take a ride
Title: take a ride
Pairing: jongin/baekhyun, friendship!baekyeoljongyi (figureoutthisnameomfg)
Genre: romance
Rating: pg
Summary: the road to a perfect ride is on your bike.
Disclaimer: I just own the story, none of the boys.
a/n: i haven't written this much in awhile, i feel both exhausted, and accomplished but really just spent (it's been going on for a week IM SO DONE) i love this, it's different from things i've written before and kind of not so different, i don't know, it just felt really nice writing it. it might have a sequel with another pairing/coughs/
take a ride
It’s been going on for a week now, he gets in the bus sits by the window and he waits for the corner where he can start seeing the bicycle wheels appear and he knows this is pretty much a bit like stalking but he’s just going to keep persuading himself that it’s not stalking unless you follow the person.
Because he’s not following him of course, it’s just that he happens to ride his bicycle by here always at the same hour, wearing a high school uniform with his bag hanging around his shoulders. It makes him think of the time when he had to ride down the street to get to his school too, getting old makes you pay attention to really useless details, doesn’t it?
Baekhyun just figured if he’s intrigued why not make his life even better by always trying to catch sight of him while he’s taking the bus to his university and well, it just turns out that it’s been going on for a week now.
It’s not like he’s been counting the days either, ah who is he lying to, he’s been counting every minutes it takes for the bicycle to ride next to the bus and every minutes it takes for it to turn left while the bus just goes straight and Baekhyun has to turn around and look at it disappear then turn back in his seat with a sigh and a small smile on his face.
“I’m an idiot.” He mumbles to himself again and he’s pretty sure he’s said this a lot of times already.
“You know, you could try and tap on the window to get his attention?” Baekhyun looks up with a frown at Jongdae who just shrugs, “It was just an idea, it might at least give you an idea of what he looks like from the front and not just from his side profile you know?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol’s voice cuts in and he drops next to Baekhyun, trapping him between him and Jongdae and then Baekhyun remembers why he was in a hurry earlier to leave and go sit in the front. But it’s too late, he’s stuck as soon as the professor walks in and he sighs knowing he won’t be able to keep up with today’s lesson.
“Since when do you even like younger ones?” Jongdae leans in and says in a hushed voice, well he thinks it’s a hushed voice but Baekhyun is pretty sure anyone close by can hear him, Jongdae doesn’t have a whispering voice because he’s been hanging way too much with Chanyeol and Yixing.
“I don’t like younger ones, don’t make it sound like I’ve always-why are we even talking about this?” The thing is Baekhyun too, doesn’t have a whispering voice, and he’s never been one to have that kind of voice, he’s just always been loud and bit too cheery at times. But he blames it all on his circle of friends really.
“Because it’s been years after you got over your crush on Chanyeol that you haven’t shown interest in anyone?” Jongdae says with this voice that sounds like it’s so obvious anyone would be asking this question of they knew Baekhyun’s love life and it’s not, first of.
“I never had a crush on Chanyeol.” Baekhyun says and tries to keep his voice low, “Yes you did.” That’s Chanyeol who is leaning in way too close and Baekhyun sighs and turns to shot his said best friend a glare, “Not true.”
“It’s not like you ever admitted it.” Jongdae points out and Chanyeol hums softly nodding in agreement, “But we all knew it.”
“You mean you just assumed it?” Baekhyun scoffs and then tries to pick up on some of the words the teacher is saying when he feels him looking up at their desk, “Anyone who would have a crush on Chanyeol should be doomed to a pitiful love life.” Baekhyun mumbles and hopes, hopes this will close this topic but apparently not, Jongdae bursts out laughing.
Chanyeol gives Baekhyun a tap on his back that actually hurts and he ends up choking and nearly screaming out in pain but when he tries to stop it it comes out in a squeak he immediately knows everyone in the classroom heard when the professor’s voice stops.
“Are you guys done or would you like to take this outside?”
Baekhyun clears his throat and lowers his head, he needs new friends, “I’m great.” Chanyeol chuckles next to him.
Baekhyun is wrapping his scarf around him and walking to his bus stop when he actually feels trouble coming to him, it just works that way with the three people who appears soon as he thinks about it and yeah he just shakes his head, “No, you guys go your own fucking way.”
“Hey come on now, we’ve decided you need help from your best friends.” Jongdae says and swings an arm around Baekhyun pulling him close to his side and squeezing his shoulder.
“To woo your high school boy.” Yixing adds, standing right behind and deciding sliding his arms on Baekhyun’s shoulders is a good idea to make him stumble just great. Then there’s Chanyeol who just reaches a hand for Baekhyun’s neck and he lets out a soft chuckle before pulling away with a sigh.
“What would I be without my sidekicks huh?”
“Exactly,” Chanyeol follows then frowns when the other two gives him a stern look and he laughs scratching the back of his head, “What? Being sidekick isn’t good?”
That, now that makes Baekhyun laugh though he gets a few red bruises from pinches on his cheeks and he’s sure his shoulders are going to need a good hour of resting once he gets to the safety of his apartment.
“Wait, you guys aren’t actually serious are you?” Baekhyun stops when they get at the bus station and he doesn’t like the look on their three faces, he really doesn’t.
He should have just kept his mouth shut, Baekhyun thinks an wants the ground to swallow him because of all people they had to put Chanyeol right next to the window and if Chanyeol wants someone attention, he will get it no matter what. They’re nearing it too and the closer they get the lower Baekhyun sinks in his chair.
“Don’t do it, I beg of you, I’ll do anything you want.”
“Anything?” That takes Jongdae off his surveillance position to look at Baekhyun with a mischievous smile and he shrinks even more in his seat, “Well, not-yeah anything.” He nods quickly when he sees Chanyeol holding a book against the window, “Anything!” He repeats and reaches to stop Chanyeol, they’re there, so close he’s probably going to pass by soon.
Baekhyun peeks over Chanyeol to make sure to at least catch sight of him before he rides by.
“Alright, then get down at the next bus station and run after his bike.”
Like hell he’s going to do that, “Or Chanyeol will bang on the window hard enough to either make the bus driver arrest us or your little high school boy see you make a fool out of yourself.”
“You guys are the worst, worst ever.” Baekhyun sighs and hides his face in his hands, he’d rather just get swallowed by the ground than actually do what they’re asking him to do. But he’s got no time to argue against it that he can feel Yixing laughing and already pulling him up after ringing for the next stop and no, no, Baekhyun prays for the bicycle to be gone by the time he’s out of the bus this way he gets rid of this stupid thing and also of his stupid best friends.
“We’re coming with you, to make sure you do it of course.” Jongdae says as Baekhyun walks down the bus stairs and then he knows he’s pretty much doomed because that’s the exact time that stupid bike decide to appear and Baekhyun looks for an exit and tries to go back to the bus quickly but too late.
It’s gone and Baekhyun’s pride is gone with it too he thinks and turns away from the bike, “Nope, I’m going to walk to the nxt bus station.” Baekhyun makes for a run but Chanyeol catches his hand before he’s even made two steps away and starts dragging him while running after the fucking bike.
“Park Chanyeol, stop, I swear I’m going to kill you all!” Baekhyun shouts but knows it’s no help, not with all of them laughing and this would be a fun outing with them if it wasn’t for the fact that they are bringing people’s attention to them and Chanyeol keeps screaming “Hey,” Behind the bike and he’s gonna look, he’s gonna look.
Chanyeol legs are so much longer than Baekhyun and when they start going faster and faster, so fast that even Jongdae and Yixing can’t keep up.
Baekhyun looks down at his legs to not trip over them and when he looks up to see why Chanyeol has slowed down a bit, he notices he’s running next to the bike, he’s actually fucking running next to the bike.
When he realizes so Baekhyun looks up at his side quickly and catches sight of the boy looking alarmed fuck he’s scared too and he loses it, he loses balance, control of his feet and lets go of Chanyeol’s hand reaching into nothing really and this feels like an awful comedy movie where he’s the one being made fun of.
It’s hard to breathe when he falls to his knees and he’s sure he’s got a scratch or two, his legs are dead weight under him and his bangs are sticking to his forehead from too much sweating, his heart is thumping so loudly against his ears and chest and he’s not even sure if it’s because of the race or the fact that he got so close the bike.
He was right next to it and the more he thinks about it the more he tries to control his breathing that seems to start mixing itself with a laughter that Baekhyun lets out in between pants.
“You okay there?”
Baekhyun nods and sees knees crouching down in front of him, “Yeah,” He nods again and his panting starts getting slower, his breathing more stable and he feels the cold sweat that follows afterwards during winter. He chuckles a bit because he should be mad but he’s got this light feeling in his chest, “But that was fucking crazy!” He shouts and straightens his head, thinking of seeing Chanyeol or Yixing or Jongdae, he might have like that better than the tilt of a head that is observing him with a little amused smirk and a quirked eyebrow.
“Who are you?” Baekhyun says with a frown and tries to stand up at the same time but stumbles again and is steadied with a hand that wraps itself tight around his arm, “The guy you were chasing?” He’s asking it in this little sarcastic tone that Baekhyun swears Jongdae has learned to master with time and then, then Baekhyun feels himself reddening from his neck up to his face and goddamn.
Baekhyun quickly pulls his arm free and steps back.
“I’m sorry,” He mumbles and then turns to make a run for it, fucking hell this is the worst day of his life he thinks and lets his legs take him further and faster too. Baekhyun closes his eyes, he’s cold, and he’s run way too much, he doesn’t want to talk to any of his friends ever again.
He doesn’t even stop when he hears wait, what for? He thinks and sighs in relief at the sight of his bus coming and dashes head first to catch it.
Once he’s inside in his seat he looks out of the window and sees the boy running by, waving a hand in the air but Baekhyun looks away and slides until he can’t see anything.
This day never happened.
Except it did happen and it didn’t end there.
“I’m not talking to you,” Baekhyun walks by and ignores Jongdae apologetic face, “Or you,” He ignores Yixing’s too “Especially not you.” He sighs and passes them all to get to his usually walk to the bus stop.
“It was fun, admit it.” Jongdae tries with this little voice he uses when he knows he’s done something wrong but he just won’t say sorry for it so he tries to make it look like it wasn’t that bad, “Oh, no, not at all, I lost my purse and my phone, but no big deal that I fucking am not even able to prove who I am right now.” He’s not pouting, except yes, he is and he fucking hates this.
“Where did you guys even disappear to after all of that?!” Baekhyun stops suddenly and turns to stop them all with a frown and a glare, “I just want to go home and sleep, it’s cold and I’ve got homework.” He sighs, “I’ll just go sulk until they find my purse and phone.”
“Do you know I’ve got exams to attend with my id and stuff?” He goes on though because he knows they’re following him, they won’t stop until they’re sure he’s forgiven at least a bit, “Do you know exams are coming soon and I’ve never complained so much in my whole life?” Baekhyun closes his eyes and shakes his head when he starts hearing Jongdae’s voice.
“No, really Baekhyun stop.” Jongdae repeats and Baekhyun stops to look at him, “What now?” He doesn’t mean for it to sound so loud but it does, he’s exhausted, he’s never been so tired, and all of this because of goddamn studies, he waits but Jongdae doesn’t say a word and just grabs his shoulders and turns him to face the other side.
“Stop whining and look who’s there.”
Baekhyun has to squint to see what all the fuss is about, because apparently everyone is gathering around the same spot and well there’s someone standing in the middle but so what? “Who?” He asks again, frowning, “I really don’t have time for this, you guys!” He tries to shrug his shoulders out of Jongdae’s grasp.
“I think it’s your high school boy.” Yixing walks next to them and Chanyeol confirms with a “Yeah, it is, looks like he’s also popular.” because he’s so tall he can see what the others can’t, “First of guys he’s not my high school boy, ugh, what does that have to do with me, I’d rather not meet his path ever again.”
“Bullshit, we didn’t run during winter and nearly got you killed for nothing.” Chanyeol says and stops him from going anywhere, before he knows it all three are pushing him towards the crowd and no, “Stop this, honestly stop!” that comes out a bit too loud and then Baekhyun stops and looks around because it’s suddenly too silent.
“Shit.” He says as soon as he sees the crowd has moved and said high school boy has now spotted him, then he waves a hand and shouts “Hey,” in their direction and Baekhyun’s eyes widen before he shakes his head “I’m out of here.” Baekhyun turns and this time he escapes the three of them and starts walking as fast as he can.
“Can you stop? I’ve got things you might want back!”
Baekhyun hesitates, nibbling on his bottom lip and tucks his hands in his coat’s pockets then huffs and hides his face in the scarf around his neck before turning around and he waits, not daring to actually look up.
