guilty pleasures [fic]
pairing: kaisoo
rating: pg-13
genre: comedy, romance
length: 2833
summary: It’s hard being a Twilight enthusiast when your boyfriend is a lit major.
originally written for kaisoommer fic exchange.
“Okay, so put any boxes labeled ‘books’ on that side and we’ll start shelving them,” Jongin heaves as he picks up another heavy box to move over.
Kyungsoo looks around the cluttered living room, suitcases and boxes in almost every corner; nearly half of them have “books” written on them. He glares at his boyfriend,
“Jongin, do all your boxes have books in them?”
“Not all of them,” comes his reply.
Kyungsoo sighs. He wonders if it was really such a good idea to suggest moving in with his boyfriend to help him save money. Jongin was naturally a cluttered person, but as a literature major he keeps a lot of books. But there’s so many, Kyungsoo feels they might have to start sleeping on them.
Nonetheless, he opens the first box and starts pulling out books to place on the newly installed shelves. He curiously looks at the titles of each one, raising an eyebrow each time,
“‘The Sun Also Rises’, ‘Heart of Darkness’, ‘Brave New World’?”
“Ah! Can you put those on the very top? And make sure they’re ordered by author!” Jongin calls out to him from the other side of the room.
“I sure would love to, except I can’t exactly reach the top,” Kyungsoo deadpans.
Jongin gives him a guilty look. He comes over to where he’s standing and plucks the books out of his hands, “Maybe instead, you can shelve the Shakespeare books?” Kyungsoo smiles reluctantly, and starts working on another box.
“Kyungsoo, look! I found my limited edition of ‘Pride and Prejudice’! I didn’t even notice when I was packing,” Jongin exclaims. Kyungsoo can’t exactly share his joy. While he appreciates Jongin’s passion for literature, it gets annoying when it’s the only thing he cares to talk about.
“Do you ever read any, normal books?” He asks curiously.
“What do you mean? These are normal books,” Jongin responds.
“Of course you’d say that,” Kyungsoo mutters. “But I mean books that regular people would read.”
“Like what?”
“Like...I don’t know, ‘The Hunger Games’, or ‘Twilight’ or something,” Kyungsoo says passively.
Jongin’s head snaps up, “Did you...just say the ‘T’ word?”
Kyungsoo looks confused, “What T-word?”
“You know,” Jongin says. Kyungsoo gives him a no-I-don’t look.
“The one you just said!”
“...Twilight?”
“AAAH!” Jongin runs over and covers his hands over Kyungsoo’s mouth.
“What?” the shorter man swats his hands away.
“Please, never mention that horrible excuse for writing in this house ever again,” Jongin says seriously.
“Oh, uh. Sorry,” he lowers his head as Jongin goes back to his side of the room.
They continue shelving for a few more silent minutes before Kyungsoo speaks up again.
“But it’s not that terrible, is it?”
Jongin looks up at him again, a line creasing across his forehead, “Babe. I love you and all, but if you’re trying to defend Twilight of all things…”
“Alright, alright, I get it.” The conversation slowly tapers off.
Kyungsoo suspiciously eyes one of his boxes off to the side. He really hopes Jongin doesn’t open it up.
________________
They don’t get to bed until after midnight, managing to unpack only half of their boxes, but Kyungsoo feels anxious all of a sudden. He waits until Jongin is fast asleep before tiptoeing out of the bedroom.
He lets out a sigh of relief when he sees one of his boxes still sitting in a far corner of the living room. Opening the box slowly, lo and behold, all of his precious items are still intact.
Kyungsoo knows he really shouldn’t have these with him, and he most definitely should not have brought them in a place where he could be easily found out. But it wasn’t like there was anywhere else he could store his valuables other than his new home.
He sighs. Jongin would kill him if he knew he had this. But he won’t change his ways just because his boyfriend disapproves of it. Besides, it’s not that terrible, no matter what Jongin may say. Kyungsoo decides since he’s already awake maybe he’ll find a safe place to put it away.
