Kyungsoo stumbled through the hallway in a half-awake state, reaching for the bathroom door handle with closed eyes. He partially fell through the doorway and cracked his eyes open, blinking rapidly to clear the haze of sleep obscuring his vision. The room slowly came into focus.

 

He stood in the doorway and looked straight ahead blankly, pausing for approximately a sixteenth of a second before he began screaming at the top of his lungs.

 

He slapped his hands over his eyes and ran across the hall only to immediately start pounding on the nearest bedroom door. “KAI IS AGAIN, ” he shrieked, on the verge of tears in response to the trauma that his poor corneas had just been subjected to. There was no response, so Kyungsoo kicked the door. “COME TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PEOPLE YOU INVITE INTO MY HOME.” There was a dull thud inside his brother’s room, followed by heavy stomping.

  

The door was wrenched open and suddenly a face identical to Kyungsoo’s own was facing him, except the expression it was wearing was more irritated and less emotionally distressed. “I don’t know why you are under the impression that the fact that you saw a is an adequate reason to wake me up,” his twin brother said dully. Tears started b in Kyungsoo’s eyes, and D.O sighed heavily. “KAI, PUT SOME ING PANTS ON.”

 

Kai peeked his head out into the hallway, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry Soo,” he said with a small pout, and Kyungsoo scowled deeply and looked away. “But in my defense, you didn’t knock.”

 

“It’s my bathroom!” Kyungsoo snapped indignantly. “Why don’t you use his?” He pointed to D.O with his thumb, and Kai wrinkled his nose.

 

“Because his is disgusting and you have the hand soap that smells like warm vanilla sugar.”

 

Kyungsoo looked like he wanted to hit him, but he instead settled for stomping back into his room and slamming the door shut. Kai sighed loudly and sent D.O a helpless glance. “He hates me.”

 

D.O nodded thoughtfully. “It’s one of the many things we have in common. Along with our face and overall genetic makeup,” he said languidly, retreating back into his room to grab the spare uniform that Kai kept at their house and throwing it at the younger. “Now put on some clothes and stop traumatizing my brother.” Kai gloomily complied.

 

It took them about another half an hour to get ready and pile into D.O’s rusting Toyota Camry, sans Kyungsoo who regularly made it clear that he would rather walk than be in a small enclosed area with Kai.

  

Kai nervously glanced at the sky as D.O backed out of the driveway, narrowly avoiding the mailbox as he haphazardly swerved into the road. “Is it supposed to rain?” Kai asked, subconsciously reaching up to grab the assist handle. D.O shrugged. 

 

Kyungsoo hadn’t gotten far, and he was waiting for a walk signal when D.O’s car approached him. Kai motioned for D.O to stop and rolled down his window. “Get in, you’ll get wet!” Kai called, but Kyungsoo didn’t even acknowledge him. D.O laughed and Kai pouted. “Don’t ignore me!”

 

Kyungsoo ignored him. “He’s not gonna get in,” D.O said boredly. Kai shrugged, sniffing loudly.

 

“Maybe not willingly.” He opened the door and jogged across the street. Kyungsoo glanced over too late, his eyes widening in fear and a scream leaving his mouth just as Kai grabbed him and slung him over his shoulder.

 

“OH MY GOD DON’T TOUCH ME. THIS IS NOT CONSENSUAL. ! ! HELP I AM BEING KIDNAPPED PLEASE CALL SOMEONE.”

 

Kyungsoo had begun blowing the whistle attached to his backpack when Kai shoved him into the back seat and slammed the door. D.O started driving again, an amused smirk the only thing breaking his usually stoic expression.

  

“You’ll thank me when you’re not showing up to school soaking wet and freezing,” Kai said, completely swiveling himself in his seat to face Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was fuming.

  

“It’s not even raining!” he grit out, glaring daggers out the window. “Now we’re going to show up to school together and people might think I willingly hang out with you.” Kai raised an eyebrow.

 

“Shouldn’t I be the one concerned about that? Please consider which one of us has the higher social status here.” Kyungsoo gasped indignantly, and D.O snorted. Kai stared at him expectantly, as if waiting for a retort, and Kyungsoo muttered something under his breath. “What was that?”

 

“…You’re an a-hole,” Kyungsoo said a little louder.

 

Kai gasped dramatically, placing a hand over his heart. “D.O, do you hear the abysmal language coming from your brother? Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, Do Kyungsoo?” he said sarcastically, his face falling back into a dull expression at the end of his tirade. “Don’t be a . Go on, call me an . You have express permission.” 

 

Kyungsoo blushed and looked away. “Shut up.”

 

“Come on, curse. It’ll be fun. Say .”

 

“No, leave me alone!”

 

“Say !”

 

“I hate you.”

 

“SAY KYUNGSOO.”

 

“SHUT THE UP!” D.O yelled, causing both Kai and Kyungsoo to jump in surprise. “You two know I barely passed the driving test and if you value your lives I suggest you shut your ing mouths and let me concentrate.”

 

Kai and Kyungsoo were immediately silent as they recalled the multiple instances in which they barely made it out of a car ride with D.O alive. Kai settled for occasionally reaching back and poking Kyungsoo in the face as a substitution for verbal abuse.

 

The second D.O parked his car in the school parking lot, Kyungsoo shot out and sprinted into the brick building before the key was out of the ignition. Kai watched him go with a sigh. “He’s so cute,” he said dreamily, and D.O rolled his eyes.

 

“Keep pulling his pigtails, it seems to be working,” D.O said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

                                       

Kai threw his uniform jacket over his shoulderand began to follow Kyungsoo into the school. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

---

 

 

“Kai,” Chanyeol, one of the handful of friends Kai and D.O sat with at lunch said hesitantly, staring somewhere over Kai’s head. Kai didn’t bother looking up from his task of smothering cream cheese onto his bagel. “The hotter version of you is coming over here.”

 

That got Kai’s attention, and he glanced over his shoulder with an eyebrow raise. Sure enough, Jongin was making his way toward their table in the dead center of the lunch room, the usual displeased expression covering his features. Kai was sure that this meant either there was a death in the family or someone was pregnant, because there was no other reason that his brother would willingly come anywhere within a 10-foot radius of him and his friends. He watched with muted curiosity as Jongin walked right past him and up to D.O, who was sitting quietly on Kai’s left side.

 

“D.O,” Jongin said firmly, and D.O slowly raised his head up from the hamburger he was dressing to make eye contact with the younger. Once he did, his eyes widened and he squeezed his ketchup packet a little too tightly, causing it to explode all over his hand and uniform sleeve. He didn’t seem to notice. “It’s raining, can you drive me home?”

 

D.O seemed to be frozen and therefore physically unable to respond, so Kai nudged him hard in the ribs in order to bring him back to reality. He jumped once, clearing his throat before nodding rapidly. “Yeah, of course. Any time,” he said, slipping back into his usual nonchalant attitude. Jongin nodded, adjusting his lenseless Ray-Bans before sending a glance toward Kai. Kai immediately stiffened under his brothers gaze, shifting his attention toward his chocolate milk and on it rapidly.

 

“It’s Thursday, you’re coming home tonight yeah?” Jongin asked. Kai nodded once.

 

“Yeah,” he replied. He sent Jongin a nervous grin. “I’m sure mom’s been missing me like crazy.”

 

Jongin snorted loudly at that, and Kai winced slightly because he was wounded by his own sarcasm. “She would probably disown you if she didn’t think the neighbors would talk about it.”

 

“Thank you Jongin. Did you need anything else?”

 

Jongin glanced from D.O to Kai before shrugging and shaking his head. “I’ll see you after school,” Jongin said passively, before turning and walking off. D.O stared after him and Kai sighed deeply.

 

“What a .”

 

“You’re a too,” D.O pointed out distractedly. Kai nodded thoughtfully.

 

“True, but I’m the kind of that everyone loves and secretly wants to be friends with. He’s the kind of that everyone avoids,” he explained. He glanced at D.O, who was still staring at the last place Jongin had been. “Except for you. Don’t think I didn’t see you staring at my brother’s .”

 

D.O didn’t even attempt to deny it. “He dyed his hair,” he pointed out. He sighed. “He looks really ing hot as a blonde. You didn’t tell me he dyed his hair.”

 

Kai raised an eyebrow. “That’s gross, D.O. He’s practically me.”

 

“He is at least twenty times hotter than you,” D.O said simply. “I have no idea why I never noticed it before. It has to be the hair.”

 

“Okay, cut it out. You can’t have with my brother,” Kai said, flicking him in the ear. D.O looked at him with a mildly offended expression.

 

“That is not fair. I let you flirt with my brother all the time,” he said, narrowing his eyes. Kai coughed loudly and avoided eye contact.

 

“I-I don’t,” he denied. “I just think Kyungsoo is cute, in a non-ual way.” D.O deadpanned at him, seemingly unconvinced, and Kai let out a groan of defeat. “Alright, whatever. Go for it. On one condition.”

 

D.O went back to his hamburger, infinitely more pleased. “Okay, shoot.”

 

“You have to date him. Like be his actual boyfriend,” Kai said sternly, implying that there was no room for argument. “I’m not gonna let you hit and and quit it. Despite the fact that we only speak like once a week at most, he’s still my brother.” A frustrated noise gurgled up from D.O’s throat.

 

“Do you even understand how much harder that makes things? Besides, isn’t he still convinced that he’s straight?”

 

“He has a girlfriend,” Kai confirmed casually.

 

The thunk of D.O’s head miserably hitting the table could be heard across the cafeteria.

 

---

 

 

Kai really hated Thursdays.

