word count: 3.1k

pairings included: !!XIUBAEK!!, chenyeol

rated: [ M ] for mentions of ual situations and alcohol

The following day, Baekhyun finds himself roaming around the campus alone. Classes would begin later this week and Sehun is off somewhere with Jongin, so Baekhyun thinks now is a better time than later to get used to the academy.

Baekhyun finally runs into the library, tired of all the walking he's already done, and in need of a rest. Upon entering, he spots Kyungsoo in the corner of the large room with a sketch book laid out in front of him. Baekhyun remembers Sehun telling him about how great Kyungsoo is at drawing last night and decides to head over to see what the younger is up to. Before he can get any further, however, someone manages to swing their arm around his shoulders. Baekhyun turns his head around and makes direct eye contact with–

"Xiumin?" Baekhyun stutters, quite surprised that an elite like him would come up and talk to a beginner such as Baekhyun.

"Hey, you remembered my name!" Xiumin cheers, a smile on his face, as he begins walking towards a set of chairs at the edge of the library, dragging Baekhyun along in the process. "Barbeque, right?" Xiumin then asks, pointing his finger out at Baekhyun with a confused expression. Baekhyun doesn't know what he's talking about until he realizes just how close the word "barbeque" is to his name.

"Baekhyun?" Baekhyun questions, confusing himself with whatever Xiumin is referring to. Xiumin bursts into a laugh and pats Baekhyun on the back before bringing his arms down to his side, finally away from any of Baekhyun's limbs.

"Of course, of course, I was just kidding around. I knew your name was Baekhyun!" Cheeky, Baekhyun thinks to himself.

"Right," Baekhyun fakes a short laugh. "What did you need me for?" He asks what he's been wanting to know since he even felt Xiumin's arm land on his shoulder.

"Oh!" Xiumin jumps slightly from his seat as he pulls out a card from his bag. "I wanted to invite you to a party," He says, handing the card over to Baekhyun with a small smile. Baekhyun slowly takes the invitation from Xiumin, lost as to why Xiumin had been talking to him for a second time.

"A party?" Baekhyun simply asks, tracing the gold bordery of the card with his finger.

"Don't expect much of it," Xiumin gestures at the card. "It's just an envelope, the party itself is like any college party –if you know what those are like," He continues with a wink. "A "before classes start" kind of thing,"

"Who else will be there?" Baekhyun inquires. Asking questions seemed to be more of Baekhyun's thing when it came to conversations –Xiumin takes note of it.

"Just the people you'll need to know; you are new, after all." Xiumin answers, flicking his eyes over at the various invitations in his hands for Baekhyun to notice. "It won't be a small party, I'll tell you that much." He adds before shoving the cards back into his bag.

"Can I just ask one more thing?" Baekhyun feels a bit burdensome, but it's an important question nonetheless. Xiumin simply nods his head –you've been asking questions this whole time, so why not? "Why are you inviting me?" Baekhyun asks and Xiumin is left in his thoughts for a moment.

"I heard about what happened yesterday," Xiumin changes the subject on Baekhyun. "It's a shame to be kicked out of a bar on your first day, don't you think?" He says, pretending to be distracted by his nails. Baekhyun isn't sure, but he feels as though what happened last night has something to do with why Xiumin is even remotely interested in a student as new as himself. "Well," Xiumin gets up from his chair. "I have more invitations to hand out, so I'll see you tonight?" Xiumin asks with a change of pitch and slight tilt to his head.

"We'll see," Baekhyun replies.

"Think about it," Xiumin tells him. "It'll be fun. I promise." He tries to encourage Baekhyun before skipping off with a small wave. Baekhyun looks down at the card once more before directing his eyes back to where he had seen Kyungsoo earlier. He looks around for Kyungsoo in his seat as he fiddles with the card in his hand to open it. Without any luck on finding Kyungsoo, Baekhyun looks back down at the card.

