It was an understatement to say Chanyeol was taken by surprise when on Monday, Kai approached him during the short break between classes to ask him for Hyunnie’s phone number.

-

Chanyeol’s apartment door swung open and crashed against the wall with a foreboding thud as Baekhyun ran to Chanyeol’s bedroom and literally kicked the door open. Chanyeol let out a girlish yelp and threw the book in his hands into the air as Baekhyun all but pounced on the taller boy. “WHAT IS THIS?” Baekhyun screeched as he smashed his phone into Chanyeol’s face, blinding him thoroughly for a second before he could see what was on the screen.

It was a text message.

Hey, it’s Kai. I got your number from Chanyeol. I hope you don’t mind… >_> I was wondering if you were free some time this week? Bye!

And in that moment, Chanyeol suddenly wished that he could somehow regress himself into a zygote and cease to exist. But his wishes were futile as Baekhyun was still there, looming over him dangerously as his eyes shot lasers into his guilty soul like some sort of robot Godzilla who was terrorizing a village.“Um, I’m sorry…?” He smiled sheepishly as the lasers intensified.

In the past, there had only been two previous incidences that Baekhyun could admit that he actually and legitimately contemplated punching his friend in the face but now, he had successfully added a third. Baekhyun managed to take a few deep, cleansing breaths to prevent himself from doing something he’d regret and climbed off Chanyeol, slumping to the cold floor at the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry, Baek. I tried rejecting him but you should have seen the look on his face…,” Chanyeol trailed off as he slowly moved towards Baekhyun, making sure to keep a pillow hugged close to his side for protection. “You know how I am under pressure right Baek? Buddy? Bud? Brother?” He dared a peek at the other's reaction. Nothing. No explosion or backhand to the face he was expecting. Baekhyun was just slumped there frozen against the bed frame as his anger once again turned into a defeating depression. Why did this happen every time he got angry?

“What should I do?”

Chanyeol bit his lip cautiously before replying, “do you really want my opinion?”

Baekhyun nodded weakly because let’s face it, even though Chanyeol made a few poor—very poor—choices, he was still his best friend.

“Well, I think you should go on another date.”

“WHAT?” Baekhyun took that thought back. Maybe Suho would welcome the title of new best friend with open arms. Sehun even, if he was willing to let Baekhyun within a ten-foot radius of his friend Luhan instead of the usual, “no, you’ll infect him with your weird kkaebsong virus.” Yeah, on second thought, he couldn’t handle Sehun’s sass. “How in any logic in the world is that remotely a good idea? Tell me, Chanyeol. Enlighten me with your reasoning that is so clearly thought through,” Baekhyun snapped back as sarcastically as he could, channeling all the energy he had left into another pounding death glare.

Chanyeol raised his hands up to his chest in defense as he tried to explain, “look, you should have seen the guy when I told him I couldn’t give him your number—he looked like a kicked puppy and that is not an exaggeration.”

Baekhyun frowned as the guilt started to settle in, “but stil—“

“And besides, it looks like he really liked you.”

That didn’t make Baekhyun feel any better. “Then wouldn’t it be easier to let him go now before I lead him too far down this messed up path of lies? I can’t keep lying and pretending I’m a woman when frankly, I’m not.” To emphasize his point, Baekhyun made a large swooping motion down the length of his body.

“Four hundred dollars.”

“Are you seriously planning to keep guilt tripping me with that?”

Chanyeol sighed before he slumped his head down against his pillow. “I’m just saying, he clearly liked you and frankly, I feel sorry for him. He deserves to be let off as easily as possible. You can’t just disappear off the face of the Earth, Baek. Go out a few more times and let him off easy. That’s the least you can do.”

Baekhyun sighed deeply before making a grunt in defeat. Chanyeol had one redeeming trait at least. He always came up with a solution to the problems  he created.

“Well, if I’m going on a second date, I’m not going to make me look like an easy woman. Even Hyunnie has standards.”

Chanyeol let out a laugh of delight as his face twitched up and he slapped Baekhyun on the back.

Baekhyun managed to squeeze a teasing smile back along with a peace sign. Ah, yes. This was why they were best friends.

-

Back at home, Baekhyun was sitting at his desk as he pursed his lips and stared at his phone. It had been a couple of hours already. Maybe he should reply…

With a moment of summoned courage, he quickly thumbed in a message and hit send.

