you can insert your disk into my drive
you can insert your disk into my drive
itachibana13
PG; comedy, romance.
onew/key; 5,128 words.
BAH HUMBUG i will be thinking about changing this name later. but anyways, happy late birthday pause, this is for you! i finally finished your fic \o/ LOVE ME. a special thanks to all the losers who helped me finish this fic.
Jinki walks up and down the aisles staring at each and every laptop, scanning them from top to bottom, inspecting the cut of the keyboard, testing the touchpad and staring into the black screen.
“Um, excuse me, do you need any help?”
Jinki jumps, quickly turning around to see the intruder. He has light brown hair, glasses, and a smile that could kill. He’s cute, in a dangerous sort of way, Jinki tells himself.
“I - what, I’m sorry?”
Jinki freezes. Did he just say that aloud? Shitfuckgoddamnholycrap- “I mean, no you aren’t. Well! You are, but you aren’t. That sounds really weird. I, uh. I’m looking for a laptop!” he blurts, and breathes out slowly, staring at the employees face.
The boy snorts, and Jinki blushes. “Nevermind,” he says quickly. “It’s perfectly fine. I will find a laptop without help, it’s oka -“
The person walks past and to the laptop next to him. “My personal favorite is this one, the Pavillion HP Entertainment PC. It runs on Windows 7, and this one right here is a seventeen inch screen. Is that too big? You look like a college student.”
The employee smirks, and Jinki is pretty damn sure his mouth is hanging open.
“I, uh. Prefer smaller laptops, honestly. Something easy to carry around campus.” Jinki says slowly, and watches the other boy carefully.
“College student,” he confirms with a grin.
He takes Jinki up and down the aisles, pointing out computers Jinki had never even noticed were there, but in the end, nothing really seems to suit his interests.
“You’re rather picky, aren’t you,” The employee notes, leaning on one of the keyboards.
“Won’t that break?” Jinki questions, but the man brushes him off. “I am, I suppose. I’m looking for the perfect laptop.” He emphasizes the last couple of words with his hands, causing the other man to raise an eyebrow.
“Maybe you should look up some laptops online, because it really doesn’t seem like you know what you’re looking for,” he says. “Just ‘the perfect laptop’.” He finger quotes him for emphasis and Jinki laughs. “Why’d you come to this tiny shop anyways?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Best Buy is right down the street, but you chose to come to this little store.”
Jinki gives a weak smile, and shrugs. “That place is really scary.” The employee raises an eyebrow at him, and he shudders. “Bad memories.”
“Bad… memories.” The other boy says slowly, giving him a weirder look each time.
He smiles, awkwardly stuffing his hands into his pockets. “This lady,” he starts, “thought I was stealing something… andshechasedmeoutofthestorywithherpurseanditwasreallyscary.” The employee looks at Jinki like he’s insane now, so he bursts, “Well anyways! I prefer smaller stores. They’re nicer and more convenient, in my opinion. You get to pay attention to each customer individually, not the whole population. It’s… personally engaging.”
The man snorts, and Jinki’s face heats up in shame. “Personally engaging? That’s new. I’ve never heard anyone use that term before. You’re interesting - I like you.”
Jinki goes through a series of different facial expressions before just settling on downright confused. “What?”
“Oh, my name’s Kim Kibum, by the way,” he says, and holds his hand out. Jinki stares at it for a moment before Kibum rolls his eyes. “You’re supposed to shake it.”
“Right. Shaking hands, of course. I’m Lee Jinki.” Jinki laughs awkwardly and grasps Kibum’s hand, shaking it. He’s surprised by how warm and soft it is. His own hand is a bit bigger than Kibum’s, and they don’t quite fit together that well, but it works, somehow. The feeling is nice, he muses.
“Jesus Christ,” Kibum hisses, “your hands are freezing.”
“Sorry,” he mumbles. “I forgot to wear my gloves today.”
“That sucks,” Kibum frowns, and puts his hand back in his pocket. “If I had any, I’d let you borrow them.”
Jinki shrugs. “Nah, its fine. Alright, well, I suppose I’ll leave now, and y’know, look up some things about computers. Um, see you around, Kibum?” He gives a half hearted smile and turns, walking towards the exit.
He comes back the very next day, shuffling his feet together and staring at his bright red gloves. “Is Kibum here?” he asks another employee, who looks up at him and studies his face for a moment.
“Yeah, one second,” he says, and disappears behind the aisle marked Video Games. “Kibum hyung, someone is here for you.”
Jinki waits for a moment, before he sees a familiar boy walk out from behind the shelves filled with electronics and looks in his direction.
“Back already?” The boy grins sarcastically, but there’s no bite in his voice as he approaches Jinki slowly. “I hope you thought of something, because I’m not a mind reader.”
“Aren’t you supposed to act more professional?”
Kibum smirks. “We’re more personally engaging here.”
Jinki bites back a curse, and possibly a glare, and settles for a dry “Haha, you’re so witty.”
“I am, right?” Kibum says, and leans against the cash register. “So, what’d you think up?”
“Uhh,” sounds like a great way to start, until he sees Kibum narrow his eyes at him and Jinki flails. “Well, you see! I did try to look up stuff, but then I realized I couldn’t look up laptops online without having a computer first, which I kind of didn’t have, so I tried asking a friend, but they all told me to get a Macbook, but that’s too expensive, you know? So then I tried to go to the library, but they already closed at nine - since when have they closed at nine anyways? And-”
“I get it,” Kibum says, cutting him off. “You didn’t look anything up. That’s fine; we can look up stuff together. What’s your budget, anyways?” He motions Jinki over and walks behind the customer service desk, logging onto the computer. Jinki shifts awkwardly on the side, leaning over the desk. “Why are you over there?” Kibum scoffs. “Come to this side, no one cares.”
Jinki takes a glance at the swinging door and frowns. “I feel like I’m going into forbidden territory,” he says and pushes through, grabbing a chair and sitting next to Kibum. “Eight hundred,” Jinki says, and when Kibum raises an eyebrow at him, he smiles awkwardly. “My budget - you asked.”
“Late reply,” Kibum chuckles, and types something into the search box. He types too fast for Jinki to see what he wrote in, but a bunch of pictures of desktops and laptops come up, which leave Jinki staring at the screen in awe. “How about that one?”
Jinki admires the sleek look of the screen, and the cut of keyboard, but then he sees the price, which stares back at him with bright red letters, and shakes his head. “Nope, no. Not at all, won’t do. Too expensive.”
They spend the next two hours looking at so many electronics that by the time Jinki goes home, he still has numbers and letters spinning around in his head. He knows they stand for something, like the serial number, or the quality of the speakers, or the definition of the screen, but he can’t quite fit them together. He does know he’ll be coming back tomorrow, and that someone’s going to have to teach him a lot about computers.
