pet co [oneshot]
Title: pet co
Author: salted_taiyaki
Pairing(s): Jonghyun x Key, side Onew x Taemin
Genre: Romance, humor, AU
Rating: PG-15
Warning(s): rough language
Word Count: 8078
Summary: Jonghyun (a pretty cool guy who works at the Apple Store and owns a dog) runs into his new neighbor, Kibum (a pretty pretty guy who is a freelance artist and owns a kitty cat), and realizes that he isn't all too open-minded or truthful as he says he is on those blind date questionnaires (which might be why they don't quite work out).
a/n: this is really long and...i almost lost interest midway (i wanted to finish it really badly, haha) so the quality might have, like, plummeted by the middle of it all. but uh...i hope you enjoy? i just wore myself out from writing this, haha. comments always appreciated ♥
7:16 in the morning and Jonghyun smiled at his mirror with a quick flip of his hair, the blond streaks framing his face in a quite complementary manner. Telling himself that he looked pretty cool--at least, in comparison to his geek of a friend, Jinki (though he's cool himself, best friends for seventeen years) and the guys at the Apple Store who thought so too, what with them giving him off Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays--Jonghyun clicked his teeth and ran a hand down the front of his shirt once more.
"C'mon, Roo," he cooed at the brown spot in the reflection and a bark brought a warm, wide smile to his face. "Let's go."
Roo nipped at Jonghyun's ankle and sat obediently by his shoes before some clattering outside piqued his interest and he charged at the door.
Jonghyun sighed, "All right, geez. Let me put my shoes on first." The large eyes propelled him forward and Jonghyun slipped on a pair of flip flops, pocketed his keys with a small grin. As he reached the door, he stubbed his toe on one of the many discarded Apple boxes and cartridges, and he grunted as he pushed his whole weight on the stubborn slab of wood that refused to move.
"God damn it." Roo impatiently whined and the blond felt the need to hack the door down, before it unceremoniously cracked open under the pressure, to reveal the typical, white hallways of the apartment building.
Except not really because there were tens and tens of cardboard boxes stacked along the perimeter of the hallway and little imprints on his otherwise smooth, even floor mat decorated the deep blue. Jonghyun paled as Roo ran around wildly, yipping at his white socks.
A door to the right creaked open and Jonghyun's eyes slowly shifted to follow, refocus, zoom in to see a head of sleek black hair, and a shoulder under a thin gray shirt, and then--
Roo started yelping and barking around in circles and attacked the door that was barely ajar, and then a blood-curling hiss (more raspy and altogether distasteful than anything) froze the circulating blood in his veins.
Two pairs of narrowed, feline eyes met his, and the blond gulped aloud.
"Hi there."
Of course, Roo's greeting wasn't all too cheery or welcoming as he leaped up and attacked a hanging, fluffy tail of--a cat.
Jonghyun quickly hid behind his door and groaned.
"I--I'm really sorry," Jonghyun bowed and bowed again before the raven (he could feel the penetrating gaze drill holes in his skull, too). "Roo's a bit, uh, active in the mornings."
The new neighbor whom Jonghyun deemed quite handsome and alluring despite not having spoken a word within the past ten minutes stared a bit more, petted the cat in his lap, and then the frown on his pale features turned sharper. Roo wagged his tail slowly beside Jonghyun's leg, waiting patiently for his master to retort--Jonghyun didn't have the balls--but decided to do it himself by snarling at the fluffy cat. She hissed back with much animosity, making the hair on Jonghyun's arms stand.
"Look, it's not like I told him to attack," he tried to reason to the owner who only glared down at Roo. "We're just not used to cats. That's all."
"I'd been told that the people are quite friendly here," the stranger bit back with a snarl resembling his cat's, and it's then when Jonghyun realized that owners do resemble their pets. "As long as you keep that thing away from me, we'll be fine."
Jonghyun nodded before he could think and then stuck a hand out from the lawn chair he pulled out of the closet. "My name's J--"
Before he could finish his name, the neighbor's cat jumped and clamped her sharp teeth down on his vulnerable hand, and Jonghyun let out a shriek, his legs flailing in pain, sparking whatever energy was left in Roo to activate.
"God fucking damn it!" he yelled, not catching the rather flabbergasted look on the man before him, and he yanked his hand away to nurse it against his stomach. "Fucking cat! God--we're leaving, Roo." Jonghyun stumbled out of his chair and reached for the door but turned around when a rather offending cough reached his ears.
Jonghyun cleared his throat. "This is my house. Get out."
The man held his cat close and quietly strutted his way to the foyer--Bitch, Jonghyun thought --, then stopped when he was a foot away from Jonghyun, and smiled a dainty smile.
"Kibum," he said. He promptly walked out with a flip of his hair and disappeared into his own apartment that was, inconveniently, three small steps from Jonghyun's.
Jonghyun threw a shoe in the general direction of the neighbor, Kibum's, room.
"I swear, Roo," Jonghyun spat to his dog before downing a full glass of milk--his goal was another centimeter by the end of the year--and slamming the glass down into the sink. "All cat owners are sick bastards." Roo barked in what he assumed to be agreement, and the blond smiled against the palm of his hand. He leaned on the counter, eyes penetrating the plaster that separated his kitchen from the neighbor's, and scoffed.
"I bet he's using kitty litter in there." With a roll of his eyes he pushed himself off and walked back to his foyer. "Well, whatever. Let's just make sure we don't have to run into him again."
Three knocks came from the front door and Jonghyun started in his spot. "Yeah?"
"It's me, Jinki!"
Jonghyun sighed. "What is it, hyung?" He flung the door open and saw his friend waving sheepishly, his shoes ruining the floor mat even more. His eyes glued themselves to the mat as Jinki continued to talk.
"Look, I know you're probably bu--fuck it, you're not doing anything, ever," Jinki mumbled, quickly dodging Jonghyun's punch, "but we need some help down at the store."
"Hell no."
Jinki groaned. "Look, Jonghyun, it's only until twelve. You'll be off then." After a few moments of stubborn silence, he whined, "Please, Jonghyun, please just come for a few hours!"
Mumbling, Jonghyun searched about for his keys, "Fine, but you're buying me lunch."
"Thank God," his friend laughed in utter relief, and he patted Jonghyun on a stiff shoulder twice. "It'll be an easy day today, I swear."
Jonghyun looked up from his bangs, swept them aside with a flip of his hair. "It better be."
Of course, the blond cursed to himself as he scanned the billionth iPod Touch that day while pointing to one of the rows of USB chords to a distressed mother and her three sons, little fucker lied to me.
"Jjong!" Jinki called from a few cash registers down, and Jonghyun refrained from the profanities that were building up like the dust under his fingernails. God fucking damn it. "Great job so far." He waltzed up to the distressed blond and hugged him from behind, his chin landing naturally on the slightly shorter boy's shoulder.
"Listen," he hissed, shrugging the smiling boy away from him as the stares from the customers intensified, "one, I hate you. Two, you've gotta stop acting so gay around me."
Jinki shrugged. "Just being friendly."
"Jinki, I've known you for seventeen years. That is crossing the friendship line."
A soft sigh escaped his lips and then Jinki pushed a few buttons on the cash register to distract himself. "I've just been lonely, is all."
"Oh Christ," the blond grumbled, reaching about for a plastic bag to suffocate himself with.
"You obviously wouldn't understand, Mr. I-Don't-Give-a-Fuck-About-Love." Jinki pulled on a warm smile for the lady batting her eyes at him--Jonghyun could see a sheen layer of cold sweat on the back of his neck and snickered--and rapidly accepted her card. When she left, he let out an audible sigh. "I just miss him. A lot."
"That's really great, Jinki." A small hand above the crowd waved at their general direction, and Jonghyun's eyes zipped to it. "Getting the hell out of here, good luck." He slithered past the people of the throng, away from Jinki's sad love life.
A few minutes later, Jonghyun dragged his feet back to the cash register in defeat. "I hate kids," he declared and kicked an empty cardboard box away.
"I mean, how can he just leave me and go to Jeju for a week--"
"Hyung, shut up, please."
"Excuse me."
Jonghyun looked up from the tangled plastic bags around his feet and curtly snapped, "How may I help you?"
When he saw two dark, glassy eyes stare back at him, he felt every bone in his body go rigid and the blood run cold. Jinki curiously stared from person to person, a quizzical "What?" never leaving his lips.
"Oh," the customer seethed. "You."
Jonghyun finally straightened his back. "That's Jonghyun, thank you very much." He pointed at the name tag on his vest, and the man rolled his eyes. "How can I help you, Kibum?"
Kibum's taught smile slowly curled as he glanced at Jinki, who shivered under the penetrating gaze, "Actually, I'm having some problems with my laptop. Ever since I moved in, it's been connecting and disconnecting repeatedly. Some of the keys aren't working, either."
"Oh," Jonghyun muttered, deadpan. "Great."
After a moment of silence and awkward grunts from Jinki, Kibum piped, "Well, will you help me or not?"
"Thinking about it." The blond paused for some effect (who was he kidding? he might as well just have spat in his face). "Nah."
Kibum's frown solidified over his features--which was a pity because he was quite pretty, Jonghyun thought. He opened his mouth and out came the whiniest, lamest come back Jonghyun had ever heard.
"I'm telling your boss."
Snorting, Jonghyun threw his hands up in the air. "Fine! Go for it. I'll have you know, I was runner-up employee of the month when I was't even here for a single day." Jonghyun turned to Jinki, who in return nodded furiously, and Kibum bit his lip.
"All right, I just--" the raven sighed in exasperation, thin hands rubbing up and down the sides of his face. Jonghyun blinked. "I need my webcam up tonight, and the internet has to work. I'm serious."
Jinki was the first to cave in as he reached out his hands, a sweet, apologetic smile on his face. "Jonghyun's a shithead, you'll have to deal with it if you come here."
A feeble grin managed to slip past Kibum's facade and he gently handed his messenger bag over to the boy who gave him a thumbs up then turned around to get to work. Jonghyun threw a shy glance to the raven's way, and he stared back, the two enraptured in an odd silence.
"Uh--" Jonghyun started, only to be interrupted by a hand in front of his face.
"Save it, jackass," Kibum snapped venomously. "I'm done with you." His hardened glare didn't leave Jonghyun's flabbergasted face as he stepped back and made his way to the door, ignoring the spluttering sounds that fell from the blond's contorted lips.
"Fucking bitch!"
A mousy woman who worked with inventory squeaked and hid under the counter. Jonghyun sighed.
Kibum returned with a water bottle in hand and he thanked Jinki, bowing deep from the waist. The brunet broke into another cold sweat and shook his hands, stuttering, "P-Please, Kibum-sshi, you don't have to be like that."
