A/n: This fic was supposed to be a one-shot and now it might be three or four parts. No more than four. I got a bit carried away the past two days with writing, and this part is already over 7,000 words and I'm not close to the end yet :s Ideally the next part will be the end, if not it will be a four-part fic of random cheesy, cheery, fluffy blah. This is all for my wife, the only person I can write stuff like this for. Don't expect another update nearly this soon; my break is coming to an end and I have to return to intense amounts of university work (essays and tests and reading galore) so I won't be writing again soon most likely.

Jongin spent the whole of his day at the shop practically bouncing through the flowers, anticipating Kyungsoo’s arrival. He couldn’t think of a better word to describe himself than chipper, and he hated that word. He hated himself for being so lame, but he was always lame so he figured there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Somehow, in his excitement, he had become extremely OCD, and spent all eight of the hours working rearranging every single flower, sorting them by colour and within colours by shades, disposing of the dead ones, and generally acting like a crazy person. Not a lot of people came in, but he could tell they all thought he was weird, even (especially) the regular customers who knew him. (It probably didn’t help that he jumped every time the door opened, and it only got worse as it neared five o’clock.)

At four, he attempted to meditate to calm himself down before Kyungsoo got there and he really embarrassed himself. Eventually he ended up in the hydrangeas, distracting himself by counting the vibrant flowers. He went through them, and then began counting individual petals; when he was about halfway through that, the bell above the door chimed, and he glanced through a row of hanging plants to see Kyungsoo slipping into the shop.

“Jongin?”

Kyungsoo made his way over to the section of purple flowers, eyes wandering around the room in search of something – apparently, Jongin, whom he had yet to have spotted. Jongin grabbed a handful of the hydrangeas and hid them behind his back, sliding out of the aisle and into view, and Kyungsoo smiled at the sight of him. Jongin held out the flowers cheesily and bowed his head, saying, “For you.”

It wasn’t something he’d thought about; he’d just done it, and he was already regretting it. Could he be more obvious? Sure, this was the kind of dumb crap he’d pull with Sehun, but what if Kyungsoo had already caught on to him liking him?

But Kyungsoo just took the flowers with a laugh and thanked him, and when Jongin glanced up he didn’t even seem fazed by the stupid act.

“I think my dad would shoot me if he saw me doing that,” Jongin told him, hopefully breaking any awkwardness. Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow, and then pulled his lip between his teeth slightly, cheeks becoming rosy. At the sight, Jongin followed what was undoubtedly Kyungsoo’s thought process, and hurriedly went on, “I mean, because he’s – I don’t mean like that-“ He cut himself off, resisting the temptation to fan himself as his face grew hot. I swear I wasn’t offering you flowers because I’m totally crushing on you and my dad wouldn’t approve of that. His dad wasn’t even homophobic, but at this point, Jongin wouldn’t mind being shot by him. Or anyone. Someone save me from my idiotic self so I stop being so stupid in front of this perfect being.

Kyungsoo was still waiting for him patiently, although he was holding the flowers awkwardly now as if he didn’t know what to do with them. He was also blushing further since Jongin had started to. “I just mean,” Jongin continued when he had control of his mouth again. “My dad is into the whole flowers-have-special-meanings thing, you know, how roses mean love and stuff like that.”

“Oh.” Kyungsoo gave a nod, and a tiny, curious smile returned to his lips. “So what do these ones mean then?” He held up the flowers; Jongin got the feeling he’d forgotten the name again, and he sort of adored that.

“They’re kind of… heartless?” Jongin shrugged, and Kyungsoo stared at the flowers before a laugh burst out of him. Taking it as encouragement, Jongin regained his confidence (at least a little), and went on. “They’re like, ‘I’m indifferent to you’, and like, ‘Thanks for understanding’. Basically, when you’re a jerk to someone who cares about you and you don’t really feel bad, you’d give them hydrangeas. That’s the idea anyway. I don’t really buy into it; just my dad takes it as gospel.”

“That’s cute,” Kyungsoo told him, and then he frowned. “Not the hydrangea thing. I didn’t know these flowers were so mean; I just thought they were pretty…”

Jongin’s heart squeezed a bit, and he said consolingly, “Hey, if you like them, you like them. They don’t really have any meaning. I mean, they can if you want, but they’re just flowers.”

“I’ll never look at them the same way now,” Kyungsoo said sadly, and then he looked up at Jongin with a grin, which was a relief. “I might have to find different flowers now though. Do you know what all the different ones mean?”

“Unfortunately,” Jongin groaned, but he smiled anyway. “I was raised on this kinda stuff. We have like, books of flowers and all their meanings and when they bloom and where they grow and…” Kyungsoo was giving him an amused look, and he could feel his forehead scrunched into a frown – the frown of grudgingly knowing too much about flowers and being made to talk about them as if they mattered.

