It wasn’t more than fifteen minutes later that Changhyun found himself nervously pacing around Jonghyun’s living room wondering to himself why he was in the home of a complete stranger. He felt bad about how quiet he’d been the ride there and even after they arrived. The whole time the other boy was constantly trying to engage him in conversation. All he could muster up is a “Nice place”. He learned that he lived there with his friend that was quite a bit older than him, and was currently out with his girlfriend. Changhyun wasn’t sure if that relieved him or made him more nervous.

He walked into the kitchen where Jonghyun currently was and saw him pre-heating the oven to cook his “lovely dinner” as he called it. He looked up at his nervous guest as he walked in and smiled at him.

“It shouldn’t take too long hyung.”

“Oh okay.” He looked down. Jonghyun noticed that he did that a lot.

“Hey if you need to use the bathroom or anything there’s one down the hall,” he pointed in which direction, “it’s the first door to your right.”

“Okay, thank you.” He left to use the bathroom. After he was done he looked at himself in the mirror for a while and as usual hated what he saw. Too short, too skinny, too pale, and on top of that his hair looked horrible.

“Ugh,” he said out loud.  But it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it. So he just sighed and went back out into the living room. Jonghyun had turned the tv on and was pouring them drinks.

“I hope iced tea is okay. If not I have coke or water.” He said with a smile.

Changhyun liked his smile. It was sweet and warm and it made him feel less nervous. Well a little bit, “Tea is fine, thank you.”

There was more awkward silence until the pizzas were ready. Jonghyun had been trying his best to keep his distance seeing how nervous the gorgeous boy in his living room was. He couldn’t blame him though, it must’ve felt pretty scary to be so vulnerable around someone you didn’t know. He just hoped he could help him loosen up and feel more comfortable around him.

He came out from the kitchen with two places each with two slices of each kind of pizza and handed the other his as he sat down next to him.

Changhyun didn’t realize just how hungry he was until the hot food was in front of him and he found himself practically inhaling it within seconds.

Jonghyun chuckled at him but said nothing. Changhyun however, was embarrassed at his manners, “Um, sorry. I haven’t eaten all day.”

“That’s cool.” Jonghyun was staring at his place, picking at a piece of pepperoni trying to figure out how he was going to get the other to open up to him without scaring him off. He wasn’t quite as hungry as him so he just quietly picked at his food as he waited for him to finish.

After they were done they brought their plates into the kitchen to discard the uneaten crust and put the plates into the sink.

“Want some ice cream hyung? I got Rocky Road, Mint Chocolate Chip, Butter Pecan, and Cookies & Cream.” Jonghyun asked him as he opened the freezer door.

“Um, I’ll take the Rocky Road.”

“Good choice!” He smiled and handed it to him, “I’m gonna start with the Cookies & Cream”.

He got them spoons and then went back into the living room and starting eating their ice cream. Jonghyun wasn’t sure if there was a perfect time to start talking but they already spent most of their time at his place in awkward silence so he figured now was as good a time as any.

“So,” he started, “is there anywhere you want me to take you when we’re finished eating? Like maybe a friend’s house?”

“Well…..I don’t really have any friends.” Changhyun said quietly while looking down at his ice cream.

“Oh okay then. Well how about your parents?” The boy didn’t answer. He just kept looking down and poked at his ice cream with his spoon.

“Hyung, don’t tell me you don’t have parents either?” He looked at him surprised.

“I do. Well I have a father. But………..” he sighed before continuing, “he’s not really somebody I can go to when I need help.”

“Damn, I’m sorry.” Jonghyun wished he could think of something better to say to that.

Changhyun just shrugged, “It’s okay, it’s nothing new. I’ve known for quite some time that he hates me.”

“Hate? Wow that’s a strong word. Why does he hate you?” He scooted a bit closer to the other hoping that he wouldn’t notice.

“Because I’m worthless and I can’t do anything right.” He said with another sigh.

“What makes you think that?”

He turned to look Jonghyun in the eye, “I’m quoting him directly.”

Jonghyun was at a loss for words, “Wow.”

“The reason for that is I’m not like him,” Changhyun continued, “he spent my whole life trying to make me into his clone instead of treating me like a son. But that’s not who I wanted to be.”

