Several people staying late in the studio came in and watched them practice. At first they sort of appreciated the audience, and welcomed the criticism and suggestions, but eventually they decided they were kind of sick of it and put on the private practice marker on the outside of the door and locked it to ensure their privacy.

Their performance assignment was coming along great, both of them were filled with confidence even though they had minimal practice so far. They still had two weeks to achieve perfection, so they weren't worried. The choreography was pretty much finished, they only needed to continue practicing, which Jongin, personally didn't mind, because it meant he got to see Sehun all sweaty with his white tank top sticking to his chest in a manner which was frankly offensive.

The privacy meant that they could practice without distraction. It also meant they could have makeout breaks every time one of them executed a particularly complicated move with precision.

They took a lot of breaks.

Once they were all tired out, limbs sure to be more sore than Jongin's the next day, they walked down the streets lit by car headlights and cloudy streetlamps back to Jongin's apartment. Jongin took the time to tell Sehun that he had a little pot that he was more than willing to share if Sehun was up for it, and Sehun informed Jongin he had a grinder filled with keef in his bag and he didn't take Jongin to be a pothead.

“Well I don't do it often. But I like it better than getting drunk. It works quickly and efficiently and doesn't make me want to pee every five minutes.”

“Munchies are a pain in the though. Especially when you're too broke to buy yourself an excessive amount of food.”

“Mints, they keep the hunger at bay.”

Sehun frowned. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“And you say you're not a pothead. Only a complete stoner would know something like that.”

“You're the one with the excessive keef. I don't even own a grinder. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Shut up.”

“You first.”

There was a moving truck beside the side door of the building where they entered, which Jongin thought was strange, as he didn’t think too many people moved in and out of the building except during the summer, when university students were searching for apartments. Most of the non student residents had been there for several years.

They threw childish insults back and forth at each other until they were falling through Jongin's front door, the conversation dissolving into giggles.

They stopped once they reached Jongin's bedroom however.

“No offence,” Sehun said. “But the ambience in here is kind of depressing.”

Jongin nodded in agreement, it was always like this at night in his apartment when he could hear whatever was happening next door. Even though it was quiet now, the tension hung heavy, as if in anticipation of something bad happening.

“But I guess that's what drugs are for, right?”

Sehun turned out to be an excellent roller, which elicited more stoner quips from Jongin, the reactions to which he got were only sly smiles. They donned sweaters and jackets to combat the increasingly freezing night and stepped out on the balcony, sitting huddled together on the dusty floor, knees pulled up closely to their chests.

The joint lit easily, unlike the last time when Jongin's hands were shaking from fear and anxiety at having heard Kyungsoo be physically hurt.

He took two short consecutive drags, a habit of his whenever he lit, and passed the joint to Sehun who took a rather long one, and Jongin wondered how he didn't choke. Expecting the joint to be handed back to him he held out his hand, not paying attention, but Sehun grabbed his chin and turned him so their lips met in an open mouth kiss. He was further surprised when Sehun shotgunned the smoke out of his own lungs, exhaling into Jongin's mouth.  Jongin leaned his head back once Sehun let him go, the smoke wisping out of his parted lips slowly.

Sehun raised the joint to Jongin's lips and Jongin accepted it graciously, closing his eyes so the wind wouldn't blow the smoke into them. Sehun dropped his head onto Jongin's shoulder and they stayed like that for the next five minutes, passing the joint between them quietly. When they were done, Sehun, having taken the last drag, flicked it away.

Jongin could still see the lit end burning from where he was sitting. As the red died out, he felt Sehun's hand slipping between his knees and then sliding down his thigh. He smiled and bit lip as Sehun raised his head and started nibbling at a particularly sensitive spot on his neck, he knew he already had a hickey there from the night before, because he wasn't usually so affected by sensations on his neck.

He moved to climb onto Sehun's lap and brought their faces together. The kisses were kind of horrible—their mouths were so dry from the pot—so they settled for quietly giggling into each other's necks and grabbing each other wherever they could. They couldn't tell how long they had been sitting out there in the cold, their frozen fingers exploring each other over and under their clothes, hearts fluttering and shivers vibrsting through them at the casual intimacy they fell into so easily.

