Tao slides into his spot on the floor not a moment too soon, ignoring the scowls of one of their choreographers whose job it is to lead the cast through warm-ups. Tao looks breathless from the race up the stairs through the backstage area. Baekhyun spares him a glance while he stretches, legs splayed out in a straddle with his elbows on the ground. His rotates his thighs back and forth in their sockets, willing his body to loosen up. 

“What was that about?” he asks, in reference to the blond-haired man Tao raced out to see?

Tao shakes his head in some confusion. “Kris.”

“He was here? Wait, when did he get blond hair?”

“This week? I don't know. We went out sometime to get his hair cut and I suggested he dye it too... It looked nice.”

“Looked?”

Tao's look of confusion returns. “Looks nice,” he reiterates. 

Baekhyun stares blankly back at his friend. “So what was he here for?”

“Guess he was in the area. This is his university, remember? Anyways, he just said he was planning on coming tonight, but something came up and he won't make it.” Tao shrugs. 

“Okay...”

Before Baekhyun can ask anything more, they are interrupted by the director of the company herself. Baekhyun still gets a slight chill whenever he sees Mrs. Kim around the studio; it still feels like maybe Kai should invite him 'home' for a real introduction before they go any further. Even though she knows he's now dating her son, he finds it awkward that they've never spoken directly about it, especially since they've been in such close proximity ahead of this performance. There just haven’t been enough hours in the days though for such a thing. After the weekend, Baekhyun definitely wants that to change. He needs to hear an approval from the mouth of his boss herself to feel okay. 

The inevitable pep talk ensues: 'Good job working hard. Have fun tonight. Don't stress. Don't get hurt. Warm-up well. Whoever messes up tonight gets to do 200 changements come Monday without stop. Good luck.' It's the usual thing, and while it brings a chuckle to the members, no one doubts she'll hold them to the challenge. Luhan learned that well enough the last time he was on stage and forgot which way to exit. Instead of following Suho stage left, he turned right and knocked smack into the miniscule Thai dancer they all called Mint. Both landed in a heap in the middle of the stage, and Luhan could barely walk on Monday after his ankles nearly gave out from all the changements. 

Mrs. Kim eyes all the dancers meaningfully before giving them a smile, and she heads off stage to let the other choreographers do their thing. It's an hour long warm-up complete with barre exercises. Baekhyun can't help but keep his eyes pried open, wondering whether or not he'll see Kai around the auditorium since his mother's already here, and from the schedule he now has memorized, Kai shouldn't have any classes this late on Fridays. 

I'll see you tomorrow, Kai had texted last night. But when exactly would he show up? Just for the concert, or was there a possibility he'd be around sooner? Baekhyun hopes sooner.

His mind is taken elsewhere, however, by a different sort of drama. The dancers have already moved onto a few dry runs of their choreography, marking their entrances and passageways when Baekhyun hears someone cry out and a dancer trips and falls on the floor. The others rush to their fallen member, and through the line of dancers' heads bending over to help, he sees Suho on the ground clutching an ankle. 

“Enough. You can back off, okay. I'm fine,” cries the soloist. Everyone but the choreographer obeys, and Mrs. Kim returns to the scene at the sound of all the commotion. 

“What's wrong? Is it the ankle?” she asks concerned.

The two of them help Suho to his feet as he gingerly tries his weight. He grimaces but manages to step down and hobble a few steps before standing upright. “It's fine. Only shin splint acting up. I can dance.” He lightly shakes off the arms propping him up, but Baekhyun knows a lie when he hears it. The others probably do too, but Suho is adamant about moving on and they eventually let him. He winces a couple times throughout the remainder of the rehearsal but doesn't fall again. 

It’s nearing the dinner hour when the rehearsal is finished, but nobody eats. They’ll eat only when the day is done. Baekhyun downs a bottle of water back in his dressing room and tosses another one to Tao.

“Thanks,” he says, and chugs it back.  More seems to fall out of his mouth than in it and even Minseok winces at the messy scene.

Luhan still hasn’t let the coffee incident go. He stares down at the remains of their empty to-go coffee cups in the trash with a wistful pout.

“Seok, you really went and got coffee without me?” he whines.

Minseok smiles back mischievously, enjoying the fuss. “You weren’t around. I got thirsty.”

