A Little Change of Heart
Title: A Little Change of Heart
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol, Baekhyun/Kyungsoo
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, Romance
Word Count: 4,299
Summary: After years of being mistaken as a couple, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are determined to prove that they most certainly are not a couple. Not at all.
(Cross-posted from thebaekfest)
It was just another Saturday afternoon, nothing out of the ordinary. But Baekhyun quite enjoyed Saturdays, no matter how mundane they could be, because, more often than not, they usually involved vegetating on the couch with Chanyeol, bowl of chips in one hand and video game controller in another. It was a routine they had fallen into since they were kids with a friendship built on the fact that their mothers were friends from the same church group (or something like that - he never really bothered to ask) and the fact that they were now in their third year of college didn’t seem to change anything. If anything, they had only grown closer over the years, so much so that it was unnatural not to end up in the same program together and not to rent out an apartment together, to both their mothers’ chagrins because, according to them, “it was an accident waiting to happen”. (To their credit, the microwave still bore burn marks from the time Baekhyun tried to microwave a meat bun but they had since learned that cooking Chanyeol’s responsibility so no harm done.)
The relationship had its downsides though.
“Wow, why don’t you both just get married already?”
Baekhyun’s hand stopped in midair, the barbeque-flavoured chip dangling between his fingers only making it halfway to Chanyeol’s waiting mouth, while the said taller boy turned his head in Baekhyun’s lap to stare at Jongin incredulously.
“Excuse me?” Chanyeol sputtered before scrambling to pause the game he and Baekhyun were playing lest they fell to their doom again. (Little Big Planet was a difficult game to play when Chanyeol had the hand-eye coordination of a baby penguin. Neglecting the fact that penguins didn’t actually have hands, of course. Honestly, the only reason Baekhyun still continued to play video games with Chanyeol was that no one else could put up with Baekhyun’s competitive streak and him yelling at the television screen every few minutes - though this may have something to do with the fact that Chanyeol was worse in both respects.)
“Did you just say that we were a couple?” Both of them made a face at the word as if it was something distasteful.
Taken aback, Jongin pushed his glasses up his nose and flushed. If they hadn’t been so insulted, Baekhyun and Chanyeol would have laughed at the contrast of his image from the usual Jongin at school - the charismatic dancer who was admired by both men and women alike. Jongin at home, with hair undone and dorky glasses perched on his face, was their favourite any day, they had to admit.
“Well, it’s just… I thought… Well, what was I supposed to think when you guys are always like that?”
“This,” Baekhyun said, gesturing to Chanyeol lying on his lap with their communal bowl of barbeque (for Chanyeol) and lightly salted (for Baekhyun)-flavoured chips sitting on his chest, “is something childhood friends do. Brothers, even! It’s completely platonic and normal. No romantic feelings whatsoever.” Chanyeol, who was listening to the exchange with a judgemental stare directed at Jongin, nodded so much that the bowl on his chest almost toppled over. Baekhyun then turned to the boy in his lap and muttered conspiratorially. “Really, Chanyeol, I told you not to rent out the third bedroom. I could have used it for my piano exercises instead.”
“Well, Baek, we kind of needed the money. Especially if you’re set on buying a PS4 for that new Final Fantasy game when it comes out. Besides, he’s not all bad; he cleans up after himself and-”
“I AM RIGHT HERE, YOU GUYS? AND STOP MAKING ME SOUND LIKE A PUPPY!”
The pair winced at the same time.
“Ugh, Jongin, you should really learn to control your voice.”
“Yeah, there’s something called an inside voice. Maybe you could try and use it?”
“Like you’re the one to talk, Chanyeol. I can hear you rapping in the shower from the elev-”
“STOP THAT!” Jongin wailed, throwing his anthropology textbook at them, though falling short a few meters, before stomping off to his bedroom and slamming the door shut with a resonating bang.
Baekhyun and Chanyeol exchanged looks then doubled over in laughter. (The bowl of chips miraculously only dropped a few pieces onto Chanyeol’s stained sweater but it remained unnoticed by the pair.)
÷
“Hey, Baek. Stop for a second. You have something on your face.”
“What? Where?”
Chanyeol pulled Baekhyun’s face closer before dabbing at the corner of his lips with his thumb. After a few seconds of carefully inspecting his friend’s face for any other evidence of his earlier meal (spaghetti from the quaint little Italian place across the street from their department building because Chanyeol felt like getting something Western for a change), he pinched his cheeks playfully and relinquished his hold. Baekhyun batted at him while he laughed and attempted to hide behind a disgruntled-looking Yifan, the eternally angry-looking economics student they befriended at freshman orientation.
“Please, guys. I am trying to finish this assignment that’s due at seven tonight; I have 500 words left and there is only so much bullshit I can make up. I don’t need to see your disgusting married couple routine right now.” Yifan said into his textbook, sounding very grave though Baekhyun supposed that was just all the caffeine talking - he was starting to look like Zitao, with his dark circles and glowering stare, who lived down the hall from them.
Baekhyun scowled and Chanyeol gave him the most affronted expression he could muster.
“Why does everyone keep saying that? We are not a couple.” Baekhyun declared pointedly, sinking into the seat next to the tall blond.
“Not at all!” echoed Chanyeol, taking the seat opposite of Yifan who squinted at them both.
“Did Jongin tell you we were? That brat.” Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol and said, “We should have made him shut up like that kid who used to sing that ‘k-i-s-s-i-n-g’ song at us back in grade school.”
Yifan blinked in surprise, momentarily distracted from his work. “What did you do?”
Baekhyun grinned wickedly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Chanyeol snickered next to him.
“Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Yifan muttered under his breath before downing his coffee and grimacing at the bitter aftertaste. “But, you know, anyone looking at you would think that you were together.”
