After staying with Kibum's family for numerous days, Minho easily became a favorite of the Kims. When they gathered at the dinner table, asking each other questions about how their day went or what plans they had, Minho kindly listened on the side and added in his thoughts whenever he was directly addressed. His charming smile and natural charisma made Kibum's parents love him, especially since Kibum seldom brought home his friends (even Jonghyun only stepped in his home several times).

At first, Kibum informed his parents that Minho's parents were out of town and so he needed to stay there, but eventually they began to raise an eyebrow at the true reason behind Minho's stay. Not only that, they had suspicions about the nature of Kibum and Minho's relationship. With the way they interacted with each other and spent time together - they were almost never seen apart at all - their friendship was very questionable.

Finally during a normal dinner, Kibum's mother asked, "So Minho, when are your parents coming back?"

At that moment, silence instantly covered the table, and everyone's eyes were trained on Minho. Dongwoon, content that he already knew Minho was Kibum's boyfriend, smirked knowingly. He had actually entertained the thought of them doing mature acts together in Kibum's bed, but he wasn't entirely sure and wasn't rude enough to ask; his little brother seemed eternally innocent to him, so he had no reason to imagine anything like that.

"I'm not sure, actually..." Minho weakly responded, puzzled as to how he would exactly answer that when he probably wasn't welcome home. Feeling pressured, he reached to the side and grabbed Kibum's hand automatically, trying to ease the tension he felt.

"How can you not know that?" Kibum's father politely asked. "Wouldn't they at least tell you before leaving the country?"

Minho's awkward smile began to falter, and his eyes shifted towards Kibum in search of an answer. Kibum was well aware that his parents would not act negatively to him having a boyfriend, but he was not sure that they would appreciate the thought of him and Minho sharing the same bed for the past week. As Kibum's eyes moved between his parents and Minho, he decided on just being frank and honest with them. "Minho's my boyfriend," he said nonchalantly.

Kibum's parents looked at each other and nodded their heads in understanding. "Ah, I kind of saw that coming," his mom remarked, as if she knew everything the whole time. Minho's expression simply became blank, confused at the relaxed reaction; he knew that Kibum's parents were calm, but not this calm.

"So then are your parents okay with it?" Kibum's father asked, spooning soup into his mouth.

"No, not really," Minho replied, giving Kibum's hand a small squeeze.

"Ah, what a shame," Kibum's mother chimed in. "Surely some people need to get with the present. We were shocked when we found out Kibum was gay, but it's not like it was a terrible event that ruined our family. He's the same son we've had since he was born. Nothing different."

"That's right," his father added. "Let him date whoever he wants to," he said with definite approval.

"Thank you," Kibum said with a smile, and he tugged at Minho's hand with joy.

Dongwoon nodded as well, also on the same page as his parents. "You should talk to them eventually, though," he stated simply, joining the conversation. "At least give yourself a chance to explain everything and see if they'll accept you. Who knows, they could've just been shocked and didn't know what to do."

"Yeah, I should..." Minho responded, remembering that his mother had called him numerous times about his whereabouts and asked if he was okay. Minho simply replied with an 'I'm safe' and left it at that. But now that he was listening to Kibum's parents, he promised himself that he would go back to confront his mom at least.

~~~

In school, Kibum and Minho were linked together closely. Since Minho's other friends flocked back to the old group of athletes, their lunch table now consisted of them, Jonghyun, Hoya, and Jaeho. Some of the jocks jokingly called him and Hoya traitors like before, but they didn't mind at all. They preferred the company of Kibum and his new friend, and it was enough to keep them consistently happy.

The others got the silent message that Kibum and Minho were back to dating, and they congratulated them well. Despite Minho disliking Jaeho out of jealousy in the past, he was indifferent now. He also took into account that Jaeho must have been slightly disappointed that his crush was fairly one-sided, so he treated him with kindness in effect. "I understand why you'd like Kibum too," Minho had said to him privately. "So no worries between us," he added. Jaeho only nodded in embarrassment and accepted Minho's statement, feeling happy that he was still able to have friends to look out for him.

One Thursday at lunch, the five of them were all present and engrossed in a conversation about their lives.

"So how have you and Tao been?" Minho started off.

"We're doing fine, actually," Hoya said with dignity. "We actually just went on a date yesterday to the movie theater."

"Did you actually watch the movie?" Kibum asked, narrowing his eyes at Hoya. He knew how crazy those two got sometimes, as he remembered the time they made out in the back of his own flower store.

"Okay, maybe we zoned out and kissed a few times," Hoya admitted. "But still, we're a cool and relaxed couple." Minho was taken aback by this statement so much that he snorted, prompting the other four boys to laugh at his action. 

"Like I'd believe that," Minho said after he recovered from all the laughing.

"Oh please, you two are all over each other too," Hoya argued, pointing out that Minho's arm had been around Kibum the entire lunch period.

"Oh yeah," Jonghyun agreed. "I would have thought that you guys were glued together at this point."

"Whatever," Kibum said with a smile, knowing that Minho had no urge to withdraw his arm even after hearing that.

"Anyways, since we're discussing this," said Minho, "what about little Jaeho over here? Don't you have a man yet?"

Jaeho blushed furiously and shook his head. "I don't know," he replied. "It doesn't seem like I'll get one anytime soon."

He was met with sounds of rejection from the other four. "I doubt it," Kibum said instantly, as he had easily warmed up to Jaeho as a friend. "We just need to find a hot guy and hook you two up," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah, Minho and I have all of those athlete connections. It shouldn't be hard for us to dig up one that would be into you," Hoya added, raising his eyebrows at Jaeho. Jaeho just laughed again and blushed, shaking his head