“Huh.” Kris looks down at his Styrofoam container of French fries and then over at Tao’s lunch. “I feel like your food.”

                Tao looks up from his tray of sushi and scowls. “Why? What’s wrong with your food?”

                “Forgot I went to Hero Burger’s yesterday. Dude, what the , stop it!” Kris snaps, when Tao starts pouring soy sauce over them.

                Tao looks him square in the eye. “Why are you telling me to stop.”

                “Because I want to eat those.”

                “I want to eat these.”

                “I want to eat those too.”

                “And I don’t care about other people’s feelings.”

                “That’s cold, man,” Kris says, walking over and throwing a handful of fries onto Tao’s container.

                Tao brightens. “Thanks!” he says, completely forgetting about the fact that he had been hogging his sushi two seconds ago and allows Kris to swipe a couple as he picks up three fries at once.

                “You’re welcome.” Kris shoves the sushi into his mouth. “Ugh, they’re so salty!”

                “Is it?” Tao asks curiously, looking down at his food.

                “Yeah, they’re—ugh, it just went up my nose! It’s like you put sea salt on these.”

                “But it’s not, it’s just soy sauce.”

                Kris stares. “That’s what I mean.”

                Jongin watches this entire transaction with a blank look before turning to Kyungsoo. “They seem unusually stable today.”

                “Yeah, nobody really knows what influences their good behaviour either. We thought it might’ve been the weather at first. And then for a while we thought it had something to do with whether or not there was food present. It’s weird,” Kyungsoo agrees. “This mood is pretty rare for them, so some of the others like to take it as an omen.”

                “Like, for impending doom or something?”

                “Sort of.”

                “I think we should share,” Kris announces, looking over at Minseok now.

                “Dude, I offered you my food twice already and you said no!” Minseok bursts out, exasperated.

                “Chill out, man. It’s cause I can’t just eat this—” Kris motions to the remainder of his fries—“and I can’t just eat that either.” He points to Minseok’s abandoned Subway sandwich.

                “That’s why I said let’s mix it all together and eat it combined,” Tao interrupts.

                “No! That’s gross, dude! Why do you have this incredible urge to mix food all the time?” Minseok protests.

                “Because if you put two boring things together it should make something interesting, right?”

                “As strangely poetic and philosophical as that sounded, mixing two things together is not always the answer,” Kris replies.

                “I don’t taste any salt in this,” Tao says suddenly, his attention turned back to his sushi.

                “I didn’t say there was salt in it. Did you not hear my simile? I said it is like you added sea salt. It is like. Like you added,” Kris stresses.

                “What’s your point?”

                “His point is that you put soy sauce on it, but he’s comparing it to sea salt because it is salty,” Minseok iterates with extreme emphasis.

                “That’s why I said, I don’t taste any salt in this—”

                “Because it’s in the soy sauce, goddammit!”

                “That’s not the point! What I’m trying to say is that you think it’s salty, but I don’t think it’s sal—do I seriously have to spell this out for you?!”

                “This conversation is going downhill fast,” Joonmyun chuckles, munching on a bag of chips.

                Jongin stares at Joonmyun. “How come you’re not doing anything? Didn’t they drag you here for the sole purpose of not letting this happen?”

                “They’re not scratching yet, so it’s fine. They usually simmer back down on their own anyway.”

                “This is like that time when you guys were eating my soup and you said it was salty and I said it tasted good,” Tao announces just then.

                There’s a beat of silence. “You guys are all crazy,” Minseok cries out.

                “See? No harm done.”

                Jongin was starting to get the feeling that Tao and Kris’ unusual ability to keep the screaming to a minimum had a little more something to do with Joonmyun’s presence in the room.

                “So, Minseok,” Sehun interrupts, “didn’t you say you were going on some blind date thing? Wasn’t that last weekend?”

                Minseok groans at the memory. “I should’ve known better if Luhan was the one offering to hook me up.”

