The next day at school passed rather the same as it had the day before.  Kai didn’t bully Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo felt slightly uncomfortable about it.  The only difference could be found in English class.

That day was not a work day, so Kai and Kyungsoo didn’t have a reason to talk to each other until the end of the class.

Kai was halfway out the door before Kyungsoo caught up with him.

“Hey, Kai, when and where do you want to meet today?”

“For what?”

“For our wonderful candlelit dinner accompanied by angels playing harps,” Kyungsoo intoned sweetly.

“For the project, that’s what!  Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you? I thought we had agreed yesterday that we would finish writing it today.”

“Oh, yeah, uh, I forgot about it.”

“Well that’s just peachy keen, but we still need to meet up.”

“Uh, I’m going to be late for class.  I’ll text you later.”

“Fine,” Kyungsoo huffed as Kai separated from him.

School ended with no text from Kai, and Kyungsoo reasoned he’d give him another hour before he called him and threw a fit.

It seemed as if his anger was irrational and uncalled for, as twenty minutes later, after Kyungsoo had settled on his bed with SoFo and his bio homework, his phone began to ring.

The caller ID read ‘,’ and Kyungsoo figured he ought to go ahead and answer it.

“Hello?” He inquired after swiping his finger across the screen.

“Hey.”  There was a moment of awkward silence as neither of them said anything.

“So did you decide where and when you want to meet me?”

“Oh, yeah, uh, just come over to my place within the next half hour.  Oh, and bring your laptop.”

“Okay, sounds like a plan, Stan.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Nevermind.  I’ll see you soon?”

“Yeah, sure thing, I’ll head over right now.”

Kai’s response was to hang up the phone.

“er,” Kyungsoo mumbled under his breath.

He grabbed his favorite red hoodie in anticipation of Kai’s home’s air conditioning, threw his stuff into his backpack, and slipped his feet into his sneakers as he went out the door calling, “Mom! I’m leaving to work with Kai on our project!”

He didn’t wait for a response before shutting the door and jumping into the elevator.

He made good time to Kai’s house and sooner than he was prepared for, he was ringing the doorbell.

“Hello! You must be Kyungsoo! Oh my, you’re so cute!”

“Mooom, that’s not necessary!”  Kai came to his rescue, wresting his mother’s hands away from Kyungsoo’s poor abused cheeks.

“Dear, you didn’t tell me he was so handsome! He’s even cuter than your little friend Baekhyunnie!”

“Don’t let Baekhyun hear you saying that,” Kyungsoo grinned at Kai’s mother, deciding that she seemed nice and he definitely liked her.

“Oh, funny too! Come in, come in! Why don’t you two boys go work in Kai’s room?  It’s much quieter in there than it is in here.”

“Yes mom.  Come on Kyungsoo.”

When they entered Kai’s room again, Kyungsoo looked around himself before muttering out, “Thanks.”

“What did you say?” Kai looked up from where he was sitting at his desk, organizing what they had written the day before.

“I said thanks,” Kyungsoo looked him straight in the eye this time.

“For what?” Kai awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“For calling me Kyungsoo.”

“Oh.” Kai cleared his throat loudly. “Uh, let’s get to work, ok?”

They both crowded around Kai’s desk where Kyungsoo plugged in his laptop and spent the next two hours working steadfastly.  When they typed the last word of the last sentence, they both groaned audibly and leaned back in their chairs, stretching the kinks out of their stiff muscles.

“So I guess I’ll read it over and edit and revise it tonight, and then I’ll email it to you so you can do the same and fix anything I may have missed.”

“Sure,” Kai said, head thrown back, eyes closed, and fingers rubbing at his temples.

“Uh, I guess I’m going to go then.”

“See ya,” he replied, not bothering to open his eyes.

“Right.”

Kyungsoo was almost done packing up, only having to unplug his laptop and put it and the charger back into his bag, when Kai’s mother walked in.

“Hello my handsome boys, did you finish your homework?”

“Yes Mrs. Kim.  I was just about to leave.”

“You’re leaving? I was hoping you were going to stay for dinner!”

“Mom, he said he was leaving,” Kai grumbled.

“Kai, don’t be so rude.  I’m sure Kyungsoo’s hungry and would love to stay for dinner, wouldn’t you dear?”

“I’m fine, really Mrs. Kim!” But Kyungsoo was betrayed by the sudden rumbling of his stomach, audible to anybody with functioning ears.

“Great, it’s decided then!  Dinner will be ready in fifteen, we’re having Soondae!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Kim,” Kyungsoo bowed respectively towards her.

“It’s my pleasure dear.  Now you two just stay here and talk, and I’ll call you out when dinner is ready.”  She twirled around and was out the door before either of them had a chance to respond.

Kyungsoo stood awkwardly for a few moments before setting his bag down gingerly and remarking, “Your mom is a really nice lady.”

“Yeah, she’s great.”

“I couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm or not.  I’m sorry I got stuck eating dinner here, but it really wasn’t my fault.  What did you expect me to do?”

Kai finally opened his eyes and looked at Kyungsoo.  “It’s fine, I know she’s really pushy.  No one can stop her when she puts her mind to something.

