"Kyungsoo, to tell you the truth..." Baekhyun pulls up a scalpel for Kyungsoo to see as the tip rests right in front of his nose.

"I like the scalpels the best." He carefully brings the instrument down while the other's gaze follows its direction. "Especially this one! It's pretty old but I always make sure it's at its sharpest." He barely touches a small leaf he had placed earlier for this mini-demonstration, bringing the scalpel back up to show how easily the instrument can cut through.

"Wow, a connection with lab equipment," Jongin interrupted, "I've never been so jealous!"

"Yes, mock the guy with the sharp stabby thingy." Baekhyun replied in a monotonous tone. At the side were Kyungsoo and Chanyeol who gave soft chuckles.

"Why is it that we always have to talk about lab stuff anyway," the youngest sighed. Kyungsoo approaches him to give a soft pat and another one of those 'angelic' smiles as Jongin once described. 

"It's not our fault we actually like it," he huffed at his whining friend. "You and Chanyeol can just leave if-"

"No!"

The three all turned their heads to the deep voice that interjected. 

"I mean, Jongin always stays with you so he wouldn't wanna leave right? And I don't know if we can leave the scalpel lover that had a lab accident with another kid that also had a lab accident. Yeah" Chanyeol immediately says.

"I can't believe we were so close to paying for the flasks!" Baekhyun said as he remembered the event. Although the equipment nearly fell, Chanyeol surprised the three by catching the unsupervised apparatus.

"You mean you were going to pay," Jongin interjects. "How are you still allowed in the lab with all the chaos? I still wonder."

"Well excuse you, before company came I tenderly cared as I'd talk about-"

"Talk about?" Jongin interjects once again. The two share a quick glance, the younger reminding his friend of the other two present.

"Ah, . Just in general," Baekhyun says. The other two simply blink at the boy's anti-climatic response, while Jongin wonders how the hell was he the first and only person to figure Baekhyun out.

"I think it's about time we clean up," Chanyeol suggests. Seeing that there were only 10 minutes left before the end of their break, the four immediately helped each other out with cleaning up whatever mess was made in the lab. Baekhyun must admit his not-so-friend comes in handy in his lab time; if he could, he'd use this as a way to get Jongin and Kyungsoo out so his friend could make a damn move. Imagine, him and Chanyeol being buddies in the lab while their respective friends cuddle up at some cliche couple place.

"Oh, if only," Baekhyun mumbles. He was placing the two scalpels back in the styrofoam stand with all the other sharp tools; unbeknownst to him was the not-so-friend, wondering why he mumbled something so gloomily.

At the doorway of the laboratory were Jongin and Kyungsoo, both sighing at the stupidity of their friends.

"If I had to go through all this tension to get a boyfriend I'd rather not date," Kyungsoo said. 

"Well aren't you grateful to get a straightforward boy like me," Jongin grinned. He locked arms with said lover, to which Kyungsoo laughed.

"Don't lie, you'd be just like Chanyeol if I didn't ask you out."

-------------

"How do you deal with the jealousy?" Baekhyun asks Jongin. They were currently in a bus, going to the mall they always hangout in. It was an odd choice as neither had the financial capability of getting anything other than an egg sandwich in the mall's supermarket, but they seem to make it work.

"Jealousy?" The younger looked at him with confusion.

"You know, with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo," he replied. He lowered his voice with every word, causing Jongin to inch closer to comprehend the other's words. the boy also habitually squints his eyes as if it would make Baekhyun's voice louder. "What?" He asks again, eyes still squinted.

"Like they're always together, they have lots of people talking about how they're a 'cute couple'," Baekhyun signs air quotes with the last two the two words, "I'm sure people would be shocked if they dated other people!"

"Not all people," Jongin says. Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at the weird answer.

"Not to be captain obvious here, but you're way more invested in them than I am."

"And that's the problem!" Baekhyun lightly hits the top of his friend's head. "How can you show your love for Kyungsoo if you're so chill that he's practically swept by some other guy!"

"That other guy is his childhood best friend," Jongin reasons. 

"You told me you were practically finished with your plans to ask him out, and this is supposed to be progress?!" Baekhyun sighs like an old man. "All men do is disappoint."

"You're a man, hyung."

"And it's disappointing that I can't get Chanyeol to talk to me if it's not a 4-way conversation!"

"On that note hyung," Jongin tilts his head, "why are you so caught up on this?"

"Am I not allowed to?"

"Hyung you know-" Baekhyun immediately gets up as the bus stops in front of the mall to leave. Jongin sighs at his friend and exits the bus as well.

"Can we get something that isn't boiled egg in between slices of white bread?"

"Maybe we can irritate the cashiers in the food court with your unnecessary words."

"This is cyberbullying."

"For s sake hyung-"

-------------

"Is Chanyeol's confidence arriving any time soon or did it get lost in delivery?" Jongin asks his boyfriend. It was a new day, therefore another day for the two to track the miniscule progress they've gotten between their friends. Kyungsoo thought it was naive for him to assume his friend would take on the opportunity since they've been hanging out together more often.

"Maybe it'll arrive when you finally tell Baekhyun hyung we're together." His boyfriend answered. "Why can't we tell him? What if he's focusing more on getting us to date until now?"

"Uh, this is Byun Baekhyun we're talking about," said Jongin. "If there's anything he prioritizes, it's his happiness."

"Still, why are you hiding us from him?" Kyungsoo pouted. His boyfriend immediately softened at the sight and hugged the other.

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure he's finding ways to get him and Chanyeol as a way to help me get some time for you," he explained. "So think about it, you and I get chances to be alone together while the two try to become friends."

"Or we could tell Baekhyun hyung and I get to stay with you whenever."

"You're so in love with me, omg."

"I take my love back, I don't need a man that spells out an expression like that." Kyungsoo dramatically peels his boyfriend's arms off of him and stands up.

"Hi guys!" The couple looked over to see Chanyeol waving as he approached the table they were at.

"This plan better work hyung or I will throw Baekhyun hyung on you," Jongin said. "It's been decades!"

"It's been two weeks?" Chanyeol said in confusion.

"Centuries!"

"What's your plan?" Kyungsoo asks. "You could've asked him out two weeks ago."

"See, I had to look back to the six-month plan to pick out my favorites," Chanyeol pulls out his phone, "here they are."

"Are you actually basing this on a fictional straight boy's plan?" 

"You should not ridicule Cody Martin sunbaenim's mastermind methodology."

------

"It's not that I'm offended that Cody Martin probably had more progress, but I am."

"Let's hope it doesn't actually reach six months to actually compare you two," said Jongin. 

It's been more than two weeks. Jongin and Kyungsoo still sigh at their friends' unwarranted stupidity.

"Show me a sign deities under and over! Tell me Chanyeol wants to be my friend!"

"Wasn't Cody working for a romantic relationship?" The younger looks at his friend while wiggling his eyebrows. Hopefully the message was received.

"Well then I'm the Cody of platonic relationships!"

It was not.