That Saturday, Key walked into the store with three books tucked under his arm. He had a pent stashed behind his ear and – surprisingly enough – a big smile spread across his face.

            Ever since Key and JongHyun had begun their tutoring together that summer his attitude had began changing. Day by day, bit by bit, his mood had transitioned from bitter, fearful (since that incident still haunted him no matter how much he tried to hide it) and angry to happy-go-lucky mood.

            Right now, Key seemed to be in one of his better moods. He didn’t even seem to notice when his shirt caught on the postcard stand and sent it tumbling to the floor.

            “Good morning,” Onew greeted. He had to admit, he liked this Key much more than the one he’d been dealing with for years.

            “Great morning!” Key exclaimed.

            “Even if I asked you to take JongHyun’s shift?”

            “Anything for JongHyun hyung!”

            Onew shook his head. As much as he wanted Key to find love he thought that he had found it in the wrong person. It was obvious that JongHyun wasn’t into guys like him… Key was setting himself up for heartbreak – and he didn’t like that.

            “You’re crazy,” Onew mumbled under his breath. He bent over to pick up the mess of postcards Key had made upon his arrival. As he worked he tried to think of how to protect Key from getting hurt – and where to move that damn postcard stand so it wouldn’t tip at every movement anyone made.

            He was so oblivious… So clueless to what he was setting himself up for… And Onew, despite all his tries at trying to figure something out, was powerless to do anything about it.

~

            JongHyun returned to the shop slightly disheartened. TaeMin had been so depressed with his condition. Even with MinHo there you could tell that he had lost the sparkle in his eyes. And about ten pounds, too.

            With the cold weather closing in fast, TaeMin would need all the physical and mental strength he could get. If things kept up like this, TaeMin was sure to end up in the hospital again. Maybe this time for good…

            All these doleful thoughts weighed down on JongHyun’s shoulders as he walked into the store.

            “Hyung!” Key greeted happily when he stepped in. “Welcome back! I made you a sandwich!”

            Almost like it was second nature to him, a forced smile extended across JongHyun’s face. He contorted his features to duplicate a look of contentment hoping that it would be good enough to trump the younger. Luck seemed to be siding with him this one time as Key went to the back room to fetch him his supper and resumed with his work  - completely oblivious to the negative emotions brewing in the cave of JongHyun’s heart.

            “I’m going to go eat this upstairs and then take a shower… I’ll be down soon to help out,” JongHyun informed.

            “There isn’t much to do, but I’ve been seeing a bunch of girls from the middle school and high school walking around outside, so try to hurry up,” Onew called to him from a back aisle as he trotted up the stairs.

            The shower he took was a quick one. He had nothing to wash except the thoughts slowly but steadily poisoning his mind. The soap bar scraped across every reachable inch of JongHyun’s body, rubbing across his soft s and down his chiselling abs, past his navel to just above the base of . The water dripped down in a steady stream, sending cascading rivulets of clear water that mingled with the soap and trailed down to make pasty streaks over his tanned skin. If only every bad thing in the world could be cleaned so easily, JongHyun thought as he doused his head in the water coming from the shower head.

            After repeating his actions with the soap bar once more he decided that he couldn’t get rid of any of his burdens with the steamy water alone.

            Once out of the shower and towelled off, JongHyun slipped on a white wife beater and some black pants that hung – well they didn’t hang, they clung to his body like skinny jeans were meant to. After giving a quick dog-like shake to his hair JongHyun trudged down towards the shop. He grabbed his pink uniform expecting to put it on when he reached the store floor since only Key and Onew would be there to see him dress.

            A big shock waited for him, though. The herds of girls from outside had migrated into the shop and filled up nearly every square inch of the shop. There was not one aisle that didn’t have a girl from what JongHyun could see.

            There was a moment where everyone froze and all eyes turned to the damp boy just stepping down the last stair. JongHyun felt like he had in that dream where he’d gone up in front of the whole school and performed a lyrical dance piece… .

            Giggles suddenly shattered the awkward moment. JongHyun’s face flushed a bright very red. He shined one of his playful grins at the girls and slipped on his shirt so he could cover the see through fabric that was exposing a bit too much of his chest (you could hear some of the wistful sighs of disappointment escaping some of the girls). He flashed them all a playful smile, deciding on the spot that if he couldn’t beat his worries with a shower than these girls could help him carry out the task of washing them away.

            It was a definite, well-needed boost to JongHyun’s ego knowing that he had that effect on woman even in his most down of states. Albeit, these were only girls, but more than once JongHyun had caught EunJi noona flirting with him and swooning while he had stacked some knocked over items.

            “Yah, JongHyun~ah! Come help Key here. Pack the bags,” Onew ordered when he hurried by with a group of girls trailing after him. He was either showing them to what they were searching for or he was trying to escape their incessant giggling and not-so-hushed whispers.

