Even if he had prepared to get the confrontation over and done with as soon as he could, Jinki didn’t manage to encounter Kibum until lunchtime. And the blonde really couldn’t have chosen a worse moment to find him as Minho was right by his side, stealing quick kisses from a flustered and pink faced Jinki as often as he could. He didn’t mind although it was slightly embarrassing because he loved the other too much to deprive him of showing his affection after so long being rejected. And it was kind of nice to feel those soft, heavenly lips on his own, making him forget his surroundings every time.

And it was because one of these kisses that Jinki didn’t notice Kibum enter the cafeteria, his eyes almost instantly finding the couple and a bored Jonghyun at the usual corner table, which hadn’t been used by the three best friends in forever. When Minho pulled back, Jinki's gaze met the murderous glare of Kibum and he swallowed nervously. The other didn’t stomp up to him and start yelling though, as he had half expected, instead he his heel, leaving his tray at the counter, and furiously stalked out of the room.

Jinki and Minho exchanged glances and Jonghyun fiddled with his fingers anxiously, having tensed up as soon as he had caught sight of the other blonde. The oldest got up, squeezing Minho’s hand in reassurance and patting Jonghyun's shoulder to make him relax his pose, wondering slightly what had happened between him, Kibum and Taemin. The boy had not spoken to Jonghyun unless he absolutely had to and Kibum hadn’t kept in contact with any of them for the past two days he had been told by a sullen white-blonde. He realised he should have asked more and try to help, but he had been too occupied with showing Minho his real feelings to remember.

“Wait here,” he murmured before he made his way to the exit and Minho nodded, worriedly glancing at the door Kibum had disappeared through.

Jinki sent the two at the table a small smile and a wave before leaving the cafeteria as well, trying to calm the snakes twisting in his stomach.

It took him twenty minutes to find his blond friend. He was just on the verge of giving up, since his lunch ended in five minutes, and decided to seek the other out after his last class ended when he found him in an one-sided argument with Taemin inside an empty classroom he passed by chance. His ears had picked up the sounds of a hissing voice and he had curiously made his way to the slightly open door, peeking inside.

“-continue this when you’re practically doing the same thing to the one who fell in love with you?!” Jinki caught the boy in the middle of angrily hissing to a stone-faced Kibum, waving his arms in exasperation.

The blonde just glared angrily at the floor, his arms crossed tightly while biting his lip in what seemed to be an attempt not to cry and Jinki decided he needed to stop this. Taemin and Kibum shouldn’t be fighting.

“Taemin?” he said softly as he entered, closing the door behind him.

Both of them snapped their heads in his direction, one looking guiltily surprised, the other even more pissed off and ready to cry.

“I think that’s quite enough,” he continued, briefly biting his lip. “You said that you were bad at handling the love lives of people, if I remember correctly.” The boy grimaced but remained quiet. Jinki turned to Kibum, taking a deep breath and giving him a pleading look. “Kibum… I really need to speak to you,” he said in a low voice. A flicker of sadness and guilt passed the blonde’s eyes before they hardened again. “I should have spoken to you a long time ago, but I was a coward. Can we please just sit down and talk?”

Kibum took a deep breath and approached him slowly, his every step seeming calculated. Jinki knew what was coming but he was not going to stop it, even though it slightly scared him. He had to do this… for all of them, he thought as the blonde stopped right in front of him, searching his face for a moment before closing his eyes. Jinki did too, frowning as he squeezed his eyes shut, waiting...

And Kibum punched him.

Jinki heard how Taemin drew in a sharp gasp as he fell to the floor and wanted to go to the boy to tell him it was okay, he hadn’t expected anything else. However, he ignored it in favour of fixing his blond friend with a hard stare, standing up.

“You’re the worst ing friend ever,” Kibum hissed, his eyes narrowed, sadness underlying all the anger.

“I am,” Jinki agreed softly. “But I won’t do anything about it.”

Growling, the blonde launched himself at him again and his fist connected with his jaw a second time. Tears sprung to his eyes at the pain but this time he stood his ground stubbornly.

