As far as waiting for the bus went, it was pretty mundane. It wasn't like in the movies where a perfectly handsome stranger would come over and spit out a witty line or two to make you laugh.

No, the bus stop in the mornings was always the same. An old man that didn't care about ing up people's lungs with the smoke from his cigar. A mother with three screaming kids. A man in a nice suit that was so far up his own it was a surprise he could breathe. And then him, Kyungsoo. He guessed that he took on the role of emo teenager on the way to school. It wasn't far from the truth, though he wasn't an emo. He did like black though. A lot actually.

But no, waiting for the bus was a pain in the arse and he'd head- anyone that said otherwise.

With a clug and a screech, the old rickety bus pulled up in front of him. He waiting until the others had got on before clambering on himself and flashing the driver his pass before making his way to a seat near the front. Easy to get off that way.

The ride to school wasn't a long one. Only fifteen minutes, but then, fifteen minutes surrounded by loud, sweaty strangers wasn't short either.

No surprise that Chanyeol was a bus person, when he thought about it.

Chanyeol was pretty much his opposite. Loud, colourful, boisterous. But still, they'd maintained a close friendship over the years. The bus stopped at the next one and lo-and-behold there was the devil himself.

Chanyeol shot him one of his infamous grins through the window before he moved to get onto the bus himself.

Chanyeol was pretty great in all fairness. He put up with Kyungsoo's ever-changing moods, so he was pretty patient. He was kind, and caring. And handsome too. He was tall and clumsy, but he was definitely handsome. Most of the girls seemed to hold that opinion also, but unfortunately for them, Park Chanyeol only had eyes for one person.

Byun Baekhyun.

The kid was a menace at best. But alongside Chanyeol, he was also one of Kyungsoo's best friends.

He was short and hyper, to the point that he reminded Kyungsoo of an over excited puppy. The two of them had dated briefly at the start of the summer, but Chanyeol didn't know about that. Nor would he ever. It was only a fling anyway and it had made Baekhyun realise that he actually liked Chanyeol.

Now the two of them were tip-toeing around each other as though they didn't want to make out vigorously in public.

"Kyungsoo-yah! Why do you look like you just watched someone die? It's nice out! Smile a little" Chanyeol said and he plonked himself down in the seat beside Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo raised a brow at his best friend, "I'm allergic to happiness" he deadpanned, making Chanyeol chuckle. It did crack a smile out of Kyungsoo though. "Where's Baek? Wasn't he staying at yours last night?"

"Yeah. He had to go early though. He volunteered to be the buddy for the new kid" Chanyeol shrugged.

Kyungsoo groaned, "new kid? God, that means he'll be hanging around with us, doesn't it?

Chanyeol hummed "'fraid so" he said, "look on the bright side though, it could be someone you really like"

"Or it could be an annoying little er like Oh Sehun" Kyungsoo shot back.

Chanyeol let out a snort before rolling his eyes, "Don't give me that . You love Sehun and you know you do!"

"Yeah, but he doesn't need to know that" Kyungsoo flashed Chanyeol a -eating grin. "What time did Baek go in, then?"

"'Bout six. He said Principle Choi wanted to talk to him before he got his hands on the fresh meat" Chanyeol laughed, "He's probably worried that Baek will corrupt him"

Kyungsoo snorted, "B would do that even if he wasn't showing the kid around. He's a nightmare"

"Says you" Chanyeol smirked.

"I'm a delight, pal. What you trying to say?" Kyungsoo scoffed as he pressed the bell for the bus to stop.

The two of them waited for it to come to a halt before they made their way off of it and started the five minute walk to get to school.

"Oh balls!" Chanyeol cussed, "I left my lunch at home"

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes before reaching into his bag and pulling out a brown paper bag with 'spare' written on the front. He handed it over to Chanyeol with a knowing look.

Chanyeol gave him a sheepish smile. "I almost remembered to pick it up today! I swear!"

"I bet" Kyungsoo shook his head in amusement. "Come on, we're meant to meet Jongdae by the benches in like two minutes"

"Well Jongdae knew you'd be late thanks to that giant and walked to meet you instead" a voice pipped up from in front of them.

Kyungsoo looked up with a wicked grin to see Jongdae watching them both with a raised brow. "Ah, Mr Kim. So lovely of you to join us" he said, walking forwards and linking arms with the older boy.

"Yes, well the thing is, Mr Do. Mr Park is, despite his leg span, as slow as a ing snail" Jongdae mocked playfully, "so I had no other choice"

"Hey! I am here you know" Chanyeol whined, pouting to himself as he walked alongside his friends.

The pair beside him laughed.

"Aww come on, Yeol. You know we're just playing" Jongdae snickered.

"I miss Baek" Chanyeol harrumphed.

Jongdae shot Kyungsoo a brief look, only to be met with a subtle shake of the head, before turning back to Chanyeol, "Being in love with someone does that to you" he said pointedly.

"I'm not in love with him" Chanyeol stressed, "I just like him, okay?! God. This is stupid anyway, he'll never like me back"

"Have you tried, I don't know, asking him?" Kyungsoo suggested. "You might be pleasantly surprised"

"You know something!" Chanyeol accused as they reached the school and made the journey up to their lockers.

"The I do?" Kyungsoo returned, "I stay out of your guys' mess, thanks"

Chanyeol gave him a playful dirty look before turning to stop at his locker and shove his bag in it whilst grabbing the books he needed for the morning.

"Yeol! Yeol, over here!"

Chanyeol turned to see Baekhyun pushing through people to get to him, a big grin on his face as another boy - a tall, dark and handsome boy - followed him through like a lost puppy.

Once he made it through the crowed he leapt into Chanyeol for a brief hug before pulling back. "Hey guys! This is Jongin. He's new. He's in the year below us with Sehunnie. But he's taking AP English, so he'll be in your class for that, 'Soo. Anyways, Jongin, this is Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Jongdae, my friends. You actually live like two houses down from Kyungsoo, so he'll take you home today."

"Wow, I will? Thanks for asking, " Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, "Nice to meet you though, Jongin"

Jongin let out a small cough, "you too, Kyungsoo-sii"

"Just Kyungsoo is fine" Kyungsoo laughed before turning back to Baekhyun, "where is that brat Oh Sehun anyway?"

"Yah! Who are you calling a brat?"

"Watch your tone, kid" Kyungsoo shot back as he turned to grin at the tall youngest. "Jesus, Sehun. Does your mum know you've dyed your bloody hair again?" He asked, taking in the baby pink mop on Sehun's head.

Sehun grinned, "Hyung~ so judgey. She helped me do it. She said she would rather me play with my hair that do drugs. And that it'll be my own fault when I'm bald and lonely"

"Fair. Anyway, where were you last week?" Kyungsoo asked, letting Sehun wrap him in a back-hug.

"Hospital" Sehun sighed, "my asthma was playing up again and they wanted to monitor my lungs since I wasn't really breathing. Then I was on rest at home. Nothing serious"

Kyungsoo frowned, "maybe drop me a text next time, so I don't have a heart attack before I turn eighteen?"

"Sorry hyung~" Sehun cooed, "I promise to tell you next time"

"Let's hope there isn't a next time" Jongdae piped up, shooting Sehun a pointed look. "You need to look after yourself better"

Sehun grinned, "but I have Kyungsoo Hyung for that" he paused as he noticed Jongin standing awkwardly beside Baekhyun, "who's that?"

"I'm Jongin" Jongin got out, "I'm new here"

Sehun nodded, "How old are you?"

"Sixteen. I'll be seventeen in a couple of weeks" Jongin said, shifting from foot to foot.

Sehun smiled slightly, "ah, you're my year then. That's cool, you can hang out with me and my class friends"

"Oh, that's... thanks" Jongin smiled.

It was only then that Kyungsoo really looked at him. And he almost wished he hadn't. The boy was beyond breath-taking. He was tall, handsome and pretty much everything Kyungsoo dreamt about on those lonely nights when he had but his own hand for company. Not that the new kid needed to know that.

Jongin was, to put it simply, ing gorgeous. He had tanned skin and plump lips. He had eyes that just screamed mischief, but there was a shyness about him that Kyungsoo found himself being intrigued by. Here was this boy, hot as hell, and it was almost as though he didn't even know it.

Still, he didn't know him. For all Kyungsoo knew, he could be a complete turd of a person. Though Baekhyun seemed to like him, and despite his idiocy, the hyper little was a good judge of character, so Jongin must have been an alright sort.

It wasn't long after that that the bell went off, telling them it was time for class, and so on their merry way they went. Jongin and Sehun in one direction, whilst the other four went in the other.

"So, what's the new kid like?" Jongdae asked as they walked to maths. And Kyungsoo was flooded with relief that he wasn't the one to have to ask.

Baekhyun shrugged, "Nice enough. Bit shy, but we'll knock that out of him in no time. He's a sweet kid. Makes super lame jokes and laughs at them. Basically he's a massively hot uber dork" he laughed, "so he'll get along with us lot just fine"

"You think he's hot?" Chanyeol asked, his brows furrowing slightly.

Baekhyun flushed a deep red in return, "I... well I mean, h-he isn't ugly" he stammered out. "I... he isn't my type if that's what you mean"

"What is your type?" Chanyeol pressed, missing the look between Kyungsoo and Jongdae as they came to a stop just outside their classroom to wait to be let in.

Their maths teacher was a bit of a weirdo like that. Didn't like anyone in his room before himself.

Baekhyun coughed out a few noises before taking a deep breath, "That isn't something I want to talk about right now"

"Why not?" Chanyeol asked, unrelenting.

Baekhyun frowned, hugging his text book to his chest, "Because you don't need to know everything I think or do!" He snapped, "just leave it!"

"Why are you getting so pissy over this?" Chanyeol snapped back.

Baekhyun's eyes narrowed dangerously, "because" he said calmly, "if you don't know the answer to that by now then you're obviously more stupid than I gave you credit for."

"You're making no sense"

Baekhyun's fingers were turning white with how hard he held his book, "you are a ing idiot, Park Chanyeol" he said before turning on his heel and stalking off down the hall.

Kyungsoo sighed, "I'll go. Tell Mr Lee that I took him to the nurse or something" he said before running off after Baekhyun, leaving a confused Chanyeol and an amused Jongdae in his wake.

Kyungsoo made his way down to the janitor’s closet on the third floor where he knew Baekhyun would be hiding.

Sure enough, he opened the door of the cramped closet to find Baekhyun sat on the floor, hugging his knees and looking more frustrated than upset.

"Why so glum, chum?" Kyungsoo asked as he manoeuvred his was in and sat down beside Baekhyun, closing the door behind him.

Baekhyun frowned at him, "you know why" he deadpanned. It was strange seeing Baekhyun so... down. He was such a lively person that seeing him in this way. "I'm just... ing hell"

"You could just... tell him" Kyungsoo pointed out. "But I'm thinking that you telling him he doesn't need to know everything wasn't just about how you feel about him"

Baekhyun looked up at Kyungsoo with a half glare, "I feel ing awful about what we did, 'Soo. Like... not that we did it. Just that if he ever finds out.... he's gonna hate me"

"We didn't know back then..." Kyungsoo coughed awkwardly.

Baekhyun let out a hollow laugh, "But we did. He didn't say anything, but we knew. Who are we kidding?"

"We can't change what happened, Baek" Kyungsoo sighed, "We had a fling. It happened. We did some stuff that maybe we shouldn't have, but it's in the past. It didn't mean anything"

"Didn't it?" Baekhyun challenged.

Kyungsoo paused and swallowed the lump in his throat, "It doesn't have to. Maybe it did at the time, but things are different now. You like Yeol and I...."

"Was eyeing up the new kid" Baekhyun finished for him with a small laugh at how Kyungsoo's eyes widened. "But that isn't the point. If he finds out... I don't want him to hate me, Kyungsoo"

Kyungsoo shook his head, "Chanyeol could never hate you. He loves you too much"

"He doesn't love me. He likes me, God only know knows why. But there's a difference nonetheless" Baekhyun said self-deprecatingly.

Kyungsoo smacked him on the arm in retaliation, "Don't you dare do that. You know you're amazing, and you never let people tell you otherwise, alright? Baek, you're great. You're funny, smart, hot, have a great personality. Anyone would be lucky to have you" he scolded fondly.

"Wasn't good enough for you, though. Was I?" Baekhyun raised a brow at his best friend.

Kyungsoo sighed, "You know it wasn't like that. It just... It wasn't right with us. We didn't.... Gel or whatever you call it. And you realising you were in love with Yoda kinda got in the way too" he laughed. "Really though, I love you, Baek. But we've always been better as friends"

"Yeah I know," he sighed, "I was just wallowing in self-pity"

Kyungsoo smiled, "No " he laughed, wrapping an arm around Baekhyun and pulling him in for a hug, "He'll tell you eventually, then you two can just make out and gross us all out"

"That's the dream" Baekhyun sniggered.

--

"Kyungsoo! Wait up!"

Kyungsoo paused in his steps for wait for Chanyeol as the tall boy jumped and weaved through the crowd to get to him.

"I was stood still, you didn't have to dive through a bunch of first years. They're probably mortified now" Kyungsoo said easily as he and Chanyeol began to walk to the field for lunch.

"Oh well, it's happened now, can't change it" Chanyeol shrugged, "Where's Baekhyun? Is he still pissed?"

"Nah. He went to get Sehunnie and Jongin. They're gonna meet us here" The shorter boy said, finding a good spot of grass and sitting down.

Just as they sat, Jongdae joined them, "So, the lowdown on the new kid is that he's a dancer. He moved here because his parents got a divorce and his mum didn't want to stay in the same city as his dad. He just got dumped because his girlfriend realised she was in love with Jongin's best friend, Amber - so now they're dating. No hard feelings apparently. But before that, he had a thing with this kid called Taemin, only turns out he was a jerk and Jongin dumped him like a sack of spuds. Oh and he has a stage name," Jongdae snorted, taking Chanyeol's kimbap for himself, "it's Kai"

Chanyeol frowned, but relaxed soon after as he realised Kyungsoo had packed him another. "Why do you know this?" He asked, taking a bite of it.

Jongdae smirked, "You remember Jonghyun, right? Well he moved last year, turns out he moved to where Jongin used to live. They ran in the same circle, so he messaged me earlier and asked me if we had a new kid. The rest just went from there"

"Dae, why're you acting like Jonghyun is some randomer. He's your damn cousin" Kyungsoo deadpanned, digging into his own lunch.

Jongdae laughed, "Hey, I still got the info, didn't I?"

"Info nobody asked for" Chanyeol pointed out, with a grin.

"Shut up" Jongdae huffed. And just in time as Baekhyun walked over with Sehun and Jongin.

He gave them a grin and sat down between Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, leaving Sehun to sit next to Jongdae, and Jongin to sit between Sehun and Kyungsoo.

"Hi" Jongin smiled shyly at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo smiled back in amusement, "Hey. How'd your morning go?"

"Not bad" Jongin said softly, "Sehun kept me up to date with most of my classes and then this, uh, Jinyoung guy helped me in the one Sehun wasn't in. I think I have English with you after lunch? Double lesson?"

Kyungsoo nodded. "Yeah, you're heading home with me too, right? We'll have to wait for Chanyeol though"

"Not today" Chanyeol butted in, "I'm going to meet Kris to play ball"

"Will Luhan be there?" Sehun asked, trying and failing to hide his excitement.

Chanyeol nodded, "yeah. You in?"

"I'm in. Got nothing better to do anyways" Sehun attempted to play it off cool. "Baek-hyung, you coming?"

Baekhyun shook his head, "Can't. Me and Dae have band practice"

"Minseok's gonna be there" Chanyeol smirked at Jongdae, "sure you don't wanna blow off band practice just this once?"

Baekhyun glared slightly at Jongdae, who momentarily looked like he might give in.

"Baek... Baekhyunnie.... My Byun Baek!" Jongdae whined.

