kai is confident. kai is alluring, charming, unshakeable, everything jongin is not. kai has the world in the palm of his hands, and the one thing he is missing is the one thing he is chasing - an enigmatic, unnamed lover, one that glides away from kai and slips out of his grasp every time they come close, leaving slivers of petals and want in his wake.

and so, kai dances; he moves his body, some moments fast and quick with the suddenness of a cheetah after its prey, and at others, smooth and languid and seductive. 

to the audience, the mysterious lover is faceless, nameless, voiceless, but not to kai. not to jongin.

he visits the bakery. he has not been keeping track of how many times he has done so, but he is sure that he can no longer do so with his fingers. 

the smell of coffee, bread and cinnamon hits him the moment he enters. he's alone again this time, no sehun and no luhan.

"hello, my name is d.o.," the boy greets. "what kind of bread are you looking for? today's special is the cinnamon swirl."

he remembers this greeting. it is a familiar one, one that tugs at his heartstrings, though not as much as the voice and the face and the boy do. he is a small, pale waif of a thing (though with lovely thighs and pinch-able cheeks), one that he has come to know very well over the last few days? weeks? he can't quite recall.

"i recommend the chocolate bomb," d.o. says. "it's our weekly special. very popular."

he does not realise that he has been staring for a while. then he smiles, the unease from before ebbing off to give way to something other than dread.

"oh, it's alright," he says. then he realises something, why he felt something was off. "you have the chocolate bomb again? didn't you just have it last week?"

d.o. laughs. "you must have gotten it mixed up."

ah, of course. he has been pretty muddle-headed these days. he laughs along with the wide-eyed boy, relishing in the idea of a comfortable conversation.

"anyway, what'd you like?" d.o. asks. "i'm on barista duty today."

"look who's been promoted," he replies, giving a mock salute. d.o. throws him a fake glare. "anyway, i'll have a coffee and a sourdough."

"cream? sugar?"

"no cream, no sugar, to go." he bites his lip, ponders for a second. "slice the sourdough thickly too, please."

"black coffee to-go and sourdough, thick slice, coming up."

when d.o. hands him two paper bags, one lined with sourdough and the other, a steaming cup of coffee, he gets a sudden surge of courage, one that spurs him on.

"hey, d.o.," he begins. he hopes he doesn't sound too desperate, too pleading. "would you like to come to my dance showcase? it's in a couple of weeks at the school."

"of course! I'm looking forward to it."

the smile that appears on d.o.'s face is blinding, and he cannot help but think that it suits those lips very, very well. he thinks that he returned the smile, but he is not very sure.

he leaves the bakery a happy man, sipping coffee as a matching grin spreads on his face.

it's another one of those days that baekhyun and jongdae have abandoned kyungsoo for another vocal thing. the news is unsurprising to jongin (it is, after all, showcase period for the school, with concert week after week, culminating in a giant concert at the end of everything) but annoying to kyungsoo, who latches on to the dancer after he realises he's been ditched.

and this is how jongin ends up with kyungsoo on a friday night for the second time. it's a different diner from the first time. this one is nearer the school and so they run a higher risk of running into someone who (kind of) knows who jongin is (but not really) and jongin is getting a bit nervous.

"you look so tense," kyungsoo comments, after they've finished their food. "have you been sleeping enough?"

jongin lets his shoulders drop. he didn't even know they'd been tensed up. "ah, no, i'm fine."

"oh yeah, i've been meaning to ask, when's that showcase you've been practising for?" he asks. 

"i thought i've told you already?" jongin asks, slightly puzzled. "it's in two weeks' time."

"you must have gotten it mixed up," kyungsoo replies. then he smiles, a small one, one that doesn't reveal his teeth and so doesn't transform his mouth into that funny rectangular shape that baekhyun once made fun of (and ended with him getting hit by kyungsoo). "i'll be there."

jongin is certain that he smiled back, and for once, he's not afraid that he's smiling too widely, that someone will judge him. because this is kyungsoo, and kyungsoo is kind and good.

"is that... kim jongin?" someone calls out. jongin closes his eyes, hoping that maybe if he did so, that person would go away. it's a familiar voice, one that triggers not dread or joy but something in between. sehun's annoying face appears in front of him. "what are you doing here! i can't believe this, you're out on a friday night."

jongin lets out a loud sigh and opens his eyes. unfortunately, sehun's still there, luhan beside him. near them are two faces, one familiar and the other not quite - baekhyun, and a tall guy with big ears and crazy eyes.

"sehunnie, don't be annoying," luhan chides. he pulls sehun away slightly but it doesn't help much.

"yeah, sehun, listen to your boyfriend," jongin frowns. he looks at the other three. "hi luhan-hyung, baekhyun and baekhyun's friend."

tall guy waves. "i'm chanyeol."

baekhyun has chanyeol's hand in his and a gigantic grin on his face. he's not looking at jongin; instead, he's locked in some kind of staring war with kyungsoo, though the latter definitely isn't smiling at all.

"kyungsoo," baekhyun starts. "i thought you had something on tonight?"

kyungsoo glares at the boy, and jongin notices that baekhyun's wearing an obscene amount of eyeliner. chanyeol's wearing an uncomfortable smile, luhan is trying to pry his nosy boyfriend away and said nosy boyfriend's not budging.

"alright guys, let's go to our seats," luhan announces. he tugs baekhyun away before kyungsoo's hands lunge for his neck. 

kyungsoo's eyes are still narrowed at baekhyun, who walks backward and sticks his tongue out. 

"do you want to get out of here?" jongin asks. he can feel four pairs of prying eyes, and he doesn't like it, not even with kyungsoo here.

kyungsoo sighs, nods and smiles. he looks right at jongin as he does so and it makes jongin's heart swell up with something that's definitely not dread. they get up at the same time and as they leave the place, jongin swears he catches sehun's wink.

it's the second time that jongin catches himself walking with kyungsoo along a poorly lit street on a friday night, stomach full, chest full. he remembers the previous time, how he never got to ask kyungsoo three words: 'are we friends?' instead, he whispered it as kyungsoo left, whispered it to the dark, to the outline of a boy he wants to know. 

now, though. now is different. he can feel it. it's similar to the previous time, but now the air is charged with something: familiarity, comfort. he doesn't know how long they've spent walking around, eager to get away from the artificial lights and prying eyes of the diner, talking and laughing about god knows what. 

"it's getting late," one of them says. the other agrees, and they both decide that it's time they get home before either of them gets mugged. 

now, though, the two are walking home together. some of fate has them staying in the same neighbourhood - a mere four blocks from each other, and jongin thinks, all this while, he was only four blocks away from wide eyes and heart-shaped lips - but whose cruelty kept them from ever crossing paths before. 

eventually, they hit a fork, and it's where they must separate.

he can't quite see kyungsoo in the dark but he's certain that the boy is smiling, because he feels a grin forming on his own face too. 

"are we friends?"

"of course we are."

kyungsoo smiles, so bright that it blinds jongin, even when the night is jet black. 

the night is dark and they can barely see their ten fingers, let alone each other, but that doesn't stop them from trying.

the wide-eyed boy places a lingering kiss on his jaw, one that sears the outline of heart-shaped lips onto his skin and leaves his own heart in a swell of something whole and good and in a million pieces.

"are we friends?"

"what do you think, kai?"

A/N: hello!! thanks for the comments and subscribes, it really means a lot. it's almost 1am and I have to wake up at 6.30 for school (bleh) but I couldn't sleep, and thus churned this out, so it might not be very polished but I hope you can get the gist of it. a short one, but the next one or two should be longer.