Jonghyung has been playing with the tissue holder animatedly for the past hour now. The server was eyeing him warily.

“Is there something wrong with your friend?” She asked Taecyeon when she refilled their coffees.

“Oh no, he just gets that excited when he’s outside.” Taecyeon replied sheepishly that earned him a slap on the arm from the shorter athlete.

“I’m not a mental case!” The shorter protested.

“I didn’t say you were. You’re the one who said that.”

“Whatever.”

A few minutes later 2 other people was standing by their table.

“You must be Onew.” Taecyeon said as he offered the seats across from them to Onew and his companion. “I thought the deal was you’d bring Taemin?”

“I’m Taemin.” The long-haired boy replied. Jonghyun’s eyes doubled in size.

“You’re a boy?” The shorter athlete sputtered unintelligently.

Taemin replied with an eye-roll. He definitely got that from Key. “There’s no deal here. You asked us to meet you because you want a favor. There’s nothing in it for us except maybe get in trouble with Key hyung.”

“He’s your cousin, I’m sure he’d be very forgiving towards you.” This time it was Taecyeon who talked. He was, after all, the one that asked to meet them.

“That’s exactly it. Key hyung holds our most embarrassing secrets. If he finds out we spilled the beans on his story, we’re dead meat.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let him.” Taecyeon said confidently. He pouted in the next second when Key’s cousins scoffed.

“Let’s just hope so.” Onew replied. “Anyway… Regarding what you want, there’s nothing we can tell you other than Key had only ever had one athlete boyfriend. The soccer prodigy of Incheon. We have no idea what went down between them but one day, Key had become a total mess. Since then Minho was never spoken of anymore.”

Onew felt Taemin elbow his side and winced. “You’ve said too much already.” Taemin hissed. He turned to Taecyeon. “That’s all you’ll get from us. Now please, this meeting never happened, okay?”

Taecyeon and Jonghyun nodded as Key’s cousins got up and left. They stared dumbfounded at the door for a moment, processing the information that’s been handed to them.

“We need to find that Minho guy.” The taller athlete noted.

-----

Apparently, finding a Minho who plays soccer in Incheon was not as easy as it first seemed. They’ve met 3 other Minho’s before they realized that if the guy had been Key’s age then he must be in college right now outside of Incheon.

They found him, the Choi Minho in Konkuk University. He’s studying film and is a part of the school’s soccer team.

“What do you guys want? Kibum and I broke up a long time ago.”

“We just want to know why. What happened between you two?” Taecyeon pushed.

“Why don’t you just ask him? He hates it when people are spying on him.” Clearly, the guy knows more about Key than Taecyeon does and wants him to. He feels a tinge of jealousy.

“If he would entertain us long enough for a real talk, we would have. He avoids athletes like us like we’re plague.” At that, Minho sighed and looked far off.

“Look… I don’t know what to say. I really cared about Kibum, I still do. But my family expects a lot from me and I have a great chance at becoming a part of the national team.” Taecyeon and Jonghyun remained silent, waiting for Minho to explain further. Minho sighed when he saw their confused faces. “Kibum doesn’t fit anywhere in that equation. You’ve met him, he’s too proud to be able to keep to himself and coming out to my parents and to the world just wasn't an option.”

Taking in everything Minho had said, he was sure he had pieced out the puzzle that is Key’s anger towards athletes. Taecyeon left giving Minho a parting gift, landing a solid punch on his pretty boy face.

-----

Key was in a sour mood the next time Taecyeon sees him.

“You’re late. I could just leave you out if you’re not gonna take this seriously, you know. I have a deadline to meet.” The diva said without looking at Taecyeon. He was flipping through the outfits on the long rack.

“I’m sorry babe. I had to take my mom somewhere.” Taecyeon cooed as he loomed behind Key. Key could feel his breath against his nape and he smartly covered a shiver by shaking his shoulders irritably.

“Personal space Ok, personal space.” Key said. “Glad to know you’re still a momma’s boy up ‘til now.” Key meant to tease, he really did. But that statement didn’t come out as planned because on the back of Key’s mind, he found it endearing how close Taecyeon was to his parents.

“My parents just love me so much. You should meet them. I’m sure they’d love you more.” Taecyeon replied smugly.

“Whatever. Just try these on.” Key replied.

“Anything for you Kibum.” Taecyeon considered it progress when Key did not protest after being called by his real name.

The taller shamelessly stripped and changed where he stood. When Key turned back around, he was welcomed by the sight of a shirtless Taecyeon buckling his pants.

“What are you doing? Have you no decency?” Key sputtered, a stark contrast from his normal eloquence.

“Isn’t this what models do though? Change in front of designers? Besides, I didn’t think you’d mind.” Utter bull. Taecyeon knew what he was doing and he intended for Key to see him changing, maybe even watch him.

Maybe a little will help the blond loosen up around him. It wasn’t until he found out about Key’s past that he realized how guarded the shorter have been around him.

“That’s for runway shows. This is just a fitting for a photo shoot. There’s a big difference.”

The rest of the garment fitting went on with them just trying to outsmart each other. Slowly, Taecyeon was seeing more and more of Key’s quirks. He especially likes how the diva would scrunch his nose a bit when he didn’t like how the outfit hung on Taecyeon’s body. Another of his favorites is when Key very briefly, it was so brief and subtle that if you weren’t paying close enough attention would have gone unnoticed, bites his lip before giving a curt nod whenever he approved of an outfit.

By the time they finished, the sun had already set. Taecyeon’s voice stopped Key just as he walked out of the gates of the university.

“Where’s your pad? Let me walk you.”

“No thanks. My house is close by.” The feline replied.

Taecyeon’s last sentence was never really a question so when Key headed for the direction of his house, he found the swimmer falling into step beside him.

“What part of ‘no thanks’ do you not get? Just go home.” Key’s usual sassy tone was replaced by what Taecyeon can only describe as a ‘whiny girl voice’.

"You know well enough that I don’t take no for an answer, Key.” Taecyeon replied.

“Are we still talking about the walk home or is this about something else, Ok.” Key asked.

“If that ‘something’ is about my pursuing of you then yes, that’s exactly what I was talking about.” Taecyeon replied only to be shoved by Key aside. He was buff though, so he didn’t really budge to Key’s pushing.

“Oh ! Time to go. Thanks for the walk home.” He said in one breath all the while pushing on Taecyeon’s arm. Curiosity filled his mind and he traced Key’s vision to a couple up ahead, approaching them.