---

Jongin stands on his tiptoes and is barely able to latch onto the cereal box without the entire contents spilling out and all across the floor. He closes the cupboard with his free hand and trudges over to the table, carelessly plopping down onto one of the chairs. His eyes sting every time he blinks, and Jongin figures it’s not far fetched to assume his under eye area probably looks awful, so he makes a mental note to cover it up with concealer later. Speaking of which, he’s been going through bottles and tubes of concealer at an alarming pace lately.

After sitting and staring blankly ahead at the opposite side of the table for a while, Jongin suddenly realizes he forgot a very important key ingredient when it comes to the art of making cereal. So, with an irritated huff, he slowly stands up and walks three feet to the fridge. Upon being greeted by the chilly air, Jongin reaches for the carton of milk, only to tense subsequently. A shadow looms over him.

Sehun doesn’t say anything, just like Jongin predicted, so Jongin bites the inside of his cheek before he grabs the carton and takes a step back to give Sehun access to the contents of the fridge. Jongin quickly makes his way back to his seat and proceeds to douse his cereal with milk.

From his position a few feet away, Jongin sneaks a few glances at Sehun, like how the latter’s back muscles protrude when he bends down to grab something on the lowest shelf, or the way his black hair is sticking out in all directions, or, even better, his tendency to hum to himself whilst doing basically anything. On any normal day, Jongin would hum along if he knew the song, or even spring out of his chair and ambush Sehun in a bearhug, but he instead opts to keep his head lowered whilst eyeing his cereal - which in turn only reminds him that-

“I forgot my spoon,” Jongin mumbles quietly, lifting his gaze slightly in hopes of Sehun staring down at him with that look of adoration in his eyes like he always does. None. “Could you please hand me one?”

Putting his coffee cup on the table, Sehun nods wordlessly before turning around and easily retrieving a spoon from the drawer. He holds it at the base of the handle, and Jongin makes sure to grab it by the top when he accepts it.

The smell of mint and coffee quickly fills the small kitchen after Sehun sits down. Normally, Jongin would find himself laughing his chin off at some crappy, dry humored comic that Sehun would show him in the paper, which would closely be followed by Sehun ruffling his hair and cooing about how adorable he is. But Jongin isn’t laughing, and Sehun isn’t reading the paper, and they’re not sitting beside each other. In fact, Sehun isn’t saying a word as he types away on his phone, which he’s been doing every morning for a while now. But Jongin has stopped paying it any mind, because he’s used to Sehun not saying a word.

Because Sehun hasn’t said a word to him for over two weeks straight.

It’s strange, really, because what started out as what Jongin assumed was a simple series of mood swings on Sehun’s part, slowly evolved into downright and utter neglect, and Jongin would be lying if he had the guts to speak up about it or even question it. All he knows is that has absolutely no idea what’s going on; that, and the fact that he fears he might go crazy if Sehun continues to ignore his existence for any longer than he already has. On the other hand, Jongin figures trying to talk to Sehun about it would be useless, considering Sehun’s newfound tendency to slip out the door and head off to work the minute he finishes his breakfast. Come to think of it, Jongin isn’t even sure if Sehun has even smiled in his direction since the whole thing started.

As he scoops up a few cornflakes with his spoon, Jongin rests his head on his hand as he keeps his gaze lowered. Hearing Sehun hum across the table only reminds Jongin of the day when Sehun returned home from work two weeks ago; Jongin couldn’t, and still can’t put his finger on it but all he knows for sure is that Sehun seemed to act unusually strange right upon stepping across the threshold. Despite it being awfully strange, at least Sehun had it in him to give Jongin a hug, right before hanging up his jacket, unlocking his phone and shutting himself inside his and Jongin’s shared bedroom. As weirded out as he might have been, Jongin is sort of really glad Sehun didn’t make him spend the nights out on the couch, since that probably would have been the last straw for him. Jongin shoves the spoon into his mouth with a little more force than necessary.

Jongin figures he could get used to Sehun ignoring him like the plague, but he doesn’t know how long he will be able to last without a hug or a kiss instead of a few dull ‘Yes’ and ‘No’s from time to time. Mainly because spending each night hugging his pillow on his side of the bed for two weeks straight is starting to get a little redundant, but what does he know.

