As the sky turned midnight blue, Jongin whispered, "Thank you, hyung."

 

"Shhhh." Kyungsoo said and snuggled closer as Jongin gave a contented sigh. Kyungsoo had been coming to this spot for years but for some reason, he had always come here on his own - watched all those sunsets on his own. For no reason he could fathom, he'd never shared this corner of his existence with anyone till today. Corny as it seemed, it was almost as if he'd known somehow that he was supposed to wait for the right person.

 

"And you said I was a romantic." Jongin suddenly remarked as he Kyungsoo's arm.

 

"But you are, Jongin. And I'm totally not a romantic. I'm as practical and dull as they come. Like a newspaper to your romance novel."

 

"Sunsets by the sea are neither practical nor dull, hyung." Jongin nudged his ribs. 

 

"Ouch, that hurt." Kyungsoo complained. And as he made a big show of whining and pointing at his so-called injured ribs, Jongin turned his body to face him, shutting him up by covering his mouth with his own. Their tongues tangled sensually with each other but where the kisses in the elevator had been fevered and urgent, tonight's kisses were luxuriantly slow and unhurried - and yet every bit as precious to them both. 

 

Jongin's palm made lazy circles over the small of Kyungsoo's back, chuckling as he said, "Hi, Crong."

 

"Are you laughing at me? You are totally laughing at me." 

 

"I'm not! I love Crong but you have to admit he's an unusual choice for a tattoo. Don't be mad, hyung. I find it really hot that you have a tattoo - I don't much care about the shape to be honest, but the fact that it's Crong? That just makes it even more special. Just one more thing we have in common and oh my God that was so cheesy, can I take it back?" Jongin groaned into Kyungsoo's chest, "I wanna take it back ... I'm taking it back."

 

"Not letting you." Kyungsoo remarked just before his stomach made a loud and melodramatic growl, "I think it's time we got some food. Veggie burgers?"

 

"Veggie burgers?! Why do you want to spoil a perfectly good evening with veggie burgers? Hot dogs, hyung. Let's go find some hot dogs."

 

"But they're oily?" Kyungsoo complained.

 

"That's the point!" Jongin laughed as he pulled him up from the wooden planking and dragged him along amid cries of "my cholesterol levels are going to soar" and "my arteries are going to clog up" and "you're paying for my medical bills if I get heart disease."

 

"I'll take care of the bills, hyung, I promise! Now let's go get the greasiest hot dogs we can find,"

 

"Nooooooooo ..."

 

* * *

 

Deciding that neither one of them wanted to give up the moonlit ambience of the pier, Kyungsoo and Jongin rode to the nearest hotdog stand they could find and bought two hotdogs to go so they could eat down at the pier. Kyungsoo had made some token protests about the greasiness but it was fast becoming apparent to him that he wasn't very good at saying no to Jongin.

 

Kyungsoo had told the hotdog vendor not to slather his hotdog with relish or ketchup or mustard in his desperate attempt to save some empty calories. Jongin had shaken his head in disgust and later persuaded Kyungsoo into taking a bite of his hotdog, which was smothered in every unhealthy topping imaginable.  Predictably, Kyungsoo gave an extremely disgruntled acknowledgement that Jongin's hotdog tasted better, while Jongin made a half-assed attempt to stifle the smile that threatened to appear on his lips. 

 

"Have another bite," he offered his mustard and relish drenched hotdog but Kyungsoo resisted - shaking his head in a resolute no. Not ready to give up, Jongin dangled it near Kyungsoo's nostrils until the latter eventually caved in and took a grudging bite. Wordlessly, Jongin tore off a chunk of his hotdog and gave it to Kyungsoo, before tearing a similar sized chunk of Kyungsoo's much drier, much healthier hotdog for himself. 

 

"Hyung, can I just order you a hotdog with everything on it next time? Because hotdogs aren't hotdogs without pickles and mustard," Jongin made a face as he bit into Kyungsoo's much blander hotdog.

