Kyungsoo was unimpressed.
"You're the most unconvincing gentle big brother I've ever seen."
Even though Chanyeol was clearly biased towards Jongin he had to agree for once, slightly nodding with a grimace. Jongin all but pouted and the two girls laughed.
The air was full of laughter, actually. Their 'art is the handwriting of your soul' project was in full swing and the weather showed mercy on them, blessing everyone with clear sky and sunshine. Several stations had been built around the park, each challenging people in different forms of art. Each station had two fixed leaders assigned to it and currently not only said leaders - which, other than Kyungsoo, included one of the boygroup Seventeen, Mingyu was his name - shook their head at Jongin, but even Chanyeol.
"I don't know, maybe a little more... expression?" he guessed helplessly, making a vague gesture with his hands. Kyungsoo just shook his head.
'You just .' was what he wanted to say but in order not to kill the mood on this special day, he held in for once. Jongin was already blushing red, mortification written all over his face.
"I don't know. Acting just... isn't my thing." he uttered quietly, his hands absently fumbling in the pocket of his jeans.
How ironic, considering that in a way, he was probably the best actor of them all, Kyungsoo thought and just continued to shake his head as Mingyu bustled around him, improving his stance and giving him encouraging phrases. He disregarded Jongin and let himself be captivated by Chanyeol's surprisingly good acting, enjoying the pleasant tingle in the pit of his stomach when the taller one mimed someone powerful and aggressive.

After a long time of giving people clues on acting and playing little sketches, Kyungsoo took the liberty to walk around and take a look at the other stations, to see whether their efforts were paying off well. He was giving in to the temptation of watching Chanyeol teach the guitar to some kids, when a shy teenage girl asked him to accompany her to the writing station seeing as 'no one wanted to go with her'. Kyungsoo recognized her as one of the girls who'd eagerly taken books the day he and Chanyeol had visited the orphanage and couldn't find it in himself to disagree. Even if this station was supervised by-
"It lacks a little... magic, don't you think?" Jongin carefully threw in and the other kids around them agreed wholeheartedly, not being remotely as nice about it as Jongin. Alright, this was probably what people called instant karma, Kyungsoo thought bitterly as he felt his pale face heat up. Getting laughed at by little children (and Jongin!) for his sorry excuse of poetry was indeed mortifying.
"The time's not up though. Hurry and get back to it!" Jongin scolded them gently in a way that told Kyungsoo he'd be the biggest pushover as a teacher. Jongin proceeded to slide into the chair next to him, the tip of his finger absently wandering down the few lines he'd scrawled across the paper. The task was simple - write a short essay about the 'present'. Kyungsoo had chosen to simply describe what he was seeing.
Jongin's finger hovered over the phrase 'the sky is of a clear blue'.
"What kind of blue is it, exactly?" he asked quietly and instead of mocking (which would probably be the right choice at this simple statement), he just sounded mildly curious.
"Well. A clear one." he replied lamely and Jongin didn't snort or laugh at this.
"Does it remind you of something?"
His voice was soft though slightly shaky, as if he feared Kyungsoo would be the one lashing out at him any second. Which was quite ridiculous, considering the circumstances.
"No."
"Can you compare the shade to something, then?"
Kyungsoo hesitated.
"Uh. No." he deadpanned, feeling mighty stupid.
"That's okay, too." Jongin stated, his eyes never leaving the paper.
"See? You treasure this shade of blue so much that you associate it with nothing but a clear sky. So why not dive further into this? Write about why you like the sky like this. Just... it's just a suggestion." Jongin ended quietly and Kyungsoo felt really awful. There he was, trying to be genuinely helpful while Kyungsoo himself had just frowned at him before. He vaguely nodded, staring down at his paper and despite the general humiliation over his inability to word things, he decided to try. To humor Jongin, who had gone out of his way to give him tips.
Why did he like a clear sky? Because he simply liked nice weather. Spring weather. Not the scorching heat of summer bringing nothing but sweat and dizziness. Just a light, fresh spring weather. The tip of his pen touched the paper but froze in the moment. Kyungsoo's gaze shifted to Jongin, who had his chin resting on his forearm, half-sprawled over the table like a lazy cat. He wasn't even actively looking at his paper, preferring to blink ahead, absently watching the other stations nearby. Still, Kyungsoo found himself unable to concentrate like this. It took a few seconds of silent staring before Jongin noticed the problem at hand and scrambled back to his feet and away from Kyungsoo, looking thoroughly flustered.
But even when he was gone, Kyungsoo couldn't help seeking him with his eyes. Observe the way the golden sunlight was casting a glow on the mop of curls, the way the chocolate-colored strands flipped when he moved from table to table. How the light complimented his sun-kissed skin and made his brown eyes seem brighter. Everything about him was so warm.
That moment Kyungsoo realized that the clear, blue sky reminded him of Jongin. Or maybe Jongin reminded him of the sky. Of a warm summer day. Not the stifling, hot type that left you in a passively foul mood but rather the one you choose to go out on, meet your friends for a barbecue and share stories and laughter. Shove each other into a cool river, and lie in the grass to look up at the sky.
Kyungsoo blinked. And groaned.
There was no way he would write this.

