(hey baby) it's common lovesick i/ii
(hey baby) it's common lovesick
nc-17; romance, angst; endgame!baekhyun/kyungsoo; 14, 938 wc
summary: when baekhyun suggested doing something risky and crazy before their last year in high school ends, kyungsoo never thought falling in love with his best friend was one of his choices. high school!au.
a/n:my entry for the first round of sooenaemoured, written for hunchou! huge, huge thank you to n, b, and a for always reading this through for me and for virtually holding my hand as I write this whole thing. you guys are seriously the best. <3
“Byun Baekhyun, are you kidding me?”
It’s a rhetorical question; one that Kyungsoo isn’t really expecting an answer to, especially since the person in question is still in bed, cocooned in his blankets, probably still falling in and out of consciousness as Kyungsoo continues to gape unbelievingly by the doorway.
When Kyungsoo finally agreed to go to school with Baekhyun today, all due to his insistent coaxing during their quite lengthy phone call last night, he really wasn’t expecting to see something like this.
This being Baekhyun still lying on his stomach, head turned to the side and shoulders rising and falling as he takes in easy breaths, in and out, in and out, in and out. He looks pretty serene like this, like Baekhyun’s nowhere near the little shit that he actually is when he’s up and about, thrumming with too much energy to waste, but Kyungsoo knows better than to be fooled.
It’s important that they arrive at school quite early today, seeing as it’s their first day in their last year of high school. Thankfully, Kyungsoo had the sense to stop by Baekhyun’s house an hour before school starts so this leaves him enough time to force Baekhyun out of bed and try to make him look as decently human as possible.
With a huff, Kyungsoo marches into Baekhyun’s room and all but makes his way to the curtains. He pulls them open to let the sun shine in and, almost immediately, the whole room is bathed in warmth and the early morning light. It doesn’t do anything to stir Baekhyun from his deep slumber, however, so Kyungsoo just resorts to doing the next best thing: he steers towards Baekhyun’s bed and proceeds to dump himself on top of his best friend, making sure to put all of his weight until Baekhyun starts squirming and groaning in annoyance.
“Rise and shine!” Kyungsoo enthusiastically bursts out. He intentionally situates his mouth close to Baekhyun’s ear because Kyungsoo knows how he generally hates loud things in the morning.
Baekhyun groans again and buries his head in his pillow even more. “God, Kyungsoo, you’re too loud.”
“And you’re still in bed when you should’ve been up and about an hour ago. C’mon, it’s our first day of senior year today! We can’t be late!”
“Don’t care. Let me sleep for ten more minutes,” Baekhyun mumbles into his pillow. If Kyungsoo wasn’t practically lying on top of Baekhyun, he probably wouldn’t even understand a word.
“Get up or I’ll sit on you again,” Kyungsoo threatens. Baekhyun, already falling into the clutches of unconsciousness again, doesn’t even move an inch. “You know very well I don’t go back on my threats, Baekhyun.”
It takes quite a few seconds but Baekhyun finally gets up from the bed with much hesitation. Lazily, he tries to not fall flat on his face as he steers his way towards the bathroom, all the while murmuring something along the lines of “it’s too early in the morning to be this violent.” Kyungsoo just shakes his head and toddles around Baekhyun’s room, picking out his uniform from his little closet and setting it on his still messy bed.
Baekhyun comes out of the shower just minutes later, looking much more awake now than when he first went in. He has a towel tied securely around his waist, and another one draped over his head, catching the tiny droplets of water in his hair. Baekhyun throws a grateful smile at his best friend upon seeing his uniform all laid out for him already and proceeds to dress himself right in front of Kyungsoo.
The best thing about being best friends for more than half of their lives is that Baekhyun never feels the need to be self-conscious around Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo can confidently say it’s pretty much the same for him.
“Were you sleeping late again?” Kyungsoo asks from where he’s now sitting on Baekhyun’s bed. He sees beads of water still rolling down Baekhyun’s nape, wetting the collar of his uniform, and Kyungsoo has half a mind to properly dry his hair for him.” I thought we agreed not to stay up for a change?”
“Cut me some slack, will you? Daehyun won’t fucking stop bothering me last night, and you know how annoyingly persistent he can be when he wants something.”
Kyungsoo scrunches his eyebrows. “Daehyun?”
“Yeah. I’ve mentioned him to you before, haven’t I?” Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Baekhyun has brought up a lot of people in their conversations before, some in passing and some in detail, and their names are just too damn many that Kyungsoo can’t really be bothered to remember all of them. “Anyway, he kept on calling my phone for, like, I don’t know, a bajillion times? So I couldn’t get some sleep even if I wanted to.”
“You should’ve turned your phone off, then, if it was bothering you that much.”
Baekhyun briefly looks at Kyungsoo like he’s stupid. Like Baekhyun hadn’t thought of doing that in the first place. “I did. But the guy went to my house and pounded on our gate, even kept on shouting for me to come out. At the middle of the fucking night, Kyungsoo. I’m just lucky hyung’s out and my parents came home late or else you won’t find me well and alive right now.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t even bother to repress the urge to roll his eyes at him again. Baekhyun can be so overdramatic sometimes. “What did he want, anyway? Did you fuck something up again?”
Baekhyun fixes him a dour look before shrugging. “I broke up with him last night. He obviously didn’t take it well and wanted to get back with me or whatever. The guy’s so damn obsessed with me, it’s just getting borderline creepy now.”
Like tapping a faraway memory at the back of his head, Kyungsoo suddenly remembers who Daehyun is: an incoming senior from their rival school; tall, blonde, handsome, with lips almost as full as Kyungsoo’s (or so people say); loves to sing at noreabangs; would’ve been with Baekhyun for a full month if Baekhyun hadn’t ended things between them so abruptly.
In all honesty, Kyungsoo isn’t surprised. This isn’t the first time that Baekhyun’s relationship didn’t last for even a month and this isn’t the first time either that one of his exes had come running back to him for some reason or another. Kyungsoo thinks he should be used to this - Baekhyun’s been dating (and dumping) boys and girls left and right ever since they stepped into high school, after all - but knowing that he should and actually carrying that thought out are two different things entirely.
The little noise that Kyungsoo makes at the back of his throat has Baekhyun stopping in the middle of lining his eyes with kohl in favor of looking at him through the mirror. “How are you and Minah, by the way?”
Kyungsoo first met Minah online, at a dating website that he couldn’t really remember signing himself up on (because it was actually Chanyeol who registered him on OkCupid without his consent). They started off with exchanging lengthy emails, getting to know each other slowly but surely through the messages they’ve sent every day. Before they knew it, they’re already listening to each other’s voices and taking down names of places they should see together. Unsurprisingly, they immediately hit it off when they met in real life for the first time, and it gave way to more frequent hang outs and, eventually, official dates that always left Kyungsoo feeling giddy and a little more in love.
Kyungsoo never saw anyone else but Minah during the entirety of his summer break. She was the kind of girl that Kyungsoo could see himself dating for a long time - they had a lot in common and could rarely be seen arguing about different tastes on things. So it took Kyungsoo by surprise when Minah suddenly called it quits on their seventh date, citing something about her family moving away and not being capable enough to handle long distance relationships as her reasons.
“We broke up a month ago,” Kyungsoo finds himself saying. He can still feel that familiar pang in his chest whenever he thinks about her nowadays but, thankfully, it isn’t anywhere near the pain that almost swallowed him whole during the first few days after their break-up.
This news has Baekhyun suddenly grinning widely at him. “So that means we’re both single, then.”
Kyungsoo just shrugs. He can’t see what’s so great about that. Baekhyun then turns around and smiles at him, eyes now fully lined dark with kohl. “This is like a new beginning for the both of us, Soo.”
Kyungsoo blankly stares at him. Judging by the eager smile on his face, he’s sure Baekhyun’s going to blurt out something ridiculous again. Baekhyun, still unable to get the reaction that he quite likes from his best friend, just sighs. “We’re now seniors, right?” At this, Kyungsoo nods. “It’s our last year in high school! Don’t you think we should enjoy it to our heart’s content?”
Senior year means more home works, more projects, more exams. It means practically spending every waking hour thinking about career choices and making up your mind on what you really want to be in the future. It means more studying, and less time to actually splurge freely on yourself.
Now that he’s thinking about it, Kyungsoo can’t really find anything worth enjoying in his last year in high school.
“So I suggest we get out more often and maybe date lots of people-” Kyungsoo just snorts. That’s just totally a Baekhyun thing to say. “-Just do something risky! Or crazy. Something that you never thought you’d do in your entire life.”
