When Jongin rips open the dreaded letter from his phone company and sees the digits printed neatly along the line at the bottom of the page telling him how much he spent this month, he nearly bursts into tears right then and there. The only thing that holds him back is the fact that he is in the middle of his apartment building's staircase and public humiliation is definitely not his thing. Still, he's pretty close to crying.

He already knew that he was going to receive a bill like this at the end of the month so that part doesn't really come as much of a surprise to him. As depressing as it sounds Jongin has been making frequent calls to a phone service. The front page of the website had advertised 'five thousand won for the first five minutes, two thousand for every initiated minute after that' so he was kind of prepared for an outcome like this.

However, simply knowing that you're going to be billed at some point in the future and actually holding a piece of paper predicting your impending doom are, apparently, two very different feelings. He didn't know it would be this bad either. "Five hundred thousand won," Jongin mutters to himself as if saying it out loud will soften the blow (it doesn't). Staring down at the bill he knocks his forehead against the wall next to the mailboxes over and over. "Five. Hundred. Thousand." His parents are going to murder him. Someone will have to pull his body out of the Han River.

Once the growing bump on his forehead is becoming too painful for him to handle and he's starting to get a little dizzy, he halts his self-mutilation session, shoves the letter, envelope and all, into his backpack and shrugs the thing back onto his shoulders. Dragging his feet over the scuff-marked tiles of the floor, he makes his way towards the elevator to ride it up to the floor his parents' apartment is on. Even though, to be honest, he'd much rather run away from home than have to face his father after this. It's definitely the safer option. He doesn't want to end up as fish food.

Jongin is too busy mourning what will most likely be the death of his already perpetually suffering bank account as well as thinking up the quickest and least painful method of ending his own life to notice the person heading towards the lift with fast steps. "Hold the door, please!" someone calls out almost desperately and Jongin, out of instinct, quickly extends his arm to make sure the doors don't close on the other. Soon Jongin is met with the sight of a young male, someone who is a little shorter than himself, but probably around the same age. When he smiles, his chubby cheeks are pushed up to turn his eyes into charming half moons and his face is cute, framed by short, dark hair. "Thank you," he says, he sounds a little breathless from running.

Since they live in the same area, Jongin has seen the other around a couple of times, but he has never been as close to him as this and now he can't stop staring. Because it's him. This guy is the reason for Jongin's excessive phone use. He is the sole reason why Jongin called that place over and over and over again once he found out a couple of months ago that the guy worked there because Jongin is a coward with next to no social skill and he has no idea how to properly approach someone he's interested in.

What started as a want to just hear his crush's voice soon turned into an addiction and it has now resulted in a five hundred thousand won phone bill and Jongin doesn't even know the guy's real name. He only knows the one he introduced himself with all the times Jongin called; D.O. But here he is, bright and cute and smiling and Jongin's palms are turning clammy and there are beads of sweat forming along his hairline and he feels queasy (but that could quite possibly be from all the blows he took to the head earlier).

He realizes that the other has spoken to him again. "Huh?" he says rather dumbly.

"I asked you if you're okay," D.O repeats as he looks Jongin up and down with obvious concern in the set of his brows and, oh God, even his eyebrows are cute, what the hell is going on? "You look a little... uncomfortable."

"M'fine," Jongin manages to mumble. He quickly averts his gaze and chooses to stare pointedly at the wall instead until the other eventually shrugs and looks away. The button the stranger-who's-not-quite-a-stranger has pressed is the one for the floor right below Jongin's, he notices, which means that the person Jongin calls his crush in lack of a better word lives pretty much right under him. (Although he'd like the other to be under him in more ways than one. What.)

Gulping, Jongin chances another look at the shorter male, who is standing next to him with his large eyes directed at the ticking numbers above the elevator's door. He doesn't exactly look like the type of person Jongin would picture having that kind of job. Jongin can't even get himself to give that kind of job an actual title in his head, mostly because he doesn't want to think about the other doing things like that with guys who aren't him. He promptly feels ridiculous for feeling that way when the other is barely even aware of Jongin's existence.

