“You can’t hide in there forever, you know,” Sooyoung called out to the boy in hiding. She was on the other side of it, patiently attempting to coax Joonmyun out of his room. She looked at her nails once more before knocking again. “Come on, Joonie. You knew this was going to happen eventually.”

“Eventually! Not now!” Joonmyun’s muffled voice cried. He was probably burying himself underneath all the blankets. She rolled her eyes and took a bobby pin out of her hair. 

“Kim Joonmyun. You come out of your room right now,” she warned as she squatted down to the doorknob’s level, “Yixing seems like a nice boy, and I want to get to know him.”

“Then go talk to him and leave me alone!” Joonmyun wailed. He gasped when he felt a gush of cold air emit into his room. He gulped as he removed the sheets off of him to find Sooyoung standing there [evilly] with a bobby pin in her hand. She wasted no time in grabbing the boy’s hand and dragging him to the kitchen, ignoring his obvious protests. 

When they reached the dining room, everyone was already waiting in their seats. Chanyeol was trying to make his boyfriend smile by using aegyo, but it was failing miserably as Baekhyun continued to pout. Kyungsoo was trying to tear his face away from Jongin’s grabby hands; his cheeks were being assaulted again, but the blush on his face showed he didn’t mind that much. Yixing looked nervous, glancing around the kitchen. There was an empty seat next to Kyungsoo and Yixing. Joonmyun speed-walked towards the chair next to his brother, but Sooyoung beat him to it. His face paled as she simply pointed to the deserted seat to the left of Yixing. Slowly, he slid himself into the seat and shifted his body farthest away from the Chinese man. 

Sooyoung rolled eyes and kicked Joonmyun from across the table. She gave him “the look,” and Joonmyun immediately regained the normal spot of the seat. Thankfully, Yixing hadn’t noticed because he was too busy staring at the wall to the right of him. 

The food was already out. It ended up being Chinese takeout because Joonmyun and Sooyoung couldn’t cook for their lives, and it was the best for such short notice. Chanyeol, Sooyoung, and Jongin immediately dug in. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo waited patiently for the three to get their portions before they dove in. Joonmyun was still trying to stop his erratic heartbeat while Yixing finally got his share. 

“S-Suho-sshi,” Yixing began and God, Joonmyun wanted to die, “Do you want to-”

“His name’s Joonmyun sweetie,” Sooyoung butted in, “I’m sure he would love if you called him that. And no need for formalities. You guys already know each other.” Joonmyun sent Sooyoung a dirty look, but she ignored it. 

Yixing gulped, “Joonmyun are, are you going to eat?” The said simply nodded his head to avoid any conversing with the Chinese.

“Hey Kyunggie,” Jongin whispered, “Is it always this awkward?”

Kyungsoo blushed at the nickname, “U-Uh, no?”

“There’s just between Yixing and Joonmyun and my favorite couple is having their cute little disagreements,” Sooyoung shrugged, “Nothing wrong.”

The three of them glanced over to the two and watched them make awkward eye contact before focusing back to their food. Sooyoung rolled her eyes and continued to eat. 

“Baekkie,” Chanyeol whined, “Baby, please-”

“No.”

Kyungsoo sighed, “Baek-hyung, I’m sure Chanyeol-hyung is sorry. Can’t you forgive?”

Baekhyun pouted, “Maybe.”

Chanyeol gave the rest of the table a pleading look. Yixing and Joonmyun were too focused on their food while Sooyoung was too busy devouring it. Jongin thought a bit and smiled. He walked over to Chanyeol and whispered in his ear. Chanyeol’s grin widened as he nodded. Jongin smirked and sat back down with satisfaction. Kyungsoo looked at him curiously but only received a wink from the other. Blushing, Kyungsoo went back to his food. Chanyeol leaned in and whispered something in Baekhyun’s ear  causing him to too blush. As soon as his cheeks were a nice shade of red, Chanyeol’s hand squeezed the upper part of Baekhyun’s thigh ensuing a squeal from the latter.

