Title: All the small things
Prompt-#: 39
For: @ holyhock23
Pairing: Onew/Jonghyun
Author: Anonymous
Word count: 2414 words
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: For a moment Jinki doubts what they have, but Jonghyun is right there, reminding him that they are, indeed, perfect.

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Jinki let out another sigh.
His hand came up, his fingers tangling with his dark brown locks in a desperate attempt to make sense of the Fourier series his professor wanted them to solve until the next morning class.
But even after another glare at the numbers that seemed to be mocking him, he realised that it was simply futile.
Usually he was doing fairly well in his math classes, but he has been pushing back this particular module for a while already – Advanced Maths really took up too much time! – and so the context eluded him by now.
He loved his major.
Becoming a biochemical engineer had always been one of the things he had wanted to try and do, but Advanced Maths… was just really time consuming.
However, they all had to go through this at some point and so this study group had formed.
Jinki met with them two times a week, all of them hoping that if they combined their brainpower they might be able to figure things out.
They didn’t share the same major per se, but they were all from the engineering faculty, thus their class was the same.
“I give up” he grumbled, pushing his notebook aside to grab the coffee cup he had to purchase prior to their weekly Friday meeting. Usually it was Jonghyun who handed him a big cup of coffee before he left the dorm room, as his boyfriend loved to drop by for a few minutes before he went off to study.
But he hadn’t been over this afternoon… which was indeed a little strange. There had also been no message from the younger, but it wasn’t like Jinki to worry that easily.
Maybe he had been caught up after class. Who knew.
He would hear about it later.

Groans fill the small study room they had gathered in, as the other three joined him in his misery.
“I’m going to fail”, Junmyeon whined next to him, rubbing his temples.
Jinki offered a comforting smile
“It’s still two weeks till the exam, don’t worry. I am sure we will manage.”
Well, he wasn’t exactly sure about this whole thing, but he never lost hope. If you tackled problems with a positive mind-set the outcome was supposedly better as well.
At least that was what he wanted to believe.
“Urgh… I already failed this class once. I can’t fail it again. Why did I chose industrial engineering and not just accounting…”
All three of them shrugged.
“Perhaps you wanted to challenge yourself?” Jinki tried, and Kibum nodded towards Minho who was seated opposite of the two.
“Take Minho.”, the blonde-haired male said, “I’ve known him for a long time and I always thought he would go into sport science or something like that. But he wanted to challenge himself and chose environmental engineering and whatever the name of that second part was…”, Kibum waved his hand in a dismissive manner to emphasise that he actually knew, but was too lazy to actually pronounce the whole thing.
Minho scoffed – trying to hide the smirk on his face and kicked the blonde underneath the table.
“Yah! Choi Minho!”

Jinki and Junmyeon started to chuckle at that.
These two had been best of friends for ages… only they got away with teasing each other like that.
“I guess you are right.” Junmyeon nodded then and took his bottle of coke to get some sugar back into his system.
Sugar could be a lifesaver there. Just as much as coffee. Jinki smiled to himself as he drew a small picture of a steaming mug on his notepad. The brown beverage always reminded him of Jonghyun. Maybe because coffee had been the reason they had gotten to know each other, though the actual incident hadn’t been so nice.
The brunet vividly remembered the feeling of having the hot beverage spilled all over him – and he remembered letting out a loud yelp with that.
But Jonghyun had apologised immediately, bowing what felt like ninety-nine times to beg for forgiveness. (It had been forgiven eventually – meaning after their first date)

“Say, hyung.”
“Hm?”
Jinki tilted his head and looked at the other who had addressed him. His pencil dropped from his fingers as he hadn’t even realised that his doodle had started to evolve.
“You didn’t bring your own cup today? Doesn’t your boyfriend usually prepare it for you?” Junmyeon inquired and the brunet felt his heart flutter in his chest.
“Yeah” he answered, a big smile blooming on his lips
“But he was busy today. So, I bought one on the way here.”
Which was no big deal at all.
He hadn’t gone to Starbucks or another big brand like that so the coffee had been rather cheap. But just as good.
Though Jinki had to admit that Jonghyun’s coffees were the best. They were just…
Special.
He fought the grin that was about to appear on his face.

