Chapter Text

Jongin is frozen. He tries to command himself to move or to at least say something, but his body isn't responding. Instead, he stands there, eyes wide as a familiar pair gazes back.

Kyungsoo just kissed him. It wasn't a friendly peck, or a joking brush of the lips — it was an intense, lips locked and tongue brushing over his lower lip kiss that shut down Jongin's entire body, leaving only the parts of his brain responsible for stress working. He didn't know what to expect when Kyungsoo pulled away. Maybe a sheepish smile, an explanation that it was a prank and Chanyeol was filming from around the corner to catch his reaction? That would be upsetting, but also a relief, because it's the only sensible reason. 

But none of that happens. Instead, when Kyungsoo pulls back, he grabs Jongin's hand and beams up at him. It's now that Jongin notices that the man's hair is a deep red, the same as his Growl era hair. When did he dye it?

"Did you wait long?" Kyungsoo asks, swinging their interlocked hands back and forth as the younger stands there, dumbfounded. "Sorry I'm a bit late.”

"I— uh—" Jongin doesn't know what to say when Kyungsoo is staring at him with soft eyes and red lips swollen from their, ahem, kiss. He chokes on the saliva in his throat, before looking away to catch his breath.

"Are you okay?" Kyungsoo asks, voice laced with concern as he puts an arm around Jongin's waist. "Your face is red. Did you run here?"

Jongin has actually been waiting at the studio for ten minutes now, playing on his phone as he waited for Kyungsoo so they could grab food together after the older's practice. If there was any sweat left from his own practice, it would've been dried up by now. Yet Jongin does feel hot at the moment, despite the air conditioner blasting in the room. 

"Jongin?" Kyungsoo's voice breaks the silence again, as he peers over at Jongin with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you okay? You're starting to worry me."

Jongin wants to ask Kyungsoo that too, but instead he manages to stammer out, "I-I'm fine. I just... didn't expect you to... uh, k-kiss me." He's embarrassed by saying it so bluntly, but if he doesn't address it he thinks he's going to go crazy.

He expects Kyungsoo to break out laughing now, tussle his hair, and say he just wanted to see how he'd react. Kyungsoo is an excellent actor after all, so maybe that's what this is: practice. But Kyungsoo is an even better actor than Jongin thought, because instead of doing any of that, he just reaches over and cups Jongin's face.

"Why not?" he asks, voice soft. Something about the look in Kyungsoo's eyes feels painfully intimate, and Jongin has to will himself to look away because he's never seen such a raw expression on his friend's face. "You know I love kissing you."

Jongin gulps audibly. "You-you love kissing me ?" 

"Yes, you," Kyungsoo laughs, leaning over to press his forehead against Jongin's. His forehead is cool against Jongin's burning face. "You're so cute." He leans in for another kiss, Jongin holding his breath the entire time, when the door to the studio slams open and in walks a chatting Jongdae and Baekhyun.

"Wow, chill on the skinship," Jongdae calls over as Baekhyun whistles at them. 

Kyungsoo pulls away with a laugh. "I think that's the loudest I've ever heard you speak, Jongdae," he says with a smile. 

Jongdae and Baekhyun look at Kyungsoo, then at each other, then back at Kyungsoo.

"I'm sorry, are we talking about the same Jongdae?" Baekhyun asks, eyebrows raised. "The same Jongdae who literally spent the entire last night whining so loud that you came out of your room just to throw a pillow at his face?"

Now it's Kyungsoo's turn to look confused. "Wait, what? What are you talking about?"

"You were tired last night, so you probably forgot," Jongdae muses. "I think you woke up just to do that, then went back to sleep."

"No, what? We don't even live in the same block, how could I possibly do that?" Kyungsoo insists, shaking his head. "Are you guys joking around right now?"

Now it's time for Baekhyun and Jongdae to look at Jongin, who is still reeling from the kiss and skinship from earlier but is slowly following this conversation too. "Is he okay?" Jongdae asks, pointing to their vocalist.

