somethin's gotta give
title: somethin's gotta give
pairing(s): jongtae
rating: pg-13
wordcount: ~3500
summary: High school sucks. It doesn't help that Jonghyun is kind of a juvenile delinquent and wants to bone his best friend.
a/n: i did the cliche high school au thing with 2min, now i'm doing the cliche rooftop bl manga shtick with jongtae. i suck, sorry
The sun shone dazzlingly in the bright blue sky, bathing the school's bare white roof in heat and warmth. From four stories down, where most students were enjoying their lunch break in the courtyard, came the sounds of idle conversation, girls' high-pitched laughter, and the rustling of wind through the trees. It was early spring, and the arrival of the new season had lifted everyone's spirits.
Everyone but the pair on the roof, that is.
In the scant shade by the door to the stairs, with their uniform jackets spread on the ground as cushions against the grit of the rooftop, two boys sat crosslegged next to each other. One was bleeding from the corner of his mouth, the other pressing a paper napkin to the cut. Neither of them looked particularly joyful about the coming of spring.
"Someday you're really going to get hurt," the uninjured boy commented, his voice devoid of any emotion. He let his fingers rest against the warmth of his companion's cheek. "For someone so short, you sure get in a lot of fistfights."
"Shut up, Taemin," the other boy growled, his words muffled by the napkin covering his lips. The scuffed nametag attached to his jacket read Kim Jonghyun.
"I'm just saying," the boy named Taemin said. "You go looking for trouble, it's gonna find you."
"I don't look for trouble," Jonghyun protested. "Those guys were just pissing me off. Fucking Choi. Choi fucking Minho, he's so fucking - "
"I don't care," Taemin said. He fixed Jonghyun with a cold look. "Next time, don't do it."
Jonghyun sighed. "Taemin - "
"I hate having to clean you up every time," Taemin said. "It's fucking annoying."
Which Jonghyun knew to mean that Taemin didn't like seeing him in pain.
"Okay," he said. "I won't get in any more fights."
"Make it a promise, asshole."
"I promise."
Taemin was the only one for whom Jonghyun would make such promises, but it was hard to keep them when Taemin himself was the cause of most of his injuries. Indirectly, Taemin had started nineteen minor fights over the past four months that had resulted in nineteen minor injuries to Jonghyun, five of which had been on his face and thus impossible to hide. Five times Taemin had scolded him, and Jonghyun had been forced to listen to his criticism in silence.
"Are you even going to try to justify this?" Taemin had been angry the first four times, had demanded explanations. And Jonghyun had given him nothing but silence in return.
Because how could he explain this? That anytime he heard other guys saying bad things about Taemin - no, anytime another guy even mentioned Taemin's name, his blood rushed angrily through his veins and he couldn't help but want to hit them. That he was possessive, unhealthily so. That at some point during their friendship, his feelings had become warped though Taemin's had stayed pure.
There was no way he could say that.
So he just shrugged stubbornly when Taemin asked him why, and by the fifth time, the urgency had gone from Taemin's questioning.
"You're really not going to tell me, are you?" he'd said, resigned.
Jonghyun had shrugged. "Sorry."
And he was. He was sorry he couldn't control his violence, sorry Taemin had to patch him up so often, sorry that he couldn't speak what was really on his mind.
Most of all, he was sorry he'd fallen in love with his best friend.
This was the sixth time:
He was walking to lunch, taking a shortcut to the stairs to the roof by cutting through one of the underclassmen's hallways. Lingering outside class 2-B were two of his least favorite people, Choi Minho and Kim Kibum.
They were second-years, like Taemin, and Jonghyun knew that Taemin liked and respected Minho a great deal. This fact alone was enough to make him dislike the bastard, but on top of that, Minho was also tall, good-looking, and a bit of a snob, warranting Jonghyun's flat-out hatred. Honestly, Jonghyun would have taken any excuse to deck his pretty-boy mug, so it was hardly surprising that he'd attack him after what he heard in the hallway as he passed by.
" - not even that little fruitcake Taemin."
Jonghyun, who'd been walking quickly and thinking about nothing in particular, skidded to a sudden halt once he processed Minho's words.
"I wouldn't mind," Kibum was saying now, his bow lips curled into a predatory grin. "You should see him in dance club."
"What the fuck are you two talking about?" Jonghyun snarled, grabbing Minho by the collar and shoving him against the wall.
"Easy, there," Minho said mildly. A knowing smirk appeared on his face. "We're not talking shit about your boytoy, if that's what you're worried about."
"Don't fucking call him that," Jonghyun said through gritted teeth. "Don't you dare fucking - "
"I'll call him whatever I want," Minho said. "You might be fucking him, but it's not like you own him."
And then Jonghyun punched him in the gut.
It was a blow that had Minho coughing and slumping a little against the wall, but within moments he regained his breath, and, lightning-quick, he drew back his fist and slammed it into Jonghyun's jaw.
