"What's that, no tamagoyaki this time?" Chanyeol asked lightly as he poked his head into the kitchen, were Kyungsoo routinely handled the sizzling frying pan, with Sohee glued to his side on a stool.
"Kyungsoo is showing me how to do sunny eggs!" Sohee merrily singsonged, and if Kyungsoo wasn't so busy being worried for the little girl being this close to spouting, hot fat, he would've probably (internally) drooled all over Chanyeol's freshly showered self. The wet strands of freshly dyed, silver hair looked much more delectable than anything Soo could possibly bring to the table-
"It's sunny-side up, Sweetie." Chanyeol corrected goodnaturedly, ruffling her hair which was taken with protest.
"Chanyeoool. I'm not a kid anymore! And if the sunny side is up, then it's a sunny egg, obviously. You're suppressing my creativity." she accused him with a roll of his eyes and Kyungsoo couldn't help a small grin.
Despite his overall awkwardness around kids, Kyungsoo got along well with Sohee. Maybe it was something about her growing up with an overly benevolent brother and his apparently lazy-, erted friend that made her very... un-childlike.
"Allow some more sun in your life!" she continued with an exasperated shake of his head.
Yes, maybe even borderline cynic. Cynicism was something Kyungsoo could handle.
"Only if you allow some space between yourself and the pan. You gotta be more careful around hot oil." Chanyeol insisted gently, lifting her off the stool (under more protest), and leaning into Kyungsoo's side to throw a closer look on the food, and was that a light hand resting on his shoulder?
"Looks delicious." he hummed, and his deep voice and the scent of of his shower gel Kyungsoo definitely couldn't handle, and any muscle that wasn't busy stirring the eggs went rigid.
"It will be done in a sec." he muttered, and there were actually advantages of having a rather straight face. He'd talked to Sehun about this once, and yes, he could see it now. He'd always assumed that people could read every emotion on his face, that he'd make a fool out of himself at every given second - but Sehun had reassured him that no, he was actually rather straight-faced. Besides the occasional blush. But well, he was currently standing in front of a hot pan, and really, he couldn't be imagining the hand on his shoulder. It was not a very Chanyeol-like touch. The Chanyeol he had gotten to know didn't hesitate showering others with physical affection, all but leeching onto people, tugging or biting them (he hadn't bitten Kyungsoo so far and he wasn't sure how he'd react, but if he didn't want to find out); but this was... odd. A little too light, too hesitant, too careful. And he swore he felt his fingers brush along his shoulders, towards his neck, before he drew away completely, and then Chanyeol was gone to set the table, happily bickering with Sohee and leaving Kyungsoo to his fluttering everything. Chanyeol was probably just awkward. Maybe those were remnants from the party at Junmyeon's.

"Honey, I'm home!" Kyungsoo called into their apartment two hours later, toeing off his shoes and hesitating in the doorway. The door to Chen's room was left ajar, because it usually was whenever his best friend slash roommate was home. But instead of their usual routine -which consisted of acting out a scene from some really whacky 90's cartoon involving dinosaurs- Chen only returned a muffled 'Hi' after a beat of silence. With his brows furrowed in worry, Kyungsoo proceeded to get settled, a.k.a. dressed into comfy clothes most people would be ashamed to be seen in at 1PM. He grabbed a bottle of sparkling water and padded towards Chen's room, carefully peeking inside. His friend was lying on his bed face first, the online game on his screen all but forgotten.
"Hi," Kyungsoo began slowly, probing, "what's up?"
There were instances when Chen needed some alone time, but this didn't seem to be the case as he lazily shrugged, not even bothering to sit up.
"Nothing, obviously. There's chocolate on my desk."
Kyungsoo wasn't hungry after his healthy breakfast earlier, but chocolate wasn't about those petty needs, so he shuffled inside the room with an internal shrug and settled on the ground next to Chen's bed.
"Lazy day, huh?" Kyungsoo lightly asked, having the nerve to offer Chen his own chocolate. He declined with a hum.
"Yeah. Whatever."
Kyungsoo nibbled on the chocolate in silence, switching between the harsh fizz of wonderfully cool water and sweet chocolate melting on his tongue. Usually, Chen only bought the cheapest chocolate he could possibly find, having no sense whatsoever for its quality, but today he'd bought Belgian truffles, a treat they both liked to indulge themselves in, while gaming the night away. A concerning sign. In fact, Kyungsoo had been worried about his friend for awhile now. He'd been looking forward to spending the last week of his summer break doing geeky stuff with him, but whenever Chen got off work, he would be all quiet and mopey.
"Something's bothering you?" he asked and Chen hummed noncommittally.
