“What...?” Taemin was at a loss for words; he did suspect Kibum was up to no good, but he had no idea the senior was capable of doing something like this. He just didn't seem that vindictive, but then again, he had messed around even where he swore he wasn't...
“What do you mean?!” The younger one demanded when the senior kept silent. Even Jonghyun was quiet, but they were staring each other down like wolves ready to attack one another.
“Where the hell did you come with this bull?!” He eventually asked as he gave the shorter one a mighty shove, Jonghyun pushing him right back.
“Don't make it sound like I'm imagining things, or that I'm making up lies. I heard you telling Minho about it. How sick are you in your head to want to hurt someone by spreading such bad rumors just for a 𝑏𝑒𝑡? For your amusement?” Jonghyun had been one of Kibum's closest friends, and he didn't want to believe the younger one would really be so cruel, even though he had seen it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears. If anyone could pull off a disguise well, it was Kibum. He probably had everyone fooled that he was nothing more than a judgemental senior ready to get the hell out of high school, when in reality he was a snake...maybe worse than some of the cheerleaders who always stole one another's boyfriends.

There was no way Kibum could defend himself - Jonghyun had quite obviously heard about the bet back in the corridor of school with Minho, he wasn't making that up, and the diva didn't really want a scene to happen. There were too many people now, and he didn't want to he exposed for the person he really was. He had a reputation to uphold!
But Jonghyun was adamant on showing everyone just what a sneaky fox the younger one was, even if it meant doing it here at the dance.

“Why did you do it?” He asked, and Kibum looked at him for a little before he shrugged. Thankfully, right now, only him, Jonghyun and Taemin were really engaged in this conversation; no one else seemed to notice something was going on. Hopefully Kibum could diffuse the situation before it escalated.
“Kibum,” This time it was Taemin who spoke, “why did you do it?”

He was hurt that his ex would want to do something like this - everyone in the school knew that a senior sleeping with a junior wasn't because they exactly liked the younger students, but just because they wanted something on the side. And for a junior to be a made it worse, especially if the senior was someone like Kibum now that everyone knew he was screwing around with Minho.
“Why, Kibum?” Taemin asked again when the older one didn't answer, and the mentioned man felt something tug on his heartstrings as he looked at the blonde who seemed as if he would break into tears at any minute.
“I...don't know. I just wanted to get back at you,” He answered without really thinking, and Jonghyun felt his one fist clench.
“For what?! He didn't even do anything wrong! You have such a big ego, honestly!” The shorter one exclaimed and gritted his teeth together, “if anything, Taemin should be the one getting back at you for the stuff you did!”
“Oh, just shut up. You'd swear you're the one that's after Taemin's , and not me, or Jinki,” Kibum said with a groan as he shook his head. People were starting to crowd around them, and not because more students were coming into the dance. Eyes were trained on both Kibum and Jonghyun, as if they could tell a fight was going to happen. And nothing would make this night better than a fight between two seniors who weren't jocks fighting over a girl.

“You're the only one who wants that. Guaranteed, Jinki isn't someone who's so desperate for like you are. !” Jonghyun yelled out, and even though it wasn't aimed at Taemin, he felt his cheeks heat up. It always sounded like such a dirty, lewd word to him, even though he had heard it more than just a couple of times. He was sure his thoughts on that wouldn't really change.

“First you want Taemin, probably just to sleep with him eventually, then it's Minho, who's next? Me?” The shortest said, “we all know you could never keep those legs of yours shut,”
There were a few giggles from the audience before quiet chatter started amongst everyone, and it was Kibum's turn for his face to turn red as a tomato. He felt embarrassed more because of the fact that it felt like his dirty laundry was being aired out, and not really because it was true. Though everyone knew it was.
“Shut up!” He hissed again, ducking his face to somehow try hiding, even though he knew that wasn't possible. Snickers and laughs were surrounding him, and it made him feel insecure for the first time in a long time; it had taken him at least three years just to accept his own uality, and another year to really learn to love himself and not care what people said about him. Now, it felt like all those feelings of disgust for himself was coming back as well as the feeling of insecurity due to the fact that people were laughing so blatantly at him. He couldn't trick his brain somehow and try to convince himself that it wasn't ℎ𝑖𝑚 they were laughing at, but rather something else - it was so painfully obvious he was the of the joke, and probably would be for the rest of the year at this rate.

“What? Are you gonna cry? Why don't you call Minho since you can't seem to let him go? Or did you have another fight and now you're angry at each other again?” Jonghyun was on a roll now, and the crowd around them was only egging him on more and more. He knew this wasn't him - he was never someone who would so ruthlessly call someone else out in front of other people, especially in front of their schoolmates, but these things had to be said. This was the only way Kibum would learn some humility, even if it was a horrible way of doing it.

The younger one was never a fighter, but he had just been pushed over the edge. No one was allowed to talk about him or Minho or their relationship like that, and before he could even think of the consequences or what he was about to do, he lunged at Jonghyun with his fist raised.
Taemin got tugged back by none other than Jongin as the fight began to break out, both males throwing punches back and forth. No one tried to separate the two of them - instead, the students did what the younger generation was used to doing, and whipped out their phones to record everything.

It was only when the fight began to get intense - punches connected, kicking started, and just general chaos happened - did other seniors step in to stop the brawl before anyone could get hurt. Jinki was one of the seniors that broke up the fight, even though he really wanted to see Kibum get his kicked - he deserved it, in the black haired man's opinion. But he didn't want to get in trouble with the teachers if this got around to them all; if seniors were there and didn't break up the fight, there would be disastrous consequences for them later.

