As time passed, the awkward air in the car turned into excitement. Sehun even stopped worrying whether or not Baekhyun would enjoy the plans he had set out. If he liked them, great. If he didn’t... then Sehun would improvise. There was no use worrying about it.

At a lull in the conversation, Baekhyun gazed out of the window and scrutinised his surroundings.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going yet?”

“Nope”, Sehun replied, “You’ll see soon enough”.

And soon enough he did.

It’s rather hard to sneak up on a funfair, what with all the flashing lights and the loud music. Oh and the gigantic Ferris wheel was a dead giveaway.

“How did you know I loved funfairs?”, Baekhyun’s eyes widened in glee.

“Oh you know, just my psychic abilities...”

Baekhyun looked at him and rolled his eyes, “Har har”.

“Shall we go in?”, Sehun tiled his head towards the entrance.

“I would absolutely love to”.

While Baekhyun was unbuckling his seatbelt, Sehun rather smoothly got out, walked over to Baekhyun’s side of the car and opened the door for him. This thoroughly flummoxed Baekhyun and made his cheeks turn a rather nice shade of pink.

“Thanks”, he muttered on his way out, ducking his head so Sehun couldn’t see his face.

“You’re welcome”, Sehun smiled to himself.

Together they walked towards the flashing lights. Standing close enough to each other that their arms were brushing.

Should I? Sehun wondered, his eyes glancing down to Baekhyun’s hand. It’s right there. I just have to...

Without second guessing himself any longer, Sehun gently grabbed Baekhyun’s hand in his and carried on walking. Baekhyun’s heart leapt out of his chest and he knew his stupid cheeks would be getting even redder, but he stared forward and said nothing. Instead, he readjusted their hands and gripped Sehun’s tighter.

Baekhyun’s blush was contagious, and Sehun hoped the colourful lights would mask it.

Together they shared a thought. Why does he fluster me so much?

*  * *

The entire day went smoothly, much to Sehun’s surprise. It wasn’t until he was dropping Baekhyun back off home that he realised he hadn’t been anticipating a prank the entire day. How odd.

Sehun managed to grab Baekhyun’s hand at the funfair without an electrocuting button surprising him. He managed to share a ridiculously indulgent strawberry sundae with him without salt or sour invading his mouth And he managed to sit next to him in the cinema without a whoopee cushion squishing beneath his . He wondered if Baekhyun was expecting him to do anything.

Today felt off-limits, somehow.

The inner monologue of Oh Sehun continued to ramble, distracting him from his newly-refreshed nerves. Why was the air so full of tension?

“Thank you for today”, Baekhyun said softly.

“Anytime,” Sehun smiled. And he genuinely meant it.

“So...”

“So... what now?”

Baekhyun let out a small dry chuckle, "Did your date planning website not tell you that?"

"No", he gave Baekhyun a look, "And I didn't use a date planning website".

"You didn't? This was all you?".

"All me".

"Oh wow, I guess I'm going to have to pull out all the stops on my turn".

"Your turn?", Sehun pretended to be confused but his small smile ruined the guise, "Who said I wanted a second date?".

Baekhyun answered by raising an eyebrow in amusement, "Oh?".

Sehun shrugged nonchalantly, "I mean, I'm not sure if I can fit you into my busy dating life".

The mischievous sparkle in Baekhyun's eyes that Sehun had come to both fear and adore returned. Keeping his eyes on Sehun's, he raised his arms and looped them around Sehun's neck, pulling him closer and stopping just before their lips touched.

"Are you sure?", he whispered, peeking up at Sehun from underneath his eyelashes.

Sehun's heart stuttered, "I am increasingly less sure".

Baekhyun brushed his lips against Sehun's, leaving behind a trail of fire that drove Sehun crazy.

"Still not sure?".

"Convince me", Sehun's voice brazenly caressed Baekhyun's lips.

They hovered against Sehun's for several moments, the fleeting contact sending both their hearts racing before Baekhyun couldn’t resist any longer and closed the distance.

