[Baekhyun pov]

It had been 2 weeks since the big disaster with Chanyeol and Jongin and everything seemed to be quiet since then. I had made Chanyeol apologize to Jongin for saying he was like our dad, and I made Jongin apologize for punching him. Jongin hadn't really misbehaved since then, besides the usual coming home late and smoking in the house part, so I thought maybe Chanyeol had talked some sense into him this time . But suddenly my phone went off and saw the number I had hoped to not see for a while.

“Hello Mr. Kim. Is it Jongin again?” I said after picking up.

“I'm sorry Mr. Byun for bothering you at work but yes.”

“Alright, I'll be on my way.” I put down my phone and Jongdae looked at me and sighed.

“You better come back this time, last time I was here till midnight because you didn't show up to finish your reports.”

“I know and I'm sorry Dae. I will come back today I promise. If not I’ll pay dinner for you and Minseok at that fancy restaurant around the corner.”

“Deal! In that case I might even hope you don't come back.” he said with a wink.

“Mr. Oh will be here soon”  Mr. Kim said when I sat down across from him in  his office.

“I'm so sorry for whatever he did this time….”

“Don't worry Mr. Byun. It's not what you think it is.”

I didn't really know what if that was supposed to be a positive thing or not, but I totally forgot to worry about that when a certain person stepped into the office.

“Mr. Oh, there you are. Take a seat.” Mr Kim said and he motioned for Sehun to sit down next to him.

“Hey Baekhyun.” he said while he sat down and I gave him a shy smile back.

He seemed to look even better than he did last time. His blonde hair parted in the middle, large black glasses on top of his nose, and a white dress shirt that fitted perfectly on his broad shoulders. 

I remember he used to be very tall and skinny back in high school but he seemed to have even grown taller and the skinny boy made place for a man with a lean body. Although his facial features were still exactly the same. A milky white skin, small mouth, really sharp jawline and he still has a slight face.

I really could stare at him forever but  I got taken out of my thoughts when Mr. Kim started to speak.

“So, we have an interesting proposition for you. I think it's best for Mr. Oh to explain it because he will be the one most involved in it.”

“Sure, so since our little accident last time, Jongin and I actually had a few long conversations. He started opening up to me and understand him a lot better now. But he told me he's really struggling with some classes and would probably needs some help if he wants to pass this year. So what I would actually like to do is tutor him after school.”

“Did You talk to Jongin about this? Does he want this?” I asked.

“We did, he even was the one that asked me to tutor him.” I looked at Sehun in disbelieve. I don't know if Jongin hit his head or something this morning, because this totally didn't sound like him. I couldn’t help but to feel a bit suspicious about this whole thing, but maybe it was worth trying.

“Well, if he agrees I'm also fine with it. I'm just a bit unsure about his intentions.”

“Don't worry Mr Byun. Before I hired Mr. Oh, he worked at a school for problematic children for a few years. I actually think Jongin could learn a lot from him and Mr. Oh will be able to handle it if things go wrong.”

“Alright, let's do it then. When do you wanna start?”

“Actually today if you don't mind.” Sehun said and I nodded my head in response. “Good, I'll keep him with me at school for an hour after his classes end. We'll start with 2 times a week, if he needs more, we’ll increase the number of sessions.”

“Because this is all school business I need you to sign this document so I can sign Jongin up for the after school tutoring program.”

Mr. Kim handed me a small document and I quickly read it, one part caught my eye.

“Wait, why is the part about payment crossed out?”

“Ooh yeah we forgot the mention that part. Normally these tutor sessions would be charged, but Mr. Oh has offered to do them for free.”

“No wait, I can’t let you do this for free….” Sehun only smiled at me.

“Jongin is a special kid, this will be as much as a learning experience for me as it will be for him. So I’ll gladly do this for Jongin... and for you.”

“Thank you…” I grabbed the pen in front of me and signed the paper.

“Alright, it’s settled then. I really hope this will help Jongin get back to his old self again. Thank you for coming Mr. Byun”

I shook Mr. Kim’s hand and walked out the office. I got to my car but just as I wanted to get in I heard something behind me.

