The next day was Tuesday, and Kyungsoo met Jongdae in the hall before school just like any other day.  As was seeming to become a common occurrence, Baekhyun soon strutted over to them, Kai at his side.

“Morning Jongdae! And my little Kyunggie,” Baekhyun leaned in and squeezed Kyungsoo’s cheeks, earning him a slap to the back of his head.

“Morning Baekhyun-ah,” Jongdae shot back distractedly, too busy looking over his biology notes (there was a test today) to respond in his usual, enthusiastic demeanor.

“Hey, Kyungsoo,” Kai inserted shyly, stepping up beside Kyungsoo and briefly grasping his elbow before letting his hand drop back down to his side, an action Baekhyun did not miss.

“So, Kai,” Baekhyun began, “How is the project going with Kyungsoo?  You’ve been ignoring me for days to meet up with him.”

Kai flushed slightly, hidden by his tan skin, and his hand once again found the hairs at the nape of his neck.

“It’s, uh, going well.  I think we’ll be able to have it done in time.”

“That’s great to hear.  Is my little Kyunggie treating you okay, Kai?”

“Hey!” Kyungsoo exclaimed in indignation, “He’s the bully here, don’t you think you should be asking me that question?”

Kyungsoo didn’t mean to make him feel bad, but Kai turned his head away in shame nonetheless.

“Hey, Kai, I didn’t mean it.  You’ve behaved acceptably towards me – well, for the most part anyway.”

Kai didn’t respond verbally, but the ever-observant Baekhyun noticed the way Kai shifted so that he was putting his weight on the foot closest to Kyungsoo, causing their shoulders to almost brush against each other.

“The only reason I asked, Soo, is because I know how mean you are to the people you like, and I have enough bruises to prove it!”

“I do not like him!” Kyungsoo shouted, causing Jongdae to jolt and rejoin his friends in reality.

“Who doesn’t like who?” He inquired, confused.

“Kyungsoo doesn’t like me,” Kai responded moodily.

“Well I should ing hope not, you’re an ,” was the last thing Jongdae said before once again burying his nose in his notes, mumbling under his breath, “I really should start paying attention in this damn class.”

Kai tried to hide his hurt, but both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun noticed it.  It was the former of these two that tried to cheer him up.

“Don’t worry Kai, you’re not an all the time.”

“Gee, that makes me feel much better,” he responded sarcastically; but it did, and the atmosphere became lighter as they all parted ways, leaving Jongdae to bump into random students as he tried to make his way to class without looking up from his notes.

Throughout the day, whenever Kai would see Kyungsoo in the hallways, not only would he say hi, a little less timidly than before, he would also make it a point to touch him in some way.  The touches ranged anywhere from just a casual brushing of shoulders as they squeezed past each other in the narrow hallway, to a hand placed momentarily on Kyungsoo’s bicep.

Kyungsoo, despite how much he didn’t want to, couldn’t keep his thoughts from lingering on these brief interactions.  Anytime Kai touched him, his skin would get warm and would tingle almost imperceptibly, and anytime he thought of it, a smile would unwilling fleet across his face.

Today was the last day they were given to work together in English class, and Kyungsoo couldn’t refrain himself from feeling excited, though he passed it off as just being grateful that they weren’t having a proper lesson.

When he entered the room, Kai was already in his seat next to Kyungsoo’s, waiting for him to join him.

As Kyungsoo sat down, Kai adjusted his seat so that he could look at Kyungsoo comfortably.  Unsatisfied with just his chair being angled towards the middle, Kai reached over and grabbed Kyungsoo’s chair as well, one hand on the seat, the other on the back rest, arm resting against Kyungsoo’s thin shoulder.  Before Kyungsoo knew what was happening, Kai was already turning the chair with Kyungsoo on it towards himself, his muscles straining slightly at the effort.

“Hey Kyungsoo, how was your day?”

Bewildered, he responded, “Good, I guess. Nothing different from usual.  Well, except your behavior.”

“I’m trying.  I think it’s getting easier, just a little anyway.”

“Well, you know what they say, practice makes perfect.”

“That it does.”  Kai smiled at him slightly, and not in his usual almost-smirk, but an actual, genuine half-smile.

Kyungsoo felt his chest constrict inexplicably, and coughed to rid himself of the sensation.

“Are you okay?  Aren’t you feeling well?”

“Oh, uhm, I’m fine. I was just, you know, clearing my throat.”

“Ah, okay.”

Kai looked at him, and the two of them sat in silence for a few moments.  For Kai, the silence was almost comfortable and he didn’t feel the need to fidget as he usually did in moments of silence between the two of them.  Instead, that restless energy was focused on watching Kyungsoo squirm in his seat and look anywhere but at him.

“So I guess there really isn’t anything more we can do on this project, at least not right now in class,” Kyungsoo at last broke the quiet.

“Yeah, we’ve already gotten all of the writing stuff done,” Kai agreed.

“So, we’re not meeting tonight, right? You have dance or whatever.”

“Actually, about that…” Kai tapered off, and now he really did feel uncomfortable.

“What is it? Don’t you usually have dance on Tuesdays? I didn’t think you’d want to do anything afterwards besides eat and shower.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kai chuckled, “I always just go straight to bed after I’ve finished my homework.”

“So what is it you were going to say then, if not to meet up afterwards?”

Kai ran his fingers through his hair, stopping at the nape of his neck to rub.  “I was thinking…”

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo prompted him after a few seconds where it seemed that Kai wasn’t going to continue.

“I was thinking that maybe you could come with me to practice?  I mean, to work on the project that is.”

“Hmm…” Kyungsoo seemingly pondered, scratching his chin in apparent thought.

“I mean! You don’t have to or anything, I just thought it might be a good idea, ya know, since we are planning on incorporating dance into the project.  I just thought it might help if you saw me dance first, maybe it’ll spark some ideas,” Kai defended himself.

“Kai, calm down, I was just pulling your leg.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, actually, I think that’s a really good idea.  I think it would be beneficial for me to see the way you dance and your particular style so I can do some last minute tweaking before we finish up the project.”

“Yeah, okay then,” Kai was slightly red for the second time that day.

“Where and when should I meet you?”

“Uh, I’ll meet you at your locker at the end of the day, my mom’ll drive us over.”

“Great, it’s a date.”

Kai’s already flushed face suddenly turned so red that Kyungsoo thought he might pop a blood vessel.

“Relax Kai,” Kyungsoo made as if to put a calming hand on his forearm, but thought better of it and dropped his arm onto his own leg instead, “it’s an expression of speech.  I just mean that it’s a plan, I’ll be there.”

“Right. No, yeah, I knew that…Uh, I’m going to read for a while then, since we don’t have to do anything else right now.

“Okay.”

When the bell rang, Kai shuffled out of the room before Kyungsoo could even stand up.

At the end of the day though, true to his word, Kyungsoo found Kai waiting for him at his locker, awkwardly scuffing his feet against the floor and then using his toe to erase the marks.

“Hey.”

“Kyungsoo, you’re here!” Kai had been so absorbed in his fidgeting that he hadn’t seen him approach.

“Yeah, thanks for waiting for me.  I just need to switch out my books and I’ll be ready to go.  I already texted my mom and let her know where I was going.”

“Great, my mom’s in the car whenever we’re ready.”