Prompt: https://twitter.com/exotadpoles/status/951798689432928257

When Jongin emerges from the bathroom Kyungsoo is already awake. The older male has his head turned towards the window, bleary eyes slowly getting used to the sunlight streaming through the blinds. Jongin smiles at that sight, of Kyungsoo lying beneath his blanket, greeting the beginning of a brand new day with him.

“Morning,” Jongin mutters as he rejoins Kyungsoo in bed. His muscles are relaxed from the hot shower, body warm, and Kyungsoo doesn’t say a word when he looks away from the window to bury his face in Jongin’s shoulder instead.

Rare displays of affection that Jongin sees only in the quiet morning, when the world outside is so cold and all Kyungsoo wants is to stay in bed.

“I’m not going to school today.” Kyungsoo informs his boyfriend. His voice, low and hoarse from sleep, raises goosebumps across Jongin’s arms.

“Hm, okay.” They’ve been through this thousands of times. By now, Jongin knows what works far better than indulgence. “I’ll just have lunch with Sehun then. He’s been asking me to eat with him since last week.”

Immediately, Kyungsoo sits up. The blanket pools around his waist and Jongin holds back a smile when he sees his boyfriend’s frowning face. He reaches out, pokes the area between Kyungsoo’s eyebrows.

“You’ll get wrinkles.”

“You’re very mean,” Kyungsoo says. He swats Jongin’s hand away and stretches, pulling his hands above his head.

If Kyungsoo had any idea what Jongin thought of him right now, he would realize all of his jealousy is uncalled for. For Jongin can hardly remember how to breathe, or to keep breathing, when his eyes are too greedily trailing down Kyungsoo’s body, taking in the tattoos on his shoulders and chest and hips—areas hidden beneath everyday clothes, intimate areas only Jongin sees.

The older male flings the blanket aside and gets to his feet. He’s graceful even in the morning, doesn’t stumble slightly like Jongin does sometimes, and doesn’t seem to feel self-conscious as he makes his way to the bathroom in his state of ness. And Jongin can’t look away, can’t stop staring at the perfect swell of Kyungsoo’s , can’t believe everything about Kyungsoo is his and has been for two years.

Has it really been so long? He remembers the first time he saw Kyungsoo, and how much the older male used to scare him because of his cold demeanour and straightforwardness. He grew to appreciate that about Kyungsoo overtime, and now, there’s no one in this world he thinks more highly of than his boyfriend. In fact, even now, Kyungsoo would still fixate his icy gaze on him when he wasn't happy about something, but Jongin knows exactly what to do to make Kyungsoo smile again.

It’s still pretty early so Jongin decides to stay in bed for a little longer, and is just about to fall asleep when Kyungsoo steps out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped loosely around his torso and his hair dripping wet.

Jongin blinks the sleepiness away and smiles again, thinking some things just never ever change.

-

People talk all the time. They talk when they know something and they talk when they don’t. They talk even if it’s absolutely none of their goddamn business and they talk as long as it’s a good story.

Jongin knew people would talk when they first got together. He expected it—after all, he was so different from Kyungsoo. It only surprised him that people still talked about them two years later, and that he still couldn’t hold Kyungsoo’s hand in the hallway without people turning around to stare as if they weren’t just like any other normal couple in this world.

“Because you are just about the sweetest person in this school and I am kind of an ,” Kyungsoo tells him.

“But you’re not an !” Jongin argues back. “And I’m not that great a person.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “I guess so.” He sounds almost serious, until Jongin slaps his arm and his eyes start twinkling with mischief.

“You’re not supposed to agree. I am a great person. The greatest person in this world.” Jongin’s smile is smug and it drives Kyungsoo nuts.

At the end of the day, while Jongin is hurrying out of the building to meet Kyungsoo whose classes ended one hour before his, he encounters a girl gathering her fallen books. He jogs past her, then stops dead in his tracks. The fact that Kyungsoo is waiting for him is shoved to the back of his mind. Jongin pivots on his heels and starts helping her pick up her books without hesitation.

He even helps her carry the books all the way to the library, and when the girl thanks him profusely, sees his nametag and shyly asks if he’s that Jongin, Kyungsoo’s boyfriend, Jongin’s smile dims a little. She has a very pleasant face, big eyes and a dimpled smile, but he can practically hear the thoughts in her head right now.

Kyungsoo’s face comes to mind again. He knows how Kyungsoo is like to the rest of the world—he saw that side of Kyungsoo too when they first met, but things changed when they started to spend more time together, and Jongin saw Kyungsoo for who he really was, saw beyond the facade he wore. Saw right through the cold eyes, the indifferent expression.

“I am,” Jongin tells her proudly. “And if you meet my boyfriend, you’ll find out that he’s pretty much the sweetest person to walk this earth.”

He says that not to ascertain anything, not to prove anything, and certainly not to try to convince anyone that Kyungsoo isn’t what most people think he is. Jongin says that because he means it, genuinely does, and he finds out at this moment that he doesn’t really bother about what people think of them after all.

The only thing that matters is that he’s the only person who knows what Kyungsoo is like, that this ‘bad boy’ with tattoos and an icy gaze loves puppies and chocolate ice cream and finds it hard to get out of bed in the morning.

By the time he gets to Kyungsoo, the older male is frowning again. Jongin approaches him quickly and pokes between his eyebrows.

“Stop that,” he instructs Kyungsoo. “You’re really going to get wrinkles.”

“What took you so long?”

“I was helping a girl carry her books to the library. She couldn’t manage on her own.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “A real sweetheart, aren’t you?”

They have plans to watch a movie and shop for Jongin’s sister’s birthday present. Jongin reaches for Kyungsoo’s hand and intertwines their fingers, leading them towards the mall. The older male’s hand is so warm and Jongin looks at him.

“You know, I was singing praises of you even though she didn’t ask.”

“Am I supposed to be grateful?”

“That would be really great, actually.” Jongin is already grinning. He shoves their connected hands into his pocket and holds it there resolutely, ignoring Kyungsoo’s attempts at trying to get his hand out.

“You’re such a pain in the ,” Kyungsoo complains when he finally gives up. Despite his words, when Jongin glances at him, there is a hint of a smile on the older male’s face.

“Give me a kiss.”

“What? No.”

“Come on! Give me a kiss. Just one. On my cheek. Please?”

“Shut the up before I punch your face.”

The smile is growing on Kyungsoo’s face even though he tries his very hardest to suppress it. Jongin, on the other hand, has his biggest grin on display. He tilts his head so he can meet Kyungsoo’s eyes on equal level, a gesture that has always annoyed the older male—except Jongin knows perfectly well how to counter the sting of this, of course.

“But I love you.”

There.

Kyungsoo looks away, but it’s too late. The smile breaks free and Jongin has never seen anyone as cute as Kyungsoo when he smiles.

“I love you, Kyungsoo.” Jongin says again. They’re far enough from the school now, Jongin thinks, and he wants what he wants.

When Kyungsoo finally looks at him again with unmistakable adoration glimmering in his eyes, Jongin knows he’s getting what he asked for. He leans closer to the older male, and Kyungsoo leans up begrudgingly, or at least pretends to feel that way, to plant a chaste kiss on Jongin’s cheek.

Jongin feels practically invincible now. He squeezes Kyungsoo’s fingers.

“Do you love me too?”

“You’re an alright guy.”

And Jongin reads between the lines, hears Kyungsoo telling him that he loves him too, that he loves him so much he thinks he might go crazy.