“Okay, so what does that guy do?” Baekhyun wondered, pointing at the player he was specifically referring to and trying his best to convince Sehun that he was capable of paying attention to more than just Kris Wu in his y, sleeveless, basketball jersey.

“What they all do,” Sehun teased his crush, “dribble, pass, shoot, score!”

He raised his hands into cheering fists but his expression remained as generally impassive as usual. The sight made Baekhyun giggle and the sound of that made Sehun’s insides warm and his heart pound. A loud buzz startled Sehun out of his Baekhyun-induced reverie and he joined the shorter male in shouting loudly “Let’s go EXO!” once the referee blew his whistle and the game began.

“Kris is so good,” Baekhyun gushed. Secretly Sehun agreed; outwardly, he rolled his eyes and deadpanned, “You don’t even know which side is ours.”

“That’s what I have you for!” Baekhyun reminded him cheerfully. It was cute enough to make Sehun swallow hard and sit on his hands so he wouldn’t use them for something horribly embarrassing—like grabbing Baekhyun around the shoulders and dragging the smaller boy’s mouth to meet his.

Sehun stayed silent—and warring with his own self-restraint—until Kris was subbed out for a quick break and Baekhyun turned to him for entertainment.

“I can watch his sweating goodness on the bench too,” Baekhyun informed his friend, “But I thought you might be bored.”

“Actually, Baek,” Sehun blurted out, self-preservation and pride be damned apparently, “I kind of have something to tell you.”

The younger’s hesitation intrigued Baekhyun enough for him to lean forward into Sehun’s personal space. His close proximity made Sehun’s next words that much harder to say, but the Oh boy caught a smile from Kris out of the corner of his eye and somehow managed.

“I like you.”

“Aw,” Baekhyun patted Sehun’s hair and cooed at him. “I like you too, Sehunnie!”

“No,” Sehun muttered breathlessly, face flushed in embarrassment. “I like you like you like Kris.”

Baekhyun, it seemed, didn’t know what to say to that confession. Eventually he settled on a horribly gentle, “But you just said it, Sehunnie. I like Kris.”

“I know!” Sehun agreed. “I know you do! But remember how you said that if he had a boyfriend then you’d just get them both to date you?”

Baekhyun didn’t quite know where Sehun was going with that point but he nodded anyway.

“Well I’m that boyfriend,” Sehun admitted, voice painfully quiet through his sudden shyness that made it hard for him to speak. He’d never told anyone about him and Kris before—anyone who did know had guessed the nature of their relationship on their own—and this wasn’t just a random human he was sharing this information with—Baekhyun was much more important to him.

To Sehun’s surprise, Baekhyun gasped in shock and shoved him forcefully away.  Kris was on the court again but neither his boyfriend nor his boyfriend’s crush noticed. “I can’t believe you’d do this to Kris, Sehun. Especially after Kai did basically the same thing to you.”

At first Sehun hadn’t understood Baekhyun’s accusation, but he got it then and stood up defensively, his fists clenched in righteous anger. “I’m not cheating on Kris,” he ground out through gritted teeth. “It’s not like that.” When Baekhyun bit his lip and stared up at Sehun doubtfully; he wanted to believe the younger but Sehun’s words were a lot to swallow, especially since Baekhyun hadn’t even been sure that Kris even had a boyfriend before he’d come to the game, let alone that said boyfriend was Sehun and that Sehun also liked him. Yeah, it was a lot to accept, even when Baekhyun found he so desperately wanted to.

Sehun caught wisps of that indecision as it flitted across Baekhyun’s face and the hurt that had been so obvious in his expression just a moment earlier became an emotionless mask. Baekhyun tried to stop the younger when he began making his way down the crowded bleachers but Sehun was quick to shake off the light grip of Baekhyun’s hand on his wrist and soon disappeared out the gym door.

Honestly, Baekhyun was at a loss after that. He didn’t know how he felt toward Sehun; didn’t know if he’d really meant what he’d said earlier in that week which had apparently given Sehun so much hope; didn’t even know that when the buzzer sounded again it meant the basketball game was half-way over and that would have been an excellent opportunity to hunt Sehun down to apologize. It actually wasn’t until the stands began emptying out that Baekhyun realized he’d sat brooding through the entire game, half-time and all.

