“Alright guys!” Tao called out from the front of the room, “We’ll start simple, this is a beginners class after all, so no flips for now” he laughed at the sighs of relief that swept over the room, “Now, that’s not to say it’ll be easy. You’ll get a good work out and no doubt a lot of you will have less than kind feelings for me at the end, but stick with it and it’ll be worth every minute of sore muscles, I promise! So, let’s start with an easy warm up”

Minseok gave Jongdae a look of utter displeasure, why they had signed up for this, he had no idea. He vaguely remembered Jongdae saying something about supporting their friends, but if he was being honest with himself, he knew that the younger lad just got a kick out of seeing Minseok in embarrassing situations.

They followed Tao’s routine warm up, which wasn’t too bad, it was just simple stretching and such, which Minseok and Jongdae both managed to follow fine.

And then they were standing up and Tao was teaching them basic kicks, that when he did them seemed like it was child’s play, but when Minseok and Jongdae attempted them, they looked like complete buffoons.

By the half way point of the hour long class, Minseok felt like his lungs had been ripped out and replaced by deflated bags of soot.

“Alright, Min?” Jongdae panted from beside him.

Minseok wheezed slightly, “How the hell am I already so out of breath?! We haven’t even done that much”

“Tell me about it” Jongdae laughed, “Maybe it’s just the repetitiveness of it” he shrugged, “But no point in complaining. Look, he’s stopping”

“Don’t count your chickens” Minseok warned.

Tao beamed at them all from the front of the class. “Alright, you guys are doing great, I think a lot of you are pretty much getting the basics down, so give yourselves a pat on the back! And remember, this isn’t something you can learn overnight, it takes years to perfect skills. Now before we get to the warm down portion of this class, we’re going to have a little fun. How many of you can do a sit up?”

About three quarters of the class raised their hands, making Tao grin widely.

“Perfect. Those of you that can’t, don’t worry, just have a go and I’ll come around and help you leant how to properly do them. Those of you that can, I want you to pair off and get ready for a competition” he said, and the group began to pair off, leaving a small group in the corner of those Tao would work with. “For the pairs, first to… Shall we say fifty wins” he waved a dismissive hand. “Off you go, I’ll be keeping an eye out for cheaters”

Jongdae groaned, “This is going to kill us, it’s actually going to kill us” he said as he situated himself on the floor next to Minseok, leaving a decent amount of space between them.

“Next time you won’t sign us up for this then” Minseok said, “We can just stick to our normal gym sessions in future”

“Right you are” Jongdae said, “Ready?”

“Ready! Go!” Minseok laughed and then they were speedily trying to out-do each other in a bid to be the first to fifty sit ups, no matter how much it killed them.

Minseok made it to thirty when the wall hit, and he started slacking.

“Come on, hyung” Tao laughed from across the room, “Pick up the pace”

Minseok panted slightly as he flipped Tao the bird, “Piss off” he huffed out.

Jongdae let out a breathy laugh before falling back onto the hard floor, “I can’t. I’m tapping out,” he told Minseok, “You win. Jesus, I think I’m dead”

“I would gloat, but I’m actually gonna pass out” Minseok said, lying flat out on the floor, his chest rapidly rising and falling.

Tao walked over and grinned down at them, “Enjoying the class?” he asked.

“Literally, go a cactus” Minseok looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

Tao snickered before heading back up to the front to let the class know that they were done for the most part and it was time for the warm down.

They did the routine stretches and such to wind down before they said their goodbyes to Tao and headed out to hit the showers.

Jongdae groaned as the hot water hit his body, “Never let me choose what we’re doing, ever again” he said, peaking over at Minseok, who was lathering himself up with shower gel.

“Obviously” Minseok said, “I swear that last bit was just for our benefit. Let’s not do that again”

“Deal” Jongdae said, shutting off the water and stepping out to dry himself off and get dressed, haphazardly shoving his gym clothes into his bag once he was done and shoving it over his shoulder and waiting as Minseok finished up so that they could head out.

They were glad for the cool air of outside as they walked to Minseok’s car and climbed in after shoving their bags in the boot.

