Jongdae’s house was packed. On top of the four nurses that for some reason felt the need to be there to help Jongdae’s mother set up her IV bag and make sure that the house was accessible for her, there was Yixing, Jongdae, and (to Baekhyun’s dismay), Taeyeon’s mother.

“Oh, There you are! Jongsu come inside” Taeyeon’s mom almost barked as soon as the three of them walked inside. Jongsu automatically hid behind Baekhyun’s leg and looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Hyung help” he mouthed. Baekhyun put a hand on Jongsu’s head.

“Hello, Mrs. Kim, it's so nice to see you again.” He extended his hand out warmly to the woman. She glared at him.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” Taeyeon asked,

“Is anyone going to say hi to me?” Jongdae’s mom squawked from the back. One of the nurses put a hand on her shoulder. Jongdae and Yixing hadn’t even acknowledged their arrival, they were going through papers on the kitchen table.

“Grandma!” Jongsu released Baekhyun’s leg and rushed over to give his grandma a hug. Baekhyun was vaguely overwhelmed and was grateful when Taeyeon’s hand found his own. She almost dragged him to Jongsu’s room.

“Am I in trouble?” He asked

“What are we?” Taeyeon asked. Baekhyun’s mouth went dry, “okay listen I know you are still figuring out that’s fine I’m not going to rush you but like, my mom is out there and so is my aunt and they are gonna ask I guarantee so what are we going to tell them?”

“Um”

“There you two are!” Before they could say anything, Taeyeon’s mother was in the doorway, “What are you doing in here?” She eyed Baekhyun with disapproval and Taeyeon glared at him.

“We just needed to talk about something,” Baekhyun said, moving to stand next to Taeyeon. He grabbed her hand in a way he hoped was subtle but Mrs. Kim had eyes like a hawk.

“Are you two seeing each other?” She asked bluntly. Taeyeon looked up at Baekhyun who froze.

“Mom please, what kind of a question is that?” Taeyeon stepped forward, “now let’s all go say hi to auntie and see if Jongdae needs help.”  Before her mother could say anything Taeyeon dragged Baekhyun past her to the living room.

Jongdae’s mom was trying to rush the nurses away while Jongsu kept showing her some of his new toys. Jongdae made eye contact with Baekhyun and flashed a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Yixing was always smiling, it was his thing. He was cute and had dimples. Too bad he was straight.

“Who is going to be the primary caregiver?” the doctor asked, Baekhyun recognized him from the hospital.

“Oh that’s me,” Jongdae said, walking forward.

“Okay I need to go over some final things with you, the rest of you guys can go home” He dismissed the rest of the nurses.

“Okay, um, can you give me two seconds?” Jongdae said.

“Of course.” The doctor smiled warmly. Jongdae rushed back to Yixing and they quickly finished whatever they were talking about. Yixing left with graceful bows to everyone and a small wave to Baekhyun.

“Doctor Kim why don’t you stay for dinner?” Jongdae’s mom asked, “We have a whole party going on and you can talk to Jongdae about how to take care of me then.”

“Oh, I couldn’t I…”

“We insist” Taeyeon’s mom stepped forward. The Doctor looked like he was being accused of theft. Baekhyun felt bad for him.

“Um, let me tell my roommate I won’t be home for dinner then.” He said, quickly excusing himself to one of the back rooms.

“Jongdae” He had never looked more tired than that second when he looked up and responded to his mother.

“Yes mom”

“You should order food for everyone, there are so many people over! I love a good party!”

“Me too!” Jongsu piped up.

“Okay, buddy. What do you want to eat?” Jongdae picked up the 8-year-old and carried him to the kitchen. Baekhyun followed without really thinking about it.

“You’re mom is home.” He said.

“Well aren’t you observant,” Jongdae said sarcastically. Baekhyun could tell he was stressed: he always got more sarcastic when he was stressed. Baekhyun didn’t really have anything helpful to say so he stayed silent. “Sorry, I just am…” Jongdae was trying to look through a pile of papers on the counter. “Where the is the menu?”

“Here uncle” Jongsu handed him a piece of paper from the fridge. Jongdae smiled weakly.

“Thanks, buddy. Go talk to grandma okay? She’s gonna want to know how you have been doing” He ushered the kid out of the kitchen. Baekhyun leaned against a counter. Taeyeon came into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

“Jongdae what does it take for you to have some quality alcohol in the house?” She asked, looking skeptically at a wine cooler and putting it back.

