chapter 4

“I thought you hated shopping.”

“You think a lot of things, Jongin,” Sehun comments. “For example, you think that I’m not the type of guy to walk into a plush toy store. Which is fair, because I’m not gay, like you.” He yanks Jongin sideways and pulls him through the entrance of the said store, walking him towards an array of stuffed cartoon characters. “But here we are. Inside a toy store. Just to satisfy your rainbow balls.”

“You’re a dickhead,” Jongin mumbles. He’s not even remotely interested in the toys, but the store décor is kind of adorable, so he doesn’t protest any further and moves down the aisle to gaze at the neatly displayed items.

Sehun rolls his eyes and follows Jongin behind, sneakily taking out his phone to contact Baekhyun.

Sehun: Where are u
Baekhyun: Few minutes away
Baekhyun: Stay away from the entrance and I’ll take him to the cartoon section

Sehun glances up at the displays, confirming that they are indeed in the cartoon section, and quickly hurries forward to hook his arm in Jongin’s. “Hey, come over here. I was thinking of buying this for one of my friends.”

“You’re buying a stuffed toy for a friend?” Jongin says, furrowing his eyebrows. He doesn’t seem at all suspicious of Sehun’s constant glancing outside the store. “It’s not for me, right?”

“It’s for a girl, idiot.”

Sehun takes Jongin as far away from the entrance as possible and grabs a random stuffed bear, holding it up at Jongin.

“I—thought the ribbon was cute. Do you think she’ll like it?”

Jongin takes the toy and considers it, eyes moving between the bear and the other varieties of disgustingly adorable plush toys on the shelf, and Sehun is satisfied enough by the distraction to stare out the entrance without being paranoid about looking suspicious. Ignoring Jongin’s talking, he waits impatiently for Baekhyun to arrive, and his eyes widen once he sees him enter with Kyungsoo on his tail. They meet eyes briefly and nod to each other, and Sehun finally turns around and snatches the toy from Jongin’s hands.

“Actually, I don’t think she’ll like this. She—she likes Pororo, and stuff.”

“Oh, I saw some Pororo toys over there!” Jongin exclaims, grabbing Sehun’s hand and pulling him towards the section Baekhyun has taken Kyungsoo into.

As they had planned, Baekhyun is standing a few metres back from Kyungsoo, who is crouching down and examining one of the toys on the lower shelves. Baekhyun sidles away the moment he sees Jongin and Sehun enter the aisle, hiding away to watch the plan unfold.

Sehun follows Jongin close behind as he stops beside a collection of toys, pointing them out and opening his mouth to gush over them. However, before Jongin can begin talking and gain Kyungsoo’s attention, Sehun shoves him forward and sends him tumbling to the floor. He digs his arm into the shelf and throws a row toys on top of Jongin, who has collapsed right in front of stunned Kyungsoo, before diving for cover and hiding from view of them both.

Jongin gasps and looks up, ready to scream at Sehun, but only sees the shocked face of a stranger, seated on the floor beside him with his hands still planted on a toy on the shelf. They share a few seconds of stunned silence, before the stranger quickly scrambles to his knees and offers his hands to help.

“Are you okay?” he exclaims, taking Jongin’s hands and pulling him up from the ground.

“Y-Yeah, I’m—sorry, I’m okay.”

Jongin’s cheeks burn with embarrassment and he ducks his head, nervously picking up the toys scattered around them. Kyungsoo immediately moves to help, and they stand up together to place the items back on the shelf. Neither of them speak until Jongin turns back to him with the intentions of thanking him for his assistance.

“Wait,” Kyungsoo says slowly, “do I—know you from somewhere?”

Jongin’s eyes bulge, and he steps back nervously, instantly recognising Kyungsoo.

“Uh…”

“Hold on! I served you last night!” Kyungsoo exclaims, and Jongin almost shrinks in shame. However, Kyungsoo is beaming – not smiling, beaming, something that Baekhyun seldom sees and makes him tremble with excitement – and Kyungsoo extends a hand to greet Jongin.

“I did, right?”

“Yeah,” Jongin laughs awkwardly, reaching out to grasp his outstretched hand. Kyungsoo shakes it and chuckles, reaching up to rub the back of his neck with his free hand. “That was kind of hard to forget. What a weird coincidence.”

Sehun and Baekhyun cover their mouths to suppress their laughter simultaneously, despite being on opposite sides of the store. Their oblivion is almost too good to be true – even Jongin seems clueless, despite that Sehun pushed him over and proceeded to disappear.

“I—owe you an apology,” Kyungsoo says shyly. “I’m really sorry about what happened, and I hope it doesn’t deter you from visiting the restaurant again. We—uh—I can give you a discount for next time you visit. My friend’s behaviour was totally unacceptable; I promise—”

“It’s okay,” Jongin interrupts, a soft smile lingering on his lips. “It was kind of funny, anyway.”

