Once again, Jung Su's bike came to a rolling halt in front of a now-familiar house. He sat there for a moment with his helmet on, letting the engine die while he gazed off at the house. Underneath the black glossy visor of the helmet, he was frowning. Honestly he probably shouldn't be here but... he sort of felt as though he needed to set matters straight.
And he had to get his jacket back!
Jung Su wasn't as obsessive about his stuff as a certain other little person around town but that didn't mean he was throwing his things away randomly, either. That jacket was sort of important to him, too—it was the first one he ever bought with his own money, so it had a meaningful impact. And it looked good, he couldn't deny that.
But he hesitated in front of that house because he knew that a really nice, caring girl lived inside. A girl who seemed to like him, and a girl he liked back. It was just... he didn't know if he should continue down this path. He didn't want to lead her on, or promise more than he was capable of giving. It was kind of presumptuous at this stage, but he imagined that if she said yes to going on dates with him...
Well. Nothing to do but find out, he supposed. Jung Su never shrank from what needed to be done, even unpleasant tasks. So he pulled off his helmet, shook out his hair and slipped off the bike. He strode to the door with a purpose and knocked on the door lightly.
MinSquishy~? Min Kyunsoo?
Kyunsoo had spend the last few days curled up in bed with nothing to do. She didn't want to be lazy, but that's what she was limited to. The only places in town that she now knew was her home and the cafe that she and Jung Su went to together. Speaking of which, she hadn't head from him pretty recently...
Kyunsoo still had his jacket. It was safely washed and hung in her closet so it wouldn't get found by her dog and chewed into bits. She wouldn't want that to happen.
This morning, Kyunsoo had gotten up and headed to the kitchen to make her dog's food when she heard a knock on the door. It surprised her on its timing. She had finally decided to attempt to leave her home and explore by herself...
She was already dressed. She wore black high-waisted jeans, a long sleeved white shirt with a jacket over it (Not JungSu's though. She didn't want to risk ruining it.).
She made her way to the door and peeked through the peep hole. It was Jung Su. She smiled and opened the door, only to have her smile fade to see he wasn't smiling. "Hello, Jung.... What's the matter?" She asked, a bit concerned.
Yeah he was sort of... off in space for a bit while he waited for the door to open. Resting bitch face—he had it. It might have startled her, since she immediately asked him what was wrong and he blinked at her, not realizing that he was looking like he'd seen the apocalypse just a minute ago. He smiled, though, as soon as he saw her familiar face.
"Wrong? Nothing's wrong. Hey." Kind of a belated greeting but... that was fine. Jung Su leaned in to give her a little peck on the cheek by way of greeting, while that energetic little doggy of hers barked and ran around in the background, sensing that a friend had come to visit. "Hey, puppy's looking pretty good huh? You too, you going somewhere?" She appeared to be dressed to go out; that or she dressed up all the time at home, which was also a distinct possibility. But unlikely as it was the weekend.
In retrospect he should have prooobably called ahead but he didn't actually set out to be here. He went out for a drive and found himself in the area, and remembered his jacket, so here he was.
Kyunsoo smiled once more and let out a small giggle when he had kissed her cheek. It was unexpected, but nice.
She heard Skittle loudly barking in the backyard and giggled again. "Yeah... He's been a lot more hyperactive lately.. I think it's because of all the space he gets at this house." She says. As her dog's loud barking continued, she flinched slightly. She didn't want to disturb neighbors, so she walked to the side of the porch, leaning over so that she could see the fence separating the backyard from the front and quietly yelled a command in Korean. Skittle immediately quieted his barking. She smiled slightly and shook her head, walking back to Jung Su.
"he's just excited. He remembers you." She said before suddenly snapping her fingers, remembering something. "Ah! Your jacket!" She said. "I'll go get it." She gently gave him a tug on his arm before letting go and walking inside, leaving the door open as an indicator that he could come inside. She scurried back to her room and went to her closet, quickly grabbing his jacket and returning.