“You could’ve called me. I was only a little bit late today.” Minseok shrugs and Luhan pouts some more. More to himself than to his friend Luhan murmurs, “Now you even go out for coffee by yourself…”

“I didn’t go out by myself.” He smiles widely, tongue peeking out. Luhan chokes at the scene.

“What? Who did you go with? Huh? Huh?”

Tao sits down on a stool to watch the spectacle and even Baekhyun wonders where this is going. Maybe he should help Luhan out a little.

“Does this have anything to do with that little blonde you were wandering around with earlier?”  Baekhyun smirks, and Minseok glances his way, not at all upset that his game is given away.

“B-blonde??” Luhan cries. “Since when were you going out with a blonde?” 

Minseok continues looking at Baekhyun and Baekhyun winks. Minseok’s secret is safe with him for now. Luhan tugs on his own dark brown hair, a few of the stray locks, no doubt wondering whether or not it’s time for a hair change. Baekhyun stands up and pats him fondly on the head.

“Where are you going?” Tao asks, when he moves to the door.

“I’m suffocating in this room. Back in a bit.”

Baekhyun leaves the door open behind him, because the room really was too hot to house four sweaty, male dancers back from an hours-long rehearsal. The air in the hallway was cooler. Baekhyun drums his fingers against the walls as he walks, remembering vaguely that there is a bathroom in this general direction.

It’s on the way back that he walks past another open dressing room, Suho's room. He's alone in the room, not doing any in particular. He stares at the ground, hunched forward in his chair, and Baekhyun's too nosey to keep walking by. He stands in the doorway and Suho notices a moment later when his shadow falls across the floor.

“Where are you roomies?” Baekhyun asks.

Suho grunts. “I kicked them out.” 

“Hmmm... I can believe that.” 

Suho glares at him. “What do you want?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing.” Rather than continue on back to his own room, however, Baekhyun feels the urge to actually enter the room. He perches on the nearest chair and leans back, hands cupping the back of his head. Suho makes no comment, though his eyes widen a little at the unexpected intrusion. They sit in silence while Suho busies himself. He ruffles through his bags, tossing out stray shoes, and every now and then he touches his ankle when he thinks Baekhyun isn't looking, though his rival doesn't miss anything. Baekhyun continues to sit, and if he were to ask himself why, he wouldn't be able to come up with a very satisfactory answer. Maybe it's Suho's strained expression, or his reluctance to talk about his foot, or maybe even his lack of friends, because Baekhyun guesses Suho didn't kick out the other guys sharing this room; they probably left on their own accord. It's not easy sharing a changing room with the biggest prick on the team. 

“Why are you still here? Don't you have your own assigned room?” Suho asks irritably. 

“I do. But yours is cooler. I mean that literally, by the way.” He smiles pleasantly and picks up a rehearsal program off the table to fan himself. Suho doesn't answer. “Minseok and Luhan are squabbling in my room,” Baekhyun finally shares. 

Suho smiles a rare smile. “Lovers’ quarrel?”

“Just about. Have they always been that way? I'm... just curious, that's all.”

Suho snorts. “Yeah.”

“How long have you known them?” 

He thinks for a second. “Pretty long. Ten years maybe. You know, they used to not get along at all.”

“No kidding!”

“Yeah. Luhan used to be a pain in the - actually he still is somewhat - but he was really annoying then, and he'd just come from China and his English was stupid. I think it consisted of two words for the first couple months. ‘Yo yo yo, man!’” Suho does a perfect impression of what the fifteen year old Luhan must have sounded like, and then cackles maniacally. Baekhyun joins in but at the sound of both their laughter, Suho stops, suddenly appalled to be caught having fun with his professed rival. He snarls silently and tosses his head, facing away from the intruder. “Hey, get out. I want to get changed and I'm not stripping with you in the room.”

On any other day Baekhyun might call himself offended, but he's still too shocked to have enjoyed an odd moment with Suho, so he nods agreeably and exits the room, closing the door behind him gently. 

Two steps down the hallway, Baekhyun recognizes a dark figure at the other end. His heart jumps in its cavern and Baekhyun wonders when will be the day that he doesn’t become overly excitable in the presence of Kai. The two move at the same pace, closing the gap between them. He thinks he sees Kai smirk but it could just be the shadows playing tricks with his mind. But maybe not. The closer they get the more expressive Kai’s smile becomes with that slightly upturned lip on one side that betrays the laugh lines on his boyfriend’s face.

