A couple of weeks passed and in those weeks a few things had happened.

Thing number one; Taemin had become Key's best friend. They sat together in class, writing notes during the boring parts; they sat together at lunch, gossiping about boys and seeing who could flick their peas the furthest down the table. Key had even gone to Taemin's house over the weekend – it wasn't too big, probably seen by most as a standard Korean home, decorated with pictures of their family and refrigerator stocked with snacks and fruit that the boys could help themselves to. Taemin couldn't understand why Key looked around in awe, and Key wasn't comfortable explaining just yet, so they left the more personal questions unsaid for the moment.

Thing number two; Jonghyun had become a regular at Key's place of work. Every afternoon he would be there, working on his laptop, grading school papers, or just enjoying a coffee (sometimes even treating himself to a muffin or a bagel). During the quiet periods or when Key was on break, he'd often sit with Jonghyun and they'd talk and laugh like they were old friends.

Thing number three; his mother's condition had taken a turn for the worse. She wasn't exactly a picture of health before, but now she was resisting medication and it was hard for even Kibum to get through to her. He didn't know what to do or how to help, but he was determined to deal with it on his own, like she wanted; no hospitals involved – at least, not if he could help it.

Thing number four; Kibum had developed somewhat of a crush on Mr. Kim. He knew it was wrong ('Jonghyun is my teacher, what am I thinking?'), he knew it was stupid ('He's so out of my league, he'd never throw away his career for a teenager!') but he couldn't help those fluttery feelings he'd get each and every time he saw Jonghyun's fond grin whenever the elder looked at him. He tried not to let it get to him at school, and he was cautious not to let anything slip to Taemin, but that wasn't as easy as he thought when Jonghyun was standing there, reciting beautiful words in that chocolate voice of his.

“Hello~? Earth to Kibum?” Taemin was waving a hand before Key's face – who had lost himself in a land of daydreams created by his teacher's voice.

The brunette blinked, coming back to reality. He looked around the room and noticed that everyone except himself, Taemin and Mr. Kim had left. (He pretended not to notice the amused grin Mr. Kim was sending his way.)

“Huh?”

Taemin shot him a look, eyebrow raised. “Are you okay? I thought I lost you for a moment, the bell rang five minutes ago.”

“I guess I just zoned out, my bad,” he apologised, shoving his books into his bag.

“See you tomorrow, Mr. Kim,” Taemin said with a smile as he skipped out of the classroom.

“Goodbye, Taemin,” he smiled at the boy (who was already out the door) before shooting a much softer (and was that a hint of fondness Kibum saw?) smile in the other boy's direction, “Kibum,” he acknowledged with a nod.

“Um, I’ll see you later Jo- Mr. Kim,” Key said, bowing politely.

“Yeah,” Jonghyun said as though agreeing and then his smile widened, “later.”

∆

Taemin groaned, rolling over onto his stomach and resting his forehead on his arms, red hair flopping onto his face.

“This is totally unfair!” he whined.

Key shrugged, popped another crisp in his mouth, and looked up at Taemin from his spot on the boy's bedroom floor where he was doing his maths revision later that afternoon.

“It can't be that bad. There's three of you, right? That means you'll have to do less of the workload,” Key reasoned.

They were talking about their new social studies assignment. It was supposed to be a pairs assignment but since there were an uneven number of students in the class, there would be one group of three. Taemin drew the short straw (figuratively and literally; their social studies professor had an interesting way of doing things) and got put in a group with the school's sweethearts, Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol.

“No! Are you kidding me?” Taemin exclaimed, looking up at Key with wild eyes. “I've barely been in this school a month and I've already seen too much PDA between those guys for a lifetime, now I need to do an assignment with them? I mean, it's nothing against them personally, but seriously, I already know I'm going to be doing all the work while they sit there face – loudly,”

Taemin huffed a defeated sigh. Key just shrugged again.

“Hey, who'd you get coupled up with?” the younger asked, rolling, once again, onto his back and spreading out on his bed like an eagle.

Key scrunched up his face in discomfort. “Don't phrase it like that!” (Taemin sniggered.) “I got paired with Nam Jaehyo.”

“Is he that kid who looks scary but sits by himself and spends lunch watching funny cat videos?”

Taemin wasn't wrong; Jaehyo did look scary. From his loud motorbike that roared obnoxiously into the school parking lot every morning, to the combination of ripped jeans, combat boots and that faded leather jacket he wore every day, he was the picture of intimidation. He was your stereotypical bad-boy-heartbreaker; there was always a line of girls and boys with flowers and handmade chocolates and love letters written on pink paper and filled with words from the heart, but he turned each and every one of them down without fail, leaving a slew of broken hearts in his wake.

Before today, Kibum wouldn't have dared say two words to him – not until they were paired together for this assignment. He had learned, then, that Jaehyo was actually quite nice and soft-spoken.

“The one and only,” Key confirmed with a nod.