He keeps his eyes down on the snow covered path until his sight catches a hand and his purse and is that his phone and he quickly reaches for them but the hand pulls back. “Yah,” Baekhyun looks up immediately and regrets it but too late.
“Now you’re interested?” Baekhyun hears him say and tries as hard as he can to not just right out flush in embarrassment, so he takes a deep breath in and opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted again, “I put my number in here.” Baekhyun’s eyes widen slightly before drawing close in a frown, and he asks with a muffled voice “What for?”
“I thought you might need it next time, instead of running after my bike.” The boy grins and this is so not okay, Baekhyun is older than this guy right there, “Thank you but that wasn’t needed at all.” He says and reaches out a hand, “Give them back.”
Baekhyun sees him shrug and then puts the phone and purse in his hand, but he doesn’t let it go then, he just takes a step forward and Baekhyun steps back immediately, “What are yo-”
“Jongin.” He says with an amused smile this time, it’s softer too and makes him look even younger.
But now Baekhyun is really lost so all he can blurt is a quick “What?” and then he catches on, it’s not at all because he looks behind and sees Chanyeol shaking his head while Yixing is just hiding his face in his palm as if ashamed and Jongdae is just giving him a mocking smirk, “My name is Jongin.”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun says and nods, “I got it-Jongin.” And then he waits for Jongin to let go of his hand and his things too but nothing happens, Baekhyun looks up and sees an expectant eyebrow arched up on his face and he frowns, “Now what?”
Jongin laughs then and it makes Baekhyun squirm on spot because he doesn’t know what he’s being laughed at for, then Jongin stops and shrugs, “What’s your name?” He says and tilts his head, back to a serious face and Baekhyun literally wants to hit his head.
“Oh,” Baekhyun says softly then quickly picks up after that weak reply, “Baekhyun.” He mumbles reluctantly, “But it’s Baekhyun hyung for you.” He adds quickly and then tugs on his hand, “Or just hyung.”
“Alright, Baekhyun hyung.” Jongin nods and finally let go of Baekhyun’s hands with his purse and phone too. “Thanks.” Baekhyun mumbles clutching at his belongings, his hand still warm but there’s no way he’s pulling his face out of the scarf because he can also feel it warming, he’s pretty sure Jongin flashing him a bright smile then waving before running to where Baekhyun tilted his head to see him get on his bike.
“Stupid bike.” Baekhyun pouts and then finally breathes out of the scarf, pushing it down with his free hand and tucking his purse and phone in the other pocket.
“So?” He snatches his eyes from Jongin riding away and looks in front of him to find Jongdae smirking and reaching a hand to pat his shoulder, “We did a good job didn’t we?”
“No.” Baekhyun says and frowns, he’s not even close to how mad he was before. It’s just gone and he hates it, but then before he can add more he feels his phone vibrate against his hand and pulls it out to read a name on the screen that has him gaping at his phone with wide eyes.
‘Your high school boy’
“My-what,” Baekhyun opens his phone and reads the message quickly, Say thanks to your tall friend for telling me a lot of things about you, you have to call alright?
Baekhyun looks up eyes on Chanyeol, “What did you tell him?” He asks and steps forward only to see Chanyeol step backward, “Chanyeol.” Baekhyun’s voice sounds threatening and it looks like Jongdae and Yixing are kind of lost though from Baekhyun’s expression they can tell Chanyeol won’t get out of this one alive.
“I-I’ll see you later!” Chanyeol exclaims and makes a run for it but with Baekhyun running after him, “I’ll kill you when I catch you, you better run till you’re tired you fucking-” the rest of it dies with Jongdae and Yixing laughing behind.
It helps that the week after that is filled with exams and studying and even if Baekhyun is still a bit mad at all of them, they study together and it kinds of return back to normal. It’s like he’s never been through all the embarrassing events that happened the week before.
He also doesn’t take the last bus anymore, so he hasn’t seen Jongin riding for the whole week. It’s not that he’s avoiding him, he just has to get to the university really early because he has group studies and he’s got no time to think about how his phone probably vibrated more than two times during the week.
“I wanna die.” Yixing sighs and bumps his head on the table; they all want to die actually. Baekhyun is pretty sure he has the ugliest bags he’s ever had, this semester is kind of harder than the last one, which is making them all look pretty pathetic right now.
Chanyeol is also less cheery though not that much less, he just loses it when he doesn’t have his usual cup of coffee and stays calm until he’s done studying then he collapses in his room for two days and doesn’t come out until he’s fully hibernated. Jongdae comes to class but ends up sleeping through most of his morning ones, Yixing just doesn’t even bother, he goes out and says fuck it all until he’s less angry for being kept up for so long because of exams.
Baekhyun joins either Yixing, or Jongdae or Chanyeol, depending on what he feels like doing. But most of the times though he ends up with Chanyeol and Jongdae whines when he does so because he has to take notes for all of them.
“You can die once you’re done calculating this one, I’m stuck, help me.” Jongdae pokes Yixing’s side with the back of his pencil and Yixing squirms, “Gross, you put that side of it in your mouth, don’t touch me with it.” Yixing whines but lifts his head off the table and leans in to look at Jongdae’s paper, “Where?”
Baekhyun glances up from his own work at the both of them and stops an annoyed sigh from coming out of his mouth, pursing his lips tightly and frowning when Chanyeol snorts and does the embarrassing job for him. It’s pretty obvious though, Baekhyun thinks while looking at Chanyeol and quirking an eyebrow quickly in a mocking way, since when does Jongdae needs help in any of their classes?
After Chanyeol he’s the best one in their physics class. It’s always amazed them all how Yixing can be so oblivious, like honestly, anyone can see Jongdae really likes him, and has been stuck on him since their last year of high school basically. It’s really kind of funny and sad too, how flustered Jongdae gets next to him and thinks no one sees it.
Right, Baekhyun thinks and sighs anyways tearing his eyes off Jongdae’s whole attention given to Yixing’s face and lips moving, pretty sure he’s not even listening to a word of what Yixing’s saying, maybe just listening to his voice.
“You’re staring.” Chanyeol says softly and coughs grinning down at his paper like he hasn’t said a word and Jongdae snaps out of it to look up with a light flush on his cheeks.
“Who?” Yixing stops talking and ask, Baekhyun can’t help but throw his eraser at Chanyeol for meddling, “Nothing, you guys go on.” He says and basks in how Jongdae gets more flustered, shakes his head then stands up and “I’ll be back.” runs away.
Yixing looks so confused for a moment but then shrugs it off and grabs Jongdae’s paper to start scribbling more explanations, there’s no way someone can be so oblivious is there? Oh, well, it’s none of his business, Baekhyun thinks and focuses back on his own problems still clear on his sheet and still unresolved, he’s going to be bald soon with all of those things he has to put in his head.
He’s been ignoring his phone for so long that when he hears it ring on the table he jolts up and quickly reaches for it, if the librarian hears this he’s going to fucking kill him, “Shit,” Baekhyun quickly taps his password and picks it up without thinking, just hurrying to get it to shut the fuck up because if not the librarian, then the others student are going to make his life shorter.
“Hello?” He sighs once he’s picked it up, “Baekhyun hyung, I didn’t take you for a liar.” Baekhyun wants to hit himself so hard he might actually collapse and wake up with no more school work, no more annoying little life that keeps fucking him up-he pulls his phone off his ears instead to look at the ID and he hates himself for picking up the call already.
“I’m not a liar.” Baekhyun says and tries to keep his voice low, which is quite easy because he’s exhausted and grump and he just wants to be done with this, “Look I’m busy right now, I can’t talk, so bye.” He quickly tries to hang up, “I just need ten minutes.” Jongin says then and the little teasing note that was in his voice seems to be gone, that’s the only reason why Baekhyun gives in, the only one.
“I’ll be back.” He tells Chanyeol and Yixing and hurries to the bathroom, “Fine, what is it?” He asks, hopping on the sink counter, “You never picked up my calls.” Baekhyun feels a pang of guilt hit him because goddamn, Jongin sounds really disappointed and it never occurred to him that this would affect him at all.
He’s quite young, and pretty and handsome and he’s got a really cute smile-ugh stop, “I’ve been busy with exams.” Baekhyun blurts his only excuse which is kind of lame, he could have still picked up his calls or texted him back to tell him that instead of being a total douche and just right out ignoring him, “Sorry.” He adds softly when he realizes it.
“I guess it can’t be helped if it’s your exams that’s making you ignore me.” Another trip to the guilt country, Baekhyun clenches his fingers on the phone and nibbles on his bottom lip, “I wasn’t ignoring you.” He mumbles and is sure his lie can be figured out even from other the phone, “Don’t lie.”
Baekhyun sighs and rubs his temple, “Look, I’m sorry, really, I just-have a lot going on right now and I didn’t mean to ignore you, I just don’t have the time right now, so I-” he stops himself and licks his bottom lip in before letting it go and finding his words back, “I promise to give you a call once I get the time to, alright?”
He hears Jongin laughs softly and Baekhyun bites down a little groan, it’s a sound he really loves and he’s heard it only once, he’s really crazy isn’t he? “Don’t make promises you won’t keep.”
“No,” Baekhyun protests quickly, “I will keep it.”
“Really?” Baekhyun likes this hopeful tone in his voice more than the dejected and disappointed one, he finds himself smiling and pressing his hand against the smile, but it doesn’t disappear, not totally, “Yeah.” He says because he doesn’t know what else to say.
“Then this time I’m really waiting for it, you can’t break this promise.” Jongin’s voice picks up to his usual amused one and Baekhyun’s smile turns into a soft laugh sighed through his nose as he nods, “Alright, now I need to go back to studying.” he feels reluctant though, to hang up and go back to hell.
“Yeah, I shouldn’t keep you away from that, sorry.” Baekhyun won’t lie, he feels a bit disappointed that Jongin gives in just like that, but all he can do about it is pout and get off the sink counter, “Bye then,”
“Ah wait,” Baekhyun stops himself from hanging up, “Hum?”
“Good luck on your exams, don’t die while studying please, I’ll need you alive when you do call.” Baekhyun laughs and quickly stops himself when he hears Jongin laugh too, “Okay, I got it, now I’m really hanging up.”
“Wait again.” Baekhyun stops and rolls his eyes because Jongin laughs then, like he can see that, “I’ll get you something if you pass your exams and call.”
What? “Why would you get me-”
“Bye.” Baekhyun stays still because he’s just been hung up on, Jongin just fucking hung up on him.
It’s not like he needs that kind of thing to pass his exams, he always pass them no matter how mad the studying made him go. Still, what is this guy thinking about? Get him something what for? This is a hassle, now he really has to call him, he hates having to make promises he knows he can’t break.
But he’s not going to lie he has to hide his face when he walks back to their table because he’s feeling this stupid grin etch itself on his face and he doesn’t need to look like another Jongdae.
“Who was it?” Yixing asks and Baekhyun just tries to shrug casually as he takes back his seat, “Who else, his-”
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun gives him a look that obviously tells him to shut up and Chanyeol just sulk and gets back to his notes, he’s gotten a good week of glares and tricks because of what he told Jongin, he’d rather wait for the Baekhyun storm to pass before starting a new one.
“So?” Yixing asks again since Chanyeol is forbidden from saying anything.
Baekhyun nibbles on the end of his pencil and tries to focus on the problems, “No one important.” He answers Yixing.
But really, Yixing gets his answer when Jongdae comes back and leans over Baekhyun’s shoulder to read what he’s scribble, laughs, “Baekhyun’s obsessed.” And goes to sit next to Yixing, “his whole notebook corners is filled with ‘Jongin, Jongin.’”
Baekhyun throws his pencil at Jongdae and hides his face with his book that obviously Chanyeol has to clear his throat and tell him, “Your book is upside down, Baek.”
Goddamn life.
Baekhyun opts for the Chanyeol hibernating way once he’s done with his last exam and in the bus taking him home. He’s going to need more than two days of sleep to repair all the damage caused to his brains, but it will put his physical state back to work at least.
He presses his forehead against the window and peers outside with a frown, knowing he’s forgetting something but he really can’t put a finger on it, so instead of dwelling on it he closes his eyes and tries not to fall asleep, he wouldn’t want to miss his stop.
But it only takes him about two minutes before he’s dozing off.
He wakes up mainly because his conscious comes back to him in the form of a reminder that he’s still in the bus and it’s shaking, then that something is slapping his cheek and Baekhyun frowns and lifts a hand to get rid of it, it stings even if it doesn’t hurt that much.
