Taemin survived a week of one sided conversations with his best friend.

                Really, there were only two days left of school before summer vacation.

                “I think that if you put together something sweet and sour, then it’ll probably be delicious no matter what.” Jongin concluded, sitting up although the grassy soccer field made a comfortable bed.

                The elder wasn’t sure if he should respond because ever since their confrontation, Jongin cut him off every time he tried speaking, out of, well, fear he guessed. Fear that it would happen again. He took a chance though.

                “What do you want to do this summer?”

                Thinking about it for a moment, Jongin shrugged. “I’m going to try to use my fake ID and try to find some gay clubs or something I guess.”

                “Why?” The brunette asked, appalled.

                “So I can lose my ity.”

                He was genuinely prepared to scold him now. “Jongin, don’t just throw it away like that. It’s only an amazing experience if it’s with the person you really love.”

                “Well the person who I really love doesn’t want it, so I am going to just throw it away like that. Besides you can’t tell me what I can and can’t do with my body.”

                “But you can tell me what I can and can’t do?”

                “Hey, look at me when you want to be an .”

                “No, I don’t want to look at your ugly, stupid face.”

                “Oh, so I’m ugly an stupid now, huh?”

                “Yeah.”

                “How would you know if you haven’t looked at me?” He asked, grabbing Taemin’s head and turning it in his direction. The elder closed his eyes.

                “I’m not going to ruin my vision because you want to force your dumb self into it.”

                “I dare you to look at me.”

                “I’m not going to.”

                After a paused, Jongin glared at him. “If you don’t open your eyes, I’m going to kiss you.”

                Laughing, Taemin shrugged. “I don’t think you’re willing to put our friendship at risk just to steal an… amazing, passionate, deep and dirty kiss…” He teased.

                He kept his eyes tightly shut, but the presence of Jongin’s breath on his face and thumb on his lip gave him an idea of where the boy was. “You’d be surprised with what I’d risk- what I have risked. Why don’t you open your mouth and stick out your tongue so I can show you what else I’d risk… Honey.”

                Amused, Taemin did so.

                “I’m really going to do it.”

                “Uh-hu.”

                “Really.”

                “I’m sure.” The older boy cockily rolled his eyes behind his eyelids, leaning closer.

                He heard a sigh and finally looked to see Jongin blushing, pulling away.

                “Jongin, you’re such a good boy when you want to be.”

                “You’re annoying me.”

                “I guess I can be a bit annoying.” The brunette smiled, sitting down on the boy’s thighs. “Don’t go throwing your ity away though. You’ll end up regretting it.”

                “Are you talking from experience?” Jongin asked.

                “Luckily, nothing close to it.”

                The weekend came faster than it had in a long time.

                Summer was here.

                Taemin took his time, dressed nicely, looked y, and most importantly, felt y.

                They were on their way to Heechul’s house where a party was already taking place.

                With the subway completely packed and only two seats available for the decently long journey, Jongin sat down in one while Minho got the other, Taemin gracing his lap.

                “It’s been a while since we’ve gone to a party, huh?” Taemin asked.

                Nodding, Minho rested his cheek on the brunette’s shoulder. “Mhm. You know, everyone is probably going to get insanely drunk.”

                “I know.” He laughed, “Hyung, are you going to drink?”

                “Not as much as everyone else, but I probably will. What about you, Kitten?”

                “I won’t drink unless Jongin does.” He answered, looking in Jongin’s direction.

                “I… might have a sip.” The youngest of the three admitted.

                “Well then that’s your answer, Minho.” The brunette laughed.

                “If you’re going to drink, then you can’t leave my side, okay?”

                “Okay, Hyung.”

                “Tae-chan!” A loud voice greeted him.

                “Ruki!” Taemin smiled, running into the blonde’s arms.

                Heechul walked up next to them, ruffling Taemin’s hair. “Hey, Babe.” He jokingly romanced.

                Sparing only a few more seconds to greet the other two, Ruki grabbed Taemin’s wrist, pulling him further in where the amount of people far surpassed the amount the room could hold, the music too loud for anyone to hear each other. The brunette was surprised no one had complained yet.

                “I want to tell you something that happened recently.” Ruki said.

                “What is it?”

                The elder blushed, tying his long hair up into a ponytail.

                “Well, you know, me and Heechul have been hanging out a lot lately.”

                “Yeah. You always send me hundreds of pictures."

                “I know. But, um, we hung out yesterday too.”

                “Oh yeah?”

                “Yes, and….” He broke into a giggle, “I slept with him last night.”

                “What?!” Taemin asked in shock. “R-really? Like, all the way?”

                “Yes.”

                Leaning in, the brunette held his eye contact as he whispered, “How was it…?”

