Baekhyun's Special Birthday Collection Part Three
Title: Playboy
Pairing: Baekhyun/Jongin
Rating: PG
Length: 2.4k
Summary: Baekhyun is a cover YouTube singer and Jongin doesn’t like being in the spotlight.
The camera is blinking red in front of him as he tries to adjust it like how he normally does every Tuesday of the week. Baekhyun’s been doing this video thing for almost a year now and he’s usually never nervous, but this week, he’s shaking like a leaf trying to get his camera to how he likes it. He breathes a sigh of relief when larger, tanned hands appear out of nowhere beside his and help him stabilize the dumb thing on the tripod.
Jongin has been Baekhyun’s supportive boyfriend since his last year in university and Jongin’s second, both of them meeting in one random music class they had together and Jongin coming up to him asking for his help in one assignment he just couldn’t understand. Since then, it’s been a smooth ride with petty arguments and lots of playful bickering and they’ve managed to just survive their second year together.
He smiles up at his boyfriend gratefully when the camera is where it needs to be before the younger leans down to kiss him on the forehead. His smile brightens at the gesture and he happily goes to his loveseat sofa across from the camera, his laptop situated on the table between them and works to get his camera connected to his laptop, which is also connected through Bluetooth to the surrounding speakers. Jongin stays off to the side like usual, leaning against the wall to monitor the camera angles to make sure they capture the best angles of his boyfriend.
“Okay,” Baekhyun says, as he pushes the ‘Live’ button of his video and pulls up old comments and everything to see what his online fans would like him to cover. After he pulls up the ones he’s saved then pulls out the instrumental for one of the songs and pauses it, he looks up and into the camera, gaze flicking over to the side to see Jongin’s intense stare directed into the screen. “Hi, everyone. If you’re new to my channel and this is the first video you’re seeing of me live, my name is Baekhyun!” He flashes a bright smile and gives a small wave to which Jongin breaks and chuckles along with his greeting. “If you heard that laugh, that would happen to be my hidden boyfriend Jongin.”
Jongin responds to his bright smile with a frown of his own.
“He doesn’t like to be on camera much even though he’s an amazing dancer,” Baekhyun continues on before waving him off. “Anyways, I’m a bit nervous today because I’m going to attempt one of the songs the subscribers suggested that requires falsetto, and I haven’t really done much falsetto before.” He bites his lip in his anxiety before taking a deep breath and going back to his laptop, about to press play. “Yeah. So, um, I will be singing Playboy created by Jonghyun of SHINee. Requested by kimheenim.”
One more tap on his laptop has music flowing from the speakers, an infectious beat playing before he opens his mouth and sings along to the melody. He smirks as he gets into it, closing his eyes to focus on tuning his notes and taking in a deep breath before attempting the falsetto parts. He smiles as the notes come out like he wants and keeps singing on until the end.
When he finishes, he doesn’t expect to open his eyes only to be crushed in a bear hug by his boyfriend, picking him up and lightly swinging him back and forth happily. Baekhyun laughs in joy at his boyfriend’s happiness and he hugs him back.
“I’m so proud of you, Baekhyun,” Jongin whispers into his ear, and Baekhyun laughs some more, quickly patting his back to let him go. Jongin can’t help but lean down and kiss him on the lips. “That was amazing. Just like practice.”
Baekhyun’s smile is dazzling and he laughs even more when the tips of Jongin’s ears start to burn red in embarrassment. There’s a teasing look in his eyes and he leans up to kiss Jongin’s nose cutely. “You forgot the camera is still on.”
“Uh,” Jongin mumbles out, quickly looking over to see the camera still blinking red and facing them. He instantly turns away and leaves Baekhyun to go into the kitchen behind him. “Right. I’m going to be in here while you finish your video.”
Baekhyun laughs as Jongin basically runs to safety, settling back down on their loveseat couch to see what his subscribers are commenting through the livestream. He smiles when he sees a bunch of hearts, smiley faces with the heart-shaped eyes, and lots of exclamation points and question marks. He looks back into the camera. “So, that will probably be your first and last time of seeing my hottie boyfriend Jongin on camera-”
“Baekhyun!” Jongin whines from the kitchen, and Baekhyun laughs some more.
“I’ll post a picture up on my Instagram later, so you can get a better look at his gorgeous face.” He then points below him. “The name to follow will be in the little info box below. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave your wonderful comments! Suggest more songs and I will choose one to cover next week! Until then, my lucky clovers!” He smiles and waves before leaning forward to click off the ‘Live’ button and then gets up to turn off his camera.
His laptop is still trying to keep up with the influx of comments, but the comments he’s able to read before it automatically refreshes pretty much say they want Jongin to appear some more and to do the boyfriend tag that hasn’t been done in who knows how long. He smiles at some of the cuter comments about how he and Jongin are perfect together and others where they’re all dreading the fact Baekhyun is already taken. He laughs a bit at those. Jongin always got jealous when he’d see those comments on his videos, but he would never feature in one to show them that yes, he does indeed have a real-life boyfriend he’s very much in love with.
A ‘thump’ is heard in the kitchen and it catches Baekhyun’s attention. The comments are slowly dying down, but he simply lets his laptop run as he goes to the kitchen to see what’s going on in there. What he sees is not what he’d really expect in the first place, but he can definitely see Jongin doing this more in the future, which is him sticking his head in the opened refrigerator. He laughs at the bizarre sight. “What are you doing there, Jongin?”
“Trying to cool myself off and run away from the embarrassment of being seen live on the Internet,” is the muffled response he gets and he smiles brightly at how cute his boyfriend can be.
“All my fans loved you,” Baekhyun answers back as he walks over to him to try and get him to come out of his second home, “They thought it was cute how you suddenly appeared out of nowhere and gave me a hug and a kiss.”
“They saw us kiss,” Jongin exclaims in mortification, closing the fridge in favor of wrapping himself around Baekhyun and burying his cold face in his neck. Baekhyun jumps at the sudden change in temperature. “Oh my God, Baekhyun.”
Baekhyun can’t really think with his neck being abused by moving, cold lips.
“I didn’t even think- They can’t even see our heads if we stand up!”
“Um,” Baekhyun mumbles out, trying very hard to concentrate on calming Jongin down. “I think-” He groans when Jongin shifts against him again and he feels a cold nose as well. “Did we make that dumb, obnoxious smacking sound we do when we kiss sometimes?”
“Baekhyun?” Jongin questions quietly, sounding confused as he pulls away to stare down at his boyfriend. “Are you okay?”
Separation from Jongin’s body is like a breath of fresh air for Baekhyun, sucking in a deep breath and finally being able to focus on the matter at hand. He takes a step back from his boyfriend before reaching up to plant his hands on the younger man’s shoulders. “You, my lovely man person,” he starts, before literally pulling Jongin in for a quick literal smack of lips. They wince at the pain that blossoms when their teeth clack against each other’s lips. “Are my hottie hot boyfriend of the century Kim Jongin.”
That warrants an immediate whine from his boyfriend. “Baekhyun!”
Baekhyun gives him a small smile. “All my subscribers loved your appearance. They also really liked finally seeing my mysterious boyfriend.”
“I’m not mysterious,” Jongin mumbles with a pout, “I’m a potato.”
“A hot potato,” Baekhyun corrects.
“I don’t even know how they don’t actually know me yet,” Jongin says, grabbing Baekhyun’s hands from his shoulders to lead him away from the kitchen and back to the living room, “I’m in, like, one of your Instagram pictures. Maybe one of your videos too.” He collapses on the couch first before Baekhyun joins him, letting the younger use his thighs as a pillow as he cards fingers through his dark hair.
Baekhyun simply smiles as he remembers which posts Jongin’s talking about. The picture was one they took at the beach for their one-year anniversary and the video was while Jongin was playing with his puppies when they visited their apartment. He looks from Jongin’s closed eyes to his laptop still receiving lagging comments. “How about you think about it?” he softly questions, feeling Jongin shift on his lap. “Feature in my next song next week? We can choose the song together.”
“We always choose your songs together,” Jongin reminds, opening an eye to look up at him amused.
