Kibum’s day is, to be frank, ty. It starts with him spilling his coffee all over his brand new khakis, continues when he falls in the middle of the stairway in his lecture hall, and reaches a high (or rather, very very low) point when he somehow loses his left shoe in the middle of crowd while he rushed from his morning class to his afternoon class. By the time his afternoon class ends at 3pm, he’s ready to find a hole somewhere and just make it his home. He feels his phone buzz in his pocket and he’s half expecting it to be the University saying that they’re dropping him.

Group chat!: Cheese fries

CineMin: so wait someone just /stole/ your shoe??? ㅍ`ㅅˊㅍ I’ll fight them!!!

Jjongie: ㅎ`ㅅˊㅎ damn burgieose!!

Kekeke: i dn’t think they did it on purpose

Kekeke: i just had a bad day

Jjongie: do you want to come over? We can talk about it. My mom sent more of that cocoa that you like. ㅎㅅ~

Kekeke: i’ll be over once i get shoes

Jjongie: the door is unlocked

Minho’s been strangely quiet in both the group chat and their own chat today. It makes Kibum a little sad; while he’s glad that he has someone else to look to when he has a bad day, sometimes you just need your best friend. He’s glad that Jonghyun lives in the same building as him and even more that Jonghyun somehow got one of the incredibly coveted single person rooms. After dropping his bookbag and changing into comfier clothes, Kibum takes the stairs up to Jonghyun’s floor; he’s not quite in the mood to get stuck in an elevator today and doesn’t want to press his luck. When he opens the door to Jonghyun’s room, there’s something odd. There’s someone on the bed, where Jonghyun should be, but the legs are far too long to be Jonghyun’s.

“Minho, is that you?” he asks. The legs shift and Minho’s head pops around the corner.

“Hi, Kibum!”

“Why are you in Jonghyun’s apartment? And more importantly, why are you sitting on his bed?”

“We wanted to surprise you since you were having a bad day!” comes Jonghyun’s voice from the bathroom.

Something doesn’t add up to Kibum. He goes into the room and claims Jonghyun’s bean bag chair for his own.

“How did you know I was having a bad day though? I didn’t message you guys about it until after I got out of class and there’s no way you could’ve made it here before me.”

“I can’t believe you would disregard our psychic connection like that, bunny," Minho says, feigning hurt. Kibum rolls his eyes and Jonghyun practically runs out of the bathroom.

“Did you just call him bunny??” he half yells. Minho looks vaguely frightened at Jonghyun’s expression.

“Yeah? I usually do? Since about the age of, what, five?” he answers, looking past Jonghyun to Kibum for confirmation.

“That’s kind of a weird nickname for five year olds to give each other,” Jonghyun comments as he moves to sit at the end of the bed.

“My family all calls me Bummie. He used to have a speech problem so it sounded more like bunny and it just stuck.” Kibum explains.

Jonghyun nods. “So what do you call Minho then? Kitty?”

Both Minho and Kibum laugh, much to Jonghyun’s chagrin.

“No, though I do have a cat.” MInho replies. 

“So what does he call you??” Jonghyun repeats.

“Why are you so curious?” Minho counters.

As Kibum watches the two of them inch closer together on Jonghyun’s already small bed, it finally clicks. The reason why Minho was so quiet in the chats, why he was here before Kibum texted them, and why Jonghyun’s face was so interested in what Kibum’s nickname for Minho was.

“Ducky, when did you get here?” he asks, eyes narrowing. Minho tries to keep his face composed but guiltiness is still apparent in his eyes.

“Uh, just a little before you did.”

“You call him ducky??????” Jonghyun interrupts.

“Choi Minho I’ve known you longer than you’ve been on this Earth, don’t lie to me.”

“He calls you ducky????”

“Bunny, it’s literally impossible for you to have known me before I was here. Even though you’re a whole two months older than me, babies have no sense of object permanence or quantifiable awareness of biological processes.”

Kibum waits for Jonghyun to interject again but sees that he’s just quietly trying to process the information now that he’s been ignored long enough.