                “Oh my God it was amazing! It was- he was- oh God, it was great…”

                “So are you to together now?”

                “No, no, no. We wouldn’t… well, I mean, I never really know when I’ll be going back to Japan but… he asked me to stay tonight too…”

                “Are you going to?”

                “Yes!”

                “Wow… I feel like I should be surprised more than I am.” Taemin laughed.

                The blonde stuck his tongue out, pinching the younger boy’s cheek. “Is that an insult?” He teased, “ Anyways, let’s go, they said they were going to start playing some games. Go find a partner, I’ll, um, pair up with Heechul...”

                There was a few girls surrounding Jongin and Taemin was honest with himself when he felt jealous. Separating from Ruki temporarily, he walked over, stealing the boy’s drink out of his hand and taking a sip.

                “Is this your first drink?”

                “Second.”

                “I thought you were just going to have a sip.”

                Jongin smirked, slipping his arm around Taemin’s small waist. “Don’t tell me you haven’t drank anything yet.”

                “I didn’t.” Taemin replied.

                “Who’s your friend, Jongin? Introduce us!” They squealed.

                “This is my hyung,” He began, “Me and him are closer than any two people on this planet.”

                “Are you best friends?” One asked.

                “I think we’ve done several things that people who are ‘just friends’ wouldn’t do.” He laughed, earning a serious smack from the older boy.

                “Yeah, we have.” Taemin angrily confirmed, “Like farming, and jumping in haystacks. Most friends don’t do that.”

                “Oh, but you’re already a taken man, huh?” A long haired girl asked, pointing to his ring. “It’s a shame. You’re very cute, but at the same time, that’s probably the reason why you’re already married.”

                “I’m not married,” The brunette laughed, “Well, I’m probably going to be at some point, but for now, I’m just engaged.”

                “Is your fiancé pretty? How old is she? How did you meet?”

                “Well I like to say I’m pretty, I’m seventeen, and we met when I was four.” Jongin went on, answering each question.

                “She’s not very pretty.” Taemin corrected. “She has a sharp jawline, wide shoulders, is taller than me, has hair on her legs… not pretty at all.”

                Jongin raised an eyebrow, his hand slipping into Taemin’s back pocket as the girls laughed. “But she knows how to make you feel good at night.”

                “Ah, that’s right. Yes, the night time can be very delightful.”

                They both ended up laughing.

                “Anyways, I came over here for a reason, you know.”

                “The beautiful ladies?” Jongin joked, leaving the girls red faced and whisperings ‘aws’.

                “Well, that too, I don’t want you stealing all of them. But I actually wanted to ask if you wanted to come and be my partner for the games.”

                “Yeah, I’d love to.” Jongin happily obliged, setting his drink down.

                As they approached the living room, Heechul was calling for everyone’s attention.

                “Everyone please find a partner! We’re going to be having some fun! If you’re interesting in a game of poker, stay here, if you’re not, feel free to enjoy yourself anywhere else except for the dining room.”

                Taemin looked around for Minho but couldn’t see him. He probably emptied out with the rest of the crowd which would much rather continue with their beer than focus on cards and numbers.

                “Jongin, let’s wait for the next game. I don’t know how to play poker…”

                “It’s fine, I do. Let’s just go check it out first.”

                Thirteen pairs gathered at the table, one of them being Heechul and Ruki, everyone examining the cards.

                “Is everyone in pairs? Are you sure this is your person of choice? You can’t change after this.” Heechul asked. Once everybody nodded, he continued. “Good. So basically, we’re not just playing poker, we’re playing strip poker. I feel sorry for any of you who are now regretting your partner.” He laughed, “There’s a twist though. One of you plays, the other one strips, but the one playing has to strip their partner after every loss.”

                “Jongin, if I play, you’ll be in as many rounds as your have pieces of clothing, but… I don’t want to strip…”

               over his lips, Jongin shrugged. “Well it’s a game of luck. I can’t guarantee you that you won’t lose any clothes, but I don’t think I’m as bad as to have you .”

                “Promise you’ll try your best?”

                “Yeah, I promise.”

                Sitting down beside each other, they received their cards momentarily.

                Taemin felt relieved watching Jongin play the first few rounds. He managed to have the best hand for the quite a few goes and everyone except him was undressing their partners. One of the girls was already down to her bra, each player taking the clothing off their partner seductively one after another. Then, six rounds in, the cards Jongin had were nowhere near decent.

                Some man won and for some reason, all attention went to Taemin. Ruki smiled across from the table, winking. “Well, go on.” He urged.

                “I-it’s not just me doing it…”

                “But you’re the only one with everything still on so you have to go first this time.”

                At this point, the brunette cursed himself, wishing he would have kept his sweater on and ignored the heat of the house, having more layers for protection.