 

“Do I have to go home?” he whined from the back seat, sprawling himself out so much that Kyungsoo had to begrudgingly press himself against the window to avoid physical contact. “I promise I’ll leave you guys alone. You won’t even know I’m there.”

 

Kyungsoo sent Kai a heated glance. “You’re going home,” he said darkly, and D.O nodded in agreement from the driver’s seat.

 

“I let you live in our house six days a week, you can deal with your own home and family for one night,” D.O added. Kai groaned loudly.

 

“They don’t miss me anyway.”

 

“It’s true,” Jongin said dully from the passenger seat, speaking for the first time as he continued to stare expressionlessly out at the heavy rain pelting the windows. Kai sighed miserably.

 

They pulled into the Kim’s driveway, and Kai sent D.O one more desperate glance. “You’ll be okay,” D.O said, only slightly sympathetically.

 

Kai begrudgingly entered the house behind Jongin with the intention of running upstairs and not leaving his room all night, but Jongin stopped him in the hallway before he could escape.

 

“Hey,” he said, grabbing Kai’s sleeve. Kai froze rigidly and glanced around the corner into the kitchen, relaxing immediately upon seeing that their mother wasn’t present. He turned his attention to Jongin. “My girlfriend is coming over for dinner. You know, Soojung?”

 

“Sure.” He didn’t actually know that was her name but he found the information to be irrelevant. “What, you want me to be on my best behavior?”

 

“More like I want you to stay in your room and not come out under any circumstance.”

 

Kai wrenched his arm out of Jongin’s grip with an affronted gasp. “You’re not gonna introduce me to your girlfriend?” he accused with a pout. Not that he actually wanted to meet the unfortunate girl who was a victim to his brother’s unrealized uality, but he was offended nonetheless. “Why?”

 

“Because I hate you.”

 

Jongin walked away and left Kai suffering from emotional trauma on the stairs, but he got over it rather quickly and stalked up to his room. He shut the door quietly so that his mother wouldn’t know he was home, partially hoping that she would forget it was Thursday and he could go the entire night without her even knowing he was there.

 

Kai leapt onto his bed, which consisted of two mattresses stacked on top of each other, with a sigh. His bed at D.O’s was much more comfortable; it was a folding bed that he had bought himself when he began to realize that he was at the Do’s way too much to continue sleeping on the couch. Their parents still didn’t know that they had another person living in their house, nor that the money they sent their children was being used to feed three mouths instead of two, but Kai was sure they were much more focused on studying marine biology in Australia than they were on the fact that he had taken residence in their home.

 

<help I’m bored>

 

He typed rapidly on his phone before dropping his hand to the side and staring blankly at the ceiling. It only took a few seconds to get a response.

 

<You’re fine. Go spend time with Jongin.>

 

<he told me not to leave my room and that he hated me T_T>

 

<Well you are generally unlikeable.>

 

<T_T>

 

There was a long pause before D.O replied again. Kai got impatient and sent him several more texts containing various emojis and complaints.

 

<shut UP we’re trying to watch scott pilgrim vs the world jfc>

 

Kai narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the lapslock and acronym usage.

 

 <kyungsoo don’t be so mean QnQ you have to share D.O with me>

 

<shhhhHHHHH>

 

He received no more replies after that, and he settled for laying there in boredom while occasionally drifting out of consciousness. He dreamed that he ate an entire chicken set by himself and he woke up unsatisfied and hungry.

 

Kai reserved the right to deny the blame of his actions when he was half awake, because in his semi-conscious state he had completely forgotten about Jongin and his girlfriend and his mom and dinner. The only thing on his mind was food, so naturally he set off down the stairs in nothing but his boxers in search of it.

 

He paused in the dining room doorway, slowly turning to stare at the three eating at the table. He looked from his mom’s tight-lipped face, to Soojung’s surprised one, and finally stopped at Jongin’s expression of absolute fury. “Oh, . I forgot.”

 

“I didn’t know you were home,” his mother said, the usual judgmental look gracing her plastic features. Kai ignored her and turned back to his original destination.

 

Unfortunately for him, the dining room and kitchen were only separated by a counter, but he didn’t let that deter him from digging through the fridge and making himself a sandwich. He could tell that Jongin was trying hard to steer the attention away from him, and he could feel his mother’s eyes boring into his head the entire time.

 

“Young man,” his mother suddenly said, her stern voice interrupting whatever story Soojung was in the middle of telling. Kai knew that she was talking to him, because she never used that tone of voice with Jongin. “What is that on your chest?”

 

Kai glanced down curiously, his gaze falling on a purpling welt below the left side of his collarbone. A memory vaguely flashed across his mind, and he had a sudden flashback of Lu Han and the various things they may or may not have done in a closet at Chanyeol’s party the weekend before.

 

“Oh,” he said with a shrug. “That would be a hickey.”

 

Jongin’s hand clenched tightly around his chopsticks and Soojung looked horribly uncomfortable. Kai’s mother was staring at him in disgust. “And… I assume it was given to you by a…”

 

“A guy?” Kai cut in, grinning widely because it was funny that he’d thought he could avoid this. “Yes, mother, you’ve figured it out. You’re a ing genius.” She paled and Jongin sent him a seething glare.

 

“Go back upstairs, Kai,” he hissed, his girlfriend looking somewhat flustered beside him.

 

Their mother nodded in agreement. “He’s right. This lovely girl shouldn’t have to be exposed to your disgusting life choices, we were having a nice dinner,” she said stiffly. Jongin looked liked he wanted to say something to her in response to that, but he quickly snapped his mouth shut before he did.

 

“Um, actually,” Soojung said, speaking for the first time. Kai glanced at her curiously. “My brother… He’s gay, so um, stuff like that doesn’t bother me.” Kai felt his heart soften and he suddenly felt bad about the fact that his brother would imminently dump her someday soon.

 

Their mother gasped, taking Soojung’s hands into her own and giving her a sympathetic smile. “It’s okay, dear, it may seem like there’s no hope. But you can get him help. I still have faith in my son, and I’m sure your brother can be cured too.”

 

Kai suddenly felt nauseous and he left the room without another word. It wasn’t until he got to his bedroom and finished his sandwich that he slammed his fist into the wall, but luckily this time it didn’t leave a hole. He had been trying to avoid that since it probably wasn’t good for the foundation of his room, and also his knuckles had just healed back up.

 

He went back to staring boredly up at the ceiling. He briefly considered texting D.O but decided against it, supposing it was fair for Kyungsoo to have his brother for one night. He didn’t really want to risk Kyungsoo hating him more than he already did.

 

Only about 20 minutes passed before Jongin shoved open Kai’s door so hard that it slammed into the wall, probably leaving Kai with a hole in the drywall despite his best avoidant efforts. “ you, Kai.”

 

“Hey, if you want someone to blame, look at your mother,” Kai said casually. Jongin in an irritated breath, running his hand through his bleached hair violently.

 

“Actually, I blame you, because I knew she would act that way and that is the reason I asked you to stay in your ing room in the first place!” he snapped. “And now Soojung’s pissed because mom offended her on like ten different levels and I don’t even know how to explain something like this… why do you have to make life so ing difficult for me?” Kai suddenly sat up, gaping in disbelief.

 

“What did I do, Jongin? Do you want me to apologizing for existing?”

 

“Yes please!” Jongin yelled, before turning on his heel and slamming the door behind him.

 

Kai stared at the wall for several minutes, before laying back and closing his eyes with a sigh. He really hated Thursdays.

 

---

 

“What’s wrong with you?” Kyungsoo asked, snapping D.O out of whatever reverie he had been trapped in. He gestured to the TV, where their collective favorite movie was playing despite D.O’s lack of attention. “Last time we watched this movie you laughed until you threw up and now you’re not even smiling.”

 

D.O let out an awkward chuckle and shrugged, shoving more popcorn into his mouth unattractively. “Sorry.”

 

Kyungsoo raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Are you alright?” he asked carefully, and D.O groaned and flopped sideways onto the couch.

 

“Kyungsoo,” he said seriously, his voice slightly muffled by the cushions. “You know how sometimes you like someone, but you don’t know if you want to be in a legitimate relationship or if you just want to have gratuitous amounts of with them?”

 

Kyungsoo choked violently on his diet Dr. Pepper. “Not really.”He reached over and paused the movie. “Who is ‘someone’?”

 

D.O paused momentarily, burying his face further into the couch to hide his embarrassment. “Uhhh,” he mumbled. “Jongin.”

 

There was a brief pause and D.O braced himself for Kyungsoo to make fun of him for being into a guy that frequently posted filtered selfies on instagram, but Kyungsoo only hummed thoughtfully. “Huh. Well, I guess he is the less obnoxious of the Kim twins,” he pointed out, and D.O let out a surprised laugh.

 

“I think most people would disagree with you,” he replied, sighing as he propped his chin up on his hand. “He’s definitely hotter though.”

 

“Without question .”

 

Long after the movie ended, D.O continued to stare at the black screen. Kyungsoo was snoring slightly beside him, letting out cute little sighs as his head lolled against the back of the sofa despite the fact that D.O had pushed a pillow between his shoulder and his neck once he had drifted off. This was usually the part where he fell asleep too and they would both wake up the next morning either on the ground or sprawled across the couch at an awkward angle, complaining about back pains as they rushed through the house to get ready without the added obstacle of Kai getting in their way. But instead, D.O threw a blanket over Kyungsoo and trudged into his room, pulling his comforter over his head and trying his best not to think about Jongin’s in tight jeans.

