Round One: Vitiate (3/3)
The six months of winter passed slowly by, and Jinki spent them stuck in the strangest location and situation. Legally he was dead, but he had never felt so alive or happy. At times Jinki almost regretted being so harsh to Minho, considering he did help rescue him but it was Minho’s fault that he was captured so Jinki was conflicted. Instead of letting his feeling torment him, he focussed on getting better in the alien community that Jonghyun had taken him and Kibum to.
It had felt a bit dark and depressing at first, being stuck in dark caves for winter, but all of the smiles and warmth he felt from the aliens around him made him feel much better. Jinki smiled happily as he dressed in the flickering light, too lazy to regulate the light he just let it flicker across the walls, he liked it that way unless he was reading. Because it made the head flicker and warm the room in waves and it was less stifling that way.
“Hyung!” Jinki glanced up when he saw Taemin grinning across at him, “Hyung, let’s go!” Jinki smiled when Taemin rushed over and grabbed his wrist lightly. The good thing about winter was that Jinki was able to eat a lot and so he had gained weight.
“Where?” Jinki cocked his head to one side, smiling gratefully at Taemin. Taemin had made Jinki feel so welcome and for the first time Jinki didn’t have to hide himself, or be anything other than himself. Taemin wrapped his arm around Jinki’s slender waist and tugged him forward.
“The hot springs!” Taemin bumped his head against Jinki’s and Jinki felt nothing but affection for him. It felt like meeting Taemin was destiny, he felt like his soul mate in a way. Because Jinki felt so comfortable around him, but he only liked Taemin as a friend only, there was only one person he had liked more than a friend.
“Sure,” Jinki nodded, feeling proud of the fact that he could finally reveal his naked body in the hot springs. Taemin had helped him overcome his hang up of his body, and the fact that other aliens were as scarred as Jinki helped a lot. Although Jinki was happy and relieved to see that most of his scars were fading, maybe one day they would be gone completely.
~~*~~
“Are you sure about this?” Minho tugged on his shirt, feeling slightly uncomfortable as he settled into his seat, the seat belt automatically fastening around him. It was awesome having a new vehicle, but occasionally Minho missed the old truck.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine.” Jonghyun smiled across at Minho, and Minho tried to relax but it was difficult.
“In the same way that you’re loving your new job, it’ll be fine.” Jonghyun added, and Minho swallowed and nodded. He did love his new job, it was great working with all the little kids they made him feel so loved and happy.
“But how do you know?” Minho asked again, tugging on his shirt and sighing, “He might punch me again.”
“I just have a good feeling,” Jonghyun shrugged, “And maybe he missed you too?” Minho snorted and shook his head, he was sure Jinki hadn’t and would never miss him, yet fuzzy warmth filled his chest. Soon he would be able to see Jinki, even if the other still hated him, it made him happy. Minho didn’t even want to think about how many months it had been, well he knew it was almost a year, almost a whole 24 months since he had last seen Jinki.
“Yeah right,” Minho laughed and shook his head, gripping the handle on the door as the craft rose up high, and whirring almost silently they rose up over the sand and floated across the water. Minho wondered if he would ever get used to travelling like this, he smiled as they floated a metre or two across the water and quickly made their way to the secret colony.
~~*~~
Jinki winced, rubbing his ears at the high pitched way Taemin called out, “Hyung” and then proceeded to run across the grass towards Jonghyun. It was the first time since Jinki had been in the caves that he had come above ground again, but it felt good to feel the direct sunlight and see grass again. Jinki felt his lips curving up as he saw the way Taemin was bounding across the grass towards Jonghyun, and the other guy with him. Stiffening, Jinki bit his lip realising that the guy with Jonghyun was probably Minho.
Jinki was flexing his hand before he realised it, blinking when he saw the way his fingers had made a fist. Sighing, Jinki forced himself to spread his fingers out again, violence wasn’t the answer. There had been enough violence, and although it still hurt when he thought of how Minho reacted to finding out he was an alien, the hatred and disgust that had filled his eyes. Jinki bit his lip and shook his head, trying to ignore the way his eyes watered. Instead he glanced up at the light airy sky, using it as a focus to relax himself again.
