The first thing Jinki ever did after he woke up in the morning was head into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. His manager often scolded him for this because depending too much on caffeine was bad for him as an idol, yet Jinki kept drinking coffee anyway because he was sure he wouldn't be able to live through the day without his morning cup waking him up. His manager tried everything to keep Jinki from drinking coffee, but he always found a way around it, and since the manager didn't live with him, he was sure to get away with it.

But of course that was before Kim Jonghyun started living with him.

Jinki was always sluggish in the morning before his coffee, so he walked into the kitchen to brew himself a cup of it. Taemin and Kibum were in the kitchen when he arrived, happily chatting about Taemin's last dance. Jinki was glad Kibum was around to keep Taemin company, but Jinki was far too focused on his morning coffee to pay attention to what the two were saying.

"You're going to get scolded again." Taemin was muttering under his breath, but Jinki could hear it and only chose to ignore it because Taemin was probably hoping to see Jinki get scolded again.

Just as he reached for the coffee pot that had enough coffee for one cup left, a hand beat him to it, and Jinki was left to stare in bewilderment as Jonghyun stole his coffee. Of course, Jinki could just wait and brew himself another pot of coffee, but when he checked the cupboards for another pack of coffee beans, he realized to his horror that someone had removed all of his coffee beans.

"The managers said you're not allowed to have coffee." Jonghyun said simply, and Jinki turned his head to the younger that had his coffee in his hands and was drinking it as if nothing about the situation was wrong. 

"What makes them so sure that I won't just go out and buy myself a cup elsewhere?" Jinki asked with an eyebrow raised. He glanced back into the cupboards and then shut them with a sigh, deciding to grab an apple instead.

"I've been instructed to make sure you don't drink any coffee." Jonghyun answered, and his tone indicated that he would do anything to keep Jinki away from coffee, even if it meant exerting physical force.

Jinki took in a deep breath and put the apple down. Jonghyun was supposed to be a bodyguard for protection, but here he was acting like Jinki's babysitter instead. Heck, Jinki didn't even need a bodyguard to begin with, so having such restrictions on him only further cut into his privacy.

"Very well." he didn't want to argue with Jonghyun when the male was only doing his job, and his manager wouldn't relent for sure, so Jinki just had to follow everyone else's rules. His eyes darted over to Taemin, who certainly looked better than he did a couple of days ago, and then to Kibum. Kibum was also drinking his coffee, and Jinki bit back the sigh that was building in his chest. He turned to his own bodyguard to see Jonghyun was once again standing like a soldier, though his eyes never left Jinki, "Eat some breakfast. We leave for my schedule in twenty."

"Aren't you going to eat, hyungie?" Taemin asked, before they both tensed at the way he called the elder. Taemin hadn't called him with such endearment in years, and Jinki wasn't sure of why he was doing so now.

"I made enough for you, too." Kibum announced, gesturing over to the stove with a light wave of a hand.

Jinki only bowed his head to them and returned to his room to get ready. When he came back down, he found Jonghyun eating with Taemin and Kibum, though he looked a lot more comfortable with the two of them than when he was with Jinki. The elder wasn't offended by this, of course, because Jonghyun was just another face in his life; so when he realized it was time to go, he just quietly slipped out of the house and made his way towards his first schedule without Jonghyun.

"Jinki, where's Jonghyun?" his manager expected Jinki to follow protocol because his bodyguard was supposed to be with him all day long, but Jinki showed up without Jonghyun and that was enough to have Jonghyun fired.

"I left before he noticed, it's not his fault." Jinki didn't want Jonghyun to be fired because he knew that having the silent male around made Taemin happier, who was always lonely before the two arrived.

The manager scolded him, of course, since there was a reason why Jonghyun had been hired in the first place, but before he could get too far with his angry scolding, the very object of their conversation arrived before them. Jinki glanced at him and returned his attention to the lyrics of the song he was supposed to learn.

"I'm sorry for being late." Jonghyun sounded much more comfortable talking to Jinki's manager as well, and Jinki pulled the lyrics away from his face to listen in to their conversation.

"It's alright." his manager clapped Jonghyun on the shoulder gently and then nodded his head over in Jinki's direction, "I know he's a tricky one."

With that, the manager left and Jinki was left to stare at the male that once more had a blank face as he returned the elder's stare.

"Feel free to have a seat." There were seats scattered around the small lounge the two of them were in, and since Jinki was sure he'd be in there for a while, he wanted the other male to be as comfortable as possible.

Instead, Jonghyun chose to remain standed with his arms at his sides, as if he was getting ready to fight someone. Jinki ignored him for a while and returned to learning his lyrics, but then he found himself sneaking glances at the guy and furrowing his eyebrows as time passed.

"Staring is considered to be rude." Jonghyun finally spoke, turning his head so he could look at the elder, his lips quirking into the tiniest of smirks.

Jinki learned he liked the smirk on Jonghyun's face much more than when he had no emotions on his face at all.

"So is ignoring the person who's talking to you." Jinki replied, then pointing to the seat across from where he was sitting, "Now take a seat. We'll be here a while."

