Joonmyeon walks to the table with a box of multi-colored donuts and he grins as everyone cheers, except for one. The box is passed around and when Baekhyun hands it to Kyungsoo (after he takes one covered entirely in powdered sugar), the expression on the latter's face when he silently takes it reminds Joonmyeon of a child who'd lost his favorite toy.

"Hey soo, what's wrong? You don't look too happy. Not up for donuts today?" Joonmyeon asks and Kyungsoo slides him a glance, forcing a tiny smile on his lips.

"He's been like that since yesterday. Almost bit my head off when I changed the font on my draft report," Sehun gripes and Kyungsoo throws him an extremely sour look. Joonmyeon spots the smirk on Baekhyun's face and to Kyungsoo's great annoyance, jerks his head at him in question. 

"What's gotten our Kyungsoo's minion boxers in a twist is three whole boyfriend-less days. Jongin went to Busan and won't be back 'til Thursday." Kyungsoo glowers at him, muttering 'I only wear them at home, idiot' and Baekhyun pretends not to hear as he takes a hefty bite of his donut, the powdered sugar dusting the sides of his mouth in the process. Kyungsoo half-wipes, half-slaps Baekhyun's mouth to rid of the sugar littered on his face and Baekhyun lets out a pained yelp.

"Aww ain't that just the cutest thing." Joonmyeon ruffles his hair and makes cooing noises at Kyungsoo as he pinches his cheeks. Kyungsoo swats his hands away, feeling overly offended at being treated like a toddler when he's a full grown man.

"Hey, how about we help you take your mind off your boyfriend for tonight?" Yixing says and Kyungsoo turns to him, quite interested in what he has to say because taking his frustrations out on the intern is not something he's proud of. "How about we all go out later?" Kyungsoo nods and everyone else sounds off in agreement. But they all end up arguing over what to do exactly and by the time they clock out, they haven't decided on anything. It's an odd sight to see six men huddled in the parking lot, bickering among themselves about food and movies and mini golf, that Joonmyeon pulls out the age card and tells them all to shut the up for a second.

"Watch a movie," he says, pointing to Sehun and Baekhyun. He then points to Kyungsoo. "Pig out on pizza." He looks at Yixing and Jongdae. "Drinks at a bar." Everyone waits patiently as he stands there, bottom  lip tucked into his teeth, thinking of a possible compromise. "Okay, I got it!" he shouts so suddenly that Jongdae visibly jumps. "You both rent a movie," he tells Sehun and Baekhyun, "you go buy that pizza, 'soo, and we," he says waving a hand at the remaining three, "will bring the beer. Let's meet at Kyungsoo's in half an hour! Go team!" he cries and everyone begins to scatter except for Kyungsoo who stands rooted on the spot. 

"W-wait Joonmyeon. Why my place again?" Kyungsoo questions rather uneasily and everyone stops and turns to him.

"Because you have surround sound. And judging from the times I've been to your place, you have the widest living room compared to everyone else's. Oh, save for Sehun's because he's never invited me over." Sehun's stone face doesn't even break when Joonmyeon screws his eyes up at him. "GO TEAM!" he shouts again when Kyungsoo nods and Baekhyun grumbles, 'it's not some damn football huddle' under his breath.

Jongdae runs up to Kyungsoo as the latter makes his way to his car, tapping his shoulder and says, "'soo, is it okay if I invite Minseok? I promised him early this morning we'd grab a few beers after work." When Kyungsoo says it isn't a problem, Jongdae takes out his phone to call Minseok, waving at Kyungsoo as he heads to his car.

They all converge in the parking lot of Kyungsoo's apartment  some forty minutes later before walking in. Sehun wordlessly rids Kyungsoo of the boxes of pizza and only after everyone else had gotten in the elevator does he do so, and Kyungsoo thinks Sehun is an overall sweet kid beneath all that marble exterior. Sehun ends up raising the boxes above his head because seven men in a tiny elevator is quite the tight fit. When they reach his floor, the group walks toward his apartment and Kyungsoo ends up falling a few steps behind with Minseok and Jongdae, very much engrossed in a lively discussion of super power preferences, and they only notice the other four had stopped when Kyungsoo bumps right into Sehun's back. 

