As soon as Key ended the call with Onew he looked at the girl in front of him in disbelief. Krystal was looking at him in a similar way, both unable to believe that they were only now learning something that could have been so useful, that Key knew Onew and Krystal knew Amber.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment longer before both speaking at the same time, asking similar questions.

“You know Amber?”

“You know Jinki?”

Krystal laughed, still not believing what was happening. This whole time Key, her closet friend at school, knew her best friend’s love interest. If only she knew sooner, maybe they could have prevented lot of drama.

“If only we knew sooner huh?” Key said, seeming strangely calm despite the new information. But, Krystal could tell that the boy was just thinking. This was a big deal, it meant they could fix things between their friends and, hopefully, help them finally get together after Jinki had been attracted to the girl for so long. Now they just had to think of a way to fix it, a way that would work and not make it worse.

Krystal nodded and hummed in agreement as she leant back in her seat and looked at the boy in front of her. Together they needed to think of something to fix this, to help Amber see her mistake and get them to at least be friends again. She had noticed her friend had been happier since Onew came into her life, she seemed less worried about things, less scared of school and the people in it. She was more relaxed and that was something the tomboy needed so badly, just to be able to relax and let go. It was hard on her to be on her guard all week, with her only release being when they played baseball. It wasn’t enough, she was still visibly tense and everyone who played with them noticed it. She needed someone and it looked like her heart had clinged onto Onew.

“...What is Jinki like?” Krystal had to know. She had been worried from the beginning, when she first heard about him, that he wouldn’t be good enough for Amber. Krystal had always thought that Amber deserved the best, someone who could see through her sweatpants and baggy t-shirts and see that she was a girl too. She needed someone who wouldn’t treat her as ‘one of the guys’ like all of her friends outside school did, she needed someone who would treat her like she was precious, like she could break if handled wrongly but was worth caring for so it didn’t happen, because she was...Amber acted so strong but she wasn’t as strong as everyone thought. Someone needed to see that.

“Jinki is...” Key furrowed his eyebrows as he thought, unsure of how to describe his friend. Onew had his weaknesses but, hell, everyone did. Onew was too kind, to the point of it being a flaw, and Key had never seen the boy get angry or even defend himself when really he should of. Onew didn’t want to hurt people even if, for reasons Key didn’t understand, plenty of people in his school wanted to hurt him. Onew was selfless even though he had all the reasons to be selfish. He was caring, kind and had a terrible sense of humour that made you laugh because of just how bad it was. He was clumsy and sometimes shy but, he had noticed, Amber had helped him come out of his shell and become more confident without even realising. The girl had given him more of a purpose than just to study and get good grades. “...Jinki is a dork”

That was the only word he could think of, it summed up his hyung simply. Onew was a dork, but it was a part of what made him loveable. He wasn’t made to be cool, he was just made to be him and have fun while doing it because he always smiled and he always laughed, he never gave up and he kept smiling. He was a dork, but a strong dork, and Key decided that there was no way to properly explain the boy and that it would be down to Krystal to come to her own conclusions.

Krystal nodded in response just as the door to the cafe opened to reveal an out of breath and dishevelled Onew. He looked tired, but not just because he ran all the way to the cafe from school. He looked mentally tired, with his shoulders slumped and dark circles starting to appear under his eyes due to lack of sleep. Key knew how much all this was effecting the boy, he had heard how tired he had sounded over the phone and how it had been getting worse over the past few days but, at the same time, Key noticed that the sparkle in his hyung’s eyes had come back now that he had more of a chance of fixing all this and just being able to see Amber.

Key sighed quietly and shook his head, still not believing how hard the boy had fallen from this mysterious girl, as he lifted his hand up and waved so Onew could see where they were sitting. As Onew approached Krystal looked up, trying to spot the Onew in the crowd and smiling at him as he sat down. She smiled warmly and welcomingly, even though she wanted to snap at him and find out what happened as soon as possible. But, she felt, he would be less likely to talk about it if she was blunt and so she acted polite as the last thing she needed was for the boy to close up and not talk to her.

“Amber was right about one thing” Krystal spoke absently mindedly as her eyes ran over the boy in front of her, assessing him and taking in his appearance as he took his glasses off and wiped them clean on the sleeve of his hooded jumper and looked at her curiously, waiting for her to finish her sentence “You are pretty handsome”

Onew blushed at that, fumbling with his glasses and he pushed them back up his nose and in front of his eyes. He knew that Amber had sad he looked handsome in a text but he didn’t know if she was only saying it to reply to his compliment. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, a small smile tugging at his lips as he knew for sure now that Amber definitely thought he was handsome and it made him happy, made him think that maybe he would have a chance with the tomboy once this misunderstanding had been cleared up.

