The next morning Jinki stirred awake to angry, hushed voices talking. He peeled the cover off, blinking his eyes open and grimacing as the sun shone through the window straight at his face. The world swayed slightly as he sat up and his head was pounding somewhat horribly. He grabbed it with a groan and the voices stopped abruptly at the sound he let out.

The world a little blurry around the edges and his eyes feeling like sand paper, Jinki looked up to see Taemin and Kibum watching him. His heart flew up his throat at the furious but worried glare he received from the blonde as the boy quickly made his way over, his expression turning from annoyed to worried.

“Hyung! Are you okay?” he asked when he reached him, handing over the glass of water he had put on his bedside table.

“I-” Jinki croaked hoarsely as he took the glass from the boy, glancing at Kibum again and saw the worried glint in his eyes still there. He frowned slightly, a little confused. “Yeah.”

“I told you not to drink that much! What happened?”

He admitted he loved Minho. He completely disregarded the plan. They kissed again. That’s what happened.

Jinki bit his lip, his stomach twisting into knots. He couldn’t say that.

“I-I just really didn’t keep track of how much I drank,” he mumbled evasively.

Taemin sighed and Kibum rolled his eyes.

“And even when you’re drunk you still keep being a manipulative jerk, Lee Jinki, making Minho take care of you!” the older of his friends hissed venomously.

Jinki's eyes widened, reflecting absently that Kibum refused to refer to him as ‘Hyung’, and Taemin fidgeted uncomfortably, fumbling with the hem of his shirt.

“H-he t-told you?” Jinki managed to stammer out, terrified of what the tall underclassman had let out.

“Yes, he did! He told me how you stumbled over to him acting really drunk and how he needed to take you to your dorm because he thought you would fall asleep in the snow otherwise and freeze to death!” Kibum said angrily, crossing his arms and glaring from one to the other. Jinki didn’t know why he seemed to be angry with Taemin at the moment and he didn’t really get the chance to ask either. “Of course he doesn’t know you can hold your alcohol well! How convenient for you!”

Jinki blinked at him, relief spreading through him. Minho hadn’t told him about the kiss then?

“And then the kiss!”

Never mind.

He stood up, holding up his hands in surrender and trying to calm the other down. “Kibum, I-I’m sorry. I-”

“I had to sit and watch the two of you make out in that godforsaken video! It was horrible!” Jinki blinked again, uncomprehendingly. So Minho hadn’t told him about the kiss last night? The blonde his heel, stomping towards the door. “But he said he was giving me a chance, so I won’t let you ruin this anymore, Lee Jinki!”

“That moron,” Taemin growled when Kibum had opened the door, making it hit the wall in his anger. “He came here because he was worried and then turned everything annoying! Can’t he make up his fricking mind?!”

Jinki continued to stare at the open door where Kibum had disappeared, feeling beyond puzzled, while the boy stomped after their friend. He could hear Taemin calling in irritation once he was out of sight and decided to get up to follow them quickly, not wanting his two younger friends to start fighting in the middle of the hallway.

He wobbled over to the still open door, rubbing his temples to make the headache go away, and managed to take all but three steps when a tall figure quickly made its way straight towards him, blocking the way.

“Minho,” Jinki squeaked in terror, glancing worriedly at Kibum who was speed walking away from a fuming Taemin, almost at the end of the corridor. However, the other two hadn’t seemed to notice Minho’s presence and he barely managed to let out a sigh of relief before the taller was right beside him, grabbing his arm in a tight grip and pulling him in the opposite direction, not giving him time for any other thought. “W-wait! W-what?!”

Minho didn’t answer him. Instead he continued to drag him down the hallway until he reached a small common room at the end, into which he pushed a now wildly struggling Jinki and closed the door, turning the lock as well.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Jinki demanded, trying to sound stern but his voice quivered, giving away his nervousness. What was happening? Was Minho going to beat him up or something? He did seem a bit agitated.

He pushed the taller away to reach the door, struggling with the lock to escape. The door seemed to hate him, however, and the lock jammed up. He started to panic. This was not good.

“I’ll have you know this could be considered kidnapping! Let me go this-”

He cut off abruptly as Minho grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, pressing him up against the door and crashing their lips together forcefully. Jinki froze for a second, his mind exploding into million glittering confetti and ten million more questions. But soon his body took over and he felt himself soften in the other’s hands, kissing him back just as desperately and putting his arms around his neck to bring him closer. Minho let out a low hum, which sent vibrations through every single nerve in Jinki’s body, gently holding his face and making him let out a small gasp. Jinki could feel the other smile at the sound.

“It was you,” The taller breathed against his lips when they broke away for some air. “It’s you, right?”

Jinki was at a loss for words and could only stare at him dumbly in a daze, his cheeks red, the kiss wreaking havoc in his brain.

“Jinki, please tell me I’m right,” Minho whispered and pressed their foreheads together. Jinki closed his eyes, loving the feeling of how close they were. “Because that kiss was one of the best ones I’ve had and it’s okay if it wasn’t you but... if it was you it would make me so happy.”

“Wh-what?” Jinki breathed back confusedly, still not understanding a single thing.

“The campaign... the dark room… the kiss…” Minho murmured, letting their lips brush lightly after every sentence. “It wasn’t really clear in the video, but it did look a lot like you.”

“I-” he managed to squeak out, his heart beating as fast as the speed of light. He didn’t get farther as the other kissed him again and completely wiped his mind blank.

“Minho…” Jinki breathed when the other released him again to breathe.

“Mm?”

Their eyes locked and Jinki's insides went all warm and pink and fluffy, making a smile spread on his lips and Minho's as well. The taller cupped his cheek with one hand and nuzzled their noses together while the other wound around his back, pulling him flush against his body, before leaning his forehead against Jinki's again.