Jongin continues to chew his cereal, which is starting to get soggy and gross, until there’s nothing but a puddle of yellow tinted milk in the bowl. Not even bothering to look up (which sort of hurts, because he hates also having to pretend like Sehun doesn’t exist), Jongin discreetly checks his phone under the table, only to realize that he’s got a little less than half an hour to get to school. He’s only got one lecture today, which would exhilarate him on any normal day, but, as of right now, Jongin would be lying to the bone if he said he sort of really wished he didn’t. Now that he thinks about it, he’s got a Biology exam at twelve, so he blames most of his pent up aggression and irritation on that.

Sitting glued to the chair unmoving, since he doesn’t want to bring the bowl to his mouth and drink the remainder of the milk, considering he’ll be reminded of Sehun’s smile of adoration every time he does, Jongin’s eyes roam around the room. They don’t land on or anywhere near Sehun for reasons he can’t explain. He waits for the clock to strike half past before standing up and picking up his bowl and placing it in the sink.

When he’s finished, Jongin contemplates simply walking out the kitchen or staying behind to at least attempt to initiate small talk. He knows it’s useless, especially since Sehun seems to be heavily focused on whatever he’s up to on his phone, and Jongin’s worry is proven to be correct after he says something along the lines of ‘I’m leaving’, only to be met with dead silence. Jongin doesn’t why he expected a hug, presumably because Sehun usually never lets him walk out the door without one, but he does anyway. Inevitably, it doesn’t come.

Jongin isn’t sure if it’s the upcoming exam anxiety or his overall confusion and irritation or both that’s to blame, but he suddenly finds his chest filling with a feeling he can’t explain, and the next thing he knows, he’s biting his lip in irritation. “I said, I’m leaving now.”

From his position, Sehun continues typing on his phone, clearly deeply invested in whatever he’s doing because he looks up like a deer caught in headlights. Now that Jongin thinks about it, he seems to be even antsier and a tad bit more on edge, and even distracted, than usual. To say that Jongin’s frustration only grows when Sehun simply nods his head before turning his attention back on his phone would be a vast understatement.

“You know, it would be real nice if you could, oh, I don’t know, say something?” Jongin mumbles sarcastically, eyeing Sehun for the first time in roughly twenty minutes. “But I guess that’s way too difficult for you since you’ve, you know, apparently gone in’ mute.”

Sehun’s eyebrows are knitted together in concentration (which leads Jongin to believe he didn’t even hear his remark, which only makes him even more frustrated) as he types. To Jongin’s astonishment (and relief), he actually does open his mouth to speak, but he quickly closes it again when his phone suddenly rings in his hand. Sehun flies out of his seat less than a fraction of a second later, putting the phone by his ear before he quickly walks past Jongin. The latter hears their bedroom door close two seconds later.

It takes Jongin a minute to process what happened, given he has yet to assure himself that he isn’t going to go into cardiac arrest after nearly getting the living daylights scared out of him, courtesy of Sehun’s godforsaken phone. But he soon comes around, and it’s not until Jongin vaguely hears Sehun’s muffled voice from inside their room that he inwardly sighs and walks to the hallway.

Jongin is thankful his backpack is right by the front door, because he has a sneaking feeling Sehun wouldn’t be up for letting him inside their room anytime soon. He’s basically used to it at this point, but, nonetheless, Jongin would be lying if he said it didn’t make his heart hurt just the slightest bit.

---

Sitting down on a chair at the very top row, Jongin inwardly sighs. He hates arriving to lectures early, because he always finds himself doing absolutely nothing and boring himself to death whilst waiting for his professor to arrive. Well, that, and also (and mainly) because looking at the empty lecture hall only reminds him of the gaping emptiness in his heart, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s currently awaiting the lecture during which he’ll get information regarding his upcoming exam to begin, Jongin is at least 100% sure he would have high-tailed it out of there and headed somewhere else. He isn’t sure where, but somewhere with a lot of people, at least. He decides to curl into a fetal position whilst burying his face in his knees, but it barely lasts a full minute before he hears the familiar mumbles belonging to his classmates as they slowly trickle inside the room.

