"Where's Chanyeol?" Kyungsoo asked as he slid into the wooden booth seat, Jongin following closely behind.

 

"He's at Co-Ex Mall. Trying to impress some girl by taking her laptop shopping," Baekhyun supplied the information while Sehun gave a lazy wave of the right hand, " I think her name is Yoon Hee or something? He's been talking about her for weeks."

 

"Oh that girl.  He's going to have to work real hard to impress her. Heard she's quite a princess." Kyungsoo shook his head doubtfully. 

 

Noodles and  barley tea ordered, the guys sat back and relaxed - chatting in a laid back manner. 

 

"So what's it like living with The Dictator?" Kyungsoo asked conversationally, mischief in his eyes. Sehun and Jongin burst into laughter at the completely unexpected question and Baekhyun gave Kyungsoo the finger and a murderous glare. Chanyeol was usually the only one who teased Baekhyun but he wasn't here today so maybe Kyungsoo felt someone had to do it and it might as well be him.

 

"It's too soon to tell, dude, it's only been a day." Sehun gave a wry smile.

 

"Did he try and make you do all the housework? Don't let him, ok?"

 

Baekhyun gave Kyungsoo the finger again which the latter ignored completely.  

 

"As if." Sehun's response was deadpan. 

 

"I would never!" Baekhyun insisted. 

 

"You so would." Kyungsoo and Sehun chorused.

 

"What is this? Bash Byun Baekhyun Day?"

 

Jongin shook his head, grinning, "Wow, you must have been a real tyrant in high school if they're still giving you about being The Dictator."

 

"Rubbish! I was never a tyrant.  They just like giving me about stuff I never even did."

 

Sehun emitted a low chuckle, and looked straight at Baekhyun, his half-lidded eyes issuing some kind of subtle challenge. And that's all he did - he never said a word.

 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Baekhyun's skin was prickling with irritation as he questioned Sehun. What had happened to his placid younger friend? Who was this provocative stranger sitting beside him, staring at him? Baekhyun seemed to be losing the upper hand with Sehun and he was not liking the sensation. He liked the old Sehun. The one who listened to him and agreed with what he said most of the time. Brand New Sehun was mutinous and disrespectful and he found it maddening.

 

Sehun shrugged nonchalantly and dropped his gaze to his food. Using economically precise movements, he used the skinny steel chopsticks to insert the wet noodles into his thin-lipped mouth. Just as he'd been enthralled by the sight of Sehun shaving himself in the bathroom that morning, Baekhyun now found himself transfixed by the sight of Sehun feeding himself. Why did he keep staring at the kid? Baekhyun forced himself to concentrate on the kal gak su in front of him - but every now and then, his eyes would involuntarily drift to the left, towards Sehun. His strong jaw, his small mouth. He had never really scrutinized either before this and now, all of a sudden, they were all he saw. 

 

"Hyung, are you planning to eat that?" Sehun gestured innocently at Baekhyun's noodles which hung, dripping from chopsticks that were suspended in mid-air.

 

"Of course I am, I was just ah trying to figure out ... an equation for Advanced Physics." Baekhyun groaned inwardly at the absurdity of the excuse he'd given and kicked himself mentally for being caught daydreaming - by Sehun no less.

 

"Sure," Sehun sounded highly sceptical but he left it alone. 

 

-------

 

They had just finished eating and had moved on to sipping barley tea when someone called out, "Oh Sehun!" and approached their table.

 

Lazily, Sehun turned to see who had called him. When he saw who it was, he greeted him, bowing his head slightly, "Sunbae, good afternoon." 

 

The others greeted the good looking man politely and nodded respectfully. Well, everyone except Baekhyun because Baekhyun was feeling unreasonably annoyed that Sehun never showed him that kind of deference. And what was even more galling was that Kim Junmyeon did not deserve such respect. He was a notorious party animal who had a reputation for picking up both girls and guys and Baekhyun did not want him messing around with Sehun.

 

How did he even know Sehun and what was he doing talking to him? And why was Sehun being so ...  respectful? Wait, why was he asking Sehun for his phone number? And why was Sehun keying it in for him - what the hell? He was so going to give that kid a lecture about not giving out his phone number to strangers.

 

"So you wanna catch a movie tonight? That new James Bond movie is showing at 8.45. We could grab a quick dinner first." Junmyeon was so greasy it was making Baekhyun feel nauseous.

 

"Thanks, sunbae," Sehun gave a kind of crooked smile. But why wasn't he saying no? He wasn't actually going to watch a movie with greasy Kim Junmyeon, was he? 

 

"Thanks but I've got an 8am lecture tomorrow so ... yeah, I'm staying in tonight. Got some work to finish up too." 

 

"Get your work done earlier, this afternoon. I'll drive you home right after the movie, no worries."

 

Baekhyun had had enough of this nonsense and decided it was time to step in, "This afternoon is out, sunbae, sorry. Sehun needs to shop for some furniture - he just moved into my apartment so there are some things he needs to buy."

 

"I have things to buy?" Sehun looked deeply amused. 

 

"Of course you do! You need some bookshelves because you don't have any in your room."

 

"Can't I use the bookcase in the lounge?"

 

"No, no, that's already full of my books!"

 

Junmyeon was watching the exchange with interest, and he didn't look like he was buying the shopping trip story at all. But to Baekhyun's great relief Junmyeon acceded defeat and said maybe later in the week then. Sehun nodded quietly as Junmyeon took his leave. 

 

"I need shelves?" Sehun asked sarcastically,  left eyebrow raised.

 

"Of course you do! You're a university student for 's sake. Of course you need shelves. You can't just dump your books in piles on the floor."

 

"I could just use the bookcase outside - it's not even two-thirds full!"

 

"That's because I took a lot of books out of the shelf for a project - they're in my room now but they'll have to go back on the shelf! There won't be any space left when I'm done putting those back," Baekhyun sounded ridiculous even to himself. 

 

"Well, I am not buying a shelf this afternoon because I need to unpack my stuff. And to be honest, I don't think this has anything at all to do with me needing a place to put my books." Sehun rolled his eyes. Brand new Sehun did that a lot and Baekhyun didn't like it. He wanted old Sehun back.

 

"What do you mean? Of course this is about you needing some shelves."

 

Now Jongin and Kyungsoo were openly staring at the two of them as they argued about whether Sehun needed to buy a bookcase. 

 

"Guys? Jongin and I are um ... We've gotta be somewhere so I'll see you around campus tomorrow, ok?" Kyungsoo looked and sounded awkward as he got up to leave. On their way out, Jongin stopped to whisper something in Sehun's ear and he could swear Sehun's cheeks flushed just a little. He shook his head, a strained expression on his face and Jongin patted him on the shoulder before leaving with Kyungsoo.

 

"What did Jongin say to you?" Baekhyun asked suspiciously.

 

"Nothing important." Sehun said quietly but Baekhyun suspected it had been something all too important.

 

------

 

Hope you guys enjoyed exploring Baekhyun's mind in this chapter ;). Tune in to find out what Jongin said to Sehun!

 

This was a tough chapter to write - hope it didn't too badly. I really would love to know what you guys think. You all are so quiet I don't know if I'm on the right track or not :((. Help?