Waking up has never been something that Sehun enjoyed doing. There were that people, a small amount he presumed, that enjoyed waking up, feel the warm sunrays, the brightness but not Sehun; Sehun did not enjoy waking up because that meant leaving the warm cocoon of blankets that his bed provided. That was the only reason really, but it was a rather valid by his books. He was a mafia boss but it didn’t mean he didn’t have his pet peeves which was leaving his bed in the morning.

Today, however, waking up, not even in his bed, incredibly warm due to the body next to him had made him feel that waking wasn’t that bad. Baekhyun was still sleeping soundly, exactly like he had left him yesterday, looking so peaceful and serene that Sehun just stood there watching the smaller male. His hand, which was circling the other’s waist, moved slowly, fingers tracing patterns on the patch of skin that wasn’t covered by the smaller’s sweatshirt.

There was just something about Baekhyun that pulled, well, everybody to him. He was strong, a very strong man, he had gone through some of the most intense experiences in the world and survived them all, maintaining a smile on his face and being sweet and gentle.

Sehun had been through a lot, his work and his life, in general, demanded so, hardship, pain, loss; he had experienced all and he admitted, it had turned him a little cold and rough around the edges, especially to people he didn’t consider to be close to him, or rather the people who lived with him. But Baekhyun, he was nothing like that, it was intriguing. Baekhyun was intriguing and Sehun was curious; he couldn’t keep himself from seeking him. Never had Sehun being so genuinely confused about himself, his own actions, and by someone; it scared him and thrilled him at the same times; he hated and loved it.

“Sehun?” asked a mostly asleep Baekhyun, blinking his eyes slowly and repeatedly. “I thought you would be gone by now.”

“Why is that?” asked Sehun back, bringing a hand to support his head, looking at the smaller male.

“You are always busy, especially these last few days. I thought you would have something to do by now.”

There was no recrimination on that sentence but Sehun could detect a little frustration mixed with confusion and sadness. He leaned forward and pressed a small kiss into Baekhyun’s unsuspecting lips; he didn’t like seeing the shadow of doubt that lingered into the smaller’s eyes.

“I’m here now.”

And it was true, Sehun was not going to avoid Baekhyun’s presence, it was unfair to himself and to Baekhyun. Their relationship had been growing; they were becoming more familiar and supportive of each other, trusting even, and his little avoidance plan, that had Luhan straight up laughing in his face, had not the results he expected: he had been more confused because he had missed the smaller terribly and he wasn’t sure why he missed him so much and Baekhyun had also been confused since he hadn’t do anything wrong to deserve such treatment. He had been unfair and he was somewhat sorry.

“So, every time you try and apologize from some kind of stupid thing you have done, you are going to kiss me? I’m really sorry to say but you have mistaken me for somebody else. You are far too smart to assume that I am letting something go just because you wish it.”

“Baekhyun…”

“However I am not going to push this subject further on, no point to it since none of us is comfortable to do it.”

“What makes you uncomfortable?”

“The same that makes you uncomfortable I assume. Who are we kidding? We are adults who are playing at the hook up game and yet we are afraid of the consequences, the meaning of it all.”

“What makes you assume that about me?”

“I am fairly good at reading people. You are difficult at times but you are still human and you still feel and emote as one.”

“Aren’t you smart…”

“I know, right!” retorted Baekhyun playfully, eyes shining with mischief.

Sehun let a smirk stretch his lips before he pulled Baekhyun more firmly against his chest. Then his eyes soften.

“What am I going to do with you?”

“You mean you don’t know what you have been doing?”

“Not at all” snorted Sehun “most of the times I am really not sure what to do with you.”

“Then you know how it feels to deal with you on a daily basis.”

“Knowing but not knowing?”

“Exactly!”

Baekhyun stared into Sehun’s eyes. It was rather funny how both of them had started off on such wrong footing, with Sehun being so cold and Baekhyun always fighting him at every second possible. Then, when the engagement plan became a reality, among the fact that he was almost killed once and another one, they had become closer to each other, not through words, there hadn’t been a moment where they both sat and discussed the evolution of their relationship, but through actions, Baekhyun actually sought Sehun when he needed to feel safe; there was something about the older male that equaled security and Sehun actually worried about Baekhyun and cared for his safety, even if he did not admit that to anyone.

