Bound for light [1/3]
Title: Bound for light
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: airplanewishes
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chen, Baekhyun/Suho [side: Baekhyun/Kyungsoo]
Word Count: 26,285
Summary: Product integration means Joonmyun seamlessly weaving himself into Baekhyun's muddled life. The results are astounding.
Warnings: Mentions of smut throughout the fic
Rating: NC-17
One
"You're late."
Baekhyun smiles weakly and pushes back his sunglasses. The call time was an hour ago, but everyone knows nobody ever shows up on time for music video shoots. Save for the production crew, at least, but then that's to be expected. "I bought breakfast?" he offers, now grinning as brightly as he can, but six in the morning is an ungodly hour to be putting up a happy front. His smile falters, falls back into old habit - a toothy, awkward grin at a quarter past 6 a.m.. Jongdae will understand; he always does.
Jongdae grabs the paper bag from Baekhyun and sets it down on the table beside them. "Cute," he comments. All the sleep has departed Jongdae's voice; he's been awake for hours. "Good thing the rest still aren't here."
Baekhyun exhales loudly, then plops unceremoniously on the seat beside Jongdae. More than half a decade of consistently uploading videos on Youtube and nothing much has changed - the music makers still don't arrive on time, and Jongdae's still notorious for making them look like irresponsible adults.
"Where's Kyungsoo?" Baekhyun cranes his neck - the crew has begun setting up but Kyungsoo isn't there when he's usually the one busy making sure that the lighting's flattering enough for the three of them. Makes them look like real stars, not Youtube superstars - Kyungsoo is very meticulous, it makes Baekhyun cringe sometimes.
He narrows his eyes at Jongdae. Ah. "Grind isn't until eight, is it?"
Jongdae grins but doesn't meet him in the eye. He lays the food containers on the table. There's takeout tteokbokki and kimchi and a few chips here and there. "You know me well."
Well isn't the appropriate term when you've spent the last five years dancing around each other, straddling each other on the bed. It's an understatement, especially when Baekhyun spends half the day hard at the thought of pushing Jongdae against the wall of their makeshift recording room in Jongdae's apartment, skating fingers and nails on Jongdae's skin, and the other half hopping on the train to Bucheon and wishing it would go faster so he can do exactly all those things to Jongdae when he answers the door. Once, Jongdae had sent a flurry of sexts and Baekhyun was unable to hold it in and took a cab to Jongdae's flat right after a very important meeting. "Fuck you fuck your texts fuck me," was Baekhyun's greeting, and Jongdae grinned in reply, continued talking to his client over the phone, saying into the receiver, I sent the message tracks two hours ago. Baekhyun snarled, clicked his tongue. Three. But I'll be busy the whole afternoon so I won't be able to get back to you with revisions.
Jongdae fucked him with his fingers on the freshly washed bedsheets. Baekhyun returned the favor as soon as he felt his legs again. "You're going to pay for my laundry next week," Jongdae said, then curled up against Baekhyun. They were sticky and cuddling was ten times ickier after sex. Baekhyun flinched, maybe even shrieked in a low, low tone. He might have even shied away.
"I'm not your boyfriend," was Baekhyun's token reply. He chuckled. Jongdae wrapped his arms around Baekhyun's waist, nonetheless, and pulled him close. Baekhyun kinda liked it. Maybe he could get used to this.
"Of course. We're just friends. Really good friends."
Maybe not.
"Best friends," Baekhyun finished. Then, after a while, he chimed with Jongdae, "with benefits."
They both burst into laughter and never talked about it again.
So it isn't entirely surprising when Baekhyun presses his palms on Jongdae's shoulders. He looks around for an audience, not out of the fear to get caught but more out of habit, before climbing onto Jongdae's lap, sitting so he's facing Jongdae. Their new song is playing in the background. It's a ballad-pop hybrid and it's too vanilla for Baekhyun's taste. It's not the perfect make-out song, but it will do. Kyungsoo has the best sex voice, and Baekhyun won't deny he's gotten off to it a few times, imagining Kyungsoo singing while sucking him off.
Jongdae laughs, pokes him in his side, and cringes when Kyungsoo croons in the stereo. Maybe six in the morning isn't such a bad time to be doing this.
"He picked up the kids," Jongdae drops. Baekhyun's arms fall to his sides, but he's quick to recover.
"He's not the best driver in the morning." Baekhyun leans closer. Their noses bump, like he kind of wants to kiss Jongdae midway through his sentence and cancel the shoot, move it to another day. Today he wants Jongdae more than anything else, more than fame and fortune; but only for today. "We have time."
Ten minutes - Baekhyun thinks. They have ten minutes to get it on and get rowdy just behind the portalette before Kyungsoo arrives from rounding everyone up, fifteen minutes if they're lucky. They've done this before, during a five-minute break where Jongdae had been making all these sex sounds during recording. Kyungsoo thought it was uncalled for. Baekhyun's dick thought it was beautiful; he couldn't agree more. Jongdae's an expert at working him quick, but right now Jongdae's fingers are cold and stationary on his collarbones; it kind of makes Baekhyun uneasy and sick and weird.
"Really, now? Morning make-out session?"
Baekhyun's lips hover Jongdae's. Jongdae's not pushing him away; all is good. The poke earlier's a good sign, as well. "I thought that was your favorite?"
"Nope," Jongdae replies, then licks his lips. "You are."
A light chuckle, then, a panicked gasp from not too far away. Baekhyun looks over his shoulder and sits straight, then lets his arms fall to his sides, practiced and calculated. Standing a few feet from them is someone from the production crew, someone Baekhyun hasn't seen before. Possibly one of Kris' new workers or favorites - sometimes, he can't tell the difference.
"I was... hoping to show you the set and the lighting," says the crew member. "So we can still fix it if it's not to your liking."
Baekhyun gets up but settles back on Jongdae's lap, back now facing Jongdae's chest. He reaches for Jongdae's arms and wraps them around his waist, and he hears the hitch in Jongdae's breathing, the quick rise of the chest. Years ago, it would have felt weird, but he's way too comfortable with Jongdae now for anything to feel out of place, even a bit of intimacy in public. "Don't scare him," Jongdae whispers in his ear, recovering. Baekhyun laughs.
Nothing scares Baekhyun. He scares the shit out of everybody, though.
"Can't that wait for a few more minutes?"
The crew members smiles, polite and forced, but his eyes crinkle at the corners. Baekhyun feels a light tug at the pit of his stomach, like he's seen that smile before - in movies, home videos, photos in his school's yearbook, posters in a mall. His memory isn't the best but when he remembers, the image stays in his mind forever. Like that one time when Jongdae tucked him in bed after he passed out at a trade event, having had too much to drink. Jongdae helped him freshen up and changed his clothes and pressed soft lips on his forehead. "Stupid kid," Jongdae whispered. After a while, a choked, "I don't know why I like you." Then Jongdae's touch wavered, soft as a feather, fleeting like wind.
It hasn't been more than ten seconds since Baekhyun has seen this smile, but already it burns the back of his eyelids. He wants to pull at the corner of the lips and rip this person apart like he's hiding the world in the crevice of his smile. He wants to- "It can, but I'd rather you check it now so we'll have time to adjust as necessary," the crew member says. His smile quivers, but the crinkles in the corners of his eyes don't. "Then I won't have to disturb you again."
Baekhyun gulps hard. Chuckles. "I like this one."
The crew member gives a curt bow. "So, the lighting setup?"
Baekhyun lets out a sigh and slowly stands from where he is. He eases the creases on his shirt, taking as much time as he can. He can feel the man's eyes on his fingers, his face, and he shakes off the fear bubbling in his chest. He lets out a whistle as he follows the man to the set, casually slinging an arm around Jongdae's shoulder. If anything, he's longing for warmth. Jongdae's warm. The wind is cold. The man's stare is even colder.
The crew member's wearing a much brighter smile now - more sure, more confident, like Baekhyun and Jongdae will like the set up and won't ask to change anything at all.
Baekhyun takes a deep breath. He likes this one, indeed.
"I'm Kim Joonmyun and I... do cinematography on the side."
Baekhyun alternates between squinting at the display and at Joonmyun. He recalls talking to Kris over the phone about the treatment just a few days ago. Baekhyun had specifically requested for a warm, almost vintage kind of lighting; Kris was against it, but later yielded after Kyungsoo agreed with Baekhyun, saying, "It does make the scene more dramatic." Kris argued, saying that wasn't his forte and that drama wasn't in his vocabulary, you should go look for a different director, etcetera, etcetera.
Kris is on his way to the set; he's around five minutes away. Jongdae made sure to check. He's very particular with time.
"You did this?"
"Mhmm." The smile's at least an ounce more confident than the previous; Baekhyun quantifies everything through his own unit of measurement. "While you were busy."
Jongdae chokes. Kyungsoo's voice rings in the background, just inches behind them. "That's pretty amazing," Kyungsoo says, sliding an arm around the two, grabbing them by the shoulders. Another familiar warmth, gratification in the form of Kyungsoo supporting his opinion. "I see you haven't lost your touch," Kyungsoo adds, beaming brightly at Joonmyun. "And you know Kris can be very-"
"Particular." Kris waves at the crew, ruffles Kyungsoo's hair, gives Baekhyun and Jongdae a high-five. "About getting Joonmyun." Kris slips between Joonmyun and the camera, and Baekhyun can't tell which goes with Kris better - Joonmyun by his side, like a superhero and his sidekick being reunited except he isn't sure who's playing which role, or the elevation of the camera from the ground just enough that Kris can trace the contours of the lens while grinning, as if he's about to kiss a girl. "I've worked with him on a lot of projects. He's the best at what he does."
Joonmyun laughs a little, more relaxed, a bit cocky. He can sound mocking if he tries hard enough, Baekhyun thinks. "Only on the side, though," Joonmyun adds. He turns to Kris with a grin spread on his lips and a glimmer in his eyes, and Kris gives him one of those reassuring smiles that he hands out to first-time actors or stunt men who fall prey to Jongdae's weird ideas for their music videos.
Joonmyun hasn't done this before, or hasn't done this in a while. On the side, Baekhyun repeats in his head. Joonmyun mentioned it twice; it probably means something.
It takes ten seconds and, "Uh, guys, time's a ticking. Chop chop?" from Kyungsoo to get things rolling. The crew assume their positions and the hair and make-up crew rush to the singers, doing touch ups on their make up. Baekhyun moves the most but sweats the least, so he's a favorite. It doesn't take much for Baekhyun to win hearts - a well-timed, practiced wink, a bright smile, the light brushing of fingers against fingers. And, on certain occasions, a three-minute song - most girls fall for him less than a minute into it.
"Ready in ten?" he asks, looking around. Kyungsoo nods. Jongdae coughs but waves off the concerned look Baekhyun gives him.
Joonmyun gives him two thumbs up and a smug grin. He's glowing.
"Ready whenever you are."
Baekhyun would like to call himself a recording artist, but Youtube sensation suits him better.
He's been uploading acoustic covers of songs since 2008, but his videos never gained more than a couple thousand views until Kyungsoo started actively promoting Baekhyun's videos in his own channel. It had always been just him and his guitar and maybe a small group of people who were foolish enough to believe in him, and Kyungsoo was the first person to send him a private message on Youtube - one laden with smileys. Your Coldplay covers are amazing!!! :o I'm also doing a few... c: I hope you don't mind me linking yours? c: - dks Baekhyun's first instinct was to laugh and say, "Who even uses dicks as an online handle?"; his second was to double-check the message and fall off from his seat upon realizing that the Do Kyungsoo - internet celebrity famous for his collaborations with Sam Tsui and Alex Goot, famous for all the weird life hack videos, and some other absurd things - had just praised him and offered him a shot at being famous.