“Hah~~ I really envy you two” Kibum piped up, leaning back in his chair.
“You two have been dating for ages! And you’re like… I don’t know. There is no drama, no problems… everything just works out for you two.”
Jinki rubbed the back of his neck at that.
Was that really how they were perceived by others?
“Definitely not for ages… barely two years now.”

The blonde threw up his hands, his gaze set on the other.
“Stop right there, hyung”
Jinki fell silent. He knew that once Kibum spoke you needed to listen until he was finished. He just was like that.
“That’s long for our age group! People in college are all for adventures and no commitment but here you are. You two are… so mature!”
The brunet couldn’t even say if that was true. They just went with the flow. Let things come to them and until now, everything had worked out.
“You mean boring. Not mature.” Minho threw in and that earned him a scowl from his best friend who also effectively kicked his shin.
“Yah! Kim Kibum!”

Boring?
Was that really what Minho thought of them?

“They are not boring! Just because you can’t do mature and reasonable doesn’t mean that others can’t either! So, shut up Choi!”
“Urgh, whatever Kibum. You’re just jealous that no one wants to date you!”

“Guys! Guys!”
It was Junmyeon who was trying to make them calm down. But once the two got into an argument there was no stopping them. They continued to bicker like a married couple though they continued to deny to have any feelings for each other.
Jinki believed them.
But his mind was currently occupied with other things.

Boring

That word kept replaying in his mind. He had never felt like what they had was boring. Sure, they didn’t dance underneath the night sky, but sometimes they watched, and Jonghyun pointed out constellations to him.
The younger was a nocturnal person so more often than not Jinki went to bed earlier when the younger was staying over at his dorm room. But it had never matter to the brunet because when Jonghyun finally did go to bed he slipped in next to him, becoming the little or the big spoon that he needed.
They woke up on the next mornings, sometimes still curled together, sometimes on opposite ends of the bed. (Because seriously, who can control how they sleep? Jinki definitely couldn’t.)

Still… a single thought kept on nagging in his mind.
Yes, it was true that Jinki did not perceive them as boring. He was actually really happy with how everything was progressing…
But what if Jonghyun saw them as boring?

The brunet bit the inside of his cheek as that thought came up. He felt his stomach flip, a strange, sour feeling settling over him.
What if Jonghyun was growing tired of their… relationship?

“Jinki? Jinki!”
He shook his head, coming back to the present. Junmyeon was looking at him, eyes wide and waving his hand in front of him.
“Hey, are you doing okay?”
He must have been spacing out for quite a while as even Minho and Kibum had stopped their fight in favour of looking at him. They blinked in bewilderment and Jinki immediately felt bad for worrying them.
“I’m fine!” he exclaimed, waving his hands in front of him.
Their studying had been completely abandoned by now it seemed.

“It’s just…” he trailed off, still not able to get rid of the heavy feeling in his chest. After another moment did he lift his head again, facing Minho. The very person who had brought this whole thing up.
“Do you really think our relationship is boring? Because if it is, I am afraid Jonghyun will… you know. Get bored… of me.”

His three study mates fell silent. No one dared to say anything.
And that made the whole thing even worse. The brunet exhaled shakily, ready to face any comment that Minho had for him.
But instead of a serious conversation… all three of them started to laugh.
Right into his face.
Kibum even nearly doubled over and continued to hit his own thigh as his body shook with laughter.
Junmyeon spilled the remains of his coke all over his notes and instead of cursing he just kept on chuckling.
“Wh-what?”
Jinki suddenly felt more insecure than ever.

“Are you serious?” Minho spoke up, his shoulders still quaking from the fit of laughter that rippled through him.
“You can’t be. I was joking!” he admitted and Kibum nodded as well as he was still not able to form words.
It seemed like Jinki had unknowingly dropped the joke of the millennia, and was completely unaware of the funny punchline – something that could only happen to him.

