(EXO) (i just wanna say) you're mine
Title: (i just wanna say) you’re mine
Fandom: EXO
Rating: R
Word Count: 8,864 words
Pairing(s): Baekhyun/Kai, minor!Baekhyun/Kris, minor!Kai/Chanyeol, mentions of Suho/Chen
Summary: Baekhyun can honestly say that “getting laid” and “being horribly possessive of his best friend” are two problems he didn’t really think he’d ever have.
Warnings: none
Notes: originally posted here for the baekai fic exchange, perfectedart. i wanna thank sealpoint again (you'll notice that this is a trend, jess is always thanked because she's the best) and the mods at perfectedart for being so patient with me!
“Yah!” Baekhyun shouts, banging his fist on the door in front of him. He knows he’s being too loud considering how late it is, but Jongin hadn’t answered his phone (the kid never answers his phone) and, honestly, Baekhyun’s pretty sure that all of the people who live on this floor are used to him shouting the walls down at odd hours, anyway, “Kim Jongin!”
It takes another minute of knocking before Baekhyun hears shuffling inside and when the door opens with a soft click, a very sleepy looking Jongin is standing on the other side in nothing but a pair of sweatpants. He reaches up and rubs at his eye with the hand he doesn’t have on the door, lower lip pushed out into a pout, “Hyung, it’s like two in the morning.”
"My poor, sleepy baby." Baekhyun coos. He reaches up to pat Jongin’s cheek and laughs at the way the younger boy whines and turns his face away, before he shoves right past him into the room.
Because Jongin is on the dance team and the coach likes for them to all be rather acquainted with each other, Jongin had been lucky enough to be placed in a suite style dorm room with two of his teammates, which means they get their own bathroom and a kitchenette, both of which Baekhyun often finds himself taking advantage of. Tonight though, he makes a beeline for the freezer, digging around until he finds the flavor of ice cream that he likes.
By the time Jongin has made it into the kitchen behind him, lumbering his way over to the small table like the large, sleepy bear he is, Baekhyun has already made himself at home, sitting on the counter with a large spoon and the entire carton of ice cream settled in between his crossed legs, "Where are Taemin and Sehun?"
"Uh... Taemin went out with his girlfriend earlier, I think. And Sehun's just not here." Jongin flops down in a chair and blinks at Baekhyun, squinting at the tight jeans and the eyeliner around his eyes. He frowns, “Bad date?”
Baekhyun makes an incredulous noise around the ice cream melting in his mouth, “Bad?” He sputters, thinking of how awkward the guy was. He’d barely said a word to Baekhyun the whole time they were out, instead preferring to sit in silence and stare at Baekhyun when he thought he wasn’t looking. It had given Baekhyun the creeps, honestly, and he usually loves being stared at. He screws his face up into a grimace, shaking the memory away as he stabs his spoon back into the carton for more ice cream, “Try terrible.”
Jongin pouts in sympathy, still looking like he’s half asleep, “Sorry, hyung.”
“It’s not like it’s your fault.” Baekhyun snorts, licking stray ice cream from the back of the spoon, "I just don't get it. It's like all of a sudden I'm in the twilight zone or something. All of my dates lately have been so bad."
It's true. Baekhyun's status on campus as the shit has been severely compromised by what can only be described as a dry spell. He's never been one to have a steady relationship and he's not one to hide it either, so he's never had a problem getting someone to mess around with, but lately it’s been like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The guys-and girls-he goes out with or takes home all end up being duds and it’s getting worrying. Baekhyun's starting to wonder if he'll ever get laid again.
He sighs, pulling out a pout of his own and tapping the tip of the spoon against his lower lip, “Maybe it’s just me.”
Jongin rolls his eyes from where he’s settled at the table, “Hyung, please. Let’s not play this game tonight.”
“Game?” Baekhyun parrots, making his eyes all big and wide and innocent, spoon still at his mouth, “What game?”
“The game where you blame yourself for something when you know it’s not your fault so you can hear me rattle off a list of everything I think is good about you.” Jongin mumbles, tone flat and gaze unimpressed, “You know. That game where you fish for compliments.”
“Cheeky brat.” Baekhyun grumbles. He doesn’t deny it though, shoving another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, “You think you know me, huh?”
Jongin snorts, “Yeah, basically.”
Baekhyun clicks his tongue at the insolence in Jongin's tone, “What a terrible dongsaeng. Doesn’t even comfort his hyung when his feelings are hurt.”
He pretends to sniffle into his ice cream for a few minutes, still pouting around the spoon and that's all it takes for Jongin to cave.
"Hyung," He begins, pausing to let out a very put-upon sounding sigh, "It's not you. You know it's not. You're funny and attractive and talented and at least half of the student body drools after you. Most of them would give anything for you to even give them the time of day, much less actually date you."
Baekhyun tries to disguise his grin and fails miserably, smile stretching wide even around the spoon between his lips. Jongin might come off as cold at first, but no one knows better than Baekhyun how soft he actually is. He’s adorable-smiles with his whole face, laughs with his whole body, whines for the last piece of meat when Baekhyun takes him out for barbecue, and stumbles around behind Baekhyun with his hand fisted in the back of the older boy’s sweatshirt when he’s too sleepy to function (which is often)-and he’s always so sweet, so willing to please, to tell Baekhyun anything he wants to hear, even if he does do it with a huff or a roll of his eyes.
Not only does his sweet nature make Baekhyun extra fond of him, but it also makes Jongin a lot of fun and really easy to tease. Baekhyun doesn’t think he’s ever passed up a chance to see that cute blush and he’s not about to start now.
"Really?" He lilts, tipping his head to the side, "Even you?"
He’s rewarded for his efforts when Jongin's cheeks start a slow burn, flush creeping all the way down the length of his neck before he snaps out of it and turns his head to the side, clearing his throat, "Sorry, hyung,” he coughs, “You're not my type."
"Liar!" Baekhyun laughs, “I’m everyone’s type.” He leers at Jongin, then, licks his lips and laughs even harder when Jongin sinks in his chair, face so, so red, “Especially yours, don’t even deny it. I know you love me.”
“Alright.” Jongin whines, thoroughly embarrassed, “I’m done. I want to go back to bed now.”
“Okay, okay,” Baekhyun says. The carton of ice cream is empty and he leaves it there on the counter for someone else to clean up later, “I guess I should just head back, then,”
There's silence.
“You know,” Baekhyun sighs, “Back to my cold, empty dorm room. All by my lonesome.” He presses a hand to his forehead and knits his brows together to make his despair look more authentic, just barely stopping himself from laughing.
Jongin rolls his eyes as he gets to his feet, but he graciously doesn't mention the fact that Baekhyun has a roommate, the twitch of his lips betraying his amusement, "Just stay the night, hyung."
“Why, Jongin,” Baekhyun flutters his eyelashes. Jongin pretends to gag. “Aren’t you a sweetheart, offering your favorite Hyung a place to sleep.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Jongin says. Baekhyun just grins and follows him back to his room.
He strips himself out of his jeans, trading them for the pair of too big sweatpants that Jongin tosses in his face right before he slips under the covers and promptly passes out, probably before his head even hits the pillow.
Baekhyun turns off the light and slides into bed after him. It’s a tight fit, but this happens often enough that the two of them are used to making the little space work between them, “My hero,” he hums, snuggling against Jongin’s back and nuzzling at the nape of his neck. He laughs when Jongin stirs, hunching his shoulders and swinging an arm back to slap at Baekhyun’s shoulder.
"Shut up and go to bed."
Baekhyun snickers and throws an arm around Jongin's waist, using him as his own personal space heater, "Yes, Daddy."
“Oh my God.” Jongin makes a sound like he’s been wounded. Baekhyun simply cackles, wishing he could see how red the younger’s face is, “ You are the literal worst. Shut up.”
On Tuesday mornings, Baekhyun gets out of his Composition class at ten, a good hour before Jongin has his first class, so, usually, the two of them meet at the McDonald’s across the street from campus to get breakfast there instead of at the cafeteria. This particular morning, though, when Baekhyun steps in to the restaurant, Jongin is no where to be found.
Baekhyun just shrugs and orders for them both (bacon, egg and cheese biscuit, a hash brown and a medium coffee with three creams and three sugars for Jongin and an Egg McMuffin with an orange juice for himself) and by the time he sits down with their food, Jongin is shuffling through the door.
“Morning, hyung.” He says, flashing Baekhyun a small smile as he slides into the booth. He looks marginally more awake than he did when Baekhyun had seen him last night, eyes bright even if they are still half-lidded and sleepy.
Baekhyun grins back, resisting the urge to reach out and ruffle Jongin’s hair where it sits, fluffy on top of his head and hanging into his eyes. He settles for pushing Jongin's coffee across the table towards him and watching his eyes light up, instead, “Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”
Jongin pouts at the nickname, but he accepts the drink anyway, taking a sip. He sighs after, looking like a rather large, content cat, like he would purr if he could.
Baekhyun laughs at him, unwrapping both of their sandwiches and waiting until Jongin is making grabby hands in his direction before he pushes the food across the table too, "You have a serious problem."
"It's just coffee, hyung." Jongin rolls his eyes.
"Just coffee," Baekhyun scoffs, picking up his own sandwich, "You drink it like it’s water. I'm surprised it didn't stunt your growth."
"You're just bitter because you're short." Jongin says, "That's your own fault. You should've eaten your vegetables as a kid. Maybe then you wouldn't be so tiny."
"That's not even how that works, you little-"
“Uh, excuse me,”
Baekhyun pauses mid-threat and turns to the sound of the voice that had interrupted him only to find that he’d seen the guy come in with his friends earlier, all of them dressed like they’d been playing basketball at the gym down the street. He’s attractive enough, Baekhyun thinks, tall, with a chiseled face and dyed blond hair that he pushes away from his forehead with a large hand. His voice is low, too-low enough to have Baekhyun much more interested than he was when he’d seen him come in.
“Hi,” he chirps, flashing his most winning smile, “Can we help you?”
Tall, blond and handsome looks a little dazed when he responds, “You’re Byun Baekhyun, right?”
And Baekhyun can’t help it; he preens, chest puffing out like a peacock, “Yeah, that’s me.” He says, voice practically a purr. He knows he’s never met this guy before, but he asks anyway, with a cock of his head, “Do I know you from somewhere?”
"Ah, no, I don’t think so. I'm Kris. Kris Wu." He looks sheepish now instead of suave, rubbing at the back of his neck and avoiding Baekhyun’s gaze, “My friends and I saw you perform at a coffee house a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, really?” Baekhyun smiles, remembering. The coffee shop he and Jongin like to frequent has Open Mic Night once a month and he always ends up singing at least one song. He doesn’t think he’s ever been recognized for it like this, though. It’s a nice feeling. He rests his elbow on the table and props his chin up with his hand, “What’d you think?”
“It was good--really, really good.” Kris blurts and then he balks, like he wishes he could take it back.
“Good enough to remember me by, huh?” Baekhyun laughs when Kris blushes, just a small bit of pink dusting across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I really am flattered. Thanks, Kris.”
“You’re welcome…” He responds and then he seems to steel himself, taking a deep breath before he speaks, “Listen, I was just-I was wondering if I could get your number…? I’d really like to take you out sometime, or something.”
Baekhyun grins and holds out his hand for Kris’ phone.
