Chapter 46

Kris was just about to put his finishing touches to his hair when there was a knock on the door. Annoyed, he quickly tousled his hair a few times, taking in his handsome face before making for the door. Joonmyun stood outside carrying a six-pack and what do you know, a plastic container with cookies. Suddenly he missed his mother.

"Hi. I brought cookies. I hope you like oatmeal and raisins."
Kris choked on a sob. Those were the cookies his mom always made for him. His favorites.

"Sure. Erh... come in."

He accepted the home-baked goodies as Joonmyun took off his shoes and jacket. Together they made their way into the living room, sitting down on the couch.

"Thanks by the way. For the coffee table. You didn't have to..."
"I wanted to. It was the least I could do."
Joonmyun eyed the dirty rag covering the nice table.

"If you don't mind me asking though... why is there an old undershirt spread across the table?"
"Ah that. Something happened to the glass surface..."
"What you smashed your head against it again?"
"... not exactly."
Before Kris could stop him, Joonmyun removed the vest.

"Oh dear... that's... Neat. K +... K?"

"That's erhm... Kyungsoo thought it would be fun to have our initials carved onto the table now that the crack was gone."
"And you just let him destroy the table?"
"No! I wasn't even home at the time."
"He was here? Alone?"

"... Kyungsoo kinda moved in with me, Monday. He needed a place to stay and I had a spare room."

"Oh."
A deep silence infiltrated the apartment. Kris took it as an opportunity to eat a cookie which he was quick to regret. They were rock hard, tasted like salt and butter got stuck to the roof of his mouth. It took everything he had not to spit it out. With much difficulty he swallowed the sorry excuse for a cookie, put away the container and downed a beer.

"That bad huh?"

Kris didn't like lying. He believed honesty was one of his best traits and therefore he opted to tell the truth.

"They're... great."
... Well a white lie once in a while never hurt right?

"So Kyungsoo lives with you now?"
"Yeah but believe me, it wasn't an easy task. I asked him twice, got rejected twice. I offered him money to move in, which I don't have. I come home Monday to the smell of oh my dear God, crazy delicious, mouthwatering, foodgasmic chocolate croissants... oh and all his stuff is already unpacked."
"... You offered him money?"

"I'm... surprised I haven't scared him off yet."

"But. You offered him money?"
"Yeah well, he couldn't afford living here so..."
"Aren't you living here for free?"
"I am. But the campus won't let him live here rent free, seeing as they can get an actual paying student."
"And you don't have any money."

"Yeah, that's kind of a problem... Anyway let's go."
Kris bolted up from the couch, grabbing Joonmyun by the sleeve of his very neat baby blue cashmere sweater and made for the door.

They now sat at a bar, drinking. In silence. They looked like an odd couple. Joonmyun in his white shirt, baby blue cashmere sweater and beige slacks, looked like a 15 year old goody two shoes compared to Kris in his white t-shirt that accentuated his 'guns', ripped black leather pants and lots and lots of bling blings. It was just, odd. Then again it wasn't as bad as the silence emitting from their table, occasionally interrupted by random small talk.

"... It's getting colder."
"Yeah... Good song."

"Yeah."

"Kris?"
That's weird. That almost sounded like...

"Kyungsoo?"
The smaller man had already sat down next to him and taken a sip of his beer.
"Fancy seeing you here. So this is Joonmyun? Aren't you in my music class? You play the piano right?"

"Kyungsoo? What...? What?"
Kris eyed the two guys standing next to the table. They somehow seemed familiar.

"Oh us? Work finished early so we wanted to get a beer. You remember Jongin and Sehun right?"
"Sort of. Hi."
Kris waved awkwardly as the boys sat down. Jongin next to Kyungsoo and Sehun next to Joonmyun.
"How did you know I was here?"

"Me? I didn't."
 

He did. Before leaving for work while Kris was taking his one hour shower, Kyungsoo had snuck into his bedroom and looked through Kris's phone. More exactly Kris's and Joonmyun's conversations.

"Anyway... Next round on me."

Kyungsoo left the table, leaving behind four pieces of awkward. Well three. Sehun could adjust to pretty much any situation.

"So. You guys look like you are having tremendous amounts of fun."

It was very difficult for Kris to ignore the sarcasm coming from the platinum-blond boy. He was right of course. Fun wasn't being had at this particular table.
"I love your sweater. Is it a 100 percent cashmere?"

 Sehun let his hand graze the soft material of Joonmyun's sweater.

"I think it is. I'm not sure. My mom got it for me."

"Your mother buys your clothes?"

