Baekhyun was staring at them.

This wasn’t technically unusual, Baekhyun stared at a lot of people when he wanted to see them squirm. Call it an annoying habit, a reason to hide, an excuse to avoid him when all possible, but right now, with Kyungsoo on one side of their small dorm room and Jongin on the other, and Baekhyun in between… there was nothing to do except ignore him and hope he’d go away.

“Both of you are so quiet today!” Baekhyun smirked, interested. Jongin imagined that if Baekhyun were a dog he’d be sniffing the air, testing the atmosphere. To smell… what? The awkwardness in the room? Was the giant pink elephant actually a thing? Was that why Jongin felt like he was suffocating?

“I said,” Baekhyun peered at both of them again, intensely, “you’re really quiet today.”

Kyungsoo was the first to break. “So?”

He didn’t make eye contact.

“So, it’s just… a little weird, even for you two.”

Jongin cleared his throat. Kyungsoo toed a discarded sock on the floor next to his bed. Then he paused, and he and Jongin and Baekhyun all realized in that very second, that it was Jongin’s sock. Not Kyungsoo’s. Jongin’s sock on the floor next to Kyungsoo’s bed. Did Jongin mention that that it was his sock? On the other side of the room than it should have been.

It was barely noon, and not nearly late enough for Jongin to feel capable of dealing with this right now. He needed caffeine. Coffee. Two pots of coffee and maybe several liters of soda. He’d even take a pretty cup of tea if it helped. Maybe he could pour it over himself and pretend it was so scalding hot that he needed to leave immediately and locate the university medical offices.

“Is that…” Baekhyun started to ask.

The sock was navy blue, like Jongin often wore. Kyungsoo only ever wore white.

“Hey, did I tell you I have a big exam in a couple days. Sorry, I really don’t have time to visit. I need to get back to studying-”

“Oh! Thats right,” Baekhyun picked up his school back and started to stretch side to side. “Sorry, I just dropped by because I was bored and you two are always such late risers so I guessed you’d still be here and oh- hey, I heard you were studying with Seulgi? Until super late?”

Jongin gulped. Did he just… mistake that look on Kyungsoo’s face all the way across the room as a snarl? Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Or, no it was definitely a snarl. After the pain and suffering Seulgi’s presence in the room had brought him over the night, it wasn’t unfounded.

A few bruises, elbow jabs to his rib and one to his cheek which Jongin was amazed didn’t leave a lasting mark. Kyungsoo looking like he and Jongin had a wrestling match in the night is not what he wanted Baekhyun to leave thinking about.

Even if it was kind of true.

This morning.

When Jongin woke up and realized how they were sleeping.

Too close. A little too close….

Thus he freaked out and spazzed and flung every limb in every direction and, yeah… he’s lucky Kyungsoo didn’t beat him black and blue in retaliation. Kyungsoo had looked just as horrified, but that’s probably because he was - by the time Jongin flew across the room in fright - holding his side tightly and grimacing in pain.

“Uhh huhhhhmmm,” said Baekhyun. And Jongin’s thoughts were drawn immediately back to the present. “Seulgi?”

“Uhhh. Yeah, we just studied. She left though. Last night.. or.. well. I don’t know when she left.”

Come to think about it, he really didn’t. She was gone before Jongin woke up. So that was a relief. Or was it.

“She… wait, you don’t even know when she left? What, did you fall asleep or something? I’m confused.”

“You know what, I really do have to study now though, Baekhyun. Goodbye.”

After a few grumpy shoves, and one quick-slamming door - Jongin even bolted the lock - he sighed, a deep inhale and exhale of relief. Then he realized that, Baekhyun was locked out, yes, but Jongin was still locked inside his room with a very serious problem.

“So…” Kyungsoo’s voice was soft. They hadn’t spoken since the incident upon waking up.

“Hmm?”

“So, when’s your test again?”

Jongin grimaced. It was hard to resist frowning across the room. They woke up in the same bed! The same, bed! Cuddling! Or something near to it. Were they just not going to talk about that? Kyungsoo wasn’t going to mention that Jongin had inadvertently turned him into a body pillow in the night because soft, cozy things that produce their own heat and are also simultaneously K-y-u-n-g-s-o-o, draw Jongin in subconsciously like a…

“Oh, screw metaphors,” he gruffed under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Nothing. Uhm… I should, you know what I think I’ll go study in the library. They have some… research books I… need. Yeah. See you later.”

As a matter of coincidence, he ran into Joonmyun later in that very same library. To be honest, they never really spoke much outside of situations like this. Jongin guessed he was a great guy, but there was something embarrassing about having accidentally read the same bit of on the same computer screen, and both of them knowing who exactly wrote it.

