When Jongdae hears a knock at his bedroom door, he thinks nothing of it. It’s probably his father bringing him another bowl of soup. He doesn’t want any more damn soup. He’s had at least three bowls this whole day and all he wants to do is sleep.

“DAD! GO AWAY!” He screams before pulling a velvety blanket over his head. When no response comes, he starts to get suspicious. He mindlessly throws his blanket on the floor and stares at the open door. At first, everything is a blur but when his eyes adjust to the light, he’s mildly surprised to see Kyungsoo standing in the doorframe.

“YAH!” Kyungsoo cries when a pillow is hurled at him.

“Hurry up and get in here. It’s cold out there.” Jongdae’s voice is hoarse and croaky, every word he mutters sounds painful. Kyungsoo shuts the door behind him and rushes to cover Jongdae in the blanket he threw on the floor before sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Sorry I ditched you the other day,” Jongdae says guiltily, pouting and looking up at Kyungsoo with puppy eyes.

Kyungsoo waves his hands franticly in front of Jongdae’s face in disagreement. “No, don’t be,” he chuckles briefly while gently placing one of his hands on Jongdae’s stomach.

Having circles rubbed against the clothed skin, Jongdae feels warmth travel from Kyungsoo’s hand to his own stomach. “I saw you with Kai so I thought that you were going to go with--” He notices that Kyungsoo suddenly looks away from him and brings his hand up to his mouth. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No. It’s just… um…” Kyungsoo turns back to Jongdae. “Wh-when you saw me with--”

“Kai? Yeah. I didn’t think you’d be the type of guy he would want to be friends with, no offence, but I guess I was wrong,” Jongdae mutters, shrugging at his previous doubt.

“I don’t think Junmyeon likes him,” Kyungsoo murmurs bitterly and removes his hand from Jongdae’s stomach, looking heartbroken.

“That’s just Junmyeon being overprotective.” He moves into a sitting position and lifts up Kyungsoo’s chin so he looks at him. “Junmyeon is just jealous. He was like that with me when I became good friends with Baekhyun. Me and Junmyeon did everything together and made a vow that we would never leave each other’s sides… but then I met Baekhyun… Junmyeon treated Baekhyun really harshly because he didn’t like the attention he was getting from me. He eventually stopped when I told him, ‘Me and Baekhyun are friends. If you have a problem with that, I am happy to leave you for him.’ He’s probably doing the same thing to Kai.”

Kyungsoo wriggles uncomfortably before getting his say. “The other day, Kai was going to lend me a pen but Junmyeon snatched it off him and broke it in two.”

“Déjà vu, huh?” Jongdae rolls his eyes and rests his hands on Kyungsoo’s thighs, patting a beat on his legs while lightly head banging.

“What did Junmyeon do to Baekhyun?”

“I remember the worst thing he did… Junmyeon was helping Baekhyun study for a Physics exam but he purposely gave him the wrong answers so he would fail the exam. Unfortunately, that exam was to determine what class we were going to be in and since Baekhyun failed the exam, we ended up in different classes…”

“He really did that?” Kyungsoo’s face is blanched with terror. When Jongdae notices this, he envelopes him into a tight hug. He pulls Kyungsoo into his comforting arms and pats his back softly. “Jongdae…” Kyungsoo whispers.

“Hm?”

“What should I do?” He pulls his face away from Jongdae’s broad chest, his wide, doe eyes gazing hopefully up at him.

“I wouldn’t give up your friendship with Kai because of Junmyeon. He’ll get over it eventually like he did with me. It just takes time.” He pauses to take a breath. “Everyone can see how much Kai likes you, especially Junmyeon, so don’t break one heart just to please another.”

“That sounds like something from a movie…” Kyungsoo drawls, leaning back into Jongdae’s secure chest. Jongdae chuckles silently and pats Kyungsoo’s head.

“Maybe you should head back home now. You sound tired.” Jongdae releases Kyungsoo from his arms and watches him bounce off of the bed and wobble his way to the door.

“Thanks for everything, Jongdae.”

