Jinki looked at himself in the mirror and found himself glaring at one of his favorite t shirts. He felt like he was being betrayed. That shirt always brought the best out of his arms and frame. Tight enough to show off his body structure but not tight enough to be graphic. It was perfect for flirting or dating. However, as he glared at his blue navy shirt, he realized a little detail, there was a lighter spot on the edge of his sleeve.

“This is a disaster. I’m not going to make it and he’s going to hate me forever,” he grunted as he leaned forward and rested his forehead on the mirror.

Kibum rolled his eyes from his half sitting position on Jinki’s bed. “Jinki, what the heck are you talking about?”

“The shirt is ruined,” he said gesturing with his hands helplessly at his sides as he continued to stand where he was.

“Where?” The younger man asked as he took a bite off of his breadstick. Jinki never liked it when people ate in his room but, thankfully for Kibum, he was too panicky to even notice.

“On the sleeve, see?” He said, turning around and coming closer to the other, while holding out his sleeve with his hand.

Kibum inspected the shirt and he rose a brow at what he saw. Yes, there was a lighter tone of blue, probably the effect to exposure to some chemical, but it was barely noticeable.

“The shirts fine, it’s barely noticeable,” he said and jinki just grunted at him.

“Kibum, I don’t even know where I’m going to take him! And the shirt is ruined and if I don’t leave in 15 minutes I’ll be late and I think I’m going to have a breakdo-” he was interrupted by the press of the younger man’s soft lips against his in a kiss.

Jinki automatically closed his eyes and groaned into the kiss, letting Kibum snake an arm on his neck and the other at his hip. He began to relax as Kibum guided him in the kiss, running his hand through the older man’s hair, tilting his head to the side and melting on the gentle yet firm kiss.

When Kibum pulled back, he opened his eyes and stared at Jinki as the older man slowly opened his eyes, still in a daze as he looked down at him.

“Better?” He asked as he kept running his hand through Jinki’s still wet hair. He saw him nod his head and smiled. “Good. Now, relax. You’re going to be fine. You can wear your leather jacket to hide the microscopic damage it has on the sleeve,” he said, petting Jinki’s cheek as the man sighed.

“It’s too hot out there”

“Then don’t wear anything,” Kibum said with a smirk.

Jinki poked him hard on the ribs and Kibum laughed out loud at that.

“I’m serious, Jinki. Taemin is going to be a lot more focused on who’s wearing the shirt than on the shirt itself,” he said and took a bite from his breadstick.

“You’re right,” Jinki said with a new air of confidence before he frowned. “Have you been eating in my room?”

Kibum shoved what was left of the breadstick in his mouth, making his cheeks puff out, before shaking his head at him.

Jinki looked down at his bedsheets to find breadcrumbs all around where kibum was sitting. “You’re cleaning that,” he said much to Kibum’s disappointment.

He sighed heavily after swallowing while jinki looked at him amused. “Yeah, yeah. Just go on on your date, lover boy,” he said as he smacked Jinki’s in annoyance at having to clean up the mess on the bed, even if he was the one who made it.

Jinki grinned at him before disappearing through the door.

~¤~

Jinki shifted on his own feet in front of Taemin’s dorm room. He had gathered so much courage before for this very moment but, now, he felt like he was going to melt into his ankle high converse.

He took a few deep breathes before knocking on the door. Not a second passed when he heard the sound of something falling and a muffled curse before rapid footsteps went for the door. When the door opened, he found himself staring at Taemin’s nervous dark orbs, which most certainly looked exactly like his own.

“Hi, hyung,” Taemin said as he closed the door behind him. “You look great,” he said as he let his eyes travel up and down Jinki’s frame before meeting his eyes. He almost chuckled at how red his cheeks were turning when realizing he had shamelessly just checked him out. Jinki rather liked the attention.

“Hey, you look great yourself,” he said as he smiled brightly at him.

“Thanks”

“I’m going to be honest and say, I was too nervous to even think of what to do,” he spoke, trying to break the ice between the two of them. Dating never got easier, did it?

He heard Taemin snort beside him as they began to walk to the stairs, “Please, I almost lost my foot the second you knocked the door. So it’s safe to say that we’re both pretty damn nervous with no clue of what we’re doing,”

Jinki laughed and nodded at his words, “I knew I heard something fall”

Taemin smiled at him as they exited the building. He felt a bit odd going out on a date with his friend’s boyfriend but he couldn’t help it. Not when he was given full consent to go out with him.

He wondered how Kibum felt about the whole situation but, he guessed, he was pretty amused by the whole thing. He loved making people flustered, after all.

“So,” Jinki said as he looked down the sidewalk while stealing glances at Taemin. “Do you want to go play billards?” He asked with a hopeful smile.

“Oh! That’s a great idea!” Taemin said as he sidewalks beside jinki, jumping slightly with each step. “I love playing it. And that’s something I’m actually very good at,“ he said with a challenging grin.

“You’re on!” Jinki accepted the challenge as they made a turn and came into view with the game center.

~¤~

An hour and half later, Jinki and Taemin were leaving the game center in favor of finding a place to eat. Jinki remembered Taemin once mentioning how much he loved meat, it was his weakness. He had asked Kibum about what type of meat did Taemin usually eat but all he said was “Hide it all”, so he was pretty sure anything they ate was going to sit well for him. Still, when they passed a small meat shop, he still looked at Taemin for his agreement as he spoke.