"No. We're working on lower range today and you need it. You're not going. Learn to be responsible. And besides, Yixing didn't agree to spend his day off college helping us for you to ditch him! And he's bringing Junmyeon" Baekhyun said firmly. "You aren't ditching. Chanyeol, you and Sehun are fine on your own. Jongdae, you can see Minseok another time"

They both paused, "you're scary when you get serious" Chanyeol complained quietly.

"I'll bloody well show you scary" Baekhyun shot back, smacking Chanyeol on the leg, though not hard enough for it to hurt.

Chanyeol moaned, "Ow! What was that for?!"

"For being a dense er" Baekhyun said, "you, Mister, better be at my house at eight o'clock. We need to talk"

Chanyeol's brows furrowed slightly in confusion, "are we not allowed to talk about it here?"

"Nope. It's private"

Jongin leant in to Kyungsoo, "are they always like this?" He asked quietly.

Kyungsoo nodded, "Pretty much. It's either this or they're all over each other"

"Oh, so they're together?"

"No," Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, "they like each other but neither of them will just say it. So they've been dancing around one another for months. It's ridiculous"

Jongin hummed in thought, "well I hope it works out well. There's nothing worse than a one sided relationship" he sighed.

"You sound like you have experience" Kyungsoo said, pretending not to know what Jongdae had told him only moments ago.

Jongin nodded, "yeah. I've been in a whopping two relationships and they both went down the pan" he cringed, "One was a total . And the other started to fall for my best friend. Granted, we are on good terms, but it still major . What about you? How is your love life?" He laughed slightly.

Now it was Kyungsoo's turn to cringe, "Jesus, you get right to it, don't you" he shook his head in semi-disbelief, "but uh, not much to tell really. I don't really do relationships. I've only ever dated one person and that lasted like... less than two months. I mean, unless you count the girlfriend I had between the ages of five and seven" he laughed at the memory. It had been one of his best friends, but they were kids and it was just what was expected of them really. Hyoyeon was ing awesome though. But she'd moved when they were fourteen to live in Italy.

"How come it didn't work out?" Jongin asked, and Kyungsoo noted he'd peaked the attention of both Jongdae and Baekhyun, though they were trying not to show they were listening in.

Kyungsoo coughed slightly to clear his throat. "We were just better as friends" he said calmly, "nothing massive" he purposely didn't look at Baekhyun after that, but he noted that Jongdae had subtly rolled his eyes.

Jongin nodded, "well at least you can still be friends, right? I always feel like if someone means a lot to you, nothing can break a good friendship"

"True" Kyungsoo nodded, "wanna head to class? Bells gonna go in like five minutes anyway"

Jongin nodded, "Sure, lead the way"

Kyungsoo stood up and put his rubbish in the bin "see you later, guys. Baek, text me when you've watched the season ten finale of Supernatural, yeah?"

Baekhyun grinned, "Oh, I will! I'm pissed that you got me into this show by the way. It hurts me!"

"It hurts us all" Kyungsoo snorted before dragging Jongin off to class.

--

"That was.... intense" Jongin said as he and Kyungsoo made their way to the bus stop.

Kyungsoo let out a melodic laugh, making Jongin smile, "I know. She's a bit of a strong character, but she is genuinely lovely"

"She put Jackson in the bin...." Jongin pointed out! "In the actual bin! Is that even legal?"

Kyungsoo grinned, "Probably not, but who's gonna tell? She's a great teacher! You'll ace your final exams with her, I promise"

"I don't doubt it" Jongin laughed.

Throughout their English lesson, Kyungsoo learnt a lot about Jongin. He found out that he had two sisters, both older than him. He had a weird obsession with dogs. He loved anyone that cooked for him, and liked to sleep a lot. He'd been dancing since he could walk, and was an alright rapper. He was a huge dork, and loved Michael Jackson. And his sense of humour was, well... special.

Jongin was a genuinely nice person though, he was sweet and did his best to make you feel like he wanted to know all about you. Perhaps it was a shame that Kyungsoo wasn't a very open person.

The bus pulled up soon enough and the two of them got on, flashed their passes and moved to sit down where they could amongst the old ladies and the other school kids.

"... and My dad wasn't around much anyway, so it isn't a massive change. I won't see my sisters as much though, which is sad. One of them is about to have a baby" Jongin was telling him. It kind of amazed Kyungsoo that someone could be this open about their life and not worry about people knowing. It was almost refreshing how naïvely honest Jongin was.

"Why wasn't he around?" Kyungsoo found himself asking, and oddly enough, he found that he was genuinely interested in knowing the answer.

Jongin paused before letting out a soft sigh, "he preferred the company of Jack Daniels and Vodka" he admitted quietly. "And when he was around, he wasn't the nicest of people to be with anyway. So it was better when he was out"

"That's a shame. I'm sorry to hear that" Kyungsoo said honestly. He knew what it was like. His whole family was massive on the alcohol front, so it was a shame Jongin had to experience that.

"Nah, it's fine. I mean.... he only ever hit me once. Never touched my sisters. Mum took the brunt of it, but that's why she left him... so..." Jongin sighed, "Sorry, I'm being way over-share-y"

"No, it's cool. I think it does you some good to just let it out every now and again" Kyungsoo smiled, "I think it helps sometimes when it's someone you don't know that well too, you know, no pre-judgements"

Jongin let out a small noise of agreement, "Yeah, I suppose you have a point there" he said.

"Obviously" Kyungsoo grinned, pressing the bell, "come on, this is our stop"

With that, the two of them got up and made their way off of the bus and onto the street.

"What number are you?" Kyungsoo asked as they walked down the street. It was only one row, what with the other side of the road being grass and then a small river.

"Twenty-four" Jongin said.

Kyungsoo nodded, "I'm at twenty-six" he said, "Baek wasn't joking about the couple of doors down thing, huh"

Jongin smiled and came to a stop outside of his front door, "guess not. I'll uh... see you, then?"

"Sure. Hey, give me your number. I'll text you and you can come school with me and Chanyeol in the morning if you like?" Kyungsoo said, pulling out his phone and handing it over to Jongin.

Jongin smiled to himself as he typed in his number and miscalled himself before handing the phone back to Kyungsoo. "Thanks. I'll see you in the morning then"

"Yeah" Kyungsoo nodded, "See you, then. Oh, and if you need anything, just knock on for me"

"You too, I'll probably just be inside doing nothing anyway" Jongin laughed, "well, I mean, as well as unpacking boxes"

"Duly noted" Kyungsoo nodded as he started to walk backwards up to his own house, "Bye, Jongin-ah"

"Bye" Jongin smiled before heading inside.

Kyungsoo turned around to let himself into his house, a large grin on his face as he did. He stepped inside and shut the door behind him, tucking his keys back in his pocket before hanging his jacket up.

"Where've you been?" A deep voice bellowed out.

Kyungsoo sighed, "School. The same place I always am" he snipped back.

"You're washing the dishes tonight" The man said harshly, a bottle of Jim Beam in his hand.

Kyungsoo pulled a face at the sight of his drunken step-father, "I'm not. I'm going out, so I won't be eating here" he said simply before making his way up to his room to change out of his uniform and into something more comfortable.

It was a regular occurrence now. Coming home to a drunkard who had done -all all day but still expected everyone to do everything for him. At least he knew one day he'd be able to leave. It didn't help that his mother had fallen into the habit of drinking every night as a result. But there was little to nothing that Kyungsoo could do about it.

He was quick about getting changed and shoving his wallet and phone in his pocket before heading down stairs and shoving on his jacket before heading out the door. He sent his mum a quick text to let her know he was out, then he started the walk down to the park like usual.

It was a good twenty five minutes away, but it helped him calm down when he wasn't at home. He knew that if he stayed, it would only result in an argument, and he really couldn't be bothered to fight anymore.

He let out a sigh as the cool evening air hit against his face. He always preferred winter because it got darker sooner and for longer. He felt protected in the darkness. It hid him away.

The lights of cars driving passed kept him awake, along with the streetlamps. And before long he was in the park, headed over to his usual bench under the broken light.

He let out a soft sigh as he leant back against the hard wood of the bench, tilting his head up to watch the few stars that still shone in spite of the light pollution of the city.

beep beep

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he saw he had a message from Jongin.

[Jongin]

Saw you walk past my house
looking sad. Are you ok?

 

A small smile flickered over Kyungsoo's lips for a brief moment before it fell again.

 

[To Jongin]

I'm fine.
That's just my face lol

 

[Jongin]

Liar

 

[To Jongin]

And?

 

[Jongin]

Where are you?

 

Kyungsoo paused with his thumbs over the letters of the keyboard on his phone. What if Jongin wanted to meet up? They'd only known each other a day. It'd be weird.

 

[To Jongin]

Why do you want to know?
And why do you even care,
You don't even know me

 

[Jongin]

No, but I'd like to get
to know you though
So where are you?

 

Kyungsoo frowned. He let out a sigh before relenting.

 

[To Jongin]

Park. Go to the end of
the road. Turn right.
Walk down for about 15
mins then you'll see it on
your left. I'm under the broken
lamp.

 

[Jongin]

I'll be 10 minutes.

--

Jongin stood there, panting like a dog on a hot day, in front of a very bemused looking Kyungsoo. His hair was matted down by sweat at the front and his chest was moving up and down at a brisk pace.

"H-Hi" he grinned impishly down at the elder, who rolled his eyes and scooted up so that Jongin could sit down.

Jongin took the offer gratefully.

"Did you run here?" Kyungsoo asked, only to be met with a nod, "you know I'm not hurt or anything? I just wanted some me-time. I do this a lot..."

Jongin shrugged, "Misery loves company" he breathed out, trying to get his breath back.

"Whoever came up with that saying is an idiot" Kyungsoo said easily, "you're an idiot too, for that matter"

"I mean, I prefer the term 'caring'" Jongin shot Kyungsoo a grin. "Really though, what's the matter?"

Kyungsoo blinked slowly before looking forward, away from Jongin, "Like I told you before, nothing's the matter. I'm fine"

"Well okay. Let's pretend I believe you. But if you ever want to talk to me about it, then I'm all ears" The younger of the pair smiled softly, nudging against Kyungsoo with his shoulder.

Kyungsoo couldn't help but smile slightly, "Thanks, Nini" he said softly.

"Anytime, Soo" Jongin smiled, "shall I tell you a story? That way you don't have to talk much, you can just relax and listen. I'm gonna start now..."

Kyungsoo listened along as Jongin's voice made music of the silence. The sound of cars and the like were nothing now, all Kyungsoo could hear was the soothing sound of Jongin's deep voice as he said words that Kyungsoo didn't really hear. There was something about mountains and elves in there. Kyungsoo was fairly certain Jongin was just reciting The Hobbit, but that was alright by him.

He wasn't sure hold long they stayed there, but as the night wore on and the air got cooler, the two of them moved closer together until Jongin's arm was wrapped around Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo was pressed solidly against Jongin's side.

Kyungsoo wasn't usually an overly touchy person. There were few exceptions to that rule; namely the people he hung out with om a daily basis, but people he just met were a definite no, which is why he wasn't sure why he was allowing himself to be so close to Jongin, and vice versa.

"We should head back soon" Jongin said softly. He'd given up on the story a while back and opted for comfortable silence, which was nice.

Kyungsoo sighed, "I suppose you're right. I need to shower anyway"

"Me too" Jongin said, "did you eat yet?"

Kyungsoo shook his head, "Nope. I'll grab something when I get in though"

Jongin nodded, "alright. Come on then, let's head back" without so much as a second thought, he took Kyungsoo's hand in his own, pulled them both up and began to lead the way.

--

Parties had never really been Kyungsoo's forté. They were everything he wasn't; loud and messy.

It was an array of sweaty people dancing off-beat to music that Kyungsoo personally though was - though he still made an effort to pretend he enjoyed it - and sloppy drunken teens pressed against other drunken teens trying to make-out, but effectively slobbering all over each other in the most unattractive of ways.

And yet, this was the third he'd been to in the last two weeks.

"You alright?" Jongin asked, moving to stand beside Kyungsoo as he handed him another drink.

Kyungsoo nodded, admittedly he was starting to feel pretty buzzed himself, which was quite nice. He wasn't a big drinker by any means, but coming from a family like his, he'd learnt to hold his drink pretty early on. As had Jongin by the looks of it. Granted, neither of them were sober enough to make any smart choice at that point, but neither of them were bladdered to the point of incoherence either.

They'd managed to lose Baekhyun, Jongdae and Sehun at some point, and after a good twenty minutes of searching, the two of them had just decided to give up and enjoy themselves.

"I'm good" Kyungsoo nodded, knocking back the drink in one go.

"Take it easy" Jongin laughed, "That was strong"

Kyungsoo face was contorted in displeasure, "Yeah, I noticed" he shuddered, "but you know what they say; go hard or go home"

"You don't do this much," said Jongin, "do you?" There was no judgement in the way that he said it, only genuine curiosity.

Kyungsoo shook his head, "No, I'm not a massive fan of parties" he told Jongin.

"Then why did you come?"

Kyungsoo looked back at the taller boy in confusion, "because you asked me to?" He said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"You could have said no," Jongin laughed, "I wouldn't have minded"

Kyungsoo tilted his head to one side cutely, "But you'd have been disappointed" he stated surely.

Jongin cracked a smile before downing his own drink and tossing the paper cup into one of the bins laying around the room. "True" he said, moving closer to Kyungsoo and leaning a hand against the wall, effectively trapping Kyungsoo between the wall and himself. "I'm glad you came"

"I wanted to see you" Kyungsoo replied, "Of course I came"

Jongin smiled sweetly, subtly moving closer so that the two of them were nose-to-nose, "yeah" he said quietly, almost being drowned out by the heavy thump of the music, "I wanted to see you too. I always want to see you"

Kyungsoo used the wall to help him tip-toe slightly, pressing ever closer, "I'm glad" he breathed against Jongin's lips.

It was hard to say who moved first, but in the moments that followed, the two of them were joined at the lips, pressing together almost hesitantly at first, working into something more languid, each of them silently hoping it would pick up into something more.

Kyungsoo breathed out a soft noise of content as Jongin nudged his lips apart, making the kiss far more intimate. Kyungsoo, hands moved up to hold loosely onto the back of Jongin's neck, whilst in turn, Jongin's grasped firmly onto Kyungsoo's hips. Kyungsoo suspected there might be bruises left behind, but the thought turned him on more than worried him.

Kyungsoo teasingly flicked his tongue over Jongin’s lower lip before catching it between his teeth and giving it a small tug.

The soft moan that left Jongin as a result was more than worth it.

It was almost like a strange dominance clicked on in Jongin at that, he pushed Kyungsoo more firmly against the wall and used his hips to trap him there, almost - but not quite - grinding down on him. Kyungsoo let out a gasp at the action, allowing Jongin to slide his tongue into the elder's mouth and coaxed him into a heavier kiss.

Jongin pulled back to catch his breath for only a second before he latched his mouth onto Kyungsoo's neck, and biting, then soothing with his tongue in turn. The way that Kyungsoo panted and whined quietly only made it all the more worth it.

He continued on until he was sure that he had left a mark before moving his lips back up to Kyungsoo's and claiming his mouth once again in a hot and heavy kiss.

Kyungsoo's hands had worked their way up into Jongin's hair by that point, tugging on it gently in a plea for more.

One of Jongin's hands remained firmly on Kyungsoo's hip, still holding tight enough to mark the elder, whilst the other came up to gently cup Kyungsoo's cheek in a direct contrast to the rough kiss they were sharing.

It was a while later that Jongin finally pulled back, though not too much as he opted to rest his forehead against Kyungsoo's.

"So that happened" Kyungsoo panted.

Jongin let out a shaky laugh as he released Kyungsoo's hips and reached up to softly let his fingertips over Kyungsoo's cheeks, "So it did" he replied lowly.

"What time is it?" Kyungsoo asked.

Jongin opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as Kyungsoo was pulled away from him by a slightly intoxicated boy.

"Oh my god!" Kyungsoo grinned, "Oh! My! God! What are you doing here?!"