 

"Fine." Kyungsoo said sheepishly as he savored the intense smoky flavors of Jongin's hotdog. "I swear my cholesterol levels have gone up by 50% since met you."

 

"Well, we're even then. I think mine have gone down by 50%!" Jongin grumbled as he chewed unhappily on Kyungsoo's hotdog. 

 

* * *

 

Food finished, Kyungsoo and Jongin lay side by side on the end of the jetty, feet facing the sea so they could see the star spangled horizon. Jongin's left hand in his, Kyungsoo rhythmically painted elongated circles on its smooth caramel surface.

 

"Jongin-ah, I hope you don't think I'm a cheapskate." Kyungsoo sighed regretfully, "I should have brought you to a nice cafe or restaurant and instead we're sitting here, out in the open, and fortunately not getting eaten alive by mosquitoes ... But I guess I wanted to show you the sunset here at Templeton Pier. I've never actually brought anyone here before. It's kind of my special place." Kyungsoo covered his eyes after his impromptu confession, feeling a little embarrassed. Jongin propped himself up on his elbows and gently peeled Kyungsoo's hand away from his eyes, trapping it in his own.

 

"Thank you, hyung, for bringing me here. For someone who's supposed to be unromantic, you know all the most romantic spots," Jongin remarked teasingly, "First there was the boardwalk with the fairy lights ... and then this place."

 

"Well, it wasn't about romance for me. They used to be places I could go to just to be alone and empty my head of all my thoughts ... and just be quiet I guess."

 

"And now?" Jongin brushed Kyungsoo's hair away from his eyebrows - the pale expanse of his forehead taking on a bluish glow in the moonlight.

 

"They're romantic places I can go to with you," Kyungsoo laughed before adding, "I know what you're going to say - hyung, you're so cheesy!" And Jongin laughed too, kissing first his forehead, then his nose, then stopping at his lips for a lingering kiss (like that wasn't cheesy, Kyungsoo thought indulgently). Finally, he settled his cheek comfortably on Kyungsoo's chest, draping his arm loosely around the other man's waist. 

 

"What are you thinking of?" Kyungsoo asked as he caressed Jongin's hair.

 

"How loud your heartbeat sounds." Jongin's voice was laced with contentment. Kyungsoo's hand stopped for a second then continued its ministrations. They just lay there for a while - looking up at the silver sequined, inky sky. 

 

This. This was bliss, Kyungsoo thought, as he dragged one hand slowly over the silky black strands of Jongin's hair while the other clasped his shoulder protectively, holding him close. He began softly humming the tune to Pearl Jam's 'Alive' and after five seconds or so, Jongin's low timbre weaved in with his not so low one - Jongin singing the words while Kyungsoo hummed the melody.  

 

Jongin sang the words softly from where he lay, nestled against Kyungsoo's warm chest and staring out to the moonlit sea. Kyungsoo soon abandoned his humming and began voicing the words too. His hand no longer Jongin's hair, cupping the nape of his neck instead as he concentrated on getting the words right. Between the two of them, they managed to remember most of the words and those that they couldn't, they glossed over.

 

"Oh, I, oh, I'm still alive, 

Hey, I, I, oh, I'm still alive ..."

 

When the song was over they just lay there, listening to the murmuring of the nearby sea and the reassuring sounds of each other's breaths and heartbeats. Kyungsoo refused to think about how it was getting late and that the next day was Monday and he'd have to go back to the monotony of his work week. He refused to think about real life because this? This was bliss.

 

The near silence of the night was suddenly shattered by the whine of Billy Corgan's voice as The Smashing Pumpkins' 'Tonight, Tonight' began playing. Kyungsoo felt Jongin's body tense and he rubbed his back in calming as he waited for Jongin to answer the phone. But Jongin didn't move. His muscles were stiff with what felt like anxiety and Kyungsoo just held him tightly, keeping his questions to himself for the moment.

