"I don't know, maybe we should cool another bottle of the citrus coke-"
"I really think three are enough to last a lifetime." Chen cut in but Suho seemed unconvinced.
"You don't know what the others might want to drink!"
"I might not, but I do know that no one drinks coke zero citrus if there's the alternative of tap water. Just trust me on that one."
Suho made a few whiny noises of general discontent, fiddling with the cutlery that was orderly spread out on the counter. A brave Kris showed up, wrapping his arms around his agitated boyfriend from behind, chin rested on his head.
"Stop stressing yourself out, we've got it all covered."
Kyungsoo -who had been busy carrying cocktail sauces outside- pointedly averted his eyes from the domestic display of affection. Obviously not because they were both men, but because seeing your brother being lovey dovey was awkward in general. Or maybe it was simply due to the fact that his brother was Suho and his boyfriend hot supermodel Kris, who turned into a loving, but completely whipped husband at the sight of his dorky brother. What a bizarre world.
Chen caught eye contact with him and made a very unimpressed face, offering him the cheese sauce with a meaningful smile. They decided to leave the couple alone and settled around the plastic table outside.
"The honeymoon phase." Chen sighed with a shake of his head, attempting to look about sixty years older than he actually was. Kyungsoo didn't even bother denying that statement.
"You sure he didn't call up an event manager or anything?" he continued while Kyungsoo absently filled two glasses with sprite.
"I wouldn't be too sure." Kyungsoo mumbled in response, looking up at the colorful, brand new paper lanterns strung up above them. One still had a price tag below and with a sigh, he scratched it off before it could cause Suho a heart attack later. The garden looked so damn perfect that he was almost embarrassed to admit someone as... perfect as Suho was part of his family. Perfectly groomed lawn, a round inflatable swimming pool waiting for them, luring with crystal clear, cool water, a prepared grill and, of course, set tables. Both Chen and Kyungsoo were perfectly ready to set the table like a five star restaurant would (courtesy of being an event waiter), but Suho had given them a judging stare, since apparently this would be ridiculous. Orderly decorating glasses with colorful napkins, sorting the cutlery into them and using a ruler to determine whether the glasses stood on the same height on the counter wasn't. Obviously.
Kyungsoo scrutinized the perfect set up and decided then and there to behead Baekhyun, should the latter dare to speak up about how all of this screamed gay couple and how they should've known about Suho's ual orientation earlier. For one, because he knew his brother was still a little extremely insecure about it all and even Kyungsoo wasn't that much of an , and also because he, as someone very much gay himself, didn't want to be associated with polished tea spoons.
This wasn't gay. This was nothing but pure-blooded, obsessive middle class decadence.

"So... how are things going with Chanyeol?" Chen suddenly broke the comfortable silence and Kyungsoo shrugged.
"I don't know, the usual 'I'm not sure anything is going anywhere' state of things? It's more of a stagnant 'we both acknowledge each others existence' type of thing, I guess."
"Haah... that's no good. We're both good-for-nothings!" his friend whined in response, leaning back in his chair, "at least Chanyeol is gonna come later, so you can make a move on him - Lay texted that their flight back to Korea will be delayed by one more day."
Kyungsoo didn't rub it in his poor friend's face, but he actually admired Lay for being so independent and leading such an exciting life. Call him naive, but traveling back and forth between countries sounded so appealing to a student like him, whose studies rather chained him to his sewing room if anything.
"You could share your food or splash each other with water in the pool or get all cuddly-"
"Chen, please. Not in front of his sister." Kyungsoo threw in with a disapproving look. With a playful eye roll, Chen snatched a few chips of the table.
"Bo-ring."
As if on cue, the door bell rang and he saw Suho jump violently out of the corner of his eye, immediately called back to action as he fussed himself to the door - and yes, in the case of Suho, fussing could easily apply to a course of motion. If nervous, Suho was the incarnation of 'fuss'. They heard him trip over nothing all the way from where they were seated outside - a small miracle, considering that their home looked like it had come right out of a furniture advertisement making a secret deal with a brand of floor polish.
Kris sank into a seat across them with a look of fond exasperation and Chen graciously moved the chips over to him. Out of all people, Chen was by far the least fazed by Kris' imposing appearance. He'd probably lost all respect for him after he'd been introduced to him as 'Suho's boyfriend'.
"No, thanks. I'm no good with wheat."
With a shrug, Chen reached for the chocolate and this time, Kris lifted a hand in dismissal.
