Jongin fell in love on a Tuesday, sometime around six in the evening with the sun dying down on the horizon. His lips tasted like ice cream, the air was filled with the sound of laughter and the street was buzzing with the end of the day. And it happened like the feeling of a heartbeat, steady and underlying in his thoughts and he realized it had been there all along. He tilted his head, watching the smile grow on Kyungsoo's face as Baekhyun kept talking about something that had happened and he realized. It was like -- like he had been waiting his entire life for this moment. 

He was in love. 

He was in love with Do Kyungsoo. The smile grew, flash of white teeth behind his lips to a low smooth chuckle that made Jongin's heart squeeze. His eyes lowered, glancing down and then back up and they caught Jongin. A joke between him and Baekhyun and it was Jongin that he sought out. Chanyeol cut in with a line of his own, Sehun leaning back in his own chair as he laughed. Ice cream melted in cups, cars honked and whirled and conversations faded in and out of their small world and Kyungsoo was smiling. He was laughing and smiling and Jongin was in love. It surprised him how simple it was and how it filled in every tiny crack within him. He was in love. 

"... Right, Jongin?" Sehun's voice. 

Jongin blinked and turned to his friend, eyes arching in slight confusion. He hadn't heard the question. Kyungsoo's hands had caught his attention, holding onto his cup and wrapping around the spoon. His fingers, their shape and size and he had been staring. Sehun reached over and grabbed his shoulder, pushing him slightly as he kept talking about something he still wasn't listening too. The others were looking at him, laughing at his confusion -- Kyungsoo smiled and his heart leap to his throat. That momentary life changing moment striking harder each time he remembered it -- he was in love. A wave of something washing over in, dragging him deeper and deeper down into whatever this was. He was in love with Do Kyungsoo. 

"Sure?" he asked with a shrug. 

They laughed and the night slowly died between goodnights as they finished the ice cream and each headed home. It was a school night and Chanyeol had class in the morning, Baekhyun too. Kyungsoo wished him to get rest and sleep well and Jongin assured him he would try. That smile again, reaching inside of Jongin and finding his heart. It felt like sunshine, bright and happy with the means to make you want to smile as well. Jongin couldn't help himself. He said a soft goodnight to him and then he turned around and headed away with Chanyeol and Baekhyun -- Sehun at Jongin's side, absently on his phone and pulling at him to get a move on. 

He was in love. 

Kyungsoo wasn't sure how to get around Jongin. Or over him. And he wasn't too sure he wanted to. 

The boy was standing off in the corner of the courtyard of the small college, his attention between conversation with Sehun and his phone. Kyungsoo wanted to go over and say hello, get his attention somehow. He didn't move, though, simply stood there waiting and watching. Kim Jongin. How had he gotten in this deep this quickly? A friend of Chanyeol's, that's how he had been introduced those few months ago. Chanyeol brushing him off as another freshman.  

Kyungsoo hadn't known who he had been expecting, Chanyeol was basically friends with everyone but he wasn't expecting Jongin. He wasn't expecting to feel this pull, excitement when he heard the casual mention that Jongin was going or that he was going to be there. He hadn't been expecting the slight tremble in his chest when the boy laughed -- loud and happy and throwing every bit of himself into it. 

It made Kyungsoo smile. Everything about Jongin made him smile, honestly. He found that almost a little strange, that every bit of someone made him that much more special. It was everything, the way he smiled with his whole smile, the way he brushed his hair out of his face, the way he fiddled with things in his hands, everything about him was something interesting to learn.

And Kyungsoo wanted to learn everything about him. 

"Hyung!" he heard and quickly he looked up, seeing Jongin and Sehun crossing the small courtyard to him. His heart stumbled. "Didn't know you were here! How are you?"

Trying to keep my distance from you because I want to kiss your face off. Wait -- what? "I'm good, and you?" 

The conversation lulled between words but that smile -- that smile. Kyungsoo didn't know what it was about it but it was like all the unspoken words of these half conversations were there in that smile. He didn't have to worry about silence, he didn't have to care if he was talking too much or too little or at all. 

