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Keeho mumbled the lyrics to his favorite song as he walked around the dorm, bored and looking for something to stimulate his brain. Sifting through their near empty cupboard, he snagged his favorite snack and unclipped the clothespin that kept it sealed, popping chips into his mouth and chewing absentmindedly. Still bored, he decided it was time for Plan B; invite himself into Shota’s room and start pestering him.
Keeho swung open the younger boy’s room and stood at the doorway for a moment while chewing loudly, staring at Shota while he sat hunched over at his desk, organizing his new bug collection into small wooden frames. Shota was either extremely focused or extremely unbothered at Keeho’s sudden arrival, it was most likely the latter since Keeho always showed up in his room unannounced whenever he was bored.
“I still can’t believe you’re collecting bugs now. What happened to the action figures?” Keeho commented in disbelief as he plopped down on Shota’s bed, watching him handle the dead insects with such focus and care he was convinced if an earthquake were to hit right now, Shota wouldn’t be phased in the slightest.
“They’re still there.” Shota replied curtly, he lifted a magnifying glass to his eye as he inspected the winged specimen closely. Keeho had absolutely no interest in being within two feet of whatever dead bug Shota was handling,
“Gross.” Keeho scrunched his nose and let out a gagging sound. This made Shota giggle, and Keeho laughed as well. “Oh, Shota... my sweet, sweet child.” Keeho droned as he flopped around on the bed, earning a puzzled look from the younger. Keeho let out an exasperated sigh, then another.
“Is something on your mind, hyung?” Shota finally asked from above. Keeho was extremely easy to read most of the time.
“Well since you asked, yes. I’ve been thinking lately... don’t you think love works in such mysterious ways? Like how could someone possibly know when they’ve found the right one? Or how some people are just fated to meet? I want to know it all.” It was safe to say that Keeho was a hopeless romantic, always dreaming of his soulmate, how they would be, how they would look, how they would meet. Would it be a slow burn or instant chemistry? The simple thought of falling in love and romancing someone made his heart swoon like crazy. He had even written a couple of love songs himself but would rather eat Shota's entire dead bug collection than let them reach anyone’s ears.
“Don’t know, I don’t really think about it much.” Shota responded casually to which Keeho’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“It must be the bugs, they want you all to themselves,” Keeho solemnly declared as Shota chuckled at his antics, delicately spreading the wings of the insect with his tweezers.
“I wish I could talk to bugs, that would be cool.” Shota pondered until Keeho cut his thoughts short,
“Uh, hold on the humans still need you to talk to them first-” Keeho let out a guttural scream as Shota suddenly waved the insect he was so carefully handling a moment ago in his face with reckless abandon, cackling to himself as the elder scrambled to his feet, absolutely petrified. “Was that a fucking cockroach?!” Keeho cried, his face had gone completely white as Shota shook his head,
“That was an Atlas beetle.” Shota stood with his hands crossed and a satisfied smirk on his lips.
“You must be really proud of yourself right now, huh.” Keeho seethed from the ground as he curled up into a ball, to which Shota let out a hum of satisfaction and sat back down at his desk, picking up right where he left off. Keeho picked himself up off the ground and gathered his wits about him before promptly sitting down on the bed, particularly farther away from Shota this time. “Anyways, as I was saying before you rudely interrupted me... Wait, when was the last time you had a crush?” Keeho suddenly questioned; it had just dawned on him that Shota’s response to his simply poetic take on love was met with underwhelming indifference. Huh.
“Um, when was it?” Shota wondered for what seemed like five whole minutes before Keeho interrupted,
“Have you ever had a crush?” Keeho further asked. Now he’s intrigued.
“Does Haku from Spirited Away count?” Shota considered,
“What- no, you watched that when you were ten years old!”
“Then... no, I haven’t.” Shota concluded as he finally placed the beetle in the position to his liking and began sealing the frame with super glue. Keeho knew Shota was young, after all he had just turned 20 and spent the majority of his youth in the industry, but that never stopped anyone from pursuing romance (he’s totally not speaking from experience). He could even recount a couple of conversations he and Jongseob had about crushes, past lovers, current crushes, and hook up horror stories. But with Shota? He couldn’t reference a single time that happened. It wasn’t merely as simple as a lack of experience or young age. Keeho was genuinely shocked and a little disappointed with himself he hadn’t noticed this earlier, especially given how close the two of them are. Well, it seemed more natural for romance and Shota not to coexist within the same sentence. The boy never really brought it up anyways, rather focusing on his hobbies and loved ones than swapping spit and being head over heels. Now that Keeho thought about it, it didn’t really suit him.
“Well, that’s cool too. Is it something you want or?” Keeho further probed, curious to understand Shota’s perspective.
“I’ve gone my entire life without thinking much about romance, so I don’t think I really need it.” Shota replied, setting the nimble frame on his new IKEA shelf that held his bug collection, then plopping down beside Keeho. “Is that weird?” Shota was now staring at the elder, waiting for a response.
“Trust me there’s a lot of things that are weird about you, but that’s not one of them.” Keeho reassured, throwing his hands around the younger’s neck and pulling him in for a hug. Shota let out what sounded like a strangled squeal as he leaned into Keeho’s embrace. Shota paused for a moment, before looking up at him,
“Hyung, is it strange to not feel sexual feelings too?” Keeho’s face cringed slightly then leveled out. He needs to step into the supportive leader role, not be taken aback by the fact that he was about to give Shota the “birds and the bees” talk. He really felt like his father sometimes.
“Uh, no?" Keeho hesitantly responded before declaring more definitively, "No. It’s not strange actually. There are people who don’t feel sexual attraction or like, barely feel it. It’s called being asexual,” To be honest, the first time Keeho heard of the word ‘asexual’ was when he was watching Sex Education on Netflix during high school. It was safe to say that the show introduced him to a lot of different identities. Also attending a School for the Arts exposed him to classmates and friends who were different, so this wasn’t really Keeho’s first rodeo.
“Asexual... Is there a word for people who don’t feel romantic love?” Keeho combed through the confines of his mind to find the word he once briefly heard before. He knew the label was less common than asexual but nonetheless a valid identity. What was it? Aromatic? Yeah, it's aromatic. No wait, that’s smell-
“Aromantic! That’s the word I’m looking for,” Keeho exclaimed as Shota’s eyes flitted back and forth with curiosity. “So, would you say you’re both then...?” Keeho carefully inquired. The two boys were laying on their backs staring at the ceiling adorned with glow and the dark stars Keeho gave Shota last week.
“Mm, yeah. That sounds right.” Shota trailed off, whispering aromantic, asexual under his breath to feel the syllables against his tongue. A small smile tugged the corners of his lips. It felt comfortable, it felt right.
“That’s sick. Okay, I'm gonna go live and play Roblox now. Wanna join?” Keeho playfully suggested, his eyebrows wiggling in enticement. But Shota shook his head and grabbed his laptop instead.
“No thanks, I’m gonna do some research.” Keeho instantly clocked what Shota meant and nodded in understanding.
“Yeah, I’ll leave you to it. If you ever wanna talk, you know where to find me,” Keeho whistled before waltzing out the door in one big stride. Shota sat down at his desk once again and opened his laptop, typing into the search engine, aromantic asexual.
He finally found what he hadn't realized he was searching for.