Archive of Our Own

Baekhyun is in his last year of college, and it’s the worst year of his life. He’s got papers due out his ass, theses upon theses upon theses, and projects about anything he could possibly imagine. Naturally he puts them all off until the last minute which would be fine if he didn’t also have a job that takes up most of the time he has when he’s not in class.

Baekhyun is an english major, and a decent one at that. He’s a really good writer, which comes in handy considering he’s got a million papers due every semester. He prides himself in his work, but he prides himself even more in his ability to somehow conjure up life changing essays in just a few hours before they’re due. Baekhyun also happens to major in procrastination, but it’s only fair because everyone in college is a procrastinator at one point or another (or at all points, in Baekhyun’s case.) He’s been procrastinating since his first year, so why stop now?

He found a part time job at a local coffee shop, which is also something everyone in college probably ends up doing at some point or another. He loves his job though. He’s had shitty jobs before, but this one is great. His manager loves him and he’s the most down to earth guy on the planet. His coworkers also love him. Everyone loves him.

So back to where this all started, with Baekhyun procrastinating all his end-of-year work. This would be just a usual run of the mill obstacle for Baekhyun, if it weren’t for his job. And his roommate.

Baekhyun can manage his job. He can manage his school work on top of his job. What he can’t manage is his roommate, Jongdae, constantly in fights with his girlfriend. She basically lives with them in their small apartment off campus and doesn’t pay rent. Which, is fine. She’s a likable person and she helps clean and make meals every now and then, but her and Jongdae are having a huge fallout lately and all they do is fight when they’re around each other. There have been times where Jongdae has kicked her out, there have been times where she’s stormed out. There have been times where Baekhyun has almost kicked them both out.

But he’s too nice.

He can’t stand to see his friend hurt and wishes the best for them. But he also wishes they would just kiss and make up, or both move out. He’s got enough stress already, he could do with some peace and quiet.

And Baekhyun gets his wish one day. It’s fall, mid-semester and Baekhyun is working on his 20 page thesis for one of his classes. Baekhyun hears a lot of yelling and door slamming from outside his room and doesn’t bother to but in. He types a few sentences before deleting them and retyping them five more times before deleting them again. Then he hears a knock on his door.

“Yeah?” He says.

“Can we talk?” Jongdae asks, cracking the door open.

“If it’s about your relationship issues, I'd rather not.” Baekhyun admits honestly. “But fire away.”

“It is,” Jongdae says. “but you’ll be glad to hear we’re moving past things.”

Baekhyun thinks back just a few minutes ago to the yelling and door slamming and nods, not believing him.

“We’ve decided maybe living here isn’t the best idea. You already don’t like the lack of rent sharing on her part…” Jongdae says. Baekhyun nods again.

“Plus I think maybe we just need some alone time. She doesn’t like being cooped up here. She wants her own place and I told her I'd go with her, to help with rent.” Jongdae continues.

Baekhyun laughs to himself about splitting rent, hoping Jongdae won’t be putting it all forward for his girlfriends sake.

“Are you sure that’s the best idea? All you two do is fight.” Baekhyun says.

“I know. And it’s probably not the best idea, but we’ll try it.” Jongdae says sadly.

“Well, if things go wrong...don’t hesitate to call. There’s always a room here for you.” Baekhyun says, trying to sound sure of himself.

Jongdae smiles and leaves the room to a relieved but also worrying Baekhyun. Not only worrying for his 20 page thesis he can’t write, but also how is he going to pay rent by himself now?

Baekhyun sighs and shuts his laptop and throws himself backwards onto his bed. He shortly falls asleep.

*

Baekhyun wakes up to his alarm for work the next morning and panics. He didn’t wake back up to work on his thesis and now he doesn’t have time. He’ll have to work on it after his shift and hope and pray he can write 7 more pages in just a few short hours.

He crawls out of bed and grabs his apron with the coffee shops logo embroidered on the front, his shoes, and books it out the door. Luckily his apartment is only a quick walk from the coffee shop so he’s not late even though he feels like he’s rushing.

Junmyeon, his manager, waves him back to his office for a quick chat. Taeyong, one of his coworkers, is out sick with a bad cold, so he’s called Jungwoo in a couple hours early to help. It’ll be just Baekhyun and him for about an hour before Jungwoo can get there, so they hope for the best.

Baekhyun sighs for what feels like the millionth time this week and puts on his apron and heads to the floor to start taking orders.

Luckily it’s an agonizingly slow hour before Jungwoo gets there, so it’s just Baekhyun on the floor taking orders and making drinks. he makes about 5 drinks total in the hour he’s alone, so Junmyeon gets a chance to work on scheduling in his office.

Jungwoo comes in, hair strewn about like he was running to get to work, and clocks in a few minutes late after a short talk with Junmyeon. He apologizes, says his cat got out, and gets right to ringing up the customer that comes in while they’re talking. Baekhyun moves to start making drinks in the meantime.

A short while into their shift together, a boy with dark, tousled hair walks in. He seems unsure of what he wants, so Baekhyun steps up and suggests he try one of Baekhyun’s famous lattes. The boy laughs at Baekhyun’s confidence and says “sure,” so Jungwoo writes his name on the cup and sends it down the bar for Baekhyun to make his latte. It’s nothing special or famous, just a latte but made by Baekhyun (that’s what makes it famous, in his opinion). He reads the name on the cup, studying it like he’s trying to match it to the face of the person who ordered the drink.

“Ten!” he calls out and the boy grabs his drink.

He immediately goes to take a sip and Baekhyun says “careful, it’s hot!” but he takes one anyway. Baekhyun is immediately scared of this person who is notably too powerful for him.

Ten tells him the latte is good, and he’ll have to come back to get another one, and then sits down with his notebook and a pen at a table near the bar. Baekhyun observes him in between customers and decides he thinks he’s kind of cute. But Baekhyun won’t admit that to anyone but himself. He barely wants to admit it to himself. Eventually he decides to distract himself with making drinks instead of checking out this boy who drinks straight hot drinks like it’s a game to him.

*

After his shift, Ten is still at his table working. His latte is long finished and he seems to be working hard, so Baekhyun makes him another one on the house. He clocks out and walks over to Ten’s table to deliver the drink.

“Now you don’t have to come back,” Baekhyun says dumbly. “Wait, that sounds worse than it did in my head.”

Ten laughs and takes the coffee from Baekhyun’s hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll come back.” He says. “This is the best latte I've had in a long time so it might be my new favorite.”

“I’m glad!” Baekhyun smiles. “It’s made with love. That’s the secret.”

Baekhyun is embarrassing himself. but he’s tired from his shift and beyond the point of embarrassment after his first dumb statement.

