It had been four months since they started dating and things had gotten a lot better for Jongin. A dare by Kyungsoo made his grades higher than ever which led him right next to his boyfriend’s just because of a surprise gift (which happened to be the latest version of the video game that Jongin had been longing for) that the doe-eyed boy had prepared if he succeeded. Jongin did succeed, but not to the point of beating the other’s grades because Kyungsoo was just too smart to be beaten.

And Kyungsoo was proud of that, partly because his boyfriend’s grades had gotten higher but also the fact that Jongin didn’t bring him down on their paired up graded exams. Studies are still in his top list of priorities after his family. Sad but true, Jongin was just third.

But Jongin was still happy. He gets to spend more time with his boyfriend, fetching and dropping Kyungsoo from and to home, eating lunches and snacks together and even come over to each other’s houses on weekends. As expected, Jongin was the clingy one.

Another thing that made Jongin happy was getting into the football team and that’s where things faltered.

After quite some time with the team, Jongin found out that one of the members had a liking towards his boyfriend. That night of discovering the information, Kyungsoo spent the whole night explaining to the whining Jongin about the security of their relationship. The problem didn’t end there.

Sometimes, Jongin would leave to school early or leave school very late because of the practices. Kyungsoo was obviously unimpressed.

Jongin would sometimes eat his lunch with the team, leaving his best friend and boyfriend along with the Chinese boy alone on their table. Or sometimes, he would bring Kyungsoo with him to eat with the team but the doe-eyed boy always refused to.

Kyungsoo was never fond of watching his boyfriend during practice and even stopped coming to the field after school even when he heard a rumor from Sehun that the captain of the cheerleading team likes Jongin. In spite of the growing gap between their relationship as boyfriends, Kyungsoo still kept in mind that he wouldn’t let anything bother his grades so he goes home first and study.

But that didn’t mean Kyungsoo didn’t care about Jongin. He loves Jongin and he’s undeniably jealous over a rumor but doesn’t say anything about it. If their relationship doesn’t work out (which he’s hoping never to happen because though Jongin tend to be so dense to his secret messages), then there’s nothing he could do.

“Hey, baby.”

Kyungsoo, Sehun and Luhan looked up from their lunch to the tanned boy who took a seat next to his boyfriend.

Jongin leaned closer to the doe-eyed boy and planted a soft kiss on the cheek, earning exchanged looks between his best friend and the Chinese boy. “Missed me?”

Kyungsoo returned to his lunch with a shrug. “Do I have to answer that?”

“I already know the answer,” Jongin grinned.

The other continued eating when Kyungsoo didn’t give any response while Jongin leaned his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder and his arms around Kyungsoo’s.

“Don’t you have any plans with your team?” Kyungsoo asked between his munches.

“No, so I have to spend my time with my nerdy boyfriend.”

“How unusual,” Kyungsoo muttered.

“How about a date?”

“Saturday?” Kyungsoo turned his head and Jongin raised his to look at each other’s eyes. “I’m only free on Saturday and that movie I told you about is showing already.”

The tanned boy frowned and Kyungsoo knew what it meant. The shorter boy just sighed.

“I heard the party’s not even mandatory,” Kyungsoo muttered.

“But Soo,” Jongin whined.

“Do what you want.”

“You won’t get mad?”

“No.”

Sehun, on the other hand, silently watched his best friend grinning at the granted permission. He felt sorry for Kyungsoo for having a dense boyfriend – dense enough to miss the sarcasm on his answers. Luhan felt the same thing.

Jongin was surprised to see Sehun waiting for him after his practice. Kyungsoo had gone home after they were dismissed and he doesn’t have any idea what made his best friend wait for him.

“I just have something to talk to you about,” Sehun said, eyes somewhere behind his best friend.

Jongin followed the gaze to the person he doesn’t really have a good relationship with, secretly, of course. It was no other than Chanyeol, the popular guy with a towering height and creepy smile, and also that other guy who likes his boyfriend.

“It’s about the party your team will be having.”

The tanned boy’s attention was back to his best friend in an instant. “So you heard about it? I also have to tell Kyungsoo that he can come over too.”

“Luhan told me it’s open for everyone but he doesn’t want to go. Kyungsoo too.”

“Oh.”

With Chanyeol fast approaching them, Sehun took the chance to give his dense of a best friend a hint. He wasn’t sure how he came to know words about the others, probably from Luhan or Baekhyun’s loud mouth. “Hey, Chan.”

Jongin’s expression turned sour. How can his best friend talk to his secret enemy?

“Hey, Sehun. You coming at the party?” Chanyeol stopped next to the tanned boy.

“Uh, nope. I’d rather do something else than that.”

“Me too. I’ll go on a date or something. There’s this new movie I want to watch too. Oh, well, see you guys around.” Chanyeol gave his teammate a playful punch on the arm before giving a nod and left.

Jongin only returned a glare towards his teammate once Chanyeol turned his back at them.

“So, still going at the party?”

“Of course.”

“This is hopeless,” Sehun muttered in disbelief. His best friend didn’t get any of the hints, especially the possibility that Kyungsoo could be watching the movie with his rival and probably call it a date.

Weekend came and Jongin was enjoying the party. It started around lunch in their coach’s house.

He had tried contacting his boyfriend a few times but none of them were answered so he assumed that Kyungsoo might be watching the movie of busy studying. He doesn’t want to disturb his boyfriend.

The team members were gathered around the living room and he was quite relieved that Chanyeol wasn’t around. Two other guys from their team didn’t attend too. Most of the outsiders were scattered around the kitchen and the yard where they were having a barbecue party.