“Oh.”

Kyungsoo remained awkwardly standing in the middle of the room before Kai apparently took pity on him.  “You can sit down, you know.”

“Thanks,” he replied, but he remained standing anyway.

“What?” Kai asked forcefully.

“Um, where would you like me to sit?”

“Where you were sitting before, don’t be such a dip.”

Kyungsoo glared at him as he rejoined him at the desk where Kai merely glanced at him before getting up and sitting on his bed instead.

“What, concerned my gay germs are going to rub off on you?”

“Duh.”

“What the hell is your problem, man? Why do you hate me so much? I literally never did anything to you!”

“ you.”

“No, you Kim Jongin, I don’t need to take your !”

Before he knew what was happening, Kai had yanked him off his seat by his shirt and pinned him hard against the wall.

“Don’t ever call me Jongin, understand?” he hissed, breathing heavily.  “My name is ing Kai and that is what you will call me if you wish to remain on this earth!”

Kyungsoo glared defiantly back at him, their eyes locked in a silent struggle of strength and determination.

“Boys, dinner is ready!” Kai’s mother called in a sing-song voice from the kitchen.

Still glaring, Kai un-fisted his hand from Kyungsoo’s shirt and let him slide back down the wall.  Kyungsoo straightened his clothes out, and the two of them left the room to join Kai’s mother at the dinner table.

“Kai, dear, your father won’t be home until later, so make sure we don’t eat all the Soondae and we save some for him.”

“Okay mom.”

“Kyungsoo, honey, why don’t you have a seat over there by Kai?”

Kyungsoo nodded his head in acceptance and moved around the table to sit next to Kai where he was met with a glare.

“So Soo,” Kai’s mom paused briefly to chuckle and Kyungsoo flushed a little bit in embarrassment of the nickname, “I’ve never heard Kai talk about you before he said you were coming over today.  When did you two become friends?”

Kyungsoo shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unsure how to tell her that he and her son were the exact opposite of friends.

“Kyungsoo’s not my friend mom, we’re just stuck working together on this project, we didn’t have a choice.”

“Kai, that’s very rude! I want you to apologize right now!”

“It’s okay Mrs. Kim, we’re not really friends at all.”

“Now I find that hard to believe.  You seem just like the kind of boy my baby Kai would want to be friends with; sweet and cute and full of charm!”

“Thank you Mrs. Kim.”

The conversation tapered off into silence briefly as no one knew how to continue it, and instead they all focused on their food.

It seemed as if Kai’s mother wasn’t too happy about the silence however, as barely five minutes later she started talking to Kyungsoo again.

“Soo, Kai says you’re a senior?” She asked, looking at Kyungsoo for confirmation.
When he nodded his head briefly in agreement, she continued on.

“Do you have plans for college? What are you going to major in?”

“I’m going to go to school in Seoul to study business management.  I know it sounds boring, but my father owns a publishing company, and this is the best way I’ll be able to help him out when I get older.”

“Such a good son you are! Just like my little Kai,” she exclaimed as she reached across the table to pinch both their cheeks.  Kai just continued his brooding silence as he shoveled his food into his mouth.

“Do you have a girlfriend, Kyungsoo?” Kai snapped his head up and looked over to Kyungsoo with wide eyes, silently imploring him not to say anything.

Kyungsoo looked back at him with a level and unwavering gaze and replied, “Actually Mrs. Kim, I’m gay.”

“Oh,” she said, her voice intoning no emotion as she looked worriedly at Kai, “I see.”

Noticing her glance at her son and the worry in her eyes, Kyungsoo kept talking.  “Don’t worry Mrs. Kim, your son is not gay, and my homouality won’t rub off on him.”

As much as he tried to keep his voice light, Kyungsoo was not capable of keeping the hurt out of it.  Hurt because he had liked Kai’s mom, and now she thought of him as some lepper who was going to infect her son.

Kyungsoo had his head down, staring at the tablecloth after he said this, so he was taken completely by surprise when he felt Kai’s mother lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.  He looked up to see that she was now crouching down in front of him, a kind look on her face.

“Kyungsoo, I’m not disturbed by you being gay.  There’s nothing wrong with it, and I’m sorry if you took what I said the wrong way.  I’m not worried about you ‘infecting’ my son because if he decided it was another boy that he was attracted to, I wouldn’t love him any less.  And my positive first impression of you hasn’t changed at all after what you told me, and I admire your strength for the things you said.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help it; she was just so different from her son.  She was so kind and nice and accepting whereas her son was the complete opposite.  Before he knew what was happening, he was crying into Mrs. Kim’s shoulder as she gently rubbed circles on his back.

“Shh, shh, everything is okay now.”

His sobs subsided and turned into damp hiccups soon enough.  “I should probably go now, thank you so much for dinner… and everything else.”

“Of course dear, anytime.  I would love if you could join us again sometime.”

And with that, Kyungsoo was lead out of the house by a gentle Mrs. Kim as Kai remained at the table, looking everywhere but at Kyungsoo’s tear-stained face.