the first time sehun ever saw him, there was absolutely no spark—no fireworks bursting with color behind his eyes or love songs on repeat playing at the back of his mind. there was nothing but space, air light and sweet-smelling with the scent of melted sugar and warm milk.

the aroma had been inviting, pleasure pooling in the pit of his stomach as he’d been lured into the quaint café with the first whiff of hazelnut as soon as he’d stepped outside of the university gates on a hot, hot, humid monday afternoon.

(lecture had been a drag, and chanyeol had been drooling on his textbook when the professor decided to throw a pop quiz. so sehun thought, as he ordered a cup of matcha green tea, that he deserved a ing award for almostflunking it. thank you, hetalia!)

what caught sehun by surprise wasn’t actually the generous chunk of whipped cream topping his drink invitingly, but rather, the curious pair of almond eyes watching him with a certain degree of fascination and wonder from behind the counter.

sehun stared back at him challengingly. ‘what’re you looking at?’

‘your height is quite something.’ the man gave him a small smile, amused, yet a little unsure and timid. ‘like a giraffe.’

the last part made sehun squint. the man—baekhyun, his nametag read—chuckled, lips endearingly square-shaped, and oh, he’s actually ing adorable.

‘well thanks, i guess?’ sehun stammered, blood slowly creeping up his neck, but his confidence unwavering. ‘i’m sehun, and—shh, don’t tell me—you’re baekhyun. hello, baekhyun.’

baekhyun laughed a little louder, and it made sehun’s heart squeeze unexplainably so. ‘hi, sehun. it’s nice to meet you.’

so it came as no surprise, the friendship that bloomed, because every chance sehun got, he dropped by the café during the late hours, whether or not he craved for the saccharine taste of vanilla or to merely chat with the man behind the register. my professor walks with a stick up his , i swear, and baekhyun would laugh at sehun’s anecdotes as hard as his cheeks would flush red at sehun’s observant stares.





 

it’s three weeks into july when the heat becomes unbearable, and sehun finds himself staying much longer around the store than he intends to until the streets have emptied as the evening drags on. baekhyun just raises his eyebrows, lips quirked into a half smile, and listens to one of probably a hundred more of sehun’s misadventures as he mops the floor, ready to close up shop.

(it should annoy the living daylights out of baekhyun, frankly, but he finds sehun’s company pleasing, what with all the aggravating customers during work hours, and sehun’s voice eventually becomes music to baekhyun’s ears.)

on one particular occasion, sehun volunteers to work part-time, pleading with pouted lips and slanted gazes and boring aegyo into baekhyun’s soul with a c’mon, hyung, let me help out for the rest of the summer. pretty please?

‘i’ll have to ask kyungsoo,’ baekhyun says, resisting the urge to tiptoe and ruffle sehun’s hair. pretty sure kyungsoo won’t mind an extra hand, is what he wants to say, but instead blurts out, ‘i’d love to spend more time with you, though.’

it makes sehun raise his eyebrows with a cheeky grin, and oh god, baekhyun just wants to punch those teeth in. he doesn’t do well with teasing and mischief, not today when it’s scorching hot and humid, even as the blood rushing to his head at sehun’s elbow jabs. ‘quit it.’

(but maybe sehun would be the exception. just maybe.)

when kyungsoo says yes days after, messing with sehun’s bangs with fondness as he agrees to the younger one’s pleading, baekhyun is both excited and horrified. ‘b-but kyungsoo—’

‘shush now, child,’ says kyungsoo uncharacteristically with delight, placing a cap atop sehun’s head on tiptoe. ‘we always help a friend in need.’

‘he is not in need,’ baekhyun huffs, cheeks puffing with an air of frustration, glaring at the shiny silver rolex around sehun’s wrist. sehun winks at him, and baekhyun throws his hands up in defeat. ‘and stop talking to him like he’s some puny little thing you could keep in your pocket.’

kyungsoo laughs, tapping baekhyun’s nose playfully. ‘aw, don’t be jealous. besides,’ kyungsoo gives sehun a once-over, grin growing wide at the glint of excitement in sehun’s eyes. ‘doesn’t that smile make you want to keephim?’

baekhyun merely rolls his eyes.

sehun’s first day doesn’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped, however, sneaking glances at baekhyun rather than the caramel macchiato blend he ought to be learning. he hardly pays attention to the lecture, but he does like it when baekhyun’s arms flex when he—

‘just because you won kyungsoo over with your charm, doesn’t mean i’ll go easy on you.’

sehun raises his eyebrows, distracted from pretending to punch keys into his smartphone. ‘you think i’m charming?’