“You wanna do anything, or just head back to mine and chill?” Minseok asked.

“Let’s go back to yours,” Jongdae said, “I have an essay to write and I wanna get it out of the way, or at least started before Christmas. Man, I love break, but I hate my damn professor for giving us stupid work to do over the holidays. Like, it’s called a break for a reason, my friend”

Minseok laughed softly as they set off, “Uni kids” he snorted, “Wait until you join the real world”

“Oh, come off it” Jongdae scoffed playfully, “Uni is hard, you know”

Minseok grinned as they came to a red light, he peered over at Jongdae and said, “So it paying rent and bills”

“I pay rent” Jongdae defended himself.

Minseok hummed, “And you’re gonna be in a load of debt after this. Your right, Uni ”

“Thanks for that reminder” Jongdae deadpanned. He unbuckled his belt as Minseok pulled into the carpark of his apartment building, parking up in his assigned spot before the two of them climbed out and made their way inside to wait for the elevator.

Jongdae liked the easy going aspect of their relationship, he liked that they didn’t always have to be... on. There were times when they would sit in Minseok’s little apartment and just get on with their own things, not really speaking other than to ask for this or that, or just get an opinion on something and it just felt so, homely.

Minseok was like home to Jongdae, and he supposed that he always had been in away, he was Jongdae’s friend, his family, he was someone that Jongdae just loved to spend time with, loved to be around even if it meant doing their own thing and simply knowing that the other was there.

He loved getting stupid texts from the older man, be they silly jokes or just updates on fussy library-goers.

So when they made it up to the apartment and he headed to the table to pull out his laptop and research various sources whilst cracking open various text books, and Minseok headed over to the sofa to flick on the TV and see if there were any good movies to watch, he felt so utterly content that he wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to feel something else.

He smiled in amusement to himself as Minseok settled on Miss Congeniality, every so often saying the lines in time with the actress even though Minseok knew he didn’t have a clue what he was saying since it was in English.

He glanced over to see that Minseok had the subtitles on, but it didn’t look as though he was actually reading them, the guy had basically memorised the whole movie, a fact which made Jongdae unsure of whether he should be impressed or just plain concerned.

With a fond shake of his head he turned back to his laptop and started his work.

Minseok glanced over at Jongdae from where he was sat on the sofa, a small smile on his face as the movie played in the background.

As much as he , he really did admire how focused Jongdae was on his work, he knew that with his attitude, Jongdae could really do anything he put his mind to, and although he wasn’t too sure what he wanted to get into once he had finished his schooling, he had options.

Whilst Minseok knew that he could do what he put his mind to also, he was proud of how dedicated Jongdae was to doing something that he genuinely loved, even though it could be quite tough from time to time.

It kind of made Minseok laugh when he thought about it, because when they’d met, Jongdae had been nothing like that.

It had been when Jongdae was in his third year of high school, Minseok had already been friends with Baekhyun, but he’d never met Jongdae before. Minseok had still been in uni at the time, before he’d dropped out through lack of interest.

He’d thrown a small get together – which had turned into a little more than a small get together – and had invited Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. Baekhyun had asked if he could be a friend and that friend had turned out to be Jongdae.

He had been really laid back, didn’t really care too much for studying, but he was smart, anyone could see as much. They had gotten chatting when Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had run off to drunkenly make out in front of Junmyeon to make him uncomfortable, which Minseok had to admit was funny when you got to witness it.

“So” Jongdae had said, “You’re the Minseok I’ve been hearing so much about?”

“All good things, I hope” Minseok had laughed as he’d touched Jongdae’s arm flirtatiously.

And it had been the start of a really beautiful friendship. Perhaps things would have happened a lot sooner between them, but all they had done has kissed and neither of them had been brave enough to make a move and ultimately, Minseok had ended up in a relationship with his of an ex and that had just ended… ing awfully if Minseok was honestly.

But then Jongdae had been there when Minseok was hurting and things seemed like they might be okay again, and then Jongdae was kissing him, he was making the move that Minseok needed him to.

