Jongdae’s alarm clock rings at the ever so pleasant hour of 7:25 AM, causing his ever so pleasant roommate Minseok to muffle into his sheets, “Get your out of bed before you’re late.” He then proceeds to throw a pillow in his direction when Jongdae doesn’t rise immediately. Oh Minseok-hyung, you’ve got to love that he’s always watching out for you.

His class starts in 35 minutes, and seeing as he lives within a ten minute walk to his class, he’s not in an ultra rush to get ready. After all, it’s only his Music and Med-

Oh wait.

Aw , Jongdae thinks.

Music and Media is the only course this whole semester he has with Byun Baekhyun, his I-have-a-crush-on-you-but-don’t-really-know-you friend. Seeing as he is a performance music major (the performance part is really important, in Jongdae’s mind. Minseok always begs to disagree, saying all music majors are the same, but then Jongdae will ask him, since he’s a civil engineering major and all, if all engineering majors are the same. He only hmphs in response.) and a communications minor, he doesn’t see Baekhyun all too often, with him being a public relations major.

Though, to be fair, Jongdae still doesn’t understand why he and Baekhyun don’t have at least one more class together; it took Jongdae until his sophomore year (or more easily said, this year) to know the difference between the public relations and communications majors, and that’s sad seeing as he is communications minor.

Despite the fact that he never really sees Baekhyun more than the Tuesdays and Fridays when their class meets and the occasional Saturday when their mutual friends happen to invite both of them out and their two different social circles combine for one night, Jongdae has had a crush on him since his first class freshman year: Fashion and Power. It was a complete mistake that Jongdae ended up in the class; at that time, he was only a music major, and well, Fashion and Power perhaps isn’t the most applicable course one could take when studying music. It was with this class though that Jongdae added the communications minor to his degree, after seeing how fun a communication/public relations (and here lies his confusion, because the class is for communication majors, but is also taken by public relations majors like Baekhyun) could be; Baekhyun’s enthusiasm for fashion and power had absolutely nothing to do with either. Nope. Nothing.

And well, that’s why it’s ultimately really ironic that even though he is now an official communications minor, he still has hardly any classes with Byun Baekhyun. Go figure.

With it taking him five minutes to wake from his stupor, Jongdae realizes he has at the maximum twenty minutes to get ready; is that really enough time to make himself at least presentable in the eyes of Byun Baekhyun? Jongdae whines in distress, leading Minseok to grumble in his semi-unconscious state about awful dongsaengs waking him up at the wee hours of the morning.

Trying not to panic, as that’s not going to make him woo Baekhyun, Jongdae moves to his closet in search of something decent enough to wear to make it look like he tried, but not that hard. Because, whether he’s there to impress Baekhyun or not, it’s still an 8 AM class, and that’s just too early to be looking 100% hot.

Not wanting to be late, Jongdae settles for a basic sweater with a plaid button down underneath, a pair of skinny jeans, some random pair of shoes (he’s not really sure if they’re his or Minseok’s, whoops), and as always, a snapback with some random English word he probably doesn’t know.

Checking his phone and seeing he now has twelve minutes before he needs to leave, he races into the bathroom in hopes of doing something to his bedhead; with only minimal success, Jongdae runs into the kitchen area of their dorm, grabs a pack of pop tarts, a bottle of water, and his keys. He’s out of the door six minutes early, and perhaps today he’ll make it to his class before Baekhyun does.

Before he gets to the elevator to take him to the bottom floor, Jongdae makes sure to bang rather loudly on his and Minseok’s neighbors’ door: Jongin and Sehun. He’s not really sure when either of them need to get up (though he does know Jongin has a class at 10; hope he likes waking up early, Jongdae thinks), hell he’s not really sure what Sehun is even majoring in - if anything, but it’s always funny to hear their groans. This morning, Jongdae hears something hit the door, and he bursts into laughter. Probably one of their shoes, Jongdae thinks.

-

He arrives at his class with five minutes to spare, and as he walks into the classroom, he doesn’t notice Baekhyun’s presence yet, so he saves the two of them a seat in the middle. Baekhyun once told him he doesn’t like the front because the people in the front annoy him with their holier-than-thou attitudes, but he also doesn’t want his professors to think he’s a slacker by sitting in the back; therefore, Jongdae chooses a table for the two of them in the exact middle of the lecture hall.

The professor begins organizing his papers when Baekhyun finally shows up, officially two minutes late. When he enters the lecture hall, he searches for Jongdae, and thankfully he wore his endearing stupid “FAME” snapback, otherwise Baekhyun may have had to search for him until the professor told him to sit in the back. Gross.

He slides into his chair beside Jongdae with little notice, and Jongdae gives him a smirk in response. “Hmm, the day I’m on time, you’re late. Imagine that.” Jongdae whispers because the professor has just started his powerpoint. Jongdae is a lot of things, but he’s not one of those obnoxious people who show up to class only to talk and joke with their friends loudly. He has more respect than that.

“Come on, you’ve known me long enough to know I’m only on time to this class most of the time purely by chance and a of good luck.” Baekhyun mutters, but all Jongdae can think about is the fact that, no he’s not known Baekhyun long enough. “But, my of good luck has vanished. Since Kris moved out of the dorms and my new roommate is Zitao - bless that boy, seriously - I’ve been noteworthily more tardy. Where Kris used to wake me up if I miraculously didn’t hear my alarm, Zitao simply sleeps through it, claiming some ‘Thoreau wouldn’t want you to wake up with such a societal reason.’ bull.”

“Hey, no hating on Zitao; he’s my good friend, man. Though he’s annoyingly hipster with his philosophy major, he means well, right? Trying to make you less tense, which you probably need, haha.” Jongdae snickers.

Baekhyun looks a little surprised, and Jongdae can’t really understand why he should be. “You know Zitao? Hm, somehow this doesn’t surprise me now that I think about it; you’re also friends with the other Chinese exchange students aren’t you? And, of course I mean nothing mean by it; it’s just such a shock that I don’t have someone there to get me up like I used to, you know.” Baekhyun takes out his note-taking supplies and looks in the direction of the professor to show that the two of them are indeed paying attention. It’s always Baekhyun who’s thinking two steps ahead, Jongdae thinks.

“Yeah, Yixing and Luhan are my friends. You’d think I’d be beyond fluent in Mandarin by this point. Have you ever talked to them?”

While taking notes (which Jongdae should be doing), Baekhyun replies, “No, I haven’t. The only remotely Chinese person I knew before Zitao - who I don’t really know, honestly - was Kris, and really, he’s Canadian, so he only sorta counts.”

