Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Soobin paced his room. Huening Kai was late. 

This was bad. 

Kai wasn’t in good shape at school—he could tell. Though everyone else was easily fooled, Soobin didn’t miss how tightly Kai’s fingers were gripping the edge of his chair. When Soobin was finally able to make eye contact with him, Kai’s eyes had flashed red—for a brief moment, he looked wild, desperate.

Soobin’s heart was pounding with worry. Huening Kai was ok, right? There was no way—

There wasn’t much warning when his room suddenly darkened, a shadow passing through his window. Soobin crashed into his bed from the force of someone colliding into his chest. 

He looked up to scarlet eyes. 

“Kai, you scared me so much.” Soobin exhaled in relief as he caressed Kai’s cheek. Thank god. “Close the window.” 

The vampire impatiently snapped his fingers, and the window slammed shut. Soobin’s brow furrowed as he pressed a thumb over Kai’s lips—they were almost bruised from what must have been the effort of keeping his thirst in check.  

“Come on,” Soobin whispered, soothingly petting Kai’s hair. “I’m ready.” He wished they could figure out a way to start the feeding process while they were at school, but it was impossible with all of the cameras around. 

Kai’s fangs elongated, and he was panting from the effort of restraining himself. His hands tightened almost painfully around Soobin’s arms. 

“Soobinie, are you sure?” 

Soobin’s heart hurt. “Yes baby, stop asking. I’ll be fine.” He pushed Kai’s head forward insistently. Kai really needed to stop worrying about him so much when he was the one who suffered for it.  

Soobin’s breaths stuttered as the vampire nuzzled his neck to search for a suitable spot. It wasn’t long before he felt the familiar pinprick and press of lips against his pulsepoint; Soobin bit his lips to muffle any embarrassing sounds. Feeding really didn’t feel much different from necking, excluding the tiny fact that he normally passed out from the former. 

Soobin could feel the edges of his vision fading fast, tiredly stroking Kai’s hair before everything went black.

Soobin slowly blinked awake, feeling warm and the most comfortable he’d been in a while. His limbs were entangled with Huening Kai’s. The vampire was staring at him, his eyes a deep chocolate brown. Safe. 

Kai was holding his hand, and he likely had held it the whole time he was asleep. “Do you feel alright? Sick? Tired? Are you in pain—”

Soobin quickly kissed him to shut him up. 

“You do this every time,” Soobin said as they parted regretfully. “I’m fine. You need to worry about yourself.” 

Kai blushed as he snuggled closer. “It’s because I care about you,” he muttered. 

“I know. I love you, ‘Ning.” 

“Love you too, meanie Soobinie.”

Chapter Text

hueningk 

ok so

i have an idea 

Soobinie

What is it 

hueningk 

i think we should kiss 

for research purposes i mean

Soobinie 

Say sike right now

?????????????????????????

hueningk

listen 

Yeonjun-hyung said you've never kissed anyone before

i have the receipts (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑

Soobinie 

Wow 

hueningk 

i don't wanna mess up the first time i have to actually kiss someone 

so i came up with the great idea

of using you to practice

i mean

we can practice together 

win-win? o(≧∇≦o)

Soobinie 

I see your priorities 

hueningk 

ok but yes/no? i'm asking taehyunnie next 

Soobinie

Jesus 

Um 

hueningk 

going once 

Soobinie 

Is this related to your existential crisis about you being bi 

hueningk 

GOING TWICE 

hueningk

GOING...

Soobinie 

Ok

I'll do it

But I'm going to regret this, I just know

hueningk 

going to soobinie ❤⃛ヾ(๑❛ ▿ ◠๑ )

Soobinie

FYI we already kissed before technically

Remember when you said you'd be my princess when you were five

And you "married" me 

hueningk

you stole my innocence, hyung ㅠㅠ

Soobinie

... 

K

And that's how they end up making out on Soobin's bed.

(Soobin refused to go to Kai's on account of there being an "audience"—he wasn't trying to put on a show for Kai's plushies).

It started innocently enough. Their first kiss was soft and pleasant, leaving them curious for more. They continued to lock lips tentatively, and really it was all going swell until Huening Kai decided to try that one "suggestion" he saw in his sister's Cosmopolitan magazine. 

Soobin parted his mouth in surprise when he feels the swipe of Kai's tongue against his lower lip, and then it's like something explodes between them.

(If Huening Kai knew they had this much chemistry, he would have asked a lot earlier.) 

They’re so enthusiastic about kissing that they didn’t notice the door open until it’s too late. The sound of a camera clicking is just barely enough to distract them from their—well, horizontal calisthenics, considering Soobin was pinned down—

“I told you! I told you guys they were dating!!!” Beomgyu crowed. Yeonjun and Taehyun blinked owlishly behind him. 

Quick, think Huening Kai. What was he supposed to stay in this situation? 

“Yeah, uh, we’re dating.” 

Soobin and Kai’s eyes met after the bold admission. Fuck. 

Chapter Text

“Hey, don’t freak, but your favorite barista is working again~” Yeonjun teased.

Soobin glanced inside the coffee shop and snorted. “Ah, it’s that one who has my drink memorized but can’t remember my name.” 

“Don’t forget you’re also literally the only person he doesn’t flirt with.” 

“Huh?” 

“Yup.” Yeonjun drags the sound out. “Huening Kai calls me hot stuff and he calls ‘Gyu sweetheart. Don’t even get me started on the girls. He’s a shameless flirt, and the tip jar is the proof that he’s cute enough to get away with it.” 

Soobin spluttered. “What did I ever do to him?” 

Yeonjun shrugged. “Let’s find out.” 

They stepped inside the coffee shop that Soobin keeps returning to even though the regular barista there always messes up his name. The coffee is damn good, and their baked goods are nothing to sneeze at either. There’s surprisingly no line, although the cafe is almost full as usual.

“Hello, welcome to Magic Island!” Huening Kai said cheerfully, his eyes sliding over Soobin like he doesn’t even exist. He winked at Yeonjun. “Junie-hyung, what can I get you today?” 

Yeonjun’s drink tended to change with the day of the week, the season, his mood, whether or not he saw a dog that morning, etc. 

“I’ll take a borgia today.” 

“Why are you so extra, ah, really hyung,” he whined. “You’re making me do more work.” 

“Just felt like it.” Yeonjun smirked and slung an arm around Soobin. “Go ahead and order.” 

“Americano with extra cream and sugar for him,” Huening Kai said without missing a beat. “Is that all?” 

Soobin prayed for patience when he saw the messy scrawl of something that was definitely not his name on the cup. Yeonjun nudged him in the side, and Soobin looked pointedly in the other direction. Two could play this game.

“‘Ning, stop being childish,” the other barista down the counter said. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kai crossed his arms.

“He’s right, you know,” the barista continued as he moved behind Kai to fix the display. His name tag reads Taehyun. “Mint chocolate doesn’t deserve rights.”

Kai pouted. “You take that back right now.”

“Hold on.” Soobin pinched the bridge of his nose, recalling the exact conversation he was referring to. “You really spelled my name wrong for two weeks because I don’t like mint chocolate?” 

Kai jutted his chin out petulantly. Against his better judgement, Soobin found him adorable. 

“Ayyyyy!” Yeonjun high-fived Kai. “Mint chocolate buddies!” 

Taehyun looked at the duo with thinly veiled disgust. “Oh god, another one.” 

