The rest of Monday morning goes by in a blur. Tao and Baekhyun and the rest of the company dancers are only five days away from their first performance of the season, and despite this being a relatively low-key, community affair, it’s still stressful on everyone. It’s only been one week since the dancers started learning new routines, and with just a few more days to go, those routines need to be memorized, perfected, and spotless. The studio is already under a flurry of activity as set workers plan out the staging details, dragging boxes and props down from the fourth floor. Costume designers set up shop in one of the smaller rooms, ready to schedule in the dancers’ fittings.

Tao’s first lunch break of the day is taken up by such a thing, so instead of eating with his friend, Baekhyun finds himself in the small courtyard out back eating with another pile of dancers including Luhan and Minseok. They all take a seat on the couple concrete tables and benches underneath a stunted but still shady tree.

Suho, of all people, sits down beside Baekhyun. The typically prickly soloist seems to be having one of his rare, affable moments. Side-eyeing him just in case Baekhyun’s eyes deceive him, he observes the dancer eating quietly. It’s definitely a rarity in the life of Suho, and somehow it unnerves Baekhyun.

“Tired today?” he asks casually.

Suho grunts in response, his mouth still full, but it comes with an air of finality so Baekhyun doesn’t test his luck any further, and Suho doesn’t reply again. He does speak to Luhan when addressed, though it’s just to answer a question about when his costume fitting session will be.

Luhan sighs. “Ahh most of us seem to be scheduled for this afternoon! I hate trying on outfits when I’m sweaty. Seok, when’s yours?”

“Same time as yours, as I already told you.” Minseok elbows Luhan in the ribs, and he grunts happily when Luhan twitches.

“Ow, that hurts! Why do you have to be so bony?”

“Why do you have to be so skinny? Grow some belly fat if you don’t want it to hurt.”

“I’m not skinny. You’re the skinny one. I’m muscular!” Luhan pouts.

They’re acting the same as ever, in spite of the weird feeling Baekyun had about them yesterday. He’s a little hesitant to mention this, but his curiosity is too strong, so he asks it anyways. “So, how was last night?”

Luhan immediately grins. “It was great!”

Minseok nods a couple times in agreement, displaying a pleasant smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I think my girl was prettier though,” Luhan continues. He seems determined to tease his friend, who only laughs and rolls his eyes.

“Your twin date looked the same as mine, idiot.” He takes another bite of his sandwich.

“Fine, okay. But I think my twin liked me better.” Luhan’s eyes glint mischievously as he stares down at his munching friend. “Guess yours doesn’t go for the chipmunk cheeks!” He cackles and presses his palms to Minseok’s full cheeks, not hard enough to leave a mark, but Minseok chokes anyways and jerks away from the touch. He swallows heavily and finally gets a chance to smack Luhan while the courtyard erupts with snickers and laughter.

“Hey why am I the one who keeps getting beat up today?!” he whines loudly.

“Because your role is less significant than mine,” Minseok retorts, and the fight is on.

Tao sits down on the free spot to Baekhyun’s left and skeptically observes the thrashing, fighting couple across the table. “Looks like a cat fight. What did I miss?”

“Luhan: 1. Minseok: 2. My bet’s on Minseok to win this for good though –” said dancer gains a choke hold around Luhan’s neck – “and there! I win my own bet.”

“Oh? So what's your prize?” Tao asks.

“My own satisfaction.” Personally Baekhyun thinks Minseok deserves to win this. Luhan was too clueless for his own good, though surprisingly he always lets Minseok win these battles, either by giving up when he technically has the physical advantage, or else he drinks too much and surrenders himself to Minseok’s mercy. Their friendship is too baffling for Baekhyun to figure out. Luhan may certainly be clueless about some things, some very important things, Baekhyun hazards to guess, yet somehow the two remain so sensitive of each other. 

“Huh,” Tao comments blandly, still watching the two wrestle.

“How was the fitting?”

“Just normal. Is a fitting supposed to be fun?”

“Guess not… I was just curious.”

“Woman took so many measurements and poked me with a needle twice,” he whines. “Oh by the way, Kai is here. I passed him in the hallway.”

“What?” Baekhyun squeaks. “I didn’t think he’d be here today.” Truthfully he hoped he would see Kai, but now that he knows the boy is in college he assumes Kai spends most of his week days there. He wishes he’d asked for his schedule last night, but somehow that didn’t seem so much a priority then as it did just spending time together.

Tao smirks. “Guess your boyfriend doesn’t tell you everything then, huh?” He speaks lightly but the others in their immediate vicinity hear it of course. Luhan and Minseok halt a game of drink tug-of-war to stare at Baekhyun, and Suho looks up sharply.