“Baekhyun wait!” Sehun shouted as he came running toward me.      

“S-Sehun?” I needed to try to keep my calm around him, I don’t wanna look like stuttering mess in front of this guy. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to ask you if you’re really okay with me tutoring Jongin, you looked a bit unsure…”

He was right. I still was unsure about all of this. Jongin hasn’t even tried to do his homework for over a year so it still feels wrong to me he wants tutoring all of a sudden. I just hope that whatever he is doing, it’s not for the purpose of hurting Sehun.

“It’s just that…” I sighed “I don’t know Jongin like this, It’s really weird to me but I guess it’s a positive thing. Thanks again by the way, for doing this for Jongin. I really appreciate it, my little brother means the world to me and I would love to see him change a bit.”

“No problem Baekhyun. Jongin still has a good side to him, we just need to make him show it more often. But what I actually came for was your number. I think it would be smart to have your number in case something happens with Jongin.”

“M-my number…. Yeah, sure!” I was trying to hold in my inner fanboy. Oh ing Sehun just asked for my number, maybe not in the way I imagined it to happen a few years ago but this still counted. I gave him my business card and he gave me a thanks while smiling brightly.      

“Are you sure you don’t wanna get paid for it though? It’s not a problem at all.”

“No, I won’t accept any payment. Or maybe I do, you could treat me to a drink at the bar some time.” he said and with a wink and walked away. “Bye Baekhyun!”

If this had happened back in high school I would have gone straight to all my friends to brag that Oh Sehun just asked for my number, but for now, it seemed wise to just keep this a secret.

It had been a week since I gave Sehun my number, but he hadn’t used it yet. I was kinda disappointed but it at least meant the first few tutor session with Jongin had gone by without problems. I was kinda relaxing to have Jongin this one hour extra in school sometimes. It gave me just that bit of extra rest on my free days to enjoy the silence that always was immediately gone as soon as the teen arrived home.

Chanyeol had called earlier today to say he wouldn't be home before midnight because he had some work to finish before he could go home. So I was home alone, just cleaning the kitchen when I heard the front door open. I turned around and saw Jongin stand in the door opening.

I checked my watch “Aren’t you home too early? I thought you always had tutoring on Friday?”

“I do.” he said and I suddenly saw Sehun walk in behind him.

I was fearing the worst again “What happened?”

“Hi Baekhyun! Don’t worry,” Sehun said with a wide smile “He was having trouble concentrating inside the school so I thought it might be a good idea to change location. Jongin said it was okay if we would do it here.”

“Ooh.. yeah sure… no problem.”

I wish Jongin had called me from school to ask me this. Cause here I was, standing in some bright pink sweatpants and an old shirt with holes in it. I know I have Chanyeol now but I couldn't help to feel the need to impress Sehun.

“Let’s sit here at the dinner table hyung, my room is too messy.”

So he was already at the ‘hyung’ level with Sehun. Interesting... as far as I knew he didn't even called his close friends who are older hyung. So this means he would be really close with Sehun already, it felt off and I somehow felt a bit jealous.

“Is it okay if we sit here Baekhyun? You seem a bit uncomfortable.” Sehun asked.

“I'm fine, I-I.. was just a bit distracted. I'll leave you two alone now.” I was about to pick up my cleaning stuff but Jongin grabbed my arm and held me back.

“I don't mind you here Baekie, I can't work when it really silent anyways.”

“Alright , if I bother you too much just tell me and I move.”

Jongin sat down next to Sehun and I saw a small glimpse of a smile when he looked away from me. I just continued cleaning but couldn't help to look at Sehun from the corner of my eyes. jawline was just so sharp, and … this hair color looked so good on him. Don't even get me started on the glasses, I had always imagined he looked good in them.

My eyes slowly drifted downwards. I was curious how his body looked like under all those clothes. I had seen him in his underwear before in high school, I admit I was always staring at him when we had to change for gym class. How could I not, he was basically giving me a free show every time he changed.

But the best part about his whole body was definitely his . Even  back when he was skinny he was known for his perfect behind.  Today he was wearing some skinny jeans that made it even look better, man I wish I could be grab it just one time and-

“Yah!”

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Jongin yell and saw both him and Sehun staring at me.

“Hyung! You dropped something…” I looked down and saw the cloth I had in my hand a minute ago, lying on the floor.

“Ooh sorry, I was just thinking about…. work. Yeah work…” I felt all the blood flow towards my face and started sweating a bit.

“Whatever… I need to go to the bathroom real quick.” Jongin said and ran towards the bathroom upstairs. Sehun stood up from his chair, walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Are you sure you're okay Baekhyun?”

“Yeah..yeah I’m fine.”

“You know, you were staring for quite a while.” Sehun said with a small chuckle.

“I’m sorry, I just was zoned out for a bit.”

“Don’t worry, I’m used to people staring at me.” He walked away towards the living room and started looking around. I followed him and froze when I saw him standing in front some shelves with pictures on it.

He grabbed one of the frames off the shelf “Who’s this?”  I walked closer and saw he was holding a picture of me hugging Chanyeol and kissing him on the cheek.

“That’s my bo… my best friend.” I just saved it. I didn’t know if this was the smartest thing to do but something inside my head told me to keep my boyfriend a secret.

“You two must be really close.” He gave me a weird look.

“Yeah.. we’ve known each other for ages. He helps me a lot with Jongin.”

Sehun put the picture down and grabbed another one. “Ooh I remember these two, they were inseparable.” It was a picture from high school of me and two of my friends.

“Jongdae and Minseok” I said while pointing to the two boys next to me on the picture. “They are a couple now. Me and Jongdae work at the same place, it’s nice to still have people from school around.”

“Don’t forget you also have me now. Maybe we could have like a small reunion one time, I’m still in contact with some people.”  

“Yeah we should…” I just hoped he still wasn’t in contact with that Chinese exchange student who was all over Sehun back then.

Sehun put the picture back and turned towards me. “So you two live in this house all by yourself?”

Just as I was about to answer Jongin came back into the room. “Baek, when is Chanyeol coming home?”

“Chanyeol?” Sehun asked but I ignored him. “He won’t be here before midnight.”  

“Who’s Chanyeol?” Sehun asked again.

Jongin gave me some sort of evil smile and walked away “I’ll go on ahead and start my next assignment hyung.”

“I’ll be right with you Jongin.” Sehun said and he turned to me again, still waiting for my answer.

“Chanyeol is the name of my best friend, the one from the picture.”

“Does he live here?”

“Well… kinda. He doesn’t live here but he’s around a lot. Sometimes I work till late at night so Chanyeol will be here to take care of Jongin.”

“I see…that’s very nice of your friend” he said and he walked back to the kitchen to continue his session with Jongin while I mumbled a silent ‘’yeah, he’s a very good friend.’’

It would have been easier to just tell Sehun the truth about Chanyeol. What if Jongin told him, I would look so stupid. But for some reason my mind told me not to and instead I just avoided the kitchen for the next 30 minutes.

When I heard someone leave, I made my way back to the kitchen and jumped a bit when someone suddenly started talking.

“Should I tell Chanyeol that you broke up with him?”. I turned around and saw Jongin standing behind me.

“What are you talking about?” Jongin just kept standing there and smirked at me. Then it suddenly hit me.

“You weren’t going to the bathroom, were you? You have been listening to all of it...”

“You know me too well Baek.”

“Jongin I don’t know what you are planning but stop it right now!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about hyung. But please answer me this, why can’t Sehun know about your boyfriend?”

“Because I don’t need everyone on this planet to know I’m gay okay!” there was a slight bit of truth in that but of course it wasn’t the main reason.

“You don’t want everyone to know you’re gay but still you visit clubs with Chanyeol regularly and faces in the middle of the dance floor.”

“Jongin what the ?!” I almost screamed. Not because I was mad about him making up stuff, but because it was actually true and I wondered how he knew. But before I could ask that I already got the answer.

