Jonghyun looked at the clock that was on the control panel of his car.

18:45

He still had about fifteen minutes to decide wether he was going to get out of the car or not. It was a hard choice to make, right now. Half of him wanted to get the car working again, and just leave this parking lot and the upcoming appointment behind. The rest wanted to go into that bar and just hit the insensitive bastard that once had been his best friend. His best friend that he hadn't seen, nor talked to for the past three years.

When they started attending University, Jonghyun and Minho had been unseperable. They were part of the normal kids, though they might have gotten a bit more attention around campus than some one or other student. That had mostly been due to their hobbies. Minho was the sport freak, like you'd call it. He was in the basketball and football team, an awesome allround athlete. He generally ranked at least under the Top 10 whenever an athletic competition took place, but he wasn't the kind of person to boast about it. He took it for granted, but that was that.

Besides his fit attitude, he also found a lot of girls liking him for his handsome looks. He was tall, well built, and his big round eyes and plump lips seemed to capture the heart of more than one young female student. Minho was just the clichee of popularity.

Jonghyun himself, despite not having anything against sports, was more the musical type. He loved to sing and to play the guitar, or bass. He was part of a small college band, and they had smaller gigs in the campus cafes. There was potential, and their fans seemed to be there just because of that. Of course Jonghyun also attracted a lot of girls, but unlike his best friend it was with his sweet and more romantic character. More than one girl hoped he would write a ballad and confess to her under the balcony.

Jonghyun was smaller than Minho by a good 4 inches. It didn't bother him as much as people thought it would, though it wasn't always pleasant to be called small by your best friend, even if he did mean it only jokingly. The singer was broader than his athlete friend, and surprisingly had more defined muscles. His skin was a little darker, too.

All in all, both boys were met with admiration and respect throughout their university lives. And it was a common knowledge that Kim Jonghyun and Choi Minho were best friends through thick and thin. 

And so the years passed. Nothing changed between them, though Jonghyun felt something change in him. It was small at first. He couldn't quite place what it was, and he didn't act differently at all.

Halfway through their studies, Jonghyun and Minho one day met a student named Kibum, or Key as he liked to call himself. He was majoring in Design, and he was something else. Or at least, the two friends thought he was. 

Key was the outgoing, open-minded kind of guy. He laughed, a lot and out loud, he nagged and he talked. Oh boy did he talk. But Minho and Jonghyun, who at first weren't sure if they wanted to get to know the guy at all, got used to his unique way after not being able to escape him. They started bonding with the boy, whose yellow hair was just as bright as his attitude.

Their friendship was deep, and Jonghyun started to notice what had changed the deeper it got. He didn't look at girls as much as he had before. He didn't even go on dates. After about a year and a half of befriending Kibum, he couldn't even remember the last time his head was filled with anything else but him. Sure, there was singing, and the band, and Minho that where also there. But not quite as much as Kim Kibum.

The singer didn't take it well at first. He couldn't actually imagine why, out of all the people in the world, out of all the pretty girls out there, he chose to fall for Kibum. Though to have chosen wasn't the right word. It wasn't like he could have helped it at all. Jonghyun had always thought himself as straight. Until... yes. Until Kim ing Kibum.

Some time after admitting to himself how he felt about the blonde Design major, the latter cornered him in his band room after practice. They were alone, and it wasn't like Jonghyun actually knew what he was doing. Key came to him, tears running down his rosy cheeks, and Jonghyun couldn't help himself but wrap the boy tightly in his arms. And then, yes, and then Key confessed. 

At first, the singer wasn't sure how to react. Having come to accept his uality was one thing. He didn't get to think as far as what would happen after that. But he couldn't deny how happy he felt when Kibum wrapped his arms around him, kissing his cheek, his forehead, his lips. Jonghyun didn't think he could ever feel this complete.

The more the relationship advanced, Jonghyun realized that Key was just everything he had ever wanted. He was sweet to him, he was feisty at times, he was so good in bed, and he gave the singer more to discover each new day. Jonghyun never wanted to end the relationship that they were having.

But one little problem arouse over the months. Key and Jonghyun hadn't yet told Minho anything about it, which made Jonghyun uncomfortable. He didn't want to hide anything from his best friend, let alone something that made him this happy. But Key wasn't sure how the athlete would take it. It was clear that the tall man wasn't interested in men, and they actually never had heard him speak about the issue. Jonghyun had no idea how his best friend would feel about the pair of them going out.

Jonghyun took his chance one day after class, as he and Minho moved to the campus park to relax some. Key would be joining them later, he had wanted to finish one piece for his new collection.The singer didn't mind his boyfriend to stay behind, and he figured he could smooth the news onto his best friend a lot easier when alone. Unsure how to start, Jonghyun just blurted everything out without a warning.

"Minho, Key and I are dating."