“No problem. Thanks for visiting me. That whiny Baekhyun told me he didn’t want to see me because he didn’t want to catch any of my germs,” he groans, leaning back against the headboard.

“Well that’s Baekhyun for you,” Kyungsoo says, grinning jovially. “Bye, Jongdae!”

“See ya!”

The walk from Jongdae’s house to his own isn’t very far. Probably about ten minutes. But Kyungsoo is feeling energetic, too energetic to walk. He sprints fast, ignoring the traffic he nearly runs into. Pushing his legs past the point of pain, he feels his lungs tighten and cry out for air as his heart palpitates fiercely. After only a few minutes, Kyungsoo reaches his house and grins madly when he spots a car parked next to the pavement. He bursts through the front door, knowing that his parents must have just arrived home.

“Mom! Papa!” He cries with his hands cupped around his mouth to echo the sound. When two people emerge from the living room, he grins even more. On the left, there is a woman with a chubby, round face; her fair, glowing skin is lightly covered with makeup. Her eyes are stunning and sparkling with joy as she stretches her arms out to embrace her adoring son and her fine, cropped hair is wispy and fuzzy as it calmly rests on her shoulders. She has a small, ample body and a large belly that sticks out to the world, looking almost disproportionate. Kyungsoo grins further.

“How’s the baby, mom?” He asks while taking his parents’ coats and hangs them up on a peg by the front door.

Kyungsoo’s mother runs her smooth, silky fingers over her stretched belly. “I don’t think it will be long.” And a small, delicate smile traces over her pursed, rosebud lips.

At this point, Kyungsoo’s father is slyly sneaking away to the kitchen. “Well, Kyungsoo… How’s the kitchen?”

“It’s fine, papa!” He replies as his grin widens and his pearly-white teeth gleam. He giddily trots to the kitchen and outstretches his arm to present the perfectly clean and sparkling surfaces along with the carefully polished and spotless oven. “See,” he says, “I took good care of it.”

“Indeed you did,” his father chuckles, impressed as he glides his thick, callus fingers along the squeaky clean sink.

Kyungsoo’s mother soon enters the room with a slight waddle to her walk. She places one of her hands on Kyungsoo’s back and when he swivels round to face her, she smiles sweetly. “Have you been sleeping well, baby?”

His inquiring look softens. “Yes, mom, everything has been fine.”

Her sweet, tender voice lowers and she whispers, “are you sure? You don’t look fine.”

“I-I, uh…” Kyungsoo pauses to clear his throat. “I’m fine, mom, really,” he reassures as his eyes follow his father’s movements to prepare dinner. “Papa…”

“Yes?” The man reponds without exchanging glances.

“I think I’m going to skip dinner.”

He sighs, still not moving his attention away from the food. Kyungsoo doesn’t wait for a response before he guiltily trails out of the kitchen, not missing his mother’s scruple expression. When he passes by the bathroom, he halts his movements and stares into the dimly lit room. He paces worriedly into the room and lifts his hand up to a set of cupboards raised high up against the wall, a look of dread on his face. As he opens the cupboard, his eyes skim across the different array of medicines until he reaches a small bottle with a loose, peeling label which reads ‘Sleeping Pills’ scrawled in a doctor’s handwriting. Absentmindedly, Kyungsoo snatches the bottle from the cupboard and proceeds to his bedroom while twisting the lid open with some difficulty. After immersing himself in an ocean of blankets, he pops two of the tablets between his supple, slightly parted lips and swallows them immediately. He rolls over onto his side and clutches his new teddy bear close to his chest. Who am I to worry like this? I shouldn't be worrying about Kai's well being with Junmyeon. It's not like I should care.

Author's Note:

Just in case you were unsure, Kyungsoo didn't try to commit suicide by an overdose. He is just perscribed with sleeping pills so he can sleep easier. Why? I don't really know... Insomnia? Stress? I'll let your imaginations run wild on that one. It just doesn't have an explanation as it is irrelevant to the story, okay? (*^^*)