The Kim residence invites you…

☆✧☆✧☆✧☆✧☆✧☆✧

Baekhyun shows up to the address written on the invitation later than the set time –8pm– due to his contemplating on whether or not he really wanted to go. The house is almost as grand as the academy. A large white fence borders the sides of the house, the cracks in between allow for Baekhyun to spot an inground pool with extravagant decor as well as a vast open space filled with miscellaneous party decorations and games located in the backyard. The front is pretty vague with well cut grass and a few small statues here and there. The house itself is giant, Baekhyun tries not to exaggerate, two white pillars stand on the top step of the stairs, making the entryway look more like an archway into a set of black doors with gold accents. Baekhyun wonders why such people even attend a lesser known school like EASP. Family reasons, Baekhyun thinks as he recalls Junmyeon texting him about why he had attended the school. Junmyeon comes from a rich background as well, not as rich as the Kim residence, but still better off than most students. His whole family went to this school and he wanted to continue the legacy of being one of the top students who leaned more towards intelligence, rather than strength. People didn’t attend this academy because of how decent the education was, but rather because they don’t have much of a choice. Baekhyun wonders if it’s the same with Xiumin and Jongdae.

Baekhyun knocks three times against the door –oblivious to the small doorbell beside it– and looks around a bit more. He can see more people in the back, most of them in their underwear, few in actual swimming trunks, hanging around in or by the pool. Baekhyun looks down at his clothes –a simple white t-shirt with black skinny jeans and a pair of white shoes that he now thinks are Sehun’s since he had been rushing in order for the younger to not find out that he was hanging with the “three elites”. The door finally swings open which startles Baekhyun into looking up and making eye contact with Xiumin. He has a red cup, probably filled with some type of alcohol, in his hand as well as lidded, but awake and sparkling eyes. He smiles at Baekhyun, his gums showing as he swings his arm around him like he did earlier, and continues to drag Baekhyun into the house.

“I’m so glad you decided to come!” Xiumin is yelling due to the blaring music coming from who the hell knows where. Baekhyun already feels nauseous from the bright lights and amount of people, but he tries to stay close to Xiumin, since, for now at least, he is the only one Baekhyun trusts.

“Sorry, I came so late!” Baekhyun tries to respond, but he’s sure Xiumin didn’t hear him as he watches the older take a sip of his drink. As they pass by the kitchen, Baekhyun changes course and makes a turn into the large, but cramped, place. Xiumin laughs at Baekhyun’s sudden act of dominance as Baekhyun removes himself from the older in attempt to snag a cup of beer from the counter. Being sober at a party was a worse feeling for Baekhyun than being drunk at one. It gets too cramped and wild for your comfort zone when you’re sober, but when you’re drunk there’s really no care for it. The stuffiness while being sober makes you sick, but at least with beer, there’s a more acceptable excuse in the college world for throwing up and passing out. Another bad tactic Baekhyun seems to not take much thought into.

“Let’s take this outside!” Xiumin manages to say to Baekhyun when he returns into his embrace with a beer in hand. The two make their way out onto the patio and towards an empty set of chairs by a table. Baekhyun takes yet another look around. It isn’t as bright as it is inside which relieves Baekhyun as he sits back in his chair and pops open his can of beer. Ironically, bright lights interfered with Baekhyun’s power. If it was too bright, the light system in his body would overheat and cause Baekhyun to pass out, but in dark areas the light made it easier for him to see than others.

There are more people in the pool than there are standing around on the patio, but the certain pair that catches Baekhyun’s eyes is the one from yesterday; Jongdae and Chanyeol, cuddling with each other on the couch that is far across from where he and Xiumin had been. “Jongdae and Chanyeol are quite the pair, don’t you think?” Xiumin suddenly says after observing Baekhyun’s small actions with sharp eyes.

“How so?” Baekhyun questions before bringing his beer up for another sip. He darts his eyes over to them once more. Junmyeon didn’t get to explain them to Baekhyun yesterday due to the incident, but maybe someone as close to the two as Xiumin would do more help than Junmyeon’s descriptions.

