A/n: Thank you to the over 200 votes now. You guys are awesome. <3

“Hey, Jongin!”

Jongin turned to see Baekhyun tottering towards him, weighed down by books. Baekhyun tried to wave, and then lost hold of half of the things in his hands, everything toppling to the floor. Without Chanyeol around, people saw and laughed at him, but he just gathered everything up again and hurried towards Jongin.

“Hey, clumsy,” Jongin said, grinning. “Where’s your giraffe?”

It was the end of the day, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol usually left school together. “He went home already,” Baekhyun explained, reaching his locker. Jongin grabbed his books for him so he could open the door. “Thanks. I wanted to talk to you.”

“What’s up?”

“It’s about you and Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun said. Jongin’s stomach knotted. “I know.” Jongin didn’t say anything, nor did he meet Baekhyun’s eyes, feeling panicked. How had he found out? “At lunch today, you got a text and left. I saw Kyungsoo leave before you, and he was putting his phone in his pocket. It seemed weird, so I ended up following you. And then I saw you two kissing. How long have you been holding that one back?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Jongin said nervously. Everyone was starting to discover his secret. And if Baekhyun knew, Chanyeol would know. Baekhyun had probably already told the other. No, maybe not; if he had, Chanyeol would be here confronting Jongin about it too. But it was only a matter of time.

“It’s alright, Jongin, I’m not mad or anything,” Baekhyun told him gently. Jongin looked up, and could see sincerity in the other’s face. “I’m just curious. Jongdae told me you two are together. I asked him, because I figured he would know. He was with you guys this weekend. Him and Yixing know. And others apparently. But not Kris. Not me, or Chanyeol. Well, I know now-”

“Are you gonna tell Chanyeol?”

“Do you want me to?” Baekhyun asked. Jongin bit his lip. No. I don’t want him to know. He’ll tell Kris. “That’s why I wanted to talk with you,” Baekhyun went on. “I was thinking I should tell him.”

“Baekhyun,” Jongin said. “I – I don’t think you should.”

“You’re scared, huh? Of Kris. You think he’ll be mad.”

“You think he won’t?” Jongin argued.

Baekhyun closed his locker, strapping on his backpack. “You’re forgetting who you’re talking to. I know you weren’t here, but when I first came here, me and Chanyeol went through the same thing. No one liked me. They still don’t like me…” He smiled like he was joking, but Jongin could tell he really meant it.

“That’s not true,” he disagreed. “Everyone likes you.”

“Everyone pretends to like me because they’re afraid Chanyeol will beat them up,” Baekhyun corrected. “You saw how people were literally two minutes ago. Because he’s not around. No one really likes me.”

“I do,” Jongin said. “Your friends do. That’s what matters, right?”

“I guess,” Baekhyun shrugged. “Anyway, I know what it’s like, with you and Kyungsoo. But when me and ‘Yeol were going through that, Kris was the one who defended us. Everyone thinks he’s so terrible, but you and me both know he’s got a heart. So don’t be worried about him. Or ‘Yeol. I can talk to him for you. He’ll take it better from me. And then you can tell Kris. Because you can’t keep a secret like that. He’s already doubting you right now, trust me. If it’s not you who tells him – if he finds out somehow, like the way I did, or from someone who isn’t you – he’s gonna be pissed.”

“I know. I know…”

Baekhyun gave him a sympathetic smile. “You’ve been with him for a while, haven’t you? A year – it’s been a year, hasn’t it? I remember, at your birthday, you had that shirt. That was his. And the message, from ‘D.O’. It’s supposed to be Do, like his name, right? I thought it was initials.” He moved forward to hug Jongin suddenly, wrapping his arms around the younger and squeezing him tightly. Jongin hugged him back awkwardly, thinking that Baekhyun was about the same size as Kyungsoo. “I’ll talk to ‘Yeol, okay?” Baekhyun promised when he pulled away.

“Okay,” Jongin nodded.

“And, I guess… Give it a few days,” Baekhyun added. “So Chanyeol can kind of accept it. You should just wait until Kris gets back.”

“Okay,” Jongin repeated. “Thanks Baekhyun.”

“

Jongin invited Kyungsoo over to his house, having his mom pick them up and sitting in the back seat with the older. Rather than sitting in his own seat, Jongin sat in the middle and pulled Kyungsoo into his lap, buckling the seatbelt over the two of them. His mother chastised them, but Jongin argued until she couldn’t be bothered with it, and then Jongin moved his attention back to his boyfriend.