‘absolutely not,’ baekhyun responds as quick as his ears burn red under sehun’s curious stare. ‘you are as awful as gum stuck under a shoe.’

there is no real bite to sehun’s voice when he responds with a sarcastic ouch, leaning on his elbows over the counter as he directs a teasing grin towards baekhyun’s wary gaze. ‘did you know, hyung, that you are most adorable when you’re mad?’

baekhyun stops, hands freezing over the ladle of the espresso machine. ‘look, kid—’

‘I HAVE ARRIVED.’

baekhyun and sehun end the staring game immediately at the boom of the voice, and sehun’s smile grows wider at the sight of a lanky-limbed customer with ears so big baekhyun thinks they could lift the man off his toes. he coughs a giggle into his hands at the thought.

‘chanyeol-hyung!’ sehun exclaims, practically flinging himself onto the man with such fervor it makes baekhyun wince at the sudden tightness in his chest. huh. he can’t even find it in himself to shush the ruckus and the noise that seem to have become chanyeol, all flailing limbs and loud guffaws and a million rows of teeth. it is in that precise moment, when sehun and his… friend… are locked in an overly dramatic embrace that kyungsoo walks in rubbing his eyes like he’d been woken up from a perfectly good nap.

‘baekhyun.’ rub, yawn. ‘baekhyun, what’s going on? what’s all this noise?’

and it’s like chanyeol’s world comes to a halt, his mouth slightly agape and his head tilted to the side in a pensive gaze like all it took was kyungsoo’s presence to calm him down, knocking the breath out of him. he rushes past sehun, taking kyungsoo’s hands in his and it’s the very first time baekhyun sees kyungsoo’s eyes grow wide(r) in his state of utter drowsiness. ‘you must be kyungsoo, and wow, sehun was right. you are beautiful!’

the usual kyungsoo would’ve pushed their hands aside, distancing himself while muttering under his breath for this man’s complete lack of social grace and avoiding all forms of contact. but this kyungsoo, the kyungsoo baekhyun meets for the very first time, shies away from chanyeol’s gaze, face a stark shade of crimson.

this is bad.

the knot in baekhyun’s stomach loosens because a friend is all that chanyeol is to sehun, and , why do i even care? sehun looks highly amused, smile mischievous like he could see right through baekhyun’s facade.

this is really bad.







a little over a month into his job, sehun’s work shift may very well be summed into two things: 1.) plotting ways to ask baekhyun out in between sneaky glances and striking small conversation, and 2.) wallowing in self-pity for every single time he is left tongue-tied when given the chance to speak in the emptiness of the store. this is how kyungsoo finds him in the storage room during his lunch break in late august, sulking on the floor with his arms over his eyes. ‘i am pathetic, i am an idiot. i am pathetically idiotic. idiotically pathetic.’

‘sehun?’ kyungsoo bends down to poke him in the stomach, and it makes sehun yelp, sitting up in surprise. ‘what in heaven’s name are you doing?’

sehun clutches the front of kyungsoo’s shirt in despair or desperation (or both). ‘baekhyun-hyung has taken over my life. i lost my balls—err, my confidence—and i can’t seem to think straight or do anything right and i just wanna ask him out and maybe live in a flat and have three dozen puppies and eat ice cream with him—’

‘whoa, whoa, slow down,’ kyungsoo laughs, and it’s cute, really. sehun doesn’t even care that he’s soiling his boss’ (loose) shirt (which looks suspiciously like chanyeol’s—well that escalated quickly) with fake tears. he pets sehun’s hair solemnly. ‘baekhyun hates it when people beat around the bush. just ask him. the worst you could possibly get is perhaps a fist to your face.’ sehun stares bewilderedly. ‘i’m kidding. he’s a complete marshmallow. just. don’t break his heart, alright?’

kyungsoo makes him cross his heart (‘i will break your ing neck if he comes crying to me, you understand?’), and it’s a promise sehun intends to keep.







the sehun way of courtship is, first and foremost, a joke, according to chanyeol, because one, it never existed until three minutes ago, and two, sehun is awkward as , and would most likely pass out cold at the first sound baekhyun would make.

‘remember that time in high school when you snorted spaghetti sauce out of your nose trying to impress—who was that? jongin?’ chanyeol snickers on his pizza slice, socked feet curled under his lap on a humid friday evening. ‘ing classic. made my senior year, to be honest.’

sehun makes a strangled noise. ‘i wish the cheese rots in your belly. may you never be able to eat pizza again. like. ever. because you . kyungsoo-hyung would not approve of this.’

‘not funny.’

‘you know what else isn’t funny? my seemingly cloudy future with byun baekhyun.’ sehun’s pouting game must be so strong for chanyeol to sit up and mollycoddle him with a box of twinkies and hot chocolate after he’d disappeared into the kitchen.

