Monday came like a . It always has, except this time, it was more unforgiving than usual. Kyungsoo had dark bags under his eyes and his body felt limp, every move he made taking much more effort than it should have. God, what had Jongin deteriorated him into? He felt pathetic, how could a guy he'd only known for a few hours altogether and who was younger to boot affect him this much?

Maybe it was because of the fact that finally, after years and years, he felt like he could completely trust someone again, that Jongin would be the start of a new chapter in Kyungsoo's life, that he'd be the key that would help Kyungsoo finally let go of his past.

And that person who could have been Kyungsoo's light disappeared in an instant, and Kyungsoo's walls built around him again. He'd lost his only sort of salvation, all because he could never do anything right.

Kyungsoo's head throbbed painfully and his chest tightened as he lay on his bed, the sheets strewn across the room. "Oh God no, not now. Please." Memories pushed past the surface of his mind into his brain, and the throbbing quickened its pace.

"Why did you do that Kyungsoo? You can never do anything right!"

A small whimper escaped his lips as the voice echoed in his head, reminding him of his failures as a kid. He lay on his side, curled up in a tight ball with his knees pressed against his chest. The throbbing had stopped but it still left a numb and dull sort of pain in his head that didn’t stop.

Trying to find something that would distract him form the dull pain, he reached for his iPod in the night stand next to his bed, plugging the earphones into his ears and turning the volume up fully. He wanted to drown out everything, just forget it all even if it was only for a few minutes of his life. He searched through his songs, absentmindedly picking one that just happened to be Please Don’t by K.will.

Hours and hours passed by without Kyungsoo realising, lost in his own world and in the music. The pain never left though. The music didn't make any of it go away but it gave him a bit of comfort. He checked the clock on the wall opposite his bed. Great, he missed another important lecture. Mr Leung would seriously kill him this time for missing another one of his lectures. He would probably give Kyungsoo one of his world famous 'disappointed looks' the next time he has the teacher for another one of his lectures.

But then he was Mr Leung, the young Chinese teacher would probably let it go soon enough. He was a teacher who would look at Asian Elephants taking a bath and say, "I wonder if they feel any pain, they just look so… spankable!" and at Mountain Goats saying, "I want to make those goats scream." Yeah, Kyungsoo's got the best ing teacher in the school. He even breakdances for goodness sake.

He sighed, just hoping that Baekhyun took notes for him again. He probably did, knowing his ever understanding and awesome best friend. The same best friend who helped him get through every patch he's gone through in his life; who stayed with him when no one else wanted to.

And the same best friend who had magically teleported outside his open bedroom door.

"HOLY !" Kyungsoo let out a high pitched scream, scrambling backwards onto the headboard and banging his head on it painfully. Kyungsoo rubbed the sore back of his head, “What are you doing here Baek?”

The other said something, but Kyungsoo couldn’t hear anything and realising his music was still on full volume, he turned it down and too off his earphones.

“You didn’t hear anything I just said did you?” Baekhyun deadpanned.

“Not a word,” Kyungsoo replied with a smile that took a lot of effort.

Baekhyun sighed, “I said I was knocking for like, five minutes and no one answered the door. So I just let myself in with my spare keys,” he said, raising his hand to reveal the spare key Kyungsoo had given his friend in case of emergencies. Emergencies.

“Yah. It’s not an emergency you know,” Kyungsoo whined, falling back onto his bed, ending up sprawled on it with his limbs going everywhere.

“Might as well be. You never called me in the weekend! Didn’t I tell you I was shopping for eyeliner? I’m almost out, seriously. I need your opinion on my eyeliner like I always do, you know! And you didn’t go to school today. The last time you did that was years ago, man,” he finally paused to take in Kyungsoo’s state. “God, you look horrible! What the hell happened to you?” he asked, flopping on the bed as well next to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo felt the emotions and the tears build up again until he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

The words spilled from his mouth like a waterfall until his throat went dry and all he could let out were tears and pathetic whimpers. All he could think of in his mind was Jongin. And how he’d driven him away.

