Sehun’s hair was sticking up in different directions, due to the wind. Jongin laughed and smoothed it down, pinching Sehun’s cheeks affectionately. Sehun screwed up his face and swatted at him, but Jongin knew that he enjoyed the attention.

            “Where were you?”

            Sehun shook off his coat. “Shopping around Hongdae with Luhan.”

            “Oh.”

            Sehun smiled. “I got you something. It’s in the blue bag.”

            Jongin picked up the blue bag and looked through its contents. There were a couple of casual t-shirts, a hat, and…a wrapped package.

            “That’s for you,” Sehun said when Jongin found the package.

            Jongin grinned. “Can I open it here, or…”

            “Sure, go ahead.”

            Jongin set the package on the kitchen table and promptly began to tear the wrapping paper apart. Sehun laughed as Jongin ripped through the layers of packaging.

            There was a little box in the center of all the wrapping paper.

            “What is this?”

            “Why don’t you open it?”

            Jongin did and found two identical rings. They were plain and silver, with no marking on them. He looked up at Sehun, because he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react.

            Sehun was biting his lip, looking nervous. “I uh, I thought that they’d be nice to have. I mean, we won’t be able to wear them onstage or anything but we could wear them around the dorm. I thought it’d be cute, you know. I mean, it’s not hurting either of us. And it’s nice, right? Kind of like a reminder.”

            Jongin stifled a laugh. Sehun always rambled when he was nervous.

            “I think they’re perfect,” he said, because Sehun needed reassurance for once, and they really were nice.

            Sehun’s face lit up. “Really?”

            Jongin slid the ring on Sehun’s pointer finger. “Really.” Sehun smiled as Jongin kissed him.

            Kyungsoo didn’t comment on the ring, but Jongin saw his eyes flicker to his finger when he walked in their room.

            “How much did our youngest spend this time?”

            Jongin laughed. Sehun had always been a big spender. “Not much, I don’t think. I didn’t see everything though.”

            Kyungsoo glanced at the ring again. “It seems that some things are cheaper than I thought they were.”

            Jongin didn’t answer, and turned away.

            Sehun had a teaser to film, so Jongin didn’t see him the next day. He spent most of this time practicing with Yixing and sleeping, because, not that he’d ever tell Sehun, the back pains were coming back. He winced as the stabs of pain lanced through his back, trying to keep his face straight.

            Sehun woke him up at around five by pushing him over on his bed and snuggling under the covers with him. Jongin was only half awake, but he still rolled his eyes at the sight of the younger boy pretending to be asleep.

            “Sehun, I know you’re not asleep.”

            Sehun was silent.

            “Get off my bed.”

            Silence.

            “Sehun, for the love of God, get off my bed.”

            Sehun managed a snore of some sort.

            Jongin gave up and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. He felt Sehun latch onto his arm and pull him toward him, burying his head in the older’s shoulder.

            They laid there for a couple of minutes in silence before Jongin said, “How was the filming? It was with Luhan hyung, right?”

            Sehun nodded into Jongin’s shoulder. Jongin laughed. “I knew you weren’t sleeping.” Sehun looked up and glared at him pointedly before Jongin kissed his forehead.

            “It was fine, I guess. We had to drive a while to get to the set though.”

            “Where was it?”

            “In the middle of nowhere.”

            “Middle of nowhere?”

            “Some place in the country. We had that one scene with the RV, too.”

            Jongin laughed again. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but okay.”

            Sehun waved his hand in the air vaguely. “You’ll see it later.”

            “Yeah,” Jongin said. “Later. But for now…” He pressed his lips to Sehun’s, and felt the younger smile. “I think this works.”

            Sehun pulled him closer, smiling against the other’s lips.

            Yixing had a teaser coming up, so Jongin didn’t see him for a couple days. He spent the time mostly resting, because the less he moved, the less his back hurt. Sehun for being lazy, and Jongin laughed and let him.

            He was by himself for the most part, because Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were filming for their first music video. For the first time, Jongin envied the vocalists.

            Jongin’s little break was over when Yixing came into his room at the crack of dawn and dragged him out of bed.

            “What do you want, hyung.”

            “Get up.”

            Jongin groaned. “Whyyyyy?”

            “We have a teaser to film tomorrow.”

            Jongin sat up, awake. “Right. We should get to that.”

            Yixing leaned against the doorframe, running his fingers through his messy hair. He looked tired, almost as tired as Jongin felt. Jongin looked over at Kyungsoo’s bed, and how peaceful he looked while sleeping. He reached over and fixed the covers so they covered all of Kyungsoo.

            He and Yixing did runthroughs of their dance until they could barely feel their feet. After a couple of hours, they had both stripped down and were now wearing just shorts and shoes, their torsos bare and sweaty. Yixing wiped his face with a towel before turning toward Jongin.

            “One more time?”

            Jongin groaned, burying his face in his own towel. “Fine.”