 

"And our lives are forever changed

We will never be the same

The more you change the less you feel

Believe, believe in me, believe

That life can change, that you're not stuck in vain

We're not the same, we're different tonight"

 

Jongin let the phone ring for two verses before the sounds of the Smashing Pumpkins eventually ceased. Then all was quiet again save for the whispering of the waves and the barely-there sounds of Kyungsoo's fingers caressing the back of Jongin's head and his neck. Then they heard two buzzes, about eight seconds apart. Jongin's sigh was disconsolate as he buried his face in Kyungsoo's chest. This wasn't the first, or even the second time Jongin had tried to ignore phone calls but this was nothing at all like his reaction to Luhan's pestering, and Kyungsoo was filled with worry - enough worry that he was not going to leave it this time.

 

"Jongin-ah? You ok?"

 

"Not really." The words were muffled.

 

"Is it your dad?" Kyungsoo asked tentatively and felt Jongin nod his head once.

 

"What can I do to make it better?"

 

"You're already doing it, hyung." 

 

"I want to do more."

 

"You already are." Jongin raised himself up and gave Kyungsoo a wan, dry-eyed smile, "I should see what he wants." He reached for his back pocket and sat up, looking warily at his phone screen.

 

"He wants me to check my email. It's probably information on another job he wants me to apply for." His fingers flew deftly across the screen and then he made a sound that was not quite annoyance, but not resignation either. But one thing was clear to Kyungsoo - Jongin looked so very sad.

 

"It's a position for a Marketing Executive in a meat packaging firm. Me ... In sales. Can you imagine me having to talk to strangers every day? About buying meat in bulk? He doesn't know me at all." Jongin said bitterly. 

 

"I'm sure you don't want to, but will you tell me about your dad and you? I really want to understand." Kyungsoo got up into a sitting position and hugged Jongin from behind - much in the same way he had during the sunset earlier that evening. 

 

"My Appa and me ... We've never been close. He's always been a workaholic so he's never had much time for us. That's partly why Umma and I were so close - because he wasn't around much. And my brother left home when I was eight. He visited pretty often but it was mostly Umma and me."

 

"She's lucky she had you."

 

"More like I was lucky I had her. She was the best." Jongin said wistfully as he played with Kyungsoo's hand.

 

"The day the purple tulips first bloomed, it was a Saturday. Jongho and Jiwon brought Jinki home for a visit. I think Jinki was about two years old then. We were supposed to all eat lunch together on the terrace. It was early spring so the weather was a bit chilly even though the sun was out. The tulips were supposed to bloom the week after that but they were early and the garden was like a sea of purple. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, hyung. And Umma was so excited that morning when she looked out the window and saw them that first time. She was so thrilled she was telling Appa, 'Look! the flowers are here just in time for the kids and little Jinki!' And Appa was like, 'Oh I have to work today. In the city.' I think something died in Umma that day. I mean he was always pulling stuff like that but I think that that was the day she'd had enough. She'd reminded him about the family lunch just the day before and he'd said sure he'd be around. She used to spend a lot of time making excuses for him but that was the day she stopped. In a way it was good, because she stopped waiting for him to change."

 

"Were you ok with that?"

 

"I was relieved to be honest. It was hard seeing her suffer one disappointment after another. You remember that picture you saw in my apartment? That was taken on that same day. I think she was really happy when we took those photos because she'd finally stopped waiting for him to change. Kind of like she decided that we were better off without him there. But knowing Umma, she was sad about it too, deep down inside."

 

"Oh, Jongin." Kyungsoo tightened his arms around him, their cheeks touching. 

