Everything’s easier said than done. That’s pretty much the law of the universe. And so yes, driving has always been a dream for Kyungsoo, for any teenager really, but he’s always been busy. Too busy to bother with the whole process of actually getting your license.

Later, he had always told himself. He’ll get it later.

Turns out later just so happens to be 7 years later.

Honestly speaking, it’s not even his idea to get it. It’d been more at his roommate’s insistence: I’m tired of carting your license-less around town, Zitao had said when Kyungsoo had unceremoniously barged into his room to ask Zitao to drive him to the nearby grocery store for some pocky. You are gonna get your license even if I have to shove the driving pamphlet up your myself. His reaction had seemed like an overreaction, overly exasperated until Kyungsoo had noticed the half-, glossy-eyed male splayed out of his roommate's bed. Kyungsoo had stared for just a second too long and Zitao had promptly chased him out of his room, somehow managing to procure and then throw a copy of a driving manual at the fleeing Kyungsoo.

No matter his reasons for getting it, Kyungsoo had been adamant about studying for the permit test, had spent hours reading and rereading the booklet, and his efforts had paid off when he passed the test with flying colours. After getting his permit, all that was left was to log 50 hours of supervised driving and then take his driving test. Easy.

But apparently, that's where the real obstacle actually lies.
 

“Kyungsoo, that's not the accelerator.”

“You just the windshield wipers.”

“You're going in reverse.”

“Now that you’ve found it, don't be afraid to actually, you know, step on the accelerator.”

“That's the windshield wipers.”

“We're going at a solid 1 mph. Nice.”

“Kyungsoo. That’s not the brakes.”

“You just the damned parking brake!”

“YOU JUST THE WINDSHIELD WIPERS AGAIN.”

"Pull over." Zitao says after about 10 minutes. He has his head cradled in his hands. It's hasn't been long but already, he feels a migraine coming on and along with the severe heart palpitations that slam into him every time Kyungsoo does anything -- everything -- with his precious car, this is definitely not good for Zitao's health. “Pull over.” Zitao repeats, practically growling out the words.

Kyungsoo offers him a pleading look but from the quickly deepening furrow of Zitao's brow, Kyungsoo knows that no amount of begging will save him now. He actually doesn't trust himself to pull over, doesn't trust the trees that line the sides of the road because he knows if he gets so much as a scratch on Zitao's car, Zitao will actually kill him, not just be plotting Kyungsoo's murder in his head. So instead he just turns off the car in the middle of the road. It's not like the road's particularly busy, anyways.

Regardless, Zitao flashes him an incredulous look before ultimately ripping off his seatbelt and bolting out the door. Kyungsoo doesn't even have time to even take a guess as to what Zitao's doing before the younger appears outside of Kyungsoo's door, knocking on the car window. Confused, Kyungsoo proceeds to roll down the window. "Hello?" He asks.

"Get out." Zitao huffs out and that's enough to have Kyungsoo scrambling out from the driver's seat, circling around the car to take a seat on the passenger’s side. “Well.” Zitao breathes out as soon as Kyungsoo’s buckled in. “That was a great experience and all but we are never doing that again.”

“But I need a car to practice with.” Kyungsoo responds, point-blank. His eyes are trained on the road as Zitao revs up the car and speeds out of the mostly empty neighbourhood they had gone to to practice in. 

“But I’m not jeopardizing the safety of my car for you.” Zitao says as he turns onto the main road and begins to speed up. 

“But I need a car to practice with.” He repeats, “You’re the one who was so insistent on getting me to drive.”

“But my car is a Maserati Granturismo. The seats are real leather, the steering wheel is covered in real leather -- everything is covered in leather -- and the pulchritudinous exterior is flawless, not a single scratch, dent, or scathe. Everything is functioning perfectly. As it is right not, it’s worth $134,625.” And Zitao’s chest puffs up slightly in pride. “And again, I’m not jeopardizing the safety of my car for you.”

“Are you not jeopardizing the safety of your car right now?” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as Zitao effortlessly weaves through the lanes of traffic. Barely, just barely, does he manage to pass the blue Honda Civic in front of them without a scratch

"Yes but I trust myself with the car. I don't trust you."




They’re still arguing by the time they get back. So much that they don’t even notice the stranger who’s reclined on the couch, his feet resting precariously on the coffee table that Kyungsoo hadjust cleaned. But apparently, the stranger isn’t a stranger to Zitao. (And he might not actually be a stranger to Kyungsoo either; he looks familiar.) “What are you doing here?” Zitao asks as he shucks off his shoes and goes into the kitchen to get something.

The stranger shrugs. “I don’t know. Bored?”

Kyungsoo takes it upon himself to asks the far more important question of “How did you get in here?”

Again, the stranger shrugs, “The door was unlocked.”

“No it wasn’t.” Kyungsoo’s quick to amend because it wasn’t. He distinctly remembering locking the door right before throwing his keys at Zitao’s face for being particularly obnoxious.

The man on the couch only blinks at Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo decides it’d be best to duck into the kitchen as well. “Who is he?” He asks quietly as his roommate is sifting through the fridge looking for something to eat. 

“Sehun. My friend.” Zitao shrugs before finally locating the half bottle of Sprite he had bought yesterday. “Just friends.” He adds in at Kyungsoo’s prying stares.

“How did he get in here?” Kyungsoo proceeds to ask.

“The door was unlocked.” Zitao answers as he unscrews his cap and lifts the bottle to his lips.

“No it wasn’t.”

Zitao stops drinking only to give Kyungsoo a blank stare before walking back into the living room. Kyungsoo follows. It’s when Zitao is settled onto the couch space next to this Sehun that Kyungsoo suddenly remembers where he’s seen this guy before. It was back when Zitao had first yelled at him to get his permit. Sehun had been the man shirtless and panting on the bed.

Zitao has insisted that Sehun’s only a friend. Kyungsoo calls bull.

Zitao’s personal relations aside, Kyungsoo makes for the recliner rather than his usual place on the couch. “So Sehun.” Kyungsoo starts and it’s a little rude how Sehun doesn’t even bother to look up from his phone even after he’s been addressed. “Settle an argument for us.”

“There’s no argument.” Zitao rolls his eyes, “There’s not an argument if it’s mine and I have the right to revoke your right to the car.”

“But you said I could use it to learn.”

“But then I realized that you far worse than I anticipated.”

“Is this about Kyungsoo learning to drive?” Sehun pipes in, finally ripping his gaze from the screen of his iPhone. Kyungsoo had forgotten about Sehun’s presence in the original “discussion” about Kyungsoo needing his license. No one answers but Sehun continues on anyways. “And this is about the use of Tao’s car, I’m guessing?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t miss the way that Sehun calls Zitao “Tao” instead of Zitao. Even though Zitao hates any sort of alterations or shortenings of his birth name. Just friends, his . 

“Well,” Sehun starts up again despite the lack of response to his last question. “While you do need a car--”

Kyungsoo glares at Zitao who only scowls.

“Zitao does have a point in that his car is precious. It’s expensive.”

“$134,625.” Zitao adds in as he nods in agreement. "It's much too precious for you to use to learn to drive."

“So what do you suggest I do? I still need a car to practice with.” Kyungsoo insists, sinking into the couch in defeat. 

Sehun pauses for a second. “Why don’t you just go to a driving instructor? Use their car.”

“But that costs money.” Kyungsoo interrupts.

“But if you at driving so badly, you might need it.” Sehun points out. Kyungsoo frowns. "Plus. Zitao can pay for it.”

Zitao whips his head around to Sehun with a look of utter betrayal. "You said what now?"

Again with a shrug, Sehun says, "I mean it's the least you can do since you're revoking his privileges to a car."

"But--" Zitao begins to whine but Sehun's quick to cut him off by muffling Zitao with his hand.

"No buts." Sehun shakes his head, obviously not bothered by that Zitao's starting to slobber all over his hand. "You asked me to settle your dispute, I settled your dispute so shut up because my show is coming on in 5 minutes and they're finally going to reveal who really is the next top model and I need complete silence for when this emotional roller coaster begins."

As Sehun turns on the TV, Kyungsoo can't help but flash Zitao a victorious smile.
 

The driving instructor that Kyungsoo ends up with is one of Sehun's friends. It seems a bit shady to him to not go with an instructor from a well known company but Sehun had insisted that he's qualified. And cheap. And that's all that really matters.

He schedules their first meeting over phone and for the first three minutes, Kyungsoo has to repeatedly explain who he is and why he's calling. 

"Ohhhh," the man draws out, "Right right right. I vaguely remember Sehun mentioning this to me."

"Yeah well uhm, like I've been saying, I'd like to schedule an appointment. What dates would work for you?" Kyungsoo asks and he picks up the pen off his desk, absentmindedly clicking it up and down.

The line is quiet for a second but then there's the distinctive sounds of yawning. "Uh... I don't know. Whatever works for you.”

"Anytime works for me." Kyungsoo says quickly and there's a bit of annoyance seeping into his tone. "That's why I'd like you to tell me the times you're free so we can work out the timings so it's convenient for you."

"Oh. Okay." There's some indistinguishable sounds of movement from the other side before Kyungsoo gets a reply. "How about Tuesday?"

"Tuesday." Kyungsoo repeats as he nearly rights down the event on his calendar. He's just about done with the final letter when the man interrupts.

"Wait wait wait. Scratch that." So Kyungsoo does. It leaves an ugly blob of blue in the Tuesday box that has him internally cringing. "Wednesday. Let's do Wednesday. At noon?" 

Shifting his hand to the right, Kyungsoo moves to pen in the event when the instructor interjects once more. "No wait I lied." He says and Kyungsoo is about to snap his pen in half. "Not at noon. How about 2?"

"Wednesday at 2?" Kyungsoo asks and he's smart enough to wait for confirmation before defiling his calendar yet again.

"Yes."

"Are you absolutely sure about it this time?"

"... Yes?" 

The affirmation is shaky, not at all convincing so Kyungsoo ultimately not write in the event in case he changes his mind; it's not like he'll forget anyway.

"Okay. I look forward to meeting you." Kyungsoo says and he stabs at the end call button on his phone. It's only after he's hung up does Kyungsoo realize that he hadn't even gotten the man's name.
 

He does forget. It completely slips his mind and he's only reminded of his previously scheduled appointment when there's an incoming call from an unknown number. "Kyungsoo?" The voice calls out as soon as he picks up, "Are you here already?"

And that's when he remembers.

"If you are, I need you to hang on. I think I'm going to be thirty minutes late; my student came in late so my lessons ran a bit over. I'm so sorry, I'll try to be out as fast as I can."

"No it's fine." Kyungsoo rushes to say, "Take your time. Take all the time you need." As he speaks, Kyungsoo is kicking Zitao awake, using a series of eye motions and gestures to try to convey the urgency of the situation.

"What do you want?" Zitao groans blearily, much too tired to read Kyungsoo's lips so Kyungsoo hunts down a pen and paper and writes WE HAVE TO GO. NOW. Only then does Zitao bolt up and begins to locate his keys.

"Are you still there?" The other line asks and Kyungsoo jolts, realizing that he'd forgotten to respond to the last question. Hell, he doesn't even remember what the last question was.

"Uh." He says intelligently, "Could you repeat that? I was distracted."

"The studio on Pico Boulevard, you know where that is, right?"

He doesn’t know where it is but Zitao probably does. "Yeah."

"Let's meet up there instead of our original location, it'll be easier for me."

“That’s fine with me. I will see you soon.” And with that, Kyungsoo hangs up and rushes into Zitao’s car.




Thanks to the minimal traffic and Zitao’s fairly terrifying driving speed, they arrive at the place in less than ten minutes. “Isn’t this a dance studio?” Kyungsoo has to ask as Zitao pulls in front of the building.

“Well yeah,” Zitao replies distractedly as he works to maneuver his car between two others. "What kind of studio did you think it'd be?"

“Art studio?” Kyungsoo shrugs, “Driving instructing studio?”

“You’re an idiot.” Zitao sniffs. He turns off the car and they sit in silence. “Well I have to go.” Zitao announces unceremoniously after about two minutes. “So get out.”

Kyungsoo gives him a baffled look. “What do you mean you have to go? What are you even going to do?”

“I have a dat--” Zitao effectively cuts himself off, glancing down to his hands that are resting on the wheel, “I’m going to hang out with… friends.”

“You mean Sehun?”

“I mean friends.” He insists, hurriedly unlocking the doors, “Now you need to get out.”

“What are you talking about?” Kyungsoo frowns before turning to sneak a glance out the window. “He’s not even here yet.” 

“So?” Zitao shrugs, “Just wait. He’ll show up eventually.”

“You’re a terrible friend.” He obediently gets out, anyways, and watches as Zitao’s flashy red car disappears into the distance before ducking into the shade. It’s hot. Particularly hot in his all black attire. Within a minute, he already feels the sweat beading down his back and it’s disgusting. 

He really wishes that he had gotten a picture, even a vague description as to what his driving instructor is supposed to look like because with every opening of the studio’s doors, his eyes are flitting up in hopes that that’s the guy. It never is.

About five minutes into waiting around, there’s been about a total of fifteen people who have exited the building, only about half are men, and only about a quarter look like they’re actually old enough to be a driver instructor. Most of the people leave the premises soon after they exit the building so it’s pretty easy to tell that none of them are the person he’s waiting for. There’s only one person who doesn’t immediately jump into their car and drive away and it’s a young man. Clad in a pair of tight-fitting sweatpants and a loose tank top that scoops down to reveal a good amount of his chest, the guy’s cute. Kyungsoo might have even considered chatting him up had he not been here for a driving lesson.

While he waits, Kyungsoo takes to watching the man, gawking at him from the shadows as the other fiddles with his wet hair. As he reaches his arms high above his head and stretches. As he begins to slowly run through some choreography while waiting. It's cute. Really cute.

As five minutes lapses into fifteen and his patience runs thin, his phone goes off. Scrambling to answer, Kyungsoo fishes the device out of his back pocket. “Hello?”

“Are you here yet?”

“Yes.” He tries his best to keep the impatience out his voice, but it’s difficult. He’s wasted fifteen precious minutes waiting for this guy. “Where are you?”

“Where are you? I’ve been waiting for like ten minutes.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve been here for the last fifte--” And that’s when he notices. The cute guy. He’s also on his phone. He also seems to be calling someone. He’s also--

No.

It can’t be.

“Raise your hand.” Kyungsoo blurts out before he can come up with a nicer way to say it.

“What? Why?”

“Raise your hand.” He repeats urgingly and he watches in horror as the cute guy raise his hand out of nowhere.

There is no way this fetus is his driving instructor.

And all of a sudden the cute guy is turning around with a puzzled expression and his gaze locks with Kyungsoo’s own. “Are you Kyungsoo?” He asks through the phone but with their proximity, the timbre of his voice reverberates much better in the open air.

"Hello." Kyungsoo offers meekly with a slight wave.

“Have you been here the whole time?” The guy asks incredulously as he steps closer. He hangs up first, quickly pocketing his cellphone as Kyungsoo does the same.

“Yeah.”

“I mean I knew there was someone over there but I didn’t realize it was you. I was expecting like a teenager or something.” He begins to ramble on, “You know, since that’s usually the kind of clientele that usually go to driving instructors but I guess--”

“I’m a little older than most other people getting their license.” Kyungsoo cuts in with a frown. “I realize that.”

"I don't mean anything by it, I swear. It's just..." The instructor cuts himself off. "Doesn't matter. My car's just over there, let's go." He smiles as he waves Kyungsoo over to the gray Acura parked about a block away.

"So I'm Jongin." The man -- Jongin -- introduces himself belatedly as they walk in silence. "Nice to meet you."

Kyungsoo makes to bow in greeting to Jongin but Jongin’s already unlocking the car, skirting around to the other side to the driver’s seat to open the door for Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo only follows, lets himself be helped into the car and settles into the front seat as Jongin enters in from the other side.

“So uhm,” Jongin starts as he buckles himself in, “I guess I should ask to see your permit?”

