“Burn this.”

Tao looked at the large suitcase Kyungsoo was using to prop the front door open and effortlessly put two and two together. The day was drawing to a close but apparently fate wasn’t done placing him in all the wrong places at all the wrong times just yet. The fact that he came here of his own accord when he knew full well what Kyungsoo’s insistent invitation was about was completely inconsequential. The fact that this was exactly what he had been silently anticipating for the length of their friendship was completely inconsequential too.

“Are you sure you don’t want to give him a few more days?” Tao asked, suppressing his urge to gloat as Kyungsoo turned around to head to the living room.

“I’m not making the same mistake twice,” Kyungsoo said, reaching for the particularly hideous tablecloth on the small side table in the living room to crumple it up into a ball. “If I sit on this, I won’t be able to move on. It's now or never.”

“Good on you,” Tao said, taking hold of the tablecloth Kyungsoo had shoved at him on the way out of the living room.

“I should’ve seen it coming,” Kyungsoo continued, heading towards the kitchen. “We should never have gotten together.”

“Definitely.”

Kyungsoo ripped the post it note from the fridge and handed it to Tao. “We’re too different.”

“You sure are.”

“It was never going to work.”

“Of course not.”

“He couldn’t understand me if he tried,” Kyungsoo said, taking a garbage bag from the cabinet under the sink.

“And he didn’t try.”

“He’s a dodgy character all around,” Kyungsoo said, holding the garbage bag open for Tao to put the tablecloth and post it note in, before handing the bag to him.

“No doubt about it.”

“Because nobody in their right mind would date an aual.”

Tao paused, watching as Kyungsoo walked past him towards one of the rooms. “Where did that come from?”

“I have more things I need to throw out,” Kyungsoo said instead of answering, gesturing for Tao to follow him with the garbage bag.

“Just when I thought you were going well with the ‘I’m strong and awesome’ talk,” Tao said, barely registering his surroundings as he walked into the room.

“Well, would you?” Kyungsoo asked, rummaging through shelves and drawers for any traces of Chanyeol that he could get rid of.

“Would I what?”

“Date an aual.”

“Of course I would. Why the hell not?”

Kyungsoo looked under the bed, before straightening up, apparently failing to find anything. “But you’re atypical.”

Tao frowned. “Do you mind not sticking a label on me?”

“But it’s true. If you’re an average person-”

“What’s an ‘average person’?” Tao interrupted.

“Someone like Chanyeol.”

“If that’s what average is, then thank heavens I’m not. How is being ‘average’ a good thing anyway?”

“I don’t mean average as in mediocre. Take Chanyeol for example. Personality-wise, he’s-”

“What personality? He’s either one-third of an imbecilic group or one-half of an ill-fated couple, no offense.”

“No, I mean-”

“The guy has no personality to speak of, no brain to speak of, no flair to speak of, and not to mention no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Nobody in their right mind would date him.”

“But we’re the weird ones.”

“Define ‘weird’. And since when did we become a collective group?”

“We’re not as we should be.”

“And how the hell should we be?”

Kyungsoo seemed to mull that over, before giving a slight shake of the head and deciding to just head out of the bedroom. “I think he left some things in the bathroom.”

“Your self-identity issues aside, I think we’re both on the same page that your boyfriend - well, ex, I suppose - is dodgy and undeserving,” Tao said, following after him.

“Only sometimes,” Kyungsoo mumbled.

“When it matters.”

Kyungsoo sighed. “True.”

“Which should be all the time, really,” Tao said, holding the garbage bag open when Kyungsoo came to a stop at the bathroom.

There was a momentary pause as Kyungsoo seemed to study the toiletries next to the washbasin. “But what would you do?”

“If a dodgy, undeserving boyfriend peaced out on me? Throw a party, probably?”

“No, if someone tells you something.”

“I’d ask them to be more specific.”

“Something bad.”

“Which could be anything.”

Kyungsoo fiddled with the toothbrush he had picked up. “If they did something to someone.”

“What, did you- they kill someone or something?”

“Maybe.”

“What the-” Tao blurted out, not expecting that response. “Then I’d ask them why they were telling me that instead of turning themself in.”

“Because they don’t know if they actually did what they think they did.”

“Why not?”

“Because they were stupidly drunk when it happened.”

“Do they want to remember?”

Kyungsoo hesitated. “They’re not sure.”

“Then I’d offer to do something that might prompt their memory and see if they want to remember more after that.”

“How?”

“If we’re talking about the rave then we can just look up the Facebook event page and see if the photos or whatever’s on there can trigger anything.”

Kyungsoo seemed to consider that suggestion. “They might do that later.”

“Good.”

“Although it won’t make a difference.”

“It’ll give them peace of mind.”

“It would’ve been better if they told you instead of someone else to begin with.”

“That’s to be expected.”

Kyungsoo heaved a sigh as he placed the toothbrush he had been fiddling with in the garbage bag Tao was holding before starting to look through the bathroom drawers. “But it’s too late now.”

“What I meant was I’m obviously going to have better ideas than that ‘someone else’. Him pulling a disappearing act is good riddance, to be honest.”

“But where is he? I know him well enough to know that finishing uni’s a big deal for him so he wouldn’t just go away somewhere.”

“Who cares? He left a ton of stuff in that house that he’s supposedly moved out of anyway. He probably just went back.”

“You mean he never-” Kyungsoo fixed an accusing glare on the tube of moisturizer in his hand. “Are these all new? Is that why he didn’t think twice about leaving everything behind? Is that why he’s been so lax about settling in?”

“Well, I wouldn’t know.”

Kyungsoo flung the tube into the garbage bag, but the irritation on his face was quickly replaced by weariness. “Is this what the end feels like?”

“I thought you got over it before I came. What happened to the whole ‘it was never going to work anyway’ mindset?”

“It’d be so much easier if he dumped me straight out instead of leaving puzzle pieces that don’t fit together.”

“Isn’t minding your couple’s specialty?”

Kyungsoo sighed yet again as he took one of the bath towels hung on the rail in the bathroom and placed it in the garbage bag. “I think that’s most of it.”

Tao bunched up the top of the garbage bag and tied it into a knot. “We’re not actually burning everything, are we?”

“No, let’s just put them in the bin.”

Tao carried the garbage bag and fell into step beside Kyungsoo as he headed to the front of the house, where the large suitcase was still propping the door wide open as an open invitation to burglars. “Does this mean that you can take on a new housemate?”

Kyungsoo looked at him. “Didn’t you say you were moving somewhere?”

“Yeah, but it’s only temporary. It felt a bit like walking onto the set of some weird as soap opera when I went there anyway, so the sooner I can find another place, the better.”

Kyungsoo seemed to think it through before nodding. “Okay.”

a/n: I've been updating this monthly judging from the last few chapters, I'm sorry ;;; I'm happy with the endings I have planned (and would be mad excited to write them if I wasn't so exhausted because being an adult ) but again, if anybody has anything in particular that they want me to address before I finish this, by all means please let me know in the comments. Otherwise, onto the 4 final chapters~~~