A/n: Okay so the one part in this chapter jumps into the past a bit, and it almost feels like a filler. But Joonmyun! So don't complain (too much ㅋㅋㅋ). <3

A couple nights later at Jongin’s house, Kyungsoo ended up asking Jongin to go to the festival with him, and Jongin told him he was already going.

“And you didn’t invite me?” Kyungsoo pretended to be upset.

“I was going to,” Jongin defended weakly. “It’s still pretty far away, I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Of course I want you to go, I’m gonna be dancing.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Jongin teased. Kyungsoo remained expressionless. “I’m going in with Sehun and Xing.”

“Sehun?” Kyungsoo wondered incredulously. “Like, Oh Sehun? My Sehun?”

Jongin nodded. “Yes,” he sighed. “Yixing asked me to dance with him, and we were practicing at the studio and he saw Sehun and he was all like, ‘Wow, we should be a trio’ and refused to take no for an answer. So now I’m stuck with the brat and his lover.”

“Lucky you.”

“Mhm. You should see them together. Gosh, they’re so gross. I don’t care if they aren’t dating; they’re dating.”

“Well, I’ll be going with Key,” Kyungsoo said, ignoring Jongin’s complaining. He already knew how gross Sehun was when it came to Yixing, even if he was still trying to hide it.

As soon as Kyungsoo mentioned Key, all signs of happiness (and anything that wasn’t annoyance and anger) sapped from Jongin’s face. “Key,” he stated icily.

“Yep,” Kyungsoo popped the “p”, and Jongin looked irritated as he ever was when Kyungsoo used the English slang words Key had taught him. “He’s the one who told me about it, and he wanted me to go with him. Looks like we’re all gonna be there anyway. The five of us could probably go together. And I’m guessing Joonmyun will go too, maybe with his crush-boyfriend thing.”

“Why do you call him that?” Jongin asked, looking grumpy still after the mention of Kyungsoo’s plans with Key. “You know who it is.”

“I think I know who it is. I could be wrong.”

“You don’t think you’re wrong.”

“I never think I’m wrong. That doesn’t mean I’m not. Anything is possible.”

“That’s a good way of thinking.” Jongin leaned down to capture Kyungsoo’s lips, hands slipping around his waist and into his back pockets. “This is mine,” he said firmly. “Not Kim Kibum’s. Not anyone else’s. Mine.”

“Hmm,” Kyungsoo hummed. “What if I wanted it to be his?”

His poker face was convincing, making Jongin pull away from him and turn his back. “Well maybe you should date him then.”

Kyungsoo laughed under his breath. Poor Jongin. So gullible. He really wasn’t a good match for Kyungsoo at all. At least Key knew when he was joking or being sarcastic (which was always), and they’d only known each other a month. Jongin took things to heart too easily. He really was convinced Kyungsoo didn’t like him. It made Kyungsoo wonder if he even did like him. If his own boyfriend doubted him… maybe he was doing something wrong.

(Maybe that “something wrong” was the endless games he liked to play with his boyfriend simply to keep himself amused, with complete disregard for said boyfriend’s feelings. No. That couldn’t be it.)

Even if it was wrong, Kyungsoo kept playing. “Maybe I will then.”

Jongin spun around, eyes disbelieving as he met Kyungsoo’s serious gaze. Then slowly he turned his back again, trying to look indifferent but giving the appearance of a popped balloon; shoulders slumped, head hanging. Kyungsoo had to resist the urge to hide his face in his hands at the embarrassment. Jongin, you’re such an idiot. Why do you believe me so easily? Instead, he moved forward, wrapping his arms around Jongin’s hips, and leaning up on his toes to reach up to the boy’s neck, pressing a lingering kiss there. Then he rested his forehead between Jongin’s shoulder blades, rubbing his hands over the lines and curves of the younger’s abdomen.

