“Eh, let me introduce myself!
Here comes trouble!”

Kyungsoo groans and clamps his pillow over his head, trying to drown out the noise. At eight thirty, like every morning except Sundays, his housemate Baekhyun was in the bathroom singing at the top of his lungs. Whether it was having a shower, or just freshening up, Baekhyun would always have a playlist ready to sing along to.

“He changes it every Sunday. Every week there’s a new playlist that he will play, on repeat, until the next Sunday” Kyungsoo had complained one evening to his friends, hoping to get some sympathy from them.

“That is a level of consistency and commitment I can only dream of having” one of his friends had replied and the rest, to Kyungsoo’s dismay, agreed with him.

Giving up any hope of getting another hour’s sleep, Kyungsoo gets out of bed and trudged out of his room, muttering curses to Baekhyun as he walks over to the kitchen. This was now the third day in a row that he’d woken up to Baekhyun singing along to his song. He should have been used to it by now, they have been living together for over four months now.

Graduating from university and having no idea what he wanted to do next, Kyungsoo decided that the only thing he could really do was to take on a Master’s degree. Finding a place to live had been easy, but most of his friends had either graduated and moved on to real jobs, or had graduated and then gone straight into the army. Then Kyungsoo’s workmate, Chanyeol, had recommended an old friend of his who was also doing a Master’s, and that was how Baekhyun became Kyungsoo’s housemate.

At first the two of them just kind of ignored each other. If they bumped into each other throughout the day they’d just nod at each other and then carry on as they were. If Kyungsoo was working, he’d get back much later than Baekhyun. Any other day, and Kyungsoo would be in bed before Baekhyun got home. They had a routine going, until one evening when Kyungsoo came back from his last class and walked into a smoke-filled apartment with a frantic Baekhyun running around the kitchen.

“How the hell did you manage to burn noodles!?”

“I don’t know! I’m trying to figure that out myself!”

After that, Kyungsoo had banned Baekhyun from cooking intricate meals in the kitchen. It also meant that he now cooked for two, often leaving leftovers in the fridge for Baekhyun to heat up. Baekhyun also took this as the cue he needed to talk to Kyungsoo on a more regular basis, it was also the cue he needed to start singing in the shower. He was so annoying.

Kyungsoo closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in. Baekhyun’s still in the shower and is screaming songs terribly out of tune. He’s sure that Baekhyun knows his annoying the heck out of him and that he’s just doing this deliberately by now. Whatever. Kyungsoo had other things to worry about than an annoying housemate.

“Hey! You’re the not the only one who has to use the bathroom!” he shouts, thumping against the bathroom door. Baekhyun only begins to sing louder than he was before in response.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo lets the door slam shut behind him, sighing in relief when his bag slips off of him and lands on the floor. Rolling his shoulders, he wanders over to the kitchen, pausing when he sees Baekhyun stood there in tracksuit bottoms, a black vest top, and jacket. Kyungsoo then notices the duffel bag placed on top of one of the stools, his curiosity slowly growing by the second.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“Nowhere special” Baekhyun replies with a shrug, “Those are for you” he adds, pointing to a pile of letters and a package on top.

“Where did this come from?” he asks, picking the package up.

“Dunno. Chanyeol told me it was waiting at the shop and gave it to me to give to you” Baekhyun replies whilst attempting to untangle his earphones.

Opening up the package, Kyungsoo’s surprised to find a box of chocolates. When he reads the card attached to it however, he groans and rips the card up, taking the box and moving towards the bin.

“If you don’t want them, I’ll have them” Baekhyun says, whining when Kyungsoo ignores him and dumps the chocolates into the bin.

“Trust me, you don’t want them” Kyungsoo replies now moving to the letters addressed to him, “I hope you’re not expecting a feast tonight, I’m only cooking Jjajangmyeon tonight.”

“As long as you keep me alive, I don’t care what you cook for me” Baekhyun replies sweetly, making Kyungsoo roll his eyes as he grabs his bag and jogs over to the door. “Don’t wait up for me!” he calls back before running out of the apartment.

Kyungsoo tries not to show it, but he wants to know just what Baekhyun was getting up to. If he was going to the gym, then maybe he would need a bag as big as the one he had. But the bag also looked like it was at bursting point. Just what was Baekhyun up to?

“Hey Chanyeol, what does Baekhyun do?” Kyungsoo asks at the work the next morning, both of them walking past the various shelves together, Kyungsoo holding a box of books whilst Chanyeol put them in their right places.