The other boy laughed, "I'm friends with the guy that lives with the guy that threw the party" he grinned back at Kyungsoo, "what are you doing here?!"

"I'm friends with a friend of the guy that threw the party!" Kyungsoo was practically bouncing with joy.

It took Jongin all his strength not to scowl at whoever this boy was.

"Oh , right" Kyungsoo cussed, "Jongin, c'mere! Jongin, this is Minseok, he used to go to our school but he graduated last year! Minseokkie hyung, this is Jongin, my new friend" he introduced.

"Nice t'meet you, Jongin" Minseok grinned.

Jongin nodded, "likewise"

"Soo, I need you to come with me anyway, Jongdae passed out on the grass outside and I need help getting him back to my place. I already text his mum and let her know he's staying at mine." Minseok shook his head, half in amusement, half in disbelief at Jongdae, "You can too, if you want"

Kyungsoo nodded enthusiastically, "yeah of course! Uh, what about Baek?"

"He said something about finding Soo's lover boy and walking back with him," Minseok laughed before pausing and looking at Jongin, "I assume he meant you"

Jongin nodded, "yeah probably. I'll uh, go find him. I'll text you later, okay Soo?"

"Course" Kyungsoo smiled widely.

Jongin nodded, "where is Baek?"

"Kitchen" Minseok said easily before he and Kyungsoo said goodbye and were off.

Jongin ran a frustrated hand over his face before going off to find Baekhyun.

It turned out that is wasn't all that hard to find him in the end. He was in the kitchen, dancing by himself with a bottle of wkd in one hand and a bottle of bud in the other.

"Hey pretty boy" Jongin laughed, taking the alcohol away from Baekhyun and placing them down on the side, "what do you say we get out of here?"

Baekhyun nodded sluggishly before attaching himself to Jongin's arm and letting himself be lead out. "Can I crash at yours?" He slurred.

"If you promise not to throw up" Jongin laughed.

"Promise" Baekhyun said, staggering down the driveway of the house.

Jongin rolled his eyes before picking Baekhyun up bridal style and beginning the half an hour walk back to his place. He only thanked god that Baekhyun was pretty light. Though it would have been nice if they'd have had money for a taxi.

"Baek, you alive?" Jongin grunted as he hauled Baekhyun up to his front door, "I need to put you down so I can open the door. Can you stand up for me?"

Baekhyun let out a groan, "yeah" he slurred, "just lean me against a wall or something"

Carefully, Jongin lowered Baekhyun to his feet, hissing slightly at the ache of his arms as he did. He managed to prop the drunken boy up against the wall before digging in his pocket for his keys so that he could unlock the door.

It took him a good couple of minutes to get it open quietly, but once he had he pulled Baekhyun cautiously inside, then closed and locked the door behind him.

He gestured for Baekhyun to stay quiet as the two of them snuck upstairs to Jongin's bedroom and closed the door behind them.

Jongin let out a sigh of relief that they hadn't woken his mum before turning to find Baekhyun stripping off his clothes in the light of the moon that peered through the open curtains of his window.

"I'm not drunk enough for this..." Jongin muttered to himself. He walked over to his friend, managing to grab his hands just in time to stop him from dropping his boxers, "I think we should keep the underwear on for tonight, yeah?" He said firmly.

Baekhyun nodded tiredly, letting Jongin lead him over to the bed and tuck him under the covers. He watched as Jongin turned around and kicked off his jeans before pulling off his shirt and tossing it to one side. He didn't bother with a shirt, but decided to grab a pair of pyjama shorts from his draw.

"You're lucky, you know" Baekhyun whispered into the darkness of the room. "You're so lucky you have Kyungsoo"

Jongin paused with his hands on the material of his shorts for a moment before pulling them out of the drawer and shutting it, "yeah," he said as he pulled on the shorts and walked over to the bed, "he's a great friend."

Baekhyun waited until Jongin had gotten into bed and they were lying face to face to speak again, "No. I mean you're lucky to have someone that cares about you" he clarified.

Jongin frowned, "You have that too," he said in a soft voice, "You have me, Soo, Sehun.... Chanyeol..."

Baekhyun let out a slightly bitter, whispered laugh, "I used to think so too. I'm not so sure anymore"

"He obviously still cares about you, Baek. He always asks me how you are when you're not around. He's just.... having a bad time right now" Jongin said calmly, almost as though calming a sad child.

Baekhyun sighed, "Then he should be able to talk to his best friend if he's having a tough time. What have I done to make him not want to talk to me? It's been days, Jongin!" He pleaded with nobody in particular.

"I honestly don't know, hyung. He won't tell me anything, just that he needs to sort it out himself" Jongin told him, "he's been pretty weird with Kyungsoo lately too. The bus rides in the morning are pretty quiet now-a-days..."

"I just don't understand" Baekhyun said quietly,"I... I just miss him, Jongin. I really ing miss him"

Jongin sighed, Chanyeol had some serious explaining to do; there weren't many things in the world that Jongin hated, but unnecessary meanness was one of them.

The fact that Chanyeol could make Baekhyun so upset without so much as telling him why was completely ridiculous. Not to mention harsh.

He scooted closer and wrapped Baekhyun up in his arms, "I'm sure everything will work itself out" he soothed, "he's just being a bit of a prat"

Baekhyun let out a soft sigh, "I hope so" he whispered before falling asleep.

Jongin kept Baekhyun wrapped in his arms until he was certain that he was out for the night. He gave him a gentle squeeze before nudging him  over to his own side of the bed before rolling over and grabbing his phone off of the bedside table.

 

[To Kyungsoo♡]

I had a good time tonight.
Did you get back safe?
Hope you enjoyed it
as much as I did...

 

[Kyungsoo♡]

Got back to Min's
bout 5 mins ago.
Of course :)
You're a good kisser~

 

Jongin was glad there was nobody awake to see the blush that settled on his cheeks.

 

[To Kyungsoo♡]

You are too >\\\<
Goodnight 'Soo <3

 

[Kyungsoo♡]

G'night Nini♡♡

--

In the weeks that followed, Jongin and Kyungsoo only grew closer. Those around them had definitely started to notice too.

Kyungsoo was a lot happier as a result, which Chanyeol pointed out on the bus one morning.

"Well," Kyungsoo had said, "waiting for the bus is a lot more tolerable when you have someone to wait with"

But Chanyeol had only rolled his eyes and continued on with another conversation.

It was pretty much the same other than that, though Chanyeol and Baekhyun had somehow grown even more distant in the midst of it all.

"What's going on with you two?" Kyungsoo asked as he, Baekhyun and Jongdae sat on the latter's bed.

Baekhyun sighed, "It's so stupid. We started to talk about things, like.... feelings and stuff and then he got a text, and he got super weird, and then he goes 'you know what, I can't. I can't do this' and ing walked out on me. He hasn't spoken to me properly since! He doesn't even bother to talk to me when there's nobody else around! I don't even know what the I've done!"

Kyungsoo and Jongdae frowned in confusion.

"This is so unlike him..." Kyungsoo said.

Jongdae nodded, "Yeah, this is super weird"

"I'll talk to him about it tomorrow" Kyungsoo said, "It's been over two weeks now. Something's definitely not right"

"You're ing telling me" Baekhyun huffed. "I even asked him about it and you know what the little dickhead said to me? He said 'it's none of your business, pal'. Like who the does he think he is?!"

"Jesus Christ... he must be pissed..." Jongdae gasped a little.

Baekhyun let out a frustrated sigh before falling into Kyungsoo's arms. "I ing hate this . As though I don't have enough to worry about without him being a complete "

"I know this is probably a bad time, but I love it when people call people a as an insult" Jongdae laughed, earning himself a kick in the side from Baekhyun. "Ow"

"You deserved it, arsehole" Baekhyun grumbled.

Kyungsoo nodded, "you kinda did"

"Worth it" Jongdae grinned, rubbing his hurt side.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, but there was an obvious smile on his face, as was there on Baekhyun's. Even when he didn't realise it, Jongdae was good at lightening the mood.

"Oh that reminds me. Jongin wants to go to this party thing this weekend at one of his old friends' house. D'you wanna go with me?" Kyungsoo asked, petting Baekhyun's hair as he did.

Baekhyun hummed interestedly, "I could go for that" he said, "I need a damn break from the drama. You in, Dae?"

"Can't, got plans this weekend. I'm seeing Junmyeon hyung's collage performance" Jongdae smiled, "He's got his first solo and he's super nervous about it. So me, Yixing and Minseok are going to cheer him on"

"Aww! Tell him we said 'fighting!' Okay?" Baekhyun smiled easily.

Jongdae nodded, "I will. Either way he's gonna ace it. He doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for his singing. He's so good, but people just brush him off. He really deserves this"

"Hate to break it to you, Dae, but he has a boyfriend. You know him, actually, hell you'll be sitting with him. Goes by the name of Yixing. Chinese. Cute dimples. Ring any bells? Better luck next time" Kyungsoo joked evilly, a sly smirk playing about his lips.

Jongdae shot him a glare in return, "I don't have a thing for Junmyeon. He's just a really good friend, okay. It isn't like you and Jongin"

"What about me and Jongin?" Kyungsoo challenged defiantly.

Even Baekhyun had to roll his eyes at that.

"Please," Jongdae snorted, "The two of you are obviously harbouring massive boners for each other" he said, "I've never seen you so.... openly touchy with a person before"

Kyungsoo scoffed, "I'm touchy with you guys" he defended himself, though he wasn't entirely sure why he was. There was nothing to defend.

"It's different" Baekhyun said softly, moving to sit up again to better face Kyungsoo. "You're softer with him. And you're always smiling like you're seeing the stars for the first time. You just seem really happy to be around him. Surely that means something?" He pressed gently.

"I..." Kyungsoo paused before letting out a weary sigh and running a hand over his face, "I don't know. I mean.... I think I like him. But I'm scared, Baek. I don't do this kind of thing. I don't like giving people the power to hurt me. And if I do admit this, not only to you guys, or him, but to myself, then it just opens a door that I'm not going to be able to close. I don't like it when people have a hold on me, when people can affect me so much" he admitted. "I've seen what happened with my Nan and Grandpa. I've seen what relationships have done to my mum. I've seen how bad this gets and I can't imagine being hated by someone I care about so much"

Baekhyun's mouth had settled in a little 'o' at Kyungsoo's confession. He knew that Kyungsoo was closed off and, hell, he knew how bad things got at home for his best friend, but he never realised it had ed with him this much. Kyungsoo had never been a very open person when it came to his feelings, though over the years Baekhyun had learnt to read him better. Still, this was something he'd ever really guessed. It didn't help that Kyungsoo's first shot at a relationship was ruined by, well, him.

"You can't think like that" Jongdae softly broke the silence that had enveloped them. "You aren't them, Kyungsoo. You are your own person, and if you let those things stop you living then you'll only end up being miserable. You'll hate your life. Sure, there are risks to opening yourself up to another person, but if you don't, then you'll never know. Getting hurt is a part of living, but you learn from it and you move forward. You'll only ever regret the things you don't do, Soo. Believe me. So you need to ask yourself, do you want to at least try to be happy, or would you rather have the fact that you'll never know weighing over you for the rest of your life?" He asked, reaching out and giving Kyungsoo's knee a squeeze.

"Jesus Christ" Baekhyun breathed. The other two looked at him to see tears falling down his cheeks.

"ing hell, Baek! Why are you crying?!" Jongdae's eyes widened, "that wasn't meant to be sad?!"

Baekhyun let out a shaky laugh, "No, no. It's not that, it's just you're right! You are so right," he turned to Kyungsoo as he wiped the tears from his face, "Soo, as much of an idiot Jongdae is, he's right. You need to stop living in fear of becoming your mum. You're not her, you're you, and you're going to do amazing things with your life. You just have to let yourself. And maybe the first step to that is letting Jongin in. And giving him a shot"

Kyungsoo nodded slowly, "Yeah. Yeah, maybe you're right. I... I'm not making any promises, but I'll... I'll give it a shot, okay?"

"That's all we want, Soo-yah. We just want you to be happy" Jongdae smiled, "now, enough of this sappy emotional , who wants to play fifa?"

Needless to say, the groans that followed at the request were not ones of excitement.

--

Wednesdays were funny old days. The middle of the week. Hump day. The day that made you breathe a sigh of relief that you were half way to the weekend.

Kyungsoo didn't mind Wednesdays all that much. Well, not usually anyway. This Wednesday however, was shaping up to be a massive of a day.

"PARK CHANYEOL WILL YOU JUST STOP AND TALK TO ME?!"

There was a tense silence that fell around the playground at Baekhyun's shout. Chanyeol had stopped in his tracks a good two metres away from the shorter boy. Obviously fighting an internal battle of whether or not he should turn around.

It seemed that the weight of the watching students got a hold on him and ever so slowly he turned to face Baekhyun.

"What do you want?" Chanyeol said gravely, "I have nothing to say to you"

Baekhyun's lip quivered in upset, "You've been avoiding me. And I think I deserve to know why"

Chanyeol barked out a harsh laugh, "Baek, tell me. Do you like me?"

Baekhyun's eyes widened at the comment. "I... What does that have to do with anything?" He asked.

"Answer the question" Chanyeol demanded lowly.

Baekhyun looked back at his best friend, tears welling in the corners of his eyes, though he refused to let them fall, "Yes," he answered, "yeah, I do." It was barely a whisper, but it sounded so loud in the tenseness of the playground.

"Well you have a ing hilarious way of showing it!" Chanyeol barked.

"I don't understand..." Baekhyun managed out. He noticed that Kyungsoo, Jongdae and Jongin were walking over out of the corner of his eye.

Chanyeol scoffed, "Right. Sure. Okay, because you're just so ing innocent, aren't you, Baekhyun? Could never do any wrong. Sorry, I forgot you were so utterly ing perfect."

"Hey!" Kyungsoo barked, "Don’t you ing speak to him like that! I don't know what your problem is lately, Chanyeol, but you need to pipe the down!" He said, moving in front of Baekhyun protectively.

Chanyeol let out a hollow laugh, "Well look who it is" he leered, "Mr-I'm-a-great-pal. Tell me, Soo. Was he worth it?"

"Excuse me?" Kyungsoo glared.

But Chanyeol wad unrelenting in his rage, "I said, WAS HE ING WORTH IT?!"

"Chanyeol, watch how you talk to me" Kyungsoo warned.

"Oh, my goodness" The tall boy drawled sarcastically, "I had forgotten that I was in the presence of royalty. My apologies your highness. Let me rephrase. Was hurting your best friend worth ing Baekhyun?" He deadpanned.

Baekhyun froze and Kyungsoo took a step forward, "You're angry, so I'm gonna let that slide. But you need to watch what you're saying" Kyungsoo said through gritted teeth.

"Do I? Do I really?" Chanyeol laughed, "Funny. So, I have to find out through Taeyeon that you two were together, but I'm the one that needs to watch myself? Hmmm okay. How interesting"

"Chanyeol it isn't like that" Baekhyun choked out through tears that he couldn't hold back.

Chanyeol's eyes snapped up to pierce into Baekhyun, "Then please enlighten me, Baek. Tell me, what was it like?"

"It didn't mean anything. We were just confused and wanted to see if there was anything there between us. We realised there wasn't and it ended. I swear!" Baekhyun sobbed.

Chanyeol's eyes narrowed, "Did you sleep with him?"

"Yeol, please...."

"DID YOU ING SLEEP WITH HIM?"

Baekhyun winced at the anger in Chanyeol's voice, "...Yes..." he admitted, "but it was before I knew you liked me. Before I realised I had feelings for you"

Chanyeol rolled his eyes before turning back to Kyungsoo, "but you knew" he accused.

"It was before you told me" Kyungsoo said calmly.

"But you knew! Don't ing lie to me, Kyungsoo! You ing knew I liked him a long time before I told you!" Chanyeol said, his voice a mix of anger and hurt.

