That night, after bidding farewell to Jonghyun and Jongin, Sehun invites himself over to Baekhyun’s place to sleep for the night. After the news story, Baekhyun is a nervous mess, anxiety running high and it has a death grip on his heart. When they get to Baekhyun’s upper loft, Sehun silent goes to the kitchen to grab a green tea bag an steeps tea for his best friend. Meanwhile, Baekhyun seats himself on his small couch, blankly staring at the empty wall in front of him.

Sehun walks over to the couch, handing the steaming mug of tea to Baekhyun before he sits silently beside him. The nightlife in downtown Toronto is always busy, the occasional honk of a car or the tinkling of streetcar passing by breaking the ominous silence in Baekhyun’s loft. Baekhyun wants to at least formulate some kind of action plan or an opinion of the whole matter but his whole mind is blank. Baekhyun is completely devoid of any optimism, any hope that he may have had disappearing rapidly.

It’s not fair, Baekhyun thinks to himself, he has done nothing to deserve whatever mess he somehow is in right now. Baekhyun works hard, always takes time to skype his father in Korea and takes monthly visits to Mississauga to visit his brother. Baekhyun goes on sandwich runs regularly with Sehun, giving the homeless in Toronto a homemade sandwich and water bottles. Baekhyun has never gotten in trouble with the law, not even a ticket. He graduated with honors and he now runs a successful business. Why does the world hate him so much?

Sehun looks over at his best friend, comforting words on his lips but he hesitates. He sees Baekhyun’s defeated expression and he falters. Baekhyun is always the one that gives Sehun advice when he needs it and Baekhyun is always the more positive one between the two, letting almost nothing get to him. What would Sehun say to Baekhyun in this situation anyways? “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find your soul mate before some psychotic person kills him first?”

Instead, Sehun opts for draping his arm lightly around Baekhyun’s shoulder, pulling him in for a warm hug. After what seems like hours, he whispers. “Have faith Baekhyun.” He glances down at best friend, only to find out his words of encouragement have fallen on deaf ears. Baekhyun’s eyes were closed, lips parted slightly as he breaths evenly. Sehun sighs, carefully loosening Baekhyun’s grip on his untouched cup of tea, setting the cup in a safe position on the floor before picking up his smaller friend and carrying him up to his loft. After tucking him in, Sehun grabs the extra blankets Baekhyun keeps for when he sleeps over and settles on the small couch. With uneasy thoughts in his mind, he falls into a fitful sleep.

--

Sehun wakes up to the sound of rushing water, sitting up slowly as he yawns. His surroundings looked slightly unfamiliar in his sleepy state but then he remembers falling asleep on Baekhyun’s couch. Fumbling for his phone, Sehun squints when he finally turns it on, the bright screen displaying the time 5:43 AM. Sehun groans to himself, padding to the kitchen to wash himself up. He grabs the spare toothbrush he keeps there and brushes his teeth to the sound of Baekhyun’s shower running noisily beside the kitchen.

By the time both boys are finished, it’s barely, 6:30 AM, the sun not yet risen on the awakening city. Baekhyun spares Sehun a tired smile that does quite reach his eyes, carefully covering his tattoo with his scarf before pulling on his jacket.

The two walk into the cool air, silence welcomed by the two who has many thoughts going through heir heads. In no time at all, they’re in front of The Rooster House, the doors already open and Kyungsoo situated behind the counter, a troubled look on his face. When he sees the two walk in, a strange, unreadable expression flashes across his face before he flashes the two a smile.

“You guys are just in time,” he announces, just as Minseok comes out from the back with a “Good morning guys!”
 

Sehun and Baekhyun greet Minseok back and they look at Kyungsoo, waiting for him to continue.

“Minseok ordered a whole bunch new flavors of coffee and they just came in this morning. I was wondering if you would try some and tell us what you think?” Kyungsoo says with a small smile.

Baekhyun glances at Sehun who looks rather happy at the thought of free coffee.

“Yeah of course,” he replies, “We always come around the store way before opening hours anyways.” He attempts to laugh but it ends up sounding forced. No one makes a comment on it.

“Hold on, I’ll be back with a few flavors,” Kyungsoo says, going to the side where all the coffee equipment, beans, and tea leaves are beautifully organized. He hums a light-hearted tune as he makes them coffee, voice sweet and clear. Baekhyun lets the tune wash over him, soothing amidst his troubled mind.

When Kyungsoo returns to the counter, he has two mugs in his hands, the aroma of the coffee a blessing to his olfactory senses.

“For the blueberry man,” Kyungsoo teases, handing Baekhyun one mug, “And for Mr. Sehun Oh. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, I believe you haven’t come often enough for me to know what flavors you like,” Kyungsoo admits sheepishly as he hands Sehun his mug.

Something akin to pride swells in Baekhyun’s chest. Kyungsoo already knows HIM well enough to remember what he likes.

Sehun replies with a quick, “It’s totally fine,” too excited to down the caffeinated drink in his hands.

Baekhyun blows on his drink carefully, the steam rising up and hitting the tip of his nose. He takes a tentative sip, eyes widening as he marvels at the rich flavor. It’s still bitter with a coffee taste but there’s an unmistakable flavor of sweet blueberry that blends perfectly with the bitterness.