“Well, I should get going,” Sooyoung announced as she stood up from the table, “I have classes in thirty minutes.” She looked over at the awkward men. “You two should get going, too. Don’t you have work soon?”

Joonmyun glanced at the clock and gasped, “Crap, you’re right.” He quickly got up and took his plate with him. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“No problem,” Sooyoung answered as she packed her things, “Oh Joonmyunnie, you should take Yixing with you since you’re both going there anyway.”

Joonmyun flushed, “Wait, I, uh-”

“You don’t mind, right Yixing?” Sooyoung asked the Chinese man.

He gulped, “Uh-”

“See Joonmyunnie, he doesn’t mind,” Sooyoung smiled, “Well I’ll be off now. Good bye my favorite couple. Bye bye, my baby.” Kyungsoo got out of his seat to hug his noona.

“Bye, Jongin! Be good to my baby, okay? Make sure you treat him right-” 

“Noona,” Kyungsoo hissed quietly, “We’re not da-”

Jongin chuckled, “Of course I’ll take care of the baby.” Kyungsoo hid his blush in Sooyoung’s embrace. The girl smiled at Jongin knowingly and pulled away.

“I’ll be off guys. Make sure you leave on time Joonmyunnie and Yixing! Don’t have too much fun in the car!” And with that, Sooyoung was off to her night classes.

“So, um, do you want to leave now,” Joonmyun hesitantly asked Yixing, “It’s almost seven...”

Yixing looked at the clock and nodded, “Y-Yeah, let’s go.”

Joonmyun grabbed his keys from the kitchen, “We’re going now.”

“Have fun hyung,” Kyungsoo said, “Drive safe-”

“Just not too much fun!” Chanyeol hollered as they were about to leave. The two stopped briefly before exiting the apartment in silence. The four remaining boys laughed.

“Baekkie,” Chanyeol repeated when they finally calmed down, “Do you want to go now?”

“We didn’t eat dessert yet!” Baekhyun complained childishly.

Chanyeol smirked, “I was thinking of eating something else for dessert...” His eye gaze drifted downwards, and Baekhyun immediately covered his crotch.

“C-Chanyeol...” His ears were bright red. His boyfriend chuckled and proceeded to pick up his smaller lover into his arms, hoisting him onto his shoulder, in the front, head in the back. “C-Chanyeol! Put me down! You know I don’t like this!” 

The boyfriend ignored his other’s protest and smacked him lightly on the with his free hand, “Nope. This is what you get for ignoring me.” 

“Channie...” Baekhyun cried, still red from embarrassment.

“We’ll see you later, guys-”

“Wait, who’s going to be my ride home!?” Jongin frowned.

Chanyeol shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Yeol-”

“ to Kim Jongin,” Chanyeol interrupted smugly, “Bye Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo smiled, “Bye hyungs.” He stood up to put the dished on the table away.

“Yeol, you’re awful.” Jongin murmured as he followed the latter.

Chanyeol laughed and gave his old friend an awkward side hug, “It’s good to see you again.”

Jongin bit his lip, “Yeah...”

The older patted Jongin’s cheek before departing for the door with Baekhyun sulking on his shoulder. Jongin had to tell himself that the redness on the cheeks was from annoyance and not likeness.

“Jongin-ah,” Kyungsoo called from the kitchen, “Do you want ice cream?”

“Ice cream?”

“Yeah, from the parlor we went to earlier, remember?”

Jongin walked over to the kitchen where Kyungsoo was taking out the tub from the freezer, “When’d you put it in the freezer?”

“When Sooyoung was trying to coax Joonmyun-hyung to come out of hiding.” Kyungsoo giggled. 

“Where was I?”

Kyungsoo shrugged, “Probably still in shock from Sooyoung’s harassment.” He tried to reach for small bowls but alas, he was too short. Jongin stifled a smirk before he went behind Kyungsoo and got the bowls for him. Kyungsoo tensed when he felt Jongin’s presence behind him. He turned around to still be trapped between the counter and Jongin’s body. His breath hitched as he avoided Jongin’s cocked eyebrow. He snatched the two bowls out of Jongin’s hands.