 

D.O didn’t think he wanted to date Jongin. In fact, he could honestly say that he’d never wanted to date anyone. Sure in like seventh grade he’d dated Seo Joohyun, but that was just to prove to his friends that he wasn’t gay. And obviously that backfired because not only did it cause his friends to be even more convinced of his homouality, but also caused D.O to ultimately agree with them.

 

He’d never had a real boyfriend. It wasn’t because he was unsure by any means about his preference for , au contraire, he just liked to have lots of with lots of different boys and he didn’t see anything wrong with that.

 

Except Jongin was different. He was his best friend’s brother, not just some random guy he could sleep with and then disappear from the next morning without ever having to see again. He knew Jongin, had known him for years despite them never being anything more than acquaintances at best.

 

D.O picked up his phone and sighed at his screensaver; the picture of himself, Kyungsoo, Kai, and Jongin they had all taken during the Fourth of July the year before. He had seen the picture at least a hundred times, so since when had Jongin’s hair that was way too messy (though still black at the time) and his stupid lenseless hipster glasses and his preppy flower boy clothes been so ing attractive?

 

Do I really want to date him?

 

There was only one way to find out.

 

 

 

 

“Get out.”

 

 D.O barked the demand immediately upon pulling into his driveway after transporting Kai and Kyungsoo home after school. “Going somewhere?” Kai asked, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and getting out of the car. Kyungsoo sent his brother a questioning glance, which D.O ignored.

 

“None of your business,” D.O said frankly, waving them away. “I’ll be back later.”

 

He shifted his car into reverse and pulled back out of his driveway without sparing Kai or Kyungsoo another glance, heading adamantly toward a familiar house just a couple of blocks down. Well, it had been familiar before he was banned from the property for life a few years back, but that was another story.

 

Ding dong. D.O shifted nervously as he waited for someone to open the door. He knew that coming here was risky, and there was at least a 50% chance that the police would be called to him off of the premises, so he was infinitely relieved when he saw that it was Jongin who answered. “Hey.”

 

“…D.O?” Jongin asked, his voice a frantic whisper as he glanced over his shoulder. He stepped outside and shut the door behind him. “Clearly you don’t value your life.”

 

D.O shrugged. “I figured if your mom answered I could outrun her.”

 

“What are you doing here?” Jongin asked, leaning against the door frame. “Kai isn’t home.”

 

“No , he’s at my house,” D.O responded bluntly. He took a deep breath. “Actually, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out today.”

 

Jongin stared at him for a solid two minutes, as if he were trying to work out whether or not the elder was joking. When D.O’s expression didn’t change, Jongin just laughed awkwardly. “Uhhhh,” he drawled, glancing around as if looking for an explanation for D.O’s actions. “Why?”

 

D.O forced himself not to roll his eyes. “Do you want to or not?”

 

Jongin blinked, but eventually shrugged off his initial shock. “Well, I’m going out to dinner with my girlfriend later tonight. It’s our one month anniversary or whatever,” he said coolly. “I was about to head to the mall to buy her a present.”

 

“Great. I’ll drive,” D.O said with a smirk. Jongin only hesitated for a moment before following.

 

The car ride was awkward, like so awkward that D.O wanted to bash his head against the steering wheel and cry over his terrible life choices. He should have expected this, really; it was common knowledge that the two of them were the more quiet and socially inept in comparison to their brothers. Kai could make friends faster and with more accuracy than D.O thought was possible, while Jongin’s total friend count came to a solid one (that one being Oh Sehun, a ridiculously annoying kid in Jongin and Kai’s grade). On the other hand, while in the high school caste system D.O was technically much more quote unquote “popular” than Kyungsoo was, that was only due to the fact that he was Kai’s best friend. Kyungsoo was ridiculously easy to talk to and incredibly outgoing. Not to mention loud.

 

D.O didn’t like talking to people. He only talked when it was absolutely necessary to do so. Actions spoke louder than words, anyway.

 

“I don’t know what I should get her,” Jongin said with a sigh, and D.O felt a pang of gratefulness toward him for breaking the suffocating silence. “What do you think, hyung? Girls like jewelry right?”

 

D.O cleared his throat several times before answering. “I wouldn’t know. I’m outrageously gay.”

 

They didn’t speak again for the rest of the car ride.

 

Once they arrived at the mall it was a little better, seeing as they were surrounded by a mass of people and the noise level was high enough that their lack of conversation wasn’t stifling. “I think a bracelet might be okay,” Jongin muttered, gesturing toward the jewelry store across from the food court. “Wanna check it out?”

 

“Okay,” D.O replied, shrugging noncommittally and following the taller into the shop.

 

They looked around for a while, and eventually Jongin settled for a silver rope chain bracelet. “I’m not really good at this,” he said with a sigh, observing the piece of jewelry carefully. He glanced at D.O, and his face suddenly lit up. “Here, try it on.”

 

D.O blanched. “What? No.”

 

“Oh, come on. I want to see if it looks good,” Jongin said, unintentionally pouting. D.O clenched his teeth, because he was making the same face Kai always did when he wanted something except he made it look a bajillion times more attractive.

 

“…Fine.”

 

D.O eyed the bracelet in distaste as Jongin cinched it around his wrist. The younger stepped back and observed his work proudly. “It looks pretty on you, hyung!”

 

Several emotions hit D.O at once, and he felt dizzy as he processed Jongin’s words. He wasn’t exactly fond of being called “pretty”, because he was a man goddammit, but he couldn’t help but swoon slightly at the word coming from Jongin’s exceptionally appealing lips. Not only that, but Jongin had spoken with an emotion in his voice besides hatred and anger for the first time since D.O had known him and that was pretty amazing.

 

He swallowed thickly and resisted the urge to jump Jongin right then and there. “I’m not a girl,” was all he said, attempting to keep his voice steady. Jongin just chuckled in reply.

 

It was when they were going up to pay that D.O noticed a phone charm hanging up by the register. He played with it distractedly, smiling at the cute character dangling from the end. “Do you like that?” Jongin asked, and D.O jumped because he hadn’t known Jongin was paying attention to him.

 

“Oh, uh,” he replied with an offhanded shrug. “It’s Pororo. Kyungsoo and I used to watch it all the time when we were kids.”

 

“I’ll buy it for you,” Jongin said quickly. He grabbed it off the rack, and paused before grabbing another one. “Actually, I’ll buy us both one. We can match.”

 

D.O spluttered as he watched Jongin pay for it before he could even protest. “Wait, you don’t have to… buy me anything…” he said in vain as Jongin handed him the already-purchased item. Jongin shrugged.

 

“I wanted it,” he said, putting it on his phone and staring at it blankly. His voice lowered slightly as he muttered, “Kai and I used to watch that show together, too.”

 

They walked to the food court in silence, except now it was a comfortable one.

 

“You know, I kind of hated you,” Jongin said casually once they had bought Chinese food from one of the many food stands, and D.O choked on his orange chicken. He stared at Jongin questioningly, and Jongin took his time before elaborating. “I feel like if it weren’t for you, maybe Kai and I could have worked out our issues. But instead of facing me he just ran away to live with you. That’s kind of ty, don’t you think?”

 

D.O swallowed thickly. He wondered where “blames you for his awful relationship with his brother” fell on the scale of reasons why someone wouldn’t date you.

 

Because yeah, he had figured out what he had come here for; he had decided that he did want to date Jongin. He really, really wanted to.

 

“But I guess I shouldn’t involve people in things that are between me and him,” Jongin continued with a sigh. He glanced at D.O and smiled, the first real smile he had ever seen on the boy’s face. “You’re not too bad.”

 

That was it, D.O’s heart was going to explode right then and there and he wouldn’t even live long enough to be thrilled about the sudden acceptance of his feelings for Jongin. He was suddenly feeling really brave, but before he could excitedly say something along the lines of “I think you’re amazingly hot but also pretty cool as a person so please date me”, he was interrupted by the sound of Jongin’s phone ringing.

 

“Hello? Oh, right, sorry, I’ll be there in five minutes.” And D.O felt his heart drop as he heard Jongin talk because it suddenly occurred to him that he’d forgotten something very important. And that something was that Jongin had a girlfriend.

 

“Sorry hyung, I have to go,” Jongin said with a guilty grin. “Thanks for hanging out with me today even though it was kind of random and weird. I’ll text you later or something?” He made to leave before stopping abruptly and turning around again. “Wait, I don’t have your number.”

 

D.O quickly typed the ten digits into Jongin’s phone before sending him off, watching bleakly as he walked away.

 

His phone buzzed only moments later. <seriously where the are you I’m starving and kyungsoo refuses to cook>

 

D.O laughed dryly at Kai’s message. <be home soon> he replied, followed by <I think I’m kind of in love with your brother help.>

 

<ew.>

 

D.O chuckled and rolled his eyes, letting the Pororo phone charm stick out as he tucked his phone into his pocket and headed home.

 

---

 

 

<what are you up to, hyung?>

 

D.O bit his lip to hide his grin. Jongin had been texting him almost nonstop since their trip to the mall, and to say he was ecstatic would be an understatement. He quickly tapped out a reply.

 

 <about to make food for your garbage disposal of a brother. you?>

 

He suddenly tripped and stumbled, catching himself on the wall before he could land face-first on the hardwood floor. He turned to glare at the object that had obstructed his path.

 

“What the are you doing?” he hissed. Kai was sitting in the middle of the hallway with his ear pressed up against the bathroom door. D.O paled. “…Is Kyungsoo showering in there?”

 

Kai blinked once. “Yes.”

