Kyungsoo wakes Jongin up with a rough pillow to the head and, "College, Jongin! You have college!" 

Jongin, blinking heavily, sits up and groans. He looks around the room only to find that Kyungsoo isn't there anymore. He sees Kyungsoo clad in a black suit dart past the door to the bedroom and notices how stressed the older boy looks. He gets up and stumbles into the kitchen, where his plate is waiting for him and Kyungsoo is making himself juice. 

"Why are you so dressed up?" Jongin asks, trying to seem uninterested. 

"My father called this morning. He says that I should start coming to work at the conjoined company." Kyungsoo tells Jongin as he sits down to eat his plate of eggs. 

Somehow, there was an agreement that Kyungsoo got the more comfortable side of the bed (the left, though neither knew why one side was more comfortable), and in return he'd cook breakfast. He doesn't remember them ever verbally saying it but they both obeyed it and stayed on their own sides of the king sized bed. 

"Should I start going, too?" Jongin asks, mouth full of food. Kyungsoo makes a disgusted noise and clicks his tongue. 

"That's not very appetizing," Jongin blushes and swallows the food. "And no. Don't you have classes? You can't work at the company and go to school." 

"I worked part time before the companies merged, though. Maybe I'll start going in next week after everything's more settled." Jongin reasons, nodding slightly. He looks down at his watch to check the time and notices he has half an hour until his lecture starts. 

"I'm leaving in ten minutes. Do the dishes before you go to school. I swear, if I have to do them when I get back-" 

"Okay, okay. Dishes. I get it." Jongin rolls his eyes, hating how Kyungsoo nags him to clean all the time. 

He sees Kyungsoo glare at him and realizes the older boy noticed his eye roll. He freezes in fright, afraid that Kyungsoo will get his revenge for their first meeting. For some reason, he'd been expecting it to happen any day. He'd walk into the kitchen and Kyungsoo would just throw water on him-- but it hadn't happened. Not yet, anyway. 

--

Kyungsoo realizes just how long it's been since he's worked at the company. A month, maybe? Either way, it shows in his performance. He keeps getting lost though he should know the way around the building. And for some reason his secretary is especially attentive, but it's just freaking him out. When he escapes for a moment, he asks one of his coworkers where Victoria, his old secretary, went. 

"Victoria? She's on her honeymoon. You know, that's what most people do after they get married." Minseok, he thinks, points out. He sees a twinkle in the boys eye and wonders what's so funny. 

It takes him a second to realize that he's married. "Oh. Yeah, most people do." 

"Too bad you didn't go anywhere. You're both filthy rich enough to stay a month." Minseok laughs slightly as he grabs something out of the printer. Kyungsoo nods, thinking about how he didn't get a honeymoon. 

It's not like he was really married. So he didn't need one, right? Sometimes it grated on him that he was even married to Jongin. He'd forget and feel like he had a roommate and was living like a normal guy in his twenties should, but then his father would call and say how they have to do a press conference the next day. He was still so angry with his father for forcing him into this, although he had to admit it was nicer living with Jongin than with his father. 

"Mr. Do! I was looking everywhere for you. Anyway, as I was saying, you have a staff meeting at noon. And then you're taking the media design team out for lunch-- your father's treat. And you have to report your progress on the deal with CEO Choi around three."

Kyungsoo can practically feel physical pain from how annoying his new secretary is. He really tries to like his dedication to work, but the more the boy talks the worse Kyungsoo's headache gets. He thinks his name is Baekhyun, and he's nice, but he wishes he'd met him on a day when he's not so loud. 

"Okay, noted. I'll go back to my office." Kyungsoo nods to the secretary and waves slightly to Minseok. 

Kyungsoo sits alone in the office, bored. He has fifteen minutes until the meeting and lunch and has no idea how to spend it. He looks around the room for inspiration but can find none. He sighs and pulls up a tab, thinking of things to search. His mind wanders of to Victoria, and he wonders where she went on her honeymoon. He shakes his head. That's none of his business, anyway. It's then that his mind wanders to Jongin, and he decides to look up his school. 

The first thing he notices is that there is a school paper link off to the side. He clicks on it tentatively, curious as to what even goes on at Jongin's college. His college had been completely business focused and had little to no art programs. No school paper, either, because anybody studying journalism was in the sister school thirty minutes away.

The paper is boring, as he expected, but when he sees a picture of Jongin in the bottom corner, his interest peaks. He clicks on the article and snorts out loud, looking at the picture. It's one of Jongin on stage, dancing, with some girl he doesn't know. He's lifting her, which Kyungsoo notes must take some strength. He remembers how skinny Jongin is and wonders how he can even lift someone, no matter how small the girl. He reads the article, detailing the dance program that will be run this coming Sunday. It's one line that makes Kyungsoo raise his eyebrows. Come out and to see the amazing Kim Hyoyeon and resident dancing prodigy, Kim Jongin. 

Resident dancing prodigy? Kyungsoo suddenly wonders how good Jongin really is, not realizing that the door to his office has been opened. He hears Baekhyun before he sees him, and he jumps out of his chair slightly when the boy voices a comment behind him. 