“One that you like,” Baekhyun immediately says, feeling his face start to heat up at the way Jongin is probably going to tease him now.
“I always like the songs we choose together.”
“One that you want to sing.”
“I always want to sing the songs we choose together.”
“Jongin!” Baekhyun whines, covering his face with his hands as his boyfriend laughs at him. He ends up jostling the younger too much with his flailing legs. “Just sing a song together with me next week!”
“You can still be cute, you know,” Jongin suddenly murmurs, and when Baekhyun opens his hands to peek at him, he squeaks at the sudden kiss he receives. “I’ll think about it. Okay?”
“Okay,” Baekhyun mumbles in embarrassment, letting Jongin close his laptop and move the tripod so they can cuddle on the couch together and watch whatever movie happens to be showing. He smiles bashfully when Jongin slouches low enough to lean his head on his shoulder, wraps his arms around him, and throws a leg over both of his.
The next week, Baekhyun is laughing as he presses the ‘Live’ button once again. He’s sitting on Jongin’s lap, providing the man a physical barrier so he doesn’t actually have to face the dreaded camera. “Hi, everyone,” Baekhyun greets with a laugh and a wave, “I’ve convinced my boyfriend to feature in one of the songs you’ve suggested.” He squeals when the arms around his waist tighten in Jongin’s nervousness. “But as you can see, Jongin is a bit camera shy.”
“I hate this,” Jongin whispers into the back of his head, “I quit. I’m not doing this, Baek.”
“He’s going to love this!” Baekhyun exclaims happily, trying to turn enough to show off his boyfriend, but Jongin is having none of that, too busy following his movements to hide his face. “Come on. I’ll give you a kiss if you introduce yourself and say hi.”
“Hi, everyone,” Jongin says loudly, still trying to dodge the view of the camera with Baekhyun’s head, “I’m Jongin.”
“Wait-”
“Now turn and give me a kiss.”
“While showing your face to the camera!” Baekhyun exclaims with a laugh, giggling when Jongin starts tickling him to distract him. “Jongin!” He jumps when he feels a buzz pressing into his butt.
“Oh, sorry,” Jongin mumbles as he simply squeezes his hand between their bodies to get his cell phone. “It’s Kyungsoo. Should I answer?”
Baekhyun slumps against him defeated, a satisfied smirk showing on his face when he hears Jongin trying to spit out his sudden mouthful of hair. “Why not? This livestream has already been delayed longer than usual.”
“Hello. Kyungsoo?”
They wince when they hear Kyungsoo’s murderous voice.
“Stop acting so damn cute and just sing your song already. Yifan won’t let me turn off the computer until he sees your next cover.”
“Okay!” Baekhyun calls out, straightening up on Jongin’s lap and clapping his hands once. “So the song we’re going to sing for you guys-”
“And show your face, Jongin,” Kyungsoo continues in a softer voice before hanging up, “At least give Baekhyun that. The idiot deserves it.”
Baekhyun suddenly freezes when he sees a sudden influx of heart emojis on his laptop stream. He stops talking and frowns, staring at the millions of hearts before looking into the camera. “Why are you guys giving so many hearts? We haven’t started singing yet.” He leans forward some more when he starts to see millions of letters that all segregate and form the words ‘Jongin’ over and over again. “Huh?” he questions, leaning back to look over his shoulder to see Jongin looking around him and staring into the camera curiously. “Jongin?”
“Hi, everyone,” Jongin mumbles as he tilts his head and looks down bashfully, hand coming up to lace his fingers with Baekhyun’s on the elder’s lap, “I’m sorry for earlier.”
Baekhyun watches his boyfriend with wide eyes, completely amazed with his sudden acceptance to do this video with him. A smile tugs at his lips when Jongin looks up from their hands and to him, dark eyes earnest and looking so innocent staring at him for guidance.
“I’m Jongin, and I’m Baekhyun’s boyfriend of two years, one month, and four days.”
Baekhyun can’t help but kiss him in front of the camera, smiling when Jongin lets out a cute squeak before returning it. His smile brightens when they part and Jongin’s suddenly looking so defensive while staring at the camera.
“See? Baekhyunnie is mine, so stop thinking you can suddenly whisk him away with just your name, location, and compliments on his YouTube page. You’re going to have to do a million times better than that.”
Baekhyun’s smile is as bright as the sun as he leans back into Jongin’s chest, lacing their fingers together on his lap and turning to face the camera. “So,” he starts off, laughing when Jongin gives him a protective kiss on the cheek. “The song we’re going to sing is-”
Title: Hurt
Pairing: Baekhyun/Sehun
Rating: PG-13
Length: 2.1k
Summary: Baekhyun has been alive since the Jeong-an era, constantly waiting and searching for his ‘soul mate’ Oh Sehun. (reincarnation!au)
Baekhyun is walking through the streets of Tokyo, Japan when he sees him, when he feels the pull at his heart telling him to walk down a street he never usually uses to go home. His hands are stuffed in his pockets with a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck yet Baekhyun doesn’t think he’s seen anything more beautiful than seeing those crescent-shaped eyes he hasn’t seen in decades.
He inhales one last drag of his cigarette before crushing it against the side of the building, finding a trashcan to toss the butt into before heading on his way. He exhales the addicting drug before hurrying, trying as best as he can to get close to that man without scaring the poor fellow into thinking he was some sort of stalker. It’s happened before.
Sehun suddenly laughs and Baekhyun thinks he needs another cigarette.
There’s a honk as an incoming car narrowly misses Baekhyun, taking a step back as the driver tries to curse at him from behind his closed window. Baekhyun simply watches the man, watches as the car drives and turns onto another street, before he looks in front of him again to cross the road. He feels his lips tug into a smile when he sees Sehun looking at him, gaze so worried that he wonders if Sehun actually remembers him this time.
“Hey, Sehun,” Sehun’s friend suddenly says, causing the man to avert his gaze away from him, “We have to go. Practice is in thirty minutes.”
“Yeah,” Sehun murmurs, gaze flitting back to Baekhyun’s, “I know.”
Baekhyun feels the tug on his heart again when their gazes meet, wanting to walk over and caress his face in his hands again after so many years apart, but he doesn’t. He can’t when Sehun doesn’t remember him anymore. He watches as Sehun finally turns to walk away, taking one last look back at him before his friend throws an arm over his shoulders to lead him to wherever they need to go.
He waits until Sehun is gone from sight, laughing again from whatever he’s just heard, and Baekhyun smiles, turning around to finally go back home.
A doorbell pulls Baekhyun out of his thoughts from earlier that day, tearing his gaze away from the bustling city below to put out his cigarette before heading back inside his apartment and answering his door. He’s surprised to see Sehun standing there, a bit breathless and sweaty with the scarf haphazardly strewn around his neck.
Baekhyun’s mouth is open, eyes wide as he stares up at the other. It’s been so long since he’s been able to be this close to Sehun. He almost forgot how tall the other actually is right next to him.
“Do I know you?” Sehun questions quietly, tongue peeking out to wet his dry lips, and Baekhyun follows the movement with his gaze.
“How did you find me?” Baekhyun questions back, head peeking out the door before opening it wider to allow the other man in. He sees the hesitance in Sehun’s stare and he tries to give a reassuring smile back. “You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to.”
“How do I know you?”
Baekhyun doesn’t want to tell him that he first met him centuries ago, during the Jeong-an era where the Oh clan replaced the Yeol clan in ruling the kingdom or during the Goryeo Dynasty before finally seeing him again in the Joseon Dynasty. He doesn’t want to say he’s seen him go to war for the Korean War, both of them fighting at the front lines only to see him die before his own eyes with a bullet to the head after Baekhyun was first shot in the heart. He doesn’t want to say he’s been searching for Sehun again ever since he woke up naked near a body of water ten years after the Korean War ended. He doesn’t know what to say.
“I need a cigarette,” he blurts out instead before quickly going to his coffee table to grab his pack of cigarettes. He’s shaking when he hears the door close behind him and hands instantly reach out to grab the pack from him. “What?” he breathes out, turning to try and get his cigarettes back, “Give those back!”
