Bonus Scene “One Day”

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It really was unfair, Tao thought, how after all these years Kai had never picked up on how much Tao liked him. Ever since the day they met Tao knew they'd be great friends, an intuition that Kai fortunately shared with him, but it never got beyond that. Did Kai even know that Tao wasn't into girls? Surely by now he knew that much. Tao didn't try to hide it, and his friends weren't people who could keep a secret from a fellow friend. He was positive Kai knew, but he never said anything.

Perhaps he should just be grateful that he could still claim him as a friend, that even after Kai knew (because he had to know) he hadn't made himself scarce or disappeared, and their friendship hadn't slowly unraveled like so many of Tao's other friendships had done... He tried not to dwell too much on how little Yifan wanted to hang out with him after Tao had come out, or how Luhan had smiled too brightly and then glued himself closer to Minseok thereafter. As if the very knowledge that Tao was gay meant he might try to hit on him or try to steal him away from his baozi, or his baozi from him.

Kai wasn't like that though. He never acted any differently, and now that was part of the problem. Did he happen to like Tao? If so why didn't he say anything. Or was he just trying hard - perhaps too hard - to pretend he was fine with things, as if trying to prove his friendship was so real that nothing else was important.

Over these things Tao mulled, day in day out. How could he help it? Kai was so beautiful to him. Everything from the slope of his nose to his carefully tucked chin when he slept at night, the way his eyes glazed over when he was stressed and turned blank when he was so tired he didn't want to even function. From the way his fluffy black hair stuck up at angles every time he ran a hand through them. Every now and then Tao would try it too - pushing a stray hair off Kai's forehead and tucking it back before growing self-conscious and messing it up even more. Anything to turn that strange look on Kai's face to one that was more carefree and humorous. Tao didn't like when Kai's expressions looked strained and confused. 

One day maybe he would confess. He just didn't know how... It was so much easier to talk to strangers online than voice his opinion out loud where there were consequences.  One day... But then maybe he shouldn't push his luck...

A/N 

Hey guys, here's a drabble featuring a new original character. Because no one else in Exo-M fit the part, and every now and then a guy's got to dream. Hope you like my new Kai character! 

-SooTheMan

Jongin was having a miserable day. Actually he was having a miserable week, and nothing anyone said to him could make it better. In fact, Jongin thought about changing his friends' status to 'severely unhelpful thugs' if nothing changed soon.

“I can't believe you friend-zoned yourself? Jongin? Yourself?!? I sent you in there with boyfriend-ammunition material and you friend-zoned yourself! How lame can you get! Chanyeol, did you hear what he did? Isn’t that like the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?!” 

Baekhyun was on a tear, for about the tenth time this week, his victim grounding into the table with his head between his arms. It was no doubt turning the bridge of Jongin’s nose into a red, sweaty mess with table imprint on it, but at least that was better than looking Baekhyun in the eye and hearing this sermon again, for the tenth time this week.

At least Chanyeol still had a bit of compassion left about him. “Yeah, I think that’s sad too, Baek, but what’s so wrong with it? I mean, we’re friends. So what?”

“So what? Chanyeol, it’s because we’re friends and not potential lovers, that’s what. But Jongin here is an idiot and—”

“Okay, enough of the Jongin is an idiot rant,” Sehun miraculously intervened. Jongin would pick his head up for this. “I need to borrow this guy, so leave it.”

He clutched Jongin around the elbow and dragged him away outside. Jongin was only mildly grateful for the change of air. He let Sehun drag him out of the food court they were sitting in and up a hill, away from the merciless Baekhyun, although no further from Jongin's own sense of stupidity and self-doubt.

“Alright, what do you want?” he asked Sehun sadly once they'd stopped. He sat on a bench following Sehun's lead.

“Nothing,” Sehun admitted. “Just thought you could use a break.”

If this was the case, then maybe Jongin could reinstate Sehun's friend status to 'mildly more helpful'. 

“Oh. Well, thanks.” 

“Don't mention it.”

“Thanks, I won't.” Jongin was just fine not having to mention it again. He was so embarrassed about how he'd handled Kyungsoo he hadn't even found the courage to check up on Kyungsoo's fic updates this week. Reading romance kind of hurt his heart. 

“Have you even talked to him lately,” Sehun asked.

“I thought we weren’t going to mention it,” Jongin griped.

Sehun didn’t push it, fortunately. Because the truth was, Jongin had talked to him. Somewhat. Or maybe just a little bit. About random things. That had nothing to do with each other necessarily. Mindless small talk about what they were going to eat for dinner or how much homework they had. It was irritatingly not enough, according to Jongin’s grand scheme of ‘How to woo Kyungsoo and look good doing it.’ If he was being honest with himself though, that plan had technically been scrapped ages ago. By now he was sure that everything was just in the dumps and would always stay there. He’d never get the courage.