"He's cute." A little... different looking from most dogs, but Jung Su—who knew next to nothing about dog breeds—assumed it was some exotic variety. He'd seen some crazy looking poodles and mixes, so he didn't think that Skittle would be any different. And he was a friendly little thing, anyway, not like those ultra aggressive hounds that one of his neighbors had. (But the guy was a little... weird too, so it fit the overall theme.)
Before he could bring up his jacket, though, she did—and Jung Su lifted his brows. He entered as she pulled on his arm slightly, and pushed the door closed behind him in case Skittle made a break for it. "You read my mind! I was just going to ask about it," he laughed as she returned with it, accepting it with a nod of thanks.
"Oh you washed it!" That sort of went above and beyond—she was pretty thoughtful to do that for him, especially after he kind of forgot about it for a couple of days while some other stuff happened in his life.
Kyunsoo laughed at the strange coincidence and smiled. "Of course! It was the least I could do." She smiled.
She was curious if he was only here for his jacket. She was about to ask before Skittle raced through the doggy door and tackled Jung Su with his tiny body. Kyunsoo was taken by surprise.
Skittle began licking Jung Su's face happily, making little puppy noises. He was very happy to see him. Kyunsoo tried to pull the little furry ball of energy off Jung Su. "Sorry! He's never done that!"
Kyunsoo pulled Skittle to sit and squatted behind him, holding him still between her legs. Skittle continued to try to jump on Jung Su again. "Hey! Hey! Skittle calm down, GEEZ!"
"Thanks a lot. You didn't have to do that." He slung the jacket over one arm, smiling; it was nice for someone to do something for him without any conditions or ulterior motives. People like that were pretty rare these days, he thought somewhat affectionately. Before he could say anything more, though, a little lightning flash bolted at him out of nowhere.
"Whoa shit!" Taken by surprise, he almost fell over, but put out a hand to stabilize himself against the wall, while the other cradled Skittle in the crook of his arm. The fact that it leapt that high off the ground just to get to him! "He's—oh hey, hi, yes I'm glad to see you too Skittle!" It was kind of a slobbery series of licks and doggy kisses, but he laughed; it was hard not to be happy when something seemed that much overjoyed to see him.
As Kyunsoo pulled Skittle off, he wiped his face with the edge of his sleeve. "Guess he really likes me huh?" Jung Su wasn't packing dog treats in his pockets so that couldn't be it! Bending down, he patted Skittle and scratched him behind the ears gently. "Maybe he needs to go for a walk, he's a ball of energy right now! Are you busy? Do you want to take a walk around the block?"
Kyunsoo smiles. "Yeah... If he doesn't run that energy off, I'm afraid he's going to explode." She says and stands, carrying Skittle to where she set his leash and grabbed it, looking back at Jung Su. "Is it cold? I wasn't out there long enough to tell.."
She sets Skittle down and attaches his leash, returning to Jung Su. "If it isn't, I can leave my jacket here, but I doubt it wouldn't be. It's been cold since I got here." She says. She was actually really excited to be able to have something to do. She was all cooped up in her house for so long.
At least everything was unpacked and she found her jackets...
"It's... brisk?" There was a definite nip in the air, that was for sure, since it was still winter time. "It's sunny though," he added, watching her clipping the leash onto Skittle's collar in preparation to go out for a walk. It was just a stroll around the block, though—he didn't think they'd be wandering the entire town.
"You'd better wear a jacket just in case. I'll hold it for you if it gets hot." He reached out to scratch Skittle behind the ear again, smiling slightly down at the energetic little dog.
"Ahh... Ok.. I have log sleeves under this, so I should be fine." She says with a smile. She gave a small kiss on the top of Skittles' head before looking up at Jung Su again. "And to pay you back." She scooted closer to him and gently kissed his cheek. She pulled away and giggled, turning towards the door. "And now... We go onward!!!" She said playfully and started towards the door.
She set down Skittle on her way to the door.
