Archive of Our Own

Yesterday.

Until yesterday, Baekhyun had just been a normal guy trying to make it through college with his sanity and bank account intact.

Never did Baekhyun think this would be happening. Today, though, today Baekhyun is a guy that is completely entranced and curious. Because today, a guy had walked into his lecture hall right before the class had started, and Baekhyun had seen him. It’s such a simple action, something that normally wouldn’t warrant any attention except it did this time.

The class is as noisy as it usually is five minutes before class starts, the professor up at the podium getting everything ready for the day. Baekhyun’s eyes are about to flit away when someone walks up to the professor. For some reason, Baekhyun can’t look away, heart leaping when the guy stumbles the last few steps. He doesn’t know why he’s so worried about the other male. People stumble all the time, so why is his heart trying to beat itself out of his chest?

Baekhyun keeps staring, hoping that if he looks hard enough, he will get the other male to turn around. Baekhyun feels a strange sense of disappointment when he doesn’t, simply handing the papers over and leaving with a bow when the professor takes them. His head is bent as he walks up the stairs, Baekhyun twisting and turning to try and get a good look, but all he sees of his face is a small nose, obsidian hair practically glowing in the ugly fluorescent lighting.

It’s weird how disappointed he feels when the mystery male is gone and out of sight. There’s a longing in his chest and it’s downright absurd. He knows nothing about that person and yet it feels like he should.

“You okay?” his best friend, Yixing, asks.

Shaking his head, Baekhyun says, “It’s nothing, don’t worry.” There’s a part of him that knows it’s not nothing, though, but he pushes it down in favor of getting out some paper and taking notes.

Baekhyun can’t seem to stop thinking about his mystery male, which is completely ridiculous. Yixing always makes fun of him for it, sending him knowing looks whenever they walk into the lecture hall, always saying, “I wonder when you’ll see that boy again. Maybe sometime soon?” Baekhyun always shoves him away, pouting when Yixing’s laughter rings out loud and clear.

Something clicks in his brain when he wakes up one day to see the letter “n” neatly printed on the inside of his right arm, halfway between the crease of his elbow and the flat plane of his wrist. It’s unassuming, like the letter has always been there, a simple thing in a simple font.

“Holy shit,” Baekhyun says, heart pumping away. The longer he stares at it, the less he believes what’s going on, but it’s hard to dispute the evidence newly printed on his skin like a tattoo.

The first thing he does is call his mother, almost falling off his bed in his haste to get his phone. She squeals in his ear, Baekhyun barely resisting the urge to throw the device across the room because it’s too early for this and he likes his hearing abilities to stay intact.

“What is he like? What is his name? How did you meet?” His mother throws out question after question, ironically not giving Baekhyun any time to respond at all.

Baekhyun makes a face. “How are you so sure it’s a he?”

His mother snorts. “Baekhyun, please.” She doesn’t elaborate further, and Baekhyun doesn’t ask because, yeah, he has been out for years now.

“Okay, okay,” Baekhyun concedes, flopping back on his bed to stare at his ceiling. “I don’t really know who it is, though.”

“What?!”

“Mom, please,” Baekhyun groans. “I want to be able to hear when I’m old.”

His mother completely ignores his statement. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I just don’t. Oh, wait.” An image of a male with a cute nose and black hair pops into his mind. It’s starting to make sense now, all the yearning and worry. “I kind of know what his nose looks like, but that’s pretty much it.”

His mother sighs and he can imagine that she’s pinching the bridge of her nose like she’s wont to do. So Baekhyun tells her what had happened, or what little of a story there is to tell, his mother threatening him to go find his mystery male before she does it for him.

They hang up after Baekhyun gets nagged at more. Baekhyun rolls his eyes, dropping his phone by his side. Of course his mother would be more enthusiastic about him finding his soulmate than him.

A little part of him is excited, though. He won’t admit it to many people (except Yixing, who knows everything about him) but he’s been waiting for this day to come for a long time now. Growing up, seeing how happy and loving his parents were with each other, made him want something like that for himself. He wants to feel whole, wants to feel loved, wants to feel that special someone in his arms.

He may or may not be a romantic, but who can blame him with the society he grew up in? Everything he’s ever known has been perfect. Call him selfish, but Baekhyun wants his own perfect love story, too.

The problem is that he knows absolutely nothing about his potential soulmate other than his physical characteristics. Their campus is fucking huge – how the hell is he supposed to find one guy out of tens of thousands of students?

Baekhyun groans, rolling around a little out of restlessness. Now that he’s gotten a taste of what it feels like - the little tug in his heart – he can’t help but feel empty, like he needs this person to feel complete. It’s slightly terrifying, how he can already be so entranced, but deep in his heart, he knows that it feels right.

“Looks like you have a problem.”

Baekhyun shoots Yixing an unimpressed look. “Thanks for that wonderful observation.”

Yixing beams, his dimple peeking out. “You’re welcome.”

Groaning, Baekhyun puts his head down on the table. “Why are you my friend? Why do I tolerate you?”

“Because I’m amazing.”

Baekhyun attempts to kick Yixing under the table, cursing when he ends up hitting his shin on a pole. Who the fuck puts a horizontal pole underneath a table? Yixing’s quiet laughter reaches Baekhyun’s ears, the latter growling.

“Before you say it’s not funny, yeah, it’s pretty funny,” Yixing says, sounding far too entertained by the whole situation.

The younger chooses not to respond, instead muttering under his breath about how terrible his friend is.

“Seriously, though,” Yixing starts. “How are you going to find this guy?”

“I don’t know!” Baekhyun cries, not even caring that they’re in the library. It’s the first floor, so it’s generally a little louder than the rest of the floors – surely people shouldn’t be bothered by his outburst. If they are, well, Baekhyun doesn’t really care.

"I mean, do you even know what year he is?" Yixing asks.

"You know I know nothing about him, Xing," Baekhyun responds. He doesn't even feel like working anymore (not that he really was in the first place); he just wants to put his head down and take a nap. All of this thinking and wondering and pondering is too much for him.

"Let me ask Sehun."

Baekhyun snorts. "Why do you think Sehun would know who this mystery male is?”

Yixing raises an eyebrow at Baekhyun. "Why are you assuming Sehun doesn’t? It’s better than nothing and you could use all the help you can get.”

"I don't know." Baekhyun slumps down in his seat. "I just feel like the mystery male is in our year, so Sehun wouldn’t have had the opportunity to talk to him? He's definitely not a grad student and he doesn’t look like he’s a senior."

Yixing just types away on his phone as if he didn't hear Baekhyun at all, looking proud of himself when he's done. "Now to wait for him to respond."

"What did you even say? 'Hey, do you know anyone that is short and has black hair'?"

"Well..." Yixing trails off.

Baekhyun feels like banging his head against a desk. "You...wow. How did you..."

Yixing's phone pings then, his face lighting up before he starts to rapidly type away. It takes about ten more minutes of correspondence before Yixing exclaims, "Jongin."

"Who the hell is that?" Baekhyun isn't in the mood for mind games or randomly shouting words at each other. He's too busy (not) moping over someone he will probably never see again. The soulmate bond is strong, but it only really works when it wants to, or something like that. His mother hadn't really been forthcoming with details, instead smiling in that mysterious way of hers and saying, "You'll find out one day." For a woman that’s wanted Baekhyun to meet his soulmate for his whole life, she sure is frustrating when it comes to details.

"Potentially the name of your soulmate," Yixing sing-songs.

Baekhyun practically falls out of his seat. "How did you even get that?!"

"I told you," the other male sniffs. "Sehun says that Jongdae knows someone that sounds like that. He might not be the right person, but there's no hurt in finding out, right?"

"I-" Baekhyun is still kind of stuck on the fact that he might be able to identify who his soulmate is. It’s sooner than he expected, but then again, there’s always the chance that this Jongin person isn’t who he’s looking for.

"Alright, so Jongdae says Jongin is available tomorrow. You can probably talk to him for a little bit, but not for long since he's busy." Yixing is looking at him, fingers ready to type away.

"Okay," Baekhyun says, his brain to mouth filter momentarily broken.

Yixing makes a sound that is a cross between a squeal and a chirp, something that Baekhyun didn't even think was possible until that moment. Hell, he heard it himself and he still doesn’t think a human could make that sound.

He ignores that train of thought in favor of thinking about tomorrow. He doesn't even know where he's going, but he assumes that Yixing is going to tell him when he figures out the details from Sehun. What should he wear? Would it be too weird if he dressed up? It's not like it's everyday that one meets their soulmate for the first time, so he wants to make a good impression, yet he doesn't want it to seem like all he cares about is his appearance. Maybe he can pull out a nice pair of jeans, the ones that Yixing says make his ass look particularly nice.

Groaning, Baekhyun slumps down in his chair. All of this thinking is giving him a headache.

"You look like you're going to pass out any second now," Jongdae comments lightly.

Baekhyun glares at him. "When you meet your soulmate for the first time, I hope you trip and break your ankle."

"Woah there," Jongdae says, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender. "No need to get violent now. I was simply making an observation."

"Well your observation was unnecessary," Baekhyun huffs, eyes roaming over the crowd, waiting for that feeling he felt all of those weeks ago. He simultaneously feels like he's going to bounce out of his shoes and barf up what little lunch he ate.

Jongdae snickers, but the sound is drowned out by the door opening, students spilling out of the lecture. Baekhyun's heart seizes in his chest.

"There he is." If not for Jongdae fingers curled around his bicep, Baekhyun is very confident that he would not still be standing, torn between running away and towards the person that walks out of the door at that exact moment.

The other male's face lights up in recognition, bounding over in their direction with a cute smile on his face.

Baekhyun feels nothing, not even a lurch. His lungs don't collapse, his whole world doesn't spin. Nothing.

"Hyung," the other male greets before turning towards Baekhyun. "Oh! Hello. Are you Baekhyun?"

"Yeah." He hopes he doesn't sound too upset, but he's almost one-hundred percent positive that this person in front of him is not his soulmate. Not only that, but, "What the hell, Jongdae. He's not short at all."

The other male, Jongin Baekhyun remembers his name being, is at least a head taller than him. He's literally looking up at Jongin, something that wouldn't happen with his actual soulmate, or who he thinks it is. The other male hadn't looked any taller than Baekhyun when he was standing next to the podium weeks ago.

"You said I was short?" Jongin exclaims, but there's a pout on his face, completely contradicting how angry he had sounded.

"Well, I didn't say you were short. Sehun told me about what Baekhyun told Yixing his potential soulmate looked like, so I kind of just...ignored one of the two qualities."

Jongin does have black hair, but that's not the point. "You suck," Baekhyun whines. He had been panicking for the last twenty-four hours for no reason.

"Well no wonder things got lost in translation. There's too many people involved; something is sure to go wrong at one point. I'm not surprised that you were the one that messed it up Jongdae hyung," Jongin states, jumping away with a grin when Jongdae swipes at him.

Baekhyun finds it in himself to laugh at their antics. "You're cute," he tells Jongin. "Too bad you aren't my soulmate."

Jongin blushes, stuttering out a quiet, "Thank you." Baekhyun doesn't miss the way his eyes flicker towards Jongdae, and when Jongin looks up, Baekhyun raises a questioning eyebrow. Jongin’s face turns even darker at having been caught.

"Anyways, I should be going then. It was nice meeting you," Baekhyun says, smiling when Jongin repeats the sentiment.

"Hey, want to get some lunch?" he can hear Jongdae ask before he leaves. Jongin's adorably happy affirmative response causes him to shake his head fondly. He hasn't even known Jongin for that long, but he can already tell that he's nice, someone that will keep Jongdae in line when needed.

Yixing is ruthless. He keeps talking to Sehun, who in turn talks to other people in the hope that he will find Baekhyun’s soulmate (Baekhyun honestly thinks the kid just wants bragging rights). Baekhyun is wary considering the first meet up gone wrong, and he honestly doesn't want to do that again. He figures that he should meet his soulmate naturally, not because he forced it through text message after text message asking around for a short male with jet black hair...not that the tactic has worked very well anyways.

“It’s okay,” Sehun says one day, all three of them taking a break from school work to relax at a food court. “You have almost two years until graduation, right? I’m sure you’ll meet him again by then.”

Baekhyun’s only response is a groan. His luck is so terrible that he wouldn’t be surprised if the next time he saw his soulmate was at graduation.

“But what if I don’t?”

“For a positive person, you sure are pessimistic,” Yixing points out.

“Am not,” Baekhyun replies. Yixing and Sehun raise an eyebrow at him. “Okay fine, maybe a little.”

“I don’t think you should worry, hyung. Leave it to fate.”

“You cheeky kid,” Baekhyun grumbles, but he can’t help but smile when he sees how bright and happy Sehun looks, how excited he is for Baekhyun despite the uncertainties.

A sudden breeze sweeps by Baekhyun’s neck, a shiver wracking through his body. He pulls his sleeves down his hands, cursing the Fall weather.

“Are you okay?” Yixing wonders, eyebrows furrowed.

Baekhyun stares at the both of them, completely confused. “You two didn’t feel that?”

His eyes widen when they other two shake their heads, frantically looking around. It’s the middle of October, so it’s quite chilly out, but something in Baekhyun knows that the wind wasn’t due to the cold. He doesn’t feel anything else after that, though, a frown pulling his lips down, his heart sinking along as well.

“Was that your soulmate?” Sehun looks adorably interested, eyes as wide as Baekhyun has ever seen them.

“I don’t know,” he mutters. No one in the vicinity is catching his attention, so he finally settles back down. His heart doesn’t stop beating at a slightly faster speed, though, like its waiting for something that will never come.

Sehun and Yixing bring him out of his thoughts and back into the world of the living with twin nudges to his ankles. They keep him occupied with mindless chatter, Baekhyun forgetting about whatever it is he was feeling for the time being.

It’s the fifth week of the first quarter when Baekhyun feels it. He’s just finished his lecture on metabolic biochemistry and is on his way to get a quick snack when his lungs practically stop working. It’s like everything slows down except for the beating of his heart, a steady thrum that’s incredibly loud in his ears. With a wheeze, Baekhyun clutches his stomach, hoping that maybe if he puts enough pressure, it will somehow make the feeling go away.

Baekhyun stumbles a few steps before his head starts to clear, the cruel wind running through him, jostling his hair so some lands in his eyes. Letting out an annoyed huff, he pushes his bangs back, only to stop, eyes trained on a male no more than ten feet away from him.

The male staggers slightly, Baekhyun’s hand automatically reaching out to make sure that he’s okay, before looking up. And it’s like everything stops for a second time because this, this male right here, is the person he’s been looking for. This is his soulmate, Baekhyun can feel it carved in his bones.

Before he can stop to think about what he’s doing, he’s gliding through the crowd. The next thing he knows, he’s tapping the male on the shoulder, biting his lip to prevent a huge smile from breaking out on his face. He doesn’t want to look like a creep.

“Hi,” he manages to get out without doing something embarrassing, mentally giving himself a pat on the back.

“Hello,” the stranger responds, his voice smooth and rich like melted chocolate. Baekhyun can feel himself swooning already.

Baekhyun doesn’t really know how one would broach a topic such as this, so he just does what he usually does and dives right in. “I’m sure you might already have a feeling, but I think you’re my soulmate.”

The other male doesn’t look very impressed, but at least he doesn’t look like he’s about to run away or hit Baekhyun over the head. He looks Baekhyun up and down, the brunette resisting the urge to shift in place from the scrutiny. For someone that’s just as short as he is, Baekhyun feels so much smaller under his stare.

“I think you’re my soulmate, too,” he finally says, lips twitching in a half-smile before falling back to a straight line. He unconsciously brings a hand over a spot on his right hip before dropping it.

Baekhyun’s vocabulary fails him, then, too distracted by silky hair falling over striking eyes. Baekhyun doesn’t fail to notice his cute nose, the one feature that he will always remember. And is that a mole above and to the right of his lip? Holy-

“Hello?”

“Oh. S-sorry,” Baekhyun says, praying that his face isn’t as red as he thinks it is. The way the male’s lips twitch tells him that yes, they definitely are scarlet, only serving to make the situation worse.

“It’s okay,” comes the amused reply. “I’m just...I’m sorry, but I have class in a few minutes. Any other time would be better than now.”

“Ah,” Baekhyun says, hoping that his disappointment isn’t too obvious. “That’s okay, then. At least I found you again.”

“Yeah.” Damn, even his smile is gorgeous, his upper lip thinning out, his plump bottom lip rounding out and it’s too much for Baekhyun. “I’ll see you around.”

“See you.” The male has taken a few steps away when Baekhyun remembers something crucial.

“Wait!” he calls out. “What’s your name?”

He turns around long enough to respond with, “Kyungsoo,” walking backwards to ask, “What’s yours?”

“Baekhyun.”

“See you later, Baekhyun.” He then continues on his way. Baekhyun’s heart beats to the sound of his name coming out of Kyungsoo’s mouth with that silky tone his voice has. It wraps around Baekhyun, comforts him from something, but he doesn’t know what.

Kyungsoo, he thinks. It’s perfect, rolls off his tongue nicely when he practices it all the way back to his apartment, fearful that he would forget it.

He bounces through the rest of the day, his homework finished faster than ever before. Baekhyun is on cloud nine and he hopes that he never plummets.

In between midterms, papers, assignments, and events, Baekhyun barely thinks about Kyungsoo. The middle of the quarter is the worst, second only to the end, but every year, Baekhyun finds himself drowning for a few weeks. It’s not that he’s a bad student, just that all of his upper division classes are so time-consuming that he barely even has time to eat sometimes.

He’s only reminded about his soulmate when Yixing brings it up as they’re eating, the latter having to drag Baekhyun out of his bed. Baekhyun had whined the whole time, only wanting to sleep since he survived midterm season, but Yixing had been adamant.

“Why did I give you a key to my apartment?” Baekhyun had grumbled, Yixing laughing.

“Who else would make sure you take care of yourself?” Yixing had responded.

Now they’re in a dining hall, Baekhyun grudgingly admitting that this was a good idea, his stomach in definite agreement.

“So have you seen Kyungsoo lately?”

“Kyung...oh, shit,” Baekhyun says, almost face-planting in his meal.

“You forgot about him, didn’t you?”

“Wipe that smug smile off your face,” Baekhyun says without even looking up.

A quiet laugh reaches his ears. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. You were always the type to bury yourself in your studies this time of year.”

Baekhyun lets out a whine. “I’m the worst.”

“No,” Yixing is quick to answer. “Focusing on your studies instead of focusing on someone you barely know, when you most likely have the rest of your life to figure out what makes them tick, is not bad. Don’t worry about it, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun finds it amazing how Yixing always knows the right things to say. A selfish part of him wants to keep Yixing to himself – he’s pretty perfect, anyone would be lucky to have him – but he knows that someone out there is meant to be with his best friend, someone who completes him more than Baekhyun ever can. Baekhyun hopes that Kyungsoo will be that person for him.

“Thanks.” And that’s all Baekhyun really has to say for Yixing to understand.

“No problem. Although now that your tests are over, you can see him.” Baekhyun can practically hear the insinuating tone and the eyebrow wiggle that usually accompanies said tone.

“Damn, I don’t even have his number.” Baekhyun runs a hand through his hair, wondering how he can be so stupid sometimes.

A gentle pat on his hand brings him out of his thoughts. Yixing’s eyes are kind as they look into Baekhyun’s. “There’s always time. You’ll find him again.”

It turns out that “again” means a day later. Baekhyun innocently walks into his lower-division biology lecture when he feels a tug in his chest. A quick scan of the classroom is all it takes to locate the midnight black hair that’s been stuck in his mind’s eye for weeks. He doesn’t know if he should, but he makes his way towards Kyungsoo, nudging his arm with his when he sits down.

Kyungsoo jumps before looking at Baekhyun, recognition flashing in his eyes. “Oh, hello.”

“I never knew you were in this class.” How the hell has he never felt the pull before? Baekhyun doesn’t think he’ll ever understand this soulmate thing, but that doesn’t matter, not with Kyungsoo’s eyes trained on his.

“Ah,” Kyungsoo responds sheepishly. “Yeah, I forgot about this course, so when I was looking through the classes I needed to take this quarter to graduate on time, I saw it and kind of panicked.”

Baekhyun laughs. He can’t believe...“I did the exact same thing. I’ve been so busy with upper divisions that this was the last thing on my mind.”

Kyungsoo smiles, but doesn’t say much after that. Baekhyun doesn’t mind much, but he does deflate a little. If Kyungsoo doesn’t want to talk, though, then he’s not going to force anything.

The lecture starts ten minutes later. Halfway through, Baekhyun twists his neck around, a little sore from being in the same position for almost half an hour, eyes ending up focusing on Kyungsoo. Baekhyun doesn’t understand it, but he finds Kyungsoo so attractive when he’s taking notes. He looks so focused, his strong eyebrows pulling together when the professor speaks a little too quickly, his head nodding when he understands something. It’s mesmerizing.

Baekhyun snaps out of it before he gets caught, dejectedly looking down at his paper when he realizes that he’s missed a lot of notes in his distracted state. Good thing these lectures are podcasted.

The class ends far too quickly for Baekhyun’s liking, his skin practically thrumming from Kyungsoo’s proximity by the end.

“I’ll see you next class,” Kyungsoo says before Baekhyun can even pack his things away properly.

Baekhyun barely manages an, “Okay, see you,” with a slight wave before Kyungsoo is gone.

“Crap,” he says after standing there for a few seconds. He still doesn’t have Kyungsoo’s number.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath before walking into class on Wednesday. He made a promise to himself that he would get Kyungsoo’s number by the end of the hour. Yixing had given him a pep talk right before, jokingly threatening to show up at his apartment at two in the morning screaming like a banshee if he didn’t succeed.

It’s simple to walk down the stairs and slip in the seat next to Kyungsoo, giving him a small smile.

“Hello again,” Kyungsoo says.

“Hey,” Baekhyun responds. “So I was wondering.”

Kyungsoo hums as he gets his materials out, Baekhyun silently thankful that he’s distracted and not looking directly at him. He has enough trouble functioning as it is, he doesn’t need his soul to be pierced with striking sienna eyes at the same time.

“Could I get your number?”

Kyungsoo pauses before resuming, only responding when he has everything ready. “Sure.”

Baekhyun never knew that such a simple word could light up his world. He happily hands his phone over when Kyungsoo puts his hand out, almost squealing when he gets it back and sees “Kyungsoo” with eleven digits under it.

“Thank you,” Baekhyun says. “I hope that we can get to know each other more.” It sounds so formal that Baekhyun practically gags.

Kyungsoo sends him a tiny smile, easing him slightly. “Yeah. Can you text me, though? I would rather know your number now then wonder about some random person later.”

“Oh, yeah, of course.” He fumbles with his phone, briefly debating over what to type before settling on Hey, it’s Baekhyun. It’s simple and definitely doesn’t give away the beating in his chest, the ringing in his ears, the tingling in his fingers.

“Alright,” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun wants to say more, wants to ask question after question to get to know Kyungsoo more, but the lecture starts. A strangled noise dies in the back of his throat before turning into a grumble. For the first time in years, Baekhyun doesn’t want to learn about biology. But who can blame him when his soulmate is right next to him, so close, yet still so far?

Baekhyun has been staring at his phone for the past ten minutes, the blinking line practically laughing at him and his inability to type out a simple text message. It takes two more minutes before Baekhyun thinks of something to write, but he deletes it almost immediately.

With a huff, Baekhyun goes back to staring, briefly wondering if it’s bad to be holding his phone as close to his face as he is.

He goes through multiple messages ranging from, Hey to How are you? to Want to get lunch later? before ending back at ground zero. Nothing seems right, but Baekhyun really wants to see Kyungsoo. It’s like a path that burns it way throughout his whole body, lighting him up from the inside-out, only cooled when his soulmate is near him.

Hey Kyungsoo is what he ends up settling on, quickly throwing his phone to the side in the guise that if he doesn’t see it, he won’t be tempted to look at it. His logic fails when he realizes that he can’t stop thinking about when Kyungsoo will respond, waiting and waiting to hear a vibration.

Eventually, Baekhyun does his homework, knowing that he needs to stay ahead and that waiting for a text message is incredibly unproductive. He refuses to check his phone, only cracking once after staring at his textbook for five minutes and not absorbing anything. He had been met with his wallpaper and that was enough to motivate him to work. Maybe Kyungsoo’s busy, or maybe he didn’t hear his phone go off. Consoled, Baekhyun dives into his homework, fingers typing away on his lab report due in a few days.

He only stops when his stomach grumbles at him, angrily demanding to be fed. Baekhyun isn’t much of a cook, and he’s not in the mood to try and make something fancy, so he pulls out a packet of ramen and puts a pot on the stove.

He lets his mind wander as he waits for bubbles to appear. He thinks about what it would be like to share the kitchen, to have someone cook a meal for him or for him to cook a meal for someone else, to curl up on the couch and watch a movie, to have a lazy Saturday in bed wrapped up together. These dreams have only been dreams his whole life, but to know that they might become reality in the near future has his stomach doing a backflip.

Baekhyun imagines that Kyungsoo is the cuddly type, probably the big spoon, but Baekhyun couldn’t care less. Sometimes he likes to be cuddled and sometimes he likes to do the cuddling, but if Kyungsoo wants to cuddle him, he’d definitely wouldn’t complain.

A sudden increase in heat next to his arm brings him back to the present and to the boiling water that’s too close for safety. He plops the noodles in before stirring them around in a way that’s become familiar over the years. When one has lived alone as long as Baekhyun has, the tricks to make perfect ramen become apparent.

He only remembers that he’s waiting for a text when he finishes his dinner and feels a nice cold surface against his calf when he goes to sit on his bed. His heart drops a little when he checks and there’s still no message, but he brushes it off. People are allowed to be busy.

He checks his phone again right before he goes to sleep, a full six hours after he first sent Kyungsoo a message. Still nothing. Baekhyun simply falls asleep, too tired to worry or think about it.

It gets harder to ignore, being ignored. Whenever Baekhyun sends a message, he never gets one back, and his spirits drop a little more each and every time.

It comes as a huge surprise when his phone vibrates one day and he sees that it’s from Kyungsoo. Even though he sees Kyungsoo every other day in class, the semester is quickly coming to an end and he still knows next to nothing about Kyungsoo.

What’s up? is what the message says. It’s simple - so, so plain - but Baekhyun’s heart starts beating away like it’s trying to break free from its confines.

Well it’s Sunday, so not much ^^

Ahh, are you the type of person that finishes all their homework on Saturday so they can do nothing on Sunday?

It’s a little ridiculous how well Kyungsoo knows Baekhyun’s patterns, or at least how well he can guess.

How did you know O.O

The next message doesn’t come for another ten minutes, Baekhyun laughing out loud when he opens it.

Because I’m that person that likes to do nothing on Saturday and then hate myself for it for the rest of the week.

Progress. It’s slow going, but it’s getting there.

“So...last class,” Baekhyun says when he sits down in his usual seat next to Kyungsoo.

“Yeah. I can’t believe that it’s been ten weeks already,” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun wants to say that he can’t believe he’s already known Kyungsoo for six of those weeks, but he keeps it to himself. He might have known him for six weeks, but he barely knows Kyungsoo at all, a fact that he’s working to fix. It’s just a little hard when Kyungsoo rarely talks to him outside of class.

“Did you maybe...want to study for the final together?” Baekhyun asks, almost shyly.

Baekhyun had prepared himself for the rejection beforehand, but it still stings when Kyungsoo turns to him and says, “Sorry, but I don’t really have time. My schedule is so hectic that I barely have time to study at times that aren’t past eleven at night.”

“Oh...don’t worry about it. If you’re busy, you’re busy.” Baekhyun hopes that he doesn’t sound as sad as he feels. Kyungsoo doesn’t comment on it, though, so it must have been fine.

“Sorry,” Kyungsoo repeats. Baekhyun waves it off with an assuring smile.

It’s a little bittersweet when they have to leave after the hour is up, the professor wishing them luck on their exam next week. Baekhyun puts his things away slowly, trying to prolong the moment that he’s next to Kyungsoo. He doesn’t know when he’ll see Kyungsoo next; he wants to make the most out of what little time he has.

“It was nice sitting with you the past month and a half,” Baekhyun says just as it looks like Kyungsoo is going to leave.

Kyungsoo stops and gives him a small smile. “Yeah, I enjoyed it. You never know, we might have classes together the next two quarters.”

Baekhyun perks up at the possibility. “I hope so. Maybe we can meet up when you aren’t busy.”

Kyungsoo’s expression is unreadable. “Maybe,” is all he says. It seems like he has somewhere to go, so Baekhyun straightens up.

“See you around?”

“See you around,” Kyungsoo replies before he’s walking up the stairs. The words are so promising, yet the following action is so contradictory that Baekhyun is slightly stunned. He only hopes that things will continue to look up.

“Your soulmate is kind of an asshole.”

“Yixing!” Baekhyun exclaims, affronted that his best friend would ever say something like that.

“I agree,” Sehun says, Baekhyun shooting him a look of betrayal. “He’s not really trying to make time for you.”

“Well he’s busy,” Baekhyun defends. “It’s not like that’s illegal.”

Yixing fixes him with a stare. “He barely responds to your messages regardless of time. The three of us are in the same year yet you and I aren’t that busy. Why is it that he isn’t making time for you?”

“Well maybe his major is more time-consuming.”

“Unless he’s double majoring in mechanical engineering and climate physics, I doubt it’s that bad,” Yixing refutes.

Baekhyun isn’t impressed. “How did you even come up with those two majors? Do you even know how difficult they are?”

“That’s not the point, hyung,” Sehun speaks up. “You don’t seem to see it, but he’s not exactly the friendliest person.”

“He is,” Baekhyun is quick to counter. “He talked to me before and after class, as well as that one day when he texted me.”

Yixing sighs. Baekhyun doesn’t like the sound of it. “Baekhyun.”

“No, Yixing. It’s fine. Just because we might not be in the same classes next quarter doesn’t mean that we aren’t soulmates anymore. It’s going to work and I’m going to talk to him more.”

Their table falls silent, but Baekhyun is too busy thinking to notice. His parents have the perfect life; he’s going to have a perfect life, too.

