Jongin is weird.

Oops, what Baekhyun means to say is that he is acting weird.

Jongin is acting weird. That’s why he kinds of, a little, acts weird too.

Yesterday, Jongin is a clingy puppy with plump lips and big eyes and everything cute written all over his face. Today Jongin is a stray cat who doesn’t want to be touched, let alone be called out to.

It’s driving Baekhyun into weirdness. Into madness. Into insanity. (perhaps that is where he truly belongs but you wouldn’t dare say that to Byun Baekhyun)

The irate boy rakes his long and y and slim fingers into his somewhat still damped hair fresh from the shower in exasperation. It has been the third day that Jongin hasn’t joined him in the shower. He kinds of, feels unfinished –like missing the routine of using his favourite shampoo or using Chanyeol’s toothpaste for his teeth. Incomplete –that’s the word. Of course, it would be overacting to say that the reason he feels shallow is because Jongin doesn’t join him to bath anymore (though that’s one of the reasons) but there’s something, something going on in that boy’s mind that he couldn’t quite put a finger on. It’s like something written on every member’s forehead and he’s the only one who doesn’t see it. Like it’s something, out of everyone in the dorm, he was supposed to know. Jongin never hides anything from him, let alone run away from him like a cat who just seen a drooling dog. But he does. And it’s driving Baekhyun to insanity that he doesn’t know if hell is better.

Chanyeol looks at the older male in curiosity, his big round eyes more prominent now that’s he’s not being inconspicuous about staring.

“You look like a victim, hyung,” he comments, seeing the dripping water from Baekhyun’s hair trickling down his neck and his wide eyes that seem to be staring into a vast land of nothingness.

“Jongin is not treating me right!” Baekhyun whines on Chanyeol’s face, voice high pitched and ugly. Chanyeol raises an eyebrow at him and snickers. “When did he ever treat anyone right?”

Baekhyun stops and thinks about this a little. Jongin might have been drooling among everyone’s shoulders after every practice, alright, but that’s because he’s been pushing himself harder than everyone else. He might be getting Kyungsoo to give him larger amount of foods, but that’s because he’s a growing kid and needs a lot of nutrients. He might be adding mountains of used clothes on the hamper, but that’s because he can’t just let sweat dry off his back, he’ll get sick. So, “No,” Baekhyun decides. “He treats everyone fair just –”

Not now

“Whatever,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes, reaching his ear buds and plugging it in. “You will justify anything he does anyway.”

-

Baekhyun always believes in the magic of confrontation. There’s something about confrontations that lets you delve in the innermost part of your heart where various emotions lie, threatening to harbour into something big and erupt in the form of curses and profanities. That is why he believes it is important to talk about what the problem is before it gets out of hand.

He knows this, and it has always been one of the values in life he most certainly follows. He just couldn’t understand why he can’t this time. There’s something about Jongin that strips him off his confidence, makes him stutter, and questions his ability to form coherent words within the presence of the latter.

So right now, as they watch the videos of EXO M’s performances, he sits at the separate couch, the one meant for one person when receiving a guest, and rubs his face at the big plushy a fan had given Chanyeol. He’s not really paying attention though, instead, he makes it a goal to stare at Jongin for about 30 times per minute. His face falls when he realizes that Jongin is not giving him his usual shy glances.

He groans, and gives the underside of the couch a hard kick. The other members look at him, but not Jongin. “Go look back at the movie,” he mouths. Joonmyeon raises an eyebrow. And he says, “Go, go go.”

Without another word, the confused leader glances back at the movie. Baekhyun sighs because it is usually their calling signal. It’s either they’ll drum their fingers on a table or tap anything so the other will know he’s being called. Jongin is most definitely doing it on purpose.

He stomps his foot on the couch again, this time, without even trying to be conspicuous. Sehun throws him a dirty look. “Hyung can you not?”

Baekhyun bites back a retort because you stupid maknae gets to sit beside my boyfriend. Instead he stands up, throws himself on top of Chanyeol, who gapes yah that is my plushy, and wiggles like the retarded person he is, ignoring the giant’s protest.

This time Jongin shoots them a look, albeit briefly, and Baekhyun, finally, finally, seem contented so he bothers Chanyeol some more like it’s his personal career to do so.

He doesn’t know the hell brewing at the pit of Jongin’s stomach.

--

Thursday afternoon has them rerunning over and over the choreography of Overdose. Kyungsoo is curled up on the other side of the studio, Joonmyeon is rubbing soothing circles against his temple; Sehun is bobbing his head upside down as he listens to Overdose for the hundredth time, Chanyeol is wolfing down a granola bar like it’s chicken and Jongin’s body is sprawled all over the floor. And Baekhyun? Well Baekhyun is most certainly not staring at Jongin. Just slightly.

Kyungsoo walks over towards Jongin. Baekhyun knows he’s going to give the younger boy a towel to wipe the –

WAIT. WHAT?

Looking over Kyungsoo and Jongin is like playing ‘What’s wrong with the picture?’

Because there really are a lot of wrong things in here: first, Kyungsoo is wiping the sweat off Jongin himself when it’s clear that the younger’s arm are pretty much still intact and capable of doing this himself; second, Jongin is grinning like a maniac and he seems to forget who the real boyfriend is; third, that should be me, Baekhyun wants to cry and wail and cry again because Baekhyun is the one supposed to be taking care of that boy and

“Hyung, you look like you want to murder someone,” Chanyeol comments. Last time Baekhyun is aware of his surroundings, Chanyeol is at the far corner of the room. And if he would have moved, Baekhyun would have sure to notice it because Chanyeol doesn’t know the prospect of grace therefore impossible to make him soundless that Baekhyun would sure to have noticed. But he doesn’t. And Baekhyun not noticing Chanyeol move is a sure sign that there is something wrong.

“I might be pretty convinced Jongin is an attention ,” Baekhyun blurts without really meaning to. Chanyeol stares at him like he just b