Baekhyun has this weird twinkle in his eyes as he speaks, and Kyungsoo can practically feel him vibrating in excitement even when they’re a few steps away from each other. This is when Kyungsoo fears him the most - Baekhyun coming up with silly ideas is bad enough; Baekhyun roping him into doing said silly ideas is just the absolute worst.
“What do you say? Are you up for it?”
“Baekhyun, I don’t-”
“Okay, stop right there, I’m not granting you the privilege to say no!”
And even though Kyungsoo knows there’s nothing good that’ll ever come out of this, he still thoughtlessly agrees, if only to shut Baekhyun up. He’s anything but a pushover, really, but Kyungsoo reasons there’s nothing wrong in indulging Baekhyun’s weird ideas every now and then.
“You’ll eventually thank me for this, you’ll see!” Baekhyun confidently says, smiling that huge grin at him again.
Kyungsoo doubts that’ll happen but doesn’t say anything. He thinks it’s better for his sanity if he’ll just wisely shut his mouth, anyway.
If there’s anything their mutual friends are perfectly aware of, it’s the fact that Baekhyun and Kyungsoo have rarely done things apart. They’ve always spent time with each other for as long as Kyungsoo could remember - even dating way back in first grade when they first met, little Baekhyun enthusiastically proffering his hand to a shy and wide-eyed Kyungsoo and proclaiming that they’ll be best friends forever and ever and ever with a loud voice and a confident grin.
After that first meeting, Baekhyun had found it easy to worm his way into Kyungsoo’s life. He would start taking the empty seat beside Kyungsoo during breaks in third grade, make Kyungsoo laugh with his ridiculous jokes in fifth grade, rile him up until Baekhyun ends up with a sore arm from all the punches he’d receive in sixth grade. When Baekhyun had started dating recklessly in freshman year, Kyungsoo had been there to fill the position of the loyal best friend, give him advice and be his crying shoulder when most of Baekhyun’s relationships didn’t go quite well like how he had wanted them to.
(Or, maybe, Kyungsoo had been too distracted with Baekhyun’s brightness that putting up his defenses in the first place had been the farthest thing from his mind back then.)
They’ve always been together for most of their lives that things just don’t seem right when they’re not. So, it’s anything but shocking that the first thing that still comes out of Baekhyun’s mouth even after a week since school started is-
“Why did they have to put us in different classes?” Baekhyun complains, question directed at no one but Kyungsoo. It’s almost like clockwork - Baekhyun grumbling about the same thing time and time again - that Chanyeol and Jongdae don’t even bat an eyelash at him anymore.
Still, it doesn’t stop Jongdae from poking fun at Baekhyun. “Do you realize you sound like a clingy girlfriend right now?”
“Shut up. No one’s asking for your opinion,” Baekhyun gripes, throwing bread crumbs at Jongdae, like the mature friend that he is.
“What? You hate being away from Kyungsoo that much?” Jongdae continues to taunt with a smirk. On the side, Chanyeol snickers while Kyungsoo just pays all of his attention to mixing his salad.
“The only other thing I hate aside from Kyungsoo not being in my classes is having you in all of them.”
“Yah!” Jongdae shouts, affronted. Baekhyun gives him a shit-eating grin before eventually turning to Chanyeol.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun starts, voice serious. Chanyeol stops halfway through stuffing the remaining of his tuna sandwich into his mouth to acknowledge Baekhyun. “Since I’m left with no other choice, I’m just going to blindly put my whole trust in you that you’ll guard Kyungsoo with all your life.”
“I’m not some damsel in distress that needs to be protected, Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo interjects. He sounds oddly calm. The way he’s currently stabbing at his salad, however, says otherwise. “I can take care of myself.”
“But look at you-” Baekhyun suddenly holds Kyungsoo’s face in between his hands, squishing his cheeks and contorting his mouth into this weird distorted shape in the process. “You look so cute and harmless sometimes. I’m just worried that people might get the wrong impression and try something on my best friend!”
Kyungsoo warns Baekhyun with a glare before he reaches over and pinches him. Baekhyun yelps and immediately lets go, rubbing the sore spot where Kyungsoo had left a bruise (most probably) on his inner thigh.
“Ow! Is that how you treat someone who’s concerned for your safety and well-being?”
“Did you forget that I can throw a punch just as hard as Chanyeol or do you need me to remind you? Because I’ll gladly-”
“No need to be so violent, Soo-”
“Hey, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol all but half-screams, half-whispers. “Don’t make it too obvious, okay, but I think you have an admirer. Nine o’clock. Boy with blond hair and scary-looking face.”
Baekhyun throws a subtle glance at his left and finds the said boy staring at him. He ducks down, however, when Baekhyun catches his eye and Baekhyun has to stop himself from cooing out loud. Even from where he’s sitting, Baekhyun can clearly see the sudden tinge of pink that brushes across the boy’s cheeks. The other guy sitting with him laughs as soon as he realizes what’s happening and he just pats his friend’s back, all the while staring meaningfully at Baekhyun.
Kyungsoo watches all of this with little interest. Baekhyun usually comes across his conquests even at the beginning of the year; this isn’t really something new.
“His name’s Huang Zitao. Sophomore. A transfer student from China. He’s shy and quiet. And pretty terrifying as well because he’s been doing wushu since he was little,” Jongdae lists, ticking them off with his fingers.
Baekhyun looks at Jongdae in confusion. “How do you know so much about this kid?”
“I have reliable sources~” Jongdae singsongs while obnoxiously waggling his eyebrows. Kyungsoo can’t help but snort; if Jongdae was trying to look (and sound) mysterious, then someone ought to tell him that he’s really terrible at it.
“He sure sounds like a good challenge,” Baekhyun ponders out loud, now shamelessly ogling at the boy just a few tables away from them. Kyungsoo can see the familiar glint in Baekhyun’s eyes when he’s this thrilled over something and, already, he can’t help but feel sorry for Baekhyun’s next victim. “And you know I’m not one to easily back down from one.”
Kyungsoo tsks at him. “Did you forget about the part that he’s an exchange student? Please try not to traumatize the boy too much before he can get to enjoy his stay in Korea, Baekhyun.”
”But that’s the fun part.”
“Baekhyun. ”
“Fine, fine! I’ll try but you know I can’t promise anything.” Kyungsoo opens his mouth- “You’re really so cute when you’re trying to sound all mean and dangerous, Soo,” Baekhyun coos, pinching his cheek.
Kyungsoo makes sure to punch Baekhyun extra hard this time.
first.
Zitao and Baekhyun, Kyungsoo soon finds out, are complete opposites.
He doesn’t really know Zitao all that well but, regardless, it’s quite obvious from the get go that they don’t have a lot of things in common. Zitao is incredibly shy and quiet sometimes, while Baekhyun is definitely anything but, always making it a point to fill the space around them with conversations about practically anything and everything.
It’s not that Zitao doesn’t have something interesting to share, Baekhyun had told him one day when Kyungsoo had brought it up. Apparently, Zitao hasn’t been staying here in Korea that long so he still has quite a weak grasp on the language. Which explains the scrunch of his eyebrows whenever he goes through all the words in his head, trying to find the most appropriate one to use, the frustration quickly flitting through his features whenever he can’t pronounce a phrase well.
Kyungsoo’s sure Baekhyun finds it cute, though, how Zitao is obviously trying his best to keep up with him when they’re talking. He giggles while Zitao fumbles for the right word to say and always makes sure to tease Zitao just so he can have the perfect excuse to kiss that pout off his lips.
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes; it’s the oldest trick in the book, yet it always works on Baekhyun’s favor somehow.
It’s almost seems like a perfect match, them together (they say opposites attract, don’t they?) - until Baekhyun realizes that they’re not, that Zitao wears his heart on his sleeve too much, that he’s s too soft and genuine for Baekhyun’s liking.
Baekhyun breaks it off just two weeks into their relationship.
That night, Kyungsoo doesn’t ask anything. He just lets Baekhyun cuddle up to him while he’s doing homework on his bed, lets him be extra clingy than usual because Baekhyun tends to be like this when he wants to distract himself from everything.
“Let’s get wasted tonight,” Baekhyun mumbles into Kyungsoo’s arm where he has comfortably squished his face into. If it was any other person, Kyungsoo would’ve elbowed him or her by now for breaching his personal space. But, well, it’s Baekhyun and Kyungsoo knows he’d offer himself as a comfort pillow for his best friend anytime Baekhyun needs him.
“We have classes tomorrow, Baekhyun,” comes Kyungsoo’s patient reply.
Baekhyun whines low in his throat. Kyungsoo sighs before ignoring his half-finished home work completely in favor of diverting his attention to the tuft of hair on his side. “We can just get ice cream later if you want?”