The real Do Kyungsoo, it seemed, wasn't as perky as online Do Kyungsoo. Baekhyun realized this when he met up with Kyungsoo over coffee for the very first time. "Sorry. Had to work overtime three days straight," Kyungsoo said, and he probably didn't have to - his eyebags were enough a testament to what he had gone through the past three days. Kyungsoo paid for the overly sweet, commercialized coffee and the train ride home; Baekhyun paid him back by taking him to his apartment despite Kyungsoo giving directions half-asleep. The weight of fatigue was so heavy that when Baekhyun finally managed to open the door to Kyungsoo's flat - and boy, was Kyungsoo's place huge - Kyungsoo pulled Baekhyun down with him to the floor and pulled him close for a hug.
"What the f-" Baekhyun mumbled, but Kyungsoo brushed his lips against Baekhyun's and retorted, without even batting an eyelash, "Carpet. Sleeping good. Sleep very good."
Kyungsoo woke up with sore limbs and a burning need for coffee, an even greater burning desire to kick Baekhyun out of his house but make him have breakfast first because that's what people do, don't they, when they're indebted to someone? Pay them back? With food or a touch or any form of human contact, arms around the waist and lips on lips, warm and wet?
So there's that.
Except it didn't stop there - not the meet ups over coffee or late night Skype singing sessions, spontaneous dinners that are half discussions on music and half laughing through the food stuffed in their mouths. Once, Kyungsoo picked him up at two in the morning, saying he had to render overtime at work to get things done. "I brought food," Kyungsoo added, then shoved a food container in Baekhyun's chest. Baekhyun's heartbeat skipped, doubled; it was too fast for him to keep up with. They were going too fast.
"You sound like my mom," Baekhyun said. He hung his head low and opened the food container - it was a homemade bento, and the egg cut-outs were cute. Kyungsoo was starting to become his mom, except he's a man, young, attractive. Had a really sexy singing voice. Gave the best handjobs in cramped (albeit public) places. The food looked good, but the sinking feeling in Baekhyun's stomach didn't bode well. He couldn't control it. He hated not being in control.
"I'm too young to be your mom."
"Step-mom," Baekhyun said; not-boyfriend, he wanted to say, but couldn't. Kyungsoo's cheeks were pink and his eyes were half-masked, tired. Baekhyun wanted to take him in his arms and nuzzle his chest and maybe plant a kiss there-
"Move," Kyungsoo replied, bumping his bony ass in Baekhyun's side. He settled on whatever space was left between Baekhyun and the door of the cab.
The trip to Baekhyun's flat was silent. Baekhyun wasn't sure if it was because Kyungsoo had passed out halfway through or if it was the distance between them talking. Bentos can't talk. Baekhyun couldn't talk so, instead, he lay a palm flat on Kyungsoo's hand, squeezing it briefly. Kyungsoo didn't stir, but choked up a snore.
Six months later, he met Jongdae through a forum; not more than three days after, Kyungsoo said over text, i see uv met jd :o. jelliz??, Baekhyun replied, then quickly sent a series of kekeke's after. Kyungsoo replied with a lol and a hey dinner tmr make sure you don't ot your ass off tonight.
pick me up at 8 :*, Baekhyun said.
not your bf sry :p see u in angguk-dong don't b late c;, Kyungsoo replied.
Kyungsoo had the not-boyfriend thing nailed really well, but Jongdae was the exact opposite. He was clingy, knew nothing about private space, always hovering and sending obscene texts at three in the afternoon. Baekhyun had grown accustomed to it after a while. He was even surprised when he stopped grimacing at Jongdae's texts adorned with hearts - "Hollow hearts," Jongdae said one time. "Because your heart is empty. You don't have a heart."
Baekhyun recalled laughing, couldn't remember if he choked on his own laughter. The fear of settling down didn't necessarily equate to heartless. He just... wasn't ready, probably wouldn't be for the next few years. He was at the prime of his life as a bachelor and he was enjoying every single bit of it, from occasionally flirting with Kyungsoo over text and Skype chats to letting Jongdae hold his hand from time to time, letting his heart leap at the sight of a soft smile on Jongdae's lips.
He wasn't heartless. His heart just didn't know how to react to things sometimes.
"Baekhyun," Jongin says, swiveling his chair to where Baekhyun is. Baekhyun minimizes the Skype window and pulls up a Powerpoint presentation, one that was supposed to be done ten minutes ago, suddenly too aware of his surroundings, the people around him, the lack of music. This is the office, this is work; it's not part of the job description to be completely enamoured with what he's doing. "Budget cut for laundry brands, specifically for the branded entertainment segment. They want us to reallocate the budget to digital."
"Who even talks about washing their clothes online?" Baekhyun retorts, complains. There are a lot of things to talk about online; detergents and fabric conditioners aren't part of the buzz words for the year. "Whatever. They'll insist we push digital in laundry, anyway. Let's do couponing and geo-targetting. I'll talk to client."
Jongin beams. It means, thanks for saving my ass and for saving me from having to talk to the clients. Baekhyun waves him off, smiling, then returns to what he's doing - absolutely nothing, even if he's supposed to be hitting the "send" button so he can officially call it a free day.
This is where he is years after: a couple of months away from releasing his third collaboration single with Kyungsoo and Jongdae, one step closer to being real recording artists, those who have signed under a famous label that won't drop them if they turn out to be flops. He's working a 9-to-whenever job as a communications planning manager at a media agency, and he's earning more than people his age and of the same position normally do; the Planner of the Year award he got two years back sure paid off. It's not easy trying to find a balance between work and play and work-play, but he manages. He's adaptable.
"Hey Baek," Minseok calls, sliding in the space between Baekhyun and the division between the cubicles. "Think you can sit in at another budget meeting for the next fiscal year?"
Baekhyun doesn't tear his eyes from the presentation he's doing. The closing slide is finally within reach. "If it's not for a laundry brand, I'm not attending. I've already made it clear-"
Minseok leans in, close enough that his lips brush the back of Baekhyun's ear lightly. Baekhyun takes a deep breath. Minseok is his boss. He isn't like Jongdae who has no concept of the limits of personal space (or maybe he does know, but purposely doesn't act like he does); he knows this well, because Minseok had slapped his hand away before, when he attempted to pull Minseok close for a hug following a successful pitch. "Minho just filed his resignation. I need a person who can oversee the media plans for the haircare brands for the time being," he says, and Baekhyun tries not to look over
Baekhyun looks up briefly, then turns his attention back to his laptop. "You've got the wrong person for the job."
"Baekhyun, please-"
"What gives?"
"A promotion." Minseok's pressed close, but not too close, still comfortable. Baekhyun shifts his seat and throws his head back into his chair, looking up at Minseok. "How does Associate Director for Digital Strategy sound?"
"Sounds like a shitton of work." Baekhyun makes sure to add a chuckle at the end; Minseok isn't as fun as he should be during work hours. "I'm not sure, Minseok. You know where my heart is."
Minseok takes a step back, then sits on the edge of Baekhyun's desk. There's silence for a while, and Baekhyun looks at Minseok closely, careful not to miss the details - the quirk of the lip, the dark circles becoming more prominent now more than ever, the hint of expectation and work-related rejection in the way Minseok eases his eyebrows. "Singing, I know. But- I need you in this team. Just a few more months. I won't try to convince you to take the promotion if you really don't want to."
"If you triple my salary, then I might reconsider."
Minseok punches him lightly on the cheek. "Noted. Now send me the report for the media spend on Project Crystal as soon as possible."
Baekhyun clicks the send button and grins at Minseok. "Done!"
Minseok walks away without another word and Baekhyun just watches - watches as Minseok's shoulders drop, the weight of too many responsibilities weighing down on him, watches as Minseok faces his laptop with resolution in his features and the promise of going down at 7 p.m. at the very latest, in the curl of his lips. Baekhyun takes a deep breath, fixes his eyes back on his screen, and wonders how long he can keep this up, this double-life.
He doesn't open the resignation letter that's been sitting in his hard drive for weeks.
He's still happy with his day job - he gets to utilize whatever he learned in university and gets to be creative from time to time, as far as numbers go. He's slated to be moved to the digital team in a few months, according to something he's heard not too long ago, but he knows very well that promises are meaningless in this company; he was promised his very own team three years ago, a digital planning team, and up until now he's the only one who strategizes for the digital business of the company. Empty promises, all of them.
He laughs gingerly, then punches out. It's a little past seven in the evening. He pulls the collar of his coat closer and shivers; where's the warmth when you need it the most?
Kyungsoo called earlier, asking to meet up so he can show the group what the production team has so far, and to get the books Jongdae borrowed months ago but didn't even touch once and for all. Kyungsoo finds them a quiet-enough samgyupsal place in Insadong that Kyungsoo deems as 'the best Seoul has to offer', and Jongdae just chuckles. Kyungsoo rarely ever disappoints, and he has the same taste as Baekhyun; they've got nothing to lose.
Jongdae takes the corner seat, and Baekhyun settles on the seat beside his. On instinct, Baekhyun places a hand on Jongdae's thigh and draws patterns on it - a smiley, clouds, a cat - and Jongdae keeps his eyes fixed on the menu, Kyungsoo's fingers pointing at his personal favorites.
"Sorry, I got a bit lost!" comes a slightly familiar voice. Baekhyun looks up and quickly retracts his hand when he sees the newcomer's face. If it's not reflex taking root in his body, then it must be habit. He's never been too good with dealing with changes, but rarely ever develops a fondness for boring staples.
He didn't invite Joonmyun. Nobody invited Joonmyun - or at least that's what he knows. Kyungsoo's supposed to let everybody know of any changes, after all.
"I went around the block at least thrice..." Joonmyun unwinds the scarf wrapped around his neck and hangs it loosely on his shoulders, instead, then bows at everyone. "I got a bit-"
"Lost. I know. Still not used to non-Gangnam places, huh? Your pretty car can't take you farther than your neighborhood?" Kyungsoo pats the space beside him and offers Joonmyun a smile, and Joonmyun frowns, albeit playful, in reply. "Narrowly avoided overtime work?"
Joonmyun exhales loudly, the dissatisfied sigh getting mangled in light chuckling. "Was I that obvious?"
Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow and nudges Joonmyun in his side - they're not strangers, but not the best of friends; Kyungsoo has never spoken to him about Joonmyun, but if Kyungsoo ever needs someone to listen, all he needs to do is to appear on Baekhyun's doorstep unannounced. "Oh, come on. It hasn't been that long," Kyungsoo argues. There's a light downward tug at the corner of his lips. "Five years, give or take? And then we worked on some-"
"Anything longer than a year is long," Joonmyun replies, the smile on his lips now tight at the corners.
Kyungsoo looks at Joonmyun in the eye briefly, then runs his hair as he tears his eyes from his seatmate. Baekhyun finds himself alternating between looking at Kyungsoo, then Joonmyun, then back at Kyungsoo until Jongdae slaps his thigh lightly. "Besides, I see that look a lot. Baekhyun uses it to bail himself out of being late 80% of the time."
"75%!" Baekhyun corrects. He reaches for Jongdae's hand under the table, but his fingers are cold and numb - from the chilly weather outside, from the intrusion. He can't even feel Jongdae's nails digging into his skin when Jongdae's grip on his hand tightens. "You work in media?"
"Events," Joonmyun replies. A low oooh escapes Jongdae's lips. "Close enough."
Baekhyun studies Joonmyun's face - perfect teeth, bright smile, and equally bright eyes - and nods thoughtfully. His mind goes back to their first encounter, and he almost laughs. Things probably would have been different if Joonmyun had been in advertising or media where people don't normally give a shit about how they'd react to people, save for when they're dealing with clients. Joonmyun would be an awkward fit, but something at the back of Baekhyun's mind tells him that Joonmyun will fit in soon enough.
