"So, we are married?" It was the next day and Kyungsoo seemed to have calmed down enough and was starting to make sense of the fact that 6 years had passed. After a check in with one of the therapists, Chanyeol had been allowed to come back and talk to him. 

"Yeah we are, we got married in 2022." Chanyeol smiled sheepishly, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to act around Kyungsoo anymore and the best way to stop himself from doing the wrong thing was to sit on the other side of the room from Kyungsoo. 

"You like Thursdays because they are signaling the end of the week but don't bring as much chaos as Fridays do. You're not lactose intolerant but you think almond milk tastes way better than regular milk and when you're stressed you like to think of murdering an ant colony. Also you're really clingy in your sleep."

"Oh......" Kyungsoo blushed at the last remark. "I guess you do know me," He sighed, "Jongin knew all of those things too......" 

And there it was again, Jongin, Chanyeol's mind began to stir. 

That 10 month gap between Kyungsoo's supposed engagement and his first interaction with Chanyeol and he knew nothing about it. 

"What happened with you and Jongin?" Kyungsoo frowned. 

"I don't remember, but Jongin was so selfless, so caring and I thought Jongin was the one  even before he proposed I-..... I'm sorry," Kyungsoo stopped when he realized that Chanyeol's demeanor was faltering, "I shouldn't be talking about this." 

"No, it's okay, I can see it." It was the way Kyungsoo's eyes were sparkling yet longing as he reminisced on his time with Jongin, the small tilt of his lips as he was starting to recount their memories together, "You still love him."

"I'm sorry." Kyungsoo looked away from Chanyeol, ashamed for something that wasn't even his fault. 

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two for a while and Chanyeol felt himself suffocating from it, he almost had to excuse himself from the room for a breather before Kyungsoo turned back to him, with a tear glistening in his eye. 

"If I met you and fell in love with you later on, that means something happened between Jongin and I. Who knows, maybe he cheated on me." Kyungsoo laughed bitterly and it broke Chanyeol on the inside, he knew that Kyungsoo was lying to himself to make Chanyeol feel better. 

"But Chanyeol, if life led me to you then I want to try." 

"What do you mean Kyungsoo?" 

"Jongin's probably a thing of the past for a reason, so I want you to show me what it's like to fall in love with you. If I could fall in love with you once, I can probably do it again." 

He's so similar to Baekhyun yet so different, it was no wonder they became best friends, Chanyeol thought.

"Ack," Kyungsoo looked away again, this time in embarrassment. "That sounded better in my head." 

But the words had already had their impact on Chanyeol and he immediately found himself standing beside Kyungsoo reaching over to put his hand on his shoulder. 

And when Kyungsoo still flinched away from the touch and gave Chanyeol an apologetic look, Chanyeol still looked at him with a smile and said, 

"Thank you Kyungsoo." 

Because he was being given an opportunity to fix a mess.  

Because that's what love is all about.

Getting through the together.

~~~

Kyungsoo was let out of the hospital two days after, and Chanyeol for once appreciated all the extra work he had to catch up on which had accumulated after the accident. 

He spent many hours in various meeting rooms, discussions with all of the departments, and compiling all of the reports together, and it helped take his mind off of what he was supposed to do when Kyungsoo would be discharged. 

Baekhyun laughed watching Chanyeol pace back and forth at his office door, "Man the last time I've seen you this worked up was," Baekhyun realized what he was about to say and stopped the thought from coming out, "I rarely see you this worked up." 

"Do you think Kyungsoo even wants to go home? Maybe he'll feel uncomfortable being near me and move out." 

Baekhyun leaned on the wall. "You said he wanted to try. He's not going to run away from your house the moment he steps in. Maybe staying there will bring back some memories."

"You're right." Chanyeol stopped pacing, "Okay, I'm off!" With his new sense of confidence, he comically marched off, leaving a cackling Baekyun. 

Kyungsoo was sitting neatly on his hospital bed when Chanyeol arrived, hands folded in his lap and his posture straightened while he looked out the window with his back turned to the door. 

"Hey." Kyungsoo turned at Chanyeol's voice. "Ready to go?" 

Kyungsoo nodded, "Yeah....." 

"One more thing." The doctor appeared in the doorway as well and handed a piece of paper to Chanyeol. "Because we're monitoring his situation please make sure he comes back to the hospital once a week. We have a therapist for him and we'll check the condition of his head. Also if he gets a headache give him some advil, if it persists over an hour bring him back here." 

"Thank you." Chanyeol bowed to the doctor and looked back at Kyungsoo. "Let's go." 

Chanyeol expected the drive to their house to be awkward, but it wasn't because Kyungsoo had fallen asleep the moment the car started. He was always prone to napping in moving vehicles and the mental exhaustion combined over the past few days must have been wearing him out.

Their house was a modest 3 bedroom single house and it's smaller than it sounds. Despite their income, Kyungsoo was never one for luxury even if Chanyeol grew up luxuriously with his family's wealth, but dating Kyungsoo had made him less materialistic and a smaller house was an easy compromise. 

Kyungsoo looked so adorable sleeping in the passenger seat, he was leaning on the seatbelt and it was squishing his cheek in a way that made him look so soft and huggable and ugh. Chanyeol couldn't kiss him. 

"Hey," Chanyeol said, resisting the urge to caress Kyungsoo's face, "We're here." 

Kyungsoo stirred and looked at Chanyeol, the sleepy expression was even more adorable, Chanyeol had missed waking up next to that face. 

"Mmmkay." Kyungsoo said and trudged out of his side of the car. He stopped and looked at the house. His eyes widening but he remained speechless. 

Chanyeol decided to leave it for now and walked to the front door, Kyungsoo behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kyungsoo absorbing everything, the succulents and rocks that lined the path to the doorway and the fir tree that stood in the middle of the front yard.

When they walked in Kyungsoo took in even more. The living room was to the left, a typical setup of couches and a television with the bonus of a fireplace, set of guitars and piano that graced the wall on the far side. The kitchen was to the right and boasted sleek marble countertops, oak wood cupboards, and stainless steel appliances, like how he requested for his cooking passion when they refurnished the kitchen. The dining room was behind the staircase but connected the kitchen and living room. 

"What do you think?" Chanyeol bit his lip as Kyungsoo still had an unreadable expression, maybe his tastes when he dated Jongin. 

"It's like my dream home." Kyungsoo remarked, his lips turning into that beautiful heart shaped smile that Chanyeol missed seeing. 

The reaction made Chanyeol smile as well. 

Maybe readjusting with Kyungsoo was going to be easy.

