[15:24]
From: PCYeol
Sorry, I gotta work today
One of my colleagues fell sick >_<

[15:25]
To: PCYeol
Oh.
Well, that

[15:24]
From: PCYeol
Sorry man

[15:25]
To: PCYeol
I didn't mean it like that!
I meant 'that ' as in ' that they took away your weekend like that'
Don't sweat it :D

[10:30]
From: PCYeol
Ah, sorry...
I'm on outside duty with Yongguk
I have no idea when we'll be back :o

[10:32]
To: PCYeol
That's cool
I was just offering, yanno? I hope Zelo won't get too jealous over you spending time with his favorite ;D

[10:50]
From: PCYeol
Soooorry! T-T
I actually looked forward to the movie - we definitely gotta see it before they take it from the program!

Kyungsoo placed his phone on the table with puffed up cheeks. Was he being to obtrusive? Maybe he should stop asking Chanyeol to meet up. Just because they'd met once or twice before, didn't mean Chanyeol had nothing better to do. Or no other friends.
Having to juggle two jobs and taking care of his sister must be incredibly hard.
Kyungsoo should probably give him a break.
He wasn't incredibly impatient or selfish. Still, when Chanyeol texted him he wouldn't be able to make it to the long-awaited Bigbang concert, Kyungsoo couldn't help sighing. He'd actually looked forward to this.
"You know what they say, grannie~" Chen cheerfully called from the kitchen, "whenever you sigh, a piece of your happiness is leaving!"
Kyungsoo trudged into the kitchen where Chen was busily cooking a few plates of noodles. Those were supposed to go into a lasagna but it was late, Chen was hungry and desperate time called for desperate measures.
"Let me quote right back at you - we both know that our happiness has lined up and left ages ago, singing that trot the elephants in the jungle book sang."
Chen shrugged, adding a generous amount of soy sauce to the ominous sauce he was cooking up.
"I think they sang the 'faster and faster' song I covered before. You know, cause they were basically running from me."
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes with a smile, sitting down at their low kitchen table.
"Chanyeol just turned down the concert tomorrow, so I thought you might wanna ask Minseok?"
Chen turned towards him, looking exasperated.
"He did what. No one turns down the first row to a concert of ing Bigbang." he stated almost accusingly.
"I know, right? But if he's gotta go to work... what is he supposed to do?"
"I don't know, burn the place down? Fake to be infested by the pest?"
Kyungsoo didn't even dignify the suggestion with an answer and instead raised an eyebrow, looking up at him inquiringly.
"So, you wanna ask Minseok or not?"
Jongdae shrugged, pulling out his phone.
"Sure. Why not. Hey Min, wanna go to the concert tomorrow? We got a ticket for you and it's Bigbang, it'll be awesome!" he casually spoke into the phone while adding turmeric to the pot.
"Too lazy to call?"
"Pfft. audio messages are basically the same as talking on the phone. I'm talking. I have a phone." Chen retorted easily and Kyungsoo wrinkled his nose when his friend added yet another seasoning.
"Dude, what kind of a potion are you even brewing there?" Kyungsoo asked back, looking mighty unconvinced. Chen just hummed, adding a bit of ginger.
"It's called improvising. It'll be something thai-like. I mean, as long as you got a bit of turmeric, ginger and coconut milk, it's basically thai, right?"
"I'm not sure whether that's racist or just culinary ignorant." Kyungsoo deadpanned but Chen was already increasing the volume of his phone to hear Minseok over the sizzling of pots.
"Sure thing. Just gimme a time and place. And dress up nicely for me, will you?"
Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at this, but Chen only laughed.
"Hah, I'll dress up if you get me at my doorstep and me there. You wanna see me dress up? You better bring them roses."
He hummed to himself, waiting for his reply. He didn't have to wait long.
"Oh, that's how we're playing, huh? You want the roses to match with your suit or eyes?"
"Uhm. I feel like I'm being bombarded with Pda. Which is strange seeing as Minseok isn't even present. Cyber-Pda." Kyungsoo murmured and Chen laughed loudly, stirring his noodles.
"Oh please, Soo. We're just joking around."
"How... sure are you? I mean, not wanting to be weird, but... he sounds kinda serious."
"Pfft, you just don't know Minseok well enough." Chen waved him off and Kyungsoo shrugged, reached for a bag of chips he'd wisely bought in advance and went back to his room. Time for a good old retro-evening with the spontaneous life-commitment of a new game of Star Ocean four; maybe he could get the 100% if he actually followed the guide this time. Oh, and maybe he'd binge re-watch Chanyeol's videos.