“That’s really neat,” Kyungsoo told him, and it bothered Jongin how genuine he sounded. Why is he so dang nice? He’s even nice about my lame flower life.

“It’s really useless,” he countered, trying not to sound too argumentative. “I’d rather have grown up learning how to cook.”

“Maybe,” Kyungsoo nodded gravely. “But then we never would have met.” He maintained a somber look until Jongin cracked a grin, and then Kyungsoo mirrored it back.

“Well, when you put it like that…” I’m very grateful for being a flower boy, then.

They spent a while longer chatting, Jongin telling him about various flowers, and Kyungsoo commenting on things as if he was actually paying attention and interested in a bunch of boring old plants. (Kyungsoo was really too nice. It made Jongin mad.) At some point he brought up Sehun, and then Kyungsoo mentioned Chanyeol, and something about the two names together noticeably changed Kyungsoo’s whole attitude. He grew quiet, almost shy, like he was afraid to say anything more to Jongin. A few seconds later he was checking his watch, and suggesting that they get going so they wouldn’t be late for his own dinner, and then Jongin was closing down the shop and following after the older, feeling like he somehow had done something wrong.

After a timed full minute of silence in the car, Jongin asked, “Did I say something? I feel like I upset you or something.”

“No, no,” Kyungsoo said quickly, eyes not leaving the road. “Nothing. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Okay…”

Further silence fell, and Jongin didn’t really believe that he was innocent here. Too diminished to break the fallen hush, he sat there listening to the too-quiet music and trying to keep up with where they were going.

“Chanyeol’s just – a really open guy,” Kyungsoo said finally, making Jongin flinch a bit at the suddenness. “He says it all the time. It’s kind of annoying, actually, but – there’s really no better way to describe him. Really open. He’ll try anything, do anything, accept anything…” He weighed the word heavily, and Jongin got the feeling Kyungsoo was trying to tell him something. But he couldn’t catch Kyungsoo’s eye at all; the older was focusing painfully attentively on the road. “And he’s my best friend, so… I hope that’s okay with you.”

Jongin blinked. His mind was feeling kind of ????? right now. “Okay?” he offered dumbly. Was he not supposed to be okay with Kyungsoo’s “open” best friend, or had he completely missed something? (He probably had missed something. He did that in Kyungsoo’s presence a lot, and he blamed the other for it entirely. This is what happens when you’re cute, he shot at Kyungsoo internally.)

“He’s really open,” Kyungsoo repeated slowly, and Jongin just nodded.

“Yeah… You said that.” He was starting to feel stupid again. (In his mind, he heard Sehun’s voice reminding him, You’re always stupid, stupid.) “I don’t think I’m understanding you here,” he confessed after a minute, because Kyungsoo was still burning holes in the windshield with his uber-focused laser-eyes, and somehow Jongin felt like that was intended to be directed at him.

And he was right. Kyungsoo peeled his eyes off the road for a second to shoot him a look, and Jongin felt more melty than usual when their eyes met (and not a good melty, either).

“He’s gay,” Kyungsoo told him when he looked away again, and Jongin watched as a blush rose up his neck, stretching for his ears. “Chanyeol’s gay. Mostly. Like I said, he’s open to things, and he says he’d be with a girl if he met one he liked but… normally he likes guys.”

It was Jongin’s turn to fall silent now. This wasn’t news to him – Sehun had assured him of how Kyungsoo’s best friend was definitely into guys by the way he was always hitting on him – but Jongin had no clue how to react. Obviously, this was serious for Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo didn’t want him to think less of Chanyeol for his preference. But Jongin had no idea how to read Kyungsoo’s approach to this. Did Kyungsoo accept people being gay, or was Chanyeol a special exception? Should Jongin tell Kyungsoo he liked guys, or would it be better to hold that one in? Maybe it would be too obvious. Jongin was almost certain Kyungsoo knew he liked him, and if he had any doubts, Jongin telling him he was bi would only confirm that. So maybe Kyungsoo was posing the whole my best friend is gay thing to him as a way to test Jongin. And honestly, Jongin didn’t know what the right answer was.

Eventually he landed on, “Okay,” and was quickly kicking himself internally for using the same response for the third time in a row. “That’s okay,” he said again anyway. “I’m – I’m cool with that.” He wanted to say I’m into guys too, but he couldn’t get it out. At least if Kyungsoo had made it clear that Jongin could never have him, he could’ve played it off and jokingly asking him to hook him up with Chanyeol or something. But no. As usual, Jongin was a wimp.

“Really?” Another glance, and Jongin nodded quickly. “That’s good. I’m glad then.” Jongin continued to nod inanely, clueless as to how to follow up all of that, but Kyungsoo saved him from having to start a new topic by spilling, “Chanyeol likes Sehun.”