“He’s doing a Master’s like you in Computer-”

“No, I already know that” Kyungsoo interrupts, “Like… what does he do job wise? Or outside of university?”

“… well he does teach Hapkido on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings” Chanyeol replies after some thought, making Kyungsoo frown.

“Hapkido?”

“Oh yeah. He’s been learning it for as long as I’ve known him and he has a black belt in it. It’s actually scary” Chanyeol replies seriously which makes Kyungsoo laugh.

“Baekhyun’s not scary. He’s loud, whiny, and can’t cook for .”

“He really is scary!” Chanyeol exclaims, “Take you for example. You’re scary because you get angry easily and kick and pinch really hard. Baekhyun’s scary because he could probably kill a person.”

Kyungsoo still doesn’t believe him and continues to the next aisle still laughing to himself. His laughter stops, however, when he spots a familiar figure, turning back around and smacking right into Chanyeol’s chest.

“What’s going on?” Chanyeol asks when Kyungsoo pushes him back into the previous aisle.

“He’s here!” Kyungsoo whispers, “The guy.”

“The guy? Again? This is the third week in a row. I thought you told him you didn’t want to speak to him anymore.”

“He obviously didn’t get the memo when I blocked him from calling or messaging me!” Kyungsoo replies, both of them poking their heads around the corner to find the guy stood by the comics, clearly not reading one that he had picked up.

Sighing, Chanyeol tugs Kyungsoo along with him to the next aisle, keeping him closer than he did previously. “Just stick with me until he goes. I won’t let him do anything to you.”

True to his word, Chanyeol doesn’t let Kyungsoo out of his sight whilst the guy is in the shop with them. Kyungsoo can see it’s clearly frustrating him- especially with how he glares at Chanyeol whenever the two pass by- and he soon leaves with a huff. Watching him go, Kyungsoo slumps against the counter with a sigh of relief. What was it going to take for this guy to leave him alone?

 

 

 

“This year is going to kill me!” Seungwan groans, she, Kyungsoo, and Seulgi walking out of campus after their final class of the evening. Tuesday’s were Kyungsoo’s least favourite days. Not only did he have to be on campus by nine, but his final class didn’t end until seven that night. By the time he’d get the bus and make it home, he wouldn’t be eating until almost eight.

“I think I need a couple of drinks” Seulgi replies, yawning loudly. “You wanna tag along Soo?”

“I would love to, but my grandmother is visiting tomorrow and I don’t want to meet her with a hangover.”

Saying goodbye to the two girls, Kyungsoo waits alone for his bus, shivering as a strong gust of wind hits him. Another annoying factor about such a late finish was that it was always way too cold. Kyungsoo buries himself as far into his coat as he can go, thankful when the bus finally turns up.

Taking a seat, Kyungsoo reaches into his pocket for his phone and earphones. When his earphones fall to the floor, someone else picks them up before he can and when Kyungsoo goes to thank them his eyes widen when he realises who it is. Snatching the earphones away, Kyungsoo spins back around and focuses his attention on the front of the bus.

What was he doing here? Kyungsoo had never seen him take this bus before. He was doing it deliberately. He found out that Kyungsoo regularly took this bus and was now taking it himself just to see Kyungsoo more often, that had to be it.

‘You’re panicking’ Kyungsoo thinks to himself and tries to relax into his seat. Maybe it was just an unfortunate coincidence that they were both on this bus. When Kyungsoo gets off at his stop, he’ll hang back and see if the guy gets off as well. If he doesn’t, then this was just one of those unfortunate incidents that Kyungsoo was going to have to live with. If he did get off at the same stop… well, Kyungsoo would just have to deal with it then.

Thanking the bus driver, Kyungsoo walks a short distance away from the bus and stops to make it look like he’s looking through his bag. To his disappointment, the guy also gets off and as soon as he does, Kyungsoo begins to walk away. The guy begins to walk in the same direction and Kyungsoo keeps chanting silently to himself to not panic as he takes a turning he wouldn’t usually take. He knows the area well enough that he could take these turnings and still find his way home. If he took these turnings and the guy didn’t know them, he would have to go away eventually.

Kyungsoo takes another left, but the guy is still following him. Maybe he lived nearby and knew this area as well. Still telling himself not to panic, Kyungsoo quickens his pace slightly, only to hear the guy quicken his as well. He begins to walk faster and faster until finally Kyungsoo is in a mad sprint back to his apartment. He shouts apologies to a couple of people he runs into, but doesn’t stop running until he’s back in his apartment and slams the door shut behind him.

