"Yobseyo?"
"Missed me?" A smile crept on Kris' face as he heard the familiar deep voice.
"No."
"Jerk," Kris's smile grew wider as he pictured the speaker on the other end pouting, "Can I borrow a minute?"
"Of course."
***
"I. Love. You." Kris grinned at the boy's animated greeting. Chanyeol sped up from the distance as he saw the food that Kris' had brought with him. He sat down on the grass beside the blond and dug into the food scattered on the picnic blanket without looking up.
"Yum! You want some?" Kris' grin grew wider as he saw Chanyeol speak with his mouth full.
"I already ate."
"More for me then," Chanyeol smiled with his eyes.
Kris was content. They were at their usual spot by the hill, where a single tree and an old bench stood. For some reason, they've never used that bench. Chanyeol preferred to sit on the ground, stretching his long legs. Kris would bring food for Chanyeol while Chanyeol would bring himself for Kris. They'd sit with each other in their bubble, perfectly happy by just being with each other. Then they would talk for a while. Sometimes all night long. It was Kris' favourite activity in the world.
He looked at the skyline in the distance, the scattered city lights sparkling in the dark horizon. It was a clear sky with no clouds. The moon was out, glowing elegantly in the sky as the queen of the night. But the real beauty in Kris' eyes were the stars,  shining modestly in the sky's black canvas. He leaned back and laid on the grass with his hands crossed behind his head to get a better look at the night sky. It was perfect.
Kris lit a cigarette.
Chanyeol widened his eyes disapprovingly, "What happened to 'I'll try and quit'?"
Kris breathed out the smoke with a soft sigh, "There's some things you just can't quit."
Chanyeol scoffed and rolled his eyes before looking away, oblivious to Kris' longing stare on him. Kris knew that the distracted boy would stay oblivious almost indefinitely and the thought broke his heart. He decided to change the topic.
"You're in a good mood."
"Guess what?"
Kris' heart was racing so loudly at the sight of Chanyeol's blinding smile that he was afraid the younger would hear. The moment was short-lived though as Kris realised that only one person on earth could cause Chanyeol to smile so blissfully, and it wasn't him, "What?"
"Baekhyun asked me to move in with him!" Chanyeol squealed.
"You said yes?" Kris didn't know why he asked when he already knew the answer.
The excited boy nodded eagerly, "I'm moving in next week."
"So soon?" Kris kept his eyes on the blinking stars above, hardly caring about the conversation now.
"Yeah," Chanyeol smiled contently.
You'd probably hoped for even sooner, Kris thought bitterly.
"Baekhyun's place is quite a while away from yours. It's going to take a lot longer for you to get to work."
"Yeah...about that…" Chanyeol swallowed his last sip of juice before giving a hesitant reply, "I'm thinking of quitting my job…"
"What?!" Kris sat up instantly and he widened his eyes in disbelieve, "Why?"
"Just...there's a problem…"
Kris rolled his eyes and relaxed back down to the grass, cupping the back of his head with his interlinked hands, "More like Baekhyun has a problem. He wants you to quit?"
Chanyeol bit his lips and nodded, "He thinks that we're not seeing each other enough because of work. He wants me to stop working and stay at home instead."
Kris scoffed, "What, like some house-husband?"
"Maybe. I guess you have to make sacrifices to maintain a relationship."
"You're sacrificing way more things than he ever did for this relationship."
"I dunno...it could be a good thing. It means that we're heading to a more serious and steady stage, right?"
"If you want to think of it like that, then yeah," Kris' voice came out louder and angrier than he expected, the growing annoyance evident in his tone.
"Are you mad?" Chanyeol looked at Kris, who was avoiding his eyes, with a worried frown.
"No, why would I be?" He lied. Kris thought that he had no reason, no right to be angry. But that didn't stop him feeling that way.
Chanyeol laid down beside the blond on the grass. They stayed like that for a while, silently listening to each other's breathing and heartbeat.
"Let's go home," He finally said.
"I'll walk you."
Chanyeol widened his eyes, "You got time?"
Kris sat up and gave Chanyeol his brightest smile, "Always."
***
"Where've you been?"
"Out."
"Out where?" Kris looked up briefly to flash a quick smile at his brother before focussing his attention back on untying his shoelaces with his long and clumsy fingers.
Seeing those smiling eyes, Luhan scoffed and wondered why he even bothered asking. He frowned as he saw Kris' shaking hand reach up to him, silently pleading for the elder to pull him up from his kneeling position. With a heavy sigh, he bent down slightly and wrapped his arms around the lanky boy's tiny waist to help him stand.
"You don't understand," Kris mumbled.
"No, I don't! And I never will," Luhan raised his voice, irritated at his stubborn brother, "What the hell do you see in him?"
Kris smiled softly and answered with his deep, mellow voice.
"Absolutely everything."
***
"Yobseyo?"
"Where are you?"
"At home."
"Can I borrow a minute?"
Kris smiled, "I'll meet you there."
***
It was another quiet night at their usual spot. To Kris' dismay, it was a cloudy evening. The sky was dull and lifeless without the scattered stars. Kris kept his eyes on the seemingly empty sky nonetheless. Chanyeol tilted his head in confusion at the sight.
"The stars aren't there, hyung. What are you looking at?"
Kris smiled, "Oh, they're out there alright, balls of lava burning in space. Just because we can't see them doesn't mean that they're not there. A lot of things are like that. Like oxygen."
His eyes suddenly became longing again and yearned for Chanyeol to hear the hidden meaning in his words.
Like my love for you.
But he was disappointed.
Kris sighed silently at the hopeless brunette and returned to look at the night sky. For a while, the cool breeze was the only thing that filled the silent atmosphere.
"How long have we known each other?"
Kris spun his head to face Chanyeol once more and paused to think with crooked eyebrows, "Just over 6 years?"
"Wow. That long?"
"Yeah, time flies and all that ."
"Do you think we've changed a lot?"
Kris chuckled, "Yeah. We're not young and stupid college kids anymore. We actually have a job and a life."
"I still like to think that we're the same stupid kids we once were."
"Maybe. I guess you're still the same idiotic failure that you were when I first met you," Kris grinned and ruffled the brunette's messy hair.
"Are you sick of me yet?"
Kris laughed and didn't reply. Chanyeol's face suddenly became solemn and serious, his tone unusually stern, "Answer it."
Kris smiled, "Of course not. I wouldn't be sat here almost every other night to hang out with you if I was."
The grim frown on Chanyeol's face did not go away with Kris' light-hearted yet sincere words.
"What's up with you today?"
Chanyeol's eyes were slowly watering and Kris' heart muscle tightened to see him like this. The same person that could make Chanyeol's smile light up an entire city was the same person that could collapse that smile and break Chanyeol's heart within the blink of an eye.
"Baekhyun and I had a fight today."
Kris sighed, but he was not surprised. He suppressed the urge to say "again?" and decided to just go along with it, "What about?"
"I asked him when I could meet his parents. I mean, we've been together--on and off, for about a year now. We bloody live together! I told him I don't want to hide our relationship anymore. Then...he snapped," Chanyeol's tears fell silently down his pale cheeks. Kris' heart was so compressed that it ached with every single beat, but he tried his best to look as calm as possible. He pulled the brunette closer to him and wrapped his arms around him. Chanyeol rested his head on the familiar shoulder and sobbed quietly