Well, he didn't know what she was paying him back for, but the kiss was sweet and shy. Laughing, he placed a hand on top of her head and gave it a very gentle rub. "Hey, you owe me anything, got it? I'm not here because I want something from you." And if anyone did, then they were bastards because Kyunsoo was about the nicest and sweetest girl around.
Opening the door, he let her out first--along with Skittle who was bouncing off the walls--and then closed it behind him. A large cloud scuttled past the sun, but otherwise it was a nicer day than usual. Jung Su slipped his hands into his pockets as he set off down the driveway, choosing an arbitrary direction. "So how's everything been? You gotten settled yet?"
Kyunsoo gave his hand a gentle and playful swat when he rubbed her head. Everyone seemed to do that to her. It's so weird. Was she really that small?
As she walked through the door, she nodded at Jung Su in thanks, Skittle practically dragging her down the stairs and down the driveway. She laughed and struggled to hold him back. Eventually getting Skittle to a more calm pace, she smiled at Jung Su. "I've gotten everything unpacked if that's what you mean.. I'm still getting used to the layout of the house. It's so big compared to my dorm in Australia. I walked to the kitchen twice while trying to find the bathroom." She says with a small laugh.
Kyunsoo was happy that Jung Su cared enough to see is she was settling. She would be so lost without him helping her. He was a very nice guy. Even under the 'tough guy' veil that he puts on, he seems like a sweetie. A huge teddy bear. She found it adorable.
Yep, she was pretty tiny for a girl. Or Jung Su was tall for a guy--distinctly possible given that he was Asian, and most guys didn't get over 5'7 or 5'8. He wasn't hung up on being tall, though; it wasn't like he could do anything about it anyway short of putting himself on a rack and getting stretched out. And also living with a tall ass little brother, he just had to deal with not being the tallest around.
He laughed slightly at her story about wandering around lost in her own place. "Good thing you managed to find the door today then," he teased, ducking away slightly in case she felt like swatting at him again. But he understood that, actually. "When I first came here, when my mom adopted me and took me in, I got super lost in our apartment building. Every floor looks the same, you know? So I ended up on the wrong floor trying to break into somebody else's room!"
That guy was PISSED OFF, too--he came out yelling at Jung Su and chased him down the hall, all the way to the elevator. He didn't tell her that though--that part wasn't really cool enough to let anyone else know about.
Kyunsoo laughed. "Really? That must have been horrible!" She said with a smile, still meaning it though. "An apartment complex is a lot bigger than my house, so your situation is worse. My situation is just sad though." She made a scrunched face and shook her head. "So sad I can't tell the difference between the bathroom and the kitchen.. So, So sad." She said, laughing again.
While she spoke, her adopted Australian accent came out again. It happened when she experienced strong emotions, or when she was nervous. Currently, she was just really happy to be with Jung Su. He made her feel safe to be around. She was able to be herself around him. She wasn't nervous or anything. No anxiety, nothing! It was great to have someone like that to be around.
Her laugh calmed to a small giggle and Skittle had begun to tug on his leash again. She pulled Skittle back gently and knelt, unhooking his leash. She saw a small field that separated her neighborhood from the next and figured that would be a nice place for Skittle to run off his energy. The street was quiet, so it was fine for him to run up a little ahead.
Skittle ran off towards to field, making it obvious that he wanted to go there in the first place. Kyunsoo smiled and watched him and his little puppy legs take off.
"Oh yeah, it was pretty bad," he laughed with a little scrunch of the nose. As a kid he did plenty of dumb things like that, though. And he got into a lot of trouble. At first it was because he didn't trust anybody; he had a bad habit of keeping his thoughts to himself, too, which meant that people didn't understand him or what made him act out. Arguably he was still kind of like that now, but bottling things up meant that eventually everything had to come out all at once.
"Well, your secret's safe with me." He wasn't going to run around telling people that Kyunsoo kept mistaking the kitchen for the bathroom. It wasn't so much sad as maybe just bemusing, but also funny. As Skittle was let off his leash, he made a break for the field so Jung Su followed suit, keeping an eye on him in case he ran off too far.