Baekhyun sluggishly moves a little in his place just so he can look up at Kyungsoo and whisper “okay”. It’s not much of a reply but Kyungsoo smiles nonetheless and promptly gets back to his work, finding a whole new motivation to finish them a lot earlier than usual.
third.
Baekhyun is halfway into successfully persuading his third conquest (who goes by the name of Kim Minseok) to date him when Kyungsoo meets and falls in love with the boy in his chemistry class.
Well, love is quite a big way to put it. Kyungsoo’s sure he’s felt a lot stronger for other people before and there are less butterflies fluttering in his stomach this time around. Regardless, Kyungsoo tells this to Baekhyun because, really, there’s no other better person to share this with than his best friend, right?
“Where did you say you met this hyunshit guy again?”
“Hyunsik. His name is Hyunsik, Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo patiently repeats for the umpteenth time. He has half a mind to be annoyed at Baekhyun for butchering Hyunsik’s name time and time again, really. “And he’s in my chemistry class. We do labs and other stuff together.”
“Other stuff?” Baekhyun repeats, narrowing his eyes into slits. “What kind of other stuff, exactly?”
Kyungsoo just flatly looks at Baekhyun. He needs to do some reading today for his literature class and he sure as hell won’t spend all of his free time playing 20 questions with Baekhyun. “School stuff. Get your mind out of the gutter, will you?”
“What? I was just making sure!” Baekhyun huffs.
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Baekhyun can be a tad bit too protective at times and, really, Kyungsoo can never understand where this kind of instinct is coming from. He can’t help but find it ridiculously funny, though, how Baekhyun looks like the part of a knight in shining armor, always ready to defend his princess, when, in reality, it’s actually Kyungsoo who can pack a mean punch between them.
“Don’t you have more important things to worry about? Like, I don’t know, how to finally get into Minseok hyung’s pants or something?” Kyungsoo turns his head to look at Baekhyun when a low groan reaches his ears. He raises his eyebrows questioningly. “How’s that going, by the way?”
“Terrible,” Baekhyun answers. “He’s a lot more hard work than Seohyun, honestly. And you know how it took me months to get Seohyun just to acknowledge my existence before.”
Kyungsoo knows. Out of all the girls Baekhyun had dated before, Seohyun’s actually his favorite, if only because she made Baekhyun really work hard to gain her affections. She wasn’t quite like anyone Kyungsoo had ever met, and he admired the fact that she held her ground against Baekhyun, not giving in quite easily like all the others who were caught in his trap with just a wink and a little smile.
“But I’m going to win his heart eventually!” Baekhyun continues, his voice edged with persistence. “I’ll make him see how charming I really am so he won’t be able to resist my advances anymore.”
Baekhyun ends that with a confident grin, the very same one that Kyungsoo has seen a million times before. Kyungsoo just shrugs. “Well, do tell me how that goes then. If your plan actually works out, then maybe we could all go out on a group date sometime.”
Baekhyun stares at him for a whole minute. And then, “…Yeah, no. You’re my best friend and all that, Kyungsoo, but I’m sorry, you and that Wonshik guy can do your other stuff somewhere else.”
“It’s Hyunsik,” Kyungsoo says, gritting his teeth in slight annoyance. “Get your names right!”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Baekhyun waves off. Kyungsoo would’ve said something else in response to that, but before he can even open his mouth, he sees Baekhyun already busy fiddling with his phone, fingers rapidly pressing on buttons as he types a text. Presumably to Minseok.
Kyungsoo decides to just leave him be.
(In the end, Baekhyun never quite won Minseok’s affection despite all his attempts. It was kind of foolish, really, how Baekhyun had spent so much time doing everything wrong, pinning over a guy who was decidedly straight from day one and never quite noticing it. But that’s okay; Baekhyun didn’t like him that much, anyway.
“You can do so much better,” Kyungsoo tells him. He runs his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair, and it’s almost enough to lull him to sleep.
Baekhyun forces himself awake, though, and agrees, silently nodding with his head tucked in the crook of his best friend’s neck. He can do so much better.)
somewhere between the fourth and the seventh.
Baekhyun winces as he gently rubs his left cheek with his hand, still trying to soothe the stinging pain to no avail. Seeing Baekhyun’s face flushed red from across the table, Kyungsoo can’t help but feel sorry for his best friend. In his opinion, it was rather harsh for Krystal to slap Baekhyun right in the middle of the school’s quadrangle where a fuckton of students could see their exchange.
But then again, Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun deserved that hard slap right across his face, considering how he had tried to end things with Krystal in a very unconventional way.
There’s a rather unattractive snort that Kyungsoo knows is most definitely Jongdae’s and a poorly disguised laughter from Chanyeol on his right. Baekhyun glares at them. “You can at least show a little sympathy for me here!”
Jongdae snorts again. “Why should I do that when I can laugh at your expense, instead?”
“Asshole.”
“You know very well your pain is my entertainment, Baekhyun.”
“Biggest asshole in the entire universe.”
Chanyeol rolls his eyes. Why is he friends with a bunch of kids even? “So how did you break up with this one this time?”
Baekhyun doesn’t speak, just shoves his phone right at Chanyeol’s face. What Chanyeol sees on the screen has him chortling out embarrassingly loud.
Jongdae, ever the curious little shit that he is, cranes his neck to look at Baekhyun’s phone screen, only to shake his head right after, obviously amused. “No wonder she slapped you so hard when she saw you at school today.”
“You broke up with her through text,” Chanyeol clarifies, still kind of reeling over this fact. “Wow, I didn’t think you could be any more of a douche than you already were, Baek.”
“Let me also reiterate the fact that not even a quarter of the year yet and you’ve already broken, what, a ton of people’s hearts into pieces? I’m actually really amazed at how much of a dickhead you are, Baekhyun,” Jongdae says. He’s about to get up from his seat - to give Baekhyun an embarrassing standing ovation, no doubt - but Kyungsoo quickly lays a hand on his thigh to stop him from doing so.
Baekhyun groans and Kyungsoo is tempted to reach over and pat his head, just to give him any kind of comfort somehow. “Is this let’s-bully-Baekhyun-and-make-him-feel-shitty day? Why are you two ganging up on me? Some friends you are…”
“Not ganging up on you.” Chanyeol shrugs. “I’m just saying all this playing around will bite you back in the ass someday, Baekhyun. When you actually find someone you’ll want to be with for good and-”
“Shut up! I don’t even want to know what that means,” Baekhyun angrily interjects. He then turns to Kyungsoo and puts on his most pathetic face ever, the very one that he knows Kyungsoo can’t really say no to. “Soo, save me from these mean people!”
Kyungsoo looks at him apologetically. “As much as I want to save you from these two, I really can’t stay for long. I kind of already made plans with someone else…” Kyungsoo glances at his watch, eyes immediately widening when he realizes what time it is. “Actually, I’m really, really late for, um, this date so I gotta go! Bye!”
Kyungsoo rushes out of his seat and doesn’t turn around when he hears Jongdae’s sudden holler of “go get that ass!”.
A few weeks into constantly talking and hanging out with Hyunsik, whether they may be innocent study dates in the library or more-than-friendly hangouts someplace else, Kyungsoo finds out that what he feels for him is, indeed, not love but some form of silly infatuation.
It makes sense, Kyungsoo thinks. No one had shown even the littlest bit of interest for Kyungsoo after his last relationship with Minah. That is, until Hyunsik came along. And, naturally, Kyungsoo had latched on to him like a man hungry for someone’s affections. He was lonely, to put it quite frankly, and Hyunsik was just at the right time and the right place.
Kyungsoo isn’t one to believe in coincidences, so when he met Joonmyun around the same time he was breaking things off with Hyunsik, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but think this might be the reason why things happened the way they did.
Joonmyun is a college freshman and, apparently, a good friend of his hyung. Kyungsoo can’t remember ever seeing him before but he chalks it up to the fact that his hyung doesn’t really bring his friends over that often, nor does he talk about them with Kyungsoo. Nonetheless, Kyungsoo greets Joonmyun like he’s known him for a while, smiles at him like they’re acquaintances at least, and not just mere strangers.
In return, Joonmyun warms up to him in no time. Admittedly, Kyungsoo knows he isn’t quite like Baekhyun, with his disarming smile and charming personality, but he can draw people in just as easily as Baekhyun can. And Joonmyun, really, is no exception.
