Taemin felt continuously worse as they reached the house.

                At the same time, he felt so unbelievably happy.

                Him and Minho had made up and gotten back together, but he now had some sort of undefined relationship with Jongin waiting for him at home.

                “I’m scared.” He admitted, tugging on the elder’s sleeve before he could hit the elevator button. “I know it’s my fault that this is happening and I know I shouldn’t have done it, but you can’t blame me either, because I was convinced we wouldn’t get back together so this whole situation shouldn’t really even be happening but…. I… Um, I don’t know what to do with him… I don’t know what to say or how to look… He’s even been calling himself my boyfriend and I promised him some stuff…”

                “Like what?” Minho asked.

                Taemin sighed out of frustration, giving the elder an annoyed glance. “Well you saw what we were doing before you came in and pulled me away so take a guess.”

                “Oh I definitely saw that. Who cares though? You already had with him a few times, what else is there to give?”

                Swallowing, the brunette hesitantly met his eyes. “We never did anything… tonight was when we were planning to do it for the first time.”

                “You said it was just your first time being caught.”

                At this point, Taemin whined, lightly pushing Minho into the wall. “I wanted to piss you off, okay? I wanted you to be as angry as I was! Don’t you think that I might have had some sort of reason to lie about that?”

                Admittedly, Minho shrugged. “You had a lot of reasons.”

                “Can I…” The younger boy paused, “Can I get one more kiss? Just for, I don’t know, assurance?”

                The elder gave him a few before urging him forward, the elevator arriving. His doubts hadn’t disappeared though. “Let’s just go stay at a hotel tonight…”

                “I want you in my bed tonight.”

                “But-”

                “It’s been… really lonely having no one to cuddle up to. I just want to hold you.”

                “We can’t just-”

                Minho’s silence cut him off, leaving him to stare at the familiar apartment that had grown closer. Giving himself one last mental push, he opened the door. Jongin’s eyes met his, a huge smile on his face as he approached the brunette and stole a deep, long kiss.

                “We’re you cold outside?” He asked.

                “No. You don’t need to worry about me.” Taemin smiled.

                “That’s what boyfriends do.”

                “Jongin…” The elder’s voice trailed off, his eyes avoiding any sort of direct confrontation.

                “What?” Jongin asked. When Taemin didn’t answer, his gaze landed on Minho who raised his eyebrow. Panic began to set in and he tried again. “What?”

                “Jongin…”

                “What?! I said what!”

                “I’m so sorry…”

                The younger boy began shaking his head faster and faster as silent seconds went by, praying to God that this was anything but what he slowly beginning to think it was. However, the more the two boys’ expressions seemed to fit the idea, the worse he began to feel. “No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! No! No!” That was the only word that came to mind as his steady voice turned into a desperate whine. Spinning around, he grabbed the nearest thing, a decorative pillow which innocently rested on a shelf, and threw it onto the ground with all his might. “No, no, no! What the hell!”

                He turned back towards Taemin, staring him right in the eyes. “No! What the hell, Taemin?!” Every word he wanted to say ended up disappearing after the first syllable, leaving him to stutter as he grew more frustrated with the situation, his anger racking through him. “Taemin… what the hell?! He already had his chance! He ed up! He messed up! That’s it! It- It’s- Now- It’s my turn now! I’m still getting my chance! He’s- he’s done! He doesn’t deserve you like I do! I’ve been waiting forever to have this! Don’t you think our relationship was going so well? I do! I’ve been trying my best to be an amazing boyfriend and he- he hasn’t! He’s thrown you away!”

                Jongin could go on for as long as he had been in love in Taemin and all the years to come but his mouth wasn’t syncing up with his brain and half the words came out as frustrated groans. His yelling turned into balled up fists and the balled up fists turned into urges of violence and the violence began to direct itself towards Minho.

                Moving Taemin out of the way, he sped past him, right up to Minho. “Leave Taemin alone! You lost your chance! He’s mine now!”

                “I think it’s his choice who he wants to be with.” Minho coldly shot back.

