The tingling raspy feeling of the sand in between his toes was soothing, calming his anxious mind. He sighed contentedly at the cooling sensation that the water gave, the surface of it reaching the above of his ankles. Depressing as it seemed, Jonghun actually enjoyed taking a walk on his own despite the fact that he easily felt lonely. The beach wasn’t even on top of his favourite places list but he loved standing by the shore, just staring afar. It would be perfect if he had a bottle of beer with him (sadly his mum would give him that sad look if she saw him drinking).

He hadn’t called Seunghyun. For two good days. And this had made him wonder if it had proved Hongki’s point. Jonghun just suddenly felt that there was no point in checking on the trainee when Jaejin wasn’t around. It was almost as if he only wanted Jaejin to notice that he cared about Seunghyun, who was actually, as far as Jonghun concerned, the biggest threat to their relationship (though the ‘how’ aspect of this theory was still unclear).

“Jonghun-ah...” a voice called him.

Jonghun turned around, finding his mum walking to where he was from the cottage that he had rented for them

“It’s cold. You should come inside,” she smiled to him.

“Soon. I just want to stay here for awhile,” he replied her simply.

Instead of walking back to the cottage, she walked over to where Jonghun was, a cardigan and a scarf were wrapped around her warmly. Autumn had made the weather looked kind of gloomy, and the nights had become especially windy and cold. Jonghun wondered how the cold sea water actually made him calm because a normal human being would avoid soaking his legs in the water.

His mum stopped just before her feet touched the water, waiting for Jonghun to probably justify the reason of his weird decision to stand there in the middle of the night in a cold Autumn. “Something’s bothering you?” she asked.

“Kind of,” he mumbled, turning around and walking towards his mother.

“Some problem with your girlfriend?”

He paused, staring at her while trying to pick the right words to answer her with. “...something like that...” he answered at the end.

“A fight? Is this still the same girl or it has changed yet again?” she giggled, throwing him a knowing look.

“A new one...” he mumbled. “I won’t call him--, I mean her, a girlfriend though.”

“Oh, my son got rejected?”

“I did not!” Jonghun frowned.

Well, he did for the first two tries, but at the end everything worked out anyway, so technically he wasn’t really rejected.

“We should go inside. I don’t want you to catch a cold. You’re our tour-guide for the rest of this trip,” she wrapped her hand around his arm, gently tugging on it.

Sighing, Jonghun nodded. It would do him no good trying to overthink his own behaviour anyway. He knew that no matter what, all he had to do was to just discuss it with Jaejin. Be honest about how he felt, and probably in the least jealous-manner possible because he didn’t want them to fight. When he fought with his girlfriend, there was just a lot of silent-treatments and silly cries. But when Jaejin and he fought, he could imagine fists being thrown around after yelling at each other’s faces.

That wouldn’t be pretty.

---

Jaejin and Hongki stared at the wooden-based building in front of their eyes. Their chest moved up and down as they tried to gather their composure. It had been awhile since Jaejin did any outdoor activity, his stamina wasn’t as good as back then and he could feel his legs giving up on him. The constant nagging from Hongki about how tired he was definitely did very little to help Jaejin getting through to the rest of their journey up.

“So that’s the soba restaurant that you’ve been talking about?” asked Hongki - half panting - as he bowed down, resting his palms against his knees to take a rest.

“Oh yes. It will make all the hard work worth it. You can decide if you want to climb the rest of the mountain or if you want to go back instead, but after we eat,” Jaejin grinned.

He could feel his energy coming back to him just at the sight of the famous restaurant, memories of his exchange-program days coming back to him. A smile was formed on his face when he saw Hongki looking all better the moment they stepped in, seemingly getting excited over the idea of food coming on his way pretty soon.

He kind of found it funny that his friendship with Hongki, if there was even any to begin with, was about having a meal together. With Key being busy over his final year project, Seunghyun being away and Minhwan... being Minhwan and just stayed at home all the time, Jaejin’s life had been all about Jonghun. Of course he would have his own private time where he could just stay home and watch DVD all day or read a book when he felt like it. But he started to notice that the only person he interacted with was mostly Jonghun.