“You don’t know me, you don’t know me
So shut up boy, so sh- who’s there?”

Kyungsoo ignores Baekhyun and quickly locks the door, leaning against it and taking deep breaths in to steady his breathing.

“I know someone’s out there. I have a black belt in Hapkido!” Baekhyun continues from the bathroom as Kyungsoo finally moves away from the door and over to the kitchen.

“It’s just me, you dork” he calls back, getting himself a glass of water and downing it all in a couple of gulps, going straight back for a second glass. The bathroom door opens behind him and Kyungsoo prepares himself to face a number of questions because Baekhyun wasn’t deaf, and he definitely heard Kyungsoo slam the door as he came in. What Kyungsoo’s not prepared for is to see Baekhyun stood in nothing but his boxers with his hair still went and droplets falling from the tips and onto his neck. It makes Kyungsoo choke on his water.

“Go put some clothes on!” he shouts through a cough, taking another sip to stop his coughing.

“I live here as well and I can walk around dressed however I want” Baekhyun protests, walking over to the fridge to grab a bottle of banana flavoured milk. “Just be grateful I didn’t walk out .”

Kyungsoo by this point turns away from Baekhyun, partly in a silent protest that he’ll hopefully go and get dressed, mostly because his body isn’t bad looking. All Baekhyun ever wore was baggy shirts and t-shirts, so Kyungsoo never imagined he would have a body like that. It was so well defined and toned in just the right places. This was definitely dangerous territory he was wandering into.

“Why were you having a shower just now anyway? Those are usually morning things” he asks, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere before it got too awkward.

“I was out earlier and then decided I needed to really have one” Baekhyun replies and Kyungsoo remembers that it’s a Tuesday.

“You were out teaching Hapkido?”

Baekhyun pauses and stares at Kyungsoo, his expression turning into a frown. “How did you know about that?”

“Chanyeol might have mentioned it at work” Kyungsoo replies with a shrug, turning to the fridge himself to grab the leftovers from the previous night. Baekhyun stands there silently watching him and it’s very confusing when he’s dressed like… that.

“At least you don’t have to worry about getting woken up early tomorrow morning” Baekhyun comments and Kyungsoo jumps when he sees how close Baekhyun is to him, leaning in even closer. “I know you hate it when I sing in the bathroom. It’s why I do it every morning.”

Laughing evilly, Baekhyun jumps out of the way when Kyungsoo flicks some water his water, still laughing loudly as he runs back to his room to finally get changed into some clothes. God, he was so annoying.

 

 

 

The book store Kyungsoo worked at was smaller compared to other book stores in the surrounding area, but was one of the more popular as well. Kyungsoo needed money in his first year of university and had somehow managed to land a job at the place, being there ever since. Being a Literature graduate, this was literally a dream job for him.

“Why are you here? Why?”

Baekhyun stands in front of Kyungsoo smiling widely, ignoring the annoyed look on his housemate’s face. “I’m waiting for Chanyeol to finish his shift. He’s busy serving people so he told me to come annoy you for a bit.”

Rolling his eyes, Kyungsoo pushes past Baekhyun and carries on down the line of shelves, the pile of books in his arms growing heavier by the second.

“Go be annoying somewhere else. I need to get these books back on their shelves before my arms collapse under their weight” Kyungsoo says and very nearly drops the books when Baekhyun steals a couple of them.

“I can help!”

Sensing that he wasn’t going to win this, Kyungsoo gives up arguing and just sighs, letting Baekhyun walk around the store with him. Every so often, Kyungsoo points to a shelf where a certain book needs to go. Once or twice he has to hit Baekhyun on the back of the head before he can read the last paragraph in certain books and almost spoil the ending for himself.

“Oh wow, I haven’t seen her books in a long time!” Baekhyun exclaims, picking up a copy of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five. This is probably the first time that Kyungsoo’s seen him so excited and eager about something.

“I never heard of her until I started working here” Kyungsoo confesses, “Embarrassing for a Literature student.”

Baekhyun seems to find his comment funny, which surprises Kyungsoo. He didn’t think he was really that funny. “I don’t think anybody outside of Europe has really heard of her before” he counters, “My cousin spent most of childhood between Seoul and London and he brought back a couple of her books for me to read so I could improve my English. They’re all really good!”