“I guess you should.” Kyungsoo answers as he fishes out his wallet from his back pocket. Sliding the permit out from its slot, Kyungsoo hands it over.

“That awkward moment when your driver instructor is younger than you.” The instructor muses as he looks over Kyungsoo’s permit, eyeing at his birth date, and Kyungsoo kind of wants to shrink into the corner of his seat and disappear. “Okay, you’re good!” Jongin announces shortly after. “So, I was thinking that for this session, I could just analyze how you are at driving, figure out your strengths and weaknesses so that I’ll know what we need to work on. So just exit back onto the main road and--”

“I’ve never driven on a busy road before.” Kyungsoo blurts out.

“Okay then, how about I drive us to a more peaceful area and you can drive there?”

“I’ve never driven on like any road… actually.” Kyungsoo admits a bit hesitantly..

“So uhm…” Jongin says, squinting, “Like no offense but why are you already taking a driving course?"

"Because I want to be proactive about my driving career." 

And Jongin just stares at him. “Well okay. Fair enough.” He says after a while and nothing else until he suggests. “So how about… I take you to somewhere far less busy and I’ll teach you everything.”

“I already know how to drive.” 

Jongin makes a noise of approval though the skepticism is quite easy to pick out. “We’ll see about that.” 




So it turns out he doesn’t, in fact, really know how to drive. Or at least that’s the conclusion that Jongin comes to as he braces himself through every jerk of the car, At one point, he almosts smashes his head up against the dashboard when Kyungsoo, for some unbeknownst reason, finds it necessary to slam the brakes. 

As soon as the hours changes, Jongin moves to grasp Kyungsoo’s deadlock on the gear shift. Out of surprise, Kyungsoo’s grip lets up as he turns to the instructor. “Yes?”

Jongin gestures to the clock, “The lesson’s over. So would you like me to drop you off somewhere or…?”

“What? Oh. Oh yeah,” Unclicking his seatbelt, Kyungsoo scrambles out of the front seat, looping around the car to come to Jongin’s side. Instead of bothering with that kind of effort, Jongin instead maneuvers himself carefully over the center console and settles into the driver’s seat. Kyungsoo watches in mild amazement before coming back into the car. “So, I need you to take me back to my apartment. I don’t think it’s too far from where we are.”

Jongin nods and then motions for Kyungsoo to relay the location as he fishes out his phone and pulls up the maps app. As Kyungsoo mouths off the address, Jongin’s quick to type and by the time Kyungsoo’s finished, Jongin’s already managed to pull up the directions with the quickest route. 

It takes about 15 minutes to get back and the time is spent in absolute silence. Jongin’s fidgeting, desperate to turn on the music but he knows exactly what CD is currently in the CD player and he doesn’t want Kyungsoo to hear it. So instead, he suffers through the excruciating quiet as Kyungsoo stares out the window. The only words that are said on their trip back is “We’re here” just as Jongin pulls up to a particularly high class apartment complex. 

“You live here?” Jongin can’t help but breathe out.

“My roommate is kind of rich.” Kyungsoo shrugs before stopping. “Speaking of my roommate…” It’s then that he’s conjuring up his phone from like thin air and dialing in a number. Not really dialing, though, Jongin notices, since Kyungsoo seems to have the man on speed dial. Number 2 to be exact.

Jongin can only hear half of the conversation as Kyungsoo keeps the phone pressed closely to his face as if to muffle the sound from being heard, but from what he can gather, the roommate is to come downstairs and pay him. “He’ll be down in a second.” Kyungsoo says as he hangs up.

It takes more than a second. It takes more than ten minutes actually and Kyungsoo is sheepishly looking around and it’s up to Jongin to break the silence. "When do you want to schedule the next session?" He asks before adding slowly. “You are planning to continue with our lessons, right?” 

Kyungsoo nods so Jongin continues. "Well then, I would suggest in a week or two so you have some time to practice what you've learned and like, actually learn how to at least drive down a straight road properly."

"About that..." Kyungsoo starts out uncertainly, "There will be no out-of-lesson practice for me."

"I know you think that you're a pro at driving and all, but trust me you need some practice."

"It's not that..."

"No seriously you like really and I suggest you spend every waking hour--"

"I don't have a car." Kyungsoo finally blurts out. "So I kind of need you -- or more specifically, your car around in order to practice."

It takes a while for Kyungsoo’s words to fully dawn on Jongin. "So you need me around for the whole 50+ hours of driving that’s required to get your license?"

Kyungsoo nods.

"Do you have any idea how much that's gonna cost you?"

Kyungsoo nods again. "It's not like I'm the one who's paying for it."

"Touché."

Zitao does eventually come down but it’s about thirty minutes later and as each minute passes, Kyungsoo grows increasingly angrier. By the time the man eventually does come down, Kyungsoo about ready to murder someone but he has to appear civil before his new driving instructor. “Took you long enough.” He bites out, rolling down the window as his roommate approaches the car. Zitao looks different from usual. Something about him seems messier… more disheveled.

From behind him, Jongin is inching in close, moving so that he can also look out the passenger side window. He waves and Kyungsoo gives him a bemused look. “What are you doing?”

“Waving.” Jongin says as if that answers everything. “Way at the top floor, there’s Sehun waving out the window.”

Sure enough, when Kyungsoo’s eyes scale up the building, there certainly is a Sehun (surprisingly shirtless) waving ecstatically from the window. Suddenly Zitao’s lateness makes sense and Kyungsoo frowns at him. Zitao only blinks innocently.

“So how much do I owe you?” Kyungsoo asks and his words have Jongin refocusing his attention onto him.

“Uh… What did we agree on…” Jongin seems to murmur to himself before saying a bit more confidently, “$40?”

Kyungsoo gives him a look before turning back to his roommate. “Give him $50. For making him wait for so long.”

The roommate opens his mouth, as if to protest, but quickly clamps it shut. Instead, he’s digging out his wallet and plucking out two twenty dollar bills and a ten. Giving a bit of a glare to Kyungsoo, Zitao bypasses the middleman and just hands off the money to Jongin directly. “Thank you for your hard work.” He salutes and then goes back inside the apartment. Kyungsoo soon follows after bidding a proper goodbye.

Jongin sits in his car for a bit, flicking through the crisp bills before shoving them into his pocket. Maybe this week, he can actually afford to eat something better than ramen.
 

Their next session is actually scheduled earlier than the two weeks that Jongin suggested. In fact, it’s scheduled the next day.

“You can refuse my request for driving lessons you know," Kyungsoo says as he buckles into the passenger seat of Jongin's car. Just like yesterday, Zitao had dropped him off in front of the dance studio; the lesson was to start whenever Jongin was let out from his 1 o'clock dance class. "Like I would understand if you're not willing to go driving with me everyday."

"Nah it's cool," Jongin shrugs and he pulls into the street. 

Kyungsoo hums noncommittally. At first, that's all he plans on replying with but as they begin to speed along the roads and silence settles in, he can't help but add it."Don't you have anything better to do than give me driving lessons?"

Jongin shrugs, not bothering to glance over at the older. "Not really. I've developed a bad case of senioritis and I'm taking it easy this last semester." He feels the need to emphasize, "Like reallyeasy."

"When you say senior, you mean senior in college, right?" Kyungsoo deadpan and Jongin gives him an affronted look.

"Just how young do I look?" He frowns and Kyungsoo has to cover his mouth with his hand to hide the smile pulling up at his lips.

"So where are you taking me?" Kyungsoo asks after a while because Jongin apparently still does not think music is necessary and Kyungsoo’s not comfortable with just listening to Jongin’s breathing. 

“There’s used to be a mall around here but it closed down,” Jongin says, “The parking lot around there should be mostly empty and I think that’d be a good place to practice.”

“Okay.”

Indeed, the drive over is not very long, only about five minutes tops and as soon as Jongin turns into the lot, he’s unbuckling. “Here, let’s switch.” 

Kyungsoo nods and he exits the car to reenter from the opposite side. Jongin, instead of just crawling over the middle like last time, actually gets out and pops open the trunk. Kyungsoo doesn’t pay much mind to him, instead focuses on going through the mental checklist that Jongin had taught him last time. When he’s in the middle of readjusting his seat, Jongin comes back in. 

“So I set up some cones,” He says as he pulls the seatbelt across himself. “Today we can try to practice turning and stuff.” As Kyungsoo nods, Jongin instructs, “There’s four cones out there and I think we could just, you know, drive around the perimeter so you can have some experience with turns.”

Shifting out of park, Kyungsoo eases his foot onto the accelerator to start moving. “This is pretty basic… You know, we don’t have to do all of this beginner’s stuff. I know how to drive.”

“I think everyone’s knows how to drive; you just grip the wheel, step on the accelerator, and steer. It’s a matter of being able to do it well which,” Jongin pauses for dramatic effects, “Incidentally, you at.”

Kyungsoo pretends he’s too distracted maneuvering around the cone to hear him.

As it would turn out Kyungsoo also at turning. Out of the 7 times he’s circumvented the circuit, he’s only left one cone actually standing. One. Out of 28.

Everytime he knocks over the cone, Jongin has to get out and reset them and at first it’s annoying. At first it’s painstakingly irritating when Jongin has to exit the car every couple of minutes to stand the cones up again, but after the 4th time, he’s laughing. “You know,” Jongin snickers and he tries not to think of the look on Kyungsoo’s face that’s growing increasingly murderous. “You’re going at like 6 mph. You’d think at that speed, you’d actually manage to get around them.”

“You’d think at that speed, you’d actually manage to shut up because I’m trying to concentrate.” Kyungsoo snips. Only when Jongin quiets, does Kyungsoo realize how rude he’s being and he proceeds to slam the brakes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to be disresp--” He cuts himself off when he sees Jongin grinning in amusement.

“Oh, sassy Kyungsoo,” Jongin snorts, “Where did this come from?”

Kyungsoo breaks into his own little smile. “Sassy Kyungsoo has always been here.” And he begins to drive again.

At the end of their two hour session, Kyungsoo is mentally exhausted. As brainless as going around cones seems, it actually drains him and he’s about ready to fall asleep at the end of it. 

“I think that was the most boring two hours of my life.” Jongin announces and Kyungsoo frowns. “On the brightside, your success rate went up to an earth-shattering 27.9%.”

“I feel you’re mocking me.”

“I feel you’re right.”

Kyungsoo’s frown only deepens but Jongin just laughs. “No worries, sharp turns can be difficult. Maybe I should’ve started on something easier.”

“I’m not a beginner!” Kyungsoo says indignantly but even he knows that that’s a blatant lie.

Jongin only chuckles, “Whatever you say. Next time, how about we practice speeding up or something simple like that?”

“I’m not a beginner…” Kyungsoo mutters beneath his breath.
 

For their third session, Jongin ends up taking him to a cemetery. “What was wrong with that parking lot?” Kyungsoo has to ask as he watches Jongin turn into the entrance.

“I think it’d be better for you to get a feel for actually driving on a road, not continuously around a square circuit,” Jongin answers and he parks in the nearby parking lot. “Plus, it’s really boring to just watch you go around and around. At least now we have a scenery.”

“Everything’s dead here.” Kyungsoo comments, sparing a glance at their oh-so-beautiful surroundings.

Jongin cracks a smile. “I’m not sure what else you’d expect from a cemetery.”

“I was talking about the trees, you dip ,” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and Jongin only laughs goodnaturedly as they do their usual seat shuffle. Their little routine is improving and now it takes less than a minute to do. 

"The cemetery kind of goes around in a loop and the turns aren’t too bad. It shouldn’t be too hard.” 

And it’s really not too hard. They’ve been at it for about an hour and Kyungsoo hasn’t run over any graves yet. In his own opinion, he thinks he’s doing perfectly fine, but Jongin seems to have other ideas.

“I think I could walk faster than you’re driving.” Jongin finally has to comment when he notices the speedometer going at a solid 5 mph.

“I think you’d at least have to be running in order to go at this speed.”

“That doesn’t detract from my point, in the slightest.

“Kindly shut up.”

“Kindly speed up because at this rate I think that old lady on the sidewalk is going to pass us.”

“You want to see fast?” Kyungsoo growls out and for some reason, he thinks it’d be a good idea to just slam his foot down on the accelerator. They jerk forward and Jongin is screaming and Kyungsoo’s too surprised to actually think straight and remember to brake. 

He has to eventually, when Jongin’s pulling at his arm, screaming at the top of his lungs, and the tree is getting progressively closer to them. Kyungsoo presses on the brakes as hard he can and they come to a screeching halt. As bad as it sounds, there’s adrenaline pumping through Kyungsoo’s veins, a weird sort of pleasure from the speed filling his body.

Jongin seems to be just the opposite. He’s pressed closely to his seat, looking a lot like he’s about to piss himself. He slowly turns to Kyungsoo with fear in his eyes and a pleading voice. “Please never do that again.”

Kyungsoo begrudgingly agrees. 
 

Although Kyungsoo believes that Jongin’s really avoiding him because of their near-death experience (which totally wasn’t his fault. Jongin had been the one egging him on), Jongin tells him that he just doesn’t have time for another session the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. Jongin’s actually busy for the next couple of days and so their next session isn’t until the next Tuesday. This time around, to accommodate around Zitao’s oh-so-busy lifestyle, they have to schedule it a bit earlier but they somehow make it work. 

This time around, because Zitao decides that he’s only able to drop Kyungsoo off somewhere at 11, Jongin decides it’d be best to meet up at his apartment. “I have a class that ends a little before 11,” He had said when he’d called Kyungsoo to plan things out, “So let’s meet up at 11 at my apartment.” 

With Jongin’s address carefully written on a sticky note, Zitao had decided to just leave Kyungsoo in the approximate area of the apartment and let him walk the rest of the way (“Because I’m busy, Soo. And you have legs.”). It’s only about a 7 minute walk. Not too long, but just enough to be annoying because it probably would’ve taken Zitao no more than a minute or two to just leave him at the actual apartment. Nonetheless, he makes it just fine with his phone’s GPS.

Jongin’s already there waiting for Kyungsoo when he finally arrives. He rushes up to the older as he approaches. “I was worried that you might’ve gotten lost on your way here.”

“Not lost.” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Zitao just dropped me off about three or four blocks away.”

Jongin nods before he’s ushering Kyungsoo into the car and it isn’t long before they’re on their way to the cemetery.

“Why are we taking so long?” Kyungsoo asks after a while when he finally realizes that they’re going the opposite direction from the cemetery.

“You’ll see” is the only thing Jongin says and Kyungsoo watches as he taps his thumb against the steering wheel. He had noticed it before; it’s probably a force of habit.

“Hey Jongin,” Kyungsoo starts up as a silence begins to settle between them again. He’s met with only a soft hum of affirmation but that’s enough of a cue for his to continue. “Why do we never listen to music in your car?”

“Because what if our music taste conflict?” Jongin shrugs, not bothering to turn his eyes away from the road despite being stopped at a red light.

“What if it doesn’t?” comes Kyungsoo’s response. “I listen to anything really, so you can listen to anything you want. Just anything’s better than sitting in silence.”

“I don’t know. Silence isn’t too bad.” Jongin protests but his point of argument is undeniably weak.

Kyungsoo blinks at him and before Jongin can stop him, he’s reaching over to turn on the music and he had a couple of guesses as to what kind of songs Jongin listens to. He was thinking rock, heavy metal maybe. Possibly some screamo. When the music starts to blast from the speakers, he certainly wasn’t expecting so… sensual. 

Jongin’s reaction is quick, the singer has only managed to croon out a couple of obscenities before he turns it off. His face is bright red. 

“Why’d you turn it off?” Kyungsoo asks blankly and now, the red is even starting to spread to the tips of Jongin’s ears. 

“I think it’d best if we kept that music off.” Jongin rushes out and he’s ejecting the CD. He’s about to take it and put it back in the case when the light switches back to green. As he begins to accelerate, he’s watching the ejected CD with concern. Kyungsoo takes matters into his own hands, literally, as he grabs the disk from where it’s sticking out.

“Where’s the cover?” He asks, eyeing the disk with amusement. “‘Bad Minds’? What a title...” 