So this whole ordeal about Jonghun being obsessed with taking care of Seunghyun for God knew why was making Jaejin feel somehow lonely. And he was glad that Hongki just blatantly self-proclaimed himself as Jaejin’s friend. It's like having an older version of Key.

"I'm still impressed," said Hongki after Jaejin finished ordering for both of them.

"Of what?"

"Your Japanese! I used to be the best but you even know how to read kanji!!" he exclaimed.

Jaejin laughed. "Only the simple and very common ones. If you gave me a newspaper, I wouldn't be able read it."

Hongki only nodded at his statement, smiling widely when their soba came. In Jaejin's opinion, Hongki would pass looking like a Japanese if not because his problem of saying the letter "Z". Jaejin wouldn't blame him though. There was no such letter in Korean and it took Jaejin almost the whole year he was in Japan to be able say it right.

"Oh, about that Venus song. Can I use it for my next Japanese single? I should start my Japanese single a month after my Korean comeback," Hongki spoke up as he enjoyed his cold soba.

"Venus? You should find a better song, Hyung. Jonghun-hyung didn't use it for Seunghyun. I doubt he'll let you either," Jaejin shrugged.

As the older guy snorted at his statement, Jaejin frowned. What was so funny about his song being rejected by his own boyfriend? Jaejin wasn't a musician for a reason. He believed that it wasn't the career that was meant for someone like him.

"You're so funny. You didn't even ask me how I know about that song."

"I bet Jonghun-hyung told you about it. But I doubt you've heard the song," Jaejin shrugged again.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Lee Jaejin," Hongki shook his head, leaning forward to tap on Jaejin's cheek. "Idiot. Jonghun didn't tell me about it. He gave a copy to me as a single consideration."

"He did?" Jaejin blinked.

"Yeah~. I actually really like it. It'll sound great with acoustic arrangement. So what do you say?"

Though he felt rather uneasy about it - his chest suddenly beating so fast at the idea of his song being released as a single - Jaejin managed to give Hongki a small smile, somehow in a shy manner.

"I-it'd be great, I g-guess.”

“Awesome!! We should take photo to remember this deal!”

After he said that, Hongki moved to the seat next to Jaejin, taking his phone from his backpack. Blinking, Jaejin was quite taken aback with Hongki’s straightforwardness, but he quickly realised that he had to get used to it - the sooner the better. He had spent the night with the older man and he realised how much different Hongki was from Jonghun. Hongki was loud, nagged a lot, but was generally very friendly.

He decided to just grin widely when Hongki wrapped an arm around his shoulder - Jaejin then leaned in and made a v-sign with his left hand.

---

‘With Jaejinnie my new composer~ ♪! I’ll be working on new Japanese single. For now, please look forward to my Korean comeback pic.twitter.com/asdgt2wefva’

Jonghun’s eyes widened up at the photo that Hongki just uploaded on his twitter. Since when did Jaejin and Hongki become buddies? Was that Hongki’s arm around Jaejin’s shoulder? This can’t be happening! Jonghun shouted in his head.

He knew that it would become like this. Hongki, that son of a , would definitely getting all friendly towards Jaejin. It wasn’t that Hongki would do it on purpose to flirt on Jaejin, it was just Hongki being... well, Hongki. But the thing that he was scared the most was how Jaejin might start to grow fond of Hongki, or comfortable about Hongki, or like Hongki’s presence, or... something.

“You okay?”

Looking up, he found his mum staring down on him, bringing a couple of shopping bags with her. His dad came not long after, having less bags with him - though Jonghun assumed it would be his mum’s that his dad was carrying anyway.

“Yes,” he smiled and slid his phone back to his jacket’s pocket, standing up from the bench that he had sat on while waiting for his parents to finish getting some presents for the neighbours and his grandparents. He took at least half of the shopping bags from his mum - being a good son he was, or at least now that he was a grown-up he tried to be a good son. “Ready to go back to the cottage?” he asked.

“I still have a couple of things to buy though. But maybe we should send your dad back first? He has started to complain,” his mum sighed as she took an annoyed glance at the older man.

Jonghun laughed, but his dad thought that it was actually a good idea to go back and let Jonghun accompany his mum for the rest of the day. They parted ways. His dad took the car and drove back (his mum has cleverly made him brought all the bags along as well), while Jonghun and his mum decided that they both would just take a taxi or something.