And so they hadn’t put labels on it, and Minseok had been so scared, and perhaps Jongdae had been too, so maybe that was what took them both so long to say what they just needed to say.

But that cruise had brought it all out in the open and Minseok was so glad. So happy.

Because when he thought about it, he’d been routing for them from the start and it was always just going to be a matter of time before they made it was it now was.

“Don’t think too hard, Min” Jongdae snapped him out of his reverie. When he’d come to sit next to Minseok on the sofa, he hadn’t a clue, but all that matter was that he was there now, “You’ll hurt yourself”

“ you” Minseok laughed, but there was a softness to his voice that only ever seemed to be present when he spoke to or of Jongdae.

Jongdae grinned back easily, “Hey, you’re supposed to be nice to me, I’m your boyfriend!”

“Yeah, you are” Minseok smiled, “Good thing too, because turns out I can be a little bit jealous from time to time and I probably would have had to beat people off with a stick”

Jongdae snorted, “I’d have paid to see that” he said, “Wait… Is that why you got so moody when I told you I thought I had a crush on Baek back in my senior year?” he asked.

“Let’s not talk about that” Minseok said quickly, “Oh look,” he turned back to the TV, “Mary Poppins. Love this film. Let’s watch this. Quietly. No need to talk”

Jongdae laughed loud and carefree, “God, I love you, Kim Minseok.”

And Minseok was certain that he loved Jongdae too.

--

Chanyeol liked to think that despite being young, he was quite mature and self-sufficient. But even in that, he hated shopping for groceries with a passion.

Still, it had to be done.

“Oh god… Do I have milk? No. But how much milk will I realistically drink? One pint is too little… But will I drink two? Or four?” Chanyeol mused aloud.

“Always go for two” A voice snapped him from his reverie.

Chanyeol turned to see a kind eyed woman offering him a sweet smile. “Two pints. You’re sure?”

“I’m a milk genius” The woman nodded, “Trust me. Take the two pints”

Chanyeol laughed softly, “You’re a life saver, ma’am” he said, “Thank you.” He put the milk in his basket and let out a sigh.

“Any time,” the woman beamed, “You in school?” she asked as he picked up some milk for herself and added it to her trolley.

Chanyeol nodded, “Yep. I’m studying science. Hoping to change the world, one micro-organism at a time” he laughed softly, “Not to sound weird, but, um… You seem like you know what you’re doing and I’m a poor uni kid barely making enough to survive so can you maybe… Help me get enough to keep me going for a couple of weeks?”

The woman laughed, soft and melodic, “Sure. Once upon a time I was in your situation. What’s your name, son?” she asked.

“Chanyeol” Chanyeol smiled, offering a hand for her to shake.

She took with a smile and gave it a firm shake before taking her hand back, “You can call me Mrs Byun.” The two of them began to make their way around the store chatting a little as they did as Mrs Byun helped Chanyeol pick out enough food to last him a couple of weeks, but cheap enough that it wouldn’t have him too much out of pocket.

“You know it’s really funny” Chanyeol was saying, “My mum always used to help me with this. We would meet up for coffee and stuff, but lately she’s just been so busy, you know? Which, I mean, is fair enough. She needs to hold down the fort. My dad’s pretty sick – not so much that he’s gonna die or whatever – but he’s still on the mend and he’s recently in a wheelchair. I’m getting off track. So anyway, we would always grab coffee – hot chocolate for me mostly – and catch up, then she would help me not spend my entire pay cheque and it would just be really nice. But now I’m having to grow up and learn to fend for myself and it’s good, I suppose, to learn how to be self-sufficient and all that, but man is it hard. It so much not to just have someone there to help you. I mean, I have my boyfriend, and god is he the best, but sometimes you just need your mum, you know?” he laughed awkwardly, “Sorry, you didn’t ask for my life story”

“Don’t worry, Chanyeol-ah” Mrs Byun laughed as they started to make their way towards the check out. “I understand. I have a son around your age and he’d definitely be lost without me.”

“Really? You don’t look old enough to have a son my age” Chanyeol said with an easy grin as the pair began to load their shopping onto the conveyer belt.