He decides the perfect place would be somewhere Jongin wouldn’t venture near. Dragging a chair to climb on, he opens a cabinet above the refrigerator. He arranges his items neatly towards the back then puts boxes of random kitchen ingredients to make them inconspicuous. He knows Jongin is too lazy to ever cook things on his own so for now, it’s the safest place to keep it. Maybe later on Kyungsoo will invest in a safe to keep them even more secure, but this will make do.
Kyungsoo suddenly has a nagging urge to pull one of the valuables out. He gives in and takes out a DVD case. Carrying it to the living room, he powers on his laptop and sits against the wall of the living room, plugging his headphones in right at the opening credits read out, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2.”
Yes, Kyungsoo is a closet Twihard. He has the entire collection of books and DVDs, even a few merchandise items. He honestly can't pinpoint when his life became like this, but he's too far gone. He still remembers the first time he watched the movie; Chanyeol invited him over to get stupidly drunk and the best drinking game he could come up with was to watch a dumb movie and drink every time you wanted to facepalm yourself.
He had randomly pulled up Twilight on his Netflix streaming, and within the first 30 minutes, Chanyeol was so shitfaced, he was rolling on the floor laughing hysterically. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, was curiously intrigued. He admits, it was a badly written movie, but his inner fanboy found itself rooting for Bella’s forbidden love. Even when Jacob started cockblocking in the second movie, there was no way his OTP would go down.
Needless to say, the next day he promptly went to the bookstore and bought the entire set. After all, you can't watch the movies without reading the books. Ignoring the bookseller's judgemental face, "They're for my...sister. She's a huge fan," he spent the next several weeks reading the books, watching the movies and joining online forums to discuss his new fandom.
Now it’s been almost two years since that time, and his obsession has only grown. He never talked about his interest to any of his friends, mostly because he knew they wouldn’t really care. He eventually planned on telling Jongin but knowing his boyfriend’s stance on the series complicates things now.
He trusts that Jongin loves him regardless though; even if the former were to find out about the items, he wouldn’t judge Kyungsoo for having his own passion. It may be naive of him to think that way, but there’s no other way to feel at ease carrying his precious items with him. He returns the DVD back to the cabinet and climbs into bed.
________________
Kyungsoo wakes the next morning to cluttering sounds coming from the kitchen. He has half a mind to at least suspect a burglar. but instead just sees Jongin rummaging inside the pantry.
“What are you doing?
“Oh, sorry for waking you, hyung!” Jongin calls. “Where is the oatmeal mix? I bought like 2 whole canisters and left it on the counter last night.”
Mind still cloudy from sleep, Kyungsoo mumbles unintelligibly. Jongin sighs fondly, “It’s okay, never mind. Just go back to sleep.”
As Kyungsoo turns around to do just that, he opens the fridge for a water bottle. He barely notices Jongin reaching up above the fridge into the small cabinet.
“Ah! I found it,” he exclaims. “Why was it all the way up there? I definitely did not put it there.”
Kyungsoo’s eyes snap wide open at that moment. Shit, no, no.
“OH! You probably just accidentally put it there without realizing,” Kyungsoo says, pulling on Jongin’s arm. “It’s okay, I’ll make you a really nice, steaming bowl of oatmeal!”
“Wait, what is this thing behind the box?” Jongin asks questioningly. His arm retracts from the top and a brand new edition of “New Moon” appeared in his hands.
“What the fuck is this?”
“It’s nothing!” Kyungsoo tries to protest.
“Hyung, is this yours?” Jongin looks at the shorter man accusingly.
With eyes as wide as saucers Kyungsoo hardly knows how to respond. “Uh, well, actually. It’s...er, Chanyeol’s!”
“Why do you have Chanyeol’s book?”
“He just asked me to hold onto it for him!”
“So your solution was to put it in some completely obscure location?”