If only life was like how it was in fanfics. Not that Jongin had read enough fanfiction now to start comparing them to in-world situations. Nope. But perhaps he’d read enough to develop a pet peeve about the sort of dialogue that would hit right in the moment of a heavy character collision. Two lovers about to separate forever, until somebody delivers the final, cataclysmic speech!

“Wait! Kyungsoo! Before you write me off completely, I just had to tell you. I need to tell you. Please don’t turn away. Can you just sit there and stare into my eyes. I have to tell you how much… how much I like you. How I may even love you, but don’t get scared off by that word. Just… let me do this.

“I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. And when I learned we were to be roommates I panicked. How could I live with someone so perfect like you. I didn’t even know for sure you were perfect then. But something in my soul did. And I vowed that I would befriend you, and get to know you, and get you to like me even though I’m in no way perfect. And then perhaps you would see me, and we could love each other and get married and adopt ten babies that look just like you— err… or someone! But they would be ours, and NO don’t roll your eyes at me because you don’t believe me. I want you to believe me, Kyungsoo! I love you!”

How beautiful it would be… Kyungsoo’s eyes would open wide, and maybe his perfect little mouth would even drop a bit and he’d be so stunned and overwhelmed, and the love would be flowing between them like—

“Earth. Earth to Jongin. What are you doing? You look like an idiot. And you’re drooling. Ewww.”

Sehun always did have to ruin the best of his fantasies before they got the end.

Truthfully though, Jongin would probably be able to deliver only a small part of that speech with perfect clarity. It started and ended with the word “errrrrr…”

“I’m not even going to ask what you were daydreaming about,” said Sehun. Jongin thanked him for that, internally, because he didn’t want to speak and accidentally finish whatever diatribe his brain was currently on.

Humans off the page didn’t talk like that, at least none that Jongin knew, and certainly not himself. He’d be lucky if he could hoodwink Kyungsoo into reading eye signals or interpreting footsies under the table. If, you know… Jongin was courageous enough to even try to touch Kyungsoo’s feet. Probably he’d just trigger a reflex and end up kicked in the crotch. Stranger things had been known to happen. And Kyungsoo was already a jittery individual. Jongin definitely wouldn’t risk it.

A few days later Jongin was passing through the library, in vain looking for a free computer. He had just fifteen minutes to print out an assignment before class and no time to rush back to his dorm to do it. Blame early morning daydreams and waking up to a still snoozing Kyungsoo with a blanket wrapped around his whole body and just his nose sticking out. Jongin was easily distracted in the morning.

And now his homework would pay the price.

Fifty computers in this wing, and every single one of them occupied! What was wrong with people these days that they just had to have a computer! Did everyone have a roommate as cute as Kyungsoo – answer: no of course not – that they couldn’t do this at a different time?!

He dropped his book bag in the middle of the aisle and whined loudly in despair.

Someone at least took notice of him. An older boy with darkish hair that Jongin vaguely recognized.

“Oh, aren’t you… Jongin?” the guy said.

Jongin stared at him for a moment before placing his face. “J-Joonmyun? Is that right?” he asked.

“Yeah. We met a couple times. Do you… need a computer? I’m sorry I was hogging this one.”

Jongin stared again. Joonmyun had to be the second most beautiful person in the world right now, after Kyungsoo. “Yes! Oh God, yes please. I have to print this assignment out and it’s due and and and…”

Joonmyun smiled cheesily and rolled away from the desk. There happened to be an empty, desk-less chair in between this computer and the next, and Jongin happily took a seat. He wasted no time pulling up his e-mail, angrily typing in his password and was so frantic he had to repeat it two or three times before it would take.

As he waited for it to load, he noticed Joonmyun hadn’t gone anywhere. He sat next to him still with a textbook in his lap, politely averting his eyes from the screen. He hadn’t even closed down all the browser tabs. Perhaps he had more things to do and was just waiting for Jongin to finish.

“Thanks again,” said Jongin. “This will just take a sec.”

“No problem.”

Moments later Jongin had the assignment he needed, and with a flourish he smashed the PRINT button and hurrahed loudly. “Perfect! You’re a lifesaver!”

Joonmyun hummed a non-committed assent, and Jongin noticed now that he was twitching just slightly. A knee shook a little too oddly, and his smile had turned into a partial grimace. Jongin paused with his hand on the mouse, cursor about to minimize the new tab Joonmyun had pulled up earlier. He clicked on the little [x] just as Joonmyun made a frantic sound.

Jongin couldn’t help it. His eyes hit the page, and within a single second he registered what webpage he was looking at, and what he was looking at, and who the author was and at this point who could help but scan everything in sight?