“What?” He asks, “You’re going to miss your stop.” Baekhyun straightens after a few seconds of registering the information and shakes his head, when he feels a pain in his neck and tries to stretch to get rid of it.
“Oh, thank you.” He turns to whoever woke him up with a yawn that he quickly hides behind his hand flushing bright because Jongin is looking at him, and maybe he’s still dreaming, Baekhyun thinks with the urge to slap himself awake. But it’s probably not a good idea.
“What are you doing here?” He manages with a bit of stuttering; Jongin shrugs and rolls his right left shoulder, “Lending my shoulder as a pillow?” Baekhyun looks down at Jongin’s shoulder then back at his face with a confused frown, then remembers he fell asleep with his head on the window and woke up with it somewhere else.
“Did I-” He starts but doesn’t finish his question simply pointing to Jongin’s shoulder and Jongin nods laughing at how Baekhyun turns a brighter shade of red, he deserves to be made fun of Baekhyun thinks and remembers why he was awaken to begin with, “Oh, my stop!” He exclaims and starts pushing against Jongin’s shoulder.
“Careful,” Jongin laughs even louder and moves out of the way but follows behind him while Baekhyun rushes before the bus closes its door. Baekhyun sighs and stretches once he gets back in the cold, then tightens the coat around him and turns when he’s still hearing Jongin’s laughing behind him.
“Are you following me?” He asks, though he’s sure he should be worried about something else, but he’s still sleepy and tired and another yawn makes his way to his mouth and gets covered by both of his hands this time.
“You look tired, let’s go.” Jongin says without answering his question, but Baekhyun just nods and lets it slide, just for now, he’ll ask later maybe, his eyelids are heavy and he’s not sure he’d be up to keep a conversation going.
There’s nothing but the sound of their feet in the snow, Baekhyun’s steps mismatched with Jongin’s and a little slower too, he closes his eyes for a second and almost misses a step-he would have fallen if not for Jongin’s hand tight around his arm, “Sorry,” Baekhyun says and pulls his arm free then fails to take another step forward with his world starting to spin as soon as he does so.
“I think it’s a good thing I live nearby hyung, you really look out of it.” Jongin leans into his face with a worried frown and Baekhyun blinks and shakes his head, “I’m fine, just tired.” He starts and his body fails to keep justice to his words because his legs starts giving in, and he might have worked himself harder than before for this exam week.
“Sorry, I just need to sit for awhile, you can go ahead.”
“Yeah, sure, like I’ll let you die in the snow.” Jongin chuckles though he still looks a bit worried but he’s amused at how Baekhyun pouts lightly and seems offended but can’t come up with an answer to that. Jongin takes this opportunity to come right in front of Baekhyun and crouch down, “Get on my back.”
“No.” Baekhyun snaps a bit out of it and really tries to move but he can’t then he sighs and looks down at Jongin who has his head turned to look at him with a little smirk, “Stop being stubborn.” Jongin adds and Baekhyun hears this little whining voice in the back of his head, he already hates this idea before he even agrees to it and finds himself obediently getting on Jongin’s back with his arms and legs tightening their hold when Jongin stands up.
Jongin’s arms slides under his knees and Baekhyun is not going to deny that it makes it easier to just let his legs fall rather than lock his ankles in the front and well, this isn’t so bad, he yawns and presses his forehead to Jongin’s back, then his cheek.
“Comfortable enough?” Jongin asks and Baekhyun hums softly, having no more strength to deny anything anymore, “Thank you.” He adds right before he feels himself falling asleep again; he really can’t stay awake anymore, not with this warmth that’s spreading from Jongin’s back to the softness of his coat.
Baekhyun’s arms tighten just a little bit around Jongin and he sighs with a small smile that barely stretches the corner of his mouth.
Hibernating turns out as an obligation to survive for Baekhyun, when he wakes up and really is conscious of where he is, he looks at the clock and it’s way too early to be up, then he reaches for his phone because he’s sure he’s been out for hours, maybe an entire day.
But he reads the date and quickly sits in his bed because he’s been out of it for three whole days. There’s something damp on his lap and he looks down to see a wet towel, Baekhyun touches a hand to his forehead and feels it also moist. He grabs the towel then and starts getting out of bed.
His mom probably did this, either her or Jongdae or Chanyeol or Yixing, he doesn’t even remember how he got back in his bed or how he got back to his home. He remembers the bus ride, he also remembers waking up and seeing Jongin, but that was probably a dream.
Baekhyun takes the stairs down to the living room, following his mother’s voice that he recognizes through the light pounding of a headache that’s ready to grow stronger, “Mom?” He calls out while making his way to her and catches another voice, she’s talking to someone else.
“Mom,” He calls again when he spots her at the door, holding it open, “Who’s there?” He says that softly just in case it’s one of those neighbors who can’t help but talk and ask about his whole life whenever they come for a visit, he really doesn’t feel in the mood for that.
“Oh, he’s awake!” his mom beams at him and then opens the door widely, “Come in.” Baekhyun shakes his head and his hands, “No, no.” He mumbles to her and sighs dejectedly when she totally ignores him and lets the person inside, he should just walk back to his room and pretend sickness.
“Hey,” Baekhyun stops though and stares bewildered at a smiling Jongin waving at him, “Oh-hey?” He then looks at his mom with a frown and back at himself, wearing his pajamas still and back at Jongin, “I’ll go change.” Baekhyun says and quickly makes his way upstairs before anyone can stop him.
He’s wearing a really mortified expression when he hears his mom laugh at him.
Baekhyun comes back downstairs, tucked in a comfortable pair of joggings and a t-shirt, hair damp because he decided a shower was most definitely needed, feeling refreshed and better than when he woke up earlier.
Then stops when he hears his mom and Jongin’s voice coming from the living room before shaking his head at how silly this is right now, him getting all flustered and not wanting to actually show himself because of a high school boy.
Baekhyun blames this on the dream he had before he woke up though, he definitely dreamed of Jongin taking him home on his back and putting him to bed, it’s blurry but it’s embarrassing. How is he supposed to face him knowing he’s been so obsessed like Jongdae would say that he’s even now dreaming of the guy sitting in his living room right now?
“So Jongin-ah, do you like my son?” Baekhyun has to bring both of his hands to cover his mouth when his mom just right out blur that question, why is she asking such a thing to a guy? Wait, he shouldn’t even be surprised, this is how he found out Chanyeol saw hi mas just a friend and nothing more.
Not that he ever admitted having a crush on Chanyeol to begin with, or even telling her he had a thing for men, she just figured it out on her own, she figures everything on her own and then she kind of drags his father into accepting it if it’s something she’s sure he’s going to be too difficult about.
Right now though, Baekhyun isn’t the only one choking, he could hear Jongin coughing like he just swallowed something the wrong way, probably one of her tea or water, Baekhyun can’t help the little silent chuckle he lets out behind his hands.
“I can’t really tell right now, but I think he’s the one who likes me.” He shouldn’t be listening to this Baekhyun thinks with a frown, so Jongin thinks he likes him? That’s so not true, crushing and liking are on different levels, and liking and loving too and loving and being in love, he would come out of his hiding and stop the conversation before it goes further, but really that would put him in a really embarrassing position now.
“Oh, that I’m sure he does.” Baekhyun clenches his eyes shut and moves his hands to cover his ears, I’m twenty-one years old I don’t need to listen to my mom embarrass me in front of someone younger, ugh, he thinks to himself and starts walking upstairs, not listening. He’ll wait for Jongin to actually leave the house before making sure to go out to see Jongdae, the world can kill him a coward right now but he could really careless.
He wouldn’t be able to have a proper conversation with Jongin without stuttering and thinking back about the dream and flushing right on the spot, he is also feeling it against his palms sliding to touch his cheeks warming up at the turn his thoughts took.
He’s really going insane; he should have slept some more.
“I don’t remember raising such a son, you made the poor boy wait until he had to leave for school, that wasn’t nice.” Baekhyun hears his mom go on and on while packing a lunch box for him to hand over to Jongdae and the others, there isn’t even one for him he feels like telling her but thinks better of it and just sulks as he gathers the whole package in his arms.
“He’s a lovely boy, is he the one on the bike you wouldn’t stop drawing instead of studying?”
“Mom,” Baekhyun whines and turns to rush out of the door, “I’ll be back for dinner.” He says and sighs once he’s outside, just because she got hold of his sketchbook only once and it was that one time it’d taken over his mind and he’d just told his studies fuck it and started doodling the same thing all over his pages, it was just the bike and the back of a person, sometimes just the profile.
It’s been harder to touch his sketchbook lately because Baekhyun just knows what he’s going to find himself drawing and he doesn’t want to start on that yet, it’s going to be such a hassle to get rid of his pencil once he starts.
But he’s been in the mood to make more drawings lately, right after his last exam he started doodling in the corner of his exam paper before erasing it and finishing his questions really quickly, this is not just insanity, he doesn’t even have a name for it anymore.
Baekhyun sighs again, wondering how many years of his life he’s been giving away with so many sighing in just a week, “Do you need help with those?” He startles then and feels his heart leap once-twice, and he turns to look at where the voice came from before stepping aside and further from the shoulder leaning too closer to him.
“I thought you were gone.” Baekhyun can’t help but blurt out when he sees Jongin’s face brighten with a grin then Jongin shrugs and reaches for the wrapped lunch boxes, “I can play this game too.”
“What game?” Baekhyun asks while hesitating to let Jongin take hold of his package then just gives in when it seems like a lost battle. “Hide and seek?” Jongin says and it sounds like a question, though he says it with this little chuckle that always seems so lighthearted and free and Baekhyun wonders if he was like that too when he was younger?
Did he look so free like the world could go as he wanted it to? Like he could just reach out for someone’s bag and they’d let him hold it because he had a gentle aura around him at times, or they’d just shuffle away in fear because he could also have a threatening aura? It’s just weird, he doesn’t remember how it was to be so young.
Now he just sounds like he’s in his thirties or worse.
“I waited for your call.” Jongin breaks the silence when they stop at the bus stop and Baekhyun bites down on his bottom lip, eyes widening and now he remembers what his mind has been trying to tell him back in the bus nights ago and just, “Sorry! I’m sorry, I was so tired I just forgot this time.”
“I know,” Jongin laughs and shakes his head then, “I’m just forgiving you because I got to see your sleeping face though.” He adds and Baekhyun turns to him with eyes even wider, a bit confused and surprised, “You watched me sleep?” sounds like a normal question to ask then, but he realizes it also sounds stupid, how would Jongin watch him sleep? That’s dumb, he tells himself and waits for Jongin to laugh at him for even asking.
“For one or two hours? Or maybe three, your mom let me, she’s really nice, unlike you actually.” He ends up with a little pout but looks back at Baekhyun with a smile, “But she’s really straight to the point like you.”
“I’m not straightforward.” Baekhyun mumbles and takes his eyes off Jongin’s gentle laugh and turns pretending to check for the bus, “You are, in your own way, your face says it all.” Baekhyun looks down at the snow at their feet and sighs without parting his mouth, his face huh?
“Like an open book?” He asks with a little smile tugging his lips and Jongin laughs next to him, it’s nice, it’s soft and brushes past Baekhyun’s ears, he can’t help but steal a side glance and quickly looks away because Jongin caught it, “Maybe.”
“That’d be cheesy.” Baekhyun adds then, “Too cheesy.”
“Cheese is good though.” Jongin’s voice holds a little pout in it and Baekhyun’s laugh is gentle against the snow that starts falling more and more, “Once in awhile, maybe.” He agrees just for the fun of it, looks up at the snow and closes his eyes, this time when Baekhyun sighs it’s just because he kind of feels content.
“So, hyung,” Jongin calls to him and Baekhyun hums softly in response, “Can I have a date tomorrow, or is that too cheesy too?”
Baekhyun doesn’t open his eyes, wonders if the snow can melt against the burning rush of blood on his cheeks and shakes his head, “After my schedule, if I’m free, sure.” He tries hard not to stutter the words and swallows a snowflake that has him coughing and looking down.
“I’ll just wait in front of your university then,” Jongin laughs, slides the wrapped boxes on one arm and pats him gently on the back with the hand he’s made free, “Stay alive until then.”
“Ah,” Baekhyun remembers something and tries to stop coughing to sort it out, “You said you had a surprise for me.”
“Hum?” Jongin’s eyebrow arches up slowly before he lets out a snort and scoffs looking away, gathering the boxes back on both of his arms, “You didn’t call.”
