“Jesus, prices have really gone up here.” Kibum muttered as he read the number on a bottle of laundry detergent. However--deciding that his clothes were priceless, and he was devoted to maintaining them at any expense--he placed the liquid into the cart behind him.

“Babe, they didn’t have your brand over there,” Jonghyun said as he walked back from a few aisles down to where Kibum was standing in the Home Cleaning section, “so I just got this one.” He held out the box of hair dye for the other to properly inspect.

“Why this one?”

“Well it has like...the same colors on the front, I think.” Kibum scoffed and rolled his eyes at his naive boyfriend. If it weren’t for his obviously lighter brown than natural hair, you’d think he was a to color treatment.

“If that’s how you go about buying hair dye, than I’m a little worried, but it’ll work,” He left a small peck on Jonghyun’s cheek and placed the box in the cart, “Thank you.”

“Do we need anything else, d’you think? Do we still have milk at home?”

“Milk!” Kibum clapped his hands together at his sudden remembrance. “That’s what I’m forgetting. I’ll grab some, be right back.” The blonde scurried off to the dairy section, leaving Jonghyun to mindlessly peruse down the aisle of fabric softeners, bleach, and other things of that nature.

“Excuse me.” A bubbly voice took him out of his thoughts of whether a 2 dollar difference between dryer sheet brands really meant one was better than the other--how different can dryer sheets be, realistically? He turned around to find the voice belonged to a girl; brunette, super smiley, dressed in a floral print sundress which, by the way, was completely insensible considering it was the middle of fall and 50 degrees outside. Nonetheless, Jonghyun smiled at the stranger politely.

“Um, yes?” Her eyes seemed to light up as soon as he started to speak, and she walked just a bit closer.

“I don’t mean to bother you, but I can’t seem to find any window cleaner. I’ve been looking all over, and I am just positively stumped!” A pink polished finger began twirling a strand of hair around and around. “You wouldn’t happen to know where it is, would you?” Was she serious? Jonghyun trained his eyes just past the girl, directly behind her to the shelf containing 3 entire rows of various window cleaners. She followed his eyes, smile never faltering, and looked straight at the brightly colored display that, to Jonghyun, was just about the most obvious product in the entire home cleaning section. But what, in the strange woman’s words, positively stumped him was when she met his eyes again after clearly seeing the wall of window cleaner and said nothing, just kept on staring like she hadn’t seen anything. So Jonghyun, being the kind gentleman he was and choosing to give her the benefit of the doubt, awkwardly walked past the girl, grabbed a bottle of cleaner, and handed it to her. Immediately her smile grew, if that was possible. She laughed loudly and playfully hit herself on the head with her palm like it was all just a funny mistake. “Oh my god! This is so embarrassing,” When she started batting her eyelashes furiously like she was trying to blow him away he registered exactly what was happening. This girl wasn’t just completely oblivious, she was flirting! “Thank you so much! I swear, I never would’ve found it if I hadn’t found you...” The way she said the last part reminded Jonghyun of some cheesy romance movie from the 90s. He hated these situations. Being flirted with by strangers wasn’t a new thing, and it made him more than uncomfortable every time. Usually, he could quickly flee the scene and not have to face it, but Kibum wasn’t back yet, so he had to wait.

“No problem,” Jonghyun grinned uneasily as his grip on the shopping cart grew tighter. “Happy to help.” A few silent seconds stretched on between them as Jonghyun looked at the various kinds of cleaning tools on the shelves, hoping the girl might just leave; no such luck.

“So do you come here often??” It was moments like these that Jonghyun wished he wasn’t so nice.

“Sometimes.” Actually, he and Kibum came here quite often considering they only lived 5 minutes away, but like hell he was going to tell her that.

“Really? I come here all the time! They have the best prices,” he nodded his head in acknowledgment and began slowly moving his cart down the aisle.  Now the girl was actually trailing along with him, and it took all of his strength not to just run away because that would be rude. “Oh!” She peered into his cart, eyeing the box of hair dye and smiled. “You dye your hair?? So do I!”

“Well yeah I do. But actually, it’s not mine. It’s for my-”

“We have so much in common!” An irritated sigh was all Jonghyun allowed out of himself. “So do you have a phone number?” she stopped in front of him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, successfully stunning him in his place. How thick was this girl’s skull that she asked for Jonghyun’s number after his blatant uninterested actions?

