“Erm… hi,” Baekhyun stands awkwardly behind Jonghyun’s table, waiting for him to notice him. Jonghyun’s head whips around, looking for the noise. “Right here,” Baekhyun says and Jonghyun turns around with a smile.

“Oh! Baekhyun, hey,” Jonghyun scoots over on the bench, inadvertently causing two of his friends to practically be crammed together. “Come sit!”

Baekhyun does, acutely aware of the eyes silently judging him. He’s really glad his hair looks good today. No way in hell he’d meet Kim Jonghyun’s friends on a bad hair day.

“I thought you were meeting your friend?” Jonghyun asks as Baekhyun slides in next to him. They’re close, but not too close.

Baekhyun can’t help but feel angry with Chanyeol. He even got the stupid kid his expensive, gross bulgogi and he just waves him away like whatever. Organic chemistry lecture… yeah right. Baekhyun bet he was just trying to get back at him for yesterday.

“He ditched me,” Baekhyun mumbles, still sore about the whole subject.

“Aww, don’t pout, Baekhyun-ah,” Jonghyun says with a smile and wraps his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders. Baekhyun perks up immediately. “I won’t ditch you.”

“He’s greasy, right?” One of Jonghyun’s friends says dully, because this is probably an every day occurrence. “Sometimes he can’t even control himself.”

“Uhm—“ is all Baekhyun says because Kim Jonghyun’s arms are wrapped. Around. His. Shoulders. He smells really, really nice.

“Aren’t you that one kid,” another boy with (what even Baekhyun admits to being) a pretty face asks through a mouthful of rice. “That won that huge scholarship?”

Slowly, Baekhyun nods. It’s true. The only reason he’s here at this so-expensive-it’s-ridiculous school is because he got lucky with that scholarship. Well, he thinks he got lucky. His friends try to convince him that he’s like the most talented singer to grace Korea since… freaking Rain or someone.

“I didn’t know that,” Jonghyun says, finally taking his arm from around Baekhyun’s shoulders so he can eat easier. “It makes sense though. Like I said, you’re super talented.”

“You’re making the kid blush,” the same friend that spoke at first says, a smug smile on his lips. “Look at him, he’s all red!”

Baekhyun ducks his head as everyone laughs at him. He still can’t settle on if this was a good decision or not.

“Oh yeah!” Jonghyun says suddenly. “I guess I should introduce you guys. This is Kibum, Minho, Taemin, and Jinki. Guys, this is Byun Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun goes around the table, slowly matching the faces to the names. He’s seen all of them around before. He never knew they were friends with him.

“Your name does sound kind of familiar,” the one named Jinki says thoughtfully. “Oh! Aren’t you friends with Park Chanyeol?”

Before Baekhyun can answer, everyone else is already talking.

“Oh, my god, Park Chanyeol!” Taemin says, banging his hands on the table, already laughing. “He was the teaching aide in my chemistry class last year. He was the one that set Mr. Choi on fire!”

“That kid!” Kibum bursts out, now laughing with Taemin. “I know who that is. One time I saw him walk into a door. And then he said ‘sorry’.”

At that, everyone at the table starts cracking up, with the exception of Baekhyun and Jinki. Baekhyun feels heat crawling up his arms like an army of fire ants. He doesn’t even care that Chanyeol left him anymore. No one is allowed to make fun of him. Ever.

“He was the one that started crying in gym class,” Minho says through his chuckling. “When we were running he just… started crying.”

It’s Kibum that’s getting the biggest kick out of this. He starts laughing even harder. “I can’t ever look at him for too long. He always looks like he wants to murder me with—“

“Okay!” Baekhyun says loudly, smacking his fists on the table. Everyone stops dead in their tracks. “Park Chanyeol’s my best friend, okay? And you guys don’t know why he is the way he is so stop being s about it.” Practically livid, Baekhyun turns to Jinki, the instigator of this whole thing. “Yes, I’m friends with him. Is that a problem with you?”

Eyes wide, Jinki blinks. “Uhm, no. I was just going to say… he’s really smart in uhm… science and stuff. That’s it, I swear.”