Baekhyun wants to argue against that, that it wasn’t his fault, that of course he deserves to know what it would have been if he called but then the bus chooses that moment to stop by and all he does is swallow his words and follow Jongin inside. It’s only when they’re both sitting that Baekhyun snaps out of it, “Are you coming with me?!” He shouts and Jongin just nods, “Yes, I’m keeping an eye on you.”
When they get at Jongdae’s door and it opens Baekhyun tries to just ignore Jongdae looking at him with a confused expression with his yes going from Baekhyun to Jongin standing next to him and shrugs, “He says he’s keeping an eye on me?” He gives as an explanation and walks past him inside of the apartment.
“Does that mean it’s official?” Jongdae asks right after and Baekhyun thinks about how big of a mistake this is, but it’s too late, Jongin is laughing and going on with Jongdae’s work, “Not yet.” Is what he says, what does he even mean by not yet?
“Who did you bring?” Yixing asks and then they all gather in the hallway to see who is coming in holding their lunches, “I’m starving and you took your sweet time because of your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Baekhyun shoves Chanyeol away and further on the couch, “I’m going to eat your food just for being such an annoying little fucker.” He adds, though Chanyeol just laughs it off and uses his height advantage to tackle Baekhyun down on the couch and run to where Jongdae and Jongin are opening the lunch boxes.
“Don’t give one to him!” Baekhyun shouts as he tries to get up only to be pushed back down by Yixing who joins in, because of course, if one joins then everyone else has to.
“Jongin, Jongin-ah, help me, please?” Baekhyun calls through hiccups because Yixing’s fingers have started a tickling battle against his sides and he hates this game, he never wins when tickles, “You are not helping him.” Chanyeol says and slides an arm around Jongin’s shoulders, “Welcome to the club, kiddo.”
“Our most enjoyable thing in the world is torturing Byun Baekhyun.” Jongdae adds, chopsticks in hands and puts a piece of beef in his mouth.
“You can’t break this rule or we’ll kick you out.” Yixing yells from his spot on the couch, straddling Baekhyun who is still trying to come out from his eruption of non-interrupted laughter.
“I guess,” Jongin starts and shrugs with a grin, “Rules are rules.” He says and gets a pat on the back, “We love you already,” Chanyeol proudly hands him a pair of chopsticks.
Baekhyun whines and pushes Yixing off him then peeks above the couch, “I hate you all.” He says with a glare and he means it really, usually he can keep it for awhile before Yixing starts cooing Baekhyunnie and giving him fake kisses that are actually a cover for soft blow against his sensitive spots to make him squirm and swear.
But it flatters really quickly when he catches Jongin staring at him and finds himself unable to look away for what is just a second, but feels like an eternity and Baekhyun would throw up at how he just hears Jongdae awing and Chanyeol laughing at him, but he’s still in too much of a daze to do shit about it so he just looks down and lies back on the couch with an arm covering his face.
It’s tight, it’s so tight right there in his chest, but “It’s not so bad huh?” Yixing whispers softly against his ear, low enough for just the both of them to hear and Baekhyun smiles, pulling on his bottom lip with his teeth, yeah, it’s not so bad.
When are you going to be done? Baekhyun reads the message and quickly types back his answer while making sure to keep his eyes up from time to time so the teacher doesn’t notice, Last class, ending it in thirty minutes.
I’m tired of waiting, can I get a kiss for my patience? Baekhyun chokes out the word kiss and looks around quickly to make sure no on has heard him. He’s thankful this is happening during the only class he doesn’t have with the other three though, because he’d be dead right now if not.
No, just a date.
I wasn’t asking for permission you know.
What is that even supposed to mean? Baekhyun frowns at the text, you better not try anything or I will bite off your tongue.
How mean hyung, you should be nice to your boyfriend.
We’re not dating, just going on one date.
Same thing.
No, it’s not the same thing Baekhyun starts typing, “I’ll take that if you don’t mind, Mr, Byun.”
Shit, Baekhyun thinks and whines inwardly before putting his phone in the teacher’s stretched hand.
What surprises Baekhyun is that only Chanyeol is out with him this time, “Where are Yixing and Jongdae?” He asks because of just how weird it is and Chanyeol gets this weird expression on his face before sighing and shrugging, “Jongdae kind of-confessed?”
“Jongdae did?” Baekhyun doesn’t even mean to sound so loud, but he does and he knows it from how Chanyeol quickly covers his mouth and looks around, “Yes, but don’t worry about it, you should just go and enjoy your date.”
But, Baekhyun frowns, now he wants to know it all, how Yixing reacted, how did it go, just what happened while he wasn’t there?
“I’ll call you later and tell you everything yes.” Chanyeol chuckles and pats him on the shoulder, “Now please, stop making this boy wait, you’d be surprised actually, he told me some interesting things.”
“Who? Jongin? What did he say?”
“Ask him yourself.”
It seems everyone just wants to give him mysterious words he’s got to play riddles to figure out or has to embarrass himself asking to figure out, he hates it. He has enough of problems to resolve in his books he doesn’t need ones in his head and heart following him everywhere too.
“I hate you Jongin.” Baekhyun mumbles, puffing a cheek and refusing to smile back at jongin broad smile that stretches from one corner of his mouth to the other, wide and beaming right at him, just for him? That silly last thought has him walking towards Jongin faster and faster and not hesitating when he sees his outstretched hand to reach his own hand and slide it in his own.
He only realizes his gesture when Jongin squeezes his hand and tugs on it to pull him closer, leaning in as Baekhyun’s mind slowly makes its way back out of the gutter but his heart is still doing little somersaults inside his chest.
Baekhyun flinches and closes his eyes, feels stupid the moment he does it, but his breathing gets better and comes out and it’s still better than looking at Jongin’s face getting closer. Jongin’s breath tickles his cheek quickly before Baekhyun is sure he feels his mouth press a kiss there and he’s almost sad at how it withdraws itself.
Jongin’s lips aren’t warmth, but the heat on his face is enough to make it feel almost too warm for his already burning skin.
“There, that’s a kiss.” Jongin chuckles when he pulls back and Baekhyun peeks open one eye, “Yeah.” Baekhyun lets out in a breath with a sudden surge of courage that rises out of nowhere when he sees Jongin’s face still so close and his cheek still burning that makes him lean in and kiss Jongin’s smile.
“That’s a better kiss.” Baekhyun whispers, lips lingering on Jongin’s. He doesn’t get an answer in words, but in Jongin leaning back down with his free hand cradling Baekhyun’s cheek in the palm of his hand and his mouth pressed open against Baekhyun’s while breathing in Baekhyun’s deep intake of air.
It takes a minute of just light kissing, that starts lasting for longer and takes less time to breathe and more time to suck in each other’s breath for Baekhyun to let out a soft whimper and “Alright,” he stops him when Jongin’s about to go on and on to catch a breath and keeps his eyes cast down on Jongin’s mouth, less dry and more full “We should go.”
“One more.” Jongin protests softly leaning down again and it takes all of Baekhyun’s strength to shake his head and look away so Jongin’s mouth ends up touching his cheek, “Not fair.” He whines softly but presses a kiss to Baekhyun’s cheek anyways and giving in with a sigh.
“Fine, let’s go then.” Jongin’s hand stays in his own though, squeezing one more time before sliding his fingers in the spaces of Baekhyun’s fingers and walking them to his bike, “I get to ride on your bike, how nice.” Baekhyun snorts, though he’s really, really looking forward to this.
He’s never going to admit it or tell it to anyone, but he has wondered how it would feel to sit on the only backseat of this bike with his back pressed against Jongin’s back, or his arms around him and his chin or cheek pressed against his back.
He frowns when the dream comes back to him, he’s doubting more and more about that time being a dream, but if it was or not, he’d rather just not know for now.
“It’s my little baby, don’t offend her, she bites.”
“Is that supposed to make me laugh?” Baekhyun asks with a frown and gets on it with his back against Jongin’s, “Can I stay like this?” He asks and tilts his head, resting it against Jongin’s shoulder, “Sure.” Jongin shrugs, “Just don’t fall.”
Baekhyun laughs and clutches the seat; “You’ll be responsible for it if I do fall.”
Jongin doesn’t say anything and just starts riding it off the road and down the streets, Baekhyun closes his eyes and leans back against him without putting too much of his weight on him.
“Where are you taking me?”
“That’s a surprise.”
Baekhyun shrugs and opens his eyes to a snowflake poking his closed eyelids; he’s ready for surprises.
“You know, I had a bike too back in high school.” He remembers it now, why it caught his attention the first time. It’s the same model, the same size and Jongin’s uniform was just the same uniform on a student that reminded him of how he looked like before.
I know, Jongin thinks and keeps it to himself, just listening to Baekhyun go on and on about his high school life now.
Jongin thinks he’s never had wishes, or something he really needed. Though he’s been given anything he wanted in his life. He’s been spoiled from birth to his fifteen years old and there’s nothing in this world he wouldn’t ask and not get
But he’s been going to this new school for a month now and there’s one thing he’s found out he will probably never have. So he watches someone older than him get on this bike and looks at the backseat wondering if it’d be too weird of him to go up to him and ask him if he can sit there because he’s been dying too since the first time he saw it?
Probably, but then he gets pull out of his thoughts by one of the new friends he made faster than any other new kids could have done. But that’s just it, that’s normal, though he’s not focused on that, it used to amuse him before. But it’s just boring now, he wants more than that.
He wants to know how it’d feel to sit with his back pressed against someone else’s and look up at the sky. Maybe he should get a bike too? Though then he’d be the one riding, but it’d be better than having nothing, wouldn’t it?
He’s been wishing on stars, he’d wishing on random coinciding hours and minutes, he’s been wishing on the sky to let him see it from the backseat of that bike. He wishes and wishes and figures some things just never come true.
It’s only during the graduation ceremony when he sees him in the students that have to leave that Jongin realizes this might have been a crush he’s been harboring during the entire year and he might have fallen in love in the process of wanting to sit on that bike.
Fallen for the person who rides it, with his uniform open when he’s out of school, laughing with three other boys who Jongin always see with him. Friends who laugh and make each others fall off the bike and thinks nothing of it, just stay amused and laugh at the bruises and the indignant cries.
So after the graduation ceremony Jongin goes home and he asks for a bike, except, he tells his parents he wants to work for it. It seems weird at first, to let him work for his own money, but they let him be, they always let him be, so long as he’s happy being their only excuse.
This time though, Jongin is happy with himself to realize that he’s indeed happy when he gets the final paycheck and enough money to get the bike. He’s so happy he doesn’t watch out for the road down home until he hears a shriek and wheels screeching and he’s not sure why he doesn’t move at all when he sees a bike trying to not crash into him.
He just stands still frozen with his eyes on the rider more than on the bike until it stops right before hurting him. But Jongin doesn’t take his eyes off the boy until he’s off his bike and coming to him with apologies, checking to see if he’s hurt anywhere and “I’m sorry, do you live nearby? I’m so sorry.”
“Can I have a ride?” Jongin asks, interrupting his constant rambles and he holds his breath in, “Eh?” Jongin really thanks himself for being able to keep a straight face, he doesn’t even know how he pulls it off but he just does and it helps, “A ride? On my bike?” He asks like he’s not sure Jongin asked.
“Yeah, my home is close.”
There’s a moment of silence in which Jongin thinks this is so stupid, why did I ask? Then there’s another moment after he hears, “Sure.” Where he thinks why did I never ask before?
Jongin clutches the seat and hops on it without even waiting for another minute, he hears a laugh and hides the flush on his cheeks, he leans his back without putting all his weight on him and rests his head against his shoulder, “This is pretty.”
“Isn’t it? I love riding a bike because of the view and it feels great with the wind during summer.” Jongin likes how he laughs and it resonates from his throat all the way to his back and against his own.
Jongin mumbles words he’s been keeping away and shakes his head when he hears, “Did you say something?”
“Nothing,” He quickly adds, “Just that it feels good.” Even better than what he imagined.
But his previous words still floats in the wind, he wants to catch them and put them back where they belong, “Hey hyung,” Jongin waits for Baekhyun soft humming and sighs with the feeling of a heavy weight being lifted off his shoulders, “I really like you.”
“Why all of a sudden?” Baekhyun’s voice is lower, Jongin can swear he’s also bright red right now, he wants to see that, but the way Baekhyun presses closer to his back is enough of an answer, enough of a picture, “Just, I do.”
“Hum,” Baekhyun says after awhile, “I like you too.” He then adds and without really knowing why, Jongin starts laughing and he’s really delighted when Baekhyun joins in, though he slips in you’re a silly one, through his laughter.