"So you've come all the way from Japan? Amazing! Want another cookie? Oh, no, just help yourselves!"
Baekhyun was merrily chatting up the people behind them in the queue, stretching himself out as if he was at home and not on the dirty ground in front of a concert hall; a clear Baekhyun-thing to do.
"So who's your bias?" he asked sleazily and the girls shyly admitted to liking sassy maknae Seungri best, which earned her a very unmanly squeal of excitement form Baekhyun.
"Me too, me too! He's super hot!"
"You're such a fangirl, Baek." Kyungsoo absently said, scrolling through his phone. They'd been waiting for almost two hours already and more than one was still to come - unlike Baekhyun, he didn't have an eternal amount of energy to spare.
"And you're a heretic! How dare you listen to another artist while standing in queue for Bigbang?" Baekhyun gave right back but Kyungsoo only shrugged, pushing the earbud in deeper, hoping it would drown out the tinnitus that was Baekhyun.
"You're into guitar songs?" Minseok casually threw in. With one arm resting round Chen's shoulders, he had one hand left to reach for another one of their home-made cookies which tasted excellent due to Kyungsoo's baking them, but also skillfully avoided the public to snatch them away thanks to Baekhyun's clumsy decoration skills. He casually fed it to Chen who acted all huffy over getting an exceptionally bad one with a puddle of indiscernible colors sticking to his lips.
"Uh. Occasionally?" Kyungsoo asked helplessly, but being the awful frenemy Baekhyun was, he immediately exposed him.
"Pfft, Kyungsoo has no idea about any instrument other than tonewood maybe. He's just fawning over that guy."
"Not true!"
"What, you know the triangle, as well?"
" you, Byun Baekhyun." Kyungsoo blankly stated, making a show of turning away from him and towards Chen and Minseok instead.
"To your information, this song is really good, okay?" he stated seriously and Minseok lifted his free hand in defense.
"Sure, I'm not gonna fight you on that."
"A new song?" Chen piped up after away most of the color. Cue word being most. He still looked like a kid who played with lipstick, seeing as red color naturally sticks the best.
"A new cover." Kyungsoo corrected, scrolled to the video description and blinked. Usually, Chanyeol's descriptions were rather long, telling how or why he decided to cover this song. This time, there was only one line.

Scary, isn't it?

...followed by the usual download links. The song was nearing its end and a cheerful Chanyeol popped up, calling youtuber ChenChen out to provide the vocals for this.
"Yah, Chen. Chanyeol wants you to sing to this." Kyungsoo stated, his thoughts still circling around how the oddly sad description clashed with the cheery smile.
"What song?" Chen drawled out lazily, most of his attention on the sandwich in his hands.
"It's called 'Just be Friends'?" Kyungsoo asked cluelessly. Minseok tensed, looking mildly displeased but Chen only hummed.
"Yeah, sure. Why not? Just gimme another tough, super fast upbeat song. My schedule's actually empty, phew, finally something to do."
"Oh, please. You're just covering yourself through Jonghyun's latest album."
"Uhm, excuse you?" Chen retorted. No defense followed and none was needed.
They both ignored Baekhyun's screech of them defiling the atmosphere by talking about idols from a rivaling company, when Minseok spoke up.
"I don't know, I think I'd prefer Jonghyun. He's more mature, right?"
"Do you even know that song?" Chen only asked and Minseok wrinkled his nose, shaking his head.
"No, but it sounds like it's depressing."
It was an unexpected gesture coming from level-headed and cheery Minseok. Right, Kyungsoo thought, 'Just be Friends' didn't sound very happy. Wait, was Chanyeol singing this song because he felt down?
Was there someone he wanted to be nothing but friends with?
Chen hummed, leaning back into Minseok.
"Yeah, kinda. You're right, Jonghyun's latest album is more uplifting."
"So what is it about?" Kyungsoo asked impatiently. He knew the song wasn't directed at him. That would be ridiculous.
"Oh, it's about a longterm relationship sizzling out. Both sides come to finally realize it and it hurts as cause there's nothing they can do if the spark is gone, you know? And the guy tells her it's no use, but she stubbornly resists on staying friends, at least."
Oh. Minseok seemed to relax, while Kyungsoo felt a pang of relief. So no one was bugging him right now. It was about a past romance. Maybe he was feeling nostalgic? Kyungsoo itched to ask him about the meaning of this song choice, but it seemed too personal.
He typed a message, but deleted it again and instead invited him to the barbecue Suho was hosting the coming weekend.
The yellow 1 vanished almost immediately but no answer came. Kyungsoo put his phone into flight mode, to go easy on the battery, he told himself, and didn't turn it on for the rest of the concert.