"Seriously, what are you talking about?" Kyungsoo asks, crossing his arms. "I expected Junmyeon to joke around like this, but not you, Jongdae!" 

Jongdae's eyes widen at that. "I'm offended!" 

"Seriously, Junmyeon of all people? Please, his jokes are no match compared to mine," Baekhyun snorts.

Kyungsoo turns to Jongin now, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Tell them they're being ridiculous and this isn't funny."

"Yes, Jongin, please tell us that Kyungsoo is joking," Jongdae says.

"I'm not joking!" Kyungsoo exclaims, exasperated. He walks over towards them now, but falls back in surprise when Baekhyun and Jongdae start shielding themselves with each other, fists up and ready for a fight. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing ourselves," comes Baekhyun's serious reply.

"For what?!" Kyungsoo asks, incredulous. When the two don't reply and instead just stand there in their defensive pose, he turns to Jongin with a pout. Jongin has to blink twice to make sure he's not hallucinating it. "Jongin, they're bullying me!" he whines, and that's the final straw that makes Jongin realize that this is not their Kyungsoo.

But it is Kyungsoo, somehow. He has the same face, same eyes, same heart-shaped lips that apparently feel as soft as they look. Not that Jongin was ever wondering that before.

"Kyungsoo," Jongin whispers, finally finding his voice.

"Yes, Jongin?" 

He forces himself to breathe. "What am I to you?"

Kyungsoo blinks, surprised, but answers, "My fiancé, of course."

Jongin's heart races, but the sound is drowned out by the loud laughs of Jongdae and Baekhyun. 

"Okay, now we know this is a joke," Baekhyun says, wiping a fake tear. 

Kyungsoo spins around, glaring for the first time today and making him seem the most Kyungsoo-like since Jongin first saw him. "What are you talking about? You were at our engagement party. You literally helped plan the proposal."

That's when the laughter dies down, replaced by a thick silence that suffocates Jongin. Still trying to process what's happening, Jongdae is the next to talk.

"Kyungsoo, what was the date of our debut?" he asks, speaking slowly as he approaches the (un)familiar person.

"What debut?" Kyungsoo asks, frowning. "We never debuted."

All of a sudden, Baekhyun storms across the room, grabbing Kyungsoo by the shoulders and shaking him. "How could you even say that? What's wrong with you? Did you hit your head on something? How could you forget our debut date?" He sounds frustrated, but Jongin knows that he's actually scared. This doesn't make sense.

Kyungsoo yanks himself away, eyes glistening now. "Stop that! This isn't funny, I told you. We never debuted, and I thought we weren't going to talk about that! It's been years, I thought we moved on." He walks over to Jongin, grabbing his hand and pulling him close. Jongin feels the tension in Kyungsoo's body disappear as Kyungsoo holds him close.

"Please tell them to stop," Kyungsoo whispers, burying his face in the taller's shoulder.

Jongin swallows, carefully placing a hand on Kyungsoo's back. A gesture that is supposed to feel familiar suddenly feels foreign. "Kyungsoo..."

As if just that word alone conveys all that needs to be said, Kyungsoo pulls back, eyes glistening with hurt and betrayal. "What are you... why are you..." Then Kyungsoo lets go of his hand, and Jongin feels a chill but he blames it on the air conditioning.

Kyungsoo lets out a shaky breath. "You're not my Jongin."

Jongin shakes his head, even though the words hurt. 

"Then who— who are you? Who are all of you?" Kyungsoo asks, voice cracking. "And why do you look like them?" His eyes are welling up, but he hurriedly wipes away any moisture. 

Jongdae elbows Baekhyun, who walks over to Jongin and whispers, "I'm going to get our manager," before leaving the room. Jongdae follows, throwing confused looks at Kyungsoo as he leaves. Jongin can only watch until they're gone before he turns back to Kyungsoo, whose fists are balled and shoulders shaking.

"Kyungsoo..." he says, voice soft because the man looks like he's about to break. "Calm down. We'll figure this out."

