Saturday

Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
I don't want to wake up
On my own anymore

Asleep by The Smiths

Kyungsoo wakes up to the sound of a loud sizzling sound. He remembers that the kitchen is located downstairs, but even from somewhere so far, the smell of food cooking on the frying pan reaches him. He moans as he opens his eyes, stomach growling. Jongin isn’t sleeping on his bed, of course. Kyungsoo scurries down the stairs as soon as he sees that it’s already 8 in the morning. He stops when he reaches the last step of the flight of stairs because he remembers that he doesn’t have work today. And he slept at Jongin’s place. He shakes his head in an attempt to make himself more ‘awake.’

Kyungsoo tries to make himself look presentable, but his hair’s always messed up every morning. He feels embarrassed because he has to show his horrible first-thing-in-the-morning face, but he has no other choice. Carefully stepping inside the kitchen, Kyungsoo is greeted with the back view of Jongin wearing a bright blue apron.

“…Morning,” Kyungsoo could practically feel his lower lip tremble, though he isn’t sure why.

“Good morning! Uh, yeah, you can just take a seat over there, breakfast will be done in a few,” Jongin says without turning his head and continues to cook.

“Okay. Sorry for waking up so late,” Kyungsoo scratches the back of his head, feeling self-conscious, since he didn’t help Jongin at all. He moves to the dining area and sits down. After a moment, Jongin enters the room carrying two plates, one with omelets and one with sausages. He lays them down on the table and sits down rather happily. He claps his hands once, exclaiming, “Let’s dig in!”

Kyungsoo is happy to see Jongin wearing a bright expression. Kyungsoo smiles and tastes the other boy’s cooking. It tasted good, and Kyungsoo found himself feeling bliss, too.

“Delicious,” Kyungsoo genuinely says.

“Really? Thanks, I kind of learned how to cook since—” Jongin stops in the middle of his speech. His face goes blank and Kyungsoo feels guilty. Kyungsoo could guess what the continuation of his sentence is, and he is pretty sure of it.

“—since my mom and sister got into an accident,” Jongin chews on his food slowly, the smile on his face now gone.

Kyungsoo feels his heart drop, “I’m sorry about that, Jongin.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s been awhile already. So I’m fine. We should clean up fast if you want to go out for a bit,” Jongin replies. Kyungsoo just nods, still feeling sad.

---------------------

The day is beautiful, and the setting of where Jongin lives is completely different from Kyungsoo’s. Kyungsoo usually wakes up to loud cars honking at each other, morning traffic, and a dirty apartment room, but still, ever since Tuesday, he’s been waking up with the eagerness to see Jongin again.

Jongin lives amongst other families, in the suburbs. They are now both quietly strolling through the neighborhood, passing by little kids and some adults walking their dogs, greeted by bright flowers, heading to the bus stop. “Most of the people living here are either old or little kids. I don’t see many kids who are my age here, though,” Jongin tells Kyungsoo.

“It’s kind of nice here. I don’t really get to see a scenery such as this one,” Kyungsoo says, looking up at the tall trees and the squirrels climbing on them.

---------------------

The rest of the day feels like a blur to Kyungsoo. They eat lunch, they walk around the city and go to a few shops, hanging around in a mall.

The two even go to see a movie. Since Jongin has been wanting to watch it for a while now, he tries really hard to convince the other boy. Kyungsoo agrees, but he soon regrets it, because Jongin actually takes him to see a gore slash horror slash suspense movie. Kyungsoo would’ve never guessed that Jongin is into this sort of thing; Jongin must have thought that everyone loves seeing people getting murdered by dead guys, blood spewing everywhere with criminals running around your house eating your children--and did he mention blood? Kyungsoo’s number one enemy is most definitely blood. Still, he tries to keep his cool. He refuses to close his eyes and endures the painful moments when the scenes would get a little bit too out of hand. Jongin gets scared at times too, but he seems to enjoy getting scared; he seems to enjoy the feeling of terror running through his veins.

Jongin takes a moment to look at the boy beside him, and he is impressed when he sees Kyungsoo unfazed; he hasn’t screamed in his seat or covered his eyes, and he hasn’t told Jongin, “Hey, we should get out of here because I’m scared and I might piss my pants!” while dramatically grabbing Jongin’s had and running like hell before another scene of blood and guts appear. Nope, Kyungsoo’s outer appearance remained calm despite his insides slowly dying, screaming for help.

Kyungsoo wants to appear courageous in front of Jongin, though he knows that his bravery is wearing thin when a scene comes up, causing a lot of people in the audience to scream too. He jumps in his seat the moment the sound effects were played. Kyungsoo lets out a low-pitched scream, his back jolting and his left hand landing on top of Jongin’s hand, trembling. They almost hold hands (with Kyungsoo making the first move), but Kyungsoo quickly withdraws as he freezes up in his seat, face flushed, although Jongin doesn’t notice because of the dim lighting.

“Oh, good,” Jongin says after Kyungsoo’s display of fear. Kyungsoo is confused, not knowing what Jongin means.

“I mean,” Jongin continues. “I thought you didn’t get scared, but I’m happy you did; it’s less embarrassing for me that way,” Jongin smiles. Kyungsoo laughs, his shame now gone. Kyungsoo is glad because Jongin appreciates genuine reactions, and he is happy because it means that Kyungsoo can be himself around Jongin.

-------------------------

After the traumatic experience of having to sit through two hours of a horror film, Kyungsoo is looking forward to a nice and quiet afternoon. Jongin walks beside Kyungsoo, who was originally trailing off behind him. Jongin softly whistles, and Kyungsoo finds his whistling rather cute. “What are you looking at?” Jongin stops whistling and asks Kyungsoo, a smile forming on his face from ear to ear.