Right now the guy is wearing casual jeans and worn-out sneakers and a dark blue parka with faux fur lining the hood and he's clutching the handles of a plastic bag in both of his hands and there is really nothing particularly outstanding about his appearance at all, except... Jongin's gaze drops to the other's lips that are even fuller than his own and he recalls all the times the D.O on the phone talked about the many wonderful things he could do with that mouth, usually involving his tongue and Jongin's lower body and...

Jongin shifts on the spot, flushed and feverish. Thoughts of that nature work wonders for a deprived, hormone-driven teenage male such as himself and he can't exactly say that thoughts like these are very welcome in the current situation, not when he's standing literally a foot away from his crush. Inhaling through his nose and exhaling as inaudibly as possible through his mouth, Jongin tries to calm himself and his rushing pulse down and he wonders if D.O can hear him with how loud he's breathing. That thought only makes him try even harder to get it under control.

He makes the grave mistake of clearing his throat, which in turn makes the other male turn his head to peer at him. He looks at Jongin's face and then, for some reason, down at his pants and then back at his face again. Except the second time around his eyes have widened substantially in an expression of shock and Jongin realizes, much to his horror, that he's hard. He's hard and his sweatpants do absolutely nothing to hide that he is and it's obvious from the look on his face, a look that is wavering between disgusted and horrified, that D.O has noticed it as well.

Now on the verge of panicking, Jongin opens his mouth to defend himself, to assure the other that he's not a ert or anything, but it strikes him that he can't talk. The risk of the other male recognizing his voice is, in Jongin's opinion, too great and that is not something he wants to happen. So instead he just stares at him in an attempt to make him understand that he means no harm. D.O doesn't seem to understand this, though. He takes a few shaky steps away from Jongin until he's almost pressed against the wall, still eyeing the other cautiously.

Jongin is in the middle of contemplating whether or not to break his cover by saying something when everything suddenly goes black. Pitch black. And once Jongin gets over the initial shock of not being able to see he realizes that the elevator has stopped moving too. He's stuck in an elevator with the person he's attracted to, who, by the way, probably thinks he's a ert, and to top everything off it's completely dark now. Jongin all but panics.

The sound of D.O cursing under his breath breaks through the momentary silence and halts Jongin's panic attack. Jongin can hear him rummaging around and then there's suddenly light. Vague, bluish light, but light nonetheless. D.O has found his cellphone and he's using it as a makeshift flashlight. He aims the light at the control panel, pressing the alarm button and, when that doesn't work, several floor buttons and when that doesn't work either he curses again.

He then turns to look right at Jongin, who flinches a little. "Do you have a phone?" he asks in a harsh tone. Jongin hesitates before slowly shaking his head. He does have a cellphone, it's in his backpack, but he used up all his battery life to talk to D.O the previous night and he forgot to charge it so it died halfway through the day. D.O clicks his tongue and mumbles a sarcastic: "Wonderful." He fiddles for a bit with his phone and then the source of light is dimmed somewhat when he presses it to his ear. Jongin fidgets nervously in the dark, trying to calm himself down.

It takes a few seconds before someone picks up and when they do, they're talking loud enough for Jongin to hear a deep male voice exclaiming an overeager "Kyungsoo!", which the other responds to by pulling a face and telling him to be a little more quiet. Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo. Discreetly, Jongin tries the name out for himself, mouthing it without sound a couple of times. Kyungsoo. It feels good rolling off his tongue. He bites back a smile.

The person on the other end has quieted down upon request and now Jongin only catches D.O's - Kyungsoo's - part of the conversation, something about a blackout and something about traffic that he can't quite make sense of, but he's too busy to watch Kyungsoo's mouth shape out the words he speaks to really pay attention. Jongin can't help but imagine what those lips would look like muttering the words he's been hearing over the phone for the past month or so, the words that have him into his own hand within ten minutes on most days.

