There is one thing and one thing only that will cause Byun Baekhyun to kick the clubroom door open with scheming grin on his face, and when it happens the following Monday three of the five other bodies inside the room know exactly what’s coming.

                “Django Unchained is coming to town,” Baekhyun announces, “and we are going to go see it.”

                “Let me guess,” Yixing says, suddenly swerving away from his computer screen, “DiCaprio, right?”

                Jongin looks up from his laptop in shock. “Did Yixing just contribute to the conversation?”

                “If my cunning intuition and your powerful skills of deduction are correct, then yes, I believe Yixing just contributed to the conversation,” Tao replies, without looking up from his essay on primate locomotion.

                “Yixing, the guy who blends into the wall and never contributes to the conversation.”

                “Baekhyun’s suggesting a team outing which directly involves Yixing leaving the comfort of his home on a weekend, so in this particular case he will find it imperative to obtain the details.”

                Sehun stares at Tao. “You know, when you talk in the middle of writing an essay, it makes you sound a lot smarter than you actually are.”

                Tao stops writing and turns his chair to fully stare down at Sehun. “Quit being a cocky little . Satisfied?”

                Sehun raises his hands in defense, “Kay, I get it, chill. Lay off the pills,” he adds under his breath.

                “I heard that, er.”

                “Getting back to the important stuff here,” Baekhyun says loudly, “I’m just going to assume you’re all free between Christmas and New Year’s so we’re doing it then.” 

                “Why are we doing it together, though?” Tao asks, turning back to his essay.

                “Because it’s a team-building exercise.”

                “It’s not a team-building exercise, you’re just calling it a team-building exercise.”

                “And I don’t know why you’re complaining when two glorious hours of Quentin Tarantino’s directing coupled with Leonardo DiCaprio’s acting are waiting for us. Well, they will be. Right now we’re kind of waiting for them.”

                “Why are you in such a bad mood anyways?” Sehun asks Tao.

                “He gets cranky in the cold weather,” Yixing explains.

                “…That’s going to be like the next ing four months. We live in Canada, for ’s sake.”

                “And that’s why from now on, Chanyeol’s coffee table is your new best friend,” Jongdae says, pointing to the table. “Since you hardly do here anyways you can go and brew us some more coffee.”

                Sehun starts to protest, “But why—”

                An inhuman snarl suddenly hisses out of Tao’s throat as he jabs the backspace button furiously with his index finger.

                “I’ll go make coffee,” Sehun says in a small voice as he skitters over to the table.

—∞—

                “So how come you picked environmental geoscience?” Jongin asks, as he and Kyungsoo are walking across campus towards the management building.

                “I’ve always found nature interesting, so I thought I’d learn a little more about how it works,” Kyungsoo explains. “Though most people wouldn’t agree with me. About nature being interesting.”

                “I dunno, I think it’s kind of cool.”

                “You’re not most people.”

                “I can’t tell if that was supposed to be an insult,” Jongin admits, and when Kyungsoo laughs, he relaxes a little. He had been worried things would be awkward between them after the whole incident with Sehun putting him on speakerphone (which Jongin had appropriately massacred him for after tracking him down a couple days later, Sehun being smart enough to try and go MIA), but Kyungsoo hadn’t acted any differently when they met up today, so things were running pretty smoothly. On top of that Jongin hadn’t stuttered once yet, which was a miracle in itself—it had been a huge weight off of Jongin’s shoulders to know that the date context for Friday was finally official, but it had quickly been replaced by the knowledge that Kyungsoo was infinitely more experienced than him after Luhan’s slip about last year’s Christmas party. He still hadn’t quite recovered from that, to be honest.

                “Do you mind if I head to the apartment real quick to switch textbooks?” Kyungsoo asks, pointing to the Joan Foley Hall some distance behind the management building. “I don’t know if you wanted to wait here or if you wanted to tag along—”

                “No, it’s fine, I’ll keep you company.”

                “Okay then.” The two of them start weaving around towards the apartments. “Hey listen, I was thinking, for this Friday...”

                Jongin momentarily loses all form of coordination and nearly trips over his own foot in the middle of trying to take a step, quickly moving to recover himself and praying that Kyungsoo hadn’t noticed. “Yeah?”