Baekhyun had grown fond of Sehun, the older man meant something to him; something that he couldn’t understand, or rather, he was afraid to interpret. Feelings; feeling were confusing.

“I find it very interesting that you don’t have the need to ask questions about this all issue.” mused Sehun distractedly; Baekhyun was very distracting. “Yoora used to ask where she stood with me all of the time.”

“You are comparing two different people.”

“Yes but I was under the impression that the need for labels, or more precisely to put a label on a relationship, was a must between population in general.”

“You sound so clinical…” deadpanned Baekhyun earning himself a small frown from Sehun “But you just can’t just apply on generalization made by the masses to every case you find, it doesn’t work like that.”

“I am very well aware of that but it is intriguing nonetheless. I want to know what’s on your mind.”

“You are asking an awful lot of questions for someone who wants to stay away from the subject.” stuttered the smaller, eyes widening a bit, nervousness seeming to seep into his pores as the questions began to take a more personal turn.

“Humor me…”

“Sehun” begun Baekhyun softly, eyes gentle as he cupped the other’s face, thumbing the skin on the high apple of Sehun’s cheeks “let’s not talk about this anymore. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Sehun looked into the other male’s eyes; the stormy brown eyes that showcased a myriad of emotions, none that he could identify except for the shadow of doubt and the flicker of fear. He sighed and took the hands on his from their place, bringing them near their chests. He wants to ask more, to understand, make heads and tails of it because he is mostly social inept and Baekhyun sparks something that he wants to name, despite the fact that he actually does not. Oxymoron: that was the best definition for them.

“Okay” agreed, slowly, noticing how the other breathed in relief “okay, we won’t talk about it anymore.”

“I’m not saying that we won’t just…not right now.” babbled Baekhyun trying to justify himself.

Sehun didn’t reply, instead he pressed a kiss onto Baekhyun’s lips. Slow, very soft, sweet and, to be honest, very un-Sehun-like. It also seemed to have a calming effect on Baekhyun since the smaller male stopped looking so nervous and relaxed the tiniest amount of fraction in his arms.

When they parted, Baekhyun nestled himself against Sehun, partially to hide his embarrassed, he could only pretend being nonchalant about their conversations for so long, and what they did talk only seemed to make things even more confusing; however Baekhyun didn’t want to dwell on them, not right now when it was peaceful. Later, maybe, when he was all by himself, he would think of it; or maybe he would brainstorm with Chanyeol about it, since the younger seemed to be more aware about romantic relationships and hook up than he was, heaven know why.

However, peace was never a constant around the estate and the door to Baekhyun’s room was pushed opened making a rumpled Junmyeon and a calm Luhan enter into his room, mouth agape when they noticed them, basically cuddling, on the smaller’s bed, arms tightly wrapped around each other. Or rather, Luhan is gaping at them, mouth partially hanging open, quite unattractively, if Baekhyun might say, never has he seen the usual elegant man looking so not put together. Junmyeon however, and this has Baekhyun shivering slightly where he lays, is staring at the both of them, dark eyes deceptively calm, albeit he was betrayed by the nervous tick on his trembling hands: the man was absolutely furious.

“Oh my…”

And was all that Luhan managed to utter, still in his state of shock, before all hell broke loose, casting the devil to walk the Earth; and that devil had the name of Kim Junmyeon.

“Are you telling me that Junmyeon just started yelling and almost threw you out of the bed?” asked Yixing, eyebrows high upon his forehead while Jongdae just looked at Baekhyun incredulously.