Kai sniffed. “You don’t have any taste.”

“Ok,” Taehyun deadpanned. “Now that Soobin knows and everything, can you ask him for his number already? I’m getting tired of hearing about how cute he for a mint chocolate anti.” 

The heavy silence stretched until Kai slapped a hand over his forehead, blushing furiously. 

“Aish Taehyunnie—you really—!” 

“Don’t act like I just didn’t do all of us a favor,” Taehyun said. “Here’s mine by the way, Yeonjun-ssi. You’re cute.” 

Yeonjun looks floored as he accepted a folded up note from the barista. Yeonjun, who’s normally suave and has a mile long reputation for being a playboy, looked like he was at a loss for words. 

“I’m going to make your drinks,” Huening Kai mumbled as he ducked behind the counter, tugging Taehyun behind him.

Soobin and Yeonjun looked at each other.

Did that really just happen…? 

Yes, it did, because written messily on Soobin’s receipt when he picks up his coffee is a string of numbers and a short note. 

I was running out of names anyway. >3<  

Soobin turns his cup around and snorts. It says “Soobean.” 

Chapter Text

At this point, Soobin doesn’t know if he’s more concerned about himself or his grades.

“Yeonjun-hyung,” he whines. “I’m screwed.” 

Yeonjun stares at him over his glasses. “I don’t see the problem. Just ask him out.” 

“He’s my partner for a project that’s worth 50% of my grade,” Soobin says, scandalized.

“Ok, then do most of the work before you ask him out.” 

Soobin flops down on his bed. “He’ll probably think I’m a creep.” 

Yeonjun takes a deep breath with measured patience. “Dude, trust me. From how you described him, If he doesn’t like you already, he probably does after whatever weird voodoo shit you guys did.” 

Soobin sits up indignantly. “It was just an attraction experiment! And what do you mean if he doesn’t like me already?” 

The older rolls his eyes. “Just trust hyung, ok?” 

Soobin slumps over and screams into his pillow. He can’t deal with this.

Yesterday

“Give me the source again?”

“Journal of Research and Personality,” his partner Huening Kai stated, flipping his laptop around to show him. “Two minute staring contest, basically.” The way he smiles is contagious.

“I don’t know if it can be replicated that easily,” Soobin said as he scanned the reference. “Should we try it first? 

Kai shrugged. “Sure.” He set his phone down on the table, tapping to start the alarm.

Soobin rested his chin against his palm as he stared at his partner. 

The first thirty seconds were uneventful, but Soobin found that it was surprisingly hard to maintain prolonged eye contact. Had it always been that way? 

Huening Kai had the deepest brown eyes he’d ever seen. Even though he was focused on his eyes, Soobin couldn’t help but notice everything else too—the slight furrow in his brow, the slope of his nose, the curve of his lips—and although he’d acknowledged before that his partner was kinda gorgeous, now that fact was unavoidable. Soobin was glad he had a strong poker face, otherwise it would have been over for him if Huening Kai found out.

“Is it just me,” Kai began softly, and Soobin’s heart seized because oh no please don’t say anything I might not be able to take it, “Or is this actually sort of difficult?” 

Soobin felt a surge of relief, scrunching his nose and nodding. “It’s good that it’s a bit of a challenge. We’ll have something to write about.” 

Soobin swore what happened next was the world plotting against him. It had been a cloudy day, but all of a sudden the sun came out, and Soobin was mesmerized by the way the sunlight reflected off of Kai’s eyes. It made them look like they were shining. 

He didn’t notice how close they were until the alarm beeped and they jumped apart. Jesus. Had they really leaned that far across the table? Was that something that normally happened during the experiment or was he in over his head?

“That’s interesting,” Huening Kai mumbled. 

For the rest of the day, Soobin couldn’t get his partner off his mind.

Soobin checks his watch. Kai was running late. It had only been a few minutes, but the delay only made Soobin more nervous. He pulls up his texts with Yeonjun again. 

Junie-hyung

If you don’t do it, I will. 

He’s cute af tbh 

Soobinie

Hyung!!!!!!!! >< 

Junie-hyung 

Seriously, do it. 

I found out he was Taehyun’s friend

And you know what that means ;) 

Soobinie 

Um?

Junie-hyung 

I have intel

Soobinie

????????????

Soobin looks up from his phone when he hears Kai slide in the seat across from him. He’s wearing something colorful as usual, although the red is a lot more eye-catching today. He looks good in the sweater. Really good.

Soobin doesn’t want to say he’s sweating bullets, but he kind of is, because it really is a big project and he didn’t expect to start crushing on his partner at all. Instead of saying something dumb like you look gorgeous today, but you’ll look better in my arms, he smiles and compliments Kai on his sweater. He doesn’t expect Kai to blush and look away; he has to ask Kai to repeat himself after he mumbles something. 

“I said, is it me or is it the sweater?” Kai finally manages to look at him in the eyes again, and Soobin is completely taken. Kai just looks so adorable with his sweater paws and lips in a soft pout. 

“You,” Soobin blurts out without thinking, and Kai doesn’t even give him time to regret it because he grins, and it totally wasn’t fair how breathtaking he was without even trying. 

“I wanted to try it,” Kai said as he picks up the drink menu. 

“Try what?” 

Kai bites his lip, then looks at him over the top of the menu. “People generally perceive red as a more attractive color.” 

Soobin swallows as he remembers that they did in fact go over a few scientific studies correlating the color red with heightened levels of attraction. There are dots and lines to connect, but he’s coming up blank. 

“Oh,” he says intelligently. 

Kai just smiles. “It’s your turn tomorrow.” 

“Tomorrow?” They’re not meeting for their project tomorrow—Soobin’s eyes widens as everything finally comes together. “Oh, tomorrow,” he says, and he feels his cheeks heat up. Trust him to get beaten to the punch.

Junie-hyung

He 100% likes you

Get it!!!

Chapter Text

“It’s not like that,” Huening Kai insists. “It’s obviously a mutual rivalry. And I’m the better soloist of course.”

“Or you’re actually just obsessed,” Taehyun drawls as he sorts through the fan mail, a fair amount suggesting a possible collaboration with Huening Kai’s main competitor, Choi Soobin. “This is the third time you’ve done an aegyo battle with him on Weekly Idol, and you two didn’t even appear on the same episode.”

“Mhm,” Kai mutters with a pen between his lips as he tries to figure out how to put his twist on the song. The lyrics aren’t bad—“Why are you shaking my heart? Sing ‘confession’ in the candles”—the flow is very much up his alley. He thinks he can do at least this part better, and maybe if he changes the inflection in the pre-chorus… 

“So we’re agreeing to this collab with Choi Soobin, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kai mumbles, still immersed in revising his cover. The pen drops from his mouth when he realizes abruptly what Taehyun just said. “Wait, what?” 

“Yeonjun-ssi reached out to me about a possible collaboration between you two,” Taehyun explains with a slight smirk. Kai really only had a one-track mind when it came to Choi Soobin. “It’d be very foolish to turn it down, so I already said yes.”

“Taehyunnie!” Kai balks. “How am I supposed to be better than him when I have to work with him? Do I at least get to write the lyrics?” 

Taehyun rolls his eyes. “It’ll be a really good opportunity for you. You two have a big overlap in fans, and you know how they can get.” He shows Kai his phone. “Did you read the newest chapter of You’re Always Beside Me? ” 

Kai groans and buries his face in his hands. Kai had stumbled upon the story when he was searching up his name, horrified to find out that it was a fanfiction about a slowly blooming romantic relationship between him and Choi Soobin. 