After a while of exchanging information and eventually with a final promise of getting them help, the person on the other end, Kyungsoo's friend, hangs up. Then things are quiet again, quiet enough for Jongin's gulp to be audible in the silence. Despite his efforts to keep himself somewhat silent, everything sounds loud to him. He's sure Kyungsoo can hear him now, can hear his ragged breathing, the way it wheezes through his nose. It's not very attractive, Jongin thinks and frowns.

"There's a power outage," the other says suddenly and Jongin, though he will never consciously admit to it if it was to be brought up in future conversation, starts a little (he really has to stop doing that). He snaps his head around to see Kyungsoo looking down at the screen of his phone. "Our part of the city is totally out. Traffic is at a standstill. No one quite knows yet when it's going to be fixed, but I'm pretty sure two guys stuck in an elevator are not first priority."

"Hm," is all Jongin says. He would have settled for nodding, but Kyungsoo still isn't looking at him.

He does just that in the next second, however, raising his gaze to peer cautiously at Jongin before dropping it to somewhere around where his crotch is, furrowing his brow. For the first time in his life Jongin is actually kind of thankful for the darkness. It hides the fact that he's still half hard under his sweatpants. Kyungsoo clears his throat. "I... I know krav maga, just so you know, so... don't try anything f-funny."

Even though Jongin is pretty sure that Kyungsoo doesn't know any type of self defense, he doesn't say anything about that. He just nods and gives another curt: "Hm."

Kyungsoo shoots him a sidelong glance. "Do you even talk?" he mumbles, but it sounds like it's a question directed mostly at himself so Jongin chooses to remain silent this time. The other continues in a feigned chipper tone after letting out a deep sigh: "Well, I guess all we can do now is wait for the power to come back." Jongin nods his agreement.

They end up with both of them seated on the floor, leaning back against the walls of the elevator because there's really no reason for them to stay standing. After all none of them know how long they're going to be there. It could be hours. They're sitting in opposite ends of the small metal contraption. Kyungsoo is obviously trying hard to keep his distance. He still doesn't seem to trust Jongin, not in the least, but there's no way for him to avoid him so he just stays as far away as possible. Jongin hates himself for giving such a bad first impression.

The smaller male's face is lit from below by the phone that casts long, scary-looking shadows across his fair skin. He has his head thrown back and he looks exasperated and defeated all at once and Jongin just wants to give him a great, big hug. But that would probably come off as weird seeing as they're technically strangers. Whenever the light goes out it's only out for a few seconds because Kyungsoo makes sure to touch his screen to make it glow again and Jongin is thankful for that. He's thankful for whatever little light there is.

But then suddenly the screen doesn't come back on after the expected amount of seconds. Right away Jongin feels his heart rate skyrocket, while his stomach plummets and the combination of the two is definitely not pleasant. He tries to make out Kyungsoo's form in the blackness, but it's too dark for him to see anything. He can barely see his own hand even when he holds it in front of his face. He opens his mouth to say something, to ask Kyungsoo to please, please, turn the phone back on because Jongin can't, he can't do this, the darkness, he just can't.

A stuttered "Please" is all he manages to croak out and he knows he's breaking the previous promise he made to himself about not talking, but in this case he feels that it's necessary.

Kyungsoo doesn't seem to hear his plea, though. "Damnit," he sighs. "Now my battery is dead. I guess that means no more light for us." A low thump indicates that he throws his head back against the wall. He lets out a short, mirthless chuckle as well. "I hope you're not afraid of the dark or anything." Accidentally Jongin whimpers at this and Kyungsoo is quick to catch on, exclaiming: "Oh my God you are afraid of the dark, aren't you?"

"M'not," Jongin mumbles in the stubborn tone he's so accustomed to using, but his voice is trembling and it's very noticeable. He pulls his legs up to his chest and hides his face by his knees as if that's going to help anything. "I'm not afraid, I'm not, I'm not." His breath turns erratic again and comes out ragged and he's struggling and failing to get it under control and it sounds incredibly loud in the tiny space they're trapped in.