As soon as the words were out, Kyungsoo stopped the car, and Jongin had no idea where they were but that there were rows of houses on either side of the street. He wondered if they were anywhere near Kyungsoo’s house, but it didn’t matter because Kyungsoo was staring at him, flushed very red and clearly waiting for Jongin’s reaction. Stupidly, Jongin just replied, “I know.”

“You know?” Kyungsoo didn’t seem to be prepared for that answer. Jongin nodded again. “How?”

“According to Sehun, it’s pretty hard not to tell,” he said quietly, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s not really a big deal to me.”

Kyungsoo studied him for a long time, eyes searching his face for something, anything to fuel his doubt; but Jongin meant what he’d said, and Kyungsoo came up empty, only to ask again, “Really?” At that moment, seeing Kyungsoo’s eyes filled with protectiveness and doubt and innocence, Jongin was struck with the desire to kiss him, and he actually leaned in slightly before catching himself and just telling Kyungsoo, yes. Bobbing his head slowly, Kyungsoo swallowed hard, letting the lines in his forehead fade as he seemed to accept Jongin’s word. Then his eyes were glancing to the dashboard, and he shifted the car into reverse, backing into the driveway they’d been idling out front of.

“Everyone’s going to be here soon,” he said softly. “We should probably be inside when they arrive.”

Jongin looked out the rear-view mirror to catch sight of the house they were outside of and uttered, “You live here?”

“Were you expecting something different?” Kyungsoo returned, and his lighthearted manner had come back finally, to Jongin’s relief. He shook his head; somehow the house suited Kyungsoo: small, modern, and somehow humble.

Once they got inside, Jongin began to slip out of his jacket when he felt Kyungsoo helping him, and shivers shot down his spine at the thoughts invoked by Kyungsoo undressing him. He’d already had enough of those thoughts all week imagining him being in a car alone with Kyungsoo; he really needed to get a hold of himself.

He didn’t have much choice on that, seeing as the two weren’t alone for very long when others started arriving. Chanyeol was the first to show up, taking his seemingly permanent position as third wheel (although Jongin was sure he was probably the real third wheel among the two who clearly had known each other for ages, but Kyungsoo never let him feel left out, so there wasn’t any awkwardness with them). Chanyeol seemed put out by the fact that Sehun wasn’t coming – because he had some other thing to do (aka, he was avoiding Chanyeol, and they all knew it) – but it hardly seemed to affect his energy. Jongin couldn’t help wondering, throughout the evening, how someone like Chanyeol could be attracted to someone as lethargic as Sehun; seriously, Sehun was always calm, too calm, laid back, indifferent, and Chanyeol was just… explosive. They were the epitome of the whole “opposites attract” thing, he supposed (minus Sehun’s lack of attraction, which spouted from Sehun’s general lack of attraction to the same ).

The rest of the evening went well, and Jongin was smart enough to save himself the pain of sitting beside Kyungsoo during dinner (although he ended up across from him instead, and he wasn’t sure it was much better being in the perfect position to stare at the older). It was Chanyeol instead who sat beside him, and while they were eating, Chanyeol began messing around.

He was very subtle – subtle enough that Jongin likely wouldn’t have even noticed it. A couple minutes into dinner, Jongin felt something brush against his foot, and out of surprise pulled his foot back, half wondering if it was Kyungsoo (which got his heart racing because Kyungsoo playing footsies with him was a far-fetched dream and oh my gosh this can’t be real; it wasn’t real). Chanyeol saw his reaction and held in a grin, and Jongin was beginning to believe that he was actually transparent to everyone and they all knew about his crush on Kyungsoo. Then, for reasons unknown, Jongin saw Kyungsoo’s elbow dig into Chanyeol’s side, the boy not saying a word about it, and Chanyeol wincing but grinning further. A few minutes later, it happened again, and Kyungsoo kept jabbing Chanyeol with his elbow throughout the meal for no apparent reason. It was only when Jongin felt something drift across the front of his jeans again that he put it together – Chanyeol having kicked Jongin had been an accident; he had been aiming for Kyungsoo’s feet. And suddenly, Jongin’s stomach was churning.

Were they the ones playing footsies?

He tried not to jump to conclusions. More than anything, Kyungsoo looked increasingly annoyed and flustered every time he would hit Chanyeol, and it didn’t seem like the cute kind of annoyed either. Having an idea of their relationship, Jongin compared it to Sehun and him; if Sehun was kicking him under the table, it would certainly not be in a flirtatious way. (If Sehun was doing it, it would be because he was an annoying prick of a best friend, and wasn’t that what Chanyeol was to Kyungsoo?) So if he was reading any romance into it, it was because he was imagining things. Right?

It didn’t get any better when Kyungsoo went off to the kitchen to bring out dessert, and Chanyeol followed after him. And then they were gone for several minutes, and Jongin ended up offering to go see if they needed help or something, since the rest of the guys were chatting among themselves but seemed to be getting a bit restless (which is what happens when a group of guys are promised dessert and the delivery is not immediate).