“I wouldn’t go giving away your secrets to strangers so easily.” Ten winks.

Baekhyun is mock offended. He’s about to ask if he can sit down and talk, wanting to get to know this stranger, but then has a sudden realization. He forgot he needed to finish his 20 page thesis and time is ticking.

“Shit!” Baekhyun says out loud. “Fuck, sorry for cursing.”

Ten stares at him with wide eyes, but is very amused.

“Sorry, I have to go. I have a thesis I need to finish. Waited until the last minute,” Baekhyun mutters. “Again see you sometime!”

Baekhyun rushes out the door in a panic and as he’s speed walking down the street he finally realizes what he said.

Again see you sometime!

“I'm such an idiot!” he says out loud, slapping the side of his head. “Why do i talk?”

He rushes home and plops down in front of his laptop in hopes of writing what will be the best thesis of all time. It’s not, but it’s one of the best.

Luckily he finally has some peace and quiet to finish it, without his two roommates bickering for once.

*

His professor ends up emailing his class an extension on their thesis until the next morning because the online collection system is down. Baekhyun would be thrilled if he didn’t cram those 7 pages for the first deadline. Baekhyun falls asleep earlier than he has in days, feeling accomplished but also extremely drained.

*

He wakes up the next morning for class and heads out early so he can grab a drink from work on his way. He posts an ad on the coffee shop bulletin board and also a community bulletin board at school saying:

ROOMMATE NEEDED! Please no freaks. Also has to love dogs.

He adds his phone number at the bottom and hopes that will do the trick.

He turns his paper in, sits through a few excruciatingly long lectures, and then gets out of his last class early. It’s a relief, so he takes the extra time to go to the library and grab a couple books for his next project.

His project is on Social Science, so he searches around for some titles that might do the trick. During his search through one of the aisles, he bumps into someone and sends their books flying everywhere.

“Sorry!” He says and bends down to help pick them up. He grabs a few and looks up to see who is the victim of his clumsiness.

“Oh,” They both say at the same time. It’s the boy with tousled hair from the day before.

“I didn't know we went to the same school.” Ten says.

“I didn't know you worked in the library.” Baekhyun says, reading the student name tag that says “library assistant” on it.

“Ah, I just started a few days ago. They mostly have me putting books back and helping students with the computers when they have trouble using the printers. Stuff like that.” Ten admits, scratching his head.

Baekhyun hands him his books and looks at the title on top of the pile that says The History of Feminine Hygiene. Baekhyun raises his eyebrow at him.

“I'm just...putting this one back.” Ten flushes.

Baekhyun laughs and stands around awkwardly while Ten puts the books back on a nearby shelf. Ten looks over at him, confused.

“Actually, since you work here, could you help me find something?” Baekhyun finally asks. “I'm bad at navigating this place.”

It was a lie. Baekhyun has been frequenting this library for years, so he probably knows it better than Ten does. Maybe.

“Oh, of course.” Ten says with a small smile.

Baekhyun explains the project he’s working on and Ten helps him find a big pile of books that might help him with it. Ten helps him check them all out and sends him on his way with an armful.

“If you ever need help printing your project, I'll be here to troubleshoot.” Ten says as a joke, but it almost sounds like he’s flirting.

Baekhyun tries to not think about it on his way home.

*

No more than two days later, Baekhyun receives a text message from a number he doesn’t recognize. He hesitates to open it, but finds out it’s someone responding to his ad about a roommate.

hey, i don’t really know how to go about this but i see you’re looking for a roommate. i am also in need of a roommate, or just a place to live at the moment. my ex kicked me out and it’s a long story but now i’m living in my car until i can find a place. i don’t why i’m typing all this. maybe we can meet up sometime? x

Baekhyun quirks an eyebrow at the message but responds anyway.

sure, let’s meet up. i work tomorrow morning, so we could meet after my shift? my address is XXX do you know how to get there?

All Baekhyun receives back is a “okay, see you there! x”

*

Baekhyun ends his shift, grabs a coffee to go, and begins his walk home. The entire way he wonders what kind of mysterious person could be behind the text message. He also wonders what kind of drama is going on in their life that has them sleeping in their car….

He arrives at home sooner than he thought. He must’ve been lost in his thoughts for a long time. He unlocks the door and hears skittering on the hardwood from behind it. He opens the door to his cheerful dog, bouncing up and down and doing a little dance around his feet.

“Are you excited to see me?” Baekhyun smiles and sets his stuff down. He kneels down to give his dog some loving. “I missed you too, Mongryong.”

He gives mongryong some kisses before standing back up and putting his hands on his hips in thought.

“We’re going to have a guest soon, Mongryong,” he says to his dog. “You need to be on your best behavior. And maybe help me clean up while you’re at it.”

Mongryong stares at him in dog dumbfoundedness with a silly smile on his face. Baekhyun starts to tidy up the living room and kitchen when he hears a knock on the door. Baekhyun freezes in panic for a moment. It would be his luck that he gave out his phone number, and now address, to some real freak and now he’s about to get murdered. But he plays it cool. He did ask for no freaks, after all.

He sends Mongryong a stern look as a reminder to behave and goes to open the door. When he opens it, he’s in shock.

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

“I didn't know you needed a roommate,” Ten replies.

“I just keep seeing you everywhere now.” Baekhyun thinks out loud quietly and hopes Ten didn’t hear. Of course he did.

“I'm following you,” Ten replies evilly. “Just kidding. Are you going to invite me in?”

“Oh, of course!” Baekhyun steps aside and waves an arm at the glitz and glamor that is his small apartment with two bedrooms and a partially carpeted kitchen. “So now you know where I live.”

Baekhyun smiles awkwardly as he leads Ten to the spare bedroom. He looks around and soon admires the rest of the place.

“You might not believe me, but it’s a lot better than my car.” Ten says.

Baekhyun laughs at that and Ten laughs too. They discuss rent and other small household rules and Mongryong, who was hiding in Baekhyun’s bedroom the whole time, shows face.

“Oh that’s right! You mentioned a dog.” Ten says. He lights up at the sight of Mongryong.

“He’s kind of shy until he gets to know you, but then he’s a huge baby. He might even sneak in your room and sleep in your bed at night,” Baekhyun admits. “if you let him, that is.”

“You’re always welcome.” Ten smiles and reaches a hand out toward Mongryong, but Mongryong wants none of it and goes back to Baekhyun’s room after briefly investigating the commotion.

“Sorry about that,” Baekhyun rubs the back of his head awkwardly.

“No worries,” Ten replies.

They continue to chat for a while and the conversation goes from topic to topic before Baekhyun asks him if he wants to stay for dinner. Silly Baekhyun, forgetting this is his new roommate. His new roommate who used to live in his car, so he probably doesn’t have anything big to move in. His new roommate who is basically already moved in.