“You like music though, right? That’s why I’m telling you, get this one,” Kibum says, gesturing to said laptop wildly. “It’s perfect. It has everything you’ll need for all your crazy college endeavors.” Jinki gives him a look, and Kibum shrugs. “Okay, maybe for your not-so-crazy college endeavors.”
Jinki looks over the laptop and purses his lip. It has a nice design to it, and the keyboard is perfect for his fingers. The touchpad is also smooth and easy to glide over. It’s a good laptop, with a reasonable price, too. “I suppose so. I think so, yeah. I’ll get this one.”
Kibum grins, and shuts the laptop. “I ordered this especially for you, actually,” Kibum says triumphantly. “I spent my whole lunch break searching up The Perfect Laptop, so you better be happy.” Kibum packs the laptop back into the box and looks at him. “If you have any questions, feel free to come by.”
Jinki blinks, attempting to register the words, and then he nods furiously, a big grin spilling across his face. “Yeah, of course.” He watches Kibum start to drag the box to the cash register. “Do you need help?” he asks, and Kibum looks up at him. Jinki leans down and grabs the box, hoisting it up easily. He gives Kibum a look and raises an eyebrow. “This is kind of light.”
“Shut up,” Kibum shoots back, and Jinki snorts.
“Professionalism,” he mutters, and Kibum just rolls his eyes.
“Here’s a business card,” Kibum says after he swipes Jinki’s debit card, “just in case.”
“Just in case,” Jinki repeats with a smile, and grabs his card. “Thanks, Kibum.” Kibum makes a noise of approval, and with that, Jinki grabs the box and leaves.
Kibum stares idly at the clock and shoots a spitball at Jonghyun, who turns around and glares at him. He spends the next ten minutes folding cranes and hiding them around the store. When the manager stops by, Kibum just smiles and tells him he was rearranging the programs by date. He gets sent back to the cash register and mopes around for another ten minutes, playing solitaire on the computer. The phone rings, and Kibum picks it up and automatically says “Kibum; how can I help you?” The person on the other line laughs, and Kibum frowns.
“You actually sound like an employee this time,” the voice says, and Kibum rolls his eyes.
“I changed my mind, I don’t like you anymore. Go away; I’m actually doing things.”
“Really? What are you doing?”
Kibum looks around and spots Jonghyun asleep at the Customer’s Service desk. “I’m restocking the shelves, duh.”
“Then why are you on the phone?”
Shit. “Coworker fell asleep. Or something. Anyways, why’d you call?”
“Oh, um. I, uh. Well. You see, the password you need to go into your account thing? Well, I swear I knew what it was, but-”
“You forgot your password.”
“Technically speaking, yes, but I’m sure-”
“You are so dumb,” Kibum sighs, and stares at the computer screen. He clicks on a queen of hearts and drags it down. “Stop by, and I’ll reset it for you.”
“Really! I mean - uh, thanks.”
Kibum hangs up on him and clicks on another card, and brings it up. He stares at the screen for another five minutes before getting up and throwing a paper ball at Jonghyun. He sulks around the shop a bit more before he hears the bell on the door chime, and Jinki saunters in, looking around for the younger boy. Kibum presses himself up against the shelf and quietly makes his way over to Jinki.
“Boo!” he shouts, waving his hands in the air. Jinki screams at the top of his lungs, clutching his laptop to his chest, looking scandalized. Kibum vaguely hears Jonghyun curse from the back of the store, and grins even bigger. “Got you.”
Jinki relaxes, still staring at Kibum. “God, what the actual fuck. Is this normally how the shop works?”
Kibum laughs. “You’re just jealous because you were scared. Now, laptop, let me look at it.”
Kibum spends a whole fifteen minutes pressing random keys and clicking buttons until he closes it down and hands it back to Jinki. “You really are so dumb. How do you even manage to forget your password a day after you make it?”
“It just happened, okay,” Jinki replies.
“Oh, by the way, your new password is kibumiscool.”
“What the actual fuck,” Jinki does a double take and glares at the smirk on Kibum’s face. “I don’t like you anymore either.”
“Fine,” Kibum says.
“Fine,” Jinki echoes.
“Be that way.”
“I will,” Jinki replies, and with that he walks out of the store, stopping just to stick his tongue out at Kibum and then runs down the road.
Kibum covers his mouth to stifle a grin. “Why are you here again? I thought we made it clear we didn’t like each other.”
“We could be like enemies with benefits,” Jinki pouts, laptop in one arm. “We hate each other, but we do things for each other.”
Kibum takes his laptop and opens it, staring idly at the screen. “What’s my benefit?” he asks, pressing a button. He frowns when the computer doesn’t respond to him and turns to Jinki. “What did you even do?”
“It wouldn’t install Microsoft Word! So I clicked random things until it did. Then it froze.”
“You are such a dumbass, what even.” Kibum stops what he’s doing just to give Jinki that why-are-you-so-dumb look and presses even more buttons. Jinki watches him silently, looking at Kibum moreso than the computer. He has high cheekbones and soft white skin that contrasts with his sharp eyes so much that it’s a bit mesmerizing. His hair is brown like Jinki’s, but it’s a bit darker than his own. It looks soft and silky; Jinki has to forcibly stop himself from reaching out and running his fingers through it.
“…ki… Jin… Jinki! What the hell, Jinki!”
Jinki snaps out of his reverie, blinking furiously as he flinches. “What? Huh? Oh, um. Hi.” He slaps Kibum’s hand away from his face.
“Hi, welcome to reality. I’m Kibum, how may I help you?”
You could start with giving me your phone number, Jinki thinks. For purely business reasons, obviously.
“You’re not very good at this keeping thoughts to yourself business, aren’t you,” Kibum deadpans, and reaches for his phone. “Only if you give me yours, too.”
“I - what, did I seriously just…?”
“Yup,” Kibum laughs, flipping his cellphone open. “Are you always this bad at picking up girls? Or guys? I dunno, which do you prefer?”
“Are you kidding me?” Jinki laughs, “Chicks dig my awkward stunt.” He hums for a moment, taking his cellphone out too and exchanges glances with Kibum. “Both are fine, I suppose.”
“I’m sure it’s not just a stunt,” Kibum retorts, ignoring Jinki’s glare. He takes Jinki’s phone and starts to put his number in it, handing his own to Jinki. “I just go for guys. Too many of my friends are girls, and it’s just weird.”
“Understandable,” Jinki smiles and hands Kibum’s phone back to him, grabbing his own in the process. “You’re going to regret giving me your number.”
Kibum snorts, turning the laptop so it faces Jinki. “There you go, all dainty and new.”
“Hello?” Kibum mumbles lazily, throwing a pen at Jonghyun. He squawks in response, nearly avoiding the flying object.
“The fuck?” he frowns, but Kibum waves him off.
