Kim Kibum felt it, a surge of electric pulse that went from the top of his skull to the base of his feet. The ground was titling slightly, and the world became a fuzzy pink. The heat from his skin could fry an egg right now if someone decided to be funny and cracked one on top of his head. His heart came to a complete halt, and then went into a sprint. So many hormonal imbalances were happening to him that it was impossible to catch his breath. He was a healthy teenage boy, after all.

“…K-kibum?”
 

Oh Lord.

In the midst of their sidewalk talk, Jinki decided the summer’s heat was too much for him. So the boy went and doused himself with water – which made his white t-shirt transparent and clung to his not-so-flabby body. Droplets were trickling down the side of his face, and Kibum gulped as he followed the trail of one particular drop. It went down Jinki’s neck, and disappeared into the collar of his shirt. His mouth went dry…and he craved water. Particular the ones clinging onto Jinki’s neck and eyelashes; Kibum grimaced; he had never felt the need to another being before.

“Uh…” Jinki shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. Why did Kibum’s eyes have that predatory gleam he sometimes saw on his cat?

“I-it’s…g-getting…late, did you want to go?”

“No.”

“O-oh…well, want to go to my room?”

Kibum’s mind shut down before it could conjure up embarrassing thoughts that would lead to an even more embarrassing situation, “no. Come to think of it, I should go.”

“Oh, okay. Bye?”

He wished Jinki’s voice wasn’t so inviting even when he was being infuriating. He was older yet he always stuttered like an idiot. 

Just then a woman who looked like she was in her late eighties came up to them. Kibum gave her a half-hearted bow and smiled. She gave him an indifferent nod to acknowledge his presence then turned to beam a smile in Jinki’s direction.

“Good, I caught you. Here is the money I owe from this afternoon,” she handed him a white envelope.

Jinki bowed fluidly, like one of those knights in the movies. His smile was warm, “you didn’t have to come all this way. It is getting late, should I walk you home?”

“Are you suggesting that I am too old to make the trip?” She pretended to be cross with him.

“I would never,” he grinned at her, “but I’d sleep better knowing that you are home safe.”

“Oh, how can I argue with that?” Did she just giggle? Wasn’t she too old for that?

WHAT…the hell! The blubbering of a fool was just perfectly charming! Kibum watched, stunned, and as Jinki turned to wave bye before linking arm with the old lady and they headed off in the direction of what he guessed was her house. He just flirted with an old lady when Kim Kibum spent the whole day cleaning up the stupid store and only got jumbled sentences of babble. 

Kim Kibum was jealous of someone old enough to be his grandma!

Wonder-effing-ful.

**

He was Kim Kibum! Perfect hair tousled in the morning, sharp features that were unique and pleasing to the eyes, average height, all wrapped up in an impeccable fashion sense. He could roll a rejection right off his shoulders because there were plenty of other fishes to choose from. But Kim Kibum will not be denied! He was ditched on the sidewalk for an old grandma! Did that even make sense? Was Lee Jinki even ONE bit functional!?

So the boy had a weird comedic sense and no timing. So he couldn’t step one foot without falling or causing from catastrophic accident, who in the world even cares that he didn’t function well as a human being? 

But did Jinki NOT see that look he gave him? 

Somewhere, his rationality was screaming at him to calm down. That Lee Jinki didn’t really know about his feelings or his one-sided weird obsession since he was seven, so therefore, Jinki didn’t have to give him any special treatment. Besides, wasn’t he always mean and rude? And she was elderly and Jinki was being kind.

But rationality wasn’t what Kim Kibum wanted. So he ignored it. 

**

“I need your help,” Kibum said, face perfectly composed.

“Hm?” Jonghyun replied absently, eyes still glued to his notebook. He had to copy down all of Minho’s answers before class started. He tried to concentrate while sipping on his milk, Taemin’s banana milk was addicting. And the younger boy was shooting up like a root, so Jonghyun stole some milk, hoping that was the secret to his growth.

“I want to seduce Jinki hyung.”

Sputtering, eyes wide as two saucers, Jonghyun coughed then stared at his best friend. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Uh. I didn’t know you swing that way.”

Kibum rolled his eyes, “really? You never noticed my lack of girlfriends or none whatsoever interest in the opposite ?”
 