Chanyeol crossed his arms. “How does that even make sense? I mean, no offense to Baek, but I like girls.” He made a curvy silhouette in the air to emphasize his point.
“Excuse you. I’ll have you know that my pelvic line is better than any girl’s, thank you very much.” Baekhyun retorted with an upturn of his nose only to glower at his best friend when he snorted in response.
“Do you ever think about how you guys look to others?” The pair shook their heads. “You know each others’ schedules to the dot, know each others’ preferences for practically anything, and, for crying out loud, Baekhyun is wearing your stupid Stussy hoodie, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol gasped, pointing at Baekhyun accusingly. “You’re trying to make yourself my girlfriend!”
Baekhyun smacked him over the head. “The only reason I’m wearing this is because you spilled your hot chocolate on my sweater this morning and we were going to be late to class, you dumbass! Besides, this is obviously your fault for not being able to get a girlfriend.”
Squawking indignantly, Chanyeol yelped, “Me? What about you?”
To the surprise of the other two at the table, Baekhyun turned a bright pink.
“Well, what do we have here?” Yifan said with a sly grin, assignment now lying forgotten on the desk. “Does our little Baekkie have a crush?”
Baekhyun swatted at him with a scowl but the coloration of his face didn’t reduce in the least. “Ew, don’t call me that. Only Chanyeol calls me that.”
Yifan raised an eyebrow at him. “’Only Chanyeol’, huh?”
Chanyeol nodded brightly, oblivious to the undertone of Yifan’s words. “Yeah, I used to call him that when we were- oh fuck! We are an old married couple! Go get that guy! You need to ask him out before more people start thinking we’re together and we both end up alone!”
“Shut up! I’m working on it!”
÷
“What are you doing?”
Chanyeol glanced up at Jongin, meeting his judgmental stare with his own embarrassed one from where he was crouched on the ground, peering into Baekhyun’s vocal music classroom. While they were in the same music program, they had different specializations; Jongin had once commented that this was probably the only time of day he ever saw them apart and got noogied for it. “Um… looking for my contacts?”
“You’re wearing lens-less glasses. What is the point of that?” The dancer peeked at the room name and raised his eyebrow. “Are you stalking your husband?”
“He’s not my husband!” When a few bystanders gave them odd looks, he repeated in a whisper, cheeks glowing pink, “we’re not an old married couple!”
“Okay. Sure. Whatever you say.” Jongin said, nodding benevolently. “What are you doing in front of your not-husband-but-we-act-like-a-married-couple-anyway’s classroom then?”
With a huff, Chanyeol admitted through gritted teeth, “If you must know, I am trying to find out who Baekhyun’s crush is because he won’t tell me and I am dying to find out.”
“Holy crap, he likes someone who isn’t you? And you don’t know who it is? Move over.” He nudged Chanyeol away from his spot by the door, nearly causing the older boy to fall backward with a whine, and stealthily peeked in. “Do you know his name at least? No? Bah - you’re a useless best-friend-pseudo-husband.”
“Would you stop calling me that?” Chanyeol grumbled, trying to force his way back to his spot but nothing he did could move Jongin away. “Let me see too!”
“Would you stop poking me? I’m trying to find him so wait a - oh, I see him!” The end of his sentence got a little muffled when Chanyeol decided that the best course of action was shoving his face to look into the room as well.
Ignoring the death glare Jongin was aiming at him, Chanyeol squinted to see the person with whom Baekhyun was talking and felt his jaw drop.
“Kyungsoo? Do Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol looked absolutely befuddled, uncertain about how he should react to this new revelation. “But we made fun of him in first year because he looked like an owl. And not even those intimidating owls. He’s like a squishy midget owl.”
Jongin rolled his eyes at him. “And you wonder why he didn’t tell you.”
“But we tell each other everything! Like the time he had to get surgery for-”
“No, hyung. No.” Jongin said, covering the older boy’s mouth with a shake of his head. Once he was sure that the other male wasn’t going to divulge a story he most certainly wasn’t prepared, nor had any inclination, to hear, he turned back to look into the room and caught Baekhyun’s gaze abruptly switching from jubilant crescents to zeroing in on him from across the room. “Oh, fuck. He saw me. Quick, hide!”
“What? Wait, my foot fell asleep - don’t leave me!” Chanyeol stretched out his arm helplessly as he watched Jongin sprint away and put on his best sad puppy face when he felt more than heard Baekhyun come out the door and glare down at him. “Before you say anything, you should know that this was all Jongin’s idea. You were totally right; we shouldn’t have rented out the third room - he is such a terrible influence.”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes and fixed his hands on his hips. “Yeol, you can’t seriously think I’d believe that.”
Chanyeol shrugged. “It was worth a shot?” He stood up, cringing at the prickling feeling of his foot, and opened his mouth to say something when Kyungsoo’s head popped up behind Baekhyun and smiled at them both. “Oh.”
“Hi, Chanyeol. Is the percussions class done too?” Kyungsoo greeted amiably. Chanyeol blinked at him, still confused about what to feel about him; Chanyeol decided that he was still sort of owlish which, he supposed, wasn’t necessarily bad but a little odd.
“Yeah, I was waiting to grab some lunch with Baek…?” He trailed off when Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at him ever so slightly for a brief moment but it was enough for Chanyeol to catch it. “But it seems like he has other plans…?” Chanyeol mentally patted himself on the back when the corner of Baekhyun’s lip twitched up to indicate that he’d done the right thing.
“Sorry, Yeol. We were planning to go to lunch together now, actually.” While his voice remained nonchalant, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners made Chanyeol grin unconsciously. Happy Baekhyun usually meant happy Chanyeol - it was a best friend thing.
