Hello, lovelies. I listened to a few requests, and the result is this and the next chapter (the next chapter is Xiuhan, directly after this chapter). Not sure how well they'll go--I have a little bit of a time limit for them--but I hope it meets expectations.

Kyungsoo's mother looks like this, but I'm not really basing this after her. Loosely, it is. But not really.

As usual, please comment anything and everything. Your author likes reading comments :3

When he was six, Kyungsoo's mom--his biological mom--took him out Black Friday shopping. He remembered it as being hectic, claustrophobic, loud. His mother held him close, never letting him out of her sight. 

"We're just here to get Daddy a present, okay?" she said. Diamonds glittered at her wrist and throat, and her hair, usually up in a messy and practical ponytail, was loose and fell in curls around her face. "Just a little present that he will like."

It took Kyungsoo years to realize that maybe she wasn't talking about Daddy at all.

They stopped in front of a perfume stand, where life-sized posters fluttered in the wind of people walking by. One poster had a picture of a scantily-clad woman laden with gold jewelry, lounging on a silk-covered bed. 

"Isn't that lady pretty, Kyungie?" his mom asked, nodding at the woman in the poster.

Kyungsoo furrowed his brow, trying to pick out the beauty supposedly hidden in the curves and heavy makeup. Eventually he shook his head. 

"That man is prettier," he said, pointing at a teenager standing nearby, hands shoved deep into his jeans pockets and black hair falling over piercing blue eyes.

His mother was silent.

When Jongin was called in to talk to Yonghwa halfway through dance class, he didn't expect to see him and Amber yelling at each other across Yonghwa's desk.

"...why we have to make it lower!" Amber said, slamming her hands down into the wood. 

"It's not good for anyone," Yonghwa replied, usual calmness completely gone. "You of all people should know how bad withdrawal is."

"Me of all people? What about you, you piece of--" She caught a glimpse of Jongin trying to back out of the room, then took a step away. "Oh. Hey, Kai."

Jongin was half in the room, half out, ready to run when something went flying. "H-hi, Amber."

Yonghwa gave Amber a dirty look. "Hello, Kai. Come here, please. I need to discuss some changes with you."

Amber stepped aside, giving Jongin the space to sit in the chair in front of the desk. "Changes?"

"Regarding your meds, winter break, and your...guard." Yonghwa's eyes flickered up to Amber, somewhere above and behind Jongin. "We just looked through your records, and it turns out that Vincent had been giving you over thirty milligrams in tranqs more than he should have been. You were supposed to have sixty, which is already three times the normal amount. He gave you ninety."

Jongin gawked. 

"Quite frankly," Yonghwa continued, folding his hands under his chin. "I'm surprised you haven't shut down yet. In fact, you're handling it quite well, from your blood tests. However, you're handling it a little too well. Even while you're on ninety, your safety and the safety of those around you isn't guaranteed in the least. I'm sure you remember the incident two months ago."

Amber made a huffing noise.

"Vincent has been fired, because this isn't the first time he altered medication amounts. You probably heard that last year, Sandara Park was hospitalized because of an adverse reaction to some medication. We learned that that was Vincent's doing. Your new guard is Amber here." Yonghwa made a vague hand gesture. "She's pushing to take your tranquilizers down, for your own health. However, your doctors and I think that you can handle this amount, and that you should. You're a remarkably...violent werewolf, and to put you at a regular amount of medication would mean significant withdrawal and suffering. So, we'll move your dose down to eighty this time, and we'll keep a close eye on you. Unfortunately, that means taking you back on campus for the second half of break."

Jongin blinked, letting the information settle in. 

"Your parents have been notified," Amber said, resting a hand on Jongin's shoulder. "They approved it."

"...okay."

Jongin left feeling very disappointed. 

Luhan and Kyungsoo had been close friends in middle school--they still were--starting from when the old voice teacher told Kyungsoo he would never be as good as Luhan, the teacher's favorite. The older boy found Kyungsoo crying on the path leading to Areum.

"Hey, Kyungsoo," Luhan said, kneeling down and narrowly missing knocking the smaller boy in the back of the head with his antlers. "Mrs. Lewis is just a crusty old lady. Don't listen to her." Then he hugged him, and actually did hit Kyungsoo in the back of the head.

That interaction was representative of their relationship. So, several years later on the first day of winter break, when Luhan came to Kyungsoo for a favor, he had trouble being turned down.

"Please, please, please," Luhan said, the Christmas lights and bells dangling from his antlers jingling and making a disco light mess of the third floor hallway. "I really want to take Xiumin out, but Kris and Tao want to tag along and I don't want it to get awkward."

"They hate Kai!"