Every frustration, every bit of pent up tension and desire was thrown into this kiss. Sehun’s hand found its way into Baekhyun’s soft hair and Baekhyun’s remained looped around his neck. They both should have known to expect fireworks, to expect their hearts to explode in such joy and their brains to hold up little flags that said ‘finally’. But that didn’t stop them being surprised.

They were so wrapped up in one another and distracted that they forgot to breathe.

Baekhyun was the first to pull away, inhaling a long drag of air.

"To be continued", he breathed, trying to gather some of his wits. He knew that his hair was a mess right now and his cheeks were definitely flushed.

Sehun opened his eyes and a look of sheer wonder was apparent on his face, "To be continued?".

"Yes, at a later date.  Possibly second, maybe fifth, who knows?".

"But...", Sehun looked lost, his lips now pouting for a different reason, "But..."

"That is, if you can fit me into your busy dating life".

Sehun cleared his throat and shook his head dramatically to clear his head, "What busy dating life?".

Baekhyun’s lips curved up into the most heart-stopping smile, “You tell me”.

“Well, my calendar is reserved every day of the week”.

“Oh”, Baekhyun’s smile dropped and he turned his head away.

“But the reservations are under your name “.

“Oh”, Baekhyun repeated, this time chirpier. The smile returned, “Does this mean I get a second date?”.

“Second, fifth, they’re all yours”.

“Well, in that case Oh Sehun, I will see you Friday”.

Sehun’s heart still hadn’t calmed and he laughed a nervous little laugh, “I can’t wait”.

Baekhyun’s eyes sparkled and his smile was genuine, “Me neither.”

*  *  *

It wasn’t long before Sehun got home himself and saw several texts from Baekhyun making sure he got back okay.

He assured him that he did, and thanked him once again for the date. He couldn’t resist throwing in a flirtatious comment that he knew would fluster Baekhyun.

When Sehun finally settled down in bed, all he could do was replay the day’s events.

"Convince me?", Sehun slammed his head into his pillow and groaned.

Through the muffling of the pillow, a wail and an 'I can't believe I said that' could barely be picked up.

“Oh my god I’m so embarrassed”, he wailed some more.

But then he remembered the kiss. His legs turned to jelly and his stomach churned with all the excited butterflies dancing around in joy. Oh, that kiss.

It was several hours before Sehun’s racing heart let him sleep, and even then, he dreamed of that damn kiss.

* * *

They went on more dates after that. Many more. Eventually they stopped trying to awkwardly decide what to call themselves and settled on boyfriends.

They went on double dates with Kyungsoo and Jongin, and attended those boring events together. Often early, because Baekhyun was the timekeeper and he didn’t like being late. But Sehun didn’t mind. He would complain and grumble, but in truth he didn’t mind. Spending the time with Baekhyun was more than worth it.

You would have thought that the time together and the increase in maturity levels would have put a stop to the whole prank-war business. But it didn’t. Eventually the people around them stopped being surprised when one of them was coated in flour, or had a fake spider dangling on a string in their house. It was just something they did.

They both reckoned that this prank war would last until they were old, keeping them young and on their toes. Who knew what the future held...

END

BONUS SCENES

"Are you about to say something cheesy like 'I'm the real winner here'. And then look at me with heart eyes?".

Sehun's face wrinkled up in confusion, "Uh, no. I am the real winner because my pranks worked better than yours".

"Only because most of mine failed catastrophically".

The victory smile returned and Sehun shrugged, "It doesn't matter how I won, I still won".

* * *

Sehun took a box from his pocket and got down on one knee.

"So anyway I was sa- Sehun? W-what are you doing?"

Sehun smiled and waved the box around, "What do you think I'm doing?".

Baekhyun stared at the box for longer than necessary, "I swear to god if your finger is in that box with ketchup I-"

Sehun began to laugh, "Would I do that?"

Baekhyun looked up from the box to Sehun's eyes, "Yes, you would". His tone was accusatory but Baekhyun was smiling uncontrollably.

"Byun Baekhyun-"

* * *

'HOT! DO NOT EAT'.

Sehun eyed the cookies keenly; did it really matter if they were a little too warm? Cookies are cookies. And cookies are good. Against any good judgement, Sehun quickly touched a cookie and pulled his hand back instantly.

