Despite being exposed as Chanyeol and Kyungsoo in each other’s bodies, nothing much has changed. To keep up appearances, Chanyeol still hangs out with Kyungsoo’s group of friends while Kyungsoo does the same with Chanyeol’s group; the only difference is that now Yixing and Baekhyun are in the loop, and much to Kyungsoo’s extreme annoyance, Baekhyun always tries to expose him in front of Sehun and Kris. And Chanyeol knows this because he’s still texting Kyungsoo (or more of like Kyungsoo allows him to text), and a huge chunk of Kyungsoo’s texts usually includes the dumb antics of how Byun Baekhyun attempted to expose me today. A little chunk, however, describes Kyungsoo’s days—homework, classes, the things he did with Chanyeol’s friends, how he got by with Chanyeol’s family. Those texts are awfully nice, and Chanyeol genuinely loves reading them, loves visualizing the events that happened in Kyungsoo’s days. In return, Chanyeol replies with, as much detail as he can possibly remember and provide (because he just loves to share), the happenings of his own day as well. He wonders if Kyungsoo enjoys reading about them, too.

There's one thing, though. It's not very obvious, but through Kyungsoo’s replies Chanyeol can somehow detect that his friend seems to be feeling a sense of melancholy whenever he mentions one of Kyungsoo’s friends in his texts. While the replies from Kyungsoo after Chanyeol talks about Lu Han and Jongdae do seem pretty normal, Chanyeol knows better. He's found Kyungsoo staring at their table sometimes during lunch, his gaze seemingly forlorn and smile wistful. What confirms Chanyeol’s guess comes in the form of the replies that follow any mention of Yixing. The texts come in slower, and Kyungsoo’s words in the texts just don’t seem… happy. Chanyeol doesn’t know how to explain it, but he just knows, just senses that Kyungsoo is sad whenever his friends are mentioned in Chanyeol’s messages.

It's the same for Chanyeol as well, if he wants to admit. Kyungsoo doesn’t talk about Chanyeol’s friends a lot, but when he does, Chanyeol feels it. He feels the emptiness, and the now-familiar sudden bout of sadness that washes over him as he finds himself missing the three boys. It’s not a pleasant feeling, no, but Chanyeol knows he has to accustom himself to it until the day he returns to his body, til he goes back to being Park Chanyeol.

One obvious change is that although Kyungsoo has resumed the weekly tutoring sessions with Chanyeol (yay!), he is no longer the only student under the tutelage of Kyungsoo for english and, similarly, Kyungsoo isn’t the only one benefiting from Chanyeol’s impartation of his math skills. The sessions are no longer held between the two of them, for Yixing and Baekhyun have joined them (ugh). And that happened because, during one of the dinners the four of them were having, Yixing suddenly brought up the old question of Chanyeol where do you disappear off to every Wednesdays and Fridays?, which had prompted Baekhyun to jump up, shriek a you too Do Kyungsoo you vanish on those days too!! as he pointed a finger at the accused boy who had already hidden his face behind the menu in his hands. A (tiny) fight ensued and it ended up in Baekhyun insisting that he and Yixing be included in the tutoring sessions because how else would we know if you two are really studying and not up to other things. The smirk on his face got slapped off by an irate Kyungsoo (who had looked as though he would have punched him if not for Yixing flicking Baekhyun’s forehead for his terrible choice of diction).

Yet, Chanyeol welcomes that with open arms. Yes, he might have been miffed when Baekhyun and Yixing wanted in on the-otherwise-exclusive tutoring sessions with Kyungsoo, but Chanyeol actually feels okay. He truly has missed hanging out with Baekhyun, and who the is he kidding if he says that he doesn’t want Yixing around? Their best friends joining the fray, so to speak, is technically a win-win situation—gets tutored by Kyungsoo, and gets to be around both Baekhyun and Yixing (and Kyungsoo).

(But if Chanyeol is being honest, honest, super honest with himself, he’s a tad displeased because gahhhh there goes my alone time with Soo humph!)

---

“I swear, Byun Baekhyun, if I die, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life.”