“Are you… busy?” Joonmyun casually asked, his backpack folded around in front as he carried it like a baby. It looked heavy, Joonmyun looked stressed. Jongin was stressed and his eyes were beginning to go crossed from too much studying.

“No? Please.” He indicated for the man to sit down across from him. Theirs was a quiet corner of the library, but not too remote from other tables to make it impossible to speak out loud.

“You looked… well, tired?”

Jongin laughed. “A bit, yeah. Rough night. Didn’t sleep much.”

That was a lie for sure. He did sleep. He slept a little too hard though, his dreams getting the better of him.

Joonmyun cleared his throat and looked about awkwardly. Jongin did the same. Awkward, it was very awkward. Could he describe it more so? Awkward. Kyungsoo probably had plenty more ways to describe such situations in a fic, but right now Jongin was at a loss. Sometimes the simplest word worked best.

“Uhm. So, how is your week?”

It was a lame question of course, but what else does one ask of an acquaintance like this?

“Pretty good. I haven’t had a lot of time to read fics though.” Well, that was… straight to the point. “So maybe next week I can catch up. Exams and all, but that means I’ll probably have a lot of time to marathon stuff.” He gave a weak smile which Jongin weakly returned.

“I know the feeling.”

Jongin shuffled around some of his papers and notes, closed one book, opened another. He wanted to be sociable, but how to do this? Joonmyun hadn’t even taken off his backpack. It rested on the table as he leaned over it, chin almost resting. Was it like, a pillow? He could totally see Joonmyun falling asleep in almost this same position.

Except Joonmyun didn’t look sleepy. In fact, he looked curious about something.

“I have to ask…”

Jongin looked at him sharply. “Yes??”

“Are you and Kyungsoo… I mean, do you and him… Or, are you a thing?”

A thing…

“A thing?”

“Together. Dating, you know.”

Why was he asking this.

“Why are you asking?”

Was it that obvious? Did the whole world know that Jongin was head over heels? Was his crush that obvious, because if it was, then - did Kyungsoo know this too?!

“So you’re not?” He looked befuddled. Jongin neither confirmed or denied this statement, he was too busy trying to keep his chill. “That’s so weird then, because I swear half the characters he writes are based on you, and you and him are always together and you read his stuff and-”

“I don’t get what you’re saying,” Jongin interrupted.

Another lie. He kind of knew exactly what Joonmyun was getting at. It’s just that he never really wanted to put two and two together. Call him an idiot, call him block-headed, but he wasn’t completely ignorant. He’d noticed the same things…

“You… so, you don’t think he likes you then?” Joonmyun was starting to look bemused.

“I…” Crap. “I have to go, sorry.”

Kyungsoo hadn’t expected him back, that was obvious right away. His eyes were huge, nostrils flared, cheeks actually turning red right where he sat, fingers poised above the keyboard when Jongin swung the door open.

It was an arresting sight. Almost took Jongin’s breath away. Kyungsoo hadn’t even brushed his hair yet. It probably smelled exactly as it did when Jongin woke up this morning with his nose pressed against Kyungsoo’s upper cheek.

“You’re… back…”

He hadn’t moved a muscle. Jongin saw from the whitish reflection against his face that he probably had up the white browser page in which he was writing.

“Yah. Library was too noisy. What are you doing? Writing stuff?”

He dropped his bag and pretended to casually saunter across the room towards him. He stretched his arms high above his head as he did so, very cool, very calm. Or not at all.

“I… yeah. Why?”

“Hm? Oh nothing, just curious. Can I read it?”

He was suddenly really thirsty for fics.

Kyungsoo’s index finger immediately darted across the touchpad and the light faded. “I’m not done yet. Maybe later.”

Jongin found himself confronted with the generic new tab page, Kyungsoo’s work hidden from view. It made him profoundly depressed, he realized, but also determined to know more.

“What’s the pairing?”

Kyungsoo miffed. “Guess.” He opened up another page and began scrolling down through blurbs of news articles and stories, innocent things compared to what he may have been writing.

“Xiuhan?” Jongin guessed.

Kyungsoo chuckled. “Right on the first try, how did you know.”

Jongin allowed himself a smile. He stood behind Kyungsoo, hovering over his shoulder and silently read the same news summary in time to Kyungsoo’s scrolling.

“So what genre? Fluff? Angst?”

“Just some fluff,” Kyungsoo quietly admitted.

Jongin murmured. “So, can I see it?”

“I told you it’s not done yet.”

