Chapter Text
Kyungsoo walks off the stage and finds Jongin waiting right at the foot of the backstage area for him. He never asked him to stay there, but this is Jongin he’s talking about, after all. Kyungsoo knows that he knows his hands would be slightly trembling with the mic still in his hand after finishing singing. It’s been his first solo performance after his discharge from the military. The crowd has been huge – and most importantly – has been anticipating his return to singing.
While Jongin greets him with a brief side-hug, Kyungsoo exclaims, “I can’t believe I forgot the lyrics!”
“It was cute”, Jongin says. He has also kept a cold water bottle in his hands that he presses into Kyungsoo’s palm now, “You did well.”
The younger muses that just like him, the audience was more focused on Kyungsoo’s beautiful face and voice than the fact that he forgot a single line. Initially feeling a bit worried for him, Jongin was happy to see Kyungsoo smiling and enjoying himself on stage. He knows that the other has been stressed with all the drama filming, and singing has been a way to alleviate his stress ever since he Kyungsoo started singing in middle school.
Kyungsoo runs a hand through his brown dyed hair, “Thank you.”
Even without make-up, or maybe rather especially without make-up, Kyungsoo looked gorgeous. No matter if he was just dressed in a simple black t-shirt or gray sweater, he always looked good. However, there is no denial that the company make-up artists sure know how to enhance one’s features. They made Kyungsoo’s skin look like glass, with a glow that matched his beaming attitude today. His wardrobe for today was not extraordinary at all, just a simple white shirt and plaid combination. Easily digestible, but Jongin still appreciates that Kyungsoo’s idol schedules make him put on a pair of jeans. More often than not they are too baggy because they either belong to Jongin or because they are more comfortable. His ass manages to look good regardless. Jongin attempts to sneak a glance at it, purely out of habit. Unfortunately, the tucked in shirt hides the curvature of his back completely.
“Where’s Jongdae?”, Kyungsoo snaps him out of his wandering thoughts.
“Went for a short break right after his performance. You know it’s an unnerving situation for him.”
“I’m happy I heard a lot of cheers for him”, Kyungsoo receives a nod from Jongin at that, “You’re also up soon. You and Junmyeon have the advantage that you have been performing almost non-stop recently already. So there is way less worry, right?”
“Right. But I do worry about one thing”, Jongin says, “Do you think I look good?”
He gives Kyungsoo an additional twirl to show his outfit completely one last time.
“You always do…” He looks at Jongin’s weirdly cropped white shirt and brown eccentric pants that are very tight around the crotch area. Jongin’s high fashioned aura not only makes it look put-together, but also incredibly sexy. It’s dark backstage, yet Kyungsoo is able to make out the shadows of his abs that Jongin has worked really hard for. Without noticing it, he starts clenching his jaw.
“This sounds like there’s a “but” yet to come”, Jongin says.
“You look too good like this to be dancing with other people.”
“Don’t worry”, Jongin’s arm winds around his shoulders and his thumb rubs small circles into Kyungsoo’s neck, the rest of his body keeps a friendly distance, “You know what I look like when I’m actually deeply infatuated with someone. And you know yourself the way I look at them doesn’t even come close to the way I look at you when I’m on top of you."
Kyungsoo’s hand moves up to Jongin’s on his neck and elegantly drops it down from his body. He barely had a chance for his heartbeat to calm down from the singing high, worsening the symptoms again would be a very bad idea.
🏟
“What was so funny?”, Junmyeon already starts asking as they walk down the stairs as five after completing their ment.
“Huh?”, Kyungsoo voices innocently.
“You”, Junmyeon sloppily points to him and Jongin, “Just now on stage. You didn’t even say anything. I don’t understand your humor.”
“Sometimes I look at Jongin and I just have to laugh. Not in a bad way – I don’t know, he just makes me laugh. It’s just a good feeling when I see him.”
“And I laugh because his laugh is so contagious”, Jongin adds, “and cute.”
Since they’re finished with their collective ment, they genuinely won’t get back on stage until it’s time for the end song Hope. With the remaining performances, that practically means almost three hours of no obligations or things to do in a boring arena. For some, the break time means taking a break in the literal sense of the word. For others, it’s more like a lunch break at work where you have time to finally talk to and gossip with your colleagues.
Minho is the first to arrive at the crime scene. After the first greetings, they start chatting comfortably. Jongin already feels himself zoning out of the situation, not in the greatest mood for social interaction beyond a hug and a bow today.
Suddenly, Minho starts facing him directly and starts singing “Even though I see you every day you’re still pretty~”, motioning at Jongin with his hands as well.
