Interlude: Kaisoo pt 2

Jongin took a very deep breath as he stood in front of the door, fidgeting and tapping his feet as he hesitated whether to ring the bell or not. There was this queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach and he might have to go to the toilet soon but he couldn’t do that because he needed to ring the bell.

Yeah, I need to ring the bell. But, how???

Jongin stopped fidgeting and he stood still in front of the door, taking a deep breath and exhaling it heavily after. He fixed his hair and smoothened out his shirt before gathering his hands to his chest, closing his eyes while praying to God so that he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of Kyungsoo later.

He opened his eyes and puffed his cheeks to brace himself, reaching out a finger to press the bell but before he could do so, the door had opened and revealed Kyungsoo in a grey sweater and black jeans, looking very much cuter with the thick-rimmed round specs perched on his nose.

“Why aren’t you ringing the bell? I think I’ve heard you coming in through the gate since the last 20 minutes.”

Jongin opened and closed his mouth as he tried to say anything but he couldn’t because he was speechless at the cute sight of the man in front of him. He was really holding himself back from squishing the older in his arms; his hands were itching to pinch those cute cheeks.

However, when Kyungsoo’s words finally registered in his mind, Jongin quickly turned back and saw the gate of Kyungsoo’s house that he had opened earlier, which had screeched very loudly (if he remembered it correctly). Jongin grimaced at his own stupidity and he turned to face Kyungsoo again with a crooked grin, not knowing what to say.

Looked like his wish of not being embarrassing in front of Kyungsoo was not granted.

Kyungsoo just shook his head at that and he bent down to wear his shoes, shouting to his mother that he’d be going before walking pass by Jongin, who was still much frozen in front of the door. Kyungsoo turned around with a raised eyebrow, confused on why Jongin was still there.

“You’re not going or what?”

Jongin slapped his face mentally and shook his head to grasp back his mind, which had been far away because of Kyungsoo’s cute appearance alone. He then rushed to Kyungsoo and nodded to the older. “Let’s go.” Kyungsoo just looked at Jongin for a moment – which made Jongin feel even more nervous because the older looked like he was judging Jongin – before walking out of his house followed by the younger.

“So what movie are we watching?”

The two of them were walking side by side, heading towards the bus stop to go to the cinema when Kyungsoo suddenly threw the question. Jongin was startled at that, first because Kyungsoo was so quiet along the way before he suddenly asked Jongin the question and two, because JONGIN FREAKING DIDN’T BOOK ANY TICKETS OR EVEN HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT WHAT MOVIE TO WATCH!!

Jongin was starting to freak out in his mind, gulping the lump in his throat as he looked down at Kyungsoo, who was expecting an answer from him. Jongin hadn’t even thought about what to watch since he was just asking Kyungsoo out suddenly, without a plan, and he didn’t even expect the older to agree.

Jongin bit his lips as he averted his gaze, trying to find an escape since he didn’t want Kyungsoo to think that he’s a lousy person or anything like that. It was by chance that they were nearing the bus stop and coincidentally, the bus was already there so Jongin of course took the chance.

“Look, the bus! Hurry or we’ll miss it!”

Without thinking about anything, Jongin quickly grabbed Kyungsoo’s smaller hand – his hand is so soft and small asjdgkashdgldfj Kyungsoo hyung is the cutest – and dragged the older with him to the bus. They were lucky that they got to get on the bus in time, saying thanks to the driver for waiting for them. Jongin then paid for their fare and they both walked to sit at the farthest back seat, huffing and panting as they slumped onto the seats. Jongin glanced at Kyungsoo and noticed that his glasses were slipping down his nose a bit, making he looked utterly adorable. Without he realizing it, the tanned male had reached out his right hand to push the specs back upwards, taking Kyungsoo by surprise.

Jongin’s eyes widened when he noticed what he had done and he could feel heat creeping up his cheeks, so he quickly looked out the window, not wanting to see what Kyungsoo’s reaction will be. He didn’t know why he did that, it was just an involuntary act and Jongin really didn’t mean to do that. He was busy hitting himself in his head when Kyungsoo called him suddenly.

“Jongin.”