"This doesn't make sense," Kyungsoo whispers, and he's looking everywhere but at Jongin. He turns, analyzing the room. "This is the studio. It looks exactly the same... I told him 5 o'clock. He's supposed to... you're even wearing his sweater... what's happening?" Kyungsoo collapses onto his knees, but when Jongin moves forward to help him, he just holds his hand up in refusal. "Don't."

So Jongin doesn't. They stand there in silence. Jongin isn't even thinking anymore, he just lets the clock tick behind him as he waits for Baekhyun and Jongdae to return with their manager. 

They do return. At first it's just two of their managers. They pick Kyungsoo up off the floor, despite his protests, and sit him down with a glass of water. They ask him question after question, and some of the answers do align, like when is his birthday or what was the name of his first pet, but others are completely different, the answer being too far off to make any sense for their Kyungsoo. Eventually they bring in more managers, and the EXO members are called into a meeting room to talk about the event. 

According to men in black suits with high-position jobs Jongin never heard of before, this has happened before, but never in SM. The most recent case had happened to a recently debuted female idol in a different agency, who woke up confused to find herself in a life she didn't recognize. The idols tend to switch with bodies from another Earth. They don't explain the entire story, or even say how many times it's happened before, but they do have a catalog of the different universes they come from, created after the first case. Based on the answers Kyungsoo gave them about his Earth's historical events, he comes from Earth-88. 

Despite their close watch of these cases, they don't have as many answers as Jongin or any of the EXO members would like. They say that the time it takes for each person to return to their original Earth is different, so they can't make any promises or even give any estimates. They don't know what causes the change to and from each Earth. 

It’s hard for the members to swallow.

“This has to be an elaborate prank,” Sehun says, arms crossed. “Come on, where are the hidden cameras?”

“I don’t know,” Jongdae admits, frowning as he places his elbow on the table and leans against his palm. “You didn’t see it earlier, but I don’t think Kyungsoo’s acting. He’s good, but not that good.”

They wait for Kyungsoo to argue or laugh or do something that their Kyungsoo would do, but he just stares at the walk, expression blank.

None of the members talk after that.

As the men in black and the managers continue talking in hushed voices, Jongin's eyes wander from the men in front of the meeting back to Kyungsoo, who's seated right at the edge of the table, looking small with his shoulders slacked and eyes downcast. He's playing with his fingers, and Jongin notices the gold ring. Right, this Kyungsoo is engaged. To him. 

“We will announce a short vacation for personal reasons for Kyungsoo tomorrow morning. Since we don’t know how long this will take, we don’t want to alarm the public. If we’re lucky, Kyungsoo will be back tomorrow morning.” But Jongin can tell they don’t sound hopeful.

The men originally request that Kyungsoo stay in a discrete location, so they may run tests and ask more questions about Earth-88, but Kyungsoo refuses.

"No. I want to stay with everyone." His voice is absolute, and though it looks like they want to argue, they don't say anything. Instead, they tell him they'll be checking up on Kyungsoo often and to stay out of trouble, or else their previous offer will become a demand.

Five hours after the kiss first took place, the EXO members are filing into a van back to their dorm. Kyungsoo is squeezed beside Jongin, and he tries his best to maximize the space between them but it's hard when there are so many people in a single vehicle. Sometimes Jongin notices Kyungsoo's hand inching towards him, but the man catches himself and brings his own hands close to his chest every time. Jongin bites his lips and stays quiet.

When they arrive back at the dorms, Kyungsoo is the last to exit the van. Jongin notices the hesitation in his steps and is about to place a guiding hand on his back to lead him to the door, when he stops himself. No, that would be confusing, he decides, considering how he — or some version of himself out there — is engaged to him. He doesn't want to give this Kyungsoo mixed signs. 

Instead, he matches Kyungsoo's steps and walks beside him. It's still quiet, all of the members either too tired or too shaken to say anything. All but one member.