Kyungsoo watches in silence as Baekhyun looks through the other copies before finding the book that he wants, putting a copy of Smuggler’s Top on top of the pile. “This one was my favourite. I actually cried when our old dog got a hold of it and destroyed it.”

“Maybe I’ll give it a read sometime, see what I think about it.”

It’s a simple comment on Kyungsoo’s part, but the smile he gets from Baekhyun is so warm and kind. It’s odd. In the time they’ve lived together, he doesn’t remember if Baekhyun’s ever smiled at him like that before.

“So? Where are you and Chanyeol going anyway?” he asks, moving down to the next shelf.

“The new Zelda game that was recently released, Breath of the Wild, is finally getting reduced to a reasonable price. We’re gonna go get our own copies before they’re all sold out” Baekhyun replies excitedly, practically buzzing on the spot as he talks about it.

“I’ve never played any of The Legend of Zelda games before” Kyungsoo confesses and Baekhyun literally drops a couple of books at the admission.

“You’ve never played any of them before?” he asks in shock, crouching down to pick up the books he had dropped. “How? The whole series is… like… the best series ever!”

“I was more of a PlayStation boy than a Nintendo boy growing up” Kyungsoo replies with a shrug, still not understanding why this was such a big deal to him. Kyungsoo continues with his job and Baekhyun still helps him, but is still muttering to himself and occasionally shaking his head.

“It’s settled” he finally says, “One day, you and I aren’t gonna do anything but sit down and play Zelda together. You can’t go the rest of your life without playing it.”

Kyungsoo’s pretty sure he could go the rest of his life without playing it and is about to tell Baekhyun just that before Chanyeol’s calling for him and Baekhyun ditches him with the rest of the books to sort away. Whatever. Like Kyungsoo needed his help anyway. He does make a mental note to get a copy of the book Baekhyun recommended him to take home later, however.

 

 

 

Losing a game of rock, paper, scissors, Kyungsoo’s friends cheer loudly as he pushed out of his seat and towards the bar. This was his round and, annoyingly, a couple of his friends had asked for more pricier drinks.

“They’re the ones with actual adult jobs” Kyungsoo mutters to himself, weaving through the crowded bar which was expected on a Friday night. “Do they think I’m made of money?”

Kyungsoo waits in line and groans at how long he’ll probably have to wait before he gets served.

“I knew it was you.”

Kyungsoo recognises the voice and chooses to ignore it. If he ignored the guy long enough, maybe he’d finally get it and just leave him alone. Why did he have to be here? Of all places?

“Why did you run away from me the other night? I only wanted to talk to you and you ignored me!” the guy asks but Kyungsoo ignores him. He can see a few people start to stare at them, but he hopes that if he remains quiet they’ll stop staring.

“Kyungsoo” the guy tries, this time grabbing his arm, “You can keep ignoring me but you can’t deny that there is something going on between us. There’s something special about our relationship and you can’t keep denying it!”

Kyungsoo frees his arm from the guy’s grip and finally turns to face him. More people are beginning to stare, so he leans in close to stop further attention being directed their way.

“Look, you need to get whatever idea you have about us out of your head” he spits at the guy. “I was drunk. Everything about that night was a drunk mistake. I’ve told you so many times now, what more is it gonna take? I. Don’t. Like. You.”

Kyungsoo then puts some distance between himself and the guy, thankful that the line to the bar has started to slowly move. The guy however now looks pissed, and Kyungsoo braces himself for whatever is about to happen next.

“Soo, why did you run off like that? I thought I was supposed to be buying this round!”

Kyungsoo jumps back in surprise when Baekhyun literally skids in between him and the guy, his expression silently telling Kyungsoo to play along with him

“W-well I lost the bet, so I’m up here buying the round” he replies, hoping that it sounds even just a tiny bit convincing.

Baekhyun smiles before attempting the best fake laugh that Kyungsoo has probably heard from anyone before. He’s definitely done this more than once. “I thought I lost the bet! Oh well, we’ll just have to split the round in half” he says, playfully nudging Kyungsoo, turning to finally acknowledge the guy, his expression turning from playful to kind of angry.

“Oh. Hi” Baekhyun greets monotonously, noticing a gap in the bar. Placing his arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, Baekhyun steers him away from the guy and up to the bar, standing behind Kyungsoo so that the guy couldn’t get to him again.