Jongin forces himself to look up and chooses to sit normally in order to avoid another half-hour long lecture on the ‘No Feet On Chairs’ rule from his professor. He looks around and inspects the sea of dull faces before him as everybody start making their way up the stairs and getting into their seats, nearly flinching like he’s been burned when a girl (whom Jongin normally tolerates but detests as of right now), suddenly throws herself into the seat right in front of him, closely followed by her boyfriend. She wraps her arms around his neck whilst he leans in and kisses her on the temple, and Jongin mentally beats himself up for not choosing to slip out a minute ago.

---

With an internal groan, Jongin shoves his tray of food aside. He’s thankful he’s sitting all alone at the table since he won’t have to worry about bumping into anybody else’s tray whilst doing so. The monotone sound of mumbles fill his ears from every direction and Jongin fights the urge to place his hands over his ears. He sort of wishes he did when he hears a phone ring in the distance, and Jongin bites his lip in annoyance. Not paying attention during his lecture (since he doesn’t want to know what grade he’ll be getting on his exam) and refusing to eat probably won’t do him any good in the long run, but Jongin can’t bring himself to care.

Who was on the phone? Who did he keep talking to? Jongin thinks to himself, playing with the corners of his juice box, which he has yet to open. He suddenly feels like a jealous, bitter girlfriend and he almost feels bad for being so rude to Sehun earlier, but he just can’t. The more he thinks about it, the more his head hurts, and Jongin wonders if taking a bite out of the deathly looking hamburger in front of him will help take his mind off of things for a brief moment.

“There you are, we were wondering where the hell you went!”

Jongin looks up, not knowing whether to smile or cry when he sees a certain redhead walk towards his table. “Hey,” he mumbles lowly, reaching out and pulling his tray towards him an inch or so.

“That was one of an exam,” Baekhyun huffs after he hastily sits down, his blinding red locks bouncing up and down when he does. “Jongdae’s over there trying to decide between a chicken or veggie sandwich,” he hums, immediately digging into his food. “What’s up with you? You look like death.”

With a meek shrug, which probably doesn’t look all that convincing, Jongin leans back in his seat. “It’s nothing,” he mumbles, fidgeting a bit in his lap.

“Sure as hell doesn’t look like it,” Baekhyun snickers, shovelling food into his mouth. “I kid, I kid. Anyway, how’d you do on the exam?” A bit of food slips from his fork and misses his leg by an inch. “-”

“Fine, I guess,” Jongin sighs, running a hand through his hair. Even though he’d been craving human contact a mere hour ago, all he wants right now is to be alone, even it means sitting by himself at an empty table in the middle of the cafeteria and looking like a loner.

Baekhyun nods in understanding, even though it looks as if he’s way too hungry to care. He looks up and briefly stops chewing. “Is...is that shirt new?” he asks, not even bothering to cover his mouth.

Jongin blinks. “Uh.” He blinks again before instinctively looking down. Honestly, he doesn’t even remember putting on the shirt he’s currently wearing. If he remembers correctly, he bought it in Hawaii five years ago, and he’s surprised it still fits. “No…?” His eyebrows furrow. “Why?”

“Nothing,” Baekhyun hums as he continues to eat. “It’s just that I didn’t recognize it,” he says, picking up his glass of milk. “I guess it’s ‘cause I’ve gotten so used to seeing you in Sehun’s clothes, don’t blame me.” He’s about to bring his fork to his mouth when he notices Jongin’s crestfallen expression. “...What?”

Sinking even deeper into his chair, Jongin keeps his gaze fixated on Baekhyun’s Converse shoes underneath the table. “Nothing, it’s-” He cuts himself off and clears his throat. “It’s, uh, nothing.” He attempts a smile (which probably looks faker than fake) and even goes as far as to take a bite of his food when Baekhyun sends him a weirded out look. “Really.”

“How’re things going with Sehun, anyway?” Baekhyun asks, clearly interested. When Jongin visibly tenses, he raises an eyebrow. “What’s the problem-”

“Hey, y’all,” Jongdae says a little louder than necessary as he sits down next to Baekhyun. “What’s crackalackin?” he asks whilst unwrapping his sandwich. “Wait, I thought I heard Sehun’s name-” He leans in. “Tell me all about it.”

Baekhyun gives Jongdae a big shove. “Move, you’ve got half your on my seat,” he says before turning to look at Jongin. “Why’re you being so secretive? I can tell you about me and Chanyeol if you want me to,” he adds and he misses the way Jongin sighs.

