[G02] INTER-DATE (1/2)
Prompt Code: G2
Title: Inter-Date
Rating: PG-15 for the entire fic, NC-17 if you concentrate on the few questionable racy moments
Side pairings: bffs!chansoo, onesided!sukai, another canon pairing if you keep your eyes peeled
Word Count: 11, 982
Summary: Jongin manages to score himself a guy from behind the safety of his virtual fence.
Warnings: internet slang/acronyms spread out all over the fic, non-graphic sexual content, swearing, forced crack etc.
AN: This was really interesting to write; a bit removed from what I usually do, but familiar enough that I didn’t feel lost writing it. Thanks to the NODTT mods (for this fest!!) for being patient, extremely helpful, for saving my ass (more than once) and making my life easier whichever way they can. You’re the real MVPs of this fest! Huge thanks to my beta buddy S who stuck with me and gave me inspiration when I needed it the most. Also special thanks to my bff N for helping me with last minute stuff. And to you prompter, and you lovely reader, this is for you!
Hunched over his laptop, eyes glued to the monitor illuminating his soft caramel-toned face, one hand holding onto a can of root beer and the other typing effortlessly over his laptop’s keyboard is Jongin’s preferred sitting position during the wee hours of the night until the peak of dawn. There’s a variant of this position too; he’s also fond of the ‘one-hand under-the-chin’ pose during those nights he’s too broke to even buy a soda.
The reason behind Jongin’s attempt at recreating The Thinker’s pose with a laptop is that he’s hooked up on this new fad called “online roleplaying”. A resident netizen, it’s no surprise that Jongin stumbled upon this ‘online activity’ since it has gotten so popular. Though, how he stumbled upon it is another story.
See, Jongin is on his way out of the train ride that is puberty (he’s barely 20) and though this is the case, his hormones are still fully functional. But when you’re recently gay and definitely not ready to come out yet, a horny man-boy can only do so much to satiate his raging hormones. So he decides one day to look up ‘gay sex gifs’ on his twitter. His query rewarded him well with a search result’s page full of naughty gifs: bouncing butts, flailing penises and quick, jittery movements of sweaty yet unrealistically toned bodies. Jongin is sweating as well and he can feel his senses slowly heightening.
When he’s done disappointing his mother, Jongin decides to stalk one of the accounts that posted gay sex gifs. As he zeroes in on the account’s display photo, he notices that the man in there seems kind of familiar. He clicks on the profile and reads the bio. “D.O of EXO.Also known as the tiny DiablO. Fried Chicken RP.”
Jongin’s brows furrowed as he read the last part out loud. “Fried Chicken RP - what the hell is a ‘Fried Chicken RP’? Is that some new food joint in Korea I didn’t know about?” He scratches a spot on the side of his neck as he leans back, scrolling over the entirety of the profile. “Ah, so that’s why he looked familiar. He’s part of EXO,” Jongin glances at the profile again. “but no check mark. Plus, the followers are too few for an idol’s standard. Heck, I don’t think any EXO member owns a twitter account. Who is this guy then - a faker? A poser?”
And because Jongin deep down is a know-it-all busy body (with too much time on his hands), he decides to call the poser guy out. He begins typing a tweet.
To @exoDOse: hey you. y r u impersonating an idol? Do ppl actually buy this?
Jongin stands up to get chips after he sent the tweet. When he comes back, there’s a number 2 bubble on his twitter notifications. He sits back down and moves his cursor over to click on it. It’s the poser guy; he tweeted him back.
To @jongoutheslayer: Im not. Hv u even read my bio? I clearly put ‘friedchickenrp’ in there 2 avoid incidents like this.
@exoDOse retweeted your tweet and added: “can u believe this guy”. The tweet gets five hearts.
Jongin inhales sharply, feeling his cheeks heat up as his offended face slides on. He sets his chips down harshly next to him, stray bits flying out and landing on his lap and desk while his hands immediately move to type a reply.
To @exoDOse: well I’m sorry, but I dunno WTH a ‘fried chicken rp’ is. Care 2 xplain?
Jongin munches on a few chips as he waits for the person’s reply and his cheeks to cool down. When he starts to feel idiotic staring at his twitter timeline, obsessively pressing the F5 button like a maniac, he opens a new tab and types in YouTube. He clicks randomly on an old video by Filthy Frank, pauses it so it can buffer faster, and switches back to his twitter tab. He has a private message notification. It’s from @exoDOse.
