Ten
Cantabile
ten
ten
[ Jonghyun ]
History projects turn into late-night videochat sessions (Jonghyun gets over the fact that no one but Key has ever seen him so undone) and trips to the city together (Taemin seems to know all the stores that Jonghyun doesn’t). On weekends together, in between bowls of popcorn and sessions of Starcraft, Jonghyun asks Taemin again if he wants to join men’s choir. Because once Jonghyun gets the idea into his head, hears the sweet ring of Taemin’s voice against his, there’s no stopping him from getting what he wants. He pesters Taemin about it, but the weekends usually end without any progress, maybe a few hummed bars of a pop tune.
Taemin is dropping him off at his house after one such weekend (Jonghyun’s parents don’t let him have his own car) when Key happens to pass by, walking that huge fluffy thing he calls a dog.
“Who’s that?” Key asks as he scrutinizes the peeling paint of the old Ford, just making the turn around the lake.
“Taemin,” Jonghyun answers, stuffing both hands into his pockets and walking with Key.
“Not Lee Taemin?” Key asks, pausing as his dog lifts its leg on the nearest tree.
Jonghyun laughs, his insides strangely warm as Taemin’s face flashes into his head. “That’s the only one I know.”
Key sniffs and yanks on the leash to keep the dog moving. “You know he’s gay, right? I mean, not that I have anything against gays, being one and all.”
A wind blows and Jonghyun regrets not wearing his bigger jacket. Spring was supposed to have come, but the temperature is way too low now for that.
He frowns. He doesn’t remember Taemin ever telling him something like that, which means he probably didn’t. Jonghyun would remember something like that, after all. Then again, he supposes it is quite a personal issue. “Where did you hear that from?” he asks.
“There’s this guy named Jinki,” Key answers. “He’s in my math class.”
Jonghyun does vaguely remember someone named Jinki, and he’s hurt that Taemin would tell him but not Jonghyun.
“Well, I guess I know now,” he says slowly.
“Doesn’t it bother you?” Key prompts, looking at a point somewhere in the distance.
“Why should it?” Jonghyun retorts, beginning to get defensive. “I’m friends with you.”
“Yeah,” Key concedes. “But here’s what else Jinki said. He said Taemin’s always talking about you. As in you’re the only thing he talks about. Isn’t that weird?”
Jonghyun rolls his eyes. “Okay, this Jinki guy is obviously exaggerating. Taemin talks about so many different things. He’s cool.”
Key shakes his head. “No, he said literally, Taemin talks about nothing else. Ever.”
Jonghyun doesn’t respond, just kicks the ground with his shoes. Key sighs dramatically before speaking again.
“Can’t you see that he’s in love with you?”
“Shut up,” Jonghyun snaps. “I don’t care if he likes me. I’m not losing him.”
Key stops in his tracks. “What are you talking about? You can’t just hang out with him like this! It’s weird! You don’t know what it looks like, for you to be with some loser from the wrong side of town who has a massive thing for you. Are you jumping onto the biual bandwagon all of a sudden? Or are you really just that desperate?”
“Please. You know that’s a bunch of crap. I don’t care about what it looks like.”
“Well, you should.”
Jonghyun stops and takes a deep breath, then turns around and starts jogging for his house. He can’t deal with this right now.
“I’ll see you at school,” he tosses over his shoulder.
[ author's notes — don't hate Key; if it's going to be anyone, you should hate me. xD
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