Kyungsoo spent the rest of the day going from station to station, loosely accompanied by Jongin. Loosely, because the latter tried his best to be subtle about it and only followed him to every second or third station. Kyungsoo let him be and managed to forget all about him while watching Chanyeol play basketball with Jackson and some of the kids. What Jackson was lacking in height, he made up for with agility and Kyungsoo could luckily say he wasn't standing out too much, since there was a constant little crowd gathered around the small playing area, including Chanyeol's friend from Seventeen who enthusiastically cheered for the opposite team. Seeing Chanyeol jump around freely and exerting a bit of the energy that was constantly thrumming beneath his skin was quite entertaining. He dared to call it thrilling, even. There was a lot his sinewy body could do...
He was ripped out of his thoughts by the shrill blow of a whistle and hurried to get lost before any of them could force him to join in and humiliate himself. Or before they noticed his slightly red face. He definitely didn't notice Chanyeol looking after him.

Somewhere along the line, it turned into some kind of ridiculous competition. Maybe it was due to the way Jongin and Kyungsoo were evenly matched out at weaving (meaning that they both did a poor job) or the way they spectacularly lost the game taboo due to their inability to explain things. All he knew was that they had soon given up on the pretense of not attending the stations together and found themselves weaving pearl bracelets among little girls and inventing a new game of cards with a huge set of nonsense rules. Jongin made a total fool out of Kyungsoo with his amazing performance during a game of Twister, where he silently showed off his flexibility that bordered on being ridiculous while Kyungsoo got his revenge at the singing station, where he shined enough for the idols to take a selfie with him and tell him to join their agency.
On and on they went, until they finally ended up at the painting station, where they were both required to draw their favorite animal. Kyungsoo was feeling a bit insecure but upon seeing the ominous blob Jongin called a dog, he was sure victory would be his'.
But when even the youngest kids began to laugh and poke fun at the younger for his lack of drawing skills, Kyungsoo couldn't help feeling a little sorry. He was perfectly allowed to make fun of him - after all, Jongin had humiliated him enough already. But the others... no, Kyungsoo decided, they didn't have the same right.
"Don't you have a dog on your phone wallpaper?" he asked him, nudging his side. Jongin, who looked very much put out at this point, nodded weakly.
"Yeah. So?"
"Try to draw it like this. Look at the photo and imitate the lines." Kyungsoo suggested nonchalantly, his fingers still sketching away at a simple, albeit pretty jellyfish.
"It's okay to be a little vague, use softer and correct them until you're happy."
"Try to be as accurate as possible, even if you think a bump or curve will look strange."
"Don't stop half-way. Pull through with it and the result will be better than you think."
"You... you really like drawing?" Jongin asked quietly, his eyes glued to the paper where he clumsily scrawled the ear of a poodle. Kyungsoo shrugged.
"Not particularly. It's just all I did during mat, back at school."
"Oh. Same. That is, I preferred to write stuff." Jongin replied and Kyungsoo hummed in acknowledgment. Of course they'd be different, they always were. Chanyeol had probably listened to music during boring lessons. They were all so different, yet strangely similar.
"It's my family's dog, actually." Jongin piped up suddenly. Kyungsoo noticed the way his tongue stuck out in concentration and lightly shook his head.
"I miss her so much, it drives me crazy. You probably think that's silly." he continued, erasing a paw to correct it.
Kyungsoo did think it was a little silly, but many people got silly when it came to pets. It wasn't something he'd ever understand but people were like that. There was no use in arguing with them.
"Why a jellyfish?" he suddenly asked, looking up at him fleetingly before returning to his own drawing. Kyungsoo made a few last with a blue pencil, finishing the motive, before answering.
"They don't have a brain."
Jongin snorted involuntarily and Kyungsoo couldn't help the smile tugging at his own lips.
"Plus they live forever. It's kinda cool, don't you think?"
"Yeah."
"You think it's strange, don't you?" Kyungsoo accused him half-heartedly. He had to, because him and Jongin just didn't fit together - they found everything about each other strange.
"Yeah," Jongin ultimately admitted with a shrug, "but in a cool way."
Kyungsoo silently signed his drawing and thought that Jongin being a fool for animals might also be strange in a good way.