He didn't have the courage to turn his head to look at his athlete friend, so his eyes stayed fixed before him, looking into the distance. Minho's voice was wavering when he answered.

"... What?"

Jonghyun sighed. "Key and I are dating, I told you." His eyes were still wandering in the distance, and his hands played with his fingers in his lap.

The voice of his best friend was laced with coldness when he answered again. "You got to be kidding me."

Jonghyun looked down into his lap, a sad smile grazing his lips. "Nope. I am perfectly honest. Does it bother you, then?"

It might have been a better idea for Jonghyun to look at Minho instead of not being able to meet his friend's gaze. Because then he might have had just the time to evade the punch that was coming his way.

The athlete's fist collided with his jaw without him being able to do anything about it. The pain shot through his head, and he bit the inside of his cheek from suprise. He could taste the blood forming in his mouth as his body was thrown back by the force of the hit. Eyes wide with shock, he turned them to his best friend. 

Minho was standing, breathing heavily, a look of hatred evident in his round eyes. "Does it bother me? Does it bother me?! You're a ing , Kim Jonghyun!" The taller man came towards him, step by step, his fist clenched at his side, trembling from the anger running through him. "How long has this been going on, huh? Tell me, hyung, since when?!" The words were spat. Jonghyun had never seen Minho like this.

But he could do nothing. The shock he had gotten from getting hit by his supposedly best friend, whatever might ever happen between them, was too big. He couldn't even answer the younger. He just looked at him, unable to put his thoughts together. This clearly enraged Minho even more. He held  Jonghyun by the collar and started to hit him repeatedly in the stomach.

"Since when have you been betraying me? TELL ME!" His words were growing louder with each punch he landed on the singer. Jonghyun couldn't open his mouth, but this time it was from the pain. Pain from the blows he was receiving, and the pain in his heart. How could he have known that Minho would react this way to everything?

After a few more blows, and one more to his head, the athlete let go of Jonghyun. "Don't ever contact me again, hyung. Don't you dare. I don't associate with faggots."

Jonghyun was laying on the grass in the park, clutching his stomach, as he watched his former best friend walk away from him. It hurt, it hurt so much more than the pain in his body. Tears started falling from his eyes, and onto the ground. He didn't know how long he had been laying there, face in the gras, crying. Then he heard Key's voice, and felt his hands grabbing him to pull Jonghyun into his arms. One look at Key was all Jonghyun needed to break into an even bigger fit of sobs. And Kibum stayed with him like this, rocking back and forth, cursing Minho with all his heart.

The past was running by Jonghyun as if it had just happened mere hours before. He had been betrayed by his best friend, someone he had thought would stand next to him through everything he went through. How could he have been more wrong?

And now, said man had contacted him. When Jonghyun had answered the phone, he almost let it fall right onto the floor as he recognized Minho's voice. He wanted to scream at him, or to just end the call right away. But somehow, somehow he just listened to Minho asking for them to meet up. And agreed in the end.

Now it was five minutes past their meeting up time. Jonghyun let out a deep sigh, took the car keys and got out of the vehicle. Shutting it off while walking towards the bar, hands clenched together in his pockets, he proceeded forward. Once inside, his eyes ran across the room, until they settled on a young man sitting in a corner at a table, a glass of red wine standing in front of him.

Minho hadn't changed much. He was still tall, handsome, his hair dark and tousled. Jonghyun was surprised though when he looked at his eyes. The round eyes of his former friend looked worn out, but he could see something in them that he couldn't quite place. Guilt, maybe? Jonghyun was wondering what the man was thinking about, as he made his way towards him.

When he sat down in front of the other, Minho looked up from the table. His eyes met Jonghyun's, and the singer thought that he could see relief in the other man's features. They looked at each other in silence for a few moments, until Minho started speaking.

"Hey Jjong. Long time no see, huh?" A half-hearted smile ran about his lips. 

Jonghyun remained unfazed, his eyes having a firmness in them Minho wasn't used to. "Yeah, well, someone told me not to contact them anymore, I guess." His words were colder than he intended them to be.

The man in front of him grimaced. "Right. Yeah, well..." Minho trailed off, looking out of the window as if trying to find something out there.

Jonghyun waited.

The athlete's hand went up behind his neck, nervously running through the base of his hair. "How are you and Key?" He asked with a small voice. Jonghyun shrugged.

"Well, we've been good. A lot going on - Key's collection is getting a whole lot of attention, and I guess the recordings for my first album are going alright." He eyed the younger. "Though we had some nasty times back when my best friend decided he didn't want to associate with faggots, you know. But I guess I should have anticipated that." Jonghyun aimed the words at Minho, keeping them as unpersonal as possible. He didn't know why, or when he had become so resentful, but he was enjoying the apparent uneasiness in Minho's look.

