Concert

Love House

Kyungsoo

 

When Friday comes around, Kyungsoo thought he had every answer to every question his heart and his mind might throw at him.

Do you like Jongin?

Yes.

Are you going to choose him for the love villa this weekend?

Yes.

Are you going out on a date with Jongin tonight?

Yes.

Yes, yes, yes.

He finally feels at peace with all of this. His mind and heart worked together for once. It feels good. He doesn’t have to question his entire existence and read into everything others say. He feels fine.

And nobody can bring him down.

Jongin, Baekhyun, and him, are fooling around in the kitchen after lunch. Sehun and Junmyeon have been away all day for work and Chanyeol is playing games in the living room. They’re having a nice cup of iced latte together as they try to predict how this weekend is going to go.

Baekhyun is excited about finally going to the Love Villa. Jongin and Kyungsoo exchange a look.

“So, how does it feel to know you’re having your second weekend in paradise together?” Baekhyun sets his coffee down. He’s smirking at them knowingly.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “I’ll be able to tell you once I’m there.”

“Do you think we’ll share or have our own separate villas?” Baekhyun is talking more to himself than anything else, but Kyungsoo chuckles.

“I don’t think we’ll share… you’re supposed to be getting to know the person you picked.” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Not worrying about other couples.”

“But what if we could have double dates and stuff… although it will just be me and Sehunnie.” Baekhyun chuckles, taking another sip of his coffee.

“You guys are doing that still?” Jongin asks. His eyes flicker between the suddenly very silent figure in the living room and Baekhyun.

“Of course! We promised.” Baekhyun nods. “Otherwise, there are no guarantees of actually going.”

“And what do you think about him?” Kyungsoo stands closer, lowering his voice. “As a potential partner?”

Baekhyun gives it some thought before he replies. He sighs as his eyes wander into the space. “Hmm, I’m not really sure. He’s nice and I enjoy spending time with him. I guess I’ll have to see if something happens this weekend.” He shrugs.

“I see…” Kyungsoo nods. He reminds himself that just because Sehun likes him, it doesn’t mean Baekhyun has to like him back. They’ve been out a few times together, for dinner and other things this past week, but Kyungsoo has the feeling Sehun and Baekhyun’s perspectives of those outings are completely different.

“Argh!”

The three of them turn their heads just in time to see Chanyeol’s screen go red with the letters you died covering most of it. He takes off his headset and groans once again, standing up and walking towards them. Deep frown and pressed lips. Kyungsoo can almost assure that he’s mad about more than just his game.

“Are the kids ganging up on you again?” Jongin chuckles as he watches Chanyeol open the fridge and stare at it. He probably wasn’t looking for anything specific.

Chanyeol sighs. “Yeah, I’m about to give up.”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “Against kids?” He shakes his head, putting what was left of his coffee in the sink. “Come on. I’ll teach them a lesson.”

Chanyeol’s eyebrows almost merge with his hairline. “Really?”

Baekhyun nods as he walks back to the living room. Kyungsoo and Jongin watch as he takes Chanyeol’s spot and puts on the headset, quickly starting a new match. Almost like he flickers a switch, his posture goes from relaxed to alert gamer mode. He goes for kill after kill under Chanyeol’s attentive stare.

The avatar shoots target after target and Baekhyun doesn’t say a single word, while Chanyeol watches him, his jaw now on the floor. It isn’t long until the now victory screen shows up and Chanyeol shakes Baekhyun’s arm.

“What the heck! You’re so good.” He goes back and forth between the screen and Baekhyun’s amused face.

“I’ve played a few times… I can give you a few tips if you want.” Baekhyun gives him the controller once again, standing up.

“We should all play together one day and do the squad more.” Chanyeol jumps out of the couch as well, following Baekhyun around.

“Sorry, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo smiles. “The most I can do is Mario Kart.”

Jongin chuckles, hiding his smile behind his cup. “Me too.”

“Then we can do duo matches.”

Baekhyun smirks. “We’ll see, young grasshopper. We’ll see.” He walks upstairs, not looking back once, but he’s probably painfully conscious of Chanyeol’s eyes on him.

“Well, that’s going… well,” Kyungsoo says.

“I thought so too,” Jongin responds.