Jonghyun got in a good kick to Minho's side, and Minho was raising his arm to strike again, but then Kibum intervened. Gently, he laid one delicate hand on Minho's bicep.
"Not worth it," he said quietly, nodding his head to the open expanse of the hallway, where a teacher could walk in on the fight at any moment.
"Fine," Minho said, his nostrils flaring. Jonghyun knew that if it had been anyone else telling him to, he wouldn't have stopped. "Fine, yeah. You're right. This guy's not worth my time."
"Watch it," Jonghyun warned.
"You shouldn't pick fights with people twice your size," Kibum told him bluntly.
"Hey!" Jonghyun said, flushing.
"For your own good," Kibum said. It was exactly this smug, condescending tone that annoyed Jonghyun most about the younger boy.
"Whatever," Jonghyun said. "Next time you talk about Taemin like that, I won't hold back."
Minho just snorted in response.
"Come on, Minho," Kibum said, tugging him by the arm. "Let's go."
As they disappeared around the corner, Jonghyun was still seething angrily from the encounter. Then he notcied something wet dripping down his chin. Touching one finger to the wetness, he realized his mouth was bleeding. With a muttered curse, he set off for the roof, where Taemin was waiting.
Now, with Jonghyun's lip no longer bleeding and Taemin's frustrations at least somewhat appeased, the tension on the roof had eased, and the two of them talked casually about nothing in particular as the remaining half hour of lunch stretched out before them. It was kind of a boring way to spend free time during this bout of perfect weather, but Jonghyun didn't mind. Taemin's eyes scrunched up into oblivion as peals of unrestrained laughter rang from his lips, and his graceful hands swirled circling gestures into the air as he spoke, and Jonghyun felt the heaviness in his chest dissipate. Meaningless moments like this made everything worth it, the bruises and cuts and sneers, all of it.
"Hyung," Taemin said when the conversation had reached a lull. "How do you ask someone out?"
Jonghyun swallowed, tucked his clammy palms behind his head. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because I want to ask someone out," Taemin laughed. "Jesus, why else?"
"I just," Jonghyun said, adjusting his crestfallen expression into one of appropriate curiosity. "I didn't know you liked anyone right now?"
"They like me, actually," Taemin said, a secret smile playing on his lips. "And you know how, when you know someone likes you, you start to like them back?"
Jonghyun knew. That was how, two years ago, he'd ended up with his one and only girlfriend, an ordinary, perfectly nice girl whom he would never have given a second thought if she hadn't confessed to him. He'd dated her because she was cute and willing, and it had just seemed like the right thing to do, but in retrospect he felt dishonest and a little guilty for going out with her with such lukewarm feelings.
In the end, though, she'd dumped him for another guy, so he didn't feel that bad.
"Is that even a reason to date someone?" Jonghyun said now. "Just because you know she likes you?"
"I've thought about it a lot," Taemin said. "The two of us'd make a good couple."
"Who is it?" Jonghyun said. He wouldn't go so far as to pick a fight with a girl, but there were other ways to scare them off. Better to know now who his opponent would be.
"Not telling," Taemin said. He tipped his head back, turned his eyes to the cloudless sky.
"Then I won't help you ask her out," Jonghyun said spitefully, glaring when Taemin began to giggle. "What's funny?"
"It's just that, I already know what you'll tell me," Taemin said, closing his eyes and adopting a mocking tone. "You always say shit like, just tell the truth, and say how you feel."
"What's wrong with that?" Jonghyun said defensively.
"It's just ironic, is all," Taemin said.
"Ironic, huh," Jonghyun said. "Yeah, maybe."
Quiet engulfed the two of them, and as Jonghyun was checking the time on his phone - he needed to get away from this rooftop, the sooner the better - Taemin stood up.
"You're really gonna make me be the one to say it." His shoulders set with determination, he narrowed his eyes at Jonghyun. "You like me, hyung. Did you ever plan on confessing?"
"I - you - what?" Coherence was far beyond his current abilities. Jonghyun felt a red-hot flush creep along his cheeks as he stared up at the younger boy.
"I'm not blind," Taemin said. "It was kind of shitty of you not to think of my feelings."
"I wasn't - you're not - but," Jonghyun shook his head dumbly, "but you're straight."
"You're an idiot," Taemin said flatly, "but I really like you."
If he thought pinching himself would rouse him from what was clearly a dream from one the more desperate sectors of his subconscious, Jonghyun would have done it. But the dull pain still throbbing in his lower lip told him he wasn't asleep, and the characteristically unfathomable look on Taemin's face told him he wasn't hallucinating. If this was real, and Taemin had just confessed to him, then -
"Anyways," Taemin was saying now, apparently done waiting for Jonghyun's response, "I know you're dumb as a bag of bricks, so I'll give you some time to think about it. For now, I'm off to class, so I'll see you later, I guess."