But this finally feels like a complete ride.
Pairing: jongin/baekhyun, friendship!baekyeoljongyi (figureoutthisnameomfg)
Genre: romance
Rating: pg
Summary: the road to a perfect ride is on your bike.
Disclaimer: I just own the story, none of the boys.
a/n: i haven't written this much in awhile, i feel both exhausted, and accomplished but really just spent (it's been going on for a week IM SO DONE) i love this, it's different from things i've written before and kind of not so different, i don't know, it just felt really nice writing it. it might have a sequel with another pairing/coughs/
take a ride
It’s been going on for a week now, he gets in the bus sits by the window and he waits for the corner where he can start seeing the bicycle wheels appear and he knows this is pretty much a bit like stalking but he’s just going to keep persuading himself that it’s not stalking unless you follow the person.
Because he’s not following him of course, it’s just that he happens to ride his bicycle by here always at the same hour, wearing a high school uniform with his bag hanging around his shoulders. It makes him think of the time when he had to ride down the street to get to his school too, getting old makes you pay attention to really useless details, doesn’t it?
Baekhyun just figured if he’s intrigued why not make his life even better by always trying to catch sight of him while he’s taking the bus to his university and well, it just turns out that it’s been going on for a week now.
It’s not like he’s been counting the days either, ah who is he lying to, he’s been counting every minutes it takes for the bicycle to ride next to the bus and every minutes it takes for it to turn left while the bus just goes straight and Baekhyun has to turn around and look at it disappear then turn back in his seat with a sigh and a small smile on his face.
“I’m an idiot.” He mumbles to himself again and he’s pretty sure he’s said this a lot of times already.
“You know, you could try and tap on the window to get his attention?” Baekhyun looks up with a frown at Jongdae who just shrugs, “It was just an idea, it might at least give you an idea of what he looks like from the front and not just from his side profile you know?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol’s voice cuts in and he drops next to Baekhyun, trapping him between him and Jongdae and then Baekhyun remembers why he was in a hurry earlier to leave and go sit in the front. But it’s too late, he’s stuck as soon as the professor walks in and he sighs knowing he won’t be able to keep up with today’s lesson.
“Since when do you even like younger ones?” Jongdae leans in and says in a hushed voice, well he thinks it’s a hushed voice but Baekhyun is pretty sure anyone close by can hear him, Jongdae doesn’t have a whispering voice because he’s been hanging way too much with Chanyeol and Yixing.
“I don’t like younger ones, don’t make it sound like I’ve always-why are we even talking about this?” The thing is Baekhyun too, doesn’t have a whispering voice, and he’s never been one to have that kind of voice, he’s just always been loud and bit too cheery at times. But he blames it all on his circle of friends really.
“Because it’s been years after you got over your crush on Chanyeol that you haven’t shown interest in anyone?” Jongdae says with this voice that sounds like it’s so obvious anyone would be asking this question of they knew Baekhyun’s love life and it’s not, first of.
“I never had a crush on Chanyeol.” Baekhyun says and tries to keep his voice low, “Yes you did.” That’s Chanyeol who is leaning in way too close and Baekhyun sighs and turns to shot his said best friend a glare, “Not true.”
“It’s not like you ever admitted it.” Jongdae points out and Chanyeol hums softly nodding in agreement, “But we all knew it.”
“You mean you just assumed it?” Baekhyun scoffs and then tries to pick up on some of the words the teacher is saying when he feels him looking up at their desk, “Anyone who would have a crush on Chanyeol should be doomed to a pitiful love life.” Baekhyun mumbles and hopes, hopes this will close this topic but apparently not, Jongdae bursts out laughing.
Chanyeol gives Baekhyun a tap on his back that actually hurts and he ends up choking and nearly screaming out in pain but when he tries to stop it it comes out in a squeak he immediately knows everyone in the classroom heard when the professor’s voice stops.
“Are you guys done or would you like to take this outside?”
Baekhyun clears his throat and lowers his head, he needs new friends, “I’m great.” Chanyeol chuckles next to him.
Baekhyun is wrapping his scarf around him and walking to his bus stop when he actually feels trouble coming to him, it just works that way with the three people who appears soon as he thinks about it and yeah he just shakes his head, “No, you guys go your own fucking way.”
“Hey come on now, we’ve decided you need help from your best friends.” Jongdae says and swings an arm around Baekhyun pulling him close to his side and squeezing his shoulder.
“To woo your high school boy.” Yixing adds, standing right behind and deciding sliding his arms on Baekhyun’s shoulders is a good idea to make him stumble just great. Then there’s Chanyeol who just reaches a hand for Baekhyun’s neck and he lets out a soft chuckle before pulling away with a sigh.
“What would I be without my sidekicks huh?”
“Exactly,” Chanyeol follows then frowns when the other two gives him a stern look and he laughs scratching the back of his head, “What? Being sidekick isn’t good?”
That, now that makes Baekhyun laugh though he gets a few red bruises from pinches on his cheeks and he’s sure his shoulders are going to need a good hour of resting once he gets to the safety of his apartment.
“Wait, you guys aren’t actually serious are you?” Baekhyun stops when they get at the bus station and he doesn’t like the look on their three faces, he really doesn’t.
He should have just kept his mouth shut, Baekhyun thinks an wants the ground to swallow him because of all people they had to put Chanyeol right next to the window and if Chanyeol wants someone attention, he will get it no matter what. They’re nearing it too and the closer they get the lower Baekhyun sinks in his chair.
“Don’t do it, I beg of you, I’ll do anything you want.”
“Anything?” That takes Jongdae off his surveillance position to look at Baekhyun with a mischievous smile and he shrinks even more in his seat, “Well, not-yeah anything.” He nods quickly when he sees Chanyeol holding a book against the window, “Anything!” He repeats and reaches to stop Chanyeol, they’re there, so close he’s probably going to pass by soon.
Baekhyun peeks over Chanyeol to make sure to at least catch sight of him before he rides by.
“Alright, then get down at the next bus station and run after his bike.”
Like hell he’s going to do that, “Or Chanyeol will bang on the window hard enough to either make the bus driver arrest us or your little high school boy see you make a fool out of yourself.”
“You guys are the worst, worst ever.” Baekhyun sighs and hides his face in his hands, he’d rather just get swallowed by the ground than actually do what they’re asking him to do. But he’s got no time to argue against it that he can feel Yixing laughing and already pulling him up after ringing for the next stop and no, no, Baekhyun prays for the bicycle to be gone by the time he’s out of the bus this way he gets rid of this stupid thing and also of his stupid best friends.
“We’re coming with you, to make sure you do it of course.” Jongdae says as Baekhyun walks down the bus stairs and then he knows he’s pretty much doomed because that’s the exact time that stupid bike decide to appear and Baekhyun looks for an exit and tries to go back to the bus quickly but too late.
It’s gone and Baekhyun’s pride is gone with it too he thinks and turns away from the bike, “Nope, I’m going to walk to the nxt bus station.” Baekhyun makes for a run but Chanyeol catches his hand before he’s even made two steps away and starts dragging him while running after the fucking bike.
“Park Chanyeol, stop, I swear I’m going to kill you all!” Baekhyun shouts but knows it’s no help, not with all of them laughing and this would be a fun outing with them if it wasn’t for the fact that they are bringing people’s attention to them and Chanyeol keeps screaming “Hey,” Behind the bike and he’s gonna look, he’s gonna look.
Chanyeol legs are so much longer than Baekhyun and when they start going faster and faster, so fast that even Jongdae and Yixing can’t keep up.
Baekhyun looks down at his legs to not trip over them and when he looks up to see why Chanyeol has slowed down a bit, he notices he’s running next to the bike, he’s actually fucking running next to the bike.
When he realizes so Baekhyun looks up at his side quickly and catches sight of the boy looking alarmed fuck he’s scared too and he loses it, he loses balance, control of his feet and lets go of Chanyeol’s hand reaching into nothing really and this feels like an awful comedy movie where he’s the one being made fun of.
It’s hard to breathe when he falls to his knees and he’s sure he’s got a scratch or two, his legs are dead weight under him and his bangs are sticking to his forehead from too much sweating, his heart is thumping so loudly against his ears and chest and he’s not even sure if it’s because of the race or the fact that he got so close the bike.
He was right next to it and the more he thinks about it the more he tries to control his breathing that seems to start mixing itself with a laughter that Baekhyun lets out in between pants.
“You okay there?”
Baekhyun nods and sees knees crouching down in front of him, “Yeah,” He nods again and his panting starts getting slower, his breathing more stable and he feels the cold sweat that follows afterwards during winter. He chuckles a bit because he should be mad but he’s got this light feeling in his chest, “But that was fucking crazy!” He shouts and straightens his head, thinking of seeing Chanyeol or Yixing or Jongdae, he might have like that better than the tilt of a head that is observing him with a little amused smirk and a quirked eyebrow.
“Who are you?” Baekhyun says with a frown and tries to stand up at the same time but stumbles again and is steadied with a hand that wraps itself tight around his arm, “The guy you were chasing?” He’s asking it in this little sarcastic tone that Baekhyun swears Jongdae has learned to master with time and then, then Baekhyun feels himself reddening from his neck up to his face and goddamn.
Baekhyun quickly pulls his arm free and steps back.
“I’m sorry,” He mumbles and then turns to make a run for it, fucking hell this is the worst day of his life he thinks and lets his legs take him further and faster too. Baekhyun closes his eyes, he’s cold, and he’s run way too much, he doesn’t want to talk to any of his friends ever again.
He doesn’t even stop when he hears wait, what for? He thinks and sighs in relief at the sight of his bus coming and dashes head first to catch it.
Once he’s inside in his seat he looks out of the window and sees the boy running by, waving a hand in the air but Baekhyun looks away and slides until he can’t see anything.
This day never happened.
Except it did happen and it didn’t end there.
“I’m not talking to you,” Baekhyun walks by and ignores Jongdae apologetic face, “Or you,” He ignores Yixing’s too “Especially not you.” He sighs and passes them all to get to his usually walk to the bus stop.
“It was fun, admit it.” Jongdae tries with this little voice he uses when he knows he’s done something wrong but he just won’t say sorry for it so he tries to make it look like it wasn’t that bad, “Oh, no, not at all, I lost my purse and my phone, but no big deal that I fucking am not even able to prove who I am right now.” He’s not pouting, except yes, he is and he fucking hates this.
“Where did you guys even disappear to after all of that?!” Baekhyun stops suddenly and turns to stop them all with a frown and a glare, “I just want to go home and sleep, it’s cold and I’ve got homework.” He sighs, “I’ll just go sulk until they find my purse and phone.”
“Do you know I’ve got exams to attend with my id and stuff?” He goes on though because he knows they’re following him, they won’t stop until they’re sure he’s forgiven at least a bit, “Do you know exams are coming soon and I’ve never complained so much in my whole life?” Baekhyun closes his eyes and shakes his head when he starts hearing Jongdae’s voice.
“No, really Baekhyun stop.” Jongdae repeats and Baekhyun stops to look at him, “What now?” He doesn’t mean for it to sound so loud but it does, he’s exhausted, he’s never been so tired, and all of this because of goddamn studies, he waits but Jongdae doesn’t say a word and just grabs his shoulders and turns him to face the other side.
“Stop whining and look who’s there.”
Baekhyun has to squint to see what all the fuss is about, because apparently everyone is gathering around the same spot and well there’s someone standing in the middle but so what? “Who?” He asks again, frowning, “I really don’t have time for this, you guys!” He tries to shrug his shoulders out of Jongdae’s grasp.
“I think it’s your high school boy.” Yixing walks next to them and Chanyeol confirms with a “Yeah, it is, looks like he’s also popular.” because he’s so tall he can see what the others can’t, “First of guys he’s not my high school boy, ugh, what does that have to do with me, I’d rather not meet his path ever again.”
“Bullshit, we didn’t run during winter and nearly got you killed for nothing.” Chanyeol says and stops him from going anywhere, before he knows it all three are pushing him towards the crowd and no, “Stop this, honestly stop!” that comes out a bit too loud and then Baekhyun stops and looks around because it’s suddenly too silent.
“Shit.” He says as soon as he sees the crowd has moved and said high school boy has now spotted him, then he waves a hand and shouts “Hey,” in their direction and Baekhyun’s eyes widen before he shakes his head “I’m out of here.” Baekhyun turns and this time he escapes the three of them and starts walking as fast as he can.
“Can you stop? I’ve got things you might want back!”
Baekhyun hesitates, nibbling on his bottom lip and tucks his hands in his coat’s pockets then huffs and hides his face in the scarf around his neck before turning around and he waits, not daring to actually look up.