 

“I’m calling the police,” D.O said seriously, and Kai kicked him in the shin.

 

“Shh! He’s singing!” Kai said, his voice a frantic whisper. He placed his ear back against the door and sighed peacefully. “He has such a good voice. Why doesn’t he ever sing in front of anyone?”

 

“He does. He’s sang in front of plenty of people, just not you. Now get off the floor you ing ert,” D.O ordered, grabbing Kai by the forearm and and bodily heaving him off of the ground. Kai reluctantly complied, following D.O into the kitchen. “Pizza rolls?”

 

“Sure,” Kai agreed with a shrug. D.O pulled them out of the freezer and dumped them onto an pan.

 

“So,” D.O said casually as he set the oven time. “Are you gonna ask my brother out or are you just gonna keep longingly listening in to his showers?”

 

Kai blushed and coughed awkwardly. “It’s not like that. I just think he’s a good singer,” he said, and D.O exhaled deeply.

 

“Okay but seriously, if you keep up this stupid denial thing I’m going to dislocate your arm,” he said, his voice terrifyingly casual. “You like him so why don’t you want to date him?”

 

Kai rested his head on his hand and traced a line on the table with his finger “I do,” he said softly. “I really, really want to date him.”

 

D.O sighed, taking off his oven mitts and sitting next to Kai at the table. “So ask him out,” he instructed, and Kai shook his head rapidly.

 

“I can’t!” he moaned. “Trust me, I have tried so many times to think of ways to make it work but I just can’t.”

 

“You can’t what?” Kyungsoo said, suddenly walking into the kitchen. He ran a towel over his dripping wet hair as he stared between the two of them curiously.

 

Kai swallowed at the sight of him and looked away. “You don’t need to know,” he grumbled. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes exasperatedly and took a seat as far away from Kai as possible.

 

They sat in a semi-awkward silence until the oven beeped, and D.O piled the pizza rolls onto a plate in the center of the table. He leaned back and took out his phone, texting rapidly as he chewed on the snack food.

 

“You’ve been texting nonstop for like the last week,” Kai pointed out, and Kyungsoo looked up curiously. “Who are you talking to?”

 

“Jongin,” D.O said without hesitation. Kai raised his eyebrows up to his hairline and Kyungsoo just stared at him.

 

“You’re kidding,” Kai said dryly. “You actually decided to date him?” D.O just shrugged in reply. The topic of texting gave him and idea however, and he quickly opened up a new message.

 

<why can’t you date kyungsoo>

 

Kai’s phone rang from his pocket and he jumped up in surprise, hitting his knee against the table. He cursed and pulled it out, glancing at it unamusedly before deadpanning at D.O.

 

<can’t you wait to have this conversation?>

 

<no>

 

Kai groaned and Kyungsoo glanced from him to D.O. “Are you guys seriously texting each other right now?” he asked, his tone slightly offended.

 

“Shut up Kyungsoo.”

 

<i am a virtuous man>

 

<bull>

 

<okay fine. but I cant have with him>

 

D.O sent Kai a confused glance which Kyungsoo was clearly able to see. He let out an affronted noise.

 

<why>

 

<because he’s so innocent and pure!!!! who am I to take his ity im not worthy>

 

D.O set down his phone and let out a laugh that sounded more frustrated than amused. “Is that seriously what this is ing about?” he snapped, and Kai blushed.

 

Kyungsoo gaped at them. “This is so rude oh my god I cannot believe you’re doing this,” he said in disbelief.

 

<stop talking out loud>

 

<you’re a ing idiot.>

 

<why??? I respect him. you should be happy>

                    

D.O sighed deeply, staring at Kyungsoo for a long time before making a decision.

 

<kyungsoo isn’t a .>

 

Kai spit out the chocolate milk he was drinking violently, coughing and spluttering for air as he re-read the text to make sure he hadn’t misread it. He stared at Kyungsoo, who was sneering at him in disgust. “No ing way.”

 

“What?!” Kyungsoo snapped defensively. “What are you guys saying about me behind my—”

 

“YOU’VE HAD ?”

 

“—back?”

 

There was a long, long pause. Kyungsoo stared down at the table with wide eyes for a majority of this time, before he finally peeled his eyes away to meet his brother’s. “Did you… seriously…” he said, unable to form a coherent sentence. D.O stared at him.

 

“It wasn’t me.”

 

“You’re the only one that knows!” Kyungsoo was on the verge of tears now.

 

“I didn’t say anything.”

 

“Why did you tell him?”

 

“Oh my god, get over it. He was gonna find out anyway,” D.O finally admitted with a shrug. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We’ve all had … some more than others.” He and Kai side-glanced at each other. Kyungsoo looked even more devastated.

 

“I’m full,” he said, standing up so quickly that his chair almost toppled over. He made to leave but Kai jumped up to follow him.

 

“Wait!” he said, grabbing the older boy’s wrist. Kyungsoo frantically shook him off. “Who was it?”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Like I would ever tell you,” he spat, gritting his teeth as he spun on his heel and stomped away. Kai ran back into the kitchen.

 

“Who was it?” he repeated, this time to D.O. He shrugged in reply, once again engaged in texting.

 

“He never told me,” he said casually. “He’s really adamant about keeping it a secret.”

 

Kai let out an exasperated breath and slumped back into his chair. “When did this even happen?”

 

“Remember Chanyeol’s party last year? When we got Kyungsoo super drunk and lost him for like two hours?” D.O asked distracted. Kai furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

 

“Uh, vaguely. I remember very little about that party,” he admitted. His eyes widened. “Kyungsoo had drunk at a party with a stranger? ing hell.”

 

D.O nodded in confirmation. “Not as innocent as you thought, huh?”

 

Kai suddenly had an image of Kyungsoo, sweating and panting underneath an unidentified body in an unidentified room. He could practically feel Kyungsoo’s damp skin, could practically hear his labored breathing and muffled moans…

 

“,” Kai said breathily, shaking his head and squeezing his eyes shut as a result of his first ever ual thoughts about Do Kyungsoo. “This changes everything.”

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo pounded on D.O’s bedroom door, reveling in the fact that Kai wasn’t in his house for the first time in the three days that had passed since what he dubbed the incident.

 

In those three days since his brother had betrayed him and Kai had found out his secret, Kai had been bugging him nonstop. He must have asked him out at least twenty times in a wide assortment of ways; varying from flowers to public announcements of affection. Kyungsoo had said no every time, and he didn’t know how he could possibly make it more clear that he didn’t want to date or do anything that resembled dating the younger boy.

 

“Come in,” D.O’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door, and Kyungsoo entered to see him sprawled across his sheets. Kyungsoo walked past Kai’s bed that was set up near the door and approached his brother.

 

“I need you to do something,” Kyungsoo said, swallowing thickly. D.O shifted his face away from his pillow to glance at him curiously, and Kyungsoo sniffed. “Tell Kai to leave me alone.”

 

D.O just stared at him blankly like he always did, before rolling his eyes. “Why?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep and it was obvious that he had been napping. “He just likes you. If you don’t want to date him fine, but I don’t see why you can’t put up with him showering you in affection.”

 

Kyungsoo felt a deep seed of anger that had been growing inside of him for years now finally erupt. He clenched his hands into fists and took a deep breath. “Why?” Kyungsoo repeated, his voice breaking. “I’m your brother, that’s why! You should automatically take my side without needing a reason!”

 

D.O blinked at surprised, quickly sitting up. “Kyungsoo…” he said, reaching out and grabbing his twin’s hand. “Hey, you’re right, I’m sorry. I am on your side. I’ll tell him.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded rapidly, wiping frantically at the tears he hadn’t noticed had started to fall. D.O was still staring at him in alarm. “Thank you,” he muttered.

 

“Is something wrong?” D.O asked concernedly, and Kyungsoo quickly shook his head to deny it. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

 

Kyungsoo sniffled, looking down at the ground and squeezing his brother’s hand tighter. “Nothing’s wrong. He’s just making me a little uncomfortable,” he said quietly. He looked up at D.O and smiled slightly. “I know he lives here and I know you love him, but please don’t forget that I’m the one that’s your family.”

 

D.O’s eyes widened. “I haven’t,” he said sincerely. “I would never forget that. I love you so much, Kyungsoo.”

 

Kyungsoo forced a smile. “I love you too,” he said.

 

“I’m sorry you hate Kai. I’m sorry that I let him live with us when you clearly don’t want him to but I…” D.O trailed off, staring at Kyungsoo pleadingly as if he were begging him to understand. Kyungsoo nodded because he did.

 

After all, if he told D.O the truth, he would have Kai move out in a second. But that was never, ever going to happen.

 

 

 

 

“You have to stop talking to Kyungsoo.”

 

Kai laughed once and rolled over on his bed so that he was facing the ceiling. “Okay, I know it looks like I’m miserably failing, but just give me some time,” he insisted, waving D.O off. D.O swallowed.

 

“No, I’m.” He paused. “I’m not asking you.”

 

Kai tilted his head to stare at him. “What are you talking about?” he asked. D.O exhaled deeply.

 

“You’re bothering him so just ing stop, okay?” he muttered, turning over to face the wall. Kai laughed once in disbelief.

 

“What the hell, D.O? You’re the one that was insisting that I do this,” Kai said sharply. “It’s not like I’m just ing around, I really want to be with him.”

 

“Well he doesn’t want to be with you!” D.O said loudly, burying his face in his pillow. “Just cut it out, please? Please.”

 

Kai was quiet for a long time. “What the hell ever,” he finally muttered, turning over onto his side. He paused. “Then you can’t talk to my brother anymore, either.”