Jongin went out very nervously, almost expecting to walk in on the two making out against the counter or something, but he was spared from that tragedy. Instead he found the two standing very close together and talking quietly, Chanyeol with his back to the doorway. Kyungsoo was flushed in his cheeks, and when he caught sight of Jongin, he seemed to only go redder, stepping back from his best friend, who looked round to see Jongin there. Feeling intrusive, Jongin stumbled out a suggestion for him to carry out something, and Kyungsoo passed him a bowl, grabbing another to take out himself. Nothing was said on what he and Chanyeol had been saying or doing, and Jongin tried not to think about it for the time being.

After they’d all eaten – and Jongin had had his mind blown away because Kyungsoo’s ability to cook was beyond amazing, and he wanted to ask Kyungsoo to come live with him so he could make all his meals (amongst other things) – a couple people left, and the rest of them hung around in Kyungsoo’s little living room, chatting and cracking open a few beers (which Jongin noticed Kyungsoo didn’t drink any of, though he didn’t stop himself from downing a couple throughout the night). And somehow, when everyone else had left, it was just the two of them and Chanyeol again.

“So I guess I’ll leave you two alone then,” Chanyeol announced eventually, and Jongin couldn’t help taking that inappropriately, eyes moving to Kyungsoo to catch his reaction. He looked somewhat flustered, but he didn’t say so.

“Go home Chanyeol,” he said instead. “You’re drunk. Actually… I guess you can’t drive on your-”

“Please, Soo, I had like two beers, and they weren’t even recent,” Chanyeol cut him off. “Don’t be a mom; it’s a buzzkill.”

“You shouldn’t have a buzz for me to kill,” Kyungsoo muttered, then shrugged. “Go home, then.”

“Have fun,” Chanyeol sing-songed in response. Kyungsoo glared the entire time as he put on his coat and shoes and waved at them, giving Jongin a cheery goodbye and heading out the door.

When he was gone, Kyungsoo grumbled, “Seriously the worst person I’ve ever met,” and for some reason Jongin find it both hilarious and very y. He needed to be going home now; the alcohol had disordered his system, and he didn’t want to be coming onto Kyungsoo in his own house. That would only be awful.

“I guess I should go too,” Jongin told him slowly, and Kyungsoo almost looked surprised that he’d said it. What other options did he have anyway?

“You’re welcome to stay if you want,” Kyungsoo offered, and Jongin’s heart dropped (somewhere between his legs). Not trusting himself not to give him away, he just shook his head, and within a couple minutes they were back in Kyungsoo’s car, Jongin attempting to give directions back to his house. He wasn’t very helpful; soon he just gave Kyungsoo his address, and Kyungsoo followed the GPS on his phone instead. It wasn’t more than a ten minute drive, but somehow Jongin managed to fall asleep, and when he woke up again there was a small, warm hand on his thigh, and he met Kyungsoo’s eyes with very wide ones of his own. In seconds the warmth was gone, and Kyungsoo told him gently that he was pretty sure they were at his apartment. Jongin glanced beyond the other through the window and saw the familiar building, nodding.

“Thank you,” he uttered groggily, hating his sleep-filled voice as he got out of the car and opting out from saying anything more. Like how cute Kyungsoo was, or how his hands were welcome on his thighs – and anywhere else – any time.

“See you next week Jongin,” Kyungsoo said after him. Jongin gave a tired wave and closed the door, and then Kyungsoo was driving off.

Jongin didn’t know why he was so tired that night (this was a lie; it was the alcohol. Drinking always made him tired eventually) but he went up to his apartment and didn’t even stay awake to hear Sehun’s teasing (he knew there would be teasing), collapsing on his bed and falling asleep right away.

“

The next few weeks passed by cooking (miserably), flower-selling, and untangling Kyungsoo’s complicated relationship with his best friend (to almost no avail). He spent hours contemplating their every action together (especially whatever he had walked in on them doing in Kyungsoo's kitchen, which was driving him crazy), everything Kyungsoo had said about Chanyeol, and harassing any information out of Sehun, as well as begging his best friend to get details from Chanyeol at every opportunity. The latter only happened because Sehun “had nothing better to do in class anyway”, and talking to Chanyeol was practically unavoidable for him. Meanwhile, Jongin asked Kyungsoo as frequently as it wouldn’t seem suspicious about Chanyeol, and it didn’t seem to be raising any flags until one day Kyungsoo spoke out against it.

“Are you interested in my best friend?” Kyungsoo gave in response to one of his questions one evening while they were trying to make kimbap rolls. Jongin paused, frowning at him. “Don’t pretend. Chanyeol told me you’re into guys; I’m wondering if one of those guys is him.”