Attraction is a two-way street and Kyungsoo finds himself unable to resist Joonmyun’s charms as well. He’s a bit of an actual dork and a sweet talker, Kyungsoo discovers, and while he finds most of the things Joonmyun says incredibly cheesy or comically lame (there’s really no in between), Kyungsoo can’t really say he doesn’t like this part in him. It’s what makes him the Joonmyun that Kyungsoo knows, after all.
Joonmyun, apparently, is also a bit on the loaded side. The first time Joonmyun had wooed Kyungsoo by bringing him to an expensive French restaurant downtown, Kyungsoo had to pinch himself for five times to make sure it was anything but a dream. When Joonmyun had ushered him inside, a bashful smile on his face and a hand placed daintily on Kyungsoo’s lower back, it was only then that Kyungsoo knew this was really happening.
It’s a pretty logical reaction, now that Kyungsoo thinks about it. He’s never dated someone who’s pretty gracious when it comes to spoiling him so this has really been a pleasant surprise for Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo likes everything that Joonmyun does for him - all those grand gestures and, really, even the small ones. But Kyungsoo likes it best when they spend the day just lounging in Joonmyun’s apartment, cuddling on the sofa and watching re-runs of anime that Kyungsoo loves.
Like today.
They’re watching an episode of Prince of Tennis that Kyungsoo particularly likes, and he’s settled in the most comfortable place ever - in between Joonmyun’s legs, with his back leaning against Joonmyun’s chest - that he really doesn’t feel like moving for the next few hours or so. Kyungsoo’s watching so intently that he almost jumps in his seat when his phone suddenly vibrates inside his pants pocket. Joonmyun chuckles, feeling Kyungsoo jerk the slightest bit in his hold.
where r u?? let’s go watch a movie, soo ??, is what the text from Baekhyun says.
If it was at any other time, Kyungsoo would’ve said yes immediately. Any bonding time with his best friend is something that Kyungsoo really deems important, after all. But this isn’t just any other time - he’s with Joonmyun, and Kyungsoo doesn’t really feel like doing something else other than this.
Ruefully, Kyungsoo replies, can’t! i'm with joonmyun right now and we’re watching anime :)
Baekhyun’s reply comes just a few seconds later: abandoning ur bff for sum guy now huh? that’s a bit harsh, kyungsooooo :c :c :c
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. He’s about to pull up a new blank message to reply when, suddenly, he feels the arms around him tighten, Joonmyun’s chin now propped up against his shoulder. “Is that Baekhyun?”
“Yeah,” Kyungsoo grunts, “he’s bored and wants me to watch a movie with him.”
Joonmyun just hums in response. And then, “do you want to go home, then? I can drive you to your dorm, if you like.”
One of the things that stand out to Kyungsoo is how Joonmyun can be a little selfless when it comes to certain things. Maybe even a little too selfless at times. Kyungsoo doesn’t know what he did in his past life to deserve someone like Joonmyun but, whatever it is, it must have been Really Damn Great.
Kyungsoo shifts in his place so he can drop a kiss on Joonmyun’s cheek. It’s more of a silent expression of how lucky he feels to have Joonmyun in his life than anything else, really. “No, it’s okay. I’d rather just stay here with you, honestly.”
“Are you sure?” Joonmyun asks.
“Positive,” Kyungsoo beams. “And I’m sure Baekhyun can live without me for a couple of hours, anyway.”
“Alright,” Joonmyun says, tightening his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist again. Kyungsoo doesn’t need to turn around to know that there’s a pleased smile now lighting up Joonmyun’s face. “If you’re sure.”
Kyungsoo snuggles against Joonmyun’s chest and smiles when a contented hum immediately reaches his ears. He makes sure to text Baekhyun one last time before finally throwing his phone somewhere on the couch: so dramatic. don’t ruin my time with joonmyun, idiot. i'll stop by the bubble tea shop and buy your favorite as a peace offering!
Kyungsoo’s phone vibrates a few more times but he ignores it in favor of more cuddling with Joonmyun on the couch.
eighth.
“I think we both rushed into this relationship so fast but forgot to get to know each other. We should’ve taken our time. You can’t fall in love in two weeks, I know that now, but we were just so keen to try," Baekhyun gravely says. There’s a hint of regret in every syllable that tumbles out of his mouth. “You’re an amazing guy, Sehun, really, but I just don't think I'm ready to be in a relationship again.”
It’s silent for a while, save for the almost muted conversations of the students around them and the crinkling sound of book pages being turned and leafed through. And then-
“So?” Baekhyun asks. There’s an expectant but curious look now splayed all over his face, completely wiping away any traces of the somber expression he had on earlier. “Do you think it’s good enough for a break-up speech or what?”
Kyungsoo doesn’t respond at first, only rolls his eyes so hard it’s quite unbelievable how his eyeballs haven’t fallen out of their sockets yet. He doesn’t know where Baekhyun’s been getting these ridiculous break-up lines but someone really ought to tell him to stop. No sane person would believe that kind of shit.
“No sane person would believe that kind of shit,” Kyungsoo voices his thoughts out.
Baekhyun pouts. “Do you think I should change it? Make it more dramatic, maybe?”
“Just make it simple,” Kyungsoo suggests. He sighs patiently, like how a father would before explaining even the most basic of things to his son. “Tell him the real reason why you want to break up. It’ll sound a lot more genuine than those utter bullshit you keep coming up with.”
“Well, I can’t just say “I got bored of being with you and I want to move on” right at his face,” Baekhyun says, grimacing. “It’ll hurt his feelings!”
Baekhyun’s voice gets an octave higher than usual, just like it typically does when he wants to prove a point, and he and Kyungsoo end up being shushed by the students sitting quite close to them. He’d almost forgotten they’re in the library, and are supposed to be studying instead of talking about useless things - just like what they’re doing right now.
“You’ll hurt him either way, Baekhyun. But at least this way, you’ll hurt him with the truth and not with some kind of obvious lie,” Kyungsoo all but whispers as soon as he deems it safe to speak again.
“Fine,” Baekhyun harrumphs after a moment of contemplation. “But you’re going to take the punch in my place if he tries to be violent after the break-up.”
“You know Sehun’s not like that. He’s actually a good kid when he’s not being a cheeky brat,” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun knows that, of course; it’s what attracted him to Sehun, in the first place. “And, besides, you’re ending things with him in person, so I doubt this is going to be a repeat performance of what happened between you and Krystal.”
Baekhyun scowls and absently reaches up to touch his left cheek. “Ugh, please don’t remind me. I think she might’ve actually left a mark on my cheek because of that slap. Look. Look. Looooook.” Baekhyun then proceeds to shove his face at Kyungsoo like an insistent child.
Kyungsoo just laughs, half-heartedly pushing Baekhyun’s face away with his hand. “Don’t be ridiculous, Baekhyun. It’s just one slap.”
“Yeah. With the force of, like, five different people behind it,” Baekhyun says, frowning. “If I knew she could hit me that hard, I never should’ve asked her out in the first place.”
Kyungsoo hums, and takes a subtle glance at his watch. Three more minutes. “She was quite a nice addition to your list of conquests, though. I’m pretty sure you’ll do it all over again if you had the chance.”
“No, not really. Do you have somewhere you need to be?” Baekhyun suddenly asks. “Maybe have some plans you conveniently forgot to inform your best friend?”
Baekhyun’s sarcastic tone isn’t really helping Kyungsoo at all. It’s bad enough that Kyungsoo can’t remember the last time he and Baekhyun had went out together; telling him about his plans with Joonmyun today would probably only make things much worse. But Kyungsoo knows he doesn’t have much of a choice, anyway.
“Uhh. Joonmyun’s stopping by in a while to take me out for lunch today,” Kyungsoo hesitantly confesses. Upon seeing the immediate disappointed look on Baekhyun’s face, he tries to add, “but you could eat with us! I’m sure Joonmyun wouldn’t mind.”
“And be a third wheel on your date?” Baekhyun scoffs. “No, thank you, Soo.”
“You can bring Sehun, too, if the idea of being a third wheel bothers you that much.”
“It’s not that. It’s just-” Baekhyun looks at him then, the expression written all over his face almost unreadable. It scares Kyungsoo for a second because Baekhyun’s never been unreadable in all their years of friendship before. But, now, it almost seems like he’s not here and there’s a complete stranger that’s taken his place. “Just-nevermind. Wouldn’t want to ruin your good mood before your date.”
“Baekhyun-”
The sudden screech of the chair against the floor stops Kyungsoo from saying anything further and, before he knows it, Baekhyun is already out of his seat, arm raised in a form of goodbye as he struts his way out of the library. Kyungsoo seems too rooted in his own chair to do anything.
