Sehun yawns, every muscle in his face wrinkling up for a few seconds. His jaw snaps shut, he adjusts his hat so the sun stays out of his eyes, and then he stretches his arms. Sehun swears his pants feel a little tight today and he swears off donuts for about two seconds before deciding it doesn’t matter. He knows he looks good in his baseball uniform and besides, Baekhyun is always telling him how she loves boys who enjoy their sweets. And Sehun would like to stay on her good list, her ‘cute’ list.

It inflates his ego, not too unhealthily of course. Every guy he knows is halfway in love with Baekhyun, or at least with her cute charms. If he but asked, Sehun would probably have more than a fair chance of asking her out. The only reason he hasn’t yet tried is because his coach says he should be focusing more on sports, on baseball. Sehun is inclined to agree, because the other alternative is admitting that although he’d like to go out with her, showing off Baekhyun on his arm, he can’t actually imagine spending time with her otherwise. He can’t quite get over the thoughts of another person clutching to his arm and pouting prettily, and Sehun is positive that Tao doesn’t know the power he holds over him. Sehun will never, ever admit that. To anyone. Not even to himself.

“God damnit, Tao!” their coach suddenly yells.

Sehun swears that’s practically the star pitcher’s full name: ‘God damnit, Tao.’ He’s shortened it in his head to GDI Tao, because that’s usually his first thought anyways when his teammate and de facto best friend comes springing about, too much energy, cute smiles, selca-happy and cheerful even when Sehun sneers at him. Even when Sehun secretly enjoys being near him. It’s easy to shrug off Tao’s overly-clingy, too-affectionate hugs when there are people around—Tao never argues—but when they’re on their own, he’s not quite as good at it, pretending that Tao doesn’t have an effect on him. Pretending that he isn’t secretly freaked out that he has a crush on a fellow boy, or what that’ll do to his or the whole team’s reputation if anyone ever found out.

Coming out is not an option. Not in high school, not until he’s secured his place on a college lineup at the school of his choice. Maybe later, when he doesn’t have to see the judging faces of his longtime friends and classmates, when he’s in a place where he can start afresh and reset his identity. Maybe not even then. Maybe it’s wrong, or maybe Sehun just hasn’t met the right girl yet, the one who can make him fall in love, forget about Tao’s blazing smiles or the slope of his jaw, the span of his neck when he cranes his head, or the breadth of his shoulders beneath the shower head after a late and grueling practice.

“God damnit, Tao, you’re throwing like a girl!” the coach screeches in exasperation, and Sehun doesn’t even turn around to see how bad Tao is pitching today. He’ll get it together before their next game; Tao just likes to play it the hard way and exasperate his teammates first. Baseball is his love, his art, and his craft. It’s where Sehun and Tao first met, equals in a game where there’s no time for love. It’s all about focus, focus, focus, and Sehun loves that. Loves the game.

That’s all Sehun wants in life: to play baseball and find a girlfriend who doesn’t remind him of what he doesn’t need. At least, that’s what Sehun keeps telling himself.

“Anyone seen GDI Tao, today?”

Sehun’s nickname has been catching on lately. Chanyeol uses it so liberally that Tao actually responds to it, not at all ill-humored or offended. He seems to take pride in being everyone’s favorite little , thus earning him more friends wherever he goes, and the name to boot.

“Not since first period,” Sehun answers. He tries to distract himself by looking at the table at the end of the room where the girls' choir is selling baked goods as a fundraiser. Baekhyun is flouncing around, eyes batting at every other person who walks by, but every now and then Sehun catches her looking his way. Instead of blushing when she realizes it, she giggles, and on anyone else Sehun would think she looked ridiculous. However, she just looks cute; he thinks truly, Baekhyun can pull off any look, even and not limited to bashfully flirty. Only one person beats her on expressions.

“You should ask her out.” Kyungsoo, mouth stuffed with half a sandwich, wags his eyebrows between Sehun and Baekhyun in quite the serious fashion.

