Minhyuk doesn’t get to say anything he was going to before the door suddenly opens, Jaehyo entering like any other day. But the guy quickly senses the tension in the living room, especially with the picture of Kyung half lying on the couch and Minhyuk hovering over him, with his hands still on Kyung’s sides from when he poked him earlier.

“Did I interrupt something?” Jaehyo asks cautiously, and Minhyuk answers “No” too quickly for it to not sound suspicious.

“Right… I’ll just be in my room if you guys need me,” Jaehyo mumbles, quickly exiting to his room.

It’s not what you think! Kyung wants to shout, but Minhyuk’s face is grim (and too close), and he decides not to. Instead, he lightly pushes against Minhyuk’s shoulder, so that they will have some distance between them for him to sit up comfortably, before they have this talk that Minhyuk had been so insistent on.

“So,” Minhyuk starts when Jaehyo’s gone, “I don’t really care what you think about what I do, but you need to know that Wednesday nights are my private time, and I usually have people over. It’ll be awkward for everyone if you come in at the wrong time, so I’ll appreciate it if you keep to the after 11pm schedule, just as I will make sure that everyone I invite leaves before that.”

Minhyuk says everything like it’s a matter of fact; like he doesn’t care whether Kyung agrees with him or not, that Kyung’s going to have to either take it or leave it. He doesn’t know what to say to someone who talks like that.

(Jiho had always been accommodating.)

But eventually, Kyung lets out a sighs, and says, “You’ve already thought of everything you wanted to say, and there’s nothing left for me to do but agree or leave, is there?”

There’s exasperation slowly creeping onto Minhyuk’s face, who’s giving him a look like he’s talking to a rock instead of a person, “No. You don’t have to agree with what I just said. You can just continue coming in at whatever time you like, even on Wednesdays, but there’s going to be consequences if you do that. Especially since I’ve explained to you –“

“Explain? Ah yes, the whole ‘I have people over’ thing is such a good explanation –“

“, okay, . I have with people on Wednesdays and I’ll prefer keeping things private even if I’m sharing a flat. Damn it, do you need me to spell things out so clearly?”

Kyung stares at Minhyuk, who has a slight red tint to his complexion right now. Minhyuk has always seemed quite collected during the times Kyung had seen him, and this is the first time he’s seeing the guy so fazed. Who’ll have thought?

“So you mean we have to accommodate your schedule on Wednesdays because you want to ?” Kyung realizes how ugly his words sound, but it’s a bit too late to take them back now.

Minhyuk just gives him a pointed look. “Well, it’s not like I won’t accommodate you guys if you have any requests regarding sharing the flat, so I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you come home later on just one day of the week. Jaehyo used to make me stay out late on weekends. Who even knows what he was up to…”

Okay, that was too much information about Jaehyo that Kyung didn’t need to know. Skipping over that bit of information, something else that had been weighing on his mind during the talk escapes, and Kyung retorts, “You talk like it’s certain that I’ll be staying here for long.”

(Great, well done, Park Kyung. Bravo. Are you so eager to find out what happens if you get thrown out of Jaehyo’s place too? Where would you even stay –)

“Jaehyo said you would be staying for a while,” is Minhyuk’s easy reply, and for the first time in a while, Kyung’s speechless (as opposed to just keeping silent). To think he had been worrying about a place to stay the whole day when Jaehyo has already decided to let him stay without telling him. His throat suddenly feels too tight, and a soft sob escapes his lips.

“Kyung, are you… crying? What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly crying?” The face in front of Kyung is one of concern now, much softer than the serious face Minhyuk had on earlier.

“It’s nothing,” Kyung chokes out, utterly unconvincing as more tears spill from his eyes, and he decides to just bury his face in his arms to hide. He hasn’t realized how much he had been holding in since the talk he had with Jiho (or maybe even before that), but now that he’s started crying, the tears won’t stop, and he’ll be embarrassed if he has time to spare from the hitching sobs that keep coming every time he thinks he has no tears left to cry.

When he finally stops, Minhyuk’s still in the living room, sitting on the coffee table looking at him.

“Feeling better now?”

“Not really,” Kyung answers truthfully, and sees a flash of dimples on Minhyuk’s face before it disappears just as quickly.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you all these when you clearly have stuff to deal with on your own, but I like to clear up any problems as soon as I can, before they’re left to fester, so I hope you will understand what I said earlier.” Minhyuk’s voice is low and his words come slowly, but there’s a certainty behind it that sounds something like conviction, and Kyung wonders what kind of a person Minhyuk is when he’s not just J