Jaemin headed down one of the many hallways of his school towards history, blinking the strange stiffness out of his eyes and trying to brace himself for another week of school. He had gotten zero sleep last night, thinking about maybe one or two people he had spent his previous Saturday with. Which, by the way, had been two whole days ago, so he shouldn't have been giggling about it like some lovesick puppy at that point. But no, his brain decided to be weird and gay. As usual.   

Just then, his shoulder knocked against the one of someone else's, hard. He rubbed at it tiredly and looked up to see who it was, but only caught a flash of golden-brown hair before he was being shaken madly by the shoulders, one of which still kind of hurt, and was being pulled to the side of the hallway, towards the faded red and blue lockers that he hated so much. 

"Nana — hey, fucker, you dead?" 

Ah yes, I know who this is. 

"'Sup, dumbass? Want someone to teach you how to keep your shoulders to yourself?" Jaemin yawned out the end of his sentence, and perhaps thats was why the meaning was lost to Donghyuck. 

"I don't have time for this," Donghyuck waved him off, "Anyway, what were you doing last weekend? Especially on Saturday, what were you doing on Saturday?" 

Jaemin paused for a second, a couple scenarios involving his best friend in a fake mustache and a trench coat running through his mind. "Why do you want to know..." he trailed off warily. 

"Well, first thing is that when I sent you a text Saturday afternoon, you didn't reply. It's still sitting there dead, by the way. Usually, when I text, you reply in at least half an hour with a meme to go with it. That's suspicious," he babbled, narrowing his eyes at the boy. "Also, my friend said she saw you with someone last Saturday walking into the cafe she frequents. Who are you fucking without my permission —" 

Jaemin's eyes widened, and he shushed Donghyuck loudly, maybe even more noisily than Donghyuck had been talking. Now, Donghyuck was his best friend, but could he really trust this certified dumbass with the classified information of his kind-of-date? Oh shit, he was already talking. 

"I went on a fucking kind-of-date with two fucking people and I'm really fucking confused, help me, you useless hoe!" Jaemin grabbed the boy by the shoulders and shook him for good measure. 

Donghyuck stared at him, vastly unimpressed, and peeled Jaemin's fingers off his shoulders. He then smiled at the other boy faux-sweetly, then brought his phone out and sent a text. 

"Hyuck, you're meant to be helping me, not snapping random hoes during school hours." Donghyuck smacked the back of his friend's head, with force that Jaemin assumed was absolutely purposeful.

As he rubbed the back of his head, Donghyuck put away his phone and spoke while examining his nails. "I do not know how to help you, babe, but I do know someone who might. Now, I could look up 'guy likes two guys' on my phone —" He held up the rubbery red case, the screen turned away from Jaemin, "— But I'm afraid of what might come up and taint my innocent eyes."

Jaemin snorted derisively and Donghyuck hit him again. As the former was shaking out his arm, Mark, of all people, came walking up to them, half-empty bag slung around one of his shoulders. He sent the two of them a smile, looping an arm around Hyuck's waist as he arrived to stand by them. 

"Cut it out with the PDA, you absolute thots," scolded Jaemin. Donghyuck stuck his tongue out at him, saying he was just jealous and Mark just looked back and forth from the two, not yet used to their aggressive banter.

"So, what you call me here for, Hyuckie?" Jaemin gagged at the nickname while Donghyuck's eyes sparkled. The brunette blinked a few times before answering with a quipped, "Jaemin here is in love with two guys, because he's that gay, and he doesn't know what to do about it."

"Here now, wait a diddly darn minute," Jaemin cut in, "I never said I was in love with anyone! Don't go assuming — I don't — 

"Honey, shush, trust me. I've read enough fanfics to know what's going on here. Anyway," he turned back to Mark, leaving Jaemin to sputter out like an old engine.  "Got any ideas on how to help Jaemin? You know more people than I do."

Mark tapped his chin in thought, making Jaemin snort at how comical he was making himself look. "Hm... oh! I know for sure you can talk to Younghoon — he's on our team," he supplied as an afterthought, his nodding at Donghyuck. "Anyway, I heard he's just got himself into a relationship that you might find interesting, Jaemin!"