“Yeah, no it’s...it’s fine,” Jongin replies, perhaps a little too quickly because Jongdae and Baekhyun both send him funny looks. As if his hatred for Baekhyun’s sappy, mushy gushy stories about him and Chanyeol wasn’t strong enough already. "No really, it's nothing, don't worry about it-"

Jongdae simply rests his head on his hand whilst eyeing Jongin with an unreadable look. "Jongin."

"What," Jongin replies lamely, avoiding both their eyes.

"What's happened," Jongdae deadpans and Jongin curses his best friend's ability to read him like an open book.

Jongin blinks. "Nothing, I said-"

"We've got twenty minutes of lunch left, let's hear it, pretty boy," Baekhyun says, an excited glint in his eyes as he claps and rubs his hands together.

Would standing up and simply running out of the building help matters? Probably not, Jongin presumes, since Jongdae and Baekhyun would definitely chase him until they squeezed out the last drop of honesty out of him. So, seeing no way out, Jongin puffs his cheeks before sitting upright in his chair. Except he has no idea where to begin, because the emotional overload is causing his system to nearly corrupt. "Um. I really, uh, don't wanna t-"

"Dude, judging by the lack of smittenness written all over your face upon hearing Sehun's name, I'd say something's definitely the matter," Jongdae says as a matter-of-factly before taking a big bite out of his sandwich. His face contorts into a grimace moments later. "Ech, this thing tastes like , does anybody want it?"

Jongin shakes his head ever so slightly, in fear of anything entering his stomach possibly coming back up. "Sehun, uh..." He swallows the lump in his throat that seems to rise from the dead upon saying Sehun's name. "He...uh." With a scratch to the back of his head, he clears his throat. "We kinda...we've kinda stopped talking to each other."

Baekhyun and Jongdae exchange puzzled looks. "Earth to Jongin," the latter says, a weirded out expression on his face. "Say that again?"

"Yeah, I don't think I registered that correctly," Baekhyun adds, clearly just as confused as Jongdae.

Jongin sighs. "He's...he's kind of been avoiding me for weeks now," he says quietly, playing with his fingers. He looks up, only to see Jongdae and Baekhyun staring at him as if they're expecting him to go on. "Uh...yeah."

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. "O...kay," he says, although it sounds more like a question than a statement. "Why?"

"That's the thing, I have no idea," Jongin sighs in exasperation, clenching his fists as he bites his lip. "He just...I mean, last, last Wednesday weeks ago he came home and sort of, you know, gave me a quick hug and then pulled out his phone and locked himself in our room, and he didn't let me in until midnight after I knocked on the door." He furrows his eyebrows, almost as if he's having difficulty believing his own words.

Jongdae nods in understanding, clearly trying to get rid of the taste of rotten vegetables still lingering in his mouth. "Alrighty, and he's been doing that...ever since? For two weeks?" His eyes widen a little.

Jongin nods. "I barely even see him nowadays, except when we're eating breakfast, but he never spares me a single glance or says anything, he just sits there with his coffee, which he never takes a sip of. Then he heads off to work," he mumbles, sighing again. "He didn't go to work today, though, but I guess he just wanted me out of his line of vision." A thought suddenly hits him and he nearly chokes on his own spit. "It's...it's almost as if he hates me."

"There, there, I'm sure he doesn't hate you," Baekhyun says reassuringly. "What did you say when you tried talking to him about it?" he adds, flicking the piece of food he dropped earlier away.

"Uh." Jongin blinks. "I...nothing," he says after a while, but he quickly clears his throat. "I mean, I...we haven't really brought it up." He mentally smacks himself when he realizes just how lame that sounded.

It's Baekhyun's turn to blink in surprise. "...What? Y'serious? Why not?" He his head to the side, clearly interested. "I mean, I'd understand if you hadn't, but like...yeah."

Jongin shrugs. "I...kind of...got the feeling he didn't want to talk to me anymore after like, the first week, so I kinda gave up on trying, not to mention he usually leaves for work right after breakfast so I don't really get the chance." He sighs for the nth time and helplessly looks around the room, only to turn back to Baekhyun and Jongdae as soon as he sees a handful of couples making out at a table a few feet away.