“Shut up. It doesn’t exist.”

“It’s actually quite good,” Taehyun jokes, “The personalities are close, just some details are off.” Taehyun grins mischievously. “I wonder if it’ll have a happy ending.”

“Hyunnie!” This is why he shouldn’t have made his best friend his agent.

“Anyway, he’ll be here in—” Taehyun checks his watch. “Ten minutes, so get ready.” 

Kai screeches. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You said I had something else scheduled today!”

“Yeah, I have Choi Soobin’s meeting scheduled for the rest of today,” Taehyun clarifies with a shit-eating grin. “You would have rejected the collab if I told you earlier.”

“That’s true, but…” Kai whines in frustration. 

“Stop being melodramatic. I’m going to get ready to let them in. Be nice, we don’t need any negative publicity.”

“I’ll show you negative publicity,” Kai mutters darkly, but he starts to clean up his work area.

Taehyun sighs. They’ll be ok, right?

Soobin scowls was they pull up to Magic Hit Entertainment. “I can’t believe you lied to get me here.”

Yeonjun shrugs, “I didn’t lie, I just…left out some of the truth.”

“That’s lying!”

“Listen, just write some passable lyrics for Beomgyu to fix up. You can record separately. It’ll be good PR.” Yeonjun seems to be looking for someone through the car window. “Ah, there he is.”

“Huening Kai?” Soobin panics.

Yeonjun gives him a long-suffering look. “No, it’s his cute manager, Taehyun.”

Soobin narrows his eyes. “If I didn’t know you better…”

Yeonjun brushes him out of the car. “Ok, let’s go. We don’t have much time.”

“I’m here for the whole day,” Soobin says indignantly, but he follows Yeonjun and smiles politely at Taehyun when they meet him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Kang Taehyun, Huening Kai’s manager.” He bows and continues, “Don’t mind Kai if he’s being grumpy. I told him you were coming on short notice.”

Soobin glares at Yeonjun who is now obviously 70% here for Taehyun. “I guess we have something in common.”

Taehyun snorts. “More than you think, I hope. Let’s go. I’ll show you the way.”

Soobin finds Huening Kai in his studio hunched over his keyboard with a pen in his mouth. He’s frowning in concentration as he presses down on the keys—the melody is beautiful, haunting almost. Soobin can hear its potential, what it can become.

Kai is in a soft white sweater, and his dark hair is fluffy and curled. He looks like an angel. An extremely cute one.

Did he really just think that? 

Soobin shakes his head. This is Huening Kai, someone who covered his debut song “Our Summer” and regretfully… sounded amazing while singing it. Every time he thinks about it he gets a little annoyed. He worked his ass off on the song, and then Kai just went and covered it and suddenly Soobin felt small. Covering Kai’s debut song “Rollercoaster” had been a little bit of petty revenge, but unexpectedly, it blew up and now he and Kai were already three songs deep into each other’s discographies. 

Soobin’s about to knock on the door to announce his presence when Kai starts singing with the pen still in his mouth, “Did you wait for me? Our wishes—”

Soobin startles and accidentally pushes the door too hard. Kai looks up.

“Choi Soobin-ssi,” he says. How long have you been standing there? “It’s nice to finally meet you.” Kai gestures for Soobin to sit in the seat beside him. He’s so close to the lyrics he wants, it’s on the tip of his tongue—and now that Soobin is here (seriously, why did he look so perfectly put together, did he come here straight after a schedule?), he thinks he has it. 

He definitely didn’t just get inspired by Soobin’s silhouette.

He uncaps the pen and makes an adjustment on the paper in front of him. “Did you wait alone for me? Our clumsy promises…”

Yup, that sounded much better. He grins and turns around. “What do you think?” 

Soobin’s mouth is suddenly very dry. He can see why so many people are dazzled by him—he’s absolutely gorgeous, the way his eyes crinkle and how genuine and attentive he seems. 

“You’re really good,” he murmurs, suddenly shy. He thought Huening Kai would be more intimidating. In fact, he might have preferred that, because that would mean the slight butterflies he feels would have been out of fear. It’s not really warm in the studio at all, but he feels hot, so he takes off his suit jacket and unbuttons the top button of his dress shirt.

Kai is staring at him strangely, and Soobin tilts his head, confused. 

“I thought you would be more arrogant,” Kai blurts out. 

Soobin frowns. “Why? You don’t even know me.” 

“You tagged me in your cover of my debut song,” Kai said, fingers skittering over the keyboard. “I pretty much had to respond to you. You did a really good job too, so it frustrated me. That song was special to me.” 

“You started it,” Soobin reminded. 

Kai blushes slightly. “I was just a fan of the song…I didn’t think my cover would get as popular as it did. I uploaded it to my private Youtube and it got shared…” 

“Oh.” Soobin feels embarrassed. Their rivalry basically began from a misunderstanding. “Our Summer was really important to me because I was so involved in the process of making the song. Back when I just debuted, everything was overwhelming. Hearing you sing it, I thought you were so much better than me. I felt that I wasn’t good enough.”

Soobin’s not prepared for the sudden hug. “I’m so sorry,” Kai says, squeezing tight before letting go. “I can’t believe you felt that way. You’re so talented.” 

Soobin looks at Kai in disbelief. “You play at least ten different instruments, you can speak three languages, you can write and compose songs, and you’re an amazing singer.”

“You’re an excellent dancer, you can put models to shame, you trend on social media just by literally breathing, and you’re an amazing singer,” Kai returns.

They stare at each other. 

“Truce?” Soobin says, offering his hand. 

Kai grabs his hand and smiles cheekily. “I’m still going to cover your songs though. They’re really good.” 

Soobin rolls his eyes, but scoots closer and looks curiously at Kai’s lyric sheet. “So what were you working on?” 

“I think we should name it Magic Island…”

Kai stretches. Surprisingly, they worked really well together and made a lot of progress. Kai’s definitely more familiar with songwriting, but Soobin is good at refining and tightening up the flow. They also harmonize well, which is a relief.

“Hueningie~ Should we take a selca to use as a teaser?” 

“Sure~” Kai smiles and waves a peace sign for the photo. It didn’t take much for them to get along after they cleared the air. “Wait, I should probably ask Hyunnie if I can post this. I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, right. I should ask Yeonjun-hyung too.” 

Not even a minute passes before Soobin hears Huening Kai scream. Ah, so the dolphin scream did indeed exist. He walks out confused until he sees Taehyun down the hall, looking sheepish. Kai’s hands are clasped over his mouth in shock, and Yeonjun’s shirt looks suspiciously wrinkled—

Ah. Soobin puts two and two together and facepalms. Of course this was Yeonjun’s agenda.

Although it took Huening Kai an admittedly long time to warm up to Yeonjun after he caught him making out with Taehyun, it did eventually happen (lots of free 1.5 liters of grape juice was involved). 

Soobin and Kai are at Beomgyu’s studio for their last recording session. Kai has on the same white turtleneck he wore when they first met, and as he croons into the mic, Soobin swallows hard. Kai looks ethereal and absolutely breathtaking. It makes Soobin almost wish he’d never met him, because with each passing day he thinks he likes him more and more. Kai is a good friend, has a great sense of humor, and because they share the same troubles, is always willing to listen, no matter what time it was. 