                “Since you don’t have any classes Friday I thought we could do something else during the day? Cause it’s a really long way for you to travel just to make kimchi spaghetti, so I figured we could chill downtown or something, whatever you want, and then we could head back to the apartment later. Unless you’re busy—”

                “No, no, we can totally hang out,” Jongin says excitedly, not even bothering to try and contain his enthusiasm as he beams over at Kyungsoo, a wide grin spreads across his face. “Downtown sounds good. I haven’t been to the Eaton Centre in a while?”

                “Sounds like a plan,” Kyungsoo grins back, as they cross through the automatic double doors of the apartment. “So I’ll meet you there, say at twelve then?”

                “Okay,” Jongin says, struggling not to burst out into a fit of giggles or start skipping because that would be super uncool and even though Sehun and the others had already destroyed all hopes of maintaining any cool-guy image he could’ve used on Kyungsoo he still has a bit of dignity left to exercise.

                They fall into silence as they make their way up the steps to the third floor. Jongin’s never actually been in the residences before, so when he steps out into the hallway he’s pleasantly surprised at the state of the blue carpeted hallways. He had heard some pretty nasty stuff about the residence here from the senior leaders, but maybe it was just the townhouses that were uber gross.

                “Here we are,” Kyungsoo says, pulling his keys out and stopping at room 316. “Since you’re here anyway, did you want something to drink or anything?”

                “Sure, why not.” Jongin’s heart starts thumping a little bit faster because he was about to step into Kyungsoo’s apartment and they were going to be alone together and—

                Except they weren’t alone.

                When the door to Kyungsoo’s apartment swings open, Jongin learns a couple of things. Things that didn’t really matter, like how the dining room table was the first thing you saw when you looked inside from the hallway or there was a cute little reading corner with windows to provide natural light for studying. And then there were the things that mattered a lot, like how the door didn’t creak when it swung open and how the rug swallowed the sounds of all footsteps, so if you were in the bedroom or the bathroom you wouldn’t hear someone come in, but also how the doors to said bedrooms were relatively thin, so that whoever came in could hear any noise from the bedroom very clearly.

                “You’re shaking. Are you cold?”

                Kyungsoo and Jongin freeze simultaneously.

                It was Sehun’s voice.

                “Kind of, but your hands aren’t helping. It’s like you stuck them in a freezer.” Luhan’s voice now, tense and on edge compared to Sehun’s.

                “Sorry. I won’t use them then.”

                “What’re you—”

                The sound of a zipper being ripped open sounds clearly through the air, followed shortly by a sharp gasp. “Jesus—”

                “Close, but unfortunately you’re not quite there.”

                “Sehun…” Luhan’s voice grows hoarse, rubbed raw with desire despite the weak protests. “This…I don’t know what you’re playing at but this isn’t funny—”

                “Good, because I’m not joking around,” Sehun replies, voice dipping low in a tone Jongin’s never heard him use before, and a few seconds later an , breathless moan picks up where their words left off.

                Kyungsoo’s face takes on a stunned, wide-eyed expression as his cheeks and neck start flushing a deep, violent red, and after a few moments of standing shell-shocked himself Jongin snaps out of it long enough to grab onto Kyungsoo’s arm and quickly pull him back out into the hallway, closing the door behind them as painstakingly quietly as he could manage, and before he and Kyungsoo could even look at each other both of them immediately start sprinting back down the hallway towards the staircase.

                The two of them bolt blindly down the stairs and barrel their way back out through the double doors again, ignoring the incredulous looks coming from the people inside the lobby who had just seen them walk in five minutes prior, and it’s only when they’re halfway across the lot that Jongin bursts out laughing in disbelief, steps slowing until he’s stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and bending over to catch his breath.

                Kyungsoo very nearly outpaces him and keeps running, but when he realizes Jongin’s stopped he skids to a halt and turns back to look at him, breathing heavily and eyes still looking just about ready to pop out of his sockets. “What are you laughing for?” Kyungsoo sputters, completely flustered.

                “Sorry, this isn’t funny, I just…” Jongin struggles to speak between gasps for air, bent over with his hands on his knees. “I can’t help it, I just start laughing in these kinds of situations…, sorry, I need to stop…”

                Kyungsoo stares at him like he’s gone crazy, but after he’s given himself a minute to recover, he breaks out into his own shaky smile and runs a hand over his face in disbelief. “Wow. That was...”

