Two days later, Jonghyun had arrived in front of Jinki’s apartment with his bags. It wasn’t Jinki who told him where he lived, but the higher ups had given Jonghyun his manager’s address so he could go to him whenever he needed the male’s aid.

To say Jinki wasn’t pleased to see Jonghyun’s face when he opened the door would be an understatement. He’d finally reached his day off and believed he could lay in bed, occasionally getting off the bed to use the bathroom or get himself something to eat before returning and laying down one more. It was his favorite thing to do when he had a day off.

“What are you doing here?” Jinki had used the best monotone he could pull off, trying to show the younger how badly he wanted the male to leave, but Jonghyun brushed it off and brushed past the elder into the apartment, setting down a large duffel bag and gently placing his guitar case down next to it.

“You’re the one who said we should live together.” Jonghyun reminded him with a grin before plopping down onto the elder male’s couch, his feet resting on top of the coffee table and his arms tucked neatly behind his head as he relaxed in the male’s living room with his eyes shut tightly.

“I never said we should live together!” Jinki nearly shouted and walked over to the male, roughly pushing his feet off the coffee table, “Get out or I’ll call the police!”

“Will you really, Jinki?” Jonghyun peeled an eye open and grinned lazily up at the elder male, “I have proof that we’re married. Plus, it wouldn’t look good on your part if we made a big deal about this.”

Jinki sobbed dryly, dropping onto the couch beside the younger male, “Can’t you just leave me alone? I already said I would help you become an idol. Don’t you have a family?”

“I’m an orphan.” Jonghyun replied simply and Jinki looked up at the male to see he had his gaze fixated on a different area of the room. Jinki felt the guilt start to tug on his heartstrings, but he refused to apologize, considering the male was in his apartment when he obviously shouldn’t have been.

“Still! Don’t you have a place to live?” Jinki sputtered, his eyes searching over the male silently, to see if he was speaking the truth or not.

“No, I haven’t had one for almost a year. That’s why I’ve been taking so many gigs.” Jonghyun explained before he got up and walked into the kitchen, “Say, you have any food around here?”

Part of Jinki told him not to believe the younger, but the way Jonghyun’s shoulders had dropped slightly told him that no, the male wasn’t lying, and instead, Jinki sighed and got up as well, stalking past the male to the kitchen, “Go sit, I’ll make you something to eat.”

“Alright.” Jonghyun had said after a small pause, obviously taken aback by the male’s sudden change of heart, but Jinki had ignored it and focused on cooking for the male, putting in his own favorite ingredients and hoping to himself that the younger would like at least some of the food he was going to make.

Jinki could feel the younger male’s gaze on him as he cooked and he tensed slightly as he wondered why the younger was staring at him so intently, but busied his thoughts so they would focus on the meal he was preparing and not the male he was preparing the meal for.

Then, Jonghyun was beside him, peering over his shoulder at the meal being prepared, and Jinki turned to him with an eyebrow raised.

“Where did you learn how to cook?” Jonghyun mused, gesturing to the stove dully.

Pondering the question for a moment, Jinki chuckled, “Kibum and I used to alternate cooking. At first I was terrible, but then Kibum started dragging me into the kitchen daily and sat on the counter, forcing me to practice cooking until he deemed me a good cook.”

“Kibum?” Jonghyun hummed and stole a piece of carrot that Jinki had put in during his explanation, “Was he a past lover?”

Jinki snorted and almost dropped the pan onto the ground, “I could hardly handle his sass as a friend, let alone lover.” Then, his expression had gone into one of a male reminiscing over old memories, “My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college until later, and when I went to school, I was the odd one out. Kibum was the only one who didn’t judge me based on my age, and he became my roommate.”

When he glanced over at Jonghyun, the shorter male was grinning calmly, and it slowly brought a matching grin to Jinki’s expression.

“Where is he now?” Jonghyun asked, and Jinki quickly looked away and pretended they hadn’t had such a moment.

“He moved to his fiancé, Woohyun’s apartment. I still see him once in a while. Like on the 2nd, the two of them are coming over for dinner.” Jinki remembered, feeling the excitement bubble up in his stomach.

“You mean today?” Jonghyun crossed his arms over his chest, and Jinki turned to him with a comeback playing his lips before he froze in place.

“Today’s the 2nd!” Jinki had shouted without realizing it, and hurriedly transferred Jonghyun’s meal onto a dish, “Here. Eat this, and leave. Kibum won’t let me hear the end of it if he sees you here.”

Jonghyun was having a field day with the information as he lifted the dish and walked over to the dining table, “You told him you married me, Jinki? Are you sure you haven’t fallen for me?”

“Stop assuming that I’ll fall for you.” Jinki sputtered, and Jonghyun turned back to him in amusement, “We just met a few days ago, Jonghyun. What do you expect me to say? ‘Oh Jonghyun, you complete me. I love you so much-.’”

Then, he heard clapping and turned to see Kibum and Woohyun had witnessed his imitation confession. Jinki felt the embarrassment fill his entire frame as he’d clasped his hands together and kicked his foot in the air behind him to make him seem like a schoolgirl in love.

“I am so proud of you, Jinki.” Kibum pretended to tear up, though Jinki could just hear the amusement in his tone.

