I love his almost-dimple so ing much.  OMG!

~~~

Onew stood nervously in the doorway waiting on Taemin to get his shoes off.  He looked around the room awkwardly, taking in the homely sight of family portraits along the walls and an array of shoes stacked messily on the shelf by the door.  

Onew smoothed his pants nervously, forcing his hands into his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting too much.  He had opted for a pair of fitted brown pants and a simple tee shirt; he figured he should go for a casual look when all he was going to do was tutoring Taemin.

He had actually never been to Taemin’s house before, hence why he had never known about Minho.   They had always met up at the center after school to study rather than visiting each other at home.  They had even gone out afterwards o a few occasions, grabbing a bite to eat at a street cart or stopping by a PC room to play video games but in all the time they had known each other neither had ever visiting the other’s home.   

"So you must be Jinki!  I've heard so much about you!"  Taemin’s mother exclaimed as the two boys made their way into the kitchen.  She shared the same bright smile as Taemin, her dark hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she had an apron wrapped around her waist.

Onew bowed politely.

"Yeah mom this is jinki hyung.  He has stuff after school from now on so we are going to study here instead,” Taemin informed his mother casually, grabbing some glasses for the both of them and digging through the cupboards looking for snacks.

"That's fine honey.  I'll give you boys some space if you want to work at the table in here,” She offered kindly.  

"Thanks mom!  Is hyung home yet?”  Taemin questioned, motioning for Onew to take a seat at the table as began putting crackers in a bowl for the two of them.

"Yes, he just got in a little while ago, I think he is showering right now,” Taemin’s mom responded as she finished wiping off the counter, taking off her apron and hanging it up on a hook behind the door.  

"Okay,” Taemin muttered, plopping down at the table with Onew. 

His mother set down her dishtowel and slid out of the room, giving them full use of the kitchen table for their studies.

Onew shifted uncomfortably, toying with the coaster under is now-empty glass.  There was just something so personal about being invited into someone’s home.  He was getting to see a part of Taemin’s life that he had ever even known existed.  Sure, logically he knew that the younger boy had a family, friends, actually hobbies outside of math worksheets; he had just never given it much thought.  But now that he was there, sitting at Taemin’s kitchen table, drinking out of Taemin’s patterned glassware he couldn’t help but feel like he was barging in on something private, something he wasn’t supposed to experience.

It only made the feeling of guilt worse to remember that it wasn't just Taemin's house anymore.  It was Minho's house.  And that made Onew nervous as hell.

"Well Taemin-ah, we might as well use our time wisely right?  What do we need to work on?"  Onew asked, forcing a smile on his face as he reached for his messenger bag, pulling out his books and a multitude of pencils.

Taemin laughed lightly, rolling his eyes and giving Onew a strange look.

"What?"

"Hyung I don't have any homework tonight," Taemin responded as if it were the most logical answer in the world.

"What? Then what are we doing?"  Onew asked, confusion lacing his words.

"Messing with Minho-hyungs head," Taemin said with a playful smirk.

"Taemin!  I thought you really had work to do!"

"I know; I lied.  Now sit down and look like you are having fun!”

"Taemin-ah I have a bad feeling about all this," Onew said, his tone worried and unsure. 

"Hyung it's fine, stop wor-" Taemin began to say but he was cut off as a very undignified squeak fell from Onew’s mouth.

Onew’s eyes went wide as Minho casually strolled into the kitchen.  Taemin’s mother had been correct; he had just gotten out of the shower and was wearing nothing but a pair of black sweatpants.  His hair still wet, dripped onto his very bare and very sculpted chest in the most tantalizing way.  His whole body was smooth and visibly tone; his baggy pants were seated low, showing off dangerously sharp hipbones.

In short, he was the epitome of every wet dream Onew had ever had.

Minho's eye met Onew's and the younger boy froze on the spot, confusion clouding his features.

"Hyung! I want you to meet someone.  This is my Jinki hyung, he is my tutor from the center," Taemin said, turning on his false innocence immediately.

Minho nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on the older boy.

Onew gulped, trying to keep his eyes up and his thoughts clean. "Hello Minho-ah," He said softly. 

"Oh! You two have met before?”  Taemin asked brightly.

Minho glared at his brother sharply, obviously seeing right through his innocent facade.  Minho ignored his question, nodding his head at Onew in greeting, "Onew-sshi," He said simply, his tone hard and emotionless. Minho proceeded to walk over to the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of water before shutting the door with just a bit too much force and strolling out of the room as quickly as humanly possible.

Onew’s forehead fell onto the table in defeat, a low groan falling from his lips, "Taemin he hates me.  What am I even doing here?"

"Such a drama queen," Taemin muttered, rolling his eyes.  "He doesn't hate you.  He might actually be a little bit in love with you."

"And how exactly do you get to that conclusion Taemin?  He gave me the death glare!”  Onew responded, his tone obviously adgitated.  He was tired of being lied to.  He was simply making an idiot out of himself because Taemin and Jonghyun kept feeding his faint flicker of hope that the younger boy liked him.

"Hyung you are being ridiculous!”

“I am not being ridiculous, I am being rational.  Now can I go home and just wallow in self pity for awhile?  Because I am not going to let you lie to me anymore, he clearly hates my guts."

"Hyung, are you blind?  Didn’t you notice what Minho hyung was wearing?"

"You mean nothing?  Yes I ing noticed!  Are you trying to kill me?"  Onew said in his harshest whisper.  The last thing he wanted was for Minho to overhear this particular conversation.  

Taemin rolled his eyes, "No hyung, did you notice his pants?"

"Taemin I feel awkward saying this in front of you but no, I was honestly not looking at his pants," Onew responded.

"Hyung they have the FC Seoul logo on them," Taemin said pointedly, waited for the flicker of recognition in Onew’s eyes.

"You mean..."

"Hyung he has slept in them every night since he got them.  Trust me when I say he doesn't hate you."

"Maybe they are just comfortable?" Onew replied, his pessimistic thoughts taking over.  He wasn't about to let himself get all worked up over a single pair of pants.

"Hyung, he likes you.  Now we are going to sit here and laugh like we are having the time of our lives.  You want to know why?"

"Why Taemin?"

"Because right now Minho hyung is in the living room trying to watch television in order to distract himself from the fact that you are here, in his house, breathing the same air as him.  I want him to hear us having fun.  I want to make him wonder what we are talking about.  So what do you say hyung?  Let's make him jealous."

Onew chewed on his lip, deep in thought.  Maybe Taemin was right.  But even if he wasn't, what harm could it do to have a fun evening with his friend?  Minho or no Minho he might as well have a good time with Taemin.

"Hey Taemin, what did the 0 say to the 8?"

Taemin cocked an eyebrow, smirking in victory as he waited for Onew to continue.

"Nice belt."

Their combined laughter rang pleasantly through the small room.

The pants.  Minho you romantic bastard. 

Taebaby is a sneaky little thing too. Also, hinted Taefood.  Because it is the best ship of all the ships.

There is a Minho interlude for this chapter that will be posted like next week maybe.  I'll add the link here when it is posted but follow the other thread for the update.

Unrelated to anything but they took away the page break option on here and I am not happy about it.  You guys know about my OCDs when it comes to formatting.  I need everything to be uniform or I can't function.  I CAN'T WORK UNDER THESE CONDITIONS AFF!  Seriously considering moving to lj more and more every single day....

They put it back, I am no longer pissed.

Also, this thing is being temperamental as right now so I will try and read it over again when it doesn't take an hour to scroll down.  :|