“I’d love to,” Ten says. “Should I get my stuff and move in already, or did you want me to wait.”

“Don’t let me stop you,” Baekhyun says, a little embarrassed.

*

They’ve been living together for about a week when Baekhyun realizes Ten might be the easiest person he’s ever lived with. He’s quiet and keeps to himself mostly, but there are times where they do hang out while they study, both strewn across the floor and couch in pajamas eathing bad snacks. It’s such a relief to not deal with bickering and fighting constantly. Plus he pays his rent early, giving Baekhyun his share to add to the pile a day or two before it’s actually due. Ten is a saint.

Mongryong has been taking to him very well too. Mongryong has even snuck in to sleep at the foot of Ten’s bed a few times, but neither of them talk about it so Mongryong doesn’t feel embarrassed for liking this new stranger. Ten very much likes Mongryong sleeping at the foot of his bed, and Baekhyun very much likes having the whole bed to himself again. It’s only a matter of time before Mongryong starts hogging Ten’s bed instead. It’s an evil thought, but Baekhyun can’t wait until that moment of victory.

So Ten is the best roommate Baekhyun has ever had. Until one day. Oddly enough the both of them are home at the same time in the afternoon, and Baekhyun hears a panicked knock at his bedroom door.

Baekhyun, who is working on a semi-important paper at the time, says “Yes?”

Ten opens the door abruptly.

“I need your help.” He says in a tone that is obviously a little panicked but he’s trying to mask it as cool calm and collected.

“With? I'm kind of busy at the moment can it wait a few-“

“It’s kind of urgent. Please.” Ten says and turns to leave the doorway, hoping Baekhyun will follow.

Baekhyun does, oblivious to the situation he’s about to walk into. He just wants to get his paper done, but he comes out of his room and oh my God.

“The dishwasher is flooding the kitchen.” Baekhyun deadpans, but mostly he’s in shock.

Their ancient dishwasher from the dawn of time is not the most reliable dishwasher. Sure, it doesn’t clean the dishes very well the first time and you have to run a second cycle, but not in his many months of using it has Baekhyun ever flooded the kitchen with it. He'd be impressed if it wasn’t getting all over the carpet in their kitchen.

And yes, whoever built their kitchen must have had a brilliant stroke of genius when they decided to carpet half the kitchen, especially under where the dishwasher and sink are. Bet they never anticipated this kind of thing happening.

“Yeah! The dishwasher is flooding the kitchen! I don't know what to do!” Ten says, snapping Baekhyun out of his thoughts.

“What happened?” Baekhyun asks, turning to grab towels from the closet in the hallway.

“I don't know! I loaded it like normal, like you always do. And then I put the soap in. And it started doing this after I turned it on.” Ten says. “I haven't used a dishwasher much, I’ve always hand washed them when I had to.”

“How much soap did you put in?” Baekhyun asks, but he’s thinking about how Ten has watched him load the dishwasher, out of all things. It’s endearing.

“I...enough to wash the dishes? I filled up the thing. I thought it would be fine.”

Baekhyun assesses the situation, thinks real hard, and then realizes Ten is probably an idiot.

“How much soap do you use to hand wash dishes?”

“About this much.” Ten says, demonstrating on the bottle on the sink how much he usually uses.

Baekhyun now confirms Ten is an idiot.

“You put that much in our dishwasher?! No wonder it went nuts! You’re only supposed to put a little bit……” Baekhyun puts his head in his hands for a minute.

He finally looks up and sees Ten looking genuinely upset about the situation, so Baekhyun laughs.

“What’s funny? I ruined the dishwasher. And the carpet.” Ten says, dejected.

“You’re cute when you’re upset.” Baekhyun says, thinking nothing of it. Ten flushes.

“Shut up.” He mutters.

“Put it this way, at least we won’t have to shampoo this part of the carpet when we move out.” Baekhyun says lightly.

“You’re the worst.” Ten replies. “Help me clean it up.”

Ten grabs a towel from Baekhyun and starts scrubbing the carpet with it and sopping up what he can. but all Tenis thinking about how Baekhyun said “when we move out.” Whatever that means, he brushes it off.

“And get this,” Baekhyun opens the cabinet under the sink and points to a container. “We have dishwasher pods for your convenience next time.”

“You really are the worst.” Ten says and hits Baekhyun across the chest with his wet towel.

*

Baekhyun has class the next afternoon, so he rolls out of bed at noon thirty sharp and planning on totally rocking his bed head look. He puts on at least some decent clothes (which consists of wrinkly black jeans, a big hoodie, and his glasses) and strolls out the door. On his way out, however, he realizes in his rush to get coffee before class, he forgot his laptop at home. He heads back to get it and when he re-enters the apartment, he’s greeted by Ten with a dumb looking face.

“You were really about to leave like that?” Ten guffaws.

“Like what?” Baekhyun says, genuinely confused. Clearly there is nothing about his attire that is off putting.

“Fix your hair, idiot,” Tensays.

“Fix your face,” Baekhyun huffs and goes to his room to retrieve his laptop.

He makes it a point to fix his hair quickly in the bathroom before heading out again. Certainly not by Ten’s suggestion, though.

And Ten certainly wouldn’t admit Baekhyun did look a little cute with his hair messed up in his glasses he never wears. It’s whatever.

After Taeyong makes his coffee at work, Baekhyun blows him a kiss as a thank you as he heads out the door and walks the rest of his journey to campus.

He unfortunately arrives fashionably late to his ancient history lesson, coffee in hand, and smiles bashfully at his professor as he gets to his seat. His professor rolls his eyes like he’s used to it. Which he is. Ancient History could easily be Baekhyun’s least favorite class, and the lectures are terribly dreadful to go along with it. He usually shows up a couple minutes late because he stands in the hallway contemplating whether or not he wants to sit through another draining lecture. He finds himself going not as many times as he’d like, but today he fights the urge to leave since he’s already here.

*

After Baekhyun’s long lecture (which was only an hour and a half but felt closer to five), Baekhyun grabs his laptop full of never ending lecture notes, and his notebook full of other notes (but mostly scribbles which could possibly be of Ten, but he doesn’t like to name his art pieces). He stands up from his seat when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey!” The voice says.

Baekhyun whips around, startled, to see Ten with his bright smile. Baekhyun swears his smile is brighter than the sun.

“Hi?”

“I didn't know we shared this class.” Ten says.

“Neither did I,” Baekhyun deadpans. “Considering I never show up.”

“Why is that?”

“Ancient History isn’t really my thing.” Baekhyun admits. “A real snoozer, if you ask me.”