Jongin trapped his lower lip in between his teeth as he turned around to look at Kyungsoo, still feeling himself blushing and hoping badly that Kyungsoo wouldn’t say anything about what just happened. And he really hoped that the older wouldn’t bail out from their date – yes, Jongin thought this as a date – because of what he had done just now.

“Jongin.”

“Hm, yeah?”

Kyungsoo looked up at Jongin, noticing how nervous the other looked and Kyungsoo knew that Jongin was really nervous. He could feel how nervous the tanned male was because

“You’re still holding my hand, Jongin.”

Jongin’s eyebrows rose in shock and he quickly looked down and much to his horror, his left hand was still holding onto Kyungsoo’s right hand tightly – that he had held when they were running to the bus earlier - without him even realizing it. Jongin quickly pulled away his hand, saying sorry meekly and he turned his whole body to face the window, hiding his red face because he didn’t want to let Kyungsoo see him being so embarrassing like this.

Unfortunately, Jongin missed the chance to see the amused smile Kyungsoo was giving him.

---

Jongin was still being awkward when they went off the bus so Kyungsoo just let him be. It was kind of weird to see Jongin behaving like this, because Jongin had always been a one confident guy. However, Kyungsoo had noticed from all the time they spent together recently, that Jongin was just a kid that somehow trapped inside a very y body – not that Kyungsoo checked his body out but yeah, everyone knew that fact.

The two of them were walking by a pretty secluded and dark area, which was just around 15 minutes away from the cinema. Maybe the fact that it was only Tuesday, so not many people came out that night. Kyungsoo noticed that Jongin kept glancing at him, looking like he wanted to start a conversation but maybe his embarrassment was still there, so he seemed hesitant.

Kyungsoo was comfortable with the silence anyway, so he didn’t really mind it.

But after some times of watching Jongin fidgeting with his fingers and just looking awkward while walking, Kyungsoo decided to start any conversation, just to help the tanned guy to feel at ease. However, before Kyungsoo could say anything, he was interrupted with a scream from a nearby alley, the one that they just had passed by.

Jongin was startled when he heard that and he looked at Kyungsoo, who looked alarmed too. They both waited for a while to confirm their hearing and both flinched when they heard a woman screaming for help once again. There were no one there except them, so without thinking for long, both Jongin and Kyungsoo ran to the alley.

They were taken aback when they saw a drunkard was harassing a woman there, trying to snatch her handbag. Kyungsoo was kind of lost on what should he do but he didn’t have to ponder on it for long since Jongin had decided to run towards the two struggling people and straightaway punching the assaulter. The drunkard staggered back from the punch and he tried to fight back but obviously Jongin was winning since he was sober and stronger. Kyungsoo then wasted no time and ran to the woman, asking her whether she was fine or not, trying his best to calm down the crying woman.

Kyungsoo didn’t know how long it took but after some more groans and punches, Jongin finally came up to him and the woman, successfully in sending the crazy man away. “Are you okay, ma’am?” Kyungsoo kept on rubbing the woman’s back as she was getting calmer and he looked at Jongin, who was asking some questions to the woman. Kyungsoo was a bit shocked to see Jongin’s red cheek, maybe because of the fight just now, though he couldn’t tell how bad it was since it was pretty dark in the alleyway.

They both had waited for the woman’s husband to fetch her up, learning that she was waiting for her husband as she just get off from work when suddenly the drunk man tried to take her bag. She was thanking both Jongin and Kyungsoo profusely, and when her husband arrived, he also joined in, making Kyungsoo and Jongin felt slightly awkward.

They both could only breathe in relief when the married couple went away, that was only after Jongin convinced them both that he didn’t want any money or whatsoever. The tanned male sighed and winced a bit when he started to feel his jaw aching, sure that it would bruise later on. He cursed in his mind at the drunkard, because who the got drunk at 8 pm? That was just too early for that and he just had to ruin Jongin’s first date with Kyungsoo.

I really should punch him till he can’t even move for ruining my date with Kyungsoo! Ugh, that bastard better watch his back or else he’d die when I meet him again!