The high was disorienting, the sounds of the street below barely registering in their ears, and their bodies and minds were relaxed. There was no rush in their movements. They had no where to be except right where they were, and as they were, breathing in each others scents and the other smells of the day—the sweat from practicing earlier, the weed, lingering aftershave and cologne—all sensations only adding to the sweetness of lost sobriety.

Suddenly, they heard the next door balcony door slide open and Jongin looked up in time to see Kyungsoo stumble out and collapse into a corner not illuminated by the dim light on his side. Sehun was startled at the scene, even more so when Kyungsoo's sobs reached their ears. Jongin quickly scrambled to his feet, steadying himself on the railingas he ignored the head rush, and Sehun followed shortly after, dusting himself off.

“Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo only looked up slightly and for just a second at the two boys before turning away completely.

“Kyungsoo, please answer me. Are you okay?”

“Leave me alone.”

Jongin was reminded so much of the Friday before. But this was immensely different. The last time, Kyungsoo had gotten up and pleasantly talked to Jongin, and tried to reassure him that he was okay, even if Jongin didn't believe him. This time, Kyungsoo seemed unwilling to move from the shadows and unwilling to speak to anyone.

Jongin had learned this past week, just how stubborn and confusing Kyungsoo could be. So he chose not to argue. Instead, he unsteadily climbs over the railing. He takes off his jacket—which takes a while, because his arm gets stuck and he can't tell up from down or left from right—and places it on Kyungsoo's shaking shoulders. Then he quietly turns away and Sehun helps him back over the railing.

Still holding onto Sehun's hand, he opens the balcony door without another word and goes inside, pulling Sehun in with him.

“Is that who you've been talking about?” Sehun asks him quietly once they're in comfortable clothing and under warm blankets.

“Yeah.”

“I think I see what you mean now.”

Jongin frowned. “What do you mean?”

“That intense desire to want to help him. I felt it too. And I haven't even seen his face.”

----

They go down to the studio again once they can't stand to keep their eyes closed anymore the next morning.

They didn't talk for too long the night before, but Jongin filled in Sehun a little on what had been going on, leaving out certain details. It probably wouldn't aid to gossip so he didn't say anything about the whole ‘I know you're married and have kids’ thing he heard Kyungsoo say, just that there had been an attempt to break up, but it hadn't apparently worked. He also left out the part where Kyungsoo came over to tell him to leave and then stayed the night—they had both agreed it could never happen again anyways and he didn't want the guilt to resurface from where he had pushed it down.

He did however express his concern about the state of Kyungsoo's mind. Saying he was okay, and not wanting to get help despite obviously knowing that he wasn't in a good place. He wouldn't have tried to end it if he wasn't at least a little aware of that.

Sehun listened to him, mostly quiet, but eliciting murmurs of agreement now and then. They fell asleep talking about it, though Jongin had wanted to talk more. Not about Kyungsoo, but about Sehun. Sehun hadn't spoken about his uncle since almost a week prior when he had shown up at Jongin's doorstep with beer they had never ended up drinking and Jongin had gotten punched in the face.

He thought to bring it up, but he didn't really know how to without feeling intrusive. True, they had used the word ‘boyfriend’ to describe each other just a day prior, but Jongin never felt comfortable inquiring about anyone's private life, and Sehun wasn't the kind of person to just go blurting out details of his life to, anyone, really. Truthfully, Jongin couldn't confidently say much about Sehun's life that didn't involve school, and he really wasn't sure how much Sehun knew about him either.

He decides to take the leap, however. The workout they receive from practice is refreshing, though their limbs are sore from the excessive hours from the night before and protest at every moment, it definitely wakes them up well and gets their blood pumping. Jongin is glad that he doesn't have to work that night. He's already keen on spending every moment possible with Sehun.

It's quite the cliché of the beginning of a relationship, he thinks. He's been spending more and more time with Sehun than with anyone else. He would never want to neglect his other friends because of a relationship but he's been in enough of them to know how important this first stage can be. It's the stage when comfort develops between two people, and they find out what makes each other the person who they are—weird ticks, pet peeves, good habits, bad habits, and definitely, things that they may not be so fond of about each other.

