Jongin regretted his decision. He regretted it so hard that he could practically smell the regret burning in his nostrils. He hadn’t thought that it would be a big deal. In fact, he was the one that suggested it. However, when his teasing devil of a best friend, Taemin, decided to mess with him by flirting with his precious angel, Kyungsoo, that’s when the putrid smell began to arouse…

                                                                                                                                                                ***

Jongin slouched further on the black, leather sofa and ogled his boyfriend as he calmly put together a jigsaw puzzle. He had had a pretty nice view of Kyungsoo’s back for a good half an hour and (as squishy as his round backside may have been) wanted to see his chubby cheeks, heart-shaped lips and doe eyes.

“Kyungsoo,” he groaned, practicing his perfect pout for when Kyungsoo would turn around. “Kyungsoo-yah.”

As he hummed contentedly, Kyungsoo turned around and smiled sweetly at Jongin. “Is something wrong, Nini? Are you okay?”

Jongin really wanted to coo embarrassingly right then and there at how lovely and caring Kyungsoo was to him. From his warm touch to his radiant smile, Kyungsoo beamed with affection and had the power to make everyone around him happy.

“Yes, Soo, perfectly fine.”

“Then what do you want?” Kyungsoo asked, narrowing his eyes at Jongin to give a suspicious glare.

Jongin chuckled his hearty chuckle and that seemed to soften Kyungsoo’s gaze. Sat down to be closer to his boyfriend, Jongin placed a cold palm on Kyungsoo’s thigh. The elder, who felt Jongin’s cold hand, immediately took it into his own and held it close to his warm body.

“Do you remember when Ryeowook-hyung came round to the dorms to spend time with you?” Jongin asked, smiling at Kyungsoo’s sympathetic affection.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo nodded.

“Well, I was wondering,” he faltered as he felt Kyungsoo’s heavy gaze on his hand, “if Taemin could come and visit us sometime. The two of us have a free schedule next week, so it doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

Kyungsoo lifted his head slightly to look Jongin in the eye and grinned. And as a natural response to that action, Jongin grinned too.

“Of course Taemin can visit, Nini. You don’t have to ask permission from me!” he chuckled, patting Jongin’s arm.

“Wah, thanks, Soo.”

                                                                                                                                                                ***

Jongin lurched to the door the milli-second he heard the first knock. His energy frightened Kyungsoo for a moment but nonetheless he joined his boyfriend at the door.

“Hey, hyung!” Jongin blurted, feeling giddy from seeing his best friend again.

There, as anticipated, stood at the door in all of his attractive, charming glory was Taemin. He leant on one leg with his hand balled into a fist that was just about to knock once more on the door. Kyungsoo chuckled gently while Jongin just stood flustered.

“Morning, Jongin,” he greeted as he pulled Jongin in for a bone-crushing bear hug, “morning, Kyungsoo-hyung,” he greeted to the other male, hugging him a lot gentler than he did to Jongin.

“Good morning, Taemin-ah,” Kyungsoo said politely, unable to resist the smile creeping across his lips.

Grinning back, Taemin shut the door behind him and proceeded to the lounge where both he and Jongin flopped onto the sofa simultaneously. Kyungsoo just watched in awe at how similar the two friends were. He was just about to leave when someone’s hand gripped his arm firmly and pulled him back onto the sofa.

Since he presumed it to be Jongin being playful, Kyungsoo didn’t hesitate to happily fall straight into the arms and chest of the person pulling him. He heard an offended yap from beside him and, as he looked to his right, he saw Jongin. That was very peculiar because Kyungsoo could have sworn that he was sat on Jongin’s lap and that Taemin was the one sat next to him.

“Oh, sorry, Taemin-ah, I thought you were Jongin!” he flusters, leaping from the seat with an abnormal amount of force.

“It’s fine, Kyungsoo,” he replied kindly, a smirk set playfully on his lips. “You can sit back down if you like.”

Jongin was scowling during the whole epidemic – as he decided to label it – because his best friend had clearly committed an act of theft. Theft of Jongin’s boyfriend.

“Hey,” Jongin snapped, making both Taemin and Kyungsoo jump in their places, “only I can use banmal with Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo wasn’t entirely sure whether to laugh or not. The serious look on Jongin’s face made him feel nervous but Taemin’s amused grin made him think that Jongin was just being silly. He ended up standing with a blank expression, flicking his eyes between Taemin and Jongin.