"That's your husband, right?" Baekhyun asks happily. Kyungsoo quickly exits the website, feeling guilty for no reason. It wasn't like he was doing something forbidden. 

"That's private matters. What is it?" He asks the secretary seriously, trying to avoid the topic of his marriage. It makes him feel bad for lying, but also like he wants to cry and curl into a ball out of principle. 

"It's time for the meeting and lunch." Baekhyun informs him a little disappointedly.

"Let me grab my files and phone. I'll be there in a minute." Kyungsoo answers, dismissing his secretary. Baekhyun takes one last look over at the computer, checking for any images of his boss' husband before bowing and leaving the room. 

-- 

Jongin feels like everyone is looking at him differently because, well, they were. There were the girls who used to say hi to him every morning who now ignored him, seeming to be uninterested in anything he did. And the guys? Just as bad. One of his classmates used to walk with him to class, but ever since he's gotten 'married', the guys avoid him like the plague. He tries not to let it bother him, but he's positive it's because now they know he's gay. 

Jongin figured it out in high school, but didn't really tell anyone, well aware of the fact most of his classmates had been raised in homophobic households. He'd thought that college was different because no one seemed to care about who was dating who, but now his friends treated him like he wasn't even there. It wasn't as if he was going to make a move on any of them-- even if he was gay, everyone else believed he was married. 

It'd been hard the last couple of days since he started going to school again. He felt shunned and ashamed over nothing. Of course he couldn't tell Kyungsoo what was happening, he would just say he's whining. He thinks of Kyungsoo and his stomach twists uncomfortably, although he can't decipher what kind of uncomfortable.

"Jongin!" He hears a voice call and he spins around expectantly. Finally, someone was talking to him. He spots Sehun, a boy from his class, running over to him. He'd never really talked to Sehun, but the blonde seemed nice enough. 

"Can I borrow your notebook? I fell asleep in class. . ." 

"Sure, one second." Jongin pulls his bag from his back and grabs the green notebook out of it. He hands it over to the other boy happily and smiles slightly. 

"Actually, can you explain it to me? I mean, I get inflation and stuff, but I'm not good at discussing the effects throughout different classes of people." Sehun asks carefully, looking at Jongin with interest. 

"Uh, I was gonna go eat lunch. Unless you want to come?" Jongin feels elated. A nice boy from his class is actually talking to him, and they're even going to lunch. He feels he made a new friend. 

"Sure, sounds good. I'll buy since I'm imposing." Sehun smiles widely and follows Jongin towards his car. 

It's barely two minutes into their meal and a section through his notes when Jongin hears a familiar name echo throughout the restaurant. He thinks he's imagining it at first, but he can definitely hear Kyungsoo's name being said. He looks around, searching for him, but to no avail. He realizes suddenly that it's the group of coworkers two tables away saying his name.

"Are you okay?" Sehun asks, watching Jongin with confused eyes. 

"Huh?" Jongin nods, looking back at his food. "I'm fine." 

"Okay, so inflation would first start affecting-" Jongin begins his sentence but can't finish it because he hears the name again. He glares at the table, listening harder, trying to hear the rest of the conversation.

"I'm serious! I knew he wasn't normal. . .but gay? I should've expected it. He was always so quiet and weird and never took any of the girls in the company out for dinner." It's a female voice and Jongin feels his throat tightening. Apparently he wasn't the only one getting ostracized. 

"Jongin?" He ignores Sehun's voice. 

"I always thought he looked gay. I called it, didn't I? You guys always complained about how quiet he was and how he looked mad, but I knew it was because he was hiding something. I'm no idiot, I know a gay when I see one." It's a guy this time.

He feels rage boiling inside him but tries to stay calm. Sehun seems to notice his anger and starts listening closer to the conversation.

The girl giggles but then speaks, "Hey, be quiet. He's coming back from the bathroom. You know he'll get mad if we make fun of him any more." 

"So? He should know what trash he is, anyway, so why does it matter? Let him hear what he really is."

Jongin jumps up from his seat because he can't control it anymore. He doesn't know how fast he moves but he has the guy pinned on the ground before he can stop himself. He doesn't even register what he's doing, but he feels all the anger he's felt the last week bubbling over. 

He punches the guy once for being rude about his attitude. Kyungsoo was naturally like that, it wasn't because he was hiding his uality. His uality wasn't even this worker's business to begin with, but to be insulting him for it when he was only a room away?

Twice. That one was for calling Kyungsoo trash, and he feels his own knuckles starting to bleed slightly from how hard he's hitting. He knows he can only get one or two more hits in before the other workers pull him off, and so he decides that they have to count. 

The third one is for the way he's screaming under him, and the satisfactory feeling he gets from making the man regret saying anything. Jongin feels himself being thrown off, and he lands on the floor heavily, his own hands bleeding. He desperately gets back up, ready to jump on the guy again. 

