Roommates
Mysterious Espressos
Jongin liked having his own room. He liked having a place to go when he just wanted to be alone. He liked being able to close his door and gain a few moments of privacy after a long day.
Of course, that meant that it really was only a few moments, since Sehun apparently didn't know the meaning of privacy. Or knocking.
"So, how's Yixing doing?" he asked, barging right into Jongin's room without knocking. Again.
Jongin sighed internally and silently prayed for patience. "Why do you need to know?" he asked, his tone tight with impatience and pent-up anger.
Sehun merely shrugged, flopping down on Jongin's bed like it was his own. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because you like him?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Jongin sent him a look. "I do not like Yixing."
Sehun grinned. "Oh, that's right, you love him!" he teased. Jongin walked over to his bed, grabbed a pillow, and started beating Sehun with it without saying a word.
"Ow! Ow! Okay, okay, I'm going!" Sehun shouted, bringing his arms up to cover his face as he made his way to the door, Jongin still wordlessly beating him with a pillow.
Sehun finally managed to escape, ducking out and pulling the door closed behind. Jongin ran a hand over his face. "Geez...Luhan's not here, so he just has to annoy me..." he muttered, throwing the pillow back to the bed, but he missed, and the pillow ended up a few feet to the right of the bed. Jongin sighed and left it there, heading to the bathroom to take a shower.
~
Under the hot water, Jongin considered what Sehun had said. Did he like Yixing? He wasn't sure.
He seemed to have a love-hate relationship with that stupid dimple, Jongin thought as he scrubbed shampoo through his hair. Actually, no. Scratch that. He absolutely adored Yixing's dimple. He thought it was the cutest thing in he world.
Wait, no, scratch that too. He thought everything about Yixing was the cutest thing in the world.
How could you tell when you had a crush on someone? Jongin didn't think he'd ever had a real crush on anyone. Sure, he'd dated before, but throughout middle and high school he had been a bit of a playboy. He had never really found anyone who he could say he truly 'liked.'
That is, until he met Yixing.
As Jongin thought, he realized that yes, he did like Yixing. Everything Yixing did was cute. Every time his and Jongin's hands touched, Jongin's heart skipped a beat. And every time Yixing smiled, his dimple, Jongin's favorite dimple, winked out at Jongin teasingly.
Jongin sighed and spoke out loud to the bar of soap in his hand. "I like Zhang Yixing," he confessed.
Not that he'd ever tell Sehun that.
When Yixing woke, he rubbed his eyes and spotted a piece of yellow paper taped to the back of his door. He groaned as he got up, knowing that it was a message from Kyungsoo.
Yixing trudged to the door, dimly acknowledging the fact that he was still wearing his clothes from the previous day. He pulled the note off the door and read out loud.
"Yixing-
Jongdae came home after you fell asleep last night, but knowing Jongdae, I don't want to believe a word he says until I hear it from you. So when you get up, come out here and get some breakfast and tell me what happened.
Kyungsoo
PS- It was your turn to do the dishes last night, but you weren't here so now you have to do them for the next two nights. You know the rules."
Yixing groaned at the thought of telling Kyungsoo about Jongin. Kyungsoo, being the overprotective umma that he his, would probably have a minor freak-out over the fact that Yixing had a crush again.
Crumpling the note up in his hand, Yixing opened the door and walked out into the hall. He walked into the kitchen, setting the note on the counter next to Kyungsoo, who was working on making scrambled eggs.
Kyungsoo pulled the eggs off the stovetop and turned off the heat, looking up at Yixing. "Would you make three glasses of apple juice, please?" he asked, and Yixing nodded, opening a cabinet and taking down the cups.
Kyungsoo opened the freezer and pulled out a bucket which Yixing knew from experience was filled to the brim with ice water. Kyungsoo, walking rather awkwardly with the full bucket in his arms, left the kitchen.
Two minutes later, a scream was heard from Jongdae's room, and Yixing burst into laughter. He was still laughing when Jongdae trudged into the kitchen, sopping wet and with a smirking Kyungsoo following behind him.
Jongdae approached the table, glaring at Kyungsoo when he saw that one of the chairs already had some towels draped over it. Kyungsoo merely shrugged and put the bucket away in a cabinet under the sink and turned back to the eggs, preparing three plates.