Jongin was busy cursing in his mind and he kept on wincing, feeling the ache in his jaw starting to intensify. The dancer then held up his hand, wanting to sooth his aching jaw but before he could, a hand had held onto his chin, pulling on his chin softly so that he looked down a bit. Jongin gulped when he felt the smaller hand softly holding onto his face and he could feel his heart beating faster when Kyungsoo stepped closer to check on his now bruised jaw.

“This is quite bad. We have to treat you fast or it’ll become swollen.”

Jongin couldn’t respond anything as he looked at Kyungsoo’s scrunched and worried face, which was really close to his own face that he could feel Kyungsoo’s breath on him. Kyungsoo looked very much concerned and the older actually nagged a bit on how Jongin should not act rashly and should’ve waited for other people to help you so that your face wouldn’t get punched like this and any other things.

“But she was in need. If we haven’t stepped in, we don’t know what would’ve happened to her. Besides, that bastard was just asking for a lesson from me. Who asked him to do these nasty things anyway?”

“But Jongin, you’re hurt now. If we waited for a police, at least you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“No, I wanted to teach that guy a lesson myself. He is such a jerk. Who the hell get drunk at this time? And trying to rob people on top of that?”

Kyungsoo sighed as he listened to Jongin complaining, looking so angry ~~and somehow hot~~ when he was being serious like this. The older however was still not going to accept that the fact Jongin had endangered himself just to help others.

“But I can’t just watch people getting hurt. I have noonas and I don’t want things like this to happen to them. I don’t want things like this to ever happen to the people that I love.” Jongin then held onto Kyungsoo’s hand, to stop him from fussing over his bruised jaw and to make Kyungsoo focused on him. “Especially if it happens to you. Even when I know that you’re capable of protecting yourself, but I’ll still come to rescue you, hyung.”

To say Kyungsoo was shocked was an understatement. He was rendered speechless by what Jongin had said and he seriously didn’t know what to respond to that. He was amazed by how righteous Jongin was and how nice the man actually was. But the fact that Jongin was looking straight into his eyes when he said those words made Kyungsoo’s heart unconsciously skipped a beat. And Kyungsoo somehow felt touched with his words and the way Jongin’s dark brown eyes were shining brightly with honesty right now.

Not wanting to be lost in those attractive eyes, Kyungsoo quickly decided to change the topic.

“Your house is closer than mine, right? Let’s just go to your house and get that jaw treated.”

Jongin was pulled out of his seriousness when Kyungsoo suddenly asked him that, a bit disappointed that he was not getting any response from the older guy. But Jongin was satisfied with the fact that he could say what his heart wanted to say and it was enough for him. Putting all the feelings aside, Jongin automatically pouted when he realized that Kyungsoo was asking them to go back home already. He scrunched his eyebrows as he looked down at the older, pouting slightly.

“But, we haven’t even watched the movie yet.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but to scrunch his eyebrows at that, pulling away from Jongin with his arms crossed. “You think I’m going to let you go to a movie with me with that face?”

Jongin pouted even more when Kyungsoo said that and it was proven to be such a bad move because he winced loudly after, feeling the ache and the stinging feel at his jaw. Kyungsoo just put on a ‘I told you so’ expression on his face before he dragged Jongin back to the bus stop, heading towards Jongin’s house.

---

“Where’s the first aid kit?”

Kyungsoo asked the tanned male, who was resting on the couch in his house while walking towards the direction that Jongin was telling him. Once he got the aid kit, Kyungsoo walked back to Jongin and sat on the couch in front of him, starting to treat the now bruised jaw.

“You live alone?”

Jongin winced slightly when Kyungsoo accidentally pressed hard on the bruise when he was applying the ointment, making the older apologized sheepishly. Jongin felt his heart beating loud as he looked at Kyungsoo’s concentrated face, just right in front of his own that he could see Kyungsoo’s long eyelashes and how flawless Kyungsoo’s skin was.

But he was snapped out of his thought when Kyungsoo asked him again, as Jongin took too long to answer.

“Ah.. hm.. I actually live here with Sehun. But Luhan hyung asked Sehun to live with him, so yeah.. that brat leaves me alone here.”

