may i flirt with you?

“You dropped something.”

“What?”

“Your standards.”

Jinki gapes at the stranger and Jonghyun huffs and stands a little straighter. Then the words really register and Jinki bursts out in laughter, only causing Jonghyun to look even more hurt.

“You’re the worst best friend ever!” Jonghyun says and Jinki promises to buy him another Strawberry Daiquiri. Jonghyun sulks until Jinki promises to buy him one more.

The stranger has gone and Jinki can’t find him in the darkness of the club. The pick-up line (Jinki assumes it’s a pick-up line anyway) stays with him throughout the night as they get drunk.

Jonghyun is drunk before Jinki but that’s nothing new and Jinki watches him on the dance floor, disappearing in between taller people only to show himself again.

When they leave the club, they’re both drunk. Jinki is giggling in the night. He thinks he heard the lyrics as ‘farts farts farts’ before they left and for some reason, that’s hilarious to him and he can’t stop repeating it. Jonghyun is getting tired, slowly sobering up in the night air and he’s going to have a hangover before they arrive home. Jinki is blissfully unaware of Jonghyun’s misery, however, and he continues his giggling as he staggers home with Jonghyun at his side.

It’s 12 PM when Jinki wakes up the next morning. He’s tired and fatigued but doesn’t have a headache. He doesn’t feel nauseous either. That’s something he can’t say about Jonghyun, though.

“Shut up,” Jonghyun says as he cradles his head in his hands. Jinki just pats his hair a little in sympathy before he goes to find a glass of water for both of them. They spend the afternoon eating fast food and pitying themselves but it’s the best cure for a hangover.

“Meet my girlfriend!” Jonghyun says and looks fondly at a tall woman by his side. She smiles a little and bows politely to say hello to Jinki. Jinki just lifts his hand in a wave from where he’s sitting on the couch. Jonghyun frowns but both the girl and Jinki ignore him.

“You must be Minjung?” Jinki asks and the girl nods. Her dark hair falls into her eyes and she fumbles a little with the short bob-cut before she gives up. Jonghyun gently removes the hair and fixes it behind her ears.

“Yeah and I’m guessing you’re the worst best friend, Jinki?”

Jinki snorts and almost chokes on the sip of coke he has just taken.

“ you Jonghyun,” he says when he’s done coughing. Jonghyun just smirks a little.

From: Minjung

Hey Jinki. Jonghyun says he wants to invite you to our housewarming but he doesn’t have the guts to do it so I’m doing it for him. Songijeong-ro 6-gil 105. You have to be here.

From: Jonghyunnie

Don’t come to our housewarming, you ungrateful, single gremlin.

From: Jonghyunnie

Thanks for helping with the furniture btw.

From: Jonghyunnie

Minjung says you’re allowed only if you bring beer

From: Jonghyunnie

and a bottle of champagne

To: Jonghyunnie

off.

Jinki doesn’t know a lot of people when he steps inside Jonghyun and Minjung’s new shared home. Most of them, he guesses, are Minjung’s friends. Jonghyun doesn’t have a large social circle but it has never been a problem for him. Jinki is handed a beer and he introduces himself to a few of the people there. Jonghyun’s sister is there as well so Jinki clings to her. At least she’s a known face.

“Were do you hide your wings?” an unknown voice suddenly asks behind him, so close to his ear that Jinki can feel the hot breath on his skin. But when he turns around, all he sees is a back dressed in a black shirt disappearing into a group of people. Sodam laughs beside him.

“What a cheesy pick-up line,” she says and drinks from her beer. Jinki shrugs a little.

“Guess he wasn’t too curious since he didn’t stay around to get an answer.”

He forgets the stranger as the evening goes on and he gets more to drink.

From: Jonghyunnie

Vogue just called, they want to put you on the cover

To: Jonghyunnie

Wtf?

From: Jonghyunnie

That wasn’t me!!!!!

To: Jonghyunnie

Sure

From: Jonghyunnie

!!!!!

From: Jonghyunnie

I would never. Kibum did it.

To: Jonghyunnie

Sure

Jinki cracks his neck and walks down the hallway. He’s on his way to class, bag slung over his shoulder when he bumps into another man. The other man is taller than Jinki, slightly so. He has black hair that looks fluffy and feline eyes with an intensity Jinki has never seen before. His face is sharp yet soft and his cheeks show dimples as he smiles. His style is impeccable and Jinki feels like less as he stands in front of him.

“Are you okay?” the stranger asks and Jinki feels like his legs are unstable beneath him. He stammers his yes and avoids looking at the other man now that he is done drinking in his looks. The stranger is gorgeous, possibly the most handsome man Jinki has ever seen. He beats Jonghyun by a thousand miles and most people acknowledge that Jonghyun is very good-looking. This guy is definitely other-worldly. He has to be.

“Good. Are you going that way?”

The stranger points down the hallway, towards the science classes and Jinki nods a little.

