“Hello?” a deep voice purrs low on the other end of the line.

“I said I love you” Kai mumbles thoughtfully, skipping all pleasantries. He keeps his eyes downcast, focusing on his restless hands, which are fidgeting nervously with the linens of his bed. His body is jumpy, even his calves kick at nothing under the covers every now and then, but the physical twitches can’t rival the way his thoughts chase one after another in his head, ricocheting on the walls of his mind, spinning, tumbling, tangling and dispersing. He couldn’t sleep, quite obviously.

“Aww, I love you too, man” the voice wheezes again and, for a moment, it sounds like it’s carrying a toothy smirk which has its own way of being seductive, but it changes to a growl almost immediately “Why are we loving each other at 2 a.m.?” Kai cringes at how intimidating that growl, deep and laced with sleep, just sounded, and his stomach makes an uneasy maneuver.

“Sorry, I didn’t notice the time” he admits sheepishly, gazing at the closet across from his bed with guilty eyes, although he knows that acting cute to empty air won’t get him anywhere. A deep sigh can be heard on the other side of the line.

“Did you ever in our lifetime of friendship, notice it, Kim Jongin?” Chanyeol notes and Kai is sure a dauntingly raised eyebrow is involved. He thinks back to all the after-proper-hours phone calls he has made to Chanyeol since, well, forever, and he abandons the effort soon because they are too many to count. Touché.

“Were you sleeping?” he asks routinely, while his mind continues to reason that yes, maybe he has deprived Chanyeol of a few years’ worth of sleep over the lengthy course of their friendship, but hey, they are best friends, and who else would he talk through his insomnia and complain about having a fever and brag about his new play station to?

“No; like all people, I was practicing pirouettes at 2 a.m.…” Chanyeol retorts drily and Kai smirks at his friend’s sarcasm, while his mind unmistakably spirals down the path of mental pictures of the way too lanky, never ending limbs that Park Chanyeol consists of dancing ballet. And because that’s how best friends think of each other, any dancing attempt in Kai’s head dead-ends in disaster and soon he is giggling hysterically and soundlessly –which must look kind of creepy –at Chanyeol’s spectacular failure in his thoughts. In Kai’s opinion, Swan Lake is a no go for Chanyeol, unless you need to wipe out half the corps de ballet…

“Will you please now tell me why you called me to exchange declarations of love at this ungodly hour?” Chanyeol brings him back to the topic at hand and Kai clears his throat.

“I didn’t say I love you…” Kai makes a face at his curtains “I said ‘I love you’…to Kyungsoo”

“…”

“Are you still there?” Kai frowns and huffs after a considerable while of silence. “Park Chanyeol, if you have fallen asleep again while I am confessing the current torment of my existence over here, I will come over there and kick you awake if I have to!”

“Yeah, I’m still here” Chanyeol answers dazedly after Kai’s -inappropriate for this hour of the night- yelling and then he clears his throat “Just. Your sentimentality freaks me out sometimes”

“I was-I am pretty freaked out, too, you know!” Kai’s voice leaps involuntarily two octaves higher and he feels his body going into full panic mode again. He sits up on his bed, his legs tossing the sheets, and his eyes widen, staring at the wall as if there hovers a ghost about to murder him, and it’s not friendly like Casper.

How did that even happen? How did he, playboy extraordinaire and notorious bachelor, say ‘I love you’?! He’s not afraid of emotions or anything –he admits his feelings and expresses them regularly to the people who are close to him –but love, in the sense he meant it when he pretty much shouted it to Kyungsoo, is unfamiliar territory. He loves his mother, he loves dancing, he loves Chanyeol; but not that way, it’s never that way.

He could pretend it didn’t happen. It’s something trivial that people say all the time, right? You somewhat care about someone –and he won’t even try to deny that he cares for Kyungsoo– and, at some point, you say it, it slips out, just like that. It’s a cliché thing, a pattern that even teenagers in their first naïve relationships follow. It’s not a big deal.

Theoretically. Because, if you ask him personally, he meant it when he said it. He has no idea how that happened, but he really did mean it. He’s flowered.

“So that’s why you didn’t come to work today…” Chanyeol mumbles, more to himself than to Kai. Of course he didn’t go to work; it took a Harry Potter marathon and two tubs of strawberry ice cream to kick his brain back into gear! (this has been a very abnormal and disturbing experience for him, in case you haven’t noticed that already…) “Okay, so, let’s pretend that this is not the Second Coming and that there is nothing wrong in the fact that the great Kim Jongin said ‘I love you’ to another being, who is his kinda boyfriend, with whom he is almost official. You said it –and, just to make my feelings clear on the matter, I can’t believe we’re discussing this in the middle of the night like teenage girls. What did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything” Kai ignores his friend’s nagging and replays the scene of Kyungsoo leaving in his head, but he can’t remember Kyungsoo saying anything, except for a promise to call him later.

“In my miniscule experience, people tend to respond somehow to such confessions” Chanyeol’s voice sounds muffled, as if he’s talking with his lips glued on a pillow –which is probably the case and let’s hope there won’t be snoring anytime soon because that would mean Kai has to drive all the way to Chanyeol’s house and deliver a promised kick.

“Well, he had to run, so-”

“Wait; he ran? He ran away from you?” he asks pointedly, sounding noticeably more alert than the stages before snoring. Kai feels suddenly flustered, as if Chanyeol’s reaction has somehow transferred to him through the phone, and he shifts his weight on the mattress impatiently as he explains.