The bright eyes that looked up at them stilled both of their breaths as he thanked them again. "Thank you so much. I don't know how to explain--" He paused in his words, and Jonghyun leaned forward a bit to see if he was still breathing as his pale face continued to lose color. "Shit! Gwiboon!"
"Who's that?" Jonghyun asked before he could stop himself, and then Kibum's cold glare returned, directed solely on the blond.
"My cat," he hissed. Jonghyun tensed for a brief second, and then he shoved the silver Macbook into Kibum's chest, chucking the case a moment later.
"Better not get those goddamn hairballs on my mat! You hear me? Kibum!"
The raven bee-lined through the crowd and left before Jonghyun could scream some more, silenced only by Jinki's stress ball that hit his temple.
"Shut up," his friend mumbled off to the side. "You're being too loud."
Jonghyun threw the cover of the garbage can open and dumped his plastic bags into the green box, a frown engraved too deeply for the morning. Roo had ripped up some of his lyrics, and he was not pleased.
"Are you done yet?"
Turning around in his spot, Jonghyun squinted to see Kibum standing uncomfortably in the sunlight, a hand on his hips. He held several folded boxes under his arm, lips pursed.
"Listen," Jonghyun started with his hands out in front of him in a conciliatory manner, "I'm kind of sorry for being a jerk yesterday. You're new, I should be treating you well." He paused for some reaction, but when he received none, he sighed heavily and continued. "I'm assuming you're from Daegu, with your accent." The quiet smile he caught from the corner of his eye was enough for him to stop in his tracks and stare.
"I don't need a whole speech," the raven interrupted, but this time with less bite and more understanding. "You just had to say sorry."
Jonghyun rolled his eyes. "Though it's totally your fault that your cat is a fucking beast and almost bit my hand off."
"You were doing well until then." Kibum brushed past him and dumped the cardboard boxes into a container.
"Wrong one," Jonghyun pointed out, lifting the rightmost lid and pointing at the mess of papers and boxes. "Middle's for glass."
His lips formed a silent oh as he grabbed the compressed cardboard, quickly dropping it to where Jonghyun was pointing to. "Thanks for that."
Wryly he grinned, a hand deftly scratching at the back of his neck. "Hey, you wanna--"
"Jonghyun." The two looked up to see a tall, wide-eyed boy lean over the railing from the steps. "There's some crashing coming from your room. I think it's Roo again." The boy glanced at Kibum, nodded once, and said, "I'm Minho. I live in the room above you."
"Hi, Minho. I'm Kibum." Smiling, the raven closed the container and stared at Jonghyun. "What--" His eyes caught the bewilderment in Jonghyun's own, and then the pregnant pause that followed was filled with the utmost despair.
"You didn't leave your door open, did you?" they asked simultaneously, one finger pointed at the other accusingly.
"Fuck!"
"Shit!"
Minho pressed his back against the brick wall--and grimaced, because the granite was really old and weathered--to avoid getting run over by the rampant blond and raven who pushed and shoved their way up the steps, each thud filled with "You little fucker, that cat's going to rip up my couch!" and "Oh shut up, your little rat's going to eat my baby alive!"
The boy stood as the echoes dimmed then faded away, shrugged, and put in his ear buds that he received from Jonghyun as a birthday gift to start his morning jog.
They were breathing heavily by the time they each had their pets tightly in their arms, eyes wide and almost bloodshot, skin prickling, sticky from the running.
"You ruined poor Gwiboon's coat," Kibum moaned, a hand raking its way swiftly through the soft fur as Gwiboon let out a feeble meow. "Keep that stupid thing locked up!"
Jonghyun's eyes narrowed on the frenzied raven before him. "Oh bitch about it, will you? It's your fault this happened, anyway."
"My fault? How in the world is this solely my fault, when your dog attacked us first?"
"Well can you blame him? He was only trying to keep the fucking pests away!"
Kibum gasped. "Listen, you--"
"We've been here for five years," Jonghyun barked, jaw tight. "I've never had a problem like this until you moved in! So just pack up your shit and leave already, will you? You're disturbing the peace!"
"--Listen, you pretentious fucker," the raven snarled before taking two huge steps towards Jonghyun, cornering the shocked blond in the hall. "It took me a goddamn long time to convince my parents to let me out of the house. I'm not going to friggin' leave just because some ugly piece of shit and its dog can't deal with prestigious pure breds like Gwiboon!" Gwiboon meowed in agreement.
Jonghyun's face fell as the color rose to Kibum's cheeks, and admittedly, he was impressed. A loud laugh escaped his lips and then Jonghyun was doubled over, cackling into his shoes.
"What's so funny?" Kibum huffed, his anger falling to sheer embarrassment. "Would you--Jonghyun, stop laughing!"
Wiping a tear from his eye, he pointed at the confused man and wheezed, "You're hilarious."
"I wasn't joking," he spat to the floor, brows furrowed and lips pursed again. "I don't appreciate your attitude."
Jonghyun finally looked up as Kibum began to stalk back to his apartment, cat practically buried in his chest, and then he called out, "Hey, Kibum, I'm sorry!"
But the door slammed shut before Jonghyun could utter more words, so he slumped against the wall, head tilted back up towards the ceiling, and chuckled to himself.
"What a funny guy."
As Jonghyun walked back from his evening jog with Roo, grocery bags tied around his fingers, he eyed Kibum's door. It was closed shut--probably most definitely locked--but Jonghyun couldn't hear anything, no hissing or scratching or other catty things Jonghyun assumed one could do with his pet. He breathed in heavily and then walked towards his mat, kicking the dirt off the soles of his shoes.
Turning around, he knocked on Kibum's door and waited.
"Yes?" he called before opening the door. A flash of anger and some odd mix of emotions that Jonghyun couldn't quite catch zipped past his black eyes and then they clouded over as Kibum grumbled, "What?"
Jonghyun lifted his plastic bags. "Want to come over for dinner?"
The look of surprise brought an odd, crooked smile to Jonghyun's face, and when Kibum stuttered, "I--Well, I don't--", Jonghyun couldn't help but admit that it was oddly cute (though he quickly dismissed the thought, for the sake of his sanity).
"Come on over," he suggested, a hand reaching out for his own doorknob. But he squinted his eyes in skepticism and then mumbled, "But don't bring that cat over."
Kibum's face soured immediately and the imminent "no" was about to fall from his lips, interrupted by a small scratching at the door. Jonghyun looked down, pushed the door open, and Roo stumbled out with a plastic bone clamped between his small teeth, letting out muffled woofs of excitement. A strangled gasp interrupted Jonghyun's pampering of his dog, and the two looked up to see a rather perturbed Kibum cling to his door frame for his life.
"Oh, come on," Jonghyun laughed with a wave of his hand. "He's not going to kill you."
"H-How can the landlord let such--"
"Don't finish that."
Kibum frowned. "Fine. I'll be right back." Quickly he slipped through his door and Jonghyun waited, squatting in front of his own door for what felt like hours as he stroked the back of Roo's head. When Kibum finally stepped out, keys in hand, he scooped Roo up with one arm and grinned.
"I'll have you know, I can actually cook."
A doubtful look crossed Kibum's face, and Jonghyun snorted.
"I'll help, just in case. I don't want my apartment on fire, too. Gwiboon can't open windows."
Jonghyun stared at Kibum, incredulous, laughing nervously when he realized that Kibum was being dead serious.
They ate their pasta civilly--though Kibum had to lift his feet onto the chair a couple of times as Roo skipped towards them, tongue dangling cutely as he panted about--and exchanged small talk ("Siblings?" "Only child." "That says something.") as they smiled into their forks and chuckled lightly to themselves.
"So," Jonghyun began as he sprinkled more Parmesan and tossed a small piece of bread to the eager Roo, "how's the computer?"
Kibum wiped his mouth with a napkin then curtly replied, "It's fine."
"Well, that's good." He pause and watched Kibum take a sip of water, his own eyes trained on Jonghyun's raised brows.
"What?"
"The webcam, what was that for?"
Jonghyun hadn't expected an awkward silence to reign over room, but when Kibum looked down at his feet and straight at Roo who was looking up at him from under the table and spun his fork around between his fingers, the blond immediately regretted it. "If it's personal, then I mean--"
"My grandma."
Jonghyun blinked. "What?"
A dry smile cracked his lips and Kibum muttered, "My grandma lives in Daegu. I didn't want to stop seeing her, so we promised that we'd chat over the computer sometimes. Even though she doesn't even know how to turn it on half the time." He chuckled. "She's the closest person in my life right now."
Licking his lips, Jonghyun nodded. "That's nice. I'm sure she appreciates just how much you want to see her."
And then Kibum laughed aloud, eyes crinkling ever so slightly, lips splitting into a stomach-churning smile.
The raven turned around in his seat and stared at the kitchen wall. "I think Gwiboon's getting impatient."
"All right, go to your queen," Jonghyun teased as he pushed back his chair and jumped up to his feet. "Would you like me to escort you, princess?"
Kibum sneered. "How'd you know my nickname?"
"Intuition."
He rolled his eyes and then walked to the foyer, carefully picking his feet up whenever Roo skittered by. "This thing won't stop moving, will it?"
Jonghyun shrugged. "He chases things when he sleeps." When he received a flabbergasted look in reply, Jonghyun guffawed. "I'm not kidding, I recorded it once."
"Dogs are so stupid," Kibum joked, bending down to look at Roo closely, his big eyes resembling his owner's. "But this one's cute." He softly stroked the puppy's head with a thumb and nearly giggled when Roo nuzzled his head into Kibum's palm.
"Glad you think so." The blond opened the door and nodded as Kibum walked out with his shoes in hand.
"Thanks for the dinner, Jonghyun." Slipping on a smile, Kibum waved his hand at Roo and walked into his apartment.
Jonghyun leaned against his door frame, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed.
"What do we do, Roo? I think I'm falling for a cat lover."
Roo whined in disapproval, burying his face beneath his paws. Jonghyun laughed at the sight and picked his dog up to cradle him in his arms and nuzzled his nose in his fur.
For a week, Jonghyun introduced Kibum to all of the places of their town--including the nearest pet shop, the one place he assumed they would both deem important--and gave him the brief run-down of their apartment building, including the freaks and not-so-odd residents. He tried to clear room in his schedule to check up on him, often bringing him to the Apple Store so they could talk with Jinki, and each time Jonghyun saw his face, he couldn't help but feel a bit queasy in the stomach. Roo felt it too, what with the constant whines and growls during the mornings when Jonghyun went out and chatted with Kibum for five minutes.
Jonghyun helped with the furniture, carrying the pedestals and dressers up the stairs despite his aching back in the afternoons, and he watched with much amusement the stack of cardboard boxes rise and fall by each day. He suffered a few bites from Gwiboon's rather large teeth and was often trampled by Roo's excited feet whenever Kibum came by, but Jonghyun figured it was worth it.