“Problem with that new girlfriend of yours again?” his mum asked when the two of them were left alone.

“No...” he mumbled quietly. “And no, mum. Not my girlfriend.”

“Hahahaha, okay okay. So what did Hongki do this time?” she asked again.

“Hongki?” Jonghun frowned.

“You were looking at Hongki’s photo earlier on, weren’t you? Then your face went all weird. I saw that there was Hongki. Show me that photo, I can’t remember who he was with,” his mum shrugged.

“Oh.. you mean, this?” he reluctantly took his phone and showed his mum the photo that he was looking at previously.

Jonghun didn’t know what he was expecting by showing his mum the photo that had made his mood drop down to the bottom of the earth’s layer, knowing that his mum might not even understand how it annoyed him. Sometimes though, it was hard to lie to his mum because she knew him well and he wouldn’t deny the fact that having Hongki around usually reminded him of his mum because they both would know when Jonghun’s mood changed.

“He has a new friend? And that bothers you?”

“...more like that’s my boyf--... that’s my neighbour that I introduced to him. They’re in Japan, trying to conquer Mount Fuji together or something,” explained Jonghun.

“So you don’t like it that they became close?”

Staring at his mum, Jonghun remained silent for a second before nodded slowly. Deep down he was hoping that his mum would only take it as him being worried that someone else was being close to his best friend. He usually talked to Hongki when there was something that was bothering him, but now that Hongki was part of the thing that bothered him, he basically had nowhere to go.

“You’re worrying too much,” his mum concluded, smiling at her son as she gave him a small pat on the shoulder.

“Probably...”

“So what is his name?”

“Who?”

“This kid that Hongki took photo with?” his mum pointed her finger at Jaejin.

“Oh... Jaejin. Lee Jaejin. He lived at the other building, I hang out there most of the time when I’m not with Hongki. Smart kid. He composes songs well too. Hongki and I are actually considering his song for Hongki’s Japanese single, oh and his Japanese is superb. But yeah. It seems that they have agreed on it while being on the trip,” Jonghun sighed, signalling his mum to read the caption of the photo.

She just laughed, in a motherly way. “Lee Jaejin, huh? You should introduce him to me,” she giggled, walking ahead to the store that she had eyed for quite sometimes now.

“...why should I?” Jonghun frowned, staring at his mother’s back.

“Of course you should. Because he’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

“Well, that true but I don’t understand why I should--... wait what?!” his legs automatically stepped forward, rushing towards his mum when he realised what his tongue had failed to keep. “W-what are you talking about?! He’s my neighbour.”

There was a long knowing look from his mum as she stopped, giving Jonghun a gentle pat on his shoulder. “It’s okay if you’re gay. I kind of figured it out,” she smiled.

Jonghun’s jaw dropped, eyes blinking rapidly at the sudden statement. His heart paced up as his brain lost its ability to think, specifically to digest just why on earth his mum acted so calm about it. And what did she mean by being gay?!

“I’m not gay!!”

---

“He’s still not answering...” Jaejin sighed, throwing himself to his side of the bed in their hotel room.

Lazily, Jaejin turned his head to Hongki, kind of wishing that Hongki could do some sort of magic and made his boyfriend answer his phone call.

“Has he always been like this?” asked Hongki, putting down the game console in his hand to his lap.

“...no. He always calls. But he hasn’t since we got here. I just want to tell him thay we're going back tomorrow."

He didn't know what had gotten into Jonghun. Eventhough he might often come out rather cold, Jaejin liked it when Jonghun checked on him, or just spent the entire evening talking random things on the phone. It seemed natural even when both of them were guys.

The thing that made him wonder was that, when Hongki and he paid Seunghyun a visit in his dorm earlier that day, Seunghyun had told him that Jonghun hadn't called either for the past few days (which was weird because Seunghyun said Jonghun always called to scold him).

"Give me your phone," Hongki spoke up.

"What for?"

"Just give me your phone."

Reluctantly, Jaejin did as he was told to. He could just stay idly on the bed while staring at Hongki that was typing on his phone.

