Work Text:
Jongdae’s had a really good month, all things considered, only interrupted briefly by a common cold. Nothing disastrous had happened at work, no missed bills, no power outages or huge blizzards, and he’d even managed to keep his apartment clean for two weeks, a record. But of course, all good things must come to an end, he thinks, letting himself finally be bitter in the privacy of his own car.
It’s cold again after a brief warm spell, and in February, one expects snow, but that doesn't mean it's wrong to curse it wholeheartedly while rolling out of bed. Then, one of his windshield wipers had frozen to the windshield that morning, and defrosting it had taken longer than usual, making him late to work on the one day his boss got to work on time. All this could just be counted as a bad day, but that afternoon, Jongdae's cell rang. Zhang Yixing, apparently, had found his soulmate and was settling down— two months after breaking up with Jongdae to “free his creative spirit.”
It's too much, Jongdae thinks, and the best way to end the day is clearly with Cinnamon Toast Crunch crumbled and mixed into cookie dough ice cream at home while surrounded by soft blankets and the sounds of Pacific Rim playing in the background. He pulls into the supermarket's parking lot and strides with purpose to the ice cream aisle.
There's a sale on Ben & Jerry’s, and the smell of fresh cake wafts into the refrigerated area from the bakery. Maybe it's not such a bad day, Jongdae muses. Unfortunately, just as his eyes fall on the single carton of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough left on the shelf, he sees fingers curl around the cardboard. No. Not today, he prays, eyes lifting to see that the man in front of him looks incredibly pleased.
"Excuse me, but I think you just took my quart of cookie dough," Jongdae says politely.
"Your quart?" The man lifts his eyebrows, and Jongdae resists the urge to narrow his eyes.
"Yes. I really need it, and you should probably return it to me," Jongdae coaxes, stepping closer.
"Umm... No? It's just ice cream, man, find another flavor for this week, maybe?" Ice Cream Stealer looks a little uncomfortable, but Jongdae is so done. All he wants is his relatively ethically sourced chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, and is that really so much to ask?? It shouldn’t be, and some random little twink with admittedly beautiful fingers is not allowed to mess that up.
The effects of the day finally catch up with him, and Jongdae grabs hold of the container, tugging on it even as the other man's eyes widen.
"Dude," he says, trying to take it back.
"You don't know what this means to me," Jongdae says through gritted teeth, and his pull catches the other man off guard. It throws him off balance, and they both end up falling to the ground, taking with them a small display of assorted breads.
"Shit," Jongdae groans, and the other man follows his eyes to a very angry manager stalking towards them.
"Fuck, not again," Jongdae hears before he's dragged to his feet and pushed.
Again? Jongdae wonders briefly.
"He's the mean one," Ice Cream Stealer gasps as they sprint towards the exit. They make it fairly easily, considering the manager's clearly out of shape, and when they're a block away, they collapse against each other on the sidewalk. They're gasping for air, but in between breaths, Ice Cream Stealer starts laughing, and soon, Jongdae's laughing too, and neither of them seems to be able to stop.
Jongdae’s laughing so hard he thinks his lungs may give out. There’s a tightness in his chest that intensifies with the lack of oxygen, and suddenly, he’s very aware of the wetness on his cheeks from laughing so hard. He looks at the man sitting next to him still clutching his stomach with mirth, and he feels the laughter loosen his tightly held control. A few tears fall, unbidden, and he wipes them away quickly, but not quickly enough.
“Hey,” the man says quietly, scooting over so he can look Jongdae in the eye. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired,” Jongdae says with a small laugh. To his surprise, he finds himself suddenly enveloped in a warm hug. The scent of fresh mint and lemongrass fills his nose, and part of his brain remembers it’s rush hour and they’re sitting on a dirty city sidewalk, but the other part quiets at the steadiness of the breaths moving through the neck against his forehead and the warmth of the hand on his back gently rubbing circles between his shoulders.
It takes a few minutes, but soon Jongdae’s heart beat slows back down and his breathing steadies. He can’t quite meet the other man’s eyes when he sits up and says a quiet thank you.
