“Isn’t Key more tired today than usual?” Minho asked as he poked the said boy slightly with the end of his pencil. Key didn’t even stir. 

“I don’t know, I was out with my friend last night and I saw him running by, I think he went to the convenient store near our school.” Jonghyun replied with his face buried into his comic book. 

“Key goes there a lot, doesn’t he?” 

Jonghyun crunched up his face slightly, thinking. Key did go there a whole lot. He had never really given it much thought, but now that he did, his best friend practically spent most of his free time there. But it never seemed strange to him because most kids did the same, if only to talk to Jinki or to grab something on their way to school. Their town wasn’t awfully big or anything, and Jinki’s family was loved amongst those in the neighborhood. Still, for someone who was always so rude to Lee Jinki, Key spent a lot of time being around him. And he knew his friend enough to know that Key never hung around people he did not like; unless there was something in it for him. 

“I think he likes the freezer section, he is always there,” Jonghyun finally concluded as he closed his book. “Maybe he is an ice cream addict.” 

Minho face-palmed himself, “please think before you open your mouth.” 

= 

“Can I reserve this for later? I don’t seem to have carried enough with me,” an elderly lady fussed with her purse. “Strange, I thought I made a list and calculated…huh, did your parents raise the prices?” 

“No ma’am,” Jinki told her, his tone perfectly polite. There was no hint of impatience, no hint of irritation that she so often heard from the youths these days. His smile was genuine, even if it did scrunch up his eyes. “But why don’t you just take these for today? We can always settle the difference when you come back.” 

“Oh, I can’t just walk out of here without paying.” 

“Looks like it’s going to rain, I’d feel better if you were at home when the storm kicks in.” He told her, “I won’t forget your face.” 

She smiled; how could there be such a good young man? 
 

= 
 

“Hey, I’ve been thinking, why don’t you like Jinki hyung?” Jonghyun asked. He calculated the steps it would take for them to reach the next temporary roof to hide them from the rain. Maybe they should just stay under the gym’s roof until the rain ceased. 

Key turned to look at him quizzically, “no particular reason. He’s just…so irritating. How can anyone be so freaking happy all the time? Does he not have any other emotions? It’s like he’s completely carefree.” 

"Doesn’t he have to watch everything he says so he doesn’t offend people?" Minho pointed out. "I don’t think carefree is the right word. If anything, Key is carefree since he never watches what he says.” 

"Or he is just rude," Jonghyun chimed in. 
 

Minho grinned, "same thing." 

“WHAT? I am not rude.” Key gave an exasperated sigh, “But anyway, sometimes I think, no one can be so freaking one dimension. He has got to be pissed at some point, so why doesn’t he say it?” 

“I think he’s just nice…” Taemin piped up. He was huddled together between Key and Minho, and he was freezing. He hadn’t realized how cold he was until he spoke and his teeth chattered slightly from the effort. 

“Come here, Taeminnie,” Jonghyun grabbed Taemin's hands and shifted their positions so that he was now standing between Jonghyun and the wall; Jonghyun’s back faced the rain and blocked away some of the wind. He stuck the younger’s boy hands into either side of his pockets. “Warmer yet?” 

“Yeah, th-thanks hyung.” 

“You should bring a thicker jacket,” Key scolded as he stood rubbing Taemin’s arm. 

“I forgot,” the youngest smiled. 

“Why didn’t you tell him to bring a better jacket when you came to walk with him this morning?” Minho asked Jonghyun, frowning. 

“I didn’t notice, okay? Gosh. Do I have to notice everything about Taemin?" Jonghyun turned back to the youngest, "no offense. I do notice...you...but...hm..." 

Minho grinned at Key slightly, his smile was suggestive and the message was hard to miss. Key sighed. A part of him wished it had been Minho. He would be so much better for Taemin, unlike this clueless rat who was now clinging onto Taemin because he got cold himself. He only made the younger boy wetter. When he had time to think about it, Key thought that Taemin and Jinki were a lot alike. They were both always smiling, but Taemin was slightly more shy; in fact, there were times Key hardly noticed his presence. Taemin had his moments of charisma when he was dancing, though, something he had done well since he was in elementary school. 

Jinki, on the other hand, was never a forgotten thought for him. The older boy stood out so much that Key knew if he was blind-folded and stuck in a room full of people, he would be able to find his way to the other somehow. Key wondered what would bring out his charismatic side? He tried to imagine Jinki without that stupid smile, but couldn't. He tried to not imagine Jinki in anyway at all, but couldn't.

