Onew stared blankly at Minho’s laptop, which the other four members were also crowded around at the moment. He had just returned from the CN Blue dorm, having been invited over for a game night earlier that week. Yonghwa had dominated them all in poker while Joon had proved to be particularly bad at all card games. Upon his arrival, Jonghyun had yielded him over and pointed out the episode of Weekly Idol that they were watching.

“We’re just monitoring our hoobaes,” Minho claimed, and Onew didn’t bother to argue. He must’ve joined them during a particularly crucial moment because all the members were staring at him with a hint of a grin on their faces. He watched Luna (and wow, did she look pretty in that skirt) smile from her seat on the high stool.

“TEEN TOP’s…” And then he heard a slight giggle. Why was she giggling? “L. Joe.”

Wait. What was the question? Ideal types?

Onew watched as the two male MCs became giddy and felt a small pout tug at his lips.

“Most people would have selected Niel or Chunji, but the fact that you selected L. Joe means you 100% have a crush on him.”

Luna waved her arms around in denial, caught up in laughter. “I’ve seen Teen Top’s stage before, and Niel has a lot of camera time. I’ve seen him dance and sign a lot, but on the other hand, L. Joe stays in the back and only appears during the key moments.” Luna reasoned.

The interview continued with the MCs constantly teasing Luna about L. Joe, and Luna constantly laughing but waving her arms in denial.

Onew stood up abruptly and grabbed his phone. The other members looked at him, a hint of mischief still on their faces, but Onew was unaware of why.

“Jinki-hyung, are you going back out?” Taemin asked, smiling.

“Yeah, I think I left something at Yonghwa’s dorm.” Onew lied. “And I think I’ll stop by the market afterwards, do we need anything?”

Key walked over to the kitchen area and scribbled a handful words down onto a notepad. He ripped off the page and handed it to him. Onew grabbed the list and left with a wave.

“Hey Kibummie, text Amber and tell her to send Sunyoung to get groceries.” Minho chuckled. “I’m glad hyung didn’t walk in a couple minutes earlier or this would be no fun.”

Key plopped back onto the couch, nimble fingers already typing away on his phone. “Why did you think I gave him such a long grocery list? Jjong and I just went to the market yesterday.”

What was so good about L. Joe? Yeah, he is handsome.  And the same age as Luna. And is quite y. And he has a charming laugh.

Onew frowned. He could be handsome, y, and charming too. But was that the kind of guy Luna wanted? He could still remember her one statement on the set of Happy Together that had sent him into a temporary euphoria.

“When I first heard oppa’s voice, I thought he was very cool. He studies well, he sings well, he greets well, he is also very good-looking. I thought he was perfect groom material.”

He remembered clapping and laughing and smiling so hard that Jonghyunie later told him his eyes were completely gone for the next few minutes.

Onew knew they were young—really young—especially since they were also idols, but he couldn’t help but hope that he would really be perfect groom material for her until he became the perfect husband material.

But TEEN TOP’s L. Joe? Lee Byunghun. How could he compete with someone whose very being oozed iness? Even Onew wasn’t left unaffected by his charms. Onew hadn’t had many chances to meet with TEEN TOP, since SHINee’s overseas promotion was growing stronger than ever, but Byunghun never failed to greet his SHINee sunbaenim when they did.

He couldn’t help but feel that no one else would ever be good enough for Luna in his eyes. Except for himself, of course. She really was f(x)’s vitamin—always bright and cheerful. She was the same on television and radio as she was in real life. Charming, loud, fun, playful, real. And he would never get tired of her voice—she is always improving herself and it shows.

Onew had no right to be defensive about anything though. They were friends, and that was that. He didn’t have the slightest clue as to whether or not she was even romantically interested in him, and even if she was there was little they could do as long as they were under SM. Luna was close to a lot of male idols… what made him any different?

Sometime during his ponderings, he had made it to the market. He absentmindedly grabbed a shopping basket and pulled the list Key had scribbled out of his pocket.

Snacks with low dietary fiber.

