forkadionly (livejournal)
just the usual shenanigans.
~~~
When Jongin returned to the dorm that night, it was late, and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were watching Bridge of Spies on the couch. Normally, Baekhyun didn't really have the patience for movies, but for some reason he'd felt like one today, and Kyungsoo wasn't one to turn that sort of thing down. So there they were, Baekhyun's head on Kyungsoo's lap, not at all bothered by the fact that Kyungsoo was sans pants and that his head was dangerously close to experiencing the gentle caress of Kyungsoo's nut sack.
"Tom Hanks is so old now," Baekhyun was saying. "I don't know how he's still running around and yelling and shit. If I were him I'd be taking Dirty Grandpa roles by now. Oh, you're home?"
"Yeah," Jongin said, dropping his gym bag down. His fringe was getting long, and he had to flick it back from his eyes whenever he looked up. "Hey, Kyungsoo."
"Hey," Kyungsoo said, glancing away from the tv screen. Jongin was in the middle of toeing his shoes off, bangs hanging like a curtain in his face again. He'd been restless, after his injury, so he'd taken to working out his upper body in order to keep his mind off it. His loose, sweaty grey tank top left his newly formed biceps exposed and gleaming in the dim light of the foyer. Kyungsoo had been shocked, not that he'd put on muscle so quickly, but that Jongin had actually exercised of his own will.
"Movie?" Jongin asked.
"Yeah. We're about two-thirds of the way in though."
"It's okay. I'm pretty tired. I'm just going to go to bed."
"Night," Baekhyun called, watching the screen until Jongin had shut his bedroom door behind him. Then he sat up and reached for the popcorn bowl.
"He has the hots for you, you know," Baekhyun said.
"He wouldn't be the first one," Kyungsoo said indifferently, because the last thing he needed was for Baekhyun to figure out how badly he had the hots for Jongin back. Not that he'd ever admit it.
Baekhyun snorted. "You think Chanyeol's still got it for you?"
"I think Chanyeol still confuses me for a pet. But he watched all my movies, so I'll let it pass."
"You should do something, you know," Baekhyun said, nimble fingers separating the last few kernels from the dregs at the bottom. "To, you know, like. Reciprocate."
Kyungsoo deadpanned.
"Or, you know, to make him jealous. So he'll like you more," Baekhyun went on.
"Your tone is suggesting to me that I'm not likeable enough as is."
"Can you please take this seriously for one second?"
"I am taking this seriously. Jongin's not to type to linger on that sort of thing. I really don't think making him jealous will prove anything."
"Unbelievable. You talk out of your ass so shamelessly sometimes. Look, you want to bet? Give it two weeks while you pretend to chum it up with one of us, and he'll have 'the look' glued semi-permanently to his face."
"The look?"
"The dark broody pouty one. 'My favourite Kyungsoo hyung is playing favourites with someone else' one."
The thing was, even without that ridiculous description, Kyungsoo knew which one Baekhyun was talking about. The one where his eyes were sort of downcast on the ground ahead of him and his nose wrinkled a bit and his mouth got a stubborn line to it. Quite frankly it was the same one he used when their manager forbade him from eating chicken for three meals a day, but Kyungsoo tried not to linger on that.
"What exactly are you suggesting?" Kyungsoo asked.
Baekhyun pondered. "No coffee truck?"
"You mean for Choco Bank? I wasn't actually planning on one."
"Ouch."
"Stop guilt-tripping me. If it was a broadcast drama I would've."
"Skinship?" Baekhyun suggested.
Kyungsoo pinched his face. "With who? Half of this group would take putting someone else's genitals in their mouth over eating the brown part of a banana. God only knows where the rest of their bodies have been."
"Oh," Baekhyun said. "Instagram."
"I'm not making a fucking--"
"No, dumbass. Someone else's. Like, you know when Chanyeol keeps trying to take pics with you but you always cover your face or punch him in the ear?"
"I never aim for the ear," Kyungsoo said, offended.
"My point is, how about Chanyeol's--"
"No."
"Rip in peace. How about Sehun's?"
Kyungsoo thought. He got along with Sehun--in fact, he'd go as far as to say he really liked Sehun, although it may have something to do with him being the maknae. Regardless, he's very rarely provoked Kyungsoo into choking him, which was marvelously refreshing.
