“Everyone has this thing… It’s like, we can’t get along? Everyone – well, the fans – they think you hate me”

Kyungsoo looked up from where he was sat on his bed watching stupid videos of cats pushing things off of tables to look at Baekhyun, who was sitting on his desk, looking a little more than distressed.

“What does it matter?” Kyungsoo asked, not really seeing the big deal. Who cared what anyone thought? He loved his fans, but sometimes they didn’t know their head from their arse. Especially when it came to him and Baekhyun.

“Even the guys think you don’t like me most of the time” Baekhyun added, sounding a little put out.

Kyungsoo sighed softly, setting his ipad to one side and scooting over to make room next to him. “Come here” he said, patting the empty space. He waited until Baekhyun was sat beside him to continue, “Look, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I know that isn’t true, and you know that isn’t true. So who cares what anyone else thinks?”

“I do” Baekhyun stressed, “I know you couldn’t give a rats about what anyone else thinks about our… whatever we are. But I do. Call me superficial or whatever, but I don’t like people thinking that the person that means the world to me hates me. Like, even the jokes are starting to piss me off. I get it, we bicker, we fight, we joke around, but nobody ever pays attention to the nice things”

Kyungsoo sighed, “I’m sorry” he said, “It’s probably my fault. I’m not exactly the best at showing how much I like you when we’re in front of people…”

Baekhyun smiled slightly, “Yeah, well. Being nice to me doesn’t suit you. ‘I want to disturb you forever, so just hit me forever’ right?”

“I still can’t believe you wrote that” Kyungsoo laughed, “Literally, what were you even thinking?”

Baekhyun grinned, “That I like to disturb you” he teased, making his fingers walk up Kyungsoo’s thigh.

Kyungsoo’s hand clamped down over the elder’s “What are you playing at, Byun Baekhyun?” he smirked, leaning close so that his breath fanned over Baekhyun’s smiling face.

“Don’t know what you mean” Baekhyun whispered, his breath hitching slightly at the closeness of his bandmate.

“You know exactly what I mean, don’t play dumb with me, Baekhyunnie. I know you too well by now” Kyungsoo smirked as he felt Baekhyun’s free hand move up to clutch at the collar of his t-shirt to pull him closer.

Baekhyun hummed, “Yeah, well, what you gonna do about it?” he teased.

“What do you want me to do?” Kyungsoo countered easily, pushing Baekhyun back and rolling atop of him, pressing the elder into the mattress, “Hmm?”

“A lot of things” Baekhyun told him, “But right now, I want you to kiss me”

“But what will the fans think?!” Kyungsoo gasped in mock surprise, “Surely I can’t kiss someone I don’t like? Maybe I should go find Jongin… They seem to really dig that. You should see all the fanfics, and the art, dear god the art. It’s such a turn o-oh”

“Shut up” Baekhyun hissed before pulling Kyungsoo into a heated kiss, which the younger eagerly returned.

It isn’t like they’re together or anything, or well, they say they’re not. But it isn’t like they’re with anyone else either. Granted, the options are limited in their line of work, but they don’t want to be with anyone else.

There was a time at the start of it all, when Kyungsoo and Jongin had had some weird, kind of relationship, thing. And Baekhyun remembered feeling like he wanted to kill the second youngest in the group.

He loved Jongin to bits, so it had surprised him just how pissed off he’d gotten when he’d walked into their room and Kyungsoo’s hands had been in Jongin’s hair whilst Jongin’s mouth had been stretched around Kyungsoo’s-

“Stop thinking so loud, you’re giving me a headache” Kyungsoo said breathlessly, pulling back slightly to look at Baekhyun, who was a little flushed around the neck and cheeks.

Baekhyun frowned, “M’not. I just…”

“I know” Kyungsoo sighed, “And I’m sorry it’s like this. Look, you know as well as I do that people will only see what they want to see. People see me smile at Jongin, and they think that’s me wanting him balls deep in my . But it isn’t like it’s not the same my end, you know. People have so many theories about you and Chanyeol, and let’s be real, it isn’t that farfetched”

Baekhyun’s frown deepened at that, his hands stilled on Kyungsoo’s chest, “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, “What does Chanyeol have to do with anything”

“Baek… The guy was practically in love with you. And need I even mention the that went down with Taeyeon?” Kyungsoo said, hovering over Baekhyun, keeping him trapped there. Baekhyun had a terrible habit of running away when the conversation steered into more serious topics.

“You know that wasn’t my choice” Baekhyun said, “I had to do it to make the whole Kris thing blow over. People were in an uproar… Like, sorry his health is more important than him singing and dancing for a company of death. And Chanyeol… It’s complicated. We’re just friends, but I don’t know” he trailed off.

Kyungsoo pulled back to sit up and look at Baekhyun uncomfortably, “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I… We tried things. A while back. During that long hiatus we had. But things got too complicated, and it didn’t work out” Baekhyun said to the sheets. He could feel Kyungsoo watching him, but he couldn’t find it in himself to look up at the younger.

It was a little bit of a taboo subject; feelings. They’d never discussed what it was between them, it had just kind of happened. One minute they were backstage at rehearsals for growl, and the next Kyungsoo had Baekhyun pinned up against the wall and they were kissing hard and fast, grinding against each other, and it had just been that way since.

“What do you mean it got too complicated?” Kyungsoo asked, akin to that of a jealous boyfriend. He supposed he didn’t have any right to be, but at the same time, he felt like he had every right.

