If anyone had been paying any attention, it may catch them by surprise to learn that Jonghyun hadn’t seen Onew since high school. Since he moved. Quite a while ago.

Jonghyun had been lamenting. Hell, even Kibum could have sworn the guy lived with them, considering how much he was brought up.

The main reason Jonghyun couldn’t let Lee Onew go was because no one had ever broken Jonghyun’s heart before. It was very new and scary and strange to Jonghyun, and he felt it was only natural to talk about the guy like a widow of her husband. The whole thing bothered Kibum entirely.

But when Jonghyun kept his mouth shut, Onew wasn’t around. And that was perfect. Except for the situations in which Kibum ran into Onew for the first time in almost a year.

Which isn’t in this moment yet, but hang on.

For now, Kibum stood in front of the washing machine, clawing the coffee stains desperately out of his only white tee shirt. Plain white shirts were the epitome of the heteroual charade. And thus, the charade was in peril. The dorm shared a common laundry room, and Kibum was more nervous about being caught panicking over the shirt than the actual shirt situation itself. Straight guys didn’t panic about shirts.

Unless they were wrapped around one’s breathing implements. Not to say Kibum had imagined some particular people in that particular situation.

Eventually, Kibum settled with an off-white shirt. Close enough. With a sigh, he dropped it into the dryer, along with his other laundry, and sat down to watch the articles spin.

It was a mind numbing activity, to say the least. Kibum felt his head grow heavy in the first minute alone.

After returning home with the laundry, Kibum found Jonghyun watching TV like he tended to do when he was alone. Although, once he had folded up and put away the clothes, Kibum noticed that Jonghyun was not, in fact, watching TV. He was sitting in front of the TV, crumpling and folding and re-flattening a small piece of notebook paper.

On the paper sat a series of letters.

The email address that had never worked.

Kibum had never understood why Jonghyun didn’t just tell Onew his own information. It was all very stupid. Onew seemed like a drama queen anyway.

“I’m going out.”

“Can I come?”

“No,” Kibum answered. Jonghyun’s face fell. “I’m going for coffee. The fruity kind. The kind you don’t like.”

“Fruity? There’s fruit coffee?” Jonghyun asked. Oh, Kibum hated that ignorance. He wondered sometimes if Jonghyun faked it.

“I’m going to go flirt with the barista,” Kibum reiterated. Jonghyun sighed loudly. “Bye.” Kibum didn’t stick around for the response.

Kibum was careful this time not to run into any unsavory characters. The barista apologized for the second-hand treatment that Kibum had been dealt. Kibum waved it off.

After finishing his latte, Kibum put his head on the table and rested his eyes.

Dreams only occurred in bed for Kibum. So naturally, after one moment of laying his head down on a café table, imagining Onew’s presence was unwelcome and strange. Kibum sat up and looked around himself, just to be sure. And of course, Onew wasn’t there. Hopefully, he was off in some foreign land. That’s what Kibum had to reassure himself with. It was weak, but reassurance nonetheless.

Kibum left and headed home. And to his luck, he would find no unsavory characters.

But instead, a bittersweet one.

Kibum saw him. He had the nerve to smile. Kibum wanted to knock his teeth out. Yet he held back.

“Kibum,” Onew sang softly.” He looked a little taller. More dressed for the winter.

“You,” Kibum spat. Onew’s lips pursed, on the edge of smiling and frowning. “You’re the guy who’s ruined everything.”

“What?” Onew asked.

“Do you know what Kim Jonghyun has been doing since you broke his heart?” Kibum snapped.

“Broke his heart?” Onew echoed quietly.

“He’s been grieving over you and being a huge crying idiot! I’m sick of it!” Kibum told him.

“Hang on,” Onew said, putting up his hands. “I didn’t break his heart, okay. I was never his.” Kibum scowled at him, not liking the fact that Lee Onew was now correcting him. “And of course, by extension, he wasn’t mine.”

“What does that even mean?” Kibum scoffed. “Why’d you leave? Where did you go? After completely involving yourself with an idiot like Jonghyun. You even had the nerve to sleep with him!”

Onew suddenly went blank. Kibum watched the colour drain from his face.

“Sleep with him?” He deadpanned. “Jonghyun told you I slept with him?”

Kibum narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean?” He seethed. Onew suddenly grinned.

“He told you we slept together,” He repeated.

“Well he didn’t say he didn’t. He made it out to seem like he did! And I… you mean you two didn’t sleep together?” Kibum rambled. Onew laughed. And then he laughed some more.

“I can’t believe this!” He laughed. “He and I didn’t sleep together. Nothing happened that night. Nothing ever happened between us.” Kibum tensed up. “And you say he’s all hung up on me?”

“Are you not hung up on him?” Kibum asked, cautious. Onew shook his head.

“Kibum, look,” Onew said, smiling. “Jonghyun was a nice guy. I really liked him. He was my type and everything. But his heart wasn’t in it.”

“Don’t try to turn this around,” Kibum said sharply. “You were the one not into it.”

“I was though, I promise,” Onew assured him. “Jonghyun thought he was into me. But I watched you guys for a long time, from afar. I overheard his conversations and heard the news that got around. Jonghyun was already in love. And he sort of gave up, because he felt he couldn’t confess his love. And the first person that gave him some kindness, aka me, was the first person he went to. Jonghyun thought it was me,” Onew said. “It was someone else the entire time.”

“Who?” Kibum asked.

“That’s not something I can tell you,” Onew replied. “It’s his business. But he’s still gonna think he loves me, won’t he?” Kibum swallowed hard. He knew the answer. “Kibum, I’m seeing someone right now. Please don’t let Jonghyun come after me until he is as well.”

“Who are you seeing?” Kibum asked, curiosity coming through his bitterness. Onew grinned.

“A college boy,” He answered. “Aren’t they the greatest?” Kibum didn’t know how to respond, so Onew gave a curt nod and walked away. Kibum stood in shock.

Jonghyun had kept it all from him for years.

But a slightly more pressing problem was presented now.

Jonghyun was in love with someone else. 

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