“Kibum! It’s me, um. I need some help, is that okay?” Kibum stares at his phone idly, wondering whether he should hang up on him or tell him to just stop by the shop.
“That depends what you need help with,” Kibum replies. “God, it’s like ass o’clock. Couldn’t you have called at a more normal time? Like not ass o’clock?”
“But it’s not even that late at night -“
“It’s late enough for me to be cranky. What do you want?”
Jinki sighs, but Kibum just hears a rush of static. “Well you see, I was working on my research paper, and all of a sudden - boom! It turned off. I have no idea what happened. I can’t get it to turn on, and oh my god, my paper is due tomorrow. I am so fucked.”
Kibum pauses for a moment, and stares at his own laptop, sitting in the backroom next to his backpack. “It randomly turned off? I don’t know, have you like, charged it?”
There’s a silence on the other end of the line, then a loud “Oh!” Kibum rolls his eyes and stares into the phone for a bit long, trying to send his what-the-fuck stare through the plastic.
“You can’t be serious, oh my god, why are you even here. Kay bye, loser person. Not talking to you.”
“That makes me sa-“
Kibum hangs up on him and looks at the clock. It reads eleven thirty, and Kibum figures no one is going to come in anyways. He puts his head down on the desk and sleeps.
Kibum wakes up the next morning with his neck and back hurting like hell. He groans, looking up to see Jonghyun snickering at him.
“I can’t believe you fell asleep in the shop,” he says, and Kibum glowers at him, but relaxes as Jonghyun lays a box down next to him. “It’s just a sandwich, but you can thank me later.” He sits on the edge of the table as Kibum opens the box hungrily. “Jinki stopped by,” Kibum looks up, sandwich inches away from his mouth. He opens it to say something but thinks the better of it and bites down. “Something about pop up ads. I just got him an antivirus program, and told him about ad blocking programs.” Kibum listens silently, eating slowly as he watches a notification pop up on his computer screen - it’s an email from his manager. “Oh,” Jonghyun says offhandedly, “Jinki may or may not have taken a picture of you sleeping. Just so you know.”
Kibum coughs and pounds at his chest. “Wait, what?”
Jonghyun shrugs and hops off the desk. “My shift ends now, so I’m going to leave. But anyways, have fun.”
Kibum watches him leave before scrabbling for his cellphone violently.
“Hello?” he hears Jinki say.
“’Sup. I heard you came by today.”
“Oh yeah,” Jinki says, “I did. Jonghyun showed me some things, but it’s all good now.”
“I also heard you take a picture of me.”
Jinki snorts and starts laughing. “Wanna see?”
Kibum can hear the smirk in his voice, but before he can shout profanities into Jinki’s ear, he’s already hung up on him. His phone beeps, opening up a picture of Kibum slumped over his chair with his head resting on the table, sound asleep.
you look like a demented two year old, the message says.
i might just kill you the next time you come in. i’ll tear your phone apart too >:(, Kibum texts back.
but that’ be one less customer, Jinki replies. are you even allowed to have your phone out at work?
don’t tell anyone :|
but that’s not fun 8]
They text like that for the rest of the day, sending messages back and forth, even after Kibum’s shift ends.
Jinki comes in the very next day. And the day after that. And the day after that.
“You’re a noob,” Kibum snorts, grabbing a mouse off the top shelf. “I love touchpads. But hey, whatever floats your boat.”
“Yeah, but it’s annoying,” Jinki says.
“You’re annoying.”
“Your face is annoying.”
“Your mom is annoying.”
“Your mom’s face is annoying.”
“Your dick is annoying,”
“At least I have one,” Jinki retorts. “Ow!” he shouts a moment after, covering his nose with his hands. “What the actual fuck. You just.” He looks down and sees a box next to him with a mouse in it. “You just threw my purchase at me. I’ll tell your manager about this.”
Kibum rolls his eyes. “You don’t even know my manager. You wouldn’t - oh shit .Your nose. It’s bleeding.”
“What, is it really?” Jinki’s hands fly up to his nose, and stare at the red dot on his finger. “Yup,” he confirms, “bleeding.”
“Thanks for your input,” Kibum says dryly and grabs a chair. “Here, sit down. Don’t touch anything, and don’t move. Don’t breathe while you’re at it.” He grabs a tissue and hands it to Jinki, who presses it against his nose. Kibum grabs the box and puts it on the table, staring at it. “Sorry,” he mumbles.
Jinki laughs and stands up. “S’alright. But anyways, I have class in an hour, so I’ll pay and leave. Maybe come back, who knows.”
Kibum snorts and walks around to the other side of the desk. Jinki is leaning against it, back to Kibum. Kibum scans Jinki’s card while watching his back.
“You know,” Jinki says. “I think I like you. A lot.”
Kibum is silent for a moment, not quite sure of what to say. He’s not quite sure of how he feels, either.
Jinki laughs awkwardly. “Anyways, thanks a lot. I will use this because I am not a noob, and I don’t like touchpads. See you later!” He turns around and smiles at Kibum, bright and energetic. “I don’t need a bag for that,” he states, grabbing the box. As soon as he walks out of the story, Kibum bangs his head on the desk, groaning. He can hear his heart beating in his head. But when Kibum looks up, he’s got this ridiculous smile on his face. He spends the rest of his shift running and screaming around the store.
“You,” Kibum says.
“Me,” Jinki repeats.
Kibum presses the phone closer to his ear. “I demand that we go somewhere.”
“Go somewhere? Why?”
“We just should, okay? Two o’clock; you better be here at the shop, or I’ll kill you.” Kibum hangs up on him and waves his arm up and down, smacking Jonghyun on the shoulder. “He’s coming,” Kibum grins and Jonghyun rolls his eyes.
“We got six custumors today,” Jonghyun says, shoving his hands into his face. He holds up his fingers and counts. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seve- wait what.”
“You’re a dumbass,” Kibum states.
Jonghyun walks behind the Customer’s Desk and slams his hands on the table. “This is an all time high! We need all the employees here to keep up with the demand.” He stops for a moment and falls back onto the chair, spinning around. “I can’t take care of all those people.”
Kibum rolls his eyes and looks at the clock. With every movement of the second hand, the ticking sound seems farther and farther apart, until time is going at an unbelievably slow rate. A minute feels like an hour, an hour feels like a day, and soon Kibum is stomping on the ground and whining.
“Why is it only twelve? What the actual fuck - has time always been this slow?”
Jonghyun snorts. “I could always tell you about the tilting about the axis of the earth and how it affects the gravitational pull between the moon and sun, therefore giving time an- ”
“You don’t even know what gravity is,” Kibum deadpans.
“Give me a moment to google it, and then I will.” Jonghyun retorts, tossing a box towards Kibum. He grabs it and stuffs it under the desk, trying to make it fit with all the other materials. “Do you even know where you guys are going?”