Kyungsoo only stares at Baekhyun’s retreating back, with the strangest feeling that he’d missed something important churning in the pit of his belly.
one | two
nc-17; romance, angst; endgame!baekhyun/kyungsoo; 14, 938 wc
summary: when baekhyun suggested doing something risky and crazy before their last year in high school ends, kyungsoo never thought falling in love with his best friend was one of his choices. high school!au.
a/n:my entry for the first round of sooenaemoured, written for hunchou! huge, huge thank you to n, b, and a for always reading this through for me and for virtually holding my hand as I write this whole thing. you guys are seriously the best. <3
“Byun Baekhyun, are you kidding me?”
It’s a rhetorical question; one that Kyungsoo isn’t really expecting an answer to, especially since the person in question is still in bed, cocooned in his blankets, probably still falling in and out of consciousness as Kyungsoo continues to gape unbelievingly by the doorway.
When Kyungsoo finally agreed to go to school with Baekhyun today, all due to his insistent coaxing during their quite lengthy phone call last night, he really wasn’t expecting to see something like this.
This being Baekhyun still lying on his stomach, head turned to the side and shoulders rising and falling as he takes in easy breaths, in and out, in and out, in and out. He looks pretty serene like this, like Baekhyun’s nowhere near the little shit that he actually is when he’s up and about, thrumming with too much energy to waste, but Kyungsoo knows better than to be fooled.
It’s important that they arrive at school quite early today, seeing as it’s their first day in their last year of high school. Thankfully, Kyungsoo had the sense to stop by Baekhyun’s house an hour before school starts so this leaves him enough time to force Baekhyun out of bed and try to make him look as decently human as possible.
With a huff, Kyungsoo marches into Baekhyun’s room and all but makes his way to the curtains. He pulls them open to let the sun shine in and, almost immediately, the whole room is bathed in warmth and the early morning light. It doesn’t do anything to stir Baekhyun from his deep slumber, however, so Kyungsoo just resorts to doing the next best thing: he steers towards Baekhyun’s bed and proceeds to dump himself on top of his best friend, making sure to put all of his weight until Baekhyun starts squirming and groaning in annoyance.
“Rise and shine!” Kyungsoo enthusiastically bursts out. He intentionally situates his mouth close to Baekhyun’s ear because Kyungsoo knows how he generally hates loud things in the morning.
Baekhyun groans again and buries his head in his pillow even more. “God, Kyungsoo, you’re too loud.”
“And you’re still in bed when you should’ve been up and about an hour ago. C’mon, it’s our first day of senior year today! We can’t be late!”
“Don’t care. Let me sleep for ten more minutes,” Baekhyun mumbles into his pillow. If Kyungsoo wasn’t practically lying on top of Baekhyun, he probably wouldn’t even understand a word.
“Get up or I’ll sit on you again,” Kyungsoo threatens. Baekhyun, already falling into the clutches of unconsciousness again, doesn’t even move an inch. “You know very well I don’t go back on my threats, Baekhyun.”
It takes quite a few seconds but Baekhyun finally gets up from the bed with much hesitation. Lazily, he tries to not fall flat on his face as he steers his way towards the bathroom, all the while murmuring something along the lines of “it’s too early in the morning to be this violent.” Kyungsoo just shakes his head and toddles around Baekhyun’s room, picking out his uniform from his little closet and setting it on his still messy bed.
Baekhyun comes out of the shower just minutes later, looking much more awake now than when he first went in. He has a towel tied securely around his waist, and another one draped over his head, catching the tiny droplets of water in his hair. Baekhyun throws a grateful smile at his best friend upon seeing his uniform all laid out for him already and proceeds to dress himself right in front of Kyungsoo.
The best thing about being best friends for more than half of their lives is that Baekhyun never feels the need to be self-conscious around Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo can confidently say it’s pretty much the same for him.
“Were you sleeping late again?” Kyungsoo asks from where he’s now sitting on Baekhyun’s bed. He sees beads of water still rolling down Baekhyun’s nape, wetting the collar of his uniform, and Kyungsoo has half a mind to properly dry his hair for him.” I thought we agreed not to stay up for a change?”
“Cut me some slack, will you? Daehyun won’t fucking stop bothering me last night, and you know how annoyingly persistent he can be when he wants something.”
Kyungsoo scrunches his eyebrows. “Daehyun?”
“Yeah. I’ve mentioned him to you before, haven’t I?” Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Baekhyun has brought up a lot of people in their conversations before, some in passing and some in detail, and their names are just too damn many that Kyungsoo can’t really be bothered to remember all of them. “Anyway, he kept on calling my phone for, like, I don’t know, a bajillion times? So I couldn’t get some sleep even if I wanted to.”
“You should’ve turned your phone off, then, if it was bothering you that much.”
Baekhyun briefly looks at Kyungsoo like he’s stupid. Like Baekhyun hadn’t thought of doing that in the first place. “I did. But the guy went to my house and pounded on our gate, even kept on shouting for me to come out. At the middle of the fucking night, Kyungsoo. I’m just lucky hyung’s out and my parents came home late or else you won’t find me well and alive right now.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t even bother to repress the urge to roll his eyes at him again. Baekhyun can be so overdramatic sometimes. “What did he want, anyway? Did you fuck something up again?”
Baekhyun fixes him a dour look before shrugging. “I broke up with him last night. He obviously didn’t take it well and wanted to get back with me or whatever. The guy’s so damn obsessed with me, it’s just getting borderline creepy now.”
Like tapping a faraway memory at the back of his head, Kyungsoo suddenly remembers who Daehyun is: an incoming senior from their rival school; tall, blonde, handsome, with lips almost as full as Kyungsoo’s (or so people say); loves to sing at noreabangs; would’ve been with Baekhyun for a full month if Baekhyun hadn’t ended things between them so abruptly.
In all honesty, Kyungsoo isn’t surprised. This isn’t the first time that Baekhyun’s relationship didn’t last for even a month and this isn’t the first time either that one of his exes had come running back to him for some reason or another. Kyungsoo thinks he should be used to this - Baekhyun’s been dating (and dumping) boys and girls left and right ever since they stepped into high school, after all - but knowing that he should and actually carrying that thought out are two different things entirely.
The little noise that Kyungsoo makes at the back of his throat has Baekhyun stopping in the middle of lining his eyes with kohl in favor of looking at him through the mirror. “How are you and Minah, by the way?”
Kyungsoo first met Minah online, at a dating website that he couldn’t really remember signing himself up on (because it was actually Chanyeol who registered him on OkCupid without his consent). They started off with exchanging lengthy emails, getting to know each other slowly but surely through the messages they’ve sent every day. Before they knew it, they’re already listening to each other’s voices and taking down names of places they should see together. Unsurprisingly, they immediately hit it off when they met in real life for the first time, and it gave way to more frequent hang outs and, eventually, official dates that always left Kyungsoo feeling giddy and a little more in love.
Kyungsoo never saw anyone else but Minah during the entirety of his summer break. She was the kind of girl that Kyungsoo could see himself dating for a long time - they had a lot in common and could rarely be seen arguing about different tastes on things. So it took Kyungsoo by surprise when Minah suddenly called it quits on their seventh date, citing something about her family moving away and not being capable enough to handle long distance relationships as her reasons.
“We broke up a month ago,” Kyungsoo finds himself saying. He can still feel that familiar pang in his chest whenever he thinks about her nowadays but, thankfully, it isn’t anywhere near the pain that almost swallowed him whole during the first few days after their break-up.
This news has Baekhyun suddenly grinning widely at him. “So that means we’re both single, then.”
Kyungsoo just shrugs. He can’t see what’s so great about that. Baekhyun then turns around and smiles at him, eyes now fully lined dark with kohl. “This is like a new beginning for the both of us, Soo.”
Kyungsoo blankly stares at him. Judging by the eager smile on his face, he’s sure Baekhyun’s going to blurt out something ridiculous again. Baekhyun, still unable to get the reaction that he quite likes from his best friend, just sighs. “We’re now seniors, right?” At this, Kyungsoo nods. “It’s our last year in high school! Don’t you think we should enjoy it to our heart’s content?”
Senior year means more home works, more projects, more exams. It means practically spending every waking hour thinking about career choices and making up your mind on what you really want to be in the future. It means more studying, and less time to actually splurge freely on yourself.
Now that he’s thinking about it, Kyungsoo can’t really find anything worth enjoying in his last year in high school.
“So I suggest we get out more often and maybe date lots of people-” Kyungsoo just snorts. That’s just totally a Baekhyun thing to say. “-Just do something risky! Or crazy. Something that you never thought you’d do in your entire life.”