“Just leave him be,” he hears Sehun mutter. He pretends not to notice, frowning a little at Yixing’s tired sigh.

“I just don’t want him to be hurt.”

“I know,” Sehun whispers too loudly to be an actual whisper, “but he’s going to have to figure it out on his own.”

Baekhyun has no idea what he’s supposed to be figuring out, but he doesn’t let it get to him. “So, any plans this weekend?”

Yixing snorts. “Other than studying?”

Sehun places his head on the table with a whine. “Why can’t finals be over already?” comes his muffled sentence, Yixing chuckling and patting him on the back.

“You’ll survive. The first quarter is the easiest, so enjoy it while you can.”

Sehun’s head flies up, his eyes wide as he looks between them. “You mean it gets worse?”

The innocent question has both Yixing and Baekhyun cracking up. Sehun still looks incredibly confused when they calm down.

“Yeah. You don’t want to know how many things I need to read and finish before next weekend,” Baekhyun informs the youngest. “Although, I don’t have math, so you might struggle a little more than us.”

“I’m good at math,” Sehun huffs.

“Yixing was good at math, too. Then he got a C on the final,” Baekhyun says, holding back a snicker when Yixing shoots him an affronted look.

“I got an A in the class, though,” Yixing is quick to point out, calming down Sehun who looks like he’s about to have a panic attack.

“Honestly,” Baekhyun cuts in, eyes soft as he looks at Sehun. “You’ll be fine. I believe in you. Yixing believes in you, just not as much, so don’t worry about it.”

Yixing’s cry of, “Hey!” gets drowned out by Sehun’s bubbly laughter, his whole face lighting up. “Thanks, hyung.”

“No problem. Just remember me when you graduate at the top of your class.” Baekhyun winks, unconsciously smiling when Sehun laughs again and Yixing rolls his eyes.

It’s a miracle, but Baekhyun makes it out of finals week alive. He’s not sure that he ever wants to read a textbook again, nor does he ever, ever want to rely on coffee to keep his eyelids open at ass o’clock in the morning, but he knows that it’s just going to happen again next quarter. After two years, Baekhyun likes to think that he knows what he’s doing by now, but he’s proven wrong every time. He maybe be on top of his homework, but he’s never been able to stay concentrated while reading a book, trying to cram as much information into his head hours before the final as possible.

The only good part about that week had been the fact that Kyungsoo responded to his text message. He had sent a simple Good luck on finals! Fighting~ to which Kyungsoo had replied Thanks! Good luck on your tests as well.

Baekhyun hadn’t seen Kyungsoo during their Biology final, too in the zone to even entertain the idea of anything besides protein structure, a fact that he felt terrible about after. Yixing had convinced him that it was okay – the world was still spinning and Kyungsoo hadn’t said anything via text message – but there’s still a part of him that sinks when thinking about how hadn’t bothered to personally wish Kyungsoo luck. It’s weird and Baekhyun doesn’t know why he feels bad when Kyungsoo probably didn’t expect anything of the sort, but he still feels it.

Now it’s winter break and Baekhyun is barely making it through the eternal boredom plaguing him. Most people would be ecstatic about the two weeks off, and Baekhyun had been for the first few days, but then he realized just how boring he was. Yixing and Sehun are too far away for them to meet up regularly. Baekhyun wouldn’t mind driving to either of them except Baekhyun’s brother has his car at the moment.

“You don’t need a car in college, Baekhyun,” he had said. “Just let me use it.”

He briefly entertains the thought of calling Kyungsoo, but pushes it down. He has no idea where Kyungsoo lives or if he has a car. Or, a small part of him whispers, if Kyungsoo would even want to meet in the first place. They talked once or twice, Baekhyun practically preening with each bit of information that Kyungsoo revealed. It felt nice that a little more than months after meeting, Baekhyun finally knew Kyungsoo’s major, year, and birthday. Those had been the only things that he was able to learn, but he more than made up for it with all of the things he’s shared about himself.

Nevertheless, those rare moments that Kyungsoo talks to him aren’t enough to fill the void. Baekhyun is therefore left to sleep a lot, followed by eating, going on his computer, eating some more, and generally wasting any and all time before repeating the process the next day.

It feels good to be back home, to hear his mother putter about in the kitchen, to hear his father laugh from the living room, but more importantly, to sit next to them at the dinner table and eat their cooking. Baekhyun never fails to miss this every time he comes back home, this family atmosphere that he can’t find anywhere else. His friends are like family to him, but nothing will ever beat seeing the way his parents look at each other, how they tease each other as they’re washing the dishes, how they sit curled up against each other at night as they watch a movie or a show. It’s the little things that get to him the most.

“So have you met your soulmate yet?” his mother asks, looking far too interested in the topic to be considered normal. Then again, she was never really normal, and she has Baekhyun as a son, so that probably didn’t make things any better. Baekhyun figures she probably lost her wits a long time ago.

“I have,” Baekhyun responds nonchalantly, flailing when his mother shrieks. It’s a good thing that he’s slightly used to her screaming.

“Tell me about him! Do you have a picture? What does he do? How old is he?”

“Mom, please,” Baekhyun pleads, not in the mood to be interrogated. “No, I don’t have a picture. He’s a biochemistry major and he’s going to be twenty in a month or so.”

“Did you buy him something for his birthday?”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “Why would I? I’ve only known him for seven weeks.”

His mother shoot him an entirely unimpressed look. “What’s your point? Don’t you guys know each other well already?”

Baekhyun tries very hard to not let anything show on his face. He hates lying, but he really doesn’t want to be reminded of what little progress they’ve made so far. He already gives himself a hard enough time without her help. Hopefully if he responds in a way that answers the question, but not very specifically, he’ll be off the hook. “Well, I don’t know, it just seems kind of weird. I didn’t get him anything for Christmas, and he didn’t get me anything either, so why would I get send him something for his birthday?”

Thankfully, it works, but Baekhyun doesn’t know if it’s worth it because suddenly he has an angry woman yelling at him for not doing anything. “Do you know how long it took your father to ask me out? Two months. Do you know how long it took for him to give me something? Three!”

“Mom, you do realize that it hasn’t been two months yet, right? And if it hasn’t been two months, then it certainly hasn’t been three.” He yelps when his mother whacks him on the arm, a pout turning his lips down.

“I expected more from you, Byun Baekhyun. You were supposed to grow up to be a cool smooth-talker that got all the boys or girls. Where did I go wrong?” His mother dramatically wipes a tear away from her face, lightly sobbing to herself.

“Hey!” Baekhyun exclaims, offended. “Who’s to say that I’m not those things?”

“Oh, Baekhyun,” his mother says, sounding entirely too sympathetic for Baekhyun’s liking. She doesn’t say anything more, just turns to walk away, Baekhyun’s indignant protests falling on deaf ears. He swears that he hears her laugh before she closes his door.

He grumbles to himself about how terrible his mother is before going back to his laptop.

She shoots him a cheeky smile when he emerges for dinner, so he sticks his tongue out in retaliation. His father raises an eyebrow at the both of them, his mother’s smile turning sweet as she looks at her husband.

“I don’t want to know,” his father says. “I’m pretty sure that you should let up on Baekhyun, though, whatever it is.”

“Aha!” Baekhyun exclaims triumphantly. He always knew he could count on his father to be the voice of reason.

“But dear,” his mother says, the words bordering on a whine. “It’s about his soulmate!” She literally says nothing more than that; he can already tell that his father is putty in her hands.

“Sorry, Baekhyun, looks like you’re on your own,” his father amends.

Baekhyun groans. He always knew he could count on his mother to break his father’s voice of reason.

“Fine, I just won’t ever bring him here. Lord knows he would be better off.”

His mother is looking at him like she can’t believe what she has just heard. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Do you want to find out?”

Baekhyun knows that he shouldn’t be teasing him mother like this – he does love her very much and he knows to respect his elders – but they’ve always had a playful relationship, something that he’s always been thankful for. He doesn’t think that he could be serious even if he tried, especially with this way his mother is dramatically pouting at him from across the table.

“You’re a cruel son, not even letting me see my future son-in-law,” his mother says.

“Mom!” he cries, cheeks heating up.

“What?” she asks innocently. “Am I wrong when I say that?”

“No, but...” It’s kind of weird to admit, but Baekhyun hasn’t really been thinking that far ahead yet. Sure, a part of him knows that he’s going to end up with Kyungsoo eventually, but Baekhyun is more focused on the now, like figuring out ways to get Kyungsoo to even talk to him.

He steers the topic away towards more boring things, like schoolwork, his parents beaming with pride when he announces that he managed to scrape by with straight A’s.

“I shouldn’t even be surprised anymore,” his father says, scooping some beef and rice into his mouth after. “You’ve always managed to get good grades.”

Thankfully, he makes it out of dinner alive, scurrying to his room after washing his plate and utensils.

A message awaits him when he gets back. It’s unassuming until he checks who it’s from, Baekhyun doing a double-take when he sees that it’s not from Yixing like he expected, but Kyungsoo.

I hope you’re having a nice break!

A smile makes its way onto his face without his permission.

Other than being incredibly boring, all of the sleep I’m getting is nice ^^

Sleep is good! You might want to stock up while you can.

Isn’t that the truth T.T

Their conversation doesn’t go much further than that, only a few more messages exchanged about mundane things before Kyungsoo tells him that he has to go with a frowny face, quite possibly the first emoticon he’s ever used. Baekhyun doesn’t know why he finds it amusing, but he does.

Baekhyun shuffles over to his bed after a few more wasted hours on the Internet. He’s not tired, but it’s almost one in the morning and he doesn’t want to continue his college sleeping habits at home. The sandman takes him under within minutes, and it’s the best he’s slept in a while.

Somehow without Baekhyun realizing it, winter break passes and he’s now back at his apartment. He unloads his stuff from his parents’ car, intending to simply wave and haul all of his stuff to his apartment but his mother has other plans.

“Go woo your soulmate!” his mother calls out the window, Baekhyun barely resisting the urge to face-palm. He spies his father trying to hold in his laughter in the driver’s seat when he sends his mother a wry smile.

“Sure thing, Mom,” he replies, only half meaning it. He hadn’t been lying when he said it would be better if Kyungsoo never met his mother.

With one last wave, his father merges into traffic and they’re gone. It doesn’t take long for Baekhyun to put all of his things away, years of practice making the whole ordeal almost mechanical at this point.

He flops back on his bed when he’s done, puffing his cheeks out. Class starts up again tomorrow and he’s already dreading it. The only miniscule light at the end of the tunnel is the chance that he might be sharing another class with Kyungsoo.

It turns out that they have no classes together. Baekhyun looks around all of his lecture halls the whole week in the hopes of seeing the other male, but it seems luck isn’t on his side this quarter.

It gets a little lonely to sit in class with no one he knows. It’s his third year and he’s seen a few of the people in this class before since they have similar majors, but they aren’t Yixing or Sehun or Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun heaves a sigh. He’s in for a long ten weeks.

“Thanks!” Baekhyun chirps, but makes sure to stay quiet enough that the lady in front of him doesn’t yell at him.

The librarian sends him a small smile before moving on to the next person in line.

Baekhyun feels like he’s going to pass out. Why can’t he ever catch a break from schoolwork? Two weeks in and he’s already drowning in papers and projects, a never-ending cycle.

Just as he’s about to appease his rumbling stomach, he spots someone that looks strikingly familiar sitting at a table off to the side. The person is entirely unassuming, but Baekhyun knew he felt a faint buzz under his skin when he walked through the doors. Kyungsoo doesn’t look like he wants to be bothered, though. Baekhyun thinks he spies a white earphone chord dangling from Kyungsoo’s ears, pen furiously working over the paper in front of him.

It’s almost eight and Baekhyun wonders if Kyungsoo has eaten or not yet. It seems like Kyungsoo’s been doing his homework for hours if the stack of books next to him is anything to go by.

Biting his lip, Baekhyun thinks for all of three seconds before leaving.

After acquiring his own food and something for Kyungsoo, he heads back to the library. He doesn’t know how he’s going to make this work because there’s a strict policy of no food or drinks, a rule that Baekhyun has bypassed a few times. The smell is kind of obvious, the meat just grilled and prepared, but Baekhyun doesn’t know how long Kyungsoo is going to be here. He doesn’t really have the time to wait, so he makes a split second decision, stuffing the bag in his backpack before making a beeline to Kyungsoo’s table.

Kyungsoo is clearly surprised when Baekhyun all but rams into his table, hands fluttring as he hastily unzips his backpack.

“No time to explain,” Baekhyun whispers in a rush. He can feel Kyungsoo staring at him, but he doesn’t pay it much mind. “I just...I saw you sitting here and I wasn’t sure if you’d eaten yet, so I bought you something. I hope you like beef.”

“Oh,” Kyungsoo exclaims, eyes flitting between Baekhyun and the bag. “I...thank you,” he says and he sounds so sincere that Baekhyun is a little breathless. Kyungsoo appreciates him, even just a little bit.

“No problem. Just make sure the librarian doesn’t catch you. Her voice is really shrill when she gets up in your space.” Kyungsoo laughs at that softly, Baekhyun’s lips twitching at the deep sound.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you again.”

“See you,” Baekhyun says before turning to go.

His heart feels like it’s about to fly out of his chest with how hard it’s beating; Baekhyun doesn’t know if it’s because he’s near his soulmate, because Kyungsoo had smiled at him, both, or something else entirely. It doesn’t matter, though, because Kyungsoo had smiled. Directly at him. It’s taken months, but it’s finally happened. Baekhyun feels like a giddy high school girl (not that he would admit that to anyone).

Kyungsoo is nice he texts Yixing, a triumphant smile on his face.

Is that so? What did he do?

Baekhyun responds when he’s on the bus, settling down for the short commute. He thanked me for buying him food~ He totally appreciated my effort

...congrats is what Yixing sends him ten minutes later, Baekhyun already in his apartment and getting ready to do more homework.

Thanks! :D

Yixing doesn’t respond after that, which is unusual. Usually, they’ll keep texting until one of them has to sleep or one of them accidentally falls asleep on the other. Yixing still hasn’t sent anything back and it’s been two hours, though. Baekhyun thinks that he should be used to this kind of treatment by now, but it feels different since Yixing always responds.

He never gets an answer for Yixing’s behavior.

Over the next few weeks, Baekhyun sporadically sees Kyungsoo around campus, sometimes in the library, sometimes eating in a dining hall. He always sends him a small smile and a wave, sometimes buys Kyungsoo food when it’s late at night and he’s studying in the library. Baekhyun feels warm whenever he does something for Kyungsoo; even though it isn’t much, just knowing that his soulmate is doing well is enough for him.

Before Baekhyun knows it, the quarter is over and spring break blows by in a breeze.

Baekhyun is walking into his Korean Music lecture when he almost trips on the first step, heart seizing. Hope blooms in his chest, almost exploding when he notices round eyes staring back at him in slight surprise. Practically bounding his way down the stairs, Baekhyun appears in front of Kyungsoo in a flash. He can feel his how big his smile is, but he doesn’t care, too wrapped up in the fact that he’s with Kyungsoo again.

“Hi,” he chirps, Kyungsoo recoiling a little at the sheer volume of Baekhyun’s voice, not that Baekhyun really notices.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Kyungsoo remarks, Baekhyun’s head bobbing.

“Yeah, I figured why not? I need a class to balance out my hectic schedule, so I might as well relax for an hour.”

“Smart. You could’ve just not taken an extra class at all, though.”

Baekhyun shrugs. “Well I’m glad I did because now I get to see you every other day.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo says, “just like a quarter ago.”

“Just like a quarter ago,” Baekhyun replies, slightly dreamy. He knows for sure that this quarter, he’s going to at least become friends with Kyungsoo.

Take that, Yixing, Baekhyun thinks smugly.

Spring quarter turns out to be much like Fall quarter in that they sit next to each other three times a week for an hour. Pleasantries are exchanged before and after class, Baekhyun over-enthusiastic and Kyungsoo responding as best he can, but it never goes further than that. To say that it’s a disappointment is a bit of an understatement, since Baekhyun had thought that this would be his quarter. They’ve almost known each other for four months now and they’re soulmates – shouldn’t they be getting along better? Baekhyun thinks they should be.

Baekhyun is on his way to the bus stop, wanting nothing more than to crash in his bed after the long day he’s had, when he feels something in his chest. It’s pulling him towards the left, and Baekhyun’s learned to trust his instincts when it comes to this feeling, so he follows it willingly.

He ends up in the library, a part of him not surprised at all, but the rest of him is surprised when he spies Kyungsoo knocked out in the corner, head flat against the table. It doesn’t seem like something Kyungsoo would do, far too responsible in Baekhyun’s opinion (but what does he know? He doesn’t know Kyungsoo well, only allowed to see bits and pieces of Kyungsoo, but he shoves down the saddened feeling that’s starting to creep up his spine towards his brain down).

It’s almost ten in the evening, and based on how peaceful Kyungsoo looks, Baekhyun assumes that he’s been asleep for a while, which means he probably hasn’t eaten either.

A frown takes over Baekhyun’s face. He doesn’t want to leave Kyungsoo sleeping here – the position certainly doesn’t look comfortable – but he wants to go buy a snack. After some rifling through his backpack, he finds a bag of chips and figures it’s going to have to do. Kyungsoo can always buy himself an actual meal later if he needs to.

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun whispers. He doesn’t know if Kyungsoo is one of those people that flail a lot in their sleep, or if he doesn’t like to be touched, or how deep of a sleeper he is. Best to play it safe and keep his distance lest a wayward limb comes flying at his face.

Kyungsoo doesn’t move, so Baekhyun tries again. He thinks he sees Kyungsoo’s nose twitch, but that’s all. A quick glance at his phone tells him that his bus is going to leave soon, so Baekhyun throws caution to the wind and pokes Kyungsoo in the arm, shaking it when it seems Kyungsoo’s almost awake.

Baekhyun will never forget the sight of Kyungsoo waking up. It’s adorable the way Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrow before his eyelashes flutter, large eyes looking confused as they blink open. It kind of reminds Baekhyun of a little kid except Kyungsoo doesn’t bring up a fist to cutely rub his eyes.

“Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo asks, but it’s so bogged down by sleep that Baekhyun can barely recognize his own name.

“Yeah, I just...I felt the pull and noticed you sleeping here so.” Baekhyun bites his lip. “You didn’t look very comfortable. Please go home if you’re going to fall asleep.”

Kyungsoo is still hanging from the remaining strands of sleep, but he must be cognizant enough for he nods, sitting up with a yawn. Baekhyun’s teeth dig into his lower lip more to prevent the tiny squeal in his throat from coming out.

Another look at his phone and he’s cursing, placing the chip bag down before he says, “I have to go. Please eat and don’t fall asleep again, it’s not good for your neck,” in a rush. He wishes that he could see or hear Kyungsoo’s reaction, but he really has to go, so he high-tails it out of the library, not even caring that running isn’t allowed.

Baekhyun exhales once he sits down, the cheap plastic of the bus seats unforgiving as usual. His phone pings in the middle of the ride causing him to duck down from the glares sent his way as he opens it.

You were right...my neck is already starting to hurt :( Thanks for waking me up when you did!

This time, Baekhyun does let out a little squeal, a smile pulling his lips up.

Thank the bond, not me ^^”

Regardless, thanks.

Before Baekhyun has the chance to respond, another message comes in.

And I hope you get back home safely.

You too!

What Baekhyun really wants to type, though, is something far more cheesy and disgusting that he refuses to entertain the idea of after its initial creation. Thankfully, his fingers have more self-control than his big mouth does, so the message will never see the light of day.

Kyungsoo doesn’t respond after that, but Baekhyun has come to expect it.

Baekhyun’s starting to lose hope. Almost every day for the past two months, his heart has shrunk further and further in on itself, the lack of talking between him and Kyungsoo practically crushing him. When he was growing up, this is definitely not what he imagined having a soulmate would be like. He imagined a lot of smiles, warmth, good times, cuddling – anything that was as cheesy as it could get, Baekhyun probably thought about it. What he didn’t envision were barely-there conversation, slight tilts of the lips, a small thanks for all the things he’s done, but never anything in return. It’s not like Baekhyun is demanding that Kyungsoo do or buy something for him, too – he could care less about that. He just wants to feel like Kyungsoo actually wants him there, wants him.

Baekhyun doesn’t even expect anything on their last class together, not after the last time and this entire quarter in general. He’s been in the library more times this quarter than his whole college career and while he admits it’s a very nice place to study, just slightly better off than his apartment and the scary lady next door, Baekhyun is just...tired. No matter what he does for Kyungsoo, no matter how many times he buys the other male food or sends him encouraging text messages, Kyungsoo barely responds with more than a tiny smile and a “thank you.”

Baekhyun is strong, but there’s only so much he can take.

Of course, he’s going to keep trying, because a part of him still believes that he can make it work, that Kyungsoo will reciprocate his happiness one day in the near future. It just gets a little more difficult each day.

The romantic in him doesn’t want to give up, but the rational part of him says that this is a waste of time and he should put his effort into his schoolwork instead.

Before he knows it, finals week has crept up on him. Between all the late-nights and the panicked revisions, Baekhyun barely realizes that the first time he’s seen Kyungsoo all week is in class as they’re taking their test. It’s simple, just multiple choice about what song is from which band, who is a member of which group, which group debuted a certain year. It’s easy and Baekhyun takes about half an hour to finish. Kyungsoo walks down the stairs just as Baekhyun’s walking up and they each smile at each other, Baekhyun whispering a, “Good luck! Maybe I’ll see you next year,” before continuing his trek.

It only stings a little when he exits the building and no one calls after him, the blow softened by all the padding Baekhyun has wrapped around his heart.

I’m pulling up now~

Baekhyun pads to his front door to unlock it before plopping down on his couch upside down. He’s so thankful that Yixing is coming over to cure his boredom. He’s never been happier that they established a yearly meet-up at one of their places, Baekhyun about to claw his eyes out now that he has nothing to do. He’s not going to be going home for a few more weeks, so it’s a relief to see a human being instead of just the four walls of his apartment. School ended a few days ago and Baekhyun hasn’t been out of his apartment at all, too busy trying to pack for summer vacation he’s going to spend at his parent’s house.

“Come in!” he calls when there’s a knock on his door.

“I don’t know why you even bother knocking anymore,” Baekhyun comments once Yixing closes the door behind himself.

“Common courtesy,” Yixing says as he sits down on the couch.

“We’re best friends. I don’t think we’ve been courteous to each other in years.”

Yixing sends him an amused look. “Well maybe not on your end, but I’m definitely courteous.”

Snorting, Baekhyun rolls his head around to stare at his friend. “Remember that one time you pushed me into the pool? Or maybe when you smeared ice cream on my face. Or, better yet, when you burst through my bathroom door when I was peeing because you thought you left your phone on the counter.”

“I have no recollection of these moments. Are you sure you didn’t make them up?”

Baekhyun snorts again. “Please, Xing.”

It’s silent for a few seconds before they both burst out into laughter, tears gathering in the corners of Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Okay, okay,” Yixing says, panting slightly, still recovering from his laughter. “Maybe I’m not as courteous and I’d hope.”

“Maybe?”

“Don’t push it, Baek,” Yixing retorts. “Don’t act like it’s just me, either. I seem to remember a certain someone crashing his car and then blaming it on me when we came back to your house. There was also a time when you smeared ice cream on my face. I can keep going if you want.”

Baekhyun puts his hands up in surrender. “I never said that I was courteous.”

“You got that right,” Yixing mutters, but Baekhyun hears it regardless, giving a good kick to Yixing’s leg.

Baekhyun ends up staring at his lower forearm again before he knows it, the letter imprinted on his skin almost mocking him. This has been a common occurrence in the last few days, Baekhyun’s eyes always being drawn to the letter that will eventually turn into a name.

Yixing breaks the peaceful state he’s in rather harshly. “You shouldn’t settle for someone that doesn’t appreciate your effort, Baek.”

Baekhyun bristles. “Who are you to say that? I’ve told you he does multiple times.”

“You told me that he says thank you, which is a common thing to do. He’s polite, which is the only thing he has going in his favor at the moment.”

“You’re wrong. I can tell that he appreciates what I do for him,” Baekhyun says, getting angrier the more that Yixing drags this out. He wasn’t there, he didn’t see the smile that Kyungsoo showed him, no matter how small it might have been.

“He doesn’t!” Yixing yells, looking like he’s about to throw something. “I’m not there when it happens, but you know that I don’t need to be. You’re always forthcoming with details, and you’ve barely told me anything at all.”

It’s unusual to see Yixing so angry – Baekhyun has seen it happen maybe a maximum of two times throughout their entire friendship – but he’s so blinded by his own need to protect his soulmate that he doesn’t even think about it and what it means.

Baekhyun stands up, too much energy bouncing around in his body. His fingers clench as he stares Yixing down. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Yixing’s eyes harden, mouth twisting before he speaks. “It’s clear that he doesn’t put as much into this soulmate thing as you do, and he probably never will. I’m sorry, but someone has to be your voice of reason because you aren’t doing a good enough job yourself.” His voice is low, so low that it’s almost chilling, cutting through Baekhyun like a knife.

“You never know,” Baekhyun refutes angrily. “You don’t know what he’s gone through, you don’t know why he might be holding himself back.”

“But neither do you! You seriously can’t sit here and tell me that it all makes sense to you, that you completely understand what’s going on in his head. You can’t even tell me where he lives.”

“That’s low.” Baekhyun can feel anger simmering under his skin. Their voices might have toned down, but the burning infuriation in him is only increasing, scorching a path from his toes to his chest, just waiting to be released.

“It might be low, but it’s true. You’ve known him for almost seven months now and you know nothing about him. It’s not supposed to be this way, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun explodes. “And how the fuck are you supposed to know that?! You don’t have a soulmate, not even a clue if they’re even in the same damn country as you, so don’t you dare tell me that you know more about what it’s supposed to be like. You don’t know anything.”

He knows he’s hit a sore spot, but all he can see is red, anger over Yixing coming into his house and yelling at him, anger over being told that he knows nothing about the person he’s going to spend the rest of his life with, anger over the fact that his own best friend isn’t being supportive in this situation. He didn’t expect cupcakes and cheery smiles from Yixing, but he never thought that it would come to an argument.

Baekhyun storms off before Yixing has a chance to respond, slamming his bedroom door once he’s in his room. He’s just so pissed at everything, at Yixing, at the stupid letter tattooed onto his skin. At himself.

He screams so loud that his throat aches, a scratchy sensation already appearing. He doesn’t care what the neighbors are going to think. It’s the last thing on his mind. Baekhyun needs to vent his frustration before he ends up throwing something out the window or punching his wall, so he screams again before collapsing back on his bed, hands in his hair.

It’s not like he asked for this. He didn’t decide that he wanted a soulmate that was as stubborn as a mule and as emotionless as a board. Why is it that he’s the one getting yelled at when he’s the one that’s been trying? He’s the one that has put forth the effort, and it might have been okay the first few times Kyungsoo didn’t reciprocate, but now it’s different. Baekhyun doesn’t want to think about how crappy it makes him feel, bottling the feelings up and knowing that if he doesn’t think about them, they’ll simmer down into a little, easy to manage bubble. He doesn’t need Yixing to remind him about how fucked up he feels.

Baekhyun hears Yixing open his the door, but he ignores it in favor of staring at the ground.

“What happened to being a gentleman and knocking?” Baekhyun asks, an attempt at humor that Yixing sees through as usual.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just- it really hurts me seeing you suffer,” Yixing says as he makes his way over to sit next to Baekhyun.

“It’s okay, it’s not like you were wrong.”

“Baek-”

“No, Yixing,” Baekhyun cuts him off. “What you said...all of it was true. I know nothing about him. I can try and try all I want, but if he doesn’t respond, then there’s not much I can do.”

“I’m sorry,” Yixing whispers, placing a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

Baekhyun laughs, a hollow sound. “It’s not your fault. You talked some sense into me, and I appreciate that. It’s just difficult realizing that you’re the only one that wants to make the relationship work, you know?”

“Not really,” Yixing replies bluntly, earning a short laugh from Baekhyun.

“This isn’t what I thought having a soulmate would be like,” Baekhyun says, despondently tracing the lone “n” on his skin.

Yixing doesn’t say anything, just pulls him into a hug. It’s comforting, exactly what he needs, even though it’s not exactly the person his heart wants. He pushes his selfishness down, scooting into the embrace more, wrapping his arms around Yixing’s waist.

Baekhyun can feel the beginning of tears collecting in the corners of his eyes, but he wills himself to be strong.

“Yixing?” he whispers after a while.

“Yes?”

“Can we...take a nap?” Baekhyun asks tentatively.

“Of course,” Yixing replies, falling backwards with Baekhyun still trapped in his arms. He maneuvers them so that they’re side by side, Baekhyun on the inside so he doesn’t roll off the bed like he tends to do every once in a while.

“Thank you,” Baekhyun whispers into Yixing’s chest.

The arms around his waist tighten. “No problem, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun can’t believe what he’s reading. When his phone had pinged a few minutes ago, he thought nothing of it, simply unlocked his screen and looked at the text message. He’s been frozen ever since.

Where do you live?

Out of all the messages he’s received in his lifetime, this one is probably one of the weirder ones and he’s been on the end of some drunk texts before. The message itself isn’t weird, but more the sender, the name “Kyungsoo” staring at him from the top of his screen.

Do you even have the right number?

Baekhyun’s not going to pretend that he’s overjoyed. He’s torn between wondering why the hell Kyungsoo wants to know and wanting to tell him that he has plans today. It’s a lie, but it’s only been two weeks since Yixing talked some sense into him and he’s still a little sore from it all. Even being back in his parent’s house hasn’t really increased his spirits.

Yes, of course I do, Baekhyun.

His eyebrows furrow. He can’t help but admit a little part of him is curious, though.

Why?

Just...please.

I mean, I kind of like to know why people want my address before I give it to them

The next message comes after ten minutes. Baekhyun’s slightly surprised; he honestly didn’t expect to hear back from Kyungsoo considering Kyungsoo rarely texts back if it’s been more than ten minutes between messages.

Can we meet up? It’s important.

Baekhyun almost rolls off his bed in shock. He rubs his eyes, and the words are still there clear as day. Baekhyun’s also concerned. It’s not like Kyungsoo to suggest something like this, so he can’t help but think of the worst.