“Tell me everything I can’t do,” he murmured, kissing Kyungsoo’s neck. “Whatever you want, and what you don’t want.” Kyungsoo sighed, tilting his head back on the younger’s shoulder.

“I don’t know…” Kyungsoo began. “Well, condoms are important,” he whispered so Jongin’s mom wouldn’t hear. Not that she didn’t know they were ually active, but she probably would be very disapproving of their lack of protection. “And… I don’t know, Jongin.”

“You were really mad, ‘Soo,” Jongin said. “It wasn’t just over that. I’m sure it’s been building up for a while. What else was there?”

Kyungsoo shook his head. It wasn’t really specific things. Or maybe it was, but none of them were coming to mind. “It’s just… Are you going to talk to him?”

“Who?” Jongin wondered. “Oh, Kris. Yeah… Actually, Baekhyun talked to me.”

“That’s great,” Kyungsoo said. “I’m glad you’re keeping in contact with your friends. That’s usually considered healthy.”

“Shush,” Jongin laughed, kissing his shoulder. “I meant, Baekhyun found out.”

“Yeah, he told me.”

“He… huh?” Jongin said, confused. “He told you too?” Kyungsoo nodded. “Okay, that’s not weird. What did he say?”

“Just that he saw us in the library.”

“Right,” Jongin muttered. “I won’t even question why you and Byun Baekhyun are in contact. Anyway, he said he would talk to Chanyeol, anyway. And after that, I’ll tell Kris, ‘kay? Really.”

Kyungsoo didn’t bother to argue anything. He figured he would let it slide that Jongin was giving Baekhyun the job of telling Chanyeol rather than facing his own problems, because Chanyeol likely would take it better if the puppy-boy told him. And it made sense to be taking Jongin’s friends down one at a time, he supposed. If more support made Jongin feel better, Kyungsoo could handle it taking a little longer.

When they reached Jongin’s house, the younger left Kyungsoo in his room temporarily, and headed to his noona’s room. Out of curiosity, Kyungsoo went to the doorway to try to hear what Jongin was saying to the girl. He didn’t catch what Jongin said first, but he heard a confused “What?” in response.

“I know you have some,” Jongin said quickly. “I don’t, and I need some.”

“Why?” his sister asked in disbelief. “Why don’t you have your own?”

“They’re expired! Please just lend me some.”

“I don’t want them back when you’re done with them,” the girl grumbled, and there was the sound of her moving, before Jongin thanked her and her door was closed. Kyungsoo jumped back onto Jongin’s bed, trying to act innocent. Fortunately, his wide eyes allowed for this fairly easily. Jongin sidled back into the room without looking suspicious of the other, and held up his hand to show what it was he had retrieved from his noona.

“Here,” he said, tossing the objects at Kyungsoo. They landed on the bed in front of him, and Kyungsoo recognized them to be condoms. Then Jongin went fishing under his bed and pulled out a box of condoms, tossing them in the garbage. “I’ve had those ones since last year,” he admitted. “But these ones are okay.” He gathered up the ones on the bed and dumped them in his nightstand’s drawer. “Do you think I’ll need to buy more any time soon?”

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows. “There was what, like six? I’d say you’ll need more soon.” Jongin’s mouth fell open, and then he swallowed thickly.

“Really?” he breathed, and Kyungsoo’s heart stuttered as he realized what he had just implied. He nodded, though, his lips, and pulled Jongin onto the bed with him. After a few moments, he was taking out one of the condoms Jongin had just put away. “Are you sure you want-”

“Stop asking me that,” Kyungsoo ordered, pulling his shirt over his head. “It’s making me question how much you want this. I like this. It’s fun. And I wish you’d been my first so I could’ve been doing this all year instead of wanting to die.”

Jongin paused, looking up at him, shocked. “Don’t say things like that. That’s not funny.”

“I wasn’t joking,” Kyungsoo muttered. “Forget I said anything.” A second later, his world lurched as Jongin threw him under him, and began kissing him softly, completely lacking any urgency.

“You’re slowly killing me, Do Kyungsoo,” he murmured. “I’m not sure how you do it, but you do. Very well.”

“Am I supposed to apologize?” Kyungsoo asked, unsure of what Jongin was telling him. “It’s been a really crappy day, Jongin, and I recently have discovered how much I like having with you. So I think we should do that, for the rest of the day maybe, to make up for how terrible I felt earlier.”