                “Shut up! You’re just ing brainwashing him!” He raised his arm and planned to knock the elder out cold but felt his arm grabbed moments before hearing a ‘stop’ being screamed.

                “Jongin, what’s gotten into you?!” Taemin asked, holding Jongin’s arm against his chest.

                “Me?! What’s gotten into you?! Why are you going back to him after all this time!? Give me some time! I swear I’ll be better than he ever was!”

                “But I love him… I’m in love with Minho, I still am. If giving you some time means losing him than… Jongin, I can’t.”

                Jongin wanted to argue and fight, but he knew this whole time that Taemin still loved Minho and him yelling wouldn’t change anything.

                “I’m so mad at you Taemin.” He managed. He gave up there, walking upstairs to his room in tears. “Good night.”

                Without looking for Minho’s approval, he quietly trailed behind. Although he had only gotten there a few seconds after Jongin, when he had entered, the lights were already off and the younger boy was already underneath the covers.

                Hesitantly stepping in, he closed the door behind himself. When there were no words being spoken, he decided that the younger boy must have not heard him.

                “Jongin…” He whispered.

                “Don’t talk to me.” He heard from beneath the covers.

                “Jongin, please don’t be upset.”

                “I’m not your best friend anymore.  Don’t talk to me.”

                Sighing, Taemin bit his lower lip. He walked towards the bed and hopped onto it, climbing onto the covers that hid Jongin’s body and sitting on what felt like his hips. “If you’re not going to be my best friend, then who is?”

                “I don’t care.”

                “I do…”

                “You don’t care about me at all. All you care about is Minho.”

                “Jongin, look at me.”

                “No.”

                “Look at me.”

                “No.”

                “Your hyung is telling you to look at him so unless you want to be disrespectful, look at me!”

                Raised to be anything but disrespectful, Jongin forced himself out from underneath the covers, sitting up at a speed which caused Taemin to struggle with keeping his balance.

                “What?! What do you want?!” He yelled, but quickly retreated from his vicious response once he met the brunette’s eyes. “I-I’m sorry.”

                “Jongin… I might be a little conflicted.”

                The younger boy watched his lips as he talked, taking a little longer than usually to register the sentence. “About what?”

                “I guess I might… have kind of… developed a little crush on you. With the way things were going, I didn’t expect to get back together with Minho so… I don’t know, I guess I just let it happen. I even accepted it.”

                “A crush… on me?”

                “A crush on my best friend, yeah. But… I’m going to have to get over it because… well you know, I still love Minho and I’m going to marry him.”

                “N-no! Please don’t get over it! Please! I don’t want to be ‘just friends’ again! Leave him… please leave him… L-look, we can just pick up where we left off before Minho came in!”

                “We can’t… I’m sorry, if I knew this would happen, I would never have done anything with you. I wouldn’t hurt you like this. I just- we have to end this. I’m sorry.”

                “But I’m…” Heartbroken for the millionth time, his arms wrapped around the brunette, rubbing his back. “I’m your boyfriend…”

                “I’m sorry.”

                Jongin looked down, feeling deflated. He decided that he’d enjoy one last consensual moment in the dark.

                Their lips locked and Taemin’s hands found their way into Jongin’s hair. The younger boy wondered how he could be so happy and sad at the same time but he also wondered why he was thinking when Taemin was pressing his beautiful, delicate body into him. Running his thumb over one of the brunette’s s, he earned a moan, a high pitched version of his name. He loved the way his name sounded when it came out of Taemin’s mouth.

                He watched the elder’s eyes glue themselves to him as he slowly stripped off his shirt, revealing the muscles he had so tediously acquired in order to impress the brunette whenever the situation would arise. With Taemin’s hand landing on his abs, he felt them slowly being massage, the brunette’s fingers tracing every curve. “My thighs match.” Jongin added, “They’re like that too… All muscly and stuff.”

                “And?”

                “If you just cooperate and lay down on your back, I can use them to make you feel amazing.”

