Minho tapped his pencil against the desk. The room was rather warm that day with the sun already falling behind dark trees. He listened to the soft rustling of blooming leaves and the quiet friction of wind against sheets. It was nice that he could keep the window open again. The cold season felt like it had dragged on forever – but maybe that had to do with certain events, or rather, an endless stream of events.

Looking back, how the hell could so much happen during those few months? He never thought KUG would be eliminated from his normal routine. He never thought he would want more than just a buddy – even now he wondered if that was true. Better yet, he had never pondered the possibility of being with someone emotionally. The mere thought of relationships made his stomach turn before…but somehow, he had begun…thinking.

His mind was wondering more often than not to little fantasies, daydreams. Minho would be reading the words of a novel and suddenly the movie in his mind would morph – change into a scene depicting himself and Sungmin.

They were walking around the main square of the campus hand in hand. All around no one paid them any mind because they knew happiness was in the air. To the left you could see Mir and Taemin chatting with smiles on their faces – having been a couple for many months already. Minho could see the light playing in his friend’s eyes and the way the honey blonde giggled at whatever Mir was saying. Probably something cute and awkward. To the right, there were people promoting themselves for the next election. None of them were as influential as Teukie-hyung but at least they were trying. Minho smiled at them, feeling odd warmth at the boring occurrences all around him.

That was the beauty of the academy. All of them had felt too much pain, heartbreak, fear…the academy was an illusion. It helped lost kids experience the life of an average student. The school wasn’t created to accommodate excitement; it was created to expel those sorts of heart racing things. So for many of them – eating with friends every day, showering in the same place every night, having a warm bed waiting for you, falling in love, studying and cramming for exams – all of it…all of it was just perfect.

Minho felt his lips spread into a smile as he stopped his incessant pen tapping. At least, that was what Teukie-hyung always preached. Those were the words that made Minho agree to stay at the academy. Those were the words that truly triggered all of the events up until then. If it weren’t for those thoughts, Minho was rather positive he would’ve never felt the beating of an emotionally charged heart.

And for most part, all of it was good. You know, aside from the friends lying to him thing and the ty- February he had thing, and all of the stupid secrets thing. Yeah, aside from all of that Minho was pretty happy.

The door clicked open and Taemin strode in, his long hair tied back. Minho glanced at the boy, noting the bored expression on his face. “What’s up with you?” he prompted, setting the pen down and shifting in his seat. He hadn’t realized how stiff his body got from staying unmoved.

Taemin looked over at his roommate after setting the phone in hand on a table. “Mir is busy so we can’t hang out,” he pouted, walking over to Minho.

“What’s he up to?” Minho chuckled, wondering if he should call Sungmin.

“I think he said something about club and how he hasn’t been going lately,” Taemin rolled his eyes, settling down on his friend’s lap, “It’s such a stupid reason to leave me.”

“You like him that much?” the older boy inquired, paying little mind to the body straddling his thighs. It wasn’t unusual or anything.

Taemin shrugged a bit, arms encircling Minho’s neck. “As a person he’s okay I guess. But he’s really good in bed,” a smirk cut the pretty boy’s face, “I finally got him to me but it sort of that he’s too shy to be dominant.”

“Oh…?” Minho stifled a laugh, raising his eyebrows.

“Well I mean, he just never takes initiative. I like riding and all but it gets boring in that position y’know?” Taemin sighed, sounding as if it were a huge problem. “He’s too…submissive. But since I don’t like topping it’s really weird.”

Minho only then noted the decreasing space between them. He thought about moving away and in fact he did – but then Taemin was scooting forward so their chests were touching and their lips were crashing together.

A muffled complaint vibrated into Taemin’s mouth and the latter simply giggled, further sliding his tongue in the seated boy’s mouth. Minho pushed his friend away, inhaling sharply and eyeing the slender boy incredulously. “What the ? Why are you doing this?” he grunted, keeping his lips as far out of Taemin’s reach as possible.

“Weren’t you listening to my story?” Taemin snapped, glaring and kissing the taller boy’s jaw. “I wanna be fu~cked! And you’re here…it’s not like we haven’t done it before. Let’s do it Minho~”

The latter’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about? You’re going out with Mir! Don’t do this stuff,” he muttered, trying to push the other guy away.

Taemin held on tightly, at a sensitive spot on the other one’s neck. An uncontrolled moan escaped Minho’s mouth. Smirking, the honey blond his lips and moved back to press gossamer kissed all along his friend’s throat and face. “We’re not going out. From the start I just wanted to get in his pants and I have. I told him before I just want . Love is for stupid people.”

“Taemin…,” Minho murmured a bit morosely, “you like Mir don’t you?”

Again, the pretty boy shrugged indifferently, “I like him enough. I like you too. So let’s .” He reached down, moving his hand against the other one’s crotch. “He already knows. It’s not like I’m hurting him.”

Minho shook his head. “But—”

“—since when did you become such a goodie-goodie?” Taemin snapped, snatching the taller boy’s jaw and squeezing. “Are you just trying to prove yourself to Sungmin? It’s not like he even likes you. You know Minho…You know that he’s head-over-heels for that Ryeowook kid. It’s so ing obvious so why are you lying to yourself?” he cried, practically ing Minho’s head to the side as he released the boy’s clenched jaw.

It was like having cold water dumped over his head. Taemin was right. All of the things that had happened thus far were just…that. He wasn’t thinking clearly. How could he actually be dreaming of love…especially with someone like Sungmin? Minho kept telling himself that maybe…just maybe Sungmin was starting to feel something for him; after all they were together more often than he was with Ryeowook. Plus, Sungmin wasn’t fighting his kisses anymore. All of it was just a mess though.

He knew that.

So why did he keep pretending?

Yeah, it had to be because of the warm breeze and the boredom. Sungmin was just another distraction, a ing wonderful distraction, but nonetheless, a distraction. Although Minho had nothing else to look forward to, looking forward to being with someone like Sungmin was just ridiculous.

Minho looked up at Taemin, grinning and biting teasingly on the blonde’s lower lips as he gained entrance into that mouth. Someone like Taemin was better. Someone who he didn’t need to get close to was always better. That way, he wouldn’t daydream about stupid, unreachable things anymore. That way, Sungmin would stay as a replaceable distraction.