Kyungsoo paused, "Yeol, it isn't like that...."

Chanyeol let out a strangled noise before his fist collided hard with Kyungsoo's face.

It was all a blur, what happened next. Kyungsoo found himself on the floor, with Baekhyun and Jongdae running over to make sure he was okay. The students watching were in a complete flurry and shouts rang out loud and hurried. Jongin had leapt forward and landed a punch to Chanyeol's cheek, which had started a harsh fist fight between the two.

With the help of his friends, Kyungsoo got back to his feet, and as soon as it was clear he was okay, if only a little beaten up, Baekhyun left his side to run over to the two fighting boys.

"STOP IT!!! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!" He screamed, only just managing to pull them pair apart.

The two of them were looking a little worse for wear and panting heavily. Chanyeol's lip was split and there were already bruises flowering over his face. Jongin's nose was bloody and his eye was blackening as they stood there.

"Now. Before I ing kill you myself, I'm taking you to the ing nurse and then we are going to have a long ing chat about how you are completely out of order" Baekhyun shouted at Chanyeol.

"But I-"

"But nothing!" Baekhyun cut Chanyeol off, "we were not ing together and what I do with my body and my life is my ing business! I did nothing wrong and neither did Kyungsoo, so we are going to ing talk about this when half the ing school isn't watching. And you are going to stop being a hild about it all and actually listen to me! Now let's go," he paused to look at the crowd, "and you lot off back to class! Are you deaf...? GO!" and with that, the crowd dispersed, leaving him, Chanyeol, Jongin, Kyungsoo and Jongdae alone on the playground.

"I have a right to be upset" Chanyeol said, trying to sound sure, but sounding rather sheepish as he looked into the angry, tearful eyes of his best friend.

Baekhyun's eyes narrowed, "and I have a right to knock you bandy after the you just pulled! Nothing can excuse that kind of behaviour, Park Chanyeol, and you know it!! Now, not only do you owe me an apology, you owe one to Kyungsoo!" He paused, "Don't make me repeat myself"

Chanyeol looked over at Kyungsoo who was nursing his cheek, "I.... sorry, Kyungsoo"

"Yeah, yeah" Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, "we'll sort it out later. Go to the ing nurse, you wanker" he said, though there was little malice behind his words.

If Chanyeol had felt guilty before, he really did now. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun had a way of making real harsh if they wanted to.

Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a harsh tug on the arm and began to lead him away to the nurses’ office, leaving the others behind for the time being. They were more than capable of getting themselves to the nurse.

It was silent as the two of them made their way through the halls, Chanyeol wanted to say something, but he didn't really know where to start. Perhaps hitting Kyungsoo had been a bit out of order, but the fact the pair had gone behind his back had just made him see red. He thought that maybe if he ignored them for a while, he could process it on his own, but how wrong he had been.

"It was last summer" Baekhyun said suddenly. His gaze fixed firmly in front of him as they walked, "I don't know what Taeyeon said to you, but this is how it is: It was last summer. It lasted a little over a month, and it was just a fling, for lack of a better term. You were at your Nan’s and me and him had gotten really close whilst you were away. One night we were watching tv and I kissed him because I wanted to know if I was just feeling friendship or if it was something more. He pushed me away at first and told me he couldn't, but I convinced him to just kiss me. So he did, and we were both really confused. And so we tried dating, and we... we had , but I realised as soon as it had happened that it was, not a mistake, but it didn't mean what it should have. The next day, I got a text from you and it hit me that it was you that I was missing. So I told Kyungsoo that I couldn't do it anymore, that I had feelings for someone else." He paused to take a sharp breath as they turned the corner, "he knew right away I was talking about you. He understood and said we'd always been better as friend anyway and that he hadn't really felt like it was working out. And you came back, and told Kyungsoo that you had feelings for me... and we promised not to tell you because we didn't want to hurt you."

Chanyeol swallowed the lump in his throat, "I see" he said quietly.

"You're right to be upset, it wasn't fair that we hid it from you," Baekhyun said, "but what you did today, how you've been acting... that was out of order. You made me feel like , Yeol. You hit your best friend. You had a ing fist fight with Jongin!" He sighed, "You’re not like that. This... this isn't you"

"I know," Chanyeol replied, "and I am sorry. I know I should have gone about it differently, I was just.... I was so hurt and angry and I didn't think before I acted. I never wanted it to go this way... I just... I don't know what you want me to say"

Baekhyun sighed, pushing open the door to the nurse’s office, "There's nothing to say, Chanyeol. There's nothing to say"

"I don't want us to fight anymore"

Baekhyun paused in his tracks, "I'm not the one that's been hurting this friendship" he said sternly before turning on his heel and walking away, leaving Chanyeol to be tended to on his own.

It was pretty much as well as he expected it to go. Sure, Chanyeol didn't hate him, but he did hit Kyungsoo and make him feel like an object to be thrown around at will.

Baekhyun wasn't really sure what this meant for their friendship, but he did know that no matter what, he didn't want to lose Chanyeol. Because despite everything, he still cared about his giant so damn much!

"Hey, Baekhyun hyung? Is that you?"

He'd been walking pretty aimlessly and hadn't realised he'd ended up at the library, in the far back corner where not many people ventured.

He looked up to see Sehun standing over him, a look of concern etched on his handsome features.

"Oh, hey Sehun. What's up?" Baekhyun sniffed.

Sehun scoffed and took a seat beside his small hyung, "I should be asking you that. I heard about what went down. Are you alright?"

"No," Baekhyun said honestly, "but I will be. There's just a lot of things that need to be sorted out. And the whole ing school knows my business now"

Sehun hummed, "On the bright side, at least it's out there. No more having to hide things. I'm sure this will all blow over. I saw Kyungsoo and them on the way here, and he said there's no hard feelings on his part. He just hoped that Chanyeol was alright" he sighed, "after getting smacked in the face, I expected him to be less calm"

"Kyungsoo's weird like that" Baekhyun rolled his eyes, "He's like a little ball of anger that doesn't get angry. Like, he used to. He used to a lot actually, it was really bad. He'd hit things and people and it was scary. But he went and got help and now... Jesus, now it's like he refuses to let it get the better of him ever again. I've not seen him get angry in like four years" he told Sehun, "still... I don't know. All of this is so ing stupid"

Sehun nodded in agreement, "Yep. I know what'll make you feel better though. Wanna ditch last period and go get ice-cream? There's only forty-five minutes of school left anyway"

Baekhyun couldn't help but crack a smile, "Kyungsoo is gonna kill me, but it, let's go!" He grinned, allowing Sehun to pull him to his feet so that the pair of them could set about sneaking out of school.

At least Sehun was good at one thing; picking up your spirits.

--

It had been a few days since the fight. Chanyeol had wholeheartedly apologised for his behaviour and Kyungsoo had apologised for keeping the secret. Their friendship was on the mend, which Kyungsoo liked.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol seemed to be trying to work things out too. They weren't exactly dating, but it was obvious they weren't seeing other people either.

It made Kyungsoo think; it made him realise that perhaps Baekhyun had been onto something. Perhaps letting someone in might not be so bad after all.

Baby steps, that's all it took, and he figured sooner or later, he'd have to get up on shaky legs and take one.

"I'm a bit of a mess"

Jongin looked up from where he was playing on his phone to look across the table at Kyungsoo. "What?"

"I said: I'm a bit of a mess. I'm irrational, I have a plethora of issues that if you hear about, you'll run for the hills. I have random bursts of anger and I won't listen to a word anyone says. I'm stubborn to the point it will piss you off a hellova a lot. And I don't talk about my feelings. I'm annoying at the best of times and there are times I'll go days without talking to you" Kyungsoo expanded. He felt like a bit of a dickhead saying all this, but Baekhyun and Jongdae were right. It needed to be done.

"Not that I don't appreciate the honesty, but why are you telling me this?" Jongin asked, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

Kyungsoo let out a small noise of embarrassment, "Baekhyun said I need to talk to you about... feelings and I figured I would just give you the heads up about me being a complete up just in case anything ever comes of this" he gestured between the two of them.

Jongin nodded easily, "Ah, I see" he smiled, "okay, so is this where you give me the standard 'so where is this going?' And I get all flustered and forget how to speak?" He joked.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, "I think I'll just go for the easier: I like you. But relationships aren't my things so if you do want something from this, then fair warning, I'm liable to be at it"

"I'll keep that in mind" Jongin laughed, "for the record though, I like you too"

"Duly noted" Kyungsoo cracked a grin, "So, where is this going?" he teased.

Jongin snorted out a laugh, "you're an absolute bellend, you know that?"

"Would you want me any other way?" Kyungsoo laughed back, picking his straw out of his drink and flicking the droplets at Jongin, who gasped as the wetness hit his face.

"Oh, you little prick" Jongin got out before grabbing his own straw and flicking pop at Kyungsoo.

"Alright, alright!" Kyungsoo said between giggles, "truce!"

"He says after starting it" Jongin snorted, "what's the matter Do? Can't stand being beat at your own game?" He taunted playfully.

Kyungsoo raised a brow, "you really think you could beat me in anything?"

"Oh, I know I could" Jongin smirked, leaning back on his chair and shooting Kyungsoo a rather predatory look.

Kyungsoo resisted the urge to bite down on his lip and shift in his seat, the look that Jongin was giving him was ing hot and it was taking Kyungsoo a lot of effort to not let it affect him. "What could you win me in?" He challenged.

Jongin's smirk remained in place as he pushed his chair back and stood up to round the table and lean over Kyungsoo, his face close to the elder's to the point that Kyungsoo could feel Jongin's breath on his cheek, "A lot of things" he whispered, his voice deep and rough, "I feel like I could definitely out-confident you in being very close with you. I mean, you're blushing right now"

"I'm not" Kyungsoo swallowed, "And you won't win that"

Jongin raised a brow in amusement, he reached down to let his fingers brush over Kyungsoo's collar bone, "Is that so?" He purred.

Kyungsoo took a breath to steady himself before turning his head so that he and Jongin were nose to nose. He tried to push away the nerves as he lifted his eyes to meet Jongin's before smiling almost innocently, "It is" he affirmed in a quiet voice, "I'm just full of surprises, Kim Jongin. Trust me"

"Prove it" Jongin challenged, "Surprise me"

Kyungsoo paused only for a moment before pressing forward and stealing Jongin's lips with his own. He could feel the smile that took over Jongin before the younger lad kissed him back.

It was only a brief kiss, lasting maybe ten seconds before Jongin pulled back, a sly smile still on his face as he looked at Kyungsoo in time to see the elder's eyes open in something akin to bewilderment.

"Colour me surprised" Jongin said hoarsely, he waited for a beat before moving back to his own seat and finishing off the coke that he had left on the table.

Kyungsoo resisted the urge to touch his lips with his fingertips, and instead worked up the courage to look Jongin in the eye, "If it helps, I am a little too" he laughed embarrassedly, a pink hue dusting his cheeks.

"I noticed" Jongin grinned cheekily.

Kyungsoo looked down at the table as he took a sip from his straw, "Shut up. I'm not good at this, okay"

"Nor am I" Jongin laughed, "but we'll work it out"

Kyungsoo nodded, "We? As in together?" He asked almost shyly.

"Yeah, I mean... if you want to, you could be my... person?"

There was a brief moment of silence between them as Kyungsoo looked up from the table with a grin stretching across his face, "Yeah, I'll be your person" he agreed, trying his best to tone down the sheer delight in his voice.

Jongin's grin matched Kyungsoo's easily, "you sure? There's no turning back now"

"I'm sure, you egg. I'm not, however, looking forward to the constant 'I told you so's that are likely to come from Baekhyun for the next month or so" Kyungsoo inwardly cringed, though knew the teasing from his friends would be inevitable.

Jongin grinned, "Yeah, I'll leave the whole telling people thing to you" he said with a small shrug, "you done? Wanna head back to mine and chill out?"

"Sure, I can't stay too late though, I have homework to finish" Kyungsoo said before downing the rest of his drink and putting on his coat and bag.

The two of them set off to Jongin's house, it was only a ten minute walk from where they were, and it was handy that Kyungsoo was only two doors down, because it meant he could stay as late as he wanted, really. After all, it wasn't like anyone missed him at home. Plus, Jongin's mum was utterly adorable. She was ill, but she was lively when she could be. Though she did tire easily, and it was obvious to anyone that looked that Jongin was simply in awe with what a wonderful person his mother was.

They made it back to Jongin's just after seven, and let his mum know that they'd eaten before making their way up to Jongin's room, where they dumped their bags and coats and kicked off their shoes before making themselves comfortable on Jongin's bed.

Jongin reached over to his bedside table and flicked on his music before turning to lie back down beside Kyungsoo, who was watching him fondly.

"What?" He asked, the corners of his lips lifting at seeing Kyungsoo smile.

"Nothing," Kyungsoo said softly, "I'm just in a good mood"

Jongin lit up slightly, it was such a small thing, but it meant a whole lot, "me too" he told Kyungsoo honestly.

"You're such a dork" Kyungsoo laughed, leaning forward and tapping Jongin on the nose with his finger.

"Yeah, but I'm your dork" Jongin grinned impishly.

Kyungsoo laughed softly, trying his best to keep his voice down so not to attract the attention of Jongin's mum from downstairs.

He kind of couldn't believe that Jongin was, well, his. And he was Jongin's. They were actually together and it was kind of mindboggling!

"Hey, Kyungsoo?" Jongin piped up, his voice slightly husky as he peered at Kyungsoo with dark eyes.

Kyungsoo eyes lifted to meet Jongin's, "yeah?" He asked, feeling flustered all of a sudden.

Jongin though, only smirked slightly before pressing forward and kissing Kyungsoo soundly on the lips.

Kyungsoo definitely wasn't complaining as he reached up to fist the front of Jongin's t-shirt, pulling him closer as the kiss deepened.

Jongin shifted slightly, allowing him to grasp both of Kyungsoo's hips before rolling onto his back and pulling Kyungsoo atop of him.

Kyungsoo let out a small gasp as he made himself more comfortable straddling Jongin, accidently grinding down on him in the process and earning himself a low, needy groan from the younger boy. Kyungsoo smirked slightly as he leant down again and rested his elbows either side of Jongin's head, allowing his fingers to move through his thick locks. He made eye contact with him for a short moment before he closed the distance between them once more and kissed Jongin hard.

He didn't know where all the confidence had come from, but damn was he enjoying it. He moved his hips experimentally, which lead to Jongin biting down sinfully on his bottom lip, it made Kyungsoo want to shiver with delight, but he kept himself together as he darted out his tongue to flick at Jongin's lips, bringing him into another heated kiss.

Jongin's hands were still on Kyungsoo's hips as the elder began to grind on him, working him into a tizzy of emotion. He was panting when Kyungsoo broke the kiss in favour of kissing down his jawline, down to his neck where he began to kiss and nip and , making Jongin squirm beneath him.

Jongin ed his hips upward, coaxing a choked moan out of Kyungsoo, whose tongue danced around the edge of Jongin's collar bone. Using one hand, Jongin reached up and guided Kyungsoo's lips back to his own.

It was hot and messy and neither of them wanted it to stop. They were both half hard and feeling the effects of being young men getting a little too handsy.

Kyungsoo lifted himself slightly so that he could move one hand down and under Jongin's top, caressing the young dancer's amazing abs, whilst his other hand kept him steady.

The hand on Kyungsoo's hip slid down and d Kyungsoo's roughly through his jeans, squeezing and feeling the plump cheeks.

knock knock knock

"Jongin, sweetie, it's getting late. I think Kyungsoo should head home now. You boys have school in the morning" came Jongin's mum's voice through the door.

It was almost funny how fast the pair darted apart, resulting in Kyungsoo falling off of the bed in a flurry of limbs.

"Alright ma! I'll see him out!" Jongin called back, fighting away a grin as he peered over the bed to see a bright red Kyungsoo on the floor looking mortified.

"Alright, see you Kyungsoo!" She called back.