 

D.O inhaled sharply as he stared at his phone screen.

 

<hyung? are you alright? you’ve been ignoring me ╥_╥>

 

“I know,” he said quietly.

 

---

 

“Wow, you ing today.”

 

“Shut the hell up,” Jongin snapped, uncapping his water bottle and chugging it down.

 

Sehun didn’t do anything of the sort, not that Jongin actually expected him too. “You’ve let every shot go in, star goalie-sshi. Your reputation is being severely wounded,” he said pitifully, patting Jongin’s shoulder in a condescending manner. “Your cute girlfriend even came to watch, how embarrassing.”

 

Jongin glanced up at the stands to see Soojung sitting alone, because who the hell would come to spectate a soccer practice? She gave him an enthusiastic wave and he gave her a half-assed one in return.

 

“ you,” he muttered, knocking his shoulder into Sehun’s as he walked past him and toward the locker room. Sehun jogged to catch up.

 

“Girl problems?” he guessed, and Jongin rolled his eyes.

 

“No. Me and Soojung are fine.”

 

Sehun glanced down at Jongin’s phone, which was resting on the bench. He raised an eyebrow as he started to do his locker combination. “Is it because that mysterious person you’ve been texting stopped talking to you?” he guessed again, and Jongin rounded on him.

 

“I told you to shut the up!” he shouted, pulling his shirt over his head and slamming his locker shut before storming out of the room. He jogged all the way out to his mother’s car, which was already waiting for him by the curb.

 

His mother smiled at him when he piled into the front seat. “Hello, Jonginnie!” she said brightly, and Jongin kind of wanted her to shut up because he was not in the mood. “How was practice?”

 

“ing awful. Let’s go home please,” he muttered, tuning out his mother scolding him for his language.

 

Jongin really didn’t even know why he was so pissed off. It was probably because for some reason, for those few weeks or so that he was talking to D.O, he was under the impression that the older boy wasn’t a total . It was stupid of him. He was best friends with Kai after all, there was no reason he shouldn’t have suspected that they would be exactly the same.

 

Whatever, he was over it. He’d only ever hung out with D.O that one time; it wasn’t like they were friends. He was just nice to talk to sometimes. Jongin didn’t really have a lot of people to talk to.

 

A few hours passed before Jongin heard the front door opening, and he sat up in bed in surprise because if he and his mother were both home, no one should just be inviting themselves in. He checked his phone to make sure it wasn’t Thursday, even though he knew it wasn’t.

 

He heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and he got up and peeked his head out the door. He scowled when he saw his own face staring back at him. “What the are you doing here,” he said dryly, and Kai grinned and waved.

 

“D.O and I are fighting I think,” he said blankly. Jongin blinked in surprise, because he was fairly certain that the two of them had never fought once since they’d been friends. Their friendship was something that Jongin had always wanted, one where there was no bitter feelings pent up or unsaid grievances because if they had a problem, they weren’t afraid to say it to the other’s face.

 

So he was curious. “Why?” he asked. Kai looked like he was considering something, before shrugging.

 

“Not important,” he said casually. He glanced at Jongin’s soccer uniform that he had piled on the floor in front of his room to be taken down to the laundry. “There’s a big game tomorrow right?”

 

“If you come I’m quitting the team,” Jongin replied bluntly, and Kai laughed.

 

“I’ll be there! Gotta support my little brother.”

 

Jongin reached behind him to grab the nearest available object, which happened to be a hacky sack, and chucked it and him. “We’re literally the exact same age you ,” he snapped, slamming his door shut.

 

“But I was born ten minutes earlier!” he heard Kai sing-song from outside. Jongin sighed, flopping back onto his bed and pulling his pillow over his face.

 

 

 

 

“I heard we sold out the stands,” Byun Baekhyun said, rocking on his heels in nervous excitement. “This is our big game, Jonginnie.”

 

Jongin just hummed in reply, scanning the crowd from his spot on the bench. He caught sight of his brother a few rows up, sitting with some of his friends that Jongin recognized. D.O wasn’t with him, but Jongin wasn’t surprised.

 

His mom wasn’t there, but he wasn’t surprised about that either. He’d received a text from her, sincerely apologizing like usual and ending with something along the lines of I love you my precious son <3. He’d rolled his eyes and turned his phone off without replying.

 

He glanced anxiously at the college scouts sitting in the front of the bleachers. “You’re a shoo-in for a scholarship, star goalie-sshi,” Baekhyun said, nudging him with a grin. “Play well today!”

 

Jongin shrugged. “Thanks,” he muttered bleakly. He really didn’t care about the scholarship, or the finals, or soccer in general. He would rather be at home sleeping but he was good at soccer and he wanted to make his mom proud, despite the fact that she never even bothered to show up.

 

The first half of the game went smoothly; Jongin didn’t let a single goal in and they were up 3-0. They were going to win, like they always did.

 

It was during halftime when he was back at the bench that he saw D.O, walking through the front of the bleachers with his brother in tow. He made eye contact with Jongin and smiled slightly, giving him a sort of half-wave. Jongin didn’t reciprocate it, but he didn’t look away either.

 

“You know D.O?” someone suddenly piped up next to him, and Jongin tore his eyes away to glance at the form of one of his teammates, Kim Jongdae.

 

He blinked once. “Not really,” he replied dryly. “He’s friends with my brother.”

 

Jongdae grinned, staring at D.O a little too intensely for Jongin’s liking. “God, I would hit that. He’s so ing hot,” he said breathily.

 

Jongin stared at him for a long time. “Um, alright,” he said uninterestedly, turning away from the other boy and grabbing his water bottle.

 

Jongdae didn’t get the hint to end the conversation. “You think I can get him into bed? I mean, it shouldn’t be too hard. I heard he never says no,” he said with a chuckle. “He’ll go down on anyone that asks for it.”

 

Jongin clenched his jaw, slowly turning to face Jongdae. “You shouldn’t say things like that,” he said thickly. Jongdae shrugged.

 

“I’m just saying. He’s a total , but he’s a hot one,” he said casually. “I’m going for it.”

 

It wasn’t like what you see in movies or read in books. He wasn’t consumed by a blind rage that caused him to lose control of his actions and do something ridiculously stupid that he would later regret. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that it would get him kicked out of the game, that it would lose him the scholarship, that it might cause them to lose the match and disappoint the entire school. He was consciously aware of all of these consequences, and he still chose to bring back his fist and punch Kim Jongdae straight in the nose.

 

It turned into a full-out fight, one that didn’t end until Kai ran out onto the field and managed to pry his brother off of the victim. “What the are you doing, Jongin?!” he snapped, holding him down until he stopped trying to rip Jongdae’s throat out. Jongin relaxed against Kai, breathing heavily and looking around with wild eyes.

 

“He’s ing garbage please let me kill him,” Jongin said calmly, and Kai shoved him in the chest and pushed him away from the crowd that was currently helping tending to Jongdae.

 

“What’s wrong with you?” Kai snapped. “They’re not gonna let you finish the game now you .”

 

Jongin pursed his lips and shrugged. “I know,” he said. The two of them paused and stared at each other for a beat while Kai awaited an explanation, but Jongin just turned away. “I’m going home.”

 

“Jongin,” Kai said firmly, grabbing his brother’s arm. Jongin whipped around and shook him off with a scowl.

 

“Don’t ing reprimand me when you would have done the same thing!” he snapped. “Next time someone accuses your best friend of being a I’ll just leave it alone, okay?” Kai froze.

 

“…What, so he was talking about D.O?” he asked carefully. Jongin shrugged him off.

 

“Whatever. I don’t even care about Jongdae or D.O or soccer or any of this . I’m going home,” he repeated, trying once again to escape Kai’s grasp.

 

Kai tried to say something, but two people came running up to them before he had the chance to. One was D.O, and the other was Soojung.

 

“Oh my god, are you alright?!” Soojung asked frantically, and Jongin looked less than pleased with her presence. “What happened?”

 

Jongin looked right past her and made eye contact with D.O, who stared back with wide eyes. The more Kai observed them, the more things seemed to fall into place.

 

I’m not gay. I’ll never like boys. I will never be like you, Kai!

 

“I’m fine,” Jongin said, ripping his gaze away from D.O’s and finally succeeding in walking away.

 

Soojung looked shocked, and D.O turned to Jongin. “What was all that about?” he asked, apparently forgetting all about the fact that they were supposed to be mad at each other. Kai let out a small laugh.

 

“I have to go,” he said softly. “I have to move out of your house. Jongin needs me… I have to go.”

 

And he took off after his brother without looking back.

 

---

 

Their mother didn’t know she was having twins.

  

Kim Jonghae, who would later go by Kai, was born first. And his mother loved him very, very much. She was pleased for all of ten minutes, until suddenly she was contracting again and the doctor was telling her that there was another baby coming and she suddenly had two newborn infants instead of one, which was must more than she could afford as a single parent.

 

So she resented Jongin. He was the child she’d never wanted, and she showed it.

 

Jongin didn’t really begin to take notice of this until they were around six years old. Back at their old apartment that only had two rooms, Kai had been woken up one night by sniffling coming from the lower bunk of their bed. He peeked over the edge to see Jongin clutching his pillow tightly to his chest and whimpering quietly, silver tears tracks running down his cheeks. Kai immediately clambered down and sat beside the other. “What’s wrong, Jonginnie?” he asked, brushing his twin’s hair out of his eyes. Jongin sniffled.

 

“Why doesn’t mom love me like she loves you?” he asked quietly, his lip trembling.