“It’s in the back of your seat.” Jongin mutters, “And my friend gave it to me so.,.”

“I know you’re trying to save yourself the embarrassment but if anything, it’s weirder that your friend gave you this.” Kyungsoo snorts but he snakes his arm around his seat to search the car seat pouch for the case. It’s with a bit difficulty that he manages to find the right one since there’s about seven different CDs stuffed into the back, but he gets it. There’s a black and white photo of a woman rolling up her stockings on the front of it and Kyungsoo tries not to laugh.

“My friend gave it to me.” Jongin repeats once again but Kyungsoo’s still skeptical.

“What other CDs do you have back there?” He asks, but he’s already reaching back to bring them all to the front.

“There’s no like, actual albums. They’re all just mixtapes.”

“Do you like making mixtapes or something?” Kyungsoo asks as he’s looking at the assortment of CDs. There’s one titled Weeaboo Trash and Kyungsoo is mildly intrigued. 

“Yeah, I really like making them. I made all of the ones that are in here--” Jongin cuts himself off with a sudden snap of the jaw. “I mean no. My friend. Uhm. My friend is the one that gives them to me. I mean that one. They gave me that one.” 

Kyungsoo can’t help but laugh. “If you’re going to lie, please get your story straight.” Jongin doesn’t say anything; he instead preoccupies himself with staring intently at the car driving in front of them. “Well let’s listen to one of them.” Kyungsoo says, popping open one of the cases but before he manages to actually push the CD into the player, Jongin’s batting his hand away.

“Not that one.” Jongin says, desperately. ‘Please not that one.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. He’s about to pull out another one of them but Jongin just shakes his head. “How about none of them?” Jongin pleads, “Let’s just listen to the radio. Please.”

Kyungsoo nods in agreement. “So long as I get to choose the station.”




“Did we really just drive 20 minutes just to go here?” Kyungsoo asks as they pull up to their destination. It’s another cemetery. “What was wrong with going to the closer one?”

“This one’s nicer.” Jongin shrugs. “Now let’s switch.”

The new cemetery is great, it really is. Leafy trees line the streets and the turns are easy, the streets wide and empty. “This is where I learned to drive,” Jongin muses as Kyungsoo starts to adjust the side view mirrors. 

“Really now?” He answers back distractedly, his hand moves to jostle the rearview mirror.

“Yeah." Jongin says before adding with a smirk. "Like 6 years ago.” 




Somewhere near the end of the lesson, someone texts Kyungsoo. Immediately, he reaches over to grab his phone but Jongin stops him. “No.” Jongin says, looking awfully disappointed. “No texting and driving.”

“We’re at a cemetery and there is no one here.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, “It’s fine.”

Jongin’s adamant though, continues to push Kyungsoo’s hand away even though they’re already slowing to a stop. “I’m not going to let you develop bad habits this early on. I’ve got this.” And what Jongin does next is completely unexpected. He takes it upon himself to slide his entire hand into Kyungsoo’s front pocket and pull out the phone. Kyungsoo’s too astounded to actually say anything to get him to stop being weird.

Jongin takes the phone triumphantly. “It’s Zitao.” He say and he’s sliding the screen to the left, his raised brow asking for the phone’s passcode.

“1-1-8-1,” Kyungsoo answers and he starts to accelerate again to continue driving. “What’s it say?”

“He says that he’s gonna be late picking you up.” Jongin looks up from the screen, “You want me to just drive you home?”

“You can’t,” Kyungsoo says quickly and Jongin looks mildly concerned so he elaborates. “Zitao has to pay you.”

“He doesn’t give you money to pay me yourself?”

“Zitao doesn’t trust me with money.” Kyungsoo grimaces, “Especially his money.”

So they return back to Jongin’s apartment; Jongin drives because Kyungsoo’s still not considered skilled enough to actually drive on a real road without putting the public at risk. As they walk into the apartment complex, Kyungsoo has to muse, “For someone who can barely afford food, this is a really nice place.”

“I can afford food.” Jongin says indignantly and Kyungsoo only blinks at him.

“Real food, I mean,” Kyungsoo feels the need to explain. “Not just ramen packs every day.”

This time, there’s nothing Jongin can deny. Instead he just shrugs, “Yeah, the majority of my income goes toward paying the rent for this place but it’s worth it.”

“Whatever you say.” 

They take the stairs up but it doesn’t take long for them to get to Jongin’s place. “I just want to say,” Jongin starts as he’s fishing his keys out of his pocket. “Don’t expect this place to be like spick and span. It’s not bad but it’s… it’s also not good.”

“It doesn’t really matter.” Kyungsoo assures, “I don’t mind.” That’s a lie. That is such a lie. A part of Kyungsoo dies every time he sees Zitao so much as leave his jacket on the ground.

The moment Jongin pushes open the apartment door, the distinct smell of something burning wafts out and there’s the loud scream of someone from within. “Close the door!” The voice squawks out, loud and shrill, “The smell is gonna spread!”

Jongin’s quick to do as he’s told. With a look of what seems to be embarrassment, he pulls Kyungsoo into the apartment and slams the door closed behind them. Immediately after, he’s toeing off his shoes and stalking to the kitchen located to their left. “Jongdae!” He calls out and Kyungsoo can only assume that that is the name of his roommate. “I told you not to cook!”

Kyungsoo watches as Jongin enters the kitchen and only after he’s toed off his shoes does he go to follow. The two roommates seem to be in the middle of a heated argument as Kyungsoo enters; Jongin looks a little mad, mostly concerned, and Jongdae just looks angry. The latter seems to perk up when he sees Kyungsoo enter the kitchen. “Hello!” Jongdae greets and he’s bounding over to Kyungsoo for a handshake.

From behind the roommate, Kyungsoo can see Jongin rolling his eyes and going to turn off the stove. “I’m Jongdae.” Jongdae introduces himself, “You Jongin’s new boyfriend?”

And from behind the roommate, Kyungsoo can see Jongin turning around, looking absolutely mortified. He’s quick to move over to Jongdae and wretch him off from where he’s crowding Kyungsoo. “He’s not my boyfriend.” Jongin hisses out. Kyungsoo takes note of how Jongin doesn’t even bat an eye at the word ‘boyfriend’.

“I’m his student,” Kyungsoo says instead, bowing slightly.

“Student?” Jongdae lifts a brow, turning toward Jongin, “.”

Jongin flushes red and proceeds to slap Jongdae quite loudly in the arm.

“He’s my driving student!”

“I’m his driving student.”

Kyungsoo and Jongin say at the same time but while Jongin yells it out, Kyungsoo just states the simple truth. “Oh.” Jongdae shrugs, “Simple mistake.”

“Why were you cooking?” Jongin interrupts, effectively changing the subject to something he’s more comfortable with. “You know you can’t cook. We’ve been through this before.”

“It’s not my fault that the thing caught on fire!”

To that, Kyungsoo silently mouths the question “How?” and Jongin only shrugs. 

“Just be happy that the smoke detectors didn’t go off.” Jongdae pouts before he glances at his watch. Before Jongin can say anything, Jongdae’s holding up a hand to stop him. “Save that thought. I have a class.” And with that he’s dashing into the living room, collecting a bag that’s sitting up against the couch and then he’s out the door.

“You have to clean this up!” Jongin’s calling after him but the roommate’s already gone before he can do anything. Jongin sighs. “Sorry about that. For Jongdae. And for the weird burning smell.”

“We could go stand outside until the smell clears?” Kyungsoo suggests, jerking a thumb toward the balcony. Jongin nods and leads them out. “The view’s nice.” Kyungsoo comments as he settles into one of the white plastic chairs that’s seated outside. The younger takes a seat next to him.

“You’re literally looking at a street. There’s nothing nice about that.”

“Being outside is nice..?” Kyungsoo tries again and Jongin laughs. 

“Better.”

It doesn’t take long for the terrible smell to dissipate and when it does, they return back inside. “Don’t you think we should clean up?” Kyungsoo asks just as Jongin’s about to collapse onto the sofa. 

Jongin frowns. “Jongdae did it. Jongdae should be the one to clean up.” He sounds like a child and Kyungsoo can’t help but crack a smile.

“Come on,” He waves Jongin over as the other groans. “It’ll be a lot faster if we both just do it.”

“It’d be a lot faster if neither of us do it.” Jongin mutters bitterly but he’s pushing himself up anyways and walking to the kitchen. “There are so many dishes. How does anyone use this many dishes when cooking?”

“I have a feeling you’ve never really cooked before.” Kyungsoo answers back as he goes to the sink. Pushing up the long sleeves of his shirt, he slips on the pair of plastic gloves that are hanging off from the side. They’re neon pink and Kyungsoo is questioning Jongin’s (or Jongdae’s?) taste.

“They were on sale.” Jongin is quick to point out, as if he can read Kyungsoo’s mind. “And what should I do?”

“Just wipe down the counters for now. Bring me the dirty dishes too.” As Jongin moves to get a paper towel, Kyungsoo grips the sponge (pink, as well) and begins to scrub.




Zitao picks him up around 7. Four hours after the scheduled pickup time. Kyungsoo doesn’t even get a text of notification that Zitao’s arrived; there’s just the sound of insistent knocking from Jongin’s front door and then the sound of someone coming in.

By that time, they’ve already managed to clean up the disaster in the kitchen, and have moved on to just sprawling lazily atop the couch and watching whatever’s on TV. When they hear the door open, Kyungsoo startles, jumping up in his seat. 

“How many times did I tell you not to pick my lock?” Jongin calls out, not even fazed by the presence of the intruder. He doesn’t even spare a glance to see who came in, he already seems to know. “One day, someone’s going to arrest you for breaking and entering, Sehun.”

“No worries,” Sehun rolls his eyes as he stalks in. Kyungsoo’s surprised to see Zitao file in after him. “I’m never going to be caught.”

“That’s what they all say.” Jongin snorts and it’s only then that he decided to lower the TV volume and actually face the new guests. “You here to pick up Kyungsoo?”

“You’re four hours late.” Kyungsoo quips. 

“I said I was going to be late,” Zitao shrugs as if Kyungsoo is just overreacting. Kyungsoo glares at his roommate. “I’m here now so let’s go.” He’s beckoning Kyungsoo over and he seems like he’s about to turn and leave.

“Pay Jongin first.” Kyungsoo reminds him and that has Zitao turning back around. 

“How much do I owe him?” He asks as he gets out his wallet.

“$40. But you should also compensate for that four hours of babysitting him that you subjected him to.” 

“Do you really want to consider your precious moments together as babysitting?”

“If that’s what it takes to make you give him more money, then yes,” Kyungsoo shrugs and Zitao only rolls his eyes at Kyungsoo as he traverses across the living room to press the bills into Jongin’s hand. 

“Now let’s go,” Zitao says as he tugs Kyungsoo out of the apartment.
 

They end up going back to the new cemetery. Repeatedly. Until Kyungsoo’s comfortable enough with actually driving on a legitimate road with more than the occasional driver, Jongin declares that they’ll practice there despite its fairly out-of-the-way location. Everything goes smoothly for the first couple of sessions; it’s all pretty uneventful. 

Things only change on their fourth time there.

The majority of the reason why Jongin doesn’t want to move toward real roads yet is not because Kyungsoo’s a bad driver (he’s improved, thank god) but more in the idea that Kyungsoo’s a slowdriver. It’s not the worst thing to be, certainly, but it’s also not the best thing to be. Especially in a place like Los Angeles. 

They’ve been working on speeding up for the past couple of lessons, but it’s been more on the side, hasn’t taken as much priority as actually learning to turn or remembering to signal. Their fourth session at the new cemetery is when they actually begin to capitalize on this problem. 

It’s when Kyungsoo’s finally comfortable with going fast without killing anything -- or at least anyone -- and it comes with a shrill scream from Jongin and then a sickening thud. Kyungsoo’s not exactly sure what the matter (he hadn’t been able to decipher what Jongin had shouted out) but there’s a noticeable difference in Jongin’s demeanor. He’s stiff and he looks a bit like he’s going to cry. “Oh my god.” Jongin breathes out, his eyes wide with fear. “You hit a squirrel.”

Kyungsoo lets out a breath of relief; he was afraid he’d killed someone or something. “It’s just a squirrel.” Kyungsoo shrugs, glad to have that weight off his chest. “So that next fork in the road should I turn left or--”

“You just hit a squirrel!!” Jongin repeats incredulously, giving Kyungsoo an accusatory look.

“It’s okay, the driving manual said this kind of thing is common and that--”

Jongin interrupts with a hushed whisper: “You murderer.”

“THE MANUAL CLEARLY SAYS THAT IN THE CASE A WILD ANIMAL JUMPS IN FRONT OF THE CAR, IT IS BEST TO RUN IT OVER AS SWERVING CAN BE DANGEROUS TO THOSE AROUND YOU.” Kyungsoo huffs out. By the end of it, he’s breathing rather heavily and he has to calm himself down before saying, “Come on. If you’re gonna freak out about this, let’s go give the damned thing a proper burial.” With that, he hastily unbuckles his seatbelt and throws the car door open. 

“Open the trunk.” Jongin says quietly as he follows Kyungsoo out. “There’s a shovel in the back.”

“Of course there is.”

They end the session with a misshapen lump in the dirt and secret between them.
 

“We’re going back to the old cemetery?” Kyungsoo asks during their next session when he notices Jongin taking an oddly familiar road. “What was wrong with the other one? The nicer one?”

Jongin explains, “I’m not taking you to the old one, either. I think you’re ready to start on some actual streets.” And for some unperceivable reason, Jongin feels the incessant need to add in, “And plus, it’s best for a murderer is not to return to the scene of the crime.”

“I’m not a murderer. It was a squirrel.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes to which Jongin can only retort with, dejectedly, “You’re a squirrel.”

True to his words, Jongin doesn’t bring them to the cemetery but at the same time, he doesn’t bring them to practice on a main street, either. Instead, Kyungsoo’s brought to a neighbourhood. It’s only when Jongin parks at the side of the road and tells Kyungsoo to switch places does he even realize that they’re going to drive here.

“There’s children here.” Jongin says out of nowhere; it sounds like he just remembered that. He drops his voice and leans close to where Kyungsoo. “Don’t hit the children. Please don’t hit the children.”

“I know I know.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as he turns the car keys, “Children would be a bit harder to bury without anyone noticing.”

Jongin looks like he’s about to cry. 

Kyungsoo’s actually okay at driving around the neighbourhoods. Maybe even better than okay, maybe even good though Jongin would probably never admit that. They only spend a total of two sessions driving around the place and then Jongin’s upgrading him to some small streets. Before he knows it, he’s being told to try going onto one of the main streets and Kyungsoo feels grossly underprepared.

“I can’t do this.” Kyungsoo breathes out. His knuckles are white and his heart is beating much too fast to be considered healthy.

"Come on," Jongin urges, rubbing Kyungsoo's shoulder in a way that's meant to be comforting. “It’s not that difficult. You just have to go for it.” 

It’s their twelfth session and Kyungsoo is pretty sure that his twenty-four hours of instruction time has still not been enough preparation for what Jongin’s trying to get him to do now. “It’s so busy!” Kyungsoo hisses out. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to get in there!”

"Turn on your turn signal." Jongin instructs, "And speed up, they're not going to slow down for you."

“They’re going to run us over!” Kyungsoo yelps out as he watches the cars in the main lane flash by about 20 miles above the speed limit. “There is no way--”

“It’s just merging! You can do it!” Jongin insists but his voice is slowly growing in volume. “Just have your turn signal on and SPEED UP!!”

“Stop yelling at me!” Kyungsoo screams and suddenly he’s gunning it, he’s accelerating to match the speed of those zooming past him on his left. Before he knows it, though, the merging lane is coming to the end and there’s still no clear space for him to pull into and he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do and--

“Pull in! Now!” Jongin exclaims with a flurry of hand motions. and Kyungsoo does as he’s told.

“We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die.” Kyungsoo repeats beneath his breath as he maneuvers his car into the lane of traffic.

