(for coupdeplume) my whole universe (is you) ✸ part 3 of 3

[parkourdeer]

❊ for: coupdeplume
❊ title: my whole universe (is you)



Kyungsoo leaves his apartment with a terrible feeling in his stomach. He wonders if an enormous amount of fruit flies got mixed in the fruit salad he made yesterday, or maybe it has something to do with the coffee he bought from the vending machine at school. Heís never tried that brand, maybe his stomach doesnít like it.

Maybe I have constipation. Or Satan slit my intestine last night, he randomly thinks while massaging his own stomach on different spots. He closes his eyes when he remembers that he usually feels like this when something bad is about to happen. Maybe Mrs.Yoon will give us a pop quiz today.

That certain spot in front of the station is empty, but he only gives it a side glance before walking farther. After his morning practice was scheduled to start a bit later, Jongin decided to wait for Kyungsoo again in front of the station again. Unfortunately The Three Annoying Girls knew about this and stubbornly came to the station every morning.

After a few days of useless arguments, Kyungsoo told Jongin not to wait for him. Maybe he was being unfair, but when he thought about it, it always looked like he and the girls were fighting over Jongin. He didnít even know why he became more possessive over Jongin. It was embarrassing.

Needless to say, they donít meet each other as often again. He feels like this is a stupid up and down in their relationship, going through the same thing over and over again. Even though his school life isnít as terrifying as it was years ago, itís still not that easy to handle.

No pop quiz today even though heís spent the breaks between classes to review his notes. His stomach feels completely okay when Hyunsik pulls him to the cafeteria to have lunch. He sits through the rest of the classes with a frown, emitting a dark aura around him which makes his friends scared.

When the school hour is over, Sunyoung tells him that sheíll be out for a while with her friends so Kyungsoo can go to the library without her. The male only nods at her and stays in his seat, not really liking the idea of going anywhere.

Some of his friends are still in the class, most of them only joking around noisily. Kyungsoo doesnít really pay them a mind. Their voices are buzz to his ear, his mind wandering somewhere else.

ìKyungsoo-ya!î He turns his head at Hyunsik who just called him. Hyunsik is sitting on a table near the back door, and he points at the door with his thumb. ìSomeone wants to see you.î

Standing up from his chair, Kyungsoo shuffles to the back door. When he steps out of the class, he doesnít expect to see Zitao there. Heís on the football team too, but thatís all Kyungsoo knows since theyíre in the same year.

ìYeah?î Kyungsoo looks up at him, craning his neck a little bit higher than usual since the guy is tall.

ìJongin wants you to meet him at our locker room,î he says, his Chinese accent is thick around the Korean words.

ìJongin?î Kyungsoo repeats, brows furrowed. He hasnít heard from him for a few days, and itís really rare for Jongin to do this. ìWhy did he want to meet me?î

ìI donít know. But he said heíd be waiting. Thatís all.î

Kyungsoo nods and gives Zitao a few quick nods when he says heís going. He takes a deep breath, not knowing what Jongin wants by meeting him. He couldíve sent him a KaTalk, but maybe this is important enough that he needs to tell Kyungsoo directly.

He knows where exactly the football teamís locker room is, since he was the one who escorted the younger there after heíd told Kyungsoo he wanted to join the football team. Itís in the first floor at the back of the building together with other locker rooms of the rest of the sport teams. The corridor is almost empty, but the locker rooms are noisy.

Once he arrives in front of the football teamís locker room, he grips the handle of the door, ready to slide it to the side. He doesnít have difficulties when it comes to talking with Jongin, but he still recites what he wants to say inside his head.

Why do you want to meet me? I need to study. Too grumpy. Hey, Zitao told me to meet you here? Kyungsoo snorts at himself, deciding itís not important and slides the door open, only to have his jaw dropped. What he sees inside is not his friend with his usual smile whatsoever. Thereís no Kim Jongin sitting at the bench in the middle of the room turning his head at him.

The locker room is a mess. Itís not the mess caused by lazy jocks not bothering to clean up, but it looks like Hulk just came and destroyed the whole thing there. Equipments are broken, uniforms are ripped badly and there are papers everywhere. Kyungsoo wouldíve stepped back, wouldíve walked away since this doesnít really have to do something with him if the familiar girls inside werenít there.

ìWhat the fuck did you do to this place?î Kyungsoo spits out angrily. Yura is in front of one of the lockers, messing the insides. Minah is throwing things from the corner of the room, and Hyeri is looking at him with a smug smirk on her face. ìSeriously, this place is fucked up! Their next game is in three days!î

ìWell, guess what? We donít care!î Hyeri mocks while throwing the ripped uniform sheís holding. Kyungsoo catches it easily and sighs when he sees number 88 at the back of it. Itís Jonginís. The image of Jongin in his uniform is fresh in his mind and a ripped clothing with lots of holes isnít the kind of uniform heíd like Jongin to wear.

ìDonít you guys like Jongin? Heís a part of the team. You should cheer on him by, well, cheering on his performance as a part of the team?î Kyungsoo slings Jonginís uniform on his shoulder, folding his arms on his chest. He thought they couldnít be more annoying than they already were. He just proved himself that heís terribly wrong.

ìRight now, we need to talk about things with you, Ahjussi.î Hyeri points big scissors to Kyungsoo face, but the male is quick to snatch the sharp thing away. He doesnít like the idea of some scissors in the hand of this girl. He doesnít bother to ask, theyíll say it anyway. ìYou like Jongin, right, Ahjussi?î

Kyungsoo scoffs almost immediately, looking at the three girls with ridiculousness in his eyes. ìYou called me here just to ask about that?î

ìOoh, he doesnít deny it!î Minah says in a high voice, exchanging shocked face with Yura before looking at Kyungsoo again. ìSee! This old guy is disgusting! He wanted to be with Jongin because he likes Jongin!! Ewww!!î

ìWhat does that have to do with you anyway?î asks Kyungsoo, half of him hoKyungsoo leaves his apartment with a terrible feeling in his stomach. He wonders if an enormous amount of fruit flies got mixed in the fruit salad he made yesterday, or maybe it has something to do with the coffee he bought from the vending machine at school. He’s never tried that brand, maybe his stomach doesn’t like it.

Maybe I have constipation. Or Satan slit my intestine last night, he randomly thinks while massaging his own stomach on different spots. He closes his eyes when he remembers that he usually feels like this when something bad is about to happen. Maybe Mrs.Yoon will give us a pop quiz today.

That certain spot in front of the station is empty, but he only gives it a side glance before walking farther. After his morning practice was scheduled to start a bit later, Jongin decided to wait for Kyungsoo again in front of the station again. Unfortunately The Three Annoying Girls knew about this and stubbornly came to the station every morning.