Jongdae chuckles under his breath and finally starts to take notes like the good student he is. It’s honestly a shame Baekhyun and he don’t have more mutual friends; the only friends the two of them of them share are Kris and Chanyeol, and if you count Jongdae being neighbors with Sehun and Jongin (and therefore, him and Minseok making sure that they have enough food, attend their classes, and go to bed at a reasonable hour), you can include the two of them too. And now that Zitao is Baekhyun’s roommate, maybe he’s on the list too. But somehow, Jongdae doesn’t see Baekhyun and Zitao hanging out extensively outside of their dorm room (as he doesn’t really hang out with Jongin or Sehun all that often either, unlike Baekhyun who seems to be with them constantly). He’s not sure why they revolve in completely different social circles; it just happened that way, he supposes.

The rest of the class passes by rather uneventfully, and when it’s finished, Baekhyun rushes out (to do what, Jongdae doesn’t know), and tells him that he will see him during next Tuesday’s class. Jongdae wants to stop him so badly, stop him from rushing off and finally ask him on a date like he’s wanted to do since his first lecture sitting beside him in Fashion and Power, but he doesn’t.

And he has to ask himself if he ever will.

And when he does that, he gets depressed.

And, what better thing to do when you’re depressed than…. See what Kris hyung is doing! Maybe if he thinks I look ultra pitiful today, he’ll buy me lunch. Yeah, that sounds good. Jongdae thinks.

-

On his way back to his dorm, Jongdae pulls out his phone and calls Kris.

“Hello?” Kris answers.

“Hey, man! What are you doing? I really wanted to talk to you, and I was hoping we can go out for lunch, maybe. Are you busy?”

On the other end of the line, Kris has just agreed to meet with Baekhyun after he called him in a state distress, saying this was the fifth time in the last two weeks he was late to a class and how it was all his fault for not being there to make sure he was awake and functioning. Kris, not really feeling bad but more so not wanting to deal with Baekhyun’s wrath, said the two could get lunch together; Baekhyun said he had some things he had to tell him, and Kris tried to not let his overwhelming excitement of the thought of Baekhyun complaining about something/someone for two hours convey over the phone call.

Feeling bad that he has to turn Jongdae down (because somewhere in his mind he knows at least one of them is going to talk about the other, and perhaps that wouldn’t make for a good lunch), he says, “Sorry, dude. I wish you had called earlier; I’ve already made plans for lunch, but maybe we can get dinner? Sorry; maybe you can go talk to Zitao.”

Jongdae cringes as he climbs the stairs to his dorm. “I can already imagine Zitao’s response to what I need to tell you about: something about how I need to “analyze the three natures of love.” Jongdae says the last bit in an overly accented voice, hoping to express how it sounds just like Tao, in his opinion.

Just what I thought; of course he was going to talk about Baek. “Hmm, maybe if you’d take all the advice Zitao says to heart, you wouldn’t be in this predicament, now would you?”

“No, I’d be in a worse one. Where Byun Baekhyun hates me and thinks I’m a creep.”

Kris laughs at that because, no, he highly doubts Baekhyun could ever hate Jongdae. Seriously. “Whatever man, wallow in your self pity until six and I guess I’ll treat you to dinner. I got to go, see you later.”

Jongdae feels at least a little better; after all, he is getting free dinner from Kris, which means it’s not going to be that cheap like if Chanyeol bought it.

He’s climbed the last step when he sees Sehun leaving his dorm. After all these months of making sure the youngins across the hall from him get to class on time, Jongdae thinks that he knows their schedules, so he’s surprised to see Sehun walking in a daze towards the elevator.

“Sehunnie! Where are you going? Doesn’t your class start in, hmm, two hours?”

Sehun doesn’t even look stunned by his presence or the fact that Jongdae probably know his schedule better than he does himself; he simply looks over in his direction and says, “The Chinese philosophy guy said yesterday during our Nature of Values lecture that he’d treat me to lunch, and how would I reject free food.”

Jongdae is beyond flabbergasted. Zitao, Zitao can ask someone out to lunch, but he can’t?

“Sehun, his name is Zitao. You’re going to lunch with a guy whose name you don’t even know. Wait, since when have you taken a ‘Nature of Values’ class anyway?” Now that Jongdae thinks about it, even the name of the course has Zitao written all over it.

“Hmm, yeah that’s him! I think he told me to just call him Tao though…. Look it’s too early in the morning to be worrying about things like that. Hyung, I’ve been in the class all semester. I actually do considerably well, thanks to Tao, in fact.”

“Dude, it’s nearly 11; that’s not too early. Anyway, okay, so you take a philosophy class… Are you a philosophy major? I swear I’ve been wondering about your major since the beginning of last term.”

Sehun smiles mischievously and pushes the elevator’s button. “Sorry to cut this short hyung, but I’ve got to be across campus in fifteen minutes!” By then, the elevator has risen, and Sehun jumps in and closes the doors in a rush.

If Jongdae didn’t know any better, he would assume Sehun has something to hide. Is the boy even enrolled, or is he freeloading in Jongin’s dorm? Jongdae wonders.

And it’s then that Jongdae realizes even if had wanted to talk to Zitao, now he can’t. And though he probably wasn’t going to call him in the first place, he still feels a little hurt that two of his friends have plans with other people, and he does not.

-

Jongdae has one last class before he can go to dinner with Kris: Keyboard Skills, also known as the class where you could probably play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in an odd key and still pass.

Seeing as the class is “based off the individual”, the professor is hardly in the room when the music majors have class, which leads to a lot of down time spent talking with one another. It’s how Jongdae managed to meet the other music majors - Luhan, Chanyeol, and Yixing - who he now considers are his best friends (give or take a few like Kris, Minseok, and Zitao).

Where Luhan and Jongdae are performance music majors (even Luhan had a run-in with Minseok about the importance of specifying the type of music major), Yixing is a songwriting music major, and Chanyeol is a “contemporary writing and production” music major; Jongdae’s pretty sure Chanyeol chose that purely because he wants to seem smarter with such a large major title. In retrospect, it’s a coincidence that all of them ended up in the same class seeing as they mostly have different specific majors, not that Jongdae’s complaining.

It’s fifteen minutes into class and Chanyeol has already abandoned the keyboard (oh the irony) for his guitar; Luhan has taken out his phone to text Minseok probably, and Yixing is actually the only one playing on the keyboard. That is until Jongdae started speaking, and everyone stopped what they were doing to catch up on their daily dose of “Woe is Me” by Kim Jongdae.

“Guys, listen up!” Jongdae begins, “Did you know that Zitao is now rooming with Baekhyun? I mean, I know that Kris was rooming with his last term and all, and if I had really made an effort I could have talked to him more by being at their dorm, but now I think I’m more ready! And Zitao could just invite me over one day, and bam! Baekhyun will magically have more of me in his life. And then I can ask him out, and god it will just be perfect. I just realized this plan when I went home after my class with Baek this morning.”

Luhan looks warily over at him. “Jongdae, did you get enough sleep? You’re spitting nonsense, saying you’re actually going to approach Baekhyun.” Everyone cackles, and Jongdae sneers at him in return.