 

Kai frowned deeply, his eyebrows wrinkling in thought. “Mom loves both of us,” he said defensively. Jongin clutched his pillow tight to himself, letting out a small sob.

 

“But she never says ‘I love you, Jonginnie’, like she always says to you!” Jongin said loudly, his voice breaking as more tears came pouring down his face. “What can I do to be like you? How can I make mom love me?”

 

Kai was quiet for a long time. “Well, I think you’re fine the way you are,” he replied after a while, grabbing Jongin’s hand. “After all, I love you, Jonginnie.”

 

At around 10, Jongin started to blame Kai.

 

At around 12, Jongin started to hate him.

 

“I have to tell you something,” Kai said one day, crawling into Jongin’s bed and hopping up and down on his knees in nervous anticipation. They were 14 years old, and had since moved into a bigger house so that they no longer had to share a room. Jongin appreciated this because it made Kai easier to avoid. “I’m dating someone.”

 

Normally Jongin would ignore his brother completely, or tell him to off because he never failed to remind him how much he hated him, but this particular conversation peaked his curiosity. “What? You got a girlfriend?” Jongin asked, rolling over to face his twin. Kai stared at him for a few beats, his eyes wide as he tried to come up with the right words to say.

 

“Not exactly,” he replied, his voice steady despite the obvious nervousness on his face. “Do you know D.O? He’s in the grade above us, he has a twin brother too. He’s… the one I’m dating.”

 

Jongin felt a sensation similar to the one that he had felt at his soccer practice a few days prior (which he attended despite the fact that he hated the sport; his mother had expressed how much she wished her sons were athletic so she could spectate their games and cheer for them. Clearly that only applied to Kai because she hadn’t shown up to one of Jongin’s) when a ball had been kicked directly into his gut. He felt all of the air leave him and he was plunged into a cold shock at his brother’s words.

 

He didn’t speak, he really didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that he had any particular problem with gay people, he’d just never expected his twin brother to be one of them. He felt goose bumps erupt on his arms as he thought of the implications. He and Kai shared everything: parents, home environments, DNA… if Kai was gay, did that mean that he would be too?

 

“Have you told mom?” he asked breathlessly. Kai exhaled slowly.

 

“I’m going to. Later,” he replied with a shrug. He paused. “But I’m not interested in what mom thinks right now, I wanted to know what you think.”

 

Jongin never answered that question. Kai waited for a long time, but it eventually became apparent that Jongin had no intention of replying. “She’ll be angry,” Jongin said instead.

 

“She won’t,” Kai argued confidently. “Mom will accept me no matter what. She loves me.”

 

Jongin felt the familiar feeling of hatred burn in his chest. “Get out,” he hissed, and Kai did.

 

That night, everything changed.

 

Jongin watched quietly as all hell broke loose, watched his mother break dishes left and right as she screamed at his brother, told him what a disgusting excuse of a human being he was, told him that he would burn in hell for being a disgraceful little . Jongin didn’t do anything to stop it when she shoved Kai out of the front door. The only evidence of his reaction was the small bend in the spoon he had been holding where he’d gripped it far too tightly in his fist.

  

“Oh Jongin, my sweet Jongin,” she said through her tears when she walked back into the demolished kitchen, pulling his head to her chest and his hair. “You’ve always been such a good boy. I’m so proud of you, so proud that you’re not like him. I love you, Jonginnie.”

 

And he chose to forget the past 14 years of his life, chose to forget that he was clearly the second choice, and sank into his mother’s loving embrace for the first time.

 

 

 

 

“You are totally gay.”

 

Kai had spent his entire walk home going over what he was going to say to Jongin, and after endless frustration and multiple failed attempts at coming up with something that might make him sound like a supportive brother, he decided to wing it. Jongin stared at him blankly from his spot on the crumbling concrete stairs of their front porch.

 

“ off,” Jongin said, but without the usual bite. He just sounded tired. “Why did you follow me? You don’t even live here, go away.”

 

“I do live here,” Kai defended quickly. Jongin looked up in surprise at this. “I’m going to live here, like, every day from now on.”

 

Jongin stared at him, studying his face as if trying to find out if he was joking or not. “Why,” he said flatly.

 

“Because you’re totally gay. And you don’t have anywhere to run away to like I did,” Kai explained, plopping himself down next to Jongin. “And you need me.”

 

Jongin didn’t say anything for a long time, just toyed with the hem of his soccer shorts and took a lot of really deep breaths. “It’s too late for you to be a good brother,” he finally said, his voice calm despite his harsh words. “And I’m not gay. I told you that. I’m not like you.”

 

Kai laughed. “You’re exactly like me, stupid. Literally. We’re genetically identical,” he said. He sighed and lounged back against the porch “Regardless, I’m going to sit here until you admit that you totally have homoual feelings for my best friend. Take your time.”

 

Jongin scowled deeply, pulling his knees to his chest. “Do you even know what you’re implying right now?” he asked, his voice rising slightly as his calm demeanor began to collapse. “Do you know how ing long it took me to get mom to even acknowledge my existence? The only reason she gives two s about me now is because you’re gay, we all know that. But if I’m gay too then what the hell am I supposed to do?”

 

Kai nodded noncommittally, pulling at some of the weeds growing out of the cracks in the concrete. “Alright, well here’s the thing. I love our mom, she gave birth to us and raised us by herself and I’m grateful for that,” he said, before his face turned hard and serious. “But she is a crazy , Jongin. If you live to please her then you’re just gonna be miserable.”

 

Jongin was quiet, and when his shoulders started to shake Kai had to force himself not to panic. He was never good with these kinds of things; he hated feelings. Which was probably why he’d never taken the initiative to sit down and talk to Jongin before. Which was probably why he ran away.

 

Kai waited quietly as Jongin pushed his knuckles against his eyes, letting out shaky breaths and clenching his teeth tightly. Kai didn’t cry very easily, but he remembered having to comfort his sobbing brother relatively often when they were younger. He hadn’t seen him cry for a long time, though.

 

“I’m scared,” Jongin finally whispered after a while, and Kai swallowed thickly and felt his chest tighten. Suddenly, Jongin was that little boy again, the one that Kai had to care for and protect. He was his little brother (even if only by ten minutes).

 

Kai reached down and grabbed Jongin’s hand, half expecting him to pull away. He was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be afraid to be yourself.”

 

Jongin scoffed, wiping at his eyes and sniffing. “Right,” he said sarcastically. He sighed. “Why can’t I just be the perfect son mom wants? I did everything I ing could and I’m still not good enough.”

 

Kai smiled slightly. “I think you’re fine the way you are,” he said, nudging him with his shoulder.

 

Jongin turned to glance at Kai, before a small smile graced his features. It was the first time he’d smiled at him since Kai could remember. “Thanks,” he muttered, looking back at the ground shyly. Kai felt his heart swell slightly as he reveled in the fact that they were having the first civil conversation they’d had in forever.

 

“So, now we get to the important questions,” Kai said, clapping his hands together in excitement. “When are you gonna dump your fake girlfriend and ask D.O to bone you?” Jongin choked.

 

“Jesus, slow down. I didn’t even say anything about D.O,” he said with a scowl, turning away from Kai. “We only talked for like a week, I don’t know why you seem to think I’m in love with him.”

 

Kai smirked. “Well, not that it matters, but he’s really crazy about you,” he said offhandedly, picking at his cuticles. Jongin cleared his throat awkwardly.

 

“Whatever,” he said dismissively. He glanced at Kai. “Anyway, wouldn’t it be weird for you if I started dating your ex?” Kai snorted unattractively.

 

“Please, we dated for like three days,” he said dismissively. “We were never into each other like that. I’ve always…” He paused, flushing slightly. “I’ve always liked Kyungsoo.”

 

Jongin’s eyebrows raised up to his hairline. “What? You actually like Kyungsoo?” he asked in disbelief. “I thought the fact that you ed him at that one party and never talked about it again was kind of a huge sign that you weren’t interested.”

 

Kai stared at Jongin for a solid minute. “What are you talking about?” he asked slowly.

 

“You know, at Chanyeol’s birthday last year.”

 

“What? I didn’t know you were there.”

 

Jongin deadpanned at him. “How could you have forgotten that I was there? Who do you think gave you that bruise on your cheek that lasted like a month? Jesus, you must have been smashed.”

 

Suddenly, Kai felt all of the color drain out of his face. “Oh my god,” he choked out, feeling bile rise in his throat. He was suddenly slammed hard with vague memories of that night: doing a body shot off of some chick, Jongin decking him in the cheek because apparently it had been his girlfriend, leading Kyungsoo into a dark bedroom at the end of the hallway… “Oh my ing god. It was me.”

 

“Um, are you okay?” Jongin asked, quirking his eyebrow. Kai sprung up and pulled out his phone.

 

“Sorry, gotta go. Good luck being hella gay,” he said quickly, before running out of the backyard and out to the sidewalk. He pressed his phone to his ear and tried to stop himself from hyperventilating.

 

“What do you want.”

 

“Hey. D.O. I’m sorry. About everything,” Kai said breathlessly. “I’m not going to stop you from going after Jongin anymore. In fact, I encourage it.”

 

There was a long pause on the other line. “Um, okay,” D.O said blankly. “Are you alright? You sound weird.”

 

“No, I’m really not,” Kai said, running his fingers roughly through his hair. “Look, about Kyungsoo…”

 

“You still have to stay away from him, Kai. I’m sorry,” D.O cut in firmly. Kai sighed.