Before Jonghyun could tell him to wait stop don't go are you serious because I love you, Taemin had slung his jacket over one shoulder, his backpack over the other, and was skipping lightly down the stairs.
Chemistry was a huge disaster. After the stunning revelation of Taemin's confession, Jonghyun was unable to concentrate on anything but the memories of those full lips forming the words, "I really like you," and twice his carelessness ruined the titration so that they had to start over. Jinki, his lab partner and sometimes-friend, prodded him in the shoulder with the non-pointy end of his mechanical pencil.
"Something's bothering you," he said. Jinki was perceptive and thoughtful, and Jonghyun liked this about him. This was why they were sometimes friends.
"Um," Jonghyun said, swallowing. "Taemin said he likes me. So I… yeah, I'm a little confused about the situation, but I think we might start dating? It just happened really suddenly, I'm still processing."
"Oh, he told you," Jinki said, beaming. "Good. I was beginning to think he wouldn't."
"You knew about this?"
"Sure," Jinki said easily. "I was the one who told him you liked him." And this was why they weren't always friends. Jinki didn't confine himself to normal people's boundaries, which was at times refreshing, but at others truly invasive and annoying.
Jonghyun shook his head. "You shouldn't have, Jinki. I mean, really, you should not have done that."
"Why not?" Jinki said with a shrug. "He confessed to you, didn't he? If I hadn't told him, nothing would have happened."
He had a point.
"Still," Jonghyun said, measuring out several milliliters of hydrochloric acid. "It wasn't really your place to tell him."
"Jonghyun," Jinki said, his brow furrowing beneath the thick plastic goggles. "Is it so bad that I want you to be happy?"
And this was why Jonghyun could never bring himself to dislike Jinki. He was too honest and well-intentioned to be harmful, too sweet to leave a bad taste in Jonghyun's mouth for long. It was his kind, frank nature that had led Jonghyun to confide in him in the first place.
"Okay, okay," Jonghyun said gruffly. "Thanks for looking out for me."
Jinki beamed. "No problem! I'm always here for you."
"Yeah." Jonghyun handed him the sodium nitrite. "You're a good friend."
"You are too," Jinki said, adjusting the burette. "So I was wondering if you could do something for me."
"What's that?" Jonghyun asked warily.
"There's this second-year in Taemin's class," Jinki said, "who's probably the cutest thing on earth."
"Oh god."
"You wouldn't even have to set us up or anything, I just want a little more information."
"This has been your ulterior motive all along," Jonghyun groaned.
"No!" Jinki said earnestly. "Really, I just thought of it this morning."
"Yeah, right," Jonghyun snorted. "Jeez. I thought you were pure."
Jinki laughed. "I'm serious. I just happened to see him earlier today, and he looked so - "
"Hold up." Jonghyun scribbled the reaction time on a loose sheet of binder paper. "It's a guy?"
"Yeah. I mean, not just any guy, he's really handsome, and really mature for his age. And his smile," a goofy smile crossed Jinki's face, "is unbelievably dreamy."
"This is sickening," Jonghyun declared. "What's his name?"
"You probably don't know him."
"Try me."
"His name," Jinki said reverently, "is Choi Minho."
When Taemin walked out of the dance club's practice room at five-thirty, Jonghyun was sitting in the hallway waiting for him, playing Angry Birds on his phone. Catching sight of Taemin, he leapt to his feet and shuffled over, cracking his neck.
"Good god," he grumbled, "took you long enough. I thought my phone was gonna run out of battery."
"You didn't have to wait for me," Taemin said. His flushed cheeks glowed in the late-afternoon orange light, and sweat gleamed on every visible inch of his skin. Jonghyun pictured himself licking the salt from the edge of his jaw to the dip of his collarbone.
Yeah, this was worth the wait.
"I just thought we should talk," Jonghyun said, "since, you know. You told me your feelings straight up, so it's only fair that I do the same."
"Sure," Taemin said, avoiding Jonghyun's gaze.
"I'm gay for you," Jonghyun said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I mean, fuck. That's not how I wanted to start this."
Taemin snickered.
"I just mean," Jonghyun said carefully, "you said you liked me, but only because you knew I liked you. And I don't think you actually get how much I like you." He cleared his throat. "I like you a lot."
Taemin stared at him, his eyes dark and inscrutable.
"I'm like, I am really gay for you," Jonghyun continued. "It's not just like, 'oh we're friends and I'm into your personality,' it's like, 'oh I think you're really amazing and I want to fuck you.'" He swallowed. "Um, not that that's my specific thought process, but. You get the gist."
Taemin continued to say nothing.
"Like, if you agreed to date me," Jonghyun said, curling and uncurling his fingers into damp fists, "if we dated and you decided, 'naw, let's go back to being just friends,' or even 'we should break up for good,' um. I don't think I could let that happen. I would keep holding onto you even if you were unhappy, because I like you that much and I'm that selfish. So if you say yes now, I won't let you turn back." He returned Taemin's gaze nervously. "Just so you know."