Kyungsoo hummed as he finished off putting the ointment on Jongin’s jaw and he walked off to put away the aid kit back to its place, all the while observing the small studio apartment. It was just perfect for two people to live in – small but still looking homey. He was actually a bit surprised to see how neat the apartment was because he really didn’t think Jongin would be that neat.

Going back to the living room with an ice pack in his hand, Kyungsoo smiled a bit when he saw Jongin pouting while mumbling things to himself as the tanned male kept on looking at his own face with a mirror. Jongin pretty much seemed frustrated when he himself saw how bad he looked but he quickly put away the mirror when he noticed Kyungsoo coming.

“Here, hold it to your face.” Kyungsoo handed Jongin the ice pack and the dancer took it with a small thanks and put it on his face, listening to what Kyungsoo told him. Kyungsoo hummed in satisfaction when he saw that and he then looked down at Jongin, “So, if that’s it, I’m going home first. You just rest and don’t-“

“No, don’t go back yet.”

Jongin panicked when he heard Kyungsoo excusing himself so without thinking, he just grabbed a hold of Kyungsoo’s wrist, looking up at the older with his puppy eyes. “S-Stay here for a bit. We.. We can watch a movie?”

Jongin offered Kyungsoo a crooked grin, hoping that the male would consider staying for a bit. They didn’t even get to spend time for so long and Jongin would not let this once in a lifetime chance go away just like that. He wanted to spend time with Kyungsoo, and he would. Nothing could stop him from doing so, not even his bruised jaw.

Kyungsoo looked down at him while blinking, seemingly contemplating whether wanting to stay or not. He was thinking that he could go home and let Jongin rest but when he saw Jongin’s pleading eyes shining brightly at him, he found himself nodding and agreeing.

Jongin’s face brightened in a blink of an eye when he saw Kyungsoo nodding and his smile widened, making him wince a bit but that didn’t stop him from smiling wide. “Great! Why don’t you choose the movie? I’ll go prepare some popcorn for us.”

Kyungsoo didn’t get to stop Jongin as he had vanished into thin air, going to the kitchen excitedly and leaving the ice pack on the couch just like that. Kyungsoo shook his head at that and he took the ice pack to put it on the coffee table and went to look for the movie. He was lost at first, not knowing where the movies at but then he noticed the stack of cds arranged neatly in the cabinet under the television. So, he crouched down and started looking for the movies that he wanted to watch.

To say that Kyungsoo was surprised was an understatement. He couldn’t help but to scoff as he looked at Jongin’s movie collection, never expecting that the tanned male would watch things like this.

Kyungsoo blinked as he looked at each movie titles, snickering to himself when he noticed that Jongin got a full collection of Barbie movies, recorded reruns of Spongebob Squarepants, Pororo and more animation movies. Only some of them were action movies so Kyungsoo thought that maybe they could enjoy a Pororo show for tonight.

Putting on the cd inside the cd player, the show then started and Pororo theme song came to play, making Kyungsoo smirking wide when he heard Jongin cursing out loud from the kitchen. True to his guess, Jongin then came out running from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn in his hands while his face blushing bright red, his eyes wide when he saw Kyungsoo sitting in front of the television with the stack of Barbie movies in his hands.

“I don’t know that the hottest dancer in the university likes Barbie.”

Jongin shrieked as he dumped the bowl on the couch, spilling some of the popcorn before lunging himself towards Kyungsoo and taking all the cds away from Kyungsoo quickly. It was such an embarrassing moment for him that he even ignored Kyungsoo calling him ‘the hottest dancer’ because I won’t be the hottest anymore if people found out I’m watching Barbie!!!

The owl-eyed man just snickered in amazement as he watched Jongin spluttering in embarrassment while busy keeping the cds back into the cabinet. The tanned male didn’t even dare to look into Kyungsoo’s eyes, giving Kyungsoo the view of his red ears and cheeks.

Not wanting to torture the guy even more, Kyungsoo got up from his spot and went to the couch, enjoying the popcorn as he watched Jongin slumping down in front of the television after he was done putting away all the cds. Kyungsoo chuckled when he saw the dancer having mental breakdown and decided that he shouldn’t do that to the younger.

