Eventually, Jonghyun’s idea won over the others and a few minutes later, they all found themselves in a fast food restaurant, sitting at a large table between a couple and a family with three children. Minho and Sohye were eating their French fries reluctantly while Taemin and Jonghyun were eating as if they hadn’t eaten anything in three days. Key had ordered a salad and Jinki had chosen a chicken burger.

 

“I don’t understand how you manage to stay so fit…” Sohye said in disbelief, looking at Taemin taking a huge bite of his burger.

 

“He just has a fast metabolism.” Minho answered.

 

Taemin was skinny and people always told him to eat more. But what they didn’t know was that he actually ate a lot. He just didn’t put on weight like other people might, which was rather convenient for a model.

 

“You don’t have to be so formal with us, Sohye.” Jonghyun said. “We’re all around the same age.”

 

Sohye had always been a stickler for politeness and the respect of others. She had never been informal with Jinki - except for calling him by his first name instead of ‘Mr.Lee’ - even though she had been working for him for years and they were rather good friends. Jinki doubted she would ever be informal with his friends that easily.

 

“I would rather stay formal with you.”

 

Jinki smiled upon hearing her answer. He had known it.

 

“Oh, I forgot to thank you for coming, Kibum.” Taemin suddenly said. “Minho and I weren’t sure you would come.”

 

“It was very nice of you to invite me, I couldn’t refuse.”

 

“Well, we’re really happy you came ! Right, Jinki ?”

 

Everyone turned to look at Jinki, including Kibum. All of the attention made him uncomfortable and he simply answered:

 

“Yes.”

 

Taemin, Minho and Jonghyun looked like they were all about to facepalm while Sohye let out an amused smile.

 

The dinner (well, if they could actually call eating in a fast food restaurant a dinner) resumed its normal course and the conversation topics followed one another. Taemin, Key and Sohye were talking about fashion while Minho and Jonghyun talked about sports. As for Jinki, he was just listening to the others while eating silently.

 

“-It’s more or less the same style as the robe you were wearing the other day.” Taemin said.

 

“Oh ! You remember that ?” Key chuckled.

 

“Of course I remember ! How could I forget ? Sohye, you must remember it too !”

 

“Ah, I do. It was rather hard to forget since it was a bit… racy.” She admitted, chuckling nervously.

 

Apparently, Jinki wasn’t the only one to be haunted by Key’s silk robe.

 

“It is, but I love it !” Taemin said excitedly. “It looks so good on you !”

 

“Thanks.” Key said, smiling. “If you like it that much, you can buy one you know.”

 

“Hmm... Nah, I’m too skinny. It’s prettier when you have curves. Sohye could wear it !”

 

“M-me ?!” She said in a high-pitched voice, her eyes widening.

 

“Why not ?” Taemin asked. “I’m sure you would look great !”

 

“It-it’s not really my style…” She said shyly.

 

“Ah, that’s too bad…”

 

They kept talking about fashion for a while and Taemin then turned to Jinki.

 

“Talking about fashion, you still haven’t told us if you liked the clothes we picked for you !”

 

Oh. The clothes they had bought him a few days ago… Honestly, he had a bit forgotten about them and had left the shopping bag in a corner of his room. However, he couldn’t say that to Taemin.

 

“Oh… Y-yes, they… they’re fine…”

 

Kibum started laughing and Taemin sighed.

 

“You didn’t even look at them, did you ?”

 

Jinki sent him an apologetic look and Taemin ignored him to talk to Key.

Jonghyun and Minho were still talking about sports, but when they started talking about Basketball, Jinki joined the conversation.

 

They quickly finished eating and left the fast food restaurant to go for a walk. After a few minutes, they found a bar on the way and they went in, to spend more time together. They all ordered alcohol, it was late and they were probably going back home right after anyway. Taemin was perhaps drinking a bit too much soju, and his behavior changed. He was a lot more happy-go-lucky than before. When he was about to stand on the table to dance, they all decided it was time to leave.

 

The night was falling and they walked - well, some of them did - outside, talking. They had been blessed with a sunny weather all week and the fresh air felt nice. Key was walking beside Jinki and they were talking about this and that.

 

After a while, Taemin started whining.

 

“I don’t wanna walk anymore…” He said, pouting. “I’m tired.”

 

“Aaaww… Come here, Minnie.” Jonghyun suggested.

 

Taemin sat on Jonghyun’s lap with a big smile and Minho rolled his eyes. Those two always acted like kids. Apparently, the tired feeling caused by the excess of alcohol had kicked in and Taemin’s plan to get Sohye and Jonghyun together seemed long forgotten. Jinki had no illusions, he knew they weren’t made for each other. Jonghyun did like to flirt with her every now and then, but that didn’t mean he wanted to date her. He had a habit of flirting with everyone he deemed attractive or interesting and it didn’t mean anything. It was just for fun. Taemin should have known that, since he was, too, one of the victims of Jonghyun’s flirtatious nature. The problem was that Taemin had never been very observant.

