SBB 2016 Entry #24: Fugue and Variation (1/4)
Title: Fugue and Variation
Pairing: Jonghyun/Key, Jonghyun/Taemin, Jonghyun/Onew, Minho/Key
Rating: G
Genre: Friendship
Warnings: N/A
Final Word Count: 30,251
Chapter 1: Fugue
From Dubu: wake up, fucktard
Jonghyun jolts awake from the buzzing of his phone on his leg and snorts. Of course Jinki would have noticed.
To Dubu: bless ur soul,, u saved my life and my grades
Jonghyun sees Jinki look over at his phone and he sends a quick smile over his shoulder before turning back to his phone.
From Dubu: i’m not showing you my notes
To Dubu: i’ll leave ur notebook on your desk when I'm done then
Jinki waits for Jonghyun outside the door of their lecture hall and Jonghyun digs in his bag, “I nearly forgot, you left your charger.”
A grateful nod as Jonghyun drops the cord into Jinki's waiting hand. “Thanks, I forgot to charge my laptop last night too. Pills?”
“Frick-” Jonghyun breathes out a sigh of relief when Jinki pulls out the little container of pills he always carries for times like these, “thanks.”
“I have class, see you at home? I'll order something for dinner.”
“Okay.”
Jinki turns right; Jonghyun turns left.
Jonghyun dozes off during his next class and almost promptly receives a series of texts from Jinki:
From Dubu: wake up!!!
From Dubu: you're going to bed early tonight
From Dubu: and take notes
From Dubu: you have a test soon
To Dubu: gn……..
From Dubu: kim jonghyun don't you dare
To Dubu: gn……………….
Jonghyun doesn't fall asleep, though; he takes halfhearted notes and doodles his way through class. His last class done, he stops by the convenience store by their dorm because Jinki mentioned needing milk and he's kind of hungry himself. The cashier looks like a freshman; nervous, stressed out, tired. He's kind of cute though when he smiles hesitantly at Jonghyun, even if he does blink far too often than normal. Jonghyun kind of wants to take this kid home and feed him (the kid eyes the snacks Jonghyun just bought, practically salivating) and he kind of wants to brush his long hair and put it in a proper ponytail.
“Kid, pick anything in the shop, I'll buy it for you. You look hungry.”
The kid blinks up at him one two three four times in surprise and suspicion; when Jonghyun does nothing, he frowns. “Why?”
“You're kind of cute, and it's my roommate's money.”
The kid blushes at being called cute and then nods, smiling that perfect smile at Jonghyun. He leaves the register and quickly comes back with two banana milks and Jonghyun raises a brow.
“Is that all?”
“You said I could get anything-”
“No, but Jinki gave me a twenty, I planned to use half of it on you.”
The kid comes back with ten dollars worth of banana milk and Jonghyun resists the urge to ruffle his hair.
“You must really like banana milk.”
“I have a sweet tooth,” the kid shrugs as he scans Jonghyun's items. When their eyes meet he blinks one two three times and then bows quickly, “thanks, hyung.”
“Just Jonghyun,” Jonghyun drawls as he takes out his wallet and hands over the money, “thanks, kid.”
When he leaves the store, the kid is already opening his first little bottle of banana milk.
From Dubu: what are you hungry for?
To Dubu: anythign
To Dubu: i got that milk you were aksing for
From Dubu: learn to spell
To Dubu: consider this tho…….i dotn
Jonghyun ignores the buzzing of his phone in favor to enter their dorm building, flashing a quick grin at Younha, who buzzes him in without pause. He's quick to get to his shared room with Jinki; he kicks the door lightly and Jinki opens it almost immediately, surprise written on his features.
“How'd you get in, you left your ID.”
“Younha let me in.” Jonghyun brushes past Jinki to put the milk in the fridge, then collapses on the couch.
“I ordered pizza, is that good?”
“Great,” Jonghyun watches Jinki scratch his arm and then pull up his sleeve, look at the words written there and smile.
“Is that your babe?”
Jinki pulls down his sleeve again and nods, eyes squinting into crescents as he smiles, “they're such a babe,” he says, mostly to himself, then seems to remember Jonghyun is there and smiles wider, “the pizza should be here, I'll go down to get it.”
“What did your babe say?”
Jinki just rolls his eyes at Jonghyun and grabs the money he left by the door. “Want something from the vending machine?”
“A snapple, I don't care which, so long as-"
“It's not apple or green tea, I know. I'll be back soon.”
With Jinki gone, Jonghyun slouches further into the couch and closes his eyes. They're both graduating this year - he'll miss the simplicity of living with Jinki. Living alone would be strange - no, life without his “soulmate” would be so inexplicably foreign that Jonghyun didn't even want to think about it. He can barely get through an hour without Jinki, how could he live an entire life without him?
Because they've made life together work, it's a delicate and perfect balance, but it works. Jonghyun wakes Jinki up and makes them both breakfast and snacks for class, and Jinki takes care of dinner. When it's late and Jonghyun is still at his desk, Jinki pries him away from his music and gets him to bed. They both take care of the money for food and clothes, but Jonghyun does food shopping while Jinki does clothes shopping and laundry. Jinki remembers Jonghyun's pills for his anxiety and depression, and Jonghyun takes care of Jinki on the days where he can barely get out of bed. They can talk about everything to each other except soulmates, just because they need at least something for themselves - it all just works.
Jinki knocks on the door just then and Jonghyun hurries to open it, grabs the four bottles balancing on the pizza box and sets them on the coffee table.
“Four?”
“Snapple for you, and I knew you'd want water because you always eat hot food too early and complain about burning yourself. I just couldn't decide between sprite and lemonade.” Jinki sets the box next to their drinks and sits, taking a slice for himself without waiting for Jonghyun.
“Open my water?”
“Of course.”
They eat in relative silence; the tv is off because they can never agree on what to watch, and Jonghyun is trying to put a melody to the lyrics in his head when Jinki speaks. Without looking over, Jonghyun knows Jinki's smiling - that fond little grin that flirts with his lips when he thinks no one is watching.
“Remember when we met? You were so small and cute.”
“And then I met you...I'm still mourning the loss of my cuteness to this day.”
“Really? You stopped being cute because you met me?” Jinki takes Jonghyun's crust and takes a bite, raises a skeptical brow and rolls his eyes when Jonghyun nods.
“You made me into what I am today.” Jonghyun nods confidently and takes a delicate sip of his snapple while Jinki laughs.
“So I made you cute.”
Jonghyun nearly chokes, and Jinki just gives him a comforting pat on the back, smiling wide.
Then there's a sudden sting in his wrist and Jonghyun pulls up his sleeve, reads the words written there and snorts. In an elegant scrawl is “more paint and brushes, coffee, starbucks tmm 5”. And just above that in messy, almost unreadable scribble was a simple “banana milk", but it's crossed out now.
“Jjong, you full?” Jinki isn't looking at the marks on Jonghyun's arm and Jonghyun bites his lip to hide his appreciative smile.
“Yeah, you got it?”
Jinki nods, waves him away. “I know you've been having trouble on your piece, go finish.”
And he is having trouble, which is unusual; songwriting comes fairly easy to Jonghyun, but this one assignment had been giving him trouble ever since he'd gotten it. Write a song about a personal experience; choosing what to write about hadn't been hard, but what to write…
Jonghyun looks at what he has on his laptop again and sighs.
I need love belt
From my shoulders to my waist, wrap around me
On the love highway, a dangerous speed
I know, if we go like this, I’ll need an air bag
I need, if it’s like this, it’s a little dangerous
I don’t think I’ll crash but I’m nervous so hold me tight
Because of my selfishness, I always hurt you but forgive me, I’m sorry
It's good, it's more desperate and telling than his other songs, but he doesn't know how to finish, he has absolutely no idea what tune to give it. And he has only four days left to submit it. And at this rate, he won't finish it and he'll fail the assignment and the class and
“Breathe, Jjong. Breathe.” Jinki's there, voice low, one hand firm on Jonghyun's shoulder and the other rubbing soothing circles on his back. It helps, it always does, and Jonghyun opens his eyes (he doesn't remember clenching them shut) and the room is dimmer now, and he focuses on Jinki's soft murmurs, the quiet directions to breathe in and out, in and out.
Jinki's murmurs fade into quiet speech: “I met a cute person today, I think you'd like them. I was going to lunch and I wasn't looking where I was going, I think I was texting you? And I bumped into someone and they yelled at me, said I messed up their shot and if I broke their phone they'd kill me because there were so many things they had to paint on there. I said you can't take good pictures on an iPhone and they glared at me and showed me their gallery and said exactly ‘if you know how to use an iPhone, you can take good pictures, and I'm not a guy, so don't use masculine pronouns, okay?’ You would've just flirted with them if it were you - no, they wouldn't have gotten mad because you're too cute to get mad at.”
Jonghyun can practically feel Jinki relax when he lets out a quiet giggle. “What's their name?”
“I don't know, they stormed off all huffy when I apologized.”
“You smiled, didn't you?”
“They were cute, and what else could I do?”
“I met a babe today too, at the convenience store. The one by the dorms? I bought him snacks because he looked so hungry, but he only chose banana milk. He was really cute.”
“What's his name?”
“I kinda forgot to ask…”
Jinki snorts and pulls Jonghyun up from the desk. Instead of letting go of Jonghyun's hands when they're both face to face, Jinki smooths his thumbs across the back of Jonghyun's hands; they're still trembling. “Here, go to sleep. I'll finish up your work, other than the song.”
“I'm not tired-”
“Goodnight, Jjong.”
“...Night.”
When Jonghyun wakes up, he doesn't feel like going to class, so he doesn't. Jinki seems to realize he's going to skip and sighs, but he doesn't say anything, other than a simple, “have a good day.”
And it is: Jonghyun stretches out on the grass and heaves a sigh, all too content with the sun above him and the grass below him and maybe he'll get home early and cook dinner for him and Jinki. Something that Jinki likes, as a thank you. Or maybe, Jonghyun decides instead, he'll pick up something from Starbucks. Jinki loves Starbucks.
Or maybe he'll just do both-
“Can I draw you?” It's a blunt request from a sharp voice and Jonghyun startles from his drowsy state.
“What?”
“I need to draw something - just. Let me draw you.” There's a silent, desperate please in the request and Jonghyun nods. He sits up and is told to sit still, and then Jonghyun gets a good look at his painter.
They look like maybe a junior or a sophomore, a plain white shirt tucked into jeans and a pale blue button up open over it. Dark hair cut boyishly short, sharp eyes rimmed with thick liner, sharp cheekbones, pale pink lips. A total babe.
“Why do you need to draw me so badly?”
“Not you, anything. It - helps with the anxiety. Calms me down. I'm Kibum, by the way. They pronouns.” Kibum's hands tremble as they get their pencils and paper from their bag and Jonghyun nods.
“Me too. Not about the pronouns, just - the anxiety. Music calms me sometimes, but my roommate really helps.”
Kibum turns sharp eyes on Jonghyun and nods, a wry smile coming over their lips. “My roommate tries, but he doesn't really help. So I come out here and make art.”
It's quiet from then on; Jonghyun can literally see Kibum relax, their hands eventually stop trembling when they reach for another pencil, their breaths turn more steady, the stiffness in their shoulders disappears. Jonghyun keeps quiet even when those sharp eyes flick up at him and he tries to relax even though there are lyrics buzzing in his head.
“Kibum, do you have a pen?”
With an annoyed look, Kibum roots through their pencil case and tosses a pen and Jonghyun quickly inks the lyrics to his skin.
You’re my love belt, hold me tight
Hold me in this nervous world (please hold me)
You’re my love belt, you know I’m shaking with anxiety
Hold my hand
All he really needs now is a melody.
Kibum and Jonghyun part at just past four; Kibum's phone goes off and they gasp, quickly beginning to pack their stuff up. “I'm really sorry, I have a study date and I have to get ready, can I keep this? I want to finish it - let me take a picture of you?”
“Yeah, I guess-” Before he can even finish speaking, Kibum whips their phone up and takes a quick set of pictures before they give a hasty bow and leave.
From Dubu: buy me sweets!!!
To Dubu: omw
From Dubu: !!!!! :)))))
Jonghyun starts off for the convenience store, and he can't help but wish he'll see the kid from yesterday.
