i.



 

batman baekhyun was six when he’d first witnessed a brawl amidst trick-or-treating with his playmates. it wasn't much of a "street fight", really, as much as son goku jongdae wanted it to be, but more of a mess of tangled limbs and hair-pulling and what baekhyun can make out as you brat! or i hate you! or give baekhyun-hyung his lollipop back!

 

but it was enough to make baekhyun step away and cower behind dragon yifan's taller frame. after all, it had been his fault why superman sehun and super mario jongin were in this mess in the first place. 



 

'err, trick or treat?' when sehun made it out, small hand outstretched to return the said treat and smiling bright despite his wounded cheeks and scarred elbows and imperfect teeth, baekhyun was left mesmerized. who would've thought someone younger and much skinnier could put up a fight?

 

baekhyun distinctly remembers tackling the younger boy to the ground.



 

 

 

 

ii.



 

sehun was ten when he’d had to put braces on, crooked teeth straightened by wires of metal. 'it'd be like having a fence around my pearly whites, hyung!' he had exclaimed excitedly, and baekhyun had laughed through his juice box because he'd never actually encountered anyone as ecstatic over braces as sehun.



 

baekhyun was waiting outside the dental office, nails between his teeth in nervousness because chanyeol had told him braces were a pain—yura-noona told me so! and he's not too sure he wanted sehun to go through it.

 

‘boo!’ sehun surprised him, jumping out the door with a handful of candies in his open palms for being an obedient boy, smiling wide and playful, though he'd undergone a dental procedure for a couple of hours. baekhyun saw his braces for the first time, squinting at the bright blue rubbers in between brackets of silver. 'oh! i got them in your favorite color, hyung. trick or treat!’

 

and despite the dentist's warning of consuming less sugar in the form of sweets or carbonated drinks, they munched on the candies like victors, and baekhyun could swear he felt happiest walking home with his hand in sehun's.



 

 

 

 

iii.



 

'pretty please, mrs. byun?' baekhyun could hear from his room how sehun pleaded in his best aegyo to win his mother's affection. at sixteen, baekhyun was punished much like a toddler. 'it'll be quick, we'll just go 'round the village for candies. we'll be back before you know it!'



 

still, baekhyun's mother had refused, tells sehun over and over again that her son was grounded for failing his second math test, and for the sixth time mrs. byun had to beg for baekhyun's exclusion from the activity, sehun finally gave in. he left with a sigh, lips pursed and head bent low in disappointed.

 

but that same night, baekhyun woke up to pebbles rapping on his window, strong whispers of hyung! baekhyun-hyung, wake up! forcing him to open it and invite the cold breeze in. he shivered into his pajamas and down below, he found sehun with that childlike glow he's grown quite fond of. 'i've got something for you!'



 

with quiet, hurried steps, baekhyun had run down to open the door, and for a moment he was blinded by sehun's grin—his very presence at midnight a pleasant visit. 

'since you couldn't make it today, i figured i could bring you the celebration, instead!' the younger man chirped through the hush with a paper bag of sweets—packs of skittles and gummy bears, chocolate bars, and small trinkets and toys that celebrate halloween among the mess of treats. 'happy halloween, baekhyun-hyung!'



 

he was biting back tears when he’d sent sehun home, you gotta leave before mum finds us, pulling his best friend into a bone-crushing hug and endless whispers of thank you, thank you, thank you. 



 

 

 

 

iv. 



 

the university was notorious for its parties—alcohol-induced affairs that are stenched with the smell of pot and sweat and puke, hangovers and bloodshot eyes evident under the probing eyes of discipline officials and professors.

 it was the biggest and most extravagant halloween party the student body has ever seen, organized by junmyeon and his reputable knack for orchestrating the perfect getaways.

 

it was when baekhyun first tasted alcohol, when he first smoked a joint, coughing his eyes out at the initial contact. sehun was fresh out of high school, then—eighteen and adventurous—when chanyeol insisted on making the younger one try as a freshman welcome. 'you only live once, maknae.'



 

baekhyun didn't want him to, pulling the stick from between thin lips, don't, and sehun had shot him a glare, threatening and cold. who are you, my mother?

 

the words sliced through baekhyun like a thousand knives would that he slumped back into his seat in defeat, mortified and contemplating on whether or not to break sehun's teeth in for being an absolute brat. sehun had his eyebrows raised rebelliously as he blew smoke on baekhyun's bemused features, eyeliner thick and heavy under the dim lights. 



 

it was hours into the night when sehun grew bored of his hyungs humorless antics, when he noticed baekhyun's seat was empty. he doesn't know how long, but the guilt was enough to make him leave the table without hesitation, pushing a very wasted chanyeol off his shoulder, you're f-ng drooling, hyung, and trudged his way to the rooftop.



 

baekhyun was leaning against the railing on his elbows when sehun found him, gaze skyward and contemplative on the moonlit night. 'did you have fun?' he asked, though back still turned to sehun.


 

'i—' sehun mirrored his hyung's position, only he opted to admire the nightlife below, the distant noise of traffic and bustling crowds along the streets of evening seoul a lullaby from the earlier commotion. 'hyung, i'm sorry. you know how much you mean to me, and i’m just so sorry.’

 

baekhyun hadn’t responded, and the stillness was what scared sehun, scared that when he looked up, there would be emptiness and dismay, a farewell lingering somewhere in between the silence.

 

but when he did look up, baekhyun was grinning, smile blinding and bursting in all the seams that it put sehun in a standstill, gaze held true by the person he cherishes most. you're beautiful, he wanted to say, but he doesn’t as he moved closer, so much closer, leaning in to close what little distance they had between them.



 

'trick,' baekhyun's voice was hoarse, somewhat of a secret on sehun's lips—wary, unsure, but so hopeful and honest. 'or treat?'



 

sehun responded with a firm grip on baekhyun's waist, a steady pull of need that triggered repressed feelings from all those years of being just friends, the soft pressure of his lips on baekhyun's warm and sincere like baekhyun was all he ever wanted and loved. 



 

when they parted, dazed but certain and very much feeling alive, the stars were reflected bright in their eyes.