Hey Kai. I don’t mind, don’t worry ^^ that sounds great but I’m busy most days…

The reply came back a lot sooner than Baekhyun had expected. Had Kai been waiting all day for his reply? He quickly shrugged off the thought and looked at his phone.

How about tomorrow? :D

Baekhyun nearly giggled at the little smiley face at the end. He should probably put more effort into this.

Can’t. Choir practice D:

Wednesday?

Baekhyun bit his lip. Damn he’s a persistent one. Does he really like me that much? And at that question, a chill ran down his spine.

Dance practice… ; n ;

You dance? :O

Yeah, why?

This time he had to wait a few minutes before his phone vibrated again.

You’re now free this Thursday night. I’ll come pick you up. We’re going clubbing >v<

Baekhyun scoffed as he threw his phone across the room and onto his bed. Who does he think he is, demanding things like that? He slumped down in his rolling chair and smirked. But if Baekhyun was going to be completely honest… he kind of liked it.

-

Chanyeol and the gang were a little too enthusiastic when Baekhyun had called them up and told them about the location of the second date. They promptly declared a shopping trip and so now here they were, at the mall, standing in front of some racy, urban outfitter and staring at Baekhyun’s mortal enemy: sequined mini dresses.

Baekhyun buried his hands in his face and decided to just give up there.

-

The sun had set long ago and the moon was slowly but surely climbing up the steps of the starry sky when Kai arrived at Baekhyun’s apartment in his car. Baekhyun had texted him his address earlier in the day and was already down at the parking lot waiting. The night air clung with a chill that nipped uncomfortably at Baekhyun’s bare legs but he barely noticed anymore when Kai stepped out of the driver’s seat with his ebony hair slicked up, attractive whirling strands curling down onto his forehead, and dressed in a studded leather jacket.

Baekhyun felt his jaw drop to the ground at the sight of such a god in front of him, but he quickly clamped his mouth shut when he realized that Kai was also staring at him in the same way, with the same disbelieving expression and he suddenly felt immensely self conscious.

Was his makeup all right? Was anything smudged? And what about his hair? Forget the hair, what about his dress? During the shopping trip, his face had been too far buried into his sleeve the whole time, the whole outfit decision had been given to his three friends and they had decided on a tight fitting, striped electric blue dress.

Oh god, what if it was too tight and Kai noticed his lady parts weren’t really lady parts and what if—

“Y—you look good tonight.” Baekhyun snapped his head up and saw as Kai looked down at his shoes, his cool façade all but melting into steam radiating off his red cheeks. And just like that, all of Baekhyun’s doubts flew out the window and he smiled.

“You too.”

Kai’s eyes widened for a second before there was a small clink as the keys in his hand fell out of his hand. “Sorry, I, uh…” Kai trailed off as he awkwardly bent down to pick them up. Baekhyun couldn’t help himself but to let out a chuckle at the sight of such a flustered Kai. This man was sure to be the death of him one day if his heart wouldn’t stop palpitating whenever he did something so painfully endearing.

“So, where are we going?” Baekhyun asked as they finally climbed into the car.

Kai started the ignition. “Have you heard of the place called Two Moons?”

Baekhyun shook his head. Kai turned his lips up into a smirk and pressed on the gas. “I’ll make sure you have a good time tonight.”

-

There was a huge lineup at the entrance to the club and at one point Baekhyun was worried that his flimsy excuse for a jacket wouldn’t be able to withstand the cold, but surprisingly Kai took his hand and marched straight for the door. With one look of familiarity flashing in the bouncer’s eyes, they were led straight in.

“How did you do that?” Baekhyun couldn’t help but gawk at his date as he smoothly weaved his way around the hot mess of a crowd. The interior of the club was dark and humid but filled with multiple, flashing and probably seizure inducing lights. The music made no artistic sense to Baekhyun’s ears; it was just a flurry of electronic synths coupled with rib shattering bass. But boy was it loud and it seemed like all these people—who were most likely blurred into a world of slight inebriation—enjoyed it. Kai stopped in his tracks and turned around, nearly causing Baekhyun to crash right into his chest.

“How, you ask?” A smirk could be seen inching it’s way onto the taller's thick lips. He paused for a moment before he winked, “it’s a secret, but I guess I can tell you.” And with that, Kai started to lean down, bringing his face closer and closer to Baekhyun’s until his lips were a mere inch away from Baekhyun’s ear.

