One look at Kris forces out a disappointed sigh from his lips, wallowing in his own thoughts as his boyfriend waves him over with a big smile. He can't offer anything but a weak smile as he's dragged to yet another street food vendor. It was Kris's brilliant idea to have a date at the summer festival, trying to stuff every stereotypical carnival "delicacy" into his mouth and he yammered constantly about stupid things like the weather or sports.

Kyungsoo endured every cheerful cackle and wide-eyed grin, not wanting to waste the energy to tell Kris his true thoughts: that he hated crowds, loud music, and mediocre cooking.

Most of all, he hated Kris. Hated how the taller man latched onto him as soon as he transferred into his school, making a bee-line for the empty desk beside him before the teacher could even glance down at the seating arrangements. Hated how he would endlessly bring him little offerings of cute toys and sweets like he was some pre-pubescent girl. Hated how he dragged him in front of the whole class during recess, batting his eyelashes bashfully as he confessed his love publically. Kyungsoo was basically blackmailed into agreeing, the female green-eyed monsters fueling his innate urge for self-preservation.

The worst of it? He hated the intimacy. Kris was HUGE, built much larger than Kyungsoo in every respect.

His height just enough for Kris's arm to drape comfortably over Kyungsoo's shoulders. But he didn't want to be an armrest; he wanted a strong arm to hold him tight around the waist, hot breath fanning his neck not his hair.

His hands were ginormous, long fingers too big to ever EVER properly hold his own. Kyungsoo resigned himself to being dragged around by the lumbering Neanderthal like some helpless toddler by a clueless dad.

His voice was too loud, like Kris had swallowed a sub-woofer whole and proceeded to crank up the bass to a thousand. Every word, laugh, and BREATH felt like it could shatter his eardrums.

A loud bang signaled the start of the fireworks display and Kyungsoo was swept away by the sudden onslaught of spectators, hands reaching out for anything that would serve as an anchor. Kris could only watch as the smaller man disappeared in front of his eyes.

Kyungsoo yelped in surprise when a firm grip hauled him out of the torrential sea of bodies. It was deafeningly quiet and blissfully dark in the back of the food stall, a waft of the charcoal-roasted pork sausage making his over-stuffed tummy quickly change its mind. The calm and steady heartbeat was all he could hear from his savior's welcoming chest, rough hands securely holding waist flush against waist like matching pieces to a puzzle.

Kyungsoo felt his heart leap into his throat when he turned his gaze upwards, shocked not only by the beauty of his savior's face mere inches from his own, but by the fact that he was starting up at the ever absent Kim Jongin in his class. No one had laid eyes on the student since the first day of orientation and many wrote him off as a lost cause.

"You're alright, Kyungsoo," sounded more like a reassuring command than a hushed question and Kyungsoo was amazed at how quickly embarrassment could redden his face. A low chuckle was the only warning he got before plush lips claimed his own and he surged forward, starving for pleasure.

"Perfect," was the last word he remembered Jongin saying for the rest of the festival and Kyungsoo couldn't help but agree with a shy smile, watching his new-found love stoically roast pork sausages made and sold the very same day by him and his butcher father.

cr. lunapea