Jongin was in a bad mood.
He wasn't the type to let other people know but an observant person would have easily noticed the increased pressure he was using on the completely innocent ballpen. In fact it wouldn't come as a surprise if his hand-written mindmap would be engraved into the table's surface forever.
Jongin would readily agree to being moody, hotheaded even(his friends had never failed to remind him of that) but he usually didn't get salty without a reason.
So what was the reason for his bad mood?
Well, there was his first issue already. He wasn't entirely sure what was the main factor ticking him off, which in turn made him even more annoyed.
For once there were the two paper notes currently folded into a secret pocket in his wallet.
They most certainly annoyed him for various reasons each.
He would have loved to indulge himself in the illusion that this was the only thing getting on his nerves.

But there was also the way Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had greeted each other that morning. It hadn't been overly friendly or elaborate. Just a mere 'good morning' and a tiny uncertain smile sent each others way. It was nothing much but the atmosphere was completely different. Even though Chanyeol used to greet Kyungsoo with a broader smile, it was always nothing but obviously faked politeness. The two could have just as well been strangers the way Chanyeol used to treat him.
And now it was different. More careful, more acknowledging, more respectful.
From Chanyeol's side, that is. Jongin had always had the impression that Kyungsoo wasn't too put-off by the boisterous Southener - not the way he was, at least.

And while this should mark a huge success and Jongin should feel quite pleased with himself that his idea showed some results(however tiny) that quickly... he was still annoyed enough to not even attempt concealing his scowl.
Again, he would have loved to stay oblivious but sadly Jongin had always been a master at self-evaluation, knowing himself maybe a little too well.
He felt left out. Something had occurred at the weekend and this mysterious something had managed to push his other two team members closer together.
It annoyed him.
It annoyed him because he was really fond of Kyungsoo but said one chose Chanyeol over him.
It annoyed him because he thought Chanyeol was a big dumb idiot.
It annoyed him that they got along so easily after just one meeting, whereas he would probably not make any progress at all in the next ten months.
Which in turn would make him feel even more left out.

He exhaled loudly, slamming his pencil onto the table with unnecessary force that had Kyungsoo flinching and shooting him a withering glare from across the room. For once, he didn't care about his reputation, didn't want to uphold the sweet front. Instead he grabbed his jacket and left the room without a word, intending to get some fresh air under the imploring gaze of Chanyeol following him until he had almost slammed the door shut.

Of course it was awfully childish, very obviously so.
He was scared to be left out and even though he had brought the idea to the table, deep inside he didn't even want this team to work out. He didn't want to like Chanyeol, he knew Kyungsoo didn't like him...
Subconsciously he took out his wallet, fishing out the two pieces of paper.

You're neither well-versed at the computer nor skilled with people.
On top of that you're indifferent and lack any form of drive or ambition.
You're definitely not suited for this team.

He laughed soundlessly as he traced the letters with his fingers.
Harsh.
But no matter how offensive, at least Kyungsoo was being truthful, like he always was. Not that it hurt any less having a person you respect resent you to that extent.
And then there was Chanyeol...

I have a lot of respect for you, Jongin. Instead of controlling things
you know how to guide them smoothly to make the big picture work.
You're witty, too, and able to think outside the box. You're the key to our success.
Thanks for that.

How he had even managed to scrawl all that on the small paper was beyond him. And no matter how flattering it may have been if anyone else had said it - if it was Chanyeol, he didn't believe any of it. Chanyeol was just so extremely... fake. He was trying so damn hard to get Jongin to like him, it was disgusting.
Well, Kyungsoo thought differently, obviously. About Chanyeol. And about him, too.
Jongin sighed in frustration. Frustration at the overall confusing feelings and his own childishness.
He stretched his stiff muscles and made his way back. Overthinking was of no use anyway. There was nothing he could do now anyway and at the end of the day there was still plenty of work waiting to get done.