One day, Jinki looked at him straight in the face when Kibum couldn't tag along, and stated, "You're whipped."
"Excuse me?" Jonghyun questioned, brows raised an inch each. "I'm whipped?"
Jinki rolled his eyes. "Furniture, Jonghyun. Furniture."
"Oh, please, I'm whipped."
"Yeah."
"All right." Jonghyun slammed the register shut and leaned over on the counter, arms propped to hold his head up. "You can say that."
Smiling his toothy, crescent-eyed smile, Jinki nodded. "Yep, and I will."
"Fucker," Jonghyun grunted. "Is Taemin back?"
The brunet nodded, though Jonghyun couldn't tell if it was to the music playing from a distant iPod, and then he added, "He brought back souvenirs. Got one for you too, for some reason." He pulled out a neatly-wrapped, pink box from his bag and handed it Jonghyun, who inspected the gift with much caution as if it would explode. "Oh come on, jackass, just take it."
He flipped the hair out of his eyes and took the gift, grinning widely. "Tell Minnie I say thanks."
"Yup." Jinki swiped a card, ripped a receipt and waved goodbye to the twentieth customer that hour. "Say, where's Kibum?"
"How would I know?"
Jinki shifted his weight to his left leg, bit his cheek in thought. "I don't know, I mean, it's not like you guys haven't been completely attached to the hip for the past week and a half." He coughed a quick "Loser" into the crook of his arm, and yelped when Jonghyun's foot came in contact with his ass.
"Listen, I'm just being a good neighbor, all right?" Jonghyun looked up and jumped in his spot, his eyes trained on the familiar raven that stalked through the crowd, shoulders hunched and lips tight. "What the hell's up with him?"
Kibum slammed his bag on the counter. "Computer fucking broke again." Jinki sighed, took the black case, and set it down on a table beside him. Kibum's eyes drifted to the pink box next to Jonghyun's hand, and he asked as his curiosity got to the better of him, "What's that?"
Jonghyun's eyes lit at his interest, and he joked, "I got it from this girl I knew back in high school." His friend rolled his eyes from the side, and neither of them caught the way Kibum's face fell at the lie.
"Oh," he mumbled. "That's nice." Looking down at his broken laptop, Kibum asked, "Hey, Jonghyun? Could you bring my laptop home? I'm not feeling too well and I can't wait around."
"Sure, princess." Throwing on a quick smile, Jonghyun drummed his fingers on the surface of the counter and wrote a quick note down on a piece of paper. Kibum stood there for a few more seconds before casting a wary glance at Jinki, frowning, and turning around to leave.
"He doesn't look too good," Jinki noted as he watched Kibum leave the store. "I guess we should get this fixed up and send you off or something."
Jonghyun stared down at the hem of his shirt, the stupid grin still plastered on his face. "Yeah, all right."
After waiting for about a minute in front of Kibum's door, Jonghyun sighed and tousled the door knob about, jolting when the door swung open with ease. He kicked off his shoes and stepped in for the first time, his eyes taking in the view of Kibum's apartment.
It was chic, simply put, which he could have deduced from helping lift the furniture up several flights of stairs, but the arrangement was far superior to his own. Jonghyun smiled as he noticed several easels and unfinished canvases. Kibum had told him that he was an artist, but he was surprised to see such beautiful pieces aligned along the walls.
He walked into the living room where Kibum was sleeping on the couch, one leg and arm dangling off the sides of the leather seat, and the blanket tangled in his feet. Setting down the laptop and the gift on an ottoman, Jonghyun sat down next to Kibum, facing Kibum's turned head. His eyes were closed, but still zipping underneath his thin eyelids, and his eyelashes fluttered about (though Jonghyun was so close in, it could've been his own shallow breaths making them shudder).
Jonghyun almost gasped aloud when something brushed against his leg, only relaxing his tense muscles when he saw Gwiboon curl up near his foot. He smiled, but it was soon dragged down into a frown by the weight of his curiosity. When he became so nervous around Kibum, he wasn't sure, but he could tell that his body wasn't too comfortable with the matter.
Sighing, Jonghyun let a hand drape over an arm of the couch, and he inspected Kibum's sleeping face some more until the raven stirred, the leather crinkling under his shifting weight.
"Mm," he grumbled, lips twisting and eyes scrunching painfully shut. "Hn."
Worriedly the blond ran his fingers through Kibum's hair, brushing it from his eyes as it pricked his cheeks. He inhaled quietly, slowly, as if any more noise or movement would cause Kibum to snap and wake up.
I don't know what it is, Jonghyun vaguely thought as his own eyelids began to droop in the silence, "but something about you--" He cut himself off by brushing his lips against Kibum's slowly, reveling in the softness that differed so greatly from his own chapped lips.
And then Gwiboon started, hissed loudly and bit Jonghyun's ankle, causing him to cry out with his mouth still pressed against Kibum's. And of course, Kibum woke up with a yell, his wide eyes glued on Jonghyun's stricken face.
Pulling back, Jonghyun held a hand up to his mouth.
"Fuck!" Kibum exclaimed, pulling the blanket around his feet up to his chest. "What the hell were you doing?"
"I don't--" Jonghyun stuttered with his hands twisting in confusion.
The raven used his legs to kick Jonghyun further away from his, grunts of frustration and disgust filling the apartment. "God damn it, what the fuck! Leave!"
Jonghyun stumbled out without looking down at his feet to watch where he was going, tripping over paint cans and discarded sweaters before making it to the door and crashing through.
He felt like that was the longest distance he had ever run in his lifetime, embarrassment and horror weighing down on each step he took. Jonghyun slammed his door shut, ran past an ever excited Roo, and buried himself in some pillows to ensue in screaming his head off.
*
Jonghyun looked himself over once, twice, and then gave himself a wobbly smile in the mirror. His confidence was not up to par, and his last leather belt just snapped in half an hour ago, leaving him very, very uncomfortable.
He opened the door slowly and looked about. The last of the cardboard boxes were gone, and his door mat was as neat as ever. He frowned.
Kibum's apartment was silent, no meowing or eerie scratching coming from behind the white door, and Jonghyun felt nervous. Shaking his head, he trotted down the stairs, hailed a cab, and left for a night out in the city.
The girl was pretty. Really pretty, in fact; clear, smooth skin, a small waist, collarbones that he knew she liked to flaunt. After all, she had written it in her profile online.
"Hi," she chirped, one polished hand out for a shake. He took it gently and smiled as warmly as he could, but he could see from her glassy skin that it wasn't all too cheery.
"So, Jonghyun, right?"
He nodded. "Jessica?"
Jessica seemed to be brimming with excitement as she nodded her small head furiously. "I feel like I've seen you before. Maybe it's the blond hair." She took a lock of her own hair, twirled it around a finger. "We kinda stand out, don't we?"
"Well, I figure it's a good thing thing sometimes," Jonghyun chuckled and looked up when the waiter came by, menus in hand.
"Do you like pets?"
Jonghyun looked up from the desert section. "Sorry?"
Sweetly smiling, Jessica flipped a page with much delicacy, "Pets. I read that you like dogs."
"Oh," he muttered. "Yeah, I like dogs."
"Really?" Jessica pouted before leaning over and grabbing a glass of water from the center of the table. She inspected the brim of the glass--much like Kibum, Jonghyun noted--and took a long, tentative sip. "I'm a cat person."
Jonghyun stiffened in his seat, which was pretty uncomfortable to begin with, angular and wooden. "Well--I mean, I like cats, too." His face involuntarily scrunched when he said that, and he felt it, but the thudding in his chest was equally as distracting.
Jessica gave him an odd look, one thin eyebrow raised and lips almost pouting. "You sure you're not just saying that?"
He played with the ends of his napkin, deep in thought, as he ran the question through his mind. He had hoped that the date would go smoothly, but with cats on his mind, Jonghyun feared he would break into hives before the bread sticks came out. "Err, no, I'm not--at least, I don't think I am?"
"All right," she smiled though he could see the displeasure knit in her brows. "Well, I'm kind of hungry. Let's order." Closing the menu, she clasped her fingers together and looked at him, straight in the eyes.
Jonghyun decided that he would not enjoy this night as much as he anticipated by the time the waiter returned with a basket of corn bread and butter.
He also decided that he had chosen the wrong time to say bye to Jessica, get on a bus, and arrive at home, because Kibum was standing warily in front of his door, fiddling about with a plastic bag in his hand. When he sucked in a sharp breath, Kibum snapped his head to his direction, eyes wide and nervous.
But he cleared his throat and straightened his back, a mild, forced look of disapproval written on his features. "You left this."
Jonghyun assumed it was the gift and quickly snatched the bag from Kibum's hand. "Why isn't it in the box?"
"Gwiboon shredded it up."
He looked up from the handle and saw that Kibum wasn't kidding and smiled dryly. "Thanks."
"Yeah," Kibum muttered. "And that girl can't choose ties. Just saying."
The blond, curious, peered into the bag and saw a neck tie--horribly hideous, too; Kibum was definitely right--, made a small face of disgust, and coughed, "Yeah, well he--she was never too great with fashion."
Kibum shuffled his feet. "I see."
Thudding footsteps broke the silence and they both glanced to the stairwell, where Minho came trotting down, a water bottle and towel in hand. He inspected the two awkwardly standing together in the hall, opened his mouth to say something, and then screwed it shut with a small smile. Minho quickly ran down the few flights of steps to be out of earshot.
"I--I have to go," Jonghyun murmured as he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. "I'll, uh."
"Yeah." Kibum turned on his heels, opened the door to his apartment with his shoulders hunched and back awkwardly straight. He slipped by without saying good night, leaving Jonghyun alone in the dimly lit hall, even the pants from down his living room seeming distant and muffled.
Jonghyun promptly sniffled to himself, ran a hand quickly through his disheveled hair, and then turned his back to the hallway one last time that evening.
When the morning came, Jonghyun felt no better even after downing milk straight from the carton, a habit of his from his childhood. He stepped out to take in some fresh air for his dying lungs and stretched his arms about, grunting as his joints cracked uncomfortably.
Taking a few steps out to the railing, Jonghyun paused mid-step when a crunching sound filled his ears. He looked down and saw the hall covered with what he assumed to be kitty litter and made a retching sound. A few bags of the "evil stuff" as he often called it were ripped open and had spilled over onto the cement. Jonghyun groaned.
"I am not cleaning this up."
"Jonghyun!"
Said blond jumped at the echoing exclamation, and his muscles stiffened even more when he saw Kibum jogging up the stairs, huffing loudly. Concern filled his veins as he walked over to the raven, inspecting his pained expression. "What's up?"
"Gwiboonie's gone," Kibum moaned, his fingers tangled in his messy hair.