"Hey, it's stopping, we should make a run for it," Minho said as he grabbed Key's hand and dashed off, leaving the other two yelling incoherently behind them. 

"I don't want to leave Taemin with that loser!" Key screeched, "why did you have to go and do that?" 
 

His friend laughed, a rich sound that lit up his face. Minho was a mystery to Key. His personality was always full of contrasts. But he always saw too much, without saying much at all. 
 

Key wondered what Minho noticed about him and his particular one-sided obsession. 

= 
 

When his legs took him in front of the familiar glass door without his conscious consent, Key cursed out loud. Loud enough for disapproving looks to be sent his way. Maybe it was because he just finished going through puberty, but he really found the foul words liberating. 

And of course, there he was: the object of his obsession, stacking boxes on the shelves. 

"Hey, how may I help you?" Jinki asked in that sickening voice. It was soft but not delicate like Taemin's. It was deep but not like Minho's. Just...it was just sickeningly...Jinki's - Key groaned, he was putting his perfect body through a lot of stress; he wondered if that had any damaging health issues. The older boy always charged his whole body system and heightened his senses like those stupid horror movies. Then again, he had a soft spot for horrors, too. 

"...that looks...fun," he pointed to the boxes. "I want to do that." 

"Uh, sure," Jinki smiled slightly, there was hesitation in his voice, "I am not sure how stacking shelves is fun." 

"I don't get to do it." 

"You don't...work..." It was a statement because everyone knew it.

Key nodded, "exactly. I never get to work." 

His mom and his grandma pampered him because he was an only child and male no less. Too bad he couldn't partake in anything male-worthy, like producing an heir to inherit the Kim's family name. 

They worked side by side, and the charged air seems to dissipated somewhat. Maybe it was because Key was distracted and didn't focus all of his attention on Jinki. Oh, he still noticed that Jinki smelt like soap, just clean soap. His bangs often got in his way, causing him to flip his hair like he was in some sort of shampoo commercial. But he liked the companionable silence in which they worked, how efficient they were at getting things done. 

"Hey. Let's be friends," Key didn't mean for this tone to sound demanding, but it really just came out that way, even to his own ears. 

"Oh...sure," Jinki uttered nervously. 

"Do you have any other tone?" 

"What?" 

"Your school boy choir nervous thing...it gets on my nerve." 

Jinki blinked, "...sorry." He cleared his throat. 

"Ugh. It will have to do. Anything else we need to do?" 

Key looked around the store. Everything was neatly in place, and the shelves he helped stacked looked great. He stepped back and staggered on the stool, that he swore wasn't there ten seconds ago - behind him. Key groaned in frustration. He tried to get up the same time Jinki bent over him, trying to help. Their heads collided, and Key swore he heard his skulk crack. What the freaking - ? 

"Ugh, idiot," Key grumbled. "What the heck!!?" 

"Sorry," Jinki stammered, in a clear panic. 

"What did I say about being annoying?" 
 

"Sorry." 

= 
 

"I'm sorry," Jinki said again some time later. They were now done with organizing and was simply enjoying the cool breeze that brushed against their faces as they sat on the sidewalk outside of the store. 

"I'm going to throw this at your head." 

The older boy chuckled, "you must really not like me." 

"It's...not that," Key sighed.

It was probably the opposite of how he felt. More than anything, Key knew he was just frustrated at himself. There were times when his uality bothered him, but he didn't really think much of it when he was alone or amongst other people. It was something he had accepted from when he was seven, though it still pained him that genetic cloning was not socially acceptable. He wanted a kid who looked like him, damnit. But when he was around Jinki, he felt it. He felt the attraction that he knew shouldn't be there. But at those times, there was no right or wrong, no gender, just simple attraction. The blood stirring kind that put him on edge because his system knew what it was missing, what it craved. Lee Jinki was like a vortex, dangerous and overwhelming. 

"Have you...ever thought..." he trailed off when he felt the intensity with which Jinki was studying him "about your ideal type?" 

"Huh?" Taken back, the other boy simple stared. Then Key watched as he tried to focus on the question. His face was now scrunched up; face head slightly tilted to the side. "I guess just whenever you see someone and you know, right?" 

"What if that person was another guy?" 

Jinki swallowed with a gulp, "uh. You'd still know? I don't...guess I never thought about my ideal type." 

Ah, there was the sound of rejection. Key spent too much time obsessing over a certain choir nerd who looked like he was ten when he was really a university student. And that same kid didn’t bother to give him a second thought. Kim Kibum really had bad tastes.