                Biting his lip, his eyes fell to Jongin’s hand. “I’m sorry.” The younger boy whispered. “What do you want me to… first?”

                Shrugging, Taemin swallowed. “My shirt, I guess.”

                Nodding, Jongin leaned in. Since Taemin knew he had to take it off sensually, he prepared himself. Everyone was watching, anticipating how things would turn out.

                The younger boy’s lips came closer, stopping only a few millimeters away from Taemin’s as his hand landed on the elder’s thigh. Slowly sliding it upwards, Jongin grabbed the bottom of the shirt, lifting it. Moving down, Jongin began leaving kisses along Taemin’s ribs as he pulled the shirt over his head, feeling the brunette’s fingers tangle in with his hair. Locking eyes, they both smiled.

                After them, the rest of the pairs went.

It took over an hour for the game to finish, but luckily for Taemin, he still had his jeans and briefs on, sacrificing his socks and shoes instead.

                Taemin stared at the cards, wondering who would win the next round, when he was distracted by a hand on his shoulder. Lifting his head from it comfortable spot against Jongin’s chest, he noticed Minho standing beside him.

                “Hey Kitten.” He greeted.

                “Hi, hyung.” Taemin smiled. He received a soft peck on the forehead.

                “Where’d your shirt go to?”

                “Jongin lost a round of strip poker so he had to strip it off of him. They were really intimate.” Heechul filled him in.

                “Oh? And how was that?” The elder now asked, eyebrow raised.

                “I think if Jongin wasn’t so bad, I’d still have my socks on.”

                Minho cracked a smile, ruffling the brown locks of hair.

                “I’ve been looking for you for a while now, Kitten. I wanted to dance.”

                “We’re almost done.” Someone mentioned.

                “Then I’ll just wait.”

                When they finished and the half- people group got dressed, Minho stole Taemin away.

                “I want to… take you somewhere nice for your birthday.” He brought up, fixing the brunette’s shirt.

                “I want to spend it with you. Let’s go camping underneath the stars.”

                “I don’t know how on the grass would be though. It might not be comfortable.”

                “Birthday ?” Taemin happily mumbled.

                “Until you pass out from feeling amazing.”

                “Minho, I think I love you too much.”

                “I don’t think you love me more though.” Minho chuckled. “Let’s go see what game’s next.”

                In the living room, a game of truth or dare was taking place.

                Joining in half way, they were gladly welcomed, picking papers out of hats along with everyone else.

                With everyone well aware of the two being engaged, no one forced them to do dares that would cross the line. The furthest it went was Taemin pressing himself against Chansung while he gave him an intimate massage. When it came to dares that the couple had to do together, they happily accepted each one. Minho got a dare to do thirty push ups in sixty seconds, all while the person to his left, Taemin, laid down beneath him.

                The brunette laughed as everyone gave a “wow” or “Oh my god” after seeing Minho’s upper  body strength, the elder fluently completing each push up one after another all while dropping down low enough to steal a kiss each time. Once he finished his last push up, he went down to steal the longest kiss yet.

                When they were finished with that, Taemin decided to go speak with the host. Spotting Heechul with probably the twenty-something-th drink in his hand, he waved.

                Heechul drunkenly smiled, calling him over. “Taemin, you look so cute today.” He complimented.

                “Thank you.”

                “How are you enjoying my party?”

                “It’s amazing. Can I tease you a bit?” Taemin asked him.

                “I don’t think I can be teased, but you can try.”

                “I heard you slept with Ruki.”

                The older boy proudly smiled, nodding. “It was a lot better than I expected it to be.”

                “Are you going to ask him out?”

                “No.” Heechul laughed, “We both agreed that it wasn’t going to be anything serious. Are you curious with how it felt? I can show you.” He suddenly stated, taking Taemin’s wrist and pulling him towards another room.

                “No, I’m fine, Heechul! I just wanted to ask you about the general stuff!”

                “Don’t worry, I don’t think Minho will be mad. He’s a laidback kind of guy!”

                “I really don’t care how good it felt, Hyung. I’ll take your word for it.” Taemin assured him.

                “Ah, but you’ll be really happy, I promise.”

                Now closing the door, Taemin was alone with the boy, but he wasn’t worried at all.

                Heechul picked him up, placing him on the bed in a room which echoed the music playing around it.

                “If Minho saw this, he’d definitely punch you in the face.” Taemin chuckled.

                “If you sleep with me once, it won’t hurt, will it?”

                “It won’t hurt me, but Minho’s fist might leave a few bruises on your face.”

                “I should have just ed you the first time I brought you here, Taemin. You were so pretty. You just keep getting cuter too. I’m so jealous of Minho. Let’s not date, let’s just play around one night.”

