---

The next day, Baekhyun and Jongdae are over at Kyungsoo's family home to hang out and discuss party aspects with him (while his parents are out at work). Kyungsoo's just gone to the kitchen to grab a few drinks for them and so Baekhyun and Jongdae are sitting on the couch, discussing in Korean about the party's potential guests.

"...So here's who's comin'," Baekhyun says, bringing out a hand to count on his fingers. "Soo, you, me. Yeollie. Minseokie."

"Uh, Baek...I think you're forgetting someone," Jongdae replies.

"Eh?"

"Luhan?" Jongdae says, letting out a laugh at the end when Baekhyun face-palms. "Come on now."

"Okay, okay okay. So then you. Me, Soo, Yeollie, Minseokie, Luhan..."

"Oh yeah! Don't forget that guy Soo's with," Jongdae says, before looking up to see Kyungsoo returning with a pack of canned soda in his hands. He laughs at the other's judging expression and asks, What?

"Do I even wanna know?" Kyungsoo asks blankly in Korean while handing him a cool canned soda.

"Probably not," Jongdae teases while sticking out his tongue and accepting the drink. "Thanks."

After Kyungsoo lets out an Mhm, Jongdae opens his can while Baekhyun leans forward to grab a soda of his own from the pack. He then laughs as Kyungsoo suddenly moves the pack away from Baekhyun's grasp and watches as Baekhyun scoffs with a smile on his face before trying to poke Kyungsoo's body to get the soda.

Kyungsoo simply dodges most of the pokes while laughing, and in the end, he finally relinquishes the soda to Baekhyun before taking another one out and setting it on the coffee table. Then, he moves back to the kitchen with the rest as Jongdae casually mentions adding Soo-jung and her boyfriend to the guest list.

"What?" Baekhyun says, sitting up from his slouched position on the couch. "She has a boyfriend? Since when?!"

"Wha--? What happened?" Kyungsoo calls out, popping his head out of the kitchen's entrance-way with wide eyes.

"Soo-jung has a boyfriend!" Baekhyun exclaims, flitting his own wide eyes to him.

"Baek--" Jongdae starts.

"Seriously--what the ? How did I not--" He swivels his head to Jongdae who leans back in surprise. "--who is it?!"

Jongdae laughs. "Why are ya gettin' all worked up?"

"Because, my sources haven't told me this yet!"

"What sources?" Jongdae laughs again, sounding both confused and amused.

Baekhyun crinkles his nose. "Does it matter?" He places a hand on Jongdae's thigh with a dramatic slap and Jongdae frowns. "Tell me everythin'."

Kyungsoo snorts while watching them argue before he walks back to join them again on the couch. Baekhyun's set his soda down on the coffee table, apparently too shocked to have anything in his hands right now. And Kyungsoo smirks at Jongdae's expression, the other's eyes crinkling and his lips curled upwards in that way that they get when he's about to troll someone.

But instead of just straight up laughter though, Jongdae actually brings out his phone to show them a pic of Soo-jung and a person who turns out to be their other classmate, Amber. As the two of them lean in to see the picture, Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows while Kyungsoo turns to give him the same look.

"On a scale of 0 to offensive as hell..." Kyungsoo begins, shaking his head.

"Wait, no--I'm serious! Amber's her boyfriend," Jongdae says, with wide eyes.

Kyungsoo scoffs in distaste while Baekhyun leans in to glare at their other friend.

"I'm not jokin'!" Jongdae whines, pushing Baekhyun away from his face. "He's her boyfriend!"

"Why do you keep sayin' 'he'?!"

"Because he's a he! Why don't you guys believe me?" Jongdae retorts in exasperation.

It then takes a bit more of Baekhyun yelling dramatically like he always does before Jongdae finally blurts out that Amber's gender-fluid. After a moment of silence to absorb this new information in, the three of them then end up discussing about genders and whatnot and it's all so many new terms that Kyungsoo hasn't heard of yet/understood the meanings of really.

But he figures that's life though. Or like how his dad and every other person ever always say: You learn something new every day.

Like how he learns that Amber finally got the nerve to confess her (his/their) attraction to and hook up with Soo-jung (according to what Soo-jung had spilled to Jongdae one day). And how for once, Baekhyun, the self-proclaimed king of gossip, is apparently a month late with the juiciest scoop of the first new year (in his own words).

Either way, Kyungsoo feels a bit relieved even as Jongdae increases his whining and Baekhyun continues to demand proof because it means that the stupid party they want to set up for him is out of their minds for the moment.

---

Somehow though after that little discussion, the topic swerves back to the party, and he almost face-palms at how he thought too soon.

"Seriously, I don't want a big party," Kyungsoo grumbles for what must be the millionth time by now. "Monday's already passed...it might as well be a...a pre-Seollal thing at this point."

Jongdae shifts his legs around a bit, letting out a hum of agreement while dialing Soo-jung's number to prove what he just told them. And Kyungsoo smiles, pleased at having an idea not be rejected like his other ones have been just in the last few minutes. Because at least some of that awkwardness he knows would be present if the party was for him would fade away then. And even though they all know a lot of people, at least he'd be with friends and not just random faces in a crowd.

So, a few minutes later after the call ends with Jongdae looking smug above all else, Baekhyun officially (and begrudgingly) changes the plan from Operation: Soo-soo's day to Operation: Pre-Seollal Bash.

Kyungsoo likes to think it's his threatening to head-lock his that did it really.

--------

Around the same time, Zitao and Sehun are at their favorite diner on a lunch date.

The place is jam-packed as it always tends to be, and two people that Sehun knows from his high school days walk around with trays full of drinks and plates in their hands. Usually he wouldn't pay much attention to them since he never really talked to them then (and would rather forget about high school altogether), but one of them's giving him and Zitao a strange look and it's bothering him.

Not that he'd let it show on his face, of course.

It's a smug look they're giving, like they know something he doesn't, and while squinting at them to hopefully get them to look the heck away--he suddenly feels a light kick to his foot and turns to look at Zitao.

"Eyes over here, babe," Zitao says, looking serious before his lips curl into that pretty smile of his.

Sehun playfully rolls his eyes, his gaze then softening as he gives Zitao his undivided attention again before the latter goes back to complaining about work. Something about his manager and this one lazy- co-worker of his.

He lets out a hum (and remembers to thank their waiter) as they get their food and drinks, and partly listens while nodding as Zitao starts talking about bizarre customers. Zitao then gets so dramatic at one point that Sehun ends up snorting his own food from laughing too hard and begins to cough with his face scrunched up.

Zitao starts off laughing in that high-pitched voice of his but then worriedly tells him to blow his nose as he sees him continue to cough, and quickly grabs a napkin from the table before bringing it up to his nose.

"Blow," he instructs, and Sehun complies while still coughing.

After the food gets out, he takes in deep breaths and Zitao gets up to throw away the napkin and wash his hands. Sehun watches him go, so ing thankful that he was there, while not noticing that some tables away, one of the people he went to high school with stares at him again before heading to the diner's kitchen to text someone.

--------

In the next city over, Minseok's just finished running an errand and is heading back to his car with