 

“I know, I know,” he said, pacing. “Listen. I’m coming over to get the rest of my stuff. If you weren’t there when I got there, and you happened to be ignorant of the fact that he and I would be alone in the house for like twenty minutes, that would be really awesome. After that, I swear to god I won’t ever talk to him again if he doesn’t want me to.”

 

D.O didn’t respond for a while, and Kai held his breath. “Twenty minutes,” he replied, letting out a sigh of submission. “Starting now.”

 

Kai ran.

 

---

 

D.O brought his hand up to the door and knocked, rocking back on his heels as he waited patiently. The door opened and he froze in place, staring at the person that had just revealed themselves with a blank expression 

 

“Oh, um,” he said, clearing his throat several times as he tried to calculate how quickly he could bound off of the porch and down the street without falling on his face. “Hey, Mrs. Kim. Long time no see.”

 

He saw a vein pulse in her temple, and he was about to swan dive into the nearest bush in an attempt to spare his life when suddenly a blur of blonde hair shoved past the woman and latched onto D.O’s arm, tugging him off of the porch and down the road. They only stopped running when they were a block away from the house, and Jongin slumped to the ground with a relieved sigh.

 

“What did I tell you about doing that?!” Jongin said loudly after he’d calmed down. “Do you want my mother to castrate you?”

 

D.O considered this. “Not particularly, no,” he said flatly. He sat down beside Jongin. “Hi.”

 

Jongin quirked an eyebrow and glanced at D.O out of the corner of his eye. “Hi,” he repeated. “Did you want something?”

 

D.O nodded. “Yeah,” he said with a grin. “I want to kiss you.”

 

Jongin stared at him like he had two heads, and considered getting up and going back home because he really was not prepared for this conversation. “Um,” he said, scratching the back of his bleached head. “You kind of have been ignoring my existence for the past three weeks.” D.O scooted a teeny bit closer to him. Jongin started to sweat.

 

“That’s true,” D.O said calmly. He continued to smile and started rocking back and forth, and Jongin didn’t know if it was cute or horrifying. “But I’m not ignoring you now, so let’s kiss.”

 

Jongin wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know, hyung,” he said, tracing the crack of the sidewalk with his finger. “I just became gay like an hour ago.” D.O snorted.

 

“Alright, alright,” he said with a nod, before his face suddenly turned gravely serious. “Jongin, we need to talk. About what happened with Jongdae.”

 

Jongin’s eyes immediately flashed with anger and he scowled deeply. “Don’t talk to me about him,” he said sternly. D.O, however, was unfazed.

 

“Okay, then let’s talk about me,” he said firmly. “Look, your brother told me the kind of things he said about me. And I just… I wanted you to know that they were probably all true.”

 

Jongin looked up in surprised to see D.O squirming nervously. “What?” Jongin said blankly. D.O stared him straight in the eye.

 

“I’m not really a good guy, Jongin-ah,” D.O continued calmly. “I sleep around. A lot. And I really don’t ever say no, because I don’t want to say no. I like .” Jongin pursed his lips and D.O sighed. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way I am, but if you do, I understand.”

 

It took Jongin a while to find the words to reply. “Hyung,” he said, rubbing at his eyes with his fingers until he say little white dots. He let out a deep sigh. “I didn’t beat the out of Jongdae because I thought he was telling lies about you. I did it because he had no right to judge you whether it was true or not.” D.O looked surprised, but Jongin continued. “I don’t really care how you act or who you sleep with, that’s not any of my business. I like you anyway.”

 

D.O just stared at Jongin for the longest time, with so much adoration that Jongin started blushing violently. “Can I please kiss you?” he asked again. Jongin swallowed.

 

“Okay,” he replied.

 

D.O reached up and laced his fingers through the back of Jongin’s dye-damaged hair, pulling them close so that their lips we mere millimeters apart. They stayed there for a beat, their breathes mingling as D.O brought he free hand down to grasp on of Jongin’s trembling ones. Finally, he pressed their mouths together. Jongin’s lips were soft and clumsy, sliding against D.O’s sloppily in a way that screamed inexperience. D.O pulled the younger’s lower lip into his mouth, on it lightly and listening with satisfaction as Jongin’s breathing began to come out in pants. When they finally pulled away, Jongin was bright red and breathless.

 

D.O kept their foreheads together as he looked up at Jongin’s eyes, grinning with a happiness that he rarely expressed. “Good?” he asked, and Jongin turned impossibly redder before he nodded rapidly.

 

“Good,” he choked out. D.O laughed.

 

“Jongin-ah,” he said carefully, laying he head against the younger’s shoulder. “From now on, I won’t sleep with anyone else if you don’t.” Jongin snorted.

 

“It kinda sounds like you’re asking me to be your boyfriend,” he said speculatively. D.O grinned in response, and Jongin let out a single laugh. “My mom’s really gonna hate you now. You turned both of her sons gay.”

 

D.O just laughed joyfully, pulling Jongin’s head back down and meeting his lips once again.

 

---

 

 

Kyungsoo sat up in bed, peeling his homework off of his face with a yawn. He glanced at the clock. It was only 8, about two hours since he and D.O had come back from the soccer game. He had to pee.

 

He stumbled through the hallway in a half-awake state, reaching for the bathroom door handle with closed eyes. He partially fell through the doorway and cracked his eyes open, blinking rapidly to clear the haze of sleep obscuring his vision. The room slowly came into focus.

 

“Please don’t scream,” he heard a familiar voice say, and he almost did anyway. “I’m wearing clothes.”

 

Kyungsoo stared at the figure in front of him, glancing over his shoulder at his brother’s vacant bedroom across the hallway. “Where is D.O?” he asked immediately, ready to go get his brother to defend him if necessary.

 

“Probably with Jongin,” Kai said with a shrug. He pursed his lips. “I really need to talk to you, Kyungsoo.”

 

Kai took a step toward him, and he backed away immediately. “I don’t want to talk to you,” he said sternly. “Please get out of my house.”

 

“I will,” Kai promised. “I’ll leave you alone, I swear. Just hear me out first. Please.”

 

Kyungsoo’s back hit the wall, and he groaned. “Fine, whatever. Talk,” he snapped, avoiding eye contact. He felt his heart rate speed up as Kai approached him and he squeezed his eyes shut, praying that the wall would open up behind him and let him to escape.

 

“Kyungsoo,” Kai said, his voice soft and way too close. “We had at Chanyeol’s party last year.”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes flew open and he stared at the boy in front of him in disbelief. “You remember?” he asked in astonishment. Kai sighed and avoided his eyes.

 

“I didn’t,” he admitted. “I had no idea. It was your first time and I completely disregarded it… God, Kyungsoo, I am so so—”

 

“Don’t even say you’re sorry,” Kyungsoo cut in sharply. He pushed himself away from the wall, causing Kai to be the one to step back this time. “And regardless of what you might think, I don’t really care that you took my ity. I’m not some virtuous little saint that was waiting until marriage like you seem to think. I don’t even care that you were drunk and didn’t remember, it was my fault because I knew you were wasted and I let you do it anyway.” He paused, and took a deep breath. “You want to know why I hate you? Because I was in love with you. Because that was the happiest night of my entire life and you didn’t even know it happened. But that’s not your fault, Kai, it’s mine. So don’t you dare say sorry.”

 

Kai swallowed thickly, his mind racing as he tried to come up with a response. Kyungsoo’s face changed from furious to upset almost immediately, and he looked down at the ground. “Look, Kai, it’s too late. Okay? I can’t do this,” he said dully. “I spent a year despising you and myself because of what happened that night. I’m finally starting to get over you, so please just leave. It’ll be so much easier if you just leave.”

 

Kai’s eyes flashed suddenly, and he stepped forward again. “I understand why you’re upset,” he said, his voice laced with irritation. “But do you have any idea how ing selfish you sound right now? Alright, I understand that you were in love with me and that I was an . But I was in love with you, too! I’ve always been in love with you! So maybe you should have told me everything instead of moping around for a ing year and being a total to me when I had no idea why. We could have been happy if you didn’t have so much goddamn pride, Kyungsoo! It’s not too late, but if you’re gonna sit here and at me about things that you should have ed at me about a year ago, then fine. I’ll leave.” He picked up his last duffle bag and threw it over his shoulder before heading toward the stairs.

 

Kyungsoo continued to stare straight ahead unresponsively, letting everything sink in. He heard Kai’s foot hit the first stair, and he could barely get over his surprise quick enough to whisper out a “wait.”

 

Kai paused. “What?” he replied. Kyungsoo didn’t say anything. Kai stepped back up onto the landing. “What, Kyungsoo?”

 

Kyungsoo didn’t know what, so he didn’t speak. He just stared at Kai blankly as the younger came up to him again, his face intense as he grabbed Kyungsoo’s shoulders. “Goddammit, Kyungsoo, if you have something to say ing say it!” he said desperately.

 

Kyungsoo just stared at him. Kai was breathing heavily, frustration and anger and maybe something else shining in his eyes. Something that asked Kyungsoo to beg him not to leave. Kyungsoo didn’t.

 

Suddenly, Kai started leaning closer. “Curse if you want me to stop,” he whispered. Kyungsoo froze.

 

Kai was centimeters away from Kyungsoo’s lips when the older spoke. “ you, Kai,” he hissed.

 

Kai jumped back in surprise, but he barely had time to react before Kyungsoo was grabbing the back of his neck and slamming their mouths together. It was painful, all clashing teeth and biting lips, but neither of them seemed to care. They only separated when it was necessary in order to get oxygen, and they slammed themselves against parallel walls as they tried to catch their breath.

