Kyungsoo slips into the plush cushions of the couch, dropping two, greasy paper bags onto the coffee table. Baekhyun still isn’t home yet, which is strange considering the time. He got off of work almost two hours ago and despite the amount of worried messages Kyungsoo had mass texted, Baekhyun only responded with a very questionable GIF of Winnie the Pooh doing some sort of questionable an eyebrow raise.

 

In two hours, that GIF is all he’s gotten as word that Baekhyun is alive, and still probably likes him.

 

Baekhyun never did mention having to run any errands after he got off, and Kyungsoo didn’t ask for him to pick anything up on the way home. Maybe he just got caught up with business, which is highly unlikely. Baekhyun is the type to clock out as soon as it’s time for him to go and will never stay in the office any longer than he’s supposed to, despite how much he says he really does love his job.

 

Kyungsoo would too, after all Baekhyun makes almost more in a month than Kyungsoo does in an entire year. How they ended up together Kyungsoo will never know, but Baekhyun is genuine, and he can at least feel confident enough to say that he thinks Baekhyun is happy, and truth be told, so is he.

 

The younger stretches out along the couch, not even bothering to touch anything inside either two of the bags until Baekhyun gets home. He could try calling him, but considering he’s been left on read all evening, the chances of him picking up and actually telling Kyungsoo what he’s doing, are unlikely.

 

“Soo, hey, I’m home! Wow, it smells really good, did you order in?” He hears Baekhyun shrugging off his bag and taking off his shoes by the door and sits up enough to see Baekhyun over the top of the couch and he almost thinks his eyes are going to roll out of his head.

 

Baekhyun is holding two handfuls of shopping bags, tightly clutched in both hands. He was out… Shopping… On a Thursday evening. Kyungsoo shouldn’t be surprised knowing Baekhyun’s habits, but he can’t help but ogle at the sight of the male who is trying to get a grip on himself as he stumbles taking his shoes off in the hall.. Baekhyun looks at him in confusion before his lips curl up into a knowing smile, “Does this explain why I didn’t get back you?” He asks, holding both arms up to show off the bags in his hands.

 

Kyungsoo only rolls his eyes and turns back around on the couch, undoing the bags of food that have been left waiting for few minutes now as Baekhyun runs to drop his own bags in their bedroom.

 

“Listen, I can explain.” The older whines, slipping in a little too close next to Kyungsoo on the couch as he reaches for the TV remote and begins flicking through channels while Kyungsoo glares.

 

“A couple weeks ago Junmyeon had invited us to his and Jongdae’s Halloween party and… I may have told him we’d show up as the best dressed couple…”

 

“Baekhyun, you didn’t.” Kyungsoo wines though a mouthful of food, sinking into the cushions of the couch, wishing he could make himself disappear into it. Of course Baekhyun would tell that to Junmyeon. He probably wanted to try and one up him and Jongdae, which is nearly impossible, or he just wanted to try and make Junmyeon really happy, which is not so impossible.

 

Baekhyun still continues to talk over him, not a single care in the world about Kyungsoo trying to evaporate next to him, “Being how you hate Halloween and all, I know you’d turn down the offer as soon as I told you. So, I took it upon myself instead to get us both costumes for tomorrow night!”

 

“Oh my god…” The younger mutters, eyes falling shut, he takes a deep breath to try and level out his frustration because Baekhyun really just sent Kyungsoo on edge for two and a half hours for this.

 

“What? You’ll love it, I promise it’s nothing too flashy or weird or anything. It’s simple enough for you but cool enough for the both of us. I promise you’ll like it.” He smiles, reaching his leg up to drape over Kyungsoo’s own.

 

“Baekhyun I’m not dressing up as anyone or anything. I’ll go with you to the party, but there’s no way you’re getting me to put anything on.”

 

“Ah, come on Soo.” The older pouts,  “I promised Junmyeon, and he was super excited. You know how adorable he is and I can’t just turn him down, he’ll be torn. He’s pretty much my saving grace and Jongdae is one of my closest friends… Please? Only for a few hours?”

 

“No.”