Chanyeol looks up from the thick-as- encyclopedia seated in his lap, and immediately stifles a snigger when he sees Kyungsoo glaring impressively at Baekhyun who’s hiding behind a laughing Yixing. In his arms, there’s another thick-as- book meant for Kyungsoo. Or more specifically, meant for Kyungsoo’s head.

It’s Baekhyun’s brilliant (read: dumb) idea. It’s the method that everyone thinks of when bodyswap or the exchange of souls is mentioned—the good ol’ ‘Whack the Head with a Book’ method. But in Baekhyun’s interpretation of the method, the book has to be heavy as so that when we whack your heads with it, your souls will jump back into original bodies. Chanyeol had very much doubted that logic, that the weight of the book mattered, but he didn’t voice out his doubt. Though, now, Chanyeol wishes he did because, , the books that Baekhyun had borrowed from the library are really thick and heavy. Chanyeol can't help but fear for his life.

Kyungsoo suddenly sits down next to Chanyeol, and in the midst of thinking about the pathetic percentage of him surviving this ordeal, Chanyeol simultaneously tries hard to not show how affected he is by the elbow that Kyungsoo has rested on his knee. In his head, there are options: a) scream out loud because aaaaaaah Soo is touching meeeee, b) pretend with all his might that the weight on his knee is just a heavy bout of air, or c) throw the book in his lap away and throw himself at Kyungsoo because do you not know what you’re doing to me with your ing elbow!? Chanyeol, obviously, picks Option B even though Option C tempts him so much.

And, of course, Kyungsoo is oblivious to Chanyeol’s internal struggle. He removes his elbow from Chanyeol’s knee—to which Chanyeol breathes in relief—only to replace it with his hand. Just when Chanyeol thinks the situation cannot get any worse, he feels fingers toying with his toes. He feels his big toe being pinched, while flesh grazes the rest of his toes. Oh. My. ing. God. Someone kill Chanyeol already. Someone get Chanyeol away from Kyungsoo before Option C happens. He’d rather be murdered by a stranger than by Kyungsoo (partly because he wants to preserve the happy memories he’s experienced with him, and partly because Kyungsoo’s penchant for violence is seriously frightening).

“Relax, you’ll probably pass out and not, y’know, die.” Baekhyun’s voice comes wafting into his ears and Chanyeol snaps out of his thoughts. He looks at his friend, sees him shrugging before suddenly leaping aside with a screech when a pillow comes flying his way. It doesn’t take a genius to know who threw that, and Chanyeol unconsciously raises the hand that’s closest to Kyungsoo. Surprise floods him when his hand meets with another and the sound of a clap fills the room. From the corners of his eyes, Chanyeol sees Kyungsoo’s raised arm, and Kyungsoo’s head moving back to where he had been looking straight ahead. Despite knowing that it might be true, Chanyeol pretends that Kyungsoo’s hand did not linger for a second after giving him the high-five Chanyeol never consciously wanted. (But it's still nice, even if he has no idea what he has done.)

Sprawled on the floor, Baekhyun snorts. “Great, the ex-best friends are ganging up on me.” He’s pushing himself up when Yixing extends a hand to him and while Yixing helps him up, a smile forms on his face. Chanyeol watches the entire interaction, and he’s pretty sure Kyungsoo is watching as well because all of a sudden the aura next to him is turning dark. With Yixing’s help, Baekhyun gets himself to a sitting position on the floor and he gently tugs on Yixing’s hand to get him to sit down next to him. Setting the thick-as- book down on the floor, Yixing sits and Chanyeol watches in incredulity as Yixing naturally leans into Baekhyun’s side when Baekhyun circles an arm around his waist. Chanyeol would have squealed at that act because aie so Baek and Xing do have something going on between them if not for Kyungsoo’s aura instantly going d a r k.

One hundred percent certain that will go down in the next couple of seconds, Chanyeol quickly diverts Kyungsoo’s attention. “Soo,” Chanyeol calls, a hand placing itself on Kyungsoo’s shoulder in an attempt to distract him. “Let’s just get this over and done with–”—Kyungsoo whips his head to look at Chanyeol and Chanyeol resists the strong urge to cower because Kyungsoo