Kibum could not understand what Jinki’s problem was, he swore softly under his breath as he tied his apron on heading out to the front of the shop. He felt like throttling Jinki and telling him that they had been having an important conversation about his happiness, about trying to make him feel better and get over that stupid Minho. He pursed his lips together as he stood behind the counter, feeling even more aggravated when he saw that no one was there, but then he glanced over, eyes widening as he saw Minho and another younger guy.

 

Oh. Kibum swallowed, biting down into his lip, now he felt bad. Minho was sipping a takeaway latte, which meant that poor Jinki had had to make it and serve it to him. Kibum swallowed, he felt this huge urge to rush out the back and give his friend a big hug. But he knew he had to stay there, in case anyone else came in. Since there was nothing else to do, and he did not want be standing there staring he picked up a bottle of cleaner and a cloth, figuring he could wipe down some of the tables. He lifted his head up, and was surprised to see that Minho was looking right over at the counter, his eyes flicking around the café as if he was looking for someone.

 

Kibum pursed his lips together thoughtfully, it was strange, how when Minho’s eyes met his, the taller boy almost jumped and looked away. As if he did not want to get caught staring, Kibum hid a smirk as he leaned over a table, spraying it with the cleaner and then wiping it down carefully. The table was already clean, Jinki was such a er for hygiene, and Kibum had to do something. Every so often he would look over to see that Minho and his friend were still talking animatedly, but occasionally he caught the taller boy glancing around again.

 

Once he had cleaned every table but the one Minho was sitting at, he went to the cabinet, rearranging the food so it looked good. He rearranged some plates, lifting them at the same time to clean underneath, it was the kind of thing you had to do on a quiet day to fill in time. He was busy doing that, placing a half empty plate on the counter, when he saw Jinki rush out of the kitchen. Stumbling around behind the till, looking for his bag, he seemed in a panic, so Kibum got up calmly and went over.

 

“Hyung, what’s up?” Kibum asked pressing a hand to Jinki’s shoulders, but the older boy ignored him, concentrating on tugging his bag out of the cupboard and shoving his apron in there. The fact that Jinki had not even folded his apron, but just shoved it in messily, told Kibum that he was getting stressed by something. He glanced over and was surprised to see that Minho was looking over at where Jinki was half crouched. By the time Kibum turned around again, Jinki was about to dash out of the café, but something was not quite right.

 

“Wait, wait!” Kibum chased over the boy, “hang on hyung,” He sighed, grabbing a hold of Jinki’s arm, not caring that he had spoken so loudly. He squeezed Jinki’s arm, his hand sliding down so that they were almost holding hands but not quite. Kibum frowned as he forced Jinki to turn around, unknowingly letting Minho gaze at Jinki, as he moved slowly around. Jinki had not lifted his face, and his eyes were mostly hidden by his long fringe, so he was unaware that Minho was staring.

 

“You have… soap everywhere.” Kibum whispered, blinking his eyes rapidly, “Gosh hyung,” He bit into his lip, reaching up to wipe bubbles from his hair, and the collar of his shirt, he thought it was kind of cute how he even had them across his face. Kibum grinned as he wiped Jinki’s nose clean, ignoring how the older boy scrunched up his face slightly, looking slightly embarrassed.

 

“Where are you rushing off to anyways?” Kibum asked as he removed the rest of the soap of his shirt and clothes. “Do you have another lecture now?”Kibum blinked his eyes rapidly, “I thought you were done already?” Kibum reached for a serviette, he glanced around the café, he was not surprised to see that Minho was staring directly at Jinki. He marvelled at the fact that Jinki had still not realised Minho was still there, or he figured he deliberately was keeping his eyes down to avoid looking for him.

 

“I uh, left something behind in the library,” Jinki rubbed his fingers through his hair nervously, “I just remembered, it’s in the locker but they clean them out nightly.” He bit his lip, “So I need to go and get it now.” He nodded his head once or twice, “I’ll see you at home, Kibum. And thank you.” He whispered, his lower lip trembling slightly, told Kibum that he was thanking him for letting Jinki stay in the kitchen, away from Minho.

 

After Jinki left the café, Kibum stood behind the counter thinking, he had caught Minho gazing around several times. It did not seem like the curious gaze of someone taking in their surroundings, but rather it looked like he was looking for something, or someone in particular. It made Kibum stop and think, about why Minho was staring at Jinki, it was if he somehow knew him. He suddenly had this sense, that maybe, just maybe Jinki had a chance with Minho, he could feel his heart racing, he smiled suddenly feeling happy.