It was almost as if the whole room had burst into flames and his heart was running in a hundred meter sprint. At that moment, all of Baekhyun’s senses tuned simultaneously onto Kai and everything but the two of them turned into slow motion. He was suddenly hyperaware of the heat radiating off Kais’s chest and the coolness of his breath against the shell of his ear.

“I’m a dancing machine.”

Baekhyun stepped back with a scoff as Kai let out a chuckle and stuck his tongue out teasingly. His once dark and intimidating eyes turned up into blissful crescents. Baekhyun scrunched up his nose and gave Kai an amused look.

Such a tease.

“What? You don’t believe me?” Kai sputtered in mock offense, “I’ll prove it to you then!”

And Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile, smile with his whole heart as Kai pulled him along the dance floor because he knew that Kai had finally opened his heart to him. All the insecurities and careful calculations had fallen away as they leaned together to the rhythm around them like it was the most natural thing in the world.

-

They decided to get a few drinks first before hitting it off on the dance floor where they were both sure they’d be spending the rest of night.

As they made their way to the mini bar at the side of the room, Baekhyun shifted uncomfortably as he noticed all the sleazy side glances and the occasional straight out, unashamed drooling directed in his direction. Is this what girls were forced to put up with? Baekhyun sighed as he finally understood their world and frankly, he felt sorry for the whole female population. All these people were starting to grate on his nerves and before he could snap and raise his hand to punch out one particular sleaze ball who had attempted to reach out with his grubby hands and grab him, an arm wound around his shoulders and tucked his frame perfectly close to their side. His heart spiked in alarm and proceeded to scream code red until he looked up and realized it was Kai who was now protecting him with a determined expression written on his face.

His heart was still screaming code red, but now it was for and entirely different reason

-

“Do you drink?” Kai asked as he tried to keep his shouting to a minimum though he was finding that to be increasingly difficult under the deafening music.

“Usually not but…” Baekhyun looked towards the dance floor and then to the bartender and realized that if he was hoping to survive this night, with all the hungry carnivorous eyes on his legs and shoulders, he’d better have a little something.

Baekhyun was never particularly good at holding his liquor (that much was obvious to him after spending a few young summer nights with the gang he wished could've been forgotten), and he must have had one too many because when the song changed into a familiar, yet droning techno beat, Baekhyun leapt up to his feet in what could only be a magnified sense of glee. “THIS IS MY FAVOURITE SONG!” He gushed and jumped towards the heaping mass in the middle of the room, all but forgetting Kai and leaving him behind on his little red barstool.

-

Kai put his glass down and turned to ask Hyunnie if she was ready to dance when to his surprise, the girl he was about to converse with had disappeared, leaving nothing but an empty, cold seat.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows and got up to his feet, standing like a meerkat to survey his surrounds in utmost alarm and attention. He wasn’t oblivious and he certainly wasn’t blind; he had seen the way all the other men had been eyeing Hyunnie the entire night, and frankly, it made him feel uneasy. But even so, he couldn’t bring himself to blame them since Hyunnie was the most wonderfully angelic and beautiful thing that had ever happened to the universe—was his bias showing through?—but the fact of the matter was, she had come here with him and he would rather die right there than to have anyone hurt her.

Or steal her away…

Before his heart could pound his sanity into a bloody, heaping mass on the floor at the mere thought, Kai used the sheer force of his willpower to suppress his feelings into a stable sense of calm. It’s ok, she couldn’t have gone far. I’ll just find her and keep her in my arms forever…

He didn’t even have time to feel embarrassed at his own greasy thoughts as his eyes caught sight of a peculiar happening at the center of the club. A huge mass of people seemed to be forming a dance circle, albeit a very disorganized one, which comprised mostly of close, writhing bodies, but it was a dance circle nonetheless. And as he squinted his eyes and concentrated hard through the cracks and crevices of the wall of bodies, Kai thought he could make out the shape of a girl in the middle. Maybe it was just his imagination running wild through a field of alcoholic roses, but he swore she had long brown hair and an electric blue dress and wait a minute…

It took his brain tad longer than normal to fully digest the scene in front of him and when it finally hit him, the dark haired boy all but flipped his seat over and ran.

