“Why are we here?” Key frowned, looking up at the extremely familiar building in front of him. “Weren’t we just here last week?”

“To cut my bangs,” Jaejin answered calmly.

“Oh, so now you’re listening to me,” Key turned his head to Jaejin.

“Not really. They’re just in the way. It was alright back then,” he answered again, ignoring Key that seemed to be getting ready with his nagging.

Jaejin walked into the salon, scowling when the hairdresser noticed Key first instead of Jaejin who clearly entered first. Sometimes it was hard to be friends with a social butterfly like Key. Jaejin himself couldn’t understand even until now why Key bothered being friends with such an anti-social that always stayed at home watching anime like him. They were like the total opposite. Jaejin was the smart skinny kid in class, while Key was the Mr. Popular that was friends with all the cool kids at school. And among all of those cool kids, there was Jaejin – the odd one.

Key talked to him first, commenting on Jaejin’s eyes when he just happened to walk pass Jaejin in the hallway. They were classmates but they never talked to each other, so Jaejin was extremely surprised that Key actually talked to him. Strange enough, just like Jonghun, Key told him how he had such a pair of gloomy eyes. And that was all that Key said to him before walking away. Ever since that little talk – where Key was pretty much the only one that actually said something while Jaejin just stood there in surprise – Key started to talk to him in class. Key didn’t treat him as the quiet smart kid, he treated him just like he treated everybody else so he was just as frank as he always was. Jaejin liked their unimportant conversations or how Key had no problem telling Jaejin that he looked like a hobo when he forgot to shave, and Key didn’t mind when Jaejin would complain how much like a girl Key’s nagging could be at times. Before Jaejin knew it, they both started to hang out and got close with each other.

“Someone asked me on a date…” Jaejin mumbled once they both settled down.

“Seriously?” Key blinked, dragging a chair close to Jaejin because he looked like he just smelled some spectacular gossip in the air.  He wasn’t planning on doing anything at the salon, was just there because Jaejin actually whined that Key needed to come with him. “That never happened before. Is she cute?”

“That’s the problem…” Jaejin sighed, pausing while staring at the hairdresser that was already starting to touch his hair, complaining how dry it was. Oh whatever, let the hairdresser hear their conversation. No harm could be done anyway.

“Oh… she’s not cute then? What about her personality?” Key asked again.

“…you see… your entire questions are the problem here,” Jaejin looked at Key hopelessly.

“What’s wrong with my questions?” Key frowned.

Jaejin waited for the hairdresser to leave them, taking whatever she needed for his hair. Taking a deep breath, Jaejin shifted restlessly on his seat, turning to Key while looking at the other guy seriously. This was it, he thought. “A guy asked me on a date. Not a girl.”

Key’s face turned blank for a second, blinking once before turning his face away from Jaejin. Jaejin could only watch the way Key furrow his eyebrows, blinking again for God knew why.

“A guy asked you on a date?” Key repeated Jaejin’s statement.

“Yes.”

“So… is he cute?”

“… aren’t you supposed to be shocked or something? Or at least laugh at me?” Jaejin frowned, wasn’t expecting Key to act as if it was nothing. If he had to be honest, Jaejin was already prepared to see Key getting all terrified that a guy was asking his best friend on a date.

“A guy asked you out, not a big deal. I actually have always wondered why no guy has ever asked you on a date before. You’re pretty,” Key shrugged. “When you remember to shave, of course.”

“Why am I friends with you?” Jaejin kicked the side of Key’s chair, wishing he could scrub off that annoying diva-ish expression from Key’s face with the cheapest scrubber he could find in the nearest mini-market.

They both went quiet when the hairdresser came back, working on Jaejin’s bangs right away. Jaejin could see from the corner of his eyes that Key didn’t move from where he sat, the other’s eyes seemed to observe the hairdresser’s work on Jaejin’s hair attentively. “Should we go for hair treatment?” Key spoke up.

“…hair treatment?” both Jaejin and the hairdresser turned to Key.

“I mean look at that hair. Never knew bleaching your hair can damage it that bad. Do you even use vitamin?” asked Key.

“…do I have to?”

“Of course you have to! Oh Gosh. What are you gonna do without me?” Key frowned.

And after she was finished with Jaejin’s bangs, the hairdresser left again to get ready for the hair treatment. Jaejin stared at his reflection on the mirror, quite satisfied with his freshly cut bangs. Though he had to admit that his hair looked pretty dry.

“So, who is this guy?” Key shifted even closer to Jaejin. “Is he hot?”

“…you definitely aren’t reacting the way I expected you would be…”Jaejin mumbled.

“Oh come on, dude. How long have you known me for? Do I look like I care who asks you out?! You could marry an anime character if you wanted to and I wouldn’t even care,” Key said, poking Jaejin’s cheek.

“…right.”