“I see him looking at you a lot, hyung. I think he likes you,”

Key scoffs, but the light pink that dusts his cheeks betrays his nonchalance. “As if. You've seen the way he rejects people, like, all the time,”

“Yeah, well, maybe that's because he's waiting for someone specific. Specifically, you,”

“I don't know about that, Tae,” Key says (instead of “I'm not really interested since I have my heart set on Mr. Kim.” He figures that one wouldn't go down so well).

“You got his number, right?”

“Yeah, so we can arrange times to work on the project,”

“Text him!”

“What?! Taemin, I can't just text him like that out of the blue!”

“It won't be out of the blue if you say you want to set up a time to work on the assignment and hang out~”

“I don't know, Taemin,” Key says, hands toying idly with the hem of his t-shirt.

“Come on, do it! You two can get to know each other and fall in love; the Bad Boy and the Nobody. It'll be a love story for the ages!” Taemin says, earning himself a deadpan look from Key, “Okay, okay, but you have to at least admit; he's damn cute!”

Despite himself, Key actually thought about it. Jaehyo was cute, after all, and would it really be so bad to let himself go after someone who was, admittedly, a lot more reachable than Jonghyun? He knew nothing could happen with Jonghyun, his teacher, and he had to get over this crush sometime.

'Well,' he thought, 'no time like the now, or something.'

“Okay,” Key decided with a sigh, exhaling deeply as though it would release the fear churning in his stomach. Taking out his phone and opening a new message, he asked; “What should I say?”

“Wait, seriously?” Taemin jumped up, the excitement visible on his face. “Yes! Okay, well, most conversations start with 'hello',”

Key had to force himself not to roll his eyes. “I know that much, but I don't want to be forgettable.”

“Okay, so say something like 'I wanna ride you like your Harley,' I'm sure he won't be forgetting that,” the redhead said with a loud laugh.

“Lee Taemin!” Key screeched in horror. “You can't talk like that, you're innocent!”

Taemin wasn't sure which part made him laugh harder; Key's reaction or being called 'innocent'.

“Aish, you know what? I can do this on my own. It can't be that hard to talk to people,” Key decided, sending a simple text.

Hi :)

The response was almost instant.

Hey! I was just about to text you :D

Oh really?

Yep, I guess we have some sort of special psychic bond~

Ahaha, I'm sure that's it! What am I thinking about now?

Hanging out with me on Saturday?

Before Key could reply, a second message showed up.

To work on the assignment, of course.

Of course ;)

So, is that a yes?

Yes :)

Awesome! I know this great little cafe, it's usually pretty quiet there and I'd love to take you.

Pick me up at 11?

I'll bring the spare helmet :)

I'll see you then~

It's a date :D

Maybe, Key thinks, this whole thing might not be so bad.

∆

Saturday came along faster than Kibum was maybe ready for. He felt as though no time had passed and yet here he was; readjusting with the hem of his sweater and fixing his hair for the nth time as he waited for Jaehyo on his front porch.

Did he really think this through? He has little to no social skills, having made his first friend a month ago, and has no idea how to act on an unofficial date with the school's most wanted-yet-unattainable guy. Not to mention the fact that he was, admittedly, still hung up with his planet-sized crush on his Lit teacher. What the hell was he thinking? What the hell was he doing?

He didn't have time to dwell on it as a motorcycle was roaring to a stop outside his white picket fence. The rider stopped the bike, used his boot to push down the kickstand and took off his helmet. He shook out his shaggy black hair and shot Key a charming smile. The boy snapped out of his daze and quickly made his way to the man on the bike.

“Hey,” Jaehyo greeted with a gummy smile. He handed Key the spare helmet as the other offered him a shy “hi” in reply.

Key nodded, looking at the helmet cautiously before eventually slipping it onto his head, latching it beneath his chin safely.

“You ever been on one of these before?” Jaehyo asked, gesturing to his bike. Key shook his head. “Well, you're in for an experience! Just, make sure you hold on tight to me, alright?” Another nod. “Okay, you ready to go?”

“As I'll ever be,” Key gulped, speaking up for the first time since Jaehyo arrived.

His arms wound around a strong torso, hands gripping the leather jacket tight. Key wanted butterflies in his stomach, like he gets whenever he's at work and he hears the doorbell ding and he looks up to see Jonghyun's wide smile pointed in his direction.

He wanted his heart rate to speed up, how it does every time Jonghyun looks at him with a soft, sweet smile and says “Kibum” in that way that makes Key not hate his name and instead makes him want to hear it every single day of his life.

He wanted to blush at the touch and want for more, the was he does whenever he tells Jonghyun a joke that makes the elder laugh out loud and clutch Kibum's arm to steady himself.

He wanted to picture himself falling in love with Jaehyo, the way he pictures himself falling in love with Jonghyun, but it just didn't happen.

The bike stopped outside a café that Kibum was all too familiar with. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he stared – or, more like gaped at his workplace; the very same place that allows him to spend so much time with Jonghyun. Why, Key wondered, was the universe so against him?

“So, this is the café I mentioned I wanted to show you,” Jaehyo started as he removed his helmet and took Key's, placing them on the back of the bike, “they make a really good latte – or hot chocolate, if coff