                “Yeah, that was not something I ever wanted to hear.”

                By this point Jongin’s finally caught his breath enough to look up at Kyungsoo, and when they catch each other’s eye they start laughing all over again, Kyungsoo’s smile fledging into a full-fledged grin that makes his eyes crinkle. Not exactly the type of bonding experience Jongin would’ve asked for, but, hey, he’d take anything he could get.

                “Want to chill in the library after lecture?” Jongin asks. “I don’t think you’ll be wanting to go back in there for a little while.”

                “That sounds like a fantastic idea,” Kyungsoo says gratefully, and Jongin just grins at him again as they start-speed walking away from the apartments as fast as possible.

—∞—

                “Hey, are you okay? You look kind of nervous,” Sehun comments as he watches Jongin’s eyes shift towards the door for the hundredth time.

                “What? Yeah, I’m fine,” Jongin says, quickly dropping his gaze back into the book he was reading.

                “Yeah right, you look like you’re going to bolt out the door any second. Something you wanna tell me? Did something happen between you and Kyungsoo?”

                Jongin almost laughs, partly because he had actually been checking for Luhan’s entrance, not Kyungsoo’s, but mostly because of the irony of Sehun’s question. “I think the real question should be is there something you wanna tell me?” he retorts.

                Sehun frowns, not catching on. “No?”

                “Really? You’re absolutely sure? There’s nothing on your mind that you want to tell me?” Jongin asks deliberately.

                “What are you trying to get at?” Minseok looks up with a frown.

                Sehun stares.

                “Anything at all,” Jongin continues. “Anything that might’ve happened since I saw you yesterday.”

                “Um, hello—?”

                Sehun continues staring.

                “Anything that might’ve happened since I last saw you yesterday that may or may not happen to involve a certain blonde-headed—”

                And just like that Jongin is being dragged backwards out of the clubroom by Sehun who’s got a vice-like grip on his ankles and the high-pitched scream that Jongin yelps out is not a very manly one but he’s a little too distracted by the fact that he was being dragged across the floor like the victim of a serial killer the way he’s seen a hundred million times in every single horror movie ever made.

                “Whoa, what the —”

                “Stay” is the only word Sehun throws inside the room as a means of preventing the others from intervening before slamming the door shut and resuming dragging Jongin down the hallway.

                “Let me go oh my god don’t kill me oh god—”

                Sehun pulls Jongin to his feet and slams him against the wall, looking dead serious. “How did you know?”

                “Kyungsoo invited me to the apartment and we walked in by accident we didn’t know holy please let me go—”

                “Listen,” Sehun says in a low voice, “don’t tell anyone, alright? Just keep your mouth shut about this.”

                “I promise I swear I’ll sign a ing blood oath whatever you want just let me go—”

                Sehun lifts his arm from where he’d pinned it across Jongin’s shoulders to keep him in place and steps back, and Jongin nearly collapses out of relief as he struggles to regain his composure and pretend he hadn’t been pleading for his life like a total wimp five seconds ago.

                Sehun sighs, suddenly looking drained. “We thought Kyungsoo would be in class.”

                “He was going to class, he just wanted to grab some textbooks,” Jongin says weakly, straightening up. “How come you guys—”

                “Because it’s not…a thing yet,” Sehun says, choosing his words carefully. “I mean, it’s not exactly a relationship. We don’t know what this is. There’s no name for it.”

                “Can you try explaining that again without being so cryptic?”

                “Luhan isn’t sure of his feelings yet,” Sehun says flatly. “And he doesn’t know if he wants to make us official.”

                Something cold sinks to the pit of Jongin’s stomach. “Oh.” The sound drops like a stone between them and Jongin doesn’t know how to respond to this, doesn’t know how to comfort Sehun, doesn’t even know if Sehun needs comforting. “Are…are you okay?”

                Sehun nods, eyes trained on the wall behind Jongin. Or maybe not; he’s got that distant look on his face again, the same one Jongin had seen during the car ride the day of the photo-shoot. “It’s fine, really. I know he feels something so I don’t mind waiting.”