He keeps his eyes down on the snow covered path until his sight catches a hand and his purse and is that his phone and he quickly reaches for them but the hand pulls back. “Yah,” Baekhyun looks up immediately and regrets it but too late.
“Now you’re interested?” Baekhyun hears him say and tries as hard as he can to not just right out flush in embarrassment, so he takes a deep breath in and opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted again, “I put my number in here.” Baekhyun’s eyes widen slightly before drawing close in a frown, and he asks with a muffled voice “What for?”
“I thought you might need it next time, instead of running after my bike.” The boy grins and this is so not okay, Baekhyun is older than this guy right there, “Thank you but that wasn’t needed at all.” He says and reaches out a hand, “Give them back.”
Baekhyun sees him shrug and then puts the phone and purse in his hand, but he doesn’t let it go then, he just takes a step forward and Baekhyun steps back immediately, “What are yo-”
“Jongin.” He says with an amused smile this time, it’s softer too and makes him look even younger.
But now Baekhyun is really lost so all he can blurt is a quick “What?” and then he catches on, it’s not at all because he looks behind and sees Chanyeol shaking his head while Yixing is just hiding his face in his palm as if ashamed and Jongdae is just giving him a mocking smirk, “My name is Jongin.”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun says and nods, “I got it-Jongin.” And then he waits for Jongin to let go of his hand and his things too but nothing happens, Baekhyun looks up and sees an expectant eyebrow arched up on his face and he frowns, “Now what?”
Jongin laughs then and it makes Baekhyun squirm on spot because he doesn’t know what he’s being laughed at for, then Jongin stops and shrugs, “What’s your name?” He says and tilts his head, back to a serious face and Baekhyun literally wants to hit his head.
“Oh,” Baekhyun says softly then quickly picks up after that weak reply, “Baekhyun.” He mumbles reluctantly, “But it’s Baekhyun hyung for you.” He adds quickly and then tugs on his hand, “Or just hyung.”
“Alright, Baekhyun hyung.” Jongin nods and finally let go of Baekhyun’s hands with his purse and phone too. “Thanks.” Baekhyun mumbles clutching at his belongings, his hand still warm but there’s no way he’s pulling his face out of the scarf because he can also feel it warming, he’s pretty sure Jongin flashing him a bright smile then waving before running to where Baekhyun tilted his head to see him get on his bike.
“Stupid bike.” Baekhyun pouts and then finally breathes out of the scarf, pushing it down with his free hand and tucking his purse and phone in the other pocket.
“So?” He snatches his eyes from Jongin riding away and looks in front of him to find Jongdae smirking and reaching a hand to pat his shoulder, “We did a good job didn’t we?”
“No.” Baekhyun says and frowns, he’s not even close to how mad he was before. It’s just gone and he hates it, but then before he can add more he feels his phone vibrate against his hand and pulls it out to read a name on the screen that has him gaping at his phone with wide eyes.
‘Your high school boy’
“My-what,” Baekhyun opens his phone and reads the message quickly, Say thanks to your tall friend for telling me a lot of things about you, you have to call alright?
Baekhyun looks up eyes on Chanyeol, “What did you tell him?” He asks and steps forward only to see Chanyeol step backward, “Chanyeol.” Baekhyun’s voice sounds threatening and it looks like Jongdae and Yixing are kind of lost though from Baekhyun’s expression they can tell Chanyeol won’t get out of this one alive.
“I-I’ll see you later!” Chanyeol exclaims and makes a run for it but with Baekhyun running after him, “I’ll kill you when I catch you, you better run till you’re tired you fucking-” the rest of it dies with Jongdae and Yixing laughing behind.
It helps that the week after that is filled with exams and studying and even if Baekhyun is still a bit mad at all of them, they study together and it kinds of return back to normal. It’s like he’s never been through all the embarrassing events that happened the week before.
He also doesn’t take the last bus anymore, so he hasn’t seen Jongin riding for the whole week. It’s not that he’s avoiding him, he just has to get to the university really early because he has group studies and he’s got no time to think about how his phone probably vibrated more than two times during the week.
“I wanna die.” Yixing sighs and bumps his head on the table; they all want to die actually. Baekhyun is pretty sure he has the ugliest bags he’s ever had, this semester is kind of harder than the last one, which is making them all look pretty pathetic right now.
Chanyeol is also less cheery though not that much less, he just loses it when he doesn’t have his usual cup of coffee and stays calm until he’s done studying then he collapses in his room for two days and doesn’t come out until he’s fully hibernated. Jongdae comes to class but ends up sleeping through most of his morning ones, Yixing just doesn’t even bother, he goes out and says fuck it all until he’s less angry for being kept up for so long because of exams.
Baekhyun joins either Yixing, or Jongdae or Chanyeol, depending on what he feels like doing. But most of the times though he ends up with Chanyeol and Jongdae whines when he does so because he has to take notes for all of them.
“You can die once you’re done calculating this one, I’m stuck, help me.” Jongdae pokes Yixing’s side with the back of his pencil and Yixing squirms, “Gross, you put that side of it in your mouth, don’t touch me with it.” Yixing whines but lifts his head off the table and leans in to look at Jongdae’s paper, “Where?”
Baekhyun glances up from his own work at the both of them and stops an annoyed sigh from coming out of his mouth, pursing his lips tightly and frowning when Chanyeol snorts and does the embarrassing job for him. It’s pretty obvious though, Baekhyun thinks while looking at Chanyeol and quirking an eyebrow quickly in a mocking way, since when does Jongdae needs help in any of their classes?
After Chanyeol he’s the best one in their physics class. It’s always amazed them all how Yixing can be so oblivious, like honestly, anyone can see Jongdae really likes him, and has been stuck on him since their last year of high school basically. It’s really kind of funny and sad too, how flustered Jongdae gets next to him and thinks no one sees it.
Right, Baekhyun thinks and sighs anyways tearing his eyes off Jongdae’s whole attention given to Yixing’s face and lips moving, pretty sure he’s not even listening to a word of what Yixing’s saying, maybe just listening to his voice.
“You’re staring.” Chanyeol says softly and coughs grinning down at his paper like he hasn’t said a word and Jongdae snaps out of it to look up with a light flush on his cheeks.
“Who?” Yixing stops talking and ask, Baekhyun can’t help but throw his eraser at Chanyeol for meddling, “Nothing, you guys go on.” He says and basks in how Jongdae gets more flustered, shakes his head then stands up and “I’ll be back.” runs away.
Yixing looks so confused for a moment but then shrugs it off and grabs Jongdae’s paper to start scribbling more explanations, there’s no way someone can be so oblivious is there? Oh, well, it’s none of his business, Baekhyun thinks and focuses back on his own problems still clear on his sheet and still unresolved, he’s going to be bald soon with all of those things he has to put in his head.
He’s been ignoring his phone for so long that when he hears it ring on the table he jolts up and quickly reaches for it, if the librarian hears this he’s going to fucking kill him, “Shit,” Baekhyun quickly taps his password and picks it up without thinking, just hurrying to get it to shut the fuck up because if not the librarian, then the others student are going to make his life shorter.
“Hello?” He sighs once he’s picked it up, “Baekhyun hyung, I didn’t take you for a liar.” Baekhyun wants to hit himself so hard he might actually collapse and wake up with no more school work, no more annoying little life that keeps fucking him up-he pulls his phone off his ears instead to look at the ID and he hates himself for picking up the call already.
“I’m not a liar.” Baekhyun says and tries to keep his voice low, which is quite easy because he’s exhausted and grump and he just wants to be done with this, “Look I’m busy right now, I can’t talk, so bye.” He quickly tries to hang up, “I just need ten minutes.” Jongin says then and the little teasing note that was in his voice seems to be gone, that’s the only reason why Baekhyun gives in, the only one.
“I’ll be back.” He tells Chanyeol and Yixing and hurries to the bathroom, “Fine, what is it?” He asks, hopping on the sink counter, “You never picked up my calls.” Baekhyun feels a pang of guilt hit him because goddamn, Jongin sounds really disappointed and it never occurred to him that this would affect him at all.
He’s quite young, and pretty and handsome and he’s got a really cute smile-ugh stop, “I’ve been busy with exams.” Baekhyun blurts his only excuse which is kind of lame, he could have still picked up his calls or texted him back to tell him that instead of being a total douche and just right out ignoring him, “Sorry.” He adds softly when he realizes it.
“I guess it can’t be helped if it’s your exams that’s making you ignore me.” Another trip to the guilt country, Baekhyun clenches his fingers on the phone and nibbles on his bottom lip, “I wasn’t ignoring you.” He mumbles and is sure his lie can be figured out even from other the phone, “Don’t lie.”
Baekhyun sighs and rubs his temple, “Look, I’m sorry, really, I just-have a lot going on right now and I didn’t mean to ignore you, I just don’t have the time right now, so I-” he stops himself and licks his bottom lip in before letting it go and finding his words back, “I promise to give you a call once I get the time to, alright?”
He hears Jongin laughs softly and Baekhyun bites down a little groan, it’s a sound he really loves and he’s heard it only once, he’s really crazy isn’t he? “Don’t make promises you won’t keep.”
“No,” Baekhyun protests quickly, “I will keep it.”
“Really?” Baekhyun likes this hopeful tone in his voice more than the dejected and disappointed one, he finds himself smiling and pressing his hand against the smile, but it doesn’t disappear, not totally, “Yeah.” He says because he doesn’t know what else to say.
“Then this time I’m really waiting for it, you can’t break this promise.” Jongin’s voice picks up to his usual amused one and Baekhyun’s smile turns into a soft laugh sighed through his nose as he nods, “Alright, now I need to go back to studying.” he feels reluctant though, to hang up and go back to hell.
“Yeah, I shouldn’t keep you away from that, sorry.” Baekhyun won’t lie, he feels a bit disappointed that Jongin gives in just like that, but all he can do about it is pout and get off the sink counter, “Bye then,”
“Ah wait,” Baekhyun stops himself from hanging up, “Hum?”
“Good luck on your exams, don’t die while studying please, I’ll need you alive when you do call.” Baekhyun laughs and quickly stops himself when he hears Jongin laugh too, “Okay, I got it, now I’m really hanging up.”
“Wait again.” Baekhyun stops and rolls his eyes because Jongin laughs then, like he can see that, “I’ll get you something if you pass your exams and call.”
What? “Why would you get me-”
“Bye.” Baekhyun stays still because he’s just been hung up on, Jongin just fucking hung up on him.
It’s not like he needs that kind of thing to pass his exams, he always pass them no matter how mad the studying made him go. Still, what is this guy thinking about? Get him something what for? This is a hassle, now he really has to call him, he hates having to make promises he knows he can’t break.
But he’s not going to lie he has to hide his face when he walks back to their table because he’s feeling this stupid grin etch itself on his face and he doesn’t need to look like another Jongdae.
“Who was it?” Yixing asks and Baekhyun just tries to shrug casually as he takes back his seat, “Who else, his-”
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun gives him a look that obviously tells him to shut up and Chanyeol just sulk and gets back to his notes, he’s gotten a good week of glares and tricks because of what he told Jongin, he’d rather wait for the Baekhyun storm to pass before starting a new one.
“So?” Yixing asks again since Chanyeol is forbidden from saying anything.
Baekhyun nibbles on the end of his pencil and tries to focus on the problems, “No one important.” He answers Yixing.
But really, Yixing gets his answer when Jongdae comes back and leans over Baekhyun’s shoulder to read what he’s scribble, laughs, “Baekhyun’s obsessed.” And goes to sit next to Yixing, “his whole notebook corners is filled with ‘Jongin, Jongin.’”
Baekhyun throws his pencil at Jongdae and hides his face with his book that obviously Chanyeol has to clear his throat and tell him, “Your book is upside down, Baek.”
Goddamn life.
Baekhyun opts for the Chanyeol hibernating way once he’s done with his last exam and in the bus taking him home. He’s going to need more than two days of sleep to repair all the damage caused to his brains, but it will put his physical state back to work at least.
He presses his forehead against the window and peers outside with a frown, knowing he’s forgetting something but he really can’t put a finger on it, so instead of dwelling on it he closes his eyes and tries not to fall asleep, he wouldn’t want to miss his stop.
But it only takes him about two minutes before he’s dozing off.
He wakes up mainly because his conscious comes back to him in the form of a reminder that he’s still in the bus and it’s shaking, then that something is slapping his cheek and Baekhyun frowns and lifts a hand to get rid of it, it stings even if it doesn’t hurt that much.
