“I normally come here alone when I need a break from everything.” Minho said, turning to smile at a sullen Jinki by his shoulder.  

“Sydney’s Singing Room? I never would have pegged you as the dramatic type.” Jinki replied. 

“I’m passionate, not dramatic thank you very much,” Minho cut Jinki a look, “Now c’mon, we only have about an hour before they close.” he continued, dragging the other boy along by the elbow. 

At the counter was an older woman with grey streaks in her hair, flipping the pages of a shonen manga. At the sound of the electronic bell, she looked up, her face brightening at the sight of them. She stuck a receipt in the pages and closed the manga before putting it away under the counter. After which she retrieved a large yellow binder and placed it open in front of Minho. 

“I see you’ve brought a date today Ming~” she teased, giggling. 

Minho did a double-take, his head whipping from the woman to Jinki and back. 

“Ahjumma, please,” he whined, then cleared his throat. 

“This is my co-worker, Lee Jinki. Jinki, owner of this noraebang.” he said cordially, cheeks tinted a faint pink. Minho practically had his entire face in the binder as he signed off on the paper. 

Jinki folded his hands in front of himself and gave a slight bow in greeting. Minho fished some bills out of his wallet and quickly placed it in the owner’s hands. 

“This should be enough right?” he asked hurriedly, not waiting for an answer before yanking a key off the counter and ushering Jinki through another door. Confused, Jinki twisted in Minho’s arm to bow goodbye before he was pushed out of sight. The last thing he saw was the woman twiddling her fingers at him. 

The long hallway was lit up with neon blue lights. The doors on either side only had a small window where green, pink, purple, yellow, and blue party lights and discos could be seen. Small fragments of light reflected onto the walls as they passed by. The university student came to a room then unlocked and opened the door smoothly as if he was entering his own dorm. 

Jinki instantly clammed up as he stepped into the room. He loved to sing, but only when no one was home. The only people who had ever heard him sing was his mom and Gwiboon. Minho looked over at Jinki who had become one with the couch. He grabbed the songbook and dropped it in Jinki’s lap, shocking the other boy out of his thoughts. 

“Pick a song, guests first,” he said, already moving around the room making adjustments, putting covers on mics. 

Flipping through the pages with cold hands, Jinki searched through the list trying to find anything familiar. He pointed to the song ‘i guess now it’s fall’ and nodded in confirmation. Feeling a pit in his stomach, he grabbed a mic from Minho as the boy queued up the song on screen. Hearing the first notes of the song Jinki clutched the mic and took a deep breath preparing himself for what he knew would be a shaky first note. 

🎵 It must be autumn to be excited for nothing 🎵 

Jinki closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose, hands trembling. He hadn’t noticed Minho cross-legged on the floor, mouth agape in awe. 

🎵 It’s probably a greeting that doesn’t really mean anything to you

It must be autumn to be upset for nothing

It’s probably a phone call you suddenly made when you thought of me while having trouble sleeping 🎵 

Gwiboon’s voice in Jinki’s ear, sounding like home, “Hey, Jinx!” surfaced in his mind. Jinki furrowed his brows in sadness. Had he lost the one person who’d been his friend through everything? 

🎵 To fall apart so easily, a phone call that rang quietly

I guess autumn is colored to its peak

I think my heart is colored to its peak too 🎵

I like him. But I do love Boonie. But my heart aches for Jonghyun. I- 

🎵 Maybe you came deeply into my heart 🎵

I love him.  

Jinki burst into tears sinking into a crouch, then sank even lower putting arms behind his neck and head between his knees as he cried. Minho sprang up, crossing the room in a few wide steps over to a distraught Jinki. Right as Minho reached out to comfort him, he looked up with tear-clumped eyelashes and red eyes. 

“I- I need some air.” Jinki stammered, weakly pushing himself off the ground and exiting the room before embarrassing himself any further.  

He closed the door before stumbling a few steps and sitting down. A single tear escaped, getting caught by the side of his nose before he swiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt. He let his head thump against the blue wall. As much as he felt like a bad friend, there was still a part of his heart that rejoiced at what he hoped was the beginning of a relationship with his first love. Jinki smiled through the tears.

Just then, a flash of green light from the doorway across the hall caught his eye. He reflexively followed the light and ran over to the door to confirm his eyes weren’t deceiving him. In the room, sitting cross-legged on the edge of a table was Jonghyun himself crooning out a ballad. 

Jinki’s heart began pounding out of his chest. He put a hand on the door to brace himself as he watched in disbelief as Jonghyun sang in an angel’s voice, 

🎵 Give me these moments...

Give them back to me...

Give me your little kiss...

My lovechild... 🎵 

He instantly recognized the song, Maxwell’s This Woman’s Work. It was a classic song of his youth. As Jonghyun continued to serenade the empty room, Jinki’s hand of its own accord turned the doorknob and silently opened the door. He closed the door just as silently and stood with his hands behind his back still on the knob, hesitant to interrupt. He could listen to Jonghyun sing forever.  