“No problem! I’m Baekhyun, by the way,” the man replies, and when Jongdae finally looks up to introduce himself, he sees a bright smile and eyes curving into endearing crescents.
“It’s nice to meet you, Jongdae, even if you did try to steal my ice cream. But there’s a CVS right down the street, if you want some?” Baekhyun doesn't seem to actually be upset—in fact, his smile seems to have widened—so Jongdae finds himself nodding.
--
They actually end up buying two quarts of ice cream each, and when they exit the store, Jongdae turns to face Baekhyun sheepishly.
“Sorry about earlier. It was dumb, and I was out of line.”
“It’s okay! Everyone has bad days, and you’re clearly having one today.”
Jongdae sighs and nods. “Yeah. You know, on top of all the other dumb shit, my ex found his soulmate? And he’s so nice that I can’t even be mad.”
“Oh god, you went out with one of those.” Baekhyun shakes his head. “Do you have plans to help you feel better then? Or is that what the ice cream’s for?”
Jongdae groans. “Just let me be lonely and sad in peace without your judgement, okay? I need this tonight.”
Baekhyun pats his shoulder. “I don’t doubt it. At least give me your number so I can call you later and rub in what a great night I’m having.”
Jongdae groans again, but for some reason, he pulls out his phone. With only a little regret, he watches Baekhyun put in his own number and call himself.
--
Baekhyun actually does call later that night. Jongdae’s just finished watching Pacific Rim and is deciding between Drive and Looper when his cell phone rings. His eyebrows rise when he sees the caller’s name: “Byun Baekhyunnie~”.
“Isn’t your contact name a little cute, considering how little I know you?”
“Hey, running from grocery store managers is a bonding experience, didn’t you know?” Baekhyun huffs.
“Sorry, I wasn’t aware,” Jongdae says, rolling his eyes with a smile.
“Anyway, I’ve called to gloat. And to inquire about your night. How much of the ice cream’s left?”
“I’ve got one quart left in the freezer,” Jongdae says, twirling his spoon and wondering if he should take it out now or get the movie started first.
“An entire quart? Your ex just told you he found your soulmate, and you’re only one quart in at ten at night?” Baekhyun sounds almost offended.
“Excuse me, I can mourn the way I want,” Jongdae retorts.
“It sounds like you’re sending out a cry for help, and I’m totally here for you. I’m super busy tonight, but I’ll take pity on you and squeeze you into my schedule.”
“I didn’t ask for this? I want to eat my ice cream by myself???” Jongdae’s honestly just really bewildered, but Baekhyun doesn’t leave him time to process everything.
“Are you watching a movie, too?”
Without thinking, Jongdae replies, “I’m trying to choose between Drive and Looper.”
“Awesome! Text me your address and I’ll be right over. I’ll even bring cookies,” Baekhyun says cheerfully.
“Umm….” There’s a click, and Jongdae pulls his phone away from his ear and stares at the “Call Ended” flashing across his screen. Slowly, he opens Messages and types out his address to Byun Baekhyunnie~.
Just fifteen minutes later, Jongdae’s opening the door to a cheerful Baekhyun, now dressed in casual jeans and a t-shirt. In his hands, as promised, is a bag with both chocolate chip and M&M cookies.
Jongdae has woken himself up to realize that he’s basically just invited a stranger into his home, and he keeps himself cautious, but Baekhyun just puts Drive into the DVD player, turns down the lights, and sits down. He pulls a spoon out of his bag and pats the cushion next to him, looking up at Jongdae expectantly.
Jongdae shakes his head, whispers “fuck it” to himself, and sits down too.
--
Baekhyun begins appearing in Jongdae’s life more and more, and Jongdae doesn’t know how to stop him. He also doesn’t know if he wants to, because Baekhyun proves to be quite the distraction from Yixing. He keeps Jongdae from moping too much, and in turn, Jongdae learns to read Baekhyun’s shades of cheerful, making sure he doesn’t bottle too much up. It’s a good arrangement for both of them.