“Shame,” Tensays. “Ancient History isn’t so bad but I'll admit our professor kind of drones on.”

Baekhyun nods in agreement, rocking back and forth on his feet. They walk out of class together and Baekhyun is still genuinely shocked he’s shared a class with Ten this whole time and never knew. Maybe he should have shown up more often.

He definitely will now.

They walk down the hall in the history building, reach the exit door, and Baekhyun asks, “Want to grab a coffee?”

Ten says “Sure, but it’ll have to wait until after my next class. It’s in the Fine Arts building.”

“I'll walk you.” Baekhyun says.

“You don’t have to.”

“I have to go that way anyway.” He lies.

His Ancient History lecture was his only class for the day and he could easily just go home but for some reason an impromptu coffee date with Ten sounds better than working on his homework in the company of Mongryong. He mentally apologizes to Mongryong for being home late and hopes he’ll understand the circumstances.

They walk together to the Fine Arts building, which leads Baekhyun to the question of:

“What class are you taking in the Fine Arts building? I didn't know you were an Arts student.”

“I guess you don’t really know a lot about me, considering you didn’t know I liked ancient history either.” Ten winks.

“I'll just have to get to know you then.” Baekhyun replies with a wink and they both laugh.

Baekhyun holds the door for Ten when they get there and follows him, silently for the first time on their walk, down the hall and to a room labeled “DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY”. Baekhyun’s jaw drops a little bit but he desperately tries to collect himself before Ten looks at him.

“You’re a dancer?” Baekhyun asks.

“Dance major, actually. Choreography minor.” Ten puffs his chest out proudly.

Baekhyun takes a brave glance and looks Ten up and down a couple times just to take in this new information.

“I can definitely see you being a dancer.” Baekhyun says dumbly. He flushes a little, embarrassed after saying it.

“If you come by a practice sometime, you really could see me being a dancer.” Ten jokes, winks, and turns the knob to the dance room before Baekhyun can reply. “See you in an hour and a half for coffee?”

Baekhyun nods and then Ten is through the door and shutting it behind him.

Baekhyun considers going home again and waiting, and just meet Ten at the coffee shop after his class but he decides walking with him there would somehow be a better idea. So Baekhyun finds a comfy chair in the fine arts building lobby, pulls out his laptop, and rereads his Ancient History notes. He wonders which parts Ten likes most, and then shoos away the thought.

*

Ten emerges from dance and choreo in a whole new outfit than what he arrived in. When Baekhyun met up with him after Ancient History, Ten was wearing jeans and dark pullover. Now he’s wearing black sweats and a white T-shirt. He’s got his glasses on too and Baekhyun thinks briefly that it’s cute they have almost the same style. Baekhyun does a brief double take while stuffing his laptop away in his bag, and then they start their walk to the coffee shop.

The whole walk, Baekhyun fights off questions like “Were you waiting there the whole time?” and “What did you even do that whole time?” and most importantly “Why didn’t you just go home and work on your homework, idiot?”

They arrive at the coffee shop and Baekhyun weasels his way into Junmyeon’s office to ask if he can pretty please make a latte for himself and a friend. Junmyeon rolls his eyes and doesn’t totally understand the urgency, and Baekhyun won’t explain, but says yes anyway because they’re slow.

He all but kicks Taeyong away from the espresso machine to do so.

Ten had found a table while Baekhyun disappeared to make their lattes, so he brings them over to the table in the corner by the window. Ten had also pulled out his notebook and was scribbling something in it when Baekhyun approached.

“Are you drawing me?” Baekhyun jokes, setting the lattes down.

“Not a chance.” Ten jokes back, flipping his notebook around to show Baekhyun.

“Please don’t tell me you’re really an artist too.” Baekhyun says, pinching the bridge of his nose to be dramatic, before looking at the page.

On half the page in his notebook, Ten had sketched the trees and the tall buildings of their small town. The other half was filled up with Ancient History notes in the neatest handwriting Baekhyun had ever seen. Baekhyun is about to comment when Ten snatches his notebook back and closes it, in exchange for taking a sip of hot coffee.

“When I first met you,” Baekhyun says instead. “you drank hot coffee like a monster and to this day it still scares the shit out of me.”

Ten only smiles wickedly in return and takes another sip.

*

They chat for what seems like hours, but is probably only one or two because before they know it they’re getting kicked out by Junmyeon so the coffee shop can close.

Ten tells Baekhyun he’s been a dancer since he was a kid. Baekhyun tells Ten he couldn’t dance well to save his life.

Baekhyun tells Ten he’s been an english major since he started college, and Ten flicks him on the arm for being a smart ass.

After they’re dumped onto the streets, they walk home together and are greeted by a very happy and also very angry Mongryong at the door of their apartment.

“I know, I know,” Baekhyun coos. “How about a walk. Do you want to go on a walk?”

Mongryong immediately starts barking and doing a little dance full of spins and hops when he hears the magic word.

Ten volunteers to go with, and even offers to walk Mongryong. Mongryong must think they live in an alternate universe where Baekhyun forgot how to hold his leash, but he takes it in stride because he loves walks.

They walk and talk like they’ve been doing all day.

“Can I ask you something personal?” Baekhyun says.

There’s something about the nighttime and being out while the town sleeps that feels so inviting for intimate conversation.

“I guess?” Ten replies.

“Why were you sleeping in your car?”

There’s a long silence. The only thing either of them can hear are the crickets in the grass and the sounds of theirs and mongryongs feet on the pavement while they walk. Ten doesn’t answer for a long time, not until Mongryong finally stops to take a nice bathroom break that smells so terrible both of them start laughing in shock.

Thank you Mongryong for breaking the tension, Baekhyun thinks to himself.

He really didn’t expect the question to be that personal, so he feels bad for asking at all.

“You don’t have to answer.” Baekhyun says.

“I don't think I'm ready to talk about it yet is all.” Ten says.

They walk home mostly in silence except for Baekhyun’s soft “good boy” praises to Mongryong for peeing on fire hydrants and light posts along the way.

They arrive home and Ten wishes Baekhyun a good night before almost immediately heading off to his room and shutting his door. Baekhyun can feel the sliver of tension in his wake.

Baekhyun lays awake that night, staring at the ceiling, and wondering why he had to ask such a dumb question at all.

*

The next day, Ten barges into Baekhyun’s room without knocking and requests they go out for lunch at a local 24 hour breakfast place and share Ancient History notes. Baekhyun questions him and Ten only replies, “You’ll know when we get there. Get your laptop.”

