♛

Baekhyun’s apartment was silent when he woke up – and in the three days he’d been living in it, that had never happened before. He got lucky, he assumed, because Lady was probably still asleep and her endless yapping would have to wait. He sighed and sat up in bed, stretching out his legs so his toes tickled against the sheets. It was still darkish in his room, but that was because of the curtains. It was probably bright and sunny outside; it was 9 am.

The yearbook was still on his side table, face-down so he didn’t have to look at the annoying high school, but only at the empty promise written in gold cursive on the back.

We believe that what is taught with love, lasts forever.

Baekhyun snorted because he didn’t remember , and opened the book to his favorite page. He laughed. The picture was a rare find, and he was lucky someone had the idea of capturing it. It was the two of them in their natural habitat, the study-less chemistry room, and Chanyeol and Baekhyun in their natural states. Baekhyun pretending to study and Chanyeol making it obvious that he clearly wasn’t.

He turned to the back of the book and pulled out a picture tucked behind the folds of the cover.

I’m lucky he didn’t see this one, Baekhyun thought, and stared at the picture, as if to see if he could find any more tiny details aside from what he’d already pinned out.

It was of Chanyeol – naturally – standing by his locker, earphones in and snapback on and his hair, which was red at the time, messed up from sleeping through so many classes. His eyes were on his phone, and there was a small smile on his lips that always left Baekhyun curious as to what Chanyeol was looking at.

If you looked at the picture closely, though, you could see a head poking out from behind a locker a few slots down on the other side of the hall, and by the caramel hair he had then – and still has now – you could tell that it was Baekhyun.

Baekhyun blushed at the sight of himself more than he did at the actual focus of the photo, just because why did he have to be staring at Park Chanyucky. So. Damn. Much.

He sighed, tucked the picture back in it’s hiding place, tumbled out of bed, and treaded into the bathroom.

Showered, clothed, and finally sleepless, Baekhyun wandered into the living room in search of his puppy.

“Lady~” he called out, scanning the floor around the couch and the spaces between the boxes. He searched the kitchen and his room, one more time, and then inside the boxes, but the terrier was nowhere. “What the hell…”

He started to panic, searching every inch of his three-room apartment with the only reassuring thought being ‘at least there’s no signs of death in here’. He ran a hand through his hair and checked the stairs, going down and checking around the laundry machines, and finally in the boot closet.

He heard a bark from somewhere and froze. By the time he was standing in front of the door at the end of the entrance hall, he had a good idea of what had happened and what was about to. He knocked on the door and Chanyeol opened it, grinning when he saw Baekhyun.

“Oh, hey, Byun.” It sounded more like he’d noticed Baekhyun’s existence, than a greeting. “You’re up.”

“Park…” Baekhyun tried to look over Chanyeol’s shoulder but the taller blocked his gaze.

“Looking for something?”

Baekhyun’s face contorted. “You abducted my puppy,” he grumbled.

“Technically,” Chanyeol started, leaning down to Baekhyun’s eye level. He practically loomed over him. “She came to me.” Baekhyun in the last of his breath. “Do you even feed the poor thing, Byun?”

“Of course I do.” Baekhyun defended.

“She was starving,” Chanyeol mused. “So I gave her some breakfast.” He opened the door wider and Baekhyun walked in, seeing Lady curled up by the TV and chewing on something that looked like cooked meat. Her gaze was too focused on the colors on the television to notice her owner gaping at her a few feet away. “While I was rescuing Lady, I took the liberty of making you breakfast, too. Since your fridge is like, stark-.”

“You opened my fridge.”

“I was looking for dog food.”

“In the fridge?”

“Do you want pancakes or waffles? I made both.”

“Neither.” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I don’t have breakfast plans?”

“Do you?” Chanyeol asked, walking into the kitchen. Baekhyun had no choice but to follow him, and, despite being impressed by the fact that Chanyeol’s kitchen was loaded with food, he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Sorry, Park, but I have plans,” Baekhyun lied.

Chanyeol was cutting fruit on the counter – little cubes of strawberry that made Baekhyun’s mouth water. He chuckled and turned around, and Baekhyun had no idea they were standing so close to each other until Chanyeol’s tall frame was, once again, looming over him.

“Will you be back before lunch?” Chanyeol made no effort to open up the small space between them. Baekhyun could smell the mint in his breath and the shampoo in his hair. He definitely used more than one.

“Maybe.”

“Then would you do me the honor,” Chanyeol cocked his head. “Of joining me for some ramen later this afternoon?”