Baekhyun really wasn’t used to seeing Kyungsoo like this. He wondered how much of a guy this Kim Jongin was, degrading the other man like this. Not knowing what to do, he rolled to his side and wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo just as they’d done in the past as kids.

“It’ll be okay, Soo.”

The other man didn’t answer but his whimpers started to cease. Baekhyun didn’t feel convinced that his best friend was fine now though. He rolled off the bed and gripped Kyungsoo’s wrists.

“Come on.”

Kyungsoo looked up at Baekhyun who was now standing on the side of his bed, clutching his wrists. His eyes were puffy, and they looked scarily big, not to mention bloodshot. His hair spiked in every direction, he was a hot mess. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to take your mind off this Kim Jong, okay?” said Baekhyun, pulling Kyungsoo off the bed with more force than he intended. He was mad at this Jong guy. No one s with his best friend. No one.

He got Kyungsoo to change his clothes and then afterwards called Tao, who called Sehun. Sehun didn’t really have to call Luhan, whatever one of the two knew, the other did as well and they were always together anyways. They were set to meet at the mall in half an hour, just enough time for Baekhyun to clean up his mess of a best friend.

By the time Baekhyun was done with Kyungsoo, the big eyed man looked almost completely different from the one Baekhyun found sitting on the bed fifteen minutes ago. His hair was fixed and his face was washed. The bags under his eyes were still visible though, and so was the puffiness of his face, he walked like a drunk man on a Saturday Night. Nothing Baekhyun could do about that. Just yet.

“Come on now. Let’s go,” he said, tugging on Kyungsoo’s wrist.

“Where exactly?” the other man asked, refusing to move from his spot.

“You’re going to help me pick and buy my new eyeliner. Like you were supposed to a few days ago.” Well that was half of it, after that, he was going to get Kyungsoo wasted like the college boy that he was.

Kyungsoo, already tired of and who just didn’t give a about anything anymore let himself get dragged away. He was spent and he was tired, nothing even mattered anymore.

The rest of the way to the mall didn’t really register in Kyungsoo’s head, he just let himself get dragged by the slightly taller man and he only let his mind work when the others came into his view.

And when they started running towards him like madmen, screaming and throwing their hands in the air. In the middle of the mall.

“Appa~! Are you okay?” exclaimed Luhan despite being older, a mischievous glint in his eye. If he was trying to grab attention to himself, he was sure as hell succeeding. The innocent bystanders of the middle class gave them weird looks, which was probably what Luhan was aiming for anyway. No one could ever understand him, not even Sehun did completely.

“You look like a hot mess!” added Sehun.

“A mess I wouldn’t mind having a go at-“ grinned Luhan cheekily before getting cut off by an extremely jealous looking Sehun, the taller half-assedly giving Luhan a nudge in the shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sorry baby. You know you’re the only one I love,” apologised Luhan, knowing full well that Sehun would forgive him in five seconds if he chose the right words.

Tao chose that moment then to give Kyungsoo a hug, not saying anything but giving the older a cute look of worry. The older just gave Tao a -he hoped- reassuring smile. Baekhyun relayed the situation to the three, their expressions turning serious and then through some sort of telekinesis in between all of them bright.

“Let’s go and get shopping then!” said the four, two pulling him towards the nearest makeup store and the other two pushing.

The rest of the time at the mall consisted of Baekhyun looking for a certain eyeliner that he had apparently been dying to get my hands on and the four boys arguing over what shop to go to and where to eat, almost like high school girls.

Kyungsoo momentarily forgot about Jongin. Just for a bit.

They walked out of the mall with a satisfied looking Baekhyun with a whole bag worth of eyeliner, an uncomfortable looking Sehun carrying all Tao’s and Luhan’s shopping -Tao’s load was mostly from Gucci and Luhan’s was mostly sports equipment- and a smiling Kyungsoo.