“Smoking is bad for you,” Sehun simply says as he stretches his arm up above his head and tries to push Baekhyun away from him.
“Dammit, Sehun!” Baekhyun shouts, nerves going haywire and body falling back into old habits. “You know I can’t stop!”
“You’re going to die from cancer if you keep smoking like this!”
The answer has Baekhyun freezing, eyes widening as he shifts his gaze from his cigarettes to Sehun’s confused face. He has his hands on Sehun’s arm, trying to tug it low enough to get his pack, and he suddenly remembers years of this. Years of Sehun trying to maintain his health even though they both know Baekhyun can’t die, not completely anyways. He can die from wounds and harsh impacts, but he can’t die from medical illnesses. And he always comes back to life somehow, someway.
He lets Sehun toss his pack of cigarettes across the floor, lets him wrap an arm around his waist to pull him close and pull him into a kiss he’s been craving more than cigarettes since thirty years ago. Baekhyun breathes him in, clutches onto the broad shoulders he’s missed so much, and instantly moans when he feels Sehun tighten his hold on him even more.
Baekhyun can feel Sehun’s fingers digging into his waist, he can feel him scrunch his face up probably because he tastes like nicotine and he’s always hated nicotine, but he doesn’t let go. Sehun doesn’t let go and Baekhyun feels like he’s falling.
He can’t even comprehend what’s happening until Sehun is moving to fall back onto the couch, bringing a yelping Baekhyun with him. It’s instinct for Baekhyun to move closer again, placing a knee on both sides of Sehun’s hips and straddle him. It’s instinct for him to mold himself to Sehun and kiss him again, kiss him like he’ll disappear again if he lets go.
“Baekhyun?” Sehun manages to mumble out between kisses, hands on his face to keep pulling him in for kisses even though it looks like he wants to discuss everything that’s happening right now. “Baek?”
Baekhyun places a hand on Sehun’s chest at the call of his name, forcing himself up to clearly look into Sehun’s eyes to see confusion and recognition swirling in his gaze all at once. He doesn’t believe it. “You remember me,” he breathes out, watching as Sehun’s eyebrows furrow together in his confusion, “You know my name.”
“Baekhyun,” Sehun says again, slowly, as if trying to savor the name flowing out of his lips, “I captured you in my dreams.”
Flashes of elegant robes and pale, pale skin enter Baekhyun’s mind at the words. Images of colorful, heavy traditional clothes and army gear hitting him all at once like a bucket of ice-cold water. He feels like crying when Sehun gently rubs his cheekbone with his thumb before bringing him back down for another kiss.
“You were beautiful,” Sehun murmurs against him, releasing one hand from his face to run the length of his back before spreading his fingers and pushing him impossibly closer at his waist, “You’re still beautiful.”
Baekhyun whimpers against him, tilting his head away to finally feel those lips on his neck, mouthing their way down as Sehun continues to murmur burned memories into his skin.
“You had the most beautiful of robes,” Sehun breathes, “Colorful, I thought you were of the highest ranks within the Yeol clan.”
Baekhyun really does cry at the memory, tears falling and body shaking at the force of trying to hold back a sob. He gasps when Sehun suddenly sits up, hand slipping underneath the back of his shirt as he hugs him close, body touching so intimately that Baekhyun finally does release the sob threatening to break his body, his mind. He clutches onto Sehun, fingers tangling in his hair and shirt, as Sehun tries to soothe him down with his nose buried in the juncture of his neck.
“How long have you waited for me?”
“Forever,” Baekhyun cries out, letting Sehun pick him up and find his way to his bedroom with heels digging into his lower back and hands supporting himself with broad shoulders. “I’ve watched you die so many times,” he says, kissing Sehun’s hair and cheek over and over again, “Sehun.”
“I’m so sorry,” Sehun breathes out, finally finding the bedroom and slowly setting Baekhyun down on it, quickly taking off his scarf and jacket to toss onto the floor. “I didn’t- I can’t remember-”
“Sehun,” Baekhyun whimpers, hand reaching out to tug Sehun back to him. He knows why Sehun can’t remember the last time he died. “Sehun, please.” He feels like he can breathe again when Sehun moves to lie on top of him between his legs, pinning him down with his weight to the worn down mattress before kissing him again.
The tears slow down the longer Sehun uses his hands to map Baekhyun’s body, fingers moving reverently over his neck and collarbones before dancing all over his chest. Teeth dig into his lower lip, suppressing a moan he knows is going to spill out anyways when Sehun finally gets his fingers underneath his shirt and traces the faint outline of muscles he has there. He gasps when Sehun kisses his Adam’s apple before disappearing to kiss the same trail his fingers leave as he pushes his shirt up.
“I remember you were sensitive here,” Sehun murmurs as he kisses over his abdomen, Baekhyun arching into the touch. “And I left my mark here once,” he says as his fingers dance along his inner right thigh.
Baekhyun moans when Sehun’s fingers circle around a nipple while he moves to kiss his inner thigh where he left a mark years ago. His hands find their way into his hair, his heart leaping out of his chest when he feels Sehun remove one hand to lace their fingers together before bringing his face back up to kiss him on the lips.
Baekhyun always loved it when Sehun laced their fingers together and pinned his hand to the bed beside his head. He looks at him confused when Sehun pulls away to search his eyes. His voice is quiet, a whisper leaving his lips that has Baekhyun’s heart breaking.
“Why can’t I remember the ending of the last time we met?”
Memories of the war fill Baekhyun’s head and he can tell it’s worrying Sehun, his grip on his hand tightening as Baekhyun desperately leans up to capture his lips on his again. He re-lives meeting behind enemy lines, Sehun instantly recognizing him unlike the other times in his past life where it took more time, before Sehun suddenly shoots him, afraid of what would come to them if they continued to see each other and the generals found out. He shoots him in the heart and in return, Baekhyun manages a shot to his head, hoping to wipe out that dreadful memory.
He sucks in a breath when Sehun makes them part, nose nudging his cheek gently before spreading his palm over Baekhyun’s heart. He looks up alarmed, heart speeding as he searches Sehun’s eyes only to find he still doesn’t remember. He relaxes when Sehun kisses him again.
“You don’t want me to find out,” Sehun mumbles against him, gaze sad, “I did something terrible.”
“No,” Baekhyun quickly says, gently caressing his cheek, “You did what you thought was right.”
“Will you tell me someday?”
Baekhyun thinks back to the times where he met Sehun, in various clothes and nobility, and the times where they managed to fall in love between everything that’s happened between them. He thinks to the time they were sworn enemies, bred to fight anybody on the opposing team but ended up taking each other out in hopes of finding each other in the next life. He thinks to the time Sehun had to learn to love him again, just like this time. His smile is small, genuine, as he gently caresses his cheek with his thumb and watches as Sehun leans into his touch this time.
“Maybe,” he answers back quietly, Sehun turning on his side so Baekhyun can move to place his head in the space of his larger shoulder and chest, bodies slotting together perfectly like they were made to always fit like this, together. His heart warms when Sehun takes his hand and kisses each fingertip, kissing his thumb twice because of his mole on it just like how he used to years ago. “One day.”
Title: Lady Luck
Pairing: Baekhyun/Junmyeon
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1.8k
Summary: Baekhyun works full-time at the bookstore near his university and there’s this one customer he does’t know the name of but somehow bothers him greatly.
There’s this one man who always visits this specific bookstore down the street from where Baekhyun goes to university. Granted, it’s also the same place where he works full-time in-between his full-time student schedule, but he’s noticed this man come in a lot more recently whenever he does work. This man always comes in and browses their odd collection of antique novels and the newest of comic books - Baekhyun doesn’t know whether to actually call them comic books though, he’s heard them be called a variety of things such as manga, manhwa, and comic books - before plucking one out and buying it from him.
Baekhyun never questions a customer on their novel choices, although he did want to question that one shy-looking kid who was buying a book from their erotica section, but as of late, he’s wanted to question this man because it seems like he reads a variety of genres. One day, he will buy some book about sports and another he will buy a comic book. It’s never the same genre twice in a row, and it’s making Baekhyun curious as to how this man even gets the money to buy these things at least every other day.
