chapter 9

“I want your friend Sehun to meet Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo says suddenly, making Jongin jolt in surprise. He’s still jumpy over every broken silence, terrified of Kyungsoo bringing up the incident at the restaurant once more, despite the fact that everything Kyungsoo has talked about all afternoon is his scholarly success.

It took Kyungsoo a couple of hours of talking, a lot of joy cooking and many mugs of hot chocolate (for Jongin) to drain himself of the excitement.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I want you to meet Baekhyun, too, but I feel like Sehun would get along with him. From what I’ve heard.”

Jongin shrugs slowly. “I’ve never really thought about it. But, I guess you’re right.”

Jongin and Kyungsoo are lying beside one another, stomach-down on Kyungsoo’s bed, scrolling through various available movies being screened tomorrow. They’re not unreasonably close to one another, but Jongin is still hyper-aware of Kyungsoo’s touch every time their arms brush together.

“We could invite them to our movie tomorrow,” Kyungsoo suggests, leaning his cheek into his palm and turning to face Jongin. “Or would that be too awkward?”

“I don’t think so,” Jongin considers. “Sehun isn’t shy, so he should be fine.”

“Neither is Baekhyun. You think we should do it?”

“Sure.” Jongin shrugs as best as he can with his elbows digging into Kyungsoo’s soft mattress. “I’ll ask Sehun once I get home. I’ll text you if he can’t make it.”

Kyungsoo smiles, turning back to the laptop screen, and Jongin gulps. He’s never noticed how Kyungsoo’s eyes crinkle up when he smiles, how his lips form the shape of a heart and his cheeks blush just the slightest shade of pink—

“Awesome. Now, we just have to pick one to watch.”

Jongin snaps himself from his thoughts and scolds himself mentally for noticing such absurd features. He’s not fifteen, he shouldn’t be letting his hormones romanticise guys he doesn’t even have feelings for.

“Can you tolerate horror movies?”

“No,” Jongin says instantly, and he reconsiders for half a second, before saying “yes” right afterwards. Kyungsoo looks over for clarification, and Jongin shrinks in shame. “Kind of?”

“It’s okay if you’re scared. I just don’t want to sit through a soppy romance.”

Jongin nods in agreement, even though internally he’s disappointed. It must be the homouality that makes him weak for soppy, cheesy, terrible romance movies.

Kyungsoo eventually grows tired of leaning on his elbows and pushes the laptop over to Jongin, spreading his arms out in front of him and resting his cheek on the mattress. Jongin tries to stay focused on reading through movie reviews, but his eyes keep flicking back to Kyungsoo’s tired face, intrigued by how serene he looks with his eyes shut.

“You look like Snow White,” Jongin says softly, and Kyungsoo opens his eyes, staring right up into Jongin’s. But this time, despite his blushing, Jongin doesn’t look away.

“Are you the evil Queen?” Kyungsoo murmurs sleepily. “Did you poison me and make me this tired?”

“I wouldn’t poison you.”

Kyungsoo’s eyelids flutter shut again.

“Then you must be the prince.”

Jongin idly scrolls up and down the review site, his eyes moving over the words but not reading them, because his mind is too busy wondering what it would feel like to kiss Kyungsoo. He’d probably wake up fully alert like Snow White did when she was kissed by her prince, but Jongin isn’t so sure whether Kyungsoo would take the move so well.

Thinking about it makes Jongin’s heart race so fast he needs to lie down fully as well, but it doesn’t really help when Kyungsoo rolls over and snuggles himself into his arms.

Kyungsoo falls asleep. Jongin stays awake the whole forty-five minutes his friend naps for, lost in the mess that has become his heart.

[] [] []

“I’m meeting up with Kyungsoo tomorrow,” Jongin says casually, as soon as the waiter sets down their meals and leaves their table. Sehun pauses and looks up at his friend, scrutinising him.

“Uh-huh?”

“He wants you to come along.” Sehun’s eyebrows rise in shock.

“Uh-huh.”

“Will you?”

“Hell yeah. But why?”

Jongin plays with his food idly, feeling pressured under Sehun’s stare. He may as well be honest – it’s not like Sehun would care about meeting someone new, anyway.

“Kyungsoo wants to introduce you to his friend. I haven’t met him, but, well, I trust Kyungsoo not to bring along a serial killer. What?”

Sehun only realises how shocked he must look after Jongin stops talking and tilts his head, wondering why his reaction was so extreme. He shuts his gaping mouth and tries to stop his eyes from bulging.

“What friend?” Sehun asks, and then he realises that’s far too suspicious, and he settles with a “sure, I’ll meet him.”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Because Kyungsoo doesn't seem like the type to have friends.” Sehun stuffs his mouth with food to prevent himself from saying anything else that makes him appear as stupid as Jongin. He motions for Jongin to do the same, trying to divert the topic from the strange – and pretty cruel – comment.

“The faster we eat, the faster we can get dessert,” Sehun says, but it comes out muffled because his mouth is full.

“You should have just ordered dessert for dinner.”

“Come on, now, that’s disrespectful. Have some manners.”