Jongdae sighed and ran one of the towels through his hair before draping it around his shoulders and sitting down on the other towel. "Why am I up this early? My shift at the bookstore doesn't start until two," he grumbled.
"Because you don't need to be sleeping all day. It's bad for you. So I woke you up," Kyungsoo said, spooning eggs out onto three plates and taking them to the table. Jongdae grumbled to himself and crossed his arms, watching as Yixing and Kyungsoo sat down and waiting until everyone had their food to start eating, since Kyungsoo would have killed him if he started eating early.
"So. Yixing. Jongdae told me his version of what happened last night, but I'm not going to believe anything until I hear it from you," Kyungsoo began, and Yixing groaned internally.
"What did Jongdae tell you?" he asked, dreading the answer.
Jongdae grinned mischievously. "I told him about everything that happened in the bookstore," he said, and Yixing groaned aloud.
"Well, I guess that most of what he told you is the truth," Yixing sighed, turning back to Kyungsoo, who raised a brow.
"So you were making kissy faces at this boy the entire time, and that you also you were 'looking at his perfect face with eyes clouded over with lust, barely able to control your mad desire to have him on top of you?'" Kyungsoo asked.
Yixing glared across the table at Jongdae, sending a silent message of 'I'm so going to kill you.' Jongdae just shrugged, grinning evilly.
Yixing sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. "Why do you even care what happened last night anyway?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
Sure enough, Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at him and Yixing sighed again. He knew why Kyungsoo wanted to know. Yixing had run in the apartment at 8:30 last night, running to his room and locking the door without any form of explanation whatsoever. Kyungsoo's mother bear instincts had kicked in, and he was just trying to make sure that Yixing was okay.
"Okay, yeah, stupid question," Yixing said, and Kyungsoo scoffed.
"Really stupid question," the older boy muttered, and Yixing glared.
"Anyway, no, that didn't happen. We went to the bookstore where Jongdae works, he read Harry Potter to me, and I fell asleep on his shoulder," Yixing explained, blushing at how embarrassing the whole thing was in hindsight.
Kyungsoo sighed. "Well yeah, Jongdae told me that much. But why did you run in holding your sketchbook like it was the most important thing in the world?" he asked, and Yixing glared again. "Yes, I know that your sketchbook is important, but you know what I mean."
"I left it at the cafe where Jongin works. I was afraid I had lost it or that it had been stolen or that someone had looked in it. But it was fine, and Jongin dropped me off here after we picked it up," Yixing hesitated. "Andthenikissedhimonthecheekandthatswhyihidinmyroom," he added, speaking so quickly that the words were barely understandable.
Jongdae and Kyungsoo paused, apparently thinking through it and deciphering what Yixing had said, and after a couple minutes of tense silence, Kyungsoo's mouth dropped open and Jongdae burst out laughing.
"That's what you're so worried about?" Jongdae shouted between bursts of laughter.
Yixing's cheeks reddened, and he looked down at his hands, which were folded in his lap. Kyungsoo glared at Jongdae. "Yah, don't laugh at him! Or do you want me to pour water on you again?" he threatened, and with some difficulty, Jongdae stopped laughing.
"Dude, it was obvious that Jongin's into you. Anyone with eyes could see it. Well, except for you, obviously," Jongdae said, grinning across the table at Yixing.
Yixing thought for a minute. He had already dismissed the possibility that Jongin could like him. He knew that it was possible, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. So he shook his head at Jongdae's comment, looking back down at his hands.
Jongdae groaned. "Oh come on. I know you have self-esteem issues, but he was totally into you! Did you not see the way he looked at you?"
Yixing had, occasionally, noticed Jongin staring, but he had always dismissed it and acted like he hadn't seen anything. He clenched his hands at Jongdae's comment about his self esteem, mostly because of the truth of the statement. He bit his lip and remained silent, not trusting himself with words.
Kyungsoo glared at Jongdae harshly. "Jongdae," he warned, his voice low.
Jongdae held up his hands, shrugging. He took his plate and stood up, taking it back to the kitchen.
