"well, we have to solve this." kibum groans into his sleeves, before jumping up muttering something along the lines of 'acne' and 'dirty clothings'.

"we see, impeccable idea, to be honest." taemin unfolds the hands underneath his chin, propping his glasses back to the bridge of his nose, "question though," he raises a finger, swiping it at the speck of dust on his glasses, "just how, are we going to get to it?"

kibum rolls his eyes, circling his neck and giving out a sigh. a rather loud one. "is it necessary for me to do everything for you? c'mon, i thought of the great plan, it's up to you to fill in the details," he grins, "good luck, pretty boy.".

taemin frowns in dismay, face scrunching up but wrinkles were nowhere to be seen. that was probably the reason why he was another guy that was often hit on by the other guys. he was irresistible.

that's right.

he is irresistible.


--


the past two months had been rough on jonghyun; neither could he focus in class nor pluck up the courage to date another. jessica guessed that he'd been serious about minho, unlike the other dudes. too bad you're gay. i would so date you. you sure you're not interested in girls? and she winked at him. still sends shivers down his spines. spine. right. maybe if he had a backbone he wouldn't have gone to the extremes in avoiding jerk face. he was still sort of sad over the incident.

there were moments when the both of them had to interact. namely, thanks to eli -- that douche just had to plan team-building between the soccer and football teams. he didn't need the extra balls. especially when they constantly got the other as their appointed partners. jonghyun swore there were underhanded tricks played -- he got jerk-face as his partner for three out of every five games. sorry, was he wrong to have doubted the way kibum would smile to eli every time the both of them were paired together? son of a just had to interfere.

he seemed a little disjointed when he'd arrived at the locker room, probably due to the scorching sun (really baked him). adjusting the strap of his knapsack, he couldn't help but wonder how many degrees was it currently out? how many more seconds till it was winter? how were the soccer members fairing in the heat? what about the football team? was minho doing just right? does minho miss him just as much as he does? did minho's heart flutter as well during the team-building games? yeah. you get the drift.

truth to be told, jonghyun hadn't known what he'd been waiting. for minho to get down on his knees and beg for his forgiveness? or to shout out into a crowd when he least expected, declaring his love and how much he was willing to do for jonghyun. understandably, it wasn't going to happen anytime, judging from the way minho would scoot further away from him once the games were over. he probably hates jonghyun just as much as how jonghyun hated himself. inexplicably, jonghyun had all the reason to doubt himself with the ten different explanations he came up with over the course of two months.

one. jonghyun was good-looking. who's going to deny that? hey, jonghyun wasn't going to beat around a dead horse just to tell you he's pretty damn able.

two. his lovable personality. no. he firmly believes no one can ever hate him 'cuz he's bubbly and innocent. or whatever you called corrupted teens in denial.

three. he's talented. he could play the piano, the guitar (both the acoustic and electric, mind you), he could sing, dance, and he's pretty good in bed. he had a group of people who could definitely testify for that. the ones that go, "oh -- jonghyun," in the middle of the night where the lights would be switched off. also the ones that went, "you me in like a black hole," and continue ing steadfastly; deeply, firmly, and fast, despite jonghyun's trashing when he was reaching his own high.

four. minho wasn't that kinda' guy. you know -- unlike the douche quarterbacks you see on tv (ie. glee), minho had a heart. jonghyun strongly believed in that.

five. what they had seemed real. i guess.

six. the both of them were committed. they were even holding hands on the streets. that meant that they were getting serious, didn't that? strolling down the lakes with their hands intertwined and bodies pressed close to the other, the hushed make-out sessions and they would have behind the bushes where the kids played.

seven. the fact that they've already been considering marriage? pewpewpew: they were obviously so serious about the other. i mean, you don't just talk about marriage with someone you've met only for a couple of months. ...right? 

as for eight, nine and ten, he'd get to them later. when he has sufficient brain cells to think of them. he just really couldn't get why minho would do that to him. hadn't he been a great partner or lover or whatever guys call their gay half? jonghyun knew he'd been loyal as far as he could remember. save for the couple of times when he had tried making minho jealous by not pulling away from friendly-turned-sensual hugs from other guys. another funny story, minho got suspended from college for a week (seemingly impossible with his composed personality) by punching another junior who couldn't keep his hands off jonghyun, the latter not even bothering to separate the both of them. he liked the attention guys would give him.


--


jonghyun hadn't thought much about taemin being within a hundred feet near the field; he was just looking for someone. he did brood over the fact that taemin wasn't here to look for him -- but looked for minho taemin did. he was just sad and disappointed that one of his closer friends was getting close to a jerk that messed up his life.


--


minho yelped when he felt a cold bottle of water pressed to the right side of his cheeks, "take it," and not forgetting his manners to thank the unlikely intruder after the said bottle was ed into his arms.