"You should just text him saying that you miss him, with a lot of sad faces," Hongki grinned as he gave the phone back to Jaejin.

"...you made me sound like a girl," Jaejin frowned, reading the text that Hongki just sent to Jonghun on his behalf. 'Hyung, why aren't you answering my calls? I’m having fun here, but I miss you :((((((((((((((((((((' In the name of Oda-sama, Jaejin could only facepalm on it.

"Just the way he likes it~. I bet he'd call in less than five minutes," a smug smile grew on Hongki's face.

And Jonghun did call right after Hongki said that.

Even though he was kind of surprised, Jaejin quickly rushed out to the veranda, not wanting Hongki to listen to their conversation because that would just be freaky. He still had tomorrow to be with Hongki, and now that he had spent a couple of days with the older man, he knew that Hongki would definitely make fun of anything. Anything at all.

“Hey. Sorry, was having dinner with my mum,” said Jonghun when Jaejin answered.

“Oh... I see. That explains.”

Unexpectedly, Jaejin felt his chest pumping so hard. It felt a lot like when he had his first kiss. It was funny how the text that Hongki sent to Jonghun had made him feel extremely nervous. He had always been the cold one in the relationship, even when he always gave everything that he could afford to his partner. But he hadn’t been able to compensate his coldness towards Jonghun by buying him things. Jonghun was way loaded than Jaejin, and if he could afford anything to give Jonghun at all, it would be a guitar pick, or maybe a pair of socks. But who the hell gave their boyfriend a pair of socks that cost way less that the socks that the said person used on daily basis anyway?

Being spoiled wasn’t really his kind of thing. But Jonghun hadn’t called him since he left, and maybe Hongki’s text wasn’t entirely a lie. He did miss Jonghun. Very much. And it made him nervous somehow.

“I’m... I’m going back tomorrow,” Jaejin spoke up when he realised that none of them had said anything after the brief greeting. “I thought I’d let you know.”

“When exactly?”

“I should arrive at 10 o’clock in the morning.”

“Hm... 10am...” Jonghun mumbled, a long silence followed. “Wait for me there?”

“You don’t have to pick me up.”

“I’m not going to pick you up. My flight arrives at 11.15 and I parked my car at the airport, so we might as well just go back together,” he explained.

“Oh... you’re still in Jeju?” Jaejin mentally hit his forehead because he kind of forgot that Jonghun was away himself.

“Yeah,” Jonghun answered simply. “How’s everything? Having fun?”

“Good! I’m having fun. We went to visit Seunghyun just now. He gained weight! And can you believe that Hongki-hyung actually managed to stay sane until we reached the peak of Mount Fuji?”

It made Jaejin’s heart calmed down when he heard Jonghun laughed at his story. He had missed the laugh. Jonghun had always been grumpy lately that he started to think that there was something that Jonghun was hiding from him. But that would make him sound like a girlfriend that was always suspicious of her boyfriend.

“Let’s catch up with everything tomorrow at my place then. My mum is waiting for me by the car that we rented, so...”

“Sure. You go have some quality time with your parents,” Jaejin smiled, realising that Jonghun was probably just busy with his parents, and didn’t mean to ignore him or anything.

“Oh, and Jaejin...”

“Hm?” Jaejin answered.

“I miss you too.”

---

If not because of his phone ringing, Jaejin might end up forgetting that he was at the airport, sitting at one of the cafe, pretty much falling asleep. A smile grew wide on his face when he read the name on the screen. It was Jonghun.

He quickly made his way to the arrival gate, the same exact gate that he had walked through just an hour ago, but this time he was there to get Jonghun. Excited was probably the only feeling that was washing over him entirely right now, never really expecting himself to actually look forwards to meet someone that badly.

But the excited big grin on his face quickly faded away when he saw that Jonghun wasn't alone. He stopped, wasn't sure if he should greet Jonghun because his parents were standing next to him.

"Jonghun-hyung!" called out Jaejin at the end, realising that he should act normal and pretend that there was nothing to hide.

It was Jonghun's mum that heard him first, waving at him so friendly. Okay, that was weird. Why would this lady wave at him?! Jaejin contemplated to turn around and just pretended that he didn’t see his own boyfriend’s mum waving at him, but Jonghun quickly noticed him when his mum tugged his coat and pointed towards Jaejin’s direction.