Jongin blanked. “How does he know-?”

“Sehun told him,” Kyungsoo shrugged. “Do you want to date my best friend or not?”

“What – no – I thought he liked Sehun?” Sehun, who was going to get his kicked when Jongin got him alone. How could he have told Chanyeol he liked guys?! Kyungsoo was his best friend, for goodness sake, did he think Chanyeol wouldn’t relay that information to him?

“He does, but there’s only so far a gay guy can go trying to convince a straight guy to like him,” Kyungsoo pointed out. Ouch. That felt oddly familiar to Jongin. “You aren’t trying to go after him then?”

Jongin shook his head firmly. “No. Just because I like guys, doesn’t mean I like every guy. Or every gay guy, either.”

With that, Kyungsoo nodded slowly, returning his attention to rolling the kimbap into perfect cylinders (far superior to Jongin’s lumpy, messy ones that were falling apart at the seams). “I’m sorry for making assumptions then. I didn’t even believe him when he told me, but then you started asking me about him, and I started wondering.”

“When did he tell you?” Jongin probed, watching Kyungsoo’s careful hands and trying to copy his movements. When did Sehun tell him?

“At the first dinner party you went to,” Kyungsoo explained. “I thought maybe something happened then, you two hit it off and he was shifting his interest, and the very next week you started asking about him. Can you see my thought pattern there?”

“Yeah, I can. But it’s not like that,” he assured him again. “Chanyeol seems nice and all but… honestly,” he lowered his voice, and felt a pang of guilt for what he was about to say, because it was very much a lie and Sehun would be pissed if he found out (served him right for outing Jongin to Kyungsoo’s best friend). “It’s Sehun who asked me to find out about him.” Kyungsoo looked up at him, eyebrows shooting up his forehead, and Jongin nodded, finding it hard to meet his eyes but doing so anyway until Kyungsoo returned his gaze to his hands. “He hasn’t told me he likes him – I’ve asked him, he flat-out denies it still – but I think… maybe? He’s curious anyway, which, I mean, he’s never been before.”

Oh yeah. Sehun would totally kick his if this was ever brought to his awareness. He hoped Kyungsoo wouldn’t spill it, and he asked for the older not to, which Kyungsoo promised.

The whole conversation didn’t make Jongin feel any more secure in just what Kyungsoo’s feelings were towards Chanyeol. Was he being protective out of jealousy? Did he not want Chanyeol to like Jongin – or Sehun – so Chanyeol would like him instead? Jongin could already imagine the nights he would spend lying awake and wandering in circles without ever reaching an answer.

In that same vein, Jongin was improving no further when it came to his proficiency in cuisine. He wasn’t sure how he was still managing to fail so miserably at everything when he had Kyungsoo for a teacher (although he suspected part of it was having Kyungsoo for a teacher) after over two months in the class. Half of the original students when he’d joined had discontinued, and had their spots replaced with new faces who were all still more skilled than Jongin could dream of being. At best, he could at least make a decent pancake now two out of three times, and he was no better at anything else.

He was constantly growing increasingly more frustrated with himself, and Kyungsoo seemed to have realized this. On the same night they had their conversation about his interest in guys and (lack thereof) in Chanyeol, Kyungsoo put forward the idea of giving him extra lessons every week in hopes of him improving.

“I don’t know what your work schedule is-”

“Monday to Friday, nine to five. Every week, forever,” Jongin put in, somehow feigning an intense calm when he was feeling in no way an internal intense calm. His thoughts were somewhere along the lines of fjslkfjodriuhepfdivposgioepitmgopweimgspdkfbsldjhfvociubpetomisbodvbj right now.

“Really? The place I work in is closed Sundays,” Kyungsoo told him brightly, pleased by the convenience. “Are you free then?”

“I’m always free,” Jongin answered immediately, and then felt like an idiot. You are so lame. Kyungsoo just smiled, and he added, “I have no life,” to which the older laughed.

“Me neither,” Kyungsoo admitted. “I work and teach these classes, and talk to Chanyeol. I’m really boring.”

“I don’t think that’s true at all,” Jongin returned, and then shut his mouth so he couldn’t say anything more. He knows you could like him; don’t make it worse. Kyungsoo was straight, this had been established. Besides, if Jongin had had any success in swaying his feelings, he would’ve made it clear by now; he knew about his attraction to guys, there was nothing stopping Kyungsoo from saying he’d give him a chance. There’s only so far a gay guy can go trying to convince a straight guy to like him.

“You only see me a couple hours a week,” Kyungsoo noted. “Anyway, what time on Sunday is good for you?” Jongin shrugged, suggesting the same time as classes. “That could work. Or… you could come over around four, and we could make dinner. If you have to eat what you make, you’ll be more motivated to make it right. Plus, it’s good practice for when you’re really cooking for yourself.”

