She's out of breath by the time she reaches the dorm, having taken off in a mad dash as soon as she had gotten off the train station. Kris opens the door for her and he's slightly shocked at her disheveled state, hair a mess, breathing heavy.

But she doesn't even care about how she looks, giving Kris a slight nod before running past him into the living room where Kyungsoo is seated comfortably on the couch, right foot extended and resting on a footstool, crutches resting by the coffee table.

"Oh my gosh, Soo! Are you alright?" At once she's sitting next to him on the couch, eyes filled with worry, looking at his sprained ankle.

Kyungsoo knows she must be feeling horrible, but he can't help but chuckle at her concern, flattered by her worrying.

"How did you get here so fast? I'm okay, it's just a sprain, it's no big deal."

She decides not to tell him that as soon as she had heard the news, she only had the sense to grab her keys, her phone, and her T-Money before running out of her apartment, hurrying to the EXO dorms. She didn't even bother to take a shower or change into clean clothes.

It had taken her nearly 24 hours to find out about what had happened. Her phone had been ringing endlessly that night, but she had failed to answer the persistent calls from an unknown international number. A few friends of hers had visited and one was about to get married, so she had gone out to party with them. She figured she'd be able to watch the awards show the next day anyway, or stay updated on Twitter while she was out. But she had missed her friends, and it had been a while since she'd gone out, and it was so much fun...

She had been partying, and downing soju bombs, and flirting with random guys, while Kyungsoo had gotten injured. Despite his injury, he had valiantly endured the pain to finish their performance. They had won an award at the end of the show, and he wasn't even able to receive it with the rest of the members because he had been rushed to the hospital.

Kris was finally able to get in touch with her nearly a day after to tell her that Kyungsoo had come back from Hong Kong in crutches.

She doesn't realize she's been holding his hand since she’s sat down beside him on the couch until Kyungsoo starts rubbing circles inside her palm, seemingly to soothe her from her frantic worrying. Her eyes go wide, embarrassed, before she quickly but politely pulls her hand away from his.

They're not supposed to be holding hands anymore. Not since they decided to give each other some space three weeks ago.

It had been a mutual decision. They had both been busy, Kyungsoo incredibly so, what with EXO suddenly skyrocketing to stardom. Their schedules wouldn't match and there had been a lot of frustration building up over missed calls, wonky Skype connections and cancelled dates. They had decided to call a break for an indefinite period of time, to see if things would get better, and if they would be less frustrated with each other.

For her it had meant more time with her friends, being more focused at work, less time spent worrying about crazy stalker fangirls. But she can't deny that something had been missing since they'd called it off.

For Kyungsoo's part, nothing much had changed – he still had the same crazy schedule and back-to-back performances, flying in and out from country to country without seeing anything else other than the airport, the stage, and the hotel room.

But he had missed her still, and often - on the car ride to their dorm, at the waiting room before a music show, at the airport while messing around with Sehun. The breakup didn’t change much for him, because she was still constantly in his mind, except that when he felt the need to send her a message or in the off chance that he'd have a few precious minutes to himself, he found himself with nothing to do, because the only thing he wanted to do was to get in touch with her, send a hello and ask how she was doing, maybe ask what new hipster song she was listening to.

If he was being honest, he had only agreed to the breakup because she had wanted it.

But Kyungsoo doesn't care about all that right now - he's just too happy to have her around again after so long, and admittedly, seeing her worry over him made his heart flutter. He's so giddy he can't even keep the smile off his face, and she must've noticed, because now she seems slightly weirded out by him.

They're still awkward and she's obviously uncomfortable. She stands up and heads to the kitchen. "I'm going to get some water. Do you need ice for your ankle? I can get you some."

Kyungsoo shakes his head, still with that goofy, heart-shaped smile. "I’m ok. But there's cake in the fridge. Can you get me a slice? Help yourself too if you like."

---

When she reaches the kitchen she finds Kris by the counter, sipping on orange juice.

"Hey, is Kyungsoo on pain meds or something? He seems too...happy for someone who's sprained his ankle."