Kyungsoo coughed, "See you, Ms Kim!" He called back awkwardly before bury his face in his hands out of sheer embarrassment.

There went that confidence.

"Jesus Christ" Jongin laughed, "Just... ha! God. Um, shall we, uh.... give it a minute before we head down?" He gestured vaguely at his crotch.

Kyungsoo couldn't help but snort out a laugh at that as he got back up and sat back down on the bed, "Yeah. Probably the best idea" he conceded.

Jongin blew out a laugh of air as he wrapped an arm around Kyungsoo's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek playfully, enjoying the redness of Kyungsoo's blush.

"You're cute" Jongin grinned, ignoring the slight glare that Kyungsoo gave him in return.

"No, I'm not" Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, though it didn't stop him from burying his face in Jongin's neck, letting the taller boy hold onto him warmly, "you have a pretty bad hickey by the way" he murmured against Jongin's skin.

Jongin paused briefly before groaning, "Aw , my mum's gonna see that! I'll just have to wear scarves for a while"

Jongin could feel the wicked smirk that stretched over Kyungsoo's lips, "Why would you hide it? It's so pretty" he teased, "I'll just have to give you lots more"

"I miss shy Kyungsoo, he's nicer to me" Jongin laughed, pulling away from Kyungsoo to stand up, then pulling Kyungsoo up too.

"Nah, he was just tricking you. This is me really, but I've got you trapped now" Kyungsoo grinned impishly up at Jongin, "sorry"

Jongin rolled his eyes before leaning down and leaving a lingering kiss on Kyungsoo's lips, "come on, " he said, taking Kyungsoo by the hand and leading him over to where their bags were resting.

Kyungsoo pulled his hand back briefly to shove on his shoes and grab his bag and coat before sliding it into Jongin's again.

They walked down to the front door where they paused to say goodbye, not noticing Jongin's mum stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching them with a fond smile.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow then?" Jongin said sweetly, his thumb rubbing over Kyungsoo's hand.

Kyungsoo hummed, "of course. I'll text you so you can share my pain over biology homework, okay"

"Alright" Jongin said before leaning down so that they could share one final kiss.

They said their goodbyes and Kyungsoo headed down two doors to his own house. Jongin waited until he saw Kyungsoo go inside before shutting the door and leaning back against it with a happy sigh.

"I like Kyungsoo" Jongin's mum said, making him jump as she walked closer. "He's good for you, a nice boy"

"M-mum! I.... I didn't k-know you were, uh..." he stammered.

Jongin's mum rolled her eyes, "oh please. You think I didn't know you liked him? I'm your mum, I know you like the back of my hand, kid. I'm just glad you’re happy"

Jongin paused before a sappy smile spread over his face, "he makes me happy" he told his mum, who pulled him into a warm hug.

"Then I'm happy too" she cooed.

--

Baekhyun pursed his lips as he watched Chanyeol from his bedroom window. The idiot was stood outside of Baekhyun's front door, going between pacing back and forth and pausing to knock only to wimp out at the last minute.

He's been doing just that for a solid ten minutes now.

Baekhyun sighed. Things between him and Chanyeol had been a little awkward after what had happened. It was almost like Chanyeol was scared to touch him anymore, and Baekhyun hated it. Chanyeol didn't even know what ing boundaries meant with Baekhyun, or at least he didn't used to. And Baekhyun missed their easy going relationship a -tonne.

With a final sigh, he couldn't take it any longer, he pushed open his window and leant out, "It's open. Just come up will you, for crying out loud!" He shouted down to his best friend.

Chanyeol let out a high-pitched scream of shock as he looked up and saw Baekhyun's bemused face peering down at him. He gave the other boy a quick nod before making his way inside.

Baekhyun listened as Chanyeol shut the door and kicked off his shoes before making his way up the stairs.

"Where's your mum and dad?" Chanyeol asked as he walked into Baekhyun's room and nudged the door closed.

Baekhyun shrugged, "Malta I think. I dunno, they're on holiday for two weeks" he said, shifting up on his bed so that Chanyeol could sit down.

"And you didn't go?" The lanky boy asked in bewilderment.

Baekhyun shook his head, "Nah. It was like an anniversary thing. Me and my brother have been saving up to send them on holiday, so it seemed kind of fitting that we could do it on their twenty-fifth. I kinda like staying on my own anyway"

"Bro still at college?" Chanyeol asked.

"Yup" Baekhyun nodded, "so you wanna tell me why you've been pissing about outside my house for the last half an hour?"

Chanyeol frowned, "It wasn't that long" he said almost defensively, "I just... I wanted to talk to you. I, uh, I never actually really apologised to you for before. I mean I did about the fight, but not about the other stuff. I... I wanted to say sorry for not just talking to you about it all. I took Taeyeon's word for everything and I should have just asked you. She made out like the two of you were still together and I just got so.... angry and upset that I didn't even know how to think properly. It.... I know it doesn't justify my actions, and I know that I did wrong, but I hate that we're different now. It's my fault, I know. But I just.... do you think maybe we could just get back to how we were before all of this?" He asked sheepishly, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie and not able to meet Baekhyun's eye.

He was pretty much waiting for Baekhyun to go ape on him, or cuss him out, or just tell him to off, really. What he didn't expect was for Baekhyun to literally throw himself at him and catch him in the tightest bear hug he'd ever been given.

Chanyeol didn't even let himself think about it, he just wrapped his arms around Baekhyun's waist tightly as the two of them tumbled to the carpet in a mess of limbs.

Neither of them really knew how long they stayed there, wrapped up in one another on the floor, but they didn't care. It had been so ing long since they had been anywhere near this intimate and it was so very obvious that they had both missed it so, so much.

"I hate you" Baekhyun said after a while as he buried his face in Chanyeol's chest.

"Yeah, I know" Chanyeol said, rubbing Baekhyun's back as he did.

Baekhyun shook his head, "No," he said, hugging Chanyeol tighter, as though afraid the taller boy would slip through his fingers, "I really ing hate you"

"I love you"

Both of them froze at Chanyeol's words. Baekhyun's arms went limp where they were wrapped around the slightly younger boy.

"W-what?" He whispered, not able to make his voice any louder.

"I... I said I love you" Chanyeol croaked, almost as though he were afraid of his own words.

Baekhyun's hands fisted at the material of Chanyeol's shirt, "Don't do that," he said, "don't say that if you don't mean it"

"Baekhyun, I've been in love with you since before I even knew what loving someone like this was. Believe me, I mean it" Chanyeol said in earnest.

Baekhyun placed his hands on either of Chanyeol's cheeks "I...."

"Don't," Chanyeol whispered, "I don't want you to say it just because I did. I want you to mean it if you ever say it to me"

"I like you a lot" Baekhyun said instead, "I've missed you so goddamn much."

Chanyeol smiled, "I missed you too." He pressed a kiss to the top of Baekhyun's head. "A lot. A lot, a lot. I can't ever tell you enough how sorry I am..." he began to tear up as he looked Baekhyun in the eyes.

"I know you are, Yeol. Otherwise you wouldn't be here" Baekhyun assured, wiping away Chanyeol's tears and pressing a soft kiss to Chanyeol's lips. There was nothing remotely ual about it. It was a level of intimacy that simply said 'I know. I'm here' as a means of comfort to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol sighed a shaky sigh, resting his forehead against Baekhyun's, "I just really love you"

Me too thought Baekhyun, but he wasn't quite ready to say it out loud just yet. So instead he opted for simply holding Chanyeol close, letting him cry it out until there were no more tears left to fall.

As much as it pained him to see Chanyeol so upset, Baekhyun couldn't help but think that maybe it was for the best. Maybe this is what he had needed to help them both move forward. It was still unclear as to what was going to happen between them, and whilst the constant will-we-won't-we was tiring, it was a lot more appealing that a definite no. Though as far as Baekhyun was concerned, he knew that he would never be able to say no to Chanyeol. He'd go to the ends of the earth for him, and that Chanyeol couldn't see that yet was upsetting, but it only spurred Baekhyun on to want to make Chanyeol see it all the more.

There was just something special between them. Chanyeol had the power to make Baekhyun feel things that he didn't even know were possible. Chanyeol made him feel shy and confident all at once. He made him feel on top of the world and like nobody could ever tear him down. He made Baekhyun feel warm and safe and secure. He made him feel wanted. Feel needed. And it was amazing and terrifying all at once.

Chanyeol was everything to Baekhyun and he had all of this power and he didn't even realise it.

He had Baekhyun heart in his hands and he wasn't even remotely aware.

He could tell him. He could just lay it all out on the table for Chanyeol, but that would mean being a whole new level of vulnerable and Baekhyun didn't know if he was ready for that.

Chanyeol held on tightly to Baekhyun, unaware of the complicated thoughts running through the elder's head. It wasn't as though Chanyeol's train of thought was any clearer, but in that moment he was trying not to think. He just wanted to feel. Wanted to feel the way that Baekhyun fit so perfectly in his arms. He'd missed this. Missed being able to touch Baekhyun. Missed wearing his heart on his sleeve just for the little pup. But at least now everything was going back to how it was meant to. Chanyeol hoped beyond hope that the two of them would be okay. Would be more than okay, because Baekhyun was his favourite person in the world, and he highly doubted if that would ever change.

Once Chanyeol had calmed down, they found their way back up and onto Baekhyun's bed, where they sat side by side with Baekhyun's laptop on their knees, searching through YouTube for funny videos just to lift their spirits.

Baekhyun smiled slightly as he reached down and slid his hand into Chanyeol's much larger one, lacing their fingers together.

Chanyeol gave him a surprised look which morphed into a bashful smile as he curled his fingers around Baekhyun's hand in return.

"I never want you to do that to me again" Baekhyun said quietly, "I never want to be apart from you for that long over something so trivial..."

Chanyeol nodded, "I promise" he replied, "It’s you and me from now on. I'll never let you feel like that ever again"

"Good" Baekhyun cracked a smile before letting his head fall to rest on Chanyeol's shoulder, "You're mine, Yeol. Don't forget that"

"S'long as you don't forget you're mine too" Chanyeol replied before letting out a yawn.

"Always and forever" Baekhyun yawned too, "you wanna take a nap with me?"

Chanyeol nodded, "I thought you'd never ask" he breathed out a laugh as Baekhyun shut down his laptop and set it to one side, allowing the pair of them to slip under the covers and cuddle into one another.

Chanyeol didn't waste any time in wrapping himself around Baekhyun, letting the smaller of the two lay against his chest and cling to him. He smiled a soft, sleepy smile as gentle whimpers left Baekhyun, indicating that he was about to fall asleep.

Chanyeol stayed awake a little longer so that he could just watch the relaxed, almost child-like features of Baekhyun's face. He looked so peaceful, so much more so than he had done in the past couple of months and Chanyeol hated to know that he was the cause of all that stress. But seeing him like he was in that moment, it made Chanyeol smile, because he felt like together, the two of them could overcome anything that life threw at them.

A tired yawn escaped Chanyeol before he closed his eyes and let himself fall into the most relaxed sleep he'd had in months. And it came as no shock to him that Baekhyun was the reason for his unconscious peace.

--

"Uh, pause, rewind, hold the ing phone. What. Is. THAT?!"

Kyungsoo paused from where he was about to reach for another slice of pizza. He, Baekhyun, Jongdae and Sehun were sat in Baekhyun's living room gorging on junk food and watching superhero movies.

"What's what?" Kyungsoo asked, trying his hardest to fight the urge to reach up and cover his neck.

Baekhyun scoffed before moving closer to give a thorough inspection, "The giant ing mark on your milk bottle neck, that's what!" He prodded at it, "what happened?"

"I... uh... fell?"

Baekhyun raised a brow, "Try again" he said, ignoring the way that Jongdae and Sehun's eyes flitted between the pair.

"Jongin happened" Kyungsoo relented, avoided the eyes of his friends, he noted that the film had been paused, which was fine by him because it was Captain America: Winter Soldier and he ing loved Steve Rogers.

Baekhyun hummed, "Duh" he rolled his eyes, "so, did you two... like...."

"What? No? What?" Kyungsoo spluttered, his face flushing a bright red, "We just fooled around a little"

Baekhyun nodded as Jongdae asked, "So you two are... what now, exactly?"

"We got together last week" Kyungsoo said, grabbing the slice of pizza he was after to distract himself and tearing off a chunk with his teeth, "I was gonna tell you, but I just.... didn't know how to" he admitted embarrassedly.

Baekhyun let out a fond laugh, "You're an idiot" he shook his head.

"I already knew" Sehun felt it helpful to inform, "I found out like the day after because Jongin had these two massive hickeys on his neck. Wearing a scarf with a t-shirt in this weather was a dead give-away" he snorted, "The dude's an idiot"

Kyungsoo decided to focus solely on his pizza at that point.

"Did he actually?" Baekhyun laughed his high-pitched laugh, "oh my god! Hahahaha! Kyungsoo! You're dating a complete weirdo"

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes in return.

Jongdae snickered, "it's a step up from you" he teased slyly, only to laugh as Baekhyun threw a pillow at him, smacking him dead in the face.

" you" Baekhyun huffed as the other three laughed, "that wasn't even funny, shut up, oh my god! Why am I even friends with you people?"

Kyungsoo grinned over at Baekhyun, "because you love us too much to not be friends with us" he said, "you'd be sad and lonely without us and you know it"

"I have friends outside of you lot, you know" Baekhyun pointed out with a tut, "you lot just so happen to amuse me when you aren't picking on me"

Jongdae snorted, "Pick on you? You bring it on yourself, Baek, let's not lie now" he said, picking another slice of pizza for himself.

Sehun nodded in agreement, "Oh, that reminds me, Luhannie Hyung said he wanted you to meet up with him soon. Apparently he needs your help on some singing things he has for college" he told Baekhyun.

"Isn't he doing dance though?" Jongdae asked.

"Yeah," Sehun said, "but he's doing a sub-module in music for extra credit and to bump up his CV, so he needs Baekhyun's help in composing a little something" he explained, "so will you text him later?"

"Yeah, 'course" Baekhyun smiled gleefully.

Jongdae frowned, "wait, why did ask Baekhyun and not me?"

Sehun fought back a smirk, "he said you're a little too nasal for his taste and that Baekhyun just knows his style best"

"A little too nasal? A LITTLE TOO NASAL?! What the absolute is he even talking about! I sing ing amazingly, the little !" Jongdae huffed, ignoring the laughter that rang out from Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.

Sehun, however, looked none to impressed, "watch how you speak about him! He's still your hyung!" He scolded, taking Jongdae aback.

"Dude..." Baekhyun paused in his laughing to look at Sehun incredulously.

Sehun's brows furrowed, "well it's the truth! He's getting butthurt over nothing. He wanted a certain style and Baekhyun is that. There's no point in bad mouthing him"

"Why are you getting so defensive?" Jongdae asked heatedly.

"Because he isn't here to defend himself! And someone has to stick up for him! He's swallowed his pride and asked for help on his work and all you care about is yourself!" Sehun shot back in annoyance, his eyes narrowed at Jongdae. Sehun wasn't usually the type to snap at, or speak out against his hyungs, so this was very out of the ordinary.

"It was only a joke..." Jongdae attempted to clear the air.

Sehun scoffed, "No it wasn't, don't even lie. Luhan hyung is amazing and he doesn't deserve to be bad mouthed by you!"

"Sehunnie, what's going on? Why are you getting so riled up over this?" Kyungsoo asked gently.

Sehun sighed, "I just... I don't know, okay? Luhan just... he means a lot to me and I feel like people just kind of take him for granted and it really pisses me off. You know, he's in a foreign country, and he's managed to learn the language by himself and adapt to the difference in culture and he still gets on by people for things that he can't even control" he ranted, slightly hysterically, "I just wish people could see him how I see him"

"Do you... Do you have feelings for him?" Jongdae asked cautiously.

