two
Upside Right"That was exhausting," Yixing sighs, flopping down on the sofa located near the rear of headquarters. "But you know what? It was good. We learned a lot. We learned some valuable vocal skills. We also learned that Kyungsoo is not that scary, right Minseok?"
Minseok, who has been curled up in a ball rocking back and forth for the past ten minutes, jumps at the sound of his name. "Kyungsoo. So cute. So frightening."
"Darling, breathe," Luhan soothes. He places a cold towel on Minseok's head and sits down next to him, arm around his small frame. "Jongin is not afraid anymore. He's nervous, sure, but we can handle that, can't we? I'm sure he's been nervous about tons of things."
Minseok nods furiously and sniffles. "I guess."
"Okay," Luhan says happily, rubbing Minseok's arm. "Good job today."
"Don't go!" Minseok shouts the moment Luhan moves to stand. Luhan quirks a smile and sits back down with him.
"Guys, focus! Jongin is taking a nap with the intentions of clearing his mind. He expects us to be in order when he wakes up," Jongdae booms.
"Do you know who's really gross? Chanyeol," Zitao interjects. He picks up a short term memory and tosses it up, playing it for the other emotions. Behind Jongin's sleeping eyes plays a scene of Chanyeol scratching his armpits then sniffing his hand.
"But he did buy chicken for everyone at lunch," Yixing reasons.
"But he's annoying as ," Jongdae adds. There is a hum of agreement.
"Consensus on Chanyeol?" Yixing asks.
"Potential friend," Wufan says. The emotions all agree.
"What about Baekhyun?" Yixing asks.
"Baekhyun is hot," Luhan says with a grin. "Jongin would definitely want to sleep with him if Kyungsoo wasn't in the picture."
"He's also annoying as ," Zitao says, flipping his hair and frowning.
"He makes Jongin comfortable, though," Minseok throws in quietly. "I like him."
"Friend with unrequited ?" Wufan asks. Another round of agreement.
"Can we all agree that Joonmyun is a support figure?" Yixing asks.
"Yes," Minseok says quickly. "I like Joonmyun. Joonmyun hyung is good."
"My god, you are the cutest," Luhan coos, jostling Minseok and ruffling his hair.
"Stop flirting with Fear," Zitao spits, face twisting in distaste. "It's weird. We're not supposed to...be like that."
"I wasn't informed that a persons mind had ground rules," Luhan says, not bitter despite his words. "I thought that a persons mind was the one place where rules did not exist."
"Sassy, are we?" Jongdae nearly shouts with a humourless cackle.
"Easy, easy," Yixing says over the commotion. "Jongin's dealing with enough. He doesn't need emotions conflicting in his mind."
**
"I'm sorry," Kyungsoo wails, his back hitting the mirror before he sinks down to sit. He's frustrated, and has been for the past hour. "I just can't keep up with you."
Jongin hides a smile when he turns around to grab a couple of water bottles. He won't admit it, but dancing with Kyungsoo has given him the confidence to not choke whenever they converse. It's nice to know that Kyungsoo is human, despite his angelic voice, and that he is capable of flaws. Even when those flaws come in the form of adorable missteps. Jongin tosses him a bottle then sits across from him. "You're actually doing really well. You should have seen Sehun the first time he tried to learn this choreo."
Kyungsoo nodded after chugging half of the bottle in one go. "Remind me again why I wanted to learn something this challenging?"
"To show off," Jongin says with a chuckle.
"Right," Kyungsoo laughs with him. He motions up and down Jongin's body. "This makes sense now."
"What does?"
"How you can live off soda and fried chicken and still be..." Kyungsoo pauses, eyes roaming over Jongin's sweatpants and tank top clad body as he searches for words. "Very pleasing to the eye."
Jongin grins, swelling with pride. "I'm pleasing to the eye?"
"Shut up," Kyungsoo says, pushing Jongin's shoulder and looking away from him. "You know you are."
"Hey, uh, do you maybe wanna grab something to eat? We've been practicing forever. My treat." Jongin bunches his fingers in his shirt anxiously, eyes darting around the room.
"Are you...asking me out?" Kyungsoo's face is unreadable, not that Jongin can look at him for very long.
"No!" Jongin defends immediately. The nerves are back. "I just-"
"Because if you are," Kyungsoo interrupts. "The answer is yes."
**
"He's got a date," Wufan gapes, wide eyes up on Jongin's gaze.