Is it something bad? Are you okay?

I’m fine! I just want to talk in person. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.

Even if he’s still slightly wary, Baekhyun types his address in. He hopes this isn’t going to be a mistake.

Hey! You’re pretty close...are you free today?

They hammer out the details in no time and then Baekhyun is left to wait. Kyungsoo had said he was going to leave in ten minutes, so he should be at their designated meeting place in no more than thirty. Baekhyun is kind of freaking out. A plethora of thoughts flash through his mind, most of them less than appealing, but he figures he’s going to get answers soon enough.

If Baekhyun wants to get there on time, he’s going to need to leave in fifteen minutes – it’s not much of a walk, but Baekhyun’s always preferred taking his time – except he doesn’t know what to do until then. There’s too much energy bouncing around in his body and if he doesn’t do something, he’s going to scream. Against his better judgment, he gets ready, grabbing his favorite pair of sunglasses and pocketing his keys, wallet, and phone before putting shoes on and leaving the house.

Despite his leisurely pace, Baekhyun arrives at the café within ten minutes, leaving him to wait for at least fifteen more. With a sigh, he sits at a booth, hand cradled around his strawberry smoothie. It’s getting unbearably hot and he hates it. He’s always been the type that likes to burrito in a pile of blankets in the winter than sweat his ass off in the summer.

The table jostling tears his gaze away from his phone and up, breath catching when he sees Kyungsoo sit across from him. It’s been a while, and Baekhyun’s memory hadn’t done Kyungsoo justice. He’s still as attractive as ever, hair pushed off his forehead, a pair of black shades perfectly perched atop his head.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo greets. He looks so effortlessly attractive that it hurts.

“Hey,” Baekhyun says.

Coughing, Kyungsoo looks around before settling his eyes on Baekhyun who flinches at the force of the stare.

“I guess this is it.” Kyungsoo laughs, but there’s no humor to it. Baekhyun’s heart seizes. What does he mean “this is it”? Baekhyun fervently hopes that he has something nice to say instead of the horrible scenarios that Baekhyun’s been trying to ignore for the past thirty minutes.

“I’m sorry that I’ve treated you badly this whole year. I...it’s hard to explain, and I’m not trying to make excuses, because I really have been terrible to you and that’s not fair, but I just-”

“Woah,” Baekhyun says, completely caught off guard. “It’s- it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Baekhyun is kind of dying a little on the inside. He can’t believe that Kyungsoo is apologizing. He looks like he’s really struggling, though, torn between telling Baekhyun everything and keeping it to himself. Whatever it is, it’s obviously personal. Baekhyun isn’t the type to drag stories out of people, no matter how curious he is.

Kyungsoo doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would tell his story to just anyone either, so for him to even consider telling Baekhyun means a lot.

“I can live with it if you want nothing to do with me,” Baekhyun continues. Saying that is like twisting a rusted knife into his chest, but Baekhyun will always put Kyungsoo’s happiness before his own. If he isn’t wanted, then he isn’t wanted. He’s not going to force it.

Kyungsoo shakes his head, his sunglasses ending up skewed. “No, that’s not it.”

And as much as the confirmation makes Baekhyun’s heart soar, he needs Kyungsoo to be completely sure with his decision. “I don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated to tell me just because we’re soulmates.”

“No, no, look Baekhyun. I know how cold and unresponsive I’ve been to you and I’m really sorry that it took this long for me to notice. My friend told me how your friend says that I’m...kind of an asshole and I realized that yeah, I was, still am. I haven’t been fair to you, so I’m going to try and make up for it.” All Baekhyun can do is stare. He never thought this day would come. A few days ago, if someone had told him he would be sitting across from Kyungsoo as he tried to explain himself, Baekhyun would’ve laughed.

“It’s oka-”

“The way I treated you was not okay,” Kyungsoo cuts in, looking frustrated at himself. “You were nothing but kind to me and I just brushed it off. I’m sorry that you were the one that tried so hard and that I didn’t give you anything in return. Please, just let me- let me make it up to you. I promise that I’m not usually this terrible.”

Baekhyun laughs despite himself. “I don’t know if I believe you just yet. You might have to prove it to me.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes lights up like Baekhyun has never seen before, a little glint that Baekhyun might have missed if he wasn’t paying attention. It’s like a flower blossoming amidst the rain – a rare sight yet undeniably beautiful.

They spend the rest of the day together in the café simply getting to know each other. They end up taking turns asking each other questions, Baekhyun’s ears burning when he admits that he’s never been in a relationship before. Kyungsoo’s jaw looks like it’s about to unhinge and drop to the floor. The joke’s on him, though, Kyungsoo becoming a stuttering mess when Baekhyun asks about his past relationships (it’s only fair and he had been dying of curiosity, a hint of jealousy mixed in as well). It’s jealousy that is short-lived, Baekhyun’s own jaw dropping when Kyungsoo says he’s never had a boyfriend or girlfriend before.

“Why were you so shocked that I’ve never been in a relationship when you haven’t either?” Baekhyun all but screeches.

“Well, I mean, you’re attractive and you look like the type that would be good at talking to people.” Kyungsoo shrugs, but Baekhyun can still see the light tint of pink blooming on his cheeks.

Baekhyun blushes at the compliment, coughing before saying, “I think you’re attractive, too.” It suddenly gets hotter, but he knows that it has nothing to do with the weather.

Kyungsoo asks another question before the both of them erupt into flames with how red their faces are, Baekhyun breathing out a sigh of relief.

By the time they leave, Baekhyun learns more about Kyungsoo than he ever did before, something he didn’t think was possible all but four hours ago. It had been obvious that there were things Kyungsoo wasn’t ready to share yet, but the fact that he’s willing to try, willing to pull Baekhyun close instead of push him away, is more than enough for Baekhyun.

Just as they’re leaving the café, Baekhyun intending on saying goodbye and walking home, Kyungsoo stops him. “Do you, uh, want a ride home? I can drive you.”

“Should I trust your driving?” Baekhyun teases in order to calm down his racing heart, the thought of being alone in a car with his soulmate sending the poor organ into overdrive.

“I’ll have you know that I’m a great driver,” Kyungsoo huffs.

“I’ll decide that for myself.”

Baekhyun snickers when Kyungsoo’s face wrinkles up, only stopping once Kyungsoo stops in front of a sleek black car.

“A Hyundai Sonata, eh? Nice choice,” Baekhyun says, resisting the urge to touch it to see if it feels as shiny as it looks.

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo responds before unlocking the door.

“How do you deal with the leather interior?” Baekhyun whines. He can already feel the sweat starting to accumulate under his legs.

Kyungsoo’s deep laugh reverberates throughout the car. “Air conditioning. That, and just learning to deal with the sweat if it gets to that point.”

Kyungsoo looks incredibly attractive while driving. He’s pulled his sunglasses back down and Baekhyun can see the flex of his muscles when he goes to turn. He doesn’t know if it’s because it’s Kyungsoo himself or because Kyungsoo just looks at ease while driving, but Baekhyun feels a little warm under the collar. It’s a good thing that he has his sunglasses on, too.

Before he knows it, the familiar sight of his house comes into view.

“Thanks,” he says, exiting the car with a promise of meeting again, his heart fluttering madly.

“Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo calls through the open window just as Baekhyun closes the car door.

“Yeah?”

“I had a good time today,” Kyungsoo says, albeit a little shyly.

Warmth spreads out from Baekhyun’s chest, starting from his heart and expanding throughout his whole body. “I did, too.” More than you’ll probably ever know.

They stare at each other, Kyungsoo breaking the eye contact with a cough. “See you next week, then.”

“Drive safely!” Baekhyun calls, Kyungsoo leaving with a wave.

When Baekhyun wakes up the next morning and sees a “y” on his arm, under and to the left of his first letter, he just smiles.

“Sorry! I lost track of time,” Baekhyun huffs as he slides in the car, breath escaping in little puffs.

Kyungsoo tsks. “Ten minutes late. How are you going to make up for the lost time?”

“I’m about one-hundred percent positive that you’ll be late in the future, so don’t even go there.”

“Ah, but that’s the future. We’re in the present and you’re late,” Kyungsoo says. Regardless, he peels out of Baekhyun’s driveway and makes a left at the stop sign.

Grumbling, Baekhyun just slumps back in his seat. “Fine, then you’ll never know what I got for you.”

“You got me something?”

Baekhyun almost laughs at how Kyungsoo tries to sound uninterested but fails, the light excitement in his tone giving him away. “I think I’m going to keep it now,” Baekhyun declares.

“You can’t do that!”

Baekhyun raises a brow. “Oh? I can’t?”

“No,” Kyungsoo says. “It’s against the rules.”

“What rules?” Baekhyun asks incredulously.

“The, uh, rules of being a good soulmate.”

“You don’t sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

“I just want my present. Is that too much to ask for?” Kyungsoo ask, pouting slightly when they stop at a light. Baekhyun looks away before he can get caught in Kyungsoo’s pretty almond colored eyes. The last time he made that mistake, he was suddenly six dollars poorer, Kyungsoo happily licking the ice cream Baekhyun had bought.

“Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo calls as he pulls on Baekhyun’s arms.

“Don’t you have driving to do?” Baekhyun asks, still resolutely refusing to look. Kyungsoo huffs, but the car starts moving again so Baekhyun can only assume that it’s safe to turn his head back towards Kyungsoo and the cut slope of his jaw. Baekhyun sighs. Kyungsoo is so attractive.

All of the buildings that pass by are familiar, but Baekhyun still has no idea where they’re going, so he asks.

“It’s a surprise,” Kyungsoo responds right before looking over his shoulder to change lanes.

“How do you even know about things around here? I live here and I have no idea where you’re taking me.” Then again, Baekhyun has always been shit at directions, more reliant on landmarks than anything, so this isn’t very surprising.

“That should be a sign that you should just wait, then.”

Huffing, Baekhyun turns to look out the window, lips twitching when he hears the tiny chuckle that Kyungsoo lets out.

No more than ten minutes later, Kyungsoo is pulling into a little parking lot with even smaller shops in the area, but Baekhyun’s eyes light up.

“You took me to get noodles?” he asks in excitement.

“I did. I remember you saying that you liked to eat noodles, so...yeah.”

“But how did you know I liked this specific place?” Baekhyun looks over in time to see what he thinks to be color on Kyungsoo’s cheeks before the other male looks away.

“I, uh, asked Jongdae to ask Yixing.”

Baekhyun’s heart is about to flutter away at the thought that Kyungsoo put into this, but then he backtracks. “Wait, you know Jongdae?”

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo looks confused. “Is that bad?”

“That asshole tot-” Baekhyun feels like banging his head against a wall. Or maybe banging Jongdae’s head against a wall would be better. Baekhyun mutters to himself about how much of an asshole Jongdae is, setting him up to meet Jongin when Kyungsoo was clearly the person that fit his possible soulmate description all those damn months ago. The next time he sees Jongdae, he’s going to-

“Baekhyun?”

He snaps out of his thoughts with a blink. Kyungsoo still looks confused, but for a different reason now. “Are you okay? You were kind of muttering to yourself.”

Baekhyun slaps a happy smile on his face. “It’s nothing, I was just thinking out loud.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t really look that convinced, but he nods and takes his keys out of the ignition. “Ready to go, then?”

“Ah! Yeah.” Baekhyun quickly scrambles out of the car at the prospect of delicious noodles that he will no doubt coerce Kyungsoo into paying for.

“The noodles aren’t going to cook faster if you get there any sooner, you know,” Kyungsoo says in amusement after locking his car.

Baekhyun is bouncing in place, not even trying to hide how excited he is. “No, but the faster we get in there, the faster we can order, and the faster we order, the faster the noodles can begin to cook.”

“Your logic is a little...”

“Flawless?” Baekhyun cuts in. He pretends to flip his hair. “Oh, I know, thanks for noticing.” Before Kyungsoo has the chance to say anything more, Baekhyun grabs his hand and tugs him in the shop.

“Hello!” he greets the shop owner when he walks through the door, sending her a blinding smile.

“Baekhyun!” she cries in surprise, putting her towel down before walking around the counter. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“College keeps me away from your wonderful cooking.” He makes a dramatic crying face, the lady laughing loudly.

“Well, at least you’re here. Oh!” Her eyes are wide as they look over Baekhyun’s shoulder, then down to their still-clasped hands, before settling on Baekhyun. There’s a glint in them and Baekhyun knows he’s not going to like what she says next. “This isn’t your friend, Yixing. Boyfriend perhaps?”

Before Baekhyun can refute that statement or squeak embarrassingly, Kyungsoo steps up, an incredibly warm smile on his face. “Hello, I’m Kyungsoo, Baekhyun’s soulmate.”

Baekhyun’s jaw almost hits the floor, his heart skipping several beats. Kyungsoo looks so sure, so casual about the whole thing, while Baekhyun feels like flailing.

The owner’s eyes widen before curving up when she smiles. “Well, it’s certainly nice to meet you. I hope Baekhyun has been treating you nicely.”

Kyungsoo’s beautiful laughter rings out. “Yes, he’s been nothing but kind to me ever since we met.” A strong squeeze to his hand breaks Baekhyun out of his shock-induced daydreaming, Baekhyun softening. He squeezes back, a reminder that he’s there, that it’s okay.

“Good, good. Please, sit down. I’ll get the menus.” She motions to a table in the corner (Baekhyun rolls his eyes when he notices how secluded it is) and scurries off.

Kyungsoo all but drags Baekhyun over, fingers tingling from the prolonged contact, of being intertwined with Kyungsoo’s. The owner comes over not ten seconds later with the menus, placing them on the table before leaving again. She winks at Baekhyun as she’s walking away. He ignores her in favor of looking around, not needing to look at the menu.

Kyungsoo on the other hand looks completely lost, eyes scanning the pages. “What’s good here? Everything looks delicious.”

“I usually get the bowl with chicken and a side of rice,” Baekhyun says, Kyungsoo shooting him a look over the menu.

“That’s it? No...” He scans the laminated pages before saying, “domimyeon? That sounds...interesting.”

Baekhyun makes a face. “I’m not a big fan of having a dead fish stare at me as I eat.”

“Fair enough,” Kyungsoo says behind a laugh, eyes scanning the menu ones more. “What do you think about sujaebi with regular noodles?”

“I don’t know, since I’ve never had it, but whatever ahjumma makes is delicious.” Baekhyun shrugs.

“Would you eat some rice cakes with me?”

“Sure,” he answers without a second thought. The owner’s rice cakes are heavenly, and while Baekhyun’s intent on making Kyungsoo pay, he’s not malicious enough to order the whole menu. He knows that Kyungsoo will get his revenge next time.

His cheeks heat up at his thought process, of the fact that he assumes there’s going to be a next time. No matter how many times they go out, no matter how many times Kyungsoo picks him up, there’s still a slight fear that it will stop one day.

“You boys ready?” The owner appears seemingly out of nowhere, Baekhyun jumping lightly. They relay their orders and she leaves with another wink that has Baekhyun wanting to bang his head against the table.

Their meal goes by easily, Kyungsoo’s face so amazed when he takes his first bite that Baekhyun can’t help but laugh. They practically inhale their noodles and rice cakes, stomachs about ready to burst by the end of it. It feels so nice to be out with Kyungsoo, making Kyungsoo laugh, talking about his day and what they’ve been doing the last week they haven’t seen each other. The more they go out, the lighter Baekhyun feels, almost like he’s floating on a cloud.

“Any dessert?” the owner wonders, the both of them groaning.

“No, please no more. Your cooking is delicious, but if I eat anything else, I might slip into a food coma,” Kyungsoo says, Baekhyun nodding in agreement.

Thankfully, she simply gathers their dishes and leaves them be.

“I don’t want to move,” Baekhyun whines, slumping down a little, hands splayed over his stomach.

"Can we just sit here for a few more minutes? I need some time to digest," Kyungsoo says, looking equally as full, yet sated.

"Brilliant plan," Baekhyun says, content with simply sitting there and staring at Kyungsoo and the way his eyelashes gently brush his cheekbones, the way his hair gently caresses his forehead. Baekhyun sighs. He's lucky to have a soulmate as wonderful as Kyungsoo, even if it took some work to get to this point.

"Is there something on my face?" Kyungsoo asks, effectively breaking Baekhyun out of his trance.

Baekhyun can feel a blush quickly rising to his cheeks. Of course he would get caught staring. "No, your face is perfectly fine." Baekhyun regrets saying that as soon as the words are out of his mouth. He's one-hundred percent positive that his cheeks are flaming, and he starts to apologize when Kyungsoo laughs. When Baekhyun looks up, it's with surprise (and slight glee) that he finds Kyungsoo shyly looking to the side, a light dusting of pink on his cheekbones.

"You're cute," Baekhyun blurts and he really needs to stop doing that, but why should he when Kyungsoo reacts to his compliments so adorably? Kyungsoo's face is turning redder by the second and Baekhyun knows for a fact that it has nothing to do with the summer heat. Kyungsoo must not get complimented often. Baekhyun makes it his mission to tell Kyungsoo how attractive he is as often as possible.

Something light nudges his foot under the table, Baekhyun's eyebrows raising in surprise. "Are you trying to play footsies with me?"

"No!" Kyungsoo blurts, sinking further into his seat when his outburst attracts the attention of some people sitting around them. "You suck," he whines.

Letting out a laugh, Baekhyun nudges Kyungsoo's foot back. "It's not my fault that you decided to be very enthusiastic with your answer."

Kyungsoo whines, tapping Baekhyun against the side of his sneaker. What ensues is an extremely childish game of footsies that Baekhyun never thought he would be involved in, especially with Kyungsoo of all people. Something warm blooms in his heart as he looks at his soulmate, whose face is overtaken by such a bright smile that every star in the night sky would be jealous.

Baekhyun doesn't even care that he accidentally hits his shin against a table leg, doesn't even care that there's probably going to be a bruise there in the next few days, because it's all worth it to see Kyungsoo smiling and having a good time. Baekhyun hopes that Kyungsoo will continue to smile like that around him.

“I’m sorry that you’re always the one that has to drive,” Baekhyun says as he slides into the vehicle. “I would go to you if I could, but my brother has my car.”

He notices that Kyungsoo’s grip tightens slightly before relaxing. “Don’t worry about it. Your house is better than mine anyways.”

Baekhyun snorts. “That’s your opinion. Pretty much everyone says someone else’s house is better. Anything is better than something you see everyday.”

“Including me?” Kyungsoo teases, causing Baekhyun to frantically wave his arms about. Kyungsoo chuckles, the deep sound as smooth as ever. “I was kidding. Now, where are we going today?"

"You don't have something planned?" Baekhyun gasps overdramatically. "I can't believe it! I never thought I would see the day that Do Kyungsoo would run out of date ideas."

"So these are dates, huh?"

Baekhyun's heart drops. He had hoped they were. He doesn't really know what else to call them since they seemed too intimate for a casual get-together, but maybe Kyungsoo hadn't been thinking the same thing.

"I'm glad you think so, too."

What. Baekhyun's mind malfunctions and there might be some smoke coming out of his ears. He must look pretty dumbstruck, for Kyungsoo laughs lightly.

"I told you, Baekhyun," Kyungsoo says, "I'm serious about this and about you. I'm sorry if I gave you reason to doubt that since I last told you."

"No, no," Baekhyun is quick to reply, brain still a little slow on the uptake at the moment. "It's not your fault, I just...overthink things sometimes."

"Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize. This is part of the learning stage of the relationship, so it's inevitable that there's going to be little stutters here and there."

Kyungsoo groans. "Why must there be different stages?" He then says something that’s too low for Baekhyun to pick up on, so he asks Kyungsoo to repeat it.

"It's nothing." Baekhyun can tell it's something, though, especially with the way Kyungsoo bites his bottom lip and avoids eye contact. It's cute.

"You know what I hear the best part is, though?" Baekhyun asks, fighting to keep his smirk at bay.

"What?"

"The sex." Baekhyun almost bursts out laughing at how wide Kyungsoo's eyes go, continuing before Kyungsoo's eyes fall out. "Although if it were up to me, I would say the cuddles and morning breakfasts are the best."

"Maybe I should cook for you one day," Kyungsoo muses.

"Would you really?" The only people that have cooked for him are his parents. He can barely find his way out of the kitchen unscathed on most days, so Baekhyun just about pounces on the opportunity.

"Sure," Kyungsoo says. "We can talk about this later, though. I'm wasting gas, so we should decide on the place soon."

Baekhyun snorts. "Always worried about your car, I see how it is. Let's just get some street food, then."

Within ten minutes, they're getting out of the car, Kyungsoo meeting Baekhyun halfway in front of the vehicle.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath, memories rushing back of when he used to go to this market with his parents on the weekend. It's just as he remembers it - bright, open, colorful - yet there are small differences. The lady that used to sell fruits is no longer there, replaced by what seems to be a jewelry stand. The banners that adorn the fountain are turquoise now instead of the dark violet that Baekhyun remembers. There also seem to be more vendors, which also means more families running around. Baekhyun smiles gently when he spies a little girl tugging her parents over to the jewelry vendor with hearts in her eyes.

"How do you know about this place?" Kyungsoo wonders, equally as entranced as Baekhyun. Baekhyun doesn't blame him; there are so many things to see, and even if someone were to come twenty times, Baekhyun is sure they would still be able to find something new.

"My parents used to take me here when I was a kid. They’ve lost a lot of money here," Baekhyun admits with a chuckle. Kyungsoo goes silent next to him. Baekhyun just assumes it's because of everything going on.

"Woah," Baekhyun breathes out when he spots one specific stall, an older man sitting behind the table and looking out at the crowd with a small smile on his face. Without thinking, he grabs Kyungsoo's hand and tugs him along, a large grin on his face when he meets eyes with the man sitting behind the table.

"Baekhyun!"

"Hello," Baekhyun greets with a bow. "It's been a long time."

"You could say that again," the older man says. His voice is just as warm as Baekhyun remembers. It might be a little rougher around the edges from age, but it’s still the soothing voice that Baekhyun had loved.

"At least I'm back now. Did you miss me?" he teases.

"Do you want the truth or the lie that will make you feel better?"

"You wound me," Baekhyun sniffs, placing a hand dramatically over his heart.

The man laughs heartily. "You haven't changed one bit. Oh," he says when he notices Baekhyun isn't alone. "I'm sorry, how rude of me to not introduce myself. I'm Han Jaerin, but you can call me Han Jaerin. I'll even let you call me Han ahjussi if you want."

That invokes laughter out of Kyungsoo. "Nice to meet you," he greets with a perfect bow.

"So," Han ahjussi starts, lips curling up when he spots their hands. "Are you the poor soul that Baekhyun has caught in his web?"

"Han ahjussi," Baekhyun whines.

"Unfortunately," Kyungsoo responds without missing a beat.

Baekhyun whines Kyungsoo's name this time, but it's too late. The two of them are leaning towards each other like they're sharing some conspiracy, laughing every once in a while.

"Oh, don't mind me," Baekhyun loudly states. "I'm just not standing right here or anything. Nope, I'm totally alone, just standing here."

"Oh calm down," Kyungsoo says, rubbing soothing circles onto the back of Baekhyun's hand. It weakens Baekhyun's faux anger, a zip of electricity running up his arm.

Baekhyun still finds it in himself to huff.

"Anyways," Han ahjussi cuts in, "have some potstickers on me. It can be my congratulatory gift for you both."

"You don't have to," Baekhyun says, but he can't help the way his stomach growls at the offer, the promise of food causing it to roar to life. He curses his stomach's bad timing, but it gets a laugh out of Han ahjussi.

"It's okay, I want to."

Baekhyun isn’t about to waste the offer, happily saying, “I’ll eat this well, thank you!” before digging in. Kyungsoo laughs at him when he burns his tongue in his eagerness, Baekhyun pouting the best he can with his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a dog.

They end up walking away with warm bellies and happy smiles, Han ahjussi yelling after them to come back soon or he’s going to come find them.

"He was wonderful," Kyungsoo says, Baekhyun agreeing immediately.

"His stall was one of my favorites when I was little and it wasn't just because of the food."

They continue touring around the market, buy food for each other and enjoying the sights. The day ends with children running around with tiny sparklers as the sun sets, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo sitting on a bench near the fountain as they enjoy the atmosphere and general happiness that fill the open market.

It's only then that Baekhyun realizes their hands are still clasped and not once did they let go.

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun whines before flopping down on the couch. He doesn’t get a response, prompting him to call Kyungsoo once again.

Kyungsoo hums in question.

“I don’t want to go back to school,” Baekhyun moans, splaying out on the couch as if that would stop time and prevent school from approaching. He’s had one of the best summer’s of his life - going on a date with Kyungsoo at least once a month - and Baekhyun doesn’t want it to end. He wants to be able to lounge around all day and not worry about assignments and papers. He wants to be able to feel the wind running through his hair as Kyungsoo drives them to their favorite noodle place. He wants to be able to look to the side and see Kyungsoo sitting in the ugly off-white chair in his living room. More importantly, though, he wants to be able to stay with Kyungsoo, wants to continue to learn about him and his quirks, wants to find out more things to love about Kyungsoo.

“It’s our last year, though. It’s too late to quit now,” Kyungsoo says. He sounds amused; Baekhyun’s face is currently smushed into the cushions, his body spread out starfish-style.

He lifts his head enough to mumble, “True, but now everyone is going to ask about what my plans for the future are.” He groans. “It’s going to be like the last year of high school all over again except this time they’re going to ask about jobs instead of colleges.” Baekhyun flops back down with a sad whine.

Kyungsoo doesn’t respond, but Baekhyun is used to it. Sometimes Kyungsoo goes quiet, and that’s perfectly fine with Baekhyun even if he sometimes squirms around in curiosity. He’s going to respect Kyungsoo; it’s the least he can do.

Trying to break the quiet atmosphere, Baekhyun asks, “Do you want something to drink?”

“I’m sorry?”

Right, Baekhyun is still face-down on the couch. He repeats the question, this time free of fabric constriction. When Kyungsoo nods, Baekhyun tells him, “You know where the kitchen is, you can get it yourself, right?”

Kyungsoo snorts. “Only you would offer a guest a drink and then tell them to get it themselves.”

“You were just telling me to pack five minutes ago and now you’re trying to tell me I should put off packing by getting you a drink?” Baekhyun teases.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Kyungsoo says gently, but the flick he delivers to Baekhyun’s head as he walks by is anything but.

“You hurt me,” Baekhyun wails, but a smile appears when he hears Kyungsoo’s quiet laughter as he disappears around the corner and into the kitchen. Something warm settles in Baekhyun’s chest at how Kyungsoo knows his way around Baekhyun’s house like he’s been there his whole life. In reality, Kyungsoo has only been inside Baekhyun’s house a maximum of three times (artfully timed so his parents aren’t around), yet he’s so comfortable that Baekhyun can’t help but smile.

Kyungsoo comes back within seconds of leaving, shaking Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Let’s go, you still need to clean up your room and get ready to leave.”

It takes a lot of work on Kyungsoo’s end and a lot of protesting on Baekhyun’s, but they eventually put all of Baekhyun’s things away in drawers or suitcases.

“Why did you put this off until they day you were leaving?” Kyungsoo huffs, closing the trunk of his car, Baekhyun’s stuff placed neatly inside.

“I knew you would help me,” he responds cheekily. “Besides, my parents weren’t here to nag me about it and you know how lazy I can be.”

“Don’t I,” Kyungsoo mutters. “This is it, right? You don’t have anything else left to take?”

“I don’t think so, but let me go check one more time.”

Baekhyun’s already a little sad when he walks through the house and to his room. He’s done this time and time again, yet he can’t help but frown each time he has to leave his first home. Baekhyun sighs longingly as he stands in his room, surveying the area for anything he might have forgotten. It doesn’t seem like he even had a break – he could’ve sworn that it was just yesterday that he was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering what, if anything, he should do about his soulmate. Now they’re dating (or at least Baekhyun hopes they are, but neither of them have made it official yet) and it’s still kind of surreal.

After one more quick scan, Baekhyun’s eyes catch a lump in the corner of his bed partially covered by blankets. He doesn’t remember receiving a present wrapped in black wrapping paper- oh. He was supposed to give this to Kyungsoo weeks ago when they went on their noodle date! Shaking his head at his forgetfulness, Baekhyun snags the present and heads downstairs.

Baekhyun makes sure that Kyungsoo is distracted when he asks him to open the trunk, storing the little box in his suitcase so Kyungsoo won’t be able to see it later. Satisfied, he shuts the trunk and proclaims, “Ready!”

Baekhyun texts his parents as Kyungsoo pulls out of the driveway, still sad that they weren’t able to be there and take him back to school like usual. They’re busy with work, though, so Baekhyun understands. He’s just lucky that Kyungsoo had been available and willing to drive him.

“Thank you again for helping me,” Baekhyun suddenly says. “I really appreciate it.”

“It’s not a problem,” Kyungsoo replies easily.

“Do you want me to give you gas money?”

Kyungsoo laughs, the sound rich and beautiful. Baekhyun feels like swooning. “It’s okay.”

Baekhyun frowns. “You said you still had to move your stuff, though. I’m making you take an unnecessary trip.”

A warm palm splays over Baekhyun’s fingers, his heart skipping a beat. “It’s fine, Baekhyun. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“I-if you say so,” Baekhyun says, cursing himself for the stutter, but he can’t think straight with the weight of Kyungsoo’s hand on top of his. They’ve held hands countless times, yet Baekhyun is still like a blushing little girl that meets her Prince or Princess for the first time.

The car ride is enjoyable as usual, if only a little quieter that day, Baekhyun too tired to bother Kyungsoo. At some point, Kyungsoo takes his hand back, Baekhyun hoping the pout on his face isn’t as noticeable as he thinks it is.

All too soon, Kyungsoo is pulling into the parking lot of his apartment complex.

“You live here?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Yeah,” he replies, thinking nothing of it. “This complex has been good to me for the last year, so I renewed my contract before leaving. It’s just too bad that I was paying for a space I wasn’t living in over break, but oh well.” Baekhyun shrugs.