That is, until they pass the same cinema Jongin and Kyungsoo had gone to just a few days before.

As they passed it, Kyungsoo's stomach lurched uncomfortably and his friends, being the wonderfully nosy friends they were, noticed and started getting worried.

"Soo, are you okay?" asked Baekhyun, putting his arms around him protectively in an attempt to comfort. Not answering, Kyungsoo excused himself and ran back to his apartment.

He pushed past the crowd, ignoring the complaints he got about him watching where he was going and about the kids of this generation. His mind spun, why did Jongin really affect him this much?

Was it possible that he liked Jongin? Not just the usual like like, but the romantic like? But wasn't he completely straight just a few days ago? However much he hated to admit it though, he knew that the thought of him being gay at the back of his head could possibly be true. Jesus, how the did he turn slightly gay so quickly?

He slammed the door to his apartment shut, the sound echoing throughout the whole floor. His mind still a cluster of thoughts and emotions that he couldn't restrain, he almost didn't make it to his room. It was all too much.

He flopped onto the bed face first, comforted slightly by the soft sheets and mattress that cushioned his fall. He felt his consciousness slip, slowly dragging him back to the gratification of sleep.

But obviously his phone wouldn't have any of that.

Ring Ding Dong, Ring Ding Dong, Ring Digiding Digiding Dingding~

"God…" groaned Kyungsoo, his hand darting out to reach his bedside table where the source of the noise should have been. Blindly, without moving his face from the sheets, he felt around for the damn thing, the ringing ceasing to stop and almost knocked down his -quite expensive and antique- lamp.

"Jesus Christ!" Kyungsoo screamed before sitting up and grabbing the phone on the table. Looking to see who was calling him, he felt his face being drained of its colour. Jongin. Kim ing Jongin.

No, no. Kyungsoo wasn't going to have anymore of Jongin from now on and he let his phone go to voicemail, albeit with some hesitation. He sighed, and fell back onto the bed again, turning off his phone so if Jongin tried contacting him again, he wouldn't be able to reach him. Kyungsoo really would rather stay holed up in his room rather than get a call of rejection and doom from a guy he had been brooding over for the past few days.

So much for pride.

At least he wasn't completely whipped. Completely. But if he wasn't close. Maybe it was those perfectly plush lips or maybe those perfect hooded eyes that just screamed seduction and .

He had no idea but he was completely determined to get the y beast off of his mind. Enough was enough goddammit. And with that thought in mind, he slowly drifted off to sleep this time, without SHINee interrupting him.

---

Kyungsoo woke up to a heavy weight on top of him. Rubbing his tired sore eyes before opening them slightly, he was met with Baekhyun's creepy grinning face, disturbingly close and the tip of their noses almost touching.

"i-" before Kyungsoo could yell anymore profanities, Baekhyun clamped his hand over the latter's mouth.

"Shut up before you soil the innocent minds and mouths of the younger generation living in this building anymore than you already have."

Except, Kyungsoo was feeling a bit snappy and stubborn at the moment, much to Baekhyun's dismay.

"OW! What was that for you ?!" yelped Baekhyun, hastily pulling his harassed hand away from Kyungsoo's mouth. He might have just bitten Baekhyun's hand. And he might have done it extra hard just to spite the older man.

"Who’s soiling innocent childrens' minds and mouths now?" growled Kyungsoo, pushing Baekhyun to the other side of the bed, still having half a mind to not just push him off the bed completely.

"Well someone's feisty today," pouted Baekhyun, "And you do realise that you've just missed another half a day of Uni?"

"Does this look like the face of someone who gives the slightest bit of ? Because if it is, I'd love to hear about it." Kyungsoo deadpanned, almost glaring at Baekhyun before opting instead to give the man a pokerface because he knew he didn't really do anything to Kyungsoo to deserve a glare from him.