“What?” He asks, “You’re going to miss your stop.” Baekhyun straightens after a few seconds of registering the information and shakes his head, when he feels a pain in his neck and tries to stretch to get rid of it.
“Oh, thank you.” He turns to whoever woke him up with a yawn that he quickly hides behind his hand flushing bright because Jongin is looking at him, and maybe he’s still dreaming, Baekhyun thinks with the urge to slap himself awake. But it’s probably not a good idea.
“What are you doing here?” He manages with a bit of stuttering; Jongin shrugs and rolls his right left shoulder, “Lending my shoulder as a pillow?” Baekhyun looks down at Jongin’s shoulder then back at his face with a confused frown, then remembers he fell asleep with his head on the window and woke up with it somewhere else.
“Did I-” He starts but doesn’t finish his question simply pointing to Jongin’s shoulder and Jongin nods laughing at how Baekhyun turns a brighter shade of red, he deserves to be made fun of Baekhyun thinks and remembers why he was awaken to begin with, “Oh, my stop!” He exclaims and starts pushing against Jongin’s shoulder.
“Careful,” Jongin laughs even louder and moves out of the way but follows behind him while Baekhyun rushes before the bus closes its door. Baekhyun sighs and stretches once he gets back in the cold, then tightens the coat around him and turns when he’s still hearing Jongin’s laughing behind him.
“Are you following me?” He asks, though he’s sure he should be worried about something else, but he’s still sleepy and tired and another yawn makes his way to his mouth and gets covered by both of his hands this time.
“You look tired, let’s go.” Jongin says without answering his question, but Baekhyun just nods and lets it slide, just for now, he’ll ask later maybe, his eyelids are heavy and he’s not sure he’d be up to keep a conversation going.
There’s nothing but the sound of their feet in the snow, Baekhyun’s steps mismatched with Jongin’s and a little slower too, he closes his eyes for a second and almost misses a step-he would have fallen if not for Jongin’s hand tight around his arm, “Sorry,” Baekhyun says and pulls his arm free then fails to take another step forward with his world starting to spin as soon as he does so.
“I think it’s a good thing I live nearby hyung, you really look out of it.” Jongin leans into his face with a worried frown and Baekhyun blinks and shakes his head, “I’m fine, just tired.” He starts and his body fails to keep justice to his words because his legs starts giving in, and he might have worked himself harder than before for this exam week.
“Sorry, I just need to sit for awhile, you can go ahead.”
“Yeah, sure, like I’ll let you die in the snow.” Jongin chuckles though he still looks a bit worried but he’s amused at how Baekhyun pouts lightly and seems offended but can’t come up with an answer to that. Jongin takes this opportunity to come right in front of Baekhyun and crouch down, “Get on my back.”
“No.” Baekhyun snaps a bit out of it and really tries to move but he can’t then he sighs and looks down at Jongin who has his head turned to look at him with a little smirk, “Stop being stubborn.” Jongin adds and Baekhyun hears this little whining voice in the back of his head, he already hates this idea before he even agrees to it and finds himself obediently getting on Jongin’s back with his arms and legs tightening their hold when Jongin stands up.
Jongin’s arms slides under his knees and Baekhyun is not going to deny that it makes it easier to just let his legs fall rather than lock his ankles in the front and well, this isn’t so bad, he yawns and presses his forehead to Jongin’s back, then his cheek.
“Comfortable enough?” Jongin asks and Baekhyun hums softly, having no more strength to deny anything anymore, “Thank you.” He adds right before he feels himself falling asleep again; he really can’t stay awake anymore, not with this warmth that’s spreading from Jongin’s back to the softness of his coat.
Baekhyun’s arms tighten just a little bit around Jongin and he sighs with a small smile that barely stretches the corner of his mouth.
Hibernating turns out as an obligation to survive for Baekhyun, when he wakes up and really is conscious of where he is, he looks at the clock and it’s way too early to be up, then he reaches for his phone because he’s sure he’s been out for hours, maybe an entire day.
But he reads the date and quickly sits in his bed because he’s been out of it for three whole days. There’s something damp on his lap and he looks down to see a wet towel, Baekhyun touches a hand to his forehead and feels it also moist. He grabs the towel then and starts getting out of bed.
His mom probably did this, either her or Jongdae or Chanyeol or Yixing, he doesn’t even remember how he got back in his bed or how he got back to his home. He remembers the bus ride, he also remembers waking up and seeing Jongin, but that was probably a dream.
Baekhyun takes the stairs down to the living room, following his mother’s voice that he recognizes through the light pounding of a headache that’s ready to grow stronger, “Mom?” He calls out while making his way to her and catches another voice, she’s talking to someone else.
“Mom,” He calls again when he spots her at the door, holding it open, “Who’s there?” He says that softly just in case it’s one of those neighbors who can’t help but talk and ask about his whole life whenever they come for a visit, he really doesn’t feel in the mood for that.
“Oh, he’s awake!” his mom beams at him and then opens the door widely, “Come in.” Baekhyun shakes his head and his hands, “No, no.” He mumbles to her and sighs dejectedly when she totally ignores him and lets the person inside, he should just walk back to his room and pretend sickness.
“Hey,” Baekhyun stops though and stares bewildered at a smiling Jongin waving at him, “Oh-hey?” He then looks at his mom with a frown and back at himself, wearing his pajamas still and back at Jongin, “I’ll go change.” Baekhyun says and quickly makes his way upstairs before anyone can stop him.
He’s wearing a really mortified expression when he hears his mom laugh at him.
Baekhyun comes back downstairs, tucked in a comfortable pair of joggings and a t-shirt, hair damp because he decided a shower was most definitely needed, feeling refreshed and better than when he woke up earlier.
Then stops when he hears his mom and Jongin’s voice coming from the living room before shaking his head at how silly this is right now, him getting all flustered and not wanting to actually show himself because of a high school boy.
Baekhyun blames this on the dream he had before he woke up though, he definitely dreamed of Jongin taking him home on his back and putting him to bed, it’s blurry but it’s embarrassing. How is he supposed to face him knowing he’s been so obsessed like Jongdae would say that he’s even now dreaming of the guy sitting in his living room right now?
“So Jongin-ah, do you like my son?” Baekhyun has to bring both of his hands to cover his mouth when his mom just right out blur that question, why is she asking such a thing to a guy? Wait, he shouldn’t even be surprised, this is how he found out Chanyeol saw hi mas just a friend and nothing more.
Not that he ever admitted having a crush on Chanyeol to begin with, or even telling her he had a thing for men, she just figured it out on her own, she figures everything on her own and then she kind of drags his father into accepting it if it’s something she’s sure he’s going to be too difficult about.
Right now though, Baekhyun isn’t the only one choking, he could hear Jongin coughing like he just swallowed something the wrong way, probably one of her tea or water, Baekhyun can’t help the little silent chuckle he lets out behind his hands.
“I can’t really tell right now, but I think he’s the one who likes me.” He shouldn’t be listening to this Baekhyun thinks with a frown, so Jongin thinks he likes him? That’s so not true, crushing and liking are on different levels, and liking and loving too and loving and being in love, he would come out of his hiding and stop the conversation before it goes further, but really that would put him in a really embarrassing position now.
“Oh, that I’m sure he does.” Baekhyun clenches his eyes shut and moves his hands to cover his ears, I’m twenty-one years old I don’t need to listen to my mom embarrass me in front of someone younger, ugh, he thinks to himself and starts walking upstairs, not listening. He’ll wait for Jongin to actually leave the house before making sure to go out to see Jongdae, the world can kill him a coward right now but he could really careless.
He wouldn’t be able to have a proper conversation with Jongin without stuttering and thinking back about the dream and flushing right on the spot, he is also feeling it against his palms sliding to touch his cheeks warming up at the turn his thoughts took.
He’s really going insane; he should have slept some more.
“I don’t remember raising such a son, you made the poor boy wait until he had to leave for school, that wasn’t nice.” Baekhyun hears his mom go on and on while packing a lunch box for him to hand over to Jongdae and the others, there isn’t even one for him he feels like telling her but thinks better of it and just sulks as he gathers the whole package in his arms.
“He’s a lovely boy, is he the one on the bike you wouldn’t stop drawing instead of studying?”
“Mom,” Baekhyun whines and turns to rush out of the door, “I’ll be back for dinner.” He says and sighs once he’s outside, just because she got hold of his sketchbook only once and it was that one time it’d taken over his mind and he’d just told his studies fuck it and started doodling the same thing all over his pages, it was just the bike and the back of a person, sometimes just the profile.
It’s been harder to touch his sketchbook lately because Baekhyun just knows what he’s going to find himself drawing and he doesn’t want to start on that yet, it’s going to be such a hassle to get rid of his pencil once he starts.
But he’s been in the mood to make more drawings lately, right after his last exam he started doodling in the corner of his exam paper before erasing it and finishing his questions really quickly, this is not just insanity, he doesn’t even have a name for it anymore.
Baekhyun sighs again, wondering how many years of his life he’s been giving away with so many sighing in just a week, “Do you need help with those?” He startles then and feels his heart leap once-twice, and he turns to look at where the voice came from before stepping aside and further from the shoulder leaning too closer to him.
“I thought you were gone.” Baekhyun can’t help but blurt out when he sees Jongin’s face brighten with a grin then Jongin shrugs and reaches for the wrapped lunch boxes, “I can play this game too.”
“What game?” Baekhyun asks while hesitating to let Jongin take hold of his package then just gives in when it seems like a lost battle. “Hide and seek?” Jongin says and it sounds like a question, though he says it with this little chuckle that always seems so lighthearted and free and Baekhyun wonders if he was like that too when he was younger?
Did he look so free like the world could go as he wanted it to? Like he could just reach out for someone’s bag and they’d let him hold it because he had a gentle aura around him at times, or they’d just shuffle away in fear because he could also have a threatening aura? It’s just weird, he doesn’t remember how it was to be so young.
Now he just sounds like he’s in his thirties or worse.
“I waited for your call.” Jongin breaks the silence when they stop at the bus stop and Baekhyun bites down on his bottom lip, eyes widening and now he remembers what his mind has been trying to tell him back in the bus nights ago and just, “Sorry! I’m sorry, I was so tired I just forgot this time.”
“I know,” Jongin laughs and shakes his head then, “I’m just forgiving you because I got to see your sleeping face though.” He adds and Baekhyun turns to him with eyes even wider, a bit confused and surprised, “You watched me sleep?” sounds like a normal question to ask then, but he realizes it also sounds stupid, how would Jongin watch him sleep? That’s dumb, he tells himself and waits for Jongin to laugh at him for even asking.
“For one or two hours? Or maybe three, your mom let me, she’s really nice, unlike you actually.” He ends up with a little pout but looks back at Baekhyun with a smile, “But she’s really straight to the point like you.”
“I’m not straightforward.” Baekhyun mumbles and takes his eyes off Jongin’s gentle laugh and turns pretending to check for the bus, “You are, in your own way, your face says it all.” Baekhyun looks down at the snow at their feet and sighs without parting his mouth, his face huh?
“Like an open book?” He asks with a little smile tugging his lips and Jongin laughs next to him, it’s nice, it’s soft and brushes past Baekhyun’s ears, he can’t help but steal a side glance and quickly looks away because Jongin caught it, “Maybe.”
“That’d be cheesy.” Baekhyun adds then, “Too cheesy.”
“Cheese is good though.” Jongin’s voice holds a little pout in it and Baekhyun’s laugh is gentle against the snow that starts falling more and more, “Once in awhile, maybe.” He agrees just for the fun of it, looks up at the snow and closes his eyes, this time when Baekhyun sighs it’s just because he kind of feels content.
“So, hyung,” Jongin calls to him and Baekhyun hums softly in response, “Can I have a date tomorrow, or is that too cheesy too?”
Baekhyun doesn’t open his eyes, wonders if the snow can melt against the burning rush of blood on his cheeks and shakes his head, “After my schedule, if I’m free, sure.” He tries hard not to stutter the words and swallows a snowflake that has him coughing and looking down.
“I’ll just wait in front of your university then,” Jongin laughs, slides the wrapped boxes on one arm and pats him gently on the back with the hand he’s made free, “Stay alive until then.”
“Ah,” Baekhyun remembers something and tries to stop coughing to sort it out, “You said you had a surprise for me.”
“Hum?” Jongin’s eyebrow arches up slowly before he lets out a snort and scoffs looking away, gathering the boxes back on both of his arms, “You didn’t call.”