"Lactose intolerance."
Chen gestured for the gummy bears and Kris only shook his head, not even bothering to explain.
Chen quirked a brow, letting the chocolate sink slowly as if to say 'oookay, then', just to pop a smartie into his own mouth. Or a handful.
"Well, at least that explains your good shape." he added nonchalantly and Kyungsoo was grateful that he wasn't being an about it.
"I heard you were talking about my ?!" a loud voice boomed into the calm garden as none other than Baekhyun burst outside with a cheerful grin in place. Kyungsoo jumped, feeling extraordinarily spooked at the close call on mind-reading.
"You get an first, then we might consider talking about it." Chen simply replied, offering him the bowl of smarties. Kris looked a little taken aback by the eccentric boy, who lazily sprawled himself across two empty chairs as he acted out to be deeply offended, while Suho's voice faintly complained over how he wasn't even invited in the first place, awkwardly balancing a tower of obscure, packed sweets.
"You said I wasn't allowed to come if I contribute a pack of condoms for you," Baekhyun sassed him and Kris, who hadn't been in the group chat, choked on his glass of water. With a routinely slap across the back of his noisy friend's head, Kyungsoo decided to help his overwhelmed brother before he could combust from self-induced stress.

Despite Suho's tight schedule and obvious meticulous planning, it took until half past seven until they were all complete and switched on the electric grill. While Minseok arrived perfectly on time, Sehun and Kai joined them five minutes late with Chanyeol and Sohee in tow. They hadn't even met before, but according to Sehun, Jongin had fallen for Sohee while sitting close to her on the bus. Indeed, Jongin and Sohee had been holding hands and Kyungsoo could only smile at Jongin's gleeful expression. That boy was such a goner for kids and fluffy animals. Luhan and Tao didn't arrive together, but were both late, claiming they'd gotten lost, and Kyungsoo thoroughly doubted both statements, especially after regarding their dolled up appearance.
Things were going quite well, with Suho pitifully trying to stick to his schedule and the others merrily ruining it. Soon, Chen and Kyungsoo had been doomed to grill the meat after it turned out that Kris only looked like someone ought to stand behind a grill. Kyungsoo used the chance to subtly observe the way Chanyeol was comfortably socializing with the others. He already seemed pretty amicable with Sehun and Kris, while Sohee showed off the necklace she'd gotten from Kyungsoo Chanyeol, demonstrating how to braid the silk scarves on Luhan, who took it with a sweet smile. A sweet smile that twitched whenever Baekhyun snapped a photo.
"Not meaning to swoon, but he's kinda ridiculously perfect." Kyungsoo muttered after carefully checking whether anyone but Chen was in hearing range.
"Of course you'd say that, "Chen argued back with a grin, turning the sizzling meat, "you're just biased. You know, normal people would say Jongin is the perfect one here. Or Minseok."
"Jongin?"
He looked at the brunette smiling from ear to ear at Sohee.
"Well. That's just a facade, though. We all know Jongin is super lazy and actually anti-social. If it wasn't for Sohee, he'd be glued to Sehun's side, trying to hide in the shadow of obnoxiousness that's Baekhyun."
Chen shrugged.
"True. That leaves Minseok."
Said one was currently smiling as he listened to Suho rambling about god knows what, looking very comfortable. As if on cue, he looked up and waved with a gum-revealing and quite adorable smile.
"Well... he's not bad." Kyungsoo admitted. Minseok was confident, quiet, relaxed and funny. There was literally nothing negative coming to mind. Chen chuckled proudly.
"Hah, they ain't nothing against Minseok, none of them can compare."
Kyungsoo shot him a side glance, but before he could speak up about it, Chanyeol had appeared next to them, seemingly out of nowhere. Still, Kyungsoo didn't visibly startle - he was improving.
"Are those done?"
Kyungsoo nodded, handing him the plate of perfectly grilled steaks.
"You need help?" Chanyeol offered easily, the plate already in his left hand, openly displaying that he, too had probably jobbed as a waiter before.
"Nah, I'm good. You go and relax." Kyungsoo dismissed him, pointedly ignoring the disappointed look of Chen. When the gangly boy had scrambled away to share the meat with the others, Kyungsoo relented, defending himself against unspoken accusations.
"What do you expect me to do, play all domestic with him?" he complained and Chen shrugged.
"It would be weird and out of place, okay?"