The sound of Taemin’s excited voice floated over and Jinki squinted over towards the three men walking towards him. Jinki had the urge to run back across the grass and slip down into the ground again, and hide deep in the caves.
“Jinki.” Jinki froze until he realised it was Kibum, turning to smile across at his friend.
“Are you okay?”
“Not really,” Jinki shook his head, “Sigh, I should move on.”
“Eh?” Kibum looked surprised and stared at Jinki with his forehead creased. “Move on? What? Didn’t you forgive him already?”
“Yeah, but I can’t forget.”
~~*~~
Jinki tried to push Minho out of his thoughts, but he could see him awkwardly at the back of the caves or on the beach. Sighing heavily, Jinki forced himself to go over, lifting each foot slowly as if his feet were glued to the floor. It hurt to see Minho up close, to see those stupid big eyes and to know that Minho most probably despised him, but a part of him was dying to know why. What drove a person to act like that, and capture (innocent) people like him?
“I’m so sorry,” Jinki watched the way Minho wrung his hands together, “Well an apology is never enough, I don’t know how to make it up to you, honestly. If there is anything I can do, just tell me and I will do it.”
“Really?” Jinki kept his tone flat, trying to sound bored, the way Minho’s lips quivered and turned down made him think it worked.
“I forgave you months ago,” Jinki admitted in a faint whisper, stepping closer to Minho in the gloom, watching the way his eyes now widened and his lips perked up a little.
“But?”
“I can’t forget, it’s bugged me the whole time I’ve been here. You seemed so nice, I can’t understand what drives someone to be like you.” Jinki blinked when he saw Minho flinch from his words, he didn’t think they were so harsh.
“Will you at least tell me why?”
“Yeah, of course On-Jinki, um, can we talk somewhere else though?”
Jinki frowned as he glanced around the empty cave, wanting to ask why but then he realised it was easy to listen in to conversations in the caves. It happened to him all the time, so he just nodded and pointed the path down towards the ocean. The sound of the waves should drown out any other sound and they could sit on the rock and watch the waves while they talked. A peaceful setting for a stressful conversation, or so Jinki thought.
~~*~~
“I’m so sorry about your mother,” Jinki unconsciously reached to take Minho’s hand.
“You’ve changed, a lot.” Minho cocked his head to one side, “you seem much more confident, different.”
“Thank you?” Jinki whipped his hand back, “I’m glad you’ve stopped hunting aliens, it’s not like we do anything. None of us chose to have alien DNA and we don’t do anything either. People hurt others too it’s not just aliens that kill and hurt others.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for telling me.” Jinki stood up and walked away, leaving Minho sitting there. Jinki felt as if he needed time and space to digest what Minho had told him. He felt disgusted by himself for wanting to cry over Minho’s words, it was pathetic and stupid.
~~*~~
After that Minho didn’t know how to act around Jinki. He hoped by telling Jinki something so personal he would understand why Minho had acted the way he did. But Jinki still seemed to avoid him and didn’t really talk to him anymore than he had before. It hurt to see his friend smiling and laughing with Taemin, Sungjong and Sungyeol but ignore him. Frustrated Minho went up to the group and with a small smile he tried to join in.
“Hi,” Minho crouched down, “how are you guys?” Minho winced when four pairs of eyes turned to blink at him with surprise.
“Hi,” Taemin replied shyly, and Minho struggled not to grimace when he saw how Taemin slid his arm around Jinki as if to protect him.
“You know, we trust you a lot to let you come here,” Taemin mumbled a moment later, jutting his chin up and almost glaring at Minho. Minho felt sick, now he understood why most people avoided him, he thought no one knew what they done previously. Jonghyun was okay, because he had been helping the colony, but Minho was a different case.
“Taemin,” Jinki nudged Taemin in the side, “Don’t be so rude,” He whispered and then offered Minho a slight smile.
“Just ignore him,” For a second the way Jinki looked at Minho, made him feel some hope, it felt like the old Jinki, his friend looking at him.
“Thank you,” Minho mumbled, “Sorry, I’ll um,” Minho stood up and walked away breathing out slowly. It was too awkward and difficult to try and talk to Jinki alone. The others acted like bodyguards around him and every time Minho tried to get close they would slide into step next to Jinki.
