“Wait, you broke up with Kai?” Sehun grunts, mobile jammed between his shoulder and ear.


“Yep,” Kyungsoo responds drily.


Sehun growls, almost dropping the phone as he washes his way through a handful of ripe tomatoes in the kitchen sink, tossing them unceremoniously across into a small china bowl, already filled with lettuce and that mayonnaise Luhan always liked.


“I didn’t think you would actually break up with him,” Sehun complains.


“You know how awkward that is going to be? I still have to work with him.”


Kyungsoo rolls his eyes on the other side of the line, letting out a barrage of complaints of his own. Kyungsoo flicks through a couple of channels before finally leaving it on Cartoon Network, that he forced Sehun to pay for considering free to air television did not have any good cartoons these days. He smiles when Pororo pops up on his screen, before glaring. No, now is not the time to jump around like a retarded penguin, now is the time to complain about Kai.


“But he kept saying how much he liked me.”


“What?” Sehun groans.


“You dumped him because he said he liked you?”


Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, jumping across the coffee table before slamming his head into the lounge.


“No, but he said it all the time. Over and over and over. And then over again. And I had to think of nice things to say all the time and you of all people know my brain does not work that fast,” Kyungsoo exclaims.


“I mean I don’t think I actually like him like that, you know? I think I’m just grateful. You know, that he has so many muscles and he’s willing to kiss me.”


Kyungsoo hears a door open and close, and he glances around the corner. Kai removes himself from the bathroom, eyes reddened from tears. His shoulders are hunched back and he seems to drag his feet down the corridor and Kyungsoo kind of feels a little bit guilty.


“Oh, Sehun I better go. Kai’s coming out of the bathroom,” he whispers into the phone.


“What?” Sehun shouts. Kyungsoo rips the phone from his ear and glares at it, like it commit the most heinous of crimes, before bringing it back to his ear.


“No need to shout,” he chastises.


“What is Kai still doing in our house? You mean you actually called me before he left? What the hell Kyungsoo? What if he heard you?” Sehun grumbles, voice rising with every syllable. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, whispering a ‘gotta go’ before hanging up. He then straightens himself out on the couch, head bouncing along with Pororo as he explored some icy cave or other on the screen.


“How are you feeling?” Kyungsoo asks lightly.


“Kyungsoo, I don’t have the energy,” Kai grunts, sulking over to the windowsill.


He stares wantonly out the window, tear slipping from his eye as he picks up his leather jacket and shrugs it up over his shoulders. He sniffs a little before dragging himself down the hallway. Two minutes later, Kyungsoo hears the slam of the front door.


“Oh.”


Kyungsoo admits he kind of does feel a little bad about it all. He was kind of awkward with the whole break up speech. But to be quite honest, Kyungsoo’s never had a way with words. Kyungsoo looks down at his feet and realises he’s wearing odd socks, eliciting a chuckle from his swollen lips.


---


“I need to take that display picture for the internet dating site, Baby Kyungsoo, what should I wear? Help me out… Help me with the picture... should I flash my s some more? Oh I don't know...”


Kyungsoo’s mother drags him into her bedroom, the tea on the kitchen bench quite forgotten. Kyungsoo has been regularly visiting his mother since Aunty Kim moved in with her, just to make sure homicide in his family did not become a reality.


Aunty Kim is out when he gets there, however, and Kyungsoo is left with a wistful mother, cheeks red with excitement, all dolled up with wrinkly skin clinging to soft makeup. Initially, Kyungsoo had laughed rather stupidly at the woman’s expense when she had told him she was starting up with an online dating website, but seeing her so into it and actually attempting to date gave him a little reassurance.


“You’re gay Kyungsoo. Gay people are supposed to be good with fashion, so tell me what to wear!” his mother exclaims. Kyungsoo lets out a groan, fingers rummaging through her wardrobe.


“Ma, not all gay people are fashionistas,” he explains gently.


“Well how do you explain Sehun and Luhan then? Such an attractive couple!” comes the retort. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, tossing a scarf out of the cupboard and finding an odd sock in one of her drawers. And Kyungsoo thought he was bad.


“Ma, really…”


Kyungsoo’s phone vibrates in his pocket and he squeaks, almost tossing the small device into the slowly rotating ceiling fan. He runs a finger across the cracked screen to reveal a new message, from Kai no less.


“Who is it?” his mother exclaims.


“Kai.”


“Oh, yes. Kai’s that cute boy, isn’t he?”


Kyungsoo clucks nervously.


“Actually… we broke up.”


“Oh.”


---


“No, mum. I’m not going to this. I’m not going to be pretending to be my mother talking to strange old men on the internet,” Kyungsoo groans, twirling in his wheelie chair. He gives his mother a growl, jumping up and pushing her in his place.


“But Kyungsoo my Baby-”


“Ma, if you want a date so bad you have to figure all this stuff out yourself. The internet is a weird place filled with weird people like me and someone will definitely try and show you their at least once, so really, I don’t want to do this.”


“I thought you liked es.”


“I do. Just not old shriveled up ones.”