Sehun ended up being right—as always—even though this time his prediction took much longer than even he could have imagined. It took so long, in fact, that he was occasionally consumed with an intense feeling of guilt for saying anything about Kai in the first place. This was particularly true when Minseok sighed forlornly while grading some class of poor freshmen's papers. Or while snuggled up against Sehun's chest as they watched a random documentary about mating lions on the Discovery Channel. Or while making cookies—which he did whenever he was sad and was more of a hint to Sehun of his boyfriend's feelings than anything else might have been. It was at those times that Sehun kissed the top of his boyfriend's head and rubbed his lips soothingly across Minseok's hair in a silent apology that Sehun knew Minseok understood.

"Trust me," he whispered every time as he placed another kiss somewhere else on Minseok's body—sometimes on his forehead, or on his shoulder, or on the jawline that was becoming way too defined as Minseok worried more and ate less. But most often Sehun's kisses landed squarely on Minseok's pouting lips and Sehun often wondered with a shuddering breath into those kisses, "How could anyone possibly resist you?" Those words usually did a lot to assuage Minseok's fears of inferiority or embarrassment as he questioned whether he really did come on too strong that last time and scare Kai away.

When that wasn't enough and Minseok remembered his and Sehun's promise to always tell each other when something was bothering them, Minseok was sometimes forced to voice those self-deprecating questions into the lust-tinged air, his voice small and his cheeks expanded as far as they could go in his contemplation. On occasion he'd remember that Sehun was hurting too and in those moments he tried saying things that got both of their minds off the issue. Except Minseok had an unfortunate tendency to let his mouth run faster than his brain, so there was one particular instance when what he said didn't avoid the subject at all and actually just made it worse. Sort of.

Minseok took of the reading glasses that he honestly didn't need but liked the looks he got from Sehun when he wore them and dropped them on the desk so he could rub tiredly at his eyes without obstacle. He looked over the stack of books he needed to read as preliminary research for his master's thesis and sighed.

The noise caught Sehun's attention where he was avoiding responsibility and watching Running Man sprawled out on the bed. He knew that the pile of reading was increasing more than decreasing and that could make anyone discouraged but Sehun knew the look in Minseok's eyes too and could tell that Kai was somewhere on his boyfriend's mind again. Crawling across the comforter to where he could scramble off the bed, Sehun stood behind Minseok after a moment and followed the usual protocol. Kisses into Minseok's hair. Kisses against Minseok's cheek and earlobe and neck and nape. Kisses against Minseok's mouth once the elder stopped sighing and turned his head toward Sehun's to get a better angle for their lips to meet. And as always, "Trust me, Minseok. Trust me."

"Why?" Minseok whined feeling particularly petulant. "How can you be so sure?"

Sehun pulled away just enough to separate their mouths and rubbed his nose in a gentle nuzzle against Minseok's. "Do you even understand how beautiful you are?"

His question made Minseok flush deeply. Sehun often complimented him, but one as sincere as that was special nonetheless and Minseok's heart savored the words even as his mouth began to move again, this time without permission.

"And that makes me irresistible?" Skepticism was all over his tone but Sehun's reply was an immediate hum of agreement at his boyfriend's neck that vibrated pleasantly against Minseok's pulse. It was almost distracting enough, but not quite.

"Then why isn't Kai here?" He wondered. "You said he'd come to us. Why hasn't he?" Minseok wasn't being accusatory exactly, but there was enough venom for his brain to frantically yell "Stop, STOP!" as his mouth continued digging Minseok into an even deeper hole.

Sehun had no answer for the questions Minseok asked him. "Strength of will, maybe? Self-defeating stubbornness?"

Honestly Minseok didn't know either; if he did he wouldn't be asking.

"Well you're going to have to find out," he told his boyfriend suddenly, full of conviction. "If Kai can resist me—can resist us—then you can too."

Sehun's head snapped up from where his mouth was planting a row of bruises into Minseok's collarbone. "What?"

Their eyes met and Minseok was completely serious, regretting what he said but deciding there was no point in take backs. Maybe something good could come of his ultimatum.

"No y times for you until Kai comes back to us." Minseok's voice was final and he brushed haphazardly at Sehun to move him back into a non-distracting proximity so Minseok could go back to reading.

"That means no for you either," Sehun pointed out with a pout. "You realize that, right?"

Minseok shot his boyfriend a look. "Duh. I'm not going to make you suffer alone. Operation Classmate Seduction is something we both agreed that we want, so it's got to be something we both actively pursue."

He sighed again and Sehun just wanted to smother Minseok in kisses but wasn't sure if that fell under "y times" or not. He risked one peck anyway and got playfully smacked for his troubles as Minseok laughed.

"I'm tired of wallowing," Minseok continued after a smiling moment while Sehun resituated himself on the bed. "I was perfectly happy with you before Kai and with a little work I honestly think we can be that happy again without him. But I want this and don't think I haven't seen your slumped shoulders when you come home from class and he wasn't there. You want this too. So let's make it happen."

Sehun groaned but wasn't really mad. Minseok was right. It would to be without sweet kisses from Minseok for a little while, but when Sehun considered the hopeful outcome—kisses from not only Minseok but Kai too—he figured maybe the sacrifice was worth it. At least, he hoped so.