genre: crossdressing, romance(?)
word count: 1958

—————

"oppa, please", a young woman's plea echoes through the room.

byun baekhee pouts when she hears her older brother say "no" for the sixth time that day. if only she wasn't deeply in love with her best friend, wu shixun, she wouldn't be there begging her brother to dress up and pretend as her in some date she never wanted in the first place. somehow, her best friend since senior high thought she's been single for too long and needed some 'spice' in her almost-boring life. unlike her older brother of two years, baekhyun, baekhee isn't a fan of crowded places and social activities. she's literally a homebody who enjoys her peace at home, with a smaller social circle than most women her age. she never complained nor did she ever felt lacking but shixun felt like he needed to do something about it. so he did, although he might have skipped a few steps and went straight to setting her up to a blind date.

"why won't you just tell shixun you're not interested?", baekhyun suggests. there's no way he's dressing up as her.

"i already did! he wouldn't listen. says he's already told his cousin and it was too late to cancel." she whines with a pout, knowing it's too irresistible for her brother.

"no pouting, young lady." she only does more.

"why don't you just meet him and say you're not interested?"

"i can do that, yes, but what if he starts asking why? i don't want to explain." baekhyun sighs.

"what do i get out of this?"

"uhh, a possible...boyfriend?" he raises an eyebrow at her.

"well, i haven't seen his cousin, actually, but shixun's... good-looking so maybe his cousin isn't so bad? you know what they say about good genes."

"god, you're hopeless."

"pretty please, baekhyunnie? do this for me?" baekhyun sighs one last time. when has he ever said no to baekhee, anyway?

baekhyun's quite sure he looks like an idiot. no, baekhyunnie, you look gorgeous, baekhee did say earlier but he wasn't sure if she was only lifting his confidence up so he could do the favor or she was really being honest. he would be lying if he said he didn't find himself pretty when he saw his own reflection after the make-over.

he has a medium-length blonde wig that looks exactly like baekhee's—made prettier with a cute red ribbon headband. he was even surprised how he looked really like his sister. but now that he's actually out in the public, he can't help but feel embarrassed and stupid. he knows he looks funny trying so hard to walk comfortably with a skirt. (baekhee had told him wearing a tight jeans will probably give him away.)

the bells chime as baekhyun enters the cafe where baekhee and shixun's cousin are set up to meet. he scans the place and looks for the table on the right, near the glass wall.

"he said he's wearing a white dress shirt." he remembers baekhee telling him. "and he's sitting on table 8."

baekhyun approaches one of the staff and asks which one is table 8. he feels even more embarrassed when he had to modulate his voice to sound like a female. luckily, it looks like the male staff fails to notice and kindly points to him the table he's looking for. baekhyun thanks him and glances at the table.

his breath hitches as he sees the broad back of the guy he assumes is shixun's cousin. he approaches him with tiny, careful steps; gathering courage as he does so. breathes in, breathes out. he gives sehun a tap on the shoulder and— wait, did everything just go in slow motion? baekhyun freezes. he used to think the ones in clichéd romantic dramas are exaggerated. love interest turns in a really slow speed. sparkles— and are those butterflies?— shower as the glowing light blinds baekhyun and hits him straight in his chest, it tightens. at that moment, baekhyun forgets how to breathe.

"uh, hello?" is that the voice of god? he can listen to it forever.

"baekhee?", the man calls out, snapping his fingers in baekhyun's face to ground him back to reality.

luckily, that does the trick and baekhyun flushes after being caught red-handed.

"ah, yes, hi!" he greets, offering a hand at sehun. "i'm baekhee, nice to meet you."

sehun stands up and baekhyun realizes shixun's cousin is much taller than him, even when he's on high heels. what is not perfect about this man?

sehun shakes his hand and smiles, "hi baekhee, nice to meet you, too." he walks over to the other side of the table and pulls the chair out. "here, have a seat."

baekhyun does, uttering thanks to sehun for his gentle gesture.

"so uh, how about we order something first?" is sehun's suggestion to which baekhyun nods in agreement. t

check the menu for the next few minutes before sehun calls the waiter and starts ordering. once the waiter leaves, sehun turns his attention back to baekhyun.

"so you are shixun's best friend?"

"well, yeah. for the longest time."

"that's cool. i guess i do see now why he can't stop talking about you. you're very lovely and beautiful." damn, the things those words do to baekhyun's heart.

"aw, you're such a sweetheart, thank you. you look gorgeous as hell."

"as hell?", sehun chuckles.

baekhyun's eyes go wide in devastating realization of what he just said, "no, i meant as well!" but he mumbles, "though both are applicable."

sehun lets out a laugh and it rings beautifully in baekhyun's ears. "well, thank you, then." he flashes a smile. "but baekhee?"

"yes?"

"i'd really like to be honest with you." sehun's tone is serious.

baekhyun suddenly grows nervous. what is it? is there something on his face? did he mess his hair up?

"uh, about what?"