            They eventually collapsed against the wall and leaned their heads back, listening to the pounding in their heads. Jongin resisted the urge to pour water over his head and merely drank it. Yixing, on the other hand, poured water over his head. Jongin laughed and mussed the other’s now wet hair, scattering droplets everywhere.

            “This better be worth it,” Yixing said. “This teaser needs to be perfect.”

            Jongin rested his head on the elder’s shoulder. “It will be.”

            It was worth it. They had multiple takes, but it wasn’t because they messed up. It was because the director wanted to experiment with camera angles.

            Jongin put his Kai face on and willed himself to become that performer again. Yixing – no, Lay – looked over at him before the music started, and when it did, they moved together, perfectly in harmony.

            Afterwards. Yixing draped an arm around Jongin’s shoulders.

            “We don’t work that badly together.”

            “No, we don’t, actually,” Jongin said while laughing.

            “You still haven’t done anything cute for me.”

            Jongin made a face. “That’s definitely never going to happen.”

            Yixing laughed. “That’s what you think.”

            “Is that a threat?”

            “Maybe.”

            Sehun was waiting for him in the living room, curled up on the couch, when Jongin got home that night. He was watching the news, but his eyes were glazed over. Jongin slipped his feet out of his shoes and went to go sit next to him.

            “Hey, why are you still up?”

            Sehun snuggled into Jongin, entwining their fingers. “I was waiting for you.” He sounded so petulant, so child-like, that Jongin couldn’t stop himself from pinching his cheeks. Sehun made a face and tried to pull away, but Jongin laughed and kissed him. Sehun didn’t try to pull away after that.

            It was dark when Jongin woke up in his room, Sehun snuggled next to him. Kyungsoo’s bed was empty, and Jongin didn’t really blame him for clearing out for the night. Sehun made a soft sound in the back of his throat and reached up and pulled Jongin down. Jongin let him, and let Sehun kiss him, running his tongue lightly on the younger’s bottom lip.

            Sehun moaned, the sound vibrating in his chest. “I really hate you sometimes.”

            Jongin smiled. “I know.”

            “We have a teaser to film soon.”

            Jongin pressed his lips against the younger’s. “Shut up.”

            Sehun did.

            Their first music video came out, and Jongin was surprised at the number of views it got on the various online sites. They were larger than he had expected them to be, not that he was complaining. But when he read the comments, they weren’t about him. They were about Kyungsoo and Baekhyun and Luhan and Chen. There were also some about Luhan and Sehun.

            Jongin didn’t like those comments very much.

            Wu Fan told him later that Luhan and Sehun were fan favorites. Jongin felt his fist crumple the paper cup he had happened to be holding.

            On the set of their next teaser, Sehun filmed first. Jongin watched as he hung up the phone and started the dance. It was weird, Jongin thought, that they were filming teasers to a song that had already been released.

            But Jongin – no, Kai – didn’t complain. He listened to the director’s instructions and followed them, and finished yet another successful teaser.

            His manager clapped him on the back approvingly, and Jongin knew that he was doing something right.

            Sehun smiled at him tentatively during the car ride back to the dorm. “That wasn’t so bad.”

            “Yeah.”

            “Jongin?”

            “What?”

            “What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Liar.”

            Jongin glared at him pointedly before looking out the window. Sehun came and leaned his head on Jongin’s shoulder, but Jongin didn’t turn to look at him.

            “Tell me.”

            Jongin was silent.

            “Is this about the comments about Luhan hyung and me?”

            Jongin stiffened because that was exactly what this was about.
            “Hyung, it’s nothing. It’s just something the fans made up.”

            Jongin stayed silent.

            Sehun entwined their fingers, but Jongin didn’t let his hand curl around Sehun’s, like he usually did. There was a note of desperation in Sehun’s voice when he said, “Hyung, are you listening.”

            Yes.

            When Jongin didn’t say anything out loud, Sehun leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry about what the fans are saying. It’s not real. It’s just fanservice.”

            Jongin felt himself softening, against his will. Sehun always had that effect on him. It was impossible to stay angry, no matter how hard he tried.

            “Okay.”

            Sehun perked up. “You’re not mad?”

            Jongin gritted his teeth. “No.”

            “Really?”

            “Yeah.”

            Jongin watched Sehun smile, and knew that he was being selfish and jealous, but he couldn’t stop himself.

A/N: um so I wrote this at around 5 am yesterday so sorry if there's weird typos or whatever idek ><

SORRY I WAS GONE FOR SO LONG OMG I MISSED YOU GUYS /sobs

1. well I went on a url-saving spree and so I have waaay too many URLs saved so check here, and if you want any of them, message me(:

2. I MADE A PERSONAL BLOG (and yes the theme I know okay ><) but if you like harry potter and mortal instruments and such, you might like it a;lskdjd

next chapter should be up verrryyyy soon(:

and the main image, jfc kai put your tongue away