"Naw. Just me withering away silently while you're slowly, sneakily moving in with your boyfriend."
Kyungsoo shot him a glare, but didn't punch him for that - Chen currently looked exceptionally heavy and lazy, and as if he wouldn't even bat an eyelash at a well-aimed shove. You had to know when something wasn't worth the effort.
"I was just over for breakfast, since Chanyeol came back late and Sohee was all alone this morning-"
"Excuuuses. Nothing but lame excuses." Chen protested, his voice coming out muffled where it was mashed against the sheets. It lacked the usual drama and outsiders might even be offended, but Kyungsoo knew better. This was not about him spending more time with Chanyeol. Though it wasn't a lie - ever since that party, Chanyeol suddenly seemed to have much more time on his hands, or at least lost any restraint to spend it together with Kyungsoo.
"I just want to be a cactus. Did you ever consider being a cactus?" Chen spoke up and Kyungsoo did consider it. After awhile, he shook his head.
"I don't know, you'd be stuck in a blazing hot desert. Heat . I'd prefer to be some crisp fir tree somewhere in Northern Europe. No annoying loss of leaves you have to re-grow every year, no heat, and you can hit unsuspecting people with fir cones."
"And then in winter you'll end up being chopped and decorated to be shown off for others amusements and possibly burnt down by accident, or at the very least tossed outside a window afterwards." Chen argued in a monotone voice.
"You watch too many Ikea ads."
"It's true though."
"At least I wouldn't have starving people cut me open to milk me." Kyungsoo retorted.
"You play too much Final Fantasy." Chen replied and groaned in annoyance, flipping himself on the back.
"How did we even get there?! I just wanted to be a cactus because I'd have no ing worries! I wouldn't depend on anyone, I wouldn't need anything in the first place, and I'd be all alone in the ing desert and I'd like it! No worries about other cactusses or some bull-"
"I think if there's one thing I learned from s on the internet, it's that the plural is called cacti," Kyungsoo added unhelpfully, "seriously though, who's bugging you?"
For a few more seconds, it was silent. That wasn't unusual. Sometimes, Chen needed time, especially if it was something linked to his emotions. One might not believe it, but he was a rather private person regarding matters of the heart, all the loud and expressive jokes aside.
"IthinkMinseokconfessedtome." he finally said in one breath, and it took a second for Kyungsoo's brain to add the spaces. He blinked. Thought about it.
"Huh. That's... not really unexpected but... huh." Kyungsoo mumbled unintelligently, very positive that 'I called it' was the last thing his friend wanted to hear right now.
With an indecipherable noise of general discontent, Chen turned around to halfheartedly attempt choking himself on his own pillow.
"I'm such an idiot! Everyone but me saw it, why am I so ing dumb?!" he whined and Kyungsoo threw the pitiful lump on the bed a sad look.
"It's not... I don't think you were being dumb, you just didn't expect it. I mean, you've known each other for years. Of course you didn't pay much thought to it, friends joke around all the time." he began and barely dared asking the next question, but it had to be done.
"So I'm taking it you're not into him?"
Chen's whining came to a temporary halt, just to increase in intensity right after.
"I don't know! No. Maybe? I just. Minseok is awesome and basically perfect, but I'm into Lay!"
Kyungsoo only managed to open his mouth before Chen cut him off with the rest of his desperate string of thoughts.
"And Lay is like, totally not interested I think, and if I turn to Minseok now just because he's available, that'd make me the biggest jerk on the planet, even bigger than Baekhyun!"
Kyungsoo nodded gravely to himself. This was a serious issue.
"But if I let him down without giving this a shot I'm an , too, cause Minseok deserves that much! And if I give it a shot and it turns out I just don't like him this way, I totally butchered our friendship and I'm an yet again! I just don't know what to do, I hate this. social conventions, all of this, can't I just cut contacts with everyone and go into exile? To some tiny island in the ocean where I feed turtles or something?"
"No, real life doesn't work this way, and if you're going anywhere, we gotta go together. And I'm studying fashion design, not biology, so there's that." Kyungsoo sighed, leaning against the bed post. It was a tricky situation indeed.
"So you're saying you have the hots for Lay, but Lay isn't into you. All your horribly subtle flirting aside, let's just say this is true. Lay isn't into you, so you'll give up on him."
"You make me sound like a loser." Chen pouted, reaching for another truffle. Kyungsoo shrugged.
"Nah. If you're considering giving him up yourself, then it's likely just a crush. Not a crush."
Chen blankly stared at him.
"You know, it definitely shows that you're only surrounded by girls. You do realize how cliche gay you're sounding?"