=

"Wait, so you're telling me—"

"Yep! As of last Thursday, I'm dating Chanhee and Changmin! And they're dating each other, and we're all dating one another! Chanhee calls it the 'circle of love'. It's cute, right?" Younghoon grinned, eyes unfocused for a second, and Jaemin couldn't help but feel jealous. This was something Jaemin simply could not achieve. He wasn't that lucky. 

He snapped himself out of it. Why did he need to know this again, anyway? He was definitely not crushing on any more than one person. 

It wasn't that he didn't agree with polyamory... in fact, he was far more sound with it than he should have been. Fuck, his thought had been "that's the life". 

It was just that... one crush alone was burden enough. Fold in another one and you've got yourself a double-stressed, double-whipped, and a doubly alone Jaemin.  Oh, and add in a dash of the fact that one of these people liked the other and had practically rejected Jaemin already because of that. 

Not the loveliest recipe in the world, but it was what came together to bake Jaemin's love life right now.

He decided that on top of his schoolwork, which was becoming increasingly brutal, he really did not need that extra stress in his life right then. So he had decided he had one crush. That crush was on Lee Jeno, fellow history classmate, fellow team player. One person for Jaemin to pine over (and in vain, might one add. But no need for details).

"Jaemin? You really that far gone, or...?" Younghoon waved a large hand in front of Jaemin, who came to in a daze.

"Whipped? Who, me? Really, you're talking nonsense now," Jaemin replied, rolling his eyes. Younghoon sighed, turning the dial on his locker absentmindedly. "So? Did you wanna talk to me about your own issues, or are you just interested in my love life?" Younghoon wiggled his eyebrows, and Jaemin wished to slap him. 

"Oh god, no. Donghyuck just thinks I'm in love or some shit with two of my friends and Mark just told me to talk to you. Congrats on the relationship, by the way."

Younghoon grinned, and Jaemin couldn't believe that this absolutely-not-PG person was acting so pure when it came to his relationship. Those two boys must have been soft as fuck. "Thanks, dude. Also, mind telling me why you think you don't like these guys?"

Jaemin blinked. "What?" 

"Well, uh" Younghoon started, eyes darting sideways for a second, "You say you don't agree with Donghyuck but you seem more nervous about it, you know? Just know that it's okay. It's normal."

"Oh shit, yeah, I know that. It's just..." Jaemin considered telling Younghoon about what he was thinking. He may have been the only person he could talk to anyways. 

"Well, it just seems twice as draining having two crushes, you know?" To his relief, Younghoon nodded quickly and sympathetically. Jaemin felt his walls shaking. "It's a bit of a situation, really. And — it's hard to be sure. Two people add way too many factors."

Younghoon stared at him, blinking. Then he sighed and patted Jaemin on the shoulder, firm and reassuring.  "Jaemin, I know it sucks," said Younghoon, pulling back and shaking his head. "I been through it too, you know? But it's super worth it in the end." 

"Yeah, that's if you reach the end. I feel like I'm already at 'Game Over'" sighed Jaemin, his hands going limp in his pockets as he remembered the terrible consequences of that kiss. 

"Dude... I have an idea for you." Jaemin looked up at the taller boy hopefully, who drawled, "You could just ask them out and see how it goes—" 

Jaemin's head fell back, "Stop scaring me, fucking imagine how that would go. Je— I mean — I've already basically been rejected once, okay? And I didn't even do anything! The humiliation, Younghoon, imagine!" Younghoon chuckled at his frantic friend. 

"It's okay, Jae. I know how you feel. Whether you want to act on your feelings or not, that's completely up to you. I'm not trying to force you into doing anything, but don't completely dismiss the fact that they — or even one of them — might like you back. I mean, you're not that ugly," he added as an afterthought, subsequently receiving an elbow to the stomach. 

While Younghoon rubbed his stomach, Jaemin fingered the straps of his bag in thought. "I mean... that's an extremely unlikely possibility, but I guess... Thanks, man." 

Younghoon glared up at him, "I can feel the love." He straightened up, sighing, "Really, no problem. Hope you can figure shit out. I'm always here." 

Jaemin smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks. I hope so too."

***