He doesn’t notice that Beomgyu is observing him.

Choi Soobin tweeted at 00:00 on 12/26/19

On a sunset evening, even in the night when the sky is dark

My heart is full of you

Huening Kai tweeted at 00:00 on 12/26/19

It’s gotta be you, you’re the one love

What if [I] lose all of it, forever

Beomgyu eyes the duo as Huening Kai comes out of the booth and high fives Soobin before he enters.

“So are you two dating or what?” Beomgyu asks casually while Soobin is getting situated.

Kai chokes on his grape juice. “Beomie, what the hell?”

“Bro, I saw those tweets.”

“They’re song lyrics for the covers we’re going to upload tonight!” 

“Mhm.” Beomgyu gives him such a critical side eye that Kai feels like he needs to confess something at least. 

“We just became friends!” 

“And?” 

“I don’t think we’re ready for anything yet,” Kai squeaks, but he blushes. Beomgyu nods in his assessment—Huening Kai was much easier to crack than Soobin.

“Kai-ya, you should go for it. Take this hyung’s advice.” Beomgyu claps Kai’s shoulder, and the younger looks bewildered. 

“This song better be worth it, I can’t believe I’m being harassed like this,” Kai says in disbelief.

“I always make it worth it.”

Huening Kai tweeted at 12:05 on 12/27/19

>3<♡ 

Choi Beomgyu tweeted at 12:06 on 12/27/19

:) I’m always right btw

Chapter Text

Huening Kai sees him in the middle of a crowded cafe. Their eyes meet for the briefest moment before Kai’s world violently blooms with color. He’s breathless as he weaves through the crowd to his—his soulmate—the sudden saturation is distracting, but he only has eyes for the gorgeous, tall, and black-haired stranger (that’s one color that stayed the same). He’s relieved that he won’t have any trouble picking him out from a crowd.

“Hi,” Kai says, full of anticipation when he finally reaches him. 

His soulmate looks at him in confusion. “Do I know you?”

His soulmate’s name is Kai Kamal Huening, and Soobin falls in love the old-fashioned way.

Soobin is a wayward molecule of water out of the ocean of people with the potential to see color. He’s completely colorblind—the kind that special glasses can’t fix. It’s called achromatopsia, and even the name sounds intimidating. When he tells people, they look at him with sympathy, so he stops answering with the truth when they ask. 

He’s sure that colors are amazing, and from time to time, he does yearn to see them—he wants to explore them with Kai, he wants to know the color of Kai’s eyes and lips outside of shades of monochrome. He wants to understand the light brown toast turns when it’s ready, or the soft yellow of butter that’s spread on top of it. He wants to understand what it means when people say, “That color looks good on you.” 

Or when they say, “The sunset looks different today.”

Or, “Oh, so that’s what the sky looks like. It’s beautiful.” 

But Soobin isn’t one to dwell over things he can’t have when he has Huening Kai, and he would sacrifice colors all over again if only for him. 

So even if he doesn’t feel that instant connection of love, or the feeling of watching the world shift abruptly on its axis, it didn’t matter.

How could it matter when he falls in love with every smile, every giggle, the way Kai’s eyes curve into crescents when he laughs, the way their hands interlock perfectly, the way Kai clings to him even for the smallest of reasons (did he really need to give him a back hug while he was opening a jar of blueberry jam?), the way they could be comfortably quiet around each other, the feeling of Kai’s lips against his, 

How could it matter?

So his heart breaks a little for Kai, who thinks it does matter. 

“You gave me colors, Soobinie,” he says with a fragile smile, and Soobin wipes away his tears, frowning. “I feel like I’ll never be able to give something like that. Sometimes I feel like I’m not enough.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Soobin reminds. Sometimes, even his boyfriend gets caught up in the importance of colors.

Kai buries into his chest, still sniffling. “I love you so much,” he says in a small voice, “I feel like I’ve let you down.” 

Soobin has never seen color, but for two decades he’s heard about them. 

“You’ve given me the meaning of yellow,” Soobin says. “It’s whenever you smile. It’s when you’re happy and it’s the color of the sun, if it was comparable to you. 

“You’ve given me the meaning of blue. It’s both the beautiful sky and the way you’re quiet when you’re sad.

“You’ve given me the meaning of red. It’s the color of love, but to me it’s all the things you do to show me that you love me. It’s the way your cheeks warm up whenever I tell you I love you.

“You keep giving me meanings of different colors, but most of all, you’ve given me yourself, Kai,” Soobin finishes, “And that’s enough.” 

Kai hits him lightly on the shoulder. “I hate it when you’re like this.” 

“No,” Soobin chuckles as he pressed their foreheads together, “You love it.”

“Shut up,” Kai pouts, then he softens as he looks at Soobin. “I’ll try not to bring it up anymore.” 

Soobin knows he would never understand how Kai felt, given that he’s lived without colors all of his life and could expect the rest of his life to be monochrome as well. For someone like Kai whose world had changed, his thinking would be different. 

“Just remember I don’t think it matters, as long as I have you. Having you is the most important.” 

“Please shut up,” Kai whines. “I need to prepare myself to hear these kind of things.”

“I love you, Kai~” 

“I love you too,” the younger huffs, and Soobin has long come to peace with colors, knowing he has his soulmate by his side.

Chapter Text

It’s four a.m., his paper’s due in less than three hours, and he’s on his third venti cup of Starbucks’s extra-caffeinated coffee. So when Soobin sits down across from him, Kai shouldn’t be blamed for only giving him a cursory glance before going back to his screen. If Soobin says something, Kai doesn’t care and he doesn’t hear either—his headphones have been blasting music for the past seven hours.

Ok, so sue him, he’s a bit of a procrastinator. 

He’s absorbed in making sure his thesis statement isn’t crumbling when he feels his headphones being lifted. Kai is typically a patient person, but his grade is riding on this paper so he looks up, slightly annoyed. His irritation promptly melts when Soobin smiles sweetly at him though, because how could he ever stay mad at him? 

“Hyunie told me you’d probably be here, so I came by to give you this.” Soobin sets down a heart-shaped chocolate box—as expected, they’re Kai’s favorite brand. “I figured it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you’re at least eating something.” 

“Thanks Soobinie-hyung.” Kai smiles brightly.  “I left yours in my desk, take it whenever you want. Get some sleep.” 

“Alright, alright.” Soobin ruffles Kai’s hair and places his headphones back on. “I’ll leave you alone. See you in the morning.” 

It’s only when the chocolate is already more than half-melted in his mouth when he realizes it tastes different—sweeter. He glances quickly at the packaging. Huh. He didn’t know that Ferrero Rocher made white chocolate.

Kai finally hits submit and feels the tenseness drain from his shoulders. He stretches briefly before gathering his belongings to head back to the dormitories. He walks back in a daze, more asleep than awake. He’s so tired he almost runs headfirst into Soobin when he opens the door to their suite.

“Hyung, you’re still awake,” Kai says tiredly as he drops his backpack next to his bed, ready to collapse onto his mattress. 

“...Yeah. Just thinking about something.” 

“Don’t lose sleep over it, hyung,” Kai says as he strips off his outer layers. He thinks he passes out before his head even hits the pillow.