Baekhyun can’t remember the last time he felt more self-conscious with three pairs of eyes trained on his, plus Tao’s oops-infused look. He laughs warily as the trail of questions start pouring in: “You’re dating Kai?” – “Since when?”— “Since last night?”— “You’re not kidding?” – “Kai? Really?” – “Congrats!” Minseok and Luhan look ecstatic, as a few of the other dancers who know Kai crowd around them as well, all of this without Baekhyun answering even one question. Suho looks merely bored, though he does clap him once heavily on the back.

“Baek, answer us, huh?” Minseok insists politely.

“Uhh,” he titters, his tongue failing to form a response. “I, uh, yeah… last night… we…”

He’s saved from further commentary when his captive audience suddenly looks up at a spot behind him, and he feels a warm hand press down on his shoulder. He knows who it is without having to look up, and he figures he’s saved from answering when the one hand is removed and two come up to cap his ears lightly.  Baekhyun blushes bright red when he feels a pair of lips closing in over his head to peck at the hairline where his bangs are held back. 

The surrounding dancers ooh and ahhh and sound off a few fake gags. The lips depart and Kai gives Baekhyun a proper back hug, rocking his seated boyfriend around on the bench. All thoughts of having to keep this a secret are off, and Baekhyun wouldn’t have it any other way. He giggles when Kai’s hands graze across a few ticklish places on stomach and sides. Their cheeks brush across each other’s, blood flowing through Baekhyun’s body from the excitement, the newness, the partial embarrassment of the moment. No one else seems to mind though, let alone Kai, the initiator of it all, and Baekhyun’s perfectly fine with that. The only person not having fun in the courtyard is Tao, who looks a little too disgusted by the copious amounts of PDA.

“Kai, you sly thing!” shouts Luhan. “Keeping such secrets from us!” But Luhan winks, and Baekhyun’s pretty sure he’s suspected them already. He doesn’t have to ask Minseok, since he can safely say it was on his words that Baekhyun found the courage to even confront Kai.

Kai releases Baekhyun from his overly rough hug, and the others urge him to sit down. He refuses, however.

“I can’t stay long, I’m sorry.” He smiles widely, practically leering at his new boyfriend, who’s still blushing.

“How come you’re here?” Baekhyun finally asks.

“I don’t have morning classes on Monday,” he explains. “I came to see my mom about something, and I need to be quick so I can be on time for my afternoon class, but I wasn’t going to come by and not stop to see you.”

“Okay…” Baekhyun looks sad. “Will I see you later then?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll let you know, okay?”

“Okay…”

Kai laughs and ruffles Baekhyun's hair vigorously with one hand, then he nods to the others and retreats back inside. 

If Baekhyun felt embarrassed before, he definitely feels it now with everyone still staring at him and Kai no longer around to take the heat off their brand new relationship. “Ehhh…” he drawls awkwardly, and laughs, big toothy smile on display. “Surprise?”

It clears the air though, and while the others still pepper him with questions about the hows and whens, he declines to answer, waving away their inquiries with his apologetic, embarrassed hands. Minseok takes the hint and draws the others’ attention away from the stunning, life-shattering fact that Baekhyun and Kai are dating, and everyone knows it.

“Sorry for throwing that out there that way,” Tao apologizes quietly.

“Nah, it doesn’t matter,” Baekhyun replies. It would’ve been out soon enough, especially since Kai came down to see him. He’s still a little woozy from the encounter though, even if it was for just a short moment. How they’ll interact from now on, what kind of skinship the other one likes, how much time they’ll have for each other; they haven’t discussed any of that yet. Baekhyun doesn’t even know— “Hey wait a minute, Tao. I’ll be right back.”

He jumps off the bench seat and rushes into the building, wondering if Kai already saw his mother, or was he heading there next? A cursory glance tells him he’s not on the first floor, nor is Kai anywhere in sight when Baekhyun pokes his head out the front door, so he darts up the stairs instead. He finds him on the third floor landing a few doors down from his mother’s office.

Kai swings around at the sound of running footsteps even before Baekhyun calls out his name.

“Kai!” he says breathlessly.

“Huh? What… Baekhyun did you run all the up here?” He looks amused.

“Yeah?” he pants. “I just—at least give me your class schedule so I know when I can call or when I’ll know when you can respond to a text if I… so want.”

Kai grins back like an idiot. “Ahh, good thinking. Though you know you could’ve always just texted me to ask. You didn’t have to run all the way up here.”

So what if Baekhyun feels like an overeager boyfriend right now. Who could blame him when this was here to meet him at the top of a three flight dash? “Whatever. There’s no fun in just that, especially when I’ve only seen you for thirty seconds today.” He beams.

They’re standing about three feet from each other in the middle of the hallway, and now that Kai doesn’t have anything to prove and Baekhyun nothing to reveal to a troupe of over curious dancers, neither knows just what to do next. They haven't even been dating for twenty-four hours, now that Baekhyun thinks about it. Two one-sided pecks and a couple hugs, and that’s been it. It’s good to know, Baekhyun thinks, that they can talk so well to each other, except that now there seems to be a lull and he doesn’t know how best to fix that.

“I have class from 2:00 until 5:00 today,” Kai says.

“So I can call you after 5?”

“You can, yeah. Though I may not answer if I’m still around campus. I have to go see a professor afterwards.”

“Oh.”

“But you can text…”

“Okay then.”

“And I’ll probably respond…”

“Well you know you probably should respond. What if I have something important to ask you?”

Kai inclines his head. “Then, I would answer? What’ll be so important that I have to answer right away?” he teases, a hand sneaking its way up to grasp one of Baekhyun’s arms.

“Oh, like maybe if you have dinner plans any day this week.” Or if I suddenly can’t remember why you like me or if I’m only dreaming that we’re dating right now. Have they even discussed such things?  The way Baekhyun remembers it, he asked Kai if he liked him, Kai sort of responded and Baekhyun kissed him. Just like that. He blushes from the memory. Weren’t people supposed to have concrete reasons to date, reasons that they discussed with each other? Here they are, and they haven’t even gotten to the superficial things. Does Kai even think Baekhyun looks handsome? Dorky, pretty, or at least attractive? Because he knows he thinks Kai is hot, but he’s never said it, and in any case that’s not the reason he likes him so much.  

Kai answers, and Baekhyun misses it completely. “Huh?” He snaps out of his daydream in a hurry. “Wait, what did you say?” When did Kai’s hand feel so tight around the base of his forearm?

Now even Kai is confused. “I said, I don’t know about anything dinner related, but that you should text me your practice schedule too, since you seem to spend more time here than you do anywhere else.”

“Ohh, right.”

“Good. Then I’ll text you the rest of my class schedule too.”

“That’ll be great!”

They silently stare at each other. Finally Kai remembers that he has places to be. “Baekhyun?”

“Yeah?”

“I do have to get some stuff done right now…”

“Oh, right! Okay I’ll let you go now.” He turns to leave, but the hand clasping his arm causes Baekhyun to pause.

“Hey, not like that.” Kai closes the distance slowly and takes Baekhyun in his arms for a hug, wrapping his hands around Baekhyun’s tiny waist. “Say a proper goodbye next time, won’t you?” His chin nudges the shorter man’s neck.

“Okay I’ll do that.” Baekhyun hugs back.

“Good. Okay now you can go.”

He pulls back with a smile and his eyes stare brazenly at Baekhyun's lips.  He bites the bottom of his own lip and it's too much for Baekhyun to handle. Their arms still encase their bodies, but not as close as before, so Baekhyun leans in and upwards and presses a heavy kiss to Kai's lips. Unlike the night before, Kai returns the kiss, eager but not greedy. Then he separates from his boyfriend, turns the shorter one around by the shoulders and gives him a gentle push in the direction of the stairs. “See you later," he smirks.

Baekhyun thinks he mutters a goodbye, but he can't really be sure as he floats away down the staircase.

The hallway is silent as Kai watches him go, adrenaline rushing, curious if Baekhyun will return one last time, but when he doesn’t, Kai turns and knocks on his mother’s door. She answers and he enters to see her perched on the window sill. Kai’s heart pounds when he realizes what view she must have of the courtyard below, because if she’s been sitting there for as long as her overly sweet facial expression hints at, she must know.

“Something you want to tell me?” she says after a moment when Kai doesn’t react. “Seems to me like you’re monopolizing one of my dancers.”

Kai hangs his head. This conversation can go two ways, and both assumptions err on the side of Kai getting involved with a company soloist.

“I guess I’m a little surprised because I’ve never seen you date anyone before. We never talked about those things, did we?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Did you see anyone while you were in Texas? I can’t imagine you would have though.”

“I didn’t.”

“I see.” She sighs heavily, but the lecture Kai expects, either for stealing away company property or for even dating a boy, doesn’t come. “Baekhyun’s a good kid. You know, I told you to watch him dance in hopes he would inspire you once more. I didn’t introduce the two of you so you could pick out a boyfriend.”

“We’ve met before…”

“Have you?” She seems surprised.

“Kind of. Years ago.”

“Hmmm. Well take care of him then. Perhaps it’s still a good thing.” Kai remains silent. “I still expect you to watch him practice though. Regardless of what you do or think, your guidance is still a good thing for someone like him. If you spend at least some of your date nights in a practice room, you can consider that my blessing. And no, I know you don’t need my approval but you have it anyways, so go on and remember that I consider these rooms public property, so don’t try anything funny!” She swats at her son’s head and he ducks away from it, half laughter, half groans of “Mooomm!”

Mrs. Kim resists beating him any further than her one failed attempt, and instead settles back into her desk chair. She paws at her desk and hands him a large manila envelope. “Here, take these.”

“These are the pictures for the stage people?”

“Yes. The address is written on top. Drop them off with my compliments, and look professional while you’re at it. You’re my temp representative for the day.”

“Got it. Look respectable. Temp rep.”

“Babo! Get out of here!” And she shoos him out the door with another wave of her hand, smiling a little even if she does look just a tad bit worried. But maybe, Kai thinks, it's less worry than it is false hope, and that gnaws on him. 

Baekhyun does indeed text after 5:00 pm, though their conversation only determines that neither will be able to spend time with the other today. Between Baekhyun’s rehearsals and Kai’s course load and homework, they agree on dinner tomorrow.

Kyungsoo is already home when Kai reaches their apartment. The boy lays sprawled out on his stomach across the bed, a few notebooks laying around him, none of them open.

“Oh, hello,” he says cheerfully when Kai comes in.

“Hello. Uh, what are you doing?”

“I was doing some vocal exercises, but I guess I can stop now.”

Kai sinks onto his bed, dropping his bag beside him. “You don’t have to stop.” He secretly hopes Kyungsoo will though.

“No, it’s okay. I’ve been home for a while now.”  He rolls over on his back and stares up at the ceiling.

Kai’s phone buzzes with another text from Baekhyun.

Baekhyun: Are you home? Luhan’s throwing an artistic fit. Says he doesn’t look his best from Stage Left

Kai chuckles and responds.

Kai: Yes. Tell them to place Minseok in front and then nobody will even notice.

A few moments later:

Baekhyun: Bad idea. Now he’s cursing.

Baekhyun: ​He also said you were allowed no opinion in this

Baekhyun: Gotta go. Don’t turn on the shower cam, ok?

Kai doesn’t even realize Kyungsoo’s watching him with an amused expression on his face.

“Baekhyun?” he asks.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. How’d you know it wasn’t Sehun?”

“Because you don’t look as enthralled when you talk to Sehun.”

Kai grunts. He wonders how awkward it must have been for Kyungsoo all those years, forced to socialize with him and Sehun because of their parents, yet never occupying the place of true friend. At school they didn’t hang out, and Kyungsoo had his own circle of people. Kai wonders where they are now since his roommate never seems to go out with anyone else. Maybe they all dispersed for colleges elsewhere.

“How long have you known Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo asks.

Here is that weird question again and Kai laughs. “Do you want the official date or the historical date?”

Kyungsoo chuckles in return. “Something tells me this could a really long story. I guess I can change the question. Are you dating now?”

“Yeah… since last night.”

Kyungsoo whistles. “That was fast.”

“Am I supposed to blush?” He leans back on his bed, observing the same ceiling as Kyungsoo. “We did kind of meet five years ago…”

“Is that the official date or the historical?”

“We didn’t speak…”

“Figures,” Kyungsoo snorts.

“Hey, what's that supposed to mean?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer. He rolls over to a sitting position and his feet hit the ground like he’s about to stand up, but instead of getting to his feet he hovers with his arms propped up next to his body. He’s got that inquisitive look about him that Kai recognizes from years dodging weird, impertinent questions, and maybe Kai’s spent too much time with Baekhyun recently, so he’s ready for the words that come out of Kyungsoo’s mouth.

“Kai, why won’t you dance anymore?”

Kai knows the answer, doesn’t he? But which answer should he respond with? Should it be the lengthy, technical explanation he gives to his family and other adults, or the fears masquerading as half-assed reasons that he tells himself? It seems Kyungsoo is prepared to meet him half way.

“Even if it takes longer to regain everything, or if you think you won’t be as good as you were before, why can’t you try at least?”

Kai’s throat feels heavy, constricted.

“Don’t you miss it? Don’t you love it anymore?”

3,539 words

Long chapter! But I insisted on fitting in the last two scenes, and as for that first scene with all the fluffffff!! I seriously almost wanted to throw up writing it - you know those times when you're just so happy it makes you sick to your stomach? Everyone knows what I'm talking about right? Right? Yeah..

Also, to prepare myself for some decent kiss scenes, I wrote an even racier scene that maybe someday I'll include along with a bloopers reel because *gag* it was hard, and it made my sister nearly die when I snuck it secretly into a midnight draft ;) on my husband's orders too, I might add. He's such a horrible big brother sometimes. 

So, I made use of the Kaisoo angle. My goodness, does everyone know what happened with Kai except for Baekhyun? You'll find out... (When Baekhyun does...)

So, feedback? Comments? For those of you who comment regularly you'll know that I LOVE replying to people and talking more about this story. *hint hint* Please comment xD And thanks to all of you who do already. *lots of hearts*