"I don't really have the time for shopping so she gets her assistants to buy me a new wardrobe every month."
"Huh."

"Yeah."

 "... Are you a ?"
Joonmyun nearly fell out of his chair.

"Excuse  me?!"

"It's a legit question but I guess you're not drunk enough to answer it. Ah Kyungsoo, right on time."
Kyungsoo put down a pitcher of beer on the table, taking the same seat as before.

"Did I miss something?"
"Joonmyun's a ."
"I...!"
Joonmyun gulped down the rest of his beer before pouring himself a new one. Downing that one as well.

Kris took pity on his friend.

"So what if he is? I don't see how it's a big deal."
He mentally patted himself on the back for the save.

"You're a too?"

The mental pat quickly turned into a mental high-five to his face.
"He can't be a . Have you seen him? He is gorgeous."

Kyungsoo's comment made Kris feel pretty good about himself and soon he was patting his own back again. This time, not mentally.

"Seriously, I know Kyungsoo's had because come on 5 years, but everyone else here except him and me have never gotten it on?"

Silence.

"Well Kris was in a relationship for ..."
Kyungsoo looked at Kris.

"... 4 years."
"See? He's had ."

"Yeah. Totally. It was... awesome. Really you know... mind-blowing va... gina, hey I got next round!"
Before he could make his escape, Kyungsoo had grabbed his arm and used his unexpected hobbit strength to keep him in place.

"Really? You're... You haven't?"

"It's a long story."
 

More silence.

Sehun was the one to break the silence.
"...We're gonna need company."

With that he left the table for what couldn't have been more than 1 minute, returning with two girls and a guy.

"Everyone, this is two drunk girls and a hot piece of ." Sehun mouthed the words 'for you' to Kris while gesturing to the guy.

"Dude. I'm not gay."
"You're not? You sure?"
"I'm sure."

"Whoops. My bad." He shooed away the guy, mouthing 'call me' to him as he left.

The girls took a seat at the now crowded table.

"Let's play a game. I like to call it 'Sehun dares you'. Drunk girl no. 1, I dare you to make out with... Joonmyun was it?"
"What no! I'm sorry miss but I can't kiss you."
"Do you want me to fetch hot piece of instead?"

"NO!"
"Come on Joon, live a little."

Drunk girl no. 1 sat down on Joonmyun's lap and before he could push her away, he had a tongue effectively cleaning his teeth.

"... Could, could you do that again?"
The girl climbed off of him and pulled him towards an empty booth.

"Sorry Jongin but the other drunk girl goes to Kris."
"No I'm good. Jongin, you can have her."
Jongin had responded to that by burying his face in Kyungsoo's neck.
"Come on. It's just a kiss."
"I don't kiss girls I'm not in love with. Sorry."
"... So just guys?"
"Hey he kissed me!"
Kris accusingly pointed at Kyungsoo who goofily stared at the table.

"Just do it. When was the last time you were kissed? And not by a guy?" Sehun leaned in over the table.

"Just give her a smooch and I'll send her to join Joonmyun and what's her name."
Kris speculated for a few minutes before he downed his beer. And another beer. And one more. He stood up, swaying a little as he walked towards drunk girl no 2. He leaned down, tilted her head up with his hand and landed an open mouthed kiss on her lips. It felt... weird. Not good weird but kind of... disappointing weird. It was the let down of kisses. Why? Because it meant nothing. It was just a meaningless exchange of saliva.

It was 5 AM when Kyungsoo and Kris stumbled into their apartment, drunk out of their minds and laughing like hormonal teenage girls. They fell down onto the couch next to each other, letting the laughter die out. Kris felt high. No he had never done drugs but he imagined this would be what it'd feel like. Lightheaded, happy and content.

"So. That girl. She wasn't the one?"
"Definitely not the one. And a bad kisser."

"Bad kisser huh?"
"Way too much tongue."
"Was I better?"

Kris turned his head towards Kyungsoo.

"That doesn't really count. That was a quick closemouthed kiss and..."
Kyungsoo put his hand on Kris cheek moving it up through his blond hair and down to his blushing cheek again. Leaning in, Kyungsoo looked Kris in his eyes, until both instinctively closed them. Plush lips pressed against his, moving slowly against each other. Kris let his tongue wander across Kyungsoo's bottom lip until he was met with a soft tongue, massaging his own. Kyungsoo gently on his lower lip before he ended the kiss, too early for Kris's liking.

"...And now?"

Kris could only nod as Kyungsoo left the couch, bidding him a goodnight. His heart was racing, his cheeks were burning and there was a slight tingle in his lips.

It felt... weird.

Only this time, it felt good weird.