Key, Taemin and Jonghyun were eating together on one table when suddenly Minho came from nowhere and sat there with his plate of food.

"Minho?" Taemin furrowed an eyebrow to the other, which was just ignored.

"How are you guys?" Minho asked casually. "What the heck Minho..." Jonghyun rubbed his forehead as he can't imagine how awkward is this situation.

Key suddenly stood up while carrying his tray of food. "I'm eating at that table." he pointed at an available table and walked swiftly to it. The trio watched him take a seat and just stare at the food with those lifeless eyes.

"Jonghyun!" Taemin growled at the elder,  "eat with Kibum!"

"Okay okay." Jonghyun shrugged and carried his lunch box with him and went to Key.

"Tae, stop giving me those kind of stares." Minho said as he stopped eating and spared a glance at the other who is looking at him with blazing eyes.

"Do you know how he is feeling? Come one Minho, be a man. Fix the f****** problem."

"It isn't the right time yet." they turned their heads to Jonghyun and Key at the other table, where Jonghyun is feeding Key with the same spoon he used to eat.

From Taemin:

To Kibum:

I SENT JONGHYUN THERE TO ACCOMPANY YOU, NOT TO BE ALL SWEETIE PATOOTIE LOVERS. STOP THAT, IT MAKES ME PUKE. SERIOUSLY.

When Key read the text message, he showed it to Jonghyun, who took a glance at Taemin, who's nose and ears are fuming and his eyes with a murderous aura, which disappeared when Jonghyun smied at him. Taemin stood up and went to the two. "Excuse Key and I." he dragged Key by the wrist and went to the cafeteria's restroom.

"What is going on with you?" Key asked as he locked the door.

"Stop doing sweet things with Jonghyun for my sanity's sake." Taemin walked around restlessly. "You like Jonghyun hyung, don't you?" Taemin rubbed his two palms together as he heard the terrible question  he does not want to answer.

"I don't know, honestly. Molla, I don't know. I mean... I don't know this feeling. It all began at the pageant practices. carrying me to the clinic, bringing me food every practice sessions using his own money... That is the first time I knew the meaning of the word 'care'. And when I fluttered my eyes open when I fainted at the pageant, he is the first thing I saw. Seeing him in a tuxedo, well-groomed hair and his face being oh so close to me, it made my heart thump like crazy." Key saw how confused, and flustered the other while talking. "Then after that, weird things kept on happening. Sometimes, I will dream of him."

"Dream about what?"

"That I am securely held in his arms, feeling the warmth of his body against mine. It felt so real sometimes, that I am disappointed when I wake up, finding out it is just a dream. "Then I began finding him cute and funny and sweet. I even got flustered when I accidentally saw him coming out from a nearby gym, seeing him in sleeveless shirt that highlighted his well-built body and simple shorts made me stop on my tracks and forget how to breath." Key tried hard not to squeal when he saw Taemin covering his beet red face. "T-then I felt electric shocks in my body whenever he gives me even the lightest touch."

"You are in love, I tell you." Key remarked. "Nooo." Taemin shook his head. Key smirked for a while, then began talking again. "Are you sure? So I shouldn't feel guilty that the other day, in his house, he suddenly pulled me into a kiss?"

"Wha-What the..."

Key started making gestures and movements to tell his story more effectively. "Those strong arms wrapped around my waist, and that wet little muscle that poked my lips, wanting to go inside and-"

"WHAT THE SERIOSU F*** KEY!? KIM JONGHYUN IS MINE! IS ALL MINE!" Taemin shouted, and the other one burst into a laughing fit. "You really believed everything that I said? I was just testing your reaction! Pabo! Now you wll tell me you're not in love?"

Taemin stood there flushed and covered his face in embarassment. "Ugh Key.."

"I told you! You like Jonghyun hyung, no, you love Jonghyun hyung!" Key began laughing raucously as he looked at Taemin's very red face. "I will kill you one day Kim Kibum."