He truly didn’t mean to gloat but if you asked Kai, he would have to admit that he was actually quite famous around this side of town, or at least, infamous—how else could he have beat the lines and walked right in? He didn’t know what it was, but there was always something about this type of atmosphere that caused him to change, transform into a confident man that was just so different from his usual demeanor. And after coming here one too many times, people started to recognize him. So it came to no surprise when as he approached, the crowd parted at his feet like a red sea full of dazzled, wide-eyed gasps and he was provided with a smooth runway to the center.

He didn’t know what exactly he was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn’t this. And by this, he meant a stunning, flailing Hyunnie—flailing because instead of showcasing suave, skillful dance moves, her entire body was wiggling strangely back and forth in the flashing lights and her and her arms were flying out in every odd, twisting direction. And it was stunning because even though her hair was flying all over her face, and even though her crazy whacking nearly whacked a man straight in his gut, Kai couldn’t help but laugh because it was just so Hyunnie and anything she did was just so perfect to him. And as Kai watched her for a second more, he realized that he had already fallen in too deep.

Still chuckling at Hyunnie, who was completely engrossed in her “dancing”, Kai slowly made his way over, sneaking behind her as he dodged her flying limbs and placed his hands around her waist. Alert at his presence, Hyunnie suddenly stopped and turned her head around to look at him. “Oh, Kai!” She smiled, pleasantly surprised. Kai smiled back.

“Having fun there?”

“I have a question,” she suddenly blurted, ignoring Kai’s previous comment as she pointed a finger to her temple in thought. Kai had to suppress another laugh from escaping his lips.

“Yes?”

“Why did you take me to a club tonight anyways?” The shorter girl asked as she furrowed her eyebrows, looking as if the whole world would spontaneously implode because of the small dilemma. She must’ve really had one too many.

“Well…” Kai started, looking up into the air in mock contemplation, “after you told me you danced, I really wanted to see your skills but…” He looked down at her worried face and raised his eyebrow teasingly. He stood back and watched in amusement as her expression gradually turned from shocked to utter bewilderment and then finally settling on determined. It was just too fun messing with her.

“Is that so?” Hyunnie nodded as her head dropped down. Her voice grew soft and quiet and Kai was about to reach down and apologize when her head suddenly snapped up with a smirk. “Well, we’ll see about that,” and this time when she spoke, her voice held a dangerous edge to it—one that made Kai’s heart beat against his ribcage in unconscious anticipation. Hyunnie placed her fingers into Kai’s shoulders and pressed their bodies closer together.

Kai’s eyes widened as his lungs in a sharp, audible breath as he felt the heat of her body radiate against him. To say that Kai had not been expecting this would be the grossest understatement in the history of the human language. He didn’t even get a second to think before every truth he had ever known was tossed out the window when he felt Hyunnie roll her hips down against him. His body felt on fire, literally on fire, as every nerve within him spiked in reaction. Kai’s frame was frozen and his heart rate was racing off the charts and into outer space as Hyunnie continued to dance against him. Before long, sensing his internal conflicts, Hynnie reached up with her lips nearly grazing against the outer shell of his ear and whispered in the most seductive voice Kai had ever heard, “how was that?”

It was enough to snap him out of his trance. Kai looked down at her with a smirk of his own before responding against her.

They spent the rest of the night dancing together and exchanging teasing smiles.

-

It was nearing two in the morning when the couple had finally decided to call it a night and leave. They didn’t plan to stay out that long since they still had school the next day, but looking back, it really couldn’t be helped.

-

They drove home in silence with only the lulling roar of the engine in the background.

Baekhyun was beginning to sober up as he sat there with his head propped up against the window of the passenger seat. The city passed his glassy eyes in a dizzying blur as he shifted in his seat. The weight of everything—his actions, his words, and his feeling were starting to catch up to him, and he suddenly felt like he suffocating. Nothing made sense to him anymore; he didn’t know why he was feeling this way or why the words he said next had slipped from his lips. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry Kai…”

He didn’t know why, but it felt like the only right thing he could say.

-

Baekhyun vaguely remembered in his dream, a soft pair of lips pressing against his forehead and his own lips turning up into a small blissful smile.

Was it really just a dream?

Author's note:

Yes, I was referring to this pre debut Baekhyun video~ xD