Jonghyung rubbed his neck, “to be honest? No.”

Well, you swing this way, too, you idiotic dinosaur.

“You going to help or not?”

“Uh.”

“I’ll ask Minho.”

Jonghyun immediately grabbed his friend’s arm, “hey! Just give me some time to digest this, okay? You don’t just spring this out of the blue and expect me to say yes, right? Okay, okay, yeah, I’ll help. Uh….how does one….seduce a guy?”

“If I knew…”

“Right.”

Awkward silence ensued as the two drifted off into their own worlds.

“So…when did you…?”

“Seven.”

“No, I meant…since you liked Jinki hyung.”

“Seven.”

“WHAT?” This time, Jonghyun slammed down his milk and cursed when his homework and Minho’s got splattered with banana milk. The weird alien will kill him before he got the chance to grow!

“Jjong!” Kibum frowned, upset that he got milk sprinkled over his new shirt. 

“Sorry, but, man, wow!”

“Hm.”

This was the first time Kibum admitted to anyone else that he was gay. Not that he ever had the intention of hiding it, which was why he never dated any girls for “cover-ups” like he knew some people who did. It was that no one had ever asked him since he got confessions often enough and girls swooned over him enough that no one ever really gave it a thought. And in Kibum’s mind, he didn’t see how it mattered who he chose to like – it didn’t define him as a person.

“So Jinki hyung turned you gay?”

“Oh God! Jjong, I swear!” Kibum stood up, arm raised in a ready positive to smack his best friend. Only Jonghyun would blurt out such stupid things! But a part of him had wanted to laugh, too, so in the end, he sat back down and ignored the curious glances around them. “No one “turns” anyone gay, okay?”

“No…I mean, I didn’t mean it…badly.”

Kibum sighed, “I know. “

“So is hyung, you know…” Jonghyun leaned closer and whispered in bad English, “…on the same team?”

Eye narrowing quickly, Kibum wanted to know. “How many of those American movies did you watch? Where in the world do you pick up these lingos?”

“But what if he is not? And you can’t turn anyone gay, as you said. Then what? I mean, how do you even know if it will work?”

“Because I am Almight Key.”

***

Jonghyun wasn’t one to dwell on things – but Kim Key’s news hit him right between the eyes, so to speak. Not that it changed his perception of his best friend, but it did put things more into perspective for him. They met on the playground in front of their house and instantly got along. They liked much of the same things, back then it was kicking sand in girls’ hair and Power Rangers. Back then he had been “Kibum”; it wasn’t until in the mist of their third grade that Kibum decided to change his name to Key before he was sent to the States to study English. 

No one but Kibum’s family still called him by his real name – except for Jinki hyung. Jinki still called him by Kibum. How could he have missed that?

He sighed and swiveled away from his desk, eyes darted from the current game on his laptop to his T.V. For Key’s sake, he had rented out movies in which the heroine tried to seduce a clueless hero.

Key didn’t fit the image of a heroine, but romantic comedies in Korea didn’t exactly have boy x boy relationships. So it would have to do.

“Hey Key,” Jonghyun glanced at his computer; he knew Key was watching him through the small screen opened on his window. “You see how she’s approaching him? All y and whatnot? I think you need to do that, make an impact, you know?”

“WHAT! I am not sauntering into the convenient store wearing some cheap dress,” Key responded through his speaker system.

“OH! Now she’s coming up with an excuse…good one,” Jonghyun murmured. “You should do that, too. Think of an excuse so you can see him more.”

“Oh my bathroom’s sink is leaking?” Kibum mimicked the voice of the actress with disgust. “You think the idiot would know how to fix a sink?”

“Isn’t he some sort of genius nerd? Say you need help with tutoring,” his friend responded helpfully. “It wouldn’t be a lie; I saw your grades on the last test.”

“Shut up, you dinosaur! AND COME BACK AND DEFEND OUR CASTLE!”

***

His reflection in the mirror only told him what he knew all along: he looked good. There was no denying it. Kibum knew it wasn’t an ego thing; it was simply the truth of life. The clothes he chose matched him perfectly, down to the necklace casually midway down his shirt. 
 