Kyungsoo sighed. "I'm sorry, Yixing. You know how he is. He doesn't--"
Yixiv cut him off. "No, it's fine. What he said was true. I have really low self-esteem, so I'm afraid to think of the possibilities for fear of getting my hopes up and then later being disappointed. You know it's the truth, Kyungsoo."
"Yixing-" Kyungsoo began, but Yixing just stood up and went back to his room.
In his room, Yixing glanced at his desk, where a picture of himself and Minho sat, beaming out at the room. He sat down at his desk and put his head down, staring at the picture.
He and Minho had been happy. Yixing didn't really know exactly why they broke up. And no matter what Yixing told Kyungsoo, he still hadn't gotten over Minho.
He had been Yixing's first love, first kiss, first time. And he had loved Yixing, until they started to fall apart. Minho had gotten a full-ride basketball scholarship to a great university, and Yixing had been happy for him, but what with all of his homework and basketball practice, Minho had less and less time to spend with Yixing. And eventually, Yixing found out that Minho had been cheating on him.
Lee Taemin's Facebook page told Yixing all he needed to know. Taemin was perfect--he lived in Minho's dorm, he liked sports almost as much as Minho did, and he was about ten times more attractive as Yixing could ever dream of being. And so Yixing had closed his laptop and curled up in bed, leaving Kyungsoo to swear the death sentence on Minho a million times over.
In the present, Yixing reached out and turned the picture down, so that his and Minho's smiling faces we're no longer visible.
Yixing sighed as he stood up and stretched, glancing at his bed, where his sketchbook was innocently laying. He walked over and sat down, the mattress sinking under his weight. Picking up the sketchbook and opening it, he flipped through the pages until he found his most recent drawing, from the day before.
It was a rough sketch of Jongin, head in his hand as he tried not to fall asleep at his post at the cafe register. Yixing traced his fingers gently over the plump lips, silently criticizing himself since they obviously did no justice to how perfect Jongin's were in real life. "And his fingers are all wrong, too," Yixing muttered, eyes roaming over the picture and picking out the mistakes.
Finally, Yixing sighed and closed the sketchbook, tossing it aside and falling backwards onto the bed, tossing an arm over his eyes and soon drifting off once again into sleep.
Jongin woke up the next morning to find that his headphones had fallen out of his ears and his iPod had died during the night. Oh, well. They had served their purpose well--he had been able to fall asleep without hearing Sehun and Luhan's 'fun time' in the next room.
Plugging up his iPod to charge, Jongin left his room in nothing but his pajama pants, planning to seek out something to eat before showering and starting on his homework.
But apparently life hated him because as he walked into the living room, he caught sight of his "friend" Kim Kibum, who, because he was a class one diva, only allowed his boyfriend Jonghyun to call him by his given name. Everyone else had to call him Key.
Key grinned maniacally at Jongin, who didn't hesitate in turning around and running back down the hall, trying to make it back to his room, but Key reached him before he could even make it halfway, jumping onto Jongin's back and wrapping his legs around the other's torso.
"Oh, no you don't! Sehun tells me you have a crush, and I need the details!" Key said, arms around Jongin's neck as the other tried to regain his balance. Jongin was totally going to kill Sehun later.
Knowing from experience that Key wasn't going to let go anytime soon, Jongin merely sighed and walked them both back to the living room, tottering a little under Key's weight on his back.
Turns out, Key had brought Jonghyun with him, so the diva immediately clambered off of Jongin's back at the sight of his boyfriend, moving to sit on top of Jonghyun on the couch. Luhan was in Sehun's lap on the armchair, so Jongin settled on the loveseat.
Key was looking at Jongin expectantly, and Jongin raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked, knowing that it would irritate Key.
Sure enough, Key's eyes narrowed at Jongin. "This guy you like! What was his name again?" he turned around in Jonghyun's arms to face his boyfriend.
"Yixing," Jonghyun reminded him, smiling softly at Key.
"Right! Yixing!" Key shouted, spinning back around. Apparently his hips dug into Jonghyun's side, as the latter grunted slightly at Key's movement.
Key didn't seem to notice his boyfriend's discomfort. "Tell us about Yixing, Jongin!"
Jongin sighed. "There's nothing to say," he said, leaning back into the couch and crossing his arms, all too conscious of the fact that he still wasn't wearing a shirt.