After a few days of useless arguments, Kyungsoo told Jongin not to wait for him. Maybe he was being unfair, but when he thought about it, it always looked like he and the girls were fighting over Jongin. He didn’t even know why he became more possessive over Jongin. It was embarrassing.

Needless to say, they don’t meet each other as often again. He feels like this is a stupid up and down in their relationship, going through the same thing over and over again. Even though his school life isn’t as terrifying as it was years ago, it’s still not that easy to handle.

No pop quiz today even though he’s spent the breaks between classes to review his notes. His stomach feels completely okay when Hyunsik pulls him to the cafeteria to have lunch. He sits through the rest of the classes with a frown, emitting a dark aura around him which makes his friends scared.

When the school hour is over, Sunyoung tells him that she’ll be out for a while with her friends so Kyungsoo can go to the library without her. The male only nods at her and stays in his seat, not really liking the idea of going anywhere.

Some of his friends are still in the class, most of them only joking around noisily. Kyungsoo doesn’t really pay them a mind. Their voices are buzz to his ear, his mind wandering somewhere else.

“Kyungsoo-ya!” He turns his head at Hyunsik who just called him. Hyunsik is sitting on a table near the back door, and he points at the door with his thumb. “Someone wants to see you.”

Standing up from his chair, Kyungsoo shuffles to the back door. When he steps out of the class, he doesn’t expect to see Zitao there. He’s on the football team too, but that’s all Kyungsoo knows since they’re in the same year.

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo looks up at him, craning his neck a little bit higher than usual since the guy is tall.

“Jongin wants you to meet him at our locker room,” he says, his Chinese accent is thick around the Korean words.

“Jongin?” Kyungsoo repeats, brows furrowed. He hasn’t heard from him for a few days, and it’s really rare for Jongin to do this. “Why did he want to meet me?”

“I don’t know. But he said he’d be waiting. That’s all.”

Kyungsoo nods and gives Zitao a few quick nods when he says he’s going. He takes a deep breath, not knowing what Jongin wants by meeting him. He could’ve sent him a KaTalk, but maybe this is important enough that he needs to tell Kyungsoo directly.

He knows where exactly the football team’s locker room is, since he was the one who escorted the younger there after he’d told Kyungsoo he wanted to join the football team. It’s in the first floor at the back of the building together with other locker rooms of the rest of the sport teams. The corridor is almost empty, but the locker rooms are noisy.

Once he arrives in front of the football team’s locker room, he grips the handle of the door, ready to slide it to the side. He doesn’t have difficulties when it comes to talking with Jongin, but he still recites what he wants to say inside his head.

Why do you want to meet me? I need to study. Too grumpy. Hey, Zitao told me to meet you here? Kyungsoo snorts at himself, deciding it’s not important and slides the door open, only to have his jaw dropped. What he sees inside is not his friend with his usual smile whatsoever. There’s no Kim Jongin sitting at the bench in the middle of the room turning his head at him.

The locker room is a mess. It’s not the mess caused by lazy jocks not bothering to clean up, but it looks like Hulk just came and destroyed the whole thing there. Equipments are broken, uniforms are ripped badly and there are papers everywhere. Kyungsoo would’ve stepped back, would’ve walked away since this doesn’t really have to do something with him if the familiar girls inside weren’t there.

“What the fuck did you do to this place?” Kyungsoo spits out angrily. Yura is in front of one of the lockers, messing the insides. Minah is throwing things from the corner of the room, and Hyeri is looking at him with a smug smirk on her face. “Seriously, this place is fucked up! Their next game is in three days!”

“Well, guess what? We don’t care!” Hyeri mocks while throwing the ripped uniform she’s holding. Kyungsoo catches it easily and sighs when he sees number 88 at the back of it. It’s Jongin’s. The image of Jongin in his uniform is fresh in his mind and a ripped clothing with lots of holes isn’t the kind of uniform he’d like Jongin to wear.

“Don’t you guys like Jongin? He’s a part of the team. You should cheer on him by, well, cheering on his performance as a part of the team?” Kyungsoo slings Jongin’s uniform on his shoulder, folding his arms on his chest. He thought they couldn’t be more annoying than they already were. He just proved himself that he’s terribly wrong.

“Right now, we need to talk about things with you, Ahjussi.” Hyeri points big scissors to Kyungsoo face, but the male is quick to snatch the sharp thing away. He doesn’t like the idea of some scissors in the hand of this girl. He doesn’t bother to ask, they’ll say it anyway. “You like Jongin, right, Ahjussi?”

Kyungsoo scoffs almost immediately, looking at the three girls with ridiculousness in his eyes. “You called me here just to ask about that?”

“Ooh, he doesn’t deny it!” Minah says in a high voice, exchanging shocked face with Yura before looking at Kyungsoo again. “See! This old guy is disgusting! He wanted to be with Jongin because he likes Jongin!! Ewww!!”

“What does that have to do with you anyway?” asks Kyungsoo, half of him hoping that Sunyoung is here with him now to defend him from these homophobic noisy girls. “Even if that’s true, what are you going to do with that information?”

“Oh, of course we’ll spread it throughout the ears of every student here! And when it reaches Jongin’s ears, he’ll know you’re gay and he won’t be friends with you anymore,” Hyeri explains as if she hasn’t just declared the weirdest plan Kyungsoo’s ever heard. Kyungsoo almost replies with how do you know Jongin is straight? but he’s not sure either so he swallows the question before it reaches his mouth.

Kyungsoo doesn’t really want to continue talking, but the situation-even though he’s not that scared of the threat-is a bit dangerous. He blinks calmly, looking straight at Hyeri’s dolled up eyes. “What do you want from me?”

“Don’t ever approach him anymore! Stay away from him and we’ll keep your sexuality in the dark. How does that sound?” Hyeri offers, her face telling him she’s ready to win.

“That sounds unconvincing. Why do you think I’d oblige?”

Yura steps forward, followed by Minah. She puts her hand on Hyeri’s shoulder and gives her a code with her eyes. Hyeri nods, proceeding to walk to the door. She purposely bumps her shoulder with Kyungsoo’s, making the male flinches a bit. Yura whispers to him before she leaves, “Don’t say we didn’t warn you, Ahjussi.”

What kind of situation I’m in, he groans inwardly, feeling really tired. He takes a good look around the room and he can’t even give a proper expression at how messy it is. The whole team is so going to be surprised. How is he going to tell Jongin that the girls did all of this? But Zitao was the one who told him to go here... is he involved in the plan too?

He takes Jongin’s uniform from his shoulder and spread it until he can see the number, grimacing at how dull it is now. He already imagines the disappointed face of Jongin’s when he sees his uniform like this.

“What the fuck?”