Jongin chuckled, and moved to grab his lube from under the bed. Kyungsoo wondered what other things he had down there, and made a mental note to check sometime. But then he decided he lacked the patience for that, and rolled over the boy, off the bed, and crouched down to see what awaited him.

“Yah! What are you doing?” Jongin cried as Kyungsoo’s hand went under the bed. He scooped out a small variety of things, mostly tubes of varying lubricants, but also a couple s.

“What do you need this for?” Kyungsoo teased his boyfriend as the boy blushed. “And why do you have like a hundred lubes here?”

“There’s not a hundred,” Jongin protested. “And they’re all different.” Kyungsoo held each one up for Jongin to explain. “That one’s silicone-based. You can use less of that one and it works really well. Those ones are water-based, which are cheapest and stuff, and they don’t destroy condoms. A couple are flavoured…”

“Strawberry,” Kyungsoo read aloud, before shaking the bottle. “This one seems to be the most used.” Jongin bit his lip, eyes avoiding Kyungsoo. “Was it her or you who liked it?”

“W-what?”

“Your ex,” Kyungsoo said. “I’m not stupid, Jongin. I know you’ve been with girls before. I’m sure not everyone one of them was a strawberry fan. So either your girlfriend was, and she used it a lot, or you are, and you used it on lots of girls. I don’t care. I’m sure it must be nice to have so many girls want to sleep with you all the time.”

“It’s not like that,” Jongin said weakly. “And I don’t like that stuff, I think it’s gross. It was this girl I was with, two years ago now or something. She was older and she was seriously -crazed. I haven’t touched that bottle since. It just kinda got lost in the others, I guess. I was never really in to doing oral on girls,” he confessed. “And this is all really embarrassing to talk about, by the way.”

“Why? I think it’s interesting.” Jongin smiled, looking slightly uncomfortable, but Kyungsoo meant it. He knew Jongin had a history, and Jongin knew all about the few times Kyungsoo had had . Maybe Kyungsoo didn’t want the details of every time for Jongin, but it was at least nice to have him acknowledge the fact that his had been other places. “Anyways, if you don’t like this lube,” he said, tossing the strawberry stuff back under the bed. “Which one do you like?”

“I’m not an expert on this, you know,” Jongin huffed, still red-faced. Kyungsoo waited. “I dunno. I used that silicone one once, but we sort of used way too much, and it was really messy. We had to stop and clean it up and try again. It was awkward.”

“I’ll bet,” Kyungsoo said. “Let’s use this, then. And not make a mess. You can tell me how much I’ll need.” Jongin gave a nod, and Kyungsoo kicked all the things back under the bed, except the one bottle he held on to, and then climbed on top of Jongin. Jongin started undressing while they kissed, and when his clothes were removed, a thought occurred to Kyungsoo. “Key said something about, um, me being inside you instead of the other way around… but he didn’t explain… Why is that a big deal?”

“You were talking to him about us having ?” Jongin pulled back, immediately looking irritable.

“He forced it out of me. Answer the question.”

Jongin, scowling, explained. “I dunno, usually the one who takes the other is the dominant one. Which you definitely are, even if I have more experience than you. Letting you take me, he probably sees it as me submitting to you. What exactly did you tell him?”

“Nothing,” Kyungsoo said indifferently. “Just that we slept together. And then he got all mad and asked a million questions and stuff. Do this for me,” he added, handing Jongin the bottle. Jongin uncapped it and poured a tiny amount on Kyungsoo’s fingers. “Is that enough?”

“Yes,” Jongin assured, closing and tossing the bottle. As Kyungsoo moved down on him, Jongin said, “Wait – is Key the one who brought up the whole thing? Did he tell you to break up with me?”

“No, I made that decision for myself.”

“But he – it was him, wasn’t it? He made you all doubtful of me,” Jongin guessed. “I swear he’s trying to get between us. He likes you, I can tell.”

“Yeah, well, who am I having with here?” Kyungsoo reminded him. “Neither of us are gonna enjoy this if you’re so busy worrying about a guy whose I don’t want. And the whole point of having is to enjoy it, so can we?”

“Well, aren’t you thirsty?” Jongin . “Fine. Hurry up down there; I’m missing your lips already.”

“

Baekhyun decided to walk over to Chanyeol’s house when he got home, even though it was cold and slippery and Chanyeol would probably tell him off for it, because he wasn’t “being careful”. Sometimes it annoyed Baekhyun how overprotective Chanyeol could be, as if Baekhyun were a baby who couldn’t take care of himself. He knew it was because he worried, and because he’d almost lost him before, but surely Chanyeol didn’t really think Baekhyun couldn’t safely do anything on his own. (Apparently, he did.)