He's in luck; the same kid is hunched over the counter, drawing lazy patterns on the countertop and humming under his breath. He looks up and when he sees its Jonghyun, he smiles wide.
“Hi, hyung.” From the mischievous look in his eye, Jonghyun knows it's on purpose, so he just ignores the respectful tone.
“You're a freshman, right?” he asks as he dumps a handful of candy and gum on the counter.
“Yeah, I'm Taemin.” as he scans the items, Taemin keeps humming that song-
“What song is that?”
A surprised look that fades into sheepishness. “My…” Taemin rubs his arm with a faint smile.
“I like it.”
Jonghyun receives a soft, shy smile and a discount for his words.
And in fact, that song can't leave his head; the breathy high notes actually fit quite well with his song - Jonghyun puts the melody to the chorus and continues to improvise as he walks back to the dorms, recording the whole session.
To Younha: I have a song
To Younha: do u wanan sing with me
From Younha: sure, meet me at starbucks in an hour!
In an hour...Jonghyun checks the time (4:30) and begins to walk quicker. He's got a lot of work to do.
5:15 and he's at Starbucks with Younha; he's; he's nursing an iced americano as she pours over his lyrics, headphones in as she listens to the quick sample recording he'd done.
“I like it,” she says at length, “you'll definitely pass with something like this.”
“When can you come record?”
“Tomorrow good? I want to practice it first.”
“That's fine.” Jonghyun takes another long sip of his drink and looks around at the other people in the shop. It's not very crowded for a Monday night; mostly it's just students with their laptops and textbooks, headphones in to dim the noise. And then Jonghyun spots a familiar face: Kibum.
"Jjong, I'm gonna go ahead, I have a huge reading due tomorrow and I have to do most of it tonight." Younha gathers her things and stands to go and Jonghyun nods.
"I'm gonna stay here, and try to write," another sip of his drink although his eyes are latched on Kibum, "see you."
"Yep."
Almost as soon as Younha goes, Jonghyun goes over to Kibum, sits in the seat across from them and smiles when Kibum looks up.
"Hi, Kibum."
"What are you - did you follow me?"
"No, I - here, listen." Jonghyun digs his phone from his pocket and Kibum takes the earbuds and listens to Jonghyun's sample of Love Belt, a soft smile flirting with their lips.
"You wrote this?"
"Yeah, it's due Friday. You actually helped, with the verse about shaking with anxiety - well, you and my roommate. But mostly you."
Kibum gives Jonghyun a pleased smile and then looks at something behind Jonghyun. “You're in Nicole’s seat.”
Jonghyun stands and gives a hasty bow to Kibum's friend, gestures at his table and gives Kibum a quick grin. “If you want to talk-”
“No, wait. Can I have your number? I want to show you the picture I drew of you. It's in my dorm, I finished it.”
“Yeah, give me your phone.”
A moment later and Jonghyun's phone buzzes in his pocket. He quickly changes the unknown number to Kibum's name, gives both Kibum and his friend a short bow, then goes back to his table, ideas already swirling in his brain.
Stay, oh cool, let’s not turn around
It doesn’t feel unfamiliar even if it’s my first time seeing you
Stay, oh cool, let’s not pretend that we’re strangers
Our eyes already made contact
Stay, oh, it’s a deja vu
I seem to have seen you somewhere before
I seem to have seen you somewhere before
Jinki isn't home when Jonghyun gets back and then he remembers: Tuesday nights are reserved for Jinki's acapella club, he'll have the dorm to himself for a good two hours more before Jinki gets home.
Jonghyun puts Jinki's chilled vanilla frappuccino in the fridge and decides to order chicken just before Jinki gets home. And when Jinki opens the door, Jonghyun is waiting, the tv playing low in the background, fried chicken and coffee on the table.
“How was your day?”
Jinki smiles wide as he drops his bag and takes off his shoes. “I aced my test, I can feel it. And guess what?”
“What?”
“I got a solo for our upcoming competition!” Jinki plops himself down at the table they so rarely use, takes a victorious sip of coffee and sighs.
“I missed coffee and chicken.”
“You're so weird, hyung. They don't go together at all.”
“Hey,” the sleeve of Jinki's shirt slips when he points at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun can see the ink marking his pale skin, but he quickly averts his eyes, “are you really going to talk to your hyung like that?”
Jonghyun rolls his eyes and ignores Jinki when his phone buzzes.
.
From Kibum: I finished your picture, hope you like it
From Kibum: 1 image attached
It's clearly Jonghyun's face, but it’s drawn with such detail and perfection that if he didn't know any better, Jonghyun would've thought it was a picture.
“Jinki, look at this.” Jonghyun gives his phone to Jinki and watches for a reaction; he receives widened eyes and a low whistle.
“They're really good, aren't they?”
“Yeah - What's their name again?”
“Kibum.”
“They should charge people.”
To Kibum: my roommate says u shoudl charge people
To Kibum: we both liked ur picture a lot
From Kibum: charge broke college students? He's stupid
Jonghyun snorts and angles his phone away so Jinki can't see the insult directed at him before sending back his own message.
To Kibum: so disrespectful to ur seniors
From Kibum: really? I thought you were a freshman
To Kibum: ISTG KIBUM
From Kibum: you're so small
To Kibum: SJSJDBDWLSX BYE
Needless to say, they talk for the rest of the night.
And for most of the next day; until Kibum's phone dies while Jonghyun is eating his lunch with Amber. As soon as Kibum gets to a charger, they call Jonghyun and yell at him for making their phone die - Jonghyun shuts them up with a well placed innuendo and Jonghyun can practically see Kibum's cheeks flush in a mix of surprise, anger and embarrassment. Jonghyun coos a quick, “bye, Kibummie!” and hangs up before Kibum can remember what they're supposed to be mad about.
From Kibum: kim jonghyun I am going to end u
To Kibum: go to class, kibummie
From Kibum: stop calling me that
To Kibummie: ,,,sorry
To Kibummie: kibummie
From Kibummie: ok fuck u bye
Jonghyun snorts at his phone and pauses in his response when Amber clears their throat.
“I know that look, who are they?”
“I don't know what you're-”
“You have a crush, again,” Amber points at Jonghyun's phone, “who is it?”
“I don't have a crush-”
From Kibummie: wher ear ryu
To Kibummie: lunch, why?
From Kibummie: cna you c oem hrre I nee fyou
Jonghyun hesitates for only a second before calling Kibum. “Kibum, what's wrong?”
Kibum's breaths are shallow and shaking when they answer, “In my room, I-” a trembling gasp and all Jonghyun can hear is muffled gunshots and cursing.
Jonghyun gets Kibum to tell him where their dorm is and he promptly hangs up, opens his mouth to tell Amber he's sorry but - they beat him to it.
“It's fine, I have to meet Luna soon anyway.”
Jonghyun is actually surprised that the dorm building Kibum is in is right next to his and Jinki's; he takes the stairs to the top floor and bangs on the door until a disgruntled brunette opens it, a scowl on his face and headphones around his neck.
“What?”
“Where's Kibum?”
“In their room, I think, back there - is that all?” when Jonghyun nods, the brunette retreats to the couch, grabbing his xbox controller.
The gunshots quickly start up again and it's loud; Jonghyun ignores him in favor of hurrying to the closed door. He finds a lump on the bed there, and when Jonghyun pulls the blankets back, there's Kibum curled in a ball, eyes shut tight, earbuds shoved in their ears. They blink open their eyes and flinch when Jonghyun moves closer, breaths harsh.
“Kib-"
“It's loud,” Kibum's voice is trembling, like they're about to cry, and Jonghyun nods, leaves the room and closes the door behind him. Kibum's roommate barely looks up when Jonghyun clears his throat, but his gaze does snap up when Jonghyun stands in front of the tv and turns it off.
“What the hell-”
“Look, I don't care if you stay or not, just shut up, okay? For Kibum.” Job done, Jonghyun goes back to Kibum's room and sits on the bed next to their cocoon. It takes a few minutes, but Kibum slowly uncovers their head and smiles weakly up at Jonghyun.
“You okay?”
Kibum gives Jonghyun a cutting glare and doesn't speak, just nuzzles further into the blankets. “Sorry for calling you over-”
“Don't apologize, Kibummie. Don't ever apologize, I'm here for you, always.”
Kibum's hand shakes when they brush their hair out of their face and they smile softly. “Jong-"
“Here, let me sing for you. Come here.” Jonghyun holds out his arms and waits for Kibum to nuzzle into him. Kibum's hair smells like - vanilla and honey - and Jonghyun pulls up the blankets for them. He sings Love Belt first, and then the song he's been thinking of calling Deja Boo (he improvises most of it but Kibum seems to like it) and then ends up mumbling little words into the soft skin of Kibum's neck.
It takes a while for Kibum to calm completely down, but when they do, they untangle themself from Jonghyun's hold and face him, eyes cast down.
“I'm sorry for bringing you here, we barely even know each other and I could've handled it on my own-”
“But you shouldn't have to. And I don't regret it. Next time you need me, I'll try and bring my guitar.”
Kibum looks like they wants to protest, but they just nod and stand instead. “Are you hungry?”
“Are you going to tell me what's wrong?”
Kibum shrugs, looks away. “I don't want a soulmate.”
“Why-” Jonghyun pauses, seeing the look on Kibum's face, then starts again, “I'm actually pretty hungry, do you want to get food?”
“I can make us something. There isn't a lot, me and Woohyun haven't gone shopping - Woohyun is my roommate, by the way.”
“Do you want to come over then?”
“I kind of want to just stay here. You can go if you want-”
“Not until you're okay.”
A long pause, then a quiet, “How about grilled cheese?”
“Sounds great.”
There's something familiar about being with Kibum; even though they've literally known each other for about a day, watching Kibum work in the little kitchen is so normal that it makes Jonghyun giddy.
“You're staring at me,” Kibum says without looking over at Jonghyun, “why?”
“You're familiar, that's all.”
Kibum turns from the stove and gives Jonghyun a soft smile. “You're so dumb,” they say, but their tone is fond. When they turn back around, they're holding two plates, “let's eat in my room.”
Jonghyun follows Kibum to their room, and now that he has the chance to, looks around. Pictures and paintings decorate the walls and there’s a light, airy feeling to the room, that Jonghyun attributes to all the light colors.
“I like your paintings,” he says as he turns to Kibum.
Kibum is sitting delicately on the edge of their bed, and they blink up at Jonghyun, sandwich in their mouth. “Thanks,” they say when they finish chewing. Their voice is soft and it kind of makes Jonghyun want to hug them. So he does - goes over and sits next to Kibum and wraps an arm around their shoulders.
“You're cute,” he says, mostly to himself, “what year are you again?”
“I'm a junior,” Kibum replies, “so is Woohyun.”
From Dubu: where are you??
To Dubu: with kibummie
To Dubu: why?
“Oh, do you need to go?”
“No, he's probably just lonely,” Jonghyun picks up his sandwich and pulls a piece apart so he can watch the cheese stretch, then pops it into his mouth, “just watch.”
And sure enough:
From Dubu: I'm booooored and lonelyyyy come hooooomeeeee jjonggggg
“See?”
Kibum laughs - throws their whole body into the motion and while on anyone else, Jonghyun would've thought it was obnoxious, he thought it was cute, because it was Kibum.
From Dubu: Younha is here
To Dubu: frick
To Dubu: I forgot
To Dubu: I can do it tmm
“No, you can go. I'm fine, really.”
To Dubu: nvm tell her to wait
“Why don't you come over? Me and Younha are going to record in my room, you can talk to Jinki. He's really nice.”
“You're really not going to leave me alone, are you?”
“Nope,” Jonghyun drawls, “so come with me.”
A long moment, then a heavy sigh. “Fine “
The walk to Jonghyun's dorm building is largely uneventful (Jonghyun says the walk will take forever, and when Kibum realises they're only a building away, they punch him in the arm, laughing) and Jonghyun waves at Luna when she buzzes them in.
They take the stairs and it's quiet except for Jonghyun humming Love Belt; Jinki opens the door when Jonghyun knocks and promptly gasps when he sees Kibum.
“Hey, you're-”
“Jjong, you didn't tell me this is your roommate.”
“I take it you two know each other, then?”
Kibum just scoffs and pushes past Jonghyun and Jinki to sulk on the couch, not looking at either of them.
