After choosing a table at Starbucks, Luhan excuses himself quickly to go to the bathroom, leaving his passionate tea lemonade alone with Baekhyun and his vanilla bean frappuccino. He sits there, chin resting on the heel of his palm as he watches the cashiers taking their customers' orders. It isn't the first time he's been here, but the mixed fragrance of coffee and pastries always amazes him. He's in the middle of sipping his drink when someone walks up to him.

Height is the first feature Baekhyun notices. The second feature is the way the tall man says hello in a deep voice. The third feature, and Baekhyun does not want to believe it, is how the man's baby face does not match his low-pitched voice.

"I'm Park Chanyeol, and I think your friend is cute," he says.

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol from his (very nicely) styled hair to his black shirt covered by a dark leather jacket and he doesn't want to be weird looking under the table to see what's after the black jeans and he's been staring for too long so he chokes out a reply, "Uh, you can just wait a bit if you want to talk to him?"

Chanyeol happily agrees and points at the chair next to Luhan's empty one, "May I...?"

Baekhyun hums approvingly. As if he was on cue, Luhan emerges from behind the bathroom door. He tries to not look surprised when he sits down, "Hi," he says to the stranger, "Baekhyun who is this?" The question is asked in a slightly higher tone than a whisper.

Chanyeol introduces himself with a grin, "I'm Park Chanyeol. It's nice to meet you," he holds his hand out and Luhan shakes it warily.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and pulls out his phone to distract himself from the two, drinking his frappuccino while he's at it.

*

They get together a week later and apparently "hit it off" on their first date, as Luhan put it. Hand in hand with Chanyeol, he drops by Baekhyun's apartment.

"Come shopping with us," Luhan says.

*

As much as Baekhyun protested, he still ended up at one of the biggest malls in the city, sitting with Chanyeol at the food court since Luhan left to get extra utensils. Once Luhan was out of sight, Chanyeol lands a kiss on Baekhyun's cheek and Baekhyun looks at him as if he'd just witnessed a murder.

"Oh my god, you're one of those people," Baekhyun claims in horror as he looks around, gesturing to come back promptly when he sees Luhan calmly walking towards them.

Luhan speeds up and returns to his seat, "What's wrong?"

Baekhyun thinks about his response, but he can't look away from Chanyeol because his eyes are begging for him to not spill.

"Nothing, I was just hungry," Baekhyun says as he reaches for a pair of chopsticks Luhan brought with him.

*

The ride back to Baekhyun and Luhan's university was worse.

"Hey, do you mind stopping at the post office? I think my cousin sent me something," Luhan says before Chanyeol passes by a familiar area. Chanyeol nods and pulls into the parking lot. They share a kiss before Luhan giggles out the van.

Baekhyun finds Chanyeol watching him through the rear view mirror. "You're really beautiful," Chanyeol comments.

"You've been dating Luhan for three days and now you're flirting with his best friend," Baekhyun snaps. "Don't you have any sense?!"

Chanyeol chuckles and looks over his shoulder, "Calm down, princess."

Baekhyun cringes at the nickname. Before Baekhyun could spit out a response, Luhan appears and opens the car door with a small cardboard box.

"You know," Chanyeol starts, "princess back there is quite the drama queen."

Luhan turns around and begins to laugh, not bothering to defend his friend.

*

Even though Chanyeol's college is far, he still manages to drive himself to Baekhyun's place.

"Go away," is the only thing Baekhyun says before he slams the door in Chanyeol's face.

Knocking turned into banging, and Kyungsoo, who is a year younger than Baekhyun but is in the same grade that also lives with him and another, sighs as he opens the door, "Hi. Please stop raging on my door," and closes it again.

After that, there was nothing heard from outside, and Baekhyun hopes Chanyeol gave up. Instead, Jongdae, another resident who has a common major with Baekhyun, could be heard conversing with the deranged male. They were both laughing at something Chanyeol said as they enter the house together.