“I’ve seen it myself a couple of times.”

I was seriously losing my patience with my younger brother now and raised my voice even more. “You’re not even old enough to enter those clubs!”

“I have my ways. And stop screaming hyung, you’re just mad because you know I’m right.”

“Jongin go to your room right now. I know you have a test tomorrow so go study.”

He just smiled at me, took his stuff and walked upstairs. He didn’t even come down for dinner but I didn’t really mind today. That little brat was planning something and it bothered me that I didn’t know what it was.

I heard from Sehun that Jongin was doing excellent during their tutoring sessions but somehow he kept failing his tests and projects the past 3 weeks. So we decided to increase the number of sessions every week, luckily they hadn’t taken place in our house after that one time.

I had just come home from work and was lying down on the couch, watching some tv. I was almost dozed off when the doorbell rang. When I opened the door, Sehun was suddenly in front of me.

“Hey Baekhyun!”

“S-Sehun, what are you doing here?” Oh no there was the stutter again. “Is something wrong with Jongin?”

“No oh no not at all. Isn’t he home?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since he left for school this morning.” I already had a feeling where this was going.

“He was unable to concentrate again so he wanted to have tutoring at home. But I had some work to finish first at school so I told him to go on ahead.”

“I’m sorry Sehun, I don’t think he will be coming then. I’ve known him for too long and he’s probably run of with his friends.” Sehun looked a bit disappointed with my answer and was about to turn around and go back to his car.

“I can call him for you if you want?” I quickly said, “You can wait inside while I do that… maybe he got distracted and is a bit later.”

“I mean.. I do have his number myself. But if you want to... sure.”

“Come on in.” he followed me and I motioned for him to sit on the couch and I sat down next to him. I took my phone out of my pocket and started calling Jongin. As expected, no answer.

“Great… Well you can wait for a bit if you want but I don’t think he’s gonna come. Can I get you something to drink?”

“No thank you, I don’t think he’s gonna come either so I’ll just go home.”

Maybe it was for the better. As much as I wanted to keep Sehun here, there was some kind of awkward tension between the two of us.

When I stood up from the couch I watching him from the corner of my eyes and  I swear I could see him check me out from behind. He followed behind me but stopped to look at the pictures on the shelf again.

“I think we really need to meet up with our old friends, I think it would be fun.”

“I can call Jongdae and Minseok tonight and ask if they would like to join.”

“Yes that would be great! I’ll call Luhan and Yixing.”

I remember Yixing, he was head of the dance club during high school, but the name Luhan didn’t give me a face right away. “I’m sorry to ask, but who is Luhan again?”

“Luhan, that guy from China who arrived at our school the same year Yixing did. Blonde hair, slightly taller than you, looks a bit like a girl.”

After that last hint I knew immediately who it was. It was the Chinese student who was always around Sehun. He was very good looking and got the attention from everyone in school, especially Sehun’s. I’m pretty sure they had a thing back then, maybe they still have.

“Oh yeah, Luhan… yeah great, invite them both.”

“Alright, I’m already excited!” Sehun started smiled widely. “I’ll get going now then, I’ll leave Jongin’s assignments here. If he has questions tell him he can always call me.”

I walked him to the front door but when he stepped outside he turned around and smiled at me.       

“By the way you look really good in your suit. Bye Baekhyun!”

I was glad he walked away after saying that so he couldn’t see my face heating up and just as Sehun’s car drove away, Chanyeol’s arrived.

“Who was that?” he asked with a stern face when he stepped out of the car. He never was this serious around me, I was sure he knew something was going on.

“W-What are you talking about?”

“That car, I saw it driving away from our driveway.”

“Ooh that one.. That was Jongin’s tutor. He stopped by to deliver some stuff for him.”  

“Ah okay. Babe why are you so red?”

“I’m just... really hot from this stupid suit, I hate wearing it.”

“Or maybe it’s hot because I just arrived.” he said with a wink and laughed while dragging me inside with him. I was lucky Chanyeol trusted me enough to not ask more questions but I was wondering how long I was able to hide these two from each other.  

