D.O

 

“Thank you for listening. This is D.O, goodnight everyone. XOXO.”

 

“Good work, Kyungsoo! Or should I say D.O?”

 

Kyungsoo stifles a laugh, “Thanks.”

 

“You've been gaining a lot of popularity these days,” Suho says.

 

“I know. Tomorrow at 6 again, right?”

 

“Don't be late!” Suho pats him on the back, a smile gracing his lips.

 

“Have I ever been?” Kyungsoo shoots back a rhetorical question.

 

Suho chuckles, “Okay, see you tomorrow.”

 

“Bye.”

 

Stepping out of the SM recording radio building, a soft breeze runs across the tip of Kyungsoo's nose.

 

December.

 

One of Kyungsoo's least favorite months, following the even more dreaded January. Squeezing his eyes tight, he shakes his head while inhaling the cold air.

 

One step, two steps, three steps...

 

With his eyes still closed, Kyungsoo allows his feet carry him to his special place.

 

Thirteen Steps from SM. Turn right. Fourteen steps. A left. Twelve steps. Home. His owl-like eyes flutter open and a small compacted building behind a tight alley way stands before him. KLM Lens, a glasses shop. Kyungsoo pushes open the door and instantly the familiar sound of three bells rings in his ears. Unable to resist the urge; he copies the pitch of the bells and lets out a “Do”.

 

“Would you stop singing every time you walk in?” A blonde giant stomps into Kyungsoo's view.

 

“Stop harassing the poor kid, Kris.” A male about the same height as Kyungsoo says.

 

“Xiumin it's okay, I'm used to it already.” Without even looking, Kyungsoo can tell that Xiumin is sitting in his regular spot, the corner surrounded by magazines and couches.

 

“Where is Lay hyung?” Kyungsoo couldn't feel the strong aura of the boss today.

 

“He went back to China to visit his family,” Xiumin says, “I still can't get used to your superior senses.”

 

Kyungsoo shrugs and walks to his room at the back of the shop. Closing the door behind him, he shuffles over to his two closet doors. Pushing them open, he reaches in to pull out a pair of Helvetica Regular glasses and examines them before sliding them onto his nose. Forgetting that he was still wearing his full frame glasses, his Helveticas clank against the pair he is already has on, and the usual coldness of the glasses are out of Kyungsoo’s reach. Groaning, Kyungsoo takes both pairs off and stares at the beautifully crafted specs. Shutting his eyes again, he takes the Helveticas and places them in front of his eyelids. He places his white full frames back on the first rack third box of his closet. With his bed behind him, Kyungsoo inches over and slides onto his cool covers.

 

Xiumin is still reading.

 

Kris is at his office, wait, he's moving towards the front desk

 

There is a woman who seems to be about twenty-five standing at the desk. Never “felt” her before.

 

Must be a new customer.

 

The rattling of his doorknob breaks his senses.

 

Kyungsoo can't feel anyone, or thing, at his door.

 

His eyes dart open and he rushes to unlock his door.

 

Nothing.

 

He feels nothing from the young man in front of him.

 

Emptiness.

 

The young man looks surprised, but the edges of his mouth start to curve up.

 

“Hi, I'm Jongin! I'm living here starting today.”

 

Kyungsoo blinks. He had always been able to sense someone. Lies, truths, all of it was like a game to him. But this Jongin, was as empty as his heart.

 

KAI

 

The elf-like boy who is standing in front of him has the largest eyes he has ever seen. Jongin just grazed the doorknob when the door flew open and he was faced with a bewildered look from this man. Remembering to smile again, Jongin introduces himself and hopes that the latter wouldn’t be mad at him for disturbing whatever he was doing, but the stranger just stares. It's like his eyes pierce through everyone and everything. Like he couldn't even see Jongin.

 

“Um... I'm sorry if I disturbed you.”

 

“What? Oh. No it's okay. Welcome, I'm Kyungsoo.” he says, still gazing right through Jongin.

 

Jongin decides it’s time for him to leave, so he flashes one last smile and says his goodbye.

 

“See you around!”

 

“Yeah… okay.”

 

Kyungsoo’s blank stare is enough to make Jongin want to turn around and run, but he holds in the urge and starts to walk to the lobby. After a few steps, the curious boy turns his head, but Kyungsoo’s door is already closed.

 

Sitting down next to his childhood friend, Xiumin, Jongin sighs.

 

“What's wrong?” Xiumin asks.

 

“Why is your friend so intimidating?”

 

“Kyungsoo? It's his sixth- Ah.” Xiumin stops for a second.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing. What pair of glasses was he wearing?”

 

Now that Jongin thought about it, his new roomate was wearing a pair of striking black Helvetica glasses.

 

“Helvetica. Why do you ask?”