After a few long seconds, during which Jonghyun seriously considered curling into a ball and burying himself underground somewhere for the next ten years, Taemin spoke.
"Are you done?"
"Yeah," Jonghyun said, startled by Taemin's cold tone.
"Okay," Taemin said, and then sighed. "See, this is why you're dumb."
"Sorry," Jonghyun said automatically, then backtracked: "Wait, why am I dumb?"
"You're seriously worried that I don't like you enough?" Taemin said. "Are you kidding me?"
"No?" Jonghyun said, inflecting his statement as a question. He didn't understand what Taemin was getting so worked up about; he thought his concerns were pretty valid. He knew he'd be an unreasonable boyfriend, so it seemed appropriate to give fair warning to someone who probably only liked him back out of convenience.
"Isn't it enough that I like you?" Taemin demanded. "You think I don't mean it. Do I have to spell this out for you?"
"I never said - "
"When I say I like you, hyung," Taemin said, his eyes lighting up with passion, "I mean that I like spending time with you, and I like looking at you, and I like it when you look at me. Sometimes you talk about stuff, and I pretend to be paying attention, but really I'm just thinking about making out with you."
Well, that was a revelation.
"And," Taemin continued, "why do you think I got my ears pierced? Because you got yours pierced two years ago, and you looked sexy as fuck, so I thought if I did mine you'd think the same about me."
"It worked," Jonghyun muttered.
"And I like your hands, and your legs, and your eyes," Taemin rattled off, "and I like your fingers when you play guitar, and your throat when you hit the high notes in Juliette."
"Juliette?" Jonghyun said, bemused. "But that's a song from my old band… I haven't sung that in years."
"Well, then," Taemin said somewhat defiantly. "That should tell you how long I've been waiting."
"Since middle school?" Jonghyun said, dumbfounded.
"Yeah." Taemin ran a hand through his bangs. "Yeah, middle school I guess. And then we were friends, and I thought it was enough, but at this point… there's no going back. I want you, hyung. God, fuck, I want you."
It was a lot to think about, and Jonghyun had already had issues just comprehending that Taemin liked him; so at the burning look in Taemin's eyes, at the way his Adam's apple bobbed with agitation, at the collarbones that loomed tauntingly as Taemin's lean, beautiful body inclined at a slight angle towards him, Jonghyun decided: fuck it. He strode forward two steps, closing the gap between them.
"So what you're saying is," Jonghyun said huskily, leaning in, "that we're pretty much on the same page about this."
"Yes," Taemin whispered, tilting his head and shuttering his eyelids. "Finally."
Their lips met, and Jonghyun shuddered at the perfection. The fantasies he'd entertained for the past year or so paled in comparison to the real thing, and as his hand curled around Taemin's sweaty neck to pull him closer, as Taemin's fingers roamed his chest and arms, as Taemin's warm mouth opened and welcomed him so readily, he sighed at how goddamn easy it was. Their bodies fit together flawlessly, so why the hell hadn't they done this earlier?
"I'm an idiot," he breathed into the space between their faces as they pulled briefly apart.
"You really are," Taemin said, his cheeks pink with a heat that had nothing to do with dance practice.
"A huge fucking stupid dipshit dumbass idiot - "
"It's okay," Taemin said, pecking him once on the lips and then taking him by the hand to tug him down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" Jonghyun asked.
"To make up for lost time."
[epilogue]
Jinki looked thrilled to see them holding hands the next day.
"I'm so happy for you!" he exclaimed.
"Thanks, hyung," Taemin told Jinki brightly.
"You're too loud," Jonghyun grumbled.
"Young love is really something, isn't it?" Jinki said, sighing theatrically.
"Absolutely," Taemin said, giving Jonghyun's hand an emphatic squeeze.
"Shut up," Jonghyun groaned.
"And speaking of young love," Jinki said, "when are you going to introduce me to Minho?"
"We're leaving," Jonghyun said abruptly, dragging Taemin towards the stairs.
It had been Taemin who'd learned how to pick the lock in the stairwell last year, stumbling upon the wonderfully private haven of the roof. But it had been Jonghyun who'd swiped and copied the janitor's master key, giving them easier and safer access. It was this key that he flourished now, as they stepped out into the hot noonday sunlight of the roof.