“Yah Jongin, come here. You said you wanted to watch movie with me, so come here fast.”

Kyungsoo just shook his head with a chuckle when Jongin didn’t move, still sitting there while hiding his face with his hands so Kyungsoo decided to play dirty. “Well then, I’ll just go home-“

“Okay, okay, I’m coming!”

Kyungsoo smirked when Jongin suddenly sprang up from his spot and came to sit beside Kyungsoo on the couch, his mouth forming a little pout. Kyungsoo handed him the ice pack once again, reminding Jongin to hold it against his jaw and they then sat there together watching the Pororo show quietly – with Kyungsoo watching and Jongin still sulking over being laughed by Kyungsoo. The owl-eyed male was enjoying the show when he heard Jongin mumbling something under his breath.

“What?”

He turned to look at Jongin, who was now looking almost like a 5-year-old boy sulking over his fallen ice cream. “I said, those movies are not mine. T-they are all my niece’s..”

Kyungsoo couldn’t hold back his laugh when he realized that Jongin was still hung up on that and still trying to deny the fact, although he’s not very convincing. Kyungsoo tilted his head slightly as he reached out to pat Jongin on his head, “Okay, okay, I believe you.”

Only after Kyungsoo said that, Jongin finally smiled again. He looked very much contented as he hummed and nodded, seemingly satisfied that Kyungsoo was believing his words. Kyungsoo just shook his head and they continued watching the show, laughing at some funny scenes.

“But you know, it’s very cute of you to keep all those childish movies here.”

“Hyung~!!!”

---

Kyungsoo was startled slightly when Jongin’s head suddenly fell on top of his shoulder, taking him by surprise. “Yah Kim Jongin, get off. Your head is heavy.” Kyungsoo shrugged his shoulders as he said so, wanting to get Jongin off him but the tanned male was unresponsive, his head almost lolling down if it was not for Kyungsoo’s hand holding him in place.

Kyungsoo tilted his head to peer over Jongin’s face and he was stunned to see that Jongin had fallen asleep while still holding the ice pack to his own face. They were just watching and munching on the popcorn while commenting on the Poporo show just now, so it was kind of amazing that Jongin had suddenly fallen asleep just like that.

The older male let out a small smile as he watched Jongin snoring lightly, sleeping just like a little kid.

Somehow, Kyungsoo felt happy that he had agreed to hang out with Jongin. He had such a great time getting to know these many sides of Jongin. He had always known Jongin as the hot guy in their university – with his y bronze skin and the charisma he had when he was dancing on stage. Everyone had the hots for Kim Jongin (or better known as Kim Kai), it was a well-known fact.

And all these times that they had spent together, Kyungsoo had noticed how Jongin turned childish and whiny – totally different from the Kim Kai – when he was with the people he’s comfortable with; how he always had banters with Sehun and how he pranked Luhan and Chanyeol together with Sehun. He also got to see how childish Jongin was, with all the movie collection that he had. And Kyungsoo also noticed all the figurines and teddy bears that lined up on the shelf – learning that Jongin was such a child at heart.

Kyungsoo had seen how righteous Jongin was, how he was not afraid to do what he wanted and how firm he was when something that was not right happened – just like how he carelessly went and punched the drunken man earlier. And all these while, Jongin had always been forward and sure with what he wanted; he was so confident in everything that he did.

Including how forward he was when he approached Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo’s heart-shaped lips were pulled up into a small smile as he uncovered all these layers of Kim Jongin’s behavior. His smile widened when Jongin let out a small grunt before he snuggled closer to Kyungsoo’s shoulder, seemingly liking the warmth. Kyungsoo’s hand automatically went up and towards Jongin’s hair, wanting to run his fingers through Jongin’s brown locks but Kyungsoo hesitated halfway when he realized what he was going to do.

Maybe, just maybe, Jongin’s efforts had started to be acknowledged by Kyungsoo.

Maybe, just maybe, Kyungsoo was attracted to Jongin too.

Maybe, just maybe, Jongin would get the one person that he wanted soon.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Jongin let out a soft hum as he snuggled closer to the warmth, feeling contented with the soft touch on his head; that was caressing him with so much care and affection.