“No, he just, you know, had to go somewhere and he was already late”

“Oh, so he ran away from you because he had to be somewhere else” Chanyeol concludes. Kai stills his movements at the sound of his friend’s words, crossing his arms across his chest, frowning and pouting at the closet.

“You make it sound bad”

“Doesn’t change his reaction”

“You’re not helping”

“My brain is not awake enough to help you” Chanyeol whimpers and, after a small silence, he yawns. Kai softens instantly, thinking how cute his friend looks when he is sleepy and so unguarded –and Kai himself loves to about it on such occasions, but not today. “Did he call since? Or did you call him?”

“Yeah, he called me to say he reached his destination safely. It was short, like always, and he sounded busy, but I don’t think there was anything wrong…”

Kai stops and wonders if he would even realize it if anything were wrong, with how abruptly Kyungsoo talks to him all the time...

“I can’t solve this right now buddy, sorry…” Chanyeol says after a long pause and they both sigh in synchronicity. Kai knew that Chanyeol probably wouldn’t be able to help him when he called; he just needed to talk to someone. No, not just someone, he needed to talk to his best friend. “But I’d thought he’d be freaking out after you told him” Chanyeol goes on to say “I mean, he’s the sort of guy who had to drag along Baekhyun and me to go out on a first date with you –not that I am complaining– but he doesn’t sound very keen on having a relationship with you” Chanyeol admits and Kai feels his stomach sink.

In fact, how come he kept it from sinking all this time? What Chanyeol just said is nothing new. He has thought about it before. Kyungsoo has rejected him many times in various ways and he has been very honest with Kai about his intentions for their relationship, so Kai couldn’t possibly have gotten his hopes up. Could he? Why would he? Should he even?

“What should I do?” he whispers timidly.

“Sleep; we’ll talk more about this tomorrow” Chanyeol proposes in the muted-by-the-feathers voice. Kai huffs. There is no way from Hermes to Pluto he can sleep tonight, with his mind doing somersaults from here to Mars about ‘what if’s.

“I’m going to call him” he decides. He’s good with ideas and he just had one. So what if Kyungsoo might or might not be mad at him and/or avoiding him and/or cursing him to the pits of the slimy land of slugs and/or planning to kill him torturously? “I’ll ask him out to another date” Tada! It’s a great idea, you have to admit.

“Wha-Kim Jongin, have I been talking with the wall?” Chanyeol protests –refusing to admit that this is a great idea, like all the rest of sensible humans –but Kai is already making plans about his Friday with Soo, rearranging his schedule and thinking of places to go to in record speed; his mind is starting to overheat with all this multitasking but he can afford to spare a few brain cells.

“You might end up invited too, I can’t make any promises” he warns, because it is entirely possible that Kyungsoo won’t say yes unless they’re under supervision, so his best friend might end up fourth-wheeling again.

“Why would you ask-”

“Possible double date with Baekhyun: dream about that” Kai sounds too cheerful for this hour of the night, but his words effectively stop Chanyeol from making a comeback and after a brief “’k, bye” Kai hangs up on his sleepy friend and switches to his messaging app instantly.

No, what do you mean it’s after midnight and if Kyungsoo didn’t have enough reason, motivation and zeal to kill him before he will now, after he wakes up from his beauty sleep because of Kai, so what? Kai will still find him beautiful with eye bags, blood-shot eyes and dark circles.

‘Soo, I’ve missed you ╥﹏╥ Let’s go out on a date this Friday?’

--

Chanyeol is tired but he has to keep reading. He has to finish these papers and then a long week of hard work will be officially over. He has been working like crazy during the past week, trying to salvage some time to rest this Friday night and the weekend. He has had meetings after meetings, tons of paperwork, presentations stacked one after the other, business meals almost twice a day, preparing things, signing things, reviewing things…Every night he feels like his head will explode; but he really needs this night to be free of any obligations. Because he has plans; very exciting plans.

Kai had another genius idea, skipping every sensible rule of human society in his head for the nth time in his lifetime: a double date at the movies, with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun –and although the part about asking Kyungsoo on a date right after he has possibly scarred the guy for a lifetime deserves the sarcasm, the part about it being a double date deserves a big cheer in undiluted glee, if you ask Chanyeol.

Kai said that he heard of a really good movie coming out this week and, even though Chanyeol is not so convinced that the movie is as great as Kai makes it sound, he understands why Kai is so excited. The boy really wants to take Kyungsoo on a proper date and Chanyeol cannot understand why Kyungsoo is making it so difficult for him; Kai has never ever in his years tried so hard for anyone or anything. His perseverance gives Chanyeol a kind of eerie feeling sometimes, as a matter of fact…

Anyway, Kai went ahead and reserved tickets for Baekhyun and Chanyeol as well, because he knows through experience that Kyungsoo accepts his dating offers more easily if their friends are with them. To Baekhyun and Chanyeol this is not exactly a date, since they are not dating –a truly heart wrenching fact –but tagging along the other two is as close to a date with his little guy as Chanyeol can get right now, and so he won’t complain.

A small knock at the door catches his attention. He lifts his eyes from his papers and sees Kai standing in the door way.

“Are you ready for tonight?” he asks with a signature smirk. Chanyeol guesses that Kai has every reason in the world to be happy tonight, having won the battle of the second date –the outcome of the war, however, is yet to be decided.

“Sure; I just have to finish these and I’ll leave”

“Finish these? They are like a whole file!” Kai exclaims, his eyes opening wide at the sight of the papers on the desk.

“Well, it will only take a minute” Chanyeol tries to amend. Kai frowns and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“Sixty, fifty nine, fifty eight, fifty seven”

“What are you doing?” Chanyeol asks confused.