"Hey, Jongin?"
"What?" he muttered under his breath, not even looking up from his written calculations and decisively ignoring the tall figure blocking the sunlight.
He had only been back for about five minutes and already had Chanyeol all up in his face. Great.
"Uh... You free at the weekend?" he asked in an unusually meek tone.
At this he looked up and regarded the sheepish, lopsided grin with a raised eyebrow and a voice dripping with suspicion.
"Why?"
Chanyeol took this as a sign to continue and sank into the chair next to him to his utmost dismay. He could see Kyungsoo watching them from the edge of his vision.
"I just thought we don't need to draw anew every week with only three people. We could just take turns from there on and I asked Kyungsoo whether he wanted to go next but he declined-"
At this, Jongin's head instinctively flew over to Kyungsoo whose eyes flitted to the ground, avoiding eye contact.
"-and that leaves us, so how about it?" Chanyeol concluded obliviously with that annoyingly over-the-top smile of his.
The following silence ripped Jongin out of his bitter thoughts and he looked back at Chanyeol's expectant face. Well, damn. He really didn't want to but this was his idea and he had to go through with it, no matter how unwilling he was.
He shrugged which the dumb Southener easily interpreted as an agreement, beaming extra brightly.
"Great! So, you want to suggest something we can do?"
He shrugged once more.
"I don't know..." he muttered vaguely but once more Chanyeol easily fell in and clapped his hands once.
"That's alright as well! We can just take it easy or something. How about Saturday evening?"
Yeah. Great.

What a way to spend a Saturday evening, Jongin thought as he strolled out of the underground station, deliberately taking his time. Not that he had any friends to hang out with(not in the West at least), but he liked to think that any evening wasted with staring holes into his ceiling would be more fun and productive than meeting up with Chanyeol. At his apartment on top of that.
It felt far more private than it should.
He was surprised when he finally stood in front of the sky scraper matching the address the guy had sent him. It was even closer to their work place than he had assumed. The office was basically five minutes away. He wondered how much of his payment went into the rent, considering that this was the heart of the city.
Even after the elevator's button had already been pressed and the number '22' was blinking at him almost tauntingly he couldn't help repeating over and over in his head how much he wanted to go home.

Chanyeol's apartment was located at the end of the floor and Jongin pressed the bell without hesitation, tired of annoying himself with his own childish antics.
Let's get this over with.
The door opened a few seconds later and he came face to face with a casually dressed Chanyeol, the dress shirt replaced by a silly fluffy pullover and dark jeans.
Even in socks he remained taller than Jongin. Another annoying fact.
"Hey, you found it!" Chanyeol exclaimed and quickly scooted to the side to invite him in.
"Come in, make yourself at home... I'm not that much of a neat freak but I guess it's bearable." he said, rubbing his neck sheepishly.
Jongin only hummed noncommittally and after slipping out of his shoes and placing his jacket next to Chanyeol's, he followed him to the living area. In fact the whole apartment was cut rather unusually with a very generous room combining living room and bedroom with a wide window front. It was basically one big room with a tiny entrance area and two very small rooms he identified fleetingly as a kitchen and a bathroom.
Instead of sitting down on the couch in the center of the room Jongin went up to the window front, looking down on the street. It was already getting dark but during daytime you probably had a fantastic view on the bustling main street.
"The view is great, isn't it? To be honest it was my main focus while searching for an apartment. It may be a bit expensive and I kinda have to put myself on a leesh with the way things are now, financially speaking, but the view is all worth it!" Chanyeol rambled from somewhere behind him.
"Stupid." Jongin mumbled audibly as he scanned the surrounding buildings and watched the cars drive by in a flash far below.
"Wasting so much of your pay on unnecessary high rent. It's stupid."
Chanyeol didn't even sound the least bit ticked off even though the first thing his guest did was being straight-out offensive.
"Hm...", he hummed thoughtfully, not stepping up next to him which Jongin appreciated very much, "It may seem useless to you, but not to me. I like being close to everything. As if the pulse of the city is right beneath your fingertips, so to say. But at the same time you can distance yourself, being this high up. It's comforting for me."
Jongin disagreed. He had never felt comfort by masses of people; everyone was pushy, selfish, loud. It was nothing but stress.
"Where do you live?"
"Downtown." Jongin shortly replied, not the least bit willing to engage in small talk. Finally he turned around and saw Chanyeol sitting in front of an open cupboard, scanning the content.
"We could watch some movies but..."
At this, Chanyeol looked up and smiled as he found Jongin turned towards him.
Annoying. How quickly he plastered a smile to his face when he felt people watch him.
"-I've noticed that you like to play games on your phone so I was wondering if you also like gaming consoles!"
Was this guy stalking him?
Jongin shrugged.
"What do you have?" he asked blankly and the messy mop of white hair disappeared into the cupboard once more.
"I got a Gamecube, a Wii and an Xbox360 but I hardly have any multiplayer games for that one. I didn't take my Playstation when I moved unfortunately."
His look was judging at best but Chanyeol was too busy rummaging through the games to notice.
Okay. Either you're a geek... or rich.
"We can play Mario Kart or Mario Party. I also have a few Beat 'em up's and Hack'n Slay's, though I dare say the latter are quite boring... I do have a few adventures, too, but those only have limited cooperation modes..."
Unfortunately Jongin was a geek and therefore not only able to keep up with this but also feeling a tidbit exhilarated at the promising prospect of kicking this annoying guy's in some video games.
So he plopped down onto the couch and crossed his arms.
"Sure. Let's play." he said in a purposefully casual manner.