Mrs Byun snorted a laugh, “Oh stop that,” she said, “You’re going to make this old lady blush” she slapped him playfully on the arm.

“Hey now. I’m just speaking the truth” He grinned, fishing his wallet out of his jeans, “Mrs Byun, will you let me buy you a coffee to say thank you for helping me? It would mean a lot to me if I could”

Mrs Byun smiled, “I’m actually on my way to have lunch with my son,” she said, “But, it would mean a lot to me if you joined us? That way you can buy me coffee some other time. To make you feel a little better about your mum being so busy”

Chanyeol smiled, soft and unguarded as the cashier began to ring him up and bag his items, “How have I known you less than an hour and feel like I want you in my life forever?” he asked.

“I have that effect on people,” Mrs Byun laughed, “I’m kidding. We all just need a little motherly love from time to time. And you’re more than welcome to come get coffee with me whenever you like. Give me your phone,” she held out her hand and Chanyeol passed it to her before turning to the cashier to pay for his things.

Once he was done he grabbed his bags and moved to the side to wait for Mrs Byun. She handed him his phone before turning to chat with the cashier as he bagged up her things.

Chanyeol smiled as he looked down at his phone to see Mama Byun added into his contacts.

“Alright, ready to go get some yummy food?” Mrs Byun beamed at him, shaking her bags at him in anticipation.

Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh, “Alright, let’s go. Did you drive here?” he asked.

“Oh no, my husband has the car today. I got the bus” Mrs Byun said as they headed out into the chill of winter.

Chanyeol shivered slightly, “Well today’s your lucky day. I’m parked over here. Where are we headed for lunch?”

Mrs Byun told him where they were off to and then they were on their way.

Chanyeol thought it was nice, to have someone that was easy to talk to. He liked Mrs Byun. He really liked her, she reminded him of his mum. It was a comforting feeling, to know that although he didn’t get to see his mum as often now, there were still people that cared as much as she did.

It only took them ten minutes to get to the classy little café that Mrs Byun was meeting her son at. Chanyeol parked up around the corner and turned to Mrs Byun, “You can leave your bags in the boot if you like? Then I can give you and your son a lift home after lunch?”

“You’re a sweetheart, Chanyeol-ah. Thank you, that would be lovely” She said, then the two of them climbed out of the car and headed to meet the son.

When Chanyeol thought about it, he should have put two and two together a lot soon, but still as he followed Mrs Byun to the table, he was pretty damn surprised to see Baekhyun stand up and give Mrs Byun a tight hug accompanied with a “Hey mum.”

“Hey sweetie. I hope you don’t mind, I brought a friend” Mrs Byun said with a smile.

Baekhyun looked up to greet him, and froze, his eyes widening in surprise. “Chanyeol? You know my mum?!” he blinked.

Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh. Loud and carefree. “This is crazy” he said, sweeping Baekhyun up into his arms and beaming at the way Baekhyun hugged him back with equal confused excitement.

“How are you here with my mum?!” Baekhyun demanded with a laugh as Chanyeol set him back down on his feet.

“We became best friends in the supermarket” Chanyeol grinned up at Baekhyun’s mum, “Isn’t the right, Mrs Byun?”

Mrs Byun chuckled, “That we did. Though, I’m hoping there’s an explanation to this?”

“Oh right, yeah!” Baekhyun grinned, “Mum, this is Chanyeol. My boyfriend”

Mrs Byun looked pleasantly surprised, “Well, isn’t this a small world!” she said, “I’m glad you picked a good one. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Kyungsoo, but that boy wasn’t right for you. You’re both too pretty” she shook her head.

“Oh my god, mum!” Baekhyun squeaked as the three of them sat down at the table to look over the menu.

“You dated Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol asked, raising a brow at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun opened his mouth to reply, but his mum beat him to it, “Oh you better believe it. They always deny, deny, deny. But god, they were smitten. They were, let me think… They were about sixteen, that first love stuff, always kissing and acting like they weren’t when I walked in on them. It would have been cute if it wasn’t so constant” she rolled her eyes, “But then Kyungsoo got himself a girlfriend because it’s not like that, mum!  And my Baekhyunnie was heartbroken. Until they broke up and started things up again.”

