If there was a word to describe Sehun’s state of mind, he would say confused; confused as hell if he might add. These last few days, he had found himself hanging with Baekhyun a lot, like a lot. For someone who was really annoying, at least to him, Baekhyun could also be a great person to talk to, he always listened, gave good advice, and a lot of the sarcastic remarks that his hyung saved for him were now gone or, at least, they had a more playful tone to it than actual bite.

In a way, it was sad that Baekhyun and him were getting close because of his fall down with Kyungsoo and Jongdae; Sehun was left agape when Jongdae had approached Baekhyun and asked him to forgive him, stating that he was a little bit blinded by his affections towards Kyungsoo. The older had accepted the apology gracefully but Sehun could see how hurt Baekhyun was with the other’s attitude, especially when, after the apology, Jongdae continued to spend a lot of time with Kyungsoo, neglecting Baekhyun at times.

However, Sehun felt extremely proud to be part of a group as EXO, because they were amazing and always made sure that Baekhyun wasn’t feeling alone, dotting on the boy and spoiling him like crazy, the pint sized hyung, in return, would shower them all with affection, presenting them with the most blinding smiles. Sehun himself had to admit that he enjoyed being the receiver of said smiles and affection, he had never realized how affectionate the other could be and how good it was to bask on said affection, like the other day, when he complained that his shoulders were feeling particularly stiff, Baekhyun prepared a hot water bottle and set it on top of the other’s shoulders, massaging his neck slightly in order to alleviate the tension there. He also remembered a particular episode when Tao had woke up, on the living room couch, screaming his head off because of a nightmare, after seeing a horror movie, gaining the attention of everybody and making them run from their bedrooms to the said place. That day Baekhyun had been particularly tired after working out with Minseok and Yixing and he had just leant his head against Sehun’s back, looking completely adorable in his sleepy state; in the end, he and Minseok had to carry the boy to Tao’s bed, now his, since they had swapped rooms, covering him in his blankets and letting the boy get his much needed rest. Luhan, who had accompanied them, had make salacious comments all the way, pausing only to sing Mariah Carey’s “touch my body” in an off key pitch, stating that it was now his and Baekhyun’s anthem.

He had also noticed, not that he liked it much, the way that Jongin and now Chanyeol seemed to clung themselves to the older boy, cuddling with him all the time. Sehun would never admit it to anyone else but he had asked Baekhyun if he was seeing either of them, one morning in the kitchen while the little midget was trying to make some toast for himself before going for a run with the maknae. Baekhyun had laughed in his face before replying.

“Of course not! Jongin and Chanyeol are like my little brothers, I loved them to death, just not in that way. It’s just…they come to when they want to talk or when they want advice and both of them really needed it right now I guess.”

“And why is that?” asked Sehun, leaning on the countertop looking at the smaller directly in the eyes.

“They like someone.”

“You?” asked the maknae nonchalantly, trying to fight the nasty lurch that his stomach made when he heard those words.

“What? Of course not, they like other people. Don’t ask me to reveal names, I won’t do that though.”

“They told you who they liked?”

“Yeah!”

“And it isn’t you?”

“No! Why would it be me though? I’m not that special!” replied the other with a laugh.

And that had been that. Now all of them were at the club, celebrating Taemin’s birthday.

The club was packed with SM artists and close friends of the boy and everybody seemed to have a great time, either talking to each other, dancing or drinking. From where Sehun stood, seated at a booth in a corner, he could Kris and Yixing drinking by the bar, Junmyeon was hanging with SHINee’s Minho and SuJu’s Kyuhyun, Tao was talking to Zhoumi with Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Jongdae were in another booth and they seemed to be having another argument by the looks of it, Luhan on the same booth as he was, paying attention to something on his phone, completely disregarding a flustered Krystal who had approached him a while ago and was now stomping away completely mad. Minseok was dancing with Baekhyun and Jongin right in the middle of the dance floor. Baekhyun and Jongin had been the first ones to reach the dance floor and, to Sehun’s surprise, after a few pouts and puppy eyes at Minseok, they had convinced the oldest EXO member to join them. At first the elder ones had sandwiched Jongin, but after a while, Baekhyun had muttered something in Jongin’s ear, who blushed horrible, so much that Sehun could see it from where he stood, and left the both of them, moving a little away from them and finding a new dancing partner in Lee Jinki.