"A valid point, but off either way," Kyungsoo smoothly continued with a rare smile of his, "and you'd never treat Minseok as a second choice, cause you're not an . But you don't like Minseok. So you should probably tell him the truth? This way, you'll end up single yet again, but better than half-assing stuff, right?"
"Yeah, but..." Chen began, searching for words and failing. He sighed, flopped onto his back and aimlessly stared at his One Piece posters plastered to the wall.
"But what?" Kyungsoo asked suspiciously.
A few beats of silence were followed by another whiny 'I don't know!' and they were back to square one. Kyungsoo tapped his finger along the water bottle thoughtfully, ruining the smiley faces he'd absently drawn into the tiny droplets of perspiration earlier.
"Okay, look," he finally began, and though Chen didn't meet his eyes, Kyungsoo knew he was paying attention, "I'm definitely no relationship expert, cause duh. But I feel like you're definitely on the right track and that you should only do something if you're into it with all your heart. So if you're so ready to declare Lay a crush, but so reluctant to let Minseok go like that... maybe there's a reason for that."
He hurried to change directions under the doubtful gaze of his friend.
"I'm not saying you're head over heels for Minseok. I'm just saying that if there's something, however tiny, you might wanna find out about it. Sort it out before you make a decision, you know?"
"So... you're saying I shouldn't do anything for now and just wait?"
Kyungsoo shrugged.
"Did he pressure you into an answer?"
"No..."
"Then sure, why not? It's not like you're using his affection or anything, just... chill."
Chen snorted, shooting him a grin. It was weak, but a start nonetheless.
"Yeah, sure, just chill and don't do anything. You're just too lazy to make decisions, that's all."
"Excuse you, I'll have you know that I played re:Alistair and found the culprit during the first run and got a boyfriend - I'm an excellent decision maker." Kyungsoo dryly retorted and Chen didn't look all that impressed.
"Yeah, I sat next to you while you whined yourself through most of them. I can't wait to see Chanyeol asking you for a date and you'll go like: Do I say 'Sure, why not?' or 'Only if you get me at my doorstep'? Do I wanna come off as cute and amicable or playful and y, and what's my current distribution of points again?"
". You." Kyungsoo deadpanned, but it lacked vigor. It was nice to see Chen recovering.
"To your information, I actually have a date scheduled and I'll go there by myself."
"Oh? With yourself, to the bookstore?" Chen asked, feigning interest, though he stopped the act halfway at the feeling of the imaginary laser dot Kyungsoo's glare was painting on his face.
"No you , with Chanyeol. We're going to a concert of his rapper colleagues. Or a rap session. No idea what this badass, underground stuff is called."
"I can lend you my snapbacks. You wanna have two, just for good measure? Oh wait, right, I don't give you my hats anymore."
"No one asked you to!" Kyungsoo protested and with a cackle, Chen reached for his phone, looking up what looked like pictures of cacti.
He'd barely made it to the second page batch of photos when Kyungsoo caved in.
"Seriously, though, what does one wear to an underground rap thingie?"



Close, close, close. There were people everywhere, bodies pressed up against him, and yet Kyungsoo tried very hard not to get too close to Chanyeol, who was positioned behind him. The venue was small, packed, and currently dark. A refreshing gust of air told him that they at least had an AC. He felt out of place and tiny - alright, he might be a little shorter than the norm, but by now there were so many tall people around him that he was halfway convinced only tall, imposing people listened to rap. With the exception of the overly eager man-puppy behind him, who kept half-shouting into his ear.
"There will be a bunch of performers, no rap battles or anything, and they even have Ravi and Jooheon here, those two are kinda big in the scene!"
Kyungsoo had never heard a single thing about them before, but as long as those scary people wouldn't start a mosh pit and squash him, he'd be good. Wait, mosh pits were the metal thing, right? What did rap fans do, wave their hands all calmly, nod to the beat? Being all swag? Or was it dope? Kyungsoo seriously feared the people around him might hear his blasphemous thoughts and find out he's not one of them. He'd love to say that Chanyeol would protect him, cause he'd probably try, but the bald guy with the metal necklace to his right was likely stronger than him, like 90% of the audience.