“The both of them hold some of the most powerful powers, yet don’t even get into conflicts from it,” Xiumin begins. “It’s like if I, the holder of frost, were to be paired up with someone who holds the power of water. Don’t you think we’d clash?” He questions and Baekhyun simply nods in agreement, though it only really makes him think about Xiumin and Junmyeon actually being a thing. “It’s almost like they were made for each other,” Xiumin says and Baekhyun cringes at such a line, but attempts to hide it with a final chug of his beer –Xiumin still takes notice. “What do you think about them, Baek?” Baekhyun’s eyes flick up at Xiumin at the sudden question before he brings them back over to where the two main characters of the night stood. He watches as Chanyeol leans in to kiss Jongdae, their lips touch for a slight second and small sparks of lightning trail across Chanyeol’s lips before he backs away from the pain; a faint “ur such a ” coming from Jongdae along with a gentle hit to the taller’s shoulder. Baekhyun also takes note of the marks across Jongdae’s neck –burn marks, he concludes.

“Lightning and fire don’t seem to clash as much as frost and water would, though,” Baekhyun points out once he figures out the important part of the puzzle. One of the founders of the school held the power of lightning, Baekhyun remembers from one of the books he’s read, and fire was a common power held by people in the elite group. It was no wonder why Xiumin, or anyone for that matter, thought of them as a peculiar couple. “But, other than their powers, they seem like a cute couple,” Baekhyun’s tone is awkward. Xiumin has a mental checklist of the things he’s noticed from Baekhyun since the first day. Baekhyun is starting to wonder if Xiumin has developed a side power already.

“Well, he’s my cousin, so I shouldn’t pick on him too much, especially on his love life,” Xiumin reaches behind him and into the cooler for another drink for Baekhyun. “I should focus on my own, if anything,” Xiumin’s eyes flicker up to meet with Baekhyun’s as he passes a different drink to him. Baekhyun doesn’t think much of the drink, most of the same bottles had been laying around the house, so it shouldn’t him up too bad. “What about you, Baek? Are you taken or are you interested in anyone?” Xiumin asks. Baekhyun lets out a laugh, the drink spilling onto the table as he tries to pour it into a shot glass.

“I just got here!” Baekhyun defends himself. “I’m only looking to strengthen my power, if anything,” Baekhyun looks back over at Xiumin as he downs his first shot with a slight cringe.

“Holder of Light,” Xiumin says to himself. Baekhyun notices the difference in the way the elites talk compared to the beginner and advanced level students. “Only four holders of light in the whole nation made it to the elite level,” Xiumin says as he pours another shot for Baekhyun, the younger feeling a bit intimidated. “You think you can be the fifth?” Xiumin asks, stilling the bottle, as he looks back up at Baekhyun. He responds by taking the nearly full shot and downing it with one quick motion.

“I don’t see why not,” He says and Xiumin laughs in amusement. Baekhyun is more than just a bit tipsy at this point, and Xiumin takes note of it as he holds onto Baekhyun’s hand and leans in closer towards him.

“Are you gonna be okay for the night, or do you want me to drive you home?” Xiumin asks, a hint of concern in his voice. Baekhyun smiles at Xiumin’s immediate worry and tightens the grip he has on the older’s hand. The only habit Baekhyun has when he’s drunk is being overly clingy which only leads to him doing things he’d forget or even regret when it hit morning. But he isn’t in total control of his actions, so even he doesn’t realize that he’s the one who starts it half the time.

“I’m okay,” Baekhyun reassures Xiumin as he side-eyes the pool. Before saying anything, Baekhyun hooks his hands underneath his shirt and begins to pull it off. “Let’s go in the pool!” He manages to say after he gets his shirt off, his hair now messier than before. Xiumin seems flustered at the whole idea as he stares at Baekhyun’s bare body and messy hair with a light blush dusting his cheeks. He shakes it off after a second and takes his own shirt off. Baekhyun isn’t muscular, but he is definitely fit, Xiumin, however, has a nice set of abs to which Baekhyun can’t seem to look away from, even with his drunk vision. Xiumin continues to strip down as Baekhyun takes another quick half-shot, Xiumin then following in suit, but with a full shot instead. Now flustered by the cartoon-like boxers Xiumin is wearing, Baekhyun grabs onto Xiumin’s hand and drags him into the pool, oblivious to the fact that he still has his own pants on.