 

“His glasses tell us how he feels or if anything has happened to him.”

 

“Interesting,” Jongin nodded, “so does Helvetica mean something bad or surprising has happened?”

 

“What? No, Helvetica means it's been a smooth day and he wants to rest.”

 

“But when he opened the door he looked surprised.”

 

“That's weird... he never gets surprised by people...” Xiumin stares at Jongin in wonder.

 

Jongin sighs. He had already started off on a bad side with his new roomate. His dad took a business trip and left him with Xiumin hyung. Jongin wanted to make his days at the shop memorable. He had recently moved and didn't really know anyone in Seoul yet.

 

“Hyung, where is my room?” Jongin decides to apologize later and unpack first.

 

“To the right of Kyungsoo’s.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Taking his suitcase, he opens the door to his new room and turns on the light. The room is small and only seemed to be used for sleeping purposes. A rectangular desk was placed next to his empty bed. He takes out his Pororo bed sheets and lays them out. After placing his clothes in the wardrobe, he decides to move onto the bathroom. Taking his toothbrush and towel into the room next door, Jongin almost screams.

 

Kyungsoo is sitting on the toilet, staring at Jongin with a book in his hands. Jongin had completely forgotten that Kyungsoo was his neighbor, and Xiumin hadn’t told him they would be sharing a bathroom either.

 

Not knowing what to do, Jongin looks to his left, the right, and then left again. He finally decides to just turn around and face the blue tiled wall. Even without looking in a mirror, Jongin can tell he is already blushing. A small “Sorry…” Escapes his lips, but it was tuned out by the flush of the toilet, followed by the slamming of a door. He slowly opens one eyelid and twists to his right. No one in sight.

 

I bet he hates me more now… Jongin thinks, he sighs and proceeds to hang up his towel and place his toothbrush on the sink.

 

D.O

 

Kyungsoo leans against the bathroom door. His new neighbor just saw him taking a .

 

Saw him taking a .

  

He holds his breath for a few seconds and lets that thought slowly process through his brain. Kyungsoo also has to consider the fact that he still can’t “feel” Jongin. The only other people Kyungsoo couldn’t sense were his parents, but then again, they were already long gone.

 

He notices how uncomfortable he is knowing that he can't feel the new male’s presence, which surprises him because Kyungsoo had never wanted his superior senses. They were the reason he wore glasses and earplugs, to make his eyesight worse and to block out the noise. However, Kyungsoo has seemed to become accustomed to his heightened senses. Thirteen years seems to have been enough for Kyungsoo to get used to them.

 

Kyungsoo realizes that Jongin couldn’t have known that the bathroom is connected to both of their rooms and decides to apologize to his new neighbor for the misunderstanding. He takes a deep breath and reaches for the bathroom doorknob, but a knock from the bathroom door that’s attached to his room strikes Kyungsoo’s ears. Jongin had beat him to it. Opening the door, Kyungsoo bows his head.

 

“Sorry for rushing out in a fit earlier. Of course after just moving in you wouldn’t have known that the bathroom is conjoined, so I should’ve remembered to lock your door while I was in there. I hope we can get along from now on.” He lifts his head to see Jongin’s eyes wide with surprise. Getting a closer look at Jongin, Kyungsoo notices how beautifully crafted his face was, and how his creamy caramel skin seemed so smooth.

 

“Oh! I was going to apologize too,” Jongin laughs, “Sorry for disturbing what you were doing earlier.”

 

Kyungsoo sees Jongin’s cheeks start to flush after saying it. He quickly bit the insides of his cheeks to avoid laughing.

 

“No, it’s fine. That was in the past.”

 

“Are you sure?” Jongin looks up and stares into Kyungsoo’s eyes.

 

The shorter flinches at the eye contact. Jongin’s eyes, though not as big as his own, have depth to them. It was as if Jongin could only see one thing at a time, and right now that was Kyungsoo. He couldn’t wrap his finger around the unusual feeling, so he brushes it off.

 

“Do you want me to help you unpack?” He blurts out. Jongin’s eyes bulge even more and seem to lose focus on Kyungsoo. He sighs to himself in relief The compressing weight of Jongin’s stare floated off his shoulders.

 

“Uh, okay.”

 

“Where do we start?” Kyungsoo walks into Jongin’s room and scans the area, stopping on Jongin’s bed. “Pororo?”

 

“Why not?” Jongin puffs his cheeks.

 

Cute, he’s pouting.

 

Cute? Did I really just think that this stranger was ‘cute’? Kyungsoo thinks to himself.

 

He shakes his head and moves to Jongin’s suitcase.

 

“Can I open it?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

Kyungsoo s and opens the brown case and is greeted with a stack of books. Not just novels, but cookbooks, sketchbooks, and even textbooks Everything is covered in sticky notes while pencils and pens are tucked in a small pouch.