"You're doing fine," Jongin says, soothingly, “Look you did it!” He announces happily before a frown mars his features. “Wait. Kyungsoo. You need to speed up.”

“I’ve had enough heart racing excitement for today.” Kyungsoo shakes his head as he begins to slow down, “I’m going at the speed limit and no faster.”

“Soo,” A nickname slips out of Jongin’s mouth easily as he whines. “The other driver’s are going to get mad. What happened to Speed Demon Kyungsoo?”

“Speed Demon Kyungsoo had given up his ways a long time ago. They can go around me if they want. I’m not going any faster than this.”

Jongin rolls his eyes but lets him be.




After about ten minutes of driving along the busy road, Jongin eventually tells him to pull off onto a quieter road. “So we’re gonna have to work on getting you comfortable with merging and going a bit faster but you’ve driven on a highway!” The way he says it sounds like his words are synonymous with Kyungsoo finding a cure for cancer. “We should go celebrate.”

“What do you have in mind?” Kyungsoo asks.

Jongin takes a second to ponder, his eyes drifting to the roof of the car in thought. “At the next light, take a right. There's a McDonald's. My treat."

“McDonald’s?” Kyungsoo mutters under his breath, “You sure know how to treat someone.”

“I’m poor and you’re hungry. This is the best you’re going to get.”

Kyungsoo lets out a scoff but he follows the directions anyways. He’s about to go through the drive-thru but Jongin stops him. “Let’s eat in.” Jongin insists, adding an entirely unnecessary wink at the end.

“Oh now we’re getting real classy.” Kyungsoo laughs as he pulls into a parking space. His parking is ty, to put it nicely, but they haven’t really worked on parking, and there’s no other cars around so Kyungsoo can’t be bothered.

Surprisingly, Jongin doesn’t force Kyungsoo into straightening it out. He clambers out of the car quickly and somehow reappears outside of the driver’s side with a look of anticipation. “What are you thinking of getting?” He asks as he opens Kyungsoo’s door for him. “Because I have a fairly limited budget.”

“You should not have a fairly limited budget,” Kyungsoo snorts, “Considering I get Zitao to pay you more than what you should be getting.”

“I’m treating you and I think you should be happy with just that.” He also holds open the glass door of the entrance and Kyungsoo slightly ducks his head in a bow as he passes. “Get the meal.” Jongin suggests though his words sound more like an imperative more so than anything. 

Kyungsoo leans up against the counter behind him.. “Isn’t that more expensive?”

“But you also get more.” Jongin answers as he slides up next to Kyungsoo,

“What happened to being on a budget?”

“Saving money also involves searching for the best deals.”

“Well what’s good around here?” Kyungsoo asks as his eyes get lost in the multitude of colours and options on the menu. There’s just so many prices and calorie counts put on displayed and he feels a little lost. 

“It’s McDonalds.” Jongin answers blankly. “Nothing’s good.” The cashier waiting to take their order only looks slightly offended.

Kyungsoo squints at the tiny font of the menu before ultimately giving up. “Just get me whatever you usually get.” He says in defeat as he goes to snag a table near the window.

The service at the fast food place certainly lives up to its name when Jongin approaches the table a grand total of 2 minutes later. He’s precariously carrying a tray full of fries, burgers, and drinks. “That’s a lot of food.” Kyungsoo comments as he scrambles to his feet to help Jongin transport the food safely on the table.

Jongin offers a sheepish smile. “You told me to get what I usually get so…?”

Despite the multitude of food that he had ordered, Jongin somehow manages to inhale all it in about two seconds flat and for the rest of the time, he’s left just sipping at his iced tea, waiting for Kyungsoo to finish. It’s when Jongin's bored, balling up his trash when he blurts out, “If you liked someone but you had to see them everyday, what would you do?”

Kyungsoo bites his tongue. “Ah !” He yelps out and Jongin looks startled.

“Hypothetical situation!” Jongin shouts out, attracting a lot of unwarranted stares from the other customers. As his face heats up, his voice turns softer. “It’s not like a legit thing. It’s just a hypothetical situation. For like a friend. A friend’s hypothetical situation.”

It’s painfully obvious that Jongin’s lying but Kyungsoo doesn’t call him out. It sounds like Jongin’s asking advice and it’s a bit weird that Jongin’s asking his student for this kind of thing. Kyungsoo’s fairly sure that they aren’t close enough for this kind of conversation but he also doesn’t voice this thought.. “I bit my tongue.” He says instead, explaining, “And uh. I don’t know. Are you talking about like a co-worker?”

“I’m not talking about anyone.” Jongin frowns.

Kyungsoo’s eye twitches. “Okay. Well are you talking about a hypothetical situation about a friend with like a co-worker?”

“Well when you put it that way.” Jongin draws out the phrase and it’s like he’s aware that he’s being annoying. “No. Not a co-worker. But kind of like a co-worker.”

Kyungsoo cracks a smile. “You do not seem to be clear about your hypothetical situation.”

“It’s hypothetical and it doesn’t have to be clear and please shut up and just answer.” Jongin blusters, throwing his wad of paper trash at Kyungsoo.

He only narrowly dodges the trash. “Okay well I’ve got to say no. Especially since you have to see them every day. I mean, if you have that relationship, then there’s no reason to mess it up with a confession?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t know if it’s just him but he swears Jongin seems to deflate upon hearing his words. “But what if makes it better?” 

“And what if it doesn’t?” Kyungsoo shrugs.

“You’re quite pessimistic, aren’t you?”

“I prefer the word realistic.” Kyungsoo heaves a sigh, “Okay. Maybe it would be better for your--”

“Their.” Jongin cuts in. “Not mine.”

“Their relationship. It just depends on the kind of situation you,” Kyungsoo looks straight in the other’s eye as he says this but Jongin doesn’t balk, just slightly shakes his head. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but makes a big show of correcting himself. “I mean, they have at hand. So tell me more about this hypothetical situation.”

Jongin looks offput, his expression teeming with visible nervousness. “What kind of things do you need to know?”

“More than the fact that you’re -- they’re -- with each other a lot and you -- one of them -- likes the other.” 

With the way his eyebrows furrow and his lips purse, Jongin looks frustrated but he doesn’t bother to correct Kyungsoo, figures that there’s no point in telling Kyungsoo to stop because he technically is correcting himself. Sarcastic tone and all. “Well. Uh, They see each other a lot, like on a near daily basis.”

“What about your -- their -- feelings for the other?”

It takes a bit of time for Jongin to answer this one. As he thinks, he lolls his tongue around in his mouth, running them over his teeth through habit. “I don’t know.” He admits after a while, “I mean there hasn't been really been many instances where they've hung out outside of their obligated time together but while I--” Jongin suddenly freezes and Kyungsoo can’t help but laugh at his slip up. “ONE OF THEM! I mean one of them!” He insists but it’s already too late. He keeps going though, as if his mere persistence of the third person perspective will make Kyungsoo forget who this is really about. “While one of them really likes the other, tries to drop a lot of hints about the other, I don’t think the other notices. He seems pretty dense.”

Kyungsoo notes the use of ‘he’. The person Jongin likes is a guy. “He could be dense. Or he could just not reciprocate the feelings. You know, ignore the problem so it goes away.”

And if Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if he had imagined Jongin’s reaction before, he’s definitely sure this time. This time around, he looks a bit like a lost puppy that’s been kicked repeatedly in the stomach. It leaves a sour taste in Kyungsoo’s mouth. “But,” He begins again in hopes of rewording his words to make it sound less pessimistic (realistic, he mentally corrects himself), “I don’t know. Maybe the situation’s a bit different than how you’re imagining it.”

Jongin offer the tiniest semblance of a smile but it’s nothing compared to his enthusiastic grin from before, “Yeah maybe.” And he doesn’t say any more, instead opts to drop his gaze to the table as he fiddles with his hands. It’s silent for a while; Kyungsoo continues to eat and Jongin just sits there. 

“Sorry about that,” Jongin says after a while, shaking his head, “I know we aren’t really all that close and here I am asking you for relationship advice. That must be weird, I’m so sorry--”

“I’d like to think we’re close,” Kyungsoo interrupts because he senses that Jongin’s about to go off into another ramble. “I mean we see each other a lot. We hand out a lot -- even if it is for lessons. I don’t know about you but I consider us friends.”

Jongin’s not looking at him. He’s staring at the table, inspecting the plastic of the table. It takes another minute or so for Jongin to finally meet his eyes, and when he does, there’s a small smile splayed on his face. “If we’re really good friends.” He starts out slowly and his hand is inching toward one of Kyungsoo’s burgers. “You should give me this burger.”

Kyungsoo blink before letting out a laugh. “Take it. You bought me like four.” 

Jongin grins and he’s now unwrapping the food and sinking his teeth into it. Kyungsoo returns to his remaining burger as well.

It’s only when Kyungsoo’s stopped to get a fry that something suddenly clicks. A person who Jongin has to see. Nearly everyday. And there’s no way of getting out of it. Who doesn’t seem interested in him. Who-- “Oh my god, do you like Jongdae?” Kyungsoo blurts out.

Jongin doesn’t say anything for a while but slowly, his face contorts into a look of disgust. “Why would I ever do that?”

It’s weird but hearing him say that is almost like a weight off of Kyungsoo’s chest.



After the next session, as some sort of reward for getting onto the highway again (this time without the arguably unnecessary screaming), they go out again and this time it's a step up from McDonald's. It's Burger King. 

"How's it going?" Kyungsoo feels obligated to ask as he unwraps one of his many Whoppers. "With that crush of yours, I mean."

"It hasn't really been all that long," Jongin reminds him but there’s a certain unmistakable happiness that’s in Jongin’s demeanor. "So I don't know exactly how much development you're expecting."

Kyungsoo shrugs, "Just making conversation..."

"Something did happen though," Jongin cuts in, blurting out his words, "He finally admitted that he thinks we’re friends.” Jongin looks giddy, oddly exhilarated by the fact that he’d been (presumably) friend-zoned by his crush.

“That’s… an improvement,” Kyungsoo replies politely.

"Yeah I also somehow convinced him to let me take him out to eat, it was pretty nice." Jongin says with a smile and he looks so ridiculously happy at the mere mention of the memory. Kyungsoo can't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the idea that Jongin's crush gets treated to some (presumably) nice restaurant and he only gets McDonald's. He doesn't say anything, though, because that's understandably bae privilege. 

"That's enough about me, though," Jongin says abruptly, "We should talk about other things."

Kyungsoo acts comically surprised, freezes just as he's about to eat a fry with his mouth opened wide for effect. "You mean... You mean you actually have other interests apart from your crush, making mixtapes, and driving?"

"I'll have you know that I have a grand repertoire of interests," Jongin insists, picking up one of (Kyungsoo's) fries to point at him accusingly, "I mean I like to watch TV, I like to dance, I..." He falters after naming a grand total of two.

"You sound like a very interesting person." Kyungsoo affirms with a tight lipped smile, he’s trying his best to stifle the laughter bubbling at the back of his throat. “But you dance. Tell me about that?”

And he does. He proceeds to spend the next hour or so just talking about how he got into dance, what kind of dance he does, what he likes about dance, and so on. Kyungsoo’s never really been interested in dance or really anything that requires exercise but it’s oddly endearing to watch Jongin’s eyes sparkle as he talks about something he’s so passionate about.




They go out to eat a lot more after that, though, it begins to detract from a reward into more of just a thing as they start eating out more and more often. Jongin’s always insistent on paying, saying that hanging out with Kyungsoo is a treat in itself. Kyungsoo never knows quite what to say to that.
 

Soon after Kyungsoo’s actually managed to master driving on the highways, it becomes time for them to move onto the night driving part. On their first attempt to take such a momentous step, of course, there’s complications.

“Is it okay if you could actually come over here to meet up?” Kyungsoo asks. He cradles the phone between his ear and shoulder as he opens the cabinet, looking for something to eat. “Zitao has to go out somewhere soon and he doesn’t have time to drop me off at your dorm… Sorry about that.”

“Nah it’s cool,” Jongin replies, his voice crackling on the line because of his ty reception. “I’ve always wanted to see the inside of your fancy penthouse apartment.”

“It’s really not that great,” Kyungsoo says and habitually, he shrugs but that only results in a disturbance in the precarious balance of his phone and a near-death moment where his phone almosts slips off his shoulder and plummets to the ground. Almost. “You’re setting up your expectations way too high; you’re only going to be disappointed when you see the mess that Zitao makes of this place.” Slowly, very slowly does Kyungsoo move to try remove the assortment of ramen packets stuffed in the kitchen cabinets. It’s harder than you’d think with a phone balancing on your shoulder. 

From behind him, someone lifts the phone off of Kyungsoo’s shoulder, places it on the counter, and then proceeds to hang up. “What do you think you’re--” He spins around to say but stops, “Sehun? What are you doing here?”

“Tao’s going out tonight. Who do you think he’s going out with?” Sehun says as if that was the stupidest question there is. Kyungsoo only watches as he goes over to the fridge and fishes out a can of Sprite. 

“Isn’t he going to like one of those fancy parties?”

“Yeah.” This time Sehun’s moving to retrieve a glass. “And?”

“And he’s bringing you?”

“Is that a problem?” Sehun asks distractedly as he pours in some Sprite and then fishes out a hip flask. He then proceeds to pour. 

“I think your actions speak for themself.” Kyungsoo says solemnly but Sehun only laughs. 

“Have you ever been to one of these parties?" He hasn't actually. Zitao's never brought him. "Alcohol is the only way to make it through them. Speaking of which,” Sehun stops, tilting up the flask so that no more spills out. “Where do you keep your alcohol? I need to preserve my precious supply.” He shakes his flask for emphasis.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but leads him to their stash anyways. Sehun’s jaw drops as soon as he lays eyes on their fairly large minibar. “How did I not find this before?” He gasps before dropping his voice to a whisper. “Oh I am going to have some fun with this…”

Kyungsoo only shrugs and walks away; his work here is done. Only after he’s left their alcohol at Sehun’s full disposal does he return back to the kitchen to sort through his ramen choices.




Surprisingly, Sehun is the one to open the door for Jongin when he knocks on the door. “Yo,” Sehun greets, backing into the apartment to let Jongin in. 

“What are you doing here?” Jongin asks curiously, “And where’s Kyungsoo?”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer.” Sehun says cryptically as he shepherds Jongin to the dining room table where there’s full glass of some sort of drink on the table. “He just got in the shower. He literally just spilled his bowl of ramen all over himself.”

“Oh.” 

As Jongin takes a seat, Sehun pushes a drink closer to him, a sly look in his eyes. “Here. How about you drink this while you wait.”

Skeptically, Jongin leans in to take a sniff, “What is this?”

“Iced Tea.” Sehun answers quickly, “Mixed with some juices. Zitao has this really cool mixer and I couldn’t let that just go to waste.”

“I don’t know about--”

Sehun interrupts, “Drink it.” He accentuates the words as he wraps Jongin’s hands around the glass and Jongin obeys. He’s still not entirely convinced but Sehun’s insistent on him having at least one sip. And then another. And then another.




The moment Kyungsoo steps out of the bathroom, he can hear Sehun’s breathy sounds of laughter. Which is weird. Considering that Zitao’s still preoccupied in his room and it hasn't been that long so Jongin probably hasn't arrived yet. It’s only when he arrives in the dining room does he see Jongin blinking up at him blearily. He’s slowly rocking back and forth as he holds a glass cup between two hands, nursing the drink into his mouth. “What the hell did you do?” Kyungsoo bites out as he sees Sehun shaking with laughter.

“I gave him a little something to drink. He’s such a lightweight.” Sehun snorts as Jongin slowly puts down the cup.

Jongin slams his cup down startling Kyungsoo and Sehun both. “He’s lying!” He exclaims, far too enthusiastically. “I’m not drinking. I just had some tea. Tea that tastes a little funky but just tea.”

Kyungsoo looks at Sehun incredulously. “Why would you even?"

“Drunk Jongin is the best Jongin.” Sehun justifies and he has to bite his hand to keep from laughing too hard.

“Drunk Jongin cannot teach me how to drive.” Kyungsoo frowns.