                “Not so good, then?”

                “She was one of those chicks who’s, like, really into One Direction.”

                “You mean, like, the fangirls?” Jongdae says in horror.

                “Bingo.”

                “Is that weird?” Kyungsoo asks, confused.

                “I’d tell you, but I’d rather not tarnish your innocence just yet,” Minseok answers solemnly, placing what was left of his sub into Kris’ outstretched hand. “Simply put, they can be a handful once they get started. This girl in particular told me she liked to her posters at night.”

                “So definitely a no-go, then,” Kris nods.

                “Speaking of which, when was the last time you’ve been on a date?” Joonmyun asks curiously, looking at Kris as if the thought had never occurred to him.

                “I don’t date,” Kris says simply.

                “Of course not, dating would hinder your mission in shoving your into every living—”

                “Shut the up, Tao, or I will dice you.”

                “There it is,” Jongin says, relieved.

                “Not very original with the threats, is he?” Sehun mutters.

                “I heard that, pretty boy. What about you, then? When did you last date, huh?”

                “Couple of months ago, I think,” Sehun replies, looking up at the ceiling.

                “Same here,” Tao sighs, fixing his hair in the reflection on his computer monitor. “Been doing way too much club-hopping lately, though.”

                “What about you, Kyungsoo?” Kris asks pointedly, and no one holds back as they all turn to stare at Kyungsoo.

                “Me? It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve been on a date,” Kyungsoo laughs, “I’ve been trying to focus on my studies.”

                Good, Jongin feels himself relaxing. Wait, no, what?

                “Ugh, I would never be able to survive a schedule like yours,” Jongdae shakes his head. “It makes me want to cry just looking at it.”

                “And I imagine our newest star member has girls falling at his feet all the time?” Kris raises an eyebrow at Jongin, and everyone’s eyeballs shift an inch to the right.

                “Um, sort of. Well, not really.” He did get a lot of people who came up to him and started talking to him during classes, both guys and girls alike, although the girls were a little more forward about their intentions. But he didn’t really feel like talking about girls falling for him to the same people who’d just had an argument over soy sauce. Especially with Kyungsoo liste—no, no, stop it, Jongin, it doesn’t matter, there is absolutely nothing wrong with talking about girls in front of—

                “Is it sort of or is it not really?” Jongdae presses, interrupting Jongin’s train of thought before it could escalate any further, but before Jongin could answer Sehun raises his hand.

                “You know that book The Outsiders? Is it pronounced Soshes or Socks?”

                “I think there’s something severely wrong with the fact that I know exactly what you’re talking about,” Minseok groans. “I’ve been degraded to your mental level.”

                “You’ve been using that word a lot lately,” Tao says, leaning over to look at Minseok’s computer screen. “You used ‘degrading’ in your essay like five times already.”

                “It describes a lot of things in life.”

                Jongdae frowns. “That’s very…”

                “Depressing?”

                “Yeah, I was gonna say un-optimistic.”

                “I think you mean pessimistic,” Sehun offers.

                “Oh my god, Sehun’s correcting me,” Jongdae face-palms, “I think I caught his virus too.”

                “I’m not a disease!” Sehun whines.

                “No, you are most definitely a disease. You are a virus that spreads just by breathing the same air as the earth, bringing chaos, mayhem and disorder to the mental balance of all human beings. In its most dangerous stage it may cause severe reduction in brain capacity, or worse—” Kris drops his voice to a whisper, “fifth-year undergraduate disorder.”

                “Will you shut up about that already!”

—∞—

                Sehun hadn’t been particularly close with Jongin, at first.

                Sehun had been simple. Definitely a little on the quirky side, but an all-around good guy who was friendly with pretty much everyone and nobody ever had a problem with it. He showed up to the parties every once in a while, but nobody found it strange that he didn’t really consider it his scene.