Sehun drops his head, smiling in spite of everything. “I don’t have time…” The usual standby.

“If you don’t, someone else will,” says Kyungsoo as he chews. Jongin, their shortstop, looks quite offended at the amount of flying, visible food.

“Like who?” asks Chanyeol.

Sehun cranes his head around, wishing Tao would show up. His sheer presence alone typically brings most standing conversations to a halt.

Kyungsoo swallows, wipes his mouth unattractively with the sleeve of his shirt, and blurts out the words, “Like me,” with no further expression.

Jongin looks shocked; Chanyeol gapes, looking back and forth between Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Sehun.

Sehun realizes belatedly that everyone except Kyungsoo is staring at him, waiting for him to get upset. Waiting for him to get jealous.

“Uhhhhh.”

And that’s when Tao thankfully arrives.

“I’m pretty sure I have grass burn on my ,” he says for way of introduction, dumping his lunch onto the table while ignoring everyone’s scandalized looks. “Sehunnie,” he proceeds to whine, and then he sits right on top of Sehun’s lap.

“What the are you doing?!” Sehun panics, hands clutching instinctively to sides of Tao’s magnificent waistline as he tries to push him away. Chanyeol looks mildly aghast and Jongin’s eyebrows raise another inch, but Kyungsoo continues to stuff his face, bored.

“Your lap’s softer than the bench, let me sit here.” Tao isn’t bothered at all by the commotion he’s obliviously causing.

“Uhmm,” Chanyeol squeaks, going slightly red in the face. “Sehun? I think Baekhyun’s looking this way.”

Sehun attempts one more time to dump Tao off the side of his lap. He succeeds only in mashing Tao’s bony grass-burned into his crotch, and it freaks him out how nice that actually feels. What’s not nice is the time, the place, and the setting; also, that Tao absolutely refuses to budge. They settle for a compromise of Tao not moving a muscle as long as he’s there, and Sehun doesn’t look too hard to the right see what Baekhyun might possibly be thinking. It’s already bad enough that Chanyeol looks concerned on his behalf. Unfortunately too, this isn’t an uncommon occurrence.

“God damnit, Tao,” Sehun shrieks two minutes later when Tao excitedly tells a story about a game he watched last week on TV, and his demonstration includes an elbow to the side of Sehun’s face.

“You look good in purple,” Baekhyun says to him the next day. Sehun is sporting a lovely bruise under his left eyelid, and he’s in no mood to either defend his honor, or think about the person who caused him to lose it.

“Yeah, thanks.” He starts to walk away, slamming his locker in a way that’s probably a bit too loud for the situation. Baekhyun, however, doesn’t flinch.

“Hey, wait,” she calls out, honey-colored hair streaming behind her, still smiling.

“Yeah?” Sehun turns around, calling forth magical wells of patience from somewhere deep within.

Baekhyun gives him a very flirty look. “I noticed you haven’t bought anything yet for the choir fundraiser.” She’s surrounded a moment later by two of her friends, Jongdae and Minseok. All three of them are singers.

“I’ll… get something today at lunch?” Sehun offers up with a smile. Two of the three girls beam at him. Jongdae’s lacking in Baekhyun’s subtlety but she flirts harmlessly enough. Minseok is the only one of Baekhyun’s friends that shows no interest in Sehun. He thinks she’s dating someone on the soccer team, and that’s a rivalry Sehun has no desire to crack into. Luhan once kicked Tao’s in a friendly relay, and ever since then Sehun has been strictly forbidden to mention that guy’s name.

“Are you coming to the musical next week?” Baekhyun’s eyes flutter prettily and for a moment Sehun lets himself be vaguely mesmerized. School, musical, what?

“Musical? Uh, yeah yeah. I’ll be there.”