And Sehun blinks. “Oh.” He says, his hiccups of laughter finally subside. “That’s what he’s here for?”

“Why the hell else?!” Kyungsoo snaps and suddenly Sehun looks small. Oh so very small. “How much did he drink?” He demands, rushing to Jongin’s side.

“Like four glasses maybe?” Sehun says sheepishly.

“It’s been like less ten minutes, how did you even manage to get that much in him?!”

“I may or may not have convinced him into chugging them down as fast as he could.” And when faced with Kyungsoo’s menacing glare, Sehun shrinks back. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Kyungsoo's never actually seen Sehun apologizes so his words to are enough to mollify him. "Whatever. What's done is done. Just drop him back off at his dorm or something..."

"No can do," Zitao says as he emerges into the dining room clad in a well-tailored suit. “Sehun and I are already running late and I cannot miss this party.”

“Sehun is the one who got him like this in the first place.” Kyungsoo protests, “He has to take responsibility. Plus, if you’re already late, what’s fifteen more minutes?”

As Zitao shrugs on his coat, he answers, “I don’t think you understand how important this party is.” At Kyungsoo’s blank stare, Zitao lets out a sigh, “My father wants me to be there because that’s where he plans to finalize a business negotiation. You know how pissed he got at me last time when I didn’t show.”

Kyungsoo does indeed remember. He remembers quite clearly that terrible time when he and Zitao had to survive purely on rice and water for a month. Their electricity had gone out in the middle of the month, as had the heat. In the middle of winter. He shudders at the thought. in a deep breath, Kyungsoo asks, “Okay, well. I should call his roommate. Tell him that he needs to pick him up.”

“You’re gonna ask Jongdae?” Sehun snorts, “On a Friday night? You’d have a better chance of praying to God and asking him to send down a golden chariot.”

“Well. Then when are you getting back?”

Zitao and Sehun both just blink. “Eventually.” Sehun shrugs as Zitao rushes them out the door. “Bye, Kyungsoo.” Zitao says before slamming the front door closed.

Kyungsoo stares at the door for about a minute, a bit taken aback by what just happened, before he glances at Jongin who immediately perks up and gives him a little wave. Kyungsoo groans before hauling Jongin onto his feet. “Well okay buddy. I guess it’s just you and me.”

Nothing eventful really happens. For the next two hours, Kyungsoo just sits on the couch, watching TV with Jongin right by his side. Jongin’s quiet. Oddly quiet. Only when Kyungsoo looks back over to him does he realize that Jongin had fallen asleep. For a while longer, Kyungsoo just lets him rest his head on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, but after another show, he begins to worry if the angle will bother him later. Ultimately, he decides it’d be best to relocate Jongin to his bed. He could sleep on the couch.

It’s difficult to move a drunk Jongin but it’s even more difficult to move a passed out Jongin. He’s not strong enough to actually lift Jongin’s body and Jongin’s not conscious enough to hold onto him for a piggy back. Instead, he has to pull up Jongin’s arms across his neck and drag the body to the room. It’s a long process and there’s a couple moments where Kyungsoo swears he’s going to drop Jongin down the stairs but they somehow make it safely to the bedroom. Putting Jongin onto the bed and then throwing a blanket over him, Kyungsoo leaves the room to watch some more TV. 

The next time he goes to check up on Jongin is about an hour later. He’s hungry, not having eaten since lunch apart from those three bites of ramen he managed before spilling it all over himself. It occurs to him that maybe Jongin wants something so he walks back upstairs to check. He’s surprised to see Jongin squirming around in the dark when he opens the door. “Are you awake?” Kyungsoo calls out and he gets a groan as a response. “Do you want something to eat?”

Jongin mutters something but Kyungsoo doesn’t quite pick it up. Taking a couple of steps closer to the bed, Kyungsoo says, “What did you say?”

Again, Jongin mutters something and this time Kyungsoo kneels at the side of the bed, moving his head closer to Jongin to actually hear him. He repeats, “You want something?”

This time Jongin shakes his head. He’s lucky that Kyungsoo is close enough to see the movement in the dark. “Okay,” Kyungsoo shrugs and he’s starts to get up and leave when Jongin somehow manages to stop him, catching his arm and tugging him back. “Yes, Jongin? Do you want something?”

“Don’t leave.” Jongin whispers, barely audible. “Stay here with me.”

“Do you want something?” Kyungsoo asks again for what seems like the billionth time but instead of a response, Jongin does something else. A drunk Jongin is surprisingly a strong Jongin as he pulls Kyungsoo onto the bed next to him. Before he knows it, Jongin is snuggling closer to him, wrapping an arm around his waist, and pressing lips to the nape of his neck. 

“I want you,” Jongin whispers out and Kyungsoo can’t help but shiver at the feeling. He gulps. He doesn’t know what to say in this situation. What to do in this situation and whether or not Jongin means something with his words or if it’s just drunk Jongin speaking and it’s all just very confusing.

Jongin somehow falls asleep about five minutes later and Kyungsoo thinks that now’s the perfect time to escape, but Jongin’s tightened his grip on Kyungsoo and entangled their legs and it feels oddly nice to be cuddled like this. Kyungsoo decides that it’d be more trouble than it’s worth to get out and ends up falling asleep not too long after.




When Kyungsoo awakens, he finds himself underneath blankets that he was most definitely not under last night. Rolling around, he finds Jongin sitting up against the headboard, one of his hands massaging circles into his forehead as his eyes remain closed. He looks angry.

“‘s the hangover bad?” Kyungsoo asks quietly and his words have Jongin eyes snapping open, darting to look at the older. He looks terrified, Kyungsoo notes, but soon after, his mouth twists into a tiny smile.

“It’s a .” He answers. “Why are you here, by the way?” Jongin asks and as soon as he says it, he feels the need to add on, “Not that that’s… bad. Just like. It’s weird. Waking up with you in my arms. Not that you’re the reason it’s weird. I suppose it’d be weird with anyone I mean I just--”

“I’m not the one hungover and yet I already feel a headache coming on.” Kyungsoo snaps before softening his tone, “You don’t remember dragging me into bed?”

Jongin sputters, “What?! I did that? Why didn’t you just get out of--” He stops himself, deciding to go with an apology instead. “Sorry.”

Kyungsoo shrugs but Jongin continues anyways, “And not just for that, but for also getting drunk. We were supposed to try out night driving last night too…”

“It’s not your fault. It was Sehun’s.” Kyungsoo says with a small smile. “I’m just surprised you have such a tolerance.”

At his words, Jongin reddens, “I don’t drink all that often. I don’t like to, at least.”

“So why’d you drink last night?”

“Sehun made me something and it tasted pretty good and he told me it wasn’t alcoholic so I kept drink and--” He cuts himself off with a groan, “I am so stupid to trust Sehun.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Wait.” Jongin says suddenly as his eyes fall on Kyungsoo’s bedside clock. “Is it already 8:00?”

Kyungsoo glances back before shaking his head. “That clock is about 9 minutes ahead but nearly. It’s nearly 8:00.”

And all of a sudden, Jongin’s scrambling up; It’s only when he’s forced himself out of bed that he winces, his hand going up to his head. “God, I hate hangovers.” He mutters under his breath.

“Do you have somewhere to be?” Kyungsoo asks inquisitively as he sits up.

“Yeah. My class is supposed to start at 8:00… The lady’s going to kill me…”

Kyungsoo nods before swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. “I got it. At least let me walk you out. I can get you some motrin too for your headache.” He beckons Jongin to follow him as he goes to the bathroom to find the pills. “Are you sure you’re in a good enough state to dance?” He asks, looking for the correct bottle.

“I’m always in a good enough state to dance.” Jongin returns.

“I suppose that’s true.” Kyungsoo shrugs as he grabs the bottle and pops open the cap. Lifting his gaze to Jongin he asks, “How many do you need?”

“All of them.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “I’ll give you two. And let me get you something to eat it with so you don’t get an ulcer.” This time he walks downstairs to the kitchen, Jongin following close behind, practically tripping on Kyungsoo's heels. Handing him a banana and a breakfast bar, Kyungsoo waves Jongin off. “Now go. Before you’re later than you already are.”

Jongin nods and he rushes to the front door to slip on his shoes. He’s about to leave before he stops, turning to Kyungsoo. “Thanks for taking me care of me.” 

“Thanks for being an easy-to-care-for drunk and just falling asleep.” Kyungsoo replies and Jongin only grins before leaving the apartment. 
 

They try the whole night driving thing again about a week later, meeting up at Jongin's apartment instead so that there's no Sehun to get him drunk. The driving itself isn’t too bad; it’s really nothing different nor more difficult than driving at night. Especially since they’ve decided to go fairly late at night and are avoiding any particularly busy street, it’s actually pretty relaxing to be driving in the dark of the night.

“Most people don’t like to drive at night,” Jongin comments after he instructs Kyungsoo to take a turn at the intersection. “But you seem so much more comfortable in the dark. It’s surprising.”

Kyungsoo only shrugs because he really doesn’t know what to say to that. 

They only end up looping around the area near Jongin’s apartment for the entirety of the two hours, not really venturing into any streets with traffic. At the end of their lesson, it’s approaching 1 am and Kyungsoo’s really not used to staying up so late. He can feel the heaviness of his eyelids but he tries his best to fend off the sleepiness as Jongin volunteers to take them home. 

He tries to stay awake, he really does, but sometime on the drive home, the rich sound of Jongin’s voice lulls him to sleep. 




It’s awhile before he wakes up again. The first thing he notices is that they’re stopped. The second is that they’re parked at a street and Jongin’s staring at him. “Hey,” Jongin says with a little wave, “Did you have a nice nap?”

"Why didn't you wake me?!" Kyungsoo practically squeaks, wiping at the drool around his mouth. Gross.

"I tried!" Jongin insists, "Multiple times! On the third time, I’m not sure if you were sleeptalking or something but you threatened to strangle me so I kinda gave up."

"Oh. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be.” Jongin says as a grin begins to pull at his mouth, “I'm getting paid by the hour."

“How long have I been sleeping?” He mumbles out as he stretches out his neck. He had fallen asleep at a weird angle and he’s totally regretting it now.

“An hour?” Jongin shrugs, “An hour and a half?”

“And have you just been here… watching me sleep?” Kyungsoo asks slowly and it’s dark but he swears that in the dim illumination of the streetlight, he can see some semblance of a blush colouring Jongin’s face. 

“No.” Jongin answers quickly and he’s just as quick to change the topic. “So how about we get you home. It’s late.” 

They don’t really speak as they go up the elevator. Not even as they enter the penthouse. Kyungsoo only silently motions for Jongin to wait as he goes to wake up Zitao. 

The door to the bedroom is open about halfway but he still feels the need to knock. “Zitao?” He whispers out when there’s no response. He repeats again a bit louder and this time there’s actually the sound of groaning and shuffling out of the bed. As the figure comes out of the room, though, it's not actually Zitao like he expected. It's Sehun. 

"Shut the up." Sehun groans, running his hand through his hair. "What are you even doing?"

Kyungsoo blinks at Sehun but ultimately decides against asking the obvious question of "What are you doing here?" And instead opts to just ignore Sehun's pants-less state. "Wake up Zitao. I need him to pay Jongin."

"Why are you coming home so late?" Sehun asks as his lips curl into a smirk.

"Wake up Zitao. Get the money."

Sehun opens his mouth to say something more but he promptly closes it as he meets Kyungsoo's glare. "Hang on a second." He says and he holds up a finger before disappearing back into the room. He returns about a minute later but Zitao doesn’t seem to be any more awake.

“What? You’re gonna pay?” Kyungsoo says with as much sarcasm as he can muster upon Sehun’s return. He’s surprised when Sehun shrugs.

“Well I’m not going to wake him.” Sehun says before revealing what he’s been hiding from behind his back. It’s Zitao’s wallet in all its glittery glory.

“Why does Zitao trust you with his money and not me?” Kyungsoo has to comment but Sehun shrugs and just walks back down to the front door where Jongin is. Kyungsoo follows close behind.

Jongin looks just as confused when Sehun walks up to him. “No Zitao?” Slightly frowning, he asks and the question is more aimed at Kyungsoo, but Sehun cuts in instead.

“I’m paying you,” Sehun says, waving around Zitao’s wallet in front of Jongin’s face. “You should look a lot happier to see me.” Jongin shrugs and Sehun rolls his eyes, “So how much do we owe you?”

“Since when were you considered a part of ‘we’?” Kyungsoo snorts but he answers anyways. “Just the usual two hour session.”

Nodding, Sehun opens the wallet and begins to sift through the bills. Sidestepping closer to Kyungsoo, Jongin whispers, “Zitao trusts him with his money but not you?”

“Zitao trusts me with a lot of things!” Sehun interjects.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but adds in as Sehun’s still plucking out the necessary money to pay Jongin “But wait, I fell asleep in his car too. So you should pay him for that extra hour and a half as well.”

“You don’t have to do that!” Jongin protests, waving his arms frantically.

“No, I insist!” Kyungsoo urges, “I’ve wasted your time.”

“I could have woken you! It’s not your fault; it was my own doing!”

“Jongin! It’s late and I--”

Sehun clears his throat, effectively cutting off conversation and gaining back the attention of the two of them. He then proceeds to give Kyungsoo possibly the most smug look ever. “Are you sure you're comfortable with paying him for sleeping with you?”

Kyungsoo’s tired. His brain is a bit sleep addled but that sure as hell does not go over his head. 
“Give him the money.” He snips out before stalking off to his room.
 

They have a couple more sessions during the day but there’s nothing really special until the eighteenth session. Although they had steadily grown closer with each fast food meal shared between them, the eighteenth marks the first time they actually upgrade to a legitimate restaurant. 

They arrive at the restaurant after their session. It’s only about five minutes from the dance studio so Jongin says that he’s eaten there often. He also swears that they’re one of the best Korean barbecue places around.

“It’s a buffet?” Kyungsoo asks uncertainly as Jongin instructs him on where to turn.

“Yeah,” Jongin affirms, “But it’s more of a barbecue place. They just offer you infinite amount of meat.”

“That… That actually sounds pretty good,” Kyungsoo admits. As per Jongin’s instructions, he pulls into a parking spot along the street with practiced ease. “You sure you have the money for this?”

“Yeah. I think it’s high time we go somewhere that’s not a fast food restaurant.”

“Is this because I complained last time?” Kyungsoo asks, straightening out his parking so that his car isn’t obnoxiously poking out. “Because I was totally kidding. I’m cool with whatever so long as you’re paying.”

Jongin shrugs, peering out of the window to make sure Kyungsoo’s not about to go over the sidewalk, “I’m getting a little tired of burgers, anyways.” 

When Jongin’s finally satisfied with the parking job, he leads them both out of the car to the restaurant across the street. Kyungsoo can already survey the place through the windows and it looks pretty nice. He can’t help but feel guilty about the dent he’s about to make in Jongin’s wallet. “You sure about this?” He repeats again, glancing up uncertainly at the younger.

"Yes yes. Stop worrying. Oh and by the way, I have to cancel tomorrow's night driving lesson." Jongin announces as soon as he opens the door for Kyungsoo. From the abruptness of his statement, it seems as if he had forgotten up until then. "I have a big test in Economics and I'm already kind of failing that class."

"No worries, I get it." Kyungsoo nods, ducking under Jongin’s outstretched arm to get into the restaurant. The place is pretty much empty, save for an elderly couple who are dining off to the side, so they’re told to sit wherever they’d like. 

“This is such an improvement from the usual McDonald’s.” Kyungsoo muses as he randomly takes a seat at one of the tables. Jongin sits on the opposite side and doesn’t reply, instead turning toward their server and already placing their order in Korean. His pronunciation is smooth and natural and the words fall easily from his mouth and it just sounds so nice and Kyungsoo may or may not have a thing for guys who can speak another language.

“You’re fluent?” Kyungsoo asks as soon as the waitress walks away. 

Jongin shrugs, “I don’t use it as much anymore but it comes in handy. How about you?”