He glared at Key when he started to laugh but it wasn’t a dark glare, or one done with the intention to be rude to the boy. It was more of a warning, telling Key not to embarrass him further. But, as he looked at Key he missed Krystal’s smile and the wink she threw in Key’s direction. Onew’s response had told her enough, it had told her just how much he liked her friend and how sincere his feelings were as he could react so strongly to the sheer idea of being complimented by the tomboy. His face could show more than his words ever could, she knew for sure now that what Onew said was right, he never wanted to hurt the girl. The fact he was still lightly panting for breath, making Krystal assume he ran here, proving it even further. He just wanted to fix this once and for all, just like she did.

“Right, before we start coming up with any ideas to fix this I want to know what happened” Krystal stated firmly, letting Onew know she was serious “I want to know every detail, I got some of it from Amber but she doesn’t talk much anymore and it’s hard to get her to tell me much”

Onew’s expression dropped at that, the light smile dropping from his face. She was really that bad? Not even speaking? Onew sighed softly and Key cast his gaze over to Krystal, wondering if the girl could tell just how much this was all affecting his hyung but it seemed like she did from how the look on her face softened and how she reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“I know you aren’t to blame” Krystal said reassuringly “but if I don’t know what happened then I won’t know what to do to help”

Onew looked at Krystal and nodded. He was thankful that this girl, a girl he had only just met, was willing to help so much. In the back of his mind he knew that she was only helping for Amber’s sake but helping Amber would help him too and, right there and then, helping Amber seemed way more important. She was obviously affected by this way more than he was.

He nodded at what she said before explaining everything to her, from how he wanted to put a note into her locker but chickened out, to how she found one from someone else and went to meet up with them only to be slimed instead. He explained about how it was fair for her to think it was him, because of how he was talking about making slime in science class that day and because he had followed her to the where she was meant to meet the person who wrote the note to her and was the only one around after she had gotten slimed. He was the first one she saw and, with everything she knew along with how he couldn’t defend himself due to how shocked he was, not only at the allegations but also over what had just happened and being unable to think of anything do to help. He mentioned every detail he could think of, including how he had been able to contact the tomboy for days and looking surprised when the girl nodded at that.

“I’ve seen all the missed calls on her phone...” Krystal rubbed the back of her head “She’s read all the text messages, but she’s just scared that you’re going to build her back up just to knock her down again”

Key frowned and shook his head as he exclaimed defensively “Hyung would never do that!” and Onew looked over at him thankfully, happy that Key would defend him like that. He understood why the tomboy would be scared but that didn’t stop the twang of pain in his heart. It seemed that it was going to take more than he first thought to fix this, she was actually scared of him.

“I know Key, I know. But, you can’t say you don’t understand why she is thinking like this”

Key nodded silently as Krystal spoke. He understood even if he didn’t like it. When Onew had first told him what had happened a few days ago he was angry at the tomboy for making these assumptions about his friend, for thinking he could even do anything like this. But, after explaining it Key’s anger calmed down. He didn’t understand how someone could be so uncertain of themselves and everyone around them, he had no idea what would make a person like that but he hoped, for his sake, that he would never have to experience it and find out.

“That doesn’t matter though” Onew said, leaning back in his seat and looking from Krystal to Key “All that matters to me is fixing this and I really need your help”

“Agreed...this needs to be sorted out, it’s wrecking you as well as Amber” Key said, looking at Onew with worried eyes as his mothering instinct kicked in again. He didn’t like it when Onew was like this, he wasn’t himself.

They spent hours in the coffee shop, discussing different ideas and rejecting many of them before they came up with something that was simple but they all thought would be affective. Krystal stood up, giving Onew a bit of paper with her number as well as Amber’s address on it.

“I have to go to work” Krystal stretched her arms above her head before looking at Onew “it’s up to you now, Jinki. Call me afterwards, I want to know everything. Good luck and don’t chicken out okay?”

Onew nodded, slightly scared by the threatening undertone in her voice, as Key stood too and gave Krystal a hug. Onew thanked her as she left but she turned back and waved it off before leaving the cafe completely. Key sat back down, pulling Onew’s attention back to him and smiled lightly but reassuringly.

“Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” Key asked, curious but at the same time hopeful. This was the one time his hyung just couldn’t chicken out.

“It’s not a question of whether I can Kibum...” Onew said simply as he picked up the bit of paper Krystal gave him and put it into the pocket of his hooded jumper “I have to do this”