She looked over his shoulder, catching wind of Irene’s Instagram posts.

 “That’s not fair,” Yeri whispered quietly. “I can’t believe you and stupid Minseok got more likes than the Sailor Senshi. And look! Someone even remembered you two from your Troublemaker dance cover!”

 “Isn’t it so cute? The costume, I mean.” Jongdae sighed, crossing his legs on the bus bench.

 “Sure.” She sat down beside him.

 “I’m so bored. I have nothing to do today. I don’t even have a single assignment-”

 “Can I have that?” Yeri asked. Jongdae handed over his phone, and went straight back to complaining.

 “It’s Friday, which means it’s Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s date night, and Myeon is a lost cause.” His shoulder blades smacked against the bench. “Nobody’s going clubbing with me.”

 “Clubbing? Just go by yourself.” Yeri busied herself with the touchpad, typing rapidly. She adjusted her purse so it was held between her legs, obscuring the screen.

 “Are you serious? I’m not looking to get roofied.”

 “Ah, Jongdae. You need to get out more. When was the last time you went out?”

 “September.”

 “Oh, I remember that!” Yeri smiled brightly, waiting for the messaging app to open. “That was the night you called Minseok y.”

 “W-what?” Jongdae sputtered, making a choking sound. “You weren’t even there!” His eyes turned into menacing slits. “Nobody was! How’d you find out?!.....And give that back! What are you doing?”

 “I’m finding you something to do. It’s only three pm.”

 “Hey!” Jongdae was quick, but Yeri was quicker. She snatched the phone away at the last second, holding it above her head; and sending Jongdae tumbling forwards, crushing her lap.

 “STOP THAT!” The boy whined and scrambled over her, grasping for her arm to no avail. Yeri winced; she hadn’t expected for Jongdae’s limbs to be so angular, and they dug into her shoulders and elbows.

 “What did you do?!” The phone crashed into the ground, bouncing off the bench. Jongdae fell to his knees and picked it up from the sidewalk, brushing off the little pebbles crusted on his pants.

 “Yeri,” he growled.

 “I’m just looking out for you,” she replied. “And why is your background Minseok? That’s kinda creepy…”

 “Why did you text him?!” Jongdae seethed and held out the phone, a sunny yellow colour-and slightly scratched from the altercation.

 “I did you a favour. You’re going out with Minseok later tonight, and you should thank me.” Yeri tossed her hair behind her shoulder, and rolled her eyes. “You’re acting like it’s the end of the world.”

 “Yes, because how the hell am I-”

 “Don’t tell me you want to cancel your date.”

 “It’s not a date-” Jongdae tugged at his own hair nervously, gritting his teeth. “You know what? I’m done-”

 He walked briskly towards the apartment, unpleasantly dragging his feet through a pile of pebbles. Yeri ran up beside him on the sidewalk, hovering around him like a fruit fly.

 “You’re going to the movies,” she said quickly, when Jongdae tried to sprint away. “And be there at seven. And he’s coming to pick you up. And bring me some popcorn, if you have extra. Chicago mix, two parts cheese and one part caramel."

 Jongdae made a point to close the door in her face. 

🎥🎥🎥

Jongdaebak 🔥🌠🔥

hello

its jongdae

hehe

are you free tonight

Minseok (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Yeah why

 

i was wondering if you wanted to go somwehere with me

---

 Jongdae scrolled through the messages, cringing. He was sitting on sofa, rewatching his favourite K-Drama, when it finally popped in his mind that he should check Yeri’s texts, as a sort of damage control. He didn’t know what he had in mind, but it was thoroughly uncomfortable.

---

A date?

You still want to hang out?

That’s fine with me

Where do you want to go

 

the movies

 

Really?

Does 5 sound good to you?

 

sure….

actually can you come pick me up

Sure

I still have your hair dryer from yesterday

I’ll return that

 

okay

see you in a few hours

---

 

 So, he was going. No doubt about it. Not like he’d turn down a date with his now-only friend. Chanyeol and Baekhyun probably loved their cat more than Jongdae at this point.