It was funny that, even though Baekhyun wasn’t really keen on coming to the party, he was enjoying himself, fluttering around, like a little social butterfly; Sehun didn’t know if it was due to the fact that the other had a terrible week, because of his his argument with Kyungsoo. He was certainly tired; Sehun could see the darkening tint on his skin, right beneath his eyes, but it was kind of nice to see him having fun and smiling charmingly at anyone around him.

“You are so obvious that his painful.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sehun, turning his body to face Luhan who was looking at him with a smirk.

“I am talking about your way too obvious attraction for him. You can’t seem to look away from him, even if he’s miles away; your eyes always dart to him.”

“It’s nice to actually see him have fun, he had a terrible week.”

“You’re so funny; who are you trying to convince that it’s only because of that? It’s nice to see him smile, that I won’t deny, especially after the way Kyungsoo went crazy on him and Jongdae’s half assed job at being a friend. Either way, I am definitely not blind, you’re growing affectionate of him and he’s growing affectionate of you. You can’t deny that Oh Sehun.”

“We’re civil towards each other.” replied Sehun making Luhan scoff at him.

“I want to be civil like that with people too!”

“Luhan hyung…”

“It’s fine by me though, be civil towards him all that you want. Someday there will be someone who won’t want to be just civil towards him and is going to snag that delicious pint sized man to himself and you’ll regret it so much.” when Sehun shot him an incredulous look, Luhan shrugged his shoulders “Just saying.”

“Fine you made your point. Now what?”

“Now do something about it, you overgrown child.” mocked Luhan before finding Luna in the crowd and rising from his seat to join her.

Sehun let his eyes sweep by the area surrounding him and his eyes were inevitably drawn to Baekhyun’s petite figure, clearly struggling while holding Jongdae. He stood up from his seat and approached them.

“…he doesn’t understand me Baek. Soo doesn’t want me.” Whined Jongdae, swaying from side to side, clearly anything but sober.

“He does Dae, he does. He’s just a little confused right now but he’ll come around.”

“He doesn’t Baekhyunnie. He doesn’t!”

“You’re drunk Dae.”

“You want me don’t you Baek?” asked Jongdae in a slurred voice, sliding an arm around Baekhyun, bringing the other’s body close to him, much to the smaller’s disapproval.

“What are you doing Jongdae?”

Jongdae didn’t answer; instead he approached from Baekhyun’s neck and started mouthing at it.

“Jesus Christ Dae, stop it!”

Sehun could see where this was going and the decided to intervene and, much to his luck, it seemed that Kris had seen everything and decided to do something as well.

“I’ll take care of Jongdae and you just take Baek.” told him Kris as he passed by him.

Kris grabbed Jongdae, forcefully making him come with him while Sehun made his way to his smaller hyung who, by now, had his hands covering his face. He placed a hand on the other’s shoulder and said nothing until Baekhyun turned to him and started blabbering.

“I don’t know what to do anymore. It feels like whatever I do, I am always in between those two when I don’t want to be. I don’t want to be someone who is screwing up their relationship but apparently I am. This is such a disaster.”

But Sehun was having none of that, he wasn’t going to let that adorable small package of man, known as Baekhyun, continue to say such things, especially since he could tell that all that rant was self-deprecating in its nature. He pulled his hyung to his body, making sure he was nestled into his side before turning his hyung’s face toward him.