“Jeez, what was his problem?” Baekhyun asks, sliding his arm off whilst Kyungsoo grips the bar and takes a deep breath in.

“It’s nothing. He’s nobody” he dismisses, pausing and frowning. “What are you doing here?”

“Me and my friends usually come to this place” Baekhyun explains. “And Joonmyun is a ing lightweight. He’s so bad that we’re all taking bets on how many drinks it’ll take for him to get pissed.”

Kyungsoo takes Baekhyun’s word for it as he flags down one of the bartenders. Kyungsoo uses this moment to study Baekhyun who’s wearing a black jumper, black skinny jeans, and white trainers. On anybody else, this outfit wouldn’t have worked and it would have looked silly to wear all black and then white shoes. On Baekhyun however, it looks good. He looks good. Unlike his usual baggy shirt style, the jumper he’s wearing is tighter and Kyungsoo can see the outline of his body underneath it. He has to look away before he starts blushing.

“Thank you. For helping me out” he says, ducking his head in embarrassment.

“Any time. It’s what friends are for!” Baekhyun replies happily and Kyungsoo smiles at the comment. Maybe Baekhyun could be upgraded from annoying housemate to annoying friend.

 

 

 

“Been a bad girl, I know I am
And I’m so hot I need a fan
I don’t want a boy I need a man!”

Kyungsoo was so close to stomping over to the bathroom and screaming at Baekhyun to shut the hell up whilst trying to break the door down. Checking the time on his phone however, Kyungsoo gasps before jumping out of bed and rushing around his room to get ready, realising that he had slept through most of his alarms and was running late for work.

“Move!” he shouts as Baekhyun exits the bathroom, pushing him away and slamming the door so he could brush his teeth, hoping to get out of the apartment in record time. He knew he should have gone to bed earlier, but some part of him thought it would be a brilliant idea to stay up until almost three in a morning getting his essay finished. Now, not only was he running late for work, but he was gonna have to skip breakfast and go to work hungry.

“Are you sure we can’t just ban him from coming here? This is ridiculous!”

Both he and Chanyeol watch as the guy not so discreetly moves around the store, pretending to check out books that they knew he definitely wasn’t going to buy. Shaking his head, Kyungsoo turns away and leans against the counter, rubbing his stomach which wouldn’t stop grumbling.

“According to the boss he actually has to do something before we can ban him. We can’t ban him just because he’s being a creep” he replies as Chanyeol huffs and mutters something under his breath before going to help a customer who had called him over.

Kyungsoo continues to rub his belly, whining when he looks at the clock and realises he still has a while to go before his break. He managed to make it to work with five minutes to spare and was regretting not using those five minutes to go out and buy something.

“Oh Kyungsoo~”

Kyungsoo groans when he recognises who that voice belongs to, looking up to see Baekhyun walk over to the counter, way too happy for the time that it was.

“What do you want?” he asks grumpily, making Baekhyun pout.

“That’s no way to talk to someone who’s bringing you breakfast!” he says and the mention of breakfast makes Kyungsoo perk up.

“Breakfast?”

“Yep. Your morning routine always consists of breakfast, but judging by the way you shoved me out of the bathroom this morning, I knew you’d miss it” Baekhyun explains, handing the plastic bag over. “The bakery near our place is usually open at this time. It’s not much, just a couple of things to keep you happy until lunch.”

“This is perfect!” Kyungsoo exclaims. “You’re a saint” he adds as he takes a bite into a croissant and humming in delight at the taste.

So caught up in his breakfast, Kyungsoo is completely oblivious when Baekhyun seems to recognise the guy from the bar, narrowing his eyes at him. He doesn’t care when Baekhyun makes sure that the guy is watching when he breaks of pieces of the other croissant and feeds it to Kyungsoo who happily takes it.

“I read the book you recommended to me” Kyungsoo admits, the surprise evident on Baekhyun’s face.

“Oh? What did you think of it?”

“It’s pretty good. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes, but for kids. Although I’d be very worried if I were their parents and knew only half the stuff they got up to.”

“I’ve never read any Sherlock Holmes” Baekhyun admits causing Kyungsoo to stop eating and look at him in shock.

“Never?” he gasps, eyes widening even further when Baekhyun shakes his head. This was almost blasphemous in Kyungsoo’s eyes. How was this even possible?

“You’ve never played any of the Zelda games!” Baekhyun argues, pointing an accusatory finger in Kyungsoo’s direction.

