Fanfiction: Minority Complex [oneshot]

[kitkii]

Minority Complex
Jonghyun’s always had less then Minho, and he’s been okay with that. But now Minho has Kibum, and he just can’t stop thinking about him.
PG;College AU; Minkey, Jongkey
1,789 words

note: For dongbangsuju20's birthday. Sorry I’m late, darling. I hope you like it anyway. ♥

Jonghyun’s roommate, Minho, was his buddy from back in high school. Both in need of an apartment, they both found one not too far off campus, and no more than ten minutes from the Music department, which was all Jonghyun really cared too much about. Being a second year while Minho was a first year gave Jonghyun a certain sense of pride-knowing more than Minho was a rare treat, and he relished in it.

There were times, when the second year music major felt unworthy to be around Minho, though. And most of the time they were when his friends boyfriend was over. Jonghyun’s eyes raked over the pale skin, hiding under a pristine cloak of black hair. There was a room between them, and he was staring at the other from the kitchen, unabashedly, unashamedly, looking, while his heart thundered in his chest.

Kibum gave Jonghyun an easy smile when he finally noticed him. Jonghyun’s breath caught in his throat from the slight crinkle of skin above Kibum’s lip. There was something odd about the boy with the fur-lined jacket and the tight-fitting jeans riding low on flexible hips.

Minho came out of the bathroom then, all wavy hair and legs, and stole Kibum into an easy kiss. Jonghyun told himself that he felt nothing but contempt for Kibum, and turned back to his burning eggs with a cold stone lodged in his chest. He told himself that it meant nothing; Minho’s friendship was worth far too much for him to want to lose.

Over the years, Jonghyun had been jealous of Minho many times. In high school, Minho was the star in all the main sports, basketball, football, and soccer (his favorite). While Jonghyun was having his yearbook picture scribbled on, Minho was being crowned the prom king. While Jonghyun was getting shoved against lockers and called a fag for being in show choir, Minho was being invited to all the parties. While Jonghyun was styling his hair and painting his nails black, Minho was shopping for all the latest fashions. While Jonghyun was falling into drugs and making music while high, Minho was having sex in the backseat of his parent’s truck.

Their contrasting lives were put at a halt in college, when they both ended up going to the same school and ended up getting an apartment together for purely business terms. They’d tried to be a couple once, back when Minho was in the middle of a sexual identity crisis. They cut it off though, because Minho wasn’t really Jonghyun’s style anymore (though he had been in high school).

Jonghyun’s new infatuation was with Kibum, Minho’s boyfriend-who always happened to look perfect. He was some art major that had met Minho at their cafeteria job on campus. They had the same shift and worked the same grill, though it was always understaffed. Jonghyun would go out of his way to eat there-though he lied and said it was to check that Minho hadn’t burnt himself. He liked to watch Kibum’s back as he flipped burgers and asked “Do you want cheese with that?”

His life was just as boring as it always was. Not even school cheered him up. After countless hours of reading about musical theory and about how music affected society that he honestly didn’t care about, he was about ready to throw his chances of getting an undergrad degree out the window. He sighed and flopped against his bed, staring at a dark ceiling as he wondered how long it would take him to pay back his loans if he worked as a dishwasher for the rest of his pathetic, boring life. He should have gone into accounting.

Fueled by the desire for something to drink, he chucked his book away and yanked his door open, a half a scream dying on his lips as he stared at a familiar, feminine figure shrouded partly in shadow. Kibum was sprawled out on the couch, his shirt riding slightly up his stomach and exposing white flesh. Jonghyun swallowed hard, wondering why he was out here and not in Minho’s room.

He took a moment to just look, let his eyes wander over the high cheekbones and the neck that was crooked slightly, pillowed by an angled arm. The coverlet he’d pulled over himself was partially crumbled to the floor, his legs tangled in the rest of it. Jonghyun licked his lips and glanced in Minho’s open doorway-his friend’s soft snores were all that greeted him.

He shrugged and tore himself away from his vigil, arms twitching with the urge to stroke that strand of hair out of Kibum’s eyes and hug him close. When he re-entered the room with a water bottle in hand, he nearly dropped it. Kibum was sitting up and blinking at him with a cigarette between his lips.

“Hi,” he greeted, after he got over the shock.

Kibum snickered at him, finding his lighter and hauling himself to his feet. “Hey,” he nodded, holding out his pack. “Wanna go outside with me?” He asked, motioning towards the door.