‘look, sehun,’ chanyeol sounds, feeding him his second twinkie. ‘i believe that the secret to having someone like you isn’t merely through gifts or flowery words of praise. sometimes you just have to be yourself, regardless of how awkward or dumb. kyungsoo tells me baekhyun appreciates honesty. he didn’t get that from jongdae—’

‘jongdae?’

‘baekhyun’s ex. he-who-must-not-be-named. never make the mistake of mentioning him, the break-up was pretty bad, or so kyungsoo tells me.’

sehun replies with a dumbfounded oh. ‘what happened?’

‘not sure i’m in any position to tell you,’ chanyeol’s grin is weak, almost sad. ‘but let’s just say the worst kind of surprise is walking in on your boyfriend with another man who happens to be your senior, who also happens to be the president of the student council, the chess club, and the—’

‘okay, stop.’ sehun stuffs a sock in chanyeol’s mouth, effectively shutting him up and making him gag. revenge is sweet. ‘that’s just—whoa. , wow. i mean, wow.’

‘yeah, so.’ chanyeol gives sehun’s shoulder a squeeze. ‘please don’t this up. the last thing i want is for kyungsoo to have my head on a platter.’

‘i won’t.’

and so sehun does what he thinks is best.

for the following weeks, he extends his shift at the café until the closing hours, as he insists on washing every dish, every utensil just so baekhyun could spare a moment or two to relax. sometimes he sings through his chores, eliciting a hearty laugh from his hyung at his attempt at ‘bohemian rhapsody’, and it’s the best part out of this affair.

baekhyun opens up to him more, smiles finally reaching his eyes, and it makes sehun feel lightheaded with hope and gladness when he utters a quiet thank you on sehun’s cheek as the summer days fall into cooler evenings.







‘you seem happier,’ kyungsoo says with a teasing smirk, lips poised into that smile baekhyun is wary of. chanyeol waves as enthusiastically as ever from behind him, teeth blindingly white and great in number. he gives a small wave back, addressing kyungsoo with a glare. ‘you actually learned how to smile since—well, ever since.’

‘i’m always happy,’ baekhyun defends, wiping the tables so vigorously chanyeol thinks the gesture might rub the varnish off the furniture. he takes a careful step back with fear. ‘it’s what landed me the job!’

‘oh, baekhyun,’ kyungsoo coos, squishing baekhyun’s cheeks endearingly between his palms. ‘your potential biceps landed you the job. i couldn’t handle the espresso machine and the mixing and the cleaning all on my own, after all.’

baekhyun fake-punches him in the gut, and kyungsoo feigns pain with a laugh. ‘please leave before i actually punch that ridiculously handsome smile in.’

kyungsoo does take a step back, but not before ruffling the hat off baekhyun’s head. ‘behave while i’m gone, okay?’

baekhyun gives a small wave, pretending that the way chanyeol fixes the scarf around kyungsoo’s neck, affectionate and sweet, doesn’t make his belly twist with longing and envy for someone to keep him warm. it makes his chest hurt, remembering how it felt like to have someone. almost unconsciously his gaze falls on sehun and their eyes meet, making the hair in the back of baekhyun’s neck rise. ‘w-what’re you looking at?’

sehun tilts his head to the side, lips curled into a blinding grin. ‘you.’

when baekhyun stays rooted to the spot, sehun takes it as his cue to step closer, gaze unbreaking even as he towers over his hyung. ‘i’ve been thinking, you know, it’s been a few months since we’ve known each other. frankly, it’s been really great being friends with you, but i was wondering if maybe we could be more than that?’

the tips of baekhyun’s ears are red and warm, even as he turns his back on sehun to wipe the countertop. sehun thinks he hears him speak, and he braces himself for rejection. ‘what was that?’

‘i said,’ baekhyun responds almost exasperatedly, facing sehun with a flushed cheeks, a shy gaze. ‘i’m free on saturday.’

and really, sehun wants to scream and dance and leap for joy because byun baekhyun, but he doesn’t. he merely shrugs, even if his chest is bursting and his smile wide and bright and silly; even if it wasn’t a momentous yes, sehun will take what he can get it because it’s byun baekhyun, and this, he figures, is definitely a start.




 

(in all honesty, there are a thousand things sehun wishes to tell baekhyun, like actually your biceps look great or your eyes are too ing big when you’re mad or you’re just really so beautiful. sometimes he just really wants to pin him down with an embrace and make him feel like jongdae, whoever the idiot was, didn’t deserve him at all, that he should go to ing hell for once stealing the brightness in baekhyun’s smile.

but he’ll save it.

right now he’ll watch how the sunlight shines on the curve of baekhyun’s smile, the crinkle in his eyes when he greets sehun in the morning of a cold november. after all, he’s already got all the time he needs.)