“It was guaranteed to be safe up there!” Kyungsoo retorts. Looking unconvinced, Jongin goes back inside the cabinet and finds the other items, mouth agape in amazement.
“This is all Chanyeol’s stuff?”
“...” Kyungsoo is so embarrassed by this new turn of events, but he has to confess now or otherwise risking hurting the other person.
“No, it’s....it’s all mine.”
“All of it?”
“Yes…”
“Wait, so. Are you telling me, you’re actually a fan of Twilight?”
“...”
Jongin lets out an exasperated puff of breath. His entire expression is incredulous and he starts pacing the kitchen to try and get a grip.
“Babe...are you okay?” Kyungsoo asks, voice dripping with guilt.
“Of course, yeah. I’m totally fine.”
“No, you aren’t. Please, look at me, Jongin.” The taller man faces him again with a clearly fake smile plastered on.
“I’m fine with it, babe, no matter what I still love you, just can’t believe you actually like this piece of --” he catches himself, “I mean, I’m not judging you! You can like whatever you like. After all, you let me do it, so I should do the same!”
“You do talk about your books like, all the damn time.” Kyungsoo mutters under his breath.
Jongin’s widen, “Hyung, you won’t do that to me, will you? Like out of spite or something for being actually annoyed?”
Kyungsoo eyes him, “I thought you said you didn’t judge me!”
“I don’t, honestly!” Jongin defends himself. He thrusts the book into Kyungsoo’s arms,
“Here, you can read the books or watch the movies in front of me, I really don’t care. If you want to go ahead and talk about them too, seriously just be my guest.”
Kyungsoo watches as his boyfriend marches back into the living room to read his own book. And at that moment, Kyungsoo knew that Jongin was a lying through his teeth.
________________
“Hey, Kyungsoo, Jongin, over here!” Baekhyun calls out to the couple. They decided to meet up with some friends after fully moving into their apartment.
“Guys, I totally forgot to bring you a bamboo tree for your new place,” Jongdae says with a pout.
“That’s okay, Jongdae, we don’t really need it.” Kyungsoo tells him.
“It’s for good luck, Kyungsoo! You never know what kinds of spirits might be lurking around, threatening your relationship.”
Kyungsoo exchanges a look with Jongin seated across from him. The “Twilight Situation” caused the couple to be a little rocky the past few days, usually keeping conversations brief and resorting to doing things by themselves.
“Yeah, probably the evil spirit of some dead poet Jongin offended in an essay,” Sehun retorts.
“Haha, very funny.”
“For real though, you’re the first ones to actually get your own place and not just converting your mom’s basement into a bachelor pad coughchanyeolcough,” Baekhyun says. Hey! It’s a respectable location! “We’re probably just going to crash your house one day.”
“Hmm, but do we want to risk the chance of walking in on a makeout session?” Chanyeol says.
“Or worse,” Sehun retorts.
“Shut up, guys,” Kyungsoo laughs. The group eats in comfortable laughter when Kyungsoo speaks up again,
“Chanyeol, remember that drinking game you made up a long time ago?”
“I’ve made up a lot of drinking games.”
“The one where we watched dumb movies and took a drink at all the stupid parts?”
“Oh yeah! We did that game with Twilight right? We got so shitfaced that night,” Chanyeol laughs.
“Probably not so much as you think,” Jongin grumbles under his breath. Ignoring him, Kyungsoo responds,
“You were passed out drunk in like the first 30 minutes.”
“That sounds like the best way to get drunk, we need to try it together,” Sehun comments.
“Well, have you actually seen the whole movie before?” Kyungsoo asks naively.
“Yeah, my sister made me watch it with her once when she was sick. It was like right when it came out. Oh my god, I could hardly sit through it.”
“Well, it was an equally shitty book,” Baekhyun says.
“Hyung, you’ve read it too?” Jongin asks
“Yeah, but I’m sure we’ve all at least picked it up sometime before right?”
“Sure, unless you’re a sex-deprived widow,” Sehun says.