"Urgh, I hate you SO much right now!"
Chanyeol only shrugged, his eyes not leaving the screen.
"Told ya I'm good with Talim."
The tiny girl Chanyeol had chosen to fight with slid across the virtual grass to tackle down Jongin's warrior and he almost threw his pad at him in return.
"I don't know why you're so riled up in the first place - you won so many matches, you could just indulge me once in a while~"
Yeah because I'd just give up to make you feel better, out of all persons.
"Out of all persons? You do hate me a lot, don't you?" Chanyeol replied airily while his face remained scrunched up in concentration, sending the little girl to dance around Jongin's character, dodging the sword and waiting for the right time to strike.
Oh shoot. Did I say that out loud? .
"Why do you even fight with a little girl?!" he barked instead, almost mashing the buttons at this point.
"Because she's agile and quick - short people advantages, man."
Jongin kept quiet and only focused on the match but a split-second delay caused the girl to take the upper hand and a series of kicks later he had lost. The condemning screen of the little girl posing in triumph had only had his blood boiling even more.
"Let's play something else. How about Mario Kart?"
He was unbeatable at Mario Kart.

Turned out that he might not be completely unbeatable, after all.
Jongin had always been a video game nerd and on top of that he had always been a very sore loser, preferring to obsess over games until no one would beat him anymore. Now Chanyeol wasn't that much better than him but these were his games so obviously he had played them a lot as well. He just wasn't a noob and got more than the occasional jab at him which was enough to bug him. The fact that he had to acknowledge Chanyeol's skills, in whatever field, was an unwelcome thing.
Chanyeol wasn't even mocking him. Though he was obviously not going down without a fight either, his tongue stuck between his lips in concentration (which went unnoticed by Jongin who kept glaring at the screen).
After a very much frustrating star cup rallye - this didn't even have a lot to do with Chanyeol since the star cup was the embodiment of stress all on its own already - Jongin groaned and sank back into the couch.
Chanyeol also sighed and put down the gamepad to stretch his limbs.
"Alright, I guess we stop here before we start killing ourselves in real life." he suggested easily, laughing as if it was all a joke. By then he should know better.
Jongin got up to search for the next game he'd like to beat the crap out of the Southener in when a certain game caught his attention.
"What about this one?" he asked and when Chanyeol didn't reply immediately, he turned towards the boy on the couch who looked... hesitant?
"Uh. Sure. It's an RPG though. But the fights are cooperative-"
"I know the Tales of Series." Jongin rudely cut him off, turning the game to read the information on the back.
"I just don't know this one. Never had a Gamecube."
"Oh. Okay, then. Go ahead.", Chanyeol offered easily, "You take the first player though. I know this game like the back of my hand. Won't be any fun this way!"
All the better. There wouldn't be any virtual killing Chanyeol, but maybe he could get the most out of this frustrating evening this way. Playing a good RPG he had always wanted to try while having Chanyeol as nothing but an unwanted side-kick sounded good.
He was greeted by an opening screen and pressed a random button to get to the menu.
And there was something Jongin had noticed multiple times already. Just like all the other games they had tried, the main slot was called "Baekyeol". This time it was even more obnoxious with no less than five slots named that way, all harboring an excessive amount of hours(a few being three-digit numbers).
He stared at the screen in light bewilderment.
"Why do you keep naming yourself Baekyeol?" he asked while creating a completely new game alltogether, naming it 'Kai' - his artist alias. Not that Chanyeol knew.
"Oh. That wasn't my idea. It was a friend's."
"Huh."
No more questions were asked as the introduction went off and Jongin let himself get into a dying fantasy world where a chosen girl was supposed to take off on a journey of salvation. It really was basically just him playing a game and Chanyeol joining in on the fights. And true to his words and amount of gaming hours he was indeed a pro at this one. Even though their resources were laughable and he let Jongin play the hero - a fighter with two swords, easy to handle - while he himself was stuck with the magician who was slow as hell and knew only one weak fireball attack, they kept advancing smoothly.
"Why do you keep using our items?!"
"Because you were dying??" Chanyeol gave back guilelessly.
"I would have made it!"
"Naw, you wouldn't. You're not exactly dodging a lot and those things can heal themselves."
Jongin decided to ignore this and let out his aggression on said enemy who had no chance whatsoever.
"I don't mind healing. I used to play Raine- ah, sorry for the spoiler. She'll join in later on..."
It wasn't that much of a spoiler with her turning up soon after and indeed Chanyeol chose her without complaining. Jongin never liked to be stuck with the boring task of healing and was glad to have someone do it. And he did it undeniably good to the point that Jongin could completely neglect his health points in favor of finally learning about controlling and timing.
"You're pretty good considering this is your first time playing! You're significantly less suicidal than my friend used to be, makes it a lot easier-"
Chanyeol cut himself off as if he had said something wrong and quickly changed directions.
"-say, are you hungry or anything?"
Actually... he was starving.
"A bit."
"I can cook us something real quick. Do you like curry? Or I could just put in a frozen pizza. Or make something entirely else-"
"Don't care. Anything's fine."
Chanyeol only nodded as he jumped to his feet.
What did it take to put this guy off?
"Cool, I'll be back in a bit~ You can just put me on auto, I don't mind."
"I wouldn't have asked."
Oh, did I say that out loud as well?
Jongin sighed. What was wrong with him today? He felt even more snarky than usual.