                Jongin had been a little bit more typical regarding good-looking faces in high school. He was hardly one to skip out on the weekly parties and had a pretty firm place in the “popular” crowd. Guys wanted his looks and his talent, girls wanted him on their arm—and Jongin had had quite a number of girlfriends, but they rarely lasted more than two or three weeks. All the same, people would just naturally flock to him, drawn by the down-to-earth attitude and the effortless charisma he emitted.

                Then there had been a period of time when Sehun had started taking hip-hop at the same school where Jongin had been taking his ballet and jazz classes. They hadn’t really talked before then, but since there was no reason not to, they ended up hitting it off pretty quick and started hanging out after practise. It was then that Sehun discovered Jongin’s softer, more genuine side and had been stunned by how incredibly real he was when he wasn’t surrounded by his groupies.

                This had been a few months before Jongin had quit.

“Hey man.”

                Jongin turns around, surprised to see Sehun behind him. “Oh, hey. You don’t have class now either?” Jongin asks.

                “Nope. You were heading to the club room right?”

                “Yeah, you coming?”

                Sehun nods, drinking from the chocolate bubble tea in his hand. They start making their way through Academic Resource Centre together, silent for the first few seconds, until Sehun swallows a mouthful of tapioca and asks, “So you gonna ask Kyungsoo out?”

                Jongin’s head snaps up to look at Sehun. “What’re you—?!”

                “What? He hasn’t been on a date in a while, right? And I hardly think he’d say no to you,” Sehun says.

                “No I mean—okay, first off, I’m—”

                “If you say you’re straight I will seriously spill the rest of this drink over your head.”

                “…No you won’t, chocolate’s your favourite.”

                “Touché.”

                “Look, it’s not like that, alright?” Jongin sighs heavily. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s a really nice guy and he’s been really cool about helping me around campus and he’s an awesome cook and—”

                “And you secretly imagine yourself locking him into one of the classrooms and placing him in a compromising position?”

                “Yeah—I mean no!”

                Sehun laughs. “You’re too easy, man. You’ve got it written all over your face.”

                Jongin grimaces. “Is it that obvious?”

                “So you’re admitting you like him, then?”

                “No I am not! Look—” Jongin struggles to find the right words, “this…is…new for me. Yeah, I get weird butterflies and when I’m around him, but I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.”

                “It means you like him,” Sehun insists.

                “But how come this hasn’t happened before?”

                “Well, it’s not like you see a lot of faces like Kyungsoo’s around here. He’s cute, I’ll give you that. Admit it, you’re secretly agreeing with me, right?”

                Jongin sighs again. “I don’t know if this is just a phase though.”

                “Dude, you’re like eighteen, I think you can afford to experiment with a few phases. Which this probably isn’t, by the way.”

                “But I don’t even know if Kyungsoo swings that way.”

                Sehun inwardly grins. Jongin had gone from straight as a stick to “does-Kyungsoo-like-” in thirty seconds. Hey, that rhymed, he giggles to himself.

                “…Earth to Sehun?”

                “What? Oh, right. You should try testing your boundaries,” Sehun suggests. “Try getting a bit touchy-feely with him and see how he responds.”

                “You don’t think that’ll tip me off?” Jongin frowns.

                “Nah, you guys seem pretty close now. It’s the natural cycle of life, man, everyone reaches that stage in their friendship where they’re grabbing each other’s asses. Just get the ball rolling and that way you can decide whether you like it or not too. Well, as in, whether you like it more than you should.”

                Jongin bit his lip, gaze trained on the ground. “I don’t know if I can do this, man…”

                Sehun rolls his eyes. Kim Jongin, high school player, unsure if he could flirt. Guess he was serious about liking guys being a new thing for him.

“Look, just pay attention, okay?” Sehun says as they step in front of the clubroom door.

                “What—”

                Sehun opens it up before Jongin could finish. “Yo,” he calls out lazily.

                “Sup,” several voices respond.