Jonghyun's face fell as he took in the situation, his conscience mapping out the future events of the rather cliche, cheesy mishaps he found himself in. If he finds Gwiboon, Jonghyun reasoned, Kibum might fall head over heels for him and embrace him (or just blatantly ignore him and selfishly take the cat away with no reward). But it was also a Monday, one of his work days, and Jonghyun had promised Jinki that he would help him get through the sale planned for the morning.
Jonghyun thought for a few more seconds, eyes not focused on the continuously changing facial expressions on Kibum's face--scared, nervous, questioning, irritated--until he grumbled, "Fuck it."
He reached into his pocket for his keys, listening for a jingle, and then he looked Kibum square in the eye for the first time in what felt like months.
"Have any toys she likes?"
"How the fuck," Jonghyun panted as he sifted through yet another bush near their apartment, "did your fucking cat get out the window? I thought you said she didn't know how to open them."
"Well of course not! I just left it open overnight." The blond stared at Kibum exasperatedly, arms up in defeat.
"Gwiboonie! Gwiboonie, come to me!" Kibum screeched on the top of his lungs, rattling the shaker in feeble attempts to draw the cat back in.
Jonghyun kicked the grass. "God damn it, you fat cat, get back here!"
"Hey," Kibum snapped, "don't call her fat. She can be self-conscious sometimes."
With narrowed eyes, the blond glared, "You're ridiculous." He searched around the perimeter of the apartment building once more while Kibum searched mailboxes and nearby trees.
"Forget it. I lost her." Kibum collapsed on the sidewalk, legs stretched out before him. He sniffled in defeat, eyes rubbing furiously to stop the tears, and Jonghyun let out a rough sigh. Walking over to the distressed raven, he knelt down and placed a hand softly on his shoulder.
"Trust me. We can't miss a fat cat like her."
Kibum's eyes zipped down to the hand, back up to Jonghyun's distracted eyes, and he breathed in softly. "If you say so."
"I know so," Jonghyun declared bravely as he got back up to his feet and straightened his legs. "Or something like that." He grinned when he heard Kibum chuckle softly into his hand.
A distant meow caught their attention, and then Kibum exclaimed "Gwiboon!" before bolting off down the street, Jonghyun not too far behind him. They nearly collided with Jinki along the way who looked very flustered and angry.
"God damn it, Jonghyun," he yelled, "don't tell me you were looking for the cat."
"Yeah, I--what?" Kibum pushed Jonghyun aside and stared at the brunet incredulously.
"How do you know Gwiboon's missing?"
Rolling his eyes with a scoff, Jinki stepped aside to reveal a Gwiboon licking tentatively at her paw, her pink nose rubbing against the dirtied fur. Kibum dropped to his knees and scooped the cat up in his arms, rendering himself silent by burying his entire face in her fluffy coat. Gwiboon meowed in distaste.
"The cat jumped me," Jinki complained. "I mean, claws and all, man. Fucking hurt."
Jonghyun laughed. "Tell me about it." He yelped a second later when he felt Gwiboon's teeth sink into his bare leg, a jumbled cry dying in his throat.
Kibum looked up from the tea cup he was sipping from and blinked once, twice, before setting it down on a plate and smacking his lips. "I, um. Thanks."
Shaking his head as if the throbbing pain down near his ankles wasn't killing him, Jonghyun muttered, "Don't worry about it."
The raven twiddled his thumbs for a few moments as Jonghyun played around with his coffee mug on his kitchen table.
"And I'm, I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"You had to go to work, and I distracted you."
"It's all right."
"Gwiboon bit you again."
"--Okay, that's not really all right."
"And then I pushed you away really harshly that night."
Jonghyun stilled in his cup twirling and sat in silence, his mind failing to formulate the words best fit for the situation. So he breathed in and uttered, "Don't worry about it."
Kibum shook his head left to right, let his hair fall before his eyes, "It's not all right. I must've--I must've really hurt you. I was just having a rough day, and I didn't want to be disturbed, so when you were there, I just kinda--"
"I was kinda shocked myself," Jonghyun muttered to stop Kibum from saying any more. "I don't really know why I did that, either."
"So we're clear on that, right?" Kibum chuckled nervously as he stroked Roo who had managed to nestle his way onto his lap.
Jonghyun didn't answer though, leaving the question to fester in the open air. "How's your grandmother?"
The raven bitterly smiled. "Are you changing the subject on me because you have something to hide, or what?"
"Attentive, aren't we," Jonghyun grumbled into the palm of his hand. "I was just worried about your grandmother is all."
"I've never implied that she was sick, ever."
"Well one could assume that when people get old, they can get sick easily."
"I'll have you know, my grandmother is a very healthy woman and is doing very well, so if you would just--"
"That's all I needed to know." Jonghyun lifted his hands up in defeat.
"What's with you?" Kibum exclaimed, frustration in his eyes. "I just don't understand what your problem is. You kiss me when I'm sleeping, flat out deny that you intended for that to happen, and then you can't even agree to the fact that it was all just a friggin' mistake?"
Jonghyun stared off into the living room, lips tight in both corners. "There's something called denial in this world, you know."
Clamping his mouth shut in response, Kibum drummed his fingers on the smooth surface of the table. "Honestly."
"Then you tell me. Do you like me in any way?" When he received silence as a response, he kicked back in his chair. "If that's the case," the blond sighed aloud, "then I guess we should just--"
"I don't know." Kibum squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose several times.
"You aren't daring enough to find out for sure, are you?"
Kibum peered up through the spaces between his fingers and examined Jonghyun's contorted face, his eyes cloudy and gray instead of their usual, bottomless black. He sighed. "I mean, it probably hasn't even been a month by now."
"That's true."
"And I mean, I'm not one to believe in love at first sight."
"Me neither."
"So I can't really say--"
"Then I guess I can't either."
He smiled sadly into the palms of his hands. "I can't think of why I wouldn't like you, too."
"Don't try to give me hope here," Jonghyun smirked as he leaned further back in his chair. "I'll believe it like there's no tomorrow."
Kibum closed his eyes, clenched his hands into fists, stood up rather clumsily from the rickety chair. He shakily sighed, "Could you stand up too? Makes me kind of nervous." Jonghyun complied and got up to his feet, scaring both Gwiboon and Roo who were by his feet.
And then he saw a blur of black and pink up in his face, felt a warm body flush against his, tasted the soft lips that pressed against his own. And Jonghyun sighed, wrapping his arms around Kibum's shaking frame, finally glad that the long-winded, tiring conversation of worried ramblings and insecurities was over for the night.
Jonghyun woke up to the sound of birds chirping and soft grumbling to his left--which was obviously not Roo, because he's yelled at the dog to keep off the bed when he was sleeping--and when he licked his lips, he tasted salt, sex, Kibum, and cat hair.
Scrambling to sit up right, Jonghyun wiped at his lips with much fervor, disgusted spits and grunts spilling from his lips and disturbing Kibum from his sleep.
"I fucking coughed up hair balls because of your cat," he barked first thing in Kibum's face when the raven barely cracked his eyes open. He made an uninterested face in return, hand waving in front of his nose to silently complain about some smell. Jonghyun snorted.
"Good morning," Kibum grumbled into the pillow and then promptly turned to face the other wall. Jonghyun debated whether or not to pull the blanket up over him, and then decided that, as an act of decency, he might as well, before slipping out of the covers and into his boxers.
"Where are you going?"
Jonghyun turned around when Kibum called out to him, hand rubbing groggily at his puffy eyes. "Breakfast."
They stared at each other from different levels until Kibum sat upright in the bed, legs crossed under the blankets. His eyes were smiling though half-mast, and Jonghyun felt his own lips stretching across his face.
"You must have done something last night," Kibum chuckled. "My head feels light." Sighing, Jonghyun made his way back to the bed and sat down next to Kibum, ankles crossing lightly.
"Want aspirin?"
"In a good way, I meant." Jonghyun glanced to his side and met Kibum's rosy cheeks and dainty smile. "I don't know what was with me last night. I think everything just felt so much like a soap opera, what with Gwiboon getting lost, that I had to throw a huge fit to wrap it all up."
"Kibum, you talk too much in the morning." With that, he leaned in and gently brushed his lips against Kibum's, eyes fluttering shut, shoulders relaxing as he felt Kibum sigh into the kiss. "Actually, thinking back, you talk too much, period."
"Quiet, you," Kibum mumbled and then pressed harder, his fingers finding their comfortable position in Jonghyun's messy hair. Jonghyun laughed as Kibum eagerly nipped at his bottom lip, tugging and pulling playfully.
"You know, you're a lot like your cat," he said, the stupid words muffled by their kiss. "Bitchy, catty, likes to bite things especially in bed."
"And you're really stupid like your dog, but you don't see me complaining."
They pulled back and stared at each other oddly before breaking into a great peal of laughter, only to be made more awkward when Roo dived into the covers and jumped into Jonghyun's lap.
"God damn it," Jonghyun groaned as one of Kibum's hands traveled lightly down his chest. "If you're thinking about getting it on with the fucking dog in the room, you're horribly mistaken." Roo got the point though and skittered away, out the bedroom with a sneeze.
Jonghyun sat back down in his seat with a cup of coffee in his hands and his eyes inspected the talkative trio before him. Taemin was complimenting Kibum's clothes, and Kibum was lathering the boy with so much love, the blond could see a glint of jealousy in Jinki's eyes.
"By the way," Jonghyun mumbled as he pulled in his chair and sat close to Kibum, their arms brushing ever so lightly, "Taemin's the one who got me the tie."
Kibum's face fell, as did Taemin's, while Jinki's reddened with laughter.
"W-Wait, hyung," Taemin stammered, "that wasn't for you."
And then Jinki's face lost its color when Taemin said that he had gotten Jonghyun a bagful of sweets as Jonghyun wrapped his spindly fingers around his neck.
"You little," Jonghyun exclaimed between shakes, "fucker, you ate my--candy, go die!"
Kibum whispered something into Jonghyun's ear (and from what Taemin could hear with his excellent senses, something about a treat was mentioned, and then Taemin saw the obvious similarity between him and Roo) and the blond calmed down, let his fingers slowly unlatch themselves, one by one, from Jinki's neck. Jinki nursed the abused skin, mumbling something about shitheads and how they should just go die in a fire.
"I heard that, hyung."
Jinki shot the couple across the table a look and then he grumbled, "You guys closed all the windows this time, right?"
This time, Jonghyun paled.
"Oh, fuck."
.end
oh wow it was weird not putting an ending note haha, sorry, i completely forgot. but uh...the end! after reading your comments and..standing around in the sun in my uniform during the parade, an idea hit me (because there was a very, very cute lab lying on the asphalt and he was such a cutie pie omgggg) and well, maybe that'll come some time next week 8) thanks for reading!
