After a simultaneously wonderful and agonising evening spent with the object of his affections, Baekhyun leaves Kris' house morosely. Not because he didn't enjoy himself- he did, tremendously, and the image of Chanyeol's face bathed in the ever-changing light of the TV is going to be seared into his mind for weeks- but because he doesn't want to go.

 He wishes now he'd had the courage to at least speak to her directly, god knows he had plenty of opportunities. But naturally, him being his useless cowardly self, he'd avoided her every time. She probably thought he was  really rude or something.

He curses himself internally, a barrage of slicing insults tailored to make him feel worse about the whole affair. As he's able to sense what Baekhyun is doing,  Jongdae slaps an arm over his shoulders. 

"That wasn't that bad. Now we just need to get you to speak up a little more. " Jongdae encourages,  after shutting the door behind him.  

"Shut up. I still haven't forgiven you for springing this on me with no warning.  How are you friends with Kris anyway? " Baekhyun continues, scandalized.

"That doesn't matter. What does matter is how Chanyeol was hanging off your every word, my son."

"Bull."  Baekhyun deadpans. He hasn't believed in any of Jongdae's lies before, why should he start now?  He's not so gullible as to believe everything he's told. 

Jongdae looks at him for just a moment, then rolls his eyes dramatically. "Look" he positions himself so that he's walking backwards in front of Baekhyun,  "how you managed to miss the way she was glancing at you is unbelievable, really, but she definitely wanted to talk to you. "

Baekhyun glares at him skeptically then shakes his head. Sometimes Jongdae doesn't know when he's taken it too far. The idea that Chanyeol could be as interested in him as he is in her is just to fanciful to be worth consideration. 

For the rest of the way to the bus stop Jongdae continues to try and convince Baekhyun of Chanyeol's reciprocation,  but Baekhyun stays resolute.  He certainly is stubborn.

As they get off the bus,  Jongdae sheepishly asks if he could possibly, like,  stay at your place tonight?  Please?  Baekhyun his lips and prays for strength. Even as he nods his head yes he regrets his choice, as Jongdae as a nasty and honestly cringe-inducing habit of flirting  with his older sister.

He says its not serious,  and he only does it because her responses are brilliant (she has become adept at cutting him down) but its still uncomfortable to watch. 

Jongdae's mood mood picks up exponentially after that, and he chatters endlessly about schoolwork, video games and girls while Baekhyun texts his sister to warn her of Jongdae's arrival.

They arrive at Baekhyun's home not long after, and they head to Baekhyun's bedroom to deposit their things. It's quite late now, so they're going to have to be quiet so as not to disturb the other people in the building. Baekhyun's family are pretty quiet after lights out, and really light sleepers: something which runs in the family. It's more a curse than a blessing, since something as simple a police siren going by can wake him up in the middle of the night.

Jongdae pulls out the spare mattress from underneath the main frame. Baekhyun has one of those ikea ones with a matching roll-out bed, most often put to use by Jongdae on his impromtu visits such as these. Baekhyun goes to the bathroom to find a spare toothbrush for Jondgae to use, and tosses it to him, not caring particularly if he doesn't catch it. He does catch it though, so no need to worry.

He then locks the door and brushes his own teeth furiously with his extra whitening toothpaste, and washes his face instead of taking a shower. He's not a big fan of stripping with other people nearby, especially not when it's Jongdae. Shaking the wetness out of his fringe, he unlocks the bathroom door with a clunk and heads back down the corridor quietly.

He walks in on Jongdae putting his phone down guiltily. Except it's not Jongdae's phone, it's Baekhyun's!

"What have you done?" he accuses him, frantically diving for his phone to check whether he's changed anything, be it a password or a background,

"I texted Chanyeol for you, since-"

"You what?" Baekhyun's stomach drops through the floor, as he whispers acidly at Jongdae who is backing away from him, arms held out in a peaceful, placating manner. Baekhyun quickly pulls up the messages log on his phone, but sees nothing in Chanyeol's window. The idiot must've deleted what he sent. 

"I texted Chanyeol. Because I knew that you would never do it yourself," Baekhyun glares at him hotly. He has no right to be doing these kinds ofg things in his place. He scrambles to send a second text, in an attempt to make ammends.

To: Chanyeollie 

WHATEVER YOU JUST RECEIVED WAS A LIE

IT WAS JONGDAE NOT ME

There, hopefully that will help. 

"Go get dressed," Baekhyun snarls. Jongdae looks up sharply at his tone and Baekhyun immediately apologises, "Sorry, but you can't just mess with my stuff like that. Do it again and I will punch you. In the face. Don't forget it. There're some pyjamas you can borrow in the second drawer up," he points absently at his brown chest of drawers on the opposite side of the room, far to invested in waiting for a reply from Chanyeol to really care about Jongdae anymore.

Where did he get her number anyway? From Kris? He hadn't known they were so close as to be sharing out other people's phone numbers like that. He vaguely registers Jongdae shutting the door as he leaves, folded pyjamas in hand. Baekhyun quickly changes into his own for the night, having momentary trouble finding them under all his rumpled up bedding. Once he's done, he leans back against his pillow, tucked beneath his duvet, and stares at his phone.

Every second he is left waiting is another second he's left to fret about the nature of Jongdae's text. Was it something ual? Offensive? Did he reveal Baekhyun's crush? 

He decides to send a second -third?- message, one asking about what Jongdae sent but just as he opens the messaging app, it vibratess in his hand. Baekhyun shivers nervously as he opens it.

From: Chanyeollie

dont worry it was just to say that u got my number from him ;)

She sent him a winky face. That's flirtatious isn't it? He waits another few seconds for the inevitable correction, *:), but it never comes and Baekhyun concludes that she isn't too fussed about his conclusion. He wonders whether he should reply, and if so what should he say? He wriggles further into his bed, turning onto his side and pulling the top of the duvet right up to his chin. What to say, what to say.

What can he say that won't make him sound like an idiot, stalker, or both? Or worse, completely disinterested? He eventually goes with a simple, 

To: Chanyeollie

oh i see ( ＾◡＾) 

He then curses himself for seeming like he doesn't care. It was too definitive, and now she won't be able to easily reply. He rolls over again, feeling like this opportunity to speak to his crush without actually speaking to her is slipping through his fingers. He desperately wants to get to know her better, to know the things she likes, the things that make her laugh, the things that make her sad, but he can't bring himself to talk to her in person.

This is essentially the chance of a lifetime and Baekhyun knows technically he should be grateful to Jongdae for presenting it to him, but he shouldn't have gone about doing it in such an underhanded way. So maybe, if he'd asked, Baekhyun would've cowered in bashfulness and run away, but still. Texting her and then deleting it afterwards was a little rude.

The door opens, swooshing across the carpet, and Baekhyun reflexively cranes his head to look, even though he knows it's only going to be Jongdae. Jongdae jerks his head, and raises an eyebrow smugly.

"So how's it going with the love of your life?" he asks, arrogantly. Baekhyun just harrumphs and glares at him,

"Turn off the lights and go to sleep," he orders. His house, his rules.

He chuckles soundlessly to himself as he sends one last message before he goes to sleep with images of curling auburn hair, endless legs and a smile sent from the heavens swimming in circles around his mind.

To: Chanyeollie

goodnight ( ⋂‿⋂’)

-

*updates at 3am* why are these chapters slowly growing omg

guys guys comment, talk to me, im friendly i swear (・ω・ )