Reluctantly, Jaejin walked over to the family.

He knew that he must had his most stupidest look on his face when Jonghun’s mum bowed even before Jaejin did. It made him feel extremely rude, thus him bowing to her in a perfect ninety degree angle. When he remembered that Jonghun’s dad was there too, he bowed again - way too quick to even take a look at the older man’s face.

“So, Mum, Dad, this is Jaejin. He lives at the other building,” Jonghun introduced him. “I guess will be going then. Call me when you guys get home, okay?” he quickly added, not wanting to stay there longer.

Jaejin just stood at the side after another bow, letting Jonghun saying goodbyes to his parents. He had to admit that they looked like a celebrity family. Jonghun’s mum was gorgeous and his dad was well-built for his age. Jonghun looked like both of them, probably a perfect mixture of his mum and dad. He had his dad’s masculinity, yet his profile resembled his mum’s a lot. They were gorgeous.

That long stare made him stay still on the spot, not realising Jonghun coming over and taking Jaejin’s luggage away from his hand. It startled him. He quickly looked up to Jonghun, clumsily trying to get the handle of his luggage back from Jonghun while throwing hims a ‘What are you doing? I can hold my own luggage!’ look.

“Please take a good care of him, Jaejin-ssi. Don’t let him drink too much, okay?” Jonghun’s mum suddenly spoke up.

Oh his chest felt so painful suddenly. He wasn’t ready to make a conversation with her!

“He drinks more often than I do,” Jonghun mumbled.

“Hey! I don’t get drunk as often as you do!” Jaejin frowned, which followed by a hit on his arm by Jonghun.

Jonghun’s mum giggled, probably was more amused than what Jaejin would love her to be.

“Okay before he reveals more stuff that I don’t want him to, we should go,” said Jonghun, literally dragging Jaejin away from his parents.

Jaejin struggled to free himself the entire walk to the carpark, Jonghun’s grip was surprisingly tight on his arm. Funny thing was, Jonghun hadn’t said a single thing and his entire expression was completely different then when his parents were around. Now, what did Jaejin do this time?! He couldn’t be doing anything that had made Jonghun upset because they literally hadn’t seen each other for the entire weekend now.

“Hyung, let go, damn it! It hurts,” he groaned, shoving Jonghun away. He rubbed the part of his arm that Jonghun held way too tightly, trying to ease the soreness as a frown forming in his face. “What’s wrong with you? You were fine just now, and suddenly you’re all weird. I can’t deal with your mood swing sometimes.”

All Jonghun did was staring at him.

Jaejin wished that sometimes he could scratch that deadpan look off Jonghun’s face. With a fork would be good, slowly and painfully. But the urge would subdue the moment he remembered that it was just Jonghun, being not sure of what to do, or when he felt that he didn’t fit in. And if Hongki was there, Jaejin knew Hongki would tell him that it was a sign of Jonghun trying way too hard.

“Let’s just go home, okay?” Jaejin sighed, taking the liberty to put their luggage into the trunk.

“No... let me do it,” Jonghun quickly mumbled.

“Let me put mine in for the very least,” Jaejin insisted.

“No. I’ll do it.”

Jonghun tried to snatch the luggage away from Jaejin, one hand gripping on the empty side of the handle, while the other trying to unwrap the younger guy’s fingers from it. Jaejin refused to let go at first, but when he noticed that Jonghun wasn’t even looking at him in the eyes, he let go. He stood aside as he let Jonghun did what he wanted to, brushing his bangs away from his forehead.

“You okay?” Jaejin asked at the end, softly this time.

The simple question earned him a pair of pleading eyes from Jonghun, confusing him as to what it could have meant.

He decided to drop the topic, quietly made his way to the front seat and settled himself there. There wasn’t many words being exchanged as they headed back. It wasn’t the comfortable silence, but Jaejin figured that he might just let it be for now. When something was bothering Seunghyun, Minhwan always told him to leave the taller guy alone. So maybe he should try to do the same too to Jonghun.