“You, my idiot dongsaeng, should not take everything I say so seriously,” Kyungsoo said quietly. “Because I am ninety percent sarcastic and ten percent a liar.” This was something Key had said about him (after describing himself as seventy percent sass and thirty percent sarcasm). Jongin didn’t need to know that much. “I might like him, but that doesn’t mean I want to be with him.”

Jongin was unmoving. “Why do you say things like that, then? Why do you have to taunt me?”

“Because I’m a jerk,” Kyungsoo said shamelessly. “I’ve told you that.”

“Yeah, you are.” Kyungsoo could hear Jongin’s pout in his words, making him smile. Big baby.

“One day you’re actually going to realize that,” Kyungsoo told him. And you’ll realize you hate it and you hate me and then you’ll leave me.

“I have,” Jongin sighed. “But I put up with you anyway.” For now. He turned to face Kyungsoo, cupping his chin and kissing him softly. “Are you this mean to Key?” he murmured against his lips.

“Far worse,” Kyungsoo corrected. “He can take a joke.”

Jongin frowned. “So can I. But I can never tell with you. You’re always so serious.”

“Well. If I say something to suggest that I hate you… It’s probably true, actually.” He laughed at his boyfriend’s pout. “But if I say something that implies I don’t like you, I’m joking. Okay?”

“I don’t know what the difference is,” Jongin said, brow furrowed.

“You know how you hate your sisters, but you also love your sisters? It’s the same thing. Just because I hate you, doesn’t mean I don’t like you.”

“Why do you hate me?” Jongin whined.

“Because you’re annoying,” he replied in the same irritating tone. “Apparently I attract annoying people,” he added, thinking of Sehun.

“And apparently I attract s,” Jongin muttered, and Kyungsoo gave him his most sincere, heart-shaped smile. “Oh well. I might be stupid-”

“You are,” Kyungsoo cut in.

“Shush. I still love you.”

“Really stupid,” Kyungsoo said. Jongin reached down, took hold of Kyungsoo’s thighs, and picked him up, tossing him on the bed. A few minutes later, Kyungsoo was pulling away from the boy on top of him, gasping.

“Stupid,” he repeated. “But you kiss really well.”

Jongin chuckled, pressing his mouth to Kyungsoo’s again. “At least I have something going for me.”

“Mhm.” Kyungsoo wrapped his legs around Jongin’s waist, making sure the boy was aware of how needy he was getting. A noise rumbled from Jongin’s chest, and his hands started sliding down, but Kyungsoo stopped them. Jongin met his dark eyes, letting out a soft whine. Kyungsoo pulled him back in to kiss him again, until they were both coated in a sheen of sweat and Jongin had tore off his own shirt. Kyungsoo pushed him away, twining their fingers together, and grinded on Jongin again. Jongin tried to pull his hands free, but Kyungsoo shook his head.

“Let me,” Jongin urged. Kyungsoo leaned forward and took Jongin’s lip between his teeth, nibbling it slightly and making the boy moan. When he pulled away, Kyungsoo’s eyes were dangerously urgent.

“Show me what else you can do with that mouth.”

“

Joonmyun was walking down the aisle of the grocery store in which he worked, sweeping the floors, an obsessive habit he had. His other coworkers made fun of him for it, but he didn’t really care. He liked cleaning; it was better than standing around doing nothing. It was better than having to be around the guy he’d had a crush on since his first year in high school, who probably didn’t even care that he existed. They were different, and Joonmyun wasn’t… he just wasn’t anything to him. He had long since convinced himself of this. He also wouldn’t let himself forget that, the closest he had ever been to the guy was when he’d been dating a good friend of Joonmyun’s. That had been a really, really awkward situation.

