Kai yawns widely as he totters towards the north entrance of the busy station. His hands are stuffed in his pockets and he hunches slightly. He looks up as he hears his name. As he approaches his boyfriend, the color slowly drains from his face.

Fan girls.

Every morning. We’re always surrounded by girls, he scoffs mentally. They’re not the same ones from yesterday either. He looks over at Kyungsoo’s face. His face looks weird today... He was acting strange yesterday too.

Thinking about what could possibly be troubling Kyungsoo, only one name comes to Kai’s mind:

Luhan.

Kai writes the name absentmindedly into his math notebook. Only this person, yup. He feels a tinge of anger and frustration and scribbles the name out vigoriously. Realizing what he’s done, he quickly slams his notebook shut. What the heck was I doing?! He rubs his hands back and forth through his hair, tousling it. This is... a betrayal...

“Kai!”

He makes a face when he hears his name. “What’s with that expression?” Suho questions.

“Nothing!” he responds, exasperated. Suho takes in his friend’s messy hair and condition as he reaches into his pocket.

“Seeing as how you’re so down, I have something for you~” he sings. “Are you free next weekend?”

“Huh?” Kai looks up at his friend through his fringe, curious. “Probably, I guess. What do you want to do? Go somewhere?”

“Nope,” Suho replies, cheerfully. “It’s just that, when I helped my sister carry some things the other day, she gave me this.” He holds out a colorful piece of cardstock. “I’m giving this to you.”

The younger boy looks at the paper, inspecting it. “A special movie preview pass for two?”

“Yup, it’s only valid for that time period but you can ask whoever you want to go with you since I’ve been busy recently.”

Kai’s face lights up with a huge grin. “Really? You’re giving it to me? And it’s free?” He happily stares at the small piece of paper.

Suho eyes him suspiciously. “Do you have a girlfriend now?”

Kai stops, the happy expression disappearing from his face as he quickly wonders if Suho has figured him out. “Huh? Why do you ask?”

Suho tilts his head to one side and brings his thumb up to his lips. “I had a feeling just now... How do I say this... as though you already have someone in mind to invite.” He notices Kai’s shocked expression and snaps his fingers as he pieces everything together. “Aha? I was right then?”

⥈⥈⥈

His eyes are blank as he stares at Kyungsoo. He lets out a heavy sigh, fogging up a circular portion of the glass enclosing the swimming pool and decides to get closer. He shuffles slowly to the familiar metal benches and breathes in the chlorinated air. Kyungsoo notices him then, waving to the other members he was previously talking with and going over to his boyfriend.

“Is that really okay? Coming over here?” Kai asks, looking up from his seat.

“Yeah, we’re going one-by-one according to the chart so we can move around while waiting for our turn.” He notices the spiral-bound sketchbook sitting on the bench. “Kai, you’re taking art? Wow. You have a love for art then?”

The younger boy scoffs. “If I did then you’d actually have something to be surprised about! I’m only taking this class because there aren’t any exams.” He reaches into his pocket and feels the smooth texture of the piece of cardstock. “Ah, that’s right. Do you wanna go to this movie preview thing?”

“Movie preview... thing?” Kyungsoo tilts his head to the side, confused. Then he points at Kai and back to himself, mouthing ‘you... and me?’

“Yup, I’ve got passes,” Kai replies, smiling.

“Hm, when is it?”

“Next weekend, I think...” Kai looks down at the paper and reads the dates. “Ah, I was right. So, you wanna go?” He looks up from the paper and his heart sinks as he takes in Kyungsoo’s dark expression.

Kyungsoo averts his eyes. “...Uh... next weekend...”

“Yah! Kyungsoo! It’s your turn!” one of the members calls.

“Coming!” He responds. Kai can feel his stomach turning. “This matter... we’ll talk about it later,” Kyungsoo says, jogging back to the pool. Kai fingers the paper gently, sadness filling him. He gets up to leave.

Upon exiting the pool he tenses up as a voice cuts through his thoughts. “What was that?”

“That didn’t look like a normal conversation between a sunbae and hoobae...” Baekhyun continues. Kai attempts to run away but is caught in the hallway. “We were looking for you so we could walk to class together and here you are with Kyungsoo. Are you thinking of becoming the enemy of females?”

Kai turns and slickly runs his fingers through his hair, smirking. “Ah, Baekhyun-ah, even though I could be considered beautiful, surely it’s nothing of that sort.” Kai then notices the incredibly tall person standing just behind Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Oh! Chanyeol from our art class? What are you guys doing here, anyway?”

“Yeah! Glad you remember me,” his deep voice booms. “Haaa~ that Kyungsoo, I just wanna eat him up~!” He coos, making a creepy expression. 

Baekhyun looks up at him with a disgusted look on his face. “Don’t do that. Saying it like that will make people believe that it’s true.”

Chanyeol heartily laughs, “Maybe I should try hard next week!”

As they’re walking to class, Kai can’t help but finger the movie pass again. Next week...

⥈⥈⥈

“...For you,” Kai says, turning his back on Kyungsoo as he starts to walk away down the stone steps. “You can go with the person you’re dating next week.” Kyungsoo watches as the younger boy puts more distance between them, the gentle breeze ruffling his hair. Kai continues with a sad smile, “Unless you’re planning on inviting Luhan that is.” He turns and looks up the stairs when he realizes that the other boy isn’t following him. Kyungsoo has a dark and apprehensive expression on his face as he’s crushing the brightly colored pass. “You... you still like him, don’t you? No matter what you won’t give up, right?”

The older boy clenches his teeth as the frustration builds up slowly with each word Kai utters. “...Why? Why must you say those kinds of things?” he finally chokes. “Yesterday when you got mad at me... saying that you were the one who is dating me right now... I felt... really happy.” He shuts his eyes and drops his head.

Kai, dumbfounded by the words, just stares up at him and thinks, It’s funny... but when he says it like that... it doesn’t sound refined in the least. Even so... Why do I feel like going up to the boy in front of me... and just holding him in a tight embrace? He moves up the stairs slowly.

Eyes still clenched shut, Kyungsoo brings his palm up to his face and mumbles.

“Why must it be so difficult? Liking someone is really... just too complicated.”

They’re standing right in front of each other now as Kai takes a breath, misunderstanding just who Kyungsoo was referring to, and responds with a small laugh, “That’s because you have no judgement!” The older boy opens his eyes in shock. “Because Kyungsoo doesn’t know how to judge people. Man. If the girls in school knew about Luhan then they’d be devastated.”

The mood is suddenly lighter now but Kyungsoo still feels heaviness in his chest. “Kai... do people often tell you that you’re really slow?”

Said boy makes a surprised face, “Eh?! How’d you know?” His sunbae smiles slightly and walks passed him on the steps.

“Looking at just your face, people think that you’re a very detached and beautiful person. In truth, Kai is very careless... doing things rashly without thinking.”

Kai looks up into the trees showing their autumn foliage and sadly thinks, He’s perceptive... I’ve... already been told the same thing many times... by countless people.”

“Furthermore, Kai is very straightforward and tends to move his mouth even before he begins to think...”

But then... I can’t help it, can I?

“... And because you’re always doing things without thinking, you’re also very forgetful.”

Because that’s the way I am.

Kai recalls his first girlfriend and the words she told him as they were breaking up.

….Sunbae’s personality... makes me feel... very disappointed.

A flurry of emotions bombard him as he tries to predict Kyungsoo's next words. Surely they will be the same as all of his other girlfriend's.

“Kai’s personality... I think is... very likeable.”