 

“Wow,” was all that came out his mouth.

 

Jongin laughs nervously, “Yeah..I read a lot, but I never try to cook or try anything I’ve learned.”

 

Kyungsoo takes out each book carefully like treasures, but when all the books are out, he notices a black box and before he can reach for it, Jongin is already right beside him.

 

“Don’t touch that please.” Jongin half-shouts.

 

Kyungsoo jumps, startled by the man’s voice. “Sorry.” His eyebrows start to subconsciously furrow and he pulls his hand back onto his lap. Jongin finally notices and mentally slaps himself.

 

“No, I’m the one that should be sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled.”

 

“May I ask what’s inside?”

 

“Glasses.”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes dart towards the case, and then back to Jongin, “What kind?”

 

“Custom made, by my grandfather.”

 

“No wonder you yelled. Sorry for almost touching something so important.”

 

“Don’t be. It’s actually not that special. I guess it was reflex.” Jongin’s words come out sharper than he expected.

 

Though Kyungsoo is still curious on what the glasses look like, he brushes it off. He has just met Jongin and doesn’t want to leave the impression that he’s nosy.

 

“Where do you want me to put these books?”

 

“Under or near the bed, on top is fine too.”

 

Kyungsoo decides not to question Jongin anymore. Even though he can’t sense what Jongin is feeling, his natural instincts tell him that Jongin is different.

 

As they move the books over to the bed, their fingers touch one another and Kyungsoo almost jumps back. Usually he can dodge the touch of a person. He feels like he will never get used to Jongin’s emptiness.

 

A few moments later, it happens again, but this time Kyungsoo stops right in his tracks and looks back at Jongin.

 

“What’s wrong?” The empty space in front of him says,

 

For what feels like an eternity, Kyungsoo keeps staring right through Jongin. He can’t say anything, but has so many questions to ask.

 

“Why are you so empty?” Comes out of his heart shaped lips.

 

Jongin’s eyes go blank, just like his body. Light stops reflecting off his pupils and he freezes. A split second later, he collapses right on top of Kyungsoo.

 

♣️

♣️

 

With only books in between them, Kyungsoo holds his breath. Joning’s larger body pushes him right on the bed. The unconscious man’s breathing became quick and short. His dark brown hair tickles Kyungsoo’s neck and sends shivers crawling down his spine.

 

The sound of a book falling to the ground brings him back to his senses.

 

“Xiumin! A little help here!” He pushes Jongin off and places the books neatly on the bed. Reaching for the book on the floor, he furrows his eyebrows. There were no sticky notes in it, but it was more worn out than all the rest.

 

Dancing Tips 101

 

As he pulls opens the cover, he feels Xiumin start to walk toward Jongin’s room and hastily places the book on the book pile.

 

“Ah. Um. How do I explain this.”

 

“Jongin! Is he okay? What happened?”

 

“I-I don’t know. He just fainted and started breathing like that.” Kyungsoo feels guilty for some strange reason.

 

“Clear the bed.”

 

 

Kyungsoo obeys. Moving all the books on the the floor, he spreads out the covers and Xiumin places Jongin down vertically. As Jongin’s head rests on the pillow, his breathing starts to return to a normal pace.

 

“Towel, please.” Xiumin says, without looking up.

 

Kyungsoo nods and scurries into the bathroom. First splashing his own face with cold water, he tries to calm himself down. He has always tried to not hurt anyone, because he knew what it felt like. His glasses were a way of keeping people out, but not too far that they would reject him. After losing his family in the winter, he was lucky enough to meet Kris, Lay, and Xiumin. Lay’s family took him in from the cold and let him study and graduate high school. Kyungsoo knows he can never repay his debts, but he tries his hardest to not cause any trouble.

 

“Hurry up!” Xiumin calls from next door.

 

Kyungsoo snaps out of his flashback and grabs his towel, rinses it under cold water, and runs back out.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“No problem. Do you know Jongin personally?”

 

“Childhood friend.” Xiumin replies automatically.

 

“Why is he staying with us?” Kyungsoo inquires.

 

“His parents are away.”

 

“Oh.” Kyungsoo is even more confused. He had expected something bad to have happened to the stranger. He thought maybe Jongin had a harsh past that had caused him to be so“empty”.

 

Xiumin takes a quick glance at Kyungsoo,“By the way, Jongin said you were acting strange today.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You were surprised by him. That’s never happened before.” Xiumin stares at him.

 

Kyungsoo avoids his eyes and shuffles his feet. He finally gives in and tells the truth. “I can’t ‘feel’ him.”

 

“What?”

 

“I know, it’s weird but he’s completely… empty.”