"Actually, there's a reason I came by today." Jung Su eyed her out of the corner of his eyes. "I kind of wanted to get your thoughts on something." Kyunsoo was a hell of a lot more stable and mature than most of his friends, to be honest. Plus, he wanted a stranger's perspective—relative stranger, anyway—rather than advice from people who knew him well, or who would have said what they thought he wanted to hear.
"I think I might have screwed up a pretty important relationship, and I'm not sure what to do to make things right again."
Kyunsoo kept her eyes ahead of her as he spoke, listening carefully. "It really depends on the relationship you have with the person and what happened for me to give you advice." She said, her eyes following Skittle. "if you don't want to tell me everything, that's alright, but for advice, I have to know the basics."
She actually like helping people resolve their problems. it distracted her from her own. And her problems, aren't fixable. Unless they invented a cure for PTSD and other mental disorders. She has gone through so much. Even with leaving her home early, she didn't escape her parents until a few years later. After that, they disappeared.
Kyunsoo had no interest in finding her parents again. All they did was blame her for her brother's death. She loved her brother and had no reason to kill him, but her parents chose her to be their pick to blame on. Their denial took over them and because she thought differently than them, they used that against her. It all left painful scars on her emotionally and physically. Some of the scars you can see if you look close enough at her neck and back.
She closed her eyes as they continued to walk, using her other senses to keep her on the sidewalk. She enjoyed being outside when it wasn't loud, busy, and crowded. Those are also reasons why she didn't want to explore on her own. It made her nervous.
Eventually, Kyunsoo opened her eyes and looked at him again. Her eyes wandered around his face, taking the time to look at the details. The length of his eyelashes. The shape of his lips. He was a pretty attractive guy. She most found his personality attractive. He was mysterious, kind, thoughtful, and just plain amazing in her eyes. It was hard to find people like him.
"Hm." He thought about how much to divulge; they weren't close enough for him to name names yet, but he did feel that Kyunsoo was trustworthy enough to seek advice from. She seemed to have gone through a lot—Jung Su had too. He saw it in her eyes, that she knew pain, she knew loss, and perhaps she knew how to deal with the prospect of it, or at least understand his concerns.
"It's someone I grew up with. We used to be close, but you know... When people grow up, they sometimes grow apart too. We couldn't be more different, believe me." They said opposites attracted but on the other hand, it bred a lot of misunderstanding as well. People who were polar opposites understood things differently, too, so sometimes it was hard to meet in the middle.
Jung Su sighed; he looked away, feeling Kyunsoo's eyes on him. "I've had feelings for them for a long while. Years. But the problem is... I don't know. Risking everything for something that might not work out... I don't know if it's worth it. I kissed them, but I don't think it went well. I think it just... made them more confused than anything, so..."
Kyunsoo nodded and listened, directing her gaze to the ground in front of her towards the end. She kicked a small rock as they walked, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Do you know how they felt before you kissed them? If they liked you, it might have sprouted more feelings. But if not, it could have made it awkward or it could have sprouted feelings from there. It really just depends."
She kicked the rock far ahead of them, kicking it once more when they made it to it. "How is the air between you two now? Like, how are they acting around you? I'm assuming they still hang around you, correct?"
Kyunsoo felt like she was kicked in the gut. She kind of expected a quick end to that little hope, but it was worth a shot.
"It's... uh... hard to tell how they feel at any given time." That... was an understatement, to be honest. Jung Su never knew if anything he said or did would be upsetting; meanwhile, he himself was rarely ever offended. Or if he was, people knew about it. He used to be better at seeing the signs when he was younger but lately it felt like the distance had grown.
Sighing, he watched the rock skipping away down the path. "I don't know. It feels... weird. Like there's this thing in the air, that we're not talking about. I don't know how to open that discussion again. And we live together, so that makes it worse, you know? I have to physically leave the apartment to get any space and time to think. And they're not good at saying what they think so... I feel like at this point we should just write each other letters and leave them on the kitchen table."