"It's a miracle you're here," he comments, then cocks his head in Kyungsoo's direction. "Food's here!"
Joonmyun is, to say the very least, too accommodating. His eyebags speak of the hours of sleep that he has to catch up on, and Baekhyun feels a part of him break everytime Joonmyun sneaks a hand to rub his eyes. Joonmyun swallows back yawns that could have broken conversations, and replies with laughter, instead. When Joonmyun leans back in his chair and his eyes drop just a little, Baekhyun feels the urge to drop something on the table, like a weird comment on how Kyungsoo really won't get any taller if he keeps staying up until three in the morning, or just plain say that he's too old for this shit.
"So you're good with the sequence. This is just a draft of the final online, but the grading's good, right?" Joonmyun asks. He traces figures in the air, hovering the screen of Kyungsoo's laptop. "Skin tone's accurate, the whites are warmer than the usual as per Baekhyun's request-"
"Demanding," Jongdae comments. He lays a palm flat on Joonmyun's back as he inches closer. "I like the shadows going on here. It makes the whole scene more dramatic. Did Kris ask for that?"
"Ah, well..." Joonmyun pauses for a while, tapping his index finger lightly on the touchpad. "That was my idea. Kris does happy, lovey-dovey cinematography and directing better. It's not his-"
"- style," they all chime. Jongdae cackles. Joonmyun laughs out loud, unguarded. There still isn't any sound coming from Kyungsoo when he laughs hard. Baekhyun's fingers are still numb.
They finish just before twelve, before Jongdae can order another bottle of soju and talk about the very long story of how they came up with the new song and how Kyungsoo almost scrapped the whole thing in favor of something safer. "I brought my car," Joonmyun says, and Kyungsoo mentions he's parked just around the block and that it's probably better if he drops Jongdae off since he lives near Jongdae's place.
"And Jongdae's too drunk to function," Kyungsoo adds, a hand on the small of Jongdae's back to steady the latter. Jongdae giggles, then slides next to Baekhyun.
"Baekhyun?"
"I just moved to Gangnam." Baekhyun gulps. "And I promised to take this kid home, so..."
A soft oh slips from Joonmyun's lips and he quirks his mouth, furrows his eyebrows a little before replying with a smile. He bows to the group, thanks them for the company, and prepares to take his leave, but Kyungsoo insists to take Jongdae home, hooking an arm around Jongdae's shoulder.
"I'll take care of the kid," Kyungsoo says as he helps Jongdae stand on two feet. And then, to Baekhyun, "I'll text you when we get home."
Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at Kyungsoo, then slaps him on the butt. "I'm going with the Gangnam veteran, I guess."
It's a five-minute walk to the parking lot. Joonmyun's got his hands in his pockets, and Baekhyun stays close for warmth. "So, where exactly in Gangnam?" Joonmyun asks, pace falling in step with Baekhyun's.
Baekhyun looks ahead of him, the city lights piercing his eyes. He's had exactly twelve shots of soju and it's still a long way until he gets wasted for real, but his mind is buzzing and his hands are shaking and it's not even that cold. He's had copious amounts of alcohol; it's not supposed to be this cold.
He looks up at the sky, waiting for a sign, then looks at Joonmyun. "Home."
Midnight in Seoul is kind to drivers as much as it is to people wanting to get some rest. The intersections are the only enemy at this time of the day. Baekhyun looks around him, looks at Joonmyun for a few good seconds before Joonmyun skips a song and moves to the next track. Joonmyun is a perfect fit in his silver Sonata, Baekhyun thinks, and he knows, believes, that Joonmyun isn't your ordinary rank-and-file employee working a 9-to-6 job.
"Events, huh?" Baekhyun says, voice barely above a whisper. He half-intends Joonmyun to hear it, half-wishes Joonmyun doesn't, but the music is faint enough for his voice to come through loud and clear. They reach a red light and Joonmyun stops, switches to the first gear, looks ahead. 120 seconds until the light turns green. 120 seconds of Baekhyun wishing he kept his thoughts to himself.
"I own the company," Joonmyun says casually, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "And yes, Kris knows this. Kyungsoo does, too, I think."
"You think?"
Joonmyun chuckles. "I have a lot of secrets."
Sixty seconds into waiting for the light to turn green, Joonmyun turns up the music. It's comfortable enough for nighttime driving, comfortable enough that Baekhyun finds himself singing along, but not belting out notes. When he feels Joonmyun's eyes on him, he stops for a while. Joonmyun grins, gives him a look that probably says why did you stop?, so Baekhyun picks up from where the music currently is, eyes still fixed on Joonmyun.
The light turns green. Joonmyun steps on the gas and Baekhyun averts his gaze, fixes it on the flurry lights in front of them. John Legend croons in Joonmyun's sound system. Baekhyun keeps singing, looks at the expanse of space front of him, completely ignoring Joonmyun's occasional glances, somehow wishing Joonmyun could keep his eyes on him instead of on the road.
home!!! c: hope joonmyun didnt kill u. he nearly killed kris before but yeah, that's what kris said :c
lol he drives just fyn. mb kris is 2 old 2b riding a sonata
but he drives a benz doesnt he :o
xactly, 2 old for dem young cars kekeke
Baekhyun rolls over, lying flat on his back, and lays his phone face down on his bed. He asked for Joonmyun's number earlier. "In case I ever decide to go solo for real and I need a DOP," Baekhyun had said, and Joonmyun just laughed, shook his head, and took Baekhyun's number, keying in his contact details.
Joonmyun clicked the "call" button and grinned when his own phone sounded off. "Now I have yours."
It's been roughly ten minutes since he has sent his thank you message to Joonmyun. tnx 4 d ride, he typed at first, but decided that it was probably rude to use shortcuts when texting somebody he's just met, so he quickly erased the message and typed, thanks for the ride!!! :D have a safe trip home~ - byun baekhyun, instead. Ten minutes, he tells himself. That's the amount of time it takes Kyungsoo to shower without distractions, the amount of time Jongdae needs to recover from "really mind-blowing sex, you ass". It's also the most he and Kyungsoo have gone without a reply to each other's silly texts.
His phone sounds off, the soft sound of twinkling stars ringing bright in his ears. Jongdae describes it as the sound of bells; Kyungsoo says it's the sound of plates crashing.
hey! anytime (^___^)b - kjm
Baekhyun turns to lie on his stomach and burrows his face in his pillow. It's just a text with a cute smiley that's been obscure since the early 2000's. He bites the inside of his cheek, closes his eyes, restructures his face so that he isn't grinning or smiling with eyes shaped like half-moon crescents, or blushing.
It's just a stupid text. It's not even a call.
Baekhyun wakes up with an unfamiliar melody stuck in his head and hands itching to write a song.
He hasn't felt this in a while - two to three months, tops, since media review happens every quarter and it's that time of the year that wears him out the most. Normally, he'd be able to put off writing down an idea until he's done with his morning cup or coffee or at least until he's had an apple before heading to work, but today the idea nags him like a mother missing his child. The grandmother muse hasn't visited in a much longer time, so maybe this is why the idea is more demanding than the usual. Stupid artistic quirks.
He fishes for his phone from under his pillow and the first thing that greets him is Joonmyun's text - a new one, sent at around 2 a.m.. oh hey, hope you don't get a hangover tomorrow. (o___o) i mean you're friends with kris so... hahaha rest well! \(^___^)/ it reads. Baekhyun can't decide if two in the morning is too fucking early or late for cute emoticons. He can't decide if he wants to get off of his bed so he can write or just bury his face in the pillows again, either.
Fucking emoticons.
Baekhyun arrives at the office with a silly grin on his lips and breakfast in a box in tow. When he takes a seat, the first thing he does is to make a list of the things he should be doing today. In order of importance: align with his subordinates on any changes that have happened in the past three days, set a meeting with their client for the new budget allocation scheme, and talk to Minho and Minseok on the next steps leading to Minho's last day at work.
At the bottom of the list, in all caps and underlined twice: write the stupid song (and, in the smallest, most legible handwriting he can produce: reply to Joonmyun's text).
"Aren't you early," Minseok comments, then ruffles his hair. He glances at the digital clock - it's only 8:45, and regular work hours start at 9 a.m.. "Leaving early later?"
"Woke up on the right side of the bed," he replies. To Kyungsoo, he texts, wow so i woke up early and now im in d office? m lyk whats happening i got ass drunk-ish last nyt and wow
it's d joonmyun effect c;
He slams his phone on a notebook and exhales loudly. This isn't, by normal standards, normal at all, but then he's not the best judge of normalcy when he benefits from weird, rather dysfunctional friendships with Kyungsoo and Jongdae. Years ago he would have thought really long and hard about all the sudden changes in his life, like that time when he longed for a touch less impersonal than that of a client's or a boss', but not quite that of a part-time lover's. He was 25, ready to be committed, to get into a relationship. Maybe. Then, as if on cue, Jongdae happened - Jongdae, with his toothy grins and boisterous laughter and whiny voice, with his lingering touches and soft kisses and a penchant for using "the right words at the wrong time". If you keep texting me randomly, I'll start thinking you're slowly falling in love with me. Well, maybe not slowly. Hard and fast. You'd like that, yeah? Who even romanticizes texting at three in the afternoon, in the context of, hey jd, im so stressed i want 2 kill these clients?? nd skin them alive nd set them on fire? u in?
He shakes the thought away. His hand hovers his phone, then picks it up. He navigates to Joonmyun's message and types without much thought, kris drinks?
Joonmyun's reply comes faster than expected. Maybe he hasn't gone to bed yet. Maybe he doesn't like sleeping at all. kris isn't exactly the good boy everybody thinks he is (^___~)v
"Minseok, you free in fifteen minutes for a quick talk?" Baekhyun asks, voice a notch higher than the usual. Minseok just nods, mumbles, "Yeah, sure," without even looking at Baekhyun.
how would you know?
dude, we're friends. he always drinks with his friends. are you sure you're friends with him? o.o?
Going by Joonmyun's definition, they probably aren't. He'd gone out with Kris for dinner a few times in the past, when he was much younger and thought that tall guys were the best thing since sliced bread. Kris was generous with praises and corny jokes; Baekhyun laughed whenever needed because that was all that he could offer when Kris asked for more - a hug, a lingering touch, a kiss.
"If you're okay with not owning me-"
Kris gulped hard, squeezed his hand. It was summer and Baekhyun could make out the sweat on Kris' chest from the threadbare shirt. He took a deep breath. Kris wasn't supposed to still look attractive despite being turned down, and Baekhyun wasn't supposed to be feeling really bad about this. "It's not... I can't deal with that. I have to have you all to myself."
It sounded like one of those poorly-written romantic movies, so even before Baekhyun could imagine Kris running off into the sunset with tear-stained cheeks, he turned on his heel and mumbled. "And I can't deal with that. I'm sorry. We can't be friends."
So yes, Kris doesn't drink with his bunch. yup but probs not close enough for him to drink with us. Baekhyun hesitates before sending, but adds, our relationship is strictly professional.
so does you texting your new favorite cinematographer-cum-director count as not being professional? O___O hahaha! (^___^)v Joonmyun asks. Baekhyun rests his forehead on his table, closes his eyes.