"I didn't even say anything." his friend retorted with a little grin tugging at his cat-like lips. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, he placed the fork down, turning more serious.
"Say, don't you think he's acting a little weird?"
"Who, Chanyeol?"
Chen hummed and Kyungsoo thought about it.
"Uh, no? Why would you think that?"
Chen hesitated.
"I dunno. Just... he seemed different during that convention? More... cuddly?"
Kyungsoo dismissed him, stating that Chanyeol had just been especially hyper during the manga convention. After all, Chanyeol was still smiling and still friendly and everything was just normal.
Right?


Damn Chen for having such a keen eye for people.
Why did he have to have to be friends with someone being this observant? Now that the seed had been planted, Kyungsoo couldn't shake the doubts regarding the cheerful boy of his daydreams.
Sure, Chanyeol was nothing but friendly, and didn't reject him in any way, but... was there something off? Was there? Kyungsoo had just assumed that the other was getting along well with the others, meaning that he didn't have the right to feel jealous over Chanyeol not being all over him. Somewhere along the way, the barbecue had turned to a pool party and Sohee was merrily splashing Tao with water, who took their battle a little too seriously, probably being on the exact same mental level as the girl. Luhan blissfully ignored this fact in favor of ogling the other's exposed upper body, much to the dismay of those around him. Kyungsoo was seated beside Chanyeol, who occasionally snapped photos of his baby sister and yes, everything was perfectly normal. The only thing making him feel slightly awkward was all the couple stuff going on.
To your left you have the cheesy couple, Kyungsoo thought in the voice of a tourist guide, looking towards Suho and Kris, who were leaning in unnecessarily close while talking in a low voice, once again momentarily excluded from the overall discussion.
To your right you can see a fine example of an 'we're the plus 1 couple', he continued, looking at the way Sehun and Jongin were sitting squished together, subtly holding hands and staying quiet most of the time - a demonstration of awkward behavior you'd expect from an uninvolved 'plus one' who knew no inside jokes and was just kind of there; except they both competed for that spot.
Then there's the 'I wish'-couple, consisting mostly of a pining Luhan at the moment.
And, last but not least, the...
Kyungsoo hesitated, watching the way Chen tried to handicap Minseok by slinging an arm around his shoulders. Said one still caught the smartie Baekhyun threw with his mouth and Chen applauded obnoxiously in front of his face, not letting go at all.
...the 'some' couple.
Kyungsoo was seriously considering whether his level of desperation was equal to Luhan's, which would be depressing to say the least, when he noticed the way Chanyeol's eyes flit from Sehun to Suho and Kris ever so often. The pda wasn't exactly graphic, it was just... cheesy. Still, Chanyeol appeared rather distracted by it and Kyungsoo took pity on him.
"Hey, I think Baek mentioned buying a water pistol earlier, let's look for it? I bet Sohee would love it." Kyungsoo suggested lightly and though Chanyeol grinned as he followed suit, he definitely noticed that it wasn't his usual, genuine smile.
The sun was setting, but it was still rather warm outside and the cool insides of the house had Kyungsoo sighing in relief. He silently rummaged through the pile of stuff Baekhyun had brought, unsure of where to start. Finally, he spoke up in a calm voice, not daring to meet Chanyeol's eye.
"Sorry about my brother."
Bigger hands came into view as Chanyeol began to search for the plastic gun as well and Kyungsoo stiffened instantly, carefully avoiding to touch him.
"Why are you apologizing?" he replied lightly, though not overly so. Not like he usually would.
"I don't know, you looked... distracted? I felt like maybe they were making you uncomfortable? Sehun and Jongin, too." Kyungsoo mumbled, nimble fingers finding the neon orange toy and yet he didn't move away.
There, he said it.
Maybe seeing gay couples makes you uncomfortable.
"What? No..." Chanyeol protested, but it lacked the usual vigor. Rather than that, it seemed as if he truly wasn't sure what to say.
"It's just... I'm not used to it. It's not bad, just... different. Yeah." he stated slowly and it was obvious that he was getting to this conclusion just as he said it. Kyungsoo's worries partly dispersed at that. So far, Chanyeol had never appeared to be homophobic in any way, but accepting the theory and being openly confronted with it were two different things. It may be irrational, but the fear of rejection was deeply embedded into Kyungsoo's mind and this was the first time he'd seen Chanyeol being fazed. The first time he hesitated.