"Is this building familiar to you?" Minseok asks, voice gentle as he falls in step beside Kyungsoo. "I know when they asked you for your address, it wasn't here, but... you look like you've seen this place before."

Kyungsoo nods, eyes looking over Minseok for a second for returning to scanning the building. "It's been a while since I was last here. This was, ah, the place we stayed at during our trainee days."

It's quiet again. After the meeting revealed that Kyungsoo was also a former SM trainee on his Earth, it didn't take long for Jongin or the rest of the members to piece together that this Kyungsoo didn't debut. Apparently none of the members did. When asked if Kyungsoo knew anything about a group named EXO, he shook his head before clarifying that SM did debut a 12 member girl group instead of the name ENDO with a similar concept. The air had grown awkward in the room at that point, as each of the members struggled with the idea of there being a reality out there where they hadn't debuted as a group.

As they file into the building, there is hesitance as to where Kyungsoo will stay. The dorm Kyungsoo shares with Jongdae, Baekhyun, and Minseok is on the 5th floor, while Jongin’s dorm is on the 3rd. It seems Jongin isn’t the only one to think about this, and how Kyungsoo may be uncomfortable staying alone.

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin speaks up. “You should follow Minseok and them. I’ll come after I grab my stuff.”

“We don’t live in the same dorm?” Kyungsoo asks, eyebrows furrowed. The other members aren’t meeting his gaze.

“No, we haven’t for a while,” Jongin admits. “But it’s okay. I’ll just wash up and then come up to the 5th floor. I won’t take too long.” 

There’s hesitance in Kyungsoo’s eyes, but if he wants to say anything, he doesn’t. He just nods and follows Minseok into a separate elevator, and Jongin watches until the door closes.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” comes Junmyeon’s voice. “You should just sleep in your own bed. He’s an adult, he can sleep in his own room for one night.”

“I know,” Jongin mumbles, holding the second elevator door open once it arrives so the older members can step in first. “But imagine if you were in his place. It’s probably scary, he’ll want a… a familiar face.”

Chanyeol snorts at that. “We’re all familiar faces. He knows our names.”

“You know what I mean,” Jongin groans, pressing the elevator button for the 3rd floor. 

“I do,” Junmyeon says, voice gentle. “But you shouldn’t feel pressured to take care of him just because…” He trails off, but Jongin knows what he means anyway. Just because he’s with Kyungsoo on that Earth-88 or whatever. 

“I know,” Jongin repeats, but this time he sounds just a bit more confident than he feels. “But I’m also friends with the Kyungsoo of this Earth, and if he got lost… I would want someone to be there for him.”

It’s quiet after that. It seems the members understand him now.

Once they reach their dorm, Jongin is the first to grab his towel and head to the bathroom. He washes up quickly, even though the warm water feels so good on his aching muscles and he wouldn’t mind spending another minute savoring the feeling. 

After his shower, he packs up a toothbrush, a few skincare items, and clothes to wear to sleep. As he folds up the blanket on his bed to carry it upstairs, his mind wanders. 

Does he talk to Kyungsoo? Or would that just hurt the man, who's now separated from his fiancé while also having to face someone who looks and talks just like him? But he feels bad just leaving Kyungsoo alone. The rest of the members are obviously uncomfortable with his presence, and Jongin's not sure if that has to do with the whole he's-from-a-parallel-universe thing or if it's because in said parallel universe he's engaged to another man. Jongin worries his lower lip, hoping it's not the latter. 

With a heavy sigh, he stuffs his items into a tote bag laying around in his room. He bids the only one outside in the common area, Junmyeon, goodnight before heading to the elevators again.

When he makes it to the other dorm, Baekhyun answers the door. He doesn’t say anything; in fact, he just leaves the moment Jongin enters, heading to his own room. Jongin takes off his slides and heads over to Kyungsoo’s room.

There’s no answer when he knocks, so he peeks his head in. There’s no one inside. Figuring Kyungsoo is in the bathroom getting ready, he prepares a makeshift bed on the floor with his blanket. He’s setting up his phone charger when the door creaks open, followed by soft footsteps.