Kyungsoo’s eyes widened (more than usual, Chanyeol noted). “Oh, but if you had plans with Chanyeol earlier, we can always get lunch together another time. Or maybe Chanyeol could come along?” Kyungsoo turned his smile to Chanyeol expectantly and the taller boy found himself shaking his head the moment the question caused Baekhyun’s lip twitched downward instead.
“Oh, uh, that’s really nice of you but, uh, I think Yifan’s waiting for me. Yeah. So. Uh. Yeah…” He didn’t need to look at Baekhyun to know that he was rolling his eyes at him. He nodded at them stiffly before giving them a wave. “Okay, see you around.”
“See you later, Yeol.” Baekhyun flushed when Chanyeol quirked an eyebrow quickly at him before wobbling away, knowing Chanyeol would be waiting with both Yifan and Jongin to hear about his “lunch” with Kyungsoo the moment he got home. “So,” he said to Kyungsoo, who was waiting for him patiently with the cutest grin that made his insides quiver in that annoyingly giddy way. “Shall we?”
÷
“Okay. Spill.”
As Baekhyun had expected, the moment he opened the door to their apartment, he was greeted by Chanyeol’s eager face. To his surprise, however, Jongin and Yifan were nowhere to be found. It wasn’t an unwelcome surprise though - he really didn’t need all three of them breathing down his neck about this, especially when Chanyeol was one of them. (Sometimes Chanyeol got really intense.)
“Jongin has a recital practice and Yifan’s trying to finish another assignment but I’m supposed to call them both after you tell me everything.” Chanyeol explained before he could question it and Baekhyun nodded in acknowledgement as he stowed away his coat.
“Wait, let me get ready first.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes but moved out of the way for Baekhyun to make himself a cup of tea and change into that massive sweater Chanyeol’s mom had knitted him one year because it was pretty cold outside and the sweater was remarkably warm. (Chanyeol would know because he had a similar one that he never really wore since his body was like a human radiator.)
Once adequately prepped to tell his story, he settled into the couch and dived into the most detailed description of a short lunch (kind-sort of-maybe date) Chanyeol had ever heard and he couldn’t even begin to count the number of times he had heard a squealed “and his cheeks are so cute - I just wanted to squish them” or a sighed “and his lips do that cute, little heart-shaped smile and it’s just so freaking cute” throughout the whole retelling. Honestly, all his mind could retain from the whole thing was that Kyungsoo was apparently the cutest thing on the planet Baekhyun.
“And I just,” Baekhyun cut his statement with a sigh, hugging one of the couch cushions close to his chest. He looked at his best friend with bright eyes and Chanyeol blinked back in confusion because the momentary stutter of his heart and a weird sinking feeling in his stomach couldn’t be right. Unsure, Chanyeol returned Baekhyun’s smile. “Yeolie, I think I’m in love.”
Chanyeol grinned even wider because that was what best friends were supposed to do when their best friend found the love of their life. “That’s great, Baekkie! I’m so happy for you!”
‘Yes,’ He repeated to himself when Baekhyun gave a dopey smile and squealed into his pillow, causing the weird feeling to return in his chest and stomach. ‘I am so happy for you.’
÷
“He’s not even that cute.”
“Hark! Do we hear jealousy from the pseudo husband? Over the person he, just weeks prior, said was ‘the perfect guy’ for his now ex-husband?”
“Jongin, I will break your fingers and dumb air quotes into little bite-size pieces and eat them for breakfast.”
Jongin slowly lowered his hands, looking a little taken aback. “Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. And you can’t really blame me - it’s really easy to tease you when you and Baekhyun-hyung aren’t ganging up on me.”
“Until you pulled out that cannibalistic murderer comment at least,” YIfan commented from behind his laptop, slaving away over yet another paper. “Not cool, man. I know you miss your little boyfriend but please.”
Chanyeol glared at them. “How many times do I have to tell you that I like girls? And Baekhyun is clearly not a girl.”
“Well, your brain has obviously missed that memo.” Yifan said, not even bothering to look up to see Chanyeol seethe at him.
“Not. In. Love. With. Baek.” Chanyeol gritted out, ignoring both the looks the two were giving him and the mocking thuds of his heart against his ribcage.
“Well, you’d better make sure your brain remembers that this time because your ex and his new boy toy are coming right now.”
Chanyeol sputtered at Jongin with a glare - damn him and his weird attitude change once he styled his hair and took off his glasses - before righting himself in his seat as Baekhyun and Kyungsoo came over. He gave the pair a tense smile that Baekhyun only seemed to acknowledge with a second-long pause before grinning widely at everyone.
“Hey, guys! We’re just stopping by to say hi. We’re gonna head out to lunch at that new Japanese restaurant at the plaza.” Chanyeol resisted the urge to gasp in horror because they - meaning Baekhyun and Chanyeol, not the puny little owl midget who was smiling at him sweetly at that moment though Chanyeol was clearly not intending to reciprocate the gesture - had been planning to eat there for months. “I’ll see you later then!”
They left with Chanyeol pouting pitifully in the direction in which they had vanished off to until Yifan made him go away because he was killing his inspiration.
÷
“I know you know something and I want you to tell me now.”
Yifan clicked the pause button on the cat video his friend, Yixing, had sent him to distract him from studying for midterms and raised a quizzical eyebrow at the smaller male who had, quite literally, come from nowhere and was, surprisingly, without the presence of neither an awkward giant nor an owl midget.
“You really need to work on your communication skills because-”
“Tell me why Chanyeol is avoiding me and you may just live to see another day without knowing what happened to that guy who sang the ‘k-i-s-s-i-n-g’ song.”
Never before had Yifan ever been more scared of someone half his height.