Kyungsoo has been to a few concerts in his life, neither of them was rock concerts. So, when he’s standing in front of his full-length mirror with nothing but a simple black t-shirt and dark jeans, he doesn’t know how to proceed. His other option was a black shirt and he felt it was too formal for a live show.

He sighs.

This is the best he can do for now. He doesn’t have any clothes for it and there isn’t any time to go shopping anymore. Kyungsoo grabs his things and walks downstairs to wait for Jongin. Luckily, only Sehun was downstairs, sitting in the living room. He looks a bit more dressed up than usual, so Kyungsoo stares curiously.

“Are you going out?” He asks as he puts his wallet in his back pocket.

Sehun blushes slightly. “Uh… yeah. Baekhyun and I are going out for dinner, I guess.”

Kyungsoo smiles. “You asked him out properly?”

“I did!” Sehun nods. “Junmyeon Hyung helped me figure out a way to ask him.”

Oh, that’s right.

Junmyeon has been helping him out win over Baekhyun.

“Well, good luck. Jongin and I will head out too.”

“Good luck.” Sehun glances over his shoulder, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Kyungsoo huffs. “Shut up.”

Jongin then walks down the stairs, wearing a hoodie and black jeans. Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow, tilting his head as he scans Jongin’s figure. If anybody has clothes for live show performing, that should definitely be him.

Jongin nods in Sehun’s direction before turning to look at Kyungsoo. “Are you ready?”

Kyungsoo nods. “Ready.”

Jongin pulls out his keys, and leads the way to the door, stopping once they’re outside. Kyungsoo can already see the pink shadow over his cheeks.

“What?” Kyungsoo smiles.

Jongin hesitates for a moment. “Uh… you look good.” He says, taking a step forward just to stop once again. “And you smell nice.”

“Oh.” Kyungsoo looks down at his shoes to hide his grin. “Thank you… you look good too, even wearing a hoodie to your own live show.”

Jongin shoves his hands inside the hoodie’s pockets. “I have something else under this. I was paranoid. Didn’t want the guys to guess my job just by looking at me.”

Kyungsoo laughs. He has to be joking. “Jongin, you dress like that every single day. What would be so different?”

Jongin blinks. “Well, I guess it’s because my brain knows what I’m doing, so I thought the others could tell… like I said, I’m paranoid.”

“I can tell.” Kyungsoo shakes his head.

They finally get in the car, driving to the same place of their first date. Kyungsoo doesn’t know how, but there are even more people than last time. The line at the front door extended all the way down the sidewalk. He frowns as they walk past the people.

“Is your band popular?” Kyungsoo never thought to ask this, even when Jongin considered this a job. That meant they got good money out of it.

“You could say so.” Jongin looks stressed and Kyungsoo doesn’t know why until they approach the entrance. The place is packed. He could barely fit a needle in between all these people. This time around Jongin doesn’t hesitate to hold Kyungsoo’s hand tightly because not doing so meant they were surely going to be separated.

He leads the way inside, navigating through the crowd as he approaches the improvised stage. They already settled instruments and equipment, just waiting for the band to start. Kyungsoo could feel the excitement in the air. People around him are drinking, smoking, and talking. Vibrating with anticipation.

“Kim Jongin, you’re late.” A girl launches forward, punching Jongin’s chest with what seems to be her entire body force, but ends up not looking as painful. She sighs, not even acknowledging Kyungsoo. “We’ve been ready for ages.”

“It’s not even eight o’clock.” Jongin rolls his eyes, letting go of Kyungsoo’s hand only to take off his hoodie. Kyungsoo’s eyes widen when he sees what he’s wearing underneath.

Not that it was a big deal, but wearing a black leather crop top could not be taken lightly, either. Kyungsoo gulps as his eyes drag down the perfectly defined tanned abs. God personally made this man. Kyungsoo is sure.

The girl finally looks at Kyungsoo and she looks back and forth between them as if waiting for an explanation.

“This is uh, Kyungsoo. We’re doing the show together.” Jongin says, turning to Kyungsoo. “This is Sooyoung. Our bass guitar.”

“The best in this city.” She remarks.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Kyungsoo smiles. “I’m excited to see you play.”

“Enjoy the show.” She then shakes her head, whispering her next words. “Out of all of them, you had to pick Jongin? Really?”

Jongin rolls his eyes, making Kyungsoo laugh.

“He’s very nice, honestly.”

“We might know two very different people here.” She huffs and leaves. Jongin narrows his eyes at her departing figure.