                Jongin blinks, surprised by the knowing confidence in his words. “Aren’t you the mature one today. When the did you grow up?”

                Sehun gives a soft laugh, biting down on his smile. “After I fell in love.”

                The sudden confession has Jongin taken aback for a moment, but then he runs the sentence over in his head again and frowns. “Wow, dude. Way to make me feel like a complete loser. If anything I think I mentally regressed like ten years after—” He stops in the middle of his sentence, eyes suddenly going wide with shock.

                Sehun’s eyes instantly shoot up to look at Jongin, brightening visibly. “After what?” he presses.

                “Nothing,” Jongin stutters, tan cheeks flaming red.

                “Nuh-uh, I’m not letting you get away with this one. After what, hmm?”

                “Look, I said I’d keep my mouth shut, alright? Now leave me alone,” Jongin mumbles as he tries to manoeuvre past Sehun, but Sehun quickly slams a hand against the wall so that his arm was barring off Jongin’s escape.

                “I wanna hear you say it,” Sehun sings.

                “What are you two doing out here?”

                Both of them turn to look. “Kyungsoo!” Jongin calls out in relief, then instantaneously remembers that Kyungsoo's the source of the entire epiphany he’s just had and colours all over again. “I mean—uh—”

                “Well, see you later,” Sehun says coyly, clapping Jongin on the shoulder before sauntering back towards the clubroom, leaving one sputtering Jongin alone with a fast-approaching Kyungsoo.

                “What was that all about?” Kyungsoo asks, watching Sehun go from over Jongin’s shoulder.

                “It’s nothing,” Jongin laughs nervously, the sound coming out strained. “He just wanted to let you know that he wants to keep what we found out yesterday a secret.”

                “He knows we walked in on him?” Now it’s Kyungsoo’s turn to blush. “Oh my god, this is so embarrassing—”

                “No, it’s cool, really, he just wants us to keep quiet about it.” Jongin has to pat himself on the back for this one later because right now all he can think about is what he’d nearly admitted to Sehun a few seconds ago.

                I think I mentally regressed like ten years after…

                After what? How was he going to finish that sentence? Where had that sentence come from anyway? I mean, this was just a crush, right? It’s not like Jongin was in…in lo…

                “Jongin?”

                Jongin snaps out of his daze just as Kyungsoo places his hand over his forehead. He freezes, eyes flickering across Kyungsoo’s face because he doesn’t know where to leave them, and when Kyungsoo’s plump lips part slightly into a small o-shape Jongin just about faints.

                “You feel really warm. Your face is all red too. Are you sick?”

                “N-…n-…” . He couldn’t even finish the stupid two-lettered word.

                “Maybe I should take you to the nurse’s.” Kyungsoo bites down on his lower lip in concern, and with their alarmingly close proximity Jongin has to jerk backwards a little bit so that he doesn’t let the need to bite on that lower lip himself overrun him.

                “I’m fine!” Jongin finally blurts out. “I—I don’t need the nurse. I…was just…running from my last class, is all.”

                Where the does he come up with all these lame- excuses?

                “You sure?”

                “Yeah, I’m sure. Really. C’mon, they’re waiting for us inside,” Jongin says, stepping back out of Kyungsoo’s touch and swiftly turning away, speed-walking towards the clubroom.

                A good thing, too, because Minseok, Sehun and Jongdae are all pressed up against the door eavesdropping and almost collapse out onto the hallway when Jongin opens it, only offering him a sheepish grin before the scramble up and scurry back towards their desks.

                Jongin glares at the lot of them and wonders why they couldn’t all just watch Degrassi instead.

A/N

HAHAHAHAHA OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST WRITE

To be honest I'm not sure if that apartment scene deserves an M-rate or not but just so you guys know that's about as ual as this fic is gonna get

(cough cough i might just have a hunhan oneshot in the works COUGH WHAT)

Also someone teach me how to use livejournal i've got some up-and-comers in the works and i feel like livejournal is the place to publish the seriously angsty

Now on to the important stuff 400 SUBBBBBBBBS 

FIESTA AT MY PLACE I'LL BRING THE TACOS

You guys are everything I could've ever wanted as a fanfic author LET MEH KISS YA