“It stands for Fried Chicken Roleplay - it’s a roleplaying agency…and roleplaying is like ‘playing’ the ‘role’ of an idol/actor/actress etc. like me, what I do. Think of cosplay, but considerably less mainstream.’’
“I’m guessing you’ve never roleplayed before. Are you interested? We need more people in our agency. ^^”
The ‘^^’ at the end has Jongin’s right eyebrow raising. “So he’s suddenly acting all friendly now, huh,” Jongin murmurs to himself. His smile is all mischief as he types a reply to the D.O faker/roleplay guy, the Filthy Frank video on the YouTube tab momentarily forgotten in favor of something strangely more interesting.
“Alright, ‘less mainstream than cosplay’ caught my attention; sign me up. But you have to carry the responsibility of introducing me to this entire ‘roleplay culture’.”
- - -
“CHANYEOL! Look at this-,” Kyungsoo bellows from his spot in the living room, one arm slung loosely over the back of the cheap couch he and his roommate Chanyeol managed to squeeze into their rundown unit.
Chanyeol, having heard his name, immediately runs over to where Kyungsoo is, still holding onto a half-peeled potato as he asks, “what, what is it? Are classes canceled tomorrow?”
Kyungsoo glances at his roommate and clicks his tongue at him. “No, you idiot. Why would they cancel classes tomorrow? It isn’t even Christmas break yet, heck, there isn’t even any snow to block the roads with. This is what I’m referring to.”
He hands his laptop over to Chanyeol and points to something at the center of the monitor.
“Woah, no way. Will you take him up on this?”
Kyungsoo’s grin is smug as he leans back on the couch. “Hell yeah, I am.”
Chanyeol looks flabbergasted. “But he’s virtually a stranger! What if he’s some creepy ass weirdo-“
“Relax, Yeol. I won’t take a selfie with my dick, what the fuck. If this gets leaked, no one will even know it’s me. Unless you recognize the flooring on the picture then there’s you…” Kyungsoo jokingly scoots away from Chanyeol and shivers.
Chanyeol puts the laptop down next to Kyungsoo and kicks at his shin, half-annoyed, half-flustered. “Shut up, you. That was one time. Now go flash that thirsty creep. God knows how much he needs his daily stroke.”
Kyungsoo grins slyly as he watches Chanyeol’s lanky frame retreat back to the kitchen. When he’s sure his friend is occupied and not going to barge in on what he’s going to do anytime soon, he scoots back until his butt is planted firmly on the couch’s’ arm. Then he immediately lifts the laptop onto his lap as well as a part of his shirt up as he taps the mouse pad to take a ‘shirtless selfie’.
Apparently the guy on twitter, whom he met two weeks ago and successfully persuaded into joining his roleplaying haven, was actually a thirsty horndog. Five days into their character roleplay of D.O and Kai of EXO and they’re already in a relationship. Add in a week and 2 days after that and the guy is already after his OOC pants.
Usually, Kyungsoo doesn’t say much about his OOC self - a.k.a Out Of Character self to his internet roleplaying buddies since that’s the exact opposite of roleplaying. But he somehow found himself opening parts of the real him up to this particular stranger who mistook him for an idol faker. (As if he was desperate enough for attention to actually pose as an idol; the accusation made Kyungsoo roll his eyes.) So he decided to humor that stranger in retaliation, to maybe even publicly humiliate him along the way, but here they are now; their characters madly in love.
Kyungsoo checks the slightly blurred selfie, trying not to think too much of what he’s doing sending a half-naked (sans his face) picture of him to a guy online he’s barely known. He appeases his worrisome thoughts by convincing himself that there’s no harm dabbing in a little fun. This is all the fun he’s going to get anyway if he wants those 3.76s in line. He checks the picture one last time for anything that might trace back to him in real life before clicking send. He then utters a silent prayer to all the gods he’s ever bothered to learn the name of that the person on the other side doesn’t live anywhere near him.
- - -
“JESUS CHRIST,” Jongin exclaims as the picture of a pale boy’s stomach comes into view the moment he clicks on @exoDOse’s direct message. He wouldn’t have guessed that the other boy would take his flirty challenge seriously but he obviously thought wrong.