Jongdae slaps his arm, “Not going to lie, it was entertaining at least.”
Sehun scoffs, “Please, it’s like being forced to read the nutrition facts on the back of a cereal box; it’s plot-less and full of crap.”
“So, you can all agree that it’s a pretty terrible book then, right?” Jongin asks. The group all give different forms of assent.
“See, hyung, I’m not the only one,” he tells Kyungsoo.”
“I admit that it’s not a well-written book, nor film, but that doesn’t stop me from liking it,” the latter says resolutely.”
“Whoa, wait, Kyungsoo, you actually like ‘Twilight’?” Chanyeol asks incredulously.
“He has a cabinet full of books, DVDs and a bunch of other crap,” Jongin responds.
The boys all have matching looks of amazement, “Are you serious right now?” Sehun says, practically on the edge of his seat.
“Hold on a minute, Jongin, you said you didn’t judge me!”
“Are you kidding me, hyung? That shitty excuse for a book is a literal insult to writing. I don’t care if you like it just for the entertainment value, it’s crappy, and you liking it only makes it worse.”
Kyungsoo’s mind is in a complete state of shock.
“Jongin, don’t you think you’re being a little too harsh? Some people find interests in different things, that’s what makes us all unique,” Jongdae tries to mollify the situation.
“I, hyung,” Jongin tries, but Kyungsoo stands up from the table, grabbing his phone and wallet and walking out of the restaurant.
________________
Kyungsoo wills the hot tears not to fall. It’s stupid, really to get upset over such a thing. He expected this kind of response. But he also trusted Jongin, and even that is broken now. He sits down on a step, putting his head between his knees.
Jongin rushes out to find his small boyfriend, sniffling inside his huddle. His insides are squirming with regret and guilt. He has no idea how he can make this better.
“...Hyung?” he tries. Kyungsoo turns his body away from him. He sits down next to him, and tentatively places a hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, okay? I spoke without thinking.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kyungsoo mutters.
“It does matter. It’s about something you like, and are passionate about. At the least, I should be supporting that.”
“You can’t really help what kind of opinion you’ve already formed,” Kyungsoo says, lifting his head up.
“I’m always willing to change my opinions. Maybe you can show me what it is that appeals to you the most? Or even we can talk about it strictly from a fan’s point of view?” Jongin says, his hand running up and down Kyungsoo’s arm in a soothing motion.
Kyungsoo finally looks over at him, “You’re actually willing to listen to me talk about Twilight of all things?”
“You listen to me ramble about this book, and that poem. Don’t lie to me by saying you really couldn’t give two fucks.”
“I won’t lie to you then.” Jongin laughs then. Kyungsoo smiles back.
“Jongdae was right, it doesn’t matter how different our interests are. I still care about you a lot.” Jongin looks tenderly at Kyungsoo. Smiling, the smaller man slightly pecks him on the lips.
“Let’s promise not to keep anymore secrets from each other. It’s better to keep things out in the open anyway,” Kyungsoo says. Jongin agrees, hugging his boyfriend closer to his side.
________________
Jongdae ended up actually sending a bamboo tree to the couple’s apartment. Kyungsoo makes a place for it in the corner of the living room, next to where a small glass cabinet holding all of his books and DVD cases were set up.
“I already feel the spirits leaving,” Kyungsoo jokes.
“It’s probably good we have this. We don’t want Stephenie Meyer’s ghost coming back to haunt us, either,” Jongin says.
Kyungsoo laughs at that, “But seriously, don’t let the queen know you’ve disapproved of her creation.” Jongin rolls his eyes, but kisses his boyfriend on the head anyway.
“Here’s something for you,” he hands Kyungsoo a piece of paper.
“What is it?”
“It’s an essay discussing the pros and cons of Bella’s mate choices. I think you’ll like the results.”
“You’re actually the best boyfriend ever,” Kyungsoo says.
“Well, I am practically perfect in every way.”
“...Was that a Mary Poppins reference?”