That voice, Kyungsoo already knows before turning his head, is Chanyeol’s. The receiver just took a step into the room, but doesn’t walk any farther. The rest of the team appears behind him, widening their eyes when the sight is in their view. Kyungsoo looks at them with a flat face, only realized that all of them are going to misunderstand the whole situation.

“Do Kyungsoo what the fuck did you do?” Chanyeol asks again, his voice raising. Kyungsoo’s about to say something, but Yifan comes into the room and stands beside Chanyeol. The shortest boy of the three flinches a bit when he sees how tight Yifan’s fists are.

“This really isn’t something I expected to go to,” Yifan adds with a calm voice, but Kyungsoo doesn’t miss the anger igniting bigger fire in his eyes. “Would you mind explaining this to us?”

Kyungsoo closes his eyes and exhales through his nose. Yifan might not believe him, but at least he’ll try. He gives Yifan a straight, brave stare. “I didn’t do this.”

“Yeah? Says the guy who has scissors in his hand-give this to me!” Chanyeol snatches the uniform from Kyungsoo and lets out another curse when he sees the number. “This is Jongin’s uniform!! Aren’t you his best friend? Why would you do that to him!”

Kyungsoo looks behind Chanyeol to see Jongin staring at him in worry and surprise, but he really has no reason-he doesn’t even know what’s actually happening. “I told you, I did not do this,” he repeats, trying to give emphasize to each word so he would sound convincing.

“Are you angry because Jongin can’t see you? Since he’s busy with Fall Games?” Chanyeol mocks, a hand shoving Kyungsoo to the lockers. Kyungsoo’s back hits a locker door quite hard, making him wince. “Were you trying to get Jongin’s attention by doing this? How low!”

Feeling the tension starts to solidify, Kyungsoo glances at the door, seeing Zitao looking at him. He turns his head at Chanyeol again. He licks his lips nervously. “Zitao told me to go here. The room was already like this when I came.”

From his peripheral vision, Taemin and Zitao exchange confused look. Taemin puts his hand on Zitao’s shoulder. “But he walked from the class with me, what are you talking about?”

Fingers find themselves tangled in Kyungsoo’s hair and they turn to a harsh grip before Kyungsoo can stop them. The move makes the back of Kyungsoo’s head bangs the locker door and he lets out a pained sound. He opens his eyes to see Yifan in front of him, staring at him angrily, teeth gritted and eyes judging.

The words that roll out from Yifan’s mouth are incredibly raspy and scary that Kyungsoo’s legs start to tremble. “Explain. This. To me.”

Kyungsoo used to suffer from Panic Attack during his first two years of junior high due to traumatic experience of bullying. It was quite bad because the episodes happened in random times and Kyungsoo really couldn’t control it. He would suddenly scream and cry because scary images of his bullies appeared. He’d gone through therapy sessions for almost two years and he was completely okay in his last year of junior high.

He’s never had panic attacks in high school because nothing triggers it, but today-today, it happens again.

Yifan isn’t bullying him, he knows. But the way Yifan glares down at him and grasps his hair sends an alert to his body : you’re in danger. Suddenly his tongue is numb, he can’t feel his hands and he has trouble breathing. This only makes the situation worse because the jocks think that Kyungsoo is at fault, and now he’s scared because he’s caught.

“Explain this to me!” Yifan is screaming now, and Kyungsoo’s knees almost give in. He tries to gather as much strength to his legs as possible to keep himself steady, keep reminding himself that he can get through this, but he can’t. Memories of skin slapped against skin and being thrown to the darkness is filling his head, making him dizzy and trembling even more.

Jongin realizes this, of course. He was the one that the teachers called when Kyungsoo had a panic attack. Not only because he was his best friend, but he was the only one who knew the cause. He hasn’t seen Kyungsoo like this for years, but he knows exactly what’s happening when he sees the familiar fear in Kyungsoo’s eyes.

He walks past his friends, holding the quarterback’s arm when he gets there. “Hyung, get your hand off of him. We’ll talk. I’ll talk to him about this. Please.”

“Jongin, I need to know everything from his mouth-”

“Hyung, please,” Jongin whines, eyes pleading for a chance. “I’m his friend, I know how to talk to him. Please.”

Yifan finally untangles his fingers from Kyungsoo’s hair, and Jongin has to hold his arm to prevent him from falling. “Fine. Make sure you know everything,” he relents.

Jongin pulls Kyungsoo closer to him, supporting his weight with his arms. He leans in until his lips brush Kyungsoo’s ear. “Kyungsoo Hyung,” he whispers, so gently that Kyungsoo relaxes almost immediately. “It’s me, Hyung. No one’s going to hurt you. Let’s get out of here and talk, okay?”

Kyungsoo nods, and Jongin slowly drags him out of the room until the end of the corridor. The faint sound of his friends complaining about the room is still heard, but Jongin ignores them. He needs to get things straight with Kyungsoo.

The older male leans against the wall, he’s not trembling anymore because he’s with Jongin, but Jongin can still see the fear in his eyes. Jongin massages his shoulders for a while, waiting until he’s calm enough to speak. Seconds seem to pass slowly much to Jongin’s liking, but he doesn’t really mind.

When Kyungsoo lets out a long exhale, Jongin stops his hands and caresses Kyungsoo’s cheek. “You’re okay now?”

“Yeah... sorry, didn’t expect your captain to be harsh like that,” Kyungsoo says, sounding really weak.

“Sorry about that.” Jongin presses his lips together, putting his hand back on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “Did you really not do that?”

“For the third time, no,” Kyungsoo answers before groaning a bit, not liking the fact that Jongin won’t believe him. “I told you guys, Zitao told me to go there. You know what? He said you were waiting in there so I went immediately only to find the room in chaos and you weren’t there.”

“But why would he-”

“I’m not finished. Wait.” Jongin immediately clamps his lips shut, reminding himself to speak only when Kyungsoo tells him to. Kyungsoo licks his lips, sighing. “There were Hyeri, Minah and Yura in the room. I don’t know if they were the ones who messed up your room, but they...”

...he’ll know you’re gay and he won’t be friends with you anymore.

Jongin widens his eyes a bit, encouraging Kyungsoo to continue. “But they?”

Kyungsoo groans, of course he’ll skip that part. “Well, you know them! Telling me to stop seeing you and such. We don’t even see each other much, what the fuck,” he grumbles, the last three words come out as a whisper.

Jongin shoves his hands into his pockets, shrugging. “If you say so...”

“Do you actually believe that?” asks Kyungsoo, surprised at the remark.

Hearing the incredulous question, Jongin grins widely. “Guess who has been my best friend for my whole life and hasn’t lied even once?”

Kyungsoo’s lips stretch to a sheepish smile, making Jongin laughs. He doesn’t know if what he just did can be considered as lying, but he’s not going to let Jongin know about it in near future. “Me.”