Baekhyun hesitated, he supposed it was now or never, but he didn’t know how Kyungsoo would react. They were best friends, that much he knew, but anything more than that… Lovers… Partners…. Would Kyungsoo even want that. it, he was going to bite the bullet, “My feelings for you got in the way” he whispered, “I wanted to like him back. , it would have made life a lot easier. He was nothing but sweet to me. But all I saw was you. And then you had to go and kiss me, and make things complicated, and I just… Feelings, okay. Feelings”

“Feelings” Kyungsoo repeated, testing out the word on his tongue, “You have feelings for me…?”

Baekhyun sighed, “Yes, okay. So make fun of me, tell me we can’t do this anymore, whatever. I don’t care. But I’m not going to keep pretending that I don’t feel anything more than friendship for you, because I really ing like you. And that’s why I don’t want people to think you hate me, alright”

Kyungsoo smiled softly before moving over and wrapping Baekhyun up in his arms, “You’re real ing stupid, you know that?” he said, nuzzling into Baekhyun’s neck, “If I didn’t want you, you wouldn’t be here. If I didn’t feel something, then do you think I’d play with you like this? I’m a lot of things, but I’m not cruel. I knew you liked me, and I thought I’d made it clear I liked you too. I just didn’t know if you wanted this to be more than a causal thing…”

“Then what about that thing you had with Jongin?” Baekhyun pressed. It was ages ago, and he knew that it was pointless to bring it up now, but he kind of needed to know.

Kyungsoo shrugged, “We dated for a short while” he said, “From when we were trainees to just after we released Mama. I told him that I thought I was starting to get feelings for someone else, and he said that he wouldn’t ever hold me back. So we called it quits and stayed friends”

“That’s why you’re always saying he’s the most mature in the group, isn’t it?” Baekhyun realised, making Kyungsoo smile.

“Yeah” the younger nodded, “He’s a good guy, he deserves someone that can give him what he needs. Someone that is going to love him wholly and not fall in love with their best friend” he laughed softly, “So me and you then… We’re us. We’re not seeing anyone else”

Baekhyun smiled back, “I’d really like that” he nodded as he sat up properly to take a hold of Kyungsoo’s hand and play with his fingers, “I mean… I, yeah”

“Wow, you’re so good with words, Baek. It’s no wonder you’re the talker of the group” Kyungsoo smirked slightly as he pressed forward to get closer to the elder again.

“You make me nervous” Baekhyun admitted, “I feel like you can see through that, and it makes me feel, I don’t know…”

“Vulnerable?” Kyungsoo asked, “That’s how you make me feel too, though. But it’s not a bad thing. Or, at least it isn’t for me. When you make me feel vulnerable, you also make me feel like it’s okay, because I can trust you not to share that with anyone else. Baek, you’ve seen sides of me that I wouldn’t dare to show anyone else, and if that isn’t a sentiment to how I feel about you, then I don’t know what is” he said softly.

Baekhyun hummed, his eyes moving up to meet Kyungsoo’s in a shared look of understanding, “I know, it’s the same for me too. It just.. It kind of scares me how much I trust you, you know? You’re someone I share everything with, but still, people don’t see that. They only see the fighting, and the bickering, and whatever else there is. They never see the smiles, and the touches. The hugs, the laughs, the looks. The good things. People only see the bad”

“I can’t change what people choose to see, Baek. No matter what I do, people will only see how they want to. They’ll only see between us what they want to think. Reality doesn’t matter to people stuck in a dream of what they want” Kyungsoo told the other boy, a sigh leaving him as he shifted to lay down, pulling Baekhyun to lay beside him and wrapping the elder in his arms. “I’m sorry”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun whispered, “Me too”

“I know it bothers you a lot. I wish I could make people see that I see the universe in your eyes. I wish I could make people see that you’re my world, but I can’t. I can only make you see that. And as long as you see that, then I’m okay. As long as you know that I love you, that I could never hate you, then life is good. I hope that one day you’ll be able to see that it doesn’t matter what anyone else things, but I know that’s a hard thing to ask, so until then, we’ll just have to try extra hard to show them, okay?” Kyungsoo smiled slightly, pressing a soft kiss to Baekhyun’s forehead.

Baekhyun shook his head, “No” he said, “No, we don’t need to try harder. You’re right, people will only see what they want to. And if they don’t want to see us as us, then fine. They don’t have to. We’re real. I know that, so that’s it. Will it still bug me and upset me, of course, because having your feelings be brushed over is hard. But I have you, right? So… one step at a time…”

“One step at a time” Kyungsoo smiled, following it up with a laugh. “You never cease to amaze me, you know that?”

Baekhyun grinned, “Yeah well. After all this, could you just be kissing me right now?”

“I can do that” Kyungsoo laughed again before tilting his head and pressing their lips together in a sweet, slow kiss.

Maybe people didn’t understand them. Maybe they didn’t know what they had. And maybe they just didn’t want to see it, to live in their own dream filled fantasy where life goes exactly how they imagined. But that was okay.

People saw what they wanted to see, felt what they needed to.

People lived life in ways that they couldn’t even really explain to themselves.

But to Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, they knew what they felt and they knew that they had. They might not have been what the fans called a conventional ship, but they didn’t care. They’d tried going down that route and it just wasn’t for them, they needed something a little more…

And there was nothing more that they could get, than what they had with one another.

A/N: Just a short BaekSoo story for you all :)

(Sorry not sorry, Kang-ah)