Baekhyun slid a small slip of paper over the table to Jongin. They were seated at his desk in his bedroom while Chanyeol was lounging on his bed. Sehun had texted him earlier that he was close and Jongin texted back that he'd leave the door unlocked so Sehun could just walk in.

“What's this?” Jongin asked, picking up the paper and examining it.

“The receipt.” Baekhyun was rummaging through the plastic bag he had brought with him and lining up bottles and tubes filled with skin coloured liquids and creams on the desk.

“Huh?”

“Well, I can't use my makeup on you. We have different skin tones and skin types.”

Jongin didn't think that would matter much. He must have looked confused because Baekhyun continued, slower, like he was talking to a child.

“Your skin and my skin are different,” he said. “These products are specifically for yours. I have perfect skin and yours is kinda dry. You got that tan and I was born without the ability to tan.”

“Oh.”

“But I don't sleep on a pile of money so you owe me.”

“Oh,” he said again. “Yeah, of course sorry.”

They heard the door open and then click shut from the other room. A few seconds later, Sehun walked in, in his own clothes this time. He set down his bag and joined Chanyeol on the bed, watching Baekhyun carefully looking at the labels of each product he had brought. Jongin tried not to think about earlier, when they had most definitely not been practicing their routine, knowing Baekhyun and Chanyeol were not ones to let even the slightest blush go unteased.

“That's a lot,” Sehun commented. “Shouldn't there be like just one thing that can do the job?”

“That's not how makeup works, honey. It's not magic, it's a science.” He finally seemed to settle on something. “Okay, first, concealer.”

Baekhyun twisted the tube of concealer and used a soft pad to start applying it to Jongin's face, but it must have not been working, because he was frowning. He clicked his tongue and applied more, rubbing harshly.

“Ow!” Jongin twisted his face out of Baekhyun's hold. “Could you be a little gentle?”

“Sorry, it just doesn't look right. Your nose still looks blue.”

He took out a cotton ball and dampened it with a liquid from a bottle that was labelled as makeup remover. After the concealer was all gone, Baekhyun got out something Jongin didn't really expect in this scenario.

“Um, isn't that lipstick?”

Chanyeol snorted. “Baekhyun this isn't a makeover.”

“Shut up, both of you. Don't you know how colours work? The red will counteract with the bluish tinge the bruise has. Actors use it to cover up tattoos in movies.”

After the second attempt, applying a little of the red lipstick, then the concealer again, and some foundation and powder, he still wasn't happy.

“It's better,” Sehun said, “but I don't think you'll want to go out looking like that.”

Jongin got up to look at himself in the bathroom mirror. He squinted slightly at his reflection and noticed Sehun was right. The outer edges of the bruise, where it had spread onto his cheeks and under his eyes looked fairly normal, as the bruise had already started yellowing there anyways. But despite the makeup relatively matching his skin tone—Jongin realized that must have been why Baekhyun took a picture of him—it left his nose looking grey instead of the blue, purple and black hues it had taken on in the past few days. It did look better, he didn't look as beat up and tired, but he definitely looked like he was trying to hide a bruise with makeup, and he might as well just have it on show.

He heard whispering as he walked back out and everyone stopped and turned away from each other to face him.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” Chanyeol answered, before getting busy with his phone.

“Sorry I wasn't much help, Jongin,” Baekhyun said. “If the bruise wasn't so fresh and dark, this would have worked a lot better.”

“Don't worry about it. It's not going to look so bad in a couple of weeks anyways.”

“Well if people don't stop giving you weird looks then just get Chanyeol to beat them up for you.”

Chanyeol looked up from his phone. “M-me?”

“Yeah! He’ll er punch everyone at uni.”

“Uh, Baek, I've never been in a fight in my life.”

“It's never too late.”

“Why can't Sehun do it?!”

Jongin groaned. “No one has beat anyone up! You two are ridiculous.”

“No, I'll do it,” Sehun said. “If anyone bothers you.”

“Aw, see? Look at that.” Chanyeol was just glad he wasn't the candidate for beating people up anymore.

“No one's bothering me!”

“I'm just letting you know.”

Jongin pouted a bit. He didn't like violence in any shape or form. Only if it was as defense was he slightly less wary about it. But he wasn't going to deny that the thought of Sehun standing up for him wasn't endearing. He was willing to stand up for Sehun too.