 

"I don't hate my father. I just don't exactly love him either because he made my Umma sad. I don't think he does it on purpose - he's just always been detached, and cold where Umma was everything that was warm. By the time I turned 18, I'd accepted that he was never going to be a really supportive or caring kind of father. It's just the way he's wired. But sometimes he can still upset me. He doesn't think being in the florist business is real work so he keeps trying to find me a 'real job'. He refuses to accept that I want to work with flowers because of Umma. They're my strongest connection to her but he can't understand that. And he won't accept it. So that's why I only see him once a year. On his birthday.  And we exchange a few awkward phone calls and businesslike texts a year. And ... Oh God, I can't believe I talked so much. Sorry, hyung. I didn't mean to bore you."

 

"How could I be bored by that, Jongin? It's about you and I want to know everything about you." Kyungsoo moved so he ended up facing Jongin, "Thanks for sharing that with me. I was really worried when you came over on Friday night all upset. I wanted to ask you about it then, but I didn't want to intrude, y'know? But I have been worried. Did it make you feel better to talk about it?" 

 

"I don't know? I guess. It just ... It hurts me a little when my father doesn't know anything about me and won't believe that I know what's best for me." Jongin looked down miserably. 

 

Kyungsoo took his hands in his and said quietly, "I know this sounds cheesy, but I'm always here if you need me, Jongin." Then Kyungsoo reached out and hugged him as close to his heart as he could. And as a solitary tear trickled down Jongin's cheek, Kyungsoo whispered, "I've got you, Jongin. I've got you ... Always." 

 

And Jongin let himself relax into his embrace, burying his face into his neck.

 

"I've got you." Kyungsoo whispered again, Jongin's hair gently.

 

A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you all haven't abandoned me after the 8-day wait. And also I hope everyone survived Day 1 of COMEBACK!!! Don't even get me started on the subsequent days, lol. So anyway, that's the main reason why this long chapter took such a long time to complete. Blame it on EXO! Blasted life ruiners!

 

So, I give you 2,300 words of pure Kaisoo. Fluffy Kaisoo. Funny Kaisoo. Sad Kaisoo. It's really slow otl but I had to talk about Jongin's troubled relationship with his Appa and how Kyungsoo makes it all better. And it is probably the toughest chapter I've had to write so far so bear with me. 

 

Thanks for sticking with me for 22 chapters even though most of you are probably thinking OMG when is she gonna end this story already?! You'll be relieved to know we're almost there! Sorry to torture you guys for so many chapters orz.  There are 445 subs at the time of posting but only 66 readers have actually voted for IB. I'm guessing the rest of you have either stopped reading it or you aren't enjoying it much - which kinda makes me sad but well ... So yeah you'll be relieved it's ending soon I guess :(. For the 66 of you who have voted, you've made me so happy, you have no idea! 

 

Just a quick shout out to my readers who've commented, voted and messaged me - I love you guys so much! And welcome to the new subs who boarded my leaky ship of a fic in the past week. Idk where y'all came from but WELCOME and I hope you're enjoying the journey. Ok I've said too much as it is. Hope you guys like this chapter at least a little and if you like In Bloom, vote for it cos that inspires me to write lol. As always, comments are always loved so do leave one if you have the time! Comments I love best of all ;).

 

PS: This chapter is dedicated to haharuki for being one of my most beloved readers, and also for capturing close to everything I want to say about Kaisoo in this beautiful vid she made not too long ago.

 

When I started planning this fic, I imagined Jongin and Kyungsoo as two halves of a perfect whole who managed to find each other somehow. Up to that point they had lived parallel lives while having similar taste in music, the books, Star Wars, sundubu jjigae and even Crong - kind of like mirrors - just like haharuki's kaisoo vid. So you guys have to make sure you watch it, k? Love you, Kev!

 

PPS: And lastly, the scene where Jongin is sad is dedicated to TeatimeTaemint because she loves comforting Kyungsoo. Love you, Jenni!

 

PPPS: I started a twitter acc cos I am insane. Who needs another social networking habit fml?! But anyway, it's comeback so it's just one more source for EXO updates lolz. I'll be posting fic updates and EXO and other random (e.g. the workings of my sleep deprived brain) so yeah, check it out and drop by if you wanna chat or something ... @lattelotus