 Is it a date? What do you call an outing with a friend? An appointment? A meeting? An excursion?

 He threw open his wardrobe and pulled on a white shirt, then a yellow button-down, which he left opened. Jongdae made sure to apply his foundation the way Seulgi had showed him, and gently dabbed eyeshadow down the creases of his eyelids.

 

---

Minseok (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Im downstairs if you want to come down right now

Jongdaebak 🔥🌠🔥

just a sec

 

Please dont be late

if im going to go out i better look damn good

 

Ok

im waiting

 

 Minseok squirmed in his cart seat impatiently as he waited in the apartment parking lot. His stomach was feeling a bit fluttery and nervous today, but he ignored it, tapping his fingers on the radio.

 He could already tell it was going to be a good day. Firstly, he was going to the movies! With Jongdae!  And second of all, the radio was playing Kill This Love, which was a total bop.

 “Let’s kill this love,” Minseok hummed under his breath, “-brrram bah bah bah bah!”

 “LET’S KILL THIS LOVE!” someone suddenly screamed behind him.

 Minseok would have been lying if he said he was only a little scared. His head smashed against the roof of the car as he jumped up, startled by the sudden noise.

 Jongdae rapped his knuckles on the car window sheepishly, waving at him from outside. Minseok groaned, rubbing his head, and rolled down the window.

 “Surprise!”

 “Did you really have to scare me like that?”

 “I like to make an entrance,” Jongdae replied, prying open the car door. “We’re twinning!” he said excitedly, pointing to himself, then Minseok; who was wearing a hoodie in a similar shade of yellow.

 Minseok shoved the keys into the ignition, and the car rolled onto the street.

 “Have you decided what we’re watching?” Jongdae asked, playing around with the buttons on his armrest. So far, he had discovered the green one was for windows, the red one was for heat, and the blue one-

 “Don’t touch that!” Minseok reached across, slapping away his friend’s hand. The vehicle swerved slightly, and they both let out a small scream as he struggled to maintain control in his lane of traffic.

 “Jongdae, you’re a safety hazard!” Minseok panted, once the steering wheel was gripped tightly in his clutch.

 His friend looked thoroughly shaken, his knuckles white on his seatbelt, and his back glued to the seat. His eyes were closed tightly in impending doom, and Minseok felt the sudden urge to squish his cheeks.

 “You can open your eyes now. We’re not going to crash and die.” Jongdae opened one eye first, then another, followed by a succession of rapid blinking.

 “You almost gave me a heart attack!” he whined loudly, sticking out his lower lip. “I don’t want to die just yet! There’s so many things I have to do!”

 “Well now we’re even,” was the only thing Minseok replied, adjusting the sun visor to block out the afternoon rays.

 “You still haven’t answered my question from earlier,” Jongdae said, crossing his arms.

 “I haven’t gotten the tickets yet. I don’t know what you like to watch. I was thinking, horror?”

 “No thanks. I don’t want to scar myself for centuries.”

 “Superheroes?”

 “Nah. Too much fighting. You see, why can’t we all just get along like a big family?”

 “Please don’t tell me you like rom-coms better than fantasy.”

 “Honestly, I’m not a fan of both.”

 “Then tell me what you like!” Minseok yelped, exasperated.

 “.....Are you familiar with the Pixar lineup of films?”

 Minseok desperately wanted to facepalm, but he would have to settle for not almost crashing the car a second time.

 “I swear to god, you’re such a little kid.”

 “Excuse me,” Jongdae scoffed, placing his hands on his hips, “I am your most esteemed guest.”

 “Okay, most esteemed guest.”

 “I’m leaving you a bad Yelp review.”

 Minseok simply shook his head and chuckled to himself as he pulled the car into the Cineplex parking lot, jerking the green Beetle to a stop.

 They climbed out of the car and shut the doors firmly, before walking onto the sidewalk and up the ramp that lead to the theatre.

 The rich scent of greasy popcorn and neon arcade lights were almost alluring, and before Minseok could stop him, Jongdae was already sprinting to the ticket booth and pecking at all the shiny buttons.