Kris’ eyes widen-like he’s surprised, like he was expecting Baekhyun to reject him with a face like that-and he fumbles in his pocket for a moment, all of the confidence and swagger he’d had when he walked in gone as he holds out the phone for Baekhyun to take.
“Not gonna lie,” Baekhyun says, after he’s punched his number in and is handing Kris his phone back, making sure their fingers brush in the process, “I’m really looking forward to the ‘or something.’”
Kris visibly gulps, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, “Is Saturday night good for you?”
Baekhyun grins and opens his mouth to say yes, but before he can, he thinks of all the bad dates he's been on lately, all the weird situations he's been put in with no way out, and he’s struck with an idea.
"Well,” he purses his lips, eyebrows drawn together in exaggerated concern, “I kinda had plans with Jonginnie here for Saturday night..."
It's only half true-he and Jongin had their usual tentative plans of hanging around in one of their rooms playing video games and stuffing their faces, but they're always just that: tentative. He doesn’t have any real obligation, but he needs Kris to think he does.
As expected, Jongin protests, looking confused, "No, no, hyung, it's totally fine. You should go,"
Baekhyun frowns, "But I feel bad leaving you hanging..." He pretends to think it over for a minute and then turns to Kris, making his eyes as big and innocent as he can, "Kris, you wouldn't happen to have a friend for Jongin would you? We could double date, maybe?"
Kris blinks at him and, for a moment, Baekhyun almost thinks he might not take the bait, but then he laughs, his expression caught somewhere between amused and disbelieving, "Believe it or not, my friend over there," he looks over his shoulder to point out one of the guys he'd come in with, who, when he realizes he's being watched, grins wide enough to expose all his teeth, "Actually thinks Jongin is really cute. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure I could arrange something."
“That’s great!” Baekhyun blurts before Jongin can say anything and has to bite down on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from yelping when Jongin’s foot collides with his shin under the table, "I’ll see you then?"
Kris smiles at that, a grin that exposes his gums and makes him look unexpectedly cute, "Yeah, I'll, uh… I'll call you."
When he turns to leave, Baekhyun watches him go, eyes skimming over impossibly long legs. His ass is a little less full than Baekhyun usually considers, but he figures those hands can probably make up for it.
He's jerked away from thoughts of Kris' hands on his hips when Jongin kicks at his shin again, in the exact same spot as before, "Shit," There's definitely going to be a bruise there, "Could you at least aim at my other leg?"
“I can’t believe you!” Jongin hisses, looking harried. His shoulders are hunched and his cheeks are all red and his teeth are worrying his bottom lip into a pulp.
“Oh, come on!” Baekhyun whines. He flops onto the table, chin pillowed by his arms, and looks up at Jongin from underneath his lashes, channelling his inner sad puppy, “It won’t be that bad!”
Jongin parts his lips to respond, but seems to think better of it, his mouth shutting with a click. He ends up looking over to where Kris seems to be explaining to his friend what’s going on and freezes up like a deer in the headlights when he gets caught staring by the guy Baekhyun assumes is going to be his date. He’s tall, like Kris, and cute in that smiley, overly friendly sort of way, if the way his grin stretches across his face is any indication.
It’s only when he waves at them that Jongin snaps out of it, head turning away so fast that Baekhyun’s surprised he doesn’t get whiplash.
The guy laughs, loud enough that Baekhyun and Jongin and probably half of the patrons in the restaurant can hear him and Jongin’s whole face is impossibly red as he sinks as low as he can in the booth, hiding behind his hands, “No.” He half-whispers, half-whines, “I can’t do it, absolutely not.”
Baekhyun groans. Such a shy thing.
“Why do you not want to go so badly?” He prods, pouting now. Jongin is very steadfastly refusing to look at him, eyes fixed on the table, “Do you have a crush or something? Someone else you wanna date?” At that, Jongin’s already red face gets even redder, his whole body tensing up and Baekhyun sits up, grin already tugging at his mouth.
“Oh, so is that it?” He asks, waggling his eyebrows and leaning forward, trying to put his face in Jongin’s line of sight because he still hasn’t looked away from the surface of the table, “Do you have a crush I don’t know about, Jongin-ah? Aren’t you going to tell hyung about it?”
Jongin balks, the color draining from his face as quickly as it had come, and Baekhyun watches him chew viciously on his lip, hiding behind his too long bangs as he shakes his head 'no,' “Th-That’s not it-”
"Okay, then!" Baekhyun grins, pointedly ignoring any more stuttered protests, "It's settled."
He glances over at Kris and his friends again; Kris is looking at him, too, face contemplative. Baekhyun runs his tongue over his bottom lip, flashes a little wave and watches, fascinated and horribly pleased with himself, as Kris’ eyes go all hooded and dark, his gaze flicking down to Baekhyun’s mouth.
“Saturday night, it is.”
“Hey,” Baekhyun says later when he and Jongin are walking back to campus. He always walks Jongin to class after they eat even though Jongin always insists that he doesn’t have to, but this time Jongin had been oddly silent, closed off in a way that he usually isn't when it comes to Baekhyun. He’d be lying if he said the silence didn’t make him worried, “You know… if you really don’t want to go on this date, you don’t have to.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Baekhyun sees Jongin turn to him in surprise, but he doesn’t turn to meet the questioning gaze, just barrels on.
“I mean, I’d like for you to come. Since I've been having such bad luck lately, I figured it'd be nice to have a buffer just in case the situation goes South and I didn’t think it’d hurt because I’d get to have you around at the same time. And… honestly, I kinda worry about you, you know?” Baekhyun pauses, licks his lips. He’s not good at this kind of thing-neither of them are, really, Baekhyun thinks that Jongin might be the one person on Earth who's worse with words than he is-but this is important. He cares about Jongin and even if getting it out is like pulling teeth, he needs Jongin to know, “I can't think of the last time I saw you go out on a date and it’s fine if you just don’t want to date, but I really don't want you to be lonely or anything.”
“Hyung, I-”
“But it’s not that big of a deal,” Baekhyun interrupts, waving his hands, talking right over Jongin, “I don’t want you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. I can text Kris and tell him that you can’t make it or you don’t want to go or something and I can go on my own, it’s nothing-”
"Hyung," Jongin's eyes are amused when Baekhyun looks up to meet them and there's a small smile tugging at his lips, "You talk too much."
"Yeah, well-"
"I'll go."
Baekhyun stops in his tracks, eyeing Jongin suspiciously, “...Really?”
"Yeah," Jongin shrugs.
They’re in front of Jongin’s building now and his class starts in maybe five minutes, but neither of them really make a move to leave, just standing there, staring at each other. Baekhyun studies Jongin’s face, but the younger boy won’t really meet his eyes, shifting anxiously from foot-to-foot.
“Don’t-” Baekhyun sighs, “Jongin, you don’t have to do this just because I want you too-”
“I’m not, hyung.” Jongin says. His face is strangely unreadable for a moment-not in the way it usually is, but in a purposeful way-before Baekhyun can say anything about it though, the expression changes, Jongin’s eyes curving in the way that Baekhyun recognizes as playful, “Contrary to popular belief, not everything revolves around you.”
Baekhyun laughs, relieved, and aims to slap Jongin in the stomach, laughing even harder when the younger boy literally pirouettes out of his reach, “You little shit!” He shouts and they’re attracting a lot of attention, but Baekhyun can’t even bring himself to care because Jongin is laughing again, his whole face scrunched up with it.
He dances into the building, disappearing behind the doors and the sound of his laugh after Baekhyun had flipped him off from outside keeps Baekhyun grinning the whole way back to his dorm.
Saturday night finds Baekhyun back in a very familiar position-dressed for a date and banging on Jongin’s door.
“Jongin!” Baekhyun calls. He’s literally bouncing on his feet, too anxious to keep still. He’s been waiting for this all week, texting back and forth with Kris, and he’s never been on a double date before, but he thinks that tonight might actually be nice. The four of them are supposed to go out to dinner downtown and then to a club that Chanyeol DJs at, which means they’ll be able to get in without waiting in any lines or paying any entrance fees. As usual, though, Jongin isn’t answering his phone, and Baekhyun is left outside waiting for him.
“Jongin, come on!” Baekhyun whines, pawing pathetically at the door, “If you don’t hurry we’re gonna be late-”
Before he can continue, the door swings open, “Hyung, you’re so annoying,” Jongin grumbles and Baekhyun opens his mouth to snark back, only to be stunned into silence when he actually looks at Jongin.
He’s dressed in all black-tight black jeans, tight black tank top, and he’s got a black jacket slung over his arm when he opens the door-and his eyes are all done up, too, thick sweeps of the blackest eyeliner Baekhyun has ever seen over his top lids and smudged under his bottom lashes. It makes him look sultry and dangerous, like something out of a movie or a music video or a fucking wet dream, and Baekhyun knows his mouth his hanging open but he can’t be bothered to close it because holy shit.
“Holy shit.” He says out loud.
Jongin frowns at him, running his hands through his bangs, mussing them up, “What?” He asks, eyebrows furrowing, “Is there something wrong?”
“Is that-is that gel liner?” Baekhyun gapes.
Jongin blushes, “Uh, yeah...? That's... the kind that comes in the little pot right?” he looks a little embarrassed, picking at the hem of his shirt and it’s such a Jongin habit, but the person doing it doesn’t look like Jongin--except at the same time, he really does, “Taemin got Kibum-hyung to do it for me.”
Baekhyun doesn’t say anything to that because he feels like he physically can't. He can’t stop staring, can’t stop dragging his eyes up and down Jongin’s frame because he’s always known that Jongin was attractive-there’s no way he couldn’t have noticed with all the time they spend together-but for some reason this is different. This is-
“Is it-” Jongin’s voice interrupts Baekhyun’s train of thought, tight and worried, “Does it look bad?”
“No.” Baekhyun hauls his gaze away from where it’d dropped to Jongin’s legs in those jeans (his thighs, Jesus) and looks him in the eye, “No, you look really, really hot. Like, really hot. Holy shit, Jongin.”
“Oh.” Jongin blinks, surprised and then he smiles in that sweet way that makes his eyes crinkle up and exposes all his teeth, cheeks turning pink, “Thanks, hyung.”
"Chanyeol's not gonna be able to keep his hands off you." For some reason the words feel strange coming out of his mouth, like they’re wrong, but the way Jongin’s face lights up even more-like he was afraid he would actually be rejected looking like walking, talking sex-makes Baekhyun think he probably said the right thing.
“Now come on,” He says, grabbing at Jongin’s wrist and starting to tug him down the hall, “It’s bad etiquette to be late to a first date.”
Jongin snorts, “What do you know about etiquette?”
Because he looks so pretty, Baekhyun chooses to ignore him.
Dinner is, ultimately, nice.
Chanyeol is a big guy with an even bigger presence, talking and striking up conversation with both Baekhyun and Jongin right off the bat, like there isn’t a shred of apprehension in him and, to be honest, there probably isn’t. Kris is a lot quieter, a lot more reserved at first, which Baekhyun figured he would be, but Chanyeol almost acts like more of a buffer than Jongin does because he seems to make Kris loosen up enough to let go of his cool facade long enough for Baekhyun to see just how silly and sweet he actually is.
It’s cute the way the two of them play off of each other, too-they almost remind Baekhyun of himself and Jongin, honestly-and they even have Jongin relaxing enough that he’s not a giant ball of nerves the whole time they’re eating.