"Waiting on Chanyeol-hyung?" Jongin asked and Kyungsoo thought he saw, just for a second, a slip of his smile. 

Kyungsoo nodded. "We were going to stop by the library -- why are you here?" 

Jongin pointed to Sehun who was fully immersed in a conversation on his phone that had him softly giggling to himself. "He's meeting a friend and didn't want to come here alone." 

Kyungsoo nodded. 

"Kyungsoo-hyung," Jongin began and then paused, his cheeks flushing slightly. Was that a blush? Kyungsoo didn't want to think how cute he looked when he was blushing. The younger boy reached up and rubbed the back of his neck in a shy motion. "Would it be okay ... if I got your number?" 

"Sure." Kyungsoo couldn't help his smile.

His phone buzzed. It was Kyungsoo. 

They've been back and forth for days, a single text sent on good faith one morning had turned into conversations and silly faces and late nights falling asleep with their phones still in their hands. Jongin waking up to messages asking him if he was still there or apologies for fall asleep on him made him smile. On the mornings that Kyungsoo had class and had to wake up early, he sent tired good mornings or 'free at last!' and every time his phone buzzed, he found himself smiling. Jongin read the message and felt his heart leap from his chest to his throat --

[ Can I talk to you about something? ]

He responded quickly with a 'sure?'  

[ This would probably be better face-to-face. Can you meet me at the park? ]

Their park -- not really their park but Jongin had taken to thinking of it like that. Whenever they were in the same place, after class or waiting around for their other friends to be done, they found themselves in that small little park side by side walking slowly down the curling paths. Neither spoke too much but Kyungsoo had the kind of silence about him that felt satisfying -- like Jongin didn't have to try to fill in the space with conversation. They didn't need that, they didn't need to talk and talk and talk but just the sound of Kyungsoo's breathing, the shuffle of his feet, the chuckle whenever he saw something, that was enough for Jongin. 

He was enough for Jongin. 

[ yeah, i'll be right there. ]

And Jongin didn't know why but he wanted to be enough for Kyungsoo as well. 

"Hyung!" Kyungsoo heard behind him and he turned to see the slightly breathless Jongin jogging up the last few step between them with a smile on his face that could light the whole sky. There was a slight hesitation to him like he wanted to do something more but it could just be Kyungsoo reading into things he shouldn't be. Jongin cleared his throat, rocking back on his heels for a moment -- he could never stay still. "What ... what is it you wanted to talk about?" 

Right. Kyungsoo wished he had more common sense than this but he didn't like just waiting, he didn't like just making small eye contact across the table like some secret coded message. He didn't like reaching over and touching Jongin and not be able to pull him into a hug, into a kiss. He wanted so much more than what they were. It was burning a hole through him, looking at him as he was and being unable to do anything more. 

"I ... have a question. And you need to answer me honestly, okay?" 

Jongin arched his brow slightly. "Okay?" 

Deep breath. "Jongin ... I like you." 

"I like you too, hyung," Jongin said, corners of his mouth moving to a smile. 

"No, I mean -- yes but -- it's more than just that. I really like you." 

Jongin blinked and then he smiled that perfect smile, the one that took up his whole face like he was a small child and everything in the world aligned itself perfect. The kind of smile that was infectious and beautiful and Kyungsoo couldn't help but grin. He wanted to believe that smile was Jongin and not something he should be wary of but the younger boy came forward and wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo. 

"Like I said, hyung, I like you too." 

His heart felt like it was going to tip over, his stomach was in knots and he leaned into the embrace, reaching up and grabbing the back of Jongin's shirt. This was nice, Jongin was solid beneath his touch and not the dream Kyungsoo had made him out to be. He was real and warm and holding onto him and Kyungsoo pressed his face into his chest, taking a deep breath. He didn't want to let go, he didn't want him to let go and have second thoughts. He wanted this to be it, he wanted this to be real. He needed it to be. 

Jongin began to pull away and Kyungsoo looked up at him, a protest on his lips and then Jongin kissed him. 

And Kyungsoo knew -- he knew -- he had been waiting his whole life for this moment.