“Counting down a minute. You have forty six seconds left, by the way” Kai answers casually and Chanyeol rolls his eyes.

“It was just a figure of speech”

“I don’t care about that. You said a minute; you have been working like there’s no tomorrow all week! All this work will kill you, Chanyeol, and that is not a figure of speech I am afraid”

“You’re being overdramatic” Chanyeol dismisses him and returns to his papers. He doesn’t need a second mother, thank you. But Kai doesn’t give up as easily; he has always been quite stubborn.

“Oh, am I? I mean, haven’t you been working until one or even two in the morning every day? Haven’t you spent two nights in the office this week? Haven’t you skipped all the meals that weren’t business related? Haven’t you been sitting behind a desk all day, tiring your eyes in front of a computer and getting yourself headaches? Chanyeol, I could go on and on, but I think you realize that this is not healthy” Kai puts his hands strictly on his waist. Chanyeol groans under his breath; Kai is a good friend and he is being like this only because he cares about Chanyeol’s well being, but he also needs to understand that these things need to be done and-

“Come on, we are leaving” Kai decides adamantly, pulling Chanyeol away from his work forcefully. Chanyeol yelps, losing the chair under his feet suddenly and he struggles to break free from Kai’s hold; he could do it, but he would probably hurt Kai in the process and those papers don’t deserve to hurt his best friend or the punch he’d receive in retaliation afterwards.

“But the papers!” he starts protesting as Kai drags him out the door and Chanyeol claws on anything he can reach like a desperate kitten.

“Those papers will have to wait until Monday. Now you will go home and freshen up, wear your dating clothes and style your hair, because you-know-who will be waiting for you at the movie theatre” Kai throws Chanyeol into the elevator and follows soon after, pressing the ground floor button with determination. Seeing how there is no chance of going back to those papers now, Chanyeol sighs and flips the page; time to get excited.

“Which movie are you going to watch?” a young girl they have recently hired asks suddenly, surprising Chanyeol. Was she in the elevator one blink ago? Well, probably she was, but Chanyeol didn’t even notice. At least, Kai must have noticed, because he didn’t call Baekhyun by name –they have decided that their fathers have too many spies around and so they refrain from referring to Baekhyun or Kyungsoo in public. Chanyeol has only been blinking in response to the girl’s question for a while.

“Why do you care, Miss Kim? He’s your boss and you are not supposed to make such questions” Luhan snaps, smiling angelically yet glaring at her as if he is about to cut . They can count on Luhan to keep prying eyes and ears away any time.

Wait, Luhan? Was he in the elevator too? Chanyeol seriously needs to get a hold of himself. He will go home and splash a ton of cold water on his face to force his brain back in proper function; he cannot go on a date with Baekhyun if he is like this.

--

Kai watches the male protagonist –probably, judging by the screen time he has been getting so far, because Kai has no idea what plot he has been watching –drive his car like it might turn into an airplane and take off if he steps on the gas pedal hard enough. He guesses that driving so dangerously must have some good reasoning behind it, but he really doesn’t care about the troubles of that guy’s life in this moment, because he has his own life to think about; which is very real, not fictional, very complicated, not guaranteeing a happy ending, and very scary, because everyone knows action thrillers are a stroll in the park in comparison to psychological thrillers that turn you on paranoid mode for the next few days. And yes, he has been on the verge of paranoid mode in the past week, if you must know.

He glances at the armrest between him and Kyungsoo. He can’t see very well in the darkness of the movie theatre, lit sporadically by flashes from the screen, but he can almost feel the smaller’s arm touching his own in the cramped space of the chairs and he is sure he got a glimpse of loose, pale fingers on the armrest when the light was enough a while ago. He gulps uncomfortably. This sunflower doesn’t get any easier after puberty. But it has to be done.

He tries to estimate where the fingers are precariously perched and his own fingers start treading the same path that millions of fingers from all over the world have followed over the years in the dark room of a movie theatre. He is sweating bullets –and it’s not from the heating of the room –and he swears his heart stops when his fingers tangle with Kyungsoo’s, his stomach finding interesting ways to zigzag in his gut.

They both go rigid for a moment, as if they’ve been electrocuted, as it always happens when you find yourself in a situation spectacularly improbable in this lifetime and the next. Admittedly, for a couple who’re pretty touchy in bed, they sure are awkward with the small skin ship stuff.

After a few moments of silence, filled with disaster sounds from the movie and his heart pounding in his ears deafeningly, Kai risks a glance to the side and then turns his whole head to look at Kyungsoo properly. Because Kyungsoo is already staring at him as if he has grown two heads.

“What?” Kyungsoo asks in a curt whisper. His eyes look horrified and there’s a threatening vibe radiating from him, as if Kai’s throat will be slit at the first notion of stupidity. Kai doesn’t know how he keeps from swallowing uncomfortably under the scary glare of two eyes as large as Kyungsoo’s when the look in them promises that Kai will die sometime soon.

And it is as the explosions start on the screen, filling the room with crimson and amber hues of light, casting shadows in strange patterns inside Kyungsoo’s wide, ebony, sparkling eyes, that Kai realizes just how beautiful Kyungsoo is –even when he looks scary. And it is as the realization hits him that his mouth unlocks mindlessly.

“I meant what I said the other day” he says and his brain is flashing its own red lights in warning signals, but he doesn’t stop. “I love you”

And so, Kai gets punched.

Kyungsoo’s free hand flies from his other side in a matter of seconds and collides menacingly with Kai’s shoulder in a way that hurts, it actually hurts. Like, a lot. And Kai wants to tear up from the stinging pain, which is ridiculous because he’s a grown man and he has taken punches from guys much more intimidating and stronger than Kyungsoo, but somehow Kyungsoo knows how to hit and inflict more pain than a professional boxer.

