Kibum’s fingers trailed lightly across the worn spines of the rows and rows of books he passed, following behind Minho. Occasionally a color or a word would stand out to him, but he didn’t pay them much heed. He wasn’t here for himself. He typically had cross country practice on Thursday afternoons, but more than half of the team had called out sick. His coach had hemmed and hawed for 10 minutes, debating on still holding practice, but ultimately he simply made the kids who had shown up promise to run sometime today. It was inconvenient to Kibum that practice had been cancelled. Now, he had to find something to do. So he’d done what he always did. He found Minho.

His brain had neglected to remind him, however, that Minho intentionally scheduled his tutoring (“STUDY sessions!” as Minho always tried to enforce) on Thursday afternoons. Kibum followed Minho to the library, anyway. Maybe Minho’s tutor would cancel. Maybe it would be a short session and Kibum could just read while he waited. Minho had repeatedly whispered, trying to tell him that it wouldn’t be like that and Kibum should just find something else to do.

“Why don’t you just go ahead and doing your running now? You were going to anyway. Then, later we can go eat or something…” He didn’t even look at Kibum because he knew what the answer was going to be. Kibum didn’t like to be told what to do. He didn’t even really like suggestions. If it wasn’t something he 100% wanted to do of (what he believed to be) his own volition, he wouldn’t do it. Kibum knew this. Minho knew this. Kibum had realized a few years ago that Minho had systematically worked out a way to get Kibum to do what he wanted, but make it seem like it was Kibum’s idea. It had been genius and infuriating at the same time.

“Nah, this is fine.” Kibum used his normal speaking volume, watching Minho flinch out of the corner of his eye. He knew it was inappropriate, but he’d also been paying particular attention to where exactly they were in the library and knew they weren’t close enough to the students studying to bother them. He felt Minho bump his arm, telling him to be quiet without verbalization. He smirked internally and slid a book off the shelf in front of him.

“Which book did you need, again? I can’t remember the exact title. Probably some complicated text booky sounding thing, right?” He flipped open the book in his hand carelessly and stared at the pages without really seeing them. Something about, maybe, fish? What even section were they in? Was Minho getting tutored in biology? Large tan hands reached over and tugged the book firmly from his grasp, replacing it gently on the shelf.

“It’s not a text book. It’s just a regular for-reading book.” Minho’s eyes carefully scanned the shelves, and the older boy looked him up and down, leaning on the shelves and crossing his arms.

“Why are you getting tutored in biology?” Minho mumbled again about it not being “tutoring”, but Kibum ignored it. “No, really. Why are you getting tutored in biology? You don’t need it. You’re good at biology. Better than me and I get high B’s.” Minho refused to make eye contact as he gently maneuvered Kibum out of his way and continued scanning the shelves. He didn’t answer. So, Kibum leaned full out on Minho’s shoulder. He knew Minho wouldn’t drop him (he had once and Kibum milked that sprained wrist for months). And Kibum was a er for physical affection (way more than verbal), so he leaned on his friend. Minho just steadied his footing and continued looking at the books. After a few more seconds of this, Minho finally sighed and spoke, his voice quiet and still refusing eye contact.

“We’re not doing biology in our study session. The guy just told me about this book he’d read and it sounded interesting. I figured since I was here, I’d see if I could find it and check it out.” He shifted his weight, letting Kibum know that he was going to be moving. Kibum stepped back and the tan boy reached up and pulled a small book off the shelf.

“Monsters of the Deep.” Kibum tilted his head to the side to read the title fully. He glanced at Minho’s face and saw how those big dumb doe eyes were staring at the cover with interest. Kibum scrunched up his face in a judgmental sort of way. “You must really like this guy if you’re gonna read this just for him…”

Minho’s head snapped to face the older boy, their faces only inches apart. Minho’s chest puffed out slightly and he somehow became even taller. He took a step towards Kibum, who was already incredibly close to him. This made Kibum have to step back, his back pressed against the book shelves, feeling their spines digging lightly into his. His eyes locked with Minho’s and he could feel the angry puff of breath the dark haired boy was seething out.

“I told you…” came the angry hiss, causing the short locks around Kibum’s face to puff out with the force of the air.

“Ummm….” came a voice from a few feet away. They both whipped their heads toward it and were met with two very confused looking guys. Well, one looked confused. The other looked curious… maybe overly curious… and a little mischievous. Minho immediately stepped back from Kibum, his demeanor changing to a much softer version of himself and his height falling slightly. “Uhh…” the confused one said, again, casting his eyes hastily to the ground. “I, uhh… I found us a table, Minho… Um…, just… whenever you’re ready…” He turned quickly on his heel and speed-walked away. The other boy remained where he was, his eyes shooting eagerly between Minho and Kibum.

Minho quickly took off after the retreating boy, jogging silently to try to keep him in sight. Kibum smirked at Minho’s back and folded his arms across his chest, following behind. When he reached the curious boy, he stopped and looked him up and down. The boy just looked back, smiling knowingly at him. As Kibum walked to the table where Minho and the other guy now sat, the boy followed closely behind Kibum, almost right at his shoulder. Weird.

