CHAPTER THREE

Kyungsoo is mostly successful in shoving even the faintest notion of Jongin out of his head over the course of the next few days. (After all, he reasons, he had done so before; there was no reason why he couldn’t do it again.) The next issue of EXO was due for release and on top of that, the deadline of CL’s exclusive feature was fast approaching. By keeping himself adequately preoccupied with work, he found that Jongin hardly invaded his thoughts at all. And that was good; very, very good. 

He clocked in more hours at the office, taking on additional projects beyond those assigned to him by Kris with the sole of intent of busying himself to the point of oblivion by the end of each day. He opted out of going for dinners with Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and elected instead to hunch over his desk late into the night designing and re-designing. Each time, he rejects Chanyeol’s offer to drive him home but the elder turns up every night anyway, nagging him about taking proper care of himself as he drives back to Kyungsoo’s apartment whilst the latter dozes off in the passenger seat. 

By the time the weekend finally comes around, Kyungsoo is thoroughly spent. Sleeping only three hours the night before, having been plagued by insomnia lately, he was looking forward to catching up on much needed shut-eye. However, his plans for a restful Saturday morning were thwarted by the sound of an overzealous Baekhyun relentlessly assaulting his doorbell (he just knew that it had to be Baekhyun because no one else would be this obnoxious). 

At 9a.m., Kyungsoo’s first instinct was to ignore the disturbance, pulling his blanket over his head, obstinately refusing to crawl out of bed to answer the door. Soon enough, the noise outside ceased and he sighed with relief, hugging his bolster closer to his chest. He was going to get to enjoy more sleep…

…or not. 

Unfortunately, happiness was short-lived and the door to his bedroom was thrown open with flourish.

“Yah! Kyungsoo-ah, this is an intervention!” 

Kyungsoo remained under his blanket, deciding that he would get upset at his best friend later and hopeful at the prospect that maybe if he ignored him, Baekhyun would give up and go away (though he knew on the inside that it was highly unlikely). 

He felt the bed dip on one side and he groaned inwardly as the intruder pulled the covers away, turning his head to burrow his face into the pillows. A y chuckle that couldn’t possibly belong to Baekhyun was emitted and then there was a large hand on his head, fingers running through his hair, gently massaging his scalp, slowly but surely coaxing a satisfied hum out of Kyungsoo. 

Eventually, he gave in and opened one eye to look up at the person who was indulging him, the way one would indulge a petulant kitten, and was greeted by the smiling face of none other than Chanyeol. 

“Good morning, Bunny.” 

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but giggle at the use of the nickname. Chanyeol had taken to calling them ‘Bunny’ in the earlier years of their friendship because he felt like Kyungsoo reminded him of one. “You know how bunnies have such large eyes and they always look like they want to say something but they never actually do?” Chanyeol once tried explaining to him. Kyungsoo’s only response had been “Yeol, bunnies can’t talk…” He had simply laughed and insisted, “That’s not the point, Bunny” while petting Kyungsoo on the head. 

Since then, the name had just stuck and it was now Chanyeol’s term of endearment for him. Not that he minded really, except that it was kind of embarrassing… sometimes. 

Kyungsoo was now facing him and the elder gently pushed the hair out of his face, smoothing it down on the top of his head before cupping his cheek and caressing it with his thumb. 

“You betrayed me.” Kyungsoo muttered softly, voice still scratchy and raw from having just woken up. 

Chanyeol gave him a quizzical look. “You were in cahoots with Baekhyun… I can’t believe you let him into the house, give me the spare key.” 

“Nope.” Chanyeol replied, popping the ‘p’ as he said it. 

“I am never speaking to you again.” For emphasis, he flipped himself in the other direction, back towards the elder.

“Bunny, you’re going to break my heart.” 

“I hope it shatters to pieces.” 

“What cruelty…” Chanyeol sniffed dramatically. “I guess there is only one thing I can do…”

Arms s around his waist and he felt the press of Chanyeol’s warm chest against him. Instinctively, he found himself resigning to the warm on his back as the elder buried his face in his neck.

“This may be really comfy, but cuddling is not going to work on me Yeol.” Kyungsoo chided mockingly whilst leaning in closer to him. 

“You’re really nice and soft too, Bunny… but who said I was going to cuddle?” He could actually feel Chanyeol’s smirk against his skin. 

Within seconds, Kyungsoo found himself making embarrassing noises as he scrambled off his bed to escape from Chanyeol’s clutches. When he finally managed to climb over the taller male, his footing slipped in his haste and he ended up tumbling unceremoniously onto the floor, landing directly on his bottom. 

“Yah! Park Chanyeol, are you five years old? Who tickles someone to get their way!” Kyungsoo grumbled as he stood up. 