He roughly tugged Kibum to one side, away from Jonghyun before he could break free from the arms of some other seniors, and then glared at the younger one.
“Is it true?” That was the only thing he really wanted to know - or maybe he did already, he just wanted the diva to admit it - and Kibum was fed up enough with everything and everyone, so he just admitted it all.
“Yes, okay?! Yes. I made a bet with Minho that if I get Taemin in bed with me tonight, then Minho and me would go public. If not, then Minho and I would break up,” He said as he huffed and puffed, the crowd still buzzed from the fight. The students hadn't seen a fight in at least two years, so this was more than just exciting for them.
“So why did you pick on Taemin for it? Why not just do it with anyone else?” Maybe it was just that Jinki didn't understand Kibum's mind, but he really couldn't comprehend why the senior would do something like that to an innocent junior.
“Why someone else? Taemin broke up with me, he deserves it!” Kibum was starting to sound crazy even to himself, but he couldn't think too much about it since Jinki had swung a punch his way.

The younger one yelled out from the pain and frustration as he felt some blood drip from his lip, and both him and Jonghyun got dragged out of the large hall before the teachers could come and investigate the matter.
Taemin had gone outside to get a breath of fresh air once both seniors were ordered to go home by their peers, and Jongin came to check up on him.
“Are you okay?” He questioned his friend and gave his arm a gentle touch to hopefully make him feel somewhat better in the way of letting Taemin know he was there if the older one needed to speak about things on his mind.
“I...don't know,” The blonde answered honestly. It all bothered him so much, the fact that Kibum was willing to do something like this to him, and he didn't really know what to feel. Maybe he deserved it, maybe Kibum had every right to ruin his reputation in the school, and maybe all of this happened for a good reason. That reason being to show Taemin just how ruthless and cruel Kibum could really be. Maybe this was all just a wicked twist of fate, and that fate was trying to teach the junior not to fall into traps like this easily; he was somewhat interested in getting back with Kibum when he first came to the dance, but obviously, the senior had shown his true colors once again and proved to Taemin that he was no good.

“We could go to the playground, if you want?” Jongin offered, but the older one shook his head with a sigh. As appealing as it sounded to just get away with his best friend and maybe shed a tear or two, he didn't want to be selfish. The junior maybe needed time to himself, too, now that Taemin thought about it.
“No, no. Kyungsoo came, right? So how about you stay and enjoy yourself?” He knew just how excited the freshman was to finally have someone special, and he didn't want to ruin any time the two of them could have for one another.
“Are you sure? I really don't mind,” Jongin said, but his eyes danced and sparkled at the thought of staying here with Kyungsoo.
“Yeah. I'll go home, I think,” Taemin replied. He gave his best friend a hug and then started walking to his car, only to be stopped by a voice calling out to him.

“Yes?” He asked when he turned around and saw Jinki jogging over to him.
“Are you going home?” He asked, and the younger one nodded silently as he played with his keys in his pocket which caused them to jingle.
“Hm...well, I don't think you're feeling that great, so how about we go get something to eat?” He asked, and Taemin shook his head with a sigh. As caring as the senior was, his attempts at taking the junior on a date were becoming somewhat pathetic.
“Look, hyung, I just don't want to think about dates and those kinds of things right now. I thought I was ready and that I had moved on, but I didn't. Not completely, anyway. And I don't want to get involved with anyone if I'm not ready for it,” He said lamely with his one hand in his pocket, looking around with a small shrug.
“I didn't think of it as a date. I just wanted to cheer you up,” Jinki said, a bit stunned, and Taemin glanced back at him with a tired expression.
“I just want to go home. I'll see you on Monday,” He said, and then unlocked his car before getting in to leave.

When he got home, he tiredly stripped down and put his nice suit away - what a pity he never really got to enjoy his night. The dance would go until twelve, which meant there was about four hours left, and the thought depressed the junior more. While everyone was having fun, he was alone in his room, sad about what his ex really planned to do.

Taemin had always wanted to have his first time with someone special, and he had thought the someone special would be Kibum. He was saving himself for the senior, and he hoped it would happen soon, but not like this. He was somewhat glad the truth had come out, even if it made his heart ache.
He opened his bottom drawer and pulled out a framed photo of him and Kibum, running the pad of his thumb over the senior's smiling face. He wanted so badly to believe the older one was somewhat happy with the junior, but he just couldn't convince himself of that. He wanted to fall asleep knowing he had done a good job, that he had made Kibum smile often like the senior did for him...but was it really the older one that made Taemin smile, or the thoughts of the cute things they could've done together back then?
Taemin sighed.
He wished he had taken more photos, more videos, and just had more items to remember his ex by. He wanted to replay all their nice memories they had once, tonight for the last time, and just let it all go. Maybe he'd cry, or maybe he'd just feel numb. He didn't know.
He would miss the occasional hugs which would result in the bursts of happiness that would last for a few hours, he would miss the smiles that Kibum would throw at him, but most importantly, he would miss the love he could feel sometimes. Maybe it was fake, and maybe Kibum really did do it just because he was bored, but he was the first feeling of love Taemin had ever felt in his life. And that was something the younger one would never forget, no matter how much he really wanted to.