“What were you trying to do Jinki?” Kibum yelled at him furiously, pushing his chest hard and making him stumble backwards, knocking over a few chairs in the process. “Did you want to make me a laughing stock?! Were you behind all those guys during high school as well?! Making them take advantage of me because I’m easy?!”

Suddenly anger started flaring up in Jinki even though he knew this was just an outlet for everything that had happened to the younger. Did Kibum, his friend since daiperhood, really think he would be such a disgusting person to do that to someone else?! Really?! All Jinki had ever done was trying to take care of and protect him the best he could, even at his own expense, and now he was being accused of being behind it all?!

“I bet you’ve had a really good laugh all these years, haven’t you?!” A stray tear ran down Kibum’s cheek and he dragged the back of his hand over it angrily to get it away. “I can’t believe I trusted you!”

He raised his fist to land another punch on Jinki, which he managed, but this time Jinki hit back. As much as it pained him to do it, he let his knuckles connect with Kibum’s cheekbone, making the other let out a small whimper before glaring at him with even more anger. And suddenly they were in the middle of a fistfight, throwing punches blindly and letting tears run down their faces freely while Kibum screamed angry words at him, Taemin watching worriedly from a distance, frozen to his spot in fear.

Eventually they stopped, sporting blooming bruises, their clothes dishevelled, lips cut and noses bleeding. They collapsed on the ground beside each other, panting and still crying while staring at the other. Silence seemed to stretch out forever, no one having anything to say anymore. Then, as if they had a silent mutual agreement, both of them reached out at the same time, hugging the other close.

“I’m sorry Kibum,” Jinki whispered into the blonde’s shoulder, voice hitching. “I really am.”

Kibum let out a watery, humourless laugh and tightened his arms around his waist. “I’m sorry too Hyung.”

Jinki’s heart warmed at hearing the other use ‘Hyung’ again. They were okay. It would be fine.

“I’m sorry,” Kibum choked out through a sob. “I’ve been such a jerk and it’s okay for you to be angry at me and hate me and never speak to me again.”

Jinki let out a soft laugh, sniffling slightly. “I was never angry at you Kibum nor have I once felt hate towards you. You’re one of the most important people in my life.”

He could feel the other’s tears wetting the shoulder of his shirt, but he couldn’t care less. If anyone was allowed to do that at the moment, it was Kibum.

“I missed you, Hyung,” the younger mumbled. “And, dammit, I’ve been so worried about you! I’m sorry I am so stubbornly proud.”

Jinki pulled back to dry the other’s cheeks, smiling at him softly. “It’s okay. I was really worried about you too.”

Kibum smiled back weakly, drying Jinki's cheeks in turn.

“We really are such idiots,” he sighed and both of them chuckled.

Jinki stood up then and held out a hand for the other to take, helping him to his feet. Kibum took it gratefully and pulled himself up before they made their way over to a still frozen but now teary-eyed Taemin. The two older exchanged a brief, amused glance before starting to laugh. The boy frowned at them in dismay and confusion.

“We’re bad Hyungs, aren’t we Taem?” Kibum chuckled, reaching out and ruffling his black hair before pulling him into a tight hug.

“I hate you both,” Taemin said in a choked voice. “You scared me to death.”

“Sorry,” Jinki apologised sheepishly, but when the boy looked at them again he was smiling from ear to ear.

The three of them skipped the rest of the day, spending their time in their usual café and talking about everything and anything like they used to, laughing and teasing. All of them were relieved that they were back to being best-friends-like-brothers again, because at the end of the day those were the people that always stayed and cared no matter what.

However, Jinki still couldn’t help but get a little nervous when he received a worried text from Minho after classes had ended, asking where he was and if everything was okay. He glanced at Kibum who gave him a reassuring nod.

“It’s okay, Hyung,” he said, looking guilty. “I’m not going to keep on being angry when I clearly am wrong.”

“And it was just because of your pride anyway,” Taemin added, sticking his tongue out at the blonde who grimaced at him before they both laughed.

