Jihoon is hiding at the back of the chorus room silently listening to a particular third year practice his vocal warm ups. The awkwardly tall first year is to the point of taking his current crush to stalking levels. Jihoon follows the third year around school, hides out to listen to him practice, watches him with his friends, and wishes he could conjure up the courage to approach him at least once. Like most teenagers, the nervous first year thinks he will never be able to actually have a conversation with his crush, which is why he constantly hides, watches from afar, and runs to his close friends to rave about how amazing this third year is.

            It’s after he leaves the chorus room and finds his friends waiting for him in the cafeteria for lunch that Jihoon sighs dejectedly. “Why does he have to be so perfect?” he complains, voice muffled between his head and the table.

            “I don’t think he’s as perfect as you like to think,” Jiho chimes in.

            “Why don’t you just go talk to him? What’s the worse that could happen?” Kyung asks nudging Jihoon’s leg under the table with his foot. “Perk up already.”

            “With that look on your face I don’t think anyone would be interested in you.” Jiho teases his love struck friend. “You look like a dying fish.”

            Jihoon lifts his head only to let it drop back on the table with a small thud. He wonders what it is that his second year friends learned over the summer after their first year to make them so confident because he can recall them being just as crushed, frustrated, and terrified as he is now about approaching someone they like. Jihoon wants to know what suddenly made them experts on the topic. He wonders when they suddenly became so confident and if there is some unknown method he can’t grasp that will allow him to gain such confidence as well.

            Even now Jiho is watching his current target cross the cafeteria to sit at an empty table on the opposite end. He is contemplating whether he should simply go eat with him or wait to approach him after school because today is the day according to Jiho; today’s the day the schools pretty boy Jaehyo knows how Jiho feels about him.

            While Jiho is contemplating his first move and Jihoon is drowning in his inability to act on his emotions, a short male makes his way to Jaehyo’s table, placing his tray beside the handsome male smiling while he seats himself. The three watching stare in shock because this is the first time they’ve seen these two together.

            “Isn’t that…” Kyung starts.

            “Taeil?” Jihoon finishes.

            Jiho only nods while watching the two interact with one another because Jaehyo is smiling much brighter than usual and Taeil is talking much more than usual as well. Both guys are suspiciously acting out of character, which is startling because they are together and acting out of character.

            “Do you think…” Kyung starts.

            “…they’re together?” Jiho finishes.

            But they can’t be together because it just doesn’t fit. It doesn’t make sense for these two to be a couple. It doesn’t make sense for them to be friends. It doesn’t make sense for them to even be acquaintances, but here they are acting friendly and laughing and chatting like old friends.

            Watching the way they interact, Jiho decides that he is definitely going to confess to Jaehyo after school. He doesn’t think he can handle watching Jaehyo joke around with someone that isn’t him. Jiho also doesn’t think he can handle watching Jihoon have his heart broken without even having had a chance to confess to Taeil. <

            That afternoon Jiho waits in the west wing walkway for Jaehyo because the third year always passes through here at the end of the day. As Jiho waits, Jihoon and Kyung wait as well at the other end of the walkway behind some bushes and hopefully out of sight. As Jaehyo exits the school and makes his way across the courtyard beneath the walkway, Jiho calls out to him. Jihoon and Kyung have no idea what Jiho says or why they are talking so long, but by the end of the conversation Jihoon is nearly choking Kyung from anxiety because neither Jiho nor Jaehyo smile as they say their goodbyes.

             “Hyung, what’d he say?” Jihoon is on the verge of taking Kyung’s head off.

            “Jiho…help,” Kyung gasps trying to break Jihoon’s death grip.

            After Jiho pulls the youngest off of Kyung, he gives a devilish grin and crosses him arms in thought as he leans against the back of one of the benches situated in the small courtyard.

            “What happened?” Jihoon inquires curiously.

            “Well,” Jiho pauses. He tilts his head and smirks to himself. “They definitely aren’t together,” he announces. “Apparently, they are just really good friends.” Jihoon grabs Kyung again nearly whooping in relief as the older male struggles to keep him at arms length, too bad Jihoon’s arms are longer than Kyung’s though.

            “What’d he say to your confession?” Kyung still tries to beat off Jihoon who attempts to pull him into a bear hug.

            “He says he’s not interested in dating right now.” Jiho continues to smile to himself as if he knows an inside joke.

            “Why do you look so happy?” Kyung wonders while Jihoon gives him a shake still clearly excited from the news about Taeil being single.