When they exhaust both their supplies of movies and tv shows, Baekhyun and Jongdae start exploring the less popular parts of Netflix, watching weird documentaries and independent movies in languages they’ve never even heard of and gross one star movies. Antiviral is quite the experience, and honestly, neither of them is the same afterwards. They grow closer, comfortable silences and drunk conversations and heavy, philosophical discussions becoming regular occurrences at every hour of the day.
Jongdae’s lying on Baekhyun’s couch, waiting for Baekhyun to finish getting ready to go out for dinner when he gets the email. Yixing’s name hasn’t popped up in his inbox for months, and it had been six months since Yixing and Jongin had returned from their big romantic tour of South America. Neither of them had attempted to contact each other, and Jongdae opens the email warily.
Hi Jongdae!
It’s been a while, but I hope you’ve been well. Jongin and I were wondering if maybe you’d want to come by for dinner sometime? It’s been so long since we caught up, and I don’t want us to fall out of contact. We said when we broke up that we’d still be friends, right? If you don’t want that anymore, I understand, but I’d really like to stay friends. Let me know, okay?
Sincerely,
Yixing
Jongdae groans and almost rolls off the couch. He catches himself at the last second, just in time for Baekhyun to see and grin.
“Shut up,” Jongdae says before Baekhyun can even open his mouth.
“I didn’t say anything!” Baekhyun protests.
“Well I can imagine what you were about to say. Anyway, Yixing just emailed me and asked me to go over for dinner.”
“And the plot thickens,” Baekhyun says with a laugh.
“Baekhyun, I don’t appreciate the sarcasm. Yixing just asked me to go over for dinner with him and Jongin.”
“I don’t see the problem, Jongdae. You said already long ago that you don’t have feelings for Yixing anymore, and it’ll be good for you to stop avoiding him. He’s a nice guy, from what I can tell, and you know he’d be totally willing to listen if you ask him to back off somehow. Jongin’s pretty cool too. You just don’t want to go over there and feel like one of those forever alone cat ladies, but you have me around, so go, eat lots of yummy Chinese food, and keep that friendship for at least a few more months, okay?”
“Yes, Mom,” Jongdae says, rolling his eyes as he gets up. He slings his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders on the way out, though, and Baekhyun just shakes his head with a smile.
--
Jongdae shows up on Yixing’s doorstep with a bottle of wine and shaking hands. He presses the doorbell and quickly clutches the wine tightly again. When he hears footsteps behind the door, he takes a deep breath, trying to steady himself.
Yixing is glowing. This is the first thing Jongdae notices. The second thing is that the apartment smells amazing. Homemade Changsha fare that he hasn’t had in years, Jongdae realizes. He’s not sad about that, exactly, he’s a little surprised to realize, just happy to try it again.
A loud yell comes from inside just as Jongdae crosses the threshold, and he pauses, turning to Yixing. Then, there’s a loud thump and a squeal. Yixing just smiles apologetically.
“Jongin’s sister dropped by earlier today asking us to take care of her daughter tonight, and we couldn’t really say no. I hope you’re okay with that? I probably should’ve called ahead and told you so you could politely back out,” Yixing says, eyebrows furrowing.
“No, no, it’s perfectly fine!” Jongdae shakes his head, smiling when he sees a little girl sprinting down the hallway and turning into what he assumes is the living room. A second later, Jongin appears, a look of serious concentration on his face that turns into a sheepish grin when he catches sight of Jongdae in the entryway.
“Hi, Jongin,” Jongdae says, smile widening at the hair sticking up on one side of Jongin’s head.
“Hey,” Jongin says warmly. “It’s been a while! How have you been?”
“I’ve been pretty good,” Jongdae returns, but before he can say any more, the girl runs back over and clutches Jongin’s leg, staring up at Jongdae.
“Hi,” he says, crouching down to be eye level with her. “What’s your name?”
“Rahee,” she says, shyly reaching out to touch his nose. He lets her, smiling when she giggles and pokes the corner of his mouth, but before he can say anything else, she withdraws and tugs on Jongin’s pant leg.
Jongin bends down, letting her whisper in his ear, laughing and ruffling her hair when she’s done. “He really is,” he says, winking down at her. She giggles again, shooting off into the living room once more.