 

Xiumin’s eyebrows clench and a frown forms on his chubby face as he takes a glimpse at Jongin. “I wonder what happened to him in all these years that we’ve been apart.”

 

Kyungsoo can tell that Xiumin is genuinely worried, and it makes him feel worse about the way he had treated Jongin.

 

Jongin’s breathing is steady by the second towel. His eyebrows are still furrowed, but he seems to be alright. Xiumin tells Kyungsoo it’s okay and that he could leave. Kyungsoo can only nod and return to his room. Shutting the door behind him, Kyungsoo flops onto his bed face first, surrounding himself with pillows and blankets. His glasses push harder onto his nose, but he doesn’t care. Sinking into the mattress, he slowly drifts off into the only place he can’t feel anything: his dreams.

 

KAI

 

Xiumin listens for the sound of Kyungsoo’s door closing before turning to Jongin again. “Stop.” He says sharply.

“What do you mean?” Jongin replies as he opens his eyes to see an annoyed Xiumin staring him down .

“You just met him, no need to scare the poor kid.” The older male chides.

“Damn, will my acting ever fool you?” Jongin takes the towel off his head and sits up.

“I think you already know the answer.”

“Since you walked in, I could already tell that your mask was on.” Xiumin shakes his head, “You should try to get along with him. He seems to be asleep so he can’t hear anything, but he’ll know if something’s wrong.”

“Right. You still haven’t told me what’s so special about him.” Jongin smirks, “Maybe he can entertain me.”

“He...Kyungsoo has what you call a sixth sense, but also enhanced regular senses too.” Xiumin says, “So if he was awake right now, he would be able to hear us.”

“Damn,” Is all that can come out of Jongin’s lips.

“Don’t tell him you know.”

“Why not?” Jongin questions with a raised brow.

“Why would I tell you? You barely know him and I think you should hear it from his mouth if you’re so curious.”

Jongin turns to face the wall and rolls his eyes, “Whatever.”

“It seems like you’re okay now. I’ll get going.” Xiumin says the first part loud enough for Kyungsoo to able to hear, in case he is still awake and worried. Then, he stands up and walks out of Jongin’s room. Jongin half grunts, half chuckles, I’ll never fool him.

Jongin had started acting in the first grade, and would always do it discreetly, so it would be his little secret hobby. Pushing away his old memories, Jongin sorts out all of his books and goes back to unpacking. I wonder what Kyungsoo feels from me? Questions flood into his head. How long has he had his powers? Does he like them? Was he born with them?

How long can I fool him for?

Before more questions can build up in his brain, his foot hits Dancing Tips 101. Smiling, he picks it up and quickly flips through it. Half an hour passes as he goes through all of his old notes and stories.

A knock on the bathroom door brakes his train of thought. He places his books down on the bed and smirks. Kyungsoo is awake. He puts his ‘Jongin’ mask back on and struts towards the door.

As soon as he opens the door, the owl-eyed boy flinches back a bit and shuffles his feet.

“S-sorry?” Kyungsoo half-whispers.

Cute. Jongin smiles inside.

“No I’m the one that should be sorry! I was heavy wasn’t I?”

“What? No! Of course not!” Kyungsoo looks down at his bare feet and red starts to blossom on his face.

He’s so innocent. Almost makes me feel bad for lying to him. Subconsciously, a smile spreads across Jongin’s face. Before he can wipe it off, Kyungsoo lifts his head. Their gazes lock and Jongin can feel himself melting a little inside.

“I still feel really bad..” Kyungsoo breaks the silence.

Jongin laughs, “Then why don’t you help me finish cleaning up?”

“Sure,” A pause, “I’ll treat you to dinner too.”

Something in Jongin stirs. He knows this feeling.

Happy.

Nervous.

“Of course! Wait, not I mean Yes! Yes, I’ll go!”

 

♣️

♣️

 

Five minutes of silence pass while they work. They were almost done cleaning up when the grandfather clock in the lobby strikes 7PM. He picks up the last book, Dancing Tips 101, and smiles, Kyungsoo notices and lets out a question.

“You dance?”

Jongin is taken aback by this question. “What makes you think that?”

Kyungsoo points at the book in his hands.

“Oh, this book. Yeah I do. Well, I used to take classes, but now I just do it for fun.”

“How long have you been dancing for?” The questions pile up inside Kyungsoo’s mind and start spilling out. “Ah, sorry for asking so many questions. You don’t have to answer.”

“Fourteen years.” Jongin answers without hesitation.

“Wow, almost as long as I’ve been singing.” Kyungsoo mumbles under his breath.

“What was that? You sing?”

Kyungsoo begins flushing a bright shade of tomato red, “You heard that?”