“There’s a difference between not playing a silly game and not reading some of the greatest detective literature of our time!” Kyungsoo counters, slapping Baekhyun’s finger away from his face. “I still have the majority of the books at my parent’s place. My mum’s gonna send them over and I’m forcing you to read them!”

“What’s in it for me?” Baekhyun asks as Kyungsoo pauses and sighs.

“You read the books, and I’ll play for stupid game” he finally concedes and Baekhyun’s face lights up at the offer.

“You’ll really sit down and play the game with me?” he asks excitedly.

“Only if you read some of my Sherlock books. And I mean read them, no skipping the pages! I’ll even quiz you on the books you read.”

Baekhyun mocks salutes Kyungsoo and whilst he’s trying to stop himself from laughing, he fails to notice the guy angrily leave the store.

 

 

 

“You know, I think you’re growing a soft spot for Baekhyun” Chanyeol says one afternoon, yelping when Kyungsoo pulls on his ear and twists it.

“Don’t spread lies Chanyeol. They’ll only get you hurt” Kyungsoo threatens.

“What? I’m telling the truth! You like- ow! Stop pulling on my ear!”

 

 

 

Kyungsoo thanks the bus driver and gets off the bus, sighing when he reads the time on his phone. He hadn’t intended to leave the campus library so late at night, but he really needed to get his next essay finished in good time if his family were coming to visit him in the coming days. Bracing himself for a walk through the cold wind, Kyungsoo freezes when he spots the guy stood in front of him.

“What do you want from me?” he whines. “I told you, there is nothing between us, I’m never going to get with you just to please whatever… fantasy you have of us inside your head. Leave me alone, or I’ll call the cops on you.”

“Who was that guy at the bar with you the other night?” the guy asks, completely ignoring Kyungsoo’s threat. Instead of answering, Kyungsoo starts to walk past him, the guy won’t let him leave however, and grabs his arm, holding on tightly.

“Who was that guy?” he asks again as Kyungsoo tries to pull his arm away, squirming at how tight the guy was holding onto him.

“He’s my boyfriend” Kyungsoo lies, wincing when the guy holds onto his arm even tighter.

“Why won’t you give me a chance? I’ll be a good partner. I can give you things that boyfriend of yours will never be able to give you.”

“Let me go!” Kyungsoo exclaims, now frantically trying to get away from him. His reluctance to answer the guy’s question only makes him angrier and Kyungsoo now begins to panic.

“Answer me!” the guy shouts.

“You’re hurting my arm!”

The guy raises his fist and Kyungsoo braces himself for the impact. A punch never comes however, and Kyungsoo opens his eyes just a someone pulls the guy away from him and finally frees his arm. When Kyungsoo gets a look at who was helping him, he could have cried when he saw Baekhyun stood there.

“Who the are you?” the guy shouts angrily, but Baekhyun seems totally unaffected by his attitude.

“I thought Kyungsoo already told you; I’m his boyfriend” he replies calmly. “Now, you’re going to leave Kyungsoo alone, turn around, and leave. Okay?”

This proves to be the final for the guy as he swings a punch towards Baekhyun. Baekhyun easily dodges it, grabbing the guys arm and twisting it behind his back, ignoring the guy’s screams of pain.

“I said, leave” he repeats, letting go of the guy’s arm and kicking him in the back so that he fell to the floor. Kyungsoo finally understood by what Chanyeol meant when he said Baekhyun was scary.

Shouting curses at both of them, the guy gets up from the floor and runs away. Baekhyun watches him until he’s ran around the corner before turning to Kyungsoo, his expression softening.

“You okay?” he asks gently, surprised when Kyungsoo rushes forward for a hug, burying his face in Baekhyun’s chest. If Baekhyun hears him cry, he doesn’t say anything, and hugs Kyungsoo back until he’s ready to go home.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo hadn’t seen the guy since the incident. A week after the incident, he thought maybe it was because he was trying to avoid Baekhyun for a while. Almost two weeks after the incident, he began to relax when it looked like the guy wasn’t coming back at all. It didn’t make up for the ugly bruise he was left with on his arm. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and all of his friends were pissed, telling him to report the guy to somebody. Kyungsoo didn’t want the hassle, the guy was going to leave him alone and he didn’t want to face him anymore.

