“You want me to do what exactly?” Baekhyun asked, rubbing his forehead like the thought was giving him a headache.

“I need you to go to my cousin’s wedding with me,” Chanyeol replied.

“I don’t understand why I have to go. And wouldn’t us going together give people the wrong impression?”

“That’s kind of the point,” Chanyeol mumbled, nervous to voice out his plan.

Baekhyun sighed. “All right, spit it out. What’s going on?”

Chanyeol laughed nervously and scratched his head, not wanting to look Baekhyun in the eyes. “Well, you see, Jongin is my cousin’s best friend and he’s going to be at this wedding. And I, kind of, really, need you to come with me. As my boyfriend.”

“But I’m not your boyfriend,” Baekhyun stated, matter-of-factly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I’m seeing Jongin for the first time since our break up and I want it to look like I have moved on.”

“Haven’t you moved on, though? It’s been a year. You even went on that date with that one guy,” Baekhyun reasoned.

Chanyeol waved off the comment like it was irrelevant. “Yeah, but I don’t want him to see me single and alone, and for him to think that I’m miserable without him.”

“But you aren’t miserable without him. Wouldn’t it better for him to see you single and happy without him?” Chanyeol thought about it for a second and, honestly, Baekhyun did have a point. But Chanyeol had already come up with a plan for this wedding and he ticked ‘Plus One’ on the RSVP.

“Can you just come with me, please?” Chanyeol begged, trying to give Baekhyun his best puppy-dog eyes. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

Baekhyun grimaced at the horrible face Chanyeol was making and sighed in defeat. “All right, what do you need me to do?”

Chanyeol cheered and Baekhyun knew he was going to regret his decision already.

Chanyeol reached over the table and pushed back Baekhyun’s hair, putting a few loose strands behind his ear. Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol’s arm away and ruffled his own hair, trying to hide the slight blush on his cheeks.

“You really don’t need to do that, you know?” Baekhyun said, running a hand through his hair, glancing down at the table.

“Yeah, but it’s what your boyfriend would do. Your hair is a mess, by the way,” Chanyeol commented.

Baekhyun wrapped his hands tightly around his warm cup of coffee. “You’re not my boyfriend, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol chuckled. “I know that, but we’re practicing right now, Baek. You have to get used to me touching you.”

“I’ve had you touching me my whole life, I think we will be fine for your cousin’s wedding. Jongin isn’t going to even notice.”

“Can you at least try? For me?”

Baekhyun took a sip of his coffee and sighed, ignoring the erratic beating of his heart. “Fine.”

“Give me your hand.” Chanyeol put his hand on the table, palm up.

Baekhyun looked at his best friend’s hand hesitantly before deciding to give in and placing his hand on top of Chanyeol’s. Chanyeol’s hand was bigger than Baekhyun’s. Rougher too. Probably from playing the guitar too many times at two o’clock in the morning. Chanyeol’s fingers curled around Baekhyun’s hand, his thumb rubbing soft circles into Baekhyun’s skin. Baekhyun chewed on his bottom lip as he stared at their hands intertwined, warmth coursing through his body. He didn’t understand how the beating of his heart could get any faster but he could hear it. He could feel the blood pumping rapidly through his body and rushing up to his cheeks the tip of his ears. Baekhyun stiffened in his seat and reminded himself that he needed to actually breathe to live. Of course, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had held hands in the past, but this, this was different. With the way Chanyeol was holding his hand and the way Chanyeol was leaning on the table and looking at him with the softest smile, Baekhyun’s heart and mind couldn’t keep up with the fact that this relationship wasn’t real. He had to remind himself that Chanyeol wasn’t his, that he was in love with his best friend who didn’t love him back.

            Baekhyun cleared his throat and pulled his hand away from Chanyeol’s, gripping onto his coffee cup and taking as many sips as he could, despite the drink being so hot. Baekhyun thought he saw a slight frown on Chanyeol’s face for half second but it disappeared so quickly into a smile that he told himself he was seeing things.

“We’ve held hands plenty of times, I don’t think we need to practice that,” Baekhyun pointed out.

Chanyeol shrugged and smiled. “You’re right. There are other things we need to practice though.”

“Like what?”

“Kissing.”

Baekhyun almost choked on his latte and placed his coffee cup on the table, looking dead straight into Chanyeol’s eyes. “There is no way in Hell I am kissing you. Not now, not later, not ever.”

“But what if we have to kiss at the wedding?” Chanyeol whined, pout forming.

“No one is going to ask us to kiss, you idiot,” Baekhyun argued, flicking Chanyeol’s forehead. “It’s not our wedding.”

“Fine…” Chanyeol said, rubbing his forehead. “But what if I wanted us to kiss?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “You shouldn’t joke about things like that.”

            It was an interesting experience to see someone you used to love smiling and laughing with someone else.

            Jongin leaned against the wall, a glass of champagne in his hand, his eyes focused on the happy couple on the dance floor. Well, the other happy couple on the dance floor. His best friend, Jongdae, has just gotten married to the loveliest girl, and if his smile was anything to go by, he was ecstatic and excited for their future to begin. However, it wasn’t these two Jongin was focusing on. Jongin had his eyes trained on Chanyeol, his ex-boyfriend, and Baekhyun, his ex-boyfriend’s best friend, and he guessed, now his boyfriend. Jongin wasn’t bitter. Honestly, he was quite happy for the both of them considering this was what he had intended to happen in the first place.

            Chanyeol was flailing his long arms in the air in an attempt to dance as Baekhyun had his arms around his stomach, laughing at how ridiculous Chanyeol looked. Baekhyun playfully punched Chanyeol in the arm to get him to stop embarrassing him with his dancing, wiping away the non-existent tears in the corners of his eyes. Jongin chuckled to himself when he saw the familiar pout appear on Chanyeol’s face, the pout that always made it hard to argue with Chanyeol causing Jongin to give into whatever the man wanted, every single time.

            Jongin smiled softly, his fingers tapping on the champagne glass to the beat of the music, when Chanyeols’s arms found their way around Baekhyun’s waist, pulling the shorter man closer to him. Jongin was content that Chanyeol was happy and that Baekhyun was the one to bring him happiness. It wasn’t easy dating Chanyeol when the man was oblivious to how obvious his best friend was with his feelings. Jongin would notice Baekhyun staring at Chanyeol, the hurt in his eyes when Chanyeol would have his arm around Jongin or when they would hold hands. Baekhyun never interfered, though. He always gave them their space and Jongin appreciated that about Baekhyun. Just like Jongin, Baekhyun wanted Chanyeol to be happy, even if that meant Chanyeol was with someone else.

“Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?” Jongin confronted Baekhyun one day.

            Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he hit his chest to help the food he was eating go down quicker. “What are you talking about?” he rasped out.

            “I know how you feel about him. I can see it,” Jongin admitted, handing Bakehyun his water bottle.

            Baekhyun took a big gulp of water before handing the bottle back. “I… I don’t want to come between you two. He’s my best friend and you’ve become a good friend to me. He’s happy with you.”

            Jongin gave Baekhyun a small smile and shook his head. “He would be happier with you. He likes you, he just doesn’t know it yet.”

            After just under a year of dating, Jongin broke up with Chanyeol only to go to Baekhyun later, encouraging him to make a move.

            Baekhyun stood on his tippy-toes and leaned upwards, whispering something into Chanyeol’s ear, to which Chanyeol nodded. With a kiss on Chanyeol’s cheek, Baekhyun left the dance floor and headed off to who-knows-where.

            Chanyeol turned in his spot, his eyes locking with Jongin’s from across the dance floor. He smiled at Jongin, giving him a wave of his hand. He looked like he was contemplating something for a second or two, his eyes looking elsewhere before falling back on Jongin. Jongin returned Chanyeol’s wave with an awkward wave of his own, his arm dropping when he noticed Chanyeol taking slow steps towards him.

            “Hey,” Jongin greeted when Chanyeol reached him.

            “Hey,” Chanyeol replied, giving Jongin the wide smile he remembered so clearly. Chanyeol stood next to his Jongin and gazed out at the dance floor. “They look good together,” he commented, indicating to the newlywed couple with his chin.

            Jongin nodded. “Yeah, they do,” he agreed, taking a quick sip from his champagne glass. “So do you and Baekhyun.”

            Chanyeol let out and awkward laugh, lifting his arm to scratch his head, a habit Jongin knew he did when he was nervous. “Thanks.”

            “Did Baekhyun confess or did you?”

            “It was me.”

            “Really? I would have expected it to be Baekhyun.”

            “What do you mean?” Chanyeol asked, turning to face Jongin, his eyebrows furrowing.

            “Well, I was the one who told him to make a move. I’m surprised you made the move first. But you guys look happy so I’m glad it all worked out.” The confusion was evident on Chanyeol’s face which, in turn, confused Jongin. Chanyeol looked like he was thinking so hard about something, like his brain couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard. “You do know that Baekhyun has been in love with you for the longest time, right?”

            Chanyeol’s eyes widened, the shock and surprised on his face further confusing Jongin. “Baekhyun’s in love with me?”

            “I thought he would have told you by now, considering you guys are dating. His feelings for you are so obvious. Even when we were dating, he was hopelessly in love with you.”

            Chanyeol shut his eyes for a second and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and understand what was going on. “Wait, back up for a sec. What do you mean his feelings are obvious? How did I not know this?”

            “You really don’t know?” Chanyeol shook his head. “Baekhyun would always stare at you when you wouldn’t notice. He would laugh at all your jokes, even the ones that were incredibly lame. He made sure to spend time with me and become my friend because he knew that would make you happy. He was always there for you, even if at times your first choice was me. Chanyeol, Baekhyun always put you first. Because he loved you. And he still does. I really don’t get how you don’t know this already.”

            Chanyeol stood still for a few seconds, trying to process what Jongin had just told him, before he covered his face with his hands and groaned. “I didn’t know any of this. If I did, I wouldn’t have asked him to…” He groaned again, frustrated with himself, and with his best friend.

            “To what, Chanyeol?” Jongin asked, placing a hand on his ex-boyfriend’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

            Chanyeol dropped his arms to his sides and sighed. “Jongin, I did something really stupid.”

            Jongin raised an eyebrow at Chanyeol, encouraging him to continue.

            “Well, you see,” Chanyeol started, looking down and scratching the back of his head again, “I may or may not have asked Baekhyun to pretend to be my boyfriend so that you wouldn’t see me single and alone.”

            Without warning, Jongin smacked Chanyeol upside the head, stating, “You’re an idiot.”

            Chanyeol pouted and rubbed the back of his head, trying to ease the pain. “I didn’t know!” he protested.

            “Even if you didn’t know, you don’t just ask someone to pretend to be your boyfriend. Why did I even date you?”

            “Hey!”

            Jongin sighed in annoyance. “You should go talk to him.”

            “But I don’t know what to say.”

            “Well, you better figure it out because he’s heading this way.”

            Chanyeol turned, noticing Baekhyun walking towards them, quickly turning back to Jongin, nervousness creeping up on him.

            Jongin placed a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “You can do this,” he said, giving Chanyeol a pat on his shoulder before walking away.

            Chanyeol gnawed on his lip as he repeatedly squeezed his clammy hands into fists, trying to control how nervous he was feeling. He watched as Baekhyun leaned onto the stone balustrade of the balcony, taking in a deep breath of the cool night air. Baekhyun looked ethereal like this, eyes closed with the moon light shining on his face, highlighting parts of his bleached platinum blonde hair. Baekhyun looked beautiful and Chanyeol could feel his heart rate slowing down. The sight of Baekhyun like this was so calming. Chanyeol leaned down on the balustrade next to Baekhyun and looked out into the darkness of the night. Silence surrounded both of them for a few moments as they appreciated getting away from the high energy and noise of the wedding reception.

            “You guys looked like you were having an intense conversation,” Baekhyun commented, breaking the silence.

            Chanyeol hummed and turned his head to look at Baekhyun. “We were talking about you.”

            A small frown appeared on Baekhyun’s face as he stood up straight, facing Chanyeol. “Why were you talking about me? Was I not being convincing enough?”

            Chanyeol chucked and stood up to face Baekhyun properly. He reached out a hand to cup Baekhyun’s face, his thumb caressing Baekhyun’s cheek. “No, you were perfect.”

            Chanyeol felt Baekhyun stiffen before his hand was pushed away. “You don’t have to do that here. No one can see us.”

            Chanyeol shrugged and stepped closer to Baekhyun, the tips of their shoes touching. He smiled and wrapped his arms around his best friend, pulling him against his chest. Baekhyun wriggled to try to break free but Chanyeol tightened his arms and kept Baekhyun where he was until he stopped struggling.

            “Why didn’t you tell me?” Chanyeol asked, loosening his arms slightly to look down at his best friend.

            Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol and tilted his head, unsure of what Chanyeol was talking about. “Tell you what?”

            “That you’re in love with me.”

            Chanyeol felt Baekhyun stiffen again before trying to wriggle and push himself away. “Let me go,” Baekhyun demanded as he continued to struggle but Chanyeol grinned and held onto Baekhyun as tight as possible.

            “I’m not letting you run away from me because you’re scared. I haven’t even told you how I feel yet.”

            “Fine,” Baekhyun sighed as he stopped moving. “Let me go and I promise I won’t run away.”

            Chanyeol contemplated his decision for a moment before slowly dropping his arms away from his best friend and taking a step back to give Baekhyun some space.

            Baekhyun closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again to look straight at Chanyeol. “How did you find out?”

            “Jongin told me.”

            “Of course he told you,” Baekhyun muttered under his breath, but Chanyeol heard him anyway.

            “He wants us to be happy and in love.”

            “But you don’t want to be with me. You don’t… love me,” Baekhyun stated, his wavering voice causing Chanyeol’s heart to crack.

  Chanyeol took Baekhyun’s face in his hands, feeling his best friend tremble slightly. Maybe it was due to how scared he must have been feeling, maybe it was due to the cool air, he wasn’t sure. “You’re right. I don’t love you,” Chanyeol confessed, seeing a quick flash of hurt in Baekhyun’s eyes, “yet. But I like you. I like you a lot. I want to fall in love with you, Baekhyun, and I know one day I will.”

  The tears welled up in Baekhyun’s eyes, one tear rolling down his cheek as Chanyeol brushed it away with his thumb. “You’re an idiot.”

  “I know,” Chanyeol said, chuckling and smiling down at Baekhyun. Baekhyun tried to push him away but Chanyeol placed one arm around his waist, holding him tightly, keeping one hand against his cheek. “You promise you wouldn’t run.”

  Baekhyun wiped away the tears and laughed.

  “So, can I finally kiss you now?” Chanyeol asked, already knowing he was going to do it even if the answer was ‘no’.

  Baekhyun smiled and leaned forward, placing a soft kiss against Chanyeol’s lips. “You can kiss me now, you can kiss me later and you can kiss me forever.”

  Chanyeol laughed and pulled Baekhyun towards him.