“That’s right. Now let’s get back there.”

He lets Jongin drags him back to the locker room only to see Yifan standing in front of the door, arms folded in front of his chest and expression hard. If Jongin were someone else, he would be scared and walk slowly in fear Yifan would go wild and attack him. But it’s Jongin and he knows that it’s just his face.

“So?” Yifan starts, eyes on Jongin. The youngest of the three stops Kyungsoo from standing beside him, shielding him from Yifan just in case. “What did you get from him?”

“He didn’t do it,” Jongin says, voice overflowing with confidence.

“Well that’s exactly the same with what he told us.” Yifan looks not satisfied with the answer, he didn’t send Jongin to interrogate Kyungsoo to come back without a different explanation.

“No, Hyung, you don’t understand. Kyungsoo hyung never lies to me,” Jongin insists, and Yifan rolls his eyes while nodding. He really isn’t in a mood for some dramatic explanation whatsoever.

“Then? What happened? I really need to know. Like, that whole room is my responsibility,” Yifan demands, his patience wearing thin.

“There were... these three girls who like me, Kyungsoo hyung said they were in the room when he arrived. And the room was already like that.” Jongin looks at Kyungsoo because he’s not sure what to say next. He’s not really surprised when Kyungsoo mouths at him Zitao, but he doubts Yifan would believe him. Jongin steps closer to his captain so that he doesn’t have to speak aloud, considering his friends are still in the room beside them. “We don’t know if he’s included, but Zitao was the one who told him to go here.”

“Having no one to blame so you chose one of my men?” Yifan scoffs, deciding that the hourglass that holds his patience is shattered, the sand spill to every direction. Jongin opens his mouth, ready to talk, but Yifan’s not having any of it. He holds up his finger, not giving Jongin a chance to even let out a sound. “Our next game is in three days. We’re facing M high school, they have big players and we would spend this whole week concentrating to strengthen ourselves.”

“I know, Hyung-”

“I really have no time for this, okay?” Yifan interrupts again, and Jongin wonders if everyone doesn’t want him to talk today. “I have to discuss strategies and formations with Jinki hyung. I didn’t even sleep last night to study M high school’s latest game. Now I have to take care of new uniforms and equipments too-I have no time for all of this.”

Jongin doesn’t answer. Yifan is still going to say something. “Look, this is a big problem and I can’t let this go. I will hold this over until next week, and in the meantime please don’t cause another problem that includes us.”

It doesn’t take a genius to know that Yifan is talking about Kyungsoo, but none of them say anything, only letting the silence melt the heavy tension between them. Yifan turns around and enters the room, leaving the door opened as a sign to invite Jongin inside. The running back gets the code instantly, and he waves to Kyungsoo weakly, a guilty expression on his face.

Kyungsoo doesn’t wave back.

He feels like his legs are chained to the ground because he’s practically dragging them as he makes his way upstairs. Usually he wouldn’t complain about walking two flights of stairs, but today it’s a different story. The stairs look enormously longer that he wants to slap himself for being close to losing his sanity.

When he’s arrived at the classroom, Sunyoung is sitting in his chair, playing with her phone. She looks up immediately when she spots Kyungsoo walking towards her, smile growing on her face.

“You came! Where have you been? I wanted to go to the library but your bag is still here,” she says brightly, but Kyungsoo can’t even smile at that.

“Somewhere. I’m sorry, not in the mood to study right now. I made you wait, but I really need to go home right now,” he sighs, pushing his desk a bit farther from Sunyoung to take his books from the drawer beneath his desk. He puts his bag on the desk and puts his books inside, aligning them neatly. Sunyoung is looking at him and it makes him uncomfortable. “What?”

“Did something happen?”

“No. Yes. Just-ugh, leave me alone.”

“I already do, you’re alone most of the time. You can tell me what’s the matter.”

“I won’t say that I’m okay, but I just don’t feel like sharing it with you.”

“Is it about Jongin?” Kyungsoo’s hand stops when he’s halfway zipping his bag. Sunyoung smiles. “It is about Jongin.”

“Yeah and that is exactly why I don’t want to talk about it with you.” Kyungsoo slings his bag on his shoulders, pulling on the straps a bit. “I’m leaving. We’ll study again some other time.”

Sunyoung shakes her head as she watches Kyungsoo leaving the classroom. She’s more concerned about the problem Kyungsoo’s having than the unfinished homework she has now.

--

“Thank you for the hard work!!”

The jocks walk to the side while removing their helmets, breathing relieved sighs of our last practice for this week is over. Jongin winces again, a hand rubbing on his side where he fell on from being tackled by Minho earlier. He sits beside Sehun and the younger gives him the water bottle he’s holding. He gulps the rest of water slowly, enjoying the feel when the liquid cools his insides.

Sehun stands beside him, knocking Jongin’s shoulder a bit with his helmet. “I’m going to change. You coming?”

“Nah, I’ll catch up later,” Jongin rejects immediately. Today’s practice was focused on bumps and tackles, and it was hell for Jongin. He’s always good with his legs, but is never good with arms. Since he’s the running back, he’s expected to run after the player of opposing team before jumping forward to them. He can’t even feel his limbs.

One by one, the jocks leave the field and Jongin decides that he should, too. When he stands up, some people are still on the side field, probably wondering how their game tomorrow would be. He scans more of the audiences until he sees the three familiar girls who immediately wave at him when they see Jongin looking at them.

Not pleased by the fact that they’ve irritated him in any way possible, he turns around and proceeds to walk to the locker room. He meets Taemin on the way there, already dressed up in school uniform and waving at Jongin. The other jocks are still inside the room when he walks in, looking exhausted.

“Tao and I are going to bubble tea,” Sehun says as Jongin strips himself from the dirty uniform. “Wanna join?”

“Actually,” Jongin puts his football pads on the bottom of his locker, reminding himself to buy new knee pads because his current ones start to worn out. “I already have a plan today.”

“I see,” Sehun nods while closing the door. “With Kyungsoo?”

“My life doesn’t orbit around him, you know.”

Sehun shrugs. “See you tomorrow, man. Don’t be late for our game.”

Jongin continues to change, only nodding at his friends who bid him goodbye. The atmosphere in the team is back to normal when Yifan announced that they didn’t have to worry about the incident two days ago. He told them to focus on the game instead to prevent things to be worse. Kyungsoo texted him yesterday, asking if everything was okay, but Jongin thinks he’s more worried about Kyungsoo than himself.

When he’s done changing he takes quick strides to the school’s gate, not really caring that his muscles ache a lot. Hyeri, Minah and Yura are already waiting for him at the gate, as he’s expected, and today he won’t bother to be nice to them.