“...Did I mention Disney is my guilty pleasure?”
rating: pg-13
genre: comedy, romance
length: 2833
summary: It’s hard being a Twilight enthusiast when your boyfriend is a lit major.
originally written for kaisoommer fic exchange.
“Okay, so put any boxes labeled ‘books’ on that side and we’ll start shelving them,” Jongin heaves as he picks up another heavy box to move over.
Kyungsoo looks around the cluttered living room, suitcases and boxes in almost every corner; nearly half of them have “books” written on them. He glares at his boyfriend,
“Jongin, do all your boxes have books in them?”
“Not all of them,” comes his reply.
Kyungsoo sighs. He wonders if it was really such a good idea to suggest moving in with his boyfriend to help him save money. Jongin was naturally a cluttered person, but as a literature major he keeps a lot of books. But there’s so many, Kyungsoo feels they might have to start sleeping on them.
Nonetheless, he opens the first box and starts pulling out books to place on the newly installed shelves. He curiously looks at the titles of each one, raising an eyebrow each time,
“‘The Sun Also Rises’, ‘Heart of Darkness’, ‘Brave New World’?”
“Ah! Can you put those on the very top? And make sure they’re ordered by author!” Jongin calls out to him from the other side of the room.
“I sure would love to, except I can’t exactly reach the top,” Kyungsoo deadpans.
Jongin gives him a guilty look. He comes over to where he’s standing and plucks the books out of his hands, “Maybe instead, you can shelve the Shakespeare books?” Kyungsoo smiles reluctantly, and starts working on another box.
“Kyungsoo, look! I found my limited edition of ‘Pride and Prejudice’! I didn’t even notice when I was packing,” Jongin exclaims. Kyungsoo can’t exactly share his joy. While he appreciates Jongin’s passion for literature, it gets annoying when it’s the only thing he cares to talk about.
“Do you ever read any, normal books?” He asks curiously.
“What do you mean? These are normal books,” Jongin responds.
“Of course you’d say that,” Kyungsoo mutters. “But I mean books that regular people would read.”
“Like what?”
“Like...I don’t know, ‘The Hunger Games’, or ‘Twilight’ or something,” Kyungsoo says passively.
Jongin’s head snaps up, “Did you...just say the ‘T’ word?”
Kyungsoo looks confused, “What T-word?”
“You know,” Jongin says. Kyungsoo gives him a no-I-don’t look.
“The one you just said!”
“...Twilight?”
“AAAH!” Jongin runs over and covers his hands over Kyungsoo’s mouth.
“What?” the shorter man swats his hands away.
“Please, never mention that horrible excuse for writing in this house ever again,” Jongin says seriously.
“Oh, uh. Sorry,” he lowers his head as Jongin goes back to his side of the room.
They continue shelving for a few more silent minutes before Kyungsoo speaks up again.
“But it’s not that terrible, is it?”
Jongin looks up at him again, a line creasing across his forehead, “Babe. I love you and all, but if you’re trying to defend Twilight of all things…”
“Alright, alright, I get it.” The conversation slowly tapers off.
Kyungsoo suspiciously eyes one of his boxes off to the side. He really hopes Jongin doesn’t open it up.
________________
They don’t get to bed until after midnight, managing to unpack only half of their boxes, but Kyungsoo feels anxious all of a sudden. He waits until Jongin is fast asleep before tiptoeing out of the bedroom.
He lets out a sigh of relief when he sees one of his boxes still sitting in a far corner of the living room. Opening the box slowly, lo and behold, all of his precious items are still intact.
Kyungsoo knows he really shouldn’t have these with him, and he most definitely should not have brought them in a place where he could be easily found out. But it wasn’t like there was anywhere else he could store his valuables other than his new home.
He sighs. Jongin would kill him if he knew he had this. But he won’t change his ways just because his boyfriend disapproves of it. Besides, it’s not that terrible, no matter what Jongin may say. Kyungsoo decides since he’s already awake maybe he’ll find a safe place to put it away.
