A/N: So, I'm glad I decided to write this story about AJ. Why? Because since the video for Forbidden Love, he's officially my second bias in U-KISS. Legit, excluding all of the parts with Soohyun ing into his crotch, this is my favorite part:

And this:

- It's like... that simple head shake and the neck- this is enough to make my wet. That, and I found an audio post of him singing and... yeah. 

ANYWAYS - onto (what I assume to be) a long-awaited update! :D

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Jaeseop

The guilt gnawed away at me on the inside as I sprawled myself across the couch in the two-bedroom apartment I shared with my best friend.

I had just left her hanging. I had broken one of our unspoken traditions without warning her. I didn’t call her and let her know or anything.

She was going to be so pissed at me.

Unless she hit it off with Myungsoo. If she hit it off with Myungsoo, then I would be in the clear. She would be so dreamy-eyed she would completely forget about my move.

God, I felt so guilty… I just laid there on the couch, staring at the apartment ceiling and only thinking about her and what I was doing. Why was I doing it again? Oh, right – she wanted a boyfriend.

“I don’t like being single anymore,” Naru whined as she dropped her head onto the table.

“Why’s that?” Amber asked with an amused smile.

“Because I’m lonely!” She whined. Amber scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“What are we, then?” She asked, gesturing between me and herself. Naru groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Amber, you know what I mean,” she huffed and crossed her arms, pouting adorably. “I just… I want someone to cuddle with on rainy days,” she sighed and folded her arms on the table, resting her chin on her folded arms. “And who will watch bad movies with me and joke with me about how terrible they are. And who I can make laugh and who makes me laugh.”I was about to point out to her that she and I pretty much already did that, but then she mumbled, “I miss kissing...” into her arms. I my lips and dropped my hands into my lap so that I could clench them into fists without her noticing.

We didn’t do couple-y things in public, but when we were alone in our apartment we would often curl up together underneath a blanket and watch bad movies, just like she wanted. I would make her hot chocolate when she was stressing over homework, and she would always coo about how she loves me as she took gentle sips. But I didn’t want her to coo about how she loved me like she does with all of her close friends.

I wanted her to look me in the eyes with a sincere smile and tell me that she loved me – I wanted to be her boyfriend. The only things that would change would be the way she tells me she loves me, and we would exchange kisses whenever we cuddled, and I could be as intimate with her as I desired. I would still listen to her problems, and I assume that she would still listen to mine, and she would still laugh whenever I’m being a smartass, and she would still do her best to make me laugh.

But she probably considered us “just friends,” and I didn’t want to risk what we already had. But I also wanted her to be happy. I started drumming my fingers against my leg, trying to think of something that I could do for her.

“Jaeseop?” I snapped out of it with a jolt and blinked at her surprise.

“Huh?” She smiled at me and giggled.

“What’re you thinking about?” She asked, leaning on the table and watching me with curiosity shining in her eyes.

“Just… zoning out,” I lied, smiling softly. She shrugged and then went back to talking to Amber, and I went back to my plan.

One thing that I knew was that if I couldn’t have her, I would want her to be with someone who I could trust not to break her heart.

After I reached that conclusion, I made a list of all of the guys that I knew and was friends with. Then I went through and marked out all of the guys who I wouldn’t want Naru dating. Then I went through and marked out all of the guys who I didn’t think Naru would want to date, followed by the guys who already had girlfriends and the guys who I knew didn’t want a relationship at the moment. I looked through the list and sighed, dropping it on my lap. After I had all of the guys who might like Naru and who Naru might like I went through and numbered them in order of who I would ask should the guy before him not work.

The first person on my list was Myungsoo – I met him through Eli.

“AJ, I want you to meet someone!” Eli said with a bright smile, patting me on the back while gesturing to a guy next to him. “This is Myungsoo, a friend of mine. Neither of you hangs out with a lot of people, so I figured I’d introduce you!” He smiled at the two of us and left, leaving me standing awkwardly across of this ‘Myungsoo’ guy.

“If he thinks I’m unhappy with the number of friends I have, then he doesn’t know me at all,” I sighed.

“Same here,” Myungsoo nodded.

“Do people seem to assume that you’re kind of antisocial and don’t have that many friends?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah… but in reality I’m a smartass and have to restrain myself from saying something that will inevitably piss somebody off,” Myungsoo sighed.

I could see us becoming good friends.