Kibum freezes for a moment and then stands up, pointing an accusing finger at Jonghyun. “You - I can’t even, now you mention it?” He jumps a bit and freaks out. Where were they going? He just wanted to go somewhere.
“I’m not the one going. Play at an arcade or something.” Jonghyun shrugs and puts his elbows on the table, leaning forward. “Spend your time thinking of something, then.”
Kibum grabs the nearest sticky note and starts penning away at the paper. Arcade, mall, theme park, park, café…
He stares at the paper and taps his foot, sighing. He feels Jonghyun lean against his back, trying to peer over his shoulder. Kibum hears his hum for a bit, and then he snorts. “These are all shit - just go straight to the ‘I bring him into my house for a drink and end up on the bed’ part.”
He gets stomped on the foot.
Kibum goes back to the sticky note and stares at it. He keeps staring at it, racking his head for anything. When the bell chimes, Kibum’s mind fizzes up when he sees Jinki at the door looking around. He ducks under the countertop and gives the middle finger to Jonghyun, who raises an eyebrow at him.
“Jonghyun!” he hears Jinki ask, “Are you working now?”
“Yeah,” he sees Jonghyun smile and take a couple steps towards him. His eyes connect with Kibum and he motions with his hands behind his back to the storage room. “We got some new cool gadgets yesterday. Wanna see?”
Kibum takes one look at the clock and bolts through the open doors and slides behind a box.
Jinki turns around. “I think I heard something.”
Jonghyun laughs and turns around, glaring at Kibum’s general direction. “Nah, probably your imagination. Anyways, Kibum’s shift just ended, so he’s probably changing back into his regular clothes right now.”
Right. Clothes. That’s why he didn’t just calmly say hi to Jinki. Kibum then pauses - wait, he still could have. He smacks himself on the head and walks to the employee’s lounge, berating himself.
“You’re kind of early,” is the way Kibum greets Jinki when he comes out. The older boy jumps and turns around, watching the younger boy. “It’s only one forty five.”
“Eh,” he settles for. “I had time, so why not?” Jinki fidgets with his hands a little and averts his eyes from his own. Kibum hears Jonghyun mutter a ‘how cute’ in the background. “So where are we going, anyways?
Kibum laughs nervously and grabs the sticky note. “I had… some things in mind. I hadn’t actually picked though. Where do you wanna go?”
Jonghyun puts his arms around Jinki’s shoulder, grinning. “He totally agrees with me on the ‘Go to your house to have a drink and end up on the bed’ plan. Right?” He smiles, obviously quite pleased with himself and waits for a reaction. Jinki and Kibum both stare at him.
“Let’s look at that list,” Jinki brushes Jonghyun’s arm off his shoulder and walks toward Kibum. “Café sounds good. I would say mall, but I just walked all the way across campus, and my legs hurt.”
“Maybe you guys could go to a spa. Get like, couple massages. Oh! You guys could go home and give each other massages and end up-”
“Does he have a one track mind?” Jinki asks. Kibum nods in response.
“Let’s leave,” Kibum says quickly, grabbing Jinki’s hand and dragging him out of the store. With each step, the shop behind them gets farther and farther away, and it’s only until they’re already three blocks down the road from it when Kibum realizes he actually has no idea where they’re headed. He stops in his tracks, and feels Jinki bump into his back. The older man groans as Kibum turns around. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“You were leading the way,” Jinki replied. “How was I supposed to know?” He stares at Kibum, who looks back at him and sighs. “Weren’t we supposed to go to a café?”
Kibum laughs next to him and grabs Jinki’s shoulders, turning him around. “Right. Café. I know one down the other way.”
Jinki simply smiles at lets himself be pushed down the end the block, until Kibum gets tired of grabbing his shoulders and lets go, shoving them into his pocket.
“I’ve always liked these seats,” Jinki says once they’ve settled down. They end up going to an empty café across from the store because it started to rain by the time they walked two blocks down from where they were. They pick a small round table next to the glass walls; Jinki goes to buy the drinks while Kibum watches the rain lightly tap against the window. When he comes back, Kibum hits him on the head for putting too much sugar in his coffee and scrunches his face at Jinki’s (“Ew,” he says. “Who drinks black coffee?”).
It’s a completely different mood from when they’re in the shop, Jinki thinks offhandedly. They make fun of each other and throw various items (some of which may or may not be products) around the room and tear the store apart. Here they’re calm and relaxed, talking about the daily unimportant things in life, casually talking about anything that comes to their mind - it’s a peaceful affair.
“I want to try it,” Kibum says suddenly and stares at Jinki. “Black coffee.”
He raises an eyebrow and pushes the cup towards him. Kibum eyes it for a second before bringing the cup to his lips - Jinki realizes he’s staring, but can’t get himself to stop - and taking a large sip before slamming it back down and coughing.
“Disgusting,” he hacks and pounds at his chest, gagging. “How do you drink it?”
Jinki snorts, and covers his mouth with his hand, laughing. “You really suck.” Kibum glowers at him and kicks his shin underneath the table. “Ow,” Jinki pouts. “That hurts, you know.”
“Good.”
“I want to try something too,” Jinki grins and sits up in his chair, fixing his posture. “Can I?”
Kibum shrugs. “Be my guest.”
Jinki hesitates for a moment, then leans forward, puts his hands on the sides of Kibum’s face, and crushes their lips together. It’s awkward by the position - Jinki leaning over the table, Kibum slouched over in his chair - and it’s so unexpected that Kibum is rendered speechless. Before he can think of a response, Jinki is already sitting back in his chair, looking sheepishly at the floor.
“What the-”
“Shit,” Jinki frowns. “I spilled the coffee.” Kibum looks over to see the cup on the floor, black liquid spilling out of it. “That shouldn’t - that was not supposed to happen.”
Kibum goes to say something but Jinki is already out of his chair, walking towards the napkins and grabbing a fistful. He cleans up the mess silently and Kibum watches him carefully, memorizing the outline of his back and the way his shoulder blades stick out. The material is thin and Kibum vaguely wonders if he’s freezing in that shirt.
“Jinki.”
The older man stops, but doesn’t look up.
“Jinki, look at me.”
He turns his head toward Kibum slowly, and before he can react, Kibum grabs the collar of his shirt and kisses him, tilting his head to the side to get better access. He licks his way into Jinki’s mouth slow and steady, reveling in the way their mouths seem to fit together perfectly. Jinki tugs on Kibum’s lower lip and he moans. He moves to Jinki’s jawline, licking and nipping.
“Kibum-” Jinki gasps, “we’re in public.”
Kibum laughs against his skin, and Jinki shivers. “Want to come back to my house for something to drink?”
Jinki grins. “Are you trying to put out on the first date?”