 

But then Kibum realised he was being ridiculous, he had forgotten that in some circles, Jinki had been quite well known. He figured Minho had probably just seen him around the school, or perhaps seen his picture in the school paper, since Jinki had featured in it often. It was probably just that, he had seen something familiar about Jinki, and it had bugged him so he kept staring to try and work out where he had seen him before. Kibum sighed, slumping over the counter, for a little while he had had hope but that was now gone.

 

 

 

Jinki felt scared before his first tutorial, he was so nervous that he was sure he would do something idiotic and clumsy. He opened the classroom door so carefully, blinking when he saw that no one was there, a sense of disappointment filled him. He panicked, almost turning to flee, oh god, no one wanted to come to my tutorial! They must have heard about me ahead of time!

 

With shaking hands he decided to ring Kibum, and tell him what a failure he was. His first tutorial, and somehow he had already scared all the students off. Somehow he had terrified no one into coming, he breathed in and out heavily, panicking slightly, his fingers shaking on his phone as he tried to dialled Kibum’s number, but then he realised his number was first, he didn’t need to put his number in.

 

“Kibum,” He wailed down the phone, “No one turned up! It’s a disaster! How will I ever face the university staff, how will I explain this to anyone, that no one even came! Gosh, do I have such a bad rep, that even the thought of a tutorial with me scared everyone off?”

 

“Jinki-hyung, breathe,” Kibum instructed him down the phone, “Now turn around, and find a clock,” Kibum sighed softly, as he heard Jinki muttering away to himself, “Now tell me the time.”

 

“Okay, I will.” Jinki still sounded upset, “Oh it’s 10:35am,” Jinki’s eyes widened, he paused staring at the clock, he could feel his cheeks starting to slowly turn red. “Oh.” Jinki glanced down at the desk, “Oh,” he repeated again feeling like a complete idiot. He forgot that he was early, no one was due to arrive until ten to eleven, “I’m sorry Kibum, sorry!” He mumbled feeling guilty because he had woken up his friend early.

 

“Hyung, it’s fine! Don’t panic, I’m sure it will be fine!” Kibum reassured the older male, and Jinki nodded his head, feeling a little better.

 

Once he got off the phone, he blinked and sorted through his bag, digging out the relevant papers for the tutorial. He placed them on the desk, and then he decided to write his name on the board, he figured if he did it now, he would not make an idiot of himself when the students arrived later. Smiling he wrote his name across the whiteboard, just as he finished he heard the sound of the door. He turned and smiled as students began to file in, the sound of his beating heart seemed to be in time with their footsteps.

 

“Hello everyone, I’m Lee Jinki, your tutor for COSC 111.” Jinki beamed, feeling his nerves vanish almost immediately. “Before I ask everyone to introduce themselves, I just wanted to talk about the course. I think everyone who takes this course, starts to feel like they are wasting their time, and wonder why it’s necessary for their degree. It does seem basic in the first few weeks, and I too felt like maybe I was wasting my time, since we do cover all those basic programs. But what I discovered was that going over them so in depth, it really makes you understand them better, and you learn new features that you did not know existed before.”

 

Jinki paused, feeling happy when he felt thirty attentive eyes gazing up at him, waiting for him to continue speaking. He breathed out deeply; knowing that this was really going to be okay, his tutorial was going to be fine.

 

“So I hope all of you will keep attending the lectures, and it’s only the first two weeks that cover everything in basic details. It may seem a waste of time, but in the end it is important, you will definitely have a stronger understanding of how those programs work by the end of this week.” Jinki nodded his head, feeling a sense of delight as he saw a student raise their hand to ask a question.

 

 

 

Taemin pursed his lips together as he walked home alone, he could not help but think there was something between the guy in the café and Minho. He was not stupid, he had definitely felt Minho tense slightly when Jinki-ssi had turned to face them. Taemin cocked his head to one side thinking about it, he grinned remembering how the first time they went to that café, Minho had not wanted go in. Aha, he said he thought he recognised one of the staff, it must be that flustered Jinki-ssi.

 

Finally he had worked it out, but he realised it went both ways, there was something about Jinki’s attitude that had changed once he had seen Minho. Taemin at first thought he was just embarrassed by the way his friends were talking so loudly and casually about him, but it felt strange how he had not lifted his head once after Minho was there.  Taemin tapped his finger against his lip, thinking hard about it, because he had definitely noticed Minho staring or looking around for Jinki.

 

He had always been a curious kid, and if something struck him as odd he always had this strong sense to get to the bottom of it. He couldn’t help himself, Taemin grinned, realising that Minho should realise that by now. They had known each other for such a long time, Taemin was sure he was the reason that Minho ever went out with anyone. His friend was handsome, Taemin knew a lot of people adored him, but it always made Minho shy to approach them because he always thought people liked him for his reputation and for no other reason.

 

Minho was also unaware of how attractive he was he thought Taemin and other people simply exaggerated it. Which often frustrated Taemin, he felt like hitting the other boy over the head when he just had no idea, and made comments about his looks being average. But he figured Minho was lucky, because it was always Taemin who realised that Minho liked someone, he always made the older boy do something about it. He just knew Minho so well, always noticing when he took a little bit extra interest in someone, it was not obvious to other people but it was to Taemin.

 

He could tell that Minho had some kind of interest in Jinki, but he had no idea why, he didn’t think it was a crush. Because it was quite simply too early to tell, but while they sat in the café, Minho had gazed around a lot, as if he was looking for someone. Taemin had not mentioned it but he noticed it, and then Minho had asked about the guy behind the counter.

 

He had asked Taemin what he meant, so he had explained how when he ordered the coffee he could hear them discussing Jinki-ssi. Taemin ended up explaining everything to Minho, everything he had heard, his eyes staring and studying Minho’s face to see how he was taking the news. Minho’s expression indicated nothing, it remained neutral, which was why Taemin figured Minho must just know Jinki from somewhere, but it wasn’t a crush.

 

But he was going to find for sure, he would definitely find out everything he could between them. He grinned, as he started to make a detailed plan in his head for what he was going to do. He practically skipped along the side of the road feeling excited as he planned. He didn’t feel angry at Minho anymore for not walking him home, because now he had something to find out about.

 

 

 

Jinki barely walked in the café door before Kibum attacked him, arms wrapping around his torso as he squished the life out of him. Never mind that all the café’s patrons were staring at the noisy display – one guy jumping up and down excitedly, whilst he hugged the other one to death. Jinki awkwardly hugged Kibum back, patting him on the back lightly.

 

“Hyung, I knew it would go well! I just knew it!” Kibum chanted happily, as he continued to dance around and hug Jinki tightly. “Ah, I don’t know why you were so stressed!” He babbled away happily, neither noticing the door opening until a polite cough, made Kibum realise that there was probably someone waiting to be served. He pulled away from Jinki, feeling slightly embarrassed as he saw how many people were staring, but then he just grinned and sauntered off behind the counter again.

 

“Sorry about that,” He smiled brightly up, only just managing to keep his smile intact when he saw Minho standing there. “What did you want?” He asked, glancing sideways to see that Jinki was hastily walking in behind the counter, before he immediately retreated into the kitchen. Kibum felt like asking Minho if this was the only place that served coffee, if Minho had to come here, it somehow seemed unnecessarily cruel to Jinki.

 

“A trim latte, and um a chocolate milkshake thanks.” Kibum blinked, surprised that he was ordering two drinks, but he just nodded his head figuring if he wanted two drinks it was fine. He felt like asking if he wanted them take away, when the door opened and Kibum saw that cute young guy that Minho had been with before. He smiled as the boy bounded across towards the counter.

 

“Hyung, you can’t pay for that!”

 

“Okay, okay, I was just going to pay today, you can’t always pay!” Minho replied with a shake of his head.

Kibum paled, frowning slightly as he saw the boy forcing Minho to put his wallet away. It felt strange, it was normal for the older person to pay. But he could not say anything, Kibum tried not to wince as he heard a noise and he knew Jinki was right there too. He sighed turning to see him fiddling with the coffee beans, his mouth set in a straight determined line. That set off alarm bells in Kibum’s head, he knew that expression well, it only meant that Jinki was going to either do something stupid or just try to get on with Minho, and somehow Kibum had this feeling it would only end up hurting him more.

 

“I’ll bring the drinks over,” Kibum nodded his head, handing them number 14, doing his best to get them away from Jinki. As soon as they left, he whispered, “Are you okay, Jinki-hyung?” He patted the older boy’s shoulder, figuring he had embarrassed him with the excessive hugging and attention. But then Jinki had to see Minho at the café again.

 

“I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” Jinki replied in a very calm voice, making Kibum shiver slightly, no he clearly was not fine at all, Kibum was starting to feel a little worried. He paid no attention to Taemin and Minho for the time they were there, instead he kept a close eye on his friend, knowing that if he broke down he would need him there.

 

 

I'm going to be going away (internet-less for ;__; a couple of days~) so if I have time^^; I will post another chapter later on today^^;;