“Seriously,” he complains to Yifan one day, the owner of Lady Luck, “He looks like he has all this money to buy all these books, but he comes to a rundown bookstore that has the same name of some probably hot hooker almost every other day.”
Yifan grunts from his place behind the desk. “I take offense to that.”
“No offense,” Baekhyun says anyways as he restocks the shelves and mischievously switches some around to different genres. “I just don’t get it? Does he actually read all those books? He even carries a suitcase on some days! Maybe he’s from some secret agent team in the government sent to scope out your bookstore.”
“I doubt the Korean FBI or CIA or whatever would actually send an agent down to my bookstore just because I named her Lady Luck,” Yifan drawls out, leaning his head against his open palm on the counter. “Does it really bother you that much?”
Baekhyun forcefully shoves a book into the shelf, huffing a bit in satisfaction when he sees the book practically die under the pressure. “Yes!” he admits before turning away to go put more books in other shelves. He doesn’t see Yifan sigh tiredly before coming out from behind the counter to fix the book he purposefully messed up. “I just don’t get it!”
“What if he just really likes books and has a wide variety of interests?” Yifan questions next, trying to play psychologist when that’s really Chanyeol’s department.
“Absolutely nobody has that many interests,” Baekhyun counters back, peeking around a shelf to stare at him. “That would be insane.”
Yifan rolls his eyes before going back to his place behind the desk. “Why don’t you ask him tomorrow? Is he coming?”
There’s a moment of silence before Baekhyun decides, “I’m going to yell at his face tomorrow.”
Yifan doesn’t even bother to talk to him about that man anymore after that.
Baekhyun is agitated, knee bouncing up and down behind the desk as he gnaws on the tip of his finger. He has unusual habits, he knows, but he always ignores his friends or yells at them whenever they bring it up. It’s not like he can instantly stop his habits. They’re habits for a reason. He doesn’t even know why he’s thinking about his habits when he really just wants to see this man’s face. So he can yell at him of course.
It’s a quarter after three when a bell resonates throughout the store. Baekhyun jolts at the sound, dropping his phone onto the counter to stare at the new patron. He’s severely disappointed when his vision focuses on Yifan’s dumb face. “Oh. It’s you,” he greets before going back to his phone to hopefully stop chewing his finger off.
“Hey,” Yifan greets casually, going straight to the back to eat his late lunch.
Baekhyun pauses everything he’s doing once he catches of whiff of the food Yifan brought back. “Hey, wait,” he calls out, turning in his seat to try and catch a glimpse of the owner, “You got lunch? What did you get?” And then the food triggers something else in his head. He’s confused. “I didn’t even know you left earlier.”
“I told you I was going out for a late lunch, and I asked you what you wanted,” Yifan drawls out, once again, “You simply waved me off and said ‘chew’ before I left.” He suddenly leans over in his chair to see out the opened doorway and to Baekhyun. “I had no idea what you meant by that, but I did not get you food and I will chew my own before swallowing and digesting. Thank you.”
Baekhyun really doesn’t know what to think about that but he’s glad the bell rings throughout the store once again and Yifan disappears to eat his lunch. He’s already decided long ago that Wu Yifan is an odd man.
When he turns back around, he’s surprised to see that man entering the store and giving him a friendly wave. “Hello, Baekhyun,” he greets and Baekhyun just waves back because he still doesn’t know the man’s name even though he knows his because of his nametag. “Anything new in the fantasy section?”
“I wouldn’t ask that if I were you!” comes Yifan’s voice, and Baekhyun can watch as the man pauses in his step at the voice.
“Yifan?” he calls out, clearly confused. Baekhyun takes that as his chance to attack.
“You!” he shouts, startling the man into dropping his bag. He points at him next. “What is your name?!”
“Uh,” the man fumbles, quickly picking up his bag before inching his way towards a bookcase. “Junmyeon? Kim Junmyeon.”
“Are you rich?” Baekhyun can hear Yifan groan loudly behind him.
“Um. Yes?”
Baekhyun’s eyes widen in surprise as he drops his hand onto the counter, mouth hanging open because Junmyeon is now walking up to him to provide him proof. He practically salivates at the black card that’s shown to him.
Junmyeon places the card back into his wallet before shoving it into his bag. “Why?”
This man is surprisingly honest, or maybe naïve. Baekhyun hasn’t decided yet. He frowns at him, leaning back into his chair to eye him up and down. Soft-looking brown hair combed nicely atop a very handsome albeit confused face, body looking pretty good underneath the thin grey shirt he’s wearing. He hums. “You always buy books, every single kind probably known to man, and it bothers me.”
The answer has Junmyeon laughing, and oh. His laughing face is pretty nice too. “Why does it bother you?”
“This is a rundown bookstore with a possibly attractive hooker’s name called Lady Luck,” Baekhyun says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, even though it is, “Owned by a questionable Chinese man who hails from Canada who may be on the run from some FBI agents because he named his rundown bookstore Lady Luck.”
“I still take offense to that,” Yifan calls out from the back.
Junmyeon laughs some more at the reasoning, slapping his hand down on the counter a couple of times, and oh. He has the same habit as Jongin does when he laughs. Not bad. “Have you ever thought that this store is called Lady Luck because of anything else relating the name to a possibly beautiful lady?”
Baekhyun narrows his eyes at him then, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he studies his face. “You’re also our main patron. There has to be something wrong with you.”
The smile on Junmyeon’s face brightens as he nods his head politely at Yifan behind him when he peeks his head out. “What if this place is called Lady Luck because she has the ability to guide people to her store? Allowing two people who have never met before to finally meet and have the chance to go out for coffee down the street?”
There’s a sudden clash and clatter in the back and Junmyeon and Baekhyun look at the back surprised, seeing Yifan slowly moving from the floor as he tries to pick himself back up from tipping himself over too much on his chair. “Don’t mind me,” he groans out, flinching before falling back to the floor, “Just- Do your thing.”
“What?” Baekhyun questions back before looking back to Junmyeon who’s still smiling at him and shrugging his shoulders.
“Any new fantasy novels?”
Baekhyun gives the man a strange look before informing him that yes, they have quite a wider selection today. He doesn’t see Yifan struggling because of him.
“Why can’t we name the bookstore something cooler like Black Pearl or El Dorado?”
Baekhyun doesn’t look up from his phone when hears the bell ring throughout the store.
“Would you give it a rest, Baekhyun? Her name is Lady Luck and it will forever be Lady Luck,” Yifan answers back from his place from somewhere within the store, putting some books on the taller shelves they have. “Greet the new customer.”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun waves off, finally looking up to see Junmyeon standing there smiling at him, “Oh. It’s you.”
“Did you ever hear what I said about Lady Luck the other day before Yifan interrupted us?” Junmyeon questions as he leans on the counter towards him.
Baekhyun gives him a look before shaking his head no. The look of mild disappointment on Junmyeon’s face quickly has him straightening, trying his hardest to think of what happened the other day. All he can remember is something about coffee. He scrunches his nose at the thought. “I don’t like coffee.”
Junmyeon perks up at the answer, smile quickly finding its way onto his face as he holds his hand out for Baekhyun to take. “How about some cake then?”
“I’m up for that,” Baekhyun decides after a few minutes, eyeing Junmyeon’s hand strangely before walking around the counter and taking off his nametag. “Yifan!” he calls out, “I’m going out!”
Baekhyun finds out months later that Junmyeon actually asked him out that day, telling him that Lady Luck is actually a lucky store for people to meet and fall in love. After all, it happened to him.
He suppresses the smile on his face when Junmyeon visits one day and dances goofily around Zitao to embarrass him while Yifan laughs like a maniac behind him.
“Lady Luck is still a terrible name,” Baekhyun decides, biting his lip in happiness when Zitao runs away from Junmyeon in the store only to knock into a shelf and have his boyfriend chase after him to make sure he’s okay. Yifan shakes his head in amusement at the scene, both Junmyeon and Zitao giving them apologetic looks from across the store. Baekhyun finally smiles when Junmyeon throws him a heart with his hands.