Author: salted_taiyaki
Pairing(s): Jonghyun x Key, side Onew x Taemin
Genre: Romance, humor, AU
Rating: PG-15
Warning(s): rough language
Word Count: 8078
Summary: Jonghyun (a pretty cool guy who works at the Apple Store and owns a dog) runs into his new neighbor, Kibum (a pretty pretty guy who is a freelance artist and owns a kitty cat), and realizes that he isn't all too open-minded or truthful as he says he is on those blind date questionnaires (which might be why they don't quite work out).
a/n: this is really long and...i almost lost interest midway (i wanted to finish it really badly, haha) so the quality might have, like, plummeted by the middle of it all. but uh...i hope you enjoy? i just wore myself out from writing this, haha. comments always appreciated ♥
7:16 in the morning and Jonghyun smiled at his mirror with a quick flip of his hair, the blond streaks framing his face in a quite complementary manner. Telling himself that he looked pretty cool--at least, in comparison to his geek of a friend, Jinki (though he's cool himself, best friends for seventeen years) and the guys at the Apple Store who thought so too, what with them giving him off Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays--Jonghyun clicked his teeth and ran a hand down the front of his shirt once more.
"C'mon, Roo," he cooed at the brown spot in the reflection and a bark brought a warm, wide smile to his face. "Let's go."
Roo nipped at Jonghyun's ankle and sat obediently by his shoes before some clattering outside piqued his interest and he charged at the door.
Jonghyun sighed, "All right, geez. Let me put my shoes on first." The large eyes propelled him forward and Jonghyun slipped on a pair of flip flops, pocketed his keys with a small grin. As he reached the door, he stubbed his toe on one of the many discarded Apple boxes and cartridges, and he grunted as he pushed his whole weight on the stubborn slab of wood that refused to move.
"God damn it." Roo impatiently whined and the blond felt the need to hack the door down, before it unceremoniously cracked open under the pressure, to reveal the typical, white hallways of the apartment building.
Except not really because there were tens and tens of cardboard boxes stacked along the perimeter of the hallway and little imprints on his otherwise smooth, even floor mat decorated the deep blue. Jonghyun paled as Roo ran around wildly, yipping at his white socks.
A door to the right creaked open and Jonghyun's eyes slowly shifted to follow, refocus, zoom in to see a head of sleek black hair, and a shoulder under a thin gray shirt, and then--
Roo started yelping and barking around in circles and attacked the door that was barely ajar, and then a blood-curling hiss (more raspy and altogether distasteful than anything) froze the circulating blood in his veins.
Two pairs of narrowed, feline eyes met his, and the blond gulped aloud.
"Hi there."
Of course, Roo's greeting wasn't all too cheery or welcoming as he leaped up and attacked a hanging, fluffy tail of--a cat.
Jonghyun quickly hid behind his door and groaned.
"I--I'm really sorry," Jonghyun bowed and bowed again before the raven (he could feel the penetrating gaze drill holes in his skull, too). "Roo's a bit, uh, active in the mornings."
The new neighbor whom Jonghyun deemed quite handsome and alluring despite not having spoken a word within the past ten minutes stared a bit more, petted the cat in his lap, and then the frown on his pale features turned sharper. Roo wagged his tail slowly beside Jonghyun's leg, waiting patiently for his master to retort--Jonghyun didn't have the balls--but decided to do it himself by snarling at the fluffy cat. She hissed back with much animosity, making the hair on Jonghyun's arms stand.
"Look, it's not like I told him to attack," he tried to reason to the owner who only glared down at Roo. "We're just not used to cats. That's all."
"I'd been told that the people are quite friendly here," the stranger bit back with a snarl resembling his cat's, and it's then when Jonghyun realized that owners do resemble their pets. "As long as you keep that thing away from me, we'll be fine."
Jonghyun nodded before he could think and then stuck a hand out from the lawn chair he pulled out of the closet. "My name's J--"
Before he could finish his name, the neighbor's cat jumped and clamped her sharp teeth down on his vulnerable hand, and Jonghyun let out a shriek, his legs flailing in pain, sparking whatever energy was left in Roo to activate.
"God fucking damn it!" he yelled, not catching the rather flabbergasted look on the man before him, and he yanked his hand away to nurse it against his stomach. "Fucking cat! God--we're leaving, Roo." Jonghyun stumbled out of his chair and reached for the door but turned around when a rather offending cough reached his ears.
Jonghyun cleared his throat. "This is my house. Get out."
The man held his cat close and quietly strutted his way to the foyer--Bitch, Jonghyun thought --, then stopped when he was a foot away from Jonghyun, and smiled a dainty smile.
"Kibum," he said. He promptly walked out with a flip of his hair and disappeared into his own apartment that was, inconveniently, three small steps from Jonghyun's.
Jonghyun threw a shoe in the general direction of the neighbor, Kibum's, room.
"I swear, Roo," Jonghyun spat to his dog before downing a full glass of milk--his goal was another centimeter by the end of the year--and slamming the glass down into the sink. "All cat owners are sick bastards." Roo barked in what he assumed to be agreement, and the blond smiled against the palm of his hand. He leaned on the counter, eyes penetrating the plaster that separated his kitchen from the neighbor's, and scoffed.
"I bet he's using kitty litter in there." With a roll of his eyes he pushed himself off and walked back to his foyer. "Well, whatever. Let's just make sure we don't have to run into him again."
Three knocks came from the front door and Jonghyun started in his spot. "Yeah?"
"It's me, Jinki!"
Jonghyun sighed. "What is it, hyung?" He flung the door open and saw his friend waving sheepishly, his shoes ruining the floor mat even more. His eyes glued themselves to the mat as Jinki continued to talk.
"Look, I know you're probably bu--fuck it, you're not doing anything, ever," Jinki mumbled, quickly dodging Jonghyun's punch, "but we need some help down at the store."
"Hell no."
Jinki groaned. "Look, Jonghyun, it's only until twelve. You'll be off then." After a few moments of stubborn silence, he whined, "Please, Jonghyun, please just come for a few hours!"
Mumbling, Jonghyun searched about for his keys, "Fine, but you're buying me lunch."
"Thank God," his friend laughed in utter relief, and he patted Jonghyun on a stiff shoulder twice. "It'll be an easy day today, I swear."
Jonghyun looked up from his bangs, swept them aside with a flip of his hair. "It better be."
Of course, the blond cursed to himself as he scanned the billionth iPod Touch that day while pointing to one of the rows of USB chords to a distressed mother and her three sons, little fucker lied to me.
"Jjong!" Jinki called from a few cash registers down, and Jonghyun refrained from the profanities that were building up like the dust under his fingernails. God fucking damn it. "Great job so far." He waltzed up to the distressed blond and hugged him from behind, his chin landing naturally on the slightly shorter boy's shoulder.
"Listen," he hissed, shrugging the smiling boy away from him as the stares from the customers intensified, "one, I hate you. Two, you've gotta stop acting so gay around me."
Jinki shrugged. "Just being friendly."
"Jinki, I've known you for seventeen years. That is crossing the friendship line."
A soft sigh escaped his lips and then Jinki pushed a few buttons on the cash register to distract himself. "I've just been lonely, is all."
"Oh Christ," the blond grumbled, reaching about for a plastic bag to suffocate himself with.
"You obviously wouldn't understand, Mr. I-Don't-Give-a-Fuck-About-Love." Jinki pulled on a warm smile for the lady batting her eyes at him--Jonghyun could see a sheen layer of cold sweat on the back of his neck and snickered--and rapidly accepted her card. When she left, he let out an audible sigh. "I just miss him. A lot."
"That's really great, Jinki." A small hand above the crowd waved at their general direction, and Jonghyun's eyes zipped to it. "Getting the hell out of here, good luck." He slithered past the people of the throng, away from Jinki's sad love life.
A few minutes later, Jonghyun dragged his feet back to the cash register in defeat. "I hate kids," he declared and kicked an empty cardboard box away.
"I mean, how can he just leave me and go to Jeju for a week--"
"Hyung, shut up, please."
"Excuse me."
Jonghyun looked up from the tangled plastic bags around his feet and curtly snapped, "How may I help you?"
When he saw two dark, glassy eyes stare back at him, he felt every bone in his body go rigid and the blood run cold. Jinki curiously stared from person to person, a quizzical "What?" never leaving his lips.
"Oh," the customer seethed. "You."
Jonghyun finally straightened his back. "That's Jonghyun, thank you very much." He pointed at the name tag on his vest, and the man rolled his eyes. "How can I help you, Kibum?"
Kibum's taught smile slowly curled as he glanced at Jinki, who shivered under the penetrating gaze, "Actually, I'm having some problems with my laptop. Ever since I moved in, it's been connecting and disconnecting repeatedly. Some of the keys aren't working, either."
"Oh," Jonghyun muttered, deadpan. "Great."
After a moment of silence and awkward grunts from Jinki, Kibum piped, "Well, will you help me or not?"
"Thinking about it." The blond paused for some effect (who was he kidding? he might as well just have spat in his face). "Nah."
Kibum's frown solidified over his features--which was a pity because he was quite pretty, Jonghyun thought. He opened his mouth and out came the whiniest, lamest come back Jonghyun had ever heard.
"I'm telling your boss."
Snorting, Jonghyun threw his hands up in the air. "Fine! Go for it. I'll have you know, I was runner-up employee of the month when I was't even here for a single day." Jonghyun turned to Jinki, who in return nodded furiously, and Kibum bit his lip.
"All right, I just--" the raven sighed in exasperation, thin hands rubbing up and down the sides of his face. Jonghyun blinked. "I need my webcam up tonight, and the internet has to work. I'm serious."
Jinki was the first to cave in as he reached out his hands, a sweet, apologetic smile on his face. "Jonghyun's a shithead, you'll have to deal with it if you come here."
A feeble grin managed to slip past Kibum's facade and he gently handed his messenger bag over to the boy who gave him a thumbs up then turned around to get to work. Jonghyun threw a shy glance to the raven's way, and he stared back, the two enraptured in an odd silence.
"Uh--" Jonghyun started, only to be interrupted by a hand in front of his face.
"Save it, jackass," Kibum snapped venomously. "I'm done with you." His hardened glare didn't leave Jonghyun's flabbergasted face as he stepped back and made his way to the door, ignoring the spluttering sounds that fell from the blond's contorted lips.
"Fucking bitch!"
A mousy woman who worked with inventory squeaked and hid under the counter. Jonghyun sighed.
Kibum returned with a water bottle in hand and he thanked Jinki, bowing deep from the waist. The brunet broke into another cold sweat and shook his hands, stuttering, "P-Please, Kibum-sshi, you don't have to be like that."
