Apparently Jongin was wrong; he and Baekhyun returned home from work that day at eight.

When Baekhyun was able to check his phone again there were two ignored messages from Chanyeol and Luhan. Luhan asked him if his day went well, and Baekhyun paused to think back on what happened.

During his work, Minseok's office phone rang and Baekhyun went to answer it. Instead, Minseok chose to hide under his table muttering atrocities and told Baekhyun to leave the phone lest he be fired on his first day. Baekhyun obeyed. He and Jongin adressed him as "sir" during most of the day, but Minseok's co-workers called him "Xiumin", as some of them are Chinese and couldn't pronounce his name right, so "Xiumin" is an alternate.

Minseok, when his fellow co-workers enter the room and asks him who Baekhyun and Jongin are, he will tell them, "these are my talents," with a proud smirk on his face.

Overall Minseok is a decent guy. He helped Baekhyun and Jongin learn how to think fast. (wow) 

Meanwhile, as Baekhyun checked out his inbox again, what surprised him was when Chanyeol asked him, "did you really wear eyeliner?" 

Baekhyun replied back a "yes!" and lifted his gaze to Jongin.

"I'll be going," Jongin noted, "Kyungsoo promised to cook for me by tonight." 

Baekhyun was a little bit surprised at the announcement. Another date so soon? "I didn't ask," he grinned, pretending not to care. 

"Statements don't need questions," Jongin replied as he started walking. "Bye, Baekhyun! See you tomorrow!" 

Baekhyun watched as the boy took step to walk away. But then he stopped to look at Baekhyun, eyebrows furrowed. "Hey your eyeliners are melting," 

"What?" 

Jongin gave him a shrug before his figure faded into the night.

Baekhyun lifted his hand up to reach at his eyes, where a black smudge could be seen on his finger as he pulled it away. Maybe it was the amount of sweat he had been sweating out from work that his eyeliner melted. Baekhyun didn't even know eyeliners even melt. He decided that since work ended he might as well take the eyeliner off. He rushed to a public toilet to wash off the black linings from his eyes. 

Surprisingly as he walked outside of the toilet his phone vibrate against his pocket, signaling another message. Baekhyun pulled out his phone where Chanyeol replied his message. 

did you really wear eyeliner?

yes!

meet me outside my cafe ^^ 

Baekhyun was standing outside of EXO Cafe in no time, watching as Chanyeol started gathering his things and waved at Kris, who was standing behind the counter. The place was closed. There was a sound like bell ringing when he opened the door, a huge smile plastered on his face as he locked eyes with Baekhyun. But the smile faded in an instant where Chanyeol narrowed his eyes. Baekhyun gulped a little bit because damn, Chanyeol actually looks a bit infuriated by something, and before he knew it he started fidgeting all over on the spot. His mind was telling him to ask Chanyeol what's wrong but his body wasn't letting him do anything but shiver. 

"...You told me you were wearing eyeliner," the Giant furrowed his eyebrows, slinging his bag on his shoulder properly and hanging his parka on his forearm as Baekhyun hit him playfully on the chest. Chanyeol's smile returned. 

"So... Why are we outside?" 

Chanyeol reached out from his bag to pull out a box in black paper wrapper, the words "To: Eyeliner. From: Giant. Enjoy!" written in white marker. Baekhyun took it from him, thinking about what would be inside. Maybe it was a lifetime supply of eyeliners? Nah, Chanyeol can't afford that. 

"Open it when you reach home," Chanyeol grinned. 

"Sure," Baekhyun shifted his gaze to look back inside the cafe. Then he remembered what Jongin said. "Where's Kyungsoo?" 

Chanyeol just gave him a shrug. "Jongin was waiting for him outside earlier," he replied as he followed Baekhyun's gaze. 

Eyeliner was silent after that.

Baekhyun watched as Kris talked with another guy, a little bit shorter than him, but taller than Baekhyun for sure, who's sporting a dark hair. Behind the dark-haired guy was another shorter male, who's watching him intently from afar as he sat at one of the tables, a jacket draped over him. On the table were two empty cups. Is that the singer? Just then the guy turned to lock eyes with him. No, not him. He was looking at Chanyeol before smiling and waving at him. When he saw Baekhyun he pointed to him, still maintaining eyes with Giant. Chanyeol was grinning back at him like an idiot. 

Oh, Baekhyun is jealous.

He didn't realize it himself until his own to feet started bringing him away. He heard the sound of Chanyeol's footsteps running up to him as he called out to Baekhyun. 

"Baekhyun-ah! Eyeliner!" 

When he finally caught up to Baekhyun he spun him round. "I have something to ask you..." 