Exactly eight hours later, well-rested and energized, Kai wakes up in cold sweat. Fuck. Did he really tell Soobin to take the chocolate from inside his desk? He sits up and freezes when he sees Soobin on his computer. He’s probably playing games since his headset is on, so Kai briefly thinks he’s safe—Soobin had always said he couldn’t pause or leave his games. But when Soobin sees that he’s awake, the headset comes off. 

Oh god Kai is so fucked. 

“Kai-ya—” 

“Ineedtousethebathroom,” Kai blurts and hauls ass. He wonders if the window in the bathroom is big enough to use as an escape. Then he remembers they’re fourteen floors up. Damn his luck today. He sighs—no matter how long he tries to prolong his morning routine, he’d still have to face Soobin when he comes out. The half-written letter that had been sitting on top of the chocolate definitely reads Dear Soobin and I love you, so it’s unlikely any excuse he can come up with will be good enough to cover his colossal mistake. Damn, damn, damn. He takes a deep breath and braces himself before opening the door. 

“I have an explanation,” Kai says as he walks up to Soobin, who definitely at least looks like he just left a game; he’d been watching his screen with furrowed eyebrows up until the moment Kai came out of the bathroom. 

Soobin raises his eyebrow and picks up the card from his desk. It’s very pink and very incriminating. Kai cringes. 

“Well you see,” Kai starts, and maybe he meant to spin a giant pile of bullshit and claim that it was a prank, but Soobin is looking at him tenderly and encouragingly and Kai is frankly tired of running away. “I was still deciding on whether or not I was going to give you that letter.”

Soobin immediately frowns. “Why, do you not feel that way anymore?”

“No I do,” Kai says quickly. “Like a lot. But I didn’t want to ruin our friendship—”

Soobin kisses him without any preamble. He tastes of the white chocolate Kai bought for him, his favorite kind. Kai maybe forgets to breathe for a second. 

Soobin pulls back for a brief moment, and Kai looks at him with wide eyes. His eyes crinkle into crescents when he smiles. “Kai, I’ve been giving you white chocolate for years.” And he wastes no time in kissing him again. 

“If it’s for confessing, it definitely has to be white chocolate,” Soobin argues.

“You’re only saying that because it’s your favorite type,” Kai says, rolling his eyes. 

“Even if it is, it’s the only type of chocolate I’d use for confessing.”

Chapter Text

Kai looks annoyed. Soobin is a little bit concerned—their youngest isn’t prone to showing any negative emotions, instead, choosing to bottle it up most of the time. They have some time before their next schedule, so Soobin decides to nip whatever the problem is in the bud while he still can. He knocks before entering Kai’s room.

“Kai-ya? Can we talk?” 

Kai looks up from his phone and seems to contemplate briefly before shrugging his shoulders. 

“Ok.” 

Soobin’s not sure he likes the calculative look that flashes in his eyes. He shuts the door behind him and sits beside Kai on the bed. “What’s wrong?” Soobin wraps an arm around his shoulders—not quite as easy as it used to be, since Kai now had the broadest frame out of all of them. 

Kai purses his lips. From their limited activities today, Soobin can hazard a guess. 

“Is this about the interview?” he asks, searching the younger’s face for clues. Kai’s lips immediately fall into a pout. 

“Soobin, you always answer Yeonjun-hyung for those types of questions,” he complains. 

Soobin sighs and softens his voice. “Baby, that can’t be helped. Besides, the interviewer asked me to answer the question as if I was a girl. But,” Soobin drags a knuckle down the younger’s cheek, “I’m not a girl.” He presses his thumb against Kai’s lips. “And it’s Soobin-hyung.” Kai has a habit of dropping honorifics when he’s in a bad mood.

Soobin is startled when Kai suddenly pushes him back onto the bed.

“Soobin,” he insists, as he hovers over him, eyes glittering dangerously, his arms caging Soobin on either side. Kai tilts his head slightly. “You think I can’t match Yeonjun-hyung’s vibe?” 

“Kai,” Soobin says lowly, and he can feel the beginnings of a blush forming. “The door isn’t locked.” 

Kai seems to scrutinize him. Soobin swallows at the teasing smirk. 

“What do you think Yeonjun-hyung would do in this situation, Soobin?” 

“Kai, it’s not like that—”

He knows his responsibilities as the leader, but still, it’s impossible to resist Kai when he gets like this, determined and tempting and reckless. Kai threads his fingers through Soobin’s hair and kisses him. Their mouths are slick and hot against each other and Kai maybe has the edge a little because he’s kissing Soobin breathless; the older makes an appreciative sound when Kai’s hand slides up his hip. 

“I’m just saying, hyung,” Kai says in between kisses, “That I think I could if I wanted to.” 

“Could do what?” Soobin asks hazily, lips red where Kai had bitten them. 

Kai looks at him suggestively, but he suddenly pulls off of Soobin, retreating away from him on the bed. “Might want to get up, hyung.” 

Soobin is confused and feels bereft, but he sits up just in time for the door to open. 

“Hey, you guys ready?” Yeonjun asks, his eyebrow slightly raised when he sees Soobin. 

“Yup,” Kai says, standing up. He smirks at Soobin. “Thanks hyung, I feel better now~” The leader is dry-mouthed as he watches Kai give Yeonjun a quick belly pat before leaving the room. 

“Should I ask?” Yeonjun questions after Kai leaves. 

Soobin covers his face with his hands. “No.” 

Chapter Text

Kai works the graveyard shift at the convenience store across from his dorm. It’s quiet and it works out because he spends most of the time completing his school assignments. The highlight of his night—morning?—is the tall stranger who comes in around two o’ clock every other night. His dark hair always looks slightly messy, as if he keeps on running his hand through it, and he usually buys an assortment of snacks and ramen. 

Oh, and he’s super cute. Kai has to make sure he avoids looking at him, because once he starts staring, it’s really hard to stop, and he doesn’t want to come off as a creep. Most of their conversations begin and end like this: “Hello, how are you?”, “I’m good, and you?”, “I’m fine, thank you.” 

Lately though the stranger has been buying energy drinks, different flavors every time, and Kai is slightly concerned because he knows from experience that none of them taste remotely good. Plus, they’re unhealthy. It’s the whole reason Taehyun made him quit in the first place.

“Do you like these?” Kai asks one night as he scans the drink, unable to hold back his curiosity. 

“Huh?” The stranger looks startled, looking around him as if he’s not the only one in the store. Kai doesn’t know whether to feel miffed or amused. 

“This.” Kai holds the cold bottle in his hands, raising an eyebrow. He really doesn’t know where he’s getting all this courage from, though he supposes the lack of sleep and the stress of his upcoming exam are contributors. 

The stranger stares at the drink for a beat too long, almost zoning out before he blinks. “Sorry, I’m kind of tired,” he says sheepishly, and Kai’s heart may have fluttered a little when the stranger smiles. “Um...not really, but they help me stay awake, and I need to study so…” 

Kai hums in acknowledgement, the gears in his sleep-deprived mind spinning as he hands the bag over to the stranger. 

“Well, good night then.” 

“Good night...Huening-ssi.” 

It’s Kai’s turn to startle now, and the stranger just smiles and points to his chest where his nametag is. Kai’s cheeks redden, but he returns the wave goodbye. 

Damn, he totally has a crush.

Kai goes out on a limb; when he sees the stranger again during his next shift, he pushes the cup of freshly prepared green tea across the counter with his bag. 

