Kai

Kai sits with his feet up on the table, not paying attention as Taemin sits on his boyfriend's lap. He giggles and looks over to Kai. His smile quickly disappears when he sees the grim expression of his best friend.

"What's wrong?"

Kai takes his glass and downs the caramel colored liquid inside. It kicks his throat and fills his chest with warmth but it no longer burns. "I'm fine, just pissed off."

Jonghyun scoots Kai another drink, keeping his free hand around Taemin's waist. "What's up, man? Never seen you so pissed since you found out about your dad's new girlfriend."

"It's just," Kai sighs, accepting the drink. He shouldn't technically be drinking or even at this club, but Jonghyun owns the place and he doesn't care. "My ing dad's forcing me to go to school and get good grades. So now I have to see some ing tutor…”

"Or?"

"He'll send me to a juvenile facility'."

Taemin gasps. "What the ? He can't do that!"

"Yeah, he can," Jonghyun says with a sigh. "Kai's underage and he's his legal guardian."

"That ing ! What a piece of crap!"

Kai huffs and shrugs. "Yeah," He says before drinking the mysterious substance. "He's out with his new girl-"

"Oh ," Taemin mumbles.

"What?" Kai asks, looking around.

"Kai," Taemin laughs nervously. "Don't freak out but-"

Kai feels his chest tighten as a woman walks up the stairs and towards them. She smiles weakly but he doesn’t return the expression. "Krystal."

"You look good, Jongin."

"Kai," He says curtly. He rests his right ankle on his other knee. She lost her privileges to call him that a long time ago.

"It's been awhile."

"Yeah, I know," Kai mumbles, tapping his glass with his ring finger.

"Last time we saw each other, we were at-"

"You ran off with that piece of ." Kai interrupts. “I remember.”

"Namsan tower," She finishes quietly. Krystal sighs and holds her purse close to her body. "It's a coincidence to see you here."

"Like hell it is!"

"Kai-" Taemin starts but shuts up when Jonghyun shakes his head.

"You know I come here all the ing time-My best friend's boyfriend owns it for 's sake!" Kai feels his blood start to boil. Even looking at her pissed him off. "Did you come with him, huh?!" Kai asks looking around. When he sees Krystal's new boyfriend near the entrance, he scoffs. "You brought him here? Seriously?"

"Kai, I just thought we could be friends again." She says, seemingly flustered.

"Friends? Really? Are you ing serious?”

"We used to be so close, Kai, not broken-hearted strangers. What happened to that?"

"What happened? You ran off with some ing guy!”

"Can you blame me?! You got too intense!" Krystal finally raises her voice.

Kai takes a deep breath and fixes his coat. He laughs mockingly, feelings as if he just got slapped in the face. "You know what?" He stands up. "The smartest thing to ever come out of your mouth was a ," He sneers before grabbing his glass and walking past her, making sure to hit her shoulder with his own. Yeah, he’ll admit that was a pretty stupid comeback but then again, he isn’t exactly sober. He sets his glass down at the bar and motions for the bartender.

"Something strong, anything.” He rubs his neck and sighs, feeling more irritated than ever. Everything that happened within the last past year- getting arrested, getting dumped, His father's new girlfriend. Sometimes, he just wants to run and forget about all this bull.

"Jongin!"

Kai feels an arm wrap around his neck. The man laughs and it pisses Kai off. "Excuse me?" Kai looks up and stares at Krystal's new boyfriend. They used to be good friends.

"Haven't seen you in forever, man, what's up?"

Kai takes a deep breath, turning his attention to his newly filled glass. After shrugging the man off, he downs that and beckons for another. "Get out of my ing face."

"What?"

"We're not buddies, get the out of my face,” He grumbles. “ off.”

The guy scoffs and takes a step back."When'd you become such an ?"

Kai downs his fifth shot of the day and slams it down. "Since you stole my girlfriend from me, you piece of .”

The man shakes his head. "Can't steal what wants to be stolen, man."

Kai fumes at that and it’s as if it’s just the perfect amount to push him over his edge. Rage boils, coursing like fire through his veins. He grabs his cup and turns quickly, slamming it into the side of the man's face. He falls back, causing people around to gasp and shuffle away. Kai gets off his stool, kicking it over with his boot before going over and leaning down over him. He roughly grabs his old fallen friend’s shirt and starts to punch him hard; his head connecting with the floor each time Kai's fist meets his face. Alcohol fuels his anger, a broken heart pumps with rage. He can hear someone scream. Krystal. It just enrages him more because it’s all her fault. Everything’s her fault. If she just gave him the damn support he needed, maybe he wouldn’t have been so ed up. He hates her guts, and he hates this damn clown she left him for.