Clearing his throat loudly, he remarked, “I’m surprised you aren’t with Kyungsoo today.”
As if being pulled from a daze, Baekhyun blinked at him. “Wha-? Oh. I didn’t even… Well, that’s not important. What I need to know is why I have not seen or heard from Park Chanyeol in over 12 hours and why he’s been avoiding me for the past few days, and you will give me the answers.”
“Don’t you live together though?”
The shorter male crossed his arms. “Yeah but he’s been spending more time out of the apartment recently and he hasn’t come home at all since yesterday.” He worried at his lip and frowned at the blond. “I haven’t been without contact with Chanyeol for this long since I met him. Something’s not right.”
“I think you mean someone…” Yifan muttered under his breath, but the other male had already turned his head towards him, eager to hear more. “It’s just… well, you should ask him yourself, but I think he feels like you’re replacing him with Kyungsoo.”
“That’s ridiculous. Chanyeol is Chanyeol. He’s the most important person there is.”
Yifan raised an eyebrow. “Even more important than the person you’ve been saying you’re in love with? Especially when, for a certain someone, you may be both?” When Baekhyun’s brows knitted in confusion, he turned back to his laptop. “You should ask Jongin where he is and ask him yourself.”
Still confused, Baekhyun opened his mouth to respond but his attention was diverted when he caught sight of Kyungsoo waving at him in the distance. Hesitantly, he bade Yifan good bye and jogged away.
÷
Chanyeol blinked the sleep from his eyes, staring blearily into his surroundings as the knocking on the door continued guide him further and further away from sleep. With a sigh, he stood from the lumpy couch Sehun, one of Jongin’s classmates, had provided him to crash on while he avoided Baekhyun and dragged himself to the door. He’d only really been at Sehun’s for a few hours but already he was starting to get used to Sehun’s overly forgetful nature, having had to open the door to Sehun rushing in and out of the apartment to pick up things he forgot or drop off things he had mistakenly taken. What he did not expect, however, was Baekhyun standing at the door, glaring at him.
“Um. Hi.”
“Hi yourself, jerk.” Baekhyun scowled as he pushed past Chanyeol, making his way to Sehun’s couch before Chanyeol could even process what had just happened.
He followed his friend uncertainly, asking, “Wait- what? Why am I the jerk? And how did you find me?”
Baekhyun shrugged. “Did you really Jongin could hide something from me? I mean… Jongin.” The two snickered before falling into an awkward silence.
“So…” Chanyeol began, scratching at the back of his neck. “You’re not with Kyungsoo today…”
Baekhyun gave him a stare and said in the quietest voice Chanyeol had ever heard from him in all the years he had known him, “Chanyeol, do you like me?”
Caught off guard, Chanyeol made an incoherent sound and almost toppled off the couch. “I- What? Why?”
Baekhyun just continued to give him an expressionless stare and shrugged. “I like you.”
For a moment, Baekhyun thought he was seeing déjà vu as Chanyeol started sputtering incoherently again. “What?”
“I like you. I have for a while.” He laid back against the couch cushions to watch surprise and disbelief blossom on his best friend’s face. “I never really planned on telling you since, well, you know…” He moved his hands to suggest a curvy silhouette and Chanyeol mentally smacked himself. “So I was trying to move on… you know, with Kyungsoo, who’s really cute and nice so it’s actually really terrible of me but…” He broke off into a laugh, leaving Chanyeol confused and reeling in shock.
“I… don’t get what’s going on. You’ll have to talk me through this one.”
“Kyungsoo was never interested in me. He was getting close to me because he likes you.”
“What?” Chanyeol swore the universe decided that today was ‘prank Park Chanyeol day’ because this was just ridiculous.
Baekhyun nodded, still chuckling to himself. “Yeah, I just saw him earlier and he was asking me to give him some advice because he wanted to confess to you.”
Chanyeol blinked. “Okay… I still need a moment to process everything you’re telling me.”
“But I told him that you were mine.”
If not for the faint pink on Baekhyun’s cheeks, Chanyeol would have thought that he was hearing things. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun shook his head before leaning forward and, well, Chanyeol didn’t need that repetition anymore. Once they pulled apart, Chanyeol licked his lips nervously and said, “Well, that was very clear.”
Laughing, Baekhyun grinned at him. “Quite.”
“I like girls though.”
“Oh.” Baekhyun visibly deflated. “O-oh. Well, I knew that. I just figured that I might as well tell you…”
Smiling, Chanyeol took Baekhyun’s hand in his; it felt like it belonged there. “But I like you too. I just realized how much.”
Baekhyun flushed and Chanyeol leant forward, only to be distracted by the door opening.
“Chanyeol-hyung, have you seen my- oh.”
Chanyeol smacked his forehead as Baekhyun jumped away in shock, staring wide-eyed and red-faced at an awkward-looking Sehun.
“So… hm… Congratulations?”
÷
Yifan had certain expectations for Monday mornings. Mondays were full of people rushing to class or work, terrible coffee and crying manly tears over some essay he’d finished just hours before. Not on this list was a distressed Jongin clinging onto him and getting in the way of his pathetic excuse for a breakfast courtesy of his poor college student wallet.
“Jongin, please. I don’t have time for you complaining about your roommates again.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Jongin wailed desperately. Yifan rolled his eyes but took note of how much more tired Jongin looked even as school-version Jongin. “If they were bad as only best friends, it’s like they’ve undergone a mega evolution the moment they became an actual couple. I can’t take this anymore.”
As if on cue, the said pair walked through the doors and Yifan actually shrunk away in shock because couple clothing, linking arms while smiling so brightly that Yifan could’ve sworn he was seeing sparkly effects from dramas, and being perfectly in sync? This Monday was getting worse and worse.