“I’m telling you!” guaranteed Chanyeol, who sat on a chair on Yixing’s little clinic, Baekhyun sitting between his legs, the two of them looking rather cute like that. “I walked inside the room with Jinki as soon as I heard screaming and guess what? Junmyeon looked like a possessed man, insulting Baekhyun, calling him every possible name ever, he even tried to hit him, when Sehun stood in front of Baekhyun to prevent something like from happening that he started bad mouthing Sehun; telling for everybody who wanted to hear that Sehun was a stupid a-hole, that he was losing all that he had achieve so far, letting go opportunities and that one day he would be eaten by the competitions all because of Baekhyun. It was a scene right from a soap opera. I am telling you, he went completely berserk.”

“I don’t doubt your words Chanyeol but I cannot, for the life of me, imagine prim and proper Junmyeon doing something like that; the man is practically the definition of self-control.” commented Yixing while he tidied up his drawers.

“I can!” snorted Jongdae “Don’t get me wrong, I really have nothing personal against Junmyeon but he has always rubbed me the wrong way; he makes depreciative comments towards people, he is a frustrated elitist who think far more of himself than he should and he always trailed behind Sehun like a desperate puppy. Also, the treats the staff of this household terribly and they do not deserve that, especially because they work hard and don’t deserve those words.”

“How are you feeling about this all?” asked Yixing, looking at Baekhyun with worried eyes.

“Confused? Mostly…yeah! I don’t understand what the heck I have done to anger him so much. What’s his problem?” asked Baekhyun aloud, clearly frustrated, while Chanyeol rubbed a hand on his back, noticing how tense the other was.

“I don’t know.” replied Jongdae, scratching his head “Yixing and I had made some theories about it: either Junmyeon wants to achieve his place as Sehun’s advisor or something, a Luhan of sorts, and control the company by manipulating Sehun, which could explain why he is so angered because Sehun takes your opinion in consideration eighty percent of the time, or he likes Sehun and he’s jealous of you or, he is just plain stupid and an elitist bastard who has a sad little life and you are the distraction that he needs in his life.”

“I vote on the third one!” grumbled Chanyeol before circling his arms around Baekhyun’s waist and hugging the male to his chest, making the older smile a little at the comfort provided and hug the arms around him.

“Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?” asked Yixing concerned.

“I am fine. He didn’t even touch me, just spewed a lot of thing which I am not even taking into consideration because it’s Junmyeon. Also Sehun, Chanyeol and Jinki didn’t let anything happened to me.”

“Good.”

Jongdae hoped off the table he was sitting on top of, knocking over some bottles and earning himself a glare from Yixing. He approached Baekhyun and hugged the other’s head, clearly joking with the situation.

“No one hurts dear Baekhyunnie.” he cooed loudly, making Baekhyun swat at him.

He would have cursed at Jongdae but the other opened and a frantic Choa opened the door, alarming the men inside the room and, in the next moment, Jimin crashed into Choa’s back, looking breathless.

“Choa? Jimin? Are you okay?” inquired Baekhyun, looking confused at the women at the door.

“I…I…”

“What is it Choa?” asked Yixing, voice soft as not to scare the already frazzled woman.

“Sir Sehun is having an enormous fight with Sir Junmyeon in the living room and he told Sir Junmyeon to abandon the house.” replied Jimin, ever the straightforward one.

“What?” asked the four men before they left the room running, easily guiding themselves by the sound of Junmyeon’s loud voice.

Junmyeon and Sehun, next to a nervous looking Kyungsoo, a nonchalant Luhan and a guarded Minseok stood in the living room, Junmyeon facing everybody with a red face. Thankfully, Jongin had gone with Donghae to a meeting with a judge, someone that Donghae knew personally and could easily be swayed to favor their side on Kris’ case.

“You!” growled Junmyeon menacingly, pointing at Baekhyun and advancing towards the other male, making Yixing and Jongdae side step in front of their friend while Minseok moved to grab Junmyeon.

“You! You lowlife, your disgusting, obnoxious leech. You come inside this house and manipulate every single one of them to be against me and destroy all the work that I have done over the years. All those nights that I dedicated towards our company and the sacrifices that I made for Sehun mean nothing because Byun goddamn Baekhyun seduced and manipulated Sehun into do your biding, by opening your bedroom door and dropping your pants for him. You want to destroy him and his company and his beliefs. You are going to sink him from his gloriousness, his power, to the bottom of everyone’s soles. You are disgusting; you are worthless; you are nothing…”

“That is quite enough…” declared Luhan in a loud but firm voice. “In this household we do not condone offending our own inside it, nor outside for the matter. Family supports family, even when they feel like they don’t have reasons for it. Whatever dispute you have it is talked away with diplomacy, certainly not this savagery.”