“Listen to me and listen well; you are not destroying any relationship since you’ve done nothing, if anything you have been trying to help them solve this mess that they have made by themselves. Despite your past with Jongdae, both of you have made it pretty clear that nothing is going on; all the conspiracies that Kyungsoo is weaving are on his head and his alone. Jongdae is at fault too for not standing up for himself and for you and for not putting an end to all of this, he is constantly being told what to do by Kyungsoo and he won’t reverse the situation, so this mess is their fault . And lastly, remember that they are adults and you shouldn’t be trying to clean up the messes that they make, they started it, they end it. Got it?” he asked, trying to fight a smile at the other’s surprised and flushed face,

He look so unbelievingly cute with his wide eyes, rosy cheeks and parted cherry lips; he was even cuter when, subconsciously, took a long elegant finger an raised it to his lips, playing with it, a habit that he was very well known for. When the other nodded, Sehun smiled at him and pushed him to the dance floor.

“Good! Now come and dance with me!”

“Why would you want to dance with me?”

“Why not?” asked Sehun placidly.

“I thought you didn’t like me…” mumbled Baekhyun avoiding Sehun’s eyes.

“And I don’t!” replied Sehun, feeling a little guilty when he saw a flash of hurt passing through the other’s eyes. “You’re just the baby hyung that I have to deal with on a daily basis.” he added playfully.

“And that is a bad thing?” asked Baekhyun coyly understanding that the maknae was joking.

“No.” replied Sehun suddenly serious. “No, it’s not. I learned to grow fond of this baby hyung that I have.”

“And why is that? Wasn’t he a talentless, good for nothing hyung?” asked the smaller very seriously.

“I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the bad things, noticing every little imperfection and fault, pointing finger and, well, being an idiot but at some point, I realized that there’s good things about him that I failed to notice. Things that are quirky, charming and very endearing. How could I not?”

“That’s nice. I’ll be sure to deliver the message to Minseok hyung.” Stated Baekhyun calmly with an evil smile on his lips.

“Don’t you dare you little midget.” warned Sehun, ignoring the smaller’s infectious laughter and grabbing him by his waist and leading him to the dance floor. “Let’s dance you pint sized human being.”

Dancing with Baekhyun was something out of this world, for lack of better word; when he wasn’t joking, the little hobbit could dance like sin personified and the places where his body touched Sehun’s left burning trails on his skin, like a hand on a shoulder or his back touching his chest. However, what pleased the maknae the most was the fact that, despite having offers from several people to dance, including the birthday boy, Baekhyun never accepted them, remaining dancing with him. The words Luhan had uttered to him previously, came back to his mind and if Sehun was hesitating before, he wasn’t now, he could safely say that he was very much attracted to the petite male, what he wasn’t so sure was how far did that attraction went. For now he chose not to dwell too much on it and enjoy the lithe frame that was currently dancing his heart out in front of him.

It was hot in the club, mainly due to the dozens of sweaty bodies dancing, and even Baekhyun had taken of his checkered shirt, leaving him in a large tank top that Sehun suspect that it was either Yixing’s or Jongin’s. His hands sat on top of Baekhyun’s waist and he was using them to not only protecting his hyung’s petite body from the others but also because he like them there, it was almost like a primal instinct to keep them there and snarling at every lewd look that could be sent on the smaller’s way. The only problem was he was thirsty, as in borderline dehydrating, he needed a drink and fast, so much to his disgruntlement, he had to let Baekhyun know. He pulled the smaller’s body to his chest, earning a surprised squeak, before yelling in the other’s ear in order to be heard through the music.

“I’m getting something to drink. Do you want anything?”

“No!” yelled the other back, smiling at him.

“Want to come with?”

“You go, I want to dance some more.”

“Okay then. Save my spot, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Why save you a spot? There is a lot of place to dance Sehun, you don’t need me to save you a spot.” replied Baekhyun thoroughly confused.

“Let me rephrase that: save me a spot next to you.” Sehun said, feeling rather bold. “I did ask you to dance. We still have a lot of songs left to dance.”

“Oh…”said the other soft, reddening like crazy at the implication of the sentence. “I…okay. I’ll save you a spot.”

Sehun pushed the other’s bangs away from his forehead, revealing more clearly sparkling brown eyes that were glancing at him shyly.

“Good. I’ll be back.”

He his heel and approached the bar where he could see Kris. He approached it and asked the bartender for water, he didn’t want to get drunk, therefore he was staying as far from alcohol as possible.