Jongin puffs his chest out and smiles, “I have fairly good hearing.”

Kyungsoo can only nod back.

Jongin places his book on his desk and turns around, “Why don’t we get going?”

“Where?” Kyungsoo asks, “Oh right, dinner. Sorr-”

“Stop apologizing. It makes me feel like I’ve done something bad.”

“So- Uh, okay.” Kyungsoo attempts to smile but it ends up looking more like a smirk and he stops trying.

“Anywhere in mind?” Jongin asks, “I don’t really know this place very well.”

“Actually...I was going to cook but…”

“You can cook too?” Jongin’s eyes widen.

“Yeah, I was going to make kimchi spaghetti, but if you want I could treat you instead.”

“No, no. I mean no it’s fine. Yes, I want to each kimchi spaghetti.”

Jongin sees Kyungsoo’s eyes light up and something inside him stirs. He can feel his pulse quicken so he quickly turns towards the door and opens it. “Lets go.” He says without looking back.

The kitchen is behind Kris’s office and is only slightly bigger than their bedrooms. Jongin watches Kyungsoo, observing every detail about his new toy. Kyungsoo is petite in figure, only about 5 foot 5, perhaps a little taller, with narrow shoulders and dark brown hair. He can see the brim of Kyungsoo’s glasses from behind, but not clearly. Jongin wonders what the small male would look like without them. Quickening his pace, he quietly shuffles up behind Kyungsoo. Reaching his hands to both sides of Kyungsoo’s face, he aims for the spectacles.

Kyungsoo turns around.

His mouth is open, like he was going to say something, but was rendered completely frozen by Jongin’s sudden touch. The glasses on his face slide a few centimeters down his face which allow Jongin to look right into his eyes. The eye contact doesn’t last for long. Jongin’s eyes slither down to Kyungsoo’s plush lips and open mouth. Kyungsoo seems to notice and quickly shuts his mouth. He pushes up his glasses with his middle finger and turns back around, ready to march onwards, but he didn’t. Or maybe he couldn’t. The right side of Jongin’s lip rose to his infamous smirk and he takes a step closer. Wanting to take another step, he starts lifting his knee, but soon places it down.

I’m losing character. He thought.

Jongin shakes his head and repairs his cracked mask.

‘Jongin’ blushes and scratches his head.

“W-what was that?” He hears.

“S-sorry I wanted to know what you looked like without glasses.”

“No.”

“What?”

“No.” Kyungsoo says firmly and starts walking again.

Entering the kitchen, Jongin can feel the tension and discomfort coming from the shorter male. He wanted to keep pushing on the topic, but ‘Jongin’ would never do that, so instead he apologizes.

“I’m sorry if I did something wrong.” He dips his head, waiting for a reply.

“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo’s answer was quick and sharp. Jongin knows Kyungsoo is mad, but he lets it go and doesn’t press the subject any further. Sitting down at the table, he waits.

Kyungsoo goes to get an apron and Jongin’s eyes follow the boy.

Head, shoulders, arms, hands, legs, feet. He keeps observing, more than he normally would. As Jongin plays scenes though his head, Kyungsoo quickly finishes and places the plates at the table.

“Eat.” Yet another sharp answer.

Jongin waits as the boy eats, trying to absorb as much of Kyungsoo as possible.

“Kyungsoo,” The boy utters.

The figure in the yellow polka-dotted apron looks up.

It takes Jongin a moment to realize he had just called out the older boy’s name. “Sorry, it just came out.”

“Hyung. Call me hyung.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m older than you right?”

“I was born in ‘94.”

“‘93.” Kyungsoo replies, as he swallows some spaghetti.

“Kyungso-.”

“Hyung.”

“Kyungsoo h-hyung.” Jongin stutters.

Kyungsoo grins, “That’s better.” He picks up his chopsticks and continues eating.

Silence is all Jongin can hear throughout the dinner, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Being with the older male brought some peace to Jongin’s mind, but he couldn’t wrap his fingers around why.

 

D.O

Kyungsoo wakes up to the sound of Jongin’s alarm clock. His own was set to 7:30AM, but today he woke at thirty minutes earlier. He searches for the sound Jongin awakening, but still nothing. He dozes off for another five minutes before fully waking. With his eyes closed as always, he walks into the bathroom. A chill hits his toes and travels throughout his whole body. He shivers and slips into his slippers.

Grabbing his toothbrush without hesitation, he reaches for the toothpaste, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t in its normal spot; to the right of the sink, placed vertically. That’s when it hits him. Jongin. He probably already washed up and placed the toothpaste somewhere else. Sighing in defeat, he searches for the half used Crest toothpaste. Not even a second went by when he ‘sees’ the toothpaste floating in the air, eyes still closed.

.