“I can have a friend stay here with you,” Jongin says. “This is the best spot to watch, but things might get crazy when everybody is drunk.”

Kyungsoo chuckles. “I can take care of myself.”

“I know but-”

“Have a good time. I’ll be fine.” Kyungsoo assures him. It’s not like he’s ten. “I’ll be cheering from here.”

Jongin takes a deep breath, but he smiles, nodding before disappearing backstage.

A few more minutes go by, and the tension is building up. Kyungsoo thought at most there would be maybe twenty people and he would get to sit in and have dinner like they did last time. The fact that this place was this full speaks volumes about what Jongin really does.

He can almost be a celebrity without him knowing it.

The lights go down and the people around him start cheering as the band approaches the stage. Jongin sits in the back, drumsticks in one hand and hand towel on the other. The Jongin that left him there and this Jongin coming back out to perform are completely different people.

Even with the dim lights, Kyungsoo can see the way he carries himself is different. He sits behind the drum set, setting everything up and adjusting it to the way he likes it. He avoids eye contact with the crowd, face smoothed into an unimpressed look.

Another guy walks over to the microphone and smiles at the crowd, winking at the screaming girls in the back. He has a few tattoos on his arms, of course, less than Jongin but still more than Kyungsoo has ever seen in a person. Sooyoung also takes place next to him, holding her bass guitar.

“Hello, everyone.” The guy speaks into the mic. “Thank you all for coming. My name is Ravi and we’re EXODUS.” The girls go wild once again, yelling things Kyungsoo didn’t think anyone would ever say out loud at a place like this. Ravi laughs, brushing his black hair to the side. Soon he grabs a guitar and waits for Jongin’s queue to play.

The first notes of the first song sound very familiar. It doesn’t take long before Kyungsoo can identify it. The song is from an artist he listens to often, so he didn’t think he would hear that here. Kyungsoo pulls out his phone, recording part of the song. He tries to get a few takes of Ravi’s singing, and even when his voice is very nice, Jongin is stealing the show completely.

He joins in for the chorus and the way his abs flex at the effort of singing while still playing distracts Kyungsoo more than it should’ve. He records Jongin’s abs more than once.

Please, send help.

Someone.

The song ends, and a new one that he doesn’t recognize starts. He goes along with the music, regardless. Kyungsoo can understand why they’re so popular, they’re just too good. The vocals and background vocals, the instruments, the mood… everything is there.

His eyes collide with Jongin’s at some point and his expression remains the same. However, Kyungsoo can see it.

The hint of a blush.

He smiles and waves at him, still recording everything with his phone. As the night goes by, he can see the way Jongin relaxes. Not that a few drinks didn’t help, but he seems a lot more open with the crowd. Cockier even. A few girls yell his name and he winks in their direction, making them all go crazy.

There’s even a half-smile hanging from his lips.

He’s hot and talented and he knows it. Who is this person? Kyungsoo is honestly fascinated.

Suddenly there’s a tap on Kyungsoo’s shoulder and he looks back to find none other than Baekhyun and Sehun standing there. Kyungsoo is paralyzed, taking a moment to process the fact that they’re there, and Jongin is on stage, playing to his heart’s content.

How did they know?

“What are you guys doing here?” Kyungsoo yells over the music, trying to get the other two to hear. Neither of them has noticed Jongin’s presence on stage.

“We had dinner down the street and heard the music, so we decided to check it out,” Baekhyun says, as he looks around. “Where’s Jongin?”

“Holy cow,” Sehun says. They follow his stare, leading, of course, to Jongin.

“What?” Baekhyun’s eyes widen. He rubs them once, then twice, before he looks at Jongin again. “He… what?”

“We’ll explain later,” Kyungsoo replies. He would have to think of something, otherwise, he doesn’t know how to proceed. The show has rules, however, neither of those said what would happen if any of them caught each other at work. It was a coincidence, so they couldn’t blame them for that.

Right?

The rest of the show goes by under Sehun’s and Baekhyun’s shocked stares. Jongin is still in his element, completely oblivious to them until they do their last song and he looks for Kyungsoo among the crowd again. Kyungsoo notices the change in his expression when he sees the other two. He tries to smile reassuringly.

Once the song is over and they do their closing, Jongin quickly approaches them. Eyes frenetically going from Kyungsoo to the other pair.