Kyungsoo ran his hand over his face. "If anyone asks, this wasn't my idea."
"Of course not," Baekhyun said, instantly brightening.
"And I'm not the one telling Sehun. I cherish my pride too much."
"Yes, boss," Baekhyun said happily, far too ecstatic about his suggestion pulling through to worry about teasing Kyungsoo with a nickname like that.
Kyungsoo sighed.
For what it was worth, Sehun was shockingly good at acting natural.
"Hey, hyung," Sehun said, scrolling through his phone. "I had dinner plans with a friend earlier but he can't come. Do you have anything going on tonight?"
"Not really. Just vocal practice. I finish at eight, though."
"That's okay," Sehun said. "Do you want to come?"
"Sure," Kyungsoo said, and in the reflection of his mirror he saw Jongin glancing at them from the corner of his mirror, across the room from the two of them, his blond hair strategically gelled back from his unbelievably perfect forehead.
"What is this? You only invite Kyungsoo to dinner?" Joonmyun said, half-joking and half actually accusing, because as much as he tried not to show it Kyungsoo knew it killed their leader a little bit inside every time they excluded him from things.
"Kyungsoo is the hyung I love the most," Sehun said flatly.
Chanyeol laughed and pointed at Joonmyun, and Kyungsoo did his best to pretend to drown out everything around him. He's had plenty of practice, so it wasn't hard.
Baekhyun, on the other hand, gagged. "Alright, that's enough. Let's go to rehearsal."
"Kyungsoo hyung."
"Wa de fuck?" Kyungsoo slurred.
"Hyung, let's go sight seeing. I want to take a picture in Times Square."
"Sehun, it is 10pm," Kyungsoo groaned, trying to pull his pillow over his head. "And how did you get into our room? Where the fuck did you get our room key?"
"Pleeeaaaaase? We won't get a chance to do anything tomorrow, and then we'll be too tired to go tomorrow night and then we're flying back out Monday morning. This is our only chance."
"Can you two please," Jongin grumbled from the other bed, "be quiet and just leave already?"
In the dark Sehun was able to wink conspiratorially at him, and Kyungsoo tamed the urge to drag him into bed and suffocate him.
"Fine. One hour. You owe me."
"Thanks hyung," Sehun said, and made a big show of helping him get his coat and his shoes to show his appreciation. He then draped himself completely over Kyungsoo's back, making it near impossible to walk, and whispered a very loud "Bye Jongin" before ushering them out of the room.
Kyungsoo immediately shook him off. "You're kind of relentless."
"Did you mean committed? Reliable? A pal who will take on any task and see it through to the end?"
"Try insufferable."
Sehun just hummed and linked their arms together.
"Hyung," Sehun said, squeezing his way unceremoniously between Jongin and Baekhyun. "Hyung, look at this."
He was talking to Baekhyun, but Jongin inevitably looked down as well. Kyungsoo realized instantly what was coming--he'd seen the top Naver searches that day--and sped-walked into the kitchen.
"What is this?" Jongin asked from the other room.
"It's the churro truck that Kyungsoo sent me," Sehun boasted.
"Excuse me? Kyungsoo sent you a churro truck?" Baekhyun said in disbelief.
Kyungsoo rested his forehead against the freezer door and closed his eyes. Don't come in, don't come in, don't--
"Um, beg your pardon," Baekhyun said, his voice right behind Kyungsoo's head now, "but where the fuck is my churro truck?"
"I don't think that's the kind of tone you take with someone when you're asking for something," Kyungsoo said, taking the milk out of the fridge and desperately trying to escape.
"You weren't going to send me one, were you?" Baekhyun cried shrilly. "How dare you? This is my first ever drama, with IU no less, and you won't send me a churro truck?"
"I don't recall you ever sending me a churro truck for Cart," Kyungsoo retorted. "Or for It's Okay That's Love."
"That is different and you know it. You're the senior actor here, you should be encouraging me and making me feel better about myself--"
"Are you seriously trying to convince me that you can't already do that perfectly well on your ow--"
"STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT!"
Sehun poked his head in. "He's sulking," he snickered. "He just went to his room."
"Probably searching up the articles right now," Baekhyun said, calming down. "That went well. Good job, Kyungsoo."
"Fuck you."
"Also I wasn't kidding about the churro truck. I want one tomorrow."