So, yeah, Baekhyun would say that the night, up until that point, had been a huge success.
The trouble starts, however, once they’ve left dinner and are walking the few blocks to the club.
“So,” Chanyeol begins, “You guys both go to K-ARTS, right?”
Baekhyun hums in the affirmative, leaning around Kris to nod at Chanyeol, “Yeah, I’m a Vocal Performance-slash-Composition Major.” He aims his grin at Jongin then and continues, “Jongin’s the real talent though. He’s a Dance Major. He’s been doing jazz and ballet since he was, like, a baby-”
“Hyung,” Jongin whines, his face turning an adorable shade of pink, “Stop.”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Chanyeol laughs and he looks absolutely endeared when Jongin only gets more embarrassed in response, his cheeks turning redder by the second, “You’re so cute.”
Jongin, in contrast, looks like he wants to hide behind his hands or maybe sink into the ground, but he just ducks his head instead, scuffing his shoe against the pavement and mumbling a sweet, quiet “thanks” that makes Chanyeol laugh again.
The sight has something ugly twisting in Baekhyun’s chest, and not for the first time either. It’s been like this all night-Chanyeol laughing at one of Jongin’s dumb jokes, offering Jongin food off of his plate, putting his arm around Jongin’s shoulders, making Jongin blush and laugh-all of it makes Baekhyun feel antsy, like there’s something Not Okay about it that he can’t put his finger on.
“You alright?” Kris asks, nudging Baekhyun and raising an eyebrow at him. Probably because he’d gone quiet so suddenly.
It’s Jongin who pipes in to answer, though, “He’s fine. You smell that smoke? He’s just thinking.”
Chanyeol laughs like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard and Baekhyun has to forcibly push down the feeling again before he can answer, “That’s gotta be the oldest joke in the book.”
Kris is laughing, too, though, quietly, with his palm pressed to his mouth and his face turned away so Baekhyun can’t see.
“Yah!” He snaps, playfully slapping at Kris’ arm and snarling, “Don’t laugh at that! It’s not even funny!”
Kris doesn’t even bother dodging the hits, just takes them, still laughing, “It’s a little funny,” he says, smile wide and gummy, “Just a little. You have to admit.”
At that, Baekhyun tosses his hands into the air, “Fine.” He says, speeding up to walk in front of them. They’re not that far from the club now and Baekhyun can feel the bass from the music thumping down the sidewalk, “I see how it is. I’m going to the club by myself. Maybe I’ll find people who appreciate me there.”
He’s stopped by one of Kris’ large hands grabbing at his wrist and tugging him back, “Don’t be like that,” He murmurs, voice low. In a particularly bold move, considering he hasn’t done much by way of touching tonight, he tucks Baekhyun into his side, his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and grins down at him, even if the look in his eyes is a little unsure. Baekhyun rolls his eyes, but relaxes against Kris’ side to let him know it’s okay. The grin he gets in reward is bright.
“Besides,” chimes in Chanyeol, voice smug, “You need me to get in anyway.”
There’s murmuring-Chanyeol and Jongin talking to each other about something-and Baekhyun honestly cannot understand why the sound of the two of them laughing together makes his chest feel tight and wrong. He sighs, lets Kris pull him closer, and figures it’ll go away once he’s got a few drinks in him.
It doesn’t.
If anything, it only gets worse in the club because Jongin is fucking gorgeous in his element-dancing even when he’s not on the floor, losing himself in the music the same way he always does-and for some reason watching Chanyeol drool all over him goes from Not Okay to Extremely Offensive.
Chanyeol can’t even dance to save his life, but Jongin is indulging him like he thinks it’s cute that Chanyeol is tripping all over himself and flailing his stupidly long limbs everywhere like some sort of horribly uncoordinated octopus. Baekhyun downright bristles when Chanyeol puts his hands on Jongin’s hips and turns him around, pulling Jongin’s back to his chest and whispering something in his ear that makes Jongin’s cheeks flush. He doesn’t stop dancing though, not even for a second, rolling his hips back into Chanyeol’s even though Chanyeol even seems to be sub-par at just grinding.
“Chanyeol really can’t dance.” Baekhyun says-hisses, really-still eyeing them. He takes a swig of his drink and the alcohol burns its way down.
Kris chuckles next to him, “You would know. If you stare any harder you might burn holes in his head.”
It’s only then that Baekhyun realizes they’ve been here for a little over an hour and all he’s done, really, is watch Chanyeol and Jongin, “Shit,” he says, turning to look at his date. Guilt creeps up to settle in his chest right next to where that other ugly feeling has decided to take up residence and Baekhyun really doesn’t know how to deal with this shit, “I’m so sorry, Kris.”
“It’s fine,” Kris says, waving a hand good naturedly, even as Baekhyun shakes his head no.
“It really isn’t…” He insists. Kris has been the perfect date-exactly what Baekhyun has been looking for-and all Baekhyun has done tonight is ignore him, “I don’t even know what to say. I’ll make it up to you.”
As bad as Baekhyun feels about the whole thing, Kris doesn’t really look upset at all, just lightly amused, like this is all some really strange joke, “It really is fine-I do wanna ask though, why’d you agree to go out with me and why’d you set Jongin up if you want him so badly?”
If Baekhyun had taken a sip of his drink, he would’ve spit it clear across the table at Kris’ question. As it stands, he promptly chokes on his own spit, “What?” He sputters, “I don’t want Jongin-I mean-at least not like that-”
Now Kris looks even more amused, like he might laugh in Baekhyun’s face at any moment and Baekhyun has to admit that smug is not a good look on Kris, “It’s literally all over your face, Baekhyun.” Kris says, “You’re jealous.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Baekhyun huffs, turning away, “I’m not-” And then he stops because he catches sight of Jongin and Chanyeol on the dancefloor again, Chanyeol’s palms flat on Jongin’s thighs as he drags Jongin closer and the ugly feeling is back, clawing at his chest and up his throat and-oh.
Oh.
“Oh.”
Kris does laugh out loud this time and Baekhyun kind of wants to kick him because he’s having a fucking existential crisis and Kris is laughing, “Yeah, ‘oh.’” He mocks, “Although I’m not sure if jealous is really the word to use here, because you’re being downright possessive.”
Baekhyun doesn’t even bother responding, too busy thinking about the way the ugly, angry feeling has been flaring up in his chest all night, how he’s been itching to get his hands on Jongin, to palm his thighs and his ass. He thinks of the way Jongin had bitten down on his lower lip when he met Chanyeol-the same way he always does when he’s nervous-and the only thing he’d been able to think of is biting down on his lip for him.
He thinks of the way his mood had immediately gone south when Jongin seemed to actually like Chanyeol, blushing and batting his eyelashes and licking his lips. He thinks of the way he can’t stand seeing Chanyeol put his hands anywhere on Jongin, the way it makes his blood boil, his skin crawl, and now he knows why because there’s a steady stream of mine, mine, mine that’s ringing out in his head, loud and clear.
“Mother fuck.” Baekhyun breathes, and then feels bad all over again because his date just had to tell him that he knows Baekhyun’s more attracted to the friend he brought along than he is to Kris, “This is fucked up.”
“What’s fucked up?”
Baekhyun tenses up and turns around to look at Jongin, who’s grinning down at them, completely unaware of what’s going on in Baekhyun’s head. He’s been dancing and he’s sweaty, but his eyeliner is still impeccable and the first thing Baekhyun thinks of is how badly he wants to mess it up-how badly he wants to smear it, make Jongin beg until there are tears in his eyes that drag trails of the makeup down his cheeks.
“Nothing.” He chokes, willing the thoughts away.
Jongin pouts and opens his mouth to say something else-probably to ask what’s really going on-but then there’s Chanyeol, wrapping an arm around Jongin’s waist and dipping his head to talk into his ear.
“Want me to take you up to the booth?” He’s asking, and Baekhyun watches Jongin’s eyes light up as he twists in Chanyeol’s grip.
“Could you really?” He might as well be sparkling in Chanyeol’s direction, his excitement palpable.
It pisses Baekhyun off all over again, especially when Chanyeol laughs and nods, his fingers squeezing gently at Jongin’s hips to steer him away, “Yeah, come on, we can go now.”
Baekhyun watches them until they disappear, and it’s only after they’re gone that he deflates, the image of the two of them together burning behind his eyelids when he closes his eyes.
“Damn.” Kris chuckles, “Yeah, you’ve got it bad.”
Baekhyun groans, “Shit, Kris, I’m so, so, so sorry.”
“I already told you it’s fine.” Kris’ large hand lands on his back, rubbing from the nape of his neck to the small of his back, “You might want to do something about it before Chanyeol gets attached, though. I can’t say he’ll give up too easy.”
Filing that information away for later, Baekhyun leans heavily into Kris’ side and walks his fingers over the waistband of his jeans. He really does feel bad for fucking Kris over like this-he's a nice guy, he deserves something for his trouble, “I know you said it’s fine, but I’d still like to make it up to you,” He watches Kris’ gaze go dark like it did that day they met and when he flicks out his tongue to lick his lips, Kris’ eyes follow its trail, “If you’ll let me.”
As it turns out, Kris does let Baekhyun make it up to him.
He doesn’t protest at all when Baekhyun leads him to the bathroom, doesn’t protest when he’s shoved backwards into a stall and he doesn’t say a word when Baekhyun gets down on his knees and sucks Kris into his mouth right there in the club restroom, the bass thrumming so loud and heavy through the walls that Baekhyun can hardly hear the sounds he knows Kris is making.
It doesn’t matter anyway-Baekhyun just closes his eyes and pretends he’s got his mouth on Jongin instead. Kris’ voice would’ve just ruined the fantasy, anyway.
Baekhyun gasps awake, startled out of his sleep because Jongdae is startled; yelping when he opens the door and finds Baekhyun in bed, which in turn, jolts Baekhyun awake with a yelp of his own. They don’t say anything to each other for a good, long, moment, both of them just staring, chests heaving and eyes wide.
“You scared me,” Jongdae says finally when the door clicks shut behind him. He’s in the same clothes he’d left in yesterday and Baekhyun very courteously doesn’t mention the hickeys he can see marking Jongdae’s neck, “Why are you here? Didn’t you have a date last night?”
Baekhyun lies back down, watching Jongdae lazily from his bed, “What is that supposed to mean?”
Jongdae snorts, “You’re never here the morning after a date. That’s why on those nights I usually have Junmyeon over.” He grins, completely unrepentant as he tugs his shirt over his head, revealing even more hickeys, marring his torso, his sides and his back, “You’re lucky I went over to his place last night. You would’ve gotten an eyeful-an earful too, probably.”
“Ugh,” Baekhyun gags, rolling over to smother himself in his pillow, “Please. Please do not talk to me about you and Junmyeon’s sex life. It’s disgusting. You are literally sleeping with a grandpa.”
“You’re just jealous I’m getting laid on the regular.” Jongdae trills, digging around in one of his drawers for a new set of clothes.
Baekhyun ignores him, groping around on the bed for his phone until he finds it and bringing it up to eye level.
He has three texts: two from Kris (thx for last night, i'll talk to chanyeol but u should probably talk to jongin) and one from Jongin, laden with exclamation points and emoticons, detailing how much fun he’d had last night and thanking Baekhyun for getting him to go and telling Baekhyun about how Chanyeol invited him back to the club on a night where he’s actually going to be working the booth and we should go hyung!!! it’ll be fun!!!!!
