italics = Mandarin 

A loud boy burst into SM Studios that evening, causing Suho and Lay to jolt up from their seats in the lobby. Lay didn’t think this was a student, he certainly wasn’t dressed to dance and wore dark eyeliner. He glanced at Suho, who had somewhat of an amused face. Who was this boy?

“CHANNIE!!!” Said boy called out, ignoring the looks he got from the dancers that were scattered around.

Chanyeol, whom Lay had gotten to know better while hanging out with Suho, popped his head out of one of the studios. He had recently dyed his orange curly hair to silver and Sehun taught him how to straighten the mess. Lay watched as he grinned and waved frantically. “Baekkie! Over here!”

As the boy walked (skipped, basically) over to Chanyeol, Lay whispered to Suho, “Is that a friend of Chanyeol’s?”

Suho laughed. “It’s his music theory class partner. They’re kind of known for causing trouble together. I’ve met him once before but he’s never come to the studios.”

Lay nodded and smiled. He had a class after Suho’s makeup confession, for which he panicked and ran back to the studio. He planned to talk with Suho afterwards, but the said man had noticed the many papers bursting out of his bag. So, instead of talking, the two had sat in the lobby at a table, Lay finishing all his work for school and Suho calmly talking to fill the silence. It was quite comforting for the two of them.

Suho pointed back to the paper directly in front of Lay. “What class is this for?”

Lay picked it up and sighed. “Genetics. DNA and all that.” He eyed the paper. Thankfully it was a small homework assignment, and the last one he needed to complete. He scribbled down one or two last sentences before shoving the paper into a folder. Done.

“Did you want to grab dinner or something? There’s this nice restaurant nearby.” Suho offered.

“Sure.” Lay nodded. “I want to drop these off at my apartment first though.” Pause. “You can come with me, I need to tell my apartment mates not to be angry with you anyways. I’m sorry for their… odd behavior.”

Suho laughed. “I completely understand where they were coming from now, though. They can be pretty scary if they want to.” Lay laughed along with him. “Come on, let’s go.”

Suho took some of his folders as they left the studio, waving to a happy Xiumin and Chen. Lay hummed as they walked, earning a chuckle from Suho. Lay felt something touching the hand draped by his side and unconsciously curled his hand around it. Instinctively, Suho’s hand squeezed back.

Lay unlocked the apartment door once they got there. Suho was still holding on to his hand when he opened the door and saw Kris sitting at the table, drinking soda and scribbling down things on some sketches. “Hey Kris.”

“Hey Lay. Hey Suho.” Kris replied monotonously. Lay tugged Suho into the apartment before waiting for two seconds. Kris spat out some water. “Suho??”

“...Hi Kris?” Suho squeaked.

Kris glanced at him before looking at Lay. “You’re okay right now?”

“Yeah.” Lay nodded. “We talked. We’re planning on talking more later. Tell Tao I won’t be home for dinner.”

“TELL ME YOURSELF!!” Tao jumped out of his room and yanked Lay away from Suho. “You’re okay, baby? You’re not hurt? He’s not forcing you to do anything? He’s-”

“I’m fine, Tao.” Lay shrugged out of his grip and smiled. “We’ll be out once I drop my stuff off. Suho?”

“Yes?” Suho squeaked again. Lay chuckled and took the papers out of his hands before disappearing into his room. Suho stood awkwardly in the center of the room. Tao was seething and Kris was just sitting with wide eyes.

Kris was the first to speak. “So what exactly happened that made Lay so upset with you? If that’s alright to ask?”

“He thought I had a girlfriend. I only have a sister.” Suho feared that every sentence he spoke would invoke Tao’s wrath again.

Tao scoffed. “That was it?”

“... And I was the one sending him flowers?” Suho peeped.

Tao rolled his eyes. He walked up to Suho, making the scared man cringe. He expected Tao to slap him or something. Instead, Suho felt Tao hug him. And then shake him.

“We ALL KNEW THAT!!” He screamed. “COULD YOU TWO BE ANY DENSER??”

“Let go of the man, Zitao.” Kris had gone back to his sketches. “Let the lovebirds have their fun.”

Tao let go of a shaking Suho. “Fine. If you happen to truly up my best friend, I will personally see to it that your tea is poisoned.”

“It doesn’t help if you tell him what you’re doing.” Kris pointed out.

“I guess I’ll find another plan then.” Tao pouted. Suho stared, his mouth open. How could this man go from adorably cute to intensely threatening to sassy overload in 0.2 seconds?

“I’m baaaack.” Lay came out of his room at this point, watching Suho quiver in front of a pouting Tao, while Kris was still working on his sketches. “Um, I’ll tell Luhan later?”

“Oh, I already texted him that we’re good.” Kris piped up. “He’s gone to find Sehun.”

Lay blinked. He didn’t realize Luhan and Sehun were that close. Or that Kris was that subtle at texting people.

“You changed clothes.” Suho observed, glancing over at the other male. Lay glanced down as his cheeks started to heat up. Yes, he had changed from his sweaty dance clothes into a blue button down and jeans. Now that he thought about it, Suho was still in his dance clothes as well. It probably wasn’t very fair of him. Was Suho mad at him? Was- Lay’s thoughts were interrupted when Suho spoke again. “You look nice.”

“Thanks.” Lay’s cheeks were, quite possibly, at their peak temperature. Suho grinned before folding their arms together. “I guess we’re off then. Talk to you guys later?”

“Sure,” Kris muttered as Tao shouted “WE’LL SEE HOW LONG YOU LAST!!”

Lay made sure to slam the door. Loudly.

The restaurant they went to was very homely, and it was quiet enough for the two men to converse without having to yell. After they ordered, Suho looked at Lay expectantly.

“Well.” He said. Lay’s heart jumped.

“Well.” Lay replied. Suho’s staring made him a bit nervous and confused. He squirmed in his seat.

“I sent you flowers.” Suho continued. “I sent you flowers, and they all had meanings to them.”

“I know them.” Lay sat up a bit. “First love. Adoration. One meant ‘You’re adorable’. And the roses, the last ones you sent me? They meant ‘falling in love’.”

“Yes.” Suho nodded and blushed. “The man in the flower shop taught me all the meanings. I tried to find as many as I could.”

“So you meant to keep this up for a while?” Lay asked him. Suho nodded again.

“Sehun says I’m too shy sometimes. That’s probably true. The flowers were my way of hiding.” Suho looked down at his hands. Lay observed how cute he looked like that, excited but definitely shy. “I picked the meanings for a reason, Lay. I really like you.”

Lay’s head buzzed. I really like you. I really like you too. “Really?” He squeaked out.

Suho nodded, still looking down at his hands. Lay stopped to think. I really like you. Finally, he smiled. He took Suho’s hands, causing the other to look up at him in surprise. Lay wanted to tell him so many things, like how his feelings were returned, how Lay loved his smile, how absolutely adorable he looked right now, how Kris and Tao and everyone they know had probably seen this coming a mile away, but all that came out of his mouth was:

“I really like you too.”

But it was enough, Lay supposed, because Suho broke into a grin. And they stared at each other, like idiots in love, until the waitress brought their food.

THANK YOU FOR 100 SUBS!!

and also for putting up with my inconsistent updates/chapter lengths/general mess

if people want to guess some of the flowers Suho sent, you can go ahead (multiple flowers have the same meaning tho)

this isn't over!!!! I want to include other ships obvs and also some of sulay's stable relationship so I'll keep writing abt this mess of people! haha

xoxo Lucy Louis Lee