Kyungsoo instantly reached for his neck, and in half a second Baekhyun was bolting out of the room.
"Hyung," Jongin said, his voice soft in the quiet of their room. "Do you want to a watch a movie? Like we used to?"
"Sure," Kyungsoo said. He automatically climbed out of bed to turn the AC on, because it always got hot under their covers after a little while. "Do you want some snacks?"
"No. I'm not hungry."
"Alright."
Jongin freed his top blanket from all the clothes he had piled up on the edge of his bed, and carefully arranged it over their heads as Kyungsoo searched for a decent stream of The Force Awakens. It was one of the heavier blankets--possibly his new duvet--so it kept sinking and rubbing along Kyungsoo's short hair and face.
"Sorry," Jongin said, as Kyungsoo tried to headbutt the blanket out of the way.
"S'okay."
Kyungsoo can't say he had much interest for the original Star Wars movies. Of course, he watched them all--it seemed like one of those things where you just had to--and he sort of understood why it was probably such a blockbuster at the time it came out. This one, though, he was looking forward to, because Lightsaber had come out really well and Daisey Ridley had been pretty cute in person.
"Hyung," Jongin said, oblivious to Poe and Finn making their escape on-screen. "I think Sehun likes you."
Kyungsoo didn't say anything, and he made damn sure he didn't move a muscle either, but his heart suddenly started banging against his rib cage because there was no way. There was no fucking way that Baekhyun's dumb scheme actually worked.
Kyungsoo took a careful, steady breath. "Sure. I mean, he gets along with most of us, as far as I can tell. Except maybe Minseok."
"That's not what I meant," Jongin said quietly. "You...he always asks you to pose for his selcas."
"Yeah."
"You don't let Chanyeol do it."
"Of course I don't let Chanyeol do it," Kyungsoo sighed. "He made a cutout of my bloody, sobbing face and posted it online."
"Hyung," Jongin said, staring straight at him now, "do you like him?"
Kyungsoo chewed on the inside of his lip. He reached forward to pause the movie, enveloping them in sudden silence.
"If you're asking what I think you're asking," Kyungsoo said, looking back, "no. I don't like him that way. And I think you already know that Sehun doesn't like me that way, either."
Jongin's eyes shied away from his gaze.
"Do you like me?" Kyungsoo said, gently.
"Don't--" The word was bit out from between his teeth. "Don't make fun of me."
"I'm not. Jongin, look at me."
Jongin looked up, his gaze already hurt, expecting a rejection.
"Hey," Kyungsoo said, "I'm sorry. This is on me, okay? I let Sehun take all those pictures of me because I was being a coward. I didn't know if you liked me back, and I thought I could find out by doing this."
Jongin froze. "Like you back?"
"Yes," Kyungsoo said, and just like that the tables were turned, all of the floodlights on him. He clasped his hands together tightly, trying to hide the tremor in them. This was a lot more nerve-wracking than he thought it'd be.
Jongin looked like he could barely breathe. "You like me?"
"Yeah," Kyungsoo said, and waited.
An array of emotions washed over Jongin's face in that moment, but the ones that dominated were joy, relief. Kyungsoo couldn't help but smile.
"You like me," Jongin said, and it was like Kyungsoo had just given him all the flowers in the world. "You like me."
"It's extremely hard not to," Kyungsoo said, and Jongin was there in an instant and kissed him full on the mouth. There was no hesitation; it was like they'd done this a hundred times before, like kissing Jongin in that moment was the most natural thing in the world. Kyungsoo opened his mouth, let his tongue venture to brush along Jongin's, reached with one hand and did his best to cup Jongin's cheek in the position they were in. It had been a long time since he'd kissed anybody. It was nice.
Jongin started to kiss him with such fervour that Kyungsoo laughed into his mouth. "Easy," he said, lips brushing up to kiss his nose. "We have plenty of time."
"I guess we do, don't we," Jongin said, not really a question. Even with only the light of his laptop screen on his face his smile is blinding. "You're stupid. But I forgive you."
"It wasn't my idea," Kyungsoo said quickly, already backpedaling to unleash a tirade on why this was anything but his idea, but Jongin was kissing him again and rolling them over, and oh, shit, that was the laptop hitting the floor, wasn't it?
Well. They could worry about that later.
