Baekhyun’s exploring the art history section of the library for the first time when he sees the boy.  He’s beautiful, all chiseled cheekbones and lips curled like he has troves of secrets nobody will ever know.  Right now, though, his eyebrows are furrowed slightly as he leans over an old textbook, fingers repeatedly capping and uncapping a pen with a fervor found in only those who know they’re totally ed for the midterm the next morning.  He doesn’t even look up when Baekhyun accidentally hits his arm on a bookshelf in his awe, and Baekhyun takes that as a blessing from higher powers as he scurries away, knowing he should let his brain process such beauty somewhere he wouldn’t care about embarrassing himself so much.

“But you don’t understand, he’s gorgeous,” Baekhyun groans, rolling around on the carpet.

Yixing chuckles from the bed.  “I believe you, Baekhyun.  Did you talk to him?”

The sound coming from the floor is probably supposed to be words, but to any sane human being, it’d mean nothing.  Thankfully, Yixing’s sat through enough of Baekhyun’s moments of weakness to know that it’s a resounding no.

“There there,” he says, gently tossing a pillow down.

He can’t help but grin when the pillow’s absorbed into Baekhyun’s curled-up form with another sound that vaguely resembles “Thanks.”

They sit for a while longer, Yixing taking the lull in the conversation (he snorts to himself, because Baekhyun only ever talks at him during these situations) to reply to a few messages from people on tinder.  No, I don’t have a phone, sorry, he sends to a particularly crude request for his number.

“Yixing…”

“Yes?”  This guy looks nice, actually…. Those are some assertive eyebrows.

“How…?  Those cheekbones are…?”

“I don’t know, Baekhyun.  Life’s a pain.” Oh my god look at that stuffed alpaca. What a cutie.

A groan of agreement drifts up from the carpet.

Baekhyun’s running late to class (again), and he finds himself taking the stairs two at a time in the Econ/Business building.  He’s just rounding the last corner when he runs straight into someone.

“Shi—.”  It’s him.

“Are you okay?”  Gorgeous looks a little confused, and he has glasses. Oh my god.  Oh—calm yourself, Byun.

“Yeah totally.” So casual. Nailed it.

“Okay, well… bye then?” Beautiful backs away hesitantly, and Baekhyun realizes his face has been frozen for the past few minutes.  He breaks into a blindingly charming smile, and waves brightly at the angel.

It isn’t until he’s alone that Baekhyun realizes with horror how awfully he handled that.  And how late he is to class.

Baekhyun and Yixing are in the dining hall the next night when Baekhyun sees the boy.  He breathes sharply, which alerts Yixing that something’s up.

“Is it him???”  For not the first time, Baekhyun curses Yixing’s perceptivity.  

“No,” he says, and taking hold of Yixing’s elbow, he steers them in the opposite direction of the boy.

Yixing just laughs and pulls his arm away.  He turns around, resisting Baekhyun’s tugs on his sweatshirt, and locates the boy with the sharpest cheekbones.

“You know, he really is pretty cute.”

Baekhyun groans, but he knows there’s no fighting it when Yixing pulls him back.  He stops when they’ve reached the boy’s table.

He looks up at them, and his eyes widen in recognition when he sees Baekhyun.

“Can I help you?”

“My friend Baekhyun thinks you’re really attractive, and you—ow—should at least give him your name—ow, Baekhyun—so he’ll leave me alone.”  Yixing turns to narrow his eyes at a bright red Baekhyun (who looks very betrayed) and leaves.

“...so Baekhyun, he said?”  Baekhyun turns back and gulps.  Those lips look even more dangerous up close.

He nods.

“I’m Jongdae.  Kim Jongdae.  We ran into each other yesterday, right?”

Baekhyun’s feeling a little hysterical, because was that a pun or is he just passive aggressive? Baekhyun nods mutely.

Jongdae laughs.  “You can sit, you know.  I’m not with anyone, and it looks like your friend’s not coming back.”

Baekhyun slips into a chair, mute and aware that this might be the first time anyone’s been able to shut him up without even trying.  It’d be frustrating, but those lips are cute enough to make it okay.