"Kim Jongin!" The voice is loud and angry, the angriest he's ever heard Kyungsoo sound. He doesn't turn around, he doesn't think he can. He knows what Kyungsoo is thinking just happened. "Get out." 

Jongin makes eye contact with Sehun as he turns and bows his head. Sehun watches as he shoots a small glance to the shorter boy next to him before leaving the restaurant. Sehun stares at the man Jongin attacked, noticing how bloody his nose was. Was it broken? He wouldn't know, but he watches Kyungsoo write his phone number on a napkin, saying to call him for hospital fees. Kyungsoo leaves right after and from what Sehun can see, he looks as if he's ready to murder someone. 

Jongin stands outside frowning deeply, still feeling angry for what they'd all said. He almost gets the guts up to go back in and tell off the guy, but he feels a tight grip on his arm before he can move. He knows it's Kyungsoo from the soft puffs of angry breath he can feel on his shoulder. 

"I-" 

"Don't talk to me." Kyungsoo warns angrily as he leads Jongin toward his car. He lets go of the younger boy's arm and makes his way to the drivers seat, waiting for Jongin to join him in the car. When Jongin gets in, it's silent and he can feel that Kyungsoo's wanting to scream.

--

They don't talk for three hours. Jongin sits in silence in the bedroom after washing and bandaging his hands. He can hear Kyungsoo's footsteps occasionally, but there's no clue to what the older boy is actually doing. 

Jongin gets up to get a snack, knowing that Kyungsoo's not going to cook him any dinner when he's this mad. On his way to the kitchen, though, he makes eye contact with Kyungsoo. The older boy is sitting on the couch, flipping through some files from work and he looks up at the sound of footsteps. They stare at each other for a minute in silence, before Kyungsoo sighs and sets down his papers.

He leans forward, head in hands, and mumbles, "Why did you attack him?"

"I heard him saying stuff that I didn't want to hear." Jongin responds lamely. He doesn't want to tell Kyungsoo what they said. He knows how it feels to be excluded by peers. 

"What kind of stuff?" Kyungsoo asks angrily, patience already wearing thin. 

"About. . ." Jongin shakes his head. "Nothing. I just didn't like how he was talking." 

"Jongin, that's the lamest ing excuse I've ever heard.What did he say?" Kyungsoo demands. Jongin looks at the floor, silent, and decides he won't answer. He'd rather have Kyungsoo angry at him than afraid to go back to work.

"You don't just punch someone because you don't like the way they talk. What was it?" Kyungsoo stands up, moving towards the younger. 

"I don't want to tell you." Jongin admits quietly. He looks up to see the anger in Kyungsoo's eyes and feels guilty for keeping it from him.

"And I don't want to be married to you! But look where we are." Kyungsoo snaps. "You think I wanted to come and live with someone who ruins my work relationships? You just punched my coworker! For nothing! And you know what, you're younger. You don't work full time. You won't get the blame. I just got yelled at for failing to keep my subordinates safe during lunch for an hour over the phone! And you know why? You!" 

Jongin feels the impact of the words immediately, throat closing up. He just didn't want people talking bad about something caused by a marriage that he didn't want in the first place. He didn't mean to ruin anything.

"They were being mean about you." Jongin confesses with a strangled noise. He feels like he might cry. 

Kyungsoo's glare softens slightly and he looks at Jongin with wide eyes. "What about me?" 

"I really can't tell you. You'll feel bad and I don't want you to feel that way, I mean, all the people at my school are avoiding me like the plague and you don't need that at work, too. I mean, no. No, wait, that's not what I mean-" 

"Is it about being gay?" Kyungsoo asks quietly, eyes shifting to the floor. 

Jongin opens his mouth to respond but closes it immediately after and sighs, nodding softly. 

"It's okay. I knew people would be like this-" 

"It shouldn't be like that, though." Jongin mumbles. He can't make himself look Kyungsoo in the eye.

"I know. Are you hungry?"

Jongin nods silently and watches as Kyungsoo walks into the kitchen. He thinks it's strange that he did a 180 so quickly, but when he stands near the kitchen door he can hear soft whimpers. He leans in, watching as Kyungsoo's shoulders shake while he tries to get the rice cooking. He stands there for a minute, feeling near tears over the thought of someone as calm and collected as Kyungsoo crying. He leaves the room immediately, running back to the bedroom so that he can focus on anything besides the older boy's hands wiping away tears. He cries there, too, feeling stupid for making Kyungsoo mad and telling him about his coworkers. 

When Kyungsoo comes in later with a platter of food, Jongin starts tearing up looking at his red eyes. He turns away from Kyungsoo and feels the bed dip as the older boy sits down next to him. He feels a small hand patting his back. He turns around and watches as Kyungsoo lays down next to him. Kyungsoo continues to pat his back in a slow, rhythmic gesture. The two lay quietly, both wiping away teardrops every once in awhile as they slowly drift towards sleep. 

Realizing the younger is practically asleep already, Kyungsoo whispers quietly, "Thanks for punching him." 

---------

this is sO ANGSTY 

THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT KEEP IT COMING I LOVE YOU ALL~~~~~~