Jongin stepped down from the bus with a sigh, impressed with himself. He could feel his apartment like it was a living thing pulsing near him a few blocks away, inviting him warmly back into the arms of its familiarity, and his fingers itched badly for his brushes and paint, the smell of a messy palate and the feeling of the hairs of his brush sweeping across the patterned contours of the canvas. It had been too long since he'd last lost himself. It had to be regular. Jongin had already tired himself on the ride here, reprimanding himself for not painting regularly while he was away. It was why he'd collapsed in front of Kyungsoo. His stomach twisted again as he looked up at his apartment. So embarrassing. He couldn't begin to imagine what the whole debacle had looked like to Kyungsoo.

He did remember the sweet minutes of Kyungsoo's voice he'd been able to hear, concentrating as hard as he could on the singer's smooth tones. it was as good as Kyungsoo advertised. Jongin had refrained from telling Kyungsoo exactly how he dreamt of his voice, echoing off the walls of his bathroom. The old man who was always at the front desk smiled when he saw Jongin walk through doors, his crows' feet folding his face into an artwork of lines that told more story than anything Jongin could ever paint. Jongin had always intended to draw him, but he felt it would be... rude. He'd never asked the man's name. Still, he felt the man understood, and didn't hold it against him. 

The elevator had this mirror across from where you stood, the buttons set into it, and Jongin didn't usually look in the mirror very much at home, but he stared at his reflection in this mirror every day. He felt he had an emotional connection to the him in this mirror, the him that he hailed every day he left home and every day when he returned. He looked different than usual; his eyes seemed to sparkle a little, like they were about to smile, and his skin looked healthy and tan. Jongin bit his lip and tilted his head, studying himself. The Kyungsoo effect.

His door clicked invitingly for him when he punched in the passcode, and Jongin finally passed into his own personal kingdom, his shoulders settling even lower in his back. As he rounded the corner to view his living room, though, his shoulders immediately stiffened and he stopped in slipping his shoes off. His eyes quickly darted across the entirety of the room, from the high windows to the kitchen. Cushions from the couch were strewn across the floor, the couches looking bare and sad. The contents in the drawers of his coffee table were strewn about. The cabinets in the kitchen hung open and it looked like there were pieces of a splintered plate on the floor. 

Jongin felt his heart beat a little faster, his upper stomach twisting as his brain began to realize very quickly that this was very, very bad. His feet started again and he picked his way quickly across the mess to the door to his studio, not pausing before throwing the door open, praying with desperate fervor that nothing had been taken. Now, finally, he was glad Yixing had never convinced him to keep finished paintings in his apartment. Only one canvas had been in the room before he'd left, and he'd only sketched the outline for it. He'd planned to finish it when he got back.

He breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't seem his painting had been jeopardized. Perhaps they had just been ordinary thieves. 

He knew there was no way they had been ordinary thieves. The building had welcomed him as if nothing had happened, the door hadn't been tampered with, and the TV wasn't gone. Nor was the bracelet Jongin kept in the top drawer of his dresser, the single most expensive thing Jongin kept in his apartment, except, perhaps for his clothes. Ordinary thieves would not have ripped everything apart so very thoroughly. Whoever it was had been looking for something.

Somehow, that fact made everything seem all the more dangerous. Jongin's thoughts immediately went to Jinah, but while he didn't like her, he knew she wasn't a bad person. He would sooner call himself a bad person than Jinah, on a good day. Jongin took his phone out of his pocket with a shaking hand, standing among the chaos of clothes littering the floor of his room. A light voice answered on the second ring, and Jongin winced at the colorlessness of the normal calming voice over the phone.

"Hey, where are you right now?" he asked.

"Home. Why, did you just get here? Do you want me to come over?" Yixing replied.

"No, no. Can I come over to your place? Actually... actually, yes, can you come over? I want you to see something."

Yixing must have heard the worry in Jongin's voice, because he hung up with a 'yep' and two minutes later he heard the telltale whisper of the door opening and Yixing's soft footsteps slowly making their way into the room. "This wasn't you, right?" Asked Yixing, his mouth forming a perfect o. "I didn't miss a psychotic break or something?"

