Monochromatic Hearts

Flicking on the channels lazily, Jongin munches on a bowl of almonds. The housekeeper came in the morning and cleaned the apartment, so it’s as good as new by the time Jongin woke up. He looks at the clock and notes that it’s 15 minutes to 2 in the afternoon, and he’s still in his sleeping boxers, not bothering to wear even a wifebeater since he’s alone and he already woke up that way.

He grabs for his phone on the other side of the sofa, noting that he has a few notifications from his Instagram as well as his chat with Junmyeon. He opens up Junmyeon’s notification first, the latter letting him know that he’s coming over with chicken for lunch, and asking him to wash up because he has recording in the evening. Jongin replies with a thumbs up emoji before opening up his Instagram, clearly not heeding to Junmyeon’s words.

The notifications show the usual tagging of photos from his fans, some of them good-looking but a good amount of them are also memes. He goes to his following part and sees that his dance trainer has tagged him in a couple of photos from their last concert. He likes every single one and even those uploaded from the official company account. Soon after, he scrolls down his timeline. 

A few of his celebrity friends and acquaintances are seen uploading pictures of their daily busy lives, with the usual cheesy captions for their fans. Jongin doesn’t make an effort of liking everything, but if the person’s close to him and has nothing in the photo that could stir some talks if Jongin shows attention to it, he taps on the heart.

A particular photo uploaded by @ooh__sehun makes him pause amidst his scrolling. It’s only after he has tapped on the heart that he really studies it. It’s just another ordinary photo that celebrities upload when they’re having an eat-out together. Sehun is smiling widely and is pointing at another idol beside him, Mino who’s from a different agency. It looks like they’re celebrating Mino’s birthday together, and it’s with his close friends. Even Sehun’s team is there. Jongin assumes he was making a birthday surprise to him.

He has nothing against Mino, but what really grabs his attention is the guy smiling at the far back, holding up a confetti or some sort. That’s definitely Kyungsoo, the guy who claimed Jongin as the baby daddy. He seems different than when Jongin saw him in the vocal room the other day. Kyungsoo in the vocal room didn’t even smile, but here in the photo his eyes crinkle and he’s smiling with his teeth, looking just as joyful as the rest of the people in it. Jongin scrolls down to see when this was uploaded. It was from four days ago.

By that time he wonders if Kyungsoo already knew he was pregnant, or if he knew and kept it a secret from Sehun and Jongdae as well as that Baekhyun guy although Jongin has no idea why Baekhyun’s there. He wonders when the symptoms showed up and what prompted this Kyungsoo guy to even think he had with Jongin, and now pregnant with his child. He wonders how he broke the news to Sehun and his manager. He wonders if Kyungsoo realised how screwed Jongin is going to be if the media caught wind of this. In the end, he wonders if Kyungsoo even thought he was pregnant with someone else’s child and it was all just a mistake.

Without much thought, he taps on the comments and reads them, some in Korean some in foreign languages, but finds nothing interesting in particular. Still in his stalking mood, he goes over to Sehun’s account and checks his following list, scrolling down the many other celebrity accounts with the occasional clothing brands. He then finds a @d_kyngsu, and Jongin prays that it’s the one he’s looking for when he taps on it, because the profile picture is only of a black cat wearing the most ridiculous fashion glasses. He guesses Kyungsoo is that kind of guy. When the account opens, the bio reads ‘Makeup. Hair stylist. 25.’. A year older than me? Jongin thinks he’s got the correct one. He’s glad it’s not made private, easier for Jongin to stalk.

As a non-celebrity, Jongin is surprised Kyungsoo has a little over 30k followers, but that’s probably partly attributed to the fact that he has a couple photos of Sehun’s stage, as well as a few of him and Sehun in selfies, so that garners attention from some fans. He also has some photos of himself with makeup on, and several tutorial videos. So Kyungsoo’s probably a bit well-known for his makeup skills.

The latest photo is of some of the company staffs playing games, and Jongin recognizes it as the hall room they used in a hotel in Hawaii. They’re holding some hula hoops, obviously in the middle of some game Jongin doesn’t remember taking part of. The photo is dated 3 weeks ago, on the second day of the 3-day workshop. It seems that Kyungsoo hasn’t updated ever since, but that’s understandable because he’s most probably caught up with Sehun’s schedule and other personal stuffs.

He contemplates tapping on a video with the thumbnail of Kyungsoo’s face looking down on his hand holding a makeup brush, when the door to his house is suddenly opened.

It’s Junmyeon, one hand balancing a couple of boxes of what Jongin presumes their takeout and the other pushing the door close and locking it. As his manager, Junmyeon has a copy of keys to Jongin’s apartment.