“This is heavier than I remember it being,” Baekhyun wheezes when he lifts his luggage from the trunk. Kyungsoo pulls most of the rest out, and Baekhyun may or may not be drooling over the sheer power that his arms exude. Who would have thought that behind that petite frame, Kyungsoo would be hiding raw power. Baekhyun tries not to let that train of thought go awry, but now that he’s seen the flexing of Kyungsoo’s muscles, he knows he won’t be forgetting it any time soon.

“My apartment is this way.” Baekhyun motions after they arrive on the second floor, Kyungsoo grunting a little as he carries Baekhyun’s stuff.

Getting the key in the lock without dropping his stuff proves to be a challenge, but it’s one he overcomes after a few tries. He looks back at Kyungsoo, surprised he hadn’t teased Baekhyun about being so slow, only to find that Kyungsoo is looking down the hall, a thoughtful look on his face. Baekhyun doesn’t see anything extraordinary down the hall that would catch Kyungsoo’s attention, unless Kyungsoo has a thing for empty, carpeted hallways.

“Kyungsoo?” he calls, Kyungsoo snapping out of whatever trance he had been in. It doesn’t seem like Kyungsoo is going to say anything, so Baekhyun simply shrugs it off and heads inside. “Just drop my stuff off by the couch.”

Kyungsoo does as he’s told, expression curious as he looks around Baekhyun’s apartment.

“It’s not much,” Baekhyun says to lighten the weird atmosphere that has suddenly developed. “Certainly not as furnished or interesting as my parent’s house.”

Kyungsoo’s lips quirk slightly. “It’s modest. I was expecting it to be messier.”

Baekhyun squawks his protest. “I cleaned before I left, okay. I wasn’t going to leave my apartment full of trash for months. Do you know how many rats that would attract?”

“Oh, so you only clean sometimes,” Kyungsoo jests, Baekhyun throwing his hands in the air.

“Of course that’s all you would get out of that statement,” he grumbles.

Kyungsoo keeps looking around as if he’s interested in the apartment, but Baekhyun doesn’t understand why. It’s just a simple box with the bare minimum that he could afford with the money leftover after paying tuition.

Baekhyun glances at the clock out of habit, gasping when he realizes what time it is. “You should go, Kyungsoo. It’s pretty late.”

“Five isn’t that late,” Kyungsoo says, but he does look at his phone quickly before sighing, “but you’re right, I probably should. Good thing I finished packing already.” He flashes a smile at Baekhyun, who huffs in response.

“Not everyone can be as organized as you, okay. Maybe you should just come over and help me earlier next time.”

Kyungsoo’s smile flickers, but he responds with a “sure” nonetheless. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you,” Baekhyun replies, waving. It takes him a few seconds after the door has closed to realize that school doesn’t start for another three days. Brushing it off as a simple slip of the tongue, Baekhyun rolls up his sleeves and starts unpacking.

The first thing he comes across is the neatly wrapped black box, a dark grey bow sitting primly on top.

With a sigh, Baekhyun places the box on his desk. Soon, he tells himself. Soon.

Baekhyun is woken up by banging next door and that would bother him – who the hell has sex this early in the morning on a Monday? – if there was more than one person living next door. The lady next door isn’t the friendliest neighbor on the block, but at least she’s quiet and keeps to herself. Baekhyun wants to get up and go find out what’s going on, but the older woman scares him too much (not that he would ever admit that).

The banging stops and Baekhyun thinks he’s in the clear and he can continue sleeping, but then he hears more movement, of feet padding down the hallway and into the apartment next door. Baekhyun gives up hope, running a hand through his hair once he sits up. He hates how thin the walls are.

Now that he’s awake, Baekhyun figures he might as well go find out what’s happening, his curiosity building the longer the noise keeps appearing. The shirt he’s wearing isn’t entirely presentable, a grease stain lining the left side of the white fabric, but at least there aren’t any holes in it. Besides, he’s going to see his neighbor, and neighbors are supposed to be tolerant even if they are scary ladies in their forties, right?

Blearily, Baekhyun pokes his head out into the hallway, padding out when he doesn’t find anyone around.

“Hello?” he calls out. His steps are loud in the otherwise empty corridor.

“Excuse me,” someone says from behind him, Baekhyun jumping before practically gluing himself to the wall so he doesn’t get in the way. The box the other person is carrying doesn’t look light if the way their biceps are flexing is any indication, and Baekhyun can’t help but think he’s seen those arms before. If there’s one thing he’s sure of, though, it’s that this isn’t the lady that lives next door.

Baekhyun watches in confusion as the box starts moving around him and into the apartment, two other men coming up the stairs with boxes of their own. Baekhyun’s brain struggles to dust off the cobwebs cluttered around and start functioning, only putting it together after much effort. The next time someone comes out, he reaches a hand out.

“Excuse me,” he calls, the male turning towards him. Baekhyun is struck with how adorable this man is, how his eyes sparkle as they take in everything, how his little nose scrunches when he smiles.

“Yes?”

“Are you...are you moving in next door?”

The man laughs and even that is beautiful. It’s not as deep as Kyungsoo’s – not by a long shot – but it’s still nice in its own right. “No, but my friend is.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun replies dumbly, and he doesn’t say anything else.

“Han?” someone calls from inside the apartment and the man, who Baekhyun assumes must be Han, turns with a blinding smile.

“I’m out here!” he calls, practically bouncing on his toes as he waits for whoever had called him to come out.

“Are there any more boxes- oh.” This man is attractive, too, with his pretty almond eyes and his hair that looks so soft despite being spiked up and away from his forehead. “Hello.”

“Hi,” Baekhyun replies warily, wondering who else is in that apartment. So far, all Baekhyun has seen are attractive men, and while his eyes and heart will never stray from Kyungsoo, their good looks are distracting.

“Do you live in this complex?” He doesn’t miss the way Han moves closer to the newcomer, intertwining their fingers naturally as he tilts his head in question.

“Yeah, I live right next door. I’m Baekhyun, nice to meet you.” It might be a little weird introducing himself to these people since he knows nothing about them, but Baekhyun figures that he’s going to see them around often since they seem to be friends with his neighbor, or if the second male is his new neighbor.

“Baekhyun?” Han squeaks. Baekhyun thinks Han’s eyes light up, and the second man looks stunned as well, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline.

“Yes?” Baekhyun’s a little wary now. Neither of them look familiar, so he can’t fathom why Han had said his name as if he knows him.

“What’s taking you guys so long- oh, hi Baekhyun.”

“Hi?” Baekhyun gets out, mouth on autopilot because there is no way this is happening. Baekhyun rubs his eyes, but when he opens them again, Kyungsoo is still standing in front of the door looking as perfect as ever. There might be some beads of sweat rolling down his temples and his arms might be bulging a little bit, free from the confines of long sleeves as Kyungsoo is wearing a short-sleeve shirt, but he’s still so painfully attractive. And then there’s Baekhyun wearing his greasy t-shirt and high school basketball shorts, hair probably a mess and this really sucks. Baekhyun knew he should’ve gotten over his laziness before checking things out.

“Wait a minute,” Baekhyun says, pulling himself out of his thoughts. “You were here with me yesterday! You knew you were moving in right next to me and you didn’t say anything!” At least this explains why Kyungsoo had looked so fascinated with the layout.

“Surprise?”

Han and the second male laugh.

“Good job, Kyungsoo,” Han says.

“Real smooth,” the second male chips in. Kyungsoo shoots a glare at the both of them, Baekhyun blinking at the turn of events.

“Anyways,” Han cuts in before Kyungsoo can add anything. Baekhyun tries to hold back his laugh at how Kyungsoo’s expression darkens slightly. “I’m Luhan. It’s nice to finally put a face to a name.”

Baekhyun wants to ask if that means what he thinks it means, but with the way Kyungsoo’s eyes widen before narrowing again, he thinks he knows the answer.

“And I’m his boyfriend, Minseok,” the second male says with a gummy smile, Baekhyun almost blinded by how bright it is. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Will you two stop it,” Kyungsoo growls.

“I like you two,” Baekhyun declares, the both of them sharing winning smiles. “I love to make friends with people that can tease Kyungsoo until he’s flustered. It’s exhausting doing all of it by myself.”

“Never fear!” Luhan cries. “Now you have us by your side.”

“This was a mistake,” Kyungsoo bemoans right as Baekhyun says, “This is going to be a beautiful friendship.”

Minseok just looks amused with the whole situation. “Things are going to be more interesting from now on, that’s for sure.”

“I still can’t believe that you never told me you were moving in next door.”

Kyungsoo looks up from the pot he’s stirring. “In my defense, I didn’t know you lived here until two days ago.”

“Still,” Baekhyun says petulantly, “You could’ve told me when you dropped me off.”

“There’s no fun in that, though. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to wake you up before ten yesterday. That makes it worth it,” Kyungsoo teases, tasting the broth he’s stirring around before muttering something to himself.

Baekhyun flops down on the dining table, the wood cool against his cheek. “That’s probably the cruelest thing you could’ve done to me.” Second to crushing my heart, Baekhyun wants to say, but he doesn’t voice it.

“I’m making you dinner now, though. Does that make up waking you up so early?”

Baekhyun pretends to think about it. He settles on, “Well maybe, but I demand cuddles as well. Wait, no,” he says in a rush. Kyungsoo looks slightly stiff when Baekhyun looks over and he curses himself and his stupid mouth. They’ve been taking things slow – barely past the hand holding stage – and Baekhyun has been careful not to rush anything. Not everyone likes cuddles or affection and from what he’s gathered, Kyungsoo is one of those people.

“I’m sorry, just disregard that,” Baekhyun pleads.

“I don’t want to pretend you didn’t just say that.”

“You don’t?”

“No,” Kyungsoo sighs. “I’m sorry you have to walk on eggshells when you’re around me. I want you to be able to say what you want and not worry that I’m going to close up again, but I haven’t really given you reason to believe that.” He laughs, but there’s no mirth or richness to it.

“I just want you to be comfortable,” Baekhyun says softly because he does. Kyungsoo will always be important to him.

“And I want you to be comfortable, too. I’m just not used to it since-” He stops there and Baekhyun wants nothing more than to gather him in his arms and tell him that it’s okay, but he can’t. Despite the fact that Kyungsoo just told him to be comfortable, Baekhyun still doesn’t know if he’s allowed to touch Kyungsoo in a way that’s not holding hands.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” Baekhyun says but he feels so useless. It reminds him of months ago, the two of them sitting at the café near Baekhyun’s house.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo says, but if anything, Baekhyun is the one that should be saying that again. He hates how he can’t do anything, but he’s even more devastated on how it’s his fault; it’s his fault they’re going through a rough patch at the moment because he couldn’t control his stupid mouth.

Baekhyun tries to lighten the mood by calling Kyungsoo somewhat cheerily. “Is the food done yet? I’m super hungry.”

Their first dinner is awkward, but not the kind of awkward expected of first dinner dates at one of their homes. Neither of them are quiet because they don’t want to say something stupid, neither of them are shyly looking at each other and hoping they don’t get caught, neither of them are fidgeting from nervous but happy jitters.

Instead, they’re quiet because of their earlier conversation, they’re shyly looking at each other because they want to gauge the mood, they’re fidgeting because they want to say something but can’t.

Kyungsoo suddenly coughs, Baekhyun’s eyes flickering up from his plate. Kyungsoo’s looking to the side, eyebrows slightly pinched together, mouth opening and closing. Baekhyun just looks back down at his plate. The food is delicious, the type that could possibly rival his mother’s, but he feels so sick that he can’t take more than a few bites without feeling more nauseous. The fact that he can’t even enjoy something Kyungsoo made for him makes him feel even worse, like he doesn’t deserve the kindness after how much he’s screwed up.

“Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo calls. In his panic, Baekhyun misses the slight undertone of uncertainty in Kyungsoo’s question.

“Yes?” It’s really unfortunate that they live next to each other now, since Baekhyun won’t be able to hide out in his room without fear that he will run into Kyungsoo when he leaves. It’s kind of fortunate, though, because at least Baekhyun doesn’t have to go very far, doesn’t have to be stuck in the car with Kyungsoo as he drives Baekhyun home from this date.

“Do you...really like cuddling that much?”

Of all the things that Baekhyun expected to hear, this didn’t even place on his mental list.

“Well,” Baekhyun stutters out, “it’s not bad? I just like knowing there’s someone next to me and that we’re close enough that it doesn’t bother them to be touching. But I respect your decision, since not everyone likes being that intimate with another person.”

It takes a while for Kyungsoo to respond. His eyebrows are still pinched together as he thinks, but they relax eventually, giving way for a softness that makes his face seem much younger. “I can try? For you? I mean,” Kyungsoo sounds unsure, but the fact that he’s willing to come to a compromise despite it all makes Baekhyun’s heart melt, easing the tension that he wasn’t aware had been weighing on his shoulders, “relationships go both ways. I don’t want you to be the only one trying and I don’t want you to bend yourself in half to please me.”

If Baekhyun’s heart had already melted, it’s now reformed, fluttering away like a hummingbird’s wings. Baekhyun doesn’t know how much more his poor heart can take, since this fluttering surely isn’t normal, yet Baekhyun doesn’t care, not when Kyungsoo is looking at him with a small, hopeful smile.

Against his will, Baekhyun feels tears starting to well up in his eyes. His first thought is that his eyeliner is going to be smudged, but the second is that he’s so embarrassing, crying over this.

“Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo asks, this time more worried. And suddenly there are hands cupping his cheeks and tilting his head up, thumbs wiping under his waterline despite the eyeliner that’s probably running.

All Baekhyun can do is sit there, most likely looking like a complete mess in front of his soulmate. Kyungsoo’s face is close, so close, Baekhyun managing to focus on Kyungsoo’s lips through his tears. This would be the perfect time for a kiss, Baekhyun thinks, almost immediately thinking that he’s lost his mind right after. Baekhyun can’t help it, though. In all of the dramas he’s watched, whenever there’s a comfort scene, a kiss always follows, except this isn’t a drama. This is Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. Kyungsoo isn’t going to kiss him. At least Baekhyun’s tears have stopped flowing while he was going through his emotional roller coaster.

Baekhyun lets out a hiccup, willing his brain to clear itself out and away from thoughts of kissing Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo laughs and that spurs Baekhyun into laughing as well.

“I’m sorry I’m so emotional. I would tell you that it’s normal, but it’s not,” Baekhyun says through a few chuckles.

Kyungsoo’s cheeks are a beautiful shade of light red when he calms down. His eyes twinkle as he says, “It’s fine. Just promise me you won’t break down in tears again.”

“I promise I won’t cry anymore today.” He grins when Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

“That’s better than nothing, I suppose.”

They end up sitting next to each other on the couch after cleaning the dishes. Baekhyun had felt like he was going to fly to the moon when Kyungsoo bumped hips with him, a tiny smile on Kyungsoo’s face as he innocently said he hadn’t done it.

Their thighs are touching now and while it’s a barely-there sensation, Baekhyun is hyper aware of the lack of space. Recently, Baekhyun has found himself developing a strange fascination with Kyungsoo’s thighs, with how powerful they look and how they aren’t just sticks. Baekhyun wants to be able to put a hand there and feel the muscles flexing under his fingers, a want that has been harder and harder to ignore the more Baekhyun sees Kyungsoo.

He always holds back, always thinks about Kyungsoo and making him comfortable.

Baekhyun jumps when fingers trail their way up his thigh before slipping into the spaces between his own fingers. Kyungsoo’s hand feels so perfect in his, so warm and comforting. Baekhyun especially loves how they aren’t as tiny and delicate as he first thought. Instead, they’re strong, veins popping out sometimes when he’s cooking or lifting boxes, a nice contrast to the delicate nature of Baekhyun’s own fingers.

Baekhyun settles in with a warm smile on his face and an even warmer feeling in his heart.

“Baekhyun! Time to wake up!”

“Five more minutes,” Baekhyun mumbles, snuggling back into his sheets.

“No, Baekhyun. You take forever to get ready, you don’t have five minutes to spare.”

“I do,” he calls out, wanting to go back to dreamland where he had been snuggling with Kyungsoo.

“Don’t make me do it.”

Baekhyun ignores the voice, sighing happily once the noise dies down. It’s short-lived happiness, for all of a sudden something freezing is sliding down his back. The screech he lets out has to be ear-splitting and the neighbors are probably going to complain, but everything is cold, cold, cold.

When he finally gets the offensive object out of the back of his shirt – the ice cube looking innocent as it lands on the floor – Baekhyun glares at Kyungsoo, who has a hand over his mouth, no doubt trying to hold in his laughter. Baekhyun can see the way his eyes are curved up in mirth, giving away his otherwise innocent appearance.

“Why did I even give you a key to my apartment?” he grumbles.

“For times like this where you weren’t going to wake up in time for class,” Kyungsoo replies. “It’s the first day of class, Baekhyun, you can at least make sure I don’t suffer through introduction week alone.”

“But the bed looks so much more enticing than the hard plastic of those lecture chairs. The professors are just going to about things we already know or things that are in the syllabus anyways.”

“No one ever bothers to read the syllabus,” Kyungsoo points out, and Baekhyun can give that to him. Sometimes he wonders why the professors bother to print those out. It’s probably only so students can’t bother them in the future, explaining that, “Well, if you read the syllabus...”

“Fine, fine, just let me get changed.”

It takes a little time to shimmy into his skinny jeans, sleep still crusting his eyes and clinging onto him to make him lethargic. He slips on a red v-neck, yawning as he exits his room and shuffles into the kitchen.

“I’m ready,” he says groggily, blinking when a cup of coffee is shoved in his face. “Is there sugar in this?”

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I brought creamer and sugar so you could do it yourself.”

Humming gratefully, Baekhyun takes the cup and puts in two packets of sugar and almost a quarter of the creamer.

“I don’t usually drink coffee, but I will since you took the time to get it for me. I appreciate it,” Baekhyun says, eyes crinkling happily when the liquid hits his tongue. While he doesn’t particularly like coffee much, he still appreciates a good cup when he smells and tastes one.

“Don’t tell me you’re more of a hot chocolate person.”

Baekhyun stares at Kyungsoo challengingly. “What if I am?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t move for a while, only breaking his stoic expression to let a slow smile spread over his face. “Then I would say good, because I’m better at making that. I don’t drink much coffee, either, so I haven’t had a reason to make it. I was a little worried I had messed up your drink when I was making it earlier.”

“It’s great. I was actually going to ask if there’s anything you can’t make,” Baekhyun says with a laugh. “Guess I’ll just have to wait and find out.”

“I guess so.” And there’s the beautiful smile that Baekhyun is coming to get used to, the smile that seems to be appearing more and more often. Baekhyun doesn’t think he will ever get tired of looking at the happiness splayed out across Kyungsoo’s features, how his eyes scrunch up into crescents, how his lips pull back so far until they’re almost non-existent.

Once again, Baekhyun is struck with how utterly perfect Kyungsoo is. He can’t believe he’s the one that gets to see Kyungsoo like this, but he’s never going to complain.

One month later finds Baekhyun pathetically face-down on Kyungsoo’s couch.

“Come on, Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo calls, nudging him in the shoulder with a pen. “You need to read about plant biology more than I do.”

“I don’t want to,” he whines, not even caring that Kyungsoo probably won’t be able to understand him. The poking on his shoulder continues, small and incessant like a fly, causing Baekhyun to swat at it weakly. “No,” he moans, elongating the word.

“You promised you would study if I cooked for you,” Kyungsoo reminds him, but Baekhyun pretends he doesn’t hear anything. A nap sounds pretty good at the moment.

The poking becomes more persistent. “Don’t you dare fall asleep. That’s bad for digestion.”

“No it’s not.” Baekhyun wonders where Kyungsoo even heard that from. It doesn’t even sound plausible. Besides, he’s a biology major, he should know about that from the physiology course he took his sophomore year.

“I don’t know what you just said, but I assume it was along the side of denial. Fine, if you want to slow your digestion down enough that your food doesn’t get broken down, be my guest.”

Turning his head to the side, Baekhyun mutters, “If I get up and do homework, will you let me sleep in peace?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo responds immediately. Baekhyun hears the turning of a page and a pen scrawling across paper. He groans; it seems like Kyungsoo is trying to be extra loud to keep him awake.

“Fine, fine, you win. Let’s get this stupid homework over with.”

It takes several minutes before Baekhyun’s brain starts working and the drowsiness clears from his body. They work in silence, but it’s comfortable. Baekhyun doesn’t feel the need to fill the space with mindless chatter, the sound of papers shuffling and highlighters dragging calming him and forcing him to focus.

He hits a point where he doesn’t understand a question, though. No matter how many times he leafs through the textbook or searches the Internet, he can’t find the answer. Not for the first time, he wishes that this textbook was available online so he could search for the word without having to read through the entire chapter again.

Baekhyun considers asking Kyungsoo, but he looks so concentrated that Baekhyun doesn’t want to bother him. He really needs the help, though, and he could skip it, but he doesn’t like doing that in fear that he’s going to forget to return to the question.

“I can feel you staring a hole through my head,” Kyungsoo suddenly says, Baekhyun almost biting down hard on his lip in surprise.

“It’s nothing bad,” Baekhyun is quick to assure. “I just can’t find the answer to this question.”

“I’m not giving you the answer.”

“No, I don’t want that.” Baekhyun hates people that just ask for help, expecting the answer right away. He would rather work for it; at least that way he can gain knowledge instead of mindlessly copying something. “Can you explain it to me? Maybe that will help.”

Baekhyun gets distracted mid-way through the explanation, though. Kyungsoo is so, so close he can see every eyelash that frames Kyungsoo’s beautiful eyes. Baekhyun can feel the heat that Kyungsoo is giving off, can feel the soft slide of Kyungsoo’s sweater against his arm and it’s too much.

“Was that explanation good enough?” Kyungsoo’s voice breaks him out of his thoughts, the sound like honey as it slides down his spine, causing him to shiver. It’s both awful and wonderful at the same time.

“Could you maybe explain it one more time? I got lost at the different types of cells. What’s the one that provides support?” It’s not entirely a lie since Baekhyun had lost focus at that part, but it’s certainly not the whole truth. Kyungsoo doesn’t need to know that, though.

“Pay attention this time,” Kyungsoo says with a flick to Baekhyun’s shoulder.

The sting is worth it when Kyungsoo leans even closer, their shoulders brushing when Kyungsoo reaches for Baekhyun’s papers and textbook as if his own aren’t right in front of him. This time, Baekhyun actually listens, nodding along when Kyungsoo talks about the functions of parenchyma cells. It had been more than a little difficult to focus on boring words instead of the pretty mouth they were coming from or the pretty hand that was just within grasping distance, or the pretty voice that was like hot chocolate on a cold winter day. Baekhyun sits through the explanation without incident, giving himself a mental pat on the back when he goes to answer the question he had been stuck on.

Patience is a virtue he tells himself.

They close their books at almost exactly the same time an hour and a half later, their laughter filling up the quiet space.

“Good timing,” Baekhyun quips. He packs up his stuff slowly, loathe to leave Kyungsoo’s apartment. Even though they live right next to each other, Baekhyun doesn’t like being away from Kyungsoo for extended periods of time.

“See you tomorrow for lunch?” Baekhyun asks to try and prolong his departure.

“Yeah, you have class in the biology building, right?”

Baekhyun hums his affirmative, shifting from one foot to the other by the doorway. “My class gets out at one.”

“Okay, I can meet you there.”

“Sounds good.” Baekhyun awkwardly stands there for a few more seconds before blurting, “Night. Sleep tight?”

Kyungsoo muffles his laughter behind his palm, but nods regardless. “Thanks, you too.”

It feels weird just standing there, Baekhyun turning to leave a few beats too late. He runs a hand down his face once he closes the door behind himself. Baekhyun needs to look up if there are any classes in the area that will teach him how to be more smooth around his soulmate.

There’s a knock on his door, Baekhyun struggling to simultaneously run a hand through his hair in some semblance of hygiene and get the bagel out of the toaster oven.

“Just a minute!” he calls, cursing when he knocks his hand against the counter.

When he finally opens the door, he barely has time to say, “Hi Kyungsoo, one second,” before he rushes back for his bagel abandoned on the counter and his backpack.

Kyungsoo is still amused when Baekhyun comes back, the corners of his lips lifting just the slightest. “Come here.”

Baekhyun does as he’s told, eyes closing in bliss when Kyungsoo runs hands through his no doubt messy hair to fix the flyaway strands. He thinks he hears Kyungsoo murmur puppy under his breath, but Baekhyun’s too distracted to concentrate on anything but the soothing motions of fingers gently sifting through his hair.

Baekhyun almost whines when Kyungsoo steps back. He wants nothing more at the moment than to lay on the couch as Kyungsoo plays with his hair. “Alright, sleepy. You’re slightly presentable now.”

“What does it matter when we’re going to take a final?” Baekhyun complains. “Everyone else will be too busy in their own personal Hell to pay attention to my hair.”

“Do you want to look like you just woke up? It’s the last time you’re going to see this professor and you show up looking like an unkempt dog.”

“I did just wake up.”

Kyungsoo waves the matter away. “What matters is that you look nice, so let’s go and get this over with. We can get some lunch after.”

The walk to the building is like walking to Hell. Baekhyun’s mind is running a mile a minute trying to go over all of the facts he reviewed with Kyungsoo last night. He’s stressed and panicking; no matter how many times Kyungsoo had told him he was doing fine and that he could do it, Baekhyun didn’t believe it. He’s never had the best grasp on plant biology and he’s about to walk into a test with eighty multiple choice questions and two short answers on just that.

A familiar warmth settles in his palm. Baekhyun squeezes Kyungsoo’s hand, thankful for the support.

“You can do it,” Kyungsoo encourages just as they walk into the lecture hall.

“I would wish you luck,” Baekhyun says, “but you don’t need it.”

“We’ll see. When we get our grades and you end up scoring higher than me, maybe then you’ll finally believe it,” Kyungsoo responds confidently. Baekhyun wishes he could steal some of Kyungsoo’s confidence.

Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun tries to focus on facts that are most likely going to be useless after the next three hours. The test begins and the words blur in front of Baekhyun. The next thing he knows, he’s turning the test in and walking out the door, letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding in. Now it’s the waiting game. Baekhyun hates this part more than the stress from studying, the days that it takes for him to panic over the questions he got wrong always turning him into a nervous wreck. It’s not the ideal situation since he has other finals to worry about.

Baekhyun forces himself to clear his head from the negativity – that test was easier than he had expected it to be and he only had to guess on four questions. Kyungsoo comes out less than ten minutes later looking perfect as usual, not a hair out of place.

“How did it go?” Baekhyun asks.

“Fine. There was one question that confused me, but other than that, it was better than I hoped.”

“Only one question, what a luxury,” Baekhyun teases, laughing when Kyungsoo pushes his arm.

“What about you? I’m going to assume it went well since you aren’t dramatically clinging to my arm as you wail about how terrible the test was.”

“I’m not that dramatic!” Baekhyun cries. Kyungsoo gives him a Look, one that says he sees right through Baekhyun. He turns his head to the side, muttering, “Okay, maybe sometimes. But not now!”

“Whatever you say.”

“I don’t like your tone, Do Kyungsoo.”

“Oh?” Kyungsoo questions. “What tone would that be?”

Baekhyun’s about to reply when he thinks of something better, fighting to keep his smirk at bay. “Like you know it all. I think this deserves a punishment.”

“For what?” Kyungsoo wonders incredulously.

“For being such a know-it-all.” And before Kyungsoo has time to react, Baekhyun attacks his sides with tickles.

“We’re in public!” Kyungsoo screeches amidst his breathless laughter, twisting and turning to try and get away.

“Tickle fights know no bounds!” Baekhyun declares, chasing after Kyungsoo when he manages to slip away.

For a tiny man, Kyungsoo can sure run fast. Baekhyun huffs as he attempts to catch up, but he hasn’t worked out in years and his stamina is shot to hell.

“Kyungsoo!” he calls as he slows down to a walk. Damn, he really needs to start going to the gym, maybe start up hapkido again.

“Give up?” Kyungsoo calls from a few yards away, Baekhyun managing a weak nod. “Promise not to tickle me again?” Baekhyun nods again.

When Kyungsoo is within arm’s length, Baekhyun pounces, wrapping his arms around Kyungsoo and pulling him against his chest.

“Hey!”

“I never said anything about hugs,” Baekhyun responds cheekily. Wiggling around, Kyungsoo attempts to free himself, but Baekhyun holds on tighter. Baekhyun already feels like he’s addicted to having Kyungsoo in his arms. He’s not so tall that Baekhyun has to go on his toes or not so short that Baekhyun has to hunch over, but the perfect middle ground where they can simply stand together in a backhug and relax. Kyungsoo’s hair smells like rain with a hint of pear and Baekhyun might be a little in love.

The haze is broken when Baekhyun’s brain catches up with his actions. He coughs, letting his arms drop before backing away quickly. His cheeks feel like a sauna, but he tries to cover it by asking, “Food?” He really hopes that Kyungsoo isn’t mad at him, shoulders hunching in at the possibility.

Luckily, Kyungsoo doesn’t notice the breathy quality of his voice or his scrunched form, Kyungsoo’s own cheeks bright with a blush. “Yeah, food sounds good.”

“I’ll race you!” Baekhyun calls before taking off.

“Cheater!” he hears Kyungsoo yell.

“Not my fault you’re slow,” he responds, heart fluttering with the run and with the ghost of Kyungsoo’s form wrapped in his arms.

Progress, he thinks happily.

“You should take a lower division class with me next quarter,” Baekhyun says when the movie on the television fades away to some commercial about a mop – “Perfect for getting stains out of your hardwood floors! If you call right now, you can get a second one free!” – Kyungsoo turning to him in question.

“Why would I do that?”

“Well first, we don’t have any classes together yet. And second, it’s our last year, we deserve a stress-free class. Besides, we need a break from all of the upper divisions we’ve been taking for the last few years,” he says. He can see that Kyungsoo is thinking about it, so he exaggerates his pout. Baekhyun has learned over the past year that Kyungsoo is weak to his pout, even though he tries to deny it. Baekhyun doesn’t miss the way Kyungsoo’s eyes or lips twitch whenever he pouts or does something cute. Kyungsoo can pretend to be angry and aloof all he wants, but Baekhyun sees right through him.