(Originally written for in sutecha for Baekfest)
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol, Baekhyun/Kyungsoo
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, Romance
Word Count: 4,299
Summary: After years of being mistaken as a couple, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are determined to prove that they most certainly are not a couple. Not at all.
(Cross-posted from thebaekfest)
It was just another Saturday afternoon, nothing out of the ordinary. But Baekhyun quite enjoyed Saturdays, no matter how mundane they could be, because, more often than not, they usually involved vegetating on the couch with Chanyeol, bowl of chips in one hand and video game controller in another. It was a routine they had fallen into since they were kids with a friendship built on the fact that their mothers were friends from the same church group (or something like that - he never really bothered to ask) and the fact that they were now in their third year of college didn’t seem to change anything. If anything, they had only grown closer over the years, so much so that it was unnatural not to end up in the same program together and not to rent out an apartment together, to both their mothers’ chagrins because, according to them, “it was an accident waiting to happen”. (To their credit, the microwave still bore burn marks from the time Baekhyun tried to microwave a meat bun but they had since learned that cooking Chanyeol’s responsibility so no harm done.)
The relationship had its downsides though.
“Wow, why don’t you both just get married already?”
Baekhyun’s hand stopped in midair, the barbeque-flavoured chip dangling between his fingers only making it halfway to Chanyeol’s waiting mouth, while the said taller boy turned his head in Baekhyun’s lap to stare at Jongin incredulously.
“Excuse me?” Chanyeol sputtered before scrambling to pause the game he and Baekhyun were playing lest they fell to their doom again. (Little Big Planet was a difficult game to play when Chanyeol had the hand-eye coordination of a baby penguin. Neglecting the fact that penguins didn’t actually have hands, of course. Honestly, the only reason Baekhyun still continued to play video games with Chanyeol was that no one else could put up with Baekhyun’s competitive streak and him yelling at the television screen every few minutes - though this may have something to do with the fact that Chanyeol was worse in both respects.)
“Did you just say that we were a couple?” Both of them made a face at the word as if it was something distasteful.
Taken aback, Jongin pushed his glasses up his nose and flushed. If they hadn’t been so insulted, Baekhyun and Chanyeol would have laughed at the contrast of his image from the usual Jongin at school - the charismatic dancer who was admired by both men and women alike. Jongin at home, with hair undone and dorky glasses perched on his face, was their favourite any day, they had to admit.
“Well, it’s just… I thought… Well, what was I supposed to think when you guys are always like that?”
“This,” Baekhyun said, gesturing to Chanyeol lying on his lap with their communal bowl of barbeque (for Chanyeol) and lightly salted (for Baekhyun)-flavoured chips sitting on his chest, “is something childhood friends do. Brothers, even! It’s completely platonic and normal. No romantic feelings whatsoever.” Chanyeol, who was listening to the exchange with a judgemental stare directed at Jongin, nodded so much that the bowl on his chest almost toppled over. Baekhyun then turned to the boy in his lap and muttered conspiratorially. “Really, Chanyeol, I told you not to rent out the third bedroom. I could have used it for my piano exercises instead.”
“Well, Baek, we kind of needed the money. Especially if you’re set on buying a PS4 for that new Final Fantasy game when it comes out. Besides, he’s not all bad; he cleans up after himself and-”
“I AM RIGHT HERE, YOU GUYS? AND STOP MAKING ME SOUND LIKE A PUPPY!”
The pair winced at the same time.
“Ugh, Jongin, you should really learn to control your voice.”
“Yeah, there’s something called an inside voice. Maybe you could try and use it?”
“Like you’re the one to talk, Chanyeol. I can hear you rapping in the shower from the elev-”
“STOP THAT!” Jongin wailed, throwing his anthropology textbook at them, though falling short a few meters, before stomping off to his bedroom and slamming the door shut with a resonating bang.
Baekhyun and Chanyeol exchanged looks then doubled over in laughter. (The bowl of chips miraculously only dropped a few pieces onto Chanyeol’s stained sweater but it remained unnoticed by the pair.)
÷
“Hey, Baek. Stop for a second. You have something on your face.”
“What? Where?”
Chanyeol pulled Baekhyun’s face closer before dabbing at the corner of his lips with his thumb. After a few seconds of carefully inspecting his friend’s face for any other evidence of his earlier meal (spaghetti from the quaint little Italian place across the street from their department building because Chanyeol felt like getting something Western for a change), he pinched his cheeks playfully and relinquished his hold. Baekhyun batted at him while he laughed and attempted to hide behind a disgruntled-looking Yifan, the eternally angry-looking economics student they befriended at freshman orientation.
“Please, guys. I am trying to finish this assignment that’s due at seven tonight; I have 500 words left and there is only so much bullshit I can make up. I don’t need to see your disgusting married couple routine right now.” Yifan said into his textbook, sounding very grave though Baekhyun supposed that was just all the caffeine talking - he was starting to look like Zitao, with his dark circles and glowering stare, who lived down the hall from them.
Baekhyun scowled and Chanyeol gave him the most affronted expression he could muster.
“Why does everyone keep saying that? We are not a couple.” Baekhyun declared pointedly, sinking into the seat next to the tall blond.
“Not at all!” echoed Chanyeol, taking the seat opposite of Yifan who squinted at them both.
“Did Jongin tell you we were? That brat.” Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol and said, “We should have made him shut up like that kid who used to sing that ‘k-i-s-s-i-n-g’ song at us back in grade school.”
Yifan blinked in surprise, momentarily distracted from his work. “What did you do?”
Baekhyun grinned wickedly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Chanyeol snickered next to him.
“Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Yifan muttered under his breath before downing his coffee and grimacing at the bitter aftertaste. “But, you know, anyone looking at you would think that you were together.”
