Baekhyun had ducked over to the other side of the booth so he now faced Sehun. It was warm and cosy in the noodle shop and chilly outside so Sehun didn't complain when Baekhyun ordered another pot of hot barley tea. 

 

He was clearly making preparations to interrogate him - Sehun could see all the signs. Baekhyun always had this intense expression on his face when he was about to kick someone's . And he was drumming his fingers on the table as well, so Sehun knew he was in for it now.

 

But he couldn't find it in himself to care because he was too preoccupied with what Jongin had said. Just seven words but they had scattered his thoughts and planted dangerous seeds of hope: I think Baekhyun is jealous of Junmyeon.

 

Could Jongin be right? Was Baekhyun finally starting to be physically aware of him? That whole bookshelf fiasco had certainly been completely out of character for Baekhyun. It had been such an obvious attempt to block Junmyeon from taking Sehun out. The question was why had Baekhyun been so desperate to prevent the outing. Sehun fervently hoped Jongin was right.

 

"What do you think you're doing with Kim Junmyeon?" Baekhyun had asked impatiently as soon as Sehun had finished pouring out the hot tea.

 

"Nothing?"

 

"How do you even know him? He's a final year student and he's not even majoring in Graphic Design."

 

"Hyung, I do have friends outside of my course, ok? I met him last weekend at some club." 

 

"Some club?! You made friends with some random stranger at some club?" Ok now Baekhyun was definitely in scold mode. In the past, Sehun would just have kept quiet, zoned out and let him rant but he wasn't taking the easy way out anymore.

 

"He wasn't a random stranger. He knew my friends." 

 

"Didn't your friends warn you about his reputation?"

 

"What? That he parties hard? That he's biual? Everyone on campus knows that."

 

"If you know all that then why the hell are you giving him your phone number?!" Baekhyun made a frustrated noise. 

 

"Why not?" Sehun shrugged in a move calculated to irritate Baekhyun.

 

"Because he's probably trying to get into your pants!" Baekhyun was gesticulating wildly now.

 

"At least someone wants to get into my pants," Sehun's voice was dead calm.

 

"What does that even mean?" Baekhyun gave him a sharp look.

 

"Exactly what it sounds like, hyung. Look, can we talk about something else?"

 

"Yes, we can talk about what's gotten into you since you moved in."

 

"I only moved in yesterday," Sehun had to chuckle at this.

 

"I don't even know who moved into my place to be honest. Who are you and what have you done with Sehun?"

 

"It's still me, hyung. I just ... realized it's time I started saying what I think instead of just going with the flow all the time. Didn't you guys say I had to be a man and all that now I've moved out of home?"

 

"We were joking! I don't want you to change."

 

"Everything changes, hyung. I'm not a kid anymore." Sehun made direct eye contact with Baekhyun.

 

"No, no you're right. You're not a kid anymore." Baekhyun agreed reluctantly, "But about Junmyeon, be careful, ok? I don't trust him."

 

"Ok." 

 

A waiter gingerly placed two bowls of steaming hot kal gak su at the table next to theirs, and Sehun turned to face Baekhyun, "Did I ever tell you why I like kal guk su so much?

 

"No," Baekhyun looked curious, "why do you like it so much?"

 

"Do you remember that time in middle school when some knocked my lunch onto the floor because he didn't like the way I looked at him or some crap like that?"

 

"Sure, I remember. It was that Jonghyun from the school baseball team." 

 

"Yeah, that's right. Well, you shared your lunch with me that day so we were starving when school let out. And you took me for ..."

 

"Kal guk su." Baekhyun finished Sehun's sentence, a thoughtful expression on his face.

 

"I never really thanked you, hyung, but it meant a lot to me what you did. And I know you kinda said something to Jonghyun because he left me alone after that."

 

"I threatened to post a baby picture of him on cyworld. His elder sister was one my best friends, see?" Baekhyun confessed and Sehun laughed.

 

"Oh my God, that's like cyber bullying, hyung!"

 

"Shut up. It worked didn't it?" 

 

"Yeah, I guess it did. Well anyway, I know you were looking out for me then, and I know you're looking out for me now as well with the Junmyeon thing. But I'm not fourteen anymore. I need to sort things out for myself."

 

"But you're my dongsaeng, I've always-" Baekhyun protested.

 

Sehun flinched, "I'm not your dongsaeng." 

 

Baekhyun's mouth opens as if he's about to say something, but then it closes as he decides not to argue with Sehun.

 

Sehun stood up abruptly, "Let's go. I need to unpack."