Although generally laid back, the entire situation was starting to set Lay’s teeth on edge.  With warm jackets and boots on, he and Suho set out directly away from the front doors, calling for Baekhyun every so often.  They looked for footprints and checked down alleys, trying to keep an eye on each other as well as their missing bandmate.

 

 

After five minutes of relative silence, Suho couldn’t stand it any longer.  “I’m really sorry for causing trouble,” he said.  “I didn’t know what else to do.”  His face twisted up.  “It really wasn’t even that great of a kiss.”

 

 

Lay looked over at him, and could tell by the twisted expression on his face that the whole thing was eating him up inside.  He turned back and reached for Suho’s hand, giving it a squeeze.  “We’ll find him, and then you can apologise.  Let him hit you if he needs to.  From what Kris and Luhan have said, he’s been in love with Chanyeol for a long time.  And it’s not like you guys did anything wrong,” Lay added.  “When Kris told us about the fanservice directive, we all kissed and practiced holding hands.”  He squeezed Suho’s again to make his point. 

 

 

Instead of being comforting, this simply brought a horrified look to Suho’s face.  “All…?”

 

 

“It was weird,” Lay confessed.  “I don’t really like any of them like that.”

 

 

“Oh.”

 

 

Several more minutes passed in silence.  Suho’s discomfort was pressing on Lay like a physical thing.  “So, Suho-ssi, do you have anyone you like?”

 

 

The look Suho shot him was nothing short of haunted.  The laugh he gave was slightly hysterical.  “Yes!” he squeaked. 

 

 

Lay waited to see if he would elabourate, and then sighed.  “I think you’re kind of lucky, actually.”  Changing the subject seemed safe.  “Chanyeol’s very attractive.  I don’t think I’d mind kissing him.”

 

 

Pressure on his hand and arm alerted Lay to two things: firstly, he’d forgotten to let go of Suho’s hand – not that he minded – and secondly, Suho had stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk, letting Lay walk on without him until their joined hands stopped him.  Lay looked back, trying to decipher the expression on his face.

 

 

“So you’re… are you…”  He jogged a few steps to catch up, and they kept walking, looking.  “Do you like… guys, then?”

 

 

Suho – whose reaction to being caught kissing Chanyeol had been immediate denial – seemed to be having trouble with it.  Afraid he was homophobic, Lay weighed his words carefully. 

 

 

“I like who I like,” he said finally.  “Gender doesn’t really make a difference.”

 

 

“I only like one person,” Suho offered, and then silenced himself with a strangled noise.  “Sorry!”

 

 

Suho was weird when they were one on one like this.  Lay briefly wondered if he was always so hot-and-cold in his reactions, and then wondered what it would be like to live with that kind of inconsistency. 

 

 

Trying to keep the conversation going, Lay grasped at straws.  “What’s her name then?  Is she with S.M.?”

 

 

Suho stared at him, clearly puzzled.  “Who?”

 

 

You have got to be kidding me.  Lay sighed.  “The girl you like.”  The lightbulb flashed on then, as Lay reconsidered Suho’s words.  One person.  “Or is it a guy?”

 

 

“Yes, he’s – he’s with S.M.”

 

 

“Anyone I know?”  It was probably the most awkward conversation in the history of spoken languages. 

 

 

Suho was silent.  When Lay glanced at him, his face seemed flushed, though with embarrassment or cold he couldn’t tell. 

 

 

Lay sighed again.

 

 

“You know him!” Suho said quickly.  “It’s… oh, gods.  This is awkward.”  It was the least awkward thing Suho had said to him all night and it was a comment on the awkwardness of their conversation.  “Lay, it’s you.  I like you.” He wrenched his hand out of Lay’s grasp, and crossed his arms over his chest defensively.  While Lay stared at him, slightly shocked, Suho refused to meet his eyes, staring resolutely in the other direction.

 

 

Suho likes… me.  Okay.  Huh.  Do I like him?  Not very much right now.  Objectively, however, Suho was damn good looking.  He was generally a competent leader – not as good as Kris, but then no one except Kris himself could match his leadership skills.  Lay admitted to himself that he might be a little bit biased.  He was smart, and he was usually funny.  This had been a bad night for them all.

 

 

“Chanyeol told me he would pretend I was Baekhyun while we practiced, and said I could pretend he was – you.”

 

 

Ah, the awkwardness was back.  Lay’s old friend.  Stiff, disjointed conversations at nine-thirty at night in the pouring snow while looking for missing people was definitely number one on his list of least favourite things to do.  “I see,” he said, for lack of anything more constructive to add.  “So Chanyeol likes Baekhyun?” 

 

 

Suho looked at him. 

 

 

He really is rather attractive, Lay thought.  It wouldn’t be terrible.  They could at least give it a try, and see how things went. With no serious feelings on either side, if it ended badly, it wouldn’t affect the team dynamic.  Not like the mess with Chanyeol and Baekhyun was doing. 

 

 

But then again, the C&B mess was encouraging the two Exo teams to work in unison – as one, as they were always claiming to be.  And it was drawing Lay and Suho closer together.  Good things were coming of it after all. 

 

 

“Yes,” Suho said flatly, answering Lay’s question. 

 

 

“I see,” he said again.  “I’ll speak honestly to you.  I don’t know if I like you.  I haven’t had a lot of time to consider it.  But if you’d like, we can see where things go after we find Baekhyun.”

 

 

“Excuse me?”

 

 

Both of their phones started ringing at the same time.  They answered in unison, and from Suho’s expression, Lay figured they had identical messages.

 

 

Baekhyun had been found unconscious beside the drainage canal.