 

“Are you okay baby ?” Jonghyun asked Key. “If you’re tired, just say so. You can always sit on Jinki’s lap, or if you don’t want him I can always drop Taemin !”

 

“Hey !” Taemin complained.

 

Kibum laughed at that, rolling his eyes. He was beginning to get used to Jonghyun’s behavior, apparently.

 

“What about Sohye ?” Jinki asked, sending a meaningful look towards Taemin.

 

His eyes widened and he suddenly got up, as if he had just realized his plan had been a failure until now. He grabbed Sohye’s wrist and pushed her towards Jonghyun.

 

“T-Taemin, what are you-”

 

“I’m so sorry, where are my manners ? You must be tired !”

 

“Actually no, I’m n-”

 

He pushed her towards Jonghyun once more time and she stumbled backwards, landing on Jonghyun’s lap. Jinki shook his head disapprovingly when he noticed Taemin’s satisfied smile. Poor Jonghyun and Sohye. Her face was redder than a tomato and Jonghyun winked at her, smiling his usual most charming grin. Taemin then turned to Key with a devilish smile.

 

“Taemin.” Jinki said, the warning clear in his voice.

 

“What ?” He asked in a fake innocent tone.

 

He took a few steps towards Kibum.

 

“No.” Jinki said firmly.

 

He walked closer still and Kibum came closer to Jinki.

Minho sneaked behind Taemin and grabbed him by the waist to lift him up.

 

“Ah ! No ! Minhooo !” He yelled. “Put me down ! I have work to do ! I’m Cupid !”

 

Taemin didn’t know any limit whatsoever when he was drunk. He was his usual self, just more… radical. Unfortunately, his hobby of getting people together had turned him into thinking he was Cupid when he was drunk.

 

“Is he always like that when he drinks ?” Kibum asked.

 

“Unfortunately, yes.” Jinki answered, sighing.

 

“We all do weird things when we’re drunk.” Jonghyun says.

 

Minho had put Taemin down but the latter still had his eyes on Kibum and Jinki. Minho was still holding onto him tightly.

 

“I’m telling you we need to get them together !” Taemin whined, pouting. “It’s so frustrating to see them like this ! Look, they don’t even dare touch each other ! I need to help them !”

 

Jonghyun chuckled, mumbling a ‘he isn’t wrong’ under his breath that had Jinki glared at him. He immediately stopped laughing. Taemin’s behavior was obviously starting to get on Minho’s nerves, and he sent them a pleading look.

 

“He won’t stop, can’t you do something ? Anything.”

 

Jinki was about to ask what he meant when Key walked to him and sat on his lap. Jinki froze, speechless. He looked up at Kibum questioningly and the other explained:

 

“It will calm him down.”

 

Jinki nodded silently. Taemin was doing a little victory dance while telling us how ‘awesome he was at being Cupid’ and Minho heaved a deep relieved sigh. Jonghyun was just staring at Jinki with a smirk on his face and the latter ignored him, sighing.

 

They went back home to Minho and Taemin’s place. The younger had finally calmed down and sleep was slowly taking over, so Minho didn’t want to hang around for too long. Jinki was not going to say no to that, since it was rather late. Once they got back to the apartment, everybody bid goodbye and went their separate ways. Sohye would drive Jonghyun back home as well as Jinki and Kibum, because Minho didn’t want to leave Taemin alone in his state. They got into the car, Jonghyun in the passenger seat, Sohye behind the wheel and Kibum and Jinki on the backseat.

 

Kibum was staring outside through the window while Jinki was staring at him. It was dark in the car, but Jinki could make out the outline of his face thanks to the streetlights lighting the road. Key’s hands were resting on his lap and Jinki was itching to touch him. Without thinking, he grabbed one of Kibum’s hands in his, intertwining their fingers. The younger turned to look at Jinki at the sudden contact and Jinki looked away, his eyes fixed on the dark landscape outside. He could feel Kibum’s eyes on him but he ignored it. He heard the rustle of clothes against the backseat as Kibum scooted closer, before resting his head on Jinki’s shoulder. Their fingers were still intertwined and Kibum hugged Jinki’s arm with his free hand. He felt his muscles relax and closed his eyes, leaning against Kibum’s warm body. For some reason, Kibum’s presence and touch were enough to soothe him.   

 

It didn’t really surprise him, it was just a mystery. It had always been like this, from the day the had stepped into his house. He could rack his brain all he wanted, he still couldn’t understand why he had grown closer to Key. For all those years, he had pushed so many people away… He had refused to be close to anybody, his distrust had manipulated him like a puppertist would with a puppet.