After getting to know Myungsoo, he was actually the first person that I thought of when it came to setting up Naru with one of my friends. Hopefully she would get along with him as well as she gets along with me…

But then I thought about the possibility of her considering him “just a friend,” where I probably was. I was snapped out of my thoughts violently when the door slammed open.

“Kim Jaeseop!” Yeah, she didn’t hit it off with Myungsoo.

I rolled off of the couch as the door slammed shut and hurriedly army-crawled behind the kitchen counter before she could see me. I listened intently to the rustling sounds of her taking off her jacket and shoes and flinched when her purse and keys hit the kitchen counter, the sound dangerously close to my head. I listened to the soft sound of her footsteps and swallowed nervously when they walked around the kitchen counter and stopped. I slowly dragged my eyes up her body, wincing when I made eye-contact with her angry glare.

“I’m… sorry?” I squeaked, smiling weakly. Her eyes and frown twitched and slowly melted into a look of loss as she let out an overdramatic sigh.

“Why can’t I stay mad at you?” She whined, leaning against the edge of the counter and sliding down until she was sitting next to me. I visibly relaxed and smiled at her.

“Because you love me?” I ventured, nudging her with my arm.

“Don’t push it, I’m still kind of mad at you,” she scoffed, lightly punching my arm.

“But you can’t stay mad at me for too long~!” I sang, grabbing her wrist when she pushed me so that I could pull her into my arms.

“Stop it, I’m still mad at you!” She objected, but she burst into uncontrollable laughter as I started to tickle her sides. “Stop!” She tried to squeal through her laughter.

“Say that you forgive me!” I laughed. She squealed and writhed in my arms, struggling to grab my wrists and push them away.

“Never!” She cried out, still in a fit of laughter. She squealed and scrambled away from me as soon as she was able to push my hands away. Still laughing uncontrollably, she scrambled to her feet and jumped over the couch, using it as an obstacle between the two of us. I also jumped to my feet and chased after her, also laughing loudly. We darted around the couch, me chasing after her as she squealed with laughter while running away from me.

I knew that she was having fun because if she actually wanted me to stop, she would have made a beeline for her room and slammed the door in my face. Instead, she ran around the living area and kitchen of the apartment we shared, laughing and giggling as I tried to catch her.

She tried to swing around the couch and use her socks on the hardwood floor to slide passed me, but the floor wasn’t slick enough and I was able to grab her around her waist as she tried to get by me. I swept her into my arms, enjoying her playful squeal as I dropped her onto the couch and pinned her there.

“Say that you forgive me,” I demanded. I made the mistake of not pinning her wrists down, so she was able to giggle and put her hands on my chest, effectively shoving me off of her. I yelped as I fell off of the couch, barely grabbing onto her as I fell off of the side and hit the floor with a small grunt. I had my arms wrapped tightly around her waist, but she continued to squirm in my arms and try to push away from me. “Say it~!” I taunted, ignoring the stinging feeling in my back.

“Never!” She continued to laugh in my arms, trying to push my arms off and roll away from me. She barely got away, but this move initiated a wrestling match on our living room floor between the two of us, which ended abruptly whenever we heard someone clearing their throat. Our laughter and movements ended abruptly as our heads snapped up at the same time to stare at Amber in horror; she simply stood casually in the apartment doorway, looking at us with a cheeky smile.

“I heard squealing and thumping noises and thought someone was being murdered,” she deadpanned as she closed the door while kicking her shoes off, putting her backpack down next to them and removing her coat.

“It-it’s not like that!” I blurted out as I scrambled away from Naru and backed myself against the couch. “We were just messing around!”

“Y-yeah!” Naru agreed with me as she sat up, fidgeting at her cheeks started to turn red. “We were just playing…”

“Yuh-huh,” Amber said with a wide smirk that vaguely reminded me of Myungsoo, albeit sans-tongue. “Suure~…” she sang, obviously not believing us as she leaned down to grab her backpack once her coat was hung up. “Anyways – Naru? You said that you’d help me study.”

“Right!” Naru squeaked, scrambling to her feet and gesturing for Amber to follow her into her room, closing the door once Amber was inside. I watched the door for a moment before pulling one of my legs up, resting my arms there so that I could let my held fall onto my folded arms. I closed my eyes and let out a soft yet dragged out sigh.

I was in deep, and I wasn’t doing anything to help myself.