Kyungsoo thought that maybe, just maybe, things were going good. Their team work was beginning to become somewhat bearable, Chanyeol didn't throw hateful comments at him anymore and they had just wrapped up their first big project successfully. He really thought things were developing for the better. That is, until they returned to the central office and found a protesting mob of people gathered outside, holding up banners and posters with crossed out emblems and phrases like 'it's OUR future', 'Stop the Eastern infiltration of our authorities!' and the simple block letters 'West needs no East!'
Both him and Chanyeol turned to Jongin, who looked slightly pale.

"I don't get it, what's wrong with people?!" Chanyeol complained loudly, walking back and forth in their makeshift office. The demonstrators had evidently found out about their office on the ground floor and kept camping in front of their windows until Mr. Zhang lead them upstairs to get some peace. Not that the mob of people wasn't visible through the window now. Far below them they stubbornly stood, waving their posters and chanting for 'the Eastener' to leave.
"Political tension. It has been going on for a while already, it was just a matter of time..." Jongin mumbled, absently scrawling across his latest mind map.
"The timing . This whole thing will totally drown out all the news about our project." Kyungsoo blankly added, scrolling through said news on his phone. Chanyeol scowled at him.
"Because that's important right now. Way to be sensitive, Kyungsoo."
"He's right though." Jongin said in an unusually small voice.
"All our efforts for the project have gone to waste."
He didn't add because of me, and yet Kyungsoo heard it. And Chanyeol heard it, too, judging by the way he sank into the chair and ranted about the unfairness of it all until Jongin snapped at him to stop.

The demonstration continued and people didn't seem willing to stop any time soon. The days passed by and Jongin became increasingly quiet and gloomy. It was painfully obvious how much the rejection weighed him down, even though he tried his hardest not to show it. Chanyeol had talked him into crashing at his place for the time being and the fact that Jongin had reluctantly agreed showed how affected he really was. While Jongin grew more quiet and Chanyeol outright frustrated, Kyungsoo felt nothing but anger building up. Yes, people were stupid and racism was stupid but why did they have to take this abusive behavior?
He was almost relieved when Mr. Zhang let them know that the CEO had set up some sort of an official press conference in order to give them the chance to speak up. He even had a personal talk with Jongin that left the latter even more pale-faced.
"He said he's not gonna give me a script. He'll make a statement in the company's name, but I'm allowed to voice my own thoughts..." he mumbled, with the slightest tremble.
"We'll go out there with you. Right, Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol immediately promised and Kyungsoo shrugged. He wasn't the type to hold hands but as things currently looked like, Jongin would start crying in front of all those people and that wouldn't do it.
Jongin didn't even try to fight him on it.
"Stop looking like you're guilty," Kyungsoo said sharply, "it's not like you owe these people anything."
"Yeah, right..." Jongin mumbled, but his dull eyes said otherwise and Kyungsoo didn't like how the bright summer day had turned into a depressing rainy day in mid-january.