“What do you know?” asked Junmyeon out of despite. “If it wasn’t for Sehun’s father you would still be a little blond, Chinese beggar on the streets, robbing others in order to eat bread.”

“You do not speak to my brother like that. It is really disrespectful of you to speak like that to any of us in this household, especially considering the fact that none of us has ever treated you badly. I am not blind nor am I deaf; it is not the first time that I am aware of you insulting other people with no valid reason except because you were angry or because you want to. Social classes are something from the medieval era, so it is not applied to our society, much less to any of us. Yes, Luhan came from the streets but, as you can see, the majority of the people living in here came from the streets and that fact did not make them any less hard working or honest or loyal. Many times I closed my eyes and shut my years, since you have been a friend of mine and a good one at that, for a long time but I cannot tolerate such behavior any longer.”

“Are you really going to put years of friendship behind your back and open your arms to them? They aren’t your friends, they have not been with you the way I had so far. They are all telling you lies and clouding your judgement, you are saying that out of spite.” retorted Junmeyon, face red, small beads of perspiration appearing at his temples.”

“I am not putting our friendship behind our back, nor am I dislodging you; I am simply stating that it is better for us to be sometime apart. You will return to your own estate, you return to your own company instead of working for mine, which is a good switch since you have delegating your tasks to your sister for quite the long time, meaning Taeyeon can have some deserved vacations. Also, once again, I am asking you to stop that turning back nonsense that you have going on, while this situation is still a reversible yet.” warned Sehun, voice dropping a few octaves making it sound like a deep rumble coming from his chest.

“Are they really more worthy than I am, Sehun? Are you really going to do this? For them? For the impaired, damaged orphan and for the e?”

“Yes!” replied Sehun firmly before Baekhyun had the change to surge forward and clock Junmyeon for calling what he did to Chanyeol. “The e and the impared, damaged kid are people who I value and, at the moment, who I certainly like more than you, since they appear, in all their simplicity and lack of proper upbringing, as you like so much to say, the picture of elegance and poise.”

Junmyeon looked utterly betrayed at the words, clearly not expecting Sehun to take such drastic measures.

“Minseok, please Junmyeon outside this house, to his car. Ask Jinki to help you with his luggage.

Junmyeon began chanting he wasn’t leaving; an almost whisper that was almost eerie, due to the silence that had set itself inside the room. Minseok, despite his short stature, grabbed Junmyeon gently by the forearm to lead Junmyeon, who planted his feet on the ground, refusing to leave, making Minseok apply more force and drag the man outside while Jinki followed them with the luggage.

It was almost expected, by everyone, for the present scene to escalate from bad to worse, which seemed to be accomplished when Junmyeon started to curse at everyone, like a very drunk sailor, while a confused Yuna and an even more confused Jongin appeared on the arch of the entrance door.

“What’s going on?” asked Jongin, coming out of his state of shock when Yuna moved to avoid the situation at hand.

“Ask them!” shouted Junmyeon maniacally “Ask you precious Baekhyun and to your boss! Asked them how much does Sehun pays for a good lay with Baekhyun. Ask them how fast the pants dropped. Your little angel, the one who you like so much is screwing your boss and stringing you alone like a dog! The two of them, in bed, disgusting! There are another people living inside this household. They don’t care about…”

The sounds were getting weaker and weaker as Junmyeon was being dragged away but the words had already taken their impact; Jongin had turned towards Baekhyun and Sehun, a blank look on his face, while those words kept replaying on his head.

“Is this true?” he asked to everyone.

When no one answered his question, Jongin shouted his question, making Kyungsoo and Chanyeol flinch a little, either in fear or because it was loud no one could tell.