The way he said it made it feel like an invitation to have dinner with him – every Sunday. Like Jongin would be dumb enough to ever turn that down. So he accepted and promised to be over Sunday afternoon, and mentally promised himself that he would work exceptionally hard to become a better cook, if he was going to be making Kyungsoo’s dinner for him every week from then on.

“

“Oh Sehun.”

Jongin was blocking the doorway to his room, the younger having just gotten out of the shower. He hadn’t said a word to Sehun since they had left class that night, and now he was making their confrontation unavoidable.

“No Sehun,” Sehun shot back, looking uninterested but also slightly worried, and trying to step past Jongin unsuccessfully. “I know that look. I don’t know what I did but it’s probably your own fault anyway, and regardless I don’t really care.” Jongin was glaring invisible daggers to attack Sehun’s soul, but Sehun had no soul, and the daggers only met air. “I’m assuming this is why you won’t talk to me, and it probably has something to do with Kyungsoo, which is your own damn problem.”

Once again, he tried to push past Jongin, and Jongin didn’t budge. “You,” he said heavily. “You, Oh Sehun, are the epitome of total jerk. You have passed being jerk best friend, and have actually put yourself in just jerk zone.”

Sehun blinked, then glanced passed Jongin to his room, down to the pajamas in his hand, and then back to Jongin. “Can I at least be dressed before we have this conversation? I feel at a disadvantage being cold and here.”

“You told Chanyeol I’m bi!” Jongin snapped as Sehun finally got by him. Sehun just threw him a glance and started getting dressed. “Chanyeol, of all people! Did you not think he would turn around and tell Kyungsoo? Because he did. Kyungsoo knows I like guys. I was holding on to the fact that he didn’t know that, so he wouldn’t be able to know I liked him!”

“I never told Chanyeol anything,” Sehun told him indifferently as he pulled his shirt over his head. “Maybe Kyungsoo just figured it out and lied about Chanyeol telling him.”

“He said Chanyeol told him over a month ago, and he didn’t believe him then!”

“Well, I don’t know, Jongin,” Sehun retorted, and then he was moving back out of his room and going to the kitchen. Jongin trailed after him, hardly finished with the subject. Sensing this, Sehun added, “Maybe Chanyeol has a gay-dar and detected your off-the-charts gayness for his best friend. Did Kyungsoo actually say I told Chanyeol, or did he just say he found out from Chanyeol, because those are two different things.”

“He said you told him!” Jongin returned in frustration. Sehun turned around to look at him, face impassive, and Jongin could tell they were both mad now, but he was the only one with a real reason to be. He hadn’t sold out his best friend like a total jerk. “Think back to the first few weeks of classes. Is there any time it might have accidentally slipped out or something?”

“No,” was the immediate reply, and Jongin knew he hadn’t thought about it. A second later though, Sehun’s gaze shifted, and he stared off in the distance for a moment before biting his lip and stating, “Maybe.”

Jongin let out a whining, animal-esque cry of vexation and self-pity, leaning against the table so he didn’t collapse into a ball of sadness. “Sehun!”

“I’m sorry!” Sehun cried. “Gosh, it was like the first day, and I was trying to be a wingman and find out if Kyungsoo was gay and he got all suspicious and I told him I was cool with people being gay because you were sort of and – I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking about it, geez. I didn’t think he’d do anything with it.”

Jongin just let out another wailing sound, and then grabbed the small bouquet of orange lilies from the vase in the centre of the table, pulling them out and hitting Sehun with them. “You know what these flowers mean? They mean ‘I hate you’, because I – hate – you!” He punctuated each word with a swat, and Sehun just took the abuse wearily until Jongin had worn himself out (and the petals had all littered the floor). There was only a tiny bit of satisfaction in the convenient hate-conveying flowers, and that satisfaction died with them. The younger apologized again, but Jongin had the feeling he didn’t fully mean it, and he went off to his room to sulk for the rest of the night, slamming his door loudly and burying his head in his pillow. Sehun came knocking after a few minutes, but he went ignored as Jongin drowned in feeling sorry for himself.

“I’m sorry,” Sehun said again from the other side of the door. “I’m sure he doesn’t care if you’re bi, or if you like him, otherwise he wouldn’t spend so much time with you during classes.”

“Go away!” Jongin whined childishly, and Sehun groaned quietly outside. There was another moment’s silence, and then Sehun opened the door a bit, peeking inside. Jongin threw his pillow at the door and yelled at him to go away again. Once again, he hid his face in the bed, now pillowless (he needed something new to throw at Sehun when the boy pissed him off).

But instead of leaving him alone as asked, Sehun came into the room, picking up Jongin’s pillow and holding it out to Jongin, who didn’t raise his head. “Here,” Sehun said, still waiting. Another minute of stubbornness and Jongin grabbed the pillow, giving no thanks. He heard Sehun sit in his chair, and felt a bit like crying.

