"You've got to do something."

Kibum is still wondering if it's still too early to be wearing a long coat and whether or not it will be a good fashion choice or a foolish one when Minho barges into his room in the wee small hours of that morning. He glances and finds Minho looking so basic in his usual jacket, t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. What a waste of good genes, God is fair indeed. He prompts to ignore Minho and continues looking into the full body mirror. A news from Minho can't be important to him.

"It's Jinki hyung."

He drops his long coat on the floor and immediately turns his head to look at his friend. Anything about Jinki is a most wanted, grade A news. What are the odds that Minho is the bearer of such information. "Elaborate." He demands.

Minho closes the door, tiptoes around the coat-filled floor, and sits on Kibum's bed. He takes a deep breath, then exhales. "So… you know that playing hard to get thing he got going on?"

"Can't relate." Kibum replies. "But go on."

Minho tries not to let Kibum's lowkey burn get to him and continues. "Screw you, I meant with me. I know you're the one playing hard to get in your routine." He snarks, Kibum blushes. "Anyways, he no longer does that to me. Lately, he keeps clinging to me for dear life and…" Minho smiles a bit, as if he doesn't mind his so called problem at all. "He even does this off camera. I mean, I always suspect he does it for the fans, but off stage? Something must have happened."

A bucket of icy water might as well have been thrown over Kibum, because that is how he feels at the moment. Jinki hasn't directly talked to him for days. Is this what he's been doing all this time? Harassing Minho? Kibum is nauseated.

"Did you do something to him?" Minho asks, concerned.

Kibum denies. "What do I even have to do with this?" He doesn't know what is going on with Jinki and if there is a correlation between Jinki clinging to Minho and avoiding him. Kibum thought there was nothing he hated more than losing to Minho, but he realizes he was wrong. There is nothing he hates more than Jinki not talking to him. And the worst part is, he seems to be the reason behind this mess. But what did he even do to deserve this?

"I don't know. He doesn't seem to be talking to you." When Minho says it out loud, it feels like Minho physically punches Kibum's chest. "I am really not here to brag. I've been chasing for his love so much for so long, it's the only thing I want and know how to do. He took the sole purpose of my life. So I need to get it back. I need to shower him with love and get treated coldly." Minho pleads. "I think you're the only one who knows how to make this right."

Kibum gives Minho a look, "Minho," he says firmly.

"Yeah?" Minho squeaks.

"You're a masochistic . Get some ing help." Kibum shoos him away. Minho walks out of his room while grumbling, leaving him gazing at the door blankly. His thoughts about coats long forgotten.

•••

June, 2013

Flashback by After School rings loudly in the theater, making Jinki flustered and hurriedly rejected the call. He cursed and punched himself internally for forgetting to turn on silent mode on his phone.

You Why are you calling??

Kibommie❤️ You said you wanted to get killed!! I'm worried. Why did you reject my call???

You I said 'Kill me now' because I'm in the theater, watching a movie with Minho!!!

Kibommie❤️ OMG

Kibum didn't reply for a few minutes after that and Jinki was two hundred percent sure it was because he was laughing and choking over how miserable the situation he was trapped in at that moment.

Minho had been asking him to go out on a movie date for months and Jinki had been rejecting his offer… until then. His condition to the offer was to add a third person, which he thought would take care of Minho's overwhelming energy. But Minho added a fourth person, who was a girlfriend to the third person, which made it all the same. It was basically a double date. Jinki had to take care of Minho's clinginess and extraness while the couple enjoyed the movie peacefully. Minho kept hitting his arm every time there was something exciting —which was basically almost every minute, because Minho was a loud oversized puppy. Minho also kept telling him to not look at his phone but he didn't care, he was an independent man. Minho only paid for the tickets and food, not his full attention.

Jinki felt like an , but then a new message came.

Kibommie❤️ Is your arm bruised yet? LOL. HE IS THE WORST!!

Yeah, he wasn't an . It was a normal reaction to Choi Minho at the Theater.

You I can't feel it anymore ㅠㅠ Kiss it better ㅠㅠ

Kibommie❤️ Why don't you ask your girlfriend~

You I was asking you tho!

Kibommie❤️ That's rude to your girlfriend. And also your boyfriend… next to you

Kibommie❤️ HAHAHAHAHA

You … Thank you for your support. I'll just bother Jonghyun.

As much as Jinki loved his girlfriend, his attraction and affection to Kibum didn't change and it never would. He felt like an again for feeling the way he felt for Kibum. He hated how Kibum always avoided his flirty texts smoothly, like they didn't mean anything to him. He knew Kibum shouldn't have reacted any other way. But he could be immature if he wanted to, dammit.

Kibommie❤️ You can bother me

Kibommie❤️ But I can't kiss your arm betterㅎㅎ

Jinki sighed. Why did it have to be this way? Why did Kibum have to be this cute and not wanting to him. The world is unfair.

He wanted to kiss Kibum so much.

•••

Another day of Jinki not talking to Kibum has passed. This is getting unacceptable. Kibum misses his goofy random texts. His schedule is tight and although working makes him happy, it also makes him exhausted. Jinki's almost always indecipherable texts are usually what boost his energy. However, he doesn't get any of it and it makes him sad, more than angry.

You I miss u…

He stops and rereads his message before sending it. He concluded that it is too clingy. He erases it and rewrites.

You Are you still not-mad at me?

Kibum thinks it is too childish. It kills him that he overthinks such silly matter like texting when he never did that before. He is still considering what to write when a notification alerts him that Jinki has just liked a picture of him on instagram. He feels queasy. The butterflies fill his stomach, as how they always do every time Jinki likes or comments on his instagram post. He misses Jinki so much.

You When are you and Yeonggam both at the dorm?

Minho🔥 Tomorrow!! Are you gonna do something?

Damn right he will.