Kibum runs a hand through Jinki’s hair and smirks. “Let’s give Jonghyun something to talk about.”
itachibana13
PG; comedy, romance.
onew/key; 5,128 words.
BAH HUMBUG i will be thinking about changing this name later. but anyways, happy late birthday pause, this is for you! i finally finished your fic \o/ LOVE ME. a special thanks to all the losers who helped me finish this fic.
Jinki walks up and down the aisles staring at each and every laptop, scanning them from top to bottom, inspecting the cut of the keyboard, testing the touchpad and staring into the black screen.
“Um, excuse me, do you need any help?”
Jinki jumps, quickly turning around to see the intruder. He has light brown hair, glasses, and a smile that could kill. He’s cute, in a dangerous sort of way, Jinki tells himself.
“I - what, I’m sorry?”
Jinki freezes. Did he just say that aloud? Shitfuckgoddamnholycrap- “I mean, no you aren’t. Well! You are, but you aren’t. That sounds really weird. I, uh. I’m looking for a laptop!” he blurts, and breathes out slowly, staring at the employees face.
The boy snorts, and Jinki blushes. “Nevermind,” he says quickly. “It’s perfectly fine. I will find a laptop without help, it’s oka -“
The person walks past and to the laptop next to him. “My personal favorite is this one, the Pavillion HP Entertainment PC. It runs on Windows 7, and this one right here is a seventeen inch screen. Is that too big? You look like a college student.”
The employee smirks, and Jinki is pretty damn sure his mouth is hanging open.
“I, uh. Prefer smaller laptops, honestly. Something easy to carry around campus.” Jinki says slowly, and watches the other boy carefully.
“College student,” he confirms with a grin.
He takes Jinki up and down the aisles, pointing out computers Jinki had never even noticed were there, but in the end, nothing really seems to suit his interests.
“You’re rather picky, aren’t you,” The employee notes, leaning on one of the keyboards.
“Won’t that break?” Jinki questions, but the man brushes him off. “I am, I suppose. I’m looking for the perfect laptop.” He emphasizes the last couple of words with his hands, causing the other man to raise an eyebrow.
“Maybe you should look up some laptops online, because it really doesn’t seem like you know what you’re looking for,” he says. “Just ‘the perfect laptop’.” He finger quotes him for emphasis and Jinki laughs. “Why’d you come to this tiny shop anyways?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Best Buy is right down the street, but you chose to come to this little store.”
Jinki gives a weak smile, and shrugs. “That place is really scary.” The employee raises an eyebrow at him, and he shudders. “Bad memories.”
“Bad… memories.” The other boy says slowly, giving him a weirder look each time.
He smiles, awkwardly stuffing his hands into his pockets. “This lady,” he starts, “thought I was stealing something… andshechasedmeoutofthestorywithherpurseanditwasreallyscary.” The employee looks at Jinki like he’s insane now, so he bursts, “Well anyways! I prefer smaller stores. They’re nicer and more convenient, in my opinion. You get to pay attention to each customer individually, not the whole population. It’s… personally engaging.”
The man snorts, and Jinki’s face heats up in shame. “Personally engaging? That’s new. I’ve never heard anyone use that term before. You’re interesting - I like you.”
Jinki goes through a series of different facial expressions before just settling on downright confused. “What?”
“Oh, my name’s Kim Kibum, by the way,” he says, and holds his hand out. Jinki stares at it for a moment before Kibum rolls his eyes. “You’re supposed to shake it.”
“Right. Shaking hands, of course. I’m Lee Jinki.” Jinki laughs awkwardly and grasps Kibum’s hand, shaking it. He’s surprised by how warm and soft it is. His own hand is a bit bigger than Kibum’s, and they don’t quite fit together that well, but it works, somehow. The feeling is nice, he muses.
“Jesus Christ,” Kibum hisses, “your hands are freezing.”
“Sorry,” he mumbles. “I forgot to wear my gloves today.”
“That sucks,” Kibum frowns, and puts his hand back in his pocket. “If I had any, I’d let you borrow them.”
Jinki shrugs. “Nah, its fine. Alright, well, I suppose I’ll leave now, and y’know, look up some things about computers. Um, see you around, Kibum?” He gives a half hearted smile and turns, walking towards the exit.
He comes back the very next day, shuffling his feet together and staring at his bright red gloves. “Is Kibum here?” he asks another employee, who looks up at him and studies his face for a moment.
“Yeah, one second,” he says, and disappears behind the aisle marked Video Games. “Kibum hyung, someone is here for you.”
Jinki waits for a moment, before he sees a familiar boy walk out from behind the shelves filled with electronics and looks in his direction.
“Back already?” The boy grins sarcastically, but there’s no bite in his voice as he approaches Jinki slowly. “I hope you thought of something, because I’m not a mind reader.”
“Aren’t you supposed to act more professional?”
Kibum smirks. “We’re more personally engaging here.”
Jinki bites back a curse, and possibly a glare, and settles for a dry “Haha, you’re so witty.”
“I am, right?” Kibum says, and leans against the cash register. “So, what’d you think up?”
“Uhh,” sounds like a great way to start, until he sees Kibum narrow his eyes at him and Jinki flails. “Well, you see! I did try to look up stuff, but then I realized I couldn’t look up laptops online without having a computer first, which I kind of didn’t have, so I tried asking a friend, but they all told me to get a Macbook, but that’s too expensive, you know? So then I tried to go to the library, but they already closed at nine - since when have they closed at nine anyways? And-”
“I get it,” Kibum says, cutting him off. “You didn’t look anything up. That’s fine; we can look up stuff together. What’s your budget, anyways?” He motions Jinki over and walks behind the customer service desk, logging onto the computer. Jinki shifts awkwardly on the side, leaning over the desk. “Why are you over there?” Kibum scoffs. “Come to this side, no one cares.”
Jinki takes a glance at the swinging door and frowns. “I feel like I’m going into forbidden territory,” he says and pushes through, grabbing a chair and sitting next to Kibum. “Eight hundred,” Jinki says, and when Kibum raises an eyebrow at him, he smiles awkwardly. “My budget - you asked.”
“Late reply,” Kibum chuckles, and types something into the search box. He types too fast for Jinki to see what he wrote in, but a bunch of pictures of desktops and laptops come up, which leave Jinki staring at the screen in awe. “How about that one?”
Jinki admires the sleek look of the screen, and the cut of keyboard, but then he sees the price, which stares back at him with bright red letters, and shakes his head. “Nope, no. Not at all, won’t do. Too expensive.”
They spend the next two hours looking at so many electronics that by the time Jinki goes home, he still has numbers and letters spinning around in his head. He knows they stand for something, like the serial number, or the quality of the speakers, or the definition of the screen, but he can’t quite fit them together. He does know he’ll be coming back tomorrow, and that someone’s going to have to teach him a lot about computers.