So they arrive at the breakfast place, both in hoodies strangely the same color. They both have their glasses on, so the waiter gives them a look while taking their order. Neither of them even realized they were matching until that moment. Baekhyun has barely seen Ten in his glasses, and barely wears his own, so it makes the situation all the weirder.

“So why did you drag me here for breakfast at 3pm?” Baekhyun asks with a mouth full of pancakes. Ten puts his face in his hands at how embarrassing he is.

“Open your laptop and go to our assignment page.” Is all Ten says.

It’s a terribly silent couple minutes while Baekhyun navigates the school website and then he yelps, knocking his fork off the table and sends it clattering to the floor.

“A project?! Due in 4 days? Our professor is insane!” Baekhyun cries, reaching for his fork.

The waiter is already on the scene to fetch the dirty fork and bring him a new one before he can even grab it from the floor. Baekhyun thanks her lightly before turning back to ten.

“I don't know why he just decided to post this, but it does say we can use our books and any notes we have.” Ten says.

Baekhyun is scared of how relaxed Ten is. He clearly dragged Baekhyun out of the comfort of his own home into a 24 hour pancake house that probably is home to demons and tells him this project that will ruin his academic career.

Maybe he’s being a little dramatic.

“I don't know how I'm going to do this! I have papers to write. I have a thesis I'm supposed to start for the end of the semester! Oh god, oh god,” Baekhyun rambles on and Ten watches him in awe. He didn’t expect such a reaction.

“I'm here to help, you know.” Tenfinally says. “I'm good at this, and I brought you here so we could work on it together. And get some good food while we do it.”

Baekhyun stops fretting for a second and eyes Ten suspiciously. Ten eyes him back in mock suspicion.

“You are a little evil.” Baekhyun says.

“I am doing everything to help you, I don't see how that makes me evil.”

“You schemed this up last night while I was unaware.” Baekhyun says. He doesn’t make any sense to either of them. He’s just so stressed out.

“Well I'm going to share my notes and help you. So get settled in and let’s work.” Ten says finally taking a bite of his omelet.

*

After several long hours between the breakfast place (and then soon after they moved to the coffee shop), Baekhyun could say he was satisfied with his project. Ten had already outlined and started his the night before, so he was done before Baekhyun could catch up, but eventually they both reached a point of completion they were satisfied with.

“I would die without you.” Baekhyun says.

“I think you’re being dramatic again.” Ten says.

*

It’s nearing the end of the semester and Baekhyun only has a few weeks left to finish his theses for his two main English courses. He’s almost done with the first one, but is struggling big time with the most important one so he decides to pay his coworkers a visit for some coffee and a table to work at. Jungwoo makes him a cappuccino on the house after seeing Baekhyun’s pitiful face.

He’s been working for a long hour when Ten strolls through the door, sounding the bell off that there’s a new customer. Jungwoo makes him a mystery drink and Baekhyun pretends not to notice his presence even though Ten is walking toward his table.

“It’s not as good as the ones you make.” Ten admits, setting his coffee down next to Baekhyun’s laptop. “What are you working on?”

“30 page thesis for my final in one of my English courses. I have half of it done and I’m stuck.” Baekhyun says.

“Well I won’t bother you. I actually have a project I have to work on, if you don’t mind sharing the table with me? I won’t say a word.” Ten asks.

Baekhyun nods and groans, shoving the heels of his palms into his eye sockets in frustration over his paper.

They work in silence for a while before Baekhyun needs another coffee, and so does Ten. So Baekhyun asks Jungwoo if he can sneak behind the counter and make some drinks. Jungwoo says “of course, just be quick before Junmyeon gets back from break.”

So Baekhyun is quick and makes Ten the second best latte he’s ever made (the first best being the latte he made him when they first met). Ten thanks him a dozen times jokingly and they get back to their projects in peace, feeling rejuvenated with good coffee.

*

At home that evening, Baekhyun desperately asks for Ten’s help with studying for a big test they have coming up in Ancient History. He’s made a billion flashcards and they’re sprawled around the living room floor, on the coffee table, and on the couch. Ten comes bearing gifts of knowledge and they stay up all night studying.

Ten reads off key word and Baekhyun struggles indefinitely to remember the meaning of each one, but eventually kind of (sort of) gets it. He’s not confident at all in his memory retention for Ancient History hot topics, but he hopes he can at least pass. Ten is confident that Baekhyun will do fine and he’s just being dramatic, as always.

“I just don’t understand this one.” Baekhyun says, finding a specific card amongst the mess. “There’s no way I’m going to remember this.”

He throws a couch cushion in the air and flops down on the half naked couch, sighing in overly dramatic frustration. Ten laughs at him.

“Why are you laughing? Just because you’re an Ancient History enthusiast does not make my suffering funny.” Baekhyun wails.

“It’s cute when you’re frustrated.” Ten says blatantly.

There’s a quick awkward pause between the two before Baekhyun laughs nervously and throws the other couch cushion toward Ten. Ten dodges it, sending it into the TV and they both stand up to assess the damage.

Ten is focused on making sure the TV isn’t broken; scurrying to find the remote under all the clutter on the coffee table and flipping it on. Baekhyun is focused on Ten calling him cute. It’s whatever.

*

The next couple days seem to be a blur of lectures and work for Baekhyun. He attends every single Ancient History lesson he’s got and makes sure to sit next to Ten so he can share notes (and definitely not steal glances at him. Baekhyun would never).

When he’s not at school, he’s at work covering for Jungwoo who’s having family troubles out of town, and cleaning up all the coffee and espresso Taeyong spills on the floor for them both to step in. He makes drinks for what seems like days sometimes, but manages to make it through his long shifts alive.

Ten stops in to visit him from time to time, mostly to work on his papers and projects with the assistance of Baekhyun’s famous lattes. Baekhyun takes it upon himself to write him notes of encouragement when he feels discouraged himself.

Baekhyun starts out with corny phrases like “Java Brew-tiful Day!” and “Grab Life By The Beans”. On day’s Baekhyun sees Ten is extra concentrated or seems like he’s struggling, he’ll write “Take Life One Sip At A Time!” or “Stay Grounded”. On days where Ten seems in an extra good mood, he’ll write something along the lines of “Words Cannot Espresso How Much You Bean To Me”. It elicits a laugh from Ten. Baekhyun is flirting, and while Ten seems oblivious, he flirts back, writing him a note that says “I Measure My Life With You In Coffee Spoons” and slips it across the counter to Baekhyun on his way out for the night.

*

It’s a Friday night and Baekhyun wishes for nothing other than a quiet night at home with no thesis to work on and no coffees to be making. But unfortunately, you can’t always get what you want, so not only is Baekhyun stuck at work until close, but he also has a 10 page thesis to start - and finish by the next morning - waiting for him when he gets home.

