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The sweat has barely cooled on their skin when Baekhyun finally says it. Kyungsoo can tell he's been working up to it all day—from the moment they woke up, to the lunch in the quaint little restaurant in Hongdae, to the walk they took along the river, to when Baekhyun asked him if they could go home.
He was unusually quiet. Kyungsoo had grown used to the quiet days; sometimes Baekhyun had a lot to say, and sometimes nothing at all. But the silence was unusual because he didn’t look somber, or contemplative, or even upset. He looked at Kyungsoo like he was just content to look at him, nothing more, nothing less.
Baekhyun had led them straight to Kyungsoo's bedroom, and—well, he was a little distracted. But Baekhyun seems to think that now is as good a time as any, breaths still evening out, Baekhyun’s hand over Kyungsoo's sternum, Kyungsoo’s fingers curled around Baekhyun's hand.
“I love you,” Baekhyun tells him. There's a slight tremor in his voice as he says the words that almost makes Kyungsoo smile. It’s not a revelation for him like it is for Baekhyun. But they’ve been building up to this moment all day—maybe all year—and Kyungsoo has held the answer close to heart this whole time, waiting for this moment to come.
“I love you, too,” Kyungsoo whispers, but in the quiet of the room his voice is clear as day.
“Oh,” is all Baekhyun says in reply, but he doesn’t look surprised, either—maybe relieved, closing his eyes like he wants to savor the moment.
Kyungsoo loves that about him. Baekhyun takes nothing for granted, neither the small gestures nor the big ones, so it stands to reason that he would want to bask in the glow of the biggest one yet. He places a light kiss on Baekhyun’s lips while his eyes are still closed, pulling him close to his chest.
“Took you a while,” Kyungsoo murmurs into Baekhyun’s hair.
Baekhyun hums, burrowing closer to him, curling a hand around Kyungsoo’s arm. “Were you waiting for me to say it?”
“A little.”
“Did you already know?”
“Yeah.”
“You just have to one up me every time, huh?” Baekhyun huffs. “When did you realize?”
“Two months in.”
Baekhyun pulls away, gaping at Kyungsoo in bewilderment. “That early? Why didn't you tell me?”
Smiling, Kyungsoo asks, “Would you have believed me?”
“Maybe not,” Baekhyun agrees, brows knitting together.
“I wanted to prove it before I said it, so you'd believe me when I did,” Kyungsoo explains, smoothing the frown on Baekhyun’s forehead away with his thumb. “I know how much those words mean to you.”
“You knew me so well, even back then…” Baekhyun muses, relaxing.
Kyungsoo runs the pad of his finger down the slope of Baekhyun’s nose, smiling when he scrunches his face up in response. “Would it have scared you? If I told you back then?”
“I think so,” Baekhyun admits. “I was already afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you'd suddenly stop liking me,” Baekhyun says softly. “Or maybe you'd realize I was too much to deal with.”
Kyungsoo can see that. Baekhyun was so skittish those first few months together, trying to get used to being with someone again. He’s been burned before, he said—but only because he was a light that burned so brightly on his own. Kyungsoo liked that so much about him, how Baekhyun knew exactly what he wanted; unsure though he was about being in a relationship after a long while, they always were honest with each other, even when they were just fucking. It all worked out. They always worked well together.
“And what do you think now?” Kyungsoo asks with a smile.
“I think… I should have trusted you more,” Baekhyun answers, finally showing him that endearing boxy grin. “What made you realize that you…”
“Not anything in particular, really.” Kyungsoo brushes a stray lock of hair away from Baekhyun’s forehead. “I just knew that I hadn't felt like this about anyone else. And if what I feel isn't love, then what is?”
Baekhyun’s gaze softens, his smile a slight quirk of amusement. “Process of elimination, then. So romantic.”
“What about you?”
“I dunno,” Baekhyun sighs, settling deeper into the sheets. “I just... woke up one day and I missed you. I thought, this day would be so much better if Kyungsoo was in it. Every day would.”
It’s so like them to take different paths just to reach the same conclusion. It’s better like this, though. Being so different from each other only makes it so much more rewarding how well they’re able to come together.
“I feel the same way,” Kyungsoo admits.
Baekhyun laughs a bit, closing his eyes again. “This is all just... It's not that I don't believe you, but I can't believe this is happening.”
“Why not?”
“I... I'd given up a long time ago,” Baekhyun confesses, meeting Kyungsoo’s gaze. “This was something that happened to other people, not me.”
He knows he’s horribly biased because he’s so far gone, but Kyungsoo can hardly believe it hasn’t happened to Baekhyun, either. He may have disliked Baekhyun when they were just coworkers and nothing else, but when they actually got to know each other better—now that Kyungsoo knows so much about him—it's difficult to imagine not falling in love with him.
All those other guys before… they had no idea they held a treasure in their hands, carelessly closing their fists and hurting him. But Baekhyun isn’t delicate, either—Kyungsoo keeps finding reasons to fall for him over and over again, or maybe it’s just easy to—and despite everything, he still has so much love to give.
He fits the palm of his hand over the curve of Baekhyun’s cheek, hoping he sees the truth in Kyungsoo’s words. “You were made to be loved, Baekhyun.”
Baekhyun’s eyes widen, welling up with tears like he’s never heard those words before. A part of Kyungsoo is devastated at how little Baekhyun has received in return, that such simple words could make him so happy. How can anyone know him without promising anything less than the world? Yet another part of him is grateful that he was able to show Baekhyun how preciously he should be treated, that he chose Kyungsoo in the end.
“By you?” Baekhyun asks, sniffling.
“Maybe,” Kyungsoo answers. “If not me, then someone else. But I’m glad it's me.”
