“WHAT!?” The sound of Jongdae’s voice through the phone was loud enough to make Kyungsoo hold it away from his ear.

          “I think I like Kai,” Kyungsoo responded in a small voice, afraid of what the other would say.

          “Kyungsoo, I know that, as your friend, I should support you in the decisions you make, but what the hell is going through your head right now?  Please help me to understand what it is that you are saying to me.”

          “I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say right now,” Kyungsoo muttered ashamedly.

          “Let’s just start with how you came about this realization that you like him.  Tell me what it is that decided this for you.”

          “I don’t really know, Dae.  I went with him to his dance practice earlier, and it was magical.  I just couldn’t stop watching him, and he was so beautiful.”

          “Kyungsoo, it sounds like you just think he’s good looking,” Jongdae sighed in relief through the phone.  “Just don’t look at him and you’ll be fine.  Think of other, more handsome men like me, and you’ll remember Kai’s not that hot after all.”

          Kyungsoo laughed slightly at Jongdae’s self-flattery.  “It’s not like that.  It’s more than just that he’s really handsome.  He’s goofy and dumb sometimes, but at other times, he’s says really intelligent things.  He can keep up with me when we discuss books, and even manages to surprise me with things I had never thought about before.

          “And, and he confides in me.  He tells me things that he’s never told anyone else, and, I don’t know, it just makes me feel so special, like I’m important.”

          “Oh, Kyungsoo, this is not good.  You can’t like him Soo, it’s a really bad idea.  He doesn’t really care about you, and if you let yourself feel this way, you’re just going to end up hurt.  I really don’t want to see that; I don’t know if I could help you.”

          “I know you’re right, but no matter how many times I tell myself that, I just can’t stop my heart from fluttering every time he looks at me and tells me something in confidence.”

          “So what are you going to do?”

          “I don’t know, Jongdae, please help me.  I need to find a way to move past this, I can’t get stuck like this.”

          “Kyungsoo, there really isn’t much I can do.  You’re going to have to do everything by yourself because no matter what I say, my words and actions will have no effect.”

          “Jongdae, I don’t know what to do!” And now Kyungsoo was almost in tears, pleading with his friend over the phone.

          “Look, the only thing I can think of is to find someone else.  I know it’s not easy and seems like an almost ridiculous thing for me to say, but my mom always used to tell my sister that the only way to get over a man was to get under another.

          “I think this applies to you as well.  I’m definitely not saying to go have with someone, my little Soo Soo needs to stay innocent forever.  What I do mean is that you need to go out and find yourself a good looking guy to flirt with and date.  I’m sorry if my advice isn’t helpful to you, but it’s really the only thing that I can think of.”

          “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t exactly have guys lining up to date me; I don’t know if it would be even feasible to put your plan into action.”

          “I’m sorry, Soo, that’s the best I’ve got.”

          “Thanks Jongdae, you know you’re my best friend, right?”

          “Yeah, yeah, I love you too.  Hey, I gotta go now, my mom is yelling at me to do the dishes.  You’ll be okay, right?”

          “Yeah, thanks Dae, I’ll see you tomorrow in school,” and with that, Kyungsoo hung up the phone and laid back down onto his bed.  Letting out a huff, he summoned SoFo to him and curled up together with the dog, thinking about his newly realized crush and his best friend’s advice.

          The rest of the week went without a hitch.  Whenever Jongdae saw Kyungsoo talking with or looking at Kai, he would shoot him significant looks, which Kyungsoo tried not to ignore.

It was hard though, now that he had realized his feelings for Kai, Kyungsoo kept finding more things about the boy to like.  For example, it had occurred to him that the way Kai always rubbed the back of his neck when he was nervous was really cute, and the way that he ate; so messily and quickly, was adorable, despite the fact that it initially revolted him.  The way he would talk to his friends was endearing, and listening to him argue with his mother about doing the dishes was alarmingly charming.

Kyungsoo couldn’t help it; he was falling harder and harder for the boy that once bullied him.

He went over to Kai’s house Wednesday after school to work, and was unable to focus on the task at hand the entire time.  He kept getting distracted, watching Kai’s face as he concentrated, observing the subtle shifting of his muscles as he wrote, and noticing how much he squirmed and fidgeted when he was trying to sit still.

Kyungsoo came to the conclusion that Kai was a mass of nervous energy.  He always needed to be in motion, for if his limbs stilled, he would internally combust, and it made Kyungsoo curious as to the reason for his restlessness.

But beyond Kyungsoo’s lack of focus and constant observation of the new-found object of his affections, his time at Kai’s passed like it had any other time he had been there, and ended with dinner with his mom.

Thursday passed with minimal interaction between the two, and Kyungsoo did not tag along to dance practice this time, preferring to instead give himself some much needed separation.

Friday in school wasn’t much different, but at the end of the day, Kai once again cornered Kyungsoo at his locker.

“Hey, you’re coming over tonight, right?  Baekhyun’s visiting Taeyeon this weekend, so I need something to occupy my time tonight.”

“It sounds like you’re asking me over to sleep with me,” Kyungsoo responded, trying to make his sarcasm sound as normal as possible.

“Don’t twist my words, you know what I meant,” Kai seemed less embarrassed by Kyungsoo’s implication of sleeping with him than he had in the past, even playfully punching Kyungsoo on the shoulder.  “So are you coming over, or what?”

“Or what.”

“Come on Kyungsoo, don’t be like that! I think we can get this project finished today! In any case, we need to considering it’s due on Monday.”

“I don’t really know Kai…” Kyungsoo tapered off.  He wanted nothing more than to spend his Friday night with Kai again, but he knew Jongdae was right and he needed to distance himself from the situation.  “You’ve ruined my past two Fridays, I’m not too sure I’m willing to let you ruin a third.”

“Hey, you ruined last week all by yourself by making us watch that ty movie, you can’t pin that on me.”

“I just don’t think I should come over, Kai.”

“Awe, come on Soo, it’ll be fun!” Kai ruffled Kyungsoo’s hair impishly.

“What did you just call me?” Kyungsoo asked, bewildered and red.

“Soo? Is that not okay? I’ve heard your friends say it and you never seemed to mind, my mom too.  Do you not want me to call you that?”

“No, it’s fine…” Kyungsoo’s heart was fluttering uncontrollably in his chest, and his willpower was quickly waning.

“So how about it Soo, you going to come over or what?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Kyungsoo at last gave in, shutting his locker behind him as he began to walk down the hall.  “I just need to go home first to grab my laptop.”

“Okay, great, I’ll see you later then!”

“Yeah, see ya.”