“You like music though, right? That’s why I’m telling you, get this one,” Kibum says, gesturing to said laptop wildly. “It’s perfect. It has everything you’ll need for all your crazy college endeavors.” Jinki gives him a look, and Kibum shrugs. “Okay, maybe for your not-so-crazy college endeavors.”
Jinki looks over the laptop and purses his lip. It has a nice design to it, and the keyboard is perfect for his fingers. The touchpad is also smooth and easy to glide over. It’s a good laptop, with a reasonable price, too. “I suppose so. I think so, yeah. I’ll get this one.”
Kibum grins, and shuts the laptop. “I ordered this especially for you, actually,” Kibum says triumphantly. “I spent my whole lunch break searching up The Perfect Laptop, so you better be happy.” Kibum packs the laptop back into the box and looks at him. “If you have any questions, feel free to come by.”
Jinki blinks, attempting to register the words, and then he nods furiously, a big grin spilling across his face. “Yeah, of course.” He watches Kibum start to drag the box to the cash register. “Do you need help?” he asks, and Kibum looks up at him. Jinki leans down and grabs the box, hoisting it up easily. He gives Kibum a look and raises an eyebrow. “This is kind of light.”
“Shut up,” Kibum shoots back, and Jinki snorts.
“Professionalism,” he mutters, and Kibum just rolls his eyes.
“Here’s a business card,” Kibum says after he swipes Jinki’s debit card, “just in case.”
“Just in case,” Jinki repeats with a smile, and grabs his card. “Thanks, Kibum.” Kibum makes a noise of approval, and with that, Jinki grabs the box and leaves.
Kibum stares idly at the clock and shoots a spitball at Jonghyun, who turns around and glares at him. He spends the next ten minutes folding cranes and hiding them around the store. When the manager stops by, Kibum just smiles and tells him he was rearranging the programs by date. He gets sent back to the cash register and mopes around for another ten minutes, playing solitaire on the computer. The phone rings, and Kibum picks it up and automatically says “Kibum; how can I help you?” The person on the other line laughs, and Kibum frowns.
“You actually sound like an employee this time,” the voice says, and Kibum rolls his eyes.
“I changed my mind, I don’t like you anymore. Go away; I’m actually doing things.”
“Really? What are you doing?”
Kibum looks around and spots Jonghyun asleep at the Customer’s Service desk. “I’m restocking the shelves, duh.”
“Then why are you on the phone?”
Shit. “Coworker fell asleep. Or something. Anyways, why’d you call?”
“Oh, um. I, uh. Well. You see, the password you need to go into your account thing? Well, I swear I knew what it was, but-”
“You forgot your password.”
“Technically speaking, yes, but I’m sure-”
“You are so dumb,” Kibum sighs, and stares at the computer screen. He clicks on a queen of hearts and drags it down. “Stop by, and I’ll reset it for you.”
“Really! I mean - uh, thanks.”
Kibum hangs up on him and clicks on another card, and brings it up. He stares at the screen for another five minutes before getting up and throwing a paper ball at Jonghyun. He sulks around the shop a bit more before he hears the bell on the door chime, and Jinki saunters in, looking around for the younger boy. Kibum presses himself up against the shelf and quietly makes his way over to Jinki.
“Boo!” he shouts, waving his hands in the air. Jinki screams at the top of his lungs, clutching his laptop to his chest, looking scandalized. Kibum vaguely hears Jonghyun curse from the back of the store, and grins even bigger. “Got you.”
Jinki relaxes, still staring at Kibum. “God, what the actual fuck. Is this normally how the shop works?”
Kibum laughs. “You’re just jealous because you were scared. Now, laptop, let me look at it.”
Kibum spends a whole fifteen minutes pressing random keys and clicking buttons until he closes it down and hands it back to Jinki. “You really are so dumb. How do you even manage to forget your password a day after you make it?”
“It just happened, okay,” Jinki replies.
“Oh, by the way, your new password is kibumiscool.”
“What the actual fuck,” Jinki does a double take and glares at the smirk on Kibum’s face. “I don’t like you anymore either.”
“Fine,” Kibum says.
“Fine,” Jinki echoes.
“Be that way.”
“I will,” Jinki replies, and with that he walks out of the store, stopping just to stick his tongue out at Kibum and then runs down the road.
Kibum covers his mouth to stifle a grin. “Why are you here again? I thought we made it clear we didn’t like each other.”
“We could be like enemies with benefits,” Jinki pouts, laptop in one arm. “We hate each other, but we do things for each other.”
Kibum takes his laptop and opens it, staring idly at the screen. “What’s my benefit?” he asks, pressing a button. He frowns when the computer doesn’t respond to him and turns to Jinki. “What did you even do?”
“It wouldn’t install Microsoft Word! So I clicked random things until it did. Then it froze.”
“You are such a dumbass, what even.” Kibum stops what he’s doing just to give Jinki that why-are-you-so-dumb look and presses even more buttons. Jinki watches him silently, looking at Kibum moreso than the computer. He has high cheekbones and soft white skin that contrasts with his sharp eyes so much that it’s a bit mesmerizing. His hair is brown like Jinki’s, but it’s a bit darker than his own. It looks soft and silky; Jinki has to forcibly stop himself from reaching out and running his fingers through it.
“…ki… Jin… Jinki! What the hell, Jinki!”
Jinki snaps out of his reverie, blinking furiously as he flinches. “What? Huh? Oh, um. Hi.” He slaps Kibum’s hand away from his face.
“Hi, welcome to reality. I’m Kibum, how may I help you?”
You could start with giving me your phone number, Jinki thinks. For purely business reasons, obviously.
“You’re not very good at this keeping thoughts to yourself business, aren’t you,” Kibum deadpans, and reaches for his phone. “Only if you give me yours, too.”
“I - what, did I seriously just…?”
“Yup,” Kibum laughs, flipping his cellphone open. “Are you always this bad at picking up girls? Or guys? I dunno, which do you prefer?”
“Are you kidding me?” Jinki laughs, “Chicks dig my awkward stunt.” He hums for a moment, taking his cellphone out too and exchanges glances with Kibum. “Both are fine, I suppose.”
“I’m sure it’s not just a stunt,” Kibum retorts, ignoring Jinki’s glare. He takes Jinki’s phone and starts to put his number in it, handing his own to Jinki. “I just go for guys. Too many of my friends are girls, and it’s just weird.”
“Understandable,” Jinki smiles and hands Kibum’s phone back to him, grabbing his own in the process. “You’re going to regret giving me your number.”
Kibum snorts, turning the laptop so it faces Jinki. “There you go, all dainty and new.”
“Hello?” Kibum mumbles lazily, throwing a pen at Jonghyun. He squawks in response, nearly avoiding the flying object.
“The fuck?” he frowns, but Kibum waves him off.