“Oh my actual god” Baekhyun groaned, “We did not start things up again! It was one kiss, one time and we were drunk!”

Chanyeol was biting back a laugh at Baekhyun embarrassment, “It’s okay, babe. I still think you’re great. Even if you were hopelessly in love with Kyungsoo.

“I wasn’t in love with Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun whined, burying his face in Chanyeol’s chest as the latter and his mother laughed.

They continued to tease Baekhyun through lunch, though it moved on from Kyungsoo to embarrassing stories from Baekhyun’s childhood.

“Did he ever tell you that when he was a little boy, he would run around the house in front of all of my friends until his dad managed to catch him and put clothes back on him again?” Baekhyun’s mother laughed jovially, “We ended up investing in a lot of dungarees since he couldn’t undo the clips”

Chanyeol wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes as Baekhyun tried to drown himself in the remaining dregs of his soup, but the waiter came over and took their plates and bowls away, so he had nothing.

“Honestly, when did this turn into embarrass Baekhyun day?” he complained nasally.

Chanyeol wrapped an arm around him comfortingly, “It’s only because I love you, Baek” he said absentmindedly. Though he paused as he felt Baekhyun freeze beneath his arm.

Even Mrs Byun stared at him in surprise.

“I’m sorry, what?” Baekhyun asked, eyes wide and voice somewhat strained with a sense of unsureness as to whether Chanyeol had meant what had been said.

Chanyeol opened his mouth to speak before closing it again in an attempt to regain his composure, “I said,” he breathed, “I love you”

Baekhyun looked like he might laugh, or possibly cry. He wasn’t really sure which direction he was leaning in himself.

“You don’t have to say it back” Chanyeol said quickly, if only slightly worried, “I just… I mean, I didn’t mean to say right now. I was going to tell you at some point, because… Well, because I do. Love you, I mean. But I understand if you aren’t there. I just… I don’t want to take it back, because it’s the truth” he moved as if to take his arm back from Baekhyun, not wanting to make the latter uncomfortable, but Baekhyun held onto him tightly before leaning up and kissing him hard on the mouth.

“You absolutely mental idiot” He laughed, eyes wet and lips stretched into a smile, “Of course I love you. I just… Wasn’t expecting you to say it, is all”

Chanyeol’s lips quirked into a small, shy smile, “Me either.” He breathed out a laugh, “And I mean, I wasn’t really planning on the first time I said it to be in front of your mum” he shot Mrs Byun a small apologetic grin. Though he was pleased to see that she was watching the pair with an overwhelming amount of fondness.

“Yeah, bit awkward” Baekhyun chuckled, wiping his eyes on Chanyeol’s shirt.

“Chanyeol, sweetheart,” Mrs Byun cut in, “Would you like to come back to mine with Baekhyun for tea? I think, if you’d like, now might be a good a time as any to meet Baekhyun’s father?”

Chanyeol flushed slightly, “I mean, if it’s okay with Baekhyun, I’d love to”

“You love a lot of things today” Baekhyun said jokingly.

Chanyeol looked down at him sweetly, “Yeah, but I love you every day” he said in return, making Baekhyun’s ears turn pink as Mrs Byun laughed in the background.

So yeah, Chanyeol hated shopping for groceries, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad from now on.

--

Kyungsoo and Junmyeon sat in Starbucks together; each of them nursing their respective frappe, though whilst Junmyeon was drinking his, Kyungsoo was trapping the ice-y drink in his straw and attempting to build a tower.

“So then,” Kyungsoo said, “This woman starts screaming – literally screaming at me – that I should know what was wrong! And so I’m like ‘Ma’am, I am not a doctor. I have no medical training, I literally just work the computer and book people in.’ But she wasn’t having it, she was going off, and in the end I had to call security.” He gave up on his slushed ice tower and flattened it with his straw before taking a sip of the cold drink, “Guess what ended up being wrong with her”

Junmyeon looked thoroughly amused as he asked, “What?”