            “Because,” Jiho says, “he looked interested. When I asked him on a date, his eyes lit up just a bit.” The confident male chuckles to himself as he says, “He definitely wants me.”

            Kyung pauses in his struggle to get Jihoon off of him to laugh at his best friend. “Really? When did you become so full of yourself?” He can’t stop laughing and now Jihoon’s joined in, but Jiho doesn’t care because now he has another challenge and he’s definitely going to win over Jaehyo no matter what it takes.

            Two days later Jiho isn’t sitting with Kyung and Jihoon at lunch because he has a lunch date with Jaehyo. His friends are gaping across the cafeteria in disbelief because they knew Jiho was good at getting what he wanted, but they didn’t think he was this good.

            “How does he do it?” Jihoon wonders, his chin on the table as he glances under his eyelashes towards a content Jiho smiling happily at Jaehyo. “How does he make it look so easy?”

            “Because he’s Jiho,” Kyung replies simply because there really is no other argument he can think of. “And I really think you should just talk to Taeil.”

            Jihoon squishes his face against the table in frustration. “And what am I supposed to say, ‘Hi, my name is Jihoon and I’ve been stalking you for the past three months will you go out with me because I love your voice and I can’t stop thinking about you all the time.’” The younger male picks up his head a few inches before letting it drop on the table again. “He’s going to think I’m crazy.”

            “Well,” Kyung grins shaking his head while patting the love struck friend on the back. “I think anyone would think you’re crazy if you confessed to them like that. Just introduce yourself and say that you’ve heard him sing a few times and you like his voice or something. Keep it simple.”

            “It’s…not…that…easy,” Jihoon says banging his head on the table with each word.

            “But it is Jihoon. Think about how we became friends. Jiho and I came up and introduced ourselves.” Kyung gave him a few more pats on the back. “It’s that easy.”

            Jihoon shakes his head, rubbing his face against the table. “There were two of you. You had each other. In this situation, it’s only me.”

            “Fine. Go ask Jiho to be your wingman since he’s already seems to be on good terms with your crushes best friend. It might be less awkward if you have Jiho and Jaehyo introduce you two or something.” Kyung runs his fingers through Jihoon’s hair at the back of his head before tugging it and pulling the younger male’s head up off the table. “Whatever you decide, hurry up because I’m tired of seeing you whine.” He releases Jihoon’s head, allowing it to fall against the table with a loud enough thud that surrounding tables turn to see where the noise came from.

            “Ouch! Hyung, that hurt!” he whines.

            “Good! Maybe it knocked some sense into you,” he replies as he stands up from the table grabbing his tray and heading towards the exit leaving his young friend to mope alone.

            Jihoon keeps running away any time Taeil comes near. Now he is also hiding from Jiho and Jaehyo as well because he fears that Taeil might show up if his best friend is around. Jihoon keeps this up for almost two weeks before he can’t hide anymore because Jiho has his arm slung tightly around his neck and is sitting beside him at the lunch table. Jaehyo is standing behind them waiting to be introduced before he can feel comfortable sitting down.

            Jiho laughs while using his free hand to pull Jaehyo closer as he says, “Guys this is my boyfriend Jaehyo.” By the tone of his voice anyone can see that Jiho is proud to call the man such. “Jaehyo this is Kyung,” he gestures across the table. “And this is Jihoon,” he squeezes his younger friends neck.

            Jaehyo smiles and waves while shaking his head Jiho’s childish antics. He enjoys watching Jiho do ridiculous things because Jaehyo finds these acts cute. Jiho always gives him a reason to laugh and right now watching how Jiho seems to be squeezing the life out of his younger friend makes Jaehyo giggle.

            The youngest of the group realizes his situation once Jaehyo finally takes a seat. A certain perfect singer pops into his mind and he squirms even more to get out of Jiho’s clutches because he doesn’t want to be here if Jaehyo is here. Because if Jaehyo is eating lunch with them that means chances are high for Taeil to be eating lunch with them as well. Jihoon desperately needs to leave before his crush potentially shows up, but Jiho knows his friend is trying to escape so he keeps his hold firm. The youngest whines and struggles, but he can’t break free and it’s already too late because Jaehyo is already waving Taeil across the cafeteria to sit with them.

            The rather short third year approaches the table with an unsure smile. He hesitates before quietly sitting beside Kyung across from Jiho and Jaehyo. Jiho introduces him to his friends, while discretely teasing Jihoon about the situation by pinching his cheek and saying, “Isn’t our maknae so cute.”