Not wanting to open his eyes, Kyungsoo freezes. He humiliated himself in front of Jongin. He was embarrassed, but at the same time relieved that it wasn’t anyone else. He decides to face Jongin, who was probably scared out of his mind. Either that or he was judging Kyungsoo like there was no tomorrow and believed that he was crazy.

“Look, I can explain-” Kyungsoo starts.

“Wow, so you really can see without your eyes.”

As always, Kyungsoo’s owlish eyes widen, “Who told you that?”

A laugh comes from Jongin’s mouth and fills the entire room, but no answer.

“Tell me.” Kyungsoo says with more force this time.

Jongin just ignores the elfish boy and continues by spreading the toothpaste out on Kyungsoo’s toothbrush. Before Kyungsoo can demand for the answer, Jongin takes his pinky finger and splits Kyungsoo’s lips into two halves of a heart.

A cheeky smile forms in between a toothbrush and some white bubbly toothpaste, and Kyungsoo can feel his heart beat a little quicker at the sight. Stepping back, Kyungsoo sticks his hand out, “Toothpaste.”

‘Yeth hung.” It was muffled but the elf knows what the younger male is saying. It is Kyungsoo’s turn to smirk as he remembers last nights dinner. Hyung. It has a nice ring to it. Kyungsoo has always been the youngest at the shop so he always had to call Xiumin and Kris, hyung. But now it was his turn to be superior. Standing next to Jongin, Kyungsoo also starts brushing his teeth while Jongin splashes his face with water.

“See you, hyung.” Water drips from Jongin’s hair and he turns around to walk back to his room.

Kyungsoo quickly finishes up too and goes heads into his own room, a smile plastered across his face the whole time.

Opening his closet door, Kyungsoo reaches for his regular full frame white glasses, but eventually changes his mind, After minutes of take off glasses and trying them on, Kyungsoo decides to go with his bold “nerd” glasses. The peach color of the rim blends in with his skin, but at the same time contrasts his hair.

Usually around this time, Kyungsoo would be eating breakfast and getting ready to leave for work, but the holidays were approaching so he only had to do his night shift at SM. Walking out of his room a few minutes later than usual, he inhales and appreciates the crisp air that the building emanates on this quiet Saturday. Soon after he opens his eyes, Jongin jumps into sight. The dancer hops from one foot to the other. Kyungsoo watches in awe, letting the beauty of ballet sink into him. Just as he passed Kyungsoo, Jongin pushes himself off of the ground, switching the position of his bent legs in the air.

For a split second, Kyungsoo felt life from Jongin. It was warm and filling, but quickly cooled down to become light and soft like a cloud.

“What was that?” Kyungsoo blurted out, “Do that again!”

Jongin spins around, only one foot away from Kyungsoo. “The padasha?”

“Yeah sure, the jump you just did,” Kyungsoo rushed. He wants to feel that sense of life from Jongin again.

Jongin dips his head and chuckles. The scent of lavender shampoo brushes his nose and he releases a breath, realizing that he had been holding it in since he saw Jongin.

When Jongin’s head pops back up, it is closer than before. Kyungsoo is left breathless yet again.

“Sure.”

This time the jump was higher than before, brighter than before, but Kyungsoo feels nothing. The confusion lingers in Kyungsoo’s mind. Keeping his manners in check, a half-hearted ‘thanks’ escapes his lips as he shuffles toward the kitchen.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Kyungsoo changes the topic.

Jongin shrugs, “How about eggs?”

“Scrambled or boiled?”

"Boiled with soy sauce.”

Kyungsoo reaches for his yellow polka-dotted apron and opens the fridge door. Taking out two fairly large eggs, he moves towards the stove. Long tanned fingers sneak around Kyungsoo’s waist. He spins around and a sense of déjà vu hits him right in the face, but this time he can’t move back. The taller male simply leans in with his chocolate eyes half shut, and that’s all it takes for Kyungsoo to give in.

 

KAI

Jongin knows what a kiss is supposed to feel like. He also knows that what he is doing is out of character, but the soft plush lips that fit right into his felt perfect. Not wanting to stop, he pushes further into Kyungsoo’s lips and tries to pry his mouth open with his tongue.

 

D.O

Kyungsoo pushes Jongin back as soon as he feels the tongue and ducks down into a squat.

“W-what are you doing?” He says while covering his face with his palms

Kyungsoo peeks through his fingers, expecting to see a pair of legs in front of him, but Jongin is gone.

Rude. Kyungsoo thinks as he lets his arms fall to his sides. Standing back up, he finishes his breakfast and cleans up the table, wrapping up Jongin’s leftovers. He spends the day on his bed writing his script for XOXO, completely forgetting about the neighbor. Before dinner, Kyungsoo takes off his glasses and rubs his temples. Kris is still working, but where is Xiumin? He walks out of his room and lazily shuffles over to Kris’s office.