“Remember the babe I told you about, I dropped their phone?” Jinki gestures at Kibum and Jonghyun snorts.
“What a small world. Is Younha in my room?”
“Yeah-”
“Then play nice, Kibummie, I'll be back soon, okay?” Jonghyun ignores the glare Kibum throws at him and dodges the pillow tossed with a cackle before disappearing into his room.
Younha is laying on his bed, doing something on her phone, and she barely looks up when Jonghyun enters and closes the door behind him. “Finally,” there's a teasing edge to her voice and Jonghyun rolls his eyes.
“Hush, you.” While Jonghyun gets the recording stuff ready, he hears the bed sheets rustling; then Younha is helping him. They finish setting up quickly and the recording goes as smoothly as it usually does; they fool around for a while before getting serious - they don't take that many takes when they start to get serious, mostly because Jonghyun has sung with Younha so many times that he trusts her to sing how he directs.
And it sounds good; Jonghyun and Younha listen to it alone first and then Jonghyun saves it to his phone and then Jonghyun steps into the main room, half expecting Jinki and Kibum to be at each other's throats - instead, they're sitting close together on the couch, Jinki talking animatedly and Kibum listening with a little smirk on their lips.
When Kibum sees Jonghyun, their grin grows wider, “Hey, bling bling.”
“How - Jinki! Why did you tell them that?”
“Don't worry, Jjongie,” Kibum coos, mirth in their eyes, “I won't tell anyone.”
“Jinki!” Jonghyun whines, ignoring Kibum's cackles.
“Oh, is Jonghyun getting drunk for the first time the worst you could think of?” Younha is giggling too, she sits next to Kibum with a wicked grin on her lips before she says, “did Jinki tell you how he scared away Minho?”
“Minho?”
“Yeah, Choi Minho? The model? Well, Minho's cousin is Choi Sooyoung, and one of her friends is Jessica - she's a model too - and Jessica's sister is Krystal, and Jonghyun is friends with Krystal’s soulmate Amber, so Sooyoung had a little birthday party at her house and Amber was invited and she brought Jonghyun, and he bought her a puppy for her birthday, and then - are you following this? Good. Sooyoung really liked the puppy, but then it went right to Minho and pooped on him, and he was all, Sooyoung, you're not keeping this and she argued for a minute but then agreed and Jonghyun was like oh Minho, I'm really sorry, you can name her and Minho was just like just call it Roo.”
“Younha!” Kibum's laughter almost drowns out Jonghyun's protests and Jonghyun wants to strangle both of his friends, but. Kibum is laughing, and they're happy, so he doesn't mind.
“What about the time when Jjong was dancing and then he started krumping-”
“Okay, I think it's time to say goodnight! Thanks for your help, Younha, I'll see you later, Jinki-”
“I live here.”
“Right, right, I'll just - Kibum, I'm walking you home, okay?”
“Whatever you say, bling bling.”
“Why are you walking Kibum home and not me?” Younha gives Jonghyun an exaggerated pout and he snorts.
“Ask Jinki.”
“No way, I'm already sitting. You lot have fun.”
“You too, old man.” Jonghyun slams the door before Jinki can retort, then ushers Younha and Kibum down the stairs and outside.
“I'll see you, I'm going to pick up something from the store before I head back. It was nice meeting you, Kibum.”
“You too,” Kibum waves and once she's out of earshot, snorts, “why is it that you're friends with so many cute people?”
“I make them look good - like, have you seen me?”
Kibum snorts again, “Okay, Jjong, whatever you say.”
They reach Kibum's building and Kibum turns to Jonghyun, making a point to look down, just to spite him. “This is the part where you kiss me,” they say, rather matter-of-factly.
Jonghyun nearly chokes, eyes flicking from Kibum's to their grinning lips and back up. “I -what?”
“I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We barely know each other, remember?”
“You don't want me to kiss you, so rude,” Jonghyun pouts, folds his arms and turns away to hide the faint blush staining his cheeks.
“Oh, shut up,” Kibum shoves Jonghyun, then their tone turns soft, “goodnight, Jonghyun.”
“Night, Kibummie.”
As soon as Kibum is out of his sight, Jonghyun reaches for his phone.
To Kibummie: did u get home safe?
From Kibummie: you just saw me
To Kibummie: im worrieddd
From Kibummie: yes, im safe
To Kibummie: good
From Kibummie: ur so weird
From Kibummie: goodnight, jjong
To Kibummie: ^^
Jonghyun promptly decides that he's in love. And that realization calls for snacks.
To Dubu: im in love
From Dubu: again???
From Dubu: who is it this time??
To Dubu: kibummmm theyre so cute im gonnan dieeee
From Dubu: i hope you're bringing me snacks
To Dubu: ice cream?
From Dubu: :)))))
“Taemin,” Jonghyun sings when he sees Taemin's familiar face, “oh, Taeminnie, guess what?”
Taemin looks up quickly and blinks a few times before he smiles wide. “Hi, hyung. Did you get laid or something?”
“Nope - what do you know about getting laid, you're like. Two years old.”
Taemin props his head up with his hand, a lazy smirk flirting with his lips. “Wouldn't you like to know, hyung?”
“You littl-" Jonghyun stops himself before he can continue and shakes his head, “I realized today that I'm in love.”
“Congratulations?”
“I mean - I only met them two days ago-”
“Have you seen Frozen?”
“I'm not going to ask them out or anything, they're just cute, and I should be telling Jinki this, not you.”
Taemin shrugs, looks up at Jonghyun and smiles, “I don't mind.”
“No, it's kind of complicated. Hey, do you have a pen?”
Taemin shrugs again and goes back to spinning the ring snug around his finger. “Probably.”
“Aren't you going to help me?”
“Why should I?”
“You work here? And I'm older than you?”
Taemin shrugs again, laziness clear in the action, then sighs. “Are you buying one or do you just need to borrow one?”
“Borrow-"
“Why didn't you say so?” Taemin's grinning, mischief in his eyes, as he reaches for something Jonghyun can't see - he pulls out a blue ballpoint pen and drops it into Jonghyun's waiting hand, a giggle escaping his lips.
“Thank you,” Jonghyun says dryly, “now can I look around?”
“I'm not stopping you.”
“Brat,” Jonghyun mumbles, starting towards the freezers. When he gets there, Jonghyun leans against one of them and pulls up his left sleeve to write the lyrics that had been in his head ever since Taemin smiled at him.
You came to me like a dream
You were like a warm breath to me
You didn’t have a reason, you were always like that back then
“What are you writing?”
Jonghyun startles when Taemin suddenly appears behind him and he holds out his arm for Taemin to read. The expression on Taemin's face goes from curious to shocked to amused in about half a second, and Jonghyun frowns at him.
“What, are they bad?”
“No, no, it's not that. It's - you'll see.”
Interesting. Jonghyun squints at Taemin, then shrugs and reaches in for two pints of ice cream, one strawberry, one coffee.
“I'm buying these, here.” Without warning, Jonghyun shoves them at Taemin and makes his way to the register, ignoring Taemin's whining.
“You could at least buy me one too,” Taemin grumbles as he scans the ice cream.
“Why should I do that?”
“You're my hyung, and I'm hungry,” Taemin pouts up at Jonghyun, “isn't that reason enough?”
“Have a nice night, Taemin.”
Jinki has already prepared a nice blanket fort by the time Jonghyun gets back; Jonghyun dumps the ice cream on the floor and gets them spoons before climbing in next to Jinki.
“So, you like Kibum? Two days, not bad.” Jinki opens both containers of ice cream and passes one to Jonghyun.
“It's just - they're so cute, you saw them! And they're funny and they flirted with me today-”
“Are you sure they were actually flirting?”
“They asked me to kiss them!” Jonghyun points his spoon at Jinki, “tell me that's not flirting!”
“All right, don't get so worked up, they flirted with you,” Jinki steals some of Jonghyun's ice cream and hums, “you've only known them for two days, and you don't even know if they like guys.”
“I think I like Taemin too.” Jonghyun hums, “he's cute too.”
“Taemin?”
“The cute guy I met at the store? He's like...I want to punch him because he's a brat, but I want to kiss him because he's cute. Except I wouldn't punch him because he's cute and I'd definitely kiss him because his lips are pretty. He's just so pretty, Jinki, he's a fairy prince.”
“Okay, that's not usual with you. The fairy prince part, anyway.”
“How about this, shut up. This is a ‘help Jonghyun deal with his crushes’ conversation, not a ‘make fun of Jonghyun’ conversation. You had that earlier, with Younha. Remember?”
“I don't know what you're talking about, Jjong,” Jinki says innocently, “shouldn't you eat your ice cream? It's late.”
“I'm not hungry,” Jonghyun punctuates his statement by stealing a generous spoonful of Jinki's ice cream, cackling as he scrambles from their blanket fort.
“Goodnight, Jjong,” Jinki calls after him.
“Night, old man!”
When Thursday rolls around, everything is normal, until it isn't. Jonghyun wakes up from a night of surprisingly restful sleep, shakes Jinki awake and listens to him grumble for a minute about five more minutes, then goes to make breakfast. When it's done, he goes back into Jinki's room to wake him up again, and he'll drag Jinki from bed so they can eat. Except that's not how it goes.
Yes, Jonghyun wakes Jinki up and yes, Jinki grumbles, breakfast goes normally (it's just a simple American sandwich - bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant - because Jinki had been whining about wanting one for days now), but when Jonghyun goes to drag Jinki out of bed, he stops, because Jinki is curled up in a little ball in bed, and he's crying.
“Go away,” is the first thing Jinki says, in that trembling, rough trying-not-to-cry voice.
In response, Jonghyun just climbs in behind Jinki and pulls him close. Truth be told, Jonghyun doesn't completely hate when Jinki's like this, if only because of how small and pliant he is. But that's only a small percentage of him - the majority of him hates this, because Jinki refuses to tell anyone or get help and he's just glad this has only happened while they're together because what if Jinki's depression hits while he's alone and -
“Calm down, Jjong, I can hear you thinking from here.” Jinki mumbles. He rolls over so they're facing each other and Jonghyun leans in and kisses the tip of Jinki's nose just because he knows Jinki will recoil - and he does: he wrinkles his nose and scoots back, mumbles something about getting a new roommate, blows air in Jonghyun's eyes.
“Rude,” Jonghyun pouts, “I'm getting breakfast.”
Jinki just nuzzles into the blankets and groans, and Jonghyun decides to take that as a yes. When he gets back, Jinki hasn't moved, and Jonghyun frowns. He slides into bed next to Jinki and bites into his sandwich, hums in content and flops over Jinki.
“Jinki, try it,” Jonghyun whines, waits for Jinki to grow annoyed of his pleading and just take a bite - which he does, a defiant, angry bite, and then another, and another, until his sandwich is gone.
And then Jinki is looking up at him with pleading eyes, “Another?” and of course, Jonghyun can only nod because how could he ever deny Jinki anything?
So he goes to make Jinki another sandwich, lets him eat it in peace while he cleans off Jinki's desk. It's littered with his textbooks and notes and pens and pencils and highlighters and post it notes - Jonghyun puts all the writing tools where they belong and puts the papers in their color coded notebooks and the notebooks in their corresponding binders, then stacks those and the textbooks and places them next to Jinki's laptop.
“When was the last time you watered these?” Jonghyun fingers the browning stems of the flowers on Jinki's desk and snorts at the unintelligible noise he receives in reply. So Jonghyun fills an empty water bottle and waters all of Jinki's flowers.
By now, Jinki has gotten up enough to get his phone, and his sad playlist is blasting through the room; some whiny boy band is playing and Jinki is back in his cocoon of blankets. Jonghyun fits in beside him and kisses the skin of Jinki's neck just because he can, runs his fingers through the softness of Jinki's hair and breathes in pure Jinki.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?
Jinki shakes his head and makes a tiny sound that could be an attempt to speak, so Jonghyun waits. And then, “Nothing happened, I just - feel like shit, you know? Like I'm worthless. I don't contribute anything to anyone, I'm just so...useless. You could be in class now instead of wasting your time with taking care of me.”
“But I want to, Jinki. Marks or not, you're my soulmate. You're my roommate, my best friend. You're everything to me, Jinki. And this isn't wasting my time, I'd pick being in bed with you than in a dumb lecture any time. I'm lucky to have you, you're so, so...I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, I'd have dropped out long ago if I didn't have you. I don't want to lose you, not now, not ever.” There are tears threatening to fall and Jonghyun's voice breaks - Jinki rolls over at once and his face falls.