Kibum walked quickly down the corridor of his apartment and steered left. Four thousand and twenty steps later, he stood in front of a small store, neon light flashing that it was closed for the night. This was the only business place he knew that had a: “Closed. Sorry, please come back tomorrow” neon sign. Imagine the electric bills!

He walked up the glass door and knocked. And waited.

“Kibum?” Jinki’s voice was full of surprise once the door was opened.

“Hi. Need help getting ready for tomorrow?”

“Uh,” the older boy looked around outside. Was this a joke? No one was going to egg his store while he let Kibum in, were they? “I’m just finishing up.”

“Oh good, then we can talk,” Kibum smiled and stepped inside without being invited. Jinki moved aside and tried to force a smile on his face but shock prevented him from conjuring any sort of acceptable expressions.

“I’m sorry,” Jinki shook his head to clear his mind. “I’m confused…can I help you with something?”

“Can you?” The younger one grinned and looked him up and down, making him feel uncomfortable and slightly violated. Jinki stared openly, was Kim Kibum a bit different today? It wasn’t his imagination? Where did the pissy Kibum go? He felt more comfortable around that snarky youngster than this new…friendly Kibum.

He swallowed, “I have things to finish up for university and it’s already night time. You should go back and just stop by tomorrow, okay? We can talk then.”

“Of course, I’m not going to hold you up. I just wanted to ask, can you tutor me?”

“What? You came all the way here in the middle of the night to ask me…to tutor you?”

Kibum flashed him a suggestive smile, “did you have something else in mind?”

******

“Key did what?” Joon asked, his mouth muffled by bread. Being related meant he could have however many pieces of bread he wanted and unlimited access to snacks! He didn’t mind when his friend stole his food because he knew Jinki was coming over with another box the next day. And just as his cousin promised, Jinki had shown up, boxes in tow. Good thing, too, because it was Saturday morning and his parents were nowhere to be found. If it hadn’t been for Jinki, he would have to rely on himself for food and that was never good.

“I think he flirted with me.”

“Ah-ha, you’re so funny,” his cousin wiped his eyes after a bout of hysterical laughter. “For once.”

Jinki’s puzzled expression became slightly annoyed, “hey! I’m totally serious.”

“Right, that Key kid just waltzed in and flirted with you,” Lee Joon rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t even like you. Not even regular like.”

“That’s what I thought, too.”

“And all of the sudden, he is making passes at you?”

“I don’t like your sass,” Jinki said.

Joon chuckled, “I’m not trying to be snarky but it just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Right?”

“You think he was dared? Like as a joke?”

Lee Jinki stared at the coffee table, scowling slightly. A dare? He knew Kim Kibum wasn’t exactly an angel at heart but to do something out of a dare was slightly exaggerated even for him. Why would he even bother? But what could explain his sudden change of demeanor?

“He asked me to tutor him,” Jinki finally explained. “You think…he’s trying to be nice because he needs something?”

“Being nice and making a pass are two different things,” Joon insisted. “But there is only one way to find out, right?”

So Jinki flipped out his phone and with help from Joon, they managed to get Kibum’s number through a mutual friend. He let it ring, his heart thundering inside his chest. For some reason, the idea of being the end of Kibum’s little joke really pissed him off.

“Hello?” Kibum’s voice chirped through the receiver. “Who’s this?”

“It’s…Jinki.”

“Oh.” Was it just his imagination or did the tone change?

“I can…I mean…I will tutor you.”

“Great. Should I come over after school?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Okay, see you then, hyung.”

Lee Jinki stared at his phone several minutes later. Did Kibum just call him hyung!!? His lungs didn’t want to work properly so he was forced to hyperventilate through his mouth. Now he was sure he was the end of some joke – got to be. There was no way a guy like Kibum would hit on him even if he needed something. 

Joon eyed his cousin with worry, was he wrong to put that thought in Jinki’s head? The boy was glaring a hole through his coffee table. No one ever really saw Lee Jinki serious. But under that bright personality, Joon knew, was something no one would really expect. Mean people were scary because they were mean, but at least you saw it coming. Jinki was scary because you never knew what to expect under that bright sunny personality.

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You thought you'd just be reading Key's angst hormonal love story, right? HAHA.