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It’s been a really bad day off for Changkyun.
For starters, Shownu made him and Jooheon clean all the mirrors in the practice room, wipe the floors (in the dorm too) and rearrange some of the furniture in the living room. As if that wasn’t enough work, Wonho asked for help with his computer so Changkyun had to sit at a desk for three hours teaching Wonho how to read English greeting phrases. Explaining why the word ‘read’ could be said two ways wasn’t really something he woke up thinking he’d do today. But the worst part of today had to be the fact that Minhyuk and Hyungwon got into a fight and refused to talk to each other, which then turned Changkyun into a messenger boy; running back and forth between the two to relay their messages to each other. After twenty minutes of that, Changkyun decided they could either make up or go without speaking.
Just when Changkyun thought he was done, thought he’d finished everything and could finally, finally go back to his room and play some video games or take a nap: he remembered. He has to do laundry. Changkyun stomped back to where the washer and dryer were, ready to rip someone’s head off if they stopped and asked him to do anything else.
After an hour of folding, sorting and delivering clothes to their correct rooms, Changkyun made his way into the living room where he was happy to find the only other person in the room was Kihyun, who was sitting on the floor reading something to himself aloud.
Changkyun, even though he’d just had the most unpleasant day ever, found himself laying on the couch smiling as he listened to Kihyun reading. His voice was soft, a little quieter than a normal talking level and it made Changkyun relax into the couch. He started dozing off after a while and woke up to Kihyun standing over him.
Startled, Changkyun sat up, smacking their heads together.
“Ow!” Kihyun yelped and fell backwards.
“Sorry hyung! Are you okay?” Changkyun asked. He should really be more careful, Kihyun would surely get him back for this. But instead of a mad Kihyun who Changkyun thought would be fuming about how he would have a bruise now, he was met with waving hands.
“I’m fine! Don’t worry about me, what about you? Is your head okay, do you want some tea?” Kihyun asked, waving away Changkyun who was trying to see if he’d actually left a bruise.
“What?”
“Tea? Do you want some? You looked really busy today and then you fell right asleep when you came out here, you didn’t even say hi. I...I don’t know, I like tea when I’ve had a bad day and… I just thought you… would too…” Kihyun mumbled towards the end and Changkyun didn’t know why he felt bad for not saying yes already.
“Yes, I’ll have some.” Changkyun said giving Kihyun the best smile he could manage. Kihyun smiled back and enthusiastically headed off to the kitchen with a quick, ‘I’ll be right back!’. Changkyun sat back onto the couch and thought about how Kihyun knew how his day had been while he waited for the boy who currently occupied his thoughts to come back.
The tea wasn’t the best part of Kihyun returning, it was the way Kihyun handed in to him, hand lingering just so and wearing the brightest smile. Changkyun sipped at the tea while Kihyun sat back down on the floor and picked the book back up and began reading, this time to himself.
Changkyun waited for him to start reading aloud again, but when he didn’t Changkyun put his tea down. “Hyung? Can you read out loud again?” he asked. Kihyun glanced up to meet his eyes before glancing back down to his book.
“I love you-”
“I love you too.” Changkyun said back, completely on autopilot. Why the hell had he just said that?! It’s not like Kihyun had ever said it to him before, he’d just heard Kihyun say it and he felt his mouth forming the words back before he could even soak in the reality of what Kihyun had said.
Kihyun sat the book down slowly, not breaking the stare he and Changkyun had going. Changkyun felt frozen in place as Kihyun talked.
“I- I was reading.”
Changkyun didn’t immediately get what that was suppose to mean. But then he did and oh. Oh my god. Kihyun didn’t say he loved him, he was reading from the book and then Changkyun had gone and freaking replied to him.
While Changkyun was trying to think of the best way to tell his manager he was quitting and moving to Alaska, he was thrown back into reality by the sound of Kihyun’s laughter.
“What… are you laughing about? This is so embarrassing!” Changkyun tried declaring, but Kihyun was rolling on the floor with laughter at this point, oblivious to the clearly beat-red Changkyun. Little did he know Kihyun wasn’t laughing because he thought he was stupid for replying to him, but rather because Kihyun had meant those words but had lied. The funny part was that Changkyun had clearly believed him and now Kihyun couldn’t stop laughing. He’d finally told him he loved him and Changkyun thought he was just reading aloud. “Hyung! Stop laughing, I’m serious!” Kihyun only laughed harder in response and didn’t even try to stop Changkyun, who was still red-faced, when he got up and huffed angrily before leaving the room.
Maybe one day he’ll explain what was so funny.