“Fuck, I made you cry - Jjong, don't cry…” but it's useless now: now that Jinki is murmuring comforting words and cradling Jonghyun close even though he's so broken as it is...Jonghyun can't not cry.
“You know how easily I cry,” Jonghyun wipes his cheeks and forces a small smile. Jinki's gaze is serious and he presses a quick kiss to Jonghyun's cheek because he knows how much Jonghyun loves skinship - and it works; a real smile spreads over his lips even if more tears well up and Jinki sighs.
“Come here.” he opens his arms and Jonghyun nestles into Jinki's cocoon, kisses Jinki's neck again and closes his eyes.
“Why do you only have English songs in that playlist?”
“Because…” Jinki takes a breath and Jonghyun listens to his heartbeat, slow and steady, “it feels better, that I don't really know what they're saying. It's about the emotion.”
Jonghyun nods, kisses Jinki's neck again just because he can and feels Jinki's quiet laughter and sighs out his breath into Jinki's throat.
“What?”
“Tired, nap time.”
“Okay,” Jinki switches off his playlist because he knows Jonghyun likes it to be quiet when he's sleeping, then shifts so Jonghyun is in his arms. Jinki's fingers trace up and down Jonghyun's side and the last thing Jonghyun remembers before he falls asleep is Jinki singing him to sleep.
They spend most of the day in bed: Jonghyun writes lyrics and cleans Jinki's room while Jinki watches from his cocoon, they go through his closet because Jonghyun knows Jinki loves to de-clutter, especially when it comes to his clothes. They eventually move to the kitchen, and they make brownies: Jinki cracks the eggs and stirs and Jonghyun pretends not to see Jinki dipping his fingers in the batter. Jonghyun lets Jinki lick the spoon and bowl clean while he puts the brownies in their oven, then they curl up in front of the tv and flip between channels until the brownies finish. They eat straight from the pan and burn their fingers and tongue and go straight back for more because it tastes that good, then Jonghyun makes Jinki a bubble bath and orders chicken while Jinki bathes. They eat on the floor, the lights off and the candles on, and they play cards until they grow bored and tired, and then they head to bed.
They're not fixed, and things aren't perfect, but it's better. Things are...better.
Friday dawns clear and bright; Jonghyun heads straight to Jinki's room and stays with him until he really wakes up, just to make sure he's okay. And he is: Jinki gives Jonghyun a reassuring smile and says that if Jonghyun is up for it, they'll go out to eat later, and Jjong, don't forget to take your pills.
Classes go fine as well: everyone likes Love Belt, and when Jonghyun explains that he'd written it with his semi-recent car accident in mind, he knows that he's definitely got the best story to go along with his song. The other classes pass in a blur - Jonghyun remembers messaging Kibum and Jinki more than his actual classes, which is probably bad, but he can't really care.
He meets up with Kibum for lunch and introduces them to Amber and Luna; Jonghyun and Luna watch with fond amusement as Amber and Kibum almost immediately bond over the fact that they're both nonbinary. They exchange numbers while Jonghyun is in the middle of braiding Luna’s hair, and Kibum's eyes light up when Amber mentions they're dating Luna even though they're soulmates with Krystal (who is happily dating a Kim Jongin). They talk about the ridiculousness of soulmates while Jonghyun puts little flowers into the braid he made, and then Kibum decides that they have to paint them all. And then Amber realizes that Luna has class soon and they drag her off after they both hug Kibum goodbye, and Jonghyun is left with a beaming Kibum on the grass.
“Should I walk you to class, Kibummie?”
“No,” Kibum replies quickly, but they wait for Jonghyun to get up before saying, “it's this way.”
“What class?”
“Are you trying to figure out my schedule?”
“I'm trying to be nice to you, Kibummie. You're my friend.”
Kibum hums low in their throat and nods. “I have dance class now, and then I have the dance class I teach - that's only on Saturdays, though - and then I have another dance class later today.”
“You must love dance, huh?”
“What music is to you...that's what dance is for me.”
“You should show me sometime.”
Kibum shoots him a look and Jonghyun frowns, then realizes and shakes his head, “I didn't mean like that, I just - you know what I meant!”
“I know, bling bling. You're so easy to work up, it's cute.”
“You called me cute-”
“I called what you did cute. You're...you're pretty cute too though.”
Frick. Jonghyun bites his lip to hide his giddy smile, “Thank you, you're not too bad yourself.”
“I know,” Kibum snorts, a little smile on their lips.
“Kibummie?”
“Yes?”
“What gender are you? Like I know you and Amber are both nonbinary, and I know they're demigirl, but you're...”
“I don't know, really. I just,” Kibum shrugs, “you know?”
“Kinda.”
Kibum looks over at Jonghyun with a little smile on their lips, somewhere between amused and confused, and before they can open their mouth, Jonghyun clarifies.
“Like, most of the time, I feel like a guy, you know? Completely male. But then sometimes I just-” Jonghyun waves his hands just of finishing his sentence and looks up at Kibum, “is that what you're saying? It's...no, never mind.”
“It's what? And that is what I meant, sort of.”
“It's nothing, hey - isn't this your building?”
“Yes,” Kibum says mildly, “so tell me. I won't go in until you go.”
“Fine, I just,” Jonghyun takes a breath and says quickly, “it's not something I've ever told anyone before. So, thank you.”
From Kibummie: you're rlly cute
From Kibummie: and thank you for telling me
To Kibummie: !!!!
To Kibummie: thnk u for listenign
Jonghyun is glad he's not with Jinki now, because the blush on his face and the giddy smile on his lips would make him the object of his teasing for days.
To Dubu: im stoppign by teh store after class
To Dubu: what kind of cake do u want
To Dubu: chocolate or coffee
To Dubu: or shoudl I get donuts
From Dubu: chocolate cake
To Dubu: teh fudgey one?
From Dubu: ^^
When Jonghyun gets to the register and doesn't see Taemin, he frowns. “Where's Taemin?”
“He doesn't work Fridays. Why?”
“Just wanted to know. Do you know where he is…”
“Jongin. And yeah, he should be finishing up at his dance class. He'll be working a lot less though, we have a competition coming up soon.”
“We?”
“I couldn't make class today because no one else could watch the shop,” Jongin shrugs, “but I know all of our routines, so. Me and Taemin just have to work on our duet, he's such a perfectionist. It would be annoying if he weren't so cute.”
Jonghyun hums, then remembers something and points at Jongin. “Aren't you dating Krystal?”
“You know her?”
“I've met her a few times, I'm Amber’s friend.”
Jongin nods at that, and Jonghyun gives him his cake. “A discount,” Jongin says as Jonghyun hands over his money, “if you come to our show.”
“When and where?”
At that, Jongin pauses. “Okay, I don't actually remember. I'd tell you to ask Taemin, but that kid is hopeless.”
“Don't worry, I'll figure it out,” Jonghyun promises, “I wouldn't miss your show for the world.”
Jonghyun leaves the store with a discount and a sour taste in his mouth.
To Kibummie: can I come overrr
To Kibummie: I'm boreddddd
To Kibummie: nd jinki won't be home for so loooong
From Kibummie: im just getting in but sure
To Kibummie: ahhh thank uwu
From Kibummie: nerd. Im gonna shower so just let yourself in
To Kibummie: okkkkk
Out of habit, Jonghyun knocks before entering Kibum's dorm room; he can hear the shower running and when he looks again, he sees a mop of fluffy blonde hair peeking over the top of the couch, its owner watching tv.
“You couldn't have gotten the door? What if I were still waiting out there?”
The mop of hair turns and then Jonghyun sees a familiar face, lips curved into a playful grin. “Hey, hyung,” Taemin says mildly.
“Your hair…” Taemin's mess of brown has been cut and bleached, now falling around his face in delicate waves instead of falling wherever it pleased.
“What about my hair?” Taemin stands, makes his way over to Jonghyun, his movements lazy.
“You're - dracula oppa-" Jonghyun stammers, backing away from Taemin's now predatorial motions.
“Can I bite you then?” Taemin's voice is low and Jonghyun's back hits the wall, and he doesn't quite mind the way Taemin boxes him in, forces him to look up those few inches.
A strained nod and Jonghyun can feel Taemin laugh into his neck, his nose and lips brushing feather-light over his skin, lips full and slightly chapped. And then they press fully to his skin and Jonghyun freezes, going rigid and just when Taemin begins to apply the lightest amount of pressure, there's a pointed cough and Kibum is standing there, brow raised.
“Why, hello.”
Frick.
Taemin doesn't step back, just cranes his neck and nods at Kibum. “How was your shower?”
“Why are you pinning Jonghyun to the wall?”
“He wanted me to bite him. Because I'm dracula oppa,” Taemin says matter of factly, “I think he likes my hair."
“I told you blonde looks good on you, Taeminnie,” Kibum gestures for Taemin to come closer and Taemin does, lets Kibum fuss with his hair, “you look so much more mature now.”
“You two...know each other?”
“From dance,” Taemin says, “we've known each other since - what was it, the summer before freshman year?”
“For you, yeah. I was a junior.”
“Kibum was the best dancer at school, and he took me under his wing when he saw how good I was, and we've been together ever since. Or, until he graduated, and Jongin moved here my junior year, and then it was is that were the best. Me and Kibum still talked though, just not often. And then we met up again at dance this year.”
Jonghyun follows them both to Kibum's room and flops down between them, wiggling in his spot until he's comfortable.
“What about you and Tae?” Kibum asks, though they're frowning at their phone, thumbs moving rapidly.
“He seduced me with banana milk,” Taemin says before Jonghyun can tell Kibum how he'd innocently bought Taemin snacks out of the kindness of his own heart - and Jinki's money.
“Seduced you, huh?” Kibum sounds amused by Taemin's accusation and Jonghyun frowns at them.
“Stop laughing at me!” Jonghyun flaps his hand at Kibum and rolls halfway on them when they keep laughing.
“Don't worry,” Taemin pats Jonghyun's knee, grinning, “Kibum's just mean. Laughing at you when you're so defenseless, so cute and tiny and small, like a little baby-”
Jonghyun rolls on top of Taemin, ready to attack, but Taemin just lies beneath him, laughing. “You're not even that much taller than me!” Jonghyun protests as he reaches down to muss Taemin's hair, “take it back!”
Taemin brings his hands up to shield his face, still grinning, and the sleeves fall down and Jonghyun sees black on his left arm, familiar handwriting that spells out: “you came to me like a dream”
They both still, and then Jonghyun realizes, everything makes sense now. The weird look Taemin had given him, the way he just said that Jonghyun would see soon, and he does.
“Taemin, you have my song on your arm.”
A lazy grin. “Yeah?”
“The song that I showed you in the store.”
“I really don't know where you're going with this, Jjong.”
“You gave me a weird look and said I'd see. Taemin, you knew, why didn't you tell me?”
Taemin's grin grows wider, “I thought it would be more fun this way. And wasn't it?”
“I hate you.” Jonghyun rolls off of Taemin completely and ignores the way his soulmate links their hands and plays with Jonghyun's fingers.
“I'm an angel. And you can't hate your own soulmate, that's against the rules. You're stuck with me.”
A dry cough, “I'm so sorry to cut in on this moment, but Jjong, can you leave? You too, Tae.”
Jonghyun looks over at Kibum and opens his mouth, but Kibum cuts him off. “I mean it, Jjong.” Just like before, there's an unspoken please, and Jonghyun nods, lets Taemin drag him from Kibum's dorm without a fuss.
Outside, Taemin lets out a long sigh. “I forgot how Kibum feels about soulmates. They're...they really hate the idea of soulmates. It's personal stuff, they'll tell you when it's time.”
Jonghyun nods and Taemin smiles that lazy smile at him before continuing. “I'm gonna go to the dance studio, I think. Practice with Jongin some more.”
“Taemin, wait. Can I get your number?”
“Just because we're soulmates-”
“No! Well - I just want to get to know you better.”
Taemin shrugs, holds out his hand for Jonghyun's phone. “I was just teasing you, Jjong.” he plays with Jonghyun's phone for a minute and then gives it back, then gives Jonghyun a quick smile and heads down the hall. Jonghyun decides he likes Taemin.
Part Two
Pairing: Jonghyun/Key, Jonghyun/Taemin, Jonghyun/Onew, Minho/Key
Rating: G
Genre: Friendship
Warnings: N/A
Final Word Count: 30,251
Chapter 1: Fugue
From Dubu: wake up, fucktard
Jonghyun jolts awake from the buzzing of his phone on his leg and snorts. Of course Jinki would have noticed.
To Dubu: bless ur soul,, u saved my life and my grades
Jonghyun sees Jinki look over at his phone and he sends a quick smile over his shoulder before turning back to his phone.
From Dubu: i’m not showing you my notes
To Dubu: i’ll leave ur notebook on your desk when I'm done then
Jinki waits for Jonghyun outside the door of their lecture hall and Jonghyun digs in his bag, “I nearly forgot, you left your charger.”
A grateful nod as Jonghyun drops the cord into Jinki's waiting hand. “Thanks, I forgot to charge my laptop last night too. Pills?”
“Frick-” Jonghyun breathes out a sigh of relief when Jinki pulls out the little container of pills he always carries for times like these, “thanks.”
“I have class, see you at home? I'll order something for dinner.”
“Okay.”
Jinki turns right; Jonghyun turns left.
Jonghyun dozes off during his next class and almost promptly receives a series of texts from Jinki:
From Dubu: wake up!!!
From Dubu: you're going to bed early tonight
From Dubu: and take notes
From Dubu: you have a test soon
To Dubu: gn……..
From Dubu: kim jonghyun don't you dare
To Dubu: gn……………….
Jonghyun doesn't fall asleep, though; he takes halfhearted notes and doodles his way through class. His last class done, he stops by the convenience store by their dorm because Jinki mentioned needing milk and he's kind of hungry himself. The cashier looks like a freshman; nervous, stressed out, tired. He's kind of cute though when he smiles hesitantly at Jonghyun, even if he does blink far too often than normal. Jonghyun kind of wants to take this kid home and feed him (the kid eyes the snacks Jonghyun just bought, practically salivating) and he kind of wants to brush his long hair and put it in a proper ponytail.
“Kid, pick anything in the shop, I'll buy it for you. You look hungry.”
The kid blinks up at him one two three four times in surprise and suspicion; when Jonghyun does nothing, he frowns. “Why?”
“You're kind of cute, and it's my roommate's money.”
The kid blushes at being called cute and then nods, smiling that perfect smile at Jonghyun. He leaves the register and quickly comes back with two banana milks and Jonghyun raises a brow.
“Is that all?”
“You said I could get anything-”
“No, but Jinki gave me a twenty, I planned to use half of it on you.”
The kid comes back with ten dollars worth of banana milk and Jonghyun resists the urge to ruffle his hair.
“You must really like banana milk.”
“I have a sweet tooth,” the kid shrugs as he scans Jonghyun's items. When their eyes meet he blinks one two three times and then bows quickly, “thanks, hyung.”
“Just Jonghyun,” Jonghyun drawls as he takes out his wallet and hands over the money, “thanks, kid.”
When he leaves the store, the kid is already opening his first little bottle of banana milk.
From Dubu: what are you hungry for?
To Dubu: anythign
To Dubu: i got that milk you were aksing for
From Dubu: learn to spell
To Dubu: consider this tho…….i dotn
Jonghyun ignores the buzzing of his phone in favor to enter their dorm building, flashing a quick grin at Younha, who buzzes him in without pause. He's quick to get to his shared room with Jinki; he kicks the door lightly and Jinki opens it almost immediately, surprise written on his features.
“How'd you get in, you left your ID.”
“Younha let me in.” Jonghyun brushes past Jinki to put the milk in the fridge, then collapses on the couch.
“I ordered pizza, is that good?”
“Great,” Jonghyun watches Jinki scratch his arm and then pull up his sleeve, look at the words written there and smile.
“Is that your babe?”
Jinki pulls down his sleeve again and nods, eyes squinting into crescents as he smiles, “they're such a babe,” he says, mostly to himself, then seems to remember Jonghyun is there and smiles wider, “the pizza should be here, I'll go down to get it.”
“What did your babe say?”
Jinki just rolls his eyes at Jonghyun and grabs the money he left by the door. “Want something from the vending machine?”
“A snapple, I don't care which, so long as-"
“It's not apple or green tea, I know. I'll be back soon.”
With Jinki gone, Jonghyun slouches further into the couch and closes his eyes. They're both graduating this year - he'll miss the simplicity of living with Jinki. Living alone would be strange - no, life without his “soulmate” would be so inexplicably foreign that Jonghyun didn't even want to think about it. He can barely get through an hour without Jinki, how could he live an entire life without him?
Because they've made life together work, it's a delicate and perfect balance, but it works. Jonghyun wakes Jinki up and makes them both breakfast and snacks for class, and Jinki takes care of dinner. When it's late and Jonghyun is still at his desk, Jinki pries him away from his music and gets him to bed. They both take care of the money for food and clothes, but Jonghyun does food shopping while Jinki does clothes shopping and laundry. Jinki remembers Jonghyun's pills for his anxiety and depression, and Jonghyun takes care of Jinki on the days where he can barely get out of bed. They can talk about everything to each other except soulmates, just because they need at least something for themselves - it all just works.
Jinki knocks on the door just then and Jonghyun hurries to open it, grabs the four bottles balancing on the pizza box and sets them on the coffee table.
“Four?”
“Snapple for you, and I knew you'd want water because you always eat hot food too early and complain about burning yourself. I just couldn't decide between sprite and lemonade.” Jinki sets the box next to their drinks and sits, taking a slice for himself without waiting for Jonghyun.
“Open my water?”
“Of course.”
They eat in relative silence; the tv is off because they can never agree on what to watch, and Jonghyun is trying to put a melody to the lyrics in his head when Jinki speaks. Without looking over, Jonghyun knows Jinki's smiling - that fond little grin that flirts with his lips when he thinks no one is watching.
“Remember when we met? You were so small and cute.”
“And then I met you...I'm still mourning the loss of my cuteness to this day.”
“Really? You stopped being cute because you met me?” Jinki takes Jonghyun's crust and takes a bite, raises a skeptical brow and rolls his eyes when Jonghyun nods.
“You made me into what I am today.” Jonghyun nods confidently and takes a delicate sip of his snapple while Jinki laughs.
“So I made you cute.”
Jonghyun nearly chokes, and Jinki just gives him a comforting pat on the back, smiling wide.
Then there's a sudden sting in his wrist and Jonghyun pulls up his sleeve, reads the words written there and snorts. In an elegant scrawl is “more paint and brushes, coffee, starbucks tmm 5”. And just above that in messy, almost unreadable scribble was a simple “banana milk", but it's crossed out now.
“Jjong, you full?” Jinki isn't looking at the marks on Jonghyun's arm and Jonghyun bites his lip to hide his appreciative smile.
“Yeah, you got it?”
Jinki nods, waves him away. “I know you've been having trouble on your piece, go finish.”
And he is having trouble, which is unusual; songwriting comes fairly easy to Jonghyun, but this one assignment had been giving him trouble ever since he'd gotten it. Write a song about a personal experience; choosing what to write about hadn't been hard, but what to write…
Jonghyun looks at what he has on his laptop again and sighs.
I need love belt
From my shoulders to my waist, wrap around me
On the love highway, a dangerous speed
I know, if we go like this, I’ll need an air bag
I need, if it’s like this, it’s a little dangerous
I don’t think I’ll crash but I’m nervous so hold me tight
Because of my selfishness, I always hurt you but forgive me, I’m sorry
It's good, it's more desperate and telling than his other songs, but he doesn't know how to finish, he has absolutely no idea what tune to give it. And he has only four days left to submit it. And at this rate, he won't finish it and he'll fail the assignment and the class and
“Breathe, Jjong. Breathe.” Jinki's there, voice low, one hand firm on Jonghyun's shoulder and the other rubbing soothing circles on his back. It helps, it always does, and Jonghyun opens his eyes (he doesn't remember clenching them shut) and the room is dimmer now, and he focuses on Jinki's soft murmurs, the quiet directions to breathe in and out, in and out.
Jinki's murmurs fade into quiet speech: “I met a cute person today, I think you'd like them. I was going to lunch and I wasn't looking where I was going, I think I was texting you? And I bumped into someone and they yelled at me, said I messed up their shot and if I broke their phone they'd kill me because there were so many things they had to paint on there. I said you can't take good pictures on an iPhone and they glared at me and showed me their gallery and said exactly ‘if you know how to use an iPhone, you can take good pictures, and I'm not a guy, so don't use masculine pronouns, okay?’ You would've just flirted with them if it were you - no, they wouldn't have gotten mad because you're too cute to get mad at.”
Jonghyun can practically feel Jinki relax when he lets out a quiet giggle. “What's their name?”
“I don't know, they stormed off all huffy when I apologized.”
“You smiled, didn't you?”
“They were cute, and what else could I do?”
“I met a babe today too, at the convenience store. The one by the dorms? I bought him snacks because he looked so hungry, but he only chose banana milk. He was really cute.”
“What's his name?”
“I kinda forgot to ask…”
Jinki snorts and pulls Jonghyun up from the desk. Instead of letting go of Jonghyun's hands when they're both face to face, Jinki smooths his thumbs across the back of Jonghyun's hands; they're still trembling. “Here, go to sleep. I'll finish up your work, other than the song.”
“I'm not tired-”
“Goodnight, Jjong.”
“...Night.”
When Jonghyun wakes up, he doesn't feel like going to class, so he doesn't. Jinki seems to realize he's going to skip and sighs, but he doesn't say anything, other than a simple, “have a good day.”
And it is: Jonghyun stretches out on the grass and heaves a sigh, all too content with the sun above him and the grass below him and maybe he'll get home early and cook dinner for him and Jinki. Something that Jinki likes, as a thank you. Or maybe, Jonghyun decides instead, he'll pick up something from Starbucks. Jinki loves Starbucks.
Or maybe he'll just do both-
“Can I draw you?” It's a blunt request from a sharp voice and Jonghyun startles from his drowsy state.
“What?”
“I need to draw something - just. Let me draw you.” There's a silent, desperate please in the request and Jonghyun nods. He sits up and is told to sit still, and then Jonghyun gets a good look at his painter.
They look like maybe a junior or a sophomore, a plain white shirt tucked into jeans and a pale blue button up open over it. Dark hair cut boyishly short, sharp eyes rimmed with thick liner, sharp cheekbones, pale pink lips. A total babe.
“Why do you need to draw me so badly?”
“Not you, anything. It - helps with the anxiety. Calms me down. I'm Kibum, by the way. They pronouns.” Kibum's hands tremble as they get their pencils and paper from their bag and Jonghyun nods.
“Me too. Not about the pronouns, just - the anxiety. Music calms me sometimes, but my roommate really helps.”
Kibum turns sharp eyes on Jonghyun and nods, a wry smile coming over their lips. “My roommate tries, but he doesn't really help. So I come out here and make art.”
It's quiet from then on; Jonghyun can literally see Kibum relax, their hands eventually stop trembling when they reach for another pencil, their breaths turn more steady, the stiffness in their shoulders disappears. Jonghyun keeps quiet even when those sharp eyes flick up at him and he tries to relax even though there are lyrics buzzing in his head.
“Kibum, do you have a pen?”
With an annoyed look, Kibum roots through their pencil case and tosses a pen and Jonghyun quickly inks the lyrics to his skin.
You’re my love belt, hold me tight
Hold me in this nervous world (please hold me)
You’re my love belt, you know I’m shaking with anxiety
Hold my hand
All he really needs now is a melody.
Kibum and Jonghyun part at just past four; Kibum's phone goes off and they gasp, quickly beginning to pack their stuff up. “I'm really sorry, I have a study date and I have to get ready, can I keep this? I want to finish it - let me take a picture of you?”
“Yeah, I guess-” Before he can even finish speaking, Kibum whips their phone up and takes a quick set of pictures before they give a hasty bow and leave.
From Dubu: buy me sweets!!!
To Dubu: omw
From Dubu: !!!!! :)))))
Jonghyun starts off for the convenience store, and he can't help but wish he'll see the kid from yesterday.
He's in luck; the same kid is hunched over the counter, drawing lazy patterns on the countertop and humming under his breath. He looks up and when he sees its Jonghyun, he smiles wide.