 

Great, now Baekhyun is giving him that look. Those stupid puppy eyes he’s really good at giving when he really, really wants something. The same ones he uses on Kyungsoo when they pass a bakery or an ice cream shop after they’d just eaten half their body weight in food already, or when he really wants Kyungsoo to try on some kind of article of clothing when they’re out shopping. Those eyes.

“I haven’t even told you what I picked out yet.”

 

“I don’t wanna know.” Kyungsoo deadpans, “I’m not dressing up.”

 

“What? Why? Why do you despise Halloween so much, it’s so fun?” Baekhyun pouts.

 

“I’ve never understood the hype, I guess.” He shrugs, “Besides, it just gives people a sad excuse to appropriate cultures that aren’t theirs and waste money on something they’ll only wear once. The only good thing about that comes out of it is the week after when all the candy is on sale.”

 

Baekhyun pauses for a moment, quietly chewing on some rice, “Well, I promise I didn’t do the appropriating half… I chose Princess Mononoke as our theme. You can be Aaka, and I’ll be San! You really like that movie and I do too, so… Y’know, why not?”

 

Yes, Kyungsoo does really like that movie. But not enough to dress up as one of the characters. He can’t even remember the last time he dressed up for Halloween, it’s been years. He only glares at Baekhyun who tries to look at him with pure persuasion in his face, prodding Kyungsoo’s other knee with his foot.

“I spent all day trying to put these together, Kyungsoo. Please? Just for tomorrow and then we can come home and you can torture me by watching as many scary movies as your little heart desires, okay?”

 

Kyungsoo hates turning down Baekhyun in times like this. Baekhyun has never really been the type to be pushy, he’s usually always very open minded despite him also being very straight forward and opinionated. He put a lot of effort, time and money into this, Kyungsoo should just agree for the sake of pleasing Baekhyun but he still holds back. He hates dressing up for anything, but costumes are at the top of the list. Kyungsoo is perfectly content on just going as himself, and, as said before, it’s only going to get worn once.

 

Yet somehow, Kyungsoo ends up eyeing himself in the mirror the next day, blues and white covering his body. He tightens the belt around his waist, and fumbles with the light blue top shirt. It exposes a lot of collar bone, and a good chunk of his chest, and he isn’t sure how great he feels about that.

 

“Baekhyun,” He calls, “This is hideous.”

He isn’t going to dress up in this and go to this party. He’s doing Studio Ghibli way too dirty by doing this.

 

“What? Of course not, come out here, I wanna see you.” Baekhyun’s voice is faint through the door, but Kyungsoo can still feel the grin plastered across his face. There’s no way he’s doing this.

 

It’s just for a few hours though. Kyungsoo appreciates the gesture of Baekhyun trying to keep it simple and getting it strangely accurate, but also really comfortable clothes for him to wear. There’s no telling how long Baekhyun has spent putting these together just to show off for a couple hours. It could have been worse, Baekhyun really could have done something crazier but he didn’t. Kyungsoo has to repeat to himself why he’s even doing this in the first place as he glances at himself in the mirror one last time and shuffles to the door.

 

His concern on his appearance flies out the window as soon as he sees Baekhyun standing in the hallway.

 

Two red triangles painted on his cheeks, one in the middle of his forehead. His dark hair falls over just below his brows and is adorned with a small black headband, complete with a jewel in the middle that match the ones wrapped around his arms. The sleeveless white shirt hangs delicately from his body and over some loose shorts that fall a few inches above his knees.  From the outfit to the accessories he got almost everything down. He even went as far to get himself the fur cape and necklace.

 

Baekhyun looks really good.

 

“The cape is fake fur, and I didn’t get the mask… I also swapped the dress for some shorts but-”

 

“You’re beautiful.” Kyungsoo smiles.

 

Baekhyun stops right in the middle of his sentence, eyes wide and totally taken aback by Kyungsoo’s sudden reference and he smiles a more shy smile this time, “You look really cute. I think I did pretty good, honestly.”

 

Kyungsoo can start to feel the burn creeping across his face and neck. He can’t tell of it’s from the compliment or the sight in front of him but either way, he really hopes Baekhyun doesn’t notice.