It wasn’t like Minseok had known about Joonmyun’s super stupid crush on Jongdae. And even though Joonmyun didn’t really approve of Minseok dating Jongdae just to get back at Luhan, he remained supportive of his friend’s endeavors, because Jongdae seemed happy. (Which, reasonably thinking, wasn’t fair, and Joonmyun should’ve had the hindsight to see that it wouldn’t be ending well for Jongdae. Maybe he had seen that. Maybe he was hoping to be the white knight to come in and save the day. Maybe, maybe Joonmyun was being really selfish, and hoping Minseok would tell him all about Jongdae so he would have an idea of how to woo him in the future.  Joonmyun never said he was pure-hearted with good intentions and all that jazz. He had wants and needs too, and he didn’t mind working for those things.) After that relationship failed, Joonmyun noticed a change in Jongdae. For the first time he’d ever seen, Jongdae seemed to draw in on himself, become more quiet and less fun to be around. Though he still put on a good show. Joonmyun wanted to be the one to comfort him, but he was afraid of ending up the same way he’d been with Minseok. Joonmyun wasn’t entirely stupid; he didn’t want to get used. He wouldn’t be the one following that painful cycle. So he waited for his opportunity, when Jongdae would be looking for someone, not to cover the pain of his broken heart, but to make his heart whole again.

And now, here he was, sweeping the floors of the store Jongdae worked in, not talking to him, not making any move whatsoever. He was finally being handed this golden opportunity, and he had no idea how to deal with it.

It had been three weeks working here, twelve whole shifts so far, and here he was, chastising himself again for being anti-social. His sweeping became more frustrated, and before he realized it, he had popped the end of the broomstick off, sending it flying into several cans of peaches. Several of them toppled over, rolling into the aisle, and he cursed under his breath, hurrying to pick them up. He was kneeling down, inspecting each can for dents or imperfections, when he heard someone chuckling behind him. He knew that laugh, with it’s slight mocking, slightly mischievous tone.

“Did the witch lose control of her broom?” Jongdae mused, and Joonmyun refused to look up at him, knowing he would lose any ability to respond even slightly sarcastically if he did.

“Apparently,” Joonmyun sighed. It’s your fault. He continued placing the cans back in their spots, lining them up in a neat row.

“You’re pretty OCD, aren’t you?” Jongdae’s voice was closer, and Joonmyun could see his feet out of the corner of his eye. He glanced up to see the boy pulling down a jar of – was it kimchi? “Don’t you hate it when people don’t put things back in the right place?” He moved the jar (which turned out to be one of pickles) down beside Joonmyun’s precisely organized peach cans, watching his face for a reaction. Joonmyun stared at the out-of-place jar, willing himself not to care, but he couldn’t stand the sight of it being there, where it didn’t belong. He reached out, picking it up and standing up straight, returning it where it belonged, and Jongdae was laughing again. He went off without saying another word, leaving Joonmyun with his broken broomstick.

After that, Joonmyun started finding things out of place. Small things at first, like a jug of orange juice switched with one of apple juice, or a line of ramen noodles all turned with their backs facing the aisle. But it started getting worse, and whenever Joonmyun would find something where it wasn’t supposed to be (there should not have been a box of teabags hidden in the cheese section), he would sigh loudly, and somewhere, in the next aisle down or so, that mischievous laugh would chime. It even happened sometimes when Jongdae wasn’t at work, and Joonmyun thought maybe the other coworkers were in on it, but then he would spot Jongdae through the shelves, watching him and laughing. He actually was coming in on days he wasn’t supposed to, just to disorganize things to bother Joonmyun. As much as Joonmyun admired that dedication, he really, really, really hated Jongdae, if only for that reason. (And it was only for that reason.)

If it had been anyone else, Joonmyun figured he would’ve been sick of it by this point. But it was the first week of August and when he found a jar of pickles (just like the first one Jongdae had moved; the one that had started it all) back with the cans of peaches, he couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips while he rolled his eyes.

“I swear, Jongdae, if you don’t stop it-” he began to yell, amusement in his voice as he picked up the jar and stuck it back on its shelf. In place of where the jar had been, there was a slip of paper with three words and three numbers scrawled on it.