“I got plenty of enough sleep, thank you very much! I’m serious guys! Aren’t you proud that I’m actually going to talk to him? You won’t have to hear me complain about not having him; you’ll get to hear me never shut up about me and him doing cute couple or whatever.”

Luhan doesn’t look convinced. “Dude, this is a two hour course; maybe you should just rest for a bit. You sound like you need it, with the way you just keep denying the truth and all.” The rest of them laugh even louder.

“Someone has to believe I’m ready to make a move on him! Yixing, you’re my favorite hyung, you know!” Jongdae gives Yixing puppy eyes, but then frowns when he notices Yixing has returned to playing piano like his conversation wasn’t exciting enough to peak his interest.

In fact, it takes a not so subtle knee shove from Chanyeol for Yixing to even realize Jongdae addressed him. “Hm? What did you say?”

“Aiish, nevermind. None of you are good for anything.”

-

It’s 5:25, and Kris told him to meet him at the local ramyun shop that’s famous for it’s special recipe. Jongdae stops by his dorm to drop his school supplies, grab a jacket, and tell Minseok where he’s going, and then he’s on his way.

At 5:50, Jongdae arrives and sees Kris sitting at a table by the window. He smiles and heads over, and once Kris sees him, he smiles that goofy, gummy smile that he has whenever he’s excited.

“Hyung, what’s got you all excited?” Jongdae asks.

“Hm, nothing, just a good day in classes that’s all; my psycholinguistics has become easier since I moved in with Joonmyun - you know he’s a psych major and all. Well, go order what you want so we can talk or whatever. Here’s my card.”

Five minutes after Jongdae has returned with his raymun and Kris’s card in his hands, Kris speaks up first. “So, uh, Jongdae if you wanted someone to go out to eat with you, all you had to do was ask you know. You didn’t have to say you had something to tell me.”

Jongdae looks indignantly at Kris. “I really did want to talk to you about things! What if I told you I was planning to ask Baekhyun out soon?”

Kris looked shocked, and Jongdae wonders why everyone thinks it’s so surprising that he’s finally going to ask this boy out. “Why all of a sudden?”

Jongdae whispers quietly. “No particular reason. I mean, I guess Zitao and him being roommates now has inspired me to do something about my crush.”

Kris continues to look dumbfounded. “You never considered asking him out when he was my roommate. What gives?”

“I don’t know; I just want to do it. Maybe I’ve heard enough of Zitao’s philosophical bull or Yixing’s sappy lyrics to finally make a move.”

“I mean, I’m happy for you. Proud of you, even. Just don’t get nervous, and don’t mess this up.”

Jongdae nods his head at Kris’s advice, and slurps the soup from his raymun bowl. He’ll ask Baekhyun out in four days, after their next class. No big deal. Four days.

-

At 5:30, Baekhyun is at Kyungsoo’s apartment (who is the roommate of Jongdae’s Chinese friend Luhan; he’s surprised he never knew this until sometime last week), and he’s helping Kyungsoo cook the food for their “social gathering” of sorts; really, Baekhyun is providing Kyungsoo with entertainment while sometimes cutting up a few vegetables.

One time for their social gatherings, they left Joonmyun in charge of the cooking, and well, that was a mistake. For that boy to be so motherly over all of them, he certainly doesn’t know how to cook. It’s a good thing we have Kyungsoo, with him being a culinary major, even though he went above and beyond that with a ing double major in business. Nerd. Baekhyun thinks.

After five minutes of actually helping Kyungsoo, he calls up his friends to see who all is coming tonight. First he calls Joonmyun. “Oh, yeah what time will I need to be there? I have cookies!” It’s almost as if Joonmyun can visualize Baekhyun’s grimace through the phone. “They’re store bought, you .”

After that, he calls Sehun, assuming he and Jongin are together. “What, we’re having dinner at Kyungsoo’s? I just had dinner with Zitao!”

Baekhyun replies, “So I take it you’re not with Jongin? And, didn’t you say you were only going out to lunch with him? Dude, he’s my roommate; I don’t want to hear him talking about you in his sleep, gross. I’m hanging up; show up in thirty or don’t show up at all.”

Realizing that he also has to call Jongin now, he does so, and only gets his voicemail; he tries one more time, and voicemail. Giving up, he sends a text to Sehun: if you stop by your dorm before coming or whtvr, tell jongin to get his lazy out of bed.

Finally, he finishes his calls with Chanyeol, who happens to walk through the door of Kyungsoo’s apartment as he answers the call with, “Why are you calling me?”

Soon after Chanyeol, Joonmyun arrives with his store bought cookies. And fifteen minutes after Kyungsoo and Baekhyun (but mostly Kyungsoo) have finished cooking dinner, Sehun rolls in with a sleepy Jongin in tow.

“I would have been here like twenty minutes earlier at least, but I had to ‘get his lazy out of bed.’” Sehun says in the direction of his friends, who are eating in the living area.

“It’s fine; get some food and come join us.” Joonmyun answers.

After ten more minutes of eating in silence, Baekhyun says, “Ugh, I was late to my Music and Media class this morning, all because of your,”  Baekhyun points at Sehun, “lunch-date friend. If Kris hyung hadn’t moved in with you,” now he points at Joonmyun, “maybe I would have shown up on time.”

All of them laugh, typical melodramatic Baekhyun. “I never knew you care so much about punctuality Baek.” Kyungsoo chuckles.

“Hmm… Something tells me it has absolutely nothing to do with arriving on time, right Baek?” Joonmyun questions.

“How dare you accuse me of not being concerned about my on-timely manners!” Baekhyun pretends to be offended.

“Hm, sure. You probably still haven’t gotten over the thing you have for my neighbor.” Sehun mutters.

“Wait so you guys really are neighbors?! Really? How have I never known everyone’s living arrangements until like now! I didn’t know Kyungsoo’s roommate was the Chinese music major Luhan until like last week, seriously.”

“Yes he and his roommate Minseok are the obnoxious neighbors who bang on our door at 7:45 AM.” Jongin says gloomily.

“But, at least they always make sure that we have food. And that we go to class. You know Jongdae didn’t know that I take Nature of Values, even though he basically knows my whole schedule?” Sehun adds.

“Dude, I didn’t know you took a Nature of Values class, and I live with you. So Baekkie, you’ve got a crush on my neighbor, huh?” Jongin says.

“Yeah, but like, I don’t know if he’s even into me? Like, he hasn’t shown any signs that he likes me, so I don’t know. I don’t even know if he’s gay.” Baekhyun huffs.

“Oh, believe me, he’s gay. I have keyboarding with him; you wouldn’t believe some of the gay things he says.” Chanyeol pensively mentions, conveniently excluding the fact that Jongdae does really like Baekhyun. Let them figure it out on their own.

“Well, it’s settled then, Baek. As your friends, we’re going to help you out when it comes to Kim Jongdae.” Joonmyun promises.