 

“We should get going or we’ll be late.” The other

 

Kyungsoo felt pretty stupid walking through both theirs and Junmyeon’s apartment complex. People were all over the place. Parents and their kids were just leaving for the night all dressed in costumes and couldn’t get over how pretty Baekhyun looked. Kyungsoo was more or less hidden, just the way he preferred. He’d rather watch Baekhyun get shy over compliments from little kids than be the one receiving them. Baekhyun was always better at that for the both of them.

 

Walking through the lobby of Junmyeon’s complex, Baekhyun slows his pace to match Kyungsoo, who has been trailing behind him since they walked out their door, and turns to him, “You know babe,” Baekhyun takes his hand and hold it up, examining it as they walk, “We should’ve painted your arm black or something. Y’know, for the demon?” He smiles, letting the younger’s hand fall, but keeping a hold on it.

 

“Scrubbing that off in the shower would be a nightmare itself.” He glances down at both their hands tied together and presses the button for the elevator.

 

“But it would’ve looked like… Ten times cooler.”

 

Kyungsoo hums, watching the doors slide open and stepping on with Baekhyun, “I don’t want to explain the weird black paint on my arm to a whole bunch of people though. Besides, I’m more content with you getting all the attention anyways. You handle it better than I do.”

 

Baekhyun presses Junmyeon’s floor, and the two stand silently as the doors shut, Baekhyun slowly swinging their intertwined hands together.

 

“We’ll see about that.” Is the last thing Baekhyun mumbles before they hit Junmyeon’s floor. His place couldn’t be missed. The door to his place was decked out in sparkly Halloween decorations and little sticky decals of ghosts and pumpkin and bats. Walking in was pretty much the same. Kyungsoo had thought Baekhyun went crazy with costumes, but Junmyeon and Jongdae were on a whole other level.

 

The two were decked out in suits and overcoats, complete with hats, Jongdae carried a cane, while Junmyeon had a pipe in hand.

“Sherlock and Watson, cool right?” Jongdae smiles, bringing Kyungsoo in for a hug.

 

“Baekhyun wasn’t kidding, you guys look really good.” Junmyeon smiles, eyes falling between the pair.

 

“I hope so.” Baekhyun breathes,  “You know how hard it was to find all this? I went to like, three different stores for this necklace alone. Plus, getting him to dress up is like trying to dress a ferret. It’s totally impossible.”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything, only rolls his eyes and tries for the second time now to ignore his ears heating up. Of course Baekhyun would throw that out. Kyungsoo stays quiet until Junmyeon and Jongdae leave them alone to greet others and makes the first move to go get drinks.

 

He manages to slip through the now crowded room to the bar, which Jongdae is manning with a smile on his face. He gets something simple for the two of them and Jongdae happily begins throwing it together, takin a few glances up every now and then.

“Baekhyun is really drawing in a crowd. You don’t mind?”

 

Kyungsoo turns around his jaw drops when he sees about five people gathered around Baekhyun, all laughing and dressed up and asking Baekhyun about who he’s dressed as.

 

“This is his life like, everyday. He likes it and I don’t really mind. I don’t want to explain myself a million times anyways.” Kyungsoo says, glancing back over his shoulder to Baekhyun. The two meet eyes for a brief moment but becomes intercepted when someone else comes to greet Baekhyun but he swears he saw a smirk flash across his lips before someone else came over and now he’s got more questions.

 

“You two are polar opposites. Crazy.” Jongdae chuckles, sliding two glasses across the counter to Kyungsoo, who thanks him. Polar opposites is true, but if he’s honest, they bring out the best of each other. Baekhyun isn’t always the happy-go-lucky type. He’s a lot more laid back when he’s with Kyungsoo, but of course, only Kyungsoo knows that.

 

Kyungsoo carefully slips through the slowly growing crowd of people as carefully as he can without spilling the contents in both glasses and manages to push through the the three, loudly joking males crowded around Baekhyun. Jongin, Chanyeol, and Sehun, three out the handful of employees at Baekhyun’s work are swarmed around the older, huge grings plastered across their faces.