“Besides, you wouldn’t tell me all of these if you weren’t considering this guy’s date offer.”

A part of him knew that Key was right. Key was always right anyway. No one else knew Jaejin better than Key, not even Jaejin himself. He might be close to Minhwan and Seunghyun. He might be in good terms with Mir, Dongwoon or Jinwoon; but what he had with Key was different. Key was like his protection shield, pretty much the only person that knew everything about him. It was a bromance kind of thing, like how Minhwan was Seunghyun’s safety blanket.

“He’s… the neighbour that I told you about the other day,” Jaejin said at the end.

“Oh. Then?”

“Well, I kind of like hanging out with him. He’s good with guitar – better than Seunghyun – so we get to jam sometimes. And yes, he’s pretty hot. Though he has this deadpan look most of the time. The type that doesn’t say much, and sometimes I feel like he’s pretty faint-hearted but I guess he always tries to look cool or something when he’s around people,” Jaejin explained.

“Sounds like an interesting guy,” Key commented.

“He kind of is. Other than the fact that he kissed me once and I ended up punching him on the face,” Jaejin shrugged.

Blinking, Key drew closer. “He what?! Kissed you?! As in kissed you on the lips?!”

“Yeah… like how Seunghyun would kiss me when he’s drunk? Minus the drunken part of course because he was completely sober. But I was so shocked so I punched him. We’re cool now though. He said sorry and whatnot. Then, he suddenly asked me on a date out of no where,” Jaejin sighed.

“Seunghyun kisses everyone when he’s drunk,” Key laughed. “Then what did you say? Did you say yes?”

“That’s the thing… I hung up the call because I didn’t know what to say…”

Key’s upper lip twitched at Jaejin’s answer, rolling his eyes while pressing his palm against his forehead. “Oh dear God, Lee Jaejin why are you so stupid?!”

---

Rejection wasn’t something that Jonghun could deal with very well. No one had ever turned Jonghun’s offer down. He could ask for any girl’s phone number just after an effortless flirting, and even when he got rejected the first time, no one had ever rejected him twice. He had always succeeded the second time. But it clearly wasn’t the case this time. Sighing, he could only stare blankly at the plates that he was washing.

“Jonghun-ah~, stop looking like you’re dying like that. It’s depressing,” Hongki spoke up. “Cheer up~.”

“There’s nothing to cheer up about. I’m fine,” Jonghun mumbled.

“Sure,” Hongki pursed his lower lip, tilting his head up at Jonghun’s stubbornness.

Once he was done with the dishes, Jonghun wiped his hands, taking a glance at Hongki who seemed to be engrossed again in his online game (sometimes he wondered if Hongki was always there just to steal his fast internet speed). He wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, but this whole rejection thing affected him so badly. How could someone reject him… twice. It didn’t make any sense at all.

Jonghun pressed his forehead against his veranda sliding door, sighing for the nth time that day. His eyes travelled across to Jaejin’s apartment, the corner of his lips were curved downwards as he once again exhaled in agony. The other’s apartment was empty. No one was there but the curtains were apart, giving Jonghun a clear view of the inside of the apartment. Maybe Jaejin forgot to close it when he left, Jonghun thought.

“…okay… this is way too creepy. Stop staring at the damned apartment and move on. Maybe he’s just not into guys,” Hongki clicked his tongue, closing his laptop while throwing Jonghun a fierce look.

“He hung up on me…” Jonghun muttered. “…then he closed his curtain in hurry…”

“Of course he did. How could you just bluntly ask him on a date?! You should have made sure that he swings that way first before doing so. Not everyone is cool being attracted to the same , you know,” Hongki frowned.

“How could I find out if he’s into guys or not? It’s not like I can just tell at the first look. I mean, look at me?! I’d consider myself as manly. Good looking, great muscles, a musician, a man thoroughly. Then just suddenly I find men attractive too. I mean, it’s only him so far, but you got what I mean,” Jonghun turned his head to Hongki. “Up until recently it was more believable if you were the gay one.”

“What does that even mean?!” Hongki protested.

“You painted your nails! You’re more like a girl than I am,” Jonghun pointed out.

“There’s nothing wrong about a straight guy painting his nails!”

“...tsk…” Jonghun clicked his tongue, turning his head back to the sliding door.

He would be lying if he said this didn’t bother him. It bothered him just as much as Jaejin’s rejection bothered him. Jonghun had noticed it, of course. There were times where he just randomly stared at some guys’ bums; but being oblivious he was, Jonghun simply thought that it was because he felt envy of how people could have rounded shaped butts because his freaking was just too flat for his own liking. Who would have thought that it was because… he was actually checking them out.

“Oh… he’s home…” Jonghun straightened up, eyes were then glued to Jaejin’s apartment.

Seemingly interested, Hongki rushed over to the sliding door, quickly imitating Jonghun that was already staring so intensely at the other apartment. “Who the hell is that with him?” asked Hongki.

“I have never met him before,” Jonghun said, tilting his head at this new person.

The first thing that Jonghun noticed from this unknown guy was… how flashy he was. His fashion sense seemed to be way better than Jaejin (then again, who wouldn't), he seemed to be more diva-ish than Hongki, but he looked incredibly good too. Jonghun blinked when the guy turned to Jaejin’s sliding door, staring back at the two of them.

The two best friends automatically reached out for each other, exchanging stares for a moment because they weren’t expecting this guy to catch them looking. Then much to their surprise, the said guy opened the sliding door and…

“Is he… waving at us?” Hongki pierced his eyes, blinking furiously.

“…I think... he is…” Jonghun replied, tilting his head in wonder.

Surprises kept coming to them when Jaejin rushed out to the veranda, literally whacking this unknown guy’s head. The guy laughed, pointing his finger towards Jonghun and Hongki’s direction – causing Jaejin to automatically turned his head to them. Jonghun inhaled anxiously, remembering how Jaejin urgently closed his curtains the other night when Jonghun asked him out. Would he avoid Jonghun too this time?

…he didn’t. Instead, Jaejin just stood there, gapping for a whole second before looking down.

He cut his bangs, Jonghun noticed.

When Jaejin’s friend realised the awkward situation, he smirked towards Jonghun. Yes, towards Jonghun, almost as if he knew something that he shouldn’t. In a speed of light, he trailed his hand to Jaejin’s back pocket, making Jaejin startle at the sudden movement.

“Is that guy… groping Jaejin’s ?” Hongki pointed out in horror.

But before Hongki’s imagination went further, they both quickly noticed that this guy was actually reaching out for Jaejin’s phone. They watched Jaejin trying to get his phone back, but failed because the guy literally kicked him away while going through Jaejin’s phone.

Jonghun jumped on the spot when his phone rang, was so sure that he almost had a heart attack for a second there. He looked at Hongki, who was looking back at him, seemingly just as confused as Jonghun as to what was happening. Slowly, Jonghun took his phone from his pocket, blinking as he saw Jaejin’s name flashing on his screen. “Answer it…” demanded Hongki, nudging Jonghun’s shoulder with his own.

“Y-yes?” answered Jonghun, gulping.

“So, are you Choi Jonghun?!” the other line spoke. Jonghun turned his gaze back to Jaejin’s apartment, noticing how the unknown guy was once again waving at them. Or maybe just him this time.

“Yeah… who is this?”

“Jaejin’s super awesome and gorgeous best friend since high school, Kim Kibum~.”

“Oh… nice to meet you… I guess…” Jonghun wasn’t really sure how to react to this.

“So I heard you asked my stupid best friend over here on a date,” Kibum continued.

Jonghun couldn’t answer the statement, eyes were too caught up at the sight before him. Jaejin was obviously trying to take his phone back, but this Kibum guy seemed to be stronger than him that no matter how many times Jaejin tried, he kept on failing. Hongki on the other hand got impatient for not knowing the conversation that Jonghun was having with Kibum, ending up walking around the living room anxiously, almost as if he were a worry-sick mother or something.

“Well, Mr. Choi. I’m sorry for my best friend’s stupidity the other day. He’s just not in his right mind lately – though I might have to point out that it’s probably because of you, good job on that~,” Kibum continued talking.

“…sorry about that…” was the only thing that Jonghun managed to say.

“Anyway~, let’s get this done with. So, tomorrow, at 6pm. Downstairs. Got it?”

“What?!” Jonghun frowned.

“Aigo, Mr. Choi Jonghun. The date, the date! How could you forget about that?! I’m telling you that Jaejin will be there for the date whether he likes it or not because I’m gonna make sure that he’ll be there for it.”

“Eh?”

“…aren’t you a little bit slow?” Kibum scowled. “Oh whatever. Hope to see you tomorrow when I send him off to you then! Also, Jaejin said you’re hot~. I guess he wasn’t lying when he said that. So yeah. Bye!!”

Jonghun stood still in silence, staring at Hongki as Kibum cut the phone call. What on earth just happened?

“Dude…” he spoke up. “I think this guy just told me that Jaejin will go on a date with me tomorrow.”

Hongki’s eyes widened, his mouth was gapping. He literally jumped over the couch to where Jonghun was to check on Jaejin’s veranda once again. Jonghun on the other hand was still trying to digest whatever just happened.

“Pfft… look at Jaejin,” Hongki laughed.

Jonghun glanced over to the said man, couldn’t help it but laugh when he saw Jaejin strangling Kibum’s neck. Literally.

“Well, I guess… let’s just assume that the date is on for the time being,” he smiled.

------

Ah~, sorry if the date didn't happen in this chapter XD. I decided to wait for another chapter. It feels more natural that way.

This chapter is full of non-sense though OTL.