Chapter 33

The day after getting Kyungsoo's number, Kris was sitting on his bed rocking back and forth. He really wanted to call him but wasn't there like a 3 day rule or something? Oh right, that's only for dating people. In one quick motion Kris reached for his phone. Just about to press call, he fell back onto the bed, groaning loudly. It had literally been less than 12 hours since they last saw each other. Calling Kyungsoo so soon seemed really, really desperate. Kris just didn't want to spend another Saturday alone... or studying with Joonmyun. Weighing the pros and cons of calling Kyungsoo or not, he came to the conclusion that the worst that could happen was Kyungsoo calling him a baby and that he didn't have time to babysit today.

Already dreading it, Kris pressed number one on his speed dial. No. Kris wasn't desperate at all.

"Hello?"
Kris froze... And hung up.

Pulling at his hair, he screamed  at himself for being a coward and  why the hell was he afraid of Kyungsoo rejecting him? Kris liked girls. Girls, girls, girls! He rolled onto his stomach, sighing deeply.

 After trying to suffocate himself and failing miserably, Kris pushed himself off of the bed and sat down at his desk. He needed a strategy, a battle plan of sorts. He grabbed  a pen and a piece of paper.

4 hours later, Kris once again pressed speed dial. His heart was racing which freaked him out just the tiniest bit.

"Hello?"

"Kyungsoo. Hi. This is Kris... Whatever. I am Calling you to hear if you are busy today. As for myself, I do have a few hours to dispose off before I have important things to do, like cleaning my bathroom. Buying food. Taking a shower. Go ro.... rrrrrrr?"

, Kris couldn't see what he had written. He had spent the last few hours coming up with a speech he could read to Kyungsoo instead of falling over his tongue, most likely saying something stupid.

"Rrrrr? What the hell is that?"

Kris panicked. He hadn't exactly planned on letting Kyungsoo speak. He had even written two answer speeches. One for if Kyungsoo's answer was yes to hanging out and one if it was a no.
"... Err.. Nothing. Just you wanna grab lunch or... It won't be a date! Just two guys going it, well not going out, out but you know hanging out, do... guy stuff?" 'You don't deserve a , you girl.' Kris slammed his head against the desk again and again until he started getting dizzy from the impact.

"Kris? You still there?"

"Yeah... I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone now."

"Wait!"
Kris almost dropped the phone.

"When and where?"

Dumbfounded, Kris blinked his eyes, letting Kyungsoo's response sink in. When it had, Kris had no control over the gummy smile that slowly covered his face.

They decided to meet up outside the university gates. Kris didn't really know his way around yet, so it was for the best to meet in familiar surroundings. Kris had shown up 15 minutes before the agreed time, sporting a freshly ironed white shirt and beige floral patterned shorts. Should he have worn long pants? Aish, it was too late to change his mind. Or was it? Maybe if he ran he could...

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Kyungsoo stood in front of him. He was wearing a black t-shirt and long. Pants. Damn it Kris! Why hadn't you put on long pants? Kris internally scolded himself.

"Oh hey. You were late?"

Kyungsoo nudged his arm.

"Stop being so nervous. It's freaking me out. You'd think you have crush on me or something."

"NO!"
Kyungsoo huffed a puff of air at Kris's reaction.

"I was kidding, you awkward turtle."
"... I knew that. Me too."

"So you do have a crush on me?"

"NO!"

"...You have issues."

Kyungsoo's face was blank. Sighing, he rolled his eyes and his heel.

Kris's body slumped over. He had blown it. Maybe he just wasn't meant to be friends with Do Kyungsoo.

"Aren't you coming?" Kyungsoo looked over his shoulder at the sad pile of Kris that wasn't following him. At Kyungsoo's words though, Kris sprang to life, sprinting to his side. Kyungsoo couldn't hold back his smile as they started down the road, walking side by side.

After walking in a comfortable silence for a while. Kris opened his big, fat mouth.

"I'm sorry by the way. For yesterday. I didn't mean for you to come out of the closet like that."

... Oh right, Kris thought Kyungsoo was gay.

"Nah, it's okay. It was... time." Kyungsoo tried to keep his face under control but the absurdity of it made it difficult to not burst into a laugh.

"I'm really okay with it. You know. The gay thing."
"Why wouldn't you be?"
"Well you know the whole, 'You'll burn in hell' and 'homouals aren't 'people''." Kris finger quoted the word 'people'.