Sure enough, Kyungsoo’s right eye twitches. “What class were you thinking about?”

“Cognitive science.”

“That’s just more science, Baekhyun. I thought you wanted to pick something unrelated!”

“But Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun whines, “it sounds so interesting. Don’t you want to learn about how the brain works? I need to refresh on my basics, and you can just enjoy it. It will be super easy.”

“I don’t know...what’s the point in taking a third class if we can only take two? That would be less stressful,” Kyungsoo points out.

“It would be a good boost to our grade point average,” Baekhyun argues. “I know you’re trying to increase yours, although I don’t know why since it’s already pretty high.”

“It can never be too high. I’m still not sure this is a good idea, though.”

Baekhyun didn’t want to have it come to this, but it seems that his puppy eyes have to come out. He makes sure he looks extra sad and pathetic when he turns on the couch to face Kyungsoo entirely, not even caring that the movie is back on.

“At least think about it so we can have a class together. Please? I like sitting next to you in class and I like our little study dates after dinner.”

Baekhyun can see Kyungsoo’s defenses breaking down bit by bit, cheering happily when Kyungsoo slumps down with a sigh.

“Only because you looked really sad,” Kyungsoo makes sure to point out.

“Are you sure it’s not to spend time with me?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t respond for a few seconds. “Maybe that, too.”

Baekhyun winks. “I knew you couldn’t resist me.”

His heart feels like it’s going to fly out of the confines of his rib cage when Kyungsoo’s face turns light pink.

Baekhyun idly traces over the two letters on his arm. A shiver runs through his frame, a cold but not unpleasant path drawn from his head to his toes. There’s a hint of something, though, something missing and Baekhyun can’t place what it is. It’s been bothering him for days now, leaving only to come back at random times. It’s an itch that he wants to scratch, but he doesn’t know where or what it is, leaving him frustrated. Baekhyun wishes that it would stop happening.

He’s also noticed the distinct lack of new letters on his arm. It’s almost been six months since the “y” appeared, and while that’s the time it took between his first and second letter, it feels too long this time. He’s spent almost everyday with Kyungsoo in some way since summer, whether it be texting, meeting up, or studying, the complete opposite of the first six months they knew each other. Baekhyun can’t help but feel like something is wrong.

His phone violently vibrating against the coffee table drags him out of his anxiety, a smile curling his lips up when he sees it’s from Kyungsoo. Baekhyun welcomes the distraction, all too happy to push away the emotionally draining thoughts.

Loud knocking and shouting interrupts Baekhyun’s peaceful morning. It’s too far away to be someone knocking on his door, so he ignores it. He’s had a long weekend full of traveling and talking with relatives at his parent’s house; all he wants to do is enjoy his book. His mother had been especially ruthless, constantly bothering him about the lack of a second person when Baekhyun had shown up on her doorstep.

“Where’s my future son-in-law?” she had asked, a frown on her face as she looked around Baekhyun as he stood in the doorway.

“His apartment,” Baekhyun had answered, muttering, “Far away from you,” under his breath. Baekhyun hadn’t thought Kyungsoo would survive a meeting with his mother, intent on keeping him as far away from her as possible for as long as possible.

He’s brought out of his memories by more and more knocking.

With a sigh, Baekhyun places his book down, ready to give this person a piece of his mind for causing such a ruckus on Monday afternoon. Baekhyun thinks they could at least save it for Friday or Saturday.

Baekhyun stops shorts when he wrenches the door open and sees a familiar mop of black hair standing outside of Kyungsoo’s door.

“Luhan?” he calls out.

“Baekhyun!” Luhan replies before sighing in exasperation. “Sorry for the noise, it’s just that Kyungsoo isn’t answering and I have something to give him.”

“Um,” Baekhyun glances back at his apartment. There’s nothing much out of order, and it’s neat enough to have guests over. “Do you want to wait in my apartment? Maybe he’s out running errands or in class right now.”

Luhan practically skips over to Baekhyun, a bright smile on his face that causes all of Baekhyun’s irritation to wash away.

“What’s in the box?” Baekhyun wonders after closing the door, Luhan placing the brightly wrapped package on the coffee table.

“A birthday present. I thought you would know, since you were with Kyungsoo this weekend.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know where he got that idea from, since he hadn’t even been in the same city. He tells Luhan exactly that.

Luhan’s eyebrows furrow. “You...oh. Well that explains the messages, I suppose.”

“What messages?”

Luhan looks uncomfortable, shifting around in his seat. “Well Kyungsoo had a get-together on Saturday for his birthday. After I texted him wishing him a happy birthday and wondered how the party was going, he said it was alright, but that it wasn’t as great as it could be. I just assumed he meant it was because I wasn’t there or the food wasn’t that great.”

Baekhyun feels sick. He had completely forgotten that Kyungsoo’s birthday was on Friday. He had been so busy packing up for home and confirming plans with his parents that it completely slipped his mind.

“Luhan?”

“Yes?”

“How would you like to help me grovel for forgiveness?”

Baekhyun is sweating so hard he feels like he just ran a marathon during summer. His collar feels too constricting, his pants too skin-tight, his shoes too tiny.

“Are you sure all of this is necessary?” he asks because as much as he wants to make it up to Kyungsoo, he feels like this is too much. They’ve never dressed up when they went out to dates, always casual no matter if they were going to get noodles or were staying in to eat take-out.

“I promise you he’ll like your outfit,” Luhan says, Minseok nodding next to him. They share a look before chuckling to themselves, but Baekhyun doesn’t find anything funny about losing circulation in his thighs. He’s a fan of tight jeans, loves how his thighs look in them, but these are tighter than anything he’s ever put on. It’s bordering on uncomfortable, but he figures it could be worse (and it’s probably all in his head, brought forth by his nerves).

“Okay,” Luhan says, stepping back from Baekhyun’s tiny dining table to marvel over his work. “Damn, we did a good job.”

All things considering, they did do a more than wonderful job. Baekhyun barely recognizes his dining table, the only thing breaking the illusion being his kitchen in the background. The candles flicker softly, giving the area a soft, warm glow, the wine red table cloth beautifully offsetting the white plates and dishes set out, the vase of roses in the middle of the table completing the look. If Baekhyun closes his eyes, he can almost imagine that he’s in a five-star restaurant and not in his one-star apartment.

“Well, we should be about done here,” Luhan announces.

Baekhyun panics. “No wait, don’t go yet. What do I do? Am I supposed to plate stuff now or wait until he comes? What if he doesn’t like it? What if my present is lame?”

Minseok is the one that steps forward. “Honestly? If someone did this all for me, I would be touched. Even if it’s a little too gaudy for my taste,” Luhan squawks in the background, but Minseok ignores him, “I would love it because they took the time to make me feel special. Buying a present is easy, but preparing dinner? It’s more work and I can tell it’s from the heart.”

“Okay,” Baekhyun breathes, shoulders slumping, “thank you.”

Minseok flashes his signature gummy smile. “No problem. We should probably get going now. Good luck, although I’m sure you won’t need it.”

It’s quiet after Baekhyun escorts them out, the only sound being his heartbeat in his ears. The longer he stands there, the more his confidence decreases until he’s running himself in circles thinking that this is too much, that Kyungsoo isn’t going to like it, that Baekhyun’s going to say something stupid.

Someone knocks on his door.

Baekhyun’s palms start sweating, but no, he can do this. Kyungsoo is important to him and he needs to make up for his airheaded mistake.

It’s clear that Kyungsoo has no idea what’s going on, his eyes widening past their normal size when Baekhyun reveals himself.

“Something special?” Kyungsoo wonders.

“You can say that.”

Kyungsoo cautiously steps over the threshold, moving to leave his shoes by the doorway but Baekhyun stops him. Baekhyun almost smacks himself in the face for wearing shoes, but in his defense, he didn’t think house slippers would fit the bill. He’s left to awkwardly scratch the back of his neck as Kyungsoo stares at him in pure confusion from his outburst.

Ten seconds in and Baekhyun is already on the struggle bus.

“Just, ah, follow me, please.” Baekhyun gestures behind him weakly, hoping that his smile looks convincing.

“Woah,” Kyungsoo breathes out once the dining table comes into view. “Did you do all of this?”

Honesty is the best policy and even though his cheeks burn, he says, “No, Minseok and Luhan helped me. That doesn’t mean I care less, though!” he’s quick to say.

All Kyungsoo does is smile softly. “Shall we, then?”

Baekhyun’s hands shake slightly when he goes to pour the galbitang in bowls, the pot of champong left to the side for now.

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo says once Baekhyun is done. He picks up his utensils and scoops a large spoonful as Baekhyun sits down and prepares himself. He hopes the food is good. He doesn’t doubt Minseok’s abilities, but he hadn’t been allowed to taste it when it was being made. Not for the first time over the last few hours, Baekhyun wishes that he could cook so he could know what it tastes like, know that he had been responsible for creating something just for Kyungsoo.

A moan breaks him out of his berating, Baekhyun going as still as an ice sculpture.

“This is delicious,” Kyungsoo compliments.

Baekhyun gives him a shaky smile, brain still trying to process the sound the other male just let out. “I’m glad.”

The soup is delicious when he’s finally able to eat some. Things look up from there, Kyungsoo talking about his day and how he’s glad that he’s home - “Well, at least next door to home,” he says with a twinkle in his eyes. Baekhyun, in turn, tells him about the one class he had that day.

“Do you like it?” Baekhyun asks when they quiet down. The question has been on the tip of his tongue all night and he needs to ask before he combusts. “Luhan told me you would like something like this.”

Kyungsoo hums. “Well, it’s not that I hate it. I did mention that I liked going out and wanted to eat at a fancy restaurant once in my life, but he must have stopped listening because I also said I prefer casual dates.”

Baekhyun knew that listening to Luhan had been a bad idea. His original plan had been to order some take-out from a place down the street that Kyungsoo loved, but Luhan had practically laughed in his face.

“Kyungsoo likes fancy things,” Luhan had said. “He’ll be more impressed if you get a candlelit dinner together.” Luhan had completely ignored Baekhyun when he weakly said he didn’t know how to cook anything.

“Leave it to Minseok and I,” he had responded.

Baekhyun’s starting to regret listening to anything Luhan says.

“However,” Kyungsoo continues, enveloping Baekhyun’s hand in his to give a squeeze, “Luhan is also the type to go overboard. His intentions are pure, the execution is just a little...regardless, I like it. Thank you.” Kyungsoo is smiling that beautiful smile of his and Baekhyun wants to take a picture of it and keep it forever. He wants to capture the beauty that is Kyungsoo’s smile, but no photograph will ever be able to show how stunning his smile truly is.

“So you never told me why you set this all up,” Kyungsoo points on once they’re done, bellies full and sated.

“Ah.” Baekhyun’s been preparing his speech for this moment the entire dinner, but now that he’s about to give it, he realizes that he doesn’t really need to think about it. It’s coming from the heart. It will be good no matter what he says.

“First, sorry again that I couldn’t get this together all by myself. Regardless, I want you to know that I do mean it when I say I’m sorry. I totally forgot that it was your birthday on Friday and I wanted to make it up to you somehow. I’ll try learning how to make these dishes so I can make them for you one day without worrying that I’ll burn the kitchen down.” Kyungsoo’s lips quirk at that, Baekhyun outright relaxing. “This is the second year in a row that I’ve known you yet I haven’t spent your birthday with you and I’ll always regret it. I hope this is a good start for making it up to you.”

“You’re silly.”

“I am?”

“Yes, you are. I will admit that I was a little sad you weren’t there, but I remembered how you told me you were going to go home for the weekend to see your parents. I never told you about the party because I didn’t want to keep you from your family. Besides, birthdays come every year. You can be there with me next year.”

Baekhyun’s eyes light up. “Promise?”

Kyungsoo’s smile is even more beautiful in the candlelight. “Promise.”

“Oh! Hold on,” Baekhyun suddenly exclaims. He panics when he looks to his right and doesn’t see the present.

“Where did it go, where did it go?” he mutters to himself, looking under the tablecloth and fretting even more when the present isn’t there, either.

“Everything okay?” Kyungsoo wonders.

No, Baekhyun wants to shout. He hears something tumble to the side when he scoots his chair back, relief flooding his features when he spies the box on his left. Shaking his head and fighting the urge to smack his own forehead, Baekhyun picks up the box and wipes any dust that might have accumulated.

“I also got this for you.” He hands the box over, taking in the way Kyungsoo’s eyes seem to go wide in curiosity with a hint of anticipation.

“I don’t know if you’re a sentimental person, so I went with something simple but would still remind you of me,” he explains while Kyungsoo carefully unwraps the paper. “Not that you really need reminding, since I’m sure part of my name is tattooed onto your skin somewhere.” Baekhyun laughs weakly.

The keychain rattles when Kyungsoo picks it up to examine it. It’s light grey, something nondescript because if Baekhyun knows anything about Kyungsoo, it’s that he loves colors that aren’t flashy. On one side of it is the day they met, the other side blank in case Kyungsoo wants to add something in the future.

It’s a surprise when Kyungsoo pulls out his keys right then and there, attaching the keychain with a tiny smile. “I love it. Thank you, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun almost falls over with how happy Kyungsoo looks when he locks gazes with Baekhyun. “N-no problem. Happy late birthday. And-” he cuts himself off, cursing when Kyungsoo tilts his head in question.

“And?”

“And nothing?” It sounds like a question even to Baekhyun’s ears.

“You can’t just start a sentence, stop, and expect me to not be curious.”

Sinking teeth into his lower lip, Baekhyun weighs the pros and cons of asking right now. The ambience is nice and Kyungsoo’s attention is all on him so he won’t be able to miss the question, but that also means there’s no way out of this if Kyungsoo says no.

Fuck it, Baekhyun thinks.

“Well, I uh know that we haven’t made anything official yet other than the fact that we’re soulmates and all and it’s been on my mind for a few days now, well weeks actually, and I figured one of us should ask so here I go before I start babbling my way out of it. Will you be my boyfriend?”

It’s clear that that was the last thing Kyungsoo expected to hear, his mouth dropping open into a little circle. Baekhyun’s amused, since he’s never seen Kyungsoo look so shocked before, but he’s also freaking out.

But then it’s like the clouds clear away and he’s suddenly looking at the sun. Kyungsoo’s smile isn’t that large, but Baekhyun can tell he’s trying to hold himself back and keep calm like usual. It makes him feel better that he’s not the only happy one in this situation, that Kyungsoo wants to be with him, too.

“Yes, I will.”

One would think that Baekhyun just proposed with how sweaty and nervous he was, but no, not yet. Right now, all he wants to do is gather Kyungsoo in his arms, kiss him until he can’t breathe, but there’s a table separating them. He settles for a smile, but he knows that it won’t be able to convey how his heart is fluttering away from three simple words. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do if Kyungsoo tells him he loves him or if he proposes, but baby steps will suffice until then.

Baekhyun is panicking.

There are still only two letters on his arm and they could correspond to anyone. He has no idea if Kyungsoo is his actual soulmate or not and that scares the hell out of him. He wants his perfect, happy ending, but if Kyungsoo isn’t his soulmate, then he’s robbing his actual soulmate – as well as Kyungsoo’s – from the life they deserve. Baekhyun wants to be selfish, wants to keep Kyungsoo forever, but if he’s not his to be with, he can’t let himself do it.

The letters on his forearm are almost mocking him, the “n” and “y” looking so innocent. Baekhyun wishes that the name was written in Korean characters instead – he would be able to have a better grasp of who his soulmate was – but as his mom used to say, “These things work in mysterious ways, Baekhyun. There has to be a little mystery to it. It makes people patient in a way, strips them of their need for instant gratification.”

Baekhyun craves instant gratification, needs to know that Kyungsoo is his to be with, that he is Kyungsoo’s as well. For a second, he hates how it has been ingrained in him to believe that there’s one person that completes him, hates how it’s all he can think about, but the feeling is gone soon enough. It’s replaced by a calming sensation, a pull to his left that he can’t ignore. He opens the door before Kyungsoo even has a chance to knock and he must look like he’s been dragged through Hell and back for Kyungsoo immediately asks, “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Not physically, Baekhyun wants to say. He settles for a shake of the head, but stops halfway and nods.

“Where?”

“My heart. Probably my head as well.”

Now Kyungsoo looks confused. “I don’t know if I’m following.”

Unbidden, the words spill out of his lips, Kyungsoo’s expression changing more times in those few minutes than Baekhyun has ever seen from him. His expression eventually settles to one that Baekhyun thinks is soft understanding, but he can’t really be too sure because his emotions are everywhere and his focus is shot.

“Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo calls. “Don’t you feel the pull? Would that be there if I wasn’t your soulmate?”

Something is missing, though. Something isn’t right, but Baekhyun doesn’t want to upset Kyungsoo by saying that. It’s going to sound like Kyungsoo isn’t good enough when he’s more than perfect.

And before Baekhyun can even attempt to calm down or think about the pull, he’s being kissed.

Someone squeaks and Baekhyun is pretty sure that the sound came from him, but it doesn’t matter since there are plump lips pressing against his. Something flutters in his chest, and warmth radiates out, spreading from the tips of his toes to the roots of his hair.

Kyungsoo’s lips are so soft and Baekhyun wants to compare them to clouds, but that’s weird because Kyungsoo’s lips are very real and not wisps of water floating in the sky but they’re so soft and now they’re gone.

Baekhyun blinks in confusion only to see Kyungsoo biting his lips, the same lips that were just pressed against his lips and Kyungsoo just kissed him. He must be dreaming.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun is confused.

“I’m confused.”

“It’s just,” Kyungsoo looks away before looking back at Baekhyun, “you weren’t responding, so I thought you didn’t like it. I’m sorry for forcing that on you.”

“No,” Baekhyun quickly says, “No, no, no I really enjoyed that. I was just- I was surprised. I never thought that...” Baekhyun doesn’t think he’s ever been this flustered before but Kyungsoo just kissed him, he’s allowed to be star struck for a few minutes. The only thing floating through his head is that they haven’t even cuddled, yet they just kissed and while Baekhyun is a big fan of cuddling, he might be an even bigger fan of kissing.

“Never thought that...?” Kyungsoo teases. Baekhyun finds it incredibly unfair that Kyungsoo can recover so easily while he’s still flailing.

So instead of being sensible and responding with words, he responds with another kiss, taking pride in the fact that Kyungsoo stumbles back slightly before grabbing onto his waist for support.

Their second kiss isn’t as soft as the first one, not as tentative, but it’s no less perfect. It’s simple, a nice push and pull that has Baekhyun’s head spinning. Kyungsoo’s lips are perfect, everything about him is perfect, and he’s addicted. Baekhyun finds out Kyungsoo’s hair is just as soft as it looks when he gains the courage to thread fingers through his dark locks. Kyungsoo makes a sound akin to a groan, pulling back to get some air into his system. Baekhyun doesn’t let him go far, quickly placing a small kiss on Kyungsoo’s lips and laughing as he pulls away.

“Kisses are nice,” Baekhyun murmurs, running a finger over Kyungsoo’s bottom lip.

“Better than cuddles?” Kyungsoo wonders.

“I might need more evidence before I come to a conclusion.”

Kyungsoo chuckles, but he doesn’t look as adverse to the idea as he had before. Baekhyun kisses him again, almost bursting at the seams with how happy he is.

“Well, well, look who’s finally giving us the time of day.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “It hasn’t been that long, Yixing.”

“It has,” Yixing responds automatically. Next to him, Sehun nods, his hair flopping around with the movement.

“Looks like you need a haircut,” Baekhyun tells Sehun teasingly.

“Changing the subject won’t change the fact that it’s been months since we’ve eaten together,” Sehun huffs.

Okay, so maybe it’s been longer than Baekhyun had thought. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I’ve just been spending a lot of time with Kyungsoo. And I text you so there.” He sticks his tongue out.

“Well, as long as you’re happy I guess we can forgive you,” Yixing says, but Baekhyun knows that the exasperation in his voice isn’t real.

“Enough about me, what have you both been up to?”

“Drowning in upper divisions,” Sehun grumps, Yixing patting him on the thigh, or at least that’s where Baekhyun thinks he pats Sehun. There’s a table in the way, so he can’t see anything below the waist on their side.

“It will get easier next year,” Baekhyun says. His last year is going well, only bogged down this quarter by graduation preparations.

“Until the last quarter hits and then you suddenly realize you’re graduating in less than three months and haven’t prepared anything.”

Baekhyun bursts out laughing while Sehun looks torn between joining him and looking stricken. “I’ll remind you later, Yixing.”

“Thanks!” Yixing smiles, his dimple peeking out. Baekhyun’s always wanted to poke the little indent, see how Yixing would react, but he’s never done it. His eyes flicker with surprise when Sehun reaches out and pushes his finger against Yixing’s cheek and Yixing doesn’t even flinch.

Sehun seems to catch himself a second too late, quickly pulling his finger away. It doesn’t take much to put two and two together.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at them. “Something going on?”

Sehun coughs almost immediately, cheeks turning red. Yixing is calm on the outside, but Baekhyun has known him long enough to notice all of his nervous quirks. He can feel vibrations on the floor, no doubt from where Yixing is bouncing his foot.

Yixing whispers something to Sehun that Baekhyun can’t hear. He does manage to pick up on one word – “show.”

“I can’t. You know mine is on my calf.” Thankfully, Sehun is a terrible whisperer.

Yixing gives up all attempts to be secretive when he hisses, “Well mine is on my back so either I take my shirt off or you roll your pants up.”

Sehun pouts, but moves to do as he’s told, Baekhyun waiting with amusement playing along his features.

“I don’t want to lift my leg up,” Sehun says bashfully.

“It’s okay,” Yixing chirps. “Baekhyun can bend down and look himself.”

“You suck,” Baekhyun grumbles, but leans down nonetheless. He almost bangs his head against the table when he spies the faintest outline of a letter along Sehun’s leg, the “n” completely similar to the one adorning his arm.

“Like I said, mine is on my back, but,” Yixing shrugs, a bright smile on his face. “we’re soulmates.”

“Congratulations!” Baekhyun exclaims far too loudly to be socially acceptable, but he doesn’t give a damn.

“Thank you,” they both respond, laughing as they look at each other with affection. They’re so cute it’s almost disgusting, but Baekhyun is overjoyed for them regardless. He’s still going to tease them, though, because that’s what friends are for.

“I’m still here, you know. Now that you don’t have to hide anything, you’re awfully gross with each other.”

“Please, like you don’t turn into a lovesick puppy whenever Kyungsoo is around,” Yixing shoots back, Baekhyun making an indignant noise.

“I do not.”

All he receives are two identically disbelieving raised eyebrows. Baekhyun huffs. “Well it’s not like you two would know anyways. I’ve never introduced you.”

“I’ve always wondered about that,” Sehun pipes in.

“Yeah,” Yixing says. “We’re nice, certainly much better company than you, so why haven’t you brought him to one of these lunch dates yet?”

“Because you’re awful, that’s why.”

“Sehun is the cutest person ever, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.”

“Yixing,” Sehun whines, swatting at him with a blush.

Yixing looks confused. “What did I say? Where is the lie?”

Baekhyun fake retches. “I don’t want Kyungsoo anywhere near you two. He doesn’t need ammo to tease me with.”

They continue to bother him until he gives in. Their pouts had been too effective, too sad, and Baekhyun heard them cheering before he even realized that he agreed.

“Is it weird?” he wonders suddenly.

“Weird?” Sehun questions.

“Yeah, I mean you were friends first. Is it weird to be holding hands now? Have you kissed yet?” he asks, Yixing shushing him.

“You’re so loud, damn. No, we haven’t, and no it’s not weird. I can’t say for Sehun, but I’ve always been protective of him. At least this explains why I’ve always wanted to cuddle with him and hold his hand and no one else.” As if to prove his point, he holds up their twined hands before letting them drop.

Baekhyun wonders what it’s like, to go from friends to lovers, to know each other inside and out before getting together, to look at the other person and see something different from the bumbling freshman or sleepy sophomore at first meeting.

“I actually liked hyung before this.”

“You did?” Yixing exclaims, turning his wide-eyed stare towards Sehun.

“Yeah,” Sehun admits with a blush. “I always thought you were attractive and you’re really nice, too. There’s nothing I don’t like about you.”

“What an interesting turn of events,” Baekhyun says since it’s clear that Yixing is too stunned to say anything.

“Sehun...”

“It’s okay, hyung,” he says. “I got really lucky and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Baekhyun can sense when he should leave as well as the next person and this is one of those times. Yixing’s eyebrows are furrowed, the look he gets when he’s thinking incredibly hard about something. He knows it’s only a matter of time before they engage in personal conversation, one that will probably be done at one of their apartments. Baekhyun saves them the trouble by standing up, announcing, “I actually just realized I have some errands to run so I’ll see you guys later.”

“Oh, okay. Bye Baekhyun hyung,” Sehun says. He sends Baekhyun a shaky smile, Baekhyun softening at how nervous he seems.

“See you,” Yixing says, but he’s completely distracted. Baekhyun shoots Sehun an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up before he walks away.

The next thing Baekhyun knows, he’s walking out of his last final in college. The sun, bright and blinding, greets him when he opens the door, Baekhyun walking out in a daze because he can’t believe this is it. After a little more than a decade of different school levels, he’s going to be done with school once and for all in a few days. Of course, there’s still the time it takes for his professors to grade his exams, but he’s confident that he’s going to pass all of them and retain his higher-than-average grade point average.

His motions are mechanic as he walks to the bus stop, shows the driver his student ID, and plops down on a plastic chair. The ride seems to go faster than usual and Baekhyun’s stepping off the bus before he knows it.

The scent of freshly baked good grabs his attention when he passes by a bakery, the same one he’s passed by for two years now but never paid attention to. Something about it today seems especially enticing, something other than his nose and stomach pulling him inside.

He looks around, but for what he doesn’t know. He just feels like he needs to be in the store at the moment. Baekhyun scans the tiny shop for any sight of Kyungsoo since that’s usually what happens when he feels the tugging in his chest, but his soulmate is nowhere to be found.

Baekhyun stumbles a few steps, almost bumping into a man wearing sunglasses – who the hell wears sunglasses indoors? – as the feeling in his chest tightens. The sensation is familiar, but he can’t place it and it’s frustrating him. It’s different from what sometimes happens around Kyungsoo, much softer, delicate.

The man’s dark shades sharply contrast with the bright yellow of his hair and the soft pink of his lips. Baekhyun is entranced for a few seconds.

“Sorry,” he stutters out, moving out of the way so the man can pass by.

Pink lips curl to reveals perfectly white teeth. Everything about this man is fascinating. Baekhyun doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone like him. “No harm done,” he says, voice soft, soothing in a way like Kyungsoo’s but with a completely different pitch.

The man exits the shop and Baekhyun is broken from his spell. He blinks and wonders what the hell just happened.

The bell rings behind him and for a split second, he thinks that the man has come back to scold him or something, but it’s a girl no older than twenty.

“Are you in line?” she asks.

“No,” Baekhyun says, stepping out of the way. He leaves the store feeling confused and lost.

There’s a man talking on stage, no doubt about the importance of higher education and how it’s gotten him where he is today – wherever that is – but Baekhyun stopped paying attention a while ago. He doesn’t remember his high school graduation taking this long, nor does he think his brother’s graduation was this long, and he sighs. He just wants this to be over with. He just wants to hold Kyungsoo’s hand, hug Kyungsoo, hell, be near Kyungsoo but as it is, Kyungsoo is rows behind him. The only thing keeping him going is the thought that all of his hard work will finally pay off within the next two hours. Hopefully. If it takes more than two hours, Baekhyun doesn’t know if he’ll be able to stay awake.

Thankfully, the man finishes his speech shortly thereafter, Baekhyun perking up in his seat when names start to get called. Everything after that goes by in a blur and the next thing Baekhyun knows, there are hats being thrown in the air and cheers being screamed.

“Congratulations!” the person next to him screams before running off, Baekhyun laughing at his antics. It’s a little difficult to travel through the throng of bodies and even harder to find the person he’s looking for. Not for the first time, Baekhyun curses his lack of height, blowing his bangs up in frustration just as he’s jabbed in the shoulder.

Baekhyun spies Sehun attached to Yixing’s shoulder a few meters away when he turns, head buried in the crook there even if he’s the taller of the two. When Sehun looks up, Baekhyun catches a few tear tracks running down his cheeks, Yixing gently thumbing the moisture away. Baekhyun makes a mental note to find them again later.

Then it’s as if the light shines and the sea parts because he spots a head of black hair, the front spiked up from when Baekhyun had run fingers through it to perfection hours prior. He catches Kyungsoo in a backhug, wheezing when Kyungsoo throws his elbow back into Baekhyun’s ribs.

“I’ve told you not to scare me like that!” Kyungsoo yells. He pulls Baekhyun in for a proper hug not seconds later, placing a quick kiss to Baekhyun’s cheek that has him blushing.

“We made it,” Baekhyun breathes. He doesn’t just mean through school, but also the last two years, all of the time it took them to get together, all of the effort they both put in to make it work. It seems surreal that it’s already been two years since they met. Baekhyun swears he was stumbling along the pathway, chest tight with an emotion he didn’t understand, just yesterday.

Baekhyun definitely isn’t crying, no, not at all.

They break off to find their parents even if Baekhyun is loathe to part with Kyungsoo.

“I’ll see you back at your apartment,” Kyungsoo had said before quickly walking away. Baekhyun had been hoping that he would finally be able to meet Kyungsoo’s parents and introduce him to his own, but it looks like that isn’t going to be happening.

“Baekhyun!”

All of a sudden, he’s being engulfed in a hug, a bouquet of flowers shoved up against his face. Baekhyun sputters around a pink carnation as his mother squeezes him around his middle.

“Let him breathe,” he hears his father say. Baekhyun has always been thankful for his father for balancing out his mother’s tendencies.

Baekhyun doesn’t get a break, though, his mother squishing his cheeks together as she coos. “My baby is all grown up and a college graduate now.”

“What about me?” his brother calls.

His mother scoffs. “You had your time to shine. Now, Baekhyun,” she flutters her eyelashes sweetly, “where is this soulmate of yours?”

Baekhyun groans as best as he can while his face resembles a fish.

