burns.
everybody but us
Key strolled through the entrance of the small home he shared with his grandmother, dropping his bag on a nearby chair as he switched on the lights. Sooyoung followed closely behind, with the same patterns of events before retying her hair. The male of the two glanced over at her, on his way already to the kitchen.
"What do you want to eat?" he asked, leaning against the frame of the wall. The tall brunette frowned, crossing her arms.
"I'm the guest, I cook."
"Cute. Ramen it is."
"No! I'm cooking for you, I'm a better cook anyways!" She pushed past him into the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboards to find ingredients. A squeal echoed through the small room and Key covered his ears, flinching a bit as Sooyoung rose from the one of the shelves closer to the ground with a styrofoam cup in her hand. "Ramen in a cup, this is so cool!"
Key scoffed at the label, that was printed in big English letters. "Cup noodles?" He shook his head as she rolled her eyes, reading the directions on the back. "It's in English, idiot. All you-"
"I get it. Use a kettle to heat up water and let it sit for a while. Doesn't take a rocket scientist, you know." Sticking out her tongue this time it was Key who rolled his eyes before backing out of the kitchen.
"I'm gonna take a shower. I expect food when I'm back, woman."
"Whatever," she replied, focused on the kettle she was filling with water before placing it on the stove.
Meanwhile, Key was already halfway upstairs when his mind was racing with thoughts. He relayed everything from dance practice earlier, unable to understand why he was acting so weirdly when Sooyoung was spending so much time with Eunhyuk. It made no sense. He never cared what guy friends she had. Or how she acted around them. Maybe it was just the effect of all their friends' teasing from lunch earlier that got to him. It had to be.
He was still fighting his thoughts when he was out of the shower, about to put on a clean shirt when he heard a piercing sound from down in the kitchen. His heart sped up and his eyes widened; without a single thought he ran down to the noise, flinching a bit at the sight of Sooyoung hunched over the sink with the water at full blast over her hand, which had a growing red blotch from her fingertips to her wrist. With a stern expression he gently tugged her hand away from the water pressure, turning it off to examine her skin. Barely pressing his finger to the mark she yelped, tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain as she blinked up at him, unable to form words properly from how she was stammering.
"I'm s-sorry, K-Key, I was trying t-to take it off the s-stove," she stuttered between sobs, "a-and I t-tripped and it slipped out of m-my hand and it f-fell...I d-didn't mean to drop it, I-I'm s-sorry..."
"Shh," Key muttered, lifting her chin with his free hand and burshing away the streaks of tears that stained her cheeks. He spoke in a soft, soothing voice. "I hate when you cry. Don't worry about the dropped kettle, I can always get another or fix it up and the floor is no problem, either. I just care that you're fine." With that he lifted her hand again, examining the damage. Her skin had dried, leaving it a bit chapped and still a deep red. A bit of blood emerged from a small bruise, most likely where the water hit first. "I'll make sure it's all better yeah?" Patting her cheek, he led her upstairs to the bathroom where she sat in silence and silently observed as he applied ointment to her hand and tied a loose bandage over the burns.
Leading the tall brunette downstairs he found a loaf of bread in another cupboard, quickly fixing sandwiches for them both, Sooyoung silently munching on a box of cookies with her fine hand. Looking up at her he rolled his eyes, taking the two plates into the living room as she followed. Sooyoung stared at the two sandwiches; one seemed normal, while the other was cut up into tiny squares. She looked at her best friend for an explanation, which he gave.
"I didn't want you to hurt your hand more so I made it easier." He shrugged.
"Aw, Kibummie cares. Aw, cutie pie. Aw." She plopped onto the couch with a smirk.
"You should've gotten burnt in your mouth," he muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
The two watched the TV absentmindedly, some new drama flashing across the screen as they were near finished with their impromptu dinner.
They sat in silence still, barely any volume on the show when Sooyoung pierced the awkwardness with yet another awkward question.
"Why'd you run down to help me?"
"Huh?" Key turned his head to face her, swallowing his last bite of ham.
"Normally if I yelled, you'd say shut up or just shout and ask what's wrong, not run down like your pants were on fire." She squinted, amused.
"I--" He stopped his protest, realizing she was right. "I uh, was just making sure you didn't do anything dumb. You're in my house, after all."
"Whatever. You care." Sooyoung leaned back, a smug expression fixated on her face.
"Ew."
"Sure." She stretched her legs across the remainder of the couch, eyeing him. "One more thing."
"What now."
"You're not wearing a shirt."
"Enjoying the view, then?"
"Ew."
"What do you think of everyone harassing us lately about being a couple?" Key broke the argument off suddenly, making the female of the two tilt her head in surprise. She searched his eyes for any sign of teasing, but the playful flicker was replaced by pure sincerity.
"Well..." Sooyoung looked down at her handsm awkwardly playing with then as she spoke. "I really don't understand. We don't act like a couple, and we always say we're best friends, so sort of annoying sometimes."
"Same." He sighed, taking the answer as a contradiction to the ridiculous thoughts he had upstairs. "Do you like anyone right now? You've never told me about any of your crushes."
"Honestly, I've never liked anyone. There was a point in time when I found Hyuk to be pretty attractive, but I realized I was being dumb and forgot about it like, the next day."
"Ew, you've never liked me right?" Key half-joked, earning a pillow to the head. "I'm guessing that's a no."
The conversation gradually returned to normal and the two stayed in the same positions for hours on end until the tall brunette started to doze off on the armrest of the couch. Key shook his head, muttering something that sounded like "lazy" as he took their plates to the sink, deciding to wash them.
As he dried one of the dishes, his mind flashed back to their conversatiin earlier and he sighed a bit.
"It'd be nice to have a boyfriend sooner or later. Being surrounded by girls gets boring."
"You have me."
"Exactly. Surrounded by girls."
"You know, I'm a fully equipped guy."
"Fully equipped?"
"Need a preview?"
"No."
"You know, you'll find a guy eventually."
"Eventually sounds so far away."
"Maybe he's somewhere nearby, never know."
"Doubt it."
Placing the clean dishes on shelves, he switched off the light with another sigh. He still didn't understand why he acted so weirdly around her. He knew it wasn't liking her; surely not, but the idea of it continued to linger in his head. Shaking it off he returned to the living room to find Sooyoung hung over the side of the couch and chuckled, crossing his arms. He had offered to let her stay in his bed, him in his grandmother's but she'd dozed off before she had the chance. Rolling his eyes he moved to her side, gingerly scooping her into his arms.
"It's only because you're hands all bummy right now." He scolded the sleeping Sooyoung as he walked, careful not to bump her head into anything until he reached the doorway and she accidentally hit the frame because she was too tall to fit crossways.
"Ow, you idiot," she mumbled, dozing back off just as quickly as she woke. He pouted apologetically as he lay her on the thick sheets, watching as she instinctively crawled under them. Brushing away the hair from her face, he scoffed, her cheek with his thumb as he did.
"." He planted a kiss on her forehead and straightened up, going into his grandmother's room when she held onto his hand.
"Sleep here," she mumbled, but Key held his ground, determined to keep their relationship strictly friendzoned.
"No. Good night, Soo."
"But...my hand..."
"Is gonna need space so I'm going in the other room," he finished, stopping in the doorway. "Night loser."
"G'night, I hate you," she muttered hazily.
"Uh huh."
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{ A/N } Sorry for not updating these few days!! Thanks for the recent subs though!! Happy reading!!
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