“And I still take offense to that.”
Pairing: Baekhyun/Jongin
Rating: PG
Length: 2.4k
Summary: Baekhyun is a cover YouTube singer and Jongin doesn’t like being in the spotlight.
The camera is blinking red in front of him as he tries to adjust it like how he normally does every Tuesday of the week. Baekhyun’s been doing this video thing for almost a year now and he’s usually never nervous, but this week, he’s shaking like a leaf trying to get his camera to how he likes it. He breathes a sigh of relief when larger, tanned hands appear out of nowhere beside his and help him stabilize the dumb thing on the tripod.
Jongin has been Baekhyun’s supportive boyfriend since his last year in university and Jongin’s second, both of them meeting in one random music class they had together and Jongin coming up to him asking for his help in one assignment he just couldn’t understand. Since then, it’s been a smooth ride with petty arguments and lots of playful bickering and they’ve managed to just survive their second year together.
He smiles up at his boyfriend gratefully when the camera is where it needs to be before the younger leans down to kiss him on the forehead. His smile brightens at the gesture and he happily goes to his loveseat sofa across from the camera, his laptop situated on the table between them and works to get his camera connected to his laptop, which is also connected through Bluetooth to the surrounding speakers. Jongin stays off to the side like usual, leaning against the wall to monitor the camera angles to make sure they capture the best angles of his boyfriend.
“Okay,” Baekhyun says, as he pushes the ‘Live’ button of his video and pulls up old comments and everything to see what his online fans would like him to cover. After he pulls up the ones he’s saved then pulls out the instrumental for one of the songs and pauses it, he looks up and into the camera, gaze flicking over to the side to see Jongin’s intense stare directed into the screen. “Hi, everyone. If you’re new to my channel and this is the first video you’re seeing of me live, my name is Baekhyun!” He flashes a bright smile and gives a small wave to which Jongin breaks and chuckles along with his greeting. “If you heard that laugh, that would happen to be my hidden boyfriend Jongin.”
Jongin responds to his bright smile with a frown of his own.
“He doesn’t like to be on camera much even though he’s an amazing dancer,” Baekhyun continues on before waving him off. “Anyways, I’m a bit nervous today because I’m going to attempt one of the songs the subscribers suggested that requires falsetto, and I haven’t really done much falsetto before.” He bites his lip in his anxiety before taking a deep breath and going back to his laptop, about to press play. “Yeah. So, um, I will be singing Playboy created by Jonghyun of SHINee. Requested by kimheenim.”
One more tap on his laptop has music flowing from the speakers, an infectious beat playing before he opens his mouth and sings along to the melody. He smirks as he gets into it, closing his eyes to focus on tuning his notes and taking in a deep breath before attempting the falsetto parts. He smiles as the notes come out like he wants and keeps singing on until the end.
When he finishes, he doesn’t expect to open his eyes only to be crushed in a bear hug by his boyfriend, picking him up and lightly swinging him back and forth happily. Baekhyun laughs in joy at his boyfriend’s happiness and he hugs him back.
“I’m so proud of you, Baekhyun,” Jongin whispers into his ear, and Baekhyun laughs some more, quickly patting his back to let him go. Jongin can’t help but lean down and kiss him on the lips. “That was amazing. Just like practice.”
Baekhyun’s smile is dazzling and he laughs even more when the tips of Jongin’s ears start to burn red in embarrassment. There’s a teasing look in his eyes and he leans up to kiss Jongin’s nose cutely. “You forgot the camera is still on.”
“Uh,” Jongin mumbles out, quickly looking over to see the camera still blinking red and facing them. He instantly turns away and leaves Baekhyun to go into the kitchen behind him. “Right. I’m going to be in here while you finish your video.”
Baekhyun laughs as Jongin basically runs to safety, settling back down on their loveseat couch to see what his subscribers are commenting through the livestream. He smiles when he sees a bunch of hearts, smiley faces with the heart-shaped eyes, and lots of exclamation points and question marks. He looks back into the camera. “So, that will probably be your first and last time of seeing my hottie boyfriend Jongin on camera-”
“Baekhyun!” Jongin whines from the kitchen, and Baekhyun laughs some more.
“I’ll post a picture up on my Instagram later, so you can get a better look at his gorgeous face.” He then points below him. “The name to follow will be in the little info box below. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave your wonderful comments! Suggest more songs and I will choose one to cover next week! Until then, my lucky clovers!” He smiles and waves before leaning forward to click off the ‘Live’ button and then gets up to turn off his camera.
His laptop is still trying to keep up with the influx of comments, but the comments he’s able to read before it automatically refreshes pretty much say they want Jongin to appear some more and to do the boyfriend tag that hasn’t been done in who knows how long. He smiles at some of the cuter comments about how he and Jongin are perfect together and others where they’re all dreading the fact Baekhyun is already taken. He laughs a bit at those. Jongin always got jealous when he’d see those comments on his videos, but he would never feature in one to show them that yes, he does indeed have a real-life boyfriend he’s very much in love with.
A ‘thump’ is heard in the kitchen and it catches Baekhyun’s attention. The comments are slowly dying down, but he simply lets his laptop run as he goes to the kitchen to see what’s going on in there. What he sees is not what he’d really expect in the first place, but he can definitely see Jongin doing this more in the future, which is him sticking his head in the opened refrigerator. He laughs at the bizarre sight. “What are you doing there, Jongin?”
“Trying to cool myself off and run away from the embarrassment of being seen live on the Internet,” is the muffled response he gets and he smiles brightly at how cute his boyfriend can be.
“All my fans loved you,” Baekhyun answers back as he walks over to him to try and get him to come out of his second home, “They thought it was cute how you suddenly appeared out of nowhere and gave me a hug and a kiss.”
“They saw us kiss,” Jongin exclaims in mortification, closing the fridge in favor of wrapping himself around Baekhyun and burying his cold face in his neck. Baekhyun jumps at the sudden change in temperature. “Oh my God, Baekhyun.”
Baekhyun can’t really think with his neck being abused by moving, cold lips.
“I didn’t even think- They can’t even see our heads if we stand up!”
“Um,” Baekhyun mumbles out, trying very hard to concentrate on calming Jongin down. “I think-” He groans when Jongin shifts against him again and he feels a cold nose as well. “Did we make that dumb, obnoxious smacking sound we do when we kiss sometimes?”
“Baekhyun?” Jongin questions quietly, sounding confused as he pulls away to stare down at his boyfriend. “Are you okay?”
Separation from Jongin’s body is like a breath of fresh air for Baekhyun, sucking in a deep breath and finally being able to focus on the matter at hand. He takes a step back from his boyfriend before reaching up to plant his hands on the younger man’s shoulders. “You, my lovely man person,” he starts, before literally pulling Jongin in for a quick literal smack of lips. They wince at the pain that blossoms when their teeth clack against each other’s lips. “Are my hottie hot boyfriend of the century Kim Jongin.”
That warrants an immediate whine from his boyfriend. “Baekhyun!”
Baekhyun gives him a small smile. “All my subscribers loved your appearance. They also really liked finally seeing my mysterious boyfriend.”
“I’m not mysterious,” Jongin mumbles with a pout, “I’m a potato.”
“A hot potato,” Baekhyun corrects.
“I don’t even know how they don’t actually know me yet,” Jongin says, grabbing Baekhyun’s hands from his shoulders to lead him away from the kitchen and back to the living room, “I’m in, like, one of your Instagram pictures. Maybe one of your videos too.” He collapses on the couch first before Baekhyun joins him, letting the younger use his thighs as a pillow as he cards fingers through his dark hair.
Baekhyun simply smiles as he remembers which posts Jongin’s talking about. The picture was one they took at the beach for their one-year anniversary and the video was while Jongin was playing with his puppies when they visited their apartment. He looks from Jongin’s closed eyes to his laptop still receiving lagging comments. “How about you think about it?” he softly questions, feeling Jongin shift on his lap. “Feature in my next song next week? We can choose the song together.”
“We always choose your songs together,” Jongin reminds, opening an eye to look up at him amused.
