first part of the spin-offs. as the chapter summary implies, this happened way before they started dating. hope you guys enjoy! ♡

to avoid confusion, jongin (21) is three years older than kyungsoo (18). while the latter has yet to finish his last year in high school, the former is already in his third year in uni. this drabble, however, took place a year ago- soo in his third year and jongin in his second year. they started dating a couple of months after this. now without further ado.

"Chanyeol, we still have half an hour before the professor arrives. Why don't you do it, then? I literally just got here." Jongin complains, dropping his bag on the floor before slumping all over his seat.

"You handle your time better than me. Mr. Lee will kill me alive if I show up late again." Chanyeol whines, trying his best to look like a scared puppy. Naturally, he fails but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"You look dumb." Jongin scoffs, but stands up anyway looking all resigned. "Where do I need to drop it off?"

Chanyeol's expression immediately brightens up, knowing full well his best friend would say yes. "The lobby's fine, I guess. I'll tell him to meet to you there."

Jongin nods, grabbing the calculator from Chanyeol's hands before checking his watch for the time. 20 minutes to go to and from Kyungsoo's high school. He sighs, "You owe me one."

"Yeah, yeah." Replies Chanyeol before waving his best friend away.

Too easy.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you forgot your calculator on purpose." Sehun snickers, waiting with his best friend at the lobby while munching on his cookies.

Kyungsoo glares, "I did not. I specifically asked Chanyeol to bring it here. Not him."

"Fine." Sehun holds his hands up in surrender, "Stop being so defensive."

"Goo-"

"Though you can't deny the fact that you find Jongin hot."

"You're a little punk, aren't you?" Kyungsoo scowls, "And so what? It's not like it's a mortal sin to appreciate someone's looks. Remember when I used to think you resemble a greek god? Instantly ruined the moment you opened your mouth. Good times, no?"

"I would've been offended if not for the upgraded level of iness." Sehun smirks before patting him on the head, "You're learning, son."

"Piece of-"

"Hey."

Both boys startle, turning their heads towards the direction of the voice. They see Jongin standing there, holding up the calculator the smaller has asked for.

Kyungsoo coughs, swatting Sehun's hand away before moving to stand in front of his brother's best friend. He suddenly feels shy and it's annoying. It's wrong and it's so not him and it's pissing him off. He unknowingly grabs the calculator harshly off of Jongin's hand, realizing a second too late how his action must have looked like. It must have been reflected on his face as Jongin only seems to nod in understanding, turning his back to go on his way.

Kyungsoo doesn't know what came over him when he calls out Jongin's name.

The older instantly stops in his tracks, looking over his shoulder- waiting for Kyungsoo to say something.

"T-thank you." Kyungsoo stammers. "Must have been a hassle to go out of your way to bring me this."

Jongin only offers a small smile before heading out.

"What the was that?" Sehun interrogates, shuddering from the weird atmosphere that took over when Jongin arrived. "Felt like I was watching your typical cliched romance drama."

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow, "You mean your drama. Also, that was nothing. I don't know what you're talking about."

"I swear there was this thick-"

The smaller simply walks past Sehun, tuning out whatever it is he's about to say.

Little indeed.

The next time it happens, it's when they're all cramped up in Kyungsoo and Chanyeol's apartment, watching a cheap action movie that Sehun downloaded just for the fun of it. The younger boys are sprawled out on the couch, munching on some greasy popcorn while the older are downing shots after shots of chilled soju. It's a lovely Friday night after all.

It's when the credits are showing that Sehun decides to speak up. "Wanna play truth or dare?"

"I don't think they're in their right minds to do anything." Kyungsoo looks over his brother and Jongin, looking all flushed in the face from drinking. He's pretty sure they're a few seconds away from passing out. "How about we all sleep instead."

"No!" Jongin shouts, trying to stand on wobbly feet before pointing a finger at Kyungsoo. "You!"

"Me?" Kyungsoo points at himself hesitantly.

"I wanna ask you something." Jongin slurs, almost tripping over his feet in his haste to go over where the smaller male is. When he finally does, he cups Kyungsoo's face, squishing his flushed cheeks in the process while Sehun can only look over his best friend with a smug expression on his face. Chanyeol, unsurprisingly, has long since gone to sleep.

"Uhm, what is it?" Kyungsoo asks, trying not to look the older in the eye.

"Do you like-" Jongin pauses, shaking his head. "Do you have someone you like at the moment?"

The smaller widens his eyes at that, Sehun dying from laughter on the couch. "W-what?"

"I said," Jongin lazily repeats with conviction, his breath fanning over Kyungsoo's face and it surprises the latter that it doesn't make him uncomfortable at all. If anything, it's surprisingly comforting despite the smell of alcohol on the other's breath. "Do you like-"

The older doesn't get to finish his sentence for he ends up burying his face in Kyungsoo's neck, snoring loudly while the younger finds himself at a loss of what to do. Sehun can only shrug in response.

Yeah, that went pretty well.

The next time they see each other, they don't talk about it. Jongin doesn't even seem to remember what has transpired that night and Kyungsoo decides that he'd just let it stay that way- let the question remain unasked.

It's only when Chanyeol begs his best friend to pick his brother up from school does the weird atmosphere return. They are to have a family dinner that night but Chanyeol has to stay for a little bit longer to finish a group project due the next day. The taller doesn't want to keep their parents waiting and Kyungsoo is at directions so he's decided to ask another favor from Jongin instead since the other doesn't seem to have anything going on after school anyways.

Jongin agrees with the promise of free dinner so he heads off as soon as the bell rings and waits for Kyungsoo at the lobby. When he spots the smaller male, he waves him over with a smile on his face.

"Where's Chanyeol?" Kyungsoo asks, looking for his giant of a brother.

"School stuff. He said he'll head there soon." Jongin replies, "Let's go?"

They're halfway through the ride when Jongin's phone pings, signalling a new message. Since he's driving, he's asked the younger to check it for him to which the other easily agrees to.

As soon as Kyungsoo reads the text, he sighs and turns to the older, "It's been moved to another day. Chanyeol couldn't make it."

"Your parents left the restaurant?"

"I think so?" Kyungsoo answers, "You know how they are. Full attendance and all that."

Jongin nods understandingly, an idea forming in his head. "You still wanna go?"

Kyungsoo shakes his head no, "I'm broke."

"It's on me." Jongin offers.

"I eat a lot."

"Nothing I don't already know."

"Jongin!"

"I was kidding." The older chuckles, "So, I'll take that as a yes?"

Kyungsoo can only grin in excitement.

That night, they head home with a huge smile on their faces, calling it a day with the promise of doing it again.

They still don't know what it is between them, but they believe they have a lot of time to figure that out.

The answer comes 6 months later, when Jongin finally asks the question and Kyungsoo says yes.