“Uh, I think you’re going to have to let go of his face if you want him to answer, mom,” his brother points out. She does so with a huff, but the sparkle in her eyes doesn’t dim.

“Well, where is he?”

Baekhyun hazards a glance behind him, but it’s only for show. He knows that Kyungsoo is far away enough that Baekhyun won’t be able to see him. He plasters on a pout when he turns to face his mother. “I don’t know, he was here before you came. Maybe you scared him off.”

“Nonsense,” his mother responds automatically. Both his father and brother snicker, Baekhyun’s lips twitching with the urge to join in but he can’t since she’s still looking at him.

Before his mother can start ranting about how much Baekhyun doesn’t love her or something akin to that, Baekhyun pulls his brother into a hug.

“I’m glad you could make it,” he says.

His brother claps him on the shoulder once he pulls back. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I’m proud of you, Baek. You’re not the little baby Baek I remember. You’re like a toddler Baek now,” he teases. Baekhyun rolls his eyes good-naturedly before moving on to his father.

They chat and his mother demands that they take a ridiculous amount of pictures. When his mother deems they’ve taken enough, Baekhyun bows in apology at the poor person his mother happened to rope into being the photographer.

Yixing manages to find them at one point and that ensues another round or five of pictures. His parents are just as sweet as Baekhyun remembers them being and it’s very clear where Yixing got his manners and teasing nature from.

It’s getting late and Baekhyun hasn’t seen Kyungsoo since they parted ways. Baekhyun isn’t surprised; Kyungsoo had said he would see Baekhyun back at his apartment.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” his mother asks, poking her head out from the passenger side of the car when they arrive at Baekhyun’s apartment. It’s been a long day and Baekhyun wants nothing more than to take a hot shower, go through all of the pictures he’s taken, and then sleep. Hopefully Kyungsoo will stop by sometime during that time.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “I’m sure, mom. I’m a graduate now, I can fend for myself,” he teases.

His father must say something since she quickly looks over her shoulder before turning her slightly watery gaze back to Baekhyun.

“Oh no, don’t cry,” Baekhyun pleads, but sure enough, water starts to gather in her waterline.

“I just can’t believe you’ve graduated. Just yesterday I was enrolling you in kindergarten.”

“I’m still me, Mom. I’m still your little boy.”

That seems to do the trick, a watery smile lighting her face up. “My little Baekhyun. Come home soon, okay? And bring Kyungsoo with you!”

Leave it to his mother to change emotions at the flip of a switch. “I’ll see what I can do,” he says, but he only half means it.

A few minutes later and they’re driving away. Baekhyun’s lips hurt from all the smiling he’s done in the last few hours, but it’s a pleasant ache. He’s never going to graduate again; he needs to enjoy this moment, this feeling, while he can.

An appreciative groan leaves his lips when he sits down on his couch. His eyes start to slip closed against his volition, snapping open again seconds later when he remembers Kyungsoo is going to come over soon.

I’m home~ he texts Kyungsoo.

There are a few other messages waiting for him, a smile appearing on his face when he opens the pictures Sehun had sent him. The first one is of the both of them, Sehun’s cheek smushed against Baekhyun’s as they smile at the camera. The second one is of the three of them – Baekhyun, Sehun, and Yixing – with Yixing in the middle, the dumbest expressions on their faces. It makes Baekhyun laugh as much as it makes him ache, knowing that, from now on, he won’t be able to see either of them everyday anymore, won’t be able to walk to the food court and spot those two at their usual table.

He saves both before continuing on, rolling his eyes when he sees two messages from his mother.

Take a picture of Kyungsoo for me! the first one says, the second one wondering why Baekhyun is taking so long to reply. Baekhyun can practically read the whine through the phone.

Another message from his brother reads Mom is killing me blabbering on about your soulmate. Send help.

The last one is from Yixing, a picture of him making a funny face and the caption Don’t forget about me. Tell me when you’re back at your parent’s house so we can hang out.

There’s a knock on his door just as he finishes responding to all of them.

“Why do you still knock when you have a key?” Baekhyun wonders when he opens the door to reveal Kyungsoo still dressed up in his graduation garb.

Kyungsoo shrugs, “It’s polite.”

“Dropping an ice cube down my back that one time wasn’t polite.”

“Different circumstances call for different levels of politeness,” Kyungsoo responds cheekily. “Can I come in?”

“Why do I put up with you?” Baekhyun grumbles but steps to the side nonetheless. Kyungsoo makes himself at home on Baekhyun’s couch, eyes following Baekhyun until he sits down.

“You look like a puppy,” Baekhyun says.

“You’re the puppy in this relationship,” Kyungsoo refutes automatically.

Baekhyun hums. “I don’t know. The way you were watching me just now with your cute, large eyes...I could basically see your tail wagging.”

Kyungsoo grumbles something under his breath.

“Sorry? Couldn’t catch that,” Baekhyun teases as he leans forward.

He gets a push to the forehead that has him tipping backwards. “I’m not a puppy nor am I cute.”

“You’re pretty cute to me,” he sing-songs.

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything after that, simply turns his head up and to the side as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun croons. No response. He tries again, but still no response.

“Kyungsoo,” he breathes. They would be nose-to-nose if Kyungsoo turned towards him, but the other male resolutely continues to look to the side. Baekhyun spies the way his fingers are clenched, brushing his smile against Kyungsoo’s cheek.

Baekhyun has never needed an excuse to tease Kyungsoo with kisses, but he’s not going to waste the opportunity. If Kyungsoo wants to play the hard way, he’s going to respond equally as hard. Gently, he brushes his lips against Kyungsoo’s jawline, stopping right when he gets to Kyungsoo’s lips. One small kiss to the corner of Kyungsoo’s lips later and he’s traveling to Kyungsoo’s cheeks, his nose, back to his cut jawline.

“Won’t you forgive me?” he wonders, fighting a smile back when Kyungsoo turns towards him with fire burning in his eyes.

“Manipulative jerk,” Kyungsoo says, his previously motionless lips moving against Baekhyun’s. A shudder runs down Baekhyun’s spine at the contact. He wants nothing more than to close the distance, but he wants Kyungsoo to make the move more.

“But I’m your jerk.”

Kyungsoo’s sigh washes over Baekhyun’s lips, making them part slightly. He can’t help the smile that forms when Kyungsoo leans the last few millimeters forward and connects their lips for a sweet kiss that steals all of Baekhyun’s air from his lungs.

Kyungsoo pulls back long enough to say, “Menace,” before closing the distance again. Baekhyun chokes on a gasp when teeth nip on his lower lip and a tongue that is most definitely not his runs over his teeth.

Kyungsoo doesn’t go any further, simply pulls back with one last nip. Baekhyun is left to sit there in awe and slight confusion, lungs fighting to get enough oxygen in his system.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Baekhyun pants, his lips still tingling from the mind-blowing kiss. He’s never had someone kiss him like that, but then again, before Kyungsoo, he’d never kissed anyone period.

A sprinkle of red appears on Kyungsoo’s cheeks. “I don’t know, I just did it. Was it weird?”

Baekhyun’s not going to lie, because yeah, it was pretty weird to have someone else’s tongue in his mouth. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, yet Baekhyun finds that he probably wouldn’t mind if they did it again, which he tells Kyungsoo. He’s proud of himself when he says it and his voice doesn’t crack.

It goes quiet and Baekhyun feels this strange urge to lean his head against Kyungsoo’s shoulders. He doesn’t want to fall asleep, but Kyungsoo’s shoulders look so inviting. Maybe Kyungsoo could run fingers through his hair and that would be really nice. But then he remembers that he hasn’t taken a picture with Kyungsoo yet, so he straightens up.

“Let’s take a picture,” Baekhyun proposes when Kyungsoo turns towards him.

Kyungsoo laughs. “Right now? It won’t match your other pictures.”

“It’s okay, we’re still in our robes and stuff. I don’t want to forget this moment. I could care less where the pictures is taken.”

“Okay, but only if you let me take the picture. Your arms are too short.”

“Our arms are the same length!” Baekhyun cries.

“I don’t trust you to take a good picture.”

“I resent that statement.”

In the end, Baekhyun lets Kyungsoo take the picture after receiving a kiss and a promise that he would send the picture to Baekhyun.

“It’s unfair how you use kisses to your advantage,” Baekhyun grumbles as he fixes his hair to be presentable.

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “You did the same thing earlier.”

And, well, Baekhyun can’t deny that so he settles down.

“Ready?” Kyungsoo asks as the mirror image of the two of them stare Baekhyun down through Kyungsoo’s phone. He gets a little distracted by how close their faces are, their cheeks almost touching, but more than that, he gets distracted by how adorable Kyungsoo looks.

Somehow, Baekhyun finds himself staring at Kyungsoo instead of at the phone’s camera. He can’t help it; Kyungsoo’s side profile is amazing, his smile bright, his face ethereal. Baekhyun is so, so lucky that sometimes he doesn’t think he deserves Kyungsoo.

A nudge to the knee forces him to look back at the phone, his smile still plastered in place.

“My smile looks like a square,” Baekhyun wails when Kyungsoo shows him the picture.

“I think it’s cute. It has character.”

“There has to be a better picture in there somewhere.” Baekhyun reaches for the phone, but Kyungsoo swats him away.

“That one’s perfectly fine,” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun whines, but Kyungsoo is adamant. There’s a smile on his face, one that stays there as he swipes through his pictures. Even when he leaves, claiming that they should both go to sleep soon since it’s been a long day, he’d only shown that one picture to Baekhyun.

“Fine,” Baekhyun huffs, “but I expect you to at least send me that one and only picture.”

“Promise!” Kyungsoo calls as he walks the few short steps to his apartment before disappearing with a wave.

Two new messages greet Baekhyun when he’s done with his shower and is snuggled in bed.

They’re both from Kyungsoo. The first one is the picture Kyungsoo had shown him earlier, Baekhyun smiling softly as he runs a finger over his screen. He thinks they’re pretty fucking cute, if he does say so himself.

This one is my favorite. the second message reads. Below it isn’t a photo Baekhyun has ever seen before, one of the ones that Kyungsoo had refused to show him. It had been taken when Baekhyun was entranced with Kyungsoo. His eyes are soft, his smile even softer, while he gazes at Kyungsoo who is smiling at the camera like he just won the lottery.

Without thinking, Baekhyun sets it as his wallpaper. Something flutters up his chest and lodges his throat with emotions when he looks at the picture.

It’s my favorite, too :)

Good luck on your first day! I know you’ll do great.

Baekhyun wishes he had the confidence Kyungsoo had in him. He fidgets, unconsciously tugging on the ends of his sleeves as he waits in the living room of his parent’s house. It’s a little weird being back in his parent’s house permanently – or permanently until his mom decides that he needs to go find an apartment with his soulmate, a thought that Baekhyun shivers at – and he already misses his apartment. It had been his little place for two years, his home away from home, and while he does love the house he grew up in, he liked it in his apartment no matter how much he joked about it. He smiles thinking about how the owner had given him a box of snacks when he moved out. She’s a sweet lady and Baekhyun will never forget her and her kindness.

“Ready to go?” his father questions.

Baekhyun’s probably never going to be ready, but he doesn’t want to flake on his first day of work; that would leave a terrible impression. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You’ll do fine, Baekhyun. You’ve always been a hard-worker. Just be prepared to make a lot of coffee,” his father teases as they make their way to the car. His brother is still hogging his car and Baekhyun is almost at the point where he doesn’t think he’s ever going to get his baby back.

The drive to the office is terribly short, mostly because Baekhyun is panicking his way into melting into the seat in order to not go. He doesn’t even know why he’s so nervous – he had obviously done something right during the interview or they wouldn’t have hired him.

His phone pings with an text, appreciation flowing through him when he opens it. It’s only a simple smiley face emoji from Kyungsoo, but it’s just what he needs. He texts an obnoxious amount of faces back as he walks up to the building after biding his father goodbye.

“Kick butt!” his father had exclaimed.

“Hello, how may I help you?” the woman behind the front desk asks when Baekhyun meanders over. He’s still not used to how fancy the entrance looks. It’s more like a hotel than an office to him.

“Hi,” he replies. “I’m the new intern for Infinity Generation.” Baekhyun still wonders who the hell named a gaming company that, but he lets it go.

The woman’s face lights up in recognition. “It’s on the fourth floor and the elevator is just around the corner. Good luck on your first day.”

“Thank you.” He bows, making his way to the left.

Not for the first time, Baekhyun wonders how he managed to get this job. He suspects his minor in business probably had something to do with it; his bachelor’s in biology certainly didn’t get him here.

The ride to the fourth floor is long enough for Baekhyun’s palms to sweat. He hopes his co-workers are nice and don’t give him a hard time.

When he steps out of the elevators, the first thing he sees is another front desk. Another woman sits behind the counter and greets him with a smile.

Son Seungwan the nameplate reads.

“You must be the new intern,” is the first thing Seungwan says.

“Um, yes, that’s me. Byun Baekhyun,” he says, cringing because that could not have been any lamer.

Fortunately, she seems to find it okay, laughing as she points to her left. “If you go down this hallway, you should be able to find your desk. There are others waiting to meet you.”

Great. Baekhyun gulps at the thought of what’s waiting for him. He sends her a shaky smile. “Thank you.”

“See you later,” she chirps and if Baekhyun weren’t so nervous, he would appreciate how lively she is.

The office floor is exactly what he pictured it to look like, just with less cubicles. There’s a lot of rooms partitioned off, but as he walks by, he notices they’re all connected. Desks in groups of two, three, or four are pushed into each room, but it doesn’t look that cramped.

He stops when he catches sight of his name on one of the plaques adorning the wall next to an open room. This is it. With a deep breath, he pokes his head in, surprised to see there are only two other people – a male and a female – in the room.

“Oh!” the male says and wow, his voice is deep. Baekhyun had thought Kyungsoo’s voice was deep, but this guy’s voice is at least an octave lower. He stands, Baekhyun almost stumbling back because damn, this guy’s a pole. “You must be the new guy. I’m Park Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun shakes his outstretched hand, marveling at just how large Chanyeol’s hand is compared to his. Is everything about this guy large?

The female comes up, a pretty smile on her face. She looks young, much younger than Baekhyun, but he knows from experience to never assume. “I’m Park Sooyoung, nice to meet you.”

“Park...” Baekhyun trails off, looking between them in question, but not confident enough to ask.

Sooyoung laughs, the sound reminiscent of wind chimes. “No, we aren’t married.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun can feels his cheeks burning. “I’m sorry for assuming, I just-”

Chanyeol claps him on the back so hard Baekhyun almost sprawls face first into his new desk. “Don’t worry, we’ve gotten that a lot.”

“Don’t break him,” Sooyoung admonishes before leaning towards Baekhyun. “I hope you’re not as weird as him.”

Chanyeol squawks and Baekhyun laughs. This is better than he thought it would be. The last bit of tension drains from his shoulders and he just knows he’s going to like it here.

It turns out that his bachelor’s might actually have helped him get in. The more he walks around, the more he finds out that this business is entirely environmentally friendly and even has a partnership with another company focused on preserving habitats (although he has no idea what that has to do with video games). It’s not strictly biology-related, but it doesn’t hurt that biology and environmental sciences can be similar.

Over the last week, Baekhyun’s been able to meet almost everyone on his floor, and to his surprise, he hasn’t made that many cups of coffee. He has made some, and has met some people that way, but no one has demanded anything outrageous of him like he’s seen in dramas.

He’s on the way to the bathroom one day when he turns the corner and ends up clipping someone’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” he says quickly, cursing himself for not watching where he was going.

“It’s okay, no harm done,” the other person says. It’s a man, one who has a head of blond hair that looks terribly familiar. Baekhyun can’t place where he’s seen this man before – surely he would have remembered how soft those eyes looked and how sweet this man’s smile was.

Baekhyun wants to ask where this man works – maybe he passed by his office one day. The other man is walking away before he finds his voice, Baekhyun deflating. It feels like something is poking at his heart, not entirely uncomfortable yet not pleasant either. He can’t place it and that bothers him more than needing to figure out why this man looks so familiar.

“You alright?” Chanyeol asks when he gets back. “Something pop up and bite you?”

Baekhyun makes a face and Sooyoung fake retches from her seat. “No.”

“Then why do you look like something crawled up your pants and bit you in the ass?”

“I do not-” Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “Do you know any males in the office that are blond?”

“Well there’s Yifan, although I guess his hair could be considered dirty blond. There’s also Jonghyun, Joonmyun, and Daehyun.”

“Don’t forget Dongwoo,” Sooyoung pipes up.

“Are any of them around my height?”

“That would be Joonmyun. Although,” Chanyeol squints at him, “Jonghyun could also be close.”

Baekhyun whines.

“Did he have muscles?” Sooyoung asks. When Baekhyun shakes his head, Chanyeol and Sooyoung both immediately say, “Then it’s Joonmyun.”

Baekhyun blinks, sputtering when Sooyoung rounds on him and asks, “Why?”

“I just, uh, ran into him earlier and I thought he looked kind of familiar.”

Chanyeol wiggles his eyebrows and Baekhyun just knows that whatever he’s going to say next is going to be stupid. “Something going on between you two? You’ve been here for less than a week. You have more game than I gave you credit for.”

“Oh my God,” Baekhyun moans, dragging a hand down his face. “No, Chanyeol. I’ve already met my soulmate.”

“When?” Sooyoung squeaks, doe eyes growing larger with her increasing excitement. Baekhyun finds himself caught in their clutches, answering question after question about Kyungsoo. He hasn’t even told his mother about some of this yet, he doesn’t know why he’s comfortable enough around people he’s known for less than a week to tell them. But then again, Chanyeol and Sooyoung are joyful people and Baekhyun knows that, below their excitement, they’re genuinely curious and won’t go around spreading things about him like his mother would.

“That’s so cute!” Sooyoung squeals once Baekhyun shows them his wallpaper. “I wish Joohyun unnie wasn’t so shy so I could have a picture like that, too.”

“Joohyun?” Baekhyun wonders. He hasn’t heard that name before.

Sooyoung gets this sparkly look in her eyes, one that’s brighter than normal. “My soulmate. She’s super cute, but also timid. We don’t have many pictures together.”

“I’m sure you could convince her,” Baekhyun says. “You have a lot of cuteness bottled up and I have a feeling she wouldn’t be able to resist one of your pouts.”

“She can’t,” Sooyoung says happily. “Thanks for the advice!”

“Poor Joohyun noona,” Chanyeol laments. “She’s going to be in for it when she gets home.”

“No one asked you,” Sooyoung sniffs.

While they bicker, Baekhyun’s mind drifts back to Joonmyun, if that’s his name. There’s something about him that Baekhyun is curious about, how he feels so familiar yet Baekhyun knows for a fact they’ve never been introduced before. He makes a promise to himself to find Joonmyun tomorrow to figure things out.

“We really need to stop running into each other like this.”

Baekhyun rubs his forehead which had none too gently rammed into Joonmyun’s – or at least he’s pretty sure this man is Joonmyun - shoulder. He knew that it would be a dumb idea to text and walk at the same time, his mother drilling the lesson into his head at a young age that he should always focus on one thing at a time and never let texting distract him no matter what. He should probably listen to his mother more.

“Probably,” Baekhyun agrees a few beats too late. “It would save us pain, that’s for sure.”

Joonmyun laughs, and while Baekhyun hadn’t planned on this being the way he was going to approach Joonmyun that day, he finds he doesn’t mind as long as he gets to listen to Joonmyun laugh. It’s adorable the way his whole face scrunches up and dear God, his eyes turn into the cutest little crescents. Baekhyun might have melted a little.

“Are you okay, though? Your forehead doesn’t hurt too much does it? I have Advil back in my office if you need anything.”

It’s cute how caring Joonmyun is. Baekhyun shakes his head with a small smile. “Nah, I’ve got a thick skull. It shouldn’t be too bad, but thanks for the offer.”

“No problem,” he says before trailing off.

“Baekhyun,” he supplies easily, holding out a hand.

“Joonmyun,” the other man says, Baekhyun fist pumping in his head. It takes him a few seconds to grab Baekhyun’s hand for a handshake.

“Sorry, I’m still not used to this whole handshake thing the younger people are doing these days. I’m more used to bowing.”

Baekhyun snorts. “You say younger people as if you aren’t one yourself. You don’t even look that old.”

“That may be true, but sometimes I can’t help but feel so divided from the current generation. Maybe it’s because I graduated early. A lot can change in a year.”

“You graduated early?” Baekhyun asks. He finds a newfound appreciation for Joonmyun. That kind of thing isn’t easy to achieve, especially in college. Baekhyun knows people that barely managed to graduate in four or five, so three is almost ridiculous.

“Ah,” Joonmyun says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah.”

He says it like it’s no big deal, but Baekhyun is incredibly impressed. Some part of him wonders why someone like him is working with someone like Joonmyun, but brushes it aside. He’s not going to question it, simply enjoy it instead.

Baekhyun becomes aware of the fact that they’re still holding hands when he goes to run a hand through his hair and he meets resistance.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he says as he basically yanks his hand back. It gets minutely hotter all of a sudden. It’s the middle of summer, don’t they have the air conditioning turned on?

“Don’t worry about it. Um,” Joonmyun looks behind Baekhyun before turning to him with an apologetic expression. “I would really love to keep talking to you, but I can feel that Jonghyun is about to call for me and wonder where I am.” He rolls his eyes, but Baekhyun can tell that it’s fond. He hasn’t known Joonmyun long, but Baekhyun can tell that he’s sweet, that it would probably take a lot to make him angry.

“No problem. I’ll see you later?” Baekhyun offers, smiling unconsciously when Joonmyun smiles his million dollar smile.

“Hopefully we won’t run into each other next time.”

Neither Chanyeol nor Sooyoung are in the office when he gets back. He sits down at his desk before getting to work, although half of his mind is still stuck on the blond-haired man that he simply can’t stop running into.

The feeling of Joonmyun’s palm in his is still fluttering over his own palm like a ghost hours later.

“How was your first week?” Kyungsoo asks.

Baekhyun shrugs as he aimlessly stirs his straw around in his smoothie. “It was better than I expected. I still have to learn a lot, but my co-workers are really nice. They bicker like an old married couple except they aren’t married and they aren’t soulmates.”

Kyungsoo chuckles. “They sound interesting.”

That’s one way of saying it, Baekhyun supposes. “Interesting isn’t even the half of it. How has your week been? Wait, let me guess,” he says when Kyungsoo attempts to respond. Baekhyun sniffs dramatically, putting a hand to his chest. “You were terribly bored and sad because you didn’t see my face everyday.”

Kyungsoo snorts into his hot chocolate, covering it up by taking a sip. “Not quite.”

“I’m offended.” He pouts.

“Well I’m looking at you now, aren’t I? Sometimes I need a break from you and your face.”

“My face is perfect,” Baekhyun sniffs. “I’ve been told I have a nose to die for. One girl even said that she would want her kid to have a nose like mine.”

“Well good to know that it didn’t go to your head.”

“Nope,” Baekhyun chirps, completely ignoring Kyungsoo’s sarcasm. “I also know you have a thing for my hair, so don’t even try to act all high and mighty.”

“Are you sure you aren’t the one obsessed with me running fingers through your hair? It’s understandable to get those two mixed up.” Baekhyun notices the way Kyungsoo doesn’t meet his eyes as he talks, Baekhyun’s lips twitching in response.

“At least I’ll admit that I love how soft my hair is. Now if only you could see the light and stop lying to yourself.”

“I’m not lying to myself,” Kyungsoo grumbles. Baekhyun taps him on the foot as he wags his finger.

“Now, now Kyungsoo, what did I just say?”

“I’m never going to touch your hair again.”

Baekhyun gasps immediately. “What a cruel threat. You wouldn’t even do it for me? Knowing how content it makes me?”

Kyungsoo’s right eye twitches. All it takes is a pout and Kyungsoo is giving in, quickly saying, “Only for you, though,” to prevent Baekhyun from cheering and attracting attention as he’s wont to do.

Baekhyun makes sure to pitch his voice higher and sound like a lovesick girl as he says, “Only for me,” he swoons. “What a guy.”

The act only lasts for a few seconds, Baekhyun’s lips twitching before he bursts into laughter. Kyungsoo’s face had look so appalled that he can’t help it.

“Your face,” Baekhyun wheezes out, clutching his stomach as he he continues to chuckle.

“You’re honestly the weirdest person I’ve ever met,” Kyungsoo muses, but he doesn’t look like he’s about to bolt so Baekhyun considers that a win.

“One day, you’re going to appreciate that fact.”

“Today isn’t the day.”

“Fair enough,” Baekhyun acquiesces with another nudge to Kyungsoo’s foot. He gets a gentle tap in return, his eyes crinkling up in happiness.

“What?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Nothing.” Sometimes Baekhyun is hit with wonder and awe. There had been times where he didn’t believe Kyungsoo would ever be affectionate with him, would never speak more than three sentences at a time to him, and it’s times like right now that it hits him the hardest. It may sound stupid, and he might deny it if someone ever brought it up, but he’ll always cherish the first time Kyungsoo nudged his foot in the noodle restaurant, the first time Kyungsoo wove his fingers with Baekhyun, the first time Kyungsoo kissed him.

Kyungsoo doesn’t quite look like he believes Baekhyun, but he brushes it off. “Are you doing anything next weekend?”

Baekhyun runs through his schedule quickly before shaking his head. “Why?”

“Did you want to go to the noodle place for lunch on Saturday?”

“Are you nervous right now?” Baekhyun asks incredulously.

“No!” Kyungsoo denies, but Baekhyun had seen how he fidgeted in his seat and how his eyes had flit around despite the steady quality of his voice.

Baekhyun laughs, refreshed. “You don’t have to be,” he says gently. “I would never turn down your offer. Unless it was my grandma’s birthday or something, then I would have to.”

That gets a twitch of the lips from Kyungsoo. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“What brought this on?”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “It’s been a while and the food was really great. The lady was nice, too.”

“She’s the sweetest,” Baekhyun agrees. “What time?”

The hammer the details out and sit there for at least another hour. Even though it’s only been six days since he last saw Kyungsoo, it feels much longer. Sometimes he wakes up and thinks about visiting Kyungsoo or calling Kyungsoo to pester him into coming over before realizing they aren’t neighbors anymore. And without a car, well, Baekhyun can’t do anything.

“I can hear you thinking.”

“It’s nothing,” Baekhyun assures Kyungsoo. He can tell his own face is turning a light shade of red, embarrassed at having been caught.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

Baekhyun huffs. “Well, I was just thinking about how we don’t get to see each other as often anymore and how sad that thought made me. It’s a little lonely sometimes since you aren’t just a wall away. I just miss you.”

“You’re so cheesy.” Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose.

“I may be cheesy, but it’s still true.” Baekhyun flashes a smile, enjoying the way he’s able to break Kyungsoo down, make a blush appear on his supple cheeks.

“Are you ready to leave?” Kyungsoo asks.

“I see what you’re trying to do,” Baekhyun says playfully, but he decides that Kyungsoo’s face is already red enough. “But yeah, I am.”

Baekhyun practically sinks into the seats with a soft sigh. He misses this car and all of the times he sat in it last summer as Kyungsoo drove him to dates. He hopes that this summer can be just as kind and allow him to experience it all over again.

The ride is terribly short. Baekhyun would’ve prolonged the ride by demanding they walk to the café and leave Kyungsoo’s car at Baekhyun’s house, but he didn’t want his mother to be outside and waiting for them when they came back. It’s not that he’s ashamed of Kyungsoo, he just values Kyungsoo’s sanity.

There comes a point where he can’t prolong getting out of the car, Baekhyun sighing lightly. “See you next week?”

“I’ll text you when I leave,” Kyungsoo promises.

Baekhyun’s just pushed open the door and is about to step out when Kyungsoo calls his name.

His answering hum is cut off when Kyungsoo quickly leans over and places a kiss on his lips. It’s quicker than Baekhyun would like and he’s too stunned to respond before Kyungsoo is pulling away.

“What was that for?” he wonders in a daze.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “What? I can’t kiss my boyfriend goodbye after a date?”

Boyfriend. That word coming from Kyungsoo’s lips is like heaven, the biggest cookie in the cookie jar, a bowl of ice cream on a hot day. His heart never fails to flutter whenever Kyungsoo says that word, even if it doesn’t happen that often.

“Please do,” Baekhyun blurts out. He’s not even embarrassed, can’t be when Kyungsoo laughs and kisses him again.

“Now go,” Kyungsoo says, Baekhyun saluting before exiting the car.

“Boyfriend,” he sighs to himself dreamily.

He’s in deep.

“Good morning, Joonmyun.”

Baekhyun’s head whips up. He sees Sooyoung wince from the corner of his eye, but ignores it in favor of looking at the man smiling in their office doorway.

“Morning Chanyeol. How are you?”

“Fine, just a lot of paperwork to sort through. I’ve only been here for an hour, couldn’t they have sent these papers in increments instead of dropping it on my desk in one huge stack?” Chanyeol grumbles.

Joonmyun’s pretty laughter rings throughout their little square of an office. “I’m sure you’ll get it done before you leave. You’ve always been a fast worker.”

“Damn right, but I still don’t like looking at this pile.” Chanyeol jabs a thumb at the paper mountain occupying almost the entirety of the left side of his desk.

“I’m sure you’ll be done in no time, just push through it.” He turns towards Sooyoung next. Baekhyun deflates; he had thought Joonmyun would talk to him next since his desk is closer to Chanyeol’s. “How about you Sooyoung? Any mountains to climb today?” Joonmyun teases.

Baekhyun shifts around. He wants Joonmyun’s eyes on him, to look at him with the sparkle Baekhyun knows is always present, wants Joonmyun to ask him about his day even if nothing interesting has happened yet.

“...Baekhyun?” he hears seconds too late.

“Hmm?”

He’s met with a pair of eyes that could hold stars. “I wondered how your weekend was. It seems like you were so busy you didn’t get enough sleep.”

Chanyeol laughs, loud and obnoxious as usual, but Baekhyun ignores it in favor of coughing. “No, I got plenty of sleep. It’s just, uh, early, you know? My brain is still in slumber mode.”

“Ah, the classic morning problem. Would you like some coffee? I can go make you a cup.”

As much as Baekhyun would love anything handmade from Joonmyun, he declines. “I’m not much of a coffee guy, but thanks for the offer.”