Jongin’s senses are flooded with the image of a boy somewhere with a stomach looking that soft and ivory white that has his mouth responding with unnecessary salivation. Suddenly he’s thinking of bite marks, hickeys and handprints and -
An angry tap on the wall followed by an equally angry voice of a retired nun is what he gets as a reply for his outburst, effectively bringing him out of his sinful thoughts.
“His Name better be used in prayer, young man!”
Jongin cringes at that but pulls himself together once he glances back at the opened photo on his laptop. The situation is basically screaming reciprocation at his face, and Jongin is more than tempted to follow through.
@exoDOse didn’t know what he had in store for him the moment he sent that photo, Jongin thinks mischievously as he starts unbuttoning his white polo.
He’s usually painfully shy when it comes to revealing his body, with his insecurities and all that. But Jongin realizes he doesn’t really mind as long as it’s behind the safety of his screen, and especially not if a hot boy is receiving it on the other side.
He stands in front of his dresser, polo unbuttoned but not flapped open all the way, letting slivers of his naturally tanned skin show as he flexes his stomach muscles for a sort-of shirtless selfie as well.
Jongin smirks as he reviews the picture he’s taken. “He has no bloody idea.”
Kyungsoo’s eyes widen, his brows flying up to his hairline and he jerks a bit in surprise, causing him to drop his phone flat on his face.
“Ow! Son of a bitch - ”
The last syllable on his curse is uttered soft as his attention shifts back to the photo left open on his phone, hurriedly picking the device back up.
“Shit. Mother freaking - shit.”
Kyungsoo is still in awe as he stares at the photo @jongoutheslayer sent him. It’s a shirtless photo of him as well, and Kyungsoo is rendered speechless. The torso in the picture looks too good to be legit, and, realizing that the other might be catfishing him, decides to call him out.
Right after he wipes his drool.
Jongin’s phone beeps as he receives a twitter notification. It’s a direct message from @exoDOse sent at least two hours ago. He frowns before opening the message, making a mental note to change internet service providers when he has the time.
From @exoDOse: Hah, ok Kai. This isn’t fair - I send you a 101% legitimate photo of me and you send me some cropped Abercrombie model’s body. Haha. I’ve been around long enough to know how catfish operates, yknow. ☹
Jongin chuckles as he finishes reading the message and glances down at himself and his tattered sweats. He’s changed into his normal almost-homeless college boy clothes right after he took that selfie, resigned to his fate thinking that he scared the other boy off with his average body and creepy vibe. Might as well look the part, he thought at that time. But now staring @exoDOse’s message, he realizes that his assumption might have been wrong.
“Abercrombie model?” he repeats in disbelief after reading the message a hundredth time, the hidden compliment not fully sinking in. “More like a-broke-zombie noodle.” He chuckles once before typing that phrase down, tiny smile still in place as he acknowledges how funny he is. “Man that was good.”
To @exoDOse: u mean, a-broke-zombie noodle. HAHA. No, srsly tho. What do I have to do to convince u I’m real? I swear on all the lube our characters used that I am though, and you’ve gotta admit that’s a lotta lube.
Jongin holds onto his phone as he stretches from his perch on his bed to grab his copy of The Catcher in the Rye on the lowest shelf of his nightstand. He figures he might as well do something productive while he waits for the other to respond. So he leans back on his headboard once he gets a hold of the book, his phone placed on his lap momentarily as he begins to read.
He probably comes across his fifth ‘phony’ when his phone vibrates against his lap. He puts the book down and opens the message.
From @exoDOse:
Ok then…take another selfie, but this time with a gray shirt. And you have to do a ‘thumbs up’ pose, too. Then send it to me. Ofc you can ask me to do one as well. Deal?
Jongin grins at what @exoDOse was asking him to do. The terms seemed oddly cute to him.
Which gave him the perfect idea for his terms for the other.
- - -
“I - what are you doing,” Chanyeol deadpans.
Chanyeol was just a few steps past their front door as he entered their shared apartment when he stopped dead in his tracks. The first thing he notices is Kyungsoo taking pictures of his stuffed toys on display in their crammed up living room, complete with both thumbs up while his phone’s picture timer goes off somewhere opposite him.