The younger boy ended on a beautiful, reverberating note that transcended into a soulful hum. Still unaware he had a guest, he reached over to grab the songbook before spotting Jinki at the door under the disco ball. 

“Oh!” Jonghyun huffed in surprise, nearly slipping off the table. “H-hyung? What are- why are you-?” flabbergasted, he didn’t know what to ask first.  

It dawned on Jinki that he probably looked like a huge creep, standing there looking like he just got caught or something. 

“Your- Your singing bewitched me.” he attempted to joke. 

Jonghyun let out a guffaw, still confused but amused. The older boy took three steps over to the younger and sat down next to him on the table, knees touching. He grabbed the younger’s hands and used all of his courage to look him directly in the eyes. Jonghyun’s eyes grew perceptibly wider as he glanced down at their hands and gulped. 

“Jonghyun, please listen. When I first saw you it was on the bus after school. After that moment, I prayed to the universe that I’d get to see you again and my wish was granted. You came into my life the next day and we got to be friends. This whole time I’ve tried to be slick, even going out of my way to tutor subjects I’ve never tutored before just as an excuse to see more of you.” 

The words poured out of him as he earnestly gripped Jonghyun’s hands tighter. 

“I didn’t even plan to tell you all of this,” he admitted, bashfully looking down at their hands, Jinki began to feel a warmth in his chest and cheeks, “I’m going to be a hundred percent honest with you right now because I’ve realized how strongly I feel about you and I want to do this right.” Jinki took a deep breath, gathering his courage again. 

“Jonghyun, would you like to go on a date with me?” he asked hopefully. 

The younger boy put one hand on Jinki’s thigh and the other wrapped behind the back of his neck as he pulled them in for a sweet kiss. Jinki pulled back slightly, 

“So, I’ll take that as a-” 

“Yes!” Jonghyun playfully growled, melting their lips together once again. 

The boys ended their kiss with the gentlest of pecks. Jonghyun’s hand caressed the back of Jinki’s head. 

“You know,” he started, “you never told me why you were here.” he chuckled. 

“Oh. I was just here with mY COWORKER” Jinki screamed, bolting up and running out of the room with Jonghyun in tow. 

Jinki threw open the door to see Minho sitting on the couch, multi-colored lights dancing across his chocolate brown hair. The university student looked up at the sudden bang and his eyes immediately latched onto the boys’ clasped hands. This was worse than he thought. There’s no use competing in a match that’s already over; the fight was lost before Minho even started. 

“Minho, I am so so sorry. I ran into my. . .friend?” Jinki gave the younger boy a quizzical look before continuing, “and we just lost track of time so-” 

“It’s fine.” Minho interjected, slapping the songbook in his lap shut. 

“Our time’s almost up and you seem a lot happier now anyway.” he said, looking pointedly at their hands. 

Jinki waved their clasped hands in the air but didn’t let go. 

“Yea. Something good happened.” Jinki beamed, the younger smacked his arm and tried to pull away but Jinki held on even tighter. 

“Oh! I’m being rude. Jonghyun this is my new coworker, Minho.” he said. 

Both boys gave a slight bow to the other and shook hands briefly. 

“Hyung, how are you getting home?” Jonghyun asked. 

It turned out that Minho’s school was a lot farther, so he decided to take a cab home. Jinki turned to Jonghyun and smiled as they stood at the entrance to Sydney’s Singing Room waiting for the bus. That night, Jinki had the second best bus ride of his life. 

. . . 

As he walked out of the steamy bathroom to his bed, his phone pinged back to back. One message he expected, another quite unexpected. 

Jinki squinted at the screen and read the text from Gwiboon: 

can we talk? 

yea wassup? 

Boonie is typing…

He set down his phone to towel dry his hair and a couple of minutes later. Bzz 

do u hate me?  

Boonie, no! ur my a1 day1. id never hate u 

K. gud to kno. U know how i feel, tho. I jus...need sum time jinx :’( 

Take all the time u need. Ima always be here for you. 100 

I still hate u but i love you lol. Nite jinx 

Jinki chuckled, shaking his head. Ah, Gwiboon. Easy to anger, easier to love, he thought. Knowing Gwiboon, they'd be alright. He checked another message on kakaotalk from Jonghyun. His stomach got butterflies at the sight of the younger’s profile picture with his puppy. 

Hey Hyung~ when is our dateeee? ;) 

Jonghyun was beyond adorable. A wide grin split Jinki’s face in half as he replied, 

Tomorrow nite. It’s a surprise 

Bzz 

Bzz

Bzz

The boys continued to text into the night and Jinki drifted off to sleep in his towel knowing he had the best of both worlds.

A/N:  yay, another chapter and not 5 years later this time :/ lol. Im thinking of the date chapter n wat the date should b like (sigh). well, hopefully yall like it. thanks for reading n pls comment^^ HAPPY JUNETEENTH!