In the Meantime, Part 16 (Drabble)
Pairing: college roommates!JongKey
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Humour
Summary: After a bit of involuntary snooping, Minho finally discovers the truth about Onew.
A/N: This one's from Minho's p.o.v. for a change!
( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) / Masterpost
____________________
Minho entered the coffee shop at a brisk pace, making a beeline for the couple once he spotted them. They sat huddled together on the same side of the table, eyes on each other. Kibum was speaking animatedly, Jonghyun’s arm draped along the back of his chair while he listened, and Minho stood in front of them for a few seconds before realizing they wouldn’t notice him.
He cleared his throat loudly, Kibum stopping mid-sentence as they both turned their heads at once. He then sat down in front of them, gladly taking the cup Jonghyun pushed his way.
“So what’s this about?” Jonghyun asked.
Minho had texted them earlier, urgently asking them to meet up. He preferred meeting with them in public places because they were forced to keep their displays of affection to a minimum. That didn’t mean they didn’t like to test the limits, though.
“Guys,” he said sombrely, “I heard Jinki talking to someone.”
Kibum simply stared at him, point-blank, before grabbing his coffee and sliding out of his seat. “Shocking,” he uttered, expression unchanging, “now if you don’t mind we’re going to go spend the rest of our break someplace else.”
“Having a slow gossip day?” Jonghyun teased with a cocky grin, but Minho stopped him before he could get out of his seat and follow Kibum.
“Shut up, okay? He was talking to a girl, and I think they were video-calling or something because her voice was all, like, distant.”
Kibum quickly dropped back into his seat, mouth gaping, and asked, “What do you mean you ‘think’?”
Were this any other day he would have smirked, but Minho was so mind-boggled by what he’d heard that he couldn’t bring himself to be cocky about it.
“I was halfway to class when I realized I’d forgotten my course notes, so I ran back to the dorm to get them but then I heard Jinki speaking from across the door,” Minho went on, both Jonghyun and Kibum listening to him intently. “I was about to knock but then I heard her voice and I kind of eavesdropped after that.”
“What did she say?” Jonghyun asked, resting one of his hands on Kibum’s thigh under the table. Minho sincerely hoped he didn’t think he was being subtle or secretive when he did that; Jonghyun in general was about as subtle as a slap to the face.
“I couldn’t make out what she said, but Jinki talked about his classes and stuff.”
“I knew it!” Kibum burst out, smacking a hand down onto the table. “He totally has a girlfriend! You owe me money,” he added, turning to Jonghyun.
“I never bet anything,” Jonghyun reasoned, levelling Kibum with a frown.
“Then you owe me a coffee for being right.”
“I just bought you coffee!” Jonghyun cried out. “Besides, she could be just a friend or a cousin, hell even an operating system for all we know!”
“She sounded real,” Minho quickly supplied, “and Jinki was being… oddly sweet.”
“You said he was just talking about his classes,” Jonghyun pressed, seeming confused.
“Yeah but his voice was all… soft. It was weird,” Minho explained, reliving the memory with a shudder. “Like when you guys talk and you think nobody can hear you.”
Kibum’s grin became wider at that, and he turned to look at Jonghyun triumphantly. “Told you!” he exclaimed, poking his finger into Jonghyun’s chest.
“I’m not convinced,” Jonghyun spoke definitively. “I’ll need to hear it from him. It’s about time he told us he has a girlfriend anyway.”
“He has been telling us,” Minho answered pointedly. “We just haven’t been believing him.”
“I did,” Kibum piped up proudly, before adding a less convincing “sort of.”
“Then it’s about time we meet her,” Jonghyun said, and they agreed to go out to Jinki’s favourite restaurant that weekend and to submit him to an intense round of questioning.
Minho was the first to arrive that night, Kibum and Jonghyun showing up arm in arm soon after. They had purposefully told Jinki to come a little later, giving them time to figure out just how they would go about this; Minho took his gossip most seriously.
When Jinki finally arrived and seated himself beside Minho after having greeted them, Kibum got right to it.
“Your girlfriend,” he spat out, leaving them all in suspense.
Jinki blinked a few times, a bit stunned by the silence and everyone’s intense focus on him. “What about my girlfriend?” he asked casually.
“I knew-mmrph!” Kibum burst out, again, but this time Jonghyun clapped his hand over his mouth. Kibum then made a weird face, but Jonghyun only smirked, licking his lips, and Minho just… didn’t want to know what Kibum was doing to his hand.