“Seriously, what the hell Kyungsoo.” The stuffed toys are all arranged in a semi-circle formation, with Kyungsoo inserting random thumbs up poses as the shutter clicks away behind him. It was equal parts cute and creepy, which to Chanyeol meant distress.
Kyungsoo walks forward to check the pictures on his phone as he answers Chanyeol. “Relax, Yeol. This isn’t some experiment we’re doing for Anthro 150, I promise. This is for him.”
Chanyeol inwardly shudders at the mention of said class. He toes his shoes off and walks past Kyungsoo into their crammed kitchen, already halfway into unloading the dinner he bought for the both of them when the other half of what Kyungsoo said registers.
“Wait, him? What do you mean ‘for him?’ Who’s him?”
Kyungsoo grins cheekily, all chubby cheeks and gummy smiles as he directs a cocky-looking thumbs up in his direction.
“Him - as in roleplay guy him. I’m getting internet D, Yeol.”
Chanyeol rolled his eyes at his friend’s tactless remark. “Getting internet D is basically just like watching porn, y’know? Nothing special. And which him anyway? You’ve been in so many roleplays I’ve lost count of who you’re ‘dating’.”
Kyungsoo tuts at his party-pooping giant of a friend before looking back down to swipe around on his phone. “Getting internet D is nothing like porn. It’s a hundred percent more personalized - Aha!” Kyungsoo exclaims before turning his phone over for Chanyeol to see.
“Feast your eyes! But only for a second. I don’t like to share my blessings.”
Chanyeol moved closer and squinted at Kyungsoo’s phone before letting out a low whistle. “Hot damn. Where’d you manage to find him? And I thought that Baekhyun guy you had a brief fling with was hot.”
Kyungsoo chuckled evilly before locking his phone and pocketing it. “He’s the same thirsty horndog guy I was telling you about these past few weeks, by the way. Turns out he had the body to back up the thirst.”
Chanyeol gave his friend a once over, took in his playful smirk and smug look. “So, this…guy. What do you think of him?” He leaned forward conspiratorially, like the answer to his question was something top secret that only the two of them should know.
Kyungsoo stared at his friend, bursting out in laughter not a second later when the latter wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“God, why are you always like this? You’re not my grandma!” But Chanyeol is undeterred, staring him down with his eyeballs of truth until he’s forced to answer.
“Fine. I think he’s hot, he’s nice and he’s fun to talk to. But nothing more. And quit doing that! That’s creepy, Yeol. And you wonder why I never introduced you to any of my internet friends.” Kyungsoo shouldered Chanyeol away good-naturedly while the other continued grinning widely, bordering on psychotic.
“I can tell you fancy this one, Kyungsoo!”
“Shut up, you creep!”
Much, much later that night Kyungsoo finds himself chuckling lowly at something ‘Kai’ tweeted. It wasn’t directed at him, but it appeared on his tlist and it was funny, so his reaction was completely normal (or so he convinces himself).
But Chanyeol, being the night elf that he is, catches on the low chuckle. He gets his phone and taps on the Whip App with a knowing smirk plastered on his face.
Kyungsoo startles at the sound of a whip breaking into his consciousness without warning, looking around in alarm. But he recovers quickly, chucking his mini alarm clock at the infuriating giant he calls his friend once he realizes what the sound had meant.
- - -
Jongin checks his phone on the way home from his last class of the day, immediately smiling once he sees that he’s received a direct message from ‘D.O.’
@exoDOse: Have you ever heard of roleplaying on Instagram?
Jongin’s brows furrowed momentarily in confusion at the message; he looked up from his phone briefly to glance both ways before crossing the street to the block where his apartment was located. He was used to the other asking him random questions during the day when they weren’t roleplaying, so this didn’t surprise him. But it did however, pique his interest.
Vaguely intrigued, Jongin tapped in a reply once he reached the inside of his building. You can roleplay on Instagram? How would that even work? he typed. Attention focused solely on his phone, he hadn’t noticed the person carrying boxes come towards him.
The impact wasn’t harsh but it was strong enough to almost topple the top most box over to the ground. Luckily, Jongin’s reflexes were still good despite being allergic to strenuous activity since the 8th grade, and was able to hold onto the top box before it crashed down.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see you - Jongin?” A man’s handsome face appeared from behind the boxes whose features morphed into a warm smile when he recognized Jongin. “How’s it going?”
