“The one I love... Kyungsoo... It’s you.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t believe his ears, he merely stared back at Kai, speechless, his eyes wide with shock. 

“N-No, you can’t do this to me. You can’t joke with me like that, Kai, it’s not funny!” Kyungsoo hurriedly broke from Kai’s gaze. His body was starting to tremble, fueled by a heavy throbbing in his chest and a sickening lurch of his stomach. He had to get away from Kai. Kyungsoo quickly tried to stand up, but a strong hand grabbed at his forearm.

Kyungsoo could see the pain twisting on Kai’s face as the younger boy had leaned forward, reaching up to grip onto his arm.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened once more. “No! Kai, stop! Please, don’t hurt yourself,” he pleaded worriedly, sitting back down beside him so that Kai wouldn’t have to lean forward anymore. Despite the pain it was clearly causing him, Kai’s hand still hadn’t let go.

“Don’t... go...” Kai muttered slowly, his breath a hiss of air as he leaned his aching body back against the wall. “I told you, don’t ever run away from me again. Please, Kyung...”

“I-I won’t...” Kyungsoo promised. “But please, Kai, please... don’t say that you love me. It’s not funny... You don’t realize how much it hurts for me to hear you joke around like that.”

“But, Kyung, I’m not–”

“I’m going to call an ambulance for you, all right? And Chanyeol too. This is the second time you’ve fallen down the stairs recently, and I want to make sure you’re taken care of this time. So no more talking, they need to be able to hear me over the phone,” Kyungsoo sighed, not wanting to listen to Kai’s excuses. There was no way he was going to allow Kai to give him false hope.

Pulling out his cell phone from his pocket, Kyungsoo was just about to dial the emergency telephone number when Kai murmured, “Kyungsoo, why can’t you just listen to me?”

Kyungsoo lifted his eyes to see Kai’s dark gaze staring right back at him. Kyungsoo’s heart inadvertently skipped a beat. The throbbing in his chest had weakened to a dull ache. Kai knew Kyungsoo couldn’t ignore him when he called him by his full name.

“Look, I don’t need an ambulance, okay? You know this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten myself hurt, so I’ll be fine, especially with you here to take care of me. I know I don’t need anyone else. So stop fussing about the ambulance, and listen to what I’m trying to say.” Kai closed his eyes with a sigh, filling his lungs with one last deep breath before looking back up at his friend’s large, brown eyes.

“Kyungsoo, I have not been joking at all. I mean it... I love you. With all my heart,” Kai breathed gently, his gaze softening, but never leaving Kyungsoo’s. “Not Chanyeol. Never Chanyeol.”

Kyungsoo could feel the warmth coloring his cheeks a darkened shade of pink, his body unable to move, his lungs forgetting how to breathe, as Kai struggled to reach out to him once more.

“Do you believe me?”

His last four words came out as a whisper, begging for his best friend’s trust.

It wasn’t as if Kyungsoo could refuse.

“I-I... I do.”

Kyungsoo was on the verge of crying, as his heart swelled with a muddle of happiness, confusion, and heartwarming relief. Without thinking, acting on pure instinct, Kyungsoo leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to Kai’s cheek, just barely missing the corner of Kai’s lips.

His blush had deepened to red by the time he pulled away.

“I love you, too,” Kyungsoo murmured, a heart-shaped smile sneaking onto his full lips. “Kai... I’ve always loved you.”

~~

“I’m still in disbelief it actually happened...” Kai smiled dreamily, his eyes gazing off into the distance behind Chanyeol’s head.

“Uh... Kai?” Chanyeol waved a hand in front of his friend’s eyes, jarring him from his thoughts that had inevitably wandered back to memories of Kyungsoo.

“Hmm?”

Chanyeol laughed lightly, seeing his friend so distracted. “I’m happy for you both, really. It’s really great that you’re finally together, and I can tell you’re practically dying on the inside,” he grinned.

Kai smiled back sheepishly, returning his gaze to his friend. “Thanks, Chanyeol. And thanks for always being here to help me and encourage me, it really meant a lot.”

“No problem,” Chanyeol shrugged. “Are you sure you’re all right, though? You keep falling down stairs...” he frowned, eyeing the scrapes on his legs worriedly.

“I’m fine, Kyung forced me to go check in with a hospital and they looked me over and said everything was okay,” Kai shrugged. “But they did tell me that I have to be more careful around stairs,” he admitted with a grin.

Chanyeol smiled at his friend’s clumsiness, “Take care of yourself, or else Kyungsoo’s going to freak out.”

“I know,” The younger boy nodded. “Kyung never stops worrying about me.”

Kai lowered his gaze, his mind drifting off once more, but Chanyeol could still see the grateful smile curving at his lips.

Kai finally won him over...

This means I... I no longer have to hide...

I no longer have any excuses...

There’s nothing stopping me from being with Baekhyun...

With Kai still immersed in his thoughts, Chanyeol rummaged through his bag for his cell phone and was disappointed upon seeing he still had no new notifications. Baekhyun still hadn’t replied to his message about the dream he’d had, but Chanyeol was more worried that he just hadn’t heard anything from his friend since yesterday, after crying in his arms for hours.

From: Chanyeol
Hi!

It had been five hours since he sent that single-worded text message, but Baekhyun still hadn’t replied. Not even a ‘Hello’.

From: Chanyeol
Are you mad at me? For my ‘weird dreams’?

Chanyeol sighed as he pressed ‘send’. Why wasn’t Baekhyun talking to him? Normally his friend would respond to his ‘Hi!’ energetically, with emoticons and exclamation points, but today, nothing.

“I’ve got to get to class, lunch is ending soon,” Chanyeol heard Kai say. But Chanyeol didn’t even look up as he waved goodbye to h