Sehun rolled his eyes, "Of course I bloody well do" he said obviously, "but it doesn't matter. He'll never see me like that. I'm just a kid to him"

"He's only a kid himself. He's almost nineteen, Sehun, it isn't that much of an age-gap. You're almost seventeen" Baekhyun said rationally.

Jongdae smirked slightly, "besides, I have it on good authority that your little crush might not be as one sided as you think it is" he said.

That perked Sehun up slightly, "says who?" He asked, trying not to get his hopes up too much.

"Well the other day," Jongdae began, "Minseok was telling me that Luhan had this major freak out. Apparently you'd been hanging out with him that day, and after you went home he called Minseok. So Minseok goes over to Luhan's dorm, right? And he's all weird and acting strange, so anyway, Luhan ends up telling Minseok he's having a meltdown because it hit him how you're not a kid anymore. How you've grown up and apparently he saw you take your shirt off and had to give himself a minute - ha! Anyways, then he told Minseok that lately he's been thinking of you in a less that friendly way, if you catch my drift. I was sworn to secrecy, but I feel like this is a matter of importance, so...." he shrugged.

Sehun was silent for a long period before he slowly got to his feet, "I just realised that I have to go" he said, making the other three roll their eyes, "I'll, uh.... text you later. Or something. I just need to, um...."

"Go bag yourself a college student, kid!" Baekhyun gave Sehun a slap on the arse, which spurred the maknae into action.

"I swear all of my friends are gay" Kyungsoo noted absentmindedly.

Baekhyun laughed, "well you know what they say; Birds of a feather flock together" he grinned at his best friend.

"That's actually scarily true..." Jongdae noted, "d'you think the reason we're all friends is because we sensed the gay in each other?"

"I'm friends with Baek because my mum forced me to be" Kyungsoo said teasingly, laughing at the way Baekhyun leant over and smacked him on the arm. "He was a sad child with no friends so I had to take one for the team. Woe is me"

Baekhyun let out a whine, "actually shut up" he complained.

"Aw, come on. You know I love you really" Kyungsoo chuckled, wrapping an arm around Baekhyun to give him a hug.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes but let himself be hugged anyway.

"Are you sure you two aren't still dating?" Jongdae taunted playfully.

Baekhyun raised a brow at him, "don't be jealous just because we love each other more than we love you," he shot back in an equally teasing fashion.

"Please, what's there to be jealous of?" Jongdae snorted, "you're both lame as "

Kyungsoo hummed dismissively as Baekhyun settled more comfortably against him, snuggling into Kyungsoo's side, "this is coming from the guy that spent his summer looking up math problems for fun" he pointed out, making Baekhyun cackle.

"I like maths, so sue me" Jongdae defended, "You like to read poems and in your spare time!"

"Yeah, because poems are cool. Maths is like the demon of all learning" Kyungsoo scoffed, "Words make more sense than numbers and random letters"

Jongdae snorted, "'Kay then, pal"

" you" Kyungsoo laughed.

Jongdae shook his head, "not after you've already banged Baek" he shot back slyly.

"Are you saying you'd Kyungsoo if he hadn't already been with me?" Baekhyun asked, "It's all coming out today, isn't it? How long have you been harbouring these intimate desires for your friend, Dae?"

Jongdae spluttered, "that isn't even remotely what I meant!"

"First Junmyeon. Now Kyungsoo.... I wonder who'll be next" Baekhyun continued on as though Jongdae hadn't even spoken.

Jongdae let out a groan of frustration, "I don't have any ual desires for our friends!" He huffed.

"I reckon it'll be Minseok" Kyungsoo supplied.

Baekhyun nodded, "Yeah, he's had a thing for Min since we were like seven" he agreed.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Min had a thing for him too, though" Kyungsoo said thoughtfully, "I mean, that night I crashed at Min's, they were kinda.... I dunno, intimate?"

Jongdae rolled his eyes, "Are you two finished?"

"You'd tell us if you and Minseok hyung were dating, right?" Kyungsoo asked suddenly, as though the thoughts and questions whirring in his brain were starting to formulate an answer already. He was watching Jongdae with steady, almost knowing eyes.

"Y-Yeah. I... I, of course I, yeah. I...." Jongdae stuttered, "I'd, of course... would... tell you..."

Baekhyun's eyes widened almost comically as he stared at Jongdae, "Holy " he whispered.

Kyungsoo on the other hand looked back at his friend fondly, "how long?" He asked.

"I.... We were keeping it a secret for now. To see how it went" Jongdae admitted, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "You have to promise me you won't say anything. It's been like.... nine months. I mean we were sort of seeing each other before then, but we made it official about nine months ago. We didn't wanna tell anyone just yet. And we were going to but then it all kicked off with home life and then with Chanyeol and then there was just no good time to say anything so we decided to keep it to ourselves for a little longer. I just.... please don't say anything until I speak to him about you guys knowing" he pleaded.

"Of course we won't, idiot" Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

Kyungsoo did also, "Yeah, we may be arseholes, but not when it counts. You're secret is safe with us. And congrats by the way, stupid" he grinned, reaching over to ruffle Jongdae's hair.

"Thanks" Jongdae flushed, "It was a long time coming though" he admitted shyly.

"So how did it happen? Who made the first move?" Baekhyun asked, his demeanour akin to that of a twelve year old girl at a sleepover.

Jongdae snorted at his friend's excitement, "It was kinda funny actually. I'd gone to watch him and Luhan play football and Lu got bored of waiting around, since he had plans to go and meet Sehun and Chanyeol for dinner. Anyway I said that I'd wait for Min. So I went in the locker room to see how long he was gonna be, only he was kind of half- and all damp from the shower and my brain just sort of... well shut off. Anyway so he started teasing me about how I couldn't form a sentence and then he goes 'Jongdae.... do you maybe... like me?' And I started getting really embarrassed until he kinda just pushed me against a locker and told me to shut up. But you know me, I kept rambling until he kissed me. And I was like... . Minseok is kissing me. Kim Freaking Minseok is actually kissing me. Me. And obviously I kissed him back until he pulled away and started teasing me again, saying that he thought I had a thing for him but now he knows for sure. And then we kissed again, which was nice. And it just kind of went from there. We didn't talk about it until like a week after that and then we didn't actually start dating for like a month" he shrugged, "but yeah. That's pretty much it"

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo shared a look before the pair of them dived onto Jongdae and began to coo at him in an overly dramatic fashion.

"Awww look at our little Jongdae! All grown up with his own older boyfriend and everything" Baekhyun giggled, pinching Jongdae's cheeks.

Kyungsoo cackled as he began to tickle Jongdae's tummy, "our wittle baby is flying the nest, oh he's so cute, yes he is!"

"Yah! I'm older than you! And I'm not a dog!" Jongdae wheezed.

"Barely" Kyungsoo snorted, continuing his attack on his friend.

--

"Baek! Baek! Baekhyun! Baekhyunnie! Yah! Byun Baekhyun?!"

Baekhyun looked up from his book with a raised brow, "what?" He asked, tapping his pen on his notebook, "I'm trying to study and you should be too"

Chanyeol groaned, "I finished though" he said, "let's do something fun"

"I still have like a ton to get through, Yeol. I can't. Go play with Yixing or something. He's got nothing to do today, I think. Unless he's with Myeonnie hyung, but they won't mind you crashing" Baekhyun said, turning back to his work.

Chanyeol sighed, "No, it's fine. I'll amuse myself somehow" he said, shifting over to kneel behind Baekhyun and rest his chin on the shorter boy's shoulder.

"Don't distract me" Baekhyun warned, his eyes skimming over the passage he was on as he took notes.

Chanyeol slipped his arms around Baekhyun's waist, opening his legs slightly as he did so that he could press himself up against Baekhyun's back, "Would I ever?" He asked innocently.

Baekhyun hummed, "yes" he answered easily, though made no move to push Chanyeol away. He continued on with what he was doing, jotting down what he knew he'd need to revise later on before exams.

"You're not complaining though" Chanyeol pointed out, turning his head and burying his face in Baekhyun's neck, purposely letting his breath fan over a particularly sensitive spot of Baekhyun's.

Baekhyun gasped softly, his back arching on its own accord, "Chanyeol" he breathed, "I mean it"

"Mmhmm" Chanyeol acknowledged, taking a risk and pressing a small kiss to Baekhyun's neck as a means of testing the waters.

Baekhyun's body seemed to react before his mind did, he pressed himself back into Chanyeol's hold, dropping his pen and reaching back to grab onto Chanyeol's thighs. "Yeol please" he half begged, "I need to study"

"So study" Chanyeol said, his voice deeper and huskier than Baekhyun was used to. "I'm not stopping you"

Baekhyun whimpered, "Yes, you are," he said, tilting his head to the side to better allow Chanyeol's lips and tongue to explore it.

"How?" Chanyeol asked, a stripe up to Baekhyun's jawline.

Baekhyun let out a shaky breath, "Yeol, please" he gasped softly.

Chanyeol's hands moved down to tease the inside of Baekhyun's thighs, slowly moving up then hurrying back down before he reached where Baekhyun so obviously wanted to be touched. "Please what?" Chanyeol asked, feigning innocence.

Baekhyun whimpered again, "This is a bad idea..." he got out, his hands sliding down Chanyeol's thighs before moving to rest atop of Chanyeol's hands where he slowly began to guide them back upwards.

"Is it?" Chanyeol challenged, allowing Baekhyun to guide his hands where his wanted them.

Baekhyun inhaled sharply as he brought Chanyeol's right hand to rest over his crotch, his left remaining steadily on Baekhyun's thigh. "Y-Yes" Baekhyun stuttered out as Chanyeol began to teasingly palm him through his sweats.

"Hmmm" Chanyeol hummed, "interesting that you think so" he said lowly, feeling Baekhyun growing hard beneath his palm.

Baekhyun gasped, moving himself against Chanyeol's hand, desperate for more friction. He was glad Chanyeol was only in sweats too, because it meant he could feel that Chanyeol was having a very similar reaction to himself, since the tall boy was pressed firmly against his back.

"Ah" Baekhyun let out as he rocked himself into Chanyeol's palm, just wanting more friction. So much more.

Chanyeol smirked slightly against Baekhyun's neck before lifting his head so that he could take Baekhyun's earlobe between his teeth and for all that it was worth.

Something akin to a purr left Baekhyun. He moved so quick that Chanyeol was taken off guard as Baekhyun moved from his grasp to shove all of his things off of the bed. He barely registered the sound of Baekhyun's books and pens clattering to the floor, he was too busy watching Baekhyun, whose eyes were dark with lust.

Baekhyun smirked slightly as he shoved Chanyeol to where he wanted, resulting in Chanyeol sat with his legs out in front of him and his back against Baekhyun's headboard.

He let out a noise of pure want as Baekhyun moved up and straddled him, grinding down on him almost sinfully and watching for Chanyeol's reaction as he did.

Chanyeol was quick to grab hold of Baekhyun's hips, more to steady himself than anything.

Baekhyun's smiled slightly as he leant in to rest his forehead against Chanyeol's, his hips rolling as he did, eliciting a delightful reaction from Chanyeol, "Bad.... Bad idea" he whispered.

"Don't stop" was all Chanyeol could put into words, and even then they were deep and broken.

Baekhyun laughed musically, "I never said I was going to" he pointed out before he looked at Chanyeol seriously, "I need you to do something for me"

"Anything" Chanyeol promised.

"Kiss me" Baekhyun breathed, "really, really kiss me"

Chanyeol hesitated for a moment. Sure they'd kissed before, but that was always friendly pecks or in silly games of truth or dare. It had never meant anything more than a friendly gesture or a laugh. But now, now it definitely meant something.

"Hey," Baekhyun said softly, leaning back slightly and lifting his hand to brush Chanyeol's hair back from his face. "what's wrong?"

Chanyeol closed his eyes for a moment, just letting himself feel Baekhyun's touch before he opened them again and shook his head with a small smile, "nothing" he said and then he leant in and they were kissing.

Knowing Baekhyun, it didn't come as a shock to Chanyeol that the kiss was hot and heavy and full of emotion. It was playful, yet sensual. It was everything that Baekhyun was and Chanyeol felt like he could spend the rest of forever doing this. Letting Baekhyun consume him.

He was so in love with Baekhyun that sometimes he really didn't know what to do with himself. He knew that he would do anything so long as it made Baekhyun happy, and the fact that he knew that Baekhyun would do anything for him too, made him feel like he was on top of the world.

Baekhyun's hands rested on Chanyeol's face, his thumbs Chanyeol's cheeks as they kissed.

Chanyeol's hands had slipped down to grasp Baekhyun's thighs, holding them loosely as Baekhyun continued to grind down on him.

"Yeol, touch me" Baekhyun pleaded into the kiss, pausing only to get the words out and then he was back and kissing Chanyeol hard, slipping his tongue into the taller's mouth.

Chanyeol did his best to not be his awkward self as he reached between then and began to palm at Baekhyun's hard . He felt almost proud of himself when Baekhyun shuddered in pleasure.

"No," Baekhyun gasped, reaching down and taking Chanyeol's hand in his own. "Really touch me" he said, guiding Chanyeol's hand down into his sweats, where Chanyeol learned that Baekhyun was going commando.

Chanyeol whimpered slightly. He'd never touched anyone aside from himself and he so desperately wanted Baekhyun to feel good. To say he was nervous would have been an understatement, but nevertheless he powered through the nerves, because by god he wanted this. He'd been wanting this for so long, and the ache of his only confirmed it all the more.

He was hesitant in the way that he took Baekhyun in his hand and gave him a . But the soft 'oh' that left Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a sense of confidence that he hadn't even known himself to possess.

Chanyeol grasped Baekhyun more firmly in his hand as he set a pace that suited them both. A smirk made its way to his face as Baekhyun began to rock into his hand, meeting him half-way for every that Chanyeol supplied.

Baekhyun's moans were swallowed as Chanyeol caught his lips in another kiss, enjoying the way that Baekhyun was slowly becoming undone as they went on. His kisses were becoming sloppier and his hips began to stutter in their movements. Chanyeol knew what that meant and made sure to move his hand faster, wanting to see Baekhyun become a complete mess right before his eyes because of him.

Baekhyun's forehead fell to rest on Chanyeol's shoulder as he bit down on his lip. He wanted nothing more than to cry out in pleasure as his hit him, but he couldn't risk them getting caught.

His body went ridged as he hit his peak and came all over Chanyeol's hand and himself, not caring that there was a lot of mess to be cleaned after, only caring that Chanyeol had made him feel so ing good.

"" Baekhyun spluttered as he came down from his high, his face flushed and still hidden in Chanyeol's shoulder.

Chanyeol coughed, "I.... yeah" he got out awkwardly. Wiping his soiled hand on his t-shirt.

That made Baekhyun sit up again, he looked down noting that Chanyeol was still hard, and by the looks of it, uncomfortably so.

"Chanyeol, can I.... Can I try something?" Baekhyun asked almost shyly, finally looking up from Chanyeol's crotch to look him in the eye. It was a little funny to see that Chanyeol was bright red as they looked at one another.

"S-Sure" he said, still as awkward as ever.

Baekhyun nodded before reaching down and freeing Chanyeol from his sweats and boxers. He wasn't going to lie, seeing Chanyeol's was an experience all in itself. It was bigger than Baekhyun expected as it stood proud against Chanyeol's clothed stomach, the swollen red head staring back at Baekhyun needily.

"I'm gonna you off" Baekhyun announced, determination clear in his voice.

Chanyeol’s eyes widened, "Baek, are you sure? I... I mean don't feel like you have to just because I-"

Baekhyun placed a hand over Chanyeol's mouth to shut him up, "I want to" he said firmly. "Just... Just relax, okay?"

Chanyeol nodded, his eyes glued to Baekhyun's face as Baekhyun's free hand came down go grasp Chanyeol at the base of his , his pretty fingers warm and welcoming.

He gave Chanyeol a small wink before lowering his head and taking Chanyeol in his mouth.

