(AN: So like, I really don't like this chapter, which is why it took me so long to get this posted. It's a bit fillery, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway. We're also nearing the end!!! I'm gonna miss this ㅎㅎ)

But in the week since Kyungsoo had unofficially dumped Jongin, nothing had changed for the better. He was still miserable, still avoiding Jongin and avoiding Baekhyun (because if anyone would make him confront this ugly mess it would be Baekhyun), still missing Jongin immensely. He hadn’t realized just how much time they were spending together until he had to find other ways to fill it. Most of the time he opted for eating mango sorbet right from the pint while curled up in bed; sometimes he would make a blanket cave around the bean bag and curl up inside to binge watch shows (and he would not under any circumstances think about how Jongin would be curled up beside him, destroying the blanket cave in an effort to squeeze his long legs inside). On the morning exactly a week after the not-break up, he scowled at himself in the mirror and decided enough was enough. He shouldn’t have been so glum, so melodramatic with his sniffling and snuffling, especially when it had only been a week. He needed to stop, to pull himself out of this spiral (all of this was prompted by the realization that’d he’d eaten exactly one pint of mango sorbet per day since the not-break up).

He needed to get out of the dorms. But—

But with who? He’d been glued to Jongin’s side for the past three months; he couldn’t call Baekhyun, nor could he call Junmyeon because Junmyeon would bring Baekhyun and would give Kyungsoo a sad, fatherly look while Baekhyun handed his to him; he couldn’t call Sehun and Chanyeol, because Chanyeol would just give him pitiful looks the whole time, and Sehun…well, Sehun would be his usual bratty self, which would be a welcome distraction. That left Jaehwan and Hyunsik, Kyungsoo’s casual friends, the “I don’t have another choice” friends (that was Baekhyun’s name for them). So he called them.

They met at the movie theater, and of course Jaehwan laughed at Kyungsoo when he arrived. No hello, no how are you, just an annoying, braying laugh.

“I know it’s cold out bro, but what the ?” Jaehwan guffawed, “I can’t even see you under all that .

Right. That’s why he didn’t hang out with them often. Hyunsik flashed him a bright smile, and Kyungsoo has a weird feeling about it but it passes.

“Let’s see you laugh when you get pneumonia, face,” Kyungsoo spat.

That made Hyunsik laugh, and Jaehwan pulled a face.

“Let’s just go inside, yeah?” Jaehwan grumbled.

Perhaps Jaehwan had a point. Now Kyungsoo had to peel off all the layers, the scarf, the hat, the big bubble jacket, one of his sweaters. They watched him as he did, and he his teeth.

“Can you maybe go be useful and pick up the tickets or something?” he hissed.

“Wow, somebody is grumpy as today, huh,” Jaehwan whistled.

“Go get the tickets, stupid,” said Hyunsik, shooing him off.

“Thanks.”

Hyunsik gave him another bright smile, and Kyungsoo looked away. The heat of the theater was still a little uncomfortable, but at least it concealed the redness of his ears.

“You look—”

“Don’t say it,” Kyungsoo sighed.

Hyunsik smiled apologetically; it made him think of Jongin’s sheepish smiles, when he’d stolen Kyungsoo’s nachos or eaten the last of the caramel M&M’s or accidentally gotten soda on the table because he somehow forgot how to drink with a straw. And now Kyungsoo was feeling just as gross as he had been in his room.

“Come on, you uglies, I want a big bucket of popcorn,” said Jaehwan, popping up behind Hyunsik.

“Don’t scare me like that, .”

“You scare me with your face on the daily, so I don’t know what you’re complaining about,” Jaehwan sniffed.

Hyunsik only rolled his eyes and pulled them towards the line. The scent of popcorn only aggravated his mood, because of course he was thinking of how strongly it smelled of popcorn in his room when he decided enough was enough, and how Jongin had smeared a bit of butter and salt onto his cheek with that soft, sad kiss and—

“Dude, what are you getting?” Jaehwan poked Kyungsoo’s cheek.

Kyungsoo snarled at him.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Right, okay. What are you getting?”

“Nachos. And a coke,” Kyungsoo grumbled.

He went back to his sulking, until he realized Hyunsik was pulling out his wallet.

“Wait, I’m paying for myself,” Kyungsoo sputtered, reaching for Hyunsik’s wallet.

“No, you aren’t,” Hyunsik said simply, holding Kyungsoo back and why the did all of Kyungsoo’s friends have such long arms, now he couldn’t reach the wallet.

“Hyunsik, I swear—”

“It’s fine, Kyungsoo, go get the soda. Vanilla Coke for me,” said Hyunsik, pointing at the cups.

“Vanilla like your taste in ,” Jaehwan snickered.

Right. That was Kyungsoo’s cue to leave. He took the cups and his heel, stomping (as best he could without dropping his things) towards the soda machines. With a little maneuvering, he filled them both, plopped on the covers, and wedged the straws into his back pocket.

They made him sit between them, which Kyungsoo hated. Hyunsik was all too nice, and though it was too dark to see Kyungsoo could feel the looks Hyunsik kept sending his way. It made his skin crawl. It made him miss Jongin. With Jongin, they would go to the back row and Kyungsoo would feed him popcorn and Jongin would play with Kyungsoo’s hair and they’d share a soda and whisper a few lame jokes one each others ears. But Hyunsik’s mere presence annoyed him, and the jostling of Jaehwan’s knee whenever he bounced it, and Hyunsik mistakenly taking a sip of Kyungsoo’s soda. If not for the money already spent, Kyungsoo would’ve walked out.

They went to the noodle place afterwards, at Hyunsik’s request (“Popcorn always s up my stomach, man”), and picked a table on the second floor, with a view of the avenue. The movie theater lights twinkled against the glass, and soon snow began to fall, light and nearly imperceptible.

“Dude, this was the best idea,” Jaehwan said around a mouthful of egg noodles.

“I told you so,” Hyunsik retorted, slurping broth from the spoon.

Kyungsoo toyed with his rice cake ramen, blowing on the noodles more than he needed to.

“Why are you so mopey?” Jaehwan finally asked, because he was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

Hyunsik winced and glanced at Kyungsoo, eyes full of concern, but Kyungsoo ignored him.

“Jongin and I, uh…” he took a noodle between his teeth and slurped it, scrunching his nose when broth splattered onto his chin.

“Oh. Oh. Dude, I’m so sorry,” said Jaehwan, clapping him on the shoulder.

Hyunsik looked…it was hard to tell. Part of it looked like genuine sadness, but the other part looked like…hope? That didn’t seem right. All this figuring emotions out made his head hurt, so he sunk his teeth into a rice cake.

“There’s no need,” said Kyungsoo with a chuckle.

“Wait, what?” said Jaehwan.

Kyungsoo tried to ignore the bit of noodle that had flown from Jaehwan’s mouth and landed on the table, but he couldn’t.

“It wasn’t real,” he said softly.

“That’s…harsh.”

“No, I mean, we weren’t actually boyfriends. He asked me to pretend to be his boyfriend,” Kyungsoo explained, and it was almost funny the way their faces morphed from bewilderment to absolute shock.

“Why the ?” Hyunsik nearly snarled, and it made Kyungsoo sit back in surprise.

“He was getting really annoyed with all those chicks not taking the hint about him being gay, so he asked me to pretend to be in a relationship with him so he could, y’know, get them to leave him alone,” said Kyungsoo.

He didn’t know why he was bothering to defend Jongin. Except, what was he defending Jongin from? This irrational anger from Hyunsik?