~~*~~
It hurt to see the way everyone treated Minho, and at times Jinki was about to go over to talk to him. He could see how Minho was being ignored, but every time he tried it felt as if someone stopped him. Jinki bit his lip, and stared across at Minho’s sad face, watching the way he nodded as Jonghyun talked to him. Luckily Minho was unaware that Jinki was even staring at him. Jinki forced himself to look away, to look at something else. Feeling sorry for Minho was a slippery slope, he could see that clearly. But after having been ignored and treated the way Minho was.
Jinki felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up to see Kibum smirking next to Jinki, and Kibum waved a finger in his face, “I saw that! Don’t think I missed it.”
“Missed what?”
“Don’t act all innocent with me, Mister. You can’t fool me.” Kibum waggled his finger again, “I saw you!”
“I can see you too,” Jinki stuck his tongue out at Kibum, who just rolled his eyes at him.
“I saw you looking at Minho.”
“Oh? I didn’t even know Minho was in here.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Lee Jinki. You can’t fool me, so don’t even try.”
~~*~~
“Do you like him or not?” Kibum hissed into Jinki’s ear as they huddled near the beach. Jinki glanced out at the waves and didn’t bother to answer.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Kibum, he knows, what I can do.” Jinki wrapped his towel around his shoulders, leaving it resting there briefly to dry his wet shoulders.
“So?”
“So. I don’t know, it’s awkward, how do you talk about something like that?”
“It seems easy to me,” Kibum scoffed, “Listen, when I have sex, I alter the other person’s DNA making it possible for them to get pregnant.” Kibum stretched his arms out and Jinki just glared, his cheeks turning scarlet.
“Like I can just bring that up at any time!”
“What, is it harder than getting Jinki Jr up?” Jinki frowned across at his friend.
“One day, you’re going to have to face it.” Jinki wanted to hiss when Kibum began to pat his shoulder. Obviously it was starting to frustrate his friends, since this was the second day in a row that Kibum had blatantly began to question him about his feelings for Minho. Couldn’t Kibum just understand that Jinki wanted to move on, how could he like someone who had captured him?
~~*~~
“It’s nicer in here than I thought it would be,” Minho admitted, shifting uncomfortably on the rock he was perched on. Being in the caves for summer meant they avoided the dry humid heat, and it was refreshingly cool inside the caves.
“You mean because Jinki is here,” Jonghyun nudged Minho in the side, “Right?”
“You know,” Minho glared and lowered his voice at Minho, “If you’re not careful Jinki could make you pregnant, so just shut it.” Minho wished Jonghyun would stop saying stuff like that, it wasn’t his fault that Jinki kept avoiding him. What was he meant to do, pin Jinki down so he could talk to him?
“Oooh!” Jonghyun raised his hands in the air, “I am so scared of that because it’s definitely going to happen!” Jonghyun winked and waggled his brows across at Minho, and he wished he could take those words back, stiffening when he saw the Jonghyun smirked.
“We’re meeting later for a drink, so you know it could happen!”
Minho grabbed Jonghyun’s shirt and yanked him forward, “Like hell, it’s never happening!”
“You do realise,” Minho released Jonghyun a little, seeing how his eyes sparkled and he still smiled, “that you’ve fallen for a guy you can never have sex with. Well you can have sex, but you risk getting pregnant if you have sex. Ironic isn’t it, the sex addict falls for someone he can’t sleep with.”
“Just shut it!”
~~*~~
“Do you think you’ll ever be okay about Minho?”
Jinki frowned and turned in the sand to stare back at Jonghyun, the sky dark around them. Jonghyun was just visible in the gloom, the pale purple moon illuminating him faintly.
“What do you mean?” Jinki stepped back and sat down on the sand, glancing up at the mood again, so he could avoid looking at Jonghyun.
“I mean you avoid him so much, he feels really bad about everything.”
“He hurt me a lot,” Jinki glared back at Jonghyun, “I’m sorry but I need time to think about it.”
“Okay, I’m sorry too, I just hate seeing him so depressed. And you know he was the one who wanted to rescue you, we just need time to plan it and set it up.”
“I know I’m sorry.”