            JongHyun obeyed the order, joining a peeved looking Key by the counter. With each item that he rung up for the young girls JongHyun packed them into the sizeable bags. If they had a small item he gently wrapped it in the smallest bag – a white base with a lively little Hello Kitty face on it – and if they had a larger item it went in the bigger bag – again with a white base, but with a multitude of small, pink hearts arranged neatly on it.

            The stares the girls launched in JongHyun’s direction didn’t pass unnoticed by him. Nor did they fly by the flaming diva fuming beside him.

            Each eyelash flutter, each blush, each “accidental” finger brushing the girls did with JongHyun pushed on that one button on Key labelled “jealousy”.

            “Here you go!” JongHyun chirmed, handing over yet another bag.

            “Thank-you!” the girl giggled.

            She couldn’t be older than fifteen, Key thought bitterly.

            “Keep it moving; there are other people waiting to pay,” Key growled. His feline eyes narrowed to slits that he hit the girl with. The stare was like the freshly sharpened edge of a sword piercing into the space between her ribs.

            A small sliver of victory wedged itself in Key’s chest when he saw the girl finch. She turned to JongHyun for a final time and bowed slightly. “Thank-you,” she said quietly, racing off to join her friends waiting for her by the exit.

            Key had already forgotten about the young girl and moved on to the next girl. “Ten dollar,” he said. The few items he had rung up were tossed carelessly to JongHyun. In the rush, the shorter boy dropped the notebook that had been amongst the things thrown at him. Another round of ridiculously high pitched and annoying giggles reverberated around the noisy store, adding on the already loud cacophony of noise in the store.

            Pretending to be embarrassed about his blunder, JongHyun bent to retrieve the book. The girls barricading the counter were set off into another fit of hysterics.

            “Sorry about that,” he apologized, passing the girl her bag.

            “That’s fine!” the girl forgave. “It’s not your fault that your brother’s such a grouch!”

            “I am not his brother! Now go! You’re holding up my line,” Key hissed.

            Me-ow! JongHyun thought in amusement. He gave a semi-sympathetic look to the girl before she left, only about to think about how catty Key had been, though, if he were to stay honest.

            The afternoon rushed by in a similar fashion. Onew was dragged back and forth between one school girl and another. Key’s patience was wearing thin with each new face he saw. He ushered the girls like a military sergeant. The only pleasure he got out of that shift was seeing the girls’ pathetic attempts at flirting with his co-worker. It irritated him to the highest degree, though, when JongHyun shot back his own flirty retort every once in a while.

            The elder boy – had he been asked – would have admitted to the accusation, but in the defence that he was doing it not because he was interested in the girls (all of them were much too young for him anyways), but because it distracted him from TaeMin.

            By the time every girls had emptied out the store and the doors had been officially locked off to the public, each boy was exhausted.

            “I’m going home,” Key grumbled, grabbing his things.

            “It’s dark out; let me give you a lift,” Onew offered.

            “It’s okay, hyung, I’ll walk.”

            “I’m not letting you walk home in the dark. I’ll go start the car.” Onew gave his pal no time to answer. He had his keys pulled out of his pocket and was already out the door, reminding JongHyun to sweep before heading up to bed.

            Key was beyond furious at this point. The scale of anger was nothing but a miniscule speck of dust when you compared it to what he was feeling at that moment. He had wanted to walk to clear his head of each of the stupid thoughts pestering him. Now he would surely have Onew asking him a bunch of questions. On top of it he had to stay in a room with JongHyun while he tried to find all his things.

            “Crazy day, huh?” said-person-that-Key-was-trying-not-to-hurt asked.

            “Absolutely wild,” Key agreed through clenched teeth.

            The sudden change back to his “early days” self surprised JongHyun. He put the broom he’d just lifted down so he could face off with him.

            “Is there anything wrong?” he asked.

            “Nope, everything’s fine!” Key trilled. He tossed his textbooks carelessly into his bag. Later he would regret doing so when he saw the folded corners that just irked him to no end (pet peeve #45986).

            “You sure? You don’t look okay…”

            “I’m fine.”

            “Key… Are you just tired because of work or -”

            “You know! I never thought you’d be the type of guy to flirt with a bunch of girls. Especially girls way too young for you!” Key suddenly exploded.

            “What?” JongHyun asked, confusion sweeping through him.

            “Of all the things I thought you were, I didn’t think you were a e!”

            “What the hell are you talking about?”

            “Onew hyung is waiting for me. Have fun with your jail bait girlfriends.” Clipping up the final clasps on his bag, Key barged out of the store. Regret was already seeping into every pore on his body. He hadn’t meant to get so carried away with his tangent…

            Stupid JongHyun… It’s all your fault that I got so angry at you… Key thought, glumly.

            Lies… He was angry at himself. Completely frustrated with the fact that he was in love with a guy that way probably never going to see him as anything more than a little brother… It hurt…

            Especially  now that Key was certain this wasn’t just a puppy crush anymore… Strap in your seat belts, sound the warning alarm, prepare the sails – this was love. Full on L-O-V-E.