Taemin snorted and turned to Kyungsoo, patting the seat as he said: “Come sit, hyung.”

Kyungsoo frowned but sat down anyway, only to find himself being pulled further back into a slouch by Jongin. The latter wrapped his arms possessively around Kyungsoo’s thin waist and stuck his tongue out subtly at Taemin. There was no way in hell he would allow Kyungsoo to sit on someone else’s lap.

                                                                                                                                                ***

Kyungsoo sat on the sofa downstairs. He was curled up like a cat, purring complacently as he read his book. As he turned a page, the most terrifically horrifying crash Kyungsoo had ever heard resounded throughout the dorms. And then silence. Kyungsoo knew that Jongin and Taemin must have frozen in shock, anxiously anticipating Kyungsoo’s hellish entrance before he would wreak havoc around the rest of the dorms.

Kyungsoo, who sighed heavily, bookmarked the page in his book and stood up reluctantly from the sofa. He made his way to the stairs; one step, two steps, three steps, four steps…

“Jongin,” he called out weakly after he eventually reached the top of the staircase.

Almost immediately, Jongin’s head popped out from behind one of the doors. He watched Kyungsoo’s facial expression very closely, searching for any signs of distress.

“Nini, what was that noise? The crash. I heard it all the way from downstairs.” He narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend and pointed towards the door. “You didn’t break anything, did you?”

Just as Jongin opened his mouth to explain, Taemin swung open the door and smiled reassuringly to Kyungsoo.

“Don’t worry, Kyungsoo,” he said (dismissing the disapproval of using banmal), “Jongin accidently sat on the TV remote and the volume suddenly turned up to max.”

“I turned the TV off…” Jongin mumbled quietly afterwards, looking like a kicked puppy from the glare Kyungsoo sent his way.

Kyungsoo chuckled at the look Jongin gave him and sighed again. He was about to return to his business when – once again – he was tugged back by the arm, and – once again – came face to face with Taemin.

“Why don’t you join us, Kyungsoo? You must be pretty lonely reading downstairs by yourself,” Taemin coaxed, raising an eyebrow.

Kyungsoo, who was caught off guard, spent a good few minutes too many staring at Taemin’s good looks. A noticeable blush bashfully made its way across his cheeks as he blinked slowly. Taemin obviously took note of Kyungsoo – the poor kid was a er for the charm he had played on him.

On the other hand, Jongin was not into this staring contest. He tore Taemin’s hand away from Kyungsoo and stood in between the two. He wore an ugly pout that almost made Taemin want to vomit.

“Nini, what did you do that for?” Kyungsoo scolded.

Jongin spun around and took Kyungsoo’s hands in his. “Y-You don’t understand, Kyungsoo-yah, Taemin’s trying to–”

“Yah, silly boy,” Kyungsoo said soothingly, smiling to no end while removing his hands from Jongin’s desperate grasp, “Taemin isn’t causing any problems.”

“Yeah,” Taemin retorted childishly.

“Let’s all watch a movie together!” Kyungsoo exclaimed happily, pulling the other two men into the room. This was a good distraction from the situation since Jongin and Taemin both brightened up at the idea.

                                                                                                                                                ***

Jongin lied when he told Kyungsoo that he was fine. He lied big time.

However, there was an easily justified explanation as to why Jongin was in fact not fine.

Of course it was Taemin. It couldn’t be anyone else, could it? It wasn’t surprising really…

Kyungsoo, who was absorbed into watching the movie, hadn’t realised that Taemin had tentatively wrapped one of his arms around the smaller man’s shoulders. At what made matters much, much worse was Kyungsoo’s round head resting calmly on the man-stealer’s shoulder.

If looks could kill, Taemin would have been dead and buried the second he hugged Kyungsoo after walking through the door. And judging by Taemin’s self-satisfied smirk, he knew exactly how Jongin was feeling.

Kyungsoo laughed at a funny scene from the movie and that was enough to steal Jongin’s attention away from everything. The movie, the affection, Taemin – everything. Jongin smiled. Kyungsoo looked so cute while he was laughing, his heart-shaped smile abundant throughout the radiance he shone in his expression. That was enough encouragement to get Jongin through the rest of the movie without spearing deep knife wounds into the back of Taemin’s head.