“Ah,” Kyungsoo murmurs, towel running through his hair. 

Jongin looks up. “Sorry, did you not want me in here? I just figured…” He trails off, uncertainty arising. Maybe this is too much for Kyungsoo.

“No, no, that’s not it,” Kyungsoo assures him, sitting on the edge of the bed slowly. “You’re fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, sensing the uncertainty in Kyungsoo’s voice.

“Yeah,” comes a more stern reply that sounds a lot more like the Kyungsoo Jongin knows. “This just reminds me of my own trainee days. It’s weird.”

Jongin nods. He bets. Even thinking of his own trainee days can make Jongin feel different, surprised that it was so long ago even if it feels just like yesterday.

“I’m sure you’re tired,” Kyungsoo continues. “Feel free to sleep whenever.”

“Mm,” Jongin replies, laying down now. He turns to his side, checking his phone. There’s a text from his sister, and he replies to it quickly, but then he notices the last message before that.

It was his message to Kyungsoo. ‘coffee hyung?’ Jongin had texted Kyungsoo during his break at practice. It was the first message between them in a week, the last being a question Jongin had about an actor he was curious about and knew Kyungsoo would have the answer to. 

Ever since Kyungsoo’s acting career took off, he had seen less of the man. The only times they were in the same room was during concerts, practice, or recordings, and those didn’t really count to Jongin. It wasn’t for lack of effort either. Kyungsoo had texted Jongin last month if he wanted to practice together, just the two of them, but Jongin apologized because he had acting lessons that day. Jongin’s requests were met with similar apologies of a busy schedule.

The message that followed was ‘when?’ Jongin’s answer, ten minutes later when he was able to sneak away back to his phone when the instructor was focusing on Sehun, was ‘ how does tomorrow sound? i’m done at 5 tomorrow’ He remembers the warm happiness he felt when the answer, less than a minute later, was ‘that works. let’s get food too, i haven’t been to that chicken place down the road for a while.’

But what was supposed to be their long awaited catch up session was thwarted when a different Kyungsoo walked into the studio. Jongin swallows hard, before glancing up at the now sleeping Kyungsoo.

If their Kyungsoo was really in this Kyungsoo’s Earth instead, Jongin hopes he’s getting the rest he deserves too.

•

It's the middle of the night when he's awoken by coughing from outside. Jongin is usually a deep sleeper, but he found himself awake and out of bed anyway, following the source of the sound into the kitchen, where a tousled-hair Kyungsoo sat at the table holding a steaming cup.

"Couldn't sleep?" Jongin asks, voice groggy with sleep.

"It feels weird sleeping in a different bed," Kyungsoo replies quietly. Jongin hears the underlying 'without him.'

Jongin hesitates at the entrance of the kitchen, wondering if he should just go back to sleep and let Kyungsoo have time to think by himself. But the night is already lonely as is, and Kyungsoo must be even lonelier on a foreign Earth.

So he walks in and grabs a cup out of the cabinet. He pours himself a cup of warm water, and takes the seat across from Kyungsoo, trying his best not to let his eyes droop.

"You should sleep," Kyungsoo says, dropping his head. "I know you must be tired."

Jongin shakes his head. "It's fine. They cancelled my schedule for tomorrow since... you know."

"I don't get why though. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your time because of me," Kyungsoo mumbles, rubbing the cup in his hand.

"I offered," Jongin explains, trying to comfort the man. "Besides, it was just dance practice, and I already know the choreo. If anything, I can just practice here and I'll be fine." He offers a small smile, to which Kyungsoo doesn't respond.

It's quiet for a minute. Jongin's never heard the dorm sound so quiet, the refrigerator running the loudest source of sound now that everyone is asleep in their rooms. He can hear faint snores coming from one of the rooms.

"Jongin," Kyungsoo says, breaking Jongin's thoughts. "Could you — ah, never mind."

"What is it?" Jongin pushes gently. "You can ask me."