“Hi, hyung.” From the mischievous look in his eye, Jonghyun knows it's on purpose, so he just ignores the respectful tone.
“You're a freshman, right?” he asks as he dumps a handful of candy and gum on the counter.
“Yeah, I'm Taemin.” as he scans the items, Taemin keeps humming that song-
“What song is that?”
A surprised look that fades into sheepishness. “My…” Taemin rubs his arm with a faint smile.
“I like it.”
Jonghyun receives a soft, shy smile and a discount for his words.
And in fact, that song can't leave his head; the breathy high notes actually fit quite well with his song - Jonghyun puts the melody to the chorus and continues to improvise as he walks back to the dorms, recording the whole session.
To Younha: I have a song
To Younha: do u wanan sing with me
From Younha: sure, meet me at starbucks in an hour!
In an hour...Jonghyun checks the time (4:30) and begins to walk quicker. He's got a lot of work to do.
5:15 and he's at Starbucks with Younha; he's; he's nursing an iced americano as she pours over his lyrics, headphones in as she listens to the quick sample recording he'd done.
“I like it,” she says at length, “you'll definitely pass with something like this.”
“When can you come record?”
“Tomorrow good? I want to practice it first.”
“That's fine.” Jonghyun takes another long sip of his drink and looks around at the other people in the shop. It's not very crowded for a Monday night; mostly it's just students with their laptops and textbooks, headphones in to dim the noise. And then Jonghyun spots a familiar face: Kibum.
"Jjong, I'm gonna go ahead, I have a huge reading due tomorrow and I have to do most of it tonight." Younha gathers her things and stands to go and Jonghyun nods.
"I'm gonna stay here, and try to write," another sip of his drink although his eyes are latched on Kibum, "see you."
"Yep."
Almost as soon as Younha goes, Jonghyun goes over to Kibum, sits in the seat across from them and smiles when Kibum looks up.
"Hi, Kibum."
"What are you - did you follow me?"
"No, I - here, listen." Jonghyun digs his phone from his pocket and Kibum takes the earbuds and listens to Jonghyun's sample of Love Belt, a soft smile flirting with their lips.
"You wrote this?"
"Yeah, it's due Friday. You actually helped, with the verse about shaking with anxiety - well, you and my roommate. But mostly you."
Kibum gives Jonghyun a pleased smile and then looks at something behind Jonghyun. “You're in Nicole’s seat.”
Jonghyun stands and gives a hasty bow to Kibum's friend, gestures at his table and gives Kibum a quick grin. “If you want to talk-”
“No, wait. Can I have your number? I want to show you the picture I drew of you. It's in my dorm, I finished it.”
“Yeah, give me your phone.”
A moment later and Jonghyun's phone buzzes in his pocket. He quickly changes the unknown number to Kibum's name, gives both Kibum and his friend a short bow, then goes back to his table, ideas already swirling in his brain.
Stay, oh cool, let’s not turn around
It doesn’t feel unfamiliar even if it’s my first time seeing you
Stay, oh cool, let’s not pretend that we’re strangers
Our eyes already made contact
Stay, oh, it’s a deja vu
I seem to have seen you somewhere before
I seem to have seen you somewhere before
Jinki isn't home when Jonghyun gets back and then he remembers: Tuesday nights are reserved for Jinki's acapella club, he'll have the dorm to himself for a good two hours more before Jinki gets home.
Jonghyun puts Jinki's chilled vanilla frappuccino in the fridge and decides to order chicken just before Jinki gets home. And when Jinki opens the door, Jonghyun is waiting, the tv playing low in the background, fried chicken and coffee on the table.
“How was your day?”
Jinki smiles wide as he drops his bag and takes off his shoes. “I aced my test, I can feel it. And guess what?”
“What?”
“I got a solo for our upcoming competition!” Jinki plops himself down at the table they so rarely use, takes a victorious sip of coffee and sighs.
“I missed coffee and chicken.”
“You're so weird, hyung. They don't go together at all.”
“Hey,” the sleeve of Jinki's shirt slips when he points at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun can see the ink marking his pale skin, but he quickly averts his eyes, “are you really going to talk to your hyung like that?”
Jonghyun rolls his eyes and ignores Jinki when his phone buzzes.
.
From Kibum: I finished your picture, hope you like it
From Kibum: 1 image attached
It's clearly Jonghyun's face, but it’s drawn with such detail and perfection that if he didn't know any better, Jonghyun would've thought it was a picture.
“Jinki, look at this.” Jonghyun gives his phone to Jinki and watches for a reaction; he receives widened eyes and a low whistle.
“They're really good, aren't they?”
“Yeah - What's their name again?”
“Kibum.”
“They should charge people.”
To Kibum: my roommate says u shoudl charge people
To Kibum: we both liked ur picture a lot
From Kibum: charge broke college students? He's stupid
Jonghyun snorts and angles his phone away so Jinki can't see the insult directed at him before sending back his own message.
To Kibum: so disrespectful to ur seniors
From Kibum: really? I thought you were a freshman
To Kibum: ISTG KIBUM
From Kibum: you're so small
To Kibum: SJSJDBDWLSX BYE
Needless to say, they talk for the rest of the night.
And for most of the next day; until Kibum's phone dies while Jonghyun is eating his lunch with Amber. As soon as Kibum gets to a charger, they call Jonghyun and yell at him for making their phone die - Jonghyun shuts them up with a well placed innuendo and Jonghyun can practically see Kibum's cheeks flush in a mix of surprise, anger and embarrassment. Jonghyun coos a quick, “bye, Kibummie!” and hangs up before Kibum can remember what they're supposed to be mad about.
From Kibum: kim jonghyun I am going to end u
To Kibum: go to class, kibummie
From Kibum: stop calling me that
To Kibummie: ,,,sorry
To Kibummie: kibummie
From Kibummie: ok fuck u bye
Jonghyun snorts at his phone and pauses in his response when Amber clears their throat.
“I know that look, who are they?”
“I don't know what you're-”
“You have a crush, again,” Amber points at Jonghyun's phone, “who is it?”
“I don't have a crush-”
From Kibummie: wher ear ryu
To Kibummie: lunch, why?
From Kibummie: cna you c oem hrre I nee fyou
Jonghyun hesitates for only a second before calling Kibum. “Kibum, what's wrong?”
Kibum's breaths are shallow and shaking when they answer, “In my room, I-” a trembling gasp and all Jonghyun can hear is muffled gunshots and cursing.
Jonghyun gets Kibum to tell him where their dorm is and he promptly hangs up, opens his mouth to tell Amber he's sorry but - they beat him to it.
“It's fine, I have to meet Luna soon anyway.”
Jonghyun is actually surprised that the dorm building Kibum is in is right next to his and Jinki's; he takes the stairs to the top floor and bangs on the door until a disgruntled brunette opens it, a scowl on his face and headphones around his neck.
“What?”
“Where's Kibum?”
“In their room, I think, back there - is that all?” when Jonghyun nods, the brunette retreats to the couch, grabbing his xbox controller.
The gunshots quickly start up again and it's loud; Jonghyun ignores him in favor of hurrying to the closed door. He finds a lump on the bed there, and when Jonghyun pulls the blankets back, there's Kibum curled in a ball, eyes shut tight, earbuds shoved in their ears. They blink open their eyes and flinch when Jonghyun moves closer, breaths harsh.
“Kib-"
“It's loud,” Kibum's voice is trembling, like they're about to cry, and Jonghyun nods, leaves the room and closes the door behind him. Kibum's roommate barely looks up when Jonghyun clears his throat, but his gaze does snap up when Jonghyun stands in front of the tv and turns it off.
“What the hell-”
“Look, I don't care if you stay or not, just shut up, okay? For Kibum.” Job done, Jonghyun goes back to Kibum's room and sits on the bed next to their cocoon. It takes a few minutes, but Kibum slowly uncovers their head and smiles weakly up at Jonghyun.
“You okay?”
Kibum gives Jonghyun a cutting glare and doesn't speak, just nuzzles further into the blankets. “Sorry for calling you over-”
“Don't apologize, Kibummie. Don't ever apologize, I'm here for you, always.”
Kibum's hand shakes when they brush their hair out of their face and they smile softly. “Jong-"
“Here, let me sing for you. Come here.” Jonghyun holds out his arms and waits for Kibum to nuzzle into him. Kibum's hair smells like - vanilla and honey - and Jonghyun pulls up the blankets for them. He sings Love Belt first, and then the song he's been thinking of calling Deja Boo (he improvises most of it but Kibum seems to like it) and then ends up mumbling little words into the soft skin of Kibum's neck.
It takes a while for Kibum to calm completely down, but when they do, they untangle themself from Jonghyun's hold and face him, eyes cast down.
“I'm sorry for bringing you here, we barely even know each other and I could've handled it on my own-”
“But you shouldn't have to. And I don't regret it. Next time you need me, I'll try and bring my guitar.”
Kibum looks like they wants to protest, but they just nod and stand instead. “Are you hungry?”
“Are you going to tell me what's wrong?”
Kibum shrugs, looks away. “I don't want a soulmate.”
“Why-” Jonghyun pauses, seeing the look on Kibum's face, then starts again, “I'm actually pretty hungry, do you want to get food?”
“I can make us something. There isn't a lot, me and Woohyun haven't gone shopping - Woohyun is my roommate, by the way.”
“Do you want to come over then?”
“I kind of want to just stay here. You can go if you want-”
“Not until you're okay.”
A long pause, then a quiet, “How about grilled cheese?”
“Sounds great.”
There's something familiar about being with Kibum; even though they've literally known each other for about a day, watching Kibum work in the little kitchen is so normal that it makes Jonghyun giddy.
“You're staring at me,” Kibum says without looking over at Jonghyun, “why?”
“You're familiar, that's all.”
Kibum turns from the stove and gives Jonghyun a soft smile. “You're so dumb,” they say, but their tone is fond. When they turn back around, they're holding two plates, “let's eat in my room.”
Jonghyun follows Kibum to their room, and now that he has the chance to, looks around. Pictures and paintings decorate the walls and there’s a light, airy feeling to the room, that Jonghyun attributes to all the light colors.
“I like your paintings,” he says as he turns to Kibum.
Kibum is sitting delicately on the edge of their bed, and they blink up at Jonghyun, sandwich in their mouth. “Thanks,” they say when they finish chewing. Their voice is soft and it kind of makes Jonghyun want to hug them. So he does - goes over and sits next to Kibum and wraps an arm around their shoulders.
“You're cute,” he says, mostly to himself, “what year are you again?”
“I'm a junior,” Kibum replies, “so is Woohyun.”
From Dubu: where are you??
To Dubu: with kibummie
To Dubu: why?
“Oh, do you need to go?”
“No, he's probably just lonely,” Jonghyun picks up his sandwich and pulls a piece apart so he can watch the cheese stretch, then pops it into his mouth, “just watch.”
And sure enough:
From Dubu: I'm booooored and lonelyyyy come hooooomeeeee jjonggggg
“See?”
Kibum laughs - throws their whole body into the motion and while on anyone else, Jonghyun would've thought it was obnoxious, he thought it was cute, because it was Kibum.
From Dubu: Younha is here
To Dubu: frick
To Dubu: I forgot
To Dubu: I can do it tmm
“No, you can go. I'm fine, really.”
To Dubu: nvm tell her to wait
“Why don't you come over? Me and Younha are going to record in my room, you can talk to Jinki. He's really nice.”
“You're really not going to leave me alone, are you?”
“Nope,” Jonghyun drawls, “so come with me.”
A long moment, then a heavy sigh. “Fine “
The walk to Jonghyun's dorm building is largely uneventful (Jonghyun says the walk will take forever, and when Kibum realises they're only a building away, they punch him in the arm, laughing) and Jonghyun waves at Luna when she buzzes them in.
They take the stairs and it's quiet except for Jonghyun humming Love Belt; Jinki opens the door when Jonghyun knocks and promptly gasps when he sees Kibum.
“Hey, you're-”
“Jjong, you didn't tell me this is your roommate.”
“I take it you two know each other, then?”
Kibum just scoffs and pushes past Jonghyun and Jinki to sulk on the couch, not looking at either of them.
“Remember the babe I told you about, I dropped their phone?” Jinki gestures at Kibum and Jonghyun snorts.
