Ever since Kai and Kyungsoo got locked up in the music practice room together, they developed a persistent albeit tentative friendship. 

Kai would stand outside the music room after school, waiting for Kyungsoo to come out so they could walk back home together. Kyungsoo would also often wait outside the dance room for Kai, and this somehow became a daily routine. Sometimes, they would sneak out to have lunch together under the huge oak tree in the school grounds. Kyungsoo would cook food for them and Kai would try not to devour them all in one go, while Kyungsoo watched on proudly. Sometimes, when Kai had a muscle sprain from dancing, Kyungsoo would fret like an anxious mother hen and rush to the nearest pharmacy to get him muscle sprain medicine, and he would gently apply it on Kai's sprain, trying not to blush under the gorgeous tanned male's intense stare. And sometimes, when Kyungsoo had sore throat from singing, Kai would silently fret, even rushing to his mother and asking her for the best homemade remedies and immediately resort to making honey and lemon juice for Kyungsoo. He would shyly hand the homemade juice to Kyungsoo, informing him to drink liberal amounts of it to soothe his throat.

They were perfect for each other. They just didn't see it yet. 

Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Sehun practically had to restrain Luhan from knocking their heads together and screaming "Just kiss already!"

One day, Kai was standing outside the music room, patiently waiting for Kyungsoo to come out. However, after an hour, he grew slightly anxious and tentatively walked inside the music room, wondering if Kyungsoo was actually inside. The music room was completely empty, and this only grew to his worries. He asked around but apparently, no one had seen him. Kai ran a hand through his hair in frustrated, his dark eyes anxiously surveying the school grounds, trying to catch a glimpse of the shorter male. After half an hour of desultory searching, he was in a state of deep turbulence, trying not to ponder the ramifications of the Kyungsoo's whereabouts.

The rain had begun to pour down, the raindrops pattering onto the ground, enraptured by the dim lights of the sky and the disappearance of the once igneous sun. Everyone had already ducked into well-lit buildings, desperately seeking refuge from the harsh icy rain. Kai was the only one left outside, still walking around trying to search for Kyungsoo, but to no avail. He had tried calling Kyungsoo but no one had answered, causing him to make a desperate call to Baekhyun. 

"Hello?"

"Baekhyun, it's me. Do you know where Kyungsoo is? He's disappeared." Kai tried to not let his travail appear in his tone, but his efforts had been translucent. 

"No, I don't. But it's the 17th of September."

"What?" Kai blustered out, completely subjected to a state of depredation. "What does the date got to do with this anyway?"

"Don't you know?" Baekhyun said slowly, as if trying to explain the laws of quantum physics to an oaf. "Kyungsoo's mother died on the 17th of September. Every year, on this day, he disappears off and no one knows where he is, even his own father. He usually comes back at the end of the day, so you don't need to worry too much."

"How can I not worry? It's raining and he's out in god knows where, doing god knows what and oh my God, I'm going absolutely crazy." Kai buried his face in his hands, and as the rain poured down, soaking him to the bone. For the first time in his entire life, Kai feels totally vulnerable and exposed to the world and the defences that he had so copiously tried to build up had crumbled into dust. The raindrops were so cold against his skin, piercing through him with icy determination and Kai felt himself sink into abject torpidation.

He remembered that dark night in the music room, when Kyungsoo told him about his mother. 

"She was a brilliant pianist. She traveled all across the world to perform in grand concert halls. My entire childhood consisted of me and my father sitting in front of the TV, watching her perform. Whenever she played the piano, she looked like she was in another world altogether, as if her entire soul had somehow transported itself into another dimension. I guess I wanted to be wherever she was."

"She died in a car crash. She just finished a performance in Carnegie Hall in New York and she was thrilled. She was so excited to come back to Korea and spend time with us, but I guess fate doesn't work that way." 

Kai bit back a frustrated groan as he continued searching.

Just then, he heard a faint sniffle and he immediately turned around, craning his neck for the source of that sound. He found Kyungsoo leaning against an oak tree at the outskirts of the school grounds with a miserable look on his face. Kai stormed over, ready to explode with pent up frustration and rage. 

"ARE YOU INSANE!?"

Kyungsoo jerked his head up, his eyes widening in shock as he spotted Kai storming over, his dark eyes blazing with fury. 

"What the did you do think you were doing!? Do you have any idea how worried I was? Why are you here outside in the rain where you can easily catch a cold or get struck by lightning? Do you know how anxious I was? I thought I was going to die! Why do you always do this to me? Why do you always make me so ing worried about you? Do you have any idea how it feels, do you? Apparently you don't, because you don't care, right? Yeah, that's right, apparently I'm the only one who actually cares, thinking that I was going to die of worry, while you're out here getting soaked, not giving a damn about the world... or me."

Kai trailed off, choking slightly with emotion. 

Kyungsoo just whispers softly, his voice almost disappearing alongside the rain. "I'm sorry."

They remain like that for a few seconds, their eyes locked on each other, chests heaving with emotion.

Kai was the first to break the moment. "Oh, screw this." He growls as he walks over, grabbing Kyungsoo's wrist and in a fluid motion, pulling Kyungsoo into him. Kyungsoo froze up in shock as Kai kisses him roughly, crashing his lips onto his own. It was a carnal kiss, full of underlying emotion and pent up frustration, and when Kai deepens the kiss, Kyungsoo responds.

Kai wraps his arms around Kyungsoo tightly and Kyungsoo reciprocates, allowing Kai to drag him into depths that he has never known before. Kai pushes Kyungsoo against the oak tree and Kyungsoo feels the impact, his back colliding harshly with the rough surface of the tree's bark, but he doesn't care. All he cared about was Kai's lips moving against his own in unfamiliar patterns, deeming them lucent under the harsh clutches of the rain. 

And when they finally break apart panting heavily, their eyes were still fixated on each other, darkening rapidly with lust and desire yet still stirring the deeper emotions that lay within. 

Kai reached out and held his hand, intertwining their fingers together. "I love you."

When a full minute passes by and Kyungsoo still hasn't answered, he shifts nervously and mumbles, "It's okay if you don't feel the same-" His sentence got cut off as this time Kyungsoo was the one to crush him against the tree instead, kissing him roughly. Kai smirks when he realizes Kyungsoo's answer and kisses back, his arms tightening around the shorter male. The rain continues to pour, but this time, it felt like it was creating its own boundary, sealing them into their own little infinity and tramping them to the perpetual journey to forever. They were broken, they were damaged, but at that very moment, they were infinite.

"I love you too, Jongin."

Kai smiles upon hearing his real name and presses his forehead to Kyungsoo, silently vowing to never let go again.