“Kyung! I need help!” Kai shouted into the receiver of his phone.

“What? Did something happen? Are you all right?” Kyungsoo’s voice immediately replied.

“I need you...” Kai murmured.

“Kai, what’s wrong?” The worry was undeniably evident in his voice.

“I need you to sew up a rip in my shirt for me,” Kai grinned, imagining Kyungsoo’s eyes fading from wide with worry to a dull gaze within a matter of seconds.

“Kai...” The irritation in his friend’s voice only made Kai smile. He loved teasing Kyungsoo.

“It’s Friday night, I was just about to lie down on the couch and watch my favorite cooking show. Can’t you ask anyone else to sew it for you?”

Kai mumbled, “But I like...” when you take care of me... “making you do stuff for me,” he finished with a smirk. He could just imagine Kyungsoo rolling his large, round eyes in exasperation. Kai grinned once again. “You know I’m your best friend.”

Kyungsoo muttered back, “Yeah, yeah...”

“You know you can’t live without me,” Kai added.

“Yeah, yeah...” came the same sarcastic reply.

“You know you love me.”

The line went dead.

Kyungsoo cursed under his breath as he pulled himself off the couch, grabbing his keys and heading out the door. He didn’t even have to look at the street signs to find his way to Kai’s house in the dark.

With a grumbled “Hello” as Kai opened his front door to greet him and proceeded to lead him upstairs to his room, Kyungsoo wondered why he allowed himself to so easily succumb to Kai’s will. It was a problem he could never find the solution to, ever since he had met Kai back in their first year of middle school. It was only the year after that Chanyeol came along.

“Hold on, I’ll go get my mom’s sewing kit,” Kai said as Kyungsoo settled onto his bed. But as soon as Kai left, Kyungsoo got up again, out of habit, to help pick up the clothes that Kai, as usual, had left strewn all across the floor. As he bent down to pick up a crumpled white shirt that had been thrown on the ground beside Kai’s desk, a familiar pair of arms wrapped around his waist, hugging him from behind.

“Thank you, Kyung,” Kai mumbled into Kyungsoo’s soft, brown hair. “For always taking care of me.”

A heated wave of pink rushed to Kyungsoo’s cheeks, feeling Kai tighten his hug, his arms gentle around Kyungsoo’s body, his breath warm on Kyungsoo’s skin as he had leaned down to whisper his last words in the older boy’s ear.

A muffled buzzing noise of a cell phone vibrating had Kai letting go before Kyungsoo could even react, the warmth of Kai’s touch leaving him as suddenly as it had come.

“It’s Chanyeol,” Kai murmured, the name sparking resentment in Kyungsoo’s eyes.

But without answering the call, Kai dropped his phone back into his pocket, and pulled Kyungsoo back over to his bed.

“Come on, Kyung, you said you’d help me, right?” he smiled happily.

“Aren’t you going to pick up the phone?” Kyungsoo asked, a hint of bitterness in his voice. He looked away from his friend’s gaze, knowing that even when standing right in front of Kai, Chanyeol was still the one on his mind.

But to his surprise, Kai shook his head and answered, “I’m sure Chanyeol can take care of himself for a little while.”

Kyungsoo nodded slowly, a little unconvinced and a little taken aback. And of course, a little happy, a little more confident, even though he didn’t want to admit it to himself. His happiness was at Chanyeol’s expense. Chanyeol was his friend.

“You’re not a very good boyfriend,” Kyungsoo pointed out, smiling softly.

“It’s not like you could be a better one! I can’t imagine you being someone’s boyfriend,” Kai retorted with a grin, watching as Kyungsoo’s smile immediately fell. Kyungsoo knew Kai had meant it as a joke, but the words stung, even though he hated that they did.

Turning away from Kai’s laughter, Kyungsoo sighed inwardly. Kai would never think of him as more than just a friend. Softer than a whisper, Kyungsoo mumbled bleakly, “I could be yours.”

With a deep breath, Kyungsoo hardened his gaze upon turning back to meet Kai’s eyes. He couldn’t show any signs of weakness. He couldn’t show how hurt he felt inside. “Whatever,” he grumbled audibly, pretending to smile slightly as he rolled his eyes. It was just a joke... just a joke... “So what do you want me to do with this?” he asked, shaking the pile of Kai’s messy clothes that was still in his arms.

“You can just drop that on the ground, I’ll get it later,” Kai shrugged.

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Well... If you say so...” he laughed as he returned the heap of clothes to the floor.

“So I have a rip in my shirt,” Kai stated matter-of-factly, pointing to a small tear that stretched from his collar toward his right sleeve, not too long, maybe only a couple of centimeters. Kyungsoo hadn’t even noticed it until now.

“You made me come all the way over to your house for that?” Kyungsoo pointed, his tone unimpressed. He sighed overdramatically, hiding his smile to pretend he was annoyed.

Kai nodded, obviously pleased with himself that he had managed to lure Kyungsoo out of his house. “So can you do it?”

“Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to fix,” Kyungsoo shrugged with a slight smile, quickly averting his eyes as he realized his gaze had absentmindedly wandered to Kai’s exposed collarbone.

“Great! Here, let me just take off–”

“Wait!” Kyungsoo stopped him just as he caught a glimpse of Kai’s tanned skin beneath his lifted shirt.

“What, are you going to sew it while I’m still wearing it?” Kai laughed, amused by Kyungsoo’s shyness even after all these years. “We’re both guys, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Kyungsoo paused, imagining sewing Kai’s shirt while it was still on his body. He would have to lean in to see the needle, bringing his face uncomfortably close to Kai’s chest, and his defined collarbone.

“You’re so silly, Kyung,” he heard the smile in Kai’s voice as the younger boy ignored his pause and pulled off his shirt anyway, the soft blue cloth ghosting past his bare skin until he held the shirt out in his hands to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo, at a loss for intelligible words, merely gaped at his friend’s exposed torso for an extra second too long before t