He can't deal with this one, either.
no, Baekhyun replies after a while - more like three hours after, just before he goes down for lunch and sticks to his resolve to leave his phone in the office because he's charging it. Texting is safe. It's a common activity people normally engage in. It's impersonal enough for Baekhyun to deem himself as pathetic when he makes all these unintelligible sounds when he receives texts from Joonmyun - after that production house message, Joonmyun had sent two more related to video editing and cinematography. i don't think kyungsoo and jongdae are half as interested as you are in these things, Joonmyun said over text, without proper punctuation and smileys. It sounded stiff and not-Joonmyun, but then he's only known Joonmyun for a couple of days. He can't make a fair judgment of Joonmyun's character given limited information.
you mean you'll teach me how to do grading and stuff? :o kyungsoo's the one who usually sits with the editors during editing.
i know. i've worked with kyungsoo before. he just makes sure the singing parts are timed properly with the music. (^ - ~) but i think this song's special to you. and you were the one who asked for a particular color treatment so. \(^ o ^)/
you mean kyungsoo isn't particular with lighting and treatment???
(^___^)v
dks u ass i thot u put ur heart nd soul into r videos
what happened 2 master of d videos and d arts!!!
I THOT U WERE MY FRIEND T____T xoxo byun baekhyun
Garosugil is just a short walk from the office. It's not Baekhyun's favorite place in Seoul, but since he's moved to Gangnam to cut his travel time to the office by more than half, it's become a bit homier than neighboring places. Occasionally, he'd take a walk along the lane and gander at the young working class in business suits, all ripe with the thirst to earn more and earn a name for themselves, but on normal days he'd just hang out at Dunkin' Donuts, phone in one hand and the promise of seeing Kyungsoo at an obscene hour in the other. Kyungsoo's the only one he can drag out of the house at eleven, but everybody knows Kyungsoo lives in his office.
Tonight, though, he's standing in front of Cork for Turtle, Mug for Rabbit, waiting for Joonmyun.
Baekhyun isn't used to coming early, but at least Joonmyun isn't late. They'd agreed to meet at 7:15 and Joonmyun arrives at 7:20. "Parking," Joonmyun reasons out, and Baekhyun just shakes his head as he opens the door for the two of them.
"Any reason you chose this pla-" Baekhyun says, but quickly gets cut off by the sight of Joonmyun smiling at the servers and giving them a shy wave. "You're a regular here, aren't you? or-" He squints, then laughs a little. "Or maybe you own this place. Do you?" he whispers in Joonmyun's ear once the greetings have died down, as they make their way to the second floor. Joonmyun is silent, so he doesn't ask again.
After placing their orders, Joonmyun admits, "Yeah. I... own this place." A sip from his water, then an explanation, "Co-owned this place with Kris five years back, before he decided to focus on growing his production house."
"Lemme guess: he was planning to turn this into a bar, wasn't he?"
Joonmyun chuckles. It's not as cheerful as the smileys he uses in his texts, Baekhyun notes. He calls for the waitress and orders wasabi latte from downstairs, and Joonmyun lets out a strained sigh. It's good to know that his powers of introspection are still intact, comforting even. He hasn't gone out with anyone other than Jongdae and Kyungsoo in the past half year. There's Minseok and Jongin but when they do grab dinner outside, they only talk about work. And Jongin's rather tragic attempts at wooing Soojung, one of the connections planners in company.
"She said there's this man... Who's better. She said there's Sehun, that it's always been Sehun," Baekhyun remembers Jongin saying one time, when they all went out after a successful media review and after Jongin was shot down by Soojung. Jongin's eyes were welling up with tears and Minseok was teetering on the edge of being polite, trying to keep his giggles at bay. "She told me I wasn't the one for her and that maybe, if I just opened my eyes, everything would be clearer-"
Minseok burst into laughter and Baekhyun was crying and wheezing by the time Jongin understood what Soojung was trying to say. "Did she mean Sehun actually likes- That Sehun has this-"
Minseok fell off his chair. Everybody who heard about the story was told that it was the alcohol, that Minseok's motor skills cease to exist past four bottles of beer. Jongin actually fell for the story before Baekhyun reminded him about, "y'know, Sehun, that's he's always been the one-"
"Shut up, hyung."
Joonmyun's willing to talk again by the time the wasabi latte is served. Ten minutes, Baekhyun counts, because he loves numbers and finds joy in dealing with them. "I think I'm done with the video," Joonmyun says, eyes twinkling with something akin to - excitement, happiness, contentment? A sense of relief after not doing videos in a long, long while? "I can show you. Later, I mean? After we eat?"
Baekhyun laughs a little. After we eat is a promise to spend more hours together - he giggles at the thought, giggles in his mind, until the sound escapes his lips. "No rush," he replies. Joonmyun drums his fingers on the table to a rhythm neither of them hear, and Baekhyun gets the weirdest urge to reach out and rest a palm flat on Joonmyun's hand, trace figures on the back of it and maybe let his touch linger.
The food arrives. Joonmyun leans back, a small gasp escaping his lips. Baekhyun snatches it, stares at Joonmyun long enough to imprint the image in his memory for future use.
They talk about a lot of things - Baekhyun's boring job as someone who makes sense of numbers and data and tries to make the figures seem interesting to people, Joonmyun's aggressiveness when it comes to looking for more clients, taking on projects and looking for more events agents for his company, their shared fascination for color grading and making sure that the skin tone, despite any weird color treatment, stays true to real skin. A shared love for obscure musicians and singers.
"Landon Pigg?" Joonmyun asks. There's the same twinkle in his eyes, but Baekhyun identifies this as excitement this time around, like Joonmyun's challenging him, pushing him to think think think. You're a singer. You're supposed to know him. "You do know him, right?"
"Falling In Love In A Coffee Shop," Baekhyun replies. He doesn't even bother trying to hide the smug grin on his lips. "And Magnetism."
The smile on Joonmyun's lips blooms into something more, tugging hard but slow at the corners of his lips, the corners of his eyes. A touch of light burst here and the ever-reliable lens flare there. Joonmyun looks like something straight off of a movie scene, complete with dim lights, candlelight, and low-hanging globes in the background. Soft figures of empty wine bottles to his side, and Baekhyun's cup of coffee conveniently blocking his hands - pretty but strained - from the view.
Just a touch of pink and the image would be perfect, Baekhyun thinks. He stares at Joonmyun again, looks at him in the eye, lets his eyes linger on Joonmyun's lips. It takes no more than ten seconds for a flush to paint Joonmyun's cheeks - ah, perfect.
"The video," Joonmyun says out of the blue. His cheeks are still flush. Joonmyun didn't even order wine or alcohol. "I promised to show you the video," he rushes. He worries his lower lip.
"Ah, yeah." Baekhyun nods thoughtfully, smile tight-lipped. "You have it on your laptop, right?"
Joonmyun gestures at one of the servers and points at the dishes on their table. As soon as it's emptied, Joonmyun takes out his laptop, then moves closer to where Baekhyun is. Their shoulders bump. Baekhyun usually shies away upon contact with strangers, but a part of him, a part of his body knows Joonmyun well, like they've met before, years ago, maybe in a different time and place. Joonmyun seems like the type to believe in such stories, and Baekhyun's the type to indulge.
"Ready?" Joonmyun asks. The cursor hovers the play button. His hands are not more than six inches from Joonmyun's own, and if he wants to take this a step further then he can slide his left arm around Joonmyun's shoulder, tuck his chin there, casually move his right hand closer so that their hands touch. "Baekhyun, are you ready?" Joonmyun asks again, and Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows, squints, then nods.
He's not sure what to say just yet.
The video is mind-blowing.
Baekhyun takes a snapshot and quickly sends it to Kyungsoo. He's grateful Kyungsoo doesn't ask how he got a hold on the final online of the video, a bit disappointed that Kyungsoo didn't do exactly that. He doesn't share it with Jongdae because Jongdae catches on really quick, and will probably face him with a slew of questions any overly-invested friend will ask. Not-boyfriend, Baekhyun reiterates, and gives Joonmyun his best smile just before he alights Joonmyun's car.
"I really love your Sonata, by the way," Baekhyun comments. He rests his hands on the frame of the door, waiting for a reply following that bright, amused smile Joonmyun gives him. The light from the lamppost casts a warm glow on Joonmyun, balancing out the harsh white light of the car. Another movie scene, Baekhyun thinks. A new track plays on the stereo - Ben Rector.
"It's the prettiest among the higher-tier midsize sedans," Joonmyun replies. The light from the lamppost goes out. It's probably has motion sensors. "I'll... see you around again soon?"
"Soon," Baekhyun repeats. There's no point in setting up a meeting with Joonmyun when the video's already been submitted for final approval. He can attempt to come up with a new hit and seek Joonmyun's help for the music video or accept Joonmyun's offer of teaching him how professionals do music videos. He can ask Joonmyun out. He never asks people out. It's usually the other way around. Baekhyun loves the chase, somehow.
"Can I take you up on that video lessons offer?"
Joonmyun grins. "Of course."
Baekhyun closes the door, watches as Joonmyun adjusts his hands on the wheel before driving off. If he wore his glasses earlier, he probably would have caught the widespread smile on Joonmyun's lips, the crinkle in his eyes, his hands shaking on the steering wheel. But he doesn't wear his glasses past seven in the evening.
He turns around and walks closer to his unit's building, the smile still on his lips. His chest feels like its about to burst - with happiness, excitement, fear, the unknown. The light turns on again. Maybe it has emotion sensors.
Baekhyun has a habit of talking to himself when he's alone, in the shower. Tonight's spiel sounds a lot like this:
What's up with you? Hey, you, Byun Baekhyun, you're acting weird, like a fucking teenager. It's just a stupid text, he just likes wearing that stupid smile, and he just has pretty hands. He just looks like someone who has walked straight out of a book or a movie scene. He isn't any different from Jongdae, right, so why does he make you giggle? Or shut up without actually telling you to do so? What's wrong with you?
Baekhyun rests his forehead on the tiles on the wall. He hopes the sound of rushing water will drown out the voice in his head, but it's loud. Obnoxious. Exactly like him.
Get your act together, Baekhyun.
The workload's much more manageable these days, and 7 p.m. becomes Baekhyun's staple punch out time. Minseok's grown accustomed to Baekhyun coming in before nine in the morning that when Baekhyun sleeps in and arrives at 9:05, Minseok sends him at least three texts, asking if he's alive. or r u applying 4 a new job now is one of them, to which Baekhyun just laughs and, when he arrives at the office, shows to Minseok as he says, "Really, Minseok? Really?"
Minseok shrugs. "For all I know, you've been auditioning for various singing contests or something all those days when you came in late-"
"You mean half the year."
Minseok frowns and waves him off. "Go away."
The bulk of Joonmyun's texts come in in the morning. He rarely ever sends texts in the afternoon, but resurfaces at night, just a little past six in the evening. Baekhyun doesn't see the message until after talking to Minseok about temporarily taking Minho's load when Minho resigns, but not about the promotion. dinner? the message reads. So soon, and without smileys. It hasn't even been a week since they last saw each other.
can we try a different place?
i was thinking of wine... and pizza?
"Trouble," Baekhyun mumbles. Jongin removes his headset on instinct and looks at him with curious eyes, mouths, But I already sent the report! Baekhyun dismisses him with a small smile and a wave of a hand, then fixes his eyes back on his phone, his shaking hands, the cursor blinking on the screen, prompting him to go, go for it. It's now or never.
7:15?
is 8 okay? i just... have to wrap something up.
8 is good :D
it's a date. (^ - ~)
Baekhyun lays his phone face down on the table and hangs his head low, covering the back of his head with his hands. When he finally feels his fingers again, he texts Kyungsoo, saying, i think im in trouble :( and waits for a plethora of panicked smileys from Kyungsoo, a display of concern with the screen of a mobile phone as a regulator.
wanna talk 2nyt?
not 2nyt. midnight? i hv sth
it's jm isnt it
Baekhyun laughs a little. Kyungsoo knows him too well.
gotcha c;
One | Two
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: airplanewishes
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chen, Baekhyun/Suho [side: Baekhyun/Kyungsoo]
Word Count: 26,285
Summary: Product integration means Joonmyun seamlessly weaving himself into Baekhyun's muddled life. The results are astounding.