“Where’s Baozi?”

“Out shopping for food. Our fridge is almost empty.”

Kyungsoo gives himself a facepalm, wondering why he didn’t notice during breakfast.

“Of course you didn’t notice.” Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. This was not the first time Kris has been able to ‘read’ his mind. He thinks that if he didn’t have these special senses, Kris would be the most perceptive person on earth. “Why wouldn’t I have noticed, oh great and powerful galaxy hyung?” Kyungsoo says in a sarcastic tone.

“I mean who would notice if they were making out with the newbie.”

    

Cue the blushing. Kyungsoo’s eyes flutter quickly for a while before he turns around and storms out of the room, ears starting to become hot.

 

KAI

It’s been almost two weeks since the kitchen incident. At first Kyungsoo was avoiding Jongin like there was no tomorrow, but Jongin notices the little stares and glances coming from the older. He also finds himself staring at the older male, hoping for another scene to happen. And of course, dreams can come true.

This time, instead of the kitchen, it happens in the lobby. Jongin, who just woken up minutes ago, is groggy and out of it. The cold air bites at his skin and he reaches for a coat. A fully awoken Kyungsoo happens to have thought the same and their hands collide. The shorter male snatches his coat and quickly turns around before Jongin can say anything. But Jongin, not being in his right state of mind, does the cliché wrist grab in seen in dramas and pulls Kyungsoo towards himself while stopping the older boy from talking with his lips. Except this time, Kyungsoo kisses back.

"Seriously? This is the second time!," Kris yells at the startled couple before him, "You know what? Out!" He says pushing the two towards the front door. Jongin and his hyung have no choice but to leave thanks to Kris's galaxy-sized hands and they end up just staring at each other.

Jongin decides to use this change of location to take Kyungsoo out on a date. Since going back inside so soon would only cause Kris to bust an artery, Jongin informs Kyungsoo that they should go grab some sandwiches and eat outside together. The weather outside isn't too bad today and their clothing was warm enough to keep them from catching a chill.

After grabbing their toasted sandwiches, Kyungsoo spots an empty bench in the park across the street near a huge water fountain. They sit down, Kyungsoo keeping his distance after Jongin's sudden kiss attack, and unwrap their food. Kyungsoo believes in eating your food heartily, and to be grateful for every meal. That being said, he takes a considerably huge bite that causes Jongin to drool a little before catching himself and turning away from his hyung with a red face. Once Jongin thinks it is safe to look again, he is sadly mistaken and happens to look at the exact moment Kyungsoo's pink tongue slowly swipes across his own lips, to catch any stray crumbs. Jongin nearly gags from the pure sensuality that his hyung is emanating without even trying. The younger male's fingers itch with the desire to knot themselves in the other's hair.

"So, how's your sandwich?" Kyungsoo asks.

"Well there are much better things I could be putting in my mouth." Jongin mutters at the same time a car honks meters away from them.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"N-Nothing! It's fine!" Jongin stutters, but you are so much more fine, Kyungsoo.

"I-I beg your pardon?!" Kyungsoo exclaims as a rose bush blossoms on his face. ! I said that out loud! Jongin nearly slaps himself.

"Sorry, hyung! I didn't mean to say that out loud- I mean, make you uncomfortable!" Jongin bows his head in apology waiting for a response. However, when he doesn't get one, he glances upwards to see Kyungsoo's face sprinkled with pink.

"It's okay...thanks." Kyungsoo looks away, accepting the compliment, and takes a much smaller than usual bite from his almost done sandwich.

Jongin's sandwich was long gone as he reaches over and captures the petite male in his arms. "J-Jongin!" It takes a few seconds for Kyungsoo to give up trying to pry the boy off of him and so he settles for awkwardly patting his back instead.

 

♣️

♣️

 

Kyungsoo wakes up on the floor, a blanket underneath him. There is a small bruise on his head. Falling off of the bed should have woken up Kyungsoo right away, but the thick covers seem to have cushioned his fall. A small groan brings Kyungsoo back to his senses. He looks onto his bed and immediately feels regret for the events that took place during the past twelve hours, or at least he thought he regretted it.

His memories come back in a flurry. Going all the way back to the park. They had walked back quietly an hour after Kris had kicked them out. After that, Kyungsoo can only remember the peck from Jongin, followed by a stampede of heated kisses right at the front door of KLM Glasses. He became so immersed that his senses shut down and he didn’t notice Kris until he yelled, “Get a room!” from the other side of the kitchen. Before he could bow and apologize, Jongin grabbed him by the arm and dragged Kyungsoo back to his room.