“You never answered my question,” Comes Jongdae’s voice and when Baekhyun puts his phone down and looks over at him, he’s sitting on his bed, with his head cocked to the side, expression curious, “Why are you here if you had a date last night? Was it bad?”
“No.”
“No, you didn’t have a date? Or no, it wasn’t bad?”
“Yes, I had a date,” Baekhyun grumbles, “No, it wasn’t bad.”
“So…” Jongdae taps his lip with his finger, pretending to contemplate the information he’s just been given. Baekhyun doesn’t even have the energy to tell him he looks like a jackass when he’s trying to be cute, “It was a good date, but… you didn’t sleep with him?”
“Why do you sound so shocked?” Baekhyun says, feeling a little offended, “I can have good dates and not sleep with them afterwards.”
“Really.” Jongdae raises an eyebrow, “Tell me the last time that happened.” He says, holding up his hands in surrender when Baekhyun glares at him, “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it-it’s what you want and you’re straightforward about it, but honestly, come on. You always put out on the first date. What changed?”
“Who says I didn’t put out?” Baekhyun grumbles and he remembers the feeling of being on his knees, Kris heavy on his tongue-remembers wishing it was Jongin instead. Baekhyun doesn’t blush, but this weird mix of want and guilt coil together in his stomach.
“Oh!” Jongdae grins, completely unaware of Baekhyun’s inner turmoil, “So, you did?”
Baekhyun licks his lips, “I sucked him off in the bathroom at the club.” Jongdae whistles, but Baekhyun's not done and before he can even really think about it, he blurts out, “And I thought about Jongin while I was doing it.”
Having it out in the open like that makes it real, it makes Baekhyun feel even guiltier because he doesn’t think he’s ever once fantasized about another person when he’s having sex, and of all people, the person he was imagining was Jongin-the same Jongin who pouts when he doesn’t get his way, drapes himself over Baekhyun’s back like a blanket while they walk, and cuddles up with him to watch dumb action movies when he’s sad. He’d wanted Jongin so badly last night, had been so possessive and jealous that someone else had noticed.
And he feels even worse because none of it has changed this morning. He’s still possessive and jealous-just Jongin’s texts about wanting to go back to that club to see Chanyeol make him angry-and he still wants Jongin.
"Does this mean you're like, not in denial anymore?"
“What?” Baekhyun barks, scrambling into a sitting position, “What does that mean?”
Jongdae blinks at him, “What does what mean?”
“What do you mean I’m not in denial anymore?” Baekhyun hisses.
“Wait.” Jongdae narrows his eyes at Baekhyun, scrutinizing him, “You can’t be serious. You mean you’re just now figuring this out?”
Baekhyun could kick Jongdae in the face right now if his heart didn’t feel like it was going to beat out of his chest, “Figuring what out, Jongdae.”
To his dismay, Jongdae just looks at him, his face mixed up like he doesn’t know whether to be unimpressed or horribly amused, “Oh my God,” He says, “You’re serious right now.”
“Yes, I’m serious.” Baekhyun hisses, patience gone. He grabs one of his pillows and hurls it in Jongdae’s direction, scowling when the other boy only laughs, “What are you talking about, you asshole?”
Jongdae’s still laughing when he speaks, “Do you not remember that time you thought Taemin and Jongin were gonna be a thing?”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Baekhyun scowls-he’d never really put much thought into Taemin until he and Jongin had started rooming together last year. The two of them got way too close, way too fast for Baekhyun’s liking and he didn’t trust Taemin for shit, especially not with Jongin. Nothing ended up happening-Jongin had told Baekhyun himself, his face flushed and teeth in his lip- and Taemin has a girlfriend now, but Baekhyun still can’t say he particularly likes the guy, “What about it?”
“Dude, that whole time you were so fucking prickly. Being around you was like torturing myself. All you could talk about was how much of a dumbass Taemin was and how Jongin deserved better and, I quote, ‘if he fucks with Jongin, I swear, I’ll kill him.’” Jongdae rolls his eyes, “It was so annoying. You were like the possessive boyfriend or something. I just thought you had, y’know-” He shrugs, lying back on his bed, “Finally acknowledged that you’re ridiculously in love with him or some shit. Or at least that you want to suck his dick, apparently.”
If Baekhyun thought that he was having an existential crisis last night, right now he’s losing his mind, “Holy fucking shit.” He whines, flopping backwards into his sheets, “This is a huge problem.”
“Wait, okay, explain to me how, exactly, this is a problem?”
“It’s a problem because it’s Jongin!” Baekhyun shouts, incredulous, “He’s a baby-my best friend! And I-I literally want to wreck him until he cries and then maybe cuddle with him afterwards, oh my God. How do you not see the issue with this?”
Jongdae laughs so hard that he doubles over, cackling, “You’re so dramatic.”
If Baekhyun wasn’t currently trying to smother himself in his remaining pillow, he’d throw it right into Jongdae’s stupid fucking face.
“I’m pretty sure he likes you back, anyway.” Jongdae continues, completely ignoring Baekhyun’s muffled whining, “The kid looks at you like you’re the fucking world-why else would he let you drag him around the way you do? You guys should fuck and get over it. Maybe then the UST when you’re in a room together won’t be so suffocating.”
“I fucking hate you.” Baekhyun hisses into his pillow because now he’s thinking about it-fucking Jongin-and that’s exactly what he doesn’t need to be thinking about right now, “You’re the worst roommate in the world.”
“I think you mean best.” Jongdae says. Baekhyun can hear the smug grin in his voice and hopes that the next time he and Junmyeon have sex he chokes on his dick.
Baekhyun not-so-subtly manages to avoid Jongin for a grand total of two whole days before he finally shows up at Baekhyun’s door on Tuesday morning. He’d thought his excuse about not feeling well enough to make it to breakfast had been pretty believable but ignoring all of Jongin’s texts and calls since Saturday night only to text him to cancel probably isn't the smartest idea he's ever had.
“You’re avoiding me,” Is the first thing out of Jongin’s mouth, and he looks so hurt when he says it, eyebrows furrowed and mouth curled down at the corners like he really doesn’t understand.
Baekhyun feels like a literal piece of shit.
He ducks his head, avoiding Jongin’s eyes. It feels strange to be on this end of it-to be the one hiding while Jongin searches, “I’m not-”
“Hyung.”
Baekhyun doesn’t even have to look up to see the look on Jongin’s face. He can imagine it, can see it behind his eyelids, and he sighs, “Okay. Yeah. I have been.”
Jongin recoils with a small “oh,” like Baekhyun had hit him and Baekhyun's instinct is to fix it, but he doesn't know what to say that isn't "I can't be around you because I'm having a crisis over the fact that I want to press you face down into my mattress and leave marks all over you so everyone knows you're mine and I also want to hold your hand when I walk you to class and maybe kiss you goodbye, probably have wanted to for a very long time, and I don't know if you're down with that" so he stays silent.
“Did I-” Jongin pauses and Baekhyun looks up just in time to see him bite down on his lip. It feels like a punch to the gut and there's no make up, no tight jeans or shirt, or flirty pretense. This is just Jongin and Baekhyun still wants him, "Did I do something? Is this about the date? I know I left you and Kris alone but you guys seemed like you were having a good time, so-"
“No!” Baekhyun blurts, the sudden noise and movement startling Jongin so that he jumps and he’s so fucking cute. Baekhyun doesn't understand how it's possible to be this cute and also so frustrating at the same time, “It’s not your fault, Jongin. I just-I physically can’t be around you right now, I-"
Baekhyun makes a frustrated noise in the back of his throat because none of this is working, none of this is coming out right and Jongin is standing there, looking just as confused as Baekhyun feels, still worrying his lip between his teeth and he is going to drive Baekhyun crazy.
"Just-stop that! Stop biting your lip!" Baekhyun snaps. Jongin jumps again, gaping at Baekhyun, but at least his teeth stop worrying his lip, "You have to stop doing that and you have to stop being so cute and-and you can never, ever wear eyeliner like you did the other night again because, oh my God, Jongin, do you have any idea how badly that fucked me up? And I really don’t want to forbid you from doing anything but you also need to stop hanging out with Chanyeol because watching him crawl all over you makes me jealous and possessive and-you’re so fucking ridiculous and I have no clue how to deal with being attracted to you at all and-”
It’s something straight from a drama-the way Jongin grasps his shoulders, mid-sentence, and shoves him backwards into the room, leaning down to kiss him as the door shuts behind them-but Baekhyun doesn’t even care because Jongin’s mouth is soft against his own and even the way he kisses is cute, tentative, like he’s afraid he’s reading this wrong and Baekhyun is going to pull away.
Baekhyun makes sure to reassure him, fisting his fingers in Jongin’s shirt and pulling him even closer. Jongin gasps a little, surprised, and Baekhyun takes advantage of it, sinking his teeth into Jongin’s lower lip and tugging lightly until he whines.
The very last thing Baekhyun wants to do is stop-he wants to kiss Jongin over and over, until he makes more sounds just like that because fuck-but the need for oxygen is a pressing one and he has to pull away.
“Hyung,” Jongin is even cuter when he’s well-kissed like this, his lips red and slick, cheeks pink and chest rising and falling underneath Baekhyun's hands, “I can’t-I like you a lot, hyung, if this is just sex, I-I can’t be your hook-up or a one night stand or anything, I-” He lowers his eyes, eyelashes brushing his cheeks and Baekhyun is grossed out by how badly he wants to press kisses to each of his eyelids if it means he’ll stop looking so worried, “I really, really like you. Have liked you. For a while.”
Baekhyun swallows, his heart doing this weird little thing in his chest where it skips a beat, “Okay.” He says and Jongin looks up, “Okay, I’m not… the best with relationships.” He admits like Jongin doesn’t already know, like Jongin hasn’t sat through him talking about his fuck buddies at least hundreds of times (and he winces a little bit at the thought of it, Jongin having to endure Baekhyun stepping all over his feelings like that), “But, I… we could give it a shot, if you want.”
Jongin’s kissing him again before he’s even finished getting the words out, hands cupping Baekhyun’s face, “Yes. Yeah.” He breathes, mouth ghosting over Baekhyun’s when he speaks, “I want.”
Baekhyun laughs a little, then, “You’ll have to be patient with me, though. I have no clue how to do this… and I’ve, uh, recently discovered that I get a little possessive. When it comes to you.”
"It’s okay, I don’t know what I’m doing either." Jongin says, blushing, but the smile that lights up his face is so gorgeous that Baekhyun wants to bottle it up and keep it for himself, make sure no one else gets to see it. He's surprised when it takes a twist though, Jongin's eyes sparkling playfully, "And I don't really mind possessive."
“Oh?” Baekhyun grins, feeling a lot like the cat who got the canary, more than ready to take a bite, “So that means you’re all mine, then?”
“Yeah,” Jongin says, sliding his hands down Baekhyun’s arms and wrapping them around Baekhyun’s hips with this slow, heavy kind of concentration that makes Baekhyun’s chest swell like a balloon, “Have been for a while.”
The sincerity in Jongin’s voice makes Baekhyun blush, heat creeping up the back of his neck, “Oh, gross,” he laughs, squirming in Jongin’s grip like he’s trying to get away, “I changed my mind, you’re too cheesy for this.”
“Too late,” Jongin grins, “You’re stuck with me, now.”