Warnings: Mentions of smut throughout the fic
Rating: NC-17
One
"You're late."
Baekhyun smiles weakly and pushes back his sunglasses. The call time was an hour ago, but everyone knows nobody ever shows up on time for music video shoots. Save for the production crew, at least, but then that's to be expected. "I bought breakfast?" he offers, now grinning as brightly as he can, but six in the morning is an ungodly hour to be putting up a happy front. His smile falters, falls back into old habit - a toothy, awkward grin at a quarter past 6 a.m.. Jongdae will understand; he always does.
Jongdae grabs the paper bag from Baekhyun and sets it down on the table beside them. "Cute," he comments. All the sleep has departed Jongdae's voice; he's been awake for hours. "Good thing the rest still aren't here."
Baekhyun exhales loudly, then plops unceremoniously on the seat beside Jongdae. More than half a decade of consistently uploading videos on Youtube and nothing much has changed - the music makers still don't arrive on time, and Jongdae's still notorious for making them look like irresponsible adults.
"Where's Kyungsoo?" Baekhyun cranes his neck - the crew has begun setting up but Kyungsoo isn't there when he's usually the one busy making sure that the lighting's flattering enough for the three of them. Makes them look like real stars, not Youtube superstars - Kyungsoo is very meticulous, it makes Baekhyun cringe sometimes.
He narrows his eyes at Jongdae. Ah. "Grind isn't until eight, is it?"
Jongdae grins but doesn't meet him in the eye. He lays the food containers on the table. There's takeout tteokbokki and kimchi and a few chips here and there. "You know me well."
Well isn't the appropriate term when you've spent the last five years dancing around each other, straddling each other on the bed. It's an understatement, especially when Baekhyun spends half the day hard at the thought of pushing Jongdae against the wall of their makeshift recording room in Jongdae's apartment, skating fingers and nails on Jongdae's skin, and the other half hopping on the train to Bucheon and wishing it would go faster so he can do exactly all those things to Jongdae when he answers the door. Once, Jongdae had sent a flurry of sexts and Baekhyun was unable to hold it in and took a cab to Jongdae's flat right after a very important meeting. "Fuck you fuck your texts fuck me," was Baekhyun's greeting, and Jongdae grinned in reply, continued talking to his client over the phone, saying into the receiver, I sent the message tracks two hours ago. Baekhyun snarled, clicked his tongue. Three. But I'll be busy the whole afternoon so I won't be able to get back to you with revisions.
Jongdae fucked him with his fingers on the freshly washed bedsheets. Baekhyun returned the favor as soon as he felt his legs again. "You're going to pay for my laundry next week," Jongdae said, then curled up against Baekhyun. They were sticky and cuddling was ten times ickier after sex. Baekhyun flinched, maybe even shrieked in a low, low tone. He might have even shied away.
"I'm not your boyfriend," was Baekhyun's token reply. He chuckled. Jongdae wrapped his arms around Baekhyun's waist, nonetheless, and pulled him close. Baekhyun kinda liked it. Maybe he could get used to this.
"Of course. We're just friends. Really good friends."
Maybe not.
"Best friends," Baekhyun finished. Then, after a while, he chimed with Jongdae, "with benefits."
They both burst into laughter and never talked about it again.
So it isn't entirely surprising when Baekhyun presses his palms on Jongdae's shoulders. He looks around for an audience, not out of the fear to get caught but more out of habit, before climbing onto Jongdae's lap, sitting so he's facing Jongdae. Their new song is playing in the background. It's a ballad-pop hybrid and it's too vanilla for Baekhyun's taste. It's not the perfect make-out song, but it will do. Kyungsoo has the best sex voice, and Baekhyun won't deny he's gotten off to it a few times, imagining Kyungsoo singing while sucking him off.
Jongdae laughs, pokes him in his side, and cringes when Kyungsoo croons in the stereo. Maybe six in the morning isn't such a bad time to be doing this.
"He picked up the kids," Jongdae drops. Baekhyun's arms fall to his sides, but he's quick to recover.
"He's not the best driver in the morning." Baekhyun leans closer. Their noses bump, like he kind of wants to kiss Jongdae midway through his sentence and cancel the shoot, move it to another day. Today he wants Jongdae more than anything else, more than fame and fortune; but only for today. "We have time."
Ten minutes - Baekhyun thinks. They have ten minutes to get it on and get rowdy just behind the portalette before Kyungsoo arrives from rounding everyone up, fifteen minutes if they're lucky. They've done this before, during a five-minute break where Jongdae had been making all these sex sounds during recording. Kyungsoo thought it was uncalled for. Baekhyun's dick thought it was beautiful; he couldn't agree more. Jongdae's an expert at working him quick, but right now Jongdae's fingers are cold and stationary on his collarbones; it kind of makes Baekhyun uneasy and sick and weird.
"Really, now? Morning make-out session?"
Baekhyun's lips hover Jongdae's. Jongdae's not pushing him away; all is good. The poke earlier's a good sign, as well. "I thought that was your favorite?"
"Nope," Jongdae replies, then licks his lips. "You are."
A light chuckle, then, a panicked gasp from not too far away. Baekhyun looks over his shoulder and sits straight, then lets his arms fall to his sides, practiced and calculated. Standing a few feet from them is someone from the production crew, someone Baekhyun hasn't seen before. Possibly one of Kris' new workers or favorites - sometimes, he can't tell the difference.
"I was... hoping to show you the set and the lighting," says the crew member. "So we can still fix it if it's not to your liking."
Baekhyun gets up but settles back on Jongdae's lap, back now facing Jongdae's chest. He reaches for Jongdae's arms and wraps them around his waist, and he hears the hitch in Jongdae's breathing, the quick rise of the chest. Years ago, it would have felt weird, but he's way too comfortable with Jongdae now for anything to feel out of place, even a bit of intimacy in public. "Don't scare him," Jongdae whispers in his ear, recovering. Baekhyun laughs.
Nothing scares Baekhyun. He scares the shit out of everybody, though.
"Can't that wait for a few more minutes?"
The crew members smiles, polite and forced, but his eyes crinkle at the corners. Baekhyun feels a light tug at the pit of his stomach, like he's seen that smile before - in movies, home videos, photos in his school's yearbook, posters in a mall. His memory isn't the best but when he remembers, the image stays in his mind forever. Like that one time when Jongdae tucked him in bed after he passed out at a trade event, having had too much to drink. Jongdae helped him freshen up and changed his clothes and pressed soft lips on his forehead. "Stupid kid," Jongdae whispered. After a while, a choked, "I don't know why I like you." Then Jongdae's touch wavered, soft as a feather, fleeting like wind.
It hasn't been more than ten seconds since Baekhyun has seen this smile, but already it burns the back of his eyelids. He wants to pull at the corner of the lips and rip this person apart like he's hiding the world in the crevice of his smile. He wants to- "It can, but I'd rather you check it now so we'll have time to adjust as necessary," the crew member says. His smile quivers, but the crinkles in the corners of his eyes don't. "Then I won't have to disturb you again."
Baekhyun gulps hard. Chuckles. "I like this one."
The crew member gives a curt bow. "So, the lighting setup?"
Baekhyun lets out a sigh and slowly stands from where he is. He eases the creases on his shirt, taking as much time as he can. He can feel the man's eyes on his fingers, his face, and he shakes off the fear bubbling in his chest. He lets out a whistle as he follows the man to the set, casually slinging an arm around Jongdae's shoulder. If anything, he's longing for warmth. Jongdae's warm. The wind is cold. The man's stare is even colder.
The crew member's wearing a much brighter smile now - more sure, more confident, like Baekhyun and Jongdae will like the set up and won't ask to change anything at all.
Baekhyun takes a deep breath. He likes this one, indeed.
"I'm Kim Joonmyun and I... do cinematography on the side."
Baekhyun alternates between squinting at the display and at Joonmyun. He recalls talking to Kris over the phone about the treatment just a few days ago. Baekhyun had specifically requested for a warm, almost vintage kind of lighting; Kris was against it, but later yielded after Kyungsoo agreed with Baekhyun, saying, "It does make the scene more dramatic." Kris argued, saying that wasn't his forte and that drama wasn't in his vocabulary, you should go look for a different director, etcetera, etcetera.
Kris is on his way to the set; he's around five minutes away. Jongdae made sure to check. He's very particular with time.
"You did this?"
"Mhmm." The smile's at least an ounce more confident than the previous; Baekhyun quantifies everything through his own unit of measurement. "While you were busy."
Jongdae chokes. Kyungsoo's voice rings in the background, just inches behind them. "That's pretty amazing," Kyungsoo says, sliding an arm around the two, grabbing them by the shoulders. Another familiar warmth, gratification in the form of Kyungsoo supporting his opinion. "I see you haven't lost your touch," Kyungsoo adds, beaming brightly at Joonmyun. "And you know Kris can be very-"
"Particular." Kris waves at the crew, ruffles Kyungsoo's hair, gives Baekhyun and Jongdae a high-five. "About getting Joonmyun." Kris slips between Joonmyun and the camera, and Baekhyun can't tell which goes with Kris better - Joonmyun by his side, like a superhero and his sidekick being reunited except he isn't sure who's playing which role, or the elevation of the camera from the ground just enough that Kris can trace the contours of the lens while grinning, as if he's about to kiss a girl. "I've worked with him on a lot of projects. He's the best at what he does."
Joonmyun laughs a little, more relaxed, a bit cocky. He can sound mocking if he tries hard enough, Baekhyun thinks. "Only on the side, though," Joonmyun adds. He turns to Kris with a grin spread on his lips and a glimmer in his eyes, and Kris gives him one of those reassuring smiles that he hands out to first-time actors or stunt men who fall prey to Jongdae's weird ideas for their music videos.
Joonmyun hasn't done this before, or hasn't done this in a while. On the side, Baekhyun repeats in his head. Joonmyun mentioned it twice; it probably means something.
It takes ten seconds and, "Uh, guys, time's a ticking. Chop chop?" from Kyungsoo to get things rolling. The crew assume their positions and the hair and make-up crew rush to the singers, doing touch ups on their make up. Baekhyun moves the most but sweats the least, so he's a favorite. It doesn't take much for Baekhyun to win hearts - a well-timed, practiced wink, a bright smile, the light brushing of fingers against fingers. And, on certain occasions, a three-minute song - most girls fall for him less than a minute into it.
"Ready in ten?" he asks, looking around. Kyungsoo nods. Jongdae coughs but waves off the concerned look Baekhyun gives him.
Joonmyun gives him two thumbs up and a smug grin. He's glowing.
"Ready whenever you are."
Baekhyun would like to call himself a recording artist, but Youtube sensation suits him better.
He's been uploading acoustic covers of songs since 2008, but his videos never gained more than a couple thousand views until Kyungsoo started actively promoting Baekhyun's videos in his own channel. It had always been just him and his guitar and maybe a small group of people who were foolish enough to believe in him, and Kyungsoo was the first person to send him a private message on Youtube - one laden with smileys. Your Coldplay covers are amazing!!! :o I'm also doing a few... c: I hope you don't mind me linking yours? c: - dks Baekhyun's first instinct was to laugh and say, "Who even uses dicks as an online handle?"; his second was to double-check the message and fall off from his seat upon realizing that the Do Kyungsoo - internet celebrity famous for his collaborations with Sam Tsui and Alex Goot, famous for all the weird life hack videos, and some other absurd things - had just praised him and offered him a shot at being famous.