“Anthracite, 7:30.
나를 만나?”

Joonmyun’s shift was done at seven. This note was for him, right? From Jongdae. Jongdae wanted to meet him, somewhere outside of work, right? No moving things were they shouldn’t go, no mocking him for his sweeping. He wanted to just… meet him. But… where?

Anthracite? He didn’t understand that first word at all. Leave it to Jongdae to write some big English word that no one in Korea could possibly know. It looked like some fancy scientific word. Frustrated, he pulled out his cell phone and quickly searched the word online, finding it to be the name of a café in Hongdae. So… Jongdae wanted to meet him at a café after work? He’d had the day off today, had he really come in just to leave Joonmyun a note to meet him somewhere? Maybe the message hadn’t been for him. Maybe it was another trick, a note that had been left by someone else, and then Jongdae had decided to put the pickles on it and see if Joonmyun would fall for it. Would Jongdae be waiting at the café just to see if Joonmyun would show up, and then laugh at him for believing Jongdae might actually want to hang out with him? This seemed very possible, very Jongdae-like.

But Joonmyun wasn’t not going. Of course, there were all sorts of excuses he could make up – he hadn’t gotten the note, for example. But standing Jongdae up was a far more unappealing idea than having Jongdae play a prank on him, so he would take his chances. When his shift ended two hours later, he changed back into his casual clothes, disappointed that he didn’t even have time to go home and change into something nicer. He hurried to the train station, taking the Line 6 for a ten minute drive, and then pulling up a map on his phone to see how to find the place. It wasn’t too far. At 7:27, he found the café, and slipped inside, breathing in the refreshing air conditioned coolness.

It was a very open place, with lots of seats and tables, art decorating the walls and multi-coloured pillows dotting the couches. There were only a couple people scattered around the room. Joonmyun’s eye was caught by the pillows, that were all organized by colour. Green with green, orange with orange, white with white, all lined up in a neat row. But, amongst the white pillows was a single blue one that offset the whole thing, making Joonmyun frown. How could someone have so carelessly misplaced it like that? It couldn’t have been an accident…

From the far corner of the room, where the restrooms were located, Joonmyun caught sight of Jongdae coming into view, and was immediately spotted in return. He was here. It had been his note, and, judging from the smirk on his face, he was expecting Joonmyun to show up. And he had organized all those pillows that way intentionally.

“So it was you,” Joonmyun said when he was close enough.

“Are you suggesting that someone else is putting their pickles in your peaches?” Jongdae posed, making Joonmyun’s face warm up because he couldn’t have not meant that to be a double entendre. “Come on, let’s sit down and get drinks, I’ll buy. What do you want? Their peppermint rooibos tea is delicious.”

“You don’t have to pay for me,” Joonmyun said hurriedly on instinct, following the other as he plopped down on one of the couches. Joonmyun was grateful that his mind shifted into auto-pilot because he was being offered to have a drink with Jongdae and that was pretty exciting. And somehow, his body was reacting as it were no big deal. Yes, this was good. “I’m the hyung, I’ll pay for us.”

“No, I invited you. It’s fine, Joonmyun,” Jongdae assured him casually, beckoning a waitress and ordering them the tea he’d mentioned. Meanwhile, Joonmyun was trying not to enjoy the sound of his own name coming from Jongdae’s mouth. Finally! He was not fangirling internally. That would be childish. “What do you think of this place, anyway? Cool, isn’t it?”

Joonmyun took a seat rigidly on the couch across from Jongdae, and glanced around. “It’s… very industrial.” He returned his eyes to Jongdae, whose expression was amused but unreadable. Unlike Joonmyun, he was very relaxed and laid back, sprawled out comfortably on the couch. Joonmyun couldn’t be at the same ease, too confused by the sudden actions of the guy he liked. This meeting didn’t have anything to do with that – that being his crush – right? Had Jongdae figured out his feelings for him? Hopefully not. “Why did you ask me to come here?” Jongdae shrugged, a smirk still toying on his lips. “No, really, Jongdae. We hardly even know each other.”