==============================================================================================

"How can a man not execute even a single push-up? Weakling!" Key's male classmates shouted at him. "You are such a !" the girls yelled as one of them began throwing dodgeballs at him. He fell on the floor and covered his head with his hands, to protect himself from being showered with dodgeballs and insults. He is about to cry when he felt warm arms wrapped around him, followed with a voice. "Are you okay?" Minho asked him but Key is too stunned to answer.

"Stop!" the leader of the class shouted, "we are hitting Minho, not that thing."

"Excuse me, but Kibum is not a thing," Minho growled, "why are you doing this? I am sure this isn't about him being poor now"

"He doesn't belong here. He is a er. He in Maths, in PE, in Science, he in almost every subject!"

"Key-sshi excels in English." the student beside the class president whispered. "Shut up."

"He has no special skills, and he is gay. The fact that his parents disowned him means the world hates him and doesn't want him here. He is a shame, and we don't want to be associated with him in any wa-"

"Your principles are all wrong. The fact that all those things that you said are true, then you should have accepted him, because he has no family, and we should have been his family. You failed, I also failed... And the gay issues? I don't believe that is the main reason. It is about our kiss video. And besides, there are students here that are openly gay but you treat them like a person." Minho reasoned out.

"But he is a b*tch, unlike our sweet Ryeowo-"

"So this is a revenge to Key. As I expected. You will step on a person once he is down. And Ryeowook of Year 1-A right? Jonghyun told me something about that brat, and we even saw him do something that is controversial. You don't know how scandalous that kid is, the very opposite of what you are talking about. Just wait for the news to spread out, and I am sure you will eat all of the words you are saying right now." the student looked each other in confusion, not noticing Minho already carried Key on his back and rushed out of the damned place.

As they went inside the clinic, the nurse looked very worried at Key. "He again?"

"What do you mean?" Minho furrowed an eyebrow as he laid the unconscious Key on the bed. "These past days he had been oftenly rushed here. He keeps on fainting, because he won't eat." the nurse explained. That is when Minho noticed that Key had been a lot thinner, his cheekbones became more prominent and skin that doesn't feel that firm anymore. That also explains why he always has bloodshot eyes.

"Kibum!" a panicky Taemin with Jonghyun trailing behind burst throught the door. Jonghyun and Taemin sat on Key's bedside, looking at how he sleeps peacefully.

"He fainted." Minho answered. "Why?" Jonghyun asked.

"Our classmates hit him with dodgeballs, and he looks a lot paler than his usual complexion."

"WHAT!?" Taemin panicked as he stared at Minho, "WHAT DID THEY DO TO MY BABY!? WHAT DID THEY DO TO KIBUM!?"

The room grew silent and the nurse, Jonghyun. Minho and the other occupants of the clinic stared at him.

"WHAT!?"

"Did you just call Key... your baby?" Jonghyun cleared his throat, still surprised at the outburst.

"Umm... for that... Instinct, uhhh whatever." Taemin just shrugged and stared at the sleeping diva again.

"Ummm," the nurse butted in the discussion, "look at my record book to see the number of days he is here."

"he had been going here for straight 2 weeks? Minho, where were you? You were classmates and you didn't see him in the clinic?" Taemin asked frantically, hysteria showing in his voice, again.

"I'm sorry okay? I don't know." Minho shrugged.

"I was worried so I had him checked up by the doctor," the nurse said, "he often has an empty stomach and i can see that he is really depressed. Do you know why?"

"Bullying, personality problems, family issues, those are just some of the reasons." Taemin answered in a low tone. "Jonghyun. isn't he eating at your house?"

"I often wake up later than him, and when I do, I see cooked food on the table and a note saying he already went ahead, so I thought he ate already. And about the other meals... He eats in a small amount, and when I asked why, he said he is on a diet."