“Do you want to go eat there?”, he said, nodding his head in direction of the shop.

Taemin looked in the direction Jinki had nodded and rose both eyebrows as he saw the few benches around the shop, people eating delicious meaty meals, and inhaled deeply before looking back at Jinki with a wide grin. “I’m sold”, he said as he jogged in tiny steps to the entrance of the shop.

Once they had ordered, they sat in a corner together, appreciating the atmospheric low lights as they finally had a small window to actually really think of what they were doing. Taemin looked at Jinki in the eyes for a brief second, taking in how much appreciation those small, dark eyes held whenever they met with his. It was just what he saw whenever Jinki and Kibum were together, except that there was something more between them. Something intimate, special.

He wondered if Jinki would ever look at him like that, if he would look at him back the same way. And he also wondered if Jinki would stop looking at Kibum that way if he started looking at him. It made him nervous and anxious.

Kibum had explained to him, later that day he told him about Jinki’s feelings, how their relationships worked more in detail. It was a bit complex, but he got the hang of it pretty well, he though. But it also sounded unreal. The amount of communication and honesty was something he had to work with understanding. At first, it felt like he was just listening to mountains of lies. And it wasn’t because he approved of unhealthy relationships, he was just so used to people not communicating and binding others to themselves that he was still having a bit of trouble grabbing the concept.

However, as he watched them interact, he realized how very much real it all was. It made him excited and nervous, all at once. Taemin wasn’t the jealous type so after he had spoken with Kibum, and Jinki had asked him if he wanted to go out (and some serious thinking through the next week or so), he guessed he could give it a shot.

Jinki gave Taemin a small, nervous smile as they kept staring at each other’s eyes. Taemin flushed deeply before letting out a nervous chuckle and shook his head. He was letting his mind drift off, he needed to focus.

“We definitely need to play again, we need to break that tie”, Taemin commented with as little awkwardness as he could muster after feeling himself get overly conscious of their date.

Date. , that though made him nervous.

“Definitely”, Jinki agreed, feeling a bit awkward himself after missing at least two heartbeats before answering. He couldn’t help it, though. He was nervous to the bones by having Taemin right in front of him on their very first date. He let out a shaky laugh before speaking, “Sorry, I’m just really nervous right now.”

Taemin just shook his head and smiled, “Like I said, you and me, both. Besides, this is all new to me so”, he shrugged. “But, it’s nice”, the smile Jinki gave him was worth the awkwardness.

Truthfully, one of Jinki’s main sources of nervousness was the fact that Taemin is new to polyamory. Yes, it made him nervous asking him out and putting himself on the dating game again, besides of his two boyfriends, but none of that compared to the factor that he was Taemin’s testing grounds. The fact that, if Taemin suddenly realized that this wasn’t what he wanted and wanted to break up or, worse, make him choose, made Jinki freeze on the spot. Kibum told him that he was pretty sure, with time, Taemin would actually end up understanding and enjoying these type of relationships. He had known Taemin for years now and he had noticed the way Taemin swang with curiosity, in ways he had done himself before, and heard some very non-monogamous comments and arguments coming from his mouth. Kibum, in all honesty, had wanted to tell Taemin about his relationships, but had delayed telling him about it on Jinki’s request.

“I’m glad”, he said softly.

Their food arrived soon after and the awkwardness dissipated as they began to eat. It was amazing how something so simple could melt away their worries.

At one point in the evening, their separate meals turned into one by the initiative of Taemin as he stole a rib from Jinki’s plate. Jinki compensated by doing the same, which just turned out with them eating out off both plates. Their voices echoed throughout the small shop and could even be heard outside. The two of them were being loud but neither noticed, the world around them frozen in time as they enjoyed the rest of their dinner and dessert.

~¤~

By the time they were heading back to Taemin’s dorm, the awkwardness had already melted into nothing. The air around them was lighter and refreshing, their worries dead as they walked side by side with huge smiles on their faces.

“Thanks for the invite, hyung”, Taemin said as they arrived at his door, turning to face him. “Should have done it sooner”, he smiled playfully as he unlocked the door.

Jinki laughed loudly, but covered his mouth as he remembered the time it was. “Yeah. Well, I’m not as much a flirty as I look it”, he told Taemin after composing himself, shrugging his shoulders as if to show off even though his words were giving the complete opposite message.

Taemin chuckled before standing forward and giving Jinki a quick hug. “Good night.”

“Night”, Jinki said after letting go and retreating back to head down the stairs.

~¤~

Jinki swore under his breath as he gripped his chest tightly. Where they trying to kill him from a heart attack?

As soon as he had entered his apartment, Jinki was attacked by two very amused boyfriends and an overly excited metamor. “Are you trying to kill me?!”, he said fully out of breath.

“No, we want details”, Kibum said as he grabbed Jinki’s left wrist and guided him to the couch, Minho and Jonghyun followed close behind.

Jinki’s cheeks flushed a pale pink but he ignored it as he let himself be sat on the couch. “Well, we played billards and had a meal”, he said simply.

“And?” He looked up at Jonghyun’s question, his eyebrows wiggling in a suggestive way. Jinki scoffed.

“And nothing. It’s our first date, guys. Calm your hormones.” people.

“Fine, fine. We’ll let it slide this time”, Minho said as he sat down on the armrest beside Jinki. He wrapped his arms around Jinki’s shoulders and kissed his cheek, making Jinki hum in appreciation. “Next time, we want graphic details, though.”