There’s that smile again. Slender fingers fit over Kyungsoo’s, turning his hand over so Baekhyun can touch his lips to Kyungsoo’s heart line. “I already told you—there’s no competition,” Baekhyun says, eyes shining brilliantly. “It was always gonna be you.”
Kyungsoo gets the call on a Saturday morning, only a few moments after the break of dawn. At his parents’ place, his mother has entrusted him with making kimchi jeon for breakfast, hands dirtied and occupied with a spoon and a mixing bowl. Scurrying to the sink so he can rinse off his hands, Kyungsoo hurriedly wipes them down on a rag before answering the phone.
“Baekhyun-ie? You're up early.” Kyungsoo frowns, glaring at Baekhyun’s contact name like it holds all the answers. “Did you stay up all night again? Should I be worried? Are you sick?”
“No,” Baekhyun laughs. His voice is still a little raspy, like he just woke up. Kyungsoo imagines him in bed, sheets drawn up to his chin, hair sticking up every which way, half his face buried into the pillow. It should be concerning, how much Kyungsoo fantasizes about him—but it's a pretty image, one he'd like to see for himself again. “What are you up to?”
“Cooking breakfast. Have you eaten?”
“Not yet, I'm still in bed.”
“Don't skip breakfast again, alright?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Baekhyun sighs sleepily, shuffling around in the sheets. “Just wanted to ask you something.”
Kyungsoo smiles. “First thing in the morning? Alright, then.”
“I was wondering if you could come over tonight.”
Humming, Kyungsoo answers, “Sorry, puppy, I don’t think I can.” Baekhyun whines like he always does at the pet name, and Kyungsoo wishes he could see it, too, the way his cheeks would flush. “My brother came over with his family, and we’re all going to the theme park tomorrow.”
“Oh, have fun then! Hmm, maybe I could take my niece and nephew sometime, too…” Baekhyun trails off.
Kyungsoo’s mind is elsewhere, too. Baekhyun is plenty independent—it comes with having lived alone for a while—but when he’s clingy like this, it usually means that he needs something only Kyungsoo can give him, and Kyungsoo is all too willing to fulfill his every whim. It may just be that there’s no reason for Baekhyun to call him up first thing in the morning, but he worries all the same.
“Are you really okay, Baekhyun-ie?” Kyungsoo asks softly.
Chuckling, Baekhyun answers just as quietly, “I just wanted to see you. It’s okay, I’ll see you on Monday, anyway.”
“But that’s work. I can try to go to your place tomorrow night—it’d be late, though.”
“Won’t you be tired? It’s okay, Kyungja,” Baekhyun reassures him. “We have plenty of time.”
The promise of more tomorrows stuns Kyungsoo into silence. He still remembers how it felt that night, when he’d crossed the line, when he’d scared Baekhyun away and woken up to an empty spot on the bed. It had taken a lot to get here, to the point of Baekhyun believing that neither of them are going anywhere.
And he knows Baekhyun is right; he’d be dead tired after such a long day, but seeing Baekhyun would make everything feel so much better. He wants this from Baekhyun—he wants to be inconvenienced, to come home to him, to cook for him and hear his praise and crawl into bed with him at the end of the day and wake up next to him tomorrow.
They have plenty of time. He knows that nobody can really promise forever, but Baekhyun might be the closest one to make good on that promise.
“Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun asks worriedly.
All at once, almost stumbling on his words, Kyungsoo says, “Baekhyun-ie, I think—I’d like you to meet my parents.”
“Oh. Oh!” Another rustling of sheets, more frantic this time. Kyungsoo imagines Baekhyun sitting up, wide awake now because of his proposition. “Are you—of course, I’d love to,” Baekhyun breathes. “I’ll talk to my parents about meeting you, too.”
“I’d like that.” Kyungsoo taps his fingers nervously onto the table, unsure. “Is this a little much for you? It’s kind of sudden, and…”
“No, no, I—this is why we’re together, Kyungsoo, you’re the one who thinks ahead.”
“If you're sure, Baekhyun-ie.”
“Of course. Um... I just don’t know how this sort of thing goes.” Baekhyun laughs a little nervously. “Do we just talk over dinner?”
“I would think so. Don’t worry, you're good at talking,” Kyungsoo teases.
“Oh, ha-ha,” Baekhyun responds sardonically, though he lapses into silence once again.
Still concerned, Kyungsoo blurts out, “Baekhyun, remember that I—”
“What?” Baekhyun hums distractedly. “Remember what, Kyungja?”
Remember that I love you, Kyungsoo was about to say, but Baekhyun doesn’t know it in the first place. It feels wrong to say it for the first time over the phone. It’s not what Baekhyun would want, either.
“Remember I dropped off some food for you in the fridge,” Kyungsoo finishes lamely.
“Yes, I remember,” Baekhyun answers, a tad amused. “I’ll finish it before it goes.”
Relieved, Kyungsoo sighs into the phone, which Baekhyun giggles at. “Take care, okay?”
“You too.” Kyungsoo can hear the smile in Baekhyun’s voice. If he closes his eyes, he can see it, too. “Come back safely.”
“Bye, Baekhyun-ie. I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay. See you soon, Kyungsoo-ya.” Baekhyun says it so softly, so tenderly his voice lingers even as the call drops.
Sighing again, Kyungsoo slumps against the counter, tilting his face to the sky. He wonders if Baekhyun can hear it in his voice, too, the words he chose not to say. He wonders if Baekhyun knows. He needs to, but it has to be done the right way, at the right time, even though it’s harder and harder to keep it in with each passing day.
But Baekhyun was right—they have plenty of time. Some things are worth the wait.