“So what time did you get here?” he repeats. Minho sighs. 

“I caught the train after my 9am Greek class. My noon class was cancelled. I really was planning on surprising you though!”

“What have you guys been up to, then?”

“We’ve been...hanging out,” Minho says, exchanging glances with Jonghyun.

“Yeah. Hanging out.” Jonghyun echos.

There’s an awkward pause. Kibum tries to figure out how to get them to be honest with him. Jonghyun goes back into the bathroom.

“Ducky, let me see your phone.” he says, holding out his hand.

Minho holds his phone close to him. “What for?”
“Does it matter?”

Minho struggles to answer. He clearly has something he doesn’t want Kibum to see but at the same time he obviously doesn’t want Kibum to know that he doesn’t want him to see. In the end, Minho holds out his phone. Kibum punches in the passcode and it opens to their groupchat. He waits for Jonghyun to make a comment about his snooping, but it doesn’t come. He goes into the list of threads and searches for the one just between Jonghyun and Minho. It’s titled ㅎㅅ~.

(10:15am)

Jjongie: so are you coming today or did your professor provide you with more falsehoods than necessary?

CineMin: I think I can come ^^
CineMin: I’ll let you know when I catch a train.

Jjongie: yay!! 💙
Jjongie: are you going to tell your not-boyfriend or should I?

CineMin: I want to surprise him, so I haven’t messaged him.

Jjongie: does he like surprises? 

CineMin: Only if they’re from me.

Jjongie: ㅎㅅㅎ why are you two like this ㅎㅅㅎ

(10:30am)

CineMin: I’m on the train.

Jjongie: do I need to meet you at the station or do you have a wonderful sense of direction?

CineMin: I wouldn’t say I’m great at directions but I’m better than Kibum if that’s what you mean.

Jjongie: ㅎㅅㅎ how did you know

CineMin: ^^ he’s always been bad at directions ^^
CineMin: I know how to get to the west gate, if you can meet me there?

Jjongie: I can meet you there, but only because you’re cute. 💙

CineMin: 6v6

(11:00)

Jjongie: I’m at the gate ㅎㅅㅎ

Jjongie: where are you ㅎㅅㅎ

Jjongie: there’s a distinct lack of cuties in the area right now ㅎㅅㅎ

Jjongie: I see you!! 💙

Kibum laughs when he finishes reading the messages. When he looks up, Minho’s sitting with his head down and hands folded on his lap, as if he’s expecting some sort of scolding; it’s vaguely reminiscent of when Minho’s older brother had gotten caught with a magazine.

“While I know it’s not my division, if you guys are in here being nasty you can just say. I wouldn’t have given his number to you if I wasn’t expecting it or wasn’t okay with it.” he says, taking one of Minho’s hands. Once again, Jonghyun busts out of the bathroom.

“We weren’t doing anything like that!! I promise!! I have respect for him!! We’re still getting to know each other!!”

“He doesn’t mean nasty like that, he means anything beyond strictly friendly relations.”

“Oh.”

“Also, in light of how you phrased that, I’m altering my statement to ‘if you guys are in here being romantically nasty you can tell me, but I better not hear or any anything even remotely nasty.’”

All three of them laugh.

“Ok, so I’m starving. I’m going to go head downstairs now, so you guys have the chance to finish getting out whatever romantic crap you guys need to get of your systems so that I can eat in peace.”

The other two stay still as Kibum leaves the room. Considering how the day’s gone, he feels like he should be more upset than he is that Minho is here. At this point, though, he's just glad Minho's here, no matter what reason. His phone buzzes.

CineMin: Thank you for not being mad!

CineMin: Can we talk in your room when we’re done eating? Just us?

Kekeke: Sure, but you guys have to come down to eat before we can do that

CineMin: Working on it

He’s curious to hear what Minho has to say, though he has a feeling he already knows what it is. Jonghyun hadn’t struck Kibum as Minho’s type; but if Minho was going to be with anyone, he’s glad that it’s Jonghyun.