Chanyeol crossed his arms. “How does that even make sense? I mean, no offense to Baek, but I like girls.” He made a curvy silhouette in the air to emphasize his point.
“Excuse you. I’ll have you know that my pelvic line is better than any girl’s, thank you very much.” Baekhyun retorted with an upturn of his nose only to glower at his best friend when he snorted in response.
“Do you ever think about how you guys look to others?” The pair shook their heads. “You know each others’ schedules to the dot, know each others’ preferences for practically anything, and, for crying out loud, Baekhyun is wearing your stupid Stussy hoodie, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol gasped, pointing at Baekhyun accusingly. “You’re trying to make yourself my girlfriend!”
Baekhyun smacked him over the head. “The only reason I’m wearing this is because you spilled your hot chocolate on my sweater this morning and we were going to be late to class, you dumbass! Besides, this is obviously your fault for not being able to get a girlfriend.”
Squawking indignantly, Chanyeol yelped, “Me? What about you?”
To the surprise of the other two at the table, Baekhyun turned a bright pink.
“Well, what do we have here?” Yifan said with a sly grin, assignment now lying forgotten on the desk. “Does our little Baekkie have a crush?”
Baekhyun swatted at him with a scowl but the coloration of his face didn’t reduce in the least. “Ew, don’t call me that. Only Chanyeol calls me that.”
Yifan raised an eyebrow at him. “’Only Chanyeol’, huh?”
Chanyeol nodded brightly, oblivious to the undertone of Yifan’s words. “Yeah, I used to call him that when we were- oh fuck! We are an old married couple! Go get that guy! You need to ask him out before more people start thinking we’re together and we both end up alone!”
“Shut up! I’m working on it!”
÷
“What are you doing?”
Chanyeol glanced up at Jongin, meeting his judgmental stare with his own embarrassed one from where he was crouched on the ground, peering into Baekhyun’s vocal music classroom. While they were in the same music program, they had different specializations; Jongin had once commented that this was probably the only time of day he ever saw them apart and got noogied for it. “Um… looking for my contacts?”
“You’re wearing lens-less glasses. What is the point of that?” The dancer peeked at the room name and raised his eyebrow. “Are you stalking your husband?”
“He’s not my husband!” When a few bystanders gave them odd looks, he repeated in a whisper, cheeks glowing pink, “we’re not an old married couple!”
“Okay. Sure. Whatever you say.” Jongin said, nodding benevolently. “What are you doing in front of your not-husband-but-we-act-like-a-married-couple-anyway’s classroom then?”
With a huff, Chanyeol admitted through gritted teeth, “If you must know, I am trying to find out who Baekhyun’s crush is because he won’t tell me and I am dying to find out.”
“Holy crap, he likes someone who isn’t you? And you don’t know who it is? Move over.” He nudged Chanyeol away from his spot by the door, nearly causing the older boy to fall backward with a whine, and stealthily peeked in. “Do you know his name at least? No? Bah - you’re a useless best-friend-pseudo-husband.”
“Would you stop calling me that?” Chanyeol grumbled, trying to force his way back to his spot but nothing he did could move Jongin away. “Let me see too!”
“Would you stop poking me? I’m trying to find him so wait a - oh, I see him!” The end of his sentence got a little muffled when Chanyeol decided that the best course of action was shoving his face to look into the room as well.
Ignoring the death glare Jongin was aiming at him, Chanyeol squinted to see the person with whom Baekhyun was talking and felt his jaw drop.
“Kyungsoo? Do Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol looked absolutely befuddled, uncertain about how he should react to this new revelation. “But we made fun of him in first year because he looked like an owl. And not even those intimidating owls. He’s like a squishy midget owl.”
Jongin rolled his eyes at him. “And you wonder why he didn’t tell you.”
“But we tell each other everything! Like the time he had to get surgery for-”
“No, hyung. No.” Jongin said, covering the older boy’s mouth with a shake of his head. Once he was sure that the other male wasn’t going to divulge a story he most certainly wasn’t prepared, nor had any inclination, to hear, he turned back to look into the room and caught Baekhyun’s gaze abruptly switching from jubilant crescents to zeroing in on him from across the room. “Oh, fuck. He saw me. Quick, hide!”
“What? Wait, my foot fell asleep - don’t leave me!” Chanyeol stretched out his arm helplessly as he watched Jongin sprint away and put on his best sad puppy face when he felt more than heard Baekhyun come out the door and glare down at him. “Before you say anything, you should know that this was all Jongin’s idea. You were totally right; we shouldn’t have rented out the third room - he is such a terrible influence.”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes and fixed his hands on his hips. “Yeol, you can’t seriously think I’d believe that.”
Chanyeol shrugged. “It was worth a shot?” He stood up, cringing at the prickling feeling of his foot, and opened his mouth to say something when Kyungsoo’s head popped up behind Baekhyun and smiled at them both. “Oh.”
“Hi, Chanyeol. Is the percussions class done too?” Kyungsoo greeted amiably. Chanyeol blinked at him, still confused about what to feel about him; Chanyeol decided that he was still sort of owlish which, he supposed, wasn’t necessarily bad but a little odd.
“Yeah, I was waiting to grab some lunch with Baek…?” He trailed off when Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at him ever so slightly for a brief moment but it was enough for Chanyeol to catch it. “But it seems like he has other plans…?” Chanyeol mentally patted himself on the back when the corner of Baekhyun’s lip twitched up to indicate that he’d done the right thing.
“Sorry, Yeol. We were planning to go to lunch together now, actually.” While his voice remained nonchalant, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners made Chanyeol grin unconsciously. Happy Baekhyun usually meant happy Chanyeol - it was a best friend thing.