"like i said, you are very lovely and beautiful. and i know we just started the date. we don't know much about each other but i do hope it turns out well for us." sehun pauses and baekhyun grows even more nervous. "as friends. i hope you don't mind that?"

oh.

"baekhee? i lost you there."

"oh? sorry, yeah. it's alright. of course, it'd be nice to be friends with you. i'm...not really expecting much out of this, anyway." baekhyun fakes a laugh. "it was all shixun's idea."

sehun chuckles, too. "yeah, though i don't really understand though why he would set me up with you when he clearly knows i'm gay."

baekhyun's eyes grows wide. "wait what?"

"wait, are you against us?" sehun raises his eyebrow, ready to judge baekhee for whatever answer he got.

"no!" he exclaims, "well no, my brother is actually biual. i'm open and i accept everyone in the community."

sehun obviously relaxes at that and he smiles at baekhyun. "thank you, that's very sweet of you. your brother is lucky."

baekhyun reciprocates the same. "i am, ah i mean yes, he is."

a fat silence envelopes them for a few minutes, neither one of them knows what to say. it breaks when the waiter arrives with their orders. once settled, the two starts digging in, enjoying their meals in a peaceful atmosphere.

baekhyun contemplates on whether he would tell sehun the truth or just keep up with the act. then he thinks about the confession sehun made earlier. he keeps staring at him as he thinks deep on the choices. sehun notices this.

"is there something on my face?" he asks, concerned.

baekhyun blushes and shakes his head. "no, i was just thinking."

"about?"

"why shixun would set you up with my— me if he knows about your preferences." sehun shrugs.

it just doesn't make sense to baekhyun. if shixun knows his cousin is gay, why would he set baekhee up on a date with his cousin? does he plan on hurting his sister? is he playing around? or—

baekhyun gasps, "do you think shixun likes baekhee?"

he's too excited that he forgets he's supposed to pretend as baekhee and ends up asking sehun in his /normal/ masculine voice. he covers his mouth in an attempt to save his cover but who is he kidding? judging by the way sehun chokes on his pasta, eyes wide, he's absolutely busted.

"what the ", a curse is what sehun says after calming down.

"look, i'm sorry!", baekhyun whispers. "i'm not baekhee, i'm her older brother, baekhyun. baekhee didn't want to come to this blind date so she begged me to pretend as her. please don't be mad." baekhyun sounds like he's begging, ready to kneel in front of sehun to ask his forgiveness for ever daring to fool the man around.

"hey, it's okay. it's okay. i was just...really surprised."

baekhyun bites his lips. "sorry."

"it's alright. now what were you saying about shixun?"

"you can keep a secret, right?" sehun chuckles, finding baekhyun adorable, especially with how he tries to appear serious and threatening.

"of course." "well, you see, baekhee wasn't interested in coming here because for the longest time, she's been pining over shixun."

"hold on, you mean your sister likes shixun?"

baekhyun nods. "since forever!"

"and why do you think shixun likes her back?"

"i just thought maybe he was trying to find out whether baekhee will give it a try?"

"i don't think i'm following." sehun admits with confusion written on his face.

cute.

baekhyun leans a little closer. "if baekhee did come here, to shixun, it could mean she is indeed interesting in dating but not interested in him. but if she doesn't, it could mean he has a chance." s

goes oooh as he understands what baekhyun is trying to say. "you could be right! so what do we do now?"

"well," baekhyun blushes. "as for them, i don't think there's much to do. though we can help give them a push but for now, it turns out i'm actually having fun in this date."

sehun leans closer to baekhyun this time, a teasing smirk on his face. "are you suggesting we continue the date as we should?"

"yeah, but this time, with baekhyunnie."

BONUS

"do you think they found out?", shixun whispers as they continue watching sehun and baekhyun talking outside through the window.

"i don't know? but i think our plan worked.", baekhee responds enthusiastically. "oppa isn't disguising anymore."

"true. wow, i really am a genius!", shixun exclaims with pride. chest up and hands on his hips. b

rolls her eyes and turns her attention to shixun, wanting to retaliate, "excuse me, it was my idea to set them up!"

"no, it wasn't. you stole my idea! i clearly told you hey babe, is your brother single and you were like, yes, he is, why? so i said, i got a cousin and i think they really suit each other and you cut me off by screaming, hey what if we set them up together!"

"still! i was the one who opened the idea and pushed baekhyunnie to agree with me."

"because that's what you're tasked to do!"

as they are arguing, they don't realize the door opens, revealing baekhyun and sehun, now watching them argue.

"how long do you think they'll realize we're here?", sehun asks rather loud, obviously trying to gain attention from the arguing couple.

the two stops and snaps their head to the elders.

"they're dumb so they probably won't realize it till later, like how they had to do dumb s to realize they have feelings for each other." baekhyun replies, teasing.

"excuse me, we've been dating for a month already!" shixun accidentally spills which earns him a gasp from baekhee.

"shixun!!!!!"

sehun and baekhyun only laughs. "gotcha!"