Which is another reason that Jongin hesitates slightly when Sehun shuts off the music and sinks down to the floor for some well deserved rest. Jongin grabs two water bottles before settling down next to Sehun, passing one to him. Jongin sips silently while Sehun points out some of the parts in the choreography where they weren't in sync or points where they might have to reevaluate their positions or postures as they looked awkward or unnatural. Jongin admired his eye for detail.

When Sehun lay back and sighed, draping his arm over his eyes, Jongin thought there might not be a better time.

“So, what's going on?”

“Huh?” Sehun peeked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“How are things? With your uncle and stuff?”

“Oh,” Sehun frowns.

Jongin thinks his initial intuition about not being nosy might have been right, but that is quickly dispelled when Sehun opens up to him, without hesitation.

“I'm not really sure. He apologized after that fight. I don't think his wife noticed that I drank her alcohol but he said he knew that I wasn't doing anything wrong. He's not really an emotional person so I was surprised that he actually started tearing up when he said he didn't really know where all of his sudden suspicion was coming from.”

“What did you say?”

“Well I didn't want to come right out and say ‘Your wife is brainwashing you’ so I kept my mouth shut and just accepted the apology. He was a street fighter when he was younger so it's wise to think twice before messing with his girl ya know?”

Jongin smiled a bit. “So everything okay then?”

Sehun sighed. “I really don't know. The day after that, on Tuesday, he told me I should start looking for a new place to stay. Then on Thursday, right before I told you to meet me at the party, he told me he would be worried for me if I chose to move out, as if he'd given me a choice in the first place, which he had not.”

Jongin frowned as Sehun spoke. He wasn't sure if the story was really confusing or he just couldn't grasp it. It was something interesting for sure.

“And I haven't seen or heard from him since then, since I've basically been with you the whole time. Not that I mind.” Sehun smirked, nudging Jongin with his knee. “You're great company.”

Jongin laid back too, intertwining his legs with Sehun's. “You know…”

“Hmm?”

“If you'd flirted like this before, this—us—might have happened sooner.”

----

They snagged a booth in the corner of a diner that served breakfast food throughout the day, away from the windows and the counter. Scooting in on one side, Jongin's thighs trapping Sehun next to the wall securely, and ignoring the looks from the waitress at their near childish behaviour and giggling, they really couldn't have wanted to be anywhere else in that moment. They really were great, just as they were, sneaking kisses only partially hidden by the menus in front of their faces even when they weren't sure that no one was looking, and asking what the other wanted to eat but never getting a proper reply because ‘oh look! is that a real jukebox or do you think it's just for show?’ or ‘the walls are literally the colour of puke jongin trust me i’ve puked plenty of times’. Eventually they ordered and soon enough their fingers were slick from greasy food and they were dabbing each other's mouths with brown napkins because it off might just be a little too indecent.

Just as they're about to leave, Sehun gets a text and announces that he has to go. But he insists on walking Jongin back first.

“It can wait,” he says.

“Are you sure? The way you sighed after reading that text tells me it's more important than you're making it seem.”

“Seriously, I'm sure. A detour isn't gonna kill anyone. Besides, next bus doesn't come for like half an hour.”

The moving truck from the day before was still there, but Jongin didn’t pay much attention to it, only slightly registering its presence.

They took the stairs up, knowing they were less likely to get caught face than if they took the elevator. Sehun told Jongin that his flat had a really weird vibe and Jongin wasn't as offended as he supposed he could be, since he sort of understood what Sehun meant. But halfway between the third and fourth floor, they heard the door to the stairwell open from a few flights above them. They froze with their faces still close together. Footsteps followed and they managed to scramble out of their precarious embrace just as set of legs reached their field of vision and a very familiar man stopped just a few steps above them.

“What are you doing here?” Sehun asked.

Jongin stared on, dumbfounded. “Professor Kim?”

“Jongin,” he greeted with a nod of his head. “This is a surprise. May I ask what you're doing in the stairwell of this building?”

“Well, uh, I—”

“He lives here,” Sehun answered for him. “You don't.”

He was ignored.

“Yeah, I live here. But what are you doing here, sir?”

“Just visiting someone. Your boss, actually.”

“You and Yifan know each other?”

“Well, actually, we met for the first time that day I recognized you at the coffee shop. Let's just say I've been back a couple of times.”

He smiled at the two boys, mainly Jongin—the smile only directed at Sehun because he was standing so close to Jongin—and continued down the stairs.