“I hope your brain decides to be fully functional soon, then,” Joonmyun says with a smile. “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Bye,” all three of them chorus and then Joonmyun is gone, his non-gelled blond hair flying slightly with the turn. Baekhyun wonders what it would feel like to run a hand through the fluffy strands, wonders if it’s as soft as Kyungsoo’s.

“Well that was nice,” Sooyoung comments, Baekhyun tilting his head in confusion.

“Does he not do that often?”

“It’s been a few months since he’s popped by in the morning,” Chanyeol informs him. “He sporadically comes in the afternoons or rarely when it’s the end of the month and finances are due.”

“Maybe he’s just trying to be friendly,” Baekhyun suggests. “He seems like the type of guy to welcome new people.”

Sooyoung snorts none too gently. “Sure, Baekhyun, if that’s what you want to think.”

He doesn’t know what she means by that. What else would there be to think?

Baekhyun pushes it aside to focus on more pressing matters. “When are you going to call me ‘oppa’? That’s what you call Chanyeol.”

“I’ll call you that when I think you deserve it,” Sooyoung responds cheekily.

“Brat,” Baekhyun mutters, but she hears him anyways.

She sends an obnoxious wink and a heart his way, Baekhyun scrunching his nose up like he doesn’t like it. He won’t admit that he finds Sooyoung adorable and bubbly, always amused by her antics. At least, not yet. Maybe when she calls him ‘oppa,’ he’ll tell her. For now, he’s left to fend off Sooyoung’s whines of “Don’t you love me?” while Chanyeol’s booming laugh resonates throughout their office.

Baekhyun runs a hand down his face, rapidly blinking his eyes to get some feeling back into them. He’s been staring at his computer screen for hours, going through document after document to try and figure out why the numbers weren’t adding up. Everything had been perfect the last time he checked.

Baekhyun sighs in content when he twists and his back cracks. He doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting in the same position, but it feels like an eternity. He just hopes he can go home soon.

He almost jumps out of his skin when there’s a knock against the side of his door.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” Joonmyun smiles, looking just as haggard as Baekhyun feels.

“Why are you here so late?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Joonmyun says as he looks around the mostly empty office. “I think you’re the only one that’s still here.”

“You’re here, aren’t you? Unless I’m hallucinating,” Baekhyun responds. Joonmyun chuckles as he steps into the office.

“Nope, I’m very real and very here. I hadn’t realized how late it was until just now, but I couldn’t leave before finishing up one thing,” Joonmyun says. Baekhyun likes how hard-working Joonmyun is. It’s like looking at a little bit of himself minus the tiny legs and the blond locks.

“Ah, well you should probably hurry home, then,” Baekhyun says, his heart giving a little pang of sadness. He wants to be selfish and ask Joonmyun to stay with him, but why would he? He most likely has someone to go home to.

Joonmyun surprises him by snorting. “Yeah, go home to an empty apartment and a frozen dinner. Would you believe me if I said I would rather stay here?” He laughs, but it’s self-deprecating. Baekhyun’s chest tightens.

He pushes the feeling down to say, “I’m surprised you haven’t met your soulmate yet.” He wants to take it back immediately because Joonmyun gets this soft, slightly strained, look on his face. Sometimes Baekhyun forgets that people don’t always view soulmates as lightly as he does. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine,” Joonmyun cuts in. “I’ve been waiting for a while, so waiting a little longer isn’t going to hurt.”

Now Baekhyun feels terrible for bringing it up. “Well, don’t be too sad about it? My parents didn’t meet until they were in their late twenties.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” The smile on Joonmyun’s face is wry. “Anyways, do you need some help?”

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to stay,” Baekhyun immediately protests. His heart beats strongly in disagreement but Baekhyun tells it to hush.

“Like I said, I don’t really have anywhere to go.”

“Still.” Baekhyun frowns, but it’s too late. Joonmyun is already stealing Chanyeol’s chair and sliding it next to Baekhyun. He’s not even that close, but Baekhyun can smell his cologne, like a spring breeze with a hint of a fruit that he can’t quite place. Baekhyun is just glad Joonmyun doesn’t smell like Axe; that crap causes the hair in his nose to burn. He’ll never understand why some people find that scent appealing, but to each their own, he supposes.

“Oh, this group? I’m pretty sure I kept track of some of their order payments,” Joonmyun suddenly says. “May I?”

It’s take a beat too long for Baekhyun to stop breathing in Joonmyun’s scent and figure out that Joonmyun is gesturing towards the mouse that his hand is currently resting on.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Go for it,” he says in a daze.

Baekhyun decides Joonmyun is kind of hot when he works. Baekhyun doesn’t know if it’s the way Joonmyun looks so concentrated or how the muscles in his arms flex when he uses the mouse, but it’s incredibly attractive.

“Aha!” Joonmyun exclaims, Baekhyun barely managing to avoid hitting his knee against his desk when he jumps in place. “Here it is.”

“Wow,” Baekhyun marvels. “That was so fast. It probably would’ve taken me a few more hours to catch that, so thank you.” He didn’t even think to look at this document, since it wasn’t part of the set that he got faxed.

“No problem. Maybe the Gods decided to take pity on you and make me walk over here,” Joonmyun teases.

“What wonderful people,” Baekhyun agrees with a firm nod of the head that gets Joonmyun laughing. Baekhyun’s already enamored with Joonmyun’s laugh, a smile appearing on his face at the pretty sound.

It only takes a few more minutes for Baekhyun to fix the problem, leaning back with a sigh of satisfaction when he sends the files to his boss. Joonmyun sits next to Baekhyun through it all, only getting up when Baekhyun does.

It looks like Joonmyun wants to say something, but he can’t seem to being himself to speak. Baekhyun bites his lip. Baekhyun isn’t usually one for rash decisions like this, but he finds himself blurting out, “Do you want to get something to eat? It’s pretty late and I told my dad I would call him when I needed to be picked up...”

“Food sounds really good right now,” Joonmyun says, practically sagging in relief.

Baekhyun tries not to let his smile get too big, but he’s not sure how effective his efforts are. “There’s a nice place a few blocks over that has chicken to die for.”

“What are we waiting for, then?”

Baekhyun should probably be less surprised that Joonmyun has a car, and that it’s so much nicer than his own, most likely even nicer than Kyungsoo’s.

“It won’t bite you,” Joonmyun says in amusement from beside Baekhyun, who is standing a good distance from the vehicle.

“I know, but it looks so fancy that I’m afraid I’m going to break it.”

Joonmyun snorts. “Please, Baekhyun. You’re too tiny to do any damage to this car. It may be a sports car, but it’s not delicate.”

A sports car, Baekhyun thinks in a daze. For a brief, selfish second, he wonders if he will be paid this well when he gets further up in the company.

After more prodding and reassurance, they’re both seated and heading towards their destination. The only thing Baekhyun doesn’t like about this car is that the seats are leather, but the rest of the car is nice enough that he can ignore it. That, and the attractive man sitting next to him. Somewhere along the last ten minutes, Joonmyun had rolled the sleeves of his button-up to his elbows. Baekhyun sighs. He’s always loved a man in a button-up and tight slacks and Joonmyun is delivering in both regards at the moment.

Thankfully, the ride is short and Baekhyun doesn’t have a chance to embarrass himself by saying something along the lines of how attractive he finds Joonmyun at the moment or in general. He somehow forgets that he still has to eat with Joonmyun, sending a wordless prayer to the sky that he doesn’t do something stupid.

The shop isn’t as crowded as usual, but it is later than the regular rush to be fair. They’re escorted to a table quickly enough, Baekhyun scanning the menu.

“What’s good here?” Joonmyun asks.

Baekhyun hums. “It depends on what you like. Everything I’ve had is good, but I would say the best is either the honey chicken or the fried chicken.”

Joonmyun ends up getting regular chicken with extra spice on it while Baekhyun orders fried chicken.

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to eat it all?” Baekhyun wonders when the worker walks away with their menus and orders.

“I think so,” Joonmyun replies, although he doesn’t sound that confident.

The waiter returns with their food minutes later, wishing them a nice meal before going off to tend to another table. Baekhyun almost laughs so hard chicken falls out of his mouth when Joonmyun takes two bites and he has to hastily reach for his water. He drains half of the glass, Baekhyun still guffawing as Joonmyun fans his face.

“I thought you said you could do it!” Baekhyun exclaims in between chuckles.

“I guess I wasn’t as good with spices as I thought,” Joonmyun says sheepishly. Just like that, Baekhyun can feel himself settle down and enjoy himself more. They spend the rest of the meal talking easily, something that took months with Kyungsoo. There’s just something about Joonmyun that’s comforting and open in a way that Kyungsoo hadn’t been at first.

Baekhyun is licking the grease off his fingers when he hears Joonmyun choke.

“What?” he asks quickly. “Are you okay?”

Joonmyun’s face looks redder than when he ate his chicken and he won’t meet Baekhyun’s eyes. “No, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t swallow a bone or anything did you?”

“No, no,” Joonmyun denies. If possible, Baekhyun thinks that his face is getting darker by the second.

“If you’re sure,” he says slowly.

“Positive,” Joonmyun rasps out.

Baekhyun studies him for a moment longer before letting it go and wiping the rest of the grease off on a napkin. He hates to go, but it’s been a while and his parents are probably wondering where he is.

True enough, his mother almost pounces on him when he walks through the door after the lovely car ride he had with Joonmyun.

“See you at work next week,” Joonmyun had called cheerily before backing up and driving away.

“Are you okay? You never called. Were you with Kyungsoo?”

Baekhyun sighs, generally a little annoyed with his mother at the moment. He loves her, he really does, but sometimes he wishes she thought and talked about things other than Kyungsoo.

“No, I was with a co-worker. I would never ask Kyungsoo to come pick me up from work at this time of night.”

She pouts. “He could’ve been in the neighborhood.”

“No, mom, it’s too late for him to be out here. I’m tired, so I’m going to head to bed first.” He hates brushing his mother off, but it has been a long day despite the fun he had for the last hour. It’s not good to sleep after eating, something Kyungsoo taught him a while back, but Baekhyun can’t help but tumble into bed after taking a shower to get rid of the smell of chicken clinging to him.

“Just this once,” he mumbles to himself as the sands of time work their magic.

It’s weird how time flies. This time last year, Baekhyun would be packing up his room for another year at college, but he doesn’t have to this year. Even though he’s still sitting at a desk and he’s still working on projects, it’s a completely different feel. He’s actually getting paid to do this instead of being the one paying. It’s a nice feeling.

Feels weird, doesn’t it? he sends to Kyungsoo on his lunch break.

It takes a few minutes for Kyungsoo to respond, but Baekhyun’s phone rings eventually.

What does?

How we don’t have to go to school anymore o.o

Haha yeah, but I bet you still wish we were neighbors.

“Damn, he knows me too well,” Baekhyun mutters.

“Who does?”

“Fuc- Chanyeol!” Baekhyun yells, narrowly avoiding elbowing Chanyeol in the face. “Don’t do that!”

Chanyeol blinks and Baekhyun is suddenly hit with the thought that this man is more puppy than human.

“Do what?” Chanyeol wonders.

“Speak in my ear like that.” Baekhyun puts a hand over his ear as if to prove his point. Chanyeol just grins at him.

“Am I missing something here?” Sooyoung wonders as she walks through the door.

Chanyeol straightens up from where he had been almost face to face with Baekhyun. “What’s in the cloth?” he asks, completely ignoring her question and gesturing to what she’s holding in her hands.

“Lunch from my Joohyun unnie.”

“She’s here?” Baekhyun exclaims, quickly scrambling up and towards the door so he can poke his head out. Chanyeol almost barrels into him along the way, Baekhyun wheezing when he’s pushed against from behind, ribs digging into the unforgiving wood of the doorframe.

“She left already,” Sooyoung tells them. Baekhyun can hear the smirk in her voice. He slumps against the doorframe, wheezing more when Chanyeol does the same.

“Why won’t you introduce us? She’s really pretty from what you tell us.”

“I could say the same for you. Where’s your mystery soulmate?” Sooyoung asks, Chanyeol nodding along his agreement.

“He doesn’t live in this city. I’m not going to make him drive all the way over here to meet the both of you and whoever else he happens to run into.”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes. “That’s why you go out for lunch, idiot,” she says, like Baekhyun’s lack of intelligence insults her.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol adds. “Don’t you guys eat together often?”

“We do, it’s just normally on weekends.”

“Oh, so he doesn’t mind driving to you on the weekends, but he won’t do it on a weekday?” Sooyoung asks.

“I never said that,” Baekhyun replies. “It’s just, uh, weird.”

“Something tells me that the both of you need to spice up your life, whether it’s related to sex or not.”

“Sooyoung!” Baekhyun cries while Chanyeol chokes on a laugh.

She gives him a look. “I’m just saying. It wouldn’t hurt to ask, you know?”

“She has a valid point,” Chanyeol says.

“And what about you, Chanyeol? I don’t even know the name of your soulmate,” Baekhyun points out to try and get the focus off himself; he’s running out of excuses.

“Oh, it’s Yifan,” Chanyeol offers. “Actually...”

“Actually?” Baekhyun wonders, but then Chanyeol isn’t look at him anymore, but at the door where someone had knocked.

“Ready to go?” the male wonders and what the fuck, is everyone tall around here? Baekhyun’s lucky he has Joonmyun around to balance it out and make him feel better.

“Yeah, just a minute, Yifan.”

“Yifan?” Baekhyun and Sooyoung both question.

The other male raises an incredibly angry-looking eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Oh, yeah, this is my soulmate,” Chanyeol says, almost like an afterthought.

Baekhyun barely refrains from face-palming or making a comment. Sooyoung isn’t as nice as he is, though.

“‘Oh,’ he says. As if I haven’t been working here for years and this is the first time your soulmate has actually shown up,” she mutters.

“Not true,” Chanyeol refutes as he searches through his desk, opening and closing drawer after drawer. “You just haven’t been here when he has been.”

“Try the upper left drawer,” Yifan offers, Chanyeol popping up seconds later with a happy cry, wallet in hand.

“We’ll be back in an hour,” Chanyeol announces before dragging Yifan away. Baekhyun and Sooyoung blink at each other.

“That was...something,” Baekhyun says because there’s really no other way to describe the whirlwind that just happened.

“He’s going to be in for it when he gets back,” Sooyoung says. The both of them share a look before smiling, a silent agreement forming between them.

“Seriously, though,” Baekhyun says a few minutes later. “Why doesn’t your soulmate come over more often? If this is about Chanyeol or I trying to steal her, you don’t have to worry about it. We’re about as straight as you are.”

Sooyoung laughs hard at that. “That’s not what I was worried about, though thanks for confirming your innocent intentions. It’s just that she’s really shy. It took a lot of convincing to even get her to bring me some food.”

Pouting, Baekhyun sends an email before responding to Sooyoung, “Fine, I won’t make you force her to come. Just as long as you invite me to your wedding.”

“Deal,” Sooyoung says with another laugh. “You’re still not off the hook about bringing Kyungsoo, though.”

Baekhyun abandons his work in favor of spinning around towards her. “Why not?” he cries. “I was sincere when I said you didn’t have to force Joohyun to come.”

“And that was nice of you,” she concedes before smirking. “I’m just not as nice.”

Baekhyun groans in lieu of answering and he’s going back to his work when Sooyoung clucks her tongue.

“Don’t think this is the end of the conversation.”

“It is now,” Baekhyun affirms, except Sooyoung has her shark smile on, the one that Baekhyun had very quickly learned meant nothing good was coming.

“Whatever you say.”

A shiver goes runs its way down Baekhyun’s spine. Sometimes, he’s scared shitless of Sooyoung, but he refuses to show weakness. He doesn’t need to feed her ego.

Baekhyun wakes up early Tuesday morning and goes through his normal routine. Groggily, he smoothes down the covers on his bed before going to the bathroom to pee and brush his teeth. Then he checks his arm to see if there are any new letters, on the way to go change when he sees the usual three letters.

Baekhyun stumbles over nothing. Three letters?

His vision is still blurry, Baekhyun rapidly blinking as he curses his eyes for failing him at this important moment. They eventually clear up and there it is, the third letter in between his first two. All together, the three make a perfect diagonal in a forty-five degree angle. The letters are backwards to him, but he’s still able to recognize the “u” that wasn’t there before.

He’s so excited that he dashes into his room and calls Kyungsoo up right away. He bounces as the dial rings, Baekhyun lifting his arm up to look at the new letter because he’s still in awe.

“Hello?” a groggy voice answers and damn Kyungsoo has a sexy voice when he wakes up in the morning. Baekhyun thinks that he wouldn’t mind waking up to that every morning before. He shakes his head to focus on the task at hand.

“Kyungsoo!” he chirps, Kyungsoo groaning in response.

“Too early,” Kyungsoo mumbles, but Baekhyun is too excited to tone down his voice.

“I got a new letter!”

It takes a while for Kyungsoo to respond, but Baekhyun receives a very sleepy, “Congrats, babe.”

“Thanks. You know, I was just going through my normal routine when I not- wait, what? Babe?” There’s no way that Baekhyun heard that right. Not once in the last two years has Kyungsoo ever called him anything but Baekhyun or varying degrees of fond insults.

The line goes quiet, Baekhyun pulling the phone back to make sure the call is still connected. It is indeed still ongoing, so Baekhyun asks, “Kyungsoo?”

“I didn’t say anything.” Kyungsoo definitely sounds awake now, all traces of grogginess gone.

Baekhyun gapes at the wall. He can’t believe...

“You totally just called me babe.”

“I did no such thing.”

“You did!” Baekhyun cries.

“You have no proof.”

Baekhyun makes a noise, a cross between a whine and a gurgle. “I know what I heard. The fact that you’re trying so hard to cover it up is also proving my point.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything, but Baekhyun imagines that he’s probably looking to the ceiling with a pained expression. It a situation that’s happened a few times over the past few years, when Baekhyun had said something Kyungsoo deemed stupid, but this time, he’s not doing it because of Baekhyun.

“Are you blushing right now?” Baekhyun teases.

“No!”

A laugh bubbles in his chest, threatening to be let out. “Whatever you say. I wish I was there to see it.”

“Don’t you have to go to work soon?” Kyungsoo asks. Baekhyun curses when he glances at the clock on his nightstand. He’s ten minutes behind schedule.

“I won’t forget this. Now go back to sleep,” Baekhyun says before hanging up to Kyungsoo’s soft laughter.

“You’re glowing,” Chanyeol says when Baekhyun walks into the office. He barely arrives on time and he had to skip part of breakfast to get here, but he’s here.

“Did you finally get laid?”

“Not so loud, Sooyoung,” Baekhyun hisses. “But no, I didn’t, not that it matters.”

Chanyeol spins around in his chair a few times, Baekhyun’s head swirling with the office furniture, before settling down. “Then why are you so bright this morning?”

“I’m bright every morning, but if you must know, I got another letter this morning.”

“Woah, really? I only have two and Yifan’s name is only five letters long,” Chanyeol says.

“Well Kyungsoo is eight, so three is still pretty low, I guess. Don’t feel too bad about it.”

A shiver travels the entirety of his spine when Sooyoung runs a finger over his arm. “Nice. Mine looks better, though.” She smiles. Baekhyun simply rolls his eyes, all too used to her antics.

“And how many letters do you have, princess?”

“Six.”

“Six?” Chanyeol shouts, his deep voice making it much louder than any other normal person.

“You only need one more,” Baekhyun says in awe. Sooyoung practically preens under their attention.

“How?” Chanyeol wonders.

“Childhood neighbors,” Sooyoung informs them, the both of them letting out ahs of understanding.

“Why do I feel like you were the type of kid that pulled Joohyun’s pigtails?” Baekhyun asks. If Sooyoung’s this bratty now, he can’t imagine what she was like as a kid.

“Because I was,” she responds.

“Poor Joohyun noona,” Chanyeol laments.

“It’s okay because now she’s the one that pulls my hair when I go do-”

“Okay no!” Baekhyun shouts. “Just stop right there.”

Sooyoung smirks at him. “Jealous?”

“I don’t want to know what the two of you get up to or down into in your free time.” Baekhyun thinks he’s going to need to go cleanse his brain after work today.

“Suit yourself,” Sooyoung sing-songs before skipping back over to her desk and sitting down. “I sent you an email earlier, so could you read it over for me?”

“Yeah yeah,” Baekhyun says.

Chanyeol is still standing a few seconds later. “I wanted to know what you two do in your free time.”

Baekhyun chokes on air while Sooyoung laughs so hard she almost falls out of her chair.

And to put the cherry on top of such an eventful morning, Joonmyun chooses that exact moment to poke his head in.

“Bad timing?” he wonders.

Sooyoung only laughs harder.

“Going somewhere?” Chanyeol wonders as Baekhyun looks around for his phone.

“Yeah, Joonmyun is taking me out for lunch. Something about a congratulatory meal since it’s been three months since I started working.” He lets out a triumphant sounds when he locates the device under a stack of papers.

“He never did that for me,” Chanyeol grumps.

“You weren’t close enough with him for that,” Sooyoung says. “Probably still aren’t and it’s almost been a year and a half.”

“I’ll have you know that Joonmyun hyung and I are very close,” Chanyeol says with a puff of his chest. “There was this one time-”

Sooyoung puts a hand up. “Is this story actually going to prove your point or is it going to be something like him opening the door for you for a meeting?”

“How the hell does she know?” Chanyeol whispers to himself, but like with everything when it comes to Chanyeol, it’s too loud.

Baekhyun guffaws. “See, I like you when you aren’t teasing me.”

Sooyoung beams, but it looks slightly malicious to Baekhyun. “It all depends on the day and how I’m feeling. Don’t get too comfortable. Although, I don’t think I would ever be able to be mean to Joonmyun; he’s too soft for that.”

“I’m too soft for what?”

Baekhyun jumps and so does Chanyeol, although he’s facing the doorway so Baekhyun doesn’t see how it’s possible that Chanyeol’s caught off guard by Joonmyun’s appearance.

Sooyoung raises an impeccable eyebrow. “Do you really want to know?”

It doesn’t take Joonmyun long to say, “No, probably not.”

“Let’s just go before they corrupt you some more,” Baekhyun mutters, as he tugs on Joonmyun’s wrist.

“Have a nice lunch!” Chanyeol calls out.

“I’m going to take a guess and say that I don’t want to know what you were talking about before I came,” Joonmyun says. He waves at people that walk by and smiles at Seungwan when they get to the lobby.

“Your guess would be correct,” Baekhyun says, as he too waves at Seungwan.

“See you guys later!” she calls just as the elevator doors close.

“I was thinking we could go get some noodles today,” Joonmyun says conversationally.

“Noodles?” But he only gets noodles with Kyungsoo...just this one time wouldn’t hurt, though, right? Baekhyun bites his lip. It’s not like Kyungsoo staked a claim on noodle rights with him, but they’ve been going for years and it’s their thing.

“Or not. I’m up for anything.”

Baekhyun feels like such a baby debating over this. Fuck it, he decides. He can eat noodles with whoever he wants and not feel bad about it.

“No, noodles are fine.”

Joonmyun beams so brightly that it could be a sun’s ray all on its own. “Great, there’s one that’s just a block over so we can walk if that doesn’t bother you.”

The weather isn’t too bad today and he’s wearing a simple shirt, so he should be fine.

They make small talk along the way, about their day, what they ate last night, the usual. He’s laughing at something Joonmyun said when he catches sight of what Joonmyun’s wearing.

Joonmyun looks like sin in the wine red button-up. The way the red fabric is clinging to his chest has to be illegal. Baekhyun’s brain whimpers. Joonmyun’s sleeves are rolled up, showcasing his lean forearms. Baekhyun is pretty sure he sees a multitude of veins just beneath the surface and he gulps.

Baekhyun suddenly feels inadequate in his simple shirt, but he hadn’t cared enough this morning to put on a something more formal. Now he’s wishing he had.

“I’ll order,” Joonmyun says when they arrive. “You said you liked chicken, right?”

“Right,” Baekhyun replies, wondering in a daze how Joonmyun managed to remember that random tidbit of information. Although, Baekhyun supposes, one has to have a good memory with the kind of work they do or else they would be drowning in paperwork.

Baekhyun snags a table off to the side and Joonmyun comes over no more than five minutes later as Baekhyun takes his time to look around.

“It’s a nice place,” he says.

Joonmyun beams from across the table. “Isn’t it? I found it last year and it’s been one of my favorites ever since.”

“Well I hope it lives up to its reputation, then.”

“I’m not trying to influence you, but I would say it’s pretty damn good,” Joonmyun says with a wink that Baekhyun totally doesn’t swoon at.

“Pretty damn good” doesn’t even begin to cover half of it. When Baekhyun takes his first bite, the flavors all but explode onto his taste buds until he overloads on how the taste of chicken lingers in the broth but doesn’t overpower it at all. The noodles themselves are soft, seasoned to perfection, and Baekhyun might be in food heaven (although the noodle place he goes to with Kyungsoo might be a little bit better).

“What?” Baekhyun wonders, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth when he catches Joonmyun staring at him. His noodles are mostly untouched, which Baekhyun thinks is a crime.

“You’re adorable.”

Baekhyun sputters, chopsticks clattering as they land against the bowl. It gets a little hotter all of a sudden, but Baekhyun doesn’t know if that’s due to the rising temperature on his cheeks or if the actual temperature rises. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was the former.

He manages to weakly choke out, “I’m not” once he gets his bearings together.

“You are, though,” Joonmyun refutes. “I love how happy you look when you eat. It’s like your eyes light up and I can see the stars in them. You don’t care what you look like because you’re so immersed in the flavors. It’s nice.”

Baekhyun knows it’s unattractive, but he gapes at Joonmyun. His words seem to catch up with him, for Joonmyun quickly turns flustered. “I-I’m sorry, that must have sounded weird. I just love seeing people enjoy themselves. I’ve seen people put on a mask in the office too often, even when they’re eating, and it makes me sad.”

Baekhyun closes his jaw, softening out. Joonmyun is such a kind soul. “Your soulmate is one lucky person if they get to have you compliment them for the rest of their life.”

Now it’s Joonmyun’s turn to be speechless, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to think of something to say. “Thank you,” he settles on whispering.

“No problem. Now eat,” Baekhyun orders, “or I’m going to finish it for you and while this is delicious, I would rather not. I have a figure to maintain.”

With a laugh, Joonmyun picks up his chopsticks, even going as far as making a show of slurping the noodles up.

“I bet you’re glad you didn’t order a spicy noodle bowl,” Baekhyun teases.

Joonmyun groans. “You’re never going to let me live that down are you?”

“Nope.”

“This is my fate,” Joonmyun laments.

“It could be worse. You could be that kid that peed their pants for a talent show or something.”

Joonmyun makes a face. “Okay, yeah, I’ll take you teasing me over that happening any day.”

“That’s the spirit!” Baekhyun says with a smile.

They sit there as long as they can possibly get away with while still giving themselves enough time to walk back to the office.

“Can’t we just call in and say we’re too full to move?” Baekhyun groans.

“That’s not responsible, nor is it true,” Joonmyun points out.

“It’s true for me.”

Chuckling, Joonmyun slips out of the booth and offers a hand. “Come on, you can make it. What happened to that figure you need to maintain?”

Joonmyun’s palm is warm when Baekhyun grasps it. It’s soft, too, his fingers a little wider than the fingers he’s used to holding, but in a way, it still feels right.

“Thank you for the lunch,” Baekhyun says as they’re walking back. The sun is still high in the sky, causing Baekhyun to squint slightly.

“It’s my pleasure. If you ever want to get lunch again, you know where to find me.”

Baekhyun likes the sound of that and not because he gets a free meal out of it. He wouldn’t continuously let that happen anyways. “Okay, but you have to let me pay next time.”

Joonmyun hums. “Should I pick the most expensive restaurant, then?”

“I take it back, you can go by yourself,” Baekhyun declares.

“No,” Joonmyun whines, dragging the word out. “Don’t leave me!”

“What’s the incentive to stay?” Baekhyun wonders as a joke.

“My great company?”

“You don’t even sound sure.” Baekhyun laughs.

“It got you to laugh, though, and that’s all that matters.”

“Greasy,” Baekhyun mutters, but he’s still smiling and so is Joonmyun. His heart gives a little lurch and for a moment, he wonders if Kyungsoo is around, but he shouldn’t be; Kyungsoo had said he was going to be home all day. Brushing it off as something random, Baekhyun continues to chat with Joonmyun until they’re back in the building and have to part ways.

“I had fun today,” Baekhyun says just as they’re about to split.

“I hope that’s usually how you feel,” Joonmyun teases, but Baekhyun catches a hint of nervousness.

“Of course,” he replies. “You’re great company and someone I wouldn’t mind being friends with for a long time.”

Joonmyun smiles his usual sunny smile. “Good to know.”

“You don’t think the same?” Baekhyun asks in mock offense as he puts a hand to his heart.

Joonmyun pretends to think it over. Baekhyun swipes at him when he takes too long, Joonmyun barely jumping out of arm’s reach with a laugh.

“I’m kidding, of course I wouldn’t mind it either. I like talking to you. You’re a great person.”

Unbidden, Baekhyun feels his cheeks heat up. “Thanks. I, uh, have to go to work now, so bye.” He scurries off before Joonmyun can see his traitorous face.

“Is it hot outside or did Joonmyun just say something cheesy?” Chanyeol asks right as Baekhyun scampers through the door.

Baekhyun doesn’t need to turn around to know that Sooyoung has turned in her chair and is peering at him with interest.

“I’ll have you know,” Baekhyun huffs, “that it’s actually quite warm today and we walked a lot.”

“So what did Joonmyun say?” Sooyoung asks, completely ignoring his answer.

Just to be spiteful, Baekhyun says, “You’ll never know.” He feels vindicated when he hears her indignant huff, the squeaking of her chair alerting Baekhyun that she’s turned around and is no longer a shark looking for blood in the water.

“Do I get to know?”

Baekhyun sighs, but it’s not malicious. “Oh, Chanyeol.”

“What?”

“Don’t think that I don’t know Sooyoung is just going to bully it out of you if I tell you.”