"Just be in the same restaurant, that's all I ask." Luhan clasped his hands. "In the same restaurant. You don't even need to be in the same area, on the other side of the room is fine."

"But Jongin doesn't--"

"I heard my name."

Strong arms closed around Kyungsoo's waist, and a familiar head rested its chin on the shorter boy's shoulder. "Hey, Luhan," he said.

The deer hybrid immediately turned his attention on Jongin. "Kai! Oh, Kai, sweet and strong and beautiful Kai. Please accompany me and Xiumin on a date."

Jongin tilted his head, leaving Kyungsoo trying to stifle a tickled giggle. "So a double date?"

"Triple. Kris and Tao are coming too."

The warmth vanished from Kyungsoo's back. "Oh. Oh, no."

Luhan pouted. "You don't have to be near them, you could get a table far away from us. I just don't want Xiumin to be the only not-Dragon there and feel awkward."

Jongin chewed on his lower lip. "But Kris and Tao hate me."

Kyungsoo threw his hands up. "See?"

"They only hate you when you're having an episode."

"That's hard to believe."

"Okay, well, Tao hates everything that Kris looks at, so okay. But Kris is just cold...that's just how he is. I promise, he doesn't hate you." Luhan sighed, then perked up, as if something occurred to him. "Hang on. How about this. My mom's best friend owns a different restaurant. It's not fancy at all, but I can ask for pretty much any table I want. What about, I get you guys a table at the very front, and Kris and Tao and I take one at the back? I'll even pay for it."

Jongin and Kyungsoo exchanged a glance that asked, Do you want to?

Finally, Jongin shrugged. "Sure."

Luhan squealed and grabbed both boys in a rib-crushing hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" He danced off, singing some Chinese song all the way down the stairs.

Kyungsoo snickered, then turned around and took Jongin's hands. "He's not as...manly as you think," he said, swinging.

"Clearly." Jongin leaned forward to peck Kyungsoo on the forehead. "Why aren't you home for break yet?"

Kyungsoo's smile disappeared. "Well, my adopted parents said they would come pick me up, but they just texted me saying something came up. So I guess I'm staying here again."

Jongin frowned. Kyungsoo's parents didn't seem like very responsible people.

"Then," he said, thinking. "Do you want to stay with me for a few days?"

"What?"

"Well, I have to come back, because my episode is next week. But I'm going home tomorrow, and I'm staying until Friday. I don't think my parents would mind having you there." Jongin grinned. "You'd celebrate Christmas with us!" 

He thought his hands would break from Kyungsoo squeezing them.

"Really?" Kyungsoo demanded, standing on his tiptoes. "You're serious?"

"Oh, yeah. Sehun stayed with us one year. If they'll take him, they'll love you." Jongin chuckled, then winced, at the memory.

The smaller boy suddenly kissed him, hard, in the middle of the hallway. Jongin backed into the wall, surprised but letting his hands creep to Kyungsoo's waist. 

"Thank you!" Kyungsoo said when he pulled away. "I haven't celebrated Christmas in three years."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Kyungsoo nuzzled against Jongin's chest. "Thanks."

Jongin put his chin on Kyungsoo's head, astounded and a little saddened. "...of course."

Chanyeol and Baekhyun rounded the corner, holding hands and talking loudly. When they spotted Jongin and Kyungsoo, they stopped.

"PDA is not okay!" Baekhyun shouted, then ducked as Kyungsoo hurled his shoe at him.

The dinner date went well.

As Luhan promised, they were separated from Kris and Tao. Unlike what had been promised, however, Luhan and Xiumin sat with Jongin and Kyungsoo. 

"They said that they wanted to have a private conversation," Xiumin muttered, swirling the ice around in his glass of water. "Private conversation, my . They're probably just going to have in the bathroom."

Luhan patted his arctic wolf boyfriend's hand. "We're in public, Xiumin."

Kyungsoo was smiling at his two acquaintances' interaction, and Jongin couldn't take his eyes off of him. Even though the restaurant truly wasn't that fancy, Kyungsoo had gotten dressed up: he had switched his usual contacts/wire glasses rotation up and put on box-framed glasses, thrown on a black vest and bowtie over a white button-down and black jeans, and styled his red hair to curl away from his forehead, then swept across to the right. Jongin himself had settled on something more casual, blue jeans with a light purple dress shirt, and he berated himself for not coming in with a full suit on just to keep his boyfriend's attention.

The food was sublime, as Jongin exclaimed several times.

"But it's just chicken with rice," Luhan said once.

Jongin nodded pointedly.

Finally, the night was dark blue and inky save for the circles of light underneath the lampposts, and the four boys kicked rocks down the sidewalk on their way back to the dorms.