pairing: BaekChen
length: 2530 words
A/N: Written at the request of weruska01! Hope you like it!
Part One: Five-Star Date
Part Two: Date Two for Two
Part Three: Challenge Accepted

“Oh my god, what did you do to my cousin?” Minseok had immediately let himself into Baekhyun’s Victorian-style mansion, flying past the security guards with an enthusiastic “Hello!” and through the large white double doors. He had found Baekhyun sitting in the living room, leafing through a thick encyclopedia on gemstones and minerals, and jumped on the man who looked up in mild surprise when he heard his friend enter his residence.

“Nothing special,” Baekhyun answered, carefully heaving Minseok off of him so he could place his book down on the short mahogany table that was next to the light beige leather couch they were sitting on. “Why do you ask?”

Minseok’s eyes were almost bulging out of his head as he explained, “You cast some kind of enchantment on Jongdae or something. He’s like a completely different person after meeting you. He’s even contemplating marrying you even though you’ve only been on one date with him!” The older male pressed up against Baekhyun as he continued, “You must’ve done something to my cousin, because he never would have acted like this before.”

“Interesting.” It was. Baekhyun hadn’t realized how powerfully alluring he was to Kim Jongdae. He had never wound up any men to the point when they wanted to declare a lifelong union with him, although that could possibly have to do with most men thinking about short-term goals instead of a long-term relationship with him. A soft chuckle escaped Baekhyun’s lips when he thought back to how spellbound Kim Jongdae had looked after their kiss. Which he remembered quite liking as he gently brushed a finger over his bottom lip.

“So what did you do?” Minseok demanded, feeling very much out of the loop after seeing Baekhyun’s reaction to the tidbit of information he had just revealed. “What kind of black magic did you perform on Jongdae that night?”

Baekhyun carelessly waved a thin, dainty hand as he answered, “Really nothing much. I was just my wonderfully charming self and I suppose he became quite smitten with me during our little dinner excursion.” The younger male arched a flawlessly curved eyebrow as he added, “Do you not believe that I have the ability to effortlessly attract men, Minseok?”

“But this is Jongdae we’re talking about,” Minseok emphasized with an indignant expression. “He wouldn’t be so impulsive when it comes to falling in love.” Then the older male paused for a moment, tapping his chin before continuing thoughtfully, “Although he did mention how jealous he was that all of my friends are hot. So I guess he is pretty thirsty, which isn’t much of a surprise since he’s been single for so long. But still!” Minseok jabbed a finger at Baekhyun with his incredulous expression from earlier returning. “You’ve completely caught him under your spell! How?!”

The younger male just shrugged. He really didn’t know how he had managed to fish Kim Jongdae so easily, but he wasn’t complaining. “I honestly have no idea, Minseok.”

“God, you’re scary, Baek,” Minseok said with a shake of his head. “I’m so glad you’ve never attempted to flirt with me if you can reel in Jongdae like it’s nothing.”

“And how do you know that I have not tried?” Baekhyun asked with a suggestive wiggle of his perfectly shaped eyebrows.

Minseok squealed and cringed away from his friend, yelping, “Oh god, please no, Baek. Don’t you dare try that now!” Suddenly, Baekhyun’s cell phone began ringing and the two snapped their heads towards the electronic device that had been sitting innocently on the mahogany table. Minseok recognized the number and gasped while punching Baekhyun’s arm, trying contain his excitement. “Oh my goodness, he’s calling you! Jongdae is calling you!”

“I can see that,” Baekhyun replied with an amused smile as he leaned forward to pick up the large flat cell phone. After he used his long pointer finger to swipe across the touch screen and accept the call, he tapped the volume icon so that the call was on speakerphone and then placed his finger in front of his lips to signal for Minseok to be silent. “Hello?”

“Um, hey, Baekhyun. It’s me, Jongdae. We, uh, had dinner the other night together.”

Minseok felt like slapping himself when he heard how awkward his cousin was being on the other side of the line.

Baekhyun just smiled as he answered, “I remember. How are you, Jongdae?”

“I’m good. Great, actually. Work’s been going well for me and the weather’s been pretty nice lately too,” the orthodontist babbled away, his nerves getting the better of him. “Things are pretty wonderful right now.”

“Yes, that does sound wonderful.”

“So, uh, you must be wondering why I called you out of the blue, right?”

“I am only hoping for good news,” Baekhyun responded while beaming brightly, even though Jongdae couldn’t see his face. Minseok almost gagged from the amount of sweetness this phone conversation contained.