Time passed by quickly and it was past four in the afternoon already. He used the bathroom, freshen up a little. He felt a little better from those grill smokes and mini games. But what welcomed him when he came back outside to the yard wasn’t so pleasant.

It was his boyfriend, Kyungsoo, standing by the grill. What was unpleasant was the sight of Chanyeol approaching his boyfriend with a couple of cups in his hands, handing one to Kyungsoo.

Once Kyungsoo accepted the drink with a smile, he trudged towards his boyfriend, trying hard to restrain himself from making a scene.

“Uhm, I’ll just go meet coach for a while,” Chanyeol said, loud enough for Jongin to hear and left.

When Kyungsoo spotted his boyfriend, Jongin was surprised to see that the other didn’t look so surprised to see him. “Where did you go?”

“Why are you here? I thought you went out to watch a movie,” Jongin retorted in a hushed voice, earning a look from the guy who was doing the grill.

“I did. I watched it and Chanyeol was there too so he invited me over after the movie.”

“You went out with…” Jongin inhaled deeply and dragged his boyfriend to the other side of the yard for some privacy. Kyungsoo leaned his back against the wall with a huff. “You went out with Chanyeol?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because you wouldn’t!”

The answer caught Jongin speechless, his lips slightly parted, unable to give a reply.

“It wasn’t the first time,” Kyungsoo muttered, taking a sip on his drink. “I tried to make things work. I tried closing the gap but you just keep on leaving it wider.” He was now staring at the tanned boy with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

“I… I have stuffs to be busy with too like you do with your studies.”

“But have you ever tried saving up time to spend with me? You always made reasons to cancel our date. It wasn’t easy for me to plan out a day or even a few hours for a date with you.”

It slowly hit Jongin. Painfully, so.

He had given Chanyeol the advantage of spending time with his boyfriend instead of him. He had spent a lot of time with his team though some were even fruitless and never realized he was losing his lover. He wished he knew it would end up like that. He wished he got the hints sooner than that.

“There’s nothing between me and Chanyeol, okay? We just happen to be in the same place at the same time and maybe I can call him a friend by now.” Kyungsoo held his boyfriend’s hand and gripped it tightly. “You don’t have to worry about it and just trust me.”

“Nothing really happened?” Jongin breathed out in relief, returning his boyfriend’s grip.

Kyungsoo went on his toes and placed an assuring kiss on the other’s lips. “Nothing happened.”

“I’m sorry, Soo.”

“It’s okay. Let’s enjoy the party.”

“Hey, dude,” Chanyeol blocked Jongin’s way to the kitchen.

He returned an awkward smile. “Hey. I’m just about to get some water for Kyungsoo.”

“I didn’t mean to make you think badly about me hanging out with Kyungsoo.”

“Oh. Uh, it’s fine. I understand.”

“It’s just recently,” Chanyeol scratched his nape, “I’ve been rejected a few times by the same guy and it just so happen Kyungsoo’s always there right after I get rejected so, yeah. Nothing happened. Really.”

“Okay, I get, man. You don’t have to explain.” Jongin playfully punched his teammate’s arm. “I really need some water right now.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Kyungsoo, why didn’t you tell me anything about Chanyeol before?”

“I tried. You weren’t listening.”

They were having a sleep over that night at Jongin’s house and both were snuggled under the blanket, watching a movie online.

Jongin pouted, staring at his boyfriend’s side view with the laptop screen reflecting on the other’s eyeglasses. He leaned closer and planted a soft kiss on Kyungsoo’s temple. “I missed this,” he whispered.

Kyungsoo looked up to him with a smile. “You won’t anymore,” he said before pulling the taller boy down to have their lips meet.

“I’ll make sure of that.”

“Of course.”

“Sehun, did you know?”

It was lunch that Monday when Jongin decided to confront his best friend and Luhan. He took the opportunity while his boyfriend was in the faculty office.

“I do. We all do, except you.” Sehun nodded.

Luhan sighed. “You finally got the hints. I’m not sure if you were too late or just in time.”

“So Chanyeol actually likes Kyungsoo like, really like him?” the tanned boy inquired.

“Kyungsoo isn’t really that bad-looking. Take off his glasses, give him a pair of tight skinny jeans and brush his hair up, damn he’ll look good,” Luhan said, earning surprised looks. He wasn’t usually the type to comment like that. “Too good for you to actually want to bang him the moment you lay your eyes on him.”

“I didn’t know you can say something like that,” Jongin commented.

“Say what?” Kyungsoo interrupted as he sat down next to his boyfriend. “And why are you here? Your team’s having a small celebration again. I’m not sure why they always celebrate something.”

“Can’t I eat with my boyfriend?” he scoffed.

“Well, I was planning to ask Chanyeol to come and eat with us if you’re not around.”

“Soo, that’s not funny.”

“I was just kidding,” Kyungsoo smiled, pinching his boyfriend’s cheek. “I honestly asked Junmyeon.”

“Soo,” Jongin whined.

“Such a baby. I was just joking. I just don’t want to be alone with these two,” Kyungsoo glared at the two guys opposite them. “I don’t want to be alone watching them eating each other’s faces.”

Jongin’s face contorted at the information, eyeing the two as well. Luhan and Sehun just smiled. “You’re dating?”

“Only you don’t know about it, Jongin.” Kyungsoo sighed.

“So, I missed a lot.”

“A lot. Even that day when I wore skinny jeans.”

Jongin almost choked himself with his own saliva. “Wha-at?”