“My parents spoke it a lot at home but they never actively made an effort to teach me until I was about 14. So I can understand it for the most part but I’m not so good at speaking.”

“So you could understand what I said?” Jongin asks just as the waitress comes back with the two waters that Jongin had ordered.

Kyungsoo nods, “Yes. And I happen to know that you ordered the cheapest thing off the menu. Your secret is out.” 

“It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet.” Jongin insists, “So you’re still getting a lot of food. I’m not cheap, I swear!”

“I think we both know that that’s a lie.” Kyungsoo snorts, “But hey, I wasn’t complaining.”

The server comes back about a minute later, this time with a tray full of side dishes and the meat. As she sets down the individual dishes, she asks if Jongin knows how to use the grill and Jongin replies with a yes. He then says something that Kyungsoo doesn’t quite understand and the two burst out laughing. It must have been an inside joke.

As soon as the grill is running, Jongin begins to spread the pieces of meat onto the sizzling stove top. “So I was thinking of confessing to the guy soon.” Jongin brings up when he’s in the middle of arranging the meat. “What do you think?”

“Why do you always ask for relationship advice while we’re eating?” Kyungsoo asks as he breaks apart his wooden chopsticks.

“Why are we always eating is the real question.” Jongin points out.

“You’re the one that’s always redirecting us to a restaurant.” Kyungsoo answers. “I mean you’re the one who brought us here.”

“True,” Jongin nods. He takes the opportunity to pick at some of the side dishes and shove some kimchi into his mouth, “Okay, how about next time, I’ll take you someplace else.”

“I’m totally cool with you treating me to food..” Kyungsoo says, grinning as he munches on a biteful of bean sprouts. “Especially a place like this.” At Jongin’s expectant look, though, Kyungsoo answers his question with “Why now, though?”

“Why confess now?” Jongin echoes but he keeps a close eye on the meat on the grill. “I don’t know. I feel like now would be a good time?”

Kyungsoo throws back a question: “Has anything changed between now and back then? Like has he started like… I don’t know. Showing signs?” 

Jongin chokes on a laugh at Kyungsoo’s wording. “Showing signs? What is he, pregnant?” He stops when he sees Kyungsoo’s gaze narrow. “Okay. Well. Uhm. Kind of?” Kyungsoo’s instigating gaze eggs him on. “Okay. Well. No. But I swear! I feel like now would be good!”

“But if he hasn’t really changed, hasn’t realized your feelings… Is it really a smart idea to just spring this on him?” Kyungsoo says, fiddling with his chopsticks. “I mean you said you value your friendship. I think it’s a little sudden to just go and confess.”

“But isn’t it worse to wait?” Jongin prompts, “I mean isn’t it better to get him thinking of me as a potential boyfriend, not just a friend?”

“I don’t know.” Kyungsoo admits, “I’m not exactly an expert on relationships and you don’t have to take my advice but if it were me, I would feel a little taken aback if my close friend just suddenly dropped all of that on me. It’s quite a lot to take in and there’s no way that nothing will change. This is pretty big and I think that it needs to be perfectly timed.”

“So don’t confess?” Jongin asks looking significantly less enthused than he had just seconds ago.

“So don’t confess. Better safe than sorry?” Kyungsoo offers and Jongin only returns with a grimace.

"Thanks for bringing me here," Kyungsoo finally says after they've finished, Jongin pulling out a wad of bills to pay for the check. "It's been awhile since I've had some real Korean food. I miss it."

Jongin looks up from the money that he's currently counting. He squints. "You are aware that Korea Town is literally just five minutes away. Why don't you go there?"

Kyungsoo shrugs, "It's a little lonely to go to restaurants alone. And plus, Zitao's in charge of the car so we always end up strolling around in Chinatown."

"Well," Jongin says as he puts the money onto the bill and pushes it to the side of the table for the waitress to pick up. "If you want, I can be your buddy."

Kyungsoo only deadpans, "I thought teachers were supposed to strive for a strictly professional relationship with their clients."

And suddenly, Jongin's reaching over to squeeze Kyungsoo's hand. "I think we're far past that point." He says solemnly, giving Kyungsoo a meaningful look. His seriousness is gone as soon as it had come, though, as Jongin bounds up onto his feet with a grin. "Oh I think we're supposed to take the bill up to the front to actually pay. I'll take care of it, you just go back to the car." With that, he's off and Kyungsoo's left with a quickly reddening face.

Kyungsoo drives them back to the dance studio because Jongin says that he had left something there but after that, it’s back to the apartment. 

It’s exactly when they pull up to Jongin’s apartment that Zitao calls. “You’re not going to get that?” Jongin asks as he turns off the engine and unbuckles.

“It’s Zitao.” Kyungsoo shrugs, “If it’s anything really important, he’ll call again.”

They’re on their way into the building when Zitao calls a second time and they’re walking up the stairs when he calls a third. It’s only when they’ve made it to Jongin’s floor that Kyungsoo actually picks up. “What do you want?” He asks as soon as the line connects.

“Thanks for not picking up the first two times.” Zitao greets back and Kyungsoo shrugs before realizing that Zitao’s not able to actually see his silent reply.

“You know that that’s my method to filter through any of your unnecessary phone calls.” Kyungsoo answers. He almost trips on an uneven step but Jongin catches him from the side before he manages to fall onto his face. 

“Be careful,” He whispers out, an arm snaking around Kyungsoo’s waist to steady him. Kyungsoo’s pressed close to his side and he can’t help but revel in the warmth. “Can’t have my cash cow dying on me.”

“Then you should do a better job at protecting Zitao,” Kyungsoo replies, heart thudding quickly from the near death experience. He feels Jongin’s arm slacken before pulling away completely. 

“...Are you even listening to me?” Zitao whines from the line and it’s only then does Kyungsoo even remember that he’s on the phone. 

“No?”

There’s an audible sigh from Zitao as he’s forced to repeat his words. “You know that conference? The one in San Francisco?”

“The one that you’re going to tomorrow?”

“About that…” Zitao drawls and there’s an obvious twist that’s about to come. “Turns out it’s not tomorrow. I mean it is tomorrow, but it starts tomorrow. I have to leave tonight.”

“I don’t see why this matters. Just come pick me up or let Jongin drive me back, you just have to pay him.” Jongin glances back at him with the mention of his name.

“Did I say tonight? I meant today. Right now.” There’s something in Zitao’s tone that sounds off. It raises a bit of suspicion but Kyungsoo passes it off as stress. Zitao is always stressed about flying.

“Okay, just leave money at the apartment.” Kyungsoo suggests. “Jongin will drop me off and I can pay him.”

“Like hell I’d trust you with my money.” Zitao rushes out and Kyungsoo should have know.“Look. Don’t you have a night lesson tomorrow?”

“It’s had to be canceled so--”

“Perfect. Have it tonight then.”

“I don’t even know if he’s free tonight!” Kyungsoo insists. Jongin tugs Kyungsoo’s free arm right as he’s about to ascend up the next flight of stairs.

“It’s this floor.” Jongin explains, opening the stairwell door. Kyungsoo bows slightly in thanks and he walks into the hallway.

“When is he never not free for you?” Zitao asks and it seems like he’s trying to allude to something but Zitao’s stupid and Kyungsoo just chooses to ignore it. “Spend the night too. I’ll send Sehun with the money tomorrow.”

“Zitao, you’re being irrational.” Kyungsoo groans as he follows Jongin down the hallway to the apartment. “Just leave me the money.” He hears Zitao already making a voice of protests so he changes his words. “Okay. Don’t leave me the money. We can just pay him the amount next time.” 

There’s a beat of silence and Kyungsoo almost thinks that Zitao’s hung up on him. “I have to go. Stay the night.” Zitao breathes out and with that he hangs up.

“What the hell?” Kyungsoo says, shaking his head.

“What’s up?” Jongin asks before he stops in front of his apartment door. As he’s fishing the keys out of his pockets, he raises a brow at Kyungsoo. “What did Zitao want?”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “He wants me to spend the night here.” 

Jongin coughs. “What do you mean?” 

“He has to fly out earlier than expected so he’s not going to be home. He’s being all stupid about his money and refuses to either leave me money to pay you with or wait to pay you. He’s just so irrational and someone really needs to just pull that stick out of his--”

“Do you want to spend the night?” Jongin interrupts, an earnest look in his eyes. 

Now it’s Kyungsoo’s turn to cough awkwardly. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we’re friends, aren’t we?” Jongin shrugs. He tries to pass this off as nonchalance. “What’s wrong with a friend staying overnight?”

Kyungsoo hesitates, thinking over what to say in his mind. “Is it…” He starts out slowly, “Would that be okay?”

“It’s not a problem.” Jongin grins.

The time goes by quickly. Since there’s really not much to do in the apartment, they end up just lounging around on the sofa, Jongin working on a paper that’s due next week and Kyungsoo watching the TV on mute with subtitles so that he doesn’t disturb the other. Around 6 is when Jongin shuts his laptop and slides it onto the coffee table with a sigh. “I’m such a terrible host.” He announces as he crawls to the corner of the couch that Kyungsoo’s cuddled into. 

“You’re not a bad host.” Kyungsoo says, glancing to his side to see Jongin approaching. He wants to unmute the show since Jongin’s no longer working but he decides against it; that’d be rude. “I mean I’m intruding, this wasn’t planned and I don’t want to keep you from doing anything that you need to do. Plus. Modern Family is on and I’m perfectly happy with just watching.”

“New episode?” Jongin asks as he settles right next to Kyungsoo. Oddly close so that they’re pressed up against each other and Kyungsoo can feel the warmth bleeding from the other. 

He tries his best to hunch closer to the couch’s arm, to get some semblance of personal space but Jongin is just so close.“It’s not new but I haven’t watched it. It’s almost done anyways.”

Jongin makes a sounds of affirmation and, to Kyungsoo’s relief, he stands up. “How about some dinner?”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “You’re going to pay for two meals in a day? That’s a bit pricey.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of cooking.” 

Kyungsoo’s even more skeptical. “You can cook?” 

“Better than Jongdae.” Jongin winks and he’s moving towards the kitchen. Kyungsoo feels the need to get up as well and follow him.

“That’s not saying much.” He comments as soon as he rejoins Jongin. 

“But that’s saying enough.” Jongin answers. He’s digging through the cabinet, obviously looking for something as he pokes through the contents. “What kind of food do you like?”

“Baked Alaska.”

“Well, that’s not happening. How about spaghetti?” Jongin asks as he pulls out a slim box of dried pasta. Kyungsoo nods and watches as Jongin flits around the kitchen, picking up a pot, filling it with water, and then grabbing a can of spaghetti sauce from the pantry.

“You need some help?” Kyungsoo asks. His question is badly timed, posed just as Jongin had begun to pour the spaghetti into the pot. Jongin takes just a second to glance back at his guest, but that second is enough and before either of them realize it, the entirety of the pasta in the box has fallen into the pot. Jongin nods sheepishly.

They end up with enough spaghetti to serve an army. Even after they both have a serving or two, they still haven’t put so much as a dent in their seemingly infinite supply of pasta. 

“Hey so,” Kyungsoo begins as he rises to collect the dirtied dishes and relocate them to the sink. “Do you think you have time for night driving lesson?”

“To make up for tomorrow's?” Jongin asks and he also comes to the kitchen to help out with cleaning up. “Yeah sure. We can go right after this?”

They finish up cleaning early (or at least finish up about half the cleaning. The rest, Jongin insists on leaving as a fun surprise for Jongdae) and go out for a little drive. As usual, Kyungsoo’s far calmer when driving at night when there’s no one else around and it’s all pretty unexciting. Jongin actually lets him play one of his mixtapes this time around and he’s lucky enough to pick one with a track that he actually knows the words to. He sings along softly as he rounds a corner and there’s a small smile playing at Jongin’s mouth.

After another two hours, they’re back at the apartment, Jongin goes back to working on school work, studying for that Econ test, and Kyungsoo resumes his TV show. The only thing that’s different from before is that Jongin’s now leaning up against Kyungsoo, legs slung over the couch so that he lies perpendicular to Kyungsoo’s side. Every now and then he’ll glance up to see whatever Kyungsoo’s watching despite Kyungsoo’s blatant protests about how that’s “not a good study habit” and Jongin’s “totally going to fail his test.” Jongin just laughs it off.

When Kyungsoo begins to nod off, he’s shaken awake by Jongin. “Time to sleep?” He asks with a chuckle and Kyungsoo can only blearily nod as he’s hoisted onto his feet. Jongin leads him quickly to his bedroom. “Here,” He starts, bringing Kyungsoo to his bed. “Sorry that there's no extra bed. You can take mine.” Jongin says as he grabs a blanket and a pillow off of his bed. “I’ll go take the couch.”

“I can’t just take your bed. What about Jongdae’s bed?” Kyungsoo asks but he realizes that that’s obviously a stupid question to ask when Jongin grimaces.

“I don’t think you want to go anywhere near Jongdae’s bed.” Jongin seems to shudder at the thought before shaking his head and patting on the bed. “Please, take the bed. I insist.” He gives Kyungsoo an encouraging push toward the bed.

Slowly, reluctantly, Kyungsoo climbs into it but he keeps an eye on Jongin. It’s only when he’s pulled the blankets over himself does he gets the brilliant idea of asking, “What if we just sleep together?”

Jongin chokes.

While he’s pounding on his chest, trying to in sufficient oxygen, Kyungsoo feels the need to explain. “It only makes sense. I mean it’s your bed. I don’t want to be the one kicking you out of your own bed. Plus we’re friends. Isn’t that what friends do?”

“I think your definition of friends is a bit different than most. I mean, isn’t that a bit...” Jongin’s making cryptic eye movements as if that’s enough to convey his message. “Y’know…”

“I mean if you’re uncomfortable with it, I understand,” Kyungsoo shrugs and he can’t say that he’s not even the slightest bit disappointed. “But we’ve done it before so I figured you wouldn’t mind.” He tries to sound nonchalant but there’s no denying that the lilt in his voice is trying to coax him in.

Jongin worries his bottom lip between his teeth but he looks like he’s actually considering. “Come on,” Kyungsoo urges and he moves to pull the blanket out of Jongin’s arms. “This way will be warmer.”

His reasoning is shoddy at best. It’s nearing May, the weather’s warm. There’s no reason why Kyungsoo’s words should be enough to actually persuade someone into bed but it works. Jongin is putting the pillow back on the bed and throwing his blanket on top of Kyungsoo. “Okay.” He breathes out, “Let me just go get changed and brush my teeth.”

Kyungsoo nods. And he waits. Waits for Jongin to returns until he eventually grows bored. He climbs out of the bed and approaches the bedroom’s bathroom. The doors not locked and it somehow slips his mind to actually knock; he opens the door to the sight of a half- Jongin. 

Jongin freezes, only staring back at Kyungsoo with widened eyes as his hand hovers over the shirt he was about to put on. It’s only when Kyungsoo makes a sound that he thinks to be a small squeak does Jongin finally grab his shirt, hurriedly pulling it over his chest. “Yes?” He asks, looking a bit flustered.

“Sorry,” Kyungsoo apologizes when he finds his voice, “I just wanted to ask if you had an extra toothbrush.”

Jongin only blinks at him before slightly nodding and opening up the bathroom cabinet. “Here.” He says, handing Kyungsoo a toothbrush that’s still in its package. 

“Thanks.” Kyungsoo says, taking the offered the toothbrush and then ripping it out of its container. He immediately moves to the sink to brush his teeth and Jongin goes to join him, picking up the toothbrush in the cup next to the faucet. Kyungsoo finishes earlier and he leaves to go back to the bed while Jongin’s still brushing, adamant on going for the full doctor-recommended three minutes. He crawls under the covers, taking the liberty of claiming the right side of the bed as his. 

Jongin pops his head out of the bathroom to offer him pajamas, but Kyungsoo refuses, says that he’ll be comfortable enough in his own clothing. He waits in bed as Jongin finishes up in the bathroom. As Jongin walks over, he turns off the lights; the only source of the room’s light comes from the bedside lamp that Kyungsoo didn’t even notice was on.

