Three

It was the small things. Things that were arguably insignificant but warmed Baekhyun’s heart.

He and Kyungsoo started off as acquaintances with a mutual friend. Baekhyun knew the friend from work and Kyungsoo from the degree course they shared.

At the start of Kyungsoo’s second year at university, they all started hanging out. After class. Before class. Sometimes during class. Baekhyun would sneak into the building with them where they scanned their ID cards for attendance and then stealthily ran away. He wasn’t enrolled in university yet. Just working. Figuring out what to do.

He and Kyungsoo never had much direct conversation to begin with. Instead, they both would build off whatever their mutual friend, Jongdae, was saying. Jongdae was (and is) a chatterbox, so although Baekhyun was apprehensive about spending hours and hours with people he didn’t really know, he never had to worry about the conversation running dry. Plus, he and Jongdae got on incredibly well, always complaining about work and making jokes at the customers’ expense. Making people laugh never felt like hard work until Baekhyun met Kyungsoo; that made his laughter all the more rewarding.

But Baekhyun didn’t really like Kyungsoo initially. He was fairly quiet, reserved, closed off. Baekhyun wasn’t sure how to interpret his behaviour. Was that just Kyungsoo’s personality or did Kyungsoo not like him? Not that it mattered. He was getting on well with Jongdae and even talking to Jongin more – another one of their friends. He thought he might even be developing a crush for Jongin at one point, but he forced himself to strangle it when he realised Jongin had a girlfriend.

Over summer of that year, Baekhyun didn’t see Kyungsoo. He kept up with everyone but Kyungsoo because he didn’t know how to talk to him. Or if Kyungsoo even wanted him to talk to him. Then, Kyungsoo came into work one day. He was looking for Jongdae, wanting to drop off some clothes he borrowed for a sleepover Baekhyun assumed they had. And it was like he’d been slapped in the face. Kyungsoo was… hot. Hair styled. Round black glasses. A slimmer face. Baekhyun thought he looked amazing, so he told him he looked amazing. Too forward, maybe, but Kyungsoo laughed bashfully and rubbed his neck, shy.

“I’ve been working out. Trying to be healthy.”

Baekhyun just smirked. “It looks good on you.”

At that point, he had no reason to believe that Kyungsoo liked him. He also didn’t consider the possibility that his suggestive talk could make him uncomfortable. He was actually gobsmacked that he’d been hanging out in the same group of friends as a god and never even noticed. Kyungsoo’s skin was clearer. He wasn’t glaring. He looked less tired. Maybe it was the workload at university that all the