He snorted--that sounded like a ridiculous way to communicate but at the same time... It also felt like the best way to get any discussion going.
Kyunsoo let out a small laugh. "That's a stupid idea. The best way is to just talk. Even though the awkwardness. It's the only way to really get to someone." She said, finally kicking the rock far into the grass. "It can be hard, but it's the easiest way to get the person's thoughts."
She smiles and looks at him again. "So just sit them down and talk heart-to-heart with them. It could take a while, so have something as an ice breaker. Like food. The easiest."
That was a stupid idea, and he liked that Kyunsoo wasn't afraid to say it. Some people did; they sugarcoated the truth, dancing around it for fear of hurt feelings. But once in a while, somebody came along who told it like it was, and that said a lot about Kyunsoo. Jung Su smiled slightly at her and nodded. Noted. Dumb ideas weren't going to fly here.
"You know the funny thing is, I think they might be more comfortable with a letter than me!" He laughed, somewhat amused—yeah he really picked a weird little person to like. But that was the way it went in life, he supposed. If Kyunsoo had come along earlier, he might be with her now instead of awkwardly bumbling along with someone else. Jung Su liked her; he found that he wanted to hang out with her and to spend time with her. Something about her was different from all the other girls he knew.
"I guess I should give it another try." Turning to her, he gently tugged on her wrist to stop her. And then he hugged her very warmly. "Thank you. There's not a lot of people I would've talked to about this, but... I guess I feel comfortable with you." Which was funny because they hadn't even known each other that long!
Kyunsoo smiled and stopped when she felt the little tug on her wrist. She was suddenly enclosed in his arms, causing her to smile more. She hugged him back, wrapping her arms around his waist. "It's no problem... I'm glad you feel that way around me. And I'm glad I've met you. You're a really nice guy. You cover it mostly with that tough exterior, but you are a really good guy." She smiles and looks up at him. "If that person doesn't accept your feelings, they are an idiot."
She giggles then pats his back. "But please remember. You are twice my size. Because you're probably crushing my sternum." She says and pretends to not be able to breathe in an obvious playful way, dropping her weight slightly in his arms. She then pretends to pass out, sticking her tongue out for a funny theatrical element.
"Hey! I'm still a tough guy! Anybody you need taken care of, you know who to call!"
Look.
Listen.
Just because he was going through some stuff didn't mean that he stopped being a tough guy and became a sudden marshmallow, okay? Jung Su deeply resented that--and also now felt like he needed to go find somebody to fight, maybe, to maintain his reputation. It was only a few people that he let down his guard around; the rest of the world definitely saw a punk on a fast bike.
"Don't tell anybody I'm nice. If I hear rumors being spread around town, I'm gonna come back and find you!" He squeezed her again playfully, for emphasis, before letting go. But he kept an arm around her waist anyway, since she had flopped into his arms, and steered her down the path where Skittle had trotted off to, sniffing plants and barking at swaying grass.
Kyunsoo lets out a squeak when he squeezes her again. She laughs and almost tumbles when he lets go, only saved by his arm still around her. She smiles smugly to herself. He's still a nice guy. Mwahaha. She things to herself and giggles evilly. "No promises!"
She smiles and regains her balance as they continue to walk. She was happy again. She knew he would still remain the teddy bear he was on the inside.
Thinking, she looked up at him. "I don't want so seem weird to you... but I feel like ou should know my family story.. I haven't old you everything..." She said, a small worried expression on her face. She didn't want to ruin their friendship because of her broken past. She was a bit better now... Just a few medications.
"What? Your family?" He stopped playing around at the mention of them, recalling their conversation at the cafe. Little bits of her history had come out throughout the time that they'd known each other as well, things that he felt she wouldn't divulge to just anyone. It had to mean that she trusted him now, to be able to open up about it.
"Tell me. You can tell me anything."
(It's been a while so I'm locking this thread but if you feel like starting it up again, send me a PM. 🙂 )