~~~~~

Readjusting with Kyungsoo was difficult. 

Chanyeol should've seen it coming, Kyungsoo was a hard person to read and before Chanyeol could break his walls down, Kyungsoo was overanalytical and calculated his every move to make sure it'd be hard to uncover the person he was underneath.

Chanyeol had the revelation when the first night happened. 

Kyungsoo came out of the bathroom dressed in a simple blue pajama shirt and pants. Chanyeol had decided not to comment how Kyungsoo usually liked to sleep in his clothes instead. 

When Kyungsoo saw Chanyeol lying down under the blankets, scrolling through something on his phone. He froze. 

Chanyeol didn't miss the abrupt movement though and looked up to meet Kyungsoo's eyes, "Are you okay?" 

"Oh, it's nothing." But Kyungsoo's eyes were shifting between the bed, Chanyeol, and the door, it was easy to see what was going on in his head.

"Don't worry, I'll sleep in the guest room." Chanyeol said and got out of the bed.

"No you don't uh, you don't have to." Kyungsoo still looked conflicted. 

"It's okay, you should sleep here, maybe you'll remember something." Chanyeol assured him. Kyungsoo nodded back. 

"Okay. Um," Kyungsoo shifted on his feet. "Goodnight Chanyeol." 

"Goodnight Soo." Kyungsoo flinched. "Sorry I'll try not to use nicknames." 

Maybe some other time Chanyeol will tell Kyungsoo of how he also calls him Kyunggie and Dodoro and Ducky when they're together and even satan when he's in a teasing mood.

Kyungsoo looked down, ashamed. "I'm sorry for being like this." 

"It's okay, this will take time." Kyungsoo looked up and gave a tight lip smile. 

"Yeah, goodnight Chanyeol."

And maybe some other time Chanyeol will also tell Kyungsoo how Kyungsoo likes to call him Channie and Yeollie when they're together or how he likes to hit him and call him a dork when he does something 'idiotic'.

"Goodnight." Chanyeol left the bedroom. At least the guest bedroom only had a single bed, it helped fill the void that he wasn't used to having.

~~~

Chanyeol should be given a break though, it's hard to get rid of the past habits he had with his husband. 

Like a sense of privacy. 

"AHHHHHHHH!" Kyungsoo screamed as Chanyeol walked out of the bathroom after his shower, without his towel on. Kyungsoo was standing in their room in the midst of changing his well and his shirt was off. 

The given circumstances probably would've created a mature situation in any other scenario, but not when Kyungsoo was having a mental breakdown and cowering behind his t-shirt in his hands. 

"Your ! ACK YOUR ! Where's your towel AHHHHHHH!" In any other scenario, Chanyeol would've also cooed at how cute Kyungsoo was acting. 

"I'm sorry!" Chanyeol grabbed a hand towel hanging by the doorway of the bathroom and covered himself, barely. "You were okay with this before, we'd change like this." 

"I'm sorry that I'm not used to your !" Kyungsoo screamed again and made a dash for their bedroom door, "