Junmyeon’s presence prompts Jongin to close his Instagram app and resumes watching whatever show he’s on, only to realize it’s of a romantic comedy drama that Jongin has no interest of. He changes to a sports channel.

“Have you eaten?” Junmyeon asks, placing the boxes on the dining table. Spotting Jongin on the couch, he frowns. “Did you even wash up yet?”

“It takes me 5 minutes to wash up.”

“You have to go to the building later. You read my message, right?”

Jongin responds with an OK hand sign, checking his phone for the time.

“Come and eat.”

-

Jongin is on his fourth chicken leg when Junmyeon stops eating. His manager is not a big eater such as Jongin, and he has a really slim stature. Jongin has no complaints if it means more chicken for him.

“Your recording ends at around 9 p.m.” Junmyeon says, checking Jongin’s schedule on his phone. Jongin makes a non-committal noise as he chews on the chicken thigh, effectively forgetting whatever crisis he’s having. “Do you have any plans after that?”

“Probably practicing,” Jongin says. “By myself.”

“Okay,” Junmyeon takes a sip of his cola. “So did you think about it?”

Jongin frowns. “About what?”

“Your unborn child.” He says with a hint of sarcasm, and Jongin suddenly doesn’t feel like finishing the last 2 pieces of chicken on his plate. “Have you thought of what you’re gonna do?”

Lowering the chicken bone, Jongin looks down at his plate, staring hard at the last few chicken pieces as if it could give answers to him. “Do you believe in that Kyungsoo guy?”

“What, you think he’s lying?”

“Maybe.”

“If he was, then Jongdae and Sehun wouldn’t have looked so concerned about him. Why would you think he’s lying?”

“I don’t know! Maybe he’s trying to some cash out of me, or trying to bring my name down. I don’t know, Junmyeon. I just think this is all crazy.” It doesn’t fully register yet in his brain, probably because Jongin still wants to believe there is a possibility that it’s all just one big mistake. Junmyeon only hums in response, his lips, thinking.

“We still haven’t watched the CCTV footages. Do you want me to arrange a meeting with them so he could show you?”

Jongin doesn’t know what he wants at this point. Instead of answering Junmyeon’s question, Jongin asks, “How long has that guy been Sehun’s makeup artist?”

Junmyeon shrugs. “No idea. But I’ve seen him around for a while now. A bit low-key.”

“I can tell,” Jongin retorts, leaning back in his chair lazily. He grabs the bottle of mineral water, gulping it down. Since he’s on a diet, he tries his best to resist the urge to drink cola like Junmyeon does. “Does he do makeup for other artists?”

“I asked the same thing to Jongdae, and he confirmed it with Kyungsoo that he only ever works for Sehun, for now.” Junmyeon clarifies. “So it’s easy for you to know his schedule if you already know what Sehun’s doing. He’s free whenever Sehun’s free, or when Sehun does recordings and practice in the building.”

Jongin thinks about this information.

“You want to meet him?” Junmyeon asks.

He shakes his head. “I don’t think I wanna meet him alone.”

“That’s fine. I can ask for Sehun and Jongdae to be there too. I can be there too if you want, although I’m not sure why you seem kinda scared of meeting him alone.”

“I’m- I’m not scared of him. I just don’t know how to- how to talk to him.”

“He doesn’t seem approachable?” Junmyeon asks, more of a statement than a question. “He seems like a nice guy whenever Sehun’s around.”

“I just don’t wanna meet him alone.” Jongin whines, and Junmyeon snorts, taking out his phone.

“Sure, just let me check with Jongdae for a bit. Finish your food and get ready for recording.”

-

Sehun’s free time comes sooner than Jongin expected, and he low key panics because he doesn’t think he’s ready to face them again so soon. It’s three days after that their free time clashes, and Sehun invites Jongin and Junmyeon over to his place to for the so called meeting, saying that his manager Jongdae and Kyungsoo will be there too.

Jongin checks his shirt for any creases, then belatedly wonders why he even bothers in the first place. They’re just going to have a short lunch together, not going to be walking in public. Still, he checks for his hair with his phone as a sad excuse for a mirror.

“We’re just eating, Jongin.” Junmyeon snickers. “Who are you tryna look good for?”

“Can’t I look good for myself?” Jongin huffs indignantly, walking ahead of Junmyeon. He knows the route to Sehun’s place by hand, having gone there for hangouts once in a while. But theses days, with the both of them busy catching up with work, he hardly goes there anymore. He has no problems going over to Sehun’s place, and even if the paparazzi or fans manage to snap some photos of him right now, they would just assume he’s hanging out there like old bros. Junmyeon has their car parked at the valet downstairs, not wanting to go up the elevated parking.