“She had a ing UTI, man” Kyungsoo shuddered, “A UTI and she was going on like she was ing dying”

“You know when I asked about your work in future” Junmyeon said, a look of distaste taking over his previously amused expression, “Please refrain from telling me about urinary tract infections”

“Alright,” Kyungsoo grinned mischievously, “How about I tell you about this lady that came in and asked for a certain doctor, only he was booked up for like two weeks and when they asked her if it was urgent, she goes ‘ Oh no, it’s just a bit of foot rot’ and then left!” He laughed at the look on Junmyeon’s face.

Junmyeon felt like he might throw up if they carried on talking about the things Kyungsoo got to see on the daily, so opted to change the subject, “So, Yixing has a dance show coming up” he said.

“Oh right?”

“Mm,” Junmyeon hummed, “He asked me if I’d like to go watch it. Said I could bring someone so that I wouldn’t have to sit on my own. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?”

Kyungsoo nodded, “Sure, when is it?”

“Uh, one sec” Junmyeon said, pulling out his phone and checking the dates, “It’s… Next Tuesday”

Kyungsoo nodded, “Cool, I’ll make sure I let work know I can’t go in that day. I have classes though, so will it be after five?”

“Yeah, it starts at eight” Junmyeon smiled, “We have front row tickets, so make sure you look pretty”

“I’m gonna show up in a dirty jumper and joggers now you’ve said that” Kyungsoo deadpanned before going back to his frappe.

Junmyeon snorted, “Don’t be a , you ”

“Wow, Myeon, you’re so creative. It’s things like this that make me sooo jealous of Yixing” Kyungsoo laughed easily, reaching over the table and shoving his friend playfully.

“Hey. I didn’t know you were here”

The pair looked up to see Jongin smiling down at them in surprise.

Kyungsoo’s face broke into a grin, “Oh, hey Jongin. Sit down, you’re making the place look messy”

Jongin scoffed but sat himself down next to Kyungsoo anyway. “No work today, hyung?” he asked Junmyeon.

“Not today. I’ve got a couple days off, so just catching up with ‘Soo. Well, Kyungsoo’s mooching off of me” Junmyeon smiled.

“Am not” Kyungsoo put in. “You offered to pay”

Jongin laughed, “Oh god” he said.

“Why aren’t you at the dance studio?” Kyungsoo asked suddenly, as if just remembering that Jongin shouldn’t have free time at the moment.

Jongin shrugged, “Blagged it and called in sick” he said. “I didn’t really feel like going today. I’ve been in classes all day and I’m exhausted” he lifted his coffee as if it further his point.

“Well, if that’s the case, surely you shouldn’t be out and about?” Junmyeon raised a brow in questioning.

Jongin shrugged, “I get bored easily. I just didn’t want to help out today since it’s the young kids and, Christ, they can be a handful”

“That bad, huh?” Kyungsoo sipped at his drink, obviously biting back a laugh.

Jongin shot him a withering look, “You can take the piss all you like,” he said, “But when you have twenty kids using you as a climbing frame, then you can comment”

“Someone’s tetchy” Kyungsoo said pointedly.

Jongin frowned back at him, “I told you, I’m exhausted. I wasn’t joking, so lay off”

Kyungsoo looked a little taken aback, but didn’t respond, instead choosing to busy himself with his frappe.

Junmyeon shifted uncomfortably, “Soo, I’m gonna take off. I need to meet Yixing in an hour and I have a couple of errands to run, so…”

Kyungsoo hummed, “Sure, sure” he sighed softly, “I’ll see you tomorrow at mine for dinner? Jongdae and Minseok said they’d be over at about six”

“Of course. I always have time for my favourite friend” Junmyeon reached over to riffle Kyungsoo’s hair affectionately.

Kyungsoo smiled up at him as Junmyeon stood up, “I thought Jongdae was your favourite” he said jokingly.

