‘You really enjoy her company, huh?’ Minseok glanced up cautiously, without a word he unplugged his headphones and stared up at Baekhyun. So far Baekhyun had been scurrying round the kitchen of the dorm, trying to find the food Kyungsoo put to one side for Minseok last night with very little success.

‘Hyung. You really enjoy her company, Hyung.’ Minseok corrected, at times like this it was better to avoid the troubling reality that someone could’ve caught on to his antics than come clean, especially to a loudmouth like Baekhyun.

Baekhyun laughed, and shook his head; he mumbled gently about people avoiding answering questions. Finally, he placed a bowl in front of Minseok and threw a box of cereal across the table.

‘So you’re not denying there is this “her” to be enjoying company with, yes?’ Baekhyun’s eyes were dangerous, so very careful to listen to every single word Minseok stated, mumbled or muttered.

‘No, I am not. What is this?’ Minseok chuckled at Baekhyun’s blank expression, ‘Milk, Baekhyun?’ He reminded softly. With a start Baekhyun slammed the milk down in front of him in a second.

‘It’s amazing how helpful you are when you want to something. Is this Kyungsoo’s wonderful cooking? Or did you just eat my breakfast while I was gone?’ Minseok grimaced bitterly at how closely Baekhyun was studying him; despite his rigid inspection he ignored Minseok’s obvious sarcasm.

‘I only want to know who she is! Plus I would never eat your breakfast, Hyung!’ Baekhyun smiled innocently, his voice caked in saccharine sweetness.

‘At least you’re honest.’ Sarcasm again.

‘More than I can say for you.’ Baekhyun’s words fell out of his mouth so quickly, he barely had time to tack the necessary honorific on the end to escape Minseok’s glare, ‘I’m just saying, Hyung, that we should be more honest with each other, Hyung. Seen as we’re friends, Hyung, and you haven’t told anyone yet, Hyung. See I even tried extra hard to respect how old you are!’ Minseok rested his head in his hands and levelled his gaze to Baekhyun carefully; there was something sincere in Baekhyun’s eyes, although he wasn’t quite sure what his intentions were yet.

‘Will you ever give up?’

‘Will you tell me her name?’

‘No.’                                                                                                                                                  

‘Then no, Hyung. I won’t.’ 

They stared at each other, Minseok weighed up how stubborn Baekhyun was. His friend’s eyes were careful and cool, under his wide grin and smart mouth Baekhyun was intelligent and quick. But what was worse than that was that he already knew. He stared at Minseok with some form of soft hybrid of sympathy and understanding and amusement. It was the only time Baekhyun had tried to look like he actually cared about something and the only time Minseok believed he actually did.

‘Suzie.’

‘Suzie! Wait, Suzie? As in Suzie, as in our tutor Suzie, as in the young, prodigal linguist from the west with the really blue eyes and the curves and the nice-’ Baekhyun broke off suddenly, pausing his enthusiastic chest gestures. He stared at Minseok carefully, a clammy stare, this was the first time Minseok had ever stunned Byun Baekhyun. He waited for confirmation; it took an age for Minseok to bob his head once, in acknowledgement of Baekhyun’s correct guess. He could probably have assumed as much from the murderous glare Minseok scolded him with when he mentioned Suzie’s body.

‘I knew it!’ He yelled triumphantly, ‘Hey! Luhan! Chanyeol! We guessed right!’

‘You’re kidding me!?’ The wild voice of Jongdae rang from the first bedroom, ‘I could’ve sworn it was a trainee! I’m never wrong. Hyung, tell me you were lying?’ A group of suddenly whining young men snapped Minseok from his state of shock.

‘You guys were guessing on this?!’ His words were shrill, and completely capable of stunning the occupants of the dorm into an awkward silence.

‘We pretty much figured it out. Disappearing late at night, returning early in the morning, you never came home showered, your English was getting better and you were always kind of sad-’ Minseok stared Baekhyun down; his eyes were dangerous, all their feline shape daring Baekhyun to carry on speaking.

‘My English is terrible.’ Minseok dead-panned as he shoved a heaped spoon of cereal into his mouth.

‘That and you spend half your time staring at her number in your phone. I mean we all noticed, even Jongin noticed!’ Baekhyun carried on regardless of Minseok’s complete lack of communication and Jongin’s protests from the other side of the table. Minseok regretted ever submitting to Baekhyun’s third degree.

One by one various members got bored of Minseok’s confession, offering a sympathetic smile and an awkward shrug, before trailing back to their rooms. Chanyeol just ambled in and smirked knowingly, his playful smile crinkling his eyes as he claimed he knew all along.

‘I saw you staring at her once, when she was teaching us about poetry, you just watched the way she said the words.’ Kyungsoo mumbled his wide eyes caught Minseok’s carefully as he smiled from the opposite side of the table where he’d sidled in next to Baekhyun. He looked just like an owl. Minseok didn’t even see him come in. Kyungsoo didn’t say another word, but sat and observed silently as the members offered up various reasons for knowing how it was Suzie all along.

‘I don’t need this right now.’ Minseok snapped, focusing on his cereal. Baekhyun mimicked him irritatingly, his words reflected in higher whining tones.

‘So you’ve been sleeping with her?’ Everyone stared at Kyungsoo abruptly, his gaze was steady and careful, he seemed so wrapped up in himself but he saw everything. Baekhyun waited on bated breath, mouth hanging open, waiting for an answer.

‘Well, no, not technically. We share a bed, but we don’t… We’ve never… Eugh.’ Minseok mumbled kneading his eyes with the palms of is hands.

‘No wonder you’re so tired. You can’t even figure out if you slept with her yet. But you’ve shared a bed like what three or four times?’ The room waited on bated breath after Baekhyun’s dig, Minseok even deigned to chuckle at the joke pulled at his expense.

‘Five times. We’ve shared a bed five times.’ Minseok corrected gently, continuing to stare at his bowl.

‘?’ Baekhyn pressed suddenly. Minseok spluttered on his cereal again.

‘What? No! Not really, just some pyjamas! I wear some loose pants. I do not see how this is necessary information!’ Minseok suddenly burst out, throwing his spoon into his half full bowl of milk and soggy cereal.

‘And you still haven’t done it yet?’ Baekhyun squealed incredulously.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter anymore.’ Minseok murmured, shoving his bowl to one side.

‘Why?’ Kyungsoo’s voice was so soft; it hung in the air like feathers.

‘She asked me how long I would love her for this morning.’

‘What did you say?’ Kyungsoo queried, Baekhyun practically leapt across the table, his eyes were wide and thick with a smudging of kohl liner, strangely there was a glimmer of pure excitement in is expectant grin.

‘I said I was hungry.’ Minseok stared round the room, his wide eyes pleading for understanding, the reaction was a scale from appalled to horrified, Kyungsoo stared at him, he just looked pissed off.

‘Well, .’ Everyone glanced up at the source of the profanity. That was the second time in one day Minseok had managed to stun Byun Baekhyun into silence.