“One that you like,” Baekhyun immediately says, feeling his face start to heat up at the way Jongin is probably going to tease him now.
“I always like the songs we choose together.”
“One that you want to sing.”
“I always want to sing the songs we choose together.”
“Jongin!” Baekhyun whines, covering his face with his hands as his boyfriend laughs at him. He ends up jostling the younger too much with his flailing legs. “Just sing a song together with me next week!”
“You can still be cute, you know,” Jongin suddenly murmurs, and when Baekhyun opens his hands to peek at him, he squeaks at the sudden kiss he receives. “I’ll think about it. Okay?”
“Okay,” Baekhyun mumbles in embarrassment, letting Jongin close his laptop and move the tripod so they can cuddle on the couch together and watch whatever movie happens to be showing. He smiles bashfully when Jongin slouches low enough to lean his head on his shoulder, wraps his arms around him, and throws a leg over both of his.
The next week, Baekhyun is laughing as he presses the ‘Live’ button once again. He’s sitting on Jongin’s lap, providing the man a physical barrier so he doesn’t actually have to face the dreaded camera. “Hi, everyone,” Baekhyun greets with a laugh and a wave, “I’ve convinced my boyfriend to feature in one of the songs you’ve suggested.” He squeals when the arms around his waist tighten in Jongin’s nervousness. “But as you can see, Jongin is a bit camera shy.”
“I hate this,” Jongin whispers into the back of his head, “I quit. I’m not doing this, Baek.”
“He’s going to love this!” Baekhyun exclaims happily, trying to turn enough to show off his boyfriend, but Jongin is having none of that, too busy following his movements to hide his face. “Come on. I’ll give you a kiss if you introduce yourself and say hi.”
“Hi, everyone,” Jongin says loudly, still trying to dodge the view of the camera with Baekhyun’s head, “I’m Jongin.”
“Wait-”
“Now turn and give me a kiss.”
“While showing your face to the camera!” Baekhyun exclaims with a laugh, giggling when Jongin starts tickling him to distract him. “Jongin!” He jumps when he feels a buzz pressing into his butt.
“Oh, sorry,” Jongin mumbles as he simply squeezes his hand between their bodies to get his cell phone. “It’s Kyungsoo. Should I answer?”
Baekhyun slumps against him defeated, a satisfied smirk showing on his face when he hears Jongin trying to spit out his sudden mouthful of hair. “Why not? This livestream has already been delayed longer than usual.”
“Hello. Kyungsoo?”
They wince when they hear Kyungsoo’s murderous voice.
“Stop acting so damn cute and just sing your song already. Yifan won’t let me turn off the computer until he sees your next cover.”
“Okay!” Baekhyun calls out, straightening up on Jongin’s lap and clapping his hands once. “So the song we’re going to sing for you guys-”
“And show your face, Jongin,” Kyungsoo continues in a softer voice before hanging up, “At least give Baekhyun that. The idiot deserves it.”
Baekhyun suddenly freezes when he sees a sudden influx of heart emojis on his laptop stream. He stops talking and frowns, staring at the millions of hearts before looking into the camera. “Why are you guys giving so many hearts? We haven’t started singing yet.” He leans forward some more when he starts to see millions of letters that all segregate and form the words ‘Jongin’ over and over again. “Huh?” he questions, leaning back to look over his shoulder to see Jongin looking around him and staring into the camera curiously. “Jongin?”
“Hi, everyone,” Jongin mumbles as he tilts his head and looks down bashfully, hand coming up to lace his fingers with Baekhyun’s on the elder’s lap, “I’m sorry for earlier.”
Baekhyun watches his boyfriend with wide eyes, completely amazed with his sudden acceptance to do this video with him. A smile tugs at his lips when Jongin looks up from their hands and to him, dark eyes earnest and looking so innocent staring at him for guidance.
“I’m Jongin, and I’m Baekhyun’s boyfriend of two years, one month, and four days.”
Baekhyun can’t help but kiss him in front of the camera, smiling when Jongin lets out a cute squeak before returning it. His smile brightens when they part and Jongin’s suddenly looking so defensive while staring at the camera.
“See? Baekhyunnie is mine, so stop thinking you can suddenly whisk him away with just your name, location, and compliments on his YouTube page. You’re going to have to do a million times better than that.”
Baekhyun’s smile is as bright as the sun as he leans back into Jongin’s chest, lacing their fingers together on his lap and turning to face the camera. “So,” he starts off, laughing when Jongin gives him a protective kiss on the cheek. “The song we’re going to sing is-”
Title: Hurt
Pairing: Baekhyun/Sehun
Rating: PG-13
Length: 2.1k
Summary: Baekhyun has been alive since the Jeong-an era, constantly waiting and searching for his ‘soul mate’ Oh Sehun. (reincarnation!au)
Baekhyun is walking through the streets of Tokyo, Japan when he sees him, when he feels the pull at his heart telling him to walk down a street he never usually uses to go home. His hands are stuffed in his pockets with a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck yet Baekhyun doesn’t think he’s seen anything more beautiful than seeing those crescent-shaped eyes he hasn’t seen in decades.
He inhales one last drag of his cigarette before crushing it against the side of the building, finding a trashcan to toss the butt into before heading on his way. He exhales the addicting drug before hurrying, trying as best as he can to get close to that man without scaring the poor fellow into thinking he was some sort of stalker. It’s happened before.
Sehun suddenly laughs and Baekhyun thinks he needs another cigarette.
There’s a honk as an incoming car narrowly misses Baekhyun, taking a step back as the driver tries to curse at him from behind his closed window. Baekhyun simply watches the man, watches as the car drives and turns onto another street, before he looks in front of him again to cross the road. He feels his lips tug into a smile when he sees Sehun looking at him, gaze so worried that he wonders if Sehun actually remembers him this time.
“Hey, Sehun,” Sehun’s friend suddenly says, causing the man to avert his gaze away from him, “We have to go. Practice is in thirty minutes.”
“Yeah,” Sehun murmurs, gaze flitting back to Baekhyun’s, “I know.”
Baekhyun feels the tug on his heart again when their gazes meet, wanting to walk over and caress his face in his hands again after so many years apart, but he doesn’t. He can’t when Sehun doesn’t remember him anymore. He watches as Sehun finally turns to walk away, taking one last look back at him before his friend throws an arm over his shoulders to lead him to wherever they need to go.
He waits until Sehun is gone from sight, laughing again from whatever he’s just heard, and Baekhyun smiles, turning around to finally go back home.
A doorbell pulls Baekhyun out of his thoughts from earlier that day, tearing his gaze away from the bustling city below to put out his cigarette before heading back inside his apartment and answering his door. He’s surprised to see Sehun standing there, a bit breathless and sweaty with the scarf haphazardly strewn around his neck.
Baekhyun’s mouth is open, eyes wide as he stares up at the other. It’s been so long since he’s been able to be this close to Sehun. He almost forgot how tall the other actually is right next to him.
“Do I know you?” Sehun questions quietly, tongue peeking out to wet his dry lips, and Baekhyun follows the movement with his gaze.
“How did you find me?” Baekhyun questions back, head peeking out the door before opening it wider to allow the other man in. He sees the hesitance in Sehun’s stare and he tries to give a reassuring smile back. “You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to.”
“How do I know you?”
Baekhyun doesn’t want to tell him that he first met him centuries ago, during the Jeong-an era where the Oh clan replaced the Yeol clan in ruling the kingdom or during the Goryeo Dynasty before finally seeing him again in the Joseon Dynasty. He doesn’t want to say he’s seen him go to war for the Korean War, both of them fighting at the front lines only to see him die before his own eyes with a bullet to the head after Baekhyun was first shot in the heart. He doesn’t want to say he’s been searching for Sehun again ever since he woke up naked near a body of water ten years after the Korean War ended. He doesn’t know what to say.
“I need a cigarette,” he blurts out instead before quickly going to his coffee table to grab his pack of cigarettes. He’s shaking when he hears the door close behind him and hands instantly reach out to grab the pack from him. “What?” he breathes out, turning to try and get his cigarettes back, “Give those back!”