“Blueberries and cream for Baekhyun and pumpkin spice for Sehun. It’s autumn now so we’re assuming pumpkin spice will be a popular one,” Kyungsoo explains as the two boys enjoy their drink.

“It’s delicious,” Baekhyun says sincerely. “Thanks Kyungsoo.”

“Anytime Baek.”

--

Two days later, Baekhyun and Sehun are in the shop, the morning rather uneventful aside from Sehun showing Baekhyun his new tattoo that appeared the night before on his wrist. Sehun’s been talking a lot with Jongin, the two texting frequently and flirting like teenage girls but nothing has been done about it. Ever since their first meeting, Sehun has not seen Jongin’s tattoos again, nor has Jongin seen Sehun’s for they were always covered with long sleeves.

Baekhyun had told Sehun countless times to just confront Jongin about it but Sehun would only blush and reply with “What if he think’s I’m creepy?!”

In the store, Baekhyun has just finished putting more erasers in one of the bins when the store bell chimed cheerfully. Looking towards the door he see’s Jongin’s mop of hair come inside. He’s wearing the same windbreaker from their first meeting paired with normal jeans, the same handkerchief hanging from the same pocket.

“Jongin!” Baekhyun calls out. He can hear rustling from the back before Sehun bursts into the room, awkwardly trying to carry a bunch of canvases under one arm. “Oh, uh, hey Jongin!” he stutters, standing still like an idiot.

“Sehun, Baekhyun-hyung! I’m sorry I haven’t been around as often as I want to. Taehyung was in charge of getting the supplies for a while because I couldn’t bear to leave the studio. I was almost done one of my projects so I got a little excited,” he said with a laugh. He s his jacket and hangs it on the coat rack.

“I need more pencils again, I go through them as fast as Kyungsoo can make a fancy espresso drink,” Jongin says, as Sehun immediately puts the canvases down and heads towards his side.

Some the fact that Jongin is Kyungsoo’s best friend slipped Baekhyun’s mind and he’s still surprised by Jongin’s comparison.

“How is Kyungsoo anyways?” Baekhyun asks before he realizes what he’s saying.

Luckily, Jongin doesn’t seem to notice his embarrassment as he replies.

“Hyung’s good! He tells me you drop by The Rooster House a lot,” Jongin says, his tone light.

At that statement Baekhyun colors a bit.

“Kyungsoo also tells me you guys talk a lot about soul mates.”

There was a pregnant pause in the store as Jongin’s words settle uneasily. So far there have been no more murders and Baekhyun’s been hiding his tattoo well but he’s still extremely on edge, getting almost no sleep during the nights.

“I understand that it helps you Baekhyun-hyung, but I believe it helps Kyungsoo-hyung as well. He’s been fretting over the fact that he doesn’t have a tattoo yet for the longest time and I think talking with you makes him feel a little better,” Jongin says with a gentle smile, picking up the pencils that he needs with Sehun trailing him like a lost puppy.

Baekhyun didn’t know how to reply with Jongin so he lets out a lame “Ah,” before he rings up Jongin’s purchase.

After Jongin pays though, he sticks around to chat some more, the three of them talking about mundane topics.

After they conclude one of their conversations Jongin’s seems to remember something.

“Oh yeah, Kyungsoo-hyung and I were thinking of heading to Yonge and Finch to hang out on Saturday. We were thinking about going karaoke but it’s a $20 set fee for an hour and the more people that come, the less we have to pay. You guys want to come?” Jongin asks, looking at the other two expectantly.

Sehun barely hesitates before replying with an enthusiastic “SURE we can come!”

Baekhyun DOES hesitate for a bit. He didn’t really want to go anywhere on Saturday but he realized that if he didn’t go out, he would most likely waste the day moping in his loft. A small voice inside of him lets him know that Kyungsoo was also another reason why he should go but he pushes it away. “Yeah sure, I don’t have anything to do on Saturday.”

Jongin beams at them. “Great! I’ll text Sehun the details or something.” He walks to the front door and pulls his jacket on. “I’ll see you guys later!”

Baekhyun and Sehun say bye as Jongin heads out the door. When Jongin is out of sight, Sehun practically skips back to his abandoned canvases and he puts them where they rightfully belong, whistling a random tune. Baekhyun tries to smile but his heart sinks a little, gloom overpowering his will to be happy. 

a/n I'm sorry for the late update! School's kinda crazy. This whole chapter is a repeat of orange haha it's going to be split into two parts. (I changed orange 2/2 to tangerine because it looks more visually appealing HAHA). This is the best I've ever done with a chaptered fic omg. Also, I took the poll down but a lot of you seem to really want a series of oneshots in the AU so that may come after this is done (unless the SeKai sequel comes first whoops) P.S. I REALLY want to write something about the new teasers that are coming out becuase I think that's be a splendid AU but OMG there's so many things I want to write haha. Anyways, comments, upvotes and subscriptions will make me very happy! see you in the next chapter!

p.s. here's a layout of Baekhyun's loft!! (it's disproportional LOL sorry :(( )
p.p.s the lines at the bottom left that I totally forgot to label are the stairs that lead from outside. at the bottom of the stairs, before you head outside, there's a door. Baek's landlord lives in the bottom unit there