“I think you’re making a big deal out of this,” Sehun told him. Jongin only pouted harder and turned his back, grabbing his blanket and throwing it over himself. “But I’m sorry,” Sehun went on, undeterred. After eight years knowing each other and three living together, Sehun knew him inside and out, and had experience with this kind of behaviour from Jongin, so he very well knew how to handle him. “I wish Kyungsoo was interested in you, so I wouldn’t have to put up with this, and with Chanyeol, and everything else.

“If it makes you feel any better,” he continued as he received no response from Jongin. “Chanyeol says Kyungsoo always has nice things to say about you.” Jongin lifted his head at that – not looking at Sehun still, but with the tiniest inkling of hope. “Besides how bad you are at making anything.”

“Sehun!” Jongin wailed, and his head disappeared again. Sehun tried apologizing, muttering that it was true and he thought that was just an accepted fact but whatever, and then they were both quiet, listening to the distant sound of traffic passing outside.

As neither of them spoke, rain began to patter on the window, and Jongin accepted it as the sky being sad for his pitiful life. Within a few minutes, it was pouring down, and Jongin really did want to cry with it. It was all coming to his realization that Kyungsoo, like so many guys he’d liked before, was not going to ever reciprocate his feelings. And even though this was nothing new to him, it hurt as much as it always did, because he’d convinced himself that Kyungsoo was The One, even though he’d never had a hope from the start. He wished he had never agreed to going to Kyungsoo’s classes, and that Kyungsoo had never come into his store – why did it have to be his store, over all the other flower shops around? It wasn’t even nearby his house or anything.

It didn’t matter though. It just hurt.

“

It was going on three months that Sehun had been going to these cooking lessons with Jongin. Which was twenty-five thousand won every week, in return for a lot of suffering on the other’s behalf. (He did learn a couple recipes and better ways to make things he already knew, but still. If Jongin didn’t have his rich flower parents and couldn’t afford the hundred-and-fifty thousand won a month for the two to be taking these classes, Sehun would’ve dropped out by now.) This meant nearly three months of putting up with Park Chanyeol just to watch Jongin make a fool of himself on a weekly basis trying to impress his crush-senpai and breaking his own heart.

The latter part slowly began to become more prominent, especially after Jongin found out that Kyungsoo knew he was bi. And Sehun really did feel sorry for him (except for the part where he’d told Kyungsoo that Sehun might like Chanyeol – what the hell?!). Having known Jongin as long as he did, he had watched this all happen before. Jongin was in an endless cycle of falling in love with the wrong people – and either they would date and it would be a terrible relationship, or the guy (it was almost always guys Jongin had this problem with; you’d think he’d take a hint and give up on them) would be completely uninterested, generally because they were straight. Kyungsoo, of course, fell into the second category, which Sehun considered the better of the two – it was between Jongin pining over something that never would be, or going through tough and damaging relationship plus break-ups that left him far more scarred – and for once Sehun was actually sorry about it. He kind of thought he and Jongin would be good together, unless Kyungsoo had some hidden inner-beast or something. And he had the feeling Jongin was more serious about him too, even knowing it was going nowhere; and that probably had to do with the fact that he was being led on.

Of course, he was the one leading himself on, convincing himself into thinking that things might change despite no signs of interest having yet to show on Kyungsoo’s behalf. But Sehun couldn’t really tell him to stop because 1) Jongin didn’t listen to Sehun like ever, and 2) there was something that made even Sehun want him to keep trying to fight the odds. It was Jongin, after all, and he really meant what he said about how if anyone, Jongin could change a guy’s thinking on things.

(This was not, of course, to suggest that Sehun had ever thought of Jongin that way, because ew. The only time Sehun would have been dumb enough to fall for Jongin would have been when they first met, and back in seventh grade Jongin was as dorky-looking as he was a person, so Sehun was spared. Even when Jongin got through puberty and came out somehow gorgeous, it was by then too late. And Sehun didn’t like guys anyway.)

Speaking of liking guys and changing uality, Sehun was definitely not interested in Chanyeol, and was not rethinking his whole life in any way over the guy. How had Chanyeol not gotten that message? Like, okay sure, he was a pretty cool guy, and Sehun thought they’d actually be friends if Chanyeol didn’t spend all his time hitting on him and being totally unwavering no matter how clear Sehun made things. But no. No such luck for Oh Sehun. And it was completely exhausting, yet Chanyeol never seemed to tire out, which Sehun had no idea how to cope with. He could only say no so many times.

That did not mean he would say yes.