“Thanks.” He muttered quickly. Jongin chuckled in amusement. Kyungsoo got the spoons out of the drawer and handed one to Jongin. Both of them scooped a generous amount of ice cream into their bowls before putting the tub away. Kyungsoo sat at the table in the kitchen while Jongin opted for the kitchen counter.

After a few seconds of silence, Kyungsoo spoke up, “U-Uh, Jongin-ah?”

“Mmm?” Jongin hummed with the spoon in his mouth.

“Do you think that we can, we can maybe,” Kyungsoo looked down, “M-Maybe be friends...?”

“What-”

“I mean, only if you want to.” Kyungsoo added quickly. His hands were getting clammy. “N-Not a lot of people w-want to be my friend because I’m weird, and, and you’re probably going to be popular in school - I mean you already are but since it’s-”

“Kyungsoo-hyung,” Jongin gasped, “How could you!?”

“W-Wha- Huh?” Kyungsoo gulped.

Jongin stifled his smile as he walked over to the nervous boy, “I thought we were already friends!” Jongin hugged Kyungsoo awkwardly around the head, pulling the latter close to his chest (he was still sitting in shock). And Kyungsoo hid his timid smiled in the other boy’s embrace as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around the other’s waist.

“I cannot believe it,” Areum seethed, “I just cannot believe it.”

“Save it Areum,” Naeun grumbled, “We all can’t believe it either.”

“It’s been two months. Two ing months,” Areum exclaimed, “Jongin should be sick of Kyungsoo by now.”

“Or at least annoyed.” Suji stated. Areum and Naeun were sitting on the far right, third desk up, of the classroom. Suji and her desk partner right behind them, making them the last desk of the column. The three girls glanced over at the two boys in the far left corner. They were laughing hysterically about something. Jongin kept talking about something, and Kyungsoo couldn’t stop giggling. 

“God, Kyungsoo’s so annoying.” The three girls looked up to find Yookyung with a disgusted look on her face.

The boy next to Areum and Naeun sighed, “Guys, don’t be mean. Kyungsoo hasn’t done anything to you.”

“Oh, shut up Youngjae,” Yookyung snorted as she sat down next to him, her assigned seat, “Not everyone is as tolerant as you.”

“I’m not tolerant,” Youngjae answered, “I just know that Kyungsoo isn’t a bad guy. I don’t understand why you guys are making such a big fuss over him.”

“He stole away Jongin!” Areum raged.

Youngjae rolled his eyes, “He did not steal anyone away. Jongin was never yours to begin with.” 

“But-”

“Shut the hell up guys. I’m getting a headache just hearing you all.” Sungjong groaned. He sat down next to Suji. “I already here enough of your voices in class.”

“Miss Sungjong has a point.” Daehyun interrupted from behind Youngjae and Yookyung.

Sungjong raised an eyebrow, “Excuse you.”

“Whatever, but seriously. I don’t dig Kyungsoo either but mother of God, shut the up. We don’t care that he stole your prince charming.”

“Oh, come on guys,” Naeun sighed, “I can bet every single girl here is at least pissed that Kyungsoo is spending way too much time with Jongin.”

“Actually, not me,” Sohyun interjected from her seat next to Daehyun, “I think it’s quite cute.”

The four girls gave her a death glare but she just shrugged, “Give the boy a break. He hasn’t had friends in a long while. Leave him be.” She snuck a peek at the two boys in their own world to the left of her and smiled.

“Ugh, whatever Sohyun,” Yookyung exasperated, “You wouldn’t understand anyway.”

“...And then he got cake doused in his hair,” Jongin emphasized with arm motions, “He couldn’t get it out for days!”

Kyungsoo laughed hysterically. It was great listening to stories about his Chanyeol-hyung. Especially the old yet embarrassing ones.