                Once Taemin imagined that scene and realized that he liked it, that he wouldn’t mind spreading his legs for Jongin, he quickly shook his head, swallowing as he got up and backed into the door. “I’m sorry… I have to go now… I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast…” With that, he quickly stumbled out.

                Squeezing his shirt in his hand, he looked towards Minho’s room. “God… what was going through my head… I… I can’t do things like that…” He scolded himself in a whisper. The worst part came when he closed his eyes and all he saw was the gorgeous faces Jongin made as they were getting ready to make love. “I’m getting married. I… I have to forget all of this.” He urged on.

                Walking towards his lover’s room, he snuck into the bed, snuggling into Minho’s side.

                He didn’t sleep much though, and every time he did, he woke up from dream, or maybe a nightmare, whatever someone would classify a nighttime illusion of him and Jongin in innocent or maybe not so innocent positions.

                Waking up in a cold sweat, he pulled his knees up against his chest, sitting up. He was so frustrated that even when he was asleep, he wasn’t given a break.

                “Minho…” He whined.

                He got no reply.

                “Hyung…”

                There was a bit of shuffling and about a minute later, he heard a quiet groan. “Kitten, did you say something?”

                “Yes, Hyung…”

                “What is it?”

                “I think I like Jongin…”

                “Do you?”

                “I don’t want to like him… I love you… only you, Minho…”

                “But you like him?”

                “I think so…”

                Minho chuckled and, seconds later, sat up to join the brunette. “I’d… I think I’d be more surprised if you didn’t actually… I mean, that was probably your plan, right? Move on from me to Jongin?”

                “Yes but I don’t want that anymore! I want to be with you like we were before!”

                “Then I guess I’ll have to make you fall in love with me all over again.”

                “I don’t want you to leave me… my heart isn’t fixed enough to be broken again…”

                He took Taemin’s face in his hand, bringing it close. “Don’t you hear what I’m saying? It’s the exact opposite. I’m going to make it so that neither of us will leave ever again.”

                “Promise?”

                “Promise. Now get some rest. Lover’s boot camp starts first thing next morning.”

                Taemin laughed and then went to sleep.

                It was finally morning the next time he woke up.

                When he turned over, his eyes met Minho. The elder wasn’t in bed though. He was sitting on the floor, his head resting in his folded arms. Right in front of him was a tray loaded with all sorts of fruits and other breakfast treats.

                “Good morning.” Minho whispered. “I made you breakfast.”

                Taemin rolled over, rubbing his eyes. “All for me?”

                “All for you.”

                “Thank you.” The younger boy smiled, reaching out for Minho and guiding him into a kiss.

                “I’m sorry it’s so early but I didn’t want to rush you while you get ready for school.”

                Taemin nodded and soon they were sitting across from each other, the elder happily spoon feeding the boy. Minho’s cheeks seemed a bit redder than usual and he cleared his throat. “I think I forgot how amazing you look in the morning.”

                “I don’t think you got a proper look since I got my haircut. I actually think I’m going to stop getting haircuts.”

                “Why’s that?” Minho asked.

                “Because I’ve had bad luck following me around anytime I’ve gotten something more than a trim. Remember? Last time I got my long hair cut short and coloured blonde, that girl tried stealing you away from me, now I cut it again and dyed it brown and your job stole you away from me…”

                “Speaking of my job…” Minho began, watching Taemin’s lips shape around a strawberry, “I quit.”

                “Wha-”

                “Well, I got a new job though. But it’s only part time. The hours are a lot shorter and the pay isn’t as good, but it’s a lot closer to home and I only work until nine at the latest. I don’t start right away after school either so we can go home together again. It’s the grocery store a few blocks away. I have enough money from my first to keep things going well for a while though!”

                “R-really?”

                “Yeah! I, uh, quit last night after getting my last paycheck so, um, we can spend a lot more time together.”

                Taemin couldn’t deny how surprised and happy he felt. “Really, really?” He repeated.