“Sure you do” Kyungsoo mumbles, trying to pass it off as nonchalant, but his malice can be detected in his voice. He returns his eyes to the screen, watching dutifully as the female protagonist does some ninja thing to save her life from the bad guys, but Kai knows better than to say Kyungsoo is actually watching the movie. He’s probably planning slow and painful deaths for him for when they’ll leave the movies, and it is evident in the way his lips curl forebodingly while he mutters about following all the world’s clichés and idiots on death row.

Okay so, for the record, Kai was not planning to say what he said. His brain is doing a miserable job at controlling his body’s functions is all. And he got punched and it still hurts. On the bright side though, Kyungsoo has not pulled his fingers away from Kai’s hold on the armrest.

--

Luhan shifts the glass in his hand, making his drink swirl slightly. He though that this would be a fun idea, but…nah, not really.

After so many days of hard work, booking meetings for Chanyeol, approving things for him to review, managing curious gossip of the employees about their boss working so hard and so on, Luhan decided he could afford to spoil himself for one night and have some fun like he used to. So he didn’t go straight home to have a bath and fall asleep, but he visited this small bar instead, to buy himself a drink and relax for a while before heading home. Luhan is not one for the alcohol, but he didn’t have the energy to visit a club either, or the right clothes to visit a good restaurant, so soft music and a drink it is.

But honestly, Luhan feels slightly sleepy right now and he would rather he was at home, sipping his tea in his warm pjs and listening to the girls next door whimper and fight over Barbie dolls as he would be watching the rerun of some drama in mute. All in all, the idea of doing something for himself and visiting a club seemed good at one point but, as it turns out, it’s not as interesting as his fabulous regular housecat life is.

“Hey, can I buy you another drink?” a deep voice, accompanied by a moustache –of all things in the modern world we live in –asks suddenly, distracting Luhan. He flinches slightly but other than that he doesn’t even glance at the man.

“No you can’t” comes his immediate and final answer. He is really not interested.

“Come on, you look pretty” the man insists, earning a glare from Luhan. Yeah, Luhan is pretty but the man is not, definitely not. And even if he were, Luhan would still not be interested, because he’s not that kind of boy.

“Please, sir, leave me alone” he tries to sound polite and civilized. He doesn’t want to pick a fight or anything; he just wants some peace and quiet to finish his drink and then he needs to reach home safely, so that he can go straight to his warm, comforting bed.

“I bet your eyes are really pretty. Can I see them properly?” the man persists and leans closer but Luhan looks the other way indignantly, reminding himself that he should be patient with pushy strangers and disentangle himself from the situation as soon and as painlessly as possible. “Why won’t you look this way, babe? You might just like me too, you know. I bet you want a real man in your life” the man says and Luhan wants to hurl his lunch at how inappropriate and utterly disgusting that just sounded.

“Never mind; I was leaving anyway” he sighs and gets up from his stool. He doesn’t want to continue sparing this man any of his attention, trying to keep him away. Maybe it’s a sign that he needs to go home. The man tries calling after him a couple of times –with a very inelegant ‘babe’ –but Luhan pretends to be deaf and leaves the bar without a care in the world.

Once he is outside, he welcomes the cool wind which blows softly down the street, caressing his cheeks and calming his nerves. It’s a bit late, but the lights are still bright on the shop windows, the restaurants are full of people, the street is swarmed with couples and there is a fair amount of cars driving up and down the lanes of the road. The only sort of car Luhan cannot spot anywhere is the only sort of car he cares about right now: a taxi.

“Babe…” a voice calls behind him. Oh, great. Why is this man so fixated on him? Luhan ignores the man who has come after him and keeps his eyes fixed on the road, fishing for a taxi. He will hunt one down if he has to, anything to get out of this uncomfortable situation. “Why did you leave me like that? I get lonely easily. Maybe you could keep me some company?”

“Um, how about no” he mutters, not wanting to engage properly in any sort of conversation with the man. He just wants to get rid of him; shoo, go bother someone else.

“Why not? I will show you how a real man should treat a pretty flower boy like yourself. Come on” Luhan groans internally; damn his baby face.

Luhan cannot believe his ears; he is not living this, this is not happening. He wants to bang his head against a wall; why is this happening? All he wanted was to treat himself to a night out after so long and now this…The taxis seem to have disappeared temporarily from the face of the earth, increasing Luhan’s frustration. He is starting to feel like a deer trapped in front of head lights; he has never been too good in getting himself out of uncomfortable corners. The man is really persistent as well, and he is starting to worry about his physical well being –never mind his psychological situation right now. Being a smarter boy, he moves under a lamp post; a taxi will see him more clearly there and he is more visible to the other people in the street in case the man decides to try anything funky.

“Don’t walk away, babe! I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you waiting for a taxi? I can take you home, if you’d like”

Luhan has a terrible premonition, hearing the man’s voice getting closer to him. He has the very strong impression that the man is in fact about to try something that won’t be good for himself. Panic washes through him and he goes rigid in shock, his heart pounding loudly behind his ears and his eyes b with tears. What can he do?

He’s trapped. He’s old enough to be a man, but he was never physically strong enough to inflict serious pain, so he probably cannot fight back. He can’t run away either, unless he wants to be smashed by a car. If he calls for help, chances are people will run away, even more scared than he is, rather than run to his aid. But then again, is he really going to let himself get abducted with the best intentions of physical violation? Come on, Luhan, you’re so, so stupid and so, so weak…

When a hand grabs his forearm suddenly, all the tension and despair bursts inside of him and Luhan lets out a breathless and soundless cry, jolting away, yet unable to free himself. His knees start to buckle under him and his expression is pleading for mercy; if he gets his arm free, he will choose the car collision in a heartbeat. But the hand holding him keeps him standing, pulling him back into balance and closer to the person, and Luhan is about to let out a scream painful to his throat, but then–

“I’m sorry; have I kept you waiting too long?” a familiar voice asks calmly and Luhan stops his fight and flight responses to check on the person who is holding him.

“Se-Sehun?!” Luhan asks breathless, not believing his eyes. He blinks furiously, trying to make sure that the person is Sehun, however unlikely that might seem. Maybe his eyes and his mind are trying to protect him from the trauma, making him see things that are not there. But it really looks like Sehun; the height, the hair, the eyes, the face, the build-up, the voice…What is the kid doing here?

“Hey kid, who are you?” the man with the moustache asks, slightly irritated. Sehun pulls Luhan closer and, even though he should, Luhan will not complain. For one thing, he feels tremendous relief to have someone who can help him in his situation, someone reliable and smart like Sehun, and for another, he secretly enjoys standing so close to Sehun, even though this is just an act to make the man believe they know each other and that they were supposed to meet here.

“The question is, who are you?” Sehun raises one eyebrow and Luhan thinks, damn, the kid was right; Sehun can be more intimidating than Luhan, looking tall and flexible and sneaky, like a cobra.

“Why do you care? Stay out of my business” the man growls, shooting Sehun a lethal glare. Sehun doesn’t seem to care the least bit; but Luhan does. Sehun cannot get himself injured for his sake, it is not fair. It was Luhan’s good fortune than brought Sehun here, but it was in Sehun’s expense. Maybe Sehun ought to have stayed out of the man’s business and let Luhan take all the pain that was coming at him; because Sehun is just a kid, he has many years to live ahead of him, preferably maintaining his pretty face intact.

“Oh, okay, we will stay out of your business” Sehun agrees easily. “Let’s go” he says to Luhan and takes half a step back. But the man is unrelenting and he grabs Luhan’s free arm quickly, causing the latter to yelp in fear and surprise.

“Leave him alone, I saw him first” the man hisses and Sehun clenches his sharp jaw briefly, but manages to stay calm.

“I am not supposed to leave him alone; we had a designated meeting” he answers politely. Luhan grabs Sehun’s shirt to have something to hold on to, just in case the man tries to pull him away. In other thoughts, is ‘designated meeting’ fancy wording for ‘date’?

“Is he your brother or something?” the man asks indignantly. Luhan feels vaguely insulted; how old does he look?!

“No” Sehun answers; it would have been ridiculous if he had said yes, to be honest. Luhan is pretty sure he shares no genes with the boy and it shows on them, from their faces to their body types and even their height.

“Then is he your friend?” the man’s impatience is starting to show and Luhan’s stomach starts drumming uneasily.

“Not exactly” Because, well, friends don’t meet this late at night at a random spot in town; but this leaves them short on options.

“Then what are you? Strangers?” the man almost yells and Luhan is almost certain that Sehun will get hit after his next answer.

“No” Sehun answers calmly, and Luhan braces himself for the blow, but Sehun guides his head with one finger on his chin to turn to his side and look at him. Sehun locks his gaze with Luhan seriously, his eyes gleaming strangely in the street light. “He is my boyfriend”

What the hell?!

The man lets go of Luhan’s arm because he needs his hand to clutch on his ribs, roaring with loud and ungraceful laughter. Maybe the fact that he is laughing to tears is somewhat convenient, because it doesn’t allow him to notice Luhan’s petrified expression. What did Sehun just say? It’s obviously just for show, but still, how could he say such a thing? And while looking at Luhan in the eyes like that, in a way that makes the latter float and drown in them? Does he have any idea what that does to Luhan’s insides? Luhan has every right to be shocked and paralyzed. And the man has every right to laugh, because, come on, Sehun and Luhan, boyfriends?

“Why-why would he ever choose a boy like you as a boyfriend? Hahaha” the man manages to sob between his laughter outbursts, wiping away his tears. “I don’t believe you” he accuses after he has calmed down, gradually regaining his angry stance.

“Well then believe this” Sehun snaps back and before Luhan has finished processing his first shock, a second one comes when Sehun decides to place his lips on his.

It’s not the first time he is kissing Sehun –thanks to the mistletoe fiasco –but it all feels just like that first time, it feels new and vivid, as if he has never felt it before. Sehun’s lips are warm against his cold ones and his hand on the side of his face is also warm against his cheek. There is something in that warmth that reaches deeper, overshadowing Luhan’s fear of the man and his tiredness from this week and his loneliness in this world. Even though Luhan’s lips are slightly parted because of his earlier shock, Sehun doesn’t attempt going any further and, just like the first time, he is leaving a soft, chaste kiss on Luhan’s lips. And Luhan is melting, he is becoming malleable and soft under Sehun, even though he really shouldn’t. It all ends when Sehun pulls back and then reality sinks in again.

“I am still not convinced-” the man starts arguing angrily and Sehun creases his brows just as annoyed by the man, having had enough.

“I don’t care if you are convinced or not; we are leaving either way” he announces in a final tone.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” the man demands and makes a grab for Luhan’s arm again, but Sehun catches his hand mid way and twists his wrist, resulting in the man crying out in pain.

