The rest of the afternoon had been uneventful. It was as if the noodle shop confession had used up Sehun's quota of words for the day because he'd barely said anything after that. They'd gone home and Sehun had disappeared into his room to unpack, refusing Baekhyun's offer to help.

 

At loose ends, Baekhyun reclined on the comfortable wine colored couch and endeavored to concentrate on William Gibson's Neuromancer, which ought to have been a fast paced, gripping read. And yet his mind kept checking out of the cyberpunk Chiba City Sprawl and drifting back into his student apartment in present day Seoul. More specifically, Baekhyun kept catching himself staring at Sehun's bedroom door. How could so little noise seem so very loud?

 

After an hour's struggle with words he was making no sense of, Baekhyun went into his room for a nap - blaming his fatigue on a non-existent soju hangover. When he emerged from his room two hours later - groggy and grouchy - it was to find that the bookcase in the lounge had been neatly filled with Sehun's books. 

 

Brat.

 

The door his eyeballs had been pounding to death for most of the afternoon suddenly swung open and said brat walked out, his bangs poking his eyes in the most maddening way. Sehun moved with a kind of liquid grace - he tended to do most things in a sort of lazy, leisurely way and walking was one of those things. 

 

"Hyung, can we order pizza for dinner? Kinda tired from all that unpacking and I don't feel like going out." Sehun sat down heavily on the sofa, his lean, long limbs sprawled uncomfortably close to Baekhyun. It was 6.30 pm and the apartment was sheathed in the half light of dusk.

 

"Yeah, why not? Shall we have the Super Supreme since that takes care of all the major food groups?" Baekhyun asked and Sehun nodded tiredly.  

 

After Baekhyun had rung in the order, he walked over to the kitchen to pour himself a drink. He was parched from an afternoon of slumber, and if he was going to be honest with himself, sitting so close to Sehun unsettled him. It never had before this as old Sehun was ... well, Sehun - his quiet, laid back younger friend and next door neighbor. But brand new Sehun was altogether different. The Sehun who had moved in the day before had him on edge and hyper aware. It wasn't a comfortable feeling and Baekhyun hoped it would fade away soon. 

 

The apartment had gotten pretty dark so he switched on the kitchen light. There was a brief flare, followed by a dry static buzz and then the bulb extinguished, leaving the room all dark again.

 

"!" Baekhyun grabbed the torchlight from the counter and started digging around in one of the cabinet drawers for a spare lightbulb. Fortunately he found one after ten seconds of frantic searching. He was about to climb onto a chair when warm, slender hands rested firmly on his waist, lingered for a few moments ... then moved his body slowly to the side.

 

"It's ok, hyung, I've got it." Sehun's husky voice and the touch of his hands on his waist had ignited a series of hot tingling sensations and Baekhyun was struggling to get himself under control. Seemingly unaware of the other man's discomfort, Sehun took the lightbulb from Baekhyun and calmly climbed onto the chair.

 

"Um, I need some light?" Sehun asked and Baekhyun hastily pointed some light at the ceiling, only to groan inwardly. A tantalizing expanse of Sehun's bare torso was illuminated as he stretched up to reach the light fixture. The skin on his taut abdomen looked smooth and pale in the wash of dim light and Baekhyun had to force himself to look away - speechless and shaken to the core.

 

He grimaced. He could do this, he could make it through dinner. It was just Sehun. It was just Sehun. It was just Sehun ...

 

-------

 

So what do you guys think? Will Baek make it through dinner? Will Sehun declare his feelings?

 

I'd better warn you guys, I do not have a clue how to write so I'm not going to inflict badly written on my readers, otl. I can't tell you what happens in the next chapter, but I can assure you it will not involve any , orz.

 

Hope you guys like where the story is heading ... Would love some feedback. Please?