"I'm just saying. Love is love. Or as my friend Blaise Pascal would've said: 'Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point'."
Kyungsoo just blinked dumbly at the Latin garbage leaving Kris's mouth.

"It means: 'The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of'."

"Great. Thank you for your support." Kyungsoo deadpanned.

"You're welcome. And erhh.." Kris slowed down as he put his large hand on Kyungsoo's narrow shoulder, halting them both to a stop. Seriously, he looked  Kyungsoo in the eye, heaving a deep breath.

"... If anyone. Anyone at all, gives you crap about it? You can come to me and I'll beat them up."

If you recall, Kris wasn't much of a fighter, suffering from little girl trauma since he was 10. But Kris wanted to look out for the little guy, even if he'd prefer getting ice cream and talk smack about bullies, instead of  dealing out knuckle sandwiches.

Kyungsoo on the other hand, was touched at Kris's offer. He was so touched he wanted to keel over and puke his guts out at the cheesiness you could only find in soap operas and Korean dramas.

"Gee, Thanks Kris. That's really big of you." A strained smile slowly made its way across Kyungsoo's face. Kris put his hands up in front of himself.

"I'm just trying to be a good friend here." He smiled his gummy smile before hitting Kyungsoo on the back, effectively knocking all air out of his lungs.

"So where are we going?"

While coughing for air Kyungsoo managed to stammer out something that sounded close to 'No idea.'

"Hmm. I'm starving. Let's get some food! UH! Street vendors!"
Able to breathe again Kyungsoo was dragged towards the first street vendor selling tteokbokkie.

Kris gazed longingly at the boiling red sauce and the floating pieces of white rice cake.

"This is on my list," he said dreamily.

"Your list?" Kyungsoo said as he ordered two servings of tteokbokkie and two fish cakes.

"Yeah. You don't remember?"

Kyungsoo vaguely recalled Kris saying something about a list of things he needed to do in Korea. But he also remembered Kris kneeing him in the process and instinctively Kyungsoo's hands flew down to cover his crotch.

"Oh I remember."

"Right. So I have to try out all the street food before leaving Seoul. Thanks to you I'll be able to check off my first two." Kris smiled happily as he ate his first piece of tteokbokki in history. Aaaaaaand, what a weird taste. Or maybe it was the lack of taste? The rice cakes didn't really taste of anything and it chewed like gum. The spicy sauce on the other hand made his eyes water and his insides burn. Kris looked to his side where Kyungsoo was munching down his own serving.

"Try the odeng. It's really good," Kyungsoo said with his mouth full.

Kris took a hesitant bite of the oblong fish cake on a stick. Maybe this was how that Tao kid felt. Kris laughed to himself, earning a few weird stares from the ahjumma and another customer. Kyungsoo was about used to Kris's weird quirks so he didn't bother question his actions.

The odeng tasted like... fish. No surprise there. He took another bite. Yup, still tasted like fish.

"You don't like it?"

Kyungsoo had already finished his portion as he made a grab for Kris's rice cakes.

"Yah! It's mine!" Kris scooped up his plate and more or less swallowed his food down. Slowly choking to death he raised his thumb, nodding his head.

"It's... g-good."

"You're choking aren't you?"

"A little... b-bit."
Kyungsoo stared at Kris who slowly sank towards the ground. Snapping out of his daze, he quickly grabbed hold of Kris's waist and performed the Heimlich maneuver on him until a big chunk of rice cake flew out of his mouth and straight at the ahjumma. The rice cake hit her forehead and slowly slimed its way down her face like a slug. She did not look amused.

"... We should probably make a run for it." Kyungsoo whispered, bowing slightly while taking a step backwards. Kris copied his moved while stammering out 'joesonghamnida'. Before the ahjumma could scold them, they both ran as fast as they could through the maze of people.

When they deemed it safe enough to stop, they both toppled over laughing, not knowing why. Sadly enough, running away from a street vendor was the most fun Kris had, had since coming to Korea. The laughter slowly died down. Kyungsoo got up while brushing dust off his pants. He held out his hand for Kris to take, his smile taking the shape of a heart. Kris could only look at the beautiful man in front of him, shining like the sun. Hesitantly, Kris took his hand and was helped to his feet.  

"So. What else is on that list of yours?" 

Kris internally squealed in happiness.         


A/N
Might post one more update before hitting the sack tonight :D:D