Kyungsoo’s eyes widened (more than usual, Chanyeol noted). “Oh, but if you had plans with Chanyeol earlier, we can always get lunch together another time. Or maybe Chanyeol could come along?” Kyungsoo turned his smile to Chanyeol expectantly and the taller boy found himself shaking his head the moment the question caused Baekhyun’s lip twitched downward instead.
“Oh, uh, that’s really nice of you but, uh, I think Yifan’s waiting for me. Yeah. So. Uh. Yeah…” He didn’t need to look at Baekhyun to know that he was rolling his eyes at him. He nodded at them stiffly before giving them a wave. “Okay, see you around.”
“See you later, Yeol.” Baekhyun flushed when Chanyeol quirked an eyebrow quickly at him before wobbling away, knowing Chanyeol would be waiting with both Yifan and Jongin to hear about his “lunch” with Kyungsoo the moment he got home. “So,” he said to Kyungsoo, who was waiting for him patiently with the cutest grin that made his insides quiver in that annoyingly giddy way. “Shall we?”
÷
“Okay. Spill.”
As Baekhyun had expected, the moment he opened the door to their apartment, he was greeted by Chanyeol’s eager face. To his surprise, however, Jongin and Yifan were nowhere to be found. It wasn’t an unwelcome surprise though - he really didn’t need all three of them breathing down his neck about this, especially when Chanyeol was one of them. (Sometimes Chanyeol got really intense.)
“Jongin has a recital practice and Yifan’s trying to finish another assignment but I’m supposed to call them both after you tell me everything.” Chanyeol explained before he could question it and Baekhyun nodded in acknowledgement as he stowed away his coat.
“Wait, let me get ready first.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes but moved out of the way for Baekhyun to make himself a cup of tea and change into that massive sweater Chanyeol’s mom had knitted him one year because it was pretty cold outside and the sweater was remarkably warm. (Chanyeol would know because he had a similar one that he never really wore since his body was like a human radiator.)
Once adequately prepped to tell his story, he settled into the couch and dived into the most detailed description of a short lunch (kind-sort of-maybe date) Chanyeol had ever heard and he couldn’t even begin to count the number of times he had heard a squealed “and his cheeks are so cute - I just wanted to squish them” or a sighed “and his lips do that cute, little heart-shaped smile and it’s just so freaking cute” throughout the whole retelling. Honestly, all his mind could retain from the whole thing was that Kyungsoo was apparently the cutest thing on the planet Baekhyun.
“And I just,” Baekhyun cut his statement with a sigh, hugging one of the couch cushions close to his chest. He looked at his best friend with bright eyes and Chanyeol blinked back in confusion because the momentary stutter of his heart and a weird sinking feeling in his stomach couldn’t be right. Unsure, Chanyeol returned Baekhyun’s smile. “Yeolie, I think I’m in love.”
Chanyeol grinned even wider because that was what best friends were supposed to do when their best friend found the love of their life. “That’s great, Baekkie! I’m so happy for you!”
‘Yes,’ He repeated to himself when Baekhyun gave a dopey smile and squealed into his pillow, causing the weird feeling to return in his chest and stomach. ‘I am so happy for you.’
÷
“He’s not even that cute.”
“Hark! Do we hear jealousy from the pseudo husband? Over the person he, just weeks prior, said was ‘the perfect guy’ for his now ex-husband?”
“Jongin, I will break your fingers and dumb air quotes into little bite-size pieces and eat them for breakfast.”
Jongin slowly lowered his hands, looking a little taken aback. “Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. And you can’t really blame me - it’s really easy to tease you when you and Baekhyun-hyung aren’t ganging up on me.”
“Until you pulled out that cannibalistic murderer comment at least,” YIfan commented from behind his laptop, slaving away over yet another paper. “Not cool, man. I know you miss your little boyfriend but please.”
Chanyeol glared at them. “How many times do I have to tell you that I like girls? And Baekhyun is clearly not a girl.”
“Well, your brain has obviously missed that memo.” Yifan said, not even bothering to look up to see Chanyeol seethe at him.
“Not. In. Love. With. Baek.” Chanyeol gritted out, ignoring both the looks the two were giving him and the mocking thuds of his heart against his ribcage.
“Well, you’d better make sure your brain remembers that this time because your ex and his new boy toy are coming right now.”
Chanyeol sputtered at Jongin with a glare - damn him and his weird attitude change once he styled his hair and took off his glasses - before righting himself in his seat as Baekhyun and Kyungsoo came over. He gave the pair a tense smile that Baekhyun only seemed to acknowledge with a second-long pause before grinning widely at everyone.
“Hey, guys! We’re just stopping by to say hi. We’re gonna head out to lunch at that new Japanese restaurant at the plaza.” Chanyeol resisted the urge to gasp in horror because they - meaning Baekhyun and Chanyeol, not the puny little owl midget who was smiling at him sweetly at that moment though Chanyeol was clearly not intending to reciprocate the gesture - had been planning to eat there for months. “I’ll see you later then!”
They left with Chanyeol pouting pitifully in the direction in which they had vanished off to until Yifan made him go away because he was killing his inspiration.
÷
“I know you know something and I want you to tell me now.”
Yifan clicked the pause button on the cat video his friend, Yixing, had sent him to distract him from studying for midterms and raised a quizzical eyebrow at the smaller male who had, quite literally, come from nowhere and was, surprisingly, without the presence of neither an awkward giant nor an owl midget.
“You really need to work on your communication skills because-”
“Tell me why Chanyeol is avoiding me and you may just live to see another day without knowing what happened to that guy who sang the ‘k-i-s-s-i-n-g’ song.”
Never before had Yifan ever been more scared of someone half his height.
Clearing his throat loudly, he remarked, “I’m surprised you aren’t with Kyungsoo today.”
