A/N: Hello! Thank you for clicking on my fic! Please know that I am my own beta, so any spelling/grammatical mistakes are my fault and my fault only. Please let me know if you spot any! I know I have a nasty habit of ommitting words entirely or straight up typing the wrong word, lol. Hope you enjoy! 

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"Yes, mom, I'll bring him over," Kibum says into the phone. He cringes as the words come out of his mouth, but he doesn't stop himself from saying them. He uses his thumb to massage the space between his eyebrows. "You'll like him, I promise." His voice grows flatter at the end of the sentence, but if his mom noticed, she didn't say anything.

It's not like Kibum wanted to lie but he'd be blind to not notice the way his mother's face grows disappointed for a split second when she realizes her son has come home without anyone, whether it be a boyfriend or a girlfriend, for yet another time in his life. Maybe he could tell her they broke up before he left. No, no, that'd just make things worse. It'd make her think he can't even hold a relationship long enough for her to meet them. Or, he could just come clean and say he lied. And damage his pride? No thank you.

After a few more minutes of discussion and him holding her up to her promise of making hotteoks, the call ends (but not before he tells her he loves her).

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Taemin noisily slurps up his ramyeon noodles and takes a long, hearty sip of the broth before wiping his mouth off with the napkin laying right next to his now empty bowl. He looks at Kibum with sympathetic eyes and takes his hand in between two of his own. "That was really stupid of you, hyung," he says, patting the top of Kibum's hand gently. 

Kibum scowls and yanks his hand away from Taemin, kicking the younger man in the shin. His frown only grows deeper when Taemin throws his head back and cackles, drawing raised eyebrows and weirded-out looks from the other patrons in the store. "You're of no help. I'm never paying for your food again," he threatens, although his words hold no real venom behind them. He and Taemin have been best friends since high school... which brings him to the point that he could ask Taemin to pretend to be his boyfriend... if not for the fact that he specifically told his mother that his boyfriend also goes to Seoul National. Taemin, unfortunately, goes to Yonsei. "Have fun living off of bubble tea and those discounted dosiraks at the corner store." 

Taemin snorts. "You're acting like I don't already live off of those things. Why don't you just ask Minho?" 

Minho. Minho! That's right! He and Minho have grown much closer these past few months--shockingly close, really. Hopefully Minho won't mind being his pretend boyfriend for the duration of their spring break. He could always bribe Minho with a Manchester United jersey, if it comes down to it. "I could kiss you right now." 

Taemin smiles sweetly. "I'd rather you didn't, but you could order some more kimbap." 

Kibum looks at Taemin dubiously. "You're still hungry?" 

"I'm a growing boy!" Taemin protests, despite that fact that he hasn't grown an inch since they've graduated. 

Kibum sighs and raises his hand to flag down a waiter. 

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"Sure!" Minho beams at Kibum with a grin so wide, the corners of his eyes crinkle. 

Kibum's mouth goes agape. "Just like that? You agreed just like that?" 

Minho shrugs, both hands in his pockets. "You looked really worried," he says. "Plus, you're my friend. Why wouldn't I help?"

"You're going to pretend to be my boyfriend," Kibum reminds him. 

"I know. I don't mind, Kibum, really." Minho claps Kibum's shoulder. "I think it'd be fun. People tend to think we're dating anyway." 

If Kibum were drinking water, he's sure he'd have spit it out. "People think we're dating?!" 

"Yeah?" Minho tilts his head to the side like a puppy. "Do you remember when we went to that barbecue place and the ajumma there gave us a discount? It's because she thought we were a cute couple." Something that looks like wistfulness flashes for a brief second in Minho's eyes. "So, it should be easy for us to pass." 

Kibum opens his mouth to reply, but he finds that nothing comes out. He continues to open and close his mouth, no doubt resembling a fish out of water, and Minho starts to look more and more concerned before he finally says something. "Huh. Okay, yeah." He thinks back to that barbecue place... between him feeding Minho lettuce-wrapped slices of samgyeopsal and Minho reaching over to wipe the corner of his mouth after a stray japchae noodle got stuck there, he can see why. Man. He didn't even think twice about it. Acting like that with Minho just... felt so natural. "That's good. Should we work on our story?" 

"I was thinking that we passed by each other in the campus store, and boom!" Minho makes an explosion gesture with his right hand. "Love at first sight." He completes that sentence with a delicate flutter of his eyelashes. 

"That's so cheesy. And very you." Leave it to Minho to come up with fluff. 

Minho hums. "I know. I think your mom would eat it up." He knows his own mom would. 

"She would. She loves romance movies and novels and"--Kibum waves his hand--"all that stuff. I'll say that I made the first move."

Minho wiggles his eyebrows.

Kibum gives him a swift slap to the shoulder. "Stop that," he laughs. "I'll say I made the first move and that you're shy, which is why I didn't tell her about you until now." 

"I feel like I should get her something," Minho says, tapping his chin. "Just to apologize for not meeting her sooner. Does she like strawberries?"

"She loves them, especially if they're chocolate-covered. I swear, she's going to end up liking you more than me by the end of the night." 

"Nonsense. You're the loveliest around, Kibummie," Minho coos, brushing one of Kibum's stray bangs away from his forehead. 

"Oh my god," Kibum groans. "This is how it's going to be for the entire week, isn't it?" Not that he'd mind--it'd certainly sell the whole thing to his mom--but he doesn't think he could handle the pure sap that would spill forward from Minho's mouth. He might get diabetes. 

Minho nods, and that genial smile from before is replaced by a mischievous smirk. "This is how it's going to be." 

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A/N: Thank you for reading! I'm planning on making this multi-chaptered, but please bear with me as it will be my first time doing something longer than two chapters. Maybe a chapter for each day? I'm not sure yet.