[Jongin pov]  

“So your tutor is with your brother right now?”

“I hope so, I’m sure Baek wouldn’t send him away.”

Even if he did he would have at least seen him again after a while. Things between them didn’t pick us a quickly as I had hoped but maybe this slow process would turn out better. I just had to make sure they’d see each other more, so instead of going home to wait for Sehun, I went to Kris’ house so they would have some alone time.  

“You’re really serious about this plan, aren’t you?” Kris asked while lighting a cigarette.

“Yup, I want that out of my life. My brother doesn’t need him. And give me one too.”

Kris passed me one of his cigarettes and continued his questions “But is it worth that much that you have to hang out with that dude after school every day?”

“Sehun isn’t that bad you know, he’s pretty chill. I just have to behave during his classes and do my extra assignments for him. Then when the test arrives I just do bad so I’m sure the sessions won’t stop.”

“It almost like the old Jongin, ah I remember him… Always in front of the class, answering every question the teacher asked, perfect grades in almost every class.”

I just ignored him and lighted my cigarette. When I didn’t respond to Kris for a minute he continued talking.

“But going back, why do you think this will work? Like you’re putting so much work in it, what if it turns out to be nothing between them?”

I had never thought about that because I knew I didn’t have too. Baekhyun tried to hide Sehun form his boyfriend since the day they met again. Beside the fact that they’re checking each other out all the time was enough for me to believe something was going to happen between them. Ooh yes, my brother might be really obvious but I have seen Sehun stare at my precious Baek enough times too.

“Just trust me, it will work. You just worry about seducing that killer panda of yours and I will worry about my plan.”

“Shut up Jongin.” Kris let out a small laugh. “Your brother better thank you for this when all this bull is done. I still think you’re crazy for doing this.”

“I’ve done crazier things before, you should know that Kris.”

“True, like having a crush on that nerdy boy you call ‘boring’. Kyungsoo, is that his name?”

My eyes widened. I had indeed developed a slight weakness for the top student of our year. I believe the innocence and shyness he showed around people was all an act. Because as soon as he was with me in private he became another person, sometimes even more dominant than me. I even let him top me one time and that was a first. I liked this whole two personality thing a lot so I kept seeing him more and more lately. But that still didn’t explain how Kris knew about this.

“What are you talking about? That’s bull!” I just tried to deny it.

“Ooh you know what I’m talking about. Trust me Jongin I know you better than you think.”  

[Sehun pov]

The table was already full of empty glasses, and we had only been here for one hour. Yixing worked as a bartender at this place in the weekends so he got us a private VIP booth and free drinks all night. Minseok was the only one who was fully sober because he still had to drive Baekhyun, Jongdae and himself home. Baekhyun was sitting next to me and I had a feeling he was uncomfortable for some reason.

“So Sehun, are you and Luhan still together?” Jongdae asked me and I was about to spit out my drink.

“Me and Luhan? Did people think we were together?” Everyone except for Luhan started nodding. “Yixing.. You also knew about this?”

“Of course, the whole school was talking about it at some point. I didn’t tell you because even I wasn’t sure if it was a rumor or not.”

“Why would people say that about us?” Luhan whined.

“Oh come on Luhan, you two were clingy as hell! You were at least friends with benefits.” Minseok said.

“Just because I like to cuddle my little deer doesn’t mean I would do him!” I protested. Luhan was a great guy, he seriously was, but I had never thought of him that way and I was pretty certain he felt the same about me.

“Can we stop talking about this please, it makes me sick thinking about having a relationship with this idiot here.” Luhan said while looking at me with a disgusted face. I gave him a playful hit on his shoulder and he directed his attention towards Minseok. “So you and Jongdae are together now huh? That’s cool! See Sehun, I always told you that that would happen.”

Luhan had indeed already predicted this back in high school. He and Minseok were in the same Music class and I knew Luhan had an eye on him. I always caught him staring at the small boy but we both knew he didn’t have a chance.