"No." Jongin shook his head. "I just got back. Must have happened while I was away."

"Well." Yixing's eyes traveled quickly across the apartment. "Did you have any paintings...?" Jongin shook his head. "Well. I guess you should definitely stay with me, then. Would you be okay with that? I know you've already been away for a while and you were probably looking forward to just getting home."

Jongin shrugged his shoulders, trying to look nonchalant. "I'm fine." He was suprised when tears pricked hotly against the insides of his eyes. Maybe he hadn't realized how rutted into the same routine, into the same place he'd been. Maybe he had been looking forward to it. "Let's go," he mumbled, swiping his jacket from the hook where he had just placed it and slipping past Yixing back into the hall.

Lying awake that night, staring at the ceiling on Yixing's couch, Jongin tried to think of something that would break him out of the fear his mind kept swirling around. He wanted to find where Kyungsoo lived, he wanted to climb through Kyungsoo's window and invite him out into the world, he wanted to forget the colors the world created for him and only him, he wanted to run away and only hear Kyungsoo's voice forever. A plan began to form.

Kyungsoo had a running bet with Baekhyun, and Kyungsoo won when Kai showed up not two days after they'd gotten back, at seven at night, with no prior notice. Kyungsoo texted Baekhyun gleefully as he skipped out of the elevator and ran straight into a tall, broad chest that he recognized even as long arms wrapped around him in suprise and soft lips were pressed against the top of his head. He tilted his head up, his phone forgotten, his lips searching, and was rewarded with a quick hello kiss.

"Hello," Kyungsoo said through his smile. Jongin looked radiant, his skin glowing and his hair styled back. His shirt was clean pressed white and he wore a comfortable but sharp brown suit. Kyungsoo was gald he hadn't thrown on anything the stylists gave him—it was always ripped jeans and five coats with them. Instead, he'd thrown on some skinny black pants and a pale pink dress shirt. They didn't match—the thought was repulsive to Kyungsoo—but they went together.

"Hi," rumbled Kai.

"Where are we going that's so urgent, then?" Asked Kyungsoo. Kai had already slung a possessive arm around his shoulders and begun to lead him out of the building towards a waiting car. "You know this is my only night off for the next two and a half weeks."

"Why, dancing, of course," replied Kai. "Dancing is one of my talents."

"You... that's not too much for you?" Kyungsoo asked. 

"On the contrary," Kai replied, holding the door for Kyungsoo, "Dancing is one of the joys of life." Kyungsoo slid into the rich leather interior with a smile wide on his face. Of course he loved hanging out with Kai along, just the two of them, but they'd never been on a real date. 

"Was it nice getting back home?" Kyungsoo asked once Kai had slid in after him and the car was on its way to wherever they were going.

Kai slid his eyes over to Kyungsoo, eyes quiet and distant. "You look amazing today," he said finally, smiling a little bit. "Do I tell you you look amazing enough? I love your eyebrows. I think I'm going to have a new obsession every day I see you."

Kyungsoo stared at him, mouth hanging a little wide. Kai's skin sparkled slightly in the filtered light of the window, but with that little smile... he looked young. And innocent. Kyungsoo wanted to forget everything sinister he knew about Kai and just see him as a boy with a smile.

He was, however, not unflappable. "So it wasn't nice getting home? I would have thought you'd like to get back to painting. Yixing told me you paint every day and get crabby when you don't."

Kai shrugged. "I don't get crabby per se. I have trouble being in a bad mood around you." at Kyungsoo's raised eyebrow, he continued, "But about getting home—it's nothing for you to worry about. Someone broke into my apartment. But it's fine. I'm staying with Yixing."

"While we were away? While we were away someone broke into your apartment? Did they—did they steal any paintings or anything?" Kyungsoo wondered how much Kai was worth, just him and his brain as they were.

"No—I don't keep any paintings in my apartment for long periods of time." Kai mused about something for a moment, then his mouth twitched and he seemed to decide to divulge something to Kyungsoo. "But the thing is, they knew my code. That's the only explanation I can think of. And I don't let anyone into the room where I paint, so they must have thought..." Kai's hand moved like he wanted to run it through his hair, then he remembered he had stuff in it and his hand paused. "I don't know." He gave a huffing laugh. "You know, I should probably warn you about my parents while you can still back out. I mean two weeks, they'd probably be okay with it if I said I was going solo. But listen—they aren't loving parents. They kicked me out of the house and pretend not to know me."