“So… What are you studying?”

As soon as he says it, Baekhyun mentally facepalms at himself.  He can already tell how awkwardly this conversation’s going to go.

Fortunately, his break comes a few minutes later when Jongdae’s phone lights up.  The background is a tree of Gondor, and Baekhyun can’t quite contain his excitement.  

“So… I take it you like Lord of the Rings?” he asks, as soon as Jongdae’s done replying to the text.

“Umm yes, just as any self-respecting person should?” Jongdae replies, eyebrow arching.

“Acceptable answer.”  Baekhyun’s aware that his lips may be stretched slightly more than is healthy, but oh my god the cute boy is a Lord of the Rings fan.

Jongdae laughs.  “I’m glad I have your approval.  Well, I mean, from what your friend said, I already had it—” Baekhyun swears he’s going to murder Yixing so, so painfully, “—but more approval from cute boys never hurts.”  

Wait, “cute boys”?  IS THAT ME.  OH MY GOD.  Baekhyun’s so bewildered that he nearly misses Jongdae’s next words.

“I have to get going to class, but we should talk again sometime.  Here’s my number.  Text me or something, yeah?”  He scrawls a number on a lime green sticky note, and standing up with his things, he presses it onto Baekhyun’s cheek.

Baekhyun makes some kind of affirmative noise, and Jongdae grins, steps away with a wave and a blinding smile that Baekhyun just manages to return with a weak wave.

Baekhyun somehow gets the courage to text Jongdae the next day (read: Yixing steals his phone and texts Jongdae with lots of blushy emojis), and they arrange to get coffee together the next Saturday afternoon.

Of course, Saturday morning, Yixing shows up on Baekhyun’s door with a twinkle in his eye, an extra endearing dip to his dimple, and a very tall, angry-looking man on his arm.

“Umm….”  He doesn’t say it, but Baekhyun’s thinking that he’d kind of not like to be punched through a wall before seeing the most beautiful creature to ever step foot on campus.

“Baekhyun, this is Yifan.  He’s Canadian and very friendly.  Yifan, this is Baekhyun.  He’s small and doesn’t like when people put ketchup on things other than fries.”

Baekhyun just… okay, Yixing.  He opens the door wider and lets them in.

Several hours later, Baekhyun’s walking to the cafe with his hair artfully styled and wearing jeans that were starting to make walking slightly uncomfortable but that Yixing insisted made his thighs look nice (“My thighs always look nice, Yixing, but there’s a difference between looking nice and restricting blood flow.” Cue quiet eye roll from Yifan and amused chuckle from Yixing).

Jongdae’s already sitting with a drink and playing with his phone when Baekhyun arrives.

“Sorry I’m late!  I got caught in something,” Baekhyun says immediately.

“It’s cool, I was just early,” Jongdae says with a smile.  Baekhyun doesn’t swoon.  He doesn’t.  At least not noticeably. 

When he’s bought a drink and sat back down, they start talking, and Baekhyun can’t help but notice the way Jongdae’s eyes scrunch up when he laughs.  He’s so… honestly, “beautiful” is the only word that comes to mind.  The freckles dotting his temple are so perfect and cute, and there’s even something graceful about the way he fiddles with the coffee cup.  But Baekhyun also notices how Jongdae makes sure to leave room for him to talk and maintains eye contact while listening, the way he phrases questions to be more open and unassuming.

Baekhyun’s disappointed when his phone beeps, alerting him that he has to get to a study session, but Jongdae stands with him.

“We should do this again sometime,” he says, and Baekhyun nods eagerly in agreement.  They leave together, and when they split up a few streets later, Baekhyun walks away with a smile teasing at the corner of his lips.

Over the next few weeks, they meet up more frequently, getting lunch together, doing homework in the same corner of the library, and settling into a routine of watching a movie or two every Friday night.

