Baekhyun arrived just as the last few students were leaving. He had a nametag on and looked slightly concerned even though he made half his money by teaching small children, Jongdae supposed seeing them in a heard was a little overwhelming.

Baekhyun was wearing his barista outfit and his hair was tussled by the wind and Jongdae suddenly forgot how to act. Their eyes met and Baekhyun smiled and tried to rush over but there were still children flooding out.

“Hey!”

“Hey!” Jongdae replied. They were standing awkwardly next to each other but not touching. As the children left Jonghyun and Jongsu made their way in.

“Hyung!” Jongsu exclaimed, dropping his backpack to hug Baekhyun.

“Hey! How’s it going?”

“Good. This is Teacher Kim, Uncle, can I help him with his classroom after school today?”

“Only if you needed to stay to work” Jonghyun added, eyeing Baekhyun out of the corner of his eyes. The classroom was empty except for the four of them. Jongsu was showing Baekhyun a drawing he had done earlier that day and Baekhyun was suggesting he frame it.

“Yeah of course! We will be here for awhile so whenever he is done just bring him back” Jongdae was saying to Jonghyun,

“Alright cool! Come on bud, I have some papers for you to staple to the wall” Jonghyun took Jongsu’s backpack and followed as Jongsu bounced away, “you two have fun!” Jonghyun called as the door was closing.

The door closed with a thud and they were alone. They were awkwardly standing a foot apart and not really facing each other or looking at each other. Eventually Baekhyun started to giggle, and then Jongdae started to giggle.

“This is weird right?” Baekhyun said,

“I mean, a little.” Jongdae responded,

“Alright” Baekhyun clapped his hands together and went to the piano, “What songs are we doing?”

Once they began working the awkwardness faded away as they became comfortable again and began laughing and joking around. Jongdae switched between sitting next to Baekhyun on the piano bench to standing behind the piano and leaning on it as he sang along quietly to the tracks, pointing out changes they had made or things Jongdae was having the kids focus on.

Jongdae wasn’t sure he had ever heard Baekhyun play the piano before and he was in awe. The way Baekhyun’s hands moved across the keys and how his hair fell into his eyes as he looked down, the way he squinted sometimes while reading the music and the little grunt he made when he messed up.

Jongdae sat next to Baekhyun on the bench that wasn’t quite big enough for both of them but neither of them minded. Baekhyun had played through every song twice and had switched to different christmas songs.

“Ohh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful” Jongdae was shocked at his singing voice, crisp and clean, like a burst of cold air, “And since we’ve no place to go, Let it snow let it snow let it snow”

“It doesn’t show signs of stopping,” Jongdae began the second verse and Baekhyun’s eyes lit up, “And I brought some corn for popping, oh the lights are turned way down low, let it snow let it snow let it snow.”

“When we’ve finally kissed goodnight -oh ” Baekhyun messed up, he hit a few keys and then resumed playing as if nothing had happened, “How I hate going out in the storm,”

“But if you'll really hold me tight, all the way home I’ll be warm” Jongdae turned to look at Baekhyun, his profile, his neck, his white button up shirt with coffee stains.

“I don’t remember the rest of the lyrics.” Baekhyun admits, letting his hands fall from the keys. The room was sadly silent, as if everything had been out.

“Um, so, when should I come to practice with the kids?”

“Oh um, I have them from 9-10 every morning is that alright?” Baekhyun closed his eyes and nodded and Jongdae wanted to kiss him but he was at work and students could walk in and Jongdae still wasn’t sure what they even wore so he tore his eyes from Baekhyun and looked at the piano. Baekhyun's hands still rested lightly on the keys, they were pale and thin, Jongdae remembered them curling into his hair, playing with his sweater, was there nowhere he could look without getting distracted?

The door opened and Jongdae jumped, standing up quickly and turning around, turning red as if he had gotten caught doing something wrong. Baekhyun looked up at him from the piano bench with something akin to amusement. Jongdae cleared his throat and sat back down.

“Well we are all finished and I have a dinner date with my dog” Jonghyun said, dropping Jongsu’s backpack on the floor and eyeing them with suspicion, “Unless we are interrupting something.” Baekhyun kept staring at Jongdae with a smirk.

“WhaT? Oh uh no we are uh, we had just finished, practicing the songs. We finished practicing the songs.” Jongdae stammered, he wanted to crawl into a hole. No one said anything for a solid second, then Jonghyun nodded.

“Alrighty. Tell Taemin to come home sometime and clean his room” Jonghyun added to Baekhyun.

“I’ll tell him but it probably won’t work” Baekhyun said, standing and starting to put away his music.

“You...you know each other?” Jongdae asked,

“Yeah Taemin is my roommate.” Jonghyun said, “anyway I have to go, I’ll see you later!” He his heel and waved over his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun asked, they were walking to the bus stop and Jongdae had his hands shoved deep into his pocket, “you seem...skittish.”

“What? Oh yeah I’m fine.” Jongdae glanced up at him and smiled before looking down quickly. The bus came and Jongdae sat next to Baekhyun, Jongsu in the seat in front of them playing a game on Baekhyun’s phone.

“Hey” Baekhyun nudged Jongdae with his arm, Jongdae glanced up, “What’s up? Change your mind?”

“What? No! I...sorry I’m just...” Jongdae couldn’t figure out what he was feeling, he grabbed Baekhyun’s hand and focused on watching their fingers interlock, “I’m just not sure how to- what to do now.”  

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, also staring at their hands. “Well,” a smirk started tugging at the corner of his mouth, “we could start by going on a date?”

“A date” Jongdae repeated, nodding.

“Yeah. A date.” Baekhyun looked at Jongdae nervously, Jongdae was relieved at the realization that Baekhyun was as nervous as him.

“Okay.” Jongdae said, “let’s go on a date.” Baekhyun smiled and kissed Jongdae quickly.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all day” He said, smiling and burying his face in Jongdae’s shoulder. Jongdae smiled, warmth filling him as they settled down for the rest of the bus ride.