"what are you doing here?" minho uncapped the bottle with ease, eyes still following the other, "jonghyun's at the other end, team-building is on every wednesday to friday. it's monday.".

"nope," taemin settled himself down on the unoccupied ground in front of minho, "i came to look for you.".

"for?"

"just wanted to get to know you better, you know."

minho froze for a couple of seconds, eyes glancing back and forth taemin's eyes and at the soccer team practicing for the upcoming semis.

"you're cute." taemin giggled.

reiterating what minho did, he glanced at the field before touching his own face. "something wrong with me?"

minho shook his head, awkwardly smiling before standing up, uttering a "i have to get back to the field, thanks for the water." and walked away.


--


"-- and he didn't even turn back to look at me!"

"see? i told you it wouldn't work." jessica said while applying on her lip gloss.

taemin glared at jessica's direction and made a grab at her cosmetic pouch, holding onto it tightly, "if you're going to sit there and do nothing, you either leave and never come back or contribute somewhat or I'm going to drop this bag of stuff onto my crotch."

"hey!" jessica cried out, "although, it's not as though I've not touched a boy's before. do it."

"i will ing pee on it."

"alright, alright!" jessica whined and let out a groan of frustration, "so, minho didn't give a about your advances?"

"i guess he did. but he kept looking at the field as though jonghyun-hyung would march forward anytime." taemin sighed, shrugging his shoulders at the same time.

"i bet minho-oppa still loves jonghyun-oppa so, so much!"

"inference of the century, krystal." kibum snorted.

"enough, alright? this isn't about who's smarter now." he sighed again, "the faster we can get this settled, the earlier both jonghyun-hyung and minho-hyung can get back together. it saves us all these trouble and friendship crisis we're going through now. i want to hear nothing but suggestions on solving this problem and nothing else or we'll just leave this problem to naught and we can just wait and watch jonghyun-hyung cry everyday." taemin rambled.

"...okay."

"what we really need to do now is to let jonghyun understand that he still likes minho deep down, i bet a thousand clams that he doesn't even know what he wants." jessica scoffed.

"how are we going around it?"

"to be really honest, kibum, i don't know. we have to think of this together as a group. but taemin, continue with your advances; if minho doesn't know you're hitting on him, it's time for him to know."


--


jonghyun liked the blue skies and sunsets with a tinge of red hue. he liked warm cozy coffee shops, the acoustic guitar and sunday mornings. he preferred deep and velvety dark roasted coffee to a cup of heavily bodied espresso. he liked preppy songs and winter. he really loved the way babies would salivate every time they babbled, eyes widened with sheer curiosity. he liked people whom he could communicate well with; may a topic of photography pique their interests like how his would be. he liked the arts. the vibrancy of colors ready to psyche one up.

jonghyun hated politics. he hated the news. he hated war, violence (though he had to admit, soccer was sort of violent) and obnoxious people. he hated the dark, warm afternoons and soccer practice. he hated fast food, pizza and cafeteria food. he hated the way minho would make him feel every time he was near. he hated how close the both of them would have to be during team-building games (he wasn't that gay to start with!). he hated how much minho made him cry. he hated how minho affected him so much that all he could sing was about queer love and wanting to be loved every single time he sang.

he needed a time-out.

maybe hang out with that cute barista from the neighboring starbucks that has been giving him free drinks whenever he patronized them.


--


"hi hyung," taemin plopped on the vacant seat next to minho.

"hey, you look happy." minho mused at the newly-arrived boy.

taemin glanced over, hands awkwardly rubbing at his jeans (to the extent of clawing them off) and exhaling out of exasperation. he s a hand over to minho's thighs, sliding them into his inner thighs, dancing dangerously near his crotch. taemin felt minho tensing up a little before removing his hands and placing them on his knees.

"well -- sorry -- i... have to go."


--


"and he left me, again!" taemin wailed, fingers turning white from gripping the table.

"you're so useless." amber laughed.

"why don't you try it, man-girl?" taemin propped his chin on his arms and squinted his eyes.

"scoot over," kibum swatted taemin's arm, "both of you , watch how the prodoes it.".


--


minho stared off at the other end of the field, watching jonghyun run around, chasing the soccer ball. he looked happy. and minho liked that.

minho liked jonghyun's smile. he liked the way jonghyun would pull on his tie during presentation day. he liked how jonghyun wouldn't notice anything else when he was immersed in singing. he liked how jonghyun would tighten his grip on minho's arm whenever he placed kisses on his neck. he liked how jonghyun would smile every time they shared a look. he liked jonghyun so much. he liked whatever jonghyun liked. he loved him so ing much.

he hated how much jonghyun hated him. none of this would've happened if he hadn't promised joon to be at that frat party. if he hadn't taken that drink -- hooch or something? none of it would've happened.

life just does you in at the most appropriate timings, doesn't she?