Kyungsoo cocked his head. "Why? You're a famous painter, there's nothing shameful about that. You must rake in more than I do."

Kai looked at him skeptically. "Maybe I make more for myself personally, but trust me, that's probably because your company doesn't even tell you how much you make." He paused, and then when Kyungsoo didn't say anything he made a little exasperated sound. "Come on, there's plenty about me to be... put off by. You could say I'm crazy—I'm literally a type of crazy. I'm gay. And I'm not a pushover."

"Then why are you going to have dinner with them at all? Why are you bringing me?"

Kai shrugged. "It's for a good cause. Apparently, whoever it is they're having over is a real fan of me and my stuff. My parents said they were negotiating with the guy to buy up some of that land on the Southside. To build low-income housing."

Kyungsoo laughed a little, but then swallowed his giggle as Kai looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Are you making fun of me?" Kai asked, hitting Kyungsoo lightly on his pink forearm. Kyungsoo let out another laugh and Kai hit him again, but it only made him laugh harder. 

"You must have been sent to this earth by God himself to bring beauty and kindness to all us earthlings," Kyungsoo said as the car rolled to a stop by the side of the road. He said it jokingly, but he was completely serious. Kai just rolled his eyes and popped the door open, his eyes sparkling.

Kyungsoo climbed out of the car with wide eyes. They were by the river and the sky was lit by orange lights. The street and sidewalk were the same old, rounded stone, smooth from years of meticulous upkeep. an expanse of the stone stretched from where they stood right to the riverbank, and it seemed like every inch of it was filled with people. What sounded like live music thrummed in the background. There seemed to be some sort of agreed upon dance space where couples and individuals wove together with ease and skill that said they did this often. 

What amazed him the most was everyone's faces. Everyone was smiling or grinning, or their mouths were turned a little bit upward, and their eyes sparkled as they twirled or sat on benches off to the side, wrapped up in each other or sharing what looked like cigarettes. Everything was orange-washed color, reds and dark blues and yellows swirling together so that Kyungsoo couldn't look at the sight without smiling.

"This is what you're taking me to?" he asked, throwing out a hand and intending to hit Kai lightly on the arm. He hit Kai's stomach instead and Kai took a stumbling step back with an oof. "Kai!" Kyungsoo half-shouted, half whispered. "I'm going to get recognized here! I'm going to get recognized here for sure, this isn't going to work!"

"Calm down!" Kai replied, a smile in his voice, his arm wrapping around Kyungsoo's waist, his warm hand settling against Kyungsoo's side. "They won't care. I'll bet you. I'll bet you a thousand dollars that they won't care, and that fewer than—fewer than five people will ask you for an autograph."

"A thousand dollars? Do you doubt my fame?" Kyungsoo asked playfully, but he didn't take the bet, recognizing some sort of hope that Kai was right, that he could lose himself in something so joyful as this.

"Come on!" Kai said, threading their fingers together and dragging Kyungsoo towards the dance floor, his legs covering the ground much more quickly than Kyungsoo's could. Kai easily maneuvered them through dancers so that they were only slightly to the side of the middle, and then Kai began to dance to the beat of the bass. Kyungsoo watched, mesmerized, until he realized he should probably dance too. He began to sway to the music, unable to keep his eyes from the sway of Kai's hips and the fluidity with which he moved. Kyungsoo watched Kai get lost in the beat, his hair falling a little into his face, for the whole song.

The music turned to a slower, sensual beat and a low-voiced woman came on the mic, beginning to sing over a low rhythm. Kai grinned and draped his long arms over Kyungsoo's shoulders, the smell of his cologne seeping into Kyungsoo. Kai let his hands slide down Kyungsoo's arms and came to a rest at his hips. They were pressed very close together, heat shifting lazily between their bodies. Kyungsoo wasn't complaining, and it wasn't like there was plenty of space on the dance floor anyway, but Kai's face was so close now, his eyes sparkling and lips plump and stretched across his face in an adoring smile. Kyungsoo shuddered, unfamiliar with this type of intimate exhilaration, with not being able to look away like this. His mouth fell a little open and he turned away from the intensity, facing the stage so that Kai was pressed against his back.