“Um, I-”

“I don’t know if you could tell,” she said as she bat her eyelashes and giggled innocently. He’d have to have been an idiot to not have been able to tell, “but I think you’re cute,” her long, angular fingers lightly touched his shoulder, “and I’d love to see you again.” Jonghyun backed up as far as he could until his back was flat pressed against the boxes of magic cleaner sponges, a cold sweat breaking out underneath his shirt.

“I- I don’t...I mean I have a um- I like gu-”

“Found a friend, Jong?” A familiar voice filled to the brim with sass rang in Jonghyun’s ears, making him flick his head over to find Kibum holding a gallon of milk in one hand while the other rested on his hip. His angular eyebrow was raised, lips pursed, and Jonghyun knew he was in for it.

“Kibum!” He reflexively pushed the girl away and looked in between her big bambi eyes and his obviously irritated boyfriend. “I- um, I was just...helping her, uh...”

“Do you know him?” At that moment Jonghyun wanted to staple shut, for every word she spoke, she was only making things worse. Kibum had a tendency to get jealous easily, and even Jonghyun knew the whole situation looked bad.

“He- he’s my-”

“I’m his boyfriend.” The blonde sauntered over to where the two were standing, harshly taking the shopping cart away from Jonghyun with his famous fiery glare that Jonghyun had dubbed the dagger eyes after being subject to them so many times.

“Boyfriend?” She was thoroughly confused now, looking Jonghyun up and down like his appearance hadn’t been a tip-off of the small detail that he was gay.

“Yes, boyfriend,” Kibum chimed in once again, smiling in a way that wasn’t really smiling as he hauled the milk jug into the basket. “Close your mouth, sweetheart,” to which she promptly closed her previously drooping jaw and cleared awkwardly. “At least, I was when I left three minutes ago to go get milk!” Kibum turned and looked questioningly at Jonghyun. “Did uh, did something happen, Jong? Was there some sort of change that I was unaware of?” His tone was passive and oozing fake nonchalance. Like Kibum wasn’t scary enough when he was just mildly irritated; Jonghyun knew he was in for it when the sarcasm would start.

"N- no, I was just...she just-"

"Right," the blonde smiled and turned the cart toward the registers, "Well I'll leave you two to your flirting. If you'll excuse me, I have to go pay for my groceries." He tossed one last glare at Jonghyun before gliding past them and out of the aisle. For a second, Jonghyun just stared in his direction, too stunned to move or speak or think.

"Um..." the long forgotten girl that had caused this whole mess regained his attention, looking as confused as ever and a little embarrassed. That was when Jonghyun finally came to his senses. If he were dating someone else, they would probably stop and wait once they reached the car but being that it was Kibum, there was a very good chance he would just drive away without a glance in the rear view mirror, leaving Jonghyun to find his own way home. Just as the girl’s lips parted to speak, Jonghyun spewed out an,

"I gotta go. Have a nice day," And ran after the other man, leaving the dreaded window cleaners and laundry soaps in the dust. He found Kibum just in time as the other was finishing up at the register. Jonghyun was able to snatch one paper bag in hopes of winning some points back for being nice, but Kibum just looked at him pointedly, took the other bag and walked out the door, the shorter man trailing behind like a puppy. "Kibum, wait," he was having a hard time keeping up with the blonde's quick pace. Thankfully they hadn't parked very far, and Kibum soon came to a stop to unlock the car. "Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain."

"Look, I wasn’t flirting with her. She came to me!" They set the bags down in the back seat, Jonghyun watching as Kibum threw himself into the driver's seat with a slam of the door before getting in next to him.

"Yeah, it looked like you were putting up a real fight."