“Bum”, Minho said quietly, pulling out books from his bag and setting them on the table in front of himself. “Go find something else to do. I’m going to study now and I don’t need you breathing impatiently at me for the next hour.” He looked up at Kibum and cocked his eyebrow.

“Aren’t you even going to introduce me to your friend?” Kibum returned the cocked eyebrow and paired it nicely with his arms folded across his chest.

“Sure. Jinki, this is Kibum. Kibum, this is Jinki. Done. Go away.”

5 minutes later Kibum found himself sitting on a bench outside, a few minutes away from the library, sipping on a hot chocolate. The other boy, Taemin, was sitting at the other end of the bench, also drinking a hot chocolate. A drink that Kibum had purchased. He wasn’t entirely sure, but somehow Taemin had convinced him to buy one for him, too. He watched the boy out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t seem too much younger than Kibum himself, but they didn’t go to the same school, so he couldn’t be sure. Taemin had one of those faces where he could be either older or younger than he looked.

“You’re trying to figure me out.” Taemin didn’t even look at him. He just continued to happily blowing on the hot beverage and watch a couple of squirrels chase each other nearby.

“Uh...” Kibum looked away and took too large of a mouthful of his drink, burning his lips and tongue in the process. “Well,” he said, panting slightly, before speaking again. “I don’t know you… or that guy we left Minho with.”

Taemin turned and looked directly into Kibum’s eyes as he blew on his drink. The direct eye contact made Kibum a little nervous, and almost embarrassed, but Taemin didn’t seem bothered at all. “I know exactly who you are,” Taemin grinned. “You’re Kim Kibum, senior cross-country runner at this school and Choi Minho’s best friend, ever since he can remember. You’re bossy and straightforward and you don’t care what anyone thinks about you.”

Kibum just gaped at him. How in the world did this kid, whom Kibum has never even SEEN before know exactly who he is? “Wh-what the heck, man?” and stuttered out, pullng his coat tighter around himself. “Who the heck are you? How… HOW do you know about me???”

Taemin laughed, and scooted closer to Kibum on the bench, something Kibum was NOT okay with, and he leaned as far away as he could. Considering he’d already been against one armrest, it really wasn’t helping him out. The younger boy stopped about an inch from Kibum’s side and rested his elbows on his knees. He stared down at the ground, playing with his now empty cup. “You’re Minho’s best friend. I’m Jinki’s cousin. Jinki helps Minho study about once a week. You think they only talk about calculus that entire hour each week?”

“So… they talk about me?”

“I guess they talk about themselves. And since you’ve been around so long and you’re such a big part of Minho’s life, you get mentioned a lot.”

“So… why do YOU know the stuff about me? Are you there every week, too? How old are you??”

Taemin opened his mouth to speak, but quickly snapped it shut. He looked up at Kibum and bit his lip, obviously contemplating something. He looked so sincere that Kibum let his guard down. He bumped his arm against the younger boy’s and smiled reassuringly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” He crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back, puffing out his chest. “I’m just famous, I guess.”

Taemin laughed again. He leaned back and put his arm over the back of the bench behind Kibum. “I know this stuff because Jinki talks about it. He doesn’t have much else of a social life, and I guess I’m kind of his verbal diary or something.” He chuckled again and let out a sigh. “Oh, and I’m 16 and a half. My birthday is in July!”

“Ah, so you’re a baby.”

“No.”

This time it was Kibum’s turn to laugh, the sudden chagrin on Taemin’s face really tickling Kibum’s soul. He shifted, cupping Taemin’s face in both hands and giggling. “Oh my goodness! How cute! What a cute baby!”

Kibum could almost feel the frustration seeping out of Taemin. Just as he was about to reach up and ruffle the younger’s jet black hair, Taemin darted his head forward and kissed Kibum on the mouth. It was quick and light, no real feelings behind it, but it shocked Kibum enough to cause him a full halt. Taemin leaned back and flashed him a mischievous smile.

“I’m definitely not a baby.”

Kibum blinked a few time. Then, he laughed again, this time hard enough that he doubled over, clutching his sides, his hot breath pours out of his mouth into the cold air. When he had regained himself, he sat up and grinned at Taemin. “You’re right. You’re not a baby.” He lightly tossed his empty cup into a nearby garbage can. “You’re a goober, that’s what you are.” He stood up, feeling reenergized. Turning around, his grin still planted on his face, he grabbed the amused looking brunette by the forearm and pulled him up next to him. “You think they’re done with their session?”

Taemin smiled mischiviously again and tossed his cup away, as well. “Probably not, but we can just stare at them sadly and they’ll end it quickly.” He held out his arm and Kibum gleefully intertwined his. There was quite a bounce in there step as they headed back to the library.

“Do you think you could convince Minho to buy us food?”

“As if that’s hard.”

Kibum knew he’d definitely made a new friend today, and Taemin was perfect!

~~~~~~~~~~

Author's note:

I'm so sorry this took so long to update! Taemin threw me for a loop and I wanted to make sure to do him justice.

I LOVE all the comments, so don't be shy!