It’s slow as all hell, and has been for the past two hours, when Ten comes in and sends off the bell above the door. The sound startles Baekhyun from his lull because it feels like he hasn’t heard that sound in hours. Baekhyun smiles when he sees Ten and starts making his coffee before he even orders. He brings it up to the register and hands it to Ten, telling him the total off the top of his head, and rings him up. It’s all a little ridiculous, that he has this all memorized. How much the coffee is ever time. How Ten likes his coffee every time. It’s whatever. Ten hands over his money and finds a seat near the end of the bar.

Baekhyun pretends like he’s not watching him while he works, but it’s blatantly obvious. Enough so that someone sneaks up behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder. Baekhyun jumps out of his shoes and whips around to see a smug looking Junmyeon.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but if you’re not capable of working while he’s in here, I might have to kick him out.” Junmyeon jokes and winks to drive the point home.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Baekhyun begins to defend himself. “I’ve been stocking the bake case like you told me to!”

“You’ve picked up and put down the same pastry six times in the past 10 minutes. You know what I mean, Baekhyun.” He laughs, demonstrating how silly Baekhyun looks moving the same pastry around several times.

Baekhyun pretends like he’s not embarrassed but his face betrays him and he’s flushing anyway.

“I’ll...do better.” Baekhyun admits.

“I’ll give you credit, though. The bake case has never looked this clean since I started here. You must be nervously cleaning it.” Junmyeon winks again and heads off back to his office.

Baekhyun sort of wants to die on the spot and hopes Ten didn’t just see him getting reprimanded by his boss.

But that would be too easy, and of course Ten saw. Baekhyun knows this because he glances over at Ten’s table and catches Ten looking at him with a wicked grin on his face, holding back a laugh. Baekhyun could kill him if he had the heart. If he didn’t look so cute.

*

Baekhyun finally gets the news back about his Ancient History grade. Baekhyun and Ten are sitting in the living room, watching some dumb TV program neither of them are really paying attention to, when he gets the email. He panics and hands Ten his phone.

“I can’t read it. I probably did horribly.” Baekhyun says, begging Ten to read the email for him.

“You need to be more confident, moron.” Ten says, skimming the email.

It’s awfully intimate letting someone else read your class emails, Baekhyun thinks off hand.

“It’s hard to be confident when you’re calling me a moron.” Baekhyun says instead.

After a painfully long silence (because Ten is making him wait on purpose, there’s no way it takes a regular human person that long to read an email that short), Ten opens tells him:

“89.”

“89?!” Baekhyun’s jaw drops to the floor.

“89.” Ten repeats.

“89!!!!!” Baekhyun jumps up from the couch to rejoice.

He was hoping for a 70 at least. He is so bad at Ancient History, it’s not even laughable. How on earth could he score such a high grade? It must have been because Ten helped him. So naturally, the only way Baekhyun could think of thanking him…

Was with a kiss.

Baekhyun reaches and grabs Ten by the arms and leans in like he’s going to kiss him, but then at the last second realizes what he’s doing. He pulls back just as quickly and stands up, dusts his arms off nervously with a quiet “Um…” and excuses himself to his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Almost a kiss.

Baekhyun hides in his room in shame. What was he thinking? He’s so stupid. He’s so stupid. He lays face down on his bed and huffs, hoping he’ll suffocate himself by the end of the night. After about an hour of rolling around and pouting on his bed, he hears a knock on his door.

He goes to answer it but instead he watches as it creaks open just a crack and then closes again. He sees the hallway light flicker off and then hears Ten’s door shut. Baekhyun sits up and sees his forgotten phone sitting on the floor of his bedroom.

He is such an idiot.

*

The next day they don’t talk about it. They don’t talk about it for days after that, actually. They’re not in the house at the same time for about a week, unless it’s at night when they’re both in their rooms ready for bed. Baekhyun has a busy schedule at work, and Ten is busy working on projects for his classes Baekhyun assumes.

It’s after one of their last Ancient History classes for the semester that Baekhyun decides to confront Ten about their… almost kiss. Except Ten doesn’t show up for class, which Baekhyun finds infinitely odd since Ten misses almost none of his classes ever. He texts Ten to see if he can meet him somewhere and Ten finally texts back with a message that says:

busy with choreo

Which, if Baekhyun was a normal human being who wanted to not be annoying, he would leave Ten be and go home and finish up his last papers for the semester. But that is definitely not a Baekhyun thing to do at all, so he hikes his way across campus to the Fine Arts building and finds his same bench outside the DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY room and takes a seat. He sits for no more than five minutes before he gets curious and peaks through the window on the door. He sees no one in the room at first and wonders if the room is truly empty and Ten was lying to him to avoid him. But then after a moment, he sees a familiar face come into view in the reflection in the huge mirrored walls.

He stares through the door in awe as he watches Ten dance. He’s never seen someone move like Ten does. He watches for a while before Ten must feel like someone is watching and he turns around to see Baekhyun through the window. He looks red faced and Baekhyun can’t tell if its from dancing or if it’s because he’s mad that Baekhyun is there. And he’s about to find out because Ten is storming over to the door to throw it open into Baekhyun.

“What are you doing here?” Ten asks, but there’s no heat behind it like Baekhyun was expecting.

“It looks like I’m watching you dance.” Baekhyun says.

“It sure does.” Ten deadpans.

They stand there awkwardly for a couple minutes in complete silence before Ten invites him in the room, saying ”Stop looking dumb in the hallway and get in here.” Baekhyun whines a complaint but it goes unnoticed as the door shuts behind him.

Baekhyun continues to look dumb and stand awkwardly in the corner of the room for a bit while Ten tries to iron out a certain move he’s working on. Ten eventually gives up, turns around with a huff and puts his hands on his hips while looking at Baekhyun.

“What?” Baekhyun asks.

“You standing there is making me nervous.” Ten admits. Baekhyun didn’t think Ten ever got nervous. About anything.

“I’m sorry...Where should I sit?” Baekhyun asks.

“I have a better idea.” Ten says. “I need a partner for my dance.”

“That’s a lie.” Baekhyun says, pretending like he can see right through Ten.

“It’s not actually.” Ten says. “I need a partner for my dance I am choreographing, but I haven’t found anyone to dance with me yet because everyone is busy with end of semester projects. Looks like you have no choice but to do it for me.”

“I’m not a good dancer.” Baekhyun says nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Ten is already walking in long strides across the floor to him.

“I know.” Ten smiles and yanks Baekhyun’s hand, pulling Baekhyun into him abruptly.

Baekhyun swallows and prays he at least doesn’t fall on his ass.

