Two months later

                “Hey,” Kris says, popping up behind Tao’s seat, “can I borrow some—”

                “No.”

                “What the prick.”

                “Why do you always have to ask for my ?” Tao says as he stuffs popcorn into his mouth.

                Miraculously enough, Baekhyun had actually managed to drag the club members out of their houses a couple days after Christmas had passed and gathered the twelve of them together to watch Django Unchained at the Scotiabank Theatre downtown. Being the large group that they were, they had been bickering for a good five minutes over who got to sit closer to the middle of the theatre row until Joonmyun had finally cut them off and suggested that they split themselves up between two rows. Hence, there were six people each seated in the two rows directly next to each other. The only insistence that everyone had agreed on was that Kris and Tao be seated in separate rows, but apparently this wasn’t enough to stop them.

                “Seriously, dude. I know you have a tube of ChapStick on you and my lips are really ing dry.”

                “You’ve still got popcorn, you’re going to just end up eating it anyway.”

                “…The popcorn?”

                “The lip balm, . If you put lip balm on now you’re just going to end up eating it while you’re gorging on popcorn.”

                “What even?”

                “No, seriously, girls consume an average of like half the lipstick they apply in their life.”

                “Aw, gross, do they actually?” Minseok makes a face. “Now all I can picture is someone eating half a tube of lipstick.”

                “I’m not even going to ask why you know that,” Kris shakes his head. “Look, cut me a break, will you? I got stuck next to the lovebirds. Look at them. They’re still ing feeding each other.”

                Tao and Minseok turn to look, and indeed, Sehun was holding the popcorn bag in his lap and feeding it to Luhan with extreme care.

                “Whatever, dude. Not my problem.”

                “Hey man, c’mon, ease up on the popcorn, will you?” Jongdae interrupts then, as Tao crams another handful into his mouth. “We’re not going to have enough for the movie.”

                “I’m sorry, but we are sitting in an empty theatre right now because we are just that ing early and the twenty-minute reel of advertisements and trailers hasn’t even started yet and I’m getting kind of bored. Do you know what people do when they’re bored, Jongdae? They eat. It’s human nature.”

                “No, I’m pretty sure eating when you’re bored is just a bad habit.”

                “I’m anthropology major, Jongdae, I think I know how human nature works. Don’t question me.”

                “But—”

                “Don’t. Question. Me.”

                “Dude,” Kris pokes Tao’s shoulder again, “I’m not even kidding, can I please borrow your ChapStick?”

                “Forget it, I don’t want your mouth touching my .”

                “But my lips hurt real bad!”

                “Then buy your own tube of ing ChapStick, Napoleon Dynamite,” Jongdae cuts in. “And quit complaining, at least you’ve got Joonmyun on your other side to mediate the popcorn consumption, Yixing’s not gonna do .”

                “Not my fault you guys decided to split a bag,” Yixing says as he munches on his own bag of popcorn.

                “Hey,” Baekhyun leans forward in his own chair then, “are you guys doing anything for New Years?”

                “Don’t tell me you’re seriously throwing another jam at your place. You just had a ton of people over for your Christmas party.”

                “Not that I’m complaining,” Kris says, sighing in fond remembrance.

                “Not entirely sure yet, I was just wondering if you guys were up for planning something,” Baekhyun replies. “I’ve never been to the New Year’s Eve show downtown so I thought I might go there this year.”

                Minseok stares. “With Chanyeol, right?”

                “Yeah…”

                “Forget it, take the rest of the couple line with you,” Minseok says, jerking his thumb towards Jongin and Kyungsoo sitting opposite of Yixing and then towards Sehun and Luhan behind him. “I don’t do third, fifth or seventh wheeling.”

                Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Wow, okay, fine, maybe we’ll just do that. But we’re definitely throwing something for Jongin’s and Kyungsoo’s birthdays.”

                “Ugh, can’t we just celebrate their birthdays together on the 13^th and cut our expenses in half?” Sehun pops up behind Jongdae’s seat. "As much as I would enjoy eating two cakes I don’t know if I have the time for two parties that are practically back-to-back. Or the stamina.”

                “…Actually, that sounds like a good idea.”

                Minseok frowns. “That makes like no sense, out of all of us you’re the one who can toss back the most crap without killing yourself—”

                “We can make it Jongin and Kyungsoo’s official calendar day!” Kris announces triumphantly. “Problem solved.”

                “Wow, thanks for consulting with us, you guys,” Jongin calls to the others sarcastically, leaning forward a bit to glare at them.

                “Whatever, you know you’re just gassed that you and Kyungsoo have your own special day now,” Luhan snickers as he appears behind Minseok.

                “I think it sounds kind of cute too,” Kyungsoo admits, squeezing Jongin’s hand.

                The first eighteen years of Jongin’s life did not even begin to compare to the last two months he’d shared with Kyungsoo. Of course, the others always seemed to be in on every single detail and development as the two of them progressed in their relationship—there had been a huge blowout over a series of bets made the first time Jongin had walked into the clubroom and had failed to lower himself into his beanbag chair without looking like the action had practically ripped him in half, complete with screams and money flying everywhere and Baekhyun’s deranged victory cry and Kris and Tao rolling around on the floor again—but there were days when he put up with all of it, because in the end no matter what kind of hit the fan, there was still a short, pale doe-eyed boy firmly attached to his hand, and that’s all that really counted in the grand scheme of things.

                It’s not quite the reality Jongin asked for when he first stepped onto UTSC campus grounds, but he thinks he can make do anyway.

                “Guys, can we get crepes after this?” Sehun says. “Cause there’s a crepe place nearby.”

                “Crepes? Why crepes?” Jongdae asks.

                “A, because crepes taste better in the winter season, and B, because crepes are ing awesome.”

                “They’re also ing expensive. And they’re just extra-flat pancakes.”

                “Quit hating on the crepes, .”

                “Aw, yes, TimePlay’s on!” Chanyeol interrupts suddenly, leaning back in his chair and scrambling for his phone.

                “, wait wait wait, I gotta get my phone too,” Sehun cries out, as if the woman explaining the instructions onscreen could actually hear him.

                “There’s no way in hell any of you ers are beating me on this one,” Baekhyun says as he pulls out his own phone. “I always win first place. I know everything.”

                “I just play it so my screen name shows up on the scoreboard,” Tao snickers. “I put in a request for the screen name Sasuke and they actually set it up for me.”

                “Really? I named myself Jesus,” Kris replies, leaning back in his own chair.

                “Figures, you pretentious prick—”

                “Shut the up, Tao, before I pound you into the floor.”

                “Oh my god.”

a/n

oh my god no im gonna cry

well, anyways, thanks again to everyone who subscribed and commented and reached out to me over tumblr and stuff, you guys are actually the sweetest :)

THANK YOU GUYS SO SO MUCH I LOVE YOU ALL TO BITS AND I WILL NEVER EVER FORGET THIS