“Hey, why don’t we go in the bookstore for a bit,” Noel says. “There’s a book I’ve been meaning to buy and Baekhyun can sit and finish shopping while I buy the book.”

Cash nods. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. There’s a book I wanted to get too.”

Chanyeol just nods as well and follows along while Cash leads Baekhyun, who refuses to relinquish the phone, to the bookstore. Once the four of them enter the bookstore, Baekhyun immediately takes a seat in the small coffee shop area while Noel and Chanyeol head further into the store. Cash sits across from Baekhyun and indulges all of the boy’s questions from “Is glitter too much?” to “What do you think of this shade of burgundy?”. The entire ordeal is quite entertaining for Cash as he takes in Baekhyun’s wide range of facial expressions and how he talks himself out of almost everything he puts in his cart.

By the time he finishes, Baekhyun only ends up buying three things, including the eyeliner he originally wanted. Even so, he keeps asking, “Are you sure?” and “Is it really okay?” the whole time Cash is buying the items. After the deed is done, the two wander over to the comic section and browse until Noel and Chanyeol pop up to tell them that they’re ready to go.

Baekhyun can’t help the shy demeanor that sneaks up on him the more time he spends with Cash. It’s getting harder and harder to not notice how great of a date that Cash is and what his intentions are. The more comfortable they get around each other, the bolder Cash gets. And as lame as it is to say, this kind of thing has never happened to him before. Like, an actual boy wanting to touch him…..in a romantic way. Its crazy talk, and yet Cash is holding his hand. Holding. Byun Baekhyun’s. Hand. In. A. Romantic. Way. And like Cash is attractive. An attractive boy wants to hold Baekhyun’s hand! It’s history in the making!

Baekhyun feels a little bad stealing glances at Cash when he's only supposed to have eyes for Chanyeol, but he can’t help it. Cash is attractive after all, and besides how can Baekhyun be disloyal if they aren’t even dating? There’s just something Baekhyun finds charming about the way his jaw is slightly crooked. He isn’t super tall, but he’s taller than Baekhyun by at least a few inches, and he’s more sturdy and built rather than tall and lanky. Not overly built, but moderately so that Baekhyun can definitely tell there’s a nice surprise waiting underneath that T-shirt. Not that he couldn’t feel his muscles when they linked arms. His hair is a bit short, reaching just below the tips of his ears, but its thick and wavy and a dark brown that matches the color of his eyes. He also has a nice tan going on, presumably from all his days spent out on the soccer field practicing. Although there’s no noticeable tan lines…which could mean he practices with his shirt off…

“You want to go in here?” Cash’s voice breaks Baekhyun’s train of thought and he realizes that they’re standing in front of a clothing store.

Baekhyun suddenly can’t look Cash in the face. “Um, yeah sure,” he says walking in first and immediately diving into a clothing rack to hide the small blush that has no doubt appeared on his face. He chastises himself for letting his thoughts run wild, and with Chanyeol right there too!

“Hey I have an idea!” Noel says, “Let’s pick out an outfit for our dates! I’ll pick out an outfit for Chanyeol and he’ll pick one out for me, and Baekhyun will pick out an outfit for Cash while Cash picks one out for Baekhyun. Now, there’s no asking the other what they would like and we can’t show the outfits we picked out until everyone is finished. Okay?”

Cash smiles. “Yeah, that sounds fun. Let’s do it!”

“Alright, let’s meet back at this spot when we’re finished,” Baekhyun says and then the four of them head off in different directions of the store.

Baekhyun wanders around the men’s section scanning the casual clothes. Cash never wears anything fancy or even business casual. He mostly just wears comfortable clothing like jeans and a tee (and a hoodie when it gets cold), his soccer uniform, or workout clothes. Baekhyun stands in front of a rack of jeans thoughtfully tapping his chin. What would Cash look like in something completely opposite of what he normally wears? A satisfied smile appears over Baekhyun’s face as he imagines Cash in a suit. He is definitely going to make this fantasy a reality. With newfound determination, Baekhyun practically speeds his way around the store finding the perfect suit pieces. He decides to go classic with a white button up, black blazer and tie, and black slacks. There are a million combinations of shirts, slacks, blazers, and ties that plague Baekhyun’s mind, but to really assess a man’s suit look for the first time, it must be a classic black and white!

