Jinki slowly went down the stairs to the Slytherin common room knowing very well what was waiting for him. If he could avoid it he would but he knew there was no hiding when it came to Kibum. So he just went down the stairs, each step feeling heavier than the previous one.

Kibum was already sitting on the couch, reading The Daily Prophet, waiting. When Jinki sat down next to him the boy put away the newspaper and patted his thigh. "Hi there. How are you?"

"Fine." Jinki grunted out, still hoping Kibum would spare him from The Talk. He hated talking about feelings, it always made him cringe so hard that if he had a choice he'd rather stab himself with a spoon to death.

Kibum hesitated for a second before speaking. "So... About yesterday."

So much for being spared. Jinki really didn't feel like having this conversation but sat still, letting the other boy get to the point.

"Look I know you don't want to talk about this so let's just make it quick okay? How are you feeling about Jonghyun right now?"

"I don't know." Jinki replied and shoved his hands into his pockets. 

"Do you hate him?"

"I don't think so."

"Good. That's good, that's a start. Do you think it's possible you actually like him?"

Jinki pressed his lips together. He didn't feel ready to answer that question just yet.

"Okay. Let's try something else." Kibum sighed. "You probably noticed but Jonghyun is really upset with you. Do you want him to stay upset?"

Jinki shook his head.

"Do you want to do anything about it?"

Jinki thought for a few seconds before shaking his head once again.

Kibum rolled his eyes. "Jinki it doesn't work that way. If you want him to stop being upset you need to apologize."

"I'm not going to apologize. He should be the one to apologize to me."

"Okay. Can you tell me why?"

Jinki frowned and turned to the other boy. "Is that an actual question? Do I have to remind you of the whole Polyjuice story?"

"He did his thing and you did yours."

"Why should I be the one to apologize then? Besides I didn't hurt him even half as bad as he hurt me, I can't believe you're actually comparing to breaking someone's heart."

"Well, if I'm right about the reason behind Jonghyun's actions then he suffered from both of these things."

"But you're not."

Kibum rubbed his forehead and then leaned back, propping his head against the backrest. "I don't get it Jinki. What are we even doing right now? I thought you figured everything out." he sighed, staring at the ceiling. "Can you tell me once more how you see the whole thing with Jonghyun?"

"I pulled the love potion prank on him and made him angry. In revenge he became Joon to make me fall for him and then dump me. I found out about it and took my revenge as well which, by the way, was him doing things of his own free will. I didn't force him to do any of the stuff he did. So, the final score is: Jonghyun - humiliation caused by me finding out that he, not Joon, my , me - a ing broken heart. He should be the one to apologize."

"So basically nothing changed apart from the way how you feel about him now. Jinki do you really think it's impossible that the whole Joon thing was about getting closer to you and not hurting you? What if he did that because he feels something for you?"

Jinki scoffed. "He doesn't. He's ing Minho."

Minho... Kibum really had to hurry up and figure out what he was up to because right now nothing made sense because of him. "Okay, let's say you're right about that. Then what if Jonghyun just wanted to become friends?"

"He wouldn't have my if that was true."

Touché. Kibum looked down at his hands. He was running out of arguments and the worst thing about this whole conversation was that what Jinki was saying actually made sense. What if this whole hate-turned-love story was just his wishful thinking? What if Jonghyun had really wanted to hurt Jinki by using Joon and Kibum needlessly meddled with his friend's feelings? It was a scary thought and suddenly Kibum regretted getting himself into this whole mess. He was so sure of himself before but now all of that confidence was slowly slipping away, making him realize how huge the consequences of his interfering could be.

"Well?" Jinki glanced at his friend with a raised eyebrow. "You're not going to try to prove me wrong like you usually do?"

Kibum fiddled with his fingers, suddenly not sure about anything. "I-.. I'm going to try to look at this situation from your perspective. You say you don't want Jonghyun to be upset with you anymore but you also don't want to apologize to him. I understand that. So how about you just try reaching out to him? Be friendly, show him you don't have any ill intentions and just want to bury the hatchet."

Jinki stared at him incredulously. "Are you out of your mind? I can't just walk up to him and start being friendly."

"Yes, you can."

"Well, I don't want to."

Kibum sighed. "Jinki, it's either this or Jonghyun ignoring you for the rest of your life."

Jinki had 'I don't ing care' on the tip of his tongue but it would be the most ridiculous thing to say right now because it was quite obvious that he, in fact, cared a lot. He couldn't stand Jonghyun ignoring him for one freaking day, let alone the rest of his life. He looked down at his hands and casually picked on a loose thread in his trousers. "Assuming I said yes, which I'm not saying yet, what would I exactly do?"

"I don't know Jinki, you know the drill. Say a few nice words, bring him his favorite food or drink, whatever."

Just thinking about it made Jinki shudder in disgust. He had never said one nice word to Jonghyun and definitely didn't gift him anything. How was he supposed to suddenly make a 180 degree turn and act