                Sehun strolls inside the room, not acting particularly different, but instead of heading to his usual beanbag chair, he reached out and grabbed Yixing’s empty chair and rolled it over before parking it next to Luhan’s, who was sitting at his computer desk and staring at his screen intently.

                “Hey,” Sehun says, plopping into the seat, much to the combined surprise of both Luhan and Jongin. Jongin carefully creeps towards his usual spot, trying not to look like he was watching too closely.

                “Hey,” Luhan responds, blinking as if Sehun were a mirage.

                “What’re you working on?” Sehun pulls his chair forward a little bit, drawing in close enough so that his arm was nearly brushing Luhan’s.

                “Oh, this?” Luhan turns back towards the computer. “Updating my resume for the GPS program. And no, not as in the global positioning system,” he adds before Sehun can open his mouth. “It’s a graduate program that gets you field experience.”

                Sehun at his drink. “Cool.” He tips the straw in Luhan’s direction. “Want some?”

                Luhan glances down at it, looking at first as though he’s about to take him up on it, when it becomes clear from the way that Sehun’s holding the cup a little higher and closer to Luhan’s face than when usually offering something that he’s expecting Luhan to drink out of it with Sehun still holding onto it.

                “It’s chocolate,” Sehun says, when Luhan hesitates.

                Luhan bites his lip. “You don’t have cooties, right?”

                “And somehow I’m the airhead around here?”

                “Zip it, ulzzang.” Luhan leans forward and reaches up to re-adjust the position of the cup, his pinkie finger brushing Sehun’s hand as he does so. He takes a generous sip with Sehun’s eyes glued to his face, before straightening up again, chewing on the tapioca. “Thanks,” he says, with a note of uncertainty just barely audible in his voice.

                “No problem. So does this mean you’re doing this on top of your masters?” Sehun asks casually, looking towards the computer screen again.

                “Yeah, basically. Which is what I’ve been hanging around here for, since I’m actually doing my masters part-time at St. George campus.” Luhan’s shoulders relax as they relapse back into normal conversation, and Jongin has to give Sehun some credit for the smooth sailing.

                Sharing food, check. Sharing spit, double check.

                “I thought it was weird that you hang around so often,” Minseok frowns, looking up from his own computer. “When are your classes?”

                “One of them’s Tuesday morning and the other one’s Saturday morning.”

                “You have class on a Saturday morning?”

                “At least I’m working on my masters, Minseok, unlike a certain someone else I know.”

                “ you, Luhan.”

—∞—

                Jongdae pauses in the middle of his game to look up at the others. “Hey.”

                “What?”

                “Don’t you get the feeling that we should be, like, planning something?”

                Kris, Luhan, Jongin, Baekhyun and Chanyeol all look up from their Gameboys and DSs simultaneously. “Huh,” Kris says. “Kinda forgot about that.”

                “Weren’t you the one who said we needed to get done if we were gonna keep the group—”

                “Okay, okay, fine, I get it.” Kris looks over at Baekhyun and Chanyeol. “How’s the site coming along?”

                “We’re just brushing up and doing final touches. After that it’s just a matter of actually filling up the pages with general and member info and crap and then we can go live whenever you want.”

                “Let me know when you get there, then.” Kris looks around. “, both Tao and Minseok aren’t here? No wonder the room felt weird. Well, we can decide on an event and just tell them to book it later. So, thoughts anyone?”

                “According to Minseok, the k-pop groupies sent us another request again,” Baekhyun says, attention returning to his DS.            “Think there’s some kind of cultural event thing happening in a couple of weeks.”

                “Yeah, but they make us do k-pop during the Spring Fling anyway. Any other major events?”

                “Halloween,” Sehun replies automatically, who was without gaming system and was hovering over Luhan’s shoulder, watching him play with a longing expression on his face.

                “Done. All we need to do is find somewhere to put a stage up and use free candy as an incentive.”

                “That’s it?” Jongin says in surprise. “That’s all the planning we’re doing?”

                “Well, after that it becomes a matter of individual responsibilities. Minseok and Tao will have to get permits for an area to put a stage up, while Luhan pulls some money out of the bank account to pay for that. Kyungsoo needs to get a permit to throw candy at people, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol will need to file for a permit for audio equipment.”

                “As you can see, we need a lot of permits to do anything on campus,” Luhan says with a sigh.

                “I’m gonna name my Sandshrew Gaara,” Chanyeol announces, his thumbs darting across the buttons as he entered the name in.

                “…That’s actually genius.”

                “Oh, and you two—” Kris looks between Jongin and Sehun, “will have to start meeting up with Yixing and throw together some kind of synchronized routine. You guys all dance well—I think—” he looks at Sehun again, “so it’ll mostly be just freestyling, but routines look pretty badass too.” Kris turns around to look over his shoulder at Yixing. “Got it?”

                “Mm-hmm,” Yixing hums absent-mindedly, rapidly taking down notes as he listened to an online lecture.

                Jongdae’s phone vibrates on his desk, and he picks it up for a moment. “Kyungsoo’s out in front of the elevator downstairs. He says he needs help carrying stuff to the clubroom.”

                “I’ll go!” Jongin quickly sets down his Gameboy and jumps up from his seat, practically tripping as he hops over and bolts out of the room, wherein Sehun immediately snatches up the Gameboy the second Jongin’s disappeared.

                Baekhyun regards the door for a minute. “You know, I think if you put him on a hundred metre track with Usain Bolt and parked Kyungsoo at the finish line, Jongin would probably win.”

                “Funny you should say that, because he’s moving at the pace of a snail right now,” Kris rolls his eyes. “It makes me cringe watching him sometimes.”

                Luhan pauses. “You know, we should give him a bit of help with that.”

                Everyone except Sehun looks over at Luhan, Sehun being too absorbed in his Pokémon battle to pay attention.

                “What are you suggesting?” Baekhyun asks.

                “I’m suggesting,” Luhan grins, “that we bring in a catalyst.”

                Jongdae bursts out laughing. “You are so bad,” he says, shaking his head.

                “Sorry, computer science major, what’s a catalyst?” Chanyeol asks.

                “A catalyst, my giant friend, is the substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction. Applying that to the current situation, do you know what always breeds romance fastest?”

                Chanyeol shook his head.

                Luhan propped his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands together in front of his face, smirking. “Jealousy.”

                Just then, Kyungsoo’s voice could be heard clearly approaching from down the hallway, and Sehun quickly drops the Gameboy back where it had been sitting before he and Jongin enter the room.

                “I made muffins this time so you guys wouldn’t kill each other for the biggest portion,” Kyungsoo says, lifting the bags in his hands.

                Kris whistles. “He’s caught on.”

                “I’m totally starving, too. I hardly have time to eat in the mornings,” Jongin says as he plops back down into his chair. Upon picking up his Gameboy, though, he promptly yelps.

                “What the hell! Why is my Pikachu poisoned?!”

                Sehun ducks away and buries his face into the grocery bag to dig out the muffins.

A/N

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN HUNHAN HAS OFFICIALLY ENTERED THE BUILDING

I really enjoy this gif because if that doesn't look like what he does when he jacks his boy off I don't know what does

Also no offense to 1D lovers I have full respect for you and your boys

And what’s tHIS DO I SMELL A PLOT DEVELOPMENT COMING ON

You guys are finally (sorta) gonna be getting some kaisoo in the next chapter. Maybe. Lol I’m so sorry you guys I made Jongin out to be such a wimp he might just chicken out I dunno. 

Also wtf is this

I SPOKE TOO SOON THEY'RE COMING BACK OMFG OMFG OMFG

The subs and the comments TT TT I love you guys so much you all make my day honestly