“You know what’s funny,” Kyungsoo thinks aloud, “For all of us to never hang out with Jongdae himself - except maybe Chanyeol - we all know someone he’s friends with. Joonmyun lives with Kris; I live with Luhan; Baek, you live with Zitao; Chanyeol has class with him and his friends; those two live across from him. It’s almost crazy the amount of bad luck you have Baek, when all these paths cross, and yet you two still don’t see each other more than twice a week.”

“Ughh, you’re making it worse, not better Kyungsoo! You’re supposed to be helping me.”

“I am helping you! What do you think we’re here for! Let’s craft Operation: Get Baekhyun Laid, You Know, Finally.”

“Sounds go- hey!”

-

It’s Sunday afternoon, two days before Jongdae plans to ask Baekhyun out, and he and Minseok are hanging in their dorm when he tells Minseok about his plan, in the midst of them planning to mess with Jongin and Sehun.

“So, you’re seriously going to ask him out? When?” Minseok asks as he - being the civil engineering major he is - pulls out the blueprints to their dorm hall. They had been wanting to turn off their neighbors’ hot water for weeks, and Minseok just found a way to do so without turning off anyone else’s hot water. Though Jongdae pretended to be the cops to scare the out of Jongin and Sehun yesterday, he doesn’t want the real cops coming after them for a sorta-harmless prank.

“Hm? Oh yeah, don’t laugh at me because I know you’re going to tell me I’m an idiot…. But, um I’m going to ask him out after our Music and Media class?” Jongdae and Minseok leave their dorm to go knock on their neighbors’ door. This is about the time Jongin takes his shower; and Jongdae thinks it would be way more funny if his hot water ran out than if Sehun’s did. Sehun would just have the same stoic face he always does; Jongin would yell at the bare minimum and it would be way more funny.

Before Minseok responds, Sehun opens the door and Jongdae asks him where Jongin is because he was wondering if Jongin knew one of his friends who was in one of his dancing classes. Sehun tells him Jongin just got in the shower, and Jongdae tries not to smile mischievously as he bids Sehun farewell and says he’ll stop by later.

“Why would I tell you you’re an idiot for asking him out after your class? Sounds like a good idea.” Minseok says as the two of them take the elevator down to the boiler room.

“... Eh…. Think about the day my class is on…”

The elevator tings and they run before anyone can notice where they’re going. Minseok doesn’t ask any further questions as he’s too busy figuring out which line goes to Jongin’s room, and when he finally does figure it out, he works his magic, grabs Jongdae by the wrist, and tells him to start running. They catch the elevator going back up, and somehow they managed to get back to their dorm’s door when Jongin is screaming in agony. Jongdae has no idea if they caught the beginning of Jongin’s yelling; he doesn’t know how long it takes for the hot water to run out, and he doesn’t care, honestly. He’s just glad he gets to enjoy shrieks, and he completely forgets about the conversation he and Minseok were having earlier.

-

Sunday night saw Baekhyun and his friends crowding into Chanyeol’s dorm; his roommate Yixing, is, well… Chanyeol’s not really sure where he is; he’s just not in the dorm at the moment, so maybe he’s with Kris or somebody.

All of them - Chanyeol, Jongin, Sehun, Joonmyun, Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun - squish together on Chanyeol’s tiny futon and begin to watch a movie when Jongin remembers something he wanted to tell the group.

“Aiish, Baekhyun, I don’t see how you can like Jongdae, seriously. He’s been on a troll roll this weekend, I swear. First, on Friday, he woke us up at 7:45 by banging on our door. Then yesterday, he woke us at 6 by pretending to be the cops! Not 6 PM, 6 AM; what was he even doing up then? And then today he thought it would be funny if he went who knows where and somehow turned off our hot water while I was in the middle of a shower; and he knew I was taking a shower, that .”

Chanyeol hums, “Sounds like he’s starting early for April Fools this year.”

“Aiish, I just wanted to take a nice shower. And not be scared for my life thinking Sehun had brought something/someone illegal into the dorm that triggered the cops. And not be woken up way too early, especially when my class was at 10, and he knew that!”

“Hey, if anyone’s bringing in illegal things or people, it’s you, Jongin!” Sehun defends himself.

Kyungsoo, completely ignoring his two younger friends bickering, asks, “When is April Fools?”

Joonmyun answers, “Tuesday. Be careful Chan, don’t you have a class with him Tuesday? Be wary of anything he does.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes go wide. “Don’t you have your Music and Media class on Tuesday, Baek?”

“Yeah, so?”

Joonmyun looks anxious. “Well, if he’s going to mess with Jongin - who frankly, he doesn’t really know all that well - what makes you think he’s not going to mess with you? Kris told me when he first moved in to not be alarmed if a smoke or stink bomb went off in our apartment, because it would probably be Jongdae. What? Not to be alarmed? What, is he crazy? Aigoo…. Point is, we all know Jongdae is a prankster, or a ‘troll’ as Jongin says. Just be on the watch for him trying to pull one over you, Baek.”

Baekhyun considers what all of them said. “Okay, okay; I won’t let my guard down. I’ll be careful. Can we get back to the movie, please?”

They nod their heads and turn back to face the movie, and though Baekhyun considers what they said earnestly, he doesn’t see Jongdae turning his hot water off or pretending to be a police officer, or even throwing a stink bomb in his direction, so he’s honestly not too worried about Tuesday.

-

Jongdae wakes up way too early on Tuesday morning, and he certainly knows why.

Today’s the day he’s going to ask Baekhyun out. (Today also happens to be April Fools.)

Trying extra hard to look good today, Jongdae spends more than thirty-five minutes on his hair (yes, he woke up that early), ironed his clothes that he picked out the night before, and he even added jewelry to the mix: he’s wearing the blue plaid button down (that Baekhyun complimented him on one day) with a graphic tee underneath, a dark wash pair of jeans, some high tops, some rings that would make Baekhyun jealous, and of course, a snap back.

Thinking he looks good (and not wanting to waste time letting himself become fickle), Jongdae quietly leaves his room. He once again bangs on his neighbors’ door, with reason this time as Sehun has an early class on Tuesdays. That doesn’t prevent the “Go to hell, Jongdae.” Jongdae can hear as he passes their room to go to the elevator, and Jongdae chuckles at Jongin’s raspy shout.

-

Naturally, Jongdae got to his class thirty minutes before he usually does, so he just waits outside for a little bit before going inside to take a table for him and Baekhyun.

Baekhyun doesn’t show up on time to this lecture either, but Jongdae doesn’t care because when he drops in his chair ten minutes after the start of the lecture, he tells him that he looks nice, and he smiles, looks at Baekhyun, and tells him the same thing. Baekhyun smiles brightly for all of two seconds, until he suddenly starts frowning. Weird, Jongdae thinks.

As always with Music and Media, the class passes uninterestingly, but by the end of the lecture, Jongdae’s nerves are so shaky that Baekhyun notices and asks him if he is all right. Smooth, Jongdae, smooth, he thinks to himself.   