 “What are you doing?” he hissed, grabbing his friend by the crook of the arm and dragging him away.

 “I’m buying tickets,” Jongdae replied, using his free hand to swipe his credit card into the machine.

 “You’re serious?”

 He simply turned to Minseok, giving him an impatient look.

 “Toy Story 4 is nothing to joke about.”

 Minseok gaped. “You still haven’t watched that? It came out like almost five months ago, in June!”

 Jongdae snatched the tickets, squishing them in his fist. “I’m a busy man.”

 He lead the way towards the concession, and Minseok had to run a bit to catch up with his friend, who was oddly enthusiastic about the overpriced movie theatre snacks.

 Minseok stood to the side as Jongdae leaned over the counter, standing on his toes, and said something that was completely inaudible in the deafening atmosphere of the overcrowded Cineplex. Heck, he had to literally part the crowd with his hands to get to the washroom. The calls of his tiny bladder were not something to be ignored.

 Once he came back, he searched around for Jongdae, which proved difficult, since he was nowhere to be found. Minseok walked circles around the concession stand and the ticket booth, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

 “Minseok!” A hand reached up from the crowd and waved frantically. “Over here!”

 Jongdae stood by the dining area, engulfed by two bags of popcorn and at least thirty dollars worth of candy pinned under his chin and elbows. “Where’d you go? You left me to carry all this stuff by myself!” he complained, shoving a bag of popcorn into Minseok’s empty hands.

 “I-I went to the washroom? Is that a crime?”

 “The movie’s about to start,” Jongdae said, rather lamely, stuffing a bag of Jolly Ranchers into his pants pockets. “It’s theatre seventeen.”

 Minseok nodded, unsure of what to do with the monstrous bag of popcorn in his arms as his friend dragged him into the theatre, quickly showing the unhappy looking teenage employee their tickets, and racing down the hall to the entrance of the theatre.

 They grabbed two seats near the back of the theater, right by the aisle.

 “The show hasn’t even started yet, and you’re already eating?”

 Jongdae stopped mid-chew to meet Minseok’s incredulous eyes and shrugged.

 “I didn’t have lunch.”

 The lights suddenly dimmed around them, and Minseok put his head back to relax in the plush theatre seat.

 Once the classic Pixar lamp intro started playing, Minseok found himself not paying attention to the actual film at all, and instead stealing occasional glances at Jongdae.

 When Little Bo Peep showed up on screen, he didn’t even look up. He was too focused on study the Jongdae’s face, who seemed utterly and completely in awe.

 “The animation is so cool,” he said, between fistfuls of popcorn. Jongdae grinned like a little kid.

 “It’s so cool.”

 Seeing how excited his friend was almost made Minseok want to watch the movie. He had already seen it at least twice; once when Luhan dragged him to the premiere, twice when Irene had pirated the film on the cafe television for the customers to watch.

 It hadn’t even been twenty minutes, but Jongdae’s enormous popcorn bag was already half-empty, and his face shone with buttersalt.

 I want to it off.

 “Did you see that?” Jongdae grabbed Minseok’s arm, trapping it in a death hold and shaking him like a rag doll. “Did you see that? Did. You? Bo Peep is such a badass!” Minseok’s pullover sleeve was definitely going to stink of rancid milk fat tomorrow, if he didn’t die from motion sickness the way Jongdae pulled him back and forth.

 “Calm down!” he said loudly, causing a few less than impressed movie watchers to turn.

 “But Minseok! Did you see it?”

 “Yes, I did!” he replied, annoyed, shrugging off the extremely clingy boy attached to his sleeve. There were already darker spots of grease pooling on the hoodie, but he wasn’t as upset as he should be.

 “Care to share the candy you brought earlier?” Minseok asked, extending a hand under the seat to Jongdae.

 “Blue’s your favourite color, right?” Jongdae asked, pressing a handful of raspberry Jolly Ranchers into his hand. Minseok almost blushed.

 “Thank you,” he whispered.