Jonghyun agreed before he quite realized what he was doing, slipping the gifted cigarette into his mouth and sliding into a pair of slippers by the door. They leaned against the apartment railing, blowing smoke out towards the fresh air. Kibum had his arms pressed against the woodwork while Jonghyun leaned with his back, flicking the graying ash into the wind.

“I didn’t know you smoked.” He finally commented, lacking conversation.

Kibum scoffed, “I thought music majors took better care of their voices.”

He shrugged, glancing up at the dark haired wonder before looking back down at his cigarette. He wasn’t going to jeopardize the friendship he had with Minho, bros before ho’s…even the kind that looked like princes. He took a long drag and tried to think of things that weren’t making him melancholy, like the chapter he still had to read on Chopin for his eight am class.

“Y’know,” Kibum glanced up at him through his dark bangs, a thoughtful look on his face. His lips parted as he took a weighty drag from his cigarette. “There’s something crazy intimate about smoking with a guy who only looks at me, but doesn’t talk.”

Jonghyun choked on his inhale, flashing a smile at Kibum. “That usually means there’s something good to look at.” He flicked the cigarette butt over the railing and headed back inside.

“Usually when something’s interesting to someone they try to get it.” Jonghyun didn’t need to turn around to see the slender, arched brows and partially open lips.

His fingers clenched around the doorframe. “Yeah, but some things are just out of reach, even when they’re right there.”

He slumped against the door to his room and ruffled his hair with a heavy heart. It was almost as though Kibum were opening himself out-giving himself to him. He just couldn’t reach out and take him. Even if all he wanted to do was just hug him close.

His face hit the pillow, and he breathed in its musky smell. Maybe he just needed to get a boyfriend and get away from all of this. Or maybe he’d try a girl. They were very pretty, after all. But he knew that he couldn’t get Kibum. The man was like a hurricane, wild and free. Winds couldn’t be captured.

The next morning, Jonghyun dropped into the seat beside a heavy lidded Kibum. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again when his words ran away. It was too hard to make conversation with such a divine specimen early in the morning.

They ate in silence, save for Kibum’s loud guffaws when Jonghyun put the toast in the toaster upside down. It was only upended when Minho sprinted in, looking far too refreshed and awake for before eight in the morning.

“Morning!” He chimed, leaning down to give Kibum a kiss. Kibum pulled away, muttering an excuse like ‘morning breath.’ Minho shrugged and made himself a bowl of cereal, plopping down next to his boyfriend and crunching on it loudly.

Jonghyun jumped as Kibum nearly slammed his fork against his plate, staring with wide and still asleep eyes as the dark haired boy dumped his plate in the sink and stormed off to get ready.

“Male PMS?” Jonghyun asked an equally surprised Minho, as his toast popped up upside down.

This pattern continued for another week, Kibum sleeping out on the couch when he slept over, storming out when Minho came in to eat. Minho asked Jonghyun if he was doing something wrong in confusion, looking like a kicked puppy. Jonghyun shook his head, because as far as he could tell-he hadn’t.

Just as he was considering asking Kibum if he was pregnant as he twiddled his thumbs over his Music Theory essay, Minho stormed into the apartment, not even bothering to take off his shoes. He took one look at Jonghyun before he slammed the door to his room so hard that the one real painting they’d bothered to put on the wall came crashing down in a heaping disaster.

Kibum entered a moment later in a rage, throwing off his coat and trying the door. “Minho!” He yelled, kicking it. “You’re still a good friend!” He bellowed. Jonghyun wondered how he managed to have so much lungpower.

“What’s going on?” He asked, sticking his neck in something he didn’t know if he should, because the essay on his laptop was begging for its writer to go have a life. Kibum ran his hands through his hair, cursing to himself and pacing around the couch a few times.

“Everything okay?” Jonghyun tried again, feeling distinctly ignored. He didn’t like to see Kibum
(or Minho) so upset. He wanted to give the junior a hug and never let go.

He got his wish sooner than he expected, because Kibum nearly threw himself into his arms with a choked sob. “I broke it off with him.” He cried, distressed.

“What?” Jonghyun gaped, jaw slack against the back of Kibum’s neck. “Why?”

“Because,” Kibum took a breath as his frame shuddered in Jonghyun’s arm. “He snores, and he doesn’t chew with his mouth closed, and all he talks about is sports, and fuck.” He pulled back from Jonghyun just enough so he could grab his face with both his hands.

“I think I love you more.” Jonghyun pressed his lips against Kibum’s before the gap would be closed.

Sometimes, he thought, he deserved to be on the upper hand. Although he made a mental note to never chew with his mouth open again.

fin