---

One moment the two of them are walking towards Jongin's home; Jongin gesturing in the air as he talks enthusiastically about something that happened in his dance class, and Kyungsoo nodding and smiling along. Then the next thing he knows, Kyungsoo's falling in his peripheral vision and hits the sidewalk with a dull thump sound and a loud, !

Jongin's eyes widen and he looks down at Kyungsoo to see the latter gritting his teeth while looking down at the palms of his hands. He instantly bends down to help Kyungsoo and winces at the slight pain that he feels in his own waist. Kyungsoo's palms are bloody, with the skin ripped in one area and gravel scattered all over the cuts.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay? What happened? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh--" Jongin panics.

He keeps repeating Oh my gosh over and over again, not sure what to do first to help. Kyungsoo just tilts his chin to a tiny rock that he had apparently tripped on and Jongin looks to where he's gesturing to and glares at the rock for being there.

"Jongin, why are you glaring at it? Just--ah," he says, trying to get up only to grunt in pain. He looks up into Jongin's eyes--his round glasses fortunately still intact and on his nose. "Can you help me up, please?"

Jongin swivels his head towards him and inwardly curses for not helping him as soon as he fell. He quickly nods and reaches his hands to grab onto Kyungsoo's wrists (and tries not to squeal) as he hauls his crush up. Kyungsoo stumbles though on his feet and accidentally falls into his chest and Jongin becomes hyper-aware of just how much of Kyungsoo's body is pressing against his own.

He closes his eyes as he tries to calm down his rapidly beating heart and picks up the scent of cinnamon and vanilla coming from Kyungsoo. Jongin wants to cry from how much he wants to stay like this forever and interestingly enough, Kyungsoo hasn't pulled right away like he had expected him to do. He opens his eyes and peeks down at the other and his breath hitches when he sees Kyungsoo's wide eyes looking back at him through those round glasses lenses.

"Sorry I got blood on your shirt," Kyungsoo mumbles, blinking up at him.

"I don't mind," Jongin practically whispers.

They stay like that for another moment before the sound of a car zooming by with its muffler out snaps them out of their daze.

"Um," Kyungsoo says, taking a step back. "Let's go."

Jongin frowns and nods before offering his shoulder for Kyungsoo to lean on as they walk. Kyungsoo gives a small smile at that and wraps his arm around his shoulders and asks Jongin what happened next in his dance class. Jongin all but melts and wraps his arm around Kyungsoo's back as they chat and continue walking towards his home.

---

They get to Jongin's home a few minutes later and Jongin opens the door with his house key and leads Kyungsoo inside. Then, he goes to the kitchen to drink a glass of water and leaves Kyungsoo near the couch. Kyungsoo then asks if he can bring him some water too and so Jongin happily brings one to him and holds it for him to drink.

Everything seems to go into slow motion as he watches Kyungsoo bring his plump lips up to the glass and he clears his throat and turns away when Kyungsoo curiously glances at him. Kyungsoo then gives a small smile around the rim of the glass and Jongin suddenly announces that he should take him to the bathroom to clean his cuts.

"Okay," Kyungsoo says, giving a half-smile.

So, Jongin sets the glass down, and Kyungsoo leans forward to get off of the couch and follow after him as he heads towards the first-floor bathroom. Jongin then turns on the light and faucet so that Kyungsoo can rinse off the dirt and dried blood from his palms and watches with a sympathetic pout as Kyungsoo scrunches up his face in pain while washing his hands.

After he's done, Jongin turns off the pipe and then bends down towards the sink cabinet to get a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol. And Kyungsoo watches him with an unreadable expression on his face as he finds the bottle and then a first aid kit, and the two lock eyes when Jongin bends back up. (Lately, Kyungsoo's been looking at him with this sort of expression and Jongin's not sure what to make of it).

Then with a sudden set of butterflies roaming in his stomach, Jongin opens the kit and finds a roll of cotton-wrap inside of a plastic bag. He then looks back at Kyungsoo, who in his own lips and gestures for him to get on with it, and tries to calm down his own breathing as Kyungsoo brings his hands closer to him. With a pounding heart, he then grabs onto the spray bottle, and after an encouraging yet hesitant nod from Kyungsoo, spritzes the alcohol onto Kyungsoo's palms.

Kyungsoo understandably curses repeatedly at the sting of the alcohol working and puffs up his cheeks in a way that makes him look a thousand times more adorable than he already does. Jongin then opens the plastic bag and unrolls some of the wrap, telling Kyungsoo he'll be right back before he dashes to the kitchen for some scissors and tape.

When he finds those two items and cuts out two pieces of wrap, he returns to see Kyungsoo still grimacing at the sting of the alcohol and frowns. Kyungsoo eyes the wrap and brings his hands towards him again and so Jongin carefully wraps the pieces around Kyungsoo's palms before securing them with strips of tape that he attached to his arm. It's not the best looking wrapping in history, but, it gets the job done.

"Thanks," Kyungsoo murmurs, watching as Jongin puts everything back where he found them.

Jongin gives a small smile. "No problem."

Kyungsoo softly smiles back at him and Jongin's heart beats faster once again. And just like earlier, they seem to be in their own little world when the moment gets ruined by something again. This time it's Kyungsoo's growling stomach that breaks the moment.

"Heh. Almost forgot I was hungry," Kyungsoo says.

He then walks out of the bathroom towards the kitchen, looking kinda awkward as he does, and Jongin pouts and turns off the bathroom light before following behind him.

"What do you wanna eat?" Jongin asks, when he catches up to his right side.

"I dunno..." Kyungsoo says, as they make it towards the fridge. "Anything? Either way you're probably gonna have to feed me since I can't do much with these ahah."

Jongin's eyebrows lift in concern but then he stills at the imagery of feeding food to Kyungsoo's pretty pink lips. He inwardly fist-pumps and takes out some food items to make a sandwich, and Kyungsoo flashes him his heart-shaped grin.

---

Later, they both eat some food with Jongin delegating himself as Kyungsoo's personal food-feeder and Kyungsoo not seeming to mind.

At one point, Kyungsoo had his lips and stared at him with his head slightly tilted down and his beautiful eyes peering up at him, and Jongin doesn't know how he didn't turn to goo right then and there. While Kyungsoo helps tutor him on his Spanish homework, Jongin brings a pillow to rest on his own crotch. Thankfully, Kyungsoo doesn't question it and only gives him a curious eyebrow raise.

Usually, when Jongin gets a question right, Kyungsoo would just smile at him and move on to the next question. But, maybe the planets are aligned tonight or there's a full moon out, because with every right answer, Jongin swears that Kyungsoo's leaning in closer to him.

At some point, Kyungsoo is so close to him that he can see the other's pores a