“C’mon guys, don’t be such jerks!” Jongin pounded on the door, begging to be let in. His pride had withdrew within an hour and it was embarrassing being seen locked outside of his own home.

To make it worst, it was getting colder as time was being wasted. 

“Fine, whatever.” Heatedly, he sat on the steps that led up to the door, kicking a small pebble in the process.

Five minutes pass as he tried playing mind games, but the coldness was making him go numb, affecting his mood. Furious with his immature members, he stood up and kicked the door with a harsh crack.

“Please! I’m freezing out here!”

“Imagine Kyungsoo!” Luhan’s shrill voice replied and Jongin wanted to strangle that baby faced man. Too bad he couldn’t.

Jongin and Sehun had arrived hours later at the dorm. Luhan had questioned the two where Kyungsoo was but to no avail, he didn’t get his answer. Sehun informed him that Jongin scared him off and that he was last seen walking towards the opposite direction. Luhan became furious and that was how Jongin found himself locked outside of the dorm.

Luhan was feistier and stronger than he looked. He wrestled Jongin out of the dorm, with Sehun’s help of course, and successfully kicked him out. 

“Just let me in! It’s not my fault he ran away!”

“He didn’t run away. You scared him away!” Luhan reasoned. 

Jongin grunted out of irritation. “And what am I supposed to do about it?!”

“Go find him!”

Jongin shook his head, though to no one in particular. There was no way he was going out in the cold to find Kyungsoo.

“Would you quite being childish and open the damn door!”

“What did I just say?!” Luhan screamed back.

“I could get robbed, or even !” Jongin reasoned. 

“Kyungsoo could too!”

Jongin was about to protest but realization hit him, Kyungsoo could in fact be in a much more worst situation than him. 

“Well?” Luhan said, calmly this time.

Jongin huffed, his breath being seen due to the rising temperature. Luhan was getting his way and he was getting annoyed because of that. Nonetheless, he murmured, “Fine,” and walked away.

Into the coldness, Jongin waltzed up the streets having no idea where to look. He thought about searching in between buildings, mainly the alleyways since there were much more hiding spots, but the idea was dumb, considering how druggies were constantly in them.

Besides, Kyungsoo wasn’t hiding himself.

Opting to walk another way, Jongin soon came across a bridge hovering over the Han River. Lights from cars and faraway buildings illuminated his sight, and with a gut feeling, his feet brought him on top of the bridge and continued down the path.

Not five seconds later, a small figure from about a hundred yards away was seen in his peripheral vision. Grinning at his success, Jongin ran the rest of the way and came into a screeching halt beside, none other than, Kyungsoo. 

Whether the boy knew of the sudden attendance of another person or not, he didn’t show it. But the nearness of Kyungsoo to the edge had Jongin frowning.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jongin spat. 

Kyungsoo didn’t respond, which peeved Jongin.

“You could fall any moment.” He advised.

Kyungsoo heaved a sigh. “Would you care? If I fell?” he questioned, making the latter scrunch his brows at the odd demeanor.

Jongin was somewhat surprised that the elder wasn’t shaken by now. In fact, his behavior seemed negative almost. 

“Nobody would. I know it.”

“Stop talking nonsense and come back to the dorm. Luhan is worried about you, and I’m sure the rest are too.” he didn’t beat around the bush, and instead bluntly pointed out his mission.

Jongin was tired, fatigue, and cold. He had wasted time looking for the immature male who had decidedly ran away because of Jongin’s childish manner. It was slightly his fault, but Jongin would never voice that out. He had lost enough pride today and would rather not add on to the list.

He waited impatiently for Kyungsoo to stand up, to walk with him, and to go home, but the vocalist doesn’t respond or move. 

“Look, Kyungsoo,” Jongin bit out. “I care about my wellbeing and me being out here in the cold is unhealthy,” vainly, he said with no intentional argument.

Stubbornly, Kyungsoo doesn’t nudge from his position, rather making a more comfortable seat for himself.

Whether he was taunting Jongin or not, Jongin has had enough with the situation and Kyungsoo.

Jongin, bleakly, yanked Kyungsoo’s thin wrist upwards, causing the smaller to stumble into his hold and embrace.

“What are you doing?!”

With no time to waste, Jongin ignored the objections and forcefully jerked Kyungsoo with him, hand still wrapped tightly around his wrist, though there needn’t be much force.

“Let go!”

“I would if I didn’t have to deal with you!”

“Argh!” Kyungsoo yanked his hand away, stopping in his unparallel steps. And with a simple sentence, Kyungsoo turned to walk away. “Don’t deal with me then.” 

Jongin clenched his fist, already regretting what he was going to do.

Shrugging Kyungsoo’s shoulders his way, he whispered, “I’m sorry,” before his knuckle was met with the jaw of Kyungsoo. The smaller was vaguely confused with what just happened, but by the time realization dawned on him, he was already washed with dizziness.