Baekhyun is the last to arrive to the meet up spot, looking a bit winded. They had previously given each other their sizes, but with fitted pieces, sizing would be different. He had tracked down a worker in the department and subtly spied on Cash so that the worker could eyeball Cash’s suit size. After the size was determine, he spent way too much time choosing between a midnight black and an ink black, not to mention the different materials of the white button up. But he finally decided and not a moment too soon! By the time he arrives at the meet up spot, Chanyeol and Noel are sitting on a display table and Cash is leaning against a shelf.

“Ah! The prodigal son returns!” Chanyeol announces as soon as Baekhyun comes within eyesight. All three of them stand and Chanyeol bows dramatically as Baekhyun walks up to them rolling his eyes.

“I wasn’t that long,” Baekhyun says.

Noel checks her watch. “It’s been almost 30 minutes, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun scoffs. “Please, that’s nothing. And besides its not my fault if you guys didn’t take this seriously. I think clothes are very serious.” He knows he spouting , but he won’t be shamed.

Chanyeol chuckles. “Yeah, sure. Its not that we didn’t take this seriously, its just that we didn’t spend 10 minutes examining the minute differences between midnight black and ink black.”

Baekhyun drops his mouth agape. “Hey! How did you-!”

“Thought you might’ve gotten lost so I went to check on you,” Chanyeol says with a grin.

Baekhyun just huffs and flips his hair, ignoring the subtle laughing coming from Noel and Cash. “Well! I’m sorry that I care…”

“Aww, don’t be like that,” Cash is the first to give in and he approaches Baekhyun, taking the outfit, “I really appreciate that you care so much. You did a good job!”

Baekhyun immediately beams and takes the outfit Cash picked out for him. Cash holds up the suit, visibly impressed. “Wow, this is really nice,” he says.

“Let’s go try it on!” Baekhyun says as he bounces up and down and pushes Cash towards the direction of the fitting rooms.

Chanyeol and Noel also exchange outfits and follow them to the fitting rooms. Before they go inside, Noel makes all three boys promise to model the outfits for her. She’s especially excited to see Cash in a suit. She’s been nagging him for forever to wear a suit, but he always said they were too constricting. Giddy with excitement, Noel skips into the changing room and examines the outfit Chanyeol picked out for her. She smiles. It isn’t really her style but the outfit is cute. She puts on the black circle skirt and the sheer white, frilly shirt and can’t help but laugh at herself. Usually Noel goes for a beachy style: shorts, tank tops, tees, sundresses, sandals, etc. but she doesn’t look half bad in this either. Noel can only imagine Cash’s reaction and cautiously peers out of the women’s fitting room to see if any of the boys are ready.

Noel doesn’t have to wait long before Chanyeol is peering out of the men’s fitting room, his face lightening up in recognition once he sees Noel.

“Hey, you look…good,” Chanyeol says, but his face says he realizes he made a mistake in style choice.

Noel laughs at his reaction and says, “Yeah, its different. Not really my style though.”

Chanyeol nods his head. “Yeah, I noticed. I’m not really good at fashion or whatever.”

“That’s definitely true!” Baekhyun quips as he pops up behind the tall junior and snorts at the outfit Noel is wearing. “Well at least Noel’s taste isn’t so terrible…” he says as he picks at Chanyeol’s tucked in yellow polo and blue sweater. “Never thought I’d see you in a pair of khakis and yet here we are.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “It’s not bad, just not really my style,” he says and laughs lightly while Noel just shrugs.

“Well, it seems like Cash did a pretty good job,” Noel says. “You look cute.”

Baekhyun smiles and spins, holding his arms out. “I know, right? But I mean I look cute in just about everything so the job isn’t hard.”

Chanyeol looks down to notice that Baekhyun is wearing a thin, dark, V-neck sweater and tight, light-wash skinny jeans. Very tight skinny jeans. Chanyeol narrows his eyes and feels irritation rise in his chest. He can’t help but think Cash did this on purpose, but he can’t let his irritation show. If he does then that means Cash wins, and if Cash wins then that means the soccer teams wins and the basketball team loses. Chanyeol can’t, he won’t, let that happen.

“Ah! My masterpiece has arrived!” Baekhyun exclaims as Cash awkwardly steps out of the changing room in a full-out black and white suit.