Junmyeon rolled his eyes, “No, Jongdae assumes he is” he laughed, “Just don’t tell him. It’ll break his heart if he knows the truth”

“Your secret is safe with me” Kyungsoo grinned before Junmyeon said good bye to him and Jongin and took his leave.

It was silent for a moment before Jongin sighed, “Sorry for being snippy with you” he said, “It’s just been a long day”

“It’s okay” Kyungsoo smiled softly, “I get it. I can be a little frustrating sometimes”

Jongin smiled back, “Yeah, but that’s why I like you so much” he said.

“And that” Kyungsoo laughed, “Is why I like you so much”

Jongin rolled his eyes good naturedly, “Actually, now that I have you alone, there was something I wanted to talk to you about…”

“Oh?” Kyungsoo tilted his head to the side questioningly, “Am I trouble?” he teased.

Jongin shook his head in amusement, “No, not yet at least. It’s just… Something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about for a while and just keep never getting around to.”

“Well, colour me curious” Kyungsoo said easily, “Talk to me, Nini”

Jongin took a moment to settle himself, “Okay, well. I think I’ll just put it really simply. We’ve been friends for a while now” he said, “Coming up to, what? Seven months or so? Damn, it feels like longer. Anyway, the thing is. I li-”

“Kyungsoo?!”

Kyungsoo filled with a sense of dread at the familiar voice. This wasn’t happening. Still he slapped on a smile and looked up as he locked eyes with his ex-girlfriend.

“Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in ages” she said, walking over and pulling Kyungsoo into a hug before moving back and smiling down at him.

“I mean, it’s only been like a year” he laughed awkwardly, “Um, how have you been?” he asked.

She shrugged, “Yeah, not too bad. I aced my exams last year and got taken on by this company who were recruiting. They actually made a job for me there since they wanted to take me on so badly! How about you? Still on the music thing?” she asked, not unkindly, but with something of a superior tone.

Kyungsoo fought back the urge to tell her to off. “Yep” he said instead, popping the ‘p’. “Still on the music thing. It’s going pretty well actually”

“Been picked up by any companies?” she raised a brow.

Kyungsoo flushed, “No” he admitted, “I’ve not really put myself out there yet. I’ve been focused on school and stuff.”

She nodded easily, “Cool, cool” she said before noticing Jongin, a glint of interest in her eyes. “Oh, hello. Who are you?”

“Jongin” Jongin supplied, “And you?”

She giggled prettily as she brushed her hair back over her shoulder. It make Kyungsoo want to walk away. She was obviously flirting. “I’m Sohee” she told him.

“Right” Jongin nodded, disinterestedly, “Nice to meet you”

“You too, Jongin” she placed a hand on her cocked out hip, showing off the curves of her body, “How do you know Kyungsoo?” she paused before turning to Kyungsoo with a mocking smile, “Oh, is he one of your playmates?” she asked.

“Leave it” Kyungsoo warned. One of the main reasons that they had broken up was because of her view of his uality. She didn’t believe that someone could like both men and women without being shady. ‘Greedy’ had been her word of choice, followed up with ‘I don’t think I can be with someone who’s twice as likely to cheat on me’. Kyungsoo felt a surge of anger run through his veins.

“Am I missing something?” Jongin frowned.

Sohee snickered, “Oh no, not at all. Kyungsoo and I used to date, is all. But he lost interest in me”

“I wouldn’t have put it that way” Kyungsoo said with strained politeness.

Jongin seemed to catch on then. He knew all about Kyungsoo’s ex-girlfriend and her opinions. A wave of dislike for this girl came over him. He subtly shifted closer to Kyungsoo and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Ah,” he said, “Well, your loss is my gain. Kyungsoo and I have been dating for about half a year now” he lied easily. Glad when Kyungsoo relaxed into his hold and smiled tightly up at the girl.

She frowned somewhat, “You know he’s into both, right?”

“Obviously,” Jongin rolled his eyes, “You literally just told me you used to date him, and I’m not a woman, so…”

“Well, I think I’ll be off then” she said smartly, “It was nice seeing you Kyungsoo.” She didn’t give him a chance to reply before turning on her heel and taking he leave.