Before his head could collide with the hardness of the ground, Jongin held him up and with no effort, hoisted the light boy into his arms, bridal style. Blood trickled the side of Kyungsoo’s mouth and Jongin tried his best to not get it on himself.

With Kyungsoo now in his possession, Jongin made a beeline off the bridge and towards their dorm. His eyes were straining to stay awake, even more tired with the added weight from Kyungsoo.

It was darker now, the moon fully out, and barely anyone within seeing distance, which came in luck for Jongin, considering how it looked as if he were kidnapping the boy.

It took twenty minutes to find their dorm. Jongin was not pleased. He had to deal with the freezing temperature, only in his training outfit, and also with the wrath of Luhan, which was never a lovely experience.

With Kyungsoo in his arms, Jongin stopped momentarily, hearing groans emit from his mouth. He was not unconscious, but his state of mind couldn’t comprehend his own surroundings.

Eyelids droopy, Jongin told the boy to be quiet and continued his path, but the constant groaning has Jongin being cautious and on edge.

It was oddly warm against his chest, like a fire had ignited inside of him, and a sigh of content slipped out of his mouth.

Kyungsoo shifted in his position, causing skin contact that had Jongin frozen in place. His eyes widened from the, now obvious, closeness of Kyungsoo’s body against him. He hadn’t realized how near the two were. 

Unexpectedly, his cheeks heated up and redness splotched them.

Not wanting to feel the sensation any longer, Jongin sprinted the rest of the way to their dorm and when he arrived, Kyungsoo was wrapped tightly against his chest, as if letting go would be the death of Jongin. 

Blushing deeply, he hurriedly knocked on the door.

“Let me in, Luhan!”

Scuffles could be heard behind the door before it was harshly slammed open.

The baby-faced man didn’t look too happy. Especially when he noticed the limp figure in Jongin’s arms.

Kyungsoo’s mind was in a haze when his eyelids fluttered opened. He no longer could process anything since the youngest had decided to drop him on the ground, making Kyungsoo yelp as his collided with the hard floor.

Luhan screeched and yelled at Jongin’s carelessness before aiding Kyungsoo, scrambling to his side.

“What happened here, Soo?” The Chinese male rubbed the dried blood stain along his mouth.

Jongin bit his lip in guilt, but deciding he wanted nothing more to do with the latter, he quickly disappeared into his room. 

“I’m fine, Luhan.” Kyungsoo said as he got up from his stance, trying to pry the touchy hands of Luhan away. He was constantly rubbing and touching the younger, who found it annoying rather than comforting.

“Obviously you are not!” Luhan began. “Where were you this whole time? I was worried about you!”

Paying no heed to him, Kyungsoo walked off with Luhan on his tail, giving him a lecture that was not needed, especially because of a forming migraine taking place, possibly from another source but he didn‘t want to dwell farther onto the topic.

“What are you doing? You’re still bleeding, Soo.”

With the statement, Kyungsoo his lips as if to test it out, and immediately an iron-like taste took place on his buds. Wanting to be alone, Kyungsoo nudged Luhan away and shooed him off like a dog. “I’ll take care of it myself.”

“But-”

Before Luhan could retort, Kyungsoo was already off into his room, just as Jongin was seen gliding shoulders with him.

Still not satisfied with the night, Luhan frowned before stealing Jongin away from the bathroom, earning a quick hit on the ribs. But Luhan didn’t care and simply sat the dancer on a comfortable chair.

“What did you do to him?” He questioned.

Jongin scoffed. “Whatever I did to him wasn’t my fault.”

“Sehun told me you were messing with him. That’s not nice, Jongin…” Luhan dismissed Jongin’s comment.

“And? It’s still not my fault he’s too easy.”

“Too easy?! Just because he’s dealt through a tough past doesn’t mean you can bully him! He’s too vulnerable with situations like this. It‘s not fair Jongin.”

Jongin snorts in disgust. “He’s not the only who had a tough past. While we were stuck as trainees for years, he waltz in casually and is immediately put into debut! Do you call that fair, Luhan?”

Luhan was about to speak again, but his mouth closed upon hearing his last question. He gazed at Jongin intently, caressingly studying his intentions within the argument. 

“You’re right, it wouldn’t be fair, but in our situation it‘s different.”

Jongin confusingly looked at Luhan, gesturing the elder to elaborate more.

“Even though we trained longer, he still has to put twice the effort to catch up to all of us. In his circumstances, he’s working as hard as we are, only on a shorter time limit and-”

“It doesn’t matter what you think because he’s still not up to our standards, whether he’s worked hard or not.” Jongin abruptly left the scenery with a dramatic effect, making Luhan wince from the exaggeration.