“I see that you and Baekhyun are getting along quite fine on the dancefloor.”

“Yeah…” replied Sehun shortly not daring to look at Kris.

“You are so stupidly affectionate of him. It’s both painful and amusing to watch.”

“Where’s Jongdae hyung?”

“Junmyeon and Yixing took him home. Kyungsoo went along. He was beyond worried when Jongdae started throwing up when they took him to the bathroom.”

“As long as they fix their complicated relation, I don’t really give a damn of what they are doing or not.”

“As long as it doesn’t affect Baekhyun isn’t it?” asked Kris with a small smirk.

“I hate to interrupt you two but I think it is better for you to pay attention to your small pocket sized beau, because he doesn’t seem very happy at the moment.”

Sehun and Kris both turned to Luhan, who was behind them, Chanyeol trailing behind him quite happily, who was pointing at the dance floor. They both turned, at the exact same time, to see a very tall man, nearly as tall as Chanyeol, talking to Baekhyun while grabbing his arm. The smaller man wasn’t that far away that Sehun didn’t notice the displeased look on his face, clear indication that whatever it was happening, Baekhyun wasn’t enjoying it.

Without paying attention to anyone, Sehun made his way back to his petite hyung, completely ignoring Kris’ calls. As he reached them he was quick to take the other’s hand and displace it from Baekhyun’s arms.

“Don’t touch him.” he growled at the other male.

“A friend of yours hyung? Did you have to screw him too to get a place in your little band? You can have fun with me, I don’t even ask for anything in return, although you could ask the higher gods of SM to make me debut.”

As he heard the other’s voice, something in Sehun’s mind clicked and he remembered the conversation they had the other day at dinner when Kyungsoo had exploded at Baekhyun and Jongin made a comment about trainees harassing Baekhyun.

“I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole, I don’t want to imagine what sort of diseases I could catch from you.” replied Baekhyun, his quick sarcasm making a glorious appearance.

“But you slept with a whole bunch of people to get where you are now, didn’t you? I wouldn’t be surprise, a pretty little thing like you.”

“It’s called talent and hard work, look it up on the dictionary, maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of it once in your sad life. But hey, if you are really interested in sleeping around to debut, go ahead; send me a postcard after to tell me how it feels.”

“You should have more respect for me, I might be younger but I had more years of training than you did.”

“Those have gotten you far...” scoffed Baekhyun.

Apparently, the taller male was quite enraged with the sassy remark because he made a move forward, in Baekhyun’s direction.

“Do not.” threatened Sehun standing in front of his hyung.

“What will you do pretty boy? Are you going to punch me?”

“Nah, I could catch stupidity from you.”

And apparently, that was a reply that the other didn’t like as well because next thing Sehun felt was a punch in the face that had him stumbling, backwards. Next couple of minutes were quite the blur but Sehun had noticed a number of things: first, Kris and Taemin, followed by a couple of SuJu member arrived next to them; second, Kris was holding Baekhyun by the waist; third, said Baekhyun had delivered a pretty amazing kick to the other man, who was now on the floor, hands grabbing his head, howling in pain.

However, he noticed pretty well when soft hands with elegant fingers grasped his face and tilted it backwards to inspect the damage.

“Are you okay Sehun? Your lip his bleeding but I’m not sure of the rest of you.”

“I’m fine. My ego is bruised, my pride is hurt but that’s entirely a whole another story.” he said while the Baekhyun dabbed at his lip gently with the corner of his tank top.

He heard Taemin apologizing for everything somewhere in front of them and the sound of Kris’ voice threatening the obnoxious trainee to dare to say something to them again, if he wasn’t mistaken, he was sure that heard Heechul’s voice making some threats too; everybody knew that Baekhyun was one Heechul’s favorites and there would be hell to pay if someone touched the petite male.

A pair of short arms helped him hoisting himself up and Sehun heard the smooth voice of Baekhyun whispering to him that they were going home.