"Jongin, stop it!" Krystal screams at him. When she tries to grab him, he shoves her away harshly. However, he doesn’t do anything when Jonghyun grabs him by the shoulder and forces him away. Kai pants heavily as he stares at the man he had beat up, his face bloodied and already bruised. He looks down at his bloody knuckles and laughs at it.

"Do I need to call the cops?!" The bartender shouts at Jonghyun.

Taemin hurries to Kai's side and shakes his head quickly. "No, please don't! Baby, he just needs fresh air, that's all!"

Kai watches Krystal kneel beside her boyfriend and helps him up. She caresses his face before looking up at the punk with anguish. ”What the you lookin' at, ?” He spits before Taemin leads him away and out of the nightclub. He sniffs and wipes his face, blood smearing on his cheek while he stumbles down the street.

"I'll call you, baby," Taemin says, sounding apologetic. He quickly catches up to Kai, grabbing onto his arm tightly. "Kai, what the ?!"

Kai remains silent as they walk, only speaking up when they reach a park. He slumps down on a bench and stares up at the moon. "I got so mad, Tae."

"Yeah, you almost beat the man's face in!"

"I know."

"Kai..."

Kai sniffs and pulls a leg up as he tries to fish around his pocket for a cigarette. After fumbling around for a second, Taemin sighs and smacks his hand away. His friend finds and pulls a cigarette out. Stealing an inhale or two, he hands it over. The two of them sit together silently while Kai smokes and tries to calm himself down. Taemin watches him with what seems like concern. "Jonghyun stayed to take care of the situation." Kai just grunts and stays quiet. "I'll tell him you said thanks."

"I didn't regret it."

"I know, Jongin." Taemin smiles and sighs, resting his head on Kai's shoulder. "I'm worried about you..."

"Yeah," Kai says in almost a whisper.

Taemin loops his arm around Kai's. "Do you remember when we were kids?"

It took Kai a moment to respond. "Which time?"

"We met,” Taemin replies. “When you found me crying under the slides at school."

"You were bullied…”

"Yeah, do you remember what you said to me?" Taemin asks.

"Different is beautiful. Never, ever forget that" Kai quotes. He shallows, a hard lump lodged in his throat. "My...My mother used to tell me that."

"I remember,” His friend sighs happily and it seems like he’s trying to lighten the mood. Kai.  leans his head on Taemin's and pulls his arm back to wrap it around his shoulder. He smiles at the attempt and turns, kissing the top of his friend's head. He closes his eyes and takes a deep, uneven breath.

"Let's go home," he says wearily. His heart aches with each thought and breath that passes.

"Can I come?"

"Yeah,” Kai smiles again. It’s sad but fond. The punk doesn’t like many people but Taemin is always welcome; No matter what. “Of course.”

Kai stares at the dark ceiling of his bedroom as Taemin sleeps soundly beside him. He watches shapes of light dance around his room. A couple c ofars occasionally driving by and lightning the place up momentarily. He looks over at his friend to make sure not to wake him as he slowly pulls his arm out from underneath him. Smiling fondly at his friend, he slowly leans over to brush some of Taemin’s platinum bands from his closed eyes. Jonghyun really is a lucky guy. Kai wasn't ever in love with Taemin, nor will he ever be; but the two of them are extremely close. Closer than he's ever been with anyone. Even Krystal wasn’t this dear to him. Kai has known him since he they were six years old and they haven't been apart since. There used to be rumors that they were dating. And neither of them bothered to say otherwise until Taemin met Jonghyun. Taemin, of course, spent less time with his best friend after that but, Kai knows how it is. And it didn’t stop them from being glued together by the hip. The only person he can truly say he loves.

Kai walks over to the window and stares out at the cloudy night sky. He leans his forehead against the cold glass. He knows it’ll rain, for sure. He closes his eyes and take more deep breaths.

"Krystal, where are you going?" Kai walks quickly behind his girlfriend. He grabs her arm and she turns around to face him.

"Don't try to stop me, Jongin!"

Kai stares at her in confusion. "Babe, what-" She crosses her arm and looks away as his so-called friend walks up to them. He slowly wraps an arm around her shoulder. "What the hell is this?"

"Jongin, I'm leaving you."

"What?!" Kai scoffs and takes a step back . "For-for him?" Krystal goes silent. "How long?"

She takes a deep breath. "A few months."

Kai shallows hard. "A...a few months…”

"Jongin, I never had a good chance to tell you. Your mother-"

"Died a ing month ago, Krystal!" He shouts. "How could you do this to me?!"

"You're too intense!"

"Intense?!"

"People are scared if you, Jongin- including me..."

Kai looks blankly at the sky, his face wet with silent tears. He slowly turns, thoughts of Krystal rushing through his mind and stabbing daggers into his chest. He doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care about her or him. him, her, everything. He slides to the floor and leans his head back against the wall. Bringing his knees up, he runs his hand through his hair as he starts to sob harder. He grabs his head and screws his eyes shut. ”I don’t care.”

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