Since the incident, something had changed between him and Baekhyun. It was nothing bad, and Baekhyun didn’t do nothing, but Kyungsoo began to see him differently. He no longer minds it when Baekhyun walks around in nothing but his boxers. He lets Baekhyun sing in the bathroom- on the condition he keeps it down to let Kyungsoo sleep in peace- and doesn’t mind it when he comes to visit him at work.

He also begins to notice things about Baekhyun that he hadn’t previously noticed. How soft his hair looks, even when it’s been washed and it sticks to Baekhyun’s forehead (how that was possible Kyungsoo wasn’t sure). How nice he looks when he smiles, or just how nice he looks in general. How he never noticed the mole on Baekhyun’s thumb before and when he did, he noticed how long Baekhyun’s fingers were and wondered what it would be like to hold them. So many thoughts that had Kyungsoo blushing and, guiltily, avoiding Baekhyun sometimes. As much as he hated to admit it, he was falling for the guy.

One evening after finishing his last essay for the next month, Kyungsoo frowns when he smells something in the air. Wandering out of his room and into the hallway, he can hear Baekhyun singing quietly to himself. When he wanders into the kitchen, he finds a couple of bowls of food laid out on the table.

“I thought I had banned you from cooking in here”.

Baekhyun jumps at the sound of his voice, spinning around and smiling a little guiltily at Kyungsoo. “It’s nothing special. Just some Jjajangmyeon and Kimchi.”

Kyungsoo eyes the dishes suspiciously, making Baekhyun roll his eyes and push him down into a seat. “I didn’t poison them or anything!” he exclaims, pushing the bowls towards him, “I got my mum to send me a couple of easy recipes to make. I know for certain she would never try to poison anybody!”  

Cautiously, Kyungsoo takes a bit of the Jjajangmyeon, pleasantly surprised by the taste, humming in approval. Baekhyun watches him eat for a moment, smiling, before walking away.

“Where are you going?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Link is waiting for me. I have a Zelda that needs helping out” Baekhyun replies excitedly.

“… can I have a go?”

Baekhyun pauses, the surprise evident on his face. “You really want to have a go?” he asks as Kyungsoo nods his head, using his foot to nudge the seat out across from him.

“But you have to wait until I finish eating” he adds and failing to supress a laugh, Baekhyun joins Kyungsoo back at the table, stealing some of the food until Kyungsoo slaps his hand away.

“No, no, no!”

Kyungsoo chucks the Switch controller to the floor in anger as Link takes a final blow and dies at the hands of Vah Medoh.

“You ” Baekhyun laughs, reaching for the controller to start the game over.

“I don’t , the game ! Why do you need to do so much for one level? Why is it so much effort to kill one boss when you’ll just have to face another later on?!”

Baekhyun continues to laugh at his pain and Kyungsoo turns to glare at him. The image of Baekhyun leaning back against his bed, smiling softly, does something to Kyungsoo. Unable to fight down a blush, he leans forward and watches Baekhyun’s smile turn into a frown before Kyungsoo kisses him. The second he pulls away, Kyungsoo realises he’s made a huge mistake.

“Oh God… I’m sorry… I’ll just, I’ll leave” he stutters, trying to get up from the bedroom floor and having Baekhyun yank him back down by his arm, laughing as he does so. “It’s not funny!” Kyungsoo exclaims, slowly getting angry with Baekhyun’s attitude.

“You’re lucky I’ve liked you from the day I moved in” he says and leans in for another kiss, and Kyungsoo is happy to kiss him back. When they break the kiss, Kyungsoo begins laughing, and his laughter is so infectious that Baekhyun begins laughing as well.

“Don’t think that because we’ve kissed I’ll stop singing in the mornings. It’s too important to give up!” Baekhyun says with mock seriousness, laughing when Kyungsoo playfully jabs him in the side. God, he was annoying. So perfectly annoying.

 

(- Kyungsoo eventually defeats Vah Medoh before handing the game back to Baekhyun, claiming he was done with the stupid game 
- Chanyeol finds out about the two of them when he 'accidentally' catches them kissing at work. Kyungsoo bans Baekhyun from visiting him after that 
- Baekhyun is trying to get Kyungsoo to take some Hapkido classes. He even goes as far as making Kyungsoo watch him train shirtless before a shirt is chucked in his face and Kyungsoo agrees to go to a class 
- Baekhyun has also changed his playlist to songs he knows Kyungsoo's hates, proudly singing them at the top of his lungs. Kyungsoo has threatened Baekhyun that if he doesn't change the songs soon, he's breaking into the bathroom next time and changing it himself.)