"This is all my fault." Minho sighed as he sat on the bedside. "It idn't your fault okay? Nobody's fault." Jonghyun the younger's back.

"Whatever your problem is, please fix it, for the sake of the patient's health and well-being." the nurse then went out of the room to give them some privacy.

"Gosh, you have gotten uglier." Minho said as he removed the bangs covering Key's tightly shut eyes. "The area around your eyes are dark with eyebags. Are you always thinking of your problems every night? Your cheekbones got noticeable than ever, too. Your lips also got chappy. And everytime I see your eyes, it seems I am looking through a dead man's eyes. Your eyes had lost their natural shine."

In the midst of everything, Key's eyes suddenly opened and saw 3 worried set of eyes staring at him. "I'm going." he said casually and tried to set his legs straight on thefloor, only to stumble and land on Minho's grip.

"I'm okay." the feline man answered as he pulled away.

"Sounds like Taemin on our first day of class." Jonghyun snickered and got a punch on the arm. "Yah, I'm here~"

"Key-ah..." Minho reached out for Key's retreating hand.

"I think we should go." Jonghyun pulled Taemin to go out of the place. "I'm still watching a drama of an ice prince and a froggy!" Taemin whined as they got out of the clinic.

"You were the Ice prince." Jonghyun chuckled. "I think I'm still the Ice Prince. I don't smile." Taemin hung his head low. "You will learn to do that, don't worry. For now,  let's give them privacy. They need to talk things out."

"Okay." Taemin pouted, then he felt his stomach growl, or rather, heard.

"You hungry again? You are really Year 3-A's food machine." Jonghyun swung his arm on the other's shoulder and led him to the cafeteria.

"Why did you do that?" Key broke the silence that had been circulating the room, for he and Minho are the only people in the room.

"Do what?"

"Save me from them. You should just have let them kill me at once whenever they have the chance."

"You need a protector."

Key began biting his bottom lip. "All your life you had devoted to me, and you had the chance to see this b*tch suffer like you did. You had the chance to live your own life at last, and you grabbed the chance. I chased after you but you thrown me away. Then the pageant. I don't get it why you kissed me, maybe just to tease me. And that is when the sh*t of my life started. They found out, my parents found out, and now I am all alone. So I began-"

"Cutting yourself." Minho said in a a pain-filled voice.

Key stared at him with wide eyes, which Minho got the meaning of it. "Don't you think I was not watching you from the clinic door? And well, I saw Taemin holding you out from the library, and I overheard the conversation."

"W-why do you even care?!"

Minho's voice began cracking in emotions. "Because I can't bear to see you like that anymore! Especially because I am one of the reasons. It isn't just that I feel guilty. Like why you were disowned, and treated like this by the campus. I was the man in the video with you, and I am not mocked unlike you who ahd been experiencing all this sh*t for months now. It kills me whenever I see you so broken like that. I thought I can live happily seeing you like that but it's the other way round." Minho grabbed the other into a heated embrace, Key choking into his own sobs.

"I'm sorry Bummie." Minho whispered as he began shedding tears too. "I'm s-sorry to M-Minho... I miss this feeling." Key said as he gripped tighter on Minho.

"Me too Bum. I missed you. I'm so sorry that I didn't protect you.Now I won't leave you alone anymore. I can't bear to lose you anymore. I don't think I might live if I lose you."

Key chuckled a little, "Yah stop saying that, you sound like you're my hubby."

"I would be glad to, if you will just give me a chance.." Key pulled away at the statement and looked at Minho's eyes. "Are you really joking on me?"

"No I am not." Minho inched closer at Key's face, "Kim Kibum, will you be my boyfriend?"

Key blinked his eyes, very flustered on what is happening. "Eh!?"

"You don't want to?"