He hums to his own song as he waits for the intercom to connect to Sehun. Once connected and Sehun smiles through the small screen, the door opens and Sehun lets him in, always smiley. He hugs Jongin and Junmyeon before telling them, “Did you have a hard time coming here?”

“Nah, the usual. Fans and stuff.” Jongin says as he makes his way to the living room, only to be stopped short at the sight of Jongdae on the couch, busy talking to someone on the phone. Ah right, he forgot he would be here too. The boy in question however is not seen around.

“Kyungsoo’s in the kitchen. I’m gonna help him out a bit and we can eat together,” Sehun says, going over to the kitchen. Jongin can smell something fragrant and savoury in the air, already stimulating his large appetite. So this Kyungsoo guy cooks. He doesn’t know what to do with this information anyway, stashing it at the back of his mind.

“Don’t back out,” Junmyeon whispers playfully behind him and it almost startles Jongin. He shoots a glare Junmyeon’s way only to be returned with a cheeky smile as he pads his way to Jongdae who is still on the phone. They both give a slight wave and Jongdae is back to his phone call.

Jongin, feeling out of place even at his best friend’s place, begrudgingly takes it upon himself to the living room as well, peeking over at the kitchen to see Kyungsoo stirring something in the pot while Sehun takes out some bowls from the kitchen cabinet. Kyungsoo is donning a baby blue sweater and dark blue jeans, an apron overlaid. The image doesn’t sit well with Jongin, but then again, knowing that he himself might be the father to the child underneath that baby blue sweater makes him feel slightly repulsive towards Kyungsoo.

After a couple of minutes, Sehun calls them over for lunch. Jongin quietly takes his seat and watches Kyungsoo scoop rice for Jongdae, Junmyeon and then him. He politely and a bit awkwardly takes the bowl handed to him, muttering a muted thank you. Sehun returns to the table with a jug of juice, and soon they dig in.

The silence is mostly filled with Sehun conversing with Junmyeon and the rest, never wanting anyone to be left out. His best friend is like that, he always makes everyone feel welcomed. He cracks some jokes here and there, and some of them returned with Jongin’s own. Some of the tension of the situation dissipates for a bit, even Jongdae laughs out loud.

Jongin however doesn’t fail to notice the makeup artist, sitting beside Jongdae who is opposite of Junmyeon while Jongin opposite of Sehun. He bashfully smiles once in a while whenever the talk revolves around him, which is not often because he thinks Sehun understands the shorter male doesn’t want much attention on him. And while everyone else is having seconds and thirds, Kyungsoo’s the only one who’s still on his first bowl. He eats very slowly, too.

Jongin also notices the way Sehun and Jongdae occasionally put some meat and veggies into Kyungsoo’s bowl, although he’s not sure why. Is it for the baby in his belly?

Once they’re full, Junmyeon offers to do the dishes and urges Jongin to do the same. The idol only accepts to do it half-heartedly, being chided by his manager once in a while for half-assing the chore.

They later find themselves on the same dining table, with the surface having cleared and wiped clean. The awkwardness is really getting to Jongin, making him touching his ear in a nervous tick. Kyungsoo across of him has his shoulders hunched, looking down at his lap. Jongin has never noticed how small the guy is.

“So,” Sehun begins, and Jongin can tell he’s feeling a bit awkward too. “The footages are in Jongdae’s phone. A bit blurry but you can make out some faces.” He waits for Jongdae to scroll through his media before sliding his phone towards Jongin and Junmyeon. “You can stop anytime you want, if you feel uncomfortable.”

Junmyeon is the one who drags the phone closer to them. There are the time and date on the top of the video. From the footage, they can see a bit of the platform on the stage, and there are many people flooding the center of the hall, dancing and whatnot. It obviously took place during the after party. 

The camera view ended with a long wall at the side and a passage, presumably leading to the washroom. For the first 20 seconds, nothing interesting in particular is caught by the camera. It’s only of people dancing and some were even making out against the wall. It’s no surprise everyone was getting carried away by alcohol that night. If they saw some unlikely celebrities making out there, they chose not to point it out.

Then, they see him. It’s Kyungsoo, holding a glass of presumably alcohol, while walking towards the wall and leaning against it. His gait was obviously drunken. After a few moments, he placed the glass on one of the many tables before heading towards the passageway. There’s no Jongin, though. The video ends.

“Swipe left. You’re in the second footage. We took the one before because in this one, Kyungsoo’s face wasn’t visible because of the lights, but the outfit and figure belongs to Kyungsoo himself.” Sehun explains. Junmyeon swipes left and taps play without waiting for Jongin, not like the latter would have done it himself. He’s anxious enough as it is.