“Smoking is bad for you,” Sehun simply says as he stretches his arm up above his head and tries to push Baekhyun away from him.
“Dammit, Sehun!” Baekhyun shouts, nerves going haywire and body falling back into old habits. “You know I can’t stop!”
“You’re going to die from cancer if you keep smoking like this!”
The answer has Baekhyun freezing, eyes widening as he shifts his gaze from his cigarettes to Sehun’s confused face. He has his hands on Sehun’s arm, trying to tug it low enough to get his pack, and he suddenly remembers years of this. Years of Sehun trying to maintain his health even though they both know Baekhyun can’t die, not completely anyways. He can die from wounds and harsh impacts, but he can’t die from medical illnesses. And he always comes back to life somehow, someway.
He lets Sehun toss his pack of cigarettes across the floor, lets him wrap an arm around his waist to pull him close and pull him into a kiss he’s been craving more than cigarettes since thirty years ago. Baekhyun breathes him in, clutches onto the broad shoulders he’s missed so much, and instantly moans when he feels Sehun tighten his hold on him even more.
Baekhyun can feel Sehun’s fingers digging into his waist, he can feel him scrunch his face up probably because he tastes like nicotine and he’s always hated nicotine, but he doesn’t let go. Sehun doesn’t let go and Baekhyun feels like he’s falling.
He can’t even comprehend what’s happening until Sehun is moving to fall back onto the couch, bringing a yelping Baekhyun with him. It’s instinct for Baekhyun to move closer again, placing a knee on both sides of Sehun’s hips and straddle him. It’s instinct for him to mold himself to Sehun and kiss him again, kiss him like he’ll disappear again if he lets go.
“Baekhyun?” Sehun manages to mumble out between kisses, hands on his face to keep pulling him in for kisses even though it looks like he wants to discuss everything that’s happening right now. “Baek?”
Baekhyun places a hand on Sehun’s chest at the call of his name, forcing himself up to clearly look into Sehun’s eyes to see confusion and recognition swirling in his gaze all at once. He doesn’t believe it. “You remember me,” he breathes out, watching as Sehun’s eyebrows furrow together in his confusion, “You know my name.”
“Baekhyun,” Sehun says again, slowly, as if trying to savor the name flowing out of his lips, “I captured you in my dreams.”
Flashes of elegant robes and pale, pale skin enter Baekhyun’s mind at the words. Images of colorful, heavy traditional clothes and army gear hitting him all at once like a bucket of ice-cold water. He feels like crying when Sehun gently rubs his cheekbone with his thumb before bringing him back down for another kiss.
“You were beautiful,” Sehun murmurs against him, releasing one hand from his face to run the length of his back before spreading his fingers and pushing him impossibly closer at his waist, “You’re still beautiful.”
Baekhyun whimpers against him, tilting his head away to finally feel those lips on his neck, mouthing their way down as Sehun continues to murmur burned memories into his skin.
“You had the most beautiful of robes,” Sehun breathes, “Colorful, I thought you were of the highest ranks within the Yeol clan.”
Baekhyun really does cry at the memory, tears falling and body shaking at the force of trying to hold back a sob. He gasps when Sehun suddenly sits up, hand slipping underneath the back of his shirt as he hugs him close, body touching so intimately that Baekhyun finally does release the sob threatening to break his body, his mind. He clutches onto Sehun, fingers tangling in his hair and shirt, as Sehun tries to soothe him down with his nose buried in the juncture of his neck.
“How long have you waited for me?”
“Forever,” Baekhyun cries out, letting Sehun pick him up and find his way to his bedroom with heels digging into his lower back and hands supporting himself with broad shoulders. “I’ve watched you die so many times,” he says, kissing Sehun’s hair and cheek over and over again, “Sehun.”
“I’m so sorry,” Sehun breathes out, finally finding the bedroom and slowly setting Baekhyun down on it, quickly taking off his scarf and jacket to toss onto the floor. “I didn’t- I can’t remember-”
“Sehun,” Baekhyun whimpers, hand reaching out to tug Sehun back to him. He knows why Sehun can’t remember the last time he died. “Sehun, please.” He feels like he can breathe again when Sehun moves to lie on top of him between his legs, pinning him down with his weight to the worn down mattress before kissing him again.
The tears slow down the longer Sehun uses his hands to map Baekhyun’s body, fingers moving reverently over his neck and collarbones before dancing all over his chest. Teeth dig into his lower lip, suppressing a moan he knows is going to spill out anyways when Sehun finally gets his fingers underneath his shirt and traces the faint outline of muscles he has there. He gasps when Sehun kisses his Adam’s apple before disappearing to kiss the same trail his fingers leave as he pushes his shirt up.
“I remember you were sensitive here,” Sehun murmurs as he kisses over his abdomen, Baekhyun arching into the touch. “And I left my mark here once,” he says as his fingers dance along his inner right thigh.
Baekhyun moans when Sehun’s fingers circle around a nipple while he moves to kiss his inner thigh where he left a mark years ago. His hands find their way into his hair, his heart leaping out of his chest when he feels Sehun remove one hand to lace their fingers together before bringing his face back up to kiss him on the lips.
Baekhyun always loved it when Sehun laced their fingers together and pinned his hand to the bed beside his head. He looks at him confused when Sehun pulls away to search his eyes. His voice is quiet, a whisper leaving his lips that has Baekhyun’s heart breaking.
“Why can’t I remember the ending of the last time we met?”
Memories of the war fill Baekhyun’s head and he can tell it’s worrying Sehun, his grip on his hand tightening as Baekhyun desperately leans up to capture his lips on his again. He re-lives meeting behind enemy lines, Sehun instantly recognizing him unlike the other times in his past life where it took more time, before Sehun suddenly shoots him, afraid of what would come to them if they continued to see each other and the generals found out. He shoots him in the heart and in return, Baekhyun manages a shot to his head, hoping to wipe out that dreadful memory.
He sucks in a breath when Sehun makes them part, nose nudging his cheek gently before spreading his palm over Baekhyun’s heart. He looks up alarmed, heart speeding as he searches Sehun’s eyes only to find he still doesn’t remember. He relaxes when Sehun kisses him again.
“You don’t want me to find out,” Sehun mumbles against him, gaze sad, “I did something terrible.”
“No,” Baekhyun quickly says, gently caressing his cheek, “You did what you thought was right.”
“Will you tell me someday?”
Baekhyun thinks back to the times where he met Sehun, in various clothes and nobility, and the times where they managed to fall in love between everything that’s happened between them. He thinks to the time they were sworn enemies, bred to fight anybody on the opposing team but ended up taking each other out in hopes of finding each other in the next life. He thinks to the time Sehun had to learn to love him again, just like this time. His smile is small, genuine, as he gently caresses his cheek with his thumb and watches as Sehun leans into his touch this time.
“Maybe,” he answers back quietly, Sehun turning on his side so Baekhyun can move to place his head in the space of his larger shoulder and chest, bodies slotting together perfectly like they were made to always fit like this, together. His heart warms when Sehun takes his hand and kisses each fingertip, kissing his thumb twice because of his mole on it just like how he used to years ago. “One day.”
Title: Lady Luck
Pairing: Baekhyun/Junmyeon
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1.8k
Summary: Baekhyun works full-time at the bookstore near his university and there’s this one customer he does’t know the name of but somehow bothers him greatly.
There’s this one man who always visits this specific bookstore down the street from where Baekhyun goes to university. Granted, it’s also the same place where he works full-time in-between his full-time student schedule, but he’s noticed this man come in a lot more recently whenever he does work. This man always comes in and browses their odd collection of antique novels and the newest of comic books - Baekhyun doesn’t know whether to actually call them comic books though, he’s heard them be called a variety of things such as manga, manhwa, and comic books - before plucking one out and buying it from him.
Baekhyun never questions a customer on their novel choices, although he did want to question that one shy-looking kid who was buying a book from their erotica section, but as of late, he’s wanted to question this man because it seems like he reads a variety of genres. One day, he will buy some book about sports and another he will buy a comic book. It’s never the same genre twice in a row, and it’s making Baekhyun curious as to how this man even gets the money to buy these things at least every other day.
