Taemin strolled alongside Kibum and clapped like a trained monkey every time something interesting would catch his eyes. At the moment, it was an ice cream cone dancing in the street. He laughed delightfully as the ice cream cone did some weird arm movements.

"Taemin?" Key laughed at him. "Stop that before people think you are crazy."

"Oh but hyung! He is so cool! Can we get some ice cream? Please? Please?" Anyone who could resist the puppy eyes was a man stronger than Kim Kibum. So he allowed himself to be dragged into the ice cream shop and patiently waited for Taemin to order. 

"I want...banana! Yes...definitely banana," Taemin was saying to the sell lady. 

Kibum wondered what it would be like to work in an ice cream shop. He had never tried it before. Maybe he should?

"I have it somewhere!" He heard Taemin saying and then he rummaged through his pockets for what Kibum presumed was change to pay for his ice cream. Kibum sighed and he handed the lady his red credit card

"Here, I got this," Kibum said and patted the younger boy on the shoulder.

"Oh, thanks hyung! I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it."

"Oh!" With that, Taemin dashed off, leaving him to get the ice cream. Kibum smiled at the lady and thanked her before going off to find where the energized boy had gone. He found Taemin in one of the corner booth, beaming at him when he sat down with the ice cream.

"Don't run off like that," Kibum scolded. "What if I lose you? Your mom would hate me."

"I'm not a kid, you know!" Taemin pouted but smiled again when he retrieved the ice cream. He ate it with as much enthusiasm as he did anything. He couldn't help it if everything made him happy! "How's Jjong hyung doing?"

"He's fine, I guess. He's been acting really strange lately, though," Kibum frowned at the table, collecting his thoughts slowly as he spoke. "Sometimes he just goes into one of mood and he becomes really distant. And then just like that, my best friend is back and we'd joke around...and then - I don't know. He's just really bipolar, you know?"

"Oh. Do you know why?"

"He's just sad, I think. I've ever seen him mope over a girl before, so I wouldn't know. I guess this is how he deals?" Kibum held up both hands, palms up, in a shrug.

"You know hyung," Taemin studied him intensely. "Sometimes...I think you really are stupid."

"WHAT!?" Kibum exploded but he ignored the stares coming from some of the customers. "YAH! WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME LEE TAEMIN!?"
---


"Cheer up," Jinki said as he patted his friend's back. He didn't really know what else to say. Minho was usually better at comforting because he always knew what to say. Having people depend on him made Jinki uncomfortable.
 

"But...I just...can't, you know?"

"Can't what?"

"Act normal around him."

"Around who?"

"..."

"..."

Jinki jumped slightly when Jonghyun growled and glared at him, frustrated. "WILL YOU TRY TO KEEP UP!?"

"...you don't have to yell," Jinki muttered, "I didn't do anything!"

Jonghyun sighed, "okay...wait, wait...don't cry, Jinki hyung. I'm sorry! Do you want candies?"

"YES!"

He smiled brightly when Jonghyun took out a bag of milk tea candies and handed him one. He wondered if they made chicken flavoured ones? No one else would eat it, but he would!

"Anyways," Jonghyun was saying, "I just act so weird now, you know? And I know I am, but I can't help it. I try to just be normal around him because he is my best friend after all, but - then all these feelings will just come rushing back whenever I am around him. And if I don't get away from him...I feel like I'll do something really stupid, you know?"

"I thought I was your best friend?"

"...no, no, you are. In a different way."

He didn't do it often, but for Jonghyun's sake, he settled down and focused on what his friend was really saying. And he tried to give advice. "Why don't you...tell him?" Jinki thought the answer was an obvious one, but that was the best solution all round, right?

"I can't..."

"Why not? If you can't even bear to be around him because it is so suffocating, why don't you just tell him?"

Jonghyun blinked because he never expected to hear that from Jinki. And he hoped he never would hear those words again because they brought on such unpleasant feelings. He couldn't speak when he was around Kibum because the strong urge to tell him was there, but he couldn't manage to tell him either because the fears all held him back. What if Kibum didn't feel the same way? What if he ruined everything and risked a friendship he would never want to lose? It wasn't simple to be in love with a friend, but it was even worse that his friend had to be a guy. Though he didn't think of that when he fell in love with him  - he simply did. As simple as that. 

But what if it wasn't simple as that for Kibum?  He had never hinted at being gay, and it was stupid of Jonghyun just jumped to conclusion. If anything, having his best guy friend confessed to him would put him at a really bad place. The rejection from his first love would...

"OH!" Jinki smiled at him, "why don't you just move in with me for awhile? You know...get your thoughts all sorted out? We'll give Minho to Key." Jinki clapped at his idea, he liked it! 

"Shouldn't you ask Minho first before you sacrifice your roommate for me?" Jonghyun teased.

"Nah, he won't mind. He can live anywhere." That was true.

"I can't..."

"Why not?"

Because Jonghyun didn't like the idea of being away from him, though he knew that it was stupid. He thought about just walking away a few times, or just tell Kibum it wasn't working out. But he couldn't bear with the thoughts of being parted - not now.

---
 

Kibum hummed a little, he didn't even mind carrying all those bags up the narrowed staircase. He pushed open the door with his leg and smiled when he saw Jinki on the couch, watching T.V.

"Where's Jjong?"

"KEY!" Jinki greeted him with a smile - one that was genuine and it made him want to smile, too. "Had fun?"

"Of course! I bought some stuff for Jjong, too."

"What about me?"

"Uh," Key searched through his bags. "I got this nice hat, want it?"

"It's yellow!" Jinki immediately put it on his head. "Like chicken. Thanks, Key."

"...it's not a health obsession you've got going on, Jinki hyung"Key said as he settled down on the couch beside the boy who was still smiling as he played with his hat, trying to find a good angle.

"Why? It's been with me for twenty two years*," Jinki replied, he sounded like a little kid when he acted like this. Key knew better though. Beneath the childish demeanor, Jinki cared deeply about his friends and was willing to do anything for them. He had the biggest heart of anyone Key knew, and he always listened well to others ? even if sometimes he?d get confused easily. 

"Where Jjong?" Key asked again for the nth times. 

"He's getting ready to go out, he needs a break, you know?"

"Oh," Key sprung up from the couch. "Can I come? I want to cheer him up, too!"

Jinki hesitated, "Oh...but he needs a break from..."

"Of course," Jonghyun quickly said as he emerged into the living room. He exchanged a weird look with Jinki in a way that annoyed Key because he didn?t like being left in the dark. "Of course you can come with us, Kibum."

"Why do you insist on calling me that? It's Key."

"But...everyone calls you that," Jonghyun said.

"That's the point."

That was exactly the point, Jonghyun thought as he sighed to himself. He didn't want to call Kibum by some stylish nickname like everyone else; he wanted the real Kibum.