Looking back on it, Sehun supposes that he and Zitao could have taken a different approach to the couple outfits thing. At the time, Zitao proved a very sound argument that fans wouldn’t notice any out of the usual skinship because their attention would be so heavily focused on their vibrant airport fashion: the popping, lively (and utterly horrendous, Sehun adds in retrospect) pattern of his outfit along with Sehun’s toned down, darker version of the same attire. Better yet, Sehun supposes that Zitao was out of his mind in the first place.

Not only were the outfits criminal enough for fifteen years in jail without bond, but also they hardly distracted even the most oblivious fan; actually, the outfits did exactly the opposite of Zitao’s intentions (or were those his true intentions? Sehun ponders): everyone in a one mile radius had eyes on the two maknaes. Sehun should have realized as soon as he woke up to prepare for their airport trip that he was making a mistake, and a grave one at that. However, he didn’t let Baekhyun’s halfway suppressed snort, Kyungsoo’s perpetually wide-eyed stare, Luhan’s in-your-face laugh, or even Jongdae’s bluntness (“That’s really ing ugly; what are you even wearing?”) stop him from wearing his semi-matching outfit with Zitao. Though, he sorta kinda wished he did.

At the airport, Sehun was still expecting Zitao’s original plan to work: that is, letting their outfits draw attention away from him carrying Zitao’s bag for him, or him gently pushing Zitao through the crowd with a hand on his lower back, or him reaching for Zitao’s hand while they were standing around aimlessly. While he was still there, Sehun thought that Zitao’s plan was genius; after all, they were getting photographed constantly, but he assumed it was because of their fashion violation or whatever Chanyeol had called it that morning.

It wasn’t until Sehun had some down time a few hours later that he found out the real reason why fans were taking so many photos of them: it wasn’t pictures for a blog about celebrities’ awful fashion choices like he originally thought (though now Sehun thinks that that probably happened as well); it was pictures focusing on Sehun and Zitao’s interactions around each other, and to Sehun’s ultimate dismay, someone captured the instant Sehun grabbed Zitao’s hand, among other compromising positions, including but not limited to the time Zitao stood entirely too close behind him and whispered into his ear.

Even then, as he found out that the plan didn’t work, all Sehun could do was sigh; he wasn’t upset, or annoyed, though he was expecting someone to be, especially because EXO has always been a rumor mill, but as it would turn out, most everyone in the group found it considerably entertaining (Luhan and Jongin providing the most laughter over the issue), and the worst thing Sehun had to deal with was Zitao’s constant whining for the following two days because his, “foolproof plan was fooled.”

Now, as Sehun is waiting for Joonmyun, Zitao, Minseok, Kyungsoo, and Yixing to return with dinner for the night, he has to say that he finds the memory rather funny as well, though still slightly painful because of the awful fashion. When someone knocks on his bedroom door and says that the food is here, Sehun yells, “okay,” and locks his phone before sliding it in his back pocket. Just as he opens the door to go to the kitchen, Zitao plows through with a grin, “I got your favorite!”

“What,” Sehun jokingly sneers, “your made-from-a-box macaroni? It was good that one time, and it was only because I was hungry and it was late.”

“I was actually going to say kimchi fried rice, but now that you mention it,” Zitao smirks and closes the door behind him, “I should have just bought a box of macaroni. Oh, the money I could have saved.”

Sehun rolls his eyes and walks closer, “Like you actually paid for it.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Zitao says distractedly and snatches Sehun’s phone out of his back pocket. “What time is it? I left my phone in the kitchen and-” Zitao lifts an eyebrow and simpers, “Why do you have airport pictures of us from months ago saved in your photos?”

Sehun tries to stutter out a response, but the way Zitao is looking at him like he finds the whole situation hilarious causes Sehun to not be able to spit any words out.

As Zitao is casually swiping through Sehun’s pictures, Sehun finally responds with a nervous chuckle, “I was just looking back over the last year, and I found those photos….. Good times….”

“Still doesn’t explain why you’d want to save them.”

“Yeah?” Sehun counters. “Well, looking at them again reminds me that your stupid plan didn’t work at all.”

Zitao shuffles forward so that they’re standing chest to chest when he says, “I can’t believe you thought it was supposed to, or that I really cared.”

“Well, I mean yeah, because I had to listen to you whine and bit-”

Zitao rolls his eyes and threads his fingers with Sehun’s as he teases, “Whatever. Still doesn’t explain why you have them saved to your phone.”

Seeing Sehun’s light blush, Zitao laughingly sighs, “Come on, don’t you want your kimchi fried rice?”

“I guess,” Sehun mumbles, but he lets Zitao drag him out of his room with a smile on his face.