Chanyeol gasped loudly at the feeling of the warm wetness that enveloped him, so unused to the sensation. He felt Baekhyun's lips momentarily lift in an amused smile before he gave the head of Chanyeol's a flick with his tongue then began to bob his head in the most sinfully pleasurable way Chanyeol had ever known.

"Oh, " Chanyeol's head fell back in pleasure, one of his hands had found its way into Baekhyun's hair, his fingers tangling harshly in Baekhyun's locks whilst the other fisted at the sheets.

Baekhyun hummed at the way Chanyeol's fist tightened in his hair, feeling oddly by the rough sensation. He felt Chanyeol twitch in reaction to the vibration of his hum, which only spurred him on more. He took as much of Chanyeol in his mouth as he could and used his hand to cover the rest of Chanyeol's shaft. His free hand coming down to play with Chanyeol's balls, keeping him on his toes.

Chanyeol was pretty impressed with how long he managed to last before Baekhyun gave him a hearty and he just fell apart, barely managing to give Baekhyun any warning as he came down Baekhyun's throat.

To his credit, Baekhyun took it like a champ, managing to swallow most of it, though a little found its way down his chin, which he used Chanyeol's already messed up t-shirt to clean off of himself.

Chanyeol's fingers slowly released Baekhyun's hair. He hadn't realised how tightly he'd been gripping onto it until he felt the ache of opening up his clenched hand.

"How was that?" Baekhyun asked, tilting his head cutely to one side. He was flushed and breathing a little heavier than normal, but Chanyeol was pretty certain he looked about the same.

"Brilliant" he panted, "ing brilliant"

Baekhyun let out a tinkling laugh, "Good. I'm glad. So, uh, I actually do need to study..."

Chanyeol nodded, "Yeah. Yeah of course, go ahead, I'll um, I just need a minute..."

Again Baekhyun laughed, shaking his head in amusement as he got up from his bed and set about finding some clean clothes to wear as Chanyeol tucked himself back into his boxers.

He changed into a pair of loose shorts and a clean t-shirt before tossing another tee at Chanyeol. "Give me your dirty one. I'll go stick them in the wash now" he said. Chanyeol easily followed suit.

Baekhyun did as he said he would before returning to his room and picking his things up from the floor, giving them a new home on his desk, where he sat and picked up where he left off before the distraction, though he was certainly finding it a lot harder to concentrate knowing that Chanyeol was sprawled out on his bed looking thoroughly dishevelled and extremely inviting.

Chanyeol was being quiet, giving Baekhyun a chance to get on with his work, he knew his tall mess of a friend was watching him for the first twenty minutes or so, but the feeling of eyes on him soon melted away. He was a good hour and a half into his work when he decided he'd done enough for one night. He turned to let Chanyeol know, only to find the giant curled up with one of his plushies on the bed, sound asleep.

A fond smile overtook Baekhyun's face as he pulled out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures of the cute moment before walking over to close his curtains and flick on the lamp before turning off the big light.

It kind of amazed him sometimes that Chanyeol, his Chanyeol, who was loud and clumsy and awkward, could be so calm and cute. Baekhyun had always loved seeing Chanyeol like this, so utterly relaxed and just as ease.

He knew that what had happened between them was a big step in changing their dynamic, he just didn't know yet if it was for better or for worse.

Chanyeol was, for all intents and purposes, his. And as bad as that probably sounded, it was just how he was. Just as he was Chanyeol's. He doubted if any of their friends would dare try to come between that.

What had happened with Kyungsoo was such a big learning curve for him, and for Kyungsoo too. It had been a way for them both to sort out how they felt and he could never bring himself to regret what happened between them. It wasn't a mistake in his eyes, it was an experience that helped him come to understand himself and whilst Chanyeol didn't quite understand that yet, he hoped that one day he could get there.

He and Chanyeol had been through so much together, had helped each other through things that they didn't want to remember but could never forget. They were closer than close and all of that was just the build up to creating something amazing. It wasn't perfect, but Baekhyun didn't want perfect. Baekhyun had never wanted perfect, he wanted something that could be built into something more. He wanted the imperfections to make perfect moments because perfect people didn't exist.

He wanted to be imperfect with his Chanyeol.

He wanted Chanyeol because Chanyeol was, and always had been, his happiness.

He gently pulled the covers over Chanyeol before heading back over to his desk to sit and play on his phone for a while, not wanting to disturb the sleeping giant.

 

[To KyungBae♡]

So something just
happened with me
and Yeol... xx

 

[KyungBae♡]

DID YOU ??? xx

 

[To KyungBae♡]

No!! We just...
Got each other off...
I dunno what happens
now though... xx

 

[KyungBae♡]

That's something only
you and him can work
out, Baek xx

 

[To KyungBae♡]

I know. I just really
want this to work out.
I... I think I'm in love
with him xx

 

[KyungBae♡]

It took you long
enough to work
it out xx

 

Baekhyun sighed. Didn't it just.

--

"Heeeeey good lookin', whatcha got cookin', how 'bout cookin something up with me?!"

"Someone's in a good mood" Kyungsoo noted as Chanyeol sat next to him on the semi-crowded bus.

Chanyeol nodded, his smile bright and his spirits high, "I am, Kyungsoo! I am in a fabulous mood" he grinned, before noticing something, "wait, where's Jongin?"

"He's sick" Kyungsoo said, "his mum has him wrapped in blankets and eating soup. She sent me pictures. It was pretty funny" he laughed to himself.

Chanyeol shook his head in amusement, "I touched a that wasn't my own" he replied.

Kyungsoo almost choked on air, "dude! We're on the freaking bus! Don't say like that" he hissed.

"Why? I'm not ashamed of who I am" Chanyeol said in confusion.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, "you dense , that isn't what I meant. I meant people don't want to hear about you touching at half seven in the morning" he said pressing the bell and standing up to head to the front of the bus, Chanyeol following close behind. "Besides," he added, stepping off of the bus and waiting for Chanyeol to fall in line with him as they walked, "I already knew"

"Why is it he always gets to you first" Chanyeol grumbled, "I wanna be the one to tell you things sometimes!"

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, "Dude, Baek tells me more than I need to know, thanks. I'd rather it come from you. Hearing about him you off is not my idea of a good time" he pointed out bluntly, giving Chanyeol a look of utter bemusement.

Chanyeol flushed a violent red, "He, uh, told you that, huh?" He coughed.

"And then some" Kyungsoo shuddered, "It was horrific"

"Did he say anything else.... Like, about what's gonna happen now?" Chanyeol asked almost shyly.

Kyungsoo let out a soft sigh as he linked his arm with Chanyeol's in a comforting fashion, "That's really a conversation that the two of you need to have. I'm all for helping when I can, but in this particular case, it's all down to the two of you and what you want to get out of this. It's obvious you both want it to be something, so one of you needs to strap on a pair and initiate that conversation" he said.

Chanyeol sighed, "I'm just nervous" he admitted, "I've never really dated anyone before and Baekhyun is the only person I've ever wanted. What if I screw it up?"

"Chanyeol, I mean this in the nicest way, but he still wants you after all that you pulled last month, so get your head out your and talk to him" Kyungsoo said firmly, "He's scared too, you know"

"Yah, be nice to me. I'm fragile" Chanyeol whined.

Kyungsoo scoffed playfully, "You can be that fragile, you just told an entire bus that you touched another person's " he pointed out with a laugh.

"I... shut up..." Chanyeol groaned as they walked into the playground and were met by Baekhyun and Jongdae, who were chatting animatedly about something.

"... and besides" Baekhyun was saying, "There is so much complexity to him! He isn't evil, but he struggles with being completely good. He gives into the easier options and that my friend, is why he is so relatable and why people like him so much"

Jongdae scoffed, "He got his best friend paralysed!" He argued, "How good can he be?!"

"Uh, did you not see how bad he felt about that? It was part of why he went away and stopped using his powers" Baekhyun shot back.

"Dare I ask?" Kyungsoo inputted.

Baekhyun turn in surprised, coming face to face with his best friends. His cheeks flushed as he made eye contact with Chanyeol, but he still beamed up at the giant. "X-Men" he supplied, turning back to face Kyungsoo. "I was saying that Magneto is more than just a villain but someone disagrees"

"I'm with Baek on this one" Kyungsoo said, "he has this whole to and fro with trying to be good, and deep down he is a good person that makes bad choices. He has character to him and that is what makes him more than just your average bad guy"

Jongdae paused to scowl at the pair slightly, "He kills people! He didn't even care about Raven when she was made powerless!"

"You know full well he regrets that! He had to seem badass in front of his followers!" Baekhyun argued, "Just look at his relationship with Charles! He is a good person that was lead down a bad path and didn't know how to turn back! He keeps trying to be good and when push comes to shove he does what's right. I'm not saying he is completely innocent, Jesus, I'm just saying he is a lot more complex than you are giving him credit for!"

Jongdae rolled his eyes, "You're only so hyped up over him because Ian McKellen plays him in the films!"

"That's so not true! My love for Ian McKellen has nothing to do with this! You're just being naive and not actually looking at the character properly. If he is so 'standard evil' then why is he always coming to aid Charles and The X-Men in the end?!" Baekhyun shot back heatedly.

Kyungsoo nodded in agreement, "The fact that he actually tries and yet still finds himself in all these bad situations only further proves that he's more than just there to play the role of bad guy. He and Charles have this bond that stops them from actually going the whole way and killing one another. They're one another's rock and the entire plot plays off of that, developing the complexities of both characters. You don't have to like Magneto, but you have to admit there is far, far more to his character than being a ing baddy!" He stated firmly.

"Guys, I hate to be the one to ruin this... uh, thing. But the bell is gonna go any minute now and we have Mrs Choi first period..." Chanyeol cut in, bringing the trio back to reality.

"" Baekhyun muttered before the four of them took off at a sprint to get to their first lesson before the bell rang and they got detention for being late.

It was a pretty dull day, all in all, with the lot of them just going through the motions of school, getting far more homework than should have been legal and was just all around boring. Though they managed to keep themselves entertained at breaks.

"Where's Jongin?" Sehun asked as they all sat in the lunch room. They usually preferred to eat outside on the field, but it was tipping buckets out and thunder was already starting to boom down on them.

Kyungsoo turned his attention from the sheets of rain hammering against the window to look at Sehun, "he's sick" he told the baby of their group. "Oh, that reminds me, you wanna come for dinner tonight? My mum said she misses you, and her fiancé is out of town visiting a friend"

"Of course! Count me in. I love your mum!" Sehun beamed, "what are we having?"

Kyungsoo shrugged, "didn't ask" he admitted, "but knowing her, something tasty"

Sehun beamed as he leant over and gave Kyungsoo a peck on the cheek, "Hyung, you're the best. Wanna play video games after? I know I left a couple at yours the last time I stayed over"

"Sounds good to me" Kyungsoo wrapped his arm around Sehun's waist as a means of affection, "I think you left your Chinese book there too"

"I've been looking for that!" Sehun complained, "Luhan has been all over me about losing it. No wonder I didn't know where it was. Hyung after games will you help me practice a little?"

Kyungsoo hummed, "Sure. But fair warning, I'm pretty shoddy at Chinese"

"What even is the relationship between you two?" Chanyeol asked between bites of food.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the sight of it before turning back to his conversation with Jongdae.

Sehun frowned, "what do you mean?"

"I mean you act like a weird couple or something" Chanyeol explained with a shrug.

Kyungsoo raised a brow, "No we don't?"

"You do a bit" Jongdae piped up, "You two are really... I dunno, flirty"

"It's called being friendly jackass" Kyungsoo said, "and besides, I have a boyfriend, and Sehun and Luhan are like this weird thing-but-not-a-thing-thing" he added defensively.

"Wow, you worded that well" Jongdae snorted.

Kyungsoo frowned, "well that's what they are" he said, "There isn't really another way to word it...."

Chanyeol laughed slightly, "alright, well moving on then. Baek, are you free later?"

"I can be. Why, what d'you have planned?" Baekhyun asked, shooting Chanyeol as shy smile before taking a bite of his lunch.

Chanyeol flushed slightly, though he hadn't been thinking anything bad, he couldn't help but think back to that night every time Baekhyun smiled at him in that way. The way that both of them knew held more meaning than just a small smile.

"Just thought we could hang out" Chanyeol smiled back, letting his knee knock against Baekhyun's below the table.

Baekhyun hummed interestedly, "Alright. Sounds like a plan. Meet me outside of the music room later though, I just need to grab a few bits before we leave"

"Will you be needing to study again?" Chanyeol asked, clear meaning in his voice that had Baekhyun flushing deeply.

Baekhyun gave an intentional cough, "maybe" was his answer.

Kyungsoo cringed slightly at the pair thinking they were subtle. They were so obvious it almost pained him.

With a sigh, he pulled out his phone to text Jongin; at least he would offer decent conversation.

 

[To Nini]

BaekYeol are being
gross again...

 

[Nini]

Dude, did you just
give them a couples
name? LOL!! Xx

 

[To Nini]

I may think they're
gross but I still ship
it! They make a good
couple. Don't pretend
you don't think the same x

 

[Nini]

Duh. At least Chan
finally took his head
out of his , ammirite!

 

[To Nini]

You're a .
Also how are you
feeling? Any better?♡

 

[Nini]

Ish. I just wanna get
out of bed tbh. Mum
has me on lockdown! Xx

 

[To Nini]

Think she will
let me visit after
school tomorrow?

 

[Nini]

Idc! Come anyway!
I need to be saved!
Woe is me, Soo! :c

 

[To Nini]

Yah yah yah
I'll be there
Gtg. Talk later xx

 

Kyungsoo groaned as Jongdae kicked him in the shin as he placed his phone down on the table, "the , dude?"

Jongdae snorted, "Pay attention in future, asshat!" He said, "Baekhyun was trying to get your attention"

"You still didn't have to ing kick me" Kyungsoo glared before turning to face Baekhyun with a softer expression, "What's the crack?" He asked almost playfully.

Baekhyun grinned, "I said what day are we doing our movie night this month?"

"Oh! Are you free Friday and Saturday? We could make a weekend of it" Kyungsoo beamed back at him. He always did love their movie nights. Besides, now they could gossip about Jongin and Chanyeol - because even the best of us enjoy a good natter with the best friend. Or so Kyungsoo liked to defend his gossiping anyway.

"Yeah, sounds good to me" Baekhyun said gleefully, "What are we watching first?"

Kyungsoo smirked, "How about X-men?" He asked.

--

"I don't know if I can do this anymore"

It's those nine little words that make Kyungsoo feel like his heart had shattered into a million pieces.

"I don't understand..." is all he can manage to get out. It was so out of the blue, so... so sudden, and they had been doing so well together.

Jongin sighed, running a hand over his face, "I just.... I'm not ready for this. I thought it would pass but it didn't and when people keep talking about... about the future and stuff... I don't know, I just.... it freaks me out" he attempted to explain.

Kyungsoo nodded once, "I see. So you don't like me anymore then? Couldn't have told me this before I spent three months of my life trying to be with you. This was scary for me too, you know" he said calmly.

"I do still like you. I like you a lot. But this is just.. too much too fast!" Jongin said, "I'm sorry. I just... I can't do this"

Kyungsoo laughed bitterly, "Right. Okay. Sure, let's just give up at the first hurdle, yeah? I mean, yesterday it was all kisses and cuddles, but now you're better it's 'oh well I'm over it'. Sure. Fine"

"Don't do that" Jongin snapped, "Don't turn around and make me the bad guy for being honest with you!"

"I'm not doing anything!" Kyungsoo snapped back, "I'm entitled to be a little upset when I've just been dumped out of the ing blue, Jongin!"

Jongin groaned, "I never said you weren't! But you making me feel bad isn't the right thing to do either!"

"Oh off" Kyungsoo scoffed, " right off. This is so ing stupid. I'm leaving first" he said before turning on his heel and stalking out of Jongin's room. He left so fast that he didn't notice the way Jongin's face scrunched up in hurt, nor the tears that slid down his cheeks as he watched Kyungsoo leave.