This wasn't any better. "," he heard Kai growl behind him as warm hands wrapped around to grip his hips and pull him closer. He couldn't see Kai, but he felt his hot breath on his neck and then the light brush of lips, making him shiver. Tentatively, Kyungsoo rolled his hips back to the music and he felt Kai's quick breath in response, hands tightening on his hips. Kyungsoo moved his arms back to pull Kai's closer, all the while yelling at himself in his hazy mind, his teeth gritted. Someone's gonna see you and this will be the last nice thing you will ever do. For some reason, he didn't care. He could feel Kai slightly through his pants and Kai's warmth seeped into him, as did the heat of the crowd, bringing a blush to his cheeks.

Finally, the song died away and Kai took his hand and led him out of the dancers quickly, leading him down the street a little bit and down in front of the river, where he immediately attacked Kyungsoo's lips, a big hand pulling Kyungsoo towards him by the back of his neck. Kyungsoo melted into the kiss, opening his mouth for Kai's insistent tongue and letting Kai explore his body hotly with quick, needy fingers. He slid his hands under Kai's shirt, untucking it, relishing the rippling he found beneath. 

Kai broke away stumbling, breathing heavily, pulling his shirt down a little. His pupils were shot wide and he looked a little drunk even though they hadn't had a drop that night. "You," he said, pointing a slender finger at Kyungsoo, coming closer again like he physically couldn't stay away for long, "I am going to paint you. None of this bull I usually make..." he cupped Kyungsoo's face in his hands. "I am going to paint you." His voice went into a low little growl and he pressed another kiss to Kyungsoo's lips, threading his fingers through Kyungsoo's. 

Kyungsoo came out of the kiss with a sigh, looking up at the moon and letting the cool breeze kiss his sweaty face with a sigh. "You wanna sit?" Kai asked quietly. Kyungsoo nodded and Kai immediately dropped, swinging his long legs over the wharf so they dangled above the water. Kyungsoo sat down beside him and leaned his head against his shoulder. 

"You know how you always say you like my voice? I—Your voice is pretty too, you know," Kyungsoo said quietly. "It has a pretty timbre."

"Thanks," Jongin rumbled above him. "That's... people don't usually notice other people's voices very much, I think. Seeing them... you see a lot more emotion than that person necessarily wants to let on."

"Hmm, my boyfriend has a superpower," Kyungsoo mused. "He can literally see between the lines." Kai's shoulder shook as he laughed. "Tell me something," Kyugsoo said. "Anything about me you can find out with a simple google search. But you... Kai isn't even your real name, I think."

"Kai is my name," Kai replied, frowning. "What do you want to know?"

"Will you promise your mood won't get ruined or anything?"

"I promise."

"Will you tell me about Jinah? From your point of view?"

"Jinah?" Kai seemed suprised, like he'd forgotten how Kyungsoo had left their first night together. Then he shrugged one shoulder, keeping the other one steady for Kyungsoo's head and resting his hand comfortably on Kyungsoo's thigh. "Jinah... Jinah is hard to explain. I don't even know where to start."

"She's your wife, right? Why did you marry her?"

Kai his lips. "I was young then—four years ago still seems like a long time ago, I guess we’re still that young," he began. "I thought it was stupid to marry for love—I thought it fickle, I thought it... I thought it something that could change just like that. That’s what the world showed me. And I’d been holding in the colors for so long that I almost didn’t notice them at all. So I married Jinah because my parents loved her and through her they loved me a little more, too. But we didn’t love each other, not as I know love now—how I view it now. When she discovered I could paint—and, to her credit, she’s a very ambitious person, a genius even—she facilitated everything.