Key's eyes narrowed once again. "Oh, come on. There's everything to say! Who is he? How'd you meet him? Why do you like him?" he shot, leaning forward and seeming to dig his hips even more into Jonghyun's side.
Jongin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, figuring it'd be easier to just give Key what he wanted. "He's some guy I met in the cafe I work at when he bought me an espresso, and I like him because he's attractive and really nice and cute and he's got this stupid dimple that apparently really likes to tease me whenever he smiles, which is pretty damn often," he said in one breath, taking a deep breath afterwards.
Everyone stared. They obviously hadn't expected Jongin to tell them so easily. Hell, he hadn't even expected to tell them so easily. He quickly shut his mouth before anything else came tumbling out.
Finally, Key's face broke out into an evil grin. "So have you kissed him yet?"
Jongin choked on air. "What?!"
"Have you kissed him yet?" Key repeated, crossing his arms and leaning back into Jonghyun, who wrapped his arms around Key's waist.
Jongin looked at his lap, playing with his own fingers. "Well....not exactly...." he muttered, pointedly avoiding Key's gaze.
"Well what the hell does that mean?" Key protested. "Have you kissed him or haven't you?"
Jongin's blush deepened. "I kissed him on the cheek. Two nights ago, when he dropped me off here after we ate dinner. He did the same to me last night," Jongin admitted, resisting the urge to reach up and touch the spot Yixing's lips had touched.
"Oh. Well then, why did you even call me?" Key demanded, turning to Sehun.
Jongin furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" he and Sehun said at the same time, while Jonghyun just laughed from his seat under Key.
"You don't need me! They're already dating!" Key shouted.
"No we're not!" Jongin yelled, leaning forward. "Where did you get that idea?"
"Oh please, it's obvious. Going out to dinner, dropping each other off, kissing at the end of the night, you're already dating!" Key said, huffing back into Jonghyun, who muttered something in his ear. Key laughed at whatever Jonghyun said, swinging his foot back to lightly kick Jonghyun on the shin.
Jongin shook his head. "No. We're not dating. We're just..." he trailed off, thinking about how Yixing's nose scrunched up whenever he was confused about something, or how when he had nothing to talk about, he would start looking around, generally picking one thing to stare at and apparently falling into thought. And how Jongin always longed to know what it was Yixing was thinking about. "We're just friends," he said, standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get dressed and possibly bang my head into a wall."
And with that, Jongin left, leaving the room staring after him.
Jonghyun and Luhan followed him to his room, surprisingly. Jongin turned around as he heard the door open, intending to tell off Key or Sehun for coming in without knocking, but he was left done as he watched Luhan and Jonghyun close the door behind themselves.
"Sorry about Key," Jonghyun began. "You know how he is."
Jongin just stared, unsure of what to say.
Luhan chuckled at his speechlessness before speaking up. "Well, we just wanted to let you know that if you don't take action soon, then Key and Sehun are going to do it for you. And we won't do anything to stop them. Because in all honesty, not even Jonghyun can stop Key when he's got his heart set on something."
"And lord knows I've tried," Jonghyun laughed before turning back to the door, Luhan on his tail.
"But he probably doesn't even like me!" Jongin shouted at their backs.
Luhan turned around and sent a knowing smile over his shoulder. "We'll see," he said, winking before slipping out of the room, the door clicking closed behind him.
And Jongin was left, standing alone and shirtless in his bedroom, thinking that Luhan knew something he didn't. And that whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
BECAUSE 2MIN AND JONGKEY ARE FOREVER. NUFF SAID.
I like this chapter a lot more than I liked the last one. The first chapter will probably have to be majorly revised, just because it doesn't line up with the way I want the plot to go. -.- But I'm not going to do that until later because lazy.
(And I need to come back on a computer and change the color on the author's note again because once again, iPads are stupid.)
I had a lot of fun writing Key. Omg I love him so much. But not as much as Jonghyun does.
Anyway, comment and let me know what you think of this chapter!
~AA
(I've decided to start leaving a signature here because why not)
[Edit: I edited a pretty important part of this chapter. It's in the part that's in Yixing's POV.]
Myst Esp- oh my god you guys I just got 50 subs on this fic. Thank you so much
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