Jonghyun snickered, and when Jinki turned to him, the younger had a mischievous glint in his eyes, “With that show, Jinki, I’m convinced that is exactly how you feel about me.”

Jinki thought he would have an emotional breakdown, and decided to just remain silent as he took a seat at the dining table, in the chair farthest from Jonghyun.

“Hyung’s sulking.” Woohyun chuckled and suddenly, Jinki’s cheeks were being pulled at. He glared up at the skinship loving grease, and Woohyun gave him a sheepish grin in return.

“Oh stop pouting, Jinx. You know we’re messing around.” Kibum had then stopped talking to Jinki and took the seat closest to Jonghyun with Woohyun sitting beside him, “So, you must be Jongdae.”

“Jongdae is from Exo, Kibum. He’s Jonghyun.” Jinki pointed out, and when Kibum turned to him, he slunk back in his chair.

“You know, it took Jinki almost an entire year to learn my name.” Kibum shook his head and turned his attention back to Jonghyun, who was flat out chuckling by that point.

“Really now?” Jonghyun smirked, and Jinki felt his stomach clench, “He even invited me to live with him from now on and made me dinner.”

Both Kibum’s and Woohyun’s jaws dropped at this, and their heads whipped to Jinki, who had sunk down further into his chair, already given up on defending himself or reminding Jonghyun that he had invited himself into Jinki’s home.

“Which reminds me. Where’s my dinner?” Kibum looked around curiously before his eye darted to Jinki’s.

“Well you see…” Jinki his lips and sat up, his eyes looking around nervously, “I-”

“He forgot you were coming over.” Jonghyun had cut in, and out of the corner of his eye, Jinki could see the smug expression lighting his face as he ate his own meal calmly.

“Oh, we realized the moment he started squirming around.” Woohyun chuckled, and both Jonghyun and Jinki stared at him in puzzlement.

“Hyung’s a really bad liar, so he does his best to avoid eye contact when he lies.” Kibum explained, and pulled Jonghyun’s meal towards himself, taking a slow bite of it, his eyes rounding onto Jinki’s once more in betrayal, “How come you never cooked this well for me?”

He knew what the male was implying, of course. It was obvious, and it had the other two snickering because they also believed Jinki was doing whatever he could for the younger male.

“I’m going for a walk.” Jinki had gotten up and out of the apartment so quickly that they didn’t even have the chance to accuse him of being embarrassed.

“This is ridiculous.” He had found himself walking around his block, sighing heavily as his feet dragged itself against the pavement, only stopping when he saw a bench in front of the bus stop.

Jinki sat down slowly and let out another tired sigh. He couldn’t understand his current situation. Not only was he married to a weird guy that he hardly knew, he couldn’t tell if Jonghyun was serious about the marriage or only using it as a way to get himself more famous. Then, there was Woohyun and Kibum, and the fact that they had completely ganged up on him.

But at the same time, Jinki couldn’t say that he was completely upset. Was it true, what they said? Was he really changing because of that male? If Kibum had suddenly come to his house, Jinki would have been annoyed, but he had no true irritation to having Jonghyun around him that afternoon. Then there was the fact that they did have a calm conversation in which they had smiled to each other and Jinki felt like it was natural to smile around him.

Before he knew it, it was one in the morning, and Jinki reluctantly walked back to his apartment. Kibum’s car was gone, so the young couple was also obviously gone. With bitter resentment towards himself, he realized that in his panic, he’d forgotten his keys and his cell phone, and hoped that Jonghyun would open the door for him if he rang.

He did, and when the door opened, Jinki shamefully brushed past him with a softly spoken word of thanks.

“Where were you?” Jonghyun shut the door quietly and Jinki turned back to the younger male, pausing as he saw a look of concern flash in the younger’s eyes, “I didn’t mean to upset you. You didn’t even take your keys or your phone; I thought you wouldn’t come back at all.”

Jinki guiltily lowered his head. He’d always hated making others worry about him, and making Jonghyun worry about him was indeed a terrible feeling.

Jonghyun walked up to him and squeezed his shoulder gently, “Next time, tell me exactly where you’re going.”

Nodding, Jinki looked past Jonghyun to the bedroom, “It’s late, and we should get to bed. Do you want to sleep on the bed?”

“Are you suggesting we sleep together?” the intimate and personal atmosphere had faded and was quickly replaced with Jonghyun’s teasing attitude and Jinki’s irritation with him.

“No, so that I can sleep on the sofa if you want the bed.” Jinki rolled his eyes and pushed Jonghyun away from him, though the younger followed right at his heels.

“But why, Jinki? We’ve already slept together.” Jonghyun chuckled and Jinki turned to him with his face red in frustration. At himself, or at Jonghyun, neither could guess.

Instead of answering, Jinki threw his closet door open and grabbed a bundle of sheets and pillows, ing them into Jonghyun’s arms and then shoving the unsuspecting male out of the room.

“You sleep out there. Don’t even try to come into my room.” Jinki didn’t bother telling him what would happen if he were to come into the bedroom to make himself sound more mysterious, but Jonghyun merely grinned in amusement and walked onto the sofa.

“Sure, but I sure do hope that doesn’t mean you’re planning to come watch me while I sleep out here.”

With a twitch of his eye, Jinki slammed the door.