“Lee Jinki,” Minho breathed, “it hasn’t been easy but I love you.”

Jinki was sure he was going to burst of happiness hearing Minho's confession of love, which he felt extremely guilty for always cutting off. He wanted to laugh loudly, happily, and immediately tell everyone about this incredible feat. Minho loved him! Socially awkward, clumsy Jinki had someone who loved him! His friends would be so happy he finally had found someone. Jinki's thoughts faltered. His friends… Kibum…

“W-wait,” he stammered, pain stabbing his chest as he put his hands on Minho's and pushed him away gently but determinedly. The taller looked at him questioningly. “You were going to try it out with Kibum.”

Minho groaned. “Hyung, I don’t know how much more I have to do to make you realise that’s not going to work!”

“But Kibum-”

“I don’t want Kibum, Jinki!” he exclaimed in frustration making him flinch. “I love you! Why can’t you see it?!”

Jinki started panicking again, seriously on the verge of a heart attack and almost hyperventilating.

“No, this will never work!” he nearly shouted, scrambling to come up with an excuse. “You’re just in love with the idea of kissing me!”

Minho’s eyes flared up and he took a step back, looking incredulous. “I am not! Have you listened to anything I’ve said?!”

“This is so messed up,” Jinki mumbled, grabbing his head as his headache made itself known again. “This is not happening. This cannot be happening right now!”

“Hyung… Jinki,” Minho murmured softly, calming down at seeing the other’s distressed state, “if I was to be completely honest, I think you’re in love with me as well. So why are you fighting this? Why are you letting Kibum always get what he wants?”

“Because Kibum always gets what he wants,” he whispered, their high school years playing in his mind again, making him feel like the bastard Kibum thought he was. “And I don’t want him to be sad or hurt… too many people have hurt him… he doesn’t need it…”

“So, you’re going to hurt yourself for his sake?” the other was whispering now as well. When Jinki didn’t answer or look at him he continued. “Hyung, you know I’m not an inanimate object that can be tossed around, right? I have feelings and a heart, both of which are for you… why do you refuse it so much?”

Tears gathered in Jinki’s eyes and he bit his lip to stop to sob in his throat. He couldn’t do this. Not when Kibum still was very much in love with the same man he himself yearned for.

“Feelings come and go,” he said shakily, forcing himself to believe his own words. “This is just a small crush stemmed from a certain string of events. I’m sure if you spent even more time with Kibum you would realise how much better he is for you and fall irrevocably in love with him.”

Minho gave him an exasperated and crushed look. Jinki turned to avoid seeing the expression that cut right through his heart and to start fumbling with the lock again, managing to finally get the stupid door to open.

“Jinki-”

His chest ached at the pleading, almost broken tone of the other.

“And one more thing, Minho,” he cut him off mercilessly as he put his hand on the handle, staring at the door so as to not meet the other’s eyes, “I am not in love with you. I’m in love with the idea of the kiss.”

He didn’t give Minho a chance to reply or call him out on the lie as he bolted out the door and down the corridor, back to his and Taemin's room, locking the door behind him and sinking to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. He realised he was an idiot. A moron. A jerk even. He was hurting Minho time and again and he was starting to hate himself for doing it. But Kibum still had strong feelings for the tall underclassman and believed he could work it out with him and Jinki simply couldn’t take that away from his blonde best friend. Minho would heal, both of them would. They could move on.

But it sure didn’t feel like it at the moment, Jinki thought bitterly, trying to stifle his sobs by putting his fist in his mouth.

Taemin came back grumbling three hours later to find his Hyung sitting on the bed looking completely dishevelled and exhausted, staring with empty eyes out the window. The boy frowned, walking up to the side of the bed and making Jinki look at him by grabbing his chin and turning his head.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Jinki stared at him in silence for a few minutes, wondering himself exactly what was wrong. There was so much wrong with everything that it would be easier to answer what wasn’t wrong. The boy crossed his arms and started to tap his foot impatiently.

“I think I-I...” Jinki swallowed the hard lump in his throat while Taemin continued to tap his foot, his arms crossed as tightly as ever. “I think I m-might… actually… l-like Minho a bit more… than I s-should,” he continued in a trembling voice, tears blurring his vision again.

Taemin rolled his eyes. “Is this supposed to be surprising? Because it really is not,” he said before letting out a soft breath and relaxing his stance. “But I’m glad you finally faced it.”

“W-what do I do, Taem?” Jinki whispered, small droplets gliding down his cheeks silently. “I c-can’t take h-him away from K-Kibum.”

“Hyung,” he said softly and reached over to brush his tears away gently before he sat down on the bed beside him to put his arms around his waist, squeezing lightly and resting his chin on his shoulder. “I can’t say everything is going to be okay and I can’t tell you what to do either. I’m sorry it became this way, but you need to think really hard about how you’re going to proceed because right now you’re not just hurting yourself, but all of us. Even Jonghyun who is as obliviously stubborn as you.”

Jinki nodded weakly, not really getting the Jonghyun comment but letting it be. His brain hurt too much to try and make sense of anything that wasn’t clear.

“Okay,” he rasped out.

A/N: Hehe, uh... I don't really know what to say... I am just being taken away with this story and well, yeah... The last chapter needs work on it so I'll do that one of these days (yeah, right -.- I always say that but never do it)

And I promise that in the next chapter Jinki will stop being the idiot he is! So please wait just a little bit more! >_<

I hope you liked(?) this chapter where Jinki just makes an even bigger mess of everything, and I think I'll go start on the next one right now!

Yep!

Love you all!!

Bye~!<3