“Junmyeon-hyung, hey,” Jongin replied softly, sending a quick smile over to the older before fixing the box on top and hurriedly shuffling away, muttering unintelligible excuses made even more undecipherable as he kept bowing swiftly, backpedalling out of the vicinity.
Jongin moved so fast the older one felt disoriented. “Okay, bye I guess. See you around!” Junmyeon calls but Jongin isn’t even around anymore to hear it.
Junmyeon shrugs as much as a person holding semi-heavy boxes could and went on with his errand.
Meanwhile Jongin breathes out a sigh of relief as he sees Junmyeon’s figure grow smaller until it disappears past the building’s doors. When Jongin deems it safe enough to resume walking back to his apartment, he slowly walks away from the wall he was crouched behind and hung his head low, avoiding further eye contact as he trudged up the stairs.
Once he’s stepped foot on the 4th floor landing he lifts his head up and speed walks towards the end of the said floor, hurriedly keying his door open and practically slamming it closed once he’s inside.
Jongin exhaled again, loudly this time and closed his eyes, rolling his shoulders back to release the tension. Talking to other people he wasn’t really close to in person always drained the energy out of him.
Just as he was toeing off his beat-up sneakers and sliding off his wristwatch, he felt his phone vibrate on his leg. He forgot he was having a conversation with @exoDOse and quickly pulled his phone out from his pocket, sat on the nearest un-broken chair and begun reading the message. It was a long one.
From @exoDOse: Basics first. You know Instagram is a photo sharing app right? But people can heart (like), tag, comment and stuff too - and there’s even a direct message on it now! Direct. Message. Sending suspicious pictures have never been this easy (and blatant!) before. So it’s basically a roleplaying haven like twitter, but more…kinky, if you look at it that way.
Anyway the roleplay works like that - it could either be private through the slick DMs, or public as in photo commenting and such. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Are you convinced yet? Try it with me!
Hey!! Where’d you go? Is it a no? ☹
Jongin chuckled at the other’s latest message, with the sad face at the end. Though he’s never seen a picture of the guy behind @exoDOse, he could imagine him actually pouting while typing that message out. The image stirred a warm feeling in his chest that Jongin chose to ignore in favor of flatulence and probable heart burn from the extra-fuego taco and burrito he had earlier.
Dropping his backpack lightly next to his feet, he typed in a reply.
From @jongoutheslayer: Ok, sounds interesting. I’m in. When do we start?
Jongin begins questioning, like really questioning his life choices when the first picture he was supposed to ‘post’ on his brand new Instagram account gets cut halfway, showing barely half of his naked torso - the focus of which being his right nipple. The only spot in his entire body he’s ever truly conscious about.
His left eye twitches as his nipple stares back at him from his timeline in all its blown-up unevenly bumpy glory; and both his nape and forehead get covered in sweat as he desperately tries to adjust (“Can it even do that??”) or delete the photo altogether (“Where the heck is the delete button??”).
Jongin helplessly taps all over his Instagram profile, hoping for some sort-of miracle that his embarrassing first photo gets deleted. But all it does is heart and un-heart his own photo like a sore loser. He even debates on un-following @exoDOse so the other wouldn’t have to see his sorry excuse for a nipple, but ultimately decides on renaming his account as to mislead him. No worries; he’ll just make a new one (and hopefully post a better picture this time.)
He changes his account name from kai boy-88 (username: @jongoutheslayer) to random boy 1111111 (username: @ybotheritznotm3).
Then, satisfied with how he changed the account information, logged out of that account and forced the password out of his memory so he’ll never be able to open it again.
He then began constructing a new one: account name EXOs kai, with the username: itsmekaiiii (the ‘i’ had to be dragged out since too many people already had a similar username). Jongin liked that one and so despite the situation, stubbornly stuck with it. He followed @exoDOse shortly after, under the username @DOremiexo.
This time, Jongin took a picture with the Instagram camera instead, to make sure no more unnecessary nip slips would occur on his part. Remembering what ‘D.O’ had said about Instagram being a kinkier place for roleplaying, he decided to give the other a surprise.
He decided on changing poses right before clicking the shutter, puffing his chest out and doing something more. However he hadn’t expected that his plan unfolded better in his head than executed in the flesh because the selfie took a turn for the worst.