Cash fidgets with the collar and tie, the constriction uncomfortable, but stops as soon as he sees Baekhyun standing there with this excited, proud, and awed smile gracing his face. Cash can’t believe that Baekhyun can look so good in an outfit so simple. He feels stupidly star-struck because at that moment Baekhyun is look directly at him, smiling at him, gushing about how good he looks. And Cash can’t seem to look enough. His eyes flit up and down Baekhyun’s body over and over again, absorbing this moment and ingraining it in his head. Then the short seconds that make up this silly breathtaking moment are over, and time starts again. And Chanyeol is standing right there, staring at him as he stares at Baekhyun.

“Oh! You look so good Cash!” Noel exclaims in excitement. She bounces over and begins to fuss over him with Baekhyun.

Chanyeol stands there in his polo with his arms crossed and face stern. Noel and Baekhyun didn’t notice because they were too busy looking at the outfit, but Chanyeol saw. He saw how Cash looked at his best friend. How Cash looked at his best friend’s legs. Chanyeol can practically see straight into Cash’s mind, and he’s sure that Cash is thinking very inappropriate things. It’s all part of his evil plan, probably. Chanyeol can’t be sure of anything yet, but the signs don’t look good. Baekhyun most likely wouldn’t believe him, so it’ll be up to him to protect the boy. After all, Baekhyun is his childhood friend.

~*~

“This is bad. This is really bad, Jora,” Chanyeol says as he pulls up a chair next to Jora’s desk.

Jora sighs and puts down the book he’s currently reading, making sure to mark the page. He has a feeling he won’t be getting back to his book anytime soon. “What’s bad?”

Chanyeol his lips and leans forward like he’s about to tell Jora an important secret. “The soccer team,” he whispers, “they’ve got him.”

Jora looks straight into those wide eyes and sighs. “I’m not trying to play the pronoun game with you, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol nods and looks around before continuing. “Baekhyun. My best friend, childhood friend! Its like suddenly he’s all buddy buddy with, like, every member of the soccer team, and,” he takes a deep breath and lowers his voice, “I heard that Seth is planning on taking Baekhyun out on a date…”

At this, Jora perks up. “Huh, that’s funny,” Jora says. This is getting interesting.

“Why’s that?” Chanyeol asks, obviously disturbed by the possibilities the situation is starting to produce.

“Well, it’s just that I heard that Trey asked him earlier today to be his date to the party this weekend,” Jora says, and he silently enjoys the horror that displays itself across Chanyeol’s face.

Chanyeol blinks hard like he’s trying to process the information. “What? You mean as in Trey, the soccer player? The senior?”

Jora just shrugs. “That’s just what I heard.”

Clasping his hands together, Chanyeol suddenly stands with a distant look in his eyes and leaves the room. Jora quickly places it out of his mind in favor of returning to his book.

~*~

Kyungsoo sits in front of scattered papers, as per usual, but he isn’t paying any attention to them. Baekhyun lies across the top of the table and sings along to pop songs while dancing with his arms and hands. Usually Kyungsoo would find it annoying and distracting, but today he can’t help but mirror the happy smile Baekhyun wears. There’s just something really infecting about a truly happy Baekhyun. It’s like he shares his happiness with everyone around him. Not even Kyungsoo can resist it, not that he’d want to. He’s been in need of some happiness in his life.

Baekhyun turns his head, meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes, and burst into a giggle. Kyungsoo laughs as Baekhyun rolls down the table, over the papers, and right in front of him. “Kyungie~ can you believe it? A party! We’re going to a party! I don’t have to graduate a total loser!”

“And, not only that,” Kyungsoo says, “you’re going with Trey.”

“I knooooooooooow!” Baekhyun gushes. “I cannot believe he asked me.”

Kyungsoo leans forward on the table and rests his head next to Baekhyun’s. “Yeah, he’s pretty hot. Total party animal too.”

Baekhyun grins. “This means we have an all-access pass now. Like, I don’t even care that this is because of the rivalry thing. I’ll take what I can get.” He sits up a bit and grasps Kyungsoo’s hand, looking him dead in the eye with a serious expression. “My friend, let’s get completely wasted this weekend.”

Kyungsoo grins back at him. “I think that’s the best thing I’ve heard all week.”

So its kind of short but it felt like a good place to end it

also i totally found the perfect visual for Cash! 

Its Tyler Posey (from Teen Wolf). He's the closest match I got to what I imagined Cash to look like\

Cash in the suit:

Casual Cash: