Six eyes blinked in surprise when the door in front of them slammed close, Sehun’s glaring eyes still burning in their minds. No one spoke up, as they were all still occupied with trying to understand what had just happened. Kyungsoo fidgeted nervously in the back, his face still red from Sehun’s offhand remark.

Baekhyun, who was currently propping himself up from the sofa with his arms, scoffed in disbelief.

“Minseok, Jongdae,” Baekhyun called out, and the two seniors turned around to look at him, “looks like I’m going to be winning that bet.”

Minseok rolled his eyes before crossing his arms. “Please. Sehun’s as oblivious as a person could possibly get. Not to mention he’s in denial. It’s going to take much longer than a semester for him to wake up.”

“You guys made a bet to when Sehun would turn homoual?” Chanyeol asked incredulously. Jongdae snorted from the kitchen as his hand once more reached for the ramen package.

“Look. I know the Sehun types. He is going to drag this on for as long as he can. A semester? Until Summer break? No. This is going to take much longer. At least a year. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never realizes he has feelings for Luhan.”

“That’s not going to happen. Luhan’s not going to let that happen. He’s practically screaming ‘I love you’ in the boy’s face,” Minseok remarked.

“And Sehun is such an observant, smart little boy, isn’t he?” Jongdae retorted, and Chanyeol stood in the side, watching them converse with an interested look.

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol with a small smile before his eyes wandered to his best friend standing in silence near the back of the living room.

“Jong-” Baekhyun opened his mouth, but Jongin’s head suddenly snapped up, cutting him off.

“Kyungsoo. I’m hungry.”

The previously chatty room turned silent once more, everyone looking like they couldn’t believe what they just heard this time around. Kyungsoo looked at Jongin in disbelief. Both Jongdae and Minseok stared with their jaws hanging, and the whole group stood in anticipation, looking between Kyungsoo and Jongin with curious eyes.

“Jongdae’s making ramen right now,” Kyungsoo said dryly, “why don’t you ask for some?”

Jongin bit his lips, and Baekhyun found himself slowly sitting up in anxiety. Please don’t screw up. Oh my god, he’s going to screw up.

“The thing is....I don’t want ramen,” Jongin added lamely. His eyes darted to Baekhyun, who was in the process of hitting his head on the sofa armrest.

“Oh.”

Kyungsoo squirmed on his feet, clearly uncomfortable with all the expectant eyes on him.

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“Well, I’ve visited Baekhyun’s house once before, and I know that there are a lot of good restaurants in this neighborhood. You could go with me,” Jongin said quickly, before taking a sharp breath and quietly murmuring under his breath, “of course, only if you were interested.”

Kyungsoo stared back in shock, before he slowly pointed a finger at himself. “You want me to come eat with you?”

Jongin nodded quickly. “Y-yeah.”

Kyungsoo’s arm dropped down and he seemed to be in a dilemma. “Jongin, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea-”

“ good ideas. Come on, Kyungsoo.”

The older boy looked back to face his best friend. Chanyeol nodded in an assuring manner and smiled warmly at Kyungsoo, urging him along.

“Jongin. If you’re doing this because you think this is going to get me to-”

Jongin flinched before Kyungsoo even finished his sentence and ran his hand through his hair nervously.

“I’m not doing this for anything,” he murmured, “I’m just hungry, and I want to go get a meal with you because I’ve never really had the chance before. Please?”

Kyungsoo fidgeted slightly, not knowing if he should stand up or remain seated. Jongin looked like he was about to pee in his pants, and Baekhyun was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. Both Minseok and Jongdae had long retreated into their room. Chanyeol was the only one who seemed calm and collected. Sighing, he slowly walked over and tugged Kyungsoo up in one smooth motion.

“Come on, Kyungsoo. Can’t you see I want some alone time with Baekhyun here? You’re being rude.”

It was time for Baekhyun to blush red, and Jongin eyed Kyungsoo nervously. Kyungsoo’s eyes widened and he let out a small sigh of resignation.

“Fine,” he muttered, and grabbed his jacket before heading towards the front door. “Come on Jongin.”

Jongin sprang up in action and threw Chanyeol a quick grateful grin before taking his place beside Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo’s head remained fixed ahead, not daring to look at the smiling boy beside him, and the two slowly walked out.

Baekhyun finally breathed out when he heard the door shut close. He leaned back onto the couch and gripped his head.

“I swear they’re going to end up killing me instead of each other,” he muttered. Chanyeol chuckled and sat down beside Baekhyun, offering him a gentle smile.

“They are a little tiring to be around, aren’t they?”