“Hey!” Sooyoung cries. Baekhyun looks at her over his shoulder until she slumps. “Okay, you’re right.”

Smiling in triumph, Baekhyun goes back to work in order to make up for his extended lunch break.

His phone pings with an incoming text hours later, Baekhyun’s eye widening when he reads it over.

See you in a few hours. Hope you haven’t forgotten about me!

Baekhyun had in fact forgotten about his dinner plans with Kyungsoo. He’s been so focused on finishing up these last documents that anything other than numbers and stock agreements had flown out the window.

Another message comes in before Baekhyun can respond that of course he had remembered.

I bet you forgot. Good thing you have me to remind you.

To be fair, it’s a Friday and he never goes out with Kyungsoo on a Friday. He really should’ve remembered, though, considering he was the one that set it up in the first place after taking Sooyoung’s advice on doing something different.

The implication of Kyungsoo coming to his work doesn’t hit him until hours later when Kyungsoo texts him that he’s on his way up the elevator. It’s too late to stop Kyungsoo from coming up and he’s not going to be able to pack up fast enough to get out of there before Sooyoung sticks her claws in Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun spends the next minute in dread, hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Sure enough, not ten seconds later, Baekhyun sees Kyungsoo slowly walk by their door before turning around and peering at the wall. He’s looks adorably confused and Baekhyun feels like cooing but Kyungsoo would probably hit him for that.

Baekhyun sees the way Kyungsoo’s eyes light up when he reads the name plate before settling on Baekhyun, one of his rare happy smiles appearing.

“Ready to go?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Holy shit!” Chanyeol exclaims before letting out a pained groan. Baekhyun winces; the way his knee slammed against the table didn’t sound pleasant.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo quickly says, hands fluttering as if he wants to do something but he knows it wouldn’t be socially acceptable to just go touch a stranger’s knee.

Baekhyun is too distracted with the shirt Kyungsoo is wearing – more specifically, the black button-up he’s wearing – to worry about Chanyeol much, which is terrible, but he’s in pain of his own. Baekhyun looks to the ceiling and sends a prayer for his soul.

Was today national button-up day or something? Maybe it was make Baekhyun suffer day.

“Don’t worry, you’re going to be okay,” he hears through his daze, eyes blinking in his attempt to drag himself out of the fantasy in his head. Sooyoung is now by Chanyeol with a pack of ice in her hand. Kyungsoo’s still by the doorway looking as lost as he had before Baekhyun went into daydream mode.

“I really am sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” Kyungsoo says.

“It’s alright,” Chanyeol assures. “It’s probably not surprising, but I run into things a lot so this is pretty normal.”

Kyungsoo looks mollified, if only a little, although he still looks hesitant to do anything.

Sooyoung straightens up and This Is It. Baekhyun can see part of his life flash before his eyes. He already misses the days where Sooyoung was only able to whine about not meeting Kyungsoo.

“May I ask who you are?”

“I’m Kyungsoo. I’m here to pick up Baekhyun for our date.”

His second sentence is overtaken by Sooyoung’s very loud, very excited, squeal of, “Kyungsoo?” It had even been louder than Chanyeol and they said it at the same time, which is a feat in itself.

Kyungsoo blinks, unconsciously taking a step back. Baekhyun smiles; his soulmate is a smart one. “Yes, that’s me. Do I know you?”

“No, but I know of you,” Sooyoung replies, eyes twinkling like a shooting star. Her shark smile is back on and Baekhyun can tell it’s only seconds before she pounces.

“Okay, so we should be going now,” Baekhyun says as he scrambles up. Sooyoung turns her head to glare at him so quickly that he’s more afraid of her neck than for his health, which is probably saying something.

“Don’t deny me this opportunity, Byun.”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “Byun? I think I like Baekhyun better.”

She growls, but Chanyeol holds her back by locking his long legs around hers. The ice pack previously on his knee falls to the floor with a plop.

“You might want to leave before she rips my leg off,” Chanyeol says far too casually for the situation.

“I thought you were on my side,” Sooyoung seethes. Baekhyun would find her anger amusing if he was sure she wasn’t actually angry, but she can get randomly irritated sometimes. Baekhyun doesn’t want to chance it.

He’s going to be in for it on Monday, but all he can think about right now is escaping unharmed. “Thanks, Chanyeol, I owe you!”

“Damn right you do,” he calls out as Baekhyun slips his hand into Kyungsoo’s and tugs him out of the office.

“I want to ask, but I feel like I probably shouldn’t,” Kyungsoo says as they’re walking down the hallway. Baekhyun feels safer here, knowing that Sooyoung wouldn’t dare to barrel after them where other people can see her.

“Sooyoung is an interesting person,” is all Baekhyun elaborates with.

Suddenly, it feels like all of Baekhyun’s oxygen gets cut off and he stops with a gasp. It’s like a hand is squeezing around his heart, like someone is clenching his lungs together but yet like he can finally breathe. He’s never felt something this strong before and it almost overtakes him completely, almost brings him to his knees.

“Are you okay?”

He’s heard that voice before, he knows he has, his mind is just so jumbled that he can’t focus at the moment. Through the haze, he feels Kyungsoo tightly clenching his hand and it’s just the pinch he needs to snap out of it.

“Oh, Joonmyun,” he breathes. “I-I’m fine, thanks.”

Joonmyun’s eyebrows pinch together. “You look a little pale, do you want me to get you some water?” Baekhyun notices he looks a paler than usual as well, though, and it might be his eyes playing tricks on him, but Baekhyun thinks he can see some sweat shining on Joonmyun’s forehead.

“It’s okay, I can get some in a minute.” Baekhyun only seems to remember where he is and who he’s with right then, straightening up with a small smile. “Sorry about that. This is Kyungsoo, my soulmate.”

“Nice to meet you, but we have to go now,” Kyungsoo says lowly before tugging Baekhyun’s hand so hard he barely manages to catch his footing before he falls. From the corner of his eye, Baekhyun sees Joonmyun put a hand out, eyebrows pinched further in concern.

Baekhyun barely manages a wave and a, “Bye Joonmyun,” before he’s being dragged into the elevator. The last thing he sees in Joonmyun standing there all alone, his hand up in a wave that Baekhyun doesn’t get to see because the doors close right in front of him.

Baekhyun's breathing is loud in the tiny space, his heart still threatening to pop out of his chest and land on the floor in a mess from overuse. Part of him wants to ask what the hell just happened and if Kyungsoo felt what he did as well, but one look at Kyungsoo's face and he stops. Kyungsoo looks completely uncomfortable, his lips set in a thin line as he stares ahead of him at the reflective surface of the elevator doors.

Baekhyun's hand is starting to cramp with the way Kyungsoo’s holding it so tightly, but he doesn't dare say anything. He doesn't think he's ever seen Kyungsoo this out of it and, dare he say, upset with a hint of anger. Baekhyun doesn't know how to deal with this kind of Kyungsoo. He knows to be quiet when Kyungsoo's detached, knows to be talkative when Kyungsoo's sad, knows to be silly when Kyungsoo’s happy, but he's never encountered anger before. Humor might work in this situation, but then again, it might not. Baekhyun hates feeling lost, hates not being able to make Kyungsoo feel better, and this is the pinnacle of that.

So Baekhyun does what he does best when he doesn't know what to do - he stays quiet and hopes that his physical presence will be enough and that Kyungsoo will calm down on his own. He knows how terrible he can be with words. That's why he chose a science major; science is short and to the point, no superfluous words needed.

Sure enough, Kyungsoo's grip loosens bit by bit until Baekhyun is able to wiggle some feeling into his fingers.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath as the elevator dings to signal their arrival. "I’m sorry about that."

"It's fine," Baekhyun says quietly. He feels like something just changed, but he can't pinpoint it. It's already bothering him, an uncomfortable itch that won't go away no matter how much he scratches at it.

Kyungsoo sends him a shaky smile. "Where did you want to go today?"

Baekhyun deflates in relief. Now that it seems Kyungsoo isn't going to break his hand off or throw a chair, he can breathe. "Anywhere you want, I don't care."

They end up near the city Kyungsoo calls home, Baekhyun peering out the window at all the buildings that go by. For a split second, he thinks Kyungsoo is taking him to his house. He's only mildly disappointed when they park near a restaurant.

"Today is a good day," Baekhyun says after ordering. Well, it had been other than the little bump in the road an hour ago, but he doesn't bring that up again.

Kyungsoo hums in question, seemingly on the same page as he doesn't bring it up either. "How so?"

"I didn't have to pay for any of my meals today," he says happily.

“Two free meals today? How lucky.”

Baekhyun sees the way Kyungsoo’s button-up clings to his upper arms and remembers the way Joonmyun had looked so neat and put together earlier. He wonders if he really is lucky or if he’s being punished.

"Good thing it's your turn to pay this time," he sing-songs. "Don't worry, I didn't order anything too expensive."

"What an angel you are," Kyungsoo says sarcastically.

Baekhyun preens, fluttering his eyelashes at Kyungsoo in a way that he's been told makes him look creepy, but he likes messing with Kyungsoo too much. "Do you mean that?"

"Ah and this is the part of the day where I wonder why I put up with you."

"Because you lo- like me," he corrects himself with a stutter.

"You're very lucky that I do," Kyungsoo muses, but Baekhyun already knows that. Some people don't ever meet their soulmate, let alone so early in life. He'll never stop being grateful for being allowed to have his perfect ending and for being allowed to be with Kyungsoo for so long.

A bowl of noodles is placed in front of Kyungsoo, Baekhyun not even noticing that his food is also in front of him.

"You ordered noodles?" Baekhyun is brought back to hours prior when he had been sitting across from Joonmyun as he ate noodles. Something stirs in his gut, but it's not from hunger.

"I did. Is that a crime?"

"Nope," Baekhyun replies, perhaps a little too loudly for Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. Baekhyun simply smiles.

Kyungsoo had said he was fine earlier, but Baekhyun still picks on his nervous motions. Kyungsoo is slightly on edge for the rest of the night, restless in the way he fidgets around, plucks at his napkin, takes sips of his water even if he's barely eaten anything.

Baekhyun chooses not to comment on it, instead focusing on his meal and the way Kyungsoo's eyes flicker like the stars.

"Yes?" Baekhyun asks when he catches Kyungsoo looking at him.

"Nothing."

"You were just staring at me, I don't think that's nothing," Baekhyun refutes.

"Am I not allowed to appreciate how attractive my boyfriend is?"

Baekhyun chokes on a grain of rice. "You can't just say things like that, especially when I'm eating and the chance of me sputtering is high!"

"You were going to sputter either way." Kyungsoo waves the matter away. "It was just unfortunate that you happened to take a bite of food at the moment."

"Nice to know you care about my health," Baekhyun grumbles, but the compliment still buzzes under his skin, gives his face a warmth that hasn't been there in a few hours.

"I do. You wouldn't be very attractive if you weren't breathing, so I definitely care."

"So you only care because of the aesthetic pleasure you get from looking at me?" Baekhyun doesn't think he's ever heard a compliment as weird as that, but he supposes it's still a nice one.

Kyungsoo snorts. "That was terribly worded, but yes, I suppose I do like looking at you."

"I'm not an art piece just for your enjoyment, you know."

"You’re not?"

Baekhyun can't help but laugh. This is the weirdest conversation they've ever had. He doesn't even remember how they got to this topic, but it keeps him on his toes. He likes it.

"That was odd," he huffs out between his chuckles, Kyungsoo nodding along his agreement with a smile.

"You just can't take a compliment well," Kyungsoo accuses lightly.

"In my defense, you never say things like that. What brought it on? Other than a need to see me choke on rice."

Kyungsoo shrugs, but Baekhyun sees the way he clutches his napkin tighter. It makes him furrow his eyebrows in concern, but he pushes it away for later. "I felt like it?"

"I'll let it go just this once. Only because it made me happy." Baekhyun wags his finger in warning. "But don't think I’ll brush it off next time.”

"Whatever you say," Kyungsoo says. He looks more amused than anything.

They finish eating, Baekhyun moaning when Kyungsoo insists they get dessert.

"I'm trying to keep my figure here!"

"What figure?" Kyungsoo teases. "The two times we've hugged, I didn't feel any abs through your shirt."

"Why were you looking for them?" Baekhyun cries. Kyungsoo dissolves into laughter. He eventually gets his way, smiling at Baekhyun from across the table when he dips a finger into the ice cream and smears it against Baekhyun's cheek.

Baekhyun blinks, not sure he completely understands what just happened. "Did you just..."

"Yes," Kyungsoo says proudly.

Narrowing his eyes, Baekhyun sits there until Kyungsoo squirms under his gaze. "Be lucky I have self control and that I won’t dump this bowl on your head."

"You would never."

"Want to bet?"

"I don't have to because I know I would win."

Baekhyun growls. "I hate how you know me so well."

"It comes with the boyfriend and soulmate job descriptions," Kyungsoo teases.

It's a little chilly when they walk out after Kyungsoo pays, Baekhyun instinctively huddling closer to Kyungsoo for warmth.

"Can't we just stay in your car?" Baekhyun wonders when Kyungsoo parks in his driveway. He doesn't quite want to go inside yet, much more content with being with Kyungsoo. It's been a week and he's a little greedy for more time with Kyungsoo, not that he feels shame admitting that.

"We could, but I don't think that's a good idea. It's not ideal sleeping conditions, plus there's no food here."

Baekhyun whines while Kyungsoo arches an amused eyebrow.

"I hate how you're so practical," Baekhyun says as he sadly unbuckles his seatbelt.

Kyungsoo grabs his wrist when Baekhyun turns to open the door, causing Baekhyun to turn back. He almost gasps when he notices the fire, the raw passion, burning in Kyungsoo's irises.

"What-" Baekhyun's next sentence is cut off by Kyungsoo's lips, plush and persistent against his own. Baekhyun melts into the kiss with a sigh, reaching over to thread a hand in Kyungsoo's hair. He's learned that Kyungsoo sometimes like when Baekhyun tugs on his hair, but Baekhyun likes when Kyungsoo pulls his more, keening when Kyungsoo fists a handful of hair and tugs. Baekhyun is left to pant into the air as Kyungsoo's lips burn a blazing path down his neck and collarbones. His breath hitches when Kyungsoo nips at the junction between his neck and throat and feels the smile Kyungsoo presses there after.

Under any other circumstances, especially if they were on a bed, Baekhyun would demand Kyungsoo to continue, but they’re in a car and he wants another kiss. Humming, Kyungsoo comes back up for another kiss when Baekhyun pulls his hair. This one is sloppier than the last, a frantic meeting of lips and some teeth and then Kyungsoo is running a tongue over Baekhyun's bottom lip.

They haven't done this since that one other time Kyungsoo tried. Baekhyun parts his lips slowly, flinching when he feels Kyungsoo's tongue against his teeth.

"Relax," Kyungsoo breathes when he pulls back. Baekhyun finds himself listening, fingers clutching his leg when Kyungsoo tentatively brushes his tongue over Baekhyun's. It's weird and wet, but it's not awful. It takes a few more messy swipes and cautious touches for Baekhyun to get back into it, smirking when he sucks on Kyungsoo's tongue and gets a throaty moan in response. Just one more trick to add to his arsenal.

Baekhyun breaks the kiss when his lungs start burning, the two of them left to pant into each other's mouths. Kyungsoo's pupils are completely blown when Baekhyun looks into them, but he's not sure he's faring much better.

A hiss escapes Baekhyun’s lips when he shifts. He had been so wrapped up in the kiss that he hadn't realized his cock had liked it as much as he had. He accidentally looks at Kyungsoo's lap, eyes closing when he notices Kyungsoo is hard as well.

A startled noise works its way up his throat when Kyungsoo kisses him again. "We should stop," he pants, even if he wants nothing more to keep kissing Kyungsoo. The feel of Kyungsoo's plush lips against his is addicting, but he doesn't want to rush into something they aren’t ready for.

He opens his eyes when Kyungsoo drags his thumb over Baekhyun's bottom lip. "So pretty," he murmurs. Baekhyun could say the same - Kyungsoo's hair is a mess, his lips swollen and well-kissed, his pupils dark. Something stirs in Baekhyun’s gut when he thinks about how he's the one that did that to Kyungsoo, he's the reason Kyungsoo looks the way he does.

With a sigh, he leans in for one more kiss before attempting to fix Kyungsoo's hair. "I should go."

Kyungsoo nods even if it looks like he disagrees. Fingers run through Baekhyun's hair and he willingly leans into it.

"I think that's as good as it's going to get," Kyungsoo murmurs as he pulls his hands away. Getting out of the car is uncomfortable if only because of the problem in his pants, but Baekhyun can push through it. The bigger problem is going to be getting to his room before anyone notices his disheveled appearance.

"Night," he whispers, Kyungsoo repeating the word before driving off.

Legs feeling like jelly, Baekhyun makes his way to the front door. He can still feel the ghost of Kyungsoo’s fingers pulling his hair, his lips trailing down his neck, his eyes piercing his eyes. Baekhyun isn’t going to forget this anytime soon.

It’s a sweltering Thursday when Baekhyun and Joonmyun meet up for lunch again. Despite every other lunch of theirs being out of company walls, the air conditioning is too heavenly to leave this time. They’re both wearing long-sleeves and pants (although Baekhyun doesn’t remember why he decided that would be a good idea in the first place when he was getting dressed this morning) and Joonmyun had insisted they stay inside.

“It’s too risky to walk about in this weather in these clothes,” he had said.

Baekhyun was already agreeing with the sentiment before Joonmyun even said anything, the lazy part of him wanting nothing to do with the heat and the walking they would otherwise have to do to get food. So they had called food in.

The atmosphere is as joyous as usual, Baekhyun cracking jokes and Joonmyun laughing while adding his input every so often. It’s so happy that Baekhyun almost doesn’t catch Joonmyun saying something about his soulmate. He does catch it, though, eyes almost popping out when his brain catches up with what Joonmyun reveals.

“Remember when you said you were surprised I hadn’t met my soulmate yet? I had.”

And then Joonmyun is pulling the collar of his shirt down and all Baekhyun sees is pale, pale skin and wondrous collarbones. What he would give to lick the dips and curves presented to him right now...

He snaps out of it when his eyes land on the black imprinted on Joonmyun’s beautiful skin, the one lone letter marking up an otherwise clean canvas.

“An ‘n’?” Baekhyun asks. He’s starting to feel a strange sense of déjà vu from when he got his first letter and when Kyungsoo had told him that “n” was his first letter as well.

“Yeah, I’ve had it for a few months now,” Joonmyun says, Baekhyun’s eyes snapping to his when Joonmyun puts his shirt back into place.

“That’s great! Do you know where? I got mine a few days after meeting Kyungsoo, so I would give a good five day range.”

Joonmyun’s face scrunches up into what Baekhyun likes to call his “thinking but slightly pained” expression. “Nothing I didn’t normally do. I just went to work that week.”

Baekhyun hums as he thinks. “What about, like, a pull? Did you feel that?”

Joonmyun opens his mouth before immediately closing it. He seems to fight with himself for a few seconds before his face lights up with a memory. “Oh! I remember. I actually went to a conference that week. I think I might have felt something in a coffee shop...or maybe it was a grocery store.”

“That’s good! Do you remember anything else?” Baekhyun is starting to feel like one of those psychiatrists in the law shows he sometimes watches with his mother.

Joonmyun pouts. Baekhyun zooms in on the action, slightly overwhelmed with how pink Joonmyun’s lips can be sometimes. They’re cotton candy on some days, rose pink on others. Today, they’re a hybrid between red and pink, but leaning more on the red side.

Joonmyun’s lips move, but Baekhyun is too entranced with watching them move that he doesn’t hear anything.

“Sorry?” he asks once the lips move again and he realizes he’s staring, probably quite heavily, at the uneven bow of Joonmyun’s tiny lips and-

“I don’t really remember much else.”

“A-ah,” Baekhyun stutters. He shakes his head to clear his mind from lip-related thoughts. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s not like you were there.”

Baekhyun hums. His gut clenches, though, and he wonders why. Maybe the food they just ate was bad or maybe it still wants more food.

Baekhyun simply eats another scoop of rice and hopes it passes.

“Anything new within the last week?” Baekhyun asks cheekily. He and Kyungsoo always do this, asking each other if anything happened in the six or seven days they haven’t seen each other. It’s not really necessary, but they keep it up for posterity and a laugh.

“Yes, actually.” Kyungsoo’s eyes sparkle and he bounces lightly in his seat.

Baekhyun holds his hands up. “Woah now, don’t get too excited,” he teases.

“I got a job,” Kyungsoo says with a blinding smile.

“Congrats!” Baekhyun immediately exclaims. “What place accepted you? Or should I say which place did you pick because any place would be stupid to reject you.”

“It’s a little bakery a few blocks from my house. It’s kind of a halfway point between our houses, now that I think about it.”

“So does this mean I get discounts?”

Kyungsoo reaches over to flick his hand. “No. Just because Minseok is my boss, it doesn’t mean he’s going to take kindly to lost profit.”

“Minseok? What the hell took him so long to hire you, then?” Baekhyun asks, slightly offended for Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “There wasn’t an open position until recently. A girl left for college and he needed to fill the space, so I was more than happy to be the person to fill it for him.”

“He should’ve made space for you regardless,” Baekhyun grumbles. “What a friend.”

“You’re being silly again,” Kyungsoo says.

“Silly or not, congratulations again. You’ve always wanted to work in a bakery at one point, right?” Baekhyun wonders, hoping that his memory isn’t failing him.

“Right. It just sounds fun, you know? I’ve always liked making things and it makes me happy to see other people enjoy what I’ve made.”

Baekhyun holds his hands up with a laugh. “You don’t need to convince me of your passion, Soo.” He honestly loves the extra sparkle that Kyungsoo’s eyes take on whenever he talks about something he likes. Baekhyun is happy whenever Kyungsoo is happy, so he’s always willing to listen to him talk about his cupcakes or his other hobbies or his classes back when they were in college.

“Right,” Kyungsoo says as he ducks his head. “I just forget sometimes that you don’t mind listening to me talk.”

“I’ll always be here to listen, so don’t even think about forgetting.” Baekhyun sends him a wink, his heart beating a little faster as his indirect confession.

All Kyungsoo does is smile that beautiful smile of his.

The moment is broken when their food comes, but they regain it back, falling into their usual patterns and looks and touches.

“So how are your officemates? Still as weird as when I met them?” Kyungsoo asks at one point.

Baekhyun groans. “I can’t believe you actually came back.”

It had certainly been an interesting visit, that’s for sure. He’s surprised Sooyoung ever managed to let him leave, since it seems like she was going to keep Kyungsoo captive. Baekhyun thinks it probably has to do with the glare he had sent her when Kyungsoo’s back was to him.

“Calm down. I’m gay, remember?” Sooyoung had said, causing Chanyeol to laugh his full-body laugh and for Kyungsoo to turn towards him with an unspoken question on his face.

Thankfully, Kyungsoo had managed to make it out of there alive. Now Baekhyun only had slight reservations about him coming to visit, but he had demanded that he get to see Joohyun first before Kyungsoo came back again. That got Sooyoung to shut up, a triumphant smile on Baekhyun’s lips appearing when she got her phone out and started texting.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “They’re not as bad as you seem to think.”

“They’re awful,” Baekhyun says immediately.

“You like them.”

Baekhyun sighs. “It’s disturbing how you know me so well.”

“No,” Kyungsoo denies, “Anyone can see how much you like them and how well you work together. I was there for less than an hour, but it only took me two minutes to figure out that you’re genuinely happy there.”

“But I’m happier with you,” Baekhyun coos, laughing when Kyungsoo kicks his shin.

Kyungsoo’s nose wrinkles up. “I say something nice and you counter it with something cheesy.”

“Byun Baekhyun at your service.” He does a little bow for show, delighted with the chuckle it gets.

They’re walking back to Baekhyun’s house hand-in-hand a little under an hour later. They had decided to leave Kyungsoo’s car a little ways down and walk to the restaurant that day, wanting to enjoy the air and take advantage of the fact that it wasn’t that hot out.

Baekhyun inhales, a little smile on his face as he looks up and spots a few stars. He wonders what he would do without them.

“I used to love looking at the stars with my parents when I was younger,” he says, nostalgia coming up and wrapping him up in a warm blanket.

“They’re very pretty. I can’t really say I’ve ever looked too much.”

“We should go one day, just go to a park and lay down on a blanket under the stars.” It’s romantic, Baekhyun wants to say, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to without his cheeks turning into volcanoes.

“I would like that,” Kyungsoo whispers, squeezing Baekhyun’s hand gently.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

The night is peaceful, the two of them in their own little world. Time with Kyungsoo always seems to go twice as fast than regular time, a fact that upsets Baekhyun but also simultaneously reminds him that it’s okay because they have forever to be together.

A little bit of Baekhyun’s old insecurities come back, quelled by the warmth of Kyungsoo’s fingers twined with his and the joy of looking into Kyungsoo’s eyes and seeing a softness in them that Kyungsoo doesn’t show other people.

Baekhyun leans forward for a quick kiss, Kyungsoo blinking at him when he pulls back. There’s a smile on his lips, though, a tiny one that Baekhyun likes a lot, if not the most. They don’t say anything, but they don’t need to, just continue walking.

The familiar white walls of Baekhyun’s house come into view and before he can even think about it, Baekhyun asks, “Do you want to come inside? Maybe to use the bathroom or something?”

Kyungsoo freezes, his grip tightening before loosening until they’re no longer holding hands. Baekhyun’s arms flops to his side uselessly.

“No,” Kyungsoo says, Baekhyun wincing from how stern his voice is. There’s a shaky quality to it; Baekhyun can hear it in Kyungsoo’s subsequent no’s.

“Okay,” Baekhyun says to try and calm Kyungsoo down. “Sorry for offering, I won’t do it again.” Kyungsoo is starting to worry him, but he doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t even really know what triggered it. Granted, he’s never asked Kyungsoo to come inside or meet his parents before, but he didn’t think it would go this badly.

Kyungsoo’s eyes dart from Baekhyun to the light inside his house and back to Baekhyun before he says, “I have to go.”

“I’ll text you?” Baekhyun asks but he never receives a response. Kyungsoo is already too far down the street.

“Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun stops mid-sentence, blinking at Yixing. “Yes?”

Yixing sighs as he rubs his temples. “You’ve been talking too much.”

“Sorry,” he says sheepishly. He hadn’t realized it had been that long, but he had a lot to tell Yixing.

Yixing sighs again. “It’s fine, I just didn’t think I could listen to you talk about how wonderful Joonmyun was any longer. I feel like I know him personally thanks to you.”

Has he really said that much? Baekhyun’s pretty sure he hasn’t and that he started with Kyungsoo’s weird behavior the night prior. He doesn’t even remember changing the topic to Joonmyun.

“I think I should say that I’m sorry again, but I’m not...sure I am.”

“Awful,” Yixing mutters. “I don’t know what’s worse, you warbling over Kyungsoo or sighing over Joonmyun.”

“I’m not sighing over-”

“You are,” Yixing deadpans. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were soulmates with Joonmyun as well.”

Baekhyun blinks before laughing. “That’s a good one, Xing. Two soulmates? Ha.”

Except Yixing isn’t laughing. He’s looking at Baekhyun with a calculating expression. Baekhyun squirms; the last time he had that look on his face, he had yelled at Baekhyun minutes later about how terrible Kyungsoo was being to him. He doesn’t want to get yelled at again, especially considering Yixing is talking about crazy things. Two soulmates? There’s no way.

“Think about it, Baekhyun. This isn’t the first time you’ve rambled to me about Joonmyun. You talk about him more than you think you do, and before you deny it, I can show you my text messages. It used to be all about Kyungsoo, but now it’s mostly Joonmyun.”

Baekhyun’s lips flatten into a straight line, but he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t want to argue with Yixing if he can help it. And even if Baekhyun is rejecting what Yixing is proposing, whatever Yixing says is usually important.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Joonmyun,” Yixing points out.

Baekhyun breaks his silence to say, “Well yeah, we work together.”

Yixing shakes his head. “Do you spend as much time with Seungwan? Or...what’s his name? Jonghyun?”

“No, but-”

“Exactly,” Yixing cuts him off. “You don’t. The only three you spend time with are your two officemates and Joonmyun. Don’t try and tell me otherwise because you’ll be lying to me and to yourself.”

Baekhyun sighs, but doesn’t refute it because it’s true.

“Also,” Yixing continues. He’s on a roll, Baekhyun notes dully. “You said something about a pull, right? At a coffee shop? You also told me he said the same thing.”

“Coincidence? He didn’t even tell me the city he was in.”

“Yes, but the man you ran into had blonde hair and pink lips. Joonmyun has those same characteristics from what you’ve told me and you’ve told me a lot. He also was at a coffee shop the same week you had finals, which means it could be him. His first letter is an ‘n’ right?”

Baekhyun nods, feeling slightly numb.

“Your first letter was an ‘n.’ Kyungsoo’s first letter-”

“You don’t need to tell me things I already know!” Baekhyun can’t help but yell. All this speculation is starting to give him a headache and his stomach is trying to tie itself with his lungs.

Yixing sighs. “I’m just saying, Baekhyun. From what you’ve told me, you seem very fond of Joonmyun. You find him attractive. You laugh with him, you talk with him, you eat with him, and the way you describe those things to me isn’t detached, but it’s like you’re talking about Kyungsoo all over again.”

That’s like a slap to the face, a dunk into ice cold water, but it’s also like aloe on a sunburn, ice cream on a humid day. Baekhyun’s mind is swirling around and he feels a little nauseous, but he also feels like the clouds have shifted away from his brain.

“Doesn’t this help, though?” Yixing asks. “You can still have the perfect life, just with one more person than you anticipated.”

The pieces are starting to fall together, but Baekhyun still doesn’t believe it. Is something like this even possible? If it is, then Baekhyun would still be able to have his happy ending – he already has it with Kyungsoo, but at least this explains why Baekhyun is so damn attracted to Joonmyun.

But wait. Is Baekhyun cheating on Kyungsoo? His mind whirls through possibility after possibility, question after question in a few seconds until he’s almost dizzy with it all. Through the mess, he realizes one thing and one thing only, as clear as day.

“Oh my gosh,” Baekhyun says. “I might have two soulmates.”