This time, the camera shows what the passageway looked like. It’s more of a hallway with some doors left and right. There were two overhead symbols at the top of two doors, indicating the washrooms. There’s a figure leaning against the wall beside the men’s room, and they immediately recognize it as Jongin. What the hell am I doing there?

He’s just leaning there, not exactly doing anything. He must’ve been drunk because a sober Jongin would’ve occupied himself with his cellphone. A few seconds after, a different figure slowly approached the men’s room, the face not caught by the CCTV but they can tell it’s Kyungsoo. Nothing out of the ordinary so far - oh, Jongin’s grabbing Kyungsoo’s left arm now. They seem to be talking or something, but there was no hint of struggle on Kyungsoo’s part and coercion on Jongin’s. 

It’s when Jongin cornered him against the wall that Jongin blushes in embarrassment. “The did I do that for?”

Junmyeon elbows him at the side and Jongin yelps, returning his attention to the video. Oh, they’re kissing now, for no good reason other than the influence of the alcohol. 

“I can’t do this.” Jongin squeaks, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes before he dies in shame.

“Oh, shut it,” Junmyeon pulls him back to watch the rest of it.

God, they were having a full on make-out session and Jongin really wants to die. How the hell did he even think Kyungsoo’s able enough for him to want to have with him? This is absurd. That person in the footage must have been a Jongin lookalike, a terribly similar one.

After a while, they dragged themselves into the men’s room, and the video stops there.

“There’s a third video,” Sehun announces, and Jongin can really use some chokehold on him right now. Junmyeon unhesitatingly swipes left.

It’s of the same place, but the time is now around 50 minutes after the second video ended. The door to the men’s room burst open and a still drunken Jongin walked out of it, his hair a mess and outfit even messier. That is a totally post- look and he would have felt flattered if it was for some photoshoot rather than whatever this madness is.

But there’s no Kyungsoo.

“Fourth. Sorry, we didn’t have the time to combine the cuts into one video.”

The footage shows that guy Jongin saw from the vocal room when they all met together. Was it Baekyoon? Baekyung something. He rushed into the men’s room and later brought out a weak-limbed Kyungsoo. This Baekyung guy must have had no alcohol that night, or he just had high tolerance. Jongin guesses this is probably the reason why Baekhyun was there when he was asked to see them a few days ago.

The video ends, and Junmyeon returns the phone to Jongdae. Jongin wants to shrivel up and die.

“Thanks for showing it to us,” Junmyeon says solemnly before looking at Jongin beside him expectantly.

Jongin stares at him for a while, shaking his head a little in a way to say ‘no, I don’t wanna talk’.

“Do you have anything to say, Jongin?” Sehun asks this time. It makes Jongin glance at Kyungsoo for a bit before looking away. 

“I…”

“Need to sleep on this first?” Sehun teases, but soon drops his playful manner when his best friend sends him a glare. 

“Did you take any post-coital pill afterwards, Kyungsoo?” It’s Junmyeon who talks to him first.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I didn’t think I needed it. I was not suspecting pregnancy.” He says, then later decides to add. “I guess that’s my mistake.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” Jongdae says to him sternly. “This isn’t your fault.”

“Isn’t mine too.” Jongin mumbles.

“You both were under influence, so it’s not exactly any of you guys’ fault. Rather, this is an accident.” Junmyeon reasons and that is exactly why Jongin needed him here with him. If it were up to him alone, he would have fled first thing in the middle of watching the second footage.

“Did you…” Jongin finds the courage to ask, almost intimidated when all eyes are on him. “Did you have with someone else? After the workshop in Hawaii.”

There’s a faint blush on Kyungsoo’s cheeks. Jongin isn’t sure why but it probably has to do with the revolving subject; , as to put it. A pretty strange topic to be discussing after lunch. “No. I haven’t slept with anyone else in these 3 weeks.”

Jongin manages an awkward nod.

“So, what now?” Sehun asks the very question Jongin’s in dilemma about.

Junmyeon glances over at him for a second before facing them all again. “I don’t think this is something that can be settled in a day. I think you should give Jongin some time to think about it. Kyungsoo, you can also think up of something to do, and later we can arrange another meeting to lay down our plans together. How does that sound?”

They all watch Kyungsoo nod his head slightly. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure Jongin takes responsibility for it, in a way. We won’t let you be alone in this.” Junmyeon says reassuringly to Kyungsoo as if Jongin isn’t there. 

So it’s apparently decided that Jongin is taking responsibility for it. Wonderful.

A/N : please look forward to kaisoo's interaction! and mind u, this is slight angst so the road to their blooming relationship is not gonna be that easy heh.

Anyway, subscriptions, comments and upvotes are highly appreciated! Tell me what you think ;)