He decides the perfect place would be somewhere Jongin wouldn’t venture near. Dragging a chair to climb on, he opens a cabinet above the refrigerator. He arranges his items neatly towards the back then puts boxes of random kitchen ingredients to make them inconspicuous. He knows Jongin is too lazy to ever cook things on his own so for now, it’s the safest place to keep it. Maybe later on Kyungsoo will invest in a safe to keep them even more secure, but this will make do.
Kyungsoo suddenly has a nagging urge to pull one of the valuables out. He gives in and takes out a DVD case. Carrying it to the living room, he powers on his laptop and sits against the wall of the living room, plugging his headphones in right at the opening credits read out, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2.”
Yes, Kyungsoo is a closet Twihard. He has the entire collection of books and DVDs, even a few merchandise items. He honestly can't pinpoint when his life became like this, but he's too far gone. He still remembers the first time he watched the movie; Chanyeol invited him over to get stupidly drunk and the best drinking game he could come up with was to watch a dumb movie and drink every time you wanted to facepalm yourself.
He had randomly pulled up Twilight on his Netflix streaming, and within the first 30 minutes, Chanyeol was so shitfaced, he was rolling on the floor laughing hysterically. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, was curiously intrigued. He admits, it was a badly written movie, but his inner fanboy found itself rooting for Bella’s forbidden love. Even when Jacob started cockblocking in the second movie, there was no way his OTP would go down.
Needless to say, the next day he promptly went to the bookstore and bought the entire set. After all, you can't watch the movies without reading the books. Ignoring the bookseller's judgemental face, "They're for my...sister. She's a huge fan," he spent the next several weeks reading the books, watching the movies and joining online forums to discuss his new fandom.
Now it’s been almost two years since that time, and his obsession has only grown. He never talked about his interest to any of his friends, mostly because he knew they wouldn’t really care. He eventually planned on telling Jongin but knowing his boyfriend’s stance on the series complicates things now.
He trusts that Jongin loves him regardless though; even if the former were to find out about the items, he wouldn’t judge Kyungsoo for having his own passion. It may be naive of him to think that way, but there’s no other way to feel at ease carrying his precious items with him. He returns the DVD back to the cabinet and climbs into bed.
________________
Kyungsoo wakes the next morning to cluttering sounds coming from the kitchen. He has half a mind to at least suspect a burglar. but instead just sees Jongin rummaging inside the pantry.
“What are you doing?
“Oh, sorry for waking you, hyung!” Jongin calls. “Where is the oatmeal mix? I bought like 2 whole canisters and left it on the counter last night.”
Mind still cloudy from sleep, Kyungsoo mumbles unintelligibly. Jongin sighs fondly, “It’s okay, never mind. Just go back to sleep.”
As Kyungsoo turns around to do just that, he opens the fridge for a water bottle. He barely notices Jongin reaching up above the fridge into the small cabinet.
“Ah! I found it,” he exclaims. “Why was it all the way up there? I definitely did not put it there.”
Kyungsoo’s eyes snap wide open at that moment. Shit, no, no.
“OH! You probably just accidentally put it there without realizing,” Kyungsoo says, pulling on Jongin’s arm. “It’s okay, I’ll make you a really nice, steaming bowl of oatmeal!”
“Wait, what is this thing behind the box?” Jongin asks questioningly. His arm retracts from the top and a brand new edition of “New Moon” appeared in his hands.
“What the fuck is this?”
“It’s nothing!” Kyungsoo tries to protest.
“Hyung, is this yours?” Jongin looks at the shorter man accusingly.
With eyes as wide as saucers Kyungsoo hardly knows how to respond. “Uh, well, actually. It’s...er, Chanyeol’s!”
“Why do you have Chanyeol’s book?”
“He just asked me to hold onto it for him!”
“So your solution was to put it in some completely obscure location?”
“It was guaranteed to be safe up there!” Kyungsoo retorts. Looking unconvinced, Jongin goes back inside the cabinet and finds the other items, mouth agape in amazement.
