Kyungsoo finishes his work for the day at a quarter to seven. For whatever reason, he’s much more exhausted than usual. His hands begin to cramp as he’s sewing the last batch of toys.
    “You heading out Yoo?”
    Junmyeon ducks his head, his face emerging from darkness into the light of the desk lamp. Kyungsoo, who’d been sat at his station tidying up doesn’t turn from what he’s doing, but his eyes dart to Junmyeon’s.
    “In a minute.”
    “Want a ride?”
    Kyungsoo sighs, packing away his tools into a drawer before pushing his chair back.
    “Shall we?” 
    Junmyeon’s hand squeezes Kyungsoo’s shoulder as the two exits the building. Kyungsoo’s bike is too big for Junmyeon’s backseat, and so he’s forced to store it away in the structure for the night.
    Junmyeon drives slow, his window rolled down completely, and his arm rested on the frame. Kyungsoo can feel himself drifting into sleep, but the bumps in the road jerk him awake each time.
    “Is that your friend?”  Junmyeon gestures to a man with his back to the two. He’d been rummaging through his car outside the station, but the cloud of smoke above him guaranteed it had been Jongin.
    Junmyeon looks to Kyungsoo for an answer, but instead, he stares ahead.
    “Do you want to stop?” Junmyeon asks once more.
     “I don’t know.”
                                                                                                                                     —

    Junmyeon eases his foot over the break, and the car continues to roll forward. He leans onto the wheel, bitting into his bottom lip. 
    “What’s gotten into you these days?”
    Kyungsoo’s face becomes pale in the low light. His body fidgets against the constraints of his seatbelt.  
    “I just want things to go back to normal. God, I know I was gushing to you about wanting more from life, but this isn’t what I meant. Since I’ve come to this town, it feels like everything’s flipped upside-down. My mind is practically spinning.”
    Junmyeon’s fingers tense around the wheel as he hears the soft crack in Kyungsoo’s voice.
    “You’re scared, aren’t you?”
    “Scared? Of what?”
    “Loving someone. Of being loved.”
                                                                                                                                     —

    Kyungsoo’s lips finally pull apart after moments of heavy silence between the two. He can’t help but stare back at Junmyeon, feeling helpless to himself. But the longer Kyungsoo spends looking into Junmyeon’s eyes, the more the warmth of his gaze breaks him.
    “I’m sorry.” Junmyeon speaks soft, “That was out of line.”    
    Kyungsoo sighs, all while unable to lift his head. 
    “You’re just so hard to read, Kyungsoo. I just want to try to understand why you choose to bury all your emotions and pretend to be something you clearly aren’t. I know you had to be strong and independent when you had no one, but now you have all these people who care about you, and we want to break down the barrier you have so carefully constructed.”
    “You’re right. I don’t understand any of this, and that terrifies me, but I don’t know anything else.”
    “Use me as practice,” Junmyeon parks the car on the side of the road and angles his body toward Kyungsoo “