When they heard the stairwell door close shut after a few minutes, Sehun finally spoke up. “He's a booty call and he knows it. That's why he's too embarrassed to take the elevator.”

“I don't know… he didn't look too embarrassed about it. Besides,” Jongin slipped his arms around Sehun's waist and pouted with purpose, “we’rehiding in the stairwell too. Does that mean you're embarrassed?”

“Only when you try to be cute like that,” Sehun laughed, only getting louder when Jongin frowned at his comment. “Seriously, I can't be seen with you if there's a chance of you in talking like that in public.”

“Fine then,” Jongin pushed him away. “Don't be seen with me at all.”

Sehun pulled him back into an embrace, still laughing. “Don't talk like that. I'm going to start getting worried.”

Even though he knew Sehun was pretty much joking, he was reminded of what he had done only a few days ago.

He bowed his head, burying it into Sehun's vibrating chest and held onto him tightly. “You don't have to be worried.”

Sehun's laughter ceased, sensing Jongin's shift in mood. “I know. You don't either, just so you know.”

“I know.”

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Sehun realized he would miss his bus if he didn't run to catch it, which is exactly what he ended up doing.

----

Jongin didn't know why he did it—drink an entire six pack alone, the same one that Sehun had brought with him a week ago but had remained untouched in his fridge—but it had to do with the fact that it was late and Sehun had not texted him.

He promised, Jongin thought frantically. He'd text when he caught the bus, when he got off and then when he reached his uncle's house. Jongin had only received two out of three of those texts. That also, several hours ago. None of his own texts got replies and he was too scared to call because he very well knew that Sehun could have just forgotten to text and then fallen asleep before he had the chance to check his messages. Calling would mean that he would either wake him up for no reason, or no one would answer, and if there was no answer, then a million horror stories about what could have happened between the bus stop and his uncle's front door would start racing through his mind and he'd go crazy.

So he tried to distract himself, but the alcohol made him tense and anxious. Sehun was right. He was a lightweight and there was nothing keeping safe from his own thoughts in the lonely moments of the night. It was too different from being drunk at a party.

Next door was quiet, and Jongin couldn't honestly tell if that was a good sign or not. He decided that it was good, because it meant one less thing to worry about. He's just drifting off to sleep when the commotion starts. At first it's faint, but it's close. He hears Kyungsoo's voice and another. By the time his senses sharpen as he enters a more awake state Kyungsoo sounds like he's crying through his words. It's still so soft, so distorted.

But the next sound he hears definitely has him awake. He is sure, absolutely sure, he hears a gunshot. He so sure that he is out of bed and on the floor. He doesn't know why, but it sounded like he was hearing a fire cracker from a distance but in his drunken state he is sure, he is so sure he just know it couldn't have been anything else. Because his father hunted as a hobby, and he knew what a gun with a silencer screwed on sounded like. Exactly like something that could be mistaken for far away firecrackers and in the middle of a city, that isn't so far fetched.

His heart is beating much faster than he needs it to. The lump in his throat makes him choke on his staggered breaths. All he can hear is soft crying and whimpering and he knows that Kyungsoo has gotten himself into something he’ll never get out of.

The room starts spinning around him. He's definitely panicking now. The crying echoes around him and at first he's confused as to why it's so loud, but he realizes he's crying too. He's crying with Kyungsoo, right along with him. His entire sense of being is distorted. He can only just make out the sound of a door slamming loudly against a wall and then another firecracker, louder this time, before his bated breath gives up on him and he doesn't even notice consciousness slip away from him.

I wasn't going to update today because I have work but those super cute vapp broadcasts murdered me and now I have no choice!!!

Jongin is honestly an angel and Suho is so adorable and Sehun is such a proud puppy dad and Chanyeol is so talented and.... well obviously I could go on....

I'm just so happy stanning this group of beautiful people and I wish I could show them how much I appreciate all of them so much.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed more cute Sekai and a bit more plot development! Things are about to get very serious and very stressful for Jongin.

Why did Sehun not text Jongin? Did Jongin really hear what he thinks he did, or was he just overreacting because he's drunk and upset? Is Professor Kim a proud booty call or an embarrassed one?

If you're confused about anything in the story so far let me know!! And I apologize for this lengthy authors note :(