Kris chuckles and shakes his head. "He's just glad you're here. He's missed you a lot, you know."

She doesn’t know what to say to that, so she keeps quiet, brows furrowed in thought.

"...and I might've made him down a shot of tequila earlier. Or two,” Kris adds, the guilt on his tone evident. “He was starting to whine about his ankle! I didn't know what else to do."

She shot him an annoyed look. "What the hell Kris. You don't shut Tao up with alcohol when he whines about things. Never mind, I'll take care of him for the day. Don't you have somewhere else to be or whatever?"

Kris smiles, apologetic but also very amused at her protectiveness of his dongsaeng. She must really like Kyungsoo to be so frazzled about a simple sprained ankle.

"I've got acting classes, so I'll head out in a bit. You’ll have the dorm to yourselves for a while - the others won’t be home until later tonight."

---

Kyungsoo isn't sure what changed but by the time she's back from the kitchen she seems to be more relaxed, and the next thing he knows, she's settled back into the couch, and into old habits. She sidles up to him, close enough to cuddle, and Kyungsoo is more than happy to put his arm around her. They microwave popcorn and nick one of Jongin's DVDs to watch, laughing out loud when they realize it's , so they go and find a better one in Sehun's PG-rated stash.

Kyungsoo says he's got her favorite vodka in stock and some cranberry juice, but to his surprise, she declines a drink.

"Partied too much last night so you don't want to drink anymore?"

She bites her lip and turns her gaze to her lap, unwilling to look at him. "It's not that...just. I didn't really party last night. My friends visited and one of them is getting married and we just -"

"You partied. There's nothing wrong with that. You're in your 20s. You’ve missed your friends. Of course you guys will party."

She doesn’t seem convinced, still looking guilty. She doesn’t even know why she feels this way – she shouldn’t, she didn’t do anything wrong. Technically, they’re on a break. She nods and opts to not say anything

Kyungsoo turns to the TV, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. "So did you meet any guys?"

Her eyes go wide and she looks at him then, surprised at how direct he's being with his questions. She decides to be honest.

"We didn't. I mean I didn’t. My friends did. I mean, we did, I did, but you know, I didn't exchange numbers or anything. It was nothing."

"Oh, okay." Kyungsoo nods and manages to fake a smile he hopes she doesn’t see through. He  had thought he would be ready for an answer like that, but he can't help but feel disappointed, maybe a little jealous, imagining her in a club being hit on by random guys.

"Are you upset? I'm sorry." Her voice is barely whisper, and Kyungsoo appreciates that she had been honest, sensing her guilt over the whole thing.

"Don't be sorry. You don't need to be sorry. We're on a break, remember?" He manages a smile and retracts his arm from around her shoulder.

She looks like she's about to cry. "About that..."

Kyungsoo turns to look at her. She’s biting her lip, refusing to look at him, but he senses she’s about to go on one of her random monologues again. Kyungsoo has to keep from smiling.

"Honestly, Kyungsoo, I'm not exactly girlfriend material. I mean, not yet. I can’t cook, my apartment is a mess, I take on more than I can handle because I have no sense of time, I'm always busy with work, I have too many friends, too many guy friends, I never text people, I probably drink too much, I…”

She gasps for air and finally looks at him. "But it would be nice if we could get back together. I mean, only if you want to. I'll work on being a better girlfriend. It’s just that…I've missed you. So it would be nice. Only if you want to though, but honestly, I don't know why you would, but...yeah."

A genuine smile breaks out on Kyungsoo’s heart-shaped lips, and he takes her hand in his, a little firmer, with a little more intent this time.

“Look, you’re funny and smart and you’re passionate about what you do. You have genuine concern about the people around you. You’re happy and an optimist and you make the people around you happy. I see the way Kris Hyung has warmed up to you. It used to annoy me that he maybe had a little crush on you, but honestly, who wouldn’t?

“You have a life of your own. I like that. I like that I’m not the center of your universe. You should be the center of your universe, and I’ll just be happy to hover around you, you know, drawn by your gravitational pull.”