Kyungsoo waved at his co-workers before he stepped out of the place, where Jongin awaited him. 

"Hey," Jongin chuckled good-naturedly at his approach, a bag slung over his shoulder unproperly. Kyungsoo reached out to pull it back up neatly, only to see it fall back down.

Jongin just smiled at him as he did that. "Ready to cook?" Jongin asked, wrapping an arm around Kyungsoo's shoulder, silently and slowly sharing body heats. Kyungsoo nodded as the younger male directed him to his apartment, asking about random things that came up to his head. Kyungsoo just answered them.

When they reached Jongin's apartment he cautiously stepped inside. A pretty decent place might he add, where the walls were customly painted and decorated by Jongin. Everything was neat, his laptop placed on the wooden work table and next to them were buckets of various paint colours. 

Jongin placed his bag on the bed and asked for Kyungsoo's, resting it on top of his. That done, he brought Kyungsoo to his little kitchen.

And started explaining stuff. "Pots and pans are in the bottom cabinet, canned food are in the upper cabinets, spices go to the side..." Kyungsoo wasn't even paying attention to whatever Jongin was saying, because he was too busy thinking, too busy looking, too busy in Cloud 9. Jongin is...very interesting. Kyungsoo thought that he'd rather find out more about Jongin than cook for him but he can't look back now. "What are you going to cook?" 

Kyungsoo blinked, finally realizing that Jongin was looking directly at him. 

Was Kyungsoo even paying attention? Jongin wondered as he directed where all the things are. He's aware that Kyungsoo was looking at him with his (beautiful doe) eyes, and Jongin doesn't even feel like he's trapped or anything. When he turned to look at Kyungsoo all he was thinking is, Do Kyungsoo why are you doing this to me? 

"...Kyungsoo," ah, screw it. 

Jongin reached out to tuck a finger under Kyungsoo's chin, lifting up his gaze, before he leaned in and captured his lips. Kyungsoo melted in the kiss not long after, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around Jongin's neck. 

Figures that Kyungsoo won't be cooking tonight.

Zitao plopped down on the seat next to him. "Who are you waving at?" He asked, settling his chin on the table. His eyes were expectantly waiting for Jongdae's answer, whilst Jongdae's eyes just stutter an unspoken "what." Zitao continued to stare at him, a small smirk on his face. Then in a split second he was standing up from his seat and pulling Jongdae into a hug, all kisses on his face and a last one on his lips. "I love you," he smiled, leaning his forehead against his lover's. 

"Get a room," Kris muttered. Zitao giggled and picked up his jacket that had fallen down onto the floor.

"Let's go," his hand searched for Jongdae's. When he found it, he hid a small smile of victory but he did fail in resisting to kiss Jongdae's cheeks.

Pink was tainted across Jongdae's cheeks right then and he hid his face into Zitao's shoulder, too embarassed to let anyone see that he's blushing. Part of him was thinking why Zitao was doing this to him, showering him with affection, but part of him knew that he enjoyed it. He just hopes Chanyeol succeeded. 

"You think we'd make a cute couple?"

Was what Chanyeol had been aching to say. He and Jongdae's talk earlier put up a load of meanings, made him think deeper, made him realize that he has feelings for Baekhyun.

His mind screamed "Eyeliner" ever since then, all the while because he thinks about Baekhyun all day, with or without his eyeliner, Chanyeol still perceived him as beautiful. He took a deep breath and stared at the box, a gift for Baekhyun. He doesn't know what it's for and surprisingly Baekhyun never asked. Sighing, he realized that Baekhyun was watching him. 

"Uh," he thought about what to say, looked around for a single topic that could save him from this moment. "Can you open the present now?" Maybe he'll tell him some other time.

Baekhyun's eyebrows raised, his mouth shaped to an O. "Didn't you tell me to open it when I get home?" 

Chanyeol hesitated. "Just open it." 

"...Okay." 

Baekhyun raised the box and slowly started to tear off its black wrapper. 

And it revealed the headphones Baekhyun wanted. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Ahhh I haven't updated in a very long while

it's nice to be back

sorry if the chapter's lame, but this is kinda like part of the storyline--this was how I planned it

but yeahhhh hope you like it

so basically Jongdae told Chanyeol to go confess to Baekhyun but Chanyeol is just scared of commitment :DD

and the kaisoo let me leave it that way bc I'm a loser uhuhuhuhuh

i can't believe it this chapter has no hunhan

oh right do you remember the headphones

Baek wanted them when he and Chan were told to spy on Kaisoo's blind date hmmhmmm

hope you enjoy it, guys! Sorry for making you guys wait :)

AND AND I SHIP KRAY HIGH POSSIBILITY THIS STORY WILL HAVE IT