“She said you’re really handsome,” Jongin says, standing up and grinning at Jongdae.
Jongdae laughs. “She has good taste.”
“My food tastes better,” Yixing says, laughing when Jongdae jokingly narrows his eyes. He just rolls his eyes with a smile and shoves Jongin towards the living room. “Come on,” he says to Jongdae, tugging Jongdae into the kitchen and calling over his shoulder to Jongin and Rahee that dinner starts in five.
Dinner is an exciting affair— Yixing remembers Jongdae’s favorite dishes and makes Dong’an chicken. There are a few new dishes on the table for Jongin and Rahee, though, and Jongdae enjoys the new additions.
Rahee also enjoys the new additions to the dinner table, insisting on sitting next to Jongdae and eating whatever he does. Unfortunately, Jongdae has a taste for spiciness, and she spits out the first mouthful with a cry. Jongin strokes her hair and hands her a cup of milk, and from then on, Rahee settles for holding hands with Jongdae. She smiles brightly at him, calling him her "Handsome Oppa".
As they eat, Yixing, Jongdae, and Jongdae catch up, and Jongdae is pleased to realize how genuinely glad he is to see them both. They tell him about their vacation, and Jongin's face lights up when he tells Jongdae about his new job at the city's most prestigious dance school. Yixing's eyes are so incredibly soft when Jongin talks, and he looks away embarrassedly when Jongdae teases him about it.
Jongin has moved to the living room to play with Rahee when Jongdae takes a deep breath. “Yixing,” he says, looking down at his hands. He links his fingers together and traces the lines on his left palm with his right thumb.
“Hmm?” Yixing turns his head away from the living room, where Jongin’s giggling happily with his niece, her small hands wrapped around just two of his fingers as they jump back and forth in time with the music.
“I don’t want to be weird, but… how did you know Jongin was your soulmate?”
Yixing hums a little, and Jongdae prays he doesn’t come across as too pathetic.
“You just kind of...know? There’s this gut feeling, a very specific one. I know that’s not helpful, though. I guess… people always say that when you’re with your soulmate, you feel more complete. You and your soulmate or soulmates are part of a whole. And in some ways, I guess that’s true, because it feels like your flaws are balanced by their strengths, and vice versa.
But it’s not right at all, because sometimes when I was alone, I was so terrified of those flaws, but it’s not like I wasn’t whole. I was just very aware of my downfalls and how I needed to act to avoid letting them get to me. But with Jongin, I realized that I wasn’t so afraid of them anymore. Without him, I’d felt like encountering my fears and difficulties was like in action movies where the characters have to cross a rickety bridge over a bottomless chasm, and with him, the bridge was just as unstable, but the chasm it crossed was much shallower, and I could make decisions with more confidence. Like a safety net, I guess. Which is a much more cliché metaphor than I’d intended,” Yixing says with a small laugh. “But the point still holds. Finding your soulmate feels like instead of always needing to look down, you can breathe more easily looking ahead, even knowing how far you can fall.”
Jongdae nods, eyes still fixed on his hands. He squeezes the skin between his thumb and index finger, his bottom lip slipping between his teeth. He doesn’t say anything, and Yixing doesn’t pry, letting the silence stretch naturally.
“It’s not about romance,” Yixing says suddenly. Jongdae almost jumps, eyes flicking up. Yixing’s eyes are soft when they meet Jongdae’s, compassionate but not pitying. He can tell Yixing remembers their 2 AM conversations about lifelong love. “All the bad love stories in books and movies where people are all over their soulmates—they have it wrong. It’s not that the love of your life and your soulmate are one and the same, necessarily, just that sometimes you fall in love with your soulmate.”
Jongdae nods again and quietly breathes, “Thanks.”
Yixing’s lips curve into a soft smile, and he reaches forward to gently untangle Jongdae’s fingers, causing him to look up. “You’re not alone, and you shouldn’t second guess yourself, Jongdae.”
Ears pink, Jongdae laughs. “Thank you, Yixing,” he says, and he takes a sip of wine, purposely concentrating on the bottom of his glass.
Yixing just pats his hand again. “You up for dessert, then?”