“Weren’t you saying earlier that we’re supposed to keep a strictly professional relationship? Jongin cracks a nervous smile as he lifts the blankets to crawl in. “Isn’t this pushing it?”

“I think we’re far past that point.”

And Kyungsoo’s just repeating what Jongin had said earlier, parroting back the exact same phrase and yet Jongin is flushing a deep red in the dim lamp’s light. Jongin’s the one whose cheeks heat up, whose heart is beating at an uncomfortably rate, and who practically throws himself onto the bed, turning around to face the other side because too embarrassed to meet Kyungsoo’s eyes. Kyungsoo also turns toward the opposite side as Jongin turns off the light.

It’s quiet for a while, only the sounds of their breathing filling in for silence. And it’s nice enough, the blanket spread loosely over the two of them, and their backs just an inch apart. They’re not actually touching, but they're close enough to be hyper aware of each other’s presence. It’s after about ten minutes of Kyungsoo trying to wiggle around, to get comfortable, but after a while, he just comes out and says it. “I’m going to take my pants off.” He announces and it’s supposed to be a question, a request for permission, but it certainly doesn’t come out like that. 

Jongin launches into a fit of coughing; as Kyungsoo sits up, he sees the way that Jongin is still beet red. “Okay.” Jongin says quietly and he still refuses to look over at the older. 

Kyungsoo stands up, quickly removing his pants. Before he climbs under the covers again, he feels the need to say, “I just really don’t like sleeping with pants on.” He only hopes it doesn’t sound as weird as he thinks it does.

“Understandable.” Jongin murmurs, “I usually don’t sleep with a shirt on so I get it.”

“Do you want to take it off?” Kyungsoo asks, lifting the covers so that he can slither in and Jongin coughs again. 

“No, that’d be weird.” He says quickly.

“I mean I already have my pants off.” Kyungsoo shrugs as he pulls the blanket back over himself. “You might as well?’

“I’m okay.” Jongin answers and he doesn’t say much else.

“Well, good night.” Kyungsoo whispers out and Jongin only offers a small sound of affirmation in response. 

Jongin falls asleep first. He’s out within ten minutes and Kyungsoo knows by the slowly shallowing breaths from the younger and the soft snore. Kyungsoo takes a bit more time to settle into slumber and it’s only when Jongin sleepily, subconsciously turns around, wraps himself around the ball that Kyungsoo’s curled himself into does Kyungsoo finally go to sleep.




He wakes up alone in the morning, no sign of Jongin and no sounds coming from any other parts of the house. He doesn’t really know what to think as he sits up. There’s a window in Jongin’s room and the sunlight is angled in such away that Kyungsoo has to raise his hand to his eyes, blocking the light. He rises to his feet and trudges out of the bedroom. He’s just about out the door before he remembers to turn back and put some pants on.

As soon as he does exit the room, though, as he’s rounding the corner to walk toward the living room, there’s a figure that pops out of nowhere and Kyungsoo’s tripping backwards, falling back onto his as he lets out a shrill scream.

“What are you doing?!” Kyungsoo shrieks, scrambling to his feet. Jongin looks a bit spooked but he tries his best to help the older back onto his feet.


“I’m so sorry!” Jongin rushes out, “I just finished cooking breakfast and I was going to wake you. I didn’t hear you get up. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Kyungsoo perks up at the idea of food. “You made breakfast?”

A comfortable smile settles onto Jongin’s face. He nods and then proceeds to lead Kyungsoo into the kitchen. 

It’s really nothing particularly extravagant, just a couple of scrambled eggs paired with a couple pieces of bacon but it smells so good and Kyungsoo just so hungry and there may or may not be a a couple of tears in his eyes. His eyes are always dry in the morning. At least that’s the excuse he gives Jongin when he begins to rub at his eye. 

Jongin’s nice enough to usher Kyungsoo toward the table, pushing out a chair for him to settle on as he goes around to the other side to sit. His expression turns more expectant as he gestures for Kyungsoo to take a bite and his smile only widens when Kyungsoo compliments his cooking,

“It’s good.” Kyungsoo says as he goes to mirror Jongin’s blinding smile. It’s not a lie, either. The eggs are surprisingly okay and Kyungsoo certainly wasn’t expecting that. 

“Jongdae always complains that they’re not salty enough,” Jongin comments as he picks up his own fork. Jongdae’s right, it could use a little salt but Kyungsoo’s not going to admit that.

“Jongdae’s wrong.” He says instead, “I think they’re fine.”

“I like to put ketchup on them though.” Jongin shrugs, conjuring up an enormous bottle of ketchup from god knows where. 

“You’re disgusting.” Kyungsoo whispers as he watches Jongin add an unprecedented amount of ketchup onto his eggs.

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” Jongin shrugs and the way he’s mixing the blobs of red into the eggs is kind of making Kyungsoo lose his appetite.

“So Sehun’s at the house,” Kyungsoo says after a while when he’s eaten about half of his food. “Zitao has sent him to pay you.”

Jongin’s currently chewing but as soon as he swallows, he asks, “He’s not going with him to the conference thing?”

Kyungsoo just shrugs. “I guess there are things that Sehun can’t sleep into his way after all.” Kyungsoo pauses, pursing his lips, “Speaking of Sehun, isn’t he your age? Isn’t he supposed to still be in college? He a dropout or something?”

“He’s a dropout, yes,” And with the way Jongin’s drawing out the words, Kyungsoo knows that there’s an impending ‘but’ about to be said. He’s proved right. “But he dropped out when his startup made it big.”

“Is that why he’s with Zitao?” asks Kyungsoo. “For business connections?”

“I don’t know. I can’t help but feel that Sehun just hangs around him because he likes him.” Jongin stops before adding, “And they’re not really together, they’re just friends.”

“Yep. Just friends who hang out with each other 24/7 and happen to sleep in the same bed.” Kyungsoo says, his voice dripping with sarcasm that apparently Jongin doesn’t pick up.

“We sleep in the same bed.” Jongin shrugs, “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Kyungsoo sputters, “That was one time!” He feels his face heating up and that’s not good. Jongin’s supposed to be the one that’s always blushing; Kyungsoo’s supposed to be the one who gets pleasure out of making Jongin blush. He tries his best to cool himself down. “That was one time,” He repeats, a lot less flustered than before.

“That was two times.”

“That was two times,” Kyungsoo amends, mumbling as he goes back to eating his breakfast.




When Jongin drops Kyungsoo back at his apartment, Sehun’s already there waiting for them. He’s standing in the shade and only braves the infernal rays of the sun when he notices them pulling up. “Yo.” He greets, moving to the car.

“How long have you been waiting out here?” Jongin asks, eyeing the black hoodie Sehun’s wearing. He himself is only wearing a cotton t-shirt and he already feels like he’s wearing too much. Kyungsoo asks the more important question of “Do you have the money?”, though, and that’s the one that Sehun decides to reply to.

Sehun nod, pulling out a couple of bills from his pocket. “How much? $250?”

Jongin lets out an unmanly squeak at the price. “I only did two two-hour sessions!” Even as Sehun begins to shove the money at him, he tries his best to push Sehun’s hands away. “There’s no way I deserve that much!”

“I did spend a lot of time over at your house.” Kyungsoo points out, glancing down at the money in Sehun’s hands to make sure Sehun’s not cheating him out of the money. “Zitao’s responsible for paying for that too.”

“Plus, isn’t the Kyungsoo-babysitting rate $10?” Sehun pipes in, ing the money once more at the unwilling instructor. “He spent like 17 hours with you so it’s not like I’m overpaying. Or underpaying, mind you.” The last part is directed toward Kyungsoo.

“I just don’t think it’s right for me to be--”

“Accept it.” Kyungsoo cuts in, his tone resolute before he twist his mouth into an odd smile. “Aren’t we friends?”

Frowning, Jongin finally accepts the money, swiping it out of Sehun’s extended hands. He pouts, “I don’t think you know what friendship is.” 

“I don’t think you understand how great of a friend I am.” Kyungsoo snorts as Jongin goes back into his car. “Now go study so you can ace your test.” Jongin nods and Kyungsoo waves as he watches the car zoom away. He turns back to see Sehun staring at him.

“So you slept with Jongin.” He says, a smile stretches out across his face and it’s unnerving. “It’s about time he made a move.”

“I didn’t sleep with Jongin. I slept at Jongin’s.” Kyungsoo corrects and he makes his way back into the apartment complex.

“You slept in Jongin.” Sehun says and Kyungsoo runs straight into the glass door.

He clutches at his face, silently mouthing out profanities as he hunches over onto his knees. “Why are you following me?” Kyungsoo spits out with the intent of changing topics. “Go home.”

"I was instructed by Tao to make sure you get home safely." Sehun shrugs. He's hauling Kyungsoo up to his feet and then opening the door for him, ushering him through. 

“I think I am perfectly capable of getting into an elevator and going to my apartment.” Kyungsoo insists but Sehun’s already pushing him into the elevator and the door shuts before Kyungsoo has the chance to throw Sehun out. Looks like he’s stuck with him for the entirety of the elevator ride.

“You also thought that you were capable of driving and we know that was a lie.” Sehun shrugs and his words are enough to warrant a punch that has him slumping over onto the side of the elevator wall, rubbing his injured arm. “Jesus,” He breathes out, somehow looking a lot paler than his usual milky white tone. “How does Jongin put up with you?”

“Jongin doesn’t say stupid things,” Kyungsoo answers, adamant at looking at the elevator door so he doesn’t have to sympathize with Sehun’s pained face. “So Jongin doesn’t get punched.”

There’s a beat of silence and Kyungsoo stupidly believes that maybe Oh Sehun is actually going to shut up. He’s proven wrong when Sehun decides to pipe in with, “I’m proud of you guys, by the way. I was totally rooting for you.”

Sehun doesn’t stop there though. Apparently, Sehun thinks that he and Kyungsoo have somehow progressed into friends and he just doesn’t shut up. “You know, Tao totally wasn’t, He thought that you deserved better than him but I knew that Jongin was the best. I mean he’s really sweet, patient, and is some serious eye candy so I thought he was the perfect match for you. Tao though. He seemed to think that this other guy was better but I guess he’s kind of come around. Still not as much of a supporter as me but I--”

“I used to think you were quiet, you know. Quiet Sehun was so much better.” Kyungsoo grumbles before he gives up on his attempted (failed) tactic of ignoring the other, He adds in, “It’s just a driver instructor. Why were you guys debating so much on who to put me with.”

And it’s like a miracle because Sehun actually shuts up. It’s only for a moment but Kyungsoo will take what he can get. “What are you talking about?” He asks, his expression morphing into one of confusion. 

“What are you talking about?”

“Jongin.” 

“Yes. Jongin. My driving instructor.” 

“Yes. Jongin. Your--” Sehun cuts himself off. “Wait, aren’t you guys dating now?”

Kyungsoo sputters, “What?! No.” He’s choking now and he knows his face is starting to heat up. From the lack of oxygen. At least he thinks so. “Why would we be dating?”

“Why wouldn’t you be dating?” Sehun throws back, “I mean today was the day Jongin was supposed to--” He cuts himself off again, narrowing his gaze into a squint. “You guys slept together though.”

“We slept in the same bed. That’s it. He likes someone else too.”

The last sentence of Kyungsoo’s words seem to be effectively ignored as Sehun replies back with “But you slept over in general. You didn’t leave. Why would you do that?” Sehun looks so scandalized and that’s an expression Kyungsoo’s never seen on him before.

“Because Zitao’s in San Francisco. He couldn’t drive me back.” 

“Jongin could have dropped you off here, though!”

“I don’t have money. I need Zitao to pay him. Or you, apparently.”

“I could’ve come to pay him then!”


"You could’ve but--” Kyungsoo stops. “Wait a minute. you could’ve driven me back. Why did you not just do that?!”

Sehun only blinks at him and then proceeds to change topics. “Jongin didn’t ask you anything… weird yesterday, did he?”

“He asked me some more questions about his crush but directly to me, he didn’t ask--” Before Kyungsoo can even finish his thought, Sehun cuts in with a particularly loud groan. He stabs at the elevator button for the floor they’re just about to pass and darts out as soon as the door opens. Kyungsoo’s finally left with the peace and quiet he’s been wanting. 
 

For their next session, they go out again at night. It’s around the same neighbourhood as before, this time around, and true to his words, Jongin does bring them somewhere else for a change of scenery.

“A playground?” Kyungsoo asks as he’s told to park. “What are you, two?”

“Come on.” Jongin says giddily. He’s already unbuckled and opening the door before Kyungsoo’s even turned the engine off. “It’ll be fun.”

“Or.” Kyungsoo calls out as he begrudgingly gets out of his seat, “Or you could drop me back at my apartment. We could watch a movie, maybe eat some popcorn. Find some way to fill in that mandatory hangout period you seem to think is necessary to our friendship.”

“Or you could learn to have fun.” Jongin suggests as he’s circling around the car to reach Kyungsoo. He grips his hand around one of Kyungsoo’s wrist and proceeds to drag him to the playground. Kyungsoo only barely remembers to actually lock the car.

“Your definition of fun is a little skewed.” 

Jongin has fun, that much is true, but it’d be a lie to say that Kyungsoo’s bored. It’s not the classic definition of fun but it’s rather an interest, a slowly building smile, and a warmth in his heart that settles in as he takes a seat on a swing and just watches Jongin as he flits around on the playground excitedly. Jongin stops not too long after when he realizes that Kyungsoo has no intention of joining him in the play area built for those who are 11 or younger. Instead, he comes to join Kyungsoo.

“You’re already out of energy?” Kyungsoo deadpans and Jongin rolls his eyes.

“It’s not as fun when you’re by yourself.” Jongin answers and his voice seems a bit more solemn than what Kyungsoo had expected from his reply. “Mind if I join you?” He asks, already moving toward the swing beside him.

“Be my guest.” Kyungsoo gestures.

When they’ve settled side by side, Jongin’s the only one actually swinging; Kyungsoo’s more just rocking back and forth, his eyes trailing Jongin as he swings up and down. It’s then when words jump from Kyungsoo’s mouth. “So how’s your crush going?”

The question seems to take Jongin by surprise.“My crush?” Jongin echos and for a second, Kyungsoo swears that he glances back at him. He swings extra high this time around. “I’m thinking of giving that up.”

And he says it so casually, so nonchalant as if he hasn’t been hung up over this guy for over a month. It’s weird, though. Kyungsoo feels almost relieved at Jongin’s words. “You are?” He says and he hopes it doesn’t sound as hopeful as he thinks it does.

“Yeah,” Jongin says. He lowers his feet, dragging them across the ground to slow himself down. Only now can Kyungsoo see the rueful smile that’s marred Jongin’s face. “I mean, like you said, it’s useless. There’s no good time to say it and I just.” He turns to Kyungsoo, gaze boring into Kyungsoo’s own. “I really don’t want to mess this up.”

“It’s for the best,” Kyungsoo nods and he feels so selfish to be discouraging Jongin from following his heart. It’s just what his own heart wants. “I mean there’s other people out there. There’s no point in pouring all of your effort into this one guy who doesn’t seem to reciprocate. What’s so good about him anyways?” There’s an inherent bitterness laced in those words that Kyungsoo can’t seem to filter out.

“He’s nice.” Jongin begins as he starts to swing again, “He’s cute. He’s thoughtful. He’s funny, in a really weird way, but still funny. He’s not very good at things. But he tries his best, always tries to present himself as perfect even though he’s clearly not. But that’s okay because his flaws are what make him so much cuter. He’s sweet. But he tries not to be. He doesn’t seem the most approachable but when you actually get to know him, it’s worth all of the effort to befriend him. I kind of just want to hug, engulf him in my arms and pull him close. Cuddle him into my body and just let him know that he doesn’t have to be perfect. He compliments me, brings out my best -- though I think I bring out his worse -- and I just...” He continues on and Kyungsoo grows silent.

It’s a bit painful to hear Jongin speak. To know that these compliments are about another man who's caught Jongin’s eye. To know that there’s someone else out there who’s just so perfect for Jongin.