Onew raised a brow at the vague request, but proceeded down the snack aisle, carefully inspecting the back of products for details.

He was reading the back of a box of pretzels when he felt a soft pressure on his arm.

“Oppa!”

He looked to his side, surprised to see Park Sunyoung holding on to his arm. She was dressed casually in a pair of sweats and a hoodie. The hand that wasn’t sending tingles up and down his spine was lightly swinging a basket full of fruit. Walking towards them from a few paces behind them was Krystal, who quickly gave a slight bow and greeting upon his noticing her.

“Ah, Luna, Krystal. Where is noona? Doesn’t she usually do the shopping?”

Luna’s hand dropped from his arm and he briefly stared regretfully at it before meeting her eyes.

“Amber-unni said they had to talk about something and asked Soojung and I if we could pick up some stuff. She got a text message and looked all serious so I didn’t question them.” Luna informed him.

Krystal stared at them for a bit before grabbing the basket out of Luna’s hands. “Hey unni, I’m going to go get bread first.” She said before walking away with a knowing smile on her face.

Luna turned her attention to him, eyes bright and smile wide. “Jinki-oppa, I haven’t seen you much recently! How are you doing?”

“Great. Good.” Onew nodded, plastering his usual smile on.

“That’s good.” She nodded and they both fell uncharacteristically silent. She wrung her hands together as Onew fiddled with the box of pretzels in his hand.

“Did you watch our interview on Weekly Idol?” Luna asked, blinking up at him. God, she was adorable. “The manager-oppas are bound to give us a duet soon.”

Wait, what? Onew stared at her, confused. “Why?”

“Oh, I guess you haven’t watched it yet.” Luna laughed. She looked down at the list in his hands. “Here, why don’t I help you.” Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed the crinkled piece of paper from his hands and immediately began pulling stuff off the shelves and into his basket.

Onew stared at her inquisitively, letting her do the shopping as he just looked on with wonder. “What about collaborating with L. Joe?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh, so you have seen it.” Luna hummed, never breaking her concentration as she flipped around more boxes to read nutritional details. She then giggled a bit. “That would be quite fun, wouldn’t it? I have never really sung with a male rapper before, so it would be a nice experience.” She paused for a bit, and then shot him a grin. “I really want to try as many musical styles and collaborate with as many different artists as I can. But I’ll try to save any ballads and trot songs for us.”

Onew couldn’t help his smile and laugh. Us. He liked the sound of that. Onew and Luna. Park Sunyoung and Lee Jinki.

Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, Krystal appeared from behind him. “Unni! We have to go, Vic-umma just called.” She handed Luna the basket and lightly pushed her towards the registers. “I didn’t bring any money so it’s all on you.” She said, sticking out a tongue.

Luna pulled a face back at her, and Onew found it absolutely charming. She turned to face him with a smile. “It was really good seeing you, oppa.” She grabbed one of his hands. Their eyes met. His smile broadened. She slipped away and with a short bow, walked away to pay.

He the crumbled list that she had transferred into his hand.

“Hey oppa, you missed the beginning of that interview, didn’t you?” Soojung piped up from beside him.

He had nearly forgotten she was there and jumped a bit at the sound. “Huh?”

“At the Weekly Idol interview, when they asked who unni wanted to collaborate with. She said your name first.” Krystal grinned at him, eyes twinkling. “No hesitation at all. They asked her the question, and right away she said ‘Onew-oppa.’”

Onew let out a laugh without meaning to, and a new smile was plastered on his face that was bound to be there for at least the next hour.

“Oppa, I can’t see your eyes anymore.”

He laughed again.

“Soojung-ah!” He heard Luna shout.

“Coming, coming!” Krystal muttered back. She said goodbye to him and began walking away.

Onew waved and looked at the shopping list while checking his basket. Luna had gotten almost everything on the list already.

“Oh, and oppa,” Krystal’s head peaked back into the aisle and Onew looked at her. “You’re always Luna-unni’s first choice.” Krystal said quietly with a grin. “For everything.”

He was smiling so hard that it hurt.