They were so close to kissing, and this had happened way too many times. Baekhyun was starting to hate staring at Chanyeol’s sugarplum lips and just staring at them.

“I guess so.” He said. “I’ll have to check my work schedule.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.” Baekhyun took a step away from Chanyeol’s all-encompassing gaze, and walked out of the kitchen. He stopped only to glare at Lady for her betrayal, and left Chanyeol and the puppy to their morning, deciding to spend his somewhere else.

“Not a morning person, is he?” Chanyeol said, probably to Lady, and Baekhyun was sure he was supposed to hear it.

 ♛

♫

“I’ve decided to be angry.”

It was 10:30 and Baekhyun sat with his only other friend in town, legs crossed and barefoot, with his hands in little fists and determination in his eyes. Kyungsoo sat across from him, cross-legged and barefoot just like Baekhyun; the two of them were sitting on Kyungsoo’s bed, sharing a bowl of Doritos while Kyungsoo kept his chemistry book unread on his lap and Baekhyun rambled senselessly.

“I mean, how many times does a guy have to almost-kiss you before he works up the balls and does the damn thing?”

“I don’t get it.” Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. “Why do you want Chanyeol to kiss you?”

“Because…” Baekhyun picked up Kyungsoo’s pillow and slammed his face into the fabric. “ARGH,” he muffled out.

“You’ve only been neighbors for two days,” Kyungsoo pointed out.

“It’s not like that,” Baekhyun rested his chin on the pillow he was now hugging. “I’ve known Chanyeol for ten years. We went to the same high school.”

“Still.” Kyungsoo said. “Who’d want to kiss Chanyeol?”

Baekhyun looked at him for a minute before cracking up. “What do you have against him?”

“Nothing.” Kyungsoo rolled a ballpoint pen in the palm of his hand. “He’s just a washed up hermit who only leaves his house when he’s out of food.” He paused. “Or when it’s raining.”

“Still the same…” Baekhyun muttered. “I’ve had a crush on him for way too long.”

“What’s that like?” Kyungsoo was suddenly ultra-wide-eyed. It was a little more enticing than his usual owl-eyed expression. “Crushes.”

“Crushes are like,” Baekhyun giggled at the overused schoolgirl word. “It’s like when you want someone to notice you, and you want to hold their hand, and go places with them, and just…be with them a lot.”

Kyungsoo’s breath hitched. “Oh.”

“And I’m disgustingly guilty for having one of those ‘crushes’ on that so-called hermit.”

“You don’t want to have a crush on him?”

“Well,” Baekhyun sighed and rested his head on the back of Kyungsoo’s bed, still hugging the pillow. “I can’t really imagine liking anyone else.”

“What made you like him?” Kyungsoo asked. He was inquisitive, plain and genuinely curious.

It made Baekhyun smile because  people like that existed, who would let you into their homes unannounced at ten in the morning, share their breakfast with you, and then let you hog their bed while you rant like an uncivilized child, all while listening and nodding along, asking all the right questions. The kinds of questions Kyungsoo asked, Baekhyun noted, were the innocent ones that solved more problems than they inquired about.

“I like Park Chanyeol,” Baekhyun started. “Because when he sat down next to me in biology for the first time in our freshman year, he fell asleep and my first thought when I saw his face was that he looked like an elf. And then, when he woke up, he told me to move over and I just sat there staring at him because his voice didn’t match his face at all.”

Kyungsoo set the ballpoint pen down. “You like him because his voice doesn’t match his face,” he summed up.

Baekhyun blinked. “Yeah. Kinda.”

“Okay.” Kyungsoo nodded. “Did you ever do anything about it?”

“Huh?”

“In high school. Did you ever act on your feelings?”

“I…” Baekhyun opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. “Not really.” He thought about the pictures and frowned. “It was weird, but all I ever did was watch him.”

“Like a stalker.”

“Thanks, Kyungsoo.”

“You’re welcome.”

“But,” Baekhyun held up a finger. “I used to give him candy, so that counts. And if I was lucky he’d share one of his earphones with me in class. We were…” he searched for the word.

“Friends.” Kyungsoo offered.

“Just friends, yeah.”

“Anything else?”

Baekhyun browsed through every moment he could recall, every sixth period chemistry class on Mondays, fourth and second period on Wednesdays and Fridays, and then biology which they had every single day and Baekhyun both loved and hated that fact.

“There was the cliff thing.”