Maybe this was a turning point. Maybe this was his moment to set Chanyeol at ease for once. To show him that there was no reason to be uncomfortable. So he turned around from the position he was in, again careful not to touch Chanyeol, who was standing awfully close, and offered him the toy with a small grin.
"How about shaking the boring couples up a bit, then?"
 

It was around midnight, when Kyungsoo carefully stepped into the pool. Right foot, left one, cool water rising up his legs, his swimming trunks and finally drenching his shirt as he sat down, leaning against the light blue frame. With a blissful little sigh, he let his head fall back to look up at the night sky. Behind him, he vaguely heard the others chatting about everything and nothing. Baekhyun had been mocking him the whole evening for not getting into the pool but Chen, who was aware of how self-conscious Kyungsoo felt when it came to revealing his body, had silenced Baekhyun quite brutally, and after that, Baekhyun hadn't even dared making a comment on the fact that Kyungsoo had just entered the pool with his shirt still on. Both of them had already seen him topless, but that didn't mean he'd feel comfortable around all the other people attending - especially Chanyeol. Most of them had jumped around in the water at some point, and while not all of them were ripped (Chen shared Kyungsoo's sentiments and had kept his shirt on, while Baekhyun flaunted his soft tummy with pride), most of them were and Chanyeol had even shared an excited discussion with Minseok about work out plans, after it turned out that the inconspicuous boy was the most muscular out of them all; no wonder he was this confident, Kyungsoo thought with a sigh, he had all reason to be and rightfully so. Still, Chanyeol was very nice to look at, too, and that he'd done. Thoroughly so. While he did look like he'd been biased towards training his arms, Kyungsoo would readily admit that Chanyeol's sinewy legs and smooth plane of his upper body had their own appeal. The very faint lines of not-quite-there abs he'd already thoroughly stared at when he'd cosplayed, looked even more inviting when dripping wet. He was pretty sure he could feel them when trailing over his finger over the bare skin...
Earth to Kyungsoo - you're being creepy.
Without thinking too much, Kyungsoo sank down, immersing his whole head in the water for a brief moment, trying to cool down and get his head out of the gutter. With a quick shake of his head, he went back to aimlessly gazing into the sky. Why was this so complicated? Chen had told him to just make a clear move on him already (which was rich, coming from him, but alright), but what good would that be, if Chanyeol was straight and even slightly uncomfortable at the sight of two men together? He'd been planning to wait and gauge his reaction to see whether he had the slightest chance, but it really didn't look promising so far. Maybe... maybe he should just try to keep this an innocent crush. Maybe it just shouldn't be more than that-
"Uwah, it's actually still cold - does Suho put ice cubes in here?"
This time, Kyungsoo was startled, being ripped out of his thoughts as Chanyeol nonchalantly sank into the water next to him, keeping a polite armlength of distance between them.
"You're so smart, Soo, waiting until everyone got tired of swimming so you'll have it all to yourself," he continued, folding up his way too long legs, but it wasn't exactly a relief to Kyungsoo. Skin, so much exposed skin everywhere, he had a hard time keeping his eyes on Chanyeol's face.
"Uh. I just felt like relaxing a bit." he mumbled evasively and it wasn't a lie. I was getting all down and sad watching you being awesome didn't seem like an appropriate answer, anyway.
"Sohee is still asleep?" he asked, sticking to the safest topic coming to mind and Chanyeol hummed in agreement, now following Kyungsoo's example and gazing up at the sky.
"Yeah. Passed out on the couch."
"That's good."
For a while, they didn't say anything and Kyungsoo absently toyed with the drenched fabric of his shirt.
"You know," Chanyeol suddenly began, "I feel like I'm saying this a lot, but I'm pretty glad I met you."
Kyungsoo chuckled soundlessly.
"I'm pretty glad you didn't run away from me yet, though you had plenty of reasons to do so." he retorted, trying to be playful in order to cover up his embarrassment, though the underlying truth was undeniable. He'd had every reason to stay away from a weirdo like Kyungsoo, the little gay boy pining after him. Kyungsoo realized that he was just being down and should probably force himself to cheer up - Chanyeol shouldn't have to see him like this.
"No, I really mean it. I can't even remember the last time I went to a party like this. And I could bring Sohee and she loved it and... your friends are really cool."
Now Kyungsoo snorted, unable to keep it in.
"They are super lame. Suho read from a written schedule that we ought to take a group photo at exactly half past eight, to have the best lighting. Baekhyun has been re-enacting famous magical girl quotes for almost half an hour."
Chanyeol laughed and since he used his whole body to do so, the water sloshed around them, making Kyungsoo vaguely aware of the possible intimacy of their situation.
"But I like that. They're funny and different from the usual macho guys. I can just bring along my baby sister and it's perfectly fine. Don't you think that's cool?"
"What, you're not scared she might get tainted from Suho's and Kris' pda?" Kyungsoo asked jokingly, belatedly realizing that he was leading their comfortable talk to a sensitive topic. Luckily, Chanyeol seemed unaffected.
"Nah. Sohee is still young. I think it would be good to... have her get used to this at an early age," Chanyeol stated slowly, not necessarily picking his words carefully in order not to offend Kyungsoo, but rather because he himself was thinking intensely about the actual reason, "have her grow up as an open-minded person. That would be nice. She could be... a better person than I am."
"What are you talking about? You didn't do anything bad?" Kyungsoo asked, eyes trained on the water reflections dancing across Chanyeol's cheeks and lighting up his eyes. He looked a little down himself now.
"Ah, don't say that. You even saw me making a fuss earlier. I'm sorry if I come across as rude. I guess I'm just all talk, after all..."
At this, Kyungsoo crawled a little closer, though he didn't dare placing a hand on his exposed shoulder.
"Hey. What are you saying? You didn't make a fuss - if you wanna know what making a fuss truly looks like, think back to Suho's reaction when he noticed the orange juice wasn't cooled and he had to use ice cubes."
The lame attempt at a joke had Chanyeol cracking a weak smile, but he still couldn't quite lock gazes with Kyungsoo.
"You said it yourself, it's just different. You didn't come across as awkward and none of them felt offended; I bet they didn't even notice. You're giving it all a chance, and that's what counts."
Finally, Chanyeol looked him in the eye and it were moments like these when Kyungsoo felt very lost and painfully aware of the fact that he didn't really get him. This seemed like a minor incident to him, and yet Chanyeol looked very affected. If there was more to it or not, Kyungsoo didn't know. Chanyeol seemed simple at first glance, but then there'd be something suddenly throwing him off balance and Kyungsoo was left helplessly offering his hand, not sure what made him stumble in the first place.
He really wished Chanyeol would let him in.
Still, he could keep this up. If the smile would cautiously creep back on Chanyeol's face like it did now, if whatever Kyungsoo said had some form of impact, he'd keep going. Suddenly, it was Chanyeol placing a palm on Kyungsoo's shoulder and it really shouldn't prickle like that.
"Thanks. You're... you're really amazing, you know that?" Chanyeol asked, more subdued than usual. As if he didn't want others to hear. Kyungsoo smiled, a mix of bittersweet pain and genuine happiness. The fingers around his shoulder tightened and... stayed. Kyungsoo blinked from his fingers back to Chanyeol, a hint of confusion flashing over his face. Chanyeol, too, was fixated on his own hand, an unreadable emotion in his eyes, before his gaze flickered down Kyungsoo's body and the latter instinctively reached out to check whether his shirt was sufficiently covering him. The spell was broken as sudden as it'd been cast and the hand was gone from his shoulder, a little too quick to be casual.
"I-I was thinking that you'll probably catch a cold like this." Chanyeol mumbled, retreating to his prior position while Kyungsoo did the same, awkwardly tugging at his clothes.
"You have another shirt or hoodie?"
"Yeah." Kyungsoo croaked gracelessly, clearing his throat.
"Oh. That's good. I mean, I would've given you mine, but Suho probably has plenty, too. But yeah. You've been thinking ahead again." Chanyeol stated lightly, eyes back to the sky and arms hugging his own legs. Kyungsoo mimicked his posture, vaguely searching for constellations while the faint chatter of the others made for soothing background noise.
"Don't worry, I'll dry up properly later." he quietly told the sky.
"Yeah. Later." Chanyeol said, and none of them made a move for the longest time.

...this chapter was brought to you by Shinee's 'View', my number 1 song from 2015 - listening to it will give you this incredible urge to enjoy summer to the fullest.
Well, now that we do have summer, see what I'm actually doing.

The title is derived from Chen and Heize's "A lil something"
- and if you haven't seen that one, you've been missing out, man! :o

I hope you haven't abandoned this story yet :<

Love, love, love
Sugar-and-Salt ♥