“That’s no fun, is it? Going places with people you know.” Jongdae looked thoroughly amused by himself. “New people, that’s what’s really fun. Getting to know someone. Before you get sick of them, or the other way around. I like meeting people, and just learning one thing about them, and seeing where it’ll take you with them. Like you; you’re pretty OCD. I’ve been playing with that for a while now. I guess I’m getting bored of it. But I’ve had my fun with it, anyway.”

“So…” Joonmyun frowned, trying to piece things together, but it wasn’t happening. “I still don’t understand.”

“I want to be your friend,” Jongdae stated simply. Their drinks arrived, and he thanked the server before passing a cup to Joonmyun. “Because I think it’d be fun. I might be wrong, but nothing’s permanent. If I don’t like you, I can go, right? No hard feelings and stuff.”

Joonmyun decided he might need to reconsider his crush on Jongdae. This boy was weird. Weirder than Joonmyun had ever known. And Jongdae might just be able to walk away – from tonight, from anything involving him – but Joonmyun couldn’t just let it go. This was Jongdae. He finally was getting a chance here, maybe. Maybe. It didn’t even make sense. Maybe Jongdae was high. Or just crazy. Seriously, what was he trying to accomplish here?

But there was no way Joonmyun was just going to turn the guy down without getting a sensible explanation. He took a gulp of his tea – which was surprisingly tasteful – to give him a moment to think, but came up with nothing and ended up stuttering out a reply anyway.

“Yeah, but… You and me, we’re – I mean, your friends and my friends don’t really-”

“We have mutual friends, don’t we? At least one,” Jongdae noted. “And I don’t really give a damn about your friends. But you – I don’t know a thing about you. Not enough, anyway. Didn’t even notice you until last year.” Ouch. He really had gone two years without knowing of Joonmyun’s existence? What had even changed that? Minseok, probably. “And I didn’t care until we were working together. Now I’m curious. I wanna know Kim Joonmyun.” He didn’t really know what to say to that, and Jongdae seemed to take his silence as a disagreement, because he continued on. “This isn’t a one-way thing, you know. I’m pretty interesting, you have to be curious too.” Joonmyun shrugged, trying to seem as casual as Jongdae was, so as to not give his obvious three-year crush away. Jongdae flashed his teeth. “Maybe not now, but you will be. Here, I’ll even tell you this: I’ve never brought anyone here before. Not friends, not boyfriends or girlfriends or anything. It’s my hideout. You’re the first person to see me in it. I mean, I’m trusting you that much, right? I’ve showed you one of my top secret hiding spots, I’m that awesome.”

“Not… not anyone?” Joonmyun wondered. Not boyfriends or girlfriends. That meant, not Minseok too, right? Yet, he invited Joonmyun, a practical stranger. The boy was only getting odder.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Jongdae said theatrically, eyes bright. “You are now, aren’t you? Curious, that is. Of course. Like I told you, you learn one thing about someone and you don’t know where it’ll take you. Now you’re wondering why I lock myself away from the world, why I have hideouts, why I need places in the world to get away from the world.” Jongdae sipped his drink, eyes wandering around the room, before he shrugged. “It’s up to you to find out, of course.”

“Are you always like this with people?” Joonmyun asked, avoiding Jongdae’s words. “Do you just flat-out ask people to be your friend?”

Jongdae chuckled. “Of course not. That wouldn’t be any fun either. But you… seemed to require a more forward approach. It’s seems like you’ve been keenly edging around me the past few weeks, and we weren’t progressing. I only have so much time to waste, and I’ve already spent so much of it on other things.”

A silence fell between them for a moment. Joonmyun wasn’t one to turn down opportunities, because he was selfish like that and he didn’t really care about consequences (at least, not until they happened). Especially not now, after three years of believing he would never get this chance. It was weird – Jongdae was weird – but there was no way to refuse it. So he just nodded and sipped on his tea.