When the lecture lets out, Jongdae grabs Baekhyun’s forearm and asks him if he can talk with him outside. Baekhyun looks nervous, but agrees. When they get outside, Jongdae takes them to stand underneath a cherry tree - because he knows how much Baekhyun loves them - and then he says, “Look, I know this may sound crazy and all…. But um….” Jongdae’s words constrict in his throat.

“What, Jongdae? Just say it.”

Jongdae swallows. “Um… So I think you’re really awesome, right? And this is my unawesome way of asking you out?”

Baekhyun just looks at him, disgusted. “Are you serious? Why, all of a sudden do you think I’m so awesome, Jongdae? Dammit, I should have listened to my friends. I really thought you weren’t the that everyone says you are, but, you think I’m a joke, that this is a joke? Whatever, Jongdae. No, I won’t go out with you.”

Jongdae looks astonished, because no, this is not how this was supposed to happen. Baekhyun was supposed to say yes, and he would turn around and grab a cherry blossom and put it in his hair and it would be perfect. Except that Jongdae’s a ing idiot for thinking Baekhyun could like him. “Haha, you caught me, April Fools.” Before he can even see Baekhyun’s disappointed face, Jongdae takes off running, small tears streaming and all. A few people try to stop him and ask if he’s alright, but no he’s not alright, thanks.

When he steps out of the elevator with his head down, Jongin has just left his dorm and begins telling him how he’s been an lately, only causing Jongdae to think of Baekhyun, and therefore causing him to start crying. Jongin notices the teardrops falling from his face and at first thinks he said something offensive and was about to apologize with “Dude, I was just kidding! What’s the matter?”, but Jongdae runs to his dorm, opens the door quickly, and slams it before Jongin can even consider checking up on him.

Jongin tries to not think more of it when he enters the elevator to head to his next class, even as he hears Jongdae’s wretched howls, and he can’t help but to wonder what’s causing him to sob that loudly.

-

After Jongdae took off running, Baekhyun was left to deal with the commotion surrounding him; apparently, it’s a big deal to everyone that he just turned down an .

Baekhyun began walking to his dorm, and was about to call one of friends and boohoo to them about how they were right, when a thought came to him. Of all April Fools pranks that Jongdae would pull on him, why would he ask him out? He turned off Jongin’s hot water because he probably knows how much the boy loves his showers, so why wou-

Wait a minute.

Wait a ing minute.

Jongdae had to know about his crush on him; of course he would! How else would he know that asking him out on April Fools would be a good joke? But, how did he know?

Kris.

Chanyeol.

, Baekhyun thinks, I swear if one of those idiots let it slip to Jongdae that I like him…

Baekhyun then decides to turn around, because he really doesn’t want to see Zitao yet, with him being friends with Jongdae and all. Instead, he heads to Joonmyun’s apartment, in hopes that 1. Kris won’t be there because he’s not ready to face him yet if he was the one who told Jongdae and 2. Joonmyun won’t ask any questions and will just let him live in his apartment forever, or at least until his sadness goes away, aka never.

-

Minseok returned from his midday class to find Jongdae in a state of altered consciousness on their couch, from what he’s not quite sure, but he’s hoping he didn’t open the bottle of Bokbunja because he’s been saving that for Luhan’s birthday.

As he approaches Jongdae, he doesn’t smell Bokbunja (for which he is very thankful), but he does notice the dullness in his stare, the paleness of his face, and the red rings below his eyes. If Minseok had any guess, Jongdae cried himself into silence.

Jongdae is so unaware of his surroundings that when Minseok turns off the TV, and throw his backpack on the ground, and grab a cup of water, he still hasn’t moved or even acknowledged that Minseok is there.

After Minseok finished his glass of water, he became concerned for Jongdae, because this is incredibly unlike him. When he walks over towards his roommate, he stands in front of him, and when he receives no action, he shakes his shoulders and says, “Jongdae-ah, what are you doing? You’re just staring off into space! Hyung is home; we can go mess with the twerps, or go get some pizza, or watch a movie or something. Jong-”

Jongdae finally looks up at Minseok, and wow he wasn’t expecting for him to start crying. “Jongdae, did I say something wrong? Dude, what’s up with you to-”

Jongdae chokes as he tries to speak and cry at the same time, and Minseok take a seat beside him, pulls him into his chest, and rubs his back. After a minute of this, Jongdae starts, “Baek-” sniffle, “said no,” he coughs out a cry, “because he thinks…” Jongdae takes a breath, “He thinks I asked him…” sniffle, “as a joke.” He starts wailing, and Minseok realizes that’s probably all he’s going to get out of Jongdae.

“Jongie, did he say why he thought you were joking with him?” Minseok starts massaging his shoulders to relieve some tension.

“Minseokie, the date… It’s the day… That’s why….” Minseok didn’t really understand what he meant, until, it just hit him.

It’s Tuesday. Tuesday, April First. April Fools.

Dammit Jongdae, how could you even think this was a good idea? How did I not realize your plan before you asked him?

Minseok looks down at Jongdae, who has now burrowed himself in Minseok’s neck, sadly, and he whispers little sweet nothings and coos of “It will be alright. It will all work out.” into Jongdae’s ear. Jongdae soon falls asleep on his shoulder, and Minseok goes into their shared bedroom to grab a pillow and a blanket.

For Jongdae’s sake (and his own), he really does hope it all works out.

-

When Baekhyun arrived unannounced at Joonmyun’s apartment, he knew something was wrong immediately, especially by the way Baekhyun gave short, undetailed responses as to why he was there, or what he was doing.

Joonmyun opened the door widely to let Baekhyun in, and the first thing the boy did was crash on his couch and start sniffling. Joonmyun got a glass of juice and some crackers for Baekhyun, and he laid the objects on the coffee table in front of Baekhyun.

He then moved to sit beside him and asked him what was wrong. Baekhyun, from sadness or from eating, choked, and Joonmyun decided - being on his way to his doctorate in psychology - that questions were not appropriate now; making sure Baekhyun was comfortable and safe was all that mattered at the moment. He’s sure Baekhyun will tell him what’s wrong eventually.

Baekhyun laid his head in Joonmyun’s lap as he nibbled on a cracker, and it was five minutes later that Joonmyun didn’t hear the sound of crunching; Baekhyun had fallen asleep.

Joonmyun allowed Baekhyun to stay there, even when Kris came in from his class fourty-five minutes later, yelling from the door to see if Joonmyun was there. Joonmyun shushed him, and as Kris walked into their living area to ask why, he saw Baekhyun asleep in his lap and he mouthed, “Why?” Joonmyun shrugged his shoulders, lifted Baekhyun’s head and laid it on one of their quilts lying on the couch, and went over to Kris to see if he had even the slightest of information. When he shook his head no, the two moved into the kitchen to begin to cook lunch. (Even though it felt like dinnertime to Joonmyun, it was only about 12:15 when they started cooking).