“I guess I’ll just get straight to the point then. Are you free for dinner next week?”

Minseok’s jaw dropped open when he realized that this meant that Baekhyun had officially won the bet. Because as lovesick as Jongdae had sounded when the older male was at his cousin’s house earlier, he didn’t think the orthodontist would be forward enough to ask Baekhyun on a second date. And since Baekhyun hadn’t mentioned anything about a follow-up date either, Minseok thought that perhaps his friend had been too lazy to follow through with the gamble and had ended it there.

Baekhyun grinned to himself as he listened to the slightly nervous, melodious voice of Kim Jongdae on the phone. “Yes, of course. I would love to have dinner with you again.” He sent Minseok a triumphant smile, basking in the glory of his win.

“YES! I mean, that’s great,” Jongdae quickly answered with an embarrassed cough. Baekhyun could almost picture the other male self-consciously rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin on his blushing face. “So I’ll text you the reservation details tonight if that’s okay.”

“That would be perfect,” Baekhyun purred into his cell phone’s mouthpiece. “I shall see you soon, Jongdae.”

“Yeah, see you soon, Baekhyun!”

After the orthodontist ended the phone call, Baekhyun smiled knowingly at Minseok whose face was still painted with disbelief. “It seems that I have won the bet.”

The older male groaned out loud while shaking his head, “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you actually managed to get Jongdae to go on a second date with you.”

“I am quite hurt that you have such little faith in my capabilities.” Baekhyun smirked as he leaned back into the couch while crossing his right leg over his left. “Have I not spoken to you about my numerous trysts these past few years?”

“Well, yeah, you have, but we’re talking about my cousin. He’s like the antithesis of anything related to romance,” Minseok countered.

Baekhyun tilted his head to the side with that self-assured grin still on his handsome face. “I do not lose, Minseok. You know that.”

He now knew that very well. Minseok couldn’t wait to break into Jongdae’s home tomorrow so he could further grill the younger male about this new development.

And grill he did.

--

Baekhyun woke up to a number of text messages that were sent from Minseok the day after.

Kim Minseok
CALL ME WHEN YOU SEE THIS.

Kim Minseok
I HAVE BIG NEWS.

Kim Minseok
Well, sorta big news.

Kim Minseok
Whatever, it doesn’t matter how big it is. IT’S NEWS.

Kim Minseok
WE’RE GOING SHOPPING NEXT WEEK.

Kim Minseok
Don’t schedule anything on the day you’re meeting with my cousin.

Kim Minseok
I’M SERIOUS, BAEKHYUN. YOU BETTER CALL ME RIGHT AWAY.

Kim Minseok
CALL ME RIGHT NOW.

So Baekhyun immediately dialed his friend’s number and Minseok answered after the first ring. “GUESS WHAT?” the older male screamed into the phone.

“What?”

“Jongdae is going shopping for new clothes to wear on your next date!” Minseok squealed loudly. “He’s going with his best friend to the mall on the day of your date!”

“And?”

“This is groundbreaking!” Minseok exclaimed animatedly. Baekhyun had to angle the phone away from himself, because the older male’s voice was reaching dangerously high decibels as he continued speaking. “Jongdae never goes shopping! He wears the same boring, old clothes every day so this is a huge first!”

“He was quite well-dressed on our first date,” Baekhyun commented as he thought back to that evening with a small smile on his face. He could perfectly recall the sharp black suit that Kim Jongdae had worn with a maroon red tie completing the look. “You should try not to be so hard on your cousin, Minseok.”

“Oh, that was his one nice set of dress clothes,” Minseok answered flippantly. “That’s the extent of his formal wardrobe. But anyway, we’re going to follow them because this is going to be a great chance to see Jongdae bumble around in his attempts to impress you.”

And that’s how, several days later, Baekhyun found himself trailing behind Minseok, who was crouched down in hiding while keeping his eyes trained on the two figures of Jongdae and Yixing as they walked around the mall. Minseok made sure to stay several yards behind the two, not wanting to accidentally be discovered since he knew Jongdae would kill him if he knew he was being followed.

Baekhyun would be lying if he said he enjoyed creeping around like a stalker and his only consolation was that he was getting to see a different side of Kim Jongdae. He stifled a giggle when he saw how big Jongdae’s eyes grew upon entering the designer store, because the man was quite adorable. Even though Minseok vehemently disagreed, saying that his cousin only knew how to be cynical and sarcastic. And when Jongdae almost collapsed against a clothes rack, Baekhyun instinctively started towards the male before instantly being pulled back by Minseok.