[] [] []

“I want you to come with Jongin and I tomorrow,” Kyungsoo asks cheerfully, setting a bowl down in front of Baekhyun. He glances around the restaurant and make sure there’s enough staff around to tend to the tables, before he slides into the seat across from his friend, wiping his hands on his apron.

“Huh?”

“We’re going to see a movie together,” Kyungsoo explains. “But I want you to come along and meet someone.”

“Meet who?”

Kyungsoo looks back around the restaurant, and signals to a staring co-worker that he’ll only be another minute.

“Jongin has this friend called Sehun. I’ve only met him once, but I think you two would get along. And you can meet Jongin, too. What do you think?”

Baekhyun stares at Kyungsoo with wide eyes, and he struggles to hold back from bursting out laughing. “S-Sure,” he stammers, staring down into his meal as if it’s the most interesting thing in the world. “I’ll go.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Just—uh—drop by my place and we’ll go together. You should serve.”

Kyungsoo beams and pats Baekhyun’s arm, standing up. “Thanks, Baekhyun.”

“Yeah. No problem. No problem at all.”

[] [] []

Jongin: Sehun said yes!
Kyungsoo: So did Baekhyun :)
Kyungsoo: I promise they’ll get along really well

[] [] []

Baekhyun: DID YOU JUST GET INVITED TO A MOVIE TOMORROW
Sehun: YES
Sehun: I’m with Jongin right now so b quiet
Baekhyun: THEY WANT US TO MEET
Baekhyun: KYUNGSOO THINKS WE’D GET ALONG
Sehun: Stop I’m going to start laughing
Baekhyun: WE SHOULD START ARGUING IN FRONT OF THEM JUST FOR KICKS
Sehun: STOP
Sehun: I’m wheezing
Baekhyun: WE SHOULD PRETEND TO HATE EACH OTHER
Sehun: Idk about you but I won’t have to pretend

[] [] []

“You’re squeezing the circulation out of my hand,” Sehun complains, tugging his arm away from Jongin’s. “Why are you holding my hand so tight?”

“I’m nervous,” Jongin admits, relaxing his death grip on Sehun.

“Why? You think I’ll say something stupid again? Because we discussed that I’m going to behave myself,” Sehun says defensively.

“No,” Jongin says slowly. “I’m—I don’t know. Kyungsoo said his friend is similar to you, and, like, don’t get offended, but I can barely handle one of you, let alone two. And I’m scared you won’t get along with each other.”

Sehun stares at the floor and almost begins hyperventilating, trying to stop himself from laughing, but God it’s difficult to keep a straight face.

“It’s fine,” Sehun says, as calmly as he can manage. “I’m sure we’ll get along.”

“You won’t be difficult, will you?”

Sehun uses his free hand to smack Jongin’s chest since he can’t reach the back of his head, “I’m not a child, dickhead.”

A couple of people stare as they walk past, eyeing their clasped hands and interlocked fingers, but Sehun is too busy focusing on how he’s going to greet Baekhyun as if they’ve never met before without cracking his façade. He’s almost sure that Baekhyun is going to muck around and make a joke out of the situation, and knowing that makes it a hundred times harder to formulate excuses for why they’ll be acting so oddly around one another.

“There they are!” Jongin chirps. A wide smile spreads across his lips the moment his eyes land on Kyungsoo, and Sehun picks this up immediately, because it definitely doesn’t look like Jongin’s normal smile. He only ever reserves that dreamy smile for moments of utmost homouality.

Sehun and Baekhyun stare directly at one another as they approach, but neither Kyungsoo nor Jongin seem to notice, as they’re too busy focusing on one other.

“This is Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo says shyly after saying hello to Sehun and Jongin, motioning towards his best friend. Jongin nods his head and introduces himself politely, and Sehun follows suit, keeping his gaze trained on his friend.

“I’m Sehun. It’s nice to meet you, Baekhyun.” And to Sehun’s surprise, Baekhyun doesn’t say anything stupid, and simply smiles and greets him back.

“We have to buy the movie tickets,” Kyungsoo says, “if you’d like, I can—”

“You two should go buy them,” Baekhyun interrupts, nudging Kyungsoo towards Jongin. “Since you know what movie you want to watch.”

Jongin glances at Sehun for confirmation, making sure he’s comfortable with the proposal, and Sehun shrugs and releases Jongin’s hand.

“You don’t want to decide with us?”

“Surprise us,” Sehun says, not wanting Baekhyun to appear pushy by making all the decisions. “We’ll wait for you here.”

Both Kyungsoo and Jongin display visible surprise at how comfortable their two friends are being left alone, but they walk off together to purchase the tickets obediently, talking between one another rapidly the minute they’re out of earshot. When Baekhyun is sure that they can’t be seen anymore, he explodes into very loud and very obnoxious laughter, and Sehun lunges to cover his mouth.

“Shut up!” he hisses, struggling to contain Baekhyun in his grip as he squirms to get away.

“What a situation,” he gasps. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“It’s not that funny.”

“It’s funny thinking about how many ways we can screw this up.”

Sehun releases him and jabs his finger into Baekhyun’s nose accusingly. “Hey. They believe us. Don’t mess up the plan now.”

