On the walk back to their shared dorms, Baekhyun passed a store that Chanyeol loved.  Figuring that a little buttering-up wouldn’t go amiss, he ducked inside. 

Just a few minutes later he emerged victorious, with a bag containing a ball cap with a bomb on it – something he knew Chanyeol would like, especially given the unspoken jibe that he was explosive – and some of Chanyeol’s favourite candy bars, the ones he very rarely bought for himself because he couldn’t condone the waste of money.  He also bought special soda drinks imported from Japan, and for himself, a little container of ice cream.  It was like a – well, not a date, he told himself, romantic-type dates like that were for girls - but it could be a special, romantic-type night.  His final purchase was a movie Chanyeol had been waiting for, some action flick with a lot of cars. 

Not a date, he reminded himself, and let himself into the dorm.  Many doors were open, and he could hear Kris and Tao arguing with Kai and D.O. over the pronunciation of a certain word.  Given that the argument was taking place at top volume, he couldn’t even decipher which word they were debating, but it was apparently heated.  Lay, slumped in the hallway against the wall, raised his head and half-heartedly lifted a hand in greeting when he saw Baekhyun approaching.

“They’ve been at this for nearly an hour,” Lay whispered.  “If you value your life or your hearing, don’t go anywhere near them.”  He gestured at the room Tao and Kris were sharing.  Chen appeared in the door to one of the rooms and waved Lay in.  Lay went hurriedly, flashing an apologetic look at Baekhyun, and vanished into Xiumin and Chen’s room.  It had been a while since they’d all lived together, and Baekhyun paused a moment to consider the rooming arrangements.  He was pretty sure it had been different at first, and vacantly wondered if anything was going on between Kris and Tao, that suddenly they were shaking up the dorm assignments.  He had heard Kris say Tao’s aegyo worked on him, and resolved to get the whole story from one of them before they left, right after he found out why they were there in the first place. 

But first on the agenda was Chanyeol.  Before he started meddling in anyone else’s love-lives, he told himself, he needed to get his own straightened out.  Knowing he looked good, had brought gifts Chanyeol would like, and was a brave, strong, courageous person, he took a deep breath and opened the door, a friendly grin on his face.

The sight that greeted him froze him in place, the smile slipping away as hope gave way to shock, and then to a black despair.  Behind him, the door swung shut on its own.  The bag slipped from nerveless fingers and hit the floor with a muffled thud, and glass shattered.  Baekhyun was totally unaware of everything. 

The couch in the sitting room was positioned at an angle to the door, so that Baekhyun got a clear-eyed view of everything.  Chanyeol was perched on Suho’s lap, his knees hugging the leader’s hips. He had both hands tangled in Suho’s hair.  These things hit Baekhyun in flashes, as though his brain couldn’t process the whole thing at once.  He took in Suho’s fingers, one hand resting on Chanyeol’s hip, the other the back of his neck, where Baekhyun knew from accidental experience that Chanyeol was sensitive.

Their lips were locked together and they appeared to be trying to locate one another’s tonsils with their tongues. 

Someone made a noise.  Whether it was one of the two on the couch, or Baekhyun himself, he didn’t know.

Didn’t care. 

Blind and shaking, he took a step back.  Then another.  He thumped into the door, turned, and wrenched it open with enough force that it banged into the wall.  Then he was running. 

He crashed into someone, earning a pained shout that he paid no attention to.  The only thing in his mind was the sight of Suho and Chanyeol kissing so passionately right there in the dorm, and his own overwhelming need to be as far away from it as possible.  The sun was setting over the city, and snow was just beginning to drift down heavily to mix with the older snow still on the sidewalk. 

Baekhyun ran on.