“No no don’t be sorry, I’m sorry for pressuring you, you know.” Jonghyun slid his hand through his hair.
“But you’re probably right,” Jinki admitted glancing down at his feet, “Kibum has been hassling me too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he seems to think I still like Minho,” Jinki tilted his head and then shook it when Jonghyun opened his mouth to speak.
“Yes I did like him, but now I’m just not sure of anything anymore. It’s hard to know what I feel,” Jinki bit his lip, he wished he could understand how he felt or how he should feel. Part of him still really like Minho but it was complicated.
“Okay, well we’ll be leaving soon, we have to go back to work.”
“Yeah I heard that from Kibum.” Jinki knew what Jonghyun was hinting at, making him sigh and stand up again, not wanting to see Jonghyun’s face. Turning his back to Jonghyun, Jinki noticed a shadow, and a tall figure spying on them, the height told him instantly who it was.
“Maybe just spend some time with him?”
“Maybe.” Jinki swallowed and glanced over to where he could see Minho watching, “Why is he spying on us?”
“I was uh teasing him earlier, about us meeting.” Jinki turned hearing Jonghyun’s words, and Jonghyun couldn’t meet his gaze at all.
“What did you tease him about?”
“Oh… you know stuff.”
“Okay, well I’m going to go now.”
~~*~~
Minho watched as Jinki walked closer to the entrance, hidden in the darkening sky. Minho was sure that Jinki would just walk past him and ignore him as always.
“Hi,” Jinki mumbled when he passed Minho, “how are you?” Minho quickly shut his mouth, so he wouldn’t look like an idiot standing there with his mouth hanging open.
“I’m good,” Minho beamed across at Jinki, “I missed talking to you.”
“I missed talking to you too,” Jinki admitted with a small smile, “it hurt a lot when I thought about what you did to me, but I did miss you too.”
“I know, and I think I’ll spend a lifetime making it up to you.” Minho couldn’t help but reach for Jinki’s hand and hold it, “Can I make it up to you by showing you all the things we missed doing last summer?” Minho could feel Jinki pulling his fingers free from Minho’s grasp but Jinki nodded. Minho felt full of emotion and happiness as
“Sure, okay.” Minho could see Jinki’s smile as they headed back into the caves, “I’d like that.”
Poll Round 1: Vitiate
It had felt a bit dark and depressing at first, being stuck in dark caves for winter, but all of the smiles and warmth he felt from the aliens around him made him feel much better. Jinki smiled happily as he dressed in the flickering light, too lazy to regulate the light he just let it flicker across the walls, he liked it that way unless he was reading. Because it made the head flicker and warm the room in waves and it was less stifling that way.
“Hyung!” Jinki glanced up when he saw Taemin grinning across at him, “Hyung, let’s go!” Jinki smiled when Taemin rushed over and grabbed his wrist lightly. The good thing about winter was that Jinki was able to eat a lot and so he had gained weight.
“Where?” Jinki cocked his head to one side, smiling gratefully at Taemin. Taemin had made Jinki feel so welcome and for the first time Jinki didn’t have to hide himself, or be anything other than himself. Taemin wrapped his arm around Jinki’s slender waist and tugged him forward.
“The hot springs!” Taemin bumped his head against Jinki’s and Jinki felt nothing but affection for him. It felt like meeting Taemin was destiny, he felt like his soul mate in a way. Because Jinki felt so comfortable around him, but he only liked Taemin as a friend only, there was only one person he had liked more than a friend.
“Sure,” Jinki nodded, feeling proud of the fact that he could finally reveal his naked body in the hot springs. Taemin had helped him overcome his hang up of his body, and the fact that other aliens were as scarred as Jinki helped a lot. Although Jinki was happy and relieved to see that most of his scars were fading, maybe one day they would be gone completely.
~~*~~
“Are you sure about this?” Minho tugged on his shirt, feeling slightly uncomfortable as he settled into his seat, the seat belt automatically fastening around him. It was awesome having a new vehicle, but occasionally Minho missed the old truck.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine.” Jonghyun smiled across at Minho, and Minho tried to relax but it was difficult.
