He never intended to fall for the older boy. No, it never occurred to him that he would even think about falling for Kyungsoo one day. For the past three years, Jongin had only thought of Kyungsoo as a really close friend. Exceeding the friendship zone was never a part of Kim Jongin’s intentions whatsoever. However, here he was, staring intensely at Do Kyungsoo, his best friend of three years, with pure ambition of wanting to kiss him right then and there. Of course, he wasn’t going to do that. Jongin never planned to do any weird that would possibly ruin his friendship with Kyungsoo.

     “Jongin, what do you think of this hat for Chanyeol?”

     At the sound of Kyungsoo’s voice, Jongin’s thoughts were interrupted. A black hat was shoved right in front of his face and he frowned before putting the hat down. He looked over at the smiling Kyungsoo and shrugged his shoulders.

     “Well, he likes hats, doesn’t he? I think he would like it.”

     Kyungsoo stared down at the hat as he fumbled with the top part.

     “I don’t know, though. What if this hat isn’t his style?”

     Jongin rolled his eyes before yanking the hat from Kyungsoo’s hands and putting it back on the counter.

     “Then don’t buy it. It’s that simple, Soo,” he said.

     Kyungsoo hadn’t said anything so Jongin took it as a sign of leaving the store. As they walked out, Jongin couldn’t stop ignoring the fact that Kyungsoo’s hand was lightly brushing on his. Kyungsoo was obviously oblivious to the touching sensation, but Jongin was so bothered by it, he walked a few inches ahead.

     “Jongin, I really don’t know what to get Chanyeol!”

     “Then get him nothing,” Jongin concluded, looking over at this best friend, “It’s that simple.”

     “But I’m his boyfriend! I need to give him something!”

     “Just because you’re his boyfriend, doesn’t mean you have to give him something.”

     “Yes, I do because I’m his boyfriend!”

     “Then, give him a hug.”

     “Jongin~!”

     Jongin sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

     “I think Chanyeol would be fine with just your presence on his birthday,” Jongin concluded as the two arrived at a small coffee shop. Kyungsoo was about to reply when he spotted that one person sitting in one of the secluded tables, looking busy with his phone. Kyungsoo smiled and skipped over to the table where his boyfriend was. Jongin rolled his eyes at the couple as he walked over to the table.

     “Channie~!”

     Kyungsoo kissed Chanyeol on the lips, wrapping his arms around his neck. Chanyeol kissed him back and the two giggled. Jongin coughed as loud as he could, but the two were still in their little world.

     “Okay, next time you guys invite me to hang out, don’t expect me to sit here while you two are busy smothering each other’s faces,” Jongin said as he took his cellphone out to look if he had any new notifications. There wasn’t anything new so he decided to message one of his friends since his two other friends were too busy at the moment.

     “Jongin!”

     Jongin looked up from writing a HELP ME and looked up at a pouting Kyungsoo.

     “What?”

     “Why are you on your phone when we’re supposed to be hanging out?”

     Jongin chuckled and straightened himself on the chair.

     “Says the one who began making out with his boyfriend,” Jongin said, “while his best friend awkwardly sits here.”

     Kyungsoo let go of Chanyeol and picked up a menu, slapping Jongin with it. Chanyeol widened his eyes at the two before grabbing onto Kyungsoo’s waist. Jongin only laughed while Kyungsoo threw curse words at him.

     “Guys,” Chanyeol blurted out, “we shouldn’t fight, okay?”

     “Tell that to your boyfriend,” Jongin said, smirking, and Kyungsoo tried to leap forward, but with Chanyeol’s arm tightly around his waist he wasn’t able to.

     “I swear, Jongin,” Kyungsoo started but held back his words as Chanyeol looked at him with pleading eyes. Jongin rolled his eyes.

     After the three finished their coffee (Jongin had an ice coffee), they decided to go to Chanyeol’s house.

     Except, Jongin wasn’t going to Chanyeol’s house. No, he was going home because he had enough of being the third wheel on this so-called hang out.

     “I’ll see you later, Soo. Text me when you’re not being such an ,” He joked, and Kyungsoo was ready to jump him had Chanyeol not kept a hold of his waist. “Have fun, you two.” And with that, Jongin waved as he turned around. The couple said their goodbyes and as Jongin continued walking down the empty street, he could still hear Kyungsoo talking to his boyfriend.

     It all started almost two years ago when Kyungsoo had been in a rush to meet up with Jongin at their local coffee shop. Kyungsoo had been running late due to his alarm not setting off two hours prior. He was now an hour late, and he kept sending Jongin constant apology messages as well as messages that he was five minutes there. He was speed walking his way through the somewhat crowded place, his head always looking down to see if Jongin had sent anything. In doing so, he missed a step, causing his foot to twist and, in the process, making him fall over.