As soon as they set foot into the room, Jongin ripped off Kyungsoo’s glasses and pulled him onto the bed. The older struggled to put his glasses on, but melted under Jongin’s weight and gave in to the younger’s passionate kisses. None of them said a single word, only soft moans escaped from each of them. When they were done, Kyungsoo sat on his pillow with the blanket covering his now aching lower half. A moment of awkward silence occurred between the two. Starting to feel uncomfortable, Kyungsoo put on his glasses and decided to speak up first.

“My name is Do Kyungsoo. I’m twenty-three years old and I was born the twelfth of January. My parents died when I was ten. You know, typical car crash, explosions, fire. My mom was sitting in the back with me and she protected me from the inferno. I got my ‘powers’ around the same time and they led me to this shop. Lay’s family quickly accepted me and we grew up together. His parents moved back to China when we were twenty. We each found jobs and here I am today.” Kyungsoo waits for Jongin to ask why he was saying all of this, but instead of a question, Jongin starts talking too.

“My name is Kim Jongin. I’m twenty two years old. I was born on January fourteenth, very close to yours. My mother is dead, cancer. My dad is in America. My grandfather made glasses, but he passed away five years ago, right after my mother. Those spectacles you found in my room, they were made by him. All the others died with him in the shop. He was killed in a freak fire accident. My dad had a hard time getting over it. He would drink and occasionally cry. But me? I never did. He called me ‘empty’. I went to college alone and now I’m here. Just like you.” Jongin pauses for a second. “Oh and my books, I read those to convince myself I’m not empty, to fill myself up with something other than nothing. Pathetic aren't I?” He dips his head and scoffs at himself.

“That’s not true.” Kyungsoo blinks.

“What?”

“Dancing.”

Jongin chuckles, “Yeah sure, let’s just say I have dancing, but how much of me can that fill up? Ten, maybe twenty percent?”

“You have one more thing,” Kyungsoo whispers.

“What?” Jongin smirks knowing what the older boy will say next.

“Me.”

“Now onto the questions,” He changes the topic and leans against the wall. “I’ll go first. Why did you decide to tell me all this?” Jongin asks the long awaited question.

“Well I assume we’re dating now so we should know all we can about each other.” Kyungsoo states matter-of-factly.

"Wait, we're going out now?" Jongin can't hide the perplexed look in his face. "Well, we did just have and I'm pretty sure you're as interested in me as I am in you..so why not?"

Kyungsoo ponders Jongin’s response, and his own. Did he jump to conclusions too quickly?  Kyungsoo's never been one for one night stands, but it was true that he took an interest in the new roomate, was suddenly dating too fast? Then again, who says you have to know each other for a long time to start dating? Not to mention Jongin had just made him not too long ago and he's pretty sure that's skipping a few levels on the whole "relationship" game. As he is still thinking, Jongin’s deep voice breaks his little arguments in his head.

"Dating, huh? Sounds good to me, hyung!" Jongin's cute head tilt squeezes his hyung's heartstrings and he can't help but beam at him. “Your turn.”

“For what?”

“Question.”

“Right, why did you reply like that?” Kyungsoo tips his head to the right. “Why didn’t you ask the question right away?”

“It only seemed normal,” Jongin shrugs, “You told me about your private life so I assumed it was my turn.”

Kyungsoo blushes. Most people didn’t appreciate his forwardness or witty comments. It was the reason that he had to script his radio shows beforehand. Otherwise the whole show would be ruined. Instead of XOXO his show would be called ‘Sarcasm With An .’

“We should do this once every day.” Jongin says, head tilted towards the ceiling.

“Do what?”

“This ‘let out your feelings and ask a question’ thing.” Jongin lets his shoulders relax. “That way we can learn about each other slowly and learn to love each other on a deeper level.”

The corny line makes Kyungsoo snicker.

“What?” Jongin finally looks down and glares at Kyungsoo.

"No, nothing, I think it’s a great idea.” Kyungsoo exclaims.

After that, the two of them cuddled on the bed in silence until they fell asleep.

Now it is 1:00 AM and Kyungsoo is back to his senses. After putting on his pajamas, he peeks down at Jongin who is still out like a log. Kyungsoo places the blanket that had fallen onto the floor back on Jongin and watches the younger male stir and release a small groan.

Kyungsoo can’t help but giggle a bit while gazing at the fast asleep Jongin. His mouth is open in an ‘O’ shape, but no sound came out. One hand is placed under his chin, while he managed to place the other one behind his back. His legs are bent to form a ‘P’ shape and his hair is a tangled mess spread out on the blue pillow.

“So does this mean I love you now?” Kyungsoo thinks out loud.

Jongin stirs as if he had heard him. His free hand moving towards his stomach, his mouth starting to close.

“Perhaps it does, Hyung.”