"This is so exciting," Yixing says at the same time Minseok whines about how scary this is.
"This is so romantic," Luhan sighs, elbows resting on the control panel. He taps a key and headquarters heats up briefly, then cools down again. This continues along with Jongin's heartbeat as Kyungsoo helps him stand and they walk out of the studio together.
"He's a teenaged boy. Isn't he supposed to be all about getting into people's pants?" Zitao inquires.
"Jongin has always been stupidly emotional, though," Jongdae points out. He has been pretending to be disinterested in all of this Do Kyungsoo business, but they all catch his sideways glances to the gaze and his little smiles when Kyungsoo does anything cute. The emotions know better than to point that out, though.
Love touches all of them. There has been a little bit of love in each one of the emotions ever since Luhan arrived. Yixing has a little extra optimism. Zitao is more confident. Jongdae smiles more. Wufan is starting to become interested in things that don't revolve around crying.
Minseok is as scared as ever, but is calmed far quicker than before. In a way, Minseok is become comfortable with fear. Luhan is perfectly cozy with all of the symptoms of fear. It's all part of being in love, Luhan explains. Being nervous while being excited, being scared while not wanting it to stop, being happy when your heart pounds and the air leaves your lungs. Minseok knows that he'll never be fearless, for that would mean the absence of his existence, but he can learn to live with fear. Luhan is helping him learn to live with fear.
"Minseok, I need you up here!" Luhan calls, making him nearly jump out of his skin.
"W-why?"
"Kyungsoo is holding Jongin's hand."
"OH MY GOD!" Minseok almost trips scrambling to the control panel. His face goes white as he mindlessly touches the side of the board labeled 'Physical Reactions'. When Jongin's palms start to sweat, Zitao takes over, giving Jongin the little confidence that comes with good posture and a sure stride.
"You're all useless," Zitao declares.
"What the is Chanyeol doing here?" Jongdae shouts, hands on his hips as he storms to the already crowded control panel. Jongdae mumbles angrily as he works. "Idiot...gunna ruin Jongin's life...in' elf..."
"You're hot when you're mad and in control," Zitao says with a grin.
Jongdae glares at him. "I'm always mad."
Zitao shrugs. "You're always hot."
"Luhan is infecting everybody," Wufan whines, then starts to sob.
Luhan rolls his eyes and pats Wufan's shoulder. He then takes Minseok's quivering hand and leads him back to the controls. The fearful emotion tenses when Luhan wraps his arms around him from behind, hugging him close and guiding his hands. He whispers to Minseok. "Being around Kyungsoo is new for Jongin, so naturally he'll be nervous for all of their firsts."
"Firsts are scary," Minseok says, voice small. "Different is scary."
"I know, I know," Luhan agrees. He runs his thumbs over Minseok's thin wrists, rocking them slightly. "But different also beautiful. I need you to do something different for Jongin, okay?"
Minseok whirls around. "Do I have to do it alone?"
"No, no." Luhan cups Minseok's face and his flaming red cheek. He smiles warmly. "He needs you to focus really hard on turning some fear into excitement. Jongin needs to want the rush of excitement and run towards it, not away from it."
"But excitement is Yixing's-"
"Not this kind of excitement, darling," Luhan says. He glances over to the gaze. "Come on. We have work to do."
**
Jongin takes Kyungsoo to a barbecue place as the fried chicken fast food join he originally planned on was inhabited by Chanyeol and an equally loud group of trainees. Kyungsoo agreed that they did not need Chanyeol knowing about them, not while they still haven't been on a date. This is better, Jongin thinks as they are seated by a hostess and given menus. Jongin's eyes bug at the menu. Expensive, but better.
"This is nice," Kyungsoo observed, wide eyes scanning the dimly lit restaurant.
"It's my mom's favourite," Jongin says. "We come here for every big event. Birthdays, graduations-"
"Debut," Kyungsoo adds. It's then that the waitress comes to take their orders and gather their menus. Kyungsoo leans on the table, giving Jongin a nerve wracking amount of attention. "I'll buy you drinks as long as you don't tell Joonmyun."
"I like you," Jongin decides. He realizes quickly how silly he sounds and bites his tongue. "I mean, you know, you're nice and fun to be around. And now you're buying me booze, so-"
"Relax, Jongin." Kyungsoo places a hand over Jongin's on the table. "I'm nothing special, I promise."