“Try this,” Kai says, “It’s green tea with lemon.” The stranger gives him a confused look, and Kai barely manages to mumble, “Energy drinks aren’t good for your health...” 

“Oh, thanks.” The stranger looks floored. “Wow, that’s really nice of you, how do I pay you back—” 

“It’s just tea,” Kai interrupts. “It’s nothing.” And before he can stop himself, he blurts out, “You could give me your name.” Before he could say anything else or apologize for being nosy, the stranger replies just as quickly.

“I’m Choi Soobin.” He smiles again, dipping his head since both of his hands were full. “I’ll see you Wednesday, then. Thank you, I’ll try the tea.” 

And it goes on like that for the next couple of weeks or so. Kai occasionally switches up the tea, though he minds the caffeine content. They progress to small talk and sharing short stories about each other, it’s how Kai finds out that Soobin is a junior majoring in psychology, how he prefers taking the train rather than the bus, how autumn is his favorite season, how he prefers iced Americanos but lamented that it doesn’t actually do anything to keep him awake. Kai finds himself falling harder for Soobin’s macaron eyes, his dimpled smile, the way he’s so bright and animated when telling his stories.

“This is getting out of hand,” Taehyun drawls when Kai screams in his pillow again and kicks his feet in the air. “It’s just a date.” 

“Yeah, but he’s so…” Kai rolls excitedly on his bed, and Taehyun sighs, even though he’s slightly amused at the whole thing and certainly happy for his best friend. It’s just that he didn’t expect anything to develop with “Cute Convenience Store Guy”, even though Kai had talked about him for a while now.

“Wait.” Yeonjun’s eyes narrow suspiciously, and Soobin can see him physically connect the dots. “Is that why you always volunteer to pick up snacks?” 

“Can’t you just be happy for me, like a normal best friend?” Soobin grumbles, feeling embarrassed. 

Yeonjun smirks. “I’ll drop by and say hi—” 

“Don’t!”

Chapter Text

It’s Friday night, which means they’re at some random’s party where the music is too loud and the alcohol tastes like shit. Soobin almost prefers it back when they were hitting bars, except for some reason people seem more inclined to dance in bars, which means if Kai doesn’t tap out, Soobin has to watch him dance in that taunting, provocative manner of his. Drunk people meant handsy people which meant Soobin almost always ending up on the dance floor to pry somebody’s wandering hands off of Kai, which also almost always ends up with Kai dancing against him instead, and Soobin truly does not have the patience or capability to deal with that.

Loud music means one has to lean in closer to hear what someone’s saying, and Soobin frowns when he sees the boy do exactly that.

“You need to chill, Soobinie,” Yeonjun drawls as he pushes another shot to him. “If he needs help, he’ll let you know. At the very least, you’ll hear him. Now, cheers on three.” 

“On three or after three—nevermind.” Soobin doesn’t wait and just clinks their glasses together before throwing it back. He grimaces—the taste really doesn’t get any better. The burning quickly subsides, and his attention is diverted when a pretty third-year sidles up next to him. Yeonjun, the perfect best friend, takes his cue and leaves. 

Arin is cute and flirty and definitely wants him to take her home or at least to one of the empty rooms in the house (though Soobin doubts there are any left). He seriously contemplates it as he pulls her closer by the waist—she’s tiny—and he’s about to kiss her when he hears Kai’s nervous laughter. 

He sighs and pulls back. It’s another one of those nights.

“Sorry,” he says, though he feels nowhere near as disappointed as she looks. “I need to go.” He weaves his way through people, the crowd only getting thicker as he enters the living room. Fortunately it doesn’t take him long to find the couch Kai’s on. He’s pressed up against another boy—he’s in Yeonjun’s class, Soobin thinks. They look cozy, but Kai is also tucking his hair behind his ear—something he never does unless he’s uncomfortable. 

They’ve been doing this for so long that Soobin already knows the quickest way to extract Kai from the situation. He’s in no mood to drag things out tonight, not since he had just ditched a potential hookup for his best friend. Again.

(God, he wishes he wasn’t so hopelessly in love.)

He leans down slightly to tilt Kai’s chin towards him. “Hey baby, you ready to go?” 

Kai looks up at him with subtle relief as he wraps his dainty fingers around his wrist. “Yes Binnie.”

Soobin almost feels sorry for the nameless guy on the couch. It doesn’t stop him from pressing a kiss against Kai’s temple as they leave.

“What’s wrong with this one?” Soobin asks as they head to his car. He’s not driving home tonight, but they need somewhere to go, and it’s still too early for the late night fast food joints to taste any good yet. Plus, they’re only going to get more sober from this point unless Kai is carrying some travel-sized bottles. Yeonjun would, but Kai…

Kai is giggling against him. “He’s not you.” Soobin’s breath catches, no matter how many times he’s heard it before.

“Seriously.” 

Kai pouts heavily. “Fine. He wasn’t that funny, and he seemed more interested in asking me for Jun-hyung’s number.” 

Oh. Soobin’s lips twist in displeasure. He shouldn’t have felt bad for him at all. 

“What a dumbass.” 

Kai hums. “Very dumb indeed…”

“What do you mean?” Soobin asks as he unlocks the car for them to climb into the backseat. 

“Nothing,” Kai whispers when Soobin closes the door behind them, his hands gripping Soobin’s shirtfront to drag him closer. 

More and more often, the weekends lead to this, Kai’s mouth hot against his, and Soobin wonders if Kai ever realizes how needily he kisses him back, if he ever feels his desperation.

They never talk about it after it happens, a fragile sort of unspoken agreement. Because even if they don’t, everyone else can see the marks they’ve left on each other, but not everyone minds their own damn business (Beomgyu). 

Kai murmurs his name when Soobin winds an arm around his waist—not Arin-sized, but more solid, more familiar, more tempting because it’s Kai, and for the past few years, Kai has been all he wanted. 

Kai, who giggles when their noses brush together before their lips meet again, Soobin’s fingers encircling his delicate wrist completely as he deepens the kiss, causing Kai to make a pleased sound as he presses even closer against Soobin. 

Soobin makes sure his eyes are firmly closed, because if he opens them and sees Kai with his fluffy, dark curls and oversized sweater and too-long eyelashes framing too-perfect eyes, then he’s done for. 

“Binnie,” Kai says right before crawling into his lap, and Soobin thinks he’s going to die. 

“Kai-ya,” Soobin says back unevenly. 

“I really do like you, you know.”

And every time, Soobin’s heart stutters.

“You say that to anyone when you’re past four beers.” 

Kai giggles again, and Soobin cups him down closer into his lap.

Just another weekend night.

Beomgyu frowns. “We can’t even make bets anymore,” he complains. “They just end up making out every time now.”

“Consistency is key,” Yeonjun says sagely. “One of these days, Kai is finally going to get it through Soobin’s thick skull.”

“Knowing how slow Soobin is, it’s going to be later rather than sooner,” Taehyun mumbles.

Beomgyu steals a fry off of Yeonjun’s plate. “It would help if he stopped sending mixed signals.” 

Taehyun buries his head in his hands. “Soobin-hyung keeps brushing him off so he doesn’t think he has a chance.”

“Damn,” Yeonjun says, glaring at Beomgyu when he takes another fry. “He really is dumb.” 

Taehyun rolls his eyes when Yeonjun swats Beomgyu’s hand away, but turns back to steal a glance at him when Beomgyu turns his attention to Taehyun’s apple slices. Dumb indeed.