“Uh…” He’s speechless. Kyungsoo would be too.

“So you really are a rockstar.” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. Kyungsoo can see the mischief in his eyes. “I had my suspicions, but wow.”

“What are you wearing?” Sehun questions.

Jongin’s arms wrap around his stomach immediately. “One of my band members thought a crop top would look good.”

“And it was true.” Kyungsoo is too quick to say. Receiving an amused look from Baekhyun.

“Listen, we won’t ask too many questions, because I feel like this is something we shouldn’t know… based on how you panicked when you saw us.” Baekhyun chuckles. “See you at home. We’ll talk about it later.”

Jongin nods, waving as they leave.

Several people approach him, to either congratulate him on the show or tell him how good he played and looked. Kyungsoo watches all of this from the side, trying his best to not get separated from him, considering the large number of people trying to talk to Jongin.

Eventually, Jongin reaches out for his hand again, excusing himself from the conversations and pulling Kyungsoo towards the exit. He probably forgot his hoodie somewhere, and he’s wearing nothing but the crop top. Kyungsoo tries to not be too distracted by all the skin, but it’s an arduous task.

“Kim Jongin!” a voice calls behind them and Jongin glances over his shoulder. Stopping near the entrance.

“What?” He sighs when Sooyoung walks over, hands on hips, and raised an eyebrow.

“Where are you going?” She flips her hair back. “What are we supposed to do with your stuff?”

“Just leave it all here, I’ll call my mom.” He says. “I’ll take it all back later.”

“Fine, if someone steals your stuff, then don’t come crying to me.” She turns around and heads back inside without waiting for a response.

“Jongin, do what you have to… I can wait.” Kyungsoo squeezes his hand reassuringly. Jongin shakes his head.

“It’s fine. Let’s go back… we have to get ready for the thing.”

“The thing?”

“Yeah, you know…”

Kyungsoo smiles. “The love villa?”

“Yeah, that.” Jongin clears his throat.

“You know, I think it’s cute that you won’t say it out loud, yet you look like you own the world when you’re performing.” Kyungsoo smiles at Jongin’s blushed cheeks.

“So… did you like it?”

“Like what?”

“The show.”

He’s so adorable.

“I loved it.”

…every single contestant who has been to the Love Villa will not be allowed to choose their previous partner in this matching session…

That’s what it said.

The letter they received with instructions for that weekend’s matching session.

Kyungsoo reads it repeatedly, his stomach sinking. Trying to see if the words change the next time, but they don’t. He looks at Jongin, standing next to him with a stunned expression that Kyungsoo is sure his own face is reflecting.

They can’t choose each other.

“This is unexpected,” Baekhyun says, standing by the mailboxes. “I’ve never seen this happen in previous seasons.”

“They’re trying to make things spicy,” Chanyeol says, glancing over at Junmyeon who’s sitting on the couch, reading a book. “They’re pushing for new options, I guess.”

Jongin frowns. He takes his letter and runs upstairs.

That morning, Kyungsoo thought he had every answer he needed.

He honestly had high hopes for the weekend and now they were gone.

“What are you going to do?” Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo gazes at him, fingers holding on to the letter still.

He takes a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

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OdetteSwan
909 streak #1
Chapter 21: Baekhyun and Jongin are definitely competing for Kyungsoo's attention. My best friend used to call my boyfriend back then her rival.
I love the lessons they got from the show.
Thank you so much for sharing.
OdetteSwan
909 streak #2
Chapter 4: They picked each other after week 1. Jongin, despite his tough exterior, seems to be a blushing school girl. I can't wait to be with them in the Love Villa.
OdetteSwan
909 streak #3
Chapter 1: Just started reading this. Looks interesting.
Nicole121314 #4
Chapter 21: Hahaha. Their reunion says it all. Love this story. Thank you so much
Nicole121314 #5
Chapter 20: So cute KaiSoo as always hehe
Nicole121314 #6
Chapter 19: In real life, i also want to taste Kyungsoo's cooking...
Nicole121314 #7
Chapter 18: They've become so close and im sure it will be hard for them to leave. But of course they can stil contact each other after the show.
Nicole121314 #8
Chapter 17: They're all so weird haha
Diraunnie #9
Chapter 18: It is a lovely chapter. It is good to see all of them having fun together.
chanlily2109 #10
Chapter 16: When you update Dear Author