“Jongin-ah!” Hyeri exclaims, making Minah and Yura looking at him. “Are you done? Let’s go home-”

“I’m not in a hurry and I hope you guys aren’t because I have questions to ask,” Jongin interrupts this time, suddenly wanting to give himself a round of applause for not letting people interrupt him this time.

“You know, if you’re about to ask us to be your girlfriends, I bet you already know the answer?” Yura tilts her head in a cute way while playing with her hair, making her two friends letting out impressed sounds that Jongin would rather consider as pterodacyl screech.

“Were you the ones who messed up our room the other day?” he asks without preamble, completely silencing them. They give him weird stares, as if Jongin just let out an improper question. “Well?”

“It wasn’t us. It was Zitao,” Minah answers with a pout, one that would look cute on her but Jongin doesn’t have an eye for that. “He doesn’t like you, you know.”

“Yeah. We kind of set up some plan with him,” Hyeri adds, talking in an innocent tone that would’ve deceived everyone if they didn’t know what kind of a girl she was.

It’s confusing, because Kyungsoo also told him that Zitao had something to do with this, but he’s been secretly watching Zitao and nothing is suspicious from him. He went to practice as usual, listening to Yifan’s direction carefully and he even went to have bubble tea with Sehun. What is wrong with him? “You set up some plan with him to talk to Kyungsoo, right?”

“Oh? How do you know?” Minah looks scandalized, not expecting that Jongin would know what had happened. “I bet that ahjussi told him this!”

“Jongin, listen to us, Kyungsoo is gay! He likes you! You have to stay away from him!” Yura warns him, grimacing as though she just said some dirty words she shouldn’t have spoken.

Oh?

This is a new information for Jongin, but he’s not really in the place to squeal around screaming Kyungsoo hyung isn’t straight!! I still have a chance!!! He imagines a neon sign in his head, blaring bright words of DO NOT BELIEVE THEM at him and he presses his lips together to calm himself. “Did he say that to you?”

Hyeri pouts a bit at the question. “Well, not really, but he didn’t deny it either...”

“Then it might not be true! Stop jumping to conclusions!”

The girls are taken aback because that’s the first time Jongin ever raised his voice at them. Their faces showed affection to the male just a few minutes ago, but now they’re filled with exasperation, so close to disgust. Hyeri, although being the youngest, speaks up first as usual. “What is it? Why are you on his side?”

“Why am I on his side?” Jongin repeats the question with a different tone, a tone that tells them that it was a wrong thing to be asked. All of the problems he’s had with Kyungsoo in high school were caused by them and he won’t let them continue. “I am on his side. Have always been and will always be. We grew up together, what do you expect? You’ve only known me for a few months, don’t act like you can control me!”

Minah’s lips tremble, she looks like she’s about to shed her first tear. “Jongin-ah, you meanie!”

“I don’t care!” Jongin half-lifts his arms on his sides, showing a nonchalant face. “I don’t care about all of you, any of you! You need to go find another jock you can pester.”

For the finishing blow, Jongin stomps out of there angrily, leaving the girls with their jaws on the ground. He suddenly feels so free, letting out what he’s been keeping in his heart for so long. The station’s entrance has never looked this glamorous before. He silently apologizes to his sisters for not being able to keep his voice low in front of girls, but this case was different.

Jongin ticks finish things with Hyeri, Minah and Yura in a list of Problems to be Solved in his head. The list now only has one task left, and it makes him smirk:

Keep watching Zitao.

--

Jongin falls on the field, yelps when he feels pain in his right wrist. The receiver from the opposing team he’d just chased fell down and fails to get a touchdown. He rolls a bit to lay on his back when Chanyeol runs to him.

“Nice, Jongin!” he says while offering his hand for Jongin to stand, but the younger doesn’t move. Chanyeol frowns. “Are you okay?”

“I think I sprained my wrist,” he hisses, holding his arm right under his wrist. Chanyeol helps him to sit and sends a code to Yifan to change the player. They can’t ask for a timeout for this, so Chanyeol quickly guides him to the bench where the reserve players are sitting. “Yah, Ilhoon. You’re in.”

“Oh?” Ilhoon takes his helmet and stands up, staring at Jongin’s hands. “You okay?”

Jongin only shrugs, letting his arms fall limp on his sides. Their school’s doctor shows up and tells Jongin to sit. The running back stretches out his left arm to pat on Ilhoon’s helmet. “I will be in a bit. Kill them, dude. They’re super heavy.”

“Got it. Rest well!”

He sits on the bench and lets himself being taken care of. He answers a few questions from the doctor about his injury before paying attention to the field again. Their team isn’t in a good condition today, and he wonders if it’s because the opposing team’s aura is a bit intimidating since all of them are bulky and bigger than most of their players.

It’s already in the second half and they’re advancing by two points, but it’s nowhere near safe and they have to make as many touch downs as possible to widen the gap between their scores. Jongin bounces his legs impatiently, not accustomed with the feeling of sitting on the bench when his friends are fighting in the field. Today is his first time having to tackle people, so this is the first injury he’s ever had.

Their team is attacking now, and he looks at Yifan as he yells a loud ‘set! Hut!’ that echoes through the whole field. He never saw Yifan from afar while playing, and now that he does, the quarterback looks really cool since he’s tall and has a nice figure.

Once Minseok snaps the ball to Yifan, the game starts and the digital clock on the big screen starts ticking again. Yifan takes a few steps backward and cranes his neck a bit to see if Chanyeol is already in his position. But as he readies his arm to throw the pass, Zitao falls and a lineman from the opposing team rushes to Yifan. He quickly hugs the ball, wincing when he falls because of the sack.

“Pass failed!”

Jongin stares at the field in confusion. What the heck? It was a good start and the lineman Zitao has to block isn’t that big-Zitao is one of the tallest players in their team, it wouldn’t be a problem for him. He squints his eyes at Zitao in suspicion. Jongin can’t really tell if he’s up to something by doing this...

It wasn’t us. It was Zitao. Minah’s voice echoes in his head and he frowns. He doesn’t like you, you know.

But what does not liking me has to do with anything... he nearly groans, but the doctor tells him that the bandage around his wrist’s done and tells him not to move it too much. He nods and thanks her, watching a bit when she walks away.

Jongin sees Yifan telling Zitao something, but the look on Zitao’s face tells him that the lineman is trying his hardest to do blocking. The quarterback pats his back once and gets back to his position for 3rd down. Jongin expects Zitao to smirk smugly or something, but his expression is just the same with the other players-serious and focused on the game.

Something isn’t right with the way Zitao bends with his fist on the ground, but Jongin doesn’t understand anything about being a lineman, anyway.