Chapter Text

Kai can admit that Choi Soobin, despite not even being two years his senior, has played a small part in motivating him for his debut. 

(Just not to his fans or the general public, because that would be embarrassing.) 

Soobin is in the acting department, so he rarely comes over to the part of the building where the idol hopefuls train. But he does show up in most of the company celebrations as well as the annual family concert. Even though Kai has performed a few times as a trainee, it’ll be different when he finally debuts, because then he’ll finally have the chance to ask for a collaboration. 

Not that he even thinks he has the courage to ask. Soobin has released singles when he hasn’t been busy with his acting projects, but those are far and few between. Kai still has each and every one saved to his most frequently-used playlist. 

To a solo idol who’s newly debuted like Kai, even one from the same company, being able to meet a senior as popular as Soobin on the big screen would still be considered a dream. That’s why he doesn’t believe it when his manager tells him that Choi Soobin will be the guest emcee on the music show he’s attending on the day of his official debut, even though he’s technically already performed at several showcases. 

“Stop joking Hyunie,” Kai says, laughing as he fiddles with the pegs, making sure the guitar is tuned to perfection. They’ve decided to go with the singer-songwriter angle for his music show debut and general concept. If he’s lucky, he might perform the accompanying dance for “Run Away” a few times before they wrap up promotions, otherwise he’ll feel like all the practice he put in would have gone to waste. 

He looks up when the silence stretches for too long. Taehyun appears to be absolutely serious. Kai’s mouth dries. “Wait, really?” 

It was rumored that Kai’s dolphin screech was heard by the entire floor that day. 

Kai strums his guitar absentmindedly in the waiting room to take the edge of his nerves. He’s not exactly anxious about performing, instead, he’s more nervous about the interview with Soobin. He’ll be lucky if he manages to follow the script and give the polite but charming answers he’s supposed to. 

He startles at the sudden knock on his door, almost dropping his guitar. It’s not Taehyun, he wouldn’t knock, so maybe one of the staff? “Come in, the door’s unlocked,” he calls out as he starts packing up his guitar. It’s almost go-time. 

“Huening Kai-ssi?” 

Kai goes very, very still. 

He’d recognize that voice anywhere. 

“Choi Soobin-sunbaenim,” he says in a half-gasp, half-squeak, and wholly humiliating. He hurriedly zips up his guitar, holding it in front of his body like a shield as he bows deeply in front of his idol. When he looks up and finally meets his eyes, he can’t help but inhale sharply at what he sees. Soobin’s hair had been light blue for a while, but it’s dark as midnight now and styled back to show his forehead. The suit he’s wearing looks very expensive and crisply tailored, and Kai swallows partially out of intimidation but mostly because of the giant crush he may or may not still have. 

Oh, he is so screwed. 

Soobin tilts his head. “We’ve met a few times, right? You don’t need to address me like we’re strangers. Hyung is fine.” He smiles as he brings a hand to his chest. “Though you were only this tall the first time I saw you.” 

Kai flushes red. “Y-You remember?” 

“You were seriously so cute back then,” Soobin says, and Kai can barely believe he’s having this kind of conversation with his idol, “so pale and baby-like. Like a chunk of flour. I wanted to be your friend, but I transferred out around that time.”

Kai very carefully does not blurt out that he has a crush on him. “I wish we’d been friends,” he says wistfully instead. “I really love all your songs, especially “Our Summer”. I listen to it every night before I go to sleep.” Oh. Well he hadn’t intended to reveal that last part, but the pleased smile on Soobin’s face makes it worth it. 

“Thank you. It means a lot to me.” Soobin’s smile softens. “I like your album a lot, too. You’re very talented.” 

“Thank you,” Kai stutters, still clutching his guitar to his chest. Soobin notices and laughs. 

“I just wanted to tell you I know you’ll do well,” he says as he pats Kai’s shoulder, and Kai almost passes out from excitement. “You did amazing on your showcases, so everyone’s looking forward to you.” 

“Wait, you watched my showcases?” Kai blurts out, instantly rewinding to all of the mistakes he made, and he starts to frown.

“Hey,” Soobin says lightly. “I’ll tell you what I saw, and what everyone else saw. Even your dance teacher. All of us thought you were a natural on the stage. You have it,” Soobin says, “that “it factor” that’s going to make everyone love you.” 

“Even you?” Soobin’s eyes widen, and Kai backtracks so, so fast. “That’s not what I meant,” Kai follows up hastily even as Soobin grins at him. 

“No, that’s the attitude you should have.” And then he winks and kills all of Kai’s collective brain cells. “That remains to be seen, hmm? I’ll see you in the interview room, Huening Kai-ssi.” 

That...didn’t just happen, right? 

“Explain this,” Taehyun says firmly as he pulls up article after article of Kai’s interview with Soobin on the tablet. Kai’s name has been trending first in Naver for most of the night now. “Tell me you two did not go off-script just to flirt on national television.” 

“I—I don’t really know what happened,” Kai stammers. He’d been so embarrassed and shy that the filter on his mouth had disengaged, and before he knew the interview was over and Soobin winked at him again. So. Sue him if he didn’t exactly recall all of the little details. 

“You are so lucky this is all positive press,” Taehyun mutters as he flips through the searches. “The fans love your chemistry and are basically begging for a collaboration. Just so you know, Soobin’s side has already responded that they would consider it.” 

“Oh my god,” Kai says faintly. 

Taehyun finally looks up and smirks. “Congratulations on debuting.” 

Chapter Text

Kai has stars on his cheeks. 

Upon closer inspection, Soobin realizes it’s not just stars, there’s hearts too, three of them decorating his left eyebrow and the rest scattered among the Milky Way. His boyfriend looks like a dreamy nightscape (is one, in many different ways), though he’s always had stars even before their concept styling.

“Hyung?” Kai sounds equal parts amused and shy, which is an adorable combination on him. Soobin has him pressed up against the bathroom door, careful not to wrinkle his pristine white shirt. He knows he must look fairly intense, but who could blame him? Kai is so pretty today that Soobin is determined to commit him to memory, especially when his makeup is subtle like this, letting his stars shine through. There’s a lot to take in between the perfectly applied lip gloss, the pastel appliqué, the sweep of his styled curls and the glint of the cuff earring (illegal) on Kai’s right ear. He is gorgeous, his ethereal beauty almost tangible.

“Do I have something on my face?” 

It’s such a bad joke that Soobin wouldn’t give it any attention if not for the arch way Kai says it while his fingers splayed across the thin mesh over his stomach. 

“I’m going to kiss your stars,” Soobin says seriously. 

“Dorky,” Kai breathes after Soobin touches his lips to his left cheek, then to the tip of his nose before traveling down to the right. “Hey, those aren’t—oh.” Kai’s cheeks start to tint pink. “Soobinie-hyung, you’re so…” 

“Did you know,” Soobin continues as seriously as he’d started, “that the moles you have are supposedly where your past lover kissed you the most?” His lips move towards Regulus, the brightest star that sits at the bottom right of the constellation that should consider itself lucky to occupy Kai’s face, his little lion, his ever-present sun. He kisses that too, that prominent star that sits above Kai’s lips, then tilts his chin to pepper kisses up to his temple. 

“Sounds a little bit like self-fulfilling prophecy to me,” Kai mumbles, and Soobin is tempted to tell him of the starlight that pools in his eyes too, the thousands of other ways he glitters that’s achingly beautiful, but his impatient little lion presses a hand against the nape of his neck and kisses him full on the mouth. 