The bright eyes that looked up at them stilled both of their breaths as he thanked them again. "Thank you so much. I don't know how to explain--" He paused in his words, and Jonghyun leaned forward a bit to see if he was still breathing as his pale face continued to lose color. "Shit! Gwiboon!"
"Who's that?" Jonghyun asked before he could stop himself, and then Kibum's cold glare returned, directed solely on the blond.
"My cat," he hissed. Jonghyun tensed for a brief second, and then he shoved the silver Macbook into Kibum's chest, chucking the case a moment later.
"Better not get those goddamn hairballs on my mat! You hear me? Kibum!"
The raven bee-lined through the crowd and left before Jonghyun could scream some more, silenced only by Jinki's stress ball that hit his temple.
"Shut up," his friend mumbled off to the side. "You're being too loud."
Jonghyun threw the cover of the garbage can open and dumped his plastic bags into the green box, a frown engraved too deeply for the morning. Roo had ripped up some of his lyrics, and he was not pleased.
"Are you done yet?"
Turning around in his spot, Jonghyun squinted to see Kibum standing uncomfortably in the sunlight, a hand on his hips. He held several folded boxes under his arm, lips pursed.
"Listen," Jonghyun started with his hands out in front of him in a conciliatory manner, "I'm kind of sorry for being a jerk yesterday. You're new, I should be treating you well." He paused for some reaction, but when he received none, he sighed heavily and continued. "I'm assuming you're from Daegu, with your accent." The quiet smile he caught from the corner of his eye was enough for him to stop in his tracks and stare.
"I don't need a whole speech," the raven interrupted, but this time with less bite and more understanding. "You just had to say sorry."
Jonghyun rolled his eyes. "Though it's totally your fault that your cat is a fucking beast and almost bit my hand off."
"You were doing well until then." Kibum brushed past him and dumped the cardboard boxes into a container.
"Wrong one," Jonghyun pointed out, lifting the rightmost lid and pointing at the mess of papers and boxes. "Middle's for glass."
His lips formed a silent oh as he grabbed the compressed cardboard, quickly dropping it to where Jonghyun was pointing to. "Thanks for that."
Wryly he grinned, a hand deftly scratching at the back of his neck. "Hey, you wanna--"
"Jonghyun." The two looked up to see a tall, wide-eyed boy lean over the railing from the steps. "There's some crashing coming from your room. I think it's Roo again." The boy glanced at Kibum, nodded once, and said, "I'm Minho. I live in the room above you."
"Hi, Minho. I'm Kibum." Smiling, the raven closed the container and stared at Jonghyun. "What--" His eyes caught the bewilderment in Jonghyun's own, and then the pregnant pause that followed was filled with the utmost despair.
"You didn't leave your door open, did you?" they asked simultaneously, one finger pointed at the other accusingly.
"Fuck!"
"Shit!"
Minho pressed his back against the brick wall--and grimaced, because the granite was really old and weathered--to avoid getting run over by the rampant blond and raven who pushed and shoved their way up the steps, each thud filled with "You little fucker, that cat's going to rip up my couch!" and "Oh shut up, your little rat's going to eat my baby alive!"
The boy stood as the echoes dimmed then faded away, shrugged, and put in his ear buds that he received from Jonghyun as a birthday gift to start his morning jog.
They were breathing heavily by the time they each had their pets tightly in their arms, eyes wide and almost bloodshot, skin prickling, sticky from the running.
"You ruined poor Gwiboon's coat," Kibum moaned, a hand raking its way swiftly through the soft fur as Gwiboon let out a feeble meow. "Keep that stupid thing locked up!"
Jonghyun's eyes narrowed on the frenzied raven before him. "Oh bitch about it, will you? It's your fault this happened, anyway."
"My fault? How in the world is this solely my fault, when your dog attacked us first?"
"Well can you blame him? He was only trying to keep the fucking pests away!"
Kibum gasped. "Listen, you--"
"We've been here for five years," Jonghyun barked, jaw tight. "I've never had a problem like this until you moved in! So just pack up your shit and leave already, will you? You're disturbing the peace!"
"--Listen, you pretentious fucker," the raven snarled before taking two huge steps towards Jonghyun, cornering the shocked blond in the hall. "It took me a goddamn long time to convince my parents to let me out of the house. I'm not going to friggin' leave just because some ugly piece of shit and its dog can't deal with prestigious pure breds like Gwiboon!" Gwiboon meowed in agreement.
Jonghyun's face fell as the color rose to Kibum's cheeks, and admittedly, he was impressed. A loud laugh escaped his lips and then Jonghyun was doubled over, cackling into his shoes.
"What's so funny?" Kibum huffed, his anger falling to sheer embarrassment. "Would you--Jonghyun, stop laughing!"
Wiping a tear from his eye, he pointed at the confused man and wheezed, "You're hilarious."
"I wasn't joking," he spat to the floor, brows furrowed and lips pursed again. "I don't appreciate your attitude."
Jonghyun finally looked up as Kibum began to stalk back to his apartment, cat practically buried in his chest, and then he called out, "Hey, Kibum, I'm sorry!"
But the door slammed shut before Jonghyun could utter more words, so he slumped against the wall, head tilted back up towards the ceiling, and chuckled to himself.
"What a funny guy."
As Jonghyun walked back from his evening jog with Roo, grocery bags tied around his fingers, he eyed Kibum's door. It was closed shut--probably most definitely locked--but Jonghyun couldn't hear anything, no hissing or scratching or other catty things Jonghyun assumed one could do with his pet. He breathed in heavily and then walked towards his mat, kicking the dirt off the soles of his shoes.
Turning around, he knocked on Kibum's door and waited.
"Yes?" he called before opening the door. A flash of anger and some odd mix of emotions that Jonghyun couldn't quite catch zipped past his black eyes and then they clouded over as Kibum grumbled, "What?"
Jonghyun lifted his plastic bags. "Want to come over for dinner?"
The look of surprise brought an odd, crooked smile to Jonghyun's face, and when Kibum stuttered, "I--Well, I don't--", Jonghyun couldn't help but admit that it was oddly cute (though he quickly dismissed the thought, for the sake of his sanity).
"Come on over," he suggested, a hand reaching out for his own doorknob. But he squinted his eyes in skepticism and then mumbled, "But don't bring that cat over."
Kibum's face soured immediately and the imminent "no" was about to fall from his lips, interrupted by a small scratching at the door. Jonghyun looked down, pushed the door open, and Roo stumbled out with a plastic bone clamped between his small teeth, letting out muffled woofs of excitement. A strangled gasp interrupted Jonghyun's pampering of his dog, and the two looked up to see a rather perturbed Kibum cling to his door frame for his life.
"Oh, come on," Jonghyun laughed with a wave of his hand. "He's not going to kill you."
"H-How can the landlord let such--"
"Don't finish that."
Kibum frowned. "Fine. I'll be right back." Quickly he slipped through his door and Jonghyun waited, squatting in front of his own door for what felt like hours as he stroked the back of Roo's head. When Kibum finally stepped out, keys in hand, he scooped Roo up with one arm and grinned.
"I'll have you know, I can actually cook."
A doubtful look crossed Kibum's face, and Jonghyun snorted.
"I'll help, just in case. I don't want my apartment on fire, too. Gwiboon can't open windows."
Jonghyun stared at Kibum, incredulous, laughing nervously when he realized that Kibum was being dead serious.
They ate their pasta civilly--though Kibum had to lift his feet onto the chair a couple of times as Roo skipped towards them, tongue dangling cutely as he panted about--and exchanged small talk ("Siblings?" "Only child." "That says something.") as they smiled into their forks and chuckled lightly to themselves.
"So," Jonghyun began as he sprinkled more Parmesan and tossed a small piece of bread to the eager Roo, "how's the computer?"
Kibum wiped his mouth with a napkin then curtly replied, "It's fine."
"Well, that's good." He pause and watched Kibum take a sip of water, his own eyes trained on Jonghyun's raised brows.
"What?"
"The webcam, what was that for?"
Jonghyun hadn't expected an awkward silence to reign over room, but when Kibum looked down at his feet and straight at Roo who was looking up at him from under the table and spun his fork around between his fingers, the blond immediately regretted it. "If it's personal, then I mean--"
"My grandma."
Jonghyun blinked. "What?"
A dry smile cracked his lips and Kibum muttered, "My grandma lives in Daegu. I didn't want to stop seeing her, so we promised that we'd chat over the computer sometimes. Even though she doesn't even know how to turn it on half the time." He chuckled. "She's the closest person in my life right now."
Licking his lips, Jonghyun nodded. "That's nice. I'm sure she appreciates just how much you want to see her."
And then Kibum laughed aloud, eyes crinkling ever so slightly, lips splitting into a stomach-churning smile.
The raven turned around in his seat and stared at the kitchen wall. "I think Gwiboon's getting impatient."
"All right, go to your queen," Jonghyun teased as he pushed back his chair and jumped up to his feet. "Would you like me to escort you, princess?"
Kibum sneered. "How'd you know my nickname?"
"Intuition."
He rolled his eyes and then walked to the foyer, carefully picking his feet up whenever Roo skittered by. "This thing won't stop moving, will it?"
Jonghyun shrugged. "He chases things when he sleeps." When he received a flabbergasted look in reply, Jonghyun guffawed. "I'm not kidding, I recorded it once."
"Dogs are so stupid," Kibum joked, bending down to look at Roo closely, his big eyes resembling his owner's. "But this one's cute." He softly stroked the puppy's head with a thumb and nearly giggled when Roo nuzzled his head into Kibum's palm.
"Glad you think so." The blond opened the door and nodded as Kibum walked out with his shoes in hand.
"Thanks for the dinner, Jonghyun." Slipping on a smile, Kibum waved his hand at Roo and walked into his apartment.
Jonghyun leaned against his door frame, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed.
"What do we do, Roo? I think I'm falling for a cat lover."
Roo whined in disapproval, burying his face beneath his paws. Jonghyun laughed at the sight and picked his dog up to cradle him in his arms and nuzzled his nose in his fur.
For a week, Jonghyun introduced Kibum to all of the places of their town--including the nearest pet shop, the one place he assumed they would both deem important--and gave him the brief run-down of their apartment building, including the freaks and not-so-odd residents. He tried to clear room in his schedule to check up on him, often bringing him to the Apple Store so they could talk with Jinki, and each time Jonghyun saw his face, he couldn't help but feel a bit queasy in the stomach. Roo felt it too, what with the constant whines and growls during the mornings when Jonghyun went out and chatted with Kibum for five minutes.
Jonghyun helped with the furniture, carrying the pedestals and dressers up the stairs despite his aching back in the afternoons, and he watched with much amusement the stack of cardboard boxes rise and fall by each day. He suffered a few bites from Gwiboon's rather large teeth and was often trampled by Roo's excited feet whenever Kibum came by, but Jonghyun figured it was worth it.