“Nothing,” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “So, where are we going now?”

“Hmm, it’s like four thirty now…Wanna go to the park? We can rent a row boat there,” Jongin looks up at the sky and admires the beautiful weather. “So? What do you think?”

Kyungsoo nods, “Sure.”

-------------------------

By the time the two get to the park, the sun is already starting to set. Jongin starts running at that time, telling Kyungsoo, “Hey, we have to get there before the sun sets!” Kyungsoo, too, starts running, although his pace is a lot slower than Jongin’s. As Kyungsoo ran out of breath, his legs still striding wide, Jongin slows down his pace and offers his hand to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, panting, takes Jongin’s hand, and they begin to run with a moderate speed. Jongin is still ahead Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo is still gasping for air at times, but it doesn’t matter to Kyungsoo anymore because right now, his hands are holding Jongin’s.

When they finally reach their destination, which is a beautiful lake, Kyungsoo is unknowingly still holding onto Jongin’s hand. Jongin smirks when he notices that it seems as if the other boy doesn’t want to let go just yet. After paying the money, both of them go near the dock and start to climb into the boat, with Jongin being first. It was at that moment when Kyungsoo realizes that he has been squeezing Jongin’s hand for more than a while now. As Kyungsoo bows his head as an apology, Jongin pats his head softly. Jongin laughs, gesturing Kyungsoo to get in the boat.

“Let’s find a quiet place,” Jongin says as they both row. The place they are in is accompanied by three other boats, and Jongin wants to find a quiet spot. This continues on for a few moments, until Jongin says, “Here. Let’s stop here.” To which they both stop rowing. The water is perfectly still now, and they are surrounded by trees and the distant sound of children’s laughter.

“Look,” Jongin points upward, towards the sky. Kyungsoo’s eyes shoot upward, and his mouth forms into a little ‘o’ shape in awe. The sky is coated with bright orange, with distinct streaks of yellow. It is also quite violet. And there is the sun, making its grand exit. It’s such a pretty view, not anything Kyungsoo would ever see in his city. His place is far too polluted and busy, and he never thought that he’s a sentimental guy who likes to look at the sunset and listen to the leaves rustling while rowing a boat with Kim Jongin--but he is.

“Let’s wait for the stars to show,” Jongin smiles and looks at Kyungsoo with such sincerity and happiness in his eyes, and this moment was something Kyungsoo never expected to happen. Although Kyungsoo has to leave by tonight, he pushes that worry to the back of his mind.

The sky grew darker as time passes, and after almost an hour, it is lit with twinkling stars. There are so many, and it looks incredibly stunning.

“Kyungsoo...” Jongin says softly.

“Yeah?” It takes a few seconds for Kyungsoo to reply, since he is amazed by the dozens of stars above him.

“…Thank you…” Jongin says, barely a whisper.

“Hmm?” Kyungsoo asks.

“I mean, thank you. For everything. Sorry, I’ve been annoying these past few days. You’re leaving tonight, right? Kyungsoo, I—” Jongin doesn’t continue his last sentence and starts to move towards Kyungsoo. He takes Kyungsoo’s chin and brings his face closer. Slowly, their lips touch, and they have their first very short but sweet kiss. They look at each other with such intensity, and Kyungsoo is about to lean in, but his body comes to a stop when Jongin’s eyes light up. Jongin moves back, away from where Kyungsoo was, his face showing panic.

“Let’s go home now. You have a train to catch,” Jongin said as he starts to row.

He doesn’t really speak after that. And neither does Kyungsoo, who is feeling gloomy.

---------------------

“Sure is taking a long time,” Jongin says to Kyungsoo. They are both in the station now, waiting for Kyungsoo’s train to arrive. Kyungsoo nods in reply.

“Oh, hey, the train’s here,” Jongin points. “I guess we’ll see each other soon. Oh, and Kyungsoo?”

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo looks at the train which is slowly coming to a stop.

“Can we just…pretend it didn’t happen?” Jongin asks, his face looking serious.

Kyungsoo never saw it coming. And how else can he respond to Jongin’s request? He can’t just tell him that he can’t forget the fact that Jongin kissed him.

“Yeah. Nothing happened,” Kyungsoo looks at the ground, and his eyes trail toward Jongin’s shoes. “Well…bye…see you soon. Thanks for inviting me,” Kyungsoo waves with not much enthusiasm. Jongin waves back, a smirk on his face.

Kyungsoo takes his seat, and looks at Jongin from the window. He doesn’t understand. Why would Jongin want to forget that? Kyungsoo begins to look at Jongin’s eyes. His eyes look dark. His expression is the same. Despite knowing that, Kyungsoo doesn’t manage to find out why Jongin is sad. Is it still about his ex? In the end, visiting Jongin didn’t help much at all. Kyungsoo figures that he could start being more open towards Jongin, but that isn’t the case. He is hoping to be good friends with him, to know more about him, but it seems like every moment spent with him pulls him farther and farther away from Jongin. The gap feels too huge, and Kyungsoo doesn’t know how he can reach Jongin anymore. In a way, Jongin is like coffee--mysterious, dark, and alluring; unpredictable yet deeply profound. Kyungsoo lifts his pointer finger and touches his lips. How can he possibly pretend as if nothing happened? This encounter with Jongin changed his life, and after that kiss, thing wouldn’t be the same anymore. Kyungsoo continues to think to himself as he sighs, closing his eyes.