--

“We nearly got killed!” Yifan says in the locker room provided in the field they just had their game in, slamming his spike on the ground. “It was good that Sehun managed to score a touchdown in the last 2 seconds. We won just by one point, but I had expected more than that. Our goal is to win with a large gap of scores with our opponent. We have to show them that our style is to attack!”

“Your performance today wasn’t really good,” Jinki adds as he stares at the players one by one. “Was it because Jongin got injured? So you thought you couldn’t win?”

“No,” answer the players almost in sync. Jongin stands near a corner with Sehun, he looks guilty because he didn’t get to play until the game ended. The damage in his wrist is worse than he thought, and he has to go to hospital after this.

“Not your fault, man,” Sehun reassures him quietly. Sehun’s words never come with comfort, but Jongin tries to seek it from his flat tone. It’s the feeling that’s important, anyway. “You don’t usually have to tackle other players. Getting injured is a usual thing in football.”

“Yeah,” is all Jongin says. He still can’t relax in this tension. Yifan has lots of things to be said, and he won’t dismiss them anytime soon.

“From what I saw today,” Jinki starts again, pointing at Zitao. The lineman lifts up his head at him. “Zitao was the worst. You let Yifan get sacked a lot. You are the lineman, you have to protect your quarterback, at least until he throws the ball.”

“I thought about that, too,” Yifan adds. Zitao is a close friend of his, but that doesn’t mean Yifan will tolerate major mistakes. Football isn’t about playing around on the field and he doesn’t want any of his men to not take the games seriously. “Did you not want to win?”

Jinki nods at Yifan’s words. “You’re one of the strongest linemen we have, you should know your place.”

“Why do you keep blaming me?” Zitao shoots up in the end, the Korean words coming out in a weird way. He glares at Yifan, and it’s something that he’s never done before, so Yifan is surprised. “Are you saying that we almost lost because of me?”

“In our strategies, the ball has to be passed to the running backs, the receiver or the tight end so that we have a possibility to get more points. Today, the ball was still in my hand but you let the other team’s linemen sack me. Who else is to blame?”

“I’ve worked hard since I joined! You always look down on me!”

“Everyone worked hard for their positions, Zitao.”

Zitao steps closer to Yifan, their faces only inches apart. His next words are coming out in Chinese. “I’m so sick of you, Gege.”

“You can be sick of me, but you still have to do well in the game,” Yifan replies, also in Chinese, making the rest of the players furrows their brows in confusion.

“You don’t care about what I feel, right?” Zitao grabs Yifan’s collar, but the quarterback doesn’t even blink at the sudden move.

“Football isn’t about individual feelings. We’re a team, we have to be selfless. As a football player, you can’t think like that.”

“See?” Zitao pushes Yifan a bit, then turning around to face his teammates. “I’m actually sick of all of you. I’ve always wanted to be the center, but Minseok hyung? Is it because you’ve been a center since last year? You don’t want your position to be stolen by me? I’m clearly taller and stronger than you!”

“Being a center isn’t easy,” Minseok replies calmly. “You may be close to Yifan, but I’ve known him longer. Yifan chose me as the center because we know each other well enough for him to believe me to snap the ball to him.”

Zitao puts his hands on his waist, his demeanor somehow reminds Jongin of the girls. “So I’m not good enough to be a center?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Oh, fuck. You guys deserve worse than broken equipment.”

That sentence was meant to be just above a whisper, was not meant to be heard. But Yifan is super sharp today, his senses are tingling to the point he hears every one of his men’s sighs. He even hears the squeak of Jongin’s spikes against the floor even though the running back stands the farthest from him.

He straightens his back, making him look taller than usual as he grabs one of Zitao’s shoulders to turn him around. The expression he’s wearing on his face is something that the players don’t want to see. Now that Yifan is unleashing his inner dragon, the players take a few steps backward from their two tallest men.

“What did you say?” Yifan asks with a voice that pierces right through Zitao’s head. The lineman, instead of feeling scared, lifts his chin up at the quarterback. Yifan asked that not because he didn’t hear what Zitao said, everyone knows. He’s making sure that Zitao is brave enough to repeat what he’s said.

“I should’ve destroyed the whole room,” Zitao says before sighing as if it’s not a wrong thing to do.

Sehun who has his arm around Jongin’s shoulders feels how they stiffen a bit once hearing Zitao’s words. His face is a mix of disbelief and betrayal, and he looks like he’s ready to use his legs to jump to the lineman. That’s not a good option for now, so Sehun tightens his arm around Jongin’s shoulders, half backhugging him, just in case.

“So you’re saying that you were the one who made the mess?” Yifan verifies, his voice is low and dangerous. He steps even closer to Zitao, his fists are trembling on his sides. Chanyeol and Minho, being the tall members raise from their seat and steps a bit closer to the two Chinese players just in case they start punching each other. “All of us blamed Do Kyungsoo and you just acted innocent?”

Jongin startles a bit and Sehun hugs him for real this time, trapping his arms and trying to keep the running back in his place. “Calm down, man. Let them finish this.”

“I don’t give a shit about that shrimp. I only wanted to redecorate the locker room.” Zitao shrugs. If they were alone in the room, Yifan would punch the bastard in his face, but his men all are here and he can’t take a reckless move that could harm them. “How did it feel to have your precious room a mess, Captain?”

“That was a really low move, Zitao. If you have grudges against one of the members you should’ve talked about that.” Yifan tries to keep his voice low, but it’s obvious that it starts to shake a bit because his throat is burning with anger.

“Guess what? I have grudges against all of you!” Zitao yells on Yifan’s face before turning around and looking at the players’ faces. He stops when he spots Jongin, pointing his long finger at him. “Jongin needed only two weeks until he was accepted as the team’s running back and I needed almost two months until I was out from the reserve players list. And you act like I didn’t try hard enough? You treat me like I’m not worth it to be on this team?”

It wasn’t us, it was Zitao.

“Do you think you’re handsome, just because girls follow you around? Do you think you’re cool?”

He doesn’t like you, you know.

“Everyone always says that you’re going to be the new Ace with Chanyeol hyung, do you think you’re the greatest player in this world?”

I didn’t do this.

“You’re an asshole!”

A hard punch lands on Zitao’s face, so hard that he falls and bumps into some players’ legs. Chanyeol and Minho quickly run to Yifan to hold him so that he won’t explode even more. “Pack your things and get out of my room once we get back to school and don’t ever show your face in front of me anymore.”

Zitao has a hand on his left cheek that has turned blue and he makes a beeline for the door, exiting the room at the speed of light. All eyes are on the door, but they turn to Yifan who’s trying to control his anger with Chanyeol hugging him tightly. The tension is slowly decreasing and the room starts to be noisy as the players proceed to change their uniforms.

Sehun loosens his arms around Jongin and tilts his head to see his face. “You okay?”