"Okay," Jongdae says, a hint of sympathy in his voice, much to Jongin's surprise. "I mean...jeez, this , man, but I'd say there's little you can do unless you sit down and talk it out, that's what couples normally do," he adds, his voice softening significantly when Jongin frowns. "I'm sure it's just a result of miscommunication, but you'll never really know unless...yeah, you get the gist, I think."

"But what if I'm just overreacting," Jongin blurts out, mentally slapping himself for sounding like a teenage girl with love issues (which he, in all honesty, isn't very far from the truth at this point). "I mean-" His voice trails off when he sees Baekhyun's expression. 

Baekhyun only sighs. "You poor, poor, boy," he tuts, shaking his head dramatically. "Your boyfriend of four years giving you the cold shoulder for nearly three weeks is probably worth bringing up, don'tcha think?" Shoving his tray aside, he pats his stomach.

"Yeah," Jongdae interjects, "adress the elephant in the room next time you're in the same room, 'kay?" He reaches across the table and grabs Jongin's hand, much to the latter's surprise. "Don't be so hard on yourself, I'm sure you did nothing wrong."

"Except for the time when you used one of his shirts as a pillow 'cause you couldn't handle him being away overnight," Baekhyun says, coughing into his fist. "Anyway-"

"That was one time!" Jongin squawks, perhaps a little too loudly since a handful of students turn their heads to send him dirty looks. He sort of hates Baekhyun for bringing that up, because he swears to God he can smell Sehun's scent right in the cafeteria. He makes a mental note to dunk his best friend in the nearest trash can the first chance he gets. "I'm...sure he has his reasons, I don't wanna piss him off or make a fool out of myself for-"

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "He's the one ignoring your yet you're the one doubting yourself? Get a grip, you're so much smarter than that and you know it damn good and well," he mumbles. "Not to mention Sehun's the type to hide his emotions to infinity and beyond so you'll probably get an answer out of him if you just talk to him about it," he adds, his eyes widening a little. "Wait, didn't you say he didn't go to work this morning???"

Jongin nods slowly. "Yeah. So?"

"Why couldn't you've talked to him about it then?" Jongdae asks, seemingly reading Baekhyun's mind. 

With a pout, Jongin bites his lip. "His phone rang and he seemed like he was in a hurry to answer it, so I didn't wanna interfere," he says quietly. "And it's not like I was about to knock and ask him to let me in so we could talk," he adds, mentally slapping himself silly when he notices his vision blurring. He should have just gotten up and left the minute Baekhyun sat down.

"Chanyeol was on the phone for a long while while he shaved this morning," Baekhyun, thankfully not noticing the glossiness of Jongin's eyes, says in wonder. "Anyway, do you know who called him?"

Jongin shakes his head. Frankly, he doesn't want to think about it, because his stomach is feeling exceptionally sick right now, but he can't bring himself to keep his mouth shut now that it feels as if a giant weight has, surprisingly, been lifted off of his shoulders. "And I doubt he'll be telling me anytime soon," he mumbles, mainly to himself, as he swallows the evergrowing lump in his throat.

"You know, I doubt he's avoiding you that badly," Jongdae says with two fingers under his chin. "Maybe he's just too shy to talk to you face to face as of right now? I know it sounds moronic as hell, but Sehun can be kind of ambiguous sometimes, no offense or anything," he adds with an apologetic smile in Jongin's direction. Jongin doesn't have it in him to smack it off his face.

Baekhyun crosses his legs. "Does that mean he hasn't texted or called you since this whole...whatever the this is, started?"

Jongin blinks. Frankly, it never even occured to him that Sehun could, and has, in fact, avoided him like the plague virtually, as well. Now that he thinks about it, he doesn't even know when Sehun last called or texted him, which he intreprets as a bad sign. As a matter of fact, the surprise coarsing through his veins is actually enough to make him stare off into space for a few seconds, and it's not until Baekhyun waves a hand in front of his face that he comes to. "N-no, he hasn't-"

"Hey, call him right now and see if he picks up," Jongdae suggests, only putting his hands up in defense when Jongin stares at him like he's grown a second head. "I dunno, maybe something happened that he's refusing to talk about and secretely wants you to hit him up?" He presses his lips together.