“Maybe this is God’s way of reprimanding me for my sinful actions, gently reminding me that there IS Someone up there watching my every move,” Jongin whined bitterly as he stared at his newly posted photo.
It was him (sans his face as always), chest out - but with a tiny yet obvious drop of spit on his chest near his pectorals.
Jongin planned in his head to show the other that he had a slick, sweaty, sexy chest - but he only ended up looking gross.
He tapped on the shutter too soon and not knowing that the photo would capture immediately, he didn’t have the time to rub his spit. In his haste to delete the photo he accidentally posted it. Suddenly @ybotheritznotm3’s post didn’t seem too bad after all.
He cringed and inhaled through his teeth in frustration before chucking his phone onto his bed (not the floor or any hard surface for that matter since he can’t afford to actually break it) and crawling over to his nearest hardbound book, immediately knocking his forehead over it repeatedly in agony.
“Dear God, why.”
- - -
“Um. This is interesting.” Kyungsoo murmured, low but enough for his seatmate to hear him. His seatmate, being the big-eared Park Chanyeol, managed to catch it no matter how few decibels it actually produced.
Chanyeol didn’t turn his head away from his homework though but murmured back to Kyungsoo. “What is?”
Kyungsoo, eyes wide and temple already sweating hurriedly stood up from his seat next to Chanyeol and grabbed his backpack. “Nothing - I, uh, I’ll be right back.” Is all he says before hightailing it out of the library.
Chanyeol, not even having had lifted his head from his homework, replied with a noncommittal grunt, fingers too busy sketching neurons on his notebook to pick up on the suspiciousness of Kyungsoo’s actions.
At this point, Jongin and Kyungsoo were well past sending each other teasing pictures half naked, but have now moved on to flat out sending each other dick pics. It first happened on Instagram, and Kyungsoo initiated it, capping the picture of the top part of his dick as “Whoops my hand slipped, look who accidentally got caught on cam”. To say the very least, they have both gotten more than a 360 degree view of each other’s dicks courtesy of Instagram.
Kyungsoo’s grandmother was right all along, bless her soul. Money wasn’t the root of all sin - it was social media.
Kyungsoo ran past all the students, his backpack covering his front as he raced to the 2nd floor Anthropology Department’s men’s bathroom (which no one ever really uses since it’s supposed to be haunted but Kyungsoo uses anyway since signal reception was surprisingly strong inside) and sat on the closed toilet seat on the last stall.
Breathing hard, Kyungsoo hung his backpack on the hook on the back of the stall door in front of him before whipping out his phone. The picture was still there, ‘Kai’s’ dick pic in all its vein-y allure, taken while he was still in class - an outline of a desk was visible above his cock head - with a caption that read: “Even while studying I’m thinking about you - suddenly Maths is hard for an entirely different reason ;)”.
The caption made Kyungsoo chuckle but the actual picture made him cross his legs, one over the other, and his throat to run dry. He had to get out of the library immediately lest he started touching himself in his seat next to Chanyeol.
There were just some things bestfriend’s didn’t share after all, Kyungsoo mused as he started unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants.
“MNGHHH…UNGHH…”
“Son of a - there it is again! I told you this bathroom should have been closed for good!” a nervous looking Luhan complained to an impassive Yixing as they passed by the supposedly haunted 2nd floor bathroom. “I know someone died in there, I just know!”
Yixing, unimpressed, glanced back at his co-teacher, reaching behind his head to scratch there as he talked. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but have you ever been given the talk about ‘the birds and the bees?’”
- - -
From @jongoutheslayer: Hey, have you heard about Snapchat??? My best friend uses it and says it’s awesome. He says that it resembles Instagram in a way, but less likely to leak nudes - less permanent. It’s the perfect app for the spur of the moment things - like what we do, mostly. Haha. I already made an account - trying to get a hang of it now!! Add me when you’ve made your account: @jongouttahere (p.s the app is readily available on playstore).
Kyungsoo is skeptic but he gives it a shot, making his account under the username @jesoos. He adds ‘Kai’ immediately after he created his account, and is greeted by the other accepting his request in less than 2 seconds. He smiles, amused at how eager the other seems to be.