“What a small world. Is Younha in my room?”
“Yeah-”
“Then play nice, Kibummie, I'll be back soon, okay?” Jonghyun ignores the glare Kibum throws at him and dodges the pillow tossed with a cackle before disappearing into his room.
Younha is laying on his bed, doing something on her phone, and she barely looks up when Jonghyun enters and closes the door behind him. “Finally,” there's a teasing edge to her voice and Jonghyun rolls his eyes.
“Hush, you.” While Jonghyun gets the recording stuff ready, he hears the bed sheets rustling; then Younha is helping him. They finish setting up quickly and the recording goes as smoothly as it usually does; they fool around for a while before getting serious - they don't take that many takes when they start to get serious, mostly because Jonghyun has sung with Younha so many times that he trusts her to sing how he directs.
And it sounds good; Jonghyun and Younha listen to it alone first and then Jonghyun saves it to his phone and then Jonghyun steps into the main room, half expecting Jinki and Kibum to be at each other's throats - instead, they're sitting close together on the couch, Jinki talking animatedly and Kibum listening with a little smirk on their lips.
When Kibum sees Jonghyun, their grin grows wider, “Hey, bling bling.”
“How - Jinki! Why did you tell them that?”
“Don't worry, Jjongie,” Kibum coos, mirth in their eyes, “I won't tell anyone.”
“Jinki!” Jonghyun whines, ignoring Kibum's cackles.
“Oh, is Jonghyun getting drunk for the first time the worst you could think of?” Younha is giggling too, she sits next to Kibum with a wicked grin on her lips before she says, “did Jinki tell you how he scared away Minho?”
“Minho?”
“Yeah, Choi Minho? The model? Well, Minho's cousin is Choi Sooyoung, and one of her friends is Jessica - she's a model too - and Jessica's sister is Krystal, and Jonghyun is friends with Krystal’s soulmate Amber, so Sooyoung had a little birthday party at her house and Amber was invited and she brought Jonghyun, and he bought her a puppy for her birthday, and then - are you following this? Good. Sooyoung really liked the puppy, but then it went right to Minho and pooped on him, and he was all, Sooyoung, you're not keeping this and she argued for a minute but then agreed and Jonghyun was like oh Minho, I'm really sorry, you can name her and Minho was just like just call it Roo.”
“Younha!” Kibum's laughter almost drowns out Jonghyun's protests and Jonghyun wants to strangle both of his friends, but. Kibum is laughing, and they're happy, so he doesn't mind.
“What about the time when Jjong was dancing and then he started krumping-”
“Okay, I think it's time to say goodnight! Thanks for your help, Younha, I'll see you later, Jinki-”
“I live here.”
“Right, right, I'll just - Kibum, I'm walking you home, okay?”
“Whatever you say, bling bling.”
“Why are you walking Kibum home and not me?” Younha gives Jonghyun an exaggerated pout and he snorts.
“Ask Jinki.”
“No way, I'm already sitting. You lot have fun.”
“You too, old man.” Jonghyun slams the door before Jinki can retort, then ushers Younha and Kibum down the stairs and outside.
“I'll see you, I'm going to pick up something from the store before I head back. It was nice meeting you, Kibum.”
“You too,” Kibum waves and once she's out of earshot, snorts, “why is it that you're friends with so many cute people?”
“I make them look good - like, have you seen me?”
Kibum snorts again, “Okay, Jjong, whatever you say.”
They reach Kibum's building and Kibum turns to Jonghyun, making a point to look down, just to spite him. “This is the part where you kiss me,” they say, rather matter-of-factly.
Jonghyun nearly chokes, eyes flicking from Kibum's to their grinning lips and back up. “I -what?”
“I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We barely know each other, remember?”
“You don't want me to kiss you, so rude,” Jonghyun pouts, folds his arms and turns away to hide the faint blush staining his cheeks.
“Oh, shut up,” Kibum shoves Jonghyun, then their tone turns soft, “goodnight, Jonghyun.”
“Night, Kibummie.”
As soon as Kibum is out of his sight, Jonghyun reaches for his phone.
To Kibummie: did u get home safe?
From Kibummie: you just saw me
To Kibummie: im worrieddd
From Kibummie: yes, im safe
To Kibummie: good
From Kibummie: ur so weird
From Kibummie: goodnight, jjong
To Kibummie: ^^
Jonghyun promptly decides that he's in love. And that realization calls for snacks.
To Dubu: im in love
From Dubu: again???
From Dubu: who is it this time??
To Dubu: kibummmm theyre so cute im gonnan dieeee
From Dubu: i hope you're bringing me snacks
To Dubu: ice cream?
From Dubu: :)))))
“Taemin,” Jonghyun sings when he sees Taemin's familiar face, “oh, Taeminnie, guess what?”
Taemin looks up quickly and blinks a few times before he smiles wide. “Hi, hyung. Did you get laid or something?”
“Nope - what do you know about getting laid, you're like. Two years old.”
Taemin props his head up with his hand, a lazy smirk flirting with his lips. “Wouldn't you like to know, hyung?”
“You littl-" Jonghyun stops himself before he can continue and shakes his head, “I realized today that I'm in love.”
“Congratulations?”
“I mean - I only met them two days ago-”
“Have you seen Frozen?”
“I'm not going to ask them out or anything, they're just cute, and I should be telling Jinki this, not you.”
Taemin shrugs, looks up at Jonghyun and smiles, “I don't mind.”
“No, it's kind of complicated. Hey, do you have a pen?”
Taemin shrugs again and goes back to spinning the ring snug around his finger. “Probably.”
“Aren't you going to help me?”
“Why should I?”
“You work here? And I'm older than you?”
Taemin shrugs again, laziness clear in the action, then sighs. “Are you buying one or do you just need to borrow one?”
“Borrow-"
“Why didn't you say so?” Taemin's grinning, mischief in his eyes, as he reaches for something Jonghyun can't see - he pulls out a blue ballpoint pen and drops it into Jonghyun's waiting hand, a giggle escaping his lips.
“Thank you,” Jonghyun says dryly, “now can I look around?”
“I'm not stopping you.”
“Brat,” Jonghyun mumbles, starting towards the freezers. When he gets there, Jonghyun leans against one of them and pulls up his left sleeve to write the lyrics that had been in his head ever since Taemin smiled at him.
You came to me like a dream
You were like a warm breath to me
You didn’t have a reason, you were always like that back then
“What are you writing?”
Jonghyun startles when Taemin suddenly appears behind him and he holds out his arm for Taemin to read. The expression on Taemin's face goes from curious to shocked to amused in about half a second, and Jonghyun frowns at him.
“What, are they bad?”
“No, no, it's not that. It's - you'll see.”
Interesting. Jonghyun squints at Taemin, then shrugs and reaches in for two pints of ice cream, one strawberry, one coffee.
“I'm buying these, here.” Without warning, Jonghyun shoves them at Taemin and makes his way to the register, ignoring Taemin's whining.
“You could at least buy me one too,” Taemin grumbles as he scans the ice cream.
“Why should I do that?”
“You're my hyung, and I'm hungry,” Taemin pouts up at Jonghyun, “isn't that reason enough?”
“Have a nice night, Taemin.”
Jinki has already prepared a nice blanket fort by the time Jonghyun gets back; Jonghyun dumps the ice cream on the floor and gets them spoons before climbing in next to Jinki.
“So, you like Kibum? Two days, not bad.” Jinki opens both containers of ice cream and passes one to Jonghyun.
“It's just - they're so cute, you saw them! And they're funny and they flirted with me today-”
“Are you sure they were actually flirting?”
“They asked me to kiss them!” Jonghyun points his spoon at Jinki, “tell me that's not flirting!”
“All right, don't get so worked up, they flirted with you,” Jinki steals some of Jonghyun's ice cream and hums, “you've only known them for two days, and you don't even know if they like guys.”
“I think I like Taemin too.” Jonghyun hums, “he's cute too.”
“Taemin?”
“The cute guy I met at the store? He's like...I want to punch him because he's a brat, but I want to kiss him because he's cute. Except I wouldn't punch him because he's cute and I'd definitely kiss him because his lips are pretty. He's just so pretty, Jinki, he's a fairy prince.”
“Okay, that's not usual with you. The fairy prince part, anyway.”
“How about this, shut up. This is a ‘help Jonghyun deal with his crushes’ conversation, not a ‘make fun of Jonghyun’ conversation. You had that earlier, with Younha. Remember?”
“I don't know what you're talking about, Jjong,” Jinki says innocently, “shouldn't you eat your ice cream? It's late.”
“I'm not hungry,” Jonghyun punctuates his statement by stealing a generous spoonful of Jinki's ice cream, cackling as he scrambles from their blanket fort.
“Goodnight, Jjong,” Jinki calls after him.
“Night, old man!”
When Thursday rolls around, everything is normal, until it isn't. Jonghyun wakes up from a night of surprisingly restful sleep, shakes Jinki awake and listens to him grumble for a minute about five more minutes, then goes to make breakfast. When it's done, he goes back into Jinki's room to wake him up again, and he'll drag Jinki from bed so they can eat. Except that's not how it goes.
Yes, Jonghyun wakes Jinki up and yes, Jinki grumbles, breakfast goes normally (it's just a simple American sandwich - bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant - because Jinki had been whining about wanting one for days now), but when Jonghyun goes to drag Jinki out of bed, he stops, because Jinki is curled up in a little ball in bed, and he's crying.
“Go away,” is the first thing Jinki says, in that trembling, rough trying-not-to-cry voice.
In response, Jonghyun just climbs in behind Jinki and pulls him close. Truth be told, Jonghyun doesn't completely hate when Jinki's like this, if only because of how small and pliant he is. But that's only a small percentage of him - the majority of him hates this, because Jinki refuses to tell anyone or get help and he's just glad this has only happened while they're together because what if Jinki's depression hits while he's alone and -
“Calm down, Jjong, I can hear you thinking from here.” Jinki mumbles. He rolls over so they're facing each other and Jonghyun leans in and kisses the tip of Jinki's nose just because he knows Jinki will recoil - and he does: he wrinkles his nose and scoots back, mumbles something about getting a new roommate, blows air in Jonghyun's eyes.
“Rude,” Jonghyun pouts, “I'm getting breakfast.”
Jinki just nuzzles into the blankets and groans, and Jonghyun decides to take that as a yes. When he gets back, Jinki hasn't moved, and Jonghyun frowns. He slides into bed next to Jinki and bites into his sandwich, hums in content and flops over Jinki.
“Jinki, try it,” Jonghyun whines, waits for Jinki to grow annoyed of his pleading and just take a bite - which he does, a defiant, angry bite, and then another, and another, until his sandwich is gone.
And then Jinki is looking up at him with pleading eyes, “Another?” and of course, Jonghyun can only nod because how could he ever deny Jinki anything?
So he goes to make Jinki another sandwich, lets him eat it in peace while he cleans off Jinki's desk. It's littered with his textbooks and notes and pens and pencils and highlighters and post it notes - Jonghyun puts all the writing tools where they belong and puts the papers in their color coded notebooks and the notebooks in their corresponding binders, then stacks those and the textbooks and places them next to Jinki's laptop.
“When was the last time you watered these?” Jonghyun fingers the browning stems of the flowers on Jinki's desk and snorts at the unintelligible noise he receives in reply. So Jonghyun fills an empty water bottle and waters all of Jinki's flowers.
By now, Jinki has gotten up enough to get his phone, and his sad playlist is blasting through the room; some whiny boy band is playing and Jinki is back in his cocoon of blankets. Jonghyun fits in beside him and kisses the skin of Jinki's neck just because he can, runs his fingers through the softness of Jinki's hair and breathes in pure Jinki.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?
Jinki shakes his head and makes a tiny sound that could be an attempt to speak, so Jonghyun waits. And then, “Nothing happened, I just - feel like shit, you know? Like I'm worthless. I don't contribute anything to anyone, I'm just so...useless. You could be in class now instead of wasting your time with taking care of me.”
“But I want to, Jinki. Marks or not, you're my soulmate. You're my roommate, my best friend. You're everything to me, Jinki. And this isn't wasting my time, I'd pick being in bed with you than in a dumb lecture any time. I'm lucky to have you, you're so, so...I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, I'd have dropped out long ago if I didn't have you. I don't want to lose you, not now, not ever.” There are tears threatening to fall and Jonghyun's voice breaks - Jinki rolls over at once and his face falls.