"It isn't that I don't want to, it is just..." Key scratched his head, "uhm, of course, I was surprise that you feel the same as me, b-but... I don't want to destroy your future. I mean, your parents might be mad at you, especially that you are wanting to be with the ex-heir of the family that made their son suffer, and besides, you won't have kids, and and that-" he can never finish his sentence as he felt a pair of lips brush against his own.

"So is this the reason why you didn't want me to groom myself?" Minho chuckled. "Yeah, I don't want them to see your handsome face, because they will all chase after you, and I can't have you for myself." Key answered, averting his gaze at the side of the bed.

"You're really selfish, you know?" Minho lifted his chin and took Kibum's lips to his own.

=======================================================================================

"Hyung, thank you for taking care of me, or me taking care of you." Key giggled as he and Minho carried his baggage and bags.

"So this is a goodbye?" Jonghyun sighed.

"JONGHYUN!" Taemin sprinted out of the room, "you are still tutouring me- Key, Minho?"

"Key is leaving this house now." Minho explained, "he will be living at my house." Jonghyun and Taemin looked at each other. "YOU ARE LIVING IN!?"

 "Oh yes yes yes you're- wait wait what what- no no no!" the two shook their heads, "we are living with appa and umma of course!" Minho interjected.

"Ahhhh I got it." Jonghyun and Taemin said in chorus. Jonghyun began ruffling Key's hair, "Take care." "Yeah, and make yourself useful there. Don't be a lazy bum." Taemin butted in.

"Aish, you little..." Key just laughed at his friend's remark. "Shall we go now, MInho?"

"Yes. Bye guys." Minho smiled at them and carried Key's things, and went out of the house.

"I will miss Key's cooking." Jonghyun looked at the ceiling, and Taemin cleared his throat. "Jjong, I'm hungry"

"I'll cook ramen for now. Just a minute." Jonghyun then headed to the kitchen. Taemin trailing behind him.

"Tsk. Answer the algebra questions I made.." Jonghyun said as he the stove.

"But hyuuuuung~ I'm too hungry to answer any questions~" Taemin whined and pouted, which he finally mastered after 1 week of practicing aegyo on front of the mirror.

"So now, you're using honorifics for pleading and getting favors. Very creative." Jonghyun chuckled as he flicked the younger's pout.

"That hurts!" Taemin pouted even more, pushing his bottom lip out. Not really expecting what will happen next.

"You know what, you should stop acting all cute. You can pass as a girl by your appearance and actions, and you may not like what I'm going to do with you." he suddenly felt his hands pinned on the wall, and Jonghyun staring at him straight into the eyes.

"W-what are y-you doing..." Taemin tried to cover his face but the elder gripping his wrists is stopping him from doing so. He felt his heart beat become two times faster than usual, seeing the other too close to him, and their current position, made him almost lose his composure. He just waited on what will happen as he closed his eyes, waiting for that pair of lips to come in contact with his...

Then he heard a snicker. Then a giggle. As he opened his eyes, he saw the elder on front of him, staring at him with grin on his face, that began laughing loudly after aa second.

"Tae, you look so scared." Jonghyun tried suppressing his laugh, but it just became worse. His grip loosened on the other, and later on, Taemin could see him slapping and hitting on the wall and kitchen counters while laughing. The realization dawned to the younger. 

"Ughh Kim Jonghyun!" He shrieked as he stomped out of the kitchen.

"Lee Taemin, what is your problem? I am just joking." Jonghyun began following the other to his room.

"N-nothing. I am going I guess. I need to meet with someone. Bye." Taemin suddenly went out , clutching his notebooks and bag and dashed out of the house.

Jonghyun just stood there with a WTF face. "What's with him?" he went into the kitchen again and turned off the stove. He remembered Taemin's very red face, which made his own face heat up too.

"He really looks like a gir- Yah Jonghyun, you are straight okay? Stop thinking thoughts about your dongsaeng, you know he likes you but please, don't do such a thing again." he sat on the chair for a while, wondering what he can do. "Should I distance for a while, just for the better?"