He remains staring at his Snapchat account, waiting for the other to make a move - to lead what their conversation here would be. They talk regularly on Twitter, their tweets strictly for roleplay, while their DMs are for anything and everything in between. They use Instagram to spice up their virtual bedroom life, as well as to mess around OOC. So he’s kind of nervous of what ‘Kai’ has in store for him with Snapchat; all there’s left untouched is real life.
Kyungsoo’s tablet beeps, notifying him of his new Snapchat message - and is rewarded with a picture of ‘Kai’s’ real life dogs, poodles of varying shades of gray and brown , which he fondly refers to as Monggu, Janggah, and Janggu.
Kyungsoo smiles, nerves replaced instead with the feeling of his heart expanding as he imagines these dogs all over their owner. Though Kyungsoo has never seen a picture of ‘Kai”, he can almost imagine with alarming clarity what kind of face the other had. He already knew he had a nice body - had seen it up close more than once, knew that he had naturally tanned skin - and had remembered the other once tell him he had dyed his hair chocolate brown.
His throat closed tight at the image, the feeling spreading over his chest the longer he thought about the dog’s owner. Pulling himself together, Kyungsoo cleared his throat (though no one else was there with him) and stood up, walked out of his and Chanyeol’s shared apartment, and took a picture of the plant outside in a poor attempt at distraction.
“This is Prickzilla the Cacti. Chanyeol and I call him Pricilla for short.” Kyungsoo sends the photo over to Jongin with the caption.
He receives a reply in an instant, the photo of ‘Kai’s’ hand in a thumbs down pose. “Boo,” the caption reads. “How is Pricilla short for Prickzilla?”
Kyungsoo laughed, hearty and full as he leaned his back against the wall near Pricilla. He sent the other a snap of his middle finger raised, with the caption: “Shh, you’ll make Pricilla cry. She can hear you.”
‘Kai’ managed to reply a snap of both his thumbs facing downward, sad-faced emojis littering the screen. (In Kyungsoo’s defense, he drew teardrops and eyes on the lone middle finger to make it appear more Cacti-ish instead of crude.)
- - -
It’s Friday night and Jongin is sitting on his bed eating Ramyun, his laptop placed in front of him as he scrolls through the Facebook sign up page, creating an account for the first time. There’s too many questions and it’s entirely unhelpful that his laptop is lagging again, not to mention his connection decided to shit on him too, the reload button on top forever circling. He’s quickly losing his patience.
He’s also waiting for his best friend Sehun to arrive, since the other called him hours ago saying he needs to stop living the hermit life and come party with him. Jongin was adamant on saying no to his invite, but said he was always welcome to come over if he wanted to. Sehun whined nasally but agreed to come over in a few.
Sehun’s ‘in a few’ turned out to be ‘in a few hours’ because when he finally showed up, it was well past midnight. Good thing the building he lived in didn’t have a curfew, or Sehun’s noodle ass would’ve been left outside in the cold.
“G’day, mate!” Sehun bellowed as a greeting once the door opened, already making his way in without even closing the door.
Jongin grumbled, closing the door after his noisy best friend. “Stop being racist, Sehun. Plus not too loud! I have floormates who are actually Australian, y’know. If they hear you and come knocking at my door, I’m sending you out without a second thought.”
Sehun scoffed and rolled his eyes, plopping down on the edge of Jongin’s bed. “I doubt anyone’s even home right now, to be honest. Everyone’s probably out partying and getting booty while I’m here stuck with you.”
Now it was Jongin’s turn to scoff. “I didn’t force you to come, idiot.” He sat against his headboard, pulling his laptop onto his lap and began typing. “Anyway, if you’re hungry I think I still have a can of beer and a plate of chicken in the fridge. Feel free to eat.” More typing.
Sehun pursed his lips, taking his cap off then pointing it at Jongin. “What are you doing?”
He didn’t even look up, eyes still glued to his monitor when he answered. “Mm?”
“I’ve been here for 5 minutes and you aren’t even paying attention to me. Usually you’re all over me by now.”
Jongin snorted, stretching his foot so he could bop Sehun with it.
Not used to being ignored, Sehun finally made his way around the bed and peered at his laptop. Jongin instinctively moved it away, lowering the monitor a bit. “What are you doing - “
“Facebook. Really? Who even uses that anymore - how old are you, 60?”