Honestly, Baekhyun’s not too sure he minds the sound of that.
Fandom: EXO
Rating: R
Word Count: 8,864 words
Pairing(s): Baekhyun/Kai, minor!Baekhyun/Kris, minor!Kai/Chanyeol, mentions of Suho/Chen
Summary: Baekhyun can honestly say that “getting laid” and “being horribly possessive of his best friend” are two problems he didn’t really think he’d ever have.
Warnings: none
Notes: originally posted here for the baekai fic exchange, perfectedart. i wanna thank sealpoint again (you'll notice that this is a trend, jess is always thanked because she's the best) and the mods at perfectedart for being so patient with me!
“Yah!” Baekhyun shouts, banging his fist on the door in front of him. He knows he’s being too loud considering how late it is, but Jongin hadn’t answered his phone (the kid never answers his phone) and, honestly, Baekhyun’s pretty sure that all of the people who live on this floor are used to him shouting the walls down at odd hours, anyway, “Kim Jongin!”
It takes another minute of knocking before Baekhyun hears shuffling inside and when the door opens with a soft click, a very sleepy looking Jongin is standing on the other side in nothing but a pair of sweatpants. He reaches up and rubs at his eye with the hand he doesn’t have on the door, lower lip pushed out into a pout, “Hyung, it’s like two in the morning.”
"My poor, sleepy baby." Baekhyun coos. He reaches up to pat Jongin’s cheek and laughs at the way the younger boy whines and turns his face away, before he shoves right past him into the room.
Because Jongin is on the dance team and the coach likes for them to all be rather acquainted with each other, Jongin had been lucky enough to be placed in a suite style dorm room with two of his teammates, which means they get their own bathroom and a kitchenette, both of which Baekhyun often finds himself taking advantage of. Tonight though, he makes a beeline for the freezer, digging around until he finds the flavor of ice cream that he likes.
By the time Jongin has made it into the kitchen behind him, lumbering his way over to the small table like the large, sleepy bear he is, Baekhyun has already made himself at home, sitting on the counter with a large spoon and the entire carton of ice cream settled in between his crossed legs, "Where are Taemin and Sehun?"
"Uh... Taemin went out with his girlfriend earlier, I think. And Sehun's just not here." Jongin flops down in a chair and blinks at Baekhyun, squinting at the tight jeans and the eyeliner around his eyes. He frowns, “Bad date?”
Baekhyun makes an incredulous noise around the ice cream melting in his mouth, “Bad?” He sputters, thinking of how awkward the guy was. He’d barely said a word to Baekhyun the whole time they were out, instead preferring to sit in silence and stare at Baekhyun when he thought he wasn’t looking. It had given Baekhyun the creeps, honestly, and he usually loves being stared at. He screws his face up into a grimace, shaking the memory away as he stabs his spoon back into the carton for more ice cream, “Try terrible.”
Jongin pouts in sympathy, still looking like he’s half asleep, “Sorry, hyung.”
“It’s not like it’s your fault.” Baekhyun snorts, licking stray ice cream from the back of the spoon, "I just don't get it. It's like all of a sudden I'm in the twilight zone or something. All of my dates lately have been so bad."
It's true. Baekhyun's status on campus as the shit has been severely compromised by what can only be described as a dry spell. He's never been one to have a steady relationship and he's not one to hide it either, so he's never had a problem getting someone to mess around with, but lately it’s been like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The guys-and girls-he goes out with or takes home all end up being duds and it’s getting worrying. Baekhyun's starting to wonder if he'll ever get laid again.
He sighs, pulling out a pout of his own and tapping the tip of the spoon against his lower lip, “Maybe it’s just me.”
Jongin rolls his eyes from where he’s settled at the table, “Hyung, please. Let’s not play this game tonight.”
“Game?” Baekhyun parrots, making his eyes all big and wide and innocent, spoon still at his mouth, “What game?”
“The game where you blame yourself for something when you know it’s not your fault so you can hear me rattle off a list of everything I think is good about you.” Jongin mumbles, tone flat and gaze unimpressed, “You know. That game where you fish for compliments.”
“Cheeky brat.” Baekhyun grumbles. He doesn’t deny it though, shoving another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, “You think you know me, huh?”
Jongin snorts, “Yeah, basically.”
Baekhyun clicks his tongue at the insolence in Jongin's tone, “What a terrible dongsaeng. Doesn’t even comfort his hyung when his feelings are hurt.”
He pretends to sniffle into his ice cream for a few minutes, still pouting around the spoon and that's all it takes for Jongin to cave.
"Hyung," He begins, pausing to let out a very put-upon sounding sigh, "It's not you. You know it's not. You're funny and attractive and talented and at least half of the student body drools after you. Most of them would give anything for you to even give them the time of day, much less actually date you."
Baekhyun tries to disguise his grin and fails miserably, smile stretching wide even around the spoon between his lips. Jongin might come off as cold at first, but no one knows better than Baekhyun how soft he actually is. He’s adorable-smiles with his whole face, laughs with his whole body, whines for the last piece of meat when Baekhyun takes him out for barbecue, and stumbles around behind Baekhyun with his hand fisted in the back of the older boy’s sweatshirt when he’s too sleepy to function (which is often)-and he’s always so sweet, so willing to please, to tell Baekhyun anything he wants to hear, even if he does do it with a huff or a roll of his eyes.
Not only does his sweet nature make Baekhyun extra fond of him, but it also makes Jongin a lot of fun and really easy to tease. Baekhyun doesn’t think he’s ever passed up a chance to see that cute blush and he’s not about to start now.
"Really?" He lilts, tipping his head to the side, "Even you?"
He’s rewarded for his efforts when Jongin's cheeks start a slow burn, flush creeping all the way down the length of his neck before he snaps out of it and turns his head to the side, clearing his throat, "Sorry, hyung,” he coughs, “You're not my type."
"Liar!" Baekhyun laughs, “I’m everyone’s type.” He leers at Jongin, then, licks his lips and laughs even harder when Jongin sinks in his chair, face so, so red, “Especially yours, don’t even deny it. I know you love me.”
“Alright.” Jongin whines, thoroughly embarrassed, “I’m done. I want to go back to bed now.”
“Okay, okay,” Baekhyun says. The carton of ice cream is empty and he leaves it there on the counter for someone else to clean up later, “I guess I should just head back, then,”
There's silence.
“You know,” Baekhyun sighs, “Back to my cold, empty dorm room. All by my lonesome.” He presses a hand to his forehead and knits his brows together to make his despair look more authentic, just barely stopping himself from laughing.
Jongin rolls his eyes as he gets to his feet, but he graciously doesn't mention the fact that Baekhyun has a roommate, the twitch of his lips betraying his amusement, "Just stay the night, hyung."
“Why, Jongin,” Baekhyun flutters his eyelashes. Jongin pretends to gag. “Aren’t you a sweetheart, offering your favorite Hyung a place to sleep.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Jongin says. Baekhyun just grins and follows him back to his room.
He strips himself out of his jeans, trading them for the pair of too big sweatpants that Jongin tosses in his face right before he slips under the covers and promptly passes out, probably before his head even hits the pillow.
Baekhyun turns off the light and slides into bed after him. It’s a tight fit, but this happens often enough that the two of them are used to making the little space work between them, “My hero,” he hums, snuggling against Jongin’s back and nuzzling at the nape of his neck. He laughs when Jongin stirs, hunching his shoulders and swinging an arm back to slap at Baekhyun’s shoulder.
"Shut up and go to bed."
Baekhyun snickers and throws an arm around Jongin's waist, using him as his own personal space heater, "Yes, Daddy."
“Oh my God.” Jongin makes a sound like he’s been wounded. Baekhyun simply cackles, wishing he could see how red the younger’s face is, “ You are the literal worst. Shut up.”
On Tuesday mornings, Baekhyun gets out of his Composition class at ten, a good hour before Jongin has his first class, so, usually, the two of them meet at the McDonald’s across the street from campus to get breakfast there instead of at the cafeteria. This particular morning, though, when Baekhyun steps in to the restaurant, Jongin is no where to be found.
Baekhyun just shrugs and orders for them both (bacon, egg and cheese biscuit, a hash brown and a medium coffee with three creams and three sugars for Jongin and an Egg McMuffin with an orange juice for himself) and by the time he sits down with their food, Jongin is shuffling through the door.
“Morning, hyung.” He says, flashing Baekhyun a small smile as he slides into the booth. He looks marginally more awake than he did when Baekhyun had seen him last night, eyes bright even if they are still half-lidded and sleepy.
Baekhyun grins back, resisting the urge to reach out and ruffle Jongin’s hair where it sits, fluffy on top of his head and hanging into his eyes. He settles for pushing Jongin's coffee across the table towards him and watching his eyes light up, instead, “Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”
Jongin pouts at the nickname, but he accepts the drink anyway, taking a sip. He sighs after, looking like a rather large, content cat, like he would purr if he could.
Baekhyun laughs at him, unwrapping both of their sandwiches and waiting until Jongin is making grabby hands in his direction before he pushes the food across the table too, "You have a serious problem."
"It's just coffee, hyung." Jongin rolls his eyes.
"Just coffee," Baekhyun scoffs, picking up his own sandwich, "You drink it like it’s water. I'm surprised it didn't stunt your growth."
"You're just bitter because you're short." Jongin says, "That's your own fault. You should've eaten your vegetables as a kid. Maybe then you wouldn't be so tiny."
"That's not even how that works, you little-"
“Uh, excuse me,”
Baekhyun pauses mid-threat and turns to the sound of the voice that had interrupted him only to find that he’d seen the guy come in with his friends earlier, all of them dressed like they’d been playing basketball at the gym down the street. He’s attractive enough, Baekhyun thinks, tall, with a chiseled face and dyed blond hair that he pushes away from his forehead with a large hand. His voice is low, too-low enough to have Baekhyun much more interested than he was when he’d seen him come in.
“Hi,” he chirps, flashing his most winning smile, “Can we help you?”
Tall, blond and handsome looks a little dazed when he responds, “You’re Byun Baekhyun, right?”
And Baekhyun can’t help it; he preens, chest puffing out like a peacock, “Yeah, that’s me.” He says, voice practically a purr. He knows he’s never met this guy before, but he asks anyway, with a cock of his head, “Do I know you from somewhere?”
"Ah, no, I don’t think so. I'm Kris. Kris Wu." He looks sheepish now instead of suave, rubbing at the back of his neck and avoiding Baekhyun’s gaze, “My friends and I saw you perform at a coffee house a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, really?” Baekhyun smiles, remembering. The coffee shop he and Jongin like to frequent has Open Mic Night once a month and he always ends up singing at least one song. He doesn’t think he’s ever been recognized for it like this, though. It’s a nice feeling. He rests his elbow on the table and props his chin up with his hand, “What’d you think?”
“It was good--really, really good.” Kris blurts and then he balks, like he wishes he could take it back.
“Good enough to remember me by, huh?” Baekhyun laughs when Kris blushes, just a small bit of pink dusting across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I really am flattered. Thanks, Kris.”
“You’re welcome…” He responds and then he seems to steel himself, taking a deep breath before he speaks, “Listen, I was just-I was wondering if I could get your number…? I’d really like to take you out sometime, or something.”
Baekhyun grins and holds out his hand for Kris’ phone.