“That was fun!” Kyungsoo chuckled after the movie had finished, smiling brightly at the blaring television screen.

The spectacle of Taemin’s incessant skinship was finally thrown out of the window when Kyungsoo stood up to turn off the television. Jongin used this time wisely; he lunged at Taemin and screamed the living daylights out of him. Taemin was extremely startled and the only word he could really make out from Jongin’s wailing was mine.

By that time, Kyungsoo had already intervened and helped Taemin to his feet. He brushed dust from his arms and chest that probably wasn’t even there and smiled at him sympathetically.

“Are you okay, Taemin-ah?” he asked.

Taemin smiled back before scowling at Jongin. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Jongin gave Taemin an evil eye. He shouldn’t have been fine, he should have been dead. How very much dare he play the victim when he was quite clearly the criminal?

“Jongin, what’s wrong with you today?” Kyungsoo said. The disappointment seeped from the frown his lips curled into. “You’ve been sulking all morning.”

Jongin’s eyes sparkled with delight when he saw Kyungsoo’s soft hand approaching to hold the side of his face, but Taemin was quick to ruin the moment.

“Jongin is probably just making a fuss because he’s hungry, Soo,” (Jongin grimaced at the nickname); “I’m pretty hungry myself.”

“Oh,” Kyungsoo took his hand away and turned to face Taemin, “well, then I’ll make us lunch!”

                                                                                                                                                ***

Ah, now, this was much better…

Kyungsoo was in the kitchen cooking something for lunch, while Jongin and Taemin played video games in the lounge. Taemin was plenty a distance away from Kyungsoo and Jongin liked that very much. The reality that he was beating Taemin in the game they were playing added to his mood.

“Ua-ha-ha, Taeminie, you at this game!” Jongin teased, blowing a very offensive raspberry in Taemin’s face.

Taemin was more than into the game, rolling his body whenever he turned his controller. “Well… you’re cheating!” he retorted.

Jongin scoffed and stuck his nose up snidely. “Well, you smell!”

“Nuh-uh, you smell!”

“No, you smell!”

“No, you smell!”

“Nah-ah-ah, you, my friend, are the smelliest!”

“Pfft, as if…”

“Nini,” Jongin heard Kyungsoo call from the kitchen, “can you help me get something from the top shelf?”

Jongin grinned and paused the game. He made a move to stand up from the sofa but Taemin pushed him back down.

“You wanna get a high score, right?” he persuaded, quirking an eyebrow as he did so.

Jongin frowned. He knew what Taemin was trying to do. “Yeah, but my boyfriend is calling me.”

Taemin rolled his eyes. “Leave him to me, Jongin. It’s not anything urgent.”

Jongin looked at the screen, then at the kitchen door, then at the screen, and then at the kitchen door again. “Fine,” he said with his voice quavering, “do whatever…”

Kyungsoo firmly believed that a full stomach made a person not only full of food, but full of joy. When he got the chance he loved cooking for the rest of the EXO members. If their lack of sleep was going to shorten their lives, then a full stomach would certainly let them live a long and happy life. The art of cooking was no stranger to Kyungsoo and, sadly, not being able to reach the spices in the top cupboard was no stranger to him either.

After falling back onto the balls of his feet for the fifth time, Kyungsoo felt warm hands on his hips. The action made him jolt slightly but he grinned even so.

“I didn’t know you were ticklish, hyung…” Kyungsoo whipped his head around immediately. That wasn’t Jongin’s voice he heard, it was Taemin’s.

“I called for Jongin, Taemin-ah; you don’t have to help me.”

“But I learned something new,” he quipped, smirking playfully.

Kyungsoo let out a burst of laughter when Taemin brushed his fingers violently over his hips and moved them upwards. “Yah, yah, yah!” he screamed and wailed, wriggling against Taemin’s body. He was so desperately trying to get out of Taemin’s firm grip, but the vice-tight grip was relentless.

