Kibum was sick of all of the spring dance ads plastered all over the school. Every large poster, every small flyer seemed like it was mocking him. It was impossible to escape - from the semi-famous band that was advertised to be playing, The Rose, to the stupid Over the Rainbow theme. The slogan Magical! Wonderful! Colourful! was plastered all over the school and as if that wasn’t bad enough, it seemed that every corner he turned there was another stall with a couple of seniors trying to sell him tickets and reminding him “colours only! None of those boring, black suits!”

He wanted to go, he did, but how could he? He supposed he could go alone and spend the whole night watching one of the chaperones - his teacher, his boyfriend - and sure, maybe he could dance with Taemin or one of his friends, but he would spend the whole night wishing he could be dancing with Jonghyun.

“Key!” He heard a familiar voice call and spun to see Taemin rushing to catch up to him. Key stopped, smiled and waved to Taemin (and the student body president trailing along behind him). “Key!” He called once more, coming to a stop before Key and briefly crouching down, hands on his knees, to catch his breath.

Onew put his hand gently on Taemin’s shoulder and Kibum smiled at the way Tae placed his hand on Onew’s in a silent show of thanks and affection. Key wanted that sort of casual intimacy and openness with Jonghyun more than anything, but he knew better than to expect it.

“Hey Tae, Jinki,” Key greeted with a nod to each student. Taemin wasted no time rushing in for a hug and then promptly pulling away and landing a solid punch to Key’s shoulder. “Ow!”

“Long time no talk?” Taemin grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve been a bit of an absent friend lately,”

Key did his best not to sigh. He’s been a bad friend and he knew it, but between Jonghyun and his mum he just felt like that’d used up all the energy he had left to deal with these past weeks. He’s going through things - things he could never tell Taemin, his best friend, about. He was having an a secret affair with his teacher, things were happening for him!

Though, he supposed, things were happening for Taemin, too. He was in his first real relationship with the most popular boy at a school he was relatively new to - it may not have been the same thing, not even on the same scale, but Kibum loves Taemin and he knew he should be more considerate of what his friend is going through.

So, deciding to finally pull his head out of his , Kibum replied, “I know. I’m so sorry, Tae, things have been hectic but that’s no excuse for being a ty friend. There’s still twenty minutes before we have to get to class, if you aren’t too busy I’d love to spend some time with you,”

There was a pause where Kibum thought that Taemin would say no, would agree that Kibum’s been the worst friend and decide he can do better. Then, Taemin broke into a smile and some of the tension Key has had pent up seemed to leave. Taemin turned to Onew and told him something quietly, finishing his sentence with a kiss to the cheek. Onew smiled so softly at Taemin that Key felt his heart warm for his friends (and he let himself wonder, just for a second, if Jonghyun ever looked at him like that). With one last wave goodbye, Jinki left and Taemin rushed to Key’s side, grabbing his bicep as they started to walk along the school halls.

“I’m glad you wanted to talk, actually,” Taemin started. There was a hint of excitement in his voice that scared Key a little. “I was going to call you after your shift tonight,”

“I’m scared to ask,” came Key’s reply.

“Well, there may be a teeny, tiny chance that I set up a date for you this Friday,”

Key froze and immediately went to protest. Ever since Key had started seeing Jonghyun and finally managed to convince Taemin that he wasn’t interested in Jaehyo, he had a new challenge to face; Taemin’s setups. He couldn’t seem to convince Taemin that he didn’t want or need to be set up, and since he couldn’t come out and tell the truth, he was running out of reasons to say no.

“Now before you protest, just hear me out!” Taemin continued, “I know you keep saying you aren’t interested, and you’ve rejected my last five dates for you, but Key, I see the way you look when you see me with Onew - you want that! It’s so obvious! Not to mention the dance is coming up and you deserve to have that perfect high school experience; a dance, a date, some groping in the bathroom. I want you to be happy Key, especially now that Jinki is taking up so much of my time too. Just give this one a chance, I promise Luhan is great! If it ends terribly, I swear I’ll stop trying,”

Kibum really didn’t have a reason to say no to that. Taemin is his best friend and he was trying to do something nice for Kibum. Key just hoped that Jonghyun would understand that side of it.