Chanyeol hopped off into the kitchen and he kept playing. Unfortunately he had to come to terms with the fact that the computer played far worse than Chanyeol, leaving him in an embarrassingly wounded state at the end of every fight (instead of the usual flawless one). He kept watching back warily in case Chanyeol saw his humiliating status details but the tall guy was humming to himself as he bustled around in the kitchen.
He soon gave up before wasting all their items and paused the game, looking around the room instead.
He saw a row of books, an even longer row of mangas, a keyboard leaning at one wall and drumsticks stuffed into a cup on a desk. The whole wall adjacent to the window front was plastered with photos, tickets and snippets of other random things. Curiosity getting the better of him he walked up to inspect it closer.
There were lots of photos of Chanyeol posing with his friends or co-students. Most included his stupid v-pose, but there were exceptions where he had been caught off guard. Some showed him playing instruments at different occasions. Only one photo showed his parents, shot at what looked like a Christmas diner.
Another photo that got his attention was one with what seemed to be an idol group, all gathered around Chanyeol and his friend, making silly poses for the camera.
Now that he thought about it... the boy he was standing together with appeared on a vast number of the photos. His best friend, obviously.

"Haha, they're all not that interesting to you, are they?" Chanyeol suddenly said and Jongin jumped.
"Uh. They're just... photos. I guess." he lamely said, definitely not ready to admit that he found them not uninteresting at all.
"Yeah. They piled up over the years." Chanyeol said while drying his hands on a cloth.
"Is that Seventeen?" Jongin asked instead, pointing to the idol group.
"You know them? Soonyoung will love to hear that!"
"Soonyoung...?"
Chanyeol scooted next to him, invading his personal space as he tapped his finger against a row of other photos.
"You see him? He's part of the band. Nickname's Hoshi. Has been a friend of ours for a long time. He trained for a so many years, it was pretty rough. This year they finally debuted and I really hope they'll make it. He'd deserve every bit of success. But hearing an Eastener know them makes me hopeful!" he concluded happily.
"Well. I looked up bands for our work..." Jongin dismissed quietly.
"Oh, either way you know their name, that's enough... Oh, but don't rat him out on anything you see on the photos. The public can be pretty sensitive."
As if Jongin had any interest in that. But there was something else.
"'Ours'? You're talking of that red-headed guy?"
Chanyeol looked at him quizzically.
"Red-headed... Oh! You mean this one?", he asked, tapping on the friend he was posing with next to the band, "Yeah, that's Baekhyun, my best friend. He had red hair at that time. In fact I think he had all the hair colors by now. Except for silver. Maybe I should tell him to dye his hair silver...", he trailed off lost in thought while padding back to the kitchen.
Jongin looked after him. What a weirdo. Though it must be nice to have someone that close to him. Now that he was certain of the changing hair colors he could spot him in even more pictures, his eyes flitting over vacation photos, snapshots at manga conventions where they had dressed up and graduation photos where they had actually dressed up.
He was determined to find a difference in the way Chanyeol held himself. Surely he must be different with his actual friend around, right?
But all he could see was Chanyeol smiling, laughing, looking oh so carefree.
It was angering him.
And his anger was confusing him.
He refused to accept that Chanyeol was just so... easy. That couldn't be it. No one was that simple-minded. No one was that... trustworthy.