“Alright, then,” he said finally. “So tell me about it. Why has no one ever been here with you before?”

Jongdae lost all his arrogance for a second when he realized what he was saying, and gave him a sincere smile. And Joonmyun became determined to see where that secret smile would take him.

“

“So, Kim Joonmyun, are you going to tell me who the guy you may-or-may-not be dating is or not?”

“Sehun, I swear on my mother’s glorious kimchi if you don’t stop asking me-”

“Hyung I am dying and as my dying wish I need to know who it is-”

“Yixing, please control your boyfriend.”

“Shut up Jongin.”

“Take your own advice, Sehun.”

“Don’t you take your boyfriend’s side on this, Do Kyungsoo! I am the only person who doesn’t know who Joonmyun’s boy toy is-”

“Boy toy? Did you just call him a boy toy, Oh Sehun?”

“WELL I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE IS, JOONMYUN, BECAUSE YOU WANT TELL ME WHO IT IS!”

“Please don’t yell in the car, Sehun-ah. I’m trying to drive.”

“I’m sorry, Xing, but this is important. You know who it is, don’t you? WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE – sorry. Why am I the only one who doesn’t know who it is!?”

“Because you’re an idiot, Sehun.”

“No one asked you, America boy!”

Kyungsoo buried his head in Jongin’s shoulder, repressing the urge to scream. Too many people in one car. Too many people being Sehun. Sehun in the car was torture. Why is this happening? Who invited him? It was Yixing’s fault, he supposed, but Kyungsoo couldn’t blame that guy. So he decided to leave the blame on Sehun.

“I’m sorry your best friend is so annoying,” Jongin cooed.

“I think I’m his best friend,” Key put in from beside Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo felt Jongin stiffen. Okay, so sitting in the back seat with these two may not have been the best idea. At least he was a barrier between them.

Key and Jongin had finally met officially about ten minutes earlier, when Yixing, Sehun, and Jongin showed up at Kyungsoo’s house to pick up him, Key, and Joonmyun, who had been hanging out together and waiting for their ride to the festival. Key and Jongin hadn’t gotten along well. As soon as Key realized Kyungsoo’s boyfriend wasn’t even going to try to be nice, his diva instincts seemed to kick in, and his tolerance levels for Jongin dropped close to zero. So now they were both being bitter towards each other, though exchanging as few words as possible, and Kyungsoo was making a mental note to keep them very separated so this day would not be a torturous hell the whole time.

Meanwhile, Sehun was complaining about Joonmyun’s not-boyfriend thing, and Kyungsoo was about ready to kill his younger best friend.

“Sehun, if you don’t shut up, I’m coming up there and kicking your ,” he snapped. “You will be finding out in literally like ten minutes, you can wait.”

“This is so unfair! You’re all so terrible to me!” Sehun griped.

“You and your whining is terrible to our ears!” Kyungsoo countered. “Yixing, please shut him up. Kiss him or something, gosh.”

“Hey!”

Yixing laughed from the front seat, patting Sehun’s knees comfortingly as the boy’s signature pout made its appearance. Kyungsoo returned to hiding his face in Jongin’s shirt.

“Ugh, I hate this day already.”

A/n: Soooooooo, the next chapter is gonna be that festival thing. Lord. But I won't be updating for another like 4 years b/c I have two huge final projects due this week and I also need to finish my Christmas fic for my wife and work on a couple other fics so... I'll update this again a billion times (or like, at least 3 times) over the holidays and YOU WILL BE HAPPY WITH IT! ㅎㅎ 

The other day I got like 30 comments on my chapter and like cried because that was a lot of comments like wow I was so happy. I didn't reply to everyone but I did read them all and you are all fabulous thank you wow ^^ Please continue to comment and upvote and read (reading is the most important part ㅋㅋ)! <3 I'll be back one day next week or so! ^.^