“In the same way that you’re loving your new job, it’ll be fine.” Jonghyun added, and Minho swallowed and nodded. He did love his new job, it was great working with all the little kids they made him feel so loved and happy.
“But how do you know?” Minho asked again, tugging on his shirt and sighing, “He might punch me again.”
“I just have a good feeling,” Jonghyun shrugged, “And maybe he missed you too?” Minho snorted and shook his head, he was sure Jinki hadn’t and would never miss him, yet fuzzy warmth filled his chest. Soon he would be able to see Jinki, even if the other still hated him, it made him happy. Minho didn’t even want to think about how many months it had been, well he knew it was almost a year, almost a whole 24 months since he had last seen Jinki.
“Yeah right,” Minho laughed and shook his head, gripping the handle on the door as the craft rose up high, and whirring almost silently they rose up over the sand and floated across the water. Minho wondered if he would ever get used to travelling like this, he smiled as they floated a metre or two across the water and quickly made their way to the secret colony.
~~*~~
Jinki winced, rubbing his ears at the high pitched way Taemin called out, “Hyung” and then proceeded to run across the grass towards Jonghyun. It was the first time since Jinki had been in the caves that he had come above ground again, but it felt good to feel the direct sunlight and see grass again. Jinki felt his lips curving up as he saw the way Taemin was bounding across the grass towards Jonghyun, and the other guy with him. Stiffening, Jinki bit his lip realising that the guy with Jonghyun was probably Minho.
Jinki was flexing his hand before he realised it, blinking when he saw the way his fingers had made a fist. Sighing, Jinki forced himself to spread his fingers out again, violence wasn’t the answer. There had been enough violence, and although it still hurt when he thought of how Minho reacted to finding out he was an alien, the hatred and disgust that had filled his eyes. Jinki bit his lip and shook his head, trying to ignore the way his eyes watered. Instead he glanced up at the light airy sky, using it as a focus to relax himself again.
The sound of Taemin’s excited voice floated over and Jinki squinted over towards the three men walking towards him. Jinki had the urge to run back across the grass and slip down into the ground again, and hide deep in the caves.
“Jinki.” Jinki froze until he realised it was Kibum, turning to smile across at his friend.
“Are you okay?”
“Not really,” Jinki shook his head, “Sigh, I should move on.”
“Eh?” Kibum looked surprised and stared at Jinki with his forehead creased. “Move on? What? Didn’t you forgive him already?”
“Yeah, but I can’t forget.”
~~*~~
Jinki tried to push Minho out of his thoughts, but he could see him awkwardly at the back of the caves or on the beach. Sighing heavily, Jinki forced himself to go over, lifting each foot slowly as if his feet were glued to the floor. It hurt to see Minho up close, to see those stupid big eyes and to know that Minho most probably despised him, but a part of him was dying to know why. What drove a person to act like that, and capture (innocent) people like him?
“I’m so sorry,” Jinki watched the way Minho wrung his hands together, “Well an apology is never enough, I don’t know how to make it up to you, honestly. If there is anything I can do, just tell me and I will do it.”
“Really?” Jinki kept his tone flat, trying to sound bored, the way Minho’s lips quivered and turned down made him think it worked.
“I forgave you months ago,” Jinki admitted in a faint whisper, stepping closer to Minho in the gloom, watching the way his eyes now widened and his lips perked up a little.
“But?”
“I can’t forget, it’s bugged me the whole time I’ve been here. You seemed so nice, I can’t understand what drives someone to be like you.” Jinki blinked when he saw Minho flinch from his words, he didn’t think they were so harsh.
“Will you at least tell me why?”
“Yeah, of course On-Jinki, um, can we talk somewhere else though?”
Jinki frowned as he glanced around the empty cave, wanting to ask why but then he realised it was easy to listen in to conversations in the caves. It happened to him all the time, so he just nodded and pointed the path down towards the ocean. The sound of the waves should drown out any other sound and they could sit on the rock and watch the waves while they talked. A peaceful setting for a stressful conversation, or so Jinki thought.
~~*~~
“I’m so sorry about your mother,” Jinki unconsciously reached to take Minho’s hand.
“You’ve changed, a lot.” Minho cocked his head to one side, “you seem much more confident, different.”
“Thank you?” Jinki whipped his hand back, “I’m glad you’ve stopped hunting aliens, it’s not like we do anything. None of us chose to have alien DNA and we don’t do anything either. People hurt others too it’s not just aliens that kill and hurt others.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for telling me.” Jinki stood up and walked away, leaving Minho sitting there. Jinki felt as if he needed time and space to digest what Minho had told him. He felt disgusted by himself for wanting to cry over Minho’s words, it was pathetic and stupid.
~~*~~
After that Minho didn’t know how to act around Jinki. He hoped by telling Jinki something so personal he would understand why Minho had acted the way he did. But Jinki still seemed to avoid him and didn’t really talk to him anymore than he had before. It hurt to see his friend smiling and laughing with Taemin, Sungjong and Sungyeol but ignore him. Frustrated Minho went up to the group and with a small smile he tried to join in.
“Hi,” Minho crouched down, “how are you guys?” Minho winced when four pairs of eyes turned to blink at him with surprise.
“Hi,” Taemin replied shyly, and Minho struggled not to grimace when he saw how Taemin slid his arm around Jinki as if to protect him.
“You know, we trust you a lot to let you come here,” Taemin mumbled a moment later, jutting his chin up and almost glaring at Minho. Minho felt sick, now he understood why most people avoided him, he thought no one knew what they done previously. Jonghyun was okay, because he had been helping the colony, but Minho was a different case.
“Taemin,” Jinki nudged Taemin in the side, “Don’t be so rude,” He whispered and then offered Minho a slight smile.
“Just ignore him,” For a second the way Jinki looked at Minho, made him feel some hope, it felt like the old Jinki, his friend looking at him.
“Thank you,” Minho mumbled, “Sorry, I’ll um,” Minho stood up and walked away breathing out slowly. It was too awkward and difficult to try and talk to Jinki alone. The others acted like bodyguards around him and every time Minho tried to get close they would slide into step next to Jinki.
~~*~~
It hurt to see the way everyone treated Minho, and at times Jinki was about to go over to talk to him. He could see how Minho was being ignored, but every time he tried it felt as if someone stopped him. Jinki bit his lip, and stared across at Minho’s sad face, watching the way he nodded as Jonghyun talked to him. Luckily Minho was unaware that Jinki was even staring at him. Jinki forced himself to look away, to look at something else. Feeling sorry for Minho was a slippery slope, he could see that clearly. But after having been ignored and treated the way Minho was.
Jinki felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up to see Kibum smirking next to Jinki, and Kibum waved a finger in his face, “I saw that! Don’t think I missed it.”
“Missed what?”
“Don’t act all innocent with me, Mister. You can’t fool me.” Kibum waggled his finger again, “I saw you!”
“I can see you too,” Jinki stuck his tongue out at Kibum, who just rolled his eyes at him.
“I saw you looking at Minho.”
“Oh? I didn’t even know Minho was in here.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Lee Jinki. You can’t fool me, so don’t even try.”
~~*~~
“Do you like him or not?” Kibum hissed into Jinki’s ear as they huddled near the beach. Jinki glanced out at the waves and didn’t bother to answer.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Kibum, he knows, what I can do.” Jinki wrapped his towel around his shoulders, leaving it resting there briefly to dry his wet shoulders.
“So?”
“So. I don’t know, it’s awkward, how do you talk about something like that?”
“It seems easy to me,” Kibum scoffed, “Listen, when I have sex, I alter the other person’s DNA making it possible for them to get pregnant.” Kibum stretched his arms out and Jinki just glared, his cheeks turning scarlet.
“Like I can just bring that up at any time!”
“What, is it harder than getting Jinki Jr up?” Jinki frowned across at his friend.
“One day, you’re going to have to face it.” Jinki wanted to hiss when Kibum began to pat his shoulder. Obviously it was starting to frustrate his friends, since this was the second day in a row that Kibum had blatantly began to question him about his feelings for Minho. Couldn’t Kibum just understand that Jinki wanted to move on, how could he like someone who had captured him?
~~*~~
“It’s nicer in here than I thought it would be,” Minho admitted, shifting uncomfortably on the rock he was perched on. Being in the caves for summer meant they avoided the dry humid heat, and it was refreshingly cool inside the caves.
“You mean because Jinki is here,” Jonghyun nudged Minho in the side, “Right?”
“You know,” Minho glared and lowered his voice at Minho, “If you’re not careful Jinki could make you pregnant, so just shut it.” Minho wished Jonghyun would stop saying stuff like that, it wasn’t his fault that Jinki kept avoiding him. What was he meant to do, pin Jinki down so he could talk to him?
“Oooh!” Jonghyun raised his hands in the air, “I am so scared of that because it’s definitely going to happen!” Jonghyun winked and waggled his brows across at Minho, and he wished he could take those words back, stiffening when he saw the Jonghyun smirked.
“We’re meeting later for a drink, so you know it could happen!”
Minho grabbed Jonghyun’s shirt and yanked him forward, “Like hell, it’s never happening!”
“You do realise,” Minho released Jonghyun a little, seeing how his eyes sparkled and he still smiled, “that you’ve fallen for a guy you can never have sex with. Well you can have sex, but you risk getting pregnant if you have sex. Ironic isn’t it, the sex addict falls for someone he can’t sleep with.”
“Just shut it!”
~~*~~
“Do you think you’ll ever be okay about Minho?”
Jinki frowned and turned in the sand to stare back at Jonghyun, the sky dark around them. Jonghyun was just visible in the gloom, the pale purple moon illuminating him faintly.
“What do you mean?” Jinki stepped back and sat down on the sand, glancing up at the mood again, so he could avoid looking at Jonghyun.
“I mean you avoid him so much, he feels really bad about everything.”
“He hurt me a lot,” Jinki glared back at Jonghyun, “I’m sorry but I need time to think about it.”
“Okay, I’m sorry too, I just hate seeing him so depressed. And you know he was the one who wanted to rescue you, we just need time to plan it and set it up.”
“I know I’m sorry.”
“No no don’t be sorry, I’m sorry for pressuring you, you know.” Jonghyun slid his hand through his hair.
“But you’re probably right,” Jinki admitted glancing down at his feet, “Kibum has been hassling me too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he seems to think I still like Minho,” Jinki tilted his head and then shook it when Jonghyun opened his mouth to speak.
“Yes I did like him, but now I’m just not sure of anything anymore. It’s hard to know what I feel,” Jinki bit his lip, he wished he could understand how he felt or how he should feel. Part of him still really like Minho but it was complicated.
“Okay, well we’ll be leaving soon, we have to go back to work.”
“Yeah I heard that from Kibum.” Jinki knew what Jonghyun was hinting at, making him sigh and stand up again, not wanting to see Jonghyun’s face. Turning his back to Jonghyun, Jinki noticed a shadow, and a tall figure spying on them, the height told him instantly who it was.
“Maybe just spend some time with him?”
“Maybe.” Jinki swallowed and glanced over to where he could see Minho watching, “Why is he spying on us?”
“I was uh teasing him earlier, about us meeting.” Jinki turned hearing Jonghyun’s words, and Jonghyun couldn’t meet his gaze at all.
“What did you tease him about?”
“Oh… you know stuff.”
“Okay, well I’m going to go now.”
~~*~~
Minho watched as Jinki walked closer to the entrance, hidden in the darkening sky. Minho was sure that Jinki would just walk past him and ignore him as always.
“Hi,” Jinki mumbled when he passed Minho, “how are you?” Minho quickly shut his mouth, so he wouldn’t look like an idiot standing there with his mouth hanging open.
“I’m good,” Minho beamed across at Jinki, “I missed talking to you.”
“I missed talking to you too,” Jinki admitted with a small smile, “it hurt a lot when I thought about what you did to me, but I did miss you too.”
“I know, and I think I’ll spend a lifetime making it up to you.” Minho couldn’t help but reach for Jinki’s hand and hold it, “Can I make it up to you by showing you all the things we missed doing last summer?” Minho could feel Jinki pulling his fingers free from Minho’s grasp but Jinki nodded. Minho felt full of emotion and happiness as
“Sure, okay.” Minho could see Jinki’s smile as they headed back into the caves, “I’d like that.”
Poll Round 1: Vitiate