Screeches and giggles erupted from the kitchen. The door was wide open from when Taemin had opened it, surely just because he wanted Jongin to watch what he was doing. And that, Jongin did. He watched in arduous agony as Kyungsoo exploded into fits of laughter and squealed, letting Taemin violate him and invade his personal space. Jongin was used to Kyungsoo being jealous of him and Taemin when they went out for dinner or simply just to talk alone. Perhaps Kyungsoo was giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Taemin turned his head and caught a glimpse of Jongin. The younger was snarling with his white set of teeth gleaming while he frothed from the mouth the way an angry wolf would.

Now this was definitely not much better…

                                                                                                                                                ***

After Taemin left, Jongin thought that everything would be back to normal with him and Kyungsoo. The other members returned from their busy schedules one by one and he and Kyungsoo excused themselves to bed.

Kyungsoo was already changed and under the duvets of his bed when Jongin came out of the shower, hair still damp from the water, which he dried with a smaller towel than the one he had wrapped around his waist.

“Soo,” he called softly, dropping the smaller towel on the floor messily. Within a few seconds, Kyungsoo fluttered his eyes open while Jongin watched in admiration as the elder’s eyes grew wider and wider in physical proportion.

“What is it, Nini?” he asked sleepily, bringing up his hand to rest on Jongin’s cheek ponderously. Jongin leaned into the touch automatically and hummed at the nickname.

“Can I sleep in your bed, tonight?”

Kyungsoo scrunched up his face and was about to shoo Jongin away to his own bed when his phone buzzed underneath his pillow. Jongin stilled for a moment, then shuffled away to his bed a metre-and-a-half (yup, he measured) away from Kyungsoo’s bed. However, that didn’t stop him from watching Kyungsoo like a hawk as the latter switched on his phone and checked his messages.

At best, Jongin attempted to read the message Kyungsoo was checking from the reflection in his eyes but broke the gaze when Kyungsoo glanced at him moodily.

Kyungsoo breathed out a chuckle and put his phone away.

“Just Taemin-ah,” Kyungsoo muttered reassuringly to Jongin, although that comment was anything but reassuring to him.

“What did he say?” Jongin protested.

Kyungsoo sighed and walked over to Jongin’s bed and lay down beside him. He opened his messages and saw Jongin’s scowl harden stiffly when he read all of the different conversations with other people that weren’t him.

“If you keep pouting like that, your face will freeze that way,” Kyungsoo teased, tilting his head to look at Jongin.

Jongin didn’t retort or express any other emotion, even when Kyungsoo leaned his head against his chest. Although Kyungsoo knew that Jongin was thankful for the action because he wasn’t pushed away.

“Here it is,” Kyungsoo said, passing Jongin his phone to read the message.

‘Thanks for inviting me over today. I had a great time with you and Jongin. I would text Jongin but, knowing that moody puppy, he’s probably still sulking over his jealousy. Take good care of Jongin, hyung, I know you will ;)’

Kyungsoo switched his phone off and threw it onto his bed with a quiet groan of effort.

Jongin turned back to Kyungsoo and chuckled to himself. Kyungsoo stared at him and joined in with his boyfriend’s chuckling.

“You are such an idiot, Jongin,” he chuckled, engulfing himself under Jongin’s duvet to be closer to him.

“Huh, I’m an idiot, am I?”

“I stand corrected. You’re a huge idiot.” Jongin tried pouting but Kyungsoo kissed it away sweetly. “Taemin knows that we’re a couple, so why would he play around if he was being serious?”

“He flirted with you,” Jongin whined.

Kyungsoo flicked Jongin’s forehead with his forefinger. “Dummy, he was just messing around with you because he knows how jealous you get. Everyone does.”

“Some friend,” Jongin muttered more to himself than his contribution to the conversation.

Chuckling once more, Kyungsoo snuggled up to Jongin and whispered to him: “You have a photoshoot tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“The ‘lover boy’ concept, right?”

“Uh-huh…”

Kyungsoo leaned up slightly and kissed Jongin warmly under his chin. “Just think of me and you’ll have the perfect look.”

Jongin chuckled deeply and pulled Kyungsoo into his embrace. “What makes you think that I’ll think of you?”

“Because you love me,” Kyungsoo said, wrapping his arms Jongin’s waist.

Jongin peppered butterfly kisses on Kyungsoo’s cheeks before saying: “You hit the nail on the head.”

“And I’ll hit you hard on the head if you don’t shup up and let me sleep.”