                “Really, really, really Kitten. But don’t worry, I saved up a lot of money ahead of time and-”

                “Minho, I don’t care about the money! It’s you that I care about! I don’t need someone to pay the rent, I need someone to love me! I need you!” He yelled, although it was not so much out of anger as out of desperation, for the elder to understand how much their time together meant to him. He crawled onto Minho’s lap, pecking the boy dozens of times all over wherever his lips can land, trying to get the message across physically.

                They began giggling and rolling around on the bed, several bursts of laughter escaping the pits of their stomachs as their legs and arms tangled. Minho turned it into a game, avoiding each kiss while Taemin tried harder and harder to get one.

                Taemin used his best asset, his face, to lure the older boy in. With a pout, he fluttered his eyelashes, shrinking back against the bed sheets. “Hyung… if you really don’t want to kiss me, I’ll find someone else to do it.”

                “With Jongin in the other room, you won’t have to look far.” Minho stated, hovering over the brunette in a trapping manner.

                “With you pinning me down, I won’t have to either.”

                 Minho smirked, leaning down and nibbling on the skin between Taemin’s ribs. “Are you getting cocky now?”

                “Cocky… honest… what’s the difference?”

                “The amount of truth in the words you’re saying.” He explained, leaving hickeys on the boy’s skin.

                “W-well I… wasn’t necessarily lying then, was I? I mean, look at you… a-ah…” He moaned, legs tying around the elder’s body.

                “You know what, Kitten?”

                “Wh-what?”

                “This new haircut of yours… I haven’t been able to express this properly for a while, but it’s brought a lot of appeal with it…”

                “Hyung… you haven’t visited me during lunch in a while, have you?”

                “What are you suggesting?”

                “Spending some time between classes.”

                “Between the sheets, you mean?”

                “If that’s your interpretation.” Taemin smiled.

                “Maybe… I could take you out to coffee?”

                “Maybe you will.”

                That was the first time in a long while that Taemin looked forward to lunch this much. A recent close second was when him and Jongin decided to skip their meals and get intimate in the bathroom. Those types of memories were all behind him though. Now, it was just him and Minho.

                Class had ended and the bell had rung. Like most students, Taemin took his time packing up, having not gotten a message from the elder yet, saying that he was here. Deciding to drop by his locker, he began sliding his notebooks into his bag only to catch two feet stopping their walk centimeters away from him. Looking up to meet the stranger’s eyes, he met Minho’s instead, followed by a bouquet of colourful flowers.

                “Good afternoon, Kitten.” He smiled.

                Taemin’s face lit up as he brushed his hair behind his ear, accepting them happily. “Hey, Minho.”             

                “Let’s go. We don’t want to rush.”

                They were about to leave when a group of Taemin’s female classmates stopped them. “Hey Oppa, haven’t seen you in a while. We began to think that Jongin replaced you!” All of them laughed and the two lovers joined them, awkwardly masking the truth. “Oppa, did you buy all this stuff for your girlfriends as well?” One of them asked.

                “Ah, no. I didn’t really do much with my previous girlfriends. Taemin is actually my longest relationship so I cherish him a lot. I mean, I’d get him anything. The next huge thing though would… it would probably be a wedding ring, wouldn’t it?” He figured, looking towards the brunette.

                “A wedding ring?” A girl said, “Don’t you mean engagement?”

                “No.” Minho shook his head. He lifted Taemin’s hand and inspected it himself for a few seconds before flipping it over and waving it in front of the girls. “I already have that expense covered. Now I just have to wait until Taemin turns eighteen and I’ll make him mine forever.”

                Taemin blushed as the girls all gasped, stepping closer to check its authenticity. “Is it real?!”

                The elder chuckled. “It’s as real as it gets. Now if you’ll excuse up, we’re off to get some coffee. See you around.”

                Pulling the brunette against his chest, the two walked off and Taemin pinched Minho’s stomach, jokingly scolding him for spreading rumours.

                “It’s true though, we’re getting married, and therefore it’s not really a rumour is it?”

                Laughing, the younger boy shrugged, “I suppose not.”