"You should sit down," he said. "I'm locking the door."
notes
sorry (im not that sorry). this was an incredibly self indulgent thang, and it's a) an excuse to write jonghyun saying "im really gay for you" and b) probably every "rooftop" genre shonen ai i've ever read smooshed into one short fic, minus the porn, also minus acid town because yo that is an awesomely nonstereotypical bl manga i highly recommend it. no jokes if you made it through this fic you can go read acid town! do itttt
pairing(s): jongtae
rating: pg-13
wordcount: ~3500
summary: High school sucks. It doesn't help that Jonghyun is kind of a juvenile delinquent and wants to bone his best friend.
a/n: i did the cliche high school au thing with 2min, now i'm doing the cliche rooftop bl manga shtick with jongtae. i suck, sorry
The sun shone dazzlingly in the bright blue sky, bathing the school's bare white roof in heat and warmth. From four stories down, where most students were enjoying their lunch break in the courtyard, came the sounds of idle conversation, girls' high-pitched laughter, and the rustling of wind through the trees. It was early spring, and the arrival of the new season had lifted everyone's spirits.
Everyone but the pair on the roof, that is.
In the scant shade by the door to the stairs, with their uniform jackets spread on the ground as cushions against the grit of the rooftop, two boys sat crosslegged next to each other. One was bleeding from the corner of his mouth, the other pressing a paper napkin to the cut. Neither of them looked particularly joyful about the coming of spring.
"Someday you're really going to get hurt," the uninjured boy commented, his voice devoid of any emotion. He let his fingers rest against the warmth of his companion's cheek. "For someone so short, you sure get in a lot of fistfights."
"Shut up, Taemin," the other boy growled, his words muffled by the napkin covering his lips. The scuffed nametag attached to his jacket read Kim Jonghyun.
"I'm just saying," the boy named Taemin said. "You go looking for trouble, it's gonna find you."
"I don't look for trouble," Jonghyun protested. "Those guys were just pissing me off. Fucking Choi. Choi fucking Minho, he's so fucking - "
"I don't care," Taemin said. He fixed Jonghyun with a cold look. "Next time, don't do it."
Jonghyun sighed. "Taemin - "
"I hate having to clean you up every time," Taemin said. "It's fucking annoying."
Which Jonghyun knew to mean that Taemin didn't like seeing him in pain.
"Okay," he said. "I won't get in any more fights."
"Make it a promise, asshole."
"I promise."
Taemin was the only one for whom Jonghyun would make such promises, but it was hard to keep them when Taemin himself was the cause of most of his injuries. Indirectly, Taemin had started nineteen minor fights over the past four months that had resulted in nineteen minor injuries to Jonghyun, five of which had been on his face and thus impossible to hide. Five times Taemin had scolded him, and Jonghyun had been forced to listen to his criticism in silence.
"Are you even going to try to justify this?" Taemin had been angry the first four times, had demanded explanations. And Jonghyun had given him nothing but silence in return.
Because how could he explain this? That anytime he heard other guys saying bad things about Taemin - no, anytime another guy even mentioned Taemin's name, his blood rushed angrily through his veins and he couldn't help but want to hit them. That he was possessive, unhealthily so. That at some point during their friendship, his feelings had become warped though Taemin's had stayed pure.
There was no way he could say that.
So he just shrugged stubbornly when Taemin asked him why, and by the fifth time, the urgency had gone from Taemin's questioning.
"You're really not going to tell me, are you?" he'd said, resigned.
Jonghyun had shrugged. "Sorry."
And he was. He was sorry he couldn't control his violence, sorry Taemin had to patch him up so often, sorry that he couldn't speak what was really on his mind.
Most of all, he was sorry he'd fallen in love with his best friend.
This was the sixth time:
He was walking to lunch, taking a shortcut to the stairs to the roof by cutting through one of the underclassmen's hallways. Lingering outside class 2-B were two of his least favorite people, Choi Minho and Kim Kibum.
They were second-years, like Taemin, and Jonghyun knew that Taemin liked and respected Minho a great deal. This fact alone was enough to make him dislike the bastard, but on top of that, Minho was also tall, good-looking, and a bit of a snob, warranting Jonghyun's flat-out hatred. Honestly, Jonghyun would have taken any excuse to deck his pretty-boy mug, so it was hardly surprising that he'd attack him after what he heard in the hallway as he passed by.
" - not even that little fruitcake Taemin."
Jonghyun, who'd been walking quickly and thinking about nothing in particular, skidded to a sudden halt once he processed Minho's words.
"I wouldn't mind," Kibum was saying now, his bow lips curled into a predatory grin. "You should see him in dance club."
"What the fuck are you two talking about?" Jonghyun snarled, grabbing Minho by the collar and shoving him against the wall.
"Easy, there," Minho said mildly. A knowing smirk appeared on his face. "We're not talking shit about your boytoy, if that's what you're worried about."
"Don't fucking call him that," Jonghyun said through gritted teeth. "Don't you dare fucking - "
"I'll call him whatever I want," Minho said. "You might be fucking him, but it's not like you own him."
And then Jonghyun punched him in the gut.
It was a blow that had Minho coughing and slumping a little against the wall, but within moments he regained his breath, and, lightning-quick, he drew back his fist and slammed it into Jonghyun's jaw.