“If you ever try to touch him again, I’ll break your arm, do you understand?” he says in a low hiss, surprising Luhan and making the man whimper in pain some more. After the man nods fervently to comply with Sehun’s wish, Sehun releases him and guides Luhan away by the hand, leaving the man bent over his arm, trying to soothe the pain.

--

Baekhyun knocks on the door quickly. He hopes Chanyeol is not asleep yet; he came here as fast as he could.

When Kai showed up at the movie theatre, Baekhyun could already feel his heart making crazy flips in excitement to see Chanyeol again after a week, but Kai was alone. Cue heart dropping to the floor. He said that Chanyeol felt sick, probably because he has overworked himself during the week, and he apologized profusely and sincerely for his friend’s absence. Baekhyun was welcomed to stay and watch the movie with the other two, of course, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Who volunteers for third-wheeling nowadays?

He said he was a bit tired himself and he would sooner go home, and then he inconspicuously promised to check on Chanyeol on his way home and let the other two know if he was okay. The lovebirds bought it easily enough –because Baekhyun is an excellent liar when he wants to be– and Baekhyun almost ran to his car and rushed to Chanyeol’s place. He remembered the address easily from the last time he brought Chanyeol home and, even though finding a decent place to park his car in the fancy neighborhood was a pain, eventually, Baekhyun reached the twentieth floor and knocked on the only door available –this is just a vague estimation currently, that Chanyeol’s apartment must be really big, because, well, it’s a whole floor.

Baekhyun hops in place lightly to let out some tension and counts to ten before knocking again. If Chanyeol doesn’t answer, he is probably asleep and Baekhyun will go home. But he really would like it if Chanyeol would answer the door, because Baekhyun wants to make sure he is okay. He is just about to knock for one last third time –really, the last-est last one, just in case Chanyeol didn’t hear the first two –before leaving, but the door suddenly opens, revealing Chanyeol.

“Hi!” Baekhyun greets cheerfully. Noticing the large blanket around Chanyeol’s shoulders, he suddenly regrets visiting, and he hopes he didn’t wake Chanyeol from his precious sleep. Chanyeol’s eyes open wide for a moment; and then he yelps and slams the door close in Baekhyun’s face. Baekhyun jolts away, surprised. What just happened? “Um…Chanyeol?” he asks, approaching the door with caution.

“Y-yeah?” Chanyeol’s voice sounds through the door. He must be standing close to the door but, even though his voice is clear, it sounds distorted by the barricade. It also sounds slightly higher pitched than usual. Baekhyun decides that it doesn’t hurt to clear up a few things.

“It’s Baekhyun…” in case Chanyeol didn’t see him clearly in his half asleep state and mistook him for someone else “Kai said you were sick, so I thought to stop by and check on you…Are you okay?” If we have to be honest, it feels a bit weird talking to the door like this.

“Oh, ah…thank you. I…I have a fever, but I’ll be fine by tomorrow” Baekhyun creases his eyebrows. Why is Chanyeol stuttering? And why is he not opening the door?

“Is everything okay?” he asks concerned.

“Yeah, of course! Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Because we are talking through a door…” Baekhyun points out, bewildered. The next moment, the door opens again, just as abruptly as it closed, making Baekhyun flinch again. Chanyeol stands half hidden behind the door, leaving some space for Baekhyun to enter.

“Sorry for that. Come in, please. You just surprised me, that’s all…” Chanyeol apologizes with a sheepish smile, hiding himself behind the door and his blanket around him. Is he being…shy? He is cute anyway. Baekhyun walks in reluctantly and takes off his shoes.

“You have some reactions when you are surprised” he muses and Chanyeol smiles, as if he is proud of it.

“I’m a bit silly, remember?” he says with a toothy grin and Baekhyun smiles in response, feeling his cheeks blooming slightly, god knows why. Chanyeol really is cute, with his big innocent eyes and his hair slightly disheveled; it’s different from the usually drop dead gorgeous Park Chanyeol, but it is even more precious for that very reason.

“So, a fever?” Baekhyun asks, remembering what Chanyeol said earlier and seeing how his large eyes are glazing strangely and his cheeks are slightly flushed. He touches Chanyeol’s forehead with his hand, trying to make a brief estimation of the temperature. Chanyeol’s eyes look up, as if he is trying to see Baekhyun’s hand on his forehead; silly and cute.

“Yeah, I was a bit dizzy earlier too, but it’s gone now. I was just heating up some soup for dinner” Just then, a dinging sound fills the air briefly. “Oh, that’s my cue” he mumbles and runs past Baekhyun quickly, disappearing behind a door. Baekhyun looks after him curiously. Moments later, Chanyeol’s head pops out of the door again. “Aren’t you coming?” he asks innocently. Baekhyun smiles, taking off his coat, and walks swiftly to the door, stepping officially into Chanyeol’s house. “My house is huge –and I mean that in a bad way. It’s easy to get lost and disoriented. You’d better stay close for now and I’ll give you a tour later” Chanyeol explains, moving to the microwave oven to take out a bowl of soup.

“Okay” Baekhyun agrees, smiling faintly at the way Chanyeol is trying to bring the bowl to the table without spilling the contents while simultaneously trying to fix the blanket on his shoulders. Baekhyun sits at the table, feeling comfortable, even though it’s his first time in this house and in this room, and Chanyeol joins him soon after.

“Um, I know it’s not much but, would you like some soup?” Chanyeol asks sheepishly with puppy eyes and Baekhyun smiles widely at the childish innocence he is emitting in this moment.