“It was so gross, Kyunggie-hyung. I don’t think he even likes cake with frosting anymore.”

The boy smiled at the other’s telling. Kyungsoo learned so much about Jongin in those past two months though. He learned that he had known Chanyeol since they were in diapers. They didn’t see each other as often once high school hit since Chanyeol went to Kyungsoo’s school while Jongin pursued a dance education with his other friend. Eventually, Jongin got tired of the unnecessary drama in his old school so he transferred here. He had an older and younger sister and lived with both of his parents. He mentioned he once had an eldest brother, but he “just disappeared” when Jongin was still young so he doesn’t remember him much. 

Jongin learned much about Kyungsoo, too. How Kyungsoo was adopted by Joonmyun’s family when his adoptive parents couldn’t have anymore children, and Joonmyun was getting lonely. The only thing Kyungsoo knew about his past is his name, Do Kyungsoo, which he intends to keep. How Kyungsoo used to sing at a club with his brother under the names D.O and Suho, respectively. Jongin doesn’t believe him though because “you barely passed puberty!” And Jongin learned that Kyungsoo actually doesn’t mind him squishing his cheeks every time he says that. But still, Kyungsoo wasn’t ready to tell him the bullying problems.

It was just great to finally smile so freely. It had been two months and ever since that day Jongin entered his school, Kyungsoo could probably say he had a new friend. Jongin actually didn’t leave him in the first week nor the first month. And so far, Jongin hadn’t made much effort in trying to talk to the other students. It was a selfish thought, Kyungsoo decided one night, that he actually enjoyed the attention that Jongin gave him. And he knew he would be terribly jealous once (or if) Jongin started to branch off and talked to the other classmates. But it wouldn’t be entirely his fault. He was so deprived of friendship in his school years that he didn’t know what to do when a friend was practically given to him.

“Hey, Kyunggie-hyung,” Kyungsoo still blushed at the nickname, “What do you think they’re talking about?”

Both of them look at the other four desks who seemed to be in a pretty deep conversation. Three of the girls kept glancing over to them. It made Kyungsoo uncomfortable. He shifted himself so he was more hidden behind Jongin’s body. He didn’t want to tell Jongin, but he knew they were all gossiping about him. Kyungsoo noticed one of the girls, Sohyun, look at them quickly. She gave him a small smile before turning back to the conversation.

“I-I don’t know,” Kyungsoo said quickly, “Probably something about homework or something like that.”

“Are you sure,” Jongin asked again, “They keep looking here...”

“No, no it’s probably nothing.” Kyungsoo reassured him. Jongin just shrugged and agreed.

Kyungsoo didn’t want Jongin to know of his bullying problem. It’s been two months, and everything’s been going just fine. The nasty comments had come to a gradual stop. He only got one ball of paper tossed at his head in the morning. For the rest of the day, he was protected by Jongin even if he didn’t know about it.

Jongin look at the group suspiciously one more time before focusing himself back to Kyungsoo, “You know what we should do?”

“What should we do?” Kyungsoo questioned warily. Jongin’s ideas weren’t always the greatest.

“You should cancel going to work today.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to take you somewhere.”

“Where?”

Jongin frowned, “It’s going to be a surprise.”

“Jongin, you know I hate surprises.” Kyungsoo mumbled.

“Well too bad,” Jongin smiled, “I’m texting Yeol-hyung if he can cover for you.”

“Jong-”

“No. You’re going out with me.”

Kyungsoo flushed at the choice of words.

Jongin grinned, “It’s like a date, hyung! It’s going to be fun, I promise.” Kyungsoo gulped nervously as he nodded his head. The teacher strolled in, and Kyungsoo was forever grateful. 

A date? With Kim Jongin!? Kyungsoo’s palms began to sweat and nervousness overwhelmed him. Jongin gave him a reassuring smile before looking at the front of the class. But maybe, just maybe, Kyungsoo was a little bit excited.

...

Okay, maybe a lot excited.