Jongdae grins. “Always,” he says, pretending he doesn’t see the understanding in Yixing’s eyes.
--
Talking with Yixing makes Jongdae feel a little better, and over the following weeks finds himself thinking about soulmates less. Perhaps his bitterness over soulmates is starting to mellow out a bit, he realizes, but it’s still fun to trash talk them to Baekhyun when they’re alone. Fortunately for Jongdae, Baekhyun never runs to his apartment with news of a soulmate, and he even indulges in some soulmate bashing when he’s had a long day.
Soon the weeks turn into months, and the months turn into years. Baekhyun remains at Jongdae’s side, and neither of them end up in long-term relationships, although not for lack of trying. Something always manages to pull their relationships apart, and it’s always hard, but Jongdae finds himself not minding quite so much when he has Baekhyun to pick him up afterwards. He knows Baekhyun will always be there with tissues, a few quarts of ice cream, and a movie, and he always makes sure to do the same for Baekhyun. Even ordinarily, Jongdae makes sure to pick the green onions out of Baekhyun’s dishes, and Baekhyun learns how to find the hottest peppers at the grocery store, even though he doesn’t like spicy food. Together, they get the act of taking care of each other down, until it’s second nature.
--
For Baekhyun’s 33rd birthday, Jongdae brings Baekhyun out for dinner at his favorite restaurant, but they eat relatively quickly and return home for their customary birthday movie marathon, complete with two quarts of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and cookies.
They set up the couch the usual way, with candy and chips on a stool right within Jongdae’s reach. Baekhyun pulls the blankets out of the closet, and Jongdae puts in the movie, and within minutes of the lights being turned off, they’re cuddled up on the couch and pressing play.
The opening credits haven’t even finished playing when Baekhyun slips an arm around Jongdae’s waist and nuzzles a little closer to his neck. Jongdae just smiles and rests his cheek on the top of Baekhyun’s head, fingers drawing circles on his shoulder.
During the movie, Baekhyun gradually slides closer, going almost virtually boneless until he’s basically a warm puddle in Jongdae’s lap, and Jongdae smiles happily, drawing a blanket up so Baekhyun, already nestled against Jongdae's chest, can be more comfortable. It’s been so many years, but Baekhyun’s warmth is still Jongdae’s favorite, and he gently brushes Baekhyun’s hair with the tip of his nose, leaning down to leave a few pecks on the freckles dotting Baekhyun’s temple.
The corners of Baekhyun’s lips tug upwards, but he just shoves a piece of popcorn at Jongdae’s face, eyes staying glued to the screen. He misses Jongdae’s mouth, though, and the popcorn hits cheekbone.
There’s a moment of silence, and Jongdae waits. When Baekhyun finally giggles and looks up, Jongdae smushes his cheek onto Baekhyun’s, smearing the butter as Baekhyun yelps.
“Jongdaaaaeee,” he whines, pouting.
Jongdae just laughs. “You’re too old to pout at me,” he says, but he wets a paper towel (they watch movies prepared), and the look in his eyes as he wipes the butter from Baekhyun’s cheek is soft and warm.
Suddenly the television goes black, right before Mulan can fire the rocket at Shan Yu. Both of them turn to look at the dark screen, silent for a few minutes until Jongdae finally turns to look at the microwave. It's completely dark, and the display on the oven is black as well. Even the hum of the refrigerator is gone, leaving only the heavy drumming of rain against the balcony doors.
"Power outage," Jongdae murmurs.
"We should probably get up and unplug stuff," Baekhyun says reluctantly.
"Probably," Jongdae agrees, but he tightens his arms around Baekhyun, who smiles and nuzzles into Jongdae's neck again. He presses a few short kisses up the sharp side of Jongdae's jaw, stopping just below his ear.
"Race you," he breathes before shooting off the couch.
Jongdae curses and throws the rest of the blankets off, chasing after Baekhyun and almost tripping on a pillow.
They run all over the apartment, but Baekhyun is the first to collapse back on the couch, having successfully unplugged his allotted devices first. Seconds later, Jongdae drops his entire body onto Baekhyun, huffing about cheating. Baekhyun just laughs and wraps his limbs around Jongdae, who accepts his fate with a sigh.
