There was no reason for Kyungsoo to complain. He was adjusting well to the school—he had nice teachers, good grades, (sometimes) helpful friends, and a boyfriend.

Who was currently ignoring him.

They were sitting right across from each other at the dining table, but other than a few glances in his direction, Jongin hadn’t acknowledged him once. He was engaged in a conversation with Chanyeol and Sehun, laughing at something the former was saying.

Kyungsoo wouldn’t be bothered by this usually, but Jongin acted like this nearly every day, and it was getting kind of tiresome. He could understand if Jongin didn’t want to make their relationship public, but it couldn’t hurt that much to at least acknowledge each other in public. When he’d sat down, even Sehun had nodded his head in greeting. Jongin had barely looked at him during the meal. There was nothing wrong with being friends, at least.

It happened during classes, too. The first time they’d passed each other in the halls since that night, Kyungsoo had raised his hand in greeting. Jongin had turned away from him without bothering to return the wave. He’d understood then, but it hadn’t stopped him from trying again later, and it certainly hadn’t made the sting any less.

He didn’t want Jongin to broadcast their relationship to the whole school and he wasn’t unusually jealous of the people who Jongin talked to. Jongin made it clear that he wasn’t interested in anyone else, but even a nod of acknowledgement was better than nothing.

Jongin had brought it up before, saying, “I don’t feel comfortable making our relationship public.”

And Kyungsoo had understood then. He wasn’t fond of PDA, either, especially not after he’d caught Baekhyun and Chanyeol together in the stairwell one day. But this—this was extreme.

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun asked, waving a hand before Kyungsoo’s face. “You look so serious.”

Kyungsoo knocked Baekhyun’s hand away and fixed his eyes on his plate. “I’m fine.”

It was just a seemingly small issue that was setting off the wrong warning bells in Kyungsoo’s head. Maybe talking to Jongin would help, Kyungsoo thought, poking at his rice a little too aggressively. There was, after all, a line between no PDA and outright ignoring someone.

Even though Kyungsoo was bothered by Jongin’s actions, he wasn’t mad at the other. After all, when they were alone, Jongin seemed to shower him with attention, like he was apologizing for his actions during the day.

Jongin had even rearranged their room, pushing their twin beds together. He claimed that it gave both of them more room. Each morning, Kyungsoo would find that Jongin had moved sometime during the night so that he was usually as close to Kyungsoo as possible, their legs tangled under the blankets and their heads on the same pillow. With Jongin that close, there was no need for the other bed, but Kyungsoo hadn’t complained. Truthfully, he’d gotten used to waking up with Jongin’s face just a turn of a head away.

Usually, when Kyungsoo walked into his room at the end of the day, he’d be thankful to have Jongin there, a comforting presence by his side with a warm hug ready whenever he was thoroughly exhausted. But this time, he steeled himself, making sure not to melt when Jongin looked up from his phone with a bright smile.

“Hey, Kyungsoo. Are you tired?”

Kyungsoo closed the bedroom door and dropped his backpack by his chair. He was tired, but he still had homework to finish and something else to face. “Can I talk to you about something?” he asked, sitting down in his chair and grabbing an eraser to give his hands something to do.

Jongin put his phone down, catching on to the serious tone in Kyungsoo’s voice. “Sure. What is it?”

Kyungsoo had rehearsed it in his head many times already, trying to find the appropriate way to ease into the conversation. He still hadn’t found a satisfactory way of casually bringing it up, so he decided to get straight to the point. “It’s just, during class time—”

Jongin’s phone rang then, cutting off Kyungsoo’s words. Jongin glanced down at his phone, frowning when he saw the name on the flashing screen. “It’s my dad.” He looked up, an apology in his eyes. “I have to take this.”

“Go ahead,” Kyungsoo said, waving a hand. Maybe this wasn’t the time to bring up the subject, he thought, pulling out his assigned schoolwork. Jongin walked out of the door, seeking to answer the phone call privately. Kyungsoo exhaled loudly in the otherwise quiet room.

He was scribbling down answers to the problems in his textbooks, but his mind was elsewhere. Jongin’s phone calls with his parents were usually very long, so Kyungsoo still had at least an hour alone. It would be too late to bring up the subject again when Jongin came back, though.

There was a chance that he was reacting. Maybe Jongin just wasn’t comfortable about it now, but would be more open after some time. After all, they’d only been dating for a week.

Kyungsoo broke the tip of his pencil against the paper, sighing as he grabbed a pencil sharpener. He didn’t want to put it off, though. No matter how small the problem was, he wanted to talk it out before it became something worse. He wasn’t inexperienced with relationships, and he knew firsthand how quickly a small problem could grow into something uncontrollable.

It only took an hour for Kyungsoo to finish his work, so by the time Jongin returned to the room, Kyungsoo was ready to go to bed.

“I’m sorry it took so long,” Jongin said as he entered the room. “Chanyeol needed me for something before I came up… Are you going to bed already?”

Kyungsoo nodded. “I’m tired, but you don’t have to sleep now.”

“It’s okay, I can.”

“Did you finish your homework?” Kyungsoo asked. The way Jongin faltered at the question gave him the answer.

“I can copy Sehun’s?” Jongin suggested, a hopeful tone in his voice.

“Go finish it,” Kyungsoo said, remaining unyielding to Jongin’s pleading look. “Or you have to sleep on the ground tonight,” he added.

That was enough to make Jongin sit down at his desk and open his textbooks.

Kyungsoo had already changed into his pajamas, so he got into bed and pulled the covers up to block out the light from Jongin’s desk. He could hear the faint sounds of Jongin’s pencil against his paper and the occasional times when Jongin would talk aloud to himself while he was working on a problem. It was oddly comforting, though, and it didn’t take long for Kyungsoo to drift into a half-sleep.

He woke up not long later when Jongin got into the bed next to him, the slight dip in the mattress and the feel of a warm body next to his making him open his eyes to the darkness.

“Are you asleep, Soo?” Jongin asked quietly.

Kyungsoo turned his head to face Jongin, even if it was pointless because the room was so dark. “Not anymore.”

Jongin laughed unapologetically, and Kyungsoo felt the light brush of his lips against his forehead. “I’m done now. You said you wanted to talk to me about something?”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes again. “It’s nothing important. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay. Good night.”

“Good night,” Kyungsoo echoed.

He listened as Jongin’s breathing evened out, but he couldn’t fall asleep as easily. There were uneasy thoughts bothering him again, and he promised himself that later, he would definitely talk to Jongin. Kyungsoo reached out slightly, finding Jongin’s hand with little difficulty in the dark. He placed his hand on top of Jongin’s, relishing in the warmth. Maybe this was good enough for now.