After they finished cooking and began eating, Baekhyun woke up, looked around wondering where he was, and when his eyes spotted Kris, he sneered.

He stood up and stretched, then he walked over to the dining table where Joonmyun and Kris were sitting. “Thanks for letting me come over Joonmyun, I appreciate it. Hmm, Kris, would you happen to know why I’m over here?”

Kris looks puzzled. “... No, I asked Joonmyun, and he doesn’t know why you’re over here either.”

“Kris don’t word it like that; it makes it seem like I mind th-”

“So, you have no idea why I cried on my way here? No idea why I was so forlorn?” Baekhyun retorts.

“Seriously, I have no idea what you’re talking about Baek. What’s going on?”

“So, you’re telling me you had no part in Jongdae asking me out today?” Baekhyun is seething in rage.

“Why are you angry about that, Baekkie? That’s a good thing!” Joonmyun smiles.

“Don’t you realize what ing day it is? He’s the troll master, and it’s April Fools’ Day. That asked me out on April Fools’ Day, and you’re telling me you had absolutely nothing to do with it, Kris?” Baekhyun begins to shed a few tears, but he wipes them away before the others notice, he hopes.

Both Kris and Joonmyun were so dumbfounded, they were speechless. “.... Baek, you have to believe I’d have nothing to do with that. Hell, I haven’t even talked to Jongdae since Friday night when he said… Oh . Oh my God, I’m going to kill him.”

Now it’s Baekhyun’s turn to look discomposed. “What? What did he say? What do you mean?”

Kris shakes his head. “It has nothing to do with you Baek. Jongdae was just being dumb and said some things that in retrospect… I still don’t see him doing this, not intentionally. Anyway, what are you accusing me of being involved with, Baek?”

Baekhyun was so lost in thought he didn’t realize he was being addressed until Joonmyun and Kris were staring at him expectantly. “Huh, did you ask something?”

“Kris asked what you were accusing him of doing.”

“... I mean, now it seems sorta ridiculous…. But, um, I thought you had told Jongdae that I had a crush on him, so he could pull a joke on me.” Baekhyun looks down at shoes.

“Baek, I would like to think that you know me better than that; I’d never tell Jongdae anything like that. That still doesn’t explain why you’re here though. Why aren’t you at your dorm?”

“I couldn’t stand the thought of having to see one of his friends. What if Zitao takes his side, and thinks I’m the fool? I can’t handle that yet.”

“Baek, I can assure you Zi-”

“Baekkie, if you need to stay here for right now, that’s fine. Right Kris?” Joonmyun sweetly says.

“I mean, yeah, I guess, but eventually he needs to-”

“It’s settled then, Baekkie, why don’t you stay at least until dinner?”

Baekhyun looks up from his shoes to give Joonmyun the brightest smile, and he then grabs some of the food the two prepared for lunch, and joins them at the dining table.

-

Later that same night, when Minseok went into the kitchen to order takeout - that’s the first time since he got home that he’s left Jongdae by himself for more than two minutes - Jongdae checks his phone to see that he has eleven missed calls and four text messages. Four of those calls are from Chanyeol wondering where he was for class, five from Luhan and Yixing wondering the same thing, one from Zitao asking if he’s seen Baekhyun (he quickly deletes that message), and one from Kris, saying for him to check his texts.

The first text was, surprisingly, from Jongin.

Dude, are you alright? You ran away from me before I could even ask.

The next is from Luhan.

Man, I miss you in keyboard! We didn’t get to hear your “Woe is Me” about Baekhyun! Have you asked him out yet? (He quickly deletes this one too)

The next two are from Kris.

Dude, you’re ing dead. What the hell did you do.

Where are you? I can’t believe you rn.

Quite the mood lifter, Kris. Jongdae thinks.

Minseok returns from the kitchen saying that the takeout will be here in fifteen minutes or so. Jongdae just whines, and Minseok returns to cuddling him on the couch.

When the doorbell rings, Minseok goes to get it, and he returns with the food. He places the boxes of various types of chicken and rice on the coffee table and tells Jongdae to dig in as he has first dibs. (Though first dibs usually goes to the guy who paid for the food, Minseok really just wants to see that Jongdae has eaten something today, because so far, he hasn’t seen him consume anything other than the glass of water he brought him two hours ago.)

Jongdae piles food on a paper plate and finishes in a hurry, while Minseok is still pouring himself something to drink.

After Minseok finishes his food, the takeout lies forgotten on the coffee table as the two idly watch some movie. A third of the way into the movie, Jongdae falls asleep in his arms, and the two of them sleep on the couch for the rest of the night.

-

Baekhyun eventually does return to his dorm, after curfew. He’s hoping that Zitao has already went to bed without him being there, and for once that day, he has a of luck as all the lights are turned out. Baekhyun falls into his own bed at 2:13 AM, and even if he had classes later on, he wouldn’t go to them because he’s so tired.

When he wakes up later that morning, he’s surprised to see that Zitao has laid a glass of water and two pills on the nightstand with a note that reads:

Just in case you were out last night doing things that would cause you to need these. (｡･･｡) - Zitao

Baekhyun takes a sip of the water, and, realizing that it’s still cold, he wonders if Zitao is in the dorm; after all, he also doesn’t have classes on Wednesday. Sure enough, he walks out into the living area and sees him on the floor reading some large text. He clears his throat and Zitao looks over at him and smiles.

“Hey, rough night? I have breakfast in the kitchen if you want anything.” Zitao says.

“Um, thanks a lot.” As he moves to the kitchen to get some breakfast - pancakes and orange juice, how sweet of Zitao to think of him so much this morning - Zitao asks him, “So I know you’re not best friends with him and all, but have you talked to Jongdae?” Baekhyun nearly chokes on the bit of pancake in his mouth, and decides it’s best not to eat until Zitao stops talking and he’s safely in the living area. “I tried calling him to see if he had seen you yesterday, but he never responded.”

Baekhyun feigns ignorance about anything involving Jongdae yesterday. “No, I haven’t seen him since our class yesterday.” Baekhyun says, which is true, he supposes.

“I’m just worried about him, I guess. I called Sehun too because I wanted to see how he was doing after our lunch date on Friday, but also because I wanted him to go check on Jongdae since they’re neighbors and all. He said that he knocked on the door but no one answered; he also told me that Jongin saw him crying yesterday, and that before he could ask what was wrong, he ran into his dorm room. This is so unlike Jongdae; it’s really concerning.”

Why would he be crying? Baekhyun wondered.

“Sorry, Zitao. I’m glad to see you care about your friend so much, I just, I have no information, alright?”

“That’s fine man; I didn’t expect you to know anything. I’ll see if Kris knows anything.” Zitao stands and places his book on the floor. “Look, if Jongdae comes by here, though I doubt he will, please tell him I’ve been worrying about him, okay? I’m heading out; Sehunnie said he’d take me out for bubble tea, so I’m going to meet him. See ya. And Baekhyun,” Zitao pauses.