Kyungsoo's worries turned out to be mostly arbitrary. Two of the six artists into it and no one had tried to step on him yet. In fact, a tall girl in front of him had even asked him whether he was seeing enough, offering to let him to the front in a genuinely helpful manner that still made Kyungsoo feel like someone's lost kid, but alright. Most of the time, Chanyeol had at least one hand placed on Kyungsoo's shoulder, in order to outbalance the crowd's movements and not rock into him all the time (and Kyungsoo tried to convince himself that he wasn't filthily eager for it to happen anyway). Kyungsoo didn't have to turn around to know he was buzzing with excitement that peaked when his senior Zico stepped on the stage; he heard his enthusiastic shouts over the crowd. Now that he saw him like this, Kyungsoo realized how much Zico belonged there. His appearance, behavior and overall everything seemed to fall into place. A little like Chanyeol, when he'd stood up on the stage back at that convention. Though one could hardly compare these two situations - Zico started with an easy track, a song the crowd was familiar with and eagerly bopped along to. Zico already had a rather strong fanbase, it seemed. Just like Kyungsoo, Chanyeol wasn't familiar with his songs, but made up for it with enthusiasm. He could feel how much he was itching to gush over his senior's abilities, felt it in the way Chanyeol's hand clawed into his shoulders, but at the same time he couldn't tear himself away for long enough to actually say it. It was cute.
Now Kyungsoo had no idea about rap and though he didn't hate it, he'd never actively sought it out. But he kinda liked what he heard and assumed he was talented; at least the number of words he could spit in a couple seconds was so high that even Skype addict Chen would never manage to type them as Zico said them, so that had to count for something, right? It was a little surprising that Chanyeol would be into music this... aggressive, and yet it only made him look more endearing to Kyungsoo's love-struck, pitiful self. Two aggressive tracks were followed by a lighthearted collaboration called Boys and Girls, and then it was already over, and another, even more famous rapper as it seemed, took the stage.
Kyungsoo was swept away by more quick-witted rhymes and jabs, immersed by the sheer excitement and couldn't help analyzing the styling of everyone on stage, pondering whether they simply picked random clothes out of their closet or whether there were stylists involved. Kyungsoo was someone who could find interest in about anything, firmly believing that this was the key to staying creative, and this was a very different, but interesting area of fashion. His thoughts came to a temporary halt when the second rapper of Chanyeol's workplace, Yongguk was his name, stepped on the stage and took a seat on a stool they'd prepared for him.
Kyungsoo was a goner after his second verse.
Now this was music talking to him. He wouldn't have been able to imagine the soft-spoken, quiet man to turn all Zico on them, and he didn't. He just sat there, looking serious and rapping calmly. Not exceptionally fast or loud. No biting jabs at other rappers. Instead he told stories about injustice, about heavy topics like depression, about the little and big fights you had to face on a daily basis.
The crowd mellowed down instantly, and Kyungsoo just hoped they weren't bored and would discourage him, because he was sure enjoying his music the most so far. He was telling a tale of how he felt all alone, burdened and asphyxiated by the pressure of those around him, of people who call themselves adults and you a child; who pretend to care after causing your downfall.
He was so enraptured by the raw emotions that he didn't notice it at first, the arms sliding around his sides, loosely draping over his stomach.
Yongguk rapped about exchanging your passion for money, about the broken compasses of people.
Kyungsoo placed his hands over Chanyeol's, clasping his clammy skin and allowed him to bury his face in the side of his neck, even if it had his breath hitching. Chanyeol had never sought his comfort like that. It was obvious that those lyrics were hitting home for him, and so Kyungsoo listened closely, gently Chanyeol's arms as he leaned into him, coarse strands of hair tickling his cheek.
He listened to Yongguk exclaiming almost angrily -or rather desperately- how he wanted no one to touch him in this vulnerable state, even if that person actually meant well - because he was determined to be strong for those depending on him.
Kyungsoo intertwined their fingers, just so the other would not accidentally scratch himself - it took a bit of the tension out of him and Chanyeol gratefully accepted the gesture.
That he's having nightmares, that he's being cornered, that he keeps fighting, even if it's no use.
More warm skin was pressed into his neck, and even though the venue was heated, Kyungsoo clearly felt it. Plush lips leaving hot, open-mouthed pressure in their wake, burning themselves into his sensitive skin.


 

Deadlines are glaring at me, but I kinda felt like writing this instead!
Especially since things are actually getting somewhere.For once, Kyungsoo's opinion does not equal mine - I adore both Zico and Yongguk!
The song Yongguk sings is heartbreaking is called 4:44, listen to it here:
4:44
The game Soo mentions - re:Alistair - is a Visual Novel you can play for free - if you ever played it, do tell me who you ended up with :D (sometimes I feel like I'm advertising stuff, but I swear I don't profit from this x)

Love,
Sugar-and-Salt ♥
 

P.S.:
The obscure 90's series is called 'dinosaurs', and I have no idea about the English dialogues in there, so don't mind me if it doesn't suit the situation~