“Cliff thing?” Kyungsoo’s eyes grew larger, because cliff things were never good.

“It wasn’t anything big, though.” Baekhyun said. “We had this field trip near the end of the school year; we went to the mountains. It was a camping trip, and, well,” Baekhyun scratched his ear, he didn’t remember it well. “We were hiking, um, in groups. Chanyeol and I were in the same group, with like five others. We were by the side of the road, looking down the mountain. We were walking, and…there was this truck.”

“A truck.” Kyungsoo in his breath.

“It was speeding down the road, and it kinda…swiveled? Yeah, it swiveled, and I was a bit behind – I can’t remember why – so it was coming right at me. I think I jumped out of the way, and I shouldered Chanyeol. He was in the truck’s range, too. We both landed a couple meters away, and the truck…” Baekhyun coughed on the last of the sentence. “It ran off the mountain.”

“Oh.”

“It , because I can’t remember it at all.”

Kyungsoo nodded and subconsciously picked up his pen again, pushing the back on his lip in concentration. “You saved his life?”

“I saved my life, yes.” Baekhyun shrugged. “He just happened to cushion my landing and make it with me.”

“Because you saved him.”

“I saved him by accident. I didn’t even know he was standing there.”

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows joined together and he tilted his head. “Don’t you think that counts?”

“Sure, I guess.” Baekhyun blew out a huffy breath, puffing out his cheeks. “I never really thought it was that big of a deal.”

Kyungsoo nodded. “If we had a scale,” he said, and Baekhyun wondered where this was going. “I think that deal would be on the bigger side of it.”

Baekhyun laughed and smoothed down the pillow he’d nearly destroyed.

“Whatever,” he said, taking the chemistry book from Kyungsoo’s lap. “What element in the periodic table is represented by an N?”

“Nicotine.” Kyungsoo answered.

Baekhyun shook his head and leaned over to show him the book. “Nitrogen. Nicotine isn’t even an element.”

“Nitrogen.” The student wrinkled his nose. “It sounds like something explosive.”

“I guess that depends on how you use it.”

♫

❀

“One giant M&M cookie and the biggest cupcake you got,” Jongin ordered.

“Because Kim Jongin is madly in love,” Luhan finished.

“Call it what you will,” Jongin waved off dramatically. He slid a rolled-up bill across the counter as he fanned himself with a paper plate.

Luhan took the money and started on the order. “Why’re you so obsessed with Kyungsoo anyway?” He asked. “I was watching when you first met him, you know. It wasn’t like he swept you off your feet or anything.”

“I’m not obsessed,” Jongin clarified. “I like the guy. He’s cute.”

“He is,” Luhan agreed. “But everyone who knows him thinks that.”

“What’s your point?”

“You’re just a flirt.”

Jongin gasped. “Am not!”

Luhan rolled his eyes. “Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Tell me,” Luhan started, and Jongin knew he was about to be proved wrong. “How’d you meet Chanyeol again?”

“Because some girl liked me a little too much and I needed cover.” Jongin recited, as if he’d been asked this before a million times – probably by the same person all of those times.

“And why did she like you, do you remember?”

“Um.”

“Kim Jongin, you told me this. You called me the day it happened.”

“Because I told her she was pretty and I gave her a ride home after school.” Jongin released, and he knew he’d lost the argument.

“Exactly. You’re a flirt.”

“It was raining. I wasn’t gonna let her walk.”

“Well, because you’re such a gentleman,” Luhan stressed the word sarcastically. “You ended up with your own personal sasaeng fan.”

“How was I supposed to know she was insane?!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Luhan mocked Jongin’s dramatic wave. “That’s just an excuse.”

“I don’t think Kyungsoo’s gonna hunt me down like that girl did,” Jongin defended.

“Oh, he won’t.” Luhan shook his head. “If anything, you’re the creepy one.”

Luhan had laid out the cupcake decorations on the counter as he iced the massive treat and kept up his conversation, and somewhere in the kitchen, there was a fresh batch of cookies on their way out of the oven.

“Shut up, Hyung, I’m gonna hit you with this plate.”

“And what?” Luhan said provokingly. “Dent my skull?” The blond chuckled and finished sprinkling the cupcake. He packed it in a big takeout box and slid the cookie in beside it. He pushed the order across the counter and raised an eyebrow. “Is that all?”

“Yeah.”

“Wrong answer.” Luhan pulled a coffee cup from behind the cash register, as if he’d been hiding it there. “Kyungsoo also takes coffee in the mornings.”