“How did you two meet again?” Minho tried to feign being casual, but it only had Jinki frowning even more.
“Why are you so curious all of a sudden?”
“It’s because we didn’t think she was real, before,” Jonghyun helpfully supplied after having retracted his hand and wiped it on his pants-which, ew.
“Smooth, Jjong,” Kibum pitched in, leaning into Jonghyun’s space. Those two were like magnets. It was simultaneously fascinating and sickening to witness.
Jinki merely shrugged, looking unaffected by their teasing, as always. “You never really asked about her, I mean, you just kept asking to meet her but she can’t.”
“Why not?” Minho pressed.
“She’s been studying abroad, in Japan,” Jinki explained, leaving Minho to wonder how mentioning that in the first place could have been so hard. Jinki shrugged again. “It was nice to have you leave us alone. Besides, we’re keeping it kind of casual.”
“But you’ve been saying you have a girlfriend for, like, years,” Jonghyun reminded him, “what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means we talk once in a while. She doesn’t get to come back very often.”
“How did you meet her, then?” Minho asked, truly baffled by how Jinki could have kept this a secret, especially while living with him for so long.
“She did her first semester here, at the same time as me while you guys were still in high school. I helped her out in one of our classes. And then she moved,” Jinki explained simply.
“That is actually adorable,” Kibum spoke up, placing his hand on top of Jonghyun’s on the table.
“But have you ever… you know, done it?” Jonghyun said so very eloquently; he was the king of subtlety, after all.
Inexplicably, Jinki started laughing, shocking them all. They all stared at him, not really knowing how to react. Jinki then spoke again, albeit cryptically, “She’s never complained.”
And, okay, that may have been a remark on their sexless relationship but judging by the way Jinki was suddenly leering at them, Minho was pretty sure he had just insinuated he was good in bed. When Minho met Jonghyun’s gaze, the both of them wearing matching disturbed frowns, he realized that sometimes ignorance was underrated bliss.
Luckily, a waiter came by to take their orders, and Minho had to repeat his three times he was stuttering so badly. Jinki ordered for himself with his usual bright smile, and Minho felt a deep sense of both betrayal and awe at the realization that Jinki had gotten just what he’d wanted again: for them to stop pestering him about his romantic life. Well-played, Jinki, Minho conceded, well-played.
Part 17
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Humour
Summary: After a bit of involuntary snooping, Minho finally discovers the truth about Onew.
A/N: This one's from Minho's p.o.v. for a change!
( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) / Masterpost
____________________
Minho entered the coffee shop at a brisk pace, making a beeline for the couple once he spotted them. They sat huddled together on the same side of the table, eyes on each other. Kibum was speaking animatedly, Jonghyun’s arm draped along the back of his chair while he listened, and Minho stood in front of them for a few seconds before realizing they wouldn’t notice him.
He cleared his throat loudly, Kibum stopping mid-sentence as they both turned their heads at once. He then sat down in front of them, gladly taking the cup Jonghyun pushed his way.
“So what’s this about?” Jonghyun asked.
Minho had texted them earlier, urgently asking them to meet up. He preferred meeting with them in public places because they were forced to keep their displays of affection to a minimum. That didn’t mean they didn’t like to test the limits, though.
“Guys,” he said sombrely, “I heard Jinki talking to someone.”
Kibum simply stared at him, point-blank, before grabbing his coffee and sliding out of his seat. “Shocking,” he uttered, expression unchanging, “now if you don’t mind we’re going to go spend the rest of our break someplace else.”
“Having a slow gossip day?” Jonghyun teased with a cocky grin, but Minho stopped him before he could get out of his seat and follow Kibum.
“Shut up, okay? He was talking to a girl, and I think they were video-calling or something because her voice was all, like, distant.”
Kibum quickly dropped back into his seat, mouth gaping, and asked, “What do you mean you ‘think’?”
Were this any other day he would have smirked, but Minho was so mind-boggled by what he’d heard that he couldn’t bring himself to be cocky about it.
“I was halfway to class when I realized I’d forgotten my course notes, so I ran back to the dorm to get them but then I heard Jinki speaking from across the door,” Minho went on, both Jonghyun and Kibum listening to him intently. “I was about to knock but then I heard her voice and I kind of eavesdropped after that.”
“What did she say?” Jonghyun asked, resting one of his hands on Kibum’s thigh under the table. Minho sincerely hoped he didn’t think he was being subtle or secretive when he did that; Jonghyun in general was about as subtle as a slap to the face.