"Come on, Bum. You know I freeze up in those kinds of situations..." The infamous eye roll and an unbelieving scoff were all Jonghyun received for an answer. At this rate he'd be lucky to get even an insincere 'Whatever, it's fine.' His boyfriend was passive, but he didn't hide when he was mad. There was one more thing he could try; depending on the severity of the situation, it had proven effective in the past. Jonghyun pushed out his bottom lip and stared at Kibum with the biggest, droopiest puppy eyes he could muster. "Kibummie~" he ran a hand over the other's arm and shook it, but all he got in return was an annoyed sigh. "Come on, baby. Are you really not gonna forgive me??" Jonghyun leaned in closer, Kibum’s arm lovingly. "I really wasn't flirting with her, sweetie. I was barely even talki-"

"I don’t wanna hear it," the blonde snapped, eyes never even sparing a glance Jonghyun's way. "And don’t touch me, I'm driving." At that point the elder knew he wasn’t getting anywhere anytime soon. It wasn’t the first time Kibum had gotten like that; it was easy to ruffle the boy's feathers, and Jonghyun considered himself a pro, no matter how much he tried not to be. He'd come around sooner or later, so Jonghyun stayed silent the rest of the way home.

Kibum wasted no time when they arrived home, promptly picking up a grocery bag and making his way inside, still no utterance of a single word, not even a glance in Jonghyun’s direction. Vegetables were tossed swiftly into the fridge, paper towels shoved harshly into the cabinet, and Jonghyun just watched, waiting for the next window of opportunity to arise. Kibum’s anger went through phases. Phase one was the few minutes after the event that made him angry in which Jonghyun pleaded for his life until the other forgave him. If he missed that phase--which was obviously the case--he would have to wait until Kibum’s little tantrums--his outburst of yelling or slamming things or simply giving Jonghyun the silent treatment--were over. And as the blonde’s harsh movements were slowly winding down, the elder saw that window creeping up. Kibum was opening a new pack of dish sponges with a face of stone when Jonghyun decided to try his luck again.

“Babe?” He leaned against the kitchen door frame, arms loosely crossed as he cast a soft gaze toward the other. Kibum simply raised his eyebrows in response, still too bitter to speak or look his boyfriend’s way. The younger’s stubbornness was sort of amusing, and Jonghyun couldn’t help but crack a small smile, just briefly though, so that Kibum wouldn’t blow a gasket again. “Are you really still mad at me?” The key to winning Kibum back was to be soft spoken, giving him the feeling that he had the upper hand and that he was only giving in because he chose to and not because he can never stay mad at his man. Kibum shrugged defiantly as he threw the plastic packaging away and started on a pack of hand towels, and Jonghyun knew he was in the clear. He walked closer to lean on the counter next to Kibum, his eyes never breaking away from the other. It was another trick Jonghyun had learned through the years; Kibum could only look away for so long when the brunette had his eyes fixated on him. “What can I do to make it up to you?” Kibum picked at the beige towel in his hands, subconsciously pushing out his bottom lip like he always did when he was on the brink of forgiving but didn’t want to submit yet. After a few seconds, Jonghyun let out a soft chuckle and leaned in just a little closer so it would be even harder to ignore him. “Come on, what can I do? Tell me.” Silence stretched for a few more seconds, and Jonghyun could see the gears shifting in Kibum’s head, contemplating whether he should stay mad or not.

“Tell me you love me.” It was said so innocently, Jonghyun wanted to burst out laughing at his stubborn boyfriend.

“I love you,” The smallest of grins snuck its way onto Kibum’s face, but he kept his gaze on the cloth in his hands. “Still mad?”

“A little...” Jonghyun mentally rolled his eyes. It was typical pouty Kibum, but he'd actually grown quite fond of this little game over the years. Jonghyun slowly leaned forward and placed a light kiss atop the other's cheek, satisfied with the sight of Kibum’s dimples making themselves visible as a result.

“Still mad?” Finally, Kibum met his gaze, and boy was Jonghyun glad to see those heart-melting brown eyes.

“Just one more thing.” His tone was now rid of any resentment and replaced with the playfulness that Jonghyun loved.

“What?” Kibum lowered his gaze to the front of Jonghyun’s t-shirt before delicately pulling up from the bottom to take a peek at the chiseled abs underneath. Fully satisfied after grazing his fingers across the tan stomach, the blonde let go of the shirt, now with a full smile on his face.

“Okay, better.” Jonghyun scoffed and pulled the other in for a kiss.

“I really wasn’t flirting with her.” Kibum raised one eyebrow and looked at Jonghyun pointedly.

“Don’t bring it up, I’m gonna get pissed off again. Just kiss me.” Jonghyun chuckled as he tightened his hold on Kibum’s waist, more than willing to shut up and kiss those pretty lips.

“You got it, babe.”