Kai sighs a little when they part, and Soobin tastes cherry when he licks the residue off his lips. 

“They’ll have to reapply your makeup,” Soobin says ruefully as he examines Kai’s lips, shiny in a different way now. “I was trying to avoid that.” 

“Liar,” Kai says, grinning as he brushes Soobin’s bangs back over where they belong. 

Soobin doesn’t protest and presses two final kisses against Kai’s cheeks before letting go. 

Chapter Text

“Hyung.”

“Hyuuung.” 

“Hyunghyunghyung—” 

Soobin sighs, eyebrows furrowing as he tries to annotate a particularly difficult passage. “I’m working, baby.” He gets about a third of the way through it when he feels a familiar weight on his shoulder and a warm hand against his stomach.

“Soobinie-hyung,” Kai says against his ear, and this time his voice comes out as a definite whine. His chin drops near Soobin’s collarbone, hair tickling Soobin’s neck. “I want to cuddle.” His voice is muffled against Soobin’s sweater. “It’s raining, I’m bored.”

Soobin absentmindedly threads a hand in Kai’s hair, strands slipping like silk between his fingers. “Have you watered the plants?” he asks, trying to buy some time before Kai inevitably convinces him to take a break. 

“Yes. And I did laundry, and I cleaned, and I rearranged all my plushies, and I’m only procrastinating on one assignment instead of five.” 

“You should do that assignment,” Soobin murmurs, still distracted by his homework. The letters and characters on his laptop screen were starting to run together, he’d been looking for so long. 

He hears Kai sniff, and he can’t help but watch his boyfriend when he stands up in a dignified manner. He’s wearing one of Soobin’s hoodies, which is just adorable, and his lips are in a heavy pout. Soobin can’t take him seriously, not when he’s so cute. 

“I’m going over to Hyun’s apartment if you don’t have time for me.” A crack of thunder accompanies his statement. It is all a little dramatic, which is fitting of Kai’s personality Soobin supposes, and Kai raises his eyebrow and looks at him as if saying, you’re really going to let me go? In that?

Soobin sighs again, knowing he’s lost this one. He pushes his laptop aside on the couch before tugging gently on Kai’s hand to pull his boyfriend into his lap. 

“You have my time,” Soobin concedes as he pushes his nose gently against Kai’s, “and my attention. Happy?” 

Kai huffs. “Took you long enough.” 

“You always want my attention,” Soobin coos, kissing Kai’s nose first, then the freckle on his cheek, tracing constellations on Kai’s face with his lips. He tucks a wayward curl behind his ear, smiling as Kai starts to turn pink. “You’re so pretty, it really is unfair.” 

“Yeah, well, all my prettiness is for you only,” Kai says, “you should be honored.” 

“I am, angel,” Soobin appeases, but his boyfriend is only getting more flustered, and it’s so endearing to watch 183 centimeters of confidence melt against him. 

“No more talking,” Kai says, arms looping around his neck, “we’re done with talking. Kiss me already.” 

“I have been,” Soobin teases, but then Kai presses their lips together impatiently, and Soobin forgets all about his assignment. 

Chapter Text

When Soobin jostles him against the wall to make space for himself on the bed, Kai only makes a soft noise of acknowledgement, not caring to be surprised anymore. 

“You really don’t know how to leave me alone these days,” Kai says drily, not taking his attention off Cookie Run. He yelps when Soobin suddenly bites him in the arm, almost dropping his phone on his face. Any chance at setting a new record is definitely ruined, so he huffs and turns over to face his company. On a narrow bed that is already almost too small for him, that means he ends up practically sharing breaths with Soobin, who looks at him with crooked macaron eyes. “I know I’m always cute, but jeez, give me a break.” The elder notices him rubbing his arms—Soobin is not exactly a gentle biter—and immediately rubs the tender spot with his thumb. 

“You’re especially cute right now,” Soobin says in a fond tone as he brushes Kai’s bangs out of his face. Kai usually doesn’t take him seriously for his own sake. 

“I haven’t even showered,” Kai says flatly, although Soobin is to blame, always hogging the bathroom for at least thirty minutes every day, half of which is spent staring at himself in the mirror, probably. (They all did that.) 

“Do you know what day it is today?” 

Kai blinks. “Sunday?” Did he forget about another important date? He didn’t remember anything coming up right after Beomgyu’s birthday, though. Was he talking about ‘Listen’?

Soobin pulls on his cheek. “It’s White Day, dummy.” 

“Okay?” Kai would shrug if he had the space to do so. His hand has already drifted to Soobin’s stomach, absentmindedly patting it like he had this morning. 

“I got you chocolate.” Soobin’s nose touches his briefly when he reaches into his pocket. “Ta-da~” The small bag of white-wrapped truffles is tied prettily with a ribbon.

“Uhhh...I didn’t give you anything though?” Valentine’s Day had been mostly a blur of practice and individual schedules for them, and even though Kai found himself alone in the dorm with Soobin, he felt mortified even thinking about presenting Soobin with chocolate without any solid excuse (even if the leader had been heavily dropping hints about wanting some). What ends up happening is he purchases a small, heart-shaped box of Ferrero Rocher for a quick Weverse post before cringing at the design when Soobin pops into the living room, looking expectantly at him. “You practically stole those chocolates from me,” Kai reminds, if only to be bratty. 

“You willingly shared them with me,” Soobin says indignantly, and well yeah, that was a more accurate account of things. What Soobin doesn’t know is that Kai had been intensely grateful that he had walked in at that time and forced Kai to make a decision about the chocolates—otherwise, it really might have sat unfinished in his bag all this time (at the bottom, gathering dust, like Yeonjun’s perfume once upon a time). “Besides, we’re sharing these too.” 

Kai whines a little when Soobin pulls open the bag and starts unwrapping the chocolate. “You always tell me not to eat in your bed.” 

“We’re not in my bed right now,” Soobin says, unbothered as he presses the chocolate ball against Kai’s lips. Kai quite literally freezes, seconds away from engaging his flight-or-fight response when Soobin makes an impatient sound and brushes his thumb over his lower lip. “Open up.” Kai doesn’t know how he manages, but he does, even if he feels like he’s barely holding himself together. The chocolate spreads smoothly over his tongue, velvety and rich.

“Of course it’s white chocolate,” Kai mumbles, then louder, “this was just an excuse to buy your favorite chocolate. I see right through you, Soobin-hyung.” 

“They’re popular as confessional chocolates,” Soobin says around the truffle in his mouth, and Kai wonders why it sounds less like a defense and more like ...Well, it’s probably the truth, anyway.

“Can I go shower now?” It’s not that he’s uncomfortable. In fact, even with the sensation of Soobin’s thumb burning on the lower swell of his mouth, he’s very comfortable against Soobin, entirely too used to the ways their bodies curve together, legs slightly entangled and his head drifting closer and closer to Soobin’s chest each passing second. It’s not unfathomable to fall asleep like this, especially since Soobin is wearing a fluffy sweater, soft underneath his fingers. 

“Five minutes,” Soobin says, arm already curled around Kai’s waist, pulling him closer, even if there wasn’t much space to begin with. 

“Okay,” Kai says, already making himself at home in Soobin’s arms, filing the moment away as another inexplicable Choi Soobin action.