“What should we do with all these teddy bears?” Kyungsoo asked, rubbing the sleep dust out of his eyes.

As he entered the living room, he disappeared into the fluffy mountain.

“We could donate them,” the fluffy mountain said.

“No!! They're my teddy bears! You gave them to me!” Jongin objected.

“But... we can't live like this.”

Kyungsoo's head popped up out of the sea of fluff. He had this childish glee in his eyes. So cute. Jongin's insides fluttered and he got a flashback to the night before, seeing Kyungsoo's satisfied smile flash before his mind's eye. He could still feel Kyungsoo's fingers on his skin, solving the world's electricity shortage all on their own.

“We can put them in your room, it's not like you're using it anymore,” Jongin said with a bit of sass, quirking an eyebrow.

The rest of the morning went into moving the stuffed zoo into Kyungsoo's room. Not everyone could say they had a room full of love. Now all Jongin had to do was open that door when he was feeling unsure of Kyungsoo's feelings and jump into the pile of fluffy love.

“Let's buy some couple clothes for our next date,” Jongin suggested, showing Kyungsoo examples of cute couples on Instagram rocking the couple look.

“No.”

“Please. For me?” Jongin said in a sweet voice, sending him a cutsie smile.

“No.”

“You never want to do anything!” he said in a huff, crossing his arms theatrically and turning away from him so there was no doubt that he was upset with him. Kyungsoo seemed unfazed, making Jongin pout even harder.

The next day Kyungsoo came home from work right before midnight, throwing a pair of black socks at Jongin. He threw them pretty hard, so Jongin wasn't sure whether to thank him for this very dull, very random gift or take this as a passive-aggressive declaration of war.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“You wanted couple clothes,” Kyungsoo said, shrugging.

“Black socks?” Jongin asked in disbelief, opening the packaging to see whether the socks would magically turn rainbow color when you took them out.

Kyungsoo impatiently hoisted one leg of his trousers, revealing his socks. His black socks.

Jongin snorted. Kyungsoo had completely missed the point. Couple clothes were a declaration, two people standing in front of the world, silently shouting 'I love you' from imaginary rooftops.

'Here we are, we're together and we want the whole world to know it!'

Wearing hidden black socks, the same black socks as 80% of the population, didn't quite capture the same sentiment. He sighed.

“That's not... ehm... there's nothing coupley about it. It has to be special. Everyone wears black socks, so if they were considered couple clothes, that would mean me and the ahjumma at the convenience store are a couple.” Jongin explained.

“And although she is very nice, I'm just not interested in her in that way,” he added, chuckling.

“These are special, handmade Angora wool socks that were made by the same person, limited edition,” Kyungsoo said, his tone indicating that he felt wronged, pulling on his sock, showing him a tiny, barely visible, black symbol on the cuff of the sock.

“But... but they just look like black socks,” Jongin complained, unconvinced. “Nobody will know.”

“We'll know,” Kyungsoo said, looking into Jongin's eyes with serious sincerity. Jongin felt like a popsicle on a hot plate, melting at an elevated rate. He didn't say another word and put on the socks. They just looked like black socks, but somehow they felt different. It was as if he was walking on clouds.

He was about to fly into Kyungsoo's arms to thank him for this unexpectedly lovely gift, when the door flew open. Taemin entered as if he was simply returning home, carrying an overly stuffed gym bag which he threw on the floor.

Kyungsoo gasped, looking at Jongin as if he was ready to kill him.

“I... I... I didn't give him the code per sei, I was just frustrated that you didn't want to change it, so I complained about it to him. If you think about it, it's actually your fault, for refusing to change the code. What kind of husband tortures his partner by forcing him to punch in a date connected to an ex-lover. Every single day!” he said in a low voice, before running to greet Taemin, barely escaping with his life intact.

“I'm staying here for a while,” Taemin announced. He was smiling, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

After Sehun moved in with Suho, Taemin had been rooming with Minho to save on rent since they spent every night together anyway.

“Okay.” Jongin simply said, even though he could feel Kyungsoo's stare on the back of his head, two death lasers cutting him into pieces. He was in so much trouble, but he didn't care. Taemin had been there for him countless of times, he was not about to let him down just because Kyungsoo had decided to dislike him for no good reason.

“You can share a bed with my teddy bears.” he giggled as he picked Taemin's gym bag up off the floor and guided him to Kyungsoo's room.

“Really?” Kyungsoo scoffed.

“Hey, you wanted to give them all away. They are my teddy bears and I decide who sleeps with them.” Jongin said pointedly. It was like poking a bear with a stick. Still, he couldn't resist doing it.

Before Kyungsoo could dropkick him to another dimension, there was a loud banging at the door. The three of them exchanged surprised looks.

“Taemin, I know you're in there!” Minho yelled through the door.

“Don't open!!” Taemin pleaded, but Kyungsoo marched straight to the door and opened it out of spite.

“This has got to stop!” Minho said, rushing inside without so much as a 'hello'.

“You love me, you know that. I know that. They know that. Right, guys?” Minho asked, looking to them for confirmation. Jongin and Kyungsoo both nodded. It was not a hard question, anyone could see how in love Taemin was. Anyone, except Taemin. He was too busy pushing everything remotely connected to commitment away.

“Hey!” Taemin exclaimed, sending Jongin a look of disappointment.

“Dude...” Jongin said. He tried to softly convey with his eyes that he was being ridiculous. Enough was enough. Minho didn't deserve to be treated like this, he was actually a pretty decent guy.

“It's time to commit. Or... it's over. Permanently. Is that what you want?” Minho asked, his voice quivering.

“It's not like I'm trying to hold you back or change you in any way. I just want the you who's standing in front of me. Nothing more, nothing less.” Minho continued in frustrated desperation.

“...and if you want to sleep with someone else....” Minho added, taking a deep breath. “...well, we can discuss it. I don't think I can handle that, to be honest... I'm competitive, you know that... so if that's what you want then...”

“You're the best I've ever had! Why would I want anyone else.” Taemin interjected.

“Then just say it.” Minho pleaded.

“What... here?”

Taemin frowned, nervously glancing at Jongin and Kyungsoo, who just stood there, watching everything unfold as if this was a scene in a TV drama.

“I'm not sure we're thinking about the same thing.” Minho snorted.

“Oh no, we are... I just...” Taemin's voice trailed off.

“Forget it! If you can't even say it...”

Minho turned around, heading for the exit. Taemin rushed forward and gave Minho a firm back hug. Jongin could hear as Taemin whispered into Minho's ear.

“You're my boyfriend, okay... My one and only.”

“Ehhemm.”

Jongin cleared his throat awkwardly.

“So... do you guys want some wine maybe?”

“Nahh, I think we want to go home,” Taemin said, blushing slightly, sneaking his hand into Minho's.

That night, before they went to sleep, Jongin whispered into Kyungsoo's ear.

“You're my one and only.”

But Kyungsoo didn't answer. He only kissed him good night and went to sleep. Jongin spent the rest of the night in a staring contest with the ceiling, his eyes wide open. He was unable to shake the ominous feeling that something was keeping Kyungsoo from committing to him fully. That guy was still in his heart, Jongin was sure of it. Kyungsoo had one foot out the door. And if that guy showed up one day, knocking at their door, would Kyungsoo just get up and leave him? Just like that?

Jongin didn't sleep a wink that night, nor the next.