Sehun lived a very difficult life; he felt sorry for himself. He was thinking all of this as he and Jongin walked to class, the other being very quiet which was becoming more common for him. The next part of the pattern – after he hit the lowest point of his depression – would be giving up on Kyungsoo altogether, bottoming out in his misery and staying there for an age, and then finding someone new. Sehun wondered if Jongin was thinking about this at all, or if he’d already realized his inevitable doom. But Sehun didn’t ask him about that. Instead he began preparing for the next two hours of Enduring Park Chanyeol.

This went by as bearably as it ever did (aka, unbearably). Sometime in the middle of class, Chanyeol actually did go quiet for a few minutes, and when Sehun gave him a glance, he saw the older watching Kyungsoo and Jongin. Memories of Jongin’s countless complaints flashed through his mind, of how he was worried that there may be more than friendship between the two. Sehun knocked this up to jealousy most of the time, but there were times – like now – that he sort of understood what Jongin was talking about. Chanyeol was just… the way he was looking at them – at Kyungsoo? – was weird. But then, Chanyeol was weird, so maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

Finally, Chanyeol fell out of his trance and spoke up. “Even Kyungsoo’s getting ahead of me,” he sighed.

“Ahead of you?” Sehun repeated, trying not to sound too curious. He didn’t ever want to give Chanyeol any signs of interest in anything.

“Yeah, him and Jongin are getting together on the weekends now.”

Sehun knew this very well. Very, very well. As if Jongin’s absence on Sunday nights weren’t enough, Jongin talked non-stop about the hours alone with crush-senpai.

“Kyungsoo doesn’t even like Jongin though,” Sehun pointed out.

“That’s my point!” Chanyeol exclaimed, waving a sauce-covered spoon around, contents flicking across the wall and his apron. “He’s not even trying to make any romantic endeavours, but they’re closer than we are now!”

“’Romantic endeavours’?” Sehun echoed skeptically. Chanyeol just nodded soberly and went back to stirring the sauce he was making. As usual, Sehun was only half-attentive to what they were making, focus divided between his best friend and the guy who never left him alone.

“That’s what you do when you like someone,” Chanyeol explained simply. “Which is you, me being the one doing the liking.”

“So, are you this annoying to everyone you like then?” Sehun prodded.

“I’m the same with everyone, whether I like you the way I like you or the way I like Kyungsoo or if you’re a stranger or if you’re my enemy. Not that I really have enemies.”

No enemies, but he had a habit of rambling. And talking too much in general. But maybe that was just Sehun’s opinion.

“What is the way you like Kyungsoo?” Sehun asked next, and that question was all for Jongin’s sake. Sehun didn’t care how Chanyeol felt about Kyungsoo one bit. (Maybe a little bit, but again, only for Jongin’s sake.)

“As my best friend, of course,” Chanyeol answered with a grin. He seemed proud, and it was probably because Sehun was talking to him, asking questions, seeming to care. Ugh. The things he did for Jongin. “There’s a difference between how I feel about him, as my little brother, and you, which is romantically. Hence the romantic endeavours,” he added with a wink. Weirdo.

“So anyway, Sehun,” he carried on cheerily as if Sehun was completely enraptured and not doing his best to come off as utterly bored. “It’s not like you have a girlfriend or anything, right?” Sehun shook his head once. No girlfriend. He’d been enjoying the single life for almost a year now, and didn’t mind it a bit. “Great. So there’d be no objections to hanging out with me this Sunday, right?”

“I’m not going on a date with you, Chanyeol,” Sehun replied instantly.

“I never said a date,” Chanyeol noted, and he had an annoyingly smug grin on his face, which made Sehun want to hit him. “But it’s good to know where your mind was.”

“Shut up,” Sehun snapped, feeling a bit frustrated when his cheeks started to feel warm. Stupid jerk trying to turn this around on me. “You were implying it. I’m not interested in you that way.”

Chanyeol just shrugged. “Then I’ll take you however you are interested in me. I just wanna hang out, outside of class for once. I won’t buy you flowers or anything, swearsies. Just two guys spending a Sunday afternoon together; none of that gay stuff. Maybe a couple beers, mediocre pizza. Normal guy stuff.”

A temporary stare-down elapsed between them, with Sehun scowling and trying to maintain utter disinterest, and Chanyeol giving his best excited look of bribing innocence. It was Sehun who spoke first, refusing to change his expression in the slightest as he uttered, “Fine.” At that, Chanyeol exploded with excitement, giving a cheer and then theatrically composing himself.

“Cool,” he said uber-calmly with an overly-intense serious face. He broke character for just a second to wink again, and then added, “Bro Sunday though. It will be awesome.”

Sehun felt far less assured.

A/n: It got a little sad for Jongin. And we got to see into the mind of No Sehun. And Chansoo is complicated and flowers have meanings and more on what Kaisoo are doing on their Sunday nights (plus Bro Sunday) coming not-so-soon. Thank you to you who are reading this and hopefully not judging me too hard. These are the things I do for my wonderful wife. <3