"Hey, hey, it's alright." Even over the noise of his own harsh inhales and exhales Jongin can hear Kyungsoo moving. His voice gets gradually louder as he approaches. "Most people are afraid of something. It's alright to admit it." A touch to Jongin's arm has the boy flinching, but that doesn't deter Kyungsoo. He wraps his fingers around Jongin's wrist with the pad of his thumb pressed against his pulse and he stays like that. "Focus on my voice. Talk to me."

"I'm not afraid of the dark," Jongin says again after a few tries, eyes darting everywhere despite not being able to see anything. "I'm afraid of what's in it." He expects the other to laugh at him and tell him he's stupid and that there's nothing there because that's the reaction he usually always gets whenever he tells anyone about his fears (and he always subsequently tells himself that the person who doesn't believe in monsters is usually the first to die in horror movies).

Kyungsoo's answer surprises him. "I'm sure we're going to be okay since there's two of us. We can protect each other." He gives Jongin's knee a squeeze and Jongin didn't realize until now that the other's hand, the one that is not holding his wrist, is now resting there. The flush travels quickly across his skin at the mere thought. Oh man. "You never told me your name, by the way."

"I'm J-Jongin." The way his voice cracks in the middle of uttering his own name is everything but impressive. "Kim Jongin. And I'm not... I'm not a ert... by the way."

"I'm Do Kyungsoo and good, because I don't even know what krav maga is." The laugh Jongin lets out at this is embarrassingly loud and he slaps a hand in front of his mouth in shame. Kyungsoo is laughing too, though, at that makes everything a bit more bearable. His fingers are still cold around Jongin's wrist despite the heat burning on the latter's skin. "Hey," Kyungsoo says after a moment of hesitation. "This... this is probably going to sound really stupid, but... have we met before?"

Jongin's throat clicks when he swallows. He knew it was a bad idea to talk. "I... I don't think so."

"But..." Kyungsoo sounds thoughtful. "There's just... there's something... familiar about you. Really familiar. I just can't-"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that we haven't met," Jongin interjects, maybe a bit too quickly for it to seem natural. It's not a lie, though, this is technically the first time they meet in person. Kyungsoo remains silent. The fact that Jongin can't see his expression, is rather unnerving. He lets out a sheepish chuckle. "Maybe I just have a type of face that's very common?"

"It's not your face, it's..." He doesn't finish his sentence and in the next second his touch is gone.

Jongin furrows his brow, instinctively grappling for the other male, because the loss of his presence is more than a little unwelcome, he liked having him close, but he only gets a hold of empty air and Kyungsoo is nowhere within reach. Jongin can feel the panic well up in him again for more reasons than one. "K-Kyungsoo?"

"Are you stalking me?" The other's voice sounds more distant now and indicates that he has moved away from Jongin.

"Wh-what? What are you-?"

"You're Kai, right?" Jongin blanches. The anxiety hits him full force and doesn't know what to say, he doesn't want to lie to Kyungsoo. He's not a very good liar anyway. He chooses not to say anything. "Come on, we've been talking so much, I recognize your voice by now. It's you, isn't it?" Silence. "Are you stalking me?" he repeats impatiently, the trembling of his voice easily gives away his fear. Kyungsoo is scared. This wasn't what Jongin wanted.

On wobbly legs he gets up from the floor, but he stays in his side of the elevator. "I'm not," he assures the other. "I'm not, I promise. I-I live in this building, on the twenty-fifth floor, I just... I've seen you around and I think you're really cute and I like you and I wanted to talk to you, but I... I don't know. I-I'm not stalking you, though, I just-" He stops abruptly when the light in the elevator suddenly flickers back on and he squints at the sudden brightness. His gaze quickly finds Kyungsoo, who is pressed up against the opposite wall. As expected he looks terrified, eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets with how he's staring, and Jongin bites down on his bottom lip. He's desperate to convince the other that he's not planning on hurting him.

An idea suddenly hits him. He reaches into his backpack - he doesn't miss the way Kyungsoo flinches at the sudden movement - and pulls out the phone bill he shoved in there earlier. Covering the space between them in quick steps, he hands the letter to the cowering male, who accepts it hesitantly after a few seconds of staring. "What...?" Jongin just points to the envelope and he's sure his hopefulness is showing in his eyes, but he just really wants Kyungsoo to believe him and the name and address that are printed on the paper should at least prove that he's not lying. Kyungsoo looks from the letter to Jongin and back to the letter again and the tension in his shoulders fade a little bit. "So you really do live here."