“Joking?” he pressed on and the tallest of them nodded again.
“Yeah! I mean… seriously hyung. Everyone envies you on Campus. Everyone who knows the two of you. Or just sees you.”
What? That was definitely new to him. Envy them? The whole student body?

“That’s true.” Junmyeon agreed, finally able to breathe and speak properly again.
“You two make everyone swoon. When you hold open the doors for each other. When Jonghyun kisses your forehead before you two part in front of the building…”
Jinki’s boyfriend’s classes took part at the other side of the campus so he usually took his bike with him and drove the rest of the way after dropping Jinki off in front of the engineering department.

“Oh, all the times you bring him small lunch boxes when you know he has evening classes.” Kibum added and that made Jinki blush.
Wasn’t that natural?
They were just looking out for each other.
“And seriously. If someone is in love with you then it’s Jonghyun. He practically glows each time you kiss. Right there. On campus. It’s maddening to be honest. He is like… shining or something.”

“N-no I don’t think he is-“

“Hey guys!” the door to their study room suddenly opened, revealing a grinning Kim Jonghyun in the doorway.
All eyes focused on him and the young music major blinked in confusion at their attention.
“Uhm… have I missed something?”
Kibum snickered and beckoned Jonghyun inside.
“Not at all. We were just talking about how lucky you are to have a wonderful boyfriend like Jinki.” He wriggled his eyebrows but Jonghyun just started to grin even more
“You’re right there!”
He stepped closer, dropping a kiss on Jinki’s forehead.

The brunet had never really paid attention to the way the other smiled but if he was allowed this self-indulgence then had had to admit that Jonghyun looked radiating.
He felt his cheeks heat up and when the younger leaned in to whisper a small ‘I love you’ into his ear he felt close to bursting.
“I… “ he started but couldn’t get anything out for a moment
“I’m… glad to see you. Were you busy?”

Jonghyun visibly deflated but dropped two plastic bags on top of their table.
“Yeah. But I felt bad for not preparing your study cup so I went and got food.” The black-haired music major chuckled and before anyone could say anything he added a “for all of you” which earned him pats on his back and three ‘thank you’s!’.

Jinki just sat there, perplexed. He didn’t even move when Jonghyun got his portion out and opened the container for him.
“Yakisoba with extra chicken” his boyfriend announced, winking.

And then Jinki kissed him.
He pulled the younger down by his collar, pressing their lips together in a desperate kiss that screamed for reassurance and even though his boyfriend seemed a little confused at first, did he kiss him back and gave him exactly what he wanted.

They broke apart, not even thinking about the other people that were in the room with them. Jinki looked into Jonghyun’s dark brown eyes, trying to catch his breath.
(He might have forgotten to breathe through his nose while they had kept on playing their game of push and pull.)

“See. Radiating. He is practically about to come apart from that kiss.”
The brunet barely heard Minho mumbling in the background. However, he still understood.
He understood.

He had been really stupid just now. But his boyfriend had been there to pull him out of it. Like he always was. The other was the best support he could ever wish for.
His hands wrapped around Jonghyun’s own and he pulled him down again, his lips planting a sweet kiss on the other’s forehead.
It was innocent. Chaste. Everything their kiss before had not been. But that was also a part of them.

“Thank you, Jjong-ah” Jinki whispered and broke into a grin.
It only took his boyfriend a moment to do the same.

They were not boring.
They also weren’t the most adventurous. They just were Jinki and Jonghyun. The Jinki and Jonghyun that paid more attention to the little things between them, who supported each other and had their backs.
It was all that Jinki needed.

And when he met his boyfriend’s gaze right now, seeing nothing but warmth and affection reflected in them…
He knew the other felt the same.
And yes, everyone should envy them.
This was as perfect as it could get. With Jonghyun by his side… he was certain that he could keep looking ahead, knowing that the other was right there beside him, having his back.

Sounded perfect enough to Jinki, hiding another soft smile.