The Invasion (Part 2 of the KaiSoo Fanfic Series)

Chapter 8

Jongin has always thought that if there was anything in the world that could take his mind away from his problems, it was reading books. It worked on The Dome, after all. Each time he would step foot into the library and be greeted by the scent of aged literature, his mind would immediately be swept clean of any negative or troublesome thoughts. But that method doesn't seem to be working as well as it used to these days.

He knows he probably shouldn't be so worried about it, especially knowing that Kyungsoo himself told him he had nothing to be worried about, but he really can't help it. If he could, he would just let it be and be content knowing that no one could take Kyungsoo away from him. But every time he sees them together or hears stories about something funny Hyunsik said or did, Jongin can't help but feel his blood curdle with envy. He should be the one making Kyungsoo laugh carelessly, not some random person he barely knows. And the fact that Hyunsik seems to be making it his goal to push Jongin out of the picture doesn't serve as any sort of reassurance for Jongin. 

Maybe Yoochun was right, he thinks to himself. Maybe I really can't trust anyone.

As it usually does, talking to Taemin about his problems offers Jongin at least a bit of relief before the day ends. There's something about hearing from a different point of view that puts the entire situation into perspective for Jongin, but it still has yet to give him the solution he needs to solve it. 

"Do you think I'm being irrational?" he asks him as they sit in Onew's office and wait for the others to arrive for the meeting. "Am I the one who needs to back off?"

"No, you know that's not what I think," Taemin replies, rolling his eyes a little with his feet propped up on Onew's desk. "You have every reason to be jealous. You were the one who made Kyungsoo see the light, not Hyunsik. Not to compare him to property, but he was yours first, so the way I see it, Hyunsik is the one that needs to take a few steps back."

"That's exactly what I'm saying, but no one seems to agree with me," Jongin says, widening his eyes a bit as he speaks. "Even Key told me the other day that I need to calm down. But how am I supposed to do that when I can literally see him being pulled away from me without being able to stop it?"

"Listen to me," Taemin says, holding up a hand and giving the younger a look of seriousness that made him pay attention. "What everyone else says you should do is shit compared to what you think you should. Okay, the whole point you left The Dome was to be able to think freely, yet here you are debating over what's right to you and what's right to everyone else." Jongin looks away for a moment after hearing that first bit. Taemin most definitely does make a valid point. 

"But I can't just stop caring about that..." Jongin says with a voice that trails off toward the end. "...that'd be going against my nature."

"I didn't say you had to stop caring," Taemin says in reply. "All I meant to say was that you need to stop caring long enough to speak your mind. Otherwise, Hyunsik will never understand that Kyungsoo is off-limits to him and who knows what could happen to Kyungsoo. He could end up falling for him, too, the ending you obviously don't want."

Jongin sighs with a closed and pursed mouth. "So, you're saying that I should be more direct about how I'm feeling?"

"Yeah, that's exactly it. Tell them both how you feel and if they don't listen then, be forceful. Show them physically what you're prepared to do in order to keep Kyungsoo by your side. And if Kyungsoo doesn't like it, then to hell with him. He doesn't deserve you in that case anyway." Jongin's initial instinct to Taemin's words is to oppose him and defend his older boyfriend, but his brain is already thinking about it by the time his mouth catches up to his gut and begins to part. And it knows that, yet again, Taemin makes a valid argument. "And if it helps," he adds a few moments later with a nonchalant shrug, "I'll talk to Hyunsik. I've known him for longer, so I think he'll be more likely to respect me more so than you at this point."