“Are you sure? I’m truly very sorry about what happened.”

“No, don’t worry about it. It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. Thank you for helping me pick everything up.”

Jongin looks behind him awkwardly and gulps, rubbing his hands together.

“Um…I’ve got to go. Find my friend.”

“Oh, okay. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kyungsoo, by the way.”

“Right. Yes. I’m Jongin. Nice to meet you. I’ll…see you around.”

Jongin waves goodbye awkwardly and hurries into another aisle, exhaling heavily to relieve his nerves. He scurries throughout the store in search of Sehun, ready to throttle him, but both Sehun and Baekhyun have already made a run for it and escaped together.

“Holy ,” Sehun wheezes, “he’s going to kill me. Jongin is literally going to kill me.”

“He’ll be thanking you up at the altar, honey,” Baekhyun laughs, pulling Sehun into a nearby bubble tea store to celebrate.

[] [] []

“You’re a dickhead,” Jongin states. “You’re such an insensitive dickhead.”

“But he was cute, wasn’t he?” Sehun argues, slicing into his cheesecake and looking up at his friend innocently. Jongin frowns, gripping his drink angrily. “Do you seriously think that’s all I care about?”

“Uh, yes?”

Jongin grunts and looks away, eyeing the man behind the counter with interest. “Whatever.”

“If I was that much of a dickhead, you wouldn’t have met up with me.” He clicks his fingers in front of Jongin’s face to gain his attention. “Can’t you take a chance with someone you didn’t fall in love with the moment you saw them?”

Jongin turns to him quickly, and Sehun notices his cheeks are beginning to redden.

“Are—Are you…?”

Sehun nods, and Jongin flushes even more, and that’s when he realises his friend isn’t thinking about Kyungsoo.

“What the , Jongin, no!” he cries, smacking the side of Jongin’s head. “I’m not gay, you moron!”

“Well, God, there’s no other explanation as to why you hate every guy I’m interested in!”

Sehun shoves a forkful of cake in his mouth, frustrated. Of course, Jongin will assume that he has a crush on him, but he won’t even stop to think about Kyungsoo – and Kyungsoo was friendlier than any of the other douchebags Jongin has taken interest to. Because Jongin always likes to make everything particularly difficult for both himself and for Sehun.

“I’m disappointed I didn’t get to try the cheesecake at that restaurant,” Sehun comments casually, desperate to steer the conversation back in the correct direction. “We should go back.”

“The one you ditched me at because your mom had the flu?”

Sehun looks up and glares at Jongin as convincingly as possible, because he hasn’t admitted that the whole thing was a lie. “Yeah, that one.”

He swears he sees Jongin’s eye twitch, and he smirks in satisfaction.

[] [] []

“I think Kyungsoo would be interested in Jongin’s studies. He can’t afford university yet, and he’s into arty stuff. Dancing probably counts.”

Over the past few weeks Sehun and Baekhyun have bonded over their desperation to get their friends together, as well as their mutual interests in video games, unhealthy food and being lazy. Sehun feels comfortable enough to kick his socked feet up on Baekhyun’s coffee table as they play games, but only because of Baekhyun’s brutal honesty and lack of shame. Sehun was quite taken aback when Baekhyun exclaimed that his jeans were squeezing his balls and he ped his fly to make himself more comfortable – if Baekhyun believes that to be acceptable, then Sehun should make himself feel at home, too.

“So you think we should set them up near the college?”

“Well, do you have any better ideas?”

Sehun grits his teeth and mashes the keys on his game controller, focused on fighting his opponent. “Not really.”

“Then we’ll do it.”

Baekhyun pauses the game and turns to face Sehun, pulling his feet up onto the sofa. “Any suggestions on how?”

Sehun rolls the game controller in his hands and shrugs. “I mean, we could always think it over some ice cream.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and jumps off the sofa, smiling, and Sehun watches with delight as his friend heads to the kitchen. “I swear, all you do is about Jongin and eat all my food.”

Despite this, Baekhyun brings out pints of ice cream for each of them, and he lies across Sehun’s lap and opens his mouth every now and then as if he’s asking Sehun to feed him. It’s almost enough to make Sehun uncomfortable, and he confirms with Baekhyun that he’s not gay before they start the game again.

“Whatever you say, Sehun,” Baekhyun laughs, shaking his head, “whatever you say.”

✏ ( a/n ] u know what's frustrating?? trying to write about things u have literally no idea about. im so smol and young how am i supposed to know about all of these insane life experiences or fancy professions. all i know is school and stress and sleep. see this is why all of the stuff i write about is BULL because my life is just BULL and school and stress and sleep and food THAT'S IT THAT'S ALL I KNOW

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