"Hey Kyungsoo! Oh, Baekhyun, Chanyeol brought flowers for you," Jongdae's booming voice was loud enough to reach wherever Baekhyun is. "Where is he?"

Kyungsoo juts his chin towards the kitchen. Jongdae smiles and waves Chanyeol off to check behind the kitchen counter so he can put his things in his room.

Chanyeol peeks over the polished surface and kneels in front of Baekhyun who is hugging his knees, "Please accept my flowers of affection," he holds out a bouquet of roses from behind him.

Baekhyun takes the bouquet, admiring them for a second with a smile before facing a hopeful Chanyeol and beating him with the roses, "Are you insane?! You should be giving these to Luhan, not me!"

Chanyeol brings his arms up for protection, "Okay, okay, but can you stop hitting me?!"

He grants Chanyeol's wish momentarily to stand up, only to continue attacking him, "You're such an idiot!" Baekhyun pulls him up and shoves him towards the front door, "Stop coming here!"

*

Luhan was helping Baekhyun study when he heard the doorbell ring, "Work on that, I'll be right back." Luhan praises himself for rhyming unintentionally and opens the door.

His smile falls.

"Chanyeol? What... what are you doing here?"

He's carrying heart-shaped box of chocolates, "I, uh, didn't know where you were, and uh, I thought Baekhyun knew, so uh, I had to personally come here since I don't uh, have his number and all. Uh, this is for you," Chanyeol hands Luhan the chocolates.

"You could have called me," he inspects the box and feels a note on the bottom. He turns it over and reads it out loud, "Baekhyun, you're my xoxo l-o-v," he pauses to look at Chanyeol in the eyes, "e."

Chanyeol clenches his jaw.

*

And so they broke up when Chanyeol had confessed about his liking for Baekhyun. Things weren't pretty, and they sure didn't sound pretty to Baekhyun who was too scared to even look out his bedroom door. He apologized when Luhan retreated to his room, but Luhan shook his head and said it wasn't his fault.

"Well. That was the fastest and shortest relationship I've ever had," Luhan had said. "So, are you going to give him a chance?"

Baekhyun waited for the "kidding." Luhan was serious.

"I mean, I know he was a jerk with me and I shouldn't be saying this, but you two would make a cute couple."

Luhan's words keep replaying in his head over and over again. Even as Baekhyun and Chanyeol stroll around the city together, Baekhyun feels that he's afraid of something and that something is holding him back from what he doesn't want to admit. He never thought he'd ever develop feelings for the cheating bastard, but now he's just confused.

The sky darkened, and the streets were illuminated by the lamp posts.

Baekhyun let Chanyeol hold his hand and didn't fight Chanyeol when he laced their fingers together.

"I'm... I'm sorry things turned out this way," Chanyeol mumbles, "I should have never gone out with Luhan. And I know you're doing this for my sake, even though you'll never feel anything for me."

That's not true, Baekhyun wants to say.

"I'm really fond of you. I'm not a player, I swear. I've only been with two people, including Luhan," he trailed off. "I don't know what I was thinking back then. I've totally messed up."

The words fly out of Baekhyun's mouth before he can stop himself, "I don't mind dating you," he glances at Chanyeol, "I don't have my feelings sorted out yet, but I have some conditions if we do go out."

"I'm all ears."

*

It took them a while – half a year to be exact. Chanyeol is still shameful of what he did when Luhan's around, and sometimes Luhan would tease Chanyeol saying you never kissed me like that or why didn't I get this special treatment.

"It feels like just yesterday, Baekhyun was assaulting Chanyeol with his flowers," Kyungsoo says as he watches Chanyeol steal a kiss from Baekhyun on the couch. Baekhyun playfully hits him and proceeds to focusing on the television.

Jongdae chuckles, "Look at them now." The couple caught each other's eyes and the next second, Chanyeol was tackled to the floor.

Kyungsoo and Jondgae both stand up and walk to the kitchen when they start making out.

"That's disgusting."