“Yes?”

“I may not know what’s going on, or why you came in so late last night, but on behalf of the truth of philosophy, I encourage you to-”

“God, don’t give me a philosophy speech, Taozi. I’m fine, really. Thanks for everything. Have fun on your da- whatever you’re having with Sehunna.” Baekhyun snickers.

After Zitao leaves, Baekhyun turns on the stereo, grabs his textbook, and begins taking notes. He’s in the perfect note-taking mood until the doorbell disturbs him at 1:30. Wow, I’ve been studying for nearly three hours?

Thinking it’s Zitao who has somehow forgotten his key (he’s done it more than once), Baekhyun slowly gets up to go answer the door; Zitao can wait a few extra seconds, Baekhyun thinks. Before he can even make it to the door, it is opened by none other than Kris. Why does he still have a key to this place?

When Baekhyun takes a good look at Kris, he notices that Kris looks considerably out of breath. “What are you doing here?” Baekhyun questions.

Kris takes in three large breaths, then he answers, “Look, I’m going to need you to not talk while I explain some things to you, okay? Promise not to talk at all?” Baekhyun looks skeptical, but Kris doesn’t look like he’s in the waiting mood, so he leads both of them to sit on the two ends of the couch.

“Okay, so about yesterday,” Kris begins, and Baekhyun groans.

“Seriously, no interruptions Baek. I’m trying to fix stupid mistakes. Okay, so I don’t deny that Jongdae is a Class A idiot. After yesterday, he succeeded in proving that to me. He’s so much of an idiot that I’m here to explain what he should be explaining, but he’s dumb so here I am.”

Baekhyun looks unamused, but lets Kris continue. “But that’s not the point. The point is, Jongdae really likes you Baek,” Baekhyun scoffs, and Kris just sends him a glare powerful enough to shut him up. “I’m being serious. I don’t think you understand how much I’ve had to hear about how precious you are, or how you’re so cute, or what you did this day that made Jongdae laugh, etc. I’m not the only one who knows this either; ask Chanyeol, or ask Zitao. They know.” Kris stops to take another breath.

“I didn’t want to tell you - and that goes for Chanyeol and Zitao as well - because I didn’t feel like it was my place; all the same, I never told him that you liked him. I was hoping you two would figure it out.” Baekhyun snorts at that, because obviously, the two of them didn’t just figure it out.

“As it would happen, Jongdae was apparently planning to ask you out since Friday. Luhan told me that during their keyboarding class, Jongdae said that he was going to ask you out, but none of them believed him and just tossed the idea to the side. He and I went out for raymun later that night, which I vaguely mentioned yesterday when I said it didn’t concern you, and well now it does I guess. I wasn’t going to tell you this either in hopes that he would at least come talk to you, but I somehow doubt he’d do that even in five or more days, so I thought I’d go ahead and end both your and his misery.”

Baekhyun is intensely staring at Kris because is he serious? He’s telling him that his crush, who asked him out on April Fools’ Day, actually likes him? Too crazy.

“When we went out for raymun, he told me that he was planning to ask you out, and I asked him what inspired him to do so. He didn’t really give a legit answer, so I didn’t think much of it, and bam, he became the inner idiot we all knew he was and asked you out on April Fools’ Day.”

“Now, I’m not saying that what Jongdae did is justified because he really does like you. I’m certainly not saying that. What I am saying is that I just came from his dorm, and he is a mess because he thinks you hate him, and that he’s a up, and all this other . While I was there, I cleared up some parts of the puzzle about this whole thing. He told me why he chose yesterday of all days to ask you out, and well, that’s for you to find out. You need to go see Jongdae; I know you still like him Baek; don’t even try to deny it. And he, well he’s head over heels for you. The ball is in your court now Baek; don’t screw it up more than it already is.”

With that, Kris stands up, gives Baekhyun a hug, and walks towards the door. Just as he hears the door open, Baekhyun says, “Thanks Kris, I appreciate you coming over here. I’ll go see him sometime today, I guess.” Kris smiles his gummy smile, though Baekhyun can’t see it, and says “Anytime Baek. I’m holding you to your words though; if you’re not over there by 10 PM, I’ll personally come over here to you. We on the same page?”

Baekhyun laughs. “Yeah, I got you. You can leave now Kris, haha.” After he hears the door close, Baekhyun rushes to his closet because hello, there’s a cute boy wallowing in his own misery who happens to like him back and of course he wants to go fix this whole stupid situation right now, because he’d rather be kissing Jongdae than sorta-not-really hating him.

-

Though Baekhyun said he was ready to “fix this whole stupid situation right now”, he ended up being really delayed. Firstly, he couldn’t decide on what to wear; even if what Kris said was true (about Jongdae being a mess), Baekhyun still didn’t want to show up not as fantastic as he usually is whenever Jongdae sees him. It took him thirty minutes, half of that spent searching through Zitao’s drawers because he’s sure Zitao won’t mind him taking a cardigan if it’s for a good cause, to find something presentable, in his opinion.

After that, he realized he didn’t want to go to Jongdae’s dorm hungry because what if he’s there for a long time and he doesn’t have anything good to eat? Therefore, he spends a little more time picking at the breakfast Zitao prepared, and he thinks to himself, no I’m certainly not procrastinating. Nope.

Finally, after he spent ten minutes searching for his keys to his dorm, Baekhyun closes the door and rides the elevator down to the front exit when he realizes that he doesn’t know where Jongdae lives.

In retrospect, he probably should have asked Kris that before he left; oh well, too late now.

Baekhyun takes out his phone and calls Sehun, and after he only gets his voicemail, he realizes that somehow, more than four and a half hours after Zitao left his dorm, Sehun and he are probably still out and about sipping on bubble tea. How endearing.

Baekhyun then tries calling Jongin, but when he only gets his voicemail as well, he thinks he’s probably sleeping.

Another thirty minutes is wasted with Baekhyun trying to get directions or at least an address to Jongdae’s dorm. Finally, Kris answered the phone after he called him no less than seven times.

Realizing it wasn’t that far from where he lived, Baekhyun walked to Jongdae’s dorm and arrived twenty minutes later. Baekhyun rocks back and forth on his feet outside Jongdae’s door, because wow, he’s already here, and he doesn’t know if he’s ready for this.

As Baekhyun was in deep thought, he didn’t realize the door on the other side of the hall opened, and Jongin stepped out. Jongin walks over to Baekhyun and moves his mouth close to his ear and says, “Baek, what are you doing here?”

Baekhyun jumps a good two inches and turns around to glare at Jongin. “What the hell? Oh god, it’s you Jongin. You scared me.” Baekhyun places a hand over his chest.

“Hmm, still doesn’t answer my question, Baek.”