"It's just..." Kyungsoo takes in a deep breath. "Whenever I feel overwhelmed, Jongin would tell me a story."

"A story?"

"Yeah. Just— any story, really. Usually about his day at work." Kyungsoo finally smiles at that, and Jongin feels his stomach flutter. "I know you're not... him. But you have his voice, so if it's not too much..."

"Sure," Jongin replies, offering his own smile when Kyungsoo finally meets his eyes. He takes in a deep breath, trying to think of a story he could tell Kyungsoo. It helps that this is a brand new Kyungsoo theoretically, so he could tell this Kyungsoo just about any story and it would be new. But he wants Kyungsoo to feel welcomed, to feel at home even if he's nowhere near home.

"Ah, okay, I have a story," Jongin says, sitting up a little straighter. "I'll tell you about the time I met Monggu."

And so Jongin goes into a longer-than-necessary story about meeting Monggu at the animal shelter, and how he connected with the dog right away despite playing with so many other dogs that day. It's a story from his high school days, but he remembers it just like it was yesterday.

It seems to do the trick. Kyungsoo's shoulders relax, and the grip on his cup loosens. Jongin even goes back to the room to grab his phone and show Kyungsoo pictures of the day, followed by recent pictures of Monggu.

Kyungsoo doesn't make many comments throughout the story, but he speaks for the first time after seeing the picture. "That's Jjanguu."

Jongin raises an eyebrow at that, surprised. "I named— I mean, Jongin named him Jjanguu on your Earth?"

Kyungsoo nods, not taking his eyes off the picture. "We have another dog named Monggu though.” Upon noticing the look on Jongin’s face, Kyungsoo ventures, “I'm guessing you have another dog named Jjanguu?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Maybe our worlds aren't that different after all then," Kyungsoo says softly.

Jongin watches as Kyungsoo the picture.

"Yeah, maybe not."

•

They eventually go back to bed. Kyungsoo wishes Jongin a good night before turning around to sleep on his side.

Jongin listens to Kyungsoo's steady breathing that indicates he's fallen asleep. The last time he remembers laying in bed and doing this was two months ago.

They had just finished watching a movie on Kyungsoo's laptop, some small indie film that one of Jongin's co-workers from his drama recommended he watch. It was a bit long and slow for Jongin's taste, but he could tell Kyungsoo enjoyed it from the fact that he didn't say a single word during the movie. And Jongin didn’t mind watching with him, because it had been so long since they got time to enjoy a movie, just the two of them. He missed this.

When it finally ended, Jongin told Kyungsoo he was just going to stretch his back before he went back to his own dorm. But Jongin's body betrayed him and he fell asleep right after he stretched.

The sun was filtering through the window when Jongin woke up. He reached over, trying to grab his pillow, when he's met with a warm body instead. His eyes flew open just in time to meet Kyungsoo's eyes, blinking heavy with sleep.

No words were exchanged. They stayed there, bodies still and eyes linked. Jongin knew he should get up, probably go brush his teeth since he forgot to last night, but he can't will himself to make any movements.

Jongin wondered what Kyungsoo's gaze was trying to tell him. He had never seen the older look at him like that before. He recognized parts of it, such as the fondness he'd seen countless times before when they would grab coffee together, or the amusement he'd be on the receiving end of when he would make a joke. But there was something else laced in there, something Jongin thought he understood but wouldn't make sense if that was what it really was.

Before Jongin could ask, if he ever even got the nerve to, Kyungsoo’s alarm went off. If Kyungsoo was about to say anything, Jongin didn't notice as he almost fell out of bed from the sound. Once he was out, he scrambled to his feet and rushed out of the room to the bathroom.

He told himself it was so he could rush back to his own dorm before anyone would notice his bed head. But if that was the truth, he wouldn't have avoided Kyungsoo's gaze for the rest of the day, afraid to see what he saw that morning again.

Now that Jongin's laying in bed, across the room from a Kyungsoo that is both familiar and unfamiliar, he wishes he hadn't been a coward and just said the words when it mattered.