Baekhyun takes a deep breath and nods. Then, he realizes he just went ape on these people and they’re friends with the guy he likes and oh, god.  Jonghyun probably thinks he’s some psycho that randomly unleashes on people. Seriously, he’s been talking to the guy for two days and he’s already made a fool of himself too many times to count.

“We’re really sorry, Baekhyun,” Jonghyun says sheepishly, much to his surprise. Jonghyun hadn’t even said anything about Chanyeol. He had been laughing though.

“I’m sorry, too,” Baekhyun finally says. “Sometimes I just… I don’t know.”

“He’s your best friend, of course you’re going to look out for him,” Jonghyun says with a smile. “We were being stupid, really. Park Chanyeol’s lucky to have a friend like you.”

Wow Baekhyun thinks incredulously. It should be three strikes and you’re out by now. Why does he have to be so perfect?

Eager to change the subject, Baekhyun just shrugs. “You were gonna talk to me… about tutoring.”

“Right,” Jonghyun nods enthusiastically. “I’m pretty busy but Thursday and Friday nights are open for me. Do you drive to school?”

“No,” Baekhyun shakes his head. He doesn’t have any money to buy a car is the sad reality. He just says he’s environmentally conscious. “I ride the bus.”

“Good, that works out then!” Jonghyun seems really happy about this whole arrangement. “So, Thursday and Friday nights, we can go to my house—“

“Oh wait, I forgot,” Baekhyun says suddenly, almost distracted at the prospect of spendinghours with Kim Jonghyun at his house at night. “I can’t on Fridays. I have… stuff.”

Every Friday night, Chanyeol and Baekhyun hang out, just the two of them. No one else is allowed to come and a week rarely goes by when one of them can’t make it. Usually, they watch stupid movies or Chanyeol tries to help Baekhyun with his Physics homework (just another subject that he epically fails in).

“That’s cool,” Jonghyun shrugs. “So Thursday nights it is, then. You, me, and Pre-Calc. Sounds like a good time.”

“Oh, my god, look at him,” Kibum snorts. “He’s blushingso hard.”

“So how was lunch with your dream boy and his friends?” Kai asks as they’re walking towards the bus stop, though his tone isn’t too friendly.

“What’s your problem?” Baekhyun mumbles, kicking at a rock. “We were just talking about tutoring and stuff.”

Kai rolls his eyes. “You were just mad that Chanyeol ditched you. FYI, he didn’t want to! That lecture was mandatory and you got all pissy like a little girl that he was leaving you.”

“I—“ Baekhyun can’t even get two words in before Kai is off again.

“You treat him like , you know,” Kai says. “Don’t think we don’t see it and don’t think he’s not affected. Ever since you first laid eyes on stupid freaking Kim Jonghyun, your friendship’s changed.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Baekhyun asks, agitated now because who the does Kai think he is, going on about their friendship?

“I know you guys are “best friends” and it’s like some deep bond that none of us will truly understand or whatever,” Kai says. “But you can’t be in control of him forever. He needs to live his life, too, you know. He barely knows how to function around girls because whenever you see him with one, you freak out!”

“What are you trying to say?” Baekhyun says lowly.

“You either need to start being the friend that Chanyeol deserves or let him go off and live his own life. Especially now that you have Jonghyun. You can’t have them both, you know.”

“I don’t “have” anyone,” Baekhyun snaps, not really sure what he’s done to deserve this sudden verbal assault. “And I’ve been Chanyeol’s friend for years. You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

That’s it. End of conversation. He hears Kai huff but he can’t bring himself to care. Today has been both the bet and worst day ever. He’s mentally drained but he still has to hang out with Chanyeol tonight.

Chanyeol, Chanyeol, Chanyeol. As Baekhyun and Kai ride the bus in silence, Baekhyun tries to think when their friendship became so complicated. 

oh my god. no comment. OTL.

apparently, i have nothing better to do today. i'm working on the next chapter now. you guys. H E L P.

idk how you guys can handle this. there's been like zero baekyeol interaction this whole story. if i was reading i'd be so frustrated by now. but you guys are awesome so yay. 

baekyeol fluff next chapter because i said so. ^_^

~Ari