Jaejin followed Jonghun back to his apartment, had remembered the promise to catch up with each other at Jonghun’s place from the night before. His curiosity was slowing eating him up, but he tried to just keep quiet until Jonghun was ready to say something. The older guy did say something at the end though, but merely something about him going to make lunch for both of them.

And it hit him.

Hongki!

Damn, that man was brilliant when Jonghun didn’t answer his phone calls. Maybe should try thinking like a Lee Hongki would think and he would know what to do with this whole awkward situation.

Jaejin quietly took off his coat and placed it neatly on the kitchen counter, making sure that he was within Jonghun’s vision. He walked closer to the older guy before then leaned his bum against the edge of the counter, both palms were pressed against the marbled surface. When Jonghun finally took a glance at him, Jaejin took a deep breath. Had to think like Lee Hongki, he repeated in his head. ‘Just the way he likes it.’

“So what are you making for us?” he asked, lifting his bum away and walking to Jonghun’s back.

Gulping, Jaejin took the courage to rested his chin on Jonghun’s shoulder - and he was glad that they weren’t all that different height wise, if not this would be so hard to do. He felt Jonghun stiffened at the action, noticing how the older guy’s hands stopped working on the dish. ‘I can do this!’ he told himself again. Slowly, and maybe rather nervously, Jaejin slid his hands around Jonghun waist and hugged him from behind.

“...bibimbap. Nothing fancy,” Jonghun answered. “You’re in the way, by the way,” he added, turning his head back to Jaejin, but there was a smile on his face.

“Oh...” Jaejin quickly backed away.

His cheeks changed colour so crimsonly, was rather embarrassed of what he just did. Apparently trying to think like Hongki wasn’t as easy as he thought it would. He suddenly felt so stupid and wondered if he should just be himself and ask Jonghun straightforwardly if there was something that was bothering him.

“You know... my mum had us all figured out...” Jonghun spoke up as he put the vegetables into boiling water.

“Figured out?” Jaejin tilted his head.

“She told me it’s okay if I’m gay...”

And there was silence.

“What?!” Jaejin almost choked on his own saliva when his sense came back to him.

“Of course I told her that I’m not... because I’m not. I mean, we’re both not. We just, well, go both ways,” he continued, his back facing Jaejin the whole time, seemingly not wanting to tell Jaejin this while staring at his eyes. “Right?”

“Well, that’s true. But how did she...?”

“I don’t know. It’s either she’s that smart, or ing Hongki accidentally had a tongue-slip. But now she wants to get to know you. She kept on forcing me to introduce you to her, which I already did, but I’m still not sure if it was a good idea because I didn’t expect her to take it so lightly like that. She might be just pretending or something. It kind of made me feel that I’ve disappointed her.”

Now it explained the weird bright smile Jonghun’s mum was throwing at him earlier at the airport, thought Jaejin. “So what now? Are you... breaking up with me?”

Jonghun instantly turned around to Jaejin, his eyebrows furrowed so hard at Jaejin’s question. “Of course not, idiot! Look at you. All clingy to me like a sick puppy trying to make me love you more than I already do. Don’t be silly.”

“I’m not clingy! You’re the clingy and jealous one!”

“Then why did you cling on me just now?” Jonghun frowned.

“Because I thought you’d like it! Hongki-hyung said I should do things the way you like it and stop being cold and whatnot!”

“Why would you even listen to Hongki?!”

“...well... Ugh. Whatever. Call me when you’re done with the food. I’m just gonna watch something on TV.”

Jaejin took his coat along with him, slamming it onto the top of his luggage before throwing himself to the couch. All the trouble that he went through to make things better for them apparently wasn’t much appreciated. If him sulking made him look like a girl, then good. Now Jonghun should taste his own bitter medicine because if he liked to treat Jaejin like one, might as well deal with a sulking girly Jaejin. Though, eww that sounded freaking gross in his head, but whatever.

“But you should do that more often. I like it,” Jonghun commented.

“Oh, so now I can listen to Hongki-hyung?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Throwing a cushion at Jonghun, Jaejin just wished that his boyfriend wasn’t so hard to deal with at times.

----

A couple more chapters and I guess this story will come to an end. But I'm still contemplating on what kind of ending that I want. But yeah, hope this one didn't take too long! Feel free to give me ideas too! :D