 

As soon as Kyungsoo passes his glass to Baekhyun and the three catch the sight in front of them, the tables turn and everyone’s attention is on Kyungsoo and the fact that he’s here in an actual costume and not a cheap mask that he got from a costume store on his way over. The three erupt into teases and somehow manage to drag Baekhyun into it, turning Kyungsoo into a flustered mess in just a few seconds.

 

Kyungsoo plays along, of course. He’s pretty familiar with the three enough to play along for a bit and finally manages to slip into his next plan of action, which is taking Baekhyun over to an emptier part of the room where it’s barely quiet enough to talk.

 

“What was that you said earlier?”

 

Baekhyun’s brows press together and his head falls to the side cutely, “When? Is something wrong?”

 

“When we got off the elevator. What’d you say?”

 

Baekhyun stands up a little straighter and his lips curl up into a smirk, so maybe Kyungsoo wasn’t seeing things after all.

 

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

 

“Baekhyun, come on.”

 

“What I said about who was better at handling attention? No bother, I just wanted to test it out for myself and you really do fall apart. It’s cute.” He smiles, eyes scrunching and teeth showing.

 

“Baek,” Kyungsoo groans, letting his face fall and closing his eyes in annoyance. Baekhyun would be the type to get behind something dumb like this and knowing him, there’s more to it than it seems.

 

“What’s wrong?” He coos, hooking a finger under Kyungsoo’s chin and pulling his head back up so their both facing each other again.  “You’re always trying to stay hidden from compliments, I just wanna show you off a little.” Baekhyun smiles.

 

“I’m good just sticking with you and not playing twenty questions, really.” Kyungsoo sighs.

 

Baekhyun hums, “I’m not though,” He mutters, “I like showing you off.” He pauses and looks around for a few seconds before, “I like watching you get all flustered, and I really wanted to test how well you took me showing you off for…” Another pause, he glances across the room again as if making sure the coast was clear before getting a little closer and quietly muttering, “For future reference.”

 

Kyungsoo immediately feels his face heat up again, and Baekhyun’s eyes glint with mischief. Did he just foreshadow the rest of their night to him? Is that supposed to mean they’re ing when they get home? Is it more innocent? Does Baekhyun just want to take Kyungsoo to more parties? Meet more of his friends? Quite literally show him off to anyone and everyone around?

 

“See? Falling apart.” He smirks, taking Kyungsoo’s hands into his and giving them a light squeeze as he slips back out into the party.

 

The next two hours or so drag and even though Kyungsoo had a genuinely good time talking with the few people he hadn’t seen in a while, he really just wanted to go home. Baekhyun has ideas, and he can’t stop thinking about what they may be, as bad as it may sound.

 

He caught Baekhyun’s eyes on him way too many times to count through the entire night and when they finally agreed to leave and said goodbye to everyone they knew, Baekhyun’s hand would not stop falling to Kyungsoo’s when no one was paying attention.

 

Baekhyun was getting touchy, and when he gets touchy he has ideas, and when he has ideas, he’s persistent on getting it done. All the way home, Baekhyun’s hand was threaded with Kyungsoo’s and stayed like that on the middle console, Baekhyun occasionally the soft skin of Kyungsoo’s hand with his thumb.

 

“You kind of looked like your entire soul left your body after the first ten minutes we got there.” Baekhyun glances over at Kyungsoo for a second and turns his attention back on the road, giving his hand a light squeeze. “I know you still aren’t totally familiar with everyone but they like you. You make good impressions.”

 

“I hope so. Parties have never been my thing. I try.”

 

“Neither has compliments, apparently.” He laughs, causing Kyungsoo’s lips to form into a small pout and he looks the other way out the window as Baekhyun slows down for a red light. He glances back at Kyungsoo, smile still on his face, “Come on, Soo,” He whines, squeezing his hand again, “You’re genuinely nice and entertaining. And you look really ing good, how could anyone ignore you?”

 

“Besides,” Baekhyun starts quietly, “I like when you go with me to stuff like this. It’s… Reassuring… I  like having you next to me… Thank you, seriously.” He breathes.

 

“Wow, you admitting that you like having my awkward presence around you. Flattering.” Kyungsoo giggles, finally stealing a glance over at Baekhyun, whose eyes are glinting under the traffic lights.