With a start the boy leapt up and made his way toward the gym floor as quickly as he could without tripping to his death down the bleachers. “Kris,” he called out to the basketball captain’s retreating figure. “Kris!”

The basketball player in question turned around at the sound of his name being shouted quite loudly across the expanse of the court and was surprised to see it was the tiny boy his boyfriend liked who was calling out for him.

“Baekhyun, right?” Kris asked once Baekhyun was close enough for them to converse in lower decibels. “Sehun likes you.”

“Oh,” was all Baekhyun could say. “You know he likes me?”

“Well yeah,” Kris replied with a curious smile. “He is my boyfriend, after all.”

Baekhyun didn’t understand and he said so.

“We’re in an open relationship,” Kris explained. “Or, sort of. More like we’re looking for a piece to complete our puzzle and that involves seeing other people sometimes.” Suddenly Kris looked concerned when he registered his boyfriend’s conspicuous absence and the guilt weighing heavily on Baekhyun’s face. “Wait, where’s Sehun? Is he alright?”

“I didn’t know about,” Baekhyun hesitated as he considered his word choice, “all this. That he likes me and I like you and he’s dating you and you’re okay with all of it.”

Kris was too concerned about Sehun, otherwise he would have acknowledged Baekhyun’s accidental confession with his signature crooked grin. “Where is he?” Kris asked Baekhyun again while the smaller boy tripped over his words and got gradually more distraught as he did so.

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun said, near tears. “I made him mad but I didn’t mean to. And then he just left.”

As his boyfriend Kris knew Sehun well and had a pretty good idea as to where the younger might be hiding. Still, he had to deal with Baekhyun first.

“You said you like me,” he reiterated Baekhyun’s confession from earlier. “But what about Sehun?”

Baekhyun worried his lip between his teeth and answered as honestly as he could, “I don’t think I’ve ever considered him romantically. But now that I’ve got the possibility in my head,” his voice faltered and he closed his eyes, breathing deeply to retain his composure before opening them and speaking again, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to forget it, you know?”

Kris did know; Sehun was rather unforgettable, in his experience. “Fine,” he acquiesced, decision made the instant he saw that Baekhyun was at least willing to try. “Come with me.”

Kris grabbed the smaller boy by the hand and led Baekhyun out the gym door and into the cool night air. When Baekhyun shivered Kris pulled his body close almost reflexively and neither said anything until they rounded a corner to find Sehun lying in the grass behind the sports building and staring unseeingly at the stars.

“Sehun-ah,” Kris called out softly, voice low and tone ever so gentle. “Don’t be sad.”

“Not sad,” Sehun denied petulantly, gaze still fixed on the sky. “Just suffering a little from a broken heart, is all.”

Baekhyun gasped at that and Sehun, recognizing the other’s presence, sat up abruptly and whirled around to face his boyfriend and his crush.

“I’m sorry I assumed things, Sehunnie,” Baekhyun took the initiative and apologized with a little hand squeeze of encouragement from Kris. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“Not sad,” Sehun repeated, vehemently this time. He pinned Baekhyun with a look. “Not even all that brokenhearted either.”

It was clear to all of them that Sehun had decided to forget the whole debacle of his confession ever happened, but Kris just couldn’t allow that.

“Just because Baekhyun likes me doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you too,” Kris pointed out. Sehun’s expression turned hopeful in a flash and Baekhyun took a tentative step forward as his lip found its way between his teeth again.

“I don’t know yet if I do or not,” Baekhyun admitted, honest to a fault even when his words threatened to bring Sehun’s sudden happiness crashing down once more. “But I’m willing give this a chance—whatever this is,” he said as he gestured between himself and the other two. “I’m willing to try.”

And that was enough for Sehun, for the time being at least. He nodded and his smile, though still sort of small, grew wider when Baekhyun practically threw himself at the younger boy and hugged him tight. Kris, still connected to Baekhyun through their entwined hands, joined the embrace with a smile of his own and delighted in the way Baekhyun seemed to fill all the gaps between his body and Sehun’s.

A piece to complete their puzzle indeed. Baekhyun fit the two of them perfectly, Kris decided—even when the boy in question ended up attending every one of Kris' home games with Sehun for the whole rest of the season and still didn't know a thing about basketball.