Minseok was always all over this guy with the pretty smile and perfect cheekbones.  Luhan never got the courage to actually go over to Minseok and ask him out. Even after he found out Minseok wasn’t dating Jongdae and they were just really good friends, he told me he saw the chemistry between the two was too strong and he would always be a third wheel.

“After graduation we decided to rent an apartment together and became roommates. And yeah… after that things moved really quick and he we are now, together as a happy couple and engaged.”  Minseok said, showing off his ring to the other guys while Jongdae pecked him on the cheek.

“So Baek, when are you and Chanyeol gonna take the big step?” Jongdae suddenly asked Baekhyun.

For the second time tonight, I almost spit out my drink. “Wait.. you and your best friend are together… like as a couple? Since when?” I don’t know where it came from but I felt like I just got stabbed in the heart.

“Yah! Watch your mouth pretty boy, I’m Baekhyun’s best friend. And isn’t it you and Chanyeol’s 5th year together soon?” Jongdae said

“Yeah… yeah, it is.” Baekhyun looked away from me while saying that but I still could see his face redden from the side.

“It would be the perfect time to ask him Baekhyun, or maybe your boyfriend already has made some plans!” Yixing said as if he was actually convinced about his own words.

From that moment on Baekhyun stayed quiet, he didn’t say a word all night. Only when asked a question he would answer with a short ‘yes’ or ‘no’. While the rest of the guys really seemed to get along really well after all those years, he just sat there, staring at his hands in his own lap.

“Baekhyun, are you okay?” I asked him silently so the others wouldn’t hear.

“Yeah I’m fine. I think I had just too much to drink” I knew it was a lie because he only had three drinks for the whole night.

“Do you wanna go home?” I was about to grab his hand under the table but he quickly retracted it, almost scared of my touch.

“I’m fine Sehun, thanks. Minseok and Jongdae are having fun, I don’t want to make them leave this early.”

“Guys, I’m walking Baekhyun home. He isn’t feeling well.” I spoke up. Baekhyun was about to say something but when I gave him a ‘don’t you dare’ look he closed his mouth without protesting.

“We could take him home if you want.” Minseok said. “It’s getting late anyways.”

“No it’s fine, you all enjoy the evening a bit more. I need to be up early tomorrow so it’s fine.”

“This was fun Sehun, we should all meet up more often!” Minseok said and everyone nodded in  agreement.

I said goodbye to all the guys and grabbed Baekhyun’s arm to drag him with me. I helped him put his coat on but he was still shivering from the cold when we got outside, so I wrapped my scarf around his neck. I heard a quiet ‘thank you’ and we started walking towards his house. I knew it was only 5 minutes away from the bar so I didn't have much time to get all the answers I wanted.

“Why didn’t you tell me Chanyeol was your boyfriend?”

“I don't know…” he answered silently while looking at the ground.

“You love him right? You're not being forced to anything, are you?” I was seriously worried for him. Why was he hiding Chanyeol from me? Both him and his younger brother, Jongin also had never said a word about his older brother having a boyfriend.

“No no… it's not like that at all. And I do love him, a lot.” he was still looking at the ground but I could hear his words were sincere.

I grabbed his arm to stop him and put my hand under his chin, making him look me straight in the eyes. “Then why are you hiding him from me? Your friends knew about him, why can't I?”

“I-I don't know...” he answered again. He turned away from me and continued walking. I waited until we reached his house before I took a more drastic step. This time he wasn't going to get away so quickly. I grabbed his arm again, rougher this time, and pushed him so he was with his back against the front door. I put my hands on either side of his head so he had nowhere to go.

“Baekhyun stop lying to me!” He still didn't dare to look me in the eye and just stared at the ground again. “I know we just met again after years but I'm getting the feeling you're not trusting me and it's bothering me a lot. We might have never been best friends or something like that but I also never did anything to hurt you! So stop being like this to me and just tell me wh-”

I was cut off by a pair of soft lips that were placed right on mine. I didn't know what to do and just stood there and let it happen. It was already over before I even realised what was going on. The next thing I saw was a small figure escaping from under my arms, running  into the house and slamming the door close behind him.