“I don’t really drink much,” Jongdae said. Taeyeon jumped onto the counter next to Baekhyun, using his shoulder to hoist herself up.

“Okay well, that’s a lie but whatever.”

“What should we get? How many people are even here?” Jongdae was looking at the menu with vague panic.  “Why is your mom here?” He asked Taeyeon.

“Hell if I know. She’s made herself very good at showing up at inconvenient times. I think she’s gonna try and find a reason to call CPS on you again.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t have any alcohol,” Jongdae said dryly.

“You’re right. Baekhyun, hand me the wine cooler we have to get rid of the evidence.” Baekhyun got out the wine cooler, taking a long sip before handing it to Taeyeon.

“Speaking of alcohol, what’s up with you guys,” Jongdae said as Taeyeon downed half the wine in one sip.

“Nice segue” Baekhyun said, taking the wine back from Taeyeon.

“I’m serious are you guys like, a thing?” Jongdae tried to act nonchalant but Baekhyun could feel a shift in his attitude.

“That is up to Baekhyun,” Taeyeon said, grabbing back the wine and finishing it in one sip. Jongdae looked at Baekhyun expectantly.

“Um,” All three turned and Taeyeon quickly put the empty cooler behind her back. The doctor was standing in the doorway looking awkward.

“Hey Doctor Kim, we were just ordering food,” Jongdae said. “I’ve never ordered for this many people before so I’m not really sure what to do” he tried to laugh but it fell dead.

“Please, call me Junmyeon.” The doctor said, walking forward and leaning on the counter opposite Baekhyun and Taeyeon.

“This is my cousin Taeyeon and Jongsu’s piano teacher, Baekhyun,” Jongdae said.

“Oh, so now I’m just the piano teacher? I see how it is” Baekhyun said, acting offended, “What Jongdae left out is that I also make really good coffee”

“Mediocre coffee,” Jongdae said, pulling out his phone to call the restaurant.

“Mediocre? Bull”

“Luhan makes it better,” Jongdae said, Baekhyun looked around with his mouth agape. Taeyeon laughed and closed it for him.

“You make just fine coffee Baekhyun,” She said.

“At least, someone appreciates art,” Baekhyun said indignantly. Jongdae chuckled.

“Luhan? A Chinese exchange student?” Junmyeon said.

“Yeah, unfortunately, he’s ing my boss.” Baekhyun said, “How do you know him?”

“Oh, I’ve been to a couple of the foreign exchange parties. My…friend, Wu Yifan goes to all of them.”

“Friend?” Taeyeon asked, leaning forward.

“Well.” Junmyeon blushed a little.

“All the cute ones are gay.” Taeyeon sighed. Junmyeon’s eyes widened with almost panic, “Don’t worry just don’t mention it to either of our moms. They are both on your team.” She gestured to Baekhyun and Jongdae. “At least for now” She added, smiling at Baekhyun, his heart did a summersault.

“So you probably know also Minseok then?” Junmeyon said, clearing his throat.

“, yeah, he’s my boss that Luhan is ing. Also, I’ve known him my whole life.”

“He’s cool,” Junmeyon said lamely. Jongdae finished ordering and put his phone away.

“Okay I hope I got enough”

“Can they deliver alcohol?” Taeyeon asked.

“Only if you go to an AA meeting with me tomorrow” Jongdae shot back.

“I am not an alcoholic” Taeyon protested,

“The first step is recognizing you have a problem,” Baekhyun said in a soothing voice. Taeyeon shoved him

“Not you too. Okay fine, I give you twenty minutes with our mothers before you are wishing you had something stronger than orange juice.”

As if on cue, Taeyeon’s mother walked in and began ordering everyone around to set the table, cursed Jongdae’s lack of tableware, cursed Jongdae’s lack of seating at the dining table, cursing Jongdae in general.

Jongsu tried to help, but he just ended up sitting on Baekhyun’s shoulders so he wouldn’t get trampled by his aunt, or his grandma’s wheelchair as they set up the table.

Food arrived, Jongdae had ordered too much so Taeyeon’s mom gave him for that. After dinner, Taeyeon’s mom sat in while Junmyeon explained the IV bag to Jongdae. Jongsu helped Taeyeon and Baekhyun clean up and pack up the extra food.

Taeyeon managed to find another lone wine cooler in the back of the fridge and she and Baekhyun downed that while they did the dishes.