"Oh", he said. The cookies had cooled down and were safe enough to eat.

"Don't mind if I do", he smirked as he picked up the cookie he'd jabbed only seconds ago. Within another few seconds, the cookie was in his mouth being devoured eagerly.

It took approximately 5 more seconds before he fanned his tongue with his hand, already feeling the heat of the cookie wash over him.

Baekhyun coolly patted Sehun on the back as he walked past, "There's milk in the fridge".

Sehun stared after him, tongue burning.

* * *

Sehun's hand slipped into his pocket, pulling out one of his favourite sweets.

"Want one?", he asked Baekhyun, already holding one out in his direction.

Baekhyun eyed the sweet for a second before shaking his head, "I'm good".

"Suit yourself", he replied, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth.

As soon as the sweet touched his tongue, Sehun made the strangest noise.

"Oh-oh my god", he gagged and within seconds the sweet was discarded into his hand. It was sticky and unpleasant, but that didn't even match up to Sehun's tingling tongue and wrinkled face.

"Sour?", he grimaced, "Really Baekhyun, sour?".

"You know what? On second thought I will have one".

Sehun reached his non-sticky hand into his pocket and threw one at him.

* * *

Sehun could never get tired of Baekhyun walking from the bathroom in nothing but a towel and his eyes followed him around the room every time. Today was the only exception, and his eyes didn't stray far. His heart hammered in his chest for a different reason than usual and his whole body tensed in anticipation.

Baekhyun grabbed a comb and his hairdryer, somehow miraculously not tipping the utility (?) upside down. The second Baekhyun experienced an explosion of powder, he yelled and dropped the still-blowing dryer.

"Sehun!", he whirled around to face the quivering man on the bed. Sehun shook with laughter and had to look away from the powdered man to catch his breath. But the moment he looked back at him, the laughter started up again.

"You- ", Baekhyun's mouth gaped, completely lost for words, almost.

"You know- y- that is so cliché!", he looked more and more horrified by the second.

"I've just had a shower! It's all sticking to me. Sehun, this is such an uncomfortable feeling I think I have flour in my ear. How the hell am I meant to get flour out of my ear?"

"Maybe I didn't think this one through", Sehun glanced at the mess on the floor that he knew Baekhyun would, rightly, refuse to clean up.

"You think? Again, how am I meant to de-flour my ear?".

With a loud and purposeful sigh, Sehun slid off of the bed and began to shoo Baekhyun back to the bathroom.

"What? Go back into the bathroom? Do you have eggs in there? Are you planning to make pancakes on my god damn body?"

Sehun gave him a look, "Baekhyun, while there's no denying that you're hot enough to cook pancakes on your bare skin, I can assure you I do not keep eggs in the bathroom. That's barbaric".

"Bar-", Baekhyun spluttered, "Barbaric? So is turning me into a powdered mess, but if you say so".

"I do say so, now-", Sehun made the shooing gesture again and followed him into the bathroom.

"What are you doing?", Baekhyun eyed Sehun suspiciously as the fluorescent light hit them.

"Helping", Sehun flashed him a wide smile.

"Oh? So you're going to help de-flour me".

"Of course", Sehun nodded seriously, reaching over to turn the shower back on.

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?", powder danced from Baekhyun's face as he laughed in disbelief.

"Actually, I fancied pancakes but-"

"You're an idiot", Baekhyun snorted, regretting it immediately as a puff of powder shot up his nose. As he spluttered, Sehun took his towel and used it to gently wipe the powder from his face. Baekhyun watched as the focused Sehun tenderly brushed at his face. It wasn't an unpleasant sight.

When Sehun's movements stopped and his hand dropped to his side, Baekhyun stepped into the shower. As the water trickled onto the flour and turned it into a glue-like paste on Baekhyun's skin, Baekhyun raised his eyebrows at the still-Sehun.

"Well?", he asked, "Are you helping or what?".

Sehun eyed the un-moving powder, "Helping. Definitely helping".

* * *

Thank you all for reading this story and sticking by it. Maybe one day I’ll go back over and correct things and tweak other bits, but for now I just wanted to get this story finished so you guys had an ending and I can say that I have actually completed something. Till next time!