     Yet, he hadn’t just fallen over onto the ground; no, he had fallen onto a stranger. Kyungsoo gave the stranger countless apologies as he quickly removed himself from the guy. A handsome guy at that.

     “I’m so sorry,” he stammered as he finally got a good look at the stranger. Said stranger had stood up as well, fixing his hair in the process before giving Kyungsoo a smile. He shook his head, his hand forming an ‘ok’ sign.

     “You’re fine, don’t worry about it,” he said, still smiling. Kyungsoo stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do at that moment. Could he just leave? He was so caught up in the situation, he hadn’t realized his phone was still on the floor. The stranger had noticed and bent down to pick it up. He handed the semi-cracked phone to Kyungsoo. “Your phone.”

     Kyungsoo left his minor trance as he quickly took his phone. He thanked him before introducing himself.

     “Nice to meet you, Kyungsoo. My name’s Chanyeol.”

     It was in that moment, Kyungsoo knew he wanted to get to know Chanyeol more. It was a perfect time in which Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s relationship would begin to grow.

——-

     The sun was slowly setting, allowing a warm orange and red to cast against the dim room through the window. Cicadas were beginning to make noise while cars casually sped by the empty road. It was like any ordinary night for Jongin as he was hunched over his computer, playing some League of Legends. His focus was entirely on the game so when his phone buzzed a few times, he did not bother looking at it until after his game.

     20 minutes passed, and Jongin had finally stopped his game to check his phone. He hadn’t expected multiple messages from Kyungsoo so he read through them, instantly feeling regret for not checking his phone sooner. He immediately called Kyungsoo, and thanked the Heavens the older boy had answered.

     “Hey, Soo,” he said, instantly standing up. “Sorry for the late response. I didn’t have my phone with me.” Jongin ran his free hand through his hair, and couldn’t help but bite on his lower lip. “Is…everything okay? I read your texts and got worried.”

     After a few seconds, Kyungsoo spoke and Jongin’s heart instantly broke. The boy sounded like he had just spent the last few hours crying.

     “I’m sorry for bombarding you with texts. It’s just…Chanyeol and I had a fight and it was the first time he had yelled at me and…” Jongin could hear Kyungsoo trying to hold in his tears. “I didn’t know what to do or say, Jongin. I feel like I really ed this up and I don’t know what to do.”

     At that moment, Jongin began pacing back and forth in his room. He was chewing on his lip now.

     “It’s okay, Soo. Do you want me to pick you up and maybe, I don’t know, get some ice-cream or something? I think giving you a distraction would help a little.” Jongin didn’t think Kyungsoo would say yes because of the fact that it was getting late and, knowing Kyungsoo, he didn’t like being out too late.

     “Sure, that’d be nice,” he mumbled, sniffling in the process. Jongin stopped in his tracks, and ran his hand through his hair again.

     “Oh-okay. Then, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

     They hung up and Jongin scurried to change out of his pajamas.

——-

     “I’m sorry if I ruined your night, Jongin,” Kyungsoo said as he put on his seatbelt. Jongin shook his head as he prepared to get back on the road. “It all happened so suddenly, you know? And it was over something so stupid, too.” Kyungsoo groaned at the memory of his fight with Chanyeol.

     “Hey, you would never ruin my night. I’m never doing anything special, anyway, so you’re fine. We’re getting ice-cream so there’s nothing better than that.” Jongin heard a soft chuckle from Kyungsoo, causing his chest to tighten.

     By the time they arrived to the closest ice-cream shop, it was about to close in roughly 30 minutes. Thus, while Jongin went to go park somewhere, Kyungsoo had gone to order their ice-creams. Jongin was able to find a decent parking space near the shop, which had a view of nothing but a bunch of trees surrounding it. As he waited, Jongin wondered about the fight Kyungsoo had with Chanyeol. The thought of Chanyeol yelling at Kyungsoo was surprising in itself since Chanyeol was always sweet and caring towards Soo.

     Jongin was deep in his thoughts that he hadn’t realized when Kyungsoo opened the passenger door. He handed Jongin the chocolate ice-cream he asked for before closing the door.

     “They didn’t have any chocolate fudge anymore so that’s why yours is just the ice-cream. I hope that’s fine.” Jongin shrugged it off as he started to his ice-cream. Kyungsoo at his chocolate chip ice-cream and looked out to the trees. The two were in silence as they ate their ice-cream.

     Jongin was the first one to finish his cone so he was the first one to speak amongst the silence.

     “How are you feeling right now?” Kyungsoo shrugged as he finished eating his ice-cream. He crumpled the wrapper and simply held it in his hand. Jongin glanced down at his hands before looking back at the other. “You know, Soo, this is just a temporary fight. I think you and Chanyeol will be okay in a few days; maybe even by tomorrow, to be honest. I know how the two of you are and it’s just impossible for the two of you to stay apart for so long.”