Ten walks him through a few dance moves he’s been working on, showing Baekhyun his part individually before pairing up with him. Baekhyun is dumb on his feet and can’t dance along with another person so close to save his life. But he tries. Ten could give him that.

For one particular move, Ten tries to spin Baekhyun and twist him back in his arms like they do in the movies, but Baekhyun is confident he’s going to get dropped.

“Don’t worry.” Ten says. “I’ve got you.”

So he spins Baekhyun and goes for the drop and Baekhyun fumbles in his arms, causing Ten to truly drop him on the floor and flat on his ass.

“You said you had me!” Baekhyun whines.

“You aren’t supposed to squirm like that, idiot!” Ten says back.

Ten reaches a hand out to pull him back up and Baekhyun pouts as he accepts the help.

“Now, let’s try one more time.” Ten says.

And they try again, this time when they go for the drop, Baekhyun doesn’t panic and closes his eyes briefly in his best efforts to trust Ten not to drop him. And as Ten promised, he doesn’t drop him. Ten’s holding Baekhyun dipped back and before he knows it, he’s being pulled back up and snug right to Ten’s chest. He can feel Ten’s breath on his face when he stands and he’s already forgotten everything he came to the dance studio to do.

He knows he wanted to confront Ten about their almost kiss. He wants to apologize for leaving the room in a panic. He wants to apologize for a lot of things, but mostly he just wants to kiss Ten again. And he’s even closer this time.

But then Ten’s watch beeps and Ten is letting go of Baekhyun to grab his stuff. He doesn’t know how long they’d been dancing, but Baekhyun does know it’s time to go.

They walk home together in silence and when they get there, Ten goes straight to his room and shuts the door. Baekhyun takes Mongryong on a long walk around the neighborhood and down to the coffee shop where he calls inside to ask if Jungwoo can bring him the strongest coffee he knows how to make. Jungwoo obliges and even sits with Baekhyun and Mongryong for a few minutes to talk about his troubles.

“I think you just need to talk to him about it.” Jungwoo says.

“What?” Baekhyun asks, truly dumbfounded.

“You look like you’re really battling something, so I think you should talk with him about it. I hope you aren’t having troubles with your relationship, you guys are cute.” Jungwoo says.

Baekhyun’s jaw drops. He wants to hit Jungwoo, but instead spits a mouthful of his coffee at Jungwoo’s shoes.

“We’re not dating!” Baekhyun defends himself.

“Could’ve fooled me.” Jungwoo stands up and goes back inside. “See ya.”

Baekhyun looks at Mongryong who is desperately pulling at his leash to lick up the mess of coffee on the concrete.

He is truly such a fool.

*

The next time Baekhyun catches Ten is long after finals have finished and it’s mid-winter break. He doesn’t mean to be avoiding Ten, he just got busy with papers and projects, and he knows Ten did too. Then the semester ended and Ten went home to visit his family for a couple weeks, leaving Baekhyun to spend long days laying in bed doing nothing and moaning and groaning about how stupid he feels.

When Ten gets back home later that evening Baekhyun promises himself he’s going to talk to him. It’s long overdue and he needs to get to the bottom of everything that’s been going on.

Baekhyun lets him get unpacked and settled in and sprawls out on the couch with a sigh.

“Feels so good to be on the ground after flying all day.” Ten says, melting into the couch.

Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say. He knows Ten can tell he’s acting a little funny so he cuts right to the chase.

“I’m sorry I tried to kiss you.” Baekhyun says and he can feel the tense air bloom.

“What?” Ten says.

“I’m sorry.” Baekhyun repeats. He feels really embarrassed all of a sudden.

“It’s fine.” Ten says, sitting up on the couch. “It happens.”

“It doesn’t just happen. I don’t know why when I got excited I felt the need to try to kiss you. I don’t know what that was and I’m sorry.” Baekhyun says.

“Look,” Ten starts. “It was a long time ago. It’s okay. Whatever it was, it’s fine.”

Baekhyun nods. But it’s not fine. Because Ten looks so rustled and tired from traveling, and it’s so cute he wants to kiss him again. Baekhyun is getting really sick and tired of wanting to kiss him all the time. But he doesn’t tell Ten that.

*

Baekhyun wakes up at 3am that night to a strange phone call. It’s from Jongdae, so naturally he is concerned why his best friend with girlfriend troubles is calling him at 3am.

“I just wanted to talk.” Jongdae says.

“How are you doing?” Baekhyun asks.

“Things are fine on my end, surprisingly. I’m doing really great, and I’m not paying rent by myself.” Jongdae says and Baekhyun can feel him winking. “How about you?”

“I found a new roommate.” Baekhyun says.

“And how’s that going for you? Is he as cool as me?” Jongdae asks.

“No one is as cool as you.” Baekhyun admits. “But no, I don’t know how that’s going for me. It’s complicated.”

Jongdae hums in understanding.

“Look, I actually have to go,” Jongdae says after they chat for a bit longer. “Do you mind if I stop by tomorrow?”

“I’d be honored.” Baekhyun says.

Jongdae hangs up before Baekhyun can get another word in.

*

The doorbell rings and Ten announces he’s getting it before Baekhyun can even process, or remember, that Jongdae invited himself over. Ten opens the door to a stranger with a confused look.

“Baekhyun I think it’s for you?” Ten calls to Baekhyun, who is minding his own business in the living room.

“Right!” He calls back, standing up to run to the door and greet his best friend.

“You must be my replacement.” Jongdae says to Ten. Ten responds with a bewildered look.

“This is my old roommate, Jongdae.” Baekhyun introduces. “And this is my new roommate, Ten. Make friends.”

“Aw, is that all I am to you?” Jongdae says with a pout. “I’m also his best friend.”

“Okay.” Ten says plainly.

Ten mostly keeps to himself while Baekhyun and Jongdae catch up in the living room. They talk for hours, and eventually Baekhyun offers to get everyone takeout. Neither of them can say no. Baekhyun orders from their favorite takeout place. Ten had gone to his room to grab some cash to cover his portion when Baekhyun made the call.

“I’ll just have a big, steaming bowl of noodles.” Jongdae tells Baekhyun.

“Alright,” Baekhyun says. “I’ll go ahead and order for Ten since I know his favorite.”

Jongdae quirks an eyebrow but says nothing.

The food comes and Jongdae is more than satisfied with his big, steaming bowl of noodles.

“I’ve missed this.” Jongdae says.

“They have the best noodles.” Ten says, diving into his own noodle bowl.

They eat in silence after that, with Baekhyun trying to make small talk between the three of them and failing miserably. Who knew it would be so hard to get your two friends to talk and hang out for the first time.

After dinner, Ten offers to clean up the mess and even bags off the trash and takes it down to the dumpster behind their apartment.