“This is all Chanyeol’s stuff?”
“...” Kyungsoo is so embarrassed by this new turn of events, but he has to confess now or otherwise risking hurting the other person.
“No, it’s....it’s all mine.”
“All of it?”
“Yes…”
“Wait, so. Are you telling me, you’re actually a fan of Twilight?”
“...”
Jongin lets out an exasperated puff of breath. His entire expression is incredulous and he starts pacing the kitchen to try and get a grip.
“Babe...are you okay?” Kyungsoo asks, voice dripping with guilt.
“Of course, yeah. I’m totally fine.”
“No, you aren’t. Please, look at me, Jongin.” The taller man faces him again with a clearly fake smile plastered on.
“I’m fine with it, babe, no matter what I still love you, just can’t believe you actually like this piece of --” he catches himself, “I mean, I’m not judging you! You can like whatever you like. After all, you let me do it, so I should do the same!”
“You do talk about your books like, all the damn time.” Kyungsoo mutters under his breath.
Jongin’s widen, “Hyung, you won’t do that to me, will you? Like out of spite or something for being actually annoyed?”
Kyungsoo eyes him, “I thought you said you didn’t judge me!”
“I don’t, honestly!” Jongin defends himself. He thrusts the book into Kyungsoo’s arms,
“Here, you can read the books or watch the movies in front of me, I really don’t care. If you want to go ahead and talk about them too, seriously just be my guest.”
Kyungsoo watches as his boyfriend marches back into the living room to read his own book. And at that moment, Kyungsoo knew that Jongin was a lying through his teeth.
________________
“Hey, Kyungsoo, Jongin, over here!” Baekhyun calls out to the couple. They decided to meet up with some friends after fully moving into their apartment.
“Guys, I totally forgot to bring you a bamboo tree for your new place,” Jongdae says with a pout.
“That’s okay, Jongdae, we don’t really need it.” Kyungsoo tells him.
“It’s for good luck, Kyungsoo! You never know what kinds of spirits might be lurking around, threatening your relationship.”
Kyungsoo exchanges a look with Jongin seated across from him. The “Twilight Situation” caused the couple to be a little rocky the past few days, usually keeping conversations brief and resorting to doing things by themselves.
“Yeah, probably the evil spirit of some dead poet Jongin offended in an essay,” Sehun retorts.
“Haha, very funny.”
“For real though, you’re the first ones to actually get your own place and not just converting your mom’s basement into a bachelor pad coughchanyeolcough,” Baekhyun says. Hey! It’s a respectable location! “We’re probably just going to crash your house one day.”
“Hmm, but do we want to risk the chance of walking in on a makeout session?” Chanyeol says.
“Or worse,” Sehun retorts.
“Shut up, guys,” Kyungsoo laughs. The group eats in comfortable laughter when Kyungsoo speaks up again,
“Chanyeol, remember that drinking game you made up a long time ago?”
“I’ve made up a lot of drinking games.”
“The one where we watched dumb movies and took a drink at all the stupid parts?”
“Oh yeah! We did that game with Twilight right? We got so shitfaced that night,” Chanyeol laughs.
“Probably not so much as you think,” Jongin grumbles under his breath. Ignoring him, Kyungsoo responds,
“You were passed out drunk in like the first 30 minutes.”
“That sounds like the best way to get drunk, we need to try it together,” Sehun comments.
“Well, have you actually seen the whole movie before?” Kyungsoo asks naively.
“Yeah, my sister made me watch it with her once when she was sick. It was like right when it came out. Oh my god, I could hardly sit through it.”
“Well, it was an equally shitty book,” Baekhyun says.
“Hyung, you’ve read it too?” Jongin asks
“Yeah, but I’m sure we’ve all at least picked it up sometime before right?”
“Sure, unless you’re a sex-deprived widow,” Sehun says.
Jongdae slaps his arm, “Not going to lie, it was entertaining at least.”