“I, uh, yeah. Thanks.” Jongin wipes his hand down his face, he’s clearly tired today.

The taller running back doesn’t say anything, only patting Jongin’s back a few times before going to his locker and changing. Jongin stays in his place, and when he lifts his face, Yifan is staring at him apologetically. He shrugs as a response, not wanting to talk about it further.

Inside his head, Zitao’s name is crossed from his list.

--

For many people, being normal is boring. Living a normal life means going through the same routine everyday without surprises of excitement. It’s leafing through plain pages without random fingerprints, photos of mountains or paint splatters.

For Kyungsoo, living a normal life is heaven.

He’s spent his entire childhood not being normal and so living a normal life has always been in his dreams. He wakes up and eats breakfast, goes to school and meets Jongin, sits in class until school is over and goes home. And he’d repeat the same things tomorrow over and over again. It’s that simple.

It’s not a problem for him, it’s not even boring. He enjoys doing routines, sticking to schedules diligently without complaining. He doesn’t expect things to be unexpected. He’s tired of surprises. He’d rather sit in the class all day than jump over the school’s gate after lunch to go to Arcades.

After the misunderstanding between him and the football team had been solved, and the girls who used to tail Jongin prefer Taemin now (he kinda looks like Jongin, they said), he got to go to school with Jongin again. The station isn’t that far from the school, making their morning walks shorter than they want them to be, but it’s good enough.

Their school’s football team, despite being small and weak, manages to make it to the semifinals. Jongin earns the title as the team’s new Ace, making Yifan look really proud now that they have two Aces. Chanyeol congratulates him, telling him to work even harder in the future.

Kyungsoo can’t even measure the level of happiness on Jongin’s face when he shows up at his apartment only to tell him that they won. Their school’s football team hasn’t made it to semifinals for the last five years, and this is a good improvement.

To celebrate, Kyungsoo decides to treat Jongin to a meat house downtown, not far from his apartment. He doesn’t eat much, though, only watching Jongin stuff grilled meat and lettuce into his mouth. Jongin always eats too much, and Kyungsoo actually enjoys seeing him eating.

The meats are gone and they walk back to Kyungsoo’s apartment with their stomach full. Jongin refuses to talk a lot as usual because his stomach is stuffed with too much meat. Kyungsoo laughs at him a lot this night, making the walk home become more enjoyable.

There’s a small flower shop and Kyungsoo immediately thinks to buy Jongin some. It’s normal to give people flowers as celebration, anyway. He stops for a while and chooses some random flowers because he understands nothing about them. After paying, he turns to Jongin who’s waiting for him.

“Here, for you,” he says somewhat sheepishly, handing the small bouquet to Jongin. The younger takes it with a big, dumb smile on his face.

“Thanks, Hyung.” Jongin lifts the flowers to his nose, smiling in satisfaction because they smell good. “Why did you buy me this?”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “For getting to the semifinals. Congratulations.”

“Your reason should be more thoughtful, you know,” Jongin sulks a bit, but Kyungsoo knows he’s just joking.

It’s the first time in years for them to have a night out again. They used to spend nights together in Jongin’s room, room dimly lit and bodies covered with blankets. Their faces would be pressed against each other as they read one of Jongin’s story books. Even as children, they enjoyed those nights a lot.

Now that they’re a lot older, a lot bigger, night would be spent a bit differently. The air between them is nothing but comfort, something that grows naturally in every minute they go through together. Sometimes Jongin would point at something for Kyungsoo to see and laugh the next second, making the elder’s heart flutter.

Kyungsoo knows how precious Jongin is to him. He always wants to keep Jongin’s smile in his pocket to be taken out during his hard times.

“But, Hyung?” Jongin holds the small bouquet in front of his face, turning it around slowly to see the different colors of the petals. “Do boys give flowers to each other?”

“I don’t think so.” Kyungsoo licks his lips, feeling nervous inside. Jongin’s question makes him wonder where this conversation is going.

“So why did you?”

Kyungsoo presses his lips, butterflies getting crazy in his stomach. He likes his current relationship with Jongin now, just friends and nothing else. But he can’t keep that in mind since what he feels for Jongin isn’t something that a friend would feel. Their friendship might be at stake, but this also might be his only chance.

He takes it.

“Because I like you.”

That’s it, there it goes our relationship, Kyungsoo thinks bitterly, preparing himself for whatever answer Jongin would give him. He half expects Jongin to throw the flowers to the ground and flee, but he hears nothing from him. When he turns around, Jongin’s stopped walking, whole body stiff.

“Because you like what?” he asks in surprise, as if Kyungsoo’s last confession failed to sink in.

Kyungsoo inhales and exhales. He doesn’t like dealing with this kind of Jongin. “I like you,” he repeats, the words get themselves comfortable on his tongue, making it less difficult for him to speak.

“You like what?!” Jongin lets his mouth fall open in the most unattractive way possible. Now, rather than scared of being rejected, Kyungsoo feels irritated.

“Why are you making me repeat it?! You didn’t clean your ears, did you?” Kyungsoo scolds, he doesn’t even bother showing how sincere his confession was to Jongin. This guy is a poop.

Jongin slowly approaches Kyungsoo, both hands holding the bouquet in front of his stomach. Kyungsoo glances at the trembling petals, not knowing why Jongin has to tremble like that. “You, you like me?”

The elder sighs tiredly, choosing to look somewhere else rather than at Jongin. He won’t deny it now that Jongin’s the only one who heard him earlier. “Yeah, you can hate me now.”

“What?” Jongin puts a hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, trying to turn him around. He wants to see Kyungsoo’s face. He wants to see the face of the person that just confessed to him. He wants to see what kind of expression he’s showing. Jongin smiles at how red Kyungsoo’s ears are. “Why would I hate you?”

“You don’t?” Kyungsoo stares at him in disbelief, but his face shows that he’s unimpressed. He’s been worrying about nothing.

“Of course I don’t!”

“You’re okay with that? I mean, with me... liking you?”

“Hyung you don’t know how happy I was when you said that,” Jongin grins widely, bending a bit to level his face with Kyungsoo’s.

“Uh huh?” Kyungsoo inches back a bit, not comfortable with the proximity. “Why would you be happy?”

“Because,” Jongin starts as he tries to regain his composure. He’s sure his face is flaming red and his lips aren’t curving into an attractive smile. All he can hear is his own heart beating against his ribcage and he can only hope it doesn’t leap out soon. “Well, uh, I finally know that what I’ve been feeling isn’t one sided.”

Kyungsoo falls silent at this. He knows that the parts of his head that don’t work well are his eyes, that’s why sometimes he relies on his ears a lot. This is the first time he’s ever doubted them. He takes another step back as a defensive move. “Are you saying that you like me too?”