                Getting comfortable on the bed, Taemin laid down on his side. “I’m not like Ruki. I can’t just sleep around whenever I feel like it. Besides, even if I did, what makes you think you’re up to my standards?”

                “Ah, if you annoy me too much, I won’t give you a choice.” Heechul stated, falling on top of the boy.

                “Heechul, you’re too nice to do such a bad thing. I think you just need some rest. I’m going to go find Jongin and make sure he’s not drinking too much, okay?”

                “Give me a kiss before you leave then…”

                Rolling his eyes, Taemin leaned down and planted his lips on Heechul’s chin. “Stay here for a bit. You don’t want to become a ual predator at your own party.” Taemin laughed, giving one last smile before leaving the room.

                He spent the next few minutes asking around for Jongin before being directed to the balcony which seemed to be occupied by a single silhouette.

                Opening the door, his skin became unaccepting of the humid summer air.

                Jongin turned his head in Taemin’s direction and they shared a nod.

                Closing them off from the inside, he shut the door and stood next to the younger boy.

                “How’s it going?” He asked, spotting an unlit cigarette in Jongin’s hand. “You’re smoking?”

                Jongin shook his head, staring down at the white roll between his fingers. “Someone offered me one and I felt bad turning it down so I just took it but I don’t even have a lighter if I wanted to light it. Do you want it?”

                “I don’t smoke.” Taemin whispered, taking it and throwing it down into the alley stories beneath them. “I don’t need that kind of stuff in my body and neither do you. Anyways, how’s your evening coming along?”

                “Kind of disappointing really.”

                “I thought you were having fun.”

              Solemnly smiling, Jongin shrugged. “I kind of came here with a goal in mind and to be honest, I got nowhere near it.”

                They silently watched the cars drive by until Taemin asked, “Can I know what the goal is?”

                “Yeah.”

                Another silent pause.

                “I thought that if I came here, I’d be able to find someone to fool around with, maybe even go home with someone but… no one meets my standards, so I’m kind of disappointed.”

                “Well… have you talked to everyone?”

                “Yes,” Jongin answered, “but none of them have your amazing smile, or beautiful eyes, or your sweet laugh… none of them are as dorky as you or and sweet, none of them make my heart flutter like you, so I guess I just gave up and, well, ended up here…”

                Taemin blushed, resting his head on the younger boy’s shoulder. “Maybe you shouldn’t look for me in other people…”

                “I can’t help it… I know I’ve caused you a lot of trouble since I moved in and I’m sorry for being in love with you…”

                The brunette’s heart broke as that sentence left Jongin’s lips. “No! Don’t be sorry! Don’t ever apologize for loving someone!” He told him, lacing his arm around Jongin’s and holding the boy’s hand.

                “Okay… Hyung?”

                “Yes?”

                “What am I to you? What do you see me as?”

                “Our relationship?”

                “Yes.”

                “Well…” Taemin began, “You’re… like my brother, my best friend, someone I rely on, someone I would give up my life for, my exboyfriend, someone I had a crush on, my childhood friend… the list goes on.”

                “Am I someone you’d… spend your life with?”

                “You’re someone I am spending my life with.” Getting no reply, Taemin reached up and tucked the younger boy’s black hair behind his ear. “Yes, you are someone I want to spend my life with.”

                “Then…” Jongin hesitated, “Can I kiss you?”

                Taemin wanted to say yes, but he knew he couldn’t. “No…”

                As each second passed, the brunette felt worse and worse about his decision. “W-well maybe… it’s just… ah… forget it…”

                Jongin paid attention to how the boy’s face changed, giving away how his thoughts quickly morphed from no’s to maybe’s to yes’s.

                “W-well… maybe… on the cheek…” Turning his head to the side, Taemin revealed his cheek, tightly shutting his eyes.

                Smirking, Jongin quickly leaned closer, causing the elder to flinch. Holding Taemin’s chin between his thumb and index finger, Jongin tilted his face so that instead of his cheek, his lips were facing the elder’s.

                Taemin didn’t say anything, but his face was completely scrunched up.

                Closing the gap, Jongin placed kisses as close to the elder’s lips as he could, letting his tongue slip out occasionally to wet the skin. He wondered if Taemin would take initiative in kissing him first or if it would just end like this.

                It seemed to be the latter.

                “You’re not going to kiss me back?” Jongin teased.

                “No. I’m sorry.”

                “That’s fine, I’ll get a good night kiss before bed anyways.” He laughed, pulling a giggle out of the brunette as well. “Anyways, go inside, find Minho.”

                Slipping into Jongin’s arms, Taemin shook his head. “Don’t tell me who to be with. I’m staying with you.”

                “If you insist.”

                “I do.”