One such night, they’re in Baekhyun’s room, and Jongdae’s draped over Baekhyun’s entire right side.  They’re watching Home Alone, (it’s only early October, but Jongdae’s already looking forward to the holiday season), and Baekhyun loves the warmth emanating from Jongdae’s body, loves the vibrations that pass through them both when Jongdae laughs, loves the way he bunches his hands in Baekhyun’s shirt while yawning.

It’s in a moment of calm when Baekhyun quietly presses a kiss onto the top of Jongdae’s head.  It’s their first kiss, and he’s not entirely sure how Jongdae will take it, especially when he turns to face Baekhyun with an unreadable look in his eyes.

Baekhyun’s just about to apologize when Jongdae leans forward and gently catches his lips in between his own.  He draws away quickly, looking Baekhyun straight in the eye, looking for approval.  When he gets a nod, his lips quirk up before leaning in again.

Kissing Jongdae is, as Baekhyun learns, really, really overwhelming.  Everything’s so warm, and his lips are so soft, and when Jongdae’s fingers reach up to trace his jawline, Baekhyun lets out a tiny sigh.  He feels Jongdae’s grin against the column of his throat, but when Jongdae’s hand, reaching for his thigh, brushes against the front of his pants, he freezes.

Jongdae pulls away abruptly, looking terrified.  

“, Baekhyun?  Are you okay?  I’m sorry, is this too fast?”

Baekhyun takes a deep breath and plucks at the comforter.

“So… umm… maybe I should’ve told you sooner?  I identify as a -repulsed aual, and… I guess I just… please don’t touch me there, basically.”  Baekhyun’s voice is almost at a whisper, and he keeps his eyes glued to his fingers

Jongdae’s silent, and Baekhyun’s so nervous, so afraid this wonderful man will say that he can’t have a relationship without , because he knows that can be really important to other people, and he understands that a couple’s life, or lack thereof, needs to be contingent on both parties’ comfort, and he’d never blame anyone for wanting to pursue another relationship that would be ually fulfill—

“But kissing is okay, right?”  Baekhyun’s thoughts are interrupted by Jongdae’s voice, and he turns to see Jongdae looking at him very uncertainly.  “Because we were kissing this whole time, and I thought you nodded to say you were okay with it, but—”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun says softly.  “Yeah, kissing’s okay.  It’s pretty nice, actually,” he adds, blushing.

Jongdae smiles at that, and he leans forward slowly, leaving Baekhyun time to draw away before intertwining their fingers.

In response to Baekhyun’s questioning eyes, Jongdae whispers, “I don’t need , Baekhyun.  I’d much rather have you, any day of the week.”

Baekhyun swallows.  Blinks.  He sees a level of sincerity in Jongdae’s eyes that leaves his heart pounding.  

“Are you sure?”  He just needs confirmation, a second affirmation so he knows he’s not misinterpreting or mishearing. 

Jongdae smiles and squeezes his hand, making sure to maintain eye contact.

“Yes,” he says firmly.

Baekhyun laughs a little, the tension bleeding from his body.  He reaches out, pulling Jongdae closer again, and Jongdae presses a soft kiss to Baekhyun’s lips before settling back into his side, gaze focused on the television.

“Okay, enough.  Kevin’s about to take a on these idiots, and we can’t miss that.”

Baekhyun pinches Jongdae’s side at that, laughing into his shoulder when he yelps.  They spend the rest of the night like that, falling asleep leaning into each other, Jongdae’s thumb gently rubbing circles into Baekhyun’s palm and Baekhyun’s smile hidden in Jongdae’s hair.

A/N: so... it's been a while... sorry about that... I know I said I'd probably update sometime in August but obvs that didn't quite work out... this came about in a twist of rebellion against The Grind that's been killing me recently... probably not the best way to deal with school/life-related stress, but there you go lol.  I fairly recently figured out I'm ace/maybe aro and I've been really disappointed with the lack of representation on that front, so I felt the need to contribute to it, but this is probably really rough... I didn't really proofread much, sorry^^' Anyway, I hope you've all been well, and if you're still around to read this, thank you!!! much love to you all uwu

(also, I got a twitter so come talk to meeeeee: @serratedpearls)