Baekhyun wants to argue against that, that it wasn’t his fault, that of course he deserves to know what it would have been if he called but then the bus chooses that moment to stop by and all he does is swallow his words and follow Jongin inside. It’s only when they’re both sitting that Baekhyun snaps out of it, “Are you coming with me?!” He shouts and Jongin just nods, “Yes, I’m keeping an eye on you.”
When they get at Jongdae’s door and it opens Baekhyun tries to just ignore Jongdae looking at him with a confused expression with his yes going from Baekhyun to Jongin standing next to him and shrugs, “He says he’s keeping an eye on me?” He gives as an explanation and walks past him inside of the apartment.
“Does that mean it’s official?” Jongdae asks right after and Baekhyun thinks about how big of a mistake this is, but it’s too late, Jongin is laughing and going on with Jongdae’s work, “Not yet.” Is what he says, what does he even mean by not yet?
“Who did you bring?” Yixing asks and then they all gather in the hallway to see who is coming in holding their lunches, “I’m starving and you took your sweet time because of your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Baekhyun shoves Chanyeol away and further on the couch, “I’m going to eat your food just for being such an annoying little fucker.” He adds, though Chanyeol just laughs it off and uses his height advantage to tackle Baekhyun down on the couch and run to where Jongdae and Jongin are opening the lunch boxes.
“Don’t give one to him!” Baekhyun shouts as he tries to get up only to be pushed back down by Yixing who joins in, because of course, if one joins then everyone else has to.
“Jongin, Jongin-ah, help me, please?” Baekhyun calls through hiccups because Yixing’s fingers have started a tickling battle against his sides and he hates this game, he never wins when tickles, “You are not helping him.” Chanyeol says and slides an arm around Jongin’s shoulders, “Welcome to the club, kiddo.”
“Our most enjoyable thing in the world is torturing Byun Baekhyun.” Jongdae adds, chopsticks in hands and puts a piece of beef in his mouth.
“You can’t break this rule or we’ll kick you out.” Yixing yells from his spot on the couch, straddling Baekhyun who is still trying to come out from his eruption of non-interrupted laughter.
“I guess,” Jongin starts and shrugs with a grin, “Rules are rules.” He says and gets a pat on the back, “We love you already,” Chanyeol proudly hands him a pair of chopsticks.
Baekhyun whines and pushes Yixing off him then peeks above the couch, “I hate you all.” He says with a glare and he means it really, usually he can keep it for awhile before Yixing starts cooing Baekhyunnie and giving him fake kisses that are actually a cover for soft blow against his sensitive spots to make him squirm and swear.
But it flatters really quickly when he catches Jongin staring at him and finds himself unable to look away for what is just a second, but feels like an eternity and Baekhyun would throw up at how he just hears Jongdae awing and Chanyeol laughing at him, but he’s still in too much of a daze to do shit about it so he just looks down and lies back on the couch with an arm covering his face.
It’s tight, it’s so tight right there in his chest, but “It’s not so bad huh?” Yixing whispers softly against his ear, low enough for just the both of them to hear and Baekhyun smiles, pulling on his bottom lip with his teeth, yeah, it’s not so bad.
When are you going to be done? Baekhyun reads the message and quickly types back his answer while making sure to keep his eyes up from time to time so the teacher doesn’t notice, Last class, ending it in thirty minutes.
I’m tired of waiting, can I get a kiss for my patience? Baekhyun chokes out the word kiss and looks around quickly to make sure no on has heard him. He’s thankful this is happening during the only class he doesn’t have with the other three though, because he’d be dead right now if not.
No, just a date.
I wasn’t asking for permission you know.
What is that even supposed to mean? Baekhyun frowns at the text, you better not try anything or I will bite off your tongue.
How mean hyung, you should be nice to your boyfriend.
We’re not dating, just going on one date.
Same thing.
No, it’s not the same thing Baekhyun starts typing, “I’ll take that if you don’t mind, Mr, Byun.”
Shit, Baekhyun thinks and whines inwardly before putting his phone in the teacher’s stretched hand.
What surprises Baekhyun is that only Chanyeol is out with him this time, “Where are Yixing and Jongdae?” He asks because of just how weird it is and Chanyeol gets this weird expression on his face before sighing and shrugging, “Jongdae kind of-confessed?”
“Jongdae did?” Baekhyun doesn’t even mean to sound so loud, but he does and he knows it from how Chanyeol quickly covers his mouth and looks around, “Yes, but don’t worry about it, you should just go and enjoy your date.”
But, Baekhyun frowns, now he wants to know it all, how Yixing reacted, how did it go, just what happened while he wasn’t there?
“I’ll call you later and tell you everything yes.” Chanyeol chuckles and pats him on the shoulder, “Now please, stop making this boy wait, you’d be surprised actually, he told me some interesting things.”
“Who? Jongin? What did he say?”
“Ask him yourself.”
It seems everyone just wants to give him mysterious words he’s got to play riddles to figure out or has to embarrass himself asking to figure out, he hates it. He has enough of problems to resolve in his books he doesn’t need ones in his head and heart following him everywhere too.
“I hate you Jongin.” Baekhyun mumbles, puffing a cheek and refusing to smile back at jongin broad smile that stretches from one corner of his mouth to the other, wide and beaming right at him, just for him? That silly last thought has him walking towards Jongin faster and faster and not hesitating when he sees his outstretched hand to reach his own hand and slide it in his own.
He only realizes his gesture when Jongin squeezes his hand and tugs on it to pull him closer, leaning in as Baekhyun’s mind slowly makes its way back out of the gutter but his heart is still doing little somersaults inside his chest.
Baekhyun flinches and closes his eyes, feels stupid the moment he does it, but his breathing gets better and comes out and it’s still better than looking at Jongin’s face getting closer. Jongin’s breath tickles his cheek quickly before Baekhyun is sure he feels his mouth press a kiss there and he’s almost sad at how it withdraws itself.
Jongin’s lips aren’t warmth, but the heat on his face is enough to make it feel almost too warm for his already burning skin.
“There, that’s a kiss.” Jongin chuckles when he pulls back and Baekhyun peeks open one eye, “Yeah.” Baekhyun lets out in a breath with a sudden surge of courage that rises out of nowhere when he sees Jongin’s face still so close and his cheek still burning that makes him lean in and kiss Jongin’s smile.
“That’s a better kiss.” Baekhyun whispers, lips lingering on Jongin’s. He doesn’t get an answer in words, but in Jongin leaning back down with his free hand cradling Baekhyun’s cheek in the palm of his hand and his mouth pressed open against Baekhyun’s while breathing in Baekhyun’s deep intake of air.
It takes a minute of just light kissing, that starts lasting for longer and takes less time to breathe and more time to suck in each other’s breath for Baekhyun to let out a soft whimper and “Alright,” he stops him when Jongin’s about to go on and on to catch a breath and keeps his eyes cast down on Jongin’s mouth, less dry and more full “We should go.”
“One more.” Jongin protests softly leaning down again and it takes all of Baekhyun’s strength to shake his head and look away so Jongin’s mouth ends up touching his cheek, “Not fair.” He whines softly but presses a kiss to Baekhyun’s cheek anyways and giving in with a sigh.
“Fine, let’s go then.” Jongin’s hand stays in his own though, squeezing one more time before sliding his fingers in the spaces of Baekhyun’s fingers and walking them to his bike, “I get to ride on your bike, how nice.” Baekhyun snorts, though he’s really, really looking forward to this.
He’s never going to admit it or tell it to anyone, but he has wondered how it would feel to sit on the only backseat of this bike with his back pressed against Jongin’s back, or his arms around him and his chin or cheek pressed against his back.
He frowns when the dream comes back to him, he’s doubting more and more about that time being a dream, but if it was or not, he’d rather just not know for now.
“It’s my little baby, don’t offend her, she bites.”
“Is that supposed to make me laugh?” Baekhyun asks with a frown and gets on it with his back against Jongin’s, “Can I stay like this?” He asks and tilts his head, resting it against Jongin’s shoulder, “Sure.” Jongin shrugs, “Just don’t fall.”
Baekhyun laughs and clutches the seat; “You’ll be responsible for it if I do fall.”
Jongin doesn’t say anything and just starts riding it off the road and down the streets, Baekhyun closes his eyes and leans back against him without putting too much of his weight on him.
“Where are you taking me?”
“That’s a surprise.”
Baekhyun shrugs and opens his eyes to a snowflake poking his closed eyelids; he’s ready for surprises.
“You know, I had a bike too back in high school.” He remembers it now, why it caught his attention the first time. It’s the same model, the same size and Jongin’s uniform was just the same uniform on a student that reminded him of how he looked like before.
I know, Jongin thinks and keeps it to himself, just listening to Baekhyun go on and on about his high school life now.
Jongin thinks he’s never had wishes, or something he really needed. Though he’s been given anything he wanted in his life. He’s been spoiled from birth to his fifteen years old and there’s nothing in this world he wouldn’t ask and not get
But he’s been going to this new school for a month now and there’s one thing he’s found out he will probably never have. So he watches someone older than him get on this bike and looks at the backseat wondering if it’d be too weird of him to go up to him and ask him if he can sit there because he’s been dying too since the first time he saw it?
Probably, but then he gets pull out of his thoughts by one of the new friends he made faster than any other new kids could have done. But that’s just it, that’s normal, though he’s not focused on that, it used to amuse him before. But it’s just boring now, he wants more than that.
He wants to know how it’d feel to sit with his back pressed against someone else’s and look up at the sky. Maybe he should get a bike too? Though then he’d be the one riding, but it’d be better than having nothing, wouldn’t it?
He’s been wishing on stars, he’d wishing on random coinciding hours and minutes, he’s been wishing on the sky to let him see it from the backseat of that bike. He wishes and wishes and figures some things just never come true.
It’s only during the graduation ceremony when he sees him in the students that have to leave that Jongin realizes this might have been a crush he’s been harboring during the entire year and he might have fallen in love in the process of wanting to sit on that bike.
Fallen for the person who rides it, with his uniform open when he’s out of school, laughing with three other boys who Jongin always see with him. Friends who laugh and make each others fall off the bike and thinks nothing of it, just stay amused and laugh at the bruises and the indignant cries.
So after the graduation ceremony Jongin goes home and he asks for a bike, except, he tells his parents he wants to work for it. It seems weird at first, to let him work for his own money, but they let him be, they always let him be, so long as he’s happy being their only excuse.
This time though, Jongin is happy with himself to realize that he’s indeed happy when he gets the final paycheck and enough money to get the bike. He’s so happy he doesn’t watch out for the road down home until he hears a shriek and wheels screeching and he’s not sure why he doesn’t move at all when he sees a bike trying to not crash into him.
He just stands still frozen with his eyes on the rider more than on the bike until it stops right before hurting him. But Jongin doesn’t take his eyes off the boy until he’s off his bike and coming to him with apologies, checking to see if he’s hurt anywhere and “I’m sorry, do you live nearby? I’m so sorry.”
“Can I have a ride?” Jongin asks, interrupting his constant rambles and he holds his breath in, “Eh?” Jongin really thanks himself for being able to keep a straight face, he doesn’t even know how he pulls it off but he just does and it helps, “A ride? On my bike?” He asks like he’s not sure Jongin asked.
“Yeah, my home is close.”
There’s a moment of silence in which Jongin thinks this is so stupid, why did I ask? Then there’s another moment after he hears, “Sure.” Where he thinks why did I never ask before?
Jongin clutches the seat and hops on it without even waiting for another minute, he hears a laugh and hides the flush on his cheeks, he leans his back without putting all his weight on him and rests his head against his shoulder, “This is pretty.”
“Isn’t it? I love riding a bike because of the view and it feels great with the wind during summer.” Jongin likes how he laughs and it resonates from his throat all the way to his back and against his own.
Jongin mumbles words he’s been keeping away and shakes his head when he hears, “Did you say something?”
“Nothing,” He quickly adds, “Just that it feels good.” Even better than what he imagined.
But his previous words still floats in the wind, he wants to catch them and put them back where they belong, “Hey hyung,” Jongin waits for Baekhyun soft humming and sighs with the feeling of a heavy weight being lifted off his shoulders, “I really like you.”
“Why all of a sudden?” Baekhyun’s voice is lower, Jongin can swear he’s also bright red right now, he wants to see that, but the way Baekhyun presses closer to his back is enough of an answer, enough of a picture, “Just, I do.”
“Hum,” Baekhyun says after awhile, “I like you too.” He then adds and without really knowing why, Jongin starts laughing and he’s really delighted when Baekhyun joins in, though he slips in you’re a silly one, through his laughter.
But this finally feels like a complete ride.