“O-okay, then…” Jinki stood up hesitantly. “I think I need to go back. I still have to talk to Minho about... things…”

His two younger friends smiled at him as he put on his coat and Kibum stood up to hug him tightly again, just before he was about to say his goodbyes.

“Thank you for caring about me so much, Hyung,” he whispered.

Jinki smiled and hugged him back. “Always,” he whispered back.

Then he waved and quickly made his way outside, sprinting back to the dorms even though it made him slip and almost fall a few times. But he was too happy to simply walk, grinning widely at anyone who passed him.

He had his best friend back and he was going to make everything okay again. He was going to finally explain to Minho, Kibum was supporting him, Taemin could go back to being annoyingly bratty and Jonghyun would continue being a good friend. Life couldn’t be better for him at the moment, he thought as he stopped outside Minho and Jonghyun's room door, knocking a little too hard in his elation and wincing since his knuckles were still hurting after his and Kibum's fight.

“Jinki?! What happened?!” Minho asked with wide eyes as soon as he had opened the door and saw his dishevelled clothes, cuts and bruises.

He smiled at him cheerfully, despite the soreness he started to feel in his cheeks. “I sorted it out with Kibum.”

The other looked incredulous. “By hurting yourself?”

“Well,” Jinki laughed, “he punched me.”

“WHAT?!” the taller nearly shouted and immediately got an angry frown. “Like hell he did! I’m gonna-”

Jinki put his hands on Minho's chest to stop him from running out of the room and go find Kibum.

“I punched him back, so it’s okay.”

The other looked even more shocked, gaping at him and blinking rapidly.

“We probably look the same clothes and bruise wise,” Jinki continued still smiling and Minho continued gaping at him in disbelief.

“You hit Kibum?” he asked slowly while frowning again, like the thought was completely foreign to him. He raised his hands to gently cup Jinki's cheeks, letting his thumb brush over the bruise on his left cheekbone lightly. “Since when did you start punching people?”

“Since I decided I was going to fight for the person I love,” Jinki couldn’t speak above a whisper, leaning into the touch.

Minho gave him a tender smile, radiating love, and Jinki took it all in, biting his cut lip hesitantly before putting his hands on the other’s shoulders to steady himself as he leaned up and kissed his smiling lips. Minho made a pleasantly surprised sound and let his hands caress down Jinki's sides to land on his hips and pull him closer, closing the door with his foot. Jinki let out an embarrassed gasp when he almost stumbled forward, his cheeks warming as Minho chuckled into their kiss while burying his hands into the back pockets of Jinki’s jeans, keeping him in place. The older blushed even more and pulled back to take a calming breath, his heart about to explode, but Minho didn’t give him more than a nanosecond before he connected their lips again. And Jinki really couldn’t complain, letting himself be dragged over to the other’s bed and pushed down on it.

“I love you,” Minho breathed when he released Jinki's lips for much needed air.

Jinki really didn’t need to blush a darker shade of red but the taller’s words made it impossible for him not to. His heart jumped as fingers gently the bare skin of his waist, his shirt being pushed up slightly. He thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest with how hard it was pounding.

“I…” He lost his train of thought as the hands continued to move, one going down to his thigh and pulling it up, squeezing it gently, while soft lips were pressed to his warm, red cheek. “I-I… thought…” he let out a rushed breath as the hand on his thigh continued to gently caress back and forth as lips travelled down his neck. “We w-were… going to t-talk?”

He could feel Minho smile against his skin. “Yeah,” the taller whispered, leaving goose bumps where his breath hit Jinki's skin. “Let’s do that later.”

Jinki couldn’t find it in himself to protest as he got lost in gentle touches and loving kisses, wondering why it ever took him so long to claim this young man as his own.

A/N: No, they didn't have ... just a lot of cuddling and touching *wink, wink* hahaha

I really don't have much to say... next chapter is the last one, I'm sad to say :( I'm gonna miss writing this story, I liked it a lot and I love all of you readers!

So, lots of love!!! <3<3<3<3

Bye~!