“Seriously,” he complains to Yifan one day, the owner of Lady Luck, “He looks like he has all this money to buy all these books, but he comes to a rundown bookstore that has the same name of some probably hot hooker almost every other day.”
Yifan grunts from his place behind the desk. “I take offense to that.”
“No offense,” Baekhyun says anyways as he restocks the shelves and mischievously switches some around to different genres. “I just don’t get it? Does he actually read all those books? He even carries a suitcase on some days! Maybe he’s from some secret agent team in the government sent to scope out your bookstore.”
“I doubt the Korean FBI or CIA or whatever would actually send an agent down to my bookstore just because I named her Lady Luck,” Yifan drawls out, leaning his head against his open palm on the counter. “Does it really bother you that much?”
Baekhyun forcefully shoves a book into the shelf, huffing a bit in satisfaction when he sees the book practically die under the pressure. “Yes!” he admits before turning away to go put more books in other shelves. He doesn’t see Yifan sigh tiredly before coming out from behind the counter to fix the book he purposefully messed up. “I just don’t get it!”
“What if he just really likes books and has a wide variety of interests?” Yifan questions next, trying to play psychologist when that’s really Chanyeol’s department.
“Absolutely nobody has that many interests,” Baekhyun counters back, peeking around a shelf to stare at him. “That would be insane.”
Yifan rolls his eyes before going back to his place behind the desk. “Why don’t you ask him tomorrow? Is he coming?”
There’s a moment of silence before Baekhyun decides, “I’m going to yell at his face tomorrow.”
Yifan doesn’t even bother to talk to him about that man anymore after that.
Baekhyun is agitated, knee bouncing up and down behind the desk as he gnaws on the tip of his finger. He has unusual habits, he knows, but he always ignores his friends or yells at them whenever they bring it up. It’s not like he can instantly stop his habits. They’re habits for a reason. He doesn’t even know why he’s thinking about his habits when he really just wants to see this man’s face. So he can yell at him of course.
It’s a quarter after three when a bell resonates throughout the store. Baekhyun jolts at the sound, dropping his phone onto the counter to stare at the new patron. He’s severely disappointed when his vision focuses on Yifan’s dumb face. “Oh. It’s you,” he greets before going back to his phone to hopefully stop chewing his finger off.
“Hey,” Yifan greets casually, going straight to the back to eat his late lunch.
Baekhyun pauses everything he’s doing once he catches of whiff of the food Yifan brought back. “Hey, wait,” he calls out, turning in his seat to try and catch a glimpse of the owner, “You got lunch? What did you get?” And then the food triggers something else in his head. He’s confused. “I didn’t even know you left earlier.”
“I told you I was going out for a late lunch, and I asked you what you wanted,” Yifan drawls out, once again, “You simply waved me off and said ‘chew’ before I left.” He suddenly leans over in his chair to see out the opened doorway and to Baekhyun. “I had no idea what you meant by that, but I did not get you food and I will chew my own before swallowing and digesting. Thank you.”
Baekhyun really doesn’t know what to think about that but he’s glad the bell rings throughout the store once again and Yifan disappears to eat his lunch. He’s already decided long ago that Wu Yifan is an odd man.
When he turns back around, he’s surprised to see that man entering the store and giving him a friendly wave. “Hello, Baekhyun,” he greets and Baekhyun just waves back because he still doesn’t know the man’s name even though he knows his because of his nametag. “Anything new in the fantasy section?”
“I wouldn’t ask that if I were you!” comes Yifan’s voice, and Baekhyun can watch as the man pauses in his step at the voice.
“Yifan?” he calls out, clearly confused. Baekhyun takes that as his chance to attack.
“You!” he shouts, startling the man into dropping his bag. He points at him next. “What is your name?!”
“Uh,” the man fumbles, quickly picking up his bag before inching his way towards a bookcase. “Junmyeon? Kim Junmyeon.”
“Are you rich?” Baekhyun can hear Yifan groan loudly behind him.
“Um. Yes?”
Baekhyun’s eyes widen in surprise as he drops his hand onto the counter, mouth hanging open because Junmyeon is now walking up to him to provide him proof. He practically salivates at the black card that’s shown to him.
Junmyeon places the card back into his wallet before shoving it into his bag. “Why?”
This man is surprisingly honest, or maybe naïve. Baekhyun hasn’t decided yet. He frowns at him, leaning back into his chair to eye him up and down. Soft-looking brown hair combed nicely atop a very handsome albeit confused face, body looking pretty good underneath the thin grey shirt he’s wearing. He hums. “You always buy books, every single kind probably known to man, and it bothers me.”
The answer has Junmyeon laughing, and oh. His laughing face is pretty nice too. “Why does it bother you?”
“This is a rundown bookstore with a possibly attractive hooker’s name called Lady Luck,” Baekhyun says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, even though it is, “Owned by a questionable Chinese man who hails from Canada who may be on the run from some FBI agents because he named his rundown bookstore Lady Luck.”
“I still take offense to that,” Yifan calls out from the back.
Junmyeon laughs some more at the reasoning, slapping his hand down on the counter a couple of times, and oh. He has the same habit as Jongin does when he laughs. Not bad. “Have you ever thought that this store is called Lady Luck because of anything else relating the name to a possibly beautiful lady?”
Baekhyun narrows his eyes at him then, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he studies his face. “You’re also our main patron. There has to be something wrong with you.”
The smile on Junmyeon’s face brightens as he nods his head politely at Yifan behind him when he peeks his head out. “What if this place is called Lady Luck because she has the ability to guide people to her store? Allowing two people who have never met before to finally meet and have the chance to go out for coffee down the street?”
There’s a sudden clash and clatter in the back and Junmyeon and Baekhyun look at the back surprised, seeing Yifan slowly moving from the floor as he tries to pick himself back up from tipping himself over too much on his chair. “Don’t mind me,” he groans out, flinching before falling back to the floor, “Just- Do your thing.”
“What?” Baekhyun questions back before looking back to Junmyeon who’s still smiling at him and shrugging his shoulders.
“Any new fantasy novels?”
Baekhyun gives the man a strange look before informing him that yes, they have quite a wider selection today. He doesn’t see Yifan struggling because of him.
“Why can’t we name the bookstore something cooler like Black Pearl or El Dorado?”
Baekhyun doesn’t look up from his phone when hears the bell ring throughout the store.
“Would you give it a rest, Baekhyun? Her name is Lady Luck and it will forever be Lady Luck,” Yifan answers back from his place from somewhere within the store, putting some books on the taller shelves they have. “Greet the new customer.”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun waves off, finally looking up to see Junmyeon standing there smiling at him, “Oh. It’s you.”
“Did you ever hear what I said about Lady Luck the other day before Yifan interrupted us?” Junmyeon questions as he leans on the counter towards him.
Baekhyun gives him a look before shaking his head no. The look of mild disappointment on Junmyeon’s face quickly has him straightening, trying his hardest to think of what happened the other day. All he can remember is something about coffee. He scrunches his nose at the thought. “I don’t like coffee.”
Junmyeon perks up at the answer, smile quickly finding its way onto his face as he holds his hand out for Baekhyun to take. “How about some cake then?”
“I’m up for that,” Baekhyun decides after a few minutes, eyeing Junmyeon’s hand strangely before walking around the counter and taking off his nametag. “Yifan!” he calls out, “I’m going out!”
Baekhyun finds out months later that Junmyeon actually asked him out that day, telling him that Lady Luck is actually a lucky store for people to meet and fall in love. After all, it happened to him.
He suppresses the smile on his face when Junmyeon visits one day and dances goofily around Zitao to embarrass him while Yifan laughs like a maniac behind him.
“Lady Luck is still a terrible name,” Baekhyun decides, biting his lip in happiness when Zitao runs away from Junmyeon in the store only to knock into a shelf and have his boyfriend chase after him to make sure he’s okay. Yifan shakes his head in amusement at the scene, both Junmyeon and Zitao giving them apologetic looks from across the store. Baekhyun finally smiles when Junmyeon throws him a heart with his hands.
“And I still take offense to that.”