 

Baekhyun tsks, “What can I say? I like you too much.”

 

Kyungsoo holds back any and all questions until they reach the elevator of their building and the first one he manages to choke out is cut off when Baekhyun pushes him against the closest wall and smashes his lips against the younger’s, hands gripped tightly in the soft fabric of his shirt, lips falling to the exposed skin and nipping at his collar bone. Kyungsoo’s hands immediately find their way to Baekhyun’s waist, pulling him closer.

 

The chime pings and the doors slide open, Kyungsoo doesn’t think his grip around Baekhyun’s waist could get any tighter. He’s flushed and his heart is racing, it’s incredible how Baekhyun is able to make him a pile of goo in seconds.

 

Baekhyun hurries to get the two of them off the elevator and too there room. Even walking down the hallway, Baekhyun doesn’t let his hands leave Kyungsoo. It takes him a little longer than usual to unlock the door but it takes no time for the two to slip inside and find each other’s lips again. It was a thick silence when they were slipping their shoes off and locking the front door but Baekhyun somehow managed to ease the tension when he slipped the fur cape and necklace off his head muttering “I have no idea what I’m gonna do with these now.” and hung them off the coat hook.

 

“See? My point exactly.” Kyungsoo mutters smartly, tugging at Baekhyun’s hand and pulling him further into the house. They only make it a few steps into their place before Baekhyun mumbles a quiet, “ it.” and pushes Kyungsoo onto the couch and falls on top of him with his legs pressing on either side of his waist.

 

He leans in close, but he doesn’t touch, only stares into Kyungsoo’s eyes with light smile on his face. His hands clasp just behind the other’s head, and then he makes a swift move to kiss Kyungsoo and pull away the next second. Baekhyun likes doing this, he likes the teasing, he like the edging, and Kyungsoo doesn’t mind it most of the time, but this is different. He can see there’s something Baekhyun wants to say but he won’t spill.

 

Kyungsoo watches as Baekhyun adjust on himself on his lap and the small pout that makes his lips jut when he eyes the younger under him.

 

“Shut up.” Kyungsoo says quickly. Baekhyun didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to.

 

“What? I didn’t even say anything.”

 

“But you were about to. And it was gonna be something weird.”

 

“Not weird,” Baekhyun drags, running the tips of his fingers along Kyungsoo’s exposed collar bone. There’s probably a few red marks there, probably not enough to leave bruises though. “Endearing.” Heart fluttering-“

 

“Weird.” Kyungsoo cuts flatly.

 

“I’m a poet.”

 

“You’re an intellectual .”

 

Baekhyun huffs, not bothering to reply and staring thoughtfully at the fabrics on Kyungsoo’s body, fingers still pressed against the exposed skin of his chest.

 

Baekhyun mutters something too quiet for Kyungsoo to hear and finally pulls his eyes up to look at the other. It feels like they’ve switched roles now. Baekhyun is being shy and hesitant like he didn’t just have Kyungsoo pushed up against the wall of the elevator just a few minutes ago and Kyungsoo is pushing for Baekhyun to spill whatever is making him act like this.

 

“What?” Kyungsoo asks for Baekhyun to repeat what he had muttered. Baekhyun chuckles and initiates another kiss, pulling Kyungsoo in closer as he slips his tongue past the other’s soft lips. Kyungsoo’s grip tightens around Baekhyun’s waist and he pulls in attempt to bring Baekhyun down harder into his lap.

 

Baekhyun smiles into their kiss, inhaling sharply as his hands fall onto Kyungsoo’s shoulders, “You,” He mumbles into Kyungsoo’s lips, “I love you.”

 

“What are you trying to say? You’re holding back.” Kyungsoo says, now being the one to pull back and tries to hold Baekhyun’s gaze on his. The other boys eyes are falling everywhere but on Kyungsoo. He’s thinking, but not really saying.

 

“Nothing,” Baekhyun clips, “I just-”

 

“No, you tell me.”

 

“I can’t though.” The other groans, “It’ll sound weird if I say it outloud. I’m afraid I’ll make you shrink in on yourself or something. It’s gross.”