Tao wants to go, so Sehun already promised. No one else in their circle of friends would be caught dead watching a musical. It’s Bye, Bye, Birdie in all its pop 50s’ glory, and Baekhyun has the main role of Kim. Jongdae’s playing the mother, and Minseok is one of the dancers. That’s worrying, because if Minseok is there, Luhan will be there, and if Baekhyun is planning even half of what Sehun thinks she’s planning, then there will be a friendly dinner get-together after the performance. There’s no way that’s going to go well.

“So, see you at lunch then, Sehun?”

He assures Baekhyun he’ll see her, both at lunch and at the musical. Then he walks to class, cursing the school event planners for purposefully scheduling the musical on a day when there is no baseball. Between Tao and Baekhyun, he can’t get out of this if he tries.

Sehun met Tao back in middle school, but for years they played on different junior leagues. Both gangly, but good at their craft, they might have become friends sooner, except there was little opportunity for them to bond. Tao was always a pitcher; Sehun played in the outfield. In high school though they met again on the same team, and this time Sehun played closer infield. Sehun didn’t realize it until too late, they were juniors then, but he really, really liked watching Tao in action. From his spot at first base, he had ample opportunity to watch Tao in profile, setting up a pitch, coiling himself up and then letting it fly. Sehun had gotten really good at multi-watching between the batters and runners, and the pitcher whenever he played. He particularly liked the way Tao turned to him first too, whenever he struck someone out.

‘Hey hey look at me, wasn’t I good?’ Tao’s face would seem to shout.

‘Yeah yeah, you show off,’ Sehun usually rolled with his eyes. But then he’d smile or smirk, and either way Tao got the message.

Tao has that same face now when Sehun meets him after school. Sehun braces himself for the worst.

“Okay, what’ve you done now that you’re so pleased with yourself?”

Tao throws a heavy arm around Sehun’s neck and shoulders, causing him to oomph in displeasure. Tao ignores it as they keep on walking.

“Done? Me?”

“Yeah, you. You’ve got that smug look again. Come on, out with it.”

“I don’t know why you always suspect me,” Tao whines. He’s nowhere near mad, but very near giggly. “Always cursing me and thinking the worst. Sehunnie, don’t you know that I love you and would never purposefully enjoy making your life miserable.”

Now Sehun knows without a doubt he’s not going to like this. “God damnit, Tao, just tell me what stupid thing you’ve roped me into.”

The last time he let Tao finagle Sehun into doing something with him, he dragged him as a very reluctant plus-one to a weekend family reunion. Sehun spent the whole weekend fending off advances from Tao’s pretty female cousins and one particularly touchy male, just because Tao didn’t want to go alone without his best friend as backup.

“This isn’t another family thing, is it? Please tell me it’s not.”

“Oh noo, nothing that bad.”

“Okay then?”

“Go shopping with me.”

“What, now?” Sehun balks.

“Course not. After practice, tonight?”

“Why should I go shopping with you though?”

Tao smiles, so sweet and winsome. “Because I need some new pants and I can never decide what looks good on me.”

“And you think I can?” Sehun raises an eyebrow, already regretting that he doesn’t know how to say no.

“I know you can.”

As they reach the locker room, Tao already stripping his school shirt over his head, Sehun gets an eyeful of his friend’s waistline, belt securely fastened in place - for now. Tao always wears the tight pants. He says he likes the way they fit. He doesn’t vocalize that it’s because they hug his and thighs like a second skin, but he doesn’t have to. Sehun knows that he knows it’s what makes him look good.

He plans on cursing a lot when this practice is over. Tao just gave him permission to check out his all evening long, and there’s no way Sehun comes out of this alive. He tries to picture how cute Baekhyun looked today, but when Tao unbuckles his belt and slips it out of the loops of his pants, Sehun can’t avert his eyes. The front hem of Tao’s pants slips down an inch, treating Sehun to the sight of happy trails. He turns around quick and focuses on his own locker and clothes, barely noticing Tao trying to catch his eye, curiously.

He can’t think right now. He shouldn’t be thinking right now, so there’s no way he’s going to turn and look into Tao’s eyes until he’s got himself under control.

“Tao? You alright?” Jongin walks behind them on the way to his locker.

