It’s winter. Snowing. Baekhyun is freezing all the time and apparently Kyungsoo is immune. He wraps up in jumpers and thick sweatshirts and results to wearing long johns beneath his trousers. It’s still not enough. Kyungsoo, somehow, gets by with the same knit cardigan he wears in the spring. Baekhyun believes it to be witchcraft. No. He knows it.

Kyungsoo has an early finish today. Baekhyun wraps up his last class at quarter-past-three and kills half an hour doing paperwork until the cleaners come in and disturb the quiet with their vacuum cleaners. Perfect timing, as Kyungsoo has just arrived to pick him up.

Outside is freezing. The kind of cold that sinks beneath your clothes and lingers until you’ve had a warm shower at the end of the day. Baekhyun’s hands are red, raw, and Kyungsoo’s fare no better. They match. Can’t tell whose dry skin is whose.

They head out for hot chocolate in a small café that reminds Baekhyun of one of their first dates. A window table and the pouring rain. Kyungsoo hiding yawns behind his fist because he’d stayed up all night finishing an essay but not wanted to cancel. Baekhyun scolded him. Smiled at him. Kissed him across the table because it was late evening and deserted.

Occasionally, Baekhyun gets lost in those memories. Where he and Kyungsoo were so young. So new to everything. Baekhyun used to be a lot livelier back then. He’d drag Kyungsoo to parties, society events, protests. He’d also drag Kyungsoo into his room and his bed and his shower. Sometimes into an alleyway when he couldn’t wait to get home.

But winter is all chapped lips and sniffling noses. The heat of the café thaws Kyungsoo’s face ‘til his nose drips and he has to speak behind a tissue. His glasses fog up and he’s