Kai strips quickly, not bothering to pick up the clothes. His shirt lands on the sink, jeans in a puddle on the bathmat, and his boxers, the last to go, land squarely at the base of the toilet porcelain. 

The warm water on his face and chest feels good. He wastes no time starting up a lather of shampoo, massaging his scalp and he leans forward to let the hard droplets of water pummel into his head and shoulders. It feels good, so relaxing. The steam builds around his head and he closes his eyes to savor it...

But then a blast of cold air hits him in the back. With a jolt Kai realizes that he's suddenly not alone.

"Ahhh, so this is where the party moved to!" 

Luhan, stark and obviously drunk crawls over the side of the tub. He stumbles a bit and pulls on the shower curtain. The metal rings holding it up swing violently closed as Luhan steps up behind Kai. 

"Uhh, Luhan..."

"Hmmm?" 

"I'm kind of trying to take a shower here..." Kai explains, slowly, carefully. He steps closer under the spray to put some distance between his backside and Luhan. 

Luhan giggles. "I can see that!"

It took this long before Jongin remembered he wasn’t the only person staring at this page. Joonmyun, the original culprit, was sitting next to him still with a petrified form and bright red face. Jongin immediately minimized the window and scooted backwards, eyes burned by what he’d read and after that only two things registered in his brain.

“You… you read fanfiction?” He glanced slightly at Joonmyun, too scared to meet his eyes head-on.

Joonmyun gulped. “Uhmmm…”

“Kyungsoo wrote that, didn’t he?” That was the second thing occupying every corner of Jongin's mind. Kyungsoo writes… shower scenes… about Luhan and who the hell is this Kai person?!

On top of looking mortified though, Joonmyun also looked confused. “Kyung-Kyungsoo?”

“Oh,” said Jongin. “Kyungsoo… SooTheMan… Kyungsoo is my roommate…”

“He is?!”

It was surely a whole lot nicer to see Joonmyun freaking out, because at least that kept Jongin from visibly freaking out. What had he been missing all this week when he didn’t check Kyungsoo’s fic updates?!

“Y-yeah… uhm. Anyways. Cool. That’s cool. So. You’re a fan. Uhm. Well I gotta go and thanks for letting me use the computer. Bye!” And Jongin made his escape, barely even hearing Joonmyun’s stunned little ‘Goodbye…’ as he grabbed his report off the printer and ran away. 

Later that day, much later, Jongin found Kyungsoo sitting on a bench outside a classroom as he waited for his lecture class to start. Jongin’s mouth went dry, but his heart thumped loudly as he paused to stare.

Kyungsoo was sitting calmly, eyes downward and fingers playing with his mp3 player, ear buds in, and he hadn’t yet noticed Jongin. Hadn’t yet realized what Jongin knew, and there was no way in hell that Jongin was going to admit what he read earlier. He even thought about not saying anything at all and just passing by, but then Kyungsoo happened to look up and he smiled so innocently that Jongin just wanted to die.

“Oh. Jongin. Hey. What are you doing here?” he said, removing one ear bud.

“Just passing through. You waiting for your class?”

“Yeah. Still another fifteen minutes to go before this one lets out and I can go in. What about you? Aren’t you done for the day?”

“I am…” Jongin admitted. What he didn’t want to admit is how much he wanted to race back to his dorm room before Kyungsoo got back and do some catching up with his… educational reading list.

“Oh, cool. Want to keep me company then? I’m bored.”

“Yeah, sure.” He took a seat, hesitantly, although Kyungsoo didn’t seem to notice anything off with him. “What are you listening to?”

Kyungsoo smiled bashfully. “Exo-M. I won’t make you listen if you don’t want.”

“What? No I’ll listen. If… I mean, can I?”

“You want to?” Kyungsoo looked incredulous.

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve listened to most of that stuff you gave me, and I like a few songs. Maybe more than just a few.”

Kyungsoo beamed at him. “Awesome! Really? That’s great. I’ll make a true fan of you yet.”

I’m already a fan of yours though…  If Jongin was in a fanfic, he’d say that.

“Err… yeah. Go ahead.” He took the offered ear bud and stuck it in his ear and tried really hard not to think about how this forced him to sit so close to Kyungsoo. He also tried not to think about showers. 

2,765 words

Well well, what revelations are these?? New original character Kai, huh? Oh so original, isn't he. FYI the Taokai drabble was created specifically for this chapter. The highly rated Kailu is actually something I have written already. Read the full version here.

I feel slightly bad for Joonmyun. Here I've been having extreme and random Suho feels all week, and then I go and out him in this fic hahaha. Poor guy.

As ever, I'm super sorry that I'm so slow with updates for this! Just know that my biggest fic "Between Spotlights" is coming to an end, and that will be one big weight off my author's shoulders. I'll try not to get too side-tracked by other things, although... well... no promises. Hehe

<3 Rosie