“Baekhyun, your pants!” Xiumin tries to get him to realize as he laughs at how ridiculous Baekhyun looks with those tight black jeans and bare upper half. It’s too late, however, because Baekhyun lets go and jumps into the warm water. Xiumin then jumps as Baekhyun begins to rise to the top. On his way up, Xiumin grabs onto the hem of Baekhyun’s pants which makes the younger flinch at the ticklish feeling by his hips. Baekhyun gets back at him by jumping onto his shoulders, the older decides to play a bit as he holds onto Baekhyun’s legs from behind and begins to take him to the far corner of the pool with Baekhyun’s legs hooked around his waist and arms around his neck. The fact of his pants still being on leaves Baekhyun’s mind as he nuzzles his head into Xiumin’s nape, the older refraining from stiffening up at the sudden gesture.

Xiumin makes it to the corner and lets go of Baekhyun immediately, making him drop down underwater. When Baekhyun rises back up to the top and wipes the water away from his face, Xiumin cups Baekhyun’s cheeks with both of his hands and briefly makes eye contact with him before closing the space inbetween them and pressing his lips against the younger’s. Baekhyun stiffens up and remains immobile until Xiumin pulls back and diverts his attention to the water below them. They stay silent for a moment, the music seeming to have muted in their ears and the chatter coming to a stop, as they took in whatever had just happened. Xiumin’s breathing becomes a bit uneven as Baekhyun’s pants become tighter in the still water. But time can’t be paused forever. Baekhyun fixes his eyesight on Xiumin before lifting his chin up and kissing him. The music begins blaring and the chatter returns as Baekhyun slowly starts to back Xiumin up against the pool’s edge. It’s a bit messy to begin with due to the both of them being drunk, but they soon get the hang of it and deepen the kiss past the boundaries of “public-friendly”.

“Let’s take this to my room,” Xiumin whispers to him once the two realize just how close together the two of them were. Baekhyun agrees without a second thought as the two of them climb out of the pool. No one is directly looking at them, thankfully, except for Jongdae who raises his eyebrows up at Baekhyun before giving Xiumin two thumbs up and a wink for luck. Baekhyun’s face heats up as he follows closely behind Xiumin and past Jongdae, their hands interlocked as they make their way to his room upstairs.

The second floor isn’t as packed as the first which Baekhyun is relieved about, but Xiumin takes it as a chance to push Baekhyun up against the wall next to his room door in the hallway and begin making out with him again. Baekhyun isn’t complaining, though. That is until Xiumin brings his hands up against Baekhyun’s stomach which makes the younger shiver at how freezing his hands are.

“If I knew you were gonna use your powers against me, I might not have agreed to this, y’know!” Baekhyun jokes as Xiumin begins to unlock his room door.

“If you wanted a hotter guy for a hook up then you should’ve given Chanyeol a tap as we walked by,” Xiumin shoots back at him right in time with the door unlocking. Xiumin grabs Baekhyun’s hand and drags him into the room before pushing him up against the door.

“Chanyeol’s dating Jongdae,” Baekhyun reminds incase Xiumin had forgotten as the older attaches himself to Baekhyun’s neck, the younger refraining from letting out too many needy moans at once.

“Didn’t I tell you before?” Xiumin inches closer to Baekhyun’s ear. “They’re a peculiar couple, those two,” Xiumin’s icy breath hits the back of Baekhyun’s ear, making his head stretch outward in pleasure. “Never getting into a fight, despite their powers being a more useful tool,” Xiumin kisses the edge of Baekhyun’s jaw line. “For anyone’s pleasure, not just for each other,” Xiumin lets out a short giggle before giving Baekhyun a playful hickey at the edge of his neck. “Be on the lookout for those burn marks and you’ll figure out what I mean.”