 

“Baekhyun,”

 

The male releases a loud groan of annoyance and embarrassment, throwing his head back in protest and trying his absolute best to try and find a way out of this, but now that he’s already started, Kyungsoo is going to wring the answer out of him if he has to.

 

“You’re just… I’m… Lucky… To have you.” He blushes, leaning back in to give Kyungsoo another small, lingering kiss. It feels different from the others, the kind that despite it being so weightless makes Kyungsoo feel like weight has crushed all of his thoughts and made him dizzy.

 

Baekhyun ends up hiding his face in the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck, muttering something incoherent as he does. Kyungsoo’s hands leave their place on Baekhyun’s waist and begin to travel up and down his back. The guy turned from sadist to softire in like, two seconds. He’s all over the place tonight and Kyungsoo is totally confused but also kind of loving it. Seeing Baekhyun flustered and tripping over his words is… Cute.

 

“Everyday,” He mumbles, his breath is warm against Kyungsoo’s skin, so soft it makes him want to melt under him. “You’re always on my mind, Do Kyungsoo. Whether we’re apart or together, you’re always the center of my attention. Remember that.”

 

If Kyungsoo had melted by now, he would have evaporated into thin air. Baekhyun adjusts himself on Kyungsoo’s lap, sitting up and pressing a chaste kiss to his aching lips and shifts Kyungsoo until he’s stretched out along the couch, with Baekhyun still straddling him.

 

Babying Baekhyun is nice, most times rewarding. But Baekhyun being the baby is really what makes his heart do weird flips and his ears turn pink. Even though the lighting is awful, the only source being from the hallway, and they can’t fully make out each others figure, Kyungsoo knows Baekhyun is probably bright pink in the cheeks too.

 

Baekhyun sighs as he falls forward, both hands pressed against Kyungsoo’s chest as he kisses him flush on the lips.

 

It feels too short even though it was probably a lot longer. Baekhyun is good at doing that, always reeling Kyungsoo in.

 

“You know why I like to show you off so much?” Baekhyun asks, sitting back up again and running his fingers through the other’s hair.

 

“I can only imagine.” Kyungsoo deadpans, holding back an eye roll and watching the smile creep up over his boyfriends lips.

 

“It’s because you’re intriguing, Kyungsoo. You just don’t realize it.”

 

This is it. Kyungsoo has absolutely no way out of this. No amount of denying will convince Baekhyun otherwise, keeping his mouth shut and shyly shaking his head is all he can do anymore.

 

“You’re selfless, too humble. You can manage to make an entire room want your story just by introducing yourself, you know?”

 

No, he doesn’t. Because when Kyungsoo does go out on rare occasions like this, he’s too busy focusing on finding an exit.

 

The hand that’s running through Kyungsoo’s hair travels down to cradle one side of his face.

 

“You have something about you that drives people crazy, Kyungsoo. I saw it all tonight. I want people to know that the cute squishy baby next to me is all mine.”

 

Baekhyun’s hands reaches around the back of the youngers neck and pulls him up, meeting halfway in another hot kiss that leaves Kyungsoo’s lungs burning.

 

Baekhyun is too much like this. The paint that’s on his face is still there, dry and shining against his skin. His tank top has fallen down some, leaving some skin exposed. The little beads on his head and some pieces glitter when he moves around. Kyungsoo couldn’t take his eyes away if he had to.

 

“I can do the talking for the both of us, don’t worry.” his tone almost sounds pleading. Baekhyun has not the slightest idea that Kyungsoo has already fallen way too hard at this point and will quite literally do anything it takes to make Baekhyun smile.

 

“And even if you don’t want to,”

Another lingering kiss that makes Kyungsoo’s fingers curl into the soft fabric of Baekhyun’s shirt.

 

Baekhyun rests his forehead against Kyungsoo’s own, breath coming out in small, soft pants against Kyungsoo’s lips, “I’ll be sure to give you my utmost attention no matter what, because I love you too much,”

 

Another kiss to his forehead this time, the small glint in his eyes shimmers as he presses his mouth against Kyungsoo’s,

 

“Beautiful.” He finishes.