The real Do Kyungsoo, it seemed, wasn't as perky as online Do Kyungsoo. Baekhyun realized this when he met up with Kyungsoo over coffee for the very first time. "Sorry. Had to work overtime three days straight," Kyungsoo said, and he probably didn't have to - his eyebags were enough a testament to what he had gone through the past three days. Kyungsoo paid for the overly sweet, commercialized coffee and the train ride home; Baekhyun paid him back by taking him to his apartment despite Kyungsoo giving directions half-asleep. The weight of fatigue was so heavy that when Baekhyun finally managed to open the door to Kyungsoo's flat - and boy, was Kyungsoo's place huge - Kyungsoo pulled Baekhyun down with him to the floor and pulled him close for a hug.
"What the f-" Baekhyun mumbled, but Kyungsoo brushed his lips against Baekhyun's and retorted, without even batting an eyelash, "Carpet. Sleeping good. Sleep very good."
Kyungsoo woke up with sore limbs and a burning need for coffee, an even greater burning desire to kick Baekhyun out of his house but make him have breakfast first because that's what people do, don't they, when they're indebted to someone? Pay them back? With food or a touch or any form of human contact, arms around the waist and lips on lips, warm and wet?
So there's that.
Except it didn't stop there - not the meet ups over coffee or late night Skype singing sessions, spontaneous dinners that are half discussions on music and half laughing through the food stuffed in their mouths. Once, Kyungsoo picked him up at two in the morning, saying he had to render overtime at work to get things done. "I brought food," Kyungsoo added, then shoved a food container in Baekhyun's chest. Baekhyun's heartbeat skipped, doubled; it was too fast for him to keep up with. They were going too fast.
"You sound like my mom," Baekhyun said. He hung his head low and opened the food container - it was a homemade bento, and the egg cut-outs were cute. Kyungsoo was starting to become his mom, except he's a man, young, attractive. Had a really sexy singing voice. Gave the best handjobs in cramped (albeit public) places. The food looked good, but the sinking feeling in Baekhyun's stomach didn't bode well. He couldn't control it. He hated not being in control.
"I'm too young to be your mom."
"Step-mom," Baekhyun said; not-boyfriend, he wanted to say, but couldn't. Kyungsoo's cheeks were pink and his eyes were half-masked, tired. Baekhyun wanted to take him in his arms and nuzzle his chest and maybe plant a kiss there-
"Move," Kyungsoo replied, bumping his bony ass in Baekhyun's side. He settled on whatever space was left between Baekhyun and the door of the cab.
The trip to Baekhyun's flat was silent. Baekhyun wasn't sure if it was because Kyungsoo had passed out halfway through or if it was the distance between them talking. Bentos can't talk. Baekhyun couldn't talk so, instead, he lay a palm flat on Kyungsoo's hand, squeezing it briefly. Kyungsoo didn't stir, but choked up a snore.
Six months later, he met Jongdae through a forum; not more than three days after, Kyungsoo said over text, i see uv met jd :o. jelliz??, Baekhyun replied, then quickly sent a series of kekeke's after. Kyungsoo replied with a lol and a hey dinner tmr make sure you don't ot your ass off tonight.
pick me up at 8 :*, Baekhyun said.
not your bf sry :p see u in angguk-dong don't b late c;, Kyungsoo replied.
Kyungsoo had the not-boyfriend thing nailed really well, but Jongdae was the exact opposite. He was clingy, knew nothing about private space, always hovering and sending obscene texts at three in the afternoon. Baekhyun had grown accustomed to it after a while. He was even surprised when he stopped grimacing at Jongdae's texts adorned with hearts - "Hollow hearts," Jongdae said one time. "Because your heart is empty. You don't have a heart."
Baekhyun recalled laughing, couldn't remember if he choked on his own laughter. The fear of settling down didn't necessarily equate to heartless. He just... wasn't ready, probably wouldn't be for the next few years. He was at the prime of his life as a bachelor and he was enjoying every single bit of it, from occasionally flirting with Kyungsoo over text and Skype chats to letting Jongdae hold his hand from time to time, letting his heart leap at the sight of a soft smile on Jongdae's lips.
He wasn't heartless. His heart just didn't know how to react to things sometimes.
"Baekhyun," Jongin says, swiveling his chair to where Baekhyun is. Baekhyun minimizes the Skype window and pulls up a Powerpoint presentation, one that was supposed to be done ten minutes ago, suddenly too aware of his surroundings, the people around him, the lack of music. This is the office, this is work; it's not part of the job description to be completely enamoured with what he's doing. "Budget cut for laundry brands, specifically for the branded entertainment segment. They want us to reallocate the budget to digital."
"Who even talks about washing their clothes online?" Baekhyun retorts, complains. There are a lot of things to talk about online; detergents and fabric conditioners aren't part of the buzz words for the year. "Whatever. They'll insist we push digital in laundry, anyway. Let's do couponing and geo-targetting. I'll talk to client."
Jongin beams. It means, thanks for saving my ass and for saving me from having to talk to the clients. Baekhyun waves him off, smiling, then returns to what he's doing - absolutely nothing, even if he's supposed to be hitting the "send" button so he can officially call it a free day.
This is where he is years after: a couple of months away from releasing his third collaboration single with Kyungsoo and Jongdae, one step closer to being real recording artists, those who have signed under a famous label that won't drop them if they turn out to be flops. He's working a 9-to-whenever job as a communications planning manager at a media agency, and he's earning more than people his age and of the same position normally do; the Planner of the Year award he got two years back sure paid off. It's not easy trying to find a balance between work and play and work-play, but he manages. He's adaptable.
"Hey Baek," Minseok calls, sliding in the space between Baekhyun and the division between the cubicles. "Think you can sit in at another budget meeting for the next fiscal year?"
Baekhyun doesn't tear his eyes from the presentation he's doing. The closing slide is finally within reach. "If it's not for a laundry brand, I'm not attending. I've already made it clear-"
Minseok leans in, close enough that his lips brush the back of Baekhyun's ear lightly. Baekhyun takes a deep breath. Minseok is his boss. He isn't like Jongdae who has no concept of the limits of personal space (or maybe he does know, but purposely doesn't act like he does); he knows this well, because Minseok had slapped his hand away before, when he attempted to pull Minseok close for a hug following a successful pitch. "Minho just filed his resignation. I need a person who can oversee the media plans for the haircare brands for the time being," he says, and Baekhyun tries not to look over
Baekhyun looks up briefly, then turns his attention back to his laptop. "You've got the wrong person for the job."
"Baekhyun, please-"
"What gives?"
"A promotion." Minseok's pressed close, but not too close, still comfortable. Baekhyun shifts his seat and throws his head back into his chair, looking up at Minseok. "How does Associate Director for Digital Strategy sound?"
"Sounds like a shitton of work." Baekhyun makes sure to add a chuckle at the end; Minseok isn't as fun as he should be during work hours. "I'm not sure, Minseok. You know where my heart is."
Minseok takes a step back, then sits on the edge of Baekhyun's desk. There's silence for a while, and Baekhyun looks at Minseok closely, careful not to miss the details - the quirk of the lip, the dark circles becoming more prominent now more than ever, the hint of expectation and work-related rejection in the way Minseok eases his eyebrows. "Singing, I know. But- I need you in this team. Just a few more months. I won't try to convince you to take the promotion if you really don't want to."
"If you triple my salary, then I might reconsider."
Minseok punches him lightly on the cheek. "Noted. Now send me the report for the media spend on Project Crystal as soon as possible."
Baekhyun clicks the send button and grins at Minseok. "Done!"
Minseok walks away without another word and Baekhyun just watches - watches as Minseok's shoulders drop, the weight of too many responsibilities weighing down on him, watches as Minseok faces his laptop with resolution in his features and the promise of going down at 7 p.m. at the very latest, in the curl of his lips. Baekhyun takes a deep breath, fixes his eyes back on his screen, and wonders how long he can keep this up, this double-life.
He doesn't open the resignation letter that's been sitting in his hard drive for weeks.
He's still happy with his day job - he gets to utilize whatever he learned in university and gets to be creative from time to time, as far as numbers go. He's slated to be moved to the digital team in a few months, according to something he's heard not too long ago, but he knows very well that promises are meaningless in this company; he was promised his very own team three years ago, a digital planning team, and up until now he's the only one who strategizes for the digital business of the company. Empty promises, all of them.
He laughs gingerly, then punches out. It's a little past seven in the evening. He pulls the collar of his coat closer and shivers; where's the warmth when you need it the most?
Kyungsoo called earlier, asking to meet up so he can show the group what the production team has so far, and to get the books Jongdae borrowed months ago but didn't even touch once and for all. Kyungsoo finds them a quiet-enough samgyupsal place in Insadong that Kyungsoo deems as 'the best Seoul has to offer', and Jongdae just chuckles. Kyungsoo rarely ever disappoints, and he has the same taste as Baekhyun; they've got nothing to lose.
Jongdae takes the corner seat, and Baekhyun settles on the seat beside his. On instinct, Baekhyun places a hand on Jongdae's thigh and draws patterns on it - a smiley, clouds, a cat - and Jongdae keeps his eyes fixed on the menu, Kyungsoo's fingers pointing at his personal favorites.
"Sorry, I got a bit lost!" comes a slightly familiar voice. Baekhyun looks up and quickly retracts his hand when he sees the newcomer's face. If it's not reflex taking root in his body, then it must be habit. He's never been too good with dealing with changes, but rarely ever develops a fondness for boring staples.
He didn't invite Joonmyun. Nobody invited Joonmyun - or at least that's what he knows. Kyungsoo's supposed to let everybody know of any changes, after all.
"I went around the block at least thrice..." Joonmyun unwinds the scarf wrapped around his neck and hangs it loosely on his shoulders, instead, then bows at everyone. "I got a bit-"
"Lost. I know. Still not used to non-Gangnam places, huh? Your pretty car can't take you farther than your neighborhood?" Kyungsoo pats the space beside him and offers Joonmyun a smile, and Joonmyun frowns, albeit playful, in reply. "Narrowly avoided overtime work?"
Joonmyun exhales loudly, the dissatisfied sigh getting mangled in light chuckling. "Was I that obvious?"
Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow and nudges Joonmyun in his side - they're not strangers, but not the best of friends; Kyungsoo has never spoken to him about Joonmyun, but if Kyungsoo ever needs someone to listen, all he needs to do is to appear on Baekhyun's doorstep unannounced. "Oh, come on. It hasn't been that long," Kyungsoo argues. There's a light downward tug at the corner of his lips. "Five years, give or take? And then we worked on some-"
"Anything longer than a year is long," Joonmyun replies, the smile on his lips now tight at the corners.
Kyungsoo looks at Joonmyun in the eye briefly, then runs his hair as he tears his eyes from his seatmate. Baekhyun finds himself alternating between looking at Kyungsoo, then Joonmyun, then back at Kyungsoo until Jongdae slaps his thigh lightly. "Besides, I see that look a lot. Baekhyun uses it to bail himself out of being late 80% of the time."
"75%!" Baekhyun corrects. He reaches for Jongdae's hand under the table, but his fingers are cold and numb - from the chilly weather outside, from the intrusion. He can't even feel Jongdae's nails digging into his skin when Jongdae's grip on his hand tightens. "You work in media?"
"Events," Joonmyun replies. A low oooh escapes Jongdae's lips. "Close enough."
Baekhyun studies Joonmyun's face - perfect teeth, bright smile, and equally bright eyes - and nods thoughtfully. His mind goes back to their first encounter, and he almost laughs. Things probably would have been different if Joonmyun had been in advertising or media where people don't normally give a shit about how they'd react to people, save for when they're dealing with clients. Joonmyun would be an awkward fit, but something at the back of Baekhyun's mind tells him that Joonmyun will fit in soon enough.
