The Games We Play (The Mistakes We Make) (3/?)
Title: The Games We Play (The Mistakes We Make)
By: Onyx L.S.
Beta-ed by: forwardlove
Rating: PG-13 (so far)
Pairing: 2Min, JongTae, Jinwoon/Taemin
Summary: In his mind he knew he was falling right into the trap the delicate looking boy had set for him but that wasn't important. Whether or not he had been spun into Taemin's little web of secrets didn't matter. What mattered was beating him at his own game.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
WARNING: If you easily get offended by crude and offensive language/phrasing do not read this. (I can't control the way my character's talk/act okay? xD)
Their group consisted of four people - Taemin (because he was the only art-inclined with enough guts to join up with the jocks due to an uneven number in the split-but-now-combined classes), some kid named Lee Jinki (on scholarship and hardly noticeable), Jinwoon and Minho. Awkward was an understatement.
"So..." Jinki began, breaking the silence and pushing his rectangular, thick framed, black glasses up his nose in a sort of nervous gesture. He sent a quick disapproving glance at where Taemin was now, again, perched in Jinwoon's lap, giggling quietly at whatever naughty nothings the quarterback was whispering into his ear, before continuing with a squeaked, "Do you two mind?"
"No." Taemin said back breezily with a cute grin, watching Jinki trip over himself at the dazzling dismissal. He was just tilting his head back to whisper, no doubt, something incredibly dirty to Jinwoon in reply when Minho's deep voice cut in sharply.
"Well I do." Minho kind of wanted to slap himself as the words left his mouth, sounding just a bit too bitter for his liking; feeling extremely uncomfortable at the look of eternal gratefulness Jinki was shooting him. Taemin's lips quirked a little but he shrugged and slid off of his brunette boyfriend, opting to sit cross-legged on top of a desk instead, elbow propped on his knee and chin in his hand, eyebrow raised with amusement.
"Satisfied?"
Minho only grunted in response.
"Right...so like I was saying," Jinki began again, drawing everyone's attention. The guy, despite being so easily overlooked, had a surprisingly commanding aura and Minho watched with amusement at Taemin's attentive look, teeth biting at his full lower lip. Minho swallowed a little recalling how eager he'd been to get a taste of that sweet mouth just a few days ago. Fuck.
Tearing his gaze away from Taemin's lips before the other (or Jinwoon for that matter) could even get an inkling of what he was doing, he opted to zone out about how this whole lame English project had come about.
Fate, Minho realized with wry amusement, had decided to play fickle bitch today. School had gone as usual, passing in a familiar blur until the last of his classes, period six English. He'd been, again as usual, surrounded by the team, screwing around and making lewd comments about Mrs. Kim's ass in her far too tight pencil skirt when they had come in.
Taemin had entered first, flashy as always but with a casual, unhindered expression while the rest of the art students behind him cluttered together, gossiping and cowering as the jocks shot them dirty looks. The red head had had a quick and to the point conversation with Mrs. Kim about how their English teacher was taking some time off to spend with her newborn baby and how, until they found a substitute, she was supposed to fill in for her (therefore combining the classes) before the art students in all their glittery, fairy glory were filing into the classroom. Most of them headed to the back of the room, sitting on desks and file cabinets, any flat surface they could find, before they went back to texting, drawing or chatting.
Taemin did differently of course, sparkling blue eyes landing first on Jinwoon before slyly moving over to Minho, lips pulling up into a small smile as he drifted over to them, graceful in the way he walked from years of ballet. He slid smoothly into Jinwoon's lap, the completely ignored teacher sputtering and blushing as the dancer tangled his fingers through soft brown hair and pulled the football player close.
"I missed you, baby..." The words were like silk as Taemin smiled down at his boyfriend, making sure Jinwoon was too busy staring at the flawless expanse of his neck or the way the dancer's thighs were on either side of his hips, before his eyes flickered smugly over to Minho who was burning angry holes into them with his eyes (because the nerve this bitch had was borderline ridiculous and fuck no, he was so not even jealous).
Eyes still trained on the other football player's smoldering gaze, Taemin leaned in and tilted his head to the side, full pink mouth pressing hard against Jinwoon's as the latter groaned at the softness and shamelessly grabbed the younger's ass, dragging him closer. Minho growled.
It wasn't long before the entire classes' attention was trained on them, some with looks of disgust and other's with dropped jaws. The teacher practically ripped them apart, muttering something about detention as Taemin shrugged, muttered 'sorry' -he wasn't- and removed himself from Jinwoon, smirking at the subtle, lingering squeeze the older boy gave to his ass. The cheeky boy dragged a chair up then, sitting smack dab in the middle of his boyfriend and the guy that was attempting to seduce him (and, honestly, failing for the most part).
Minho had stiffened a bit when the dancer leaned into his shoulder just the slightest bit, soft, curled hair teasing against his neck, but he refused to acknowledge the boy's presence.
He couldn't see why Jinwoon and Taemin were dating. All the quarterback did was treat Taemin like some sort of love toy and all Taemin did was use Jinwoon as a flashy accessory to further his uniqueness; they didn't seem to have any real chemistry going. Then again, and his eyebrows knit then as the thought occurred to him, why did he even care?
In fact, Minho was still wondering why he had even thought of it at all, face still pulled into his 'serious business' expression, when suddenly Taemin's pretty features were in front of his, glittering blue eyes staring straight at him and shooting heat through his system in a way Minho wasn't even going to think about.
"Oh, so you are alive." Taemin began, something about the tone of his voice implying that he knew exactly what he was doing to the older boy as he tilted his head to the side in that adorable, questioning way of his. He stared coyly down at the floor for a moment before glancing back up through long, dark eyelashes; more sparks flooded Minho's system until he wanted to smack someone, preferably the trap situated in front of him. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." The answer was said through gritted teeth as Minho took a deep breath and tried to pull himself the fuck together while Taemin stepped back, arms up and mock pout on his mouth.
"Well sorry for caring."
That cheeky art cunt.
"Were you even listening?" Jinki huffed, pushing his glasses up his nose and looking thoroughly put out. Minho shrugged even though the truth was that he hadn't heard a word the little nerd said. The latter's head sunk down, face falling into his cradled hands with resignation as he muttered something like 'I just can't do this anymore. Idiots, the lot of them!'. Taemin seemed only too happy about the predicament as he raised his hand (both gay, unnecessary and adorable. Minho mentally rolled his eyes), smile blinding as he said,
"I'll tell him about it, Jinki."
Minho barely held down his scoff at the other's perky tone. Call him a pessimist but he was pretty damn sure the nerd and Taemin had not been lifelong pals as the dancer's voice suggested, and he was also damn sure he was not some sort of charity case that needed anything told to him. Not that it mattered as Jinki ran a hand down his face (the action moving his glasses out of place, the bulky things going cutely askew on his nose) before motioning them away and sighing long and tired, like he was getting ready to fight a war.
"Alright, could you do it somewhere else while I try and…help Jinwoon understand the concept?" The baby faced brunette sent a forlorn glance in the football player's direction. Jinwoon was reclining back on his chair, black beanie pulled over his eyes and soft snores coming from his gaping mouth. Why, Jinki mentally cried, why was he put in this group of all groups?
Taemin didn't waste any time as he watched Jinki run a hand through his conservatively cut hair and begin to shake Jinwoon awake. He grabbed Minho's hand and tugged him to a corner of the classroom. Minho pointedly ignored the way electricity shot up his arm at Taemin's mere touch (and he definitely did not ponder why that would happen with Taemin and not with all the girls he had touched) wondering if the younger boy knew just how much of a trap he was pulling himself into by backing them into a private little alcove hidden from the rest of the classroom. The redhead leaned back against a smooth white wall, all innocent smiles as Minho shifted in front of him feeling far too close in the cramped space, that emotion heightened by the fact that Taemin hadn't let go of his hand, forcing the distance between them to be even less than usual.
"So…" The flashy boy began, free hand tapping what looked like an anxious rhythm against his thigh, and Minho had to wonder if he even knew what he was doing. Surely he had to know, because there was just no way this…this temptress couldn't know how easy he looked standing there, how delicate and vulnerable and naïve as he stared at the floor with a small smile. Minho willed himself not to let down his guard. He relayed over and over again in his mind that this was a trap, that this was all just an act, but as he watched the boy in front of him, looking so…normal despite all his flamboyant accessories he automatically found his expression softening, eyebrow raising with curiosity.
"Hm?"
It was obvious that Taemin hadn't tugged him into a secluded area just to debrief him about their English project. In fact, with the way the younger boy was tracing patterns along the inside of his wrist, Minho would say that was just about the last thing on his mind.
"I wanted to invite you to a party…" The youth began uncertainly, dropping the football player's arm from his grasp before beginning to curl some of his already curly, fiery hair around his pointer finger, the other hand still tapping nervous beats against his leg as he attempted to be cool about the whole thing. It wasn't like he was asking Minho out because he would never do that. This was just all a part of the plan: get Minho to the party, loosen him up with some drinks, get him some female ass and he'd never even think twice about Taemin's (ass I mean). The bet would then end smoothly and the winner, himself of course, would never have to hear the word fag from those lips again. Still, adrenaline rushed through his system because he'd never asked anyone out before in his life. Taemin had never been the aggressor (okay, maybe once back in middle school, but he was rejected) and it was so nerve wracking his foot was almost tapping, toes straining against the tops of his shoes in an effort not to fidget.
"Yeah?" Minho was smirking at him in this way that made Taemin both infuriated and flustered because his lips were quirked just so, like they were sharing a dirty secret. Blowing out air through his pursed lips, red bangs lifting at the sudden stream of breath, he wrung his hands in front of him and gave a nod, biting into his full lower lip as he peeked up at Minho shyly.
"Yeah and uh, it'll be a lot of fun…" Taemin hesitated, took a deep breath because this was not him; he did not get nervous over asking pretty jocks out – after all, he'd landed SM Academy's quarterback. "And I want you to be there." He continued, slightly more confident as he took a step forward, eyes glinting in the over head lights, making them look indigo as the true dark color of Taemin's eyes and the bright blue of his contacts mixed. Minho found himself entranced.
"W-why?" He hated that his voice stuttered but it really didn't matter as Taemin, satisfied with his reaction, smiled, a pleased, cat-like grin spreading over his lips.
"So we can get to know each other better of course." The dancer's hand was on his arm, sliding up over the tan skin and lean muscle there before pausing on his shoulder as Taemin tiptoed so that his lips were tantalizingly close to Minho's ear.
"You know what they say," Taemin's breath was warm, voice sweet and smooth like honey. "Keep your friends close…" His grin widened and Minho could almost see (if Taemin hadn't been leaning in so close that all his eyes could concentrate on was the graceful slope of the back of the kid's neck) the way the underclassmen's eyes were curving up into deviously cute slits.
"And your enemies closer."
He pulled back, gave Minho a cheeky grin and left just like that, going back over to where Jinki was struggling not to lose his temper and Jinwoon was looking stumped, like he was trying to comprehend rocket science.
It took a full minute before Minho realized he knew absolutely nothing about their group assignment.
-
The party was, in all honesty, awesome (for being thrown by the West side of the school at least). If there was one thing the art-inclined had that the sports-inclined didn't, it was connections to girls because girls just loved all that poetry writing, rock star crap even if it generally got you nowhere in life. The place was swimming with females, all in tight little dresses and heavy makeup, and Minho could feel the awkward effects of being in an all boys boarding school for so long kicking in as he took in the surreal scene.
Colorful lights beamed down throughout the performing arts center, music blasting loud and Minho wondered as he took a sip of his beer, how many strings had to have been pulled to keep the teachers quiet about such a wild bash. The dancers, singers and instrument players were all up on the elevated stage, rocking out and challenging each other and over all just being the life of the party. It was nothing, Minho had to admit, like the frat parties his side of the school threw. This was a hell of a lot more organized and a hell of a lot more sophisticated and just generally cooler than he'd like to admit (but it was, and he was actually really glad that little minx had invited him).
Shifting uncomfortably, his eyes drifted over the mass of dancing and mingling bodies looking for Taemin, feeling like a wallflower and a sore thumb all at once. Everyone was decked out in color, shirts with obnoxiously large bold text, shiny jewelry and torn jeans that looked like they cost a lot more than they were worth. Minho had enough sense to not wear his jersey, but he wasn't far from it in a simple pair of jeans that hugged his long legs, army boots and a tight, black, v-neck shirt; to say he was dressed to impress was, at least in this crowd, literally a joke.
Suddenly a hand was clapping him on the shoulder and the football player could see golden-brown hair from out of the corner of his eye. Jonghyun smiled at him like they were old friends. He was decked out in more gaudy jewelry than most of the women present and two girls giggled as they clung to his back, a platinum blond kissing along the his neck. Minho raised an eyebrow.
"Hey man, way to be different."
The taller boy wanted to retort that he was the normal one and that everyone else was the problem but that would just sound stupid.
"You want a girl?" Jonghyun asked when Minho didn't respond, acting as if they were party favors. The offer had Minho interested though. Here he had thought the little midget was head over heels for Taemin but it looked like the truth was, he was just taking all the ass he could get. Jonghyun leaned in a little closer and Minho could see, even in the dim lighting, that his cheeks were flushed; he'd obviously had one too many. He motioned the dark haired boy down with a curl of his fingers, leaning up to stage whisper into Minho's ear as the athlete leaned in curiously: "They go crazy for guys in bands, especially the main vocalist…meaning me." Jonghyun pointed to himself with a self-satisfied, lopsided grin and Minho blinked at him blankly, not impressed. The older boy laughed like Minho's reaction was hilarious before squeezing his broad shoulder and pressing in even closer, though his voice was loud enough for people five feet away to overhear. "All I'm saying, man, is that girls love it when you promise to write a song about them, but I don't think they'd say no to a pretty face like yours either," Here Jonghyun paused and turned back to look at his groupies. "Isn't that right ladies?" The girls dressed in skirts that could pass for belts giggled and said a high pitched 'yes~' in unison, sending Minho bedroom eyed glances.
"So…how about it? You take one of these beauties off my hands and leave Taemin alon-"
"Oh stop pestering the boy, Jonghyun." A voice cut in and Jonghyun's face fell, pout starting to form on his lips.
"Not now, dear."
The other voice (Key, Minho realized, taking in with something like mild horror the metallic silver painted on jeans, the mesh white tank top and the pink and frilly thing draped around his neck to somewhat preserve his modesty) scoffed at the pet name. His eyes were, of course, heavily lined and glittered; hell, there was even a little star painted half an inch from his left eye, the kohl of his eyeliner curling around it like an exotic tattoo. More streaks had been added to his already dark and colorful hair –pink, electric blue and lime green-, and Minho thought Key basically embodied this dramatic party as one, moving identity.
"Leave him alone." Kibum began, crossing his arms over his chest and cocking his hip. "I know you're worried about losing your main squeeze, but I think Minho will be good for our baby boy."
Minho took a slow sip of his alcohol, knowing he'd need it. Key was both insulting and defending at the same time, and the football player really couldn't decide what to say in response. As great as it was to have Jonghyun off his back, there was still a little something the diva-ish boy didn't seem to be getting.
"I'm not sure if any of you heard, but I said I'm not a fag." The word was spat but Key just waved him away with a dainty hand, not even bothering to glance in his general direction.
"What you say is irrelevant anyway." The football player looked mildly offended but Key just carried on (as he should have expected he would). "Taemin's out by the pool since I know you're looking for him," Minho opened his mouth to protest but Key, again, carried on. "Don't try and deny it. 'Lost' is practically written all over your face. Plus," The boy with feline eyes finally graced him with a sideways glance and a cocky quirk of his lips, flicking his bangs away from his face. "It's either find Taemin; walk away and continue to drift around here looking like a complete newb; or stay here and party with Jonghyun and his lovely," Kibum sent a vicious smile at the two girls (and even Minho had to admit that those stripper worthy looking chicks had nothing on Key) before continuing, "little friends here."
Minho weighed his options and, begrudgingly, realized Key was right and that finding Taemin was his best option.
Beginning to walk away, he couldn't even help the grin the twitched onto his lips as he heard Jonghyun's pathetic whine of "…but baby, you know it's only you." followed by a snappy "Don't 'baby' me, Jonghyun. Do I look like one of your mindless sluts? Please.".
-
He found Taemin almost immediately. Then again, it wasn't hard when the said boy was screaming, plastic cup of hard liquor sloshing around in his hand. A crowd was standing around him, or to be more accurate, them, watching and snickering; even the people in the pool had stopped to quirk brows in the couple's general direction.
"Fuck you, Jinwoon! Fuck you! And another thing, get your cheating ass and your little parade of skanks out of my face!" Taemin yelled face flushed with a mix of alcohol and rage. The said 'skanks' (three private school girls, all dressed in miniskirts and tube tops) were being eyed with disgust by the general public as Jinwoon sputtered, obviously trying to pick the words that would get him out of this mess. After a moment, he seemed to give up and, like a douche, throw every foul name in his vocabulary (which thankfully didn't span very far) at the redhead.
"Oh yeah? Well a skank is better than a fag. God damn, I didn't even do anything yet, Taemin. Stop being such a bitch. You're as bad as a girl."
Taken aback, Taemin's lips twisted up, eyes narrowing in an expression of rage and Minho couldn't help but notice how beautiful the boy looked, furious and vengeful – like a livid angel or something.
Taemin was in shorts (girl shorts obviously by the way they ended only half way down his thighs) and a large black knit sweater with a collar wide enough to slip down one of the feminine boy's bony shoulders and give peeks of those prominent, elegant collarbones. The holes in his top revealed glimpses of the slinky shirt Taemin wore underneath. A baby blue tank top that, Minho imagined, fit his body like a glove and brought out the shocking blue of his eyes. His hair had been straightened and fell in layers to frame his delicate face, eyes lined dark and smoky with kohl, a lightning bolt next to his right eye, and the football player had no doubt in his mind that Key had dressed him. He was wearing matching blue flip flops, one of which he took off and threw in frustration, much to Minho's amusement, before he raised the other threateningly at Jinwoon's sluts, the girls squealing and scattering before he placed it on the ground again, not bothering to reapply it to his foot.
"We're over." Taemin hissed splashing his drink into Jinwoon's stunned face before storming away, tears glittering colorfully under the strobe lights in the corners of the dancer's eyes. Minho took a minute to appreciate the way the golden liquid sopped Jinwoon's hair and shirt, the wet substance seeping into his skin to make him a target for teachers with sharp noses, before starting after Taemin. Not, he convinced himself, because he was worried but because it should be like the pretty bitch said: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
And what was a better way to be close than to get into the mind and heart of a very vulnerable, very drunk Taemin?