“So? Isn’t it something you’ll show me anyways?”

“Yeah, well, but… not now?”

“Ahh, please?”

“No.”

He considered pushing it, but, as he noted earlier, Jongin is really bad at that. His burning curiosity would have to wait. Kyungsoo was so close. In one tiny shift Jongin could put his hand on the other’s shoulder. He didn’t.

Sighing deeply he threw himself on his bed instead, face down, shoes and all. Forget being comfy when his feelings were on the line.

He lost track of how long he lay there. Long enough for his muscles to grow tense, stretched abnormally from the awkward angle of his neck and ribcage and one foot dangling sadly off the bed.

“Jongin?”

His first reaction was to grunt and ignore.

Then Kyungsoo nudged him on the back. He hadn’t even realized he’d gotten so close.

“Hey, Jongin? What’s the matter?”

Since Kyungsoo didn’t appear to be moving away anytime soon, Jongin turned his head. He came face to face with Kyungsoo’s knees and that was as good as he could make it.

“My back hurts.”

Well, that was also true. He didn’t expect anything to come of it.

“Move over.”

“What?” Something was now nudging against his side, the same knee Jongin had stared at a second earlier.

“Move over, I’ll massage your back.”

Panic, followed by the general thought, this isn’t a good idea. Jongin was powerless to act otherwise. This morning started with him waking up in Kyungsoo’s bed; now Kyungsoo was scooting his onto Jongin’s bed and pressing his small hands to the backs of his shoulder blades.

Bonus Scene “A Xiuhan Bed Tale”

SootheMan writes:

“Hey,” the whisper wakes Minseok from his light sleep. He turns over, hiding from a stray ray of sunlight criss-crossing over his face.

“Hmm?” he murmurs back. A hand touches his forehead, pushing back his bangs.

“Are you awake?”

“I am now,” Minseok grunts.

Lu Han was never a very deep sleeper. Usually that translated to him tossing and turning and elbowing Minseok all night, whatever dreams or nightmares that kept him from resting. It was hard, sleeping beside each other on a twin bed. Honestly, Minseok prefers getting a whole mattress to himself, but there are a few worthwhile things to sharing his night with Lu Han. Endless cuddling, warmth, the feeling of being liked and liking back.

“Is it time to wake up?” Minseok asks.

“Depends on what you want to do today.”

Minseok snorts. “What’s that mean?”

“Well,” he can feel Lu Han smiling against the curve of his neck, his hand sneaking around his waistline in an all around cozy air of togetherness. “I mean, if you wanted to be productive - school, work, social obligations, or food - then we should probably start thinking about moving. But if none of that appeals to you, I am perfectly fine laying here for a few more hours, back ache be damned.”

Minseok chuckles softly. “How long have you been awake?”

“An hour-ish. Heavy on the ish. You’re really cute when you’re sleeping. I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

It’s such a tempting invitation, to lay around for the rest of the morning, snug and warm beneath the blankets with their legs entwined and Lu Han spooning him from behind. Why, why does reality always have to catch up? Why does daylight even happen?

“I guess I should move,” he whines.

“You only guess?” Lu Han follows up his nudging with a light press of his lips to the spot below Minseok’s ear. He squirms and wriggles away from it, ticklish, especially at this hour of the morning.

“Yeah, well, social obligations and all.”

“If you say so,” Lu Han whispers in return.

Sadly, or perhaps happily, they remain there for another hour or so…

----------

Xiuhan-noona: I hate you, I hate you forever for not continuing this fic, like ds;lkajw; how does it enddd??? What happens in that next hourrrr???

1. reply to Xiuhan-noona: Sorry, I was trying to finish it and then I got distracted. Perhaps more later.

365cuddlin43var: Beautifullll

ImissTao:  This is really sweet but why do you always leave the fluffy stuff for xiuhan??

1. reply to ImissTao:  I don’t see the problem here

ChenChen_myheart: This is really sweet, I love it when you write like this. Hope you have a good day!! <3

SiriouslyNotBaek:  Well this is… intriguing.

Baozis4delish:  This is the best, the absolute best. But please! I agree with Xiuhan-noona, when do we get the rest of the scene???

1. reply to Baozis4delish:  All in good time, all in good time. Perhaps.

The door opening up startled both of them. Jongin jolted, Kyungsoo sprang from away from the bed. And that right there was the most incriminating thing they’d done. It was just a back massage, right? Just a back massage!

So why did each of them look so guilty when confronted with Baekhyun and his ever meddling ways?

“Ah hah! I knew it! I just knew it!

2,570 words

Ta da! An update. With cuddling. *coughs*