“Thank you but I have already had dinner” he reassures him. It’s the ‘eat before the date’ tactic, so that, just in case you go out for food later, you won’t eat a ton, and Baekhyun, in this mindset, already had dinner before he left home. Not that he was hoping that Chanyeol would invite him to dinner after the movie or anything. Maybe.

“Hmm? Then how about some cake?” Chanyeol offers cheerily. Baekhyun looks at him pensively for a moment; it doesn’t really feel necessary for him to eat something right now, but Chanyeol seems really eager to offer him something and maybe Baekhyun should accept. Besides, it would be slightly awkward if only one of them is eating at the table.

“Okay” he agrees and Chanyeol starts getting up from his seat instantly. “Um, would you mind if I serve myself?” Baekhyun stops him and Chanyeol sits back on his chair, slightly bewildered. “You don’t have to get up for me and you are all bundled up in that blanket…” Baekhyun explains and Chanyeol smiles again.

“Ah, you’re right. My mummification would probably be an additional hazard to my clumsiness. In the spirit of avoiding any accidents, okay, you can serve yourself” he allows and Baekhyun gets up from his seat. It’s heartwarming, how Chanyeol can make him smile even when he, himself, is sick. “The cake is in the fridge”

Baekhyun turns around and only now does he notice the kitchen. Just, wow. It’s all in black and white, very stylish and very large. All the surfaces are clean and polished, glinting with the light and showcasing fabulous and extravagantly expensive design. It’s just like a kitchen you would expect to see in a luxurious magazine for decoration or advertizing kitchen brands. It’s one of those perfect kitchens that only perfect people own, because every other person settles with something more conventional. Baekhyun tries to act normal so as not to make Chanyeol feel self conscious about his remarkable kitchen; Baekhyun can only try to imagine what the rest of the house looks like. He finds the fridge and serves himself a small piece of cake –which is chocolate, hurray –and then sits back down on the table, where Chanyeol has been waiting for him.

“So, did I ruin the plans?” Chanyeol asks casually while they eat peacefully, each his food. Baekhyun feels very domestic in this moment and he hasn’t felt that in a long time since he left his family home, and that makes him slightly dazed with an inner glow of happiness, so he feels slightly out of focus.

“What plans?”

“You know, about the movie?”

“Oh, no, you didn’t ruin anything” Baekhyun reassures him quickly with a smile. If anything, the two lovebirds should enjoy it more if they are alone. Chanyeol frowns.

“But you are here; did the others decide to watch the movie by themselves?” Baekhyun nods affirmatively in response. “Really?! I thought Kyungsoo would cancel everything since you left” Chanyeol admits in surprise.

“Well, he is a bit quirky but I think he likes Kai a bit. So, even if I am not there, I don’t think he would necessarily cancel everything. They said I could stay with them if I wanted to, but how could I stay? I’d be the third wheel, obviously, so thanks, but no thanks”

“Did they send you to check up on me?” Chanyeol stirs the contents of his bowl casually, not noticing Baekhyun biting his lip in hesitation.

“No, I came here on my decision…to check on you” Baekhyun admits finally, trying very hard to fight off the blush on his cheeks.

“Why?!” Chanyeol squeals in surprise, dropping his spoon and opening his eyes wide. His reaction resembles a lot the one before, at the door incident.

“Shouldn’t I have?” Baekhyun asks alarmed, staring back at Chanyeol with just as wide eyes “I was just worried and I hadn’t seen you in a while, and Kai said you’ve been working so hard and it was very sudden that you fell ill, and I just thought-”

“No, no, Baek, I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant” Chanyeol reassures him quickly, trying to calm both of them down “I meant that you decided to visit, and that’s very nice of you and I appreciate it, but, for you to visit at such a time…I mean, it’s the first time you come to my house and you look so pretty and polished and I look like…this, and I am sick, and I cannot give you a proper tour…It’s just…not what I had imagined” he chuckles quietly, scratching his neck uncomfortably with a small smile.

“Well, I wasn’t in the best possible state when you first visited my house either” Baekhyun amends after a short while of silence “Besides, it’s okay if you share embarrassing times with friends, right?” And don’t even get him started on the embarrassment he felt the last time Chanyeol visited his house. This is nothing; Chanyeol is too cute to have any reason to be embarrassed about. Chanyeol smiles and nods in agreement.

After they finish eating and Chanyeol takes his medicine as per Baekhyun’s instructions, they start the promised tour of the house. Baekhyun is mind blown by everything he sees. The whole house is just like the kitchen; luxurious, clean lines, expensive furniture, minimum color to provide more stark contrast of the shapes and textures in the house, big windows, some floor-to-ceiling –which are closed for the night and Baekhyun finds it a pity, because he really wanted to see what the world looks like from a house on the twentieth floor –beautiful art pieces here and there and really, really big rooms. Chanyeol’s house is not just big, it’s huge.

However, half way through the tour they have to stop, because Chanyeol is starting to feel sleepy due to the medicine’s aftereffects, and his steps become slightly unsteady. Baekhyun insists that he takes Chanyeol to his bedroom, just to make sure he won’t trip and hurt himself anywhere on the way. Chanyeol is not really in the mental state to argue right now –as a matter of fact, he is starting to lose his ability to talk to sleep gradually –and he leads Baekhyun silently by the hand to his bedroom. Let’s pretend that Baekhyun’s heart is not somersaulting at the touch. They enter an unfamiliar room but Baekhyun cannot see anything, because the windows are closed and Chanyeol didn’t turn on the lights.

“Hey, Chanyeol?” he whispers, hoping that Chanyeol has not lost his communication skills completely.

“Hm?” Chanyeol responds, without turning around or stopping his course.