Jonghyun got in a good kick to Minho's side, and Minho was raising his arm to strike again, but then Kibum intervened. Gently, he laid one delicate hand on Minho's bicep.
"Not worth it," he said quietly, nodding his head to the open expanse of the hallway, where a teacher could walk in on the fight at any moment.
"Fine," Minho said, his nostrils flaring. Jonghyun knew that if it had been anyone else telling him to, he wouldn't have stopped. "Fine, yeah. You're right. This guy's not worth my time."
"Watch it," Jonghyun warned.
"You shouldn't pick fights with people twice your size," Kibum told him bluntly.
"Hey!" Jonghyun said, flushing.
"For your own good," Kibum said. It was exactly this smug, condescending tone that annoyed Jonghyun most about the younger boy.
"Whatever," Jonghyun said. "Next time you talk about Taemin like that, I won't hold back."
Minho just snorted in response.
"Come on, Minho," Kibum said, tugging him by the arm. "Let's go."
As they disappeared around the corner, Jonghyun was still seething angrily from the encounter. Then he notcied something wet dripping down his chin. Touching one finger to the wetness, he realized his mouth was bleeding. With a muttered curse, he set off for the roof, where Taemin was waiting.
Now, with Jonghyun's lip no longer bleeding and Taemin's frustrations at least somewhat appeased, the tension on the roof had eased, and the two of them talked casually about nothing in particular as the remaining half hour of lunch stretched out before them. It was kind of a boring way to spend free time during this bout of perfect weather, but Jonghyun didn't mind. Taemin's eyes scrunched up into oblivion as peals of unrestrained laughter rang from his lips, and his graceful hands swirled circling gestures into the air as he spoke, and Jonghyun felt the heaviness in his chest dissipate. Meaningless moments like this made everything worth it, the bruises and cuts and sneers, all of it.
"Hyung," Taemin said when the conversation had reached a lull. "How do you ask someone out?"
Jonghyun swallowed, tucked his clammy palms behind his head. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because I want to ask someone out," Taemin laughed. "Jesus, why else?"
"I just," Jonghyun said, adjusting his crestfallen expression into one of appropriate curiosity. "I didn't know you liked anyone right now?"
"They like me, actually," Taemin said, a secret smile playing on his lips. "And you know how, when you know someone likes you, you start to like them back?"
Jonghyun knew. That was how, two years ago, he'd ended up with his one and only girlfriend, an ordinary, perfectly nice girl whom he would never have given a second thought if she hadn't confessed to him. He'd dated her because she was cute and willing, and it had just seemed like the right thing to do, but in retrospect he felt dishonest and a little guilty for going out with her with such lukewarm feelings.
In the end, though, she'd dumped him for another guy, so he didn't feel that bad.
"Is that even a reason to date someone?" Jonghyun said now. "Just because you know she likes you?"
"I've thought about it a lot," Taemin said. "The two of us'd make a good couple."
"Who is it?" Jonghyun said. He wouldn't go so far as to pick a fight with a girl, but there were other ways to scare them off. Better to know now who his opponent would be.
"Not telling," Taemin said. He tipped his head back, turned his eyes to the cloudless sky.
"Then I won't help you ask her out," Jonghyun said spitefully, glaring when Taemin began to giggle. "What's funny?"
"It's just that, I already know what you'll tell me," Taemin said, closing his eyes and adopting a mocking tone. "You always say shit like, just tell the truth, and say how you feel."
"What's wrong with that?" Jonghyun said defensively.
"It's just ironic, is all," Taemin said.
"Ironic, huh," Jonghyun said. "Yeah, maybe."
Quiet engulfed the two of them, and as Jonghyun was checking the time on his phone - he needed to get away from this rooftop, the sooner the better - Taemin stood up.
"You're really gonna make me be the one to say it." His shoulders set with determination, he narrowed his eyes at Jonghyun. "You like me, hyung. Did you ever plan on confessing?"
"I - you - what?" Coherence was far beyond his current abilities. Jonghyun felt a red-hot flush creep along his cheeks as he stared up at the younger boy.
"I'm not blind," Taemin said. "It was kind of shitty of you not to think of my feelings."
"I wasn't - you're not - but," Jonghyun shook his head dumbly, "but you're straight."
"You're an idiot," Taemin said flatly, "but I really like you."
If he thought pinching himself would rouse him from what was clearly a dream from one the more desperate sectors of his subconscious, Jonghyun would have done it. But the dull pain still throbbing in his lower lip told him he wasn't asleep, and the characteristically unfathomable look on Taemin's face told him he wasn't hallucinating. If this was real, and Taemin had just confessed to him, then -
"Anyways," Taemin was saying now, apparently done waiting for Jonghyun's response, "I know you're dumb as a bag of bricks, so I'll give you some time to think about it. For now, I'm off to class, so I'll see you later, I guess."