Jongin frowns at his friend. “Hey, I have friends who use it. I use it. Facebook is a perfectly fine, perfectly safe social media platform. Now shoo,” he makes shooing motions with his free hand, “go make fun of something else. I’m busy - HEY GIVE ME THAT.”
Sehun snatches it from him mid ramble, immediately looking through his account. “Friends, you have like one friend - and oh here’s a message from him now…oh my god a boyfriend? Is HE YOUR BOYFRIEND? Tell me!”
Ears steaming and cheeks flaming, he roughly takes his laptop back and shuts it closed in one swift move. He glares at Sehun. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s uh, some friend from the internet…” He trails off, not knowing how to label who ‘D.O’ is in his life.
“A friend who you exchange nudes with?” Sehun presses with a knowing stance.
“No!” he answers a little defensively. “I just - he’s just a friend,” Jongin finishes lamely, to which Sehun narrows his eyes at.
“Hey Jongin,” he begins, sniffing once in the air. “Smell that?”
“Huh?” Distracted by the sudden change of topic, he sniffs the air too. “Smell what?”
Sehun suddenly leans forward, all up in Jongin’s personal bubble as he whispers lowly near his ear. “I smell bullshit.”
When Kyungsoo wakes up the next morning at 10am, he checks his tablet and sees a snap from ‘Kai’ timed 3:45am. It’s a blurry picture of a tall guy being shoved out of the door. The caption reads: “nm, just took out the trash.”
- - -
Since Sehun’s visit, Jongin’s been difficult to talk to, suddenly moody then awkward for absolutely no reason at all. Jongin knows he’s being bratty, he can’t help it; and he can tell @exoDOse has already taken notice.
On the 3rdday of his mood swings, the other decided to confront him about it on Facebook while they were playing Criminal Investigation against each other.
Jongin was sulkily clicking on a random part of the Crime Scene when the red bubble appeared on his messages and a Pasta Soos chat box opened below. He stopped clicking in favor of reading his message.
Pasta Soos: Okay Kai, enough is enough. Tell me what’s wrong or I won’t talk to you for a week. I’m serious.
Jongin’s eyes widened a bit, surprised that the other would ask him bluntly. Rubbing at a spot under his chin where stubble was starting to grow, he considered his options.
Talking to ‘D.O’ about his confused feelings for him was automatically out of the question, yet he couldn’t just lie for the sake of answering him because he sucked at it. Terribly. And somehow ‘D.O’ could always tell when he lied, so it’s a no on that idea as well. So he settles on blaming Sehun instead.
Kaind Seoul: Alright, alright. I’ll spill, jeez. It’s my best friend, Sehun. He said some…things that hurt my feelings someway. But I’m fine, don’t worry. :D
Pasta Soos: Somehow I’m not convinced. Are you sure you’re okay? I can feel ur moping through your replies - it makes me want to mope too. :/
Kaind Seoul: Haha, really? Then mope with me! I don’t really feel like playing anymore…I just wanna sigh and pretend I’m an emo teenager again.
Pasta Soos: lmao, shut up. I can imagine EXO’s Kai being all emo and I just choked on my nachos. Take responsibility!!
Kaind Seoul: ur rly lame, why are we even friends
Pasta Soos: b cur fond of me, duh.
Kaind Seoul: true, lol. I want my life back pls.
Pasta Soos: sorry, we have a no return, no exchange policy here. Didn’t u read it before joining the roleplay? I’m stuck w/u 4 life
Pasta Soos: its not like I wanted it 2 be that way too pls, get over urself
Kaind Seoul: I didn’t even say anything yet!!! Stop bullying me!!! #stopDOdbully2k16
Pasta Soos: who tf uses hashtags on fb
Pasta Soos: also, feeling better yet? If you aren’t, I can call u and let you hear Chanyeol snore in his sleep
Kaind Seoul: ??????? how would that make me feel better lmao
Pasta Soos: he farts too lol
Jongin ends up laughing loudly, the first time in a few days since his mood became sour, and he couldn’t control it. His laugh turns into a choke-wheeze and he clutches his laptop monitor, eyes shining with happy tears as he rereads the conversation.
He presses a light kiss on top of Pasta Soos’ profile picture of Kimchi Spaghetti.
“Thank you.”
Part 2