Baekhyun sighs. “Okay, so maybe I’m here to see Jongdae? Um, but maybe now’s not the best time… Yeah, maybe I’ll come back tomorrow. What are you doing? I tried calling you earlier, but you didn’t answer.”

Jongin looks unamused. “I was in the shower preparing to go to Joonmyun’s.”

“Why wasn’t I invited?”

Jongin laughs. “Kris said you had other things to worry about than hanging out with all of us tonight.”

“That .”

“Yeah? Well, I’ll see you Baek. Good luck with Jongdae.”

Before Baekhyun can respond with “I think I’ll tag along with you and come see him tomorrow,” Jongin bangs on Jongdae’s door and yells, “Yo Jongdae; come out here! Don’t you dare ignore me! Minseok if you hear this, it’s important that you answer this door!”

With that, Jongin takes off running to the elevator, and when Baekhyun hears the elevator ding, Jongdae’s door opens and a voice begins saying, “What is it Jongin? Minseok is studying and would really apprec-” He cuts himself off when he looks up and sees that it’s not Jongin in front of him.

“Um, hey Jongdae, can we talk?” Baekhyun says nervously.

Jongdae, still speechless, nods and motions for Baekhyun to enter his dorm. Baekhyun is honestly surprised by how tidy the place is and assumes it’s all his roommate’s doing.

“Jongie, what did the twerp want? If he’s asking about his hot water, tell him we had noth-” Minseok looks up from his textbook and has a similar reaction as Jongdae when he realizes it’s not Jongin who was at the door.

“Um, hello? I don’t think we’ve met before, but, um, I’m Minseok Jongdae’s roommate. And you are…” Minseok rises from the couch to stand in front of the pair.

“I’m Byun Baekhyun.” Minseok’s eyes widen, and he looks at Jongdae while strangely moving his eyes towards the door.

“Okay, nice to meet you Baekhyun. I wish I could stay Jongdae, but I’m afraid Luhannie and I were planning to have a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon tonight, and I still need to pick up the popcorn…. So, um, I’ll just go.” Minseok slides past the pair and leaves the dorm quickly.

“So I guess you can take a seat, or stand, or whatever you want.” Jongdae says as he sits down on the loveseat, and Baekhyun sits beside him. Jongdae tries not to shiver from nervousness at their close proximity.

“Um, I suppose I should start this by telling you that Kris told me most of the story.” Jongdae, who was looking in the opposite direction of Baekhyun, whips his head around to look at Baekhyun directly.

“Oh, uh, what did he say, exactly?” Jongdae quietly questions.

“Well.. eh… He told me that you really did like me; that wasn’t a joke. And, uh, I’m not sure what this means, but you had been planning to ask me out since last Friday? And, he told me I should ask you why you chose to ask me out yesterday instead of, I don’t know, any other day.”

Jongdae groans. “And, is that all you want to know?”

“Um, yes?” Baekhyun squeaks, “Well, I mean, it would be nice for you to say yourself that you like me, I guess. I don’t think Kris would lie to me, but you know…” Baekhyun fades into silence.

Jongdae takes a breath and tries to keep any tears bubbling from dropping. “Um, so, this is going to sound really stupid, so don’t hate me more than you already do, okay?”

“Jongdae, I don’t hate-”

“Okay? Okay, so I never really got a sign from you that you were into me or that you were gay or anything, but yeah Kris is right I had a major crush on you, and because I’m dumb and fear rejection, I asked you out on April Fools, and in hindsight this really sounds like a dumb idea. What the hell was I thinking?” Jongdae bemoans.

Baekhyun laughs, “Okay, yeah that’s pretty stupid.”

“Just because you don’t return my feelings doesn’t mean you need to laugh in my face.” Jongdae mutters as a single tear slides down his face, and Baekhyun wasn’t expecting that; he seriously thought Jongdae knew he liked him; why else would he be here?

Baekhyun moves forward to wipe his tear away, and at first Jongdae retreats from his touch, but after a few seconds he leans into it. “Jongdae, why else would I be here if I didn’t like you? And don’t pull some ‘to preserve our friendship’ bull, because that’s not it. I like you too Jongdae, and that’s why it really that you chose April Fools of all days to ask me out because I thought you knew that I liked you and wanted to make a joke out of it. You joke with Jongin by waking him up when you know he loves his sleep, or by turning off his hot water when you know he loves his showers, so how was I supposed to know you weren’t going to do the same thing to me, except with my feelings?”

Jongdae giggles cutely, so Baekhyun thinks. “Baek, you and Jongin are not even remotely related with how I think of each of you. Jongin never seems to tell the full story, like how he gave Minseok mayonnaise doughnuts for his birthday, or the multiple times he managed to get in our dorm and cover it in post-its or throw stink bombs, hmm what else has he done recently….”

“Anyway, I had no idea you liked me, until to now.” Jongdae has to stop because he’s smiling too much and it’s starting to hurt. “So, yeah, I never would have made a prank on you on April Fools, well definitely not before really getting to know you. But, I’m sorry that you thought I was trying to pull a joke on you.” Jongdae looks down at his lap.

“Ah, it’s whatever; it’s in the past now. So, um, is it too late to say yes then?”

Jongdae looks confused. “Yes to wha- Oh. Oh. Uh, yes-, I mean no- uh. I mean, yes I still want you to go out with me.”

Baekhyun chuckles and moves closer to Jongdae so now his head is resting on his shoulder. The two of them sit like this for quite some time, so long Baekhyun’s not really sure of the time.

Jongdae stretches a little, and Baekhyun moves over to let him. “So, what’s your plan for tonight? Because, it’s getting kinda dark.” Jongdae asks.

“Hmm, I was wondering when you were going to take me on a date.” Baekhyun replies.

“How about this: you stay over tonight, and I’ll take you out for brunch at your place of choice tomorrow?”

“Wow, you moved from a shy boy who’s afraid to even ask his crush out on a reasonable day, to a suave guy who’s inviting me to ‘stay the night’ at his place. Hmm, what an interesting turn of events.” Baekhyun guffaws.

Jongdae defends himself. “Hey! I wasn’t insinuating that we were going to do anything! I was just suggesting it because I know you love breakfast so much….”

“Hmm,” Baekhyun purrs, “But what if I was hoping we were going to do something?” He then climbs into Jongdae’s lap and looks him in the eyes all of two seconds before leaning forward and taking his lips is a kiss, and Jongdae really has no response because Baekhyun’s lips are on his, and why would he ever want to stop kissing Baekhyun, especially to talk?

-

Kris uses the key in the pot outside their door (who still keeps keys in places like that these days, Kris wonders) to unlock Jongdae’s dorm, and as he walks through the door and yells “Jongdae are you alright? Have you heard from Baekhyun?” he sees the two of them in a passionate make out session with the bare minimal amount of clothing on before reaching pure ness, and with only one second of that burned into his memory forever, he turns right back around and runs out the door.