 

But Kibum had appeared, and in a few days only, he had cut all of the strings trapping him. His presence had been enough to make his fear fade away, and without realizing it, Jinki had started trusting him. Only him.

 

And every time he was leaving, Jinki’s fears and distrust of everyone came back full force. He shut himself from everything and was incapable of doing anything, as if his fears were controlling his every move. In those moments, he even doubted Kibum himself.

 

The fear was paralyzing him more than his disability.

 

But in that moment, he was so tired… So tired of being afraid, so tired of pushing everyone away in fear of his heart being broken again. Tired of staying away from Kibum.

 

Every wall he ever built between him and the others cracked, and he squeezed Kibum’s hand in his. Like a promise.

 

A promise to call him.

 

…………………………….

 

The next day, Taemin woke up with a terrible headache. He groaned and heard his boyfriend chuckle. He slowly opened his eyes only to close them a second later, blinded by the bright light. He protected his eyes from the sunlight by raising his hand and took a quick look of his surroundings. Minho was sitting on the edge of the bed next to him, a tray in his hands and a smile on his face.

 

“Good morning sunshine.” He said, in a tone far too happy to Taemin’s liking.

 

“Good morning ? I don’t see what’s good about this morning.”

 

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I see…”

 

“No kidding.” Taemin said grumpily. “I feel like my head’s about to burst !”

 

He rested his hand on his temple and groaned once more. Minho chuckled again and Taemin sent him a glare. Except he didn’t know how to glare at people and the result was actually rather cute, which made Minho smile even more.

 

“I don’t even have the courage to hit you !” Taemin said, falling back down on the bed tiredly.

 

“It’s your fault if you ended up like that, you know.”

 

Taemin knew he must have drunk too much last night to have a headache like that in the morning. It wasn’t the first time he was hungover, after all. And it was surely not the last, seeing how much he liked to drink. The problem was that he generally didn’t remember what had happened the night before. It was also the case today.

 

“I don’t even remember what happened…”

 

“Take a pill for your headache and eat, we’ll talk about it later.”

 

Minho put the tray he was holding on the bed next to Taemin and the latter smiled weakly. His boyfriend had always been there to take care of him, and it always made him melt. He had always felt so safe with Minho, like someone was always looking out for him. His past boyfriends had never treated him this way, and he had to admit it felt nice. Minho was someone who put other people’s needs before his own, and it was one of the things that had made Taemin fall for him.

 

He swallowed a pill with some water to help with his headache and started eating the breakfast Minho had prepared for him. He finished eating quickly and Minho came back a few minutes later.

 

“Are you feeling better ?” He asked.

 

Taemin nodded and Minho leaned over to peck his lips before taking the tray back to the kitchen. He came back to the bedroom and sat on the bed next to his boyfriend.

 

“So, what do you remember exactly ?”

 

“We went out to eat and then… we went to a bar.”

 

“And ?”

 

“We ordered alcohol, and… that’s it.”

 

Taemin had a very short memory when he was starting to drink.

 

“We left after a few drinks, since you were already getting noticed.”

 

“Sorry…” Taemin said shyly.

 

“Don’t worry, at least we didn’t stay for too long.”

 

Taemin smiled. He knew Minho wasn’t the type of guy who liked to hang out in a bar until late at night and he was probably grateful for his boyfriend to have cut their outing short.

 

“So everyone got back home after that ?”

 

“Actually, we took a walk. Oh, and you sat on Jonghyun’s lap.”

 

He knew Minho wasn’t jealous. He was used to flirting with Jonghyun, but it was nothing but a little game. They had never felt anything for each other, beside friendship. Taemin loved Minho with all his heart, there was no doubt about it.

 

“And you pushed Sohye on Jonghyun… And then you tried to push Kibum on Jinki but I stopped you in time.”

 

Taemin closed his eyes in shame. Good job Taemin, he thought sarcastically. Very subtle. They would obviously know he had invited them to get them together now… no ?

 

“You think they know I wanted to get them together… ?”

 

“Well the ‘let me go, Minho, I’m Cupid !’ wasn’t very discreet.” Minho chuckled, changing his voice to sound like his boyfriend.

 

Taemin groaned and buried himself under the covers.

 

“Come on, it’s not the end of the world.”

 

“They won’t want to go out with us anymore now !”

 

“Yes they will, don’t worry about it.” Minho said, standing up. “Oh, by the way, Jonghyun called this morning he wanted to talk to you. I told him you were sleeping so he will call again later.”

 

“Okay.” Taemin mumbled from under the covers.