“Oh, wow. Nice, Hyung.” Jongin gave an impressed nod and took and coffee along with the cookie and cupcake.

“I’ll let you in on something,” Luhan said. “If you’re gonna be ordering for him again tomorrow, then remember: he likes his coffee with cream and sugar, medium, and really foamy.”

Jongin beamed. “Thanks.”

“I’ll test you on that.”

“I’ll remember, of course.” Jongin walked off with the food and Luhan waved as he left the shop and someone else came in.

❀

♞

Luhan leaned his elbows on the counter and smirked. “Well, look who actually showed up.”

“Are you going to taunt me about it or just let me order?” Minseok rolled his eyes.

“Maybe I should give you a taste of your own poison and deny you service.”

“It’s medicine, not poison.”

“I wouldn’t call your poor treatment of customers a medicine.” Luhan gave a cocky grin. “What’ll it be?”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Minseok shrugged. “Since you know people so well.”

That last part came out in a mocking tone, but Luhan didn’t show it if he cared.

“Then, how’re you feeling?”

“Fine.”

Luhan huffed. “How many times do I have to tell you to be specific before you understand the fact that being ‘fine’ will only earn you bread?”

Minseok sighed. He had his phone in his hand, but he tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans. “I’m bored, sleepy, and I hate whatever day of the week it is. And it’s hot. And I hate…hotness.”

“It’s Thursday and I think you’re trying to say you don’t like heat.”

“Yeah,” Minseok said. He watched as Luhan disappeared into the kitchen, and leaned over the counter to see what he was doing. All Minseok could see was Yixing kneeling over an oven, turning knobs and humming along to the songs, but the blond had disappeared somewhere into Minseok’s blind spot.

Minseok waited, and Luhan was back behind the counter in minutes, holding something that was probably an ice cream sundae.

“A sundae.” Minseok acknowledged.

“A Pop Sundae.”

“Why’s it a Pop Sundae?” Minseok asked, and it was less of a genuine question and more like an exhausted mother telling her child to put the caterpillar he found in the park away.

“See the sprinkles?” Luhan tilted the sundae’s cup and showed off the inside. “They explode in your mouth. So that covers the ‘bored and sleepy’ part of your predicament.”

Minseok ah-ed. “Okay.”

“And it’s a sundae, so that’s a creative solution to the fact that you hate Thursdays.” Luhan grinned. “And finally, ice cream solves hotness.”

“Heat.”

“Shut up.”

“Did you make this?” Minseok raised his eyebrows, in a cross between surprise and disbelief.

“Of course I did.”

“Did you know I was coming, or something?” Because he couldn’t possibly have just had this lying around.

“Of course I didn’t.” Luhan rolled his eyes. “How come you hate Thursdays? I thought you had them off.”

“I do- wait, how do you know my work schedule?”

Luhan shrugged.

Minseok narrowed his eyes. “Seriously, what are you?”

“Nothing. You had your work calendar open on the counter yesterday, all I had to do was read it.”

“Right.” Minseok eased, but kept his suspecting gaze on the employee. “Well, I like working, so on days off, I get…bored.”

“You’re a workaholic.”

“Is it possible for a florist to be a workaholic?”

“Is it not?” Luhan took a sip of something in a paper cup, but Minseok couldn’t tell what it was through the plastic lid. Luhan held the straw between his teeth as he spoke. “Are you gonna try the sundae or not?”

“Huh?” Minseok looked down at the sundae and blinked. “Oh, right.”

He took a spoonful, making sure to get a bunch of sprinkles as he shoved the first bite in his mouth.

Luhan bit his straw and raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

Minseok was silent for a second, before the insane popping started and his eyes widened suddenly, each grain of pop candy exploding in his mouth at once. Luhan’s bored expression broke into an amused curl of his lips and a glint in his eyes, and he said something Minseok couldn’t make out because he was too focused on the fact that his tongue was being ripped to shreds.

He consumed the first spoon and breathed heavily. “Holy ing .”

“Easy,” Luhan held up a hand. “You’re in a public place.”

Minseok looked around at the empty sweetshop and actually laughed. He picked up the ice cream snack and sat down at a table, and Luhan watched as he started on the rest of his Pop Sundae.

The employee let out a victorious laugh and went back into the kitchen, saying something out of which he only word Minseok heard was ‘success.’

♞

♝

When Kyungsoo left his house for class that afternoon, there was already someone waiting for him, in a loose sleeveless shirt and sweatp