Baekhyun has this weird twinkle in his eyes as he speaks, and Kyungsoo can practically feel him vibrating in excitement even when they’re a few steps away from each other. This is when Kyungsoo fears him the most - Baekhyun coming up with silly ideas is bad enough; Baekhyun roping him into doing said silly ideas is just the absolute worst.
“What do you say? Are you up for it?”
“Baekhyun, I don’t-”
“Okay, stop right there, I’m not granting you the privilege to say no!”
And even though Kyungsoo knows there’s nothing good that’ll ever come out of this, he still thoughtlessly agrees, if only to shut Baekhyun up. He’s anything but a pushover, really, but Kyungsoo reasons there’s nothing wrong in indulging Baekhyun’s weird ideas every now and then.
“You’ll eventually thank me for this, you’ll see!” Baekhyun confidently says, smiling that huge grin at him again.
Kyungsoo doubts that’ll happen but doesn’t say anything. He thinks it’s better for his sanity if he’ll just wisely shut his mouth, anyway.
If there’s anything their mutual friends are perfectly aware of, it’s the fact that Baekhyun and Kyungsoo have rarely done things apart. They’ve always spent time with each other for as long as Kyungsoo could remember - even dating way back in first grade when they first met, little Baekhyun enthusiastically proffering his hand to a shy and wide-eyed Kyungsoo and proclaiming that they’ll be best friends forever and ever and ever with a loud voice and a confident grin.
After that first meeting, Baekhyun had found it easy to worm his way into Kyungsoo’s life. He would start taking the empty seat beside Kyungsoo during breaks in third grade, make Kyungsoo laugh with his ridiculous jokes in fifth grade, rile him up until Baekhyun ends up with a sore arm from all the punches he’d receive in sixth grade. When Baekhyun had started dating recklessly in freshman year, Kyungsoo had been there to fill the position of the loyal best friend, give him advice and be his crying shoulder when most of Baekhyun’s relationships didn’t go quite well like how he had wanted them to.
(Or, maybe, Kyungsoo had been too distracted with Baekhyun’s brightness that putting up his defenses in the first place had been the farthest thing from his mind back then.)
They’ve always been together for most of their lives that things just don’t seem right when they’re not. So, it’s anything but shocking that the first thing that still comes out of Baekhyun’s mouth even after a week since school started is-
“Why did they have to put us in different classes?” Baekhyun complains, question directed at no one but Kyungsoo. It’s almost like clockwork - Baekhyun grumbling about the same thing time and time again - that Chanyeol and Jongdae don’t even bat an eyelash at him anymore.
Still, it doesn’t stop Jongdae from poking fun at Baekhyun. “Do you realize you sound like a clingy girlfriend right now?”
“Shut up. No one’s asking for your opinion,” Baekhyun gripes, throwing bread crumbs at Jongdae, like the mature friend that he is.
“What? You hate being away from Kyungsoo that much?” Jongdae continues to taunt with a smirk. On the side, Chanyeol snickers while Kyungsoo just pays all of his attention to mixing his salad.
“The only other thing I hate aside from Kyungsoo not being in my classes is having you in all of them.”
“Yah!” Jongdae shouts, affronted. Baekhyun gives him a shit-eating grin before eventually turning to Chanyeol.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun starts, voice serious. Chanyeol stops halfway through stuffing the remaining of his tuna sandwich into his mouth to acknowledge Baekhyun. “Since I’m left with no other choice, I’m just going to blindly put my whole trust in you that you’ll guard Kyungsoo with all your life.”
“I’m not some damsel in distress that needs to be protected, Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo interjects. He sounds oddly calm. The way he’s currently stabbing at his salad, however, says otherwise. “I can take care of myself.”
“But look at you-” Baekhyun suddenly holds Kyungsoo’s face in between his hands, squishing his cheeks and contorting his mouth into this weird distorted shape in the process. “You look so cute and harmless sometimes. I’m just worried that people might get the wrong impression and try something on my best friend!”
Kyungsoo warns Baekhyun with a glare before he reaches over and pinches him. Baekhyun yelps and immediately lets go, rubbing the sore spot where Kyungsoo had left a bruise (most probably) on his inner thigh.
“Ow! Is that how you treat someone who’s concerned for your safety and well-being?”
“Did you forget that I can throw a punch just as hard as Chanyeol or do you need me to remind you? Because I’ll gladly-”
“No need to be so violent, Soo-”
“Hey, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol all but half-screams, half-whispers. “Don’t make it too obvious, okay, but I think you have an admirer. Nine o’clock. Boy with blond hair and scary-looking face.”
Baekhyun throws a subtle glance at his left and finds the said boy staring at him. He ducks down, however, when Baekhyun catches his eye and Baekhyun has to stop himself from cooing out loud. Even from where he’s sitting, Baekhyun can clearly see the sudden tinge of pink that brushes across the boy’s cheeks. The other guy sitting with him laughs as soon as he realizes what’s happening and he just pats his friend’s back, all the while staring meaningfully at Baekhyun.
Kyungsoo watches all of this with little interest. Baekhyun usually comes across his conquests even at the beginning of the year; this isn’t really something new.
“His name’s Huang Zitao. Sophomore. A transfer student from China. He’s shy and quiet. And pretty terrifying as well because he’s been doing wushu since he was little,” Jongdae lists, ticking them off with his fingers.
Baekhyun looks at Jongdae in confusion. “How do you know so much about this kid?”
“I have reliable sources~” Jongdae singsongs while obnoxiously waggling his eyebrows. Kyungsoo can’t help but snort; if Jongdae was trying to look (and sound) mysterious, then someone ought to tell him that he’s really terrible at it.
“He sure sounds like a good challenge,” Baekhyun ponders out loud, now shamelessly ogling at the boy just a few tables away from them. Kyungsoo can see the familiar glint in Baekhyun’s eyes when he’s this thrilled over something and, already, he can’t help but feel sorry for Baekhyun’s next victim. “And you know I’m not one to easily back down from one.”
Kyungsoo tsks at him. “Did you forget about the part that he’s an exchange student? Please try not to traumatize the boy too much before he can get to enjoy his stay in Korea, Baekhyun.”
”But that’s the fun part.”
“Baekhyun. ”
“Fine, fine! I’ll try but you know I can’t promise anything.” Kyungsoo opens his mouth- “You’re really so cute when you’re trying to sound all mean and dangerous, Soo,” Baekhyun coos, pinching his cheek.
Kyungsoo makes sure to punch Baekhyun extra hard this time.
first.
Zitao and Baekhyun, Kyungsoo soon finds out, are complete opposites.
He doesn’t really know Zitao all that well but, regardless, it’s quite obvious from the get go that they don’t have a lot of things in common. Zitao is incredibly shy and quiet sometimes, while Baekhyun is definitely anything but, always making it a point to fill the space around them with conversations about practically anything and everything.
It’s not that Zitao doesn’t have something interesting to share, Baekhyun had told him one day when Kyungsoo had brought it up. Apparently, Zitao hasn’t been staying here in Korea that long so he still has quite a weak grasp on the language. Which explains the scrunch of his eyebrows whenever he goes through all the words in his head, trying to find the most appropriate one to use, the frustration quickly flitting through his features whenever he can’t pronounce a phrase well.
Kyungsoo’s sure Baekhyun finds it cute, though, how Zitao is obviously trying his best to keep up with him when they’re talking. He giggles while Zitao fumbles for the right word to say and always makes sure to tease Zitao just so he can have the perfect excuse to kiss that pout off his lips.
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes; it’s the oldest trick in the book, yet it always works on Baekhyun’s favor somehow.
It’s almost seems like a perfect match, them together (they say opposites attract, don’t they?) - until Baekhyun realizes that they’re not, that Zitao wears his heart on his sleeve too much, that he’s s too soft and genuine for Baekhyun’s liking.
Baekhyun breaks it off just two weeks into their relationship.
That night, Kyungsoo doesn’t ask anything. He just lets Baekhyun cuddle up to him while he’s doing homework on his bed, lets him be extra clingy than usual because Baekhyun tends to be like this when he wants to distract himself from everything.
“Let’s get wasted tonight,” Baekhyun mumbles into Kyungsoo’s arm where he has comfortably squished his face into. If it was any other person, Kyungsoo would’ve elbowed him or her by now for breaching his personal space. But, well, it’s Baekhyun and Kyungsoo knows he’d offer himself as a comfort pillow for his best friend anytime Baekhyun needs him.
“We have classes tomorrow, Baekhyun,” comes Kyungsoo’s patient reply.
Baekhyun whines low in his throat. Kyungsoo sighs before ignoring his half-finished home work completely in favor of diverting his attention to the tuft of hair on his side. “We can just get ice cream later if you want?”