“Kibum! It’s me, um. I need some help, is that okay?” Kibum stares at his phone idly, wondering whether he should hang up on him or tell him to just stop by the shop.
“That depends what you need help with,” Kibum replies. “God, it’s like ass o’clock. Couldn’t you have called at a more normal time? Like not ass o’clock?”
“But it’s not even that late at night -“
“It’s late enough for me to be cranky. What do you want?”
Jinki sighs, but Kibum just hears a rush of static. “Well you see, I was working on my research paper, and all of a sudden - boom! It turned off. I have no idea what happened. I can’t get it to turn on, and oh my god, my paper is due tomorrow. I am so fucked.”
Kibum pauses for a moment, and stares at his own laptop, sitting in the backroom next to his backpack. “It randomly turned off? I don’t know, have you like, charged it?”
There’s a silence on the other end of the line, then a loud “Oh!” Kibum rolls his eyes and stares into the phone for a bit long, trying to send his what-the-fuck stare through the plastic.
“You can’t be serious, oh my god, why are you even here. Kay bye, loser person. Not talking to you.”
“That makes me sa-“
Kibum hangs up on him and looks at the clock. It reads eleven thirty, and Kibum figures no one is going to come in anyways. He puts his head down on the desk and sleeps.
Kibum wakes up the next morning with his neck and back hurting like hell. He groans, looking up to see Jonghyun snickering at him.
“I can’t believe you fell asleep in the shop,” he says, and Kibum glowers at him, but relaxes as Jonghyun lays a box down next to him. “It’s just a sandwich, but you can thank me later.” He sits on the edge of the table as Kibum opens the box hungrily. “Jinki stopped by,” Kibum looks up, sandwich inches away from his mouth. He opens it to say something but thinks the better of it and bites down. “Something about pop up ads. I just got him an antivirus program, and told him about ad blocking programs.” Kibum listens silently, eating slowly as he watches a notification pop up on his computer screen - it’s an email from his manager. “Oh,” Jonghyun says offhandedly, “Jinki may or may not have taken a picture of you sleeping. Just so you know.”
Kibum coughs and pounds at his chest. “Wait, what?”
Jonghyun shrugs and hops off the desk. “My shift ends now, so I’m going to leave. But anyways, have fun.”
Kibum watches him leave before scrabbling for his cellphone violently.
“Hello?” he hears Jinki say.
“’Sup. I heard you came by today.”
“Oh yeah,” Jinki says, “I did. Jonghyun showed me some things, but it’s all good now.”
“I also heard you take a picture of me.”
Jinki snorts and starts laughing. “Wanna see?”
Kibum can hear the smirk in his voice, but before he can shout profanities into Jinki’s ear, he’s already hung up on him. His phone beeps, opening up a picture of Kibum slumped over his chair with his head resting on the table, sound asleep.
you look like a demented two year old, the message says.
i might just kill you the next time you come in. i’ll tear your phone apart too >:(, Kibum texts back.
but that’ be one less customer, Jinki replies. are you even allowed to have your phone out at work?
don’t tell anyone :|
but that’s not fun 8]
They text like that for the rest of the day, sending messages back and forth, even after Kibum’s shift ends.
Jinki comes in the very next day. And the day after that. And the day after that.
“You’re a noob,” Kibum snorts, grabbing a mouse off the top shelf. “I love touchpads. But hey, whatever floats your boat.”
“Yeah, but it’s annoying,” Jinki says.
“You’re annoying.”
“Your face is annoying.”
“Your mom is annoying.”
“Your mom’s face is annoying.”
“Your dick is annoying,”
“At least I have one,” Jinki retorts. “Ow!” he shouts a moment after, covering his nose with his hands. “What the actual fuck. You just.” He looks down and sees a box next to him with a mouse in it. “You just threw my purchase at me. I’ll tell your manager about this.”
Kibum rolls his eyes. “You don’t even know my manager. You wouldn’t - oh shit .Your nose. It’s bleeding.”
“What, is it really?” Jinki’s hands fly up to his nose, and stare at the red dot on his finger. “Yup,” he confirms, “bleeding.”
“Thanks for your input,” Kibum says dryly and grabs a chair. “Here, sit down. Don’t touch anything, and don’t move. Don’t breathe while you’re at it.” He grabs a tissue and hands it to Jinki, who presses it against his nose. Kibum grabs the box and puts it on the table, staring at it. “Sorry,” he mumbles.
Jinki laughs and stands up. “S’alright. But anyways, I have class in an hour, so I’ll pay and leave. Maybe come back, who knows.”
Kibum snorts and walks around to the other side of the desk. Jinki is leaning against it, back to Kibum. Kibum scans Jinki’s card while watching his back.
“You know,” Jinki says. “I think I like you. A lot.”
Kibum is silent for a moment, not quite sure of what to say. He’s not quite sure of how he feels, either.
Jinki laughs awkwardly. “Anyways, thanks a lot. I will use this because I am not a noob, and I don’t like touchpads. See you later!” He turns around and smiles at Kibum, bright and energetic. “I don’t need a bag for that,” he states, grabbing the box. As soon as he walks out of the story, Kibum bangs his head on the desk, groaning. He can hear his heart beating in his head. But when Kibum looks up, he’s got this ridiculous smile on his face. He spends the rest of his shift running and screaming around the store.
“You,” Kibum says.
“Me,” Jinki repeats.
Kibum presses the phone closer to his ear. “I demand that we go somewhere.”
“Go somewhere? Why?”
“We just should, okay? Two o’clock; you better be here at the shop, or I’ll kill you.” Kibum hangs up on him and waves his arm up and down, smacking Jonghyun on the shoulder. “He’s coming,” Kibum grins and Jonghyun rolls his eyes.
“We got six custumors today,” Jonghyun says, shoving his hands into his face. He holds up his fingers and counts. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seve- wait what.”
“You’re a dumbass,” Kibum states.
Jonghyun walks behind the Customer’s Desk and slams his hands on the table. “This is an all time high! We need all the employees here to keep up with the demand.” He stops for a moment and falls back onto the chair, spinning around. “I can’t take care of all those people.”
Kibum rolls his eyes and looks at the clock. With every movement of the second hand, the ticking sound seems farther and farther apart, until time is going at an unbelievably slow rate. A minute feels like an hour, an hour feels like a day, and soon Kibum is stomping on the ground and whining.
“Why is it only twelve? What the actual fuck - has time always been this slow?”
Jonghyun snorts. “I could always tell you about the tilting about the axis of the earth and how it affects the gravitational pull between the moon and sun, therefore giving time an- ”
“You don’t even know what gravity is,” Kibum deadpans.
“Give me a moment to google it, and then I will.” Jonghyun retorts, tossing a box towards Kibum. He grabs it and stuffs it under the desk, trying to make it fit with all the other materials. “Do you even know where you guys are going?”