After hesitating for a few moments, Jonghyun finally complied and took the seat Jinki was gesturing to, his eyes quickly training onto Jinki again as he took his seat. Jinki kept his gaze on the younger as well, before he decided to speak again.

"I'll talk with the managers about switching you over to Taemin as well." 

"What are you talking about?" It seemed that Jonghyun was starting to get annoyed with Jinki, so Jinki shrugged and turned back to his lyrics.

"You seem a lot more comfortable with Taemin." Jinki answered, leaning back in his chair as he continued reading the lines on the paper as if he could absorb them into his brain, "You seem a lot more comfortable with anyone other than me, actually."

"The managers said not to push you." Jonghyun explained to him, and Jinki felt his eyebrows raise at the information, though Jonghyun couldn't see past the paper.

"You can be yourself around me." Jinki glanced at him from around the paper and quickly looked away so he wouldn't be caught.

"Fine." As he said that, Jonghyun yawned and stretched himself out on a couple of chairs before shutting his eyes.

Jinki watched him in amusement because if his manager walked in on them now, Jonghyun would get an earful. It didn't take long before Jonghyun fell asleep, and Jinki quickly draped his jacket over the male before he took his seat again and spent the rest of the time there actually memorizing the lyrics he'd been given.

When Jonghyun woke up, Jinki was at the far end of the room with a cellphone pressed against the ear, and it looked like the elder was in an argument of some sort. The younger male slowly sat up, only to see something fall beside him, and when he knew it was the elder's jacket, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Just as Jinki ended the phone call with his manager that had suddenly let him know that his remaining schedules for the day had been canceled, he turned and blinked in surprise when he saw that the younger was actually awake and looking back at him with a grin on his lips, one that Jinki hadn't seen before.

"Judging by the phone call, I'd say it's time for us to get going?" Jonghyun offered, holding out Jinki's jacket with one hand as the other worked to smoothen out his hair.

Jinki merely frowned and took his jacket back, trudging towards the exit with a chuckling Jonghyun following him.

The journey back to the house was mostly quiet, since Jinki was upset about his schedules being canceled, and Jonghyun was far too busy being serious about his job. By the time they reached the house, it was as if they hadn't attempted to get along at all. Well, almost.

The first thing that Jonghyun did when they got to the house was smirk at the elder before making his way to find the younger two, and Jinki was left to wonder if maybe Jonghyun had some sort of behavioral disorder, because it was almost as if he was always having mood swings.

When Jinki followed Jonghyun after a few moments, he was led into the living room, where the three men sat around the living room with their eyes glued to whatever was playing on the television screen. Taemin looked happy again, and that was enough to wipe Jinki's mind of anything that had been unpleasant in his mind.

"How was your first day at work?" Taemin asked Jonghyun, and Jinki's eyes flew from his brother to his bodyguard, who had a naughty grin on his lips.

"Interesting, though I think your brother might be falling for me." Jonghyun's words were so surprising that all three pairs of eyes just stared at him in bewilderment, "I mean, all he ever does is stare at me, even when I'm asleep."

Jinki was quickly targeted with stares instead, and without answering Jonghyun's ridiculous claim, Jinki scoffed and walked away, "I'll be in my studio."

The elder Lee enjoyed being in his studio because it was his space to experiment with music the way he wanted to, rather than how someone else wanted him to. No, the music he worked on by himself wouldn't get him all the screaming fangirls like the music they wrote for him, but Jinki was always happier after knowing he had been the one to write his track and edit it.

He had been so absorbed into his music that he didn't realize it when someone came by and knocked on his door. He didn't even pause the track, because he already knew who it was, and true to his prediction, Jonghyun slipped into the room and resumed his position of bodyguard.

When he realized he had company, Jinki looked up and then rolled his chair slightly to the left, pulling the extra chair closer to him on the right, "There's nothing to guard me from in here, so you might as well sit."

Jonghyun carefully stepped over some wires and sat down in the empty chair, his attention fully on the track Jinki was editing, "Did you write this?"

"A few months ago." Jinki mumbled before pausing the track and mousing over the delete button because it just didn't sound right to him, "It's not very good-"

Jonghyun pushed his hand away so quickly that Jinki fell forward and then stared up at the male in confusion. "No, it's incredible."

With a sigh, Jinki nodded and saved the project before closing the file and turning to the male, "Anyway, why are you up here? I thought you'd want to spend some time away from me since we spent all day together. Plus, it seemed like Taemin and Kibum were watching something interesting."

Jinki didn't miss the way Jonghyun tensed when Kibum's name was mentioned. It was a little suspicious how the two of them acted around each other or when one of the other was even mentioned, but Jinki didn't know about them well, so he couldn't make any assumptions.

The younger stared at Jinki for a few moments before he stood up and headed for the door, "I'll only go down there if you join us."

"What do I get in return?" Jinki asked with an eyebrow raised. Maybe Jonghyun wasn't so terrible after all, if he already learned to make deals with Jinki in order to get him to do anything.

"I'll let you drink coffee tomorrow." Jonghyun grinned as he answered, and Jinki was quick to get up and walk out the door, ignoring Jonghyun as he added on to the deal, "Decaf only."