Since he was so busy thinking about all this, he did end up wiping out on the sidewalk when he wasn’t paying attention to where he was putting his feet and slid on a patch of mucky ice, falling on his . This frustrated him. If I wasn’t focusing so much on how Chanyeol treats me like a child, I wouldn’t have had this problem! Worse, he ended up getting his pants covered in slush, and scraped the palm of his hand. Even if the mud wasn’t a dead giveaway, Chanyeol would notice the injury and definitely freak out on him now.

When he reached Chanyeol’s house, he pulled his jacket sleeve down to hide his hand, and then knocked on the door. There was nothing he could do about his pants. Chanyeol answered the door, face lighting up at the sight of the smaller.

“Hi ‘Yeollie.”

“Hey! What are you doing here?”

“I came to hang out with your mom,” Baekhyun said seriously, before cracking a smile. “Let me inside.” Chanyeol stepped aside and Baekhyun passed him, and Chanyeol looked out to his driveway, noticing the lack of a car.

“Did you walk here?” Chanyeol wondered.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nodded. He pulled off his shoes, and then his pants. Everyone in Chanyeol’s house had seen him before; they’d known him since he was a kid, he was as comfortable undressing here as he was at his own home. Chanyeol closed the door and then turned around, seeing Baekhyun removing his pants.

“Woah, woah, woah! You’re in a hurry, aren’t you? My family is home, you know,” Chanyeol told him.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Oh please. I’m not taking my clothes off for you. I slipped in the slush on the way here, my pants are all dirty. I’m fine,” he added quickly, seeing the concern in Chanyeol’s face appearing immediately. Baekhyun clenched his fist.

“I’ll throw those in the wash, then,” Chanyeol said. “You’ll have to go without pants for an hour or so, but we can find something to do until then.” Baekhyun winked.

“I’ll be in your room,” he said mock-seductively, shedding his jacket.

An hour later while lying in his bed, all of their clothing discarded now, Chanyeol noticed the scrape on Baekhyun’s hand when he tried to hold it and the boy winced. Baekhyun had washed it up in the bathroom before Chanyeol had come upstairs, but it was still stinging.

“Is this from falling on your way here?” Chanyeol murmured, kissing it carefully. “You need to be more careful.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun sighed. Chanyeol pressed his lips to the top of Baekhyun’s head, and Baekhyun’s eyes fluttered shut. He might have dozed off for a while, laying comfortably on Chanyeol’s chest. But eventually, he was awake again, and decided to bring up their friend’s situation to the other.

“You remember when we started high school, and Kris hung out with all those older kids, like Heechul and stuff, and they wanted you to be part of their group?” Baekhyun mumbled. Chanyeol made a sound to show his attentiveness. “But you loved this dorky loser that none of them liked.”

“He really was a dorky loser,” Chanyeol agreed. Baekhyun snorted.

“Still am,” Baekhyun said. “If Kris hadn’t split from them… Who would you have chosen?”

“You,” Chanyeol answered immediately. “Do you doubt that?”

“Not really,” Baekhyun told him. “Just wondering. It wasn’t fair, for them to make you choose. I’m glad we didn’t become part of their group. Your friends should support you and who you love.”

“This isn’t about Jongdae, is it?” Chanyeol wondered suddenly. “Him and that Joonmyun guy. You think I’m gonna make him choose?”

“No,” Baekhyun shook his head. “It could be, I guess. I was just thinking about… how I would never want to do that to someone else. I mean, I don’t know just what it was like for you, but for me… I really felt like crap, ‘Yeol. It’s not something I can just forget. Even now, I always feel like people hate me, and they only put up with me because of you…”

It was the second time today he was confessing this. But he supposed that, since he’d found out about Jongin and Kyungsoo, he couldn’t help comparing himself to them. Kyungsoo, the boy no one really liked, and Jongin, who everyone liked. But even Jongin wouldn’t tell his own friends about Kyungsoo. Chanyeol, of course, wasn’t like that; he flaunted his love for Baekhyun, and challenged anyone who questioned or doubted it. But maybe Chanyeol was the only one who liked Baekhyun, and everyone else just hated him. Just like Kyungsoo. Would Chanyeol ever get tired of him? Was Chanyeol ever embarrassed from him? Would he compromise his position for Baekhyun, or, if it came down to it, would Baekhyun be the one to lose Chanyeol?