“Yes, I’m… I am…”

Jinki scolds himself internally for stumbling over his words again. This is stupid. He should be better than that but then the stranger smiles and Jinki feels like melting in a puddle on the floor again.

“Oh. Nice! Enjoy.”

With those words the stranger steps around Jinki and takes a few steps away in the opposite direction of where Jinki has to go. Jinki turns around on his spot and looks at the stranger’s back disappearing down the hallway.

“I’m Jinki!” he says after him and then regrets. Stupid Jinki, stupid. The stranger turns around and sends him a smile that has Jinki’s heart beating faster than it should, however.

“Hello Jinki.”

Then he disappears around a corner and Jinki has to fight against sinking to the floor.

Minjung laughs.

“You crush on people easier than Jonghyun!” she says and Jonghyun frowns and crosses his arms against his chest. Minjung pulls at his hand until he releases it and she can link their fingers. She doesn’t take back her words, though. Jinki sighs a little and leans over the table in defeat.

“I knoooow.” Jinki wasn’t supposed to crush on a stranger bumping into him. Jinki has been single for years, to the point of everyone believing he was aual because of his lack of romantic relationships. Even Jinki had started thinking he was aual. Well, that is until he met the stranger in the hallway because now he knows he is definitely not aual. He wants to see the stranger again, he wants to meet him again. Another girl joins them at their table and steals Minjung’s apple. Minjung steals Jonghyun’s banana instead of taking the apple back from her best friend.

“What’s with him?” Taeyeon asks and nods towards Jinki. Jinki just groans.

“He’s in love,” Jonghyun says and Jinki sits up straight in his seat.

“Oooooh,” Taeyeon says and smiles. “So you’re not ace, huh?”

Jinki just frowns at her and steals the apple from her.

“You must be the reason for global warming because you’re hot,” a stranger says and Jinki turns around to stand face to face with the man.

“Actually it’s primarily because of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” he says.

When he recognises the man and the words he has just spewed in his tipsy state, he blushes tomato-red and wants to hide. In front of him stands the other-worldly stranger that he bumped into two weeks ago. Except right now they’re at a party, they’re probably both drunk and Jinki just answered his pick-up line with science. Jinki hasn’t been this embarrassed since he went to kindergarten.

The stranger widens his eyes and then starts laughing.

“I didn’t think you would respond,” he says when he finishes laughing. Jinki wants to sink into the floorboards and disappear. “My name’s Kibum.”

Jinki takes a deep breath and tries not to think about what he looks like.

“Jinki,” he says and hopes he does well. Kibum sends him another smile that has his knees weak.

“I know.”

The grass is wet with dew but the night sky is clear and the stars are calming him. Jinki has found plenty of constellations but he still hasn’t found his favourite and he can’t go inside before he finds it. He doesn’t notice the person laying down beside him in the summer evening until the other person moves closer and they’re suddenly touching.

Jinki turns his head and stares into the most beautiful brown eyes. He hadn’t notice how beautiful Kibum’s eyes are before now. Now they’re transfixing him, making it impossible to look away.

“Your lips look so lonely…Would they like to meet mine?” Kibum asks in a whisper and Jinki smiles a little.

“ yes,” he answers before he presses his lips to Kibum’s. Jinki is way too drunk.

“You know I saw you and Jonghyun in the nightclub 6 months ago,” Kibum says. Jinki raises an eyebrow and continues playing with Kibum’s fingers on his stomach. “I thought you were together but Jonghyun really is below you.”

Jinki blinks a little.

“Wait, did you tell me I dropped my standards then? Was it because of Jonghyun?”

The pink blush on Kibum’s cheeks give him away. Jinki laughs.

“It was also me that asked about your wings at Jonghyun and Minjung’s housewarming,” Kibum says in a shy voice. Jinki lets go of Kibum’s hand and turns around in his embrace so he can look directly at Kibum.

“You never stayed around to get my answer,” he says and Kibum shrugs a little.

“I was shy. My friends told me that it would definitely work with that pick-up line but oh my god, it sounded horrible when I said it out loud.”

Jinki chuckles.

“So for how long did you think I was hot?”

Kibum scoffs.

“That will stay my secret. I’m glad your personality is just as perfect as your appearance, though.”

They lie in silence, just looking at each other. Jinki loves Kibum. He’s confident and cheeky. He’s shy and embarrassed. He’s a walking contradiction but he’s perfect in every possible way. Everything he does is beautiful because it is exactly what makes him Kibum.

“You know, sweetie, my lips won’t just kiss themselves…” Kibum says after a few minutes of silence and Jinki shakes his head fondly before he closes the distance between them and lets his lips meet Kibum’s.

author's notes

Sometimes I really need to stop myself. Cheesy pick-up lines are usually Jinki's but idk, I just felt like Kibum doing them. It feels right to me. They're cheesy but there's also .. some kind of Kibum-feeling to them. They're obviously a couple in the last paragraph while the rest of the drabble is them meeting for the first time and then again a couple of more times. ^-^
Het!Jongho is a guilty pleasure of mine, tbh.