“Don’t blow our cover!” the older male hissed in a low voice while warily checking to make sure that Yixing and Jongdae were too preoccupied to notice the two stalkers. Minseok let out a deep sigh of relief when the two best friends focused on sifting through the clothing piles instead.

“Would it not be better if I revealed myself so that if they saw us accidentally later, they would not suspect anything?” Baekhyun pointed out sensibly. But truthfully, a small part of him just wanted to see Kim Jongdae up close. It had been a week since he had last seen his blind date and Baekhyun wanted to see if the orthodontist was still as good-looking as he remembered him to be. Especially now that the pressure of the bet was gone, Baekhyun would be able to comfortably bask in Kim Jongdae’s company without any insincere intentions.

Minseok grudgingly nodded, knowing that Baekhyun would go forth anyway. He had been friends with the younger male long enough to know that Baekhyun preferred acting on his own agenda and only agreed with others’ plans if they aligned with his own. “Just make sure they don’t know I’m here. Jongdae will destroy me. And I’m kind of scared of Yixing too.”

“Yixing?”

“His best friend.” Minseok pointed to the stylish male that standing close to Jongdae. “They’ve known each other since forever. Yixing is more laidback than Jongdae is, but when he gets annoyed, he’s scarier than the devil.”

“And Jongdae has never liked him?”

Minseok let out a snort of laughter. “They don’t fancy each other like that. That would be like the two of us falling for each other.”

“Good point.” Baekhyun straightened his impeccable clothing, patting away the nonexistent creases, before saying, “I shall be back soon.” He left Minseok hiding behind a rack of large winter coats and slowly circled around the area, keeping his eyes on Kim Jongdae while formulating what the best path to “coincidentally” bump into him would be. When the two best friends began walking towards the sweater vest section of the store, Baekhyun leisurely strolled after them before finally calling out Jongdae’s name. And he was pleasantly satisfied to see the stars in his date’s eyes when they locked gazes with each other. Goodness, the orthodontist was just too endearing for words. “I thought for a moment that my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it seems that I really did see you,” Baekhyun fibbed as his gaze directed to the two best friends’ interlocked arms. “And who is this?” he asked, even though he knew very well who Zhang Yixing was, courtesy of Minseok.

And he was surprised when Jongdae hastily disentangled his arm from his best friend’s before saying, “Oh, uh, nobody. He’s nobody important. Just somebody I know. An acquaintance.”

When Yixing stomped on his best friend’s foot right away, Baekhyun had to conceal his smile because it was too funny seeing his date become so flustered. He decided that it would be better to spare Jongdae any further embarrassment, so Baekhyun replied, “I see. Well, I need to be on my way. Eight o’clock sharp tonight? I promise I shall not be late this time.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you then,” the orthodontist answered with his defined cheeks flaming up after Baekhyun sent him a dazzling smile before taking a roundabout route back to Minseok, who hungrily watched the entire exchange like a starving fanboy.

--

When he saw how nervously Kim Jongdae was fidgeting in his seat, Baekhyun felt like reaching over to pinch the adorable man’s cheeks to ease the tension his date was feeling. But he restrained himself and instead continued being the sophisticated, flawless man that he usually defaulted to. Since the orthodontist was emitting vibes of anxious energy, Baekhyun deduced that Jongdae seemed to still be fixated on their earlier encounter at the mall. And because he didn’t want their second date to be wrought with discomfort, Baekhyun asked about Zhang Yixing once more.

And Jongdae’s sincerity warmed his heart, tightly wrapping around him like a silk cocoon. Even if this had started off as a bet, Baekhyun found himself enjoying the prospect of truly pursuing something more with this earnest young man he was dining with. Kim Jongdae was just so easy to read, wearing his heart on his sleeves, and it was like a breath of much-needed fresh air for Baekhyun after the dozens of shallow relationships he had been in.

Even so, he still couldn’t resist teasing the orthodontist as Baekhyun alluded to his veiled request for a fiery kiss like the one they had shared after their first dinner date. Jongdae just couldn’t seem to peel his eyes away from the posh man’s plush lips, but Baekhyun wasn’t going to complain about the attention. He thrived on the blatant interest that his date was showing in him.

And if the younger male was too shy to make the first move, then Baekhyun would gladly lean forward to kiss the other man until they ran out of air.

Without knowing it, Baekhyun had been caught in his own web as he found himself falling for Kim Jongdae.

♈♈♈