“Hmm?” Tao mumbles.

“Uh, you just looked like you were… laughing at something.”

“I… wasn’t. I’m fine.”

Sehun hears more than sees the way Tao’s pants slide down his legs, and he gulps.

Girls, think about girls. Think about… but Tao’s strong bare thighs…

Gdi, Tao’s thighs.

The night of the musical comes quick. Tao shows up at Sehun’s house beforehand. He’s wearing some of the clothes they picked out together when shopping, and Sehun really doesn’t need the reminder for how good he looks in them. Tao in skin-tight faux leather is a sight to behold, especially with a low V-neck and dark blue blazer. Sehun had helped him pick them out, and by help, he means he stood outside the fitting room for every change of clothes, slowly losing his sanity.

He looks more like a model than a high school student, but that’s not unusual for Tao.

What Sehun can’t figure out is why Tao is so determined that Sehun should look good as well.

“It’s just a high school musical…” Sehun drawls, flinching away from the hangers of clothing Tao tosses from the closet.

“And? You’re not allowed to look nice just because it’s only a high school musical?”

Sehun doesn’t have an answer for that. He hums and sighs, pouting when Tao won’t take any of his suggestions. Rather, he dresses in whatever Tao picks out, relishing in the fact that Tao seems pleased.

Sehun leaves the house in his tightest pair of dark jeans, a black belt, a button-up shirt with collar the color of midnight blue. He grabs a plain black jacket on his way out the door, feeling shabby next to Tao, but as long as there are no complaints, that’s alright with him.

They’re in the car, Sehun driving through auditorium parking lot, when Tao says it.

“Ahh, tonight will be fun.”

“Yeah?” Sehun smirks. “How so?”

“You and me. Together, and looking good.”

“We’ll have all the girls falling at our feet.” Sehun laughs. It’s not what he meant to say, but he didn’t know how else to respond. And, it was apparently the absolute wrong thing to say.

“W-What?” asks Tao.

Sehun immediately fumbles with his words. He pulls into the next available spot and puts the car in park. He can’t meet Tao’s eyes. He’s suddenly too afraid.

“Did you just say…” Tao shivers and stops. “So, we’re here tonight… to impress girls? Is that it?”

“No.”

“But you just said.”

“You’re right. I just said… something. Just babbling. Forget it. Doesn’t mean anything.”

Sehun puts his hands on the steering wheel like it’ll somehow save him. It doesn’t.

Other people around them are walking past the vehicle on their way to the show, but Sehun and Tao remain put. Silently.

Sehun’s phone erupts through the tension, an innocuous buzzing sound. Sehun threw it earlier in the cup-holder between their seats with the screen facing up. It’s a text from Baekhyun, a cutesy message asking if he’s here yet and where is he going to sit.

Sehun’s breathing turns thunderous. Tao continues to sit there and another half a minute passes by.

“Baekhyun,” says Tao finally. “This is about Baekhyun, isn’t it? You’re going to ask her out tonight.”

He wasn’t though; Sehun really wasn’t.

“I’m not-”

“Like hell you aren’t.” Tao sounds hurt and upset, but Sehun can’t really understand why. So, Sehun is hiding the fact that he doesn’t like Baekhyun, that he doesn’t like girls. But how was Tao to really know that? Why is Tao, his best friend, acting jealous?

“Y-You wanted to see the musical? So I came with you, that’s all, I swear.”

Another few seconds pass, and then Tao reaches for the door handle. “Right. Whatever you say. Come on we’ll be late.”

Halfway through the first act, Sehun is positive he’s not a musical-man. Or maybe it’s just this musical. Maybe he just doesn’t dig the concept for Bye Bye, Birdie, or maybe he feels embarrassed that he’s being forced to watch Baekhyun sing and dance and act around the stage, because to not follow the main actress is stupid. But also, because Tao’s eyes are always on him, scouring for any and all proof that Baekhyun is the reason they’re here tonight.

“She’s a good singer,” Tao concedes at intermission.