 

Kyungsoo’s lip trembled as he grasped at his chest, as if he were preventing his heart from beating out of it. He used his other hand to try to wipe away his tears before they fell. “I really want to be with you,” he choked out. Kai crossed the hallway in two steps and pulled Kyungsoo into his arms.

 

“You can,” he reassured, kissing him on the top of the head. “Stop trying to convince yourself that this can’t happen. It can, Kyungsoo.”

 

And so Kyungsoo let it happen, falling into Kai’s embrace with no intention of ever leaving it.

 

---

 

“Kai-sshi, do you want to hang out with me after school today?”

 

The request was met with silence, and Kai didn’t even realize that someone had spoken until Chanyeol elbowed him in the ribs. Kai jumped and glanced at the girl standing beside him, wringing her hands nervously. He blinked.

 

“What?” he asked blankly, and it was clear that he hadn’t been paying attention at all.

 

The girl laughed awkwardly. “Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to come over after school. We could watch a movie or something…” she said, blushing wildly. Kai held back a sigh, forcing a friendly smile.

 

“Oh, I would love to,” he said, his voice somber. “But I already have plans today. Sorry, Sooji-sshi.” She flushed even more, bowing several times and apologizing for wasting his time before speeding off. Kai turned his attention back to what it had been previously focused on.

 

“Wow. The hottest girl in the 9^th grade just asked you out and you turned her down,” Chanyeol said in disbelief, following Kai’s gaze. “You’re really into that sophomore, huh? What’s his name again?”

  

Kai sighed dreamily, his gaze locked on the beautiful face of the boy he’d been fawning over for weeks now. “I have no idea,” he said. Chanyeol scoffed and turned back to his lunch, leaving Kai to lovingly observe the older boy in peace.

 

It was about a month ago when Kai saw him for the first time. He had stayed after school for a while to practice in one of the basement dance studios, and it wasn’t until he was leaving that he heard the most beautiful voice that he’d ever had the privilege of hearing. He had stopped in his tracks and turned around, an invisible force guiding him to the nearby choir room and causing him to peek through the door.

 

He was met with the sight of possibly the cutest boy he’d ever seen, and despite the fact that up until that point he’d only been interested in girls he was pretty sure it was love at first sight. He’d applauded excitedly when the boy was done singing, which frightened him immensely. “You have an incredible voice,” Kai had said in awe, and the boy let out a garbled choking sound before bowing quickly and fleeing the room. That was as far as their interaction went.

 

After that, Kai started seeing the boy everywhere. He’d managed to uncover that he was a grade above him and that he lived in the same neighborhood, but he never even found out his name.

 

“That’s it,” Kai said, slamming his hands down on the lunch table. Chanyeol glanced at him in surprised. “I’m going to ask him out.”

 

Chanyeol snorted at Kai’s determination, shooting him a lackluster thumbs-up. “Go get ‘im, tiger,” he said through a mouthful of food, and Kai took a deep breath before stalking over to the object of his affection’s lunch table.

 

He planted his feet firmly on the ground in front of him, taking a deep breath before letting out his command: “Go out with me.”

 

The boy looked up from the book he was flipping through, and Kai was infinitely glad that he was sitting alone because if he weren’t he probably wouldn’t have had the courage to do this. The boy barely hesitated before replying.“Okay,” he said with a shrug. “But you should know that I have no idea who you are.”

 

Kai wasn’t really offended because it’s not like he’d expected him to remember their one chance encounter. “I’m the one that walked in on you singing that one day, remember?” he asked. The boy raised an eyebrow, before his face smoothed out and he chuckled once in amusement.

 

“Oh, you must think that I’m my brother, Kyungsoo,” the boy said with a grin. “We’re identical twins, so that’s understandable.”

 

Kai paled, unsure how to respond to that. “Oh…” he said, trailing off awkwardly. “Um. Sorry.”

 

“We can still go out, if you want,” the boy said casually. Kai stared at him.

 

“Uhhh…” He cleared his throat. “Can you sing as well as your brother can?”

 

The boy scoffed. “I don’t sing,” he said. “I can beatbox, though.”

 

Kai paused for a long time. “Alright, cool,” he said with a shrug. The boy grinned.

 

“I’m D.O,” he said, holding out a hand to shake Kai’s. Kai took it awkwardly.

 

"Kai,” he introduced himself.

 

D.O scrunched up his nose. “That’s a ing weird name.”

 

“I can say the same thing about you.” D.O just laughed in response.

 

Kai decided to sit beside him for the rest of the lunch period, since they were technically boyfriends now and all. They didn’t talk, and he spent most of the time staring at D.O and trying to figure out why he was significantly less attracted to him than he the boy he had seen in the choir room, despite the fact that they were literally identical. He figured that it was the same reason why, when he and Jongin had both had a crush on Im Yoona in the third grade, she’d decided she wanted Jongin to be her boyfriend and not him. Either that or she was just a dumb .

 

“Isn’t this weird?” Kai muttered, because he was starting to regret this. “We don’t know each other.”

 

D.O just shrugged carelessly, and Kai wondered if he ever showed emotion. “I figure this will be fun for like a week and then we’ll never speak again,” he said casually. He smiled. “Wanna come over after school? I’ll make you dinner.” Kai even really think about refusing because free food was definitely on his list of favorite things. “Do you like pizza rolls?”

 

 

 

 

“That was the stupidest ing story I’ve ever heard,” Jongin said dryly, swirling around his chocolate milkshake with the straw. He narrowly avoided Kai’s well-aimed kick under the table. “Who just starts dating a complete stranger? One of you could have been a serial killer. One of you could have had herpes. You don’t know.”

 

Kai deadpanned at his brother, trying again and this time succeeding at kicking him in the shin. “Hey, if it hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t have even met D.O,” he pointed out, leaning back against his seat in satisfaction. Jongin glanced at his boyfriend, who was giving him a blank look that Jongin deciphered as a challenge to call the story stupid again. He lowered his head and went back to his milkshake.

 

“You had a 50/50 chance and you blew it,” Kyungsoo said exasperatedly. “If you’d just asked me out in the first place life would have been a lot easier.”

 

Kai nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I could have started dating you three years earlier, and I wouldn’t be stuck in an eternal friendship with that ,” he said, gesturing to D.O flippantly. D.O sent him a not-so-friendly hand gesture.

 

Suddenly, the bell rang above the door of the café and their peaceful meal was almost instantly interrupted.

 

“Hey, Jongdae! Isn’t that the kid that ed up your face?”

 

Jongin choked on his fries and sunk down into his seat, while alternatively the other three made a spectacle of turning themselves to face the newest patrons. Kai and Kyungsoo seemed amused, while D.O remained expressionless.

 

Jongdae seemed to waver in the doorway until, after much egging on from his friends, he swaggered over to their table. He looked back and forth between D.O and Jongin, glanced at his friends once more, and cleared his throat.

 

“Wow, Jongdae, what happened to your face?” Kyungsoo asked innocently before he could get a word in. Jongdae completely ignored him and turned to Jongin.

 

“I see you’re his next prey,” he said cockily, gesturing toward D.O with a nod of his head. He sneered. “Enjoy it while you can, because he’ll be ing someone else next week.”

 

Jongin looked like he would love to leap across the table and rip Jongdae’s throat out, but D.O put a firm hand on his knee. The older boy grinned at Jongdae cheerfully.

 

“That’s probably true. I mean I never say no, right?” he said with a carefree shrug of his shoulders. He stared Jongdae dead in the eye, as if hoping to instill the fear of God in him. “But just to be clear, Kim Jongdae, no matter how many guys I’ve blown in the out-of-order restroom on the second floor, I still would have said no to you.”

 

Jongdae’s friends had heard, and several of them snorted with laughter. Kyungsoo and Kai smirked in amusement. Jongdae looked like he wanted to die.

 

Pride shone in Jongin’s eyes, and he took the opportunity to furiously make out with his boyfriend. “You should probably go,” Kai said helpfully, sending him a smile an an over-exaggerated wave. Jongdae muttered something like ‘who said I would have wanted him anyways’ before speeding out of the café about as fast as humanly possible.

 

They left the café not long after, making their way back to their houses (on foot, since D.O had imminently wrecked his car a few weeks prior. “We’re honestly surprised it took you this long,” Kai had added helpfully). Kai and Kyungsoo kept about a foot-long distance between each other because Kai got flustered if they so much as held hands, while alternatively Jongin and D.O clung to each other like they had no concept of personal space.

 

“See you tomorrow,” Kai said, grinning shyly as they stopped in front of the Do’s house. He hesitated, before leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to Kyungsoo’s lips and then immediately taking off and pulling a disgruntled Jongin with him.

 

Once they were gone, Jongin’s phone almost instantly started beeping with text messages from the boyfriend that he had literally left seconds ago. Jongin glanced down at his phone and grinned brightly, letting out a content sigh before nudging Kai with his elbow. “So.”

 

“So?”

 

“I think I want to tell mom tonight.”

 

Kai raised his eyebrows in surprised, staring at his brother calculatingly. “Seriously?” he asked, and Jongin nodded. “Are you sure?” He nodded again.

 

Jongin let out a shaky breath, but jumped up and down several times as if he were hyping himself up. “I’m ready,” he said confidently. Kai grinned brightly at him.

 

“Alright,” Kai said. He reached down and grabbed his brother’s hand, squeezing it once. “I’ll be right there with you. You won’t be alone.”

 

Jongin laughed joyfully, looking up at the sunset and feeling all of the stress and fear he’d built up over the years melt away. He knew that. He would never have to be alone again.