“What’s up with you?”

Kai looked up and saw his roommate, Kyungsoo, standing in the doorway. For the past few days, the dancer had been sulking, everyone in the house could tell. He would drag himself around everywhere, not really talking to anyone, and not smiling for anything.

“It’s complicated.” Kai sighed, rolling onto his stomach and stuffing his head into his pillow.

Kyungsoo walked over to Kai’s bed and sat down, placing a comforting hand on the younger’s back. “So tell me. I have nothing to do all day.”

Kai pushed at his friend, but when his friend didn’t move, he gave up and rolled over so he was facing the ceiling. “Yixing won’t talk to me.”

“Yixing?” Kyungsoo didn’t recognize the name. Out of everyone who lived in the apartment, Kyungsoo spent the least amount of time there. He preferred exploring Seoul instead of staying at home during his free time. “Oh, that Chinese guy Chanyeol says you’re in love with?”

“I’m not in love with him.” Kai could feel his cheeks heat up a little bit.

Kyungsoo chuckled and pinched the younger’s cheek, “Fine, so he’s the Chinese dancer who you like?”

Kai nodded, “And he won’t talk to me.”

“What did you do?”

Kai sat up angrily, “What makes you think that it was my fault? Why didn’t you ask what did he do?”

“Well, first off he’s the one who won’t talk to you. Doesn’t it seem a bit foolish to offend someone and then ignore them?” Kyungsoo pointed out. “Second, it’s always your fault. So once again, what did you do?”

“I’m not even sure.” Kai jumped off the bed so he could begin pacing. “I mean I found a way to guarantee us what he want, and he just threw it away. Sure it may not be the most moral thing I’ve ever done, but he’s never seen some of these guys dance before. I mean this is huge, and I wouldn’t do this if I knew we’d be able to do it – but that’s just the thing, I’m not sure we can.”

Kyungsoo watched as Kai continued to pace back and forth, not understand what the younger was talking about. All his sentences seemed jumbled together and like they were in a foreign language. Plus Kai never really said what he did wrong, he talked around the problem more than talking about it.

“So do you see what my problem is?” Kai finished up.

“The fact that you’re certifiably insane?” Kyungsoo laughed. “What’s wrong with you? None of that made any sense. Can you just tell me, in one simple sentence, what you did?”

“I offered a way for Yixing and I to for sure pass the auditions at the end of the week, but he hates me for it.” Kai sighed and collapsed onto his bed next to Kyungsoo.

“How’d you be able to do that?”

The younger boy looked down and began fiddling with his thumbs, “Something that’s very frowned upon.”

“Something you don’t like,” Kyungsoo concluded. “I can tell, why aren’t you even looking at me?”

“Because it’s a bad thing,” Kai admitted. “But our futures can rely on this. This could lead to so many different opportunities for us, I just want to make sure we get it.”

Kyungsoo ruffled Kai’s hair. “It’s sweet of you to be thinking of both of your futures, but if you go through with this, it sounds like you two can’t have a future together. If you go this, I don’t think your friend will ever talk to you again.” He then checked the time. “You’d better decide fast though, you’ve got only ten minutes before your rehearsal starts.”

Kai jumped to his feet, “Why didn’t you tell me? Were you just gonna let me whine all night? I’m gonna be late!”

The dancer changed as fast as possible and ran to the company building. He was late, but luckily, it was only by a few minutes so all he got was a quick glare from the choreographer. But after that, no one seemed to care that he was late. Heck, Yixing never even looked at him except for a second when he first arrived.

“So, trouble in paradise?” Taemin walked over to Kai during their break. The older dancer had watched Kai walk up to Yixing, only to be ignored.

“You make it sound like we’re a couple,” Kai retorted, but inside, he was surprised Taemin was even talking to him.

“Aren’t you guys?” Taemin asked.

Kai shook his head, “No, we’re just friends.” He then turned to Taemin and noticed the older looked happy with this news, “What’s with the smile?”

“I thought we lost you to the dark side.” Taemin chuckled.

“The dark side?” Kai suddenly felt very offended. “What part would be the dark side? The part where I’m gay or if I was dating Yixing?”

“Dude, calm down,” Taemin took a step back. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you mean it, Taemin?”

Taemin rolled his eyes, “You’re such a drama queen, Kai. I already knew you were gay.”

“So then what’s your problem with Yixing?” Kai was glaring daggers at his old best friend. After this, Taemin would be lucky if the younger even considered him just a friend.

“You’ve obviously been in love with him since the day he first got here!” Taemin was so mad, his voice was loud enough for the entire room to hear. “I had been so close to you and I was working so hard on tearing down that wall you had around yourself, and suddenly he comes out of nowhere and you suddenly only had eyes for him! And the worst part was, you didn’t even realize it! Do you really think I didn’t notice you staying after rehearsal to watch him? After all I did for you, you just went to him despite the fact you never even talked to him!”

Kai froze. Did that mean-

“And you never even noticed me once.” And with that, Taemin stormed out of the room.

Despite the fact they were in the middle of fighting, Yixing had watched everything and couldn’t just stand back. So he walked over to his friend, “Are you okay?”

Kai shook his head, still shocked. “I don’t know what just happened. I mean, I never thought- I didn’t realize-it just- I don’t know what just happened.”

“Come on,” Yixing pulled him towards the door, “I think you need some fresh air.”