     “Do you really think so?” Kyungsoo turned to look at him, his eyes gradually tearing up. “You know what we fought about?” He shook his head, letting out a chuckle in the process. “He really thought I had feelings for you. Like, he believed I was going behind his back and being with you. But it was never that; I really love him and he had the audacity to say that to me?” Tears were now falling down, and Kyungsoo tried wiping them away with the back of his hand. “It’s just insane that he would think that. You would never like me like that; it’s so bizarre.”

     Jongin remained silent for a few minutes as he processed Kyungsoo’s words.

     “Do you remember when we first met? I thought…” Jongin sighed as he thought back to his stupidity. “I thought you were a girl for some reason?”

     At that moment, Kyungsoo let out a snort, and looked at Jongin. “You were really stupid back then. I wasn’t even wearing a dress or anything. To this day, I still don’t know how you thought I was a female.”

     “Yeah, I don’t know what was going through my head,” he said, chuckling. “But, anyway, do you remember when we wrote those messages on the locks?” Jongin watched as Kyungsoo thought about the memory.

     “Ah, I do. Why do you bring that up, though?”

     “You’ll always be my Tinkerbell,” he said, looking straight into Kyungsoo’s eyes. The older kept quiet as he stared at Jongin. “This is a bad time, but I hope you know that my feelings for you are genuine.”

     “Jongin,” Kyungsoo started, shaking his head in the process. “Why are you telling me this?”

     “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted you to know that I do like you and that it’s not bizarre.” When Jongin saw the confusing expression from Kyungsoo, Jongin knew right then and there he severely ed up. “I mean, I like you a lot as you’re one of my closest friends. You’re a great person and I think Chanyeol would be ing stupid if he ever thought of breaking up with you. If I liked you romantically, I would never leave you. You’re a beautiful and special person and I would never want to hurt you.”

     Kyungsoo hadn’t said anything and simply turned to look at the trees in the front. Jongin had been chewing on his lip by now without even realizing it. At that moment, he would understand if Kyungsoo left right then and there, and never wanted to speak to him again.

     “You’re very kind for saying that Jongin. The past me would’ve been happy if they heard that confession.”

Jongin’s heart sank at those words. He knew Kyungsoo would not see through his excuse; Kyungsoo was aware Jongin had just confessed to him and there was nothing that could be done.

     “I’m sorry. I know it wasn’t the right time, but just know that I have never wished for you and Chanyeol to break up. Ever. I’ll always support you, Kyungsoo.”

     Kyungsoo hadn’t said anything afterwards so Jongin took it as a sign to shut up and started the engine. He would drop off Kyungsoo and prepare himself to never be spoken to. What else did he expect?

——-

     By the time they arrived to Kyungsoo’s apartment, the atmosphere was filled with pure silence. Jongin could feel the silence suffocating him and he just wanted to pull the window down. At that very moment, he needed some fresh air.

     “Thanks for the ice-cream, Jongin,” Kyungsoo said, breaking the silence. He had unbuckled himself, his hand on the door handle. “I’ll treat you next time.” Jongin softly chuckled as he shrugged it off. Internally, he knew that ‘next time’ would never happen. Kyungsoo’s hand slowly pulled the handle, and as the door gradually opened, he turned to Jongin.

     The two of them gazed at one another, taking in their appearance in the darkness.

     Jongin did not know what to expect, but receiving a small peck on the cheek from Kyungsoo was the last on his mind.

     “See you, Jongin. Also, you for liking me when I don’t like you in that way anymore.” With that, Kyungsoo stepped out of the car and shut the door. As Jongin was still phased by the small kiss, he hadn’t seen Kyungsoo flip him off from behind.

——-

     Usually, a rejection often entails pure sadness and tears, yet here was Jongin, sitting out on his balcony, sipping on a glass of orange juice. Soft music was currently playing through his phone as the cricket noises continued on.

     While he felt like a fool for doing such a thing as confessing to Kyungsoo, he felt glad to have been rejected. With Kyungsoo slapping his confession down, it gave Jongin the opportunity to finally realize that maybe…he could officially move on with his feelings.

     A trip to New York didn’t sound too bad. He’s always wanted to go, anyway.

--------

I hope all of you curse me out for giving such a lame ending EHE. I would recommend listening to the song "always" by Keshi as that song is what I envisioned Jongin listening to at the end. Also, "alright" by Keshi is another song I recommend listening to as it is the title of this one-shot and I feel as though that song is basically how Jongin feels throughout the story. Anyway, thank you for reading and I'm happy to say that this mini one-shot series has ended. Also, shameless plug, but you guys can follow me on twitter LMAO My username is beloved_sky_key  

Bye bye! ^^