 

He was wondering why Jonghyun wanted to talk to him. What if he was angry at him for pushing Sohye on him ?! No, it didn’t look like Jonghyun… Maybe he wanted to thank Taemin for pushing Sohye on him ! It was more likely.

 

“He fell back asleep, hang on I’ll wake him up.”

 

Taemin felt someone shake him awake and he opened his eyes. He was still in bed, he had apparently fallen asleep again after his conversation with Minho.

 

“There. It’s Jonghyun.” Minho said, holding the phone.

 

Taemin took it and brought it to his ear.

 

“Yes ?” He said, yawning.

 

“Minnie ! How’s it going ? Hangover much ?”

 

“I was a bit when I woke up, but I’m better now. You wanted to talk to me ?”

 

“Ah, yes. I wanted to talk to ‘Cupid’.”

 

He could hear Jonghyun’s teasing smile at the end of the line.

 

“Oh, come on, I’m embarrassed enough already !”

 

“So that was why you invited Sohye ? Seriously, Taemin ?”

 

“What ? I thought you liked her…”

 

“Of course I like her ! She’s pretty, nice, and smart. But that doesn’t mean I want to date her !”

 

“...Huh ? I’m sorry but I don’t get it…”

 

“Taemin, love doesn’t work like that. There needs to be… something, you see ? It’s not because you find someone perfect that you’re meant to be with them. Sohye is a great woman, but there’s nothing between us.”

 

He had to admit Jonghyun was right. He might have gotten a little bit carried away with this Cupid thing… Sometimes, things just happened by themselves.

 

“Oh… I’m sorry Jjong, I just wanted to help…”

 

“Seriously, Taemin… I’m not Jinki, alright ? I don’t need anyone to help me find someone. I can do that on my own !”

 

Taemin smiled. It was true that Jonghyun had always been very sociable compared to Jinki… Well, anybody could seem sociable compared to Jinki, but Jonghyun really was sociable.

 

“Promise me you won’t try and set me up with someone again.”

 

“I promise.”

 

“Thank you. Now that that’s settled, I’d like to talk about something else...”

 

Jonghyun’s serious tone had turned into his usual, mischievous voice.

 

“About what ?”

 

“Call Minho and put the phone on speaker.”

 

Taemin did as asked and Minho came to sit on the bed next to him. They were both curious to know what Jonghyun had to say.

 

“As you know, Sohye was the one who drove us back home last night, since Minho didn’t want to leave you alone, Taemin.”

 

“Something happened ?” Minho asked, frowning.

 

“Kibum and Jinki were on the backseat and when Sohye parked by my house to help me get out, they were both asleep on each other.”

 

Taemin’s eyes widened.

 

“On each other ? What do you mean ?”

 

“I couldn’t help myself and took a few pictures, I’ll show you later… But they were holding hands and pressed against each other. Like, Kibum had his head on Jinki’s shoulder and Jinki had his head on Kibum’s. It was so cute.”

 

Taemin couldn’t help but let out a high-pitch scream and Minho smiled happily. Apparently, their latest plan worked rather well.

 

……………………..

 

Jinki was sitting before the phone, Key’s small business card in his hand. He nervously grabbed the phone and dialled the number.

 

He could feel them, all of those doubts invading his mind. His fear, constantly repeating he shouldn’t do it, he shouldn’t trust Key. A small voice was telling him that it was stupid, that Kibum was like the others… that he wasn’t trustworthy, that he would betray him and toy with his feelings, the way she did. The fear was like a vice-like grip around his heart, slowly clenching harder and threatening to crush it.

 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

 

He could still feel the warmth of Kibum’s body pressed against his side, the softness of his hand in his…

 

The vice around his heart slowly lessened.

 

Jinki heard the steady beep at the end of the line.

 

“Yes ?”

 

“Kibum ?” He asked softly.

 

“...Jinki ?”

 

 

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

 

 

*Aaaaand everybody wants to kill me for ending the chapter this way*

 

Sorry about that. Just another cliffhanger I didn't notice I did.

 

JINKI FINALLY CALLED HIM ! OMG !
But what will he say to him ? Hmm... We'll see in the next chapter ~
Any ideas on what will happen next ? Or what things you'd like to happen ? I wanna know what you guys think ! :D

I hope you're all okay and I hope you liked this chapter ~
Thank you so much to Minewnnie for proof-reading again ♥
Thank you to all the amazing people who comment on every chapter, you're the best ♥

By the way, I made a blog post to talk about what I'm working on at the moment. Check it out if you wanna know about the story I will post after The (Expensive) Cure to a Broken Heart (why did I pick such a long title...) and the stories I'll post in the near future !

 

Also, for the onkey shippers out there (or the people who just like reading SHINee fanfics), I posted a new story called The Ruler of his Heart. It's a one-shot and it's completed. Check it out if you dare ~