"It's a miracle you're here," he comments, then cocks his head in Kyungsoo's direction. "Food's here!"
Joonmyun is, to say the very least, too accommodating. His eyebags speak of the hours of sleep that he has to catch up on, and Baekhyun feels a part of him break everytime Joonmyun sneaks a hand to rub his eyes. Joonmyun swallows back yawns that could have broken conversations, and replies with laughter, instead. When Joonmyun leans back in his chair and his eyes drop just a little, Baekhyun feels the urge to drop something on the table, like a weird comment on how Kyungsoo really won't get any taller if he keeps staying up until three in the morning, or just plain say that he's too old for this shit.
"So you're good with the sequence. This is just a draft of the final online, but the grading's good, right?" Joonmyun asks. He traces figures in the air, hovering the screen of Kyungsoo's laptop. "Skin tone's accurate, the whites are warmer than the usual as per Baekhyun's request-"
"Demanding," Jongdae comments. He lays a palm flat on Joonmyun's back as he inches closer. "I like the shadows going on here. It makes the whole scene more dramatic. Did Kris ask for that?"
"Ah, well..." Joonmyun pauses for a while, tapping his index finger lightly on the touchpad. "That was my idea. Kris does happy, lovey-dovey cinematography and directing better. It's not his-"
"- style," they all chime. Jongdae cackles. Joonmyun laughs out loud, unguarded. There still isn't any sound coming from Kyungsoo when he laughs hard. Baekhyun's fingers are still numb.
They finish just before twelve, before Jongdae can order another bottle of soju and talk about the very long story of how they came up with the new song and how Kyungsoo almost scrapped the whole thing in favor of something safer. "I brought my car," Joonmyun says, and Kyungsoo mentions he's parked just around the block and that it's probably better if he drops Jongdae off since he lives near Jongdae's place.
"And Jongdae's too drunk to function," Kyungsoo adds, a hand on the small of Jongdae's back to steady the latter. Jongdae giggles, then slides next to Baekhyun.
"Baekhyun?"
"I just moved to Gangnam." Baekhyun gulps. "And I promised to take this kid home, so..."
A soft oh slips from Joonmyun's lips and he quirks his mouth, furrows his eyebrows a little before replying with a smile. He bows to the group, thanks them for the company, and prepares to take his leave, but Kyungsoo insists to take Jongdae home, hooking an arm around Jongdae's shoulder.
"I'll take care of the kid," Kyungsoo says as he helps Jongdae stand on two feet. And then, to Baekhyun, "I'll text you when we get home."
Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at Kyungsoo, then slaps him on the butt. "I'm going with the Gangnam veteran, I guess."
It's a five-minute walk to the parking lot. Joonmyun's got his hands in his pockets, and Baekhyun stays close for warmth. "So, where exactly in Gangnam?" Joonmyun asks, pace falling in step with Baekhyun's.
Baekhyun looks ahead of him, the city lights piercing his eyes. He's had exactly twelve shots of soju and it's still a long way until he gets wasted for real, but his mind is buzzing and his hands are shaking and it's not even that cold. He's had copious amounts of alcohol; it's not supposed to be this cold.
He looks up at the sky, waiting for a sign, then looks at Joonmyun. "Home."
Midnight in Seoul is kind to drivers as much as it is to people wanting to get some rest. The intersections are the only enemy at this time of the day. Baekhyun looks around him, looks at Joonmyun for a few good seconds before Joonmyun skips a song and moves to the next track. Joonmyun is a perfect fit in his silver Sonata, Baekhyun thinks, and he knows, believes, that Joonmyun isn't your ordinary rank-and-file employee working a 9-to-6 job.
"Events, huh?" Baekhyun says, voice barely above a whisper. He half-intends Joonmyun to hear it, half-wishes Joonmyun doesn't, but the music is faint enough for his voice to come through loud and clear. They reach a red light and Joonmyun stops, switches to the first gear, looks ahead. 120 seconds until the light turns green. 120 seconds of Baekhyun wishing he kept his thoughts to himself.
"I own the company," Joonmyun says casually, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "And yes, Kris knows this. Kyungsoo does, too, I think."
"You think?"
Joonmyun chuckles. "I have a lot of secrets."
Sixty seconds into waiting for the light to turn green, Joonmyun turns up the music. It's comfortable enough for nighttime driving, comfortable enough that Baekhyun finds himself singing along, but not belting out notes. When he feels Joonmyun's eyes on him, he stops for a while. Joonmyun grins, gives him a look that probably says why did you stop?, so Baekhyun picks up from where the music currently is, eyes still fixed on Joonmyun.
The light turns green. Joonmyun steps on the gas and Baekhyun averts his gaze, fixes it on the flurry lights in front of them. John Legend croons in Joonmyun's sound system. Baekhyun keeps singing, looks at the expanse of space front of him, completely ignoring Joonmyun's occasional glances, somehow wishing Joonmyun could keep his eyes on him instead of on the road.
home!!! c: hope joonmyun didnt kill u. he nearly killed kris before but yeah, that's what kris said :c
lol he drives just fyn. mb kris is 2 old 2b riding a sonata
but he drives a benz doesnt he :o
xactly, 2 old for dem young cars kekeke
Baekhyun rolls over, lying flat on his back, and lays his phone face down on his bed. He asked for Joonmyun's number earlier. "In case I ever decide to go solo for real and I need a DOP," Baekhyun had said, and Joonmyun just laughed, shook his head, and took Baekhyun's number, keying in his contact details.
Joonmyun clicked the "call" button and grinned when his own phone sounded off. "Now I have yours."
It's been roughly ten minutes since he has sent his thank you message to Joonmyun. tnx 4 d ride, he typed at first, but decided that it was probably rude to use shortcuts when texting somebody he's just met, so he quickly erased the message and typed, thanks for the ride!!! :D have a safe trip home~ - byun baekhyun, instead. Ten minutes, he tells himself. That's the amount of time it takes Kyungsoo to shower without distractions, the amount of time Jongdae needs to recover from "really mind-blowing sex, you ass". It's also the most he and Kyungsoo have gone without a reply to each other's silly texts.
His phone sounds off, the soft sound of twinkling stars ringing bright in his ears. Jongdae describes it as the sound of bells; Kyungsoo says it's the sound of plates crashing.
hey! anytime (^___^)b - kjm
Baekhyun turns to lie on his stomach and burrows his face in his pillow. It's just a text with a cute smiley that's been obscure since the early 2000's. He bites the inside of his cheek, closes his eyes, restructures his face so that he isn't grinning or smiling with eyes shaped like half-moon crescents, or blushing.
It's just a stupid text. It's not even a call.
Baekhyun wakes up with an unfamiliar melody stuck in his head and hands itching to write a song.
He hasn't felt this in a while - two to three months, tops, since media review happens every quarter and it's that time of the year that wears him out the most. Normally, he'd be able to put off writing down an idea until he's done with his morning cup or coffee or at least until he's had an apple before heading to work, but today the idea nags him like a mother missing his child. The grandmother muse hasn't visited in a much longer time, so maybe this is why the idea is more demanding than the usual. Stupid artistic quirks.
He fishes for his phone from under his pillow and the first thing that greets him is Joonmyun's text - a new one, sent at around 2 a.m.. oh hey, hope you don't get a hangover tomorrow. (o___o) i mean you're friends with kris so... hahaha rest well! \(^___^)/ it reads. Baekhyun can't decide if two in the morning is too fucking early or late for cute emoticons. He can't decide if he wants to get off of his bed so he can write or just bury his face in the pillows again, either.
Fucking emoticons.
Baekhyun arrives at the office with a silly grin on his lips and breakfast in a box in tow. When he takes a seat, the first thing he does is to make a list of the things he should be doing today. In order of importance: align with his subordinates on any changes that have happened in the past three days, set a meeting with their client for the new budget allocation scheme, and talk to Minho and Minseok on the next steps leading to Minho's last day at work.
At the bottom of the list, in all caps and underlined twice: write the stupid song (and, in the smallest, most legible handwriting he can produce: reply to Joonmyun's text).
"Aren't you early," Minseok comments, then ruffles his hair. He glances at the digital clock - it's only 8:45, and regular work hours start at 9 a.m.. "Leaving early later?"
"Woke up on the right side of the bed," he replies. To Kyungsoo, he texts, wow so i woke up early and now im in d office? m lyk whats happening i got ass drunk-ish last nyt and wow
it's d joonmyun effect c;
He slams his phone on a notebook and exhales loudly. This isn't, by normal standards, normal at all, but then he's not the best judge of normalcy when he benefits from weird, rather dysfunctional friendships with Kyungsoo and Jongdae. Years ago he would have thought really long and hard about all the sudden changes in his life, like that time when he longed for a touch less impersonal than that of a client's or a boss', but not quite that of a part-time lover's. He was 25, ready to be committed, to get into a relationship. Maybe. Then, as if on cue, Jongdae happened - Jongdae, with his toothy grins and boisterous laughter and whiny voice, with his lingering touches and soft kisses and a penchant for using "the right words at the wrong time". If you keep texting me randomly, I'll start thinking you're slowly falling in love with me. Well, maybe not slowly. Hard and fast. You'd like that, yeah? Who even romanticizes texting at three in the afternoon, in the context of, hey jd, im so stressed i want 2 kill these clients?? nd skin them alive nd set them on fire? u in?
He shakes the thought away. His hand hovers his phone, then picks it up. He navigates to Joonmyun's message and types without much thought, kris drinks?
Joonmyun's reply comes faster than expected. Maybe he hasn't gone to bed yet. Maybe he doesn't like sleeping at all. kris isn't exactly the good boy everybody thinks he is (^___~)v
"Minseok, you free in fifteen minutes for a quick talk?" Baekhyun asks, voice a notch higher than the usual. Minseok just nods, mumbles, "Yeah, sure," without even looking at Baekhyun.
how would you know?
dude, we're friends. he always drinks with his friends. are you sure you're friends with him? o.o?
Going by Joonmyun's definition, they probably aren't. He'd gone out with Kris for dinner a few times in the past, when he was much younger and thought that tall guys were the best thing since sliced bread. Kris was generous with praises and corny jokes; Baekhyun laughed whenever needed because that was all that he could offer when Kris asked for more - a hug, a lingering touch, a kiss.
"If you're okay with not owning me-"
Kris gulped hard, squeezed his hand. It was summer and Baekhyun could make out the sweat on Kris' chest from the threadbare shirt. He took a deep breath. Kris wasn't supposed to still look attractive despite being turned down, and Baekhyun wasn't supposed to be feeling really bad about this. "It's not... I can't deal with that. I have to have you all to myself."
It sounded like one of those poorly-written romantic movies, so even before Baekhyun could imagine Kris running off into the sunset with tear-stained cheeks, he turned on his heel and mumbled. "And I can't deal with that. I'm sorry. We can't be friends."
So yes, Kris doesn't drink with his bunch. yup but probs not close enough for him to drink with us. Baekhyun hesitates before sending, but adds, our relationship is strictly professional.
so does you texting your new favorite cinematographer-cum-director count as not being professional? O___O hahaha! (^___^)v Joonmyun asks. Baekhyun rests his forehead on his table, closes his eyes.