Two can play this game.

Baekhyun halts with three feet remaining between them and leans against the wall, arms folded and one leg crossed in front of the other. “I thought you weren’t coming until later? Couldn’t wait to see me, huh?”

“Oh I’m not here this early for you.”

What!? Baekhyun wills himself to keep his expression cool. He inclines one eyebrow as if to challenge that statement, but Kai won't oblige him. He leans against the same wall in perfect mimicry.

“Yeah. I’m just running errands for my mom.” He smiles.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yep.” Kai accents the ‘p’ with flourish.

Baekhyun wishes he could wipe that smirk off Kai’s face. Maybe two couldn’t play this game, though he was reluctant to give up so soon. “So you coming up here early has absolutely nothing to do with me, huh?”

“Absolutely nothing to do with you,” Kai agrees.

“So you mean you haven’t been sitting alone all morning thinking, ‘Oh, if only Baekhyun was here… if only I could see him.’  No?”

“Why would I think about you?” Kai shrugs, the traces of his smile still evident despite his attempted cover up.

“Oh, because maybe you haven’t been around to kiss me in at least twenty-four hours? I guess that doesn’t make much of a difference to you though. You could probably care less, right?”

“Yeah, I could probably care less. Other lips to kiss, you know how it goes… The playboy life and all.”

“Must be hard going out at night, having to choose only one guy from all the hoards people falling at your feet…”

“Oh, not as hard as you might think.” Now that is definitely a smirk on Kai’s face. “No matter who, they’re all so much better looking than you.”

Baekhyun feels Kai’s burning gaze, boring holes from his forehead to his feet, but he ignores it, preferring  to stare straight into Kai’s otherwise roving eyes. “Basically, I’m just the afterthought you come back to on a slow night, right?”

“Basically, yeah.”

He uncrosses one leg.  “Well, too bad. I’m afraid I’m going off the market soon.”

“Aww, so you don’t even time for a quickie with a good looking stranger?” Kai pushes himself away from the wall to straighten up.

Baekhyun narrows his eyes, scrutinizing the offer. “Possibly? If the price is right? I can be a bit selective.”

“Selective, huh? I’ll be sure to try my luck some night.”

“You do that. In any case, you have my number. Give me a call on one of your slow nights. I’ll be waiting, maybe.” He moves to walk past Kai with as much casual indifference as he can muster, though of course he doesn’t expect to get far. Kai stops him with an arm that catches him around the waist. It slides around to the small of his back with an easy familiarity and Kai tugs Baekhyun closer to him. Their heads pull towards one another until Kai is breathing lightly against his ear.

“Where are you going?” he whispers. Baekhyun chokes, words failing him as Kai’s lips search closer to his own. “Your room is right here… and I’m kind of bored right now.” 

Kai’s eyes bore right into Baekhyun’s, and he lowers his gaze. Before the inevitable smooch, however, a high pitched squeal courses through their ear drums. Kai flinches, and the sound splits through Baekhyun’s head and he pulls away from Kai with a gasp, flipping his head around for the source of the commotion. He stops dead when he realizes where they are. Kai was correct; his room was right there, and they are standing in the middle hallway right before the open door frame where three bodies stand arrayed out like an audience. At least two pairs of eyes eagerly lap up the scene, though after the blood-wrenching squeal Minseok and Luhan look a little disappointed that their show was cancelled mid-kiss. Luhan swats angrily at Tao, the culprit, who with his eyes covered peeks out warily to assess the situation.

“Are you two done yet?!” Tao wails, and Minseok mutters something that sounds like ‘’. 

Kai laughs, because as Baekhyun’s just figured out, he’s been aware of their position in front of the door this whole time.

2,453 words

Guys I’m back! Sorry this chapter was so short but it’s been just over a week since I got home from NYC, and I’ve been busy catching up with life AND I nearly exhausted my creative outlet when I wrote the 9,000 word Kaibaek one-shot Monument of a Man (please, go read it if you haven’t already - I drained my life into that project!)

This chapter feels like filler before the big night, which is why I rewarded you with some good old Kaibaek interactions. Expect more from Suho soon too. I feel like it’s time to get his character redemption on the road!

***If you want a few pics of NYC, including pics from one of this story's most famous scenes, see my blog post. What you'll also see: Asian food . Because I love food.

<3 Rosie