“Yeah,” answers Jongin without hesitation.

The memories of months of trying to push his feelings away are stomped to the ground. Kyungsoo almost rolls his eyes at himself for being stupid. But things turned out like that because they weren’t being honest with each other in the first place. He’s happy that they have actually been having crush on each other, but the situation is too ridiculous for him to smile.

Should the other pedestrians know about their situation, it would be really funny. Kyungsoo is staring at Jongin with a flat face, and Jongin is looking at the ground, shy smile hidden behind the flower bouquet. Jongin doesn’t even bother about why Kyungsoo doesn’t look like he’s happy, he knows Kyungsoo is like that.

“So, Hyung?” Jongin calls after an eternal silence that almost crushes his lungs. “Can I kiss you then?”

Kyungsoo jumps at the question and steps backward even farther. He’s utterly startled. “Why?”

“B-because we like each other and you look really good tonight! I want to kiss you!” Jongin says, exclaiming the last sentence a bit louder after he’s make sure that the sidewalk is empty.

“Do people who like each other kiss?”

Jongin groans at Kyungsoo’s grumpiness because as much as he understands the older male, this slowly makes him tired. He starts to sulk childishly. Kyungsoo laughs at him, so softly that Jongn finds himself shivering slightly. Then the older male walks to him, only stopping when the distance between them is decreasing to almost zero.

Jongin isn’t ready when Kyungsoo tiptoes and leans in to peck on his lips. It’s nothing like Jongin imagined how his first kiss with Kyungsoo would be, only two pairs of lips meeting for no more than two seconds. But only in that two seconds, Jongin can feel himself falling in love deeper with Kyungsoo. He suddenly realizes how beautiful his eyelashes are, and how glowing his skin is. The emptiness between his lips when Kyungsoo pulls away makes him feel a bit lonely.

He craves more.

“Okay,” he says with a nervous voice. At least right now he can let out what he’s been keeping inside, all the words and actions he couldn’t do to Kyungsoo before. “Let me do it now.”

“No.”

“But Hyu-”

“No.”

--

They’re kissing, hotly, and Kyungsoo isn’t even sure who started. Jongin groans a bit when he bumps into a wall as they make their way to Kyungsoo’s room, but he doesn’t stop kissing the older male. Their breaths are ragged and their hands are groping everywhere, but they don’t stop. Kyungsoo pushes Jongin to a door, signaling that it’s his room and Jongin opens it for them before stumbling inside.

It’s not hard to find Kyungsoo’s bed and Jongin pushes him onto it, one leg slid between Kyungsoo’s thighs, hands on the sides of Kyungsoo’s head. They stay like that for a while, eyes staring to each other.

“Wow,” Kyungsoo says when he sees Jongin on top of him. “We’re here.”

Jongin blinks at him, not knowing if he sees hesitation in Kyungsoo’s eyes. “You don’t want to?”

“It’s not like that. But you’re really eager, you know.”

“Then you’re okay with this, right?”

“Yeah but why are you on top?”

Jongin almost chokes on nothing, he didn’t expect Kyungsoo to ask that. He’d be lying if he said that he never had fantasies about him and Kyungsoo, but even in those fantasies Kyungsoo was never on top. “...you want to be on top?”

Kyungsoo only shrugs at the question, but Jongin obliges anyway. He rolls to his back and they switch their positions. Jongin expects Kyungsoo to be wild and attacks him right then and there, but he doesn’t do anything but stare at Jongin.

“So... what do I do now?” he asks in a completely confused tone, and Jongin has to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing.

“Well, you’re on top so you can do anything you want. I’ll be submissive down here,” Jongin teases a bit, laughing when Kyungsoo turns red because he doesn’t know what to do. He puts a hand on Kyungsoo’s nape, pulling his head down to kiss him gently. Without breaking the kiss, he slowly rolls to switch their position again.

“How do you even know how to do this,” Kyungsoo groans when Jongin pulls away.

“I’ve dated before, just in case you forgot.”

Of course Kyungsoo never forgets about times when Jongin dated in junior high. But none of those relationships lasted long, so he doesn’t really bother with it. “You slept with people before?”

“No, I only kissed them so this is kind of my first time too.”

“But you seem like you know everything.”

“A quarter of Chanyeol hyung’s hard disk is porn so yeah that should explain a bit.”

“Huh. Pervert.”

This time, it’s Jongin who groans and buries his face on the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck. “Why are we chatting like this? I swear I got turned off.”

“Good then?” Kyungsoo pushes Jongin off of him until he lays beside him. He rolls to his side so they’re facing each other, fingers entwining themselves with Jongin’s. “Just sleep, we’re tired.”

Jongin stares at their hands before tightening his grasp. “I still want to touch you, though.”

“Stop sounding so needy,” Kyungsoo sighs, closing his eyes because he really does feel tired. “We have more future to be shared.”

“Wha-” Jongin stiffens in his place, making Kyungsoo open his eyes. He stares at Kyungsoo’s sleepy eyes, feeling like those eyes even shine beautifully in this dark room. “Does that mean you will go out with me?”

Kyungsoo closes his eyes again, feeling the butterflies in his stomach are at it again. Tonight might be the happiest night of his life. He confessed to Jongin, Jongin returned his feelings, they kissed, and now they’re lying on his bed together. He missed Jongin so much, he missed being this close to Jongin. People may be against their relationship, problems may come again, but he knows that life is always that way to him.

He knees Jongin’s balls hard, making the younger screeches about his future before rolling to other side, his back is on Jongin. A smile grows on his face as Jongin gurgles while grasping his crotch with two hands.

“Take that as a yes.”

--

Things aren’t easy, fights are unavoidable and the way people stare is judging most of the time. But their arguments always end with Jongin hugging Kyungsoo tightly, and their walk home is perfect with their fingers interlaced. Jongin always tells Kyungsoo how beautiful he is or how the stars above can’t beat the way he looks at Jongin, and Kyungsoo always clings to Jongin with thank yous from his mouth.

Their relationship is going okay, with Sunyoung elbowing Kyungsoo when Jongin shows up in front of their class and Sehun throwing a ball at Jongin’s head when Kyungsoo waits for him until the practice ends. Rubbing Kyungsoo’s neck becomes a thing for Jongin and Kyungsoo doesn’t complain when he leans in to steal a kiss.

Sometimes Jongin hears people talk shit about them, but he always tells Kyungsoo that it’s okay. Kyungsoo is used to facing problem by himself, but now he has Jongin on his side. He won’t deny how nice it is to have his fingers between Jongin’s, to have him whisper, ‘it’s okay, we’re going through this together.’

The road to their future isn’t as nice as he thought it would be, but Kyungsoo-

Kyungsoo is happy.