Kris’ eyes widen-like he’s surprised, like he was expecting Baekhyun to reject him with a face like that-and he fumbles in his pocket for a moment, all of the confidence and swagger he’d had when he walked in gone as he holds out the phone for Baekhyun to take.
“Not gonna lie,” Baekhyun says, after he’s punched his number in and is handing Kris his phone back, making sure their fingers brush in the process, “I’m really looking forward to the ‘or something.’”
Kris visibly gulps, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, “Is Saturday night good for you?”
Baekhyun grins and opens his mouth to say yes, but before he can, he thinks of all the bad dates he's been on lately, all the weird situations he's been put in with no way out, and he’s struck with an idea.
"Well,” he purses his lips, eyebrows drawn together in exaggerated concern, “I kinda had plans with Jonginnie here for Saturday night..."
It's only half true-he and Jongin had their usual tentative plans of hanging around in one of their rooms playing video games and stuffing their faces, but they're always just that: tentative. He doesn’t have any real obligation, but he needs Kris to think he does.
As expected, Jongin protests, looking confused, "No, no, hyung, it's totally fine. You should go,"
Baekhyun frowns, "But I feel bad leaving you hanging..." He pretends to think it over for a minute and then turns to Kris, making his eyes as big and innocent as he can, "Kris, you wouldn't happen to have a friend for Jongin would you? We could double date, maybe?"
Kris blinks at him and, for a moment, Baekhyun almost thinks he might not take the bait, but then he laughs, his expression caught somewhere between amused and disbelieving, "Believe it or not, my friend over there," he looks over his shoulder to point out one of the guys he'd come in with, who, when he realizes he's being watched, grins wide enough to expose all his teeth, "Actually thinks Jongin is really cute. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure I could arrange something."
“That’s great!” Baekhyun blurts before Jongin can say anything and has to bite down on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from yelping when Jongin’s foot collides with his shin under the table, "I’ll see you then?"
Kris smiles at that, a grin that exposes his gums and makes him look unexpectedly cute, "Yeah, I'll, uh… I'll call you."
When he turns to leave, Baekhyun watches him go, eyes skimming over impossibly long legs. His ass is a little less full than Baekhyun usually considers, but he figures those hands can probably make up for it.
He's jerked away from thoughts of Kris' hands on his hips when Jongin kicks at his shin again, in the exact same spot as before, "Shit," There's definitely going to be a bruise there, "Could you at least aim at my other leg?"
“I can’t believe you!” Jongin hisses, looking harried. His shoulders are hunched and his cheeks are all red and his teeth are worrying his bottom lip into a pulp.
“Oh, come on!” Baekhyun whines. He flops onto the table, chin pillowed by his arms, and looks up at Jongin from underneath his lashes, channelling his inner sad puppy, “It won’t be that bad!”
Jongin parts his lips to respond, but seems to think better of it, his mouth shutting with a click. He ends up looking over to where Kris seems to be explaining to his friend what’s going on and freezes up like a deer in the headlights when he gets caught staring by the guy Baekhyun assumes is going to be his date. He’s tall, like Kris, and cute in that smiley, overly friendly sort of way, if the way his grin stretches across his face is any indication.
It’s only when he waves at them that Jongin snaps out of it, head turning away so fast that Baekhyun’s surprised he doesn’t get whiplash.
The guy laughs, loud enough that Baekhyun and Jongin and probably half of the patrons in the restaurant can hear him and Jongin’s whole face is impossibly red as he sinks as low as he can in the booth, hiding behind his hands, “No.” He half-whispers, half-whines, “I can’t do it, absolutely not.”
Baekhyun groans. Such a shy thing.
“Why do you not want to go so badly?” He prods, pouting now. Jongin is very steadfastly refusing to look at him, eyes fixed on the table, “Do you have a crush or something? Someone else you wanna date?” At that, Jongin’s already red face gets even redder, his whole body tensing up and Baekhyun sits up, grin already tugging at his mouth.
“Oh, so is that it?” He asks, waggling his eyebrows and leaning forward, trying to put his face in Jongin’s line of sight because he still hasn’t looked away from the surface of the table, “Do you have a crush I don’t know about, Jongin-ah? Aren’t you going to tell hyung about it?”
Jongin balks, the color draining from his face as quickly as it had come, and Baekhyun watches him chew viciously on his lip, hiding behind his too long bangs as he shakes his head 'no,' “Th-That’s not it-”
"Okay, then!" Baekhyun grins, pointedly ignoring any more stuttered protests, "It's settled."
He glances over at Kris and his friends again; Kris is looking at him, too, face contemplative. Baekhyun runs his tongue over his bottom lip, flashes a little wave and watches, fascinated and horribly pleased with himself, as Kris’ eyes go all hooded and dark, his gaze flicking down to Baekhyun’s mouth.
“Saturday night, it is.”
“Hey,” Baekhyun says later when he and Jongin are walking back to campus. He always walks Jongin to class after they eat even though Jongin always insists that he doesn’t have to, but this time Jongin had been oddly silent, closed off in a way that he usually isn't when it comes to Baekhyun. He’d be lying if he said the silence didn’t make him worried, “You know… if you really don’t want to go on this date, you don’t have to.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Baekhyun sees Jongin turn to him in surprise, but he doesn’t turn to meet the questioning gaze, just barrels on.
“I mean, I’d like for you to come. Since I've been having such bad luck lately, I figured it'd be nice to have a buffer just in case the situation goes South and I didn’t think it’d hurt because I’d get to have you around at the same time. And… honestly, I kinda worry about you, you know?” Baekhyun pauses, licks his lips. He’s not good at this kind of thing-neither of them are, really, Baekhyun thinks that Jongin might be the one person on Earth who's worse with words than he is-but this is important. He cares about Jongin and even if getting it out is like pulling teeth, he needs Jongin to know, “I can't think of the last time I saw you go out on a date and it’s fine if you just don’t want to date, but I really don't want you to be lonely or anything.”
“Hyung, I-”
“But it’s not that big of a deal,” Baekhyun interrupts, waving his hands, talking right over Jongin, “I don’t want you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. I can text Kris and tell him that you can’t make it or you don’t want to go or something and I can go on my own, it’s nothing-”
"Hyung," Jongin's eyes are amused when Baekhyun looks up to meet them and there's a small smile tugging at his lips, "You talk too much."
"Yeah, well-"
"I'll go."
Baekhyun stops in his tracks, eyeing Jongin suspiciously, “...Really?”
"Yeah," Jongin shrugs.
They’re in front of Jongin’s building now and his class starts in maybe five minutes, but neither of them really make a move to leave, just standing there, staring at each other. Baekhyun studies Jongin’s face, but the younger boy won’t really meet his eyes, shifting anxiously from foot-to-foot.
“Don’t-” Baekhyun sighs, “Jongin, you don’t have to do this just because I want you too-”
“I’m not, hyung.” Jongin says. His face is strangely unreadable for a moment-not in the way it usually is, but in a purposeful way-before Baekhyun can say anything about it though, the expression changes, Jongin’s eyes curving in the way that Baekhyun recognizes as playful, “Contrary to popular belief, not everything revolves around you.”
Baekhyun laughs, relieved, and aims to slap Jongin in the stomach, laughing even harder when the younger boy literally pirouettes out of his reach, “You little shit!” He shouts and they’re attracting a lot of attention, but Baekhyun can’t even bring himself to care because Jongin is laughing again, his whole face scrunched up with it.
He dances into the building, disappearing behind the doors and the sound of his laugh after Baekhyun had flipped him off from outside keeps Baekhyun grinning the whole way back to his dorm.
Saturday night finds Baekhyun back in a very familiar position-dressed for a date and banging on Jongin’s door.
“Jongin!” Baekhyun calls. He’s literally bouncing on his feet, too anxious to keep still. He’s been waiting for this all week, texting back and forth with Kris, and he’s never been on a double date before, but he thinks that tonight might actually be nice. The four of them are supposed to go out to dinner downtown and then to a club that Chanyeol DJs at, which means they’ll be able to get in without waiting in any lines or paying any entrance fees. As usual, though, Jongin isn’t answering his phone, and Baekhyun is left outside waiting for him.
“Jongin, come on!” Baekhyun whines, pawing pathetically at the door, “If you don’t hurry we’re gonna be late-”
Before he can continue, the door swings open, “Hyung, you’re so annoying,” Jongin grumbles and Baekhyun opens his mouth to snark back, only to be stunned into silence when he actually looks at Jongin.
He’s dressed in all black-tight black jeans, tight black tank top, and he’s got a black jacket slung over his arm when he opens the door-and his eyes are all done up, too, thick sweeps of the blackest eyeliner Baekhyun has ever seen over his top lids and smudged under his bottom lashes. It makes him look sultry and dangerous, like something out of a movie or a music video or a fucking wet dream, and Baekhyun knows his mouth his hanging open but he can’t be bothered to close it because holy shit.
“Holy shit.” He says out loud.
Jongin frowns at him, running his hands through his bangs, mussing them up, “What?” He asks, eyebrows furrowing, “Is there something wrong?”
“Is that-is that gel liner?” Baekhyun gapes.
Jongin blushes, “Uh, yeah...? That's... the kind that comes in the little pot right?” he looks a little embarrassed, picking at the hem of his shirt and it’s such a Jongin habit, but the person doing it doesn’t look like Jongin--except at the same time, he really does, “Taemin got Kibum-hyung to do it for me.”
Baekhyun doesn’t say anything to that because he feels like he physically can't. He can’t stop staring, can’t stop dragging his eyes up and down Jongin’s frame because he’s always known that Jongin was attractive-there’s no way he couldn’t have noticed with all the time they spend together-but for some reason this is different. This is-
“Is it-” Jongin’s voice interrupts Baekhyun’s train of thought, tight and worried, “Does it look bad?”
“No.” Baekhyun hauls his gaze away from where it’d dropped to Jongin’s legs in those jeans (his thighs, Jesus) and looks him in the eye, “No, you look really, really hot. Like, really hot. Holy shit, Jongin.”
“Oh.” Jongin blinks, surprised and then he smiles in that sweet way that makes his eyes crinkle up and exposes all his teeth, cheeks turning pink, “Thanks, hyung.”
"Chanyeol's not gonna be able to keep his hands off you." For some reason the words feel strange coming out of his mouth, like they’re wrong, but the way Jongin’s face lights up even more-like he was afraid he would actually be rejected looking like walking, talking sex-makes Baekhyun think he probably said the right thing.
“Now come on,” He says, grabbing at Jongin’s wrist and starting to tug him down the hall, “It’s bad etiquette to be late to a first date.”
Jongin snorts, “What do you know about etiquette?”
Because he looks so pretty, Baekhyun chooses to ignore him.
Dinner is, ultimately, nice.
Chanyeol is a big guy with an even bigger presence, talking and striking up conversation with both Baekhyun and Jongin right off the bat, like there isn’t a shred of apprehension in him and, to be honest, there probably isn’t. Kris is a lot quieter, a lot more reserved at first, which Baekhyun figured he would be, but Chanyeol almost acts like more of a buffer than Jongin does because he seems to make Kris loosen up enough to let go of his cool facade long enough for Baekhyun to see just how silly and sweet he actually is.
It’s cute the way the two of them play off of each other, too-they almost remind Baekhyun of himself and Jongin, honestly-and they even have Jongin relaxing enough that he’s not a giant ball of nerves the whole time they’re eating.
So, yeah, Baekhyun would say that the night, up until that point, had been a huge success.