“Cute lyrics”, Minho adds cheekily after he’s finished and Kyungsoo’s ears turn red upon seeing his senior reveal the source of inspiration for Rose this bluntly. He wonders if he’s teasing him because he already knows, or because it’s easy for others to figure out.
“You should’ve performed that special song for your special someone tonight”, Kibum joins the circle unexpectedly, a sly smile on his face, and makes direct eye contact with Jongin again.
“Oh wait, I almost forgot about ‘I put everything into it and I love you~’”, Kibum giggles and nudges Kyungsoo with his elbow, “Strong fan love going on in your national healing song, Kyungsoo.”
Minho and Key bid them goodbye as quickly as they arrived to prepare for their performance, and Girl’s Generation fill the backstage in their stead after performing their first two songs. There’s too much going on for Jongin, although his other members seem to have fun catching up, so he decides to get some time for himself. Not wanting to disturb Kyungsoo knowing that he is a social butterfly who’s great at chit-chatting, Jongin merely tugs at his wrist for a moment and silently signals with a head motion that he’s gonna leave the scene.
One exit away there’s a huge stairway with direct sight into the crowd of the concert. It’s suboptimal volume wise, but as long as Jongin has some solitude, he’s good. He spends his time by laying down on the floor in various ways (they are all uncomfortable) and by playing games on his phone. He uses the opportunity to open the Bubble chat as well and let the fans be a part of his boredom. This time around, he doesn’t even try hard for the selfies - he knows he looks exceptionally good today. Especially because he has been told by someone very special.
🏟
“Oh, there you are!” Kyungsoo jogs up to where Jongin is lounging on the stairs like a sack of potatoes. He leans down and puts his hands on Jongin’s shoulders from behind him, giving them a little squeeze. He proceeds to sit down next to Jongin, thigh to thigh. If Pink Blood is a real thing, then all fans in the crowd should be too busy watching the performances to analyze the two blobs sitting on this staircase on the other side of the arena.
“How did you find me?”
Kyungsoo laughs, “You are too lazy to walk far away. I just thought of the nearest empty looking spot. As you can see, it worked.”
Jongin smiles down on himself. They’re both really slow-paced people. Of course Kyungsoo knows how he works.
“There’s not that much time left until the ending stage, are you planning on staying here for a little longer?”
“I don’t feel like small talking today, so I guess I’ll stay here and maybe entertain EXO-Ls a bit longer.”
“You don’t have to smalltalk”, Kyungsoo says. He leans in close to his ear and on accident or maybe not, his nose brushes Jongin’s cheek, “We can just look for an empty dressing room, for a kiss. Or two…”
Hesitantly, Jongin puts his right hand on Kyungsoo’s thigh and pulls his face away from the other man, “Why are you always paradoxically needy whenever we are at work together?”
“I’m not needy!”, Kyungsoo protests, but it’s with a glint in his eyes, “It’s just… fun. Knowing we are not supposed to do it makes it more exciting. Even though it’s just an innocent peck.”
Jongin raises an eyebrow, which causes Kyungsoo to explain himself further:
“It’s like when you tell EXO-L ‘I love you’ on Bubble, but pull me onto your lap just one minute later. I know exactly what you are doing.”
The hand is still on Kyungsoo’s thigh. However, the skin feels way warmer through the jeans now.
“Why do you keep talking about these things today, hyung…”
“You just look so good today. I loved watching you perform in that outfit. These thoughts are just coming automatically”, he says, “We’ve changed into the SM outfits but you obviously still look good in casual clothes.”
“You too, if they made the jeans a little bit tighter for my personal pleasure maybe.”
🏟
After sitting on the flight of stairs in comfortable silence for a while, Kyungsoo announces that they should go back to the others. It’s only 10 minutes before they perform Hope. He notices that Jongin starts to skip in small steps on the way to the waiting area.
“What’s up with this mood change?”, he laughs.
“I was just thinking, you know. About what a happy day today actually is. I’m happy”, Jongin responds, “When I think about the last few years, things were always so complicated. Us, acting weird around each other at SMTOWN because things were different back then. But now we can just be comfortable with each other and I like it so much.”
Kyungsoo looks at him fondly. He’s right. How many times has he only allowed himself to look at Jongin from the corner of his eye because their careers were so difficult to handle and there was so. much. at stake.
“Even in front of Lee Sooman himself, I can just put my arm around you and we can have fun together. It feels so good. I’m happy.” Jongin’s eyes smile brightly to the point that they almost close.
“It really feels good. I’m happy too”, Kyungsoo smiles back, sincerely, “I want to hold your hand today for the greeting.”
“I won’t stop you.”
“And then I want to go backstage and hold it again.”