“What is with you two?” Jongdae asks when Ten closes the door.

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asks back.

Jongdae is sitting on the couch with Baekhyun on the floor below him. Jongdae elbows him hard on the shoulder. Baekhyun whines in protest.

“What was that for?”

“Is it not obvious? Why are you guys so buddy-buddy and you didn’t even tell me!” Jongdae complains.

“Tell you what?!” Baekhyun raises his voice a little, genuinely confused and a little distraught if he’s honest. His best friend is hitting him for no reason and he can’t possibly fathom what he thinks he knows.

“How dare you not tell your best friend you have a boyfriend!”Jongdae announces as Ten is coming through the door and suddenly everything is very uncomfortable.

Jongdae immediately shuts up and is red faced, and Ten nods in acknowledgement like he’s interrupting something. He scurries off to his room to leave Baekhyun and Jongdae to it. Baekhyun sends Jongdae a look with fire in his eyes but Jongdae knows he’s not really mad, just confused.

“I don’t….I...We’re not dating.” Baekhyun says quietly. “I don’t know what led you to believe that.”

“I could name quite a few things.” Jongdae shrugs. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Baekhyun asks.

“For accusing you.” Jongdae says, rubbing the back of his neck. “And probably making things really awkward.”

“You’re not the first one to do it.” Baekhyun admits.

“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.” Jongdae says. “Thank you for dinner and having me over, but I think it’s time I see myself out…”

“I’ll miss you.” Baekhyun fakes being forlorn but knows he has something he needs to deal with now more than ever.

Jongdae gathers his belongings with his leftovers and lets himself out of the apartment, closing the door with a quiet goodbye to Baekhyun and Mongryong, wherever the dog may be at the moment. Baekhyun is left alone in the living room with a lot to think about, and a lot he needs to work up the courage to say.

It’s probably a few hours after Jongdae leaves before Baekhyun works up the courage to even stand up and go to his own bedroom for the night.

*

Baekhyun is lying awake in his bed, like he does a lot lately. He’s staring up at the ceiling and thinking long and hard about the dots on the gaudy popcorn covering they did up there when he hears a knock on the door. He doesn’t give an answer fast enough before Ten is coming in the room anyway.

Ten, being followed by Mongryong, comes to sit at the end of Baekhyun’s bed.

“I think we need to talk.” Ten says quietly.

Mongryong jumps up on the bed, most likely feeling the tension because he curls up on top of Baekhyun’s chest like he does when Baekhyun is sad or nervous.

“I think you’re right.” Baekhyun says.

It’s quiet for a while before either of them talk again.

“I hate to say this but...what are we? It’s so cheesy to ask, but really?” Ten asks.

“I don’t know.” Baekhyun says.

“I thought we were something, but I guess at the same time we aren’t anything?”

“I thought we were just friends doing...whatever it is we’re doing. Is there something wrong with that?” Baekhyun says.

“Don’t lie to me, Baekhyun.” Ten looks at him finally.

“Why do you think I’m lying?” Baekhyun asks.

“You write corny shit on my coffee cups almost every day you see me. You’ve tried to kiss me. And I know you’ve wanted to more than just once.” Ten says.

“How do you know that?” Baekhyun asks.

“I can see it on your face. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s the same as when you almost kissed me the first time. I know that look you get. But you never do it.” Ten says.

Baekhyun sighs in response and closes his eyes. He doesn’t know what to say. He’s at such a loss and he wants to cry.

“Friends don’t flirt like we do. Friends don’t want to kiss their friends while they’re dancing.” Ten says.

Baekhyun feels that one right through the chest. God, why does he know everything? Baekhyun is just really silent, hoping all the awkward tension in the room will evaporate. And take him with it.

“So what does that make us?” Baekhyun finally asks.

“Jongdae thinks I’m your boyfriend.” Ten says.

There’s that word again. Boyfriend. He’s scared. He’s scared like that feeling you’d get before you jump off a cliff into raging water. Baekhyun’s never jumped off a cliff before but he imagines it feels this way. He’s so scared, but doesn’t know why.

“Do you want to date?” Baekhyun asks.

“Maybe I do.” Ten says.

There’s more silence in the room and Baekhyun is positive Ten is probably annoyed with how quiet he’s being, but he can’t help it.

“Just say yes.” Ten says after long enough. “I know you want to say yes, you’re just playing hard to get because you’re afraid. And I’m afraid too. Can I tell you a secret?”

Baekhyun looks at him finally.

“The reason I lived in my car was because my ex kicked me out. You knew that part, but I was dating some girl I met a while back and we had been together for almost two years. She kicked me out because, I really liked this girl okay, but I confessed to her that I thought I liked guys. She got so mad she gave me two days to get out of out apartment. Didn’t even say another word to me. I hadn’t even ever been with a guy, not even kissed one, I just told her I thought I liked them. So I lived in my car until we met. So as you can imagine, I’m really scared too.” Ten says, and Baekhyun can see there’s tears in his eyes but he’s not crying.

“I’m not ashamed of who I am, not at all. I’m very disappointed she felt the need to act that way, and I think I’m definitely better off not being around her anymore. But it’s scary when you don’t know if people will treat you differently, even after knowing them for years. Baekhyun, I’ve liked you for a long time but I never wanted to say anything because I was scared you wouldn’t like me back, or at all.” Ten says.

It’s late and Ten’s word vomiting all over his blankets and his bedding and all Baekhyun wants to is wrap him in a tight hug and tell him it’ll all be okay. So he does. Baekhyun pushes Mongryong off of him because, seriously, not the time, and crawls across his bed to take Ten into a hug. Ten begins to cry a little bit, sniffling but not full on sobbing like Baekhyun is sure he wants to. It’s hard to let such an intimate part of your life out, he knows.

“Yes.” Is all Baekhyun says.

And Ten looks confused at first. But then he smiles. He smiles on of his earth stopping, bright smiles and it’s almost brighter than the moon shining through the window.

“Yes?” Ten asks.

“Yes. Yes I’ll be your boyfriend.” Baekhyun admits. And it sounds a little corny. But he’s happy with it.

Ten hugs him back even tighter than he’d been held just moments before. Baekhyun thinks it’s very possible in that moment for Ten to squeeze the life out of him, but he doesn’t. Then after a moment, Ten pulls back. They stare at each other for a few weird moments.

“Is it okay if I kiss you now?” Baekhyun finally asks.

“You don’t even have to ask.” Ten admits.

“Good because I might have anyway. You look really cute when you’re worked up.” Baekhyun smiles and Ten hits him on the shoulder.

And Baekhyun leans in to kiss him.

And Ten sleeps in Baekhyun’s bed that night with Mongryong at their feet.