"Yeah, I like that idea, do it," Baekhyun says while nodding in agreement. "And just know that if he were to get the nerve to badmouth you, I'll chew him right the out," he adds and Jongin doesn't even need to ask to know that he's definitely not joking.

Jongin bites his lip in reluctance. "Guys, I don't know-"

"Come on, it's a golden opportunity to see if he really still cares about you," Baekhyun whines, reaching over and patting Jongin's arm for support. "I promise I'll kick his sorry if he doesn't-"

"You're not helping," Jongin spits, shrugging Baekhyun off. "And, I mean...I wouldn't wanna disrupt him at work, he hates it when I do that," he mumbles, scratching the back of his neck.

"So much that he willingly drives all the way from his work at 2 PM to watch cartoons with you after you called him up and said you were feeling lonely?" Jongdae nods slowly. "My, oh my, he must really hate you doing that." He chuckles a little when Jongin gives him the evil eye. "I kid, I kid, I find it adorable, don't worry. Anyway, if he asks why you're calling, just say you hope he's doing alright, okay?"

Baekhyun nods. "Yeah, keep it casual!" He eyes Jongin expectedly, fully awaiting the latter to pull out his phone. "What're you waiting for? Do it!"

Internally sighing, Jongin presses his lips together in worry. Not because he's worried about disrupting Sehun at work, or even worse, calling him during a conference, but mainly because he knows for a fact that doing just that will result in Sehun avoiding him even more, if that's even possible. On the other hand, however, Jongin won't deny that his fingers are itching to pick up his phone, just so he can hear the melodic sound of Sehun's voice (even if said voice tells him to right off before hanging up), given that he hasn't heard it in what feels like forever. And Jongin doesn't know what's worse; going crazy as a result of not getting to hear Sehun talk to him ever again, or have Sehun yell at him over the phone before hanging up and resuming giving him the cold shoulder. Anyways, he finds himself instinctively reaching for his back pocket, much to Jongdae and Baekhyun's glee.

"You two need to shut up and stay shut up," Jongin mumbles, missing the way Baekhyun and Jongdae pretend to lock their lips and proceed to throw away the key. He bites his lip when he opens up his text messages, nearly crying when he sees his and Sehun's conversation from a little over two weeks ago. The words 'I'll be home soon, love you ❤❤❤', from none other than Sehun, which also happens to be the last text in their conversation history, stare back at him and Jongin wouldn't be surprised if there was a tear currently running down his face. He figures there isn't, since Baekhyun and Jongdae would definitely comment on it.

Deciding it's probably best he call, Jongin swallows the lump in his throat. He's playing with fire and he's well aware of it, but then again, he'd rather hear Sehun's voice no matter what it might say to him at this point. So, with his heart in his throat, Jongin exits the messages app and clicks on the bright green telephone icon at the bottom of his screen. He can practically feel Jongdae and Baekhyun's intense, curious gazes burning holes in his lowered head, so Jongin figures it's probably best he doesn't look up during the call in fear of messing something up. After scrolling for a few seconds, he stops at Sehun's name; their recent, hour long phone call which dates back two and a half weeks. He takes a deep, shaky breath before bringing his thumb down and the next thing Jongin knows, he's pressing the phone against his ear.

Jongin is pretty sure he can hear his own pulse in his ears as he sits unmoving in his chair, waiting with clench fists for the sound of Sehun's voice. Except his excitement is cut short when he hears the dial tone beeping non stop in his ear ten seconds later, and Baekhyun and Jongdae both watch with mutual frowns on their faces as Jongin stuffs his phone back in his pocket, an obvious look of misery plastered all across his face. In all honesty, though, a bigger part of Jongin expected Sehun not to reply, but it does very little to soothe the pain in the pit of his gut.

"He hung up on you?" Baekhyun asks, flabbergasted and eyes wide, and Jongin sincerely hopes he meant it as a rethorical question. "Man, what a jerk! I mean, I knew he was ambiguous as hell, but....God damn it, this ," he mumbles, sending Jongin, who looks utterly helpless, an apologetic look. "But I'm just confused as to why you chose to keep it a secret from us, y'know...? I mean...nevermind."