“I couldn’t make out what she said, but Jinki talked about his classes and stuff.”
“I knew it!” Kibum burst out, smacking a hand down onto the table. “He totally has a girlfriend! You owe me money,” he added, turning to Jonghyun.
“I never bet anything,” Jonghyun reasoned, levelling Kibum with a frown.
“Then you owe me a coffee for being right.”
“I just bought you coffee!” Jonghyun cried out. “Besides, she could be just a friend or a cousin, hell even an operating system for all we know!”
“She sounded real,” Minho quickly supplied, “and Jinki was being… oddly sweet.”
“You said he was just talking about his classes,” Jonghyun pressed, seeming confused.
“Yeah but his voice was all… soft. It was weird,” Minho explained, reliving the memory with a shudder. “Like when you guys talk and you think nobody can hear you.”
Kibum’s grin became wider at that, and he turned to look at Jonghyun triumphantly. “Told you!” he exclaimed, poking his finger into Jonghyun’s chest.
“I’m not convinced,” Jonghyun spoke definitively. “I’ll need to hear it from him. It’s about time he told us he has a girlfriend anyway.”
“He has been telling us,” Minho answered pointedly. “We just haven’t been believing him.”
“I did,” Kibum piped up proudly, before adding a less convincing “sort of.”
“Then it’s about time we meet her,” Jonghyun said, and they agreed to go out to Jinki’s favourite restaurant that weekend and to submit him to an intense round of questioning.
Minho was the first to arrive that night, Kibum and Jonghyun showing up arm in arm soon after. They had purposefully told Jinki to come a little later, giving them time to figure out just how they would go about this; Minho took his gossip most seriously.
When Jinki finally arrived and seated himself beside Minho after having greeted them, Kibum got right to it.
“Your girlfriend,” he spat out, leaving them all in suspense.
Jinki blinked a few times, a bit stunned by the silence and everyone’s intense focus on him. “What about my girlfriend?” he asked casually.
“I knew-mmrph!” Kibum burst out, again, but this time Jonghyun clapped his hand over his mouth. Kibum then made a weird face, but Jonghyun only smirked, licking his lips, and Minho just… didn’t want to know what Kibum was doing to his hand.
“How did you two meet again?” Minho tried to feign being casual, but it only had Jinki frowning even more.
“Why are you so curious all of a sudden?”
“It’s because we didn’t think she was real, before,” Jonghyun helpfully supplied after having retracted his hand and wiped it on his pants-which, ew.
“Smooth, Jjong,” Kibum pitched in, leaning into Jonghyun’s space. Those two were like magnets. It was simultaneously fascinating and sickening to witness.
Jinki merely shrugged, looking unaffected by their teasing, as always. “You never really asked about her, I mean, you just kept asking to meet her but she can’t.”
“Why not?” Minho pressed.
“She’s been studying abroad, in Japan,” Jinki explained, leaving Minho to wonder how mentioning that in the first place could have been so hard. Jinki shrugged again. “It was nice to have you leave us alone. Besides, we’re keeping it kind of casual.”
“But you’ve been saying you have a girlfriend for, like, years,” Jonghyun reminded him, “what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means we talk once in a while. She doesn’t get to come back very often.”
“How did you meet her, then?” Minho asked, truly baffled by how Jinki could have kept this a secret, especially while living with him for so long.
“She did her first semester here, at the same time as me while you guys were still in high school. I helped her out in one of our classes. And then she moved,” Jinki explained simply.
“That is actually adorable,” Kibum spoke up, placing his hand on top of Jonghyun’s on the table.
“But have you ever… you know, done it?” Jonghyun said so very eloquently; he was the king of subtlety, after all.
Inexplicably, Jinki started laughing, shocking them all. They all stared at him, not really knowing how to react. Jinki then spoke again, albeit cryptically, “She’s never complained.”
And, okay, that may have been a remark on their sexless relationship but judging by the way Jinki was suddenly leering at them, Minho was pretty sure he had just insinuated he was good in bed. When Minho met Jonghyun’s gaze, the both of them wearing matching disturbed frowns, he realized that sometimes ignorance was underrated bliss.
Luckily, a waiter came by to take their orders, and Minho had to repeat his three times he was stuttering so badly. Jinki ordered for himself with his usual bright smile, and Minho felt a deep sense of both betrayal and awe at the realization that Jinki had gotten just what he’d wanted again: for them to stop pestering him about his romantic life. Well-played, Jinki, Minho conceded, well-played.
Part 17