“Is your mom really gonna call CPS?” Baekhyun asked quietly, hoping no one would be able to hear them over the water.

“If she finds a reason to she will but she won’t win. Jongdae is doing a good job and now his mom is back so he isn’t alone. I wouldn’t be too worried. Also isn’t that one guy, Kibum, around all the time?”

“Yeah I guess. Jongdae seems so, fragile right now.” Baekhyun sighed.

“Don’t worry about him okay? He’s fine. He’s been through a lot but I mean he’ll get through it. And he has us to help him” Baekhyun didn’t say anything for a while, “you are unusually quiet,” Taeyon said, “too bad neither of us are lightweights.”

“I don’t want to get drunk,” Baekhyun said with a small smile. They finished the dishes and putting everything away. With drawn out goodbyes and the promise to call Jongdae the next day Taeyeon and Baekhyun managed to leave the warmth of the house and started walking slowly through the snow.

Taeyeon put her arm through his and walked close to him, “for warmth” she explained when he looked at her with raised eyebrows, “I’m small I don’t make a lot of my own body heat.” He extracted his arm and put it around her so she could leech more of his warmth.

“Do you want to get something to drink, like coffee or something?” Baekhyun asked.

“You’re not tired?”

“No, I don’t really want to go home right now,” Baekhyun smiled again. He knew he wasn’t in a great mood and that if he went home he would either fight with Luhan or sulk in his room. Taeyeon was easy to be around, he liked being around her, he liked her.

He was terrified but he wanted to spend time with her, he liked how it felt to have his arm around her, he liked the easy contact they had in Jongdae’s house, he wasn’t even remotely buzzed off the wine coolers but he felt like he was buzzed off something else.

Taeyeon smiled, and wrapped her arm around his back, nestling into him as they tried to trudge through the snow towards coffee.

It turned out, however, that walking through the snow so close together was not a great idea for two people who don’t really have a ton of balance. Taeyeon tripped first, pulling Baekhyun with her.

“ are you okay?” She said, sitting up and brushing off the snow. Baekhyun sat up as well, a sly smile spreading across his face.

“I don’t know I think I hurt my leg,” He said, quickly groaning in pain. Taeyeon’s eyes widened and she turned to look at his leg. With her attention on his leg, Baekhyun quickly grabbed a fistful of snow and dropped it on her head.

She froze, slowly realizing what had happened. She turned to him and grabbed as much snow as she could, shoving it forcefully into his face.

“I can’t breathe” He laughed, falling backward. Taeyeon went with him, still shoving snow into his face. He threw as much snow as he could at her and then they were tumbling through the snow, laughing and freezing until he ended up pretty much on top of her, his hands on either side of her head. They were soaking wet and their lips were red and their noses were red but in the orange glow of a nearby streetlight, Baekhyun thought Taeyeon was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

They stopped and time stopped and everything around him seemed to stop. The only motion was them both slowly recovering their breath. Baekhyun wasn’t quite sure what he was doing or why he was doing it but he knew that he needed to do it so he lowered his head and slowly let his lips brush against hers.

They were cold and chapped and just as wonderful as he remembered. The kiss was chaste and soft at first, tender, their eyes closed, the only thing touching was their lips. Taeyeon brought her hands up and cupped his face. Her hands were cold and his face was cold but neither of them cared.

He pulled away slowly, lingering as long as possible. Neither of them said anything, they just stared into each other’s eyes. Studying each other. Taeyeon smiled slowly and then quickly sat up to kiss his nose, simultaneously dropping a huge snowball on the back of his neck, causing him to gasp and fall on top of her.

She laughed and pushed him off so they were lying next to each other in the snow.

“You’re an ,” He said, laughing. Taeyeon pouted at him,

“But I’m cute though right?” She asked. Baekhyun smiled

“Yeah, you’re cute.”

A/N 

Omg im so sorry it's been so long, a lot happened last week. Also I had like, three chapters written and for some reason when I flew they got deleted?? But im going ot be traveling without my computer most of this weekend also so I wanted to get something up. I'll try and get another chapter up before I leave but again, no promises. Anyway enjoy and thanks my loyal fans. Also lmk how u feel abt bh's uality rn? I'm like...lowkey putting all my angst into him lol so that's probably not gonna end well. Okay sorry this is getting rly long ^.^ Not a lot happens this chapter but next chapter is going to get...interesting