He can't deal with this one, either.
no, Baekhyun replies after a while - more like three hours after, just before he goes down for lunch and sticks to his resolve to leave his phone in the office because he's charging it. Texting is safe. It's a common activity people normally engage in. It's impersonal enough for Baekhyun to deem himself as pathetic when he makes all these unintelligible sounds when he receives texts from Joonmyun - after that production house message, Joonmyun had sent two more related to video editing and cinematography. i don't think kyungsoo and jongdae are half as interested as you are in these things, Joonmyun said over text, without proper punctuation and smileys. It sounded stiff and not-Joonmyun, but then he's only known Joonmyun for a couple of days. He can't make a fair judgment of Joonmyun's character given limited information.
you mean you'll teach me how to do grading and stuff? :o kyungsoo's the one who usually sits with the editors during editing.
i know. i've worked with kyungsoo before. he just makes sure the singing parts are timed properly with the music. (^ - ~) but i think this song's special to you. and you were the one who asked for a particular color treatment so. \(^ o ^)/
you mean kyungsoo isn't particular with lighting and treatment???
(^___^)v
dks u ass i thot u put ur heart nd soul into r videos
what happened 2 master of d videos and d arts!!!
I THOT U WERE MY FRIEND T____T xoxo byun baekhyun
Garosugil is just a short walk from the office. It's not Baekhyun's favorite place in Seoul, but since he's moved to Gangnam to cut his travel time to the office by more than half, it's become a bit homier than neighboring places. Occasionally, he'd take a walk along the lane and gander at the young working class in business suits, all ripe with the thirst to earn more and earn a name for themselves, but on normal days he'd just hang out at Dunkin' Donuts, phone in one hand and the promise of seeing Kyungsoo at an obscene hour in the other. Kyungsoo's the only one he can drag out of the house at eleven, but everybody knows Kyungsoo lives in his office.
Tonight, though, he's standing in front of Cork for Turtle, Mug for Rabbit, waiting for Joonmyun.
Baekhyun isn't used to coming early, but at least Joonmyun isn't late. They'd agreed to meet at 7:15 and Joonmyun arrives at 7:20. "Parking," Joonmyun reasons out, and Baekhyun just shakes his head as he opens the door for the two of them.
"Any reason you chose this pla-" Baekhyun says, but quickly gets cut off by the sight of Joonmyun smiling at the servers and giving them a shy wave. "You're a regular here, aren't you? or-" He squints, then laughs a little. "Or maybe you own this place. Do you?" he whispers in Joonmyun's ear once the greetings have died down, as they make their way to the second floor. Joonmyun is silent, so he doesn't ask again.
After placing their orders, Joonmyun admits, "Yeah. I... own this place." A sip from his water, then an explanation, "Co-owned this place with Kris five years back, before he decided to focus on growing his production house."
"Lemme guess: he was planning to turn this into a bar, wasn't he?"
Joonmyun chuckles. It's not as cheerful as the smileys he uses in his texts, Baekhyun notes. He calls for the waitress and orders wasabi latte from downstairs, and Joonmyun lets out a strained sigh. It's good to know that his powers of introspection are still intact, comforting even. He hasn't gone out with anyone other than Jongdae and Kyungsoo in the past half year. There's Minseok and Jongin but when they do grab dinner outside, they only talk about work. And Jongin's rather tragic attempts at wooing Soojung, one of the connections planners in company.
"She said there's this man... Who's better. She said there's Sehun, that it's always been Sehun," Baekhyun remembers Jongin saying one time, when they all went out after a successful media review and after Jongin was shot down by Soojung. Jongin's eyes were welling up with tears and Minseok was teetering on the edge of being polite, trying to keep his giggles at bay. "She told me I wasn't the one for her and that maybe, if I just opened my eyes, everything would be clearer-"
Minseok burst into laughter and Baekhyun was crying and wheezing by the time Jongin understood what Soojung was trying to say. "Did she mean Sehun actually likes- That Sehun has this-"
Minseok fell off his chair. Everybody who heard about the story was told that it was the alcohol, that Minseok's motor skills cease to exist past four bottles of beer. Jongin actually fell for the story before Baekhyun reminded him about, "y'know, Sehun, that's he's always been the one-"
"Shut up, hyung."
Joonmyun's willing to talk again by the time the wasabi latte is served. Ten minutes, Baekhyun counts, because he loves numbers and finds joy in dealing with them. "I think I'm done with the video," Joonmyun says, eyes twinkling with something akin to - excitement, happiness, contentment? A sense of relief after not doing videos in a long, long while? "I can show you. Later, I mean? After we eat?"
Baekhyun laughs a little. After we eat is a promise to spend more hours together - he giggles at the thought, giggles in his mind, until the sound escapes his lips. "No rush," he replies. Joonmyun drums his fingers on the table to a rhythm neither of them hear, and Baekhyun gets the weirdest urge to reach out and rest a palm flat on Joonmyun's hand, trace figures on the back of it and maybe let his touch linger.
The food arrives. Joonmyun leans back, a small gasp escaping his lips. Baekhyun snatches it, stares at Joonmyun long enough to imprint the image in his memory for future use.
They talk about a lot of things - Baekhyun's boring job as someone who makes sense of numbers and data and tries to make the figures seem interesting to people, Joonmyun's aggressiveness when it comes to looking for more clients, taking on projects and looking for more events agents for his company, their shared fascination for color grading and making sure that the skin tone, despite any weird color treatment, stays true to real skin. A shared love for obscure musicians and singers.
"Landon Pigg?" Joonmyun asks. There's the same twinkle in his eyes, but Baekhyun identifies this as excitement this time around, like Joonmyun's challenging him, pushing him to think think think. You're a singer. You're supposed to know him. "You do know him, right?"
"Falling In Love In A Coffee Shop," Baekhyun replies. He doesn't even bother trying to hide the smug grin on his lips. "And Magnetism."
The smile on Joonmyun's lips blooms into something more, tugging hard but slow at the corners of his lips, the corners of his eyes. A touch of light burst here and the ever-reliable lens flare there. Joonmyun looks like something straight off of a movie scene, complete with dim lights, candlelight, and low-hanging globes in the background. Soft figures of empty wine bottles to his side, and Baekhyun's cup of coffee conveniently blocking his hands - pretty but strained - from the view.
Just a touch of pink and the image would be perfect, Baekhyun thinks. He stares at Joonmyun again, looks at him in the eye, lets his eyes linger on Joonmyun's lips. It takes no more than ten seconds for a flush to paint Joonmyun's cheeks - ah, perfect.
"The video," Joonmyun says out of the blue. His cheeks are still flush. Joonmyun didn't even order wine or alcohol. "I promised to show you the video," he rushes. He worries his lower lip.
"Ah, yeah." Baekhyun nods thoughtfully, smile tight-lipped. "You have it on your laptop, right?"
Joonmyun gestures at one of the servers and points at the dishes on their table. As soon as it's emptied, Joonmyun takes out his laptop, then moves closer to where Baekhyun is. Their shoulders bump. Baekhyun usually shies away upon contact with strangers, but a part of him, a part of his body knows Joonmyun well, like they've met before, years ago, maybe in a different time and place. Joonmyun seems like the type to believe in such stories, and Baekhyun's the type to indulge.
"Ready?" Joonmyun asks. The cursor hovers the play button. His hands are not more than six inches from Joonmyun's own, and if he wants to take this a step further then he can slide his left arm around Joonmyun's shoulder, tuck his chin there, casually move his right hand closer so that their hands touch. "Baekhyun, are you ready?" Joonmyun asks again, and Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows, squints, then nods.
He's not sure what to say just yet.
The video is mind-blowing.
Baekhyun takes a snapshot and quickly sends it to Kyungsoo. He's grateful Kyungsoo doesn't ask how he got a hold on the final online of the video, a bit disappointed that Kyungsoo didn't do exactly that. He doesn't share it with Jongdae because Jongdae catches on really quick, and will probably face him with a slew of questions any overly-invested friend will ask. Not-boyfriend, Baekhyun reiterates, and gives Joonmyun his best smile just before he alights Joonmyun's car.
"I really love your Sonata, by the way," Baekhyun comments. He rests his hands on the frame of the door, waiting for a reply following that bright, amused smile Joonmyun gives him. The light from the lamppost casts a warm glow on Joonmyun, balancing out the harsh white light of the car. Another movie scene, Baekhyun thinks. A new track plays on the stereo - Ben Rector.
"It's the prettiest among the higher-tier midsize sedans," Joonmyun replies. The light from the lamppost goes out. It's probably has motion sensors. "I'll... see you around again soon?"
"Soon," Baekhyun repeats. There's no point in setting up a meeting with Joonmyun when the video's already been submitted for final approval. He can attempt to come up with a new hit and seek Joonmyun's help for the music video or accept Joonmyun's offer of teaching him how professionals do music videos. He can ask Joonmyun out. He never asks people out. It's usually the other way around. Baekhyun loves the chase, somehow.
"Can I take you up on that video lessons offer?"
Joonmyun grins. "Of course."
Baekhyun closes the door, watches as Joonmyun adjusts his hands on the wheel before driving off. If he wore his glasses earlier, he probably would have caught the widespread smile on Joonmyun's lips, the crinkle in his eyes, his hands shaking on the steering wheel. But he doesn't wear his glasses past seven in the evening.
He turns around and walks closer to his unit's building, the smile still on his lips. His chest feels like its about to burst - with happiness, excitement, fear, the unknown. The light turns on again. Maybe it has emotion sensors.
Baekhyun has a habit of talking to himself when he's alone, in the shower. Tonight's spiel sounds a lot like this:
What's up with you? Hey, you, Byun Baekhyun, you're acting weird, like a fucking teenager. It's just a stupid text, he just likes wearing that stupid smile, and he just has pretty hands. He just looks like someone who has walked straight out of a book or a movie scene. He isn't any different from Jongdae, right, so why does he make you giggle? Or shut up without actually telling you to do so? What's wrong with you?
Baekhyun rests his forehead on the tiles on the wall. He hopes the sound of rushing water will drown out the voice in his head, but it's loud. Obnoxious. Exactly like him.
Get your act together, Baekhyun.
The workload's much more manageable these days, and 7 p.m. becomes Baekhyun's staple punch out time. Minseok's grown accustomed to Baekhyun coming in before nine in the morning that when Baekhyun sleeps in and arrives at 9:05, Minseok sends him at least three texts, asking if he's alive. or r u applying 4 a new job now is one of them, to which Baekhyun just laughs and, when he arrives at the office, shows to Minseok as he says, "Really, Minseok? Really?"
Minseok shrugs. "For all I know, you've been auditioning for various singing contests or something all those days when you came in late-"
"You mean half the year."
Minseok frowns and waves him off. "Go away."
The bulk of Joonmyun's texts come in in the morning. He rarely ever sends texts in the afternoon, but resurfaces at night, just a little past six in the evening. Baekhyun doesn't see the message until after talking to Minseok about temporarily taking Minho's load when Minho resigns, but not about the promotion. dinner? the message reads. So soon, and without smileys. It hasn't even been a week since they last saw each other.
can we try a different place?
i was thinking of wine... and pizza?
"Trouble," Baekhyun mumbles. Jongin removes his headset on instinct and looks at him with curious eyes, mouths, But I already sent the report! Baekhyun dismisses him with a small smile and a wave of a hand, then fixes his eyes back on his phone, his shaking hands, the cursor blinking on the screen, prompting him to go, go for it. It's now or never.
7:15?
is 8 okay? i just... have to wrap something up.
8 is good :D
it's a date. (^ - ~)
Baekhyun lays his phone face down on the table and hangs his head low, covering the back of his head with his hands. When he finally feels his fingers again, he texts Kyungsoo, saying, i think im in trouble :( and waits for a plethora of panicked smileys from Kyungsoo, a display of concern with the screen of a mobile phone as a regulator.
wanna talk 2nyt?
not 2nyt. midnight? i hv sth
it's jm isnt it
Baekhyun laughs a little. Kyungsoo knows him too well.
gotcha c;
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