Kyungsoo’s confused. He’s so confused. He doesn’t know what Jongin’s feelings are, what his own feelings are, but he does know that Jongin looks beautiful in the pale light of the streets.
 

The first time they get stuck in serious traffic, it’s really nothing serious. It’s more because they’ve chosen to go driving at a bad time, rush hour, rather than an actual accident. It’s inconvenient, to say the least.

“This ,” Kyungsoo groans as he shifts the gear to park. It looks like they won’t be going anywhere any time soon. 

“I have something good to pass the time,” Jongin smirks and he reaches toward the radio. Kyungsoo fends his reaching hand off.

“I don’t know what you’re going to do but no.” He frowns, giving Jongin a little shove, “I’m driving. I get control over the radio.”

“Trust me. This will be good.”

“Tell me what it is.” demands Kyungsoo, “I’m not going to change it if you don’t at least tell me what it is.”

“It’s a radio station.” Jongin says and he’s quick to make another attempt to change the channel. Kyungsoo’s too slow to stop him and the attempt is successful. As a familiar voice flows from the speaker, Jongin’s mouth curls into a smile. “It’s Sehun’s radio station.”

Kyungsoo breathes out incredulously, “No way. Why does he even have one?”

“He started it in college.” Jongin snorts out a laugh, “Thought it would be cool to host something like this. Even after college, I guess he’s too attached to his loyal fanbase to let this sweet gig go.”

“He has a fanbase?” Kyungsoo whispers out.


“Why yes.” Jongin grins, “He has a very lovely selection of a handful of college freshmen and a devoted following of prepubescent girls. He even came up with an alias to hide his identity and everything.”

“No.” Kyungsoo gasps exaggeratedly, “What is i--”

“Richard.” Jongin says and Kyungsoo’s been trying to keep a straight face this whole time but this. This is too much. He leans over the steering wheel, careful not to hit the car’s horn as he shakes with laughter. “He calls himself Richard. It’s his brother’s American name.” Jongin informs him and Kyungsoo thinks he’s about to cry.

“His own American name is Robert.” Jongin adds in and Kyungsoo is slowly dying. Seeing Kyungsoo collapsed into a hunch, spasming with laughter, Jongin grins, moving to turn up the volume.

The wait for traffic to clear up is significantly shorter as they listen to Sehun’s monotone and taste in music. 




Looking back, though, the traffic wasn’t that bad. It’s nothing compared to what they get stuck in during their second to last session.

“Oh my god,” Kyungsoo’s tempted to slam his hand against the car horn but he knows it won’t do anything. “The traffic’s backed up for miles.”

“It must be pretty serious for it to be this bad,” Jongin comments offhandedly, straining his neck to see if he can see the actual accident. “We’re probably going to be here for a while…”

“You wanna listen to Sehun’s station?” Kyungsoo throws out and Jongin smiles.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

This time, when they tune in, Sehun seems to be in the middle of some sort of session. “Hey guys. Richard here--” Kyungsoo spirals into an uncontrollable fit of laughter at the name. “And I want to ask you guys something. It’s something important.”

Jongin fakes a gasp, holding up an exasperated hand to his chest. 

It’s not actually important, though. At least not at first. At first, Sehun’s just going off about a bunch of random things, voicing a couple of his mundane concerns, and then asking his fans for advice. Surprisingly, he does happen to have some fans and they actually call in, much to Kyungsoo’s amazement, with some sort of advice. It’s all very stupid, but Kyungsoo can’t help but leave the station on, taking some kind of odd amusement in listening to Sehun consult teenage girls for the answer to all his life’s problems. 

It’s only after about twenty minutes that Sehun finally gets to something that sounds at least vaguely interesting. “So I have two friends,” 

“Sehun actually has two friends?” Kyungsoo asks and Jongin snorts. 

“Let’s name one of them Kai...”

“The bastard’s naming his “friend” after my car.” Jongin grumbles and Kyungsoo flashes him a look of concern.

“You name your car?”

Jongin blinks before he reaches toward the volume to turn it up. He does not confirm nor deny Kyungsoo’s question.

“...should be Soo… San. Susan.”

“His naming skills are on point.” Kyungsoo comments but Jongin seems to freeze at Sehun’s words. His reaction is odd: widened eyes with a clenched fist that is pressed to his mouth. “Jongin?” Kyungsoo calls out quietly, moving to rest a hand on the other’s thigh but Jongin seems to be put off by the action. His hand is quickly brushed away.

“So one of them, Susan, is learning to do something and Kai is like hi-- her mentor. So they started out when I put them together but I think as time went on, they grew to become friends.”

“Is he…” Kyungsoo starts out uncertainly, “Is he talking about us?” When Jongin doesn’t respond, Kyungsoo turns to look at him. He’s surprised to find Jongin insistently staring out the window, cheeks tinged with the slight semblance of a blush. Kyungsoo really doesn’t know what he has to be embarrassed about.

“I think I did a fairly good job at putting them together, I mean I was the one who recommended Kai to Kyu-- Susan. I’m such a matchmaker, right?” Sehun laughs, obviously proud of what he’s done. He rattles on for a bit longer, digressing into a series of terribly concealed self-indulgent compliments. It takes a while for him to actually return back to his original topic. “But anyways, the whole mentoring things requires them be around each other for a long amount of time, during both daytime and nighttime. They really weren’t all that friendly and open to each other at the beginning but nowadays, they go out a lot. Like after every little teaching session, they always either eating out afterward or doing, I don’t know, something..”

“I think this is about us,” Kyungsoo laughs but Jongin doesn’t reply. He glances back to Jongin and this time he finds the male on his phone, furiously typing something. Seconds later, there’s the sound of Sehun’s stupid ringtone going off.

“Sorry guys. That’s just my stupid friend texting me. It’s nothing important, he’s just being stupid. So on with the story,” Jongin seems to freeze at the words and now he’s dialing as Sehun continues on. “They’ve even they slept together! I mean, not really. But they slept together in a bed. Twice. The Kai guy always asks hi-- her for like relationship advice but I don’t think he-- she really knows who the advice is about.”

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo tries again for Jongin’s attention. “I’m pretty sure this is about us.”
Jongin’s purposefully ignoring him, clicking the call button on his phone.

Sehun’s phone goes off once again and this time, instead of just apologizing for it, he announces as he turns it off. “I am so sorry. I’m turning it off now. No more distractions.”

Jongin practically throws his phone into his lap. He covers his mouth with his hand and just turns back to the window, avoiding eye contact with Kyungsoo.

“Jongi--” Kyungsoo begins to say but he stops at what Sehun says next. 

“He’s literally asking hi-- her how he should go about pursuing him -- her and this girl just doesn’t realize that. I know this Kai guy likes Kyungs-- Susan. He’s told me a couple of times. Many times. Tells me all about how he wants to hug the gu-- the girl. Kiss hi-- her until h-- she’s left breathless. But he’s too shy to act upon his feelings.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t finish his word. Instead, his words trail off as his mouth falls open. He chances another glance at Jongin but the younger is still insistent on looking out the window. “Is what Sehun said true?” He asks softly, tapping Jongin on shoulder. Jongin doesn’t move so he repeats it again.

“You’re supposed to keep your eye on the road,” Jongin mutters, still looking away.

“We aren’t moving. We aren’t going to be moving for a while. Look at me,” Kyungsoo insists and he reaches over to physically turn Jongin’s face towards him. “Is what Sehun said true?” Jongin just avoids his eyes even when Kyungsoo has his hand gripping at his chin, forcefully facing Jongin to him. “Why didn’t you just confess?” He asks.

“You’re the one who said I shouldn’t confess!” Jongin rushes out, his eyes finally looking straight at Kyungsoo. He jerks his face away from Kyungsoo’s hand. “You said that you weren’t dense but you noticed and you just didn’t want to address the problem!”

“I didn’t say anything about myself! I said that the hypothetical person might not like the hypothetical person back!”

“You knew that the hypothetical situation was about me,” Jongin mumbles out, looking significantly more red than he had a second ago.

“Yes but I didn’t know that the other person in the was me though.”

“How could you not?” Jongin says exasperatedly, “I was so obvious! Even Jongdae caught on nearly a second after meeting you!”

“Oh my god!” Kyungsoo exclaims, throwing up his hands to add effect, "In what way were you obvious?"

“I was so obvious! I mean I--”

And before Jongin can finish what he’s saying, they’re interrupted by the sound of a bunch of cars honking at them. Kyungsoo glances back toward the road to see that somehow, while they weren’t looking, the traffic has miraculously cleared. They’re the last car still stopped and now they’re the ones blocking traffic. “Let’s not talk about this now.” Kyungsoo says as he shifts the gears back into drive. “You know a place where we can talk?”

“The park we went to before, that’s near here.” Jongin says quietly, his voice almost drowned out by the rev of the engine. “Get off at the next exit and then take a left. Keep going straight and it shouldn’t be too far.”

They drive in mostly silence, only the soft drone of Sehun’s voice fills the air. He’s moved onto another topic by now, now just mindlessly going off about how much he wants to buy some new jeans. When they finally pull up to the park, Jongin’s quick to escape the suffocating atmosphere of the car. He’s quick to get out and rush out of sight. It’s only when Kyungsoo’s gotten out that he finds him sitting on the swings. Kyungsoo goes to join him. This time, neither of them are really swinging.

“So you like me?” Kyungsoo asks softly and he glances over at Jongin but the younger’s adamant on avoiding contact, instead keeping his gaze trained in front of him. If the quickly reddening face is any indication, though, Kyungsoo knows that Jongin can feel him staring. 

“I might.” Jongin precariously answers before he finally offers something far more definitive, “I do. I really do and I’m so sorry if you don’t feel the same way, I don’t mind if you don’t feel the same way. I mean, I guess I do… a little… maybe a bit more than a little... but I understand! And I don’t want this to get in the way of our friendship or, more importantly, your learning to drive.” It’s only after he’s hurried through the words in one great breath that he turns to look at Kyungsoo. 

It’s not even a look of anticipation or expectation, but rather one of apology, of defeat and submission, and Kyungsoo doesn’t know what to say to that face. “I’m sorry,” Jongin starts again when Kyungsoo doesn’t reply. “I’m so sorry. Can we… Can we just go back to the way things were? We can just act like friends again and--”

“I don’t want to go back to how things were before.” Kyungsoo says quietly and Jongin freezes. 

“You don’t have to pretend,” Jongin’s quick to dismiss Kyungsoo’s words, “I don’t want to force you into something you’re not comfortable with. I’m not going to force you into this. Just--”

“I’m not forcing myself to say this.” Kyungsoo cuts in. Jongin looks like he’s about to open his mouth and protests but Kyungsoo doesn’t stop. “I’m not saying this to make you feel better and if you’d just listen to me, then you’d understand.”

Jongin seems a bit skeptical but he keeps his mouth shut. Kyungsoo continues, forcing it all out before he can hold himself back. “I like you. I like your smile. I like your face. I like how you’re patient. I like how nice you are. I like how sweet you are, how passionate you are, how you light up when you talk about dance. I like how you make stupid mixtapes, how you get emotional over a stupid squirrel. I like how you act like you can cook. I like how you put ketchup all over your stupid eggs, how you blush so easily, how you can eat enough to feed a four person family, how you always accomodate for me, how you cuddle in your sleep, how you end up cuddling me in your sleep. And, I don’t know, I just… I like you. I like you a lot and damn it, I’m not comfortable with just laying this all out there and it would have been so much easier if you were just the one to do this, to confess and ask me out--”

“I wanted to,” Jongin cuts in, “You told me not to.” Kyungsoo’s glare is enough to shut him up.

“I told you not to because I thought you were talking about someone else and now that I know who you were really talking about, I changed my mind. I want you to confess. I really want you to confess.”

Jongin’s speechless, wordlessly blinking at Kyungsoo. “Half of your own confession was an insult.” He whispers out and it’s just barely loud enough for Kyungsoo to hear. “I hope you know that.”

“And the entirety of your returning confession is still nonexistent.” Kyungsoo says, “I hope you know that.”

Jongin laughs, “I think you’ve said enough for both of us.” He holds his hand out to Kyungsoo, palm-up and expectant. 

“This is such a cop-out.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but he fits his hand onto Jongin’s anyways.
 

“I can’t believe you!” Zitao exclaims when Kyungsoo tells him. He’s a bit angry -- more than a bit, very angry. Very very angry -- and he doesn’t really speak much to Kyungsoo on the way to Jongin’s apartment. Instead, he seems more focused on muttering Chinese expletives beneath his breath. At one point, Kyungsoo swears he hears Zitao call him a “floppy cucumber” in Mandarin and he doesn’t really know what all of that is about.

By the time they pulls up to apartment complex, Zitao seems to have calmed down a bit. “You know,” Zitao starts out and it’s the first words he’s said in a while that’s in English and actually directed to Kyungsoo. “I could always just not pay for more lessons. It’ll be like punishment for wasting all my damned money.”

“Yes. Yes, you could.” Kyungsoo considers as he unbuckles his seatbelt. He has his door about halfway open when he finally finishes with, “But then what would Sehun think?”

“ Sehun.” Zitao hisses and Kyungsoo laughs.

“That’s your plan, isn’t it?” 

Zitao glares and Kyungsoo takes that as cue to get out of the car. As soon as he’s out of the car, Zitao’s driving away, flipping Kyungsoo off as he goes. Kyungsoo snorts at the action before entering the apartment.

The walk up is slow and uneventful save for when he notices Jongdae walking down. “Hey!” Jongdae greets, rushing over to hug Kyungsoo. “It’s Jongin’s boyfriend.” 

His smile is wide, eyes brights and Kyungsoo just nods slowly, 

“Well, I have to go.” Jongdae says when he realizes that Kyungsoo doesn’t plan on adding more to their conversation. “Jongin’s waiting for you up there.” And then he leaves, but not before he squeezes Kyungsoo in his arms and then pats Kyungsoo on the . Kyungsoo can’t help but feel as if they aren’t close enough to be like this around each other but he shrugs it off.

When he finally gets up to Jongin’s apartment, as soon as he knocks on the door, Jongin opens it. “How’d it go?” Jongin asks as soon as immediately, foregoing any kind of polite greeting. He’s much too excited, seemingly bouncing up and down on his toes as he waits for Kyungsoo’s reply; he had been even more nervous for this test than Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, and from the noticeable change in his demeanor, Jongin’s face falls. Now, he’s looking up at Kyungsoo with worried eyes, disappointment thinly concealed by concern. “I failed.” Kyungsoo says quietly and Jongin grimaces. 

“It’s okay,” Jongin says after a while, shifting his weight to one leg, “I mean there’s always next time. You’re not a bad driver, you must have just made some simple mistakes, something that’s fairly easy fix. I mean what did you even do wrong?” 

Kyungsoo decides not to tell him about the red light he had blatantly ran. Red lights actually. Or that he had refused to use the turn signal. Or how he had randomly slammed on his brakes for the hell of it. Or the fact that he was going at about 20 mph above the speed limit for the entirety of his test. Something’s are better left unspoken. Instead, Kyungsoo holds his arms out and puts on the best puppy face he can manage. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He keeps his voice purposefully soft, even throws in a slight voice crack to tug at Jongin’s heartstrings. “Just… can you just give me a hug?”

Jongin nods, stepping closer so that he can wrap his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist and pull him in against himself. “I’m sorry,” Jongin whispers his apology into Kyungsoo’s ear, “I sorry that I didn’t prepare you well enough. I guess we could just go out on a couple more sessions, polish up your skills a bit more before you try again.”

"Yeah I mean, on the bright side," Kyungsoo starts out slowly, as he leans back, putting a little distance between them. His gaze trails up to Jongin's as he breaks into a sly smile. "We get to spend more time together." 

Jongin's arms slackens. "You did not. No no. Please tell me you did not purposefully fail your test."

There's a pause as Jongin's eyebrows furrow, but Kyungsoo's eyes dance with amusement. Instead of answering, he tilts his head up and presses his lips against Jongin's. He pulls away, Jongin's gaze boring into his own. "No promises." He whispers.