"I doubt that," Jongin mumbles. It makes Kyungsoo smile, which makes Jongin smile, and suddenly he feels like he's in the forth grade again.
Everything Kyungsoo says is exciting, and Jongin learns to take it in without overthinking his facial expression or not looking Kyungsoo in the eye. He relaxes with every story Kyungsoo tells and every delicious bite of food Kyungsoo grills. Kyungsoo becomes a lot less intimidating as he turns from one of Jongin's day dreams to a real person with fears (like stage fright, which Jongin thinks is awfully inconvenient) and flaws (he eats ridiculously slow). Jongin hardly notices that two hours has gone by until the waitress drops a the bill off at their table and politely thanks them for coming.
"Oh ," Jongin says, checking his phone for the time. "They're closed."
"Just closed," Kyungsoo points out. "We're not entirely terrible people."
Jongin glances at their total and tries to stifle a wince. They've both had a couple drinks and desert as a result of those drinks. Kyungsoo lays down his half before Jongin can pay for it all, and Jongin doesn't let his pride get fatter than his wallet.
It's dark when the leave and while Jongin is not drunk, his cheeks are warm and his chest is bubbly and the night air makes him shiver. It's alright, because Kyungsoo is in the same boat, his cheeks tinged a pretty pink. Jongin likes walking with Kyungsoo, he decides. Their heights contrast and Kyungsoo's elbow has to bend a little to hold Jongin's hand.
"Back to the dorms, then?" Jongin asks, swinging Kyungsoo's hand. Despite the suggestion, they're headed in the exact opposite direction.
"Curfew is in an hour," Kyungsoo says, disappointment heavy in his tone. Jongin frowns, and apparently Kyungsoo is having none of that. He drags Jongin off the sidewalk and onto the steps of what appears to be an out of business connivence store.
Jongin stumbles into the shadow of the building, away from the streetlights and gives Kyungsoo a confused look. "What is this?"
"This is me ending a date like a gentleman," Kyungsoo explains, eyeing the building. "Pretend this is your house. I'm walking you home."
"What? I asked you out."
"Details." Kyungsoo grabs Jongin's shoulders and guides him to stand in front of the chained up broken glass door. He gives a small smile. "Thank you for the evening. I had a lovely time."
Jongin stifles a laugh. "Kyungsoo-"
Kyungsoo smacks his arm. "Just go with it. I'm being romantic."
"Okay," Jongin says with a nod and composes himself. "As did I. Can I see you again?"
"I'll call you," Kyungsoo plays. He's a shockingly good actor, Jongin thinks. He should pursue it. "Anyways, good night, Jongin."
Jongin pushes down another smile. "Good night."
Instead of leaving or breaking character, Kyungsoo steps into the shadow, doe eyes looking up at Jongin. He touches Jongin's arm, fingers dancing down to the younger boy's hand. Jongin's chest tightens when Kyungsoo's gaze briefly drops to his lips, then back up to look him in the eye. Jongin does not want to make assumptions, but he really, really wants to kiss Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo steps in again, lacing their fingers and pushing to his toes. He whispers, "Jongin."
"Yeah?" Jongin's voice is as unsure as he feels.
"Kiss me."
Wariness drains from Jongin in an instant, and happily he does as he's told. However, any confidence he had is from him the moment their lips meet. Kyungsoo's lips are soft and gentle, but Jongin has a hard time focusing on that with all of the nerves that are wracking his mind. He doesn't remember kissing anyone that's made him feel like this. Not his first girlfriend or his last, not the first boy who kissed him or the most recent. Jongin accepts that, for some reason, something in him changed when he met Kyungsoo. To pursue Kyungsoo is to emotionally start from scratch, and Jongin is totally okay with that, and all of the fear it brings him.
He pulls Kyungsoo flush against him in a rush of giddiness, smiling against Kyungsoo's lips when the older hums happily. Kyungsoo parts Jongin's lips with his own, hums turning pleased as he balls his fists in Jongin's shirt and he shallowly tastes Jongin's tongue. Jongin lets him in and gives some back, curfew being the last thing on his mind.
They separate with a mutual yelp when Jongin's back hits the door and chains rattle loud enough to startle them both. Kyungsoo is still holding on to Jongin's shirt. "You okay?"
Jongin cannot wipe the grin off his face. "I'm wonderful."
"You're also adorable," Kyungsoo says and kisses Jongin's burning cheek. He takes the younger's hand again. "Come on. I don't want to get in too much trouble."
**
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