Their seats were really something.
Second seating row, right at the front. Lay had mentioned that since this was the first time he'd ever taken use of those tickets, the staff had generously offered him even better seats.
"Why did we even stand in the queue for this long if our seats were already decided?" Minseok asked over the excited chatter of hundreds of people and Kyungsoo answered.
"Cause Baekhyun wanted to get the whole concert experience."
Minseok nodded as if this made perfect sense, and then the lights went out already, a sea of fanchants washing over them. Lucky for them, the seating area wasn't that crowded with pre-pubescent girls making noises like a dying whale and only very few shrill screams were close enough to have Kyungsoo's ear ringing. The bass set in and thrummed heavily over them, the tell-tale horns and cheers of Bang Bang Bang granting him with the biggest goosebumps he'd had in a long time.
He'd had his eyes set on the whole thing, occasionally swaying to his own bias, main vocal Daesung, before getting back to admiring the whole show. The costumes, the lighting... it was overwhelming and he really, really wanted to have a job as a clothing coordinator one day.
"Where's Lay?!" Jongdae shouted into his left ear and he must have been pretty loud since Baekhyun, who stood to his right, nudged them showing towards the second-right background dancer.
Jongdae squinted his eyes. It was barely impossible to see with the massive red lights but now that Baekhyun pointed him out-
"You sure?!" Jongdae called back and Baekhyun yelled right back at him.
"Look how he moves!"
Kyungsoo broke their talk apart so he could actually enjoy the show, trying to keep track of Lay, though Baekhyun sometimes had to point the background dancer out to him again. His movements were indeed flawless and a few of the 'I'm lying on the floor grinding up my hips' moves left Kyungsoo a little nervous. Still, seeing Lay moving with such confidence made him feel like this was his actual home. Not Korea, maybe not even China, but the stage. G-Dragon told them to make some noise and Kyungsoo enthusiastically joined in on the screams.

"Best. Concert. Ever." Chen breathed out as soon as they were hit by fresh air. He was completely drenched in sweat, looking sated and happy, the high still evident on his face. Minseok agreed with a mild but genuine smile. Kyungsoo only hummed weakly. He felt dehydrated, sticky and exhausted. In the best way possible, that is.
When there was enough room to actually breathe, he switched his phone back on. He didn't even have the energy to scold himself for defiling the post-concert high-
"Wait. Where's Baekhyun?" he asked, suddenly noticing the absence of overly excited gurgling noises. That was the downside to continuously ignoring the noise - it took a while to notice its absence. Not to mention that his hearing was still pretty dull.
"Huh. No idea. Wait, I'll text him."
Chen also took out his phone, only to lift an eyebrow.
"...or not. He texted me he'd go home with those girls."
Minseok only chuckled, looking much less scandalized than he probably ought to be.
"Two girls, huh? He's got a strong game."
Kyungsoo vowed to accuse Baekhyun of being a traitor, breaking his own ridiculous, concert-related rules. As soon as he's checked Chanyeol's reply. He'd replied with a delay of several hours, which wasn't too unusual.

[22:44]
From: PCYeol
Sure, I'd love to!
Thanks for offering, Sohee will be super excited - she loves barbecues.
If you add me to the group chat, I'll see what I can volunteer for! *salute*

So... see you there?
 

Kyungsoo smiled to himself.
Yeah, see you there.

The backstage area was crowded with people milling around. The idols had already left for the public area to have a meeting with some lucky fans. Yixing toweled his hair with one hand, water bottle in the other. He squished himself past the staff, leaving a polite smile and nod for all of them. His posture relaxed slightly when he was in a close to deserted corridor leading up to the room he'd stored his clothes in.
"Hey."
The dancer stilled in his tracks, turning around to see Baekhyun standing a few meters away. He looked almost as sweaty as him but a very vivid spark was dancing in his dark eyes.
"Oh? How did you get here?" Yixing asked genuinely surprised, but he didn't get a reply. Instead, the brunette shot him an intrigued look. Then he took a few long strides, walked right up to him and with one hand placed in his damp neck, pulled him in for a kiss. A surprised moan escaped him, but it was almost greedily swallowed by Baekhyun whose fingers tightened on his neck to keep him in place. There was nothing chaste about the way he tugged at his bottom lip and used his whole body weight to back Yixing up against a wall. Still, it was definitely Yixing who dipped his tongue in first, both hands encircling the slim waist and keep him close while grinding up against him. It wasn't easy, keeping Byun Baekhyun in place.
And maybe he didn't really want to, not with the way the slender fingers of his free hand roamed up his sticky back before dipping low...

Did the song title shock you at least a little?
I've genuinely spent almost an hour searching for a good cover of Just be Friends, and my fantastic German one has been taken down, so... I gotta leave you with this wonderful guitar cover~
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc1B4SOfZv4

The challenge I've signed up for is slowly going towards the end and I'm looking forward to updating this more often ♥
Love you all,
Sugar-and-Salt ♥
 

P.S.: the happiness thing is a quote from my favorite manga Skip Beat c:
P.P.S.: Jonghyun's new album saved 2016 for me.