One day, Jinki looked at him straight in the face when Kibum couldn't tag along, and stated, "You're whipped."
"Excuse me?" Jonghyun questioned, brows raised an inch each. "I'm whipped?"
Jinki rolled his eyes. "Furniture, Jonghyun. Furniture."
"Oh, please, I'm whipped."
"Yeah."
"All right." Jonghyun slammed the register shut and leaned over on the counter, arms propped to hold his head up. "You can say that."
Smiling his toothy, crescent-eyed smile, Jinki nodded. "Yep, and I will."
"Fucker," Jonghyun grunted. "Is Taemin back?"
The brunet nodded, though Jonghyun couldn't tell if it was to the music playing from a distant iPod, and then he added, "He brought back souvenirs. Got one for you too, for some reason." He pulled out a neatly-wrapped, pink box from his bag and handed it Jonghyun, who inspected the gift with much caution as if it would explode. "Oh come on, jackass, just take it."
He flipped the hair out of his eyes and took the gift, grinning widely. "Tell Minnie I say thanks."
"Yup." Jinki swiped a card, ripped a receipt and waved goodbye to the twentieth customer that hour. "Say, where's Kibum?"
"How would I know?"
Jinki shifted his weight to his left leg, bit his cheek in thought. "I don't know, I mean, it's not like you guys haven't been completely attached to the hip for the past week and a half." He coughed a quick "Loser" into the crook of his arm, and yelped when Jonghyun's foot came in contact with his ass.
"Listen, I'm just being a good neighbor, all right?" Jonghyun looked up and jumped in his spot, his eyes trained on the familiar raven that stalked through the crowd, shoulders hunched and lips tight. "What the hell's up with him?"
Kibum slammed his bag on the counter. "Computer fucking broke again." Jinki sighed, took the black case, and set it down on a table beside him. Kibum's eyes drifted to the pink box next to Jonghyun's hand, and he asked as his curiosity got to the better of him, "What's that?"
Jonghyun's eyes lit at his interest, and he joked, "I got it from this girl I knew back in high school." His friend rolled his eyes from the side, and neither of them caught the way Kibum's face fell at the lie.
"Oh," he mumbled. "That's nice." Looking down at his broken laptop, Kibum asked, "Hey, Jonghyun? Could you bring my laptop home? I'm not feeling too well and I can't wait around."
"Sure, princess." Throwing on a quick smile, Jonghyun drummed his fingers on the surface of the counter and wrote a quick note down on a piece of paper. Kibum stood there for a few more seconds before casting a wary glance at Jinki, frowning, and turning around to leave.
"He doesn't look too good," Jinki noted as he watched Kibum leave the store. "I guess we should get this fixed up and send you off or something."
Jonghyun stared down at the hem of his shirt, the stupid grin still plastered on his face. "Yeah, all right."
After waiting for about a minute in front of Kibum's door, Jonghyun sighed and tousled the door knob about, jolting when the door swung open with ease. He kicked off his shoes and stepped in for the first time, his eyes taking in the view of Kibum's apartment.
It was chic, simply put, which he could have deduced from helping lift the furniture up several flights of stairs, but the arrangement was far superior to his own. Jonghyun smiled as he noticed several easels and unfinished canvases. Kibum had told him that he was an artist, but he was surprised to see such beautiful pieces aligned along the walls.
He walked into the living room where Kibum was sleeping on the couch, one leg and arm dangling off the sides of the leather seat, and the blanket tangled in his feet. Setting down the laptop and the gift on an ottoman, Jonghyun sat down next to Kibum, facing Kibum's turned head. His eyes were closed, but still zipping underneath his thin eyelids, and his eyelashes fluttered about (though Jonghyun was so close in, it could've been his own shallow breaths making them shudder).
Jonghyun almost gasped aloud when something brushed against his leg, only relaxing his tense muscles when he saw Gwiboon curl up near his foot. He smiled, but it was soon dragged down into a frown by the weight of his curiosity. When he became so nervous around Kibum, he wasn't sure, but he could tell that his body wasn't too comfortable with the matter.
Sighing, Jonghyun let a hand drape over an arm of the couch, and he inspected Kibum's sleeping face some more until the raven stirred, the leather crinkling under his shifting weight.
"Mm," he grumbled, lips twisting and eyes scrunching painfully shut. "Hn."
Worriedly the blond ran his fingers through Kibum's hair, brushing it from his eyes as it pricked his cheeks. He inhaled quietly, slowly, as if any more noise or movement would cause Kibum to snap and wake up.
I don't know what it is, Jonghyun vaguely thought as his own eyelids began to droop in the silence, "but something about you--" He cut himself off by brushing his lips against Kibum's slowly, reveling in the softness that differed so greatly from his own chapped lips.
And then Gwiboon started, hissed loudly and bit Jonghyun's ankle, causing him to cry out with his mouth still pressed against Kibum's. And of course, Kibum woke up with a yell, his wide eyes glued on Jonghyun's stricken face.
Pulling back, Jonghyun held a hand up to his mouth.
"Fuck!" Kibum exclaimed, pulling the blanket around his feet up to his chest. "What the hell were you doing?"
"I don't--" Jonghyun stuttered with his hands twisting in confusion.
The raven used his legs to kick Jonghyun further away from his, grunts of frustration and disgust filling the apartment. "God damn it, what the fuck! Leave!"
Jonghyun stumbled out without looking down at his feet to watch where he was going, tripping over paint cans and discarded sweaters before making it to the door and crashing through.
He felt like that was the longest distance he had ever run in his lifetime, embarrassment and horror weighing down on each step he took. Jonghyun slammed his door shut, ran past an ever excited Roo, and buried himself in some pillows to ensue in screaming his head off.
*
Jonghyun looked himself over once, twice, and then gave himself a wobbly smile in the mirror. His confidence was not up to par, and his last leather belt just snapped in half an hour ago, leaving him very, very uncomfortable.
He opened the door slowly and looked about. The last of the cardboard boxes were gone, and his door mat was as neat as ever. He frowned.
Kibum's apartment was silent, no meowing or eerie scratching coming from behind the white door, and Jonghyun felt nervous. Shaking his head, he trotted down the stairs, hailed a cab, and left for a night out in the city.
The girl was pretty. Really pretty, in fact; clear, smooth skin, a small waist, collarbones that he knew she liked to flaunt. After all, she had written it in her profile online.
"Hi," she chirped, one polished hand out for a shake. He took it gently and smiled as warmly as he could, but he could see from her glassy skin that it wasn't all too cheery.
"So, Jonghyun, right?"
He nodded. "Jessica?"
Jessica seemed to be brimming with excitement as she nodded her small head furiously. "I feel like I've seen you before. Maybe it's the blond hair." She took a lock of her own hair, twirled it around a finger. "We kinda stand out, don't we?"
"Well, I figure it's a good thing thing sometimes," Jonghyun chuckled and looked up when the waiter came by, menus in hand.
"Do you like pets?"
Jonghyun looked up from the desert section. "Sorry?"
Sweetly smiling, Jessica flipped a page with much delicacy, "Pets. I read that you like dogs."
"Oh," he muttered. "Yeah, I like dogs."
"Really?" Jessica pouted before leaning over and grabbing a glass of water from the center of the table. She inspected the brim of the glass--much like Kibum, Jonghyun noted--and took a long, tentative sip. "I'm a cat person."
Jonghyun stiffened in his seat, which was pretty uncomfortable to begin with, angular and wooden. "Well--I mean, I like cats, too." His face involuntarily scrunched when he said that, and he felt it, but the thudding in his chest was equally as distracting.
Jessica gave him an odd look, one thin eyebrow raised and lips almost pouting. "You sure you're not just saying that?"
He played with the ends of his napkin, deep in thought, as he ran the question through his mind. He had hoped that the date would go smoothly, but with cats on his mind, Jonghyun feared he would break into hives before the bread sticks came out. "Err, no, I'm not--at least, I don't think I am?"
"All right," she smiled though he could see the displeasure knit in her brows. "Well, I'm kind of hungry. Let's order." Closing the menu, she clasped her fingers together and looked at him, straight in the eyes.
Jonghyun decided that he would not enjoy this night as much as he anticipated by the time the waiter returned with a basket of corn bread and butter.
He also decided that he had chosen the wrong time to say bye to Jessica, get on a bus, and arrive at home, because Kibum was standing warily in front of his door, fiddling about with a plastic bag in his hand. When he sucked in a sharp breath, Kibum snapped his head to his direction, eyes wide and nervous.
But he cleared his throat and straightened his back, a mild, forced look of disapproval written on his features. "You left this."
Jonghyun assumed it was the gift and quickly snatched the bag from Kibum's hand. "Why isn't it in the box?"
"Gwiboon shredded it up."
He looked up from the handle and saw that Kibum wasn't kidding and smiled dryly. "Thanks."
"Yeah," Kibum muttered. "And that girl can't choose ties. Just saying."
The blond, curious, peered into the bag and saw a neck tie--horribly hideous, too; Kibum was definitely right--, made a small face of disgust, and coughed, "Yeah, well he--she was never too great with fashion."
Kibum shuffled his feet. "I see."
Thudding footsteps broke the silence and they both glanced to the stairwell, where Minho came trotting down, a water bottle and towel in hand. He inspected the two awkwardly standing together in the hall, opened his mouth to say something, and then screwed it shut with a small smile. Minho quickly ran down the few flights of steps to be out of earshot.
"I--I have to go," Jonghyun murmured as he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. "I'll, uh."
"Yeah." Kibum turned on his heels, opened the door to his apartment with his shoulders hunched and back awkwardly straight. He slipped by without saying good night, leaving Jonghyun alone in the dimly lit hall, even the pants from down his living room seeming distant and muffled.
Jonghyun promptly sniffled to himself, ran a hand quickly through his disheveled hair, and then turned his back to the hallway one last time that evening.
When the morning came, Jonghyun felt no better even after downing milk straight from the carton, a habit of his from his childhood. He stepped out to take in some fresh air for his dying lungs and stretched his arms about, grunting as his joints cracked uncomfortably.
Taking a few steps out to the railing, Jonghyun paused mid-step when a crunching sound filled his ears. He looked down and saw the hall covered with what he assumed to be kitty litter and made a retching sound. A few bags of the "evil stuff" as he often called it were ripped open and had spilled over onto the cement. Jonghyun groaned.
"I am not cleaning this up."
"Jonghyun!"
Said blond jumped at the echoing exclamation, and his muscles stiffened even more when he saw Kibum jogging up the stairs, huffing loudly. Concern filled his veins as he walked over to the raven, inspecting his pained expression. "What's up?"
"Gwiboonie's gone," Kibum moaned, his fingers tangled in his messy hair.