“Okay, fine,” Key agreed, though it pained him, “just one date can’t be so bad,”

“Yes!” Taemin exclaimed with an excited hop and a fist pump, “score one for Taemin! Now, come with me, I need to buy Onew and my tickets to the dance,”

They headed to the next stall and while Taemin was busy speaking to the girl with bubblegum pink hair who was selling tickets, Kibum let his mind wander. He could imagine it all in such vivid detail; how good Jonghyun would look in his coloured suit, how sweet he would taste as they stole kisses in a bathroom stall, how warm and safe he would feel in Jonghyun’s arms when they’re hidden away in his car at the end of the night. One perfect high school moment.

And before he could think too much about it, Kibum was asking the girl with the bubblegum pink hair for two tickets of his own.

Kibum wasn’t one hundred percent sure that they should be doing this here. They were a block away from the school, in the safety of Jonghyun’s car. Somewhere in the background Key registered the low music playing, the deep voice of some American pop-folk artist that Jonghyun liked. Jonghyun’s warm hands were on Key’s face and he was kissing the boy like he’d never get the chance to do it again.

“Is this safe?” Kibum mumbled against Jonghyun’s lips, but the elder shushed him softly as he continued to kiss his boyfriend. Key wasn’t quite convinced - he was worried that they would get caught and he would be the reason for ruining Jonghyun’s life.

“Someone might see,” he continued, though he couldn’t bring himself to stop kissing Jonghyun.

Jonghyun was the one that broke their kiss.

“Bummie, don’t worry, this place is out of the way enough that no one will notice,” he Key’s face and brushed a strand of hair behind his ear, punctuations it with a kiss to his bow-shaped lips. “We just have to enjoy what we have for now,”

Key gave a small smile and a nod and leaned over and kissed Jonghyun again.

Jonghyun was right, Key knew he was. These moments, hidden away from the world, were the only moments they had right now and Key wanted to cherish all of them. One day, maybe, Key hoped they wouldn’t have to hide anymore, but for now he’s happy with these stolen kisses.

Kibum’s alarm rung loud and cut through the soft mood. He let his lips leave Jonghyun’s and slumped back in his seat with a soft groan. Jonghyun was giving him an adorable pout that almost made Kibum stay.

“Time to go,” Key said with a small smile.

“Do you really have to?” Jonghyun asked, pout in place and hand resting on Key’s knee.

“Uh, yeah, my lunch break is almost over and I need to get walking now if I want to get to your class on time,”

“I can drive you,”

Jonghyun looked hopeful, so Kibum leaned over and kissed him. “We already agreed, you can’t treat me differently,”

Jonghyun let out a sigh and offered a light squeeze to Kibum’s knee. “I know, I just...I want more time with you. I know it’s selfish and this is the way it has to be right now, and I’m okay with it, I just wish,”

Kibum gave him a smile in return, but there was something, a look behind the glimmer in his eye that was a little sad. “Maybe if we met in another life, but we met in this one,”

Jonghyun kissed him this time, cupping his face gently. “We can make this life work. I know we can,”

“Me too,” Key agreed, “but I really do have to go now,”

So with ill concealed reluctance, Jonghyun kissed him one last time (“for the road,” he had claimed) and let him leave.

Jonghyun made it to the classroom long before Kibum did. In fact, he barely made it by the first bell, which is very unlike Key and only served to make Jonghyun feel bad. He knew it was selfish to keep Kibum and now he was making him almost late to class, maybe Jonghyun really was bad for him.

That thought was ushered away once Kibum flashed him that smile while on his way to his desk. That smile that told Jonghyun “I cannot wait to do it again,” and “I don’t regret a thing,” all at once. Jonghyun smiled back and hoped no one noticed the way his eyes lit up and his gaze lingered a touch too long.

Jonghyun started the class with some homework revision, allowing everyone to work silently with their textbooks so he could finish grading yesterday’s homework. He had stayed up on the phone to Key a little too late last night and hadn’t gotten it all done, something that was coming back to bite him today. It was all going well, at least until another student walked in late.

His boots hit the ground with a loud thud at the end of each step. He draped his faded leather jacket over his chair and let his textbooks drop onto the desk carelessly and landing in a bang that almost shook Kibum.

“You’re late,” Jonghyun pointed out.

“Sorry,” Jaehyo said, slumping into his seat beside Key. “I’m here now,”

Jonghyun shook his head with a “don’t let it happen again,” and goes back to back to grading the homework. He doesn’t quite know what It was about Jaehyo, but something bugged him. He knew, in his mind, that he has no reason to be so bitter toward the student, he just couldn’t seem to get his heart on the same page.

Jonghyun’s ears don’t perk up again until he hears another of Jaehyo’s comments.