“I think they're having a moment,” Chanyeol stage whispered to Baekhyun. It was clearly meant to ruin said moment.

“No beating anyone up.”

He was met with grumbles that resembled ‘okay’ and ‘fine, whatever’ and ‘no promises’.

“Why bring it up anyways Baek? People stare at anything and everything and I'm sure by face isn't the weirdest thing to look at on campus.”

Baekhyun shrugged and leaned back in Jongin's chair. “I like drama.”

----

Since it was only the middle of the week, they all had studying they should have been doing, so everyone left Jongin's apartment. Sehun lingered back for a while, pulling Jongin close once the door had shut behind Chanyeol and Baekhyun, kissing him senseless until he had to leave too.

Jongin didn't know what he had been thinking, deciding that a was the best way to react when he was pressed between Sehun and door. He hadn't been thinking, that was the problem. Or maybe, it wasn't a problem, since Sehun hadn't hesitated in returning the favour. Maybe the only problem was that they hadn't ended up practicing, or that he had remembered his dream about his neighbour right afterwards and felt immensely guilty about it.

Guilty about the dream, that is. According to basic interpretive psychology it represented unconscious desires and maybe they weren't so unconscious since he had very consciously recognized that morning that he was slightly taken by his neighbour and the feelings were recognizable enough to be considered infatuation.

But his lips still felt hot from how Sehun had been on them earlier, so he found himself uncaring. Sehun was a significant part of his life. He had minimal interaction with Kyungsoo and could easily explain his little crush as his feelings being confused with the worry he had for the man. At least, that's what he was determined to believe. He didn't want anything to ruin what he might be building with Sehun, and he was a firm believer in ignoring problems until they went away.

He remembered however, that Kyungsoo had apparently kicked his abuser out of his life. He also remembered Kyungsoo crying the night before, but he could only imagine how much pain he must have gone through and how much courage it must have taken to stand up and take charge, of course, that would drain someone. He couldn't shake the uneasiness he was feeling, though. Ever since Kyungsoo had denied his offer of comfort, he wondered if things were actually getting better, or worse.

He was microwaving himself some instant noodles when he heard the sound of a door opening out in the hallway. He knew it had to be Kyungsoo's since it was the closest in proximity to his own. He heard it close but then nothing else. He didn't hear any footsteps pass by his door towards the elevator or any voices. The microwave beeped to tell him that his food was done but he ignored it and approached his door, listening for any inclination that someone might be outside.

Not hearing anything, he swung the door open, not knowing what to expect, but definitely not expecting Kyungsoo standing there with his fist raised as if he was about to knock.

Kyungsoo retracted his hand immediately and looked down at his feet.

“Um, I didn't want to bother you, but um, I just—”

“Do you want to come in?”

“Yes,” he said, and after a pause, “please.”

Jongin smiled at him and moved out of the doorway so Kyungsoo could come inside. He closed the door softly as Kyungsoo looked around.

“It's not really…” Jongin didn't know what to say. “Sorry, I don't have much furniture.”

“It's simple,” Kyungsoo said. “Cute.”

Jongin examined his face. Once again, only Kyungsoo's cut lip was noticeable. It seemed that Kyungsoo was examining his face too, because he frowned.

“Are you sick?”

“Huh?”

“Sorry, you're just looking a little… grey.”

“Uh, yeah, I tried to, you know, follow what you said.”

“What I said?”

“Yeah, about makeup.”

Kyungsoo's confused expression softened.

“Jongdae… hit you, didn't he?”

Jongin's eyes widened. Jongin remembered telling him that the bruise was just an accident. Had he just pretended not to know anything when Jongin had lied to his face. “How did you know?”

“The walls are thin.” Why hadn’t he said anything then?

Jongin nodded and told Kyungsoo to have a seat. Kyungsoo smiled, his eyes lighting up, and thanked him before he did. Jongin put some coffee on for them, completely forgetting about his noodles.

“So, are you friends with them?” he asked once they both had steaming mugs of coffee in their hands.

“Hm?” Kyungsoo looked up from his coffee. He was blowing on it softly, plump lips rounding to let air out.

Jongin gulped.

“Jongdae and Minseok. They're your friends, right?”

Kyungsoo frowned. “They used to be. Now… I guess things are a little complicated.”

“Oh. Was there a falling out?”

“No. I just can't find it in me to talk with them much. I think I make them sad.”

Jongin could understand that. But it wasn't Kyungsoo himself that made him sad, it was more the situation that he was in.