Jonghyun's face fell as he took in the situation, his conscience mapping out the future events of the rather cliche, cheesy mishaps he found himself in. If he finds Gwiboon, Jonghyun reasoned, Kibum might fall head over heels for him and embrace him (or just blatantly ignore him and selfishly take the cat away with no reward). But it was also a Monday, one of his work days, and Jonghyun had promised Jinki that he would help him get through the sale planned for the morning.
Jonghyun thought for a few more seconds, eyes not focused on the continuously changing facial expressions on Kibum's face--scared, nervous, questioning, irritated--until he grumbled, "Fuck it."
He reached into his pocket for his keys, listening for a jingle, and then he looked Kibum square in the eye for the first time in what felt like months.
"Have any toys she likes?"
"How the fuck," Jonghyun panted as he sifted through yet another bush near their apartment, "did your fucking cat get out the window? I thought you said she didn't know how to open them."
"Well of course not! I just left it open overnight." The blond stared at Kibum exasperatedly, arms up in defeat.
"Gwiboonie! Gwiboonie, come to me!" Kibum screeched on the top of his lungs, rattling the shaker in feeble attempts to draw the cat back in.
Jonghyun kicked the grass. "God damn it, you fat cat, get back here!"
"Hey," Kibum snapped, "don't call her fat. She can be self-conscious sometimes."
With narrowed eyes, the blond glared, "You're ridiculous." He searched around the perimeter of the apartment building once more while Kibum searched mailboxes and nearby trees.
"Forget it. I lost her." Kibum collapsed on the sidewalk, legs stretched out before him. He sniffled in defeat, eyes rubbing furiously to stop the tears, and Jonghyun let out a rough sigh. Walking over to the distressed raven, he knelt down and placed a hand softly on his shoulder.
"Trust me. We can't miss a fat cat like her."
Kibum's eyes zipped down to the hand, back up to Jonghyun's distracted eyes, and he breathed in softly. "If you say so."
"I know so," Jonghyun declared bravely as he got back up to his feet and straightened his legs. "Or something like that." He grinned when he heard Kibum chuckle softly into his hand.
A distant meow caught their attention, and then Kibum exclaimed "Gwiboon!" before bolting off down the street, Jonghyun not too far behind him. They nearly collided with Jinki along the way who looked very flustered and angry.
"God damn it, Jonghyun," he yelled, "don't tell me you were looking for the cat."
"Yeah, I--what?" Kibum pushed Jonghyun aside and stared at the brunet incredulously.
"How do you know Gwiboon's missing?"
Rolling his eyes with a scoff, Jinki stepped aside to reveal a Gwiboon licking tentatively at her paw, her pink nose rubbing against the dirtied fur. Kibum dropped to his knees and scooped the cat up in his arms, rendering himself silent by burying his entire face in her fluffy coat. Gwiboon meowed in distaste.
"The cat jumped me," Jinki complained. "I mean, claws and all, man. Fucking hurt."
Jonghyun laughed. "Tell me about it." He yelped a second later when he felt Gwiboon's teeth sink into his bare leg, a jumbled cry dying in his throat.
Kibum looked up from the tea cup he was sipping from and blinked once, twice, before setting it down on a plate and smacking his lips. "I, um. Thanks."
Shaking his head as if the throbbing pain down near his ankles wasn't killing him, Jonghyun muttered, "Don't worry about it."
The raven twiddled his thumbs for a few moments as Jonghyun played around with his coffee mug on his kitchen table.
"And I'm, I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"You had to go to work, and I distracted you."
"It's all right."
"Gwiboon bit you again."
"--Okay, that's not really all right."
"And then I pushed you away really harshly that night."
Jonghyun stilled in his cup twirling and sat in silence, his mind failing to formulate the words best fit for the situation. So he breathed in and uttered, "Don't worry about it."
Kibum shook his head left to right, let his hair fall before his eyes, "It's not all right. I must've--I must've really hurt you. I was just having a rough day, and I didn't want to be disturbed, so when you were there, I just kinda--"
"I was kinda shocked myself," Jonghyun muttered to stop Kibum from saying any more. "I don't really know why I did that, either."
"So we're clear on that, right?" Kibum chuckled nervously as he stroked Roo who had managed to nestle his way onto his lap.
Jonghyun didn't answer though, leaving the question to fester in the open air. "How's your grandmother?"
The raven bitterly smiled. "Are you changing the subject on me because you have something to hide, or what?"
"Attentive, aren't we," Jonghyun grumbled into the palm of his hand. "I was just worried about your grandmother is all."
"I've never implied that she was sick, ever."
"Well one could assume that when people get old, they can get sick easily."
"I'll have you know, my grandmother is a very healthy woman and is doing very well, so if you would just--"
"That's all I needed to know." Jonghyun lifted his hands up in defeat.
"What's with you?" Kibum exclaimed, frustration in his eyes. "I just don't understand what your problem is. You kiss me when I'm sleeping, flat out deny that you intended for that to happen, and then you can't even agree to the fact that it was all just a friggin' mistake?"
Jonghyun stared off into the living room, lips tight in both corners. "There's something called denial in this world, you know."
Clamping his mouth shut in response, Kibum drummed his fingers on the smooth surface of the table. "Honestly."
"Then you tell me. Do you like me in any way?" When he received silence as a response, he kicked back in his chair. "If that's the case," the blond sighed aloud, "then I guess we should just--"
"I don't know." Kibum squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose several times.
"You aren't daring enough to find out for sure, are you?"
Kibum peered up through the spaces between his fingers and examined Jonghyun's contorted face, his eyes cloudy and gray instead of their usual, bottomless black. He sighed. "I mean, it probably hasn't even been a month by now."
"That's true."
"And I mean, I'm not one to believe in love at first sight."
"Me neither."
"So I can't really say--"
"Then I guess I can't either."
He smiled sadly into the palms of his hands. "I can't think of why I wouldn't like you, too."
"Don't try to give me hope here," Jonghyun smirked as he leaned further back in his chair. "I'll believe it like there's no tomorrow."
Kibum closed his eyes, clenched his hands into fists, stood up rather clumsily from the rickety chair. He shakily sighed, "Could you stand up too? Makes me kind of nervous." Jonghyun complied and got up to his feet, scaring both Gwiboon and Roo who were by his feet.
And then he saw a blur of black and pink up in his face, felt a warm body flush against his, tasted the soft lips that pressed against his own. And Jonghyun sighed, wrapping his arms around Kibum's shaking frame, finally glad that the long-winded, tiring conversation of worried ramblings and insecurities was over for the night.
Jonghyun woke up to the sound of birds chirping and soft grumbling to his left--which was obviously not Roo, because he's yelled at the dog to keep off the bed when he was sleeping--and when he licked his lips, he tasted salt, sex, Kibum, and cat hair.
Scrambling to sit up right, Jonghyun wiped at his lips with much fervor, disgusted spits and grunts spilling from his lips and disturbing Kibum from his sleep.
"I fucking coughed up hair balls because of your cat," he barked first thing in Kibum's face when the raven barely cracked his eyes open. He made an uninterested face in return, hand waving in front of his nose to silently complain about some smell. Jonghyun snorted.
"Good morning," Kibum grumbled into the pillow and then promptly turned to face the other wall. Jonghyun debated whether or not to pull the blanket up over him, and then decided that, as an act of decency, he might as well, before slipping out of the covers and into his boxers.
"Where are you going?"
Jonghyun turned around when Kibum called out to him, hand rubbing groggily at his puffy eyes. "Breakfast."
They stared at each other from different levels until Kibum sat upright in the bed, legs crossed under the blankets. His eyes were smiling though half-mast, and Jonghyun felt his own lips stretching across his face.
"You must have done something last night," Kibum chuckled. "My head feels light." Sighing, Jonghyun made his way back to the bed and sat down next to Kibum, ankles crossing lightly.
"Want aspirin?"
"In a good way, I meant." Jonghyun glanced to his side and met Kibum's rosy cheeks and dainty smile. "I don't know what was with me last night. I think everything just felt so much like a soap opera, what with Gwiboon getting lost, that I had to throw a huge fit to wrap it all up."
"Kibum, you talk too much in the morning." With that, he leaned in and gently brushed his lips against Kibum's, eyes fluttering shut, shoulders relaxing as he felt Kibum sigh into the kiss. "Actually, thinking back, you talk too much, period."
"Quiet, you," Kibum mumbled and then pressed harder, his fingers finding their comfortable position in Jonghyun's messy hair. Jonghyun laughed as Kibum eagerly nipped at his bottom lip, tugging and pulling playfully.
"You know, you're a lot like your cat," he said, the stupid words muffled by their kiss. "Bitchy, catty, likes to bite things especially in bed."
"And you're really stupid like your dog, but you don't see me complaining."
They pulled back and stared at each other oddly before breaking into a great peal of laughter, only to be made more awkward when Roo dived into the covers and jumped into Jonghyun's lap.
"God damn it," Jonghyun groaned as one of Kibum's hands traveled lightly down his chest. "If you're thinking about getting it on with the fucking dog in the room, you're horribly mistaken." Roo got the point though and skittered away, out the bedroom with a sneeze.
Jonghyun sat back down in his seat with a cup of coffee in his hands and his eyes inspected the talkative trio before him. Taemin was complimenting Kibum's clothes, and Kibum was lathering the boy with so much love, the blond could see a glint of jealousy in Jinki's eyes.
"By the way," Jonghyun mumbled as he pulled in his chair and sat close to Kibum, their arms brushing ever so lightly, "Taemin's the one who got me the tie."
Kibum's face fell, as did Taemin's, while Jinki's reddened with laughter.
"W-Wait, hyung," Taemin stammered, "that wasn't for you."
And then Jinki's face lost its color when Taemin said that he had gotten Jonghyun a bagful of sweets as Jonghyun wrapped his spindly fingers around his neck.
"You little," Jonghyun exclaimed between shakes, "fucker, you ate my--candy, go die!"
Kibum whispered something into Jonghyun's ear (and from what Taemin could hear with his excellent senses, something about a treat was mentioned, and then Taemin saw the obvious similarity between him and Roo) and the blond calmed down, let his fingers slowly unlatch themselves, one by one, from Jinki's neck. Jinki nursed the abused skin, mumbling something about shitheads and how they should just go die in a fire.
"I heard that, hyung."
Jinki shot the couple across the table a look and then he grumbled, "You guys closed all the windows this time, right?"
This time, Jonghyun paled.
"Oh, fuck."
.end
oh wow it was weird not putting an ending note haha, sorry, i completely forgot. but uh...the end! after reading your comments and..standing around in the sun in my uniform during the parade, an idea hit me (because there was a very, very cute lab lying on the asphalt and he was such a cutie pie omgggg) and well, maybe that'll come some time next week 8) thanks for reading!