Before Jonghyun could tell him to wait stop don't go are you serious because I love you, Taemin had slung his jacket over one shoulder, his backpack over the other, and was skipping lightly down the stairs.
Chemistry was a huge disaster. After the stunning revelation of Taemin's confession, Jonghyun was unable to concentrate on anything but the memories of those full lips forming the words, "I really like you," and twice his carelessness ruined the titration so that they had to start over. Jinki, his lab partner and sometimes-friend, prodded him in the shoulder with the non-pointy end of his mechanical pencil.
"Something's bothering you," he said. Jinki was perceptive and thoughtful, and Jonghyun liked this about him. This was why they were sometimes friends.
"Um," Jonghyun said, swallowing. "Taemin said he likes me. So I… yeah, I'm a little confused about the situation, but I think we might start dating? It just happened really suddenly, I'm still processing."
"Oh, he told you," Jinki said, beaming. "Good. I was beginning to think he wouldn't."
"You knew about this?"
"Sure," Jinki said easily. "I was the one who told him you liked him." And this was why they weren't always friends. Jinki didn't confine himself to normal people's boundaries, which was at times refreshing, but at others truly invasive and annoying.
Jonghyun shook his head. "You shouldn't have, Jinki. I mean, really, you should not have done that."
"Why not?" Jinki said with a shrug. "He confessed to you, didn't he? If I hadn't told him, nothing would have happened."
He had a point.
"Still," Jonghyun said, measuring out several milliliters of hydrochloric acid. "It wasn't really your place to tell him."
"Jonghyun," Jinki said, his brow furrowing beneath the thick plastic goggles. "Is it so bad that I want you to be happy?"
And this was why Jonghyun could never bring himself to dislike Jinki. He was too honest and well-intentioned to be harmful, too sweet to leave a bad taste in Jonghyun's mouth for long. It was his kind, frank nature that had led Jonghyun to confide in him in the first place.
"Okay, okay," Jonghyun said gruffly. "Thanks for looking out for me."
Jinki beamed. "No problem! I'm always here for you."
"Yeah." Jonghyun handed him the sodium nitrite. "You're a good friend."
"You are too," Jinki said, adjusting the burette. "So I was wondering if you could do something for me."
"What's that?" Jonghyun asked warily.
"There's this second-year in Taemin's class," Jinki said, "who's probably the cutest thing on earth."
"Oh god."
"You wouldn't even have to set us up or anything, I just want a little more information."
"This has been your ulterior motive all along," Jonghyun groaned.
"No!" Jinki said earnestly. "Really, I just thought of it this morning."
"Yeah, right," Jonghyun snorted. "Jeez. I thought you were pure."
Jinki laughed. "I'm serious. I just happened to see him earlier today, and he looked so - "
"Hold up." Jonghyun scribbled the reaction time on a loose sheet of binder paper. "It's a guy?"
"Yeah. I mean, not just any guy, he's really handsome, and really mature for his age. And his smile," a goofy smile crossed Jinki's face, "is unbelievably dreamy."
"This is sickening," Jonghyun declared. "What's his name?"
"You probably don't know him."
"Try me."
"His name," Jinki said reverently, "is Choi Minho."
When Taemin walked out of the dance club's practice room at five-thirty, Jonghyun was sitting in the hallway waiting for him, playing Angry Birds on his phone. Catching sight of Taemin, he leapt to his feet and shuffled over, cracking his neck.
"Good god," he grumbled, "took you long enough. I thought my phone was gonna run out of battery."
"You didn't have to wait for me," Taemin said. His flushed cheeks glowed in the late-afternoon orange light, and sweat gleamed on every visible inch of his skin. Jonghyun pictured himself licking the salt from the edge of his jaw to the dip of his collarbone.
Yeah, this was worth the wait.
"I just thought we should talk," Jonghyun said, "since, you know. You told me your feelings straight up, so it's only fair that I do the same."
"Sure," Taemin said, avoiding Jonghyun's gaze.
"I'm gay for you," Jonghyun said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I mean, fuck. That's not how I wanted to start this."
Taemin snickered.
"I just mean," Jonghyun said carefully, "you said you liked me, but only because you knew I liked you. And I don't think you actually get how much I like you." He cleared his throat. "I like you a lot."
Taemin stared at him, his eyes dark and inscrutable.
"I'm like, I am really gay for you," Jonghyun continued. "It's not just like, 'oh we're friends and I'm into your personality,' it's like, 'oh I think you're really amazing and I want to fuck you.'" He swallowed. "Um, not that that's my specific thought process, but. You get the gist."
Taemin continued to say nothing.
"Like, if you agreed to date me," Jonghyun said, curling and uncurling his fingers into damp fists, "if we dated and you decided, 'naw, let's go back to being just friends,' or even 'we should break up for good,' um. I don't think I could let that happen. I would keep holding onto you even if you were unhappy, because I like you that much and I'm that selfish. So if you say yes now, I won't let you turn back." He returned Taemin's gaze nervously. "Just so you know."