Baekhyun sluggishly moves a little in his place just so he can look up at Kyungsoo and whisper “okay”. It’s not much of a reply but Kyungsoo smiles nonetheless and promptly gets back to his work, finding a whole new motivation to finish them a lot earlier than usual.
third.
Baekhyun is halfway into successfully persuading his third conquest (who goes by the name of Kim Minseok) to date him when Kyungsoo meets and falls in love with the boy in his chemistry class.
Well, love is quite a big way to put it. Kyungsoo’s sure he’s felt a lot stronger for other people before and there are less butterflies fluttering in his stomach this time around. Regardless, Kyungsoo tells this to Baekhyun because, really, there’s no other better person to share this with than his best friend, right?
“Where did you say you met this hyunshit guy again?”
“Hyunsik. His name is Hyunsik, Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo patiently repeats for the umpteenth time. He has half a mind to be annoyed at Baekhyun for butchering Hyunsik’s name time and time again, really. “And he’s in my chemistry class. We do labs and other stuff together.”
“Other stuff?” Baekhyun repeats, narrowing his eyes into slits. “What kind of other stuff, exactly?”
Kyungsoo just flatly looks at Baekhyun. He needs to do some reading today for his literature class and he sure as hell won’t spend all of his free time playing 20 questions with Baekhyun. “School stuff. Get your mind out of the gutter, will you?”
“What? I was just making sure!” Baekhyun huffs.
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Baekhyun can be a tad bit too protective at times and, really, Kyungsoo can never understand where this kind of instinct is coming from. He can’t help but find it ridiculously funny, though, how Baekhyun looks like the part of a knight in shining armor, always ready to defend his princess, when, in reality, it’s actually Kyungsoo who can pack a mean punch between them.
“Don’t you have more important things to worry about? Like, I don’t know, how to finally get into Minseok hyung’s pants or something?” Kyungsoo turns his head to look at Baekhyun when a low groan reaches his ears. He raises his eyebrows questioningly. “How’s that going, by the way?”
“Terrible,” Baekhyun answers. “He’s a lot more hard work than Seohyun, honestly. And you know how it took me months to get Seohyun just to acknowledge my existence before.”
Kyungsoo knows. Out of all the girls Baekhyun had dated before, Seohyun’s actually his favorite, if only because she made Baekhyun really work hard to gain her affections. She wasn’t quite like anyone Kyungsoo had ever met, and he admired the fact that she held her ground against Baekhyun, not giving in quite easily like all the others who were caught in his trap with just a wink and a little smile.
“But I’m going to win his heart eventually!” Baekhyun continues, his voice edged with persistence. “I’ll make him see how charming I really am so he won’t be able to resist my advances anymore.”
Baekhyun ends that with a confident grin, the very same one that Kyungsoo has seen a million times before. Kyungsoo just shrugs. “Well, do tell me how that goes then. If your plan actually works out, then maybe we could all go out on a group date sometime.”
Baekhyun stares at him for a whole minute. And then, “…Yeah, no. You’re my best friend and all that, Kyungsoo, but I’m sorry, you and that Wonshik guy can do your other stuff somewhere else.”
“It’s Hyunsik,” Kyungsoo says, gritting his teeth in slight annoyance. “Get your names right!”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Baekhyun waves off. Kyungsoo would’ve said something else in response to that, but before he can even open his mouth, he sees Baekhyun already busy fiddling with his phone, fingers rapidly pressing on buttons as he types a text. Presumably to Minseok.
Kyungsoo decides to just leave him be.
(In the end, Baekhyun never quite won Minseok’s affection despite all his attempts. It was kind of foolish, really, how Baekhyun had spent so much time doing everything wrong, pinning over a guy who was decidedly straight from day one and never quite noticing it. But that’s okay; Baekhyun didn’t like him that much, anyway.
“You can do so much better,” Kyungsoo tells him. He runs his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair, and it’s almost enough to lull him to sleep.
Baekhyun forces himself awake, though, and agrees, silently nodding with his head tucked in the crook of his best friend’s neck. He can do so much better.)
somewhere between the fourth and the seventh.
Baekhyun winces as he gently rubs his left cheek with his hand, still trying to soothe the stinging pain to no avail. Seeing Baekhyun’s face flushed red from across the table, Kyungsoo can’t help but feel sorry for his best friend. In his opinion, it was rather harsh for Krystal to slap Baekhyun right in the middle of the school’s quadrangle where a fuckton of students could see their exchange.
But then again, Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun deserved that hard slap right across his face, considering how he had tried to end things with Krystal in a very unconventional way.
There’s a rather unattractive snort that Kyungsoo knows is most definitely Jongdae’s and a poorly disguised laughter from Chanyeol on his right. Baekhyun glares at them. “You can at least show a little sympathy for me here!”
Jongdae snorts again. “Why should I do that when I can laugh at your expense, instead?”
“Asshole.”
“You know very well your pain is my entertainment, Baekhyun.”
“Biggest asshole in the entire universe.”
Chanyeol rolls his eyes. Why is he friends with a bunch of kids even? “So how did you break up with this one this time?”
Baekhyun doesn’t speak, just shoves his phone right at Chanyeol’s face. What Chanyeol sees on the screen has him chortling out embarrassingly loud.
Jongdae, ever the curious little shit that he is, cranes his neck to look at Baekhyun’s phone screen, only to shake his head right after, obviously amused. “No wonder she slapped you so hard when she saw you at school today.”
“You broke up with her through text,” Chanyeol clarifies, still kind of reeling over this fact. “Wow, I didn’t think you could be any more of a douche than you already were, Baek.”
“Let me also reiterate the fact that not even a quarter of the year yet and you’ve already broken, what, a ton of people’s hearts into pieces? I’m actually really amazed at how much of a dickhead you are, Baekhyun,” Jongdae says. He’s about to get up from his seat - to give Baekhyun an embarrassing standing ovation, no doubt - but Kyungsoo quickly lays a hand on his thigh to stop him from doing so.
Baekhyun groans and Kyungsoo is tempted to reach over and pat his head, just to give him any kind of comfort somehow. “Is this let’s-bully-Baekhyun-and-make-him-feel-shitty day? Why are you two ganging up on me? Some friends you are…”
“Not ganging up on you.” Chanyeol shrugs. “I’m just saying all this playing around will bite you back in the ass someday, Baekhyun. When you actually find someone you’ll want to be with for good and-”
“Shut up! I don’t even want to know what that means,” Baekhyun angrily interjects. He then turns to Kyungsoo and puts on his most pathetic face ever, the very one that he knows Kyungsoo can’t really say no to. “Soo, save me from these mean people!”
Kyungsoo looks at him apologetically. “As much as I want to save you from these two, I really can’t stay for long. I kind of already made plans with someone else…” Kyungsoo glances at his watch, eyes immediately widening when he realizes what time it is. “Actually, I’m really, really late for, um, this date so I gotta go! Bye!”
Kyungsoo rushes out of his seat and doesn’t turn around when he hears Jongdae’s sudden holler of “go get that ass!”.
A few weeks into constantly talking and hanging out with Hyunsik, whether they may be innocent study dates in the library or more-than-friendly hangouts someplace else, Kyungsoo finds out that what he feels for him is, indeed, not love but some form of silly infatuation.
It makes sense, Kyungsoo thinks. No one had shown even the littlest bit of interest for Kyungsoo after his last relationship with Minah. That is, until Hyunsik came along. And, naturally, Kyungsoo had latched on to him like a man hungry for someone’s affections. He was lonely, to put it quite frankly, and Hyunsik was just at the right time and the right place.
Kyungsoo isn’t one to believe in coincidences, so when he met Joonmyun around the same time he was breaking things off with Hyunsik, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but think this might be the reason why things happened the way they did.
Joonmyun is a college freshman and, apparently, a good friend of his hyung. Kyungsoo can’t remember ever seeing him before but he chalks it up to the fact that his hyung doesn’t really bring his friends over that often, nor does he talk about them with Kyungsoo. Nonetheless, Kyungsoo greets Joonmyun like he’s known him for a while, smiles at him like they’re acquaintances at least, and not just mere strangers.
In return, Joonmyun warms up to him in no time. Admittedly, Kyungsoo knows he isn’t quite like Baekhyun, with his disarming smile and charming personality, but he can draw people in just as easily as Baekhyun can. And Joonmyun, really, is no exception.
Attraction is a two-way street and Kyungsoo finds himself unable to resist Joonmyun’s charms as well. He’s a bit of an actual dork and a sweet talker, Kyungsoo discovers, and while he finds most of the things Joonmyun says incredibly cheesy or comically lame (there’s really no in between), Kyungsoo can’t really say he doesn’t like this part in him. It’s what makes him the Joonmyun that Kyungsoo knows, after all.
