Truth be told, Taecyeon has never really pined out for anyone. Dating was a piece of cake for him. But when he met Key things had started to change.

He heard the rumors going around about how Key was untouchable when it came to the varsity teams. Taecyeon being the competitor that he is saw that as a challenge. What a merit it would be to date he who no one’s ever won over before.

At least that’s how it started. The more times Key rejected him, the more the blonde amused him. Now, it wasn’t just the challenge that lit fire to his persistence. It was Key himself.

The artist was in no way predictable like most people are. He was flamboyant and whimsical, creative and spontaneous. It didn’t hurt that he looked more beautiful than other girls and had very nice too.

Key had turned out to be someone who Taecyeon could actually find himself falling for. That is if he hasn’t already.

First things first though. He needed to get down to the bottom of this “no dating athletes” issue.

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“I wonder why Key set such a rule for himself.” Jonghyun mumbled as he sat at the edge of the pool. “It’s not like we’re bad people.”

“I’m not. You on the other hand… I mean you like to screw anything that moves so there’s that.” Taecyeon answered, teasing his best friend which caused the shorter to shove his head underwater. He surfaced a good distance away from Jonghyun laughing.

“Hey! I know! Why don’t you talk to coach? Tell him that since we won we should be models or something for the magazine the arts department issues monthly. I heard Key just made editor.” Jonghyun beamed, and mentally patted himself on the back.

“That’s actually not a bad idea. I love seeing his irritated face!” Taecyeon replied and laughed before going back to practicing. Five more laps, he thought, before he talks to their coach.

-------

“WHAT? You’re kidding right?” Key brought his hands down on Mr. Cho’s desk, unintentionally hard. Mr. Cho, the dean of the arts department.

“Quite frankly, I don’t see why this is a problem Mr. Kim. Being the editor in chief at your age is quite an achievement.” The dean answered.

“But I don’t want that. I’ve always been the photographer and stylist for the magazine since I started in this school, that’s all I want. I don’t want to sit on the sideline doing nothing.” The blonde protested. He wasn’t kidding. If there was one thing he hated more than anything in the world, it was sitting idly by. He wanted to be hands-on with everything he’s involved in. In short, our little diva’s a micromanager.

“You won’t sit and do nothing. You’ll be less hands-on with the photography but you’ll still be styling and looking over everything else that involves the magazine. This is the magazine’s one hundredth issue and I want the best people on it.” The man said sternly.

Having seen the argument going nowhere in his favor, Key just nodded and stalked out of the office. He doesn’t see his day going any better as he saw Jonghyun and Taecyeon walking his way; this was some sort of a bad omen, he thought.

He didn’t entirely hate them. He just hates the fact that his sharp tongue can’t shake them down and can actually return him with smart comebacks themselves.

“Hey Key!” Taecyeon waved like a silly boy, smug smile already in place. “We’ve been looking all over for you.”

Key only returned with a dramatic roll of his eyes and a scoff.

“Wow! You look pissed.” Jonghyun said, as if it wasn’t obvious enough.

“You don’t say, Einstein.” The feisty blonde replied. “What do you want? Wait. Forget it. I don’t even wanna hear it.”

“Awww! But we looked all over for you so we can tell you ourselves.” Taecyeon said in a taunting tone. It’s probably dangerous to piss Key off but he can’t help it. The flush that creeps up the shorter’s cheeks when he gets pissed; it’s reward enough for Taecyeon. He’s just too precious to the athlete.

Besides, this is the best way he can think of to get close with him; to irritate him every chance he gets.

“Before anything, congrats on making chief editor! I heard that’s like big!” Jonghyun excitedly piped in.

Key grunted in annoyance. If he didn’t know better he’d think that the doofus said that to taunt him some more. “Thanks! But I’m not too happy about it.” He said with a deep breath to calm himself.

“Well… Would it make you happy if you found out that we, the entire swim team will be your new models?” Before Key could say anything, Taecyeon pushed a finger against Key’s bow lips to shush him. “No need to thank us. I’m sure we’ll have so much fun working together.”

This time it was Key who was left to stare at the swimmers’ broad backs. His blood was boiling but thankfully, the sight of Taecyeon’s broad, strong back, mapped in that fitted shirt distracted him enough from completely throwing a fit.

He was seriously not looking forward to it. If anything it provide too much of an opportunity to play nice and actually develop some liking for the guy.

Yes, Key knew that was possible. When Taecyeon asked him for a date the first time and he’d pushed him away, he was sure he’d never come near him again. But he was wrong. Every day, the guy came around; and though it was to get on his nerves, he had to admit, the guy's easy to grow fond off.

He’s strong-willed and clever. He looked good in everything that he wore even though his clothes aren’t all that flashy and he can actually handle someone such as Key. If only he wasn’t a jock, that’d have been enough for Key to date and get to know him.