Short Stories-Kai Ships Only! Volume 3

Sookai- Burned Out

"Soobin. Psst. Soobin." Kai quietly shook his best friend's shoulder awake for the 5th time within an hour long lecture and like the last 5 times, the older groaned then fell back asleep. "Seriously?"

For the past few nights, the stress of finals had been getting to the young Choi. Kai knew that yet they had a lab to prepare for when class ended and he was not about to do all of the work by himself again. So, with much more conviction, he shook his shoulder once more. "Wake up!"

"Ugh..." Soobin slowly sat up while glaring to his left. "What? What did I miss?"

"You missed everything. Come on. We have a lab to do. Did you at least graph our results last night?"

"Huh?"

Kai's tone remained soft but his eyes burned with anger. "You didn't do that either?!"

"Cut me some slack." Soobin downed an energy drink from his bag and then took a photo of the Professor's notes on the whiteboard.

"Cut you some slack?! That's all I've been doing for a whole week!"

"What's the big deal? I'll get to it tonight."

"The big deal?!" Kai had half a mind to throw his pencil at him. "We needed to turn that graph in today before our lab! I did the whole report for us! The only thing I asked you to do was to fucking input our data! That's it Soobin!"

"And I said I'd get to it!" Soobin stood up, slung his bag over his shoulder, and walked out when they were dismissed for the day.

Kai immediately stood up afterwards to chase him down. "And where do you think you're going?!"

Only a middle finger was given as a response.

At this point, Kai had accepted he was all on his own for the last lab of the semester. During the walk, he decided to rehearse a bunch of excuses as to why he was unable to complete the mandatory report before the final testing phase could begin.

Amazingly, the teacher's assistant supervising the lab, began to take pity on Kai for having a bad partner. He was given 30 extra minutes to turn his report in. Kai was so thankful for the time that he finished it in 20.

The last thing he expected was to be bailed on yet there he was doing everything alone. Any sympathy he previously had towards the older had disappeared with each passing hour. Frustration was building, so much so that he ignored every call and apology text like they weren't there in the first place. Eventually his phone was shut off completely.

Meanwhile, Soobin slammed the door to his room after carelessly throwing his backpack onto the floor. He wasn't mad at the younger. He was mad at himself for letting him down. Kai had covered his ass on numerous occasions within the last week. Failing to do something so simple felt like a poor way to show his appreciation. It was too late to input it now. The deadline passed. Knowing that his best friend would be failed for the day, because of his actions, sent him into a deeper depression. The only thing he could manage to do was take a nap and hope he felt better later.

Thirty minutes had passed after lab time officially ended. Kai was still there, desperately trying to wrap things up. He felt horrible for keeping the assistant behind. She could've forced him to leave but by some miracle she let him stay.

It was an hour later by the time he finally finished. Kai just wanted to go to his dorm and have a beer. Instead, he was greeted by the person who screwed him over.

Soobin slowly stood up with a box of egg tarts and a bottle of strawberry milk. The younger's anger could be felt down the hall. Each step forward caused his heart rate to multiply. Another minute passed and his palms began to sweat. Kai walking towards him didn't help either but he figured it was better than seeing him walk away. "H-hey..."

"Save it."

"Kai..."

"I just have one question." Kai took a sip of the milk to calm himself down. The sweetness tasted like a cheap apology rather than a nice gesture. "Why? Just why would you not only fuck ME over but also fuck YOURSELF?"

"I-"

"-If you wanted to drop out so badly then you could've done that on your own. You didn't have to take me down with you, you selfish fucking asshole!"

"It's not-"

"-Not what? I get it. Your parents are hard on you but guess what? You're a fucking adult now! It's your life! If you didn't want to be a doctor then don't be a doctor! Grow some fucking balls and stand up for yourself! Because-"

"-ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME TALK?!" Unlike the younger, Soobin's anger was explosive. The tarts were tossed onto a table which caused them to slide off the side. Both watched as golden pastries tumbled to the floor. Though he felt his emotions were justified, seeing Kai begin to shut down caused him to rethink his actions. One more outburst he would be ignored completely. "Look. I'm sorry okay?"

"You're... ha. You're sorry?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Kai trashed the broken tarts and then started walking back to their shared dorm. There wasn't anything the taller could say or do to make him feel better so he chose to remain silent and hoped that would be the end.

"I really am sorry..." Soobin didn't think they'd ever be like this. Everyone around them looked so happy and why wouldn't they be? Finals were over. Summer meant time with family, vacations, and regaining lost sleep. All of which he would trade if it meant this fight would end. "You were gone for a while. Did they let you stay or something?"

"Yup."

"Oh. That's good. I'm glad you didn't fail because of me."

"Me too."

"Can I say what I wanted to say now?"

"Sure." Kai started packing clothes into boxes while barely listening to the other.

"I really did mean to do it. It was next to my laptop, I had it open, and then my mom called to tell me how disappointed she was again. I don't know, my therapist said it's self sabotage or something but the point is that I didn't mean to screw you over." Soobin sat on his bare bed and stared at his lap. His voice broke into a quiet mumble when he saw the younger still continuing to pack. "I don't want to go home..."

"You can't ignore them forever."

"My older brother is getting his PhD next year and my sister just got accepted into a law firm. I'm never going to hear the end of it."

"They still love you Soobin."

"Not as much."

Kai deeply sighed then sat down on his bed. He still had a lot of packing to do by tomorrow but it could wait. "You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and accept that you may never please them. You're not as good at tests. So what? I was never friends with you because of that."

"I know..."

"You're going to be okay."

"Thanks."

"Unless you pull that shit again. Then I'll kill you."

For the first time that day, Soobin smiled. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw the forgiveness in Kai's. "I'd like to see you try."

"I'm stronger than you!"

"Barely!"

"Help me pack asshole."

Soobin gladly did. It took until midnight but he felt like it was them again. Just two idiots who became each other's chosen homes.

They ended their night sleeping on the floor with an empty pizza box by their side. When morning came, each said their goodbyes and made strict promises to keep in touch. Soobin in particular meant his promise. There wasn't anyone else he'd rather rant to besides his best friend. Being greeted by his father with an "are you a doctor yet?" inspired another one.

On Kai's drive home, he couldn't stop thinking about the past week. Watching Soobin fall apart was hard. He would've sworn the older was handling himself well until then. It caused him to wonder if that was just a one time thing or a sign something worse was yet to come.