After a few long seconds, during which Jonghyun seriously considered curling into a ball and burying himself underground somewhere for the next ten years, Taemin spoke.
"Are you done?"
"Yeah," Jonghyun said, startled by Taemin's cold tone.
"Okay," Taemin said, and then sighed. "See, this is why you're dumb."
"Sorry," Jonghyun said automatically, then backtracked: "Wait, why am I dumb?"
"You're seriously worried that I don't like you enough?" Taemin said. "Are you kidding me?"
"No?" Jonghyun said, inflecting his statement as a question. He didn't understand what Taemin was getting so worked up about; he thought his concerns were pretty valid. He knew he'd be an unreasonable boyfriend, so it seemed appropriate to give fair warning to someone who probably only liked him back out of convenience.
"Isn't it enough that I like you?" Taemin demanded. "You think I don't mean it. Do I have to spell this out for you?"
"I never said - "
"When I say I like you, hyung," Taemin said, his eyes lighting up with passion, "I mean that I like spending time with you, and I like looking at you, and I like it when you look at me. Sometimes you talk about stuff, and I pretend to be paying attention, but really I'm just thinking about making out with you."
Well, that was a revelation.
"And," Taemin continued, "why do you think I got my ears pierced? Because you got yours pierced two years ago, and you looked sexy as fuck, so I thought if I did mine you'd think the same about me."
"It worked," Jonghyun muttered.
"And I like your hands, and your legs, and your eyes," Taemin rattled off, "and I like your fingers when you play guitar, and your throat when you hit the high notes in Juliette."
"Juliette?" Jonghyun said, bemused. "But that's a song from my old band… I haven't sung that in years."
"Well, then," Taemin said somewhat defiantly. "That should tell you how long I've been waiting."
"Since middle school?" Jonghyun said, dumbfounded.
"Yeah." Taemin ran a hand through his bangs. "Yeah, middle school I guess. And then we were friends, and I thought it was enough, but at this point… there's no going back. I want you, hyung. God, fuck, I want you."
It was a lot to think about, and Jonghyun had already had issues just comprehending that Taemin liked him; so at the burning look in Taemin's eyes, at the way his Adam's apple bobbed with agitation, at the collarbones that loomed tauntingly as Taemin's lean, beautiful body inclined at a slight angle towards him, Jonghyun decided: fuck it. He strode forward two steps, closing the gap between them.
"So what you're saying is," Jonghyun said huskily, leaning in, "that we're pretty much on the same page about this."
"Yes," Taemin whispered, tilting his head and shuttering his eyelids. "Finally."
Their lips met, and Jonghyun shuddered at the perfection. The fantasies he'd entertained for the past year or so paled in comparison to the real thing, and as his hand curled around Taemin's sweaty neck to pull him closer, as Taemin's fingers roamed his chest and arms, as Taemin's warm mouth opened and welcomed him so readily, he sighed at how goddamn easy it was. Their bodies fit together flawlessly, so why the hell hadn't they done this earlier?
"I'm an idiot," he breathed into the space between their faces as they pulled briefly apart.
"You really are," Taemin said, his cheeks pink with a heat that had nothing to do with dance practice.
"A huge fucking stupid dipshit dumbass idiot - "
"It's okay," Taemin said, pecking him once on the lips and then taking him by the hand to tug him down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" Jonghyun asked.
"To make up for lost time."
[epilogue]
Jinki looked thrilled to see them holding hands the next day.
"I'm so happy for you!" he exclaimed.
"Thanks, hyung," Taemin told Jinki brightly.
"You're too loud," Jonghyun grumbled.
"Young love is really something, isn't it?" Jinki said, sighing theatrically.
"Absolutely," Taemin said, giving Jonghyun's hand an emphatic squeeze.
"Shut up," Jonghyun groaned.
"And speaking of young love," Jinki said, "when are you going to introduce me to Minho?"
"We're leaving," Jonghyun said abruptly, dragging Taemin towards the stairs.
It had been Taemin who'd learned how to pick the lock in the stairwell last year, stumbling upon the wonderfully private haven of the roof. But it had been Jonghyun who'd swiped and copied the janitor's master key, giving them easier and safer access. It was this key that he flourished now, as they stepped out into the hot noonday sunlight of the roof.
"You should sit down," he said. "I'm locking the door."
notes
sorry (im not that sorry). this was an incredibly self indulgent thang, and it's a) an excuse to write jonghyun saying "im really gay for you" and b) probably every "rooftop" genre shonen ai i've ever read smooshed into one short fic, minus the porn, also minus acid town because yo that is an awesomely nonstereotypical bl manga i highly recommend it. no jokes if you made it through this fic you can go read acid town! do itttt