose and made choking sounds for emphasis.

Hyukjae’s entire body shook with mirth. Exhausted, he unconsciously leaned against his new friend.

Donghae brushed a happy tear from the corner of his eye. He was genuinely having a good time with these guys. For the first time in a long while, he felt that he fit in.

***

“You’ve been spending a lot of your free time with Hyukjae, son,” his mother observed. They were doing the finishing touches of the stores. The shelves and fridges were now lined with shiny products ready to be sold. All that was left to do was to spruce up the aisles, a task that Donghae was glad to do.

“I guess so,” he answered while continuing to mop the floor.

His mother glanced at him, her maternal concern evident on her face. “Donghae, don’t forget what I told you before. If Hyukjae makes you cry, I’ll have no choice but to dump him in the Han River so he can sleep with the fishes,” his mother said in a mock Mafia-style accent.

Donghae chuckled. His mother was a big Godfather fan. “Eomma, you won’t have to kill Hyukjae or anybody for that matter. There’s no need to worry because nothing is happening between Hyukjae and me. His friends are very nice and I don’t want to scare them away with my…my…”he searched his brain for the right term, “…my dating preference.”

Hands on her hips, Mrs. Lee asked bluntly, “So you’re just going to be friends with him?”

“That’s the plan,” he replied then tapped his temple with his index finger, “Mind,” the same hand fell to his chest, “over heart.”

***

Hyukjae puckered his lips more. He opened one eye in time to see Kyuhyun reflected on one of the giant mirror panels surrounding the empty dance room. “You should practice kissing with your dog, it’ll be more realistic,” his friend joked.

Hyukjae scrunched his nose at the suggestion and smacked his lips together loudly eliciting a chuckle from Kyuhyun. “No thanks. What brings you here? I thought you had an exam today.”

“I finished early. I’m pretty sure I aced my test.” Kyuhyun sat on the floor across Hyukjae, his long legs stretched out, ankles crossed.

“Well, you should or your dad will have your butt on a golden platter. Remember when you got a B on Art History?” Hyukjae could still remember how loudly Mr. Cho, Kyuhyun’s dad, yelled at his friend. For a short man, the older Cho sure had a powerful set of lungs.

Kyuhyun reddened. “My dad’s a teacher; he expects his kid to do well in school. My poor brain’s exhausted,” he admitted. “Can I trade my dad for yours? I wouldn’t mind stocking shelves at all.”

“You say that now, but when you do it on a regular basis, you’ll change your tune,” Hyukjae retorted before switching topics, “Um Kyu, how do you know if someone likes you?”

“Ah-ha! No wonder you’re practicing kissing,” His eyes darted along the ceiling thinking of a response, “I’m not really sure, hyung. Maybe you can just ask this someone if he likes you,” Kyuhyun said matter-of-factly.

“’He?’”  Hyukjae caught on to the pronoun his friend used.

“We are talking about Donghae, right?” Kyuhyun asked.

Hyukjae nodded, speechless.

“Just ask him.”

“Okay, I will. So, erm, are you okay with me liking a guy?” Hyukjae scratched his head.

Kyuhyun thought about it for a moment. “Guy or girl as long as that person treats you well, I’m okay with whoever it is. If Donghae turns out to be a jerk and treats you badly then I would have a problem with that.”

Hyukjae couldn’t help but smile hearing his friend’s answer. “You know, for an eighteen-year-old, you’re wiser than you’re supposed to be.”

“Please tell those exact words to my dad,” Putting his face closer to the mirror, Kyuhyun inspected his face critically. “Hyung, what’s it like to be good-looking?”

 “Huh? Where did that come from?” Hyukjae was completely thrown off by his friend’s question.

Kyuhyun lay on the floor. “It’s nothing. No, that’s a lie. I’m just…you’re so confident while I’m so…so…awkward, he blurted, “I’m out of shape and my face is like the moon: full of craters.” Hyukjae’s eyebrows shot up to his forehead. He wasn’t prepared to hear this outburst at all. Kyuhyun divulging his insecurities was as rare as seeing Bigfoot.

Hyukjae put his thumb on his chin. “It’s not that I’m confident, Kyu. I guess I’ve learned to work with what I have. You’ll know what I’m talking about once you reach my age. I can help you get in shape, if you want. We can go jogging or I can teach you some dance moves. As for the acne, it will mostly clear up once your hormones stop screwing around. Oh, getting more sleep will help too. Ryeowook told me about your all-nighters with the computer.”

“Aish, Ryeowook is such a tattletale.” Kyuhyun pouted.

“Well, yeah, but he had good intentions when he told me. You need another hobby that doesn’t involve staying up all night. What are your interests lately?”

“You’ll make fun of me if I tell you.”

“I promise on Heechul’s bossy cat that I won’t.”

Kyuhyun chuckled. “Alright, I’ll tell you. I kinda want to sing.”

 “There you go. Why don’t you pursue that?” All of a sudden, Hyukjae had a lightbulb moment. He excitedly grabbed his phone from his back pocket. “I just remembered, I know someone who belongs to the university a capella group. Do you want me to put in a good word for you?”

“You don’t even know if I can sing or not!”

“That is a trifle detail, Kyu. You need to get one foot at the door for now. So, do you want me to text this guy?” Hyukjae waggled his brows.

 “Um, you’d do that for me?”

“Sure. It’s not really a big deal.”

Kyuhyun let out a long sigh. “Okay okay, text him before I chicken out.”

“Awesome.” Hyukjae quickly typed a message on his phone. “It’s done. I’ll update you later once I get a response from him,” he told Kyuhyun who was scrambling up to his feet. When the younger man reached the door, he turned on his heels and ran back to where Hyukjae was still sitting.

He wrapped his arms around Hyukjae’s neck. “Thank you, hyung.”

Hyukjae grinned and squeezed Kyuhyun’s forearms.

“Don’t forget to ask Donghae,” his friend reminded before bouncing out of the room.

***

Just ask him, Hyukjae repeated to himself.

Mind over heart, Donghae replayed in his head.

“Donghae, do you like me like me?”

“No.”

“Oh.” What now? Hyukjae didn’t prepare himself for a ‘no’ answer. His gaze settled on his muddy cleats. They had just finished playing a friendly game of football. While the rest of the players went home, the two of them stayed behind to enjoy the remaining sunny afternoon.

Hyukjae didn’t know what to do, so he kept looking down, hoping that Donghae would scamper off. This didn’t happen, of course.

Instead, Hyukjae felt two strong hands pat his cheeks once, twice, thrice, four freaking times. Then he felt Donghae’s lips quickly brush against his.

“I thought you didn’t like me like me,” he yelled after Donghae who was now scampering off the soccer field.

“I don’t,” Donghae yelled back.

Then what the heck was that for? Hyukjae thought, bewildered. His lips were still tingling from receiving his first kiss.