“No one hates you,” Chanyeol said firmly. “Maybe some people don’t like you, but who cares? You can’t please everyone. The people who matter love you. I love you, our friends love you. You’re not a burden or anything. It might have been difficult at first, but that was a short-lived thing. We all like you, Baek. Life wouldn’t be nearly as fun without you.” Baekhyun felt his eyes watering, and couldn’t hold back his tears, though he wished he could. Chanyeol’s hands went to his hair, petting him softly. “Don’t cry. I love you, you know that? I do not care about anything else in this world. I mean, I do. But, if I didn’t have anything else, I wouldn’t care.” His fingers moved to Baekhyun’s chin, forcing the boy to look up at him. All his facades had been torn away from his face, and Baekhyun could see the pure, raw Chanyeol that only he ever knew. “I wouldn’t be here if you died a few years ago. I mean it. They would have locked me in a ward, or I’d be in the hospital, or I’d by buried right beside you. So don’t you think you aren’t loved, or that you don’t mean something to me.”

“I know,” Baekhyun choked. “Just… I worry about it sometimes.”

“Well, don’t,” Chanyeol told him. “I’ve never doubted my feelings for you.” He pulled Baekhyun up to him easily, and kissed him lightly. “Why are you thinking about that, anyway? You sure this isn’t about Jongdae? I mean, it’s up to him who he likes. I won’t get between them. Do you think Joonmyun feels the way you do?”

“Maybe,” Baekhyun said. Maybe the boy did. But it was Kyungsoo he was worrying about here. “I was… there’s someone else though.”

“Huh? Who are we talking about now?” Chanyeol looked confused and slightly scared. “Like, someone else in this situation, or someone else who likes you?”

“No, no,” Baekhyun said, smiling. “Well, if someone likes me, I don’t know or care. You don’t have competition.” Chanyeol sighed in relief. “I mean…”

“Yixing? I know he doesn’t care what we think of him.”

“No, not him. It’s – Jongin.” Chanyeol frowned, and for some reason, Baekhyun’s chest felt tight. It wasn’t his secret, he wouldn’t face the consequences. But he was still afraid of Chanyeol’s reaction. He took a deep breath, and went on. “Jongin is dating someone.”

“Really? Since when?”

Baekhyun almost laughed at Chanyeol’s short attention span. He’d already seemed to have forgotten that they were talking about their friends dating people Chanyeol didn’t approve of. Now he was just excited that Jongin was dating someone.

“I dunno, a while,” Baekhyun said. “But he’s dating Kyungsoo.”

Chanyeol went from looking excited to scowling in about two seconds. “Do Kyungsoo? Seriously? I knew it. Of all the people-”

“Chanyeol! Gosh, have you not listened to anything I’ve been saying? There’s a reason he hasn’t told any of us, and it’s because that’s how you react! You know what he’s going through, can you not even try to be understanding?”

“Yeah, but Kyungsoo?”

Baekhyun pushed himself up off Chanyeol. “Seriously? People said the same thing about me when it was us. Jongin likes him, okay? If he’s happy, who cares who it is?”

“But what does he even see in him?!” Chanyeol argued. Baekhyun hit his shoulder, hard. “Hey!”

“Stop being such a terrible friend!” Baekhyun cried. “You’re just going to make him miserable! He can’t even openly be in a relationship with someone he likes because his friends don’t approve. If you don’t like Kyungsoo, you don’t date him! But don’t make them feel like crap for loving each other, and being happy.” Baekhyun felt his tears returning, but these tears were from anger, frustration. “You of all people should understand, Chanyeol!”

Silence fell, and it was unbearable. Finally, Chanyeol spoke up, and his voice was so small. “Is this coming between us, Baek?”

“It might,” Baekhyun choked. “We went through the same thing, but it happens to someone else and it’s not okay? I don’t care if you don’t like Kyungsoo. That’s not up to you.”

“You’re taking Jongin’s side, then,” Chanyeol said quietly. “And Kyungsoo’s.”

“I’m on Kyungsoo’s side because we’re the exact same. And you’re either with him, or you’re against me. You can be an to your own friends, or you can grow up and get over yourself, and not make the stupid choice that people made against you.”

Chanyeol his lips, inhaling deeply and looking away. Then he sat up, enveloping Baekhyun in his arms. Baekhyun stayed unmoving while Chanyeol ran his arms slowly up and down his back.