Joonmyun, apparently, is also a bit on the loaded side. The first time Joonmyun had wooed Kyungsoo by bringing him to an expensive French restaurant downtown, Kyungsoo had to pinch himself for five times to make sure it was anything but a dream. When Joonmyun had ushered him inside, a bashful smile on his face and a hand placed daintily on Kyungsoo’s lower back, it was only then that Kyungsoo knew this was really happening.
It’s a pretty logical reaction, now that Kyungsoo thinks about it. He’s never dated someone who’s pretty gracious when it comes to spoiling him so this has really been a pleasant surprise for Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo likes everything that Joonmyun does for him - all those grand gestures and, really, even the small ones. But Kyungsoo likes it best when they spend the day just lounging in Joonmyun’s apartment, cuddling on the sofa and watching re-runs of anime that Kyungsoo loves.
Like today.
They’re watching an episode of Prince of Tennis that Kyungsoo particularly likes, and he’s settled in the most comfortable place ever - in between Joonmyun’s legs, with his back leaning against Joonmyun’s chest - that he really doesn’t feel like moving for the next few hours or so. Kyungsoo’s watching so intently that he almost jumps in his seat when his phone suddenly vibrates inside his pants pocket. Joonmyun chuckles, feeling Kyungsoo jerk the slightest bit in his hold.
where r u?? let’s go watch a movie, soo ??, is what the text from Baekhyun says.
If it was at any other time, Kyungsoo would’ve said yes immediately. Any bonding time with his best friend is something that Kyungsoo really deems important, after all. But this isn’t just any other time - he’s with Joonmyun, and Kyungsoo doesn’t really feel like doing something else other than this.
Ruefully, Kyungsoo replies, can’t! i'm with joonmyun right now and we’re watching anime :)
Baekhyun’s reply comes just a few seconds later: abandoning ur bff for sum guy now huh? that’s a bit harsh, kyungsooooo :c :c :c
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. He’s about to pull up a new blank message to reply when, suddenly, he feels the arms around him tighten, Joonmyun’s chin now propped up against his shoulder. “Is that Baekhyun?”
“Yeah,” Kyungsoo grunts, “he’s bored and wants me to watch a movie with him.”
Joonmyun just hums in response. And then, “do you want to go home, then? I can drive you to your dorm, if you like.”
One of the things that stand out to Kyungsoo is how Joonmyun can be a little selfless when it comes to certain things. Maybe even a little too selfless at times. Kyungsoo doesn’t know what he did in his past life to deserve someone like Joonmyun but, whatever it is, it must have been Really Damn Great.
Kyungsoo shifts in his place so he can drop a kiss on Joonmyun’s cheek. It’s more of a silent expression of how lucky he feels to have Joonmyun in his life than anything else, really. “No, it’s okay. I’d rather just stay here with you, honestly.”
“Are you sure?” Joonmyun asks.
“Positive,” Kyungsoo beams. “And I’m sure Baekhyun can live without me for a couple of hours, anyway.”
“Alright,” Joonmyun says, tightening his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist again. Kyungsoo doesn’t need to turn around to know that there’s a pleased smile now lighting up Joonmyun’s face. “If you’re sure.”
Kyungsoo snuggles against Joonmyun’s chest and smiles when a contented hum immediately reaches his ears. He makes sure to text Baekhyun one last time before finally throwing his phone somewhere on the couch: so dramatic. don’t ruin my time with joonmyun, idiot. i'll stop by the bubble tea shop and buy your favorite as a peace offering!
Kyungsoo’s phone vibrates a few more times but he ignores it in favor of more cuddling with Joonmyun on the couch.
eighth.
“I think we both rushed into this relationship so fast but forgot to get to know each other. We should’ve taken our time. You can’t fall in love in two weeks, I know that now, but we were just so keen to try," Baekhyun gravely says. There’s a hint of regret in every syllable that tumbles out of his mouth. “You’re an amazing guy, Sehun, really, but I just don't think I'm ready to be in a relationship again.”
It’s silent for a while, save for the almost muted conversations of the students around them and the crinkling sound of book pages being turned and leafed through. And then-
“So?” Baekhyun asks. There’s an expectant but curious look now splayed all over his face, completely wiping away any traces of the somber expression he had on earlier. “Do you think it’s good enough for a break-up speech or what?”
Kyungsoo doesn’t respond at first, only rolls his eyes so hard it’s quite unbelievable how his eyeballs haven’t fallen out of their sockets yet. He doesn’t know where Baekhyun’s been getting these ridiculous break-up lines but someone really ought to tell him to stop. No sane person would believe that kind of shit.
“No sane person would believe that kind of shit,” Kyungsoo voices his thoughts out.
Baekhyun pouts. “Do you think I should change it? Make it more dramatic, maybe?”
“Just make it simple,” Kyungsoo suggests. He sighs patiently, like how a father would before explaining even the most basic of things to his son. “Tell him the real reason why you want to break up. It’ll sound a lot more genuine than those utter bullshit you keep coming up with.”
“Well, I can’t just say “I got bored of being with you and I want to move on” right at his face,” Baekhyun says, grimacing. “It’ll hurt his feelings!”
Baekhyun’s voice gets an octave higher than usual, just like it typically does when he wants to prove a point, and he and Kyungsoo end up being shushed by the students sitting quite close to them. He’d almost forgotten they’re in the library, and are supposed to be studying instead of talking about useless things - just like what they’re doing right now.
“You’ll hurt him either way, Baekhyun. But at least this way, you’ll hurt him with the truth and not with some kind of obvious lie,” Kyungsoo all but whispers as soon as he deems it safe to speak again.
“Fine,” Baekhyun harrumphs after a moment of contemplation. “But you’re going to take the punch in my place if he tries to be violent after the break-up.”
“You know Sehun’s not like that. He’s actually a good kid when he’s not being a cheeky brat,” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun knows that, of course; it’s what attracted him to Sehun, in the first place. “And, besides, you’re ending things with him in person, so I doubt this is going to be a repeat performance of what happened between you and Krystal.”
Baekhyun scowls and absently reaches up to touch his left cheek. “Ugh, please don’t remind me. I think she might’ve actually left a mark on my cheek because of that slap. Look. Look. Looooook.” Baekhyun then proceeds to shove his face at Kyungsoo like an insistent child.
Kyungsoo just laughs, half-heartedly pushing Baekhyun’s face away with his hand. “Don’t be ridiculous, Baekhyun. It’s just one slap.”
“Yeah. With the force of, like, five different people behind it,” Baekhyun says, frowning. “If I knew she could hit me that hard, I never should’ve asked her out in the first place.”
Kyungsoo hums, and takes a subtle glance at his watch. Three more minutes. “She was quite a nice addition to your list of conquests, though. I’m pretty sure you’ll do it all over again if you had the chance.”
“No, not really. Do you have somewhere you need to be?” Baekhyun suddenly asks. “Maybe have some plans you conveniently forgot to inform your best friend?”
Baekhyun’s sarcastic tone isn’t really helping Kyungsoo at all. It’s bad enough that Kyungsoo can’t remember the last time he and Baekhyun had went out together; telling him about his plans with Joonmyun today would probably only make things much worse. But Kyungsoo knows he doesn’t have much of a choice, anyway.
“Uhh. Joonmyun’s stopping by in a while to take me out for lunch today,” Kyungsoo hesitantly confesses. Upon seeing the immediate disappointed look on Baekhyun’s face, he tries to add, “but you could eat with us! I’m sure Joonmyun wouldn’t mind.”
“And be a third wheel on your date?” Baekhyun scoffs. “No, thank you, Soo.”
“You can bring Sehun, too, if the idea of being a third wheel bothers you that much.”
“It’s not that. It’s just-” Baekhyun looks at him then, the expression written all over his face almost unreadable. It scares Kyungsoo for a second because Baekhyun’s never been unreadable in all their years of friendship before. But, now, it almost seems like he’s not here and there’s a complete stranger that’s taken his place. “Just-nevermind. Wouldn’t want to ruin your good mood before your date.”
“Baekhyun-”
The sudden screech of the chair against the floor stops Kyungsoo from saying anything further and, before he knows it, Baekhyun is already out of his seat, arm raised in a form of goodbye as he struts his way out of the library. Kyungsoo seems too rooted in his own chair to do anything.
Kyungsoo only stares at Baekhyun’s retreating back, with the strangest feeling that he’d missed something important churning in the pit of his belly.
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