 Jongdae didn’t seem to hear him, utterly immersed in the world of Woody and Buzz.

 The rest of the movie passed in relative silence, with a few squeals from an easily excitable Jongdae that grabbed onto Minseok’s arm, and some irked glances, but eventually, Minseok gave up all together, knowing that it was a lost battle.

 If anyone else were to do this to him, he’d probably strangle them with the sweater sleeves; the neat freak he was. But Jongdae was, well….

 “Psst.”

 “What?” How dare Jongdae interrupt him the exact moment he was actually paying attention to the movie!

 “Can I have your popcorn? I finished all of mine.”

 Minseok glanced at his nearly full bag, and then at Jongdae’s discarded sack, polished clean and tipped over on the floor.

 “You ate all of that?”

 More movie watchers turned around, fingers pressed to their lips. 

 “I did, and I’m not ashamed.”

 “That’s eighty grams of fat!” 

 “Can I have it or not?”

 Minseok took a look at his popcorn, and then at Jongdae, who was doing the evil eyelash thing that got him each and every time. His thin lips were curved into a shiny smile, making him look like a human counterpart to the Chesire cat, but a bit douchier.

 “Fine. Take it.”

 “You’re the best, Minseok.”

 After about half-an-hour more of screen-staring, hoodie tarnishing, and popcorn crushing, the credits began rolling, and the lights slowly brightened. The two collected their trash and hopped down the stairs.

 “It was such a good film,” Jongdae gushed, eyes sparkling.

 “At least your sweater isn’t ruined,” Minseok griped, throwing the candy wrappers and empty popcorn bags in the trash.

 Jongdae’s expression softened. “Sorry about that. I’ll wash it if you want.”

 “No, it’s….fine,” Minseok insisted, suddenly feeling bad.

 “Are you sure?” Jongdae asked. “I have the best Downy Unstopables at the apartment. They’re shimmery!” He made a rainbow gesture, and Minseok was suddenly reminded of that Spongebob meme.

 “Yeah, thanks though,” he replied, with a big grin. He bit his cheeks hard enough to inflict pain that reminded him not to double over and laugh so he wouldn’t look like a creep in a crowd of people.

 They walked directly back to the parking lot, although they got sidetracked a few times because Minseok had no idea where the car was.

 “Did you have a good time?” Minseok asked, once they had finally found the lost Volkswagen.

 “It was great,” Jongdae replied, a peaceful grin spread over his face.

 The drive home was relatively unriveting, partly because Jongdae had coaxed Minseok to turn on his Spotify radio; that consisted mainly of girl groups and Stray Kids. He wondered if Chanyeol and Minseok would ever get together to compare notes on Twice.

 “I’m so done for the day,” Minseok complained, easing the Volkswagen into the Golden Groves parking lot. He talked over Heartshaker, while humming the tune at the same time-which shouldn’t have even been possible.

 They had spent almost three hours in that movie theatre and the sky was already spotted with streetlights, giving off a toasty glow along with the freshly set sun.

 Slowly, Jongdae pushed open the door and climbed out onto the curb.

 “Have a good night, Jongdae.”

 “Yeah you too.”

 Minseok sat there for a few moments, watching Jongdae pull open the lobby doors and walk inside before he just stared down at his lap, blanking out for a while. His fingers brushed something cold and metal as his hands reached to the steering wheel; without missing a beat, Minseok rolled down the window and shouted outside. 

 "Jongdae! You forgot your blowdryer!"

 Suddenly, he felt a draft brush across his arms.

 Jongdae had somehow returned, with the car door pulled open in his arms. In a sudden, swift movement, he clambered over the passenger seat and wrapped his arms around Minseok’s neck, pulling him into a hug-Jongdae, pressed close to him, patting his back gently.

 Then, in a flash, it was over. He grabbed the blowdryer and grinned. “Thanks for today. I really enjoyed it.”

 As soon as he left, Minseok’s face immediately burst into a bright smile that didn’t cede for the rest of the day.

 In fact, he was pretty sure he was smiling all throughout his sleep.