“I’m not losing you because of Kyungsoo,” he said slowly. “If… Jongin is dating Kyungsoo, fine. If you think it’s the same way with them that it was with us… I can see it, I guess. Okay? I’m not gonna – treat him differently, or anything. It’s okay with me. I mean, maybe he has crappy taste, but that’s – fine, I guess.”

Finally, Baekhyun hugged him back. “Good. But don’t just support them because I said so, do it because you really do. You can understand that if they’re happy, they don’t need your approval, right?”

Chanyeol nodded. “Yeah, I know. He really does have bad taste, though.”

“Just because you don’t like him, doesn’t mean Jongin can’t,” Baekhyun noted. “Lots of people don’t like me. That doesn’t affect how you feel about me, right?”

“No, I don’t care about those people. I love you.” Then Chanyeol pulled back, eyes widening. “Oh.” Baekhyun thought he might be blinded by the light bulb coming on in the other’s head. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it? Alright. Fine then, you win. If Jongin loves Kyungsoo the way I love you, then I guess that’s good for him?”

“Good job,” Baekhyun teased, pressing their mouths together. “I’m glad we cleared that up.”

A while later, he pulled out his phone, texting Jongin.

“Chanyeol’s good. Kris is all yours now.”

“

The rest of the week went well. No more break-ups, no more arguments, no discussions. Kyungsoo didn’t bring Kris up to Jongin again, trusting the boy not to need another reminder. Sitting at his usual lunch table, he noticed Baekhyun and Chanyeol looking his way from time to time, and knew they were both in on it now. He tried to ignore them.

On Thursday, he sat listening to his friends chatting away as usual. Sehun was talking again, and Kyungsoo wondered how things were between him and Yixing. Sehun hadn’t mentioned him at all the entire week, so Kyungsoo guessed they were off right now. Key never made any suggestion that he was dating or even had interest in anyone else, and Kyungsoo thought about how Jongin had said Key liked him. But Key didn’t look at him in a lovey-dovey kind of way, and he did nothing else to suggest that he might like Kyungsoo, so he didn’t worry about it. His boyfriend was just being jealous.

Joonmyun, however, brought up Jongdae on occasion, now that his crush on the boy was in the open. And apparently, the two of them would be spending the next week together.

“Wait, what?” Kyungsoo asked when no one else did. He really should pay attention more; apparently he was the only one out of the loop here.

“We’re going on a trip next week, Kyungsoo,” Joonmyun said. “I’ve told you like a million times about this. There’s a school trip to Europe. I’m going, he’s going. Lots of other people are going. Kris is going, joy. None of you are going because you all .”

Kyungsoo hadn’t even known about this trip. And Joonmyun had supposedly mentioned it before. Oops.

“When is it?” he asked.

“We leave tomorrow morning. We come back the following Sunday. It’s like nine days. You probably wouldn’t even notice that I was gone.”

Kyungsoo nodded absently. Nine days, and Kris would be going on the trip too?

Later, in art class, while Kyungsoo was getting himself paints and brushes, he spoke quietly to Jongin, who was busy doing the same.

“Have you talked to him?” he said under his breath, knowing the boy hadn’t.

“I was planning to tomorrow, after school.”

“He’s going to Europe tomorrow morning,” Kyungsoo said, frowning. Was Jongin not aware of this?

Jongin’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah! Crap, I forgot about that.”

“So will you talk to him today, then?”

Jongin shook his head. “He’d be pissy if I told him right before leaving. It’d ruin the whole trip for him, and he wouldn’t forgive me. When he comes back.” Kyungsoo huffed, exhaling heavily out his nostrils. “Don’t worry. Just think, we’ll have a whole week we won’t have to hide.”

Kyungsoo wasn’t so convinced. He went back to his table with Key, frustrated.

“What’s up?” Key asked, noticing his mood change.

“Jongin’s being annoying again,” Kyungsoo explained. “Putting crap off again.”

“’Crap’ being Kris?”

“Yeah.” Kyungsoo sighed. “Kris is going on a trip tomorrow, conveniently the day Jongin was ‘planning’ on talking to him. He said he forgot, but I don’t really believe him. Whatever.”

“Sorry, ‘Soo,” Key said sympathetically. “I hope he figures his out soon.”

Kyungsoo’s heart felt heavy, and he watched across the room as Jongin talked happily to Kris, like nothing in the world was wrong.

“Me too.”