Minutes later, though, Baekhyun lets go and tries to shove him off. “You’re so heavy,” he complains. Jongdae just laughs and tries to squish Baekhyun into the couch, but he fails and finds himself on the floor, fall cushioned by fallen pillows and blankets.
When Jongdae curls into a ball, faking injury, Baekhyun snorts. “Get back here, I need those blankets.”
“But not me?” Jongdae asks, and he knows they’ve been friends for a long time, but even now, Baekhyun can’t resist the pouty eyes. Predictably, Baekhyun sighs and grudgingly tugs on the shoulder of Jongdae’s sweater. Jongdae grins as he gets up and makes a show out of wrapping the blanket around them both.
“You love me,” Jongdae coos, tucking Baekhyun under his arm again.
“Shut up,” Baekhyun mumbles, nosing his way into Jongdae’s neck again. “You’re so annoying.”
“He says as he cuddles me,” Jongdae says, laughing.
“Oh my god, shut up,” Baekhyun mumbles again, a little louder this time, but his words are muffled by the proximity to Jongdae. He lightly hits Jongdae’s chest, though, fist loosely curled and settling there after a couple more mock-aggressive taps.
Jongdae just laughs and pulls Baekhyun closer, gently brushing his cheek against the top of Baekhyun's head, his free hand reaching up to hold the hand resting on his chest. Baekhyun's fingers are warm, and Jongdae sighs happily when Baekhyun just barely nuzzles closer.
They're silent for a few minutes, and Jongdae just rubs little circles into Baekhyun's arm again, letting his breathing slow and even out, becoming synchronized with Baekhyun's.
"It's almost a little creepy how we always start breathing at the same time," Baekhyun mumbles, and Jongdae grins.
"Yeah? Remember when we'd go running and breathe at the same time whenever we passed pedestrians, so they'd get creeped out by the super loud panting behind them?"
"That was the best, oh my god," Baekhyun giggles into Jongdae's shoulder. "They always looked so scared and concerned."
"They honestly had a right to. We were pretty terrifying," Jongdae says smugly.
"Terrifying," Baekhyun repeats with a laugh. "We were two fairly out of shape short guys panting in sync. They were probably more concerned about our health than for their own wellbeing."
Jongdae pouts. "I thought we were pretty menacing, though."
Baekhyun pats Jongdae's hand. "In a manner of speaking, we were pretty menacing, yes."
"You're just humoring me," Jongdae grumbles, but he squeezes Baekhyun's fingers.
Baekhyun doesn't bother denying it, just pressing a quick kiss to Jongdae's cheek with a smile. He settles back on Jongdae's shoulder comfortably, humming slightly when Jongdae adjusts the blanket to cover more of their bodies. They fall back into silence, and Jongdae slips into the quiet haze that precedes dozing off, making no effort to keep his eyelids from slipping down.
"Jongdae?" Baekhyun whispers.
"Hmm?" Jongdae opens his eyes slowly. Instead of rubbing them with his hands, he nuzzles against the top of Baekhyun's head.
"You know, I'm really, really happy that you tried to take my ice cream all those years ago. I wasn't at the time, but I really am glad you've been around for so long. I don't know how I would've dealt with life without you, not that I couldn't have done it, but I just feel so happy knowing that you're around and will be here if something happens. It's so nice knowing that even if something dumb I do fucks everything up, you'll be around to help. And I make decisions so much more confidently when I know you're going to be around? I don't know, this sounds so odd. I just. I'm so glad you're around, and I said I wouldn't get emotional on my birthday, but we've been friends for just over a decade now, and I feel like I don't tell you enough how much you mean to me. I should shut up. I'm probably drunk or something." Baekhyun muffles his last words by turning into Jongdae's neck again.
"Hey, I really appreciate that, Baekhyun, don't you dare hide yourself like that again," Jongdae says with a smile, and when Baekhyun lifts his head up again, Jongdae smiles. He presses a kiss to Baekhyun's forehead. "You're really great, too, you know? I'm so glad I've had you around for a decade already. And it's so nice going into relationships or going on dates knowing that even if those things don't ever work out, I'll have you around to watch dumb sci-fi movies and cuddle. It makes everything a little easier, if that makes sense?"