“Fuck, I made you cry - Jjong, don't cry…” but it's useless now: now that Jinki is murmuring comforting words and cradling Jonghyun close even though he's so broken as it is...Jonghyun can't not cry.
“You know how easily I cry,” Jonghyun wipes his cheeks and forces a small smile. Jinki's gaze is serious and he presses a quick kiss to Jonghyun's cheek because he knows how much Jonghyun loves skinship - and it works; a real smile spreads over his lips even if more tears well up and Jinki sighs.
“Come here.” he opens his arms and Jonghyun nestles into Jinki's cocoon, kisses Jinki's neck again and closes his eyes.
“Why do you only have English songs in that playlist?”
“Because…” Jinki takes a breath and Jonghyun listens to his heartbeat, slow and steady, “it feels better, that I don't really know what they're saying. It's about the emotion.”
Jonghyun nods, kisses Jinki's neck again just because he can and feels Jinki's quiet laughter and sighs out his breath into Jinki's throat.
“What?”
“Tired, nap time.”
“Okay,” Jinki switches off his playlist because he knows Jonghyun likes it to be quiet when he's sleeping, then shifts so Jonghyun is in his arms. Jinki's fingers trace up and down Jonghyun's side and the last thing Jonghyun remembers before he falls asleep is Jinki singing him to sleep.
They spend most of the day in bed: Jonghyun writes lyrics and cleans Jinki's room while Jinki watches from his cocoon, they go through his closet because Jonghyun knows Jinki loves to de-clutter, especially when it comes to his clothes. They eventually move to the kitchen, and they make brownies: Jinki cracks the eggs and stirs and Jonghyun pretends not to see Jinki dipping his fingers in the batter. Jonghyun lets Jinki lick the spoon and bowl clean while he puts the brownies in their oven, then they curl up in front of the tv and flip between channels until the brownies finish. They eat straight from the pan and burn their fingers and tongue and go straight back for more because it tastes that good, then Jonghyun makes Jinki a bubble bath and orders chicken while Jinki bathes. They eat on the floor, the lights off and the candles on, and they play cards until they grow bored and tired, and then they head to bed.
They're not fixed, and things aren't perfect, but it's better. Things are...better.
Friday dawns clear and bright; Jonghyun heads straight to Jinki's room and stays with him until he really wakes up, just to make sure he's okay. And he is: Jinki gives Jonghyun a reassuring smile and says that if Jonghyun is up for it, they'll go out to eat later, and Jjong, don't forget to take your pills.
Classes go fine as well: everyone likes Love Belt, and when Jonghyun explains that he'd written it with his semi-recent car accident in mind, he knows that he's definitely got the best story to go along with his song. The other classes pass in a blur - Jonghyun remembers messaging Kibum and Jinki more than his actual classes, which is probably bad, but he can't really care.
He meets up with Kibum for lunch and introduces them to Amber and Luna; Jonghyun and Luna watch with fond amusement as Amber and Kibum almost immediately bond over the fact that they're both nonbinary. They exchange numbers while Jonghyun is in the middle of braiding Luna’s hair, and Kibum's eyes light up when Amber mentions they're dating Luna even though they're soulmates with Krystal (who is happily dating a Kim Jongin). They talk about the ridiculousness of soulmates while Jonghyun puts little flowers into the braid he made, and then Kibum decides that they have to paint them all. And then Amber realizes that Luna has class soon and they drag her off after they both hug Kibum goodbye, and Jonghyun is left with a beaming Kibum on the grass.
“Should I walk you to class, Kibummie?”
“No,” Kibum replies quickly, but they wait for Jonghyun to get up before saying, “it's this way.”
“What class?”
“Are you trying to figure out my schedule?”
“I'm trying to be nice to you, Kibummie. You're my friend.”
Kibum hums low in their throat and nods. “I have dance class now, and then I have the dance class I teach - that's only on Saturdays, though - and then I have another dance class later today.”
“You must love dance, huh?”
“What music is to you...that's what dance is for me.”
“You should show me sometime.”
Kibum shoots him a look and Jonghyun frowns, then realizes and shakes his head, “I didn't mean like that, I just - you know what I meant!”
“I know, bling bling. You're so easy to work up, it's cute.”
“You called me cute-”
“I called what you did cute. You're...you're pretty cute too though.”
Frick. Jonghyun bites his lip to hide his giddy smile, “Thank you, you're not too bad yourself.”
“I know,” Kibum snorts, a little smile on their lips.
“Kibummie?”
“Yes?”
“What gender are you? Like I know you and Amber are both nonbinary, and I know they're demigirl, but you're...”
“I don't know, really. I just,” Kibum shrugs, “you know?”
“Kinda.”
Kibum looks over at Jonghyun with a little smile on their lips, somewhere between amused and confused, and before they can open their mouth, Jonghyun clarifies.
“Like, most of the time, I feel like a guy, you know? Completely male. But then sometimes I just-” Jonghyun waves his hands just of finishing his sentence and looks up at Kibum, “is that what you're saying? It's...no, never mind.”
“It's what? And that is what I meant, sort of.”
“It's nothing, hey - isn't this your building?”
“Yes,” Kibum says mildly, “so tell me. I won't go in until you go.”
“Fine, I just,” Jonghyun takes a breath and says quickly, “it's not something I've ever told anyone before. So, thank you.”
From Kibummie: you're rlly cute
From Kibummie: and thank you for telling me
To Kibummie: !!!!
To Kibummie: thnk u for listenign
Jonghyun is glad he's not with Jinki now, because the blush on his face and the giddy smile on his lips would make him the object of his teasing for days.
To Dubu: im stoppign by teh store after class
To Dubu: what kind of cake do u want
To Dubu: chocolate or coffee
To Dubu: or shoudl I get donuts
From Dubu: chocolate cake
To Dubu: teh fudgey one?
From Dubu: ^^
When Jonghyun gets to the register and doesn't see Taemin, he frowns. “Where's Taemin?”
“He doesn't work Fridays. Why?”
“Just wanted to know. Do you know where he is…”
“Jongin. And yeah, he should be finishing up at his dance class. He'll be working a lot less though, we have a competition coming up soon.”
“We?”
“I couldn't make class today because no one else could watch the shop,” Jongin shrugs, “but I know all of our routines, so. Me and Taemin just have to work on our duet, he's such a perfectionist. It would be annoying if he weren't so cute.”
Jonghyun hums, then remembers something and points at Jongin. “Aren't you dating Krystal?”
“You know her?”
“I've met her a few times, I'm Amber’s friend.”
Jongin nods at that, and Jonghyun gives him his cake. “A discount,” Jongin says as Jonghyun hands over his money, “if you come to our show.”
“When and where?”
At that, Jongin pauses. “Okay, I don't actually remember. I'd tell you to ask Taemin, but that kid is hopeless.”
“Don't worry, I'll figure it out,” Jonghyun promises, “I wouldn't miss your show for the world.”
Jonghyun leaves the store with a discount and a sour taste in his mouth.
To Kibummie: can I come overrr
To Kibummie: I'm boreddddd
To Kibummie: nd jinki won't be home for so loooong
From Kibummie: im just getting in but sure
To Kibummie: ahhh thank uwu
From Kibummie: nerd. Im gonna shower so just let yourself in
To Kibummie: okkkkk
Out of habit, Jonghyun knocks before entering Kibum's dorm room; he can hear the shower running and when he looks again, he sees a mop of fluffy blonde hair peeking over the top of the couch, its owner watching tv.
“You couldn't have gotten the door? What if I were still waiting out there?”
The mop of hair turns and then Jonghyun sees a familiar face, lips curved into a playful grin. “Hey, hyung,” Taemin says mildly.
“Your hair…” Taemin's mess of brown has been cut and bleached, now falling around his face in delicate waves instead of falling wherever it pleased.
“What about my hair?” Taemin stands, makes his way over to Jonghyun, his movements lazy.
“You're - dracula oppa-" Jonghyun stammers, backing away from Taemin's now predatorial motions.
“Can I bite you then?” Taemin's voice is low and Jonghyun's back hits the wall, and he doesn't quite mind the way Taemin boxes him in, forces him to look up those few inches.
A strained nod and Jonghyun can feel Taemin laugh into his neck, his nose and lips brushing feather-light over his skin, lips full and slightly chapped. And then they press fully to his skin and Jonghyun freezes, going rigid and just when Taemin begins to apply the lightest amount of pressure, there's a pointed cough and Kibum is standing there, brow raised.
“Why, hello.”
Frick.
Taemin doesn't step back, just cranes his neck and nods at Kibum. “How was your shower?”
“Why are you pinning Jonghyun to the wall?”
“He wanted me to bite him. Because I'm dracula oppa,” Taemin says matter of factly, “I think he likes my hair."
“I told you blonde looks good on you, Taeminnie,” Kibum gestures for Taemin to come closer and Taemin does, lets Kibum fuss with his hair, “you look so much more mature now.”
“You two...know each other?”
“From dance,” Taemin says, “we've known each other since - what was it, the summer before freshman year?”
“For you, yeah. I was a junior.”
“Kibum was the best dancer at school, and he took me under his wing when he saw how good I was, and we've been together ever since. Or, until he graduated, and Jongin moved here my junior year, and then it was is that were the best. Me and Kibum still talked though, just not often. And then we met up again at dance this year.”
Jonghyun follows them both to Kibum's room and flops down between them, wiggling in his spot until he's comfortable.
“What about you and Tae?” Kibum asks, though they're frowning at their phone, thumbs moving rapidly.
“He seduced me with banana milk,” Taemin says before Jonghyun can tell Kibum how he'd innocently bought Taemin snacks out of the kindness of his own heart - and Jinki's money.
“Seduced you, huh?” Kibum sounds amused by Taemin's accusation and Jonghyun frowns at them.
“Stop laughing at me!” Jonghyun flaps his hand at Kibum and rolls halfway on them when they keep laughing.
“Don't worry,” Taemin pats Jonghyun's knee, grinning, “Kibum's just mean. Laughing at you when you're so defenseless, so cute and tiny and small, like a little baby-”
Jonghyun rolls on top of Taemin, ready to attack, but Taemin just lies beneath him, laughing. “You're not even that much taller than me!” Jonghyun protests as he reaches down to muss Taemin's hair, “take it back!”
Taemin brings his hands up to shield his face, still grinning, and the sleeves fall down and Jonghyun sees black on his left arm, familiar handwriting that spells out: “you came to me like a dream”
They both still, and then Jonghyun realizes, everything makes sense now. The weird look Taemin had given him, the way he just said that Jonghyun would see soon, and he does.
“Taemin, you have my song on your arm.”
A lazy grin. “Yeah?”
“The song that I showed you in the store.”
“I really don't know where you're going with this, Jjong.”
“You gave me a weird look and said I'd see. Taemin, you knew, why didn't you tell me?”
Taemin's grin grows wider, “I thought it would be more fun this way. And wasn't it?”
“I hate you.” Jonghyun rolls off of Taemin completely and ignores the way his soulmate links their hands and plays with Jonghyun's fingers.
“I'm an angel. And you can't hate your own soulmate, that's against the rules. You're stuck with me.”
A dry cough, “I'm so sorry to cut in on this moment, but Jjong, can you leave? You too, Tae.”
Jonghyun looks over at Kibum and opens his mouth, but Kibum cuts him off. “I mean it, Jjong.” Just like before, there's an unspoken please, and Jonghyun nods, lets Taemin drag him from Kibum's dorm without a fuss.
Outside, Taemin lets out a long sigh. “I forgot how Kibum feels about soulmates. They're...they really hate the idea of soulmates. It's personal stuff, they'll tell you when it's time.”
Jonghyun nods and Taemin smiles that lazy smile at him before continuing. “I'm gonna go to the dance studio, I think. Practice with Jongin some more.”
“Taemin, wait. Can I get your number?”
“Just because we're soulmates-”
“No! Well - I just want to get to know you better.”
Taemin shrugs, holds out his hand for Jonghyun's phone. “I was just teasing you, Jjong.” he plays with Jonghyun's phone for a minute and then gives it back, then gives Jonghyun a quick smile and heads down the hall. Jonghyun decides he likes Taemin.
Part Two