As if being pulled from a daze, Baekhyun blinked at him. “Wha-? Oh. I didn’t even… Well, that’s not important. What I need to know is why I have not seen or heard from Park Chanyeol in over 12 hours and why he’s been avoiding me for the past few days, and you will give me the answers.”
“Don’t you live together though?”
The shorter male crossed his arms. “Yeah but he’s been spending more time out of the apartment recently and he hasn’t come home at all since yesterday.” He worried at his lip and frowned at the blond. “I haven’t been without contact with Chanyeol for this long since I met him. Something’s not right.”
“I think you mean someone…” Yifan muttered under his breath, but the other male had already turned his head towards him, eager to hear more. “It’s just… well, you should ask him yourself, but I think he feels like you’re replacing him with Kyungsoo.”
“That’s ridiculous. Chanyeol is Chanyeol. He’s the most important person there is.”
Yifan raised an eyebrow. “Even more important than the person you’ve been saying you’re in love with? Especially when, for a certain someone, you may be both?” When Baekhyun’s brows knitted in confusion, he turned back to his laptop. “You should ask Jongin where he is and ask him yourself.”
Still confused, Baekhyun opened his mouth to respond but his attention was diverted when he caught sight of Kyungsoo waving at him in the distance. Hesitantly, he bade Yifan good bye and jogged away.
÷
Chanyeol blinked the sleep from his eyes, staring blearily into his surroundings as the knocking on the door continued guide him further and further away from sleep. With a sigh, he stood from the lumpy couch Sehun, one of Jongin’s classmates, had provided him to crash on while he avoided Baekhyun and dragged himself to the door. He’d only really been at Sehun’s for a few hours but already he was starting to get used to Sehun’s overly forgetful nature, having had to open the door to Sehun rushing in and out of the apartment to pick up things he forgot or drop off things he had mistakenly taken. What he did not expect, however, was Baekhyun standing at the door, glaring at him.
“Um. Hi.”
“Hi yourself, jerk.” Baekhyun scowled as he pushed past Chanyeol, making his way to Sehun’s couch before Chanyeol could even process what had just happened.
He followed his friend uncertainly, asking, “Wait- what? Why am I the jerk? And how did you find me?”
Baekhyun shrugged. “Did you really Jongin could hide something from me? I mean… Jongin.” The two snickered before falling into an awkward silence.
“So…” Chanyeol began, scratching at the back of his neck. “You’re not with Kyungsoo today…”
Baekhyun gave him a stare and said in the quietest voice Chanyeol had ever heard from him in all the years he had known him, “Chanyeol, do you like me?”
Caught off guard, Chanyeol made an incoherent sound and almost toppled off the couch. “I- What? Why?”
Baekhyun just continued to give him an expressionless stare and shrugged. “I like you.”
For a moment, Baekhyun thought he was seeing déjà vu as Chanyeol started sputtering incoherently again. “What?”
“I like you. I have for a while.” He laid back against the couch cushions to watch surprise and disbelief blossom on his best friend’s face. “I never really planned on telling you since, well, you know…” He moved his hands to suggest a curvy silhouette and Chanyeol mentally smacked himself. “So I was trying to move on… you know, with Kyungsoo, who’s really cute and nice so it’s actually really terrible of me but…” He broke off into a laugh, leaving Chanyeol confused and reeling in shock.
“I… don’t get what’s going on. You’ll have to talk me through this one.”
“Kyungsoo was never interested in me. He was getting close to me because he likes you.”
“What?” Chanyeol swore the universe decided that today was ‘prank Park Chanyeol day’ because this was just ridiculous.
Baekhyun nodded, still chuckling to himself. “Yeah, I just saw him earlier and he was asking me to give him some advice because he wanted to confess to you.”
Chanyeol blinked. “Okay… I still need a moment to process everything you’re telling me.”
“But I told him that you were mine.”
If not for the faint pink on Baekhyun’s cheeks, Chanyeol would have thought that he was hearing things. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun shook his head before leaning forward and, well, Chanyeol didn’t need that repetition anymore. Once they pulled apart, Chanyeol licked his lips nervously and said, “Well, that was very clear.”
Laughing, Baekhyun grinned at him. “Quite.”
“I like girls though.”
“Oh.” Baekhyun visibly deflated. “O-oh. Well, I knew that. I just figured that I might as well tell you…”
Smiling, Chanyeol took Baekhyun’s hand in his; it felt like it belonged there. “But I like you too. I just realized how much.”
Baekhyun flushed and Chanyeol leant forward, only to be distracted by the door opening.
“Chanyeol-hyung, have you seen my- oh.”
Chanyeol smacked his forehead as Baekhyun jumped away in shock, staring wide-eyed and red-faced at an awkward-looking Sehun.
“So… hm… Congratulations?”
÷
Yifan had certain expectations for Monday mornings. Mondays were full of people rushing to class or work, terrible coffee and crying manly tears over some essay he’d finished just hours before. Not on this list was a distressed Jongin clinging onto him and getting in the way of his pathetic excuse for a breakfast courtesy of his poor college student wallet.
“Jongin, please. I don’t have time for you complaining about your roommates again.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Jongin wailed desperately. Yifan rolled his eyes but took note of how much more tired Jongin looked even as school-version Jongin. “If they were bad as only best friends, it’s like they’ve undergone a mega evolution the moment they became an actual couple. I can’t take this anymore.”
As if on cue, the said pair walked through the doors and Yifan actually shrunk away in shock because couple clothing, linking arms while smiling so brightly that Yifan could’ve sworn he was seeing sparkly effects from dramas, and being perfectly in sync? This Monday was getting worse and worse.
(Originally written for in sutecha for Baekfest)