“Tell me about it! Sometimes I just want to smother Jongin’s mouth to keep him from saying anything stupid.”

“I would say that about Kyungsoo too, but I’m far too nice.”

Baekhyun huffed and gave Chanyeol an irritated look. Chanyeol laughed good naturedly and shuffled Baekhyun’s already messy hair.

Sometimes, more like whenever he was in front of a certain short stoic male who hated (and loved, apparently, although he was still trying to wrap his head around that idea) him so much it physically hurt, Jongin’s infamous self-confidence and arrogance slipped right through his fingers and hit the ground before he could do anything about it, leaving him pathetic and helpless.

Right now was another one of those moments. He had just scored a very first date (he really shouldn’t be using that word - it might get him killed by the boy beside him) with his long-term crush, and he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to do.

Jongin was supposed to be a suave player who could flirt effortlessly and seduce dates with one gaze. However, unlike the supposed rumors of him being quite experienced in the dating field, Jongin was a complete newbie. He had a total of one date all his life, with no boyfriend or fling ever. He was much too pre-occupied with chasing the tails of Kyungsoo to be bothered to catch a breath and take a look around for other possible romantic interests.

Baekhyun and Luhan had laughed whenever the topic of a casanova Jongin came up, pointing out the very obvious fact that Jongin was staring intesely at his roommate across the noisy cafeteria. Really, Jongin should’ve been offended at his friends mocking tone, but he had been too busy. As always.

So, now that his almost-too-unreal-to-be-true dream of going out for a simple meal with Kyungsoo had come true, he found himself at a loss of words. Not to mention the blank look Kyungsoo was sending in his direction was really ing terrifying.

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo said, snapping Jongin out of his own confused little head. “Where exactly are we headed to?”

Jongin took a few seconds to register the way Kyungsoo called his name - no anger, hate, or disgust dripping off his tone. He had to keep himself from breaking out into a large grin.

“Uh, it’s like a ten minute walk. You’re okay with that, right?”

“I have two functional legs, yes, I think I’ll manage,” Kyungsoo replied and cocked his head to the road. “That way?”

“Uh, yeah, that way.”

Jongin struggled to keep up with Kyungsoo, marveling at the the fact that he was walking right next to Kyungsoo with no harsh words being thrown at him and that they were currently going to go eat together and possible be out together for hours and oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

Kim ing Jongin did not blush. But today was an exception.

Kyungsoo didn’t say one word, and normally Jongin would’ve found any walk with a person involving no conversation awkward, but this was Do Kyungsoo and nothing about the boy could possibly be bad. If Jongin didn’t mess up, this could actually end up nicely. He just had to watch his words and not do anything stupid, but when was Jongin ever not stupid? He was the definition of an idiot, according to all of his friends and practically anyone he had a conversation with. There was no way he wasn’t going to this up, because if Jongin calm and collected was stupid, what was a helpless and confused Jongin going to be? Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

Kim ing Jongin normally did not have panic attacks. But today was an exception.

“Kim Jongin, please stop thinking. You’re making my head hurt.”

Jongin’s eyes widened and he stared at the boy next to him in horror.

“Uh, I-I-”

“How is it that after all these years, you choose now to be speechless?”

“Uh, I-”

“Will you at least try to start a sentence without the word ‘uh’?”

Jongin closed his mouth and eyed the floor. He was beet red, he just knew, oh my god. He was supposed to show Kyungsoo how much he truly cared for him, now how stupid he really was.

“Nevermind. Go back to whatever conversation you were having with yourself in your head.”

Jongin didn’t have to bring out a mirror to see that he probably looked exactly like Baekhyun did whenever Chanyeol smiled stupidely at him.

“Sorry,” he managed to gather his thoughts and get the speech part of his brain to start working again. “I’ll try to include you in the conversation next time.”

“You sure you want me in your head?” Kyungsoo said in dry amusement, his eyes slowly moving to give Jongin a brief glance.

“I’d want you in any way,” Jongin shrugged and turned his head away before he could see Kyungsoo’s reaction.

There was a long silence, and Jongin cleared his throat before facing Kyungsoo once more.

“You still like jajangmyun, right?”

Kyungsoo looked up, meeting Jongin’s eyes for the first time. The bewildered look on his face was evident.

“How did you know I liked jajangmyun?”

Jongin laughed and pointed at himself. “Used to be your best friend once upon a time, remember? There's no way I would forget all those times you dragged me out to eat jajangmyun with you. You also choose jajangmyun over jjamppong every time during lunch, so I figured.”

Kyungsoo opened his mouth, but closed it soon after and turned his head. Jongin decided that he would let Kyungsoo have his peaceful, quiet walk for the rest, and joined him in silence.

Soon after, they arrived at a chinese restaurant at what looked like the downtown part of town. Jongin pushed open the door and led Kyungsoo to an empty table by the window.

“One jajangmyun, one jjamppong, and one chicken in lemon sauce please,” he said before handing the menu back to the waiter. He saw Kyungsoo sitting stiffly in his seat, looking down at the table with a rigid expression.

“Oh, sorry, did you want something else?” He asked. Kyungsoo shook his head, eyes not leaving the table once.

“No, that’s fine.”

“You can relax, you know? I’m the one trying to keep a panic attack at bay.”

Kyungsoo let out a bitter laugh. “Trust me, I’m trying to do the same thing.”

“You seem far too calm for someone supposedly struggling with his own head.”

“I’m just awkward, Jongin, what do you expect?” Kyungsoo spat. “I’m not comfortable to the point where I can express what I feel like you can.”

“You’re not awkward,” Jongin argued, “if anyone is acting awkward between us two, it’s me.”

“This is the first time I’m out with someone besides my dad and Chanyeol. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say or what I should be doing. God, Jongin, why did you choose me to eat with?”

Jongin frowned. “I think you know the answer to that question pretty damn well.”

Kyungsoo’s head snapped up, his eyes darkening. “Yeah, well, you knew why we shouldn’t. You knew I didn’t want to. But you still went ahead with it.”

“I’m trying to give us a chance here. Really, Kyungsoo, I just asked for one meal. So calm down and let me do the awkward today, alright?”

Three large plates arrived before Kyungsoo could reply, and Jongin stared at him anxiously as the hot meals were placed on top of the table.

“Chinese food is your favorite,” Jongin said, a bit hesitant at first, “you like jajangmyun the best, because you used to eat it all the time with your dad. You never could try the more expensive dishes because your dad couldn’t afford it, but it’s alright with you because you like jajangmyun fine anyway. You have a habit of making a mess of yourself whenever you eat it though, and sometimes you even forget you have a large black stain around your mouth before someone has to remind you to go wash yourself."

Jongin smiled softly at the memory. "You always take a small bite out of each radish but never finish one fully, a habit you don’t seem to notice. You always order one more plate of onions and you can never eat jajangmyun without kimchi. You use a whole box of tissues to clean the table after you finish eating, but you never bother to check yourself. You never order lemon chicken yourself because you think it’s overpriced, but whenever it’s there you devour it because despite but the ridiculous price it is really good. You would also always rather die than eat a bowl of jjamppong.”

Kyungsoo stared in shock at Jongin, who slowly picked up his chopsticks and laid a particularly large piece of chicken on Kyungsoo’s plate.

“I’m not a bully, Kyungsoo,” Jongin said weakly, “I wish you would just believe me.”

Kyungsoo looked down at his plate, at Jongin’s pleading look, and back down at the table. He seemed at a loss of words.

“I-”

“Kyungsoo, I’m just asking you to give me a chance. Nothing more.”

Kyungsoo bit his lips before looking up once more, meeting Jongin’s eyes.

“You forgot to order that extra plate of onions.”

Jongin stared back, a long silence stretching out, before leaning back and letting out a boisterous laughter.

“That I did,” he said, and called over the waiter in hurry.

Kyungsoo felt his stiff posture relax. Jongin was giving him such an earnest, hopeful look, and even he wasn’t heartless enough to resist melting a little at the sight.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!

I'm back guys!! <3

I'm sorry for the delayed absence. I've been pretty busy, but I'm more free now! I'm going to hagwon now (damn that place) but I'll definitely find time to write and upload this story!

Thanks so much to everyone who waited patiently for my update. I know it's been a long wait, and I bet a lot of you guys were frustrated. Thankfully, all of you guys have been very patient and encouraging. I could honestly not ask for nicer readers! You guys are the best! Woohooo :D

Also, thanks to everyone who wished me good luck! I took like a 20 hour nap after my last test, which felt like heaven. Seriously. You guys should try it once. It's the best.

Kaisoo is all OVER this one! I think it's the first not completely angsty chapter they had! Maybe one day they can be fluffy too? :O

I'll probably update again in a couple of days. I'm going to write like crazy to make up for the absence, so please excuse the annoying cut in this chapter. The whole kaisoo date-not-date is like 15 pages and would be WAY too long for one chapter. Part 2 is coming soon!

Love you guys! Thanks to everyone! EXO FIGHTING