"What neither of us knew was that while I came out of my shell, so did the colors, and I really hadn’t realized how ugly her voice was. I know that sounds cruel, but it’s the sort of thing I’m powerless to change. Anyway, after a few years she hired Yixing to coordinate my paintings and went off to Japan where she got scouted, and she really seems to like it. She’d like to come back here, I know, but I really thinks modeling suits her. She likes pretty people.”

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow. “She made a good choice when choosing a husband, then.”

Kai smiled, but there was a mournful expression swirling behind his eyes. "I'm really not a mean person, Kyungsoo. I've seen meanness and I don't... I'm determined not to be that. But I figuratively see red whenever I see her voice. And I've asked around a little bit, but really, I..." his voice wobbled a little bit. "I don't recognize myself when I'm trying to talk to her," he whispered, his voice rough.

Kyungsoo moved his hand to the small of Kai's back, worrying a bit when he felt Kai shake a little. He nuzzled deeper into Kai's shoulder, his jacket smelling like smoke and rain. Then Kai laughed a little and wrapped his arms all the way around Kyungsoo's waist, putting his lips to Kyungsoo's temple. They sat like that for a few moments, and then Kai took a deep breath and pulled back a little bit, so their noses brushed. "Come on," he rumbled. "I came here to dance. Just promise not to be so delicious, or I'll have to keep pulling away just to remind myself I can kiss you." He rose gracefully, offering Kyungsoo a hand getting up. 

They danced late into the night, until the musicians were hiding their yawns and most of the people had straggled home for the night. It was actually the driver who came to get them, reminding Kai that he got off work in less than an hour and he didn't want to leave them there. 

They stumbled into the car, a little tipsy, and Kai decided to abandon decorum and kicked off his shoes in the car, draping his long legs over Kyunsoo's lap, making Kyungsoo promise first that his feet didn't stink. Kyungsoo genuinely wasn't sure, but he drew Kai in anyway so all he smelled was Kai's smoky, alcoholic breath. Kai's eyes sparkled as brightly as they had at the beginning of the light. 

"Be mine," Kai murmured, his words seductive and honeyed. "I want to call you mine. Kyungsoo." He said the name like a prayer. Kyungsoo couldn't stand being this close without kissing him, so he did, on Kai's lips and prodding at his mouth for an opening. Kai pulled away a little bit, flustered, stuttering, "No—baby—I want you to say—" 

"I'm yours," Kyungsoo interrupted, chasing Kai's lips until he finally found them. They surely annoyed the driver with sloppy sounds the whole way home. 

Kyungsoo got home when the sun was just beginning to peek above the horizon, his lids feeling glued shut. Wearily, he plugged his phone in to charge, checking the messages. Only two from his manager, which meant nothing urgent had happened. No one had approached him while they'd been dancing—no one had even reported that Do Kyungsoo had been acting decidedly gay with a mysterious tall tan god. Nothing on the news, nothing in the tabloids.

It had never happened like that before, not once.

He wondered if perhaps Kai was some sort of god, or at least a magician.

There was a message from an unfamiliar number. His managers kept his phone number on lockdown, so whoever it was had to have gotten the number by legal means. He punched his voicemail and put the phone to his ear tiredly, pulling out his pajamas at the same time and turning on the shower to let it get nice and warm.

"Hi Kyungsoo, I think we talked before. It's Jinah. I know you and Kai have been spending a lot of time together, which usually I'm totally fine with. You just unfortunately got him at the wrong time. You know what they say about relationships, timing is everything. He's really not—" there was some static on the other end of the line. Kyungsoo had frozen when he heard who it was and how he stood waiting for her to hang up. But she didn't, and her voice came back after a few moments. "It's his parents, really. And no, this isn't some kind of ing, I don't know, some kind of Romeo and Juliet scenario. They want the world to know who he is. I know he doesn't want that. And he'll be fine, but if he has a boyfriend—anyway, you understand, right?" it sounded like she shifted the phone between hands and there was a short, crackling sigh. "I'm saying you should leave him, or he might not be happy." 

Translation: if he didn't walk away from Kai, Jinah would tell the whole world who he was. And Kyungsoo knew that life all too well. 

Author's Note: sorry it's been so long to update! School and stuff is crazy, I just felt like I really needed to continue the storyline. I hope you like the fluff!