The conference was a catastrophe. The company had given a clear statement that they didn't choose their employees based on their place of birth and that Jongin's talent was the main reason he was part of this program.
People had protested, telling them that the whole point of the Future Care project was just to force them to accept someone from the East, throwing in issues that some politicians had raised, naming examples of awful experiences with Eastern people in the past. Throwing the occasional insult and switching to passive aggressive ones when they got strictly reprimanded. During all this, Jongin had looked pale and close to tears, studiously avoiding looking up at them for too long. When he was finally pushed into giving a statement, he did nothing but utter an apology for causing this inconvenience and disagreement.
"I cannot step down from this project." he'd said quietly into his microphone.
"But I'll work hard to gain everyone's respect."
The crowd just got more indignant, throwing borderline hysterical questions and they were lead out. Jongin with a lowered head, Chanyeol with a mix of disbelief and unsettledness and Kyungsoo with clenched fists.
"Just what's wrong with you?!" he barked at Jongin as soon as they were alone. Said one only flinched, drawing his shoulders up defensively.
"Kyungsoo, please." Chanyeol threw in but he only continued to stare Jongin down.
"Why on earth would you even try to crawl up their asses? What was all that about gaining their respect? Who cares about whom they respect? You didn't even do anything and they're just racist s-"
"You think I don't know that?!" Jongin suddenly snapped, his eyes b with unshed tears but also twinkling with anger.
"You think I'm not angry? You think I like cowering in the dust? I don't, okay?!"
Kyungsoo was slightly taken aback by the sudden outburst and just stood there while Jongin yelled at him. Even Chanyeol had frozen in his attempts to calm them.
"But what am I supposed to do, huh? Be a about it? I gotta represent a whole country here! It's not like I can do what I want and tell them the truth - that I think they're being ridiculous and sorry excuses for people! I can't, okay? I just can't..." he ended with a faint mumble, his voice slightly cracking, his head lowering again. Kyungsoo still stared at him. That was undoubtedly the real Jongin. The one only Chanyeol knew. The one who had an opinion and quite a temper. The one who wasn't only sad, but also angry and frustrated.
"Well," Kyungsoo began in a deceivingly calm voice, "you might have to bow down for them. But I don't."
With this statement, he his heels and left the room. He heard the other two following him, telling him to stop right there but Kyungsoo ignored them and swiftly made his way into a room with a balcony facing the building's entrance. Some other employees called after them but Kyungsoo already stood outside, facing the mob of people two stories down below.