"Uh, 'soo," Yixing says and Kyungsoo sees they'd stopped in front of the apartment two doors away from his.

"This isn't mine. 'xing did you forget?" Yixing shakes his head though he's smiling at him and Sehun sidesteps so that Kyungsoo gets the full view of the reason why they'd stopped. And everyone grins when Kyungsoo's mouth hangs open at the sight  of Jongin sitting with his back against his wooden door, hugging his duffel bag and very much sound asleep against it. Eventhough he wants to run and scream out of pure surprise and happiness, Kyungsoo contains himself enough and walks calmly, albeit hurriedly, to Jongin, kneeling down right beside him. Jongin is incredibly adorable breathing through his half-open mouth and when Kyungsoo shakes him, he laughs out loud as Jongin looks as surprised as he is when he comes to.

"What are you doing here?!" Kyungsoo cries and hugs him real hard because although it's only been two days since they'd last seen each other, it feels like ages with how much he'd missed him.

"Surprise!" Jongin exclaims, voice still hoarse with sleep. "I decided to come home right after the competition to surprise you. I guess I fell asleep."

Kyungsoo pulls back, taking in his still drowsy eyes. "How long have you been sitting here?" 

Jongin looks at his watch and answers, "Almost an hour", laughing a little when Kyungsoo's eyes widen in disbelief. They hear a few forced coughs to the side and Kyungsoo turns around to find his friends had moved closer and are standing awkwardly waiting for them to finish their mini-reunion. Kyungsoo hurriedly pulls Jongin up and starts introducing him to the others he isn't yet acquainted with, Jongin bowing politely after each introduction. He then herds everyone into his apartment and they each find their own spots in the living room after they grab a slice of pizza and a can of beer and start talking, the movie all but forgotten. Kyungsoo and Jongin don't really join the conversation, too wrapped up in their own universe that it causes Yixing to mumble to Jongdae, "I feel like we're the biggest bunch of third wheels right now." Joonmyeon overhears and gives Yixing a deep look of disapproval before clearing his throat, trying to catch Kyungsoo's and Jongin's attention.

"So,  Jongin. Why were you in Busan again?"

"Oh, we had a dance competition. We placed third overall," he replies, not budging from his spot nestled inside Kyungsoo's arms.

"Well congratulations! Cheers to that!" Baekhyun yells and everyone raises their beers then takes a drink. Jongdae, after a few secret glances at Jongin, says to Yixing in a low voice, "You were right, the video really doesn't do him justice." It's apparently not low enough because Jongin perks up when he hears it.

"That's like the second time I've heard about a video," he says and catches Jongdae's small 'oops' when Kyungsoo glares at him. He straightens up when he puts two and two together, eyes suddenly growing large. "Do Kyungsoo!" he exclaims.  "Did you have anything to do with this video they're talking about?" Kyungsoo chews on his lip, a habit Jongin knows he does when he gets nervous. 

"Maybe?" he replies, a little afraid when Jongin crosses his arms. "Baek made me do it!" he suddenly shouts, pointing to Baekhyun who bites out 'traitor' and gives him a very menacing glare. Off to a relatively peaceful spot near the coffee table, Minseok nudges Sehun and whispers "This is way better than watching that movie" and Sehun can only agree. Kyungsoo apologizes again and again to Jongin, telling him that the video had been deleted, and he looks so genuinely distressed that Jongin doesn't have the strength to even stay mad.

"It's fine, I guess. But did everyone have to see that though?" Jongin asks, unable to keep the irritition from his voice.

"Uh, I didn't," Sehun pipes up. 

"Me, too," says Minseok.

"Good to know. Tell me I looked good, at least?" he jokes because Kyungsoo looks near tears and he doesn't like that.

"You looked good, definitely. You've got amazing abs. I think I'll be referring to you as Mr. Abtastic from now on instead of the Cleaning Lady," Jongdae says and Kyungsoo instantly hides his reddening face against the sofa when Jongin lets out a scandalized gasp. 

"I'm sorry," he mutters again and again and he feels Jongin's hand ruffle his hair and his laughter tickling his ear.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter