Suho was failing chemistry. Legitimately failing. As in an F.

An F.

Suho looked at the grade, and knew that he was ed. He needed Kai to tutor him. So he hacked the school’s database and printed out Kai’s schedule. Then, he proceeded to stalk him after his classes, because whether he liked it or not, he needed Kai to pass chemistry.

Kai was hard to catch. But eventually, after two weeks, Suho managed to grab him after his English class.

“Let me go.”

“No.”

Kai sighed. “What do you want, then?”

“I need you to help me in chemistry. Really. I’m failing.”

“I know.”

Suho’s eyes widened. “How?”

“I hacked the school database to see how you were doing without me.”

Suho held up Kai’s schedule.

“That makes two of us.”

Kai turned his face, but Suho caught a smile.

Kyungsoo always found Suho at the worst moments.

Exhibit A: In the library with Kai.

Suho hadn’t seen the younger boy until he had come up and sat next to them. Suho had looked up and jerked back in surprise, because Kyungsoo had been avoiding him for weeks.

“Hey, Suho hyung.”

“Hey, Kyungsoo.”

Kai flicked his hair back and nodded at Kyungsoo, who just nodded back. Suho stared at them, but didn’t say anything.

“Okay, so this. When you’re talking about the equilibrium constant, it’s affected mainly by pressure, temperature, and concentration. Don’t memorize the rules. It’s easier to actually understand the concept.”

Suho groaned. Memorizing was how he had been studying.

“But memorizing works for me.”

“What do you have in the class again?”

Suho didn’t have anything to say to that, and Kai laughed and threw a copy of the periodic table at him.

“Do your ing homework, Suho.”

“Hey! Be respectful to your elders!”

Kai raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah okay never mind.”

Kai smirked and nudged the periodic table toward Suho again.

Suho leaned forward, concentrating on the problem, almost forgetting that Kyungsoo was there. A couple minutes later, when he finished the problem, he looked up to see that Kai had moved seats and was now sitting next to Kyungsoo. And they were talking. Laughing.

Suho raised an eyebrow at the scene, but decided not to make a big deal about it.

When Kai saw Suho looking at them, he asked, “Are you done with the problem?”

“Yeah, the first one.”

Kai came back to check Suho’s work, and Kyungsoo stood up.

“I need to get going. But before I go, Suho hyung…come here.”

Suho got up and walked over to him. Up close, Kyungsoo’s face was tired, and his eyes were bloodshot. There were bags under his eyes, proof of his lack of sleep.

“Kyungsoo–“

“You owe me an apology.”

Suho looked down at his feet.

“Yeah. I do.”

Kyungsoo waited.

“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you enough that I’m sorry. And you’re much better off without me, and I wouldn’t blame you if you never talk to me, but I don’t want that to happen because I want to talk to you and be with you because I like you. You don’t have to forgive me; hell, you shouldn’t forgive me. But if by any chance you do, I’m here. I’m always here for you.”

Kyungsoo didn’t look at him, but by the flush of his cheeks, Suho knew that he had said the right thing. Impulsively, he wrapped his arms around the younger and pulled him closer. Kyungsoo didn’t hug back, but Suho understood that Kyungsoo wasn’t ready to forgive him yet.

“Hyung?”

“Hm?”

“I think I’m going to go now.”

“Okay.” Suho released Kyungsoo and watched as the younger hurriedly rushed out of the library doors. He turned to see Kai looking at him, with something like jealousy in his eyes.

“What?”

“What?”

“You’re looking at me funny.”

Kai dropped his gaze to the paper. “No, I’m not.”

Suho decided not to press the issue. “Did I get it right?”

“What? Oh, the problem? Yeah. I think you’re getting the concept of it.”

Suho smiled in relief. “So what are the possibilities of me not failing the next quiz?”

“Do you really want the answer?”

“Yes!”

“Umm…well…I would say…90%?”

Suho laughed and lightly punched Kai. Kai laughed too, and when Suho turned his face away, he was still looking at the elder.

When Suho got back to his dorm room, he was greeted not by Kris, but with a note. The scrawled writing on it wrote, Be back later –Kris.

Suho sighed and put down the note. He assumed the Kris was at a party. He was heading to the fridge to look for something to eat when the door burst open and Lay was standing there. With food.

Suho ran to him to see what the food was, and was delighted to see that Lay had brought black bean noodles. The delicious kind.

“Oh, my God. Lay, I love you right now.”

Lay rolled his eyes. “You always love me.”

“Just shut up and give me the food.”

Lay laughed and handed it over, stopping only to tell him not to eat everything, because he was hungry too.

Suho pulled out both bowls of noodles and slid one over to Lay. After they had both eaten a couple of bites, Suho remembered himself.

“Lay?”
“Yeah?”
“How did you know that I didn’t have anything to eat?”

“I have this internal radar that tells me when Suho is hungry.”

Suho laughed. “No, seriously.”

“Kris told me to bring you something, because he didn’t want to come back to a starved-to-death roommate.

“I’m not that bad at cooking!”

Lay shot him a look.

“Okay maybe I am.”

“Yeah. You are.”

They finished off the noodles, pausing every once in a while to talk. Lay then convinced Suho to go with him to the restaurant so they could give back the bowls. Suho had been too full and content to move, but ‘I’ll buy you ice cream!’ got to him, so he agreed to go.

The employees at the restaurant took their bowls and shooed them out, because the place was packed and there were customers everywhere. Suho dragged Lay to the vendor before the younger forgot about his ice cream promise. Lay ended up buying Suho a chocolate fudge sundae, and even then, Suho barely let Lay have a spoonful.

“DON’T TOUCH MY ICE CREAM.”

“But I bought it for you.”

“DON’T. TOUCH. IT.”

Lay had a small scoop of low-fat frozen yogurt. Suho rolled his eyes. Pfft. Frozen yogurt.

Suho hoped that his metabolism was still as high as it had been during his teen years. He might actually have to start accompanying Lay and Kris to the gym every once in a while.

Suho had been talking about something when Lay suddenly hit him and pointed with his chin. Suho turned and saw Kris, which wasn’t that big of a deal. But he was with Chanyeol. Which changed things up.

“Why would Kris be with Chanyeol?”

“I don’t know.”

Suho watched as Kris draped an arm around Chanyeol, laughing. To anyone else, they probably looked like two friends, hanging out. But Suho knew Kris. And Kris was obviously flirting.

With Chanyeol. His ex.

“Are you going to tell him? That we saw him?”

Suho watched as Kris and Chanyeol walked away, and said, “No.”

Lay didn’t say anything.

Suho returned to the dorm to find Kris and Chanyeol watching TV together on the couch. He noticed that they were sitting dangerously closely.

He had the urge to say something like ‘Just make out, the around you two is killing me’, but fought it down.

He didn’t forget about what Chanyeol had said to him about Kyungsoo.

Kris and Chanyeol just nodded at him when he walked in, and Suho didn’t really want to stay in a room with the two of them, so he left and went to the bedroom, planning to turn in early that night.

He was in his pajamas and under the blankets when Kris came in.

“Sleeping already?”

“I need my beauty sleep.”

“That didn’t stop you before from pulling all-nighters for six days in a row.”

Suho laughed. “I remember you did it with me.”

“Not something I like remembering.” Kris paused, then, “How are you and Chanyeol?”

Suho made a split second decision to act like he didn’t know anything.
“What about Chanyeol and me?”

Kris bit his lip. “I like him.”

Suho fought to keep his face straight. “But isn’t he dating someone?”
“Baekhyun? No.”

“Oh.”

“So…”

“Is he still here?”

“If he was, I wouldn’t be talking to you.”

“Right.”

“So…”

“Wait, are you serious about him and Baekhyun not dating?”

“Yeah.”

“Then how did you know that I was talking about Baekhyun?”

“…reasons.”

Suho bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing.

“What happened to Tao?”

“Tao? Forget about him.”

“Woah. Well, that was fast.”

Kris rolled his eyes. “It’s different. When I was with Tao, I had to be the responsible one. But when I’m with Chanyeol, it’s like we’re best friends, but I want to kiss him at the same time. And we’re more equal. It works.”

“Just ask him out, Kris.”

Kris’s eyes lit up. “You’re okay with it?”

Suho waved him away. “I know, I know. I’m amazing and you absolutely worship me. Now go away and let me get my beauty sleep.”

Kris laughed, and turned off the light before exiting the room.

Kai was coming to chemistry classes again. He had been coming for almost two weeks now, without fail. He sat next to Suho, making sure the elder was focused on the subject matter.

“Tutors aren’t going to help if you don’t know the material at all.”

“But you can teach it better.”

“I will actually start charging you.”

Suho was poor, so he kept his mouth shut.

He didn’t see Kyungsoo very often. When they would meet on campus, Kyungsoo would always make an excuse and leave. No matter how many times Suho tried to get him to stay, Kyungsoo never listened.

Kyungsoo had always listened.

Kai listened more now. As much as Kyungsoo had in the past. Maybe even more.

Suho attempted to refrain from any physical contact with Kai. When their fingers accidentally brushed, it was like Suho had touched fire. So hot it was cold.

Chanyeol had all but moved into Suho’s and Kris’s dorm. Suho was just grateful that they stopped kissing when he came in the room.

But he was losing Kris. Kris was always wrapped up in Chanyeol, not interested in anything else. So Suho found himself turning to Lay for someone to talk to. They even started going to movies together weekly.

They would laugh through the comedies, cry through the tragedies, scream through the horrors.

Lay had a habit of clutching Suho’s arm and hand when he was scared, and Suho found it endearing.

What was not endearing was seeing Kai and Kyungsoo at a movie. Together.

Suho hadn’t recognized them at first, because they were both wearing hoods, but Suho still spotted them fairly easily.

They had been watching a romantic comedy, and whenever the couple onscreen would kiss, Kai would lean over and whisper something into Kyungsoo’s ear. Kyungsoo would laugh every time, like he had before while with Suho.

Suho had no reason to be suspicious of Kai, but their actions said differently. They didn’t touch, but their interactions had underlying signs of intimacy. 

Suho touched his cheek, where Kai’s lips had touched. His stomach still clenched when he remembered the light pressure that had been there for a fleeting second.

Lay nudged him with his shoulder.

“Hey, you okay?”

Suho made a split second decision to not tell Lay that Kyungsoo and Kai were only a couple of rows in front of them.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

Suho ended up leaving 20 minutes before the movie ended, telling Lay that he had homework to finish up. Lay opened his mouth like he was going to call him back, but Suho turned around and left before he said anything.

When he passed Kai and Kyungsoo, they didn’t look in his direction, let alone notice him.

He went back to his dorm to find Kris and Chanyeol curled up on Kris’s bed, Chanyeol’s head resting on Kris’s chest.

Suho swallowed painfully. Kyungsoo didn’t like cuddling, but when he was sleepy enough, he had let Suho hold him until he fell asleep.

Sleepy Kyungsoo had been the cutest.

Suho missed his Kyungsoo.

His Kyungsoo, who was currently technically on a date with Kai.

Another reason to hate Kai.

Kai wasn’t a very hateable person, and no matter how hard Suho tried, he couldn’t hate him. When he thought he finally finally succeeded in hating Kai, Kai would turn and smile, and Suho would forget everything.

Kai had one of those smiles. He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on him with an irresistible prejudice in his favor. It understood him just as far as he wanted to be understood, believed in him as he would like to believe in himself.*

And Kai did believe in Suho. When Suho was ready to give up and quit trying in chemistry, Kai was there with an ice cream cone and encouragement. He was willing to sit in the library until closing time, sometimes even later, to help Suho with a concept that kept eluding him.

But what motivated Suho the most was to see Kai smile when he got something right.

Kai would laugh with excitement when Suho solved a problem correctly, and hug him, saying, “See! You’re not hopeless!”

Suho would smack Kai and push him away, saying that it was too cheesy, but he would laugh with him.

Sometimes, Suho would find himself staring out the window, thinking of Kai, instead of Kyungsoo.

Kris, being Kris, dragged Suho to parties at least once every two days. Kyungsoo would sing, but Suho could never find him afterwards, so he went back the dorm. Kris never noticed, anyway, he was too busy laughing with Chanyeol.

It went on for a couple of weeks, this awkwardness. Suho was alive but not alive.

It ended at a party. Appropriate, because a party was where it had all started.

Kyungsoo was singing, as usual, and Suho was standing at the edge of the crowd, watching, hoping that today might be the day Kyungsoo would come and see him. Tell him that he was forgiven.

That he loved him.

Kyungsoo was finishing up when Suho saw Kai. He was standing near the stage, and Kyungsoo, after hitting the last note, rushed off the stage and into Kai’s arms.

Suho stared as Kai laughed, and planted a kiss on Kyungsoo’s head. Kyungsoo laughed too.

Kyungsoo had never laughed like that with him.

They only had eyes for each other; Suho might as well have not existed.

It hurt too much.

Lay was the first to see through Suho’s smile. That smile he pasted on his face everyday when he woke up in the morning.

Suho even managed to keep it on when Kai confessed that he and Kyungsoo were together.

“Hey, Suho hyung?”

Suho cringed inwardly at Kai’s voice.

“Yeah?”

Kai took a deep breath. Suho heard the inhale, and the exhale.

“Kyungsoo and I are together.”

Suho wanted to scream. He wanted to throw the table in front of them at Kai. He didn’t want to see either Kai or Kyungsoo smile every again.

He hated that they were happy.

What he really said was, “That’s great. I’m happy for you guys.”

Kai’s eyes had lit up, and Suho hated himself for not being able to hate Kai.

“Really? Thanks hyung!”

Kai didn’t stop smiling throughout the tutoring session. Suho hated himself more for falling in love with that smile, yet again.

It was a few weeks later when Suho saw Kyungsoo again. They didn’t even talk.

Kyungsoo just smiled at Suho, a little apologetic smile that made Suho fall in love with him all over again.

Maybe it was punishment for loving two people.

It still hurt.

By the time Lay noticed, Suho was dying inside.

Kris had all but disappeared from his life, and while Suho hated Kris for it, he didn’t blame him. He himself wanted to escape from his life, and didn’t know why anyone would want to come in.

Except Lay did.

Suho found himself opening up to Lay more as time went on. The dance major sat and held Suho for hours when he had one of his crying fits, and was there when Suho screamed.

No one had ever listened to Suho’s screams before.

Lay even went as far to bring Suho soju when he needed it.

They sat on the floor of the dimly lit room, opposite of each other with a small table between them.

Before Suho knew what was happening, he was lying on the couch, and Lay on top of him. Their lips met in bursts of colors, and the pound of Lay’s heart mirrored Suho’s.

And yet, when Suho closed his eyes, all he could see were Kyungsoo and Kai. How they had felt when their lips had touched, Kai just once. Kyungsoo, multiple times.

It was wrong.

Suho didn’t sleep with Lay that day, but he still felt guilty of taking abuse of him. No matter how hard he tried, Suho didn’t feel that way about Lay.

Lay must have really loved Suho, because he stuck by his side even when Suho rejected him. He said, “Well, you can’t have everything in life.”

Suho wanted Lay to be happy.

But he wanted to be happy too.

Suho saw Luhan more often, as graduation preparations began. They would be representing the underclassmen in the Visual and Performing Arts category.

Luhan seemed excited to see Suho again, and when they talked, Suho remembered why he had loved Luhan.

Luhan burned brighter than any star, he stood out wherever he went. People would initially notice him for his doll-like perfect looks, but that would soon be forgotten when Luhan started talking.

He was like Kai, he had the ability to make people feel like they were special, like they were chosen. Like they were different from other people; different in a good way.

Luhan didn’t talk about Sehun, but Suho didn’t ask.

Sehun was Luhan’s, and Luhan liked to distance people from Sehun.

That way, Sehun would only be Luhan’s.

It was while they were preparing their speech when Luhan looked at Suho. Really looked at him.

“Hey, Suho.”

“Yeah?”

“Having a rough time?”

“No not really, the grammar in the part is a little off, and the vocabulary could use some work. Not to mention that we should really talk more about the people that are actually graduating, and should we thank–“

“You know what I mean.”

Suho looked up to see Luhan’s eyes filled with concern.

“I don’t–“

“You’re a terrible liar, and you know that as well as I do.”

Suho bit his lip. Luhan was right. For everything Suho was, a skilled liar was not one of them.

Luhan but his hand on Suho’s shoulder.

“I heard Kyungsoo and Kai are together.” His voice was gentle, and while he didn’t mean to hurt Suho, Suho was already hurt.

“Suho, if you want to talk about it–“

“No.”

“Suho–“

“No. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Yes you do. You do want to talk about it, and you’re just holding back. Just talk. It helps.”

“How would you know?” It came out more bitter than Suho intended it, but he didn’t take it back. It was true, how would Luhan know what this was like?

It was Luhan’s turn to bite his lip.

“Sehun cheated on me a while back.”

Suho stared at him. That nerdy little bioengineering major cheated on someone like Luhan?

“With who?”

“Kai, actually.”

Suho stared some more. Luhan smiled, but the smile with tinted with sadness.

“Why?” Kai was hot, but Luhan had that beautiful fragility about him that was more lovable.

“He said he wanted something different.” Suho felt Luhan’s nails digging into his shoulder, but he didn’t stop him.

“Different?”

“You’re the one who was with Kai. You know better than me.”

Suho thought back. Kai was similar to Luhan in so many ways, there wasn’t a huge difference between them.
Except one.

While Luhan had the beautiful fragility, Kai had power.

Suho remembered when he and Luhan had been together, Luhan had been more on the submissive side.

Kai was definitely not submissive of any sort. He was the type to take charge. He dictated what was going to happen.

Apparently Sehun liked it rough.

Luhan reassured Suho that he and Sehun were fine now, and there was nothing to worry about. Kai had been a momentary distraction, nothing more.

Suho and Luhan left the library at closing time, making plans to meet again to edit and rehearse their speech.
Suho returned back at the dorm to find Kris sitting in a chair, waiting for him. There was only one light , and Kris looked like he meant business.

“Sit.”

“Why?”

“Sit.”

“No.”

“Sit. Down.”

Suho sat.

Up close, Kris looked better than he had in a while. His forehead was wrinkle free, and his shoulders weren’t tensed, like they had been before Chanyeol.

Suho couldn’t help but wonder what Tao was doing. Not to mention Baekhyun.

“I heard about you and Lay.”

“What about me and Lay?”

“You rejected him, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

“Yeah. I did. I don’t feel for him that way.”

Kris sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“How long are you going to keep this up?”

“Keep what up?”

“Screwing your relationships up.”
“I don’t do it on purpose!”
“Right. So they’re accidents. On purpose.”

“Accidents. Not on purpose.”

“You did it accidentally on purpose. Emphasis on purpose. And you know it.”

Suho wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t.

“I just want the right relationship.”

Kris was silent. Then, “I heard from Baekhyun today.”

Suho raised an eyebrow. “Baekhyun?”

“Yes. Baekhyun. And do you know what he told me?”

“What?”

“He and Lay are old friends from high school. And recently, Lay’s been talking to him a lot because of you. Because you rejected him. And Baekhyun can relate to that. I don’t know if you’ve seen Lay these past couple of days, but he’s a ing mess. Xiumin says that he screws up all the dances during class, and I’m pretty sure he’s failing biology.”

Suho stared at Kris.

He thought back to when he last saw Lay, which had only been a couple of hours ago.
“When I saw him today, he looked fine.”

Kris looked impatient.

“Of COURSE he looks fine around you. He gets his together for you. No one else.”

Suho didn’t know what to say to that.

Kris glared at him. And then unexpectedly, his gaze softened.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Suho. Lay’s amazing, and you really don’t want to miss him.”

“But I don’t like him like that.”

Kris glared at him some more.

“Did you ever give him a chance?”

“Well I–”

“Did you?”

“You see–”

“Did you. Give him. A chance.”

“…no.”

“Exactly.”

And with that, Kris got up and left the dorm room, leaving Suho staring after him.

The next time Suho saw Lay, he was passed out on Kris’s bed, murmuring in his sleep. Suho reached out to shake him awake, and was surprised when Lay got up easily.

“Oh, I wasn’t expected you to actually get up…”

Lay laughed, his voice a little hoarse from sleep.

“Why are you here?”

Lay rubbed his eyes. “I don’t even know. I saw a bed and fell asleep.”

“Why are you so tired? Finals?”

Lay shrugged. “I guess.”

“Well what else would be on your mind?”

Suho regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. As he expected, Lay tensed, ever so slightly. But when he spoke, his voice was even.
“Nothing. It’s probably just stress from finals.”

“Lay–”

“I need to go study, hyung. I’ll see you later.”

“Lay–”

But Lay brushed past him, leaving the room.

Luhan was quick to notice that Suho had something on his mind.

“Spit it out.”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me.”

“I’m not–”

“Spit it out.”

“Okay fine.”

It took Luhan all of three seconds (“Okay so there’s this guy that likes me, his name is Lay–) to catch on.

“Ask him out.”

“What? But I haven’t even talked about him yet.”

“If you’re thinking about him, he’s obviously someone that’s worth something to you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know you.”

Suho opened his mouth and closed it again. He didn’t have anything to say to that.

Luhan glared at him, not unlike Kris, but Luhan’s pretty face somewhat diluted the power of the glare. Not that Suho would ever ever tell Luhan that.

“Ask him out. Or at least go on a date with him.”

“But how do I ask? I mean, we go to movies every once in a while but–“

“And then go for ice cream or coffee afterwards. And then kiss him before saying goodbye. See? Simple.”

Suho couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s simpler in theory.”

“Pfft. That’s what they all say. It’s simple in real life too.”

“But where do we go for coffee? And do I pay for the movie and the ice cream? Or do I just pay for myself? Or–“

Luhan was patient enough for the first ten minutes, but after that, he threw a book at Suho and yelled at him, “Just wing it!”, and yelled at him a little more because they hadn’t gotten anything done with their speech.

Suho did some hardcore editing that night. Luhan’s grammar was all over the place.

Suho managed to track down Lay after his last final, knowing that Lay would have some free time.

“Lay! Hey, Lay!”

Lay turned around, biting his lip when he saw Suho.

“Hey, hyung.”

Suho wanted to smack himself. This was such a mistake.

“Hey, you want to grab some lunch?”

“Umm…”

Lay shifted from foot to foot.

“Come on, Lay, I’ll treat you.”

Lay snorted. “You’ll treat me? All right, what did you do. Did you accidentally throw my teddy bear away or–“

“You have a teddy bear?”

Lay flushed. “I MEANT: Did you scratch my guitar.”

“I distinctly heard teddy bear.”

Lay flushed again. “GUITAR.”

Suho laughed. “Yeah whatever. So I’ll take that as a yes for lunch. Now hurry up before all the tables are filled up at the café!”

Lay laughed and let Suho pull him by the arm across campus.

Suho found himself staring at Lay’s tiny little dimple on his right cheek. It only appeared when he really smiled, and Lay smiled a lot that day.

Suho wanted to kiss it off his face.

Lay came to Suho one day with his guitar, requesting that he listen to a song. He gave Suho a lyrics sheet, telling him to listen for the lyrics and fill in the blanks.

Suho smiled and agreed.

Lay sang and played “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt**.

There was a whole line of the lyrics that was blank. Suho waited for it, wanting to get the lyrics right.

When the line came, Suho didn’t write it down.

He didn’t need to.

Suho watched Lay move his fingers across the guitar strings, making music out of an inanimate object. When Lay was done, he set the guitar next to him.

“So, any critiques?”

“It’s not true.”

“What’s not true?”

“That you’ll never be with me. It’s not true.”

“Hyung–“

Suho held a hand out to him. Lay stared at it for a couple seconds before taking it.

“It’s not true.”

Lay smiled.

“Prove it.”

Luhan wasn’t surprised at all when Suho told him the news.

“Well, obviously it was going to happen. Congratulations, though.”

Suho rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling.

Kris was the same, but he, at least, was a bit more enthusiastic.

“Finally!! It’s about time, Suho. But holy crap, I can’t believe you actually did it. I’m so happy for you, let me know when you don’t want me to come back to the dorm.”

Suho swatted at him with his chemistry notes, but he was laughing.

He was laughing a lot these days.

Suho and Luhan somehow managed to pull their speech together in time for senior graduation. All the seniors were wearing their caps and gowns, all smiling, all ready to leave.

Suho nudged Luhan. “That’s going to be us, hyung. Us next year.”

“Not Sehun.” Luhan’s voice was tinged with disappointment. Suho looked sideways at him, and could believe that Luhan’s relationship with Sehun wasn’t as flawless as it seemed on the outside.

When it was time for their speech, Suho spoke first, as they agreed to do. Luhan spoke next, and both of their words flowed more smoothly then they had during rehearsal.

Afterwards, they looked for their friends in the crowd, and Luhan ended up disappearing, but Suho didn’t want to look for him. He was probably with Sehun, and Suho didn’t want to mess with that.

Lay found Suho first. He smiled, his tiny dimple showing.

“Hyung! The speech sounded great!”

Suho pulled the younger in for a hug. “Don’t lie to me.”

“No really! It was very professional.”

Suho couldn’t help but laugh.

Lay was different. He wasn’t clingy, and he trusted Suho. They didn’t see each other during the summer, but Suho somehow knew that Lay would stay faithful. And he knew that he would stay faithful too.

Suho made coffee during the day shift at a local café in the city for a couple months before school started again, always remembering how Lay had enjoyed the white hot chocolate, even when it was 80 degrees outside.

No one ordered white hot chocolate during the summer months, so Suho would make one once in a while, drinking it by himself during his break.

When he got an order for white hot chocolate in August, when it was nearly 100 degrees outside, he knew it was Lay. Smiling, he added a chocolate heart on top of the foam; Lay would know who it was from.

Lay was typing when Suho finished his shift. He brought another white hot chocolate, because Lay never ever got tired of it. Ever.

“Hey, stranger.”

Lay groaned. “Please tell me you did not use that cheesy pickup line.”

“Ouch. And I thought I was smooth.”

“Oops. I guess I’m the one to break the news to you then.” Lay looked up and smiled at Suho.

Suho laughed and set the second up of chocolate on the table and slid into the seat across.

“So what have you been up to?”

“I just got back from vacation this morning, and now I have the entire summer assignment for my Classical Literature class to do.”

“Oh. Ew.”

“Thanks for the support.”

“Take tonight off.”

“Again, thanks for the support.”

Suho laughed again and reached over and shut the laptop. Lay didn’t resist when Suho slid all of the books and papers into his bag, and pulled Lay out of the café, their fingers curled around each other.

NamsanTowerwas most beautiful at night, and even more beautiful when Lay was the one that was standing next to him. Suho reached over and took his hand, feeling the warmth of Lay’s skin.

“I love you.”

The words came out of Suho’s mouth before he could stop them. He froze, because he had never thought about what real love was before.

But it was Lay.

Love was the moments Lay smiled, his dimple showing. When Lay strummed his guitar, humming to the music. The times when Lay snuck up on Suho, hugging him from the back. The stolen kisses during which Suho let himself forget everything except LayLay Lay.

Lay squeezed his hand, pulling Suho closer.

Their foreheads were touching when Lay answered him.

“I love you too, hyung.”

And this time, with Lay, it would be different.

This time, it wouldn’t be an accident, but on purpose.

*The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

**You’re Beautiful by James Blunt (at 1:13 is the line that Suho was talking about)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oofSnsGkops

A/N: 

EXO Drabbles here

-tbh I don't even remember finishing this

-ugh omfg what is this word vomit

-now what do I write a;sldfkjas;ldk

-THANK YOU ALL FOR READING OMFG I LOVE YOU ALL 

no like seriously THANK YOU FOR READING THIS WORD VOMIT

I'll be back soon after finals ;u;