The trouble starts, however, once they’ve left dinner and are walking the few blocks to the club.
“So,” Chanyeol begins, “You guys both go to K-ARTS, right?”
Baekhyun hums in the affirmative, leaning around Kris to nod at Chanyeol, “Yeah, I’m a Vocal Performance-slash-Composition Major.” He aims his grin at Jongin then and continues, “Jongin’s the real talent though. He’s a Dance Major. He’s been doing jazz and ballet since he was, like, a baby-”
“Hyung,” Jongin whines, his face turning an adorable shade of pink, “Stop.”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Chanyeol laughs and he looks absolutely endeared when Jongin only gets more embarrassed in response, his cheeks turning redder by the second, “You’re so cute.”
Jongin, in contrast, looks like he wants to hide behind his hands or maybe sink into the ground, but he just ducks his head instead, scuffing his shoe against the pavement and mumbling a sweet, quiet “thanks” that makes Chanyeol laugh again.
The sight has something ugly twisting in Baekhyun’s chest, and not for the first time either. It’s been like this all night-Chanyeol laughing at one of Jongin’s dumb jokes, offering Jongin food off of his plate, putting his arm around Jongin’s shoulders, making Jongin blush and laugh-all of it makes Baekhyun feel antsy, like there’s something Not Okay about it that he can’t put his finger on.
“You alright?” Kris asks, nudging Baekhyun and raising an eyebrow at him. Probably because he’d gone quiet so suddenly.
It’s Jongin who pipes in to answer, though, “He’s fine. You smell that smoke? He’s just thinking.”
Chanyeol laughs like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard and Baekhyun has to forcibly push down the feeling again before he can answer, “That’s gotta be the oldest joke in the book.”
Kris is laughing, too, though, quietly, with his palm pressed to his mouth and his face turned away so Baekhyun can’t see.
“Yah!” He snaps, playfully slapping at Kris’ arm and snarling, “Don’t laugh at that! It’s not even funny!”
Kris doesn’t even bother dodging the hits, just takes them, still laughing, “It’s a little funny,” he says, smile wide and gummy, “Just a little. You have to admit.”
At that, Baekhyun tosses his hands into the air, “Fine.” He says, speeding up to walk in front of them. They’re not that far from the club now and Baekhyun can feel the bass from the music thumping down the sidewalk, “I see how it is. I’m going to the club by myself. Maybe I’ll find people who appreciate me there.”
He’s stopped by one of Kris’ large hands grabbing at his wrist and tugging him back, “Don’t be like that,” He murmurs, voice low. In a particularly bold move, considering he hasn’t done much by way of touching tonight, he tucks Baekhyun into his side, his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and grins down at him, even if the look in his eyes is a little unsure. Baekhyun rolls his eyes, but relaxes against Kris’ side to let him know it’s okay. The grin he gets in reward is bright.
“Besides,” chimes in Chanyeol, voice smug, “You need me to get in anyway.”
There’s murmuring-Chanyeol and Jongin talking to each other about something-and Baekhyun honestly cannot understand why the sound of the two of them laughing together makes his chest feel tight and wrong. He sighs, lets Kris pull him closer, and figures it’ll go away once he’s got a few drinks in him.
It doesn’t.
If anything, it only gets worse in the club because Jongin is fucking gorgeous in his element-dancing even when he’s not on the floor, losing himself in the music the same way he always does-and for some reason watching Chanyeol drool all over him goes from Not Okay to Extremely Offensive.
Chanyeol can’t even dance to save his life, but Jongin is indulging him like he thinks it’s cute that Chanyeol is tripping all over himself and flailing his stupidly long limbs everywhere like some sort of horribly uncoordinated octopus. Baekhyun downright bristles when Chanyeol puts his hands on Jongin’s hips and turns him around, pulling Jongin’s back to his chest and whispering something in his ear that makes Jongin’s cheeks flush. He doesn’t stop dancing though, not even for a second, rolling his hips back into Chanyeol’s even though Chanyeol even seems to be sub-par at just grinding.
“Chanyeol really can’t dance.” Baekhyun says-hisses, really-still eyeing them. He takes a swig of his drink and the alcohol burns its way down.
Kris chuckles next to him, “You would know. If you stare any harder you might burn holes in his head.”
It’s only then that Baekhyun realizes they’ve been here for a little over an hour and all he’s done, really, is watch Chanyeol and Jongin, “Shit,” he says, turning to look at his date. Guilt creeps up to settle in his chest right next to where that other ugly feeling has decided to take up residence and Baekhyun really doesn’t know how to deal with this shit, “I’m so sorry, Kris.”
“It’s fine,” Kris says, waving a hand good naturedly, even as Baekhyun shakes his head no.
“It really isn’t…” He insists. Kris has been the perfect date-exactly what Baekhyun has been looking for-and all Baekhyun has done tonight is ignore him, “I don’t even know what to say. I’ll make it up to you.”
As bad as Baekhyun feels about the whole thing, Kris doesn’t really look upset at all, just lightly amused, like this is all some really strange joke, “It really is fine-I do wanna ask though, why’d you agree to go out with me and why’d you set Jongin up if you want him so badly?”
If Baekhyun had taken a sip of his drink, he would’ve spit it clear across the table at Kris’ question. As it stands, he promptly chokes on his own spit, “What?” He sputters, “I don’t want Jongin-I mean-at least not like that-”
Now Kris looks even more amused, like he might laugh in Baekhyun’s face at any moment and Baekhyun has to admit that smug is not a good look on Kris, “It’s literally all over your face, Baekhyun.” Kris says, “You’re jealous.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Baekhyun huffs, turning away, “I’m not-” And then he stops because he catches sight of Jongin and Chanyeol on the dancefloor again, Chanyeol’s palms flat on Jongin’s thighs as he drags Jongin closer and the ugly feeling is back, clawing at his chest and up his throat and-oh.
Oh.
“Oh.”
Kris does laugh out loud this time and Baekhyun kind of wants to kick him because he’s having a fucking existential crisis and Kris is laughing, “Yeah, ‘oh.’” He mocks, “Although I’m not sure if jealous is really the word to use here, because you’re being downright possessive.”
Baekhyun doesn’t even bother responding, too busy thinking about the way the ugly, angry feeling has been flaring up in his chest all night, how he’s been itching to get his hands on Jongin, to palm his thighs and his ass. He thinks of the way Jongin had bitten down on his lower lip when he met Chanyeol-the same way he always does when he’s nervous-and the only thing he’d been able to think of is biting down on his lip for him.
He thinks of the way his mood had immediately gone south when Jongin seemed to actually like Chanyeol, blushing and batting his eyelashes and licking his lips. He thinks of the way he can’t stand seeing Chanyeol put his hands anywhere on Jongin, the way it makes his blood boil, his skin crawl, and now he knows why because there’s a steady stream of mine, mine, mine that’s ringing out in his head, loud and clear.
“Mother fuck.” Baekhyun breathes, and then feels bad all over again because his date just had to tell him that he knows Baekhyun’s more attracted to the friend he brought along than he is to Kris, “This is fucked up.”
“What’s fucked up?”
Baekhyun tenses up and turns around to look at Jongin, who’s grinning down at them, completely unaware of what’s going on in Baekhyun’s head. He’s been dancing and he’s sweaty, but his eyeliner is still impeccable and the first thing Baekhyun thinks of is how badly he wants to mess it up-how badly he wants to smear it, make Jongin beg until there are tears in his eyes that drag trails of the makeup down his cheeks.
“Nothing.” He chokes, willing the thoughts away.
Jongin pouts and opens his mouth to say something else-probably to ask what’s really going on-but then there’s Chanyeol, wrapping an arm around Jongin’s waist and dipping his head to talk into his ear.
“Want me to take you up to the booth?” He’s asking, and Baekhyun watches Jongin’s eyes light up as he twists in Chanyeol’s grip.
“Could you really?” He might as well be sparkling in Chanyeol’s direction, his excitement palpable.
It pisses Baekhyun off all over again, especially when Chanyeol laughs and nods, his fingers squeezing gently at Jongin’s hips to steer him away, “Yeah, come on, we can go now.”
Baekhyun watches them until they disappear, and it’s only after they’re gone that he deflates, the image of the two of them together burning behind his eyelids when he closes his eyes.
“Damn.” Kris chuckles, “Yeah, you’ve got it bad.”
Baekhyun groans, “Shit, Kris, I’m so, so, so sorry.”
“I already told you it’s fine.” Kris’ large hand lands on his back, rubbing from the nape of his neck to the small of his back, “You might want to do something about it before Chanyeol gets attached, though. I can’t say he’ll give up too easy.”
Filing that information away for later, Baekhyun leans heavily into Kris’ side and walks his fingers over the waistband of his jeans. He really does feel bad for fucking Kris over like this-he's a nice guy, he deserves something for his trouble, “I know you said it’s fine, but I’d still like to make it up to you,” He watches Kris’ gaze go dark like it did that day they met and when he flicks out his tongue to lick his lips, Kris’ eyes follow its trail, “If you’ll let me.”
As it turns out, Kris does let Baekhyun make it up to him.
He doesn’t protest at all when Baekhyun leads him to the bathroom, doesn’t protest when he’s shoved backwards into a stall and he doesn’t say a word when Baekhyun gets down on his knees and sucks Kris into his mouth right there in the club restroom, the bass thrumming so loud and heavy through the walls that Baekhyun can hardly hear the sounds he knows Kris is making.
It doesn’t matter anyway-Baekhyun just closes his eyes and pretends he’s got his mouth on Jongin instead. Kris’ voice would’ve just ruined the fantasy, anyway.
Baekhyun gasps awake, startled out of his sleep because Jongdae is startled; yelping when he opens the door and finds Baekhyun in bed, which in turn, jolts Baekhyun awake with a yelp of his own. They don’t say anything to each other for a good, long, moment, both of them just staring, chests heaving and eyes wide.
“You scared me,” Jongdae says finally when the door clicks shut behind him. He’s in the same clothes he’d left in yesterday and Baekhyun very courteously doesn’t mention the hickeys he can see marking Jongdae’s neck, “Why are you here? Didn’t you have a date last night?”
Baekhyun lies back down, watching Jongdae lazily from his bed, “What is that supposed to mean?”
Jongdae snorts, “You’re never here the morning after a date. That’s why on those nights I usually have Junmyeon over.” He grins, completely unrepentant as he tugs his shirt over his head, revealing even more hickeys, marring his torso, his sides and his back, “You’re lucky I went over to his place last night. You would’ve gotten an eyeful-an earful too, probably.”
“Ugh,” Baekhyun gags, rolling over to smother himself in his pillow, “Please. Please do not talk to me about you and Junmyeon’s sex life. It’s disgusting. You are literally sleeping with a grandpa.”
“You’re just jealous I’m getting laid on the regular.” Jongdae trills, digging around in one of his drawers for a new set of clothes.
Baekhyun ignores him, groping around on the bed for his phone until he finds it and bringing it up to eye level.
He has three texts: two from Kris (thx for last night, i'll talk to chanyeol but u should probably talk to jongin) and one from Jongin, laden with exclamation points and emoticons, detailing how much fun he’d had last night and thanking Baekhyun for getting him to go and telling Baekhyun about how Chanyeol invited him back to the club on a night where he’s actually going to be working the booth and we should go hyung!!! it’ll be fun!!!!!