“Can I tell you something?” Kyungsoo asked him, tilting his head slightly and meeting Jongin's gaze directly.

Jongin was about to take a sip of his coffee but moved the cup away from his mouth. “Sure.”

“I think you should move.”

“What?!”

“At least to a different floor.”

“But—”

“I think it's for the best.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“That's not an answer.”

“I'd rather you not be my neighbour.”

Jongin was getting a little angry. He had tried his best not to intrude in Kyungsoo's life, but this was a little ridiculous to him.

“What did I do? I'll leave you alone if that's what you want. But at least tell me what I did that was so bad you want me to move.”

“You didn't do anything.”

“Then why—”

“It's going to happen anyways. You're going to get sick of the noise, of the sleep you lose, of me and my problems. So you might as well move now. Save yourself the trouble.”

“I thought—” Kyungsoo was looking right into his eyes and he wasn't feeling okay. “—I heard you telling him to leave.”

“So?”

“So it's over right?”

“It's never over. Look, this always happens. Everyone who moves into this apartment gets sick of it and they always leave. You’re a uni student aren’t you? The last thing you need is extra stress in your life. I'm just trying to warn you.”

Jongin put his mug down and stood up, looking down on Kyungsoo still slouched in the chair and blowing over the coffee, not having taken a single sip yet.

“Warn me? Maybe if you just let me help—”

“There is no helping me. Do you think you're the first who's tried? I don't even know what Yixing was thinking giving you this apartment when heknows—”

“So he does know.”

“Of course. It's his building. He knows that no one lasts more than a couple of months here because of me and he knows why.”

“And he hasn't done anything either?”

“Because there's nothing he can do. That's what I'm trying to say.”

“Who is this person that he's too ing untouchable for anyone to help you?”

“Jongin…”

The entire time Kyungsoo had been talking, his expression had been fairly uncaring, as if his words had no importance, just something he needed to get out of the way so he could move on with his life. That angered Jongin. Because nothing he had done had directly interfered with Kyungsoo. He didn't call the cops because Kyungsoo told him not to. He left him alone when asked. Left the topic alone when it was clear Kyungsoo didn't want to talk about it. So how did Kyungsoo think he had a right to tell him what the hell to do.

But when he said Jongin's name like that and then he looked up at Jongin as if he was frustrated that Jongin couldn't understand what he was trying to convey, he felt, maybe he truly didn't understand.

But no.

Jongin understood perfectly. Kyungsoo was stuck in a relationship that was toxic but was too damaged to understand why he had to get out of it. That's why he wasn't accepting help and it must be why he made Jongdae and Minseok, who apparently used to be his friends, sad. But what he didn't understand was that Kyungsoo had clearly tried to get out, just a couple of nights ago. What had changed since then?

“Please just trust me.”

Jongin shook his head. “You're not making any sense. Why can't you understand that you need help?”

Kyungsoo put his own mug down and stood up as well. He was standing so close to Jongin, having to tip his head far back to look up to him. It was so different from standing close to Sehun, who was so close to his height, where their noses were always just shy of touching. He knew he was breathing faster than normal. He hoped Kyungsoo couldn't feel it.

“I tried to let someone help me. A long time ago. I learned never to do it again.”

“So you're just going to let this happen? You can't just accept this as your life.”

“I have. I've told you before. I'm fine as I am and I just—” Jongin was surprised that despite his composed demeanour, Kyungsoo's voice broke at his last word. He shut his eyes and turned his face away, his composure dropping completely for the first time since he had stepped into Jongin's flat. “I'm going to go.”

Jongin grabbed his arms before he could move, maintaining their closeness. “You don't have to. Stay. We can figure this out.”

“No I can't be here any longer. I'll—”

“Please stay.”

“You don't want me to.”

“Yes I do.”

Kyungsoo finally looked back up at him, eyes now b with tears.

“Do you not want to stay?”

Kyungsoo's lips parted slightly, but it took him a moment to speak. “I-I do.”

“Then stay.”

Kyungsoo seemed to think about it for a moment. Then just like in his dream, faster than he could think, Kyungsoo attacked his lips in a hungry kiss.

Jongin didn't push him away.

Oops......... I have a habit of writing and editing this story not sober.....

Anyways enjoy because after a few more chapters there isn't going to be much happy anymore.

I tagged this story as angst and angst there will be.