Sehun doesn’t reply.

“She is!” Kyungsoo exclaims from his other side. Their fellow teammate had shown up in the hall and followed them inside. Sehun doesn’t respond to him either. On Kyungsoo’s other side, Jongin wakes up with snort and a jolt.

“Is it over?”

“Only half,” says Kyungsoo, looking eagerly through his program for the next set of scenes.

If having a fight with his best friend was bad enough, now there are two witnesses who are making it even more awkward.

“Tao,” he nudges his friend apologetically, when he thinks this just can’t be allowed to go on longer.

“What.”

“Tao, look- it’s not what you think.”

“What is it then, that you think I think?”

Sehun sighs. Tao has positively entered into a sulking mood.

“I don’t know!” he shrugs, slowly getting angry. “Why are you mad!?”

Tao flails his arms, hands landing with a smack back down on his thighs. “Because I thought that maybe you… No, you know what, never mind.”

“Thought I what? Tao, wait, you thought I what?”

He watches his friend get up and start walking away, but when he tries to follow, Tao sighs and says he’ll be right back after he gets a drink of water. Sehun spends the rest of intermission listening to Kyungsoo complaining about Jongin’s snoring.

The lights go down again and before Tao reappears, Kyungsoo pokes Sehun’s arm to get his attention.

“What,” he says, too loudly for the occasion.

It doesn’t faze Kyungsoo. “Just wanted to ask something.”

“What is it?” Sehun tries to speak softer this time.

“You… you’re not going to ask Baekhyun out, right?”

“No.” Sehun pouts.

“Good. Because I’m going to do it tonight.”

Sehun rolls his eyes. “Good. Great. Good for you,” he mutters, aggravated.

“Just wanted to give you a heads’ up. And so that you’ll maybe… I don’t know, stick close to Tao or something so Baekhyun doesn’t get the wrong impression.”

“Sure, yeah. And what ‘impression’ is that,” Sehun mumbles.

“That you’re not actually straight?” Kyungsoo says with a shrug.

Several long seconds later, before Sehun has a chance to respond, before his brain can even compute what Kyungsoo just insinuated - and correctly so - Tao plops back down, still sulking. But then the lights putter out entirely and the curtain opens. Sehun drowns himself with the rest of the musical, purposefully watching the other stage actors more than Baekhyun herself, while his brain and heart wrestle each other.

Two hours later he’s sitting squashed in a large circular booth at IHOP with Tao, Kyungsoo, and Jongin. On the other side, Baekhyun, Jongdae, Minseok, and Minseok’s boyfriend Luhan make up the unhappy mix-match of friends and acquaintances. Tao is still looking murderous.

At least Sehun finagles out of sitting directly next to Baekhyun. He shoves Kyungsoo into the honored spot as instructed, not knowing if he did it so that Kyungsoo could ‘propose’ or because he worried Kyungsoo would ‘confess’ all of Sehun’s apparent secrets. Seriously, when did that guy become so shrewd?  

“Sehun, so what did you think of the musical?” Baekhyun still partially shouts across the table at him.

He shrugs and says it was good. Tao huffs.

Baekhyun laughs delicately. “I guess you aren’t much of a musical guy. Well anyways, I’m glad you came.”

“Tao likes musicals,” Sehun blurts out. His cheeks blush red, mainly because his disgruntled best friend is now glaring daggers at him.

“Actually that’s one of my favorites.” Kyungsoo stops drowning his pancakes in a pint of syrup and takes over the conversation, and it’s the absolute best thing he’s done all night.

Jongin is elbowing Luhan, the soccer player, for space, an extension of their unorthodox cross-sports rivalry. Minseok scolds him heartily after she accidentally gets punched on the rebound. Everything is extremely awkward, and then Jongdae opens her sweet, pretty mouth.

“Tao, Sehun. Did you guys plan your outfits? I swear, you’re matching tonight. It’s cute.”

Damnit, Jongdae, and her pretty, sweet mouth.