With a puff of his cheeks, Jongin sighs loudly, not caring about the dirty looks that get sent in his direction subsequently. "I just didn't think it'd be worth it, I...didn't think it was that important-"

"He ignored your , well, literally, for two whole weeks and is still doing it, I'd say this deserves all the attention in the goddamn world," Baekhyun says boldly, barely able to stifle a chuckle at his sad attempt at a joke. "I mean, you'd listen to me ramble for hours on end about me and Chanyeol, so," he adds and Jongin wonders if it's worth telling him that he already does ramble for hours, and sometimes even days, on end about Chanyeol.

"...Anyway, these sorts of things are usually done better face to face, just saying," Jongdae says, looking equally as sympathetic as Baekhyun did a minute ago. "What I mean is, you'll probably get a more honest reply out of him if you ask him let's say, tonight?" He sends Jongin one of his typical feline grins.

Still trying to pull himself together, which is awfully difficult, Jongin runs a hand through his hair. "I still don't...I mean, what if he's mad at me? Like, what if I did something? Or what if I make him angry for being nosy? Maybe he's dealing with a crap ton of stuff right now- Maybe he's stressed out about something at work-" He cuts himself off and shuts his mouth before he descends into a neverending series of rambles. The lump in his throat effectively prevents the sob creeping up his throat from escaping his mouth, which would have been mortifying otherwise.

"Maybe, but that still doesn't give him an excuse to act like you don't exist," Jongdae says, accidentally stubbing his finger on the edge of Baekhyun's tray. "Ow, -- Oh, and it doesn't grant him the right to take his stress and pent up frustration out on you, I hope you know that," he adds whilst rubbing his pinky.

Baekhyun opens his mouth, seemingly to laugh at Jongdae's pain, but his expression quickly melts into one of sympathy when he notices the hopelessness and despair (and tears, most likely) in Jongin's eyes. "Chin up, my friend, I'm sure he has his reasons, and you're gonna find out what they are tonight," he says as a matter-of-factly, the encouragement in his voice lifting Jongin's spirit ever so slightly.

Jongin nods weakly, barely having the energy to keep his head up, so he has no idea as to how he's supposed to keep his chin up, as well. "I guess, but..." He bites his lip, nearly grimacing when a metallic taste fills his mouth. "I just don't get why he's being so secretive, you know? Like, you think he'd be all up for discussing it with me, but--" His eyes widen a little. "Does he not trust me, or wha-"

"Hey, save the questions for Sehun, alright? He needs to hear them the most, you know," Jongdae chuckles, fixing his hair. "And relax, I'm sure you're just overthinking everything." He clears his throat. "Even though I will admit that two weeks is quite a while for somebody to give someone the cold shoulder, but the heck do I know, right? Just talk it out with him, I'm sure you'll solve it like the mature, reasonable adults you are," he adds with a thumbs up and it takes every fiber in Jongin's being not to ask if he's joking or not.

Baekhyun puts a hand in the air. "I'll be sitting outside your window, just so you know, so if he s everything up I'll break a window and give him a piece of my mind," he says in an eerily serious tone, but Jongin doesn't have it in him to object. "Awh, does little Jonginnie need a hug?" he coos when Jongin doesn't crack a smile, not even giving the latter a chance to reply before standing up and promptly walking over to the other side of the table. 

"No-" Jongin squawks, only to croak-garble something incoherent when he finds himself sandwiched between not only Baekhyun, but Baekhyun and Jongdae, and he's eternally thankful for the fact that the cafeteria is mostly empty since he doesn't think he'd be able to live it down otherwise. "Stop it-" He coughs and takes a deep breath when Jongdae and Baekhyun finally let go (five minutes later), and even though his ribs feel like they've been crushed by an elephant, he would be lying if he said he didn't feel at least a tad bit better. 

This doesn't seem to go unnoticed by neither Jongdae nor Baekhyun, who both chuckle to themselves. However, the latter's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates upon checking his phone, only to realize that he and Jongdae have missed half an hour of their Algebra class. The next thing Jongin knows, he's watching his best friends scramble to collect their things whilst mumbling half-assed, barely coherent goodbyes and 'Good luck's in his direction. Jongin follows them with his eyes as they practically zoom towards the exit, only to sink back into his chair the moment they're out of sight. A sigh of exasperation leaves his lips as his eyes land on his own tray in front of him, which is still untouched and now stone cold.

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