            The youngest blushes and wishes he could just go ahead and die from the embarrassment Jiho is putting him through. Kyung’s face is turning red from holding in his laughter and Jiho is proud he’s able to at least give his cute friend a chance at love.

            This is the first time Jihoon has seen Taeil from such a close distance because normally he’s hiding behind something or too shy to look up when they pass each other in the halls. Being this close, Jihoon can’t take his eyes off of Taeil once he settles down after the initial embarrassment. He stares at Taeil trying to remember every small detail of his face in the short lunch period they have together. Jiho casually nudges Jihoon trying to encourage him to join in the conversation, but Jihoon is afraid he will stutter of say something completely stupid that will make Taeil think he is a complete loser and will never talk to him again. Jihoon’s mind is making him too self-conscious to do anything but stare and he really is content with just being able to stare right now.

            Taeil doesn’t say much during lunch either; because, he’s not used to spending time with so many people and he’s awkward around people that aren’t Jaehyo. But Taeil smiles and nods taking notice of the way the first year seems to be drooling over his plate out of the corner of his eye. After lunch is over and the two third years are making their way back to the north wing of the school, Jaehyo comments on how nice Jiho’s friends seem. Taeil nods in agreement and says, “I think his one friend might have brain damage though.”

            Jaehyo pushes Taeil playfully before they both crack up making their way down the hall to their class. Taeil also thinks Jihoon has a nice smile but he doesn’t dare say that out loud because he will never hear the end of it if Jaehyo knows something like that.

            After the successful lunch according to Jiho, Taeil finds himself being more and more aware of Jihoon. He notices the first year hanging around the chorus room and down the hall near his class. Taeil begins to wonder why Jihoon in is the third year hall and if he is in the music department. He wonders why he never noticed how often Jihoon is around.

            He’s glad he notices now because that means he gets to see Jihoon more often. Taeil is intrigued with the first year that seems to have endless smiles and a long list of upperclassmen taking care of him. He’s intrigued and worried at the same time because he knows that someone like Jihoon would probably never be interested in him when he has friends like Jihom Kyung, Minhyuk, and Yukwon taking care of him. Why would Jihoon be interested in someone like him when he’s surrounded by much more interesting friends?

            And yet, Jihoon is interested. Taeil is shocked beyond reason when Jihoon walks into the chorus room one afternoon with his hands tucked in his pockets, his head hanging shyly, his lips curved in a small smile, and his eyes peeking under his lashes at Taeil. The third year is astounded when the first year says he’s interested, says he likes Taeil, and says he wants to take him out on a date. Taeil is so dazed that it takes him almost a full minute to recover and reply to Jihoon.

            “Of course,” he says shyly. “I would like that.”

            They exchange shy smiles and glances before Jihoon starts asking Taeil about his music which leads into a long conversation about hopes and dreams. They talk and chat until they are comfortable beside one another and laughing like old friends. It’s nice, they both think, how simple this was to actually talk to one another.

            “I told you it was easy,” Jiho says matter-of-factly. “I told you all you had to do was talk to him, but you insisted on making it difficult.”

            “I get it! I get it!” Jihoon kicks Jiho’s shin under the cafeteria table. “You were right, okay. Stop rubbing it in my face.”

            Taeil watches with his head propped on his hand leaning on the table and laughs when Jiho kicks Jihoon back and the first year jerks away from the table rubbing his shin vigorously.

            “I don’t know why people make such a big fuss about asking someone out. I mean really, what’s the worse that can happen?” Jaehyo pushes another fry in his mouth and chews quickly before swallowing. “If you get rejected, it’s not the end of the world.”

            “Says the guy who came to me crying and saying how much of an idiot he was because he told his crush, who finally asked him out after an entire year of mooning over him, ‘I’m not interested in dating right now.’” Taeil watches as Jaehyo’s eyes become saucers before he starts throwing food across the table.

            “You were crushing on me for an entire year?” Jiho asks amused.

            “No!” Jaehyo exclaims. “I mean…I…I’m going to kill yo…” Jaehyo doesn’t have time to finish his threats because Jiho pulls him in for a brief kiss on the lips. The third year gawks at his boyfriend and blushes furiously probably wondering if it’s possible for him to die from embarrassment.

            “Hey! Guys! I told you I don’t want to see any PDA. Just because I’m cool with you dating and everything doesn’t mean I want to see you face in front of me.” It’s Kyung’s turn to throw food as the table bursts into a fit of laughter.

            Sometimes friendships and relationships are really simple. It just takes enough courage from one side or the other to get it started.

Well, there it goes. I love Block B's quirky attitudes and this was fun to write.

I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading <3