Friday night soon rolled around and Rachel had received the magical invite from Gally. She had used the opportunity to make Aris tag along, seeing as Minho would probably be there and Aris only partially hid his excitement at this realization. Now, he leaned against Rachel's bedpost as she got ready, choosing between an array of different tops.

"You know Gally is probably trying to get in your pants right? You didn't think to mention you aren't interested in guys?" He questioned her, knowing this sort of thing had happened before.

"No, I did not because now you have an opportunity to see Minho away from school! This is for you! And also I bet the girl from Art History, Teresa, will be there too so it's a win win!"

Aris was skeptical "Except for Gally."

"Except for Gally." She laughed. "Now tell me, does this look slutty?" She turned away from the mirror to show her outfit to him which was rather revealing.

"Uh yeah kind of"

"Perfect." and she smiled patting him on the shoulder before exiting the bedroom.

Aris turned and looked in the mirror at himself. He wasn't very tall, or very buff, actually he was very skinny and his shirt hung loosely on his frame. He made a sort of cringe face at his reflection, he was never usually this self conscious. He started thinking about how small he was compared to Minho. The taller boy could easily wrap his arms around Aris and make all his troubles go away. A pink blush blossomed on his cheeks and he decided that was not a bad thing at all.

"Aris! Let's go!" Rachel called from down the stairs and Aris quickly grabbed his phone and headed down the stairs and out the door.

Aris had made Rachel stop to get something to eat before they went because he had learned through past experiences that she was a light weight and it was worse on an empty stomach. Much worse. So after they left IHOP Aris was happy to have a belly full of pancakes, and that the party probably was full of people already so their entrance would not be noticed.

And he was right. The house was packed with teenagers when they arrived spilling out of every door and balcony there was. Aris could feel the bass rattling his ribcage. He turned to Rachel to say something about what he was seeing, but she had already ran ahead of him entering the house. He was now alone.

He eventually made his way to a room that looked like it could have been the living room? And was making pointless small talk with a girl from his Econ class. The crowd was a little overwhelming making it very hard to focus on whatever this girl was talking about. Her boyfriend? Or her ex boyfriend? He wasn't sure and he didn't really care, so when another one of her friends tapped her on the shoulder he quickly took off in the opposite direction.

In the kitchen he hesitated slightly before grabbing a drink, deciding he didn't really care all that much. Soon after his senses were slightly dulled, he headed back into the crowd. Aris found his way up the stairs looking for a bathroom where he opened a bedroom door to reveal two people clearly having sex. He just kind of stood there shocked when he realized it was Gally and the girl Rachel liked, Teresa. He felt a pang of sadness for Rachel before Gally shouted at him.

"Dude!" Gally was very frustrated. Aris quickly shut the door and turned around. Trying to get away from the couple's room quickly he unknowingly ran into someone.

"Oh sorry I didn't see-" Aris looked up to see it was Minho and stopped. "Oh. Uh, sorry."

Minho chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. "It's okay I was actually looking for…"

"For me?" Aris felt a rush of boldness, most likely brought on by the alcohol. Minho blushed which was very cute Aris decided.

"Yeah actually. These parties are pretty sucky if you don't have anyone to talk to you actually ya know, want to talk to." Minho leaned casually against the banister blocking him from falling down to the main floor.

Aris bit his lip and smiled. "Agreed. So… oh, you're friends with Gally right? Do he and Teresa have a thing?" This probably wasn't the best flirting material, but he was genuinely curious.

"Not that I'm aware of. He's more of a free spirit you know, one girl to the next."

"Oh, I guess that would explain why he invited Rachel, was probably disappointed when he learned she was a lesbian and moved on to the next girl."

"No, he actually invited Rachel because all of my friends are convinced I'm in love with her or something, which I'm not by the way. If you were wondering" Minho kind of rambled off at the end getting slightly flustered.

"Oh so they think you're straight? Are you?" Aris continued his streak of speaking his unfiltered thoughts and his brain started on a trail of thoughts that he didn't want to go on.

"No, I'm not. But you're actually the only person I've told that, so they are pretty oblivious. They think I'm staring at Rachel, but I've been staring at you. Since sophomore year actually." Minho had gained a very flirtatious tone to his voice he wasn't using before and he stepped a little closer to Aris, who in turn felt his body tense a little.

"Oh." Before Aris could say anything else a loud female voice erupted from the room Afis had seen Gally and Teresa in.

"Yes! Captain Gally!" Teresa screamed which quickly turned into moans. The two boys shared a look and erupted into laughter.

"I've heard of a daddy kink, but a captain kink? That's new." Minho chuckled and Aris couldn't help but laugh at the joke. They then heard a very loud and very inappropriate noise escape Gally which silenced their laughter.

"Uh, do you want to go somewhere else?" Minho awkwardly asked.

"Yeah… can we go outside?"

"Definitely."

Soon the two boys had escaped the crowded house and had walked farther down the street to a playground which was deserted due to the time of night. They settled on the swing set casually swinging back and forth and laughing and talking about random things. Aris had learned Minho actually quite deep, despite his dry humor and sarcasm. Aris wondered on several occasions if he was a little drunk due to some shameless flirting.

Eventually they ended up lying on the top of the slides, looking up at the stars, not really saying much. Aris turned to look at Minho who stared at the sky his chest rising and falling with every breath of fresh air. Aris turned back to the stars as well.

"I used to have a crush on you actually in like third grade before I even really knew I was gay." Aris spoke quietly, eyes still focused on the twinkling lights above him. "We were playing a trivia game or something in class where we were on separate teams. And of course I got the last question, 'Who invented the cotton gin?' And also of course I had no idea, I mean I never paid attention I just sketched on all my worksheets and stuff, but you made eye contact with me from the other team's side and mouthed the answer to me. And my team won because of it. I never understood why you did that, but yeah I had a third grader crush on you for the rest of the year."

"What happened? Why'd it go away?" Minho asked. Aris had almost forgotten he wasn't talking to himself and was slighting startled at the voice.

"I guess it never really did, but it was unrealistic I suppose. I just kind of decided to stop so I wouldn't get my feelings hurt. I mean, you were kissing girls in the fifth grade! How was I supposed to know inside was a flaming hot ball of homosexuality begging to be released." Minho snorted at this comment and Aris was glad he had understood he was joking. Even though it was kind of true.

Aris phone rang playing the very familiar lyrics of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl causing MInho to burst out with laughter. "Really? Hollaback Girl" Minho raised his eyebrows and Aris scowled.

"Rachel chose her own ringtone!" He defended himself as he answered his best friends call. Her very drunk voice slurred on the other line. He turned it on speaker so he could hear her more clearly.

"Aris!" She let out a loud giggle. "Where are youuu?"

"Uh I'm just down the street at the park, it's right where you parked your car."

"Ooo I bet your at the park the Minho Park! Get some Aris!" And then she started imitating these sexual noises and Aris very quickly turned the phone off speaker and held it up to his ear, avoiding Minho's face.

"No, Rachel just tell me where you are."

"I'm walking down to the park now don't worry Air Bear! Just don't be doing it when I get there I don't need to see that." She laughed and took a loud sip of something. Aris just hoped Minho couldn't see how red his face had become. He waited to hang up until he could visibly see her walking towards them.

"Wow she's really trashed" Minho commented as she came into sight. Aris was used to this by now, Rachel was a little too into parties. More than you would expect from an art student with a passion for musical theatre, but she had fun and she never got into any trouble, so there wasn't too much of a problem. He took the drink from her hand when she got close enough though, because she definitely did not need anymore.

"Hey Minho" She smirked at him and wiggled her brows. She turned back to Aris "Yeah the Teresa thing didn't happen, but I did meet someone" She giggled and sat down in the sand.

"Oh?"

"Yeah her name is Harriet. She's on the lacrosse team and she's a senior and-" She looked at Minho and decided to whisper the last part to Aris. She giggled loudly as she brought her lips up to his ears. "And we had sex." She fell back giggling.

"Yeah, we should get you home Rach." He turned to Minho. "I'll see you around?"

"I'll hold you to that."

When Rachel got into the passenger seat of her car and shut the door Aris turned to the taller boy once more. "You're different than I thought you'd be."

"Oh? Is that bad?"

"No! No. Youre just more… more real. You're not Minho Park the track star and Minho Park the boy everyone is totally in love with and who all the parents goggle about how blindingly bright your future is. You're just you. Just Minho. And I like it. I like it a lot." Aris smiled a real genuine smile that made Minho feel tingly all over, before getting in the driver's seat and driving away.

I like it alot. The words bounced around Minho's head as he was left there, alone in the dirty sand of a children's park at three in the morning, but he didn't mind. He didn't mind at all.