“Alright, alright. But, hey…”  Baekhyun checks around them, making sure Kyungsoo and Jongin still aren’t around, before he grabs Sehun’s arm and wiggles his eyebrows. “How about the look of love in their eyes when they saw each other?”

Finally, Sehun manages a grin, and he turns to Baekhyun excitedly. “You noticed too?”

“The whole damn country noticed. I don’t know about you, Sehun, but I really think we’ve done it.”

“I’m so offended that Jongin didn’t mention anything,” Sehun says. “If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have known at all. Unless he still hasn’t figured it out yet?”

“How could he not have figured it out yet?” Baekhyun scoffs, and Sehun shakes his head.

“You don’t know Jongin like I do. He’s an idiot. Like, a professional, qualified idiot. Here, they’re coming, let go of me.”

Baekhyun and Sehun stare just a little too intently at their approaching friends, examining the way they talk to each other and how red their cheeks flush when they smile and laugh. They both instantly pretend to be chatting with one another when Jongin looks over and realises they’re watching.

“We’re watching a horror movie. I hope you don’t mind,” Kyungsoo announces, handing out the tickets. Sehun raises an eyebrow at Jongin, “don’t you hate horror movies?”

Jongin shrugs. “I’m facing my fears. I’ll live.” He doesn’t catch Baekhyun’s knowing smirk.

“So, how are you two getting along?” Kyungsoo asks, directing his query towards Baekhyun and Sehun. Baekhyun smiles innocently up at Sehun, motioning for him to talk, and Sehun ever-so-subtly sticks his foot out to trip him as they walk.

“Just fine,” Sehun says almost flatly, as Baekhyun regains his balance and dusts himself off shamefully.

“You were right when you said we’re similar,” Baekhyun interjects. “We like the same video games, actually. We’ll have to play a game together sometime, hey, Sehun?”

Sehun grits his teeth into a smile and nods as eagerly as he can manage. As if we haven’t done that enough already.

Jongin and Kyungsoo have a wonderful time buying various movie snacks for them all, while the other two hang back and simply admire their friendly behaviour, trying to decide how far they’ve progressed in the relationship. It’s disappointing how little skin-to-skin affection they show for one another, but that doesn’t eliminate the hope.

Jongin and Kyungsoo, of course, sit beside one another first when they find their seats. They expect Sehun and Baekhyun to sit on either side of them, but when Sehun drops into the seat beside Jongin, Baekhyun doesn’t climb over the three of them to sit with Kyungsoo, and instead seats himself right beside his ‘new’ friend, grinning.

“I’m pumped,” Baekhyun exclaims, and Sehun surprises the three of them when he slams his hand over Baekhyun’s mouth.

“You’re too loud.”

“I love horror movies,” Baekhyun continues, voice muffled behind Sehun’s hand, and Jongin snickers. He really is comically obnoxious, and it finally makes sense why Kyungsoo found similarities between Baekhyun and Sehun.

Sehun, admittedly, isn’t a big fan of horror movies, but not for the same reasons as Jongin. He finds the special effects, the fictional storylines and the overall falseness to be underwhelming, and the jump-scares are just annoying and noisy. As the movie plays, he finds entertainment elsewhere, and instead watches how Jongin grips the armrests in fear, only relaxing when Kyungsoo takes his hand and squeezes it reassuringly.

“You should have told me these movies are too much for you,” he hears Kyungsoo whisper, and Jongin shakes his head. “I’m fine,” he hisses back.

“Your hand is trembling.”

“It’s fine.”

Sehun smirks and shoves a handful of popcorn in his mouth when Kyungsoo laces their fingers together, because this is far more entertaining than the bloody, gory action happening onscreen.

He finally turns away to search for his drink and is surprised to see Baekhyun pressed up against the back of his seat, eyes shut and chest rising and dropping rapidly with his shallow breaths. Sehun’s smile drops instantly, and he quickly places a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he murmurs, and Baekhyun opens his eyes, smiling weakly and nodding in a very unconvincing manner.

“I didn’t—realise there’d be blood,” he whispers hoarsely, flinching and turning his face into the seat as a weapon plummets into a character’s chest, blood spurting everywhere. The lighting is dim but Sehun can tell that Baekhyun has blanched white, and his ghostly complexion frightens Sehun more than the horror on the screen.

“Do you want to leave?” Sehun asks quietly. “I’ll take you outside. You don’t look so good.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Baekhyun…”

“I’m alright. Just—tell me when this part is over.”

Sehun bites his lip but agrees, and despite the hypocrisy of his actions, he takes Baekhyun’s hand into his own and squeezes it tightly to let him know he’s there. Baekhyun squeezes it back gratefully, his eyes still screwed shut, and leans towards him to hide his face in Sehun’s shoulder.

It’s frustrating how Jongin and Kyungsoo are the ones staring now. Sehun pretends not to notice them.

✏ ( a/n ] this is the stupidest gayest most useless chapter in the whole damn fic and i hate Byun Bing Bong but im updating anyway because u guys are fricking adorable and i love you all SO DAMN MUCH

word count: 2616