“Wow, he’s really that bad huh?”

“He’s selfish, self-centered, and I hate how he treats people. All he cares about is his business. Making money is all that matters to him and he doesn’t what he has to do and who he does it to to make that happen.”

“Sounds like a real .” The other nodded at him. “I bet he wasn’t too happy about you wanting to be your own man and all.”

“Nah, he got on me about it all the time. And when I was going to move out and stop working for him he warned me that if I did he’d totally cut me off.”

“So he doesn’t even pay for school?” Jonghyun said in surprise, to which Changhyun shook his head.

“I pay it myself. Student loans and whatever crappy job I can find.” Jonghyun cringed.

“Well what about your mother? What does she think about all this?” He said as he ate the last spoonful of his ice cream.

“I never knew my mother. She’s been gone way before I was old enough to remember her.”

“Oh,” he rubbed his shoulder seeing the sadness that had come over him, “I’m sorry. Can I ask what happened to her?”

Changhyun unexpectedly let out a chuckle and shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. Nobody ever told me.”

“Are you serious?”

“My father doesn’t even talk about her. And he always got mad when I tried to bring her up. I can’t even find a damn picture of her!”

Jonghyun didn’t know what to say. Changhyun laughed again and said, “Maybe that’s one of the reasons he hates me so much. Maybe I remind him too much of her.”

“Um, I’ll be right back.” The redhead took their empty pints of ice cream into the kitchen to throw away. He got the other two from the freezer and took a moment take a few deep breaths before going back to his guest. He felt bad that he had no clue what to say to the boy to comfort him. He prayed to whatever was up there that he’d think of something so that he didn’t make a fool of himself.

“Here ya go hyung.” He gave him the mint chocolate chip as he plopped down next to him on the couch.

Changhyun gave him an odd look, “What’s wrong?”

“Well………..I kinda like butter pecan.” He said while giving him a sweet smile (obviously taking advantage of the other’s attraction to him).

Jonghyun narrowed his eyes at him for a moment before taking the unwanted flavor from him and giving him one of his all-time favorites, “You’re lucky I think you’re cute” he added with a wink.

“Thank you.” Changhyun said with a smile. A genuine happy smile that made Jonghyun weak all over, and curse the fact that he wasn’t in a situation where he couldn’t kiss those pretty pink lips of his.

“So,” he started, trying to break his thoughts away from the boys’ lips, “you don’t have any other family?”

“Nope, my grandparents are dead and I have an uncle I’ve never met.”

“Wow, how have you not met your uncle?”

“Well from what I gather, my grandfather was a lot like my father he left home a long time ago and hasn’t had much contact with my father for a very long time. Probably for the same reasons as me.”

“Oh I see, I guess history repeated itself then.” Changhyun nodded in reply, he never really thought of it that way before. “Have you ever tried to find him?”

“Actually that’s kind of the reason I moved here. You see, he left for America and lived there for like years. But he came back to Korea a year ago and started up another branch of his company here in town.” Changhyun ate a spoonful of ice cream too fast and  grabbed his head as the agonizing brain freeze took hold of him.

“You okay hyung?” He asked him as he tried to hold back a laugh.

Changhyun hit his arm, “Yah, stop laughing at me! It’s not funny!” Though he was laughing too.

“Sorrrrrrry!” He grinned at him, “How come you haven’t tried to meet him yet?”

“I dunno, nerves I guess. I’m worried what he’d think considering how far he’s gone to be away from anything that has to do with my “family”,” he said with actual air quotes, “plus, I’m worried he might not like me.”

“I like you.” Jonghyun stated.

“Thanks,” the other replied while rolling his eyes (yet with a smile).

Changhyun didn’t know why exactly he was spilling his life’s story to this stranger. For some reason he felt so comfortable and at ease around him, no matter how hard he tried to keep his guard up. And also it felt nice to have somebody that was actually interested in learning about him. God knows Jongdae never asked.

They finished their ice cream and put the empty pints on the table. It was then when Jonghyun turned his body so that he was facing him, that Changhyun noticed just how close he was. He became nervous again.

“Sooooo……” He started.

“Sooooo?” Changhyun repeated.

“Tell me about this boyfriend of yours.”