The noise of his closet opening made Jongin's body quiver with anger as he turned to look at the person that had been hiding in there.

"Now was that so hard?"

Jongin's eyes narrowed as he looked at Kyungsoo's step-father, "You're sick, you know that?!"

Kyungsoo's step-father laughed, "oh please. At least now you know I won't hurt your little lover. The pair of you are a disgrace! You're lucky I don't kick the out of him anyway!" He snarled.

"Get the out of my house!" Jongin demanded, "NOW!"

The old man didn't have to be told twice before he smugly smiled at Jongin before taking his leave.

Jongin waited a moment before turning to collapse on his bed and cry. He hated himself for what he had done to Kyungsoo. But he knew all too well that his step-father would make good on his threats had he not.

--

Kyungsoo's eyes widened as he heard his step-father's coming down the stairs. He quietly closed the front door before running to hide around the corner.

He waited until he saw the man walk into his own home before running back to Jongin's house and letting himself in. He didn't pause until he made it back into Jongin's room, where he found the mess that was the younger boy crying on his bed.

"You're a ing idiot, you know that?!"

Jongin's head snapped up so fast that he almost cracked his neck, "Kyungsoo, what are you-"

"You think I'm an idiot? I know you, Jongin. You aren't a hurtful person. I heard everything. Maybe wait until I leave the actual house next time?" Kyungsoo shook his head before walking over and pulling Jongin into a tight hug, "I'm not scared of that tosser. And you shouldn't be either"

Jongin began to cry harder as he held onto Kyungsoo, "But he.... he said he would hurt you"

"You think I can't handle myself?" Kyungsoo scolded softly as he ran his fingers through Jongin’s hair, letting the crying boy bury his face in his neck as he did.

"It's not that" Jongin sniffed, "I just don't want to put you in that position"

Kyungsoo sighed softly, "Well I'm not letting you be controlled by him. We'll get through this together. Okay?"

"But..."

"Okay?" Kyungsoo said more firmly.

Jongin nodded sheepishly, burying his face further into Kyungsoo's neck, "Okay" he relented.

"Good. Now I don't think I need to tell you to never do that to me again" Kyungsoo breathed out a shaky laugh, trying to hide just how much it had hurt him to think that Jongin was no longer interested in being with him.

"I promise" Jongin said, his voice muffled by Kyungsoo's shirt.

Kyungsoo felt himself hold onto Jongin tighter as he stared at the sky blue walls of Jongin's room. He honestly had no idea what he was going to do about his step father, but it was clear that something needed to be done.

Not only was he a ing tosser, he was affecting Kyungsoo's relationship with his mum, and now he was trying to sabotage what he had with Jongin. It was the last straw!

The self-indulging nature of the man was infuriating! He cared about no one other than himself and got off on seeing others unhappy. It needed to come to an end and he needed to be put in his god damn place!

He continued to Jongin’s hair, soothing the younger boy as his brain whirred with ideas on how to get back at the man he was forced to live with. He knew that there would be a way, and he knew that it wouldn’t be easy. It was as he began to softly massage the back of Jongin’s neck that the idea came to him.

“Hey, I have to go, okay? My mum’s cooking dinner, and if I’m not back she’ll worry” he said softly. “I’ll text you, alright?”

Jongin didn’t say anything for a while, but then he let out a soft sigh and nodded as he pulled back, “Are you going to be okay?” he asked, worry clear in his voice.

But Kyungsoo smiled and gave him a nod, careful not to betray what he was truly feeling in that moment, “Of course, silly” he laughed, “You know me, nothing gets me worried. You’re lack of faith in me is hurtful” he teased, poking Jongin’s cheek and coaxing a smile out of him.

“Yah” Jongin whined, “I’m serious”

“So am I” Kyungsoo grinned before leaning in and kissing Jongin softly but firmly on the lips, “Now behave yourself, and don’t get into any trouble whilst I’m gone” he gently caressed Jongin’s cheek, “I’m gonna be fine, Jongin. I promise”

“Sure” Jongin sighed, “Go on then, ” he shooed Kyungsoo away, pouting as he did, which made Kyungsoo laugh.

They both said their goodbyes before Kyungsoo finally left for home.

He walked into the house with his shoulders squared and his eyes narrowed as he zoned in on the drunk bastard, as per usual, he was slumped on the sofa, whisky in hand as his mum slaved away in the kitchen after a long day at work.

Kyungsoo scoffed as he walked passed him.

“Where the have you been?” the man snarled.

Kyungsoo ignored him, choosing to walk to the kitchen door and greet his mum, “Hey mum. How was your day?”

She looked exhausted, but still she gave Kyungsoo a tired smile, “It was alright. How was school?”

“Boring as ever” Kyungsoo laughed, “You know how it is. All mindless natter from teachers. Did you want help?”

“No, go sit. It won’t be long anyway” His mum smiled again.

Kyungsoo nodded before walking over and sitting down on the sofa opposite his mother’s fiancé. “How’s your day been?” he asked slyly.

The man turned his nose up, “Fine” he answered, “How’s your little boyfriend?” he smirked.

“Oh, same old” Kyungsoo smiled back, “He’s as lovely as always”

The man’s eyes narrowed, “Is that so?” he drawled, “No problems or anything?”

“Not at all” Kyungsoo said, “Should there be?”

The man looked dangerously wicked as he sat up and took in Kyungsoo’s nonchalant body language, “What’s your angle?” he demanded hotly.

Kyungsoo noted that his mother had stopped plating up dinner and had come to stand by the kitchen door to monitor the situation. She looked uneasy, but Kyungsoo knew that what was to come would be the best for both of them.

“My angle?” Kyungsoo laughed harshly, “My angle!? I’m sorry, was I the one that tried to ing sabotage someone’s relationship for ing jokes?” he asked, “Was I the one that threatened to hurt a ing kid?”

The man stood up and walked over to Kyungsoo, “Do you want to say that again?”

“Chungho…” Kyungsoo’s mother warned.

But she went ignored as the man continued to get in Kyungsoo’s face.

Kyungsoo stood, he was fairly shorter than the man, but for once he wasn’t intimidated. Kyungsoo wasn’t a violent person by any means, he hated confrontation and general meanness pissed him off to the ing max, but in that moment, he had never wanted to hurt someone so much in his life.

“Let me put it in a way your simple little mind will understand, you ing imbecile” Kyungsoo said slowly, “The next time you want to try and up my relationship with my boyfriend, you might want to actually do it when I’m out of the ing house”

Chungho’s leant over into Kyungsoo’s space, “Who the do you think you are, boy?!” he spat.

“I’m Do Kyungsoo” Kyungsoo said calmly, “Whereas you are nothing more than a pathetic old man that can’t get over the fact that his mother never loved him. I’m someone that I can be proud of; a good person, with friends and a loving mother. Who are you? You think you’re so amazing, when in reality you’re just a sad little person that can’t move on from their past and drinks to feel something! You nothing! Not-”

Kyungsoo was cut off by a punch, catching him straight on the cheek and sending him crashing to the floor.

“HOW ING DARE YOU!” Chungho screamed as he kicked Kyungsoo hard in the stomach, making Kyungsoo groan, but he knew better than to fight back.

Kyungsoo’s mother screamed, running over to try and tear the man away as he continued to hit Kyungsoo, but to no avail as the man simply shoved her back harshly into the wall, causing her to his her head.

Quietly, she crawled over to her phone and called the police. Chungho was too preoccupied in screaming and hitting Kyungsoo that he didn’t even notice his mother.

Once they were on their way, she again attempted to pry the man off of her son, only to be hit again.

“MUM NO” Kyungsoo coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood, “Don’t!” he scrambled to his feet before diving and Chungho and knocking him down and away from his mother. Being hit was one thing, but if that punk hurt his mother then there would be hell to pay, “Go to the door!” he said as he struggled with the heavily drunken man.

Kyungsoo’s mother scrambled to the door just as the police turned up and intervened.

It was all a blur from there as Chungho was arrested and Kyungsoo and his mother were taken down to the station for questioning.

It was there that they found out that Chungho had done this before and had been let out on good behaviour. He was to be arrested and there would be no bail for him. He was going to be taken to court, where Kyungsoo and his mother would have to testify against him, along with another woman which he had been with before Kyungsoo’s mother.

They didn’t talk much on the way home, but it was clear that they would need to eventually.

As the days passed, Kyungsoo’s mother began to realise just how much control Chungho had held over her, and it upset her a great deal, but Kyungsoo was there by her side for every step of it. It was obvious she would not be taking him back, and she had broken down to Kyungsoo and apologised for everything that she had put him through, but he had reassured her that it wasn’t her fault, and that things were okay.

Jongin wasn’t happy when he found out what had happened, and he was more than angry at how beaten up Kyungsoo was, but he had been glad to find out that the horrid man was out of Kyungsoo’s life for good now, even if it had been at such a high cost.

--

“Okay, so let me get this straight” Baekhyun said. “He’s been arrested before, somehow managed to be hiding from the police and basically just ed up a lot of people’s lives?”

It had been a couple of weeks since the incident, and Kyungsoo had had to take time off from school to rest his injuries, as per the doctors instructions, so it was only now that his best friends were finding out what had happened exactly.

He hadn’t wanted any visitors – though Jongin had popped over anyway – since he wanted to ensure that his mum was okay, so he hadn’t really seen any of them, and he had only spoken to them briefly in between taking care of his mum and making sure Jongin didn’t go on a rage black out.

“That pretty much sums it up” Kyungsoo said, taking a bite of his pizza and wincing slightly as the cut on his lip almost re-opened.

Baekhyun slammed his fist down angrily on the table, “What the !?” he raged, “What the actual ?!”

“Tell me about it,” Kyungsoo sighed, “But it’s over now at least. And mum is doing better than I expected. I think she’s gonna stay out of the dating world for a while now. Take some time for herself”

“Probably for the best,” Chanyeol said, “I can’t believe this though. I mean there’s always stories like this on the news, but you never expect it to happen to you, or someone that you know… It’s crazy”

Kyungsoo nodded in agreement, “Right?”

“You don’t really want to talk about this anymore, do you?” Chanyeol asked apologetically.

“Not really,” Kyungsoo admitted, “I kind of want to just forget that it ever happened and move on. Jongin is already watching me like twenty-four-seven now” he rolled his eyes.

“Am not!” Jongin objected with a pout.

Baekhyun snorted, “Of course you aren’t” he said, giving Kyungsoo a look of sheer disbelief and making him laugh.

“Arseholes” Jongin complained.

Baekhyun laughed, pulling some money out of his pocket and handing it over to Kyungsoo, “This is for mine and Chanyeol’s” he said, “I’m really sorry we can’t stay longer, but we have to get back to mine. I told my mum we’d be back to wait for a package for her”

“Nah, it’s cool. We still on for next week?” Kyungsoo asked.

Baekhyun nodded as he put his coat on, “Of course, cinema, patbingsu, double date. You’re on”

“Cool, you kids have fun” he said as they said there goodbyes.

“And use protection!” Jongin called after them, making Kyungsoo laugh.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes as he wrapped an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder as they set off back to Baekhyun’s house. “Those two are complete idiots”

“Yeah, but we can’t really get moody with Soo at the minute, and he is totally milking it” Baekhyun laughed.

Chanyeol snickered, “Obviously, but wouldn’t you as well?”

“Duh” Baekhyun grinned, “It’s why I can’t get mad at him for it too. I mean, he did kinda get kicked the out off too, so…”

Chanyeol let out a long breath of air, “Jesus he gets the rough end of it a lot” he shook his head, “At least that is gone from his life now though” he said.

“True, true” Baekhyun nodded in agreement, “Oh, before I forget, I have a question for you”

“Shoot”

“Are we dating, or what?” Baekhyun asked easily.

Chanyeol let out a bark of laughter, trust Baekhyun to be the blunt little he is, “Well, we are going on a double date with the groups resident couple next week” he pointed out.

“Yeah, I know that” Baekhyun rolled his eyes as they got to the bus stop, “But like, am I your boyfriend now?”

“Do you want to be?” Chanyeol raised a playful brow at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun snorted, “Well considering how many times I’ve had your in my mouth, I’m gonna say yeah” he rolled his eyes again, “I’m not an easy guy, you know. I wouldn’t do that for just anyone”

Chanyeol laughed almost uncontrollably at that, clapping his hands and snorting as the bus pulled up, forcing him to calm down slightly. He paid for himself and Baekhyun before they went and sat at the back of the bus. Luckily, it wasn’t busy, due to the time of day it was.

“So this is official then?” Chanyeol grinned, “Me and you?”

Baekhyun nodded, “Yeah” he said, “Which I’m kinda glad about, because if you’d have said no, I’d have been kinda pissed off to be honest”

“I know you would” Chanyeol snorted, “I know what you’re like by now”

Baekhyun grinned, “Yeah, well” he shrugged, reaching over and lacing his fingers with Chanyeol’s, “So… My mum isn’t back until Monday… Did you wanna stay the night?”

“Sure” Chanyeol smiled, “What are we gonna do?” he asked, his eyes not leaving Baekhyun’s as he asked.

Baekhyun smirked, “Well, once that package arrives, how about we go up to my room and… fool around a little?”

“And by a little, I’m really hoping you mean a lot” Chanyeol leant closer, his voice becoming lower as he spoke.

Baekhyun hummed, “You’re damn right I do” he said.

“Um…. Maybe we should talk about this when we get back instead” Chanyeol coughed awkwardly after a moment, “I uh…”

Baekhyun couldn’t help but laugh as he looked down and noticed why Chanyeol had become awkward so suddenly, “Jesus ing Christ, have I mentioned how much I really like you?” he snickered.

“Baek, stop” Chanyeol whined, making Baekhyun laugh even more.

“I’d listen to him if I were you son,” an old lady spoke up, making them both jump, “As much as you are a cute little couple, I’m pretty sure public displays like that are pretty illegal”

Baekhyun’s face turned  bright red as he looked up at the amused woman, “I… I, oh god, I’m so sorry” he squeaked.

“We’ve all been there, my boy” the lady laughed, “Not to worry”

“Baek, this is our stop” Chanyeol got out awkwardly, making the woman laugh again.

“Have fun boys” she grinned, “And remember to be safe” she added as the pair of them quickly got up and made their way off of the bus.

They could still see her giggling as the bus drove away.

Needless to say, the pair of them were mortified, but it didn’t stop them from doing as they’d planned once Baekhyun had collected the package for his mum.

--

“Seriously though” Kyungsoo said as he, Jongin, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Sehun, Luhan, Yixing, Junmyeon, Kris, Tao,  Jongdae and Minseok sat around in the park, “How the is it that all of my friends are gay?!”

“Uh… I’m not?” Kris coughed.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, “You kinda are though” he said, “You’re a little bit gay for Tao, man. We all see it”

“It’s true” Tao nodded, “You kinda are”

Kris looked affronted, “Dude?”

“Soz pal” Tao shrugged, making the others laugh too.

“I’ve told you time and time again,” Jongdae said, “Birds of a feather flock together”

“Pretty sure it’s me that said that to you” Minseok said, “Stop stealing my ”

Jongdae scoffed, “Your ? It’s a ing saying. It’s nobody’s . It’s for us all”

Kyungsoo sighed, turning to look at Jongin, “Bet you’re so glad it was Baek that showed you around that day, huh?”

“You know what” Jongin grinned, “I actually am”

“Gaaaaaaay” Baekhyun pipped up.

Kyungsoo looked at him expressionlessly, “ you, Byun”

“Been there, done that, thanks Do” Baekhyun winked.

Chanyeol grinned, “Oh Kyungsoo, how you so easily set yourself up for these things”

Kyungsoo kind of hated that Chanyeol was a little bit right… But then, he supposed as much as his friends were a bunch of idiots, he wouldn’t want them any other way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: So this was basically just 25,000 words of utter wank :)
Nevertheless, hope y'all enjoyed it!
Drop me a comment and lemme know what cha thought!
Much love~
Until next time<3