Chanyeol only laughed heartily in response. “Tell me! Do you forgive me? If not I’ll just tickle you until you love me again!” He began advancing towards him, devious glint in his eye. 

“Baekhyun!” Kyungsoo called as he bolted out the door. “Discipline your human!”

Chanyeol merely strolled after him, bubbling with mirth. “I guess that was a successful morning call.” 

* * *

Within an hour, the boys had Kyungsoo dressed and whisked away to their favourite local cafe, XOXO, for breakfast. (This was decided upon after Baekhyun had thoroughly ransacked Kyungsoo’s kitchen and realised that there was nothing to eat, much to his surprise and horror.) 

XOXO was a quaint establishment located at Garosu-gil; which was a beautiful promenade in Sinsa-dong encapsulated within the Gangnam area. It was owned by Baekhyun’s roommate and landlord Lu Han, the son of the Chinese equivalent of a chaebol, who had moved to Seoul in a display of defiance to escape his overbearing parents in Beijing. 

The cafe was decorated impeccably, it’s walls exuded a homey atmosphere and everything — from the furniture right down to each trinket that adorned the table tops — had been meticulously selected to give the place a whimsical touch. The place was large, occupying two whole stories, but even then it was always bustling with people because apart from the great ambiance, XOXO also had great coffee and delicious baked treats. There was always the sweet scent of butter and sugar wafting in the air, sometimes there would be a hint of cocoa and other times it would be vanilla, but it was mouthwatering always. 

Luhan had poured his heart into this cafe and his hard work had clearly paid off. 

Kyungsoo was slumped on his chair, seated at their regular table by the window (because Kyungsoo always liked to admire the ginko trees that adorned the street), cradling his head in his arms. He was openly sulking and he knew that this was a great stab at his masculinity, but he was too upset at the moment to care. He was now not only exhausted, but famished too. 

Chanyeol, who was seated next to him, had given up on trying to coax his friend out of his tantrum. Instead, he settled for carding his hand through the younger’s hair, thumb lightly massaging the back of his neck while he checked emails on his phone. His tender ministrations appeared to be working because Kyungsoo would unwittingly mew in satisfaction and each time Chanyeol couldn’t help but turn to smile at his grumpy companion. 

“Okay, your turn is over. Get up.” Lu Han commanded, bearing hot mugs of coffee and warm muffins with Baekhyun in tow. 

Setting the tray down on the table, Lu Han yanked Chanyeol up by the arm and succeeded in making the taller boy tumble out of his seat (out of surprise really, Chanyeol was easily much stronger than Luhan otherwise). 

“Aigoo look at this poor baby!” Luhan gushed dramatically as he collapsed next to Kyungsoo, immediately fawning over him whilst Chanyeol slid in next to a chuckling Baekhyun. 

From the very first time that Lu Han had laid eyes on Kyungsoo, he had been some kind of obsessed with the smaller boy. He found everything about him adorable and could never keep his hands to himself whenever Baekhyun brought Kyungsoo down to the cafe or to the apartment. Baekhyun had thought that Lu Han’s fascination with Kyungsoo would have abated by now, but he was proven wrong time and time again with each encounter. If anything, Lu Han’s adoration only increased by the day and he immensely enjoyed cooing after the boy and doting on him. 

Picking up a muffin from the tray, he broke a off a piece and blew on it before bringing it to Kyungsoo’s lips. “I just baked this batch, it’s your favourite with white chocolate and cranberries! I made this one with extra white chocolate pieces just for you baby.” 

From across the table, Chanyeol gagged at Lu Han’s term of endearment for the younger while Baekhyun merely watch with an amused smile on his face as Kyungsoo obediently opened his mouth and allowed himself to be fed. The interaction between the two was quite cute, really. Over the past year of getting acquainted with each other, a comfortable friendship had blossomed between the two. Kyungsoo was usually vehemently against being mollycoddled by anyone, but it seemed as if Lu Han was the only exception. Though he had been uncomfortable at first, he eventually got used to it. Kyungsoo would never admit it—god forbid anyone question his masculinity—but Baekhyun knew that he probably enjoyed Lu Han spoiling him.

“You are so precious, did you know that?” Lu Han beamed as he ruffled Kyungsoo’s hair. “I should just kick Baekhyun out and let you move in with me. No need to pay rent!” 

“Yah, I’m wounded, hyung! I’m a great roommate! I do your laundry all the time!” Baekhyun whined indignantly. “Where would you expect me to go if I don’t live with you?”

“Move in with Chanyeol! It’s not like he won’t take you in and…” Lu Han wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “…it’s not like you don’t want to—ow!” 

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