"I do."

Pensively, Kyungsoo lets his gaze wander from Jongin's feet, up his legs and torso and all the way to his face. They lock eyes. Jongin holds his breath and wills himself not to look away despite his usual inability to keep eye contact for long periods of time without starting to feel uncomfortable. "You're... a bit different from how I had imagined you to be," Kyungsoo eventually says.

Jongin swallows something. "So are you." He hadn't imagined D.O, the phone worker who seems to confident about everything, to be so adorable in person, so timid, almost.

It's Kyungsoo who averts his gaze first and he does with a flush coloring his cheeks and, holy , he's so cute it hurts. He leans his head back to look up at the ceiling light with a wide-eyed expression (but he's probably just wide-eyed all the time, Jongin thinks to himself). "The power's back on," he remarks as if he only just noticed. Or maybe he's trying to draw the attention away from himself. In any case Jongin nods. Even though the elevator should be working now it's still motionless, however, and none of them make any move to try to get it to start again. "So..." Kyungsoo still looks hesitant, but he continues nonetheless: "You like me?"

"I'm so bad at these things," Jongin admits, wringing his hands. "Like, really, really terrible. I... I wanted to talk to you, but I'm an idiot when it comes to talking to people. I didn't know how to... to talk to you. I didn't know how to approach you." The flush is creeping up his neck again.

Kyungsoo remains silent and even though Jongin is looking down at his own feet rather than at the other he knows that Kyungsoo is most likely judging him, he just knows it. So when Kyungsoo exhales slowly, Jongin fears the worst. He already expects the laughter, the disgust, the rejection, the... "Can I come back to your place?"

Jongin snaps his head up. "What?" Well, he certainly didn't expect that.

"Can I come back to your place?" Kyungsoo repeats, slower this time, and Jongin briefly wonders whether the other is messing with him, but he looks completely serious. Determined too.

Jongin is at a loss for words, mouth hanging open dumbly. He soon snaps it shut, however, and shakes himself out of his reverie. "S-sure," he says in a voice that is shaking from equals parts bubbling happiness and stifling anxiety. "Just... m-my mother is probably at home, s-so we... we can't..." He leaves the rest of the sentence out and hopes that Kyungsoo catches on.

It takes a couple of seconds before he does. Then his eyes go even wider than they already were. "I meant to talk, Jongin," he sputters. "You-you wanted to talk to me, we're going back to your place to talk. That's it. Not... I mean, I don't..."

Jongin is pretty sure his face is going to combust if it gets hotter than this. "O-oh," is all he can say. "Oh... oh." Most of all he just wants to dig a hole to bury himself in and then never come out again, that seems like a pretty inviting idea at the moment.

Luckily, Kyungsoo only lets out a short chuckle. He pushes past the other to go press the button to set the elevator into motion - he only presses the one for the twenty-fifth floor, Jongin notes and inwardly rejoices - before turning to Jongin with a smile that makes him want to hug the living daylights out of Kyungsoo. "You're actually pretty cute yourself, you know," he says with a sly twinkle in his eyes. Jongin is surprised his face is not on fire yet.

~*~

A/N: if you ever think I know what I'm doing, you are clearly mistaken. I really never do. OTL
and like I said, this all happened because of Jojokawaii so you can either blame her or thank her for this.
I wanted to post this story on the thirteenth of january because that's the day right between kyungsoo and jongin's birthdays and it's past midnight in korea now so here it is. I already said that there would be no even though the two of them having in an elevator would have been... interesting, in lack of a better word. :b this is what I chose to do, though. I hope you guys like it (and if you do, please comment and upvoting it would be appreciated as well~). :D
that's all, folks! it's 5am right now, what am I doing up?

ps. "happy birthday, to us". eheheheheheh...heheheh...heh......... TT_____TT