She has to roll her eyes at the cheesiness of it all, but deep inside, she’s incredibly thankful.

“I’ll be happy to be a part of your life however way you want me to be. Which means yes, I'd love to get back together. I only ever said yes to the breakup because you wanted it.”

The guilt starts to creep up at her again with his last sentence. "I'm sorry, Soo. About asking for space." Honestly, the nerve of her. Here was EXO's D.O. wanting to go steady with her, and she had wanted space.

“Don't be sorry! There's nothing to be sorry about. We'll take things slow, okay? Don't feel pressured to be the Best Girlfriend Ever. I'm happy just having you around."

He really has to stop being so nice to me, she thinks. It’s not making her feel any better about herself.

“Please stop being the most adorable person ever,” she murmurs under her breath. She’s so flustered at how nice he’s being that she doesn’t realize she had blurted out what she was thinking.

“What?” Kyungsoo asks and leans in, wanting to hear more of what she said.

“Huh? Nothing! I didn’t say anything.”

“You said something. I should stop being what?” He’s obviously teasing her now, eager for her to share more of her feelings, because she so rarely does.

“Just….it was nothing!”

“Tell me.”

“Soo,” she whines, obviously uncomfortable but slowly starting to give in.

He throws in an equally rare dose of his aegyo that seals the deal. “Please?”

She sighs, defeated. “I said, if you could please stop being the most adorable person ever, because you’re making me like you even more.”

Kyungsoo laughs and leans in to give her a quick kiss. When he pulls away she’s frowning, but she’s obviously faking it, her smiling eyes giving her away.  

“I hate you,” she says, pouting.

“I believe you. On both accounts. I know how frustrating it is to fall for someone as awesome as me.”

She rolls her eyes at his cheesiness (he’s never like this! Must be the sprained ankle) as he leans in for another kiss. When they break away, he spots the untouched slice of cake on the table.

"We forgot about the cake," he tells her, to which she nods absentmindedly.

"Do you remember that time I made icing but didn't have cake?" He slings his arm over her shoulder again and pulls her closer to him, a devious glint in his eyes.*

She’s quick to catch on to what he’s up to. "Soo...yes. I remember."

"There's icing on here, but I never really liked it on cake..."

"Soo, stop. You're injured. We shouldn't. Besides, we just got back together! And Kris could come in any minute, and the other guys, and-"

Kyungsoo laughs at her frantic flailing yet again. "Relax! I was kidding. Let's just finish this movie, okay?"

---

Kris comes home late into the night, but realizes he's still the first of the other members to arrive at the dorm. He finds Kyungsoo still on the couch, and she’s asleep next to him, cuddled close to his side, wearing one of Kyungsoo’s favorite shirts. Kris gets the blanket neatly folded on the coffee table and pulls it over the two of them.

He’s already walking to his room when he hears Kyungsoo call out to him.  

“Hyung?”

Kris turns around to look at the younger.

“We’re back together,” Kyungsoo tells him, the happiness in his voice evident despite his sleepy grumble.

“Good for you, Kyungie-yah.”

“Thanks for letting her know about yesterday.”

“Of course. What are hyungs for.”

Kris smiles and waves goodnight before he trudges to his bedroom, suddenly feeling the exhaustion from a long day.

He’s going to have to get used to having her around again, joined at the hip with Kyungsoo. He's going to have to be friendly with her, and be all happy that she's around for Kyungsoo, because his dongsaeng does considerably light up when she's around. More than ever, it's clear as day that she's Kyungsoo's, and he has to be okay - no, more than okay - he has to be happy and supportive of that.

Those acting classes couldn’t have come at a better time.

---

A/N: Wrote this in a rush, largely unbeta’d. Just a little drabble in continuation of Hipster Taste. Also, I hope Kyungsoo is better now after a week with a sprained ankle!

*The icing without the cake line actually refers to this drabble from N. Check it out and her other steamy Kyungsoo fics because they’re daebak!