“You never answered my question,” Comes Jongdae’s voice and when Baekhyun puts his phone down and looks over at him, he’s sitting on his bed, with his head cocked to the side, expression curious, “Why are you here if you had a date last night? Was it bad?”
“No.”
“No, you didn’t have a date? Or no, it wasn’t bad?”
“Yes, I had a date,” Baekhyun grumbles, “No, it wasn’t bad.”
“So…” Jongdae taps his lip with his finger, pretending to contemplate the information he’s just been given. Baekhyun doesn’t even have the energy to tell him he looks like a jackass when he’s trying to be cute, “It was a good date, but… you didn’t sleep with him?”
“Why do you sound so shocked?” Baekhyun says, feeling a little offended, “I can have good dates and not sleep with them afterwards.”
“Really.” Jongdae raises an eyebrow, “Tell me the last time that happened.” He says, holding up his hands in surrender when Baekhyun glares at him, “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it-it’s what you want and you’re straightforward about it, but honestly, come on. You always put out on the first date. What changed?”
“Who says I didn’t put out?” Baekhyun grumbles and he remembers the feeling of being on his knees, Kris heavy on his tongue-remembers wishing it was Jongin instead. Baekhyun doesn’t blush, but this weird mix of want and guilt coil together in his stomach.
“Oh!” Jongdae grins, completely unaware of Baekhyun’s inner turmoil, “So, you did?”
Baekhyun licks his lips, “I sucked him off in the bathroom at the club.” Jongdae whistles, but Baekhyun's not done and before he can even really think about it, he blurts out, “And I thought about Jongin while I was doing it.”
Having it out in the open like that makes it real, it makes Baekhyun feel even guiltier because he doesn’t think he’s ever once fantasized about another person when he’s having sex, and of all people, the person he was imagining was Jongin-the same Jongin who pouts when he doesn’t get his way, drapes himself over Baekhyun’s back like a blanket while they walk, and cuddles up with him to watch dumb action movies when he’s sad. He’d wanted Jongin so badly last night, had been so possessive and jealous that someone else had noticed.
And he feels even worse because none of it has changed this morning. He’s still possessive and jealous-just Jongin’s texts about wanting to go back to that club to see Chanyeol make him angry-and he still wants Jongin.
"Does this mean you're like, not in denial anymore?"
“What?” Baekhyun barks, scrambling into a sitting position, “What does that mean?”
Jongdae blinks at him, “What does what mean?”
“What do you mean I’m not in denial anymore?” Baekhyun hisses.
“Wait.” Jongdae narrows his eyes at Baekhyun, scrutinizing him, “You can’t be serious. You mean you’re just now figuring this out?”
Baekhyun could kick Jongdae in the face right now if his heart didn’t feel like it was going to beat out of his chest, “Figuring what out, Jongdae.”
To his dismay, Jongdae just looks at him, his face mixed up like he doesn’t know whether to be unimpressed or horribly amused, “Oh my God,” He says, “You’re serious right now.”
“Yes, I’m serious.” Baekhyun hisses, patience gone. He grabs one of his pillows and hurls it in Jongdae’s direction, scowling when the other boy only laughs, “What are you talking about, you asshole?”
Jongdae’s still laughing when he speaks, “Do you not remember that time you thought Taemin and Jongin were gonna be a thing?”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Baekhyun scowls-he’d never really put much thought into Taemin until he and Jongin had started rooming together last year. The two of them got way too close, way too fast for Baekhyun’s liking and he didn’t trust Taemin for shit, especially not with Jongin. Nothing ended up happening-Jongin had told Baekhyun himself, his face flushed and teeth in his lip- and Taemin has a girlfriend now, but Baekhyun still can’t say he particularly likes the guy, “What about it?”
“Dude, that whole time you were so fucking prickly. Being around you was like torturing myself. All you could talk about was how much of a dumbass Taemin was and how Jongin deserved better and, I quote, ‘if he fucks with Jongin, I swear, I’ll kill him.’” Jongdae rolls his eyes, “It was so annoying. You were like the possessive boyfriend or something. I just thought you had, y’know-” He shrugs, lying back on his bed, “Finally acknowledged that you’re ridiculously in love with him or some shit. Or at least that you want to suck his dick, apparently.”
If Baekhyun thought that he was having an existential crisis last night, right now he’s losing his mind, “Holy fucking shit.” He whines, flopping backwards into his sheets, “This is a huge problem.”
“Wait, okay, explain to me how, exactly, this is a problem?”
“It’s a problem because it’s Jongin!” Baekhyun shouts, incredulous, “He’s a baby-my best friend! And I-I literally want to wreck him until he cries and then maybe cuddle with him afterwards, oh my God. How do you not see the issue with this?”
Jongdae laughs so hard that he doubles over, cackling, “You’re so dramatic.”
If Baekhyun wasn’t currently trying to smother himself in his remaining pillow, he’d throw it right into Jongdae’s stupid fucking face.
“I’m pretty sure he likes you back, anyway.” Jongdae continues, completely ignoring Baekhyun’s muffled whining, “The kid looks at you like you’re the fucking world-why else would he let you drag him around the way you do? You guys should fuck and get over it. Maybe then the UST when you’re in a room together won’t be so suffocating.”
“I fucking hate you.” Baekhyun hisses into his pillow because now he’s thinking about it-fucking Jongin-and that’s exactly what he doesn’t need to be thinking about right now, “You’re the worst roommate in the world.”
“I think you mean best.” Jongdae says. Baekhyun can hear the smug grin in his voice and hopes that the next time he and Junmyeon have sex he chokes on his dick.
Baekhyun not-so-subtly manages to avoid Jongin for a grand total of two whole days before he finally shows up at Baekhyun’s door on Tuesday morning. He’d thought his excuse about not feeling well enough to make it to breakfast had been pretty believable but ignoring all of Jongin’s texts and calls since Saturday night only to text him to cancel probably isn't the smartest idea he's ever had.
“You’re avoiding me,” Is the first thing out of Jongin’s mouth, and he looks so hurt when he says it, eyebrows furrowed and mouth curled down at the corners like he really doesn’t understand.
Baekhyun feels like a literal piece of shit.
He ducks his head, avoiding Jongin’s eyes. It feels strange to be on this end of it-to be the one hiding while Jongin searches, “I’m not-”
“Hyung.”
Baekhyun doesn’t even have to look up to see the look on Jongin’s face. He can imagine it, can see it behind his eyelids, and he sighs, “Okay. Yeah. I have been.”
Jongin recoils with a small “oh,” like Baekhyun had hit him and Baekhyun's instinct is to fix it, but he doesn't know what to say that isn't "I can't be around you because I'm having a crisis over the fact that I want to press you face down into my mattress and leave marks all over you so everyone knows you're mine and I also want to hold your hand when I walk you to class and maybe kiss you goodbye, probably have wanted to for a very long time, and I don't know if you're down with that" so he stays silent.
“Did I-” Jongin pauses and Baekhyun looks up just in time to see him bite down on his lip. It feels like a punch to the gut and there's no make up, no tight jeans or shirt, or flirty pretense. This is just Jongin and Baekhyun still wants him, "Did I do something? Is this about the date? I know I left you and Kris alone but you guys seemed like you were having a good time, so-"
“No!” Baekhyun blurts, the sudden noise and movement startling Jongin so that he jumps and he’s so fucking cute. Baekhyun doesn't understand how it's possible to be this cute and also so frustrating at the same time, “It’s not your fault, Jongin. I just-I physically can’t be around you right now, I-"
Baekhyun makes a frustrated noise in the back of his throat because none of this is working, none of this is coming out right and Jongin is standing there, looking just as confused as Baekhyun feels, still worrying his lip between his teeth and he is going to drive Baekhyun crazy.
"Just-stop that! Stop biting your lip!" Baekhyun snaps. Jongin jumps again, gaping at Baekhyun, but at least his teeth stop worrying his lip, "You have to stop doing that and you have to stop being so cute and-and you can never, ever wear eyeliner like you did the other night again because, oh my God, Jongin, do you have any idea how badly that fucked me up? And I really don’t want to forbid you from doing anything but you also need to stop hanging out with Chanyeol because watching him crawl all over you makes me jealous and possessive and-you’re so fucking ridiculous and I have no clue how to deal with being attracted to you at all and-”
It’s something straight from a drama-the way Jongin grasps his shoulders, mid-sentence, and shoves him backwards into the room, leaning down to kiss him as the door shuts behind them-but Baekhyun doesn’t even care because Jongin’s mouth is soft against his own and even the way he kisses is cute, tentative, like he’s afraid he’s reading this wrong and Baekhyun is going to pull away.
Baekhyun makes sure to reassure him, fisting his fingers in Jongin’s shirt and pulling him even closer. Jongin gasps a little, surprised, and Baekhyun takes advantage of it, sinking his teeth into Jongin’s lower lip and tugging lightly until he whines.
The very last thing Baekhyun wants to do is stop-he wants to kiss Jongin over and over, until he makes more sounds just like that because fuck-but the need for oxygen is a pressing one and he has to pull away.
“Hyung,” Jongin is even cuter when he’s well-kissed like this, his lips red and slick, cheeks pink and chest rising and falling underneath Baekhyun's hands, “I can’t-I like you a lot, hyung, if this is just sex, I-I can’t be your hook-up or a one night stand or anything, I-” He lowers his eyes, eyelashes brushing his cheeks and Baekhyun is grossed out by how badly he wants to press kisses to each of his eyelids if it means he’ll stop looking so worried, “I really, really like you. Have liked you. For a while.”
Baekhyun swallows, his heart doing this weird little thing in his chest where it skips a beat, “Okay.” He says and Jongin looks up, “Okay, I’m not… the best with relationships.” He admits like Jongin doesn’t already know, like Jongin hasn’t sat through him talking about his fuck buddies at least hundreds of times (and he winces a little bit at the thought of it, Jongin having to endure Baekhyun stepping all over his feelings like that), “But, I… we could give it a shot, if you want.”
Jongin’s kissing him again before he’s even finished getting the words out, hands cupping Baekhyun’s face, “Yes. Yeah.” He breathes, mouth ghosting over Baekhyun’s when he speaks, “I want.”
Baekhyun laughs a little, then, “You’ll have to be patient with me, though. I have no clue how to do this… and I’ve, uh, recently discovered that I get a little possessive. When it comes to you.”
"It’s okay, I don’t know what I’m doing either." Jongin says, blushing, but the smile that lights up his face is so gorgeous that Baekhyun wants to bottle it up and keep it for himself, make sure no one else gets to see it. He's surprised when it takes a twist though, Jongin's eyes sparkling playfully, "And I don't really mind possessive."
“Oh?” Baekhyun grins, feeling a lot like the cat who got the canary, more than ready to take a bite, “So that means you’re all mine, then?”
“Yeah,” Jongin says, sliding his hands down Baekhyun’s arms and wrapping them around Baekhyun’s hips with this slow, heavy kind of concentration that makes Baekhyun’s chest swell like a balloon, “Have been for a while.”
The sincerity in Jongin’s voice makes Baekhyun blush, heat creeping up the back of his neck, “Oh, gross,” he laughs, squirming in Jongin’s grip like he’s trying to get away, “I changed my mind, you’re too cheesy for this.”
“Too late,” Jongin grins, “You’re stuck with me, now.”
Honestly, Baekhyun’s not too sure he minds the sound of that.