"What on earth is your problem?!" he yelled out unceremoniously and a few demonstrators looked up at him, addressed each other until all of them were paying their attention to him. A few shouted that his 'filthy Eastern friend' was their problem, but Kyungsoo ignored that altogether.
"No Easterner is supposed to care about our kids? You actually have the nerve to call them 'your' kids? Then what are you doing here, standing around and whining? Why aren't you there, spending time with 'your' kids?" Kyungsoo shouted in a mocking way. A heavy hand on his shoulder told him that Chanyeol stood behind him, but there was no stopping him now.
"Actually I haven't seen any of you at the orphanages I've been to. Strange, isn't it? Your kids, don't make me laugh - you don't even care a tiny bit about them!"
A smaller hand was clawing at the back of his shirt. Kyungsoo absently reached back to place his hand on Jongin's vaguely trembling arm.
"Using kids who have no one for your own personal feuds - don't you have any shame?! Unlike all of you, Jongin here is at least doing something to try and make a change! He's worth more than any of you!”
He could have gone on for quite some time, but Chanyeol gently but firmly pushed him back inside and the door of the balcony closed, dulling out the words Chanyeol directed at the crowd. Kyungsoo's breathing came out heavily and he didn't even notice Jongin withdrawing his hand. Around them, people bustled towards the balcony only to get stopped by Mr. Bang, who had come to witness the scene and told them to let Chanyeol give his talk.
In midst of all the chaos, Jongin made a breathy sound that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a sniffle.
"You can't do stuff like that-" he choked out and the blazing anger in Kyungsoo's eyes slowly died down when Jongin rested his forehead on his shoulder.
"You're crazy." he mumbled and Kyungsoo didn't push him away.
"They're the crazy ones." he mumbled stubbornly, his eyes trained on Chanyeol who gave an earnest speech.
"I'm just strange."
Again, Jongin did this choked off sound that betrayed his tears more than the growing wet patch on Kyungsoo's shoulder.
"You are. In a cool way." he uttered and Kyungsoo absently placed a hand on his back to steady him. For a long time, they stood there silently and he wondered what Chanyeol might be telling the protesters. Peaceful, sunny Chanyeol who kept trying him to stop from getting angry. What might he be telling them? Was he apologizing on their behalf? Kyungsoo might feel a little bad for making things so difficult, but not to the point that he regretted his actions. One look at Jongin was enough to reassure him of that.
It was about ten minutes later that Chanyeol joined them and some representative rushed out to declare the unofficial statements to be over. With determined steps, he approached Jongin and Kyungsoo who were standing in a corner of the room, a worried glance trained on Jongin.
"It's gonna be alright." he said in an uncharacteristically quiet tone. His voice was hoarse from giving a whole speech without a microphone.
"It's not an empty phrase, if that's what you're thinking." he added with a tentative hand placed on Jongin's shoulder. The latter finally lifted his head from Kyungsoo's shoulder to swat at Chanyeol, but it lacked the usual venom. He wasn't crying anymore, though his eyes were undoubtedly puffy.
"I think I kinda got to them. Or rather, I think the news won't turn this whole thing against us." Chanyeol corrected and despite everything, Kyungsoo felt relieved that he hadn't ruined everything. Social damage control really was Chanyeol's biggest strength.
"Okay..." Jongin murmured and Chanyeol accepted the curt response with a gracious shrug.
"Thanks." Kyungsoo mumbled, fully expecting Chanyeol to be angry at him. Instead, Chanyeol nudged him slightly and shot him a crooked grin.
"It's nothing. You really do have some guts, Kyungsoo. What you did was pretty awesome."
Kyungsoo just stared at him. While the people around them declared the incident over and employees were ushered back to their workplace, Kyungsoo just stood there, looking at the floor with an unreadable expression. It was something that had bothered him for awhile now and for some reason, this very moment made him feel the weight of his emotions even more. It made him acutely aware of the hopelessness that had been nagging at his mind for far too long. Kyungsoo suddenly tugged at Chanyeol's arm, dragging the confused guy out of the room and into the neighboring one that was deserted. In one fluid motion, he pushed him up against a nearby wall in order to keep him from leaving, stood up on his toes and pressed their lips together, just like that.

Because if Jongin was a warm summer day, Chanyeol represented a fresh day in autumn, with colorful leaves fluttering in the wind. And Kyungsoo was a thunderstorm.

Updates might be slow, but they're making up for it in length...?
Anyway - of course Kyungsoo would be the first one to break down.
This obviously is a turning point into a whole other direction I've been looking forward to. If you've come to this point and my super slow pacing hasn't driven you away yet - I love you very much, one digital hug from me~ ♥

Sugar-and-Salt c:

P.S.: the jellyfish facts are true and I've once watched a whole J-drama settled around those. It was awesome.