Taemin squinted against the bright sun that practically seemed to bounce off the white sand. He stood, surfboard under one arm and the other hand shielding his face, staring intently. “Who is that?” he finally asked.

“Hnngghh??” Jongin grunted with his mouth stuffed with one of ten hot dogs he had just purchased.

He turned his head towards the sun, facing the same direction as the other boy.

“Oh that’s Jonghyun. I guess he’s working as a lifeguard this summer. I met him at a dance competition last year,” Jongin replied once he realized who Taemin was referring to. “He’s a real friendly hyung,” he added.

Jongin eyes began to narrow in suspicion when Taemin didn’t respond right away.   

“Stop it. He has a boyfriend and they’re totally in love,” he warned, waving one of his mustard drenched hot dog threateningly at his friend. “They’ve been together for years. Ever since high school.” Finally, Taemin managed to tear his gaze away from the lifeguard. widening his eyes innocently at Jongin, 

He asked guilelessly “Stop what? no harm in looking right?” 

Now that Taemin had mentioned it Jonghyun-hyung was really nice to look at. Both boys fell silent as they watched the cute lifeguard climb down from the watchtower. 

“Be right back,” Taemin threw over this shoulder as he jogged off, leaving Jongin with a lapful of surfboard. 

A few minutes later he returned, hurling a bag at gummy worms at Jongin’s chest. “For you.” 

Jongin snatched the bag before it could hit his body, almost dropping one of his hot dogs into the sand in the process.

“Wait, what the ,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “Did you buy binoculars?”

Taemin breathed out a long-suffering sigh. “I had hoped the candy would be enough to distract you.” 

“Taemin. I’m not ten,” Jongin grumbled, but he still ate the gummy worms. 

But the other boy wasn’t paying attention at all. He was using his new purchase to appreciate the very nice body of the “friendly hyung.” It was a blisteringly hot day and thanks to the binoculars,  Taemin could make out the rivulets of sweat that were trickling down the lifeguard’s spine and into his swim trunks. Jonghyun was toned and surprisingly muscular for someone of his stature. But even then, it was obvious that all that added bulk werethe result of a lot of protein shakes and long hours in the gym. He was naturally small and even with all the muscle, he was the type of person who looked vulnerable and fragile. Taemin imagined putting his hands on the other boy’s shoulders, and sliding his hands across smooth, gloriously sunkissed skin to his small waist before going further down to…

His fantasy was disrupted when the binoculars were suddenly wrenched from his hands. Standing directly in front of him and sadly blocking Jonghyun from his view was Suho, unofficial sugar daddy if you up enough and president of probably half the clubs on campus. Without saying a word, Suho tucked away the binoculars into his bag and frowned deeply at the two of them before walking stiffly off.

Jongin pouted. “Great. Thanks . Now Suho-hyung is mad at me. Who will buy me spicy chicken strips now?” 

Taemin was ignoring Jongin’s complaining, trying to figure out why Suho was wearing a fanny pack and also trying to decide if he should invest in another pair of binoculars or risk moving closer and getting caught staring.  He was just about to develop a headache from this in combination with Jongin’s incessant whining and the relentless sun when he noticed another boy approaching Jonghyun. 

“I told you so. Give it up." 

Jongin was right. From the way Jonghyun threw his arms enthusiastically around the other boy’s shoulders and leaned his entire frame into the other’s body, he was clearly completely enamored with him. 

"I want him though. Why can’t I ever get what I want. Why is life so unfair?” Taemin said, grabbing one of Jongin’s hot dogs and stuffing it into his mouth glumly. 

He sat down in the sand next to Jongin and leaned against him. 

“Now I’m eating because I’m depressed ohmygod im so sad.”

Jongin scoffed at his friend, rolling his eyes. “You’re such a liar. you always get what you want."he reprimanded, but didn’t have the heart to push his friend off. 

 Taemin, blessed with the face of an angel, always get what he wanted. often even when it meant that that he was taking something away from someone else. He had seduced many people’s boyfriends with his innocent smiles and ethereal looks, luring them in with his sweet act before completely changing his tune once they were his. Taemin shrugged. He didn’t feel too guilty about it. In his opinion, if someone was willing to cheat on their partner then it wasn’t meant to be anyway and it was better to know  sooner rather than later so really…he was doing them a favor. Besides, Jongin wasn’t one to talk; he wasn’t much better. There were lots of people, many of them taken, who were more than willing to spend the night with someone like him. Taemin didn’t really understand it. Sure, Jongin may looked like a god, but he acted like such a kid most of the time, constantly eating candy and drinking chocolate milk and laughing at the stupidest things. But then again Jongin did act different around the strangers he hooked up. The two often went clubbing together and he knew it wasn’t an act because the other boy couldn’t act for , but his whole demeanor would be changed. He was less childish in an obnoxious way and more in a endearing way with the way he blinked too much when he got nervous and how he covered up his face when he laughed. It was a little bit cute, Taemin supposed.anyway the point was it might be unintentional (because Jongin could be so frustratingly clueless sometimes) but he had done his fair share of homewrecking, too. Which, on a separate note, gave Taemin an idea.

"Okay, make yourself useful for once. Here’s the plan,” he said. “You go over there and seduce Jonghyun’s boyfriend. And that’ll give me chance to…”

“His name is Key,” Jongin interjected, cutting him off.

“Whatever. Anyway…" 

"He likes to watch, you know," 

Both boys turned around to face yet another lifeguard, who was also ridiculously attractive. Jongin (very obviously) elbowed him in the stomach, which judging from the angle and strength of the jab meant something along the lines of: oh here’s another one. go for him instead.

“I ing love this beach,” Taemin thought to himself. Unfortunately, he was already all set on Jonghyun but he would have to come back for this one later. The guy was tall, toned, with legs for days and a smile to die for. Before he could introduce himself and attempt to get digits however one of the guys playing volleyball a couple yards yelled, “Yah Minho!! come back with the ball already!”

“That eager to lose?” Minho bellowed back before turning back to them. “Sorry I overheard you guys talking about Jonghyun,” he said. “His boyfriend Key…he likes to watch.”

Beside him, Jongin scrunched up his face in confusion. “Watch what?”

Once Minho left, Taemin turned to his friend with a smile on his face that Jongin knew from experience meant nothing but trouble.

“Okay new plan.”