Sehun scoffs, “Please, it’s like being forced to read the nutrition facts on the back of a cereal box; it’s plot-less and full of crap.”
“So, you can all agree that it’s a pretty terrible book then, right?” Jongin asks. The group all give different forms of assent.
“See, hyung, I’m not the only one,” he tells Kyungsoo.”
“I admit that it’s not a well-written book, nor film, but that doesn’t stop me from liking it,” the latter says resolutely.”
“Whoa, wait, Kyungsoo, you actually like ‘Twilight’?” Chanyeol asks incredulously.
“He has a cabinet full of books, DVDs and a bunch of other crap,” Jongin responds.
The boys all have matching looks of amazement, “Are you serious right now?” Sehun says, practically on the edge of his seat.
“Hold on a minute, Jongin, you said you didn’t judge me!”
“Are you kidding me, hyung? That shitty excuse for a book is a literal insult to writing. I don’t care if you like it just for the entertainment value, it’s crappy, and you liking it only makes it worse.”
Kyungsoo’s mind is in a complete state of shock.
“Jongin, don’t you think you’re being a little too harsh? Some people find interests in different things, that’s what makes us all unique,” Jongdae tries to mollify the situation.
“I, hyung,” Jongin tries, but Kyungsoo stands up from the table, grabbing his phone and wallet and walking out of the restaurant.
________________
Kyungsoo wills the hot tears not to fall. It’s stupid, really to get upset over such a thing. He expected this kind of response. But he also trusted Jongin, and even that is broken now. He sits down on a step, putting his head between his knees.
Jongin rushes out to find his small boyfriend, sniffling inside his huddle. His insides are squirming with regret and guilt. He has no idea how he can make this better.
“...Hyung?” he tries. Kyungsoo turns his body away from him. He sits down next to him, and tentatively places a hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, okay? I spoke without thinking.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kyungsoo mutters.
“It does matter. It’s about something you like, and are passionate about. At the least, I should be supporting that.”
“You can’t really help what kind of opinion you’ve already formed,” Kyungsoo says, lifting his head up.
“I’m always willing to change my opinions. Maybe you can show me what it is that appeals to you the most? Or even we can talk about it strictly from a fan’s point of view?” Jongin says, his hand running up and down Kyungsoo’s arm in a soothing motion.
Kyungsoo finally looks over at him, “You’re actually willing to listen to me talk about Twilight of all things?”
“You listen to me ramble about this book, and that poem. Don’t lie to me by saying you really couldn’t give two fucks.”
“I won’t lie to you then.” Jongin laughs then. Kyungsoo smiles back.
“Jongdae was right, it doesn’t matter how different our interests are. I still care about you a lot.” Jongin looks tenderly at Kyungsoo. Smiling, the smaller man slightly pecks him on the lips.
“Let’s promise not to keep anymore secrets from each other. It’s better to keep things out in the open anyway,” Kyungsoo says. Jongin agrees, hugging his boyfriend closer to his side.
________________
Jongdae ended up actually sending a bamboo tree to the couple’s apartment. Kyungsoo makes a place for it in the corner of the living room, next to where a small glass cabinet holding all of his books and DVD cases were set up.
“I already feel the spirits leaving,” Kyungsoo jokes.
“It’s probably good we have this. We don’t want Stephenie Meyer’s ghost coming back to haunt us, either,” Jongin says.
Kyungsoo laughs at that, “But seriously, don’t let the queen know you’ve disapproved of her creation.” Jongin rolls his eyes, but kisses his boyfriend on the head anyway.
“Here’s something for you,” he hands Kyungsoo a piece of paper.
“What is it?”
“It’s an essay discussing the pros and cons of Bella’s mate choices. I think you’ll like the results.”
“You’re actually the best boyfriend ever,” Kyungsoo says.
“Well, I am practically perfect in every way.”
“...Was that a Mary Poppins reference?”
“...Did I mention Disney is my guilty pleasure?”