“Is this your bedroom? I can’t see anything” Baekhyun says a bit more clearly than a whisper. Chanyeol doesn’t respond and for all Baekhyun knows, he might not have heard him as well. “Chanyeol?” he tries again, but there is no response. Baekhyun instinctively squeezes Chanyeol’s hand tighter, afraid that he’ll get lost in the dark. The dark is not nice.

Baekhyun starts feeling disoriented with all the turns Chanyeol takes. He should try to find a light, make sure that Chanyeol goes to bed safely and then leave for his own home and maybe call tomorrow morning to make sure Chanyeol feels better. But right now, he is not able or willing to leave Chanyeol, not even for a moment or for the slightest distance, for fear that he might get completely lost or that he might trip on something, hurt himself or do some costly damage. Chanyeol navigates easily through his familiar apartment but Baekhyun is not so sure he will be able to retrace his steps to get out, after he leaves Chanyeol safely in his bed. If there weren’t the floor under his feet, the rooms are so dark that he wouldn’t be able to tell up from down, much less right from left. Eventually, Chanyeol stops and so does Baekhyun right behind him.

“Are we there?” he asks but he already knows it’s in vain. Chanyeol doesn’t answer. Instead, he pushes Baekhyun back gently until Baekhyun finds himself –very surprised– sitting in a comfortable and, from the feel of it, huge arm chair. “Chanyeol?” he asks confused but there is no answer again. Chanyeol shifts himself, keeping Baekhyun’s hand in his all the while.

Baekhyun is sure, after a while of blind palpating at his surroundings with his free hand, that he is sitting in an arm chair next to Chanyeol’s bed and that Chanyeol is lying under the covers near the edge of it. He can feel the soft and cool pillowcase under his hand and he can feel Chanyeol’s tingling, warm and light breath, as it travels between their woven fingers. So, Chanyeol is keeping Baekhyun’s hand near him, on his pillow. A strange feeling stirs in Baekhyun’s stomach and he feels a surge of heat all over his skin, making his cheeks burn.

Baekhyun stays still for a little while, trying to decide what to do. There is nothing to decide really; he should disentangle his fingers and leave. He will find a way to get out of the house, hopefully. That’s the right thing to do, right? He can’t possibly be expected to stalk Chanyeol while he sleeps. He brings the covers higher on Chanyeol’s shoulders to protect him from the cold ,and then he presses his lips in concentration, as he starts wiggling his fingers slightly to loosen Chanyeol’s hold. But suddenly, Chanyeol’s hold tightens even more than before. Great; what will Baekhyun do now? He doesn’t want to wake Chanyeol up…

“Stay” Chanyeol mumbles in his sleep in an impossibly deep voice, coming out in a soft sigh through lazy, plush lips. Baekhyun stills in place.

Stay? Baekhyun should stay? Chanyeol is asking him to stay while he sleeps? Baekhyun feels puzzled. Maybe he didn’t hear correctly. But, after mulling over his sensory input some more, Baekhyun decides that Chanyeol is not likely to have said anything else. So, yes, Chanyeol has asked him to stay.

Staying wouldn’t be the completely appropriate thing to do though; it never is, after the age when your mother stays awake by your side to watch over you while you sleep…Baekhyun takes his time to ponder about it; it’s not like there’s any reason to hurry anyway…His alternative is to wrench his hand away forcefully and then make his way clumsily through the house to whichever direction feels vaguely familiar, until he finds the door to leave. Or, he could stay in this comfortable seat, feeling his heart hovering happily in his chest, because his fingers are tangled with large, soft and perfectly fitting other fingers, that are meant to anchor him in a place where he is needed and wanted.

And Chanyeol asked him to stay; he took the trouble to fight through the veils of his sleep to talk to him in the most adorable mumble that made Baekhyun want to wrap him in a blanket and keep him safe and warm in a perfect little bubble of sunset clouds. So, maybe he could stay, until Chanyeol falls asleep completely. Then, he can worry about getting out. Or so he tries to convince himself. Because, as his mind settles and he starts focusing on his present again, he can feel Chanyeol’s fingers twitching to make sure Baekhyun’s hand is still there, and that is an adorable habit, and he can feel Chanyeol’s soft breath brushing over his skin, and a smile spreads on his lips, thinking that he could fall asleep to this feeling. And so he does.

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a/n: This chapter had a bit of everything, I hope you’re happy ^.^ A round of applause for friends who endure after-proper-hours phone calls, because what would we do without them, and another for friends who take care of us with so much unconditional love, and a standing ovation for superhero Sehun who saved the day!

Boo for pushy, gruesomely flirting strangers with bad intensions and boo for mustaches. Always be careful guys, the world is not a perfect place. But it must be somewhat of a great place, because we have superheroes! One huge YEY for the second Hunhan KISS!!! (can you believe it, because I can’t!) I couldn’t think of a better way to save the day; genuine strength is gentle. Have you noticed how Luhan is indecisive on his feelings about Sehun? (please, don’t hate me *puppy eyes*)

I hope you liked the Kaisoo date and the awkward & explosive combination of them (somehow it almost always ends up in some sort of physical contact, from kisses to punches, I have no idea why) I don’t know if you think as highly of the ‘I love you’ confession as I seem to, but I really find those are precious and powerful words in their simplicity, don’t you think? So, even though Kai got punched, Kyungsoo still held his hand –and that has to mean something.

I couldn’t resist the domestic Baekyeol, I mean, gaahhh…(why am I causing myself brain damage?) I can’t go on to explain anything further without squealing and spazzing, so I’ll stop now. There will be more of everything next time. See you then~ kitty