"Not really, but you should hyun~" came another familiar voice from the doorway. Tao.

"Hey Bacon. Is everyone here?" Kyungsoo asked, not exactly thrilled at the prospect of all his friends seeing him pathetic like he knew he was being and using the nickname he knew the other boy hated just because he felt downright ty.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Soo? Don’t call me using that nickname! It makes me feel really fat since you know. Bacon comes from pigs. And pigs are fat. And no, not everyone. Luhan's not here because he had an important game to play today."

Just as Baekhyun finished speaking, Kyungsoo felt two more heavy weights land on top of him. His breath was knocked right out of his lungs from the impact. Sehun might look like he's all skin and bones from far away, but underneath all those layers of clothing, there was a lot of muscle he hid. Tao was just another complete bundle of muscle and strength with a lot of aegyo thrown in.

"Get off me! Please!" begged Kyungsoo. Tao and Sehun giggled before rolling off Kyungsoo to the other side of the bed where Baekhyun lay.

They lay in comfortable silence for a while. That is, until Baekhyun conveniently decided to break it.

"So… you weren't answering your phone last night and today."

"Great going there hotshot. Would you like a gold medal for that?"

"God Kyungsoo. Calm down! You're being a complete you know?" interjected Sehun, already growing extremely tired of y Kyungsoo. The man seriously needed to calm the hell down. Sehun had to leave Luhan's game just to visit Kyungsoo's sorry , the man better appreciate what they were doing just for him.

Kyungsoo fell silent, then releasing a resigned sigh, muttered a soft sorry.

That ,ade all the other three boys smile. Now that that was sorted, they could start with the main problem. Which they figured was probably this Kim Jongin guy, who Baekhyun kept referring to as Kim Jong.

"Okay, we're gonna stop beating around the bush. Was never good at that anyway. What's up with you and this Jongin guy that you’re so damn depressed about?" Sehun started, never the most patient one. Unless it came to Luhan that is, his patience was endless when it came to the baby-faced soccer player.

"We've been really worried sick you know hyung! You've been acting really weird lately. If you want me to beat up this Jongin guy, just tell me okay?" said Tao, giving Kyungsoo an encouraging smile.

Kyungsoo smiled back weakly, the most and best he'd done for the past few days. "I… don't even know myself. I-I think I've…" he paused before giving the other three a confused look, "turned… to your side, Sehun."

An awkward silence filled the room, the other tree trying to make sense of what Kyungsoo had just revealed to them. ing hell. Was this really Kyungsoo? The same Kyungsoo who had been making fun of Luhan and Sehun for being in love? The same Kyungsoo who had been confidently and shamelessly flirting with girls only a week ago?

The man himself was bewildered at what he had just said. The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them and the damage was done. The realisation hit him hard, like he'd just suddenly jumped into icy waters completely bare and vulnerable to everything.

" Kyungsoo."

"I ing know. Look, I appreciate that you guys came because you were worried and all, but I'd really like to have some time to myself please. I really need to think this through," he paused, then a thought struck him. "Actually, if you guys want, you can stay here. I'm just going to go out for a bit, remember to lock the door when you go out. I don’t want to get back to a ransacked house okay?" and with that, he slipped on a sweater, picked up his keys from the entryway and went out of the door, gently pulling it closed behind him.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair, he had a lot of thinking to do tonight.

As he walked the streets of Seoul, his feet unconsciously took him to the familiar hidden alley that was the way to his own quiet café.

But of course, the Gods were obviously against him. And there he was in all his perfect glory. Kim. ing. Jongin. 

Woot. So after a long time, I've finally updated T^T I AM SO SORRYYYYYYYYY  Let me crawl into a hole of shame please. Chapter 4 is on le way and probably updating on Monday? Idk. Just please don't give up me PLEAASSEE <3

And as always~ Comments are always appreciated and shubshhcribbeee it you want moarr <3

I now present you with a gif of Baekhyun being extra manly <3