Kibum freezes for a moment and then stands up, pointing an accusing finger at Jonghyun. “You - I can’t even, now you mention it?” He jumps a bit and freaks out. Where were they going? He just wanted to go somewhere.
“I’m not the one going. Play at an arcade or something.” Jonghyun shrugs and puts his elbows on the table, leaning forward. “Spend your time thinking of something, then.”
Kibum grabs the nearest sticky note and starts penning away at the paper. Arcade, mall, theme park, park, café…
He stares at the paper and taps his foot, sighing. He feels Jonghyun lean against his back, trying to peer over his shoulder. Kibum hears his hum for a bit, and then he snorts. “These are all shit - just go straight to the ‘I bring him into my house for a drink and end up on the bed’ part.”
He gets stomped on the foot.
Kibum goes back to the sticky note and stares at it. He keeps staring at it, racking his head for anything. When the bell chimes, Kibum’s mind fizzes up when he sees Jinki at the door looking around. He ducks under the countertop and gives the middle finger to Jonghyun, who raises an eyebrow at him.
“Jonghyun!” he hears Jinki ask, “Are you working now?”
“Yeah,” he sees Jonghyun smile and take a couple steps towards him. His eyes connect with Kibum and he motions with his hands behind his back to the storage room. “We got some new cool gadgets yesterday. Wanna see?”
Kibum takes one look at the clock and bolts through the open doors and slides behind a box.
Jinki turns around. “I think I heard something.”
Jonghyun laughs and turns around, glaring at Kibum’s general direction. “Nah, probably your imagination. Anyways, Kibum’s shift just ended, so he’s probably changing back into his regular clothes right now.”
Right. Clothes. That’s why he didn’t just calmly say hi to Jinki. Kibum then pauses - wait, he still could have. He smacks himself on the head and walks to the employee’s lounge, berating himself.
“You’re kind of early,” is the way Kibum greets Jinki when he comes out. The older boy jumps and turns around, watching the younger boy. “It’s only one forty five.”
“Eh,” he settles for. “I had time, so why not?” Jinki fidgets with his hands a little and averts his eyes from his own. Kibum hears Jonghyun mutter a ‘how cute’ in the background. “So where are we going, anyways?
Kibum laughs nervously and grabs the sticky note. “I had… some things in mind. I hadn’t actually picked though. Where do you wanna go?”
Jonghyun puts his arms around Jinki’s shoulder, grinning. “He totally agrees with me on the ‘Go to your house to have a drink and end up on the bed’ plan. Right?” He smiles, obviously quite pleased with himself and waits for a reaction. Jinki and Kibum both stare at him.
“Let’s look at that list,” Jinki brushes Jonghyun’s arm off his shoulder and walks toward Kibum. “Café sounds good. I would say mall, but I just walked all the way across campus, and my legs hurt.”
“Maybe you guys could go to a spa. Get like, couple massages. Oh! You guys could go home and give each other massages and end up-”
“Does he have a one track mind?” Jinki asks. Kibum nods in response.
“Let’s leave,” Kibum says quickly, grabbing Jinki’s hand and dragging him out of the store. With each step, the shop behind them gets farther and farther away, and it’s only until they’re already three blocks down the road from it when Kibum realizes he actually has no idea where they’re headed. He stops in his tracks, and feels Jinki bump into his back. The older man groans as Kibum turns around. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“You were leading the way,” Jinki replied. “How was I supposed to know?” He stares at Kibum, who looks back at him and sighs. “Weren’t we supposed to go to a café?”
Kibum laughs next to him and grabs Jinki’s shoulders, turning him around. “Right. Café. I know one down the other way.”
Jinki simply smiles at lets himself be pushed down the end the block, until Kibum gets tired of grabbing his shoulders and lets go, shoving them into his pocket.
“I’ve always liked these seats,” Jinki says once they’ve settled down. They end up going to an empty café across from the store because it started to rain by the time they walked two blocks down from where they were. They pick a small round table next to the glass walls; Jinki goes to buy the drinks while Kibum watches the rain lightly tap against the window. When he comes back, Kibum hits him on the head for putting too much sugar in his coffee and scrunches his face at Jinki’s (“Ew,” he says. “Who drinks black coffee?”).
It’s a completely different mood from when they’re in the shop, Jinki thinks offhandedly. They make fun of each other and throw various items (some of which may or may not be products) around the room and tear the store apart. Here they’re calm and relaxed, talking about the daily unimportant things in life, casually talking about anything that comes to their mind - it’s a peaceful affair.
“I want to try it,” Kibum says suddenly and stares at Jinki. “Black coffee.”
He raises an eyebrow and pushes the cup towards him. Kibum eyes it for a second before bringing the cup to his lips - Jinki realizes he’s staring, but can’t get himself to stop - and taking a large sip before slamming it back down and coughing.
“Disgusting,” he hacks and pounds at his chest, gagging. “How do you drink it?”
Jinki snorts, and covers his mouth with his hand, laughing. “You really suck.” Kibum glowers at him and kicks his shin underneath the table. “Ow,” Jinki pouts. “That hurts, you know.”
“Good.”
“I want to try something too,” Jinki grins and sits up in his chair, fixing his posture. “Can I?”
Kibum shrugs. “Be my guest.”
Jinki hesitates for a moment, then leans forward, puts his hands on the sides of Kibum’s face, and crushes their lips together. It’s awkward by the position - Jinki leaning over the table, Kibum slouched over in his chair - and it’s so unexpected that Kibum is rendered speechless. Before he can think of a response, Jinki is already sitting back in his chair, looking sheepishly at the floor.
“What the-”
“Shit,” Jinki frowns. “I spilled the coffee.” Kibum looks over to see the cup on the floor, black liquid spilling out of it. “That shouldn’t - that was not supposed to happen.”
Kibum goes to say something but Jinki is already out of his chair, walking towards the napkins and grabbing a fistful. He cleans up the mess silently and Kibum watches him carefully, memorizing the outline of his back and the way his shoulder blades stick out. The material is thin and Kibum vaguely wonders if he’s freezing in that shirt.
“Jinki.”
The older man stops, but doesn’t look up.
“Jinki, look at me.”
He turns his head toward Kibum slowly, and before he can react, Kibum grabs the collar of his shirt and kisses him, tilting his head to the side to get better access. He licks his way into Jinki’s mouth slow and steady, reveling in the way their mouths seem to fit together perfectly. Jinki tugs on Kibum’s lower lip and he moans. He moves to Jinki’s jawline, licking and nipping.
“Kibum-” Jinki gasps, “we’re in public.”
Kibum laughs against his skin, and Jinki shivers. “Want to come back to my house for something to drink?”
Jinki grins. “Are you trying to put out on the first date?”
Kibum runs a hand through Jinki’s hair and smirks. “Let’s give Jonghyun something to talk about.”