“But you wanted to dance…” he complained while Baekhyun sent him a flabbergasted look.

“You were just punched in the mouth, you really think that I’m thinking about dancing?!”

The incredulous older male led the younger outside the club and they both got into the first taxi that they found, completely in silence, until Sehun decided to speak.

“Why didn’t you punch that punk sooner? Jongin told us that a trainee was harassing you, I suppose that’s him…”

“I didn’t because it doesn’t really matter. He can say whatever the hell he wants that it doesn’t make it true, I know that, you guys know too, so no need for me to spend my energy on that retarded.”

“But…”

“Sehun” interrupted Baekhyun looking into the younger’s eyes. “Do you think I don’t deserve my place? Do you think I’ve slept with people to achieve what I’ve achieved?”

“No! How can you even ask me that?!” asked Sehun, voice laced with indignation.

“Then, it doesn’t matter. If it’s not coming from the mouth of someone I care about, than it’s not worth my time.” replied the other calmly as he took his wallet from his pocket to pay the taxi driver.

Sehun was left reeling with that comment, without noticing, the older had just admitted to Sehun that he cared for the younger and that he found his words and opinions mattered to the smaller male. That made a little, tiny smile bloom in his lips.

They both got out of the taxi and reached opened the dorm door; they could here Jongdae vomiting his stomach out on the bathroom downs and Junmyeon yelling at him with Kyungsoo aiding him. They also heard the sound of the kettle which meant that Yixing was probably making some coffee.

“Go upstairs. I’ll be there in a minute.” said the smaller of the two, trailing towards the kitchen.

The maknae chose to obey the other’s request and went upstairs and sat on the bed for a while before, after some pondering, changing into his sleepwear, since it was almost four in the morning.

Baekhyun entered the room as soon as he finished putting a t-shirt on and handed him a little bag with ice cubes wrapped in a towel.

“Put this on your lip, it will prevent it from swelling.”

The younger complied once again and sat on his bed watching the older change his clothes.

“You know,” started Baekhyun “Yixing hyung freaked out when he saw the blood on my tank top, which will be a pain to take out by the way.”

“What did you told him?”

“The truth…everyone saw what happened so lying would be absolutely pointless.”

“I guess.”

“I’m tired. Beating annoying little bastards tired me out.” complained the shorter with a yawn, finishing dressing himself with some shorts.

“Why did you then?”

Baekhyun threw him a blank look.

“He punched you!”

“And that is a good reason to beat him up?”

“Yes!” exclaimed the petite male promptly.

Sehun fought a smile before signaling his hyung to approach him. The other approached the bed slowly and yelped slightly when the overgrown maknae pulled him to the bed and arranged his positions so that he could be all snuggled up against his side.

“What are you doing Sehun?” asked Baekhyun, his voice a little muddled from his place on Sehun’s chest.

“I’m snuggling with you, shut up.”

The shorter opened his mouth once or twice but closed it soon after, opting to pout at the younger male.

“Don’t act all adorable with me Baek, not going to work.” commented the maknae, stopping when he noticed the other’s surprised look. “What? What happened?”

“You called me Baek… you never called me that.” replied the other in a small voice, a little pink tint high on his cheeks.

Sehun blushed slightly but didn’t reply. They stood there enjoying each other’s company and, when Sehun finally looked down after a while, the tinier was sleeping soundly. Gently, as to not wake up the other, Sehun put the bag of ice in his bedside table and laid down, bringing Baekhyun with him, letting him rest slightly on top of himself. He pushed the other’s bangs aside to press a small, soft kiss on Baekhyun’s forehead, before wrapping an arm around his waist and muttering softly against his soft, blonde ash locks.

“Good night Baek.”

A/N: So how do you like this chappie?! Huh? Huh? Loads of fluffy moments for you (because I don't always bash the heck out of them!!!). Sehunnie admited some things to himself and he all can see how Baekhyun feels right?
Let mw know what you thought of this chapter. Comment, subscribe and upvote my baby yes? Yes!
A big, enormous hug for you all, may your day be absolutely AWESOME, just like you are ^^