His eyes suddenly fell on two very familiar sheets of paper pinned to a small bulletin board.
One was more familiar than the other.

You keep trying to force everyone around you to satisfy your ego
by shoving your supposedly good persona down everyone's throat.
You're shallow and manipulative and I refuse to play along with it.

He re-read the lines he had scribbled down in a fit of annoyance and found them to still be true.
It summed up Park Chanyeol perfectly in only a few lines.
The other one depicted a far more delicate handwriting that, while poisonous in it's choice of words for Jongin, held nothing but genuine admiration.

I perceive you as someone who's able to adapt to different people's ways of thinking
and bring out the best in them. Even though you only truly care for few people you're
not trying to harm others, keep your mind open to anyone and manage to be genuine.
That's impressive.

He didn't know how long he had been staring at the note until the sound of clattering plates on the table woke him from his reverie.
Still, he didn't turn around.
Not even when Chanyeol called out to him in a questioning manner.
"Jongin? The food is ready...?"
Instead, he let his fingers gently brush over the note.
"What he sees in you... I don't." he mumbled.
"Huh?"
He turned to face Chanyeol, a mix of frustration and apprehension on his face.
"I don't see it. What Kyungsoo wrote about you. I don't get it."
The Southener looked a bit taken aback before averting his gaze for once.
"Ah, I'm not even sure I see it myself. The way Kyungsoo sees me... it's a bit... scary."
"Scary?" Jongin replied immediately but Chanyeol only shrugged and offered him a seat next to him which Jongin reluctantly took.
"Isn't it always scary if people all of a sudden look inside you so deeply? Aaah, and of all people Do Kyungsoo thinks of me this way - who would have thought that someone so aggressive and y would look up to someone like me. It's a surprise."
Chanyeol seemed pretty comfortable talking about it as he casually took his first spoon of steaming hot curry.
Jongin followed suit and almost burnt his tongue due to being lost in thought.
After a few seconds of silence, only made possible due to Chanyeol being busy with chewing, Jongin finally spoke up.
"I don't think Kyungsoo is intentionally trying to be a jerk."
His voice had been quiet but he could basically feel all of Chanyeol's attention on him.

"You know... I'm not actually scared of people. I'm really not. But I think Kyungsoo is."

It was a huge revelation on Jongin's side but it slipped during the process of defending Kyungsoo. But Chanyeol shot him nothing but a look of mild surprise.
"You think so?"
"Yeah."
Chanyeol only nodded and went back to his food.
Jongin was about to give him credit for being serious (and quiet) for once in his life when he reached for the gamepad again.
"Let's not waste any time, I still wanna get Sheena into our team today!"
He groaned. So much for anything productive going on in Park Chanyeol's head.

Here we have a significantly less smooth combination - Chanyeol and Jongin.
As always, the chapters are beginning to get longer...!
For personal reasons I had to set this to 'Subscribers Only' - I hope no one minds >_<
Next chapter is gonna feature Soo again, promise!

I hope you all had a good start into the new year c:
Stay healthy and have lots of fun this year as well~!

Love,
Sugar-and-Salt

P.S.: Yes, the game they played was Tales of Symphonia, a game I certainly spent three-digit number of hours on.
To be honest you don't actually name your save slots though. Just roll with it, please?