"Yeah," Baekhyun says softly, "yeah it does." He turns again and buries his face in Jongdae's neck and mumbles out a quiet "I love you." The words are so muffled that Jongdae can barely tell what Baekhyun said, but he still makes it out, and the fondness he feels seeps into his words when he whispers an "I love you" back into Baekhyun's hair. Perhaps it's a little cheesy, but Jongdae realizes again just how lucky he is to have the unwavering support of someone like Baekhyun, realizes how happy he is and how content he'd be to live the rest of his life out like this, even if he never had a romantic partner again. Baekhyun doesn't finish his sentences like the other half of a whole, but he's always around there to pick up the pieces when Jongdae's too far gone to help himself.
Words stir in the back of Jongdae's mind, even as his fingers trace nonsense onto Baekhyun's back. Dong’an chicken and the light cling of wooden chopsticks against ceramic, hot peppers lighting fire to his mouth, a young girl's squeals of happiness echoing around a warm living room.
...instead of always needing to look down, you can breathe more easily looking ahead.
Jongdae had convinced himself long ago that perhaps he didn't have a soulmate, and even if he did, they were doing a shitty job of showing up, and he wouldn't waste his time and career looking for them if they wouldn't even do him the simple courtesy of showing up. He'd spent years telling himself this until it was true, and he'd watched as his attempts at romantic relationships fell into pieces around him. Perhaps he'd never met The One, and maybe people were too fixated on finding their soulmates to properly try dating, but whatever it was, none of them worked, and Baekhyun was always there, ready with a box of tissues and ice cream but later just ice cream and Lord of the Rings movies ("Aragorn drawing his sword can save lives, Jongdae. I'm sure he's the perfect solution for you right now").
Like a safety net, I guess.
"Baekhyun," Jongdae whispers.
"Mmph," Baekhyun replies.
"I think... did you ever consider that we could be soulmates?"
"Duh," Baekhyun says, shifting slightly and sighing sleepily.
"What."
"Yes," Baekhyun says, sounding slightly miffed at having to repeat himself.
"So you... why didn't you ever say anything?" Jongdae tries so hard to not sound accusing.
"You said you didn't care about finding your soulmate, so I figured it wasn't a big deal if I figured out that we are. I never brought it up, because it never seemed relevant or important?" Baekhyun sits up, yawning.
"Well I would've liked to know," Jongdae sulks.
"Aww, don't be so upset, darling," Baekhyun coos, reaching up to cup Jongdae's cheeks. "You not realizing doesn't change that you've known your soulmate for so many years."
"I just would've liked to know... how long ago did you figure it out?" Jongdae asks.
"Probably like last year? It was something Minseok said about how he was in love with Luhan, but that didn't make them soulmates, because what made them soulmates was something about trust and understanding and being kind to him when he couldn't be kind to himself." Baekhyun stifles another yawn.
"That's a long time to know something and not bring it up," Jongdae says, still sulking.
Baekhyun just laughs. "You'll get over it. You can never resist me for long.”
Jongdae glares, and Baekhyun shrugs, a tiny smirk pulling up the corners of his lips. “I’ll just get going then,” he says, untangling himself and moving to stand up.
Arms circle his waist, pulling him forcefully back down. “That’s not what I meant,” Jongdae says, burying his face in Baekhyun’s neck. “But that’s still a lot to process at once.”
Baekhyun smiles and pats Jongdae’s hand. “At least let me pull the blankets up while you process, okay?”
“Fine,” Jongdae grumbles, shifting around reluctantly.
“You should sound more excited about the prospect of having me as your soulmate. It means I’ll be around for a long time!”
“It means I’m never going to get rid of you,” Jongdae groans into Baekhyun’s shoulder.
“Never ever,” Baekhyun says smugly. He settles himself comfortably in Jongdae’s lap again, pulling Jongdae’s arms a little tighter around his waist.
“Never ever ever,” Jongdae repeats, smiling softly to himself.