Baekhyun seemed nervous, as if he didn’t quite know what to answer to that question- He looked over at Sehun, hoping that the older male could provide Jongin but the older man was staring straight ahead, to the place that Junmyeon had just left, eyes hard and not amicable at all. The smaller male’s heart clenched at the sight; no matter how much of a douchebag Junmyeon was, still one of Sehun’s best friends, it must have been hard to do something as Sehun had done. He approached the man and touched his arm lightly.

“Sehun?” he called tentatively trying to comfort the taller, completely ignoring the fact that Jongin was looking at them; him more precisely.

However, much to his shock, Sehun shook his arm and, without looking at Baekhyun, turned to leave the room.

“Sehun?!” repeated Baekhyun, extremely confused at the other’s behavior.

“Don’t speak to me!” hissed Sehun, head turning violently to finally look at the smaller male. “Thanks to you, I just head to throw my best friend away from this house. Because he could compromise your safety and I promised your brother.

“It wasn’t my fault!” rebutted Baekhyun, looking livid at the blatant accusation.

“If that helps you sleep at night…” trailed Sehun, leaving the room.

Baekhyun was left standing alone in the middle of the room, looking extremely small and lost. He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened or why had Sehun accused him of that. Plus, everybody was watching him with pity on their eyes and Jongin was still looking half betrayed, half disappointed.

Yixing was the first to approach him, gentle hands guiding the smaller male, saying that he was going to take him to his bedroom.

“No, Yixing. It’s okay. I have to talk to Jongin anyway; he doesn’t deserve to have this conversation denied because of what happened.” he told, albeit a little on the faint side, clearly trying to shake the overload of feelings that must had been swimming around his head for a while.

He extended his hand towards Jongin, silently asking him, pleading more likely, for him to accept the hand, which the younger did. Baekhyun let out a small, shaky smile and led the younger out of the living room, no doubt to have a private conversation.

“Well,” began Jongdae, watching the two men as they were leaving “poopie had hit the metaphorical fan!”

Baekhyun led Jongin to his room and asked the younger man to sit down while he closed the door, assuring himself that no one would disturb them this way. When he turned around, Jongin was sitting on the bed, in front of him, looking at him, expression as miserable as it could be.

“I didn’t sleep with Sehun.” he started, not knowing what else to say, except for the need to reassure the younger one.

“That is not assuring. If you’re saying that I am guessing that you mean something else was done.”

“We kissed and we cuddled in my bed tonight and this morning.”

Jongin slowly stood up from the bed; Baekhyun knew very well that the revelation had made him uncomfortable and stopped centimeters apart from Baekhyun.

“Why? Just tell me why? I know that you are aware of my feelings for you, I was not being discreet about it, so why him and not me? Why am I not the chosen one?”

There were now warm hands cupping his cheeks but Baekhyun felt cold, so cold, looking at Jongin’s desperate eyes.

“He’s not the chosen one either; I haven’t picked anyone. I am…confused to say at best. There is a lot that I am feeling that I don’t have a name for, nor do I know if it something real. I am romantically awkward, as you may have noticed and, for me, it’s really hard to figure this out, whatever this is. I feel frustrated, I feel tired, I feel emotional…everything that you can possibly imagine. I find myself wishing over and over that I’d feel this confused about somebody other than Sehun because he switch his moods so fast that I can’t keep up with. Sometimes I wish that someone is you. I am trying to be mean or to be inconsiderate of your feelings but I don’t need someone like you. You are a prince, don’t get me wrong” said Baekhyun quickly looking at the crestfallen expression that Jongin began to have “you are caring, sweet, charming and you are nearly damn perfect but I don’t want a prince. As ironic and as cliché as it sounds, I don’t need to be charmed and swept out of my feet. I need someone who can keep me grounded and allows me to have my space. I need someone who can shove me a little and show me I am being wrong. I need someone who can take my moods. And that someone is not you Jongin; you have a lot to offer but not what I am searching for.”

“If that is, in fact, what you are searching for, I cannot really help you then.” managed Jongin with a weak smile.

“It breaks my heart to see you this sad but you deserve someone who fully loves you and someone who can give as much as you do and not just some half assed attempt just for the sake of it, I refuse to do that to you.”

“And I appreciate it. I really do, even if you broke my heart every time you open up your mouth, even if I want to be angry at you for not being the first choice…I can’t. I really can’t. I can’t because you are being honest and because you can’t control these things. I was so angry just minutes ago and now, in front of you, the adorable you, I crumble and I am defeated.” muttered the taller in an almost whisper like tone of voice.

“You should be. You should hate me.”

“I can’t. Not you, not ever.” replied Jongin, resting his forehead against Baekhyun’s own. “He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Neither do I deserve your love.”

“But I still do love you.”

“Yes…still do.” nodded Baekhyun while his lips formed a sad smile.

They stood in silent for a moment, eyes reading each other’s pain and sadness for a moment, before Baekhyun spoke.

“I don’t want to lose your friendship though. You are important to me still Jongin.”

“I can’t promise to be around you all of the time. I need some space to clear my head and assimilate your words but I am still your friend, first and foremost!”

“Thank you Jongin; thank you.”

Jongin watched as a tear; a stray, lone tear, made his way down Baekhyun’s soft cheek. He knew Baekhyun was tired; it was too much happening at the same time and the tinier wasn’t invincible. He hugged the male comfortingly, rubbing a hand on the blonde’s back.

“Can I wait for you though? See if you change your mind?” asked Jongin, in a last attempt of hope.

“No.” denied Baekhyun, shaking his head “Don’t wait up for me, you move along and find someone better than me, who can love you like you deserve to be loved. Don’t wait for someone who didn’t take you as the first choice.”

“And if you regret it?”

“If I regret it; if I look back and see the opportunity I miss, then it’s my fault for never looking at you properly in the first place. Promise me you won’t do that, that you won’t wait up for me.”

“I can’t promise that but maybe one day, when this isn’t as fresh as it is, okay?”

“Okay.”

Jongin smiled at Baekhyun, a genuine smile for the first time in the morning. And he hugged the smaller to himself. Two broken hearts, even if one of them didn’t notice it yet, making them bond in ways that only the soul could understand.

Sehun watched the scene in front on him, with a blank expression on his face. He had heard every single word that Baekhyun had said to Jongin and that Jongin had said to Baekhyun.

He hadn’t meant to listen to it but he was passing by the door and the scene just made him keep on listening and watching. He didn’t know what to think either and, for the first time, in a long time, Sehun felt like he didn’t know what he was doing and that he wasn’t in control of his body or his mind. It scared him. It was scary to see yourself doing things or say words that you would never imagine yourself doing. It was exactly what happened every time that he was in the same room as Baekhyun. He wasn’t in control of himself and he didn’t understand why: he never did that to Luhan, or Kyungsoo, Junmyeon or even Yoora. No one!

He raised his head and took a step away from the door, away from Baekhyun. Then another one and one more; deciding, in that precise moment, that he wanted his control back and if that meant he had to cut ties with Baekhyun, than he would.

However, your heart is a fickle thing, despite what Sehun thinks because there is only so much time you can take without somebody, by your side, who can make your heart beat, no matter how indifferent or strong you think you are.

A/N: I'M HERE! I AM FINALLY HERE!!!! I apologize so much for the delay but sweet baby jesus this week was not cooperating with me! I had to work a few more hours each day because shedules are a reality, and I only managed to write a little bit every night before I collapsed on bed, doing my best mimic of a bear on hibernation (warnings, I do tend to a lot more when I write when I am sleepy so, sorry again, if ...well, if it !!).
Anyway, little twist here, towards the ending, Sehun seemed to switch up his mind, Junmyeon is out of the house and Jongin and Baek have a heart to heart. Thoughts about it, who wants to share???
Tell me all bout it via comment, or PM. If you like the story don't forget to subscribe and upvote, maybe check out my other stories? Possibly? I know you are curious ;)
Finally, I wish you all the best, stay healthy and safe and, most importantly, BE HAPPY and STAY HAPPY!
A lot of love to every single one of you, plus a big hug (it's cold where I am!!)