"Look, Jjong, I-"

"No. No Minho. , you look. Do you have any idea how it hurt us? How it hurt me? I thought we were best friends through, well, everything. No matter what it would be. And then you go, and just... throw it all away cause I like guys? I honestly tried to console myself by thinking you were crazy. It worked to some extend." Jonghyun laughed coldly. "But I guess our friendship was just not worth it, huh?"

Minho cringed at the words. He had felt terrible over the years himself. Jonghyun had been his best friend after all. He had overreacted. Even more because something had happened to himself a few months later, and it just felt so much more like betrayal.

The athlete sighed before he began speaking. Jonghyun's eyes were fierce, fixed on Minho's every move.

"Jjong... I have something to announce. And you will not like it. Hell, I think you are going to rip my head off, but... you were my best friend, and I just... I want you there." He looked hopefully over to the singer. Jonghyun didn't move though. "A few months after I... overreacted -" He heard Jonghyun take a deep breath, " I met someone. I felt alone, so alone at that, and I knew it had been all my fault. I was stupid, prejudiced and just wrong. But Jonghyun, I... I met someone, and I fell in love." Minho paused for a few second.

Jonghyun looked at the man on the other side of the table, looking at him up and down. He wondered why Minho had called him here to announce that he had found a nice, beautiful, stunning girl. Maybe the other just wanted to rub it in his face after all this time.

Minho, who had been looking down onto his hands, chuckled bitterly to himself. "It's really just ing perfect, isn't it? I'm such a hypocrite for everything. It was as if fate wanted to kick me hard in the gut for what I did to you and Key. But... I couldn't help it. I wondered all this time if it was just the same for you and Key. He was so perfect. He's nice, stunning, helplessly cute and he just... damn, he just fascinates me even more the longer I look at him. I had never imagined this, either. But he filled the loneliness I felt after I screwed up, and I found myself falling in love with him." Minho looked up.

Jonghyun was sitting there, frozen. Had he actually heard right? Had Minho, Choi Minho, just admitted he had fallen in love... with a male? The singer looked at the younger with wide eyes, unbelieving.

Minho's lips formed into a sad smile. "Jjong, I am in love with him. I... I fell in love with a man." He paused again, waiting for Jonghyun to say something. He didn't. "And... I am really, really sorry. For everything. Honestly, I was such... such a back then. I knew I was wrong the moment I walked away, but you know me and my pride. It just came back around at me, hasn't it?"

Jonghyun was still looking at Minho as if he had just announced he had won in the lottery. He couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't decide whether he should be even more angry at his former best friend, or what else he should feel. He could tell Minho was genuinely sorry, and it helped. It helped so ing much. After all, Jonghyun had never stopped hoping Minho would come back to him. He missed his best friend, almost every day. He had been such a big part of his life. 

So the singer decided although he couldn't stay mad much longer after Minho had earnestly apologized, he would at least not let his pride fall completely right away. He cleared his throat, not sure where to look at.

"So, uh... " He couldn't find any words. Minho was looking at him expectantly and hopeful. Jonghyun had to look away, embarrassed. Silence passed between them, and Minho's heart was sunken by a bit. He had hoped that Jonghyun would forgive him, so much. He hadn't yet told him everything - and he really wanted his best friend to come back. 

Minutes passed, and Minho gave up every hope. Then Jonghyun turned to him again, eyes sheepishly avoiding his.

"So, that fellow. What's his name?"

Minho's eyes widened. He knew that Jonghyun was trying to protect his pride, but if his friend was already asking for specifics, he knew his cause wasn't lost.

"Lee Taemin." The athlete answered, a relieved smile illuminating his face. Jonghyun nodded. "Cute name." Minho smiled wider. "He is the most perfect person I have ever met." The singer looked at him warningly. Minho chuckled. He almost felt as if they had gone back to normal, after three ing years. "Oh, you know, Jjong. Next to you and Key, of course."

Jonghyun chuckled. He couldn't help it. It felt way too good to talk to Minho like this again. He couldn't deny it anymore. Smiling, he reached his hand over to his renewed friend. 

"Forgive and forget?" He grinned. Minho looked at his hand, his own lunging forward to take it. 

"Hell yeah, man."

They both looked at each other with the most stupidest grin on their faces. Friendship does make fools, it seems. Minho was the first one to speak again.

"Actually, I have a favour to ask. " He looked at his best friend, who nodded, curious. Minho smiled, playing with his hands, embarrassed. "You see, Taemin and I... well... we're planning to get married. And I have no one else who I want to be my best man more than you. Do you think...?"

Another smile ripped at Jonghyun's lips, like they had so much over the past few minutes.

"Well, I don't know about that... I mean, you have been a pretty big ..." He chuckled as Minho choked on his wine. "Nah, bro. I'm just kidding. Of course I'll be your best man. Key'll about it at first, but don't get too surprised when he'll call you in for tailoring, alright?"

Minho laughed. "Alright. Hey, Jjong?" Jonghyun turned his head to him again. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."